Arc Two. Chapter Fifty-Nine. Troubling Times

MJ screamed to herself as she got home, today had not been a good day. Her shift at the diner, an old fashioned mom and pop styled burger place had been frustrating, not because the work was difficult but because she really wanted to make someone eat the silver trays they brought food out to the tables and she couldn't.

He'd groped her ass as she walked past, an accidental, "sorry miss," as she glared at him, fighting the urge to smash her platter over his head but she caught the giggles and low whispered comments about her looks. His number scrawled in place of a tip had her rolling her eyes, and after she'd rang up his cheque she made a note of it. Sure she couldn't do anything at work but later, she might just drop a few hints in Peter's direction, or even Felicia's. She'd apologised for being mean, it was just her way of coping and as MJ had broken down so had Felicia and they shared a moment, overbearing fathers seemed to be a running theme in the warehouse.

Then she'd been excited about an interview. An actual theatre producer had seen her had headshots and given her a chance. She'd done the soundcheck, proving she wasn't a drooling idiot and could speak her lines, passed through all his hoops and then it came to the meeting. As she thought back to his slimy grin, she punched one of the bags Peter set up for them to train, Felicia showing her and Gwen at least some basic moves and as it swung back from the force of the blow she couldn't help but hear his words

"you know sweetheart, sometimes, to get ahead, you gotta give a little head, you know what I mean?" and then that grin, that stupid smug grin of his. Gah, she punched the bag again and again. She'd walked out, she really wanted to punch the guy but with Muse, she'd have broken his jaw. Better to be known as a prude in a business built on sex than a brawler, lashing out at the scumbags who preyed on easier targets.

She has asked Muse to let some of the feelings bleed through, to make sure she wasn't becoming numbed, and rather than the fear and shock, she felt revulsion and anger, enough that if Muse hadn't calmed her, she would have hurt him, and done enough to face prison. As she had walked home she made sure Muse kept those impulses in check, and she wanted to train more.

She worked the bag, as Felicia put it, and felt better, letting Muse out they worked through their frustrations together. While she wasn't a fighter and had no intention to be she did agree with Peter, if that guy had company or had been more forceful, she would have had to rely on Muse to save her. While they trained though it was apparent that neither of them would be hunting any time soon.

And then to top it all off, Peter had vanished after sending her some cryptic text about the ground shaking. She'd had a furious Aunt May, asking where he was, on the phone as they had planned a dinner together to celebrate Peter's birthday but he wasn't answering his phone and neither was Gwen or Felicia. MJ had to listen to a stern lecture about adult responsibilities from her, even though MJ was just as mad as she was. They had even planned a small get together here, MJ having ordered several pizzas, Gwen opened up some of the freshly brewed cider and beer she was so proud of and even after MJ got home nobody was here.

Screw them, she thought and dug in, taking a slice, checking her watch and he was supposed to be here, the pizza barely above room temperature. She had had a bad day and she was going to enjoy herself even if nobody else was here,

We are here, a comforting voice sounded in her head,

Oh sorry baby, that's not what I meant, you know,

We do, can we watch the television again?

Muse was obsessed with television and film, and MJ was more than willing to sit and watch any and all kinds of shows with her. She didn't want to fight, she wanted to be a social butterfly, to mimic and mask herself and of the four of them her powers were most like that, Muse was black like Venom but without the spider, but MJ found she could swap not just the colours but the actual symbskin itself, making clothing and accessories from it.

Even her hair could change colour as she laughed at morphing her features, becoming uglier, more masculine seeing what she looked like with huge breasts like Felicia. Muse was just as much a diva as she was, revelling in showing off and the delight it caused, their joyous mood spoiled when the door clattered open and it came to an end.

Venom had a bundled carpet of some kind over his shoulder, white with webbing, and Poison and Huntress were dragging huge steel and glass marble behind them. She frowned, what the hell had they been doing?

The carpet turned out to be a body, rolled neatly up and MJ shouted, "what the hell Peter? Don't bring that in here"

He closed the lid of the boxes, and groaned realising what they were for, "sorry MJ, really,"

MJ hmphed and crossed her arms, "Aunt May phoned," and she watched Peter slump, dropping the webbed bundle on the floor.

"I, uh shit," and he shook his head. "Sorry MJ, I promise, I'll make it up to you, this is more important though," and as he began to cut the webbing free he saw the look of shock on her face. "It's fine MJ, she's dead," he continued and the four limbs hung loosely over the edges of the table, the woman attached to the pale and grey.

