Arc Three. Chapter Eighty-Four. Queen For A Day

While MJ and Liv were in the shower room with Laura, a slouching and tired looking Huntress and Poison swung down from the rafters. Letting their symbskin slip back, the pair just sat staring as Peter poured them both coffee and seeing the look on their faces decided everyone needed some food, even if it was just to stare at.

"We disposed of the bodies in the bay, no records, no nothing, no evidence in the building. No records of anyone and when we went to HQ all the building was listed under was drug development. Fisk either scrubbed the records and is laughing his ass off or someone hid a secret project from him." Felicia explained, staring at her cup, she sighed and drained it in one swing, "something stronger," and Peter nodded.

Peter moved over to the counter and letting a burner heat up, started to scramble an egg mix he had left in the fridge for when they got back. As they stared at their cups he cooked for them and then dished up 6 plates of food. Opened the fridge and pulled out several bottles of beer.

Peter put a plate of scrambled eggs down, sausage, bacon, egg, and cheese all mixed together with spices and a dose of onions, so they could at least say they had some veg, and popped the tops of two extra strong bottles of beer, placing them down in front of the pair.

Gwen hesitated and grabbed the beer and drank it in several seconds, shaking her head. "I knew Pete, I knew and it's not," She took a deep breath. "Remember the guy that groped me?" and Peter nodded, he'd had a look but without a name, it was an empty trail. "He attacked me in the parking garage of Oscorp and I killed him," she took a swig of her beer, "this wasn't like that, he deserved it, he got what he deserved. These were kids Pete, kids," she said as she slumped back down.

"And you didn't kill them, Gwen, those fucks did, and we'll find them and we got one, safe and from the sounds of it, a handful. If we lose but save one, it's worth it." but she was shaking her head,

"Not to me Pete, one isn't enough," she stared a the bottle, "not enough"

"Then save more, work with Felicia. A chemical that needs enhanced brains to make isn't going to be difficult to track down, shit, it should be one of the easiest things to find, how many of us are there? Really."

A wet and dressed Laura ran from Liv's home chased by a soaked and scowling MJ. Liv followed with a slight smirk on her face, the shower had gone well but when MJ tried to brush her hair the untamed girl had run off and was back sitting on Peter's chair. Peter shook his head and put a plate down in front of her and she stared at it,

"Unless Fisk had access to a new strain of the serum, we never made something to enhance bone structure. Even Curts formula was a regenerator. Laura is something new, a different type of enhanced. If you could be a dear and get some blood from her we might be able to find out if someone else is continuing Osborn's research, we might be in a spot of trouble if they are. Worse is the MGH, which is definitely something that Oscorp had no hand in. Sorry dear but it seems like we're dealing with a new player." Liv said, wheeling herself to the breakfast table.

The group sat quietly at the table, aware that whatever Laura's origin, MGH was a scourge and needed to be stopped. "And I can safely say that she was never in an Oscorp facility. I know you don't want to hear this but someone like Laura would have been used to test a symbiote, but her injuries and the resulting scars are unlike anything I've ever seen. Her healing is off the charts but whatever was used actually left a scar." and Liv ran her hand over Laura's head, "I'm so sorry dear, so so sorry."

MJ handed Liv a cloth, and she wiped her eyes first and then blew her nose. The shower had been fun, Laura was amazed by the warm flowing water and she had danced and giggled underneath the sprays, but as Liv noted and recorded each injury and scar she had to stop several times to keep herself from breaking down.

Laura looked at the plate, and as Peter shrugged it was MJ who smiled and nodded,

"It's okay, you can eat," and Laura nodded and began to lift the egg mix with her fingers. Peter sighed and lifted a spoon, and he held the egg mix in front of her face. She took it and made a whining happy noise, chewing and then swallowing before sitting with her mouth open, waiting for more.

"Uh, you can eat the rest yourself," but as he made to hand her the spoon she sat on her hands and just sat, mouth open, giving him the most pitiful expression she could manage.

"You spoiled her dear, so at least for today." Liv said, and sighing he patted his lap and she scurried over and nestled herself between his legs before making an 'ahh' noise.

"Fine, for only for today, sick people get better you know," and as he fed her spoon after spoon of scrambled breakfast egg, she wiggled back and forth, making the same happy noise as before.

"But, you need to behave okay, Gwen and Liv will run tests, so listen or this little show won't be getting a re-run okay?" and as she looked up at him, he raised an eyebrow, and she just nodded and opened her mouth again.

The group decided that today would be a rest day. Normally they would train and then head off to jobs. Both Gwen and MJ phoned in sick, and Felicia was still hanging on her phone as the head of the Black Cats but she sent a text to Elektra, finding out if she was okay. After handing a lot of paperwork over to Matt, she still had to find out how much of a mess things were in, so she could take one day.

They ate snacks, watched TV, and just slept when they felt like it and ate when they were hungry. Laura ate almost everything put in front of her and drank the same. Chips and candy were devoured, sodas were popped and slurped down and whatever the young girl had suffered seemed like a thing of the past.

