Sensational Spider-X
Chapter 4: Show Time
By the time everyone knew it, the final day for Rahne and Jubilee. Although it was a sad day, no one wanted to dwell on it. In fact they were going to have the most fun they could have, they wanted the last day together to really mean something for everyone. There had been enough gloom over the mansion, now it was time to have fun. Everyone helped to set up the party by the pool, by eleven everything was set up and people were having fun.
A few were playing in the pool while others were mostly on the side. One of the girls that were leaving, Jubilee, was with Tabitha and Amara as they watched the others. Jubilee sighed as she watched everyone having fun. "Man, I'm so going to miss this place."
"Yeah I did when I left for that bit," Tabitha said looking around. "But hey, at least you're going out better than I did."
"Yeah running away in the middle of the night wasn't exactly smart," the younger girl said with a smirk.
"Hey, cheap shot," Tabitha sniffed as she looked away.
"Sorry, just still pissed at the whole thing," Jubilee apologised. That was true, she really didn't want to leave, back home she only had a few friends. She lost a few when she had to admit to being a mutant after Xavier's school was exposed. She wasn't looking forward to going home and dealing with all of that. Sure she did miss her parents and the few true friends she had, but she would have no real place where she could be herself. She would have to hide her abilities or at least not use them around large groups. Then there was dealing with the school over there, at least here she had fellow mutants she could lean on.
"I'm just glad my people don't have TV," Amara sighed, "I can only image what my parents would think if they knew everything going on." Amara even though a princess still had to follow the rules of her parents the kind and queen. So in the letters that got sent by Blackbird or whatever other means. She told them everything she could, although she might have edited a few things to keep her parents from being worried. No one in Nova Roma had ever gone this far away from the small kingdom, so of course they had worried. But then again, when your only daughter bursts into flames and could set fire to anything you knew that she needed help.
"This from the girl that nearly melted the TV when she first saw it," Jubilee smirked.
Amara blushed at the reminder. "There was a horror movie on! I thought it was going to kill me like those other teenagers!"
Now Tabitha was rolling with laughter, she hadn't been here yet when that had happened but it was still a funny story. Poor Amara had never watched another horror movie after that.
"Still, I spent most of the remaining time here just doing everything off a list I made." Jubilee told them how she created a list of things to do before she left. She had done most of them but a few were a bit unrealistic. One had been to fly the X-Jet but her piloting skills weren't anywhere near for Logan to let her try flying out of the simulator. But for the most, she had crossed off most of it.
"So what do you have left?" Tabitha asked interested now.
"Well...mostly it's stupid things," Jubilee told them. "Although one is something I kind of wanted to do for awhile now."
"What's that?" This time Amara asked.
"I never got to kiss a boy yet," Jubilee looked over everyone. "I mean just once you know? Hell we already got a few couples already and I kind of feel jealous of them at times. Hell, even Spyder who is way younger than me already has done that."
"It's not all that great," Tabitha shrugged it off, mainly because the only guys she had really kissed had been jerks. "Although I do kind of wish I had kissed Kurt before I left."
"Kurt?" Amara and Jubilee said surprised at this.
"What? He's a great guy and before I left I had been having a lot of fun with him," She remembered that little date of theirs to the amusement park. She didn't mind how he looked; in fact she thought he looked pretty cool. Plus that accent was kind of sexy, and he was such a sweat guy. "Sometimes I think I should have gone for it while I had a chance, but Amanda seemed to have been smarter than me in that. Just goes to figure, the one good guy I find I don't take him. Why do I end up with the jerks?"
"Well the boys here are a lot better than Max at least," Amara said which Tabitha did nod too.
"So who'd you lock lips with if you could?" Tabitha asked around. "I guess I already said mine."
"I don't know..." Amara felt a little embarrassed talking about this. "I've thought about it but it's kind of hard. Scott is older and nice, but he's a little too uptight at times."
"Plus Jean would fry your mind if you tried something," Jubilee laughed. "But yeah he's got to be near the top of the list. It's that whole older guy thing, and then you get guys like Kurt and Peter who are the typical nice guys."
