Safe and Sound

Back at 4 Yancy street…

Both women managed to return to the address they were staying at without anyone noticing their presence, easily keeping hidden thanks to being invisible from sight. With a gentle ‘click’ of the doorknob, the front door snuck opened silently. Careful so as not to awaken anyone still asleep before the sun came up and locking the door behind them. Daredevil and Moon Dame became visible again and moved to return to their rooms in the hopes of the homeowners would be no wiser when the light to the living room clicked on, illuminating the large space, and revealing they were not alone after all.

“Had fun out there?” Asked Lady Anti-Venom, sipping on a mug of hot chocolate as the other two Susan Storms stood there apprehensively. “Was getting a little worried because I know in an hour, or two Franklin and Valaria would wake up for school… Or at least MY kids would be awake by then. Did you find what you were looking for?”

“Yes and no.” Stated Moon Dame coldly, her arms crossed as she looked away. “I could not find them, but I did find the trail of pain and misery they left behind. This means they are not discreet, they CAN be found, but sadly not tonight.”

“Which means we can’t do anything in the middle of the day, not with SHIELD keeping an eye on this place and us.” Griped Daredevil, looking just as disappointed.

“Speaking of which.” Lady Anti-Venom pointed out as she brought up their tracker bracelets in her hand and whistled to get their attention, twirling the two devices around her finger. “Gotta keep up appearances.”

Trading looks, the two women extended their arms out to get their trackers put back on, not liking how this would play out. The act was disturbing as the symbiote wearing Susan reached out with her hand, the symbiote reaching out and bonding to the two women and making their bones malleable as the two bracelets were then slipped back on where they were. When the symbiote pulled back, both women squirmed and looked to their arms, now wearing the devices on the wrists of their right hands.

“There we go, your welcome.” Smiling into her mug of hot chocolate, Lady Anti-Venom watched the two women squirm after the experience as they made their way towards the hall where they paused and bumped into the Invisible Woman.

“Oh! Good morning, ladies. Sleep well?” Susan asked, shaking her hair loose as she made her way to the kitchen in a blue night gown and fuzzy matching slippers.

Daredevil caught herself from yawning heavily as Moon Dame stormed her way towards the hallway to her quarters. “Sorry, travellers’ fatigue. Hard to sleep when it was nighttime when I showed up here. I think I’ll head under.”

Shrugging, Susan smiled as she tilted her heel and opened the refrigerator. “Okay, but you’re missing out, HERBIE can make a wicket omelet.”

“Well, if I can smell it from bed, you might get a reaction out of me.” Yawning again, the blind woman pulled off her masked cowl and made her way over to her room. “Good night… Or morning anyway.”

“See ya later Suzie.” Chirped the woman on the couch, the symbiote she wore taking on the same appearance in clothing as the matron of the house and joined her in the kitchen. “So, omelets, got any chocolate chips for mine?”

***

Making her way down the hall to her personal quarters, Susan took off her mask and pulled back her hood to scratch her fingers through the crop of sandy blonde hair she had underneath. She felt tired, drained, and not just because of her work finding the Sinister Susans all night. Her mind swam over the possibilities the multi-verse offered. This world, this universe was a dangerous temptation. A world where her family and loved ones hadn’t been killed and were allowed to live their lives to the fullest.

Her brother and friend were alive, and… Ben was married? With children of his own? Johnny seems so mature now. Yes, he still showed some childish moments, but the hot-headed side of him seemed to have cooled some. And then there was Reed. Her dearest Reed. Pausing, she breathed in deeply and closed her eyes. Clasping her hands to her heart, to see him again after so long, she broke down there and then when she appeared in the lab. She wasn’t ashamed of her moment of weakness, who would she judge under the same circumstances?

“You continue to dwell on what was the past and not in the here and now.”

Frowning, she didn’t open her eyes, knowing full well who loomed over her, stamping his staff at his feet as his beak tilted to whisper into her ear.

“He is not your Reed Richards. He is gone and avenged. This world is not your own, their lives are not yours to live in. We are here for one thing and one thing alone; to enact my justice where it is needed. There is nothing else here for you.”

Silent for a minute, Susan’s mind raced with that painful, bitter truth. He was right. Everything around her was a cruel testament to what could have been but wasn’t. But then another truth came to mind, one she learned the other day when speaking with the family who live here.

