Marvel Crossroads 2: A Thousand Roads

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Chapter 1

"So...what's this guy's story again?" Kitty asked as she sent Otto Octavious reeling with a kick to the face, and a follow-up strike to the stomach.

"Mad at me for some reason," said Peter, as he wrestled with two of Ock's tentacles as they Attempted to cut him in two, "I might have trashed his lab or something while fighting the Goblin. Ruined his career or something like that."

"Gotcha," she replied as she caught one of the tentacles before it could wrap itself around her. "Let me guess," she continued, "now he wants revenge?"

"Yep," he replied. "Hey, Ock! I got a fruit bowl if you ever need a haircut!" he taunted as he wormed his way out of the grasp of the tentacles.

"Quit your prattling and die insects!" Octavious shouted as Kitty phased out of his grip.

"Spiders are arachnids!" they both replied. Octavious simply yelled and attempted to grab them with his metallic appendages once more. Kitty simply took Peter's hand and allowed the arms to pass right through them.

"What?" Octavious growled as his metallic arms slumped to the ground. Their circuits had been disrupted by phasing through the two heroes.

"How is he this stupid?" Kitty asked as she webbed Ock's mouth shut, "He's a doctor."

"I've been asking myself that for years," Peter replied as he webbed the tentacles together. He took one look at the clock and said, "I gotta get to work. Why don't we go out for dinner later?"

"I've got an appointment," she said with a scratch of her masked head, "Can't. How 'bout we meet out at our special spot later on? Round seven?"

"It's a date," he replied before he shot into the air and began to swing from the building roof tops. He paused for a quick change of clothing on a rooftop before heading down to street level. A few brisk moments later he entered the New York centre for Genetics and Mutations Research, the New York G/M R centre, for short.

It was funded by Oscorp, which was run by Norman Osborne. Harry Osborne had been one of Peter's friends at one point, but they had fallen apart a couple of months ago. To the best of his knowledge, Harry was now working in Los angeles, and dating Mary-Jane Watson, Peter's old girlfriend.

Peter had run into Norman Osborne a couple of times, and was remembered as 'that kid who made harry pass high-school.' Peter was to be given to a new boss today. He didn't know who, just were he was supposed to go, the top floor. His supervisor had told Peter that his new boss liked to be kept anonymous until he met Peter in person. Must be a recluse or something. He really didn't mind. After J Jonah Jameson's world-famous temper, he could handle anything. He smirked a little as he walked into the dressing room, opened up his locker, stuffed his bag inside and pulled out and donned his lab coat, before shutting and locking the locker once more.

He smirked to himself as he passed through the main lobby. It was today, thirteen months ago that he had first started to get to know Kitty Pryde. Over a school assignment, no less. He pressed the button to open the elevator door. The doors chimed open. Inside was Dr Micheal Morbius, one of Peter's supervisors and the liaison with Norman Osborne.

"Morning," said Peter. Morbius said nothing.

How rude, Peter mumbled.

GAH! Don't do that Peter! I nearly fell on someone! Kitty replied across their telepathic link.

Yeah right, said Peter,you were the one listening in.

Shut up, she replied, I need to concentrate.

Same here, He said as the doors opened and Morbius exited, And it's gonna be hard with this super-sexy voice in my head. She giggled.

They had gotten good at keeping in contact with one another, so far they could reach each other over ten miles without difficulty. With a lot of concentration, they could reach over a hundred miles, but that required going into a meditative state with no interruptions. The doors chimed open and Peter walked onto the top floor, and over to the receptionist's desk.

On the desk was a name plaque that read 'Natasha Romenoff'. Behind the desk sat a woman with blood-red hair. She looked to be about twenty-five and very bored. She was dressed for business, with simple black pants and a white shirt with long sleeves. Something triggered his spider-sense, but not to an imposing threat.

Must be my nerves, he thought to himself.

"I'm supposed to be getting a new boss today?" Peter said tentatively.

Natasha looked up and said in a monotone voice, "name?"

"Peter Parker," he answered.

She took one look at him and said, "come with me." She lead him through the hall. Oddly, there weren't any other people working on this floor, so Peter began to wonder what was going on. Natasha lead him to a door and entered a code, and the door opened with a hiss.

"Top of the line security," she said, "don't want anyone getting what's in here." Inside, the room was a mess. Papers were everywhere, cups littered the floor. A haggard-looking man stood facing the opposite wall, looking at a whiteboard with equations all over it.

Peter recognized some of the equations, they were genetic sequencing codes. Somewhat similar to the ones he had studied after he had been bitten by the genetically altered spider.

"Doctor?" Natasha said pleasantly.

"Hm?" the man replied, not even bothering to face them.

"Your new assistant is here. Peter Parker," Natasha said. The man turned to face them. He resembled the room in many ways. His hair was messy, and he needed a shave. His Lab coat was stained with overuse. What caught Peter's attention, was the name badge on his coat. Through the grime, Peter could just make it out enough to read it. It read: 'Dr Bruce Banner.'

Great, my new boss is the incredible Hulk.

WHAT? was Kitty's response.