Answers to reviewers' questions or statements:
DarkLordZay: This is the harem so far: Wanda Maximoff, Carol Danvers, Jessica Drew, Mistress Death. The fifth woman of this harem is still being decided.
Adtr509: Hmm probably would pick Laura. She won't be one to judge him since her past is far from squeaky clean, can be the sort of edge he needs in his life, it'd piss Logan off to no end because Peter would keep calling him dad, and the two both feel responsible for the deaths of their parental figure and try to live up to their examples.
Animortal28: I can probably squeeze that part in there, Miles seems to be already active by then anyhow.
Batman1998: After reading the latest Thanos comic where it shows Thanos against Thane who has the Phoenix Force at his command, it's given me some ideas of how a fight between those two can go. Ends of the Earth has already happened before the events of Avengers vs X-men where this story picks up during. Superior Spider-man on the other hand, have to wait and see. They'll find out around the time of Infinity when Thanos comes to earth to kill Thane.
edboy4926: No, sadly not but I do have plans for Peter to meet the Steve of that world, it'll be an interesting experience.
Big Grey Bird: Yeah it'll improve, for now it's sort of passive aggressive slash wariness on Peter's part where's the Phoenix really has no qualms making it clear what she wants.
justafan: How'd Miles het him killed?
Antihero1610: Yeah a few women will notice Peter, poor lucky bastard.
MCRasengan: Things will start to be looking up for Peter in that his luck won't be as bad as it's been lately in this story… until we get towards Secret Wars… and Battleworld… and the new reality that's made after that, that's when things will start to go a bit downhill.
Harbinger of Kaos: Yeah having Emma in his mind is pretty much punching a nuke to see what happens, it won't end well but you are right in that it's down to either Rachel or Psylocke. It won't be so much as humbling evil Reed but more of showing that yeah he may be Fantastic… but Spider-man's still Amazing.
Marveldcfan: Maybe, he is going to be in the Ultimate's universe long enough to meet some of it's X-men.
risingdragon0009: Yeah Peter will travel the multiverse but not for that reason. Oh quite a few in Cyclops's little group will be learning that Karma is a real bitch. Some it might be extreme, others horribly ironic and the last few a little light but they'll get their dues.
Gamerslegacy: They might.
90skid4life: Eh sort of but not really. The Phoenix can really care less, she doesn't hate them or anything, she's just not concerned about them is all.
JJChandler: He is but he started off in the Ultimates universe.
Spawn Hades: I was thinking of having Miguel O'Hara be the go to Spider-man for when the universe is reset after Secret Wars, I mean he's older and more experienced then Miles so it would make a lot more sense in my opinion, plus he'd act as a sort of mentor and role model to Miles since Peter really won't be around on earth at the time until Secret Empire and even then it'll be towards the end that he shows back up on earth. I've been thinking of making the kid she has after Secret wars Peter's.
Newavenger92: The Phoenix wouldn't have to go too far compared to Death, he's practically hers already.
Fenrir44: No, I don't think I'll have her join the harem.
RandomDude15: The Phoenix will care about Peter in its own sort of detached but secretly possessive way.
Codespider616: They'll be a few girls there whose attention he'll catch and some of it might come off as a little… creepy.
Shizuka-naru Goketsu: This is all happening before that time displaced Jean Grey shows up. Well recently Jane Foster ended up in the White Hot Room and there was no Jean, maybe she only pops up at certain times or maybe the Phoenix is keeping her back, who knows where she is half the time.
Arcadeaddict777: It may grow later but for the moment it's locked at five girls.
Dreamcastfan99: Hmm that sounds vaguely similar to another story I've mulled over from time to time. I might end up doing that one day.
Dark King Marcel: Not saying that the ones that took part in the attack on Wakanda wont answer for what they did because they will but most of that will happen 'off screen' as they say because that's like number seven on the list of priorities for this story. It's meant to be about Peter now having the Phoenix Force, not a punishment fic. I'm sure you and other people would rather watch Spider-man with cosmic powers duke it out with Thanos in the ultimate fight for Mistress Death then see Storm lose all credibility with Wakanda.
