Sorry about the wait everyone! I await your comments on the new OC's. One last thing, if you could please take the time to review on this chapter, it would be greatly appreciated!
jjonahjameson – Nice prediction! I hope you like this chapter just as much.
Despair Faction – Thanks for the compliments!
laurajslr – Yeah, I agree. I'm sure I'll like whatever they do. And yes, I think you read my mind. This chapter opens with Spidey again.
hotsauce6549 – Thanks! That's always been my favorite part in Spider-man stories and movies – when he drops in and saves the day!
Jolly Jeff – Yeah, disclaimers…why we need them, I will never know. And glad you liked my summary. I'm not sure if anyone noticed, but it was changing quite frequently for a while. I think I'll stick with this one though.
A very great thanks to Tokoyo who graciously was my beta for this chapter!
Spider-man perched sideways on a flagpole and gazed over his city through bloodshot eyes. He'd already checked with every superhero and threatened every supervillain in New York during the past three days. Well, every one except Mysterio.
When Spidey had visited the prison where his foe was now spending his days, all he'd gotten in response to a request to meet with him was, "I can't talk now. I'm very busy coming up with an impressive way to escape from this miserable jail cell."
Of course, the warden who had relayed this message to Spider-man had repeated it with a straight face, making Peter doubt that anything would be done. No surprise there. Those guys were always escaping. Except this time he wouldn't have to be surprised when Mysterio was sighted on the loose again.
But Spider-man was not feeling particularly witty or sarcastic right now. Nikki was still nowhere to be found and the few leads he had gotten were just dead ends, leaving him feeling more hopeless and despairing than before.
A description from the police of a mysterious girl at a robbery Spider-man had stopped the night his daughter disappeared had been the most promising, but still unlikely. There was no explanation for how a girl could be shot dead and disappear a few seconds later without a trace. Still, Peter was glad that it wasn't true. Nikki being dead was even more frightening than if she was just missing. He couldn't find and save a girl who'd he had already lost for good.
Peter had been allowed off work on account of his missing daughter. Apparently the extra time wasn't really making much of a difference, not that they knew what he was doing.
MJ had actually been the one to insist through bitter sobs that they had to report it to the police. Even though Peter doubted that they would be able to find anything Spider-man couldn't, it was impossible to say no to his inconsolable wife. They had to explain the fact that she wouldn't be in school somehow.
In the end, he had convinced her not to call until the next day in case Nikki showed up before then. A stubbornness in him, probably from relying on his spider powers for so many years, didn't want to admit defeat immediately. Besides, where did a fifteen-year-old girl have to go? Apparently somewhere, because the police were now on the case.
So here he was, three days later. The amazing Spider-man couldn't even find his own daughter. His suit was beginning to annoy him a lot. It was sweat soaked and just plain disgusting. Peter hadn't donned his normal clothes since Nikki had disappeared.
His thoughts began to wonder back to the argument they'd had that night. What he wouldn't give to go back and apologize now. Unfortunately for Peter, it would be a long time before he got a chance to do it again.
Light began to break over the horizon, and for a moment, the silent figure watched the morning approach. Then he leaped off the flagpole, plummeting toward the ground.
A thin strand of webbing jerked him upward at the last minute and Spider-man was swept off through the crisp morning air. But the entire thrill from the wind ripping past him and tearing the breath from his throat as he swooped over the ribbons of street below was lost on him. It was going to be another long day.
"Would you like me to show you around?" Veron Odrade asked with a winning smile that was now beginning to make Nikki a little uncomfortable.
"Uh, I guess that would be okay." She looked about the small shop, wondering how much there could be to show. To her surprise, the man walked directly over toward the back of the store and began doing something to a shelf that held stacks of cereal boxes.
Suddenly, the shelf swung back, revealing a dark and foreboding stair case. "Could this day get any more bizarre?" Nikki mumbled to herself under her breath.
Veron fumbled for a switch and a soft light seeped into the passageway. If anything could scream don't go in there! more than this, she didn't know what it was. "Coming?" he asked, before striding confidently down the steps.
Nikki hesitated a moment. Then she realized that if anything happened, how hard would it be to just walk out through a wall? With a little bit of a smirk on her face at a remembrance of her powers, Nikki turned and hurried after him.
