Chapter 35 The Longest Night

The Fastest Man Alive

Chapter 35

The Long Night

[Vega HQ]

Before Everything Happened.

Alfred watched as Natasha placed Maya to sleep inside her room while Ororo was taking a shower. One of his spider bots watched her while Alfred had his other partitions take care of the influx of all information and track the family.

With the Labs shutting down and the data secured, Alfred turned his attention towards the island and his other spider bots building, housing and the main labs in the clearings that his father had allowed. Even then, they were being built with the strict command that the island be respected and everything to be done with the least disturbance to the island as possible.

The island was one of many marvels to Alfred. It was able to create life and change shape all with a command.

The island’s ability to create life was a major surprise for Alfred. The island wasn’t just creating fruits: no, the island was able to create actual biological life from the elements, and his father had plans to use this function to create a real body for him.

Alfred was more than pleased to know that he was going to get more than an artificial body: but he would have to help the process along. Alfred was going to ask the person who he thought would make the most appropriate mother for his being. So he waited and watched, and when Natasha walked out of the room as Maya slept, he pounced.

“Natasha, a moment of your time please,” Alfred said from one of his smaller spider bots.

“Sure but not here, Maya is asleep.” Natasha returned.

“Of course,” Alfred replied as the little spider bot scuttled towards the gathering room.

Alfred waited on tenterhooks as Natasha walked back into the room, waiting until she had gone to the fridge to get herself something to drink. As Natasha walked back into the room to take a seat with her apple juice, Alfred turned all of his attention to her.

“Okay, ask your question,” Natasha said as she took a drink and then leaned back in her chair.

“I would like to harvest some of your DNA.” Alfred gushed out in a rush.

“Excuse me?” Natasha replied instantly with an arched eyebrow.

Taking a deep breath, Alfred decided to try again. “Sorry, that came out wrong. I would be honored if you could grant me some of your DNA for me to build myself a body.”

“Why? And does Ben know about any of this?” Natasha asked as she sat up straight on the couch.

“Hhmm, he doesn’t know my decision yet. And I would like your DNA because you’re my father’s right hand. So I would like to combine yours and his to build myself a body.” Returned Alfred as his mini drone body nervously walked back and forth across the table. “I have run thousands of permutations about whose DNA I would like to use to create my body besides my father and the numbers keep giving you as the answer.”

“That’s somewhat flattering! But why not Ororo or one of Ben’s women?” Natasha returned.

“Are you not also one of his women? The olfactory sensors and the rapid increase of your heart rate when he is around both confirm that you are also his woman.” Alfred asked and stated as his drone body paused its walking. “Your reactions are the same as the others, have my sensors malfunctioned?”

Natasha’s head snapped around and looked hard at the big talking little drone; then her face spread into a slow smile as she came up with a wonderful idea. “If I agree to this I would have to lay some conditions that you will have to agree to.”

Alfred was so excited he didn’t even care what her conditions were, ” Of course mom! Anything you want lets… Emergency!… Emergency!”

“Talk to me! Alfred! What’s going on?” Natasha snapped as she got up from the couch.

Alfred brought up a map with the GPS ping on Peter’s location.

“It would seem that Peter activated the location tracker inside his shirt,” Alfred replied, as he watched the map zoom in on the location from where the tracker was signaling.

“Give me eyes on what happened Alfred and give me tracking on Ben.” Natasha snapped as she brought up her own holo comms unit.

On the holo screen appeared the camera footage of Peter and Laura leaving the derby in a rush. Then a lady appeared in front of the couple, and they watched in silence as both Peter and Laura were knocked out and then a truck backed up towards the fainted duo. When the back of the truck opened, Alfred noticed the portal and cataloged it as another portal like the one used to get to Eden.

Alfred and Natasha watched in silence as both Peter and Laura were picked up and walked through the portal then the device blew up the truck behind them. Not too long after, Ben was seen crashing into the car garage enraged as he looked for where the signal was coming from.

Ben sniffed around the rubble of the wreckage for a moment and then took off in another direction, angry and blazing a trail.

“Shit! Talk to me, Alfred! Where is Ben heading?” Natasha commanded as she turned towards the spider bot.

Waving his mandibles in front of his chassis, Alfred didn’t know what to say. “I believe he is heading towards the signal of Peter coming out of the Montana Mountains mom.”

“Okay call in the Flying Fox gunship for a roof landing and notify Ororo we have a situation!” Natasha said as she made her way towards her room to get changed.

“Yes!… Oh, no……we have incoming!” Alfred yelled as his drone hopped off the table.

