Noelle - Day 134 (The Warriors, Ready for Combat)

HOLA!!!
What up!?

So I promised some information on my first officially finished book, The Warriors (to clarify, NOT the soap opera cat book series, but my Marvel fanfic series).  The information: I have opened up the final FULL no-spoilers original edition!  You give me your email and I can share it with you on google docs (*must be a gmail  Update:  any email will work!  But you'll only be able to view, not comment)

Anyway, you could be lazy and just read it all here, on International Bffs!  :)

Random Marvel-based Story (Parts 82, 83, & 84)

Shadow darted out from behind a crate, going slowly enough that everybody could see her.  “Little Jessie finally decised to come out and play?”

“I don’t play,” Jess muttered, and attacked.  Shadow was way faster, but clearly didn’t have the fighting style to keep up with Jess.  The punches and kicks thrown were soon going too fast for even Spider-man’s practiced eye to keep up with, but Jess seemed to know what she was doing.

“You’re fast,” Shadow commented after a minute of the team trying to decide who to cheer for.  “But can you do this?”  Nobody ever could figure out what happened, but half a second later, Jess was sliding along on the ground and smashing into a nearby crate.  She pulled herself up, but Shadow had the head start, slamming fists and feet into Jess’s thin frame over and over.

“You’ve had your chances to kill me before now,” Jess whispered, “But you didn’t.  Why?”

“I had my orders not to,” Shadow muttered, punching her prey in the gut, then allowing her to slide to the ground untouched.  “But then the visions started.  You know something about this, don’t you?  What did you do to me?!”

“Well, we have a motive now,” Spider-man said, always looking for the brightside.

“Shut up, Webhead,” Ava said flatly, but she didn’t move to stop him when he swung over to where the two doppelgangers were fighting.

“Ok, ok, we get it, you’ve had some weird visions, and you think Jess is the cause of it,” Spider-man said in a calm, S.H.I.E.L.D agent voice.  “We can figure this out - how ‘bout we take this conversation to the helicarrier and you tell us where Danny is?”  Shadow vanished for a moment, then Spider-man collapsed to the ground.

“Ow,” He gasped, trying to stand up.  Shadow punched him again, forcing him to the ground.

All at once, Jess was there.  “Stop,” she said, her voice rolling once again with the strange growling sounds.  Shadow slammed Spider-man into the ground for a final time, then darted back to a safe distance.

“C’mon, ya little lizard, you want to play?”  Shadow said, a tiny smirk darting across her lips.

Something about Jess is different, Nova thought before he darted down to get the wincing Spider-man.  “Guys,” He muttered, “Maybe this isn’t the best place to be....”

“We’re not leaving without Danny,” Ava said, and everybody knew it was final.

Jess took an authoritative step forward.  “I told you, I don’t play, Shadow, and I said to leave my friends out of this.”  She rolled the ‘r’ in friends like a bear growling.

“No seriously, guys,” Nova said, a bit louder this time.  “Something’s wrong, let’s go.”

“I’ve spent so long hiding,” Jess shouted, her voice getting louder and louder.  “I’ve spent so long pretending to be someone I’m not.”  Her hair flew back, showing her furious eyes and pale skin in the moonlight.  “TOO LONG!!!” She thundered.

“Yes, that’s it, little lizard, show them who you really are,” Shadow said, dancing away from Jess.  “I’m sure Fury will be just fine with it.”

Jess snarled, an inhuman sort of snarl you only hear coming from large, angry cats.  “Leave my friends out of this.  That’s all I ask.”

“Hey, the Spider came over to me with his moral lessons and S.H.I.E.L.D. tricks - the same wishy-washing feel-good stuff I’m sure they hammered into you at all of those therapy sessions -”

WHAM.

Shadow flew back several yards, crashing into the base of the crane.  Except, Nova had never seen Jess move.  She had just stood there as Shadow rammed into the concrete structure, her hair tossed back and her eyes seemingly on fire with rage.

“Jess-” White Tiger said quietly.

“Go...get out of here,” Jess growled, each syllable seemingly a struggle.  She smiled like she was going to someone’s funeral, and White Tiger jumped back.

“Jess, you have fangs!”  She screamed as she scrambled away.

Jess’s smile widened, her elongated teeth pointy-white in the nighttime light.  “Go.”

“We’re not leaving without our friend,” Spider-man said angrily, causing Jess to back up a step.

Shadow’s smooth voice slipped in, encircling them once again.  Like a snake preparing to strike, Ava thought.  What a poetic way to die.

