A/N: We have some guest stars in this chapter - I hope my characterisation isn't off on them though, since I've never read their comics! :-)
Appreciative Reader: Thank you so much for your thoughtful reviews, and thanks too, for pointing out bits that puzzle you - means my writing could be clearer :) In answer; Peter rigged up an 'accident' in the dark room, so that the container would fall on him. He ignored his own spider-sense to do it!
Cheers,
Apteryx
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Chapter 35: Gawk Overdrive
The brownstone building had a discreet sign attached by the entrance. Nelson and Murdock. Attorneys at Law.
Erica stood at the bottom of the steps; for a successful firm, they had remarkably little ostentation about their premises. She stepped up and opened the door, which led into a hallway with more stairs going up. Too bad if they had any disabled clients, Erica thought, then caught herself; she supposed one of the partners was disabled, sort of…
At the top was a small reception area, with a short, narrow corridor leading off to the side. A secretary was at work at a desk, behind a computer monitor. She looked up as Erica entered.
"May I help you?" she asked pleasantly.
"Yes, I wonder if I can see Mr Murdock for a minute."
"Do you have an appointment?"
Maybe this was a stupid idea, thought Erica, racking her brains to come up with an excuse that would give her entry into Matt's office. "No, but I spoke to him yesterday. He was searching for some information and I believe I've got at least one of the answers to…"
One of the doors lining the corridor opened and out stepped a tall figure in a black suit and dark glasses. He looked almost as if he could be about to audition for the Blues Brothers, except for the cane he was carrying in one hand. In the other, he had a tape cassette.
"Carli, could you transcribe this and send a copy to the DA's office in conjunction with the Rimini case?" He walked over and handed the dictaphone tape to the black-haired secretary.
"Yes Mr Murdock. Mr Murdock sir, there's someone here to see you…"
Erica cleared her throat. She felt a bit constrained with the presence of the secretary there; how could she greet Matt, explain who she was?
He must have sensed her flustered state, because he said mildly, "Please, come into my office…" and walked off leaving Erica to follow him. She shut the door behind them, and looked around. It was the most uncluttered office she had ever seen, plain and unadorned, apart from one large painting on the wall behind Matt's desk.
He knew what she was looking at; "I planned to have a few more up, but Foggy couldn't understand why I would want paintings if I couldn't see them. I had to convince him that they were for the clients to look at." He paused. "Hello Erica," he said.
"Hi Matt." She shouldn't have been surprised that he knew who she was. "I told you you'd see me again."
He leant against the corner of his desk and folded his arms, his cane leaning at the same angle beside him. Erica sat down unasked, into a chair, feeling more at ease sitting down.
"So you did. Things worked out well for you then, I hear," Matt remarked, unwittingly echoing Hudson earlier.
In her mind, a picture formed of Griffin Dealy's body sprawled amongst the chairs.
"Someone died…" she replied sadly. She couldn't read Matt's expression, but he shifted his weight to his other leg and uncrossed his arms before he spoke again.
"If it makes you feel any better," he offered, "a piece of information came in to me late yesterday about Griffin Dealy – he and Doctor Octopus were two of a kind, though perhaps Dealy was in some ways worse."
"How?"
"When he wasn't experimenting with his inventions, he preyed on children. He got quite inventive with them." This time, Erica had no trouble at all reading Matt's expression - one of acute disgust and revulsion – her own mirrored it.
"I don't want to hear any more, thanks," she said. No wonder her spidey-sense had been buzzing like a four-alarmer when she had literally bumped into him; she had thought at the time he was creepy.
Matt nodded.
"How's Peter?" he said, changing the subject.
Erica broke into a smile, half in relief, half in pleasure at having good news for a change.
"He's fine, chirpier than a box of birds, and is probably at this very moment swinging around town having untold fun."
"You mean… he's got his powers back? I don't understand… you still appear to have an enhanced metabolism…"
"I do? Great!" replied Erica in jest, grinning, then explained briefly what they thought had happened regarding the powers. "That's what I came here to tell you, that the real Spider-Man is back. And to thank you for your help."
