Michelle "MJ" Jones

You probably have a lot of questions. So, allow me to rewind to where you last left me, okay? Cool.

So, back at the house, I was waiting with Betty and Joanna. I was more than a little antsy. The logical side of me tried to get me to calm down. After all, Kitty could handle herself, and they were only going to the New York Sanctum. I shouldn't have been too worried. But, this was me we're talking about. Like I told Peter, I tend to worry a lot about the people I care about. And the fact that Kraven went from being folded by Peter and Craig rather easily to handling Kitty, Joanna, and Craig at the same time didn't help.

Being involved in the world of superheroes sucks.

So, anyway, I was sitting on the sofa next to Betty while she channel surfed. Joanna was sitting on a recliner, taking a sip from a Capri Sun pouch. Had it not been for my current mood, I would have found it a little funny. But even if I was in the mood to laugh, I wouldn't have. Joanna looked over me while I was passed out, after all.

"How did you even think of the Sling Ring?" Betty asked out of the blue.

"I remember Peter telling us about it during his confession about The Spell," I answered evenly. I technically didn't lie. Peter spared no details when he told us about everything leading up to The Spell. However, I still wasn't ready to tell Betty and the others about what I was going through. Luckily for me, Betty just nodded in acceptance as she continued to channel surf. Unluckily for me, Betty was still channel surfing. It was starting to get annoying. Before I said something, however, I heard the sound of something vibrating. Joanna pulled out her phone and checked it. After some seconds, she looked at the both of us.

"Get dressed in something warm and meet back me here in five minutes," Joanna ordered. Betty and I looked at each other for a moment, a bit confused. Still, we did as Joanna told us as we left our seats and made our way upstairs. I got changed into black jeans to go along with my black Chuck Taylors and black parka over a white long-sleeved shirt. Betty went with a brown trench coat over blue jeans, a black turtleneck, and brown UGGs.

After a few moments, we met Joanna down in the living room. She was wearing a leather jacket over a black shirt, a pair of cargo pants, and Timberland boots. After looking at us for a moment, she typed away at her phone before she put it in her pocket. A couple of minutes later, a swirling mass of sparks appeared out of nowhere in front of us. As Joanna stood her ground, Betty suddenly took a step back. I almost did the same thing before I remembered the memory flash. Still, there was a part of me that was worried that maybe Kraven's wife had a Sling Ring of her own and found a way to find us.

Sometimes, I hate my paranoia.

I was put at ease when the portal fully opened up, revealing Kitty and Ned.

"Come on in, guys," Kitty urged. I looked at both Joanna and Betty. Both of them nodded at me. I sighed. This was the first time I ever stepped through a portal. Well, really, it was the first time I could remember. Either way, I was still apprehensive. I took in a breath before I walked through it. In an instant, I went from being in a house in Yonkers to what looked like some kind of abandoned factory. After Betty and Joanna walked past me, I quickly turned around when I heard a sound, just in time to see the portal close. I frowned before I looked around the place. This place has definitely seen better days. The place was lit up by sunlight shining through what was an open roof (something told me that it wasn't always that way) and dirty windows which were broken. The brick walls were covered in graffiti, some looking more recent than others. There were barrels in the middle that I was sure were used for fires. What was surprising to me was that Craig was there, masked up along with Carmilla. Craig was leaned up against the wall, arms crossed.

"Craig, are you okay?" Betty called out.

He looked at her and shrugged. "Define okay," he deadpanned. "I got bruised ribs, and I had to get my right knee drained and injected with a shot of lidocaine there. But, I don't I wasn't sidelined with The Scorpion Special, so there's that." I cringed. I remembered that fight. Seeing Scorpion manhandle both Craig and Peter made my stomach churn at the time. Even nowadays, I couldn't recall that fight without a bitter taste in my mouth. I never liked seeing my friends hurt. The only good thing to come out of that night was that Peter was finally at the point where he was ready to confess about The Spell. Even then, it was only because he was broken up about what happened to Craig.

Fuck Scorpion. Fuck Justin Hammer.

Craig looked at me and nodded. "How are you, MJ? Last time I saw you, you were about to hit the floor before Joanna caught you."

