Chapter 24: Fantastic Four part 1.

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(Billy's P.O.V)

The hot coffee left a burning sensation on my tongue as I took an impatient mouthful.

My eyes narrowed in on the cup containing the hostile liquid, it's sides warm in between my palms.

I did not avert my gaze. Partly out of focus and partly because the man I'd been staring at previously had somehow felt my eyes and was now looking around the restaurant.

And no, I'm not in the habit of simply staring at people.

I like to think I'm way more polite than that.

The only reason I'd even done so in the first place, was the transparent blue screen before my eyes.

A screen that only I could see.

The screen was an interface of sorts, telling me the material used to create the cup, it's durability and how old it was.

All this was accomplished simply by reaching out and interacting with it's magnetic field.

The ceramic was the furthest thing from ferro-magnetic you could get.

That said, it too had a magnetic field, as weak as it was. By prodding this field with my Psionic energy, a screen detailing the cup's parameters and make had manifested.

(Material: Ceramic)

Durability- Common.

Age- 2 years.

It was a basic well used mug.

Nothing too abnormal. And it seemed to be the same for most of everything. The man from before was normal and his field reflected that.

One prod and this had appeared above his head.

(Race: Human)

Power: Common.

Age: 42.

The screen unfortunately didn't go too deep into personal stuff. For example while I could see their ages, the same couldn't be said for the name or other details.

Good thing I could cover that weakness by simply reading the target's mind.

I looked around the Coffee place some more. Prodding the Barista's and the customer's fields.

(Race: Human)

Power: Below Common.

Age: 12.

A young boy seated in a booth with his family.

(Race: Dog)

Power: Below Common.

Age: 3.

A pooch on a walk with its owner, passing outside the shop on the sidewalk.

(Race: Human)

Power: Common.

Age: 37.

And then the owner.

I returned my attention to the inside of the coffee shop. My eyes falling on Pedro.

(Race: Human)

Power: Uncommon.

Age: 52.

I raised an eyebrow. Pedro's power parameter was the first I'd seen labelled as Uncommon.

According to some of the Barista's stray thoughts, he used to be a marine in the past.

So maybe that's how he knew Fury? Perhaps they had carried out missions together in the past.

"You've been avoiding me."

A voice said from beside me.

"MJ!"

I exclaimed, having gotten too distracted to track her mind. I didn't even notice she was standing beside me until she started speaking.

"I didn't see you there. When did you come in?"

I added with a fake smile.

"A few minutes ago."

She replied, holding up the coffee pitcher.

"Refill?"

I looked at my full cup.

"Huh..."

"You haven't been showing up around school."

She said, staring at me with narrowed eyes.

"And whenever you turn up here, you make sure to avoid the times when I'm working. You come before my shift begins or after it's ended."

She added accusingly, brows furrowed.

I raised my eyebrows, a bit surprised.

"What? I mean...why are you so concerned?"

"Why wouldn't I be? We're friends aren't we? I'm supposed to be concerned. Plus, Peter doesn't have a lot of friends and he's been worried about you. We all have."

She looked at the counter, and after noticing Pedro's attention was on other things, she slipped into the booth with me.

"I know how hard it is to be the new kid."

She said leaning forward.

Unfortunately, MJ had a sizable bust, so it was a fight not to stare at her cleavage.

To distract myself, I prodded her magnetic field.

Another screen appeared before my eyes, replacing the one from before.

(Race: Human)

Power: Common.

Age: 17.

Nothing too abnormal there as well. I wonder what's the range on this new ability. Speaking of which, I was yet to see the notification from the system saying that I'd accomplished the mission.

Mmh...maybe I was still missing something?

While the ability to see the Status of other things and beings was not a useless skill, it felt kind of based.

"...told him, I would check up on you if I saw you..."

MJ kept on talking but my mind was on other things.

There was more to the ability I was sure. I could feel it. I mean the reward hadn't triggered when I'd gotten Psychometry or my Magnetic sense, which were the basis for this ability.

Maybe to qualify for the Ring of Solomon as a reward, meant elevating the skill from a simple scanning feature to something just as powerful as control over magnetic fields.

