The welcome the students were giving us was warm and inviting. I met with old friends, new students, and fans of the Avengers along the way. Before meeting up with Peter, I went to the tech lab and asked for help with a few things. The students' eyes widened and agreed instantaneously. They said they would give me a heads up when they were finished with the tasks.
I walked with Peter down the hall towards the library where Steve was supposed to meet us. The classes were in session, so the chestnut wooden halls were quiet and devoid of teenage life. The big windows let warm sunlight into the area and the light bounced off of some colorful art pieces that hung on the walls. The heating system turned on from its thirty minute cycle and provided heat to circulate through the vents. The cold snowy weather outside gave everyone a good reason to stay inside the toasty school. Beautiful chandeliers hung from the ceiling and dimly lit the place.
Peter hung his head and looked at his missing arm every once in a while. It had only been a few hours since we got here, but his mood plummeted after the excitement died down. He finally got a chance to breathe and take in what was truly lost to him. At some points during the silent walk, he sniffled, but didn't shed a tear. He started to mentally break down, so I had to keep him occupied. Peter denied that this happened and thought he would wake up from a bad dream, safe in his room in the Avengers' tower, but it never happened. He was stuck in this perpetual state of denial; the only thing I could do was give support and keep him going. If I let him be alone and isolated, that would be it. Peter wouldn't come out of his shell until he felt the need to.
I turned to my cousin and stated the first thing that came to mind, "I'm surprised you aren't worried about anyone seeing your face here."
Peter glanced away in thought about the threat. If it got out...Aunt May and everything Peter has worked hard to achieve would be under a great threat. He wouldn't let that happen. Not after what happened to Gwen. He nervously scratched the back of his neck. "Yeah...well, they'll have to answer to you if they leak the secret. Plus, they don't know my name or the fact that I'm your cousin. Only Logan knows that."
I bit my lip in thought and realized something. My face scrunched up in confusion as I questioned, "Wait hasn't everyone already seen your face? The government has video proof of it from when they captured us."
Peter faced me while walking backwards and smiled like the dork he is. His brown eyes lit up at his explanation. "Already many steps ahead of you, Lilly. After we escaped, the first thing I did was hack in and delete the evidence when we got to a computer. Nat helped me out with the hacking part. She's definitely a pro at that. So, anyone who's seen my face can't find me guilty. As far as everyone knows, Peter Parker is at his Aunt May's house attending online college courses."
"But you have also been missing those courses," I pointed out and made a sour face. I only wanted the best for my cousin. I never intended for him to get into this mess. He should've stayed home with Aunt May while the Avengers were being hunted down. He would've laid low as Spider-Man and lived his normal life. But nooooo. He insisted on coming with us.
Peter flipped around and walked forward in the same direction I was. He ruffled his short brown hair with his hand and groaned, "Stop being technical and ruining the moment. All right? I don't need to stress about this right now."
Peter scoffed and changed the subject, "Aunt May must be worried..." He took the burn phone when I handed it to him and dialed her number. He waited patiently, listening to the ringing on the other end. He smiled brightly and laughed when he talked to her. After reassuring her everything would be okay, she rambled on for about five minutes to catch him up on things that have been going on in her life. Peter listened intently and nodded a few times, even though she couldn't see him. He hung on to her every word, almost like talking to her provided an escape from his chaotic life. When he was done, he said his goodbye and handed the phone to me.
I patted him on the back gently and sent a small grin his way. He reciprocated it and went to look around at all the paintings in the hall. I put the phone to my ear. "Hi Aunt May," I greeted in a cheery voice. "How ar-"
She cut me off in an instant, "Lilly? Why haven't you called me? I was worried sick! I saw the battle and Pete-"
I hushed her and tried to calm her down, "I'm sorry. We were busy trying to save the world." I didn't know what she expected. Wars like this never end pretty. We were lucky that only Peter had his arm ripped off. He could've been killed.
"Well please don't die in battle. I handled your Uncle Ben's death already. I don't need to go through more heartbreak," her voice cracked towards the end and she cleared her throat. She sighed heavily and sniffled.