"It wasn't much…"
"If I didn't thank you, how rude would that be? Besides, I still get a kick out of meeting, uh, bona fide super-heroes." Erica had just caught herself in time – she'd been about to say 'fictional' super-heroes – which would have involved more unnecessary explanation. She stood up; time to get going.
"I'll let you get back to your work – I've a few things to do myself before I leave, um, New York."
"A pleasure meeting you too, Erica. I can tell you're not giving me the full story; perhaps I can get it off Peter some other time."
Gratified that she hadn't flushed at that remark, Erica made her farewells and left Matt's office, stepping out into the warm Spring sun. She raised her head to scan the roof tops, and sighed. She'd travel across town in a more pedestrian manner…
Erica lay back in the chair, pleased with how the afternoon had gone, though now it was time to rest – her ribs were aching from the activity of the day, even with the elastic band strapped around them. She sipped at her tea as she dimly listened to the conversation around her, thinking back to earlier when Peter was telling her how his visit to the Fantastic Four had turned out. Reed had been intrigued at the ray-gun, and had promised to study its workings; they were to both meet him early tomorrow morning at the Four Freedoms Plaza to hear the results of his investigations, but he was pretty certain he would have no problem fixing it so that Erica could be sent home again. After all, the FF had had plenty of experience with alternate universes and negative zones and the like.
"Erica?"
"Eh?" Erica came back to the present from her daydream.
"You do remind me of Peter – he's frequently in his own little world as well. Would you like some more tea, dear?"
Aunt May stood in front of her, holding a couple of mugs, and obviously on her way to the kitchen.
"Oh. No, I'm fine, thanks. Um, I'll come and help you with those?"
"Nonsense. Peter and Mary-Jane have already offered; besides, you all washed up after dinner for me." She paused, and looked closely at her. "I think you should just stay sitting – you're looking rather peaked – too much traipsing around the city and late nights. You have to get a decent night's sleep before your flight home tomorrow. I believe jet lag is worse if you're tired. When you get back to Peter's apartment, have a glass of warm milk before bed."
Erica laughed. "Yes, I will Aunt May. You're a sweetie."
When Aunt May had left the room, Mary-Jane spoke up. "Don't forget your cuddly blankie too," she teased. Erica knew that the gibe was aimed at her, not Aunt May; MJ loved Peter's aunt almost as much as Peter did.
"Yes Mum," she replied in kind.
"I think she's right though," said Peter, rising from the couch, "we should think about getting back."
Erica stood up and looked around for her bag. She had enjoyed the relaxed dinner, and was sad to go.
"I'll go call a cab," said MJ, getting up as well. She moved off into the hall to the phone.
Aunt May came back in, drying her hands on a tea towel.
"Oh, are you leaving already?" she asked, disappointed, seeing them standing.
Erica gave her a hug and a peck on the cheek. "Thanks so much, Aunt May. Mum will be so happy I've met you."
"Yes, what a pity we couldn't find out more about Uncle Jeremiah… You must write me now, you hear?"
A touch panicked, and showing it, Erica looked over May's shoulder towards Peter; how could she write inter-dimensionally? He, however, was at ease and smiling slightly, and winked at Erica in complicity.
"Uh, sure…" she replied to Aunt May.
MJ entered the living room finishing putting on her camel coat. "The cab'll be here shortly," she announced.
Peter went over to her and lovingly freed her hair from under the back of the coat, so that it flowed straight down her back. Erica, uncomfortable, shrugged on her fleece jacket, trying not to wince as she did so. She ran her fingers through her own hair, making parts of it stick out. Picking up her handbag, and placing it over her shoulder, she pulled out from it a small gift-wrapped parcel, which she handed over to Aunt May.
"Thanks for your hospitality…"
"Oh, you shouldn't have!" Aunt May exclaimed, turning the gift over in her hands, and precisely unwrapping it, being careful not to tear the paper in the process. A small box contained a gold and crystal vial; a brooch for a live flower, to keep it fresh while you wore it. Erica went over to the TV cabinet, snapped a rose bud from the arrangement on top and passed it over to May, who gently set the bud into the glass and pinned the whole to her blouse. "It's lovely – thank you dear." She gave Erica an embrace and a wide smile, then embraced Mary-Jane and Peter in turn. "I'm so glad you two have sorted yourselves out; you had no business being apart, not when you love each other as much as you do."