I glanced at Joanna. She looked back at me and winked. "Thank you," I said in earnest. I looked back at Craig. "I'll feel a lot better when we get The Loser back."

"It should be easy," Ned said. I looked at him and raised an eyebrow. "We find him, we grab him, and then we bring him back to the house." I wanted to be snarky. I really did. But pissing all over Ned's mood was never something I took joy in when the stakes were high. So, instead I nodded.

"Just try not to pull a Peter from another universe, okay?" I asked semi-seriously.

Ned chuckled. "I won't." He sighed. "Let's do this." We all gathered behind him. During this, Shadowcat put on her cat mask and Carmilla pulled up her balaclava over her mouth. He brought his left hand out before he started making a circular motion with his right hand. I was barely able to catch a glance of his Sling Ring. "Show me Peter Parker!"

A swirling mass of sparks appeared before it opened up. I was expecting several different things. I expected to see Peter in cage, frozen in some kind of cryonic chamber, or on some kind of hospital bed being pumped full of sedatives. What I didn't expect was for the portal up to open up on some alleyway. What I didn't expect was to see some guy in a black jacket and blue jeans closing a dumpster before he looked towards us. And what I didn't expect was for this guy to walk slowly towards. He stepped through the portal and looked around at all of us before his eyes landed on Betty. His eyebrows rose a bit.

"Betty?" he said in a somewhat deep voice. I raised an eyebrow. He was tall. Not as tall as Joanna, but tall still. He had brown hair that stopped just short of his shoulders. He had brown eyes that were rather intense looking. He also had a five o'clock shadow. Somehow, I got the feeling that he's been through some shit. But how did he know Betty?

"Kaine?" Betty replied as she stepped up to him. "…You're not Spider-Man."

The man… Kaine… tilted his head in confusion. "Sorry?"

"Who are you?" Shadowcat spoke up.

Betty turned towards Kitty. "Um, Shadowcat, this is Kaine. He tends the bar that Jessica Jones' frequents."

Kaine looked over his shoulder as the portal closed. He looked back at Betty. "I got questions."

"Well, what a coincidence," Frenzy cut in. "So do I. Let's start. Why did you get summoned when we were looking for Spider-Man?" I glanced over at Frictor, who was staring hard at Kaine.

Kaine scoffed. "Why are you asking me? I'm not the one who opened up the portal or whatever the hell that was." He looked around the area. "Where am I and why am I here?"

"Detroit," Carmilla replied shortly. "Like we said, we're trying to find Spider-Man. Unfortunately, our little sorcerer in training likely messed up."

Now it was Ned scoffing as he turned towards Carmilla. "I highly doubt it," he retorted. "I don't even know who this guy is. I cast the spell right, so I don't know who it could've been this off."

"I can think of a couple reasons," Frictor spoke. I looked at him as he walked up to Kaine. Kaine stared back at him. "If I remember what Spidey told me about events leading up to a certain situation, last time Ned cast this spell to find Spider-Man, he ended up opening a portal to a different other Spider-Man twice in a row with each Spider-Man being from a different universe."

Kaine narrowed his eyes. "I'm not from another universe," he said gruffly.

"He's right," Betty said. "According to him and Jessica, he's been working at the bar for about a year, before that day. So he wouldn't be Spider-Man."

Frictor shook his head. "Not quite, anyway." He nodded forwards Kaine. "Why don't you do me a favor and show your stomach for me?"

Kaine sneered. "I don't what the hell this is, but I'm not doing that!"

That was when the sound of a pistol being cocked was heard. Everyone looked at Scorpion. My eyes went wide. She had one of her Berettas aimed at Kaine. "Why don't you do what Frictor says?" she asked calmly.

"Scorpion, no!" Betty yelled as she moved in front of her.

Scorpion took in a breath. "…Betty, get out of the way."

"No, I will not!" She looked around at all of us. "I get it! We're trying to find Spider-Man, but this isn't the way!"

"She's right, Scorpion," Shadowcat said in agreement. "Stand down."

