Kevin Mercer was infertile. War can do that to you. Which is why he hoped when he brought home a 4 year old boy his wife Mary would not assume the worst. He also hoped she would not notice his tail, but that was probably too much to ask. AU Marvel. Elements from Dragon Ball and Man of Steel.
Terran [AU Marvel/Dragon Ball Z]
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Chapter 1
Chapter 1
It had been a hard day in what had been a long string of hard days going back as far as Kevin Mercer could remember. Though, that may be because the middle-aged farmer couldn't bear to think past the new chapter his life had entered all those years ago. Night in the Kansas summer was barely a reprieve from the heat. He could only seek comfort from the stale wind blowing through the open window of his battered pick-up. Now he wished he'd never stuck his head out, ignorance is bliss after all.
He was making his routine shopping excursion to the nearest convenience store, some eighteen miles from his land in the arid desert. The austere man had seen just as many oddities in the night sky as anyone else who grew up in the dry west. However, never would he have expected there to be any truth to the 'idjits' in tinfoil hats.
After all the things he had heard and seen in the war decades ago, he was far more inclined to believe the occasional 'mysteries' drummed up by the lunatics down by Roswell or Aurora were simply military experiments. The Red Skull had nearly destroyed western civilization and after being personally rescued by Captain America and the Howling Commando's themselves - Mercer had to admit. Sometimes you fight fire with fire…and crazy with crazy.
Never would he have thought his life would get quite this crazy though.
He gawked in awe as he watched a giant metallic orb hurtling towards the ground, a trail of fire lies in its wake as it burned through the atmosphere. Its walls appeared to be built from a smooth white metal that was seemingly uncharred by the copious amounts of fire around the object.
'Surely that's headed for a military crash site,' even he would be sceptical in calling the strange object simply an asteroid. The strange purple lights being emitted from a circular section at least half the radius of the orb itself made it look more like a giant eyeball than any rock he had ever seen.
As if offended by Mercer's expectations, the orb started to slow down, rapidly. Only now did Mercer realize that the orb was not nearly as large as he had thought, nor nearly as far from him.
He yanked his steering wheel to the right but before the car could turn away, the orb made its thunderous landing right in his path, too close to avoid. Three prongs of thick white metal dug into the road, throwing asphalt and dirt into the air whilst stabilizing the otherworldly pod.
Mercer could do nothing but brace his arms in front of his face as his car flipped over by the force of the upturning earth. He protected his eyes as well as he could from the breaking glass but a near head-on collision with one of the landing structures had enough impact to see him lose consciousness.
The moment Mercer next woke and those subsequent to his waking were quite easily the strangest of his life. For a man who had joined the war illegally at 15, was officially honorably discharged at 20, who performed more military operations than anyone had a right to within and without that time — that was saying quite a lot.
His eyes opened to smoke and the burning smell of rubber, making him blink tears and cough simultaneously. Something he soon regretted as the car was still upside down and the impact had somehow both dislodged the seatbelt and tied its buckle threateningly close to his neck.
Straining to keep his neck in place and away from the metal shard, he attempted to slip out of his seat. Only to find that his leg had been crushed under the smashed dashboard, he simply could not feel it.
Just when he was about ready to count the seconds before he died he heard the sound of glass against asphalt, "Is somebody out there!? Help!" He heaved a breath of air and screamed again, "Help! I'm trapped down here!"
He heard glass crush against the road once again as it got closer and closer and if he did not have to live with the truth of what he saw for the rest of his life, he would say it was a fever dream.
Two pale, barefoot and small feet came into Mercer's view through the destroyed window near him, giving no care to the shards of glass they crushed under them. Not long after two tiny hands grip the frame of the door and pull it cleanly off its hinges, tearing away the seatbelt that nearly skewered him with it.
He came to face with a boy that could not have been more than 4 years old. He had thick straight black hair that smashed into itself in a wild mess and was naked as the day he was born.
Although shocked, Mercer had the instincts of a veteran and he reached out to the boy, his only hope for survival. He was gripped by two surprisingly strong hands and slowly pulled out the wreckage of the car. The face that greeted him was eerily impassive on a child if he even was a child.
He struggled to his knees, looking for the orb that started all the havoc in the first place only to find it missing. Where he assumed the orb once stood was just a crater of dirt, a strange cloth and even stranger monocle was left behind.
He grunted and cussed as he got to his feet, edging away from what he presumed was inside that pod. He raised his arm between himself and the boy as if making distance, "Thank you" he said, cautiously, still backing away.
The boy made no motions to show his acceptance but for an almost childlike quivering of his lips.
Mercer made only two backwards steps before the urge to simply turn away and run was too strong. He grunted in pain with every stride he took but he had to make it to the nearest town and quickly or he was as good as dead.
He hobbled down the road for nearly two minutes before he was thrown to the ground by a pressure wave. While the first was certainly the strongest, they came in droves - one following the next accompanied by the sound of wailing. The sound of a wailing child.
Kevin Mercer grimaced. He should be ashamed of himself. What would Mary say?
He trudged back to the site of contact, despite his bleeding ears. He walked through the wreckage, finally getting eyes on the boy. Just as he saw him, the boy also saw Mercer and stopped crying almost immediately.
The boy was sitting on the ground in the crater made by the orb when it took off. He sat with one hand pulling at the cloth and the other holding the strange toy - looking very much like a toddler just equally out of place.
The boy looked at Mercer with the most hurtful, pleading eyes - he could not deny the child when he reached his arms out, truly like a child asking to be carried. Only with him in his arms did he notice the tail attached to his lower back.
"Mary's never going to believe this."
"Matthew! Come down for breakfast!" called the warm voice of Mary Mercer from the kitchen below their adoptive son's bedroom. She did not speak particularly loudly, but then again, she knew she didn't need to. A giant of a 15-year-old barreled into the kitchen, clearly in a hurry.
With barely a good morning, the raven-haired boy inhaled the pancakes and toast prepared for him whilst mutilating what looked like a Chemistry textbook as he juggled the two tasks. He wore thin circular rimmed glasses that covered a good portion of his face and habitually readjusted them on his nose.
As the boy ate Mary Mercer came up behind his chair and chided, "Stop fidgeting Matty!" The boy only grinned and continued to shovel food down his never-ending stomach.
Finally done with his meal, Matthew glanced up to the clock only to gasp in panic, "Oh shit I'm late!"
"Language, young man!" Chided Mary as she watched her boy sprint out the door with a smile.
Slowly her smile fades as she turns away slightly disappointed, only to find Matthew in front of her once again and a gust of wind pushes her towards him almost belatedly.
"I love you, Mom. Have a great day." He said with a warm hug and kissed her brow.
"Matty," she started to chide as he disappeared in another gust of wind, "What did we say about running so fast?" she finished almost to herself, though she was sure her son had heard her.
Mary walked over to the window and watched her boy run down the suburban streets of Queens at a far more reasonable pace towards his escaping bus with a reignited smile and a shake of her head.
Raising Matthew was far from easy, in fact it was a singularly unique and lonely experience. While she and Kevin had never been the most social pair, caring for Matthew was a full-time job and involved a lot more secrecy than Mary was experienced with. It was a miracle they had survived as long as they had after Kevin passed.
It had been a hard day in what had been a long string of hard days going back as far as Kevin Mercer could remember. Though, that may be because the middle-aged farmer couldn't bear to think past the new chapter his life had entered all those years ago. Night in the Kansas summer was barely a reprieve from the heat. He could only seek comfort from the stale wind blowing through the open window of his battered pick-up. Now he wished he'd never stuck his head out, ignorance is bliss after all.
He was making his routine shopping excursion to the nearest convenience store, some eighteen miles from his land in the arid desert. The austere man had seen just as many oddities in the night sky as anyone else who grew up in the dry west. However, never would he have expected there to be any truth to the 'idjits' in tinfoil hats.
After all the things he had heard and seen in the war decades ago, he was far more inclined to believe the occasional 'mysteries' drummed up by the lunatics down by Roswell or Aurora were simply military experiments. The Red Skull had nearly destroyed western civilization and after being personally rescued by Captain America and the Howling Commando's themselves - Mercer had to admit. Sometimes you fight fire with fire…and crazy with crazy.
Never would he have thought his life would get quite this crazy though.
He gawked in awe as he watched a giant metallic orb hurtling towards the ground, a trail of fire lies in its wake as it burned through the atmosphere. Its walls appeared to be built from a smooth white metal that was seemingly uncharred by the copious amounts of fire around the object.