"Yes Aunt May," said MJ, seriously, with her eyes downcast. But Erica saw the dimples appear for a moment in amusement, then disappear again.
A honk sounded from outside.
"Good night," said Peter, "We'll let you get your beauty sleep – you've got to keep your girlish complexion, or people'll start thinking you're my aunt or something."
"Oh, go away with you!" exclaimed Aunt May, and they left her standing on the door-step smiling, as they piled laughing into the taxi cab.
…………………………………………………………………………….
There was a light mist on the streets this morning, though Erica couldn't tell whether it would burn off or dissipate later in the day or not. The mist made moisture appear as dew on their clothing and in their hair, as it swirled around the buildings and traffic of the city. Headlights from passing vehicles shone as indistinct glows as they passed, briefly bifurcating the mist. Sounds were confusing, their direction not always easy to make out.
She and Peter were on their way to the Four Freedoms Plaza to meet with Reed Richards. She was feeling rather nervous again, probably for no reason at all, but she couldn't help it – meeting heroes still had that silly effect on her. She was also suffering from nervous anticipation about the results of the research on the ray-gun; what if Reed hadn't been able to fix it?
Peter seemed confident and unaffected by any such thoughts. Greater experience in these matters must help, thought Erica. She tried to put her worries out of her mind as well.
They were nearly at Madison Ave, when Peter abruptly stopped.
"Look, I'll meet you in the foyer… when you get to Madison, walk up until 42nd Street. The building's on the corner…"
"…you can't miss it!" chimed in Erica.
Peter smiled. "In this case, it's particularly true. You'll see…" and he quickly ducked out of sight in a convenient alleyway. Erica kept walking on, turning up into Madison. As she neared 42nd Street, one building stood out and captured her attention. Even on such a day, with the mist swirling about it, the Four Freedoms Plaza was dazzling. Literally: its windows sparkled like diamonds, and seemed to be seamlessly integrated in with the walls. She realised that she hadn't actually been past this block during the day – she would have remembered this!
Slowly, she walked up to the entrance, her feeling of nervousness returning and vying with a sense of awe and wonderment. She entered into the foyer, a sweep of that unique glass and ultra-thin pillars that surely couldn't be structural… A bank of lifts sat across from the main doors, and she made her way to them, conscious that she seemed to be the only person in the foyer – no, there was another person standing by the lifts. Erica could tell it wasn't Peter; this guy was older, and dressed in a sort of uniform, he must be a doorman or something, she guessed.
She hesitated for a moment. What would she say to him? He smiled at her.
"Good morning. May I be of assistance?" he said.
"Uh… I-I'm meeting someone here…" she almost stammered, thinking it sounded like the lamest cliché out. She blushed.
"This isn't a very common rendezvous – who were you meeting?" the doorman questioned.
Feeling incredibly stupid, Erica was about to reply, when someone else replied for her.
"That'd be me."
The voice came from above them.
The doorman looked up unsurprised, as Erica also tilted her head back in relief to see Spider-Man nonchalantly clinging to the ceiling.
"Spider-Man," the man said.
"Last time I looked, O'Hoolihan," he quipped, "Reed's expecting us, I think…"
"Yes sir, go right up." He turned and called a lift; Erica couldn't see any buttons – she guessed the doorman had some sort of remote. Spider-Man dropped down from his position above them, and waved a hand in thanks at the man as the lift doors opened.
"Coming?" he asked Erica, and she followed him in.
An extremely short time later, the lift doors opened, and they exited into a reception room. A very pretty woman sat behind a desk – her only function seemed to be to wait for visitors. Behind her, taking up the whole wall, was a large mural of the Fantastic Four team, which appeared to be fused into a glass-like material.
"Hi Roberta," Spider-Man said familiarly.
"Mr Richards has been informed of your arrival and will be with you presently," the woman replied in dulcet tones.
Erica was staring in such keen interest at the mural, she failed to notice when another figure appeared next to them, until Spider-Man nudged her.
