New York City (Fisk Conglomerates)

Wilson Fisk After Phone Call

Melissa gestured to the phone and asked “Was it important?”

Wilson shook his head “Kevin calling to check up on his father-in-law… excuse me.”

Melissa nodded, resuming her sunbath in celebration of another successfully opened chain of hotels.

-------

Wilson entered his office, waving his hand as all windows shut, all doors were locked and a massive screen exited the sidewall.

“Is there something I can do for you, sir?” The screen asked.

Wilson frowned “Are there any abnormalities to be found with my daughter recently. I received a slightly concerning phone call from Kevin not too long ago…”

The screen beeped for a couple of seconds “No abnormalities have been noticed but I have assigned two men to follow her around… there will be a report in a couple of hours at the latest.”

“Good!” Wilson commented “I need this billion-dollar backing to stand on equal footing with Essex Corporations for upcoming negotiations. Tandy cannot afford to mess up her relationship with Kevin at this time.”

“Is that all?” The screen asked.

Wilson nodded and waved his hand lazily “Dismissed!”

∞∞∞

“You ready?” Jessica asked, removing her eyes from the mirror after admiring her dress.

Tyrone gave a thumbs-up “As ready as I’ll ever be… I feel nervous about ending it this way.”

Jessica frowned as she observed Tyrone carefully, there was something wrong with the way he moved and talked but she couldn’t figure out exactly what it was.

She walked towards Tyrone and placed a hand against his forehead “You don’t have a fever but I feel like you’re behaving strangely…”

Tyrone shrugged “I feel fine… if not, then maybe a little nervous. I am going to end an affair with a girl I once loved as much as my own family.”

Jessica sighed and straightened out Tyrone’s shirt with careful attention “Where did she text you to meet her?”

Tyrone flipped his phone open “Karaoke club not far from here… I don’t like singing and neither does she… maybe you have a chance to show your skill...”

Jessica nodded her head seriously “My voice is one of a kind… some people say I have the Midas touch.”

“I don’t think that’s exactly a compliment…” Tyrone explained, “Midas died because he turned everything he touched to gold… the nigga couldn’t eat or drink anything in the end…”

Jessica stared at Tyrone blankly, face reddening with embarrassment.

Tyrone sighed “After this Tandy business is finished and everything back to normal… we’re sending you back to school. You’re missing too many classes and obviously, you ain’t the brightest light in the basement.”

Jessica punched Tyrone weakly on the arm and they laughed together in happiness at the sense of comfort they always experienced near each other.

“Why don’t you two just date?” Xandra asked, peeping into the room from the door while munching on popcorn as if she was watching a show.

Jessica dashed towards the door, grabbing Xandra and pulling her inside Tyrone’s room despite the latter’s fierce struggle.

Tyrone patted Xandra’s head to calm the hyperactive young girl “I got a job for you…”

“How much does it pay?” Xandra asked, already calculating her hourly rate inside her mind.

Tyrone smirked “One hug every ten minutes….”

Not appreciating the joke, Xandra wore a sly smile “I’ll do it but Jessica will be receiving the hugs in my place… every fifth hug becomes a kiss and every fifth kiss becomes hanky-panky… Take it or leave it!”

Jessica threw her arms around Xandra and placed a big smooch on her cheeks “Oh my gosh! I raised you so well… I knew you were someone who repays favors…”

Tyrone shook his head and turned to Jessica “You won’t be celebrating for long…”

True to Tyrone’s words, Xandra swirled out of Jessica’s arms and continued the negotiations “Jessica… I need your allowance for all the benefits Tyrone will give you in my place… I need new dresses so…”

“You vicious-hearted young woman…” Jessica complained, sneakily passing her wallet to Xandra while avoiding Tyrone’s appalled face.

Xandra sighed “I don’t look forward to puberty if girls give away money just to be with a grumpy guy like Tyrone…”

After a few more seconds of bickering, Tyrone requested “I just need you to organize my room for me… it’s kind of messy right now…”

Xandra looked all over the room and noted that everything was more than ‘messy’. Socks all over the floor, boxers on the bed, and a strong scent of what smelled like Jessica and some other woman.

“Deal…” Xandra stated “But I need some of this ‘wagyu-beef’ that I hear you guys talking about… I am curious about how good it actually tastes…”

∞∞∞

“Who does she think she is?” Jessica complained “Wagyu-Beef? We can’t afford that… and you agreed? We don’t have a credit card anymore and you’re no longer in the body selling business.”

