Hey there, been a while since I've written anything. Hoping I can get back into the swing of it. Originally was tryna finish up a Rising chapter but my heads screaming at me to be in a Marvel mood instead. Anyways, hope you guys like the chapter, and I hope I can get back to writing often.
Mostly social shit, some stains on the floor, etc
/
Motion startles me awake, hot tub water sent splashing and the empty bottle in my hand takes the opportunity to be lost adrift, in a sea of heated water. A shirt? Yeah, just a shirt. Getting closer to me. I blink my eyes in an attempt to get the chemical water out of them as I look toward the open sliding door. I expect to see Laura. The shirt is too low to the ground. Sure enough, said girl appears in view of me. Well, I can't see her face in the dark but I recognize that bod- Nope, not going there. "What you want? What time is it?" I look at my hands and the dim pool deck light I had on shows my fingers are indeed full of wrinkles.
"Intruders. All dead." She steps in the light. Her shirt, formerly mine, and formerly white, is covered in dark splotches of red with many rips and tears. It's hanging loosely off of her shoulder. Said shoulder is also covered in red, along with nearly half of her in general. Her hair and shirt are dripping in a dark red puddle on my mahogany floorboards. Okay, priorities here.
"Let's talk inside, on the marble flooring. Not the expensive wood." She complies and I find myself sighing in relief. Then I remember I can just pay someone to fix it if the floor is fucked. Oh well, money saved is always a good thing. I then pull myself out of the hot tub, grab my towel, and wrap it around my waist so I'm not fully bare in front of her, then just grab another towel to dry off. Stepping inside I see her dripping blood on the marble flooring, I give her a nod at that. "So, you killed some people?"
"Yes."
"On my boat?" She nods. "Well fuck. I'll say right now you probably did a good job. Any idea who these guys are?" She goes to nod, pauses, and then shakes her head. "Really, Laura?" I sigh. Alright, those fuckers then. I'll need to make sure of it myself. "Go take a shower. I'll call someone to clean this up." She nods then starts walking off. "And no cutting!" She pauses, nods again, then continues walking down the hall.
Now, to look at some corpses. I'm sure I have disposable shoes here somewhere…
/
I whistle in not quite appreciation as I see what Laura did to these guys. Ripped them to shreds. Bone, meat, blood, a whole lot of it covers the floor. I don't see one man fully intact. Or women, these shady black ops guys are gender inclusive. Laura had evidently ambushed them by breaking the door off its hinges. And from there, It was just murder blender time. I take a few steps into the mess, my disposable (Well, I'm sure throwing them out after this) sneakers squishing audibly as I do, and grab one of the guns they had.
Rifle, not one I've seen before personally. I pop out the magazine, darts. Near confirms it for me it was those fuckers. Would have been full confirmation if I hadn't known Fury was after me. What a fucking shit show. This is more irritating than anything else, but at the least Castle is the only one that seems to have worked out how my power works. Considering these guys would have all died the moment they entered my range. Laura saved them from exploding heads, she gave them a much more painful death admittedly.
Weapon X or Nick Fury… One I would like to have all its members burning in the depths of hell for what they did, the other is a problem even when he's helping. Fury is a man of commitment sure, but the kind that is all 'ends justify a means'. Not someone I want to associate with as he'll just drag me into a bullshit scheme. For now, I can't do much about either. Not when they just send nameless grunts in all black after me. Admittedly, my mind is more leaning towards Weapon X considering they went after Laura first. I drop the gun and mag with a shake of my head. Later problem it is. I walk back out of the bloody mess and pull out my phone.
"What? Ross, what's up?" Carol answers on the first ring. Easy there Carol it's three in the morning, kinda looking desperate.
"I need a clean-up. Some dumbasses invaded my personal space."
"I'm sorry what?"
"Corpses, dunno who these guys are. Can't you do some shield mambo jumbo and deal with them? Would have called Tony but ya know…"
"I… Alright, I'll deal with them. Or get someone too. You think this is about Fury?" Carol asks after a moment and I bite my tongue in ever so slight frustration.
"Possibly, can't rule it out. It's Fury or the other guys."
"Other guys?"
"I'll tell ya later. Anyways, I'm gonna need an actual clean-up with that body clean-up. My bodyguard got blood in my mahogany flooring on the pool deck."
"We aren't a cle- Fine. You owe me, Ross." She growls out at the end.
"Kinky, you like that don't you?"
"Don't try it. Not now when I'm dealing with your mess here."
