Peter's House.
"Peter, this is Rogue." Aunt May stated. Peter stood in there shock as to how she could've possibly found his house. Rogue froze up too, but because she didn't expect Peter to be surprised as he was to see her. Before Aunt May could make a observation on either of them, Peter responded.
"Her name is Rogue?" Peter tried to play off not knowing who she was, despite his escapade in the cemetery and his very ruined suit telling a different story.
"Yes. Like the makeup."
"Aunt May, that's Rouge, not Rogue."
"That's not important Peter." May turned her attention back to Rogue. "As you can tell, this is my nephew Peter."
"Nephew? You're not his mom?" Rogue asked. Aunt May kindly shook her head.
"No dear, but enough about us. Are you ok?" Rogue looked at May for a few seconds, trying to think of an answer. The obvious solution was what she spat out.
"Ah...don't have any place to stay. And ah was chased by some people and ah don't feel safe wandering around."
"Oh, you poor thing." May replied in shock. "Tell me, are you hungry?" Rogue nodded her head. "Well, I can make you something real quick if you want. In the meantime, my nephew can show you where the bathroom is so you freshen up."
"Are you sure that's fine Ms. Parker?"
"Yes, I'm sure. Now Peter, can you show her the way to the bathroom?" Peter nodded his head and started to head back upstairs, with Rogue following right behind him.
"Ok, run-away super powered girl is in your house Peter. Don't somehow mess this up or get her mad in a spectacular fashion." Peter thought to himself. Once they got to the bathroom, he turned to her.
"Here's the bathroom. I'll get you a towel and a washcloth." Peter turned, then felt leather fabric on his forearm. He looked down to see Rogue's gloved hand grabbing him.
"Thank you for helping me in the cemetery." Peter was confused, panicking, and somewhat happy all at once internally. Confused as to how she knew it was him helping her, panicking as to how she knew it was him, and happy that she knew it was him.
"The cemetery? I got no idea what you're talking about." Peter could see by Rogue's face that playing dumb was about as effective as he thought it would be, which is to say it completely wasn't.
"You know you're a terrible liar, right?" Rogue responded. Peter sighed and leaned back against the doorway.
"Ok fine, I might've helped you at the cemetery, but please don't tell my Aunt that. I don't need her freaking out on me." Rogue nodded her head, confirming she wouldn't tell May a thing regarding tonight's events. With a load of worries of Peter's mind, he focused on his next question.
"How'd you even find my house?"
"Ah can't explain it, but when ah lost control, and you tackled me, we must've accidentally touched."
"And that's significant how?"
Rogue looked down at her hands, somewhat in shame, but mostly fear. "Because everyone I've touched in the last week, I've gotten their memories. And then tonight, I get chased by some weirdos in suits."
"Glad to see the live reaction of super powered being discovering other super powered people." Peter quipped. Rogue's immediate face of annoyance told him it wasn't safe to continue with that context of jokes. "I'm joking but yeah, those guys tonight seemed...off."
"What do you mean?"
"Well you got my memories, right? You must've seen the type of supervillains I've fought. That group doesn't strike me as villains...maybe excluding the guy with laser eyes."
"Because he destroyed your suit?"
"Because he destroyed my suit. Now I have to either fix it or replace it." Peter sighed. "Next week's dumpster diving adventures are going to be reallll fun."
"Right..." Rogue responded in slight confusion. "Just...thank you again. And sorry for just showing up here."
"Don't mention it. Besides, my Aunt would probably love to deal with anyone who's not me at the moment." Peter left Rogue to use the bathroom, with her standing in both confused and sort of sad at Peter's speculation (and from his memories) that his Aunt felt some type of way towards him as of recent. However, she knew that getting into the middle of a family matter with her limited knowledge and knowledge that would get Peter into trouble, she decided to forget about it for the time being as she jumped into the shower and washed herself.
30 minutes later.
Rogue kept replaying the events of what happened tonight and in the last week in her head. She knew her paleness was from some type of skin condition. At least that's what she believed from what her foster parent told her.
"How long was ah just a freak without knowing it?" She thought to herself. She stared at the mirror, trying to bring herself back to reality. The unfortunate truth was that all that she's experienced was and is her reality. The only thing that snapped her back to reality was a knock at the door.
"Rogue dear, are you alright?" It was May. Rogue shook her head, trying to calm herself down.
"Yea Ms. Parker. Ah'm fine." She lied. Emotional, she was one more memory snatch away from a identity breakdown, and physically there was the recent "no touching" discovery that didn't exactly fill her with confidence or strength.
