Chapter |Twenty-Two
Peter Parker tried to go to school as normally as he could while maintaining his double life as Spider-Man and helping with the other teenagers Tony had taken in. Aunt May was worried about him, and so was Ned but the reality was that he was tired. He was tired of not knowing how Marinette was or where she was. He wished he had just gone with her that night, that he'd seen right through that small smile she had given.
Tony had given him an update last night that she had in fact been seen last in Venice, Italy with Lucas. Peter wasn't sure how to take that, since it means she wasn't herself. Especially if she was deemed to now be enhanced, Peter just hoped that they didn't experiment on her the same ways some other people gained powers. There had been some security footage captured, and somehow Tony was able to link Marinette and Lucas back to other incidents that the news just couldn't get answers for.
"This isn't Marinette." Chloe had muttered, looking at the screen in disbelief. "Marinette wouldn't take another life."
Steve looked down, "Unfortunately there are some people, organizations, in this world that have figured out how to make people do things they never would."
"You kids never dealt with it in Paris." Tony tells them, looking at the screen with hard eyes, "You were somewhat protected there because of your kwamis and because of the jam signal. It kept you safe. Had the world known sooner, it could have been a completely different story."
"In the world there are people who are selfish and will go to the extremes to get what they want. It's why the Avengers was created, to protect from those people." Tony tells them, and it feels like for the first time he understood that the teenagers from Paris didn't really understand the world outside their city. "There are planets full of other life, Thor proved that as well did Loki. There are things out there more dangerous than people on earth."
"He isn't wrong." Plagg says, floating out above Adrien's head. "There are a lot more threats out there that you aren't prepared to face."
Adrien frowned, "Why didn't you say anything before hand?"
Plagg sighed and glanced at the other kwamis, but it was Wayzz who came forward to face the kwami holders, "Master Fu was the last choice to have as a Guardian, it was because he was the last one the Guardian before him trusted who was still alive. The Black Cat and Lady Bug miraculous was only active because the Butterfly miraculous was missing and being misused. It needed to be retrieved again."
"Adrien was a perfect fit for Plagg, Master Fu had sensed it." Wayzz continued, "Marinette was another story. The moment they had made contact, Tikki's miraculous flared and woke up herself. As if she could sense Marinette. It just showed how strong their bond was, and I knew myself Marinette was going to be the next Guardian."
"What does this have to do with what's happening?" Luka asked, because he wasn't sure where this conversation was going.
"Never in history has their been this many holders, much less perfectly matched holders." Wayzz admits, "It's never been heard of, and so when Marinette started picking you and the kwami's and holders were a perfect match it was no consequences, you all were going to go through something much bigger than we could anticipate, even the destruction of the temples wasn't this big of a matter."
Behind them there was an orange glow, causing Wayzz to stop speaking and turn to look at the familiar portal. He could feel the familiar power through the glow, and it brought a comfort he hadn't felt for a while the moment the Sorcerer Supreme stepped through.
"Stephen, what brings you here?" Tony asks, not really expecting the man to step through.
Stephen looked at the kwamis, the teenagers who were friends with the one student he took in and then at Tony. This was something he thought of long and hard about, and the conclusion he kept coming to was always the same- no matter how many times he rethought things through and how they could end.
"One of my abilities is to see the outcome of a situation, perk of the Time Stone you could say." Stephen starts, "I was always able to see the outcome with Marinette, who she could become depending on the path she took and who she was going to be in the end. The person was going to be always remained the same, but how she got there was forever changing as life took her down a slippery road. When she went missing, it was something I couldn't see and then I couldn't see her all together. She blocked me."
Steven frowned, "I don't understand that."
"Neither do I." Stephen admits, but his eyes locked onto the teenagers who also held kwamis. "I always saw her coming to be my student and learning the way of the Mystic Arts. I believe the rest of you would also benefit from learning the same ways she did if you're able to catch on. I always seen you by her side in the future, but with it forever changing in the ways it is doing, I believe the best outcome is if you learn as well."