Cyclopz: The Cyclops segments aren't going to be people bashing the guy because while he is now more or less insane to a degree, he's not an outright a-hole like the Red Skull is. Hard as it will be to believe, there will be a few moments in this story where some of the old more heroic qualities of Scott will surface brief as they may be, along with his time displaced self.
BusterBlue12: Reed in the Ultimate Comics more or less loses his shit and goes insane before turning into a homicidal sociopath with a god complex and nuked Washington DC after having Asgard destroyed and killing millions of people.
OMAC001: There are still some beings in the Marvel Multiverse that outrank the Phoenix, plus just because he has near omnipotent power doesn't mean he knows how to access or use it right off the bat, stuff like that takes time.
Draconeis: The next interaction between Peter and the Phoenix will be in a few chapters and as time goes on it'll increase in frequency.
MooNight-Winter: That does sound like a bad idea but well… let's just say things are going to get very difficult when we begin to get closer to Time Runs Out and the final Incursion. But doing her in a future story, yeah I can do that.
Disclaimer: I don't own any Marvel characters seen, mentioned or used.
Not far from the Jean Grey School on the far end of the property stood a solitary figure. A breathtakingly beautiful woman with dark purple hair clad in black pants, a white shirt and dark brown boots. Her name was Elizabeth 'Betsy' Braddock, know to the world as Psylocke. Before her sat a single headstone carved out of white marble with thirty small words carved into it's stone.
James 'Logan' Howlett. He was the best at what he did and what he did was be an extraordinary X-man, an uncanny Avenger and an even better Friend and Father…
For the past several weeks since she's come here Betsy has made it a point to come out here every single day and stand there for hours on end and stare at the man whose trust she betrayed. The man that stood by her side at her darkest moments and had her back in even the most dire of circumstances.
'And where was I when you needed help? Helping Scott attack, kidnap and possibly kill your friend by somehow extracting he Phoenix Force for him and giving it to Hope on the off chance she can reverse the effects of the Scarlet Witch's reality warp' Betsy thought with a saddened expression as she rubbed her eyes to keep the building tears from falling 'Christ how fuckin desperate were we that we were relying on the one that that's probably caused us more pain and suffering than anything else to save us…?'
It was than she heard another person's footsteps approaching and she turned to see Kitty Pryde approaching. Betsy turned towards the phasing shifting Headmistress of the school with a small nod "Katherine…"
"Elizabeth" Kitty said in a cool tone, it wasn't quite icy or angry like it was when the purple haired woman first came here but Betsy thought it may have been worse than those two combined.
The two women went back to looking at Logan's grave, each one lost in their own thoughts. After a few minutes Betsy broke the tense silence.
"Has Laura been here yet?"
Kitty shook her head "No, far as I can tell. After Steve broke the news to her she's been locked up in Logan's room wrapped up in his old leather jacket. Won't come out for anything"
"Have you tried to coax her out of it?" Betsy asked.
"Yes, several times a day now" Kitty said with a tired sigh "But she's every bit as stubborn as Logan was"
Betsy nodded at this as she gazed back down at Logan's headstone and re-read the words again, mapping out every detail of it. The style of the writing, the spacing between each letter and how dee the engravings are in the stone.
"Why'd you do it Elizabeth?" Kitty asked suddenly as she kept staring down at the grave of her father figure "Why'd you side with Scott? And don't say because you believed that shit about Hope being able to control the Phoenix and use its power to save our race. I know you're not that stupid, so why did you support Scott?"
Betsy was silent as she stared at Logan's headstone, half hoping that the claw wielding mutant would emerge from the ground and physically beat her to within inch of her life for siding with Scott before telling her to report for training the next day. After a few minutes, and Kitty's piercing look, she finally answered in a low voice.
"Katherine, how much do you know about what happened to Warren, how Tabula Rasa was made?" the violet haired telepath said as she folded her arms.
"Not much, all I know is that it involved Warren being taken over by Archangel and trying to start some 'Age of Archangel' with some Celestial life seed and destroyed an entire town up in Montana as a start" Kitty said with a small frown.