"Well if you'd like, there's some food on the table downstairs. I've also laid out a robe you can use while I can get your clothes cleaned." May then started to walk away from the bathroom door. Rogue opened the door to see the robe neatly folded on the floor. She took it and put it on immediately, making sure to wrap it tightly around the waist so no wardrobe malfunctions happen before her clothes can get cleaned. She took her pile of clothes downstairs, where May had a bucket ready.
"You can just drop them here. I'll have them washed by the morning."
Rogue was caught off guessing when May said morning. "Wait, the morning?"
"Of course. I couldn't in good conscience send you out in the streets after 9. My nephew doesn't even get to stay out that late." May said. "Besides, you look like you could use the rest on actual furniture."
"I suppose...ah just don't want to be a burden on you two."
"Nonsense. I enjoy any type of company." May and Rogue walked towards the dinner table, where Rogue had a plate of chicken, roasted potatoes and some mixed vegetables. She was practically salivating at the sight of the plate. The pair of them sat down at the table, and Rogue proceeded to start eating as if her life depended on it.
"Dear, you can take your time eating. It's not going to go anywhere." May said.
Rogue looked up from her plate. "Sorry, ah just haven't had a proper meal in a while." May looked at Rogue with a sense of pity, as she could only imagine what this girl could've been through before tonight. She decided to try to find out what happened.
"Well Rogue, if you don't mind me asking, where are you from? Is there anyone we could call to help you get back home?"
Rogue thought about the questions for a while as she continued to eat. "Mississippi. And no, there's not." Just as she finished talking, a knock on the door was heard. Both girls stared at it, wondering who it could be.
"You keep eating, I'll get it." Rogue nodded as she continued eating her dinner while May went to get the door. She opened it and was greeted with the appearance of a short burly man, wearing a leather jacket, black shirt, jeans, and worn down boots. May was caught off guard, and Rogue was watching and felt that there was something familiar about him.
"Hello sir, can I help you?" May asked. The man focused his attention pass her and onto Rogue. She started to feel a headache coming on, and a sort of ringing in her ears, but tried her best to ignore it.
"I was looking for that girl over there." Rogue froze when she heard the man's voice. It was the same one she heard when trying to run away from the masked man with claws. Rogue was at a lost of words to defend herself, but luckily May would call the bluff.
"Oh really? Then what's her name?"
"Rogue."
"Her real name." The man was in shock and at a lost for words, as was Rogue, while May stared at him with a deadpan look, crossing her arms on her chest.
"That's what I thought. Now, either you leave willingly or I call the cops. Your choice." The man could tell May was serious and that she had no plans to change her mind on that front or regarding Rogue. He decided to not push the matter farther and retreated.
"Sorry for disturbing you tonight ma'am." The man left the porch and got into the backseat of a limo and rode off. May in turn closed and locked the door, and closed the blinds by the front door. She then returned to the table, where Rogue was in awe of her.
"Did you just-"
"Yes, I did." May responded. "Now we need to figure out where you're sleeping tonight. After that, I don't want anyone sleeping on the couch in case they come back."
Rogue had to agree, especially after seeing how easily those claws could damage something hard, let alone a wooden door. Still, Rogue knew it wasn't a big house.
"What did you have in mind?"
Peter's Room.
"So she's taking my bed, and as punishment I have to sleep on the floor of my own room?" Peter asked.
May sighed. "I just told you Peter, there was some strange man who was downstairs asking about Rogue. I don't feel comfortable with anyone sleeping on the couch for tonight."
Peter couldn't find much fault with that thinking. Had it been him downstairs instead of May, he'd probably be vocal for that as the solution too. Still didn't mean he was going to enjoy sleeping on the floor.
"I know, I know. I'm sorry. She can take the bed, I just need a pillow and blanket." May nodded as she went out into their hallway closet to get Peter a spare blanket as he grabbed a pillow off his bed. He got himself situated on the floor as Rogue got onto the bed.
"Goodnight, both of you. And Peter, in the afternoon take Rogue around the city. I have to do paperwork for the moving company and for the house." Peter nodded as May turned off the light and closed the door, leaving the teens in total darkness, save for the moonlight. Peter was prepared to think about a million things over before sleeping, but Rogue wanted to chat.
"Hey Peter. Is it alright if ah ask you something?"
"Didn't you technically just asked me something?" Peter replied sarcastically. Rogue rolled her eyes and continued.
"It's just...why are you living with your Aunt? And not your parents?" Peter sighed. Despite all the years that have passed, he still dreaded talking about his parents.
"They died when I was young." Rogue immediately felt bad for asking about it, but couldn't find the words to say to apologize, so noticing her silence, Peter continued.