"Why should we learn the ways of your teachings?" Chloe questions, eyebrow quirked up.
"While heroes like the Avengers protect the from physical dangers, we sorcerers safeguard it against more mystical threats." Stephen explains, "Kwami's are more than mystical, they were the ones who helped create the Mystic Arts."
"Eh that was more so Tikki." Plagg reminds, "That's why Marinette was a promising student."
"I can feel promise in Sass's holder, Luka and Wayzz's holder, Nino." Stephen admits. "The others don't hold the same promise, but they are more than welcome to try."
"You want to take Luka and Nino to learn?" Plagg questions, but he knew as well Adrien would be incompatible with the destructive nature of Plagg's magic. It was a risk with such sacred learnings. Luka had the kwami of intuition and Nino had the kwami of protection. They were the ideal ones in the event they needed to help Marinette in the future.
"If they would like to learn." Stephen says, but there's something in his eyes that Peter sees. The man was always so sure, but Peter could sense he was unsure about something.
"What is the real reason?" Peter asks, and deep down he knows there was one reason why he would come now after the few weeks they've been in the tower. "What is it about Marinette you're worried about?"
For as long as Tony knew Peter, the kid never once accused anyone of anything. Much less stare them down with a look of pure determination the way he did now. May kept Tony in the loop with how Peter was doing, and May told him there was something that changed since Marinette's disappearance. Today was the first time he thought she could be right.
Stephen sighed, "I mentioned there were different ways on how Marinette could get to who she's destined to be. Who that is I can't reveal due to the ways it can effect the outcome. Lucas took her, and I've seen those news articles. If, and it's an if she went down a path of vengeance, Luka and Nino could help pacify her abilities."
"So they are a safety percussion." Tony stated, "Which means Marinette has to be pretty damn powerful."
"The best thing will to bring her home as soon as you can." Stephen says, "I saw the path of vengeance she could possibly go down, but if she goes down that path then she may never be the same."
Steve frowned, "Vengeance?"
"I have a high reason to believe she's no longer with Lucas." Stephen admits, "I felt a portal open up somewhere in the Shanghai area. I felt Marinette within the arts. I believe she used the abilities she learned and got away, but her state of mind I can't get a grasp on. She could just be out there."
"You can't follow her?" Peter asks.
"No. I could go to the same city but by now she can be somewhere else." Stephen tells them, and looks at Luka and Nino. "Do you want to learn?"
Nino didn't even hesitate and nodded his head, "If I can protect my friends better then yes, I want to learn."
Luka debated for a moment, because as much as he loved Sass he never thought of having this life. He never thought he would be a hero, or saving people. He never thought he would be here in the Avenger's tower or in New York. He never asked for this. He always wanted to go into music, travel the world and go on tour. He wanted to play the guitar, and just explore the world. Not like this thought. He never asked for this, and he never wanted this. Marinette had drug him into this that first time she offered Sass, and he felt compelled to accept. He rationally knew him and kwami were bonded, a perfect match but was this a life he could live with for the rest of his life? Could he give up more for the sake of Marinette?
"No." Luka says softly, and his response shocks his other friends from Paris.
Sass flew up to him, "It would be very smart to learn. Another ability to have-"
"I'm having a hard time adjusting to this life here." Luka admits, shaking his head. "Because of Marinette, I uprooted my life, we all did, to come here."
"You're blaming Mari then?" Chloe asks, a frown on her lips because of it. "Is it hard because of Marinette or because you have to look at Peter everyday you're here knowing she chose him?"
It was a surprise to Peter to hear that, because Marinette never mentioned Luka like that- only as a friend. Then it all made sense why Luka was always standoffish with him, why he was cold that first time they met.
"Chloe!" Adrien hissed, "That was uncalled for."
"No, I want to hear the real reason." Chloe quips back, "We aren't here because of Marinette. We are here because we could have easily been in Marinette's spot. She was taken because she was figured out, and we weren't yet. If someone had wanted to, they could have taken us. Hurt our friends and family. We are here because it is the safest option."
