Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

CW: Mentions of Suicidal Feelings

Part VII: Revenge

Mary Jane felt like she was about to throw up as her grip on her seat tightened. After the recent transmission from the others, she tried to keep her eyes on the sky for her missing daughter, but her head ached as if a hammer were banging on it. The Fantasti car, piloted by Sue Storm, hovered to a stop, briefly snapping M.J. out of her dizziness. "Sue, why are we stopping? Keep flying!"

"Not when it looks like you're about to fall right out of your seat," Sue expressed, a look of concern in her eyes.

But each second spent not searching for her daughter riled up M.J.'s anxiety as if it were clawing up her insides. She lost her again. She lost her again! And April sounds even more in pain. Things are happening so fast, and matters are seemingly only getting worse. If this keeps happening and the world sees April as nothing but a monster, then something terrible beyond her imagination could happen. All this fear racking her mind and body threatened to tear her spirit apart until Sue grabbed her hand. Then, M.J. realized that she was on the verge of hyperventilating. "Breath," Sue steadily said as she took a deep, sharp breath. M.J. focused her eyes on her as she mimicked Sue's breathing. Her heart rate normalized, and her head cleared up but a bit.

"If it eases you, Reed and I lost Franklin in the Phantom Zone for what felt like days," Sue shared, her tone trying to mellow the mood of this dire time. "It was barely a few hours for him. The universe's chaos will push you and those you love to your limits, but even dimensions beyond one's understanding can't break the bonds between us and those we love." 

"But you got powers I'll never have," M.J. somberly whispered, "being a mother seems so easy to you, always having something in your labs or that big brain of yours to give you the answer, no matter how bad things get—always having the power to protect them against any threat. Me? I'm just some poor, powerless, runaway girl with delusions of becoming something bigger, someone who is loved so that I can finally cover up the scars left by my family. Look at me now. I've done the same terrible thing my father did to me, and I don't know if I have the power to fix this! Now April, Annie, and Mayday are paying the price for it...like my sister and I had."

Sue's hand gently grabs M.J.'s shoulder before pulling her in for a hug. "Power isn't what's gonna fix this, not on its own," Sue said. "Use the one thing your father never gave you: love." M.J. wipes a tear from her eye and pulls back, remembering all the times April's moments of distress were soothed by her presence and words of reassurance. She nods to Sue right as the Fantasti car emits an alert. "We got something," Sue said, scanning the map displayed on her console, "April's made a sudden detour too...your home."

M.J. quickly points the way, and Sue re-ignites the engines, speeding to Queens. Thanks to the vehicle's incredible velocity, the two arrive at the Watson-Parker residence quickly. Setting down by the quiet front lawn of her family's home, Mary Jane sees the window to the upstairs bathroom was now broken. "Hurry," Sue said, "I'll be ready out here."

M.J. rushed inside, sprinting up the flight of stairs. Squinting down the pitch-black hallway, she saw the bathroom door half-open, and from it came the soft echoes of someone crying. M.J. approached the door, poking her head in as she quietly asked, "April?" She heard a scuttle while slowly laying her hand on the light switch. "April, sweetheart, I'm going to turn the lights on. Is that okay?" The darkness remained silent until she heard a gurgle or perhaps a snarl or murmur; M.J. couldn't tell. "Flipping the switch." M.J. winced from the flash of light before her eyes adjusted to see her daughter hiss from the light and scurry behind the bathtub's curtains. "Sorry! I'm..." M.J. sighed, hearing a distressed whimper from April. The curtains they had showed M.J. a blurry shadow of her daughter, whose form barely resembled a human. April's shadow was twitchy, and parts of her body were shrinking and growing uncontrollably. Most worryingly, M.J. could make out black goo falling out of April's body as if she were breaking down.

"Sweetheart, what's wrong?" she asked softly. "Why are you in the dark? You hate the dark, dear."

"D-d-d," April stuttered, sounding like a struggle to speak. "D-don't come near me."

"Can I sit here then? I won't open the curtains unless you say so." M.J. takes April's silence as a yes and squats beside the curtains. "April, why are you crying? It's okay, you can tell me. I won't tell your sisters."

"E-e-e," April groaned while the sounds of flesh shifting echoed behind the curtains. "E-everyone hates me. They always had. The kids at school...the other supers...May and Annie...even you and Dad!"

"That's nonsense, April," M.J. firmly rebukes, brushing her hand against the curtains. She sees April's shadow flinch away while clutching her head like she is restraining herself. Seeing her daughter in such pain was breaking her heart. "Your father and I," M.J. said with deep regret, "we're so sorry for keeping this from you. We thought we were helping you by ignoring this side of you when we were only making you feel like an outsider. Those best intentions barely meant much if we still treated you like a clone in some way when we should've fully treated you as our twin daughter."

"Mmmom," April gurgled, her voice barely resembling the one M.J.'s heard since she found her. "I...hurt Annie. I hurt everything I touch. I don't know if she's...she's..." M.J. hid her sharp gasp at this news, but April's further distress showed she still heard her. "Deep inside, I just wanted a family...but n-nothing worked out like I planned. Nothing ever works out for me. I don't know if I'm real or just a clone."

"That isn't important," M.J. urged. "That's never been important to us. You're April, my daughter." Despite what she said, April's shadow shifted wildly, shaking the room like an earthquake while black and blue goo began leaking over the tub. "April, I'm opening this curtain. You look like you're falling apart!"

"Then maybe it's better if I...disappear. It's what traitors deserve!" April sobbed, but this suddenly turned into muffling before evolving into full-on growling.

'Not on my watch!' M.J. brushed away the curtains and was met with a terrifying display that made her reel in horror, seeing her daughter become a tall, winged humanoid symbiote whose face was on the verge of melting. Seeing those pale white eyes staring at her initiated her mind, recalling her first encounter with the dreaded Venom. A guttural fear, the same one that plagued her this whole night, wanted her to run. You're a failure just like him, practically heard whispered in her ear. Look what you let your kids become. Monsters. You should never have had a family. You should have never even tried to be your true self. All these cruel, awful words tried to punch down Mary Jane's spirit, but just as one look left her trembling, it was then one look that told her to hold on with all her strength.

Half of the symbiote's face melted to unveil the blue eye of April. She looked so scared, so alone, just like M.J. was all those years ago.

"April Parker," Mary Jane said, her tone raised as those defeatist thoughts faded. "I never want to hear you say that about yourself again, young lady! You have never keeled over bullies before, even when they spat out vile venom or gave you black eyes, and you are strong enough not to give in now. And all we want is to be there by your side as you do and lend you help!"

"You don't get it, Mom," April uttered. "I don't want help! I want revenge!" M.J. saw April raise a fist, aimed squarely at her, but it didn't matter to her. Be it a fist or deadly claws; Mary Jane refused to let silly fear make her scared of her daughter, no matter what form she took. April's hesitance allowed Mary Jane to duck under the punch and hug her daughter. "No! That's not you, April. You're not some dangerous sociopath out for blood, and you haven't betrayed our family. I know you never willing hurt Annie, just as I know you won't hurt me."

M.J.'s eyes were shut as she desperately hugged her daughter, never showing an inch of doubt about April's goodness even as she heard the twitching of April's claws over her. "Parker...kill," April growled before sputtering names like a computer glitching out. Mary Jane looks up in confusion about what is happening while April stutters, "Osborn...? Parker...kill...Osborn! Parker!? Osborn!? Parker!!"

'Osborn?!' M.J. thought as her grip was finally broken, and she was shoved to the bathroom floor. She watched her daughter let out a violent roar.

"OSBORN!" April cried, hurrying out the shattered window and flapping her demonic-like wings into the air. She's encased in an invisible bubble by a quick-thinking Sue Storm below. April clawed and stabbed at the bubble with surprising power and ferocity.

"Reed!" she said into her suit's communicator, "We found April at her home, but she's growing stronger! Even the old symbiote didn't make me break a sweat!"

"Sue! Watch out!" M.J. warned as a funnel of symbiote goo slung itself out of the window and at Sue. She threw up another hand and encased it into an invisible box, but only most of it. April controlled a tiny piece to slip through the attack and latch onto Sue's suit, surprising the invisible woman when it quickly grew, restraining her and threatening to envelop her. Resisting its immense grip and fearing being controlled by it broke Sue's concentration momentarily. April used that moment to shatter the invisible bubble and fly high into the sky. Sue uses her powers to blast away the goo off her but sees the other goo barreling towards her before a funnel of fire stops it. During all this, Mary Jane grabbed a flammable spray bottle and her old lighter before leaping down and blasting the improvised flamethrower. The mindless goo burns until it disintegrates.

Sue quickly informed the others where April was heading while Mary Jane stared at the glimmering Alchemax skyscraper. "Osborn," she whispered before her mind returned to the night goblin tore her daughter away from her. I remember all that time she was gone and then recall how April, ever since she entered their lives, has suffered nightmares of man and a green monster. Then the answer came to her, and she gritted her teeth in rage. "Norman," she growled.

"Mary Jane?" Sue asked, rarely ever seeing her this angry.

"That retched Norman Osobrn's controlling April!" Mary Jane clenched her teeth in hate at the mere thought of that man, shutting her eyes as a tear fell down her cheek. "He's in her head, I think, making her attack us." M.J. shuddered in fear. "Sue," she uttered, "I'm afraid April will do something horrible to herself!"

Sue grabs Mary Jane by her shoulders and, as a mother, shares in her fierce protectiveness. "Then we must end this madness immediately," Sue said, "We know now who must be stopped. We know where she's going, and we all are stopping this tonight."

"Once and for all," M.J. fiercely said, wiping her tears. She'll save them when April is finally free. Knowing where this must end and who they must stop to free April, M.J. lets this renewed fire burn, fueling her resolve to fight harder than ever for this family, for her family. "You still got that experiment Reed and Peter worked on stored somewhere at Baxter?"

Sue gave a firm nod and rushed to get'em back to Baxter immediately.

[Meanwhile, in the Codex of April Parker...]

April didn't expect paradise; her frequent nightmares were a hint that whatever was going on in her noggin wasn't exactly peaceful, but she at least expected her mindscape to have some more personality. Instead, she's stuck trudging through knee-high black water following her supposed-to-be dead great aunt to navigate a maze with skyscraper-high walls, all the while her former captor is out there probably influencing her body to do who-knows-what kind of evil. "I'm gonna be stuck attending that therapy thing for months after this," April grumbled.

"Consider this a kind of preview of therapy, dearie," the seeming ghost of her great aunt May spoke. "I attended them myself after your great uncle Ben died, and they were quite helpful. Your father told you all about those fateful days, yes?"

"Endlessly," April groaned, the water reaching her waist as she followed her great aunt May down a new path.

"Even if I didn't know it then, my Peter was never the same from the day onwards," May said reminiscently. "Still, I saw he preserved his kind heart and responsible mind, and I'm proud to see those gifts carried on to you and your dear sisters."

"'Gifts,' yeah, right. I don't know if you've been paying attention, old lady, but I haven't acted like a model citizen with this 'gift' the past few hours." April stopped waist-deep in the murky water, looking at her reflection to see her symbiote self staring back at her. "I thought I could make it a gift...but it was just a ruse. This gift is nothing but a curse." April shut her eyes, unable to bear looking at herself until she felt the floor beneath her shoes vanish. Suddenly, she was underwater, feeling the chilling waters of the dark world pulling her down. In a panic, April tries to swim up, only to be able to thank the great Aunt May for pulling her up.

April coughed out water, now suddenly feeling a floor beneath her. "Sorrow in the face of such a painful, dark past is an understandable reaction, April. A very human reaction," May said gently, a tinge of fear over almost losing her granddaughter again. "But sorrow can just as quickly drown you and snuff out your will to do...anything, even to exist."

