The call turned out to be a session in and of itself. It wasn't anything major. It was an introductory session of sorts. But, still, I felt like I was already feeling progress. It wasn't a lot of progress per se. I guess it was like… a baby learning to stand up.
"Well, let's start with a bit of an introduction," Jericho began over the phone. "I know some therapists tend to charge for the intake session, but I tend to give those free of charge for people in a certain line of work." I had a feeling that the line of work in question was being a costumed hero. "With that said, allow me to introduce myself formally. As you already know, I'm Jericho Drumm. I live New Orleans, Louisiana, but I'm originally from Haiti – Port-au-Prince, to be exact. I still go there pretty regularly. Anyway, I have a bachelor's degree from Xavier University of Louisiana and a master's degree and doctorate from Tulane University – all in Psychology. I'm certified by the Louisiana State Board of Examiners of Psychologists. I've been in this field for about 13 years now – and yes, that includes the Blip Years. As you can probably guess, business was, for unfortunate reasons, very plentiful."
I raised my eyebrows briefly. "Yeah," I commented.
"How about yourself?"
"Well… as you know, I'm Peter Parker. I'm… currently working on my GED. Scott Summers is actually my teacher. I do plan on going to college. MIT is my goal. I'm currently living in Manhattan, but I was born in and spent most of my life in Queens, so I consider that my home borough. Beyond that… I'm a freelance photographer for The Daily Bugle… which is ironic since I'm in a certain line of work, where I work with Scott." I chuckled. "But, yeah, I think that's about all I can say for now."
Jericho made a noncommittal sound. "Okay. And why are you seeking therapy?"
"My girlfriend thinks I need professional help and I agree. I'm… I went through a lot these last few years – especially during the last several months. So… yeah."
"I see. How you ever been in therapy before?"
"No."
"And what are you looking for? What do you expect?"
I was given a bit of pause for a moment. I then sighed. "…I don't know about expectations. What I do hope for is that… maybe I can get to a point where I don't feel like everything good in my life isn't going always to slip away or be taken away from me. …Am I making sense?"
"You are," Jericho said reassuringly. "Since I think we hit the point where we can't talk much more without revealing certain details, allow me to tell you how things are going to go. Making appointments will be on you. I understand that life is likely extremely busy for you, so I won't take it personal if you take a lot of time between appointments – I have clients who have had years between appointments. Anyway, once I get your e-mail, I'll send you a link so we can video chat. Said link is extremely secure, so feel free to be rather open when we do chat. But, for the sake of safety, I'm heavily encouraging you to use a VPN and make sure you're in a secure place. Also, confidentiality is a two way street with us. Understood?"
"Yes," I replied.
"Good. Now, let's talk risks and benefits…"
The rest of the day went by as normal. After I made by daily trip to Peter Pan, I went home and gathered my supplies for the study night. Not wanting to risk another encounter with Scorpion, I decided to take an Uber over to MJ's place.
During the car ride, I sat in the back seat of a yellow Ford Taurus. The driver was listening to a news report on the radio regarding my fight with Scorpion.
"…while no civilians were hurt in the clash, the fight resulted in sizeable property damage, including wrecked cars and a damaged fire hydrant. For better or for worse, the fight between Spider-Man and Scorpion was put to an end when Frictor, another masked vigilante and a member of the group known as the X-Men – which also includes Spider-Man – arrived on the scene and drove Scorpion off with an automatic rifle. Reaction towards the skirmish has been rather polarized on social media. While a lot of people pointed to this fight as another example for the need of The Accords, there has been a lot of pushback from those who believe that Justin Hammer created a problem by making a solution for an issue that didn't need fixing in the first place…"
The driver sighed as she turned off the radio.
"Serves Scorpion right," the driver commented, her voice colored with a Jamaican accent.
"I take it you're not a fan of Scorpion," I inquired, wanting to make small talk. At that, she scoffed.
"Nah, not even a little bit." She shook her head. "All Scorpion did was make more trouble. They want to crack down on all of the vigilantes in New York, but they're the ones helping out in this city. If the government was able to do their job, they would have done so already." She chuckled. "Besides, Spider-Man has been nothing but good for us. A video 'proving' he killed Mysterio is not going to make me think any different."
I smiled as I looked out the window. "I agree, Miss…"
"Mousie," she said. I looked up at the rearview mirror to see her gazing back at me. I could tell she was smiling. "Good to see another Spider-Man fan."
After I was dropped off, I took a moment to give Mousie five stars before I headed up. Once I reached MJ's door, I knocked on it five times. I lowered my hand and waited. A few moments later, the door opened, revealing MJ on the other side, who was dressed in a black t-shirt with matching sweatpants.
"Hey Dork," she greeted as she stepped aside.
"Hey Em," I replied as I walked in. The two of us shared a brief kiss before I started taking off my shoes. "Is Ned here?"
"Yeah, he's just using the bathroom. We're set up in the living room, so have a seat."
