Chapter 42: Pressing Concerns
It had been a week since I was confronted by the family about my patrolling habits, and after a long talk, we had finally come to a conclusion that I would patrol for a maximum of eighteen hours a day, and that the city would not be abandoned during that time, because someone or the other would be patrolling, and different teams would be patrolling at different times and places of the city, we had a schedule and a map made to go with the plans.
Now, we were all preparing for our press conference with Captain America, at Times Square. We were all suited up, sans the masks, and eating breakfast.
"So…" I said, starting the conversation. "You guys are heading to Wakanda after the meeting, right, Okes and Tich?"
They both nodded. "It was fun to stay here, as hectic as it was." T'challa said.
"It'll be good for you, Okes." I said, and she looked at me in confusion. "Don't think I didn't notice how you periodically patrol the house, because it's in your habit." I said with a wink.
She nodded begrudgingly. "I guess, it has been a while, and I've left it all to Ayo."
"What about you, Hunter?" I asked. "When do you plan on coming back, if you want to come back?"
Hunter looked at Tess for reassurance before responding. "I think it'll be a week or two, I'm not sure, I don't have much to do there, but I'm pretty sure the moment that I go there, I'll find things to do."
"Yeah, well, forgive me for the cringy quote, but wherever you go, you've got family." I said, and most of us chuckled, except for those unfamiliar with movie culture. "Wait, you guys have already had the whole F&F saga here? I just realized, even though I've quoted that scene so many times."
"Yeah, they had F9 about two years ago." Uncle Ben said.
"Please don't go into the long discussion of how they practically ruined the movies after a while." Aunt May said. "It was all about crazy guys and strip clubs anyway."
"C'mon, Aunt May!" I said. "You have to admit, they had some rad car chases though!"
"I didn't deny that." Aunt May said. "But they lost the point, and made it too much about who had the largest egos ever since the beginning."
"That's true." Ben said, and I nodded in agreement.
"The two haters agreed!" Shuri said "When is the world going to end?"
I rolled my eyes, unamused.
"And now, they're back to hating each other again." Tess said.
"Give them a break guys." Kaine said, but I knew better than to think he wouldn't make a joke about us, and the smirk on his face cemented my thought. "After all, tough love is best not played with."
I flipped Kaine the bird, and Aunt May said "None of that at the breakfast table, kids."
I immediately put my finger down, and everyone snickered at how I looked like a kid caught doing something bad.
"Yeah, Pete." Kaine said, enjoying this way too much. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do."
"You're not free to talk like that, young man." Aunt May said, and Kaine shrunk in his seat.
I smirked at him, and then continued to eat in silence, enjoying the fact that I wasn't the last one admonished.
After a few minutes, I finished, and got up, and said "Well, we have to head to Times Square in a couple minutes guys, let's do this chop chop."
I went to my limousine, and set up my camera, and connected to my recently created social media accounts, all under the same handle: thekarmicspider
"Hey everyone!" I said, waving at the camera. "As you can see, I'm the first person in the car, and everyone will start to pile up into the car in just a minute. We're going to head out to Times Square as soon as we have the car filled up, for a very interesting event! Now, how was your morning everyone!?"
Immediately, a whole lot of comments popped up on the live feed, with different reactions, such as "He just asked us how our morning was!" Or, "it sucked, until you asked me how it was!?" One of them had me rolling my eyes, from @thecoolerspidersibling saying "I knew there was a reason you left the breakfast table early!"
"Ignoring my sister's totally unnecessary comment," I said. "I hope you guys had a good morning, I'm honestly super sorry I can't go through the comments one by one. But to all those who had a bad morning, I hope my bad humor kicks away your morning sadness, and gets you into a good mood. And trust me, my humor is bad. -"
"It is!" Tess said, jumping into the car, and sticking her masked face right next to me, and I glared at her. "He thinks it's cool to bully me, like what?"
"Hold up." I said. "When did I ever bully you?"
"When didn't you?" She shot back.
"That… would be a very good point, if I even bullied you." I said. "If any bullying is there in our relationship, you're bullying me."
"Really?" Tess said. "When?"
Sue got into the shotgun, then looked at us, and the camera, and said "I'm guessing you guys are having your usual debate of who is the better or worse sibling, so I'll throw the day we all met to you, Wolf Spider, and ask you to be quiet."
"You can't always throw that day at me, Sue." Tess meekly said.
"She's throwing it at you right now, isn't she?" I said, then I gave Sue a high five.
I looked at the screen, and saw several comments saying something to the effect of "There's some real interesting history there…"
"Yes, there's a lot of history there." I said, winking at the camera.
Sharing came into the car, then said "Susan Storm, I, the Princess of Wakanda, order you to concede the chair of the shotgun to me."
"Stop acting all high and glorious, then I'll think about it." Sue said.
"You realize she is only ever high or glorious?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.
"That's the point, Karma." Sue said.
"That's mean, I'll have you know that I am one of the smartest people on the planet." Shuri said, crossing her arms like a child.
"You've got nothing on me." I said.
"You don't count." She said.
"Yeah, keep on doing that, cutting out the people you can't compare to." I said. "What next, you'll cut Peter Parker out of the list too? Flash news girl, you can't just ignore the facts, and that you can't match either of our intellects alone, forget about combined."
