|
    |
The last week has been crazy for Peter Parker. A lot has passed and he is still barely managing to pull what strings of the tattered sweater of his life back together. Oh he hasn't gone to the Bugle since he stormed out, and he hasn't seen Eddie since he man-handled the poor guy, but at the least he was able to touch base with Aunt May and apologize profusely to her for his being a jerk. A really Xavier level jerk.
For a time he had even made do with his old costume, though it was a little small since it was the one he first wore when he started out. Sure it creeped up around the neck exposing a bit of flesh and brown hair, but it did its job. Just not with much style. So it is that he eventually makes his way to the Baxter building, to touch base and try and figure out what the heck happened.
It's into the front lobby that he arrives, on foot for once instead of crawling up the side of the building. In his civvies with a sweat shirt and jeans, he looks just like a normal college student for ESU, complete with a baseball hat and backpack. A small smile and a wave is given to the doorman and he then pauses near that elevator entrance to press a button at the monitor display, causing an alarm or doorbell to go off for the First Fantastic Family.
*
It has taken some time, but Jessica Drew has begun to settle into the guest apartment within the Fantastic Four's residence. The one that is definitely just temporary, okay, she'll totally be out of their hair in no time flat.
Because she has anywhere else to go. Riiiiiight.
But she is comfortable enough now that when the doorbell goes off, Jessica emerges from her (temporary) room, pitching her voice to carry to the lab, where she assumes Reed and Sue are. It's usually a safe assumption. "I've got it!" She strolls up to the front door, leaning over to check the screen next to the door —
— and immediately spins on her heel, practically scrambling back towards her room. "I DON'T GOT IT."
*
This particular sequence of events is strange enough to get Reed's attention from whatever he's doing in the lab. Strange enough even to prompt further strangeness, as he head comes down the stairs independently of the rest of him, on a lonnnnnnnng stretchy neck.
"Oh," he says, spotting the visitor. "Yeah, I've got this one," he adds, and his hand joins his head to poke the appropriate button. "Come on up, we'll be right out," he informs Peter via the speaker, then withdraws to rack whatever he's working on upstairs. "Sue, we have company." Wait… she's home this time, right?
*
There in that monitor is Peter Parker, looking a little down-trodden but he does manage to conjure up a small smile for when the light on the camera flickers on. A small wave is given, and barring unforeseen circumstances he'll make his ascent if the all clear is given.
It only takes a handful of moments, though assuredly enough to give Jessica time to get clear out of view… and probably a good vantage point if she's into that whole eavesdropping thing. When the elevator arrives, Peter steps out of it and looks around the foyer area. A small smile touching his lips as he murmurs, "Place is a bit different when you don't come in through the window." A smile, "Hey Reed."
*
The door to the guest apartment is still open, and from the entryway, the view is unobstructed: someone's staying in there, that much is obvious. The bed is made but just messy enough, and there is a heavy, heavy textbook open on the desk. Human genetics. Whoever is staying in there is out of sight.
Because Jessica Drew is up on the ceiling just above the door to the apartment, her back pressed flat against it as she clings to it with her fingertips and heels. Nothing! Nothing to see here!
*
Peter has partially disconnected.
*
Reed is just finishing stepping down the stairs with what appears to be an Old Macy's box under one arm, and he flashes peter a smile. "I imagine it is, yes… How are you doing? We'd just been talking about you the other day," he says mildly, as if they'd simply brought him up like you might anyone and not because they were concerned about his reported behaviour.
Houseguest? What clone of Peter Parker living in the guest room. You're crazy.
*
"Good stuff I hope," Peter's smile is light, but a little embarrassed, as if aware his recent behaviour wasn't entirely what one would call positive. He steps further into the room, however, hands in the pockets of his jeans as he looks around. "But things have been pretty busy, was hoping to stop by earlier."
For a moment he gives the place another once over, apparently not looking forward to broaching the topic. His eyes drift over that open door, but he doesn't quite make the connection of someone else living there. Hnh, messy bed. But then he looks back. "Oh uhm, Reed. Last time I was here after the whole, you know, kaboom." He makes a small gesture of explodey fingers.
"Umm, you didn't have like a costume thing… suit… for me, right?"
*
Reed takes the question in stride. He obviously has a fair idea why Petere's here, why he's asking, what the underlying concern is, and so on. His eyebrows go up a little, and he draws the Macy's box from under his arm, then bounches it on his fingertips like a waiter with a pizza or something. "This one, yes. I know I said 'consider it done' when you asked but I'm afraid I didn't mean it literally. Are you alright?"
