Chapter 17: The Floor Is Lava
After interrogating Zemo for an hour, I got nothing more than what I already knew, he wasn't told much, because he was expected to betray the Council. I left, with him cowering in fear, and found the rest, at an assigned place, where we were going to bury Erik.
I gently lowered his body, and we covered it with the mud, and I said "He could have been a great man, but the world sends different people down different paths, and there is nothing we can do." I placed the headstone, and turned around, and left, the others following. I sat down on the top of the mountain, watching the sunrise, and Tess came next to me, and sat down. "My first kill, Tess." I said soberly. "I have no regrets that it was him that I killed, but the question always comes to mind, did he deserve it? I am meant to protect the multiverse, and no person is too small for the multiverse, but should I kill someone who isn't a danger to the multiverse? Erik wasn't a danger to me, or to us, really. Not yet. But -"
"But he could have become a great danger." Tess said. "There is no person too small for the multiverse, you said it yourself. And the people he could have killed, had you not killed him, are safe, because of you. Don't worry about it, Pete. You're my big brother, you're Spider-Man, you're Karma. Karma never regrets, he does what he must. You don't truly regret killing him, Peter, and we both know that. You regret that you don't regret killing him. Keep that regret, Pete, but don't let it stop you from killing someone else."
"What did I do, to get such an awesome sister, that knows exactly I need to hear?" I said, smiling.
"You got bit by a spider." She said, smiling herself.
"Yeah, next time I see a spider though, I'm not letting it bite me. You're awesome, and I won't leave, till I have to."
Tess sighed. "You really can't accept not dying, can you? I have a feeling you'd have committed suicide, if it was your own body."
"No, Tess, I wouldn't. I'm a man in place, and out of place. I will stay in whatever place I am in, until I am taken out of it, whether it be sooner or later." I said.
Crystal sat on my other side, and laid her head on my shoulder. "What happened to you? Where's that awesome guy that saved my life, that fed me, gave me water, nursed me back to health? Why's he hiding? What is there to be scared of, Pete? Pete, this isn't living, what you're doing. You're surviving. I'm not even going to go to the topic of you not eating anything for a week, you're clearly fine, so I won't bother. But look at you, you're a good man, but you don't know what you want. You couldn't tell me what you wanted, if I asked you. I know you want the multiverse to be safe, but for yourself, you don't know, you probably don't even think about it."
I leaned my head on hers "Diamond, I know you never asked, so I never told. But I'm not Peter, not really. His soul is in my body, and I am in his body. My body is in another universe, living with what used to be my family. I'm living a hoax of a life, and as such, it's not imperative, my happiness. This isn't a life, that's why I'm not living. I don't know what I am, who I am. I do know what makes me happy. What makes me happy, is when you guys are happy. I will feel happiness from the bottom of my heart, I feel happiness from the bottom of my heart, when my family and friends are happy. When my family is all sitting together on the couch, all cuddled up, watching Avatar. When my sisters are safe, and unhurt. That awesome guy, as you say, Diamond, isn't awesome. He's a killer, a pretender, someone who shouldn't be trusted." I lifted my head from hers. "But he's still here, showing his nice side." I put my head back on hers. "He shows his nice side, because he feels it makes his family happy. He doesn't trust his nice side, and he doesn't understand why others trust his nice side. He doesn't understand what he is, or who he is, but what he does know, is that he will protect his family, until he dies saving them. And he will be at their service till then, feeding them when they need to be fed, giving them water when they need water. There isn't anything to be scared of, other than his own self, his Karma. That's what happened to me."
"You done with your morbid shit?" Tess asked, her voice wet with tears. I looked at her, and he face was streaming with tears. "You want to convince yourself that you're a bad person! You don't trust yourself not to hurt people too much, when I've only seen you hurt people no more than what's needed! How can I be happy, when you're sitting in your mind, killing yourself from the inside!? You don't see a problem in experimenting on yourself, by not eating, when you have like sixty energy bars in your suit! I'm worrying about losing you all the time! And I'm so worried, I don't realize, that I already lost you! I lost you to yourself! You want to know why we trust your nice side!? It's because you are the nice side! Both of your sides, the menace, the Karma, the vengeance, the night, and the father, the brother, the family man, are one and the same! They both put their family in front of everything, they both will do anything to protect their family, they will both kill, they are the same! You don't switch personalities, you are only one personality! I have never seen a switch, I have only seen rage start to cloud your face! That's something everyone feels! Please, Peter, tell me! What can I do to win against you? I don't want to lose you all the way, what do you need!?"
I looked at her, and removed Crystal's head from my shoulder gently, I had already lifted my head a while ago. "I don't know, Tess." I said regretfully. "I don't know, because I am fighting a losing battle. Every single punch, every single stride, every single kill, I go down, losing the battle against me. I don't even know how I'm fighting me, when I agree with me. I agree that I should kill Doom. Or N'Jadaka. Or Tigershark. But I'm just fighting myself. Wait, that's it!"
"What's it?" Tess asked.
"Have you never felt the instinct within you?" I asked her, excited.
"Yeah, but what does that have to do with anything?"
"It has everything to do with it! In the comics, each spider totem had the pure spider within them, known as The Other. It is purely instinctual, and fiercely protective, but it isn't me! Not really! It has the same idea as me, but it isn't me! So I'm not fighting me, I'm fighting The Other within me!" I stood up. "I'm going to go to my quarters in The Masque's Home to meditate, and get into my mindscape, and make a deal with The Other! See y'all!" I said, jumping down.
I webbed my way to the Masque's Home, and went to my room there. I sat down, cross legged, and entered my mindscape. Immediately, I saw The Other. "Hey, Other."
He spat. He looked like me,exactly like me, but a little more dark, and animal like. "That name is disgusting, just call me by our name."
"Ok, but which one?"
"The new ones, either Karma or Peter works."
"Ok, Peter."
He smiled "That's better. Now what was the deal you wanted to make with me?"
"I was honestly going to try and find a way to kill you, but now I'm curious. How do you work, and how are you me, and why are we fighting?"
"I am basically you, with the same ideals. If you were actually Peter, and not you, we would have killed each other by now. I am you, but I am meant to fight you. This is what we are, how we work. The comics were wrong, what The Other really is, is an Anti-hero of sorts. I am the Anti-Spider-Man, and you are the same, but we were meant to fight. Each totem has their Other, and it's basically them, but with our type of ideals."
"Ok, so I'm fighting an alternate version of me, basically" he nodded at that. "Then how about we do that thing they always do after fighting each other?"
He looked at me in confusion, and asked "And what may that be?"
"The badass team up!" I said, as if it were obvious, which it was.
"Will that work? I'm down, but what if I take you over? I don't want to hurt you, you're way cooler than the other Peters."
"Let's test it." I said, and jumped at him, grabbing him, and thinking of infusing himself into me, and he was fading into me, being pulled into me.
"Guess it's working." He said. "But warning, I have a tattoo of sorts, and venom stingers, that can be adjusted to whatever intensity of venom you want it at."
"It's too late to stop, and I'd do it anyway." I said, feeling his energy starting to pour into me.
He nodded, then he faded fully, and there was nothing to suggest he was ever there. I exited my mindscape, and woke up.
