The Inciting Act! Part 1
(Streets of New York)
Spider-Man picks up a massive piece of cement and chucks it to the side, making sure nobody is in the way, and looks into the hole to see a good number of people huddle together.
“You’re safe now,” he tells them as he offers a helping hand, “Let's get you out of there.”
One man takes the offered appendage and the rest follow after him. They climb down and are greeted by paramedics and other rescue workers. All of whom offer them blankets and bottles of water.
As Spider-Man gets the last person of the hole, he looks around the area. In a single-block radius, the devastation is all one could see. Apartments, homes, and all sorts of buildings are laid to ruin. Multiple city officials and heroes that were called in are in the area doing what they can to help. Rescue workers are digging through mountains of rubble where Iron Man flies overhead and scanning it in search of any life signs buried in the collapsed building. Not too far away, Captain America is coordinating with policemen, firefighters, and other heroes to better assist the population.
One can see Thor making it rain to put out several fires that occurred from gas mains being ruptured. Sonja and Captain Marvel pull up all manner of buses and cars from the crevasses of the ruined block. Havoc carefully breaks apart any chunks of rock that are in the way. Daredevil doing his best to sense any distressed citizens buried underneath the piles of rubble.
And Spider-Man is doing what he can to help. Making makeshift gurneys from his webbing to lift people up from the crevasses, tearing into his web domes that he sprayed to save people from the buildings that were collapsing in on them, and of course, trying to comfort the occasional citizen that is either terrified of the devastation or angry at their misfortune.
“I can’t believe this! I just had my car cleaned!”
“I lost everything in there. All my savings were in my mattress.”
“Where’s my cat! Has anyone seen my cat!”
Sadly he can only do so much.
When he arrived with Sonja on his back, he landed on the highest building of the block and erratically searched the area for anyone suspicious. It didn’t take long for him to find someone acting suspicious, since walking in the middle of traffic definitely draws attention, But even though his spider-sense warned him of an oncoming attack to the area, he knew that there would still be people that would be in danger.
So with his quick thinking, he told Sonja to attack the guy while he focused on protecting and saving people in the area. The attack lasted only for seven seconds. But like with any really strong earthquake, a massive amount of damage was still done in those seven seconds. Spider-Man did everything he could to save as many lives. Making web domes to protect people from the buildings collapsing in on them and fashioning web nets to catch people from falling into the depths.
All in all, to everyone else, it seemed like he was in ten places at once. But in reality, he was moving so fast that afterimages were what they were all seeing. He moved faster than he ever has before, ‘And I used to be able to dodge lighting.’
Dodging attacks from his rogues like Electro certainly proved that. But if he was that fast before, how much faster is he now? And could he, or rather would he get faster?
He stops thinking about that and refocuses on the matter at hand. Which is getting the last people out of the collapsed building.
‘Still feels like I could have done more though.’
Then again he always feels like that. His hero complex is such a pain.
A few yards away from the hero, Iron Man lands by Captain America, who had just finished talking with the officials and tells the vet, “Well the good news is that the official casualty for today is zero.”
Cap looks at him in surprise, “You’re kidding?”
Iron Man's face plate lifts up and Tony shakes his head, “Nope. Seems Thwippy and Xena got here in the nick of time. With him focusing on saving the people and her kicking Quaker's head in time to stop him from doing any more damage, they managed to save the day with no loss of life.”
Cap is certainly pleased to hear that as he relaxes. Looking around the devastation, he is not only impressed with how Spider-Man and Sonja prevented any loss of life but managed to do so with how things look. If one were to go by the total destruction of the area, one would assume the casualties would be high.
“Seems we’re making the right decision in him being the new team's leader,” Cap says with a pleased face.
Tony nods in agreement but points out, “Though property damage is still high.”
Cap looks around the area, “Better to lose a car than a life.”
Tony can’t argue with that.
“Man, this guy is nuts.”
They turn their attention to some SHIELD agents as they haul away Avalanche, the mutant terrorist that destroyed the portion of New York in a brazen attack, on a stretcher with a power dampener around his neck. For what reason is anybody's guess.
But as they haul him away he keeps mumbling the same thing over and over again, “The dam burst. The flow released. The inciting act is complete.”
Neither one can figure out what he means by that. But by the calm and freaky smile he has, they can assume it’s nothing good.
Captain Marvel steps by them both, “So,” she starts as she places her hands on her hips, “What do we make of this?”
Captain America sighs and crosses his arms, “We have no idea. Avalanche doing this doesn't make any sense. And that scar of his…” rubs his head in a phantom reminder of what he saw.
“You mean the one that looks like he went to dinner with Hannibal Lecter?” Tony, his longtime friend, jokes “What about it?”
Steve frowns and crosses his arms as he shakes his head, “I don't know. I'm just getting a bad feeling is all.”
