January 3
Pepper instantly shot up, "Tony! I thought you would be back home in two days!"
Tony, still glaring at Michelle said, "Good thing I canceled my meetings and came home early then."
Pepper walked over to Tony and stroked his arm, trying to calm him down. May stayed sitting down with Michelle. Happy was shocked and Rhodey looked unsteady.
"Ok," Rhodey said, clapping his hands together, "Lets all calm down, sit down, and talk."
Tony sneered, "Good idea. Nice to see you Michelle." Pepper gave Tony a hard look and Michelle looked away and crossed her arms. She chewed on her lip and her eyes hardened. Tony's eyes met Pepper's and he let out a deep sigh. "Where's Morgan?"
Pepper smiled, "He's downstairs with the art teacher. He'll be happy that you're home early."
Tony grinned, his eyes lighting up. "Of course he missed me."
Pepper rolled her eyes and Michelle clenched her teeth, trying to stop herself from making a snarky comment.
"How long is he with the teacher for?" Tony asked, sitting down on the couch directly on the other side of Michelle. He crossed his legs and stared at Michelle, inspecting her, with a raised eyebrow.
"Another hour." Pepper replied, sitting next to Tony. She gave May a worried glance and May bit her lip, glancing at Tony then glancing at Michelle.
"Good," Tony mused, leaning forward to make eye contact with Michelle, "We have a lot to talk about don't we MJ?"
Michelle put her lips in a tight line and stared at Tony. Her eyes were fierce and on alert. She shrugged. Tony grabbed Michelle's cup of coffee and took a long drink of it, wiggling his eyebrows, mockingly.
"Tony," Pepper sighed, shaking her head, "Stop being unreasonable."
"I'm not the one in the room that dissapeared for 2 years with no reason," Tony growled, seething. May shot Tony a harsh glare.
Bile rose up Michelle's throat and she felt strong fluttering in her stomach. She winced and rubbed her temples, pleading for it to stop. Michelle narrowed her eyes menacingly, "I can leave again, trust me."
"Woah woah woah!" Rhodey said, "Everyone calm down." He started to walk towards MJ and he patted her shoulder, "Glad that your back."
MJ gave him a tight smile and lowered her gaze back down to the floor. Tony grumbled and leaned back on the couch while Rhodey took a seat next to Tony and Happy pulled up a chair.
All eyes were pointed on Michelle. MJ pursed her lips and her eyes wandered out to the window. She gulped and slumped down onto the couch. She had a tight frown on her face and her eyes were tired. "Where do you want me to start?"
"Hmm, how about the beginning." Tony stated strongly, leaning forward. He had a pissed off look on his face and his eyebrows were furrowed. A vein was popping out on top of his head.
"Well, ok..." Michelle said sarcastically, "One sunny morning on March 6th Michelle Jones was bo-"
Tony sneered and shook his head, "Stop with the bullshit."
Michelle narrowed her eyes as she stared at Tony. She scowled, "Calm down, old man, be careful you might have a heart attack."
The vein popped out even more on Tony's head and he clenched his teeth.
"Michellle..." May sighed, "please."
Michelle's eyes met May's concerned gaze and her eyes softened. Michelle frowned. "Ok." She turned to Pepper, "Do you have my bag?"
Pepper raised her eyebrows, "The one with the guns in it?"
"WHAT?" Happy asked, breaking his silence, "That is a security violation!"
Michelle rolled her eyes, "Do I seem like I'm about to shoot everyone in this room?"
"You'll shoot me," Tony muttered, narrowing his eyes. He crossed his arms.
Michelle ran a hand over her face, "I'm not going to hurt anyone. I don't have a death wish."
Rhodey smiled in amusement and crossed his arms. Pepper blinked and grabbed the backpack from under the couch. She handed it to Michelle.
"Thank you," Michelle said, grabbing the backpack. She opened it up and ruffled through it for a few moments before pulling out a hard drive and setting the two guns on the table, calmly, so no one would freak out.