"And both taken," Tabitha grinned. "Ray is okay if a bit of a hot head, Roberto is pretty hot but a little too full of himself."
"I think Bobby would be nice," Jubilee told them as she thought about it. "He knows how to have a good time and might not make something out of it."
"Yeah if you were going to go out with a kiss, might want to make it with a boy that won't think things too deeply. That could get really ugly when you left," Tabitha said as she saw Bobby with a few of the guys talking and joking around. "So why not go for it? Hell, it will cross off your list and just the expression on his face would be so worth it."
Jubilee thought about it, Bobby was a nice choice. He was single, good looking, and wouldn't cling to her after it. Plus she did kind of like him, he was fun to hang out and be around with. So in the end she figured why the hell not, who knew if she would ever see anyone here again. She stood up as she casually walked over to the boys, leaving both Tabitha and Amara surprised.
"I didn't think she would do it," Tabitha pulled off her shades looking.
"Think she'll chicken out?" Amara asked.
"Not sure, well she's going up to them." Tabitha ran commentary as they watched. By now a few others were noticing it, although not many too mind of it by now. "She's interrupted the boys, she saying something to Bobby, and he looks a little confused, poor guy. He has no idea what's coming, and she's going up pretty close. Now her hands are on his shoulders and...There you go!"
Jubilee gave Bobby a kiss right on the lips to the surprise of everyone, after a moment a few boys were cheering it on as Bobby was stunned. Jubilee pulled back with a smirk as she said something to him, he nodded dumbly as he rubbed the back of his head and Jubilee walked back. She just sat down like nothing had happened.
"Well?" Amara asked.
"That was nice," Jubilee said pulling on her shades.
Rahne had seen what Jubilee and Bobby had done and she felt a bit envious of that. She never could just go up to some boy and do that, at least not normally. And there was someone she liked, for awhile now actually. She cast a look to Roberto who was joking along with Ray about what just happened with Bobby. The tall Brazilian boy was very handsome; in fact she really thought he was one of the best looking guys she had seen. The only thing was that she was kind of too shy to try anything after all she had thought there would be plenty of time to see if he might feel the same.
At least that was what she had thought, now she was leaving and she had no idea if she would see anyone else ever again.
'Damn it, why do I have to be like this? It's my last day and if she can find the courage then I need to as well,' Rahne told herself as she got up. But there was no way she could do it in public, she would just die from embarrassment. She noticed that Roberto walked off near the corner of the mansion, she could pull him off out of sight if she got there fast enough. She made her way over, her heart hammering in her chest the entire way but somehow she made it to him.
"Hey Roberto, can I talk to ye?" She asked him a bit shyly.
"Sure what is it?" He asked her.
"Um...it's kind of private," she led him out of sight and she couldn't believe she was going to do this. But if she let this chance slip, she knew that she would be kicking herself for who knew how long. Sometimes making a fool of yourself was better than living with regret. She wasn't sure how to go about this but she found the words somehow.
"Well, you know that I'm leaving soon," Of course he knew, she chided herself but went on. "Well there is one thing that I've always wanted to do and I want to do it before it's too late." Also she wanted to get this over with before her nerves ran out as well and she changed her mind.
"Yeah I do," He moved a little closer to the girl. He had a feeling what was going on given what had happened with Jubilee and Bobby. Truth was, he did find the Scottish girl cute. He liked her accent and he had never seen a girl with red hair and green eyes like hers before. Well there was Jean too but she was too old for him and out of his league.
Rahne felt her face heat up when he moved in closer, "W-well I saw what Jubilee did and...well..."
"I think I know what you want, you sure about this?" Roberto asked her although he had a feeling she might need a bit of help with this. When she nodded her head he took the lead as he leaned down slightly. Rahne could feel his hot breath on her skin before his lips touched hers, it was like getting a static shock to her body. She closed her eyes as she just let her body go with it, as she closed her eyes and tried to take the moment and burn it into her mind. She might never see any of them again in the flesh, if she did it might be for a very long time so she wanted to have this memory to take with her.