I heard everyone coming to the car slowly, so I said "OK y'all, the rest of the crew's about to overrun my car, so I have to disconnect the live, sorry. See you guys in a few minutes!"
I disconnected the live, and burst into laughter.
"That was fun." Sue said. "One time on the internet, and we already threw dirt on Tess."
"Older super siblings rock!" I said, giving Sue a fist bump.
"Totally!" Sue said, bumping my fist back.
Everyone got into the car, and we started all fooling around and driving, till we got to Times Square, with journalists and paparazzi taking pictures, and I parked the limo in front of the stairs, and the doors lowered.
Everyone oohed at the doors, and all the fanciness of the car, and I got down, the others all following.
I looked at the place where I had Sexi place the chairs, where there was a folding chair for everyone, with a paper identifying who the chair was for, and I saw Captain sitting in his chair, and mine was there too, just like how I asked Sexi to organize it.
I looked to the side, and saw several captains of the NYPD, as well as Maria, the current Mayor of NYC, and General Ross.
I went to them, and gave Captain Stacy a handshake, and said "Noice to see you again, Captain Stacy."
The younger crowd all oohed at my knowledge of young speak, and Stacy nodded appreciatively at my tactics, and said "You too, Dark Knight."
I gave the other Captains warm handshakes, then I stood in front of Maria, and she stretched her hand my way for a handshake, and I looked at it, then at her face, and said "Seriously Mountain?"
I pulled her in for a hug, and she hugged me back. After a moment, I let go of her, then stood in front of Ross, and after a moment of awkwardness, he stretched his hand my way, and I shook my head, and said "Stop hunting Dr. Banner, and I'll think about touching your hand."
He looked at me in surprise, and I tilted my head dangerously at him, then without another word, I faced the Mayor, and gave him my hand to handshake.
He shook it back hesitantly, and I said "Relax, Mayor. I won't go against you, unless you pull some wrong stuff, which I hope you don't, for your own sake."
"I wouldn't, sir. It's an honor, sir." He said, drops of sweat appearing on his forehead. "My kids are big fans of you."
"Well, I'm a big fan of you, for managing them and the City of New York." I said, clapping his shoulder. "The City is a big thing, and I am only able to protect a small part of it. You, are the true hero, sir. You have to manage with everyone's greatest enemy…" I paused for dramatic effect. "Paperwork."
He laughed nervously, and I clapped his shoulder, and left him, not wanting to frighten him more than necessary.
I gave Steve a handshake, and said "So we meet again, Grandpa. How's it been in a new time?"
"It's...been different." He said. "I apologize for my harshness to you before, it was uncalled for. Not to say that I agree with your methods, but I should not have acted the way I did."
I nodded as I sat down. "It's perfectly understandable. I went through something similar, waking up in a completely different place, and I know that I could have acted better when I did. Fury's games definitely did not help you, and I don't hold your actions against you."
I looked up, and all the screens were displaying feed of me and Steve, sitting across each other, and the rest all sat down on their preassigned spots.
Then the Iron Man suit came, and landed with gusto, then rose, and Tony raised his faceplate, and said "Don't tell me you were about to start this without your favorite billionaire!"
"I won't tell you that, Spark." I said, standing up, and I gave him a bro hug. "Take your seat, and you're not my favorite billionaire, Peter is. Where is he by the way?"
"Yeah yeah, ignore me as if I am not here." Tony said, which I did.
A moment later, the McLaren pulled up in incognito mode, and pulled up next to the limo, and out came an LMD looking like the one and only Peter Parker.
The LMD spread his hands out, and said "Anyone missed me?"
"Parker, you know this whole thing was supposed to start a minute ago?" I said, raising an eyebrow at him.
"It's called being fashionably late." He protested. "Besides, it was supposed to start ten minutes ago, not a minute ago."
"It starts when I'm here." I said. "And I pull the fashionably late thing better than you and Spark, you guys can only do the billionaire type, I pull the trillionaire type off."
Everyone oohed, and I said "Well, if you aren't busy making yourself bigger than you are, you should take your seat."
"Not cool." 'Peter' said. "I want to kill you right now."
"You mean you want to try to kill me." I said, and the crowd broke into applause again.
I took my seat, and said "Sorry, the billionaire children think the world revolves around them."
"It does!" Tony said, and I rolled my eyes at him.
"Ignoring him, how about we take questions from the reporters and everyone here?" I said, then I tapped my spider emblem, letting my Spider-Drone fly, controlled by Sexi. "Here's the plan guys, there's a column there I had made for questioners to go on. You'll go there if you have a question, in a calm and orderly fashion, and you each will have one question to ask, no more. My trusty Spider-Drone will be a mic, and now, to the first questioner, shoot your question."
She looked at the Spider-Drone hovering ten feet away from her, and said to herself, "OK, does this even work?"
Her voice went across the whole area, and she cringed, realizing that it did, in fact, work very well.
"That answers your question?" I said, and she looked at me hesitantly, and I said "No, you still can ask your actual question, I'm just playing."
She nodded, then said "Thank you. What I wanted to ask was, how many seats does your limo have?"
