Chapter 1
“Something’s wrong with Parker,” Flash mutters, dropping down into the seat beside MJ as if he normally sits beside her. Or even has a class anywhere near her in the middle of the day. She knows his schedule at ESU, and he’s usually knee deep in a workout at the gym around this time. “He’s--well, he’s weird.”
Normally this would be enough to pull her out of her own head, but not today. Her emotions are too unsettled, too tangled to handle whatever Flash is talking about. And Peter Parker is the last thing she wants to talk about. She turns away from Flash, focusing on the paperwork in front of her. If she finishes it within the hour, she can get it to the registrar by the end of the day and, if the paperwork gods were on her side, be out of Empire State University and New York City entirely by the end of the semester.
It’s tempting.
“Everything’s weird these days, Flash,” MJ says, keeping her tone flat, but not quite rude.
She sounds tired more than anything else, and that’s another annoyance. How the walls she once built around herself crumbled because of Peter and how those same walls refuse to rise again. Flash notices, of course. He’s not an idiot, and he’s always been sensitive to others’ emotions. She’s wondered about what kind of life he leads to have learned that skill so early in life.
“Yeah?” he says, his tone wary and gentle at the same time.
For some reason, that frustrates her.
"Yeah,” she says. And then she goes silent, determined to not think about Peter Parker and his weird attitude.
Flash is quiet for a long moment, obviously weighing his words, and then comes to a decision. “What’d he do?”
“It’s what he hasn’t done,” MJ says. “He hasn’t talked to me in three weeks. He hasn’t answered my calls, or my texts, or my emails. He hasn’t even looked at me the few times we’re in the same place, and he always leaves if he sees me nearby.”
Flash looks utterly baffled. “That makes no sense. He’s, like, disgustingly in love with you.”
“His actions would indicate otherwise,” MJ replies.
She considers the transfer paperwork in front of her and then tucks it into her backpack before dropping the bag on the cool pavement beside her table. She’d grabbed it on a whim, knowing on some level she’d never actually fill it out. Her scholarship won’t follow her to another university. She’s a Freshman, the scholarship is a full ride for all four years, and she can’t walk away from that. Not in a Post Blip economy. She sighs, leaning back in her chair, tilting her head against the cool autumn wind crossing the quad, blowing leaves across the smooth concrete near the fountain.
Flash leans in closer. “MJ, look. Behind the fountain.”
Against her better judgement, and because Flash is a friend now, she opens her eyes and looks across the quad.
Peter Parker is standing amongst a crowd of students MJ doesn’t recognize. They aren’t his usual crew; classes began earlier this month, and Peter established himself as one of the alpha geeks on campus shortly thereafter. Normally she’d find him neck deep with the D&D crew, the engineering majors, and a subset of the drama and math majors. People so varied in background, ethnicity, and culture that they’re practically a microcosm of the city he protects alongside Miles Morales.
The current crew he stands with all look too clean, too put together, and too fashionable. MJ frowns, watching Peter. He hasn’t spotted her yet, or he’d have fled for the hills by now.
“Look at him,” Flash says quietly, as if worried Peter can hear him over the fountain and chattering crowd. Maybe he can; MJ doesn’t know the limit of Peter’s powers. “This is weird. He’s weird.”
MJ watches. He is weird. Too controlled, too stable, too charming. MJ can see it now that she’s pushed aside her grief and frustration at being pushed aside and ignored. Peter Parker is many things--a hero, a walking disaster, a supreme dork among dorks--but he isn’t social. At least, not like this. He’s too earnest to be a charmer, too unsure. It’s as if Tony Stark’s most fake persona is inhabiting Peter Parker; he moves from one person to the next with an easy smile, chatting amiably. He notices her, his smile freezing in place, and his eyes widening for a moment, before he turns on his heel and practically runs towards the nearest building.
MJ frowns, puzzled. There had been something odd about his eyes, but he was so far away she can’t place what it is that’s bothering her about them.
“Okay, so you have a point,” MJ says after a moment. “That’s pretty weird for him. But maybe he’s just branching out? Hanging with a new crew?”
“Why?” Flash asks, frowning ather. “He has you. He has Ned. And, like, the SciFi club or whatever.”
“People change in college, Flash. For example, you got a lot nicer,” MJ points out.
“Easy to do when you’re not living with your parents anymore,” Flash says, shrugging. “But this isn’t like him.”
MJ drums her fingers along the table. “No. It isn’t.”
Flash’s phone begins to vibrate. The contact name flashes across the screen and he fumbles for the phone.
“Sorry, I have to take this.” He pauses, looking up at her. “Can we talk about this later?”
MJ thinks back to Peter’s eyes. “Yeah. Meet up at my apartment. Bring pizza.”