-Front Entrance-
Xavier was with May Parker as they waited for the reporter to show up. Xavier was his usual calm self but May was a bundle of nerves. How he managed to pull off that serene look, she envied that ability. She steadied herself, with Ororo looking after the children with Logan she was the only person to help with the reporter. Hank would be a bit much at first, and while she could have changed places with Logan, it was thought that he wasn't the best for a PR job. Plus Xavier felt that if they showed how a human was living and working alongside mutants it would help to show what Xavier had been saying all along.
Soon a van pulled up with the name of the news channel, when it came to a stop a women with blonde hair in a business suit stepped out first. She looked the place over as another man opened the driver's side opened and a man, slightly short with a jean's jacket and red ball cap went to open the side door. The blond walked right up to Xavier with a huge smile on her face.
"Hello there, I take it you're Charles Xavier?" Tilby asked the man in the wheelchair. It was more of a formality, after all how many bald mutants in wheelchairs were there?
"Yes I am, you can call me Charles and this is May Parker. She's one of the adults that help out around here." Xavier introduced them.
"Thanks, you can call me Trish and thanks for doing this. That's my camera man...uh...hold on," Trish looked over her shoulder before yelled to the man. "Hey camera guy, what was your name again?"
"Dave."
"Ah, Dave then." Trish didn't know much of the other guy, she might have worked a few times with him but honestly she couldn't remember the little things like that. "Anyways, I asked for someone that wasn't against the whole mutant thing, I can tell you I didn't want one of my greatest interviews to get wasted because of some moron's views."
In fact she told the editor if the camera man did mess this up she would walk, there were plenty of other places to work and she was good at her job. Besides, even the editor knew that this was big for the station. The first ever interview inside of the Xavier's was a journalism gold mine. Plus if she did a good job, Trish felt she could write her own ticket for awhile after this was done.
"Well now let's set up shall we?" Trish offered as they were all led into the library. Trish was seated across from them as the camera man set up, he gave a thumbs up from when he was ready.
"Well then, I'm sure there is plenty that people want to know and what you want them to know," Trish started off. "First off what exactly is this place in your own words?"
Xavier smiled at her before starting, "I turned my family home into a school of sorts, when it says gifted out in the front, that is what I view the mutant gene. A gift, and I made it my life's work to help mutants not only accept themselves but for society as well. Some come to me with problems with their powers, sometimes they can't control it. A few students of mine have that problem but with time solutions were created to help them."
"So some powers can't be controlled?" Trish and she doubted the world knew of this.
"Unfortunately even nature can't make things perfect," Xavier spread his hands. "Sometimes it can be very difficult and even painful for those that are having trouble with their powers. It can harm them just as much as those around them if they have no control. One of the things we do here is help to train young mutants in their abilities to learn to control them and to learn how to use them and how not to use them."
"How not to use them?" Trish asked.
"Yes, I try to teach restraint above all. It would be too easy to lash out with their powers or misuse them for their own gain. It's far too tempting at times and I try to help to teach them morals with their powers basically." Xavier told her.
"Well that's fascinating, but do you really think that humans and mutants can get along?"
Xavier smiled, he had been waiting for this opening. "Why don't you ask May here, she is in fact fully human."
Trish looked to May Parker surprised, "So you're as human as I am?"
May felt a little flustered to be put on camera but she steeled herself well, "Of course, I'm here because my nephew is a part of this place. We're the only family each other has and he didn't want to leave me all alone. Since my husband died, things had been hard on us. But working here with Xavier and the children has been a blessing. The children here are good people and some even come from broken homes. Despite what they can do, I've been watching and helping to care for them and I can say this."
"No matter what a person's genetics are, these are still teenagers with the same problems and issues that everyone else deals with. Despite whatever powers they have, they are just like everyone else."
Xavier couldn't have said it better himself, plus coming from a human woman with such an honest face and look he was sure her words would touch at least some of the people that would watch this. The rest of this part of the interview went very well and soon after it was time to show her around the mansion.