"That's the fucking point, Peter, we eat breakfast here," she shouted, waving her arms over the corpse of Liv. "Go use one of your labs," and Peter huffed as he lifted the bundle back over his shoulder and carried it off into the side office he had been using for work while Gwen and Felicia just bent over laughing while they argued.

"And you two, stop playing with your balls and get that out of here too, I swear if that's another dead body I'm gonna hurt you," she shouted over.

"Nah, it's fine," Gwen said, "just a nuclear reactor core," as if that was the most normal thing in the world

"It's a WHAT!" MJ yelled, "get that out of here, now, now!" she began to panic, even she knew that wasn't something you messed around with.

"It's fine," Gwen hugged her friend, "it's safe. We just needed to remove it so the cops or Oscorp wouldn't get it. No radiation, no heat, no anything. We wouldn't have brought it back here if it wasn't," she stroked MJ's hair, it was irresponsible of them just to drop that kind of news on her but it wasn't like it could be done any other way, even if Gwen did enjoy teasing her a little bit.

"Uh guys, little help here," Peter shouted from the office next to the warehouse door and they could hear clattering and swearing from within.

Liv, her mechanical limbs hanging limply, sat shivering in the corner. Her clothes had been cut away and Peter had begun to unclip the harness. Its front clamps were undone, and the small woman's torso was exposed to everyone present. Gwen winced, the skin underneath was grey and wrinkled in an unhealthy way and under her small breasts and around her belly button was a raw red rash. Unable to clean herself properly, she must have suffered a myriad of problems.

The harness was offline and with no upper body strength, it was slipping free. When the Parker kid had undone the restraints it had to send a release signal to the control chip in her spine, which registering she was unconscious zapped her awake. She had found Parker standing over her, cutting away the fabric parts and leaving her exposed and in her shock, she had made a huge mistake.

As she backed herself into a corner she felt the mechanisms shift, no override was in place and the four needles in her spine retracted with a thunk and the harness hissed as it powered down completely.

"No, no, no," she whispered to the room, tears streaming down her face, "no, please no," the four stared at her, unsure of what to expect.

With bruises and scraped patches all over her skin, she stared that the foursome as tears streaked her face, "I can't feel my legs." She held her face in her hands and wept.

It was Gwen that moved first, and Liv flinched as she approached. "Shh, we aren't going to hurt you," and glaring, "Are we Peter?" and he shook his head. Strong enough normally Gwen lifted Liv in a princess carry, "MJ, can you help me please? Felicia, help Peter make sure that thing is offline and secured.''

Giving Peter a stern glare she carried the still sobbing Liv out of the office and into her place, she had a tub they could use and medical supplies to tend her injuries.

"Welp, you fucked up Pete," Felicia said, "did you check she was dead?" They lifted the harness and as Peter flipped it over Huntress webbed both arms on the right side together and laid it on a workbench while Peter did the other side, then holding up the tied arms, webbed them both to the ceiling and then the harness itself to the table. It had powered down but without instruction, it might have some kind of protocol for reactivation he was unaware of.

"No, cause you know, she was zapped twice, and then again and after being flung around I just didn't think she could survive that you know?"

"Go check on Ock, and no killing, we don't know if she had anything to do with your father, "

"Phff, that's rich coming from you Peter, aren't you the one out for blood?"

Peter looked at his hands, "No. I've had enough of that for tonight, I'll get food and apology snacks. Go help the others clean her up, we can deal with this after she's been fed and we're all calmer."

Peter stared at the harness, secured to the table by a lot of webbing, he tested each line carefully, making sure the whole thing was not going to suddenly start up again and run rampage.

As he pulled on the webbing he shook his head. Did he make the right call tonight? Was it okay that both Sandman and Electro had been killed while trying to save the city? At first, he had felt an affinity for the man, working to save for his daughter, but uncle Ben never robbed anyone, never used Peter's loss as an excuse to hurt other people. No, it wasn't until he realised his daughter would die he backed down. He knew Max was as crooked as Alexsi but he'd never spoken to the man for long, he always kept himself separate, probably doing crook stuff Peter mused, but did either of them deserve to die tonight?

He took a breath and looked around at the warehouse, he could hear Gwen and MJ giggling at something while Liv seemed to have stopped crying. Innocent or not, what Liv was doing would have killed everyone in New York tonight, Max had blood on his hands and Sandman did as well. He used his daughter as an excuse, but what of the ones with daughters who never got to see their fathers again because of people like him, or fathers who never saw their daughters. No, he shook his head and pulled on the webbing one last time, this was the right call. Taking a deep breath, and now, he needed to make another one. Some birthday this had been.