My heart ached. I never meant for this to hurt Aunt May. She was the sweetest woman alive. That's when I realized we weren't the only ones going to miss each other if something happened. Our loved ones would weep. Pepper, Jane, Aunt May, Amelia, Coulson, the X-Men, and the infamous Nick Fury and Maria Hill, whom I haven't met, would cry. Entire cities would mourn. We weren't alone in our future sorrows.
I turned in the other direction so my voice would project down the other end of the empty hall. "Aunt May, are you crying?" I whispered into the phone. If Peter heard me say that, he would demand the phone back in a heartbeat.
"No, dear. I'm...I'm fine." She sniffled once more and adjusted the phone, creating a scuffled sound on the other end.
I tried to divert the conversation so Aunt May could compose herself. I hated hearing her cry. It made me want to cry. I brushed my hand against the long table I leaned against and asked, "How's Amelia?"
"Amelia is adjusting. She has nightmares about wandering the battlefield in New York, and then stays silent for an hour or so. She misses her father." Aunt May stopped and tried to think of what else to say. She hummed for a second under her breath. "She's constantly asking about you and Steve."
My face drooped in sadness. Amelia must've been going through so much grief, and I'm not there to help her. Another huge downside to fighting this battle. "I miss her so much...can you put her on the phone?" Aunt May agreed and walked through her small home to find little Amelia. "Look, Aunt May, before you go, I just want to say thank you for taking care of her."
"It's not a problem, Lilly. She's such a doll." She stopped talking before she could say more to talk to Amelia for a second. She sucked in her breath for a second to try to hold back her sadness. "I love you, Lilly. Be careful out there and watch over Peter for me, okay?"
"I will Aunt May. I won't let anything happen to him. I love you too. Take care of yourself, please." God...another lie. Will these ever end, or will it become easier to lie as time goes on? My forehead creased up in worry and I closed my eyes. When Amelia put the phone to her ear, I softly said, "Hey, sweetheart."
Amelia practically screeched in excitement, "Lilly!"
Her voice sounded so shrill over the phone, but voices over lines never sounded the same as they did if you were face-to-face. I smirked and wanted to keep her talking. I had to remember what her voice sounded like. "How are you?"
"Good! I've made new friends at school and we play a lot together. My favorite is playing house. I color a lot and this boy in my class gets mad because my drawings are prettier than his. My teacher is nice and gives us cookies..." Amelia listed numerous things quickly, almost like she said it without taking a breath.
My mind spun as I tried to comprehend everything she said. Oh my gosh, she's a talker. She must really have a lot to say. When she finished and huffed from being out of breath, I chuckled, "That's great, Amelia. I really miss you."
Amelia whined, "I miss you so much! When are you and Steve coming home?"
"Soon, sweetie, soon."
"You pwomise?" She asked in a sweet tone. It sounded like her lip jutted out into a pouting stance and she whimpered a bit.
My stomach flipped. I didn't know what was ahead of us. All I knew was that we're going to battle to the death. Promising her would be a lie, but I didn't want to crush her little heart. "I promise."
"I love you, Lilly."
I put my hand to my heart. That was the first time she said that to me. I cherished the moment and my lip quivered. This little girl was breaking my heart. I didn't want to let her down. I wanted to make her proud. I cleared my throat and played with my black hair, "I love you too, Amelia. Give Aunt May a big hug and a kiss for me. Alright?"
She sounded sad and huffed into the phone, "Okay. Bye."
I ended the call with a heavy heart and set the phone in my pocket. My hazel eyes landed on Peter, who grimaced while looking at his wound. A sense of pain swept across his features as he felt the empty air around it, knowing he'd never have an arm again. His face turned red with anger and disgust and focused on the snow outside. I knew not everyone went through the stages of grief in the same way, but I was worried about Peter. I tried to set my hand on his arm in comfort, but he flinched and backed away in one quick move. I peered at him worriedly until he began walking towards the library.
The library was quiet and dark. The clouds outside releasing fresh snow shadowed the sun, making the area colder than it really was. Lights on every table were dimly lit, allowing a cozy setting for students to study and research. Bookcases surrounded the outskirts of the room, and tables were placed in the middle. Other tables were scattered like islands against the walls of the room. Each table had a computer on each end and middle space set for scattering papers and notebooks. Fourty five minutes into our research, the middle of our table had so many files and papers that it looked like we were playing 52 card pick up with them.
