Thump!
"Very good! Yes! Keep moving! You almost have it!" Missy encouraged, smiling in amusement as Yuri frowned with irritation. "You are almost there, Yuri!"
"Hey! You were supposed to be on my side!" Peter complained half-heartedly, leaning back to avoid a jab and stepping backward to avoid a leg sweep.
"Awww, do not be jealous! Yuri is like my sister now," Missy laughed as he blocked an ascending kick and dropped low to sweep Yuri's legs, making her fall.
"And you are my girlfriend!"
"Consider it revenge for the flirting toward Susan."
"I thought I had your permission!"
"That does not make me any less jealous," she complained, turning back to encourage Yuri. "Yuri! Yuri! Kick his ass!"
"As if that were pos-...." He mocked, only to freeze briefly at the look Yuri was giving him as she rose slowly from the mat.
"Susan too, huh?" Yuri said to herself. "It seems your lust knows no limit. Apparently this Onee-chan has to educate you."
"Hey, hey, easy there, Miss, where did you learn-...."
He looked at her with an expression of genuine impression at her vocabulary, wanting to ask where she had learned it, only for her to interrupt him.
"HAA!" She attacked with fervor, making him jump backward to avoid an axe kick, then duck to avoid a spinning kick.
"Take thi-...."
"Arck!"
He smiled. He had predicted her next move.
Quickly grabbing her extended leg, he contorted his body, making Yuri hit the mat, then spun and quickly applied a lock to her leg.
Yuri moved and tried to escape, but the more she moved and tried to escape, the more pressure he applied, until he made her groan in pain.
"Uf! I.... give up!" She groaned in relief when he released her and quickly got back to his feet.
She pouted while inspecting her reddened legs. "Aww, does this mean you will not let me beat you, huh?"
"I am a faithful believer in gender equality, you know?" He rolled his eyes while offering Yuri a hand, which she took with disconformity.
"Whatever, idio-...."
"Woah!" She gasped in surprise when he drew her toward him and wrapped his arms around her waist. "What?! What are you doing, Peter?!"
"Ohhh, this is getting interesting now," Missy laughed to herself while taking out her phone.
"Something I have been wanting to do for a long time," he said while sliding his hands across Yuri's back.
One of his hands lowered and began kneading her backside, while the other continued caressing her back.
Yuri shuddered with pleasure when his hand began working and her chest pressed against his, making things significantly more complicated for her composure.
He planted small kisses on her neck while she tilted her head unconsciously, allowing him more access.
"Peter~" she gasped when she felt his erection press against her stomach. Before Yuri could say anything, he gently grabbed her hair and pulled her into a deep kiss.
Yuri's eyes widened, but slowly she closed them and leaned in to deepen the kiss, a kiss that melted her completely.
Grabbing his tank top, she drew him toward her so the kiss became hotter, and she passed her hand across his abdomen, which with the spider enhancement and the swinging had become defined to the point where women wanted to handle them all day, something he had already confirmed with May.
She groaned into the kiss and growled in irritation when he stepped back and removed her hand from under his shirt.
She also groaned in annoyance when she saw his smile, and turning around she prepared to leave.
"Argh. I hate you."
She had not gotten far when he grabbed her from behind and embraced her. She resisted halfway, but he did not let go.
"I love you," he confessed abruptly, causing Yuri to freeze in shock. He smiled to himself while leaning in and resting his chin on her shoulder. "I really, really love you."
"Ah.... well.... um.... I...." She tried to say something coherent, but the only things coming out were stammers, which made him laugh.
"I love you," he said once more while giving her a small kiss on the cheek before releasing her and stepping back. "Freshen up. We have weapons training after lunch."
"You were very gentle with her, sweetheart," Missy smiled mischievously while putting her phone in her pocket, having finished recording his moment with Yuri. Passing by her, she delivered a swat to her backside which made Yuri groan.
"Shut-Up Bitch, come help me set the table."
"Coming Daddy..!"
--------
"Are you sure about doing this?" Peter asked while Susan nodded.
"I am," she responded while rubbing her arm, trembling slightly. "There is not much left of the Fantastic Four anyway.
Reed is gone, he is in no condition to say anything coherent. Ben wants nothing related to Baxter after seeing what kind of person Reed became.
My stupid brother is under supervision and will not be getting his freedom anytime soon."
"I am sorry," he said while looking away, which made Susan clench her fist before taking a deep breath and drying her tears.
"Honestly speaking, I should not even be here talking to you, and yet here I am," she shrugged while letting out a hollow laugh.
"Despite how angry I am with you, I am not blind enough to not see how far Richards went and how Johnny acted despite Reed having manipulated him. There is also the fact that you helped reduce his punishment. Thank you.... thank you for that."