"Erica… This is Reed Richards, aka Mr Fantastic. Reed; Erica Stirling, aka Spidey…"
Startled, Erica realised that Reed had extended his hand for her to shake, at the introductions. She shook, but was even more taken aback when she saw he really had extended his hand, about an extra foot. That was plain weird…
"Spider-Man's told me all about you," Reed said sedately; but there was a suspicious gleam of amusement in his eye at Erica's reaction. "Come. Let's go up to the fields lab."
He led the way, walking right through the mural, as if it were not there. Erica discovered that it wasn't – it was an illusion, a projection of light. They walked through into a large living area, screened off into different sections, and headed towards a door across the space and to the right. Erica took a curious squiz around, hoping she wasn't obviously gawking at the sights that met her. There was a robot off to one side, inactive but standing guard; there were several items that were unidentifiable to her, also of an advanced technology. Did Reed invent all these things himself?
"Mr Richards…" she began, only to be interrupted.
"Please, call me Reed. We're in the same biz, so to speak…"
"Uh, Reed… these, um, pieces of technology – did you…"
She was interrupted again, this time by her spider-sense. Whirling, she leapt backwards, landing to cling high up on one of the screens and looking back at what had set her sixth sense off. She noticed that Spider-Man had similarly leapt away from where he had been a moment before, and where now, floating down, was a figure totally covered in flame. As the upright figure touched the floor, its flame gradually extinguished itself, from the feet up, until a blond haired man stood there, laughing at Spider-Man.
"Almost got ya!"
"Not even close, Torchy," replied Spider-Man, "but you may have singed Erica's hair, and I wouldn't like to answer for what she might do to you!"
"Yes, you might want to apologise to our guest for giving her a fright like that…" suggested Reed, clearly annoyed at Johnny's antics.
"Guest? What guest?" The Human Torch said, confused, turning around and searching for another person; he had been so intent on Spider-Man, he hadn't noticed anyone else.
Erica suddenly jumped down, landing right in front of Torch and giving him a startle himself. He was tall enough that the top of her head barely grazed his nose, but she stood there bristling at him.
"Are you out of your tiny mind?" she said, only slightly riled, but more putting on an act for Spider-Man's benefit, "You're lucky I don't get stuck in to you, you great lolloping larrikin."
He raised his hands in mock surrender. "Peace! I'm sorry, I didn't see you there. I didn't know you had a kid sister…" he added, to Spider-Man.
"He's my cousin," said Erica, although she probably didn't have to continue the subterfuge here – Reed knew the full story at least. "Pleased to meet you too…"
"Oh, I am sorry," replied Johnny, really contrite this time, as he introduced himself and shook hands with Erica.
"She's jake," Erica smiled up at him. He smiled back at her, and lit up his hair teasingly.
"That's enough!" Reed commanded.
Erica smothered her giggles, and was pretty sure Spider-Man was smirking under his mask as well.
"Why don't you run along and find someone else to play with," he suggested, "We've got work to do."
"See you around," Johnny said to Erica good naturedly, patently ignoring the webster as he left.
"Right then…" Reed ushered them through the door and down a corridor, and entered another room as the door slid back to allow him, like an airlock.
If Erica had been in gawk mode earlier, she was in gawk overdrive now – this was like something out of a science fiction novel. In fact, it was science fiction to her… She suspected that to most of the general populace in this alternate universe this equipment would also be pretty much science fiction too. She kept her hands in her pockets, not wanting to touch anything less she set an unknown quality into action.
Reed, with Spider-Man at his side, was now over at a table crowded with monitors. He was deep in discussion with him, pointing out parts of the ray-gun, and explaining their function.
"…and you'd never guess what I found in there," he was saying, as he pulled open a small drawer, took a tiny object from it, and held it up to show them.
It was a spider-tracer.
"How did that get there?" wondered Spider-Man aloud, as he took it from Reed.
Erica felt the heat rise in her face. "Um, Dealy must have found it on his clothes – where I put it," she admitted.
The masked eyes turned to gaze at her for a moment, then went back to the inactive tracer.
"So," he said, "Dealy must have used the frequency to attune the inter-dimensional field to my spider-sense, to target me specifically."
"Yes, and the field created was intended to reverse the reality of your powers, but because you didn't have your powers, the field instead gave them to you, using the tracer to draw the required reality from Erica, who did have spider-powers."
"Then why do I still have them?" asked Erica.
