So Long Summer Break

The rest of freshman year went without much to speak of, Mick laid low at the advise of Agent Coulson. The Recluse hype, surprisingly didn't really die down. People continued talking about him, showing off clips they'd found online from Recluse in New York the somehow kept resurfacing despite SHIELD trying their best to shut them down. Must've been true, once it made it to the internet, it didn't really die. Summer came, Mick ended up spending it with his grandparents, being that his best friends were all off busy. Jerren was off the grid with his mom and dad, which they would've invited Mick, but after the last time, Mick's mom wasn't too keen on that idea. Davis and Patten were off on their uncle's farm helping him out. It sucked being alone, but it gave Mick plenty of time to practice with his powers without the worry of anyone getting hurt. 

By the end of the summer, sophomore orientation had arrived. To most people, high school meant freshmen to senior, but to his small town, freshmen had their own specific school across the street from the high school. Sophomores had their own orientation to get affiliated with their new school. It was frustrating three different schools in three years, but at least this was the hopefully the last time until college. 

Mick walked on campus on his own, he hoped to see the guys before orientation started, but for all he knew, they could be running late or looking around the campus on their own. 

"Hey! Look at you!" Patten bumped fists with Mick as they ran into each other. "You've been in the sun a good bit, your hair looks lighter." 

"Yeah," Mick smirked. "Look at you! Where'd all that come from?" Mick looked up and down at the new found muscles on Patten. 

"Spend a summer bailing hay and dealing with horses, it happens," Patten smiled. 

"I'm sure the girls are going to love that," Mick said as Patten winked. "Have you seen the others yet?" 

"Yeah," Patten frowned. "They're with Alice and her creepy friends." 

"That's a thing again?" Mick was confused, last he heard, Jerren and Alice had stopped hanging out since she had a new boyfriend. 

"Apparently Jerren and Alice became a thing over the summer," Patten explained. "It all started about three weeks ago. They've been hanging out quite a bit since then." Mick sighed, now he wished he'd have known they were back sooner.

"Hey! There you guys are!" Davis cheered as he and Jerren finally caught up with them after orientation. "How's it been little buddy?" Davis started playing fighting with Mick, who groaned and tried blocking it without hurting him. 

"Is someone watching us?" Mick looked around the dozens of students, none of which seemed to be paying any extra attention to him. 

"Really?" Jerren looked around at everyone talking and trying to find their way around the new campus. "Look at all the people here, you're senses must be in overdrive." 

"That's not really how that works," Mick grumbled as Patten shrugged. 

"Speaking of how it works! Jerren made these cool web shooters!" Davis cheered as Mick and Patten tried to hush him. 

"What do you mean, made web shooters?" Patten asked as Mick looked between the three of them. 

"And why?" Mick asked as Jerren frowned. 

"I thought it would be fun if we leveled the playing field," Davis said as Mick raised his brow. 

"Level the playing field? Do you think this is some kind of game or something?" Mick asked as Davis scoffed and rolled his eyes. 

"Look, I you can't always be the hero on your own. Besides, that's not the only thing Jerren made," Davis said smugly. "We'll have to test out those new toys when we get back to his house though!" 

Mick just stared at Davis, dumbfounded at this strange attitude of his. "What the heck was that?" Mick asked Patten as they sought out Mrs. Bennet's SUV. 

"They get like this every time they spend time with Alice and her friends," Patten said just loud enough for Mick to hear. 

They arrived at the Bennet house, made their way to the backyard. It was there Davis pulled from his backpack a collapsable silver rod with blue ends and black grips in the center. He also pulled two silver bracelets out, sliding them on his wrists. "You sure you're ready for this Spidey?" Davis taunted as he popped his neck, then stretched his arms across his body. 

"Did you forget I had actual combat training?" Mick scoffed. 

"You might want to use this," Jerren handed Mick a gripped metal rod, more of a sword than bo-staff like the one Davis had. Mick tried not to question things too much as Davis took a fighting stance. 

"Here I come!" Davis belted as he began his assault. He spun the staff, electricity sparking off both ends, Mick back stepping as he tried to figure out how to counter Davis. 

Davis took a stab at Mick, Mick narrowly avoiding it, the electricity crackling inches away from his face, some of which burned his cheek. Mick took the offensive, his weapon clashing with Davis' sending sparks flying. Mick switched to a one handed grip on his weapon, shooting webs as Davis spun the staff, blocking them with incredible skill. 