I made my way over to the living room. I took a seat on the sofa. On the coffee table was a bowl of nachos, a bowl of queso dip, and two cans of Coca-Cola, along with a couple of textbooks and notebooks. I heard the sound of a fridge opening and closing. I looked over my shoulder to see MJ walking towards me with a can of Coke. She handed the can towards me. I took it graciously.
"Thanks, Em," I said in earnest.
"Anytime, Loser," she replied as she took a seat next to me. "So, how was your day?"
"It was… interesting," I told her. "…There's a chance I might be in California this upcoming weekend."
At that this, MJ smiled wryly. "Are you going Hollywood on me?"
I scoffed and shook my head. "No. It's just… Scott, Craig, and Kitty got a text way early in the morning. There's a good chance that said text came from Carmilla."
MJ's eyebrows furrowed up as she tilted her head. "Who?"
"Carmilla Black. She's a former X-Men and was actually living with the others about six months before we all met them. And… she's also Craig's ex. They had a bit of a falling out. But, the text was written in this code that only Scott, Carmilla, Kitty and Craig know. Craig really wanted to get out there as soon as possible. Problem is the coordinates were in the middle of California's part of the Sonoran Desert. So, Scott wants to make sure the text is legit before he decides to go out there."
"Is Craig okay?" MJ asked.
"He will be, I think," I replied. "He really wants to make sure she's okay." I sighed sadly as I remembered the talk Craig and I had on the roof. I then smiled slightly. "On a lighter note, though… I finally found a therapist to talk to."
"That's awesome, Loser!" MJ turned in her seat and wrapped her arms around my neck. She pulled me into a tight embrace, which I returned. "Seriously, I've been afraid that you'd burn yourself out, with what has been happening recently between you and Scorpion."
"So was I." I pulled away a bit, just enough so I could look MJ in the eye. "Fortunately, I had some people save me from my own stupidity."
At that, MJ scoffed. "We'll be doing that a lot," she jested.
"I know you're joking… but you're right," I replied.
"I usually am." MJ leaned forward and pressed her lips against mine for a brief kiss.
"I'm grateful for that."
We kissed again. This kiss wasn't brief. As our lips moved against each other, we both ended up leaning against the backrest and headrest of the sofa. I turned by body, bringing my left knee on the cushion to get more comfortable. Right after that, I got lost in the kiss. I no longer cared about studying. The only thing I cared about at that moment was MJ. The only other thing I was still aware of was the sofa we were on – it could have been picked up by a tornado, and I would neither know nor care.
Unfortunately, we were interrupted by the sound of a throat clearing. We both parted and looked towards Ned, who gave us a halfhearted glare.
"I leave you alone for one minute, and you decided to start a make out session with Peter?" he chided MJ. "We're here to study Trigonometry, not Anatomy!"
From the corner of my eye, I saw MJ pout. "You and Betty make out around me all the time, but I never say anything!" she shot back.
Ned raised his eyebrows as he leaned forward. "Yes you do! You always do! Just yesterday, you asked Betty what my vocal cords taste like! People were around us! They were grossed out!"
"Well maybe next time, you and Betty won't start a make out session in the middle of the lunch line! The one time I decide to just get lunch from school, I have to see you and Betty trading spit like Pokémon cards!"
"You're just mad because Peter's not on campus with you!"
As the two went back and forth, I just watched them. It was a hilarious sight. But it was also relieving and poignant for me. Once again, I was reminded that I had Ned and MJ back in my life. And that made me happy.
Eventually, we did get to studying. We went over Sum and Difference formulas. We spent about three hours on it, not including the snack breaks we took. I made sure to take great notes – I wanted to be able to test into Calculus when I go to college. After the study session, the three of us got settled in for a movie. MJ wanted something dark and broody. Ned wanted something with action. I decided to split the difference by suggesting New Police Story. After we agreed on it, we all sat on the couch. Well, that wasn't quite true. Ned was leaned up against my right arm. Meanwhile, MJ was curled up on my lap. It was just like the old days, during the time between MJ and I kissing in London and when The Daily Bugle helped Mysterio posthumously expose me.
It was a beautiful time.
However, things came to an end when the phone vibrated in my pocket. I used the remote to pause the movie before I looked down at MJ.
"Sorry, Sweetie, but I need you to move," I told her apologetically. She moaned in disappointment, but she moved, sitting up and crossing her arms.
"Someone better be dying," she deadpanned. I chuckled. I reached into my pocket and pulled out my phone. I looked at the cracked screen.
It was Kitty.
I answered the phone and put it to my ear.
"Hello," I greeted.
"Hey Peter," she replied. "…Are you alone?"
"No. I'm with Ned and MJ at the moment. Is everything okay?"
"…Sort of. Well, not really. I hit a snag on our group project. I was trying to track down the message we got this morning, but it turns out, the text was sent via e-mail."
"…Wait, you can do that?" From the corner of my eye, I saw Ned look at me.
"As a matter of fact you can. It'll take a bit of time, but we'll figure it out. I just wanted to give you a bit of an update, and…"
"I can help with that," Ned said aloud.
