The Metropolis University Chronicles
Book 1: The Children of Genesis
Chapter 5
By: Web Spinner
Adam pushed the weights off his chest, up and down. The rythem was almost hypitizing. How long had he been here? It was 2 am. In a distance he heard a few cars from late college students returning home from a party. He rubbed his eyes and wiped the sweat from his forehead. He sat down on an empty bench and ran his fingers through his damp hair. Jon, Gwen and him had returned back to campus the previous night. All of them seemed ready to get back to grind after what had happened. Something still bothered Adam though. Gwen had pushed him when the bullet was shot. How did she know? His reflexes weren't quite as fast but he had begun to pull her toward him when she pushed him. She had known the bullet was coming some how and then lied about it. He was physically exhausted but it didn't stop the many questions running through his head. The police had identified the dead man as Steve McCoy. He was reported escaped from a mental ward. Mental illness was explained his behavior but
something about him just kept nagging at him. Genesis 1:27 was the last thing the man had said before he died.
"And God created man in his own image," Adam repeated the verse out loud. His voice bounced off the bare walls of the gym. Did the man know something that got him killed? He grabbed his stuff and turned toward the weights. He held his hand out and concentrated. They slowly lifted into the air and placed themselves back into their original places. Adam walked out of the door and headed toward his dorm.
"He kissed you!" Sierra shrieked. Gwen blushed and nodded sending her roommate in a fit of giggles.
"You are one lucky girl! You look so good now. You should always wear you hair like that," she said as she pointed to Gwen's curls. Gwen glanced at herself in the mirror. `I do look like a totally different person. It had kind of freaked me out how Jon said I looked good. I've never had a guy tell me I looked good except my dad, of course,' Gwen thought. Sierra had been overjoyed that Gwen now wore contacts instead of glasses and made her promise never to wear her glasses again. `I did wear contacts before, mostly when I was Spider-girl' Gwen thought briefly.. Sierra had made Gwen tell her everything, Gwen left out the part where they got shot at though. It was really funny how life can change in one second. There was just one thing that worried her, how did Adam feel about her after he kissed her? It wasn't like they were dating or anything but the new experience gave Gwen something to ponder about.
Gwen took out her notebook as she got ready for her law class. She glanced at her watch. The professor was running a little late, something that never happened. Groups of students quietly talked. The sound bounced off the large auditorium that had been turned into a classroom.
"Hey Gwen!" called out a voice behind her making Gwen jump. She turned around to see Adam and Jon both smiling widely at her.
"Don't you have some girl to make out with, Jon" she asked with a smirk. "Ouch," mumbled Adam with a grin. Jon's smile became even wider.
"Funny. We just thought we'd pay you a visit. Want to go to lunch after this class?" he asked. Gwen looked at him strangely.
"And exactly why are you asking?" she asked. Jon had no problem finding someone to sit with.
"You got someone else you want to sit with?" he asked smugly. Gwen glared at him.
"No," she grudgingly replied.
"See I told you she would say yes," Jon said as he turned to Adam.
"It was his idea," Adam protested.
"You both better go before class starts," she told the two boys.
"Why? You're professor isn't here yet," said Adam with a shrug. Gwen rolled her eyes.
"Besides we want to see what this class is about. Besides it's so big that I doubt your professor will even notice us," Jon commented as leaped over the seat to sit next to her. Adam took the seat to the other side of Gwen.
"Ok you two can stay but if you get me in any trouble I swear I will kill you both, am I clear?" Gwen asked trying to keep the annoyance out of her voice.
"As mud," chuckled Adam.
"Hey while we are here, what do you call 100 lawyers at the bottom of the sea?" asked Jon. Gwen reddened.
"A good start," replied Adam with a grin.
"Did you two pratice that?" she asked. Adam shook his head.
"No, I've just heard the joke before," said Adam with a shrug.
"What do you do if you run over a lawyer?" asked Jon. Gwen burried her head in her hands and mumbled something that sounded something like I- can - not- believe-you -are- doing- this. Meanwhile some of the students started to listen in. Jon had a tendency of drawing a crowd.
"No what?" asked one of the students.
"Back over him to make sure," replied Jon with a grin. To Gwen's surprise none of the students looked offended but burst out laughing.
"You're trapped in a room with a tiger, a rattlesnake and a lawyer. You have a gun with two bullets. What should you do?" Jon asked.
"Take the gun and shoot the one telling the jokes?" asked Gwen. The others said they didn't know.
"Shoot the lawyer. Twice," Jon joked. The crowd laughed even hard and more people joined in. Some of them threw out a few more lawyer jokes but none where as funny as Jon's.
"Ok, ok what's the difference between a lawyer and a catfish?" asked Jon.
