Friday:
I looked down at the front lawn from inside the mansion. Jean had worn a fairly plain grey dress that fell to her knees. She had been collected by a blonde, muscle-bound jock in a boring-looking blue convertible. He looked pleased. She did not.
Before he drove off, she tilted her head up and found me at the window. She smiled. "I'll be back soon," she whispered.
I smiled back. "If you need me to rescue you from your date, text SOS."
Jean laughed softly. Duncan looked confused, then grinned and started yammering on about something that made Jean's smile disappear almost immediately. They drove off, quickly followed by the black van carrying Kurt, Kathy and Evans to prom, Logan at the wheel for the evening.
I drifted away from the window and wandered into the parlor. Wanda and Rogue sat across from each other near the back, each absorbed in a book. A glance at the cover made me roll my eyes — Edgar Allen Poe. Predictable.
Scott was stretched out on a black lounger nearby, headphones in, nodding along to something with a small smile.
And curled up on the couch, scrolling through her phone, was a silver-haired beauty I really ought to have been spending more time with. She wore a black woolen turtleneck that hugged her figure, and the jeans she had on... I missed that. All of it. I missed her.
I leaned against the doorframe and studied her, remembering what it had felt like every time she was curled up against me. Christmas. I would always love that holiday because of her.
Jean was right. This awkward silence between us had to end. And it was time I did something about it.
I pushed off the doorframe and headed to the kitchen. I opened the refrigerator and found Logan's six-pack sitting inside. I grinned and grabbed it, along with a slice of cake I was fairly certain Kurt had been saving.
They were absolutely going to hate me for this.
I walked back to the parlor and sat down beside Felicia with a thud, startling her into a sharp cry that drew the attention of everyone in the room.
I smiled. "Hey." I set the six-pack and the cake down on the coffee table.
Felicia smiled, visibly amused. "Hey. What's all this?"
"Well, since the others are out partying and we are clearly far too cool for that," I said with a roll of my eyes, "I figured we should have some fun of our own."
"Really?" Felicia looked me over. "What brought this on?"
"I realised...we need to spend more time together," I shrugged. "And I know I've kind of been an ass lately by avoiding you, so I figured the least I could do was get us drunk."
Felicia chuckled. "Peter, you cannot get drunk off of this."
I winced. "Don't let Logan hear you say that."
"Hey, it's the truth."
"Well, I'm going to try anyway," I replied, reaching over and handing her a bottle before raising an eyebrow.
She rolled her eyes. "Fine." She accepted it with a small smile as I draped an arm over her shoulder.
"Cool," Wanda said suddenly, standing up and walking over to swipe a beer from the pack without so much as asking.
"Hey! Those are mine — I stole them fair and square!" I cried out.
She rolled her eyes as she dropped down next to me. "You really should learn to share." She winked, cracked the bottle open, took a sip, and immediately shuddered. "Kitty Kat was right. This is terrible."
"Can't hurt to try," Rogue murmured, getting up and grabbing two bottles, offering one to Scott, who looked caught off guard.
He blinked. "I...I don't think that's a great idea."
"Oh, come on, Scott, loosen up," Felicia said, rolling her eyes. "It's one beer. Even if you've never had a drink before, you're not going to get drunk off one bottle."
Scott flushed. "What about the Professor? We could get in trouble."
"He's a telepath, Scott," I shrugged, sipping mine. "I'm pretty sure he already knows. And if he doesn't, that's on him."
"So drink up," Rogue said, pressing the bottle into his hands as she sat across his lap and pulled her feet up.
The boy blushed, sighed, and accepted. We all watched with barely contained anticipation as he raised it to his lips. The moment the liquid hit his tongue, he flinched and spat it straight back into the bottle. "God, that's awful! Why does anyone drink this?!"
Everyone laughed. Wanda smirked. "Give it a while. You'll get used to it."
Scott grumbled. "I doubt it." He then noticed Rogue practically inhaling hers, and his eyes went wide. "How are you doing that?"
Rogue's cheeks coloured. She tucked a stray curl behind her ear. "I...this isn't exactly my first time."
"When?" Scott asked.
