I took my phone back from Mary Jane and told her I needed to make an urgent call. Following some ancient male instinct, I stepped toward the window and turned my back on my girlfriend while dialing another woman. The phone rang for a while. I was about to hang up when I finally got an answer.
"Hello." A young female voice, clearly out of breath. "Who is this?"
A mask distorts the voice a little, but it wasn't hard to guess who it might be.
"That's what I'd like to know. Who has the professor's phone?" I said, pretending not to recognize Gwen.
"I'm Spider Woman. And you must be the guy Connors was working with on that formula," Gwen guessed.
"Spider Woman? Why do you have Connors's phone? Is something wrong with her?" I asked with genuine concern.
"Yeah, you see, here's the thing. Listen, do you know what the professor was working on?" Judging by her tone, Gwen had just had an idea, and I could guess what it was.
"Of course I do. She was using my data for her research."
"Right." Gwen chuckled at something. "Hypothetically speaking, if what the professor was working on had been used on a person, could you make an antidote to turn them back?"
"Connors used the serum on herself?" I asked seriously.
"Something like that," Gwen answered.
"Yes, I could try to create an antiserum. But I would need a sample of what the doctor used on herself, and a lab at least as good as Connors's."
"I think we can figure something out," the girl said eagerly. "Let's meet somewhere."
"Connors's lab. There should be traces left there. I'll meet you there."
"Okay, the scene is cordoned off, but the cops aren't there now. They're all dealing with the aftermath in other places. I'll wait for you there." Gwen hung up.
"Peter, what's wrong?" Mary Jane asked worriedly.
"That green tailed creature is Dr. Connors," I told her honestly.
"Oh my God. How is that possible? Who were you talking to?"
"Spider Woman," I smirked, seeing the shock on MJ's face.
"No way. You're seriously telling me you just talked to Spider Woman? Wait, you made a date with her. You have to be kidding."
Just a couple of weeks on TV and one day as Deadpool's sidekick, and Mary Jane already treated Spider Woman with such reverence. I was almost jealous.
"I think Spider Woman wants to save the professor. I'm going to try to make an antiserum to reverse her transformation into a monster."
"But that's too dangerous," MJ exclaimed. "You're not serious. There are monsters out there. They could kill you at any moment."
"Don't worry. I'm not going to throw punches at the Lizard or that tentacle thing. I'll make the serum for the superheroines, and they'll deal with the monsters."
"But Peter, can't someone else do this?" MJ was desperate.
Things had been so much simpler when I made up excuses about urgent scientific conferences. But I didn't want to start our relationship with lies. I didn't want to get tangled up in that web of deceit again.
"I'm the only one who knows and understands what Professor Connors was working on. If anyone can make the medicine, it's me."
Getting onto the grounds of Connors's former lab wasn't hard. The only symbolic barrier was a single strand of police tape. When had that ever stopped Peter Parker?
"You're late." A masked head appeared above me from behind a chunk of ceiling.
Damn, she had a really stylish costume. I just didn't understand the hood.
"Give me your hand." Gwen stuck to the ceiling with her feet and reached down to me.
I grabbed her offered palm, and the next second, I was flung up to the second floor with decidedly unladylike force. Gwen jumped up at the same time as me.
I looked around. There was too much damage. A collapsed outer wall, holes in the floor, ceiling, and other walls, numerous claw marks, and chunks of furniture and metal embedded in the walls. It looked like two creatures had been fighting here, not just one rampaging Connors.
"Did the Lizard do all this?" I was amazed. The Lizard was violent, but this level of destruction wasn't his style.
"I call her Reptilia," Gwen said. "I think she wasn't alone here. I found this."
In her open palm was Connors's phone and a syringe. I suspected it was the syringe from my lab. I didn't believe the doctor would have left it, considering no other physical samples of the serum remained here. So now I knew who had fried my computer and who was responsible for me being unconscious for almost thirty hours longer than planned.
"Very interesting," I smirked, looking at the useless piece of evidence. Gwen herself should have realized that creating an antiserum required not samples of my own creation, but what Connors had mixed based on it. But I wasn't going to point that out. I could synthesize the serum myself.
Because the professor had used the Longevity Formula, she had been able to do without the emitter. But I suspected that was also why her transformation would be temporary. I just needed to shorten the serum's duration. In other words, do what I had originally planned to do with myself when I found a replacement for the Longevity Formula.
"The professor recorded the experiment on her phone," Gwen said, turning on the voice recorder. "That's how I found out about you."
Connors's voice on the recording was very nervous and agitated. She jumped from topic to topic, but the gist was clear.
