Chapter Text
B L A C K
IX
- EPILOGUE –
“Where are you taking us, Pete?” Gwen asked from the passenger seat, looking at her boyfriend who had been driving for almost an hour now down the 95th road heading into Rye. Aña sleeps soundly in her lap as, thankfully, the Spider-Man knows how to drive a car smoothly enough in contrast to his web-swinging tendency.
“Well, you guys need someplace to stay while Damage Control and GRU are taking care of the destroyed neighborhood, it’ll be around a month or so before they can clear all the debris out to begin refurbishing. So, I thought, maybe I just happen to have just the place for that just the occasion.” He answered with a nervous smile, exchanging secret glances with Howard at the back.
“In New Rochelle?” Gwen narrowed her eyes, ignoring the excessive usage of just, and pointing at the GPS ping indicating their car’s location.
“Kinda?” Peter replied, taking a right at Westchester Ave, down to the path leading to the nearby Glen Island Park. “Just a little bit more, okay? You’ll see.” He took a look at Gwen’s suspicious look and craned his neck to the backseat passengers a little; except for Howard’s excitement, the Stacys shared the same confusion as their daughter. “I didn’t call it a Spider-Cave just so we’re clear.”
“If you dragged my senile ass out from the hospital for a field trip, Parker…” George started with a sigh.
“I swear on my unprofitable share of Spider-Plushies, Cap’N, Helen; this is gonna be great!” He reassured his girlfriend’s parents with a dorky smile through the rearview mirror.
Another half an hour later they entered Glen Island, driving to a private pier and exchanging some coded words, they had to take a boat towards a small island where they finally reached the supposed destination Peter had promised. Peter lugged all of their luggage without care for publicity as Gwen supported her father onto the pier leading up to the backyard of an incomplete house situated south of the island. Helena and Howard stopped in their leading positions to admire the architecture. “Whose house is this? One of The Avengers’ summer camps?” Gwen asked with a confused smile, trying to crack the egg.
Peter let out a nervous laugh and set all the luggage down on the deck, leaning onto the white wooden pillar, smiling from ear to ear back at them “Mine. Or it will be after I finish the building part of it.” He added with a sheepish tone, scratching the back of his neck “It’s a parting gift from Tony Stark. I inherited it from one of his wills under Spider-Man’s name.”
“…The house?” Gwen asked whispery, looking at her boyfriend in disbelief.
“The…island,” he answered with a flat grin.
They set up the biggest room for the recovering George Stacy and his wife for convenience, with Peter using his webbing to seal any gaps awaiting the payment for the contractors to finish in the future. Howard dragged Aña to take care of firewood around the back while leaving his sister and her boyfriend in the living hall to finish unpacking and makeshift renovation to suit George Stacy’s requirements during his recovery stay.
“It’s still a bit crazy that you have a whole ass island.” Gwen scoffed quietly, leaning on both of their heightened senses to continue the conversation without looking at one another. “What happened to that broke college dude I met years ago?” her tone playful, and it eased the lines on his face a little to feel her falling back into their usual exchange after so much time apart; even though that period didn’t last longer than a month, with everything happened in the past week it almost felt like they’ve spent lifetimes without one another.
“Life; derogatory?” he chanced, drawing a soft cackle out of the petite blonde, “But even with how much I got paid by Mister Richards since I joined the company, the house’s still taking way too long to finish.”
“Gotta love corporate-America inflation,”
The silence falls over them again. This time it stretched on for about ten minutes before Peter decided that he couldn’t leave things like this around them “You did well. I wanted you to know that, okay?” he said, and the petite blonde looked up with a hint of confusion in her eyes before the realization hits and turned that lovely face which always adorned with bright smiles to a contorting shame so suddenly it is as if he’s fast-forwarding a video “Those people on the bus are alive because of you.” he smiled, softly and sweet, approaching her and when Gwen didn’t move away he gathered her lithe and lighter frame into an embrace. Feeling the chaotic jumble of her heart beating against his chest “I’m proud of you.” he whispered, the words he’d never received, determined to give everything he lacks to her so that Gwen wouldn’t be a miserable broken piece of crap like him; so that she didn’t need to hide it all under nonchalant façade, waiting with bated breath for the inevitable explosion. His hands caress her back softly but firmly, feeling every trembling choke reverberating through their intimate proximity. Planting a soft kiss on the side of her temple, he whispered “I’m proud of you.” he felt her arms circling his neck and tightened, her grimacing face pressed into the crook of his neck and the shake of her body almost destroyed him.
He let Gwen ride the overwhelming guilt out without counting the time, his hands constantly rubbing soothing patterns along the ridge of her spinal cord, until a whir of helicopter blade greeted his ears and elicited a groan. “Gwen…hey?” he whispered with a warm smile, wiping her tears out with kisses “I have to go, for a little bit, okay?” she nodded reluctantly and lessened her hold. He planted a loving and deep kiss upon her trembling lips, thumbing the trails of glistening tears adorning her cheeks.
The vortex created by the rotating blades subsided a little as the engine started to die down, Howard and Aña poked their curious heads from around the partition wall obscuring the backyard from view. He casually raised his hand in silence, telling them to stay put until two passengers stepped down from one of Bishop Security’s choppers, hauling their respective duffels “Colored me surprised! You guys are early!” Peter yells against the fading whir as Harley Keener and Kate Bishop approach him with a short jog.
Harley got a baseball cap on his dirty-blond hair, draping an oversized bomber jacket over a plaided shirt, completed with a pair of black jeans and worn sneakers; completely abandoned the neat businessman look he’d kept up for years since taking the Iron Man mantle.
Kate, on the other hand, is dressed to kill as always. A purple crop showing her toned stomach with a pair of low-rise black leather pants and combat boots, gathering her long raven hair into a loose ponytail at the back with side bangs framing her shapely stunning face. Her azure eyes were hidden underneath a pair of aviation shades.
“Gotta stay ahead of the game.” Harley simply replied, “So, what’s cooking?”
“Some furniture?” Peter retorted with a shit-eating grin.
“Seriously?!” Tennessee tech genius exclaimed and groaned dramatically before marching towards the house with a huff “Anything’s in the fridge is free game!”
“Don’t choke yourself on the captain’s medications!” he yelled back, seeing Harley enter the front door. He heard a distant ‘Hi!’ as he surely met Gwen. Peter returned to the nervous Kate Bishop with a residue smirk left from a somewhat familiar exchange with Harley and sporting a frown. “Are you good?”
“I dunno, Pete,” Kate replied, leading him to a shade of a pine, setting the duffel down, and breathing a heavy sigh “I think this might be a bad idea.”
“The…lay-low thing?”
“The meet the girlfriend thing, you idiot!” Kate exclaimed with a pout, huffing and crossing her arms “What if she doesn’t like me?”
“Did you get that vibe from her in Boston?” Peter quirked his eyebrow, looking at her with a restrained smirk.
“Well, no. But, relying on me for protection and considering letting me restart a relationship with her boyfriend are two, let’s just say, completely different things.” Her hands get increasingly animated the longer she rants, which is a nostalgic sight for him since he and Kate didn’t get to spend more than stressful interactions revolving around vigilantism or saving the day occasions; it brings him back to that goofball who jumped around rooftops with a bow and arrows alongside him all those years ago. “And you guys are already in it with Doctor Storm, too! I mean—” Kate couldn’t find the words, so she opted just to produce pterodactyl noises and flail her arms around like an injured bat instead, which made the trained fighter look oddly cute with her short-of-about-four-inches-until-six-feet stature and a Britney Spears aesthetic.
“For the record, Miss Bishop,” Peter started with a lopsided smirk “You kissed me, and now you’re gonna be a wuss about it?”
“I almost forgot how annoying you can be.”
“Call it a part of my charm,” he retorted lightheartedly, taking her hand after hoisting her duffel onto his shoulder like a pillow. “Come on, you survived Yelena’s training; this is nothing!”