"They died when I was 6 years old. I never had any memorable memories of them. They were...workaholics to say the least. Day in and day out at Oscorp. Then one day, I find out on the news they died in a plane crash, and Oscorp couldn't even be bothered to send us a letter expressing their condolences and sympathies."
Rogue continued to stay silent, but took notice of the pain in Peter's voice.
"Then when I was 14, my uncle...he was killed."
"Peter..."
Peter stopped himself from going on. Whether it was out of respect to spare Rogue from his own trauma, or that he just didn't want to relive it with it being only a year after he's been gone, he didn't know.
"What about you? Why are you here in New York and not watching TV with your parents in Mississippi?"
"Ah...ah don't know my parents." This caught Peter by surprise. "Ah'm technically an orphan, ah guess."
"And you hated them so much, you decided to run halfway across the country?"
"It wasn't that. Ah was at this school dance by myself. Ah didn't plan to stay long or interact with anyone there, but my classmate Cody came and asked me to dance. Ah did, and ended up touching him and then I ended up with his memories."
It was Peter's turn to be stuck in silence now.
"Ah don't know what ah did to deserve this, but now ah can't go back home and now there's people looking for me. Ah'm-"
"Scared?" Peter finished. Rogue's silence indicated to Peter he was right. "I don't think you're wrong to be scared. But maybe whatever it is you can do, you can do good with it."
"Peter, ah can't touch anyone without hurting them. Ah probably sent Cody to the hospital."
"Yeah, but that's probably because you just can't control it yet." Rogue was now even more stressed than she was starting tonight. Peter continued. "My Uncle once told me that with great power comes great responsibility. I've lived my life as Spider-Man with that motto ever since I lost him. I'm not trying to offend you or downplay what's happened to you, but maybe there's a reason you got that power."
Rogue rolled over onto her side, staring out the window thinking about what Peter said. Was there really some type of reason she specifically got her powers? Was it really just terrible luck? She didn't know, and now was too tired to even argue the possibilities with herself. She slowly started to fall asleep, as eventually Peter did as well.
Limo.
"I told you it wouldn't work. The kid's Aunt is a smart one." A lady said. The lady in question was a middle aged women, brown hair and blind. The man seemed visibly upset as he slouched back into the seat.
"She wasn't supposed to be there to begin with."
"She wasn't supposed to leave Mississippi." The blind woman replied. "But I did warn you this would happen eventually Mystique.
The man looked back at her, then faced forward as their body morphed into its original form. A blue woman emerged with red hair, and a sleeveless white dress with a high neck, purple skinsuit under her dress, thigh-high white boots, and white gloves.
"You were supposed to protect her Irene. Make sure something like this doesn't happen."
"Last time I checked, the girl has autonomy like you and me. As I've said, this was bound to happen eventually. Had it not been a week ago, it could've been a week, month, or year later."
Mystique rubbed her eyes. "I know. But at least we scared her enough to not trust the X-Men." Mystique took solstice in the fact she was able to, if nothing else, at least achieve that goal. But the emergence of Spider-Man's interference brought about a new problem.
"Irene. What can you see of this Spider-Man's fate?"
Irene leaned back into the seat and closed her eyes to try to get a read on him, but the images in her mind were all muddled and foggy. "That's strange. I can't get a clear reading on him."
"What do you mean?"
"Either his fate or future is extremely volatile, or some force is preventing me from fully seeing it."
Mystique sat up and faced Irene. "Well is there anything at all you can see of him?"
"Just one." Irene faced Mystique.
"If he is to leave New York City and get involved with the X-Men, he will be the catalyst for a war on mutants."
Chapter 4
The Daily Bugle.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOUR LEAVING PARKER?! YOU'RE THE ONLY GOOD FOR NOTHING PHOTOGRAPHER THAT CAN GET ME PICTURES OF SPIDER-MAN FOR CHEAP!" Peter wondered at this moment why he decided to tell Jolly Jameson why he was leaving the city, as he wasn't a fan of his very "strong" personality. He often wondered how he hadn't had a stroke yet from all the yelling.
"Its a long story. I'd just thought that I'd-"
"You'd what? EXPECT ME TO BEG YOU TO STAY?! YOU GOT APPROXIMATELY 5 SECONDS TO GET OUT OF MY OFFICE BEFORE I CALL THE COPS! GET LOST!" Peter sighed and rushed out of the office, seeing Rogue sitting at the waiting area. He walked over and sat down next to her, the pair of them looking wildly out of place.
"How'd it go?" Rogue asked.
Peter leaned back into the seat. "Well it depends. Were you able to hear the yelling?" Peter looked at Rogue and smirked when she nodded her head. "Then he took it better than I expected."
"And how exactly did ya expect him to take it?"
