Chapter 12: Chapter Twelve

Nathan couldn't keep a grin off his face, his new broomstick between his legs as he ran his hands through his hair. Anticipation pounded in his chest as he swayed side to side in the air, watching the referee holding the Quaffle ball in one hand below on the ground, the Snitch held firmly in the gloves of the other.  The announcer was saying something, but the pounding in his ears drowned them out. 

His goggles caught the light of the sun, wind whipping through his cloak. His manic grin growing as he saw the muscles in the referee's arm clench, the world slowing as the Quaffle left the ref's hand. He felt, rather than saw, the six chasers start moving as the four beaters followed, the bludgers flying in from each side of the pitch, the deep howl of the balls' movement through the air a passing note in Nathan's ears. The shouts of the crowd faded even further from his mind.

The gloved hand opened, and Nathan felt as though his cheeks were going to tear open with his excitement. The snitch was loose. His gut sank into his past as his broom lurched and suddenly the world howled around him, eyes wide open as he bolted through the air. The golden snitch flickered and darted, its silver wings and golden body glinting in the sun as it darted low toward Slytherin's side of the field. Nathan didn't care, it just meant a longer chase. 

The enemy seeker darted down, the snitch dodging around him as the blonde Slytherin turned, snarling at his failed grab and jetting towards the snitch. Nathan already forgot the boy's name, whispering above the still accelerating Slytherin who shouted something behind. He didn't care. His eyes on the snitch, tracking its movement as he bent narrow over his broom. 

The snitch darted side to side, blitzing just above the grass of the pitch as Nathan followed, the earthy smell of grass going up his nose with the wind as he inched closer and closer- Up! 

The snitch bolted vertically and Nathan yanked his broom upwards, the brush sweeping the grass as he shot into the sky, following the glimmering golden ball. He swirled, dodging a bludger as it passed by, never breaking eyes on the snitch as his blood struggled to pump through his body. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the green of Slytherin wobble with a lack of blood to the brain. Nathan's grin just stretched, his pounding heart and burning lungs giving him life. The sun glinted as the snitch passed even the highest towers, Nathan following behind up, up, and up. 

Accelerate! No sound escaped his lips as he laughed, the snitch switching directions on a dime, followed by the crazy Gryffindor whose scarred grinning face seemed to glow in the cloudless sky, the endless blue tainted by the boy who had forgotten up and down, and the golden snitch.

Time slowed down, Nathan's hands leaving his broom and shooting upwards and the snitch who tried dashing down. For a second as Nathan's hands closed together, he had an image; the sun between his hands falling with silver wings, the world spread above his head and the sky beneath his feet. 

His hands clapped together and his awareness snapped back to the world around him. His head tilted upwards at the ground beneath him as he hefted a hand in the air, the golden snitch clasped in his fingers glinting in the sun. The cheers far beneath were muffled, distant with the wind of the sky at his feet. His team started shooting up into the air to meet him. With a shift of his legs he swirled head-upwards and darted downwards, gasping for breath as he laughed, and laughed, and laughed...

 

>>> USA, Stark Residence 

"I'm fine dad, really." Jasmine smiled and shook her head. Tony's face sighed on her tablet. "In other news, my prototype definitely had some kinks that the fight revealed!" She said and swept her finger, levitating forth the assembled right gauntlet that went over her flesh hand. "The conjoined parts had an issue where they'd join, but not properly disconnect due to joining together wrongly in the first place."

"[Huh? Shouldn't they autocorrect with the slightest movement?]" Tony asked his daughter, dropping the topic of her being attacked by the Ten Rings while he dealt with a base of the bastards in china. 

"Normally yes, but my mana slightly changes the properties of the conduit we're using to distribute power through the suit. Basically, it lowers the physical threshold for contact fusion." She pulled the finger off the glove, causing a small snapping sound, "The metal is still malleable so it can be moved with ease, but if I pull it apart it damages it, making it unable to properly distribute power from the arc reactor." She showed the knuckle end of the finger to the camera, where a small warped silver bit of metal wire could be seen in the rim. 

Tony narrowed his eyes in thought, "[And we didn't notice it in testing because the physical force necessary for the contact fusion is probably more than a normal human can exert?]" 

Jasmine grinned, "Correct! Most of my suit didn't have this issue, with it mostly being in my hands and joints. The most thoroughly fused was actually my left hand I used to lay an assassin out, breaking his mask in the process." She giggled at the memory, causing Tony to wryly smile. 

