Marvel Crossroads One-Shots:

Kitty Pryde: Roger, Rodgers.

She crept quietly across the rooftop, silent as a shadow. Her eyes scanned the rooftops for any sign of activity. She knew she shouldn't be out here, In fact, Logan had specifically forbidden her from leaving the property without someone to watch her.

They still don't trust me...

But do I deserve to be trusted?

Everybody makes mistakes

They warned you about Lance. Now they're warning you about Peter. And You aren't listening.

He's different.

How do we know? He's so secretive.

He's got a lot of burdens.

So do we.

She froze as a traffic light illuminated her briefly. Something caught her eye, but it didn't move, so she assumed it was a gargoyle.

We still owe him for today.

Are you sure he would do the same for us?

I'm not gonna leave without knowing he's okay.

A blur caught the corner of her eye. The roughly humanoid shape moved towards her at a inhuman speed. She broke into a dead run, phasing through obstacles in her path like they were smoke. She leaped across the gap between two buildings. She needed to make herself solid in order to land and keep her stride. And that's how he caught her.

"You shouldn't be here," said Spider-man in a rough voice. Good, she thought, at least it's not SHIELD or the M.R.D."Iron Man's looking for you," he continued.

"I don't care," she replied, "I just need to make sure someone's okay before I leave."

"You should leave now," said Spider-man, "They're after you. All of you. It's not safe here."

Damn it, he's not gonna make this easy then... "You don't understand," she said as she tried to push past him, "He might be in trouble because of me, I have to help him." She hoped that would appeal to his sense of honour.

"Get out of the city," He replied with the urgency breaking through his voice. "Before...MOVE!" He shouted as he pushed her aside roughly.

Kitty tried to make a break for it as Spider-man fired webbing at unseen targets.

"I can't!" she pleaded, "I have to..." He cut her off by grabbing her by the waist and shooting into the air. She wailed on him with her feet and fists and shouted, "What the Fuck are you...Put me down!"

An explosion sent both of them to the asphalt and she closed her eyes in pain. She opened them again when she felt herself placed against a tree.

"What the fuck...?" she said as she took in her surroundings. Trees, benches, paved sidewalks, She was in central park, slumped against a tree.

"SHIELD, the MRD, and the Avengers are now rounding up Mutants on behalf of the government," Panted Spider-man. As far as she could tell, he was exhausted, even by his own standards.

"How do you know?" She asked quietly.

"Trust me," He replied with a hint of humour, "I know. Now we need to focus on getting out of here. I estimate we have two minutes before they rush us." He rubbed his forehead in confusion, and she saw tiny flecks of hair and skin through his mask. He'd already been hit.

"Time's Up!" said a voice from the surrounding darkness, "surrender, or else."

"I'm gonna go with, or else!" Spider-man replied hoarsely.

"Don't be an Idiot," said a second voice, "It's two of you against us, plus fifty agents, Spider-man, You can't possibly win."

"They also said it was impossible for someone to be frozen for fifty years and survive," Spider-man replied, "and yet they were wrong."

"We're talking about two entirely different things, spider-man," replied the second voice, "This is your last warning." Spider-man cast her a sideways glance.

I guess I don't have a choice, She nodded in his direction, and assumed a fighting stance. Out of nowhere, armed men and women appeared and surrounded her. On instinct, she became intangible. Now their bullets couldn't hurt her. She ran right through a cluster of them, shorting out their electromagnetic-guided weapons with ease. Then it was simply a matter of phasing a hand through their heads to knock them out cold. She smiled triumphantly before casting a glance at Spider-man, who had engaged the bow-and-arrow wielding Avenger, Hawkeye.

She arched her back in pain as the sensation of a knife being driven through her back filled her body. She stumbled backwards, and saw Captain America was her attacker. He thrust his shield at her again, and she tried to phase through it, But the pain returned.

Then she recalled a conversation she had had with Peter while discussing their project on superheroes.

"...Supposedly, it's undentable. Ultra-dense. It even takes hits from Hulk without getting a scratch..."

So that was it, the shield was so dense it caused her pain when it went through her body. She resorted to dodging instead of phasing, and the tactic worked.

For about five seconds.

He delivered a heavy punch to her ribs, and she let out a scream of pain. She was then lifted in the air by her throat and tossed across the street. Her vision began to swim. She saw a red blur collided with a blue one, again and again. She heard shouting. Finally, her vision returned to normal. But she wished it hadn't.

Spider-man hit the ground beside her in defeat. Captain America loomed over them both, wearing a strangely sad expression.

"Do your worst, Captain...Sir"

Captain America raised his shield and brought it down on Spider-man's head as Kitty grabbed Spider-man's hand and made them intangible. His expression turned to a slight snarl as he looked down on her.

"Fuck you," she spat. He simply raised his shield a second time, aiming for her this time.

"FLAME ON!" A familiar voice cried out as a stream of flame streaked towards Captain America, who ducked behind his shield. Kitty could feel the heat radiating of the Human torch's body as he flew over top and threw a fireball at the lone Avenger.

Hold on, Kitty. We're coming. Jean's voice radiated in her head.

"What do you think you're doing, soldier?" Shouted Captain America.

"Choosing a side!" Johnny storm replied with a serious tone. "I..." The rest of his words were drowned out by the Blackbird's engines roaring overhead. It landed, and out popped Logan, Jean, Scott and Hank.

Kitty rolled to her knees and looked at Spider-man. She nearly threw up. Both his legs were bleeding, his one arm looked broken, and there was a dark spot over his ribs. His costume was torn in numerous places, showing an array of cuts to his face and torso.

"Come on, Shadowcat!" shouted Logan, "we need to go!"

"Not without them!" Kitty cried as she pointed to both Spider-man and the Human Torch.

"Fine!" Logan snarled as he bent down to pick up Spider-man.

"Are you crazy?" Shouted Johnny Storm, "You can't move him in his condition!"

"Watch me!" Logan snapped as he extended a set of claws.

"No!" Kitty shrieked and moved to cover Spider-man's prone form.

"Jean," said Hank, "you take him. And keep him steady."

"On it," Jean replied, as she lifted Spider-man into the air with her immensely powerful telekinesis. Kitty stayed right beside him, despite Logan's protests. When Jean set him down in a reclined chair, Kitty pulled off his mask, to make sure he was still breathing.

"Oh My God!" she cried as she looked at the face underneath the mask, "PETER!" She checked his vitals as the jet took off for the main mansion, located on the other side of the state of New York. Hank came up behind her with his medical kit in his hands.

"Katherine, I need you to..." He protested until he saw her expression.

"You know him?" Jean said quietly from an adjacent seat. Kitty nodded silently, not speaking for fear of wailing uncontrollably. Jean stood up and took Kitty in her arms in an understanding hug, and lead her to an empty seat. She wrapped a thermal blanket around Kitty's shaking body.

"He's gonna make it," said Hank.