I was surrounded by everyone, and they were looking at me worriedly. I blinked several times, then immediately, I looked at my hands. They looked slightly different, as they neared my wrist, it seemed bigger than before. I turned my hands into fists, and ejected my stingers. They were sharp at the tip, and-
"Beautiful." Tess said. "I take it your deal with your Other went well?"
I nodded, and ripped my shirt off, to reveal a brown spider tattoo on my chest, matching the logo on my suit, looking as though it were burnt into me, hence the brown color. It wasn't really brown, but it was the closest color to what it was. I remembered The Iron Fist had a tattoo like this. "It went well, we are now one. The Other is within all of us spider totems, and he is an Anti-Spider-Man of sorts. And with me being the same, but with him being made to fight me, we were just fighting, for no true reason. So we merged, and are now one. These new powers can be useful. Stingers, with adjustable levels of venom intensity, and a badass tattoo, which isn't really a power, but hey, it's badass."
Tess hugged me, and asked "No more morbid identity crises?"
I hugged her back. "Not sure, let's wait till the whole clone conspiracy happens, and I will come home crying, out of joy, and sadness, at the same time."
"Clone Conspiracy?" Whitney asked.
I spread an arm out for her to join the hug, and she gladly joined. "It's something that I am looking forward to, but not looking forward to, at the same time. Basically, I'm gon' get cloned, and there will be three of me, but each slightly different. They're my future brothers, and I can totally wait till later for that to happen. But at the same time, nobody knows me better than me, and I want to get to know me, or some shit. So I want it to happen sooner too."
"Yeah, I get why you'd be conflicted over wanting, or not wanting that." Tess said. "For the past three hours, you had been shaking vigorously, and we couldn't come close. You were sucking something in through both of your hands, judging from the glow that was on your hands, that was being sucked into you. We were all worried for you."
"Sorry." I said sheepishly.
"Don't be." Shuri said. "You did what you had to, without wasting time. Father keeps on sending me messages, saying that he needs us, for the next phase of attack. I guess we go to war again, huh?"
"Yes, to the battlefield we go!" I said, in mock seriousness. "To the glorious battlefields, where blood shall be spilt. Dost thou knoweth, I hath spilt a man's blood, in the honorable battlefield of Atlantis? But before we head to the infirmary, I must consume Poptarts!"
"What was that for?" Whitney asked, getting up.
"I don't know, when Shuri said war, I just decided to go all Thor, and show glee at going to war, and the want for Poptarts."
"He likes Poptarts?" Tess asked, she already got up a while ago.
I got up. "A whole bunch of him will drop Mjolnir, just to get a box of that stuff. But not all of him, just most of him."
"Yeah, that's not confusing at all, Dude." Shuri said "How do you live?"
I blinked at her. "We going there again?" I said, annoyed somewhat. "Like, I just fixed one of my main problems, give me a day, then I can figure out how I live."
Whitney giggled, then said "He doesn't live, until he does."
"What she said." I said. "But now, to the hall. We are running out of time."
We made our way to the Great Hall, and found everyone there. I saluted the king, and said "Apologies, your Highness. I had something to do, and it was imperative that I do it before we head to war again."
He nodded, and asked "What's the plan?"
I walked up, then pressed a button on my suit. Immediately, a holographic globe came up, with two of the three dots in the same spot as before, while the dot signifying Doom was in Latveria. I thought for a second, then said "Ok, although they are in at least two places, I'm not splitting us, that's too dangerous, and we need all the shots we can get, and not take any chance. So first, we will attack this base." I tapped the two dots, and it zoomed in on the dot, revealing a volcano. "So, this base, as you can see, is a volcano. N'Jadaka once suggested to the king that he make a base for Wakanda there, and the king agreed, but then pulled out of the plan. N'Jadaka took advantage of that, and made it into a base. It has several defenses that N'Jadaka set up, which when activated, will cause the base to fall into the lava. Diamond, you'll be real useful for this one, your elemental powers could possibly save a life or two. Namor, use your flying powers, they'll be more useful in the fight then walking, or ground combat, in your case. White Wolf, you and Okoye will fight Tigershark, he is your main target, and Okoye will be right there to help you, and I've configured your suit to retreat, should he gain the advantage. Tess, me and you are using the walls, don't really use the floor unless you need to. Shuri, you're staying in Wakanda, I'll need you and Sexi here to take out the missile. White, bring The Home, and stay as air support, but stay on cloaking, and get ready to blast any ships that come out of the side of the volcano, any of us will get out through the top, keep that in memory, but beware of any ships that come out through the top, it could still be them. Don't let them near the Home, until I've confirmed that it is me, I will use the words 'the other' Is there anything I have forgotten, sorry, I am slightly out of it, I will be back to full potential by the time we arrive there."
"You took care of everything." Hunter said, and I nodded.
"Well then, good luck, and let's go." I took a bar out of my suit, and started eating it, while heading out.
"Did he just start eating?" I heard Shuri whisper to Whitney.
"I think so, but I might just be hallucinating." She whispered back.
Ten minutes later, we were all boarded on The Masque's Home, and on the way. We would arrive there in five hours, I told Whitney to make the ride that long, so everyone would have time to prepare. I took Hunter to the side, and said "Hunter, I'm not giving you a chance to fight him and live, I'm giving you a chance to do to him, what he did to your multiversal counterparts. I'm giving you a chance to prove it to me, to prove it to yourself, to prove it to Tess, that you're better than the other versions of you. Don't pull back, snap his neck. Do whatever it takes. Don't do it for yourself, do it for Shuri and Tess. They're both worried that I gave you this mission, but they both know that we all need you to do this. We clear?"
"We're clear." He confirmed. "Thank you for giving me the chance, Karma. I won't let them down."
"That's the spirit, Wolf." I said, then I patted his shoulder. "Let's go back to the others."
Later on in the flight, Crystal came to me. "Can you tell me everything about you?" She asked softly.
"Of course, c'mon. Let's go to my quarters, I can explain it there." I said.
Fifteen minutes later, it was all explained, and she asked shyly "So in any other universes, do me and you, y'know, get together?"
I sighed. I would have to be real careful with how I said this. "No, because I'm not in other universes." She opened her mouth to say something, but I continued. "Peter was in those other universes. As I told you, Diamond, I'm not Peter. I'm just super similar to him. I was sucked into his body, and he was sucked into mine. And as I said, his feelings towards his women come to me naturally as well. But him and the other versions of you never dated, I doubt you even met more than once or twice. But I still do feel towards you, hence the nickname, and so much more. But I don't know, it's so weird. Peter has feelings towards more than twenty women, and my feelings extend that way too, for the most part. I -"
I was cut off by her lips kissing mine, effectively shutting me the fuck up. I put my arms and spider legs around her, and kissed her back. We were like that for a few moments, just kissing each other, when we parted. I still held her in my arms, and she looked at me, her eyes shining. "I don't care really, honestly. I heard Tess and Shuri teasing you about it before, so I did think about it. And I totally noticed the slight looks from Okoye. She may be trained to keep her emotions in, but she's lover girl for you too. And Medusa said it, us sisters got a type."
I kissed her gently, on the cheek, then said "Ok, I don't know how to respond to that, but I'll keep what you said in memory, and just do this." I kissed her, and she kissed me back. We were kissing for a while, when Tess appeared at the door.
