Scarlet Starlight | By : DarthMeow504 Category: zMisplaced Stories [ADMIN use only] > Spiderman Views: 35790 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 3 |
Disclaimer: This is a work of non-profit fanfiction. The Marvel Universe, the DC Universe, the Image Universe, and all characters and elements thereof are copyright their respective companies. Additional disclaimers within. |
[Author's Note: Dr. Strange is copyright Marvel. The "Joseph Quetzalcoatl" character is a parody of Marvel editor in chief Joe Quesada and intended as satirical metacommentary on his editorial and writing decisions regarding the Spider-Man franchise. It is in no way intended as a personal libel against Mr. Quesada and is protected under laws pertaining to satirical representations of public figures.]
Chapter 4 part 2: Questions and Answers
It was an old Tom Petty song that said "the waiting is the hardest part", and right now Peter Parker couldn't agree more. He'd already been examined and questioned by the expert that Jessica had called in, Doctor Stephen Strange, the one and only Sorcerer Supreme himself. His (partial?) wife was in private with him now, and her interview and exam were taking a lot longer than his had. His lame quip about whether he'd still be the Sorcerer "Supreme" if someone took away his tomatoes and sour cream had gone over like a lead balloon, and the mood in the den was akin to a waiting room anticipating news from intensive care. In the meantime, Jessica had taken him to a computer and quietly filled him in on what had taken place in his absence. That was the first bombshell that the good Doctor had dropped, that Spider-Man had been missing from this dimension for over a year, and thus his memories of current events were at least that far out of date. Where exactly he'd been and what had transpired there was still a mystery that hopefully would be sorted soon, not to mention the question of who or what had taken his place and done all the "douchebag" things that he'd gotten such an earful about from so many former friends.
For now, though he was reeling over the things he'd learned about the missing time. General things like the Superhuman Civil War, the war in Manhattan against the Hulk and his extraterrestrial allies, and the Crisis event that had merged a whole new population of heroes and villains from another dimension into their world, and things specific to him like how he'd joined the Avengers, gotten a good job teaching science and finally told J. Jonah Jameson off, revealed his identity on national television, and how his wife and her "other half" Red Sonja had embarked on a vigilante career under the name Scarlet Spider. That last part bothered him not so much for the danger it put Mary Jane in, as he knew first hand how well Sonja could fight and had no doubt that whosoever was on the business end of her blade was in a lot more danger than she was. Instead, it bothered him precisely because of how deadly a fighter Sonja really was, and how little restraint she showed in dealing with her enemies. He had no doubt that she had left and would continue to leave a trail of bodies in her wake that would make the Punisher proud, and if they were to have any future together he'd have to come to terms with it somehow. If he could.
That line of thought was weighing heavily on him when the door to the other room clicked, all eyes turning as Strange and MJ reentered the room. She sat back on the couch where she had been, while he stood before the group and made an announcement.
"You'll be pleased to know that I believe we have gotten to the bottom of this business, and if I'm correct you should have no further trouble."
Jessica, ever the detective, spoke for them all as she gently pressed him to elaborate.
"Spider-Man was indeed accosted and abducted from this plane by a demon of some sort, though it's highly unlikely that it was the entity Mephisto himself who was the source of the trouble. My analysis of the mystic traces left behind indicate a significantly more minor figure was behind your misfortune, and the spells were abruptly shattered which indicates that the Lady Sonja did indeed succeed in destroying the demon and thus undoing at least part of his workings. Hence, your return here and the dissipation of certain elements of his spellcraft including the illusion of your Aunt's return to life."
Peter absorbed this, thought it through, and spoke up. "That doesn't explain everything though, Doc. I don't have any memories of being somewhere else, and I don't have memories of a lot of things I apparently did. And it seems some sort of double took my place for at least part of the time, but I can't sort out where my part ends and the double takes over."
Doctor Strange nodded. "That's because there was no double... you physically did all the things ascribed to you while your soul was imprisoned extradimensionally. I don't yet know precisely whom is responsible, but I know how it was done and when and where it began." Then he looked to the merged redhead, asking her to elaborate, and when she spoke it was with Mary Jane's voice.
