The garage was furnished with furniture that had clearly seen better days, back when Captain America was still alive. Half of it had been cleared out and converted into a rehearsal space. On the far wall, next to a coat rack, hung a poster of Tony Stark posing in her suit.
"Holy Mary, Mother of God, so you weren't lying." A black girl I didn't recognize whistled when she saw us.
She had luxurious, shiny black hair down to her shoulder blades. Her instrument in the band was a synthesizer. For all my love of music and the work of a certain famous pop composer, I was just an amateur. I didn't even know the correct term for a musician who plays synthesizer.
"I'm almost afraid to imagine what you've been telling them about me," I said.
"Only good things," MJ answered with a smirk. "Girls, this is Peter Parker, my boyfriend."
"Gabrielle." The girl shook my hand firmly, flashing a smile. "As you can see, I'm on keyboards. Nice to finally meet you in person."
"Well, you already know Liz." MJ moved on to the next band member.
"Hey." My classmate waved at me, but that was the extent of her greeting. She was clearly not as cheerful as Gabrielle. I hadn't known she played guitar.
"And on drums..."
"Gwen," I interrupted. "You're full of surprises."
"Hey." Stacy smiled awkwardly. She clearly understood what I meant. "I... didn't expect to see you here either."
She seemed to want to say something else but decided not to in front of her friends.
"Oh, so you know each other?" MJ asked in surprise.
"We met at Connors's lab," I said.
"Yes, I work there," Gwen added.
"You never said..." Now it was Gabrielle's turn to be surprised.
Gwen just shrugged vaguely.
"So, are you really as wonderful as Mary Jane says?" Gabrielle smirked, looking at me.
"That depends on what she's been telling you," I shot back. "And speaking of which, if it's what I think it is..."
I paused dramatically and looked at MJ. She blushed a little. Bullseye. I knew what she had been telling her friends. Actually, she didn't even need to tell them. Mary Jane's behavior had changed after that night at the club. She had become more confident, and it was immediately noticeable to anyone who had known her for long enough.
"...that's just the tip of the iceberg," I finally finished.
"Peter," Mary Jane exclaimed. "I didn't say anything like that."
"Oh ho ho," Gabrielle laughed. "How far have you two gone?"
"Shut up," MJ hissed, but there was no malice in her voice. She was just trying to hide her embarrassment.
After the introductions, the girls decided to start rehearsing. I was given the important role of first listener for their new hit. The band had big plans. Their performance at the Bunker, according to them, had just been a warm up. They didn't plan to become just another unknown indie rock band scraping by with occasional gigs. I expected that from Mary Jane. In my past world, though not right away, she had become a famous actress.
I settled into an old, battered armchair with springs sticking out in all directions and prepared to listen. The girls started playing.
Oh, this wasn't what I expected. Rock is rock, but there are different kinds. I expected to hear something upbeat and light, like Elvis Presley songs, something that would suit MJ's high, melodic voice. Instead, I was hit by a wave of heavy bass and vocals that were more like shouting. I made a mental note never to invite Bobbi to one of MJ's concerts. Until the girls finished, I tried to keep a neutral expression.
I had nothing against heavy metal. I even listened to it sometimes. But it didn't suit the girls. And the lyrics themselves. The song suggested that the listener should, so to speak, take the bull by the horns and claim her prize, a boy. Maybe it was fine for the locals, but it made me cringe.
Finally, the last guitar chord faded away, played by Liz on her abused instrument. A heavy breathing Mary Jane turned to me.
"So, what do you think?"
All the girls looked at me expectantly, waiting for my assessment.
"To be honest," I began, and everyone tensed up. "You girls play great. And you, MJ, sing well."
I paused for a moment.
"But..." Mary Jane prompted. "There's definitely a but."
"The composition itself." I waved my open hand vaguely in the air, trying to convey uncertainty. "It might work for some second rate nightclub. But overall, there's no meaning, no melody, no... how should I put it, no catchiness, no virality. No desire to hum the chorus."
"So the song is bad?" MJ asked. I noticed all the girls bristle.
"Well, excuse us. We couldn't find anything better," Liz challenged. "We don't have a line of amazing composers waiting to write for us."
Then I understood.
"So you wrote it yourselves?" Wow, that was awkward. "What I..." I started to say, then stopped.
They couldn't handle it. I had wanted to suggest something from the pop king's repertoire, the one this world's Janet Jackson would never perform. But then I realized it would be beyond them.
"Go on. Say what you really think," MJ sighed, apparently deciding my criticism wasn't over.
"I was going to say that if you didn't focus so much on heavy metal and chose a broader genre, took a theme that everyone knows, and wrote a song about it..."
"Peter," MJ began. "We've been working on this song for a month. It's not that easy."
"Hmm." My eyes fell on the Iron Lady poster again. "What if I wrote a song for you?"
