hey everybody! i'm finally back, and do I have a ton of stuff for you! As promised, even though I didn't have WiFi this summer, I went and wrote the next few episodes down in a notebook so I'd have a lot to post when I got back. I hope this makes up for how much time I've been gone! and forgive me if anything seems rushed or choppy, I had some issues with getting it to flow correctly in this chapter.
oh, and since its been so long, I think a small recap is in order.
In the last chapter, Linzy was reunited with her friend Kass who, as it turns out, had been captured by a villainous secret agent seeking revenge. Linzy, Kass, and spiderman all faced off against Jay bird, but in the process a Spanish speaking girl with wild hair also got pulled into the ultimate spiderman universe.
That's about where we left off, so..
on with the story!
Chapter 12
I sighed in frustration and rubbed my temples.
"Have you… watched the movie "fire breather" lately..?"
The girl looked at me with wide eyes.
"…yes…"
"Did you notice anything different about the movie..?"
She gasped.
"That WAS YOU?"
"Um, yeah. I'm Linzy, and that's Kass…OH SHOOT, she's still out cold! Hold on a second-"
I turned from her and checked on Kass.
"Wait, that still doesn't explain why SPIDERMAN is here, of all people!"
"Well, it's his universe. The Ultimate Spiderman universe to be precise." I said, picking Kass up and setting her off to the side so she wasn't on the road.
"…How many universes are there, and where are they?!"
"I'm…I don't even have the slightest clue, other than a theory I've been working on…" I admitted, shrugging.
"Theory?"
"…something like that, yes." Sighing I rubbed my arms and tried to ignore the needle in my chest. If I looked at it I'd probably faint, and now I had more than one problem to take care of.
"um, will you do me a favor please?" I asked her, my back still facing her.
"What?"
I turned with a serious look on my face.
"Pull this needle out of my chest and catch me when I pass out."
"Seriously?"
"Dead serious."
She bit her lip and grimaced as she grasped the quill.
"On three. One…. TWO!" she yanked it out and I screamed, my world going dark as I fell.
Again I woke very upset with the amount of times I'd fainted in this universe.
"How long was I out this time?"
"A few seconds."
I let out a sigh of relief.
"That's good. So, where were we? Oh yes, your name."
"I'm Valentina. I didn't think stuff like this happened outside of fanfiction…"
"You like fanfiction?" I asked, pleasantly surprised.
"Yeah, I really got into it about a year ago and met a really good friend on the sight."
"Oh? What's the pen name, I might know them."
"Ro-"
"Ersa, get your butt over here! I need your help, he's really heavy!" Kass yelled while she draped the spider's arm over her shoulder; apparently she'd woken up while I was talking to Valentina and took it upon herself to move him.
"KASS, YOU SHOULDN'T BE MOVING HIM! What if he's injured? DON'T DO THAT!"
I broke away from the present conversation and sprinted over to her, rapping her softly on the head with my knuckles and lowering my cousin onto the ground. He was still conscious, so he's probably growing even more confused with all that's been going on. I knelt down next to him and rested his head on my lap. "Spider-man," I started, purposely using his superhero name so he'd be more at ease,
"If you can talk, please say something." He stayed silent, the eyes of his mask looking up at me with a movement behind them once every while when he blinked. "Ok, I'm going to take a guess and say you don't want us calling the hospital, so I'm going to stay until you regain control. Please try to move, but don't strain yourself. I don't have much experience with paralysis but when I was paralyzed I had to focus really hard in order to even curl my fingers…but you seem to have had a bigger dose than me so it may take awhile."
He was still for another minuet, then his fingers twitched. "Good. Can you talk now? "
"I- Yeah… thanks. Where…is the crazy lady who tried to kill you?" I smiled, relived.
"She's over there, taking a nice nap. Kass," I said, motioning her over, "will you find something to tie her up with? I don't want her getting away while we have our backs turned."
"Wait," Valentina started, "she tried to kill you?!"
"Yes. Not really clear on why, other than the fact that Kass annoyed her…"
"Hey! I annoy a lot of people and they've never tried to kill me before." she huffed.
"Hm. Maybe if they had you'd learn to annoy me less…"
"Don't you go getting any thoughts in that smartie-smart noggin of yours, Linzy." She warned, looking a little scared for some reason. I smiled sweetly.
"Whatever would you mean by that, my friend? My thoughts are filled with nothing but books, puppies, and rainbows."
Her eyebrow twitched.
"Somehow I'm not surprised…"
I took the chance to laugh loudly.
"At what, the books or the puppies?"
Spiderman moved then, and pushed himself up off the ground.
"And just how do you two know each other?"
