Michelle "MJ" Jones

I barely reached campus when I got a phone call. I took out my phone and looked at the screen. It was an unknown number. I was almost afraid to answer it. For all I knew, it could have been Beck. I was already a rather paranoid person to begin with. But I was at the point where I was half expecting him to be working amongst the Midtown staff under a pseudonym. A part of me thought that would be stupid. Another part of me thought that would be on brand for Beck.

Then again, was there anything OFF brand for Beck?

After staring at the screen for a few moments, I put the phone back in my pocket. I figured that whoever was calling would leave a voicemail if it was that important.

A few minutes later, after taking up my usual spot in the library, I checked my phone. I did get a voicemail. I wanted to ignore it. But I couldn't. If it turned out to be something suspicious, than it would be something that Scott or Kitty needed to know about. So, after the adjusting the volume of my phone, I played the voicemail and put the phone to my ear. Much to my relief, the voicemail wasn't suspicious. It was from Scott… disguised at Erik Le Roux.

"Hey MJ," Scott said in the recording in a rather cheery tone. "I hope all is well. I heard you had one rather frustrating study session last night. Ol' Uncle Erik knows all about that! But listen. A friend of mine and I had a little bit of a chat the other day, catching up and all. See his daughter just happens to go to Midtown, and she's having a little trouble making friends, according to him. I may or may not have brought your name up, along with Ned's, so… if a girl at school reaches out to either of you, don't be alarmed. Apologies in advance. Anyway, have a good day at school. Bye now."

The message ended there. He was speaking in code. He had one of his people in Midtown. But who could it have been? He mentioned a "daughter", so it had to be a girl, right? I figured it was probably Kitty. Carmilla was out of commission at the moment and, as skilled as Joanna is, I don't think Scott would choose someone who's nearly seven feet tall, let alone one who was practically a modern day Amazon. I then realized that Kitty was at the Valentine's Day Dance. Surely, enough people have seen her there for her to be recognizable at school. Then again, Kitty probably knew how to disguise herself.

During the classes before lunch, I've been keeping tabs on all of my classmates – who were present, who wasn't, and if there was anyone I didn't know about. I even paid extra attention in class to see if there was anything even slightly off about my teachers' behaviors. So far, I had nothing.

During lunch, Ned and I ate on the roof. Ned started talking about plans he had for after graduation in regards to his living situation.

"I think I might move out of my parents' place," Ned said.

"And go where?" I asked.

Ned shrugged. "I don't know. I thought about living on campus at ESU, and if not, probably an apartment nearby. I might even ask Peter if he wants to be my roommate." He nodded towards me. "What about you?"

"I'm torn, to be honest. On one hand, I'd like to live on my own. But, on the other hand, rent in New York is ridiculous."

"Scott and company are doing well for themselves."

I rolled my eyes before I looked back at Ned. "Between the four of them, there are at least six different streams of income." I raised my eyebrows briefly. "That's also one thing I wonder about – living with someone else who isn't one of my relatives."

Ned smiled. "You could room with Betty."

I scoffed. "Absolutely not."

"Why not?"

"If I'm living with Betty and she's still dating you, I don't want to end up walking in on you two having sex."

Ned narrowed his eyes at me. "Betty and I are not like you and Peter." I stared at him for some seconds. I then looked away. "Oh shit, I forgot! I'm –"

"Save it, Ned." I took in a breath. "I know you didn't mean it."

"You should talk to him."

I looked at him and glared. "For what? Peter obviously doesn't want to talk."

As if that wasn't what I asked for, a voice in my head deadpanned. I almost grimaced. Nope, I really didn't need my inner voice to chime in on this.

"Peter can be stubborn. And, right now, you, Peter, and I are in the same boat with this Beck thing. I think it would be better for all of us if you and Peter hash things sooner rather than later before things blow up between you two at the worst possible moment."

I opened up my mouth to try and retort. I didn't even know if I had a proper response. So, when I heard the door to the roof open, there was a probably a bit of relief in my chest. Unfortunately, any relief I did feel was drowned out by a sudden heap of worry. Ned and I suddenly stood up and looked towards the direction of the roof entrance. Was it Beck?

