Chapter Text
Jackie was cut out for a normal life clearly. Her parents had raised her for one, hell she had hyped herself up for one, telling herself that it was expected of her and that it wouldn't be so bad.
Clearly, the universe had different plans for her.
Cause no, normal people didn't hate kissing their boyfriend, normal people didn't fantasize about kissing their best friend, normal people didn't learn about their best friend sleeping with their boyfriend and find themselves more upset that said best friend didn't sleep with them instead, at least not the normal that Jackie had been expected to live up to. And normal people definitely didn't decide to room with someone like Natalie Scatorccio for their entire four years of college after getting bitten by a radioactive spider 'cause surprise, Natalie Scatorccio was actually the only person who could even be level-headed about it.
Jackie hadn't expected her last year of high school to be that much of a whirlwind. But with Shauna's betrayal, them still somehow winning nationals, and the small fact that Jackie had now taken it upon herself to not only move to New York with a bunch of the other Yellowjackets but also start her whole 'friendly neighborhood spiderwoman' thing, it was a lot.
Her and Shauna were still in a stand-off of sorts every time they crossed paths, awkwardly greeting each other but not going beyond what would be considered a civil conversation between acquaintances. It did upset Jackie to see their friendship reduced to whatever fucking circle they were going around but granted she hadn't had much time to think about it or try and do much with all the other responsibilities she had given herself. She was just glad that she had Nat helping her, both just as a support and an actual friend when it came to her spiderwoman stuff and just normal university issues she had.
Who would have thought?
This was Jackie's new normal apparently, not the normal she had expected but the one that she was stuck with either way.
She was currently answering a distress call from downtown, feeling almost weightless as she ran her way across rooftops. Honestly, if she enjoyed anything about this whole situation it was things like this, the freedom she felt as she just jumped from building to building was probably the freest she'd ever felt. it was unfortunate that it was linked to something that usually brought her back into her apartment with an innumerable amount of bruises and injuries but Jackie would take the positive where she could find it.
Just as she arrived in the general downtown area, Jackie stopped in her momentum. Letting her feet hit the ground of the roof she was standing on, she pressed a finger to the comm in her ear as she watched the chaos unfold on the ground below. “Nat? anything to say about whatever is happening downtown?”
Nat's voice crackled through the earpiece, slightly offset by the sound of typing in the background. "Eeeeh sand mutant or some shit apparently." Jackie shivered at hearing that, knowing that she was probably going to get sand in her hair that would be an absolute nightmare to get out. "Just dunk it in water or something you'll be fine. It's just sand."
Rolling her eyes, Jackie huffed at Nat's disinterested tone. "It's spiderwoman Nat, not waterwoman, I can't just make water appear out of thin air." She mumbled in annoyance, earning a laugh from Nat who Jackie could just picture shrugging at her statement.
"It's near the public pool Taylor, I'm sure you can lead it there on your own yeah?" Nat teased, no doubt shutting her laptop if Jackie was going off of the sounds she was hearing. Jackie glanced off in the distance and sure enough, she could see the pool Nat was talking about a few meters away from the disaster that was happening on the streets beneath her. "Anyways imma be ia for the next two hours, I've got a date-"
"Wait what?" Jackie shrieked just as she had been about to start heading down. "Nat I need you on standby, I don't know anything about this thing right now you can't-"
"Damn, your Jackie tingles not working on this one?"
"...Don't ever call them that again please."
She could hear Nat sighing heavily as she spoke. "Jax sorry but I can't stay on. I already bailed on Misty last week for the fucking scorpion mech guy you can handle this one."
"Nat-"
"Look." Nat cut in. "There's also a delay after each of its swings, I think it needs to manifest sand back to replace the sand it lost in its throw so if you hit fast and hard enough you should be fine. That's all I have Jax you can handle it, dude. Anyways, good luck with that I have to go."
Jackie's eyes widened frantically at the resounding beep that sounded, signifying that Nat had hung up on her. "Nat? What that's it?"
Sighing in frustration, Jackie kicked at the cement barrier of the roof, immediately hissing at the flare of pain that erupted throughout her foot. Yeah, okay note to self no kicking cement even if her suit was more durable than normal fabric.
Jackie shook herself off slightly as she stepped up onto the ledge of the building she had been standing on. Her focus immediately zeroed in on the lumping form of the mutant Nat had told her about before she let herself dive down, trying to keep her body as rigid as possible despite the feeling of wind fighting against her body as she fell.
