C173 Spider-Man (Patreon)
Content
Similar to Ned, Peter waited up all night, watching over the metal coffin.
Though this time around he had a companion, who never left the room or took her eyes off of the coffin for a single second.
“You know, you can sleep if you want?” Peter looked to Grace, who was worriedly staring at the coffin.
“I can’t...” She replies with a nervous sigh. “I feel like I’m at her funeral.”
“Well, that’s probably the sh*tty design on my part.” Peter admits, getting a small laugh from Grace. ”Now that I think about it, I could have made something a bit less morbid, though I was rushed at the time.”
The room returned to silence as the two of them sat quietly on the couch together.
...
“I’m going to make more coffee.” Grace says as she walks off into the kitchen with an empty mug in hand.
Hours pass as both Peter and Grace sat in the living room.
Since Peter was used to this and confident in the procedure's success, he started playing on his phone as the night went on. So far, two procedures like this have gone through with perfect results, so he wasn’t that worried.
On the other hand, Grace chugged caffeine all night and stayed vigilant, ready for some sort of horrible incident to occur at any moment.
——————————————
“Huh?” MJ grunted as she awoke in an unfamiliar place.
Surrounding her was an odd-looking dimension that seemed to be separated by spider webs. MJ breathed heavily as she stood up from the floor and looked around, shocked and frightened by this random turn of events.
Only moments ago, her boyfriend said he loved her for the first time and put her to sleep so that she could receive the Resurrection Elixir.
‘Where am I?’ She thought.
In between the web-like structure of this unimaginable dimension, different versions and outcomes of what appeared to be her life played out over and over.
As if she was watching multiple televisions, MJ witnessed all sorts of lives that she could or would have lived. From mundane lives, where she lived like a normal person with a job, husband, and children, to lives that are much more fantastical, where she became a hero in her own right.
Ignoring the boring lives, as they didn’t interest her one bit, especially since most of them didn’t include Peter, MJ watched the lives that looked far more interesting. In every one of them, she would become a spider-related hero that went by all sorts of names.
Spider-Woman
Spider-Girl
Silk
Ghost-Spider
Etc.
MJ watched as different versions of herself flight familiar and unfamiliar villains, using her powers and smarts to stop crime and protect civilians.
“What is this?” She muttered in confusion.
“It’s you.” The voice of an elderly woman fills the spider web dimension.
Following the sound, MJ turns to see an old decrepit-looking woman with spider-like appendages sitting on a stone thrown. Not only does she have eight black spider legs coming out of her back, but also multiple beady black eyes on her wrinkled face.
The Great Weaver.
“Uhh, I can see that, but how and why?” MJ asks back, stunned by the mutant-looking woman.
“Across the infinite multi-verse, Michelle Jones Watson always has a fifty-fifty chance of being something great.” The old spidery woman says as she gestures to the playing images. “Which will it be this time? A mundane life as anyone else, or something more?”
“Who are you?” MJ asks, unsure of whether she could trust the woman before her.
“That doesn’t matter.” The Great Weaver shakes her head, unwilling to answer any questions. “Just know that I’m the one who bestowed power to the man whom you cherish so dearly.”
“Wait...” MJ speaks, remembering what Peter said only yesterday.
‘I learned early on that my abilities were given to me by a higher power, not just because I was bitten by a special spider.’
“I see.” MJ mutters as she figured out what was going on. ‘Did I win the gamble?’
“Not yet, no.” The spider granny answered with a creepy knowing smirk, easily reading MJ’s thoughts.
“Did you just...” MJ asks as she feels oddly violated.
“Yes.” The Great Weaver's smile only widens upon seeing her reaction.
“That’s not an invasion of privacy at all...” MJ says with a heavy bit of sarcasm.
“You act as if I don’t know everything about you already.” The elderly woman says with a cackle.
“...” MJ frowned as she felt naked in front of the cosmic being across from her.
“Enough of that.” The Great Weaver said as she stopped laughing and looked at MJ seriously. “So, what is your choice, girly?”
“What do you mean?” MJ asks, not understanding what she meant.
“Sigh, I forgot how annoying it is to deal with you mortals...” Spider granny comments rudely.
“Sorry?” MJ apologizes unsurely.
“Well, you can’t help it, I suppose.” She responds with an uncaring shrug. “Let me spell it out for you. Would you like to get similar powers to your future husband?”
“...” MJ’s eyes go wide open as she heard that.
“Oops, how careless of me.” The Great Weaver says, as though she didn’t mean to reveal that little tidbit.
“Future husband?” MJ repeats questioningly.
“Well, he could be.” She replies in an uncaring tone. “Nothing is set in stone after all.”
“I-I...” MJ didn’t know how to reply to that.
“Well, I’ve wasted enough time. Choose now or I’ll choose for you.” The elderly woman gives her an ultimatum.
“...” At that moment, MJ froze as she saw the woman before her about to open her mouth once again. “I want the powers!”
Seeing that her choice was almost taken away from her, MJ acted quickly and shouted her answer before it was too late.
“Good...” The Great Weaver smirked as she waved her hand.
Instantly, with the wave of her hand, a great force impacted MJ’s body and knocked her backward.
“Huh!?” MJ grunted as the force hit her and she flew into a small spider web-shaped portal.
————————————————
As Peter was tapping away on his phone, Grace was fidgeting in her seat from the copious amounts of caffeine that she consumed to stay up all night.
As a single working mother, Grace hasn’t pulled an all-nighter like this in years, so the night was rather grueling for the worried woman.
*Clang! Gasp!*
Just as she was about to go and make another cup of coffee, the lid of the metal coffin flew off and fell to the floor, as a black sludge-covered woman shot out with a loud gasp for oxygen.
“Oh, thank god!” Grace exclaimed as she rushed over and hugged her daughter without a care for the messy substance covering her body.
“Excuse me.” Peter says as he joins the mother and daughter duo and starts wiping MJ’s face so that she could open her eyes.
*Heavy Breathing*
MJ slowly caught her breath as Peter wiped all of the black gunk from her face.
“Hey there, beautiful.” Peter smiles as he gets a clear look at her.
“I-I...” MJ starts to speak but she didn’t have the lung capacity just yet. “...I love you too.”
At that instant, Grace felt like a third wheel to her daughter's budding romance and backed up to give the two some space.
“Good to know.” Peter smiled as he kissed her dirty black lips, uncaring as the used Elixir gets on his face. “Let’s get you in the shower, shall we?”
Hearing Peter's obviously flirtatious invitation to bathe together, MJ nods with a small blush on her face.
Meanwhile, Grace watched the whole thing with a heated look on her face.
‘Why couldn’t Nick be like that?’ She thought, imagining herself and Fury in their place.
While Grace was off in her own imagination, which is something she seems to have picked up from May, Peter opened a portal to his bathroom and carried MJ out of the metal coffin bridal style.
“We’ll be back in a bit.” Peter says over his shoulder as the portal closes behind them, leaving MJ’s exhausted and caffeine ravaged mother in the living room alone, daydreaming about who knows what.
A/N: 1384 words :)