"I actually don't know." I said, after a moment. The reporter looked at me like I was weird, and I said "Hey, I was gifted with that beauty! Please don't say that you like Wolf Spider more than me because I don't know how big the limo is!"
"I can answer the question." Tess said. "I slept in it, because I was bored, so yeah." I looked at her weirdly, and she said "Don't look at me like that, you probably haven't even gone though the whole car. Anyways, due to some technology, it can actually fit two hundred and fifty people, more if you squeeze."
"I like you more Karma, don't worry." The reporter said, after taking a moment to process the number. "And thank you for the number, Wolf Spider!"
The reporter left the front, and Tess looked like her day was ruined, like the dramatic she was, and I rolled my eyes, and said "Next? And please do say that you like my sister more, I don't want her to act like a drama queen for the rest of the day."
Tess glared at me, and I winked at her, then turned to face the questioners again.
This one was a kid, about thirteen years old. I nodded at him reassuringly, and he took a deep breath, then said "Uhh, I just wanted to ask, how does your body process your nutrients? Like, I'm supposing that the few moments that you were absent from the skies in the past few weeks were you taking a nutrient boost, and it's astonishing to think about how much you could survive from how little, and I was wondering what your body required in terms of energy, and how it processed it, and now I'm rambling, on the internet, oh my god."
"Deep breaths in between your sentences, kid." I said, a smile in my voice. "To explain though, I am a cross-species, hence, some of my specialties that my grandfather doesn't have. So, I can thermoregulate, but I don't need to. I have spider legs, and also, my metabolism isn't just enhanced like Captain's, it's actually advanced. So I can eat very little, and survive for years, as well as eat ten cows for lunch, then twenty more for dinner."
"Woah…" the kid said, then he started making his way to the back.
"Wait, kid!" I called out for him. He turned back, wondering if it was actually him that I was calling. "What's your name?"
"Amadeus Cho." He said.
"Nice name, kid." I said. "Someday, you might be able to visit the Web, that's the name of my hideout, and blow mine and Peter's mind. I'd pay to see that, and as much as he hates to admit it, Peter would too."
"I'm looking forward to the email." He said, then with a wink, he disappeared into the crowd.
"Cya later, Spunk." I said, laughing at his spunk. "Next, please?"
The next was a reporter I actually recognized, Eddie Brock. "Hello there, this question is for both Captain and Knight."
We both nodded, waiting for his question.
Eddie cleared his throat. "If you ever disagreed with each other again, would you think that it could escalate into a war between superhumans?"
"I already have an answer ready, but do you want to go first?" I asked Steve.
"I think I will say my part first." Steve said, and I nodded. "I don't think we will directly clash again, we may have disagreements, and that is fairly normal, even more acceptable with the things that lay on the balance with our professions. But I don't believe that we will ever come to a point where we fight again." Steve finished, then he nodded at me to signal my turn.
"I respectfully disagree with him." I said. "I know that the possibilities of us fighting with each other are way higher than I'd like. Contrary to popular belief, I do not control the entire world. I can't control what the U.N. thinks about me, or what the Army thinks about me. As such, if the Captain gets an order from them to attack me, he will, and I will not go in quietly. I stand for what I stand for, for the safety of Earth, for the safety of our universe, for the safety of our multiverse." There was a round of applause at that. "If the government wants to stop me from doing that, I will not stop, even if it means I do to the U.S. what I did to S.H.I.E.L.D., or worse. I have traveled the multiverse, and I have seen worlds where we have fought, even though I am not always Steve's grandson. But in those universes, it does escalate to a war between the vigilantes, superheroes, and anti-heroes. Not that any of the aforementioned all choose a specific side respective to their positions in the good guy/bad guy vendor diagram, the lines were way more blurred than that. So to answer your question Eddie, I do believe it is possible."
Eddie nodded, confused that I somehow knew his name, but accepting it nonetheless. He headed to the back, not bothering to do a follow-up question, knowing that someone would do that for him.
The next reporter came, and cleared his throat. I nodded at him, and he said "Hi, I'm Clark Kent."
Of course, I'd get to meet that one dude that was named after Superman. I heard Miles whisper to Cindy "Did I hear that right?"
"There's this reporter in the comics that was named Clark Kent as a joke." Cundy whispered back.
I ignored them, and said "Hi Clark! Shoot your question, let's see if your favorite vigilante/anti-hero can answer." I gave him finger guns, and blasted them dramatically.
"Can you tell us the lineup of the Justice League, and any possible subteams?" He asked. "It's been a matter of confusion, especially with how you have The Fantastic Four with you, sans Reed Richards."