"Congrats, Y'all!" She said, rubbing her hands as if she just got in on the biggest scoop of the year. "But I came to tell you two that we were arriving in thirty minutes, and Whitney sent me to get you, saying I would understand why she didn't want to risk any bitten tongues when I got here, and oh my god! I'm going to go tell Shuri!"
I groaned, then said "So you and Hunter are yesterday's gossip?"
"No, we were day before yesterday's gossip. Got a problem with it, deal with it." She said, and with a twirl, said "I'm off to tell Shuri, you guys can have a few more kisses in, then you have to be in the main room!"
We both groaned. After she left, I turned to look back at Crystal, and said "Gossip about me is more important to them than anything else, I swear, it's so annoying, it's cute."
"Well, I'm the younger sibling, but I don't act like that, but I can see why they would." She said, still in my grasp. "But enough of that, we need a few more kisses in."
"You said it." I said, then closed the distance between our lips again.
Five minutes later, we made our way to the main room, and we got smirks from Tess and Whitney. I rolled my eyes, then said "Well, this is the second last time we're attacking the Council, hopefully. I'm just going to say, it was a crazy couple of days, or weeks, whatever, same shit y'all, time didn't really matter to me, for this past week or so. It was an honor, and I look forward to the next time we do this again, there's really no point in hoping it doesn't happen again. But y'all are free to stop by my place anytime, whether you need help beating someone up, or you need help with science, or you just need a shoulder to cry on."
Namor nodded, and said "While I have not been with you for too long, I already have come to consider you as people I can depend on, should Atlantis be in danger. Should you need help, any of you, don't hesitate to make a visit to Atlantis, and ask for my assistance. And Peter," he said, turning to me, "Bring whoever the fuck you want, whenever you want, and as long as you beat up the guards at the front, you're welcome."
"Ohhh, your guards will fucking hate the fact that you said that." I said.
"And you'll love it." He shot back, with a smirk.
"I will." I confirmed, with a smirk of my own.
T'Challa spoke next "I agree with your sentiments. We have spent less than a week together, and I know I can trust you all with Wakanda's secrets, as well as my life, and the Wakandans as well. I may have had a rocky start with some of you," he nodded at Whitney, who nodded back, "but should you need anything, even vibranium, come to Wakanda, and I'm sure me, or my family, will do their best to furnish your needs."
The next few minutes were spent with everyone giving a parting speech of sorts. Eventually, we were all done, and we were arriving at the base. "Well, this is it, folks." I said. "If I die, just know that I died so you guys didn't, and that it's not your fault, it's mine, for not seeing whatever happens down there coming." I turned to Crystal, and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Stay safe, Diamond." She nodded, and I jumped down, the others following, except for Whitney. Once we were close enough, I pressed a button, and everyone else's suits activated a web parachute, while I just landed on the ground, doing a superhero landing. Namor landed softly beside me, shaking his head good naturedly.
"You just have to be the only one who sticks the landing, huh, Peter?" Tess said.
"What can I say? Karma's the best at what he does." I responded, then signalled for quiet, I could hear someone's heartbeat close by.
All of a sudden, T'Challa said "Show yourself, Kraven." So that's who it was, makes sense. He was outside in the show too, but he was managing a show called Kraven's Greatest Hunt. And T'Challa knew it was him because his suit remembered the heartbeat.
Kraven emerged from the shadows, (saw what I did there? Shadows, y'know. I'll see myself out.) and said, "Hello, Panther. We meet again."
I stepped forward, and said "You killed my friend's father, Kraven. It's me and you, but I will spare your life, but leave you with a lesson till I meet you again, with my friend."
"And who was your friend? If I killed him, or her, then they were weak, and deserved to die." He said, taking his knives out.
"Ayala, that's the name. And if they were weak, then you would have gotten the amulet." I had my stingers out, and we were circling each other.
"Ahh, you know that's not true." He said, as if he was seriously telling me something. "His death was SHIELD sanctioned, and he knew that. He let himself die, because he wanted to make sure his daughter was safe. I suppose that's your friend, huh? Ava, she is your friend. She is currently with SHIELD, with the people that killed her father, and she doesn't know that, but they are using her. I will not hunt for the White Tiger, not until she regains her family's honor, and leaves SHIELD, or a new White Tiger rises, there is no honor in getting the amulet now."
"Well, I'm not surprised. SHIELD is responsible for the death of many good people, and they'll get their Karma soon enough. But you know, you gave me information, and information is everything." I said. By now we were only two feet away from each other, and I was on my spider legs.
"True, and you're not getting anymore, so enough dancing, and more fighting!" He pounced like a lion. I pounced to the side, and back, like a true wolf, when it meets the bear, hitting Kraven on his side. The force of my blow threw him away, and he grunted. I growled in return, my wolf and spider instincts both going on full throttle for that growl.
"You sure you came from the KGB, Kraven? Even The Red Guardian isn't this inadequate, show me a good fight Kraven, and prove Mother Russia proud."
"What do you know of Russia?" He said, lunging at me again. I merely dodged, and said "My teacher was Russian, and my mother lived in Russia."
He lunged at me again, then said in Russian "Then prove your roots proud, and fight me like a Russian man, not like an American coward."
I smiled evilly, but he couldn't see it, and I said "I was waiting for you to say it." Then in a blur, I was behind him, and I injected some of my venom into him, strong enough to give him pain, even with his super soldier serum.
He groaned, and fell down, and said "That was cheating."
"It's not cheating if I have these naturally. These come with my spider powers, Kraven." I said, bending down so I was eye-to-eye with him.
"It's not cheating then. You won, because I didn't know your skill set, but next time, we will see."
"Till next time, Kraven. But wait till Ava regains her honor, I don't really want to waste my time."
"A rematch worth my time. I will wait, and look forward to it, and so will you, I believe."
"I will." I said, then stood up, brushed some imaginary dust off, and turned to everyone else, and said "Let's go."
We started going, and Tess caught up with me, then asked "So another person who lost their parents to SHIELD, huh?"
"This isn't a coincidence." I said. "When we get back home, I'm going to check on this. Luke lost his parents to SHIELD, and so did Ava. I have to see if the same happened to Danny, and Sam."
"Who were they to Peter?" Tess asked. "You told me about Ava, when you were still not fully your own person, but what about the rest?"
"Family." I said. "They even lived in our house with us, for several months, almost a year. They called that Peter's Aunt May, Aunt May, and they were part of the family. You'll meet them, when I get them out of SHIELD'S grasp."
"You would be honored to have them as family." Tess said, as if stating a fact.
"Yes." I said without hesitation. "I would be extremely honored, and should they need a place to get away from SHIELD, I will not hesitate to host them."
We arrived at the entrance to the base, and we all stopped in from of it, looking at it carefully. I stepped forward, and with a punch, blasted the doors away. They all looked at me, and I said, shrugging, "They know we're here, so it doesn't matter, but every show of power helps."
They nodded, and we all went in, going with our partners, if we had one, or going in alone. I was with Tess, so I said "All we have to do, is web the structures up, so it takes more to explode the base." She nodded, and stepped into the shadows, starting to do her work, while I continued to lead the group.
The hallway opened up to show the base, and N'Jadaka was there, wearing his suit, sans the mask, while looking at a computer. "So, have you sent the missile yet?" I called out to him, and he froze, slightly. Then he turned to face me, smirking, and said "Yes, I have. But not just one missile, I've sent a hundred."