Rogue shrugged. "When I was thirteen. Got into my mama's liquor cabinet. Grabbed the first thing I could reach — a bottle of rum — and downed the whole thing."
Felicia and I both winced in sympathy.
Rogue nodded. "Yeah. Not my smartest move."
Scott turned to Wanda. "You?"
The Witch shrugged. "Vodka. Raw. When I was twelve, I got some from Pietro. He'd been drinking it too, but his metabolism burns through everything so fast he couldn't get drunk — thought it was water. So did I. When I drank it..."
I groaned. "I know that feeling."
"How?"
"Same first drink," I replied. "Vodka with cranberry juice. I figured if I filled half the glass with each it would be fine..." I shook my head.
Felicia threw her head back laughing. "Peter! How?!"
"In my defence, I was thirteen! And I wanted to impress Harry," I chuckled, caught up in the memory this body carried.
Felicia smiled, warm and easy. "Well, at least that's not a problem anymore." She reached up and took my hand in hers — and for the first time in days, I didn't feel the urge to pull away.
"What do you mean?" Scott asked.
"Oh, you didn't know? I can't really get drunk," I shrugged.
Rogue's eyes went wide. "Seriously?!"
"Well, not literally — but yeah. My tolerance is extremely high. Very, very high."
Wanda snorted. "I used to live with a speedster. I know how annoying that gets. There was this one time Pietro broke into an entire liquor store and drank it dry. The worst part? The owner could never prove it was him — no human could have consumed that much and survived."
We laughed, and the night slowly opened up into something easy. We talked and joked and, in some cases, gently insulted each other.
"I'm just saying," Rogue held her hands up in defence, "your dad has a seriously weird fashion sense. A cape? Who wears a cape in this day and age?"
"Hey! I was thinking about getting a cape!" Wanda cried out, laughing along with the rest of us.
"No — not a cape. You need a coat," I told her. "A long one. Red, with maybe a hood. We could call you the Red Hood. Little Red Riding Hood."
Wanda groaned. "Worst idea I've ever heard."
I shrugged. "Okay, maybe I'm bad at names — but I'm an excellent costume designer. If you ever need a suit, just ask."
"You should take him up on that," Felicia said, leaning against my shoulder. Somewhere over the course of the evening we had drifted closer together, her legs now draped over mine, every trace of earlier awkwardness gone. "He really is good at it. He made mine, after all."
"Wait — he made your costume?" Wanda blinked, looking me over. "Do you have a thing for full-body black leather?"
I grinned. "Oh, absolutely. Also redheads. And blondes, if I'm being honest."
Scott chuckled. He turned to Rogue with a loose, easy smile. "Do you like leather too?"
Rogue blinked. "Darlin', you feeling alright?"
Scott chuckled. "I'm fine, don't worry about it."
Felicia laughed. "I think he's a little buzzed."
I blinked. "He had one beer!"
"Hey — do you want me to get you a leather whip for your birthday?" Scott asked, waggling his eyebrows.
I sighed. "So he's a lightweight. Fantastic."
Rogue laughed as she stood and pulled Scott to his feet. "Come on, lover boy. Time for bed."
"Don't want to...unless you promise to cuddle," Scott said, wrapping his arms around her as she laughed and practically dragged him toward his room.
Wanda tilted her head. "Five bucks says they'll get to second base."
I snorted. "Do we look like idiots to you?"
Wanda smirked. "Do you really want me to answer that?"
Felicia snorted. "Bite me."
"Sorry — I'm not interested in joining this little arrangement you and Red seem to be forming," Wanda said, waving a hand. Then she stood, stretching. "But were you serious about the costume thing?"
I shook the thought away before it could spiral any further. "Yeah, sure. I've got a few spare UMF suits in my bag — you could take one if you want."
"UMF?" Wanda asked.
"Unstable Molecule Fabric. Tear-proof, extremely durable, and it can transform into any design you can think of."
Felicia's eyes went sharp. "What?"
I froze. I had walked right into that one. I gulped and turned to her slowly. "In my defence...I genuinely forgot."
