TITLE: The Hybrids

FANDOM: Spider-man: The Movie

SPOILERS: Spider-man: The Movie

PAIRING: Peter/MJ

FEEDBACK: Any is welcomed :)

RATING: R

KEYWORDS: Spider-man Movie, Drama, Angst, Peter/MJ Romance

DISTRIBUTION: Anywhere just keep my name on it and let me know where it's going

SUMMARY: Spider-man fights an evil that threatens him and Mary Jane

DISCLAIMER: Spider-man doesn't belong to me. It belongs to Marvel and Stan Lee. The Movie belongs to Columbia Pictures and Sam Raimi and assorted others. I am making no money off of this. This story is copywrited May 2002, and may not be altered in any way without the express permission of the author

By Cheri.

Part One

Peter sighed as he finished washing up the dinner dishes. It had been three days since Norman Osborne's funeral and he felt as if his life was in a shambles. Norman had died after nearly beating him to death, his son had sworn revenge on Spider-man, and now....MJ. Peter closed his eyes as he remembered her at the funeral pouring her heart out to him, saying the words he had longed to hear since he was six and then seeing her face as he told her they could just remain friends.

He still couldn't believe he had told her that. It had taken a supreme act of will to force the words from his lips. To convince his mind to speak what his heart could not. To look into Mary Jane's beautiful face and deny her. The sight of her nearly breaking down after he had spoken had torn his heart to shreads. He longed to recant everything...to scream out his love for her and tell her just who she had really kissed in that alley that night. But visions of the Green Goblin holding her out over the water forced him to keep silent and walk away...walk away from the only girl he had ever loved and will ever love.

Now he was temporarily back in aunt May's house. He had decided to stay for awhile after aunt May had been released from the hospital to make sure she was okay. While he was glad his aunt was recovering from Green Goblin's attack, he hated being in his old room. His window looked out over the Watson's house and since the funeral Mary Jane had been inconsolable. Each night Peter would lie awake in bed listening to his beloved's tormented cries coming from her room and wishing he had never been bitten by that damn spider. As he lay there with tears straming down his face,uncle Ben's words would ring in his ears.

"With great power, comes great responsibilty."

"And great heartache." he whispered softly to himself.

*****************************

He finished putting away the dishes and went upstairs to check on aunt May. He found her in bed sleeping soundly. Peter stood and stared at her for a moment before leaning over and kissing her on the cheek. He smiled as aunt May sighed contentedly in her sleep.

"Good night, aunt May." Peter said,softly

"Good night, Peter." aunt May murmured,waking for a moment and then immediately falling back to sleep.

Peter lingered for a moment staring sadly at the picture of uncle Ben beside the bed before reluctantly heading to his room. As he reached the door of his room, he stopped as he saw Mary Jane sitting in the window across the way staring at his bedroom. He could tell that she had been crying and his heart ached knowing he was the reason she had shed those tears. He tried to back away out into the hall, but he was too late. Mary Jane had seen him.

"Peter!" she said, reaching out her arm to him.

Peter closed his eyes and gulped back the tears that were springing up. He felt himself backing away.

"No Peter, Please don't go!" Mary Jane pleaded.

Peter paused, his heart breaking at her pleading. Why did Mary Jane have to make this more difficult than it already was? He loved her with all his heart and it was because of his love that he knew he could not endanger her. She had survived the Green Goblin, but would she survive if another maniac found out that she was Spider-man's girl, and decided to kill her to torment him? He knew it was better to endure his broken heart than to endure her broken body. Despite this, he couldn't bear to hear her anguish any more and he moved towards the window.

"MJ, please don't cry." he said, as he sat down in front of the window.

"I can't help it, Peter. I love you!" she said. "I can't think of anything, but you now. Ever since that night when I thought I was going to die, I've thought of nothing else. I thought you loved me, Peter. I thought you've loved me since the moment you first saw me."

Peter gulped

"I do love you MJ. I do."he said, fighting back tears.

"Then why won't you let me into your heart? Why are you only willing to see me as a friend and not as a lover?" she cried out.

Peter fought to control himself. He fought the urge to tell her his true identity.

"I can't...I just can't." he said simply.

"Why? Peter, why can't you just tell me? I don't believe you when you say you just want to be friends. I think you want me as much as I want you. You've always been my champion, Peter. You've treated me like a human being when no one else would. Why am I suddenly not good enough to be with you? Is it another...woman?" she said.

"No, there is no other woman." Peter said, softly.

"Then what is it, Peter?"

Peter sighed.

"MJ...I really can't tell you. You'll just have to trust me...that for the moment...we can't be together. I'm sorry."

Mary Jane stared at him for a moment in stunned silence. Suddenly, she let out an anguished cry and ran from the window. Peter lowered his head to his hands and sobbed quietly as he listened to Mary Jane crying on her bed.

*****************************

He staggered along the sidewalk, dishevelled and drunk. He once was known as Dave Cortez. He had gambled and lost everything in a failed business venture long ago, and now he was only one of the many nameless,homeless, people who eeked out an existence. He used to be a respected member of his community and now he was ignored and hated by an unsympathetic public who would rather dash across the street than stand next to him.

He turned into a dark alleyway trying to find somewhere dry where he could spend the night. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he saw that the alley was pretty crowded already with other indigents who stared at him suspiciously as he passed by. He sighed as he saw almost all the space had been taken up by the others. He sighed and walked out the other side of the alley and back down the sidewalk searching for a place to rest.

"Hey buddy?"

Dave spun around and saw a man standing a few feet away. His eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"Yes?" he said hesitantly.

"Do you need a place to spend the night?" the man said,stepping forward.

"Um...yes...yes, I do." Dave said.

"I run a shelter about a block from here. You're welcome to spend the night there if you want."

Dave looked at the man, trying to size him up. He had been on the street long enough to know that you had to be cautious when dealing with others. He looked into the man's eyes and could detect nothing that would indicate he was going to harm him. Slowly, Dave nodded.

"Alright,"he said."Show me the way."

The man nodded and beckoned for Dave to follow him. Dave kept a respectable distance as he walked, not wanting to embarass the man should anyone happen to see them together. Finally they reached the building. Dave stopped short. He looked at the building and frowned. He had seen many shelters and none of them looked like what the man had led him to. The building looked abandoned from the outside.

"This..is it?" Dave said, pointing to it.

"Yes..Um...We're a non-profit organization and this is all we could find for the moment." the man said, noticing his hesitation. "Hopefully in the next few weeks, we'll find something better. But in the meantime, this place is warm, dry, and there is food here."

Dave nodded and followed the man up the stairs and into the building. As they walked deeper into the building, Dave frowned.

"Hey, where are the cots? Where is everybody?" he asked.

"This way, right behind this door." the man said.

Dave looked over his shoulder as he opened the door and his eyes widened as he saw nothing but a sea of obsidian eyes staring back at him.

"What the he.."

Dave jumped back as the man turned around. He gasped as the man now had the same coal black eyes as everyone else.

"Take him." the man said simply

Unheard from the outside, Dave's screams echoed throughout the house and then there was silence.

*-----------------------------*-----------------------------*-----------------------------*

Part Two

Peter rose early to begin his patrols. He yawned as he brushed his teeth and combed his hair. Then he shut his door and closed the blinds and began to put on his Spider-Man costume. He finished putting it on and stuffed his mask and gloves in the waistband of his tights. Then he put on jeans and a sweatshirt making sure that no part of his costume was visible. Once that was done, he ran the comb through his hair again, combing down any stray hairs that had risen when he had pulled on his spandex top and sweatshirt. He finished up with his socks and shoes and checked himself one more time in the mirror to make sure the costume was safely hidden under his clothes. Satisfied that everything was concealed, he opened the door and the blinds.

As he raised the blinds, he saw movement out of the corner of his eye and looked over towards the Watson's back door. Mary Jane had just stepped out and was pulling her coat over her waitress outfit. He stepped back to the side of the window as Mary Jane turned and began to walk to the front of the yard towards the bus stop. Peter stood and cocked his head slightly so that he could watch her go. His eyes widened as she suddenly stopped in front of his window and looked up. She stood for a moment searching for him before shaking her head sadly and moving on past Peter's view. Peter sighed deeply. Taking one last look in the mirror, he grabbed an old battered duffel bag and his camera that were lying on the dresser beneith it and trudged downstairs towards the front door. He reached the door and began to turn the handle.

"Peter?"

Peter turned around to see aunt May standing on the stairs.

"Aunt May? You're up?" he asked, surprised.

"Yes, I'm up. Why are you? And where are you going? It's only 6 a.m." aunt May said, with her arms folded over her chest.

"Um... It's such a lovely morning, I just wanna get out and take some photographs, aunt May."

Aunt May's eyes widened.

"You aren't going to take pictures of that Spider-Man again, are you?" she asked, fearfully.

"Well, yeah. I was hoping I could take some pictures of him for the Daily Bugle." Peter said, sensing where this conversation was going.

Aunt May came down the stairs towards him.

"Peter, I don't want you risking your life taking pictures of that criminal. Don't you know what the newspapers say about him?"