The rectangular table is covered with a plethora of homecooked plates courtesy of Helen, Howard, and Peter; typical American household meals with nothing special or exotic, just comfort foods for the unexpected relocation celebration…well, maybe except May’s Wheatcakes that the little Latina and Harley glared at like a pair of starving badgers, minus the foaming saliva part.
Captain George is seated on the opposite of Peter at the head of the table, his wife to the left. Helen and Howard were separated by Aña while Gwen was next to her brother, opposite Kate, with Peter to her left. Kate is seated next to the vigilante with Harley to her left. Completed the small dinner table where the parents cast curious glances at the additional two to their recovery getaway trip; two Avengers, demoted and monitored as they might, sitting at the same table with a family of an NYPD policeman orchestrated by Manhattan’s #1 Menace painted a mind-boggling image, nonetheless.
“Well, let’s me just say, Mister Keener, Miss Bishop,” George Stacy started with a note of uncertain “It’s a pleasure having you here with us.”
“Don’t sweat it, Captain Stacy,” Harley waved his reluctance off “She’s just a snobby rich heiress,” the Tennessee genius grinned and jutted his thumb toward Hawkeye “and I’m just an epitome of rags-to-riches story from Nashville, making it big in the industry world!” he felt a swat from Kate’s direction but ignored it to maintain his shit-eating grin for the comedic effect. “…did I also tell you she’s a big bully, too? Might’ve got that from all of her time cuddled up with Black W—” a hand clasped over his mouth and muffled only his words but not the animating pointy finger.
“Man’s just looove to glaze himself, amiright?” Kate forced a wide grin on her face, increasing the pressure of her hand and closing the Iron Man’s chatterbox up like fighting against an explosive manhole “Thank you for having us, the food smelled great!” she cast her eyes around the table, and it halted at the turmoil showing on Gwen’s face; a discomfort that wasn’t directed at her. “Thanks for letting us stay here.”
“It’s a big house,” Helen started, looking at Peter “and if the owner’s okay with it, I don’t see why we wouldn’t.” then the mistress of the house, technically, began taking her husband’s and Aña’s hands, prompting most to her intention immediately. The circle was completed with Harley and Kate being a bit awkward about it; they’ve never participated in a say grace for their Chinese takeouts, and most of the people surrounding them are barely in any capacity to be called religious.
“They’re gonna be okay with including an Adeptus Mechanicus into the circle, right?” Harley whispered to Kate lightheartedly, which was caught by the two superhumans at the table; Gwen quirked her eyebrow at him while Peter narrowed his eyes with disapproval.
“…Sufferings had greeted us with its cold touch, but through the Lord’s encompassing love, we shall endure.
For we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character, and character produces hope.
Hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. Amen.” Helen guided the table with her solemn grace, head bowed low and breathing in the still air produced by all participants at the dinner; especially the ones who faced the impossible odds, her eyes cast to her quiet daughter, feeling a grip that Gwen’s defeated and lost look have over her heart.
The meal started in a quiet session, with Aña and Harley being equally expressive with their starving-wolf tendency.
Seeing Gwen ate about half of what she normally does, Peter rested his right hand on her thigh with a reassuring smile; a gesture repaid by the sunflower-blonde’s mirthless smile.
“There you are,” Kate announced her presence to the petite woman isolating herself on a swing underneath a thick branch. From behind, it looked like Gwen was looking at the last of a sunset where that bright orange ball of gases was about to disappear. “The view’s nice.” Hawkeye started but let it die off after a while, only hearing each other’s steady breathing. She took a couple of steps and stopped just shy of the blonde’s side, looking at the fading line of light over the horizon.
“…how did you do it?”
The question came with a confusing note to her ears, and Kate was unsure about the meaning. She cleared her throat and let out a nervous exhale before speaking “Do…what?” cringing inside, hoping to anyone who’d listen that the sunflower-blonde biologist was not upset about the kiss she shared with Peter during the climax of the Atlantean attack that was broadcasted worldwide and reigniting some corners of the internet.
“Dealing with lives you couldn’t save…” Gwen’s face contorted into a heartbreaking grimace, her grip on the swing’s ropes tightened to the point it threatened to break the braided fibers apart “I can do whatever Pete can. I have the same Spider-Sense…but I still let a Skrull slip past it…” the bloody smear at the back row seats still haunts her “How do you tell yourself that it’s not your fault?” ironically, she had reassured Peter about this topic before, but when facing it herself the weight of guilt proves too much to bear.
Kate sighed deeply, recalling her life experiences to find a suitable answer, but came up with nothing; with the recent calamity, she’s kinda going through it as well. The Avengers' assignments and missions mostly revolve around clandestine infiltration and gathering information, it’s not that often she got to participate in a dangerous event like recently with the Roosevelt Island and the Skrull’s Invasion or Namor’s quest for revenge on Peter, and nothing could’ve prepared them for the tremendous loss of innocent lives like that. “…I don’t know.” Kate delivered her most sincere words “There’s so many ideas popping up in my head whenever I look back, you know? Like, maybe I can do this or that differently, that sorta thing.” A self-loathing smirk appeared, coercing a grim and sharp cackle out of her throat “If only we knew about the Skrulls earlier, Rhodey might still be alive. Or if we had a bit more time to look into the explosion, maybe Namor wouldn’t wreck New York City like this.” She listed the eluding possibilities off the top of her head.
They exist in unbearable silence for a while, talking about nothing and many things within themselves, looking at the dying Sunlight.
“Peter, Reed Richards is calling,” Edith informed him as Peter and Howard were doing the dishes, with little Aña’s eager helping hands. He breathed out heavily with a tut and finished watching the dish in his hands, rinsed them, and dried them with a cloth before excusing himself to the living hall and answering the call through his glasses “Good evening, Mister Richards.” He greeted his boss with a stilted smile and a heavy look. “Look, sir, I’m sorr—”
“I’m not calling to scold you, Peter.” Reed stopped him before he could complete his sentence “The CT scan was a bit much, but it’s nothing a donation from RAC couldn’t fix.” The World’s Smartest Man exasperated with a calm voice “I am calling about the prototype HxH engine.”
“Oh.” he exclaimed quietly, breathing a relieved sigh “I can…swing by tomorrow morning?” he attempted at the quip, and squeezed out the tiniest bit of a huff from Reed as a response “Are we going public with it soon?”
“Not quite; the effort to rehabilitate New York City requires resources, and I think RAC can be of help in that department, but I need Jule’s and your joined effort in this.”
“Uh…I’m not so sure about that, Mister Richards.” Peter sighed, regrets gripping at his heart “I was a jerk to her and the others.”
“Mental stress can affect people’s behavior,” Reed replied, dismissing his concern “I have science to back it up, but I think that information won’t be needed to reason with them; Julia might be a bit apprehensive, but I’m sure a sincere apology would smooth things over.”
“…What about Johnny?” he breathed into the conversation after a moment of hesitation; the things he did and the tortures he’d put the Human Torch through in his moment of weakness and anger were not transgressions a simple apology would suffice; he knows that much.
Frustrating as it might be for the guy to do what he did, it was borne from a place of care and stemmed from a broken promise that he made.
He couldn’t really be mad at Johnny for sending Sue away, she’s his sister for crying out loud.
“That’s a topic I wouldn’t dare to meddle in. It’s between both of you.” Reed answered simply, practical and truthful, as always “The only advice I can part with, is that there’s always time to set things right. The requirement is the will to try.”
After the call had ended, it took Peter about a minute more to notice Harley’s presence near him. The Tennessee genius cast a curious glance his way while his fingers still typing on the laptop’s keyboard without a hiccup.
“What?”
“Nothing.” Harley replied with a knowing smirk, averted his eyes back to the programming “Sounds like you got a shitty day tomorrow.”
“I can still kick you outta the house, you know?”
“That would be a bad rep for you, Parker.” Harley folded the laptop and tossed it to Spider-Man, who caught the equipment without looking “Any comments?” Then Harley pulled out a small disc to throw at the flat-screen monitor over the fireplace.
Peter promptly accepts the prompt of mirroring projection on the laptop, and the schematic shows up on the monitor “What am I looking at?”
