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MISADVENTURES IN PARADISE
x. SUNSHINE'S WOES

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   TECHNICALLY, RILEY SHOULD HAVE been fired for allowing a gaggle of crabby, multiversal supervillains to freely roam New York. But, then again, technically, Riley was her own boss. And that was exactly what she texted Happy Hogan when he caught her, Peter, and May ushering said multiversal supervillains into his apartment through his security camera.

   It was comical watching Happy's place transform into a place of refuge. Flint tracked sand everywhere he went. Even when he tried to dust it aside, he soiled the furniture even further. Solar investigated the framed photos in the living room while Max toyed with the TV, which buzzed and frizzed in his presence. Only Dr. Connors was absent, as he had wanted to wait in the F.E.A.S.T. truck for whatever reason. He might've mentioned why, but Riley was too fixated on how she was going to cure Solar to pay much attention to anyone else. Peter had made a joke about her being "self-absorbed" and laughed just a little too hard at his own humor.

   "So, this is your plan, Peter? Hm?" Octavius griped, still ensnared by his tentacles. "No lab, no facilities? Just performing miracles in a condominium? What, you're gonna cook up some cures, some frozen burritos in a microwave?"

   Tinkering with DUM-E in the corner, Norman chirped, "I could go for a burrito."

   "He's gonna kill us all."

   "Well, let's hope not," Peter said. "You're up first, Doc." He patted his shoulder, then slipped into his room.

   "What? Hey, I told you. I don't need fixing. I don't need fixing!" Octavius barked. "Especially by a teenager using scraps from a bachelor's junk drawer!"

   Max trailed after the teenager. "Nah, nah, nah. He got something back there. I can feel it... That weird energy."

   Riley and Solar exchanged matching skeptical glances before joining them in Peter's room. Inside, Peter unsheathed a massive cube on the floor, which read STARK INDUSTRIES on the side in black letters.

   "What the hell is that?" Norman asked, split between apprehension and curiosity.

   "It's a fabricator!" Peter pushed a button, and it began to unfold itself into a greater machine. A household engineering lab, to be more specific. "It can analyze, design, construct basically anything."

   "I thought that was the tanning bed Happy broke," May admitted.

   From one of the device's recesses, the Arc Reactor sprung forward. Max's hungry eyes flashed yellow. "Look at that..."

   THUD! As the lab finished unfolding, it dented the wall that connected to the kitchen.

   Riley cringed. "I'm sure Happy won't notice. He's more of a DoorDash kinda guy anyway."

   "If he kills us," Solar noted, "this is gonna make one hell of a story in the afterlife."

   Peter and Norman worked on gathering scans of Octavius's spine and analyzing them with the fabricator. Meanwhile, Riley reluctantly ran calculations to determine whether there was a viable method to extract the ultraviolet radiation from Solar's body.

   "JO, run Trial 23." Riley perched at the dinner table alone, scribbling into one of Happy's many unfinished diaries.

   "Inconclusive," JOCASTA droned.

   Riley drew a few lines through her research. "Okay, remove calculation 13, derive lines 1 and 24, and if that doesn't work, invert the sim."

   "Trials 24 and 25 are inconclusive."

   "Are we sure there aren't any files on this Fury managed to hide from us?"

   "Positive, Miss Valor."

   Riley pressed her face into her hands. "I love when you say things I don't wanna hear, JO."

   "Given up yet?" Solar slid into the chair across from her. "You and I both know there's no remedy for our madness."

   Solar was looking more radiant, more like Riley, now that her wounds were sunkissed. Her clothes were still charred and tattered around the hem, but it was for the best. The less they resembled one another, the less likely Solar could use that to her advantage. Because the Gods know that's what Riley would do if the roles were reversed.

   The only real difference between their appearances was Solar's graying hands, veiny skin, and slightly more mature face. She must've been in her early 20s, not much older than Riley.

   "Not a scientific cure, no. But I've always found hypotheticals entertaining. I should've known though, considering Bruce never found a way to un-Hulk himself. Gamma rays and ultraviolets are practically sisters," Riley said. "If you knew there wasn't a cure, why did you come here?"

   "Curiosity. Boredom. Disinterest in rotting in a wizard's dungeon." Solar rested her chin in her palm. "I don't know much about science. In my field, you learn as you go. I wasn't 100% sure anyway. It was more of a hunch. Our bodies haven't been the same since they absorbed all that radiation."