"Good." I said, much to his surprise. "That makes it much easier for Shuri to send it to space." I didn't mention Sexi, because he didn't know she existed, and it was better that way. "Shuri, you and your assistant are up!" I called into the comms.
"Copy that, they should be taken care of in the next minute." Shuri said, her voice not just on our comms, but on the speakers too.
"Possibly, but you walked into a trap, one you're not going to walk out of." N'Jadaka said, then donned his mask. Tigershark appeared on the side, looking for a fight.
"Killmonger 2.0, I'm scared. What do you say, T'Challa? Me and you, take care of him?"
"Why don't you stay as backup, I'm pretty sure I can take him by myself." T'Challa said.
"He's all yours." I said, and T'Challa charged, and all hell broke loose. Hunter was going at Tigershark, and attacking him from all sides, taking advantage of Tigershark's large form, not staying in a single place, while hitting Tigershark on every sensitive point. Tess revealed herself, and was shooting webs everywhere. T'Challa and Killmonger were going at it, each of them gaining the advantage for a moment, then losing it. Crystal was using her elemental powers, and had lava floating around her, and she called out to me.
"Spidey! What should I do with this?" She called out, gesturing at her lava.
"Use it to help Wolf Spider!" I said. She nodded, and together, the two of them were strengthening the base.
I looked at T'Challa, and he was losing, and backing up, while preparing for his next moves. Killmonger lunged at him, and T'Challa dodged the attack, flipping over Killmonger, thereby gaining the advantage, with Killmonger now in the corner. "You may think you're in the advantage, but I wanted to be here." Killmonger said, and flipped a switch. Immediately there was a resounding boom, and the base started shaking, but it was relatively safe. I webbed towards Killmonger, and said "You think I didn't plan for that? I feel offended, N'Jadaka. We're both master planners, you should have known I would see this coming." I hit him hard, with a backhanded slap, and he flew across the room, but rolled, therefore decreasing his injuries. I looked at T'Challa.
"You want the kill, or do you want to capture him? I can interrogate him, if you want." I asked.
"You get the kill, or capture him. I prefer kill, though" T'Challa said. "I can't beat him, not really."
I nodded, and before N'Jadaka could even blink, I was grabbing him by the neck, holding him up. I gave him enough room to speak, but it hurt him slot. He coughed, then said "What do you want?"
"I want the people of Wakanda to be safe." I said. "I want the people of Earth to be safe. I want the people of this universe to be safe. I want the people of the multiverse to be safe. That answers your question?"
"Yes." He choked out. "You have all the pieces of the key, when were you going to get it, and what were you going to do with it?"
"After both N'Jadakas were dead, I would go, and destroy the crown, Bast cannot be released."
"So you knew our plan, all along." He said. "Bast was a contingency, should N'Jadaka die."
"I know, I knew all along."
"Well played, Karma. But I think you'll find the surprise waiting for you at Doom's Castle will surprise you."
"I think that's what surprises are for, right?" I said, tightening my grasp on his neck, getting ready to snap it.
"Yes, but you're known for standing by your family, and Doom has a grudge against some of your family, I think you know who they are."
"I do." I said, my voice filled with anger, and instead of snapping his neck, I took out a stinger, and gave him some venom, that would kill him, not as fast as a snapping neck, but fast, and painful. I dropped him, and took his mask off, bending down so that his last sight would be me. His mouth started frothing, and his veins were bulging, and his eyes were bloodshot, then all the life left him. I stood up, and turned around, to see Hunter stab one of his stingers into Tigershark's chest, killing him.
"Well done, Hunter." I said. "But we have to hurry. Doom has the Fantastic Four with him, and aims to use them as bargaining chips against me."
He nodded, and everyone gathered around me, and I made a portal to The Masque's Home. Everyone went in, quietly and quickly. I was the last one in, and before I entered the portal, I threw several charges onto the floor, and went through the portal. We were in the deck, and we were all looking out at the volcano, Whitney included.
"Three.." I started counting down. "Two... One... Now!" Immediately, the volcano burst, and lava was gushing out into the air, while we were at a safe distance. After several moments, I said "Now, SHIELD will be embarrassed." At that moment, fireworks started erupting from the volcano, with the wording
'COURTESY OF YOUR FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN
PS SHIELD, YOU'RE BAD AT DOING YOUR JOB, I JUST SAVED EARTH.'
After the fireworks were over, I turned to Whitney, and said "Latveria, as fast as you can. Doom has a trap set there, finished up with family members of mine."
She nodded, and lowered her mask, and immediately, we were covered by the protective glass, and the ship was going really fast. She lifted her mask, and said "We'll be there in five."
I took a deep breath, then said "Tess, me and you, go through a portal, and get there early." She nodded, and I made a portal, and we stepped through.
Doom would never get a chance to cross the line again. He was dying tonight, or today, whatever it was.
Chapter 18: Recruits
We stepped through the portal, and found ourselves in the shadows, looking at Doom's Castle. I looked at Tess and nodded, and she nodded back. We sneaked through the shadows, finding our way into the castle through a vent. I closed my eyes, and used a locator spell that used the Web Of Life. I opened my eyes, and dropped from the vent, Tess following quietly. I slinked down the hallway, and once we hit a junction, I gestured to Tess that she go down that hallway, and the Four would be there, while I would go the other way, and face Doom. She shook her head, but when I nodded back vigorously, she nodded begrudgingly, and went down the way I sent her.
I went down the hallway, and found a door. I opened it, to see Doom, in full suit, with his back to me.
"Hello, Spider." Doom said.
"Hello, Victor." I said back. "I didn't focus on you when we met at Atlantis, and I'm sorry for that, I will kick your ass today. Works for you?"
"It will be me doing the ass kicking today, Karma."
"And what makes you so sure? Karma always finds his way to get his vengeance, and you're getting it today."
"Oh, I think you'll find yourself mistaken. Look at this toy I got from SHIELD, given by the HYDRA agents there, to defeat you." He turned around, and I saw what he had in his hands.
It was a mask.
But not any mask.
It was the Ant-Man suits mask.
Well, I'm fucked up. He has Pym Particles, which means I can't know what he is using against me, not really.
All of a sudden, I was being surrounded by nanobots, and they were grabbing me, and covering me. Once they all surrounded me, I could see again, and I heard Sexi say "Here, this should protect you from using those shrinking things he has."
"Thanks, hun." I said, and charged at Doom. He took a big hit from me, he wasn't fast enough to dodge my speed.
"Oh no, you won't want to attack me." He said.
"And why is that?" I said, getting ready to charge again.
"Look to the left, and you'll know why." I looked in the direction he pointed at, and saw a guillotine. I didn't understand why he said I wouldn't attack just because of a guillotine, but then Tess's voice came on my comms.
"Pete, I got Johnny and Reed, Ben is in Kamar-Taj." She said. "Sue isn't with them." Oh shit.
"Sue?" I said.
She turned her invisibility off. "Take care of him for good, Peter. It's going to be ok."
I shook my head. "I'm not going to kill him, at the price of your life."