Tyrone laughed “What if I said I’d exchange sex for money to buy wagyu-beef?”

Jessica’s steps paused, a credit card instantly appearing inside her hands “I may have borrowed Tandy’s card while inside her bathroom as repayment for ‘damaging’ my phone…”

Tyrone shrugged “Your treat then…”

Jessica laughed “No free meal in this world… bodies for food…”

Tyrone licked his lips, a flirtatious smile at the edge of his lips as he opened the Club’s door for Jessica “We’re here…”

Jessica snapped out of her reverie “So I see… I will treat you this time.”

Jessica and Tyrone entered the Karaoke Club, found a seat near the back, and kept an eye out for Tandy. Both Tyrone and Jessica were nervous about ending their interactions with Tandy for separate reasons.

Jessica was afraid that Tandy would withdraw all funding from The Outreach Center, leaving a lot of the kids without a chance at an education. Tyrone was just afraid… pure, unbridled fear…

He could feel his body subtly shaking as his stomach rolled for sustenance that could not be provided by food. It was like a withdrawal symptom that originated just from the thought of a withdrawal.

∞∞∞

Tandy Bowen (Backstage at Karaoke Club)

“Is he already out there? Did you see him?!?” Tandy questioned nervously.

Nadia, a friend of Tandy’s, peeked at the audience from backstage.

“I think he’s here…” Nadia answered absentmindedly “And might I add… you sure know how to pick them…”

Tandy sighed sadly “I don’t think I ever had the chance to pick him… sometimes I feel like he was made for me and I was made for him… we balance each other out. You know I’m engaged but even the thought of losing Tyrone makes me unable to sleep at night…”

Nadia’s eyes grew moist as she clenched her fist “Cheer Up Tandy-Bear! We have been friends for years and I have never seen you happier than when you were with that kid… back in high school, you were the only one who treated me like a girl when everyone said I was a boy.

I ran away from high school and missed my moment to be truly happy with who I am… don’t run away… run towards what you want… if I can be a girl even trapped inside a male’s body, then you can show Tyrone how much you love him…”

Tandy also clenched her fist as determination filled her heart “About a year ago, I missed my moment, and right now I have to fight to get that moment back… Thanks, Nadia… I promise to never give up on what and who I love…”

Five Minutes Later (On Stage) ------

Tyrone and Jessica watched as a transgender walked onto the stage with long strides.

“Today….!” Nadia said and paused for dramatic effect “We will have an old friend of mine singing her heart out to … well, to catch the heart of the man she loves… Love is a beautiful journey, filled with as many thorns as it is with roses. There can never be one without the other, so without further ado… join me in welcoming to the stage – the certified lover girl of the 21st century: Tandy Bowen!”

“Whhhhhhhoooooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!”

“Whhhhhhhoooooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!”

“Whhhhhhhoooooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!”

------------

There was a huge round of applause that made Tyrone and Jessica unconsciously flinch.

“I think we should leave now while we still can…” Jessica advised “Can Tandy really not sing? Because if she can… it’s going to be almost impossible to break up with her unless you want the crowd to beat you to death with a chair…”

Tyrone glanced around at the crowd awkwardly “I checked out the windows when we came in. The bathroom is closed and the window is wide open. After I end things with Tandy, we run for it.”

“Good plan!” Jessica nodded.

--------------

Tandy nervously walked onto the stage, her legs trembling at the sight of the sizable crowd. Just as her knees were about to give in, her eyes glanced over Tyrone’s and Jessica’s figures seated in the back.

Although she saw Jessica, Tandy’s eyes were only locked on one person inside the entire club and everyone else fell away like dominoes. Tandy imagined that she and Tyrone were in a world of their own.

“I -………… 🎶” Tandy opened her mouth, a nervous crack in her voice that threw her first word off-key.

Everyone in the crowd looked ready to kick her offstage and for the first time, Tandy could feel her overabundance of hope dwindling away inside her body. She glanced at Tyrone and noticed his sympathetic eyes, further cementing her descent into a nervous wreck and disappointment.

Just as Tandy was about to run off the stage, she saw Nadia’s head poking out from the curtains “Just tell him how you feel from the heart and sing from the heart… singing is just like dancing but using both words and your body!”