Felicia groaned. "Fine. I'll let it go — but can I please have a suit? As much as I love the old one, I don't think I can ever wear it again."
"Not a problem," I said. "Just come down tomorrow and we'll sort you out."
"What about right now?" Wanda asked.
I blinked. "I figured you'd want to read, or—"
"I'm free," Wanda replied simply. "And it's not like anyone has anything better to do. The beer's gone, and unless you two are planning on reconciling right here on the couch, you're free too."
I turned to Felicia. She looked up at me, expression uncertain. I held her gaze for a moment, then looked away. It was too soon for that.
I cleared my throat. "Fine. Come on." I slipped my hand from Felicia's — she grumbled at the loss of it — and the three of us got up together.
As we made our way to the lab, Wanda fell into step beside me. "So — this suit. It really can become anything?"
I nodded, sending a silent command to shift my own outfit from jeans and a t-shirt into a full suit, then a bathrobe. "Anything."
I could feel Felicia burning a hole into the back of my head. "So I never have to buy a dress again?"
"Correct."
"And you kept this from me?"
"...Yes."
"You are so lucky I lo—" She stopped herself. The easy warmth of the evening curdled into something tighter, more fragile. I felt it too. Felicia refused to look at me after that. Wanda, for her part, looked like she was absolutely having the time of her life. I allowed myself the smallest of smiles.
She still loved me. Even after I had all but ignored her for the better part of a week.
Thank you, Stan Lee. I was going to say God — but same difference, really.
We reached the lab and the lights came on as we walked in. I headed straight for the metal shelf along the far wall, lined with box after box of supplies. In one of them was a set of pure white suits I had taken from the Baxter building before Doom blew the place up.
I pulled them out and held them up. They were plain white bodysuits with dark grey circuitry lining the sides, a single circular pad on the hip, and a USB port attached. The girls reached out curiously, turning the material over in their hands.
"So...these actually stretch?" Wanda asked, pulling at the fabric.
I nodded. "And if you hold any picture up to the belt buckle — whatever design you want — the suit will change into it. For example, I—"
I stopped.
My eyes had drifted past the girls, to my table — and to the vibranium lock box sitting right where I had left it.
For a split second I thought it was gone. But no, it was there. Right there.
"Peter?" Felicia asked. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing, I think. It's just..." I frowned. Something felt off. Something I couldn't quite name. I looked around. Nothing visibly wrong. Just to be certain, I activated Web Vision — and confirmed that the three of us were the only people present. And yet the feeling remained.
I walked past both women, their attention shifting from the suits to me. I crossed to the table, picked up the box, and opened it, examining the stone inside.
Felicia blinked. "What is that?"
"Something I've been working on," I said, frowning. In Web Vision the stone glowed exactly as it always had — powerful, dangerous. Just as before. And yet something was wrong. I couldn't place it.
"Looks like the thing HYDRA had," Wanda said, peering over my shoulder. "You took it?"
I nodded. "It's far too powerful and dangerous to leave in the wrong hands." I shut the box and set it back on the table.
"If it's that dangerous, you should have let it burn," Wanda argued, her glare steady. I could smell the fear woven through her anger.
I sighed. "If a simple fire could have destroyed it, it would have been destroyed a long time ago. This stone is not so easily—"
I stopped. My nose caught something.
That was it. That was the thing that had been nagging at me. The scent — a layered tangle of excitement, love, joy and hostility all at once, mixing into the air of the room. But it was faint. Almost too faint to register, as though it was being deliberately suppressed.
It didn't belong to Felicia. It didn't belong to Wanda. It didn't belong to me.
Which meant someone else was in the room with us.
It took me a second to identify the direction. Another second to move.
SKIT!
My stingers flared out, the bluish-white metal catching the light as I launched myself across the room toward the far edge — the empty-looking edge — arm extended.
TING!
My claws stopped dead.
Three grey metal claws held mine back. They extended from the hands of a young boy with silver-blonde hair shot through with brown streaks, bright green eyes wide with surprise. He wore a black, skin-tight suit with a white circle at the center, braced low in a fighting stance.
But I barely registered any of that. Because the moment I looked at his face, I couldn't move.
