Post by Gordy on Jan 6, 2022 22:52:13 GMT -7
Write a new chapter in this story.
Whenever I felt bad about myself, I always had someone to keep me company. As a kid, whenever his parents or his stage life became too much for him, he had his brother and sisters to lean on. When he spent those two years in Madripoor, he had Arsha. When he moved to the United States and settled down, he had his stoat, Step.
After Step died, he was alone for a long time. Months spent drifting through space, living on Knowhere, running for his life. Then he was experimented on by Mister Sinister, captured by Nova, sold off to the Collector, bought by Kristoff and now...
Now, he had Sinister. Which wasn't so bad: he got food and board, he was usually left to do what he wanted, and he so far hadn't been forced to do anything illegal. Sinister teased him, but it didn't seem like it would turn to violence any time soon. All he had to do was not leave the island, and it's not like he had anywhere else to go.
It wasn't so bad. He got to spend a lot of time in a nice, kind-of spacious room. He had internet and television. The internet was full of dirty ads that seem to bypass his AdBlock, and anything he tried to leak to the public was filtered by Sinister. But his internet connection was stable and otherwise unrestricted. That was better than other places in the world, and it's not like he talked to that many people anyway. In fact, the filters helped him stay out of arguments on Twitter, sparing him some of his sanity.
When he got bored, he could walk along the surface of the island. Most of the surface was still scorched from Ultron's attack, but things were being fixed. He could sit by and watch life rise from the ashes, forming a new and wonderful land. Mere weeks after the attack, a fully-formed forest had grown and formed a verdant sanctuary near the cliffs. If life could thrive here, so could he.
Aside from the loneliness, it wasn't so bad. But the loneliness was killer. He had Sinister, Sinister, Kristoff and Sinister, but he didn't like talking with them. They made it perfectly clear he was their pawn, and they wouldn't let him go if he asked. Which he did, quite a few times. But at least Kristoff was more civil. He offered Hunter fine foods. They could go on missions and...
Hell. Damn it. Shit. None of this was okay. Sitting on his bed and looking at his hands, he could see exactly what he had: nothing but tearstains, dirt, blood and scratches. Shelter and civility weren't substitutes for genuine kindness and freedom. He was in dire need of friendship. But no one was going to give him anything without a price he couldn't pay.
Briefly, a gun appeared in his hands, before quickly vanishing. It was a passing thought, but he had already learned that whatever he summoned would vanish the second he tried to act. He didn't even know where they came from or where they went.
Marvelous closed his eyes. Well, he wasn't so Marvelous now, was he? When he came up with that name, he was full of hope. But now, it was the universe's biggest misnomer.
But that was life, wasn't it? And life was unfair and stupid. You couldn't pick up pet food without running into a supervillain. You couldn't visit your mom without the Leader getting in the way. You couldn't go the bank without Absorbing Man knocking you out. You couldn't travel through the stars without being hunted or stranded or kidnapped. You couldn't even go home because you don't have a home, and the only person you have in your life is the man who took away your powers and made you something else.
He missed Step. And Arsha. And Ember, Rock and River. And mom, and maybe even dad. He missed Kid Arachnid and Red Widow. He missed Jester. He missed anyone that could treat him like a human being, instead of an experiment or tool.
Hunter felt his hands sink. Something small and fluffy now weighed in his hands. When he opened his eyes, he was met with four eyes staring back at him. Four eyes on the furry face of what seemed to be a ferret. Or rather, a very large stoat.
"Wh-"
Before he could speak, the creature let out a chittering sound. It rose onto his hind legs, proudly standing on top of his hands and leaning towards his face. It raised its front paws and gently slapped either side of his face.
"Dook dook!"
What in the fresh hell was this? He couldn't help but be shocked, intrigued, and also horrified at the... whatever this was supposed to be. Was it a trick? A trap? Did it have a camera hidden inside it? Was Sinister secretly recording him? Well, of course Sinister was recording him; that was always the case, he was sure. But was this a new camera?
"Dook dook!"
"Well..." Marvelous said slowly. "If you are a camera, you're a cute one. You're not so bad, I think."
After all, aren't you the hero?