Chapter 284: Big Ben
3rd March 2013, New York City
(Jasmine Sayre POV)
“I’m not an idiot, Ms. Sayre, nor am I suicidal. I know my limits, and I know that I can’t just stop crime altogether. But I can do my best to inspire people, to help make this city even a little bit safer.”
I shrugged, “It’s your life, Parker. You can do whatever you want with it, but just don’t forget your life as Peter Parker in your crusade as Spider-Man. I did my best to protect you with the suit, the rest is on you.”
The kid’s eyes widened at my statement, well the eyes on his mask did. He probably expected me to scold him or something, “Thank you. I don’t know how you made it; it has stood up against some crazy stuff. What’s it made of, by the way. The way it absorbs impacts isn’t normal.”
I just shrugged, “It’s made of an alloy made up of Vibranium and Adamantium. It was the only way I could make sure that you wouldn’t get injured on your little crusade.”
Parker’s shocked yell at my response amused me greatly.
“WHAT?”
I pretended not to hear him and raised an eyebrow, “I’m not following…”
The kid was shaking. I’m pretty sure that if I could see his face, I would be met with wide eyes and a gaping jaw. With a tone of both incredulity and outrage, the spider themed hero exclaimed, “What do you mean you’re not following? This suit is worth millions of dollars, why would you give it to me?”
I shrugged, “Actually it’s worth billions, but that’s beside the point. You helped me and I had it lying around so I thought I’d reward you. No one would want Spider-Man to be hurt after all.”
“How could you have this lying around? I thought that the last Vibranium left was used while forging Captain America’s shield.”
I shrugged, “Vibranium is rare, but there are deposits. And Captain America’s shield was not made out of pure Vibranium, it was an alloy that combined both Adamantium and Vibranium which somehow changed the entire properties of the material. What I gave you was my attempt at replicating it. It was a failed attempt, yes, but it is still stronger than a suit of pure vibranium and lighter than one made of pure adamantium.”
It grated me how I could never replicate the phenomenon. The material was completely energy resistant, which means that any scanning spells I used to analyze it just bounced off. It was also completely indestructible. I am not exaggerating; I couldn’t even shave a small bit of it to experiment on it on my own.
The only silver lining was the fact that the alloy was naturally grown. It was probably due to a Vibranium deposit sitting on some Adamantium and after a few million years they merged somehow. T’Chaka, the King of Wakanda, probably found it, discovered that he couldn’t do anything with it and sold it to Howard Stark claiming for it to be Vibranium. It was a spit in the face of the American people. It was a masterful solution in the face of it. It’s not like T’Chaka knew exactly what he was giving up and, in the end, all he did was rid the only possible reason any outsider might want to look into Wakanda. He tricked the world into thinking that Vibranium was a dead end, just a mysterious material with no practical uses.
I was there when Howard tried to experiment on it. Nothing worked, it was an impossible material. The only thing Stark discovered was that it was indestructible, bounced weirdly, and can be molded with intense heat. It wouldn’t even separate when it was malleable. In the end, Howard Stark chose to make it into a shield because it was probably the only use he found for it.
My thoughts were broken by the scoffing of the teenager in front of me, “This is nice and all, but I can’t accept this.”
I just shrugged, “It’s not like it cost me anything; it was just laying around.”
The spider themed hero shook his head, “It’s too much.”
“Tell you what, kid, I’m going to leave the suit with you until your eighteenth birthday. It should keep you safe while you’re still technically a kid, and afterwards, when you’re an adult, you can decide whether to give it back or not. The suit should grow with you, so it should last a lifetime.”
The teenager still wasn’t convinced, “Look, Parker, I’m not having a kid’s death on my conscience because he thinks he doesn’t deserve any help. I’m going out on a limb here to help you out. I even made the operating system as flexible as possible so that you could truly make the suit your own. Trust me, you’ll probably not find another suit like this anywhere else.”
The kid muttered, “I’m not sure about this…”
I snorted, “You know what, I’m done being nice. You’re going to be wearing this suit whenever you go on patrol, or you will not go out as Spider-Man at all.”
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Outraged, the kid exclaimed, “And how are you going to stop me?”
I snorted, “Quite easily. All I have to do, is this.”
I snapped my finger, and the kid froze. I could feel his fear through my telepathy and chose to stop scaring the poor boy. My voice softened, “look, Peter, I know you want to honor your uncle. He was a very good man with a great heart and a noble sense of responsibility. But you’re just a kid. He might have wanted to instill his values on you while you were young, but I can guarantee you that he wouldn’t have wanted you to put yourself in danger every day, even if it was for a noble purpose. He was your father in all but name, and no parent likes to watch their children getting hurt.”
I let him go and the kid could move again, “You don’t understand, I need this.”
