Darkness Settles In (Invisible Woman)

[Deleted]

Sue turned the computer off and once again the photo of her and Victor appeared.

" See that man"Sue spoke as she pointed to Victor," That's Victor Von Doom, no joke. He was the first person to ever make a positive impact in my life, you see my mother died when I was young and than my father well he became a bit if a so so shall we say. So when I lost my mother I also lost my father and got some demon in exchange."

Sue stood up and approached Kaine. She held her arms out to show her scares,

" Every scar you see is another time my father lost control," Sue lifted the side of her shirt to reveal another scar just under her left rib," I've done my best to forget the past and my father. But I know for a fact he will come back when he leaves prison and try to be apart of my life again. Hell he sends me a letter every month and I'm still a scared little girl to open them." Sues voice wavered," But Victor took me from that life and was there for me at my darkest moment. With out him I probably wouldn't be here. We all have are demons, don't let it's anger take over."Normally she wasn't one to reveal her past, but on this case it had all be public knowledge about her and she was hoping that Sharing some of her story would help him trust her," So I'm doing what he did and that was helping me through my dark moments. So I'll be here if you wish to help you through your dark moments. "

She held her hand out for him to take, " Let's take a set back for a second and give you a chance, the hospital can wait till another day."Sue held her hand for him to take as she moved to the couch," Take a seat and tell me your woes, I'm listening,"

[Kaine Riley]

Kaine looked at the picture that Sue had in front of her with the computer screen. Computers were simple objects, but Kaine wasn’t all that interested in trying out technology so quickly, he was what he was. But he studied it a bit with his good eye seeing that the other one was so blurry and fuzzy most of the time from the scar. He saw a handsome, strong, tall older man and a bit of a mature side. He could see why Sue had liked him so much. But it made him wonder, there wasn’t a man in the house from the looks of things. Had something happened to him? Or were they simply not a couple anymore? Well, he wasn’t going to poke and prod at Sue’s history, which was none of his business.

Then his eyes widened a bit from the surprise that Sue had for him, there were scars, and lots of them over her arms. Suppose that was something they also had in common. They had scars, both mental and physical, but Sue was actually doing something to help the others. While sat in the corner and let his anger take the better of him. How painful that must’ve been. He thought of the spider venom that they sent through his body, every day it felt painful, it probably would’ve killed him at most. But with his healing factor he lived.

“Those days must’ve been painful.” He remarked not wanting to say anything bad towards her. She reached out touching his hand, and almost flinched from the sudden contact. He was hesitant at first on reaching over and out to her like this. But if Sue wanted to hear his past and owes, he’d give it to her.

Carefully he held Sue’s hands in his own as she brought him over to the couch, his coffee was still hot and warm if he wanted it since only a few minutes had passed. “I really remember Oscorp mostly.” He explained starting it off. “They must’ve taken me off the streets one day. I remember being experimented with those genetically modified spiders, until I had enough and yelled at them for me to stop. The pain was horrible, try imagining icy pain being sent through your veins every hour. For the next couple of years they put me in a one room cell but only let me out to try and train, practice my powers like wall crawling or even using my stingers. One day I disobeyed and I got the scar you see on my face.”

He paused knowing it was a lot to take in but he knew he had to finish. “I think that was the last straw. I…broke out shortly after that and fled to Mexico for awhile where I tried crime fighting, but it really hadn’t worked out.” He admitted as he stopped there figuring it was probably best to end it there at least on a semi happy note. But he was at least relieved that they weren’t going to the hospital. It would be too much stress for him walking through a public area. Not to mention he really didn’t have any public way of transport.

[Deleted]

Sue remained quiet as he spoke his piece, she still couldn't help but wonder about a few of the facts and specially when he spoke,
' I tried crime fighting, but it really hadn’t worked out.'
That managed to grab her attention, but she wasn't going to go straight out and grill him over it. Instead she needed a more relaxed approach.

"I went to space, my former boyfriend Reed asked Victor for help, so we went to Victors space station and then everything went wrong.," Sue paused as she took a sip of of her lemon tea," Just after Victor proposed to me we got hit by a storm in space, when we did manage to returned to Earth we found out we had abilities and Victor sadly got the worst of it,"

Sue leaned sideways resting on the arm of the chair as she sat with her feet on the couch,

" He was turning into living metal and with it he began to become paranoid. He became jealous and began to lay out harsh demands till finally I had to help stop him to save New York," as Sue began to think of Victor again her finger circled the cup and for a moment she became lost in the taught," Like my father, the Victor I knew was gone." then she snapped herself out of her taught,"Anyway after that event I had so much hate, all I wanted was for Reed to pay and at any cost. If it hadn't been for a detective I would of killed Reed as he slept and fifty innocent people just for vengeance. So over a coffee the detective saved me from becoming that monster my dad was. " With her next words Sue spoke strong and determined than she had so far since meeting him," I will prove to my dad I am more than just a rag doll, that I have the ability to exceed my wildest dream and not to live in fear of him or others."her tone quickly changed for a second to a more guilty childish tone "Or try, with luck it's not too late for Victor or you to be more than you are, you said you gave up trying to fight crime?"

