Marvel: A Tale of Shadows

A few hours later they were on their fifth bottle of wine and Laura had already gone to sleep in her room after dinner.

"It hurts so much!" Jean… was a sloppy drunk. It was not the manner of speech or her mannerisms that made it so noticeable.

Ethan snatched one his wine glass out of the air again as it had begun floating. Along with several things in the open that were lying around. Like the wine bottles, glasses, plates, utensils, pieces of foods, phones, handbags, and even the gaming controllers.

This late in the night they had moved from the kitchen to the couch for a more relaxed experience.

"Are we still talking about boyfriends?" Felicia was a sloppy drunk instead of a composed one. It was an honestly jarring sight compared to their more sober versions.

"BOYFRIENDS! PTTHH!" Jean blew a raspberry, "the only two boyfriends I had were a racist prick that cared more about looks and disfigurations! My second one of three years has been losing his mind about normal people!" Jean then looked to be pouting for a minute while looking down, "boys are dumb…"

"Fair, I only had three. The first one was in freshman year of highschool… a shitty kisser." Felicia nodded in agreement.

"...moronic…" Jean was still in her own world.

"The second one in junior year, he was cute but awful in bed. I dumped him within a week of starting to date."

"....barbaric…"

"Oh!" Felicia's exclamation caught Jean's attention. "But this one-" she pointed and poked Ethan in the face, "is handsome, kind, smart, strong, and really really really good in bed. I mean he does this thing with his tongue-"

Jean suddenly started shaking from side to side, "no fair! I want a good sexy boyfriend."

Felicia smiled and Ethan got a sudden sinking feeling in his stomach, "then… I will share mine. I don't mind!" She grabbed the still mostly sober Ethan forward by his arm, "come on take him to the bedroom and take him for a spin."

Jean's brain seemed to short circuit for a minute before her expression lit up and all the items in the room dropped to the floor simultaneously. Ethan looked around in surprise, he was the only one even slightly sober and opted to just stay quiet for the time being.

He suddenly felt weightless as he was pulled out of his seat. Felicia stared up at his floating form in awe. "Okay, then I will accept this offer." Jean stepped a few feet and then seemed to think of something, "actually I want more." Then Felicia started floating along as well.

Then Jean was all smiles as she dragged them to one of the bedrooms with Felicia's guidance.

The next morning Ethan woke early in the morning. He had two nude women draped across his chest, one with black hair and one with red.

He sighed as he felt movement from his chest and looked down to see Jean waking up. She looked around groggily, he could even see the pain from the hangover in her look and facial expression. But what really caught his eye was the choker that was around her neck. It was the telepathy blocker he designed, they must have given it to her last night.

"Oh god… what did I do?" It appears Jean had begun waking up.

"You took Felicia up on her offer." Ethan shrugged as he looked over and grabbed a pair of bracelets from the bedside table. "Do you remember everything or just fragments?"

"Umm… fragments. But-"

"But Felicia provoked you into 'taking him for a spin' though I did try to talk you out of it and utterly failed." Ethan put one on his wrist and another on Felicia's wrist. He then reached for Jean's neck and she blinked in surprise feeling the choker for the first time.

"What are you doing?"

"Getting up, I have to make breakfast for Laura. While you and Felicia need to take a shower. Unfortunately the choker Telepathy blocker is a prototype and not waterproof." He removed the choker and set it to the side. He then climbed out of the bed, baring it all for Jean to see.

And see she did. She got a good lip biting look at his body and more notably his crotch. "Did 'that' go inside us last night?"

Ethan chuckled as he put on loose and comfortable clothes and opened the door. "Wake Felicia up and take showers, we have a few things to do today."

Walking out into the main hall he walked past a sleepy eyed Laura. Who didn't seem to have gotten enough sleep last night.

"Hey Laura, were we too loud last night?" He asked as he walked into the kitchen closely followed by Laura.

"No… the walls and doors stop the sound well. Ummm… I want to talk to you and Aunty Felicia about something." Ethan looked over and noticed her being nervous.

"Okay, we plan to go workout with Paine today so we can talk there." Ethan saw Laura think for a moment then nod, "what do you want for breakfast?"

"Chocolate chip waffles!" Laura exclaimed.

"And fruit, come help me." Ethan added and smiled as Laura groaned.

—----------------------------------

Jean was in the shower. She was just standing under the water, wondering what she was doing here. She was never this comfortable anywhere, not even when she is with the other X-Men. People she is actually incredibly close to. It was an odd and new experience being this comfortable.

But ignoring that. This place was incredibly luxurious. Granite counters, marble floors and shower tiles. Not to mention-

"Yip!" Jean squicked as she felt another pair of hands feeling her up. She looked back to see Felicia had entered and joined her. "What are you doing?"

She shrugged and smiled, "experimenting."

Sounds of moaning could be heard a moment later.

—------------------------------------

"Is this the place Patrick?" Yuri asked. She and the other two were in civies at the moment. She was looking toward a nondescript warehouse that looked worn but secure from the outside.

"Yes, this was the only place that drew enough power, had enough storage space, and was owned through a shell corporation by Oscorp." Patrick, their intern explained.

"Fortunately it is old and decrepit, what are you thinking?" Detective Stacy asked.

"Wellness check, the weird stuff usually uses the law as a shield for protection." Yuri explained as she parked the car and climbed out. Walking around toward a garage door she already noticed the several cameras that were hidden behind windows and inside alcoves.