"Hey, hey- we all made mistakes." Nino tried to pacify, "We all made them and we are learning, but we can't be throwing anything in anyone's faces like that either Chloe."
"I never asked for this life." Luka calmly tells Chloe, despite the anger in his chest. "Marinette and I never worked out. Paris wasn't enough for her, and she found a home here in New York but Paris is my home. It was enough for me. I was making my music-"
"On the boat you lived with your mother and sister on. The one you would forever be wondering where your father went." Chloe stated, "You don't need to be here if you don't want to be. Let's not act like we didn't notice how withdrawn you've become."
"At least I have a mother who accepted me for me, and spent time with me." Luka retorted back to Chloe. "At least my father wasn't the one being paid off or in prison now."
"Hey!" Adrien jumped in, "I don't understand where this is coming from but you need to calm down Luka, and you too Chloe. If you want to leave back to Paris, no one is going to stop you. But Chloe you need to calm the commentary."
Chloe said nothing else, turned her head and back towards Luka and let her pony tail sway. Luka also said nothing else as he walked out of the room with Sass following. Alya just knew to keep quite, but it was Kagami who went to follow after Luka.
"Teenagers." Tony sighed, but it was also a matter he had no idea in so he would stay out of it. If one wanted to leave, he couldn't really force them to stay.
Stephen looked at Nino, "We'll start the training tomorrow. Rest good tonight." And with that Stephen went back into his portal to leave.
Steve was the one who announced that the meeting was over, and Tony could also see this was too much teenaged drama to deal with but at the same time these were kids. They were learning how to deal with this lifestyle while trying to remain normal. Yet there was going to be time they needed to accept that this was how it was going to be.
"Peter?" Chloe approached the brown haired boy, snapping him out of his thoughts.
"Were they together?" Peter asked, wondering.
"No." Chloe tells him, "She liked him and he liked her but it never worked in their favor. When she came here and met you, I don't know there was just something that came alive in her eyes again."
"Do you think she's okay?" Peter looked at the best friend of the girl he knew he had deep feelings for, "That she won't be different like they keep saying she might be?"
"She's Marinette." Chloe offered a smile, "With us by her side she can get through anything."
For the past three weeks Yelena watched as Marinette slowly regained her memories one the chip was removed via Yelena's nonexistent surgical skills she learned watching four episodes of Grey's Anatomy. The chip itself wasn't too deep in Marinette's neck, but it was completely broken in half. Yelena could tell it was a suppressing chip, one that could control the mind like a bug.
Week one was spent watching Marinette try to make sense of things, get angry and throw things when she couldn't make sense of a thing. She tried and tried, but over all she just sat there most of the time and wrote down what she could remember. Week two was spent with her separating the truth from the lies. Whoever this Lucas guy was, he was twisted and sick to make Marinette believe she was his sister and use her as his own means to an end.
Week three was watching Marinette remember, listening to her vent about her parents and watching her grieve all over again. It honestly broke Yelena's heart, because she could understand the feeling of having family ripped away from you suddenly. She listening to Marinette remembering how she was beaten and tortured, how she had a small pocket goddess (Yelena wasn't sure what the hell that was about but still kept her mouth shut), and how she merged with this pocket goddess. Listened to how Marinette said she had powers, and that she didn't know how to really control them.
"You have powers?" Yelena raised an eyebrow.
Marinette nodded, picking at the pepperoni with her fingers, "I don't really know how to control them yet, haven't had a chance to test them out as you know, me. I'm not sure if I can control it."
Yelena tilted her head, "Why would you say that you can't control it?"
"Because.." Marinette sighed and looked up at her, "Because it feels like a ballon in my chest that's just waiting to pop, and I'm scared if it does."