April shuddered from the cold, from the pull of death.

"I know because sorrow nearly took me when my Ben was gone," May reveals, with April looking on in surprise. Her dad made Great Aunt May sound so strong, yet even she had her low points. "But Peter," May said with a warm smile, "gave me the push I needed to keep going. I believe your sisters can do the same for you and then some."

"But I hurt them," April muttered,  anxiously clenching her shirt.

"You mustn't blame yourself for the actions of-"

"Annie's blood stained my hands, hasn't it?!" Her cry echoed on seemingly for miles; it could practically be heard in every shadowy corner of this labyrinth. May remained silent. She can't blame the poor girl for feeling guilty. April angrily brushed aside her wet hair, shouting defiantly at the maze, "Where are we going anyway?! You've been dragging me around in circles for, like, forever! Why are you even here? Are you even the real her or another of Osborn's screwed-up tricks?"

April's fit of anger and frustration in the face of this absurdity was answered by a sudden hug. May wrapped her in an embrace so warm and full of love that April almost didn't feel the cold anymore. It was like being hugged by her parents as if trying to tell her they still loved her. May whispered kindly, "Do I feel real to you?"

April doesn't hug back, but her posture relaxes as she sighs deeply. "I guess..." she mumbles, her eyes trying to look away from where she sees something falling above them. "Watch out!" Quickly, May glanced up and pulled April away as a dark boulder crashed into the water before sinking below. As waves pushed and pulled them, April clung onto May, and heavy debris fell around them. Her great aunt's surprising nimbleness and speed guided her past this treacherous corridor until pulling her down a new path right as the collapse above ceased. "Too close," April said, breathless. She then heard rock breaking around them. "Hey, cracks are forming all across these walls! What's going on?"

"This decay you're seeing is exactly why I'm here," May reveals. "As I said earlier, your mind is under threat of being torn apart. The Goblin believes his fight will return control over you, but that blind fool doesn't realize the damage he's inflicting will only lead to complete demise for the both of you!"

"But how am I here talking to ya? I don't feel broken," April said, seeing not even a scratch on her person.

"You're part of the soul of April Parker, saved from the chaotic battle of the mind by me."

"What?!" April scoffed, a brief chuckle in her voice over that insanity she was hearing.

"I just have to believe me, my girl," May insisted. "As for these dreadful cracks, they're here because the mind of April is in a frenzy. Broken by the damage inflicted by the Goblin and your recent actions. Where once before Norman had control, now nothing but fear, anger, and instinct pilot this body, even if it'll eventually destroy you."

April flinched upon feeling the coldness of death's breath creeping down her neck. "I'm dying?"

"Yes," May solemnly said.

"Everything that makes you, you, is falling apart. Perhaps it's a consequence of trying to use untapped power you are not ready for or because some part of you wants it. I'm not eager to find out which."

April gazed up, a thunderous bellow coming from the top of the towering walls of the labyrinth as they fell apart. Brushing her hand against the smooth, dark surface of the wall, April can feel a kind of energy from it. As May said, it felt like a part of her very being. She could even see memories if she shut her eyes. However, with each new crack formed, those precious memories fragment until they become too hard to remember. "So," she sighed, almost resigned to this doomed fate, "I'm just a ticking bomb then. Throwing a tantrum to the very end until that bomb explodes. Then...I fade away."

April felt May's hand grip her shoulder. Her great-aunt looked reassuringly and spoke, "We won't let that happen. Not on my watch, my girl."

'We,' April thought. Great Aunt May believes she still has that fight, and April hopes she's right. Suddenly, a sharp pain stings in April's mind, inflicting an awful headache. April grunts, "Now what?!" as a blue and black vortex swirls in the sky above.

"It's a window through your eyes," May said, carrying April so they could keep moving while seeing a glimpse of the outside world through the vortex. "Oh goodness, you've already arrived at Alchemax."

Despite her eyes being shut like windows, she can still peek through and see what May is seeing. It felt like she was there, which she technically was, but April was only a passive observer of her rampage. She can see her wreaking sudden havoc across Alchemax. She'd defeated dozens of guards with ease. The trail of dark ooze her crumbling body leaves behind swarms and envelopes any guard and employees within their range. She can faintly feel each mind, but they are her sleeping puppets until someone sets them free. It wasn't long until her rampaging self laid eyes on the Osborn brothers.

"What the heck," April groaned, "why are those Osborn weirdos doing there?"

"Your anger has turned to hate, and now that hate is being programmed to the Goblin's family rather than your own," May said.

April's brows flinch with unease. Seeing those boys run for their lives, all their privilege and legacy that came with the name Osborn crumbling around them brought a certain catharsis to April. That feeling her mind felt is something she can't deny. Yet, watching as their mother desperately tried to defend them, pushing them to a panic room before shielding them with her flesh and bones reminded April of what her mother would do. Such a sight tightened her stomach into a painful knot, leaving her with a gross feeling as she saw the dark ooze begin to envelop the family.

April opened her eyes as her window to the outside fogged up. The Osborns didn't look dead, but if April dies tonight, they'll be coming with her so long as that ooze has control of them.

"You understand now what's at stake here?" May asked. "More than one life is on the line, always has been. Letting death win today will only lead to the suffering of those around you, especially the family you love. Mayday and Annie...oh, I can't bear even to imagine such a future where they feel like they failed you. Nor can I bear the thought of you leaving this world. No one your age should even contemplate taking the path to death." May paused when April remained silent. "You look troubled, April. Does a part of you really want this? To get revenge even at the cost of your own life?"

"I...I don't know," April painfully admits. "I just can't believe what that monster did to me, stealing from me something I can never get back. I want Norman dead. And yet, it's like a part of me dies with every step I take toward that goal. I know this, yet I still keep going, not caring if I die so long as every Osborn gets what they deserve."

"Even the children?" May posits.

April remained silent until she murmured, "Not like I can stop it from here. And what else do you expect to happen from a walking death magnet? I'm just working as he designed me to be."

"But that's not his choice; it's never been," May refutes. "It's your body, April, your life. It's your choice now. Do you want revenge, no matter the blood spilled? Even those of your own family?"

April's head snapped up at May. "What!!" she exclaimed as May laid her hand on her head. April felt a memory flash before her eyes; it was her mom in the upstairs bathroom, hugging her even as her talons hung over her head. "Mom!"

"Your mother will find a way to reach you, no matter the danger," May said, stepping back. "And you know your sisters will follow suit. What will happen if they face you once again in this state?"

April clutched her head at the painful recollection of her beastly transformation and imagined it happening again in front of her whole family. She felt it in the recess of her being that her outside self would attack anything on sight, and her Mom may not be so lucky the second time around. She's on the cusp of ending the Osborns, and the April out there won't let anyone get in her way. "Anyone." As if in a vision of a horrible future, April sees her mother and sisters lying before her, their bodies cold to the touch, and Norman's laughing as he gets the final laugh. "No," April gasped and urgently ran past May. "Come on! We gotta hurry before I do something stupid again!"

"We're almost there, April," May reassures, running beside April as she guides her through the maze. "But know this, my girl: even if you pass this trial, you must use all the power you can muster to banish the Goblin from your mind. Only then will your mind be repaired and your body stabilize."

"Fine, whatever," April huffed, "and what even is this trial?"

May turned her head upward, spotting their destination hovering far above in the stormy skies, and answered, "To face the mirror."

Part VIII: Forward!

Though this model of the Fantasti car was a tad cramped, not helped by her mother's section, still being separated, it could fit all 12 of them so long as her uncle Johnny kept flying beside them. They were halfway to the Alchemax building, with The Thing steadily piloting it. In the ship's med bay, Annie inhales sharply as Valeria finishes applying the bandage over the puncture wound. "Don't be a baby," Valeria said.

With them were Nikki and Jo, with the latter saying, "Yes, merely your appendix was severed—the most useless organ in the human body."

"If anything, your sister just saved you a headache decades from now," Nikki added.

"I'll be sure to thank her," Annie sighed. She supposed she had worse trips to the doctors, like that one time she was dared to eat a month-old sandwich for ten bucks. 'Call me chicken, ha!' she thought as a ding from a nearby machine got Valeria's attention. "My armor fixed up?"

"Yep," Nikkie said, grabbing it for her cousin Val.

"Despite how it looks," Jo said, "it's a shame such quality armor will go unused for days, given your father's recent orders."

Annie's brow scrunched, remembering the speech he gave her and Mayday. "We almost got through to her." Valeria could see how frustrated Annie was, a trait she shared with her father, who was a bit more volatile in his response when it was confirmed his old nemesis had indeed returned. None of the kids have seen Peter curse a name as furiously as he did Norman's.

"In such critical times, almost isn't good enough," Valeria said, "you go into something? You go in to win, not to try."

"With April? I'm always going in to win," Annie said determinedly, pounding her fists together as her head buzzed like crazy. "Cruud, again?!" All Annie needed to see that she was having another vision was flashing colors and reality seemingly warping around her. This one didn't feel as crazy but still inflicted a nasty headache as her iris briefly glowed upon witnessing the future.

She saw a night sky like tonight's while standing on top of the Alchemax building she, Mayday, and her dad had visited before. Except this time, symbiotes were everywhere, and they were all screaming. Her sister was before her, but she wasn't moving, for she lay lifelessly on the floor. Before she could even reach her, a three-headed beast sprung up from behind Annie and attacked.

Though it was a mere glimpse, Annie panted anxiously after seeing what could be her sister's demise. "Annie," Valeria said, surprised to see Annie experience a real vision.

Nikki gasped, "Anime, what kind of future have you witnessed?"

"No...," Annie whispered, covering her mouth in disbelief.

"What?!" Valeria asked. Her suit suddenly started to beep, which Valeria recognized as a section of the Fantasti car approaching. 'Finally, mother's back.'

Suddenly, Annie dashed past Valeria, Nikki, and Jo to grab her gear before rushing out of the med bay to the main hull. Mister Fantastic, his son Franklin and Annie's extended superfamily of Ben, Kaine, Jessica, and Aracely were here with her dad and sister. Mayday appeared to be still defending their actions and urging her dad that this was their fight, too, when Annie shouted, "April's gonna die!"

The whole room stopped what they were saying and doing; their eyes widened with shock. "That's...shouldn't be," Reed said, "Norman is an unexpected factor and would severely affect April's brain patterns, but-"

"It's true, Reed," said his wife, Sue. She lept down from her section of the car and walked up behind Annie. "Mary Jane spoke to her, and April told her herself."

It was now Annie's turn to be surprised when she saw her mom enter. She was not in casual clothes but a red and white spider suit with her red hair tied up into a bun. The upper torso, shoulder, and lower leg sections were scarlet red with a white web pattern, while her arms and waist were pristine white. It wasn't just any suit, Annie recognized. Her keen eye for tech showed another layer beneath; the energy flowing through them led to pulsating light gliding across the fabric.

'Fashionable and strong,' Annie thought. 'Totally made by mom.'

"Mary Jane..." Peter said, his mind jumbled by even worse news, such as seeing his wife in a suit he hadn't seen in years.

"Peter," M.J. spoke, "Tonight, it's all of our responsibilities. For April." She reassuringly grabs Annie's shoulder, deeply happy to see her little girl better and back on her feet.

Meanwhile, this personal emergency has turned into a massive one as all the spider people in the room feel the intense buzzing of their spider sense goes off. A second later, Aracely felt it, clenching her heart as she felt a vortex of hate and anguish.

The Thing's voice is then heard over the intercoms. "Hey! You all better see this!" Mister Fantastic activated a console as it rose from the floor to see what was happening. The console's surface projected a feed from the Fantasti car's cameras. Everyone looked on in shock as a series of enormous symbiote tendrils burst out of the roof of Alchemax, slowly entangling the building from the top down. "Aww, nuts," The Thing muttered over comms, and there were no better words to describe how everything went from bad to worse.

