Chapter 61

Well, now that they were back on Earth and the initial crisis had faded, the adrenaline that had been keeping Luz going started to fade. Most of the heroes had said they'd pack up and reconvene in a day or two... She vaguely remembered having agreed to talk with Ford a few months ago but when she approached him to say something about it he said that he'd be in town for a bit and they could talk later and so things started to break up.

"You know, Ford... You sound awfully familiar," Spider-Man commented.

"I get that a lot," Ford replied.

Her friends and family, and just a handful of the people who'd come to help began to walk back to the street while the rest, mostly science types, began packing up equipment.

"Mr. Eisenhardt, sir?" Luz heard Masha ask. "I've been meaning to... The last time you were in Gravesfield you were helping to protest a girl who got suspended for asking about bringing her mutant girlfriend to prom."

"Yes," Magneto replied.

"That was my older sister, Sveta, and her girlfriend Sophie," Masha continued. "so, thank you."

"You are very welcome," Magneto continued. Once they got to the street he began to levitate as he turned back to Luz and her friends. "What you've gone through would be harrowing at any age. As one survivor to another, as long as you are in this world you have the aid of Magneto should you have the need to call upon it." He then flew off dramatically.

"...He totally would have been a theatre kid if it wasn't for the Holocaust," Loki observed dryly. He then turned and... "Ah, Hel, they found me."

Standing under a black umbrella just in front of Luz's house were two people: a blonde man and a red-headed woman, in full 'MIB' type attire: black suits and black mirrored shades.

Remembering far too many sci-fi and fantasy stories, as well as lessons in history regarding how things had been just a few decades ago, Luz immediately moved to put herself in front of all of her friends.

"Calm down," Loki corrected, "they're just my Secret Service detail. Or, rather, the SHIELD Agents that Nick Fury planted in my Secret Service detail to keep tabs on me. Or get back at me after I declassified all the stuff about Quentin Trembly, I'm not 100% sure."

Luz had written a report on that for her history class, once. She got an F because her history teacher that year only cared about what was in the textbook even if Luz could prove it was wrong.

The redhead began to speak "Mr. President, we keep telling you that—"

"I got him to admit it after getting him drunk at She-Hulk's Christmas party last winter," Loki interrupted. "And even if he hadn't 1: I don't think it's normal for a married couple to be assigned to the same detail, 2: I don't think it's normal for my detail to only be two people, and 3: I don't think cheer routines and Tai Shing Pek Kwar are a standard part of USSS CQC training."

"...He's got us there," the blonde said.

"Anyway, if they've caught up with me it means it's time to go," Loki continued. "Masha I'll be back next Tuesday for your lesson in skald magic... Unless I forget."

Loki then vanished and his... minders of ambiguous agency both sighed and got into a nondescript black car to drive off.

"So that happened," Magik observed. "Now, um... I'm actually Hank's ride so I'll be heading back to the shack in a minute. Luz, right?" she began while approaching. The Ninth worst thing about today was that she was meeting her favorite X-person and didn't have the energy to enjoy it. Magik handed Luz a card. "I'm trying to start a support group for girls who had traumatic experiences while stranded in other dimensions. The sort of thing I wish I had access to after getting stuck in Limbo."

Luz took the card, looked at it, and... "How many other people have you got?" was a stupid thing to ask but it's what came out of her mouth.

"Well if you choose to join, two. The other one's a Taiwanese girl from Massachusetts who... Won't tell me what exactly she's been through, but she let slip that she was clinically dead for several minutes and whatever happened means she bleeds green now. She says she has two friends in LA that might be interested but I haven't exactly had a chance to follow up on that."

"I think I know who you're talking about," Doctor Strange added. "I've made it a habit to check in on one of them every so often, given that she's a cosmic person of interest. I'll be seeing her soon, I can pass along the invite then."

Luz looked at the card again, then answered "I'll think about it."

Magik then nodded and went back down the path, leaving just Luz's friends and family along with Spider-Man and Doctor Strange, who joined them as they entered the house. The famed wall-crawler went into the kitchen with Luz's mom for some reason while the rest of them heard into the living room.