"Certainly, Clark!" I said. "So, we have the Justice League, including any and all superheroes, vigilantes, and anti-heroes, Captain America included. I was actually planning to give him a comm link by the end of this meeting, but since you brought it up, here you go, Cap." I handed him a square screen the size of an Airpod case, and he took it. "Then, we have the Fantastic Four, which is currently short of a member, as you can see. I doubt Reed will ever come back, much to my regret. He's left, and is discovering the multiverse, which I most definitely don't want him to do, there is no telling what is there, there's even a world that's just filled with zombies. I have no idea if, or when, he is coming back. Then there is the Spider Squad, which consists of all the spider people here that you can see, even the ones without the extra legs. There is one missing, she's sick right now, sorry about that. Then there's the Ultimates, which currently consists of me, Powerman, White Tiger, Iron Fist, and Nova. Powerman is my boy in the yellow and black, White Tiger, is, well you can kind of see, she's the one with the white suit with black stripes, like a White Tiger. Iron Fist, has the dragon on his chest, and his suit is green and yellow. Nova is the one with the yellow and black suit, and looks a tad short. Then there's the Agents of Karma, who are better known across the internet as The Dark Squires. Then we have all the Widows, while the name might seem weird, trust me, it has a significance. Then there is Logan, Storm, Ice Queen," She blew me a kiss and a wink, which I winked back at. "are all part of another team,, which are currently in hiding for the most part,, they will reveal themselves at their discretion. Let me clarify though, the only leaders of the Justice League, who can sign things for the entirety of the League, are me, Arachnid Kid, and Iron Man. And also, for the sign to be respected by the remaining Leaguers, all three of us have to sign, and not just with our fingers, with our biometrics. And even then, none of the sub teams or even the members are bound to follow what's been signed, only the official status has to follow, it is the option of every single member to agree what has been signed, although it is a recommended thing."
"That does seem a little convenient, doesn't it, Spider-Man?" General Ross asked.
"More like an inconvenience to you." I said frankly. He opened his mouth to say something, but I said "Woah, woah. You asked your question for the day, text my Insta if you want to discuss this more. My handle is @thekarmicspider, I would appreciate a follow from you, if it doesn't inconvenience you too much." I turned to the line of questioners. "Next?"
The next person came in front, and I recognized this person a little too well. This was Christine Everhart, hopefully Tony didn't have his one night stand with her yet.
"Hello, Karma." She said in a very… suggestive tone.
"I'm taken, but hello to you too." I said, in an impartial tone, and light snickers went across the crowd. "You can ask Cap though, Cap?"
I looked at him, and he looked at me in disgust at what I suggested, and he said "You realize I'm a married man?"
"Oh, good point, my bad." I said, turning back to Christine. "What was your question?"
"What would you suppose the first major fight between you and the Captain would be? This question applies to both of you." She asked.
"Captain, go ahead." I said.
"I hope that we don't fight, but if I was to choose a topic that we would fight over, well, I don't know." Steve said, thinking. "I give up." He said after a moment. "Master planner Karma here probably has a good idea what it could be about though."
"I do." I said truthfully. "He works for the government, I got no chains on me. It's right there, in plain sight. The government wants people like me on their rosters, or at least, General Ross does." I gestured at him. "Case in point, Dr. Banner. While I could discuss what Dr. Banner is being hunted for, I won't. I've made the files on the case appear at the top of Google searches, if you feel the need to, go there, and you will find what you are looking for. The government wants to put chains on me, and I'm sorry, but isn't the whole point of me being around is to fix the problems the government can't!? There's an army coming from the sky, uncomfortable to all of the world's armies, all united, and fighting together. I've seen worlds laid to waste by these aliens, and I can't chain my hands and hope for the best. We're not in a utopia here, we're in the real world. I've seen worlds, where this mad alien gets a hold of gems with incomparable power, and he snaps his fingers just like this," I snapped my fingers. "And half of the living population is decimated, be they from Earth or Mars, be they good or bad, rich or poor, smart or dumb, sentient or not, he decimated them. I don't know if I can stop him now, forget about when the government chains my hands. That answers your question, Christine?"
After a moment of thought, she said "Yes it does, thank you very much." And she left from the line, much to my relief, not that I showed it, but it's the thought that counts.
We went on for a few hours, some important questions, some simple questions, and then the event was coming to a close, so I said "OK, last question, then we're done for the day, y'all."
The reporter in the front of the line cleared his throat, then said "May I ask why we haven't been attacked yet? This is an optimal place to attack, so why haven't you been attacked?"
"I don't think I gave them a chance." I said. "Last night, in preparation for today, I cracked down on the crime arena, and put about a hundred people in my webs, plus the amount of people that the others stopped, I don't know the exact number."
The crowd nodded in appreciation, and I stood up, stretched my limbs, then I gave a hand to the Captain, who took it, and stood up.
"I'll see you again." I said, nodding at him.
"You will." Steve confirmed, then he turned, and went onto his motorcycle, and drove away.
"Mountain!" I called out to her, she was talking to one of her agents. She turned to look at me. "Wanna come with us?"
"Why not?" She said. "Let me just finish this up, then I'll come."
She finished with the agent, then she came to me, and said. "Let's go."
I looked at the gang, who were all talking to each other and getting up, and I said "Well, we've got to bounce, gang."
I received mixed responses, and I rolled my eyes, and headed to the limo, as the doors lowered, and I got in, and Sue said "I call shotgun, same as before."
"You called it, you get it." I said, as I sat in the driver's seat, and pressed a couple buttons, lowering the remaining doors.
We headed home, then we all went to the Masque's Home, and went to the brig, and I opened the door to a cell, and said "Hey Nickster. You're going to be heading to Wakanda now."
I looked at him, as he glared at me, and said "So why did you give me the good food if you're just going to keep me in a prison?"