"If it went bad, he'd probably think I was bluffing to get a raise...then fire me...so I think it would've been the same result either way now that I think about it."
"Right." The two teens got up and headed towards the elevator and waited for it. When the door opened up, Peter was shocked at who was on the other side.
"Frank West?" Peter questioned. Frank was wearing a black and white with some pedant around his neck, glasses, and of course his DSLR camera.
Frank was sort of daydreaming, but broke out of it when he heard Peter's voice. "Ohh, let me guess. You're a fan right? Well sorry but I need to talk to Jameson urgently." Frank passed the pair of them. Peter was pretty bummed out to be blown off by Frank that quickly, but didn't dwell on it too long. Peter and Rogue got in the elevator.
"Who was that?" Rogue asked.
"Famous Photojournalist. Don't know what he's doing at the bugle though." Peter explained. "Either way, want to see more of the city or just head back?"
Rogue thought about it for a few minutes. "Ah think ah'd like to spend more time with ya."
"Wow Rogue. So forward. You must tell all the guys and gals at the ballroom dancing club that." Peter quipped. Rogue quickly went to a sourish mood and rolled her eyes at Peter, who couldn't help but chuckle.
"Peter, do ah look like ah've been anywhere near a ballroom?"
"Do you promise not to hurt me if I gave you an honest and detailed answer about your current look?"
Rogue folded her arms across her chest. "No, ah don't."
"Then we'll just leave this topic at no and move on." The elevator took the teens back down to street level, where they made their way out of the Bugle.
"So, what now?" Rogue asked. Peter thought about where to go next, or what to possibly show Rogue, but then an idea popped into his head.
"I think I got an idea."
15 minutes later.
"This is ah nice view and all, but why are we 50 stories above the ground?!" Rogue questioned both Peter and his sanity. She was closely hugging the wall of the roof despite the railings on the roof that were there to prevent them from failing.
"You're actually halfway off, stories wise, but I figured if you were able to sap my memories and powers, it'd be a good thing you learn how to use them. And, you know, get rid of the vertigo immediately." Peter was leaned against the railing, still in his street clothes, although he did have two of his masks on the floor.
"Seriously?!" Peter nodded his head in response. "Great, ah run away from some group of super-powered weirdos, and now they've been traded for someone who's lost a few screws."
Peter sighed. "Look Rogue, let's say hypothetically you touch me. Say its to save my life or whatever. You'd rather rely on fuzzy memories of powers you've never used before and no experience, or learn and be a better...ok, slightly above average version of me?"
Rogue could tell from his face he was serious about teaching her how to get used to his powers, as he's only slightly joked around with her. She figured it couldn't hurt to learn, albeit she wasn't happy about getting thrown off the deep end literally.
"Alright. Ah trust ya. But if we're jumping off this thing, you owe me big time."
"Deal. Now first things first, you'll probably need my power again." Peter reached out his hand, an invitation for Rogue. She took off one of her gloves and laid a finger on his hand. Peter's whole body immediately felt strange, like he was getting weaker for the few seconds they were in contact. As for Rogue, the feeling was weirder as memories of both today and yesterday flooded her mind, including Peter's expulsion and near juvie arrest. The pair broke contact and reveled in the after affect that sent chills down both teens' spines.
"Whoa...freaky." Peter stated.
"Yeah..." Rogue simply replied. Peter picked up both masks and handed one to Rogue as he put the other one on.
"Here, I don't think you want to end up on The Daily Bugle's front pages. And before you ask, yes it's a clean mask." Rogue simply put the mask on and tried to adjust to it. She knew that no matter what happened with this impromptu training session, her hair and makeup was going to get messed up and mess up Peter's mask.
Peter then took off the webshooter on his right wrist and put on his gloves. "Give me your wrist."
Rogue extended her right hand. Peter pushed back the sleeve of her mesh shirt and fixed the webshooter on to her, making sure it would be able to fire over her glove and not into it.
"Ok. Quick history lesson on this webshooter. I made it myself, and it relies on web fluid that I also make myself. It's strong enough to hold a person, as well as heavier objects." Rogue looked at it while he explained it in a sort of intriguing fashion.
She was then concerned when she saw Peter sitting on the railing, but on the opposite side and with his mask on.
"Ah don't know Peter...what if something happens?"
"That's why I'm here. And also why I only gave you one of my webshooters." Peter extended his right arm for Rogue to grab with her left. She did and slowly (and hesitantly) sat on the railing the same way Peter was. She mad the mistake of looking down and immediately gripped Peter's arm hard.
"Ow ow ow. I know it's scary as hell, but can you not cut the circulation out my arm please?" She immediately loosened her grip, but still held on to Peter's arm as tightly as she could.