She quickly twisted her body up, aiming to shoot a web at one of the cars near the sidewalk, and managed to slow her drop enough to land on the roof of the car with barely a dent. Following the sound of alarms, Jackie whipped her attention to the left just as the mutant seemed to be charging at a crowd. She didn't know why there were still civilians who hadn't bothered to get out of the way but that wasn't something she should be judging at that moment.
She did need to act fast though.
Jackie pushed herself off of the car, immediately going into a sprint as soon as her feet hit the pavement. She slid down to her knees as she shot two webs at the mutant's back, sighing in relief when they actually attached themselves to its body instead of going right through it. Pushing herself back to her feet, Jackie planted her heels against the road and tugged at the webbing, hoping that it was sturdy enough to hold. She could feel her shoulders straining but mustered up enough strength to nod at the people still standing in shock and yell. "Run, now! I don't know how much longer I can hold!"
The strain in her voice must have done the trick since the area cleared out pretty quickly after that. She waited for the road infront of her to be completely clear before jumping forward, using the strain of her webs to propel herself infront of the mutant so that she could yank it closer to the public pool.
Actually, fuck she hoped no one was there either or that would be an issue.
She turned her gaze up at the mutant and felt her heart drop into the pit of her stomach when it grabbed at the webs that were still attached to its body and yanked on it. Jackie had just enough time to let go before she actually collided with the mutant but the momentum of the tug still caused her to fall forward against the ground. "Shit." She groaned, raising a hand to her forehead and feeling the rip the impact against the asphalt had made in her mask and the stickiness of blood that was now present.
A loud roar was the only warning she got before a fist impacted against the ground in front of her, barely missing her nose by an inch. Jackie scrambled back as she tried to shield herself from the rubble the impact caused, immediately shooting a web at one of the nearby buildings so that she could get as far away from the mutant attack range as possible. She knew she didn't have enough time to recover, she barely had a window to get away as it was.
And Nat had said this was something Jackie could easily handle, Jackie internally grumbled to herself, flipping herself off the building wall just as what she could only assume was a sand fist colliding with the area where she had just been. She ignored the ache in her head and decided to put Nat's information to the test, taking the opportunity of the mutant's back being turned towards her to shoot a web into the wall it was facing and pulling herself towards it. She easily landed on its shoulder, momentarily surprised by how solid it felt under her feet before kicking down against it.
To her relief, the sand easily fell apart under her leg. The mutant's arm wasn't even able to hold itself together before it hit the ground, creating a pile of sand where it would have fallen. Jackie let a smile grow on her face, okay so if any part of the sand got disconnected from the main body it just fell apart immediately, she could work with that.
"Hey, sand face!" Jackie yelled, watching as the mutant slowly turned its attention from its missing arm to her waving form. She hopped back a few paces, feeling the telltale sound of her heart beating in her ears as adrenaline coursed through her body as she flipped the mutant off. "Come fucking get me dirtbag!"
Okay so maybe that was too much but Jackie didn't really care. She stepped back again as the mutant held out the stump where its arm used to be in front of it, watching as sand circled around it and reformed in a matter of seconds. On its own that would have been fine but turns out that instead of an arm the mutant had opted to reform what looked to be a spiked mace. Jackie watched nervously as the mutant fixed its blank white stare on her. It took a step towards her, throwing its head back as it roared and that was when Jackie took that as her cue to run.
She looked back briefly and saw the mutant chasing after her, great so she could easily lead it to where she wanted it without any more casualties hopefully. It wasn't fast by any means, just heavy and loud enough that the sound it made with each step made Jackie's heart rate spike with anxiety.
Jackie sighed in relief when she recognized the gates that led to the public pool, halting herself in her run and turning to face the mutant that was still charging at her. She had expected the mutant to run at her like a rhino but no, it stopped a few paces in front of her and brought its arm back to strike. Jackie barely had a second to jump out of the way, avoiding the impact that would have probably killed her as she landed on the mutant's shoulder again.
She quickly shot a web to wrap around the mutant's maced arm, tugging tightly until it cut the arm off completely. Jackie glanced back at the pool and almost screamed when she saw people still in it, most of them staring at the scene before them with wide eyes. "I need all of you to clear out now, preferably as fast as possible," Jackie yelled, slamming her fist into the mutant's head and jumping back immediately when she sensed its remaining arms coming up to grab her.