With a wave of his hand, Strange's robes were replaced with a pristine set of scrubs and an old-fashioned medicine bag appeared in his hands. No longer was this Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme. Now they were dealing with Dr. Strange, MD. "Alright, who been hurt the worst?"

Everyone was a little hurt, actually. Either from the bumpy landing or the first few moments of fighting Belos before Magik, Spider-Man, and Magneto had managed to occupy most of his attention. Even Amity was a little scratched up... But then.

"Actually, I can handle this," Luz said. It only took a moment's concentration to start working healing spells and soon enough all of her friends were patched up good as new.

Then she got a sudden case of jelly legs and would have collapsed and hit the floor if Hunter hadn't caught her. She was subsequently placed on the couch while her friends and a trained medical professional fussed over her.

"I'm fine, I'm fine, I—"

"Overstressed yourself tending to the needs of everyone else," Strange interrupted. "I understand the instinct, but a lesson that all doctors, sorcerers, and superheroes have to learn is that you need to take care of yourself before you can take care of others."

"Yeah, I know, but..." Luz started only to trail off.

"Now, when was the last time you ate something?" Strange asked.

"This morning," Luz replied. She'd had to force herself to eat even that. And now that she'd admitted it'd been that long since she ate she suddenly felt herself starving.

"Last time you drank anything?" Strange continued.

"Also this morning," Luz admitted.

"And how have you been sleeping?"

"Not so good for the past couple of days," Luz said. "A... A lot's happened. I took a nap earlier but..."

"And of course then there was the draining spell," Strange finished. "Which... I'm not quite sure how it works, but clearly took quite a lot out of you." He took a stethoscope out of his bag and started checking her heart rate. "Okay, that's... Not normal."

"I have a pulsing sack of magical bile attached to my heart," Luz explained. "Grew it after consuming fluids and tissues from the body of a dead and dreaming Elder God." She let that hang there for a moment. "He's cool with it, I've spoken to him in my dreams."

Strange paused for a moment before saying "Alright, we'll circle back to that later. So the three-tone heartbeat is normal for you?"

"Yeah," Luz continued.

"Well, then your heart rate is more or less normal... As is your breathing. So the good news is you're just exhausted. Let me take care of that cut above your eye and then make sure to get a proper meal, drink some water, and take things easy for the next day or so."

How could she take things easy when everything, when her friends were when Eda and King were... When the Isles were... "Okay. Thanks, Doc."

As Strange cleaned the cut over her eye, Luz found herself wondering just when she'd gotten it. "It's a little odd you have this, actually," Strange mused. "You're part klyntar symbiote, right? You should have something of a healing factor... Either something is taking all of those resources for itself or... You've been under quite a lot of stress lately, haven't you?"

"...Yeah," Luz said. "I have. We all were."

"Hmm. well remember: self-care is important. And that goes far all of you," Strange said while applying a bandage to Luz's brow. "You've all been through a rather traumatic event and your instinct might be to try to 'fix' things as quickly as possible," Luz was uncomfortable with the direct eye contact he made with her while saying that, "but, it's important that you all take the time to properly process and recuperate from what happened. I'll be talking with th others to see about helping you get counseling if you need it."

"We appreciate that, sir," Hunter interjected.

"Now Luz," Strange continued. "I have good news and bad news. The bad news is, that cut is probably going to scar. The good news is that I'm told that brow scars make you look mysterious and distinguished."

Luz forced a laugh. "Thanks. I needed that... Am I allowed to get up? My legs don't feel like jelly anymore and..."

"If you can stand on your own for ten seconds, you should be fine."

Luz motioned for everyone to back up and stood. "One Boiling Isles, two Boiling Isles," Luz counted off. When she got to ten she gestured to the kitchen. "I'll be right back, I... Water."

She then maybe a little too quickly scuttled to the kitchen. It was only after she got a glass, filled it, drained it, filled it again, and drained it again that she remembered that her mother was in there talking to Spider-Man.

"I'm sorry, I..."

"No, no mija, it's fine," her Mom reassured. "We were actually about to call you. Please, sit," she said while gesturing to an open chair at the kitchen table.

Slowly Luz took a seat and thought about why her mother and the Amazing Spider-Man might want to talk to her. "This is about how I'm part eldritch space monster, isn't it?"

"Luz, no, you are not a monster," her Mom began.

