Spider, Spider... Arc 1
Demons and Goblins
Chapter 6: Self-Beginnings
The voice had startled Jessica out of her bed, and she scrambled back out of her bed when a pair of sharp blades reflected the moonlight into her eyes. There was a young girl there, scarcely twelve by the look of her, and she was shaking pitifully, clutching at her head in pain. "Help... Me..." She whispered, her voice hoarse from disuse, and Jessica caught sight of bright blue eyes before they rolled up in their sockets and the girl collapsed.
Jessica stood there, momentarily dumbstruck by the girl's appearance. She was wearing a tight-fitted bodysuit that appeared to have a layer of metallic armour over her vital organs, and her feet and hands were bare, but completely unmarked. Her face was framed by sleek black hair that would have hung all the way down her back, had she been standing. Her face itself... She had to double check, but the resemblance was there.
She quickly gathered her thoughts and reached into her side table drawer, squeezing her SHIELD-issue panic button. With the signal sent, she had enough time to dash downstairs and wake Peter up, ignoring his moaned requests for "Five minutes, Aunt May..." The pair of them were standing in her room less than twenty seconds later.
"She just climbed in through your window and blacked out?" Peter asked, circling the unconscious girl warily.
"She had claws, Peter." She replied, still looking at the girl's face. "Like Wolverine's claws."
Peter frowned, taking another look at her face. "Maybe a little... In the jawline..." He muttered, scratching his chin. "What colour did you say her eyes were? Eye colour is a pretty strong trait..."
"Blue." She answered, sitting back on her bed. Just then, someone knocked on the front door. Peter frowned once again.
"Alright, I'll go let SHIELD in, you wake up Aunt May. She needs to be involved in this."
Jessica was about to ask if that was the wisest choice, but he was already gone. Not for the first time, she cursed his impetuousness, silently padding down the hall and knocking on the master bedroom door. "Aunt May?" She called, cracking the door open a bit. Miraculously, the first call woke her Aunt, a notoriously heavy sleeper. (When she didn't have the nightmares, of course... But that's another story..."
"Jessica?" The elder Parker groaned, sitting up slowly. "What is it, dear?" Jessica summed up the girl's appearance in her room just as Peter mounted the top of the stairs, a number of men in armour trailing after him.
"Since when do you guys knock?" She asked, and the last person on the stairs smiled. She gulped as her heart skipped a beat for no real reason, staring into the iconic red, white and blue costume.
"Your family is... A bit of a special case." Captain America answered, pausing at the top of the stairs and extending a hand towards Aunt May. "I don't believe we've met, ma'am. Captain America, but please, call me Steve."
To her credit, Aunt May didn't hesitate whatsoever in accepting the handshake. "May Parker. It's an honour to meet you, sir." She stopped to look down at the girl, who was now being carried out of the room on a stretcher. "And what will happen to her, then?"
Cap watched as they moved the mystery assailant down the stairs. "That all depends, ma'am. If you'd like, I can keep you appraised of the situation, as interested parties."
"I would appreciate that. Thank you, Steve."
Little more was said as the men did a quick final sweep of the property before vanishing into the night in an armored car of some sort. Cap made small talk for a few minutes before he made his farewells and left in a camouflaged Humvee, leaving the Parkers alone on their doorstep. The first light of day was just barely peeking up above the horizon as they returned to their beds. An hour's dozing later, and three alarm clocks went off at six thirty, rousing them again.
Aunt May was already making coffee when Jessica shuffled into the kitchen, a bag full of blank, fresh school supplies slung over one shoulder. She yawned as she grabbed a mug out of the cupboard and poured herself a cup, adding two generous scoops of sugar and a dash of cream to it. Aunt May was staring at her oddly when she looked up, and she flushed. "I kinda developed a taste for it... Back in the lab..." Her Aunt heard the pain in her voice and didn't push, only nodding and sitting down across from her, flipping through the paper like she did every morning.
Peter stumbled up the stairs thirty minutes later, barely leaving himself enough time to make some toast and tie his shoes before Mary Jane knocked on the door, ready to be walked to school. They had agreed to take the half-hour walk together the previous evening, to avoid any potential scene on the bus. Peter pointedly rechecked his webshooters, which were stowed in a hidden pocket in his bag, and Jessica had to fight not to look for hers. She was wearing a nice, plain blouse and jeans combo, and MJ allowed her to get away with not wearing any makeup, much to her relief. But the combination of the thin top and somewhat tight jeans meant that she couldn't wear her suit underneath her civilian clothes. It was simply too thick, even compared to the old red and blue suit...