Then I got a message from Sexi display on my HUD, saying that she messed up the guillotine controls, as well as Doom's inner suit controls, and that I could save Sue, and get Doom as well. I nodded my head minutely, and threw the Ebony Blade at Doom, while jumping myself at the guillotine, and destroying the blade, and releasing Sue. Doom somehow managed to dodge the blade, and tried picking it up, but he couldn't.
"It's magic." I told him. "You need to be worthy." I called the blade to my hand, and made my way to him. I sheathed my blade, and released a stinger, intending to give him a painful death. I was about to kill him, when Tess and the others came into the room.
"DON'T!" Reed screamed the moment he saw me.
"I have to." I said, and Reed threw his arm at me, as I dug my stinger into Doom. My stinger made its way through the arm, and I could feel it penetrate his flesh, then I released the venom into his bloodstream. I drew my stinger back, and ripped Doom's mask off. "I will meet your counterparts." I said "And they will face the same fate as you. Just remember," I deactivated my mask. "this is the face of Karma, the one who killed you."
"You're a mere child." He said, spasming from the venom. "The great Victor Von Doom, Prince of Latveria, lost to a child."
"Not any child, Doom. I am a child with knowledge, and knowledge can bring even the strongest to their knees."
"Make it easy, please. I know I can't live whatever you placed in my blood, but make it easy." He begged, as his veins started bulging.
"You touched my family once, Doom." I said, venom in my tone. I unleashed some fangs I didn't know I had, but I kept them out. "I taught you a lesson then, and I was willing to give you a chance to back down. But you didn't. Instead you kidnapped them, and you would have killed Sue. I think I'm fine with the pain you're getting, so I won't make it easy." I stood up, and turned around.
Reed was looking at me, horror in his eyes, and unbridled rage. Johnny was angry, but not at me, at Doom. He was looking at Doom with anger, and fire was licking his hands. Sue was just impartial to it all, somewhat. Like you could see several emotions in her look, but she wasn't drowning in emotion, like Johnny and Reed.
"How could you?" Reed asked me.
Johnny twirled to face Reed. "You're going to ask him that!? You're going to ask him how he could do that!? You're going to ask him why he saved my sister, who is his lover, or something, I don't even know! He did what he had to! To protect us, his family! What's wrong with you!?"
Reed faced Johnny. "Yeah, well he just killed a friend of mine! He didn't need to kill him! -"
"Actually, Reed, I did." I said, cutting him off. "You don't know what type of carnage this man can unleash, I've seen him become a god, and unleash such a hell on earth, you can't even imagine. -"
"How do we know we can believe you!" Reed shouted. "You're the only one spouting shit about the multiverse, and you're going around, killing people, saying you have to! You know what I think!? I think you're trying to get power! I think you want to kill all the people that are risks to your empire! I think you killed-"
"Reed!" Sue said. "Victor was your friend, but in these last few days, ever since we went on that trip that gave us powers, he wasn't your friend anymore. He had me in a guillotine, and would have killed me. I get it, Victor was your friend, but he no longer was. It was me, and Doom, or neither of us. But Peter wasn't going to let this happen again, so somehow, he managed to save me, and take care of Doom. I'm sorry this happened, Reed, but it had to."
Reed looked angrier than ever. "I'm done with you guys, give me a break." He went towards the door, but I used the Web Of Life to change the exit of the room to look like it was a door, while you couldn't go through it. He tried getting out, but when he couldn't, he turned to me. "What do you want, killer?"
"I can't let you go, Reed." I said regretfully. "I know where this'll end up, in a SHIELD Helicarrier, with a cup of tea, and Nick Fury, and my identity. You want to get out, you get out on my terms."
He glared at me. "You killed my friend, from when I was twelve. You don't get to tell me shit."
I bared my fangs. "I do, Reed. You want to hold a grudge against me, fine. I couldn't care less. You can punch me right now, and I won't fight back. You can beat me an inch away from death, and I'll let you, because you deserve the right to do that to me. But you risk my family, and the line is crossed." I let the door open. "You can walk out, on the condition you don't risk my family. It's your call, I'll let you beat me to a pulp, should you want. But family, is the line, and Doom paid for crossing it."
The moment I said that, he threw one of his stretchy arms at me in a punch, and punched me hard on the nose. "You killed my friend! And you have no remorse!" He went for another punch, and I did nothing to stop him.
"I do have remorse, Reed. But I don't have remorse that I killed Doom. I have remorse that the person I killed, is lost to his friends, and family. But honestly, him dying, is better than him going up to kill everyone." I was purposely riling him up, aiming to get him angry, and not have him carry aggression towards me after this.
Then Tess jumped at Reed, and threw him into a wall, that had webbing on it, and then webbed him up fully, saying "My brother may have let you try to beat the fucking McShit out of him, but I'm not going to let you do that. Stand down, Richards."
He struggled for a moment, then craned his neck towards me, as well as his hands, aiming to headbutt me. I braced for the blow, hearing my spider sense blare, then all of a sudden, it stopped blaring, and I was confused, the blow was still coming my way, when I realized. Johnny stopped him, holding his face and arms, and saying "Reed, snap out of it! I will use my powers on you if you don't! I don't get it, what the fuck is wrong with you!? I get it, you have a grudge against Peter, he won Sue over so much more easily than you did, but what is this!? He killed Doom, because he needed to! Do you want me to hurt you?"
"Do what you want, Johnny!" Reed said. "He deserves to die-" he started screaming from pain, as Johnny activated his powers.
"NOOO!!" I screamed. "Johnny, enough!" I pushed Johnny away, even with him being on fire. I looked at Reed, who had a half burnt face, and burnt arms. "So, my first mistake happens." I said, sorrowful. "The Maker is born in my universe, because of me. Because I thought I could make him burn his anger against me." The Maker looked at me. "I can't bring myself to kill you, not yet. But I will imprison you, that's the least I can do, I can't let you go plague the multiverse, too much evil will come out of it." I made a portal to a pocket dimension, and threw The Maker in. Then I fell to my knees, and started sobbing softly.
All of a sudden, someone was hugging me. I listened to the heartbeat for a second, then said "Diamond? I'm sorry, I made a mistake." I started sobbing, and she pulled me into her, laying my head on her shoulder, while sitting down.
"Shhh, it's ok." She told me. "We all make mistakes, but what matters is how we fix it. And you did a pretty damn good job, you weren't even in your right headspace, and you haven't slept for a while, and you were worried. You couldn't bring yourself to kill someone who was Peter's family, and yours, to an extent. It's ok, hun. Just let it all out."
"I'm not worthy, Diamond." I told her. "I have all this knowledge, and I can't afford to make mistakes. If I could go back in time, and redo this last bit, I still would kill Doom, but I don't know how I could have stopped Reed. If I can't fix things, I'm not worthy."
"Peter." Okoye said, sitting next to us. "I told you before, you were always worthy. Crystal said it, we all make mistakes. And you can afford to make mistakes, you just have to lessen the amount of them, but it's fine for even you to make mistakes. You're not infallible. You're just the best of us, and you're still human."
"I'm supposed to be infallible, Okes. I have knowledge, of billions of different Peter Parkers, and I should have known this would happen."