*Yes, I'm well aware what the newspapers say about me.* Peter thought, grimly

"Aunt May, don't believe everything you read in the papers."he said to her. "They over-exaggerate about Spider-Man in order to sell more issues."

"And how would you know what is true about that menace and what is not?" aunt May asked.

"Because I've met him personally."

Peter instantly regretted telling aunt May that as he watched her eyes widen and her mouth hang open in shock.

"You've...MET HIM? Peter Parker, have you lost your senses?"

Peter sighed.

"Aunt May, he's not what you think. He's trying to do some good in this world, that's all."

"Good, huh? Like that Green Goblin?"

"No, aunt May. The Green Goblin was different. He was a criminal and a murderer. Spider-Man isn't." Peter said, beginning to grow tired of trying to defend himself and his actions to everyone in the world.

Aunt May shook her head.

"I know you are a grown man, Peter. But I still worry about you. Even more now that your uncle Ben is gone."

Peter flinched as she mentioned his name.

"When your uncle Ben died, I felt as though a part of me had died too. If it wasn't for you, Peter. I probably would have not had the strength to go on. That is why I'm so scared of losing you too. You are practically my whole world now."

Peter nodded and embraced aunt May.

"You are one of the most important things in my life too, aunt May." he said, sincerely.

Aunt May looked up at Peter and smiled at him.

"Then remember that and be careful when you are around that Spider-Man. Please?" she said, kissing him on the cheek

Peter smiled.

"I'll be careful, aunt May. I promise." he said.

"Won't you eat something before you go?"she asked.

Peter shook his head.

"I don't feel like eating right now. I'll get something later on." Peter said, turning the knob.

As he opened the door, he kissed aunt May.

"I'll be back later, aunt May. You get some more rest."

"I will Peter, don't worry about me. You just be careful and remember what I said."

"I will, aunt May." Peter said.

He waved goodbye before closing the door and heading down to the bus stop. Aunt May chuckled to herself.

"Headstrong...just like Ben was."

*********************************

Peter perched on top of a ledge scanning downtown New York for any criminal activity. He had stuffed his street clothes into the duffel bag which now rested below him on the building roof. As he looked from left to right, he suddenly heard the low growl of his stomach.

*Dammit, I should have taken aunt May's advice and eaten something.* he thought to himself.

He considered quickly donning his street clothes and getting an egg mcmuffin, but decided against it. He figured as soon as he was up at the register, a bank robbery would occur somewhere.

*Wouldn't J. Jonah Jameson love that headline...Robbers get away with millions while Spider-Man is deciding whether to supersize his value meal.* he thought. *That kind of headline I don't need.*

He looked down and noticed that not many people were out. Deciding everything was alright for the moment, he raised his wrist and watched as his web streaked out and caught the building next door. Holding onto the strand of webbing, he reached down and shot some webbing onto his duffel bag securing it against the wall. Making a mental note of the area. He stood up and hopped off the building hanging onto the strand as he plummeted towards the ground. He let out a whoop as the strand tensed sending him swinging back up into the air. At the highest point, he quickly let out another strand and caught the next building swinging back down as he let go of the first strand.

*What a rush!* he thought to himself as the ground sped up towards him.

As he repeated the motions again and again, he quickly looked into the alleys as he swung by determining whether anything was happening that required his aid. At one alley, he turned his head to look in and then looked back. His eyes widened as he saw a woman in his way. He watched as the woman screamed and jumped out of the way, narrowly avoiding a collision. As Peter turned around, he saw the woman run back to the middle of the sidewalk screaming curses at him.

"Sorry! My fault!" he yelled back at her.

At the next alley, he gave a quick cursory glance and quickly looked back to avoid another confrontation. He made sure to alter his swing slightly as well to avoid the ever increasing crowd of people as he swung towards downtown. As he passed by them, a few screamed in terror, but most of them just stood and pointed up at him in shock. He hoped that one of them didn't take the opportunity to get out a gun and use him as target practice.

He swung by an alley and suddenly saw something on the upswing. Instead of letting out another web strand, he swung up to the highest point and kicked up into the sky. Doing a flip, he landed effortlessly on the ledge of the building. He jumped off the ledge and ran across the roof of the building towards the other side. Looking down into the alley, he noticed a homeless guy lying on the ground by a trash dumpster. Normally, this wouldn't have attracted his attention as homeless people were always lying around in the alleys, but his spider sense told him that something was wrong with this guy. He looked around making sure no one was around and when he saw that no one was around the alley, he turned around and put his left foot down on the building.

He reached down and grabbed the ledge and lowered himself down on the side of the building. He quickly crawled down looking constantly from left to right making sure no one saw him. Halfway down, someone stopped outside the alley for a moment as he tied his shoe. Peter flattened himself against the building until they passed. Satisfied that he was gone, he continued on down until he was near the bottom. He let go all at once and landed with a small thud beside the dumpster. Cautiously, he walked around the dumpster and came face to face with the homeless guy.

The man was lying still. His eyes were closed and his face and hands were as white as a ghost. Peter looked him over and noticed that the man was still alive,but his breathing was very shallow. He tentatively reached out his finger and poked the guy in the shoulder.

"Sir? Can you hear me?"

He looked at the man as he suddenly opened his eyes. As the man tried to focus his vision, Peter leaned over him.

"Sir? What happened to you? Are you hurt?" he asked him.

The man looked up at he heard his voice and his eyes widened in fear.

"No!! Get away from me!! Get away!!" he rasped out.

"Easy sir! I won't hurt you!" Peter said, grabbing ahold of the man as he thrashed wildly.

"No!! You're with them. You're one of them!" the man said, staring at Peter with terrified eyes.

"Who? Who is them?" Peter said, ducking as the man swung his fists wildly. "Sir, let me help you. I'm not with them, whoever THEY are."

"You're lying!" the man screamed out. "You'll take me away. You'll take me away to some building and then you'll..." his voice left him as he began to convulse.

Peter's eyes widened as he watched the man. He grabbed his flailing arm and readied himself to take the man up onto his shoulders. He knew he had to get the man to a hospital and fast. Suddenly he looked down as he heard the man let out a gasp and then stop breathing.

"Oh shit!" Peter cursed, as the man went limp.

He quickly raised his mask up to his nose and bent down over the man. He put his lips over the man's mouth and began administering CPR praying that he could revive him. After a minute, he looked back up and saw the man still was not breathing. He quickly threw his hands over the man's breastbone and began chest compressions. As he tried to get the man's heart working, he kept an eye on his face looking desparately for any signs of life.

"C'mon buddy. C'mon...breathe!! C'mon buddy. Don't die on me.You don't deserve to die this way...alone in an alley." he said to the man as he continued to press up and down on his chest. "Dammit...C'mon!"

After about ten minutes, Peter gave up and he sat back looking at the corpse of the man beside him. He leaned his head up against the building and sighed. He knew he had tried everything in his power to save the man beside him, but it still pained him to know that probably no one would mourn his passing. He had a thought and he began to look through the man's clothes hoping against hope that he had some kind of identification on him. He sighed as he found nothing. It made him even more depressed to know that the man would probably never be identified and would be buried in a pauper's grave.

He stared at the man for a few moments before he got up and hoisted him up onto his shoulders. He knew he was taking a chance of being accused of the man's death by carrying him to the police station, but he didn't want to see the man rotting in the alley while the world passed by, not caring. He felt pretty sure that someone had done something to him and that his death wasn't attributed to something like a drug overdose. He was determined to get to the bottom of it, to bring the murderers of this man to justice and to prevent them, whoever they were, from killing anyone else. Pressing himself to the wall, he climbed back up to the roof and headed towards the police station.

*-----------------------------*-----------------------------*-----------------------------*

Part Three

Peter pulled on his sweatshirt as he stared out at the setting sun.

He had taken the man to the police station and waited on the roof until he saw a couple of policemen walking up to the building. Once they had reached the steps leading up to the doors. He had ridden down on a strand of web in front of the surprised officers.

"I found this man. Someone had attacked him. He died while I was trying to help him and I tried to revive him, but I was unsuccessful."

Peter looked into the cop's eyes and knew they weren't buying it.

"Look, fellas, If I was the one who murdered this man, do you seriously think I would be stupid enough to bring him to the police station and wait until two cops showed up?"

One of the cops folded his arms over his chest.

"According to the Daily Bugle, you have been capable of alot of stupid things in the past." he said.

Peter's eyes widened.

"Jesus Christ, Does everyone in this city believe every word in that damn paper?" he hollared out.

"For your information, the Daily Bugle is a highly respected paper in this city! I doubt they would take up the entire front page printing a bunch of lies."

Peter snorted

"Guess again, buddy." he said, dryly

Suddenly Peter heard one of the building's doors open behind him, he turned his head and saw a cop come out and stand on the top step, staring at him hatefully. Peter recognized him as a cop who tried to arrest him at an apartment fire a few weeks back. Arrest him, even though he had walked up just as Peter was giving back a baby he had rescued to a frantic mother.

"Hey Joey, look who's here, the spider freak!" one of the officers called out.

"Hey, I thought I told you to come back out of that building after you finished rescuing that lady." Joey said, starting towards him.

