Shmd

Heya, new chapter!

What the hell is that title anyway?

Happy reading,

With love, Sh'.

PS : I just noticed that someone gave the story a one star ratting and I'm sulking mightily.

 

Chapter 55 : Tempus fugit (Sexier than Jeff Goldblum/A gifted child)

 

The Mirror Dimension, image of Manhattan, 10th of March, 14:24

 

“This is for me?” Jessica asks, a little perplexed.

 

“Yup.” Flash lightly answers as he hands her a massive briefcase which would favorably compare to a medium sized suitcase.

 

She takes it with some hesitation under the amused looks of two spider girls, one hugging symbiote and I.

 

Her arms strain a little under the unexpected weight that Flash’s arms had no difficulty to carry until now and she winces.

 

“What did you put in that?” She asks as she crouches on the ground next to it, “It must weigh as much as a dead donkey!”

 

“Why ask me when you can open the damn briefcase?” Flash deadpans.

 

Cindy and I chuckle while Gwen throws him a look.

 

“Fine, I’m opening it, smart ass.” Jessica grumbles while flicking open the briefcase’s locks.

 

Her mouth hangs open when she sees what’s inside.

 

Seeing her reaction, Cindy and Gwen clutter around her to watch over her shoulders.

 

“Wow.” Cindy comments, a little awed.

 

“That looks impressive.” Gwen adds, her eyes narrowing as she studies the briefcase’s content.

 

I, of course, already know what’s inside since I contributed to its design.

 

“How do I put it?” Jessica asks aloud, a little dazzled.

 

“This is a prototype so, for now, with a lot of elbow grease.” Flash answers with a smirk, “And a little help from my part.”

 

Two of his fingers fuse to form an automatic screwdriver that powers up with a shrill sound in the guise of a ponctuation to his sentence.

 

“Alright, do your worst then.” Jessica answers with an excited smile.

 

“With pleasure,” Flash jokes aloud, “Now stand back a little, spread your legs a bit… Like that, yes… And now make a T pose with your arms… Perfect.”

 

The briefcases’ contents start to levitate around Jessica’s body as she follows Flash’s instructions.

 

“This will take a few minutes, try to not move too much please.” He comments aloud as he steps next to her.

 

Cindy and Gwen step back next to me as the screwdriver is powered up once more.

 

“He already made a viable model in this little time?” Gwen asks, a little bit amazed at Flash newfound engineering fiber.

 

“Well, he told me he was getting extremely bored in class and tends to lose himself in new schematics while recording what happens with one ear.” I answer nonplussed.

 

The fact that he also kind of threw himself in his ‘work’ after the Hand incident is also to blame.

 

The others know that we did a ‘supply run’ that got ‘a little pear-shaped’, but Flash and I haven’t really talked about it at length with them.

 

“I wish I’d be able to do that.” Cindy grumbles, “High school is slowly killing me with boredom these days.”

 

Iris and I side-eye her judgingly.

 

She squirms a little under our gazes and Gwen’s amused one.

 

“I remember telling you that you needed to find something to do or you'd go crazy because of all the time you’re letting fly by uselessly.” I tell her in a monotone.

 

Cindy winces a bit.

 

“I know that, it’s just…” She hesitates.

 

“You don’t really know what to make of it?” Gwen offers, having relatively well pegged the girl after a month and a half spent talking with her regularly.

 

“Yeah…” Cindy concedes, eyes going downcast, “Sciences aren’t really my forte, I’m only in Midtown because mum forced me to after all.”

 

“Well, what would you want to do then?” I ask while gesturing in her direction with one hand, my other arm folded across my chest.

 

“I don’t know.” Cindy answers, clearly frustrated, “I guess I’ll have to think about it. I’ve spent so much time bemoaning my sudden lack of interest in sports and finding an outlet in web slinging that I haven’t really thought about it.”

 

“That and going out with Hector while you’re not training with us now that your mother isn’t on your back 24/7.” Gwen innocently points out.

 

Iris and I laugh as Cindy blushes.

 

“...Maybe a little.” She concedes, eyes shifting, “I can’t help but think he’s going to be disappointed when I’ll announce that I’m leaving the team next week, so I may have stuck closer to him than usual just in case before I make the announcement.”

 

“You’ve decided, I'll take it?” I ask archingly.

 

“Hell, I was already convinced after the first practice.” She sighs, “You were right, suddenly finding that you’re better than everybody else isn’t peak entertainment.”

 

“Oh, I have a vague idea.” I answer evenly, “My body’s specs are olympian athlete level and they can’t deteriorate since I’m constantly healing against them getting worse.”

 

That’s actually the reason why I have rather thick thighs, little lady abs and barely chiseled upper body muscles. Iris made it so I had a runner’s physique in case I ever needed to flee while powerless, which I consider a thoughtful touch on her part.

I barely paid attention to it at first since I was generally too busy looking at my hips and ass in the bathroom the first few days, but suddenly outperforming the feminine school team’s best track runner with barely an effort while unpowered on the tuesday morning after the most eventful week of my life clued me that something fishy was going on.