"You think we'd make the toys without practicing with them?" Davis teased, pressing a button on his staff, as it split into two. He then flicked his wrists, shooting webs at Mick. Mick blocked one stream with the sword, Davis then ripped it from his grip. The other stream slammed into Mick's left hand, trapping his arm to his side. 

Mick shook his head as Davis lunged at him, slashing and stabbing at him relentlessly. It had Mick maneuvering haphazardly, while it took a bit a struggling and Davis landing a few good hits on him, he broke free of the faux webbing. It was after a heavy downward slash, Mick countered. He webbed Davis in the face, running at him, webbing his feet down, then stripping the weapons from his hands before bringing him to his knees. 

"Say uncle!" Mick teased.

"Whatever," Davis scoffed. "You win this round, but you have to admit; I have you worried for a minute." 

"That was freakishly good," Mick admitted. "It's almost like you were trained just like I was. And you, where did you learn to make this stuff?" 

"Freaky might be a good way to explain it," Patten sighed. 

"I had a weird dream you were losing your powers, and I knew that would upset you, so I thought it would be nice to try and replicate your web powers. A few days later, I had another dream which gave me the chemical compound and layout for them. Took a few days to get the parts, and as crazy as it sounds, they worked without a hitch! Same thing with the two weapons really," Jerren shrugged as if it were completely normal to have these types of revelations in dreams. 

"It was pretty much the same with me," Davis shrugged. "I had a dream I was trained like you, and woke up and with some sweet skills of my own." 

"Interesting," Mick groaned, the adrenaline seeming to wear off and the injuries now becoming a little noticeable, one being Mick's busted lip. 

"We'll get this put away, you go get cleaned up," Davis smiled as Mick looked at him and Jerren with a touch of concern. 

"Why don't I patch you up so no one asked too questions?" Patten suggested as Mick shrugged, then the two started back toward the house. "See why I'm a little hesitant about all this now?" 

"Yeah," Mick cleared his throat. "But, could dreams really give them powers? That just seems like such a stretch." 

"Alice and her friends are witches," Patten said bluntly as he opened the door. 

"I know you don't like them but," Mick started.

"No, in the literal sense," Patten reiterated. "Sacrifices, blood magic, demons, that kind of stuff." 

"That just seems too weird man," Mick said with exasperation. "I know it should be easy to believe weird stuff, I have super powers, but that; it's just too much." Mick tried to keep that rationalization even as he saw the injuries on his body. Not even his worst training classes with Sharon ended this bad. 

The school seemed even bigger with everyone in it. There were three times as many people here, leaving him feeling so small. It was something he hadn't felt since sixth grade in the junior high school with the seventh grade and eighth graders. The commons easy to read, popular kids hanging out around the planters using them and their benches to sit and be comfortable, the less popular ones seemed to fill in the orbit, finding places around the large circular area, each one clustered like a planet in the solar system that was the high school system. 

Mick found his crew off to the end of the commons area near the office, the only other people near by tucked off in the shadows of the intersecting overhangs from the different class halls was Alice and her group of girls. He kept looking, trying to figure out the strange looks his group was getting from the girls, until Davis finally noticed Mick his gaze. 

"Scouting out a new girlfriend there, Ace?" He teased. 

"Not even," Mick shook his head. "Alice's friends keep staring over here, it was bothering me." 

"We could always go hand out with them?" Jerren suggested with a smile, much to Patten's discomfort. 

"Maybe we should," Mick said then looked at Patten while the other two started that direction. "Trust me, okay?" 

"Whatever you say," Patten shrugged. 

Alice's friends all had the same pasty pale faces, black jackets, dark eye liner, dyed black hair, and black finger nails to boot. It was something like you'd see a goth girl wearing on TV, which made Mick even more skeptical of these witch claims. No one would be so blatantly obvious, would they? The closer Mick got, the fiercer their expressions, even though they seemed pretty warm to Jerren and Davis. 

"Is there something we can help you with?" A girl with a rather nasally voice blocked Mick's path to his friends. 

"Am I not allowed to talk to Alice and my friends?" Mick asked skeptically. 

"Don't worry Ivy, I'll deal with him," Alice stepped away from Jerren and Davis, her once dark red hair now jet black, her hazel eyes seemed darker as well. "What do you want Mick?" 

"Do you know anything about Jerren and Davis having weird dreams and being able to make them reality?" Mick asked as Alice seemed almost amused by his vagueness. 

"Are you jealous they have talents you don't?" A cruel smile crossed Alice's face. "Not everyone can be on equal footing forever, now can they? They paid their price and got their reward." 