It wasn't until bedtime that it became an issue. As Peter settled Liv, gave MJ, Gwen and Felicia all goodnight kisses and headed into his home, he found Laura had already invaded his bed. A strange young girl, with attachment issues, wasn't the issue though, the fact she was completely naked, hugging and sniffing one of his old shirts was.

"Laura, you can sleep here but I'll be outside okay?" and she growled at him and patted the bed,

"I can't." Peter tried to explain but she growled,

"Why? be safe." and he frowned.

"I'll be outside okay, you're safe here, I promise. Nothing will happen, no one knows your here, no one will come for you," but she whined and patted the bed,

"Want, be safe." and sighing, Peter obliged.

As she curled up next to him, pressing her back to him he tried not to move too much. She whimpered and kicked a few times but as he closed his eyes he wondered what exactly they had gotten themselves into. As she squirmed and rolled over, draping herself over him and pressing herself as close to him as she could, she mumbled, "home, smell safe," and fell back asleep.

Normally, the very male and energetic, Peter would be enjoying having such an attractive young woman, pressing not just her groin but her chest into him. However, Laura stretched out in bed and was now lying with her chest pushed into his stomach, one leg dangling off the end of the bed while the other was wedged into his armpit, and one arm wrapped around his leg at the crotch while the other draped itself over the other edge of the bed.

She was a restless sleeper. During the night Peter woke to find her buried in his armpit one moment and then almost sitting on his face the next. As such he just sighed, closed his eyes and mentally prepared for the lack of sleep that he would endure the next day.

She bounced out the bed, stretched, and ran off into the breakfast area. As Peter dragged himself out of bed after what felt like several minutes of actual sleep he saw that she was patiently sitting in his chair with her eyes fixed on the plate in front of her.

Gwen saw him and waved, "We saw the pile and figured," and thankfully she had been up and made coffee, handing Laura a pastry before pouring Peter a cup, "eat, Pete isn't making breakfast today." and Laura frowned and whined. "That won't work on me," Gwen gently scolded her, "only Pete has no willpower," and as Peter sat down in Gwen's chair he closed his eyes, took a breath and took a drink of the wonderfully sweet hot coffee.

"Eat your pastry, you can use your hand for that," and as Laura looked down at the golden brown slab in front of her she tilted her head, "no, I'm not feeding you," but Gwen, teased her by tearing a piece off and popping it into his mouth.

"Now, you. It's yummy, honest," Gwen had found a bakery close by to get sweet treats to bribe Poison when she was being belligerent, and while their cookies were okay, according to the picky symbiote, she would push Gwen to buy their pastries. Maple syrup pecan plaits were her favourite and it was once a week treat for the warehouse. As Laura was here, Gwen figured today might as well be that day and left early to get them fresh.

Laura sniffed the strange brown rectangle and after giving it a prod, licked the end of her finger clean of the syrup that coated it. Her eyes widened and without taking a breath she lifted and stuffed the whole thing in her mouth.

Trying not to laugh as Laura transformed from wolf girl into chipmunk girl, Gwen was glad she bought two dozen of several different flavours. Knowing the others would all eat several each, even if they hadn't identified what kind of enhanced Laura was it was obvious from more than just the strange hand and toe blades that she was enhanced in some way and probably had an appetite to match.

"Laura," Gwen asked her as she held a vanilla apple crown in front of her, "I want to run some tests okay. If you're good and let me, I'll give you more of those and this." and as Laura's eye stared at the pastry and she sniffed she looked over at Peter, who had leant back, closed his eyes and sipped his coffee.

"It's fine Laura, you can trust everyone here." and as Gwen dropped the pastry on her plate she nodded.

Stretching and letting the coffee do its job, Peter took over from Gwen, mixing up more breakfast egg mix. Pastries were fine for empty calories but they all needed something much heartier.

Peter made breakfast for the rest and once Laura sniffed the plate she began to shovel the food into her mouth with her hands. "No," Peter gently chastised her "look at them," and as she stared at the rest eating with a fork, she took one from the table and began to eat properly.

"Liv, if we can take some blood, you think you and Gwen could run some tests?" and at the word test, Laura made a growling sound. "It's okay, we just need to know you're healthy, and if people are looking for you, we don't want to take you to a hospital."

"We might need to though Pete, this isn't a full lab and even though she is brilliant, Liv isn't a medical doctor," Gwen stated, putting down her fork and looking at Liv. "You, you aren't a medical doctor right?" she asked her,

"Only at night," Peter said, winking at Gwen who rolled her eyes.

"Not funny Pete," she said, shaking her head and draining the last of her coffee, deciding to have another rather than more beer.

Peter shook his head, "you think I'm funny right?" he asked Laura, who tilted her head,

"Funny looking," was all she said, and Gwen almost spat out her coffee laughing. As she coughed, trying not to choke, Felicia rubbed her back and the group laughed as Peter sat with Laura on his lap, trying his best to act hurt but couldn't.

If Laura could crack a joke then she was better than he hoped, and if she was better then he hoped that they'd find somewhere she could be safe and have as much time as she needed to recover. If the drug factory was one of many, then they would be busy over the next few weeks and couldn't babysit anyone, even if they were enhanced.