On the recording, Connors explained that with the help of a drug her assistant had brought, she had stabilized her formula. Then she described her sensations during the transformation, while she could still speak. The last recording ended with a loud crash, a roar, and a screech. Two distinct roaring voices were noticeable.
"I think Venom was here," Stacy said, then clarified. "That's what Deadpool called the black creature."
"Have you faced this Venom before?" I asked.
"No, I wanted to help Deadpool, but we disagreed when I used her teleportation device to save a woman falling from a building instead of following the plan."
"A teleportation device?" That was new. Where had that technology come from? A local version of Richards?
"Yes, Deadpool gave it to me so I could sneak up on Venom and take her out with some poison."
"I see. You know, I would advise you to stay away from Venom. Let Deadpool handle her."
"Oh, I think I can handle myself without your advice," the offended girl snapped.
"Either way, we need to save Connors." I decided not to press the issue. My opinion clearly meant nothing to this Gwen. She was already surprisingly open with me. "A lot of the equipment is destroyed, and they pulled the hard drive out of the computer. But what's left should be enough."
"You really can do this?" Gwen asked incredulously.
She knew I had synthesized the compound that allowed Connors to finish the Lizard serum. Why did she keep doubting me?
"Yes. We need to move some of the equipment to my place. We can't work here. Come on, let's not waste time."
There was too much stuff to carry by hand, so I called a taxi. Susan, the taxi driver who had left me her number a few days ago, was shocked to see that my porter was Spider Woman herself.
"Wow," she drawled. "I see a simple girl like me doesn't stand a chance."
It was hard to disagree with her. One look at how Gwen's costume hugged her lower body when she bent over to put her share of the load in the trunk was enough. That costume made her incredibly sexy.
The whole way, Susan kept glancing in the rearview mirror at Gwen in her Spider suit. At the end, she even asked for an autograph. By appearing on camera during that rescue, Gwen had established herself as a real hero, not just a TV show upstart. Now she was on everyone's lips.
Mary Jane, who met us at my house, wasn't nearly as friendly to Spider Woman. Though she had spoken of her with awe just this morning. Apparently, MJ had connected Gwen's presence with the danger to me.
The three of us set up the equipment, and I started synthesizing the antiserum. I knew exactly what needed to be done, so I could talk to the girls at the same time.
Gwen was trying to figure out where Connors might have gone. According to her, a police squad was already stationed outside Karen's husband's house. Captain Stacy had turned out to be quite resourceful.
"What about the sewers?" I asked.
"What about them?" Mary Jane was surprised, wanting to be part of the conversation.
"I mean, the sewers would be a great place for Reptilia to hide for a while. What if she's lying low there until the heat dies down?"
"That..." Gwen thought about it. "That makes sense. But how do we find her there?"
"You could go down into the sewers through the nearest manhole to the lab and look for traces Reptilia left behind. With those huge claws and feet, she wouldn't be comfortable using ladders and things like that."
"Great. Now I have to crawl through the city sewer. I like being a hero less and less. When will the medicine be ready?"
"Actually, it's ready." I put the unbreakable plastic vials of antiserum on the table in front of Gwen. "You'll need to inject this into Reptilia's bloodstream. It should work within a couple of minutes. Have fun out there for all of us."
"I love fun," Gwen said sarcastically.
I had doubted whether to give Gwen my web shooters right up until the last minute. Reptilia was a strong opponent, but she could be defeated without webbing. I had done it at the very beginning of my career. My first prototype web shooters had broken, and I had smashed the vial of antiserum. I had to take down the Lizard myself in ten minutes before he spread his toxin. On one hand, without webbing, Gwen would have a harder time dealing with Reptilia. On the other, if she had it, she would be able to move around the city faster and would be more likely to run into Venom.
In the end, my fear that Stacy might die again because of me won out. What if this world's female version of Connors's transformation, Reptilia, turned out to be smarter and stronger than the Lizard?
"Hey, wait." I caught up with Gwen, who was already out the door. "If you're going to call yourself Spider Woman, you need webs."
I stood on my porch and watched Gwen try to conquer her first rooftop with my web shooters when Mary Jane wrapped her arms around me from behind.
"What did you give her?" MJ's arms circled my waist, and she pressed her whole body against me. Apparently, she had decided it was time to move on to the third date plan. And since I couldn't directly participate in capturing Reptilia, I decided it was time to claim the prize I had earned at that party. Or let MJ claim hers, depending on how you looked at it.
"Webbing," I answered, feeling Mary Jane's hand stroking my abs dangerously close to my crotch. I needed to show her that I didn't need much working up to get turned on.
I turned to face MJ, intending to take the initiative, but she eagerly kissed me first, boldly using her sharp tongue. She pressed her whole body against me, making the kiss even sweeter. Our tongues fought for a while before we broke apart.
