Issue 39: Trials of Merlin Part X
MJ charged up her cannons with the power of the 4 classical elements and aimed them at Namor.
"I don't want to harm you, but your arrogance might lead to the death of innocent lives. What is it that you hate about the humans that you can't even attempt to try and understand them, not the politicians, not the leaders, but the people?"
Namor was steaming, "To think I, Namor, an ageless being would be scolded by a mere mortal."
The King looked to MJ who was still charging up her Cannons and shouted, "What is your name human warrior!?"
"Call me Spider-Woman!" MJ said starting to feel a bit wobbly.
"I will retreat for now, but this is not over. We will finish this at another date." Namor opened up a portal with his Trident and pulled back his son and every other Atlantean that came here and returned to their city.
MJ breathed a sigh of relief and returned the material to her suit as Strange and Crystal came flying over along with Medusa and Black Bolt.
"That was amazing Spider-Woman!" Crystal said clapping her hands.
Medusa smiled and applauded as well, "Indeed, it is not often that one can speak some sense into a Demigod."
MJ smiled as she said, "It's a good thing he left, Strange watch over me while I'm out."
The Spider-Heroine started to fall towards the ground while the Symbiote created a webbed cocoon around her body.
Strange reached out his hands and caught her as Crystal flew over in worry.
"What happened?" Crystal shouted in a worried tone.
Strange put up his hand and informed them of her condition, "She will be fine. Her power is just progressing to the next stage is all."
"This is odd, it resembled the Terragen Cocoon that helps birth new Inhumans." Medusa added.
"I assure you that Spider-Woman is not an Inhuman, the cause of this cocoon is magical in nature," Strange explained.
Crystal still looked worried, so Strange let out a sigh and proceeded to say, "If you want, we can stay until she returns."
MJ was currently experiencing exactly what Peter went through, so it didn't take long for her to discover the Spider Goddess, standing before her was a woman that looked an awful lot like her mother, except that she was wearing webbed clothing.
The woman looked to MJ and said, "Thy Totem Name is Guardian doth thou'st choose to accept thine tittle."
MJ nodded her head, Peter had told everything he knew about the Spider Gods and their importance, so she didn't hesitate to accept. Her body grew stronger as she felt her bones turned into the same substance as Peter's, she then felt her organic web shooter's forming, but different from Peter she had gained the ability to turn invisible and a new Symbiote Gene that was similar to Peter's blank Gene.
Several hours had passed since MJ's body had transformed. Her Symbiote turned back into a suit and Crystal who had been watching over her had started shaking her, "Spider-Woman, are you okay!?"
Mary Jane started to wake up and felt her newfound strength coursing through her very being. She looked over at the princess and then saw her worried expression.
"I'm okay. In fact, I'm better than ever!" MJ hopped off the medical table they had her on and said, "So how long was I out!?"
"About 5 hours or so," Doctor Strange came in and said with a happy expression on his face.
"Thanks, Doc. Thank you, Crystal" MJ replied as Crystal stopped hugging her.
"I think it's time to return, don't you?" Doctor Strange added.
Crystal really wanted to spend more time with MJ, but she knew that her new friend had to return to continue her training.
Before the two parted, they decided to spend a little time shopping around their city and meeting Crystals friends. After taking a ton of pictures, Strange called MJ back to leave.
The two gave each other a hug, said their goodbyes, and then stepped through the Portal returning to the Sanctum.
Earlier that day Peter had woken up and started reading, as usual, he kept an eye on reports or sightings for the other Symbiote that had come to this world along with any sightings of another Spider-Man, but so far nothing.
Several hours had passed before he heard something being reported on the police's radio channel.
"There's been a breakout at Riker's Prison, Cletus Kasady has escaped killing 34 guards and has released the other prisoners."
Without finishing the thought, Peter ran out and webbed towards the prison. He then stopped halfway and slapped his head, "I can't just walk up to the prison. I need an invite."
Peter called up Fury, "Furry there's something that I need your help with."
"You got 3 minutes webhead." Fury responded.
"I need a connection to the police department, there's a place I need to go that requires their approval," Peter commented.