"You are welcome," he smiled after a pause. "But what you are asking of me is a comple-...."
"I know, I know," she said with a sigh while nodding.
"To start with, there is not much left of the Fantastic Four, it is just me now. I would like to expand the company in various things for the betterment of humanity, but the vultures have already started moving things, and done things where my father would not be happy.
They have also started selling some shares along with a large cut in personnel due to the large sum of money owed because of Richards' failed project. Again."
Susan walked toward the balcony window and looked outside with a sad smile.
"We were just children entering adolescence when we thought about starting our own company, well, Richards and I mainly, Johnny was just following along with the idea, haha," Susan smiled to herself.
"We wanted to put our minds together to think of ideas that could solve all the problems, hunger, diseases, wars, and all kinds of evil. Help bring humanity to an era of peace, love, and security. We wanted to make the world a better place, but now I know that will be difficult, if not impossible."
He remained silent while listening to her.
"It will be very difficult, I know we would have problems with money, prejudice, and other things, but I knew the three of us could fix it.
I knew it, at one point, I saw it, I saw our company, the first step toward making our childhood dreams reality, a world without pain, a world full of love and peace. I saw my future with Reed, a happy one," she pressed her lips together when she touched the window.
"But that future vanished like sand through my fingers. Johnny entered the world of parties, a world he could not get out of and did not want to be pulled from.
When Reed graduated before me, my father offered him a place at Baxter because he had seen a brilliant mind. Because of that he concentrated only on his work, it was as if that place were his only purpose or his only thing in the world.
Our relationship died before it had a chance to bloom. I knew we would never be together, and if we were, that was not the happiness I wanted, a man locked in a laboratory absorbed from the world and from our future children and from me."
Small tears began to fall from Susan's eyes while she watched the sunset.
"Then the accident with Reed's project happened. That accident freed me from my bonds, it freed me. I had difficulties at the beginning, but during that time I felt more alive than ever, all of us against the world, fighting criminals and injustice. We were praised by people, showered with so much love and admiration. It was like a dream come true.
Then the problems came.... Victor was tough, but we could defeat him, and when we did I felt like we were making a difference." Susan's smile disappeared while she clenched her fist.
"But look now.... my dream, my family, everything in ruins. What went wrong? I want to blame you! I really, really want to blame you, for everything, but I cannot.... because I know, my dream was fractured from the beginning, I just did not want to see it."
She lifted her gaze while wiping her tears.
"But I cannot give up now.... despite how fractured and defective it is, I will do everything possible to make that dream come true as much as I can," she said while turning around and staring directly into his eyes.
"The Fantastic Four no longer exist.... but my dream, a dream that my father would have wanted to become reality, a dream which I will convert into reality, but I cannot do it alone. Peter, I need your help," she said quietly while looking at him with eyes full of determination.
He stared at her for a moment before scoffing and looking away while he stood up.
"I know you do not need me to tell you how naive and stupid your dream is," he said, only for Susan to nod.
"I am very aware of the flaws."
"But you still want to walk that path?"
"Yes."
"And you want my help for that?"
"Yes."
"Do you know how crazy you sound?"
"Yes."
"Hahaha," he laughed under his breath while rubbing his face with both hands.
"The path you want to walk is that of a hero, of a savior, and that is something I am not comfortable walking. I am not a savior. Even when I save people almost the majority of the time it is for a selfish reason. It is a path I am not prepared to walk."
"I do not want you to do that. I know that killing is something you and I will never agree on, but despite all of that, I still want you. I do not like killing, but I admit there have been moments where I felt that killing was justified," she admitted while rubbing her neck.
"I do not want you to walk this path for me. I want you to help me walk this path. I want you to be there to hold me when I fall, comfort me when I am depressed, and guide me when I am lost. I need you to help me become a hero."
'I feel like the Susan of 616, a pillar in Peter's life,' he thought to himself while sketching a smile.
'Apparently the roles are reversed here.' "I do not know what is going through your head and I do not want to know, but I cannot leave you on this path alone, especially when I already had something like this planned. Your dream will become reality, just with some modifications."
"Wait, that means-...."
"Yes, I will help you," he responded, only for her to smile broadly and rush to hug him, but he stopped her by raising his hand. "But.... I have some conditions and I need to know if you will be willing to respect them."
"I think we can work it out," she responded with a happy smile which he returned, making Susan wrap her arms around his torso and give him a strong hug.
"I suppose the saying 'When one door closes, another opens' can apply here," he smiled while rubbing Susan's back and giving her a small kiss on the head.
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