"Is that a hard drive?" Tony snorted, "No one uses those."
Michelle stared at him with an intense glare, devoid of any emotion, "Do you want me to tell you what happened or not?"
Tony shut up.
Michelle let out a deep sigh and brought her legs up to her chest on the couch. She wrapped her arms around her legs and rested her head on her knees. Her eyes averted to the ground and she looked like she was staring at nothing. "The day Ned died, he didn't die from a fire." Michelle blinked and sighed, "Someone shot him in the stomach and Peter said he was already gone by the time he got in the apartment building."
Rhodey looked confused, "Who shot him?"
Michelle gulped and shook her head, "Peter said there were two men in the apartment building with guns. They knew who he was but they didn't get the chance to do anything since half of he building fell on them." Michelle winced and ran her fingers over the hard drive, almost therapeutically.
"Why didn't he tell us?" Tony asked, trying to hide the hurt in his voice.
"He didn't even tell me," MJ confessed. She continued defensively, "But - he thought he was hallucinating from the smoke. He didn't realize the men were actually in the room until he watched the footage back." Michelle ran a hand through her hair.
"Then we left for Malibu." May said, regret in her voice.
Michelle looked at her and replied intensely, "Nothing was your fault. This couldn't have been stopped."
"What happened next?" Pepper asked softly.
Michelle's eyes fell to the floor again, "Peter and I didn't leave the tower once. We ultimately ran out of food and I was sick so I asked Peter to get some groceries. We really thought we were safe." Her eyes clouded and Michelle frowned. "While Peter was gone I stayed in our room. I think I was drawing, I doesn't matter - but, all of a sudden Friday was telling me that someone was trying to hack into the tower and the systems and then he was just ... gone." Michelle had a haunted look in her eyes and her voice quivered, "I um- tried to call Peter but he forgot his phone and before I knew it these two men came in through the vents and tied me up in a chair and put a gun to my head. They kept on asking me where Peter was."
Michelle looked up and took in a deep breath. May put a hand on her soldier for comfort. Michelle cleared her throat and blinked, "To sum things up, Peter ended up getting back in time. Before he could figure out who the men where they took some sort of pills and killed themselves."
"Why was there blood?" Happy asked, "When we got back there was gun in the room."
Michelle bit her lip, "Peter and I both got scrapped by the bullet, no one got fully shot though," she pulled back a piece of her hair to show the scar it left, "here's evidence," she said sarcastically. Michelle continued, "We were pretty shook up. Peter wasn't thinking straight and I was scared. He explained to me what happened to Ned and he traced back one of the PIN number's of these guns to a ex-hydra member. He freaked out because they knew who he was and I freaked out because I thought he was going to leave or do something stupid and ... then we just came up with a plan and ... left." MJ frowned.
Michelle looked up at Tony. He was staring at her. He was frowning and his arms were crossed. She sighed, "He burned the suit. We thought that if we left and hid, whoever was coming after Peter would leave you guys alone and eventually give up. We were going to come back, but," Michelle sighed and looked away, "We never meant any harm." She placed the hard drive on the table separating the two couches and gazed at Tony, "all the evidence is on here- I think - I've never opened it but I remember Peter keeping it just in case something happened."
The group was silent for a few moments before Rhodey asked, "Where did you go?"
Michelle smiled slightly, "We bought an old cheap van and drove to the west coast. For a few months we stayed in San Diego, but it was too beachy for us. We went up to Santa Barbara for a month and then drove up to San Francisco. We rented out a ratty old apartment outside of the city and lived there for close to two years." She frowned, "We thought we were hidden enough. We both got easy and simple jobs and we were living paycheck by paycheck. We really thought we were safe and we were thinking about coming back home but then," Michelle sighed, "They found us."
"Who?" Tony whispered. His eyebrows were furrowed.
Michelle's face went limp, devoid of any emotion. She stared at the ground. She sighed, "Whoever they are."
"What happened, Michelle?" May asked. Her eyes were glistening and Michelle let out a shaky breath.