She felt a slight bite of pain against her side but thought nothing of it, crouching down as she stood on the metal bar fence around the pool. Her eyes fixed themselves on the arm that had hit her, frowning when she saw the slight shine of crystals or something around it as well as the red splotches of blood on it, her blood probably. It almost looked like armor but the more Jackie looked at it the more she realized that the sand had actually morphed into the material she was seeing. She vaguely remembered learning that sand could make glass or something but she really didn't know if that had anything to do with what she was seeing, and clearly, she was out of time to even wonder about it since she could already see sand swirling around the mutant's neck as it regenerated itself.
Glancing back, Jackie let out a sigh of relief when she saw the empty pool and immediately jumped down from the fence she had been perched on. She looked up and exhaled loudly at seeing the fully regenerated mutant standing in front of her already. Jackie could feel the adrenaline slowly lessening the more she stayed on her feet and the pain at her side that had only been a dull ache before had now flared up and become an insistent burn that she didn't think she could ignore for long.
She raised an eyebrow at the mutant, mustering up whatever bravado she had left to sneer at it. "Are you gonna stand there for the next hour? Cause I have plans and you definitely aren't one of them."
Jackie really had no idea if the mutant could even understand her but judging by the angry growl it let out it probably did.
"Well, there it is," Jackie mumbled to herself when she saw the mutant go to charge at her. She knew that she had to stand her ground and not let her nerves get to her but fuck if the mutant actually hit her she would probably die, or at least have a very broken back...Or everything.
She tried to slow her breathing when the mutant finally charged at her, crouching down as she prepared to dodge out of the way when it got close enough. Jackie let her eyes fall shut as she fell back on her senses to get her out of this mess, taking the way the hairs on her neck stood on end as enough of a sign that she had to move. She quickly pushed herself off the ground, curling in on her body as she flipped over the solid mass that had been just about to run into her. Opening her eyes, Jackie managed to cleanly land back on the ground and chanced a look back, she laughed in relief when she saw the sand that was now floating in the water as the mutant dissolved, unable to pull itself out of the pool quickly enough.
Pushing herself up to her feet, Jackie winced at the sharp pain that shot up her side and immediately reached down to press a hand against it. She looked up when she heard the sound of sirens approaching and grit her teeth as she used whatever strength she had left to web herself away. She'd taken care of the issue the cops could do the rest.
She wasn't able to get too far but she was at least away from prying eyes when she finally touched back down on the ground after sailing a few blocks away from downtown. Jackie had no idea where to go, despite her senses being above average they really weren't pulling through when she needed them right now. Her vision was blurring and she could feel the warmth of what was no doubt her own blood dripping from the cut on her side.
Jackie pulled herself into an alleyway to avoid any eyes and pressed herself against the wall as she gingerly poked at her side. She immediately bit her lip at the stinging sensation that traveled up her spine the second her gloved fingers made contact with the open wound, shutting her eyes tightly as she waited for it to stop.
Evidently, it didn't stop, it lessened but that was all the mercy Jackie was given. At recognizing the familiar taste of metal on her tongue, Jackie unlatched her teeth from her bottom lip, cringing when she felt the stickiness of what was no doubt more blood on her mouth. Fuck, she was stuck. Stuck, and injured how great.
She couldn't go anywhere, Nat was busy so that was a no-go, and Jackie couldn't go back to their shared apartment, not at 4 pm there would be people around to see.
Looking around, Jackie winced slightly when she recognized exactly what part of town she was in. She knew this area and knew exactly who lived nearby. Jackie was almost tempted to shut the first thought she had down but the spark of pain from her side and her head made her stop. She didn't have time for another option, she'd lose too much blood and would probably pass out if she tried to swing back to her apartment or to a hospital.
Groaning tiredly, Jackie went to push herself off the wall, mind made up despite the part of her that still thought she was being stupid.
It wouldn't be a pleasant visit but at least she had an extra barrier between her and the person she didn't know if she wanted to even see or not.
At hearing the dull thud against her open window, Shauna glanced up from the book she was reading and momentarily froze when she recognized the hunched-over form that was barely clinging onto the window sill.
“Spiderwoman?” Jackie could practically hear the bewilderment in Shauna's tone as she quickly shut her book and stood, haphazardly throwing it back on her bed in her rush to get to her.
