Gacha God: Best Intentions (ch. 33) (Patreon)

"Dude. Something’s wrong with Sebastian," Peter heard Ned say as he looked away from his current project. Ned seemed really far away for a moment before Peter realized that he was wearing his magnifying glasses and took them off. Now that he could actually see Ned, Peter saw his best friend seemed genuinely worried.

"What's wrong? Is he hurt?!" Peter questioned, jumping up to his feet, only to trip himself on the cables that he had running under and over his desk. The term organized chaos couldn't really be used to describe it any more -- not when he about busted his chin before hastily steadying himself on his rolling chair. Having super powers didn't magically fix his coordination, sadly. Actually, Peter was becoming increasingly certain that it made things worse -- his reaction times were way up, his limbs more responsive, but he wasn't used to it yet. Yet, being the key word.

Ned shook his head, "He's… it's better if I show you." He decided, gesturing for Peter to follow and Peter crept behind Ned as they left what was the workstation of the space station. Dr. Hall was laying the foundation for the Gravitonium lava lamp, but that project was on pause as they were figuring out how to best use the vibranium that Sebastian had brought in. Ned stopped by the door and pointed through a small viewing window to see Sebastian.

He was rolled up in a blanket like a burrito, leaving only his head exposed, and watching Gossip Girl with a blank expression.

"Oh my God. What happened to him?" Peter breathed, his mind racing for an answer. Sebastian almost didn't look like himself. "Did his date go badly? I thought he'd be over the moon with the alien invasion." And that had been a real kick in the pants. There was nothing quite like waking up to discover aliens had attacked Earth again and you had missed the entire invasion. Sebastian had fought with the Avengers. The words 'missing out' were a vast understatement.

"I think it went well? I mean, I checked the footage and saw that a girl left the Cave of Wonders. She was…" Ned trailed off before gesturing to his chest in a very clear message. "But then he turned on the TV and wrapped himself up. I think he's sick."

"He has to be if he's turning to Gossip Girl. The fourth season too," Peter muttered under his breath. Ned gave him a questioning look that Peter chose to ignore, unwilling to admit that he used to watch the show with Aunt May. "Have you talked to him?"

"I tried to. I just got a bunch of grunts," Ned informed, peering through the small window in time to see Sebastian falling onto his side with a thump, uncaring of the odd positioning as he continued  to watch. "What are we going to do?" Ned asked, sounding genuinely worried for Sebastian and Peter was feeling that as well. Sebastian was all laughs and jokes and sarcasm. He had never seen his friend like this and he felt he had to do something.

What would bring him out of that funk?

Peter glanced over his shoulder at his desk where a number of projects were slowly coming together. Technology that would allow him to harness his greatly enhanced bio-electricity production -- too much could pose its own problem, because his original designs hadn't been made to endure such voltage. With the newer designs, he could fine tune the fringe abilities he now possessed -- polarity manipulation via electricity, sensing the electrons in every atom as well as feeling the flow of electricity.

He was a little ashamed to say that he was so focused on his own projects that Sebastian's had ended up falling to the wayside, ever so slightly. The fact that he had totally slept through another alien invasion hadn't helped things -- he could have been out there, saving the day, with the Avengers. Instead he heard the news over breakfast and half finished designs that had to be stress tested before he could attempt to make the 1.0 versions. "Uhhh… hold on. I think I have something.," He muttered.

Heading to his desk and grabbing a marble that he had managed to put together, Peter rolled it between his fingers. It felt a bit selfish but part of him wanted to keep it to himself. A tool for him and him alone when he became a hero. Peter ignored that selfish impulse, knowing that he owed it to Sebastian -- after all, if he hadn't decided to share the Gravitonium, or the Divine Water…

More than that, Sebastian was a friend. One that came into his life like a hurricane and flipped everything on its head. His life would never be the same again and that was a good thing. Gone were the days of Flash bullying him at school, putting together trash in the hopes of selling it to help pay for things around the house. He had to repay that. Sebastian would wave it off, he knew, but Peter wouldn't and couldn't. So, he flicked the marble into the air and caught it in his waiting palm.

Trading a nod with Ned, he opened the door. Sebastian didn't really react, simply laying on his side to watch Gossip Girls. It looked like the soul had been sucked out of his body. Now for the hard part. Talking. "Heyyy, Sebastian," Peter greeted, feeling like he was approaching a sick dog while trying to pretend he didn't notice that he was sick. "How'ya doing?"

