Severing Ties
Summary: Things are looking up for Peter. It had been a few months since Doctor Octavius passed away, and Peter was getting his life on track except for a few things that wouldn't let him be. That's all about to change as someone, somewhere, needs Peter, and he's going to be in for a wild ride.
Chapter 9: Harry?
"Do you think she's dead?" a voice asked. It was the voice of a young man.
Jackie was slowly coming to and was catching snippets of conversation.
"No, I saw movement," a second voice said. It was a little voice, like that of a small girl.
Jackie slowly opened her eyes and saw people surrounding her.
"Welcome back to the realm of the living," said the young girl. Jackie couldn't believe it, but she looked like a teenager, though she sounded ten. "I'm Annie. Annie Maijus." She stuck her hand out. She had long, pale blonde curls that accentuated a round, youthful face. She had round, baby blue eyes.
"Jackie Salvani," Jackie introduced, and shook hands with the girl.
"I'm Karen Nightingale," a woman introduced. She looked to be in her late twenties. Fierce green eyes were flashing while thin, blood red lips were in an annoyed pout. Brown hair was up in a messy ponytail.
"Donna Wakanda." Droopy, tired, brown eyes smiled at Jackie. Luxurious black hair hung on Donna's head heavily.
"Inigo Short." The young man had white hair and pale skin. Upon closer inspection, Jackie noticed his eyes were pink.
"Are you all…"
"Mutants? Yeah," Annie finished. "We're from Mutantville," she joked. "That's what we call the suburb we live in. Greg Nowak figured New York's finest could use a bit of help. We were the only ones he could recruit besides Black Cat."
"Is Goblin…" It hurt to speak, Jackie noticed. Hurt to think, too. Her head felt like someone broke a bat over it.
"He's dead. The glider exploded when you blacked out. He would have made it, if he didn't throw that bomb at you," Inigo explained.
Jackie only nodded. And winced when pain made her see spots.
"Can you walk?" Donna inquired.
"No."
The four picked Jackie up by the underarms and hauled her away. Where to? Jackie didn't know, because she passed out, again.
The next morning, Peter made to visit Professor Xavier. He had given him his own apartment, complete with refrigerator and bathroom, but Peter needed to know where Jackie was.
"She is being taken care of," Xavier said the minute Peter opened the office door.
"I'm never going to get used to that, Professor," Peter commented.
He smiled at the youth in front of him. "A great deal of others think along the same lines, though they have known me for a considerably longer time than you have."
"When will Jackie come back?" Peter inquired.
"Within a few days. She will have a couple more recruits with her to bring here from Mutantville, the mutant area in New York."
Peter nodded. The worry he felt couldn't be explained properly. Jackie was the only person he had left now. He hadn't forgotten about MJ and how he was supposed to move in with her yesterday. He figured she hated him, now. His only ally, Virginia 'Jack-of-All-Trades' Salvani, was where he couldn't find her, and he didn't like it. Peter didn't appreciate the confusing things he felt around her, and he couldn't explain them away like the fact that it didn't hurt as much as he thought it would to think about MJ forgetting about him. He shook his head and left the office.
On his way back to his room, he bumped into Scott.
"Hey, Peter. I just got a call from our help in New York. Green Goblin's dead," he informed.
"Harry?" was all he could say. Peter didn't want Harry dead. He was his best friend. His only friend in most cases. Tears welled in Peter's eyes before Scott said anything else.
"He caused it himself. He threw a bomb at Jack when she was in control of his glider. When the bomb went off, she lost control, and the glider exploded."
"How'd she get control of the glider?" Ask questions, and don't think about, Peter told himself. Just don't think about it.
"One of her many trades," Scott said nonchalantly. "I have to go. See you." He turned a corner and Peter was left on his own in the large building. He started to walk around, still not thinking about Harry, with no people around him, until he heard talking from behind a door. He put his ear to the wall to listen.
"Remember what you need for today's experiment; goggles, a clean workspace, a ring-stand, and a sandbox." It was a female voice.
"Miss Monroe, I'm new here," Peter heard a voice say. "Why do we need a whole sandbox?"
Miss Monroe laughed. "A sandbox is what we call a cup of sand. You need it in case of an accident and something catches fire," she explained.
Filled with curiosity, Peter listened further.
Knowing the door was going to open, he stood to the side. Older kids came out of the room and walked across the hall. A woman with shockingly white hair and black skin noticed Peter.
"Hello. Are you a new student?" she asked in a friendly tone.
Peter shook his head. "I'm Peter Parker. I was brought here yesterday by Scott and Logan."
"I see. I'm Ororo Monroe," she introduced.
"Nice to meet you," he said as they shook hands. "Could I watch the experiment? I'm really interested in science," he requested eagerly.
Ororo chuckled. "I bet you know exactly what's going to happen."
"I do, but that doesn't mean it isn't fun watching it."
"Come on," she led.
Jackie took a deep breath and looked at the peaceful park she was sitting in with the people who had been taking care of her. Annie was on the swings with her little brother on her lap, Donna was talking to Karen about the medical field, and how it had come to the point where it can change people's emotions, and Inigo was sitting with Jackie, companionable silence fluttering about their ears. Jackie saw a suspicious movement, and was immediately standing up in a fighting position. She was face-to-face with a woman in a skintight, black outfit that was laced with white fur. A black mask covered half of her face, and long, platinum blonde hair blew with the wind.
"Going to fight me?" she asked. Jackie just narrowed her eyes as she saw the others wave at the woman. "I'm Black Cat. I would be on your side," she explained.
Jackie straightened up and smiled. "Sorry about that. Just a little paranoid after that duel with the Green Goblin," she commented. "I'm Jack-of-All-Trades."
