marysuevirus | Invasion:MSV Chapter 3

Damn... that was quicker than I thought it would be... hmm... I'm not sure how I feel about this chapter. I can't tell if that's because of some of the story points or if its a reflection on the quality of the writing... I hope it's the first option. lol Oh, and ldf... I hope you like my take on Dare. :) I figured she did a little growing up in the past two years (the time difference between the Mutant Sue Virus and this). Okay, I'll stop with the babbling... yikes! Wow... I should really go to bed... Oh! The translation for Piotr's little outburst! I'm not going to give it to you. :P Use your imagination, and if you really want to know, I might tell you what it really means. lol

Title: Invasion:MSV
Fandom: Marvel Universe
Rating: 18+
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the recognizable characters here. They and the world this is set in are the property of Marvel Entertainment. The Purple Team is the property of ginevrasm, ladydeathfaerie, sessys_fangirl, nanaeanaven and dazzledfirestar. They are not to be used without permission. I make no money from this, and it is simply a form of entertainment.
Warnings: graphic M/F sex (not in this chapter though), language and as always... ANGST

Haley felt the truck jump to life as she slumped in the back. The gathering of superheroes had gotten some transports to shuttle everyone that was leaving back to the X-Mansion. She looked around at her team and the other people that had crammed in with them. She felt unsettled, and she couldn’t put her finger on just why she felt that way. No, that wasn’t right. She looked around the truck again, her gaze falling on a solitary blond in the back. She knew what it was; she just didn’t want to admit it. Piotr’s good bye hadn’t help any either. Just a kiss on the cheek and instructions to get on the nearest truck. He wasn’t even watching the truck leave now. Hank, Logan, Remy, Warren… they were watching the women they love leave… but not her stoic Russian boyfriend. She sighed heavily and rubbed her temple a bit. She scolded herself for thinking about such unimportant things while the world was in danger. She took one more look at the collection of men standing around as the truck moved away.

“You’re a fucking idiot, you know that?” Piotr turned around to see who had the balls to talk to him like that. He wasn’t really surprised at who it was. “This could be he last time you see her and all you do is give her a kiss on the cheek and say ‘It’s been swell, sweetheart’?”

“I would not expect you to understand.” Piotr continued the menial tasks that he’d be working on since they started loading the trucks.

“No, of course not.” Johnny shook his head and turned to walk away. “She deserves better than that.”

“Tell me why this is any of your business?” Piotr stood and faced him. Johnny didn’t back down, but for once he didn’t seem to have an answer. “She knows my feelings for her.”

“And that means you don’t tell her now at the end of the fucking world?” If anyone cared to look, they’d see that Johnny’s hands were beginning to glow a little red and the muscles in his jaw were starting to tense. “Are you crazy?”

“I ask again, what business is it of yours?” Piotr’s skin glimmered a little in the dim light, a sure sign that he was ready for a fight.

“Because if you hurt her, we get to find out the melting point of organic steel.” Each man took another step closer, and several of the people nearby had either stopped what they were doing to watch what would happen, or had taken several steps back to get themselves a safe distance away. A few went to get someone to help stop it before it started.

Hank made it over first. “Perhaps gentlemen, it would be best for all involved if you both just walked away.” Neither of them moved. “I have no doubt that Miss Stone would not appreciate the two of you thumping your chests at each other while the world is literally at stake.”

Logan was now standing just behind Hank. He knew that if Colossus decided to, there was nothing either he or Beast could do to stop him from beating the Torch to a pulp… literally. He started to breathe a little easier as the Thing made his way over. “Come on, Pete.” He kept his voice low.

Johnny felt a large rocky hand on his shoulder, and turned, just enough to see Ben shaking his head. “Alright.” He shrugged Ben’s hand off and took off in a flash of flame.

Piotr turned and walked away, muttering to himself in Russian. “Khuyesos'.” He practically bit the word off as the muscles in his jaw tensed.