-Basement-
Peter looked around, if things were going to go well now was the time to start things off. He really did hope this plan would work out. First was to explain away the whole Spider-X thing, that had been easy thanks to the Danger Room. Then it was a simple matter of showing himself around, slipping out as he made sure that Spider-Man was scene at the same time when he was in another place. With this people would think that Spider-Man had nothing to do here, and that would clear up a bunch of things. Although it was true that he would had to claim to be a 'mutant' but he would have to do that anyway.
There was just no way for people to not think that only teenage here was human. At any rate, Xavier gave him a heads up that the reporter was on the way so now it was time to activate plan 'Get his ass out of this Sling', well that's what he liked to call it.
He picked up something he had been working on as he made his way through the lower levels. Thankfully Xavier wouldn't show her the Danger Room or the hanger. Only the medical areas and a few other things, people knew that something was under the mansion. This would only show a place to help study and treat mutants. So by showing off a little it might help make people think they had nothing else here. Then again the more paranoid people would think they had a lot more around here even if they did show off everything.
Peter had the first piece of the puzzle slung over his shoulder as he made his way to a small lab area used for mechanical things.
Trish was currently looking around with that others, "I have to say that this place seems very sci-fi to me. It looks more like a military bunker."
Xavier smiled, "I know, the students have made that joke as well. The walls are reinforced metal for several reasons. The weight of the mansion above makes for simple construction out of the question, also it's simpler to take the metal plates off to get at the wirings behind it. It's also easier to keep out water and other things. The other reason is to give the students a safe place in case the mansion was compromised like it had been."
Trish nodded her head, "Oh yes, someone actually attacked the mansion."
Now Xavier looked a lot more serious as his smile left his face. "That is true, in fact this happened before the world knew of us. Now that we have been shown to the world, a part of me is worried that more attacks might happen. In fact that same fear is the reason two students are leaving soon, their parents wanted to keep a closer eye on their children."
"I would think a bomb shelter would be more protection than they could," Trish shrugged. Then she noticed something down the hall at a T section. It looked like a boy carrying a body dressed in black. "Hey what the hell is that!? Hey you, boy!"
Trish was already off running, the camera man only paused for a second before taking off the reporter leaving the other two behind. Xavier was hopeful that this would work out, as this whole affair was several gambles in one. Trish caught up to the boy and she knew that body, it was in the news with that Juggernaut guy. The one that had powers similar to that Spider-Man guy that was making the news, in fact many were thinking there was a link between the two.
Peter did his best to look surprised as the woman came up to him. "Uh...can I help you?"
"Yes, what are you doing carrying that person around? Is there something wrong with him? Can he talk there are lots of questions that the world, and myself, need to ask of him." Trish asked in rapid fire progression.
"Well he can't really talk at the moment, he's powered down." Peter told her seeing the concussed look on his face he saw Xavier and May coming up to them as it was all being filmed. "Hey Professor, is it okay to explain this whole thing now?"
"Of course," Xavier nodded. "This was another idea to bring you down here Trish. There have been some rumors about us and we wanted to straighten out as many as we could. The whole Spider-Man thing is one of them, Peter if you will."
Peter put down Spider-X against a wall as he fiddled with something and the face actually came off. To the surprise of the news people it was a robot under it all. "You see this was originally a training dummy, but we've been experimenting on making a backup unit just in case. And well, I admit there is a bit of a Spider-Man reference. See, I'm from Queens and I heard all about some spider guy going around. I thought it was pretty cool so I thought to design the robot around it."
Although this was all lies, what Peter had done was that he did take one of the robot duplicates of the team. When he first saw them in one of the supply rooms it had freaked him out. Especially seeing a robot version of Rogue, apparently it had been used when she had still been with the Brotherhood. Sometimes they were used to give confusion to the team members in simulations, or act as Mystique in their forms, plus for rescue simulations. Those kinds of simulations were if they didn't get there on time the hostage would end up in a fatal mess. So when Peter found the room this was when the plan started to come together for him. He fixed up one that was to look like him, it hadn't been finished but all he needed was mainly cosmetic touches.