"You like me making a mess, I understand." I hear a click. Honestly fair, and kind of expected. I act like I'm joking, but a man never jokes when it comes to mahogany flooring.
Now, time to see how the local murder blender is doing.
/
"Knock knock! Laura, are you decent?" I ask through the door. The sound of the water stopped a short while back so who knows with this girl.
"Yes." Alright, good. I open the door and see a naked Laura cutting off the ends of her hair with her claws.
"You said you were decent." I frown. She looks at me and blinks.
"I am."
"I think we have very different meanings to the word. But whatever I guess." I shake my head. "So, I have some people coming to clean the mess up. You wanna watch a movie or something when they do that?" She looks from the mirror to me. "And put a shirt on." It's really hard not to look at her tits, I've already groped them, I'll admit it. Still doesn't mean the guilt of that whole encounter is hitting me like a truck even if I had no idea it was her.
"Okay."
"Okay, to which?"
"Okay."
"You are thoroughly unhelpful. Let me grab you a shirt." I shake my head and leave the washroom, then my phone dings.
Captain Thicc: Ross, what in god's name happened there? Looks like Logan came through.
RoilingInMyGrave: No comment. You here?
Captain Thicc: I'm not. All operations are streamed back to base and superior officers, I'm watching on my phone.
RoilingInMyGrave: Then don't worry about it. Just clean up. Fix door two pls
Captain Thicc: No. And you owe me for this Ross.
RoilingInMyGrave: You already said that. Fix door and i'll owe you more
Captain Thicc: Making sure you're aware that I will be using this favor. And No.
RoilingInMyGrave: ruh roh, italics, am scared
Captain Thicc: You should be.
RoilingInMyGrave: If it makes you feel better it was for a good cause.
Captain Thicc: Ross. I'll say it again. It looks like LOGAN came through.
RoilingInMyGrave: And that was for a good cause.
Captain Thicc: Ok. Fine, you obviously want me to, so I'll ask, what was the "good cause"?
RoilingInMyGrave: Keeping your favourite info broker around, so that he can continue to seduce you again of course.
Captain Thicc: I see I'll be getting nothing of value here. Goodbye.
Yeah, she isn't going to message again unless I say something to really drag her attention back. Instead of doing so, I ignore the fact I have SHIELD agents on my ship and grab Laura one of my spare black t-shirts and a pair of gray sweatpants. "I'm coming in." I announce before opening the door again.
"Okay." If she says that again I feel I'm going to have an aneurysm.
"We have shooty boys on the boat. One's we're going to ignore being on the boat. Just letting you know." I toss her the clothes, she catches them easily.
"Okay."
"God fuck, says something other than okay." I snap, only slightly.
"Oka-" She stops. Frowns. Then nods. "Yes."
"Fuck you. Put those on. We're watching Shrek."
"Shrek?" She tilts her head.
"A masterpiece of cinema. Something that never gets old." Yes, truly I am a genius. Shrek will have her relax from her earlier murderfest.
/
"What you think?" I turn to Laura as the credits roll. She doesn't respond immediately, so I throw a piece of popcorn at her head. She flinches and then looks at me with wide eyes. "What do you think about the movie? Good right?"
"He looks like the Hulk."
"He's an Ogre. They had a claim on Big and Green, before Mister Big and Green. Did you like the movie or not?" I lean back in my seat. Having a private mini-theater like this is a blessing. Even if the popcorn is just microwaved shit.
"I liked it." Good, very good.
"You get the message in the movie?" She just stares at me blankly. "Metaphors, Laura. Good storytelling draws a picture that you might not see with just a glance." With a sigh, I feel my shoulders slump. "We'll watch it again another time. For now, we have an issue to deal with."
"Issue?" Cute head tilt. Laura really is like a wildcat. Cute and dangerous. Or more accurately a Wolverine. Logan isn't cute. He's more like a Wolverine with rabies. I shake my head. Go away, useless thoughts.
"Are you still planning on running away? Your nighttime window is slipping by." She stills, not even breathing. That's not a habit she should have. "Breathe, I'm not mad. You could have just left, you know. I'm not keeping you here." She does as I say. Still staying silent for a moment.
"How… did you know?" She asks after the moment is done.
"Good guess. Instincts. A word I'm sure you're familiar with."
"You know a lot."
"It's my job." I shrug at her blank-eyed stare. Leaning up again, I get closer to her. "You don't need to run if it's them." She watches my face that's rather close to hers.