“…You don’t think someone actually made him eat his own brain, do you?”
A deadpan face is all he gets as a response from both Steve and Carol.
“Hey, careful!”
They turn their attention to a commotion, not ten yards from where they are standing. They see Sonja lifting a bus over her head while a man with a potbelly hollers at her, “That’s my livelihood you’re tossing around ya tramp!”
Clearly, the man has no common sense if he thinks insulting and yelling at someone, who is carrying a bus over their head, is a good idea.
Sonja glares at the overweight man, “Listen you fat slob, unless you wish for this to be at the bottom of this abyss or up your-!”
“Okay!” Spider-Man, who just finished pulling the last people up from the newly made gorge, quickly leaps over to get between the angry citizen and his angry girlfriend(s?), “How about we try to clean up this mess without calling each other mean names? Or make threats to our persons? Sound good?”
The man quickly gets in Spider-Man’s face, “Why don’t you tell that-!”
“Excuse me,” Captain Marvel, who heard the commotion and flew over, lands by her friend as the crowd parts to let her, “My associates are trying to get the civilians out from under the rubble. If there is some damage done to property like your bus then you can call Damage Control.”
He hands the man a card and said man grumbles as he inspects it, “Fat lot of good that’ll do me. I still gots to make a living.”
Bus drivers in New York are very underappreciated. Peter certainly knows what that’s like.
He looks at Sonja, “Why don’t you put the nice man’s bus down, and then let’s get out of here?”
Sonja regards him for a moment before she places the bus down.
On its side.
Spider-Man stares at this with a flat look as she walks away without another word. Behind him the man goes into a tirade, calling her names, threatening to sue, and wanting her to get the death sentence.
Carol looks at the retreating woman’s form with a raised eyebrow, “She’s got a bit of a temper.”
He drops his head with a groan.
Carol tells the citizens to go and talk to other officials, and then looks at Spider-Man and says, “So I haven’t really had a chance to ask, but who is she?”
“She is a warrior spirit from an alternate past timeline that is inhabiting someone very important to me,” Spidey tells her almost robotically. Not because he doesn’t care, but more for the fact that he figures people will be constantly asking about her so he will have to get used to it.
Telling Logan and Hope last night was helpful.
Carol looks at him in surprise, “Wow. Okay. That is…” she tries to come up with the words but comes up short, “Wow.”
Spider-Man lets out a single sarcastic laugh as he says, “Yeah. I want to say my life can’t get crazier, but the fact that I got powers from a spider bite really should have hinted how insane my life was going to be in the first place.”
“That is still the dumbest origin I’ve heard from anyone.”
Spider-Man frowns offended before he crosses his arms and mutters to the side, “Says the woman who got powers by being probed by aliens.”
Unfortunately, Carol heard him, “What was that?”
“Uh-I said I need to talk to Cap,” he quickly covers up before he walks away.
She watches him walk away for a few moments before she mutters to herself, “Doofus.”
She watches the hero walk up to Captain America before she turns her attention back to Sonja, who is looking around the area. Probably searching for another way to help out.
After a second or two of contemplation, Captain Marvel flies over to the woman and lands beside her. Sonja turns her head and raises an eyebrow at her for a moment but then goes back to searching for some trouble. Carol doesn’t get the feeling the woman is being dismissive. It’s more like she is focusing on the job of helping out.
“Hey,” Carol starts and grabs the woman's attention before she sticks her hand out at her, “I didn’t get a chance to introduce myself back when you first showed up. I'm Carol Danvers. I go by Captain Marvel.”
Sonja takes the offered appendage after a second and introduces herself, “Red Sonja. A pleasure to meet your acquaintance.”
“Likewise.”
They let go of each other's hands and then stand side by side in silence. Carol tries to think of something, anything to say. She figures the woman is new to being a hero and wants to offer advice but she doesn’t want to come off as a braggart. Sonja can handle herself well enough if what happened today and back during that whole possession nonsense is any indication. And if she is close to Spider-Man, then she will certainly be learning the ropes.
But still, Carol feels the need to offer some kind of advice. Not sure why but she does.
“Can you tell me how you resisted the urge to gouge out the eyes of everyone staring at your behind?”
Slightly startled at the question, mostly because it almost seemed like Sonja read her thoughts, but she quickly recovers and smirks in confidence, “Heh. Well, it helps for them to know that you can crush their skulls with one hand.”
“Lifting a bus over my head did not deliver that message?” Sonja asks sardonically.
“I think that might have just egged them on more,” Carol says as she thinks about how a lot of men actually find that to be a turn-on for some reason.
“Mmm,” Sonja’s lips form into a flat line as she gives a sideways glare to the crowd behind them.