[Kaine Riley]

Kaine realized he might’ve already said the wrong words. He knew he better choose them carefully, but it was true he had dropped the whole crime fighting thing to try and at least find a team. He just didn’t want to go too deep into that part of the privacy that was his life. He had joined the Dark Syndicate thinking that they’d help him, and so far they had they had a roof over his head, and he met several other heroes that he almost could consider friends or allies at this point. It didn’t seem so bad.

He however was already having the seeds of doubt panted in his head. Was joining the Dark Syndicate a bad thing? He knew Sue would get on his case as soon as he mentioned them. But he had every right to join a team if he thought it would work…and then again what if it didn’t work?

He would worry about that later as he listened to Sue as she gave her way of how she became a detective and how she got her powers. Kaine knew for a fact that not too many people had the gift of going out into space. It was probably a life time of a chance. But it did explain why Victor wasn’t there, he lived there at one point, but it seemed he got up and left. Or he had no choice but to leave once he turned to metal. “Your powers are interesting. The abilities you have are different than others that I’ve seen.” He admitted. One that came to mind was the symbiote, Hybrid that he met in Mexico. How on earth did those four symbiotes manage to get along with each other with one body? He shuttered at the thought, but he hoped it wasn’t visible.

After Sue finished her story he sighed, he would at least give a good explanation for it. “I suppose I’m more of the ‘anti hero’ or the vigilante. Super heroism isn’t for everyone. Most people who look at me and see my face with the mask they think of me being a freak and run the other way. I doubt you’ve seen something like a monster trying to save down town.” He admitted. “Especially when a monster has these,” He said as he forced out his sharp pointed stingers. They were about a foot long. They were hidden underneath his palms in a bit of flesh they were mostly bone from the looks of things. He knew Sue might turn his back as he was prepared for it to happen. It wouldn’t be the first time someone ran away seeing his stingers. “I joined a team thinking they’d help me and so far they have…they’ve been what I’ve looking for so far.” ‘At least I hope so.’ He thought to himself still holding onto that little bit of doubt that was in him.

[Deleted]

Sue rapped her two hands around her cup, taking in the heat as much as she could and just keeping an open ear. She could understand the reason to wanting to be part of team, more than he knew and if anything probably even more than his own team why he needed to.

" Family !" her eyes locked on to his more as she took a sip of her tea," As humans we can't come to terms of having to be alone in life, I'm no different but what we want is others to call a family and a team can be as good as a family."

Her eyes turned back to her cup, as memories of her past came back to mind and guilt.

" At first I wasn't working with the police out of choice," with Sues ability the cup floated in mid air over to the coffee table," My actions for vengeance took three officers off the force do the injuries of me slamming a car against them just to kill Reed. Reed the one I wanted to kill, defended me and convinced them to let me carry out community service. Even do I hated him he still showed kindness. "

Sue wiped a tear from the side of her eyes as they appeared, the past still haunted her and always would.

" Three officers, one can't walk and the two other suffer from back and movement problems all because of vengeance," still to this day she couldn't help but wonder how they ever forgave her, the passion of her guilt could be heard in her words," That's my guilt, causing pain on the innocent just for my own needs, those three families have suffered because of me and as long as I have money those three families will never need to worry about medical expenses. Least I can do." Sue paused at she collected her and wiped a tear. Pointing her finger she continued," I'm going somewhere with this trust me. My community service started with cleaning the streets, only when I shielded two of the others also doing community service from a drive-by did my community service turn to helping the police and it helped. I don't want to be a police officer, but helping them has helped them plus the public to be able to trust me and opened the door to also joining a team. "

Sue had assisted the police even after her community service was finished, she didn't want to be a police officer and still didn't. But it was the CEO Eddie Clark of Storm industries who demanded her to stay and help to rebuild a reputation again. Eddie Clark had once ran the department of advanced technologies in Victors company when it began to break up and when Sue went on a vengeance run he placed key investment in her name and secured key customers to move to Storm industries. It was only natural to make him CEO after all he did, once he abided by a proper ethics Sue left him be and he did his work. That was not to say Sue didn't play her part, she still held the last say but she also realised Eddie knew the game better then her and once he let her in the labs she was fine.