*
A glance to the box, to Reed, to the box again. He blinks a few times. "Yeah, well, about that." He steps further into the room and unslings his backpack slowly, not to recover anything from it, more just to get comfortable. He eyes the box askance and then tells Reed. "Apparently something went down on the space capsule thing."
He spreads his hands, "Bear with me here, ok?"
A moment passes as he organizes his thoughts, then he goes on. "So, we did that whole crazy rescue jump leap, and thanks for saving my life by the way, not sure if I said that back then." He tilts his head, "But when I was recovering I felt better. Talked to Sue a little, then I took off."
His brow furrows, "I got out and about, and one thing led to another and I had to try and stop this guy from holding up a jewelry store. Well, when I did, a suit sort of… like appeared on me. And I was thinking, 'Oh hey, wow, Reed is super smart.' since you said that thing. I just sort of assumed."
*
Reed sets the clothes box down next to the backpack, setles into a seat, crosses his legs, and adopts his listening/thinking pose. As Peter comes to a pause, he nods. it a not-unreasonable assumption for a person to make, he knows. "Interesting. What else? Sue heard a few things."
*
"Yeah," Peter looks to the side, "It seemed to be able to change shape, and helped with a few other things. Enhanced stuff." He lifts a hand to rub at the back of his neck. "I'm not sure where it came from though, because eventually. Well, it sorta became clear it wasn't something you made. No offense."
He spreads a hand again to the side, as if brushing past his own words. "It had a sort of awareness, and was interfering with my thoughts. Eventually, like my first college roommate, we got on each other's nerves and I ditched it. But… it's still probably out there." Yah he's not much for details. And, of course, he's not mentioning the giant fangs. Yet.
*
The elevator to the residence dings again and Sue Storm steps out wearing her favourite yellow dress — with the pockets — a black peacoat, and a pair of black kitten heels. All-in-all she's had a busy day. She treads into the apartment and stops in her tracks when she realizes they have company. Her eyes linger a minute on Peter and she manages a flicker of a very tired, very weak smile. It's been a trying week. "Peter," she greets as warmly as she can muster. A stitch of concern etches the crinkles of her eyes and she glances about the apartment. Well no sign of Jessica.
Now that would've been awkward. "Can I get you some tea?" despite having just walked in.
*
And through the open door, Jessica is listening, her brow furrowing as Peter and Reed go back and forth. Well, this might explain a few things, she supposes. It takes her a second to realize she's started to thoughtfully drum her fingers against the ceiling, and she abruptly halts the motion with a wince. Hell.
*
"None taken," Reed assures him. "Intelligent biomorphic super-suits aren't my wheelhouse," he notes, rapping his knuckles lightly on the box. "This one is very nice, don't get me wrong. But it only does so much."
Sue's entrance elicits him looking up and a warm smile, and he gives her a significant little head tilt in the direction of the guest room Jessica's retreated to while he answers Peter. "As loathe as I am to attribute this… incident to aliens, lest we believe everything a nail, I'd have to say the evidence suggests extraterrestrial origin. If there's someone on earth that could produce such a thing they have kept the development excruciatingly well-hidden, entirely at odds with how you came upon it." Was theer a tapping sound? He heard nothing~
*
A smile is given to Sue as Peter turns to partially face her and keep Reed in view. "Oh hey, no thanks. I'm good." He steps back to look towards Reed. "Was just… catching Reed up. Sort of."
"I think you might be right," He adds as he looks towards Richards. "It started to behave very strangely. Seemed to have a consciousness. It could shape change and…" He lifts a hand to the back of his neck uncomfortably, "And it sort of manifested, teeth, once. Which wasn't good."
A deep breath is taken, "I sorta flipped out, ran away while it was having this crazy argument with me in my own mind. Was able to get it off me. I think it was sensitive to certain audio frequencies or deep reverberations since it took a set of church bells to liquify it."
*
An equally warm smile mirrors Reed's as Sue sheds her coat, and smoothes her dress. "Well," she claps her hands together, "there's always plenty of catching up to be done." She rakes her fingers through her hair, combing it into a tight ponytail before procuring an elastic around it. Her smile falters, however at the mention of something with teeth, and her eyebrows draw together sharply as her gaze falls on Reed. Yup, she's lost.
No matter. She'll put on the kettle, even if Peter doesn't want tea. Maybe Jessica will. Later.
The mention of extraterrestrial origin has her eyebrows arching higher on her forehead. Aliens. Because of course, aliens. Now she definitely needs tea. The kettle is set on the stove.
*
Slowly, quietly, Jessica crawls down from the ceiling in her room, keeping the door between herself and the room outside. But she needs to get at a notebook and a pencil.