“This world… This world has a Moon Knight of its own.”

Hearing a quick stamp of Khonshu’s staff, the Egyptian god sounded disgruntled at the statement.

“DO NOT speak of that apostate!” Scoffed the God, bristling. “Marc Spectre carries out his duties, but he has time and again questioned me on all things. He refuses to commit himself fully, despite my best efforts to… Remind him of the consequences.”

Her eyes opened, she looked over her shoulder, scowling back at her deity. “Then you DO know him.”

Remaining silent, Khonshu’s expression was mute.

“You know about this world’s Moon Knight… And I assume all Moon Knights across all the other worlds of the multi-verse. How many times did my fate play out across infinite, that you watched that day play out on a million different realities, JUST to find the right one and ask me to be yours?”

Shifting his staff from one hand to the other, Khonshu did not answer, the disembodied crane’s skull turned away expressionless as always.

“IF you could see there was a possibility of saving me, saving them, ALL OF THEM. Why didn’t you take that? Across ALL realities…”

Raising a free hand, the Egyptian god clenched his fist. For a moment she feared he might strike her, and for that moment she would have been correct when he served a right hook that never took purchase. His arm passing through her like a ghost, opening his hand and waving his incorporeal arm around where she stood, passing through her like an illusion. Clutching his staff with both hands again, Khonshu moved to stand in front of Susan, staring down at her with the empty eye sockets of his skull.

“Justice can only exist in consequence to an injustice child.” He stated, matter of fact, his voice now softer, losing its sharp edge. “Do you not believe I would not try with all I have to protect everyone and everything if it were within my power? There are things I cannot do, so I act through my knights.” Raising his hand again, he clenched it into a fist for her to see. “YOU are my fist; YOU are my will on the mortal realms to protect those who cannot be protected. And I chose you because you were the only one capable of seeing that justice through.”

“I… I understand.” Closing her eyes again, Susan held back tears, slowly nodding her head until she opened them again. “I understand.”

“Understand what?”

Gasping with her eyes open and a hot blush on her face, Susan found herself looking up at Reed exiting his bedroom and scratching at his beard, still waking up when he closed the door behind him and approached the woman on his way to the living room. The sight of him would have been ridiculous. Weaing blue fuzzy slippers, shorts and a night coat left open where he wore a t-shirt, she remembered him having back in university; the periodic table stencilled into the front and showing its age. To her it was the wonderful allure of nostalgia.

“I…” Wiping a tear from her eye, she was caught off guard when Reed stepped forward and wiped her cheek with his thumb.

“I know being in a different universe can be… Disorienting, we had quite a few guests who found the experience overwhelming.” Reed offered, smiling back at the woman who continued to simply stand there with her hands under her chin. “If it makes you feel better, HERBIE makes some pretty good fried eggs and toast, I tried doing it on my own for Suzie one morning and… Well, Heh…”

She knew he wasn’t her Reed, HER Reed died 15 years ago, along with her brother and friend back in Egypt. He looked… Older than he was, with a beard, and some grey streaks in his hair she found endearing. So much like him, yet not. But seeing him in front of her like this, in the flesh, all she wanted to do was reach out to him. Grab him by the hem of his sweater and pull him in for a kiss and just bury her face in his shoulder. But… She couldn’t. He wasn’t her Reed.

“I’m… I’m sorry, that’s rather sweet but, I…”

“BREAKFAST!!!”

“COME ON MOM!”

Distracted, Susan was surprised when two pairs of small hands grabbed her own and tugged at her to follow them, being lead back where she came from by both Valaria and Franklin who had been the ones to grab her hands and drag her back. The three cutting past Daredevil who pressed up against the wall with a smile on her face to get out of their way, listening to the two kids drag the version of their mother into the living room and telling her what they were going to do.

The woman’s smile was impish as she listened in, knowing full well what her compatriot was in for.

“They seem like a handful.”

“They can be quite energetic; I don’t know where they get that from really.”

Shrugging to the blue clad woman, Reed followed the rest of his family as Suzie yawned into her hand, her smile never leaving her lips as she heard the two children pull on the woman’s arms until she relented and sat at the table.

“Hmm, looks like only ONE of us is getting a good morning’s sleep.