Spiderman 1.5 (Lessons on Life, Gymnastics, and Heroics)
Warnings: Mild cursing, lechery, the mafia
1st person: Sasha's POV: Flashback
As I led Peter to one of the two-seater booths on the third tier, I wondered what deity I had pissed off badly enough that he or she would curse me with such meddling men. I had at least two men trying to keep me from getting in trouble, as I'm wont to do. On the other hand, a mafia full of men was doing their damnedest to find me and put me in a constant state of danger. I could only hope this wouldn't become a habit.
Be that as it were, I was going to a have a serious talk with one Peter Parker. If he thought he could get away with making me feel guilty over something he did, then boy was he gonna be surprised. What I opted to keep to myself was for his safety, not for his personal use as a weapon of supreme remorse. When I think about it, I suppose what hurt the most was that Spiderman could have been right. Maybe I should have told him after we got so close. It's not like he couldn't keep a secret himself, right?
3rd person POV
Sasha picked a booth that was near the swinging doors to the kitchen, so she could leave as soon as she was finished giving Peter the dressing down of his life. She almost felt sorry for him as he looked up at her with eyes that screamed 'I'm a poor defenseless photographer, take pity on me!' in a cute puppy-dog kinda way.
"So," Peter started, "I'm on the shit list, aren't I?" Sasha didn't even bother do dignify that with a response. She watched him start to sweat. "I'll take that as a definite yes," he said guiltily.
Sasha gave him an evil glare that would peel the paint off of a brand new Porsche. In a voice that contradicted her mood she asked him evenly, "Are your assumptions always so accurate, or only when they involve me glaring at you?"
Sasha watched with an ice-cool gaze as he shifted uncomfortably in his seat before affirming his previous statement, "And to answer your question, yes. You happen to be in second place right now." Sasha untied her braid and began to run her fingers through it in a nervous habit she was sure she had gotten rid of.
Peter winced at her implication. He also recognized her nervous habit for what it was, a mixture of anger and remorse. What on Earth does she have to be sorry about? It was my fault for pushing into her business… Even though it turns out that I had just cause. His inattention caused him to flinch when Sasha spoke next.
"What in the HELL possessed you to go and tell a superhero, who (may I remind you) probably has more important things to do, that you thought I might be in trouble? At least, that's what it sounds like you did by the way he was so persistent about it," Sasha practically ranted. "How could you put me on the spot like that? You didn't even bother to give me a heads up! Granted I would have ripped you one then instead of now, but you wouldn't feel as guilty as I can tell you feel right now!"
After listening to her tirade, Peter somehow managed to regain his feet (which were firmly planted in his own somewhat plausible cover-speech). "Hey, I was worried about you! I decided to try and look out for my little sister only to find her chewing my head off for doing so! The fact that said superhero wouldn't tell me anything worries me even more," he hissed back, though his own lecture seem slightly less effective as it wasn't as fueled by raw emotions as hers was.
"Though you still haven't taken his advice and kept out of my business! I'm glad you care enough to meddle, but I already have enough people trying to run my life. I don't need you in the same predicament that Mom and I are in," Sasha replied. She stood from the table, ready to leave on that note. She could feel Peter practically wilting behind his pouty façade.
Sasha sighed incredulously. It was sad to see a grown man pout, but it was worse when he could pull it off. "I have gymnastics practice in half an hour. I'm not going to miss it just to argue myself in circles with you." Sasha paused, contemplating how harshly she was dealing with the guy who had all but saved her sanity. She sighed again, feeling she might regret not following Spiderman's advice, even if she had adamantly opposed it. "If you'd like I can talk to you afterward. Maybe if I explain some things to you, you'll understand how bad this can get."
Peter looked somewhat mollified at her admission. "Does this mean I get to watch you practice?" he asked, almost hopefully. The last time he had gone to one of her practices for some reason or another she had been doing 'Floor Wars' with the other gymnasts of her age and level group. The tumblers had to do certain combinations of flips, cartwheels, rolls, ect. flawlessly in competition for partners to practice with for the year.