"[Anyway.]" He shook his head, "[I should be home tomorrow. I'll help you try to either make a new material for conduction or redesign your suit then, kay kiddo?]" 

"Thanks, dad!" Jasmine smiled, the call ending a few seconds later. She turned her tablet off and put it to the side, a large pure-white spider moving slightly out of the way, Jasmine patting the girl in passing as a book flew from her bedside desk to her other hand. Her hair swayed behind her, moving some of the girls out of the way as she collapsed backwards into her pile of pillows with the ancient-looking tome- she snorted at the thought- that was published last year. 

She flipped it open to her bookmark, crossing her nearly bare legs as she got comfortable- and her smartphone started ringing. Jasmine sighed and closed her book and her phone flew from the other end of the bed to her hand as she checked the caller. Quirking an eyebrow she hit accept, "What's up teach?"

Maeve snorted at her student's casual greeting, "[How professional, are you sure the conversations on the internet aren't infecting you?]" Jasmine's eyebrow twitched as Maeve laughed and continued, "[Anyway. How are you doing Jaz?]" 

Jasmine smiled at the concern she felt, "Doing okay." She shook her head despite Maeve being unable to see it, "Frankly better than okay? Or more like normal." She snorted, "I feel nearly the same as before and after the attack, to be honest. The only difference is the mild desire to get into another fight." She sloppily smiled, "It was so~ much~ fun~♪" She started to giggle as the emotions of the fight came to the forefront of her consciousness. 

"[So your bloodlust hasn't faded?]" Maeve wryly smiled at the heated tone of her student. While concerning, it wasn't too problematic with Jasmine more than aware and capable of controlling it. 

Jasmine got her giggles under control, a smile unable to leave her lips; "Not really. Though it's not like I'm itching for another fight and bursting at the seams." She rolled her eyes, "I just wouldn't mind a few more attempts on my life by idiots is all~"

"[Needless to say, that is a dangerous mentality to have Jasmine.]" 

"Yeah." She agreed, hair swaying to the side, "Mom already gave me a bit of a talk on it. Not that I needed it..." Maeve rolled her eyes where her student couldn't see her. "Hey! I felt that!" Jasmine protested. "[Felt what?]" Maeve played dumb. Jasmine huffed.

"Anyway," Jasmine continued, "Mom doesn't want me leaving the house at least til I get my suit repaired and improved."

"[Good. While I don't think you're weak without it...]" 

"Extra insurance is always good, right?" Jasmine rhetorically asked, lazily floating the broken hand of her suit infront of her. "To be honest, I'm more worried about a direct attack on the house... Specifically a magical one."

"[Mmm. You've already set up basic wards, right?]"

"Yeah, but that's with raw magic. I'm pretty sure an established wizard can brute force them." She frowned, "And Dad says the Ten Rings do have their own wizards, the ones they call 'priests'."

"[I think you're overestimating the powers of the average wizard a bit. The Ten Rings' so-called 'priests' are not that strong, else they'd be giving your father a harder time. They'd probably need at least five to ten of them to brute force your barrier. And I doubt they'd be smart enough to find whatever little weaknesses it has...]"

"I guess..." Jasmine grumbled, "I don't like it though."

"[Then why don't you use your spider principle to remake the wards? It'll give you the extra boost in power you're looking for.]"

"Haaa... Yeah, I could, but I'd probably have to take down the original wards, and I haven't tested the power of that principle's wards... Especially to smart exploitation."

Maeve rolled her eyes. "[I assure you your web wards are likely more than powerful enough. And considering the level you'll trap it, I doubt many will be able to smartly exploit it.]"

"That's assuming the capabilities of whoever tries to break in are to my expectation..." Jasmine sighed and shook her head, "Though that's a paranoia rabbit hole I probably shouldn't dive too deep into."

"[At least you realize it now before getting lost. You're getting better.]" 

Jasmine wryly smiled, "Only so much I can do with what I have, right?" She rubbed her forehead, "It's not easy to try and not anticipate and guess at what may be coming." 

"[There's only so much you can prepare for. Adapt for the rest.]"

"Wards aren't exactly adaptable... At least not easily." Alice crawled over Jasmine's fingers, her brilliant red carapace glinting in the setting sun. "I can't make them too complicated either, else the likelihood of leaving an unseen exploit in the ward increases..." 

"[Mm. I'll come over in a couple days and we can spend the day going over your wards and testing them.]" 

Jasmine smiled, "Thanks." She yawned, "I should go get dinner soon... And then sleep." 