"Because whether I like it or not, I respect you." I said. "But I know that I can't let you out into the world, you can't be trusted with more than your skin. The beeper, please."
He handed me the beeper, and I looked at it for a second, then put it into one of my suit's many pockets.
I webbed his hand to his back, and I said "C'mon, you'll like the person you'll be seeing on the way to the ship."
We went to the next cell, and Whitney opened it, then I said "Yoohooo! How's it going, star of the show?"
"Fuck off." Jacob said, getting up. "What do you want?"
I webbed his hands. "You'll be going with His Highness to Wakanda, where you'll indefinitely serve time."
He walked out of the cell, and Miles took him and grabbed his shoulders to guide him, and we went to the 3rd floor of the ship in silence.
We got to an elevator, and we headed down, then when the doors opened again, we were greeted with a floor filled with different types of planes.
"This way." I said. "The plane I made for you guys to go back home is right around the corner."
They all followed me to the plane I made, it was a small rectangular ship, with a very futuristic design.
"You designed this off of Kori'andr's ship." Cindy guessed, looking at it.
"Right on one." I said, then me and Miles deposited the prisoners to the mini brig on the ship, then headed back outside, to see Shuri inspecting every corner of the ship.
"Is this a nice ship, Dudette?" I asked.
"I'm trying to find a design flaw in it, just wait." Shuri distractedly said, from under the ship.
"The weakness is brute strength from at least Tess, if not someone stronger." I said, kicking the leg of hers that was popping out from under the ship.
"That's mean!" Shuri said, then after a moment, she got out from under the ship..
"What're you naming the baby?" I asked, gesturing at the ship.
"Can it go across space?" Shuri asked, an idea clearly forming in her brain.
"I'm not teaching you how to operate that, and you can't hack the thing to figure out how to, I've created safeties against that." I said immediately, worried that space would have to deal with the crazy woman called Shuri.
"Not cool, but ok." Shuri said. "That's not why I was asking anyway, I wanted to get a name for it. How about the Bridge?"
"Your call." I said.
"Brothers, what do you think?" Shuri said, looking at T'challa and Hunter.
"If this gift is for you, then that works." Hunter said after a moment. "But if it's for Wakanda in general, then I'd say the Kings' Bridge would be better."
"It's for her." I said. "But clearly, I'm not going to get a thank you, ungrateful siblings."
"A pity." Sue said, in mock sadness. "If only they appreciated the struggle we went through for them."
"Would you two shut up about how you're the older siblings for once?" Johnny, Tess, and Shuri all said.
"Besides, you barely even snapped to have this made." Shuri said.
"Yeah, cuz fighting abominations for lifetimes beyond comparison doesn't count." I said with no bite.
"OK, you deserve some of the credit. Happy now?" Shuri said. "By the way, what was the scariest thing you fought back then?"
My memories of fighting a particularly scary being that invaded my mind flashed through my mind, and for a moment, I was back there, fighting it in my mental space, seeing it invade my mind, and show me lose my family, with it ripping each one of their limbs one by one, and ripping their hearts out, and I kept on trying to fight back, to convince myself that it wasn't real, that it wasn't happening, but it was no use, and I was stuck there for millions of years, as it sunk its fangs and claws into all my loved ones, and I was just stuck there, with no escape, until Enigma Force let me out, and even then, I had to spend a few million years trying to defeat him, and eventually, I had to suck him into myself, so as to absorb his powers.
I shook the memories off, and took my mask off to ease my breathing, and said "Don't ask me that, please."
Everyone looked at me in horror, realizing that I was reliving something particularly scary, and I just made a portal under myself, not wanting to discuss this with them at all, and I landed in my bed, under my blankets, and curled into myself.
"Pete?" I heard Nat sleepily say, and she moved around in the bed as I cursed inwardly.
I stayed still, curled up into a ball, my spider legs acting as ropes to secure me into a ball, my heartbeat controlled so as to not even beat, as I looked at Nat's feet that were right next to me with trepidation.
Nat sat up, and I heard her rubbing her eyes, then she said "I could swear I heard his heartbeat here a moment ago."
Then she moved her foot, and it hit me, and she said "Daddy Spider? What are you doing in the corner of the bed?"
I didn't respond, but instead I used my heartbeat to send a message in Morse code: bad memories
"Come here." She said, using her spider legs to pull me into her. "You ok? When were the memories?"
"Before Death met me." I said quietly.
"Oh, that kind of memory." Nat said, then she started running her hand through my hair. "Did you win the fight?"
"Not until I lost my powers." I said, putting my ear to her stomach, and hearing the small heartbeat a little more clearly than before. "But even then, it's not my win, it's Father's."
"I see." Talia said, as she used her spider legs to wrap my spider legs around her, then she wrapped her spider legs around me. "What do you think about the heartbeat?"
"It's beautiful." I said, putting a hand to her stomach.
The door opened slowly, then closed. "Petr, are you ok?" Wanda called out, coming to sit on the edge of the bed, rubbing my back with her hand.
"I'm fine, Love." I said in Sokovian. "You want to hear something?"
"Sure." Wanda said.
I contacted her mentally, and pulled her into my body, so that she could use my senses, and after she was in for a moment, she mentally said How do you hear this much?