Oh, right. Amnesia…and I'm talking to Kass like we're old friends. Oops.
"Um…" suddenly losing the ability to speak, I grabbed Kass' and Valentina's hands and pulled them behind me. As I ran, dragging them along, I shouted, "Please make sure Jay-bird gets put behind bars! Thanks superhero dude!"
"Why are we running?!" my old friend and new screamed as I pulled them around the corner.
"Quick, into the backpack!" I yelled, unzipping T.B and diving inside. I raced down the spiral staircase
-that, now that I think about it, really shouldn't be able to exist within a backpack- and waited for them both at the bottom. Kass came tumbling down the stairs while Valentina looked around in awe. Even I still find it awe-inspiring how a whole warehouse can exist inside of a single backpack. "Why are we-" "Shhh!" I scolded, holding my finger up over my mouth. We waited until I heard T.B tell me he'd gone.
"Alright, we can go now." I climbed back up the stairs and stepped out on the street, stretching my arms and looking around. "Hmm. Aunt May's is not an option, since the rest of the team is going to have to live there later. You guys up for a hotel or an apartment?"
Kass' eyes lit up and she grinned. "Ooh! We should get a house, like last time…one right across from yours; we can be neighbors!"
"No kass, I was thinking somewhere other than where Peter can see you and become even more suspicious of me. At least this way he can't approach me about today without revealing that he was there."
"But I want to meet Iron fist and hug him!"
"Wait a second, a house? I can't stay here!"
My eyes widened and I swiveled around to face her. "Where are you going to go then?" I asked quietly, suddenly feeling demure.
"Home, of course! You'll send me back, right?"
I turned around and looked her dead in the eye.
"Valentina, why do you think we are still in a different universe after all this time?"
She tilted her head, uncomprehending. "Because it's cool?"
I shook my head and my short hair swished from left to right. "No. We… can't leave. It's uncontrollable…It just happens. We can't even send ourselves back home, Val. I wish we could…but…" I sighed. "The best I can offer is for you to stick by us. Once we "universe hop" again, maybe we can get you back home…but that's all I've got. I'm so sorry."
She looked heartbroken.
(Awkward silence.)
"But…"
Kass breathed in shakily, and attempted to smile.
"We'll figure something out, right? After all, Jay Bird had a device that was meant to put us back in our universe. That means it's not impossible to get back, right? There's still hope!"
I looked at her, tears pricking my eyes. After a VERY stressful past few hours, hope was a welcome thing, and Kass always said something empowering when you least expect her to.
"And then we can eat pizza!"
And…she ruins it. Aw, well. The moment was great while it lasted.
"Right, kass. There's hope. And… we can have pizza."
"YAY!"
And with that the veil of depression was torn and our light mood returned, if only for a little while. I was still dreading facing my cousin, though… that's gonna be awkward.
A few hours later (after much stalling)
"And where have you been?" Peter asked suspiciously as I walked through the door.
I shrugged, had a 'why not tell the truth and see how that goes' moment, and began ticking off events on my fingers as I listed them.
"I went to the grocery store, got distracted when Spiderman came crashing through the window, exchanged witty banter with said spider/man, had a few memories from my past resurface, met a friend from said past, got attacked by a freaky lady from, again, said past, almost died by the hand of said freaky lady, saved Spiderman's life, got freaked out upon by a girl from a different universe (give or take), found said girl a house, took the bus home, entered door to said home, got hounded on by overprotective cousin in doorway of said home…" I trailed off, shrinking under his unamused gaze.
"what?! Ok, fine. I went to the grocery store and DIDN'T see Spiderman, OR a supervillan, OR a girl from a different universe, and accidentally forgot the groceries. Buuuutttttt- the part about my memory is true! I remembered a friend from my past, Kass Sand. We went to the aquarium together and got on the wrong bus on the way back. That's one adventure I'll never forget again…" (*cough* see story: Universe Hopping 101:Firebreather *cough* shameless advertising, *hack!*)
He just stared at me.
"What? You want to say something? Spit it out!" There. That stumped him. He couldn't say anything about the true story without letting it slip that he was there, and then he'd be afraid I'd jump to the "right" conclusion. And he couldn't say anything about the other story being true without lying, which he tries to avoid doing as much as possible.
"That's what I thought. Night, cuz." I darted around him and ran upstairs before he could think up a reply. Just as I rounded the corner the world was suddenly shaded black and white, and I had the strangest feeling that I should be frozen. Then I heard Peter talk to himself, just like he does in the show.
"Is it possible…that Linzy has secrets of her own?"
I'm not entirely happy with the ending of this chapter, but I can live with it.
Please review! Especially if you have anything to critique, or even if you just want to say hi!
-R.E