Peter spent the whole time typing away on one computer, composing files for Venom to show at the briefing. He twitched his nose every so often and rubbed his eyes. He broke his glasses when we were on the run from the government, so he was left to strain his eyes while looking at the computer screen for so long. He was quietly angry the whole time, mumbling things to himself and occasionally wincing in pain. Losing his arm was really agitating him and I wondered what was going through his mind.
Steve flipped through the paper files on the table, attempting to clean it up from the havoc we made earlier. The X-Men kept files on every mutant or alien they came across. Steve even rang in a favor from Coulson and S.H.I.E.L.D. delivered key files that could help us. Coulson said he couldn't spare any men, for the organization was supposed to be a secret, and now he was the head of the Advanced Threat Containment Unit (ATCU). We thanked him for helping and he gave us some confidence before we headed off to research. Steve's forehead scrunched up as he read various parts and his eyebrows sometimes shifted down in determination. I'm sure he was thinking of ways to work around the enemy's powers and tactics.
I stressfully ran a hand through the end of my ponytail and blinked a few times when my hazel eyes were sore from staring at a computer screen. None of us have really adjusted to being back in a regular, stable setting, so the tiniest things would make us jump and look around cautiously.
Peter was the first to speak up about his findings, "I have come across Venom before." He finished typing and turned the computer screen towards us, showing a picture of a blonde man. "Our guy underneath the horrifying mask is Eddie Brock. Former reporter diagnosed with terminal adrenal cancer. Spider-Man ruined him and his big story, so he came after me, but with something new. I came across the thing and discovered it was a sentient alien symbiote. It had tried to bind with me and control me with unsatisfiable bloodlust. Sounds like a match made in heaven for Brock." He stopped and turned the screen back to its original position. He used his hand to emphasize his words, "Superhuman strength, durability, stamina, healing factor, wall crawling, and even making his own webbing out of the symbiote. That's what we're up against. I'm sure Carnage is the same, since he looks like he's made of a symbiote too."
My eyes widened as I scrolled through the X-Men file online. The guy underneath Carnage was all sorts of messed up. "I'm going to one-up you here. Cletus Kasady's father murdered his mother and got carted off to jail. Cletus ended up in an orphanage. He killed several people, including his grandmother. When he got shot down by a girl who didn't want to date him, he pushed her in front of a bus and burned down the orphanage." I blinked in surprise and cleared my throat. That escalated a little too quickly.
"So we're up against a murderous psychopath. Great..." Steve trailed off. He picked up another file and began to skim through it.
I scoffed and continued, "That's not all. He was cell mates with Eddie Brock. Camera feed shows when the jail was infiltrated, Brock's partner symbiote gave birth to another symbiote before leaving with Brock. The new symbiote bonded with Kasady, thus creating Carnage. Carnage escaped and went to a phone book, picked the first name he saw, and killed the person. The X-Men caught him and questioned him once, but he broke free soon after."
Peter's jaw dropped for a second and he quickly picked it back up. He knew the symbiote was an alien like Venom, but he didn't know it was Venom's son. "Jesus...You win that one. He's way more wacked out than Brock is."
"Our next villain..." Steve trailed off and set down the S.H.I.E.L.D. file in front of us. He lifted his head off of his hand, leaned back in his chair, and began speaking, "A mutant named Arkady Rossovich, or otherwise known as Omega Red. Natasha has come across him before while they both worked for the KGB. No one really knows his past, but all that is known is that he's a serial killer. The Soviets used him in an attempt to recreate..." Steve sighed tiredly, "...the super soldier serum and that's how Omega Red came to be. The metal in his arms were an artificial recreation of adamantium. Carbonadium is more malleable, allowing Rossovich to use them as weapons and even coil them around someone like a snake."
I groaned, "A serial killer with extra hands...this battle is going to be fun."
"We just have to be careful around him. If he catches us, he could squeeze the life out of us," Steve added.