Flash gives her a quick thumbs up and unlocks his phone, answering the call. “Uh, hi, Shuri--”
MJ stands up and grabs her backpack. The less she knows about Flash and his dating life, the better. Especially since hers is currently in tatters.
* * *
“Is Peter avoiding you, too?” Ned asks. His voice is thin and tinny coming from her laptop speakers, but the connection is clear. And so is his worry.
MJ has her laptop resting on top of the counter in her kitchenette. Her apartment is laughably small; a studio barely big enough for one person to live in comfortably. She’s managed to make it comfortable, but it’s a definite downgrade from her parents’ place. Still, it’s hers, and she’s grown to like it.
“He’s avoiding me like the plague,” MJ answers. “Has he said anything to you?”
“Not for three weeks. We had daily calls and then, poof, nothing. I thought he was just getting settled or something,” Ned says, frowning. He pauses, then adds in a wounded tone, “MJ, this isn’t like him. We always talk. Every day since third grade.”
MJ frowns. Okay, Flash is definitely onto something. “He’s been acting weird. Flash noticed it earlier today, too.” She pauses for a moment. “And he hasn’t talked to me in three weeks either.”
Ned stares at her, gobsmacked. “MJ, something’s wrong. He wouldn’t do that to you.”
“Maybe,” MJ says, frowning.
There’s a knock at her door. She walks the seven whole steps it takes to cross her apartment and opens the door. Flash is standing in the hallway, balancing two pizza boxes on one palm. He holds them up and she takes them, stepping aside to let him in.
“Hey, Ned,” Flash calls out to the laptop, shrugging off his jacket and hanging it up.
“Hey, Flash. Where’s my pizza?” Ned calls back.
“I’ll mail you a slice. Expect it in three to five weeks,” Flash retorts, dropping down onto MJ’s futon with a sigh.
“We were just discussing Peter,” MJ says, setting the pizza down on the counter so it’s in plain view of her balcony. She grabs a slice and balances herself against the stool near the counter. “He hasn’t talked to Ned in three weeks.”
Flash looks alarmed now. “Okay, that’s super weird.”
“Dude, right?” Ned says.
Another knock echoes in the apartment. This time, it comes from her balcony. MJ flips on the balcony light to reveal Spiderman on the other side of the sliding glass doors. A shorter Spiderman, one wearing a black and red suit with a different kind of emblem across the chest, but Spiderman nonetheless. MJ opens the door.
“Hi, Miles,” she says. “Grab a slice.”
“You’re the coolest,” Miles replies, skittering up along her wall and across her ceiling towards the pizza as she slides the door shut behind him. He lowers himself on a web and grabs two slices, eating them upside down.
“That is weirdly disgusting,” Ned says, fascinated.
“You get used to it,” MJ says, grabbing a water bottle and tossing it to Miles. He catches it without looking.
MJ considers the younger Spiderman for a few minutes. Miles Morales is fourteen years old and wears the mantle of Spiderman well. His suit is a custom job, a joint effort between Peter and Miles, using materials and tools from one of Tony Stark’s labs. He’s relatively new to his powers, and constantly hungry. The spider support network--consisting mainly of Peter, MJ, Ned, May, and Flash--make a point of carrying extra food with them for his sake. Peter thinks the world of him, and Miles still carries a hero’s admiration for the older Spiderman. The two of them are thick as thieves.
“Hey, Miles, I have a question for you,” MJ says.
“Mmph?” Miles says, turning to face her. The eyes on his mask blink at her, wide and white.
“Has Peter talked to you much lately?” she asks.
Miles frowns, his mouth set in a tight line. He hesitates, and then shakes his head. “No. And I haven’t seen him on patrol or anything either. I came by to ask you if I upset him or something. I already asked May, but she says he hasn’t called her in weeks.”
Okay, yeah, this is officially concerning.
“We have a real Mystery Machine moment here,” Flash says.
Miles tilts his head, puzzled. “Mystery Machine?”
“Yeah, you know. From Scooby Doo,” Flash says.
Miles tilts his head the other direction, a mannerism he picked up from Peter. “Scooby Doo?”
“It’s a cartoon,” Flash explains, clearly baffled that Miles has never heard of it. “It started in the sixties and just kind of kept going. I watched it as a kid.”
"Wow," Miles says. "That's old."
"It's not that old," Flash huffs. “The last movie came out in 2002.”
“That’s not helping your case, dude,” Ned says, his voice made tinny by the laptop speakers.
“No one asked you, Leeds,” Flash says.
"Tell me more about the Before Times, grandpa," Miles says, grinning behind his mask. "Did you have a TV that used tubes? Did you have to saddle up a horse to ride to school, uphill both ways, in the snow--"
"Parker's been a terrible influence on you," Flash gripes, balling up a piece of paper to toss at Miles. It falls short; Flash didn’t put much strength behind the throw.
