Michelle "MJ" Jones

Later on, after school, I was at work. Work's been even more unbearable lately. And for once, it wasn't because of my boss – at least, not entirely, anyway. My paranoia was through the roof. I put on a calm front, but I was eyeing every customer, looking for any sign that one of them could be working with Beck.

That was the one thing I hated about this situation – it was next to impossible to be too paranoid about what Beck would do because it was next to impossible to think of what Beck wouldn't do.

I really wanted to be optimistic. I wanted to believe that things were going to take a turn for the better. Peter was back on his feet, Craig was found, and Scott apparently had a plan in the works. Why shouldn't I have a bit of hope? But, once again, I wasn't sure what Beck had up his sleeve.

"I really want to kick Beck in the dick," I muttered out loud as I dumped out the used coffee grounds into the trash.

"You and a lot of other people," Cess pointed out. I looked at her as she wiped down the counter. "Though, I imagine that you and Peter would have dibs on the front of the line like people with those Lightning Passes at Disney."

I actually chuckled a bit before I sighed. "…I'm past done with this."

Cessily scoffed before she gave the counter one last wipe. "So am I." She turned and looked at me. "I think I'm going to take a long vacation after this – on Scott's dime, too, since he owes me one."

When I got home, I got home and went to my room, I checked my phone and ended up seeing that I got a voicemail from Scott. I closed the door and took a seat on my bed before I listened.

"Hey MJ! It's me, Erik! I'm having a little get together at my place – the other place – tomorrow night. All my nieces and nephews are going to be there! Nothing major, just wanted to talk. I'm hoping everyone is there by seven o'clock. Anyway, I'll hopefully see you tomorrow. Talk to you later!"

The message ended. I hung up my phone and set it to the side and stared ahead. I didn't know what tomorrow was going to bring. I was going to be in the same room with Peter. On one hand, I knew the others were going to be there. On the other hand, there was no telling what the mood was going to be like between the two of us. There was still a lot of tension there and I had a hand in it. How were we going to solve this? I did not know.

"Tomorrow is going to suck," I groaned out as I lay myself out on the bed.

The next day went by in a blur. I didn't even quite remember what I did until it was time to go to The Bunker. All I knew was the trip there seemed rather longer than usual. By the time I reached it and entered the room underground, I was the last one there. I looked around. All of the familiar faces were there. Scott was sitting at the table. Craig was posted on a wall with a can of Ironbeer in his hand, looking extremely healthy. Carmilla was right by his side, saying some words to him. Kitty was sitting next to Scott while Joanna stood a few feet behind her. Ned and Betty were sitting off to the side on chairs while Kaine stood in a corner looking… not pleased. There was a couple of people I didn't recognize. There was this Black guy with yellow-lensed glasses. On the other side of the room was a boy with literally golden skin. My eyes landed on Peter, who was sticking to a wall about a couple of feet off of the ground. The two of us made eye contact. His expression was stone cold. Or, at least I think it was. His bangs were blocking his eyes a bit. When did his hair get so long? I wanted to say something. I wanted to say I was glad he's okay. However, I didn't know how he was going to take it or what mood he was in. And, a bit to my shame, there was a still a small stubborn part of me that wanted him to come to me.

Why am I like this?

I felt a hand on my shoulder. I looked at my right to see Cessily, who was undisguised.

"You made it," she said.

"I did," I replied.

"Is everyone here?" Kaine spoke up, getting everyone's attention. "I'm sorry, but I've got to be at the bar in an hour and a half and I'd like time to actually eat something that doesn't come out of their kitchen."

"Then let's get started," Scott said. "Gather around." I walked up to the table with the others. I looked over at Peter as he got off the wall and joined us. Even though there was an empty seat next to me, he decided to stand some feet away from me. "First of all, I'm glad Peter and Craig are back on their feet. Josh, you did good."

"Yeah, thanks for that," Craig added. I looked over at him. I could feel the reluctance in his tone.

"I bet it burns you up to give me props, huh?" the teen with the golden skin taunted. "How does it feel to –?"