"Why?" A single word, just like her normal behavior. Yet, this word carries a lot of baggage. Do I really want to play my hand here? Let someone in on this? The only other people who know are her Father and Xavier after all. Considering Xavier brain blasted everyone else who knew. I burned a big favor for that one. Fuck it. She's one of the only people who wouldn't say anything. If it gives her some peace of mind, so be it.
"They made me." Her breath hitches and I lean back in my seat. "Not as a human. A mutant. An unwilling one. A man with no past and nothing special about him is the perfect subject no? So few of us know how they work, what they do to people." I shake my head and get up out of my seat. Grabbing the remote I turn the movie screen off and the room falls into darkness. "I know what they did to you, took from you. And I know what they did to me. And I'm sure they're coming for us both."
"You… You actually know." It's not a question. A simple statement of fact. I nod.
"So you don't need to run. Stay if you want. They'll come after me regardless if you're here or not. Us being in the same place just means more bodies on the floor." I run a hand down my face, my eyes finally adjusting to the light. Laura is still in her chair, hugging her knees. "I'm going back to sleep. You can do whatever."
"Yes." Heh, no okay so she defaulted to yes. Tricky girl. I'd complain if she didn't sound like her soul was just drained from her even more than it already had been.
"We can watch Shrek 2 tomorrow. Night Laura." With that, I leave the room and make my way to my bed. I think there's a crick in my neck from sleeping in the hot tub, a good bed will fix that.
Hopefully.
/
Laura didn't leave her room in the morning. She didn't sleep in, or at least I don't think so. She's just huddled up on her bed hugging her knees I'm pretty sure. It's hard to tell by only sensing her a portion of her t-shirt's position. Wish she would stop taking her pants off. Pants are much easier to track.
Regardless, if she wants to spend the day moping in her room, all the power to her. I'm a busy man, however, so after a quick breakfast I left to go do my busy man stuff.
"Stupid fuck, lifetime ban? What bullshit is this? Sell out the place's location once and it gets their panties in a twist." Muttering curses to myself is just a reasonable action. I had spent the better part of two weeks tracking this place down, finding it this time in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Seems they're trying to appeal to the younger crowd.
And seeing as it's the Bar with No Name, that younger crowd are all villains. Or potential customers, I'm not picky on whoever pays me. Still, colour me surprised the moment I go to order a drink I'm being escorted out by the bouncer of the fucking week. Nah, fuck this. I'm a petty man, and I recognize that car every time I find this place. So it's Deke's. Fuck Deke.
I stroll over to the parked bright blue car, casually whistling 'We're Not Going To Take It', pulling out my switchblade. As I said, I'm a petty and often childish man. I think I'll start with a big smiley face. Honestly, he should thank me for this. It's free decoration. Who wouldn't want to have a cock engraved onto their car? Before I can actually get started, I hear a light thud from just above me. A girl, sudden bra straps entering my range tells me that much. You're kidding me. Man, this day really is bullshit. More so I'm annoyed at how quickly she got close to me. I barely had a moment to react. Frank would call it sloppy.
"Whatcha doing?" My eyes meet the clear white-eyed half-face mask. Black lines run along the rest of it down to the full black and white suit. Her almost reddish brown hair is tied in a ponytail, unlike just the day before when she had it unrestrained and hanging loosely.
"Nothing." I pocket my knife and stand up from my crouch.
"Doesn't look like nothing." Spider-girl puts a hand to her chin.
"Well, I haven't done anything yet. So it's nothing now." I shrug. "Would you let me do it if I told you the owner's a criminal?"
"Technically, you're a criminal." She points out.
"But I haven't done anything. Is intent alone a crime?" It can be. It just gets very messy in court. But my bets on her not knowing that. She frowns, putting a hand to her chin.
"Don't honestly know. Whatever, you didn't do it. You wanna grab a smoothie?" She jumps off of the car gracefully. A gymnast, almost forgot about that. Did technically forget about it actually. Just, that served as a reminder. It's not important right now. Is she trying to pay me back or something? Fuck it, not like my itinerary for the day isn't already messed up.
"Get changed first. I'm not walking around with Araña." Her cheeks redden slightly at my words. I sure as shit didn't say anything to warrant that kind of response. Or I don't think I did.
"I left my clothes at home." She mumbles out after a few moments of silence. I stare at her with a blank gaze.
/
"Quit messing with it. It's just a shirt."