"One's a bottom-crawling scum sucker and the other's just a fish," a voice boomed from the front of the class. Many of the students stiffened and scrambled back to their seats. A man was standing in front of the room with an expression that Jon couldn't read. Jon didn't know much about the law department's teachers but this man didn't look familer. Gwen looked up and her eyes widened.
"Matt?" she asked.
"You know him?" asked Adam.
"Yeah, he's a friend of my family's," she said.
"Your professor gave great reviews of this class and it's just a favor to him that I am here today," said the man. He was around 6 feet tall, maybe just a little taller. He was dressed in a freshly pressed suit and looked quite comfortable in it. In his hand, he held a red tipped cane exactly like Adam's. The speaker was blind.
"I'm Matthew Murdock from the firm Murdock & Nelson in New York City. I'm here today to talk about after graduation and your need to be able to apply to a good firm," he said as he walked back and forth.
"Although for some of you this day will come to you sooner then others of you," he said. Some of the students snickered.
"Now let's see who is here. Those found missing today will find their grade dropped by 10 points. I suggest none of you try to take advantage of a guest speaker and try to sneak out," he said solemnly. He took out the roll and begin calling it.
"Hey Bat, is the blind prof related to you?" came a voice from behind Gwen. "What are you doing here, Craig? Did your planet make a mistake and beam you down into the wrong class room?" asked Gwen with a wave of her hand. Jon snickered and Craig threw him a hateful look.
"Don't be mean Gwen. It's dangerous for your health," Craig growled in her ear. He squeezed her shoulder in warning. Gwen knew that under his grip a normal girl would be crippled by the pain.
"Get your hand off you unless you want to keep it," Gwen hissed. Jon started to stand up.
"Stay away from my girl," Adam growled. Craig released his hand looking surprised.
"I deal with you later, Winters," he growled.
"Is there something the group of you would like to discuss with the whole class?" asked Mr. Murdock.
"No sir," said Craig as he moved to another seat.
"Parker," Murdock called out.
"Here," said Gwen.
"Peters," Matt continued. The rest of the class was pretty much uneventful.
"I'll meet you at lunch. I want to talk to Matt for a couple of minutes," said Gwen as she gathered her things.
"Alright, we'll meet you soon," said Jon as he and Adam exited the classroom.
"Matt!" said Gwen with a smile as she threw her arms around the blind lawyer. "Hello Gwen. How are you enjoying school?" he asked with a smile.
"It's going well. I'm having a little trouble in a history class but other then that, it's going good," she said with a smile.
"I'm sorry I didn't give you any warning I was coming. I'd thought it'd be a good surprise," he apogized.
"It was, although you startled one of my friends," she replied. Matt raised an eyebrow in question.
"The one that was telling the catfish and lawyer joke," she said.
"Oh, I see. Your father and mother say hi. Ben says don't come home," Matt said as he started packing up the papers. Gwen giggled.
"He's such a brat. You lecture was good, I think you scared some of the students though," she said with amusemnt.
"Ahh good, I haven't lost my touch," he commented as he closed his briefcase. "So how long are you going to be here?" she asked as she shifted her bookbag from one arm to the other.
"About a week. Your professor just got married and will be out for awhile. So he called in a favor," Matt Murdock commented as the two left the classroom and walked down the now empty halls.
"ahh so the rumors were true. Who'd have thought?" she giggled as she imagined Mr. Sanders married.
"So are you and your sister keeping out of trouble?"
"Yes, of course."
"With you, I doubt that" Matt replied. Gwen rolled her eyes and playfully smacked the older man.
"Why does everyone always think I am into trouble?" she said with a dramtic sigh.
"Now that's a question," he commented sarcastically. Gwen laughed.
"So do you have a boyfriend yet? Your mother said I should ask," said Murdock simply. Gwen rolled her eyes again and groaned.
"Yes, it's not like I am going to be an old maid or anything," she sighed.
"Was he the one making the jokes?" asked Matt with a grin.
"No, that's Jon. He's a just a friend. My boyfriend was sitting on the other side of me. His name is Adam," she said happily. Matt frowned.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
"Nothing. So where is this Adam from?" he asked softly.
"San Francisco, but actually he's not my boyfriend yet...well he kind of is and kind of isn't. Understand?" she asked.
"Does this Adam have a last name?" he asked.
"Yeah, it's Winters," she said grinning from ear to ear. Matt nodded. "Just don't tell mom yet. I know I won't hear the end of it," begged Gwen. "I won't breathe a word. I promise," he assured Gwen.
"Thanks Matt. I gotta split, I'm supposed to meet Jon and Adam for lunch...Do you want to come?" she asked.
"I think I'll take a rain check," he said. Gwen nodded and left leaving Matt feeling like he had just been punched in the stomach. He had never known that Adam Winters was attending college here. If he did, there was a good chance Matt wouldn't have come at all. Matt leaned against the wall and ran his fingers through his hair.