I was now trying really hard to underperform beneath her and constantly praying that everyone would forget about that particular performance.

 

I really, really didn't want to be forced to join the team.

 

“I too have a vague idea.” Gwen adds with a slightly pinched expression.

 

If Cindy and Flash had to be discreet about their speed and strength while pretending to be perfectly normal humans at school, Gwen definitely had it a lot worse.

Mind you, Flash technically is the strongest of the two but he definitely has an easier time fine-tuning his body parameters to appear human-like.

 

Gwen does not and her personal time dilation effect is more powerful that Cindy’s. Fifteen seconds to Cindy’s eleven, which is already very impressive in itself.

 

Let’s just say that our first sports’ class together after our respective changes had been full of surprises and mishaps and accept that we don’t talk about it anymore.

 

Iris still laughs about it from time to time when we enter the girl’s locker room on Tuesday mornings.

 

I do too.

 

“Yeah but both of you hate sports as a matter of principle.” Cindy scowls, “I’m the one who got her favored physical outlet ruined for life.”

 

“We get to learn spider kung-fu.” Gwen points out.

 

“And it’s amazing but I’m beginning to get tired of having my ass handed to me by a sparring partner who’s both faster and stronger than me.” Cindy deadpans as she pointedly looks at her, “What I used to appreciate in sports was the contest of skill, all other things being sort of equal.That feeling of having to push your limits even further to gain the advantage against clever opponents.” 

 

“Now if I compete I’d be a total fraud that abuses her magical spider voodoo to rack up easy gold medals.” She complains while pinching the bridge of her nose.

 

“There, there.” I say soothingly while patting her on the shoulder, Iris mirroring me.

 

“The Ancient One said that you should catch up with my abilities soon enough since we managed to sync our matrices.” Gwen adds.

 

“I know.” Cindy answers while flicking her right wrist, manifesting one of her fangs, “Doesn’t mean I can’t be a little bit frustrated because you run circles around me in the meantime.”

 

“All done.” Flash comments aloud as he steps back, capturing our attention.

 

Jessica is looking at her armor-clad hands with her eyes twinkling in wonder.

 

The Fly-1 model, Flash’s designation not mine, is rather sleek looking. It is composed of interlocking metallic plates that slot together hermetically when the screws are tightened appropriately.

It’s actually rather close to the Iron Man Suit MK1 Stark built in the movie in how similar that aspect is.

 

The armor itself is matte gunmetal since I pointed out that it wasn’t worth it to paint a prototype that will double as a training tool to Jessica. It looks like it fit her like a glove and Flash blessedly forwent the boob armor trope. It isn’t blocky, favoring a quasi human-like freedom of movements for its user.

 

The armor is actually just that, an armor. Its inner layer isn’t even made of kevlar or any kind of bulletproof fiber for now since it’s Flash’s first try, just five millimeters thick metallic plates everywhere. There’s no built-in exoskeleton nor embarked AI.

But what kind of innate flyers with superstrength needs it anyway?

 

The faceplate is a simple visor jutting forward, both for aerodynamism and intimidation purposes, the helmet as a whole giving off a feeling of aggression. As a ponctuation to the sleek and relatively tight fitting armor, it gives a really strong predatory vibe.

 

Strangely, it suits her.

 

“Wow, it’s frickin’ heavy.” Jessica exclaims, her voice muffled by the helmet, as she starts to levitate.

 

“That’s the point actually.” I butt in, “Since putting you under a greater strain increases your capabilities, the Fly-1 model was made purposefully heavier than it should be to accelerate the rate at which they grow. The metallic plates are multi-layered, with one made of pure lead encased into two layers of steel.”

 

“Isn’t lead, like, toxic?” Cindy asks, a little wide-eyed.

 

“It is, but only if ingested or in the blood.” I confirm, “That’s why it’s an armor only designed for training purposes during which nobody is going to shoot at her with armor piercing ammunition. As long as the casing isn’t breached, it’ll be totally fine. But once she got the real deal after practicing Fly-poera with that chunky thing, she’ll kick ass.”

 

“What about weapon systems?” Gwen asks as she side-eye me, “I remember you telling Jess’ that you’d give her some ranged options so she doesn’t have to really commit because it was stupid to go in close quarter when you can endlessly fly around.”

 

“And I will die standing on that hill.” I answer with a smirk.

 

“I’m still perfecting the schematics.” Flash explains in my stead since he is the lead designer of the project, “But the operation viable model will have both lethal and non-lethal options.”

 

“How lethal are we talking about?” Jessica asks as she starts flying wobblily around.

 

“Well, there’s that crate of .50 ammo we miraculously stumbled upon together with Aria that would be left unattended if we didn’t find something to do with it.” Flash answers evasively.

 

I groan.

 

That whole outing was a disaster that keeps on giving if he’s now obsessed with equipping an angsty teen that barely managed to get better after all the shits that have been thrown at her with military grade weaponry.