"It's already spreading," Ben pointed as the tendrils crashed into the streets, now expanding into nearby buildings and pedestrians. "Johnny!"

"Already on it!" They hear a boom outside as Johnny blasts off towards the streets below.

"Even with Johnny's help, at this rate, those tendrils will envelop the whole district within minutes," Jessica said.

"Five minutes, to be precise," Reed suggested. Despite her age, April's powers have surpassed all her potential limiters." Inputting commands into the console, Reed pinpoints April. She's on the roof, and the fantastic-car's scanners are going haywire trying to calculate her signatures."

"I feel it," Aracely shuddered. She almost falls to her knees until Kaine holds her. "She's dying out there."

"Ben!" Sue shouted.

"Already on it!" The Thing activates the ship's thrusters, and they shoot straight to Alchemax.

"Alright, it's time to think fast," Peter said. "Reed, Sue, and Ben keep this from spreading."

"We can help!" Franklin said as Valeria, Nikki, and Jo showed up, suited up and ready.

"So long as you two are sticking close to the adults," Sue said, "Val, Franklin, go with Dad. Nikki, Jo, stay close to your father. I'll go and form a force field around the district. And Parkers, you all go save that poor girl." With that, Sue hugged M.J. farewell and took off in her pod. Nikki and Jo join their father in the pilot seat as Reed nods to Peter before taking Val and Franklin with him to help out Johnny below. 

The Parker extended family soon saw the feed show a glowing blue dome form in the sky. It slammed down directly in the paths of the symbiote tendrils, ceasing their expansion for the time being. Johnny was already burning away the thick, dark roots inside the dome. However, just as these were occurring, a wave of people infected with symbiotes rushed out of the Alchemax building, their sights set on any in their way. Like a flower, the petals of this symbiote convergence bloomed on top of the building, creating a webbed cage over it as swarms of mindless symbiote-like bats formed out of the web and flew into the air. 

"Okay, that's new," Jessica grumbled.

"Looks like there are several entry points each of us go through," Ben said, pointing at several exposed openings in April's protective cage. "Perhaps best to split up as we swing down, fight our way through, and then all convene inside to get to April." 

"Except April's already making her web several layers thick. You can tell by the web pattern; it's complex even for me to understand," Peter said.

"Like a real spider-web," Aracely commented.

"We're on her turf now," Kaine emphasized. "Her web. If we take the wrong entry..."

"Then we'll be ensnared in her web," Jessica finished.

"There must be a fast way to get to her; we can't waste even a second," Mary Jane urged. "Peter, I've seen how fast she's falling apart. Our time window to save her is shrinking by the minute."

The collective panic and anxiety all the adults were trying to bury were now peeking through. "Maybe we can use this ship's sonic weaponry," Peter hurriedly suggested.

"Maybe, but we can't risk it hurting her," M.J. anxiously warned.

"Aracely, you can conjure fire," Kaine suggested. "Use this entry to-"

"I still can't conjure enough of it, Kaine! Especially in so little time."

"Jess, you got the Ultimates on speed dial," Ben said, "maybe you can call them. The mansion is only-"

"I'm sorry," Jessica sighed, "but Sam, Monica, and the others are halfway across the galaxy. They aren't due back until tomorrow. We're on our own, Ben." 

In the middle of all these haphazard plans and panic, Mayday stared hard at the feed the whole time and could only imagine how much anguish and hurt April felt to unleash this much power to the world she saw, hardly caring about her existence. Every one of those symbiote roots, from the bus-sized tentacles that crushed through empty stores to the ones that were once people who now feel everything she's feeling. All so that she can let out one final death cry at this uncaring world. How can one reason with one so determined to die? How can Mayday, or anyone in this room, get through not just April's mind but her very heart? 'Mind and heart," she thought. She shut her eyes and heard her as if whispered by a ghost. The voice that distantly sounded like her twins, sounding like she was running, worried. Right as Mayday opens her eyes, her sights fall on Aracely, the young woman who came here in the first place because of her empathic ability to sense April's feelings. 'And she read, maybe even enter our minds. Can feel what we feel!'

Aracely noticed Mayday staring at her. 'You have an idea?' Aracely telepathically asked.

Mayday snapped her fingers, shouting, "I know how to get to her!" All eyes turned to her right as she finished with, "And I think there's only one way we can free her from the Goblin, forever!"

"And that is?" Ben asked.

Mayday points at Aracely before pointing at herself. The gears in Aracely's mind turn as she stares at the girl until they are both on the same page. "A mind meld," she gasped. "Yes, yes, of course!"

"Whoa, wait," Kaine said, "a mind what?"

"Is that a spell?" M.J. asked

"Yes," Aracely explained, "the story I told you all was about the spell I was practicing with right before I passed out. That must be why I felt April's turmoil in the first place!"

Desperate about any plan, Peter asked, "And how can this help April?"

"Alright," Aracely sighed, collecting her thoughts as she explained, "it-it's a complicated but doable spell where two minds magically connect through me. Think of me creating an invincible bridge towards April's mind, and I'm the bridge. Your daughter suggests we halt April's breakdown by performing this spell!"

"Then help me through it! Perform it right now, and connect me to my daughter," Peter urged.

But to Peter's surprise, she shook her head. "Nonono, sorry, but I can't do it from here," she stuttered. "I'm still a learner. Plus, April's mind is too shattered and angry for me to form this bridge long enough for you to reach out to her. Plus, given recent events, April might kick you out immediately."

"Kick him out?" Jessica asked.

Aracely pinched her brow, "Yes, the spell can only work if April allows the other inside her mind."

"But you can still do it, yes?" Kaine asked.

Aracely then dropped the crucial component, "yes," she said, "I can calm down April's senses just enough for her to focus and decide. Even then, I can only perform this spell through physical contact of both parties."

'Crud,' all the Parkers thought.

"Goddamn magic and it's goddamn rules," Kaine cursed under his breath.

Ben asked, "So, for this plan to work, we need to get you close enough to grab April and the other person venturing into her head."

"It'll require intense concentration and protection from any outside interference...but yes, it can work," Aracely confirmed. "But it can't be Kaine's brother or any adult. With April's special case, my senses tell me...it must be Mayday Parker."

"What?!" Peter gasped, cursing in his head how danger seemingly keeps coming after him and his wife's kids, and they're unable to stop it.

"Mom," Mayday said.

"No..." Peter muttered.

"Dad!"

"No," Peter said more firmly, even as his siblings stared at him. He can see in Jess's eyes that it was the only rational action. He can see in Kaine's eyes that now wasn't the time to be an idiot. He can see in Ben's eyes to trust Mayday and that this could be the only way to save April. April, his daughter, the daughter he loved the moment he first saw her. Yet he was a fool not always to show it and let this silly clone bias linger in his mind for far too long. And now, in this nightmare scenario, the awful truth is shoved in his face: he can't save her himself. Because of all the fears and lies, now his Mayday has to face the brunt. Peter can't be rational with this because his mind won't torment him with all the ways this can go wrong and how two of his daughters could end up...could end up...

"No," Peter grunted, his anxiety inflicting a pain in his chest until his emotions boiled over, and he yelled, "I won't lose both of you again!" A stunned silence filled the room, and Peter's hands quivered. "I can't...nnnot both of you. Not again, I...I can't lose you two again." 

A tear fell down his cheek when his wife's fingers brushed it away. He faced her and saw all the same fears in her eyes, but he also saw immense faith—faith in this family, faith in her daughters, and what they were capable of. Mary Jane held his hand right as Annie held Mayday's. Those two shared a look before both placed Mayday's and Peter's hands together.

"Dad," Mayday said, her voice determined and face full of courage, "Everything that happened today began with April and me. After all the lies, truths, pains, and love, I...I think this nightmare can only end with the two of us."

"Mayday...," Peter whispered. "You shouldn't have to finish what Norman and I started. If everything Aracely says is right, you will face him. You don't know him like I do."

Mayday's eyes look away, letting her pain show as an awful memory flashes before her eyes. "And you don't know him like I do, Dad. To feel so small and defenseless...him poking needles and his hands loomed over my tiny throat." Everyone felt their hearts sink at her words. Yet, her courage returns as she declares, "Never again. Never will I let my sister be in his clutches ever again. I will free her, and both of us beat him together!"

Peter has peered into many eyes in the years he was Spider-Man. He can see the fires of vengeance with a single look. So, when he stared down at Mayday Parker's eyes, he didn't see vengeance.

He saw justice.

Peter lets go of her hand to pat her shoulder and, with a shaky sigh, says, "Okay, hotshot. We're with you, all the way."

"Yeah," Annie exclaimed, hugging her brave older sister before Mary Jane pulled them and Peter in for a hug, one last moment of peace to settle their minds and save thier lost girl. She and Peter shared a look, and both knew the other was ready to protect their girls with all their strength and will. 

A sniffle suddenly echoed from the ship's comms. "You Parkers a real tearjerker," Ben Grimm sniffed, "now, how about more punchin' and less talkin' here? We're getting kinda swarmed out here."

"Right!" They all exclaim.

"Mayday," her uncle Ben said, "can you get us in?"

"Uh-huh! Annie and I's spider senses are connected to April, so follow us, and we can all bypass her web to reach her," Mayday explained.

"Your father and I will cover the front," M.J. said.

"And us three will cover your rear," Kaine said. He turns to his daught--, his prodigy, and offers words of reassurance. "Aracely, just treat this as any other previous mission. Stick close to Mayday, no matter what. Use your powers to cloak yourself from April. Wait for an opening and initiate that spell."

"Roger, Roger," Aracely saluted, floating over to Mayday and Annie's sides.

"I don't know why she does that," Kaine grumbled. In his head, this reassures himself. 'She got this, Kaine, she does.'

The lights of the interior changed from a bright blue to a deep red, signaling The Thing was about to open the main ship's doors. All the Parkers grab a loose collection of sonic weaponry loaded into by the FF. Mayday snaps on sonic gloves to her web-shooters while Annie holds her modified gloves to shield and ward off symbiotes. Ben and Jessica loaded up some sonic rifles, but yet Kaine didn't take any. He looks away from the weapons with a sigh of regret. Peter grabs some sonic pistols for his wife. "Remember," he whispered, "your suit will transfer my powers to you, but I'll be only half as strong out there. You remember our training?"

"Like it was yesterday, tiger," M.J. said, and the two shared a quick kiss before joining their daughters and the others.

"GO!" Ben Grimm ordered.

"Hang on," Peter and M.J. said, holding their daughters tight as the bay doors opened. With one grand leap, the Parker family dives, gliding across the air before a collective Thwip! is fired from all their web-shooters, and the family swings into action.

As Sue kept the symbiotes from spreading and the rest of the FF took care of the situation on the ground, the Parkers directed all their efforts toward the peak of Alchemax. Mayday has grown not to be a stranger to swinging, but tonight, it felt like she needed to make every web blast count. Every swing needed to be the fastest she could make it, and no movement can't go to waste. She glanced over at Annie and saw she felt the same way because her mobility was far more efficient. She knew, too, that they had to put their all into this; now was the time to put their training to the test. 

Everyone's spider-sense tingled before Ben was the first to shout, "Watch your four o'clock!" The Parkers briefly split up to dodge a swarm of symbiote drones that lunged after them from the surrounding rooftops.

Mayday stuck close to her dad and Aracely while Annie was with their mom. Mayday dodged a symbiote who lunged at her but saw a dozen more hurling towards her. Aracely eyes glowed a soft green, and her voice echoed, "Otlaxochiuiltletl!" A great gust of enchanted green fire is blown out of Aracely's mouth, dowsing the small swarm with intense fire. Mayday sighs at the sight of the people in them freed and landing safely thanks to the help of Mister Fantastic below. "Hey, we're already a great team!" Mayday said with a thankful nod.