She had expected a dim and dirty old basement coated in cobwebs and discolored floors. However, she had not expected to walk down the ancient wooden steps into a welcoming living room.
Leather couches and armchairs were scattered about over the soft carpeting, and a large television took up the majority of the wall to her left. The three newest game systems could be made out under an impossible tangle of cords near the TV. Ben would be forever jealous.
She could see that a chess game had been started on a small rosewood coffee table near a couch. Speaking of coffee, the strong scent of roasted beans came wafting in from a good sized kitchen with wood flooring that was off to her right.
Straight ahead was a hallway with about six different rooms that she guessed to be mostly bedrooms. This little living space probably took up the basements of three shops in a row.
Veron Odrade seemed please with her stunned silence as she took everything in. He led her about four doors down the hallway and opened a door.
A hug canopy bed with jewel encrusted posts greeted her. Nikki dropped her backpack and her jaw as she stared about in awe. The room was much bigger than her old bedroom at home and everything in it seemed to have at least a few semi-valuable parts to it.
"This is yours."
Nikki spun around to gape at the man next to her stupidly. "Mine?"
Veron's smile broadened. "Yes. I assumed you didn't have anywhere to stay since you wandered in here." His eyes had a funny look in them; as if anyone her age who wandered in here obviously had nowhere else to go. Did he know about the argument with her dad? Did he know she was running away?
She dropped her eyes, a little embarrassed. "Uh, thanks."
"You're very welcome." He turned and began walking back out down the hallway. "If you're wondering, I'm not the only one who lives here. I have to go up and run the shop so I'll leave you alone for now. The others should be returning shortly." Veron glanced at his watch once before starting up the steps.
Nikki stared after him until he disappeared back out through the shelf-door. Then she began looking around her room again. All hers? It was gorgeous!
Suddenly, a childish urge from long ago took over. She remembered walking through old houses that had been turned into museums with her family. She'd always wanted to jump up onto the big beautiful beds, but of course was rarely even allowed to step foot inside the sacred room.
Forgetting about her backpack, Nikki bolted forward and threw herself on top of the down comforter, sinking deep into the huge four-post. For a moment, she just lay there. Then she rolled off and went to grab her bag. Nikki dropped it at the foot of the bed, flopping down again on the soft sheets.
She quickly began emptying the blue backpack. Clothes, toiletries, memorabilia, and a Spanish-English dictionary tumbled out. "I thought I left this at home with my other books," Nikki mused. She shrugged and tossed off to one side.
As the minutes ticked away on her silver clock, she began to wonder what exactly Mr. Odrade's definition of "shortly" was. It had been almost an hour since he had left her. Nikki had already scoured the room and discovered all its neat little treasures, but hadn't yet gained the nerve to venture outside her room and explore further.
Boredom set in and she began to wish that she had brought a few of her favorite books or something to do. Then Nikki spotted the dictionary, still lying half open on its side where it had landed. "I guess I could look up what those kids were talking about back at school." She snagged it and sat on a cushioned chair to read.
Nikki flipped through a few pages until she spotted the word she was looking for: fantasma. It meant: "ghost, phantom, spook."
"Oh, what a surprise. They were talking about me." She threw it on the ground again, but couldn't help thinking that fantasma sounded like a cool nickname. Who knew? With these powers, she might actually want one in the near future.
1:30 AM found Nikki asleep in her new bed, the "others" still not home.
"What the - ! That is so not what I said to him!"
"Look, Missy, I don't care what you 'said', I just want you to stay away from him. Got that?"
"Hey, I've got an idea. Why don't you both shut up!"
"Um, hi. Do you guys live here?"
Four startled faces turned to stare at Nikki as she peered nervously out into the living room. A boy about her age got over his surprise first and motioned for the newcomer to come in. "You must be Nikki! I'm Jake."
Jake's grin seemed inviting enough, so Nikki hesitantly joined the group. He looked friendly, but also gave her the idea that he could also be very dangerous if he needed to be. His hair was brown, almost red if it had been in brighter light. She shook his hand, a bit startled by the strength in his grip, and noticed one of the girls giving her a threatening glare.