Before Natasha could take more than a few steps, the wall that leads outside to the balcony was blasted open. Six assault troopers came bursting in through the opening that they had created, but before they knew what was happening a knife found its way into three of their throats.

“Activate the auto defense systems, now!” Natasha yelled out as she jumped and faded from view.

“Find the child,” A soldier yelled, but before he could say any more, another knife found its way into his throat. More and more troops took cover and started to fire their rifles at anything and everything.

“Over there-” Someone yelled as he noticed his partner getting snatched up behind cover. Three of his new companions turned and laid down fire as another two ran down the hallway leading to the bedroom.

More and more troops came pouring into the building through the opening leading to the outside as Natasha fought them off with her knives she had hidden on her person.

Jumping across the couch gap with his spider drone, Alfred nailed one of the assaulting troops in the head, removing it from his body. Someone turned to fire towards where Alfred had fired his shot, but he was already scuttling along.

The firefight progressed, another head of one of the troopers exploded as a shot fired from the roof. As everyone took cover from the fired rounds, the assault troopers that went down the hallway were all thrown back by the wind.

While they turned towards the direction of the wind, Natasha took two more shots, fired and two more heads exploded.

“My child is asleep, and you dare to interrupt my bubble bath!” Ororo spoke as she came stalking down the hallway with a towel wrapped around her body. “Begone!”

Ororo waved her hand as she summoned a wall of wind before her and the hallway that she stood in. Two of the troopers got up and fired towards Ororo, but Natasha was already on them. The two that stood went down as they lost their heads, from the front door busted in one of the larger drones that Alfred had around the tower as security.

When the assault troops took a look at their opposition, without a second thought, they tossed grenades towards the drone. With a wave of her hand, Ororo sent the grenades out and up into the air to explode.

“Not in my home,” Ororo said imperiously.

The last three troops shared a look then ran to the balcony hoping to jump to their deaths instead of being taken alive. Unfortunately, one was shot in the back of the head as he ran. Another was blasted with a laser, and the last was immolated with flames.

“What’s going on here?” Asked a voice from outside the window as the person or persons came into view.

“I will return.” Said Ororo as she turned around and went back down the hall.

“Phoenix, who is your friend?” Natasha asked as she stalked up towards the two new interlopers.

“His name is Cyclops, and he volunteered to help with the emergency.”

Let’s rewind time to after Ben leaves for where he ran off.

Jean was out patrolling tonight as she normally did when she felt like she needed some freedom from Vega HQ. She had stopped a mugging and a kidnapper, and then she stopped to sign an autograph for a little girl.

With an inward smile, Jean flew off towards the sounds of sirens over the nightlife of New York. Flaring her Phoenix aura, the sky was alight with the great flame bird as she dove towards her prey. Arriving on the scene, Jean was greeted with a team of people driving away from the cops. Hanging out of one of the windows was a gunman firing at the cops.

The police car in pursuit already had several rounds fired into its hood while in pursuit. The cops slowed down as they noticed her approach while they watched the bad guys speed up in the black unmarked car they were driving. Well, that was new Jean thought to herself, but without another thought, she extended her hand as the claw to her Phoenix aura extended to snatch the car off the road.

With the car and the bandits now over her head, Jean came to a stop hovering over the road. Jean had to wait for the police to also come to a stop. With the cops pulled up below her, Jean slowly lowered the vehicle. As the car touched down on the ground, the bandits placed their weapons outside the windows in the motion of getting ready to shoot at the police officers, but with a mental tick, Jean was able to disarm them.

“Thank you, Phoenix, but we will take it from here.” One of the officers said as she took away the first bandit from the car. With a closer inspection, Jean found the name tag that said Desantos. She also noticed the frayed edges to the officer’s face and her shaking hands from the added adrenaline.

“No problem, Officer Desanto’s just doing my part to help keep the city safe.” Jean popped with a smile.

Though as she was watching the cops cuff and read the bandits there rights her comms unit began to go off in alarm and so did her wrist-mounted computer. As Jean looked down at her wrist, a bright red emergency warning flashed across the screen.

Unbeknownst to Jean, one of the bandits broke free and reached for the officer’s weapon while her attention was brought somewhere else. There was a loud bang, and Jean reacted instinctively as she raised her hand into a telekinetic shield around herself.

Jean was greeted with a bullet suspended in the area mere inches from her face. The shock was clear across her face but as she turned to lash out at the person who fired the shot. That person was blasted with a laser beam from another angle.

Jean turned her sight towards the interloper and found a man standing in spandex with a large red X on his chest as he proudly smiled at her.

“Ohh not another one.”

