u/amazingmaryjane

When there’s a mystery in New York, you only have one real option if you want it solved: Jessica Jones’s Alias Investigations.

Well, Mary Jane definitely has a mystery on her hands. Missing time? Everyone saying she died? Scattered memories, nightmares of vines and tendrils, it’s all there.

So, she makes her way to Hell’s Kitchen. Why does she keep staring at the tops of the buildings? Why does she long to feel the wind in her hair as she soars? She’s normal, right? Bury the thought, MJ, it’s nothing.

You’re here.

Knock knock.

You have thirty days. Make them count.

The words rattle around in Mary Jane's mind, stirring more questions than answers. Thirty days to do what? Why thirty? Why her? Why was everyone acting like they were seeing a ghost?

Why didn't it feel like they were lying?

After Felicia leaves for a quick run to stretch her legs, MJ collapses on the bed, covering her eyes with her palms. In the darkness of her closed eyes, she sees black vines whipping and binding her arms. She feels a sharp pain in her heart, this aching tear pulsing through broken veins. Why does-

Augh!

She screams in agony, her heart shrieking as it pounds out of her chest. She clutches it as it sears below her skin, throbbing as it pumps harder and harder. As it beats, one letter appears in her mind as the pain swells.

V.

She pants as she comes down from the agony, hands on her head as she stares at the blank ceiling.

V? What the f%$& does V mean?

It’s hard to be gorgeous in New York. It’s like the world warms up around you, constant eyes noticing every breath I take.

But I choose this. I choose to be bright red, to make them all stop and stare. Billboards wear my face with pride, magazines flaunt my body to sell out, Broadway serenades everyone with my voice as the star actress. I’m the prize, and I’m as incredible as incredible can be.

Vacation was fun, but I missed the rush of the city. I missed sticking my head out of the window and hearing sirens, the wind rushing as a new cape flies by, the light-shows I get every night thanks to whatever supervillain decided it was their day to cause problems. Let the big boys handle the fires; I’m happy with the stage.

So, what’d I miss?

We all want a happy ending. I know that.

I'm also not naive. I knew what I was signing up for when I took my first swing. I may not have had a choice when I became Venom, but I damn well did when I decided to stand up.

Great power, right? Something like that.

So what, then, when a monster decides to start killing people in front of you?

We fight back.

Wednesday, July 8th. 10:00 AM.

Kraven the Hunter prides himself on the hunt. He stalks his prey, deliberate and methodical slaughter of those he can overpower.

But today, he came with a vengeance. Central Park, of course, was a fitting place for the wilderness to be embraced. It was an obvious trap, killing fodder to draw out the hero, but it worked. Maybe he'd been tracking VenoMJ's activity patterns or maybe he was just lucky, but he found them. They swung down into the heart of Central Park, beside the same lake they threw him in just weeks ago.

If we knew we were so popular with you, Kraven, we would've asked you on a date.

"Funny, prey, that you should say that."

Kraven donned a set of talons, one for each finger, and lunged at them. His speed was remarkable, far more than the average human. He slashed at them and pierced their stomach, but this was a wound they could shrug off, right?

Wrong.

Augh, what... is that!?

The words felt heavy as they escaped their lips, anchored down by a scorching heat in their gut.

"They are a special toxin I crafted, symbiote, made specifically for you and your biology."

Are we supposed to feel honored?

"You are not supposed to feel anything!"

He darted like a flash of light, the same strike but from the left, but they were ready. They caught his leap and threw him towards the water, the same lake he nearly drowned in, and leapt atop him as he slammed against the rocks by the shore. They grabbed his head and started to push him under water, his arms flailing as he tried to grab at their wrist.

We are tired of your games, Kraven. You bring death wherever you go, and you've tormented us-

The "mask" covering their face pulls back and reveals MJ's bright red hair, the ends falling into the water like waterfalls of blood.

-for years. We're tired of you, Kraven, and we have the strength to end you once and for all.

As his body started to go limp, Kraven used the last of his strength to reach up and stab somewhere, anywhere, at the conjoined pair. Maybe it was a precise gambit, maybe it was just luck, but he struck them straight in the heart, all of the toxins he'd prepared pumping into their core at once. His body went limp as his claws dropped out of them, but the damage was done.

V, I... I can't...

The symbiote shriveled and fell off of her as it screeched in pain, whimpering like a beaten child as it seared in agony. As it left her blood, MJ felt the hole in her heart open once more, the alien stitches pulled out before they had healed. She reached out to her friend, her one true friend, and took it in her hand.

Thank you... for everything, V. You...

...were the best host we ever had.

The two drew their last breathes together as they stared up at the city sun, unlikely partners in life but still something more than they were before:

Heroes.

OOC: been debating dropping MJ for a while, and I really wanted to go out with a bang. If you love her as much as I do, you are more than welcome to take her from me. I won't delete the account in case she's free in a few months and I feel myself wanting for her again, but for now, Venom and MJ are both dead. I had fun.

Been a while, right? I've been busy. It feels like for the first time in my life, I understand how much Peter's life sucks sometimes.

It hasn't been that bad, MJ.

It hasn't been that good either! Brock is getting close to us, Greer's busy with some superhero thing or something, Peter's not talking to me, I've barely been able to land a modeling gig recently so my money's tight, especially not helped by the interdimensional spiders crashing at my place, and I-

Breathe, MJ.

Venom raises MJ’s arms behind their head and forces her to breathe, grounding her as her anxiety swells.

It’s just… it’s not easy, V.

What isn’t?

All of this… this! Peter and I finally had something going, and even dying wasn’t able to stop it, but then Gwen just appears out of nowhere! And now I’m mad at Gwen, my Gwen, because what, Peter needs time?

She slumps against the wall and wraps her arms around her knees.

I’m horrible.

You’re not horrible, MJ. Just human. You can’t expect yourself to just be okay with everything.

I used to be. It used to be so much easier.

Because you always ran.

Stop reading my mind and using my own advice against me! It makes it really hard to be irrational!

…heh.

I just…. Brock is looking for me, and he’s going to take you. He doesn’t care what happens to be, he’s just going to let me die to reclaim his “other half.”

…we won’t leave, MJ. We won’t let you die.

Yeah, right. I feel you yearning for him, V, as much as I hate it.

We may miss him, but we like you too, MJ. We won’t leave you to die.

…promise?

Venom forms a black gooey hand and interlocks their fingers with MJ’s.

We won’t leave you, MJ. No matter what.

…thanks.