Chapter 119

[Third Person's PoV] 

A few Minutes Earlier…

MJ walked with her camera hanging from her neck while pushing her bicycle by the handlebar.

There was an awkward silence as Felicia and MJ didn't say anything. MJ looked down, embarrassed, wishing the ground would swallow her whole.

'I only just learned that Peter was Spider-Man and I accidentally blurted it out… Peter's going to kill me,' MJ thought, not wanting to be in this awkward situation.

"So, Peter, huh," Felicia finally said, unable to handle the silence between them.

MJ let out a painful groan at hearing that.

"So that means that Gwen…"

"Please stop," MJ pleaded, wanting Felicia to drop it.

"I mean, just woah!" Felicia continued.

MJ parked the bike and squatted down, covering her face and letting out a scream.

Felicia was taken aback. "What's wrong with you?"

"Peter literally just told me… and now because of me you know. What if he hates me… what if he breaks up with me because of it? I finally managed to be with him, to be his girlfriend, and I went and messed it up like this," MJ cried a bit.

Felicia scratched her head, unsure of what to say. "Look, if Peter really loves you like you love him, then I'm sure he wouldn't get mad at you. Sure, he might be a bit disappointed and not trust you with his secrets for a bit, but he wouldn't be mad at you. 

Plus, you were watching him go through something like that. You blurted out his name because you were scared and worried for his safety. I'm sure he would understand. Peter is a pretty understanding guy; it's one of his good qualities."

MJ stood up and took a few breaths to calm herself. "Thanks, Felicia… but don't fall in love with him," she said with a straight face.

Felicia's eyes twitched. "You and Gwen are the freaking same, I swear."

As they continued to walk, Felicia turned towards MJ. "This is where we split. I'll see you tomorrow."

MJ nodded. "Later," she said as they gave each other a side kiss.

MJ soon arrived at the Daily Bugle where Eddie was getting out of a car.

"Ah, MJ, we've gotten back at the same time," Eddie smiled.

"That we did," MJ smiled back.

"Ready to see which one of us got the best picture?"

MJ parked her bike, lifted her camera slightly, and smirked, "I don't know about you, but I got some awesome pictures…"

"Hmm, I don't know, mine aren't bad either," Eddie said. He then noticed some dust on MJ's jacket.

He went to sweep it off, but MJ smacked his hand away. She smiled politely and said, "I don't know you that well, so I would appreciate it if you didn't just casually touch me out of nowhere."

"Ah, right, my bad. You just have dust all over your shoulders," Eddie said awkwardly.

MJ nodded and dusted it off herself before they both went inside.

Once inside, they got their pictures printed before heading towards Jameson's office. "About damn time," Jameson said, seeing both of them enter.

Jameson laughed at the pictures. "Hahaha, these are amazing. I can already picture the headlines."

Jameson picked the picture of Spider-Man on top of the helicopters and waved his hand across it. "The headline for this one would be, 'Spider-Man Destroys Police Property.'"

"What!?" MJ said, looking a little pissed. "Spider-Man stopped those helicopters from crashing into a crowd of people and rescued those pilots' lives. Why would you go and defame him like that?"

"Listen here, missy, nobody cares about his superhero nonsense. They want to see something new, something exciting. They want to see when a good guy turns bad. Saving a bunch of people? Bah, what's so special about that? Our brave policemen and firefighters do that every day; it's not something new," Jameson waved her off.

He then looked at the picture of Spider-Man carrying Doc Ock out of the building. "Here we go: 'Spider-Menace Shown Helping Out the Villain; Are They Perhaps in Cahoots?'"

"Please tell me you aren't being serious?" MJ said, looking at Jameson with disdain.

"You took the picture. What does it look like to you then?" Jameson scoffed, looking at the picture of Spider-Man holding up an entire building with his own hands.

He looked at the picture before extending it outward and tilting it to the side.

MJ slammed the table. "Stop trying to look at it from a bad angle and put one of your dumb headlines to it!" she shouted.