'Surely that's headed for a military crash site,' even he would be sceptical in calling the strange object simply an asteroid. The strange purple lights being emitted from a circular section at least half the radius of the orb itself made it look more like a giant eyeball than any rock he had ever seen.
As if offended by Mercer's expectations, the orb started to slow down, rapidly. Only now did Mercer realize that the orb was not nearly as large as he had thought, nor nearly as far from him.
He yanked his steering wheel to the right but before the car could turn away, the orb made its thunderous landing right in his path, too close to avoid. Three prongs of thick white metal dug into the road, throwing asphalt and dirt into the air whilst stabilizing the otherworldly pod.
Mercer could do nothing but brace his arms in front of his face as his car flipped over by the force of the upturning earth. He protected his eyes as well as he could from the breaking glass but a near head-on collision with one of the landing structures had enough impact to see him lose consciousness.
The moment Mercer next woke and those subsequent to his waking were quite easily the strangest of his life. For a man who had joined the war illegally at 15, was officially honorably discharged at 20, who performed more military operations than anyone had a right to within and without that time — that was saying quite a lot.
His eyes opened to smoke and the burning smell of rubber, making him blink tears and cough simultaneously. Something he soon regretted as the car was still upside down and the impact had somehow both dislodged the seatbelt and tied its buckle threateningly close to his neck.
Straining to keep his neck in place and away from the metal shard, he attempted to slip out of his seat. Only to find that his leg had been crushed under the smashed dashboard, he simply could not feel it.
Just when he was about ready to count the seconds before he died he heard the sound of glass against asphalt, "Is somebody out there!? Help!" He heaved a breath of air and screamed again, "Help! I'm trapped down here!"
He heard glass crush against the road once again as it got closer and closer and if he did not have to live with the truth of what he saw for the rest of his life, he would say it was a fever dream.
Two pale, barefoot and small feet came into Mercer's view through the destroyed window near him, giving no care to the shards of glass they crushed under them. Not long after two tiny hands grip the frame of the door and pull it cleanly off its hinges, tearing away the seatbelt that nearly skewered him with it.
He came to face with a boy that could not have been more than 4 years old. He had thick straight black hair that smashed into itself in a wild mess and was naked as the day he was born.
Although shocked, Mercer had the instincts of a veteran and he reached out to the boy, his only hope for survival. He was gripped by two surprisingly strong hands and slowly pulled out the wreckage of the car. The face that greeted him was eerily impassive on a child if he even was a child.
He struggled to his knees, looking for the orb that started all the havoc in the first place only to find it missing. Where he assumed the orb once stood was just a crater of dirt, a strange cloth and even stranger monocle was left behind.
He grunted and cussed as he got to his feet, edging away from what he presumed was inside that pod. He raised his arm between himself and the boy as if making distance, "Thank you" he said, cautiously, still backing away.
The boy made no motions to show his acceptance but for an almost childlike quivering of his lips.
Mercer made only two backwards steps before the urge to simply turn away and run was too strong. He grunted in pain with every stride he took but he had to make it to the nearest town and quickly or he was as good as dead.
He hobbled down the road for nearly two minutes before he was thrown to the ground by a pressure wave. While the first was certainly the strongest, they came in droves - one following the next accompanied by the sound of wailing. The sound of a wailing child.
Kevin Mercer grimaced. He should be ashamed of himself. What would Mary say?
He trudged back to the site of contact, despite his bleeding ears. He walked through the wreckage, finally getting eyes on the boy. Just as he saw him, the boy also saw Mercer and stopped crying almost immediately.
The boy was sitting on the ground in the crater made by the orb when it took off. He sat with one hand pulling at the cloth and the other holding the strange toy - looking very much like a toddler just equally out of place.
The boy looked at Mercer with the most hurtful, pleading eyes - he could not deny the child when he reached his arms out, truly like a child asking to be carried. Only with him in his arms did he notice the tail attached to his lower back.
"Mary's never going to believe this."
"Matthew! Come down for breakfast!" called the warm voice of Mary Mercer from the kitchen below their adoptive son's bedroom. She did not speak particularly loudly, but then again, she knew she didn't need to. A giant of a 15-year-old barreled into the kitchen, clearly in a hurry.
With barely a good morning, the raven-haired boy inhaled the pancakes and toast prepared for him whilst mutilating what looked like a Chemistry textbook as he juggled the two tasks. He wore thin circular rimmed glasses that covered a good portion of his face and habitually readjusted them on his nose.
As the boy ate Mary Mercer came up behind his chair and chided, "Stop fidgeting Matty!" The boy only grinned and continued to shovel food down his never-ending stomach.
Finally done with his meal, Matthew glanced up to the clock only to gasp in panic, "Oh shit I'm late!"
"Language, young man!" Chided Mary as she watched her boy sprint out the door with a smile.
Slowly her smile fades as she turns away slightly disappointed, only to find Matthew in front of her once again and a gust of wind pushes her towards him almost belatedly.
"I love you, Mom. Have a great day." He said with a warm hug and kissed her brow.
"Matty," she started to chide as he disappeared in another gust of wind, "What did we say about running so fast?" she finished almost to herself, though she was sure her son had heard her.
Mary walked over to the window and watched her boy run down the suburban streets of Queens at a far more reasonable pace towards his escaping bus with a reignited smile and a shake of her head.
Raising Matthew was far from easy, in fact it was a singularly unique and lonely experience. While she and Kevin had never been the most social pair, caring for Matthew was a full-time job and involved a lot more secrecy than Mary was experienced with. It was a miracle they had survived as long as they had after Kevin passed.
Chapter 2
Chapter 2
Matthew knew he had an unfair advantage in…well, most things. But if Kevin Mercer had taught him anything it was that he had no right to try any less hard than anyone else.
Kevin was a hero. The kind of hero they wrote books and made films about. More importantly, he was Matthew's hero. Despite collecting enough accolades to rest on his laurels for several lifetimes, Kevin Mercer was a working man till the day he died.
So had Matthew figured out how to imbue his energy into his neurons to permanently imprint information into his brain? Yes.
Did he use it to munchkin high school tests? Absolutely.
But that just meant he had that much more to discover — that much more to learn; because Kevin Mercer would roll over in his grave if his son's standard for academic excellence was some government standardized tests.
It should be no surprise then, that with his attitude he made fast friends with Midtown High's more nerdy population and was generally unpopular. Not that he minded, of course, he would probably get an aneurysm trying to slow down enough to join the sportier boys in any games. That or he'd finally snap and end up killing Johnny Storm, then get kicked out of school, then get caught by the government and experimented on and who knows what else.
He was happy where he was, thank you very much.
Well maybe not quite where he was, he grimaced as he tried to minimize his body as much as he could — squashed between two rather…large people on the train, having missed the school bus.
He sighed to himself and tried to focus on his notes and what he was realizing might finally be a breakthrough in his ability to create usable shields.
He still remembered the day Kevin caught him playing with orbs of light like it was yesterday. Matthew was ten years old at the time, it was one of their last years at their idyllic farm in Kansas. He had finally been able to tease out a tiny drop of the sap-like energy that swirled inside his body — and indeed all living things. He stretched and pulled at it till he could grow into a sphere large enough to be visible to the eye. While it contained some energy, it was spread thin; and it wasn't charged like Matthew knew he could do now. In fact, the energy was so weak it barely lit the garage as he played. It was still the proudest and subsequently scariest moment of his life. Kevin had never been that angry before.
In retrospect, experimenting with my power anywhere near explosive gas and flammable liquids was a terrible idea — whether or not I had adult supervision. Matthew loved his father but he didn't think he ever understood just how different Matthew is from regular people. He could not imagine how his father could help him experiment with his powers any safer.
Matthew had come quite far from creating a few balls of light since then. He could now make balls of…something. And sometimes they exploded! Maybe he hadn't gotten quite as far as he'd hoped. But his ideas were a lot more detailed now, and a lot more grounded in reality!
It was only a year ago when he was able to mould the ball into more regular shapes in an effort to form a shield around him. His ultimate goal was to have a hollow sphere of his energy around him to act like a shield. However, moulding a sphere into a hollow version of itself was proving to be a lot harder than he had imagined.
The more he moulded his energy from the initial orb created, the harder it got. Which made hollowing out a sphere incredibly hard as he'd have to manipulate almost 98% of it for it to be usably empty. And that was after making it large enough to cover him.
However, having recently imprinted a lot of information about Organic Chemistry into himself, he could not help but think he was going about this all wrong.