"And how are you feeling now?" Yelena questions. "I've been watching you pick at the pizza slice for the past ten minutes. You're reliving memories that you didn't get time to process despite time passing by. Your head was messed with, you did things not of your own will. Trust me, I understand that and it sucks."
Marinette's head popped up, "You understand it? What happened to you?"
"I was a Widow in the Red Room, was chemically subjected to do missions that I would have loyally died for the cause. I was under that control for years, and when you wake up from that haze it's a shit load of things to deal with, but you can do it." Yelena tells her, "You just have to accept what has happened and accept there is little you can do to change that. Once you can do that you can move on with life one step at a time."
Marinette stared at her for a second and let out a laugh of disbelief, "I don't know if I can ever go back to the life I had before. I was a hero once, a friend and a daughter. I was trained to be the Guardian of the Miraculous and now I've merged with one. I just don't know what to do next. Do I got back?"
Yelena knew about the situation in Paris, it was headline news for a week straight. The idea if magic users was still kind if weird, but anything was possible now a days.
"Do you want to go back?" Yelena asks, "You know my sister Natasha is looking for you with the other Avengers. I can let her know you're here with me."
"You didn't tell her I was here?" Marinette asks curiously, ignoring the first part at first.
Yelena shrugged, "I thought I would deal with the crazy episodes you were putting on for the first few weeks, let you calm down and then decide for yourself."
Marinette appreciated this woman, because she was giving her a choice. A choice was something she hadn't had for a while so it meant the world to her that she could choose this. Did she want to go back to New York? Of course she did. She missed Peter, Aunt May, Stephen. Then she missed Chloe and Adrien too. She missed them, but then that would mean facing reality. That would mean telling them she lost Tikki and didn't even deal with Lucas. That she killed people.. she just couldn't stomach the idea. She wasn't ready yet, not when she had one more thing she needed to do.
"Please don't tell her I'm with you, not yet." Marinette whispered, her head tilted in shame.
"Are you sure?" Yelena wants to make sure this is really what she wanted, "They are looking for you. It would ease them a bit."
Marinette shook her head, "One week. Give me one more week please to work things through with myself and then you can let Natasha know. I just need a little more time or they might try to stop me."
Yelena had to ask, because there was a look in Marinette's eyes. It was a look she knew, it was the same look Natasha had when she had set her mind on bringing down the Red Room. It was then she knew that the teenager in front of her was a force to be reckoned with yet, and Yelena didn't want to be on her bad side.
"What do you plan to do Marinette?" Yelena inquired, just because she needed a good idea what she was about to get into. No way was she letting a teenager go face to face with a psycho alone.
Marinette leaned back in her chair, "I'm supposed to be the Guardian of the Miraculous, it is my duty to protect them and their secrets as well as keeping the balance. Lucas Valentino is a threat to all of that, and he is a threat I cannot risk and therefore needs to be eliminated."
Yeah, Yelena decided right then and there that she may have bitten off more than she could chew this time around. Magic and this world was not one she was too familiar with, but yet she could never throw someone out who needed help, especially not one as young as Marinette.
"I don't understand why you want so many pockets in this vest." Marinette muttered, hunched over the small sewing machine Yelena some how managed to steal along with a vest. The blonde woman asked for pockets the moment she found out that Marinette knew how to sew after the whole ordeal with Lucas was explained.
"Can you not make one with pockets?" Yelena raised an eyebrow from the sofa she was lounging on, ""I thought you were supposed to be a goddess, like all mighty as such. Are pockets too mighty for you?"
Marinette felt her eyebrow twitch, "Pockets aren't an issue, the sheer number of pockets is. What the hell are you even going to put in there, weapons?" When she didn't get a reply Marinette sighed, "Really?"
"Not everyone has magical glowing hands." Yelena reminded her, once again. "And not everyone can blow a building up when they get over stimulated with emotions."
Marinette looked up from her sewing at Yelena, frowning. "That wasn't really my fault...okay maybe it was but in my defense I was still sorting through my feelings and memories."