As he passed Hank, a shocked look fell on the face of the doctor. “Piotr! I have never known you to use such language!” The Russian didn’t stop. He just kept walking until he found something he could do to help with the situation. If he kept busy, he would find it much easier to keep himself calm.

Logan looked at Hank for a moment. “What’d he say?”

“I don’t think you really want to know.”

Logan moved after Colossus and eventually caught up with him. “Ya know I’m not one to get involved in people’s business.”

“Then don’t, tovarisch.”

Logan frowned. “Is Cyclops giving you a hard time about Haley again?”

“No. What would give you that idea?” Piotr turned to face the smaller man.

“Well,” Logan scratched the back of his neck, looking for the right words. He wouldn’t have gotten involved, in fact, he really didn’t want to, but if they got out of this alive… well, Haley was important to Dare. “You seemed a bit… short with Haley.”

“Not you too, Logan.” Piotr turned and picked up one the folding tables and began carrying it to the makeshift command centre.

“Just don’t wanna see ya screw up a good thing, Pete.” Before Piotr could respond, Logan had disappeared in the crowds of superheroes.

Johnny circled several hundred feet up for some time, trying to clear his head. What the hell had made him pick a fight like that? While he’d be the first to admit that self control wasn’t on the list of virtues he possessed, the oversized tin can had been right. Whatever was between him and Haley was none of Johnny’s business.

The thing was she’d haunted him. He’d run over every moment, trying to figure out what he could have done to make her feel better about the situation. It had taken a long time for him to realize that if she felt she couldn’t handle being with him, there was nothing he could do to change her mind. On the surface, he’d stayed the same old Torch. There’d be the usual string of nameless beautiful women, but in the back of his head, she was always there. Was she the one? He’d almost laughed at that thought. He wasn’t exactly the marrying kind… but for her…

None of that mattered though. It’d been a long time ago, and she had obviously moved on with her life. So why had seeing her stirred up all those feelings again, and why did he get so angry at Colossus? He shook his head as he sped toward the ground. Once there, Ben was close at hand.

“What got you all worked up back there?” A stony frown was etched on Ben’s face.

“You know, frowning isn’t going to make you any prettier.”

“Come on, kid.” Ben held him by the shoulder.

“It’s nothing. It was stupid.” Johnny shrugged.

“You ain’t kiddin’.” Ben let him go. “She wouldn’t want to see you get pounded into a puddle, kid. You know that.” He shrugged again, this time taking off into the crowd a little faster. “Can’t run away from it forever.” Ben sighed heavily. Somethings, he figured, you had to learn from experience.

Haley was sitting away from the team. Usually she hated being alone. Her mind would run away with her if she let it, and that’s exactly what it was doing now. A soft voice brought her back to herself. “He misses you, Haley.” She turned, somewhat shocked not only by who was now sitting next to her, but by what she was saying.

“Sue? What… it was a long time ago.” She said the words as if she wasn’t just trying to convince Sue, but herself. Something had, for lack of a better word, sparked in the back of her mind that she hadn’t even dared to think on in years. She took a deep breath, pushing it all back down. “I’m with Piotr now. I love him.” It was absolutely the truth. How could she not love him? They’d been together nearly four years. He was everything a girl could want. Dependable, sweet, talented not to mention absolutely gorgeous. Sure she had to push for any sort of spontaneity… which negated the desired effect, and he had the slightest obsession with presenting the proper face to the world, even if it meant keeping her at arms length at times. But he was the right choice. The little voice in her head nearly laughed. He was the safe choice. You were too afraid to make any other choice. Sue looked as convinced as the little voice in Haley’s head.

“Still, he misses you. Take that for what you will.” the blond shrugged, and left it at that.

Haley resumed staring out the back end of the truck. She shook her head and looked over at her team. None of them looked even remotely happy about the current situation. Of course, how could anyone be happy about being left out of a fight like this? She frowned and rubbed her temple a little. Sue had returned to her original seat, but the empty space was quickly occupied by one of Haley’s teammates.