“An extravehicular activity exoskeleton suit, designed to be equipped with a recycling life-support system, and radiation-proof sealings.”
“Is Stark Tech gonna compete with Richards Aerospace for interstellar exploration?” Peter commented with a ridiculed smirk.
“It’s not from Stark.” Harley retorted with a concerned grimace and urged him to take a closer look.
Rotating the suit around, Peter’s eyes widened at the peculiar set of four ovular conductive sockets with transparent outlines of four segmented tubes; the implication was clear enough for him to feel a needle up his spine from the sense of betrayal. “Where did you get this?”
“I had Karen piggybacking the authorization codes SHIELD requested from me about a day ago. This is all that I can get before whatever they turned Friday into got to her.” Harley cast a solemn look at the screen “Anyway, I guess we can be pretty sure Fury didn’t just break Doc Ock out of prison, but likely employed him, too. That answered the question of who the hell is putting the Vision back together.”
Then, while Peter sported a shadow of wrath on his contorted face, Harley turned towards the screen and tapped his wristwatch to remotely bring up the abysmal amount of information he managed to collect on the man called Doctor Octopus with a huff, “Yelena would’ve said he’s like a ghost. No official records except for mentioned or throw-away credits in his name; Doctor Reinhardt.” Without looking back Harley pulled up a destroyed candid of a man in his younger years, possibly dating back to his agent of SHIELD days, that leaked with all the rest of SHIELD’s data by Natasha Romanoff in 2014. A visage of a stranger to him but means the crumbling foundation of Peter’s world staring back at them on two separate screens “A prodigy engineering genius from Germany, enlisted within SHIELD by Alexander Pierce back in the late 90s as a part of Project Rouge Helms; now that we know he’s a HYDRA—”
“Was.” Peter corrected without a second thought.
“Okay—was a HYDRA agent, I guess the Rouge Helms are just the Red Skulls revitalization program.” A dark chuckle escaped his lips at the stupidity of it all “And to think it went under Fury’s nose for so long.”
“I mean, the Triskellion Incident happened,” Peter commented with a lowered voice, looking at the younger image of his father.
“That’s the kicker, dude,” Harley exclaimed a bit excitedly “This Reinhardt guy? He was the lead engineer in Project INSIGHT!”
Great. The more I know about my dad, the better his resume is getting. Peter grumbled internally. Mass genocide then, forced human evolution, and now an army of killer robots; what a great guy…what a really fucking great guy he is, May? Ben? He scoffed at the memories of his surrogate parents who always told him about the great Richard Parker at their family dinner as a way to keep him connected to his dead parents—no, parent, singular. If somehow my dead mother turns out to be alive and being some kinda supervillain or some shit, too; Imma fucking lose it.
“He went under the radar after Captain Rogers, Sam, Romanoff, and our lovely directors took the Helicarriers down; Tony repurposed those targeting satellites to be used for the Iron Legion.” Harley chuckled darkly.
“…You’re saying he might be the new Red Skull?” Kate’s voice cut through the living area, approaching the two with concerned eyes casting alternatively between both super-geniuses, especially at the Arachnid with a more worried glint. Her eyes then linger on the candid of her torturer and the source of her occurrence nightmares, conflicting on how to feel or express her displeasure in front of the man’s son whom she’s started falling in love with again.
“I don’t think that would happen; as long as Fury kept him in check.” Harley sincerely answered, noting a queer look on Kate’s face but dismissed it due to her mental trauma, “Then again, he does let Ross slip past his ever-seeing eyepatch. So, maybe we have to take this into our own hands.”
“…Infiltrating SHIELD?” Peter asked almost simultaneously as Kate did.
“A little stroll, nothing too fancy. We get in, get anything we can, and get out; mazel tov!”
“Yeah, but we still have to pin the site first; I’m not running all over the country through hundreds of SHIELD’s black sites with hopes and prayers.” Kate retorted.
“I got you, ye o’ little faith!” Harley announced and brought up another data screen, while Kate secretly sneaked her hand to take Peter’s with a silent question that he answered with a simple shake of his head. “It’s a long shot, but if I can refine and isolate the exhaust trails coming out of the Sentinels and trace them back, chances are they’ll lead us back to the facility where they were manufactured; hopefully it’s where Doctor Octopus will be as well.”
“And how the hell would you do that without access to Avengers Satellites?” the raven-haired woman inquired, then she saw a knowing smirk form on the Tennessee engineer’s lips “No!”
“Yes.”
“Fuck, no! Harley!”
“Pleeease!”
“I’m not giving you access to Bishop Security.”
“I just need a backdoor into the NSA’s system!”
“And what if Jack was caught in this mess, too?!”
“We are talking about a potential new version of Ultron, here,” Harley throws his arms around “You know? The genocidal android whose response to Turing’s Test was to drop a meteor onto the Earth’s surface?!”
“What if it’s nothing and you guys are being paranoid?” she alternated her eyes between the founding members of the New Avengers. She knows it’s a valid concern from them, especially considering the kind of person Richard Parker is, but it’s not just her at stake here; Bishop Security houses several thousands of employees all over the country, and this kind of mess could derail the whole company.
“Bishop—"
“That’s enough, Keener.” Peter cut in “We’ll find another way, okay? It’s not fair to drag the people working at her company down with us if this backfired.”
“You gotta see the bigger picture here, man.”
“I do. And I say we have to find another way of doing this.” his eyes bored with determination and finality into Harley’s frustrated ones until the Iron Man relented with a grumble.
“Hate it when both of you are teaming up against me; it’s like we’re back at the Compound again.” He said with a sense of nostalgic annoyance, but bearing a reluctant smirk on his face all the same.
Yeah, but now with the knowledge that I’m a supervillain’s kid…and my little sister is an international assassin. Peter mulled.
“…fine!” Harley said after a while, huffed a heavy breath “I guess I can modify the armors into some kind of hyper-frequency radio dish or something.”
“You still have them?” Kate asked with a surprised expression.
“Just the mark 6; it hadn’t been registered into the system yet. Guess my procrastinating ass has some perks.” The Tennessee man shrugged “But all of the artificial intelligence was stripped, I’ll have to manually reprogram the nanites by hand; that’s no fun.”
“I can help?”
“Not to brag, Parker, but the nanites in Iron Man armors are levels above the complications of your Web-Shooters.”
“You forgot who helped you upgrade the Iron Legions?” Peter quirked his brows daringly at the Iron Man.
“Just work together, you idiots,” Kate exclaimed with a sigh, yet a smile graced her lips at the familiar image.
Peter entered the first guest room to be met with a silhouette of Gwen sitting on the windowsill, looking out at the moonlit sky so still he almost mistook her for a painting if not for the slight movements his eyes caught. His steps, barely audible as they may be, still stirred Gwen out of her trance thanks to the similar mutations he’d unknowingly given to her. “Hungry? You didn’t eat much at dinner.” He approached her and knelt on the floor before searching her eyes hidden underneath the veil of shadow inside their room.
She only responded with a tired smile and averted her eyes back to the mirage of the Moon wavering upon the dark surface, tightening her hold around herself and sinking the lower half of her face into her crossed arms.
Peter rested his hand around her ankle, softly squeezing it to announce his presence, but kept the silence going. He felt the cold palm of Gwen’s hand laid atop his after a while as if she was seeking any anchor she could find, and he obliged without hesitation. He didn’t utter a word, but stood up and gathered her light frame into his arms, carrying her to the bed, and laid her down inside the cage of his arms. The petite blonde snuggled into his overwhelming warmth, pressing her contorted face into his chest, and clawed her hands at his shirt like holding on to a cliff’s edge not wanting to fall. He caresses his hand at the back of her head while humming a soothing tune in the space between them.
“You did your best,” Peter whispered, caressing her golden mane softly. Gwen’s hold on the collar of his shirt tightened and a damp sensation began on his chest. “Everybody can get knocked down, you just have to roll with the punches and get back up.”
“…I don’t know how you do it,” Gwen muffled against his soaked shirt “I felt like shit.” Her confession came with a sniffle.