 

“Don’t you think it’s a little too much?” I ask while pinching my nose.

 

“But she can totally handle the recoil! I’ve done the math!” He protest arms akimbo.

 

“Yeah, yeah, but you are getting so preoccupied with whether or not she can that you don’t stop to think if she shall.” I answer back with a glare.

 

Flash blinks.

 

His eyes narrow.

 

“Did you just misquote Jurassic Park to me?” He asks suspiciously.

 

“I’ve absolutely no idea what you’re talking about.” I answer innocently while a series of chuckles erupts around me.

 

“My blood-sister is way sexier than Jeff Goldblum anyway.” Iris adds helpfully while nuzzling my cheek.

 

“Traitor.” I say while directing a glare at her as the three girls laugh once more.

 

“You absolutely did!” Flash sputters with outrage.

 

“I plead the Fifth.” I drawl back at him.

 

“That doesn’t work like that!” He shoot back.

 

“It totally should.” I answer while nodding sagely.

 

“You’re infuriating.” He deadpans.

 

“Just the way you love me!” I gush with a falsetto.

 

“Please, make it end.” Flash asks while looking skyward, undoubtedly begging for a superior power to intercede on his behalf.

 

“Twinsies for life!” I exclaim while hugging him before he can react.

 

“Karma is such a fucking bitch.” He mock-whines as a smile tugs the corners of his lips, the first genuine one since our encounter with the Hand’s ninjas.

 

Iris and I mentally shake hands, satisfied by a job well done.

 

***

The Mirror Dimension, image of Manhattan, 24th of March, 14:38, in Daniel Drumm’s mind.

 

Daniel Drumm was struck speechless.

 

Earlier today at the start of their session, he had lent young Jessie a Sling Ring, thinking nothing of it. It had been supposed to be a teaching tool to teach her how to focus on a proper image while simultaneously doing the correct somatic gestures.

 

Telling an initiate to draw a perfect circle in the air right in front of them until it worked usually taught them the values of patience, focus and determination.

 

He had figured the young girl would be stuck throwing constipated looks toward the image of the Sanctum’s walls for weeks, gaining him enough time to plan their future sessions.

 

It had taken less than half an hour to learn the trick just right, undervaluing the value of the lesson by a landslide in the process.

 

On the bright side, he was for once properly amazed.

 

That didn’t happen quite as often as it used to.

 

Young Jessie was visually vibrating with excitement in front of the aperture that she had opened across both one dimension and space onto what he strongly suspected to be her home's kitchen.

 

In front of the countertop, Rosie Thompson was standing, looking very wide-eyed, her mug of coffee having fallen from her hand in shock when the phenomenon happened.

 

“Mom!” The girl excitedly screamed before bolting through the aperture, “Look! Look! I know how to create a portal now!”

Daniel actually got to hear the second part with something of a distortion, what with sounds behaving strangely when encountering a hole in the fabric of space.

 

“That’s great, sweety.” The Thompson’s matron answered, locking eyes with Daniel across the portal, “Now, give me a hug, then you’ll go back to your lesson.”

 

“Alright!” The young girl cheerfully answered, stepping into her mother’s waiting arms.

 

Daniel and Rosie kept staring at each other for the whole hug's duration.

 

The child was a magical prodigy. He had never seen such an innate understanding of magic in anyone before. Aside from their lessons on Sanskrit where she had some difficulties, she was absorbing esoteric knowledges like a sponge drinks water.

 

Even if she wasn’t Fated to be a vessel for the Vishantis’ power like the Ancient One had been, she definitely had one of the brightest futures as a sorceress he had ever seen.

 

“Off you go, now.” Rosie gently chided her youngest, her eyes finally leaving Daniel’s to look at her child, “You shouldn’t be wasting any more of Mr. Drumm’s time, after all.”

 

Jessie nodded once to her mother with a bright smile, before crossing the portal back to the Sanctum and letting it smoothly fade behind her.

 

“What’s next, Master?” The girl beamed at him.

 

Daniel’s mouth finally closed, having had the common sense to remain properly opened until now.

 

And his own common sense was slowly yet decisively starting to run low since he had started teaching the human shaped mass of cheerfulness that constantly managed to make him feel inadequate as a sorcerer himself.

 

“Well,” He answered, joining his hands in the crook of his back to get back a smidgen of his countenance while trying to come up with something to distract her, “I think it’s time I’ll show you Kamar’Taj, initiate. It’s wonderful at this time of the year.”

 

“Yeah!” Jessie exclaimed, hopping in place like an hyperactive bunny, “I can’t wait!”

 

On account of feeling a bit lost as to what to do with such a gifted child, Daniel resolved to hand back this particular problem to the Ancient One as soon as he could.

 

She was the one supposed to teach the prodigies after all, not him.

 

A fate he estimated himself to be very lucky to side-step considering the future headaches she was guaranteed to suffer because of what she once dismissed as a simple promise.