She shook her head suddenly, shaking that train of thought loose. No more reminiscing about my old life. She mentally berated herself. I am a new person. I am Jessica Parker.
"You okay, Jessica?" Peter's voice made her look up.
"Yeah... Just a little nervous..." She answered truthfully. "I... I hope everyone..."
Peter hesitated visibly before throwing one arm around her shoulders and giving a gentle squeeze. "No worries, sister. You'll be fine." She swallowed and looked away awkwardly, blushing as she did. As wierd as it still was, that little half-hug helped her calm down a lot of the thoughts that were swimming through her mind at that moment.
"Yeah, and you've still got the two of us." Mary chimed in, mimicking the motion from the other side, causing more awkward feelings to flood the clone's body. But to know that they cared...
She'd run the scenario through in her head a few times, and right then, she finally agreed with the answer she'd found. If she had been in Peter's position, she would accept the clone as family, genuinely and without hesitation. And that little gesture proved that he had done exactly that. "Well, who else do I need, then?"
"I hope I fit in to this, somewhere." Aunt May stood behind them, two small brown paper bags and a few bills in her hands, which she promptly shoved into the twins' hands. "Have a good first day, dear." She said, kissing Jessica on the forehead. She repeated the gesture with Peter. "And you take care of your sister, young man."
"Yes, ma'am."
The walk seemed to drag on forever, and about two hundred meters from the school doors, Jessica's anxiety got the better of her. Her chest suddenly constricted as they stopped at a traffic light, and it instantly became hard to breathe. Her knees wobbled and gave out, but Peter caught her before she hit the ground. The next thing she recalled was sitting on a nearby bench, breathing heavily into her brother's lunchbag. "Are you going to be okay?" She heard the genuine concern in his voice, and swallowed her wounded pride, nodding.
"M'sorry..." She whispered, staring at the sidewalk.
"Hey." He took her by the hand and helped her up. "It was just a little panic attack. It happens to the best of us." He let her take a few more deep breaths, and when she finally looked up, he smiled. "See? No worries."
"Thanks, guys..." She whispered, and after another moment, they crossed the road, and hit the school grounds.
"Weapon X, huh?" Mac frowned, leaning back farther in his chair. Gwen nodded and sipped at her coffee. "Okay, so they took your corpse, the monstrosity that killed you, and some sort of mutant gene from this 'Weapon X' to counteract the creature's negative effects... And they got Gwen Stacy 2.0."
She let out a tiny giggle. "I suppose so... Apparently I needed some actual biomass before I was able to control myself..." She took another drink and sighed. "I'm still a little wierded out by the whole thing... I mean... All my friends think I'm dead... And they told me..."
Mac frowned as she trailed off. He'd heard the story, too, so he quickly figured out what was bothering her. "You gave Aunt May a heart attack?" He asked, as gently as he could. She kept staring at her cup, only the most imperceptible of nods confirming his words. "Hey, you had no control over that, and we both know she'll forgive you when they take you back."
"Send me back?" She asked, still not looking up.
"Well, yeah. You've still gotta finish high school, you know. Who better than May Parker to help you through that?" Mac grinned as she looked up in shock. "What, you think I'd trust them to send you anywhere else?"
"But..."
"But what? You're dead?" Mac laughed again. "They'll probably just say they... I dunno... Had to put you in witness protection, or something, and the funeral was just a schill..."
They fell silent as Gwen slowly digested the information. Mac had nearly drained his cup by the time she spoke up again. "What about you?" The question was quiet, but not entirely unexpected.
"Me? I'm going to write my GED test, and probably end up working for Stark." He stretched as he stood up, draining the last of his coffee. "I gotta pay off the armour somehow, no?"
She frowned. "You're not going back to school?"
"What's the point?" He replied. "Peter's too nervous to admit, but he could easily be in college by now. He just wants to stay with Mary Jane."
She sighed, nodding in agreement as she stood up. "I suppose so..." They walked silently through the main atrium of Stark Tower, Mac itching slightly at the sweatshirt that was hiding his chestplate from view. "How long do you think it will take for my papers to clear?" Gwen asked suddenly, and they stopped at the base of the grand staircase.
"A week or two at least, why? Anxious to get away from me?"
"What? No, I-" She scowled at him as he chuckled at his own joke. "Well, it is a little disconcerting seeing Peter's face on someone else..."
Mac flinched. "Yeah... I'm scheduled for some cosmetic surgery later this week... Nothing major, but enough to look like someone new..."
She stared at him as he started up the stairs. "You don't have any problem with this at all?"