Maeve chuckled, "[Alright, I'll let you go then. See you in a couple days, Jasmine. Sweet dreams.]"

"Sweet dreams."

 

>>> Time Passes 

Jasmine blinked upon stepping into the cool cafe, her fake face overlay blurring ever so subtly as she looked around.

"Jaz!" Riri's afro bobbed as she waved, "Over here!" Leona and the other girl looked up from their conversation at Riri's shout.

Jasmine grinned, quickly going to her friend's at their table and plopping down with a huff. "Good morning guys."

Leona raised her cup of coffee, "Morning Jaz. Finally free of the house?" She teased.

Jasmine rolled her eyes and ignored her,  turning her curious gaze to the new person. The girl smiled, head framed by blonde hair as her pale skin glowed in the dim light of the cafe. 

Riri perked up, "Right! Jasmine, let me introduce you!" She waved her hand to the blonde girl, "This here is our classmate and fellow in suffering, Gwendolyn Stacy. Biologist extraordinaire~" 

Gwendolyn rolled her eyes, "Biologist in training you mean. None of us are out of high school yet." 

"Yeah, but you already have an internship at OsCorp in their biology department over the summer." Leona replied and quirked her eyebrow in amusement, "I'm pretty sure you're the youngest person to ever do so." 

(A/n: For those who don't remember the one sentence that established this in like chapter three, Riri and Leona are roughly three years older than Jasmine.)

Gwen blushed slightly and huffed, "It's not like you two won't be working at Stark facilities as assistant engineers! And you'll get paid for it too..." 

Riri shrugged, "Connections through our mom, mostly." 

Jasmine snorted at that, "If you couldn't handle your own weight I assure you you wouldn't be getting paid for it," She jabbed in amusement. "Anyway," She held out her hand to Gwen, "Jasmine Stark, nice to meet you."

Gwen instinctively accepted the handshake, then froze and blinked owlishly. Jasmine grinned and temporarily disabled her holographic face mask, causing the girl to start, shakily finish the handshake with a stuttered 'nice to meet you', then whirl on Riri, "You're friends with THE Jasmine Stark!?" She hissed.

Leona hid a grin behind her hand as she casually placed down her phone after taking a picture of Gwen's face, "What, did we not tell you?" She asked innocently. 

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"Tell me my ass!" 

Riri and Leona snickered, with even Jasmine sporting a wry smile. 

"Ah!" Gwen quickly turned around, "Sorry, my name's Gwendolyn Stacy, it's an honor to meet you." 

Jasmine grinned at her, "nice to meet you as well." 

"Anyway, back to the conversation." Leona pulled Gwen's attention, "Are you sure you will be alright? Your dad definitely won't be happy."

Gwen sighed and brushed a lock of hair out of place, "Yeah. I told him about it, and he was not happy."

"Told him what?" Jas asked.

"The internship Gwenny got with OsCorp requires living onsite. Some project they're doing that requires a full NDA and isn't open to the public." Riri gesture vaguely, "And with the rumors about..." 

Jasmine raised an eyebrow. "If they're being that secretive why did they invite a high schooler, no offense Gwen."

"None taken." Gwen shook her head, "And I think it has to do with my college credit project."

Riri grinned, "The lizard one?"

"Lizard one?" The crocodile man her aunt's been slowly hunting for the last few years flashed in Jasmine's mind. One that her and her dad are pretty sure is related to OsCorp...

Gwen blushed, "It's not that impressive..."

Riri and Leona scoffed simultaneously. "Sure, making a gecko have near-human strength and be decently bulletproof isn't impressive in the slightest." Riri joke mocked, Leona chiming in, "And it's not like you proved you could do it with decent repeatability. Oh, wait."

'So they want her help with the super-soldier serum?' Jasmine tapped her finger on her menu, hair subtly shifting on its own.

"It wasn't that impressive! Sure their skin and scales were resistant, but not their internals! They pulled themselves apart due to their increased strength, mulching themselves to!"

"Aw, is someone embarrassed~" Riri grinned.

"Anyway!" Blushing Gwen quickly tried to move the conversation away, unfortunately-

"Aw, does Gwenny not want to hear how amazing her achievement is? Maybe she thinks she's too high and mighty for praise?" Riri nearly purred, eyes twinkling in amusement at Gwen's squirming.

Leona and Jasmine's eyes met across the table, giving each other knowing looks before rolling their eyes and letting Riri continue to tease Gwen.

