Author's Note – I do not own any of the characters, Marvel and DC do.

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Chapter Ten

Recruitment

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"Welcome to Xavier's Institute for the Gifted." Clark smiled as he opened the door of the limousine and offered a hand to May Parker, a hand which she accepted with a smile. As she paused to look round, Peter climbed out the other side.

"Nice place." He noted and Clark laughed.

"Indeed. The lorry will be here soon, we've set aside a small apartment for you just next to my mother's, Mrs Parker."

"You may as well call me Aunt May." Came the smiling reply. "Mrs Parker makes me feel old. You know that some of the furniture is… quite…"

Clark looked down at her and she sighed as Peter walked past with several fully-packed suitcases.

"I forgot that you were Superman for a minute." She admitted with a wry smile. "Peter being Spiderman is quite an adjustment by itself. Between the two of you, I'm sure you won't have any trouble."

"Oh, we'll probably hook Colossus and Sunspot in to help as well." Clark grinned. "Piotr can transform into a living metal statue while Roberto uses solar energy to amplify his strength. Both are almost perfect for moving heavy stuff around."

"I'll help too, cousin." Kara grinned as she landed next to them. "Kara Kent, also known as Supergirl. Pleased to meet you, Aunt May."

May stared at her in surprise. "How did you know…"

"We Kryptonians have very good hearing." She giggled. "The lorry's on it's way. I saw it coming over the hill and it should be here in a few more minutes. Should I round up the others to help?"

"Only if they're willing to." Clark confirmed and Kara flew towards the mansion.

"If it's all right with you, we'll wait until we've got you settled in before introducing you to everyone." Clark offered and May nodded.

"That would be good, thank you."

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"All-right, everybody." Xavier announced and the conversations in the dining room faded away as everyone turned their attention to him. "Before we begin, there's a couple of announcements I'd like to make.

"First, Scott's class-mate Paul and Jean's friend Taryn will be visiting tomorrow, so we will be in a no-powers state until they leave. Rahne, you may want to decide before they arrive if you'd prefer to be on two legs, or four."

Rahne nodded with a wry smile as several of the others hastily muffled their laughter while Peter and May swapped confused looks.

"Secondly, we have gained two new additions, Peter Parker and his aunt, May Parker. Peter, May? Would either of you like to say a few words?"

Peter stood up and looked around. "I'm Peter Parker, also known as Spiderman. Before I came here, I was also a part-time web-page designer."

"Do you make your own webs like spiders do?" Jubilee asked and Peter shook his head.

"No, they're liquid polymers stored in high-pressure ampoules that react with air to form strands of differing properties based on minor adjustments in the formulae. I wear them on my wrists."

"Groovy, you're another tech-head like me." A voice said and Peter looked at the speaker. "Name's Forge, they call me the resident egg-head. What say we upgrade your web-shooters with K-tech once we've eaten? Maybe get you a new suit as well?"

Peter shot a glance at Xavier, who nodded.

"That... would be great. Thanks."

As Peter sat down, May rose. "My name is May Parker, but you can call me Aunt May. Like Martha, I'm not a mutant and have no special powers, but I have accepted a position on the staff."

May sat down to around of applause and Xavier looked at Martha.

"All right, everyone." She she smiled. "Dig in!"

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"Hey." Scott said as he walked into the area jokingly referred to as the Geek's Lair. "How are you guys doing?"

"Great!" Spiderman replied, dropping down from the ceiling and causing Scott to leap backwards in shock before glaring at him. "This outfit is amazing!"

"Looks… interesting." Scott admitted as Peter somersaulted backwards, firing two strands of webbing and using them to ascend to the ceiling again. "Forge?"

"Spiderman's outfit is a modified K-tech bodysuit." Forge began. "The main changes are the pattern, which was copied from his old outfit and upgraded slightly while the gloves and soles of his boots have been made thinner to allow use of his powers. His lenses now contain the standard HUD interfaces and his mask and hood contain standard comm-systems. His web-shooters have been upgraded to allow in situ modification of the webbing and the resevoirs have been increased three-hundred percent."

"Basically, it rocks!" Peter finished, dropping down again and pulling his mask off his head to reveal his grin. "This tech is so damn cool, I never dreamed I could have access to stuff like this!"

"Yeah, it is cool." Scott grinned, then he sobered. "How is Project Shut-down doing?"

"Still no progress." Forge admitted. "I can't find any way to temporarily deactivate a mutant's powers once active."

"Really?" Peter asked, walking over. "Can I see what you've come up with so far?"

"Sure." Forge shrugged, tapping several commands into the computer. "Maybe a new mind will see something I've missed. So, Scott, what's up?"

"Just checking in." Scott said, then he grinned. "It's been a while since you upgraded my visor."

"It's pretty close to perfect as it is." Forge grinned back. "So unless your power changes, I think it can be left as is for now."

Scott laughed, then his eyes noticed something. "Wow, nice symbol!"

Peter looked up, then he glanced at the icon adorning his shoulder. "Oh, that. Well, I asked Clark and Xavier for permission to mix their symbols and came up with this. All I really did was replace the top quarter of the circle with the House of El logo, but I think that it works."

"I've got to talk to them about updating our logos to that." Scott said reverently.

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"Mrs Parker." Xavier said in greeting as he looked round appreciatively. "The library has never been neater."

"Thank you." May smiled as she placed another book neatly on the shelf. "I took the liberty of putting them in order, they had started to be mixed up quite badly. And as I said before, call me May."

Xavier allowed his gaze to take in the room. It was obvious where May had reached in her tidying and his smile increased slightly.

"A thought occurs to me." He said, catching her gaze. "As Martha is our official chef, would you be interested in becoming our archivist? Several of the youngsters are having trouble with their school projects, perhaps you could recommend which reference books they might be best using?"