“You okay? You look a little…” Haley turned toward the voice, slightly shocked by who had sat down next to her. “Well, you look like you had the shit kicked out of you.” Dare actually looked concerned, some of the bitchy façade melting away for a moment. Haley shrugged, unsure of how to put the niggling feeling in the back of her mind into words. “Mr. Muscles seemed kinda… cold.”

“Just focused.” Haley shrugged again. She didn’t like to show any form of weakness, and in her mind, whining about how her boyfriend wasn’t overly expressive in public was weak. The little voice in her head came back. You know who didn’t have a problem with public displays of affection… She quickly silenced it. Now wasn’t the time to even consider a thought like that, or what it could mean. There was too much at stake.

“That’s bullshit.” Haley’s head snapped up and she stared at Dare for a moment. “Focus is one thing, but this could be…” She didn’t finish the sentence, maybe because she didn’t want to remind Haley of what could happen, or she didn’t want to think about it herself. Haley was betting on the second option. In the silence that followed Haley resumed her staring out into the dark. A flash of flame caught her attention for a second. “Is that what this is about?”

She turned to look at Dare. “What?” Haley thanked the dark for hiding most of the blush on her cheeks. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I smell bullshit again.”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Now that I can believe.” Dare tucked her legs up under her, making herself comfortable. “But you know what I’ve figured out?” Haley frowned. “If you talk about shit, it helps sometimes.”

Haley almost laughed. “Logan tell you that?” She sighed and ran both hands through her hair. “It’ll pass.”

“If it hasn’t passed in four years, do you really think it ever will?”

“Dare…” Haley hated sitting there doing nothing but talk about how fucked up she was. If she could just be doing something, anything she wouldn’t have to think about any of it, and she could go back to being nice, normal, perfect Haley. She knew it wasn’t really the truth, but she’d be able to pretend she was nice, normal perfect Haley for at least a little while longer. “I… I need to try to figure out some plan of attack on that thing. If I had the readings that Mr. Fantastic took…”

“You know working isn’t going to make this go away.”

“It has for the past four years. And when the hell did you turn into the Dali-fucking-Lama?” She regretted saying it before it got all the way out. “I’m sorry. I just…” She sighed again. “I’m a little edgy right now. And even if I wanted to have this conversation, I wouldn’t want to do it in the back of a truck full of people.” Dare nodded. If there was anything she understood it was the feeling of wanting to lash out at everything and everyone. She got up to move back to her seat with the rest of the team. “Dare… I love Piotr.”

“I know you do.” She sat back down. “Why’d you really do it?”

“I…” Haley glanced around the truck. Everyone was busy with their own conversations, or their own thoughts. No one was paying the two of them any attention. “I was scared.”

Dare’s brow furrowed a little. “Of what?”

The million dollar question. Haley rubbed her temples a little and thought about it. There was no easy answer. Bullshit. She sighed and sucked it up. She’d figured it out a long time ago on some level, a level she didn’t like to look at, or even admit to having. “I have never felt weaker or less in control than when my brother died. I didn’t like the way that felt. That should go without saying obviously, but I swore I’d never let myself go through that again… not if I could help it. When I started seeing Piotr… I don’t know, I guess dating someone who’s practically indestructible is a pretty safe bet when you’re scared of losing the people you…” She paused for a moment. “And if something did happen, I’d be here, I could help. I could do something.”

“And Johnny?”

“Johnny’s the big what if.” Haley rested her head against the cool metal of the truck. “What if I wasn’t so afraid? What if I was stronger?”

“Do you…” Dare hesitated, unsure if she should push the subject. She wasn’t really good with this kind of thing, but she knew her friend needed to get this out. Roxxy or Jehnna, or Morgan would know exactly what to tell Haley, what to ask her, but somehow she thought it might be easier for Haley to open up to someone who wouldn’t do the normal girlfriend bullshit. She also knew what it was like to be afraid in the way Haley was describing it. Some of that had sounded very familiar. It occurred to her that maybe Haley, for all her enthusiasm, and her little miss perfect reputation was just as fucked up as the rest of them, she’d just gotten really good at hiding it. Dare was starting to think the two women had more in common than most people would think. “Do you love him?”