‘Singing is like dancing… singing is like dancing… singing is like dancing…’

Tandy repeated the line in her head like a mantra to calm her nerves and eventually, it worked since singing was just like dancing and if there was one thing she excelled at – it was dancing.

Tandy took a deep breath and turned her body to the sizeable crowd “I am really sorry, my heart is a beating mess and I am just so fucking nervous right now…. To be honest with yah, this is kinda my last chance to convince the guy I love that we are meant to be together…

About a year ago, I missed my moment to support him when he was going through something really difficult and there are only so many times you can say ‘sorry’ until the words lose all their meaning….

I guess what I’m trying to say is… even if I’m nervous as fuck right now! I can’t fail because there is nothing worth more to struggle for than love…”

The crowd was not exactly convinced by Tandy’s windy speech but when the instrumental began to play, everyone quieted down to listen.

Tandy swayed her body gently as if a wind was cradling her into a soft embrace….

“I can hold my breath 🎶🎶

I can bite my tongue 🎶🎶”

Tandy smiled at the crowd, gently moving her arms like an ocean wave…

“I can stay awake for days 🎶🎶

If that's what you want 🎶🎶

Be your number one🎶🎶”

Tandy raised her hand, mimicking a number one and pointing at Tyrone unconfidently…

“I can fake a smile 🎶🎶

I can force a laugh 🎶🎶”

Tandy slowly worked her way through the crowd, heading in Tyrone’s direction as the crowd grew more in love with her uniquely beautiful voice.

“I can dance and play the part 🎶🎶

If that's what you ask 🎶🎶

Give you all I am 🎶🎶”

The song perfectly reflected Tandy’s complicated feelings towards Tyrone and her own mistakes in the past – the mistakes of an immature girl who didn’t know better.

That was also something she was hoping that Tyrone would notice… maybe everything wasn’t so bad… it’s just they weren’t mature enough and maybe they still weren’t but they were better off than last year.

Tandy hopped on a chair, balancing the chair on its back legs using her ballerina training.

“I can do it 🎶🎶

I can do it 🎶🎶

I can do iiiiittttttt 🎶🎶”

“But I'm only human 🎶🎶

And I bleed when I fall down 🎶🎶

I'm only human 🎶🎶

And I crash and I break down 🎶🎶

Your words in my head, knives in my heart 🎶🎶

You build me up and then I fall apart 🎶🎶

Cause I'm only human 🎶🎶”

------------

By the end of the song, Tandy had arrived a couple of feet away from Tyrone and Jessica, both of whom wore sad but hard looks on their faces.

Tandy smiled sorrowfully but she wasn’t finished with what she came to do even if she already knew the answer in her heart.

‘At the very least I can say that I tried my best… I am always too hopeful anyway…’ Tandy thought, a small tear sliding down her cheek – a tear of almost hopelessness.

Jessica watched everything that happened and noticed that Tyrone looked significantly paler, which should have been impossible given that he was a lighter shade of black.

It was like Tandy’s mood was somehow having negative effects on Tyrone’s health.

Just as Jessica and Tyrone were about to turn and leave, Tandy did something that made everyone in the club gasp.

Tandy knelt on one knee in front of Tyrone “I… I am not even sure what to say… I always knew that someday I would be doing this but I never imagined it this way… well, maybe I did imagine it this way, only you would be the one on your knees, singing to me instead…

Tyrone Johnson, I can’t make all the promises you want to hear but I can commit to try and be everything you need. When I am with you, I feel so balanced and like… for brief moments, very fucking brief moments… I feel like everything is right with the world. Like it would be okay if the sun didn’t rise from the east…

It would be okay if we were trapped on a deserted island… like everything will be okay as long as I am at your side… Just yesterday, I took a look at my family’s bank account and saw sixty billion dollars and then I came to a realization... we can never really have it all… I had everything when I was born and you had almost nothing…

The odds were against our relationship from the start but I have always been okay with that… I know to gain something as precious as us, I’d have to give something in return so…”

Tandy removed two plane tickets from her bosom and presented them to Tyrone “We can run away together and never look back… we can start over from scratch, away from everyone so we work on the issues we have like real couples do…

I may not have been the best girlfriend or best-best friend or anything like that but I know that I would be able to give up anything as long as it means I can be with you… so Tyrone Johnson… will you run away with me?”

Tandy waited anxiously for an answer but someone was even more nervous than she was…

Jessica stared at Tyrone without blinking, pressuring him with her gaze as he hesitated to reject Tandy’s ‘kidnapping’ attempt.