Craig cut him off. "Josh…" He pointed to his own head. "My mind's a habitat. Inside of the habitat is a population of the animal known as the Fucks-To-Give. And right now, their population is real low – like single digits low. So, if it's all the same to you, I'd appreciate it if you just take the thanks and not give me a reason to hop this table."

"No one is going to be fighting anyone," Scott interjected. He sounded calm, but the glow behind his glasses said it all. I looked at Cessily. She looked at me and shook her head. I guess now wasn't the time to ask questions. "Anyway, we're back at full strength, health-wise. Unfortunately, due to the nature of the foes we're dealing with, we'll have to make preparations." Scott looked at me. "How much more time do we have until you have to make that call to Beck?"

"Four days," I replied.

"Then I'll have a plan together in two days. During these two days, I need everyone to do everything they need to prepare. Craig and Joanna, I want you to take time to inspect our equipment and weapons we have here. Kitty… Kaine… I understand that you two still have a 'friend' imprisoned. Do everything you can to extract some more information out of him… humanely." He gave a pointed look towards Kaine. Kaine said nothing. Something told me I didn't want to know why Scott felt the need to underscore that point. "Peter and MJ…" It took me a lot to resist the urge to take in a deep breath. "I understand the two of you have your issues. Please understand that, due to current circumstances, those issues rank very low on my list of priorities. I need both of you to set aside those issues so you can rebuild and upgrade the Black Dahlia suit in two days' time. Will that be an issue?"

"We'll get it done," I said coldly.

"…Fine," Peter added. "Is there anything else you need from me, or am I free to leave?"

"You may, but remember that you'll be crashing with David for the time being. Since Kitty has your keys, I'll make she brings by some clothes and other essentials tonight."

"Okay." Peter looked over at David. "Ready to go?"

"Not yet," David said before he looked at Scott. "What about the rest of us? How do we figure into this?"

"…To be honest, I don't know yet," Scott admitted. "I'm still trying to figure things out. Once I have everything in place, I'll let the rest of you know. For now, I want Craig, Kitty, Carmilla, and Joanna to stick around. The rest of you can go."

I stood still as the others left. I watched Peter as he went. He didn't even look at me as he made his exit. I frowned. I was upset at both Peter and myself. I was upset at Peter because I felt he was dragging this and I was upset at myself because I didn't forget how the last time we spoke went. I shook my head before I felt a hand on my shoulder. I looked over to right to see Cessiy smiling at me.

"Come on, I'll escort you home," she said.

When I got home, my parents were out. So, I made dinner for myself before I went into my room. I wanted to go to bed early, but I was nowhere near tired enough to get myself to even try and get some sleep. I figured I could hit the books, but I was nowhere near motivated to force myself to study. As I sat on my bed, all I could think about was how Peter and I could work together with this tension between us. How were we going to handle it?

How was I going to handle it?

I reached into my pocket and pulled out my phone. I needed to talk to someone. I didn't know who I wanted to talk to, though. Carmilla, Kitty, Craig, and Joanna were busy at the moment. Even with that aside, in Kitty and Craig's case, I was afraid to open up that can of worms. Both of them wanted to inflict bodily harm on Brad over what he did. I wasn't so sure Kitty wouldn't go off on me if I explained why things got worse between me and Peter. And judging by how Craig was acting earlier, I was 100 percent sure that he would have really been angry. I probably could have talked to Scott – he would be nothing if he wasn't levelheaded. But he already had a lot on his plate.

"Who could I talk to?" I whispered to myself. I then had an idea who I could contact. I was a bit reluctant. While I was mostly sure I could trust that person, I wasn't as sure that he'd be available. His lines of work made him very busy. I decided to call him anyway. I figured I'd leave a message if I didn't get him. So, after finding his info in my contacts, I called him up and waited. A bit to my surprise, he answered on the second ring.

"Hello," he greeted.

"Hi Dr. Drumm," I greeted back. "It's me, Michelle."

"Ah, yes. I remember you. How's everything?"

I frowned. I wanted to say everything was okay, but what's the point in lying if I was going to spill my guts anyway?