“That’s because you have a heart, Gwen Stacy.” He replied softly, kissing her forehead and breathing in the faint floral scent “People’s sufferings saddened you, and you felt like it’s your fault for not doing enough.” He felt her pressing firmer against his chest “But you tried. You wanted to and did the right thing, and that’s enough. You are good enough.” He whispered against her forehead, peppering her ivory skin with praises and reassurances lined with each touch of his lips, his other hand caressed a soothing pattern on her back.
They fell asleep in each other’s arms unaware that in the middle of the night, Aña walked into the room and slotted herself into Gwen’s arms, pressing her sleepy face into the petite blonde’s stomach while Peter spooned both of them with steady breathing.
“…I want everyone’s voices on this,” Charles announced after he finished summarizing the situation regarding the expose of the X-Men and Mutantkind as a whole following Magneto’s blatant admission on national television. “Should we go public with our existence, or should we stay hidden within the confined security of oblivion like we always do?” his question reached the gathered staff members; consisting of Scott, Logan, Ororo, Jean, Anna-Marie, Piotr, Kurt, Illyana, Kitty, and Hank.
“You think keeping things the same won’t set off another tragedy?” Logan voiced first, lighting a cigar between his teeth and nursing a puff of toxin inside his lungs before exhaling them “Magneto’s a very determined kid, if his actions in the past tell me anything. I’d say even if we don’t play along, he’ll find another way to force us to; maybe this time things might be worse.”
“So, you are okay with going public?” Scott inquired.
“It’s whatever to me, but I still have to keep mine a secret; easier for me to go ‘round doing my things, ya know?” Logan replied, taking the cigar between his knuckles, then shrugged his massive shoulders.
“Things might get difficult, especially for those of us who have somewhat integrated into the outside world.” Jean chipped in, rubbing her chin with a pair of furrowed brows “For example, my doctorate credentials might be revoked due to the simple fact that I had to fabricate many identities.” She looked around and gained a sympathetic nod from Kitty.
“Logan’s concern is also valid; Ah know that you know how far he could go for what he wants, Professor.” Anna-Marie jutted in with a sigh “And don’t y’all think we’ve been hidin’ long enough?” her eyes cast towards the others with furrowed brows.
“It’s safe.” Scott protested.
“It’s not a way to live, Scotty; not for them kids!” Anna-Marie retorted passionately, “All of us here knows damn well how depressing it’d be living in fear and feeling like we don’t belong.” Her words rang true through each mutant,
Scott remembers his childhood in the confined of his parent’s basement, encased inside a spinning prison designed and fabricated to counter his Optic Blast’s destructive power after his mutation manifested out of nowhere and almost killed his little brother.
Jean loses all of her hometown friends after the burst of her psychic wave puts all of them in a coma. It took a full month after she’d been registered under Charles’s guardianship that the headmaster was able to repair the neuron damages inflicted unknowingly upon them.
Ororo bore a void in her heart as well due to the way she was revered by her people rather than loved; whenever they looked at her, they saw only Ọya but never Ororo. Among her closest family, she felt truly alone most of her life; more an idol to be worshipped than a person to be nurtured.
Kitty fidgeted with the hem of her cardigan, thinking back to the horror on her mother’s face the first time her parents walked into her halfway phasing through her bed in her sleep and jolted awake by the scream that shook the night. They never brought it up again since, and she felt like a freak in her own home whenever she had to go back until she decided to take permanent residence at the Mansion after she turned 16 three years ago when she found out Bobby had taken a similar path.
Piotr remains stoically observant, yet his eyes often fall toward his little sister with a hint of sadness.
Illyana grimaced faintly. She knows Rogue’s reasoning to heart. Even now, after returning home and reuniting with her loving brother after so long, she feels like she’s still back there, in chains, surrounded by unimaginable nightmares.
Hank also kept his mouth shut as he couldn’t deny the loneliness harbored inside his heart for having to nestled inside the underground lab for decades, and couldn’t meet with many wonderful minds outside the confines of the Mansion.
Kurt perched quietly, analyzing each word in his surrogate sister’s conviction by heart, looking down at his blue skin and clawed hands, remembering the forced smile he gave himself every morning.
Logan, dulled by the decades as he is, felt a sting in his chest, nonetheless.
“They deserve to be seen and accepted, even if the voices inside might be screaming that we are being stupid, we’ve gotta push through,” Anna-Marie pleaded sincerely “For them.”
“Welcome back, Peter Parker.” Nathaniel’s synthetic voice greeted him as soon as Peter walked out of the private lift with Kate in tow, after parking her chopper on the roof of the Baxter. “Good morning, Miss Bishop.”
“Mornin’ Nate,” Peter replied, “Can you give Kate a level-2B access?”
“Certainly.” The AI obliged and produced a beep before opening the inner shutter to let both inside the top 10 floors usually reserved only for RAC employees. “Should I inform Miss Takeda and Mister Richards about—”
“I’ve got it covered, Nathaniel; get lost.” Johnny Storm’s unamused tone cut through the air and stood like a bouncer ahead of the couple, crossing his arms with a grimace on his face and a daggering glare aimed at the vigilante “The gall on you, Parker, showing your face here with another one of your rebounds while my sister suffers.”
Peter felt the tension in his shoulders and clenched his fists at the insult directed towards the raven-haired woman at his side, but took a deep breath to calm himself down after a moment, and opened his eyes “Johnny, please—”
“Do not tell me how I should behave, you worthless piece of shit!” the sandy-blond metahuman unintentionally lit his arms on fire, covering the limbs inside raging flames “You assaulted me, tortured me!” he stormed towards the Arachnid with wrath clouding his eyes “I should have burn you to ashes where you stand, consequences be damned!” the fire spread and overtake his entire body, radiating heat and altered the humidity level around himself like that of a desert at noon. “…but Susan would not forgive me, even if you do deserve it.” The fire subsided as Johnny retreated, yet the animosity still prevailed.
“Johnny, I’m sorry.” Peter started with a sincere guilt showing on his face “I took it way too far, I hurt you and everyone. I was being a jerk.” He kept eye contact “I don’t expect you to forgive me, and I understand if you hate me. I was saving Susan, and I know that doesn’t justify me being an asshole, but I’m sorry. I’m really sorry.”
An uncomfortable silence fell upon them as both of them stared into one another with Kate standing awkwardly like a third wheel in an awful first date between her friends.
“…There must be some redeeming qualities within you somehow, considering my sister might’ve noticed it.” Johnny said after a deep sigh “And do forgive me, Miss Bishop; that was uncalled for.” turning on his heels, and started walking “Quickly. Reed and the others are waiting.” The Human Torch gestured without looking back at them.
“Peter! Come!” Reed waved him over with a smile, sporting his reading glasses and a lab coat. Julia and Ben Grimm are also there with apprehensive looks directed at the young vigilante.
“Hey, Mister Richards.” Peter started with a nervous smile “Morning, Jules. Mister Grimm.” He waved uncertainly at the two, only the gentle giant responded with a nod while the senior engineer just snorted and kept her arms crossed. “So, about that hydrogen engine?”
“Right,” Reed responded, quickly stretching his arm to the panel nearby, bringing up an interactive 4D model at the center of the Brainstorm machine “We came to an agreement, all of us including Jonathan, that we should lend an aid to GRU’s effort of rebuilding the city in this time of crisis through what we do best; advanced technologies.” The underlying intention is written all over Reed Richards’s face.
This is what Susan would’ve wanted to do for the city.
“Let’s hear it, then.”
“…what’s wrong with him?” Johnny inquired after a while as both of them idled outside of the Thinktank chamber.
“Huh?” Kate exclaimed confusedly, quirking her brows and averting her eyes from looking over the Manhattan landscape peppered with debris and trails of destruction and lost people, yet still filled with hope for the future where they would come out stronger just like they always do.