"Ok, what now?" Rogue asked. Peter looked down at the city below as he prepared himself.
"On the count of three, we're going to jump."
"WHAT?!" Rogue yelled.
"Onetwothree." Peter said extremely fast as he pushed himself off, dragging Rogue down with him and forcing the two into a free fall. Mentally, she was freaking out, but Peter was slowly getting the adrenaline rush he usually got when he took the time to jump off the Empire State Building.
"WHAT THE HELL PARKER?!"
"THIS IS TECHNICALLY THE BEST WAY TO LEARN. NOW POINT THE WEB SHOOTER TOWARDS A BUILDING AND PRESS DOWN ON YOUR PALM." Rogue followed his instruction and looked at the building right next to them. She closed her eyes for a second to calm herself and started to see past memories of Peter using his web shooters normally.
With the foreign memories still playing in her mind, she subconsciously shot a web line to the building, as did Peter to keep their level stable. They repeated the process a few blocks down until he heard Rogue start giggling a bit.
"Y'know, you might just be crazy, but ah didn't think this would be so much fun." Rogue cheerily said. Peter was smiling under his mask, but kept his cool as they kept swinging.
"Just wait till we get to doing trick in the air. Then you'll wish you could swing everywhere instead of taking the bus." The teens continued their impromptu training session on web swinging until the afternoon became the night, and they headed back to queens.
Parker Residence. (3 days Later.)
"Peter! I need your help!" Aunt May yelled. Peter came downstairs with a box in hand, as did Rogue. Today was moving day as May wanted Peter to start school again close to the start of the semester and seeing how the semester just started in midtown, he was going to have to play catch-up when he got to Bayville.
He set his box down, as did Rogue. "What happened?"
"I need to talk to you, privately." Peter nodded as him and hi Aunt stepped into the kitchen. Rogue went back upstairs to get another box from Peter's room. She entered the room and saw the last box he packed. She looked around his room as more of his memories came up in her head. She closed her eyes and let the memories play out. The first and most prominent was apparently years ago when he was a kid. She opened her eyes and saw a young Peter, along with a man she'd never seen in the house before.
"Oh c'mon Peter, you know my back isn't as string as it used to be." The man said. Kid Peter stopped at his feet, crossed his arms and pouted.
"But you promised you'd play space pirates and aliens with me. I can't be the pirate without an alien to fight." Rogue chuckled at the innocence of kid Peter.
"I know Peter, I know. I'm sorry but I'm just not feeling as good as I would like to." Kid Peter looked very sad as he stared at the ground.
"Ok Uncle Ben." Ben saw this and sat down on Peter's bed. He then turned to him.
"Hey you, don't be sad. Come here." He picked up Peter and had him sit on his lap. "Look Peter, I'm sorry for not being able to keep these promises with you. I know how much you wanted to go to that science fair downtown."
"It's ok Uncle Ben. Really."
"No it's not Peter. I want you to remember my mistakes with this as a lesson. Don't make promises you can't keep. Its a disappointment like no other to experience. Can you promise me that?"
"I promise Uncle Ben." Kid Peter said, which brought a smile to Uncle Ben.
"Good kid." Ben kissed Peter on the forehead. "I want to give you something of mine." Ben pulled out a small bag with paper in it. Peter opened it and pulled out a compact CD player with headphones and a few discs.
"What is it?"
"It's my old CD player." Ben said. "It might be a little bit messed up, but it still works. I also got you a few discs for it. Some of my favorite music when I was younger, and some CDs about science."
Peter's eyes lit up. "They make CDs about science?"
"Absolutely." Ben said. Peter, excitedly, put in the CD about science and started listening to it. After a few more seconds, the memory started to fade out and Rogue soon found herself standing alone in his room again. She opened the box to see if the CD player was in there, but no such luck. She spent the next 5 minutes looking around his room for the CD player until she found it behind the headboard of Peter's bed. She grabbed it and put it in the box as she began to carry it downstairs. She stopped halfway down when she heard May and Peter talking.
"I just don't know if it's a good idea is all. I don't want to take her with us of she doesn't want to go."
"Aunt May, she's said to both of us she doesn't have any family, what's the downside of taking her with us?"
"She runs away again? And gets hurt? Then it would be on us."
Peter sighed. "I get your point but still, we should ask her. If she wants to come along with us, fine. If she doesn't, which I doubt, then she'll have to figure it out herself." May seemed content with Peter's logic, and agreed to go with his plan of asking her. Rogue didn't know how to feel. One one hand, she was grateful for both of them taking her in when she had nowhere else to go, but on the other, did they really not mind her there, or were just saying it to be nice? She continued her way downstairs and dropped off the box on the floor as she opened it.