"As generals and kings, Peter," she countered, "we study the past, to learn from it. We learn tactics, feints, weapons, and a whole lot of stuff. We calculate for every possible situation we can see, and there will always be paths we can't see, because we aren't the past. Remember, just a while ago, you were telling us that you were basically the Anti-Spider-Man, the only one who kills, when it's needed? You know what that means? That means you were in a position Peter was never in before. You didn't mess up, you hit a block, that you made the most out of. You came here, willing to kill Doom, and knowing you would kill him. The block came in the form of Reed, who was angry that you killed his friend, and that you had a higher position than him in his family. He got out of control, and you couldn't bring yourself to kill him, even though you knew you would have to eventually, so you kept him in a prison until you could bring yourself to kill him."
"Honestly," Sue said, joining the weird group sitting on the floor, which Hunter, Tess, and Whitney joined in at one point, "if you killed Reed, or didn't show regret that you had to imprison him, I would be worried, Peter. Because that would mean you truly didn't have a heart. That you could just go on a friend like that, and not feel any negative emotions, that would be a man I couldn't trust. But you did what you had to, Peter. Well done."
Whitney tapped me lightly on the shoulder, and said "C'mon Peter, get up. The Shadow Council is down, you took them out for good. It's time to go back home, to take your daughter to meet her grandparents for the first time, to walk out into the light, to leave the shadows. It will be all right, trust me, trust us."
Slowly, I stood up, then as I looked at the group, my eyes caught the sight of Doom's body, slumped up. Immediately I walked up to it, and picked it up, and said "I have to send a message to SHIELD, they outfitted him with weapons to try and kill me." And I activated my suit, and jetted into the sky, creating a hole in the ceiling.
"Well, that's one way to get out." I heard Tess say amusedly into the comms. "Stay safe, and don't get into too many fights without us."
"Don't worry." I said. "Get onto The Masque's Home, and drop everyone off where they want to go, but bring Sue, Johnny, White, Shuri, Hunter, Diamond, Okoye, and if T'Challa and Namor want to, then them too, to our house. And don't forget Sexi, I'll see you guys at home."
"Totally, but y'know, it's like Friday evening back in New York, so we can have the group from school come too, and we'll all chill for the full weekend at our house." Tess suggested.
"Oh, we will have a whole lot of fun." I said. "We're doing this. But I'm at the Helicarrier now, bye."
"Bye, and stay safe."
"I will." I said, then disconnected. I landed on the top of the Helicarrier, and punched the door open, activating a million alarms. Immediately I was surrounded by agents, all pointing their guns at me, and I said "Bold of you to assume you can do anything to defeat me. I just brought a gift for y'all, and a warning." I dropped the body on the floor, and several of the agents gasped. "Y'all gave him some Pym Particles so he could try and kill me, and look how that fared. You do funny shit again, either organizations, and my schedule will move up, big time. Karma doesn't back down in the face of his enemies, he deals with them, until he looks like this." I gestured to the body.
Then some space was made in the middle of the sea of agents, and I tensed. Eventually, the group they made space for came up, and it was Fury, Pierce, Natasha, Clint, Luke, Danny, Sam, and Ava.
"Well, what do we have here?" I said. "The director of SHIELD, Nicholas, and the director of HYDRA, Alexander Pierce, and ex Red Room assassin, Natasha, Clint Barton, and the children of several people that were killed by SHIELD! Is there anyone worth mentioning that I'm missing?"
"My parents weren't killed by SHIELD, they worked for SHIELD." Luke said.
"And so did mine. They worked for SHIELD. And if you look at the database inside Fury's eye patch, you'll see he knew of the attack by Zodiac beforehand, and did nothing about it, even made it easier for them. Your parents, Luke, were killed by Fury, and so was Hector." I turned to Ava. "I met Kraven several hours ago, and defeated him, but I didn't kill him, I left that for you, when you would want to. He told me that he killed your father on a SHIELD sanctioned mission, and your father knew that, and let himself die at the hands of Kraven, wanting you to be safe. But what your father didn't know, was that Fury wanted to be the knight in shining armor, so as to collect pawns, that he could use."
"You're lying." Luke said. "This doesn't make sense. How do you think you can say that? We've only been treated well by SHIELD, I don't believe you."
"He's telling the truth." Natasha said. "Instead of looking at the Spider as he spoke, you should have looked at Fury, and you would see his finger twitch at all the correct moments. And Pierce twitched when HYDRA was mentioned. The Spider tells the truth."
"Thank you, Natasha." I said, and she nodded. "Sunshine, can you hack Nicholas' eye patch again, and display the information? And display all the HYDRA information too."
Immediately, two holoprojections popped up, one displaying the information from the eye patch, and the other displaying HYDRA information.
I looked at the team, who were staring at the screen in shock, as it displayed a kill, or two, for each one of them. "I'm sorry for your losses." I sincerely said.
Nova turned to Fury. "You killed my baby sister! She had a life to live! Someone to fall in love with! A college to graduate from! She didn't even go to middle school yet! What type of a monster are you!?"
Hearing what Sam said, I growled at Fury. He looked at me, fear in his eyes. In a flash, I was holding him by his trench coat, growling all the while, the bottom of my mask deactivated so as to show my fangs. "You saw what happened to Doom, when he touched my baby sister. I will put some poison in you, then I'll hand you over to Nova."
I put a little bit of venom into him, a weak version, that would merely give him a whole lot of pain, then I tossed him at Nova, who proceeded to punch him with all the fury he had in his arms, not even bothering to utilize his powers, that's how angry he was.
Then the HYDRA agents started shooting at me, the others just looked hesitant. I just took the hits like a champ, and said "Sunshine, take off the majority of my suit, just leave my mask on."
"Badass mood, huh?" Sexi said, as she did as I asked.
"Is there ever any other mood?" I said, then ripped off my shirt, displaying my tattoo. Danny gasped at that, and I turned to him, and said "Yeah, I'm kinda like you, but not, at the same time." I turned back to the agents who were shooting at me. "But I'm gonna have fun bashing your little heads into the sky, as you realize, we're flying."
Their faces all blanched for a moment, and Pierce said "The cat's out of the bag, so I will say it. I am HYDRA. But you're going against HYDRA, and you won't come out alive."
"What, gon' use the Winter Soldiers on me?" I asked, and he twitched. "Buddy, Luke is stronger than the typical super soldier, and I could beat him with ease. Your soldiers won't be a problem for me."
"That's not all we have, Karma." Rumlow said. "What do you say to coming with us, and seeing your greatest fears?"
"So you already have the Maximoffs? Interesting."
I turned into a blur, and took care of all the agents shooting at me, I was getting tired of the pinches. The only HYDRA left were Pierce, and Rumlow. Rumlow looked at me, and charged at me, but he never got to me. Natasha kicked him in the head before he could do a thing.
"Ah, bitch!" I said in Russian, and Natasha looked at me in surprise. "That was mine!" I complained, still in Russian.
"Don't whine, you took care of everyone else." She responded, in Russian too. "You know Russian?" She asked.
"My mom." I responded. "She was the first Widow to escape."
"You're the grandchild." She said, in surprise.
"I prefer Karma, or Spidey, or Spider-Son-Of-A-Bitch, or Spider-Man, when in suit." I said.
"So I will get to see the one out of the suit?" She asked, surprised that I trusted her.
"I'm not taking SHIELD and HYDRA down for good in one day. I just saved the world, and I need to take a break for at least a week before I can do this again. Besides, Clint already told you, right?"