Just focus on the small heartbeat. I said, guiding her.
Wanda gave a small gasp, and then she pulled herself out of my body, then gave me and Nat a hug, and said "I'm so happy for both of you!"
"Thank you." I said, with almost all of the bad thoughts having gone from my mind.
"Where is she going to be born?" Wanda she'd excitedly. "You can do it on one of the planets, or you can do it here, or you can do Wakanda, or you can do it at Attilan."
"He's not allowed to visit Attilan." Crystal said, entering the room.
Nat and Wanda both looked at me immediately, a question in their expressions, and I sighed.
"Not everyone trusts the fucking monster." I said in explanation, smirking. "They think I can't be trusted, but, what can they trust me with, that I don't already have?"
"Their trust." Crystal deadpanned.
"True that." I said.
"But ignoring that, why were you talking about Attilan?" Crystal asked.
"There are five heartbeats in the room, that's why." I said, smirking.
Crystal looked confused for a second, then she said "Oh! That's really nice! Congratulations."
I grinned, and said "Thanks a ton. Now I think we kind of had to say goodbye to Okoye and them before they left?"
"They're leaving?" Nat said "Oh yeah, they're leaving!"
I chuckled lightly. "They'll be back again, before you know it."
"Shuri is really upset that she did that to you." Wanda said "You might want to get there, and talk to her."
"Of course." I said, then I got up, and ran to where everyone else was, and said "I'm back, everyone!"
Everyone was still there, except for Shuri, and I was about to ask where she was, when Hunter said "She's in the ship, stressing out and playing with the controls. You might wanna…"
"Of course." I said, then I went to the pilot room of the ship, and saw Shuri just sitting in the pilot's seat, and I sat in the copilot's seat.
We sat in silence for a while, then I said "How's the ship? The cloaking is so advanced, not even Xavier using Cerebro could know your position in the sky while using this."
"It's good." Shuri said in a monotonous voice.
"He has fangs." I said after a few moments of silence. "And claws. I'm not talking about Father, he may be the scariest being I've ever faced, but I've never truly fought Father. I'm talking about the thing I fought so long ago. Just like yesterday though. It feels like I saw the dinosaurs roam Earth before I fought him. His face was so hideous." I shivered. "He didn't have red eyes, that would have been nicer. He had eyes that were dimensions, dimensions that I can still draw power from. They weren't colors, nor were they blank. They were glowing. But not with a color, they were glowing with darkness. But when you looked him in the eyes, you would see the eyes of all the people you hated. All the people that hurt you, or that you were scared of. His fangs looked like they were painted with actual blood, but when they touch you, you realize they are made out of blood. He didn't have a mouth, his fangs just came out of nowhere. His face was black, with streaks of sickly green. His body looked like a skeleton made out of muscle. It didn't have ribs or something, it had the normal look of a body. But it looked like bones. I never got his name."
"When will you rest, and look upon a grateful world?" Shuri asked.
I smiled nostalgically, but there was sadness mixed with it. "That's what I want for you all to get one day. I don't want rest, I don't know what that is."
Shuri scoffed. "Surely the person you were before coming here knew what that was."
"He was an insomniac, a coffee addict." I said.
"Maybe not, then." Shuri said. "I'm sorry, that I relived your memories."
"I need to learn to move on." I said. "If I didn't want anyone to ask that, or questions like that, I never would've come back. Thank you."
"You're weird."
"We knew that like so long ago, but ok, you can say it again."
"You're weird."
"You and Tess spent too much time together."
"I don't regret it."
"Let's just go back to everyone else." I said, sighing. "You're leaving, and you need to give a proper goodbye. Don't tell me you want to sulk in your chair, there's nothing to sulk about."
"Fine then." Shuri said, standing up. "Let me turn the cloaking on first, I want to see it from outside."
"You won't see it, but ok." I said, then after Shuri activated the cloaking, we got out of the ship, and we turned back to look at where the ship was, only to see nothing.
"Wow, you were right." Shuri said, looking at nothing. "Now how exactly will we get back in?"
"It's connected to your watch." I said.
"Is this a bribe?" Shuri said. "I wear your watch, and get to use the crazy cool ship."
"You know me so well, Shuri." I said.
I turned to the rest. "T'challa." I said. "I spent a couple minutes destroying the Crown already, like, Yemandi's Crown, it's gone for good. When your father asks, tell him I destroyed it. When he asks why, explain. And take this."
I handed him a square screen, and he looked at it for a second, then said "The Justice League pager?"
"Something like that." I said. "I call it L.I.P.: Leaguers' Intercommunication Pager. Take this too."
I made a triangle shaped object appear in my hand, and gave it to him.
"What's this?" He asked.
I smirked. "For when you spar with Okoye." I winked at her. "It's called C.U.P.: Cocks Under Protection."
After a moment of silence, we all started laughing.
"But seriously." I said, after we all calmed down. "It can take more than ten nuclear missiles, and it can take a punch from even me. Unless I use Karnak's powers, I can't break it. It can also double as a condom, in case you need it."
We all started laughing again, and I looked around contently, at my family all enjoying themselves.
"You look like this is going to be your last time seeing us." Wanda said, looking at me.
