What If Mary Jane Watson Became Spider-Girl?

Peter Parker's New Job

A short time later, Mary Jane made her way over to the laboratory of Professor Cobbwell, a famous expert in electronics. The professor was happy for the young girl to come in and see his work, and soon an excited Peter Parker was demonstrating some of the experiments they had been working on.

"I heard about that Vulture character in the headlines and I developed a theory that he harnessed magnetic power to enable him to fly," said Peter. "I mentioned this to the professor, so we've been working on a anti-magnetic inverter device that could immobilise his wings. Guess it's a bit pointless now, since Spider-Girl captured him earlier today."

"Never mind, tiger," said Mary Jane reassuringly. "It sounds well clever and who knows, if the Vulture ever breaks out, your gizmo would make recapturing him a lot easier."

Suddenly, Mary Jane's spider-sense began buzzing a bit, warning her that there was something dangerous in the room. Looking discreetly around for the source, she spotted what looked like an ordinary radio set on a nearby table.

"Say, what's that thing, prof? One of your inventions?" Mary Jane asked Cobbwell.

"No, just an ordinary radio that I asked Peter to pick up from the Tinkerer repair shop on the way over here," said the Professor. "Absolute bargain prices, just cost a dollar to get it fixed."

Now Mary Jane was really getting suspicious. "Sounds too much like a potential scam to me. Are you sure that this Tinkerer guy did a proper job on it?"

"She has a point, professor," said an equally sceptical Peter Parker. "The Tinkerer must be losing money on every customer he serves. It all sounds too good to be true in my book."

"You may have a point," conceded Cobbwell. "Well if it'll set your minds at rest, let's take a look inside the radio's workings."

They crossed over to the device and Peter removed the panel of the radio so that they could all see what was inside. Sure enough, they could make out some unusual machinery inside, almost hidden by the more traditional pieces of radio equipment and circuitry.

"Hey, what's all this?" said Peter. "No ordinary radio has gadgets like these inside of it."

Mary Jane had no immediate answer to that question, but she had no doubt now that this machine was what was causing her spider-sense to buzz.

"I say, this does seem odd," remarked the professor. "Perhaps I should go and see this Tinkerer fellow myself and get an explanation out of him."

"I can do that if you want, professor," said Peter. "You've got that lecture to do at the institute shortly, remember?"

"Good point, Peter. Very well, I'll let you sort this out. If there are any difficulties, just ring the institute and ask for me," said Cobbwell.

"I'll tag along with you, Pete," Mary Jane suddenly spoke up, before thinking to herself, "I've a feeling you might be needing me."

******

Soon the two teenagers had arrived at the corner shop where the Tinkerer conducted his repair business. Although it all looked ordinary on the outside, Mary Jane could not help but get the feeling that there was something sinister about the place.

"Seems a little spooky here if you ask me," remarked Mary Jane as she and Peter made their way inside.

"Yeah, I know what you mean," agreed Peter. "Don't fret, MJ. This shouldn't take long to sort out."

At that moment, a door opened next to the counter and the Tinkerer emerged, a rather thin and elderly-looking man with a balding head and a unusually long pointed chin. He looked, as far as Mary Jane was concerned, like someone out of a creepy film or something.

"Oh, it's you again, young man, and I see you've brought a friend," said the Tinkerer pleasantly. "I trust that the radio you picked up earlier today is in working order?"

"Well, it seems to be working okay," said Peter, "but we had a look at the inner workings earlier today and there seems to be some weird circuits inside, that don't seem to have anything to do with the rest of the machine. Could you perhaps explain what it's all for?"

"Certainly young man," said the Tinkerer. "Let me just get some examples of my work to demonstrate to you." He crossed over to the counter and began rummaging through the desk.

Suddenly, Mary Jane's spider-sense went into overdrive, warning her of danger! "Hey Pete, watch out..."

But before she could complete the warning, the Tinkerer suddenly pulled a futuristic-looking ray gun out of the drawer and fired an intense beam of light at the two youngsters before they had a chance to react. With a cry of pain, they collapsed to the floor.

"It's lucky for you too that I had my weapon set on stun," gloated the Tinkerer as he hovered over his unconscious victims. "At full setting, the blast would have killed you." He chuckled to himself, an evil glint shining in his eyes.

"But then again, when I've finished with the pair of you... you'll probably end up wishing for death."