"Hey Peter. Ah found this in your room." Rogue turned Peter's attention to his box, where she pulled out the CD player she found. Peter froze at the discovery she made as he rushed over to grab it, while not snatching it from her hands.
"How...how did you find this?" Peter asked. He looked at Rogue, but she gave him a look as to silently tell him "I'll explain later."
"Ah found it under your bed, figured you might still want it." Peter looked at the player in amazement, as he did with Rogue.
"Rogue...I don't know what to say. Thank you." Peter said with a smile. May's heart was warm at the scene of seeing her nephew genuinely happy again, as he hasn't been anywhere near that expressive in a long time.
"Well I guess that just leaves one matter we need to discuss all together." May said. "Rogue deary, we need to ask you something."
Rogue already knowing what question she was about to be asked, went along and pretended to not know what was going on. "Uhm, sure." She sat down on the couch.
"As you know, me and my nephew are moving to upstate New York, specifically in the Bayville area. I know we've never talked about it with you, but with you being a runaway and having no where to go-"
"My Aunt is trying to ask if you would want to come with us upstate. So you're not, you know, homeless." Peter interjected. May sighed.
"Well that's not the way I would've put it, but yes, would you want to come with us? At least till we help you find a more permanent home."
Rogue already knew her answer, but still was mildly surprised at May's friendliness towards her, a complete stranger who was couch crashing.
"And you wouldn't mind me coming along?" Rogue asked.
"Of course not. I think the change of scenery for all three of us could be a fresh start we all need."
Rogue stood up and smiled. "In that case, yes, I'd be happy to come with y'all." Peter cracked a smile and May was elated. The three of them enjoyed each other's company for a while before continuing to pack May's SUV. The three of them got in and drove out of the city. Peter looked out of the window as he reminisced on all the memories he had as Spider-Man in the big apple, while Rogue looked out her side, wondering if starting over with the Parkers is the fresh start she needed.
Both of them felt their Spider-sense going off, but neither could pinpoint exactly where it was coming from. They ignored it as they continued to drive, while a certain Raven followed over head.
Chapter 5
Chapter 5: The Bayville Welcome
Bayville Highschool, New York.
The principal's door opened up, and out came Rogue, along with the school's principal, Ms. Darkhölme. He didn't know what to expect from her, given she knew about his past grades, performance, and near arrest, he was either about to get a pep talk on how to change his life course or be marked as a troublemaker day one.
"Just remember Peter. Keep your head down, don't piss anyone off, and maybe just maybe, we can get through high school." Peter thought to himself as he walked through the office door. Ms. Darkhölme closed the behind them, which set off his spider sense.
"Well this is off to a great start." Peter thought. He sat down in the chair opposite from the principal's desk as she sat down and reviewed her paperwork.
"Let's see here...there." Ms. Darkhölme said. "Peter Benjamin Parker. Age 16. Born in Queens, New York City. Attended Midtown High. Right up until he was caught and arrested for breaking another student's arm."
Peter, wanting to give himself a chance to have a somewhat not stressful school year, tried to speak up. "It was in self defens-"
"Funny, I don't remember asking for you to speak." Ms. Darkhölme interrupted. Peter's confidence immediately deflated as Darkhölme spoke those words. He subconsciously kissed a stress free year goodbye. She got up from her desk and went to the front of the table.
"I won't sit here and pretend that you're a saint. That being said, I'm not going to play the Judge, Jury and Executioner. Whatever the purpose of that arrest was for, I don't care."
"Wait, seriously?" Peter was immediately elated. "Thank you Ms. Darkhölme, I promise-"
"I'm not done Mr. Parker." Peter shut up again. "I'm not gullible either. I assume I don't need to tell you the consequences of what happens if you get arrested again, do I?" Peter nodded his head. "Good."
Darkhölme took a piece of paper out of her folder and handed it to Peter. "This is your class schedule. Seeing as your Aunt said you and Rogue were still unpacking, you two will start classes tomorrow." Peter took the schedule and got up from his chair.
"I promise you Ms. Darkhölme, no problems from Peter Parker."
"Good. Because if I hear so much as one complaint from any of the faculty, I'm enrolling you in my personal after school program." Peter didn't even wanna make a quip on that, much less think about what the program could be if she was labeling him as a troublemaker day one. He simply nodded and left the room.
"Ok. Survived that encounter. Easy." Peter said to himself. He started to walk when he bumped into somebody. He looked up and saw a guy around his height wearing a brown best with a black shirt, ripped jeans, and worn boots. He also wore black fingerless gloves and his hair seemed both tamed and slightly unkempt, mainly his fringe.
"Sorry about that." Peter said. He tried to go pass, but the guy side stepped in front of him.