It was the same face I had looked at in mirrors for two years. The same face I had only recently come to think of as my own.
I looked past him. Two girls stood behind him — one tall and red-haired, standing protectively over a small brunette. My gaze landed on the redhead and my chest seized.
"Jean?"
"Shit!" the silver-haired boy cried out — and then a force hit me like a wall, throwing me backwards through the air. I twisted and landed on my feet, looking up just in time to watch all three of them bolt through the door.
I spun back to the table. The vibranium box shimmered — and vanished. It had never been there. And I knew exactly who had it.
"We have to stop them!" I sprinted out of the lab just in time to see the three pile into the elevator and the doors slide shut.
"Damn it!" My costume shimmered to life as Felicia and Wanda caught up behind me.
"Where did they go?" Wanda asked, scanning the corridor.
"The lift. Sexy — hack the system and lock it down," I said into my comms.
"I'm sorry, Peter," the AI replied, "but I can't. Something appears to have locked me out."
"What?! You're the most advanced AI on the planet — what could possibly lock you out?!" I demanded as we rushed to the elevator doors, still firmly sealed.
"I don't know. But whatever it is, it's powerful."
I sighed. "Fine. Old fashioned way." I released my stingers and cut through the doors, then hauled them apart to reveal the shaft inside.
"What's the plan?" Felicia asked.
I pointed toward the stairwell. "Take the stairs and try to cut them off. I'm going ahead." I jumped in as my jetpack ignited, launching me upward through the shaft until I spotted the underside of the lift above.
SLINK!
I sliced through it and ran. I sprinted through corridor after corridor, searching desperately. They could be invisible, for all I knew. If they were clones — which would explain the boy's face and his claws — they could be capable of almost anything.
Then a flash of light caught my eye through a window. I looked out and watched my car rise into the air.
"Oh, hell no." I leapt through the glass, rolled through the shatter, and blasted upward.
I shot through the air like a fired round, closing the gap to my rapidly climbing car. I pushed the suit to its absolute limit until I was close enough to grab the bumper and pull myself along the hull.
"He's caught up!"
"I told you he would!"
"Shut up, Steph!"
I hauled myself to the driver's side. My silver-haired double looked back at me through the glass, furious.
"For once in your life, could you make something easy?!" he roared.
"Get out of my car!" I snarled, drawing my hand back, stingers ready to cut through the window.
"No!" the red-haired girl cried — and I was blasted away again. The force ripped my grip from the metal. I tumbled through open air, spinning head over heels, and fired a web line on instinct, catching the bumper again.
They tried to shake me loose. I held on.
And then the brunette climbed out onto the trunk.
She stood there — actually stood there — on a car moving at full speed, and she smiled at me. She wore a black bodysuit with a white 'X' on the chest and an enormous red trench coat two sizes too big for her small frame.
"Sorry about this! We're just borrowing it — we'll return it soon! I PROMISE!"
Her voice hit me like a freight train. A wave of sheer sonic force came crashing out of her and straight into me. I had been hit by a car before. This was worse.
The web line snapped. My arms went limp. The world began to spin, vertigo creeping in at the edges of my vision as I plummeted. I hadn't known I could get vertigo.
"Got you—"
Someone caught me. I looked up through blurring eyes and could have sworn I saw Jean smiling down at me — before I blinked and found myself lying on the front lawn of the Xavier mansion.
"Peter! Are you okay?!" Felicia and Wanda were running toward me.
I pushed myself up, my head still ringing. "Damn. That girl is loud."
"What happened?" Wanda asked as the two of them helped me to my feet.
"Some kind of sonic power," I reasoned. "They're all powered. I think—woah!" My legs gave out and I pitched forward, Felicia catching me before I hit the ground.
"I've got you, Tiger," she murmured, steadying me against her.
I panted. "Thanks."
"They got away," Wanda said, scanning the empty sky.
"Yeah..." I replied, my head still ringing too loudly to think clearly. But one thing cut through it all: I had to track them — and the Infinity Stone — down as soon as possible.
Because if I didn't, existence itself could change in ways I wasn't ready for.