Michelle "MJ" Jones

I should've figured that today was going to be a weird one.

I woke up in a weird mood. I had this feeling in the pit of my stomach. I always get that feeling whenever I had a huge task ahead of me… which was odd because I didn't have much going on that day. There wasn't a major test at school or anything like that. There wasn't anything major for me to do. Maybe I was just paranoid about things? That was probably it.

The day went by as normal, but I couldn't shake the feeling in my stomach. It must've been noticeable that I was going through something because, after the one class I shared with her, Cessily asked if I was okay. I told her what I was feeling.

"Maybe I'm just being weird," I said as the two of us walked through the halls.

"The whole last few weeks have been weird," Cessily pointed out. "I don't think things will feel normal until this situation is over."

"I just hope it's over before I go to New Orleans, because I already got a lot to unload onto Doctor Drumm."

Cessily let loose a short chuckle. "A lot of people do. He has to be making bank off of Scott alone."

I gave her a sideways look. "Scott has sessions with him?"

Cessily gave me a sideways glare. "With all he's been through in his life and how he operates, there's no way he's keeping himself together by himself."

"…I mean…"

Despite the feeling in my stomach, I went through the day as normal. I even got through work without incident. I mean, I still wanted to fight my boss, but that was far from unusual. I thought I'd be able to just go straight home and sleep this feeling off – after studying and homework of course.

But then I got a phone call from my mom at the end of my shift.

I was closing up when I got the call, counting up the cash at the register. I answered my phone, put it to my left ear and used by shoulder to hold it in place as I continued with counting up the cash at the register.

"Hey mom," I greeted.

"Hi Miche'," my mom greeted back. "I need a favor."

I finished counting the fives before I moved on to the ones. "What's up?"

"I just got done grocery shopping, but I forgot to grab a gallon of milk. Can you stop by a store and grab one for me?"

I finished counting the ones before I placed them in the register. "Yeah, that's not a problem."

"Thanks! I'll Venmo the money over. And I'll even add a little extra cash in case you want to grab something for yourself."

"Sweet. I'll handle that after I close."

"Sounds good to me. Love you, Miche'!"

"I love you too, mom. Bye."

"Bye."

I hung up the phone. I then looked over at Cessily, who was wiping down the counter. "We have to take a detour."

After we closed up the store, Cessily and I made our way to the nearest bodega. Once in there, we went straight to the milk. I looked up and down the merchandiser, trying to make decision on what to grab. Sometimes my mom would grab whole milk and sometimes she would grab 2 percent. The only thing she was insistent on was that we never got skim milk. After taking some time to decide, I decided to just grab a gallon of whole milk.

"Whole milk versus 2 percent," I commented as I closed the merchandiser. "That's a conundrum as old as time."

Cessily scoffed. "If only that was the worst of life's issues," she lamented.

"Ain't that the truth? Anyway, you want anything?"

"I'm good, thank you."

After taking some time to grab a can of Arizona Iced Tea – the African Rooibos Red Tea flavor – I made my way towards the register. As I was paying for the items, I heard an argument outside between a man and a woman.

"Yo, for real, get the fuck away from me, Clarence!" a woman demanded.

"So what, you don't fuck with me no more?!" a man yelled out. "Well fuck you then, bitch! I'm getting paper out here, anyway!"

"Oh, that makes you so special! Look everybody! Clarence Morgan is getting money, y'all! I got news for you, asshole – once a lame, always a lame. Money ain't going to change that!"

"Oh is that right?!"

Normally, I would have mostly ignored what was going on outside. An argument outside of a store in New York was like finding a squirrel in a park – nothing new and practically expected. The only minute attention I would've only paid to the argument was only in case shots rang out. Some people were trigger happy like that, unfortunately. However, as the two continued to argue, I couldn't help feel like the man sounded very familiar, like I heard his voice somewhere before. I wanted to write it off as a coincidence, but my intuition was nagging me.

Where did I hear his voice before? And where did I hear it from?

That's when it clicked.

First came the flashback of that time when that guy on the subway couldn't take a hint…

"Hey beautiful," he greeted.

I swallowed. "What do you want?" I demanded, not even trying to hide how annoyed I was.

"I saw you across the way, and I figured I'd say hi."

My eye right twitched. "…And… you thought the best way of doing that was to pull one of my earbuds out of my ear?"

"Well… yeah. You're looking cute, and I just wanted to know if I could chat with you, maybe even get your number."

"Yeah, no. Please me alone." I grabbed my dangling earbud. I was about to turn away, but then he grabbed my wrist. I looked at him incredulously. I tried to pull my wrist away, but he was holding on tight.

"Come on, Sweetie. Don't be that way!"

Yeah, that did it.

Without warning, I sent my forehead into his face. I heard the crack. His nose was broken.

…followed by the flashback of when Beck came to Peter Pan…

"Perhaps you can make time for an old friend," Beck said with a smile and jovial tone. The combination of both of those things was enough to make my skin crawl. I wanted to lie and say that I never saw him before. I had a feeling that wasn't going to work. "How you been, MJ?"

