That Ol' Second Hand Parker Luck at the Baxter Building, plus Gwen meets a peer

The Baxter Building
Day 10 P.G.R.

"I'm a little surprised how good a turnout we got," Mary Jane was saying. Gwen had rejoined her, and they were chatting with a small group of people. That those people included legends had kind of worn Gwen down.

"I am not," T'Challa said. The monarch smiled tightly. "It is a topic of significant interest to many, especially the more we encounter it. Among many cultures, my own included, it is known that **** is a journey with many possible destinations."

"I'd like to hear more details about your methodology," a handsome, mature man said, smiling. His name was Donald Blake, and he was a medical doctor. "Obviously standard diagnostic equipment won't begin to meet the need. You'll need some pretty esoteric gear, much of it built to purpose."

"We have an on-staff technologist who's used to thinking outside the box," Gwen said, smiling broadly. "He's looking forward to the challenge."

"Oh?" Dr. Blake asked, eyebrows arched. "Who, if I can ask."

"You may indeed ask. Peter Parker. Which can't come as a surp--"

"Peter Parker?"

The new speaker was off to the side. He was with the Stark contingent -- young, with slightly messy hair and warm light brown skin.

"That's right, Tim. Peter Parker." Mary Jane turned. "Gwen, this is Tim Cababa -- he was part of the Resilient team and moved up to Stark Unlimited after the merger. Tim--"

"Yeah yeah. Hi, MJ. I thought you finally cut that parasite out of your life!" Cababa shook his head. "I'm glad you're not here looking for money because clearly you're doomed!"

"I don't think there's any need for that kind of histrionic--" Doctor Blake began to say.

"Oh there's plenty of need!" Cababa pointed at Mary Jane. "I shelled out seven hundred bucks for one of your ex's Webwares! He promised unlimited worldwide internet! I bought a second for my mother! They turned out to be fourteen hundred bucks of ugly bracelets! But what can we expect -- the man lied about his degree! He lied his way right out of every job he ever had! He promises the world and never--"

"Don't act like you know Peter Parker!" Gwen snapped, face twisting in rage. "You just stand there and--"

The room was silent. "--and... and...." Gwen flushed, and looked around.

She blinked. No one was reacting to her outburst. In fact, they looked frozen in place, Cababa's angry finger still pointing at Mary Jane. Mary Jane looked annoyed, but was holding it together.

Gwen looked around some more. Literally everyone had stopped moving. The room was entirely silent. "H-hello?" she asked.

"Hello. Don't be nervous. It's all right."

Gwen blinked. The voice was a woman's, warm and soothing. She turned to look...

It was a red haired woman easily as beautiful as Mary Jane Watson, if not moreso. She was in a green business suit not unlike Gwen's, but it looked almost more like a mantle across her shoulders. Her green eyes were warm, as was her smile. "Hi," she said, softly. "My name's Jean. And... I apologize, but I'm in your thoughts telepathically. That's how we can talk like this... in between the ticking of the second hand."

"I know who you are," Gwen said, a bit wide eyed, looking around. "I know... you're... you were the Phoenix, but you aren't now. At all. And you were a founding X-Man and... and why are... you... doing this?"

"You know a lot about me. And... I'm gathering a lot about a lot of people, without quite knowing how." She smiled a bit. "Believe it or not, I know how that feels. In fact... I know... possibly more about how you're feeling right now than any living person. If 'living' is even the right word for those such as we?" She smirked. "'Such as we.' Charles would adore that phrase."

"You've... you were dead."

"Yes. I've died... well, I believe the official count is four times. That doesn't count the time my friend Wolverine stabbed me in the heart so I wouldn't asphyxiate. We had words about that after I came back to life. Or the many, many times he stabbed me to **** in a row while the Phoenix **** kept bringing me back, weakening it until I could get it under control. There's a few other times, too. Oh! And... I got cloned, too! Her name was Madelyne Pryor. She married the man I loved and had a baby with him. She was a pawn in an evil cloner's master plan. She ultimately became a **** of ultimate evil and died and came back two or three times herself and I got all her memories integrated into mine. Oh, and an evil psychotic mastermind -- actually literally called Mastermind -- manipulated and seduced me, which ultimately led to the Dark Phoenix and my first ****." Jean laughed, lightly. "Gwen? There is no one else who gets you as well as I do, right now. Especially..."