"Peter woke me up in the middle of the night. It happened so fast I didn't realize what was happening. He hid me under the bed and he told me he loved me before ..." Michelle looked down, "people started banging on the door. He promised he would find me and then he took off. I heard them go after him but..." Michelle looked up painfully, shook her head, and shut her eyes, "I don't know where he is." Her voice was quivering and Michelle clenched her mouth shut.
Michelle looked up and her eyes met May's watery ones. A tear fell down May's cheek. Michelle frowned and emotions tug at her heart. She grabbed May into a hug and May cried into MJ's shoulder. MJ gulped and her eyes glanced from Tony to Pepper. Pepper looked shocked and Tony was staring down at the hard drive deep in thought. His eyes were glistening and he bit his lip. "When did this happen?"
May moved away from Michelle and she stood up and walked towards the kitchen to grab a tissue. Pepper followed her and stood next to May, rubbing her back.
Michelle replied, "It happened on the 30th. I immediately tried to get to New York but the flights were delayed."
Tony opened his mouth about to reply when suddenly a bustling five year old ran into the communal room.
"Daddy!" Morgan shrieked, vaulting over the couch and falling on Tony's lap.
Tony immediately smiled and hugged his son, wiping at his eyes "Hi, buddy. I missed you."
Morgan smiled goofily, his missing teeth showing. He let go of Tony and turned to see a very shocked MJ. Morgan's eyes lit up and his smile widened, "Aunty MJ!" He ran over to her and hugged her immedialety. Michelle smiled and hugged Morgan back. Her eyes were glistening and she wiped at them. "I've missed you. I knew you'd come back!" Morgan sat down on Michelle's lap and smiled. Michelle laughed and ran a hand through his hair.
"Hi, Morg. You've grown so much." Michelle smiled.
Morgan nodded and continued to babble on, "I have so much to tell you about! I take art lessons now and I remember how you love to sketch so now we can draw together! And daddy sometimes lets me help him make robots and they're so cool we can make one together. I'm just so glad you're back!"
Michelle nodded and smiled sadly down at Morgan. Pepper noticed the look in her eyes and she walked over. "Hey, buddy," she kneeled down in front of a very excited Morgan, "Michelle is pretty tired from traveling, so why don't we let her go back to her room and we can see her later."
Morgan frowned and whined, tightening his hold on Michelle, "But she's been gone for so long!"
"Morgan." Pepper frowned.
"I'm not going to leave again," Michelle said, fixing Morgan's hair, "but I am pretty tired. We can draw later today."
Morgan seemed to take this into consideration, "Could we have a sleepover? Mommy?"
Pepper nodded and smiled, "Sure, baby."
"I'm not a baby! I'm a big boy!" Morgan replied, finally letting go of MJ.
Michelle detached herself quietly and started walking back to the room she woke up in. She walked by May, who wasn't crying anymore but had puffy red eyes. May smiled sadly at her and MJ patted May's arm before she continued to walk back. Michelle turned and met Tony's eyes. His gaze was calculating as he observed Michelle. MJ crossed her arms and continued to walk to her room.
Once alone in her room, she closed the door (to her dismay there was no lock) and fell against the bed. Michelle let the tears run down her face as she closed her eyes. The fluttering continued to rise and she placed a hand on her stomach. MJ blinked and stared at the ceiling before falling into a deep sleep.
. . .
Michelle let the hot water run over her body. The compound was cold and it was now snowing outside so it was nice to warm up a bit. The shower was huge and the water pressure was super strong. The bathroom was as big as the living room that Peter and MJ had in San Francisco. Michelle stepped out of the shower and dried herself off. She rummaged through her backpack and pulled out a new pair of semi clean leggings and shirt. Michelle put the clothes on and brushed her teeth. She braided her hair and put some chap stick on. Michelle frowned as she looked at her reflection in the mirror. Her stomach was slightly protruded but she only looked like she ate one too many donuts. Michelle pursed her lips - she wasn't exactly showing yet (thank god) but she didn't want to take any chances. Michelle threw her over sized sweatshirt back on and she opened the door. Her eyes widened as she saw May sitting on her bed with photos in her hands.
