Issue 35: Trials of Merlin Part VI
"I'm the second strongest Inhuman in this place, next to my brother-in-law Bolt, of course. Not even my sister is as powerful as me," Crystal began to brag about her powers a bit.
After hearing the how her new friend could manipulate the elements, MJ took a deep breath and asked, "I have a way to copy powers, and I was wondering if you would let me copy yours."
Crystal looked at MJ and asked with a harsh look, "Why do you want so much power?"
MJ sighed and said, "After the invasion, I discovered that many people died in the attack, and then I started thinking what it would have been like if we failed. Would I have been forced into slavery? Would my family and future child have to live in a world where all humans can no longer live freely?"
She looked off into the distance sky, "I admit it seems kind of greedy to desire more power, but it's also not wrong to want to use that power to protect the world I love and the people that live on it, especially when I have the means to get stronger."
Crystal listened to MJ as she told her about how she could copy her power, "Can the suit really do that, and I'm not at risk of losing my power?"
"No, the Symbiote will copy your power by making a duplicate gene that's stored inside of it!" MJ explained.
Crystal thought about it really hard, when she said, "Sure, but you have to help me run away."
MJ almost fell over, "I can see why you want to leave, but your family is moving to the moon won't you be safe there?" MJ asked.
"I don't want to go to the moon, I think what they are doing is disgusting and cowardly. They saw the attack on the earth but chose only to get involved if they discovered our city. It's like you said, Inhumans aren't special at all. We're no different than any other species when it comes to the soul. I've always thought it would be a good idea for our people to improve our relationship with the world and come out of hiding, but our people can't see past their superiority complex and actually consider us a different species."
MJ then asked. "Didn't you think the same though?"
Crystal shook her head and said, "MJ you're my friend right?"
MJ nodded her head, "Yes."
"Friends keep each other's secrets, right?" Crystal added.
MJ answered again, "Yes."
Crystal had learned many secrets under the control of Maximus's thrall, she even learned of her people origin through Maximus's exchange with the Kree slave dealer the man known as Arides, also known as Shatter Star.
"Inhuman's are nothing more than humans who've had their genetics tampered with by the Kree. A long time ago, they found humans and were interested in our potential as future Mutants. What they discovered was the dormant Mutant Gene, they began altering it to try and make slave warriors and spies that would infiltrate the world of other races all across the universe. For some reason, they gave up on the experiments and left our world, but now, after thousands of years, they've returned with renewed interest."
MJ was shocked as she continued, "So you see, we're nothing more than the result of another's experiments and early activated Mutants, yet we act like the most superior beings on this planet. It can get a little frustrating when almost everyone you know is a self-entitled, misinformed egocentric. I've always thought we should reintegrate with society again, but everyone always refuses, and would say, 'Why would we choose to live among inferior beings?' those more accepting would ask things like 'Where would we even begin?' That's what you're going to help me with. We'll run away before the move, and I will learn how to help the Inhumans accept their humanity by living alongside them."
"But you're relocating to the moon, you'll be separated from your family, and not to mention it's not easy adapting to modern society. There's education, taxes, and work." MJ started explaining how humans behave and act as a society.
The Inhuman laughed, "If me staying in contact with my family is your biggest worry."
Crystal held on to MJ and said, "Then you have nothing to worry about." A thick sphere of air surrounded them as they shot out into the sky, MJ was starting to freak out when she noticed how high they were climbing, when all of the sudden they stopped just outside the stratosphere, "I can leave earth any time I please."
Crystal smiled as she stared out into the vast expanse of space.
"It's beautiful," MJ said as she stared at the stars.
"So how do you copy powers?"
MJ smiled and said, "I think we should land first,"
Crystal laughed and landed near their city, on a nearby mountaintop, "Okay let's do this!"
MJ breathed a sigh of relief before she replied, "Okay, but first, you're going to have to promise not to reveal my identity because it will require me to remove my suit."
Crystal smiled and said, "Of course, we're friends now after all."
MJ removed the Symbiote and said, "Okay Spiderling, do your thing."
The Symbiote started to gather around her hand, it left Crystal speechless, she stared at MJ and said, "You're beautiful! You even kind of look like me. I bet you could even be mistaking as my sister!"
MJ blushed and hid her expression as she said, "Thanks."
The Spider-Heroine then held out her Symbiote and said, "All you need to do is accept it."
Crystal placed her hand on the Symbiote and felt Spider-Woman's powers surge through her.
"This feels great, I've never felt so powerful before!"
"I'm glad you approve of my presence. Now, please wait for me to copy your power please, it will take several hours," Spiderling said.
"Oh it even has some kind of A.I, this is an impressive suit." Crystal continued on, as she waited for the suit to complete copying her power.
MJ introduced herself giving her real name, while the two chatted about her life as a citizen of New York.
"So, you and Spider-Man got your power from a spider bite? I don't know why but this sounds familiar." Crystal slapped her hands together and said, "Oh, I remember, it was something my parents used to talk about, and old story dating back thousands of years, there was something about a potion being made from an Arachnid's poison. I think mom called them a spider tribe before, no, they call themselves the Black Tarantula family, that's what it was!"
MJ was surprised by the fact that there was another out there with similar spider powers and wondered what kind of person they would be. Crystal had asked MJ many things about how humans live, and MJ did the best she could to answer.