Nikki could see the venom in her eyes and made the handshake brief. Jake didn't notice. She tore her gaze away from the angry girl as he started talking again.
"I'm Jake. My nickname's Mimic. I can imitate any sound at all. Say something."
"Uh, I don't know," Nikki giggled embarrassedly, looking around for help from the serious faces that stared back at her. She heard her voice repeating itself.
"Uh, I don't know."
She whipped around to stare in shock at Jake. Had he just said that? "Wow," she breathed.
"Wow."
"Ok," Nikki frowned playfully, hands on her hips. "That's enough. Otherwise I'll start calling you Mocking Bird."
Jake took on a hurt look, but quickly laughed it off. "Alright, you win. I'm also the team's main weapons guy." Then he began introducing the group.
First was a boy who looked to be twelve. He had a foolish grin continually plastered on his face. "He never speaks," Jake told her, "so we just call him C-Cat." At the raised eyebrow she gave him, he laughed again, ruffling the boy's messy sand colored hair and continued.
"It all has to do with his abilities. The first time Odrade brought him here, this little guy disappeared right before our eyes leaving nothing but his trademark smile. It reminded us of the Cheshire cat, so we started calling him by that. But eventually it got shortened to just C-Cat."
C-Cat obviously had vocal chords, which he put to use for Nikki immediately with a devilish little giggle. Then he suddenly vanished, leaving nothing but a hand. The hand gave Nikki's long hair a yank before it too disappeared with a final laugh.
Jake half scolded the air where C-Cat had been a moment before and then turned apologetically to Nikki. She was a bit stunned. "How does he do that? Does he turn invisible or something?"
"No," Jake shook his head, thoughtfully. "We're not exactly sure how it works, or even how he ended up with this ability in the first place because he won't talk. But C-Cat doesn't teleport or turn invisible. He just disappears. And beware of the mysterious floating head joke. He likes to pull that one on new people since he can make as much of himself disappear as possible."
Nikki blinked, and then nodded, even though she really had no idea what he was talking about. Jake sensed her confusion and gave her a friendly little smile before motioning at the girl who had made it quite clear already that she already disliked Nikki very much.
"This is Allie. Her nickname is Krystelle because, well, she can create crystals." Allie walked forward, ignoring Nikki's outstretched hand and latching onto Jake's arm instead. Her blonde hair was about shoulder length, wavy and perfect; perfect like Nikki could never get her hair to be.
Last was an aloof young woman who simply nodded in acknowledgement. Thorn wouldn't say her age, but looked to be in her early twenties. She had long jet black hair that was as straight as a table leg and continually wore something Nikki knew her father wouldn't have approved of. Jake said that her name was Serena, which didn't fit her at all, so she mostly went by Thorn.
"And what do you do?" Nikki asked carefully. Thorn considered her for a moment, and then held up her hands. Tiny holes opened up all over her palms, allowing thin, silvery needles to shoot out. They kept growing, not getting any thicker and soon resembled slender metallic ropes, curling and lashing about as if they had minds of their own.
A sly smile crossed the woman's face. Something in Nikki's head screamed for her to move, but Thorn was faster. Her spines suddenly surged forward and wrapped Nikki up even as she started to duck away.
The spines lifted her into the air, giving her a full view of the surprised faces below. C-Cat was back and Jake was muttering something about how good her reflexes were: she'd almost evaded Thorn!
Nikki looked around, then down at Thorn. Time to show off her own talents. Closing her eyes, she concentrated for a moment and tumbled through the coils to the ground. Thorn gaped at her, and then back at the bright blue spines. She slowly reabsorbed them, turning her stare back to Nikki. Allie's eyes were bugging out of her head and C-Cat's smile was even broader, almost bordering on creepy.
Jake just shook his head in amazement and grinned at her. "Well, everyone, it looks like we have found our new team member." Cheers erupted from the group. At first they were a little hesitant to actually touch the girl who could glow, but got over their fear quickly enough.
"So," he asked her when they had all calmed down, "what's your nickname?"
Nikki looked around at Allie's still slightly jealous but now accepting face, Thorn who was leaning against the wall, trying not to act interested, C-Cat's bizarre grin, and finally into Jake's rather beautiful emerald eyes. Then she smiled. "You can call me Fantasma."