May looked up at Michelle and smiled softly. Michelle chuckled nervously and ran a hand through her hair. She sat down next to May. May set the photos down and pulled MJ into a hug. "I'm really am glad your back."
Michelle gave her a tight lipped smile, "Thanks."
May continued to gaze down at MJ with concern in her gaze, "Pepper is too. So is Happy and Rhodey. And I haven't seen Morgan as excited as he is in so long. Tony's stubborn but, trust me, he's happy your back too."
Michelle smirked, "Last time I checked you hated Tony as much as I did." May smiled slightly. "I stopped by at your apartment - old apartment. You moved here."
May nodded, "Yes I did, two years ago. After you and Peter left I was never at the apartment anyway," May gazed out the window, "It became natural to live here. I would wake up, go to work, then Pepper, Morgan, Happy, and sometimes even Tony and Rhodey would pick me up from work and then we'd all get dinner and watch a movie or something. They became my family."
Michelle looked away regretfully and nodded, "I really am sorry May."
May shook her head, "I understand, and even though I was upset, I get it. And so does everyone else." May took Michelle's hand, "We're going to find him. Your part of our family. But MJ, I swear to god, if you go missing again I'm going to kick your ass."
Michelle laughed slightly and nodded, "I don't think I'm going to be going out and adventuring anywhere anytime soon."
May nodded, "Anyway, I was just going to give these back to you." She handed Michelle a small photo album. Michelle took it and ran her hand over it. "I didn't mean to rummage through your backpack but when we were picking you up from the motel it fell out."
"It's ok." Michelle smiled lightly, "I actually forgot these were in here."
Michelle's eyes lit up as she slowly flipped the pages of the book open and May smiled as she gazed at Michelle's face. "Do you mind if I look at them?"
MJ nodded, "Sure." She flipped open the first photo. It was of Peter sitting on top of the van they had bought. They were in San Diego and had bought tacos. "We bought the camera at a old garage sale." She flipped the page again to a picture of the two on the Golden Gate Bridge. MJ had an annoyed look on her face and Peter was blinking in the photo. May snorted at the photo. "That was when we just moved to San Fransisco and Peter kept on annoying me about doing all the touristy things." Michelle turned the page again to reveal a photo where MJ was sleeping. The sheets were covering her bare body and Michelle's face was rosy red. Michelle immediately flipped the page again to hide the photo. Her cheeks heated up and May was smirking. "Sorry." Michelle laughed nervously.
May laughed and stood up, "I remember when I was your age. God I sound so old."
Michelle rolled her eyes, still embarrassed, and placed the photo album on the bedside table.
May started to walk towards the door and spun around. "I just made dinner, if your hungry."
Michelle blinked, "you cooked? And it's edible? And people are eating it?"
May rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, "Excuse you but I am a great cook! I took cooking lessons!"
Michelle scoffed, "You cooked all by yourself?"
May pursed her lips and opened the door, "Pepper helped me a bit," she admitted, "but if you're hungry we will all be in the kitchen."
Michelle smiled slightly, "Thanks, May."
May winked and shut the door, leaving Michelle alone in her thoughts.
. . .
The first thing Peter realized when he woke up is that he was definitely not in his apartment. Definitely not.
Peter blinked rapidly, trying to clear his vision. He licked his dry lips and slowly sat up. He was laying on the cold concrete floor. Peter sat up against the concrete wall. There was nothing in the room except concrete walls. Water was dripping from the ceiling and it was around 40 degrees in the room. Peter coughed and looked around the room - no cell - before standing up. He walked towards the metal door and inspected it.
Yeah, I'm definitely stuck here.
The room was ok sized. It wasn't small but it wasn't large. There were no security cameras, or none that Peter could see. Peter's spider senses were blaring at him and Peter had to sick back down in order to calm down. His mind immediately drifted towards MJ.