“Parker.” Johnny specified “Before the tsunami came, he pounced onto me like…”
“…like a monster.” Kate finished what he couldn’t, recalling the moment fear gripped her heart as Peter was on the verge of killing that one Skrull in the alley; it was like watching someone, or something, taking over the man she’s in love with “I don’t know either; I’ve been on patrols with him, even fought Kingpin and Rhino with him once or twice. He’d never gone over the edge like that regardless of the bad things that those horrible criminals did, he’s always holding himself back. Even when the Hand hunted down Daredevil and Pete stepped in when innocents were caught in the crossfire, Peter never seriously hurt any of those assassins.”
“Maybe he’s taking some notes from the Punisher?” Johnny chuckled darkly, trying to make a sense of what he’d seen.
“No.” her object solid and adamant, averted her sharp blue eyes to glare at her former Avenger trainee “If not for Daredevil, Pete would have thrown Castle into Ryker a long time ago.” She’s fully turned now after Johnny Storm dismissed her words with a swat of his hand accompanied by a scoff “Pete’s not a killer.”
“He’s sure as hell a boxer,” Johnny pointed at the faded bruise on his right cheekbone.
“What happened?”
“He couldn’t bring himself to tell you?”
“I want to know from you.”
Johnny let the silence linger on for good measure, and then sighed deeply, turning his eyes outward to the landscape below “…I sent my sister away.”
“You sent her away?” puzzle pieces started falling into places.
“I couldn’t bring myself to trust her well-being onto him,” the Human Torch grumbled “How could I? When he couldn’t even keep a simple promise of keeping her safe.” Johnny breathed out heavily “Even if Sue hates me after this, I’d be contented in the fact that she’s safe.”
“…She would hate you for that,” Kate started “I didn’t have any siblings to say anything about it, but I had been living with the Barton kids long enough to pick up something.” Her pause enticed the sandy-blond man to avert his eyes from the city back to his conversate partner, where he’d be met with the raven-haired woman’s bright smile, so reassuring it’d make him subconsciously believe anything she wanted to say afterward “You did it because you love her, and she’ll understand it.”
I sure hope so. Johnny mulled internally.
“Can I help you?” the deep voice of the Hero for Hire greeted them with confusion as Kate and Peter knocked on his front door, with the vigilante sporting a dorky smile on his face.
“Is JJ here?” the vigilante asked, and a hint of recognition dawned on Luke’s face before he roamed his eyes on the man in front of him with mild disbelief.
“…You?”
“I will try not to be so offended by the disappointment in your voice, Mister Cage.” The Wall-Crawler jabbed playfully “Can we come in?”
“Who’s that?” Jessica’s slurry voice can be heard from the hallway behind the giant of a man, and soon her messy dark curls come into view. It took her about half a minute to recollect her brain before she lunged at the vigilante to gather him into a tight embrace without muttering another word.
“Oh! Okay,” Peter squeaked as he felt…everything from the tightness of the superpowered woman/private investigator’s hug with her, easy to assume to be, sleepwear consisting of an oversized shirt and lack of any pants. “She hit her head or something?” he whispered to the smiling black man at the back.
“Just enjoy the moment, idiot,” Jessica mumbled against his shoulder.
“I’m confused; are they gonna do something?” Kate attempted to lighten the silence inside Luke Cage’s kitchen where Jessica Jone had been staring at Peter for a minute or so without saying anything.
“Tell me ‘bout it,” the Harlem Guardian played along, sipping a cup of lukewarm coffee while leaning against the fridge, his eyes occasionally landing on the face of Spider-Man as well. “Jess—”
“Shush!” the dark-haired alcoholic raised her finger sharply and Luke surrendered with a lighthearted snort.
“…did I forget to put sunscreen on or—” Peter started but got interrupted.
“How’re you feeling?”
“Good…?”
“Kid, I’m serious.”
“I’m fine!” Peter exclaimed with a confused laugh “I am! I’m here. I’m alive and kicking; well, not so much kicking coz the CRUD drones are still hunting me, but—" he was about to rant on, but Jessica gathered him into another hug by then. “…Thanks, JJ.” He whispered after he’d deduced her reasons, and pats his hands on her upper back reassuringly. Aw, she cares. He muttered internally, taking in the clinging whiff mixture between hard liquor and cigarette that seemed to be a signature for the woman in his arms.
A sound of a clearing throat from Luke seemed to jolt Jessica out of the moment as she pulled back with pursed lips and ruffled his hair with a nod “That’s good.” Then she clears her throat with a firm pat on his shoulder before retreating. “…what?”
“Ya know, if you wanna hug, you can just ask—”
“Shut up.” Peter cackled as Jessica pushed his head away as she made her way for the fridge, shooing a smirking Luke Cage away. “Matt said he’ll be here soon, so sit around or whatever; Imma take a shower.” With that, she took a swig of chilled tequila before heading to the announced destination “Nice seeing you, by the way, Hawklette.”
“It’s Hawkeye!” Kate chirped with a quirked eyebrow, averted her eyes from the dark-haired woman towards the vigilante “Spider-Rizz is still intact, it seems.” The archer commented lightheartedly. Luke choked on his coffee while Peter let out an otherworldly noise. “Anyway; who’s Matt?”
“Someone you should consider hiring, Miss Bishop.” A voice came from behind, coming in with a blind man with red sunglasses and a matching cane, bearing a charming smile on his face “I’m sure the aftermath of the flood will leave many of your Manhattan branch’s employees in desperate need of legal advice.” The blind man confidently walked up to her and offered a hand “Matthew Murdock; from Nelson, Murdock, and Page.” With a sleight of hand, Matt managed to plant his firm’s card onto the Avenger’s palm, drawing an impressed hum from the heiress.
“I’ll…think about it…?” the raven-haired archer looked confusedly back at her, hopefully, lover with a quizzical glance.
“Ah, you are here, finally.” Jessica announced as she still drying her hair with a towel, walking out in a clean shirt and a pair of ripped jeans, taking a seat at the small dinner table “Come on, let’s get this over with.” Her other hand that has been carrying a manila folder slammed it softly onto the table’s surface and gestured for the vigilante as well as the blind lawyer to sit down.
Kate pulled the chair out for the man named Matt, gaining a sincere ‘thank you’ before taking her seat beside Peter.
“According to what he got for us,” Jessica grumbled, referring to a certain person that made Peter’s chest sting a little at the fact that they had to work with the Punisher of all people “There’s a couple of leads from the Street Urchins before the whole…alien bombers and a fucking tsunami thing happened.” She directed a squinted glare at the superhuman among them; well, let’s say he’s on another level compared to herself and Luke. “Daredevil’s hunch was right; there’s another player behind this whole thing.” Jessica carefully spread each note and bloodied parchments delivered by Frank Castle’s questionable method of investigation with the man who posed as the Punisher which instigated a smoldering civil war between Wilson Fisk’s and Lonnie Lincoln’s men in the streets. “Still don’t know any motivation behind this whole mess, though.”
The silence fell over their heads. Kate was very confused, but also sure of the identity of Jessica Jones’s informant. Peter and Matt, deep in thought, trying to make sense of the situation on available information. Luke started listing possible sources he might be able to reach about this mysterious player throughout Harlem. Jessica considered paying Castle and the shooter a late-night visit for more details.
“Can I help you?” Piotr crossed his arms with a comprehensive look behind the steel grates of the swing gates separating Xavier’s Institute from the outside world, casting a little downward glare at the visitor.
“Yeah…um…” Peter voiced his nervousness, looking beyond the mountain of muscles before him into the inner courtyard of the very wealthy estate basked in the Afternoon sun “Is…Jean…here?” he inquired with an unsure voice; according to Harley’s estimation, this area should be in proximity of a ten miles radius from the spot that Logan destroyed a tracker in the bike they’d lent to him all those weeks ago. Maybe they hide in a cave or something. He doubted himself.
“There’s no Jean here, comrade,” the Ruski accent carried thick along his answer, the scowl deepening on his rectangular face. “I think you have the wrong address.”