Sonja herself isn't all that bothered by all the stares she is receiving, it's the whole point of her outfit after all, but Mary Jane certainly is bothered. And that irritation is leaking over to her. Sonja does not understand how the people that stare now are any different from when they stare when Mary Jane is modeling.
“I'm not gonna keep repeating myself.”
Sonja rolls her eyes. She decides to recall some memories of Mary Jane's choice of clothing when she went out.
“Hey, those were still appropriate!”
So wearing such clothing when going out to have fun was fine. But when garments like Sonja’s, which have proven to be effective in battle, are worn, then those are inappropriate?
“Ugh, fine! Wear the stupid thing! But if we get constantly groped you are not allowed to break or sever any hands!”
… Sonja frowns. Now she is reconsidering her position.
“You know,” Captain Marvel says grabbing the redheads’ attention, “When I decided to change my look, a part of it was because I couldn’t stand pervs constantly checking out my ass. Granted it was advantageous in a fight when some guys got distracted, but still it was annoying.”
Sonja nods in agreement, “That’s my reason for wearing this.”
“I figured. You don’t seem like the type to do this purely for the attention of random strangers,” Carol tells her respectfully.
Sonja, and MJ, look at the woman with appreciation.
“Spider-Man probably loves the outfit though am I right?” Captain Marvel jokes with a wicked grin on her face and a nudge on Sonja's shoulder.
And while Sonja smiles back at the blonde heroine, she and Mary Jane can see the joking expression is almost forced. Even though Carol may be joking, she is trying her best to hide some resentment. But Mary Jane has seen herself in the mirror enough times to spot a smile like that miles away. She can assume what the woman is probably feeling is often what MJ has felt in the past.
“Captain Marvel,” Sonja says, making the woman raise an eyebrow at her for the formal way she is speaking, “I am a blunt woman. I speak my mind. I say what I mean and mean what I say. I do not ‘beat around the bush’.”
Carol, still with a raised eyebrow, just says, “Okay?”
“So know that when I ask this, I ask with the best intentions,” Sonja tells her before she takes a breath and asks, “What are your feelings towards Spider-Man?”
Carol reels back in shock, “W-What?”
“What are your feelings towards Spider-Man?” Sonja restates her question, as she ignores MJ’s plead to be subtler or at least less blunt, “I see the way you look at him and the way you’ve been looking at me. Granted you do not look at me in an ill manner, but more towards frustration. As if you are more upset I did something that you couldn’t.”
“You know charging ahead like a bull might not be the best approach.”
Sonja doesn’t care. She is not the type to avoid a very needed conversation because it is uncomfortable. And a conversation with the blonde heroine before her is definitely needed. Those forlong looks she gives to her Spider, while subtle, are not something Sonja is missing. And maybe Carol will not act on whatever emotions she has, but Sonja would rather know for certain.
As for Carol, she is looking at the warrior woman in bewilderment. She did not expect her to confront the blonde about whatever feelings she may have for the wall-crawler. Sure maybe if it got out, then she would expect some hostility. But not a straight question about how she feels about him.
Then again if she really is from an alternate timeline or whatever, then she is not likely to behave as anyone else would. Heck, her choice of clothing should have told her that.
She starts to think about her response and comes up with, “I don't know,” she says with some sheepishness as she crosses her arms, “I may have liked him in some way, maybe more than I’m letting on right now, but I'm not the type to step in on someone else’s territory.”
Carol doesn’t like how she is feeling right now. All meek and vulnerable. Her feelings for the Webhead are something she has never really discussed with anyone. Other than her best friend Jessica, AKA Spider-Woman.
But that’s a story for another time. Right now she doesn’t want this woman to think she is this shy thing.
So she gives the redhead a hard look, “Look you love him and he obviously loves you, so he’s all yours. You don’t have to worry about me,” Carol steps a bit closer and towers over Sonja, “Unless I believe that you two aren't good for each other.”
Sonja's gaze does not waiver from the threat. She looks at the woman dead in her eye and sees she means it.
She smirks, “Good to know,” she says before she walks away, “Until next time.”
She doesn’t hear a response but does feel the woman's gaze burn at the back of her head.
“You think she took our smirk the wrong way?”
(Avengers Mansion)
J Jonah Jameson steps out of the famous hero team home with his bag and what's left of his casserole and heads to his limo, town car of course, sporting a contemplative frown as he does so.
The reason behind this is because of the interview of the century. The one he didn’t even finish. His mind is a whirlwind of emotions and thoughts. All over the one subject that has plagued his mind for over a decade. Spider-Man and who he is underneath his mask. And he finally got his answer.
Only it was one he did not expect. He expected maybe a well-known figure with deep pockets. Or a horribly disfigured man that is unrecognizable. But it wasn’t. It was a face that he knew and now knowing who was underneath the mask shook him to his very core.