She looked over the door and walked up to a metal door that was by it. But as she neared she noticed the lock was broken. She quickly pulled her sidearm and motioned towards the other two.

Patrick nodded and retreated to the car. Stacy pulled his sidearm and formed up with Yuri. Yuri pushed the door open and began clearing the area.

They quickly moved through the two room facility, one was what looked like a terrarium lab. Where several terrariums were left behind and a central table had what looked like science equipment and leftover electronic devices.

The other room was a computer room. But the setup was odd, the computers and devices were centered around an open desk space as opposed to where a chair should be. But aside from that there was nothing else in the room.

Yuri relaxed as she walked back into the lab. "We need to get the techs here. But just from looking around-"

"It is abandoned. There is a layer of dust on this equipment and the tops of the terrariums. It does look like whoever moved the spiders achieved their objective here." Stacy answered as he looked around.

"No cameras." She pulled out her phone and dialed Patrick telling him to come inside and then dialed the CSI unit telling them the location. She then looked to Stacy who was looking over some of the tech. "What do you have Stacy?"

"Advanced tech applications. We will have to ask some professionals." He then pulled out his phone and started taking pictures. "Get some pictures of the terrariums as well, we need to see if they are what Mister Hilt saw."

Yuri nodded and started taking pictures while Patrick took notes and looked around the perimeter. But he suddenly came back in a hurry. "Umm… unless CSI drives unmarked black SUVs I think we have company."

Yuri stashed her phone. "Patrick, hide your notepad. Come on Stacy, don't mention anything, especially not the pictures." She then walked to the door just as a balding white man walked in with a black suit and tie. A step behind him was Lieutenant O'Malley.

"O'Malley what is going on?" Detective Stacy asked as he walked forward to take the lead.

"Sorry Yuri and Stacy, but I got word from higher up. This is no longer our case." O'Malley nodded at the person standing next to him. "Shield is taking over. Apparently they have an interest in the case."

"Agent Coulson," The balding man offered a handshake to Stacy and a smile while other men in suits walked in with equipment. When Stacy reciprocated the handshake Coulson continued, "I apologize for stepping on your toes but good work on tracking this place down. We had only just learned of it ourselves when we learned you were bringing CSI here."

"How?" Stacy asked, frowning in annoyance.

"Day-Laborers. They were hired to move suspicious equipment and other items to an unmarked van." Coulson's explanation left several gaps.

"Okay are we doing a joint-"

"No, we are taking over. Now please leave our scene and we already have agents collecting the notes from your office." Coulson cut him off as a pair of suits formed up behind them.

He then walked away and the police detectives, and intern, were walked out to their car escorted by the suits. While O'Malley walked over to another car and climbed inside. When the trio climbed inside their car and Yuri pulled away it was clear Stacy was fuming in anger.

"Day-Laborers my ass." Stacy exclaimed in anger.

"Hey." Patrick spoke in the backseat but was promptly ignored.

"It is just how some of these things go. Shield likes to butt in, especially during special investigations. Which is a large part of why there are so few. Police don't like starting and not finishing an assignment." Yuri explained.

"Still annoying, will it still be the same when I am captain or…"

"Hey!"

"No, it should be different. The unit would be a investigation group to properly-"

"HEY!" This time Patrick yelled, catching their attention.

"What Patrick?" Stacy looked back while Yuri glanced into the rearview mirror with a frown.

"We have the files related to that Ethan Hilt guy in our trunk. What do we do with them?" He asked them as he pulled out the notepad he had.

The pair in the front seat looked toward each other then Stacy nodded, "nothing. If they never come for it then it is not our problem. No reason to cause him trouble."

Patrick nodded, "okay."

—-------------------------------------------

An hour later. Detective Stacy walked into his home and pulled off his coat and tossed it onto the chair before walking to his room. But a moment later a spider crawled out of his coat and walked toward another of the rooms.

The spider was white with pink lines and the size of a finger tip. As it slid under the door. The occupant inside the room failed to notice as she bobbed her head with headphones on. Listening to rock music as she tapped her foot. The spider sat for a moment before it made its way over to a corner of a room and went to the roof spinning a web and waiting, watching the young girl as she designed something.

—--------------------------------------------

Jean felt sluggish as she made her way around the apartment. Just looking around, it really was high end. Far more than X-Mansion. It also felt comfortable. More comfortable than anywhere else she had been. It was… disturbing.

Also an unfamiliar feeling of being safe.

She moved around in the sweater that Felicia lent her. They had already left, apparently they had something they were already doing today. So they left her here to do what she wanted. She sat on the couch and pulled out her phone. There was a moment as it dialed then there was an answer.

"Hey Jean, where are you? Scott has been pacing and is scaring the students." Ororo asked over the phone.

"I am still at Felicia and Ethan's apartment. I stayed the night. I will probably be back tonight. My clothes are a mess and are in the laundry." Jean answered as she started up the TV.

"A mess? How?"

"Umm… actually, I drank with them and let loose. I actually had some fun for the first time in a while."

"How did that turn out?"

"Sweaty and apparently I am an angry drunk…who knew?" She stated sarcastically as she pulled up the news.

"No got hurt?"

"Umm…" Jean looked down at her knees. "My knees hurt a bit but aside from that there was nothing. Anyways, tell them I will be back later. As far as I can tell they are all good. They have secrets just like anyone else, but nothing worth burning bridges over." Jean summarized.

"Okay… I will tell the Professor. Enjoy yourself while you are out." Ororo hung up.

Jean turned her attention then relaxed as she watched a program about increased child kidnappings in the state of New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey.