A/N: To be honest, I'm starting to grow weary of this long-term project, so updating is going to become a bit of a pain. Sorry to everyone who favorites this story, and also those who sit and wait, hoping for an update. I'm still not 100% sure how to make this all work out, since I have ideas for the fic, but I find the fact of having to type them out to be a nuisance . Hopefully I'll find the energy and imagination to come up with more to write, so until then I'm sorry readers. Back to the task at hand, there is gonna be a bit of a time lapse between this chapter and the last, just so I can make some progress with the storyline.
Kitty Pryde wakes up, staring up at sky as the sun sets. Assessing her current situation, she finds herself laying on a rooftop, Spiderman standing nearby with his back to her. She groans in pain as she sits up, and Spiderman turns to face her. "You're awake," a relieved Spiderman says, sitting beside Kitty as she rubs her sore temples. "Are you alright?" A self-assessment yields an inventory of uncomfortably tense muscles, sore ribs, and electricity-induced frizzy hair. "I'll live," Kitty says, putting on a strong front as she smoothes out her hair and massages her sore muscles.
Kitty tries to recall the events of the afternoon, unable to remember what happened between being held in Dr. Octopus' metallic tentacle and waking up on the rooftop. "What happened to me?" she asks. Spiderman sighs, sitting beside her on the ground. "For a second there I didn't know if you were alright. Well, Doc Oc grabbed you, and then the tentacle he grabbed you with shorted out—which is weird—and you fell. I tried to catch you before you hit the ground, but Electro shocked me as I caught you. I guess the current transferred from me to you, and you passed out." Spiderman sighs heavily.
Kitty remembers how her phasing for freedom caused the metallic arm to short-out, and cursed to herself. Though the chances of anyone seeing her phase are slim, there is still a chance. For the first time in her life, Kitty wishes she could be Emma, be able to read Spiderman's thoughts. Had he seen her phase? Did he know she's a mutant? Who is he? "There's a first time for everything," a semi-amused Kitty mutters to herself.
Spiderman stands, stretching. "I guess I'd better get you back down there," he tells Kitty, offering her a hand as she tries to stand up. The two stand, and Kitty feels their eyes connect even though he still dons his mask. "Thanks for saving me," she says, feeling like a damsel in distress who has been rescued by a mysterious masked figure.
"B-Before we go," Kitty stammers, "how do you know Peter Parker?" Spiderman flinches, recoiling his hand from hers. Kitty explains how she was really looking for Peter before she was plucked off the ground by Doctor Octopus. "He…He just takes pictures for The Bugel," Spiderman says. "I have no idea who he is, other than a caption under my photos." "Really?" Kitty asks. "I thought he would be able to help me meet you, but this is even better!"
Spiderman steps back. "Meet me? Are you like some sort of crazed fan?" Kitty shakes her head. "I came from the Xavier Institute to see you," she explains. "My mentor, Charles Xa—" "Hands off the lady!" a deep voice growls as a strong figure tackles Spiderman to the ground.
Standing on an unknown rooftop, Spiderman worries about the girl lying just a few feet away from him. After Doc Oc's tentacle shorted out and she fell to the ground, Spiderman swung quickly to save her. After he caught Kitty mid-air, Electro grabbed hold of Spiderman's ankle, and sent a large jolt of electricity through the two bodies before Spiderman was able to escape the electric grasp. He swung from building to building, clutching an unconscious Kitty Pryde as he put major distance between him and the villains below. After lying Kitty down, he waited.
Beneath his mask, Peter Parker was terrified. Kitty Pryde had been downtown, had been in Doc Oc's clutches, and almost fell into uncertain danger. Why was she in the city during the middle of the day, rather than finishing the lecture at the high school? Had she been following him? As the sun began to set, Kitty wakes up. Peter rushes to her side. "You're awake," he says. Kitty assessed her current state, and much to Peter's relief she says that she'll live, smoothing out her static-y hair and rubbing his sore muscles. Kitty asks what happened during while she was unconscious, so Peter filled her in.
Just as the two prepared to drop Kitty back off to the streets below, their eyes meet while he holds her hand. Peter blushed under his super hero mask. Kitty stuns him, asking how he knows Peter Parker. "He…He just takes pictures for The Bugel," Spiderman stammers. "I have no idea who he is, other than a caption under my photos." "Really?" Kitty asks. "I thought he would be able to help me meet you, but this is even better!" After clarifying that she is not a crazed female fan, Kitty starts talking about the Xavier Institute. Shortly after, a deep voice growls at Spiderman, demanding he take his "hands off the lady", before a muscular figure tackles him to the ground in the blink of an eye.
The growling figure has the build of a football player, so the tackle completely knocks the wind out of Spiderman as the two hit the rooftop and skirmish. The figure creating the struggle is clad in a strange yellow suit, his face covered by a matching yellow mask. Peter is shocked that this particular growling man is wielding knives, three in each hand. "Get off of him!" Kitty shouts.
"We found you Kit!" another voice says, and Peter sees a blonde, tan teenage boy in an equally strange blue and yellow suit appear by Kitty's side. "What are you talking about?" Kitty cries, "If you needed to find me you should have called!" she shoves the blonde guy, and shouts at the assailant to leave Spiderman alone. The blonde teen grabs her arm, tells her not to get in the middle.
During the struggle, Spiderman evades the blades that are so close to his body, and makes a daring leap off the side of the building. Slinging his web to get away and head back home, Peter can hear Kitty shouting, and wonders if his rash decision to jump put Kitty in any more danger than she had already been in that afternoon.