"What are you up to kid?" Fury asked.
"Working! You know, Hero stuff," Peter replied.
"Fine, there's a Shield Agent working at the NYPD, her name is Jean Dewolff. If you need her help, just go to her in the future." Fury said almost making Peter fall over. He knew that character well, he just hoped it would end in tragedy like it did in the material he was familiar with.
"Thanks Fury, so, how's that hair growth formula I sent you?"
"I shave, you moron!" Fury hung up the phone.
Peter webbed off to the building and thought, "Jean Dewolff huh? Well, I guess it's time for Spidey-Cop to make an appearance."
Fury sent the call over to the NYPD Manhattan Central Booking Station, it only rang for a couple of seconds before a young enchanting voice came out the other end, "Hello Fury?"
"Detective Dewolff, it's me your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man," Peter said as he moved closer towards the prison.
"Hey Spider-Man, been waiting for you to give me a call, you have a lot of fans at S.H.I.E.L.D, and you've been a great help to me and my station, brought down a lot of big fellas, even managed to rehabilitate Electro, did you know he got a job at as a construction builder?"
Peter webbed from rooftop to high rise as he said, "Wow, really? So sparky gave it up huh? Anyways, I heard about the breakout at Rikers and I'm on my way over to help, I need you to inform the police not to shoot at me when I get there, can you do that?"
Jean smiled and said, "You got it Spider-Man anything else you need?"
"That's it, but I'll call you if Spidey-Cop needs a hand!" Peter said in a deep voice.
"What are you doing with your voice?" Jean said with an awkward tone.
"With that said Spider-Man became allies with the NYPD and Spidey-Cop was born. With a thirst for justice that can't be sated, the two teamed up, and with their awesome detective work the new partners made the city a more peaceful place."
"Are you narrating?" Jean almost laughed.
Peter saw Riker's in the distance and said, "Okay I see the Prison, I'm heading in."
"Be careful over there Spidey, I'm getting reports of a red slime monster that is eating people and turning people into mummies," Jean explained.
"Not turning them into mummies, but absorbing their plasma, and biomass," Peter replied.
"You know something about this?" Jean asked.
"Sorry Jean, gotta go. My biggest fans are shooting at me now." Peter jumped into the prison wall as Jean gave the cops a heads up, they all shouted in joy as Spider-Man leapt over the wall's and started webbing up prisoners.
Bullets and explosions went off like fireworks as Peter made his way through the battlefield.
"Who the hell stocks a prison with rocket launchers!" He spotted a prisoner that had gotten ahold of one of the Guard's weapons. Without thinking, he pointed the gun at the officer and was seconds away from ending his life.
Peter jumped in and blocked the bullet while covering the guard's body with his back. He webbed the prisoner to the wall and carried the guard behind the line made by the police.
"Thank you, Spider-Man!" The guard said while nearly crying.
"No problem, just doing my job." Peter jumped back into the fray as he saw the Kingpin moving beside a group of armed mercenaries.
"Planning a jailbreak, not on my watch fatso!" Peter hopped down and as he webbed up the mercs with a single spinning motion he said, "Hey, where did you find these guys? Did you buy them at some store or are they just naturally drawn in by your gravitational field?"
The criminal shot at Peter who effortless dodged it while closing the distance between them.
"No, seriously, do you just post an add at some 2 dollar Merc site or something? You know I hear Deadpool is on Craigslist, you would have had better luck escaping if you hired him."
Peter landed on the ground as Wilson Fisk charged at him, Peter raised his hand out and stopped him in his tracks, "Though, I can't promise he'd leave you intact."
"What the hell!" Kingpin was surprised that all his power was rendered useless in an instant.
He didn't have the chance to retaliate as Peter punched him into the air and webbed him against a wall. He might have hit him a little too hard, but he thought a guy like him was more than deserving of the punishment a fractured skull brought.
"Maybe that'll put the fear of god into him," Peter smirked as he jumped back into the hail of bullets.
He moved through the battlefield and danced through the rain of ammunitions like he was taking a stroll in the park. Spider-Man went on to pounce on every crook and criminal he could get his hands on while evacuating the Guards to safety.