"Especially... what?"

"Especially the anger. The rage. The confusion and misery that you feel almost dirty for feeling because you've been so blessed as to have a chance to come back. I get that. It's like the grief process, but times a hundred because everyone else around you isn't grieving, they're overjoyed because 'you're back,' when from your point of view you didn't go anywhere. And you're still writing a year from last decade on your checks and people stare at you like you're nuts for having checks. And that doesn't even cover smartphones."

Gwen stared, then snickered. "Mary Jane bought groceries with an app. Because that makes so much more sense then actually going to a grocery store."

"Storm made fun of me for buying a CD box set, because all those songs were available on 'Spotify,' like that's even a word."

They both laughed then.

Gwen finally stopped, and looked off to the side. "...I'm so scared and angry all the time," Gwen said, softly. "They... they made my murderer the Director of H.A.M.M.E.R. And it's not like they didn't know he killed me. They just didn't care."

"Yeah, they did." Jean kept smiling, but sighed. "This telepathic semi-former supervillain seduced my husband telepathically, ultimately breaking the two of us up. I've saved her life since then... six? I want to say six times. And every time I want to scream at her over Scott. Especially since his own ****... known the world over as a terrorist and the man who killed our joint mentor and father figure. Gwen, I'd love to say it gets easier but it doesn't. It sucks and it will suck for a long time. It's like you've moved to a new city but it's almost exactly like the old one and you keep tripping up. I know. Just like I know you were about to let the mind bogglingly angry freakout you've been bottling up for days out all over that idiot Stark brought along. So... I pulled you in here. Because... I know how it feels and I wish someone had done the same for me a couple times."

"...he made me so mad. And here's Reed Richards, who never even apologized for..."

"For ruining Peter's life, getting his beloved Aunt almost killed, betraying and lying to him, and ultimately making him sacrifice his marriage to Satan's... brother? Alter ego? Honestly not sure what Mephisto is."

Gwen blinked. "...how do you know that?"

"The same way you do. I was dead when Mephisto pulled his scam. I was dead when Doctor Strange wiped everyone's memory of Peter's identity. I know about Mephisto in particular because his name's being screamed in your head over and over again. It's hard to screen it out sometimes."

"I... I need to get... better at--"

"I can help you with that. I'd like to help you with that." Jean looked back at Reed. "And he is sorry. He is so sorry. But Reed doesn't know how to be sorry. So he retreats into the work and into 'it was necessary' and 'according to his calculations.' That's why Sue, Ben, and Johnny are so important to him. They... edge him into the side of humanity he can't understand at all." She shook her head. "I didn't even cover my latest ****. The one no one even thinks about."

"...what... what do you mean?"

Jean sighed, looking over at where Hank McCoy was frozen like the rest. "Hank wanted to pull Scott back from the abyss. So he plucked all of us out of time, right at the beginning. Scott, Warren, Bobby, Hank, and me -- all bright eyed and idealistic. And we ended up being here in the future for a lot longer than anyone expected. And finally we all had to go back or time would... break. I guess. Which means that Jean Grey had to go back knowing -- knowing -- that she would encounter the Phoenix, that an entire star system would be consumed by the Phoenix. That she would die, again and again and again. That she would fall in love with Scott twice, and marry him twice, and both versions of her would die and he'd also cheat on her. And she chose to do it. She went back, and everything she was here -- all her memories and experiences and knowledge and revelations vanished in that instant, because none of that was part of my history." She paused. "Until she went back, and suddenly it was all in my head. All our heads -- those of us still alive, anyway. Just like Madelyne, she was me but not me. Just like Madelyne she died. And just like Madelyne all she was ended up in my brain. And no one mourns her because I'm right here and she's where she's supposed to be."

"And you... want to help others going through that?"

"Of course. I want to help others. And help all of you study the process. And... I... would like very much to be one of Inanna's clients."

"Cli-- oh."

"Gwen... can I call you Gwen?"

"Sure."

"Gwen... I have devoted my multiple lives to Mutant rights, to advocacy, to fighting evil. I want this one part of my life -- my experience -- to be that one time I can turn to other people and say 'I can't cope with all this. Please don't make me be strong again.'"