Mac stopped and shook his head. The tip of his tail slithered out from under his sweater and waved at her. "Any problem I have with this situation is overridden by the fact that I am a clone. I should not exist, and the fact that I have a chance to live some kind of real life is far more important than trying to reclaim the one I was cloned from." He grinned over his shoulder. "Besides, now I have unlimited funding for anything I want. How could I say no?"
She watched as he continued up the steps, and shook her head again. His words rang true, but the hollow tone behind them left her wondering at what was really running through his mind...
The conference room was packed with personnel as Tony closed the door behind himself. All around the room, conversations died immediately as the polished wood clicked shut. "Ah. Good morning, everyone." He said cheerily, knowing that it would get on everyone's nerves. Not that that bothered him... "We've got a number of orders of business to discuss today, so let's get straight to it. First order of business, Rocketmen." The four armour pilots straightened up, and Tony suppressed a grin. Chosen from the best the Air Force had to offer, he was still trying to break them of their habitual rigidness. "You're on patrol today. Duty details are being uploaded to your suits as we speak. You are to be underway within the hour. You're dismissed."
Slowly, he wheedled his way through the reservists, until the room was emptied of all but the main body that made up the Ultimates. He paused for a breath, settling a little farther back in his chair. "Alright, now we get to the real meat. Jan, how is the transfer coming?"
Janet Van Dyne, formerly Janet Pym, sighed heavily, pulling a small notepad from her labcoat pocket. "We're on schedule for the two-week deadline. There have been a number of problems in the movement of Ultimates R&D, but those experiments that were compromised were contained, and the damage was minimal at worst. We've got Stark Tower up to fifty percent of our previous capacity, and projections for the end of the transfer show a ten percent increase in productivity based on proximity of use."
"Good." He paused, running the next question carefully through every social and political screen he knew of before voicing it. "What about Hank, and his robots?"
Janet took a deep breath before she answered. "We've... Made use of the Ultron robots in the move, and we've left Hank's fate in SHIELD hands. Beyond that, I have no further comment."
Tony nodded. "Thank you. I know you need to get back to-"
The door was closing before he even finished.
"Right..." He pinched the bridge of his nose, fighting the urge to reach for a drink. "Well, Wanda and Pietro are still... Unavailable, after their vacation was interrupted, and Clint is still in the hospital... So-"
"I fear that I, too, must apologise, dear friends." Thor spoke up, standing up suddenly. "I have business with a group of environmentalists that are meeting in the Swiss Alps."
There was a crack of thunder, and the blond God vanished even before Tony could speak. "Why not just take on the team yourself, Tony?" He muttered angrily. "Sounded fine at the time. Is anyone going to listen to me?"
There came a small cough from the last person in the room. "All good things come with strings attached."
"Right. Well, your assignment is a big one, Steve." Stark flicked a file across the table, and a blue glove picked it up and opened it in one motion. "Take the Scorpion and Scarlet Spider with you. They need to be field tested."
The all-American hero frowned at the page of neat script that opened in front of him. "You need us to liase with-"
"Yeah. It looks like SHIELD picked up something special last night, and they're dumping her in my lap." Stark answered before the question could be finished. "I need you to go and pick up those two and get them to come here. Alone."
Steve nodded. "They'll be here."
"Good. I've scrambled a chopper for you. Dust off is in twenty minutes." Tony almost smiled as Captain America resisted he urge to salute and strode out of the conference room. But his hand was stayed from reaching for the minibar by a small chirp from the commlink in the center of the table.
"Tony? Do you have a minute?"
He suppressed a sigh. "What is it, Pepper?"
"It's about those missing Iron-tech parts, sir..." Tony groaned. It was going to be one of those days...
"Wow... That is one of the most unbelievable stories I've ever heard in my life."
"Heh heh..." Jessica squirmed under the collective gazes of her 'new' homeroom class. Faces of friends she would have to re-make, and of bulles she would have to re-face... And girls she would have to understand, even more than Peter thought he had to. "I guess it kinda does..."
"Well, I'll get your teachers to put together lesson packages for you, Jessica. Thank you for introducing yourself to the class. You can go sit down now."
She didn't even bother trying to hide the nervous blush that enveloped her face as she quickly took an empty seat near the back of the room. She saw her 'twin' watching her progress, and smiled down at her desk as she literally watched him forming a speech to get her a seat near him and MJ in their classes. Which she didn't mind in the least, she forced herself to admit. It would make the transition go a little smoothe-
"Hey there, good lookin'." A very familliar voicec spoke from the desk beside her, and she sighed internally in exasperation. Smooth. Yeah, nice wish...
A/N: The first arc begins, albeit a little slowly. RnR, please, and remember that comments beyond "Good chapter, update soon" are greatly appreciated. Stay Frosty. -E. Red