During her first week with Yelena, the older blonde woman had learned a very crucial things-do not try to jump start Marinette's memories. Yelena had tried to be helpful in asking basic questions like name, favorite color, friends, hobbies etc. Yet those questions just caused Marinette to get overwhelmed with different emotions from remembering her parents, to Tikki, to her friends and the fact she had killed. There was a glow from her hands when the two had been walking and then a blast of "golden energy left her finger tips, hit a building and boom. It was on fire.
"And I will admit it was super cool seeing that in person." Yelena was still fascinated by dangerous things that could potentially kill her but luckily it had been in the middle of the night and it was a working building, meaning no one was in there. There was still a police report and investigation on how it happened, but the city officials of Shanghai were leaning more towards gas leak or arson.
Rolling her eyes, Marinette sat up straighter and tossed the vest at Yelena, "There's your vest."
"You know, Yelena started, gazing over the vest with pockets with adoration in her eyes, "My sister had that same tone, but like her you'll come to love it."
"It's literally a vest."
"With pockets." Yelena reminded, "Just wait and see, you will love it to with time."
Marinette sighed and rolled her eyes, but Yelena watched as her shoulders dropped with defeat. She knew that there were things bothering the teenaged girl, but at the same time Yelena wasn't one to really talk about feelings. She was raised as a trained assassin, her mind thought differently when it came to emotions, yet she knew that she should at least try.
"What's on your mind?" Yelena asks softly, "Is it about New York?"
"I miss him." Marinette admits softly, "I miss Peter, but I just don't know. That version of me, that life seems so long ago. At the same time I know they are looking for me, and that they are worried. Peter.. he told me he loved me and I never said it back, and the truth is I love him. I love him enough that I don't want to go back if that means potienaly putting him in danger."
"That's not all is it though." It wasn't a question this time that came from Yelena.
"No." Marinette's voice shook softly, "What if he doesn't love me anymore once he finds out what I've done? I can't go back to Paris, I would also potentially put my team at risk and Lucas is already dangerous enough, I can't lead him to them. I just don't know what to do. Maybe I should just call Stephen or Tony to let them know, but Stephen doesn't even have a phone anymore and I don't know Tony's number by memory."
Yelena could understand why Marinette was at a crossroads on what to do next, she was young and didn't want anyone else hurt because of her. Yet at the same time the more time she spent away the more time she did hurt those who loved and cared about her. She wanted to take care of the issue before she made a return to her loved ones, but even Yelena knew that if Marinette took that step then there was bound to be a change. It was an action Marinette would never be able to come back from, but Yelena could tell Marinette changed when she realized she did in fact kill people. The blood on her hands stained, as did the blood on Yelena's own hands.
"I need to kill Lucas." Marinette says, but there was a distant look in her eyes as she said it, "He's too high a risk for me to have."
"Are you sure you don't want to talk to your team beforehand?" Yelena tries, "Maybe form a plan?"
Marinette shook her head, "It's as much personal as it is protecting the other kwami's and holders. He killed my parents Yelena, took me and tortured me. I lost my kwami because of him. I was suppressed in my own mind and killed because of him. He can't stay on this earth. Not when he provokes and threatens the balance."
Yelena frowned at that, "I need you to understand that once you spill his blood, you can't fix that. You can't undo that action, and it may haunt you for the rest of your life. That moment can change everything."
"I know." Marinette tells her, and Yelena could tell by the finalized tone that this was something she had thought over for a while now, "I know, and I thought about this a lot this past week. I weighed the pros and cons of going back home to New York or not. The cons outweighed the pros in my situation, and evened out when eliminating Lucas came into the picture. The risk is too great."
That wasn't even adding the Infinity Stones to the mix. If a man like Lucas ever found out about the Infinity Stones then it was game over. He would throw the world off balance for sure if he could managed a way to get his hands on them. The weird part enough was Marinette still didn't understand exactly what it was Lucas wanted to change about the world, more so as if he just wanted to control it. It was a need he needed after he lost his sister, Anya, who had originally been a part of the Red Room.