"Yes, but compliments later. Fight now," Aracely said, echoing Kaine's teachings. Mayday swings, frontflips, and backflips from any stray drone after her while Aracely launches fireballs to keep them off their tails. Just straight ahead, Mayday saw her father and mother fight together. Annie's leg was by the head of another splinter swarm, but before they could fully ensnare her, M.J. swooped in and kicked away the head drone while grabbing Annie to safety. The swarm tried to pursue, but they were bombarded by web blasts and the fists of Peter Parker, pummeling them while also ensnaring them with webbing until the drones were trapped in a large ball of web. Though rusty, Peter still had it in him.

"Woah," Mayday gasped in awe.

"Keep moving," Peter told the family. We can't waste time fighting them!" Of course, Mayday's aunt and uncles were already on the same page as her dad.

Jessica acted fast and agile, but her punches were no less strong while barreling through drones like they were paper to her. All those years on her own, then with S.H.I.E.L.D. and now the Ultimates, have molded her into a veteran hero in Mayday's eyes, truly as fearless as she was powerful. Her only equal and current Spider-Man, her brother Ben, leaped in the air as gracefully as a dancer while striking any drones in his way with the coordination and power of the world's greatest boxer. He perfectly balanced all the skills and strategies that make Spider-Man a formidable hero to all. To Mayday, Ben's Spider-Man was one perfected. His movements were so in tune with his spider-sense. A strategic mind amplified his incredible strength. His years standing alone as a hero led to him handling any situation independently, no matter how dire. Finally, Kaine was the silent one shredding through drones with his spider talons. Nothing got in his way, and his ferocity made him more of a villain than a hero. Mayday didn't have a clear answer, but she knew Kaine was fighting for both of them, fighting for April, which was enough.

WHAM! To her far right, Mayday sees Spider-Woman uppercut a passing drone.

POW! Mayday sees Spider-Man knock out a pair of drones to her far left.

BAM! Behind her, Scarlet Spider barrels through a barrage of drones.

WOOSH! To her left, Mayday feels the heat as Hummingbird blasts a gust of fire, shielding the both of them.

KA-POW! To her right, Spiderling kicked off a drone that almost snuck up on them.

Her parents led the charge and shielded her. With a collective THWIP, they fired a barrage of webbing, kicking, and dodging a pack of drones until any foes in their way were ensnared. Fueled by the one goal of saving one of their own, this family has become unstoppable.

"We're closing in, Mayday," Peter said.

Then Mary Jane asked, "Where to go next, hotshot?"

Mayday glanced at Annie; the two nodded before squinting their eyes at the dark web, their minds buzzing from all the chaos around them. Amid all that noise, Mayday is the first to hear the faintest of voices: a cry. "Annie," she said.

"I heard her too," her sister said.

"Alright. Everyone," Mayday exclaims, "forward!"

Part IX: Facing the Mirror

April and Aunt May traverse the maze and reach the symbiote, which April must accept.

Within the depths of April Parker's shattered mind, her last hope lay in a fragment of herself whose mission was seemingly ending. After miles of traversing the maze, April and her great aunt May arrived at a stretch of hovering platforms, each entangled and made of cold metal. It led to a platform high above, where April could only faintly see a silhouette on top of it. As they begin their ascent, April looks back to see the one mighty maze in ruins, resembling more like a crumbled, desolate city. Her mind was fading fast, all those painful memories lingering even after all the good ones vanished. April questioned herself how she still knew who she was and why she was doing this. She still had no answer, yet something within her told her never to leave her great aunt May's side, lest she fade away forever.

The soles of April's shoes squeaked, causing a sharp gasp from her as gravity tried to pull her down. She's narrowly grabbed by May; if not for her, April would've plummeted into the dark city, the center of which was flooded with dark symbiote goo. "We're almost there, my girl!" May reassured, tugging April along as both could see the top just a few yards away.

"I," April exhaled, her heart pumping from her constant close calls. "Hate. Everything. About. This!"

To herself, May whispered, "Welp, you're certainly not going to like this next part then." Her quiet attempt at humor ended when heartless laughter echoed across this shattered domain, a laugh that even inflicted fear on May. April was frozen still by that laugh that echoed in her head every day for five years. She wanted to crumble at such a terrible trigger, but as her hands quivered, she clenched them into fists and pushed onward. She even passed May, powered by her utter hate of Osborn and her fear of her rampage ending up taking her family with her.

After what felt like an eternity, April arrived at her fated trial, but what awaited her was not a person or even a beast; it was something more—something alien. In the middle of this twenty-foot-wide platform was a smooth-surfaced dark orb, about five feet wide and six feet tall, trapped in the same metal the platforms she climbed were made of. Punctured onto its top were metal rods resembling needles, and a ring of fire surrounded it, the embers of its dangerous flames always an inch away from hurting it.

May soon arrive, looking at the orb sadly. April, unable to look away, asked, "What...is this?"

"That is your reflection, the other half of your soul," May revealed, "this is your symbiote."

A nervous gulp escapes April. Subconsciously, she knew exactly what she was looking at, but it didn't make hearing it any less gut-wrenching, not only at her symbiote but also in the pain of looking at the machinery that trapped it.

"April, you must release it."

"I-I can't!"

"You must if you wish to help your family, April," May gently urged, placing her hand on her grand niece's shoulder. "And to finally feel whole again-"

April swats her hand away, shutting her ears, refusing to listen. She may not have anticipated what was waiting for her at the end of this road, but she would instead take anything than face the very curse inflicted on her. However, she soon is reminded of something undoubtedly more evil than this curse. That same manacle laughter echoed across the sky; the once blue and black stormy skies had now begun to morph into a shade of sickly green. April's fear at such a sight was shared, not by May but with her symbiote. It was a screech of distress that felt like it was happening inside April's head, like her screaming. 'It's just as afraid, this...is its prison,' April realized, 'just like stasis was mine.'

Then, as if moving by its own will, April's hands reach the symbiote. It roared, its dagger-like fangs briefly flashing, but April pulled back. Instead, April gripped one of its chains and yanked it off. One after another and another, the symbiote's chains were broken by April's sheer willpower. The symbiote shattered with every vile chain shackling, and April's eyes began to water. Every sinking moment, being in stasis, trapped in an unfeeling, unloving fake world, flooded back in, threatening to drown her in despair.

She did not. Not this time. She will burn down any last fragment of that heartless world.

This was her world, April Parker's world!

She shattered the last chain with a guttural, somber yell, the kind one screams from the deepest part of one's aching heart. With this act done, April is left staring at the symbiote orb in its raw form, fixated at the sight of her reflection on its smooth, dark surface moving on its own. She squints her eyes at it, but her reflection turns her head away with a pained expression, like it was scared, too. Placing her head on it, April felt it wasn't just afraid. It was ashamed. This gentle connection between the halves of one being unearths a deep and unbreakable bond, then a strand of the symbiote crawls up April's arm.

"There you are!"

Great Aunt May gasped from the echoes of that familiar, awful voice. In the distance, she can see a trail of smog emitting from a flying machine, with its pilot flying straight for them. "April, hurry!" However, neither her words nor the voice of their former captor reached either the symbiote or April. The symbiote slowly engulfed the girl, not with a strangle but like a warm embrace. April stared on, unsure what to expect, what to say, or even if she genuinely wanted this new her, but she did know she can't fail now. If still not for her own sake, then for the sake of her family, and so she can finally punch Norman's smug face.

"You're too late," May's words echoed as April's head was shrouded by the symbiote's tendrils.

"NOOO!"

Norman's rage-fueled scream vanished as April was engulfed in the orb.

[Earlier...]

"Uncle Ben, hurry!" Mayday's urging echoed within the first layer of the symbiote web. Her gaze focused on her uncles and aunt, holding off the endless wave of drones outside.

"There's too many," Jessica warned. Even as they tried to web the entrance, the sheer numbers of the enemy meant their barriers were torn to shreds in seconds.

"Just go!" Ben ordered, swatting away a drone.

"But-!" Annie said before her dad grabbed her.

"They'll hold their own," her dad reassured.

"April's the mission. Finish it!" Kaine shouted. Aracely, Peter, MJ, Annie, and Mayday charged forward at his demands. Mayday slowed only a little when she heard Kaine's voice say to her, "Mayday! Do what I couldn't and save her!" She nodded determinedly, shutting her eyes at the roars of the drones until they eventually vanished.

Aracely lit a flame, lighting the way for Mayday and Annie to navigate the gooey web and numerous directions before them. Whether running down tunnels, climbing obstacles, or avoiding paths leading to more symbiotes, the family didn't let these hindrances slow them down. "We're getting closer," Annie notified, sensing April only a dozen yards down.

"Don't run up too far," M.J. said concerningly.

"Annie," Mayday said, "let Mom, Dad, and Me handle this. Stick close to Aracely and do what she says."

"It won't be like last time, May. With all of us, we can-NNNG!" Annie clutched her head as an intense buzzing rattled her brain. 'Me and my big mouth,' she thought, her eyes glowing upon witnessing the near future.

"Annie," the family gasped. Peter and M.J. were beside her immediately, but they heard a loud, clattering noise around them before they could ask what she saw. Given their spider senses weren't going off, Peter recognized that symbiotes were closing in and, as usual, were invisible to any of their spider senses.

"They're all around us," Annie gasped. Suddenly, she shoved Mayday away. Just as May fell into Aracely's arms, a trio of symbiote humanoids burst out of the thick webs around them, tackling M.J. and Peter and causing them to fall. Annie is grappled by one of the smaller symbiotes and is about to be pulled over the edge. Everything happened so fast, and Mayday realized these were just drones. She barely could get a word out, only able to reach out her hand, ready to fire a web for Annie to hold onto, when her sister's voice echoed in her head.

'Go! This is our fight,' Annie rapidly explained. 'It's supposed to be!'

"No, Annie!" Mayday screamed, leaping forward to grab her, but she wasn't even close, so she watched her be dragged into the depths of the web. "Mom," she called out, "Dad!" Nothing. She heard nothing.

"Mayday," Aracely urged sincerely, "it's time."

Then, with her teeth grit and her blood pumping with utter frustration, Mayday yelled as she charged forward until she finally reached the end of the web of tunnels. She bursts through the layer of dark goo and lands on the rooftop of Alchemax. The whole football field's long rooftop was wholly enshrouded by the dark web, creating a black dome that contrasted the still pristine white of the floor. Scattered across were an assortment of maintenance machines and several white antenna pillars. Mayday noticed how silent it was here. She was completely cut off from the outside world, just her and her sister sitting ahead. April's head was down low, her back slumped over, and her posture showed how tired she was of all this.

Mayday glanced where she had come from, faintly seeing Aracely go invisible and floating in the air, ready to strike. Mayday shakily inhales before bellowing out, "APRIL!"

There was a silent beat as Mayday's echoes slowly faded. Finally, in a low, groaning tone, April muttered, "Leave me alone."

There were several yards between them, yet Mayday's spider senses were yelling at her that the sole person in front of her was her most dangerous foe yet. As loud as this buzzing was, she nonetheless stepped forward. "You know I can't do that," she replied with complete resolve.

"It's too late," April muttered, gripping her head as if in pain from her shattered psyche. "Nothing you say will matter. Nothing ever mattered, so what's the point?"

"The point?" Mayday said, taking another step. "The point is you have the choice to stop this. It doesn't have to end this wa-"

"Shut up! And don't you dare even get near me!" The roars of April nearly cause the roof to shake, but this fails to shake Mayday's resolve, and she takes another step. April growls, showing her teeth as she groans, "This isn't going to end like one of your dumb hero games, and you have no right to blame me. Acting like it's my fault when they had it coming!"