"It looks weird on me. I'm trying to fix it." Aña whines as she keeps tugging at her Hawaiian shirt. Yes, since she pulled that shit on me, I forcibly conscripted her into the Hawaiian shirt legion. Peak fashion needs to be spread.
"It looks fine. Keep tugging at it like that and you'll turn it into a crop top." She stops tugging at her shirt. Maybe she realized she indeed has super strength. Whatever, it's not my problem anymore, I bought her a shirt and pants, she can do whatever she wants to them now. I take a sip from my smoothie. It's good. I'll have to remember this place for the next time I'm in Brooklyn.
"Whatever." Ah, classic teenager speak. Actually, how old is she? "What were you whistling earlier by the way?"
"Twisted Sisters."
"What Sisters?" I feel old. I don't like it.
"Just look them up when you get home or something." I wave it off. "So what do you want? More info on Raven? Villain locations? Something more personal?" I cut straight to the point now that we're alone in a park. Aña takes a sip from her smoothie at my question.
"What makes you think I want anything more than a smoothie?" That makes me chuckle.
"People don't look for me if they don't want something. So, what is it? I should say only that the first one was free. Anything else will cost you."
"No thanks, I just spent the rest of my money for the week on smoothies. At least my dorm's fridge is stocked up." She sips at said smoothie. What? No. Just no.
"I'm not giving you anything for free. That shirt already paid for the smoothie."
"I don't want anything. Just wanted to say thanks. And see why Jess felt so indecisive about you." She replies. I stop walking and turn to her.
"Indecisive? In what way?" I ask, crossing my arms. I'll admit, normally I'd have just walked off by now but I'm a bit interested. And she showed me a good smoothie place, so it's the least I can do.
"Well… She seemingly couldn't make up her mind on if I should talk to you or tell me to stay away." Ouch. Entirely warranted, doesn't mean I came out of that unscathed.
"We have a complicated relationship. I'd still take her advice."
"Which?"
"I have got a significant amount of hatred for a reason. Just send me a call if you need info." I tell her with a shrug. With that said, I start waking off, taking my phone out to call my ride. "Thanks for the smoothie, now go do hero stuff. Shoo, shoo." Then my phone's yanked from my hand by a web. "Oi, the fuck you doing?"
She ignores me, typing on my phone. If she's looking for anything she won't find it. I don't store anything of importance on that. Guess I've some incriminating messages but I'm confident in my lawyers. She smirks suddenly. Then holds my phone out to me. I just look at it warily. "Relax dude, I just added my number." I snatch my phone. Not sure how I feel about her doing just what she said.
"Don't do that again." I scowl at her.
"So again totally means we're gonna meet up again, yeah?" She just grins at me. Nope, not dealing with this.
"Fuck off." I just shake my head and walk away. I knew Aña was a bit strange. The one I remember from the comics was actually kind of funny. Must be something about spider people and being funny. Well, most definitely not all of them. Wait, comics. That group Raven are trying to brainwash her. I stop walking. I'm not sure how much I butterflied away here, but I can throw her another bone. "That group, Raven. Deal with them quickly. Get help."
"Thought you said I wouldn't get anything for free?" She sounds more amused than anything.
"I remembered something. Mind control is something I despise. They're planning on doing it to you." I spare a glance back, her face has gone extremely pale. Good, it means she'll take this seriously. "I don't care what your issue with Carol is, she can probably deal with this in an afternoon. If you want help from someone else go ask Sue Storm. She's a friend of your father."
"Padre and the Invisible Woman are friends?" She blinks, and I just nod.
"That's all you're getting from me. See you around, Araña. Don't fall into some stupid plot and put me down a customer." I shake my head and actually walk away this time. She'll either deal with it or not. I told her the problem, so it's no longer my issue.
More importantly. Does Laura like McDonald's?
/
"You left without telling me." Laura growls at me. Honestly, I wasn't expecting this. That's some of the most words I heard her say.
"I brought you two quarter pounders and a large fries?" It doesn't lessen the glare being leveled up at me. "Why do you even care?" I ask her instead.
"Bodyguard." She grunts. I find myself blanking.
"I don't actually need one, Laura. I just said that for convenience's sake." She stares at me blankly. "Eat your burgers." I shove the bag into her hands. She takes it, gripping the top with a clenched fist.
"Bodyguard." She insists. Really? So many demands from this girl but it's not like I have the will to say no.
"Fuck, fine. Do what you want. I'll tell you when I'm leaving again." I run a hand down my face, holding in the sigh.
"Yes." She nods. I let the sigh out.
/