A Different World

The Ex's

Mary Jane Watson, known to her friends simply as MJ, was sat alone in her apartment looking at the newspaper in front of her. Her thoughts ran back to all the moments she spent with Peter and their time together.

They've been together for a long time but, their relationship has had its ups and downs and lately... they were on the down. Peters life as Spider-Man just kept interfering with their relationship and her life.

She decided to get back into her modelling and acting which lead to them 'having a break' for the time being.

But now she's looking down at the headline for the Bugles newest release. "Spider-Man is missing?" And she felt increasingly worried about his safety, it wasn't like him to just up and vanish. Unless it was Peter vanishing so Spider-Man could make an appearance.

"Where are you tiger?" She said to herself, looking out the window into the vast city.

She was no stranger to his activities and would often be left sitting in the dark in the dead of night, waiting patiently for him to come home. No doubt riddled with injuries that she would have to tend to because he couldn't risk going to a hospital and someone finding out.

Meanwhile, Felicia Hardy, the infamous Black Cat, was lounging in her penthouse suite after her late night heists. She wondered where her favourite spider had gone as he never once made an appearance to stop her from taking whatever she wanted.

Although that itself wasn't strange as there were times he wasn't able to stop her, but she noticed a lack of Spider-Man's presence yesterday, and she always kept an eye out for her spider.

So it came to her as a surprise when in the morning she saw the latest news on the Bugles front page. "Spider-Man is missing?"

The two of them have had an on again off again relationship, always coming around when Red dumped him. She hates that she was considered the second woman to that redhead but it wasn't like she tried to maintain that relationship.

At the beginning she never wanted anything other than the spider, the mask not the man, it was all about the thrill for her and the mysteriousness of who was behind the mask was her biggest thrill aside from the late night activities.

But eventually she warmed up to the man, and when they began a relationship for the first time they were at odds with each other as she couldn't resist the thrill of a good heist and she returned to her thieving ways.

He never turned her in, which was always a sweet thing for her, but she never took the time to consider their relationship and how much he actually cared for her. A fault of her own past trauma coming back to bite her for potentially ruining what could have been the best relationship she could ever ask for.

"Where are you spider? This city needs you." She said gazing out into the city below from her large penthouse window.

Forensic Specialist Carlie Cooper had mixed feelings when she read the newspaper headline.

She recently found out about Peters dual identity as Spider-Man, which would have been bad in its own, but at the time they were dating and she took his secret as an act of betrayal.

She hated when people kept secrets from her all stemming from her fathers previous deceit which hurt her as she idolised him and wanted to follow in his footsteps.

She was one of the first to be turned by Norman Osborn into being part of his Goblin Army and was thankfully cured of her condition.

But after everything that had happened she couldn't stand to be around Peter any longer. She felt as though his very presence and her knowledge of his secret put her at risk and the constant fear and anxiety was too much to bare.

She reconciled with her temporary disliking of Peter and understood why the secret was kept in the first place, and the problems within New York were nothing new to her, but seeing everything unfold front and centre was just enough for her to not re-engage her previous relationship with Peter.

She wasn't entirely sure if she still cared for him, she didn't want him dead, but that wasn't exactly 'caring' about someone. They bonded over their shared knowledge of forensics, which was a first for her as not many outside the NYPD would be interested in such things.

But his dangerous lifestyle as Spider-Man was both exciting and terrifying. Seeing all the good he did was a plus for the city, yet all the problems that came with a heroic identity followed suit.

"Huh. Peter... we should talk. I hope you show yourself soon." She said to herself as her head fell into her hands in defeat.

"I don't know how to feel about you. You are the most caring and intelligent guy I've ever met. But I don't think I can handle... Spider-Man being around." She admitted to herself.

Although the three women had had a close personal relationship with Peter at one point, none of them could fully reconcile their past feelings and blamed themselves for the relationship coming to an end, for one reason or another.

And yet, even though each of these women were separated across the city, they all felt as if something was coming down the pipeline. Something big was coming and they weren't going to be ready for it.

No one would.

And as if their deepest fears had come to life, the three each took a look out to the city from their respective homes, and they could see the billowing smoke from the Raft and even more worryingly so, the Avengers tower.