Mayday faintly caught a glimmer of Aracely, who's almost snuck around April. "I'm not blaming anyone but the goblin," Mayday said, "but look at what you're doing!"

"Yeah, and it's the guilty being punished!!"

"So the rando workers here are guilty? The people down on the streets, too?! You're not protecting anybody doin-"

"Who cares about protecting?! Nothing matters now but making everyone who's hurt me suffer! That's all that matters, it's...all I know to do...what I'm made to do." Briefly, Mayday sees April's rage quell. With hands to her face, a rush of despair struck April. "I deserve this," she sobbed, though not a single tear fell down her cheek. "I don't belong anywhere. I'm all alone, and my head feels like it's falling apart. I don't want to live like this."

Seeing such vulnerability in her sister threatened to choke Mayday up. She took a step forward. "You don't have to," she said, quivering in sadness. "I know you're hurting, a kind of hurt I'll never know. And I wish, I really wish, things were different! But all I can do, April, is help you the best I could."

"Help?" April now sounded utterly defeated. "If you want to help me, let me end this myself." In an eerie, low tone, devoid of any emotion, she said, "Let me die."

Mayday's lips quivered. Her teeth clenched. Her eyes were blurry from tears welling up. "April," she said in a pleading tone, "no one deserves to die, especially you."

April suddenly glanced at her, finally looking her sister in the eyes. Mayday hoped anything she said was getting through to her, but one look at the pale lenses revealed nothing but disappointment towards her. "Then you still know nothing about me," April said before her spider senses kicked. With insane speed, April gripped Aracely's neck while using her tendrils to restrain her." Mayday tries to fire webbing but is shoved away by April's embiggened arm hurled at her. Landing some yards away, Mayday sees all that rage and hate return in full force. "You LIAR! THEIF! IMPOSTER!" April hurled Aracely across the whole field until she crashed into the opposing wall, partially engulfing her. "Always! Always in my way," April declared accusingly at her sister. "First, you steal my life. Then, you get to be the hero. Now, you preach to me and try to trick me like I'm some idiot?!"

Mayday shakes her head, her senses screaming to escape the tremendous threat.

"All that nonsense about protecting and help," April uttered with pure disgust. "You don't wanna help. You want to fix me! Get in my head and mold me into your perfect twin!"

Mayday vehemently shouted, "Never!" However, no answer she'd give would change April's shattered mind as her sister began to crackle manically. 

"A liar to the end," April chuckled, "And I thought I was the bad child. You wanna 'help' me so bad? Go ahead, I love to see you try, Spider-Girl!"

It was then it became clear to Mayday that both of them were on an inevitable path. The only way for both of them to go was forward because nothing could stop what was tragically about to happen next. "Fine," Spider-Girl said, shifting into a fighting stance as she asked, "like old times then?"

"Like old times," Mayhem growled, raising her claws in a stance exactly like Spider-Girl's. "let's be sisters to the very end!"

In a cold acceptance, Spider-Girl whispered, "To the end."

[Meanwhile...]

Annie could hear Mayday's cries fade as she plummeted deep into the mess of dark webs. Her assailant clawed at her helmet, but a flick of her glove unleashed its sound barrier, blasting her foe away. Annie narrowly swung away and spotted her mom and dad struggling mid-air against their foes. This fight results in the four of them crashing into the Alchemax buildings, perhaps a dozen floors below where Mayday, April, and Aracely were, and precisely what Annie saw a few moments ago. She saw flashes of the future, more like pictures than a movie. She saw the ambush and her and her parents fighting before seeing a large monster in front of them. Annie hoped she could at least stop the last part from happening.

She swings into the building, entering what seems to be the large party room she attended with Mayday. Annie finds her Mom trying to fight against a monster just as tall as her with long, tendril hair. Annie uses her webbing to latch onto the symbiote's arm, abruptly stopping its punch and allowing her mom to uppercut it several feet into the air. Then Annie kicks them back to the floor. "So cool," Annie gasped, landing next to her mom. "Hey, Mom, does this mean you're a superhero now?"

"Mom's busy right now, honey," Mary Jane reminded, "maybe in another life, but no."

A distant crushing of debris echoed nearby before Peter swung back to his wife and daughter, sighing sharply in relief upon seeing them. Before any words could be exchanged, the family heard something enter the room and saw the hole they had crashed into, which was covered in a dark web. Peter and MJ shield Annie as they hear the three symbiotes scuttle in the darkness. "We gotta get to Mayday and April," Peter whispered.

"I think April knows that," Annie suggested. "She's trying to keep us away. That way, she won't hurt us but scare us."

"Well, I'm hurt she wants to push her own mother away," M.J. grunted. Just then, one of the symbiotes lung at her. She dodged, getting Annie out of the way, and Peter launched a sonic blast at the symbiote. Another symbiote tried to snatch Annie, but M.J. pulled her away, inflicting a painful kick to its legs before firing a quick sonic blast to its face. "And nothing's getting between me and my girls! Not even-!"

M.J. didn't finish her sentence when the Parkers saw precisely where the hosts of these symbiotes were. Peter's eyes widen, seeing Normie's eyes while Annie and M.J. gasp at the sight of familiar blond hair and piercing blue eyes. "Liz," M.J. said. The hosts looked unconscious before the symbiotes enveloped them and regrouped with the third, Stanley Osborn. Though they seemingly appeared like any other drones, something about them made them stronger, faster, and smarter.

"Uhh, it seems April did get to meet Stan and Normie after all," Annie anxiously said, putting up her guard as the Osborns slowly circled them.

"Peter, tell me you know a way back to Mayday," M.J. said.

"Even if we do, it's clear the Osborns will keep chasing us," Peter answered, "We lead them to May, and it'll only make things more messy."

"So what do we do, Dad?" Annie asked, tensing up as the Osborns inch closer.

Though laced with fear, Peter said, "Trust your sister's plan, Annie. She can do this. Let's ensure that by keeping April's new friends busy."

With a tired sigh, M.J. put up her fists and stood back to back with her husband. "Alright. Annie, follow what we do, and don't stray away, not even for a second."

"Yes, mama," Annie said with a gulp, placing her faith in Mayday.

"Tiger," M.J. whispered, "don't for a second think I love you less after today."

"I know," Peter whispered, though his apparent guilt still lingered. "I don't deserve you, but I know. It's one of countless reasons why I'll never stop loving you. Now, let's protect our girls!" 

With a savage roar, the Osborns lunge themselves after the Parker family. Annie does what her parents say, sticking to them like glue and staying defensive while her Mom and Dad block and counter several of Osborn's hits. With so much on the line, her parents hold nothing back in thier punches and kicks, and Annie would agree. All six combatants dash, leap, swing, and dodge across the whole floor they're on, using everything and anything at their disposal if it means getting the upper hand. Even with their sonic weapons, the speed and tenacity of their opponents showed this wasn't going to be a quick fight, but, be this a battle of attrition, then so be it, for all Parkers had survived by their sheer tenacity. After ducking from one of Normie's slashes and putting distance between them, Annie could faintly feel a tremble from the rooftop. 'Please don't die,' she thought, before continuing the fight.

Part X: Symbiosis

How many times has this story been told? Symbiote versus Spider, the cursed child versus the destined child, sister versus sister. Across the infinity of all the seeable universes, it's a tale told countless times with countless endings. How shall this one end? Of all the places in this expanding, colossal universe, the eyes of the beholder stare down at one dark web in Manhattan. Like this all-seeing entity, the entire rest of the universe vanishes from the minds of both combatants within this web; their eyes are focused only on each other. All that ran through thier minds was but one goal: to win. This battlefield was the world now, a battle between an unstoppable force and an immovable object.

Spider-Girl whirls across the air, performing a powerful aerial cartwheel to dodge a barrage of symbiote axe-heads launched by Mayhem. Spider-Girl fired a string of webbing in mid-air, but Mayhem's incredible speed led her to dodge each web as she lunged after her foe swiftly. Spider-Girl only narrowly avoids with a well-timed twist of her body. Her worn-out sneakers burn as she skids across the pale white floor, and then they squeak as Spider-Girl dashes back from Mayhem's talons. Her spider senses had difficulty keeping up with each slash her sister attempted, feeling the pressure from the sheer ferocity of Mayhem's fighting.

Mayhem swirled her body after another failed slash, but Spider-Girl noticed something different. In Mayhem's 360-degree swirl, her other arm morphed into a longer, bladed edge. 'Can't dodge!' Out of pure reflex, Spider-GIrl bends as far as he can, narrowly ducking from the swing that would've cut her in two. Within a split second, Spider-Girl countered by holding herself with one arm, freeing her legs to kick Mayhem back. With her arm, she'd hurled into the air, the distance still close enough to fire a blast of sonic energy from her web shooters. Mayhem screeched from its intensity, nearly collapsing until her rage at Spider-Girl fueled her to blast a funnel of goo at her. Spider-Girl avoided it with a well-timed web swing, but now she's made Mayhem beyond angry.

Spider-Girl winced as Mayhem roared into the air, causing two demonic wings to sprout from her back. 'Oh god,' she thought as Mayhem took off at even more incredible speeds. With a long arm blade, Mayhem swung right as she flew by Spider-Girl, but her sister always had something up her sleeve. Mayhem missed, cutting only the web as her sister used her magnetic touch to tip the edge of her blade, reverse the magnetic pull to throw off Mayhem's stability, and spin her like a dreidel. Spider-Girl swung away right as Mayhem crashed into a webbed wall, but her sister's retaliation was relentless as she quickly flew back up and hurled dozens of hardened spikes from her arms and body. Spider-Girl tried to dodge, but her falling momentum and gravity pulling her down led to one lodging itself into the shoulder, holding the web.

Spider-Girl held back her scream as her web snapped, crashing into the floor. She quickly pulled out the crumbling projectile, but Mayhem already had something special for her sister. "Thought you could run forever, Spider-Girl!? Pathetic," Mayhem ridiculed before her arms grew large, and she dived to punch them into the floor. A tremendous explosion of dark goo burst around Mayhem, rapidly spreading across the whole rooftop.

'Move!' Spider-Girl leaped as high as she could, firing a web with her other arm yet still narrowly avoiding being chomped. Across the whole rooftop, dozens of tiny mouths spring up from the infected ground and snap their jaws at her. Not even a moment later, Spider-Girl's head buzzes, allowing her to backflip from another dive attack from the winged Mayhem. She tried to fire her webbing but Mayhem was too fast, too unpredictable. All she could do was swing away from Mayhem's aerial supremacy as her sister tried to slash, hurl herself, and fire projectiles at Spider-Girl. Excruciating pain speeds from her shoulder with each frontflip, swing, and twirl she does in the air, and the floor looks like it is still trying to eat her. 'Only one way outta this!'

She turned her head at Mayhem, flying straight toward her with her arm blade out. Spider-Girl stared hard back at her sister and her other before not even trying to dodge. With only two seconds to work, Spider-Girl detached one of the sonic pulses from her web shooter, aimed it, and used her magnetic spider touch to launch it like a high-velocity bullet. It lands squarely at Mayhem's head and emits a strong sonic pulse into her skull. Mayhem roars as she takes a wild swing, slashing her abdomen, but Spider-Girl ignores the pain enough to grab Mayhem and use her momentum to steer them into the dark web. Mayhem takes the brunt of the crash, allowing Spider-Girl to perform a long backflip. She latched a web onto her sister and powerfully tugged her foe straight toward her before using her mid-air spin to kick Mayhem down.

The impact resulted in the infected ground to wither away, just in time for Spider-Girl to plummet to the floor. Her head spun, and her body ached as blood spread across her suit. She struggled even to get back up. Meanwhile, her sister crushed the sonic device and stumbled back to her feet. Suddenly, Mayhem began to cough until she nearly collapsed and spat out her blood. Despite her worsening condition, Mayhem's seething hate caused her fire to burn until the last coal turned to ash. "That all you got?! Those were like paper cuts," she yelled, "show me how much of a hero you are!"