"I'm sorry officer, I really wanted to come right out and get handcuffed but I had a little problem. See, that 'lady' turned out to be the Green Goblin so I kinda had my hands full" Peter said, sarcastically.

"A likely story." Joey snorted.

Peter sighed. He had no time for this. He had to get back home.

"Look guys, I'm sorry to cut this short but I have other things to do. Whether you believe me or not, it doesn't matter. Just see that this man gets a proper burial okay? It's the least the city can do for ignorning him all these years." Peter said as he inched down on his strand and lowered the man's body gently on the steps. "Now if you boys will excuse me..."

"Oh, no you don't. You are under arrest for causing that apartment fire and for murdering this man." Joey said running towards him.

Peter rolled his eyes. He straightened his arms out and with a burst of strength he hurled himself into the air above the surprised officers. Once he felt himself begin to go back down, he shot out a web strand at the building next door and using it, swung down past the officers.

"Toodles" he yelled out as he swung past them and up into the air.

As he let out another strand and headed back towards the building where his duffel bag was located, he heard the officers running after him.

"Come back here, you costumed freak!"

*************************************

Peter stepped off the bus and made his way towards aunt May's house. He was tired and dirty and it had been a really rotten day from start to finish. The death of the man and the confrontation with the cops had darkened his mood and he only wanted to get to the house, grab a bite to eat, jump in the shower, and go to bed.

As he neared the house, he suddenly stopped. He felt the tingling in his head that indicated his spider sense was kicking in. He tensed his muscles ready for an attack as he began to look from left to right and behind him searching for the source of the apparent danger. He narrowed his eyes in confusion as he could see nothing unusual. He stood for a moment surveying the area, trying to determine where the danger might be.

*Damn, why can't my spider sense also point out the general area where I'm supposed to look?* he thought.

He stood for a few more minutes expecting something to jump out at any moment and attack him. As he stood there though, the tingling in his head began to lessen until finally he couldn't detect it anymore. Peter stared around in confusion, wondering what it was that had triggered it in the first place.He had never had anything like that happen before. Usually when his spider sense was triggered, he could detect where the danger was coming from almost instantly. As far as he could tell, there was nothing out of the ordinary as far as he could see. Peter turned warily and began to walk towards aunt May's house trusting that whatever had triggered his spider sense was gone now. As he reached the porch he looked around one more time before opening the door and quickly shutting it.

He sighed as he started up the stairs.

"Peter?"

Peter turned around to see aunt May walk into the room and look up at him. She stared at him concerned.

"Are you okay, hon?"

Peter nodded.

"I'm really tired aunt May. I just want to get showered and microwave something and go to bed."he said as he resumed walking upstairs.

"You get showered dear, and then come down. Mary Jane is here and I've made dinner for you two."

Peter paused in mid step and looked down at aunt May.

"MJ is here?"

Aunt May nodded.

"She had another argument with her father and she came over here to get away from him. So I invited her to dinner." aunt May stepped closer to the stairs and lowered her voice. "I think she wants to talk to you too. She doesn't look well, Peter. I don't think she's slept or ate much since the funeral and I get the feeling you have a part in that. Do you?"

Peter sighed and nodded.

"She's upset because I just want to be friends at the moment and she wants us to be more."

Aunt May's eyes widened.

"Peter! You've been head over heels in love with Mary Jane since you were six. You mean to tell me you don't love her anymore?"

"No aunt May, that's not it. I'm just not ready for a commitment at the moment. I don't have anything to offer her."

"And frankly Peter, at the moment, she doesn't have much to offer you either, except love. I would rather she was with you than that Harry Osborne. The way he let his father talk about her that day in your apartment still makes my blood boil."

Peter flinched at the memory. He remembered the shock and hurt that was on MJ's face as Norman Osborne denounced her in a loud voice.

"I'm just not ready." he said quietly, tiring of the argument.

"Well, ready or not, she is here and you are going to be civil to her. Do you understand me, Peter Parker?"

Peter nodded.

"Yes, aunt May."

"Good, now go and get your shower. Supper's not quite done yet."

As aunt May walked away muttering under her breath, Peter trudged up the stairs already dreading the evening.

***************************

Peter paused for a moment readying himself for what lay ahead. He had tried to stay in the shower for as long as he could trying to think up excuses for every possible thing she had to say. He had been interrupted by aunt May knocking on his door and calling out that supper was ready and he knew he could delay no more.

He walked down the stairs and shuffled into the kitchen. He smiled weakly at Mary Jane as she sat at the kitchen table. As he neared, she got up from the table and embraced him. Peter embraced her back sighing as her scent penetrated his nostrils.

"Peter, I've been waiting to do this since the funeral." she whispered in his ear.

Peter gulped, fighting back words he couldn't say.

"You smell so good, aunt May said you just showered." she continued.

"Um, yeah. It's been a rough day. I needed one." Peter said, trying to keep his conversation neutral.

Mary Jane laughed softly. To Peter it sounded like the tinkling of bells.

"And what have you been doing that you needed a shower so badly?" she whispered.

"Um..photography. I was taking photographs." Peter said, feeling like a total idiot. *Photography? couldn't you think up a better answer, Parker?* he thought.

"Ooooo, I didn't know photography was such a dirty job."she teased, poking him in the ribs.

Peter breathed a sigh of relief as aunt May opened up the oven and brought out the lasagne. Mary Jane broke the embrace and as she walked towards her chair, Peter quickly walked over and pulled it out for her.

"Oh, thank you!" Mary Jane said, smiling up at Peter as she slid into the seat.

Peter nodded and slid the chair up to the table. Noticing aunt May nodding her approval he walked around the table and sat down across from her.

Aunt May put down the lasagne between them and cut it into slices. She put two slices on a plate and handed one to each. She then walked to the refrigerator and got out the milk. She brought two glasses out of the cabinet and poured milk into each glass. She smiled as she brought the milk to the table and set it down by their plates.

"Have a good dinner, you two." she said, as she walked out of the kitchen.

Peter and Mary Jane ate in silence, each one trying not to be the first one to speak.

Fianally Mary Jane spoke

"I've missed you Peter. I've missed your company." she said putting her fork down.

Peter took a gulp of milk and continued eating.

"I remember that night when we talked by the fence. When you asked me about my hopes and dreams." she continued. "I had never had anyone ask me before. I think that's when I first began to fall in love with you, although I didn't really realize it at the time. I'm glad I finally figured out the truth."

"Mmmhmm." Peter said, trying not to betray his emotions.

Mary Jane stared at him.

"Mmmhmm? I tell you that and all you can say is mmmhmm?" She reached across and took his hand. "Peter, what's wrong? You've been acting like a different person lately. The Peter I know, would never answer what I just said with mmmhmm....Why won't you tell me why you've been so distant lately?"

Peter sighed. He had to say something. He couldn't put it off any longer.

"MJ, I love you, alright? I do...but I'm not sure this is the right time to have a relationship."

"Then when, Peter, When will it be right?"

Peter closed his eyes.

"I don't know. There is so much going on in my life. I really don't have time for a relationship right now. Not that I don't want one..." Peter said quickly, as he noticed Mary Jane start to speak. "But I need to find the right time. A time when I can totally devote myself to us."

Mary Jane stared at him in confusion

"Is your schedule that full? That you can't fit in a romance?"

Peter nodded.

"At the moment...yes."

Mary Jane sighed.

"Peter, I'm so confused. I don't understand. I mean, it's not like you're Spider-Man out saving people all the time."

Peter snorted softly to himself.

*Oh MJ, If you only knew how close you are to the truth.*he thought.

"So what is it you do all day then?" Mary Jane said, folding her arms over her chest and staring at him. "And don't tell me you can't tell me because I'm tired of you being secretive. If you love me, as you claim, then there should be no secrets between us."

Peter gulped as a conflict raged in his brain. He quickly weighed the pros and cons about telling her he was Spider-Man as she sat waiting for him to speak. He wanted to tell her, but *it might mean her death* kept screaming out over and over in his head."Well? I'm waiting." Mary Jane said, eyeing him.

Peter opened his mouth to speak. Suddenly his eyes widened and he dropped his fork on the table with a clang as his spider sense kicked in once more.

"Peter? Are you okay?" Mary Jane asked, noticing the blank expression on his face.

Suddenly Peter bolted to the door as Mary Jane yelped in surprise. Flinging open the door, he ran out into the middle of the street beginning his frantic search for the danger his mind was telling him was near.He began to panic as again there was no sign of anything wrong. Suddenly he jumped as he felt someone grab him from behind.

"Peter? What's the matter?"

Peter swung around, his eyes wide with fear for her.

"Get in the house, now!" he yelled out.

Mary Jane stared at him in shock and then slowly nodded.

"Okay...Peter, whatever you say." she said, walking back towards the door.

Peter followed her and quickly shut the door. Across the street in the shadows a dark figure began to laugh softly before disappearing into the night.

*-----------------------------*-----------------------------*-----------------------------*

Part Four

After yelling at Mary Jane, she had went home in tears and Peter ended up enduring a lecture from aunt May. After she finally went to bed, Peter had waited until he was sure she was asleep before quickly donning his Spider-Man costume and heading out his window to begin a sweep of the area trying to find the danger he had sensed. He spent most of the night searching up and down the block in every nook and cranny only to have it all be in vain. He had not found anything nor had his spider sense kicked in once.