   "True, though I think I can guess some discrepancies between our DNA makeup. What's up with your skin?"

   "None of your business."

   "You became my business the second you showed up wearing my face."

   Before Solar could reply, they overheard Max ask Flint, "So, why'd you come along?"

   "I have a daughter, and I want to see her," Flint said. "But they're not gonna send anyone home 'till they've finished their little science project."

   "You trust 'em?"

   "I don't trust anyone. How'd you end up like that anyway?"

   "Oh, the place I worked at... They were experimenting with electricity created by living organisms, and then, uh, I fell into a vat of electric eels."

   A hint of amusement. "You're kidding. I fell into a supercollider."

   "Damn. Gotta be careful where you fall."

   Solar laughed. "No kidding."

   Riley pushed her calculations aside. "Alright, how about I guess, and you correct me where I'm wrong?" she proposed. "You and Peter were friends. You became a journalist, which is how you got roped into Spider-Man's heroism. You nearly died when you fell into that river, only to develop powers and a thirst for revenge."

   Solar's eyes closed with consideration, long eyelashes casting spider-like shadows over her eyebags. Finally, she revealed, "I was born in Manhattan. My parents, Rob and Athena, moved us to Queens when I was two. Peter and I were never friends, but Spider-Man and I were."

   Riley stifled a laugh. "Funny. When I was two, I killed Athena on accident."

   Solar shrugged. "Troublesome twos. It happens."

   Riley always liked when people reacted to her accident like that. Nonchalant, undisturbed. It made her feel like less of a freak. She should've known Solar would react the same way. Who knew her better than herself?

   "Peter and I did attend the same high school though. He was practically a nobody. I only knew of him because we both took photography as an elective, and he was friends with my classmate, Mary Jane Watson. She and I weren't close back then, just ran in the same circles," Solar said. "Anyway, my senior year, I started interning at the Daily Bugle. It was a huge deal for me. I was J. Jonah Jameson's understudy. I had access to tons of intel, particularly police records on various crimes that needed to be distributed to the public. A month into my internship, Spider-Man sought me out. Said he needed help tracking down some guy that shot and killed someone close to him."

   "You mean his Uncle Ben?" Riley guessed.

   "Yeah. At the time, I didn't know that. By then, Spider-Man was becoming a huge spectacle, so I figured, why not? I never ended up finding the guy who killed him, but we fell into a rhythm for a long time. I helped him solve ongoing cases, he would do little interviews for me. It was exciting, you know, helping New York's favorite vigilante keep our neighborhoods safe."

   "And that whole time, he never mentioned his identity to you? He didn't trust you?"

   "He trusted me. I didn't want to know."

   "Why not?"

   "You, of all people, know what it's like leading a secret life. Sure, there are drawbacks, but it's fun. It was my own special thing no one could say a word about. Something just for me," Solar described. "But a few years after graduation, I ended up doing a piece on this play MJ was in. We got to talking, started hanging out, and became pretty close. She introduced me to her friends, Harry Osborn and, of course, Peter. She always described Pete as this incredible, sweet guy, but the Peter I met was... strange. Not just shy, but quiet. Flaky. Distant. Like he was constantly mentally checked out. Like he was on the verge of crumbling."

   The corners of Riley's lips quirked at the imagery of her MJ — her socially awkward, introverted MJ — as a famous actress. But her smile wilted at the thought of Peter being like... that. Cold. Unsteady. He must've been struggling with something.

   "I never thought much about Peter after that. Meanwhile, I adored my friendship with Spider-Man. Jameson hated him, but I always tried to frame him in an unbiased light. I spent more time with Spidey than my parents," Solar explained. "I didn't start putting the pieces together until this kid, Peter Parker, started doing freelance photography of Spider-Man for the Bugle. The only person in New York who could get a clear shot of him. I never mentioned my suspicions to him though."

   "You didn't want to?"

   "I was worried about where it would leave us," Solar said, her tone softening. "Besides, everyone always said he was... in love with MJ."

   Oh.

   "You... really cared about him," Riley realized.

   Solar cleared her throat. "It wasn't just that. A few years ago, Spider-Man completely vanished. One day, he's swinging around New York. The next, he's gone. For months, no one saw or heard from him. I waited for him to come back. I looked for him. I even debated confronting Peter in person, but I didn't want to betray his trust."

   "He wouldn't give up being Spider-Man without a good reason," Riley said.