That year there was an uneven number of students, so the one who did the best would be working with one of the instructors directly. The rest would be paired off based on their ratings. Second and third together, then fourth and fifth, so on and so forth. It was meant to ensure the partners would be on even footing and push each other forward.
There was only one problem with this theory. Partners wouldn't work well together if
they didn't like each other. Sasha was very unfortunate. She was just getting over a head cold that was messing with her balance and forgot that the assessment was that day. She only made a few mistakes in the routines, but it was enough to slip her rating down a notch or two. As a result she was paired with Maria, who wasn't even close to the level she was, for the entire year. The girl also had an ego the size of Alaska, which didn't help at all.
However, this year was different. This year Zania, the youngest high class coach in the area, offered to teach the best in the class competition. Sasha practically drooled at the chance to work with the great Zania Malikov. With that goal firmly in mind, Sasha fought tooth and nail to get ready for the event. The competition was so one sided it wasn't even funny. After she whipped the other competitors, Zane went up and shook her hand. She then offered her a chance at the state wide championship. Coming from her, this was good praise indeed.
However, to be honest, she preferred the uneven parallel bars and the balance beam to floor routines. After the Floor Wars she requested that Zane train her in her usual events instead of solely concentrating on floor routines. Zane offered to compromise, should Sasha agree to continue working on her form for floor routines Zane would make the uneven parallel bars and the balance beam the focal point of her teachings. Needless to say it was a win/win situation.
Sasha had to admit, she hadn't expected Zane to be the hard task master that she was. She insisted on perfection in every move that she made, no matter what the event. Over the past few weeks she must have done hundreds of rolls, handsprings, cartwheels, round-offs…basically you name she did it. In other words, it was very boring.
Sasha shook herself from her reverie to give Peter the look that told him when he was being weird. Peter chuckled sheepishly. "Alright, so I just wanna see a whole bunch of girls in leotards. Is that so bad?" he asked defensively.
Sasha rolled her eyes. "Boys! Are you telling me you don't have work or something more productive to do?" she asked him. He gave her a look that clearly expressed his thoughts about her sanity, or lack there of. Sasha shook her head in exasperation, then motioned for him to follow her into the back room.
"It seems that oyaji managed to call in another waitress, eh kitten?" Sasha asked Katrina as they cut through the kitchen. There was a rather lewd looking Tina, putting on an apron. "Sure you're over that cold, kid? I don't want to have to deal with a whole bunch of sick people when I get back to work on Monday."
Tina grinned at her as she readjusted her garters so they just showed at the hem of her extremely short skirt. "No worries! I'll not breathe on them unless they piss me off," she giggled, her Australian accent still showing through even after five years of living on the island. At 15 she was the youngest waitress working there, but she was also the most scandalously dressed. Crazy Aussie, Sasha thought affectionately.
"So, who's your friend?" Trina asked. Tina sauntered over to listen as well. "Yeah, he looks a little younger than your last boyfriend. He looks a little cuter to!" Tina exclaimed, obviously teasing the two.
It was obvious that Peter was blushing up a storm for reasons that were not entirely kosher. Sasha chuckled in good humor at her friend's bashful modesty. "This is Peter Parker. He works at the Bugle with Mom," she explained. Then her smile grew into a wicked grin. "And he happens to be single, girls!"
Watching Tina, Trina, and Peter's reactions was better than watching comedy on TV. The girls had an expression akin to man-eating lions at an all you can eat buffet. Peter on the other hand looked like he was the one strapped to the buffet table.
I'm amazed he hasn't passed out from the way he's blushing. I at least expected him to burst a vessel because of the overload of blood in his face! Sasha thought in amazement. Finally, one of the girls broke the lustful stares in favor of surprised recognition.
"Hey, wait a second. I recognize your name!" Tina broke in, astonishment evident on her face. "You're the guy who takes pictures for the Daily Bugle!" she announced. She held out her hand. "It's so cool to meet you Mr. Parker. I love your work."
Peter looked extremely surprised for a second then a little skeptical. "You mean you like the photos of Spiderman that I take," he corrected her. To his surprise, she shook her head. "I'm a photography student. I look at how well the picture is captured and developed. The subject of your work is merely a bonus to look at," she explained, her matter of fact tone seeming out of place with the rest of her outfit.