"Shit!" he sighed to himself.

He finally decided to give up for the night and headed back towards his window. As he reached the window he paused and stared over at Mary Jane's bedroom window. Feeling a pang of guilt at his outburst earlier, he decided to check on her to make sure she was okay. He noticed her window was open and he lightly jumped from his window to hers, landing silently on the ledge. He stepped down into her room and stared at her asleep in her bed. The moonlight streaming through the window illuminated her face and Peter noticed tear streaks running down her cheeks. Sighing to himself, he moved closer and stared at her, transfixed by the way her face appeared to glow in the moonlight. He thought she was the closest thing to an angel he had ever seen. He wondered if he could get away with giving her a quick kiss when all of a sudden, he saw her eyes flutter open. Peter froze, unsure of what to do as Mary Jane opened her eyes and stared at him in confusion.

"Spider-Man?" she said, hesitantly.

"Um, yeah."Peter said, suddenly feeling awkward again. "I...I...I was just in the neighborhood and I just wanted to check up on you. To make sure you're okay. You went through alot with the Goblin."

Mary Jane nodded.

"You did too."she said."You saved all those kids as well as me. You deserved a medal for bravery."

Peter felt himself blush under his mask.

"Thanks."he said. "At least someone thinks so."

"Thanks for checking up on me."she said. "At least someone cares about me."

Peter decided to find out if MJ hated him now.

"What do you mean?" he asked, as casually as he could.

"Oh it's just that no one thinks I'm worth anything and now the one man I thought was the exception yells at me tonight, just like everyone else seems to do when they get around me."she said bitterly

"Peter Parker?"

Mary Jane looked at him.

"Yes....He told me he was your personal photographer, when I visited him and his aunt, while she was in the hospital. He said you talk about me sometimes."

Peter nodded.

"Yes, and he talks about you too."

"He does? What does he say?" she asked, curious

"He told me you mean more to him than life itself."

"Really? He sure has a funny way of showing it." she said, sarcastically.

Peter flinched at the tone of her voice.

"Um...That's because he's been under alot of stress lately."he said, trying to keep his voice steady. "His best friend's dad was killed and J Jonah Jameson has been on him to get more pictures of me. So he's been tense and moody."

"And he told you all this?"

Peter nodded.

"Yes, He feels guilty that he hasn't been as close to you as he'd like to be. But he wants you to know that he does love you. He just is unsure about a relationship since he's never been in one before."

Mary Jane nodded.

"I can understand that. He was teased constantly in high school. I don't think he ever had a real friend except for Harry Osborne. I was so stupid back then, I never paid attention to him either."she said, sadly. "And now that I want to change all that, he becomes distant."

Peter gulped. He had never expected her to confess everything to him this way. It made him feel like he was eavesdropping on a private conversation about him.

"Give him time, Mary Jane. He needs to work some things out before he can be with you." he said.

Mary smiled at him.

"Thanks Spider-Man for listening to me. I'm gonna go talk to him tomorrow and apologize for running out on him."

Peter nodded, happy that through Spider-Man he was able to do damage control with MJ. Now the only problem was figuring out how to get past the fact that he was Spider-Man so he could have a relationship.

"Well, I better get going. I have to keep an eye out for crime and you need some sleep before you talk to Peter tomorrow."he said.

Mary Jane nodded.

"Good luck, Spider-Man and be careful keeping all of us safe."

Peter smiled at that and waved to her as he stepped back up on the window ledge.

"I will." he said.

Mary Jane watched as he leaped out the window. Smiling to herself, she settled back down under her covers and with a sigh, fell back to sleep.

*************************************

Spider-Man leapt back to the window of his house. He took a look around making sure no one was around before jumping into his room He took off his mask and gloves and walked into his bathroom. Closing the door he began to peel off the rest of his costume. He was so glad he had taken the time to talk to MJ and let her know that he still cared about her. He hated to think of her hating him because he had let his fears for her safety cause his outburst. He folded his costume and put his mask and gloves on top of it. He carried the costume to his dresser drawer and shoved it in the back. He trusted aunt May not to go through his drawer and since he was responsible now for his laundry, he was the only one who had any reason to be in it. He pulled out a pair of boxers and put them on. As he shut the door, he suddenly felt his spider sense kick in again.

*It has to happen just as I put the costume away* he thought to himself, opening up the drawer again.

He reached in and grabbed the costume. Suddenly, his eyes widened as he heard Mary Jane screaming in her bedroom.

*NO! MJ!* he thought.

He ran to the window and looked out. His eyes narrowed in confusion as he witnessed an unconscious Mary Jane floating across her lawn towards the front of her house.

"What the hell?" he said, as he blinked his eyes.

He froze as he heard a voice behind him.

"Don't be in such a hurry. You are going to go with her."

Peter turned around and stared in confusion as he saw there was no one around. Suddenly he felt a sharp pain to his face and he reeled back towards the floor. The last thing he heard before he lost consciousness was an evil laugh.

*-----------------------------*-----------------------------*-----------------------------*

Part Five

Peter slowly opened his eyes and looked around. He was in a huge, half-lit, room devoid of anything except for the lone lab table he was strapped to. Peter looked down and noticed he was restrained at the wrists, ankles and chest with leather straps. He frowned as he noticed there was a heavy metal band encircling the spot on his arms where his web shooters were. He also felt a metal band encircling his neck like a collar. The other thing that puzzled him was apparently while he was unconscious, the people who had taken him had taken the time to dress him in his Spider-Man costume.

Peter grunted as he tried to break the straps that were holding him. Normally, it would have taken no effort to break the straps with his super strength, but they had somehow weakened him. He wondered if it had something to do with the metal collar.

"They better not have hurt aunt May or Mary Jane." he muttered to himself

"Oh, we didn't."

Peter blinked as he heard a voice speak in front of him.

"Where are they? What have you done to them?" he yelled out.

"We didn't bother with your aunt. but we took your girlfriend in order to obtain your cooperation." the disembodied voice hissed. "She's safe...for now."

"Who are you?" Peter said, growing frustrated at not being able to see who was talking to him. "Show yourself!" he demanded.

Peter's eyes widened as he suddenly saw a man materialize in front of him. He smirked at him

"Feel better now?"

Peter nodded.

"Excellent, now lets get down to business. We need you to help us."

"What makes you think I will?"Peter said.

The man snorted.

"Oh come on, we have the love of your life. I'm sure you'll do just about anything to ensure her safety. It would be a shame for you to have to hear her agonized screams."

Peter felt sick to his stomach. He gulped

"Alright, you have my undivided attention." he said.

The man's smirk widened.

"I knew you would see reason." he said, with a chuckle. "Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Taran, short for Tarantula and might I add, it's a pleasure to finally meet you.

He suddenly became serious.

"To begin at the beginning, mister Parker, I was once a normal man like you. I decided after high school to enlist in the army in order to serve my country. But I and a bunch of others were turned into guinea pigs by the government instead. We were taken against our wills to a secret underground labratory here in New York. where scientists experimented on us hoping to create super soldiers. The government had the bright idea of turning us all into spider men much like yourself. Except we became spider men in the literal sense. Our bodies were genetically mutated to create a spider/human hybrid. A very painful process, I might add. At first we only looked like spiders. The scientists planned to add in the extras like webbing and venom later. Their thinking was we would go into battle and bite the enemy and inject them with venom. Not to kill them, but only temporarily paralyze them. After they were paralyzed, they would be taken back to the lab to be brainwashed and undergo the same process of mutation and then the hybrids would then go out and paralyze more people to be brainwashed and mutated and so on and so on. That way they would have a neverending supply of supersoldiers they could send out.

Before the scientists could add the other abilities, we managed to escape and kill all but a few of them. We enslaved the ones that remained and used them as a blood supply since unfortunately, being spiders, we can only digest blood now. We also found a few prototypes of other inventions they were working on and we forced them to finish them so we can use them to our advantage. One of them is that collar you have around your neck. It is designed to sap a person's energy and keep them weak. We thought it might come in handy should any of the scientists try to escape but now we see it serves a useful purpose with you as well. They also were working on these invisibility and hologram belts here." he said pointing to a metal belt around his waist. "You push this red button here in the center and poof...you are invisible You push this blue button under it and a hologram disguise surrounds you. Rather ingenious, don't you think. They were working on it for special forces troops so they could penetrate the enemies strongholds without them noticing and then disguising themselves once they got in. But again, it came in handy when we wanted to spy on you. The only drawback was there was no way to get around your precognition ability which is why you were constantly sensing us. It wasn't as bad when you were fighting the Green Goblin because your senses were occupied with him, but once he died, it was a different matter."

"This is all interesting, but what has it to do with me?" Peter asked.

Taran smiled.

"Ah, we are interested in you, mister Parker. More specifically, we are interested in your genetic makeup. You see, we would like to complete the scientist's vision and create an army of super soldiers to overthrow countries and rule the world. You are the key, mister Parker. You have all the abilities we desire. So you are going to help us create a serum out of your blood. A serum we can duplicate as many times as we want to create as many soldiers as we want.