Black Cat nodded. "I've heard of you. Recently, of course, but I have." She looked to the others. "Annie," she smiled. The girl grinned and went up to hug Black Cat.
"I was wondering when you'd come back. After that issue with Wilson Fisk, we were so worried about you," Annie said.
"I'm here, now. And I'm going to take Jack-of-All-Trades to Professor Xavier," Black Cat said.
"You know him? I thought you weren't a mutant?" Inigo asked.
"I was briefed by Greg Nowak. It seems this city has a lot of crime, but none of you can handle traveling without someone else, as you're new to the battle zone. I was told I could bring one of you with me, and the other three would stay and take Spider-Man's place in defending New York."
"When do you want to leave?" Jackie inquired.
"As soon as possible."
"I think I should come with you," Inigo volunteered. His eyes flashed with eagerness.
Black Cat looked hesitant.
"Let him. I know I can fight, here," Donna admitted shyly.
"Yeah, I'd like to help Donna," Annie added.
"I guess I could stand to stay, too," said Karen, a little crestfallen.
"I still don't like it. But you heard them. I'll go get changed into normal clothes, and I suggest you do the same, Jack."
Black Cat was gone a few minutes later.
"Like I have any regular clothes on me," Jackie snapped to no one in particular.
Donna went to her house and brought back a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt. Jackie thanked her and changed in the park's port-a-john. When walking back, Jackie noticed that she was tripping on herself a little more than usual. Black Cat pulled up a little later in an old, used car and Jackie and Inigo got in.
"So, Jack, got a real name? Or is it Jacquelyn?" Black Cat asked.
"Everyone calls me Jack or Jackie. I don't like my real name. It just isn't me," Jackie explained, a little shortly. Her seatbelt broke on her and she was trying to fix it, to no avail.
"Let me guess, it's like…Georgina or something like that."
"Something like that," Jackie replied.
"My real name's Felicia," Black Cat relinquished.
"That's a nice name. I'd rather call you that than Black Cat," Inigo said.
"Thank you. Do you have a Mutant name?" Felicia asked him.
"I don't really want one. I've been Inigo since day one and if anyone called me anything different, it's likely I wouldn't respond to them," he admitted.
"I know this is rude of me, but you seem so wise, I was wondering," Jackie started, "How old are you?"
"Wise is a better word instead of older. I'm the same age as Peter Parker. I know you know Peter Parker," she added slyly.
This shocked Jackie. She would have pegged Felicia for at least twenty-five. "How?"
"MJ and I are buds. I happen to be in Connors' class with Peter, so I tell MJ what he's been up to." Jackie cast a guilty look at the ground. "Speaking of MJ…you do know she's pretty broken up about all this," Felicia informed. A snarl formed on her mouth.
Jackie gave a small nod. "I didn't realize this would disrupt more than one life when I volunteered for this job," she admitted. "I guess I deserve whatever is thrown at me. I'm just sorry I got attached."
Felicia's face held a look of confusion. "Attached? To Peter?"
"Yeah. Me and him have been good friends. Shame he probably hates me, now," she said. Then she remembered Spider-Man saying that he didn't hate her. But how could he not? She had ruined his life, or so Jackie thought.
"From what I've heard about Peter, he doesn't. He rarely holds a grudge."
Jackie stayed silent throughout the rest of the trip. Inigo and Felicia talked a lot about different things, but Jackie couldn't bring herself to jump in at any time. She looked out her window as the scenery flew past. Twisting and perplexing thoughts were flying through her head along different threads. She was quite content in her own little world until she felt the car slow down.
"Are we there?" she asked, thinking of secret entrances.
Felicia was looking bothered. "No, and I didn't stop the car. I'm pushing on the gas pedal, but it's still slowing down."
Inigo gave an audible gulp. "You might want to look behind us."
The three turned around and saw an old man in an odd suit and a red helmet. His hand was in the air, much like Jackie's was when she stole the one thief's knife.
"He's pulling the car to him," Jackie explained. "It's Magneto."
(A/N: Okay. Let me warn you now…The next four chapters will not have cliffies. The one after that isn't a major cliffie, and then one after that is so big you'll want to shoot me for being slow with updating…XD
Laurajslr: I'm sooo thrilled that you like Jackie! I thought everyone would like hate her or think she was a Mary-Sue or something! =) X-Men 2 should give you pretty good idea, and you should know exactly what's going on when another plot point comes up…:-p ;-) Whether or not I'm a fan of Peter/MJ has absolutely nothing to do with this story…(What fun would it be if I gave it away?) And I can't go with my preference, because Peter and MJ have so much history… Yeah, Harry's an idiot. You can't say he doesn't work insane, though, eh? Thanks for reviewing!
Oddball91: Yeah, I told you about the song by Train, Meet Virginia…she's like that, but not…I just got her name from that song and thought it fit a little…XD… Harry's not going to get a chance to get any crazier! And of course MJ wouldn't take it very well! She loves Peter! Here's the next one! =) Thanks for reviewing!
Mary Jane Watson-Parker: I warned you about the cliffhangers above…I've made all my main characters dirt poor…:-p Lol! What's going to happen can not even be imagined by someone who's this far into the story! (I should know, cuz I didn't know what was going to happen when I wrote this! LOL!) Thanks for reviewing!
Quiet Escapist: I never pretended to be sane. XD Yeah, you weren't the only person who commented on the quickness with which Peter made his decision…Thinking about re-redoing it…Fifteen is definitely not the end! I'm actually almost finished with 16. XD Thanks for reviewing!
DiabloDude1: Don't worry about not reviewing! It's alright. -HIGH FIVE- There, we high-fived XD. Yay! I'm forgiven! Lol…Here's the next update! Thanks for reviewing!
Reviewing is a common courtesy…Please be courteous and review! I wanna know what goes on inside the readers' minds!)