‘Peter Parker is Spider-Man,’ he thinks to himself as he steps out the gates, ‘The meek boy that I gave a job to. The young man whose aunt is married to my father. Which begs the question if she knows. And if she does, that means my footer knows?’
And if that is the case then he certainly needs to talk to the man. Which he was hoping to avoid doing since he was mad at him not too long ago.
But that doesn't matter right now.
‘Peter Parker is Spider-Man,’ the thought echoes in his mind as his driver/bodyguard opens his door and he steps inside, ‘How could I have not seen the signs? Everything pointed to him being that mena-’
He forcefully stops that train of thought as his driver asks him where he wants to go.
“The Bugle,” he tells him without thinking. His mind was too occupied.
He now has a face to put behind the mask. And now that he sees that face, he doesn’t feel what he used to think about Spider-Man is right anymore. Because Peter Parker is not a menace. He is a bright young man who has a soft heart of gold. He has seen that young man put others' needs over himself time and again. When Jameson thinks of Peter, he thinks ‘There is the last honest man on God’s green earth.’
Only now maybe not as honest. Maybe now he is nothing but a liar like the rest of the world. The young man has been lying to Jonah for years. Selling photos of himself to the former editor for so long. And what's worse, the young man has probably been laughing at Jonah all the years he's been in his employ.
But that's the paranoid part of Jonah's mind. The part that made him a journalist and eventually the editor-in-chief of the Daily Bugle. He has always believed that part of him would never lead him astray. Yet with Spider-Man it might have just done that. Because for the life of him, he can’t picture Peter Parker as a menace. Even with the lie now exposed, he can’t see the villain underneath the mask anymore.
These thoughts that plague Jameson are making him question everything he thought he knew. The man truly believed he knew Spider-Man. But as it turns out, that could not be further from the truth.
“Only one person can help clear this up for me,” he mutters to himself as he looks at his city stream, “The man who always spoke the truth to me when everyone else seemed to go along with what I said.”
He just hopes this time when he hears the truth from Robertson, he won’t be so stubborn about it if he doesn’t agree with it.
Back at the mansion, Spider-Man returns with Sonja in his arms. After seeing he did all that he could back at the destroyed portion of the city, he spoke with Captain America about needing to return to the mansion to finish his interview with Jonah. After a few exchanged words and Sonja stepping beside him, he quickly scooped up the redheaded warrior and swung back quickly to the mansion.
She lets go of him as he lands at the front entrance of his newly acquired home. He quickly enters the mansion and heads for the living room looking for J. Jonah Jameson.
And finds the room to be empty of life. The casserole that was brought, left behind.
“Jonah,” he calls out in hopes that he gets a response, “Jonah,” he tries again before he droops despondently, “Oh man, I really hope this doesn’t come back and bite me in my perfectly shaped tuches.”
Telling Jonah who he is, seemed like a good idea when he was feeling confident. But then again, so did his confession to Felicia. And she ran away screaming.
Talk about a blow to the ego.
A soft hand on his shoulder prompts him to turn around and see Mary Jane Watson giving him a supportive smile, “Whatever happens, we’ll face it together,” she wraps her arms around his neck and he wraps his around her waist, “You and me. Always.”
Not sure why she decided to do this, but not complaining because it’s been too long since he’s been able to do this. His head on her shoulder and her head on his chest. The feeling that if he has her, then he can handle anything life throws at him.
But it's not just about him so he still needs to ask.
So with some reluctance, he pulls back and asks her with concern, “You okay?”
She shrugs and tries to smile, but it gets a little wobbly, “Just getting a small flashback is all.”
He doesn’t say anything and pulls her back in. He figures it might have to do with that former life he doesn’t remember. And every time it comes up, he hates himself more and more for not being better. If that is the case then maybe revealing his identity to Jonah was not the best idea.
“It’ll be okay,” he says to her soothingly as he pulls her back in and holds her tightly, “Hell or high water, we’ll be fine.”
“You really trust Jolly Jameson to keep mum on your ID?” Mary Jane asks him as she keeps her face in his chest.
Peter thinks on it for a moment before he says, “Jonah is a good man. Mean and loud, but that's just how he shows his love and affection.”
MJ lets out a scoff with mirth as she pulls back and looks at him, “If that's true, then why aren’t you and he together.”
“It's that mustache,” Peter says with a shiver, “Ech, that disgraceful caterpillar has always stood in our way.”
The lovely redhead puts her head back into his chest to muffle her laughter, “God, you are such a dork.”
He smiles, happy he was able to do this for her, “Yeah but that dorkiness is part of my charm.”
She again pulls back and gives him a loving smile, “It really is,” she leans in to kiss him and he reciprocates for a few seconds before she pulls back again and says, “Thanks.”
“Anytime.”
With that settled, they both take a breath and MJ asks the obvious question, “So now what?”