"What?" Mick tried to rationalize just what she could mean by that. Would Jerren and Davis have broken SHIELD orders and told Alice about him, or was she referring to just their odd new skills? Why was she talking so strange? What was up with this strange feeling creeping into the back of his mind as she spoke? 

"Are you now feeling inadequate now, or perhaps a little empty inside?" There was an odd hint of seduction in her tone, which confused Mick even more. 

"No," Mick shook his head, pushing away the odd creeping desire to wish Laynie back to Denham. Alice's amusement turned to a harsh scowl at his answer. 

"Stay away from my coven Mick Bellouve," Alice growled, turning her back on Mick. 

"Is that a threat?" Mick asked, only to be ignored as Alice stormed back into her circle of friends. A strange feeling crept over Mick, one that said it was dangerous to stay near, so he turned to walk away, looking back seeing Jerren and Davis laughing and enjoying themselves as if they didn't see the strange exchange. 

"Now you see what I mean?" Patten asked as Mick nodded. 

"Yeah," Mick frowned. "What the heck is a coven?" 

"A group of witches," Patten said as Mick clenched his fists. 

"Remember how I felt like we were being watched before?" Mick asked as he and Patten sought a spot for themselves. "Now I know we're in their spot light." 

Classes went relatively fast, thankfully the first day was mostly getting your course supply list and refresher busy work. For that he was grateful, as he kept trying to make sense of his conversation with Alice. None of it made any sense to him. Through his frustrations though, he began sketching out ideas for a new suit he could submit to Coulson and see if those SHIELD Academy people could make. He sketched out something grey with a brown spider across the chest, maybe even a cape just too look more heroic? Nah, a trench coat, those things looked cool, and then he could take it off if need be. Several sketches later, he was pretty impressed with his handy work, but it would need refinement. 

As the last bell rang, Mick started toward the bus. He heard screams, not of excitement, but pain and terror. Without much thinking, he reached into his backpack, pulling out the sleek suit SHIELD had designed and slipped into the bathroom to quickly change. More screaming, and he was running hard toward the opposite side of the campus. He used webs to jump on to the buildings, catching a glimpse of strange looking black dogs with long black tendrils for whiskers, and smoke coming from thier bodies. They were chasing several students, some students were already on the ground covered in blood. 

He jumped from the roof, shooting webs at the two nearest dogs, ripping them off the ground and into the air toward him, swinging them down into the ground. The impact caused them to vanish into fire and smoke, leaving Mick more confused than he hand been previously. He knelt down by a girl who had just been attacked, her leg had been torn open. Mick wasn't sure if that was bone, or just a very deep cut, either way his stomach churned and he had to look away. 

"Where did those things come from?" He asked the girl who was in shock. 

"They just appeared in the parking lot!" Her voice and body trembled. 

"Just sit tight, it's going to be okay," Mick said, then tried using his webbing to slow her bleeding. 

"You're the Recluse guy, aren't you?" The girl asked as Mick held up a peace sign as he gave chase to the strange dog creatures. 

In the parking lot he heard howling and the sound of clanging metal. He made his way to it to see a person dressed in a long black leather trench coat, a black biker helmet, black jeans, black combat boots, and a dark purple S that looked like it had been slashed into his black shirt. "Ah, Spider-Guy," the male voice sounded distorted as he wiped black stuff off of his silver long sword before he sheathed it on his back. 

"Recluse," Mick said with hesitation, looking around for the strange dogs, but unable to find them. 

"Looking for the Hellhounds? I already took care of them," the person said as Mick stared skeptically. "I guess you can say, I'm the new hero in town. You can call me Shadowfury. Like it?" 

"It's a little off putting for a hero title?" Mick said as Shadowfury scoffed. 

"And calling yourself Recluse is any better?" Shadowfury turned away, looking at a black Mustang convertible. "Guess it's time to head out and see what other hero work I can do? Watch out for any more Hellhounds, and you might want a weapon if you're gonna fight them again. Get too close and you might just get bit. See you around, Spider-guy." 

Mick watched as Shadowfury jumped into the convertible, revved the engine and drove off without any regard for the injured civilians. Even worse, something about him bothered Mick to his core. He couldn't figure out why though. He scoured the parking lot, checking on as many people as he could, webbing up injuries to slow their bleeding, then heard the sirens the EMTs. He rushed back to he bathroom he changed in, grabbed his phone and called Coulson. Whatever was going on, it was much bigger than something Mick could handle on his own.