Scorpion glared at Shadowcat. "But Shadowcat – "

"Sweetheart," Frictor interrupted gently. "Shadowcat's the leader here. Besides, Kaine's not our enemy, so we shouldn't treat him as such." Scorpion stared Frictor for a moment. She then pushed the hammer of her gun forward before she put it back in the holster. I let loose a sigh of relief. I wanted to find Peter more than anyone here, but I'd much rather do it without somebody getting shot. Frictor looked back at Kaine, who looked about as pleased as one would usually be if they had a gun drawn on them. "Please forgive her. She tends to act a little… drastic… when people she cares about are in trouble. And Spider-Man is someone we all care about deeply." He paused for a moment. "Look… Kaine… Spider-Man got snatched. We're trying to find him. I just need to confirm something so we can understand why our sorcerer-in-training's spell went off the rails. The quicker we can do that, the quicker we can properly find Spider-Man." He uncrossed his arms and brought hands together before he bowed slightly. "So, please… oblige me."

Kaine stared at Frictor blankly. I was afraid he'd say no. Not that I'd blame him. I wasn't a very trusting person myself. But, after a sigh of irritation, Kaine grabbed his shirt and lifted it up. We all looked at his stomach. I didn't see anything out of the ordinary at first. The guy had a toned stomach, but so what? But then I realized…

"You have no belly button," Frictor remarked. He looked up at Kaine. "So which is it, my man? Were you born with an omphalocele? Or are you a clone? My guess is it's the latter."

I turned my head slowly towards Frictor. I was wondering if I misheard what he just said. Was Kaine actually a clone of Peter of all people? What were the odds? Actually, scratch that – would such a thing be possible? I mentally kicked myself. Of course such a thing would be possible. We live in a world where a man could shrink down to the size of ant or grow to the size of an apartment building and where a teenager got his powers from being bitten by a radioactive spider.

Honestly, did the realm of impossibility exist anymore?

"…I rather not answer that," Kaine replied as he turned away.

"Please Kaine, we need to know," Shadowcat urged gently. "I'm not going to ask questions about how it happened, because that's the least of our problems. We just need to know."

Kaine turned around and looked back at Shadowcat. Shadowcat offered him a smile. Kaine's expression softened just a little bit. After a sigh, he nodded.

"I'm a clone of Spider-Man," he finally admitted.

From the corner of my eye, I saw Ned open his mouth. Quickly, I brought my arm around his head placed my hand over his mouth. "Thank you, Kaine," I said with a slight smile. "I then looked at Ned. "I think now would be a good time recast that spell." I knew Ned had questions. I didn't blame him. I was curious, too. I was probably just as curious as he was. But Shadowcat already promised Kaine that he wouldn't press. And since she was the leader, I didn't want to do anything to undermine her leadership, especially in front of someone who we didn't really know. With that in mind, I removed my hand from over Ned's mouth. Ned looked at me, looking ready to protest. I glared at him. That was enough for him to clear his throat keep whatever he had to say to himself.

Ned walked forward past Kaine, glancing at him nervously as he did so. Once again, Ned brought his left out and made a circular motion with his right hand. "Show me Peter Parker!" he said once more, this time with emphasis. A swirling mass of sparks formed just like before. It grew into a circle. It didn't show an alley this time. It opened up on a dark room. On what looked like some kind of gurney was Peter, who was wearing the Black Dahlia Armor. Standing in front of him was a guard. Said guard had his back turned towards us for a moment before he turned around suddenly. He looked at us with wide eyes. He was about grab the rifle that hung from a strap around his right shoulder. However, a strand of webbing hit his chest before he yanked out of the portal. He went sailing before he was caught by Kaine with one hand. A split second later, Kaine kneeled down suddenly as he slammed the man down onto his back. The guard was out like a light. I cringed – I could've sworn I heard the sound of a bone cracking. I then stared at Kaine.

I just saw someone pull a move that only Peter… Spider-Man… would've done. Maybe the way Kaine did it was a bit more on the brutal side, but the style of it was still mostly The Loser's. I didn't know how to feel about this. It made me wonder how Peter would feel about meeting him.

"So, are you guys just going to stare at me, or are you going to grab Spider-Man?" Kaine growled out.

"We're not used to there being another Spider-Man-like… man," Shadowcat said as she shook her head. "Scorpion, with me." With that, Shadowcat moved into the portal with Scorpion.