If stability was the issue perhaps he should just steal from nature itself. If Cyclo-Alkanes are most stable with 6 sides, maybe his shields would be too. He could just stitch together several hexagons into a shield by the hinges! Finally! Something to look forward to. He couldn't wait till he was back home.
While he wasn't too bothered by being late to school, he did have a test — and it's not like he could just super speed to school. Like Kevin used to say, 'that would be stupidity of monumental proportions.' Imagine sacrificing your freedom for all eternity in exchange for one less detention. Matthew shivered.
Thankfully, he got to school on time — arriving just before a new girl was introduced to the class by their homeroom teacher, Mrs Patty.
"Why don't you tell us a little about yourself Ms Jones," she said kindly to the dismay of the girl.
"Hi," she said with an expression of utter disdain, "I'm Jessica Jones. New kid, nice to meet ya."
A moment of silence passed before Mrs Patty realized that was all she would offer and assigns her to an empty seat in front of Matthew.
While Matthew was usually quite comfortable drowning out the noise around him, the girl's fidgeting with her bag and increasing heart rate was pricking at his ears. He knew she was probably just nervous or embarrassed rather than scared but he decided he should put her out of her misery regardless.
"Ms Jones?" he called politely.
"What?" she whipped her head towards the boy behind her and snapped rather rudely.
"I have an extra pen if you need one."
Matthew held it out to her in offering though she only stared at it like it had insulted her ancestors — right up until the bell rang signalling the start of the next class and the upcoming test. Only then did she make a move to grab it, by which point Matthew had grown quite bored of waiting.
He spun the pen out of her way as she moved for it joking weakly, "Woops, too late now."
"Sorry," he apologized nominally as he handed it to her again.
"How could I ever repay you?" she asks sarcastically.
Matthew only scoffed, "Don't worry, they're as cheap as they come."
This time allowing her to grab it, he takes his attention away as the pen leaves his hand and looks back to his textbook.
Only to hear a loud crack as she seemingly snapped the pen Matthew offered her in half.
He turned his head to her and blinked.
They were not cheap despite their shabby look. In fact, Matthew only carried two. Money had been tight ever since his father passed away. The only reason he used those pens were that they weren't as easy for him to break while fidgeting.
Yet she'd snapped it. Seemingly with ease. How peculiar.
"I'm so sorry," she said in a saccharine voice, "I'm such a klutz. I don't suppose I can get another one of those."
Matthew blinked at her again, trying very hard to not be upset with the new girl.
"Only spare I'm afraid," he replied rather curtly.
Jessica Jones raised an eyebrow in disbelief which only served to annoy him further. He emptied his pouch in front of her to prove it and waved a pencil in her face rather imperiously.
"Take it, or leave it."
Could he blame her for breaking it after he claimed they were cheap? Matthew decided he could as he fumed through his test. Meanwhile, he noticed, Jessica had no intention of even writing the test.
He disliked rich brats like her the most. Little children with narrow minds and no compassion. They were selfish leeches to society and he decided he disliked Jessica Jones almost as much as Johnny Storm.
Matthew knew he had an unfair advantage in…well, most things. But if Kevin Mercer had taught him anything it was that he had no right to try any less hard than anyone else.
Kevin was a hero. The kind of hero they wrote books and made films about. More importantly, he was Matthew's hero. Despite collecting enough accolades to rest on his laurels for several lifetimes, Kevin Mercer was a working man till the day he died.
So had Matthew figured out how to imbue his energy into his neurons to permanently imprint information into his brain? Yes.
Did he use it to munchkin high school tests? Absolutely.
But that just meant he had that much more to discover — that much more to learn; because Kevin Mercer would roll over in his grave if his son's standard for academic excellence was some government standardized tests.
It should be no surprise then, that with his attitude he made fast friends with Midtown High's more nerdy population and was generally unpopular. Not that he minded, of course, he would probably get an aneurysm trying to slow down enough to join the sportier boys in any games. That or he'd finally snap and end up killing Johnny Storm, then get kicked out of school, then get caught by the government and experimented on and who knows what else.
He was happy where he was, thank you very much.
Well maybe not quite where he was, he grimaced as he tried to minimize his body as much as he could — squashed between two rather…large people on the train, having missed the school bus.
He sighed to himself and tried to focus on his notes and what he was realizing might finally be a breakthrough in his ability to create usable shields.
He still remembered the day Kevin caught him playing with orbs of light like it was yesterday. Matthew was ten years old at the time, it was one of their last years at their idyllic farm in Kansas. He had finally been able to tease out a tiny drop of the sap-like energy that swirled inside his body — and indeed all living things. He stretched and pulled at it till he could grow into a sphere large enough to be visible to the eye. While it contained some energy, it was spread thin; and it wasn't charged like Matthew knew he could do now. In fact, the energy was so weak it barely lit the garage as he played. It was still the proudest and subsequently scariest moment of his life. Kevin had never been that angry before.
In retrospect, experimenting with my power anywhere near explosive gas and flammable liquids was a terrible idea — whether or not I had adult supervision. Matthew loved his father but he didn't think he ever understood just how different Matthew is from regular people. He could not imagine how his father could help him experiment with his powers any safer.
Matthew had come quite far from creating a few balls of light since then. He could now make balls of…something. And sometimes they exploded! Maybe he hadn't gotten quite as far as he'd hoped. But his ideas were a lot more detailed now, and a lot more grounded in reality!
It was only a year ago when he was able to mould the ball into more regular shapes in an effort to form a shield around him. His ultimate goal was to have a hollow sphere of his energy around him to act like a shield. However, moulding a sphere into a hollow version of itself was proving to be a lot harder than he had imagined.
The more he moulded his energy from the initial orb created, the harder it got. Which made hollowing out a sphere incredibly hard as he'd have to manipulate almost 98% of it for it to be usably empty. And that was after making it large enough to cover him.
However, having recently imprinted a lot of information about Organic Chemistry into himself, he could not help but think he was going about this all wrong.
If stability was the issue perhaps he should just steal from nature itself. If Cyclo-Alkanes are most stable with 6 sides, maybe his shields would be too. He could just stitch together several hexagons into a shield by the hinges! Finally! Something to look forward to. He couldn't wait till he was back home.
While he wasn't too bothered by being late to school, he did have a test — and it's not like he could just super speed to school. Like Kevin used to say, 'that would be stupidity of monumental proportions.' Imagine sacrificing your freedom for all eternity in exchange for one less detention. Matthew shivered.
Thankfully, he got to school on time — arriving just before a new girl was introduced to the class by their homeroom teacher, Mrs Patty.
"Why don't you tell us a little about yourself Ms Jones," she said kindly to the dismay of the girl.
"Hi," she said with an expression of utter disdain, "I'm Jessica Jones. New kid, nice to meet ya."
A moment of silence passed before Mrs Patty realized that was all she would offer and assigns her to an empty seat in front of Matthew.
While Matthew was usually quite comfortable drowning out the noise around him, the girl's fidgeting with her bag and increasing heart rate was pricking at his ears. He knew she was probably just nervous or embarrassed rather than scared but he decided he should put her out of her misery regardless.
"Ms Jones?" he called politely.
"What?" she whipped her head towards the boy behind her and snapped rather rudely.
"I have an extra pen if you need one."
Matthew held it out to her in offering though she only stared at it like it had insulted her ancestors — right up until the bell rang signalling the start of the next class and the upcoming test. Only then did she make a move to grab it, by which point Matthew had grown quite bored of waiting.
He spun the pen out of her way as she moved for it joking weakly, "Woops, too late now."
"Sorry," he apologized nominally as he handed it to her again.
"How could I ever repay you?" she asks sarcastically.
Matthew only scoffed, "Don't worry, they're as cheap as they come."
This time allowing her to grab it, he takes his attention away as the pen leaves his hand and looks back to his textbook.
Only to hear a loud crack as she seemingly snapped the pen Matthew offered her in half.
He turned his head to her and blinked.
They were not cheap despite their shabby look. In fact, Matthew only carried two. Money had been tight ever since his father passed away. The only reason he used those pens were that they weren't as easy for him to break while fidgeting.
Yet she'd snapped it. Seemingly with ease. How peculiar.
"I'm so sorry," she said in a saccharine voice, "I'm such a klutz. I don't suppose I can get another one of those."
Matthew blinked at her again, trying very hard to not be upset with the new girl.
"Only spare I'm afraid," he replied rather curtly.
Jessica Jones raised an eyebrow in disbelief which only served to annoy him further. He emptied his pouch in front of her to prove it and waved a pencil in her face rather imperiously.
"Take it, or leave it."