I shrugged. "I'm weird, don't mind me."
My spider sense blared, and I looked as Okoye took her spear and threw it at me, and I let it hit my forehead, and it made a small cut, then it fell to the ground.
"Nice way to say goodbye." I said, picking the spear up.
I threw it back at her, and she caught it. "Don't think too much." She said, putting her spear back on her belt as it shrunk.
"Yeah, cuz I'll die if I don't." I said, rolling my eyes amusedly.
"I'm not joking." She hissed at me, coming to my face.
"I'm not either." I said, then I gestured at the plane, which Shuri had deactivated the cloaking on. "Take a break, you deserve one."
She smirked. "So now you're my real responsibility, or what?"
"I don't know." I said, shrugging with a smirk. "But what I do know is that you don't need to see me ruining myself day after day, and you have a job to get to."
"So you're sending me away." Okoye said, in a no nonsense tone, but I could tell she was joking.
"I just want the best for you, Okes." I said, taking her hand and guiding her into the ship, where we'd be alone. "And right now, I'm losing it up here, and it's best that I get farther and farther, till some crazy time travel thing happens or something, and I come back to myself. It hurts me, to see you guys worry for me."
"I'm not worried." She said, and I gave her a look. "Ok, I'm worried, but not as much as the rest. I know you'll get back on your feet, sooner or later. But I'd rather it'd be sooner rather than later. But don't push all of us away, it'll make things worse."
"I know." I said, then I gave her a soft kiss.
"Stay safe." She said softly.
"Awww, cute moment!" Shuri said, and we both glared at her.
"Ok, ok, I'm going!" Shuri said, running away from our glares, towards the cockpit.
"Guess this is goodbye then." I said.
"Don't go crazy." Okoye said.
"How can I?" I said, winking. "You'll beat me up if I do."
After a few more words between the two of us, I went towards the exit of the ship, where I saw T'challa and Namor talking, unsurprisingly, the two of them had become fast friends.
"So, it's time to go, T'challa." I said, after him and Namor said their last words.
"Till next time." He said, giving me a relatively firm handshake. "Good luck on your child, and congratulations."
"We still have a while till then, but thank you." I said. "Till next time, and stay safe, all of you."
"She'll be safe." T'challa said, detecting the underlying message, and I smiled.
"Knew there was a reason you were the best version of yourself." I said. "Come here."
I gave him a bro hug, then I let him go, and clapped him on the shoulder, and said "Tell T'Chaka I said hi."
T'Challa activated his mask, and said "I will."
"Who knew?" I said. "The great Black Panther can have teary eyes?"
T'Challa huffed, then he started walking up the stairs, and as he entered, I said "Good luck, T'Challa."
He nodded at me, then he went in.
I turned to see Hunter and Tess talking quietly in the side, and I called out to them. "Hey lovebirds! Why don't you let each other go!"
Tess glared at me, then both of them came over, and I gave Hunter an amuletthat was in the card form.
"What's this?" He said, looking at it.
"Power." I said. "Wear it, you'll like it."
"I don't need another amulet." He said.
"Bro, this is not any simple amulet." I said. "This is a white wolf amulet, of the highest caliber. I created the animal, I gave him true power, I am giving you something that hasn't lost power over the generations. Wear it."
He gave it to me, and said "The rite of passing."
"Knew you'd remember it." I said, then I placed my hand over his, and gave it to him, and simultaneously, I let go of the amulet, as Hunter grabbed it, and attached it to his belt.
He was covered with a gray light for a moment, then it subsided, and he looked at himself, then he said "Wow."
"Yeah I know, it's awesome." I said. "Now it's time for you to book your ass into the ship, and get your family out of here, enjoy your time there, the rest of us except for Tess, book the hell out of the room, we don't need to see PDA."
"Aren't you all about PDA?" Luke asked as we got out.
"No, I'm not./he's not." A whole bunch of us said.
"Except when it benefits you." Cindy said, smirking.
"Hey, that was one time!" I said.
"In front of the whole school." Felicia said. "We can do it again though, if you want." She winked at me.
"That was once, and the rest of you guys are all family, but even then, I don't do it all the time in front of you -"
"Dude, remember the day you fought the Inheritors?" AJ said, and I turned away.
"Doesn't count." I said.
"What happened here?" Tess said, coming to the room. "They're leaving, and the plane is rising."
We all went back to the dock inside the Masque's Home, where the ship was rising, and we saw them all in the cockpit, waving at us.
We waved back, then the ship went towards the exit, a concealed and cloaked exit which no one could see, and the ship activated cloaking and it was gone.
"Anticlimactic." I said, after a moment.
"We always are anticlimactic." Tess said. "But what exactly was it that had Pete embarrassed?"
"I wasn't embarrassed, but ok." I said, rolling my eyes.
"We were talking about the game we played in school." Felicia said, jumping onto my back.
"We are making the school a little more interesting." Bobbi said. "Maria here is being pressured to keep a closer tab on me, as an ex S.H.I.E.L.D. with power, so she's being forced to bring in an assistant principal for me. His name is Phil Coulson. That's cool with you, or not?"
I had a grin on my face. "So I get to meet the infamous Agent Coulson. Totally fine by me. What about his team?"