If that was the case, then I still had a long way to go to start manipulating metal like Magneto.

However, maybe I was on a different path. One that would not necessarily make me a master of magnetism but would bring other benefits.

I just needed to find ways to keep on getting better. I had a feeling I was on the verge of finding what I was missing.

"...mostly because everytime they come by your place, you're not around. Why is that?"

MJ asked, referring to the many times Peter and Ned had stopped by my place only to find I wasn't home.

'Because I can sense their minds from afar and react accordingly.'

I thought, but didn't say.

"Are you even listening?"

She asked a little frustrated.

I opened my mouth then closed it. Why is she so concerned?

"Look MJ. There's a lot going on in my life. But I promise you that I'm not trying to avoid you guys." (I totally am)

I added a reassuring smile at the end of the statement.

She stared at me for some time before sighing.

"I have a feeling that even if you were avoiding me, you wouldn't say it. So are you going to return to School?"

"Yeah?"

I replied unconvincingly.

"You're so full of shit."

MJ snorted.

True. I sucked at lying but luckily the redhead was gracious enough to drop the whole issue.

"I need to get back to work."

She said, getting off the booth.

"Even if school doesn't work out, don't stop coming round here."

She waved and went off to serve a different table.

I spent a few more minutes in the coffee shop before paying my bill and leaving for home with some spicy pastries to go.

Now that I could afford it, there was no reason not to splurge on myself.

Though I needed to be careful not to misuse the funds I had. Who knew how long it would be until I got more.

Once at my apartment, I changed into my costume and left on an early patrol. This past week, I'd mostly been starting my patrols at 9 or so, before making it back to my place by 1 or 2.

At 4 in the afternoon, the day was still going strong. Traffic was a bitch for the motorists on the road, the sidewalks were as busy as ever and the noise...

Good god, the noise was too much.

It made me stay away from the streets.

I simply hang around on the rooftops whenever I took a break from flying around.

Up here it was quiet and calm. I could think while enjoying the view.

My eyes caught the glimpse of a familiar building.

Stark Industry was off in the distance, the shiny skyscraper just as ostentatious as the owner had intended.

Then several blocks away from it was the Fantastic Four headquarters.

The Baxter building with all of it's 35 stories sat prominent, the upper floors jutting through the Manhattan Skyline.

I couldn't see anything fictional about this place. Maybe I'd gotten used to it but everything felt real and alive.

These people going about their lives were just as real as I was. And I would protect them with everything I had.

For just as there was marvel and mystery to be found in this universe, so too was death and suffering. Someone needed to shield the weak from such things.

Speaking of death and suffering, something was going down.

It first begun with a slight tremble. Then the shaking intensified into an earthquake that caused cracks to form around the surrounding buildings.

"This doesn't look like a normal earthquake."

I said, getting to my feet.

I took to the air, looking down at the street where the ground was splitting into two, the wide crack headed up the street.

Screams rose up from the scared masses on the sidewalks. Cars honked and crashed into one another as they tried to leave the street where the crack was swallowing everything.

Thinking fast, I dove down and begun to save people by grabbing falling cars and flying them out of the widening gap.

Some of them were stuck inside the cracks, vehicles wedged in between loose pipes spewing water and the underground tunnels.

For those, I used my telepathic sense, flying through the wind screen and tearing through metal to get at the ones stuck within the gap.

There were a few injuries but nothing too immediate.

I placed a Taxi on the sidewalk, the driver throwing a thanks only to find I was gone, flying in and out of the crack to retrieve more people.

Up ahead, a school bus tilted, it's back tires sliding into the crack. I covered the vehicle with TK aura and pushed it from the back, away from the edge.

The bus was a little too heavy to carry with TK but I managed it, placing it far away from the still growing crack.

I heard a thwip! And a few interesting minds entered my range.

I didn't need to look to see the Quinjet overhead that had stopped to let Spiderman and his team out into the scene.

"Let's move on ahead! My team has it covered here!"

Spiderman said, swinging past me right on the Crack's trail.

We could both see where it was headed. The Baxter building.