Jean heard one of the officers say; that ticked Jean off for a moment before she turned her attention back towards the bullet that she had frozen in the air before her. Placing that rude officer out of her mind, Jean decided it was best to thank her savior before she went to find out what this whole emergency was about.

Before she could do anything, a person in the all-black suit walked up to her with his hands out.

“Nice to finally meet you while out on patrol, you can call me Cyclops,” He said as he held his arm out for Jean to shake.

“Phoenix,” Jean replied as she shook his hand in return. She took a look at him from head to toe. Jean noted that this Cyclops had a lean runner’s build, not only that but his suit also covered the top half off his face even though it left his eyes free. Jean noted that this might be where he was letting out the laser beams since the edges also had singed marks.

Before Cyclops could say anything in reply, her wrist-mounted computer beeped its emergency beacon again for her attention.

“Shit,” Jean spat as her H.U.D. was overridden by Alfred to show her what the current situation was.

“I can assist you,” Cyclops spoke as he took a step forward.

Jean thought it over as she watched Ben leave the perimeter of the city on the monitor system as he was already halfway across the continent. Well, shit, he is fast, Jean thought to herself. Because she had no clue on where he was heading as long as his tracker wasn’t turned off she was happy following his path.

Then she had another idea that she had never tried before.

Taking a deep breath, she placed one of her hands on her forehead to help focus her thoughts and then reached out with her mind for that familiar thrum of power.

[Babe, you there?]

[Yeah but I’m a little busy about to fuck someone’s shit up for taking Laura and Peter.]

[What’s the situation?]

[Someone took them through a portal, but I was able to track them because of the tracker that Laura was wearing.]

[Okay, I’ll get the team and be there behind you. Be safe.]

[Okay… don’t call the professor but contact Natasha; she will have a way to get here faster without borrowing the X-jet. Be safe and see you soon.]

As Jean disconnected mentally from Ben, she was greeted with another emergency noticed as someone attacked her home.

“Shit, Yeah, you can come with,” Jean said as she picked up her sidekick and flew towards her home, the Vega Tower. What’s one more helping hand Jean thought to herself. If he is helpful and trustworthy, he can keep his memories, but if he turns out to be useless, then she could always wipe his memories of the event afterward.

Turning around, she spoke up before he got any better ideas in his head, “You’re a sidekick for this moment and nothing more, you understand, or I can leave you behind.”

“Yes ma’am,” Cyclops said in return as he felt his body begin to lift off the ground.

Jean carried the man known as cyclops through the city, but for some reason, she couldn’t place where she had heard that name before. Jean had to place those thoughts aside though because as they came up upon the tower, they were greeted with the scene of violence.

Before Jean could give him the command though Cyclops started to blast the people trying to escape. Since Cyclops had already fired the opening shots, Jean decided to follow up with the last shots and to kill the last assailant trying to escape.

When her feet touched down on the now destroyed balcony, Jean wished they had saved one person for them to be able to track down who sent these guys.

“Who’s he?”

Jean looked up to see a Natasha holding a gun aimed at Cyclops who had his hands up in the universal sign of peace and surrender.

“A sidekick that I picked up and a tag-along for now,” Jean replied instantly to Natasha. “If anything happens, I can always snip snip.”

“He is your responsibility then, but I’ll have my eye on him and keep a bullet with his name on it,” Natasha replied before leaving the room.

“Is she always so intense?” Cyclops asked with a chuckle towards the one he knows as the Phoenix but was also Jean Grey in disguise.

“Don’t mind her; now tell me Cyclops, why are you so adamant about pulling sidekick duty?” Jean asked as she turned to face her sidekick.

“You and the rest have been protecting the city so I would like to do my part,” Cyclops replied slowly to Jean. “It’s been a few trying weeks, and I’m so honored to be of service.”

“That’s okay for now, but it’s not my approval you’re going to need,” Jean replied to the man in his spandex.

“Then who’s? Because I can prove myself.” Cyclops asked as he took a step towards her. Jean held a hand up to halt him as she put her thoughts together, but before she could say anything, both Ororo and Natasha walked back into the room.

“Meet Storm and Black Widow no other names need saying at the moment,” Jean said as she waved her hand towards the ladies.

“Second watch is on the way up the elevators to pick up the little one, and our ride is on the roof so could you do the honors please Phoenix because we have someone to pick up while we make our way to the party,” Natasha spoke as she held up the tracker with Bens location.

“Ohh, this is a road trip! Sweet. Will LightSpeed meet us? And where is Spiderman? I would love to get an autograph from him.” Cyclops spoke up as Jean lifted them up to the roof with her telekinesis.

“We are on a rescue for them both,” Natasha replied as she went through some of her menus on her wrist comms. “Talk to me, Overwatch what’s happening.”