Everything else went smoothly after that. After Shadowcat phased Spider-Man out of his restraints, she and Scorpion carried him out to our side of the portal before Ned closed it. Ned then opened up a portal back to the safe house. We took the guard with us – Scorpion was sure she could get some information out of him. I got Peter out of his suit using a failsafe Peter and I had programmed into the suit when we designed it. He was still unconscious, so we laid him on the sofa and kept an eye over him until he woke up.

Okay, you're caught up.

Where were we?

Oh, right. We were at the part where Peter found out Kaine is his clone.

"What the fuck?!" Peter yelled out.

"Peter," I muttered. "Maybe you should calm down a bit." Peter slowly turned his head towards me. I sighed. "Look , I get that this is a lot to take in. I probably would be freaking out if I were in your position." Honestly, who wouldn't? Peter not only lost his powers, he just found out there was a clone of him. Either one of those situations would drive someone crazy. Both of those things happening to you at the same time, though? I probably would've thrown the sofa through a wall. "However, remember, you're not alone in this." I reached over and took his hand. "We got you, okay?"

"If it's means anything, I didn't exactly ask for this," Kaine added. We all looked at him. "My reaction was exactly like yours when it was all explained to me what I am." He turned away. "We'll have to pick this up later. I have a shift at the bar coming soon, and I'm sure Jessica will be by eventually."

"Do you need a ride?" Kitty asked.

He shook his head. "I won't. But I'm guessing I'll see you guys again sooner or later so… I'll see you guys around." With that, he walked out of the room. Some seconds later, we heard the front door open and close. A little after that, Craig walked back in.

"Okay, I got some good news, some bad news, and some… meh news, I guess?" Craig announced.

"What's the news?" Betty asked.

"Well, the good news is, I called up a guy and told him about Peter's predicament." He looked at Peter. "As a matter of fact, it's someone you and I both know – Dr. Jericho Drumm."

"…As in my therapist?" Peter asked.

Craig nodded. "Yup."

"How can he help?"

Craig tilted his head. "Oh, he never told you? Dr. Drumm is a whole voodoo priest, as well as a superhero of the supernatural nature known as Brother Voodoo."

I raised my eyebrows. "Well, that's convenient."

Craig chuckled. "Yeah it is. Anyway, I called him up and see if he can help, and he said he could do his best."

"Okay, that's good," Kitty said with a nod. "So what's the bad news?"

"Well, the bad news is that we'll have to wait a bit. Between his appointments – both as a psychologist and as an oungan – "

"Oungan?" Ned interjected.

"A voodoo priest in Haitian Voodoo," Craig explained. "As I was saying, because of his appointments, he won't be free until Friday. And for that to happen, we'd have to meet him down in Miami."

I tilted my head. "Okay, so what's the meh news?" I asked.

"…WEEEELL..." Craig smiled sheepishly. "My, um… I also had to call my folks, and they're kind of on my case on the fact that I haven't gone home and visited them in a while and, um…"

"…Craig," Kitty cut in. "…Are you suggesting that we go down to South Florida early just so you can visit your folks?"

"Well…" Craig nodded "Yeah." Kitty took in a breath as she closed eyes. "Look, think about it this way. We could use a bit of a break. We cab decompress a little before we meet with Dr. Drumm. We'll have Ned with us, so if we got to cut back to New York for any reason, we can do it in an instant."

"…I wouldn't mind just a little time to relax," Joanna chimed in.

We all looked at Kitty. She opened her eyes before she looked around at all of us. She then looked down at the ground in thought. I didn't even know how to feel. On one hand, I wasn't sure if now was the best time for a vacation with Kraven running about. On the other hand, I wasn't sure Peter would be able to stand staying on the sidelines while the other X-Men were taking on Kraven. I don't want to say that Peter would do something stupid while he was powerless, but…

"Okay," Kitty said. "We'll go to Florida, but in the morning. I think we got enough excitement for one day."

"Sounds good," Craig said. "Oh, and MJ?"

I raised an eyebrow. "Yes Craig?" I replied.

"Make sure Peter eats."

I nodded. "Okay." I walked towards the kitchen, gently pulling Peter along. "I'll cook you can omelet."

"Try not to make out with him while you do," Ned joked.

Without even looking, I used my free hand to give him The Bird.