"Everything is shit," I admitted. "…I don't know if you have time to talk, but I could really use someone to talk to and some advice. The thing is, a lot of it has to do with a certain line of work."

"…I see," he responded quietly. "…Do you have a computer you can video chat on and do you have a VPN?"

"Yes and yes."

"Would you mind sending me your email address?"

A few minutes later, I was sitting at my desk in front my laptop. With my VPN running, I was looking at Dr. Drumm's face on the screen. He was dressed in a black t-shirt and a pair of glasses.

"Normally, I'd start with an introductory session, but something tells me I should be going the more informal route," he began. He then tilted his head. "Have you been in a session before?"

"A while back I have," I replied. "…It's a long story."

"I see. Does this story have anything to do with what you want to talk to me about?"

I shook my head. "No." At least, that's what I thought at first. "It's something a lot more recent. I… I'm not sure where to begin, really."

"Take your time. Think it through."

I thought about it for a moment. I figured the best place to start with is the reason I asked for Dr. Drumm's number from Scott weeks ago.

"…Are you familiar with The Runes of Kof-Kol?" I asked.

Dr. Drumm raised his eyebrows. "…I'm very familiar, unfortunately," he replied with a bitter tone. "It's a very powerful that have been used for reasons of varying warranty." He lowered his eyebrows. "…I take it that it's relevant to why you wanted to talk."

I took in a breath. "It has a lot to do with why I asked if you'd be available during the summer." I had a feeling that Peter already told him about how The Spell impacted me. I couldn't confirm that because of doctor-patient privilege. I decided to continue on anyway. "…Last summer, Peter was a student at Midtown, like I am now. We were all on a field trip in Europe. Mysterio was there. He had SHIELD believing that he was this hero from another universe and that he was battling these giant creatures that ravaged his home. That wasn't the case, though. It was all a ruse, and Peter and I helped figure that out. Even though Mysterio had the upper hand for a while, Peter managed to beat him. Mysterio tried to get the drop on him in the end, but he ended up shooting himself instead. We thought that was going to be the end of it. But then, Mysterio sent that video out. He framed Peter for murder and told the whole world that he was Spider-Man." I shook my head. "His life got screwed, as well as my life and Ned's, even with Matt Murdock representing us and getting us off without any charges sticking. We literally got rejected by every college we applied for and everyone started treating us different at school. It got so bad that they were throwing bricks through the window of Peter's aunt's apartment. So, Peter went to Doctor Strange about a spell and…" I trailed off as Dr. Drumm leaned his head forward and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "…Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," he assured. "I'm just making a note that Doctor Strange and I are going to need to have a little… chat… in the future." He took in a breath and looked forward. "Please, continue."

I nodded. "Okay. Well, Peter went to Doctor Strange for a spell. Doctor Strange decided to do The Runes of Kof-Kol. Since Peter didn't know how the spell works, he kept on making suggestions until The Spell became unstable. And then whole bunch of other things happen, with people actually from other universes showing up. Peter tried to help them as much as he could, but things went haywire, leading to that huge fight at The Statue of Liberty. Even with the help of other Spider-Men, Peter had to have Doctor Strange cast the spell. And that's when the world forgot Peter Parker. As you probably know or figured out, Peter and I did reconnect. But, a little bit after The Scorpion situation, I started to get haunted by a version of me I could only see in the mirror. It turned out that that version of me was a copy of my conscious from before The Spell with my memories intact, made when Doctor Strange cast another spell - Mnemosyne's Protection, if I remember correctly. She held a lot of resentment towards Peter because she was trapped in this mini-universe inside of me that was a copy of New York City that's stuck in time, and this happened when Peter was supposed to keep a promise to explain everything to me and Ned, but didn't. Clea, who was helping through the situation with my other self, suggested a personality merge. I decided to do it, even though there was a huge chance my relationship would take a hit. And it did. I was having these feelings of distrust and… I didn't think I could handle it. So, I broke up with Peter."

"And I'm guessing this where your issues lie."

I tilted my head briefly. "Sort of. It's a bit more complicated than that."