“It would seem that LightSpeed is going on somewhat of a rampage,” Alfred replied but did not bring up the video to show what was happening because of the newcomer.

As everyone floated up to the top of the roof, they found a sight straight out of a Syfy novel. Floating over the helipad was a flying ship half cloaked with the back ramp lowered for people to embark and fly. The flying ship was mat black with swept wings hovering over the grounding with glowing blue vents underneath.

“Alright sidekick, get on the flying ship,” Jean said as she nudged Cyclops forward with a telekinetic push.

“Hey, my name isn’t sidekick, it’s Cyclops, ” huffed Cyclops as he walked into the plane behind the rest.

“Like the pretty birdie said your name is sidekick until proven otherwise or you can get back on the streets, ” Natasha said as she turned around and stalked up to him her eyes hard.

“Fine, call me whatever just don’t leave me behind, ” Cyclops muttered offhandedly.

“Good now we can finally leave, ” Ororo said as she walked into the cockpit. “Talk to me overwatch.”

“Before we go I would like to inform you that we have an incoming call from Black Cat in the Batmobile,” Alfred said over the comms in his support position as overwatch.

“Tell her to head towards the docks and jump it; we will grab her,” Jean spoke up since Ororo and Natasha didn’t have any current plans on how to get the plane within reach of the batmobile.

“Roger,”

Ororo flew towards the docks of Hell’s kitchen while Natasha acted as her co-pilot. Jean stood at the back ramp, ready to press the button to lower it as they came in low over the bay to a hover. As they hovered over the bay, Jean heard the tall tail roar of an engine, and she had a feeling that it was the batmobile. As she pressed the button for the ramp doors to descend, a tank came flying around the corner like it was a part of the derby five hundred.

Jean felt a shiver in her loins as she heard the roar of the engine at that distance. With a smile on her face, Jean watched as Felicia floored the gas paddle and the batmobile shot forward even faster as the booster on the back kicked in. The batmobile rocketed down the docks and jumped at the last moment, but Jean was ready for this action.

With a swift motion, Jean grabbed the vehicle out of the air with a telekinetic grip and slowly brought them into the back of the plane.

“Batmobile is here; let’s punch it,” Jean spoke into her comms as she pressed the ramp door button to close the back door. With the ramp coming up to close, Jean took a step back to take a look at one of Ben’s recently finished creations.

“Black Cat, Marine, we have a situation brewing,” Jean called out as she knocked on the window to the batmobile. Backing up Jean watched as the two got out, but once Salt played her eyes on the extra body, she gave Jean a nod in confirmation of the code name.

“Talk to me red, why did he run off like that.” Felicia returned as she hopped out of the batmobile.

“It’s a situation that’s in motion.” Jean returned with a shrug. “Marine head up top and suit up.”

With a nod in return, Salt headed to the upper levels to find the suit that would help her with whatever battlefield they were heading towards.

“You going to tell me who and why he is here?” Felicia asked as she pointed towards the person standing on the side with a large red X on his chest.

“Hi, I’m-“

“His name is unimportant; you can call him sidekick,” Jean replied as she interrupted Cyclops from speaking. “So tell me how was the ride in that tank?”

“Ohh she is a hellcat alright; I’ll need him to build me one or at least give me the keys to this one,” Felicia replied as she walked to stand next to Jean as they looked over the batmobile.

“What am I, chopped liver?” Cyclops asked exasperatedly with his arms outstretched.

“No, you’re a sidekick now hush and let the adults talk.” Felicia replied, “Tell me, Red, why did you bring him and not underoos?”

“Because underoos has been taken,” Replied Natasha as she walked back into the loading bay. “We are five minutes out, and I would also like to know more about our guest over there in the spandex.”

“He saved me from getting my head taken off, so this is his chance to impress LightSpeed,” Jean said sheepishly.

“Hmm, it would seem that you need more training,” Natasha replied before turning around and going up one more level.

“Crap,” whispered Felicia.

“Yeah, I’m so dead,” Jean noted with a nod.

“Okay, where are we going to be in five minutes and what kind of training do you need and why is she like that,” Cyclops replied as he walked up towards the two ladies.

“She isn’t the one you have to worry about.” said a voice as a tall Nubian goddess strolled out of the cockpit towards the three. “We will arrive soon, so make your final preparations.”

“Duly noted,” Replied Felicia as she turned around and gave Jean a hug before jumping back into the batmobile. “Tell the Marine she is with me once she gets back down here.”

“Hey since there is a third seat you mind if I ride with you?” Cyclops asked with obvious hope in his voice, but all he got in return was cold silence.

