Look, my parents were mad scientists who pumped me full of spider-juice just to see what would happen. I went to Hail Hydra high school and Nick Fury university. I've been extraordinary my entire life. After all these years of insanity... a little ordinary sounds pretty #$%^ great. You have your normal... and I have mine.
“I think it’s that… Radio over there.” Mantis pointed toward the contraption. “I apologise if I have woken your baby. I can help getting them back to sleep, if you like.”
Spotting the radio, Jessica made her way over and clicked it off. “It’s fine. He’s probably still asleep. And he’s not much of a baby anymore. I’m not sure how, but he’s three now.”
“After the past several years everyone’s had, I think it’s important to celebrate the small victories.” It was the only thing that kept Cassie sane all that time without her dad.
“Your dad knows you’re smart, right? If he doesn’t he definitely should.”
“You were supposed to say everything’s great, and nothing else will ever go wrong again.” Cindy teased with a half smile before she sighed and shook her head slightly. Leaving her bunker was something she knew was going to be hard, but this hard? Trying to figure out where her family was, juggling a new job and being a superhero at night? It just made Cindy want to retreat to comfort, which unfortunately was still the bunker. None of her friends really knew about that yet, so when Jess asked if she wanted to go pick up her kid, Cindy couldn’t even hide her smile at the chance to not go home to an empty bunker for once. “Not unless yours bites. Then I’m gonna have to pass.”
“Everything’s great and nothing will go wrong again.” Jessica tried out the words but they felt disingenuous. She preferred to be blunter and did her best to avoid being unkind. She grabbed her coat off the chair and slipped the leather jacket on, feeling glad to be in this uniform instead of the full body spandex. “Well, he – he bites sometimes? We always tell him no. He’s more into energy bursts.” Holding up a hand, Jessica let green energy begin to glow. “Like mother, like son. Anyway, I can’t swing because I don’t do the webbing thing so I have to take my bike. Feel free to follow any way you like.”
Cassie grimaced upon hearing that her dad ate all of the powdered sugar donuts. That sounded like him, and it definitely diminished her hopes of surprising him with a nice meal. But Spider-Woman seemed to think it was a good idea still, so she decided not to give up hope just yet. She’d at least offer it to him. “They don’t have like a communal coffee table of food or something? No catering?” She knew it was a pretty isolated investigation, but you’d think S.W.O.R.D. had some money to spare to set up at least some pizza. She grinned as the conversation shifted to the suit and nodded quickly. “Oh yeah! It was trending on Twitter first time you wore this one out.” She paused when she realized how weird that sounded. “Not that I’m like.. a fangirl or something. Just kind of hard to avoid front page hero celeb news. And I’m gonna stop talking now.”
Jersey was windy and a gust of air blew her hair around her face. It would have been nice if she a hairband but she never carried them when suited up. She’d have to check her go bag. Jess settled with sticking a hand in the dark waves and shoving them back. “Oh, we did. That’s where the donuts were. I think the agents are hoarding it, honestly. They don’t love having us around.” The trending comment earned a wince. “Yeah, wow. I mean, that’s better then when the red suit trended. I’m guessing you saw all the comments when people thought I was getting fat before they realized I was pregnant?” Another good one. “Not a fangirl. Got it.”
Daisy was getting herself ready to leave, despite the very stern warning to stay put. The concussion and other injuries from the aftermath of Pleasant Hill were pretty apparent as she blinked hard and turned towards the noise from the other side of the makeshift infirmary. “For the last time, I don’t care what Hill says. I’m not staying and I’m not going to get a psych eval either. I’m fine.” Okay, so maybe that was an understatement. But she wasn’t ready to unpack having to watch her father get restrained and sent to the Raft quite yet.
Before she was a spider, Jessica had been knocked out by a pan thrown by her best friend. There had been a lot of adrenaline, but she had still gone to the infirmary to get it checked out and have official confirmation that she was human and normal ( for her ) again. “Mhm.” She hummed. “Before a week ago, I probably would have cared a lot more. Right now I’m a little more concerned with my traumatized boyfriend than your act of rebellion. If only you had spoken up against S.H.I.E.L.D. just a little earlier.”
The consequences of Pleasant Hill hadn’t fully sank in for Sharon yet, but thankfully she had a feeling Hill was going to get most of the repercussions. If it came down to it, she’d go back to Madripoor. Of course she felt a little bad about her involvement, but her moral compass was jaded after being on the run. She owed several apologies. But for now, she was tired. Resting a sprained shoulder and busted lip, she leaned back in her chair and took a deep breath at the sound of the voice. “If you’re looking for answers, I’m not sure I have much to offer.”
An hour and a half after Zemo’s power trip, Jessica reverted from a spider back into her human form. She had to thank Clint for carrying her so she didn’t get crushed and make sure that Roger was also a human again before she set out to look for Hill. Instead, she found Sharon. “No, no. That’s not going to cut it. You turned an innocent man into a porcupine. And for what? Trying to do the right thing and look into why people went missing?”
Carol laughed breathily. “Couldn’t remember puking on my shoes but you remember that. Nice, Jess.”
“No, someone else definitely threw up on my shoes. I didn’t drink anything blue.” Jess shrugged good naturedly. “But love! That’s exciting. I remember when I realized I loved Roger. I had just been told he had died. It feels good to be happy, doesn’t it? Actually happy.”
“That’s not fair. Steve and Sam give great speeches.” she wasn’t being serious, if anything, she was trying to bring some levity to the situation. “I don’t either, Jess. I don’t know if there’s anywhere to go.”
“Mhm, yeah. You’re definitely saying that because you’re tapping America’s new ass.” Stopping to sigh, Jess took a sip of her coffee and winced as the hot liquid scorched her tongue. “So what do we do? Just wait it out?”
