My golden mask dangles from my fingertips as we trudge up the final flight of stairs to my dorm room, the midnight silence broken only by our footsteps and my racing thoughts. The whole ride back in Ellie's arms from Queens, I couldn't stop replaying the encounter with "Spider-Woman" in my head, the stiff movements, the mechanical precision, the way she called herself the "superior protector." Classic Doc Ock behavior straight from the comics, wearing Piper's body like a new suit.
Ellie unlocks my door with the spare key, pushing it open with her shoulder while stifling a yawn. She looks exhausted, her blonde hair slightly disheveled from the night's events, yet somehow still impossibly beautiful.
I close the door behind us. My mind keeps circling back to Piper, or what's left of her, swinging away into the night, trapped inside her own body while Doctor Octopus drives it around like a stolen car.
Ellie stretches, the symbiote rippling beneath her skin in small, subtle waves. She catches me staring and raises an eyebrow. "Alright, Shane. Out with it."
"What?" I blink, trying to look innocent and failing miserably.
"You've been acting really tense since the warehouse." She crosses her arms, studying my face with those piercing blue eyes that seem to see right through me. "Is it because of Mario?"
I chuckle awkwardly, the sound hollow even to my own ears. "No..."
In one fluid motion, Ellie closes the distance between us, pinning me against the wall with her forearm across my chest. Not hard enough to hurt, but with enough pressure to make it clear I'm not going anywhere. The sudden proximity sends heat coursing through my veins despite the seriousness of the situation.
"Come on, Shane," she whispers, her face inches from mine, her breath warm against my cheek. "What's eating you up?"
I nearly melt into her, my knees going weak at the combination of her closeness and the intensity in her eyes.
"Well..." I swallow hard, the weight of my realization finally finding voice. "Doc Ock took over Piper's brain."
Ellie blinks, confusion replacing the intensity in her expression. Her arm eases off my chest slightly. "What?"
"That wasn't Piper back there," I explain, the words tumbling out now that I've started. "It was Doc Ock inside Piper's body. She must have succeeded with the consciousness transfer."
Ellie steps back, her arm dropping away from my chest completely. Her expression morphs into something between confusion and disbelief.
"Consciousness transfer? What?" She shakes her head. "How could you even know that?"
My heart hammers against my ribs. This is it. The moment I've been avoiding since I arrived in this world.
"Listen, I'm not from this world, alright?" I run a hand through my hair, pacing a small circle. "I'm from a different world. I never had prophetic dreams. This world…" I gesture wildly around us, "is just a comic book where I'm from."
Ellie stares at me for a long moment, her eyes widening slightly. Then, to my surprise, her shoulders relax.
"Ohhhhh..." she says, nodding slowly. "That actually makes more sense than what I thought."
I pause mid-step. "What did you think?"
She shrugs, leaning against my desk. "I thought you had died in the future and got, like, sent back to the past."
I just stare at her, my mouth hanging open slightly.
"What?" She crosses her arms defensively. "It was pretty obvious you were lying about those 'prophetic dreams.' You're not exactly a master of deception, Shane."
My brain struggles to catch up. "And your first thought was time travel?"
"Why didn't you tell me you were from another world sooner?" she asks, ignoring my question.
I sink onto the edge of my bed, suddenly exhausted. "At first, I thought you'd think I was crazy..."
"I have an alien suit and I'm dating an incubus," she deadpans. "My threshold for 'crazy' is pretty high."
"Well, eventually I think I just didn't want to bring it up because I felt like I was trying to outrun my old life." I stare down at my hands. "It wasn't a good one."
Ellie sits beside me, the mattress dipping under her weight. The symbiote shifts across her skin like shadows dancing in candlelight.
"Tell me about it," she says softly, her hand finding mine. "Your old life."
I take a deep breath. "I was nobody. Just some business major trudging through college, hating every minute of it. No powers, no purpose." I squeeze her hand. "Then I got hit by a bus, and when I woke up, I was here."
"Business major?" Ellie chuckles.
"This isn't a joke, Ellie," I say, my voice tightening. "I was a senior at UMass Boston. I was one semester away from graduating. Had an internship lined up with Fidelity and everything."