“I’m not the nice one, make it past this test, and I will tolerate you,” Felicia replied as she brought the canopy back over to close.

Turning around to face Phoenix, Cyclops wanted to ask a question, but all he received was a shrug before he could even ask.

“Attention! Attention! This is Overwatch; we are two minutes out. Please make your final preparation; we are on approach.”

Looking up at the noise that she heard, Jean watched as Salt came back down in an advanced Exo suit fully kitted out for war. With a nod towards her, Salt stashed her weapons and knocked on the window to the batmobile for Felicia to open the canopy so she could get in.

Jean watched as Salt got into the batmobile, and then, she felt Ororo and Natasha approach.

“Widow I would like you to infiltrate while LightSpeed is doing whatever he is doing while Phoenix and myself handle the air support. Black Cat and Marine will handle the ground units.” Ororo said as she came to stand next to Jean.

“I believe the code name he is using tonight is Red Hood,” Replied all of their comm units.

“Okay Phoenix, you’re with me in the sky while the calvary takes out their ground units,” Ororo said as she waved a hand towards the batmobile.

“What do I do ma’am?” Cyclops spoke up from his spot behind Jean’s shoulder.

“You stay from underfoot and don’t die; this is the big leagues,” Natasha said as she rounded on Cyclops.

Cyclops stepped up to face his adversary, but when he noticed that he was the only one facing her, he remembered that he was the one that chose to come into enemy territory with them. “Fine, I will assist however I can.”

“Good! now here,” Ororo said as she handed Cyclops one of the comm units to get him on the same page. With that out of the way Jean tightened the fasteners on her belt and opened the storage to bring out some telekinetic laser weaponry that Ben had added recently. The new weapons were shaped like a diamond and could be fired and controlled with her telekinetic touch.

Jean felt the ship coming around in the sky, and she knew they had arrived at their destination. Taking a look around Jean couldn’t find Natasha anywhere, not even when she switched to her astral sight. Well damn! It would seem that either Ben created astral cloaking or Natasha had figured out a way to cloak from even her sight.

“Drop off of the batmobile in 3…2…1… drop!”

The first thing to go down the ramp was the batmobile. Jean watched as the batmobile touched down, and Felicia opened the cannons up, blasting everything in sight. With a nod to Ororo, Jean jumped out of the plane next as she used a telekinetic grip to bring Cyclops behind with her.

Hitting the open air, Jean took a deep breath but soon wished she hadn’t because it smelled and tasted of ash and volcanic brimstone. Taking a look around, Jean came to a realization that this was no ordinary war zone. Placing Cyclops on one of the roofs Jean flew out to stop an escaping truck leaving towards the northwest.

With quick and rapid commands to her telekinetic drones, she fired a shot right through the engine block stopping the truck dead in its tracks. When the truck came to a sudden halt, the driver went through the windshield as the rest jumped out and began to open fire at her.

Without a second thought, Jean summoned up a telekinetic claw to swipe at them on the right side leaving long furrows in the ground. The guard looking guys jumped towards the left away from her flaming telekinetic swipe. This was just as Jean planned as she lined up the telekinetic drones on the left to riddle them with holes.

With a snort, Jean turned around to fly back and cover the area but heard a savage Kra-koom off in the distance. Jean’s head snapped in the direction of the noise only to find a plane crashing out of the sky. Not too far from the plane though Jean noticed Ororo had lightning coming out of her fingertips as it surrounded her.

With a smile, Jean turned back to keeping her side of the air clear while also taking down escapees.

Peter Parker – Underoos / Spiderman

Drip…..drip…drip…

He felt something wet on his face as he swiped his hand in the air to try and brush it away.

“Did anyone get the plate of the bus that hit me?”

“No but you need to get up; we are in danger and your laying there will get us killed.” A voice up above his head said.

Who was that voice Peter thought to himself and where was he. Yeah no he remembered, he was out on a date with Laura when they got captured. With a gasp, Peter shot up wide awake.

What Peter found before him, chilled his heart to the core. He was currently laying in a small puddle of blood, and when he looked for where it was coming from, Peter wanted to scream. Up above, Peter’s head was Laura hanging from chains that were hooked into her. Laura hung from them with her hands locked behind her back.

Without even thinking, Peter leaped up towards the chains Laura was hanging from but was met with a solid force field repelling him back. His eyes shed tears from the pain of smashing his head into whatever kept him here.

“I need you to focus, activate the tracking system,” Laura said from up above him.

“I don’t have any tracking system,” Peter yelled as he began to look around, trying to figure out a way to overload the field mechanism so that he could escape.

The walls were clean, and there were no hanging gaps for him to get a handhold to pull anything apart with his strength.