"Hm," came Sebastian's reply. Peter glanced over his shoulder at Ned, who simply shrugged in response.

"Well… uh… look at what I made?" Peter said, presenting the marble. He took inspiration from the Regalia and the tool that had been used to kidnap Dr. Hall in the first place. "It's a gravity band that's covered in a highly conductive carbon filament. You throw a couple of these bad guys on the ground, and you have an established field that controls gravity inside the area between them. Best part is the gyroscope inside of them that attunes them with any others nearby -- I'm working on something that would establish remote control, but I have it connected to a mask that has a bunch of preloaded configurations."  Peter explained, unable to keep his excitement out of his voice.

A thimble of Gravitonium. That's all it took to create a dozen marbles. Those dozen marbles could control over half a million pounds of force -- meaning that with his fine control over electricity, he could manipulate half a million pounds of mass over a wide scale area. Those numbers only went up the more marbles that entered the equation. With remote software and the chip in his brainstem he'd get around to implanting, he could lift New York City into the sky with a couple hundred marbles. The only thing that stopped him was that it would take most of the Gravitonium and Sebastian was dead set on a lava lamp.

"Isn't that for your hero thing?" Sebastian asked, rolling over to look at Peter. His gaze betrayed some interest, but seeing as he was still a burrito, Peter knew it was a loss.

"Well-" Peter began, fully prepared to part with it even if it could have been like… his signature tech. Like Mr. Stark's suits. Iconic. "I mean…"

"Thanks Pete, but keep it. That's yours," Sebastian dismissed and Peter felt a little annoyed with himself at how relieved he felt. "What brought that on?"

Peter wasn't entirely sure how to answer, so Ned spoke up. "Dude. You spent all night watching Gossip Girl."

"Did not. I also watched Riverdale," Sebastian corrected and Peter sucked in a sharp breath. It was so much worse than he thought. And he wasn't even sure how that worked out mathematically with each episode being like an hour long.

"Dude," Ned stressed, and that really was all that had to say to get his message across. Sebastian wasn't doing himself any favors with that admission. "The date go badly or something?"

"I could have stolen Captain America's shield and I didn't," Sebastian confessed, side stepping the question. So, the date hadn't gone well? That was… Peter felt a rush of… something. It was… relief, if Peter had to put a word to it. Relief that not everything went Sebastian's way. It was a stupid jealousy that Peter pushed away as soon as it appeared, but it was still there in the back of my mind. "And an edgy spaceship."

Ned's brow furrowed, "You also stole literally everything from a museum."

"Hm. But spaceship. And frisbee," Sebastian muttered mournfully. You'd think his cat died or something with how he spoke. A sigh escaped him, "I lost my nerve and said some things that I shouldn't have. So, as a heads up, Shield is going to be circling like sharks in the water. They're closing in." He added, and… was that it? Was that what was wrong with Sebastian?

It was weird to look back on, but it wasn't that long ago that Peter had been convinced that Sebastian was a secret member of Shield. That, he recognized in hindsight, was just wishful thinking. Sebastian was the definition of a loose cannon, and the idea seemed pretty laughable now. It was just Peter wishing that when the day came that his identity was exposed that it wouldn't mean any consequences for anyone since Sebastian was clearly one of the good guys. Now… Peter wasn't under any delusions. The Divine Water saw to that. He had been able to see the faulty logic for what it was.

"Mr. Stark has been asking about you," Ned admitted and Sebastian didn't seem surprised.

"Tell him anything?"

"Nah, I left him on read," Ned answered, sounding proud. And he should be. He left Tony Stark, Iron Man, on read. "But I don't think he's going to keep asking for answers forever. You know?" He added with some hesitation. And what a wild turn of events that was. Peter never imagined in a million years that he would end up opposed to the Avengers. All the same, sooner or later… he was going to end up opposed to the Avengers.

Sebastian really could stand to be a less troublesome friend, but he was his friend.

Aunt May and Uncle Ben were going to kill him.

"I think I might actually lay low for a bit," Sebastian said, making Peter and Ned share a look. "For real, this time. I feel like I fucked up a bit with this last jaunt. I'm going to let things settle with the Avengers until I figure out what I want to do with them."