Kitty was given pause. "Excuse me?"
"Hold on, I'm putting you on speaker," I stated before I put the cellphone on speaker and placed it on the coffee table.
"I was saying I can help with that," Ned continued. "I have some programs in my laptop, and I have it with me. If you want, we can come over to where you guys are at, and I can track down where the email is from."
"Ned… I know your hacking skills are quite impressive. But I don't want you or MJ involved in this. The last thing I want you to do is unwittingly do something that'll put a target on your back."
"I can handle that, Kitty," Ned assured. "You know, I hacked Peter's suit – the one using Stark tech. So, tracking down a text via email shouldn't be too much of a problem."
"And besides, the more help you get, the quicker you guys can find out what's going on with Carmilla," MJ added. I didn't say anything. I low key agreed with Kitty. I didn't want Ned and MJ to get hurt. But, Ned is Guy In The Chair, and MJ was… MJ. We were a trio – half the time, wherever one went, we all went.
"…Okay, give me your location – Craig is picking you guys up."
About thirty minutes later, Craig arrived. We made our way down and piled into his SUV. As he drove, we all remained silent. Craig was listening to music. I would later find out that he was listening to Delusional by Tech N9ne. We knew he was in a certain mood and that it was best that we didn't try to talk to him, no matter how much I wanted to.
Eventually, we arrived at the garage where the X-Men kept their vehicles. After we exited Craig's SUV, he beckoned us to follow him with his right hand. He walked over to a set of five light switches that were on a wall. They were all in the off position. Craig flipped them on and off in a certain sequence. After that, I heard the sound of a lock disengaging before a part of the floor opened up.
"A trapdoor?" MJ said.
"Yup," Craig replied. He walked up to it. We followed him and watched as he made his way down a set of stairs. We descended after him. He stopped briefly at a red button and pressed it. Behind us, the trapdoor closed and locked. He then walked forward. As we followed him, we ended up in somewhat large room. There was a roundtable with chairs, a small counter with a Keurig machine, a fridge, a wooden cabinet, and a computer with three monitors on top of a large desk. Kitty was sitting at the desk, and Scott was at the table, sipping a cup of coffee.
"I got them," Craig called out, getting the attention of Scott and Kitty.
"Hey guys," Kitty replied as she turned in her seat. "Welcome to the underground."
"Do your best to help us," Scott said to Ned. "But there'll be no hard feelings if you can't. Tell us what we need to do."
"I'm going to need one of your cellphones and a cord," Ned stated. Craig pulled out his cellphone and walked up to Ned. He handed the device over. After that, he reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out his charger. He pulled the cord out of the charging box and handed it over to Ned. "Thank you." Craig nodded quietly.
Ned walked over to the round table and took a seat. During this, Scott and Kitty stood up from their seats and joined Craig, MJ, and I behind Ned. Ned took a couple of minutes to boot up his laptop. After that, he booted up a couple of programs. One was a custom VPN he often used when he talked with me during my Spider-Man activities prior to The Spell. He took a moment to set the location for Antarctica. After that, he ran another program. This one showed a black and white map of the world covered in red dots.
"What is that?" MJ asked.
"It's a map of every cell tower on Earth," Ned replied. "It can also show every server on Earth, too." After he connected the charging cord to his laptop, Ned connected Craig's phone to the cord. As the screen on the phone lit up, Ferryl reached over for it. He tapped in a code, unlocking it. He then went through the settings to allow data transfer for the phone. He backed off after that, letting Ned continue his work. Ned went through Craig's phone via his laptop before he found the file for Craig's texts. "Which text are we looking for?"
"It should be the most recent one," Craig replied.
Ned nodded before he switched programs. Using the program, he went through Craig's phone again. After pulling up the message, he tapped at the keyboard of his computer a few times before the map was pulled up again. Several of the dots flashed yellow until there were two yellows dots. There was one in California – in the Sonoran Desert region – and one in New York.
"So the text originated from California," Ned explained. "It reached a cell tower in New York – probably the one closest to where you guys live at." He looked at Scott, Craig, and Kitty as he did so. "However, you did say it was sent by e-mail. So…" He typed a command into the computer before a green dot lit up. It was also in New York, practically right on top of the yellow dot. "…It looks like the e-mail went through a server in New York." He typed in a few commands. "…The e-mail originated from the server at these coordinates."
"Let me see them," MJ said as she pulled out her phone. She opened up her browser. She then looked back and forth between the screen of the laptop and phone as she typed away at the phone's screen.
"What are you doing?" I asked.
"Googling the coordinates," she replied. After she was done typing, she looked at the screen of her phone. Her eyes went wide for a bit. She then took in a breath and closed eyes. There was a look of annoyance on her face.
"…Everything okay?" Scott said as everyone looked at her.
"…So, there was a hit on the coordinates." MJ opened her eyes. "But you guys are not going to like this – at all."
She placed her phone on the counter. We all looked down at it. My mouth went ajar as I read the Google result.
Hammer Industries.