Peter grinned at her attitude toward his mode of living (on so many levels) and took her outstretched hand in a carefully firm grip. "It's a pleasure to meet someone of the same craft. Is there anything you specialize in?"
Sasha watched in amusement as the two photographers exchanged tidbits of information they had learned in their trade. While they were occupied, she gathered up the rest of her stuff, hugged Katrina on her way out of the kitchen, and hung her apron back up in the corner.
"So you want to take wildlife photos in the brush? That sounds amazing!" Peter proclaimed. "It's only amazing to see, 'cause to take those pictures I'd have to camp out in the outback for weeks at a time. It'd be worth it though!" Trina gushed, grabbing a tray. "Maybe I'll see you around here sometime?" she asked, her Australian lilt capturing her hopefulness.
At this Sasha giggled. "He's too old for you, kid. He's turning 21 in August," she clarified. Tina pouted at her. "Then why did you tease me with him being single? Honestly, and you call me the crazy one!" She sashayed out of the door to the restaurant, tray in hand.
Peter blinked in confusion. "Um, what exactly did she mean by that? How old is she exactly?" Sasha motioned for him to lean over so she could whisper it. Then she skipped out the door to the alley laughing at Peter's frozen expression of disbelief.
As Sasha and Peter made there way out to her car, Sasha was still chuckling at Peter's bright red face. "Fifteen! Please tell me you're joking!?" he exclaimed, getting in the passenger side door. "Nope! That, my friend, is what we in the business call jailbait," Sasha snickered. Peter tried to disappear into the leather seats of Sasha's car as they drove away.
1 hour later
"Come on, Sasha, I know you can do better than that! Your aerial cartwheel into the back handsprings was sloppier than I've seen it in months!" Zania Malikov scolded as Sasha finished one of her practice routines.
Sasha's already flushed cheeks gained even redder tinting at Zane's scolding. She self-consciously wiped at the sweat dripping down her cheek with the back of her hand as she turned to her coach. "Sorry, Zane, my mind's not on the floor routines right now. I have a chore to do after this that's gonna be worse than pulling teeth."
Zane shook her head, a knowing look on her face. "Is this about that guy you got sitting in the lobby watching you through the mirrored glass? Truly, though, he doesn't look to be anywhere near your type…," she self-debated, rubbing her chin in a mock-thoughtful manor.
Sasha barked out a laugh that clearly gave her opinion on that matter. "I'm not interested in him that way, trust me. I think of him more as an older brother, than anything else," she assured her skeptical coach. "Which I suppose is half the problem. He's being too nosy, so I finally agreed to tell him what he wants," she paused for a moment, stretching to keep her muscles loose.
Zania looked at her, her façade appearing quite normal, while Sasha could tell she was seriously worried. "How exactly are you going to approach something as dangerous as having connections to the Underground, even if it is only through the club scene?" she asked, her voice barely a whisper.
Zania had family in the Underground, the criminal element of the city. A few of her cousins were in close with Fisk's people, so she also traveled the club scene, which is where Sasha had met the true Zania Malikov, alias Zane the Blade. While Sasha made it a point to never tell anyone about her familial troubles, she couldn't help but wonder what drew her father to illegal activities. So a few months ago she started frequenting the Underground clubs, despite the obvious dangers. It gave her the opportunity to spy on Fisk's people without actually appearing to.
Sasha had found out about Zane in one of those 'only-seen-on-hip-hop-soap-opera' type dramas. One weekend they somehow ended up at the same Underground nightclub. That particular night Sasha had been looking for a good time in the midst of a more casual crowd she could intimidate into leaving her alone if she had to. Zania on the other hand had been part of her cousins' entourage, who had some private business to work out. Bored, she decided slipped away for a quick dance.
In the midst of the throng crowding the dance floor the two had quite literally bumped into each other. They had been sharing info from the Underground ever since. Sasha actually held a decent standing in Zania's family after they discovered she had intimidated and bribed her way into the Underground. It helped Sasha's sanity to have a mentor who knew the score; the world was dangerous, so be just as dangerous.