Peter frowned, "What do you want to do with them?"

Sebastian offered a shrug, which was masked by the thick comforter that was wrapped around him. "They're actually good people. I didn't count on that. I'd feel bad if I kept dunking on them. It'd be like kicking a puppy," he offered as an explanation but it kinda didn't really explain anything and just left Peter with more questions. Like… what kind of logic was involved that made the Avengers the bad guys? Peter literally couldn't imagine Captain America being anything less than a paragon of virtue. He was more American than America was.

Another sigh heaved out of Sebastian, making Peter and Ned share another look because he seemed a little too disappointed that he couldn't mean-spiritedly troll the Avengers. Ned shrugged his shoulders, "Well… what about continuing the investigation into Kingpin? He's still a bad guy… and there's something with Jessica." He offered, dangling some bait in front of Sebastian, who didn't hesitate to bite.

"What kind of something?" He asked, more interested in the last bit. Ned gestured for them to follow, leaving Sebastian to crawl over the floor like a worm. At least until Peter dropped the marble next to him. Then, with a pull, he triggered the marble with his powers to lift Sebastian into the air.

The polymer was sensitive to a certain frequency on the electromagnetic spectrum, but that alone was too much of a risk to rely on. All it would take was someone figuring out the frequency, or so etching running interference and the marble would be useless. Which is why he was designing a chip to put into his brain that would allow him to remote control the marbles. The two, in conjunction, should ensure his control over them. But he was also looking into additional safety measures.

He wondered how Mr. Stark managed it? Well, he had an AI, so of course he was offloading some of the security risks, but he had to have other precautions. Brainwave signatures? DNA markers? He kind of wanted to ask, but Peter knew that any answer given would come with a question and he wasn't about to sell out his friend. He'd just figure it out himself.

"I don't think we're her only students? Maybe?" Ned began, reaching his desk and pulling up a bunch of videos on the screen. The recordings came from various cameras posted around New York. Ned zoomed in on points of interest -- like Miss Jones -- before he pointed to a man on the fringes of the recordings. Dark skin, messy hair, mid twenties. Skin condition that was deteriorating, indicating substance abuse.

More notably was the fact that he had a camera in his hands and he was pointing it at Miss Jones.

"I recognize the guy. He lives in the same building as Jessica. Down the hall, I think," Sebastian remarked. All three of them got lessons from Miss Jones, but it was less frequent with him and Ned. Ned nodded, showing that he already knew,

"Yeah, his name is Malcolm Ducasse. He had a pretty solid future ahead of him but it looks like drugs ended up wrecking him, sadly," Ned explained, pulling up relevant files.

"Jessica is a cagey motherfucker," Sebastain spoke up as Peter aborted the information. Good school, promising career when he finished, girlfriend… then straight into drugs. Either he had been using the entire time and the habit spiraled out of control or he fell with an anchor tied around his ankles. "She wouldn't let anyone shadow her if she knew about it. She dumped her work on us," Sebastian pointed out.

That was very true. "She's being investigated? By another PI?" Peter questioned before his gaze slid to Sebastian and Ned, a frown tugging at the edges of his lips. "Because of her powers?"

You could only see Miss Jones manhandling men two or three times her size like they were children so often before it was obvious something was going on. Peter wasn't certain exactly what the limitation of her powers were, but he was curious to know how exactly she got them. Were they natural? Or was she like Captain America? All the while, in the back of his mind, he wondered what he could do with super strength.

"Seems likely," Sebastian decided before pursing his lips, his gaze lingering on the screen before he turned his gaze to Peter. "You're tagged in."

Wait, what? "I'm what?"

"Me getting involved is going to end up drawing more attention to this than it might otherwise get. So, it'd be better for Jessica if you handled this," Sebastian informed and Peter saw the offer for what it was. An opportunity. Sebastian was quick to say that he wasn't a hero, but he wouldn't stop heroes. And Peter wanted to be a hero. He wanted… when people talked about heroes, they went for Captain America first, then Iron Man, then Thor. Peter wanted to be included in that list.

"Meanwhile," Sebastian continued, turning his gaze to Ned. "We're going to Kamar-Taj. Time for you to tap into that spark and turn it into a flame." Peter had no idea what that meant, but Ned was practically shaking from excitement.