" At first I helped people because the police and my CEO demanded it," her eyes shifted to outside as the sun slowly began to set," Now I fight and help for me, for my self. A team is a family that I can count on and trust. If anything it feels the nearest I can have to a family. Only thing you need to trust is your conscience and you can't go wrong. Don't fall into temptation, it never too late for you, Victor and maybe one day also for my dad. You ever need me I'm here." She sat there watching him closely, she wasn't born yesterday and her gut from working with so many Police told her he was more than likely on the other side of the mirror. But she decided to play it safe.

" It's getting late, " Sue lived on her own and that was how she liked it. When she slept alone, no one could hurt her when she slept," I'll do some more digging and see if I can find out what happened to their bodies. If you wish, been a geneticist I could look at your blood and see what they've pumped into your body. Plus if you ever get sick it would be good to have friend to treat you and keep your secrets."

[Kaine Riley]

As much as Sue was right Kaine knew his Scarlet Spider persona was often left alone and he perfered it that way when he was working on things in the super powered department. Scarlet Spider was better at doing things on his own and new team mates had a high chance of slowing him down. But he still couldn’t help but wonder something; Sue had been so kind to him these last few hours where if he went on the streets of Las Vegas they wouldn’t have even batted an eye towards him in their direction. Blackheart’s words had sounded hopeful, but had been more to it than what he just said in channeling darkness and anger towards the streets? He wasn’t going to admit it now in front of Sue; he wanted to see what Blackheart decided to do, hopefully before it was too late. And if Blackheart was doing something wrong, he’d trust his instincts to leave and never come back.

…at least that was the plan anyways…

Scarlet had no idea what Blackheart had planned for the group. Whatever it was, he had to be ready, he had to trust himself and trust his spidey sense if it ever went off. That early danger alarm system rang in his head but after the incident today it hadn't gone off. Maybe it was telling him that Sue was someone he could trust.

Scarlet thought back to the times of when he broke out of Oscorp, right then and there he had a chance to kill someone, just as Sue described with the police officers. He knocked out several of them that were blocking his way and even webbed a few up with his organic webbing. But the last one that stood in his way he threatened the very stingers that were out before them. He wanted to hurt them. But he held himself back, since he knew that he was just as low as they were going to be. Suppose they had more in common than they realized. “I suppose I can relate. I wanted to beat those Oscorp scientists to the ground until there was nothing left. But I knew if I did that I’d just be like them so I escaped without leaving much of a trace behind.” He said with a sigh as he let Sue finish and speak up towards her on his own thoughts.

The idea of getting a blood sample sounded good to him, maybe she could at least figure out what kind of Spider DNA was running through his veins. He never saw them with the pitch blackness of the room so he had no idea. “You can take a blood sample now if you want. But don’t worry about hurting me or anything the healing factor will take care of any damage.” He said with a soft nod giving her permission to do so. He too noticed the sun set as it was starting to go down. Maybe now or soon was a good time to leave, he’d take the next train into Las Vegas and probably get a go to dinner.

“I know this is kind of off topic, but I think butterflies come out to this area a lot from Central Park. If you want to see some come to this area you can hang some nectar on your window panes…I know this from past experiences, I kind of have empathy for insects, like that one lady bug I found when we first met.” He explained but maybe if she saw a butterfly or anything she could think of him. At least they’re prettier to look at. “I should probably go soon, after you get my blood sample though. I feel like I’ve over stayed here.” He admitted looking back at the Invisible Woman.

[Deleted]

Sue moved her feet to the ground and stood up. Lifting her finger for him to stay she went in to the hall and down the stairs to her small lab. From her desk drawer she pulled out a small green bag and made her way back to the main room.

standing beside Kaine, Sue opened the the bag and took out a strap.

" Pull your sleeve up and give me your right arm," Sue demanded as she sat down beside him and tightened the strap on the top of his right arm," Clench your fist," With that Sue did a venipuncture into his vein on his arm," Release your grip," six tubs later Sue had her blood samples bottled and in a metal case.

"I'll do some tests, see what your made off, I'll keep you updated." placing the metal case gentle onto the coffee table, Sue stood up as the phone floated over to her and she dialed reception," Hey Jack, my guest needs a lift to the train station in twenty minutes and I need a first class ticket to Vega's. I'll also want food and a beding,"

With that Sue disappeared into her bedroom, when Sue returned she held a black hoodie, sweatpants, t-shirt and a pair of trainers. On left side over the breast of the hoodie was a Storm industries Logo of a big S.