"Archivist?" May mused, then she smiled as she slotted another book into its correct place. "I'd be happy to, I used to work as a librarian when I was younger, but there are quite a few books that I'd recommend adding to this lot."

"As long as they aren't gold-plated or autographed first editions, I do not see the problem." Xavier joked and May giggled slightly.

"Autographed? Like the Mills and Boon in the back section?"

Xavier face-palmed.

"Dammit, Logan. Why do you do this to me?" He muttered, causing May to raise a quizzical eyebrow.

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Nick Fury stood outside the empty house staring at the For Sale sign in the yard, then he sighed and turned to the man who was accompanying him.

"Did you know about this, Stark?"

"Nope." Tony replied, his normal smirk in abeyance. "I checked three days ago, there was absolutely no sign of anything changing.

"Can I help you gentlemen?" a woman asked from the next house across and Tony walked to her gate, a friendly smile on his face.

"I would be most thankful if you could." Tony said, capturing the woman's hand and bowing to kiss it, eliciting a blushing smile from her. "You see, your neighbour Peter Parker recently won a competition run by Stark Industries and I cam personally to inform him of it, but he seems to have vanished."

"Really?" The woman asked. "He and his aunt left yesterday after some people visited them the day before. I think one was a bald guy in a wheelchair…"

"Xavier." Fury sighed, rubbing his forehead. "I hadn't realised that… never mind."

"Thank you for helping us" Tony purred, kissing the woman's hand again. "My apologies for taking up your time."

"Not at all." She replied breathlessly as Fury stalked towards the parked car and Tony followed him, turning to blow a kiss at her. Once inside the car, he pulled out a small smartphone and started tapping at the screen.

"Back to base." Fury commanded the agent at the wheel, then he sighed. "I thought Spiderman was an enhancile, not a mutant."

"He is an enhancile, the blood-sample proves it." Tony countered. "Then again, we know that Xavier isn't limiting himself to collecting other mutants."

"He would have been a good addition to the Avengers Initiative." Fury sighed, leaning back in his seat. "Nowhere near a Kryptonian, of course, but a welcome addition."

"We could ask Steve to go on a recruiting run to the mansion." Tony suggested. "Maybe convince young Peter to join us if he's there."

"Good idea." Fury nodded. "Any idea where Cap is?"

"He's probably at the Tower." Tony mused. "He said something about trying out the new gym I had installed last week after Thor accidently broke the previous one. This one should even let Superman work up a sweat."

Fury nodded in appreciation. "Maybe we can use that to persuade him to switch from ally to Avenger."

"I think it may take more than that." Tony countered. "You forget, Superman's a lot like Steve, only with more powers. Once a man like that gets a cause to champion, he doesn't let it go."

"And it's only the fact that he is like Cap that keeps me from placing him in the threat category." Fury admitted. "Although that female Kryptonian is still an unknown."

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"Wow, what a place." Paul breathed as Scott drove them in through the main gates. In the rear seat, Taryn was looking around so fast that Scott almost suspected her of beeing a speedster-type mutant.

"Welcome to the Xavier Institute for the Gifted." Scott said as he swung the car round and parked it at the front of the mansion. "Hey, Peter. Where's Clark?"

"He got called away." Peter replied as he stood up from the steps in front of the main door. "I assume that these are Paul and Taryn?"

Paul shook hands even as he glanced at Scott.

"Peter joined us yesterday, his aunt's a member of the faculty here, in charge of the library and all things stationery-related." Scott explained. "He used to have a part-time job as a web designer."

"I'm still re-designing the Institute's web-page." Peter smiled. "The hardest part is striking the balance between making the page stand out and streamlining it enough that it loads within a few seconds or less."

"He's one of our geeks." Scott added and both Paul and Taryn struggled not to laugh as Peter glared at the glasses-wearing teen.

"Anyway." Peter said after a moment. "Most of the others are hanging round the pool or playing basketball so Xavier suggested that you give your friends a quick tour and join us out there. Martha made some snacks."

"Okay, come on!" Scott chivvied his two guests in through the door. "If Martha made snacks, we need to get out there as fast as possible before they all vanish!"

Peter laughed as the trio entered the mansion, then he jogged round the mansion towards the pool. The chance to see some of the girls in bathing suits was too much to risk passing up.

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"Okay, you both got everything?" Scott asked as Paul and Taryn, walking slowly due to the effects of a larger-than-normal Marth Kent dinner, finally reached the car.

"Umm, hold on." Paul said, quickly patting his pockets. "Yup, I'm good."

"Excellent." Scott said, glancing at Taryn who also nodded. "So, if you'll just… what?"

Scott blinked as a motorcyclist riding a classic bike pulled in. The man kicked the stand into position, clambered off his bike and removed his helmet to reveal familiar blond hair.

"Captain America?!" Paul gasped and Steve Rogers grinned at them.

"Hi Cyc. Good to see you again. Fury sent me to talk to Peter and Clark about offering Peter a slot on the Avengers. Is Peter here?"

Scott rubbed his forehead, then half-turned to see Paul and Taryn staring at him in shock.

"Oh hell. Steve, you may as well head in. Clark's away at the moment…"

"I know, I saw him on the news helping to deal with that refinery fire by flying an old water tower over it and tipping the water onto the flames." Steve nodded and Scott's incipient headache started to materialise.

"Dammit, Steve. Paul, Taryn, I really think you need to speak to the professor now."

"Ah." Steve stated as realisation dawned. "They're not students here, are they? Ummm, sorry?"

"Wow!" Paul gasped. "Why didn't you tell me you were Cyclops?!"

"Clark is Superman?" Taryn realised. "Whoah, cool!"

"Right." Scott stated, turning and re-entering the mansion. "Come on, time for you all to speak to the Professor."