Jessica’s voice turned cold when she saw that Tyrone wasn’t rejecting “Tyrone!... What about Xandra and everyone else?”

With that reminder, Tyrone’s hovering hands fell to his sides limply “Tandy …. I –”

pu/ta

In the midst of such a heartfelt moment, Tyrone’s body fell to the right as Kevin’s fist impacted his left cheek.

Everyone watching the proposal was shocked… Tandy was shocked and even Jessica was too shocked to react in time to help Tyrone.

Tandy turned pale “K – k – kevin?”

“Only now you remember that you have a fiancé at home?” Kevin asked angrily, having witnessed the entire scene of his Fiancé proposing to another man.

Tandy’s face grew even paler but not because Kevin had caught her in the act of cheating, she was planning to run away later anyway…

What concerned Tandy was the fact that Kevin had punched Tyrone.

“Kevin… get out of here, go get your bodyguards from outside…” Tandy warned, seeing that the crowd was already dispersing so there would be no one to help with what happens next.

“I left them home… time to teach your little black boyfriend why he shoul-”

Kevin couldn’t finish what he was saying because Jessica had already kicked him into a table, sending both Kevin and the table spiraling over.

Tyrone hopped onto his feet and moved as fast as he could, appearing next to Kevin and directing a full-strength kick at his head.

Tandy managed to pull Tyrone’s clothes at the last minute, diverting the blow from Kevin’s head to his abdomen.

Still, there was nothing Tandy could do about Jessica who was ruthlessly kicking Kevin in the stomach. Kevin pushed himself behind the table and gained enough leverage to kick Jessica off her feet, sending her tumbling to the ground.

Tyrone was trying to calm himself down, noticing that something was wrong with his attitude and his anger had blinded him to the point that he almost killed Kevin.

However, seeing Jessica fall to the ground stirred him up again. Tyrone jumped into the air, over the table Kevin hid behind, and when Tyrone came down…

Crack

Crack

There were two cracking sounds of shattered bones. Tyrone had stomped down on both of Kevin’s legs.

Yet, even having gone that far, further than he normally would in a fight, Tyrone felt far from fully venting his anger.

“AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” Kevin yelled, spasming on the ground as pain shook his body.

“Tyrone NO!” Tandy yelled, tossing an anxious fist towards Tyrone who was picking a chair from the ground to possibly beat Kevin to death.

Tandy’s fist impacted Tyrone’s chest but what was a normal fist when Tandy threw it… turned into something different when it hit Tyrone.

thhhuuuudddddd

There was a small thudding sound as Jessica and Tyrone were embedded in the wall.

Tyrone could possibly have died had Jessica not caught his body mid-transition and taken the impact in his place using her own tough body.

Tandy felt terrified of the white sparks of light that covered her fist and looked at Tyrone and Jessica with absolute fear on her face.

Fear of what she had done… fear of what could have happened… fear if Tyrone and Jessica would ever believe that it wasn’t her intention to do that…

Tyrone stumbled to his feet and looked at Jessica’s bleeding head as she was still partially embedded in the wall.

“You – you …. You would kill us for that shit stain?” Tyrone asked angrily, helping Jessica out of the wall due to her unsteadiness after the hit.

“I – I ty… I am so sorry…”

Tandy tried to explain some more but Jessica and Tyrone were gone, already exited the club and possibly running somewhere safe to check the extent of their injuries.

Tandy robotically walked to the passed-out Kevin and whispered “Stan was right… when you miss your moment, there is no chance of getting it back!”

Tandy embraced Kevin on the floor, made a couple of calls with her phone, and patiently waited for the bodyguards as she thought about the mess that was her life.

∞∞∞

New York City (Wilson Fisk’s Office)

Wilson Fisk

Wilson watched the video of the altercation that just happened at the karaoke club from the comfort of his office.

Wilson frowned “So Tandy’s mutant powers have started to manifest in more potent ways and it’s tied to her emotions and the way she feels about that kid Tyrone…”

“Might I suggest an adequate course of action, sir?” The Screen near Wilson asked.

“You may but not right now… I have another mystery to solve… like how exactly did Tyrone Johnson survive when I specifically gave instructions to kill him in the mountains…” Wilson stated and frowned “This is a big loose end and I don’t like loose ends… but it could also be a blessing in disguise…”