Book 1: The Children of Genesis
Chapter 5
By: Web Spinner
Adam pushed the weights off his chest, up and down. The rythem was almost hypitizing. How long had he been here? It was 2 am. In a distance he heard a few cars from late college students returning home from a party. He rubbed his eyes and wiped the sweat from his forehead. He sat down on an empty bench and ran his fingers through his damp hair. Jon, Gwen and him had returned back to campus the previous night. All of them seemed ready to get back to grind after what had happened. Something still bothered Adam though. Gwen had pushed him when the bullet was shot. How did she know? His reflexes weren't quite as fast but he had begun to pull her toward him when she pushed him. She had known the bullet was coming some how and then lied about it. He was physically exhausted but it didn't stop the many questions running through his head. The police had identified the dead man as Steve McCoy. He was reported escaped from a mental ward. Mental illness was explained his behavior but
something about him just kept nagging at him. Genesis 1:27 was the last thing the man had said before he died.
"And God created man in his own image," Adam repeated the verse out loud. His voice bounced off the bare walls of the gym. Did the man know something that got him killed? He grabbed his stuff and turned toward the weights. He held his hand out and concentrated. They slowly lifted into the air and placed themselves back into their original places. Adam walked out of the door and headed toward his dorm.
"He kissed you!" Sierra shrieked. Gwen blushed and nodded sending her roommate in a fit of giggles.
"You are one lucky girl! You look so good now. You should always wear you hair like that," she said as she pointed to Gwen's curls. Gwen glanced at herself in the mirror. `I do look like a totally different person. It had kind of freaked me out how Jon said I looked good. I've never had a guy tell me I looked good except my dad, of course,' Gwen thought. Sierra had been overjoyed that Gwen now wore contacts instead of glasses and made her promise never to wear her glasses again. `I did wear contacts before, mostly when I was Spider-girl' Gwen thought briefly.. Sierra had made Gwen tell her everything, Gwen left out the part where they got shot at though. It was really funny how life can change in one second. There was just one thing that worried her, how did Adam feel about her after he kissed her? It wasn't like they were dating or anything but the new experience gave Gwen something to ponder about.
Gwen took out her notebook as she got ready for her law class. She glanced at her watch. The professor was running a little late, something that never happened. Groups of students quietly talked. The sound bounced off the large auditorium that had been turned into a classroom.
"Hey Gwen!" called out a voice behind her making Gwen jump. She turned around to see Adam and Jon both smiling widely at her.
"Don't you have some girl to make out with, Jon" she asked with a smirk. "Ouch," mumbled Adam with a grin. Jon's smile became even wider.
"Funny. We just thought we'd pay you a visit. Want to go to lunch after this class?" he asked. Gwen looked at him strangely.
"And exactly why are you asking?" she asked. Jon had no problem finding someone to sit with.
"You got someone else you want to sit with?" he asked smugly. Gwen glared at him.
"No," she grudgingly replied.
"See I told you she would say yes," Jon said as he turned to Adam.
"It was his idea," Adam protested.
"You both better go before class starts," she told the two boys.
"Why? You're professor isn't here yet," said Adam with a shrug. Gwen rolled her eyes.
"Besides we want to see what this class is about. Besides it's so big that I doubt your professor will even notice us," Jon commented as leaped over the seat to sit next to her. Adam took the seat to the other side of Gwen.
"Ok you two can stay but if you get me in any trouble I swear I will kill you both, am I clear?" Gwen asked trying to keep the annoyance out of her voice.
"As mud," chuckled Adam.
"Hey while we are here, what do you call 100 lawyers at the bottom of the sea?" asked Jon. Gwen reddened.
"A good start," replied Adam with a grin.
"Did you two pratice that?" she asked. Adam shook his head.
"No, I've just heard the joke before," said Adam with a shrug.
"What do you do if you run over a lawyer?" asked Jon. Gwen burried her head in her hands and mumbled something that sounded something like I- can - not- believe-you -are- doing- this. Meanwhile some of the students started to listen in. Jon had a tendency of drawing a crowd.
"No what?" asked one of the students.
"Back over him to make sure," replied Jon with a grin. To Gwen's surprise none of the students looked offended but burst out laughing.
"You're trapped in a room with a tiger, a rattlesnake and a lawyer. You have a gun with two bullets. What should you do?" Jon asked.
"Take the gun and shoot the one telling the jokes?" asked Gwen. The others said they didn't know.
"Shoot the lawyer. Twice," Jon joked. The crowd laughed even hard and more people joined in. Some of them threw out a few more lawyer jokes but none where as funny as Jon's.
"Ok, ok what's the difference between a lawyer and a catfish?" asked Jon.