Her laughter cuts off abruptly. Her eyes widen, the blue suddenly more intense as she processes what I'm saying.
"Wait... you were a senior?" She leans back slightly, studying my face. "So you didn't go to Empire State in your world?"
"Empire State doesn't even exist where I'm from," I explain, watching her expression shift. "It's fictional. Like I said, this whole world was just comic books to me."
Her brow furrows as she does some mental calculation. "But you're only eighteen here."
"Back there, I was twenty-two." I shrug, trying to make it sound casual, like having your age reset isn't completely disorienting.
"You're my age then," she says slowly, her voice oddly flat.
Something about her reaction makes my stomach sink. "What's wrong?"
Ellie looks away, a small frown pulling at her lips. "I liked being older than you," she admits quietly. "It felt... right somehow."
"Oh?"
"There's something about our dynamic I just love... you're this helpless little guy, and here I come to save the day, making sure you're alright."
Something in her words touches me deeply. I move forward and wrap my arms around her, pulling her into a tight hug.
"I'll always be your helpless little guy," I murmur against her neck, breathing in her scent.
When I pull back to look at her face, the hunger in her eyes nearly knocks the wind out of me. There's something primal there, possessive in a way that should probably terrify me but instead makes my heart race.
"I don't care where you're from, Shane." Without warning, she pushes me backward onto the bed, looming over me with the symbiote swirling across her skin in patterns of midnight. "I don't care what your life was like before."
She crawls over me, her powerful body caging mine against the mattress. The contrast between us has never felt more intoxicating, her strength, my vulnerability, her confidence, my surrender.
"No matter what," she whispers, her face hovering inches from mine, "you're mine now."
My breath catches in my throat. "Yes," is all I manage to say before her lips crash against mine.
She kisses me deeply, hungrily, like she's trying to claim every part of me. The symbiote pulses where our skin meets, enhancing every sensation until I'm drowning in her. My hands find their way to her short blonde hair, fingers tangling in the soft strands as I pull her closer, desperate for more contact.
When she finally breaks the kiss, we're both breathing hard. Her blue eyes search mine, something vulnerable flickering behind the hunger.
"What are we going to do about Piper's situation?" Ellie says suddenly, her voice soft yet urgent.
The question yanks me back from the brink of desire.
I sigh, my hands still resting on Ellie's hips. "I mean... if this follows the comics, Piper should come back eventually. It's been a while since I read that storyline, but I'm pretty sure the original consciousness never fully disappears. Plus, this version is actually pretty cool."
Despite my words the guilt of this inaction is starting to eat at me from the inside.
Ellie fixes me with a stare that chills the room, her blue eyes hardening as my words hang in the air. For several long moments, she doesn't speak, just studies my face.
"What?" I finally ask, unable to bear the silence.
"Shane," she says, her voice unnervingly quiet, "I hate Piper with all my heart. I truly do. But we owe her. She's the one who found Norma."
I swallow hard, her words providing relief. "You're right. "
"Tomorrow, you'll start looking into how to fix her, alright?"
"I will," I nod quickly, my mind already racing through possibilities. "Let's not confront her directly until we at least have a plan, though. I don't think she'll react well if we call her out."
Ellie nods, then her expression softens unexpectedly. She reaches out, her fingers gently tracing the contours of my face, the touch both tender and possessive.
"A lot of stuff about you is suddenly making sense," she murmurs, a small smile playing at her lips. "The way you freak out every time you meet a new hero or spot some D-list villain. You're just a little fanboy."
She leans down and kisses me. When she pulls back, there's a curious gleam in her eye.
"Was I your favorite superhero?" she asks, running her thumb across my bottom lip.
I feel heat rush to my face. "Well, uhh..."
Her mouth drops open in genuine shock. "Shane! Are you kidding me? How am I not your favorite superhero?"
"Well, you are now," I stammer, "but you were more of an anti-hero in the comics. Your life was way different. And also…"
She cuts me off with another kiss, deeper and more demanding than the last. When we break apart, both breathing hard, she presses her forehead against mine.
"Fuck it," she whispers, her voice husky with desire. "We can talk about this later." Her hands slide beneath my shirt, the symbiote flowing around her fingers as she traces patterns across my skin. "I need you now."