Jackie hummed tiredly when she felt Shauna’s arm wrap around her waist in an attempt to hold her up, immediately sinking into the familiar hold. “Are you alright? Can you stand? I can try carrying you to the bed at least.” Shauna mumbled, trying to adjust her hold without accidentally dropping Jackie who barely stifled a whine at the realization that she couldn’t just conk out yet.
A part of her regretted going to Shauna, it's not like she even knew her identity so this was practically the same as a stranger coming to her for help. Even if said stranger was known around the city. Jackie internally fought the urge to jump back out the window, it was too late, she couldn't go to the hospital, Nat was MIA until way later so really Shauna was her only option, well her only option that wouldn't result in more severe blood loss so go figure,
Jackie blinked her eyes open and tried to put some weight on one leg at least, gratefully leaning into Shauna’s side as the brunette moved to hook Jackie’s arm around her neck and secure her hand around her bloodied waist as she led her to the bed.
"Sorry for barging in." Jackie tried to sound as jovial as she could but the pain in her side had other plans as her voice lowered into a rasp towards the end of her sentence. "I had to deal with some stuff downtown and you were the nearest person I could think of-"
"You know me?" Shauna frowned, helping Jackie prop herself up against the bed.
Jackie felt herself shrink under Shauna's suspicious look but tried to hide it, turning her attention down to her wound which probably wasn't the best idea when she actually got a look at how bad the damage was. "I-I mean yeah, I remember you from a previous attack, I pulled you away but I didn't quite catch your name..."
Based on the look Shauna was giving her she didn't fully believe Jackie's explanation but she didn't press. Shauna shrugged as she made sure that Jackie was settled enough before standing back. "I'm Shauna, and I mean, you do save our city on the regular so this is the least I could do, just wait a second I need to get the med kit from my roommates, wait."
As she listened to the telltale sound of Shauna rushing out of the room to no doubt get medical supplies Jackie couldn’t help but look around the familiar yet unfamiliar room, taking in the numerous pictures that littered the mirror and the bright lava lamp that seemed to be the only thing offering any light besides the open window. It was different than what Shauna's room at home looked like, but the setup was still so similar, it made Jackie feel welcome and unwelcome somehow, it was strange.
Her eyes stopped on the journal that was placed neatly on Shauna’s desk and scowled slightly. Okay yeah, she had kind of forgiven Shauna for what she did, thing is she never let Shauna know that, not out loud at least. She knew that Shauna would never do that to her again, but the memory of it still stung. The words that her naive self had seen furiously scrawled on those pages were still seared into her mind, both as a reminder of where she herself had failed in her friendship but also as a reminder of the betrayal she never wanted to let happen again.
Well, letting Shauna stay in her life somewhat without actually explaining to the brunette where they stood was probably counterproductive to that but then again, Jackie really didn't feel like having that conversation with Shauna yet, she was content with just greeting her if she passed her in the hallway and making small talk if it was necessary but that was that. The memory still hurt but it had long moved past being an open wound and was just a dull pain most of the time.
She looked down again to assess her wound and groaned when she tried to remove her hand from the area and found that some of the blood had stuck to her palm, it wasn't grafted to the skin but fuck it felt like it was.
"Don't touch it, there's probably still bacteria on it." Jackie whipped her head around at hearing Shauna, nervously setting her hand face up against her knee as she watched the brunette set the first aid kit on her desk and rummage through it.
She tilted her head slightly, eyes widening when she caught sight of one of the pictures at Shauna's desk. It was one of her and Jackie, Jackie's arm was looped around Shauna's neck, pulling the brunette down to kiss her cheek while Shauna smiled one of her shy smiles at the camera. It was from the Halloween party during their junior year, where they had decided to go with Han Solo and Leia as matching costumes. Jackie still remembered the amount of convincing she had to do to even make Shauna agree to wear the Han costume but she had looked good in it so Jackie had taken it as a win, still did actually.
"Is she a friend of yours? She looks pretty." Jackie uttered, nodding at the picture sitting on Shauna's desk.
Shauna followed Jackie's motion and scowled, it wasn't a deep scowl but Jackie had been around Shauna long enough to recognize the slight downturn of the corner of her mouth and the way her eyebrows pinched together. "We used to be...Not anymore." Was the mumbled response that Jackie got as Shauna walked over to her side with a roll of gauze and a bottle of hydrogen peroxide in her hand.
