That Which Could Be
Disclaimer: All familiar characters belong to Marvel or Sunbow Entertainment. I own Farrah/Persiana and Leon/Crisis.
Chapter 8: Finding Out the Truth
Leon was unconscious as he was wheeled into the medical bay on the main SHIELD Helicarrier. Hooked up to machines, the doctors and nurses noticed that the red-eyed teen's pulse, though steady, was well below the norm. When a doctor checked his eyes to see if he had a concussion, he could see blood visibly circling around in the eye ball. Leon's body also felt feverishly hot, like he was burning up. The doctors could not understand what was causing this; Crisis' flare-ups were never this bad. Leon seemed to mumble something incoherently, but the doctors attributed that to the fever he was running.
After several hours of work, Leon started to recover. His heart rate was more normal now; as well as the fever had subsided. His eyes were now in their normal position and he woke up inside one of the hospital rooms in the helicarrier. When the red-eyed swordsman opened his eyes, he was blinded by light. He shielded them and groaned,
"What's going on? What happened?"
He tried to sit up, but a calming, familiar voice told him,
"Leon, it's all right."
That voice was familiar to him. Crisis looked up and saw the adult version of Miss Marvel sitting on his bed, holding his hand. Leon looked at her, surprised. Carol was stunning. Curvy and strong, and somehow…different. The former Air Force brat smiled warmly,
"How are you feeling, Leon?"
Leon looked back at his former teammate,
"What? Carol, you're…you're…"
Carol looked back, blushing,
"You're exactly the same when you disappeared."
She shook her head,
"You're everything Nat said you'd be. And more. You really haven't aged."
The blonde woman touched Leon's face with her gloved hand,
"It's so surreal."
Leon felt her hand and gently removed it,
"Carol, what's going on? Why are you…?"
Carol chuckled,
"Older? I don't know. Something about you being lunged into the future from that machine."
She then added darkly,
"Which reminds me. I have to kill Simon later when I see him for introducing us to that scientist friend of his."
Jessica peered around the corner and carefully poked her head in the room,
"Knock, knock."
She scaled the wall and smirked,
"So, how are you feeling, handsome?"
Leon had to blink and asked,
"You're older too."
Jessica grinned,
"Maybe, but I'm still the same, supple spider you met all those years ago."
To prove that, Jessica jumped down to the floor and stood on her hands, even standing on one hand like an expert acrobat. The former Hydra agent said,
"So, what do you think?"
Carol grumbled,
"Leave, Spider-woman. Leon clearly needs his rest, and I'm here to see that he gets it."
Jessica scoffed,
"Oh, please. You only want me to leave so you can hump him in a hospital bed."
The two exchanged angry glares at each other. That was when Leon began laughing;
"I see some things haven't changed between you two."
He then asked,
"Where's Farrah? I haven't seen her anywhere."
Carol and Jessica both looked back at each other; their normal expressions changing to ones of nervousness. Carol said,
"Leon, honey. There's something you have to know about Farrah. We can't find her."
Crisis sat up,
"What do you mean? Isn't she using the Avengers frequency?"
Spider-woman nodded in realization; Leon did not know what was going on. She explained,
"Well, to be honest…she can't. A lot's happened and well, she kind of went off grid."
Leon got a little agitated,
"What are you talking about? Where is she?"
He wanted to leave, but Carol held him back,
"Leon, listen. You've just had a medical emergency and obviously you've had a flare up. You just rest for now and I'll explain everything to you once and for all. OK?"
She held him close, despite how Leon wanted to find his girlfriend. Spider-woman looked and saw Carol smothering the red-eyed teen on her body and practically gagged in disbelief.
It was not until Crisis finally agreed to rest that the two had left the room and Jessica glared at her rival,
"You are unbelievable, you know that?"
She then began mocking Carol,
" 'Oh, you just rest and I can smother you with my gorgeously inflated breasts I slept with the producer of that show so I could get on it and promote Registration'."
The now Air Force major venomously stared at the former spy,
"I am looking out for Leon's best interest. He needs someone with a little sanity to help him right now."
Jessica snidely remarked,
"And an overactive libido to match."
Carol clenched her fist down and snarled,
"I'm warning you; stay away from him. He doesn't need to get any more confused than he already is."
With that, she stormed out of there. Jessica shot her the bird from behind and folded her arms,
"Bitch."
Next Chapter:
Leon gets the explanation from the Mighty Avengers about what his situation is, and Persiana's disappearance, as well as changes that have been made in the last ten years. Stay tuned, fellow readers!