No, it wasn't. Or, at least, it didn't look like Beck. It was this redheaded girl with green eyes. Her hair was tied back in a ponytail, except for the bit that hung in two bangs over the sides of her forehead. She was dressed in blue jeans and a black sweater. She was about average height – about Betty's height, if I was eyeballing her right. Ned and I glanced at each other before we looked at her. She looked back and forth between Ned and I. Slowly, she walked up towards us. I shifted my foot slightly, getting ready for a possible fight.

"Sorry to disturb you," the mystery girl said once she reached us. "…You two… you're Michelle and Ned, right?"

"Who wants to know?" I demanded.

"I'm Cessily Kincaid."

I narrowed my eyes at her. Why did that name sound familiar. It then dawned on me.

"You're in our next class," Ned pointed out.

She nodded. "I am."

I still didn't let my guard down. "So what do you want from us?"

"A friend of my father's told me to seek you two out. I believe you know said friend – Erik Le Roux."

I raised my eyebrows in surprise.

"So, you know Scott Summers?" Ned said.

"Yes, I do."

"…So, you're a mutant?" I elbowed Ned in the side. I gave Ned the side eye as he glared at me before I looked at Cessily.

"Please forgive Ned," I spoke up. "Sometimes, he forgets that there's certain shit he shouldn't say out loud."

Cessily chuckled as she shook her head. "No worries. But… yes, I am a mutant."

I wanted to believe her. I really did. I wasn't all the way convinced yet. "Okay, but… how come Scott never talked about you or introduced us to you?"

"I take it you're familiar with Scott's freelance work." It took me a moment to understand that she was talking about Scott being an X-Man. Slowly, I nodded. "Well, that's not a line of work I'm particularly interested in. However, I decided to make an exception." She grimaced slightly. "I owe Scott a lot, and Spider-Man saved my life once. I figured I can kill two birds with one stone by helping Scott out and doing my part in protecting the people that Spider-Man cares about a lot."

I felt a churn in my stomach. Did Peter still care about me? It seemed like that bridge was burned between us.

"I'm glad you'll be watching our backs!" Ned said happily, taking me out of my thoughts. I looked at him. He had a smile on his face. His expression then became rather serious. "…Um, one important question, though. How do you feel about Star Wars?"

There wasn't enough willpower in the world to me from slapping him upside the back of his head.

I guess I felt a bit more relieved. In my next class, Cessily sat with Ned and I. I guess this was going to be the case until this Beck situation was over. It really did make me wonder how many other mutants were in this very school. Of course, I wasn't going to go around and ask because it wasn't any of my business. But it really made me wonder how many mutants I've been passing by on a daily basis without even knowing. It also made me wonder how Cessily and any other mutant in this school was feeling about the Friends of Humanity incident. It couldn't have been a good feeling, having the place you're hiding in being invaded by the very people you're trying to hide from.

"Michelle," I heard a voice whisper. I looked to my left at Cessily, who was giving me a look of concern. "Are you okay?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I'm okay," I assured. "I was just deep in thought."

After school, I stuck around for an hour to get some studying in before I headed off to work. In the middle of my shift, my boss walked up to me while wiping down the counter.

"Hey Michelle, we have a new person working here," he said. "When you get done scrubbing this counter, I need you to train her."

That's not my job. That's what I wanted to say. Of course, I kept it to myself. Instead, I let go of the rag and faced him. I was about to say something until I noticed that he was standing there with a certain redheaded girl. I looked at her, then at my boss.

"I'll handle it," I said.

"Good." With that, he walked away. I watched him until he was out of sight before I looked at Cessily.

"He's rather pleasant," Cessily deadpanned.

"He's a regular ball of sunshine," I replied, matching her sarcasm with my own. I shook my head. "In all honesty, there have been several times I had to stop myself from fighting him out back, especially nowadays when I'm a hundred percent sure I'd win."

Cessily chuckled. "It won't be worth those monthly payments, I assure you."