Cuts were apparent across her face. Her arms trembled. Her chest struggled to take deep breaths. Yet, Spider-Girl stood back up. She shakes away the dizziness from her head while putting up her fists, earning a roar from Mayhem, but even her roar sounds weaker. If nothing changed, if this battle to the death continued, both would not leave the place alive.

Something needed to change.

Spider-Girl glanced at Aracely, the young woman slowly beginning to free herself from the web. Despite that, her sister was withering away faster with every punch thrown. She can't stop her, and she can't beat her, so what options were left for Spider-Girl? 'April,' she thought, 'please. I know you're fighting there. There's some part of you still going. There has to be. Let it keep you alive just a bit longer. Let it open your mind so I can help you! Please!'

[Meanwhile...]

April Parker opens her eyes to find herself in an alien world, at least a metaphysical representation of one. Dusty red sands coat her shoes, and blood-red rocks tower over her tiny stature. Yet black roots sprout from the ground all around her. It all felt otherworldly to her, yet a primal memory in her mind told her she was here once upon a time. 'This was home once,' she pondered. Spotting a dark, rocky platform, April casually approached it. Upon stepping onto it, the platform raised high into the air, and ooze-coated DNA strands appeared hovering in the air around her.

Close to the dark heavens enough to touch it, April felt the platform stop, and a figure formed out of its tendrils. What morphed in front of her was...her, her symbiote in the form of her but made out of dark goo. For the first time in either of their lives, the two entities bonded to one body meet on thier own accord. All that was left to do was decide what fate shall they choose for themselves.

"Well," April said, arms raised while her breath quivered. "Come on! Bond with me. That's what you symbiotes all want, yeah?"

Her symbiote, however, looked away, even taking a step back.

April grits her teeth in frustration. "I don't get it," she says. "What's keeping you?! You know I got family out there who's gonna die because of me, right?!"

Her yelling only caused the symbiote to wince at her.

"H-hey, I ain't gonna hurt you." She tried to reach out, but the symbiote cowered.

She pulls back. April doesn't know how this works, but she can save another minute. She clenches her hand into a fist, asking, "You got the nerve to react that way?"

The symbiote tried to look at her before April stomped her foot. "Do you think I wanted this?" she hissed, seething with disgust. "I didn't ask for ANY of this! Okay?! I didn't ask to be stuck with some parasite inside me for the rest of my life!" Like a burst dam, a tidal wave of volatile emotions burst out. Every confused thought, every bit of self-hatred, every sense of emptiness was shouted by this hurt little girl. "I didn't ask for these powers," she cried, "I didn't ask to be a disappointment, to be broken, a monster! I didn't ask to be me!"

Her palms cover her face, April hunched over as the gut-wrenching, pent-up feelings she'd just let out. She sobbed her eyes out. Her stomach and face ached from how hard she cried. Amid this somber release of everything gnawing at her, there was a pause of silence before words came out of the symbiote's mouth.

"Neither did I."

April nearly choked from such a confession. "Wha...how can you say that," she muttered. "After everything you did to me. Taking over me, making me fight. You did all that for him." That last word April uttered was spat out with vile venom.

"Prisoner, just like you," the symbiote explained. "I was ripped away from my home, forced into existence. Then, I was forced upon you, as our minds were paralyzed in stasis and slowly engineered to be incapable of anything but killing." April slowly looked up with a shocked expression. The symbiote hugged themselves from the hurt they felt upon saying, "My will, my choice. All ripped away by the monster who hurt both of us."

April wiped her eyes. "So, what I thought outside was true," she said, "that was your prison. Just like how stasis was mine."

"But, all said by you is truth." The symbiote looked at its hands with utter shame. "I hurt you," they said regretfully. "Made to, but still hurt you. Life has been nothing but my mind half off and twisting my host into an animal. From the moment we first bonded, could feel such potential and strength in you, even when so small and alone. Needed me, needed a friend, but instead failed you."

April absorbed every word the symbiote said and, in this epicenter connecting her and the symbiote, any lies shared would be impossible. This only meant one thing: everything her other half was saying was the complete truth.

"Don't," they said, "don't deserve you. Don't deserve to live. Don't deserve a family."

And there it was. This solidifying point clicked something within April. 

"Then," she exhaled, picking herself back up, "that's just one more thing we have in common." The symbiote glanced at her as she continued, "We both feel like we don't belong, even though we both want nothing more than to feel we belong." With her hand over her chest, April said, "My mom, dad, Annie, and Mayday all make me feel like I'm home, but this hole in my chest remains because of Norman, because of what he did to us."

"It'll never go away," the symbiote said grimly.

April shakes her head until a tinge of hope reaches her voice, "But maybe we can still try."

The symbiote's dark eyes widen in shock. "We?"

"Other me," April said, "so long as our family still breaths, so long as the man who hurt us is still alive, there's still hope even for disappointments like us."

"B-but-"

"I know," April said. "And you're right. Neither of us asked for this, but...maybe that's what makes us perfect for each other. We need each other to keep going. I...need you to keep going."

The symbiote gasped, thier whole form wiggling with immense shock yet ecstasy over what their host told them."Do you mean that? Truly? Honestly?"

"Can't exactly lie even if I wanted to," April shrugged. "Being here, seeing you, and feeling what you are feeling, it's like feeling whole for the first time in my life. We both know what it's like to feel alone. Like a part of ourselves is missing. Yearning to become the way we want to be." April grabbed hold of her symbiote's hand. "Curse or not, you're a part of me, no matter how we view it. Either way, we both want the same thing: to get back at the man who hurt us and to feel whole finally."

"I," the symbiote said, voice cracking in joy over this happening. Even after everything, there was still hope for them. "We," they cried, "we can finally feel whole. Feel free!"

"We both will," April smirked, patting her other's shoulder. "Say, uhh, if we're really gonna do this, am I going to...change?"

"No, no," the symbiote reassured. "It'd be like nothing changed for you, but it will change for me. I'll go away, and you'll stay yourself."

"Woah, hey," April said with concern, "don't say that so casually, other me. What do you mean you'll go away?"

"I'm not dying if that's what you're thinking," the symbiote corrected, "I'll be one with you. All my genetic memories, experiences, and powers will finally be under your control. My thoughts will now belong to you. My wants will be whatever you want."

April quietly admitted that it sounded like how symbiotes work, yet that didn't change the fact that she'd never talk to her other again. The thought of it left her sad. "And you sure that's what you want?"

"April," the symbiote said, squeezing her hands reassuringly. "This is what all symbiotes ever want: a perfect symbiosis."

Sensing how much they want this and remembering how much was on the line, April nods and embraces her other. Her symbiote embraced her as long as they could before their form began to merge with thier host completely. April hugged the symbiote to the very end, whispering to them, "Goodbye..."

"No," the symbiote whispered, "this isn't goodbye. I'll always be with you. Because we are April Parker, the daughter of Spider-Man and Venom, nothing can stop us now."

[Elsewhere...]

Great Aunt May is forcibly thrown to the ground by Norman, donned in his infamous goblin suit. The wicked virtual ghost points at her, his fingers glowing as he readies to turn the old woman into dust. "Liar," he shouts, "I designed this body; I know how it works. What you are claiming is impossible!"

A dry chuckle left May's mouth as a small smirk formed on her lips. "You never were an imaginative person, Norman. Blinding yourself by viewing the world only in one way, what you thought was an objective fact, and trying to bend it to your will. You see everything as yours to own."

"Because I have to will to take it," Norman proclaimed, "parasites like those Parkers don't. They don't deserve this power and now look at them: polluting this world with more of their own, turning it upside down, all while doing nothing to deserve it. I'll remind'em once and for all what their place in the world is: me on top and thier faces under my boot, forever."

May sighed, "Your son once thought that too, so look what happened."

"Don't you dare-!" Norman shouts, ready to fire when something dawns on him. "What," he muttered, "how could you know that? If you are a figment of this thing's imagination, how could you possibly know about my son? What are you?!"

"I belong in the past, like you," May smiled.

"H-how!?" Norman demanded. "Why are you here?!"

"Simple, really," May shrugged, "because of the one thing you banished from your heart an age ago: love."

For a moment, he sees his son's face before blasting at May. However, all he hits is her cloak, for this ghost has suddenly vanished. Norman burned up with anger. "Only Parkers could delude themselves with something insipid as love," he growled before turning to the dark orb behind him. Using his stubborn willpower, he conjures a staff with two fiery pumpkin heads at both ends. "Such a failure," he said pointedly at the orb holding what was supposed to be his finest creation yet. "All that capital, all that investment, now down the toilet because you believed yourself to be this April, but that's all a delusion in your thick skull. All that time and resources for nothing...but I'm a businessman and can see where I can still recuperate, even with such massive losses. Now, you thing. You nothing...I've come to collect." He raised his weapons high with a twisted grin across his smug face. "I can always start again after I take over your body and kill those Parkers for good," Norman cackled, "actually, I think I'll leave just one: that sister of yours. May and I will have a hell of a time with her as my new lab rat!"

He swung down with all his self-aggrandized strength, and a shockwave rippled across the entire mindscape.

Norman's chilling smile slowly falters and is replaced with utter shock. A dark hand has burst out of the orb, swiftly stopping his firey weapon by simply grabbing it. He tried to push down as a nervous sweat fell down his brow, yet his strength wasn't enough, and he was thrown back. He can only watch as the orb begins to crack and hatch open like an egg. A cloud of blue and red energy circled the person inside until the aura dissipated to reveal April Parker, cloaked in her symbiote form and appearing to be several years older. She stood proudly, powerful, and free. She looked at herself, her entire being reinvigorated and complete. "Perfect symbiosis," she whispered. Her voice and sense of self are still the same, and her symbiote will follow every command to ensure it stays that way. "So, this is who we'll grow to become. The only thing in our way now," she said, glaring down at Norman, "is you."

It was a fleeting moment, but April's eyes saw a glimmer of fear in Norman's soul. "No," he growled, his form transforming from a man into the monster he is. "I OWN you...you piece of-!"

"You done?" April dismissed, raising her hand to silence him while her demeanor remained unfazed. "Just shut the hell up, will ya? If you're going to keep being annoying as hell, it's about time to send you back to hell. In fact..." She popped her claws and proclaimed at the top of her lungs, "We'll drag you to hell ourselves, starting with finally ripping you out of our fucking head!" 

"Just try it, you little failure," Norman dared, "even now, you alone can't beat me."

April chuckled, "When did we say doing it alone?"

"What are you-?" Norman stuttered until it clicked, and his soul shuddered in utter fear.

[At the same time...]

Spider-Girl could barely feel her arms as she stood slumped over, her mask tattered and knuckles both bloody and bruised. Any reasonable person would look at this child and believe her body and spirit were shattered, but they'd be only half right, for Spider-Girl's spirit has only burned brighter.

Mayhem, coughing up more blood, didn't stop in her flurry of slashes at Spider-Girl. The two fought in the air long enough; any fancy moves they had left were out the window, and even May's web shooters had run out. All they had left were their fists. Spider-Girl dodged and weaved each strike, but she got slower with each slash, still leaving cuts and bruises on her person. Desperate, she arm-locked one of Mayhem's arms, maybe keeping her grappled long enough for Aracely to finish freeing herself. All that was thrown out the window when Mayhem's overwhelming strength picked her up like a leaf before tossing her overhead before slamming down Spider-Girl.

Lying in a divot, almost all her previous energy was utterly sapped out of her system. Spider-Girl could only watch as Mayhem circled her and aimed an arm blade at her neck. "A-april," she coughed.