She turned to face Clint, then me, then Clint, then me again. "I knew there was a reason you told Clint that much! I didn't understand why you trusted him with the information, but now I get it!"
I smirked. "What can I say, planning is my expertise."
Luke cut in "Ok, while seeing Sam beat the shit out of Fury is very satisfying, we can't just stay here. Eventually reinforcements will arrive from the Triskellion, and you two speaking whatever you're speaking probably won't help, with all due respect."
"You said it, Luke." I said, then turned to Sam, and gently put a hand on his shoulder, and softly said "Live to fight another day, bro. He killed my parents too, and I'm lucky he didn't kill my sister. For now, we'll retreat, and fight another time." Sam stopped punching Fury, and I looked at Fury. "Keep in mind, Nicholas. Your Karma's coming, with an army."
I snapped my fingers, and said "Sunshine, cover them with nanobots, and conceal them, and take 'em to our house."
They all started getting covered, and then they were cloaked, and I activated my full suit, and we all went into the darkness of the sky, no one knowing where we went, and Sexi was introducing herself on the comms.
A minute later, we arrived at my house, and went in through a secret entrance that I had installed using my nanobots, while we were in Wakanda. We all popped into a corner in the living room, and found all the invitees, except for Namor, sitting around, waiting for us. Sexi was in between Aunt May and Uncle Ben, and Tess and Hunter were sitting with each other.
"I brought extras, folks!" I said, and they all looked at me.
"Petey!" Liz exclaimed, and she jumped at me, and gave me a kiss. I kissed her back, and when we parted, I said "Someone's happy, huh?"
"Idiot." She said, and jabbed her finger in my chest. "That was so not cool, giving us recordings to tell us how you were, but never accepting the calls."
"How the hell did you make the time?" Shuri asked frankly.
I looked at her, and said "I don't know, I guess that's how the time passed without me realizing, with me doing small stuff all the time." I turned to look at Gwen "You know, crazy thing. Me and Diamond figured out I could live for a week on a granola bar."
"Diamond?" Basically everyone that didn't see me in the past week asked, while the others except for T'Challa and Crystal said "Crystal didn't help you, what the actual fuck are you saying?"
Crystal giggled, then said "I kind of did, cuz if I didn't tell Tess he didn't eat, he would have thought it was only three or four days."
"See!" I said "She knows what I mean!" I grabbed some popcorn from a bowl that was sitting on the coffee table, and said "Anyways y'all, let's be cordial to our guests. They'll be staying here a while, I just broke them out if SHIELD.
"First up, horny lover boy." I pulled Clint out of the huddle, and said "I think we need to get him some grass skirts, what do you say, White?"
"Did he do his job well?" Whitney asked, smirking.
I turned to look at Natasha, then looked back at Whitney. "I'd say he did."
"Then I'll think about it." Whitney said, then patted the area next to her. "Come here, Clint."
Clint walked up to her, and sat down next to her, hugging her from the side, then parting from her.
"As you can clearly see," I said "spies are trained to the point where they're embarrassed by their emotions, and don't display them too much, even in front of friends and family, but I ran some tests, which I will play the recordings of after introductions, that their training doesn't effect their horniness."
Okoye, Shuri, and Whitney, and I all laughed, then I turned back to face the huddle. I pulled Natasha, and said "Next up, Natasha Romanov. Moniker is the Black Widow, and one of her was my teacher, friend, and trusted family member. She lived in the same facility that my mother lived in at one point, and she could kill you with her nail polish."
Shuri raised her hand, and I rolled my eyes. "Yes, Dudette?" I said.
"Why do you call her like that?"
"You're real descriptive right there, but in my past, some people I knew always used to talk like that, so I know what you asked. I call Natasha, Natasha, in that accent because she once told me that she wished someone would call her the right way, without it being tainted with evil, or perverts, or other stuff."
"That's not the only reason..." Natasha whispered to herself, and me, I'm pretty sure she knew I had enhanced senses.
"Then what's the real reason?" Both Shuri and Tess asked at the same time, with smirks on their faces. I looked at Shuri in confusion, and she said "I made myself some enhanced hearing earbuds, I knew I would need them in this party."
I facepalmed, and turned back to the huddle, and was going to choose another person to introduce, when Shuri pressed, "You didn't tell! What's the real reason?"
"Oh my god, Shuri!" I said. "Do you want to die!? You weren't meant to hear that, and neither was Tess! So pretend you didn't hear that, and be happy you're alive!"
"How did you know it was meant for you, huh?" Tess asked.
I blinked at Tess, as if it were obvious. "Other Natashas used to always whisper things like that to me."
"Explain, please?" Shuri asked.
"Go to Russia, and then come back, and we will think about telling you." Both me and Natasha said, then looked at each other. I gave Natasha my fist, and asked "Point one for Spy-ders?"
She bumped my fist. "Point one for Spy-ders." She confirmed, and sat down on one of the couches.
I shook my head, wondering why it was so easy for me to get her to be nice at first to me, that barely ever happened. "Ooh, Pete's under the lover spell!" Tess said.
I rolled my eyes, and said "You're literally sitting with Hunter, you're not one to talk."
"Good point." She said.
I rolled my eyes again, and turned back to the huddle, and pulled Luke out of the group.
"Luke Cage, Moniker Power Man. Has a different version of the super soldier serum within him, that makes him stronger than the typical super soldier, and indestructible skin. His parents were the creators of this serum, and SHIELD sent them to their death. But something no one knows, not even SHIELD, is that his parents are alive, and forcibly working with Zodiac, and me and Luke will get them out in about two weeks, if that's okay with you, Luke."
"Can we go any earlier?" He asked.
"How about one week? As soon as HYDRA is taken care of, we will just bust into the Zodiac base, and break your parents out, then we will take Zodiac out for good a week after that."
"That works." He said. I patted his shoulder encouragingly, and said "Go on, take a seat."
He took a seat, and then I turned back to the huddle. I thought for a second, then I pulled out Danny. "Danny Rand, Moniker Iron Fist. Another billionaire child, but I think he is more of a millionaire kid, not sure. SHIELD was responsible for the death of his parents, and he made his way to K'un-Lun somehow, and defeated a dragon there, and became the Iron Fist, one of many in a lineage. He has a dragon tattoo on his chest but it's got nothing on my spider tattoo." I took my suit off to display it, and then said "See, so much more cooler. But he is real Zen, and some advice from him never hurts. Go on, Danny, take a seat."
He took a seat, and I turned back to the huddle, and pulled Sam out. He still looked somewhat angry, but he was more calm than angry, so it was ok, unless someone pushed him. "Sam Alexander, Moniker Nova. Draws his powers from his helmet, a member of the Nova Corps, which is based in Xandar, that planet y'all have heard of from me so many times. Sam is cocky, annoying, thinks he's the leader, but he really is a good guy, and be nice to him, he just found out that SHIELD killed his mom and baby sister, that never even had the chance to go to middle school."
At that, Sexi got up, and hugged him, and he hugged her back slightly, surprised. "Dad said that when you lose someone, that position never really ever gets filled up again, but positions similar to it can get filled, and that makes it easier. So I know you're a little brother to dad, so how about you be Uncle Sam?"
"It works." He choked out, his voice clogged with tears.