"You're insane." Peter said.

"Yes, mister Parker. I am. But I was made this way, so I might as well make the most of it." he said with a grin. "And before you say anything, you will do as we say, or Mary Jane suffers. Deep below us, there is a pit filled with rejects from the experiments. Men that are more spider than man. They will not hesitate to kill anyone we throw in there. Get my drift?"

Peter nodded.

"Good, I'm glad we see eye to eye. You are a bright boy, mister Parker. We have faith you will not try anything funny and you will help us achieve our goals." Taran stared at him. "Speaking of seeing eye to eye..." he reached up and pulled the Spider-Man mask off of Peter's head. "There that's better." he smirked as Peter glared at him. "Oh, now. Don't look at me like that, mister Parker. We can be friends."

"Not likely." Peter said.

Taran shrugged.

"Suit yourself, mister Parker. You've heard our demands and what we will do if you won't cooperate. You will begin work in a few hours. I will return then and I will move you to the scientist's labratory where you will be given free reign to work, although you will still be monitored remotely. I would use this time to rest in the meantime."

Taran walked away as Peter glared hatefully. As he reached the edge of the light, he paused and looked back.

"Oh and by the way, we were not alone."

As Peter stared at him in confusion, Taran reached out and flipped a light switch on the wall beside him. As the rest of the room became illuminated, Peter's eyes widened in horror as he saw Mary Jane bound hand, and foot, and gagged, staring at him with tears in her eyes. Peter shut his eyes in anguish as Taran walked over and grabbed Mary Jane. He threw her wriggling body over his shoulder as he walked away, chuckling.

"Oh God." Peter said to himself, suddenly feeling like he was going to puke.

*-----------------------------*-----------------------------*-----------------------------*

Part Six

For the next couple of hours, Peter's mind raced as he lay tied to the table.

*She must hate me now. She knows I've lied to her all this time. Everything I've tried to keep together has been destroyed by a human lab experiment. If we make it out alive, she'll never wanna have anything to do with me.* he thought, sadly.

Peter pushed it out of his mind, despite what Mary Jane thought about him being Spider-Man, he knew he had to get her away from these maniacs somehow.

He looked up and glared as Taran entered the room.

"Time to go, mister Parker." he looked at him."Don't give me that look. She would have found out sooner or later, wouldn't you agree? We could see the trouble you were having trying to keep your identity secret from her. We decided to make things easier for you."

"That wasn't your decision to make, it was mine." Peter spat out.

"Well there's no use crying over spilled milk now, mister Parker. What's done is done. If she truly loves you, I'm sure she'll accept you as Spider-Man. Now let's get going. We have a deadline to keep." Taran said coldly, as he unbuckled the straps.

"If you hurt her, I swear I will tear out all eight of your arms and shove them down your throat." Peter said.

Taran rolled his eyes as he muttered "Geez, how cliche can you get?" He finished up with the straps and shoved Peter off the table and onto the floor.

"Get going, loverboy." he hissed, grabbing his arm.

Peter winced at his grip and followed along, not wanting to piss the guy off further lest he take it out on Mary Jane. They walked down a long dark cooridor towards a door. As they reached the door, Peter's mind whirled. He couldn't do what they were asking him to do. He couldn't allow them to take over the world. Even if he did do as they wanted and made the serum, what good would it do for him and Mary Jane to live in a world controlled by them? He doubted they would allow him and Mary Jane to walk out alive now anyway, after all they had seen and heard. He knew he would fight to the death to protect Mary Jane and it seemed like with every passing minute, that sentiment was becoming more of a reality for him. But if he had to die that way, then so be it.

Taran opened the door and shoved Peter through it. He looked around at what looked like a standard labratory. It had everything you would expect from the microscope down to the test tubes. As Taran flipped on another light, Peter's stomach lurched as he saw a glass display case built into the far wall. Mary Jane was sitting in it with no restraints, staring at him fearfully.

"Peter!" she said.

Peter turned and stared at Taran.

"What the hell is this?" he asked, pointing to Mary Jane

Taran gave him a mock look of hurt.

"Why mister Parker? You mean you don't appreciate our little gesture? That was built by the scientists so they could keep a test subject in the lab until he was needed. We thought you'd work better if you had your girlfriend where you could see her. I would hate for you to waste brain power wondering where she is."

Peter gritted his teeth.

"You bastards." he said.

"Yeah, yeah."Taran muttered. He shoved Peter into the room. "Just be thankful we didn't do more to Mary Jane than stick her behind that glass. Now get to work or else." he said slamming the door and locking it.

Peter sighed. He shuffled his feet as he walked towards the lab equipment. As he passed by Mary Jane, he deliberately avoided eye contact, half afraid of seeing her face. He expected a million questions from her, but she kept silent save for the occasional sob. Peter looked at everything in front of him. His eyes widened as he saw an IV bag of blood marked on the front with his name.

*Must have taken that outta me while I was out* he thought. *Well, I guess I'll start with this while I try to think of a way out.*

He grabbed the IV bag and a couple of test tubes and a funnel.

"You're not gonna do this, are you Peter?"

Peter turned to look at MJ, who was staring at him in shock.

"You're not gonna help them?"

"I have to MJ, I have no choice." Peter said softly.

He gave her a sad smile before turning back to the counter. He put the funnel in one of the test tubes and opened the IV bag. Pouring carefully, he filled the test tube almost to the top and closed up the bag. He stood for a moment planning his next move."How?"

Peter turned around and stared at Mary Jane.

"How, what?"

"How did you...become Spider-Man?" she asked.

Peter sighed. He pretended to keep working as he talked just in case someone would think he wasn't working fast enough and come in the room.

"You remember the day we took the field trip to the laboratory."

"Yes."

"You remember how they were showing us those superspiders and you saw one of them was missing."

"Yes, that lab tech thought they had taken it away so they could work on it."

Peter shook his head.

"No MJ, they were wrong. That spider was in the room with us. High up in the rafters. As I was taking your picture by the superspiders, it eased itself down on a strand onto my right hand. As I finished taking the pictures and you walked away, it bit me here." He turned slightly and pointed to the spot beside his thumb."

Mary Jane stared at his hand.

"Oh Peter, Why didn't you tell someone? Why didn't you go to the hospital and get it checked out?" she asked.

Peter shrugged.

"I didn't think it was that bad a bite. I figured I'd get an itch and some swelling and that would be it. But, that night, when I got home I became deathly ill and I passed out. When I woke up, I was Spider-Man. The first thing I noticed right away was I was able to see without my glasses and I had developed a rock hard physique. My other powers I discovered later on."

"Like being able to catch me and a whole tray of food at the same time?"

Peter chuckled.

"Yeah, and being able to survive a fight with Flash Thompson too."

Mary Jane thought for a moment.

"It all makes sense now, Peter. You did stop wearing your glasses right after the trip to the lab and your weird behavior and being so secretive all the time and...the way you acted at the funeral"

Peter sighed.

"I wanted to tell you MJ, but I was afraid someone else would try to hurt you if they found out you were Spider-Man's girlfriend. I guess It didn't matter though, because they found out anyway." Peter said, gesturing to the lab.

"I'm glad I know now, Peter. I felt so guilty for that kiss in the alley with Spider-Man after I realized I loved you. It's nice to know who my superhero stalker really was ."

"I'm glad you found out too,MJ. It's easier than making up excuses all the time and I hated being deceitful to you."

Mary Jane watched as Peter put the test tube into the centrifuge.

"What are we going to do, Peter? We can't let them get away with this." Mary Jane said, lowering her voice to a whisper.

Peter walked over beside the display case and pretended to be looking for something.

"I don't know yet, MJ. I'm thinking." Peter said, whispering. "They must have a way to unlock these metal bands around my neck and arms. If I can get them off, I'll get back my powers and my web shooters. Then we might have a chance. I'm not sure how many of these hybrids there are though, I've only seen that Taran."

"I've seen a few more. When they were tying me up, there were two in the room with me and as I was being carried to the room where you were, I saw three more in the hallways."

"So, six at least." Peter mused. "Probably more than that, plus those rejects in that pit Taran talked about." Peter sighed. "And I thought Gobby was a handful."

Mary Jane smiled.

"We'll escape Peter. I want to be able to escape so I can finally enjoy a romance with you."

"Yeah, me too, MJ" Peter said.

Mindful that he was being watched, he walked back to the counter trying not to arouse any suspicions that they were planning something. As he turned and reached for something, he saw a flash of light out of the corner of his eye, he turned his head a bit more and his eyes widened as he realized he had found the hidden camera that was watching them. He hadn't noticed it before because it was small and set back in the shadows, but as it rotated the lens had caught the light betraying it's location. Peter turned his head back to the counter hoping that whoever was monitoring them had not realized he had found the camera.

***********************************

An hour had passed and Peter worked as slowly as he could. He had no idea how to even go about making a serum out of his blood. He was smart, but this was more suited for a geneticist with a Ph.D, not a part time college student who had only recently gotten the hang of his abilities. He suspected that didn't matter to them though, they would expect him to give them this serum or he and Mary Jane would suffer. He walked back over to Mary Jane and pretended to look for something again.