Could he blame her for breaking it after he claimed they were cheap? Matthew decided he could as he fumed through his test. Meanwhile, he noticed, Jessica had no intention of even writing the test.
He disliked rich brats like her the most. Little children with narrow minds and no compassion. They were selfish leeches to society and he decided he disliked Jessica Jones almost as much as Johnny Storm.
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Chapter 3
Chapter 3
Matthew despised lunch break at Midtown High. Scratch that, he would despise lunch break anywhere, but it was especially hard after Matthew lost his closest friend, Danny.
Danny was a very rich kid. Matthew suspected that had they not met through their parents prior to him arriving at Midtown, they would likely have never been friends. It was Danny's charm and popularity that kept the unwanted attention away from Matthew's seemingly docile disposition. Even five years after his death, Matthew was largely left alone.
Yet that did not stop his ears from grating and his skin from crawling every afternoon. The atmosphere at Midtown High was loud and the building was old. The architects had given no thought to acoustics and the lunch hall was like an inverted amphitheatre, channelling all the sounds from the school to the centre.
Matthew could never truly turn down the cacophony, the best he could ever do was ignore it.
He smiled, however, when he noticed a tell-tale gait walk up towards him from behind.
"Matty! Just who I wanted to see!" said a loud cracking voice from behind.
Seconds later an arm swung around Matthew's shoulders and a stocky boy with brown, short hair sat down next to him.
"You will not believe what I found last weekend."
"Hello to you too, Phil. What did you find?" Matthew asks, humouring his friend.
Phil was one of the few residents at Midtown High who truly treated everyone he spoke to equally. He participated in everything — be it sports, academia, heck, even violin. He was — what do they call it? Something of a 'Mathlete.' His incredible determination and ambition only made it funnier for Matthew when he learned just how much of a fanboy his otherwise stoic friend was.
"Only card number 15 in my vintage Captain America Collection," he replied smugly.
When Matthew did not show enough enthusiasm for his liking Phil continued, "It's one of the rarest in the collection you know! The Cap's in the usual star-spangled man outfit of course, but he has this weird triangle shield! Isn't that rad? That photo must have been taken before he met Howard Stark!" He showed Matthew a photograph of the card.
Of course, Phil had no idea that Howard Stark worked on the serum that created Captain America in the first place, not that that would have diminished his excitement in any way.
"Wow? Is it really that rare? When are you going to show me this supposed collection anyway?" Matthew smirked.
Phil had vehemently refused any calls to bring his collection to school. Which meant that for Matthew, teasing his friend about its existence - or lack of - was far game. Sort of like Johnny Storm's 'Canadian girlfriend.'
Phil only rolled his eyes in response, not falling for the bait.
"Over my dead body, Mercer. Ain't nobody touching my cards."
"Ain't nobody?" Matthew laughed loudly, "Who are you and what have you done with Phil Coulson?"
"Hey, guy." A sharp voice interrupted us from behind.
"Sorry about earlier, here, on me," said the girl who broke Matthew's pen that morning.
She did not look particularly sorry. Though, thankfully, she did not continue the childish game he had started earlier either. Matthew took the pen from her without incident but the pen was nothing like the one he had given her. It was a full metal body, the kind you see bankers use. It felt weighty and probably wrote like butter on warm toast but Matthew could not help but feel she was making a statement of some sort.
Still, a token effort was still an effort. If he turned her away now, he'd be the asshole.
"Sorry we got off on the wrong foot, I'm Matthew Mercer." He reached his hand out.
Taking it the girl replied with a smirk, "Jessica Jones."
Matthew would have to confess; he had not been in this situation often. A handshake, that is.
He knew he was supposed to have a firm grip, his dad had drilled the importance of that into him quite clearly. But what was a firm grip? So far, he had gotten by simply emulating the grip on his own hand. Surely, they could not judge him poorly on his handshake if it was exactly the same strength as their own?
That being said, this had to be the most awkward handshake of Matthew's life. It went on for a while and the girl kept a frigid smile on her face all the way through. Finally, she let go with an expression of confusion.
"What the hell man?" She said as she shook her hand as though he had hurt her.
The blood drained from Matthew's face as he realized he might have accidentally hurt the girl. He should never have offered his hand. What was he thinking? It was frustrating but he'd have to avoid shaking people's hands in the future. He simply did not understand his strength enough to interact with humans safely.
As his thoughts roiled in panic and self-detrimental drivel he stammered, "Jessica! I-I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to I was just-" He had reached out to her hand once again as if to assess the damage.
Jessica had other plans, however, and she pushed against him with both hands, attempting to push him down. And she almost did!
Shock plastered her face as well as Matthew's.
She did not wait long, however, before winding up a punch with her right hand. She twisted her entire body putting all her strength into her arm, telegraphing every motion but Matthew let it hit anyway.
And regretted it almost immediately.
He didn't even have to fake the pain! She socked him right over his right eye, forcing his head back in whiplash and throwing his glasses off his face.
"What the fuck woman!"
In the midst of his panic, Matthew failed to recognize the footsteps of a group of faculty entering the hall.
"Language Mr Mercer! And you, young lady! A fistfight on your first day!? What would your mother say? My office! Immediately!" Shouted the voice of the principal of Midtown High, Mr Roberts.
Matthew missed the string of insults coming from Jessica Jones as she stalked away towards Mr Roberts. His ringing head not doing any good for his mood.
"What the hell was that, Matt?" Phil asked.
"I-I don't know. I only squeezed as hard as she did!"
This was evidently the wrong answer as Phil looked visibly displeased.
"She's just a girl, Matt you don't use force to prove a point," he said pointedly and got up.
"That's not what happened! I was just-" Matthew tried to explain but Phil was already gone.
Matthew was hurt that his friend thought so little of him. How could he know that she would try and squeeze his hand harder than she herself could handle!? He could only sigh in frustration and hurry out of the lunch hall and after Mr Roberts.
Matthew entered Mr Roberts office as he was ending a conversation on the telephone.
"Of course, Mrs Walker! Yes, yes and I really appreciate the invitation to the Gala next weekend. Of course, of course, you need not be concerned at all Mrs Walker. Consider the situation dealt with. Yes, Jessica is a bright young girl and Midtown is very happy to host her and her sister Patricia. Of course, Mrs Walker. I will see you this weekend."
His simpering voice grated on Matthew's bones as he observed the people in the room. Jessica was once again aloof and looked like she would rather be anywhere but here. She spared a few seconds to glare at him but otherwise kept her disdainful eyes on Mr Roberts.
"Mr Mercer, thank you for finally joining us." Said Mr Roberts condescendingly.
The principal of Midtown High had always hated Matthew. Ever since Matthew dared to pass the scholarship test for a full ride at Midtown High — especially after they made him rewrite the test after suspecting him of cheating. Never expecting 'trailer trash' to have more than two brain cells to rub against each other.
Of course, they never did change their attitude. Not even after Mr Rand got them a new house and his father a stable income. Yet another thing he was protected from at Midtown when his friend was alive.
Matthew exhaled a measured breath and glared at Jessica Jones for her part in the mess he was in.
"I am suspending you, effective immediately. I want you to go collect your things from your locker and your homework from your teachers. You can return on Monday."
Despite the favouritism and downright nepotism Midtown High had displayed since Matthew enrolled 6 years ago, he was still shocked by the exaggerated punishment.
"What!? She punched me! Why am I the one getting suspended?" he nearly shouted.
"I am in charge here, and you will watch your tone with me boy."
Matthew opens his mouth to retort, "One more word I will expel you right here and now. I've had enough of catering to your riffraff. You think you can come into my school and put your filthy paws on the daughter of a perfectly respectable news reporter?" He smiled evilly at Matthew. "One more complaint about you and you're out, Mr Mercer," he declared as though Matthew had been a troubled child for all his years at Midtown.
For a moment Matthew thought Jessica would move to speak in his defence. She opened her mouth and was about to speak before she just shrugged and returned to her disdainful glare.
"Frankly I'd be happy to see you gone even if Dorothy Walker herself did not demand your expulsion," he added for good measure as Matthew stormed out of his office. He did not notice Jessica snap to attention at those words. Nor did he care to listen in on her interrogating of Mr Roberts as she asked about his conversation with her ever so charming mother.
Matthew wished he could just speed through the school and collect his effects. He could feel the stares of fellow schoolmates following him through the corridors and they would not stop whispering about how he had attacked a girl. With tears in his eyes, Matthew thought it might have been the most humiliating moment of his life.
By the time he left the school he was vowing he would never return.