Sasha tuned back into the present and replied, "Peter can handle it. I trust him more than anyone else who's on the outside." Admitting that felt good. It was like freeing up a piece of her mind.
"Alrighty then, good luck with that," Zania pulled away from their huddled conversation and continued on with the lesson. "Do the floor routine one more time, but with feeling," she ordered, "Then you can move on to the uneven parallel bars."
Sasha whined in a very put upon way, but did as she was told, getting back into position to start the routine over again. Just as she was about to start she noticed she was getting a tunnel vision of sorts. She concentrated on calming her mind to the point where she was empty of all feelings. Unnoticed to those around her, Sasha's eyes had slowly bled free of color until they were a silvery-blue hue. She cast her body into the string of movements.
To the casual observer the girl at the center of the cushioned floor mat was a blur of beautiful and fluid motion dressed in a grey and blue leotard. To the trained eye she was in perfect form for all of the moves. Flips, tucks, rolls, and cartwheels were performed with a precision that was almost frightening. Finally she rounded off her last cartwheel and stuck it to the mat, posing.
Sasha's tunnel vision induced determination faded and she grinned in satisfaction, turning to Zane. "There! How was -- that?" she faltered as she caught sight of the gaping floor team and the fixed mask of acceptance on Zane's face. "What? Do I have something on my leotard?" she asked, running a quick check of her outfit.
Not finding anything, Sasha turned to Zania and asked, "So can we move on to the bars now, Zane?" Zania nodded, rubbing her temples. "Yeah, you're good on floor for today," she replied.
After Practice: Girls' Locker Room
Though Sasha would rather have dragged out the post-practice shower as long as she could, her sense of propriety insisted she finish quickly so Peter wouldn't be kept waiting too long. The odd thing was that she didn't feel nearly as wiped out as she usually did after one of her extreme practices. Perhaps I'm just getting used to the work-load? Sasha thought to herself.
Afterward she quickly dried off and began to change back into her Chinese tang and pants, whilst coming up with an interesting list of things she wanted to do after she broke the shocking news to Peter.
Let's see, I can hopefully keep Peter from reacting too badly to the news. Then after I drop him off at his aunt's place I can run by the bookstore and grab Atwater-Rhodes new book. Then, with any luck, I can finally finish watching Kill Bill Volume 2. Not that I haven't already tried a billion times…
By the end of her strange internal monologue, Sasha finished getting all of her stuff together. She quickly walked out of the locker room and headed for the mirrored glass lined lobby. Before she made it halfway to the door she was assaulted by entire the floor team. Every single one of them were attempting to butter her up, and she knew it the moment she heard the truckloads off praise (otherwise known as bullshit) being dumped in her direction.
"I already know what you want, Jennifer," Sasha cut in between all of the praises, speaking directly to the floor team's leader. "And I've already told you, the minute I join your team of anorexic looking twigs is the day I learn how to fly. I do not like doing floor. I only make allowances for Zania because she is my trainer. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have someone waiting for me in the lobby."
More than half of the girls standing there huffed angrily at being called anorexic twigs and the other half didn't seem to particularly care, Jennifer being in the second grouping. They followed her through the lobby as she tugged Peter to his feet and bodily hauled him outside and to her car. Finally they flocked around her car as she made ready to leave. "Please, won't you reconsider? You've gotten even better since you first began training!"
Sasha exchanged a glance with Peter that conveyed her annoyance rather poisonously. Peter simply smirked in amusement. With that Sasha slipped her sunglasses on, revved her engine, and scoffed at the idea. "You are more full of shit than your eyes originally indicated. Go sucker some other poor sap into your cult, I'm out of here." And with that she left them in the dust as she pulled out.
Back at the Morieta's
When Sasha pulled into the garage of her house, she felt her butterflies return in full force to remind her that she was going to be dragging an innocent into her mess. This of course led her down darker memory paths involving her despair over Jake's death, making the butterflies into knots of many intricate designs. She sighed as she turned off the car.
"Generally, admitting this to anyone of authority could automatically get anyone involved arrested and eventually manipulated into the wrong hands. Lucky for you, I know you well enough to trust you with this, although now I'm really hoping I've scared you enough to change your mind," Sasha began looking hopefully at Peter. If anything, however, Peter's determination had only hardened from that.