"Team?" Maria asked.
"Oh never mind, we still have a while till that, after Loki's/Thanos' attack." I said, and they all looked at me, waiting for an explanation, then I just gave a ¯\_(ツ)_/¯, and they dropped it.
After a moment, Tess said "Back to point…"
Felicia kissed my cheek, then said "What's there to talk about? Actually, Junior, what's the gossip saying these days?"
"You're on news, as both Peter's possible girlfriend, as well as one of Spider-Man's partners that he does daily patrols with." AJ said.
"Uhh, what?" I said. "I'm not that famous, am I?"
"I would've robbed your place a million times over before I met you if I didn't have a code." Felicia said, answering my question.
"I really am a celebrity." I said, then I nodded in appreciation. "Makes for a lot more interesting stuff when my identity gets revealed."
"You need to go on a vacation." Felicia said. "And I know just the right vacation. Me and you, we're going to that beach planet. The one in my solar system. We're going to spend a week there, and you can't say no."
"As long as we time travel back, I'm down." I said, not really thinking about how I'd survive a week without Spider-Manning, and just saying yes because Felicia would scratch me if I didn't.
"Good." Felicia said. Cindy looked like she was about to say something, but Felicia cut her off. "No, you're not coming. You can take him for something like this at your own time. Now Spider, me and you, we're going to get some clothes to take there."
"The underwater house literally has all the clothes you'd need." I protested.
"Yeah, but not the ones I want." Felicia said, then she leant into my ear, and whispered. "What's the point of being at a beach without a good set of clothes?"
She stretched the word "clothes", and I bit my lip at the thought, and then I shook my head, and Felicia said "Perfect! I'll get my clothes!"
She jumped off my back, then she ran off, and I thought for a moment, then I said "How the hell am I supposed to survive a week without Spider-Man?"
"She definitely has plans." Cindy said in a suggestive tone, wagging her eyebrows. "I think you'll find yourself very busy."
"Too busy to remember Spider-Man?" Wanda said skeptically. "That'd be like forgetting his gender. I don't think that's possible, but you'll have fun. You need a break, and Felicia definitely knows how to get you to go crazy. That girl's a force of nature, and it's called fun."
"And which force of nature are you?" I asked.
"The Scarlet Witch." Wanda said.
"You finally read the knowledge I compiled for you from the beginning." I said, knowing how she knew her moniker. "What'd you think?"
"It was very… informative." Wanda said. "I have power beyond comparison, and I find it interesting."
"It's fine." I said. "You're scared, and it's fine. When I got my powers and shit, I was scared beyond comparison. But I hadn't time to be scared, I had to act immediately. You don't have that, and I'll make sure you don't. Not ever, will you, or anyone else, be forced to let go before they want to, if I have anything to say about it."
Wanda hugged me, and I hugged her back, rubbing her back softly, and then after a moment, she let go, and said "Have fun."
She kissed me, and Sam said "P-D-A! I thought you didn't do that!"
I gave Sam the middle finger behind me as I kissed Wanda back, then after a moment, we parted.
"It won't be more than five minutes for you guys." I said.
Nat was about to say something, then we both heard Felicia call out "Peterr!"
I raised an eyebrow, and whispered back in a way that it would echo back to her, "How may I be of service?"
My words echoed across the walls softly, and after a moment, Felicia's answer came back. "Time to go! Get your hot ass here, you said we're going to time travel back, so our future versions are going to come out of the portal anytime now!"
"Not how it works, but ok." Both me and Nat said, and I smirked at her, then gave her a kiss, then headed to Felicia's room.
I opened the door, to a sight which had my brain short-circuit.
Felicia was looking at me, with a bikini on, that was red and in web designs, and had my logo as clasps.
"What do you think, Spider?" Felicia said flirtatiously, jumping into my arms.
In the distance, I heard Nat say "His brain is short-circuiting at the sight of her."
"You look… hot." I said, after a moment.
"I'm not surprised." Wanda said to Nat, just as Felicia said the same thing.
I ignored them, and looked at the bag laying on the bed.
"For some reason, your closet was filled with nice clothes at the beach house." Felicia said, and I looked back at her. "Why did you make me have to pack clothes?"
"I wasn't about to choose your bikinis!" I said.
"You should've." Felicia said. "Now you have to take the bag through the portal."
"Cuz it's super heavy, as heavy as a pigeon, and that's my punishment, to take a super heavy bag."
"It's the thought that counts." Felicia countered, as I picked the bag up with a leg, and walked towards the portal.
We went through, and found ourselves on the edge of the treeline of a beach, and in the water, there was a place where you could see a straight area where the water seemed… different.
I took us onto it, and as we walked along the path, Felicia said "This path is beautiful. What are we walking on?"
"Adamantium, with specific properties." I said.
I took us down the elevator at the end of the path, and let Felicia down, who went to a couch, and admired the view of the windows, of the sea creatures that were casually swimming around the house.
I went to the bedroom, then set the bag on the bed, then I started changing my clothes, then as I opened the room,I looked back at the bag, thinking about the outfits that were definitely very good looking, then I ignored the thought, and headed back to the living room.
This was going to be a beautiful and interesting week.