"What you said before was right. We really aren't that different. If only I could make sister see the same things I do."
MJ smiled and said, "Well I guess that makes you a revolutionary and a rare good one."
"Thank you, MJ, ah! Sorry is it okay if I call you that?" Crystal asked feeling a bit silly.
"All my friends do!" MJ replied.
The time passed and they continued to exchange their experiences with their cultures until the suit had finally finished copying her genes. Once it returned back to MJ, the red-haired Spider-Heroine hugged Crystal and said, "Thank you for your patience, to return the favor, I have fixed your genetic damage, and removed all of your cancer issues."
"Wait, what do you mean Cancer and Genetic Damage?" Crystal questioned.
"Every mortal organism has them, and I'm guessing what Spiderling healed was leftover genetic damage from the Kree's experimentations. I'm not as good as Peter when it comes to this stuff, but if I had to guess, the gene structures the Symbiote repaired were put there purposely. By my estimations, these Kree you told me about designed it that way so they could control your species. They didn't want the Inhumans to breed with other species and be able to produce a powered offspring. I suspect the final product of their designed evolution would allow to your race to interbreed whenever they want to rapidly increase the population. Not to mention, that inbreeding has a bunch of terrible side effects all on its own. I think you'll find that like you feel like a brand-new person now that the programmed genes have been repaired," Spiderling said as it returned to MJ.
Crystal took a deep breath, she had already realized that the Kree were messed up in the head, but what the Symbiote revealed showed how monstrous the Kree really were.
After the princess released the hold on her breath, she could feel what the Symbiote healed in her. Just as Mary Jane said, she felt healthier than ever before, like she had just gone to the spa and had a full body cleansing both inside and out.
"I feel great!" Crystal shouted, "What an amazing creature!"
After the suit returned MJ felt the full power of Crystal's ability but her control was terrible. Thankfully, Spiderling started creating a series of training programs for MJ to follow up on. Crystal helped teach her as well and offered as much advice as she could.
She even taught MJ to fly using the air instead of her suit.
The Spider-Heroine and Inhuman Princess chatted about many things mostly about mundane life causing them to laugh several times.
"Wait, so when he first attempted to web-sling from building to building, he wrapped himself around a lamp post." Crystal laughed so hard she almost fell out of the sky,
"When I walked up to him he said, 'I swear this never happened before, it's just that, it's my first time and these tend happen.' I laughed so hard I fell over in this snow."
The two grew closer as friends over the day or so they spent together. After they approached the central area of the city of Attila, Crystal led her back towards the room she was staying in at the palace, when all of a sudden, loud quake rumbled, shaking the castle down to its foundation.
MJ and Crystal ran to the Throne room to see Kamar lying on the ground with his ears bleeding. He had angered Black Bolt by saying that his sister-in-law was his property along with the Inhuman Throne that would belong to their child.
Black Bolt had whispered only one word, "Silence!" and the whole building almost came down.
"You, do you know what you've done!?" Kamar shouted as he stood up, wiping away the blood on his ears he started yelling, "Blood! You, y, y, you dare to make this prince bleed, have you lost your god damn mind? Do you know what my father will do to you? He'll drown your people in an ocean of blood, he'll flood the entire world so that you feel the pain of your actions."
MJ webbed the Kamar's back and slammed him into the wall, "What did you say about flooding the world!?"
"Human!" Kamar shouted with rage in his eyes, "You interfere again? This time I'll..." He tried to use his magic to remove the webbing, and discovered he couldn't, "You what did you do?"
"I didn't use my web shooters, this webbing is made by my suit, and as you can see, it has pretty good magic resistance." MJ flipped him off.
Kamar's face paled then quickly turned red out of embarrassment. In his rage, the Atlantean prince spoke in what sounded like Ancient Greek words when suddenly two waterspouts started flying at her.
Crystal deflected the water and sent it flying back at his face.
"You filthy sub-human lab rats!"
MJ webbed his mouth shut again, when she said, "Don't think that Attilan is the only home to powerful species and technology in this world, the Avengers aren't a force you want to mess with, so take your threats and 2nd rate magic and beat it."
MJ used her new wind control to send him flying towards the ocean, she turned to the royal family and grinned as she rubbed the back of her head and said, "Sorry, will he be okay if he lands in the water?!"
Medusa smiled and shook her head when Crystal started laughing and said, "That was Brilliant M... Spider-Woman. He totally deserved that, and you shouldn't worry about his threat, his father spoils him rotten, but Namor isn't a total fool. If he wasn't scared of the retaliation from the land dweller's forces, then the world would've been underwater years ago."
MJ smiled and said, "Thanks Crystal, if there is anything else I can just let me know."
"Thank you, Spider-Woman. I'm afraid if he stayed any longer than Black Bolt may have actually killed him. We still have some things to talk about, so would you please give us some time?" Medusa asked.
"Sure, I'll be in my room studying, give me a holler if you need anything." MJ walked back to her room and started studying the books Strange gave her. Thanks to Peter's connection with her, they could share notes and improve even faster.
"Hey, Peter you're not going to believe the day I had," MJ said through the telepathic link.
"Oh yeah, I bet I can top it!" Peter sent her a mental image of Gwen her Symbiote.
When MJ saw her, she felt a twinge in her heart and said, "Peter, who's she?"
Author Note1
Author Note Pt22
Author Note Pt33