“To be honest, I didn’t even have an address to begin with—” Peter stopped himself when his eyes caught a familiar face passing by the thick bushes that lined the walls “Kitty!” he called her name and the petite mutant stopped in her track, craning her neck at his location with squinted eyes that quickly turned into a surprise. “Hey! How’re ya doing?”
The Deerfield teen almost jumped from her spot to the gates, sporting a wide nervous grin “Hey!” the young and energetic mutant waved her hand frantically with a tint of rose creeping up to her cheeks against the vigilante’s dorky smile “What are you doing here?”
“You know him?” Piotr quirked his brows quizzically at his fellow resident of the Mansion, seeing a tinge of shyness in her posture that intrigued him a little.
“Yeah, um. He’s, uh…” Kitty’s hands flew around on their own, looking for anything other than blatantly telling Colossus that they were talking to Spider-Man “Jean’s boyfriend! He’s a substitute tutor from my college! Yeah, He’s—”
“Benjamin Reilly,” Peter cut in with a smile, offering his hand to the doubtful man acting as the Mansion’s guard “I’m sorry, I don’t know your name, Mister…?”
“Aha,” Piotr voiced in disbelief but ultimately produced a chuckle before taking the smaller man’s hand in his broader one “Nikolai,” he opted to use his father’s name instead, just out of caution, and give the man’s hand a firm shake before released it “Nice to meet you, Mister Reilly; and here I thought little Kitty tried to sneak someone into the premise, again.” He teased the petite brunette who retorted with a pout, coaxing a hearty laugh out of Colossus. The manner that made him more approachable and less intimidating.
“Likewise, Nikolai; can I call you Nikolai?” he inquired as he was let through the threshold, feeling a faint nudge on his head but nothing too alarming, and started following Kitty toward the main entrance.
“Sure, Ben,” Piotr replied with a nod and stayed in his pose with a recliner situated nearby underneath a poolside umbrella with a Playboy magazine. “Have fun!” the colossal man waved and returned to his seat.
“Jean’s boyfriend?!” he hissed through a lingering smile, greeting the students along the path.
“I panicked, okay!?” Kitty hissed back, “Would you rather I tell him you’re Spider-Man?” she widened her eyes daringly at the taller man, still harboring a red tint on her cheeks just by being near him, but ignored the beating of her heart for the moment “There’ll just be too many questions if I say you are my…boyfriend.” Although I wish I could just do that instead. “Colossus might not look it, but the guy can be a gossip girlie if you give him the tea.”
“Colossus’s a rad name!” he shot her a finger gun with a wink.
“Please, don’t use that; it’s cringe coming out of you.” Kitty imitated a shuddering through her body, teasing him with a squint of her eyes.
“Fine, criticize a boomer for trying to be relatable, why dontcha?” he retorted similarly until the unexpected third party joined them from across the hall.
“Who’s that?” the curious tone of the blonde Russian (not the spy/assassin one) inquired from across the hall, sporting an apprehensive look on her face.
“Yana!” Kitty squeaks, whipping her head alternatively between Illyana and Spider-Man, “This is Mister Reily; he’s my substitute tutor from college!” she announced with a plastered smile and gestured her hands to the man at her side, nodding enthusiastically along her ass-pulled lies and eventually the vigilante started mimicking her gesture. [Jean, I’m sorry.] The Deerfield concentrated and called out to the resident telepath, hoping she would notice the plea for help.
[What?] the redhead quickly replied, confusion oozing through their mental link.
[Forgive me.]
[Kitty, what are you talking about?] Along with that psychic wave, a clicking of heels can be heard coming down from the second floor before a stutter appeared just for a brief moment […why is he here?]
[I didn’t ask.]
[Katherine--]
[Please, just come down here and pretend he’s your boyfriend who’s also my substitute teacher!]
[…] The silence is deafening.
[btw; he’s telling everyone his name is Ben.] the petite teen added before the bouncing fiery mane made an appearance at the top step.
“Ben?” Jean put on the most convincing joyous surprise she’d ever mustered and basically levitated herself down the steps to reach the gathering small group with a bright smile on her face “What are you doing here?” the fake smile filled with promises of torment to Kitty, but the vigilante understood the assignment quickly before he gathered the redhead into his arms and twirled the telepath around smoothly until her back pressed into his chiseled and toned chest firmly, their hands joined around Jean’s waist.
“Just miss you so much I couldn’t help myself,” he announced with a charming lilt and lowered his lips toward the side of her neck before whispering an apology.
When he brushed a light kiss onto her ivory skin, the contact sent shivers through her whole body both from the light stubbles peppering his face and also the trickles of electricity transferred from his unusually sticky skin. Involuntarily, Jean bit her lower lip a little at the intoxicating and unexpected sensations.
Illyana sported a curious look on her face with a hint of a smirk gracing her lips.
Kitty displayed a shock that briefly turned into a dash of jealousy at the show of intimacy both of them had promptly shown stemmed from her impulsive lie.
Peter felt something deep within him stirred awake, hungry snarls filled his ears, and the urge to just take this delicious warmth filled his chest. If not for a loud cough coming up from behind, he might fall victim to its enticing lull.
“The hell he’s doin' here?” Logan was there, in his biker’s jacket along with a giddy Ororo who followed him in a similar getup with an addition of her silver hair in a windswept style, a pair of sunglasses lowered to rest on the tip of her nose. Before Logan could open his mouth for another question, Kitty charged and clasped his arms in her hands, yanking him along with her while beckoning Jean through their mental link for both of them to follow.
“We’ll go to the lake! No interruption, folks!” the petite Deerfield native announced with a wide grin as she willed the heavyweight furball into an intangible mass to silence Logan while hauling him through the air with the redhead and Spider-Man in tow.
“Who’s that?” Ororo inquired after smoothing her hair a bit, looking at Illyana with a cursive eyebrow.
The Russian shrugged her shoulders with pursed lips “Ben or something; Jean’s boyfriend.” And with that the combat instructor continued on her way to the library, leaving a confused Ororo in the hallway.
“…since when did Jean get a new boyfriend?” the Kenyan goddess voiced to herself.
“Who?” Scott came up from behind, confused.
“Jean. Apparently, she got a new boyfriend.” Ororo shrugged her shoulders.
“What? No way…” Cyclops dismissed it with a chuckle, briefly, until with grin dissolved into a frown “…seriously?”
“They’ve just gone to the lake.” Ororo pointed her manicured finger at the back of the Mansion.
When Logan started flailing helplessly from the lack of air, Kitty returned him to his physical state before the Adamantium mass weighed him deep into the dirt for half a foot.
The burly man took a deep breath with glaring eyes aimed at the vigilante and his ward, before collecting himself after the third inhalation “What the fuck is going on here?!” as he was about to be loud, Kitty jumped in front of him and was about to turn him into untouchable mass again, but he took a step back to avoid her “Ah, ah! Not again, Kiddo!” he wags his index finger in front of the pouting Kitty, then averted his quizzical eyes toward the vigilante and the blushing Jean Grey “You,” he pointed at Peter “What are you doing here?”
“I’m looking for her.” Peter pointed at the redhead.
“Why?”
“Personal matter.” The vigilante produced a flat grin, adamant in his secrecy.
“It ain’t personal no more when you stepped into my turf, Bub,” Logan growled, walking up to the superhuman with narrowed eyes and a veil of smoke from the cigar for dramatic effects “…or the whole mansion will know who you are.” A smirk formed on the corner of Logan’s lips; his smugness was mirrored terrifyingly by the cold stare of the vigilante.
“You don’t mean that,” Peter trailed off with a hint of guttural tone.
For the briefest of moments, Logan swore he saw a sadistic glee take hold of the man’s brown eyes, turning the sclera black as tar and the pupils into glowing crimson rings, but just for a blink before the image disappeared, replaced by what actually going on; the pleading eyes of the superhuman.
“Logan,” Kitty touched her elder’s shoulder “If he wanna keep it a secret, we should respect it, right?” the Deerfield pleaded, recalling the difference in strength between the two; where Logan is very strong due to his advance muscles and mutations, Spider-Man’s strength far surpasses any limitation achieved prior by the feral uncle of the Mansion. The burly mutant eventually relented and took a step back to inhale a lungful of smoke again to calm himself down, then twirled on his heels with a wave of his hand.