After the situation started to calm down and the Police began to overrun the prison a large explosion went off at the Raft.
Peter stared at it only for a second and turned to one of the cops, "Can you guys handle it from here?"
"We got this Spidey, we'll send some boys in blue to assist," A cop who seemed to be the senior officer shouted as he cuffed another prisoner.
"Keep up the good work boys. Spidey-Cop out!" Peter webbed into the air before flew over towards the Raft.
As he reached the facility, he saw dozens of people both guards and criminals running for their lives,
Peter looked over at a red and black Symbiote standing on top of the tallest building carrying 5 individuals, the Tinker, Sand-Man, Shriek, Speed Demon, and Killer Shrike.
Peter's eyes widened when he realized what the Symbiote was up to and rushed even faster as he shouted, "Noooo!"
He tried to fly over but it was too late. The Symbiote had absorbed them into his body completely and let out a terrifying laugh as his body grew to around 8 feet.
"I am Kasady no longer! We are Mayhem, HAHAHAHAHAH!" Peter was freaking out because according to Webster this Symbiote didn't come from another plane of existence, but his own.
"This is my fault." Peter thought, "I just took the samples expecting Eddie to give up, never did I think this would happen…I should've been able to stop this!"
He then looked around at the dead bodies consisting of guards, cops, and criminals that the Symbiote left in its wake. His vision shifted then to his hands. However, he saw that it was covered in blood and then looked around seeing nothing but a sea of blood.
He freaked out before realizing that he had hallucinated such a vivid scene. Peter clenched his fists tightly as he looked at the New Symbiote Mayhem and shouted in anger.
Without exchanging words, he flew over and blasted Mayhem with a sonic attack.
However, it had no effect. The powers of Shriek allowed for the control over sonic energy, and a few others types that Peter hoped that Mayhem didn't know about. Shriek had abilities to cause others to go insane, affecting their minds in horrifying ways, such as can swapping morals from to light the dark side in people.
During Maximum Carnage, she used this power to make the city to go mad, causing all kinds of issues. For example, she made a woman like the idea of killing her children, or a making a man give into their more violent tendencies. She could make an entire city suddenly commit to acts of anger, vandalism, and Mayhem.
Peter punched Carnage-lookalike up into the air and felt his Spider-Sense Screaming at him every step of the way. He knew how dangerous this was, but he wasn't thinking with his head.
Peter activated his Lighting and Fire form at the same time before he suddenly felt like his body was going to explode. However, he pushed through the pain and continuously punched away at Mayhem while expecting to hear the pained screams of Symbiote.
But, all Peter heard was the sound of Mayhem growing excited.
"Brother! You're just like me!" Mayhem laughed uncontrollably.
"You're no brother of mine!" Peter charged up Chi and shot it alongside a beam of his fire and lighting energy, a giant blast covered the sky, and for a second, Peter thought he just made his own version of the Kamehameha, but to his immediate dismay, Mayhem fell to the ground and reformed in an instant, completely unharmed.
"Spider-Man! We're here to help!" Police officers rushed forward before Peter turned around and shouted for them to run.
At this moment in time, MJ and Strange had returned to the Sanctum. Spider-Woman called out to Peter but there was no answer.
Wong then pointed them to the sound of a television blaring at a loud decibel.
As the two came in the room they saw Wong and Gwen watching the channel 4 news, with JJJ covering the story of Spider-Man's assault and heroic actions on the escapees from Rikers.
"Spider-Man is currently trying to get the situation at the Raft under control, however, a strange blood monster that is responsible for the known deaths of 52 inmates, and 21 prison guards is holding its own against our resident Superhero. The police are moving in to provide aid…oh god nooo…"
The image of Peter webbing back cops and him grabbing hold of the tendrils Mayhem launched out played out on the screen.
However, it wasn't enough as the Symbiote pierced through around a half a dozen officers and they were drained almost instantly. Mayhem even killed a few for fun instead of absorbing them.
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[A/N: So in honor of Stan Lee's life, I will create a cameo for him. don't want to spoil it when for when it will happen because I know we all get a kick out of the surprise, I hope you enjoy it.]