"One's a bottom-crawling scum sucker and the other's just a fish," a voice boomed from the front of the class. Many of the students stiffened and scrambled back to their seats. A man was standing in front of the room with an expression that Jon couldn't read. Jon didn't know much about the law department's teachers but this man didn't look familer. Gwen looked up and her eyes widened.
"Matt?" she asked.
"You know him?" asked Adam.
"Yeah, he's a friend of my family's," she said.
"Your professor gave great reviews of this class and it's just a favor to him that I am here today," said the man. He was around 6 feet tall, maybe just a little taller. He was dressed in a freshly pressed suit and looked quite comfortable in it. In his hand, he held a red tipped cane exactly like Adam's. The speaker was blind.
"I'm Matthew Murdock from the firm Murdock & Nelson in New York City. I'm here today to talk about after graduation and your need to be able to apply to a good firm," he said as he walked back and forth.
"Although for some of you this day will come to you sooner then others of you," he said. Some of the students snickered.
"Now let's see who is here. Those found missing today will find their grade dropped by 10 points. I suggest none of you try to take advantage of a guest speaker and try to sneak out," he said solemnly. He took out the roll and begin calling it.
"Hey Bat, is the blind prof related to you?" came a voice from behind Gwen. "What are you doing here, Craig? Did your planet make a mistake and beam you down into the wrong class room?" asked Gwen with a wave of her hand. Jon snickered and Craig threw him a hateful look.
"Don't be mean Gwen. It's dangerous for your health," Craig growled in her ear. He squeezed her shoulder in warning. Gwen knew that under his grip a normal girl would be crippled by the pain.
"Get your hand off you unless you want to keep it," Gwen hissed. Jon started to stand up.
"Stay away from my girl," Adam growled. Craig released his hand looking surprised.
"I deal with you later, Winters," he growled.
"Is there something the group of you would like to discuss with the whole class?" asked Mr. Murdock.
"No sir," said Craig as he moved to another seat.
"Parker," Murdock called out.
"Here," said Gwen.
"Peters," Matt continued. The rest of the class was pretty much uneventful.
"I'll meet you at lunch. I want to talk to Matt for a couple of minutes," said Gwen as she gathered her things.
"Alright, we'll meet you soon," said Jon as he and Adam exited the classroom.
"Matt!" said Gwen with a smile as she threw her arms around the blind lawyer. "Hello Gwen. How are you enjoying school?" he asked with a smile.
"It's going well. I'm having a little trouble in a history class but other then that, it's going good," she said with a smile.
"I'm sorry I didn't give you any warning I was coming. I'd thought it'd be a good surprise," he apogized.
"It was, although you startled one of my friends," she replied. Matt raised an eyebrow in question.
"The one that was telling the catfish and lawyer joke," she said.
"Oh, I see. Your father and mother say hi. Ben says don't come home," Matt said as he started packing up the papers. Gwen giggled.
"He's such a brat. You lecture was good, I think you scared some of the students though," she said with amusemnt.
"Ahh good, I haven't lost my touch," he commented as he closed his briefcase. "So how long are you going to be here?" she asked as she shifted her bookbag from one arm to the other.
"About a week. Your professor just got married and will be out for awhile. So he called in a favor," Matt Murdock commented as the two left the classroom and walked down the now empty halls.
"ahh so the rumors were true. Who'd have thought?" she giggled as she imagined Mr. Sanders married.
"So are you and your sister keeping out of trouble?"
"Yes, of course."
"With you, I doubt that" Matt replied. Gwen rolled her eyes and playfully smacked the older man.
"Why does everyone always think I am into trouble?" she said with a dramtic sigh.
"Now that's a question," he commented sarcastically. Gwen laughed.
"So do you have a boyfriend yet? Your mother said I should ask," said Murdock simply. Gwen rolled her eyes again and groaned.
"Yes, it's not like I am going to be an old maid or anything," she sighed.
"Was he the one making the jokes?" asked Matt with a grin.
"No, that's Jon. He's a just a friend. My boyfriend was sitting on the other side of me. His name is Adam," she said happily. Matt frowned.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
"Nothing. So where is this Adam from?" he asked softly.
"San Francisco, but actually he's not my boyfriend yet...well he kind of is and kind of isn't. Understand?" she asked.
"Does this Adam have a last name?" he asked.
"Yeah, it's Winters," she said grinning from ear to ear. Matt nodded. "Just don't tell mom yet. I know I won't hear the end of it," begged Gwen. "I won't breathe a word. I promise," he assured Gwen.
"Thanks Matt. I gotta split, I'm supposed to meet Jon and Adam for lunch...Do you want to come?" she asked.
"I think I'll take a rain check," he said. Gwen nodded and left leaving Matt feeling like he had just been punched in the stomach. He had never known that Adam Winters was attending college here. If he did, there was a good chance Matt wouldn't have come at all. Matt leaned against the wall and ran his fingers through his hair.