"I have no idea what to do, MJ."he whispered. "It's been over an hour now and I'm sure they aren't the kind of people who are patient."

"Why would they think you were capable of this, Peter. Surely if they were spying on you that much, they would have known this is beyond your capabilities."

"I'm pretty sure it's beyond anyone's capabilities, MJ. In all the science books i've read, I've never heard of anyone ever making a serum like this. I think it's hopeless."

He raised up as Taran entered the room.

"Well, mister Parker? Any progress?"

Peter shook his head.

"You've got the wrong guy. I have no idea how to even begin to produce this serum."

Taran stared at him, frowning. He strode past Peter to the far end of the counter and pointed to a stack of heavy black books.

"Maybe it would help if you spent less time talking to your girl and more time studying the scientist's notes." he said, glaring at him.

Peter shifted uneasily. He never even considered looking all over the counter. He was only trying to stall while he thought of a way to escape.

Taran picked up the books and slammed them down beside the centrifuge.

"Now enough of this foolishness. Study these notes and produce that serum. We will give you two hours and if there is no significant progress by then, Mary Jane will be tortured. Then maybe you will see we mean business!"

Peter sighed as Taran slammed the door.

"I'm beginning to miss the Green Goblin." he said to himself.

*-----------------------------*-----------------------------*-----------------------------*

Part Seven

Peter turned the pages of the book frowning as he skimmed through the notes. He had five huge books to go through with at least 500 pages worth of reading and no index or any way of knowing where exactly the formula for the serum was and he had to get started in two hours. He had spent a half hour just getting through half of the first book.

"Find anything, Peter?" Mary Jane asked him.

Peter turned his head

"I've found alot of interesting things. These scientists had some good ideas. But I haven't found anything at all about making a serum yet. Time's running out and i've barely begun to search.

"Maybe Taran's looked through the books before, Peter. Maybe he can tell you where it is."

Peter shook his head.

"I doubt if he'd be able to understand much of what is in here, MJ. It's mostly technical stuff. I'm having trouble understanding it in spots." Peter said.

"Then we're doomed." Mary Jane said, sadly

"Don't think like that MJ, maybe I'll get lucky and find it in this first book. And if I don't, I'll still fight Taran if he tries to take you away, superstrength or not." Peter said, smiling at her.

Peter went back to studying the book. Suddenly he had a thought. He walked back over to MJ and did his little looking for something ruse.

"MJ, how did they get you in there?" he said, pointing to the display case

"Um, they pushed a button and this glass slid up. Once they had me in there, they pushed the button again and the glass went down."

"Button? Did you see where the button was?" Peter asked.

"Yeah, one of them had a kind of remote control and he pushed the button on it."

Peter pursed his lips.

"If that's true, than there should be a curcuit panel somewhere around. If I can find it, I can try to manually raise the glass. When he pressed the button, about where did he aim the remote?"

"Near the display case." Mary Jane said.

Peter's eyes darted around looking for any small door. He smiled as he suddenly saw it down near the bottom of the display case behind some boxes.

"Found it!" Peter whispered.

Peter glanced around and waited until the camera turned away from the display case. He quickly shoved the boxes over and pried open the little door. As the camera came back, he pretended to search through the boxes.

"Okay Peter, the camera's off us now." Mary Jane whispered

Peter nodded and quickly studied the circuits. As the camera whirled back around, he went back to his pretend search. Once Mary Jane gave the signal for all clear. He quickly reached in and fiddled with the wires. Mary Jane watched him nervously as he worked. As Peter crossed two wires, he suddenly heard a whirring sound and Mary Jane's joyful gasp. He looked up and smiled as he saw the glass rise slowly.

Peter and Mary Jane looked at each other and smiled. Suddenly Peter noticed the camera spin back.

"Freeze, MJ. Act natural." he whispered.

Mary Jane quickly adopted a casual pose as if nothing had happened. Peter kept his head down watching out of the corner of his eye for the camera to swing back. Once it had turned away, Peter rose up and grabbed Mary Jane. They ran to the door and tried it. Peter groaned as he saw the door was locked.

"Argh, I really miss not having my powers." he said.

Peter glanced over at the camera and his stomach lurched as he notice the camera stop as it focused on the empty display case.

"Aw, shit. They know now." Peter said.

Suddenly, he and Mary Jane jumped back as they heard the door unlocking. Peter stepped between Mary Jane and the door readying himself for anything. They watched as the door opened and a hybrid stepped in balancing a tray of food with one hand.

"Though you might like some lun..." he said, suddenly noticing Peter and Mary Jane.

Taking advantage of the hybrids shock, Peter drew back his fist and punched him as hard as he could in the face. The hybrid reeled for a moment before he toppled to the floor, unconcious. The tray spilling it's contents on top of him.

"Nice shot." Mary Jane said.

"Thanks. It's nice to know I don't need my superstrength to take these guys out."

He stared at the belt around the hybrids waist and reached down for it. At that moment, he heard angry voices coming closer and decided there wasn't any time to get it off. Grabbing Mary Jane's hand, they ran out into the cooridor and down it. Peter hoped he could get out before the hybrids entered it.

No such luck. Halfway down the cooridor, they saw two hybrids turn and stare at them. Peter sighed as he saw the hybrid's advancing towards them, laughing.

"Well, well...looks like someone was trying a foolish escape attempt." one hybrid said to the other.

"I guess the nice approach didn't quite work." the other hybrid replied. "I guess the only way he'll learn is if he watches his girl suffer."

The hybrids stood for a moment and then suddenly took off at a run down the cooridor towards Peter. Peter planted his feet and balled up his fist as he motioned for Mary Jane to get back. As the first one reached him, Peter struck him on the chin. Unlike the other hybrid, it didn't affect him as much. He staggered back, but kept his footing. Snarling at Peter, he released a punch of his own and hit Peter on the cheek. The force of the blow sent Peter into the wall as Mary Jane gasped. Peter shook his head as his vision returned. His eyes widened as he saw the other hybrid run past him towards Mary Jane. Peter reached out and grabbed his hair, throwing the screaming hybrid to the floor. He raised his foot and stomped on his stomach, smiling as the hybrid let out an "Ooof" and curled up in a ball rolling around in pain.

The other hybrid ran towards Peter, roaring with rage. Peter kicked his foot out and connected with the belt. He and Mary Jane screamed as the hologram disguise faded away to reveal a large, ugly black spider with eight arms, six eyes and huge fangs.

*Jesus! I'm glad my transformation didn't go that far* Peter thought.

The beast yelled out and lept at Mary Jane. Peter kicked out again and sent him sprawling to the floor. As the hybrid lay dazed, Peter suddenly noticed a small silver box on the side of his belt. He quickly grabbed for it and saw it was one of the remotes. He pushed one of the buttons and frowned as nothing happened. As the creature staggered to his feet and began to attack him. He pushed the other one.

Everything stopped as suddenly the metal bands around his arms and necks fell to the floor with a clang. Peter stared at the hybrid with an amused grin as he stood staring at the metal bands on the floor. His smile grew even wider as he noticed the hybrid start to tremble. The hybid looked up at him

"Um...Hey...It was all a joke okay? We didn't mean anything by it!"the hybrid said, holding up his arms in front of him. "Um...We were just messing with you. We weren't gonna do anything to Mary Jane."

Peter chuckled as the hybrid started to back away.

"Well, well...Seems you guys can't be tough the minute little Spidey gets his powers back, eh?" he said, smirking. "I guess i'm just gonna have to show you I mean business now."

"No...no, um...mister Parker, sir. I know you mean business." the hybrid said, trembling.

"Hmmm...sir, I like the sound of that." Peter said, winking at Mary Jane. "But I'm afraid it's too little, too late. Mary Jane and I really have to go. So on that note...BUH BYE." Peter said drawing back his fist.

Peter punched the hybrid in the face. This time, thanks to his superstrength, the hybrid flew thru the air like a rag doll landing with a loud smack at the end of the cooridor. Peter stared down at the hybrid still on the floor.

"YOU GONNA GIVE ME ANY TROUBLE?" he yelled at him.

He smirked as the hybrid rapidly shook his head.

"I thought not."

He grabbed Mary Jane's hand and started back down the cooridor. They had almost reached the end when they saw two more hybrids stop in front of him. They looked at the unconcious hybrid, up the hall to Peter, and back to the hybrid. They looked at each other and ran towards Peter. Peter raised his arms and shot out webbing. He watched as the webbing quickly engulfed the hybrids bodies in a cocoon, rendering them helpless. Peter looked back at Mary Jane

"God, that felt good!" he said.

As Mary Jane giggled, they ran to the end of the cooridor and looked both ways. Peter pointed towards the direction the hybrids had been coming.

"I think we should go this way." he said.

He started to run and then stopped. Mary Jane stared at him in confusion.

"What's wrong, Peter?"

Peter pointed to his ear.

"I can hear them coming. We better go the other way."

They turned and ran the other way. As they reached the end towards a T section. Peter sensed more hybrids coming. He turned around and grabbed Mary Jane.

"Hold on to my neck." he told her.

