Chapter Forty-Seven

It all started with a wish.

Jean was five years old, and the air felt hot and sticky in the beat-up Oldsmobile. The old station wagon had no a/c since her parents had purchased it from a used car lot and her only relief was coming from an open window on her father's side of the car.

To make the insufferable situation all the worse for the little redhead was the radio playing an eighties song that seemed to keep repeating, which she was finding even more annoying!

Her mother 'Elaine Grey' was twenty-three, some would say too young to be a mother of a five-year-old. Her father 'John Grey' a university student studying to become a Doctor, but he was still four years away from getting any degree.

Like the start of a fairy tale, the small family was heading to her grandmother's house for the evening. In her five years old mind her parents were talking very loudly, yelling and complaining about everything. Years in the future she realized that her parents weren't actually talking, her active powers were starting to reveal themselves. The heat and the sound of the radio combined with each other to make everything worse and that was when she made a simple wish.

Everything she had ever known ended with a wish for all the loud noise to stop...

It was much later that she was told what happened to them and it was twelve years after that she realized that the memory of this traumatic experience was taken away from her. Removed like some tumor by someone she trusted most! With those same memories, most of her emotions had also disappeared. Leaving Jean half of a person, shattered and feeling alone.

Which begs the question. Why?

---

The ten o'clock news told about a Grimm battle between several super-powered individuals in the middle of the city. The reporter and two others were sitting at a table casually discussing the implications of what this meant for American citizens. One of which was, of course, JJ and the other was District Attorney Foggy Nelson.

Every time the reporter spoke about the 'Spiders-heroes' JJ interrupted him by insisting on only calling them a menace and nothing else. While Scorpion, Rhino and Vulture went to Rykers, Beetle went to the hospital for massive injuries.

Gwen's head sank when she heard that, "What great hero I am." Ben kept quiet, he... or rather, Peter had been in the same place in the past. Ben knew that there were no words of comfort he could possibly say to take away the sting. All he could do was offer his support in times like this.

"Seriously why do I feel like crap? She was hurting innocent people just to get to me? She had it coming! but I still feel..." She trailed off until Ben sat next to her offering some of his warmth.

"It's because you're a hero, it comes with the territory. Some people would call it 'our curse'. Pete even used to call it the 'Parker's curse'."

Ben smiled at the memory, "Nah, I believe he was probably over thinking the whole thing, it's just part of being a hero. We care too much, run on our emotions. Sometimes, it can give us the strength to keep putting on the webs and save as many people as we can. but even if one day you quite... it wouldn't surprise me that after all is said and done, you'd end up putting them back on again when the city needs you again."

Ben wasn't sure if his words meant anything to the blonde-haired girl, but soon her face seemed to loosen up and she replied, "I'm so glad you came here..." Gwen whispered.

"I saw some of the other spiders out there. Some are some really big jerks out there..." As if just remembering something she almost yelled, "One was even a pig!" Gwen said excitedly.

"Hey, I'll take care of that jerk! Nobody gets to be piggish with my girl but me... Wait! but he is me or someone similar... No, I got this, I'm going to kick my own ass! Fo..."

Cupping his face in her hands, Gwen cut him off with shake to her head and a kiss to his still speaking lips. Clone or no, Ben was all Pete when he began to ramble she couldn't help the smile that brightened her face, "No he's a cartoon pig! Spider-ham. An actual pig." Gwen giggled. Yeah, she wasn't ashamed to admit she was a giggling little girl with a crush now.

"Well... uh I, I'm a little confused." Ben said with a blank look on his face.

Shaking his head, he pinned her with a look that made her go weak in the knees, "You wouldn't be playing with me, would you?"

Giving a come-hither look, she wrapped her arms around his neck. Whispering in his ear she replied, "How do you intend on getting this information out of me?"

With a matching grin he bent down kissing her deeply he whispered back, "I can think of many ways, but all of them involve torturing you on the bed for a few hours."

Giggling again, she climbed on to his lean form and straddled him while Ben was still standing firm. Kissing along his neckline she could feel the goosebumps she caused on his skin. She loved how she had this effect on him.

Pushing her against the wall he took over ripping the shirt over her head and quickly unlatching the bra behind her back. All the while he attacked her smooth porcelain skin with his mouth, making small red marks where his mouth had once been.

Gwen moaned in pleasure. Much of her cognitive thought had fled as she gripped Ben's firm back and gave into the enjoyment of his touch. Before she realized Ben's, nimble fingers, the fingers which had saved countless lives were now stroking her core.