"Thanks to the Doctor, I know now where it started. When we first got back together after our separation, I started seeing a therapist, a Doctor Joseph Que--, umm, Queeza, no... Quesadilla?" she frowned, and then repeated after Strange corrected her."Quetzalcoatl. I never could pronounce his name, I always just called him Joe Q." she shrugged, and continued. "Anyway, I didn't tell him any specifics but I did tell him my problems in general terms, how you'd been hurt by the loss of Aunt May, how your career was nothing but pain and sacrifice with no recognition, how your boss treated you like shit, how my own career dreams weren't going anywhere, all of it. And one problem at a time... things got better. Aunt May turned up alive, you joined the Avengers, you got the job at ESU, which meant you could tell Jonah to shove it... and I got picked up for a modeling gig and then the film part. Everything was like I'd dreamed... bastard was setting us up. Gave us everything we wanted, and then took it all away and more."
Peter was shocked. "MJ, you never told me you were seeing a therapist, wh--" he started, but she cut him off.
"How could I tell you? I had to put on a brave face, pretend everything was ok or else you'd never forgive yourself or worse yet do something stupid like try to quit being Spider-Man again. That has never worked and it never will. I accept that now."
Peter was at a loss as to how to respond to that, and Doctor Strange resumed for her after she was finished. "With a bit of computer assistance from Jessica, I confirmed what I'm sure you're suspecting. There is not and there never has been a therapist in the tri-state area by the name of Joseph Quetzalcoatl, and I doubt there's one anywhere else either. The human identity was a front for the demon, who ensnared you both by performing favors for you. He then used that leverage to turn his gifts against you, culminating in the deal which enabled him to take your soul completely prisoner and place your body under his puppet control."
After a moment of letting that sink in, he elaborated further. "With the first favor he did, he gained a foothold into taking possession of you, and as he did more his claim on you grew stronger. Like a lein against a piece of property, so to speak, as you became more indebted the balance of the loan grew. Picture an hourglass, as one side fills the other empties... over time, he took progressively further possession of you and was able to influence your actions without you ever even realizing it. Until the deal was struck, and he took full possession. The reason you remember nothing is because when the demon was destroyed, his spells were broken and their effects vanished with them. Thus, you remember nothing from the point of his first influence on you forwards."
Peter nodded softly as he worked it through in his mind, and it did seem to add up and answer his questions. One thing still bugged him though.
"What do you think happened to me... wherever I was?"
Strange pondered this a moment, and answered. "Given the pattern of what your possessed body did, destroying your reputation and burning personal bridges with friends and loved ones, I'd say you were forced to watch it all for the purposes of torture. If you'd fallen to despair, broken under the strain, he could have made his claim on your soul permanent. Given that you returned when the spells holding you in place were broken, you clearly resisted. Mary Jane and the Lady Sonja may have rescued you, but it was your strength of will that ensured that there was anything for them to save."
He nodded, and moved to sit near her. He had a lot to talk to her about, to make up to her. Felicia too, for that matter, and the others too, but her first. Always her first.
After that, Doctor Strange prepared to go, and the tone in the room relaxed considerably as Ms Marvel broke from guarding the door to sit next to the big blonde man, and Jessica stopped Strange to ask if he thought they'd ever get to know who exactly the demon was and what his motivations were. The sorcerer responded that he would look into it, and he'd tell them as soon as he knew anything, but there were no guarantees of success. The demon hadn't been very powerful and hadn't crafted his spells with the kind of power and preparation that would enable them any form of self-sustaining nature, which was fortunate in that it allowed their effects to largely dissipate on his demise but also inconvenient in that it left precious little behind to use as evidence from which to deduce his identity or anything further about him. Strange wasn't the Sorcerer Supreme for nothing, and if anyone could find out it was him, but he couldn't exactly devote his full time to such an investigation either. That settled, he moved to speak to Felicia, asking her about how his work on repairing her powers had turned out, if she was satisfied and if there were any side effects or problems he should be made aware of. She said they were better than she'd dared hope, and thanked him, and afterwards he departed with a reminder to seek him again if he was needed further or if there were any new discoveries or developments in the case.
And then the sorcorer was gone, leaving Peter Parker with a mostly-settled past and a vastly uncertain future.