Matthew despised lunch break at Midtown High. Scratch that, he would despise lunch break anywhere, but it was especially hard after Matthew lost his closest friend, Danny.
Danny was a very rich kid. Matthew suspected that had they not met through their parents prior to him arriving at Midtown, they would likely have never been friends. It was Danny's charm and popularity that kept the unwanted attention away from Matthew's seemingly docile disposition. Even five years after his death, Matthew was largely left alone.
Yet that did not stop his ears from grating and his skin from crawling every afternoon. The atmosphere at Midtown High was loud and the building was old. The architects had given no thought to acoustics and the lunch hall was like an inverted amphitheatre, channelling all the sounds from the school to the centre.
Matthew could never truly turn down the cacophony, the best he could ever do was ignore it.
He smiled, however, when he noticed a tell-tale gait walk up towards him from behind.
"Matty! Just who I wanted to see!" said a loud cracking voice from behind.
Seconds later an arm swung around Matthew's shoulders and a stocky boy with brown, short hair sat down next to him.
"You will not believe what I found last weekend."
"Hello to you too, Phil. What did you find?" Matthew asks, humouring his friend.
Phil was one of the few residents at Midtown High who truly treated everyone he spoke to equally. He participated in everything — be it sports, academia, heck, even violin. He was — what do they call it? Something of a 'Mathlete.' His incredible determination and ambition only made it funnier for Matthew when he learned just how much of a fanboy his otherwise stoic friend was.
"Only card number 15 in my vintage Captain America Collection," he replied smugly.
When Matthew did not show enough enthusiasm for his liking Phil continued, "It's one of the rarest in the collection you know! The Cap's in the usual star-spangled man outfit of course, but he has this weird triangle shield! Isn't that rad? That photo must have been taken before he met Howard Stark!" He showed Matthew a photograph of the card.
Of course, Phil had no idea that Howard Stark worked on the serum that created Captain America in the first place, not that that would have diminished his excitement in any way.
"Wow? Is it really that rare? When are you going to show me this supposed collection anyway?" Matthew smirked.
Phil had vehemently refused any calls to bring his collection to school. Which meant that for Matthew, teasing his friend about its existence - or lack of - was far game. Sort of like Johnny Storm's 'Canadian girlfriend.'
Phil only rolled his eyes in response, not falling for the bait.
"Over my dead body, Mercer. Ain't nobody touching my cards."
"Ain't nobody?" Matthew laughed loudly, "Who are you and what have you done with Phil Coulson?"
"Hey, guy." A sharp voice interrupted us from behind.
"Sorry about earlier, here, on me," said the girl who broke Matthew's pen that morning.
She did not look particularly sorry. Though, thankfully, she did not continue the childish game he had started earlier either. Matthew took the pen from her without incident but the pen was nothing like the one he had given her. It was a full metal body, the kind you see bankers use. It felt weighty and probably wrote like butter on warm toast but Matthew could not help but feel she was making a statement of some sort.
Still, a token effort was still an effort. If he turned her away now, he'd be the asshole.
"Sorry we got off on the wrong foot, I'm Matthew Mercer." He reached his hand out.
Taking it the girl replied with a smirk, "Jessica Jones."
Matthew would have to confess; he had not been in this situation often. A handshake, that is.
He knew he was supposed to have a firm grip, his dad had drilled the importance of that into him quite clearly. But what was a firm grip? So far, he had gotten by simply emulating the grip on his own hand. Surely, they could not judge him poorly on his handshake if it was exactly the same strength as their own?
That being said, this had to be the most awkward handshake of Matthew's life. It went on for a while and the girl kept a frigid smile on her face all the way through. Finally, she let go with an expression of confusion.
"What the hell man?" She said as she shook her hand as though he had hurt her.
The blood drained from Matthew's face as he realized he might have accidentally hurt the girl. He should never have offered his hand. What was he thinking? It was frustrating but he'd have to avoid shaking people's hands in the future. He simply did not understand his strength enough to interact with humans safely.
As his thoughts roiled in panic and self-detrimental drivel he stammered, "Jessica! I-I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to I was just-" He had reached out to her hand once again as if to assess the damage.
Jessica had other plans, however, and she pushed against him with both hands, attempting to push him down. And she almost did!
Shock plastered her face as well as Matthew's.
She did not wait long, however, before winding up a punch with her right hand. She twisted her entire body putting all her strength into her arm, telegraphing every motion but Matthew let it hit anyway.
And regretted it almost immediately.
He didn't even have to fake the pain! She socked him right over his right eye, forcing his head back in whiplash and throwing his glasses off his face.
"What the fuck woman!"
In the midst of his panic, Matthew failed to recognize the footsteps of a group of faculty entering the hall.
"Language Mr Mercer! And you, young lady! A fistfight on your first day!? What would your mother say? My office! Immediately!" Shouted the voice of the principal of Midtown High, Mr Roberts.
Matthew missed the string of insults coming from Jessica Jones as she stalked away towards Mr Roberts. His ringing head not doing any good for his mood.
"What the hell was that, Matt?" Phil asked.
"I-I don't know. I only squeezed as hard as she did!"
This was evidently the wrong answer as Phil looked visibly displeased.
"She's just a girl, Matt you don't use force to prove a point," he said pointedly and got up.
"That's not what happened! I was just-" Matthew tried to explain but Phil was already gone.
Matthew was hurt that his friend thought so little of him. How could he know that she would try and squeeze his hand harder than she herself could handle!? He could only sigh in frustration and hurry out of the lunch hall and after Mr Roberts.
Matthew entered Mr Roberts office as he was ending a conversation on the telephone.
"Of course, Mrs Walker! Yes, yes and I really appreciate the invitation to the Gala next weekend. Of course, of course, you need not be concerned at all Mrs Walker. Consider the situation dealt with. Yes, Jessica is a bright young girl and Midtown is very happy to host her and her sister Patricia. Of course, Mrs Walker. I will see you this weekend."
His simpering voice grated on Matthew's bones as he observed the people in the room. Jessica was once again aloof and looked like she would rather be anywhere but here. She spared a few seconds to glare at him but otherwise kept her disdainful eyes on Mr Roberts.
"Mr Mercer, thank you for finally joining us." Said Mr Roberts condescendingly.
The principal of Midtown High had always hated Matthew. Ever since Matthew dared to pass the scholarship test for a full ride at Midtown High — especially after they made him rewrite the test after suspecting him of cheating. Never expecting 'trailer trash' to have more than two brain cells to rub against each other.
Of course, they never did change their attitude. Not even after Mr Rand got them a new house and his father a stable income. Yet another thing he was protected from at Midtown when his friend was alive.
Matthew exhaled a measured breath and glared at Jessica Jones for her part in the mess he was in.
"I am suspending you, effective immediately. I want you to go collect your things from your locker and your homework from your teachers. You can return on Monday."
Despite the favouritism and downright nepotism Midtown High had displayed since Matthew enrolled 6 years ago, he was still shocked by the exaggerated punishment.
"What!? She punched me! Why am I the one getting suspended?" he nearly shouted.
"I am in charge here, and you will watch your tone with me boy."
Matthew opens his mouth to retort, "One more word I will expel you right here and now. I've had enough of catering to your riffraff. You think you can come into my school and put your filthy paws on the daughter of a perfectly respectable news reporter?" He smiled evilly at Matthew. "One more complaint about you and you're out, Mr Mercer," he declared as though Matthew had been a troubled child for all his years at Midtown.
For a moment Matthew thought Jessica would move to speak in his defence. She opened her mouth and was about to speak before she just shrugged and returned to her disdainful glare.
"Frankly I'd be happy to see you gone even if Dorothy Walker herself did not demand your expulsion," he added for good measure as Matthew stormed out of his office. He did not notice Jessica snap to attention at those words. Nor did he care to listen in on her interrogating of Mr Roberts as she asked about his conversation with her ever so charming mother.
Matthew wished he could just speed through the school and collect his effects. He could feel the stares of fellow schoolmates following him through the corridors and they would not stop whispering about how he had attacked a girl. With tears in his eyes, Matthew thought it might have been the most humiliating moment of his life.
By the time he left the school he was vowing he would never return.
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Chapter 4
Chapter 4
Matthew shouldered his bag outside his school gates and contemplated his options. He could go home, of course, but his mom did not expect him back until later in the evening. In his eagerness to kick Matthew out, Mr Roberts never contacted his mother to let her know what happened. And Matthew certainly did not look forward to giving her an explanation.
Instead, he decided he'd return home in the evening. It was Friday anyway; in this case, he determined ignorance was bliss.