Haley had resumed staring out of the back of the truck again as she thought about the question. “I think…” she started slowly, not entirely sure of her answer. “I never really gave myself a chance to. But…” she swallowed hard and turned to look her friend in the eye. “I think I could have.” Her voice was little more than a whisper. She was terrified someone would overhear her little admission of… whatever it was. It felt a hell of a lot like guilt.

Dare frowned a little, then, afraid Haley would misread that, she spoke. “Would you…” she fought to find the right way to phrase what she thought might be a helpful question. “If he wanted you back…”

Haley shook her head and groaned quietly. “Am I totally fucked up if I say I don’t know what I’d do?”

“No more than the rest of us.”

“Thanks.” Haley slumped forward, resting her forehead on her knees.

Dare sat, staring at her friend for a moment, trying to think of something that might make her feel at least a little better. Nothing was coming to mind. Finally she let out a frustrated sigh. Haley looked up at her, a confused look crossing her face. Dare patted her back. “Sorry. You know I suck at this shit.”

Haley let out a small laugh. “Yeah, I know.” She smiled. “Don’t worry. I don’t expect to have some big revelation about all this any time soon. I’m not going to cry or ask of a hug, I promise. But thanks for listening.”

Dare smiled. “Well, you know me. Always trying to help.”

It’s never a good idea to get into a fight when you’re tired, and Cyclops was more tired than he’d been in years. He’d fight through it. He didn’t really have a choice. He watched as Richards laid out a rough idea of what they were actually up against. He tried to focus back into what the other man was saying. “… solid core in there, but there’s no way to scan through the energy barriers to find out how far down that core is.”

“So we could be shooting at nothing for all we know?” Captain America rubbed his temple. Maybe Cyke wasn’t the only one getting worn down by all this.

“What kind of energy barriers are we talking about Reed?” Dr. Strange’s eyes drifted up toward the darkened sky.

“I don’t know.” Richards sighed heavily. “They don’t show up as anything I’ve ever encountered, but they seem somewhat psionic.” He turned to Scott. “Perhaps Xavier…”

Scott shook his head. “The Professor tried to scan its mind when it appeared. He couldn’t get through either.”

“Well then,” Iron Man straightened his arms, as if stretching. “I say we hit it with everything we’ve got.”

“Agreed.” Cap nodded slowly. Several others voiced their approval too.

“Alright then.” There was a crackle of energy in the air. They didn’t have much time to discuss the finer points, that much was becoming more and more obvious by the moment. Cyclops looked around at the collection of heroes, forming a plan in his head. “I say we send in a line of flyers, backed up by some energy blasts. When it gets lower, we send in the big guns.” There were several nods and quickly, the word went out. In moments, the flyers were up and ready to go. “Logan! Take the front line up behind them… just in case.” He watched as Wolverine collected the best of the hand to hand fighters to go with him. Colossus, Ben Grimm, Gambit, Captain America and a host of others… with Logan, in any other fight, Cyclops would pity their opponent. This time, however, the only people he pitied were the news crews that had just pulled up… at least he’d pity them if something went wrong.

The flyers hovered over the fighters for a moment. Johnny looked down at Ben and smirked. “Hey, Ben!” The Thing looked up. “Promise you’ll catch me.”

“Yeah kid. By at least the second bounce.” Ben chuckled. Then the focus they’d need for the battle settled over them, and everyone else.

The creature and its shields loomed large in the sky, blocking out any light, but giving off a strange pinkish glow. As far as they could tell, it came from the energy shields. “You picking anything up?” Johnny looked at the metal man flying next to him.

