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"See you later, MJ!" calls out the Residence Assistant for the floor as the party looks to be breaking up. A scheduled (and mandatory) mixer was one of the ways that the dormitory halls hoped for students to get to know each other in their building. Peter Parker had his at the same time. All of the dorms did. Jeff is the RA on this particular floor and he's a nice enough senior. Some people are staying in the lounge to hang out a little bit longer, but most are heading back to their dorms. It's pretty late.
MJ waves, shaking her head as she was… well, not really in the mood for a party, but well, rules are rules. And then she makes her way back towards her own dorm room, "Yeah, see ya!" She stretches a bit as she walks, feeling like she doesn't have a care in the world right now. Band ideas are coming together, Peter actually took her out… life is good!
It's life's habit to go from good to great or to awful or just stay good. From there it's anyone's guess. As she reaches her room, the rest of the hall is pretty quiet as things are beginning to settle down for the evening.
Mary Jane unlocks the door to her room, then steps in, unslinging her purse as she looks over at Papa Bear, "Hey, would rather have been with you studying than at that party… ugh. Great, I'm talking to myself." She looks around her shoebox of a room with a wry expression.
What MJ doesn't see is the person in her room, hiding somewhere in the tiny confines, waiting to strike. They are perfectly still.
MJ doesn't even have a danger sense, like her quasi-possible-boyfriend, so she sits down at her desk, not even thinking to look into the closet as she opens her physics textbook. "So, party's over, time to study…" She hrms, and quickly loses herself with thoughts of subatomic particles dancing in her head.
There's a split second before he gets to her that he actually makes a sound. It's enough time to get a slight warning, but not to do much in the way of allowing MJ to defend herself or cry out. In his hands is a handkerchief dipped in some sort of fluid. His goal is ransom—he figured by her clothes and her looks that her family had money. Boy was he wrong.
Mary Jane turns around, and her eyes widen as she starts to shout, "GWEmmmphmphmphmph…" as her face is covered by the foul-smelling rag. Before long, her eyes roll back in her head, and she goes limp in the chair, the redhead passed out without much of a fight.
What? It's not like she's a superhero or something.
Minutes later, the miscreant, a shaggy red-haired man with a bushy beard is carrying MJ to an out of business Pizza Parlor. He doesn't even notice that there's a shoe that falls from MJs foot, so busy is he in trying to get her inside. He takes her down the stairs, into the cellar, and begins to tie her to a chair in plenty of time of her waking up.
Meanwhile, Peter is making up excuses to talk to MJ. The Intro to Physics class they share is a great excuse, but when he calls her room, she doesn't answer. He knows she's there, her desk light is on. After he tries to play dumb and calls the floor number, someone is kind enough to bang on MJs door. Still, no answer.
Mary Jane groans softly, "Ow, my head… ugh, hey, wait." She tugs on her ropes in the chair, "What the hell is this crap!" She jerks around in the chair, but doesn't make any progress in them as her normally fierce intellect is reduced to a panic as she struggles with her bonds. After a few moments, she takes a few deep breaths.
Okay, not dead. Not assaulted more than this. Kidnapped. Why? The thoughts race through her head, and then she notices the missing shoe. And then she grins, and starts singing. Really loudly. And though it pains her to do so, really off key. "IT's BEEN A HARD DAYS NIGHT! AND I'VE BEEN WORKING LIKE A DOG! IT'S A HARD DAY'S NIGHT! I SHOULD BE SLEEPING LIKE A LOG! BUT WHEN I GET KIDNAPPED TO, ALL THE POLICE GONNA DO, IS BUST YOUR HEAD UP RIGHT!"
"No one is going to hear you. And if you make this difficult, I'll have to cut out your tongue," the evil man says. "I don't want to hurt you. I just want money. If that happens, then I let you go." For effect, he pulls a switchblade from his pocket and flicks it open, gleaming slightly in the low light.
Elsewhere, Peter is worried. He's changed clothes and swinging from buildings, looking for clues. If you get high enough you can swing through the streets pretty fast. Whether or not he'll pick up on anything, though, is another matter entirely.
MJ snorts, "I don't want to hurt you but I'll cut out your tongue if you piss me off. Yeah, that's not mixed messages there." She looks at the man, unable to see him in the dark as she says, "Besides, put that away, we both know you're not going to do anything with it. Ransoms work a little better when the victim hasn't been hurt, and we both know it." She doesn't say that her family isn't THAT well off, mainly because of the fact that if he doesn't think he's getting his money…
Well, don't want to have him think he has nothing to lose…
"They won't know you're hurt until I get my money, kid. So do yourself a favor and pipe down. Last warning." The man looks serious and has those crazy eyes in his head that would not be scary on their own, but under current circumstances are worrisome for their uncertainty.
Holy crap.
Spider-Man swings onto the ground and picks up a lone shoe not too terribly far from campus just at the start of the Lower East Side neighborhood. He stops and looks around, listening. This couldn't be hers, could it?
Mary Jane sighs, "Fine. This is not how I wanted to get out of that physics quiz." She leans back in the chair, looking resigned to being stuck. Or perhaps, she's just trying a more subtle way to get out of the ropes, since the brute force approach didn't work…
"That's more like it," the man says as he goes to the wall for the phone. "What is your parents telephone number?" Apparently he wants to get them out of bed at 1 am. Maybe their fright will lead this all into ending rather quickly.