I patted him on the shoulder, and gave him a bro hug. "I lost my baby sister too, Sam. She was four, and I never got to say bye to her. And I even met the person who ripped her away from me, and," my voice broke down slightly. "And I was powerless to do anything. One of the strongest people on Earth, and probably Xandar too, brought to his knees. I don't even know his name, he just told me he was responsible, and faded away. It gets better, bro. You just have to open your soul."
"Thank you." He said, and Sexi pulled him to a couch, and they sat there together.
"It's not a problem." I said, then added "Sexi, call him Uncle Buckethead, ok?"
"Copy that." She said, smirking, and we all gave a light laugh.
I turned to Ava, the only one remaining, and nodded at her. She stepped forward, and I said "Last, but definitely not the least, the only one other than me who can whip the boys into shape, Ava Ayala, AKA White Tiger. She draws power from an amulet made in K'un-Lun, much like the White Wolf amulet I sucked. She is strict, thinks fun is bad, but we're going to prove her wrong. But seriously, Ava," I turned to look at her "you don't need to be all study to control the Tiger. I have both spider and wolf instincts, and I don't use study as a control. You just have to talk to the tiger soul within you, and accept his or her presence, and be its friend. For more help on amulets, go to Hunter, the one sitting next to my sister."
She nodded, and said "Thanks." Then without waiting for an answer, she turned and sat down.
I rolled my eyes. "Every single one of you is the same, huh? Cold until you're not. It's kinda what I was expecting from you at this point."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Ava asked.
"That question will be answered in my self introduction, which I am about to do, let me just eat some popcorn first." I leaned down and made a point of eating the popcorn slowly, when Ava growled at me, and said "hurry up, Webhead."
I jumped immediately. "Finally!!" I pumped my fist in the air. "Someone in this universe called me Webhead! But I will just get along with my intro now. So it all started with an itsy bitsy spider..."
"I thought it was a cow." Natasha said sarcastically.
"Shhh, Natasha," I said, pronouncing her name the American way, and she noticed, and frowned at me. "I'm telling a story, I have told many a time, and getting cut in the middle of my tale doth the bard no good to tell the story, and this story requires the greatest of attentions, it is confusing. Copy that, Natasha?" I used the correct pronunciation this time, so she smiled and said "Copy that"
"It all started with an itsy bitsy spider..."
Ten minutes later, everything was explained, and Liz said "Wow, Petey, how many times have you told your tale? You weren't kidding, this is nothing compared to the way you told us the first time."
"Yeah," Gwen said "it took him more than two hours that first time, and he just compressed the same story to ten minutes."
I shrugged. "I did it a bunch of times, I don't know how many times. But I have greatly improved my storytelling skills."
"Oh yeah?" Natasha challenged, and I groaned, much to her pleasure. Of course she would challenge me. "Then tell us, of the ventures of your grandfather."
Instantly, my mood soured. "Let's not talk about him." I said in a cross voice.
"What's the problem, huh?" Natasha said, thinking that it was just something I knew from Peter's mom. "Your mom was angry that he went down, and never forgave him for not saving her from the Room? There was nothing he-"
"That's not what it is, Natasha!" I exclaimed. "What's wrong, is that he's still fucking alive, stuck in ice! And he will get out of there, and nearly kill Stark! And I definitely like Stark way more than him, I don't even trust Rodgers. And I won't trust him when he comes out of the ice, not with my back, or anyone else's. Tony trusted him, they were buddies, but the moment it was revealed that Bucky was alive, and that he was mind controlled by HYDRA to be a Winter Soldier, and that he was responsible for Howard and Maria Stark's deaths, he attacked Tony! Tony wasn't even angry at Bucky! He was angry at Rodgers, for knowing that from before, and hiding it from him! That's why I don't want to talk about him! And I know that he will join HYDRA, and will be indirectly responsible for Stark's death, years after their original fight during the Bucky fiasco!"
After a moment, Natasha said "I shouldn't have pushed, I apologize."
I took a deep breath. "You didn't know, you couldn't have known, it's ok." I sat down, next to Crystal, and said "So, let's just ignore my rant, and watch Avatar's latest episode." Everyone started moving around, going to the places they wanted to be to watch. I called out. "Lizzy, come here. You too, Gwen, if you want."
They both got up, and sat around me, and Crystal placed her head on my shoulder. "You comfortable, Diamond?"
"Yep." She said, popping the p. She kissed my cheek softly, and said "You're one crazy guy, you know."
"And you love it." I said, smirking.
"I do." She said honestly.
I heard a slight whisper from Sexi, "When can I get Crystal's blood?"
I rolled my eyes. "Why don't you ask her yourself, Sexi?"
"Ask who what?" Crystal asked.
"She wants to ask you something, but it's personal." I said.
"So, table the discussion till later, right?" She asked for confirmation, and I nodded.
I looked at Sue and Okoye, who were looking at our group cuddle, and I said "Sue, Okes, why don't y'all join the group cuddle? You too, Natasha, if you want."
Sue and Okoye came over, and Natasha looked hesitant, then she said "Ehh, why not? It's going to happen sooner or later anyways, but I want a seat on the floor."
I looked at my legs, where there was empty space, and I looked back at her, and said "Get here before there's no space, then."
She sat on the floor in between my feet, and rested her head on my right leg. I heard Shuri whisper to Whitney "I an totally jealous of all that body heat in that cuddle of theirs."
Whitney whispered back "I know, right? Like no matter the amount of people, you're warm. If this his movie time, I am totally jealous of how he sleeps. Like no blankets needed, not even in winter!"
I rolled my eyes, and said "White, Dudette, please shut up. I can hear you- Wait! Before we start watching Avatar, we're watching Clint! Sexi, play the recording!"
"Of course! How could we forget?" Sexi said, and played the recording. When it finished, we all burst into laughter, and Natasha said "Clint, I didn't know you had that in you! I am totally saving that as your contact, 'horny lover boy.'"
Clint sputtered, then said "You're in between his legs, and you're telling me that?"
"Well, for one, I'm not feeling horny." Natasha said "This is really nice, and warm. And two, you know I can't have kids, so there's really no point in feeling horny for me, so I don't feel horny."
"Wait!" Clint said. "How are you two," he gestured at me and Tess "her children if she was a Widow?"
"She got out before the graduation ceremony, Clint." I said. "You're talking about Peggy Carter's daughter here, give her credit."
"Makes sense." He said.
"You bet it does." I said, then I tapped Natasha on the head softly. She looked at me, and I said in Russian "I can undo what they did to you, if you want. I knew I would meet you sooner or later, and it didn't really matter whether you had feelings for me or not, I wanted you to be happy, and to be able to hold your babies in your hands."
"This isn't a joke?" She asked, her eyes shining.
I shook my head, then said "You want to, we can go tomorrow to my lab, and we can get it done. Do you want it, Talia?"
"Talia?" She asked.
"Natalia Alianovna Romanov, short of Natalia is Talia, so Talia."
"What don't you know about me?"
"A lot of things, but I know a lot about you as well."
She nodded, and took a deep breath. "I'm down. But I know, that tomorrow, I will start double guessing it, and I will try to back out, don't let me."
"You said that in every universe." I said, smiling.
"And I tried to back out in every universe too, right?"
"Yes."
By now, the intro of the episode started playing, and we both focused our attention on the screen, and we started watching.