“No.” The voice sounded concerned, despite its computery tone. “It’s like it’s not even there… I’m not getting anything from it.” They were only a few hundred feet from the first shield. The voice rose slightly, and Iron Man’s arm stuck out in front of him. “Fire at will.” Blasts of mini rockets, fireballs, web and ice flew at the shield and exploded on it. Nothing left even the slightest mark. Behind his mask, Tony frowned. This was not looking good. Obviously the team on the ground agreed. A flood of energy and bullets flew at the shield. Again, nothing left the slightest hint of a mark. “Pull back. We’re not doing any good up here.”

“Wait!” Spiderman hung from his web and pointed at the shield as it began to pulse.

“What the hell is going on up there?” Logan wondered to himself as he stared up, trying to get a good look at the line. Nothing they’d thrown at it had even scratched the thing. “For fuck sake, pull back.” It looked like, for a moment, they’d heard him and were going to do just that. The creature was only a few hundred feet up from the ground, and if you looked closely, layers of energy could be seen in it, like some kind of glowing pink onion. But the onion was shrinking. It was almost imperceptible at first, but the spaces between the shields seemed to be disappearing.

“Merde.” Remy cursed under his breath, a sense of danger running through him. Suddenly, he understood. “We gotta pull back now, mon ami.” He grabbed Logan’s arm and pulled. “Dat t’ing… it mean business.” They started to move, Remy and Logan leading the pack as they yelled up a warning to the flyers, but the rush of energy drowned out any sound.

There wasn’t even time to turn and fly away. The flash of light hit him first, blinding him, and sending him hurtling toward the ground. He tried to right himself, tried to reignite, but nothing worked. Angel was flapping toward him, but before he reached him, the second wave hit. No light this time but it felt like a sledge hammer to the side of the head. Johnny fought to stay awake, to stay conscious. He could see blurred images of the others heading in the same direction he was… down. The little voice in his head was the only clear thing. You should have told her the truth.

Jesus. Logan had turned back to see if the flyers were following, just in time to see the light hit them. The Torch went down first, with Iron Man following quickly on his heels. Angel was swooping to catch either of them, Bobby was struggling to stay on his ice slide and Spiderman was dangling from his web as if… No, he wouldn’t think that. Instinct took over all of them. Colossus and the Thing, having been further behind the others in the retreat were ready to catch the falling heroes. Or they would have been. Something hit them.

Piotr had only one thought. He could not let these people hit the ground. Whatever was wrong, there had to be a way to fix it, but they wouldn’t get the chance if they weren’t caught. He ran full steam toward the spot where they’d most likely land. The light was blinding there, no longer pink, but pure white, but he kept running. He could hear Ben Grimm cursing just behind him. Then the second wave hit them. It was more blinding than the first, light wave. A sharp pain flooded his mind just in time to block out the sound of bodies hitting the ground. I should have told you…

Logan went to follow, but Remy grabbed his arm. “Non, mon ami. Any closer, we join dem.” He looked at the Cajun for a moment before he realized that all those who’d run in to help were now curled up on the ground.

Logan turned back to the camp as Gambit fired a handful of cards at the shield. “Come on, Slim! Hit the fuckin’ thing!” His voice rang out and in a moment, energy blasts of all kinds were smacking into the barrier again. This time, it seemed to actually pull back, not into itself, but back up into the sky. Motherfucker was testing us… When he was sure it had retreated to a safe distance he and Gambit moved in, followed closely by those who had hung back to give covering fire. The flyers were in rough shape. Broken bones, god knew what else. But everyone else looked like they’d just fallen over and not gotten up. Everyone still had a pulse though. Cyclops stopped just behind Logan.

“What the hell happened?”

Haley set down yet another bowl of popcorn. Even for the X-Mansion this was an obscene amount of snack food. Of course, there were an obscene amount of people in the house, and most of them were now congregated in the rec room. Not only had the other female superheroes been relocated to the mansion, but several close friends and family members of the superheroes had been picked up along the way. All in all, it hadn’t taken as long as they thought it might to get everyone set up with a place to sleep, though they were packed in a little tight. Luckily, most of the students were home for the summer, those that had homes to go to, that was. The only thing that was a saving grace for Haley was that she wouldn’t have to share her room with some stranger. Roxxy was moving back in. But neither of them were thinking of that, as they ran about gathering snacks and drinks for the crowd in the rec room.