"Say...you're that new kid. From the city, right?"
"Jeez, news gets here before Spider-Man can even make a upstate debut." Peter thought to himself.
"Uhh, yeah. I'm the new kid from the city."
"Cool." The guy stuck his hand out. "Lance Alvers."
Peter took the hand into his own. "Peter Parker." Surprisingly, despite the way the guy came off, Peter's Spider sense wasn't ringing or anything.
"So, why would someone from the big apple, come all the way upstate to this town?" Lance questioned. Peter thought of a myriad of answers.
"Doc Ock beat me in a game of Rock, Paper, Scissors."
"Spider-Man took a Vacation."
"Broke a bullies arm, moved here so I wouldn't have to go to jail."
"My Aunt wanted a change of scenery." Peter ultimately said. Lance seemed content with the answer, and was about to ask more when Rogue showed back up.
"Parker, we need to go. Now!" Rogue grabbed Peter by his arm and began dragging him out the front door of the school. Lance stuck around for a few seconds before noticing Darkhölme at the door. She gestured over for him to walk in, which he did.
Darkhölme turned and locked the door, slowly transforming revealing her Mystique form. "What did you get on Parker so far?"
"Nothing useful. Why exactly is he important again?"
"Him and his Aunt currently are housing Rogue. That means either he or both of them know of her powers, meaning we can use them to get her to do whatever we want. And we want her to help us take down the X-Men."
"Right, that's good and all. But...didn't he break some guy's arm?" Lance added. Mystique rolled her eyes and sighed.
"Seriously? That's what you're afraid of regarding him? He's a human."
"A human who can break bones when he's angry. Assuming all we do is piss him off, you don't think he might come after us? Hell, do we even know if he's a mutant or not?" Mystique had to admit, Lance did bring up a good point. If he was, it'd serve in her best interest to recruit both Rogue and Peter to help The Brotherhood fight against the X-Men. However she needed confirmation that Peter even had powers to begin with.
"Try to befriend him. See if he admits to being a mutant or not. But do so discreetly. I don't want a repeat of Tolensky's trip to the mansion with him."
"Meaning?" Lance questioned, confused at the comparison.
"Don't reveal to him you're a mutant unless you're 100% sure he's one as well! Now go!" Mystique yelled. She quickly transformed back into her Darkhölme disguise as a mysterious figure came out the corner of the room once Lance left. He waved his hand, and the door immediately shut and locked without it being touched.
"Are we sure she has no pleasant memories of the X-Men?" The man asked, inquiring about Rogue.
"I'm positive. She'll come to us willingly. I'm more worried about how this Parker kid will influence her."
"If he becomes a nuisance, take him out. No matter what." The man said. Mystique simply nodded, as the man started to fly out of the window of the office.
Outside the Campus.
"Rogue, why are we hiding behind a tree?" Peter asked. His response was Rogue shushing him, which got him slightly irritated and confused. She was leaning out of the tree, trying to look for something.
"Well can you at least give me a hint as to who we're stalking?" Peter whispered. He started to lean with Rogue, trying to find what she was looking at or for, until the both of them found it at the same time.
"Its them. From the cemetery." Rogue pointed at the group of teens. Peter looked back to earlier in the week and sure enough, the hair and look of some of them matched up, excluding the kid with the medium length black hair and another kid with a blonde flat top haircut.
"Well crap." The pair stopped leaning outwards and now where fully behind the tree. "There's no way they followed us from the city to upstate New York, AND all applied and accepted into this school to start the new semester."
"Why not?" Rogue questioned. "They knew enough about me to track meh down all the way from Mississippi. Ah didn't even have mah phone on the whole time."
"Ok, one, remind me to teach you the basics of electronic tracking. And two, the only theory that makes sense would be that they live here, and we just stumbled our way back into their crosshairs."
"Well, crap." Rogue replied. She looked down at the floor and seemed depressed about the whole situation. "I just... I want to live a normal life. I don't want to be tracked down like I'm an animal."
Peter put a hand onto Rogue's shoulder, causing her to turn her attention from the ground onto him. "Look, I promised you I wouldn't let them hurt you as long as you were with me and my Aunt. It still applies here Rogue."
Rogue smiled a bit as Peter took his hand off her shoulder. "Thank you Peter. It means a lot to meh."
"Don't mention it." Peter said. He looked past Rogue for a second and saw a speeding mustang passing by the school, followed by a speeding van behind it. Rogue turned to see the speeding vehicles as well, and the two teens immediately wanted to know why.
"Not everyday you see a mustang absolutely dusting a van in a race."
"Not everyday you see a van trying to race."