Luckily a waitress came and interrupted the conversation, giving the blonde girl a bit of respite.

"So," Jasmine interjected before Riri could hop right back in to teasing the weak-to-praise girl, "When exactly will you be starting your internship?"

Gwen gave Jasmine a look of thanks, "Just after the school year ends next week, and it'll last through the entire summer."

Jasmine raised her brows, "And you won't be home for any of it?"

Gwen shook her head, "I get a few days a month to go back home for a bit. So it's not that bad."

"Ah." Jasmine nodded, "That makes sense. Though, I do suggest you be careful. OsCorp's reputation is like it is for a reason, regardless of the amount of money Osborn tries sinking into their marketing."

"Yeah. Be careful Gwen, Harry's a right prick as well and considering his obsession with you..." Riri added worriedly. 

"It won't be that bad..." Gwen trailed off worriedly, "Surely he won't be able to abuse the company like that? And the place I'll be working at has high security as well..." 

Jasmine shook her head, "While I don't know who Harry is, Norman Osborn is not a good person. I doubt he'd let his son interfere with his plans due to how sociopathic the man feels. What I meant is with the project you'll be working on itself."

Gwen tilted her head while Riri and Leona both nodded, "Yeah the... rumors about the experiments are worrying." Leona added, while Gwen just looked a bit awkward.

"I... I think I'll be fine. There's no way they'd have a high schooler directly on such... secret projects right?" 

The other three girls exchanged glances, "We can only hope." Leona muttured.

 

>>> A few hours later 

"Haa, really?" Jasmine's eyebrows twitched in annoyance, staring at the phone in her hand as she walked home. The content of her phone was not the source of her annoyance, rather it was the hostile presences suddenly approaching while trying to be sneaky. 'Mom's gonna be even more paranoid now... At least I get to test the next prototype of my armor...' 

She casually turned off her phone, putting it in her pocket as she glanced around, her eyes seemingly sweeping over her opponents without seeing them. 'Oh, so they're using magical stealth. Shame I can see it as if they were holding torches on a dark night.' She kept herself from narrowing her eyes as she continued walking. 'And two of my opponents are casters... Ten Rings Priests? At least I'm in the richer portion of the city now, so no pedestrians walking around at this time...' 

'I wonder how much information they have on me. As far as I'm aware the previous kidnappers are dead due to suicide... that or aunty killed them and made it look like suicide through poison pills.' While her dad was mostly determined not to kill people unless there was no other option or no possible recourse, her aunt... not so much. 'Almost as if she was a trained assassin... who knew.' 

She sent her senses inward a bit, feeling the girls all patiently waiting for the fight, and grinned. "Let's get this show on the road, yeah?" She felt her enemies pause slightly in confusion- and a wave of magic force erupted from her, targeting all the hostile presences she could feel.

The assassin's reacted instantly, moving to try and avoid the force wave and mitigate the damage. Unfortunately for them, its only purpose was to buy time. Jasmine exhaled, the plates of her suit apparating around her and clicking together, each individual sheet conforming to her body in less than a second. Now armored in a dimly glowing dark-silver full-body suit, Jasmine took further stock of the situation. 'Twenty-one enemies, two of which are priests.' She didn't bother looking, she didn't need to. With a twinge of will she had Javia send an alert to her parents and aunt, with another her propulsors activated- now interfacing with her friction control-, and she slid three meters backwards, dodging several needles thrown at her. 

She felt mana and intent accumulate at the priests and raised her left arm, firing a brilliant beam of flame with a roar, separating the now panicked priests who thought they were invisible and interrupting their casting. At the same time she had a web snake out from her feet across the ground, hiding in the nearby grass and blending in with the pavement. With another thought she had forty web balls conjured and flung at her various opponents. Several hit limbs and torsos, exploding out into scattered messes and adhering to all they could reach.

'Let's see, any snipers?' She quickly conjured an invisible web shield around herself, lightly floating above the ground to allow it to move with her. 'Can't see any but can never be too careful.' She felt aggression build up in a few assassins as they charged towards her. 'Let's obfuscate the battlefield a bit shall we?' Her lips twitched upwards as disorienting fog quickly filled the area for several meters around her. The priests quickly started casting again in Jasmine's senses. 'First targets found~♪' 

With a step she was in the air, another and she was near a muttering priest holding a black metal hoop. An invisible shield had stopped her web balls, now splattered out and adhering to the magical surface. 'Let's get through that shall we?' A lance constructed of silk appeared floating at Jasmine's side, erupting forward with no delay and slipping straight through the shield and the priest's hip before he could react, his eyes widening behind his mask before the lance erupted in golden electricity- paralyzing the priest and disrupting his magic. 