'Remember, MJ, strangling someone is illegal… it's illegal… But I'm a minor, I can get away with it, right?' She really thought about it, seeing the way Jameson was looking at the picture.

"I got it," Jameson snapped his fingers. "'The Consequences of His Actions: Spider-Man Destroys Oscorp in His Battle with His Foe, Which Results in His Loss… Perfect.'"

MJ reached over, grabbed Jameson by the collar, and started to shake him. "Listen here, you son of a bitch. Spider-Man saved a lot of lives today. He was injured greatly because of it and suffered the weight of an entire skyscraper on his body. He is a hero to all of those people. My pictures will not be used for you to defame him like this. Either you use that tiny brain of yours to make a real and truthful story about the events that happened, or I will literally sue you for defamation against Spider-Man while using my pictures. Got it, mister!?"

"I think you should calm—" Eddie started to say, but MJ's head snapped towards him.

"Don't you dare tell me to calm down."

Jameson made MJ release him. "You crazy woman. I could fire you for what you just did, you know. But since you're just a kid who doesn't know any better and I have a big heart, I'll let bygones be bygones. But I'll have to deduct your pay"

MJ turned around and walked through the door. "You can take my pay and shove it where the sun doesn't shine!" MJ yelled as she walked out. She even wanted to raise her finger but decided he didn't even deserve her efforts.

Jameson shook his head and looked towards Eddie. "Women, am I right?"

But Eddie didn't hear him. He was looking towards the door with an enamored look. 'My God… What a woman,' he thought, slowly becoming infatuated.

Jameson, seeing that, rolled his eyes. 'Teenagers.'

MJ biked away angrily, the events of the day swirling in her mind. As she neared home, she suddenly felt a sharp pain on her neck.

'Son of a– God, nothing is going my way today!' she inwardly whined, slapping the back of her neck.

She stopped her bike and reached over to her neck, feeling a string connecting to it. Confused, she yanked it, yelping in pain. Bringing the string to her face, she yelled in fright as a red and blue spider dangled from the other end. Flicking it off her hand, she dusted her hands in disgust.

"Ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew. EWWWW!!" she shivered in disgust before getting back on her bike.

As she arrived in front of her home, she started feeling woozy. 'Was the spider perhaps poisonous?' MJ wondered as she tried to insert her keys in the keyhole but kept missing.

After a few more tries, she managed it and headed inside. She closed the door behind her and slowly trotted up the stairs to her room. She staggered backwards and almost fell, but steadied herself against the wall. She walked into her room and put her camera down on the nightstand.

Collapsing on the bed, she reached for her phone. 'Gotta call the ambulance… I think I'm going to die,' she thought as she very slowly typed 911. But as she hit the final number, her hands collapsed and her phone fell. She became unconscious, sweat dripping down her like a broken faucet.

---

Felicia got home and threw her keys in a basket before walking to her room. Once inside, she took off her leather jacket and shirt.

Felicia suddenly felt something crawling on her. When she looked down to see what it was, a silver and black spider was already on her chest. Before she could react, it bit her.

"Ouch!"

"AHHHHHH!" she screamed, dusting off her chest while jumping around.

"Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God!" she squealed repeatedly.

As she dusted it off and jumped around, she accidentally stepped on it, causing her to lift a foot and jump around holding it.

"This is so disgusting!" she cried out.

Taking a deep breath to calm herself, she muttered, "I was literally only going to change shirts. Now I have to take a whole dang bath."

Getting nude, she grabbed her toiletries and headed into the shower. As she let the water hit her face and body, she looked down and touched the place where the spider bit.

Suddenly, she was hit with a wave of dizziness. She staggered backwards and held her hands out, putting one against the wall and slowly sliding down.

'I don't feel so good… this can't be good. Am I going to die?' she wondered as her eyes became droopy and heavy.

'Just perfect,' Felicia thought sarcastically before she felt her consciousness leaving her.