   Solar agreed. "I thought the same. But months passed. MJ started spending more time together. I introduced her to Jameson's astronaut son, they got engaged, blah blah blah. At the engagement party, MJ told me she hadn't heard from Peter in a while. She thought he was having chronic mental breakdowns or something. To tell you the truth, the only part that stuck with me was the fact that he said he was in love with someone, but he was 'too scared to tell her' and 'what it would do to their relationship'."

   Riley sat up. "So, what'd you do?" She suddenly felt like she was sitting in a pool in D.C. with her Academic Decathlon friends, gossiping over her (at the time) nonexistent love life.

   "Nothing. MJ thought he was talking about her. They'd known each other since they were kids, so I believed it, despite everything Peter and I had," Solar said. "What was I supposed to think? I had only spoken maybe three sentences to Peter when he wasn't Spidey in the years we knew each other."

   Solar went on, "Fast forward, Doc Ock starts going ballistic. Even though Spider-Man hadn't been seen in ages, they apparently had unfinished business. But since no one knew where he was, Doc Ock kidnaps the one person with a public relationship with him. Me. He took me to this creepy dungeon and interrogated me about Spider-Man's identity. Something about ruined lives, crushed dreams. The whole villain spiel. Thankfully, I didn't have to do much to play coy. When he got nothing from me, he targeted Peter, who he figured knew Spider-Man through his photography. He kidnapped MJ since they were together at the time and told Peter to bring him Spider-Man, or MJ and I would die. And what do you know? The bastard shows up to save us. I had half the mind to—"

   "Where was he?" asked Riley. "What happened to him?"

   "Long story short, existential crisis shit. Doc's fancy machine was designed with UV radiation at its core, making it extremely sensitive. The power of the sun. Spidey freed me first, then told me to run. So I ran, only to get caught in the debris amidst the fighting. Of course, Peter thought I fled, so when it was pretty much over, he took MJ at the last second and escaped. He left me and Octavius to drown." She swallowed hard. "He never heard my screams."

   Solar continued, "Just when I was about to die, the machine exploded. All I remember was this burst of light. When I regained consciousness, not only had I survived, but I was invisible. Completely translucent. And I was stuck."

   "Stuck?" Riley echoed. "You mean, in the rubble?"

   "No, I was stuck in my invisibility. I couldn't figure out how to... undo it," Solar clarified. "I spent 16 days hypothermic, covered in burns and other injuries from the debris, and completely invisible. I don't know how I survived. I remember... stealing from a nearby hospital. I remember finding my way to my parents' house. I don't know what I thought they would do. And then I-I lost control."

   Riley's blood ran cold. "Troublesome twos?"

   Solar gave a bitter laugh. "Yeah. Late bloomer. Of course, I didn't figure out how to turn visible again until my mom was... gone. My dad survived somehow, but last time I checked, he was braindead."

   "I'm so sorry—"

   "Don't. I'm sure you're tired of people saying that to you, too."

   "I am, but... You shouldn't push away people's sympathy. You'll just end up as alone as you feel."

   Solar ignored her. "I didn't show my face to anyone for a while. When I gathered the courage, I found Peter. I told him I knew he was Spider-Man, and I didn't have anywhere else to go. I didn't have anyone left. And he said You have me. I think that was the first time I'd felt happy in so long." Her tone was light, but her grimace seemed cemented into her face. "Next thing I know, we're living together and dating. Everything was... close enough to perfect. But I was having nightmares. Every night. About the accident. About Octavius. About my parents. Sometimes about things that never happened. I think I dreamed about you once or twice if you can believe that."

   "All of my dreams are nightmares, too," Riley confided. "I used to dream about my accident. Now I just dream about everything I'm most scared of."

   "I get the feeling," Solar admitted. "The worst part? The dreams always end the same way, with someone telling me Spider-Man saved my life."

   "But isn't that what he did?" Riley asked. "If he hadn't come for you and MJ, maybe you... maybe you would've died that day. You wouldn't have turned into... this."

   "I would've rather died, Riley," Solar grated. "Surviving means reliving the trauma every day until it finally kills you."

   Riley couldn't argue. She knew that feeling better than anyone.

   "It was so infuriating hearing it every night. It got to a point where I couldn't look at him without his face pissing me off. I refused to use my powers at the time because I couldn't control them, but he was a trigger for me. Looking at him or even thinking of him caused my powers to flare up," Solar said. "He tried to convince me to, you know, Spider-Man with him. I didn't want to. But he was so insistent that he could help me hone in my powers. And if he wasn't so insistent, those people wouldn't have..."