"So wait, are you saying that you have a robot on your little team?" Trish asked Xavier. "And this boy built it?"
"Well it's a prototype," Peter offered the woman. "And I only helped, it was a team effort with Mr. McCoy and someone else who helped out."
"Really? Wow, when I was your age I couldn't even figure out how to change a tire." Although she still didn't but that was beside the point as she went into all kinds of questions.
-Later-
Rogue sighed as she was reading a book by the pool, she was sitting on a chair by a table with an umbrella, a nice cold drink with her. She was waiting for whatever it was that Peter was working on. He said he had to set up something for that reporter that was looking around. Although she understood what he was doing, he was taking too damn long and she was getting annoyed. Plus this was a party and he was missing out. She looked at the watch on her wrist and scowled, if he wasn't out here in twenty minutes she was going in to drag his ass out.
That was one of the problems with Peter, whenever he got into his work it would consume his time. She had seen him working on something technical for hours without realising how long it had been. She told him to take breaks now and then but he kept on forgetting. It was an annoying habit of his, that and commenting through TV or movies. She just liked to watch and she had to give him an elbow in the side to get him to be quiet. Thankfully at movie theatres he didn't talk.
But despite any flaws there was a lot of good points that offset them, hell she knew that she wasn't perfect either. She turned the page when she heard someone walking up to her, she turned her head and saw that Peter finally showed up. "About tahme you showed up."
"Yeah sorry about that, had to give that reporter a scoop and man she just kept asking question after question. Took me forever to get rid of her," Peter sighed as he sat down next to her. "You're not getting any sun?"
"Ah need ta take it easy or ah'll burn," Rogue sighed to herself. Years of living inside made her skin very pale. Hence one of the reasons she went goth, but the problem was that her skin wasn't used to sunlight. Plus the fact who ever saw a tanned goth? She still wanted to be that but it wasn't too easy, she wanted to enjoy the sunlight but she made her choices.
Peter then took notice of her outfit, he had to admit he couldn't help but look. It showed lots more skin then she normally did but also was a modest design. Still, he tried to fight off the mental imagery of what was under that suit. Last thing he needed to get excited in a bathing suit. Rogue cast a look and caught him looking, she smirked to herself. Well at least he noticed that about her, so that was a point in his favour. She return the look, Peter had that kind of slim build but with some muscles that showed some strength. Although he could literally pick up a car over his head, she felt herself heat up from something other than the weather. She tried to fight a blush as they began to relax.
"So, I miss anything?" Peter asked
Rogue smiled pointing out Jubilee, "Apparently little miss LA over there gave Bobby one heck of a going away gift." She saw the confused look on Peter's face so she explained it all.
"Oh man I missed that? That just sucks, missed out on most likely the most entertaining thing we'd see." Peter shook his head with a smile. He couldn't believe that had happened, looking at Bobby though the guy did seem to be gloating a bit over kissing one of the girls.
After spending some time with Rogue, Peter went to find his partner in the next phase of the plan. He was sure that he was seen on camera but to really sell it, he had to be seen in two places as once. Hence why he needed to be seen by the reporter here, so then she could claim that everyone was here, while Spider-Man was scene in town. Peter went looking and found Kurt with Amanda who had joined in the party. She wanted to say goodbye to the girls as well, as she had gotten to know them well over the past couple of months.
"Hey Kurt can I see you for a second?" Peter asked the boy. They had gone over the plan before as Kurt was the best person for this job.
"Sure, I'll be back in a bit," Kurt told his girlfriend as the two walked off. Kurt was had his hologram on, as he really didn't feel comfortable showing his real form with a camera crew around. The reporter had already gone up to the two of them and he felt a bit embarrassed as he explained how he was a mutant dating a normal human girl. He sighed knowing that Amanda had pretty much publicly stated she was pro-mutant and dating one. But she never once gave a hint of being concerned about it, it was that kind of unflinching acceptance of him and their relationship that really made him love that girl.
Plus she was beautiful on the inside just as she was on the outside.