"Unless they weren't racing." Peter suggested. He looked at Rogue. "We still got time before Aunt May expects us home."
"And you think we should try to catch up with two speeding cars with no car of our own to see what the deal is?"
"We have transportation faster than cars." Peter said, flipping one of his spare web-shooters.
"Ah don't know."
"Alright, how about this? We go to see what the deal is. If it's something illegal, we'll go tell the cops immediately. If not, we'll head back home. Deal?" Peter asked. With no risk presented for either on them (at least the with the way Peter simplified it) Rogue agreed to it.
"Deal." Rogue took the extra web-shooter and put it on, as well as the spare mask Peter had. The pair of them got a bit farther away as they looked for. Building to swing off of. A few minutes later and they were on the chase.
30 Minutes Later.
Peter and Rogue ended up at some sort of factory site following the cars. They were a block away, and had landed in a nearby alley as to not draw attention to themselves by being in the open.
"I really hope this is some type criminal activity and we just didn't chase a carpool who were late to work." Peter said. Rogue simply rolled her eyes as the pair of them got closer to the factory.
"Is everything a joke to you?"
"I feel like we've had this conversation before. And no, I just tend to make bad jokes when I'm nervous." Peter explained. Now on the same block as the factory, the teens hid behind an abandoned car and watched the building. The mustang went straight into the factory, but the van was parked outside.
"Shady stuff does always come out of a van." Peter quipped. He took out his camera, aimed and zoomed in to try to see what was going on. He saw the side door of the van open and a beaten up man in a suit was thrown out, along with a briefcase of what Peter assumed was money, as well as a few packages of what looked like drugs.
"What do ya see?" Rogue asked.
"Well, we found shady to the 10th degree alright." He took a few pictures before putting the camera down to face Rogue. "They got some guy beaten and tied up in there. Along with a briefcase and some suspicious packaging, I'm guessing we stumbled into a drug dealer kidnapping."
"Great." Rogue responded. Before she could say anymore, Peter's senses went off again. He looked back at the kidnappers, but didn't see anyone moving from the van. He turned around, but immediately had a hand on his mouth. He saw another hand going towards Rogue, but he grabbed it before it could make contact.
"Seriously?" A familiar voice originated. Peter moved his attention from the hand he was grabbing to the person it belonged to.
Frank West. But what was he doing in Bayville?
"Let him go." Rogue said, while slowly reaching to take her glove off. "Now."
"Fine, but you two need to promise to keep quiet and let me explain some things." Frank said. Rogue looked at Peter for an answer, to which his nodding told her to go along with it. Frank removed his hand from Peter's mouth and crouch down with the teens.
"Alright, first things first you two are in some serious danger right now."
"Why?" Peter asked.
"How about you let me finish so you don't ask repeat questions?" Frank snapped at Peter.
"Geez what is this, pick on Parker day?"
"Ok, like I was saying. These people in that factory are bad news. I'm talking part of the mob, if not a mob themselves. They have no qualms about who they hurt or how old they are, so you two need to-"
"Well well well, looky here boys." A voice came from behind all three of them. Rogue, Peter, and Frank looked towards the voice and saw a goon wearing a black and red suit with a baseball bat in hand. A few other goons followed behind him holding an arrangement of weapons, from crowbars to brass knuckles.
"Got us a couple of reporters, too stupid to keep their noses out of peoples business."
"Follow my lead." Frank whispered. He got up from crouching, as did Rogue and Peter.
"Hey fellas. You guys are a little bit late for my fan meet and greet. Its isn't until Saturday." Frank quipped. The goons looked unimpressed, as Peter and Rogue looked mildly confused.
"I was just showing these kids the sights. Story of my life." Frank said, trying to walk with the teens out of the small group they found themselves in. The goons surrounded the three of them, as one pushed Frank back into the middle.
"Nah, the way I see it, we just came in the nick of time. Right boys?" The goons all nodded in agreement. "Now here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna take both of your cameras, smash the shit out of them, and then break ya legs. Capiche?"
"I'm kind of a fan of having working legs, and a working camera. My answer's gonna have to be no." Peter replied. He knew he couldn't start pulling out Spider-Man moves in front of Frank or these mob guys, but he knew enough basic defense to send these guys to a hospital visit without any permanent injuries.
"Can't believe this, but I'm going to have to agree with the kid on this." Frank said.
Rogue was quiet, but Peter had the feeling she was ready to fight if necessary. Frank was ready to fight and held his camera securely, and Peter got into a fighting stance while moving the camera strap across his chest and having the camera rest at his hip.
"Fine, it's your idiots' funerals." The main goon said, as he pointed the baseball at his head.
"Kingpin ain't gonna have no press problems after this."