   Riley watched Solar closely. Her purple veins glowed brighter as she tried to hold her wrath in her jaw. It reminded Riley of her younger self. Back then, her emotions inhibited her powers. For Solar, her emotions seemed to stimulate her powers.

   But since Sun Summoning acted as an amplifier for whoever was in its proximity, it triggered something in Riley, too.

   Riley gripped the table, forcing herself to hold her breath to restrict her racing heart rate. Both girls illuminated the dining area. "Take a breath, Solar," she demanded.

   "Sorry. Can't help it." Solar grunted, and the light waned. "I would loathe Octavius, too, had the sun not saved me, had the sun not given me a second chance to avenge my losses. I lost my parents. My dream job. Me. Spider-Man ruined my life the day we met, just like he ruined Dr. Octavius's and Dr. Osborn's. It's only fair I return the favor — so that this never happens to anyone ever again. I wasn't always a monster. I was just a girl. At least you found something after your accident. I have nothing."

   "I didn't always. Some days, I'm convinced I'm cursed. Every time I call something mine, it never lasts," Riley quietly said. "But I push through that, Solar. I keep trying to do better. The man that turned me into this is still out there, and I've never wanted to kill him."

   "If you're going to gloat over your moral backbone, you chose the one person who doesn't care."

   "I wouldn't say I have one of those. But I do understand you've been scarred by someone you really love—"

   "I don't love him," Solar snapped, "or these powers. The universe keeps willing me to live, but living is killing me from the inside out. These powers are draining me, Riley. More and more and more. They are sucking the life out of me. Look at me, Riley." She held out her graying hands. "The more I use these powers, the more they kill me. That's my problem. That's my Achilles heel."

   She grabbed Riley's wrists with an iron grip. Riley was frozen, unsure whether to push her away or comfort her. And yet, both girls faltered as Solar's grayness began to fade once they touched skin. Solar's natural golden tan slinked down her forearms, washing away the grayness — as if she was being healed. But as Solar's color returned, Riley felt herself weaken.

   Just before the tan could spread to her hands, Riley yanked herself out of her clutches, and the grayness returned as if it never left. It spread up her forearms again, fraying now just past her elbows. It was worse than a sickly pallid color. She was colorless. Gray. Lifeless. A walking corpse.

   "What the hell did you just do?" Riley demanded.

   Eyes wide, Solar stammered, "I-I don't know! I don't know! Did you feel that? It's like... It's like I was... absorbing something from you. I could feel it! It was making me stronger! Let me try again—"

   "Don't." Riley stood, her chair squeaking. Her mind was racing a million miles an hour. "Do not touch me."

   "Come on," Solar pressed, suddenly desperate. "Don't you wanna save me, Val?"

   Before Riley could reply, Peter cheered from the other room, "It worked! That totally worked!"

   Peter dashed into the living room holding a tiny device. "I got it. I did it! Will you send him up?" he said to May. Riley was silently thankful, as it gave her a good enough excuse to walk away from Solar. "Riley! Hey! I did it!"

   He was holding a very small neural inhibitor chip. Riley had seen something similar in Tony's endless blueprint back in the day. Judging the chip, Riley assumed the tentacles were pinching his spinal nerves. How that was affecting Octavius, she couldn't be sure without looking at the scans, but it seemed like Peter wanted to test it right away. Later, Peter would tell Riley that the chip on the back of his neck was designed to protect his brain from the A.I., but since it was fried, rather than Octavius being in control of the tentacles, the tentacles were in control of him.

   As Peter dashed upstairs onto the mezzanine, May handled the holographic device that was puppeteering Octavius's tentacles. She lifted him skyward.

   "Oh, will all these humiliations never cease!?" Octavius wailed. Peter leaned over the railing, chip in hand. "YOU, keep your science fair project away from me!"

   "Hey, it'll work," Norman reassured. "Have faith."

   "Says the reckless fool who turned himself into a monster," Octavius growled.

   Norman fell silent, and Riley felt the need to defend him. She called up, "Which one of us is a nice doctor who helped Peter, and which one is wearing a Squidward cosplay?"

   Luckily, no one there could rightfully accuse her of stealing Tony's jokes.

   "Isn't he a squid?" Max mumbled. "Close enough, I guess."

   "Please stop moving your head," Peter requested. "Hold still."