Maybe this was a blessing in disguise. He was really looking forward to his school day ending earlier in the day. There was no reason he should let some high school drama curb his excitement.
Twenty minutes later Matthew had found just the kind of abandoned warehouse he was looking for. It appeared to have once been a shipyard of some sort. But like its sister buildings, the entire compound was in a state of disrepair. Rust had eaten away at structural supports and one of the warehouses had nearly sunk into the bay waters. But that was perfect because that meant nobody would care or know if anything broke.
As long as the floor stays above water, Matthew thought wryly as he jumped experimentally on the shipyard floor. He didn't really expect it to cave in, this building was in the best shape of the three after all — but you can never be too careful.
Matthew dropped his bag to the ground while pinching off a minuscule piece of the thick viscous liquid in his body he liked to call ki. Fashioning it into a fine mist he sends it towards his bag with a gentle wave of his hand, safely depositing it by the edge of the wall.
He smirked, then gathered the mist back to his hand into a tiny ball. Waste not, want not. To his dismay, the small amount of ki he held in his body had not grown exponentially with age. In fact, it had not grown much at all. The only time Matthew noticed a significant increase was when he had had a near-fatal encounter with a massive delusional squid.
Thankfully Gargantus was done being a complete bonehead now and he promised to be a good boy.
Matthew amused himself with several orbs of ki around him for a while. It felt good to flex his muscles - so to speak - he never really was motivated to exercise. He was more modest than most but he would have to be a special kind of stupid to not realize that his muscles were unnaturally defined for a person with his lifestyle.
Finally prepared to get to work, Matthew sits down on the ground cross-legged and spreads out his hands, imitating a monk. He'd fought with his father when he first made him do this - admittedly he still felt a little silly. But it did what it was meant to do.
Which was to get him calm enough to really immerse himself in his ki and give his palms enough clearance to not accidentally hurt himself or anyone else. He took a deep breath and the six balls of floating soft light grew larger in his palms — but not any brighter. In fact, the dimmed to a barely a greyish afterglow.
The balls were now the size of bowling balls and as a test of his control, he began to move them around randomly. He frowned, this was harder than he hoped it would be. If he wanted to have any proficiency with his shield he'd have to be able to manipulate a lot more of these balls independently — larger than these as well.
Matthew only smiled at the challenge. It did not sound impossible.
He decided to continue with his experiment and mould the orbs into flattened plates. As they flattened he realized he would have to form the edges simultaneously or he would have to reapply his manipulation — which was always harder the next time.
Matthew thought it over and realized there was no reason he could not just use triangles to form the plates of his shield. In fact, triangles were a more structurally stable shape than a hexagon anyway.
So as the ki, which now looked more like a circular pillow than a sphere, flattened further it also froze along three lines in a plane. As such, it forced the orb into the shape of an ever-growing triangular plate just as he wished. All he had to do now was merge it together and create a shield.
The plates were so thin Matthew could see through the ki structures with ease and merging the joints turned out to be the easiest part of the whole operation. Matthew jumped up in excitement, the shield following his directions with a fair amount of ease.
Merging the plates had made it so much easier to control! He grinned in excitement and spun the shield around him before kicking off the ground ever so gently.
He imbued a large amount of energy into his feet and arms and pushed his ki against the ground as he rose which only pushed him further into the air.
He laughed loudly as he spun around with his shield in the air, "Fuck yeah!"
He did not get to enjoy his achievement for a second longer, however, as he heard the deep voice of a man some distance away, "Excuse me, young lady! You should not be up there!"
The voice had come from near the sunken shipyard — it was also the one closest to the front gates.
"Shit! Fuck!" cried a voice equally far away. Matthew's hearing was not omnipotent, he could only hear so far away. But it was with crystal clear clarity and he could tell from the sounds alone that whoever said that was moving and fast. If he was being a smartass he would probably conclude she was probably accelerating at around 9.8 metres ever squared second.
However, right now, he was simply too conflicted to fool around. He knew who that was. It was Jessica Jones. The fact that she was there, at that time, meant she had probably followed him from school. There's no way she just happened to be there at the same time.
'Not when she had no reason to leave school in the first place,' he thought bitterly.
Matthew knew this meant she had probably seen everything…and now she was falling to her death.
The thought that his secret would be kept if she fell did not even cross the black-eyed boy's mind. Matthew had never been in a situation like this before. Sure, bad things had happened in his general vicinity in the past. But his father had made it quite clear what would happen to him if he were to 'intercede in the course of nature' as he put it. But the only person who would know today is someone who already learned his secret. Surely he could not let her die, despite her aggravating personality.
Matthew fisted his hands in the sleeves of his jacket, unsure what to do.
'Fuck it,' he thought and forced his ki out of his arms and feet at an unprecedented rate. He considered dissipating the shield but soon realized he would need it to catch Jessica as he would not make it in time.
He pushed out an arm desperate to get the shield below her before she gained too much momentum. She thumped into the shield but it held her securely, the force of her impact knocking her out.
Matthew arrived a second later and brought the shield slowly to the ground. For better or for worse his shield only caught her once she'd fallen lower than the surrounding walls, which likely hid his saviour act but also increased the impact.
Matthew was surprised once again by her endurance when she woke up once again only seconds later.
"Umm, hey there," she said after taking in the shield of ki she was sat on that now resembled a lounging chair.
Matthew shouldered his bag outside his school gates and contemplated his options. He could go home, of course, but his mom did not expect him back until later in the evening. In his eagerness to kick Matthew out, Mr Roberts never contacted his mother to let her know what happened. And Matthew certainly did not look forward to giving her an explanation.
Instead, he decided he'd return home in the evening. It was Friday anyway; in this case, he determined ignorance was bliss.
Maybe this was a blessing in disguise. He was really looking forward to his school day ending earlier in the day. There was no reason he should let some high school drama curb his excitement.
Twenty minutes later Matthew had found just the kind of abandoned warehouse he was looking for. It appeared to have once been a shipyard of some sort. But like its sister buildings, the entire compound was in a state of disrepair. Rust had eaten away at structural supports and one of the warehouses had nearly sunk into the bay waters. But that was perfect because that meant nobody would care or know if anything broke.
As long as the floor stays above water, Matthew thought wryly as he jumped experimentally on the shipyard floor. He didn't really expect it to cave in, this building was in the best shape of the three after all — but you can never be too careful.
Matthew dropped his bag to the ground while pinching off a minuscule piece of the thick viscous liquid in his body he liked to call ki. Fashioning it into a fine mist he sends it towards his bag with a gentle wave of his hand, safely depositing it by the edge of the wall.
He smirked, then gathered the mist back to his hand into a tiny ball. Waste not, want not. To his dismay, the small amount of ki he held in his body had not grown exponentially with age. In fact, it had not grown much at all. The only time Matthew noticed a significant increase was when he had had a near-fatal encounter with a massive delusional squid.
Thankfully Gargantus was done being a complete bonehead now and he promised to be a good boy.
Matthew amused himself with several orbs of ki around him for a while. It felt good to flex his muscles - so to speak - he never really was motivated to exercise. He was more modest than most but he would have to be a special kind of stupid to not realize that his muscles were unnaturally defined for a person with his lifestyle.
Finally prepared to get to work, Matthew sits down on the ground cross-legged and spreads out his hands, imitating a monk. He'd fought with his father when he first made him do this - admittedly he still felt a little silly. But it did what it was meant to do.
Which was to get him calm enough to really immerse himself in his ki and give his palms enough clearance to not accidentally hurt himself or anyone else. He took a deep breath and the six balls of floating soft light grew larger in his palms — but not any brighter. In fact, the dimmed to a barely a greyish afterglow.
The balls were now the size of bowling balls and as a test of his control, he began to move them around randomly. He frowned, this was harder than he hoped it would be. If he wanted to have any proficiency with his shield he'd have to be able to manipulate a lot more of these balls independently — larger than these as well.
Matthew only smiled at the challenge. It did not sound impossible.
He decided to continue with his experiment and mould the orbs into flattened plates. As they flattened he realized he would have to form the edges simultaneously or he would have to reapply his manipulation — which was always harder the next time.
Matthew thought it over and realized there was no reason he could not just use triangles to form the plates of his shield. In fact, triangles were a more structurally stable shape than a hexagon anyway.
So as the ki, which now looked more like a circular pillow than a sphere, flattened further it also froze along three lines in a plane. As such, it forced the orb into the shape of an ever-growing triangular plate just as he wished. All he had to do now was merge it together and create a shield.