"The field's calibration picked you and Spider-Man as being one and the same – this may sound convoluted, but I presume what happened is that it used your reality to transfer to Spider-Man, but at the same time as transferring it to him, transferred it back to you."
"Whoa. Heavy," she said, awed. She had no doubt that Reed was simplifying his explanation to her.
"Can you calibrate the field to generate Erica's dimension, and send her back home? Dealy did say that it was a random universe he was sending my powers to." asked Spider-Man.
"Yes, I'm reasonably certain I've done it. It's not that random – how else would Dealy have targeted a powerless dimension? I've altered the generator so that the field fixes on something, or in this case, someone, not of its current dimension, and tries to rectify it by sending the corruption back to its original source. Not complicated at all. As long as you have everything you came here with, I see no problem in getting you back." Reed finished, speaking to Erica.
"What-what about taking something from here back?" Erica was thinking about the spider-powers.
"A small object or objects on your person would go too – if that wasn't the case, then you would have arrived here with nothing else from your dimension…"
"Uh, no, I meant the spider-powers – what will happen to them?"
"You know, I have no idea. I can only surmise that since you are from a dimension that doesn't have super-powers, then that will still hold true once you go back."
"OK," she said, knowing that it would be easier to accept back home anyway.
"Well, you've certainly turned that thing inside out and a half," Spidey nodded at the ray-gun, "Thanks for your help there."
"You're welcome. As I said – it's been an intriguing little puzzle – he's used a different semi-fluxial accelerator to the generators I'm used to. He must have been genius level to come up with this device," Reed mused.
"Genius perhaps, but severely twisted and dangerous, even though he cut a ridiculous figure. I think I could accept it better if he had been a mad genius, rather than peverted…" said Erica bitterly.
Reed observed her thoughtfully. "The irony of dichotomy of purpose; using good for bad, bad for good. You're in the company of two who know this too well."
"Thanks…I think."
He smiled at Erica, changing the subject. "You know that you belong to a select group now: those who have lived in a universe not their own… The Fantastic Four included."
"It's been an absolutely unforgettable experience, I'll give it that," laughed Erica. She gave a sidelong glance at Spider-Man, standing there arms folded, but at ease. She had to admit that, especially in her current surroundings, it was all starting to become hyper-real again. Home was lurking in the background, and the contrast becoming stronger.
Reed Richards sealed the ray-gun, or, as she supposed they should call it, the dimensional field generator, into a grey, plastic-looking bag, and handed it to Erica. She took the bag gingerly by the handles and thanked him again.
"Can we exit via the roof?" asked Spider-Man as they left the lab.
"Sure, I'll escort you there."
Moving through several of the sliding doors, the small group entered a lift which almost instantaneously it seemed, had them on the roof top of the Plaza.
"Good-bye," Reed told Erica, before going back down. "and good luck."
"Now what?" she asked Spider-Man once the scientist had gone, "How'm I going to get down from here inconspicuously?"
"You're not."
Erica could tell he was grinning under his mask.
"I'm gonna give you a ride across town. Hold on!" The web-slinger grabbed her - carefully, she noted – around the waist and leapt off the edge of the building, flinging out a webline automatically, sensing the anchor point through the mist.
"Is this called getting your own back?" she screamed, exhilarated, as they whipped through the air.
A few blocks and a corner later, Spider-Man swung at the end of his web and dropped down to a roof top, dropping Erica at the same time. She tumbled over a couple of times as she fell, before coming to land in a crouch, not far from the wall-crawler.
"You ratbag! What'd you do that for?" she exclaimed as she straightened up. She was half laughing, not really expecting an answer.
"Ready for round two?" was all he said, as he grabbed her again.
The mist hid them from the pedestrians down below, as they swung through Manhattan. Erica occasionally caught glimpses of the crowds of people and traffic in patches where the mist had cleared momentarily. Too soon for her, the ride ended; they had reached the apartment.
"I'll leave you here," Spider-Man said, "I'm going to drop in at work. Tell MJ I won't be long – we need to give you a send off later."
Still clutching the grey bag in one hand, Erica waved to Spider-Man as he slung his web, then entered through the roof top door, and down the stairs to the apartment.
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