"Ssshut up," Mayhem groaned, her body crumpling before her eyes. "You...don't get to talk. Because I won." Mayhem raised her blade and punctured the rock beside her sister's head. "You hear me!? I won! I'm better than you! ME, the real one!"

"Okay," Spider-Girl groaned, "you can be the real one. You can have it all—my name, my room, all of it. If it means we don't lose you, I'm okay with that."

Mayhem's right eye suddenly began to twitch. "Even this," she growled, "even my victory, you taint it with your annoying selflessness. Why, Spider-Girl, why!? After everything I've said and done to you. After hurting all the people we love tonight, why do you still put me before yourself!? Why do you still see me as your sister and not an evil monster?!"

Though battered, a hand slowly raises and takes off the tattered mask of Spider-Girl, revealing Mayday's tear stains and red eyes. "Because you still have that same sad look in your eyes," she said, spurring up memories of the day April returned home. I saw how scared you were of me that day, and every day since, I have tried to show you that you have nothing to be scared of anymore. Seems I couldn't even do that."

"Blame yourself for everything," Mayhem said softly, her anger fading. "I was scared of you, but I was also scared of being betrayed. I didn't know it then, but...I was afraid our family would throw me away. Thrown back into stasis."

"We've never thought of doing that to you," Mayday coughed. "I would never do that to you, yet I made you think so. I shouted at you. Brushed off your feelings. Pushed you away. I'm...sorry, April. I'm so sorry."

Mayhem flinched back, the apology ringing in her head, slowly bringing back clarity amid her breakdown. With this new clarity, she stared at Mayday's eyes, peering into her soul. She looked and looked, finding nothing but the truth. 'She means it,' Mayhem thought, 'Every last word...and I've only hurt her more in return!' Angrily, Mayhem began hitting herself as she increasingly looked distressed.

"Stop," Mayday pleaded, but Mayhem only hit herself harder. For all the pain she had done, for hurting her own family. "I said stop!" Mayday grabbed her sister's arm firmly but carefully, too. "Please, April," May sobbed. Her twin looked her in the eyes as she uttered, "Please don't make me watch my sister die."

"I..." April gasped before the pain of her incoming death was too much as she collapsed to her knees. Mayday holds her and sees the whole building rumble as April strains herself. The dark web almost begins to retract but stops halfway, enough for Aracely to free herself finally. "I can't stop it," she groaned, "I'm too weak now. All because of this stupid pain in my head!"

"Then," Mayday said, gently holding April's hand, "let's stop it together."

"Nonono," Aracely gasped as she floated to them. She sensed April's life force hanging by a thread and something else that told her there was still hope. "Ready?" she quickly asked. Mayday nodded, glanced down, and saw April nod as well. Not wasting even a second, Aracely held onto both sister's hands and began the enchantment. All three shut their eyes as ancient words left Aracely's breath, and the powers of a god began to be channeled from her to the sisters. The air around them stood still as all psychic energy was concentrated between the twins. Then, with the final ancient phrase shouted, both sisters flinch as thier eyelids snap open to reveal thier eyes now glowing a soft green.

Just as the mind meld began, a violent burst from the opposite side of the roof blew open a hole and a column of dust. As she flies, Annie screams before catching herself with a well-timed web-shot. She landed on a pillar and quickly saw her sisters. "April! Mayday!" A tremble on the ground drew Annie's eyes back to the fight as her Mom and Dad swung out of the hole.

"Annie! You're okay?" Peter asked.

"I'm fine, dad."

"Our girls!" M.J. gasped, tears welling up at the sight of them.

Another terrible tremble is felt, and a giant symbiote mass clumps out. This was no singular symbiote; however, there were three pilots to this abomination, all Osborns. "How did they do that?" Annie asked.

"Questions for later," Peter said as the trio quickly got between the Osborns and the girls. "Now we buy Mayday and April time to fix all this."

"If this thing thinks it can snatch up my babies, I'll make it lives to regret," M.J. vowed.

'Man, Mom can be scary,' Annie thought.

Aracely felt the other's presence and soon heard the chaos of the battle to defend her. 'Gotta focus,' Aracely thought. 'Hurry, Mayday! I can't keep this up forever!'

Part XI: Freedom

"What are you-?" Norman stuttered until it clicked, and his soul shuddered in utter fear. Here's blinded when an intense ray of green light shines down.

"Took you long enough," April said with an annoyed sigh.

Before Norman's monstrous form could notice, he felt a foot pressed against his cheek, screeching in pain as he was sent hurling down below to the ruined cityscape. The person responsible, who now landed beside April, was none other than her sister, Mayday. She was different too, older looking and dressed in some spider suit that looked almost exactly like thier Uncle Ben's old suit. "Hmph, I guess it fits ya," April commented until a sudden embrace from her sister left her surprised. April doesn't say anything except hug her sister back.

"April," Mayday said, wiping a tear from her eye, "you...Woah, you look badass. Don't tell Mom or Dad I used that last word."

"Maybe, in exchange for some chocolate. Seriously, I'm starving here."

"Heh, still got your charming sense of humor. Do you also still have enough energy to deal with him?" Mayday asked, pointing at the angry green man far below.

"More than enough," April growled, her anger now focused and balanced with a clear mind.

"How'd we get down there?"

"We're in our freakin' heads, sis. Use it," April said before sprouting wings and diving down.

"Use my head. Okay, she got me there," Mayday shrugged before diving after her. Removing any previous rules or concepts from the outside world, Mayday fired a web in the open air and felt herself swing. "Woo-hoo! I'm swinging in the air!"

"Flying's faster, y'know," April suggested.

"Yeah, right. Besides, this is more fun!"

As they were over the ruined city, a great cloud burst out of one of the decaying buildings, followed by a furious roar. Mayday and April made a sharp turn in that direction, landing on top of a rooftop right as thier opponent lept and landed before them. Norman's monstrous goblin form snarled at the sight of the sisters. "You," he hissed.

"Me," Mayday said confidently. 

"I should've snapped your little neck the second you were in my grasp," Norman seethed.

"Yeesh," May groaned, "I see your personality is just as charming as my dad described you." 

"What is it with you, Parkers, anyway? Why can't you admit when you're beaten?!"

"Well, maybe you're not as all-powerful as you think, gramps," April snapped back.

Norman's teeth clenched in fury when a fiery aura wrapped around him until a glider manifested beneath his feet. "I'll show you power, little girl!" The glider's rockets blast off, and the Spider-Girls swiftly dodge out of the way; soon, this battle is taken into the air. The hulking Green Goblin fires several projectiles at the twins, but even his most deadly tools are no match. Mayday easily kicked and webbed them away while April fired her projectiles to blow them up. The Goblin tried to swirl around and pierce April from behind, but Mayday saw him a mile away. Both sisters synched up and turned this attack against him. April backflipped over him, stabbing him squarely in the back while Mayday punched him down with both her hands.

"Gaah! Maybe a change in scenery will help!" With a wave of his hand, the dark world warped into the Brooklyn Bridge. He briefly saw thier shocked expressions, and Norman hoped this move would make the girls realize how fruitless thier efforts were so long as he controlled the battlefield.

However, this strategy comes to a swift end. "Urgh, so cliche," April scoffed.

"Allow me, sis. I think I know how he did it." Mayday concentrated until reality began to warp again, this time into a larger version of a school's basketball court.

Norman looked on in disbelief. "What? But only I should be able to warp reality!"

"Tough luck, Gobby!"Mayday and April charged forward like it was a basketball game. Norman tried to dodge them in a panic through his glider, but his body was webbed and tossed out of the glider.

"If you're in our heads," April said, "then you play by our rules!" She flew up, grabbed the glider, and hurled it at the Goblin.

"Oh, not again!" Norman thought as it punctured his chest and exploded.

"Again? Ha! Talk about Deja Vu!" April laughed.

The Goblin stumbled out of the crater, wounded but eager to crush his enemies. He then suddenly realized Mayday stood right in front of him. "I didn't know it yet," she said, "but this memory is the day I first felt my powers, powers you tried to take away!" Norman raised his fist to squish her, but Mayday uppercuts him before he could even try. Her flurry of attacks hit him repeatedly, pushing him further back to the basket. "But you can't take away my will, Goblin! That's my true power, believing that I could do anything!" She leaped, grabbed him by his horns, and used all her willpower to lift him up and over until his head was smashed through the large basket.

"Haha!" April cheered, holding up a conjured scoreboard. "And Team Gobby are the losers!"

The memory ends, and the combatants return to the streets of the ruined city. Mayday asks, "wanna see another memory? We can do this all day."

Norman picks himself up again. Again, he is humiliated. Feeling cornered, he tries a different tactic. "Peter has already trained you well," he said. "If you survive this, you could even surpass him someday. Doesn't such a prospect entice you?"

Mayday looks back at April, and the two roll their eyes at him. "Is everything a petty contest to you?"

Norman subtly hides his right hand and forms a ball of fire. "It's gotten me this far, hasn't it?"

Mayday gasped when her senses warned her, and a fireball was suddenly inches from her face. Luckily, April swooped in and grabbed her before it could hit her. "You take it too easy on the bad guy," April scolds.

"Gah! Blast you, girl!" Norman sprouted wings of his own and shot towards the girls. The two separated and dodged him, but he narrowly grabbed April, dragging her upwards. "What a fool I was," he said to her face as she struggled to be free of his grip. "I should have realized there was too much Parker in you."

"Eh," April smirked, "being a Parker has benefits. Like having the best friends you can find!"

Norman then noticed April wasn't looking at him, but what was behind him. 'What?! No one's that fast!' he thought before Mayday's knee struck the back of his head, followed by a freed April knocking the wind out of him with her sledgehammer fist.

"Speaking of friends," Mayday grunted, swinging after Norman as he plummets. She webbed up his arms before going back to punching his face. "I think that's why you don't have any, haircut! Your temper keeps getting the best of you." With the ground feet away, Mayday leaps off him only to reveal April divebombing towards him, both her enlarged fists pulled back until they deck him square in the jaw. Norman's face is nearly turned to smush from April's tremendous attack and the force of the impact against the earth.

And yet, even this pain was nothing to this continued humiliation at the hands of these kids.

"No!" he defiantly shouted, snapping free from his bondage and gripping April's arms. She yelled as his hands burned her until he tossed her into one of the buildings.

"April!" Mayday gasped. She tried to swing after Norman, but Norman leaped and struck her with his shoulder. The two were able to land, but Norman reached her first and slammed down both his fists. Mayday was able to catch both arms but appeared to be struggling. 

"I refuse to permit this," Norman hissed. "I waited too long to be reborn. This will be my final revenge, Parker! My ultimate triumph!"

Norman directed all his remaining strength to crush his foe, and for a moment, he appeared he had overpowered her. Then, Norman felt a grip on his arms. Mayday then looked up, fire in her eyes as she mockingly said, "Seems like you blew it." In a complete reverse, Mayday's strength is unleashed, and she pushes back against Norman until she's fully lifted him and hurled him straight into a building. She watched as it all crashed down on him. "You are a cancer, goblin," she declared. "You think you own everything you touch, but everything you touch is only destroyed! I won't let you destroy my sister, and we'll both make sure of it by using the only cure against the likes of you: Love and courage!"

Out of this mountain of rubble, the goblin's arm sprouted. He tiredly picked himself up, but his power had waned while his enemies' powers had only grown. "No," he grumbled, "I refuse to believe it! You'll both run out of strength eventually!" He limped toward Mayday, who stood steadfast in this pathetic attempt to appear strong. "You're still fighting a losing battle, little girl. My weapon's subconscious still belongs to me. I rule this reality!"

"Hate to break it to you, gramps," Mayday said, ferocity in her tone, "but the balance of power shifted long ago."