The plates were so thin Matthew could see through the ki structures with ease and merging the joints turned out to be the easiest part of the whole operation. Matthew jumped up in excitement, the shield following his directions with a fair amount of ease.
Merging the plates had made it so much easier to control! He grinned in excitement and spun the shield around him before kicking off the ground ever so gently.
He imbued a large amount of energy into his feet and arms and pushed his ki against the ground as he rose which only pushed him further into the air.
He laughed loudly as he spun around with his shield in the air, "Fuck yeah!"
He did not get to enjoy his achievement for a second longer, however, as he heard the deep voice of a man some distance away, "Excuse me, young lady! You should not be up there!"
The voice had come from near the sunken shipyard — it was also the one closest to the front gates.
"Shit! Fuck!" cried a voice equally far away. Matthew's hearing was not omnipotent, he could only hear so far away. But it was with crystal clear clarity and he could tell from the sounds alone that whoever said that was moving and fast. If he was being a smartass he would probably conclude she was probably accelerating at around 9.8 metres ever squared second.
However, right now, he was simply too conflicted to fool around. He knew who that was. It was Jessica Jones. The fact that she was there, at that time, meant she had probably followed him from school. There's no way she just happened to be there at the same time.
'Not when she had no reason to leave school in the first place,' he thought bitterly.
Matthew knew this meant she had probably seen everything…and now she was falling to her death.
The thought that his secret would be kept if she fell did not even cross the black-eyed boy's mind. Matthew had never been in a situation like this before. Sure, bad things had happened in his general vicinity in the past. But his father had made it quite clear what would happen to him if he were to 'intercede in the course of nature' as he put it. But the only person who would know today is someone who already learned his secret. Surely he could not let her die, despite her aggravating personality.
Matthew fisted his hands in the sleeves of his jacket, unsure what to do.
'Fuck it,' he thought and forced his ki out of his arms and feet at an unprecedented rate. He considered dissipating the shield but soon realized he would need it to catch Jessica as he would not make it in time.
He pushed out an arm desperate to get the shield below her before she gained too much momentum. She thumped into the shield but it held her securely, the force of her impact knocking her out.
Matthew arrived a second later and brought the shield slowly to the ground. For better or for worse his shield only caught her once she'd fallen lower than the surrounding walls, which likely hid his saviour act but also increased the impact.
Matthew was surprised once again by her endurance when she woke up once again only seconds later.
"Umm, hey there," she said after taking in the shield of ki she was sat on that now resembled a lounging chair.
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- Location
- Brazil
It feels disjointed and doesn't flow very well. Some bits are confusing, like the story is always slightly lost.
Might be a bit much to ask for a story you didn't like, but: Could you point out places that were particularly jarring?
Realistically, my writing style isn't going to change much as write this. I don't even have a complete story. I was mostly just writing this because I was surprised at how few DBZ/Marvel crossovers there were.
But that doesn't mean I shouldn't try and fix past mistakes.
- Location
- Brazil
The whole pen thing was weird, both the first and the second time it came up. The scenes were both confusing and kind of silly. The character's moods came and went, and the descriptions itself weren't clear.
The second time, the principal somehow teleports into the middle of the cafeteria to shout at them. In that same scene, moods also swing rapidly.
The part about sister buildings, I had to go back and re-read which "of the three" it was referring to.
Gargantus is apparently a giant squid that he tamed?
I like the concept, but it was a very weak opening.
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Thanks! The only things I think I will be adjusting at some point are the descriptions. It's quite obviously rushed and I haven't really taken the time to ground the characters in any scene. Maybe it'll sound less mood-swingy once I'm done as well because I do know what you mean. While I can see I need to tune Matthew's reactions a bunch (maybe give Phil more justification in being disappointed), Jessica is supposed to come off a bit crazy.
But as contrived as the pen scene is I don't see myself changing it anytime soon.
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Chapter 5
Chapter 5
"Did you follow me?" Demanded Matthew as the girl got to her feet, one hand massaging what looked like a nasty headache.
Jessica, unable to contain her sarcasm, rolled her eyes, "No. I thought I'd have a picnic on the roof of an abandoned shipyard."
Matthew took a measured breath. He could not believe she was being so flippant in a situation like this. She knew his secret! Would simply moving away even work this time? New York had so many more people.
'What if she tells her mother?' Matthew's blood runs cold at the thought. Jessica Jones', presumably, adoptive mother was Dorothy Walker and she was famous with a capital 'F'. He did not need Mr Robert's ass-kissing to know she was an important public figure. His own mother's complaints of her polarizing drivel on the 9 o'clock news were almost a daily occurrence. Heck, even her daughter, Tricia, was a household name.
"Look, I'm sorry, okay?" said Jessica in frustration, "I never meant to learn this, whatever this is."
Matthew could only glare in response. Every bone in his body wanted him to run, to get out of sight. But it's not like he could avoid Jessica forever.
"I came out to apologize. When you walked away from the buses I thought I'd catch you doing something funny — visit a strip club or something," she gestured wildly, "N-not this!"
She looked at him with curiosity and perhaps something akin to hope?
"So…what are you? Government experiment or alien?" she asks bluntly.
Matthew flinched. Having never been put on the spot quite like this, he did not know how to respond. Rather than reply, Matthew realized the only thing he could do to protect his secret was threaten hers.
No normal human should have been able to hurt him with something as mundane as a right hook, not even Mike Tyson himself.
"What about you?" Matthew challenged. She did not appear to have any more ki than the average human. His curiosity getting the most of him, Matthew peeked through the surface of her skin and sure enough, she had a very human-looking vascular system.
He did not know if this was some additional ability or whether his eyes were just physiologically more useful than the average human's — he had avoided hospitals like a rat in a plague after all. However, his mother had made it very clear that he was not to do what he had just done when he was entering his teen years. Which was frankly a herculean task for his hormone-addled mind.
Thankfully, Jessica did not react to his growing blush and said quite frankly, "Government experiment…probably. It was sort of an accident. My-"
A loud bang on the gates of the compound distracted them both. It looked like the 'good Samaritan' who had caused Jessica to fall had now called in an Ambulance. The rotund man, by the sound of his feet, had tried getting through the gate with a run-up and bodyweight alone. Having failed spectacularly, Matthew could hear the man groan in pain as he rolled on the floor outside the compound.
"Follow me!" Matthew called but contrary to his words, he grabbed her hand and practically dragged her with him as they ran.
They ran through the broken shipyard, crossing the building to get to the far side of the compound walls. Missing windows and doors made navigating their way through a fairly simple matter.
Seeing no reason to continue pulling on her arm, Matthew let it go; then herded her down the walls of the compound and towards the bay.
"You have got to be kidding me." She said as Matthew caught up to notice what had her in despair.
The side of the bay was lined with docks, some public and some, like the ones in the shipyard were private. Luckily for them, there was a public platform not far from the walls of the compound. If they could use the dock inside the compound nearest to the wall, they could jump to the platform quite easily.
Unfortunately, it looked like it had been eaten by a swamp and vomited back out. The dock was sickly green and barnacled all over. It looked like a pebble was cause it to collapse into the water.
"Ladies first," Matthew grinned.
Jessica rolled her eyes but smiled lightly, "You better catch me again."
Matthew is relieved when she lands safely on the other side without incident. He did not want to use his powers out here in the open bay so blatantly. That being said, Matthew once again manipulates his ki and uses it to cross rather than put any weight on the bridge.
He thought he had done a pretty good job in imitating a normal jump under gravity but when he landed on the public platform Jessica gave him an odd look.
"What the shit was that, Shaolin Soccer?"
"Shaolin Soccer?" Matthew asks back, equally bewildered.
"Do you live under a rock? The movie was released like a week ago." Jessica bantered snarkily.
"Oh, well I don't watch many films," Matthew replied lamely.
Jessica hummed in response, "Just don't jump like that… it's not very convincing."
'Oookay, since when were we on the same team?' Matthew thought confusedly.
"Don't look at me like that. I promise I'm not going to tell anyone your secret. I-I think I know what it's like. Oh, and I'm sorry about my adoptive mom," she adds as an afterthought, "She's kind of a major bitch."
Jessica glanced at Matthew almost guiltily, "She just wants to throw her power around. She doesn't actually care. I don't think she'd care even if you punched me." She blinked in recollection, "Um, sorry about that too by the way. I mean, I knew I wouldn't hurt you but things went a bit crazy from there. But that was not my fault."