Oh god. MJ. Where was she right now? Did they get her too? What day is what? What time is it? Peter rubbed his temples and sighed. When's the last time I ate or drank something.
Suddenly, Peter's sense screamed at him. So suddenly that a wave of nausea hit him and Peter had to hold onto the ground to steady himself. The metal door swung open and a lizard-human mutant thing crawled inside. Peter's eyes widened and jumped onto the ceiling just in time before the mutant was able to grab him.
"What the hell!?" Peter cried, continuing to dodge the mutants claws. Peter cursed and kicked the mutant in the face. The mutant stumbled back and stared Peter straight in the eyes. "Holy shit." Peter gaped, eyes wide, as he observed the mutant.
It was a lizard as far as you could tell. It had 4 legs and it crawled on the ground. It's claws were sharp. But it had human eyes with human emotions. The eyes were blue and had tears in them - almost like a human was stuck inside the mutant. It's tongue flicked out and it leaped back up, trying to grab Peter.
Peter stared at the mutant for too long. It caught him off guard and its claw swiped Peter across his abdomen. Peter cried out in pain and leaped from wall to wall, continuing to dodge the swipes. The lizard caught him again and Peter was stuck under one of it's hands, paws, whatever the fuck it was.
It growled in his face and spit on Peter and showed it's teeth. Peter winced as the mutant continued to apply more and more pressure on him. He was unable to breath.
Peter's mind wandered off to Michelle. The last moments he had with her before he led the men in the opposite direction hit him like a truck.
"Peter," Michelle stated strongly, holding onto his arm, "You're not allowed to die. You hear me? You're not allowed to leave me. To leave us just because of some heroic bullshit."
Peter gave Michelle a look of dismay and his mouth was dry.
A tear ran down MJ's face and she growled, "Promise me, right now Parker, that you aren't going to be selfless. For once in your life, please do things for you. Think about your future. Think about May, think about me, think about goddamn Tony Stark if you have to. Think about the baby."
Peter gulped and pulled Michelle into a short, emotional kiss. He looked at her deep in the eyes. She was scared, and goddamn so was he. "I promise. I'm going to come back I swear."
Michelle drew in a shaky breath and wiped a tear from Peter's cheek.
"I love you."
Peter gasped for a breath and opened his eyes. His vision was becoming blurry and his limbs were going limp. I can't die here. I can't die here. Peter grunted in effort as he threw the mutant off of him. The mutant cried in pain as it hit the wall.
Peter ignored the pain in his chest and his shortness of breath and he grabbed the mutant by the neck and pushed it against the wall. Peter looked away from the mutants human eyes. Its eyes were watering and emotion seeped out of them. Peter gulped and continued to push the mutant against the wall. It struggled against his hold and after a few moments it went limp. Peter watched in shock as it fell to the ground, dead. It's eyes were lifeless and Peter, shocked at what he just did, stumbled backwards.
I just killed it. I just killed it. I've never killed anything before.
It's lifeless eyes continued to stare into Peter's soul. Peter couldn't take his gaze away and he watched numbly as the mutant twitched and it slowly began to morph into a human body. His voice was stuck in his throat as the mutant's claws turned into legs and it's fangs morphed into a mouth.
Oh my god. What is this.
Suddenly, Peter spun around to face a man. He was dressed in all black and had a doctors white jacket on. He had green eyes and had a huge scar over his face. Peter gulped as he clapped, clapped, and smiled at Peter.
He put his hand out, "Pleasure to meet you Mr. Parker, I'm a huge fan."
Peter stared in disgust at the man. His voice was stuck in his throat. The man motioned over to two other guards and they quickly grabbed the dead body and took it out of the room.
"Who are you?" Peter asked, trying to keep his voice steady.
The man smiled quizzically. His teeth were sharpened down to pointy weapons. "That is not important. Now please follow me, Asset 01, we have lots of work to do."
review please!