Jackie fiddled with her hands in her lap as Shauna kneeled on the bed next to her, turning those sad brown eyes toward her. "It might sting, but it's just killing off bacteria."
"I know how disinfectant works," Jackie mumbled, earning a light chuckle from Shauna that definitely didn't make butterflies erupt in her stomach.
"For someone who knows how disinfectant works, you sure get hurt a lot." Shauna teased, prompting Jackie to fake an insulted gasp before it dissolved into a hiss when Shauna pressed the alcohol-soaked towel against her side. "Sorry," Shauna whispered, holding the towel where it was but keeping her eyes trained on Jackie's expression, or lack there of since she doubted Shauna could really see much through her mask.
Jackie tried to stay as still as possible as Shauna wiped away the blood from her wound and expertly started to dress it. The gauze was a little tight on her sides but after complaining about it Shauna told her that it was supposed to be somewhat tight to stop the blood flow out of the body so that was that.
Eventually, Shauna stepped back, haphazardly putting the rest of the gauze and the disinfectant-soaked towel on her nightstand as she inspected Jackie's side. "Okay, it should be good to go, can you try standing-" Jackie didn't even wait for her to finish before pushing herself to her feet, lightly lifting her knees up to see if the strain on her muscles was gone.
"I think I'm fine, thanks again." Jackie chuckled sheepishly, going to shake Shauna's hand. She thought for a moment that she might have made a mistake when Shauna wordlessly stared down at her hand but she eventually reached up to grasp Jackie's hand. A part of her couldn't help but miss the warmth of Shauna's hand when it pulled away but she didn't show any outward signs of it, instead saluting at Shauna as she backed away towards the window. "I'll be out of your hair now, I think I'm good enough to get back."
Shauna nodded, gesturing at Jackie's bandaged side. "Just make sure to rest when you get back to...Wherever you live. You could still strain it if you pull on the muscle too much and reopen the wound further so just take it easy for the next few days."
"Will do," Jackie stated, moving to jump out the window before pausing. Shauna frowned at that motion but kept herself from wondering about it when another question came. "Can I ask...Why aren't you two friends anymore? You and the girl in the picture?" Jackie asked, keeping her back turned towards Shauna as she stared out the window.
She vaguely heard a sigh from behind her and braced herself for Shauna's response. "A lot happened." Shauna finally uttered. "I don't know why I'm telling you this, I guess there's a lack of judgment." Jackie almost laughed at that. Yeah, lack of judgment from the literal person that Shauna fucked over, well, not that she knew anyway. "Just yeah, a lot happened, she made mistakes I made mistakes, it's messy."
Oh, Jackie made mistakes huh? Jackie almost wanted to retort back but remembered she was in costume right now, she couldn't address Shauna as Jackie, she had to be Spiderwoman talking to a civilian who opened up to her.
She turned back to look at Shauna, taking in her tired demeanor, and shrugged. "Apologizing would be a start." And that was the kicker wasn't it, despite everything Shauna had done to express her faults to Jackie after she found out, despite all the fucking yelling that happened Jackie had yet to hear a single specific apology for what Shauna did. Fucking ironic that Jackie was, once again, the one who had to get Shauna to speak up, the one who had to give the push for Shauna to actually do something.
Shauna didn't know her current inner turmoil though, so Jackie left it at that. She waited for the brunette to respond, hand still perched on the window sill as she waited. Shauna swallowed thickly, sighing before she spoke. "I don't think she wants to hear from me or talk to me right now."
Well, she wasn't exactly wrong, but that didn't mean Jackie would push her away if she just tried.
Jackie closed her eyes and shook her head. "Look, I obviously don't know what happened between you and this friend, but apologizing can never hurt. Effort can never hurt, if you give up then I guess that friendship never meant that much in the first place" Jackie internally cringed at the last part. She hadn't meant to say it like that, it had slipped out and now Shauna was gaping at her as if she had just insulted her entire family.
She tried to backtrack, waving a hand dismissively and rambling. "It's up to you okay? All I can say is that if you really want to still be friends with this girl you have to try and actually fix what went wrong. Anyways thanks for patching me up, I'll be more careful next time so I don't bother you or anyone else bye." And with those parting words, Jackie let herself fall out the window, immediately webbing herself up onto the building next to her without even daring to glance back at the look on Shauna's face.
Fuck, Nat was going to have a field day with this one.