Marinette looked Yelena straight in the eyes, "He had a sister in the red room."
"Who?" Yelena's attention snapped right back up from the pockets of her vest.
"Lucas." Marinette intertwined her fingers, "Her name was Anya, and I know she was killed on an assignment for the Red Room.
Yelena frowned, "Anya Valentino was never a Widow. If this Lucas Valentino is the same one who took you and is the brother to Anya, then he's a dangerously unrailed man."
"What do you mean?"
"The Valentino family were huge investors in the Red Room and to Dreykov, believing in his cause of control. Lucas could even be considered the protégée of Dreykov. Anya was never a Widow." Yelena shook her head, "Lucas, if I remember correctly, was diagnosed with a multi-personality disorder. He killed Anya in a fit of rage when she wouldn't obey him like a Widow would obey Dreykov. He was obsessed being in control like Dreykov was."
Marinette took this new information in, and in just seemed to solidify what she needed to do. "Would you agree he needs to go?"
"He's a risk of rebuilding something like the Red Room, the stunt that he pulled with you proves that. Instead of a chemical the affects the mind, it's a chip in the neck- harder to remove if you can't pin the person or somehow break it like you did. Which was just pure luck." Yelena sat up straighter, "I didn't get out to help others like me and Natasha for someone else to start it over. He needs to be dealt with."
"Do you think we should tell Natasha where I'm at first so they can stop looking?" Marinette winced inwardly. "I should have do it sooner to be honest, but now I'm in my one piece of mind."
Yelena nodded, "Yeah, probably. That way the other Avengers will stop looking for you as well."
Which is how they got onto Yelena's phone, where the blonde proceeded to call her sister. It took a minute or two for the call to connect, but when Natasha spoke her voice brought emotion over Marinette. She missed home, and she had been pushing the missing and the urge to go back down for a while now. She needed to do this.
"Yelena? You never call." Natasha's voice spoke through the cell phone's speaker.
"Maybe I missed your voice." Yelena quipped, a small smirk on her face. "But no, it's something else. I have someone here who wants to say hello."
Yelena shuffled the phone to Marinette, who faced the ongoing face time call, "Hi Nat."
Natasha Romanoff stared at the phone screen in surprise, not once expecting that Marinette would be in the same room with her sister, let alone on a face time call looking well and alive. How long had Yelena and Marinette been with one another? Where the hell has Marinette been? Why didn't she come back home or call sooner if she was okay?
"It's a long story about why I didn't call sooner," It was like Marinette read her mind, "I just need you to tell everyone else to stop looking for me. I'll be home after I deal with Lucas."
"Deal? As in you mean kill him." Natasha frowned at that, because that was a severe change in Marinette's character from a hero who brought people back and protected others so fiercely. "That's a big choice that you should talk about more before going through with it."
"Lucas Valentino is the same Valentino son that was funding the Red Room, Nat. His family played a part in it." Yelena tells Natasha, knowing it would spark something in her sister. "I didn't find Marinette, she found me."
"This whole time you had Marinette with you?!" Natasha looked at her sister bewildered through the phone screen.
"In my defense I swore you said her name was Marianne."
"Marinete, Yelena! Marinette!"
"You could have texted me the name if it was that serious!" Yelena snapped, sighing and shaking her head. "The point is that Lucas had embedded a chip in Marinette's neck, which caused her to have a reaction like a compliant Widow on the field."
"I killed those people in Venice." Marinette admits before Natasha could utter a word, "I've also killed people in Los Angles, Canada, Brazil. Where ever he took me, I killed someone for his benefit."
Natasha was taking in this confirmation, taking in how dangerous this situation just gotten. If Lucas had technology that was that advanced, then she understood where Yelena and Marinette were coming from. Marinette had changed, and she knew realistically the odds of the same Marinette coming back home was low, this was something she wasn't prepared to hear. Lucas had made Marinette into his own version of a Widow. And if Yelena was on Marinette's side, well it was double the stubbornness.