-----
Some time later, they were relaxing after a midnight dinner, with drinks and conversation and a tone of quiet celebration. It turned out that the room they were in was the den of a guest suite in Avengers Mansion, and it was quite comfortable. Two bedrooms, two full baths (master and shared), kitchenette, dining area, minibar... this was both larger and far nicer than most of the apartments he'd lived in over the years. They'd told him that as far as they were concerned he was still an Avenger, and he had to admit that if this was the lifestyle that it came with he was going to get spoiled to it quick. That it came with a salary and benefits as well... he was still amazed at the thought. He just might finally be able to take care of MJ in the way he'd always hoped, and this time there was no demon waiting in the wings to take it all away.
Distracting him from that pleasant line of thought was something that had been tugging at his curiosity for most of the evening though, and he moved to Felicia with a fresh refill of her drink, smiling to her and greeting her as he handed it over. She was still a little cool towards him, but her attitude was night and day better than it had been at the beginning, and he was glad things were at least moving in the right direction with her. She'd been clearly hurt by his other self's actions more than anyone else but MJ herself, and it made sense for her to need time to put it completely behind her. Still, it was progress and after a short bit of small talk he was able to ask her what was on his mind.
"I heard the Doc say something about your powers? What's the story there?"
She shrugged softly, and pointed to a choker attached to her spiked leather and metal collar she always wore, in a catseye gem design that matched her own eyes. "He meant this... he called it an 'Eye of Bast', but that's really just him being poetic since he made it from scratch. You remember when he took my bad luck curse off you and it altered my powers?"
Peter nodded and responded with the rhetorical question of how could he forget, and she continued. "He apparently didn't forget either, and one day he just gave me this saying he'd been working on it a while and sorry it took so long. It not only restores my luck powers in a stable way, but it gave me back the feline abilities I'd gotten temporarily as a side effect of the first spell he'd done. Even without the luck, those were enough to let me take on and beat Sabretooth and we both know he's no pushover. With the luck too, and the optimized cat abilities... well I'm not quite as powerful as most of the others in the room but I can sure as hell hold my own."
He smiled and congratulated her, and then frowned a bit in worry as something niggled at him. "So you're dependent on the gem for your powers? If someone takes it off of you, are you vulnerable?"
She shook her head and smiled. "Oh no, the powers are part of me, the gem was just the delivery mechanism. It still glows a bit with residual magic, so it feels good to wear, but I can't be depowered if someone snatches it away. I'll be happy to let someone think that though if it ever comes up... give 'em a nasty surprise when they find out it didn't work."
He nodded and smiled, and changed the subject. "Jessica tells me you're a reserve Avenger now, and you're working with Tigra and a new woman? She says you guys are kicking some butt and taking some names. I'm glad to hear it."
She grinned. "I always did kick ass, I'm just better at it than ever."
He nodded and smiled. "You always did." then he paused. "I'm just glad you got some good tools to do it with finally... you always fought way over your weightclass, and did more than anyone should have been able to, but I always worried about you with you always tackling david versus goliath situations."
She chuckled. "You always were a worrier... it's sweet. Shows you care." then she grinned. "I bet you're pleased as punch, the two women you're closest to in your life got upgrades. You can worry less and relax more, we can kick ass and protect ourselves."
Peter nodded softly, absorbing the truthful teasing in quiet good humor, but he found himself looking at MJ, still wearing Sonja's blade and the armor that looked so much like his old costume, and he couldn't help but wonder if her upgrade was a good or bad thing and what it meant for his future with her. He was brought back from that spaceout by a ringing slap from Felicia that took him by complete surprise. The hell...?!
"That is for getting possessed by a douchebag and pissing us all off and making us worry about you when you vanished."
He blinked in shock, he thought that was settled, and now she was attacking him over it? The others were all staring as well, paused where they were and fixated on the sudden drama. And then he went from shocked to completely stunned when she pulled him into a searing kiss so passionate and intense it was practically the next best thing to taking him right there in the middle of the floor. She let him go afterwards, leaving him shocked to the point of borderline catatonia.
"And that is for coming back and being the Spider that we all missed."