Sasha refocused her eyes on the steering wheel in front of her, avoiding Peter's eyes. "Instead, I'm going to have to ask for something in return…" Sasha told him a little hoarsely. "…a condition you have to swear you'll keep, no matter what." Peter cocked his head, a little confused at her both sudden and apparent change in moods. "I always keep my promises as best as I can. What do you need me to do?"
Sasha turned back to Peter, slipping off her sunglasses to reveal her startling blue-black eyes brimming with unshed tears. "I need you to promise me you won't die," she whispered, her voice too choked with emotion to work properly.
As much as her altered eye color had surprised him, her request had metaphorically blindsided him like a runaway semi-truck. Looking back on his excursion the previous night as Spiderman, however, he realized it shouldn't have. "Of course I won't die. I promise," he said, wiping away the single tear that escaped her control.
As soon as he said that Sasha launched herself across the consol of her car and buried herself in his arms. Peter comforted her as she wept for her friends, her mother, and her fear. When she began to calm down a minute or so later, Peter realized he now had a wet spot on his shirt where she had been crying. "Man, Sasha, you're putting a big water spot on my shirt!" he chuckled softly.
Sasha let out a giggle between her sniffles as she wiped her eyes free from tears. "I'm really sorry, Pete. Not about the shirt, it's just that, well, things have been a little strange lately, you, mister, being part of that," she mock-blamed him. He held his hands up in a defensive position, an innocent look on his face.
At that moment Sasha and Peter's stomachs chose to protest their contents, mainly their lack of said contents. The two friends looked at each other with a look of surprised amusement, then began to laugh at the ridiculousness of the situation. "Come on, let's go grab something to eat from the kitchen while I tell you a story."
Peter smirked and opened his door. "Sounds like a plan. You still have the roast beef ramen?" Sasha chuckled and nodded. "I always keep some stashed just for you, Bro." They walked into the house through the door to the garage, laughing like loons.
An hour or two later
"So," Peter began, making his best effort to look shell shocked, "You're telling me that you are related to Wilson Fisk, not just as a distant cousin or something, but as his daughter? And that said multi-millionaire is just as shady as all of the tabloids make him out to be!?"
"That's about the gist of it," Sasha agree, popping another Cheez-it in her mouth, "There are also some other minor details, but we'll get to those." She paused again to take a drink from her Sierra Mist bottle. "The only other major thing I haven't told you yet is the reason he started taking such an interest in me."
Peter waited for Sasha to finish the thought, but she seemed quite content to ignore him in favor of a bowl of ramen. "…And that reason is?" he prompted her not-so-subtly. "Da shame ting daa gah Jake kiwld," she mumbled around a mouth full of ramen. Peter cocked and eyebrow at her excellent use of the food language. "I don't understand "ramen-ese" as well as you speak it, Sis," he admitted.
Sasha nearly snorted noodles from her nose at that comment. She quickly cleared her mouth of any remaining food so she could answer him. "What a pity. I said 'the same thing that got Jake killed', thank you very much," she paused to let the info sink in. "I had to take an IQ test when I was younger for some reason or another, sometime back when we lived in Chicago.
"It turns out there was a mix up in tests and I accidentally got an adult test. When the results came back somewhere in the high 130's I was declared a genius. Hell, I didn't even know I could understand shit like that. Apparently I just picked up things from people more quickly than most. I'm actually the reason he can't find us."
This time Peter didn't have to act shell shocked. He genuinely could not find an intelligent word to say. Even unintelligent words escaped him. Sasha laughed at his bug-eyed and open-mouthed surprise. "Just to clear up some confusion, that was a lie," she informed him. He seemed to relax a little, then she continued. "I only seem to pick up Computer Sciences at the genius level. Everything else is just above average." Peter started to choke on the noodles he took a bite of.
"You have got to be kidding! I mean, I've seen some of your papers and there barely B-material, let alone genius material," he attempted to rationalize. Sasha scoffed at his effort. "That's merely a ruse to keep off suspicion. How hard do you think it is to track a genius through their talent? Why do you think I'm in band and art and gymnastics, not the Computer Club, or even the Mechanics Club?"