Miles snickers more.
“He hasn’t called May at all?” MJ asks, cutting through the banter.
Miles shakes his head. “No. Not since our last patrol together. Well, his last patrol, I guess. I only remember one weird thing during it.”
MJ, Flash, and Ned focus on Miles.
“Start from the beginning,” MJ says.
“There isn’t much to tell,” Miles says, fidgeting a little. “We were swinging through the city and when we got near this club in this alley, our senses just went nuts. Peter said he’d take a look at it later. That was during the breakout, remember?”
A mass breakout at the Raft, three weeks ago. None of the big heavy hitters made it out, but enough of the rank and file did to cause a huge stir. Miles and Peter had done most of the heavy lifting during it.
“The one where you got hurt?” Ned asks.
“I wasn’t hurt that bad,” Miles mutters. “It was just a concussion.”
“A severe concussion,” Flash says.
“A minor severe concussion,” Miles contends.
“Boys,” MJ says. “Miles, did something happen to Peter while you guys were handling the breakout?”
“No,” Miles says, dragging the word out. He pauses. “Well, I mean, he did kind of beat Rhino into a pulp for crushing me.”
“Good,” Flash mutters.
“But, um, things got fuzzy after that?” Miles says, shrugging. “I think he said he was going to check out that club before calling it. I think he needed to cool off after the Rhino thing. But I also saw, like, four of him at the same time when he said that.”
“What was the name of the club?” Ned asks.
“New Horizons. It looked old. Kinda bland. I wouldn’t have noticed it without my spidey sense,” Miles says.
“Ned,” MJ begins.
“Already on it,” Ned replies, his words almost drowned out by steady clatter from his keyboard.
“I can go check it out,” Miles volunteers, eager to help.
“No,” MJ and Flash say at the same time. They pause, look at one another, and Flash raises his hands and backs off, giving her the floor. “Not until we know what we’re dealing with, Miles. Just stick to regular Spiderman stuff for tonight.”
“But--” Miles begins. MJ quirks a brow at him and he sighs, deflating. “Okay, okay. Fine.”
“We have to be careful about this,” Flash says. “If something’s happened to Peter...”
“Should we call Tony?” Miles asks.
“He’s out of town,” MJ says, shaking her head. “We’ll handle this.”
“What do you plan on doing?” Ned asks.
MJ is quiet for a moment. Finally, she shrugs, and says, “I plan on talking to my boyfriend.”
* * *
MJ makes her move the next day. She corners Peter near the school coffee shop, sidling up to him and standing in such a way that he’d have to shove her aside to make any kind of an escape. He startles when he sees her, a flash of true alarm crossing his features.
“Hi,” she says simply. “You’ve been avoiding me.”
“Well, things have been busy lately,” Peter says. Even in his panic, he’s too smooth, too in control.
“Too busy for your girlfriend?” MJ asks, raising her eyebrows at him.
He pauses, blinking at her as if he’s never seen her before. Then he grins at her, all charm and confidence. “Sorry, Michelle. I’ve been really busy with school lately. Plus this new club that’s helped me get my life in order has taken up a lot of my time. Let me make it up to you.”
He hasn’t called her by Michelle in years. Not since high school. “Oh? What do you have in mind?”
“Come with me to New Horizons tonight,” he says. “I’ll explain everything there, show you around, let you see what’s given me this new perspective.”
MJ frowns up at him. “And it’s safe?”
“Perfectly safe,” Peter replies. But his face does a funny thing as he says it. His eyes flash with horror and terror and pleading, and his grin turns tight and sharp, as if he’s biting back a scream. It’s only there for a moment before Peter coughs. He blinks, and shakes his head before smiling at her again, all false cheer. “Sorry, had to fight back a sneeze there. Allergies.”
“Allergies,” MJ repeats. Peter hasn’t had allergies since his bite. And she doesn’t know many people who suffer from them during autumn in New York City.
“Yeah, they’re rough today. Anyway, please come with me tonight. It’s the last thing I’ll ever ask of you, promise," Peter says, grinning at her. Something flashes behind his eyes as he says it.
MJ smiles back at him. "Sure. Pick me up at seven?"
"Seven it is," he says, winking at her. Even that seems stilted and off.
He maneuvers past her, as if afraid to touch her, and then beats a hasty retreat for the nearest exit. MJ watches him, jaw clenched, worried and scared and heartbroken. She should have noticed this sooner, but between moving into the apartment, starting classes, and the general chaos that follows the beginning of any academic school year...
How could she not have noticed?
She pulls out her phone and calls Flash. He answers on the first ring.
“Someone’s controlling him,” MJ says. “Meet me at the apartment.”