MJ sighs, and looks at the ceiling, "Sure, it's 555-1021." Which isn't the number for her parents. It's the number for the campus police, however, as she keeps trying to slip her wrists out of the ropes, frowning to herself.
"If this is a trick, it's one of your toes," he tells MJ. There's a shift in the world, a movement that is so fast you'd think it was some sort of speedster. In fact, it's Spider-Man shooting his webs down into the cellar, across the wall and flinging himself towards the perp, putting his boots right in his chest.
"I'm sorry, son, but your phone call is going to have to wait. Your mother and I have been talking and you have been a very, very naughty boy!" exclaims Spider-Man as he backflips onto the floor.
Mary Jane blinks in surprise, "What, Spider-Man?!?" she recognizes the quips, if not the outfit, looking surprised that a hero actually showed up to save her. "Careful, he has a knife! The jerk used chloroform or something too!" Because, well, she can't help physically, but she can tell him what he has.
Just as MJ warns about the knife it comes flying towards them. The quick acting Spider-Man bats it away from a trajectory where it might hit MJ. Immediately it's covered in webbing. "That is /not/ the way to get out of grounding, mister!"
"Why I oughta!" exclaims the man, almost a foot taller than Spider-Man, as he tries to bumrush the webhead. "You oughta not finish that sentence." The Spider-Man moves so quickly, like lightning, so when he is lunged at he sidesteps and delivers a loud, jaw cracking punch that would put some boxers to shame. The dude is outski and is being webbed to the concrete ground as we write and read this. "Real thick layer for you, buddy boy."
MJ yelps and tips her chair over as the knife sails in her direction. Bright side, she dodged the knife! Down side? She's… um, on the floor, on her side. "Get him Spidey!!!" Menace or not, the guy is saving her from a lunatic, so she didn't quite see what happened. Though she hears Spidey quipping, and sighs in relief, "How did you find me? Wait? My shoe?"
"Your shoe, little lady," Spider-Man says. "Also, I was in the neighborhood and heard some sounds of distress." Just spread a little lie out there and yep, perfect. Over MJ's face, but upside down, Spider-Man looks down at her and puts his hands on his hips. "I mean, really ma'am, you're just going to sit around here and make me do all the work?" He sighs with exageration and makes quick work of the ropes that bind her. "You alright?" he asks as he makes his way over to the phone.
Mary Jane sighs, "Yeah. That idiot thought I was rich or something. Which is news to me… took me right out of my dorm room. Jerk." She sits up and looks around once Spidey unties her, and smiles a bit, "Glad you were there though. I don't…" She stops smiling, shuddering a bit, "If he had realized my family wasn't well off…"
"We are all rich in opportunity and character," Spider-Man says as his finger dances in her direction and he sounds like a mom reminding a child of something. But then the phone is dialing on the other end, "Just a minute, Spidey is on a super important phone call."
"Who's this? Police?" he says into the phone with a low voice. "Yes, I'm over across the street from Rudolphs in the Lower East Side. You know that old pizza place? That's the one. Anyways, I came across a crime scene where a man was trying to kidnap a female." He gives MJ a knowing nod, "And just then she was saved by the best looking, best dressed, most highly underappreciated superhero in the entire city. One who—"
Spider-Man is cut off midsentence.
"No, not him."
"No. Not h—"
"No…Spider-Man."
"Whaddya mean I'm wanted for questioning?!"
Mary Jane Watson giggles a bit, "Let me guess… Captain America, then Captain Marvel?" She looks at Spidey with a smile, "Though, um, if it isn't too much trouble, can I have my shoe back?"
"Do you think Captain Marvel looks better in tights than I do?" Spider-Man says absently and shakes his head, even as he whips MJ's shoe towards her softly with an underhand webtoss. He sighs, "Well, looks like the cops will be here soon. And when they play the credits song, that means I'd better be going. You sure you're okay?"
MJ smiles, "Yeah, I'm fine. But don't worry. You're way cuter than she is." She catches the shoe and mmms, "Well, even if they want you for questioning, I think you're great. You should keep up the good work. Don't let 'em get you down, Spidey."
"That's what I'm saying, I mean she's got the blonde advantage, but…what has she got that I don't have?" Spidey says as he shakes his head, "Thanks for the pick me up, lil lady. Do you want me to get you out of here or do you want to wait for the po-po?"
Mary Jane grins, "Well, I'll wait for the cops. I want to make sure that guy goes to jail for a while." She hmms, "Besides, I bet my um… my boyfriend? He's going to be worried sick when he finds out." She says it like she's not used to thinking of him like that, but… well, she kinda likes how it sounds, once she actually says it.
"Boyfriend?" Spider-Man sounds cheerful, but immediately coughs and shakes his head, "I mean, yeah, you're totally right, I'm sure he's worried sick. You should definitely give him a call or go and see him or something. I'm sure he'd like that. You know, to calm him down and all of that." Police Siren. "Well, I'd better hit the ole road. Good seein' ya." He gives the most awkward thumbs up ever and leaves.
MJ waves to Spidey as he goes, "Thanks again Spider-Man!!!" She then sits back, and the next hour or so passes in a blur. Giving statements, hugging parents, and eventually a police ride back home since she's a bit squirrelly about the dorm room right now. Then once, she finally has a chance to sit down, she gives Peter's dorm room a call, remembering the number… *ring ring* *ring ring*