The two sat in a companionable silence as Peter mulled over all of the information he had been given. After a moment they both tried to resuscitate the conversation. Of course, it's hard to talk and listen at the same time.
"So, what about-"
"There's something-"
They paused again and laughed. Sasha gestured to Peter. "Please, age before beauty, I insist," she teased. Peter faked a hurt look, but continued. "So, why did your eyes change color? In the car they were a blue-black color in the car, now they're almost…purple," he informed her, sounding slightly mystified.
Sasha looked down at the floor in embarrassment, breaking his intense study of her eyes. "That's actually what I was going to talk to you about. Remember the other day I was telling you about my trip to see the electron microscope? Well, I found something while I was there. A blue and red colored spider was underneath a rolling table set up that some of my stuff rolled under. I, um, kinda brought it home with me."
Peter jerked back from the counter they were seated at so hard that he landed on his ass on the floor. "You did what? Why would you bring a genetically mutated spider back home with you!?" He jumped up and grabbed her by the shoulders. "Where is it?"
Sasha blinked at his extremely spastic attitude. "Um, it's upstairs, in the geo-sphere on my desk. Why do you think it's genetically mutated?" Peter didn't even bother to answer her, opting instead to dash upstairs in a rather crazed fashion. Angrily glowering at his rather rude exit, she wondered what got his knickers in a twist. Deciding not to wait to find out she followed him at a more sedate pace.
When she finally made it to her door, which was ajar, Peter came charging back out in a near panic. "It's not in there! Sasha, this is really important. Is there any chance it might have bitten you at all?" he asked frantically.
Sasha blinked as she recalled the previous night right before she went to bed. Something had bitten her ankle. "Um, maybe. Something bit me on my ankle last night after Spiderman left for the night. It's still a little red," she affirmed, lifting up her pant leg enough to show him.
At this he grabbed her by the shoulders. "Where were you?" he almost begged. Slightly shaken, Sasha pointed to the bed. She watched as he practically dove beneath the bed with a rolled up school newspaper which had been lying beside her bed. Moments later he re-emerged holding the paper with new zeal, displaying a splotch on the page like a trophy. "Whew! Now you'll cause no more trouble!" he sighed in relief.
Then he noticed that Sasha was staring at him as if he were a madman. "What?" he questioned, trying his best to look innocent. At her maintained look of disbelief, he sighed. "I guess I should explain a thing or two myself, shouldn't I?" he rubbed the back of his head uncomfortably.
Sasha crossed her arms and gave him the look. "If you feel it's important enough," she informed him coldly.
Peter winced at the obvious anger in her voice. 'Should I tell her that I'm Spiderman? Or should I try to keep up the false pretenses?' he thought to himself. "Sasha, I-"
A.N. - Exactly how much would you hate me if I stopped here?
A.N. cont. - Nah! I couldn't do that to you after this long a wait…. Or could I?
A.N. cont.+ - Count yourselves lucky.
'No, I can't tell her yet. Just in case I'm wrong. It never hurts to be cautious right?' He assured himself, scratching the shell of his ear.
"-I'm sorry. I asked Spiderman last night about his powers once more. He told me that he got them from a spider. The same spider I just squished. He said he thought it was dead by now, but I guess not," Peter lied.
"So you're telling me that I may have powers now, too?" Sasha asked skeptically. She glanced down at herself the looked back at him. "You've got to be kidding." As Peter shook his head Sasha sat down heavily into her chair. "I've gotta talk to Spiderman. Is there any way you could get his attention by tonight?"
Peter practically sighed in relief, though he managed to keep it internal for Sasha's sake. "Yes, where do you want to meet him?"
There, are you happy? Sorry it took so long. My computer died at the part where they spoke at the same time so I put it off for the night. Then Fate came and said, "No! You lose!" So my computer complied by crapping out enough to have to be sent in, hence the wait.
Like I said, I'm really sorry. It would have been up 4 months ago if not for that. I hope you like it though. And as always:
Read & Review!!