She then walked away with a grin like, well, the cat who ate the spider. He couldn't help but watch that perfect ass in the black stretch leatherette she wore so well... or help but remember how good that ass looked and felt with nothing between it and him. He was broken from this reverie by Jessica softly chuckling as she pushed a beer into his hand and guided him to a couch to sit, mentioning something about it making sense once he saw something about training a dragon. He just nodded, figuring it would make sense in retrospect later, and found his eyes fixed on the blade-wielding redhead across the room. As far as he knew, they were still married, and he'd just been practically tongue-sexed by another woman right in front of her. He wasn't sure how MJ's other half felt about him, but if she were pissed off enough he'd have more problems than just an argument on his hands. Sonja wasn't disposed to liking men much to begin with, and she had a well-known tendency to settle her issues through the business end of her enchanted blade.
He was distracted from the unpleasant thought of having to fight his enraged and half-possessed wife when he was shocked once more by Felicia, who had this time stalked to the redhead in question and given her the same kind of searing, all-but-sex-on-the-spot kiss that she'd given him. To his amazement, she responded much more quickly than he had, surprised for but a moment before she responded in equal measure, wrapping her arms around the other woman and kissing back with passionate ferocity. Jessica seemed as taken by surprise at this as he was, saying something about Felicia never telling her they had a thing together, while Tigra chuckled and made soft playful catcalls and Ms Marvel --who'd been introduced to him as Carol, now-- merely smiled and went back to blissfully relaxed cuddling with the large blond man he'd been introduced to with the name Sven.
Then after exchanging a few quiet words with her, Felicia guided the redhead to sit with him, and chided them both softly. "Talk", she said before walking away again to join Tigra to sit in her lap and cuddle up. Clearly, Felicia was as good or better than ever at keeping herself the center of sexual attention, but that thought was put aside as he looked to the woman who might or might not be his wife at this particular moment. He looked in her eyes with an attitude of sincerity, but wasn't quite sure what to say, and it was she who spoke first and with Sonja's voice.
"I know what you're going to ask, Man-Spider. I'm not sure you're going to like the answer."
Looking into her sapphire blue eyes, he realized that there was in fact a way to tell them apart visually, and he chose to note that to her in joking fashion to try to lighten the mood, as was his way. MJ's eyes were green, and Sonja's used to be too last he met her, but now they were sapphire blue like the jewels set in the hilt of her sword. When MJ was in control, her eyes were her natural green but they changed when Sonja took the fore.
"Actually, I was going to ask, didn't your eyes used to be green before?"
Sonja blinked, taken off guard by the unexpected joke and stammered softly as her ever-serious mind shifted gears to deal with the humorous question. "I... had noted that as well. I know not the cause." and then she shrugged and added in weak attempt to match the light direction he was taking the conversation, never having been good at small talk. "At least it's fortunate that they match well the colors of my new armor."
She knew when she said it that it was a poor rejoinder, and predictably, he pounced on the opening her poor words gave him. "Ha! You really are a woman after all. I was worried."
He grinned, but she merely growled and fixed those sapphire blues on him with laser-like intensity. "Don't make me kill you. My other half wouldn't like it."
He sighed and looked down from her challenging gaze, and to her surprise he actually apologized. "Bad joke, sorry, I do that when I'm nervous." She blinked at his admission of vulnerability, so unlike the arrogant and boorish men of her time, and she simply nodded and let him off the hook for it. He then looked back up into her eyes with a startlingly open sincerity in his gaze and stumblingly reached for what she knew was on his mind. "Speaking of our other half... we are kinda umm married and all..."
It was her turn to sigh, forced to deal with one of those rare times when she actually didn't want to hurt a man but had to anyhow. She met his eyes with a soft expression of sympathy as she spoke. "It cannot be, Man-Spi-- um, Peter..." she corrected herself, hoping the use of his personal name would soften the blow somewhat. "Even if I grow to care for you, and you do seem a man worth caring for... it's impossible. I swore an oath."
The look of hurt and desperation in his eyes made her think that perhaps she should have just cut him down instead, it would have been easier for him. Instead, she simply elaborated. "I swore to my Goddess by my spilled virgin's blood that never would I lie with a man lest he first defeat me in combat. And in all the years since, thanks to Her gifts, no man ever has."
He blinked in shock, as she knew he would, and offered desperately. "They tried and failed...?"
She shook her head grimly and delivered the verbal killstroke to dash his hopes. "They tried and died."
His face reflected the storm of emotions raging within him, but a storm of another sort was on the horizon as she heard a growling male voice interject.
"You swore WHAT?!"
-----
[to be continued, with both combat and sex in the next chapter coming soon!]
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