" Put these on and beside the front door you'll find a small bag for your uniform," Sue disappeared into the kitchen and returned with a business card but this one held Sues private contact details. " These clothes should fit, be Kaine and not just the Scarlett Spider. Cause I'd give anything to be able to be someone other than The Invisible Woman, but everyone knows I'm Sue Storm. Take the train back in style and remember I'm always on the other end of the phone if you need me."

[Kaine Riley]

It was certainly an order, the teenager quickly obeyed knowing refusing might’ve been a mistake. He began to lift up his sleeve so she could get the blood she needed. He felt the needle go into his skin and clenched his fist a he felt her remove the needle once she got what she needed. Almost instantly the wound that was there quickly faded as his healing factor worked its magic. “A healing factor does have a good side to it at least.” He remarked as he put his sleeve down as it marked the red area on his Scarlet Spider shirt. He was surprised at how fast Sue managed to do it. “And thanks for keeping me updated on it. I’ll at least leave you my cell phone number; I always have it on me, even when I’m Scarlet Spider.” He admitted knowing there was a chance that his cell phone might be damaged in a fight so he had to be careful or at least leave it in a safe area where others couldn’t get to it so easily.

First Class tickets? That surprised him a bit that Sue was willing to do so much, usually he rode on top of the train just to avoid interacting with some of the people down below. After all it’d seem weird to see some hero riding the train system along with the others. It was just a big no in his book.

“I’m assuming that’s the word of advice you’re giving me before I head off?” He asked a bit surprised. “And you didn’t have to do any of this. I can find my way back home I’ve done it plenty of times before.” He said knowing that he might as well be lost in the streets before. He couldn’t gather why sue was being so nice to him until it dawned on him, she was trying to be a friend. Others look out for each other in times of need and suppose he had one here, if need be he could always come back and climb through the window (though that could be considered robbery in some cases) So there’d at least be a warning ahead of time.

Quickly he found the items of clothing that Sue put out for him and changed out of sight, except one of the things he did have with him at all times were sunglasses, not for just blocking out the sun but he hated staring especially when they looked at his face and saw the terrible scar on his face. And then he quickly stuffed his Scarlet spider costume into the bottom of the bag so no prying eyes could see it.

He quickly jotted down his own number the best way he could have it legibly written. “You can call and text me…and I know I don’t say this too often but thanks Sue.” He said giving her a soft smile though he seemed to regret leaving now. But he knew he had to go back before the Dark Syndicate noticed that he was gone, or they would think something happened to him. But along with his number written down on the piece of scrap paper, he had a KR next to it so she’d at least have his initials, but if some unwanted eyes saw his name on it, he wanted his name to be a secret, so at least they couldn’t pair him as Scarlet Spider. “You know, Sue you did teach me at least something today, there are at least still good people out there. I just wish I had seen that sooner.” He said with a sigh as he looked towards the window knowing his time was up, like the setting sun.

[Deleted]

Sue gave a smile as hope gave a sign that she had at least made some impact on his life and maybe take him away from the darkness in his life.

" You see Kaine," Sue said as she made her way over to the balcony door," If anything remember one thing, Kaine is the Scarlett Spider and not the other way. Don't let this identity become all that you are, my mother didn't raise me to not have a life and not to find happiness. "

As Sue walked out on to the balcony she clicked the light on to brighten the balcony. Crossing her arms she overlooked the city as the lights slowly came on one by one.

" The sun has falling," the sun had not set yet, but Sue wanted to make a point," And the light of sunrise is still a far. If you ever need help with the darkness, well then I'll be here shining the light till sunrise and ready to give you help if need be. Others have helped me, so I'm returning the favor to someone who needs it,"

Turning to face Kaine Sue stood in front of him,

" Remember what I said," Sue placed her hands on his two shoulders as if taking to her brother," Don't lose yourself, who knows Kaine could meet Miss Right on a simple train journey and be happy. Not hiding away on a train roof in the shadows."

With that Sue gave a light peck of a kiss on his cheek and smiled. Standing back from Kaine from across the room the pad returned to Sue's hand and as soon as it did she turned on the radio.

"It's been a pleasure to meet you Kaine," Sue spoke in a soft tone," The lift to the train station and first class ticket are still there if you want them. Till we meet again,"

Across the radio the song played 'Human'

'...Take a look in the mirror
And what do you see
Do you see it clearer
Or are you deceived
In what you believe
'Cause I'm only human after all
You're only human after all...'