As soon as they were out of sight, Kurt teleported up into the living quarters as Peter looked around. "Okay, let me get changed and in five minutes port into my room. I'll give you the device that Forge made to help you pass as me. Is the new hologram program working?"
Kurt held up his watch as he pressed the controls, his image phased into a an exact copy of Peter. "Tried it out earlier, man zhis is so veird. But you sure zhat device of Forge vill make me sound like you? I mean if I look like zhis and sound like me, your plan vill not really work if I have to talk."
"Trust me it will work buddy," Peter smirked.
Ten minutes later, Peter had changed and Kurt teleported him directly into city. Kurt would come and get him if he needed a quick escape. Now Peter dressed as Spider-Man looked around the city. If there was no major crimes going on then he's just have to put on a bit of a show. Although he usually went out at night, it was really hot in his suit. He could already feel the sweat starting to form as well.
"Damn, mental note start making lighter clothing for summer months," Peter told himself. This suit was great for spring and fall but not for here. He also had to repair the winter one that he made as it had been destroyed in the mansion and he wanted to make sure he had that before it got colder. Peter jumped off the building as he went to put on a show.
Meanwhile back at the mansion Kurt was placing on a collar that Peter had given him. It was pretty light weight as he checked the mirror in his room. His hologram was off so he was in his natural appearance. He adjusted the device so it would be over his voice box and then turned it on.
"Man, this really better work-mother of god!" Kurt shouted out as his voice sounded exactly like Peter's now. "Oh man this is so cool, I wonder if I could get other voices put on this? Well I can ask Forge later, now time for the fuzzy man to put on his acting shoes." Kurt turned his watch on as he now looked like Peter. No one else was told to keep the surprise genuine for everyone if word got back to the mansion. Plus given that the reporter might be called to see if anyone had left while Spider-Man was seen.
With Kurt he could get around fast enough to seem like he was in two places at once. He could be seen as Peter, disappear when no one was looking, change and then appear as himself again. He then teleported into a tree that he knew was near the pool. He got off the tree and saw the reporter there, he walked around pretending to Peter.
As time went on Trish had gone through most of the students, she wasn't sure which ones would make the news in the final cut. There was so much material, hell maybe she could make a multi-part special reports on all of this. Of course not everything could be used, the kids were just that, kids. Some went goofing off for the camera that is until either May would kindly have them stop. Of that harry scary looking man named only Logan growled and they seemed to suddenly stopped. Whoever he was, she had a guess the man was a fan of keeping order by any means.
Then there was that Mr. McCoy, she could have a field day with him. Lost his job because he had to go into hiding, you could put a spin on things about the school not letting him teach because of racial discrimination. Oh that would get a lot of heat going, although she had to admit, despite his looks the man was very intelligence and gentle. He kind of reminded her of the Beast in that tale of Beauty and the Beast. Only he wasn't violent like that character had been but she had to wonder about it. He couldn't go out in public, not being able to do what he loved. It had to be hard.
Just then her mobile phone went off she sighed as she pulled it out and looked at the number. Her editor for some reason was on the line, most likely to check up on her. "Hello Frank what is it?"
She paused as she listened in and then blinked, "Wait hold on, you're saying that reports of Spider-Man just came in and he's doing what?"
"Something the matter?" Xavier asked. He as well as a few others who had been nearby were already listening in when they heard the name Spider-Man. The others however cast a quick look to see Peter already with them. That didn't make sense to the students as to those that heard it knew that Peter was Spider-Man. Rogue herself was getting a drink from the cooler nearby and had overheard that. She was more surprised than anyone at how the hell Peter could be there and in Bayville at the same time.
"Yes," Trish said looking at Xavier while she mentally tried to count everyone she had seen and who was here too. There were rumors that Spider-Man might have ties but she couldn't see anyone missing, well that one kid from Germany, but Spider-Man didn't speak with a German accent. She went back to Xavier's look. "Apparently Spider-Man is currently robbing a store."
Next up Chapter 5: Will the Real Spider-Man Please Stand Up.