Mary Jane threw his arms around him and Peter jumped up to the ceiling, sticking there. He looked over his shoulder and he and Mary Jane watched as the hybrids turned the corner and stopped. They pointed to the unconscious hybrid and ran under them, talking amongst themselves. Once they had run past, Peter began to crawl across the ceiling. He stopped at the T section and looked both ways. Satisfied that no other hybrids were coming, he turned to his right and crawled into the cooridor. Once he had gotten past their line of sight, he wrapped one arm around Mary Jane and jumped back down to the ground. As they ran down the cooridor, they could hear the conscious hybrids screaming out that they had escaped. They came across another T section at the end of the cooridor. Peter stopped as he sensed more hybrids off to his right.

"Jesus Christ, how many are there?" he said.

He and Mary Jane turned to the left and noticed there was a door at the end of the cooridor. Hoping it was unlocked, they ran as fast as they could towards it. They reached the door and Peter sighed with relief as it opened, he could sense nothing behind it. Peter grabbed Mary Jane and they ran inside quickly shutting it. Mary Jane turned and leaned against the door panting heavily, as Peter listened for any sounds in the cooridor. Suddenly, he felt Mary Jane grab his arm. He turned and looked at her and saw she was pointing ahead of her. He turned and his eyes widened as he saw there were several men lying on the floor. All of them were pale and gaunt, their eyes glazed over. A few of them turned to look at Peter and Mary Jane, but most lacked the strength and lay there quietly staring up at the ceiling. Peter noticed they all had enormous bruising on their necks.

"These must be the scientists the hybrids use for their blood supply." he said to Mary Jane.

"Oh Peter, we've gotta get them outta here and to a hospital"

Peter nodded. Suddenly his spider sense kicked in and he began to hear a hissing above them. As he looked up his eyes widened as he saw a yellow colored gas leaking into the room. Peter yelled out to Mary Jane and they crouched down, but the gas quickly filled the room. Peter held Mary Jane as they coughed trying desparately to breathe. Peter felt himself begin to lose consciousness.

*MJ* he thought before the darkness overtook him.

*-----------------------------*-----------------------------*-----------------------------*

Part Eight

Peter slowly woke up. After he and Mary Jane had been gassed, he had slipped into a semi-conscious state. He couldn't wake up but he could feel himself being dragged along and faint voices laughing and mocking him and Mary Jane. He willed himself to come awake and move his limbs but he could do neither. He could only lie helplessly as he and Mary Jane were at their mercy.

After a time, he felt the dragging stop and he lay there in complete silence except for the occasional faint burst of laughter. He hoped Mary Jane was okay, he could feel nothing around him so if Mary Jane was nearby, they had put some space between them. Suddenly he felt himself being raised off the ground and something being slipped on his eyes and tightened. He thought it felt like a blindfold, but he couldn't be sure.

After awhile, he finally felt himself regaining conciousness. He frowned as he opened his eyes and noticed that he was still in darkness. He realized that he was correct about the blindfold. He listened for Mary Jane but all he could hear was voices around him, giggling.

"MJ?" he said in a slurred voice.

This only seemed to make the giggling around him grow louder, and it infuriated him.

"Where is Mary Jane?" he yelled out, his voice growing stronger by the minute.

He tried to get up, but found his limbs were not responding.

"What have you done to us?"

"Relax, mister Parker." Taran's said, amused. "The gas you and Mary Jane breathed knocked you out, but it also temporarily paralyzed you. You will be able to move again soon, but sadly not soon enough to save Mary Jane."

Peter gasped and gritted his teeth.

"Where is she? Take this goddamn blindfold off me!" he screamed out, his anger rising by the minute.

Taran snickered

"As you wish, mister Parker." he said.

Peter blinked as Taran snatched the blindfold off of his face. He looked around and saw that there were at least 30 hybrids without their disguises on sitting in a semi circle around a huge hole in the floor. Suspended above the hole by her wrists hung Mary Jane looking down into the hole with a terrified expression on her face. Peter's eyes widened as he heard deep growling coming from the hole.

"Remember we told you about the rejects that were kept in the pit, mister Parker? Your girl is about to meet them face to face." Taran said.

"No, let her go! Put me in the pit!" Peter yelled out, as he watched Mary Jane look over at him.

"And lose our one and only chance at getting that serum made? I think not." Taran spat out.

"If you kill MJ, you'll get no serum from me!" Peter said, trying to play the last card he had.

He winced in pain as Taran grabbed a handful of hair and snapped his head back. Peter looked at Taran without his disguise, as he stared back at Peter with his cold, inhuman, eyes.

"You had your chance to keep Mary Jane with you as you created the serum. We were generous allowing her to be in the room while you worked. But apparently, you didn't recognize a good thing when you saw it. So I guess the only way to obtain your cooperation is to break your spirit forever by letting you watch her die." he said, pointing to Mary Jane. "I think that and an occasional blood draining will be more than enough to keep you under control. And when you finally finish the serum, then and only then, will we allow you to die." he spat out.

"Leave him alone!"

Peter's eyes darted over to Mary Jane. His stomach tightened as he noticed the pleading look in her eyes.

"Please leave him alone."

Taran smirked at her.

"If I were you, my dear. I'd be more concerned with what's going to be happening to you than to your boyfriend."

"I don't care what happens to me as long as Peter's safe." she cried out, as bravely as she could.

Peter's heart swelled with love at the thought of Mary Jane willing to sacrifice herself for him. He swallowed back tears.

"No MJ, don't talk like that." he said.

He gritted his teeth as the room erupted with laughter and "Wooooo's". Taran chuckled.

"How romantic! This is even better than a soap opera!" he said, amused. "It's too bad we have to end Mary Jane's life now. It would have been fun to hear more dialogue like this. But sadly, you didn't take us seriously when we threatened you. So the fun ends now!"

He pulled Peter to the edge of the pit. Peter glanced down and saw at least thirty of the reject hybrids pushing over each other and drooling as they tried to climb up the slick walls towards Mary Jane. Peter willed himself to move, but he remained paralyzed. He noticed that they hadn't put the metal arm bands back on him so he figured he was going to be paralyzed for awhile. He thought it probably gave them a sadistic kind of joy knowing he could use his powers if only he wasn't immobile.

"Lower her in." Taran called out.

"NO!" Peter screamed out as Mary Jane began to slowly descend into the pit.

As she screamed in terror, the hybrids began to chant in unison as if they were watching a football game.

"DIE!...DIE!...DIE!...DIE!" they yelled out.

The chorus made Peter that much angrier. As Mary Jane continued down towards the hungry hybrids, Peter continued to fight the paralysis determined to help her. Just as he lost all hope, he suddenly felt a tingling in his fingers. Hardly daring to believe, he tried to move his fingers...and did. He next felt a tingling in his arm, then his shoulder then his chest all the way down to his toes. Silently, he tested each part of his body and smiled to himself as he found he could move them all.

"You know, it isn't pretty when those rejects feed on someone. They tend to rip the person to shreds." Taran hissed with glee in Peter's ear.

"Really?"Peter said. "Well, I better get in there and rescue her then."

Taran chuckled.

"Dream on, Par...KERRRRRR" Taran screamed as Peter suddenly threw him over his shoulder.

As the hybrids gasped, Peter leaped into the pit and grabbed the rope above Mary Jane's hands.

"Peter!" Mary Jane cried out

Above him , he could hear Taran yell out angrily.

"You fools! you told me you gassed him enough that he would be immobile for at least three hours!"

Peter chuckled to himself. He turned his attention to Mary Jane.

"Hang on, MJ. I'm gonna get you out of here." he said.

He raised his arm up to the ceiling. Suddenly he gasped as he felt something grab his legs. He looked down and noticed one of the rejects had leap up and latched onto him. As the reject opened his jaws to bite Peter, he lowered his arm and shot gooey webbing into his mouth. As the reject let go to try to pry the webbing off, Peter kicked as hard as he could sending the reject back down on top of the others. Peter turned his attention back to Mary Jane. He reached up and grabbed the shackles around her wrists. He pulled on them and the shackles bent open. As Mary Jane started to fall, Peter grabbed her with his free hand and grabbed her to him.

"Can you move, MJ?" he yelled to her

Mary Jane nodded.

"Grab on to me." he commanded.

As she put her arms around Peter's neck, he again raised his arm and shot a springy strand of webbing straight up to the ceiling. He let go of the rope and cataputed himself and Mary Jane up to the ceiling narrowly missing several rejects who had lept up and grabbed the rope. As he stuck to the ceiling, he looked down at all the angry hybrids pointing up at him and yelling. He looked over and saw the entrance. He reached down with one hand and shot webbing on either side of Mary Jane sticking her body to his.

"Hang on tight, MJ." Peter said.