“I’ll be in the Danger Room,” he announced to no one in particular, allowing Kitty to exhale her held breath.
“I’m sorry about the kiss.” Peter finally breaks the silence with a sincere apologetic smile, looking at the still-blushing Jean Grey. “Gotta sell the pitch.”
“It’s fine; nothing too invasive,” the redhead chuckled nervously, smoothing her fiery curls without looking at the superhuman; instead, her eyes narrowed eyes landed on the petite teen “We are gonna talk later, young miss.”
Lord help me. Kitty prayed to deaf ears internally, slouching her shoulders. “Fiiine…” Kitty looked at both of them and sighed “I should probably get to the lab,” she started walking away, heading to the shed around the corner of the mansion “Good to see you, Peter.”
Peter smiled and waved her off until Kitty descended the hidden corridor and was out of sight. “For the record; it was her idea.”
“I know,” the telepath let out a short laugh, tapping the side of her head, then took hold of his wrist “Come; I have a good idea where we should be discussing your personal matter.”
“What do you think happened?” Scott whispered to Ororo as they hid behind the trunk of an oak tree, spying on the unknown man from afar, seeing Logan and Kitty leaving the redhead alone with him.
“Two very considerate people leaving the couple alone? Which is an example we shall adopt, posthaste.” The chocolate-skin beauty quirked her eyebrow ridiculously at the leader of the X-Men and an ex-lover of the red-haired telepath.
“Nah. Something is going on; I can feel it.” Scott gestured with a determined look.
“Yes. Your jealousy?” Ororo commented with a scoff, then made her way to the greenhouse further “Spy all you like, but keep in mind that she likely noticed our presence already.” Scott waved her off without taking his eyes off the couple, eliciting a small chortle from the Kenyan princess.
“…A duck pedal boat?” Peter asked with a quirked eyebrow at the redhead.
“Swan.” She corrected him with a hint of smirk on the further hidden from his eyes.
“Sorry—a swan pedal boat?” He reiterated the question with the same energy as before, coercing a giggle out of the redhead.
“You object?”
“I dunno…kinda romantic?”
Jean promptly took his arm into hers, leaning her fiery curls onto his steel-like triceps “The show must go on, don’t you think?”
They take the boat out to the center of the quarter-of-an-acre lake along with the swans that naturally inhabit the backyard of the estate. The students are leisurely about the lake, some even pay them a glance or two, but eventually, they are left alone. “Any moment now, Peter.” Jean started, stopped pedaling the boat on her side, and looked at the side profile of the superhuman trapped in this swan boat with her, noticing way too many details about the man than she’d care to admit,
Not too sharp facial features, borderlines between matured and youthful.
His nose has a slight bend at its bridge, possibly from one of his many vigilantisms.
There’s a healed scar on his chin, from something sharp—possibly a knife.
Thick eyelashes.
Thin lips.
Lines of stubble peppered his jawline, chin, and the crown of his lips. The stubbles that send shivers down her spine earlier—
Jean shook herself out of stupor and felt a rush of blood on her face again; made more prominent by the Scottish heritage on her father’s side.
She heard a long sigh and the shift on his side, catching the slump in his posture after a moment before the vigilante spoke “…I don’t even know where to start.”
Jean smiled warmly, reaching her hand on his shoulder, and gave it a firm squeeze garnering his attention “Anywhere is good.”
“…What would you do,” he started, cradling his head in his hands, leaning forward “when you hurt someone you love?”
Jean sat in silence, the question hit too close to home, but she refrained from responding like a defensive teenager would; telling herself that she had some decades over the man asking questions and should act accordingly “I believe,” the redhead started, more to herself than to the man beside her “we never intentionally hurt those we love; but sometimes it happened. That’s why you never go into relationships, no matter any kind, with only your heart or your head; balance is the key.” The telepath delivered with conviction “You have to love them like crazy, but don’t forget to be reasonable.”
“That’s…kinda conflicting a little bit?” he lets out a confused chuckle, mirrored by the redhead.
“Very fitting for something so incredibly unfathomable as human minds, don’t you think?”
They let the silence stretch on again, this time with a more comfortable note to each passing heartbeat.
“I guess I got the crazy part down to a peg,” he grumbled “I hurt too many people trying to save Susan; one of my girlfriends, to the point that right now I don’t know how to talk or be in the same room with them anymore.”
“You actually hurt them?” a concern in her tone tells the underlying worries about the damage he might have caused, but it only makes Peter huff a grim note under his breath.
“Mostly verbal things and some nasty temper, but…” he replied in whispers, looking away at the pair of Kurt and Anna-Marie enjoying the afternoon stroll together, seemingly catching up on something he wouldn’t want to intrude upon “I went overboard with Johnny after I found out he sent Sue away behind my back.” A dark smirk graced his lips; not with glee but of loath, “I wanna say it’s because I felt betrayed and all, but that’s his sister; it’s his job to look after and care for her. He did the right thing.” He clenched his fist, and felt the slumbering beast hibernating inside, fearing for the worst “I was just angry.” He stated and paused “Rhodey was killed, and Morgan lost another person in her life, and…” He felt the telepath’s hand drift from his shoulder to his upper back, soothingly rubbing a pattern onto his tense muscles “…it just felt a loss after another loss, I think that’s why I lashed my anger out at Johnny. And I regret it…I should.” The last part was delivered in a whisper.
“The desire to rectify is a quality of a good heart.” Jean started, stopping her ritualistic caress “You must always hold that spark of hope inside that you can do better, that you can change,” She spoke from the heart, thinking about all the things she’d done ever since her powers awakened; all the good and the bad “mistake is only a cocoon hiding the marvelous butterfly.”
“You sure love your vague words, Miss Grey.” He said it like some old TV character, and it coerced a soft chuckle out of the redhead.
“What can I say, I’m a bit of an old soul.” The telepath retorted lightheartedly, keeping her hand on the back of the vigilante.
“Hmm…that’s normal,” Scott mumbled to himself as he adjusted the range on his visor to spy on Jean and the normal dude who Storm thought was the redhead’s new boyfriend.
“But you ain’t.” a bored voice greeted from behind, startling the leader of the X-Men a little, eliciting a yelp from the brown-haired man “What are you doing here in the bushes?” the small raven-haired girl inquired with all the sass of a tired woman on her smoke break, squinting her eyes.
“Recon training,” Scott replied.
“Bullshit.” Laura countered almost immediately with a ridicule smirk on her lips “You are spying on those two like a jealous ex-girlfriend.”
“I am not!”
“Sure, Boyscout.” Laura waved him off with a cackle, heading towards the lakeside clearing where Veronica and Kirk were setting up a bonfire for the coming evening. “Might as well just swim up to ‘em.”
“So, when will I know the reason that you are here?” Jean started after another session of serene silence.
“I just have a thought, that maybe you or Professor Xavier can find Susan.” Peter admitted, looking straight at the green pupils of the redhead with hope lining his face and a little smile gracing his lips “You know, searching for her mind and all that; if you need some kind of amplifier, I think I can come up with some scrapbook design or…” he started expressing his hands around, trying to convince the telepath “you know, if I have any idea how telepathy behave or function, which I think asking from the source is easier than spending around a week coming up with theories alone by myself?”
“Why can’t you just ask her brother?” Asked Jean, still impressed by how closely the vigilante managed to grasp the concepts of telepathy without any prior knowledge.
“It’s complicated.”
“Well?” she retracted her hand and urged him on with wide eyes.
“He doesn’t know. Their mother never consulted him on any of the details, she just took her daughter out of the city before things went south just as you guys saw.” Peter admitted with a flat smile, “I tried the investigative front too; they cover their tracks annoyingly well; flight archives got nothing to trace on. Even Jessica Jones couldn’t get a whiff of who’s behind the transport, and she’s the best I know.”