Since the pop music I loved didn't exist in this world, why not give it to them? I knew more than just Jackson's lyrics. I would just have to learn how to write music in notes. Composing musical scores from memory couldn't be that hard, could it?
"You can write music?" Gwen asked distrustfully.
"I learn fast," I smirked. "Besides, I have an idea."
I pointed at the poster.
"Let's write a song about her. Iron Lady is on everyone's lips right now."
"That's..." Mary Jane hesitated. "That might work."
Even though Liz and Gabrielle expressed doubts about a person with almost no musical background being able to write a song, Mary Jane and, strangely, Gwen convinced the others to give me a chance.
Their doubts were reasonable, but they were missing one factor. I already had a ready made song about Iron Man. I just needed to figure out how to translate my memories into reality.
Feeling like I was doing a good deed, I immersed myself in learning and creating. If my favorite musicians in this world had found themselves in other callings, I would introduce this world to the works of their counterparts.
"You're so lucky, Red." Gabrielle hung on Mary Jane's shoulder, thinking I couldn't hear her over the finished melody playing in my headphones.
The girls were packing up their instruments while Liz was on the phone. Gwen and I were trying to critically evaluate the results of the day's work. Gwen was sitting on the floor with her legs crossed, like a serious yogi. I knew that with spider agility and flexibility, such poses were natural. I had to follow her example, though I didn't twist my knees and just sat comfortably.
Mary Jane smirked triumphantly and glanced at me.
"But you know what," Gabrielle continued with a sly squint. "It was very thoughtless of you to bring him here."
"Hey, don't even think about it," MJ protested, pushing her black friend's arm off her shoulder.
Even though the women of this world had to put up with their chosen partners' polygamy, most of them had their own hang ups. For example, many were against their partners getting involved with their friends. Female friendship could either strengthen or destroy such relationships. Many chose not to complicate the equation.
"I think it turned out pretty well," I said, taking off the headphones.
The girls' interference and my own musical ignorance had inevitably changed the familiar music. But I wouldn't say it was worse. The main thing was that the melody was still the same. Which meant the lyrics would fit. I promised the girls I would have a finished lyric sheet by tomorrow. I could have done it right then, but I decided it would be too much. Liz was still in shock after I had learned to play simple melodies on her guitar in just a few hours.
"I'll try to have the lyrics written by tomorrow. Then we can try them out."
"Don't think it's that easy," Gwen smirked. She had written the lyrics for their previous song.
"You haven't visited Connors?" I decided not to argue with her. "I hear she's back to normal."
"Um... no. I don't really understand what happened there," Gwen tried to play dumb.
"Well, now's your chance to find out."
"Hey." Someone's arms wrapped around me from behind. MJ loved sneaking up on me like that. "Ditching me again?"
She leaned in to kiss me. I didn't stop her, though I thought it was tacky to flirt so openly in front of her friends. She was like a cat marking its territory.
A few seconds later, Mary Jane pulled away with a very satisfied look.
"Don't disappear like you did last time," she said. "See you tomorrow."
After packing up, we left the garage. Gabrielle, Mary Jane, and Liz headed home. They still had homework to do for tomorrow. Gwen and I went to visit Karen. Officially, neither of us knew what had happened to her.
Since Connors herself hadn't been seen at the lab during the riot, there had been no repercussions from the authorities or her employers. All the blame had been put on Venom. Plus, thanks to Gwen and me, Reptilia hadn't had time to cause much of a stir in the city. Even the witnesses who had caught a glimpse of her that first night were no longer sure of their accounts. I wouldn't be surprised if Connors started teaching again soon to avoid drawing attention to herself. According to Gwen, her classes had been canceled today.
"So," I said when we were alone, "don't you want to explain yourself?"
Stacy looked at me, a little embarrassed.
"What do you..." she started to play dumb again, but seeing my skeptical look, she gave up. "Sorry about your computer. I don't know what came over me."
"That's it?" I asked. "What about stealing my drug and putting my life at risk? The solution in the IV was precisely measured. Because of you, I was unconscious for almost two days."
"I'm really sorry. I only took a little. I was going to show the sample to the professor so she could figure out what it was," Gwen said, shrinking.
"Oh, she figured it out, all right."
"What do you mean?" Was she really that good an actress? She had been the one to find Connors's phone. She knew what had been used to make Reptilia's serum. At least she hadn't tried to hide her identity as Spider Woman from me. She could have destroyed the evidence.
"I heard Connors's recordings," I said, not letting on that I knew Gwen's secret. "She used the sample you brought to perfect the formula. Because of your actions, both Karen and I could have died."
"I know," Gwen said quietly. "I made a big mistake. I didn't think the consequences would be this severe. I know I can't just apologize like it was nothing."