Biting down on Ben's shoulder she felt him hiss in response but his movements never paused only increased in tempo and reached deeper into her. She had enough, reaching down she unbuckled his jeans and snuck her small hand inside. The bulge she found surprised her for a moment, the last time they did this she knew he was large but... Damn!

Feeling him harden in her hands she smiled like she found victory, 'Maybe that is what I should start calling it.' she thought.

Her thoughts were interrupted as Ben's finger found a spot that she hadn't even known would give her such a reaction. It was like electricity ran through her body and if Ben hadn't been supporting her body she would probably sink to her knees in happiness.

Regaining some semblance of normalcy after her orgasm Gwen tore the shirt away from Ben forcibly and kissed her way down his well-defined chest and arms.

"Easy now, I don't have many of those," Ben said not really minding much if he was being honest.

The couple continued towards the bedroom as the world outside of their little apartment continued to revolve without them.

---

Peter's eyes felt like they were going to cross at any moment. He had been staring at the screen on his computer for the past three hours and the muscles in his neck were starting to complain. He thought they would have gotten used to the abuse by this time in his life due to all the long hours of research he has done until now but apparently, he didn't have such luck.

SHIELD had offered him a temporary mission assisting the X-Men in their time of need, but when he arrived, he only found one person he actually recognized and several children he didn't. To make matters worse, there was a self-destruct sequence counting down on the main hard drive.

Though Peter's primary knowledge revolved around genetics, he wasn't unfamiliar to the world of programming which was why he managed to stop the computer from blowing them up so far. To be honest, he was pretty damned proud of himself for that feat.

"So, are we safe?" Tabitha asked as Peter leaned back in his chair. He had been nonstop typing on the keyboard and she had only stuck close to help him escape if he failed, she wasn't a hero but it felt wrong to leave him behind.

"Yeah, it took a while but I managed to access the program's firewall and tricked the system to thinking the correct access codes were entered." Rubbing his eyes for a moment he tiredly met the brown eyes of the blonde in front of him.

Whistling in surprise, Tabitha eyed the brown-headed boy with approval, "I guess I'll tell the guys to come back inside."

Tabitha started to walk away when Peter stopped her, "No, whoever set this system to blow can do it again. We need to gather everyone up and get them somewhere safe."

Grim determination flashed across the blonde's face and she nodded as she left.

---

Finally managing to take down the robot by dismembering it Jean gave a sigh of relief. She would be lying if she wasn't relieved to have her memories back. A few months back the knowledge that she practically killed her mother, that her father abandoned her while the only person she trusted manipulated her memories might have broken her. But not now.

When Ben went missing there was a dull ache in her chest, but it was the most she had felt in years. She still felt emotions, happiness, being sad, angry and disgust but these feelings were muted most of the time.

When the Phoenix helped her resurfaced those memories everything for Ben had come to life, and instead of making Jean's world spiral out of control it had brought focus to it and she came to the revitalization of something very important.

Ben wasn't dead.

---

The Crimson glasses seemed to glare down at the woman in green as he brought the amber liquid to his mouth to sample the taste of the expensive whiskey inside the glass.

"You assured me, Madelyn. You and your team were the best. The scorpion couldn't be beaten. But all I see when I turn on the news is that you and you're team are nothing but a joke." Matt Murdock mocked the person that stood in front of him.

If it was anyone else but the Kingpin of Crime saying these words, they would have been dead at the woman's feet. He knew better though, Matt Murdock was a lot of things but an easy kill wasn't one of them.

"Those two are a good team together, maybe if we separate them..."

"Enough of your excuses, I have killed people for less..." Murdock paused for effect then continued, "But I won't. Tell me since you have years of experience in battle and tracking what observations do you have on the pair?"

"Th.. the male is weird," she stammered. "He knew things. He knew the scorpion's name." Madelyn said with confusion in his voice.

"Agreed, he is a problem," Murdock said quietly.

As he left the office and walked towards his car he contemplated what he should do about the city's newest inter-dimensional traveler.

"Where to Mr. Murdock?" His driver asked as he sat comfortably in the back.

"Home." He responded then picked up his phone and began to dial a number, the phone rang once before it was picked up, "I hear you can hunt anything. What's your price for hunting two spiders?" A muted response came and the lawyer nodded in return.

"Very good, I'll see you soon." A crooked smile graced the devil's face as he gave the person on the other end of the line his address.

The hunter would at least be a good distraction until he had the right opportunity to get rid of the other spider for good.