He let go of both his hands and stood upside down on the ceiling. Waving at all the hybrids, he took off running across the ceiling as Mary Jane hung on for dear life. Reaching the entrance, Peter did a flip and landed in front of it. He quickly ran through the entrance as the hybrids ran after him. Peter spun around and put his arms together. He shot his webbing from both arms creating a huge spider web over the entrance. The running hybrids let out a collective gasp and two of them in front slammed into the web and stuck fast. Peter took off at a run as the hybrids pushed on the two who were stuck using their body weight to break through the webbing. Peter ran along the cooridor with Mary Jane still stuck to him. He had no idea where to go but as long as he got away from the hybrids he was happy. He turned down another cooridor and saw a door. He ran towards it and stopped as he reached it. He checked to see if his spider sense kicked in and when it didn't, he opened the door. His eyes widened as he saw the scientists again. He looked across and noticed another door. He hadn't realized there had been another door when he was last in the room. He had been too busy looking at the scientists. Not wanting to get trapped again, he shot some gooey webbing onto the wall and shoved the door back on it so that it would stay open just in case.

He stared at the scientists, thinking. He suddenly got an idea. He put his arms together and spun out a huge spider web. He quickly ran to the scientists and quickly moved them into the web. Once he had gotten them all in, he grabbed all the corners and brought them together making a bag around the scientists. He gently picked it up and flinched as he heard a couple of the scientists groan. He hated to cause them any pain but he figured it was the best way to get them all out together.He put the bag onto his back and opened the other door. As he ran along, he reached the cooridor where he and Mary Jane had escaped from the lab. Peter paused as he saw that the two he had cocooned were still lying in the cooridor. Peter figured they didn't want to try to get them out and risk getting stuck. As he stood looking at them, Peter got another thought and he lowered the scientists to the ground and pulled the webbing off from either side of Mary Jane, freeing her. Then he walked up to the cocooned hybrids.

"Hello boys." he said.

The hybrids opened their mouth to yell. Peter quckly shot webbing into their mouths

"Shhhh" he said, putting his finger to his lips. "I don't want you telling everyone where we are." He reached down and pulled the webbing off around their waists. "Just need to borrow your belts." he said to them. He grabbed ahold of them and pulled. The belts snapped open and he quickly picked up each hybrid and slid the belt off.

"Thanks again." he said, as he walked back to Mary Jane.

He and Mary Jane put the belts around their waists. They pushed the red button and became invisible. As the cocooned hybrids watched, they saw the web bag raise up and hover in mid air before quickly floating away. About ten minutes later they saw Taran and the other hybrids come into view. Taran stared at them.

"Did Parker and Mary Jane come by here?"

The hybrids nodded.

"Which way did they go?"

The hybrids jerked their heads to the right. Taran nodded.

"Thanks" he said

As they ran on, the cocooned hybrids tried to yell to them through the webbing in their mouths.

"May! mit mus owta mis."

*****************************

Peter and Mary Jane held hands as they ran down the cooridor. They still had no idea how to get out and they were afraid at any moment, Taran and the hybrids would catch up with them. They turned a corner and suddenly came across a ladder in the middle of the cooridor.

"That's odd." Peter said.

They walked up to it and looked up. There was a small, round, metal door at the top. Peter let go of Mary Jane's hand and climbed the ladder. He tried the door and found it was unlocked. He paused once more and when his spider sense didn't kick in, he lifted the door and looked around.

"What do you see, Peter?"

"It looks like an old, abandoned house." Peter said, looking around.

"Is there anyone up there?"

Peter shook his head.

"I can't see or sense anyone. It looks like it's empty."

He slid back down the ladder and grabbed the web bag. He brought it up the ladder with him and gently eased it through the hole as Mary Jane watched for any of the hybrids. Once he had them safetly on the floor of the house, he motioned to Mary Jane and grabbed her arms pulling her up into the hole. Peter shut the door and shot some webbing around the edges. They walked around looking at the empty house.

"Hmmm, I doubt if that webbing will stop them. We need to find some way to stop them for good." Peter mused.

He walked into the other room and paused as he noticed a couple of old fashioned oil lamps on the table along with some matches. He stood and thought as Mary Jane walked up behind him.

"Find something?" she asked

"Yeah, oil lamps with kerosene in them." Peter said.

He suddenly had an idea. He grabbed the lamps. Handing one to Mary Jane, he picked up the matches and they walked back to the door. Peter set the lamp on the floor and tore the webbing off the door. He opened it and looked around. His spider sense kicked in almost immediately.

"They're coming." he said to Mary Jane, as he raised his head out of the hole.

He grabbed the lamp and took off the glass and unscrewed the wick. He turned the bottom over and watched as the kerosene spilled onto the floor. He reached up and Mary Jane handed him the other lamp. He did the same thing with it, wrinkling his nose at the pungent odor. He opened the matchbook and took one out.

"Hold on to the door" he told Mary Jane."When I give the signal, shut the door as fast as you can."

Mary Jane nodded and they waited as the angry shouts of the hybrids became louder and louder. Peter stuck his head through the hole and grinned as the hybrids turned the corner.

"There they are!" Taran said, pointing to Peter.

"Hey guys, we've been waiting for you. Thought you'd never get here." Peter said.

"Get them!" Taran shouted.

As the hybrids ran towards the ladder, Peter stuck his head back up through the hole and struck the match. He dropped the lit match into the hole and watched as the kerosene ignited.

"Now, MJ!" he yelled out.

Mary Jane slammed the door down muffling the horrified yells of the hybrids below. Peter shot out webbing and sealed the door. As the hybrids yelled and screamed underground, Peter picked up the web bag and ran with Mary Jane to the door. Mary Jane opened the door and checked to make sure no one was around. She nodded at Peter when she saw all was clear. As Peter came outside, Mary Jane noticed a pay phone on the corner near the building. She looked at Peter, who nodded his understanding. Mary Jane ran to the phone and dialed 911 as Peter secured the web bag to a nearby light pole making sure they were away from the road. As Mary Jane finished the call, she ran to Peter and put her arms around his neck. He leaped up onto the building, climbed to the top and onto the roof. After about ten minutes, they saw the police and paramedics arrive and examine the web bag. As the police did a quick check of the area, Peter and Mary Jane ducked out of sight and ran across the roof to the other side. Mary Jane threw her arms around Peter and he shot out a strand of webbing. He quickly got them out of there as more police arrived on the scene.

******************************

"Well, what do you think?" Peter said, as he opened the door to his apartment. "Do you think you could live here?"

"Peter, I wouldn't mind living in a cardboard box as long as you were with me." she looked at him " But what about Harry?"

"He's living in the mansion at the moment, trying to settle all the details of Norman's estate. I'm not sure if he's gonna stay there for good, or if he's gonna come back. But if he does, he'll have to share with us." he said, kissing her.

They grabbed the boxes containing her stuff and brought them into the room. As Mary Jane set her box down on the table, she smiled as she looked down at the engagement ring on her finger.

*******************************

After they had left the building, and Peter had snuck in through his window for some clothes. they had gone to Peter's front door where aunt May, her mom and even her dad had welcomed them back with open arms. Aunt May had almost squeezed Peter to death and her mom had cried hysterically as she held her. Peter had to try to explain to everyone where they had been. He told them that they had been kidnapped by thugs and held for ransom, but they had managed to escape and call the cops. No one questioned the story, relieved to have everyone back safe and sound.

After a hot meal and a shower, Peter and Mary Jane sat in his room. For awhile they sat in silence holding one another. Finally, Peter spoke.

"MJ? Do you still love me?"

Mary Jane looked at Peter, surprised.

"Of course I still love you, Peter." she said.

"The fact that I'm Spider-Man doesn't....upset you?"

"Peter, you've just saved my life again. It would be silly for me to be upset with you. Besides, I think It's great that you are saving ordinary people every day." Mary Jane said, kissing his cheek.

Peter sighed and held Mary Jane closer. He looked at her and suddenly a grin spread across his face. He grabbed Mary Jane's hand and slid off the bed onto one knee. He looked up into her eyes.

"Mary Jane, will you marry me?"he asked, fighting his nervousness.

Mary Jane's breath caught in her throat and tears came to her eyes. She slid off the bed and into Peter's arms.

"Yes Peter! I will marry you!" she said, overjoyed.

Peter grinned and he and Mary Jane shared a passionate kiss before going downstairs to break the news to the others.

******************************

Mary Jane and Peter settled into Peter's bed and held each other close.

"You sure this apartment is okay?" Peter asked her.

"Peter, it's fine. It needs a little cleaning, but it's fine."she said, tracing her finger along his chest.

"Cleaning?" Peter asked.

"Yes Peter, we can't raise children with all this dust around."

Peter blinked.

"Children? I don't recall discussing children with you." he said, poking her in the ribs.

"We didn't . But I would love to hear the sound of children running through the apartment." Mary Jane said, tickling his chin.

Peter chuckled.

"Yeah, running through the apartment, swinging from the ceiling, climbing up the walls. You do remember I have mutated DNA that could be passed on to my offspring, right?"

Mary Jane laughed.

"But, think of all the fun we'll have raising them."

Peter snorted.

"Oh yeah, I can just imagine coming home from a hard day of crime fighting and trying to peel my two year old off of the ceiling."

Mary Jane kissed Peter.

"You'll make a great dad, Peter. You're the perfect role model."

Peter chuckled.

"Well, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. For the moment, let's just enjoy each other."

Mary Jane nodded and laid her head on Peter's chest. Listening to his heartbeat, she smiled as she stared at her engagement ring. Finally she couldn't stay awake anymore and with a sigh, she fell to sleep.

THE END