“You got me,” he tells her with a shrug, “There's a lot I have to deal with. I don't know where to start,” he pauses as he caresses her hand, “I mean, I know where I want to start.”
She smiles at him, thankful he wants to put her first, but knows how bad that might be, so she tells him, “I’ll make this a little easier, I got my own things to do today, so…”
Peter gets confused by this, “Like what?”
She bites her lip “Personal,” she says and hesitates to tell him the whole truth, “But if it all works out, trust me, you will not be complaining.”
The arachnid-themed hero gives her a concerned look, not thrilled about her keeping secrets, but he plays it off since she still might be hesitant about completely trusting him, “I don't know about that, I have a knack for complaining.”
She relaxes and smiles at him, “I’ll call you later,” she says as she leans in for a quick kiss before she gets up from the arm of the couch and heads out the back of the mansion, “Love you.
“Love you too,” he calls out to her.
He is not at all worried about her leaving the mansion as is and instead predicts her to change into her Red Sonja form to sneak out.
“Parker, if you screw it up this time…”
He vaguely threatens himself before he refocuses. Jonah and Mary Jane are on the back burner. That does make things easier. He will still be worried about the separate situations with them, but he can at least divert most of his attention to his other problems.
Primarily, the new team he will be leading, his visions, the Phoenix Force, and Mephisto.
Oy, he suddenly realizes how tired he is.
He shakes his head and decides to break the problems down one at a time. The first problem would have to be the team he will be leading. Nothing has been done yet for the most part. He was told by Captain America that he would be recruiting people to join the team. But Peter feels like if he will be leading a team, then he should be the one recruiting.
Yes, he's not exactly Mr. Popular, what else is new, but he still has plenty of friends. From both the Avengers and X-Men. So he hopes that there will be quite a few that would be willing to join.
His second problem would be the being that essentially started all of this. Mephistopheles. But as Peter thinks about it, he realizes he can’t really do anything on that front. Mephisto is what Peter believes to be the main problem considering everything that's happened, but unless Peter knows his motives and can actually confront the devil on equal terms, then there is not much else he can do.
For now. Because as it happens, his third problem, which could also be a solution to his second problem, comes in the form of the Phoenix. Not necessarily a problem now but certainly something to be worried about if what happened this morning and yesterday is any indication. Having visions and almost catching on fire when they happen is cause for concern. If that happens every time now, someone will put two and two together eventually and that will cause friction with the mutants again.
As he thinks about that, he realizes that his fourth problem might be the solution to his third. His visions and getting them under control.
‘Question is how do I start?’ Peter mentally asks himself before he realizes the answer is obvious, “Julia.”
“You called?”
“Bah!”
Spider-Man leaps from his seat onto the ceiling and stares at the woman who appeared behind him in surprise before he relaxes but gives a halfhearted dull glare at the woman, “I’m starting to get the feeling you enjoy appearing out of nowhere and scaring the bejesus out of people.”
“There are moments,” Julia jokes as she looks up at him with her blind gaze, “Now can you get down from there? This may be an astral projection, but it still leaves a phantom pain of what it’s like craning my neck at this angle.”
He drops down but not before he gives in to the urge to say, “Phantom pain. Yeah, that’s a real pain in the neck.”
“…I will not dignify that with a response,” Julia flatly states and Peter would like to point out that she did but she continues before he can, “What do you need help with?”
Peter pouts a bit before taking a breath and asks her, “I need to get a handle on my new powers.
Julia raises an eyebrow at him and asks, “You think I can help?”
“Well, future visions are your thing,” he tells her with a shrug.
Julia suddenly tenses up and becomes shocked at this bit of information, “You’ve been having visions of the future?”
The Web-Slinger looks at her dubiously, “You didn’t know?”
“Despite what you may think, I do not constantly watch what you do,” she tells him distractedly as she looks down and ponders, “How long has this been occurring? Since you came back to life?”
Spider-Man shakes his head, “No. Only a couple of days now. First one I had was the convoy escorting Emma Frost. I saw her and my friends get attacked. The one after that, like the next day, was my friends attacking me with smiles on their faces,” as he recalls that last one he gets a frown of confusion, “Though that one didn’t come true.”
Now it’s Julia's turn to frown, “What do you mean?”
“I don’t know,” he says as he starts to pace, “In that vision, I saw them attacking me with disturbing smiles on their faces. But when they were attacking me, they weren’t smiling,” he does a ‘so and so’ gesture with his hand, “So it kind of happened but didn’t.”
Julia goes over this as she tries to discern what it means, “Anything else?”
He nods, “Yeah, yesterday it happened again. To be honest, though, I have no idea how to describe it.”
Worry seeps into the seer as she asks, “Why?”