Morgan sat on the couch flipping channels absently, despite many requests for help. She’d offered to send Faye in her place, but that idea had been nixed fairly quickly. “Hey look.” She set the remote down. “The end of the world, live on CNN.” Sarcasm dripped from her voice.

Dare sat down next to her. “Do they have a new graphic for it?” This garnered a few giggles as several of the women in the room gathered around the TV. Haley swallowed hard. She was having a déjà vu moment, and she was ready to bolt from the room to escape it.

“There is no word yet on what the object is. However the team of heroes that have gathered here are getting ready to make contact with the object in mere moments.”

“Christ, don’t sound so fucking happy about it.” Dare’s voice drifted over the sound of the TV.

Jehnna had moved toward Haley, who was still turned away from the TV. “Are you alright?” Haley nodded hastily.

“Yeah, I…” she was cut off as both girls doubled over, sharp pain stabbing through their heads. It was like nothing either of them had even felt, like having a spike driven through the brain. Haley couldn’t see, couldn’t hear. The world became a blur of ghostly images, some of which she was sure couldn’t be there. Several people nearby jumped up to help them and the few others who seemed to have the same strange reaction to… something. As the pain faded, the voice of the announcer became clear again.

“It seems that there is something wrong… Yes, it looks like the object is emitting some kind of wave…”

The voice was drowned out again as a second wave of pain overtook Haley. She cried out, shutting her eyes, trying to block out whatever was attacking her. It was slightly different the second time, duller, more of an ache than the stabbing, intense pain that had invaded her head the first time. She could vaguely hear Jehnna’s voice, and several other voices crying out in pain as well. “Haley? Can you hear me?” Jehnna sounded so far away. What was going on? Haley’s knees buckled and she fell to the floor. As the pain started to fade again, she took a few deep breaths, trying to regain herself. She wasn’t sure how long she stayed down, but it was at least five minutes.

“What the fuck was that?” She finally stood up feeling dizzy and a little nauseous.

“I think I may have an answer.” The whir of the Professor’s wheelchair called her attention to the nearby doorway. “If everyone that was affected could join me in my office. I may be able to shed some light on this.” He sighed heavily. “I pray it is not as horrible as I fear it may be.”

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It's a great chapter, Daz! I loved it. Very well done. And I can't wait to find out what's going on.

*relieved sigh* I'm so glad you liked it. This one kinda kicked my ass. lol

oh, wow. Dare made girl talk. um... is she feeling alright? i mean, really. it so is not like her and.... wow. sorry. bit shocked by that.

i see you went through and tweaked the last half of the chapter. rock on. its good, sweetie. nothing to be unsure about. seriously.

I'm glad you think so.

And yes, Dare and girl talk is a little... weird, but it wasn't like it was twittering, giggly girl talk. I think that Dare is there for her friends, even if it's weird for her. *shrug* Like I said, I think she'd have grown up a bit in the two years between this and MSV. That's also the reason for the "I'm not good with this shit" comment. LOL

Wow...The plot thickens...

And hey! How can you not heckle CNN...Really. Unless it is the end of the world...I think I'd rather watch the Weather Channel. LOL!

Eagerly awaiting the next chapter.

Well, if the plot didn't thicken, it wouldn't be much of a plot. :D

And yes, I mock CNN on a pretty regular basis. lol And even at the end of the world, especially in this case, I'd be with Haley on this... get the fuck out of the room asap. lol

Dum-dum-dum-duuummm!

The suspense continues! Very good chapter Daz! I can't wait for the next one. :-)

Things are going to get interesting, I can feel it!

I sure hope it'll be interesting. ;) I know it is to me... I suppose we'll just have to wait and see.

Invasion:MSV Chapter 3

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