Black Swan ▹ Marvel

SEVEN: SHATTERED GLASS

"What the hell are you doing here?" Elizabeth asks in a poisonous tone. She doesn't lower her defense at the site of her father, Roger.

"Would you believe me if I said I missed my little girl?" he asks with a smile. Elizabeth rolls her green eyes.

She replies, "if you missed me so much than we did you show up when I frickin' died?"

"Correction. Almost died," Roger tells her in a true smart-ass fashion she had come to know about him.

"Nope, but that's not what matters," Elizabeth says and stretches her hand out toward him, "where is my mother."

"Straight to the theatrics? You just got here, sweetheart," Roger mocks and pulls a chair from the dining room out and sits on it. It's the same chair that Elizabeth sat while she ate a bowl of cereal when  she decided to go back to school a few days ago.

"Where is she!?" Elizabeth demands aims toward the table and strikes it with electricity. It explodes into a mess of wood and splinters. Roger doesn't even flinch, he frowns instead when debris flies all over him. He brushes splinters of wood off his leather jacket and out of his hair. The smile returns to his face.

Every second of his silence makes the rage bubble inside Elizabeth until it overflows. Electricity dances all over her skin and her hair starts to flow like it was being blown in a gentle wind.

"If you won't tell me, I'll have to force it out of you," Elizabeth says in a monotone calm voice as she starts to walk toward her seated father. He just stares at her with that infuriating smirk on his face. She now stands in front of him with her hand still stretched out.

"Go on," he taunts, "do it."

Elizabeth wills the electricity to attack her father, but it felt like something was holding her back. She struggles with what seems like a block that prevented her from harming her father.

"That's enough, Beth," a voice says. Elizabeth turns to see Ryan still in her black catsuit.

"What do you mean that's enough? He did something to Mom?" Elizabeth asks as Ryan slowly approached her. Then, the younger girl realized something.

"Everything's going to be alright," Ryan told her. Elizabeth wanted to believe her with her whole heart, "I'm sure, Mom's fine."

Elizabeth lowers her hand and wills the electricity to stop dancing on her skin. Roger still wears a look of amusement, but hadn't moved an inch.

"I need to see her," she pleads to Ryan who had reached her sister. She reaches to take Elizabeth's hand. She grips her hand reassuringly.

"I need you to trust me," Ryan said in a calm tone of voice. Elizabeth's insides twists into knots once again.

Elizabeth snatches her hand out of the other blonde's grip.

"No," she says simply and runs toward the nearest window. She launches herself through one of the glass windows lining the wall.

▹

Peter's eyes crack open at the sound of his aunt May's voice calling his name.

"Oh hey May," Peter says sleepily as he fully wakes up.

"Hey, Peter. I just got home and I brought dinner," she says as sits up and wipes the corner of his eyes. Suddenly he becomes aware of his lack of clothes. He attempts to cover himself with his blanket.

"Okay, okay," Peter tells her while he hold the blanket up his neck. May doesn't notice her nephew's embarrassment.

"You feeling alright?" she asks sitting on his bed. Her facial features had shifted to an expression of concern.

"Oh yeah, I'm fine. I was so tired after going to that science thing with Ned I just crashed pretty hard," the brunet explains. That seemed to clear up May's worries.

"Come eat when you're ready," she says and stands then leaves. Peter groans when she doesn't close his bedroom door when she left.

Peter stands and walks to the door. He pushes the door until it closes and turns to go put on clothes, but his hand won't budge. Peter turns to see his hand stuck to the door. He pulls again, but the hand stays attached to the door. Peter's eyes widened thinking of the spider that bit him this afternoon and comes to a shocking realization.

"Holy shit."

▹

Liz Allen sighed looking at her phone while she sat on her desk with a pile of homework and notes in front of her. She had sent Peter a text hours ago, but she had yet to receive a response. She also texted her best friend, Elizabeth, but it didn't even deliver. The only other messages she received were her parents checking in on her every few hours and Manon complaining about her 'vile' step-mother.

Liz sighs and turns off her phone. She throws it on her bed and tries to focus on reviewing the answers on her history homework on World War 2.

Other than Liz's breathing the house is silent. Her mom is at her weekly Thursday book club and her father is working late tonight. Liz looks from her homework to her phone on the bed. The screen is still dark. Liz decided that if Peter wasn't answering her the boy was probably off doing something silly with Ned or lost his phone again. It was one text, it was nothing to obsess over.

The thought eases the girl's mind and she finishes reviewing her homework after a short amount of time. She checks the time. It's only 8:23.

"I guess a bath wouldn't hurt," Liz said and pushes her chair away from her desk. She grabs her phone and her favorite bathrobe. She goes into the bathroom connected her bedroom.

She plugs the tub and starts the bath water after cleaning out the shower and bathtub combination. She strips down to her underclothes and put the robe on.

Then, Liz realizes she needs towels. She leaves her bathroom and bedroom and goes to her hallway linen closet near her parents' bedroom and grabs what needs along with a half used bottle of bubble bath soap. Liz starts back toward her room when she hears a loud, firm knock on the front door.

Liz giggles, she figures it's her father, who must have gotten off work earlier than expected. He had a habit of leaving his house keys in the morning that he couldn't break since Liz was a kid. Liz pads toward the door and looks through the peephole. She sees a familiar figure standing in the porch light. It is definitely not her dad.

Liz quickly throws open the door and sees Elizabeth Copper on her front porch. Her skin is badly cut up and bloody and her blonde hair was glued to her face by sweat. Her eyes are brimming with tears as Liz wears an expression of shock.

"Oh, Lizzy," Liz says as she throws her arms around her friend and the blonde girl starts to sob.