"How so?"

It was at this point I explained everything – me being upset over Peter giving me the distance I asked for, how I got convinced by Liz to eat with Brad, who Brad even was, Peter seeing me outside of the restaurant with Brad, the bombshell of Beck being alive, Peter rescuing me from Hammer Industries HQ after I went along with Betty and Cessily to infiltrate it for clues, the argument Peter and I had, Peter being taken down by the woman my friends and I now call Firestar, how Buford and I figured out that Firestar was Liz this whole time, and the tension between Peter and I.

I didn't know if telling him all of that would be enough for him to help me, but, at the very least, I felt a huge load off of my chest.

"…and now we're supposed to work together on this suit but I don't how I can work with him with this tension between us," I finished.

"…That's a lot," Dr. Drumm commented.

I frowned. "I'm sorry for dumping all of that on you."

"Don't be. This is in my wheelhouse." Dr. Drumm smiled briefly. "I do have questions, though. Why did you have lunch with Brad despite what he did?"

"I only did so because Liz wouldn't drop it." I pressed my lips together a bit. "It was a waste of my time, too. I didn't have a bad time, but I didn't have a good time either."

He raised an eyebrow. "Is Liz the only reason?"

I narrowed my eyes. "What other reason could there be?"

"If it was Peter that showed up in the store that day and Liz tried to urge you go to lunch with him, would you have done so?"

I opened my mouth to answer. I then closed my mouth as I thought about it. I couldn't think of an answer. I shook my head. "I don't know." I sighed. "I don't know."

"Do you trust Brad?"

"Not really, no. I mean, I'm open to the possibility that he has turned over a new leaf, but to say I have trust in him is a huge stretch, and that's me being polite."

Drumm tilted his head. "And yet you still decided to have lunch with him without anyone else accompanying you."

I glared at him. "Look, if you want to point out my hypocrisy, don't bother. Someone already beat you to the punch."

Drumm shook his head. "I'm not trying to point out any hypocrisy. I'm just trying to figure out your thought process. You have feelings of resentment because of what Peter did. Most people in your position would. Most people would also hold a lot of resentment towards Brad over what he did."

I scoffed as I shook my head. "It's not like I've forgiven Brad."

"But it seems like you're on better terms with Brad than you are with Peter, are you not?"

I was given pause. "…I…" I paused again. "…I… I guess I am… but… it's different."

"Different?"

"Yes, it's different. There's a huge difference." I wanted to change the subject. I felt myself losing my composure. Really, I was starting to lose several seconds ago. Looking back on it, maybe I just didn't want to have to explain my reasoning.

"So why is it different?" Dr. Drumm asked.

"Because…" I began before I trailed off. "Because…"

"Take your time. Use your words."

I had to take a moment. It wasn't like I didn't have the words for it. It just sounded stupid the more I thought about it.

"Because I don't love Brad, okay?!" I finally answered with quite a bit of heat to my tone. I shook my head. "Before Brad did what he did, he was barely a friend with the only thing about him annoying me was his not taking the hint that I'm not into him. But Peter, though… I loved him. I still love. But I trusted Peter. I stuck by him when it seemed like most of the whole world turned on him. And yet he broke his promise to me! I know he apologized. I know he's been making the effort. But there was a part of me that was stuck and all alone and probably would've been lost forever had circumstances been different. And I feel like once again, I'm in a pattern where I put my trust into somebody and it backfires! Liz is… was… one of my closest friends, and now she's probably working with someone who almost killed me and is now threatening my family and friends. I put my trust in Peter, and a part of me was close to dying because of it. And me trusting Cass is the reason why my family was going through a rough patch years prior."

I heard the sounds of bones cracking. I looked down at my hands, which were balled up in fists on top of my desk. I took in a breath and unraveled my fists. I then wiped my eyes with my forearm, taking away the dampness in them. I looked back at the screen to see Dr. Drumm looking at me concern on his face.

"…Are you able to continue?" he asked.

I nodded slowly. "I can."

"…Okay." He raised an eyebrow. "Who is Cass?"