Peter included, "Or worse...we don't know what other powers he has." Peter opened a file from the X-Men online database. Dr. Soul appeared and a small blurb was next to it. They didn't know much, but what they had might be useful. "The only thing it says on here is he's from a dark dimension. Maybe in his dimension, he was a scientist testing with something, and it went horribly wrong. His skin is deteriorated in places, almost like he's burnt from the same acid he makes with his powers. The plasma projectiles can vaporize matter on contact like acid. He can supposedly harvest souls...Dude...." Peter paused and chuckled, "That would be awesome in a video game."
"Yeah, but this isn't a video game," Steve and I commented simultaneously. We glanced at each other and smiled slightly. Great minds do think alike.
Peter scoffed and mumbled, "I still think it would be awesome." He set his head on his hand and leaned forward towards the computer.
"Saturna," Steve bitterly said her name. Since she destroyed his shield, he didn't appreciate her very much. That shield had been with him through thick and thin, especially during World War II. "S.H.I.E.L.D. file doesn't say much either. She's an alien from another planet, presumably Saturn because of how she looks and her weapon. The two rings can cut through anything, even vibranium..." He raised an eyebrow for a second and then dropped the file. "The team that went against her was KIA. We're going to have to move strategically in battle with her. Our best shot is to try to get the rings away from her. She's powerless without them, since she hasn't shown any other power."
"Let's hope she doesn't have powers then." I grabbed the last composed file from the table and opened it. A picture of the villain was paper clipped to the reports and findings lists. "Last but not least, Cain Marko, AKA Juggernaut." I scrunched my eyebrows together in confusion and took a closer look at the file. "That's odd."
"What?" Steve asked, turning towards me. He set the papers in his hand down neatly on the messy table. Peter cocked his head a bit and waited for me to respond.
"This file was written by Professor Xavier." I bit my lip and skimmed the file. I never knew any of these facts, yet here they were on paper. How many X-Men knew about this? Why wasn't I told? "Xavier wrote, 'Cain's father, Dr. Marko, favored me over his own son, causing Cain to develop anger issues. Cain bullied me, but received beatings from his father shortly after. Everything became out of control. When my mother died, Cain got into an argument with his father after accusing him of killing her. Cain became angry and threw lab equipment full of substances around, and caused an explosion that destroyed the room. Dr. Marko managed to get both of us to safety, but died shortly after because of inhaling too much smoke. Cain's hatred for me only grew that day.'"
I paused and continued, "'We ended up serving in the army together later on in the years after Cain was free from some third world country's jail. During a fire fight, Cain deserted me and ran into a cave. I followed him, and came across an ancient temple. Once I found him, it seemed to be too late. He grabbed a ruby from the lap of an idol and transformed into a larger, muscular superhuman. Since then, he's been known as Juggernaut, hell bent on getting revenge.' Damn. Cain has some serious issues."
Peter furrowed his brow together in confusion. "So how did this help us? I don't see the point."
"We know who we're going up against. If we know their pasts, it might be easy to manipulate them," Steve simply replied.
I elaborated on what Steve said, "Professor Xavier will know how Juggernaut fights. We can get information on that so Hulk won't have such a tough time next round. You know Venom pretty well, Peter, so you can give whoever fights him tips and tricks. Carnage is a downright psychopath...but I noticed he did fight with Venom at times. There's a rivalry going on between them."
Steve nodded and wrote it down on one of the pieces of blank paper scattered on the table. He played with the pencil for a second. "If they fight each other, we can probably get them off the battlefield. Less villains for us to deal with."
Peter bit his lip and started making impatient noises. He seemed to be in thought for a second before he brought up another villain, "Did you guys see that dude? The one on the edge of the battlefield? He was creepy looking and stalkerish?"
The guy in the back with the black and white swirly face and long creepy fingers. How could I even forget that guy? He was like something straight from a horror movie. "I know what guy you're talking about."
"He gives me the creeps. Did you see how ugly he was? I can't imagine what he can do," Peter leaned back and tapped his foot against the floor. New villain meant unknown powers and attacks. We're walking in to a complete mystery scenario with that guy, or...thing. Now that we knew the villains' backgrounds, we could plan around it and try to create a plan of attack that works in our favor.