I sneered at him. "You don't get to call me that!" Maybe it wasn't the best time to fret over that. But people like him don't get to call me that, circumstances be damned. One of the men stepped up, prompting me to lock eyes on him.

"I don't remember Mr. Beck asking you for your naming preference," they said. I narrowed my eyes at the masked person. Why did he sound familiar?

…that's when it clicked.

"MJ, you okay?"

I was snapped out of my thoughts. I looked at Cessily, who was looking at me with a look of concern. I then looked at the cashier, who looked a bit annoyed. I shook my head before I grabbed my wallet, opened it up, and grabbed a twenty. I placed it on the counter.

"Keep the change," I said before I quickly rushed out of the door.

As soon as I was outside, the argument was over. The man who was apparently named Clarence Morgan was already crossing the street as the woman continued to yell at him. I saw him glance over his shoulder. It was then that I knew.

"MJ, what's going on?"

Once again, I was taken out of my thoughts by Cessily. I looked at her, took one last glance in the direction Clarence walked off towards before I looked back at Cessily. "…I'll explain later. Just let me get home and I'll call you in a couple of hours."

After Cessily walked me home, I went inside and gave my mom the milk before I went inside of my room. I busied myself with homework for a couple of hours before I called Cessily up.

"Okay, so what's the deal?" Cessily asked. "You were acting kind of weird. No offense."

"None taken," I said. "…That guy I saw – the one who was in that argument with the woman – I think he's working with Beck."

Cessily was quiet for a few moments. "…Yeah, you're going to have to break down for me."

"Okay, about a day or so before you and I met, I was taking the train to Midtown, as per usual."

"Right, right."

"While I was riding the train, I was listening to music, trying to get my mind off of how shitty things were – this was before I was told that Beck was still alive."

"Okay."

"Then this guy sits next to me and pulls out one of my earbuds. After a few words from me, I tried to turn away from him. But then he grabbed my wrist. So I broke his nose with a headbutt. Fast forward to when Beck appeared at Peter Pan. Remember when one of the masked men said something after I told Beck he doesn't get to call me MJ?"

"Yeah, I do – I wanted to slam him through the counter."

I took some effort for me not to chuckle. "Well, at the time, I figured he sounded familiar. And today, when I heard that guy arguing with that woman outside… At least to me, he had that same voice. Maybe I'm wrong. But I'm pretty sure Beck had people stalk his targets before, so…." That was the only way I could explain how Beck was able to get underneath Peter's skin. Peter told me about the illusions that Beck put him through, including the one where I was falling towards my death. He had to have had someone watching us interact. Of course, there was the part that Beck managed to convince Peter that he was someone that could be trusted and open with.

Yeah, Beck was just an all-around creep.

"Okay, well let me call up Kitty," Cessily suggested. "Did you catch the name of the guy, by any chance?"

"I think the woman called him Clarence Morgan," I replied.

"Got it. Just do me a favor and just sit tight… and don't pull a Bunker move."

"I promise I won't."

Yeah, about that…

I didn't want to pull a Bunker move. I really didn't. But things happened.

Well, just one thing happened, really.

I was already in bed when I heard another argument outside. I slowly opened my eyes and looked towards the window for a couple of moments. I rolled onto my side, reached out, and grabbed my phone. I pressed the unlock button just once just so I could check the time.

"Three o'clock in the morning," I grumbled to myself. "Really, now of all times?"

I tried to ignore the arguing, but it just got louder. It got so loud that the voice sounded familiar and…

"…Wait…"

I sat up slowly. There was no way this guy would be in my vicinity twice and one day, would he? I moved off the bed before I quickly and quietly moved to the window. I opened up the curtain slightly and looked outside. My eyebrows rose up. Yup, there was the man apparently named Clarence Morgan out there, arguing with some other guy I never saw before. I took a step back from the window.

"What the fuck?" I muttered to myself. I then walked around my bed to the nightstand where my phone was. I picked it up and unplugged it from the charger. I called up Kitty to try and let her know. Unfortunately, all I got was her voicemail. I hung up the phone and I tried to call Scott. Once again, all I got was his voicemail. I tried Joanna and got the same result. I sighed as I hung up the phone and lay it down on the nightstand. I stood there for some seconds. I looked towards the window, still hearing Clarence shouting. I then looked towards my closet, where the items that made up my Silk costume hung. I looked back and forth between the window and closet.

I had a decision to make.

I could just wait for Kitty, Scott, or Joanna to call back or even wait in the morning to tell them. Or I could take matters into my own hands.

Had this been weeks before, I probably would have went with the former. After all, while my fighting skills were pretty good since I was training under Colleen Wing, there was a reason I usually left the superhero stuff to the X-Men (aside from me not wanting to deal with the problems being a superhero comes with). I had no powers, after all. But considering all the stuff that Beck has put me through, there was a rather visceral part of me that really wanted to get my hands on Beck or anyone working with him.

I took in a deep breath.

"I'm such a fucking hypocrite," I lamented before I started walking towards the closet.