Mary Jane squealed when I grabbed her ass. Damn, I had wanted to do that ever since I first saw her in those tight jeans. To squeeze that firm ass in my hands.
"Peter," the girl weakly protested as I lifted her up, forcing her to wrap her legs around my waist.
But I ignored her protests and carried her into the house, then into my room, where I finally fell onto the bed with her. Her fiery red hair spread across my pillow, making her even more beautiful and desirable. I leaned over Mary Jane and kissed her again. She eagerly responded, while my hand slid down to her jeans.
But Mary Jane wasn't ready to surrender just yet. She fought me for control in bed. I found it amusing and arousing to let the inexperienced girl take the wheel, so I let her get on top. That didn't mean I would lie there doing nothing. While MJ was lost in the kisses, probably following the advice from that article, I let my hands roam. I stroked her firm buttocks, unbuttoned her jeans, and discovered that her panties were already wet enough to wring out. Her jeans, which had been showing off her figure so nicely, had suddenly become an annoying obstacle.
Mary Jane was already writhing with desire, but I didn't want to rush. Sex was the salt of life, but only fools ate salt plain. No, you had to season a special dish with it to fully enjoy the flavor. And I intended to taste the finest dish tonight.
Slipping my hand under her panties, I gently stroked her bud with my fingers. Mary Jane's face contorted as she tried to hold back the pleasure. I smiled and continued, teasing her sweet spot with more enthusiasm. She had already forgotten her attempts to be in charge and let me do whatever I wanted. Too easy of a victory, I noted.
I gently stroked the edges of her slit with my fingers, watching MJ resist the pleasure until she finally rewarded my ears with a very loud, sexy moan, arching her whole body and exposing her slender neck for kisses. I immediately took advantage of the opportunity and pressed my fingers into the gap between her swollen labia, making them obediently part.
"Peter," MJ whispered, writhing.
Feeling she was on the edge of orgasm, I increased the pressure and slid my fingers into her honey soaked hole, while my thumb found her frightened clitoris and began mercilessly teasing it. That was the last straw. Grabbing my hair with her hands, Mary Jane pressed her face against mine, experiencing her first orgasm in bed with me. She breathed hoarsely and shuddered in convulsions for several long seconds before finally collapsing on top of me.
Pleased with the result, I laid her down on the bed and finally pulled off those annoying jeans. A slightly recovered Mary Jane helped me undress too. She ran her hands over my torso, not so much trying to please me as enjoying the feel of a man's body under her palms, just like I had done a moment ago.
This excited her again. She writhed beneath me, overcome with desire.
"Take me, Tiger. You know you want to." To emphasize her point, Mary Jane pulled her panties aside, giving me a view of one of the most arousing scenes in my life.
It was impossible to resist such a call. I positioned myself at the entrance to her dripping wet sex.
"Come on, I can't wait any longer," MJ begged, and I fulfilled her wish, plunging into her depths in one motion.
Mary Jane threw her head back, closed her eyes, and let out another low, deep moan. As if she had lost all her resolve, she pressed her palm against my chest, as if deciding whether to push me away or not. But I didn't rush to move either. I could feel that I was about to come any second. To cool down, I started breathing deeply and steadily. That always helped me delay the finish.
Finally, she opened her eyes and looked at me. Her face wore such a satisfied, triumphant expression, as if she had just won the most valuable prize in a competition. That provoked me to start moving.
"Ah. Peter." Mary Jane moaned, no longer holding back in volume or duration.
Even if she felt some pain, the pleasure was clearly overpowering it. Almost immediately, MJ started meeting my thrusts. If not for the few drops of blood smeared on my cock, I might have doubted this was her first time.
"Yes, don't stop, Peter. Don't stop," Mary Jane cried out in rhythm with my movements.
Great idea, MJ. A fucking great idea. I didn't think I could have stopped even if all the future Avengers, Fury, and the President had barged in to convince me to stop.
I leaned down to Mary Jane and began licking her neck, alternating with kisses. With one hand, I stroked her clitoris again. With the other, I caressed her full breasts. I put in maximum effort and used every possible technique to give my girl another orgasm before I came myself. My efforts were rewarded when Mary Jane cried out my name again, pressing her whole body against me and clenching her sex so tightly that I barely managed to pull out my cock in time.
Spilling onto her stomach, exhausted, I collapsed next to MJ, catching my breath.
"God, Peter, that was... I never knew it could be like this," Mary Jane whispered, then leaned over and kissed me.
I smirked to myself and kissed her back. Just a little finger work and ten minutes in the missionary position. In the past, that had only been the beginning of a long night. And it would be again, just give me time to get back in shape.