"That's the watered-down version of it…" Betsy said with a tired sigh "Did Logan tell you that I'm the reason it got as bad as it did?"
"What?" Kitty said with surprise "What do you mean?"
"What I mean is that I'm the reason over several thousand people died there" Betsy said with a sad expression as memories of the ordeal flashed through her mind "I had a chance to stop Warren… Archangel from using the seed on the town. All I had to do was move my blade a little to the right when I stabbed him and Tabula Rasa would have never been created and the town of Tucker Creek, home to over five thousand innocent men women and children would still be here"
Kitty was silent as she looked at Betsy and saw the tears building in the deadly woman's eyes.
"I wasn't fighting because I hoped that Hope would use the power of the Phoenix to restore our race Katherine… I was fighting because I hoped that she could restore the people who died there because of my mistakes… to restore the man that I loved…" Betsy said as she found it harder and harder to keep her composure "And what am I rewarded with? Another person I care about now dead, our race still on the verge of extinction, the Warren I love is still gone and the people of Tucker Creek are still dead…"
Kitty didn't say anything as Elizabeth's form shook, trying to hold back a small sob as she struggled to keep herself together.
"I just… I just wanted to atone for my past mistakes and instead I made another…" Betsy said as she blinked and two streams of tears began to fall from her eyes.
Kitty was silent and raised her hand to place it on Elizabeth's shoulder before she hesitated. It didn't matter as Betsy turned and walked away from Logan's grave. If the longtime member of the X-men focused hard enough she could make out Betsy's near silent sobs as she made her way back to her room and likely another bottle of whatever she's been drinking these past few days and drink until she would evenly pass out, wake up in the infirmary, come back out here and start the cycle all over again.
Kitty watched the woman go before she glanced towards Logan's grave with a saddened expression and wondering just how it is that the X-men have fallen so low before she heard Xavier's voice in her head.
'Headmistress Pryde, may I speak with you for a moment? In your office if at all possible?' the former leader and founder of the X-men mentally spoke in a calm tone.
'Of course Professor' Kitty responded before she kissed the tips of her fingers and placed them on Logan's name before she turned and made her way back to the school that was now housing the kids that were brought in from the now abandoned Utopia.
It didn't take her long to reach her office where Xavier was siting before her desk with several papers in his hands, one of which he was reading with a curious expression that was slowly turning into a small smile.
"Something good Professor?" Kitty asked as she closed the door so as to not be distracted by the day to day goings of the school.
"I found these when I was packing some of Logan's things" Xavier said as he handed the sheet he was reading to Kitty to see "It appears Logan was thinking of creating a sort of exchange program with Attilan and Asgard. A few of his students go to their schools, a few come to ours and if things worked out well, maybe begin to open the school to Inhumans and others to attend in the not too distant future"
"Really?" Kitty said as she scanned the paper with a surprised look "He never told me and Hank this"
"I believe he wanted to wait for a response, hopefully a positive one from Black Bolt and whoever handles Asgard's education or even Thor before telling either of you" Xavier said with a small smile "I must say the idea holds a lot of merit. Many of these students after they graduate will likely run into either group at some point in their life and vice versa should they pursue a career in our line of work and it would be good for them to get to know more of the various races that inhabit this world aside from Mutants and Humanity"
"Just when I think Logan can't surprise me anymore than he already has, he goes and does something even more surprising" Kitty said with a small laugh before it dropped as she turned towards Xavier "But something tells me that this isn't what you wanted to talk to me about"
Xavier nodded, his smile dropping to form a frown as he rubbed his chin "Peter's training with the powers of the Phoenix aren't panning out as well as some of us have hoped"
"Has something happened?" Kitty asked with worry.
Xavier saw and sensed her fear and realized how dire he made it sound "On good heavens no, nothing terrible. It's just that Young mister Parker isn't advancing as quickly as we would hope. While he is trying and mister Rand is an excellent teacher, I'm afraid the Immortal Iron Fist in all of his combined experience from his predecessors just isn't enough, particularly to the more psionic aspects of Peter's abilities"
Kitty frowned, having a feeling she knew where this was going but hoped she was wrong "What do you recommend?"