With a thought three more lances shot towards the other priest who was just reacting to the sound. 'Hrm. Are their reactions slower?' A few assassins stumbling trying to turn around, their feet suddenly adhered to the grass and pavements as the web flooring suddenly gained adherence. Only they're control over their bodies kept them from falling completely to the ground. A few ran into the web due to the fog, the rest trying to leap over to where the priest-now bound with black-colored, magic-restraining webs- previously was. 

Jasmine hummed thoughtfully, the shout of the other priest getting stabbed through by three narrow lances hiding her voice. As she stood twenty feet in the air on invisible webs anchored seemingly in nothing. Fog continued to fill the surroundings, completely enclosing the assassins. <Do you girls want to play?> She asked through her bond with the girls, grinning as she felt several of them excitedly agree.

There was a bit of magic Jasmine had successfully created with her warlock-type principle that held the contract with her girls. Based on the power successful and deeply connected warlocks had to conjure a projection of whatever entity they were connected to, creating a pseudo 'avatar' for their masters to inhabit temporarily. With a bit of effort Jasmine had changed it to allow her to 'project' her girls so that no harm could come to them if they wanted to fight, the little spiders possessing the conjured bodies in their entirety, even if only temporarily.

Oh, and to make the projected bodies dozens of times bigger. 

Eight shadows twice the length of an adult human appeared in the fog, four assassins suddenly dropping while clutching their heads, the massive form of Nox unnoticed with her presence concealment as she pumped noise straight into the heads of her targets, her black fur rustling as she slowly moved to tie up her prey. 

Amy didn't wait to even finish appearing, instantly kicking a front leg forward into an assassin, awful cracking ringing out as the now corpse was flung away without even being able to catch a glimpse of her crimson red carapace. <Try not to kill them girls. I don't need a lecture from dad.> Amy pouted slightly in compliance as she moved to her next target, using her back legs to spin up a squishy flail to use. 

Angel, a pure white spider shimmered in the fog, larger than the others as suddenly white droplets separated from its body, turning into smaller, normal sized spiders that quickly flowed down its body and towards three assassins in a wave. The assassins reactions didn't even occur as the little white spiders crawled up their bodies, their minds dazed due to the sweet smell in their noses. Unable to react as the tiny spider wrapped them up and injected their bodies with different non-lethal venoms...

A shimmering blue spider with white leg tips, Undine, quickly moved. Bubbles of web being sent unseen to an assassin who was crouching, feet stuck in the webbed ground. The woman didn't notice them til they touched her, her eyes only widening slightly as they popped and coated her in a quickly expanding liquid silk, leaving a lumpy white pillar standing on the road as Undine quickly sent more bubbles to the assassin's being smacked around by Amy. 

Dooma, a black spider with golden markings on her legs, sparkled with golden electricity as she zapped the assassin's trying to help the priest speared through with lances; her bio-electricity naturally disruptive of magic. Her sister Nim, a deep grey spider with red spots covering her abdomen, sprayed gaseous venoms from her pedilaps, ensuring the approaching assassins fell into deep slumber after her sister's electricity staggered them and broke whatever magical trinkets they were carrying.

Harley danced with her legs in the air, her black body sporting neon pink, blue, orange, and white spots flickering in the fog as two assassins suddenly collapsed, their minds and bodies overwhelmed by her telepathy and pheromones. The spider telepathically giggled and skipped over to her prey to wrap them up in her oddly colored silk; matching the colors of the spots on her body.

And lastly Jun, a dark brown/grey spider who was busy hunting the remaining assassin's with solidified silk stakes and strengthened webs, jumping and pinning them to the ground with her better physical prowess and leaving them to her sisters to wrap up.

Suddenly the fight was over, Amy crouch-pouting as she only got to take down four assassins while Undine lightly patted her back, Harley prancing about and chittering in amusement. Jasmine grinned, "Alright girls, playtime is over. Javia please let aunty, mom and dad know I'm fine and have the assassin's captured." "[Understood.]" 

The massive forms of the spiders quickly vanished, and Jasmine looked amusedly at one spot. "You to Nox." A mental huff reached her as the invisible spider unprojected. <Alright! I'll give all of you extra treats tonight!> 

Mental cheering erupted in Jasmine's pocket space.