Gwen nodded. "Jean... of course. Of course we'll help." She paused. "There... I should mention there's more to Inanna than... might appear on the surface."

"There always is. Maybe I can help there, too."

Gwen looked Jean up and down. "...yeah, I think maybe. So... what now? I'm calm so you'll start time back up and I can listen to that guy bad-mouth Peter? Like everyone else?"

"Now? You're calm, so I'll start time back up. But Gwen?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't listen to that guy bad-mouth Peter Parker. Listen... and look... at everyone else. It's easy to feel all alone. Trust me. I got the joys of being both a telepath and a mutant all through my teen years. But sometimes, we're not alone."

Gwen blinked. "Okay...?"

"Just... watch. And listen."

Things began to move, Cababa still ranting. "--romises the world and never delivers! And you expect me to be--"

"Mister Cababa."

Cababa paused, turning. "Wha--" He froze.

Reed Richards was there, staring into his eyes. "The Future Foundation had occasion to draw upon Peter Parker's expertise in certain areas I'm not at liberty to discuss. However, I think it is safe to say that I am alive, you are alive, and every person in this universe is alive thanks to his efforts. Whatever your opinions? I'd prefer you leave them out of this building."

"Mister Cababa," T'Challa said, stepping forward, eyes narrowed. "I assume you're quite good at your work, since Mister Stark chose to bring you along with the other experts he wanted to see this presentation. However, there is a skill that a warrior must have... a skill that a businessman should have in equal measure. For warriors, it is called 'situational awareness.' For businessmen, it is called 'reading the room.' Perhaps you should do that, now?"

Cababa blinked, looking around. Gwen did the same.

Kitty Pride and Hank McCoy. Janet Van Dyne and Jennifer Walters. Not just Reed Richards but all four of the Fantastic Four. Stephen Strange. Even Steven Rogers, and Gwen wasn't sure when he even came in.

All staring at Tim Cababa.

All pissed.

Gwen's eyes widened. X-Men and Avengers and more... she'd known before now that Spider-Man was counted in their company. She'd even known he was well liked.

In that second, Peter Parker -- the boyfriend she'd thought was unreliable... Spider-Man, who she'd believed responsible for her father's ****... all of that almost fell into place like pieces in a larger puzzle. She had knowledge that Ovyah had given her, certainly... but that wasn't always the same as knowing something.

And what Gwen realized... what Gwen now knew... was that the greatest heroes Earth had ever produced didn't see Spider-Man as a nuisance, or a tag-a-long, or a failure, or unreliable.

They saw him as a peer. They saw him as a hero. And they believed in him.

Tears touched Gwen's eyes, and she blinked them away. She didn't want to _over-_react and maybe out Peter's secret--

"Hey, Tim," Tony said, walking over. His anger was palpable, which meant he retreated even deeper into his persona. "You lost... what... fourteen hundred? Tell you what." He pulled out a money clip... "Here's... got to remember to hit an ATM... right. Here's two thousand dollars." He smacked it down into Cababa's hand. "I'm purchasing this one very specific piece of Parker Industries's ongoing liability. This does not constitute an offer in kind for anyone else -- just putting that out there. Congratulations. You have now officially lost nothing. Buy your Mom a nice phone. Starkline by preference. And get yourself one too, while you're at it. Make sure you put your calendar on it, since you have a 10 am tomorrow with Ms. Arbogast and, oh, let's throw out the possibility I might be there too. Y'know. To discuss expectations of decorum." Tony looked at Gwen. "Hear that? Me, berating someone else for behaving badly. This is a banner day. Speaking of -- is Bruce showing up? Oh, no. Right. He's currently in slow-piano-walking-while-hitchhiking mode. Very sad. Make a good Manga."

"T-Tony," Cababa said. "I'm... sorry. You know... I flew... I mean I--"

"Shh. Tomorrow. Ten A.M. Meanwhile? Maybe head back to the office. You came in the carpool, right? Maybe take the train back. Or walk. It's a lovely day out there. Grab a crab puff on your way. They're sublime."

A hand touched Gwen's shoulder. She glanced over.

"See?" Jean asked, softly. "Sometimes, you're not alone at all. Even when everyone wants you to believe you are."