“Because it was different from the rest,” he tells her as he leans on the couch, “I was on the clock tower, and I was panicking that the world was moments away from catching on fire. The vision thing happened and the next thing I know I was in a corridor. I was running down it and I wound up in a room where Doc Ock was. He was shouting that the world needed to burn for not ‘appreciating his genius’.”
Julia can hear the disgust in his voice and she does not blame him though for she is feeling something similar inside her. To burn the whole world down for not showing any love or affection to a madman's mind is certainly a reason to despise said madman.
“What I saw after that is what really shook me up,” he brings her out of her thoughts as he continues, “I charged at Otto and then there was this flash of light. I don't know where I was next, maybe a hospital or something because I had a breathing mask on me. Steve and Tony were standing over me and, well, they didn’t look happy to be seeing me.”
“I felt myself calling out my name,” he feels himself tensing up as he recalls this part since he felt himself dying painfully, “I was having a hard time doing so. I was barely able to breathe. The last thing I saw was myself standing over me and saying, ‘Goodbye, Peter Parker.’”
That sounds like a haunting image. One Julia does not want to see for herself, but will most likely have to, to better aid Spider-Man.
“When I came out of it, Felicia told me I was smoking,” Julia looks at him confused before he elaborates, “Like I was about to catch on fire,” she nods, now understanding, “And today I had another one. I saw Avalanche attack. I stopped him but not before he did some damage. And again I was almost on fire.”
Julia thinks on this before she lets out a frustrated sigh, “Damn. Then it’s very possible that the Phoenix will be returning soon.”
Spidey nods in agreement, “That's what I was worried about. But I was told I had time. Like at least a few months.”
“By who?”
Spider-Man stays silent for a moment before he says, “The Other.”
Julia frowns. She is already aware that he spoke with the entity, but she is not privy to everything that happened when Peter was being resurrected. All she does know is that the Other was involved and it evolved Spider-Man. But she does not know anything in regards to the Phoenix or much else it seems.
With those thoughts, she knows one person who can provide some more insight, “I will have to speak to Doctor Strange,” she tells him but can feel some negative emotions and thoughts and that makes her ask, “What is it?”
He shakes his head, “Nothing. It’s just…” his apprehension makes her frown in confusion and he sighs, “Don’t tell anyone else but, Strange kind of made a deal with Mephisto.”
That sends a lightning bolt through Julia’s system, “WHAT?! WHY?!”
“Wasn’t really listening,” he says with a shrug and slight edge in his tone and a shrug, “Honestly, I didn’t care. After all, he’s been giving me plenty of grief over my stupidity, not like I don’t do that to myself enough. But him just piling on and then pulling that, well let’s just say he’s been removed from my Christmas card list.”
He tries to end it lightly but he is livid. He doesn't want to be. He wants to talk to Strange and get his side of things. But with everything that he has to deal with, he can’t do that right now. So he can only stew in his imagination.
Julia on the other hand has no such problems, “I’ll speak with him,” she tells him, “But in the meantime, you should practice your abilities.”
He looks at her inquisitively, “Any suggestions on how I do that?”
“Meditation,” Julia simply states.
Now Sidey becomes perplexed, “Seriously?”
“I know it's not something you would be particularly fond of, but it would be very helpful.”
He pouts at the jab for a second before he shakes it off, “So what? I just sit down and go ‘Ohm~’ until something happens?”
“I'm not exactly an expert on the subject, but I believe it would help if you concentrate.”
He nods before he stands up from his seat and asks her, “Is that how you did it?”
He does jot receive a response because he is now alone.
“Julia?” Peter calls out to the blind woman, before he frowns “Well that was rude.”
He doesn’t dwell on the woman's sudden disappearance, since she appears pretty much the same way, and instead sits on the floor with his legs crossed over each other.
‘Okay, Parker,’ he mentally starts to motivate himself as he closes his eyes and takes deep breaths, ‘You’ve seen plenty of kungfu movies and heard about how it's done often enough from yoga freaks you’ve seen on the street. All you need to do is focus on your breathing and maybe you can-’
A sudden flash of light illuminates the room and Spide-Man is gone.
(Jean Grey School)
Kneeling in front of the grave of Charles Xavier, Wanda Maximoff places flowers as she says a small prayer.
She had decided to wait for the funeral to end before she came to pay her respects. To pray for the only man to not abandon her when she needed help the most.
Though she wonders if there is any point in prayer. For if God did exist, then why did he allow a good man like Xavier to die when someone like her gets to live? Why does she continue on when she has caused so much harm? Why does a man who dedicated his life to helping others, making the world better for all, lie buried in the ground rotting away?
“The world is lesser without you in it Professor,” she sadly whispers.
The world is not better with her in it.
And yet the world goes on. When a good man like Xavier dies, the world should stop for a moment to mourn the loss. It should feel grief. It should be dimmer. The sun should not rise like it always does. But no. It goes on like it’s any other day. It shouldn’t be like that but it is.