"I'm going to become a wizard?!" Ned exclaimed, and Peter recalled a conversation right at the start of their friendship. When they celebrated the victory over the aliens that invaded New York. Ned had a spark of magic, and he was going to learn how to use it. For a split second, Peter felt enormously jealous of Ned. If magic was real -- and he had little reason to doubt it was, then… he couldn't even imagine what he could do with it. He wanted to learn it. Master it. And he was almost bitter that Ned got the opportunity and he didn't.

Except Peter had super powers now and Ned didn't. He… should have thought about how that would make Ned feel, in hindsight.

"Best time for it," Sebastian decided. "If I'm taking a sabbatical, it'll give you two time to level up, so to speak." As he spoke, he lazily spun to unwrap the blanket burrito that he was in, revealing a pair of looney tunes pajamas. Meaning that Peter could get used to using his powers and finalizing his tech while Ned could learn magic.

Peter offered a slow nod, "Okay. I can do that." One thing struck Peter as odd, as they all made their plans, heading to the teleporter. He couldn't quite put his finger on it until he found himself standing in a back alley in New York.

It almost felt like Sebastian was saying goodbye.

…

It felt a little weird to be stalking the person that taught you how to stalk people, Peter reflected, perched up on a fire escape with a camera. He got to stay on the escape in exchange for helping repair Mrs. Green's, the woman whose window he was outside of, TV and fixing her signal. It was just a little bit of work and Peter always liked breaking things down to put them back together. Either way, it gave him a perfect vantage on the building that both Miss Jones and Malcolm lived in.

He kept expecting for Miss Jones to just look right at him, but she never did as she left the building to grab another bottle of whiskey. She… drank. A lot. Like… a lot. As in every local ABC store around her knew her by her first name and imposed a limit of how much she could buy from them at once. It was kind of eye-opening. Peter didn't think she had a single sober moment since they had started paying for lessons.

She stumbled down the street, still clearly intoxicated from the two entire bottles she had worked through over the course of four hours, and it was then that Peter saw Malcolm take action. He stood in the shadows of an alley, raising a camera that seemed nice. Expensive. If he really was a drug fiend on a downward spiral, then why hadn't he sold that camera?

He snapped pictures of Miss Jones stumbling in and out of the liquor store, cracking open the bottle of whiskey and bringing it to her lips. She gulped it down like a fish needing water and by the time she was done, a third of the bottle was already gone. She started stumbling back to her apartment while Malcolm simply shook his head and left.

Peter decided to follow.

His static clinging gloves and shoe covers allowed him to cling to the walls, letting him crawl over them to follow Malcolm. He checked around corners and back alleys, making sure that he wasn't being followed as he headed into an office supply shop -- he uploaded the photos that he took to print them off. While he was doing that, Peter was hacking the machine to see all the photos on the files shared with the printer. There were a lot.

A whole lot. Nearly a hundred. The dates went back for more than two months, with at least one photo taken a day. Unease made Peter's stomach start doing flips, suddenly more keenly aware that this couldn't just be a rival PI wanting to dig some dirt up on Miss Jones.

Malcolm took the printed off photos and shoved them in a manilla folder before leaving the supply store. Peter trailed behind him, leaning into what Miss Jones had taught him -- don't stand out, and no one ever looks up. The lessons served him well because Malcolm looked suspicious with his head on a swivel, looking around to make sure no one was following him. To Peter, that reeked of a guilty conscience. Of someone who knew they were doing something wrong.

Malcolm led him to a small coffee shop, taking a seat across from a man. He was handsome, Peter noticed -- dirty blonde hair, high cheekbones, narrowish jaw with a stubborn chin. He wore a purple scarf and other clothes that were clearly tailor made for him. Peter raised his camera up to his eye and started taking photos of the exchange.

The unnamed man flipped through the photos, and while Peter was too far away to actually hear him, Peter could read his lips. 'Oh, Jessica. What are you doing to yourself?' An ex lover?

Malcolm had his back to him so Peter couldn't read his lips, but he clearly said something. In response, the unnamed man nodded, reaching into his jacket pocket to pull out… heroin? 'There you go, my little junkie. Come back here in three days for another yummy treat.'

Creepy, Peter decided, lowering his camera and flipping through what he got as Malcolm got up. He had good angles and clear shots of the exchange.

Miss Jones had to see these, he decided. She needed to know some creep was buying photos of her with drugs.