*
"The suit situation you were asking about the other day," Reed explains helpfully for Sue. "It appears the immediate issue has been resolved to some degree." He take a moment to get lost in thought. "Sonic sensitivity, mmmm? Interesting." Gears turning.
*
"Anyways…" Peter looks pensive as he considers the FFers, frowning a bit to himself. "I figured I should let you guys know and to apologize if I was a jerk over the last few weeks or whatever. I got a lot of work to do to just make it so that I'm not /entirely/ hated by."
He rests his hands on his hips, "I couldn't track the thing, so if you see like… I don't know… a shape shifting thing that can look like anything else with teeth or whatever…" He smirks at the impossibility of it, "Umm, be careful."
That having been said his body language speaks of withdrawal as he steps back towards the door again. "Ok?"
*
Sue's jaw tightens and she manages to parse a bit of information by filling in the blanks, "So the suit was an alien." It's an easy enough conclusion, "Meaning it was, essentially, alive?" She fetches the teapot and a mug for herself which are set on the counter to await the familiar whistle of the kettle. She begins to mutter to herself, "God-like aliens, rainbow aliens, half-human aliens… and now spacesuit parasite aliens. Excellent~" It really has been an interesting few weeks. She looks at her tea, willing it to be something stronger.
The kettle begins to whistle as Peter takes a step to the door. She issues Peter a nod and slowly fills the teapot with water.
*
Maybe Peter won't look to his right. Because if he does, he will have an unvarnished view of a brunette in the guest room scribbling furiously in a notebook. What a time for Jessica to stop paying attention to her surroundings.
*
"Peace, Peter," Reed says calmly. "We were simply asked if we had any idea why you'd be behaving oddly, as far as I'm aware. You've no problems from us in any case. As for the whereabouts… well… I haven't any thoughts on tracking this creature, but I have a few that may help if you're worried about it coming back for you. Come by tomorrow if you feel like you need some reassurance." Either way, he's not otherwise going to stop Peter fleeing. The man could probably use his space right now.
*
"Thanks, good to hear." Peter says with an embarrassed smile. He gives a small wave towards Sue, "Thanks for the tea." And as he retreats he glances to the side, eyes shifting over towards that open doorway and coincidentally stopping on the silhouette of the young woman who is within. His brow furrows a touch, but then he lifts a hand as if on auto-pilot and says, "Oh hey."
But then his brain kicks in and he realizes that this person may have overheard everything he was talking about. What the heck did he say? Anything Spidey-ish? His brow knits and suddenly he decides on the proper course of action.
"So ok!" His voice rises in volume, "So that was my idea for my new science fiction story!" He looks around, "Good idea, huh guys?"
*
Sue quirks an eyebrow and pours tea into a mug. To finally enjoy. She takes a long sip of the tea and steals a glance at Reed to ask a silent question. Her fingers curl tighter around the mug. "Clearly," she offers back to Peter. "I'm sure your imagination will take you places." She's not about to force introductions on anyone not ready.
*
One of the brunette's hands come up in a mirror of the wave, and the "Hey," that is offered up in reply sounds awfully similar, doesn't it?
Just like the way she seems to momentarily freeze when her brain catches up with her, and Jessica very slowly lifts her head enough to cast a wary look out the doorway. Oh geez. This could be bad. At least she doesn't have her hair tied back today.
SAY NOTHING, JESSICA. She bites down hard on her lip to ensure she can't say anything. Reed? Sue? h a l p ?
*
"Best I've heard," Reed agrees. "Jessica is staying with us for a while," he adds. "If it helps, I trust her implicitly." And explicitly, but that is implied. To be honest, now that the pair are together, it's scary how much alike they sound saying the same thing. Mrm.
*
"And," Sue tacks onto Reed's thoughts about Jessica, "anyone welcome in our home is given that same trust." Of course, even with the trust, not everything always is honky-dory. For a few minutes it seems that all is right with the world. Sue's tea tastes fine. It smells fine. But then.. it really doesn't. Sue's face pales and hues green as she sets the mug on the counter. She manages a very abrupt, "Excuse me," and she quickly paces out of the room back towards their rooms.
*
Peter takes a moment to look between the two FFers, then towards Jessica. "Hey, great. Not my business." Not that he discounts Reed's trust in new people, more that he might be getting a little concerned about the possibility of another name or so added to the list of all the people who know his sekrit identity. "Jess."
He looks over at her and for a moment there might be a look of trepidation, not quite recognition since really does she look… nah, people are people. He steps back towards the door. "In any case. Just wanted to drop a line. I'll talk to you guys later." He hits the button at the elevator and once it dings its arrival he'll give another wave. "See you guys…" Another look at Jess. Huh.