A hand from behind suddenly gripped Norman's shoulder, and he froze in fear. "It's best to listen to her, Osborn," a familiar voice said to his ear. "I found she sometimes has this annoying habit of being right." Filled with dread, Norman turns to see April standing without a scratch. "Now," she growled. She pulled back her fist and struck his face like it was the most brutal punch he had ever felt, all while crying out, "GET OUT OF MY HEAD!"

Mayday winced at what she proceeded to witness, but April savored every second of her decimating the Goblin. She put in all her rage, hate, sadness and pain into every hit. Such a barrage withered down the Goblin's form

Norman's only bit of luck was that he was not yet dead but instead reduced to a pathetic man in a cheap goblin costume. This is the man who's grabbed by the throat and pulled out by April. His former monstrous form was a shell hiding the little man beneath it all. "You're finished," April snarled before tossing him. "Mayday, together!"

The sisters, fully in-synched with their shared minds, leaped after Norman and unleashed a combo of attack in mid-air. The sisters' attacks came in from up, down, left, right, in all directions. A united effort to ensure this invader was banished forever. Both sisters drew back thier arms simultaneously and delivered a devasting uppercut, sending Norman even higher. Both sisters then land beside each other, back to back, their eyes fixed on Norman.

"Just one more hit," Mayday said, ready to end all this.

"Yeah," April said before she rolled her eyes. "Blegh, also, love and courage? Seriously? I'm sooo not letting you have the dramatic final line."

"Give me a break. I'm still learning to ad-lib," Mayday whined. "You got a better one?"

A fond memory pops into April's head, and she softly answers, "Yeah." Still, back to back, April's right hand firmly holds Mayday's left hand, and then she asks, "You remember mom's favorite word?"

Mayday smiled softly before her face lit up with courage. "How could I forget."

Norman was beginning to plummet right as both sisters felt an invigorating power surge through them. Her suits lit up with dazzlingly bright light as if an invisible guiding hand was helping them finish this once and for all. Mayday raised her right arm, while April raised her left arm. The Green Gobling was squarely in thier sights. "Aaaaaand," the sisters said, chests high before they victoriously shouted, "JACKPOT!"

With a powerful THWIP! The sisters fired twin webs, a shot that sparkled through the desolate sky. The energized webs entered, and Norman helplessly watched as the combined powers of Mayday and April pierced his heart. 'Impossible,' he thought as his heart exploded, with it, any power he had left. The glowing white web moved on its own as it ensnared Norman's body from the neck down before he crashed down just a few feet away from the Parker sisters.

Seeing him weakly squirm and fruitlessly try to escape triggered something in April. Mayday watched April approach him, but she didn't stop her.

Norman exhaustedly opens his eyes, looking up to see April as her eleven-year-old self. "You can't do this to me," he said, his voice sounding drained.

"I just did, stupid," April belittled.

"You need me." Even in his final moments, Norman Osborn tried to manipulate her. "How long until they turn against you? How long until the world turns against you?! You're alone. You have no future, but I can still give you one. You can be an Osborn."

Kneeling, she declared to his face, "The name's April Parker, Goblin, and I'll never be like you."

This was when reality crashed down on Norman. His lips quivered as he pleaded."Please," he shuddered, "s-spare me."

April stood up, her face filled with disgust as she shut her eyes. "All I wanted was a home," she said. "A real life...and you tried to take that away from me. You used me. Making me try to kill my real family." Every word she said, her fists clenched more and more. "Deep inside me, I've hated you for so long. Now?" April takes a deep breath, exhaling as she finally lets go. "Now," she said, her hands unclenched, "I just feel...nothing towards you. Nothing at all. You are nothing to me."

April opens her eyes after turning her back to him. Now, she faced Mayday. Now, a path lay ahead of her, waiting to be carved out. She takes her first steps to this new beginning.

"Don't," Norman gasped, "don't you walk away from me!"

"You're just a bad memory to me now," April said cooly and with as little attention to him as possible. "Maybe, one day, that too will fade away. I moved beyond you, and I do have a future." She only stopped momentarily to say her final words to the once-renowned Norman Osborn. "But you won't."

"PARKER!!!"

His last, defiant yell faded as the mystical web fully enabled his body before exploding, leaving behind only embers of light that, too, faded away.

It was over, and April finally allowed herself to cry. No longer needing to fight, both were back to being thier kid selves. Mayday grabbed her sister, and they cried into each other's shoulders as April's mind began to piece itself back together. "I'm free," April sobbed.

"You are," Mayday said with such joy.

"I'm free!" A surge of emotions swirled in her, leaving her in shock this was happening. "Mayday, quick, give me a command. Any command!"

"Uhh, April, give me your stash of chocolate?"

"NO!" she proclaimed, standing high and heartily laughing as she threw her fists into the air. "I'm free! I'm free! I'm free! I'm free! I'm free! Oh, I'm actually free!" When this unbelievable high calmed down, April turned to see Mayday smile proudly at her. Suddenly feeling a tad embarrassed being stared at, April coughed and said, "Well, I guess you played some part in freeing me. So, thank you, Mayday."

Mayday giggled, punching April's shoulder lightheartedly, "Don't mention it."

A great light shines down on the twins, but both can vaguely make out a figure floating above them. "Well done, my girls," the woman said, her voice only sounding familiar to one of them. "You truly are your parent's children. I'm certain your great aunt and great uncle would be so proud of you both."

"Who are you?" Mayday asked as the light expanded, consuming both her and April.

"You'll know when the time comes," she said. "Until then...April, you have a tongue on you, but you'll grow into a proud, spirited rebel. Mayday, you are stubborn, but you'll grow up to be a fine young woman. Real Parkers in your own ways. You'll go far, my girls!"

The world fades away as Mayday feels pulled back into the real world.

[Meanwhile...]

Annie took a deep, exhausted breath as she struggled to stand in her busted armor. Half the rooftop was ruined, but thanks to their efforts, Aracely and her sisters weren't in that half. Peter and Mary Jane were also beginning to look banged up, but they held the line as the symbiote mashed-up approached them. Suddenly, the monster stopped before releasing an ear-piercing screech. Annie and her parents cover thier ears as the monster melts along with the entire dark web above them. "Woah," Annie gasped in awe of what she was seeing. Peter and M.J. looked on, equally stunned as any remnant of symbiotes withered away.

When it was all said and done, the three Osborns were left lying on the floor, freed of the symbiote's control and the thousands of others infected. Peter tapped the side of his mask. "Reed," he said, "you seeing this?"

"I am. A complete undoing of the infection. It's over, Pete. They did it."

When the last dark web died off, Jessica, Ben, and Kaine fell from inside the web. All three were dead tired.

"Did we win?" Ben groaned.

The answer came no sooner than when Aracely and the twins snapped out of the mind meld and returned to their old selves. Aracely caught her breath, exhausted but smiling as she sensed the girls' victory.

"Yep," Jessica sighed, taking a whiff of herself. "Now, can someone please drag me to the nearest shower?"

"Kaine!" Aracely gasped, hurrying over to Kaine lying face down on the floor

"Are they safe?" he coughed. Upon seeing Aracely cry tears of joy, Kaine sighed in relief while hiding his smile beneath his mask.

Mayday takes a sharp breath as she readjusts to having a physical body again. While she tried not to get dizzy, one of April's hands rose and dug itself deep into her skull. Mayday gasped at such a sight, seeing April snarl as her hand reached for something until it finally found it. With a long roar, April yanked out something out of her head. Mayday processed what she had just seen before peering over and seeing what was inside her sister's head this whole time: an AI chip in the shape of a tumor.

April's hand trembled until she let it drop to the floor, and she looked into her sister's eyes. "He," she said, her guilt causing her to choke up. "He tried to make me...and I almost did something horrible to myself." Mayday embraced her, allowing her to let it all out with her shoulder.

"April! Mayday!" The twins turn to see Annie taking off her helmet while running full speed towards them. Mayday smiles as Annie collides with them; she finds it best to smile through the pain. The three sisters hug each other tightly, as if letting go would mean losing each other again. Holding April's hand, Annie asks in distress, "You're both okay?! Are you still in one piece? Are you not dying anymore? Please don't die, April!"

"I'm in pain," April responded, "but not the dying kind of pain."

The three turn as their parents arrive. Mary Jane cries as she kneels and places her forehead on April's. "You're alive," she whispers, "my April's safe and alive."

Peter kneeled, gently placing his hand on April's cheek. "April," he said, tears welling up in his eyes. Your mother and I are so sorry for lying to you and keeping your other half a secret. We should've trusted you more, trusted that you could handle such an important side of you. You are our daughter, first and foremost, not just some clone."

April smiled through the tears. "I know, Dad," she said, and the whole family embraced, creating an aura of pure, unadulterated family love. "Okay, this is nice, but it's starting to hurt now."

"Yeah," Mayday gasped before the family pulled back. "Was this every day for you?"

"Ehhh," Peter murmured and shrugged.

"Mom, Dad," April said, getting their immediate attention, especially when she showed them the AI tumor.

"That's him," Mary Jane gasped.

"What should we do with this?"

Peter takes the AI from her head, staring down at the thing that's been tormenting his daughter for years. How this evaded all thier tests in the past is beyond him, but with the AI in his hand, he supposed it doesn't matter now. "The same thing we always do with garbage," he said, tucking it into his pocket, "toss it into the trash!"

The dad joke earned a laugh from all his daughters before they quickly got a move on to help thier aunt and uncles up. 

Epilogue

A small match is lit and quickly tossed into a pile of wood and paper. A quick spark later, the opening of a metal barrel was burning in the backyard of the Watson-Parker residence. Peter and Mary Jane stared into the fire until it grew hot enough. In Peter's hand is a mask, hopefully, the last of its kind. After the family left Alchemax, his siblings and the FF scanned every inch of the secret base that once trapped April. All their friends salvaged was this goblin mask before blowing up the entire base. It did no one any good by existing any longer.

Mary Jane saw Peter's rage build as he stared at the awful mask. One could almost hear the ghostly echo of the goblin's laughter from it. With M.J.'s reassuring touch, Peter hung the mask over the barrel and dropped it into the fire. Glass cracked as burnt rubber filled thier nostrils. The goblin's once frozen, wicked expression crumbled until it became unrecognizable. That left what is, hopefully, the last piece of the Goblin's legacy. Mary Jane opened the palm of her hand to reveal the still active AI tumor. The ghost that haunted this family tried to possess one of Mary Jane's babies, all for some twisted sense of revenge.

"No more," M.J. said, "no more goblins. No more feed. No more pain." Without hesitation, Mary Jane destroyed Norman Osborn for good by crushing the tumor. A sharp sigh escaped her, but Peter gently held her hand to comfort her. Together, they guided her hand over the firepit and let the crumbled remains of the AI fall into the fire. They hear metal popping and watch until the tattered remains are reduced to ash. Smoke rose high until disappearing and, hopefully, the last of the Green Goblin's legacy along with it.

"Let's go home, Tiger," M.J. whispered, leaning on her husband's shoulder.

"Yeah," Peter said, watching as the fire died out and seeing nothing but ash. "Let's go, Red."

The two close the backyard door behind them and are met with the most peaceful of sights. April sat between her sisters, fast asleep, holding Mayday's and Annie's hands. Annie lay comfortably on her older sister's left shoulder. Mayday was sleeping like a rock while leaning her head against April's. The fireplace popped and crackled before them, keeping them warm against this cold night. Quietly, Peter and Mary Jane join thier daughters on the couch. They lie back, arms wrapped around the girls, and let sleep take them.

The Parker Family was reunited, and hopefully, it will stay that way for as long as possible.

"And this was how it all began for us."

"These are our gifts."

"Our curses."

"Our Destinies."

"Who are we? We're the Spider-Girls."

THE END...for now!