"But yes," Spider-Man confirmed. "It kind of sucks that I have to ask you this, but... Have you noticed yourself acting unusually aggressive since your powers came in?"

"...Yes," Luz admitted. "I um... Punched a guard when I needed to infiltrate a prison, I joked about killing a man who was mean to my girlfriend, I first went 'full symbiote' when Belos took Eda's palisman from me while we were fighting, and... I've kind of..."

"So you get aggressive when people threaten your loved ones?" Spider-Man continued. "That's what triggers it for you?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, now have you had... Dark, primal feelings?" He asked. "Driving you to hurt someone? And if so, have you ever... Lost it?"

"Yes, twice..." Luz said. "Earlier today... It's not my place to say exactly what happened but I almost tore up... An abuser, before Amity managed to calm me down and... A few days ago, I..."

"...Oh no," Spider-Man said. "Who was it?"

"...The leader of a fanatical cult that was planning on sacrificing my adopted little brother for insane and honestly kind of racist reasons? Er, specist reasons I guess. When I found out what they were gonna do, I... I threatened him. I threatened to..." Luz swallowed. "You know what I threatened to do. And at first, I thought I convinced him and moved to get my, my..." Luz looked at her mother.

"Your family, Mija," her Mom said. "You moved to get your family out of danger."

"Yeah. My family... But then we got cornered. Those... Stupid cultists... I was able to control myself just long enough to make sure that King was safe and he didn't see what I was about to do, then everything went red. When I woke up, a lot of cultists were either on the ground or staring at me in horror. Their leader was missing, but his robes were on the ground, and," Luz looked away from her mother's gaze. "Bloody. And I felt... Really... full."

Her mother gasped. "Mi bebé, no."

"Es verdad, Mamá. Tu bebé es un monstruo. The worst part is... I feel bad about eating a person... But I don't feel bad about killing him." That was a little painful to admit, but it was true.

"So... I'm of the camp that says that heroes shouldn't kill," Spider-Man began. "But... You weren't a hero then. You're a kid who was in a situation you never should have been in, lost control, and this guy? It sounds like he knew exactly what was going to happen and pressed his luck anyway so you shouldn't feel... Too bad about that. Now, this does confirm that I made the right call when I came out here."

"Hmm?" Luz asked.

"You're not the only symbiote-hybrid, Luz." The superhero explained. "And you're not the only one to have problems like that, either. I spoke with your mother about this when we first came out here, there's a medicine that can make it so you won't lose control like that again."

Her mother pulled a pill bottle out of her pocket and set it on the table. "He said these are... Hormone pills that'll stop you from... Ni siquiera puedo decirlo."

"...Like what? Anti-psycho homrones?" Luz asked.

"No, nothing like that," Spider-Man replied. "They aren't mood regulators, they aren't antipsychotics. Symbiotes, with a handful of exceptions, feed on hormones that they usually get from their hosts. When they don't have a host, or their host doesn't produce enough that they can safely take them, or if something happens and the symbiote gets sick... They get deficiencies. And, well, you can't exactly feed on your own hormones. You aren't a monster, Luz, it's just that your symbiote side is malnourished and a malnourished symbiote tends to be hangry. Think of these pills like a vitamin supplement. Take one a day with food, you won't be malnourished anymore and won't have to worry about losing control or giving into your symbiote half's feral instincts."

"Okay... yeah... Alright..." Luz... Suddenly felt relieved all out of nowhere. She started laughing nervously. "Yeah. Okay."

"Now, I am realizing that I probably shouldn't have left my best friend's twelve-year-old niece to pack up heavy scientific equipment in a rain storm," Spider-Man joked. "I already told your mother how to get more pills when those run out, so I'll get out of your hair." He got up and left, stopping only to add "And if you have any more concerns about... Being half symbiote, give me a call. If I don't have answers I can get you in touch with people who do."

Soon enough, Luz was alone with her mother in the kitchen. She got up to leave, only to find herself in a warm bear hug from her Mom.

"Esto no cambia nada. Sigues siendo mi preciosa niña y te quiero mucho," she said.

"Te quiero, Mamá."

"Now," her Mom said as she let go of her. "Let's figure out how on Earth I'm going to feed six or seven teenagers tonight."