"Hmm." I decided to back off a little. "Connors is no saint either. She injected herself with an untested serum with unknown side effects. And Spider Woman helped clean up the mess. It's almost surprising. She didn't hesitate to get involved in a very dangerous situation."
"Do you think," Gwen began cautiously, "she did the right thing? I mean, don't you think she was meddling in something that wasn't her business?"
"She has great power," I began earnestly. "And with great power comes great responsibility."
Yes, I said it.
We walked in silence for a while. Gwen thought about what I had said. I was lost in my own memories. It was easy to talk about great responsibility. But looking back, I could say that following that creed had often backfired on me. Not to mention... I tried not to think about it, but...
When I woke up two hundred years later, how many of my actions as Spider Man had truly left a mark on history? I could count them on the fingers of one hand. Yes, thanks to me, many people lived a little longer, a little happier. But they all died, as did their children, and their children's children. No trace of them remained in history. Otherwise, my fate as Spider Man was to sacrifice my own happiness for others. I didn't regret my decisions, but I knew for sure that I didn't want that life for Gwen Stacy.
"What was that, anyway?" Gwen asked suddenly. "You injected yourself with that too. Should I be worried that you'll grow a tail and start hanging out with sewer rats?"
It was meant as a joke, but Gwen was serious. I understood her. Even deciding to follow me home for answers was to be expected. Spider sense could be a real headache, literally.
"A potency enhancer," I smirked. "If anything grows, it won't be a tail."
Gwen stumbled, then stared at me in shock.
"You're not serious," she exclaimed. "I mean, you can't be serious. Connors used your 'enhancer' to perfect her formula."
"Who knows, who knows."
By then, we had reached Connors's house. Something caught our attention and made us wary.
A black tinted Mercedes Benz limousine was parked by the fence. No matter how wealthy the Connors family was, I doubted any of them drove around town in a limousine with a personal driver.
"Interesting," I said. "Who could that be?"
"I know that car," Gwen answered. "It's Norma Osborn's limousine. She's the owner and founder of the multi billion dollar company OzCorp. They supply the US government. After the Army's contract with Stark Industries fell through, other companies started competing to become the main government contractor. HammerTech and OzCorp are fighting tooth and nail right now."
"What does the head of OzCorp want with Connors?" As I spoke, I tried to imagine a female version of Norman Osborn. I couldn't. All I saw was the laughing Goblin.
"Norma has tried to recruit Connors for her science division several times. She's offered her a fortune and unlimited funding."
"Shall we go say hello?" I suggested.
"Do you think this is a good time?" Gwen doubted.
"There's no time like the present," I said confidently and headed for the house.
Just then, the front door flew open, and angry shouts reached us.
"Get out of our house." An unfamiliar man was holding the door open for a guest. But there wasn't a trace of courtesy in the gesture.
The man was tall and reasonably built, though a noticeable beer belly was visible under his shirt. His face was frozen in an expression I strongly associated with a woman about to have a hysterical fit. Pursed lips, flared nostrils, a raised chin, and watery eyes. I assumed this was Karen's husband and my father's friend, Jack Connors.
"The time is up, Connors," a voice said, barely contained rage in its tone. "You can't hide an discovery like this from the world. You have no right."
"The conversation is over, Osborn." Karen was standing at the far end of the hallway, face to face with a tall woman with sharp features. This was clearly Norma Osborn.
"You're wrong, Connors. This is only the beginning." Osborn spat and rushed toward the exit. But at the last moment, she had to stop. The man holding the door grabbed her forearm.
"I don't ever want to see you in my house again," he said in a shaky voice.
I grimaced. Again. Pure feminine intonations. That was the voice of someone powerless to defend themselves, who feared conflict, but kept hoping the system would protect them. That was how a housewife from my world might talk.
Osborn's face twisted with rage. She grabbed the man's wrist and tore his hand away from her arm, pushing him back. But there was too much force behind the push. Jack flew into the wall like a limp puppet. Then he fell, staring at Norma with an expression of pure shock.
"Jack," Karen cried out, rushing to her husband. " Are you okay? Are you hurt?"
Osborn stared at her hand in surprise for a second. Then she looked at the man. A guilty expression appeared on her face. I thought she was about to apologize.
"You've crossed every line, Osborn." Karen growled like an animal, staring at Norma with hatred. "You'd better get out of here, and fast. Otherwise, all the lawyers at OzCorp won't be able to save you."
The woman instantly returned to her previous enraged state and, without a word, rushed past us and into her limousine. A second later, the car was gone.
I had completely missed this. It was possible to hide the fact that Connors was involved in the lab riot and that she had turned into Reptilia. But a new arm that had grown back in just a couple of nights was not so easy to hide. In my past world, that hadn't been a problem. Everyone knew Kurt Connors was the Lizard, and that his arm had grown back thanks to his regeneration.