A stunning tale of an alternate reality, in which Mary Jane was bitten by a radioactive spider instead of Peter Parker! Finding that she has gained the incredible powers of a spider, she takes on a new identity and faces the forces of evil as... Spi...
"In heaven's name, Stillwell, what have you done?" demanded Cobbwell urgently as he and Peter quickly entered the room.
Stillwell's head sagged down in shame, knowing that he had to confess the whole thing. By the time he had finished explaining what had happened, Peter and Cobbwell had fully realised how serious the situation was.
"Oh man, I knew Liz was getting more and more hotheaded," said Peter, "but I never thought she'd do anything as reckless as this!"
"It's all my fault," sighed Stillwell. "I should never have done the experiment in the first place."
"There's still a chance for you to make amends, Stillwell," assured Cobbwell. "Surely you must have some way of reversing the girl's mutation?"
"There is!" answered Stillwell as he picked up a large beaker full of some kind of purple liquid from the table. "If we can get this serum to her in time and make her drink it, it'll turn her back to normal."
"Then you better let me take it, sir," said Peter as he practically snatched the serum from Stillwell. "I know Liz, so I'll probably have the best chance of getting close to her and administer this antidote."
Without even waiting for a reply, Peter Parker dashed out of the lab with the serum, hoping that he would reach Liz in time to save her. Jumping onto his bike, he made his way desperately towards the 'Daily Bugle', hoping that he would find Liz there. But as he zoomed towards the newspaper building, he was aghast to see a terrific battle being fought on the adjoining rooftop.
"Oh no, that must be Liz up there," Peter realised, "and she's attacking Spider-Girl!"
******
Battered and bruised, Spider-Girl was fighting a losing battle against the relentless strength of the Scorpion, who made no attempt to hold back in her attacks.
"How does it feel to be on the receiving end, little girl?" taunted the Scorpion as she threw another punch at the almost unconscious redhead. "How does it feel to be the one pushed around? Well, answer me!"
Mary Jane was too groggy and exhausted to answer. She desperately tried to summon her remaining strength to throw another punch, but a resounding blow from the Scorpion knocked her out completely. With a triumphant cry, the Scorpion picked up the helpless hero and threw her right into an empty water tower, which burst apart from the impact.
"Yes!" cried out Liz Allan triumphantly. "I've beaten Spider-Girl! And now with these new powers of mine, I can do anything! The world is my oyster!"
Her attention was suddenly diverted as she spotted an armoured car pulling up outside a bank. "Say, why don't I relive those security guards of all that money they're carrying? With my superior strength, it'll be easy pickings!"
With a new and terrible sense of purpose, the Scorpion clambered over the rooftop edge and began crawling her way down the side of the building towards her new target. Just a second after she had gone, a breathless Peter Parker burst through the rooftop door, just too late to catch up with Liz.
"Oh man, she's gone," said Peter in lament. "And Spider-Girl looks in a bad way!"
Peter bolted over to the prone figure sprawled out amongst the wreckage of the water tower, her costume tattered and torn from the fight. For one terrible moment, Peter feared the worst, but as he knelt down beside Spider-Girl's crumpled form, he was relieved to see that she was still alive.
"She might be having trouble breathing," thought Peter in concern. "I'm going to have to remove her mask, so she can get as much air as she can."
Consumed with worry for Spider-Girl's life, Peter peeled the mask away and was shocked to see the face of...
"OMG! My suspicions were right!" exclaimed Peter. "Spider-Girl is... Mary Jane!"
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Before he had a chance to react to this revelation, Peter's initial reaction of bewilderment gave way to alleviation as he saw the young girl's eyes gingerly open.
"Peter?" a disoriented Mary Jane managed to say. "How..."
"Hey, take it easy, MJ," said Peter as he tenderly helped Mary Jane to sit up. "You took quite a beating just now."
Mary Jane's eyes widened as she realised that Peter had called her by name and that her mask had been pulled down. "Ah nuts! So you know I'm..."
"Yeah, sorry," said Peter sheepishly. "I was worried that you might have been hurt or... and well, I actually already suspected for a while now and..."
"It's okay, tiger," said Mary Jane as she got unsteadily back onto her feet. "I guess I should have told you the truth sooner, but there never seemed to be a good time. But there's no time for explanations right now. Liz has gone berserk and I have to stop her before it's too late!"
"That's just what I was trying to do," said Peter and he quickly recounted his meeting with Stillwell and showed the antidote he had brought for Liz. "If we can get this serum to her in time, we should be able to save her."
"Then there's no time to lose!" said Mary Jane resolutely as she pulled her mask back into place, her strength already returning. "I'll get the antidote to her, Pete. I'll stop her if it's the last thing I do!"