   Still struggling, Octavius growled, "Don't you dare! Ugh, I swear, when I get out of this, we're gonna rip you a new—"

   The chip clicked onto the back of Octavius's neck, and the doctor sank. His metal legs twitched in submission, powering down while the nanotechnology kept him from plummeting through the floor.

   "Holy shit," Solar gasped. "He's dead. You killed the cyborg."

   "Doc? Doc?" Peter softly called. The others watched anxiously. "Dr. Octa—"

   Octavius sharply gasped, and his head lifted. He didn't speak at first. His breathing was heavy, but his eyes suddenly cleared behind his tinted glasses. Finally, he whispered, "It's so quiet... Those voices... inside my head..." Tearfully, he gasped. "I-I'd almost forgotten..."

   Norman was awestruck. "Otto..."

   "Yes. Norman!" Octavius descended from the railing with a joyful grin. "It's me."

   "Would you look at that," Flint said in admiration.

   Peter leaped down from the mezzanine and slid his fingers across the nanotech remote control one last time. His other hand snaked around Riley's back. One of Octavius's tentacles inched forward, and Riley tensed against Peter's side. But the tentacle didn't harm Peter. It pressed against Peter's chest, transferring the Iron Spider technology back to its owner. The metal melded with the fabric of Peter's suit. Gold hardware was minted against Peter's chest and back.

   Octavius shook Peter's head. "I'm grateful, dear boy. Truly."

   Peter grinned proudly. "Yeah, you're welcome!"

   "How can I help?" Octavius offered. He glanced toward Riley. "I'm sorry for doubting you and your golden promises."

   "Oh!" Riley said. "I didn't realize you doubted me. Easy mistake. Wouldn't make it twice."

   "Right, but I thought it. Or... the voice told me."

   Riley smiled at him. "This is what we do, Doc. I wouldn't lie to you."

   If she had said that earlier, their multiversal guests surely would've rebuked that statement. Now, the room bloomed with innocent joy. Flint, Max, Octavius, and Norman exchanged hopeful glances. This was their chance. Maybe when this was over, they could return home and live in peace. Maybe they could be regular humans again.

   Riley wanted that for them. She really did. If all that was stopping them from abandoning lives of crime was a couple of cures for their ailments, she would do her best to give them that. But when she caught Solar's gaze again, her gut tied itself into knots.

   It was clear. Solar was the ultimate answer to Riley's darkest what-if.

   Who would Riley have been if she remained alone like she was once destined to be?

   A cold, brokenhearted monster.

   She thought about what happened between them just a minute before — the stealthy absorption of Riley's sunlight. If both girls could absorb natural sunlight, it made sense that they could absorb each other's light, too. That had to be why fighting Solar yesterday took so much out of her. They were amplifying and absorbing each other's light at the same time. They were strengthening and weakening each other.

   She remembered what Roman said. There can only be one Child of the Sun in one universe at a time. What if this was the universe's way of emphasizing that? There can only be one. Even if Riley couldn't kill Solar, or even if Solar couldn't kill Riley, this light absorption posed a new problem.

   What would've happened if Solar hadn't let go? If Solar drained Riley of her light? Would it cure Solar, or was it just a temporary fix to a greater problem? Would it have killed Riley, or would it have left her completely powerless?

   The thought of being powerless was terrifying. Riley grew up with these powers. They weren't her weapon or strength or even handicap. They were a part of her, like an arm or a leg. It seemed impossible. The light was entwined in her genetic makeup. But Riley had befriended the impossible time and time again for years.

   Riley didn't have the answers, not yet. But she knew what Solar was thinking because she was thinking the same.

   If Riley couldn't create a cure for Solar, there was one last solution.

   Absorb the other's light. May the strongest win.

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AUTHOR'S NOTE:

FINALLY, we have Solar's backstory. If it wasn't obvious, she comes from Tobey!Peter's universe, and her whole story would've taken place from Spider-Man 1, to Spider-Man 2, to just before the events of Spider-Man 3!

Just like every Peter Parker villain ever, he technically didn't do anything wrong. He did what he does best. He saved Riley's life. And in turn, just like our Riley, Solar was deeply traumatized by the experience, and now her body is constantly fighting between living and dying. The sunlight continues to heal her wounds just as much as it kills her from the inside out.

But more on that later. I still have a few more tricks up my sleeve. I hope you guys are enjoying the story so far :') Tobey and Andrew are coming SOON.