It’s horrible.
And the man in the grave had a dream of a better world. A world where the hatred between mutants and humans was nonexistent. Where a man or woman that look mutated due to their genes or had abilities that were extraordinary did not matter. They were treated as equals. Not lessers. Not abominations. Equals.
Many considered it to be a fool's dream. They believed that man will always hate what is different from them no matter what. She is ashamed to admit she was once one of those. She didn’t think such a world could exist. She believed that anything and anyone that was different would always be treated like a problem.
And now she doubts that will change. Especially without a man like Xavier leading the charge. There are very few who believe in that dream.
‘But even if I don’t believe in it completely. I will help in trying to make it real,’ she thinks resolutely to herself.
“Pick those flowers up. An’ get outta here. Sugah.”
Wanda slowly turns her head to see the familiar and angry face of Rogue.
She calmly gets up and fully turns around to say, “I’m merely paying my respects, Rogue.”
“You don’t get to do that,” the southern belle angrily tells the Romanian witch as she clenches her fists, “You did this. You're the reason he’s buried there.”
Wanda takes a breath to not lose her composure. She expected hostility if she came here and was found out. She knew the risks. A verbal assault or a physical one. Or both. Either way, she cannot lose herself. She must remain in control.
“I know what I did Rogue,” she says and keeps her expression blank, “I know my part brought this on. I accept responsibility.”
For some reason that angers her more, “Responsibility?!” Rogue shouts as she steps closer to the hex user, “You think you even know what that means?! It’s more than just saying you're sorry!”
Seeing as how anything she will say will most likely anger the woman before her, Wanda decides to calmly go for an attack, “You can be angry and despise me all you want. But I’m not the only one who had a hand in this.”
“An’ what the hell is that supposed to mean?!”
“I think it would be obvious,” Wanda says sarcastically, not at all deterred by Rogue anger towards her, “You all betrayed his teachings when you sided with Cyclops and the others when they were infused with the power of the Phoenix Force.”
“He was trying to save mutants!” Rogue defends hotly.
“Yes, he was,” Wanda replies and nods cooly, “But at what cost?” Rogue recoils at the question, “Scott was willing to risk the entire world for the off chance that a young girl can control a cosmic power that we have seen firsthand destroy everything around it.”
Rogue wants to argue some more, try her best to defend herself and her friends but instead goes offensive again, “At least everythang he’s done was for his people. All y’all evah done is run from who an’ what you are,” Wanda flinches at the shot and Rogue sees this and does not let up, “The X-Men have been fighting for mutants an’ the world, an’ have been treated like we’re the problem. Meanwhile the Avengers have saved the world, but they have done nothin’ in helping us out. An’ from what I heard, they caused those problems in the first place.”
Wanda raises an accusing eyebrow, “Is that how you justify siding with Cyclops? Tell me Rogue, right now the Avengers are the ones who are sorry and trying to make amends, but do you think that would have been the case had Spider-Man remained dead?”
“He’s alive,” the southern girl points out.
“That’s not the point. He risked his life to save his friends who were slowly dying in a prison that was guarded by you all.”
“Shut up.”
Wanda does not, “A literal hellish prison that you were all content in leaving them in.”
“Shut up!”
“Perhaps you did not have a direct hand in their suffering Rogue. But you certainly did play a part in it. And regardless if it’s no longer the case, Spider-Man died as a result of all of your actions.”
THWAP“SHUT UP!”
Wanda's head reels back as she his knocked down on her butt from the sock to the jaw delivered to her by Rogue. She rubs her jaw as she looks back at the angry woman. “You see? You aren’t willing to take responsibility for what happened because you don’t believe it matters.”
“I’ll tell you what I will take,” Rogue says as she takes off one of her gloves and grabs Wanda by her face, “A piece of your-”
She stops as she, and Wanda, look at her hand in surprise. Both clearly expecting for Rogue to drain Wanda of her powers. But neither one felt the effects.
“What the- are you blocking my-?”
BOOOOOM!
A massive explosion propels them off the ground and a good distance away. They roll for a bit before the come to a stop.
They slowly get up and see five figures standing in the middle of the fire the explosion had caused. The first one to step out of it looked to be something with a goat face or some such with white fur covering its face. The outfit was a black mesh of body armor with a red sash.
The second figure to step out of the fire was a man who looked like an average joe. A beard and crew-cut hair. He’s wearing the same outfit as the first one.
The third figure is female and what you would expect a demon to look like. Horns and bat-like wings are the first thing that one sees. Strangely enough however her face, and likely the rest of her body, is covered in feathers. Her outfit matches the others too.
The fourth figure stands behind the three and is larger, almost as big as Colossus. He seems to be a humanoid turtle. He only seems to be wearing a pair of body armor pants.