"Where is Tikki? I'm sure she has something to say about this idea." Natasha may not have known the kwami like Tony did, but she knew the little pocket god was important to Marinette. Yet Natasha took note how Marinette's blue eyes got darker and the mention of Tikki, and that's when this feeling came to her that something else happened.
"She saved my life." Marinette's voice was distant, remembering. "When I was on the verge of death in that room they had me in, she saved my life with her own. Tikki hasn't been with me for months, only a memory now. Like my parents, like the people I hurt. They are all memories."
Natasha now saw just how much had changed within Marinette, how there was a certain innocence she lacked now that Peter and the others still had. Life hadn't been fair to the young Parisan girl, and she was making choices that she shouldn't have to make at her age. The light in her eyes had grown a little darker over the time she was gone.
"The others deserve the right to know you're okay. They have been worried about you. Especially Peter, Stephen and Adrien-"
"Adrien?" Marinette's eyebrows furrowed, "He's in New York? Why is he there?"
Natasha realized then that she didn't know that the threat in Paris no longer existed, "Your team is here in New York. Adrien, Chloe, Kagami, Luka, Nino and Alya. Hawkmoth has been defeated and arrested. They were brought here when you went missing as a safety percussion since Tony was worried they may also be targets."
Marinette sat, she sat and processed what she was hearing. The fight she fought the longest was over and she was finding out months later. She wasn't there to help or be there, but realistically she knew she never was going to be. She appreciated Tony for taking them to New York, because Lucas would have went after them to spite her. She closed her eyes and had to ask, "Who was behind Hawkmoth's mask?"
"Gabriel Agreste. He was motivated to use the miraculous to bring back his wife from a comatose state. She shortly passed in the hospital."
Her heart suddenly ached for Adrien, because he too lost both his parents. She knew he was sensitive and that he missed his mom. He had always wondered why she left, but the realization she was always there and his father knew must have devastated him to the core, and to find out he was their enemy. She had the urge to talk to Adrien, and Chloe but she knew that they might try to talk her out of this idea she had. They never killed, not where they remembered but she did.
She remembered Chat Noir as Chat Blanc. She remembered all the victims she had to bring back from the dead with the miraculous cure after the akuma. They were blessed with not remembering but not her. As much as she pushed it those incidents to the back of her mind, they affected her.
"I can't talk to them. Not yet." Marinette was more definite in her choice, "I need to deal with Lucas and they are just liabilities if he get to them. My team is my weakness and I can't loose anyone else. I can't live with the idea of losing anyone else."
"Peter deserves to know. He has been worried sick about you, and to be honest he hasn't been the same either." Natasha tells her.
"I know." Marinette mutters, then she frowned, "He knows doesn't he? The truth?"
Natasha gave a half smile, "He's Spider-Man. Tony couldn't keep him in the dark."
Marinette nodded, not looking at Natasha anymore. It was more to process what she just learned, and it made sense in a way. She let out a small of of laughter, because it was ironic that they were probably both protecting each other from their hero lives. Well, her old hero life. She didn't think she could be considered a hero much anymore.
"Tell them what you need to." Marinette says softly, looking back at the phone screen. "I doesn't change what needs to be done."
With that she hung up the phone and gave it back to Yelena, who groaned in response. Marinette gave her a questioning look, as if to ask what was wrong now.
"I didn't get to show her my new vest." Yelena looks at the vest again with adoration, "It's even better than the other one I had before."
Gah I'm actually satisfied with how this chapter turned out! We are midway in the story arc, and I think the next arc may be the beginning of the Infinity War Arc (maybe it might be the arc after).
Anyways I hope you liked this chapter! Like always thank you for the support of this story, I truly appreciate it and it keeps me going on writing!
I needed some other drama within New York, so I hope you enjoyed a little bit of that! I will be doing more of Peter and the others next chapter as well!
Thank you for the support! ❤️❤️❤️❤️