"Yeah, I know. But damn if it's not tempting." I sighed. "So, you'll be my coworker, too?"

"You-know-who is nothing if he's not thorough. And considering how he described a certain someone, I can't say I disagree with him."

I frowned and nodded. "Yeah, You-know-who isn't going overboard with this. I don't think it's even possible to go overboard with this."

And that was the thing. Quentin Beck was obviously brilliant enough to do anything else in the world. He made holograms so realistic that he managed to fool SHIELD and Peter (until he figured out to use his senses against them). He could have made tools for teachers to use in their classrooms. He could have made exhibits in museums. He could have created a special effects company and work in the movie and theatre industry. Hell, if he wanted to be a hero, he could've became one the right way without deceiving people. But, he didn't do that. He wanted to be the next Iron Man, all because he felt he got jilted by Tony Stark and couldn't let that beef go.

Like Pepper said, it'd be inaccurate to say that Beck has a few screws loose – but that's because that would imply he had them in place to begin with.

"I'm sorry you're going through it," Cessily said with a frown.

I shrugged. "It is what it is," I replied. I decided to change the subject. And for once, work provided a good way for me to do so. "Well, if you're going to be working here, let me show you the ends and outs."

When I wasn't helping customers, I was showing Cessily the ropes. I showed her how to properly brew the coffee and how to clean out the machines. I showed her how to bus the tables and counters and how to mop the floor. I finished things off by showing her how to work the register. She took notes as I showed her all of tasks to be done at the shop. I was a bit glad for it. I know she was there to watch my back, but it felt good to know that she was actually going to help out and work. I could use the extra load off.

After work, Cessily and I walked out. After I locked up, I looked over at her.

"So, how'd you like your first day?" I asked.

Cessily shrugged. "Meh," she said. "It's not so bad. I used to work at a diner back out in Portland."

I started to walk, prompting her to walk with me. "Maine or Oregon?"

"Oregon. I was looking at a scholarship to the University of Oregon, too."

I raised an eyebrow and looked at her. "What happened?" She gave me a look. It took me a moment to put two and two together. I cringed. "…Oh."

"Yeah." She sighed as she looked forward. "…What you see is not really what I look like. It's what I used to look like. When my powers became active, my parents didn't know what to do. So, they shipped me off to the Xavier Institute. Scott looked over me since I got there. I even made friends with some of the X-Men, even if I didn't join them."

I nodded. "Did you know Craig and Kitty?"

"Yeah, I did. Back then, Craig was a bit closed off. Some of the people at the school took it personally, not realizing what he went through. It took quite a bit of effort from Kitty to get him to open up, because of course it did." She glanced at me. "Kitty was like everyone's big sibling."

I was even more curious. "Does that school still exist?"

"…Sort of." Cessily shook her head. "Apparently, things changed with the X-Men during The Blip. I ended up getting dusted. When I came back, the Institute was now sanctioned by the U.S. Government. When a whole bunch of people left, I decided to leave as well. Scott made arrangements for me to live with a friend of his in Manhattan while I attend Midtown."

I chuckled. "It seems like Scott's like a father figure to a lot of people."

"Yeah, he is. If you ask me, I think he's been through some shit growing up and he doesn't want the people under his care to go through it." I nodded. I could believe it. I was then caught off guard by what Cessily said next. "So, you and Spider-Man. How did that happen?"

"I'd rather not talk about it," I said rather harshly. I sighed. "I'm sorry, it's just that… he and I are not in a good place and I'd rather not talk about him." As I said this, there was a yearning inside for me to talk to him. Deep down inside, I knew that Ned was right. Peter and I were in the same boat, and given the circumstances, maybe this tension between us wasn't the best thing to have. But I wasn't too happy with him, so…

"Okay, I won't press," Cessily said. I looked at her. "However, I'm going to need your number and check up on you.

I nodded. "Yeah, let's do that."

A part of me was actually feeling optimistic. Maybe things wouldn't turn out so bad. Maybe, when Beck did show his face, he'd be taken care of quickly, and we'd all go back to our normal(ish) lives.

So why was I expecting disappointment?