The final person is a woman and she is entirely made of water. Her top half is human while her bottom half is squid-like. She has a sash somehow wrapped around her body to cover her modesty.
The Goat-Faced Girl steps forward and announces, “Stay down, abominations. Your putrid gifts fail as you suffer under the gaze of the Goat Face Girl.”
Wanda and Rogue scramble to stand but the demon-like one reaches into her satchel and throws her hand out of it, “Head our words! Or suffer under the pain of my living wind!”
A gust of wind carries a voice, “I LIVE TO ATTACK,” and it strikes Rogue in the abdomen. Launching her into Wanda who was standing behind her.
The average-looking one begins to morph as he speaks, “I suffer so that others may not,” his entire form changes into a humanoid insect-like thing with stingers for hands, “The insect is the form I take for my fellow man.”
He charges at them, specifically at Rogue, with his stinger poised to strike as continues to speak, “My toxin will bring an end to the danger you and your kind pose!”
Rogue, still a bit disorientated by the explosion and the blast of wind, does not react in time to move out of the way.
“NO!”
But Wanda does react in time to get in the way. The stingers pierce through her stomach and she coughs up some blood. Rogue looks at her in shock, not believing the woman that she just attacked would lay down her life for her.
Rogue was so distracted, that she did not notice the giant turtle man coming at her until his giant fist knocked her unconscious.
(Inside a Dark Cave)
“Wah-Oof!”
Peter lands roughly on his face on the ground of a moist cave. He lays there for a second before he sits up and rubs his nose in confusion. “Why did that hurt me? I thought this was supposed to be inside my head?”
The question goes unanswered as he takes in his environment. It’s a dark moist cave that is littered with spider webs. All the webs are crawling with a variety of spiders. Some common household spiders, to big nasty looking tarantulas. He recognizes where he is.
“Oh great,” he sarcastically says, “Back here again. Like it was such a joy going through this the first time.”
He gets up from the ground and dusts himself off. He begins to walk down the cavern tunnels and tries not to shiver when one of the spiders looks at him.
“I know my whole theme is spiders but my god is it creepy when they stare like that,” he says with a shiver before he pauses in thought, “I wonder if that says something about me.”
Best not to dwell on it.
He continues to walk as he ignores the multitude of spiders around him. He eventually arrives at the end of the cave where he finds a giant spider web. Hundreds of spiders large and small crawl all over the web lines. Some seem to moisten the web while others re-thread it.
Peter walks to it and stops at the bottom, where all the web lines seem to be going to. And where an egg, that reaches up to Peter's knee, sits comfortably wrapped in a cocoon.
Peter takes a breath, “Alright,” he says before he kneels down, “What exactly is going on with you?”
He doesn’t get a response, not really expecting one. The egg just pulses with an energy that seems to go throughout the web.
But it still does frustrate him.
“Hello, Peter.”
“HOOCHIHABA!”
He leaps to his feet and into a goofy fighting stance, something like a snake attack, as he turns around to face a surprise visitor.
A visitor he has not seen in years.
“Jean?!”
(Unknown Location)
In a laboratory that hardly has any light, Charles Xavier’s body sits upright as a surgical saw cuts along his head slowly. The room has many surgical equipment that are common. And it also has a few unrecognizable machinery.
By the body, the Goat Face Girl and her companions stand at attention as they watch the telepath's head be carved into.
“You’ve done well in your expedition,” a voice with a German accent echoes through the laboratory, “Not only did you succeed in bringing me Charles Xavier’s body intact but you also brought along the woman who drove the mutant menace into near extinction.”
The stay silent as they look on with blank faces. The only sound is the saw and squelching of the corpse.
“Normally I would be dissecting her to discover the origins of her abilities,” the man says as he pulls the top of Xavier’s skull off revealing the brain, “But I was tasked to retrieve the mind of the most powerful telepath in the world and do what came naturally to me.”
The Goat-Faced Girl steps forward and respectfully asks, “If it’s not too brazen, who tasked you to do this?”
The man stays silent for a moment as he turns off the saw and places it on a metal trey nearby, “It does not matter. I have no such qualms in doing this.” He responds as he plucks the top of the skull off, “In truth, I rather look forward to it.” He takes a surgical knife and cuts into the thin pia matter surrounding the brain, “I have chased archaic relics in the past. And as a result, I have often met defeat. But now the most powerful object, that few dare try to comprehend, is left unguarded. Ripe for the taking.”
He pulls the brain out of the skull carefully and holds in his hand. He steps around the corpse and holds up the brain for all to see. And to see him.
The Red Skull
“The brain of Charles Xavier,” the former Hydra leader announces, “With it, I, Red Skull, shall do what is natural to me. I will bring forth an era humanity will prosper in! I will eradicate the mutant menace that plagues this world!”
The five in the room shout, “HAIL HERR SKULL!”