Matthew heard her out and admittedly she was right. If she really had not fanned any flames as she claimed — and he knew she hadn't, after all, she never spoke to her mom — then this whole mess was on Mr Roberts and Dorothy Walker.
Still, he couldn't just trust her with his secret. Not after she punched him! Matthew stood tongue-tied, not sure what to do.
"Maybe we should take photographs," Jessica murmured.
"Photographs?"
"We both keep a photo of the other using their powers. That way we know we can't reveal each other's secrets. Mutually assured destruction." She nodded like she knew what she was talking about.
"Are you insane?! There's no way I'm doing that. What if someone got a hand on the photo?" Matthew was genuinely shocked by how naive her idea was. The Mercer household had been living with his…condition for nearly 15 years now and in that time they had made damn sure there was no evidence of his peculiarities anywhere. That meant not a word in their diaries, letters, notebooks, photographs, their everything.
And Matthew certainly would not be changing that now.
Jessica went red in response, "Well, you have a better idea?" she huffed.
Matthew realized then that they were at a bit of an impasse.
He looked at her again. He always thought he had a good understanding of people and while he maintained that she could be a real bitch, she seemed quite genuine in her apology. He smiled wryly, and wholly unapologetic of what she deemed wasn't her fault.
He took a deep breath making his decision. He would trust her. He'd trust her to keep his secret just as she'd have to trust him. Who knows, maybe someday they'd be glad for this series of unfortunate events. It helped that she never actually pushed him to answer. But Matthew knew he'd have to tell her something sooner or later.
AN: The pseudo-x-ray vision thing is just him being able to see through thin permeable surfaces because Planet Sadala (in this universe anyway) had grown almost inhospitably dark and Saiyan's evolved some badass eyeballs.
"Did you follow me?" Demanded Matthew as the girl got to her feet, one hand massaging what looked like a nasty headache.
Jessica, unable to contain her sarcasm, rolled her eyes, "No. I thought I'd have a picnic on the roof of an abandoned shipyard."
Matthew took a measured breath. He could not believe she was being so flippant in a situation like this. She knew his secret! Would simply moving away even work this time? New York had so many more people.
'What if she tells her mother?' Matthew's blood runs cold at the thought. Jessica Jones', presumably, adoptive mother was Dorothy Walker and she was famous with a capital 'F'. He did not need Mr Robert's ass-kissing to know she was an important public figure. His own mother's complaints of her polarizing drivel on the 9 o'clock news were almost a daily occurrence. Heck, even her daughter, Tricia, was a household name.
"Look, I'm sorry, okay?" said Jessica in frustration, "I never meant to learn this, whatever this is."
Matthew could only glare in response. Every bone in his body wanted him to run, to get out of sight. But it's not like he could avoid Jessica forever.
"I came out to apologize. When you walked away from the buses I thought I'd catch you doing something funny — visit a strip club or something," she gestured wildly, "N-not this!"
She looked at him with curiosity and perhaps something akin to hope?
"So…what are you? Government experiment or alien?" she asks bluntly.
Matthew flinched. Having never been put on the spot quite like this, he did not know how to respond. Rather than reply, Matthew realized the only thing he could do to protect his secret was threaten hers.
No normal human should have been able to hurt him with something as mundane as a right hook, not even Mike Tyson himself.
"What about you?" Matthew challenged. She did not appear to have any more ki than the average human. His curiosity getting the most of him, Matthew peeked through the surface of her skin and sure enough, she had a very human-looking vascular system.
He did not know if this was some additional ability or whether his eyes were just physiologically more useful than the average human's — he had avoided hospitals like a rat in a plague after all. However, his mother had made it very clear that he was not to do what he had just done when he was entering his teen years. Which was frankly a herculean task for his hormone-addled mind.
Thankfully, Jessica did not react to his growing blush and said quite frankly, "Government experiment…probably. It was sort of an accident. My-"
A loud bang on the gates of the compound distracted them both. It looked like the 'good Samaritan' who had caused Jessica to fall had now called in an Ambulance. The rotund man, by the sound of his feet, had tried getting through the gate with a run-up and bodyweight alone. Having failed spectacularly, Matthew could hear the man groan in pain as he rolled on the floor outside the compound.
"Follow me!" Matthew called but contrary to his words, he grabbed her hand and practically dragged her with him as they ran.
They ran through the broken shipyard, crossing the building to get to the far side of the compound walls. Missing windows and doors made navigating their way through a fairly simple matter.
Seeing no reason to continue pulling on her arm, Matthew let it go; then herded her down the walls of the compound and towards the bay.
"You have got to be kidding me." She said as Matthew caught up to notice what had her in despair.
The side of the bay was lined with docks, some public and some, like the ones in the shipyard were private. Luckily for them, there was a public platform not far from the walls of the compound. If they could use the dock inside the compound nearest to the wall, they could jump to the platform quite easily.
Unfortunately, it looked like it had been eaten by a swamp and vomited back out. The dock was sickly green and barnacled all over. It looked like a pebble was cause it to collapse into the water.
"Ladies first," Matthew grinned.
Jessica rolled her eyes but smiled lightly, "You better catch me again."
Matthew is relieved when she lands safely on the other side without incident. He did not want to use his powers out here in the open bay so blatantly. That being said, Matthew once again manipulates his ki and uses it to cross rather than put any weight on the bridge.
He thought he had done a pretty good job in imitating a normal jump under gravity but when he landed on the public platform Jessica gave him an odd look.
"What the shit was that, Shaolin Soccer?"
"Shaolin Soccer?" Matthew asks back, equally bewildered.
"Do you live under a rock? The movie was released like a week ago." Jessica bantered snarkily.
"Oh, well I don't watch many films," Matthew replied lamely.
Jessica hummed in response, "Just don't jump like that… it's not very convincing."
'Oookay, since when were we on the same team?' Matthew thought confusedly.
"Don't look at me like that. I promise I'm not going to tell anyone your secret. I-I think I know what it's like. Oh, and I'm sorry about my adoptive mom," she adds as an afterthought, "She's kind of a major bitch."
Jessica glanced at Matthew almost guiltily, "She just wants to throw her power around. She doesn't actually care. I don't think she'd care even if you punched me." She blinked in recollection, "Um, sorry about that too by the way. I mean, I knew I wouldn't hurt you but things went a bit crazy from there. But that was not my fault."
Matthew heard her out and admittedly she was right. If she really had not fanned any flames as she claimed — and he knew she hadn't, after all, she never spoke to her mom — then this whole mess was on Mr Roberts and Dorothy Walker.
Still, he couldn't just trust her with his secret. Not after she punched him! Matthew stood tongue-tied, not sure what to do.
"Maybe we should take photographs," Jessica murmured.
"Photographs?"
"We both keep a photo of the other using their powers. That way we know we can't reveal each other's secrets. Mutually assured destruction." She nodded like she knew what she was talking about.
"Are you insane?! There's no way I'm doing that. What if someone got a hand on the photo?" Matthew was genuinely shocked by how naive her idea was. The Mercer household had been living with his…condition for nearly 15 years now and in that time they had made damn sure there was no evidence of his peculiarities anywhere. That meant not a word in their diaries, letters, notebooks, photographs, their everything.
And Matthew certainly would not be changing that now.
Jessica went red in response, "Well, you have a better idea?" she huffed.
Matthew realized then that they were at a bit of an impasse.
He looked at her again. He always thought he had a good understanding of people and while he maintained that she could be a real bitch, she seemed quite genuine in her apology. He smiled wryly, and wholly unapologetic of what she deemed wasn't her fault.
He took a deep breath making his decision. He would trust her. He'd trust her to keep his secret just as she'd have to trust him. Who knows, maybe someday they'd be glad for this series of unfortunate events. It helped that she never actually pushed him to answer. But Matthew knew he'd have to tell her something sooner or later.
AN: The pseudo-x-ray vision thing is just him being able to see through thin permeable surfaces because Planet Sadala (in this universe anyway) had grown almost inhospitably dark and Saiyan's evolved some badass eyeballs.
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Okay so there's a Saiyan race out there somewhere in the marvel universe, are they going to be appearing in the story later down the line.
- Location
- Indiana, US
I wonder if they got press-ganged by Thanos for his army; given their role in the Planet Trade Organization, joining an outright conqueror/mass murderer wouldn't be unusual for them.
- Location
- Seattle, Washington, USA
Honstly, I'd have dared that waste of air principal to expel me. Suspensions are an internal matter for the school, but expulsions can be appealed to higher authority. And if you're seriously considering not going back anyway, what do you have to lose?
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Fuck man, I'm really looking forward to the rest of this keep it up <3