“I understand, Peter…” Jean trailed off, a heavy look dashed across her freckled and pale face, framed by loose strands of rouge curls playing with the dying sunshine “We may have a way to do it, but there’s a price to pay,”
“Name it.” He answered without hesitation, eyes burning with determination.
Jean sighed deeply, and closed her eyes, touching the side of her head with her index and middle fingers, concentrating [X-Men. I need you guys at the Cerebro.]
“Twenty bucks she’s gonna tell us all about her new boyfriend.” Kurt chimed in to break the anticipating silence, nudging his surrogate sister on the elbow with a smirk.
“Gamblin with me? Ya cheeky little furball!” Anna-Marie gasped playfully and clutched her imagination pearls “Make it forty and a week-long laundry shift.”
“Deal, meine Schwester.” Nightcrawler grinned with triumph and shook Rogue’s hand to seal the agreement.
“How did it go?” Ororo chuckled as she inquired at the taller man with auburn hair and a pair of ruby shades.
“How did what go?”
“Spying on Jean and her boyfriend.”
“I wasn’t spying!”
“Yes, you did,” Laura interjected, garnering attentions.
“What are you doing here? She called the X-Men—” Scott’s question got interrupted by the little girl’s hand that was raised “What?”
“Talk to the hand; I have sensitive ears, and your voice is kinda grating my nerves.”
“Why you—”
“Stop picking a fight with kids, Bub.” Logan chimed in with an amused smirk.
“I’m not picking a fight! / I’m not a kid!” the two replied almost simultaneously with daggering glares aimed at the burly man.
“Whatever.” Logan waved them off, and leaned on the pillar, trying to catch a whiff to see if the redhead was nearly here yet.
“I’ve never heard the name Ben Reily before.” Colossus chimed in with a curious gait “I thought I’ve memorized each teacher’s name from every college and school our youngsters attend.”
“Told you that you need your fish.” Illyana teased her brother, casting her eyes at the petite Deerfield girl with quirked eyebrows “Yet, looking at Kitty, I’d say your curiosity was not baseless.” She elbowed her mountain of a brother and gestured towards the nervous teen.
“What topics do you think she wanted to talk about with all of us?” Bobby asked the headmaster who he was assigned as a wheelchair chauffeur for.
“We’ll find out soon enough,” almost in sync, Logan and Xavier noticed the redhead’s presence through drastically different methods; telepathically and scent-based.
The redhead walked in with the man everyone (except for Logan and Kitty) assumed to be her new paramour with apprehensive eyes; it’s not common to bring humans into the secret section of the Mansion which even the students have no access to. Jean’s hand clasped around the man’s wrist, leading him into the dome with the shutter door closed behind them, smiling at the mutants present.
“Thank you for coming on such short notice,” Jean greeted the others, eyes darting between the mutants and the vigilante at her side “I would like you to meet my friend,”
“Peter Parker,” he waved his hand firmly with a harmless smile, still harboring a doubt in his hazel eyes “I’m here asking for help.”
Logan and Kitty whipped their heads toward one another with disbelief and widened eyes, then simultaneously averted back to Manhattan’s mascot superhero.
The others, though, displayed a collective confusion on their faces, taking in the name and the stated intention.
“But you said your name is Ben Reily.” Illyana started, narrowed her eyes then promptly summoned the Crimson Guard armor over her entire right arm along with the base form of the Soulsword in her hand, pointing the flat tip of the Nether-blade at the unknown man. “Speak, you foul daemon!”
“Whoa! Whoa!” Kitty slotted herself between the angry blonde and the startled man, trying to diffuse the situation “Everyone calms down, okay?” she cast her eyes along the others in the Cerebro, seeing most of them already bring forth their mutations to the surface, ready to attack “Logan? A little help here?!”
The Canadian pursed his lips for a moment and then shrugged his shoulders “Nah.”
“What is going on?” Scott asked, his fingers clutching at the leg of his shades, ready to unleash the full force of his optic blast “Who is he, and why is he here?”
“If you guys would just let me explain for a second?” the redhead stepped in front of the awestruck man, cocking her hip to the side and clutching her hourglass hips demandingly until the X-Men relented their aggression “Thank you!” the Omega-Level telepath breathed out a relieved sigh, then gestured her hand to the vigilante “As you guys heard. His name is Peter Parker, a friend of mine and Kitty, and I’d go as far as to say he’s also Logan’s—”
“He’s not.” The Canadian deadpanned.
“Come on, Logan!” the brunet man whined playfully with a specific tone, and a puzzle piece clicked into place inside Scott’s mind.
“…Spider-Man?!” the Gold Team leader exclaimed with disbelief, gaining audible gasps from everyone “You are dating Spider-Man?!? He’s like thirty years younger than you.”
“That’s unnecessary, Scott…” Jean groaned, rubbing her forehead as if having a migraine. “I’m not dating anyone, okay? Peter was just here to ask for my help, our help. It’s just a courtesy to not expose his secret identity.” She addressed everyone.
“Then what’s with the neck kissing?” Illyana inquired with a smug, enjoying the reddish tint she managed to paint onto the redhead’s cheeks. Her question compels every pair of eyes towards the two being questioned.
“Commitment to the play?” Peter chanced a cheeky response with his dorky smile, rubbing the back of his head “I kinda just…went with the flow. I’m really sorry.” He shot an apologetic smile at the redhead again, to which she responded with a soft pat on his arm.
“…you are that Spider-Man?” Kurt inquired but got interrupted by his sister.
“We can talk about that later,” Anna-Marie announced, then locked her eyes with Spider-Man “Why do you need Jean’s help?”
“You sure you can’t stay for dinner?” Kitty skipped on her steps following Peter toward the front gates, hopeful in her question.
“I’m sorry, Kitty. Maybe next time…” He sincerely apologizes, seeing a pout on the teen’s face, and lets out a small chuckle “…you know what?” the Deerfield girl perked up at the beginning of an offer “Maybe you can join our dinner instead? It’s a half an hour's drive, and more people is more fun, right?”
“In Manhattan?” Kitty asked with a hint of mocking, but her eyes sparkled at the opportunity.
“No. My house in New Rochelle.” He replied with a wide smile.
“You have a house?!”
“Yeah.” Peter chuckled at the doe eyes “So, what do you say?” he quirked an eyebrow at her quizzically, seeing the gear turning inside the petite Illinois teen’s head.
“…Gimme a minute!” she announced and sprinted back into the Mansion, basically flying up the flight of stairs and calling out for someone. His Spider-Sense flared a brief instant before a voice reached his ears.
“What are you going to do with her?” the blonde Russian from before asked, eyes narrowed and arms crossed on her chest, looking at him like trying to study a criminal.
“Just invited her for dinner, that’s all.” He shrugged with an uncertain smile, “I have no ill intent, I promise.”
“…жадная собака (greedy dog),” Illyana whispered under her breath.
“Это нехорошо так говорить, дорогая (That’s not a very nice thing to say, Sweetheart).” Peter replied with the best tongue he could muster in Russki, eliciting a look of surprise from the Queen of Limbo.
“You speak Russki?” the tension in Illyana’s shoulder lessened a little.
“Just enough to ask for a restroom.” Peter retorted.
Kitty returned before their conversation could go on with a handbag and a jacket “I’m ready!” she announced and looked at the blonde with a startled look “Oh! Yana.”
“You are welcome, too.” Peter offered an olive branch “Missus Stacy always makes too much; but don’t tell her I said that.”
Illyana alternated her skeptical eyes between the infamous vigilante and her fellow mutant, seeing the hand signs from Kitty to decline the offer, she sighed deeply and spun on her heels “I’ll pass; got many important things to do.” She stopped and gave Kitty a part look for a moment before waving the pair off “Be safe, Маленький Кот (Little Cat).” Illyana scoffed after the Deerfield teen enthusiastically waved her goodbye.
Something dark lives within that man. Magik mulled without looking back at the vigilante and Shadowcat. If he harmed even a single hair on her head, I would throw him into the deepest abyss in Limbo myself. The Sovereign of Otherplace vowed to herself and kept on her path.