“Trust me, I understand. I understand more than you could ever believe. It was out of guilt at first, trying to repay your uncle for his sacrifice, trying to keep him alive. And then it became a duty, a true feeling of responsibility for you to save as many people as you can. It’s a beautiful dream, and you’ll feel empty without it. I wish you would stop, but I know you won’t. Which is why I gave you the suit in the first place. But me providing you some protection because you’re still a minor is just me making sure you won’t be killed by a stray bullet or mugged on an alley. You can see the logic in it, can’t you, Peter?”
The kid slowly nodded, “Fine, I’ll keep the suit. But I am giving it back on the day I turn eighteen.”
I gave him a smug smirk, “Sure, you will, kid, sure you will.”
Peter stiffened for a second and asked, “Are you a mutant?”
I chuckled, “In a way, I suppose I am. Although, my powers are a lot more flexible than your average mutant. The media don’t talk about superpowers that don’t belong to mutants, really. But you’re proof that it’s not exactly true, aren’t you, Peter?”
The teenaged hero stiffened, “So, Fury was right to arrest you that night?”
I snorted, “Kiddo, he wanted to arrest me because a Nazi that happened to be his superior died from a heart attack, and for the murder of myself.”
“Yourself?”
I shrugged, “I’m very old, like older that Thor old. And over the years, I have taken identities for the fun of it. People don’t like the concept of immortals living among them, so I stayed in a place for a lifetime and then faked my death and moved on. In the last few decades, I was known as Morgan Evanshade. And when Hydra tried to assassinate me and steal my company, I just took up the name of my ‘niece’ another made up identity and stopped them from buying it. Fury thought that I had killed my ‘aunt’ for the money and Alexander Pierce because we met a few days before he died. If he had investigated things better, he would have found the gaps and saved himself a lot of trouble, but he was desperate and pressed for time, which is why SHIELD is a thing of the past now.”
The kid had frozen but this time, it wasn’t because of me. I could feel him thinking deeply before yelling out, “You’re the Morrigan!”
Damn, I underestimated how smart the kid was, “I’m not saying I am, but tell me how you came to this conclusion.”
He nodded, “you said that you’re old, that you’re more than a mutant. You have telekinesis but you alluded to being more flexible. You have multiple powers. The Morrigan was rumored to have been the same person that was once hailed as a goddess, thousands of years ago. You’ve just admitted to having multiple identities. You fit all the boxes.”
I raised an eyebrow, “I’m impressed. You are correct. I am the Morrigan, but right now, I go by Jasmine Sayre.”
For some reason, the kid started to breathe heavily, “Oh my God, I know the Morrigan. I saved the Morrigan. The Morrigan is not dead. Wait a minute, how are you still alive? You were hit by a nuke.”
Smirking, I answer, “I just moved the bomb to another dimension and faked my death. I do tend to do it a lot. Perhaps, I’m getting predicable.”
“I have so many questions. What are your powers? How long have you been alive? Are you really a Goddess? Have you even met Albert Einstein?”
I smiled at the kid’s babbling, “My powers are too complicated to explain in one sitting and I’ve been alive for around five thousand years. I’m not exactly sure, as it was hard to keep track of it back then, since there wasn’t a standardized measure of time in the ancient times. It depends on how you define a god. If we’re talking about beings of pure energy born to characterize an aspect of existence, then no, but if we’re talking about very old and powerful beings, then technically yes. It’s hard to put into words. I did, in fact, meet Albert Einstein. Lively fellow, quite intelligent as well, but he was a bit of a pervert as well.”
The kid responded in awe, “I can’t believe it. You must have seen so much, experienced so much.”
Smiling at the kid’s enthusiasm, I answer his unspoken query, “Yes, I’ve seen some very important things in my long life, but everything comes with a balance. Joy is balanced by sadness and grief. Love is balanced by heartbreak. Wonder is balanced by boredom. Everything has a price kiddo, and you better remember that.”
The teenager stayed silent, probably understanding the implications of my long life in a mortal world. He then whispered, “I’m sorry.”
I shrugged, “It’s the hand that I have been dealt with.”
Choosing to change the subject, he spoke up, “So, what are you doing in Queens?”
I shrugged, “Just walking around. I’ve been dealing with a few things in the last few months, and I wanted to clear my head.”
An idea popped in my head. There’s something I’ve been wanting to do for a few weeks. I was going to do it in a few days, but with the kid there, there’s no reason not to do it now.
I decide to speak up, “You know what, Peter, why don’t we do something fun?”
The spider themed hero sounded confused, “Like what?”
“Well, I was planning on speaking with Tony Stark about something. I was going to do it in a few days, but since you’re here I might as well ask you to come with me.”
The kid was jumping up and down, “Are you asking what I think you’re asking?”
“Yeah, kid. Do you want to come with me and see Tony Stark right now?”
The kid actually ran towards me and hugged me in gratitude.
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