“Oh, you have fangs now, beast,” she said, but her voice was so disembodied that it was impossible to tell where it was coming from.  “A bit...dragon-like, ain’t it?”

Jess’s eye’s flashed, but a tiny flicker of fear was trickling in among those grey eyes.  “Go,” she said again, but this time it was fueled by panic and not calm warnings.

“Go on, use your, what do you call them?  ‘Talents’”  Shadow whispered from all around them.  “You know you want to...it’s tempting isn’t it?”

“You know what I want?”  Jess said, her voice suddenly clear and cold.  “I want a nice, warm, croissant.”

Screams ripped apart the still night air as Jess collapsed, and just behind where Luke was standing, a body-sized thump told him that Shadow had fallen too.

And then...it all stopped.

*******

Two little girls danced on the beach, playing in the sand.  “Come into the water, Cece,” calls one, but the other is scared.  I can feel that fear, bobbing right at the edge of the waves like a cork.

“Oh Clea, it’s not going to hurt you,” Said the little girl, tossing her blonde ringlets.  “C’mon, I’ll make sure that you stay up.  Please, Cece?”

The other little girl took one tiny step, and I can feel my heart shattering into a million pieces.  The white fog is sinking back in, but I push it back.  I’m not done yet, I scream into the fog, and for some reason, it leaves.

My heart reassembles and the two little girls, though slightly fragmented, pull back into focus along with it.  One teaches the other how to swim.  One paddles along so much faster than the other.  One dives under the surf and twists through the seaweed.  One does not.

A woman’s staccato voice cuts through the beach’s droning noise.  “Cllleeeeeaaaaaaa!  Clarraaaaaaaa!  Come in!  It’s time to go home!  Come here you two, and when we get home I’ll have Nancy make you a white chocolate croissant.”

“I want a raspberry one,” Says one girl, wrapping herself in a towel.

“Well, I’m sure Nancy can make you each a raspberry ones.”  The woman seems distracted, just like this whole place feels...right.

“Next time, I’ll teach you to dive,” The first girl whispers, and they hug each other.

Clara.  That’s me.  But who’s that other girl?

******

They webbed Shadow to the ground, but, as Spider-man said, “I doubt that will hold her for long.”  It was barely holding her now as she twisted and fidgeted in her dream.

“They’ve both had a memory wipe,” Ava exclaimed, prodding at Shadow while Luke propped Jess up against the crane.  She frowned in her sleep and slid her hand onto the concrete.

“What’s a memory wipe?”  Nova asked.  “Maybe I can use one on Spidey.”

Ava ignored him and said, “I bet that ‘croissant’ is the trigger word, but why now?  I mean, Jess ordered a croissant at the coffee shop.  She would have to say it then, so shouldn’t she have already unlocked her memories then as well?”

Nova shrugged.  “I dunno.”

“Maybe it has to work when they’ve been interacting for a while, or while emotions are running high?”  Power-man interjected.

“Forgive me if I’m wrong, but I think we have bigger problems,” Spider-man yelled.  Jess had began to shake and struggle in her sleep, her frown deepening into a roar.

She still looked like Jess, but this newer Jess was frightening.  Her fangs were glistening.  They all backed away as her skin darkened and hardened.  “I’ve seen enough transformations to know that something’s happening,” Spider-man said.  “And a nasty something.”

Jess continued to shake and frown.  Everything about her was grey now, her blood was pumping purple, her nails were more like claws.  Her eyes flew open, only to become a pair of glassy stone-grey mirrors.  She opened her mouth and said in a sluggish, growling voice, “I...understand now.”

Jess stood up regally, but if her eyes were on them, it was impossible to tell.  Her head turned towards Shadow just in time to see her burst free of the webs.  Shadow leapt at Jess and clouds of dust flew around.  “Duck!”  Spider-man shouted and pushed his team onto their backs as an explosion racked the docks

When the grit finally settled, the team struggled clumsily to their feet and gasped like a single-minded many-bodied beast.

Jess stood - no, hovered above them - her fangs bared and her claws fully extended - claws she didn't even have half-n-hour ago.  As if she had molted and become a sick version of a giant bat, tattered black wings had sprouted from her shoulder blades and stretched like a sheet against the wind.  Before the team could recover from their shock, she roared like a wild animal, tucked her newly-grown wings and dove.

And I stop you right in the middle of the action! BWAHAHAHA!!! See y'all tomorrow! :P