Xavier was silent for a few moments as he thought how to word his suggestion before speaking "I recommend we send one of our telepaths to aid him"
"Yourself?" Kitty hoped.
"No, as much as I would like to help Peter master his abilities I'm afraid I'll be needed here. With Logan's demise and Hank and Bobby now working with the new Unity Division that Steve and I have put together, you're down two teachers, three if you count Logan himself. Right now, these children need guidance more than a combat instructor that is admittedly not quite suited for teaching children the aspects of life that don't involve fighting" Xavier said with a pointed look "Logan started this school because he was sick of seeing Scott slowly turn these children into soldiers, I will not dishonor his memory by continue Scott's work, no matter how well intended it's supposed to be"
Kitty's eyes narrowed as she began to see what or more accurately who he was recommending "So your sending Elizabeth?"
"Precisely" Xavier said with a small nod.
Kitty gave her old mentor a skeptical look "You sure that's a good idea Professor? She's not what I would call stable at the moment. From the very few times that Logan talked about what happen with his X-Force team, she wasn't quite taking the whole thing in stride like he was and now with what's happened… I'm more worried that she'll end up causing an incident. It may not be her fault, but can we really take the risk?"
"We may have to…" Charles said with a small sigh before a thought came to him "But if I recall correctly, I myself took quite a few risks when I let people like Logan, Rogue and even Emma into my school. Each of them far from what one would call mentally sound and a possible risk to others safety"
"True, but none of those risks could lead to a possible cosmic level event…" Kitty said before she sighed "At least not in the first few years after they joined up"
"Indeed, but it can also be seen as a way for her to atone for past mistakes, by ensuring that another event like the Dark Phoenix doesn't happen again" Xavier reasoned.
Kitty was silent as she an over the possible ramifications of this before looking at her former teacher "Is Steve aware of this choice? I don't want to say yes to this only to find out that we kept the Avengers out of the loop… again"
"I've already discussed this with him before I brought it to you and he is admittedly hesitant, understandably so, but we both agree that it won't be long until word gets out about Peter's condition. He needs to be ready because others, many of whom that will be far from benevolent in nature and intent will seek to gain control over Peter in some form or fashion if not outright kill him if the first option is impossible" Xavier said before he let out a tired sigh "And this just Earth I'm speaking of, I wont be surprisedf that if by this time next week, every other major universal power will be aware of Peter being the Phoenix's new host"
"I know the Shi'ar will be sending more Death Commandos" Kitty said with a frown "Logan and Hope encountered them when they were trying to get to the moon. Once word gets out to them that they failed and the Phoenix has acquired a new host, they'll send more… Gladiator himself might even appear"
"Which is why Peter needs to be ready, for anything" Xavier stated.
Kitty held Charles's gaze for a minute before she reluctantly nodded "I'll let her know after dinner tonight, assuming she'll be sober enough to understand and if not. Well I'll just leave a message for her to see when she wakes up on the jet tomorrow morning"
"Believe me Kitty, I did not make this decision lightly and while it can be argued that Rachel, who herself was a former Host of the Phoenix's power, would be a more practical choice, something tells me that she'll want to be as far from Peter as possible for the time being" Xavier said.
"Well getting your hand crushed by someone usually is a good reason to avoid said person for a while" Kitty said as she rubbed the back of her head.
"Indeed, now, Logan's mentioned them a few times to me but I was hoping for a more in-depth discussion about these 'Hellfire' children that are led by one Kade Kilgore I believe it was that have been causing you and this school grief lately" Xavier said with a curious expression.
Kitty couldn't help but groan at the memory of the little homicidal children "Let's just say that their more of a pain in the ass then a real legitimate threat like the Hellfire in the past was"
"From what I've been told, they seem to be more than that" Xavier said with a frown.
"Well they don't have Sabastian Shaw or worse Selene herself leading them, so that means nowhere as bad in my opinion" Kitty said with a grim chuckle.
As Kitty explained what's been going on at the school since Xavier last visited, a small little drone was watching the school and sending the video back to its operator.
…
'This… blows… so… much' Kaine mentally whined as he found himself sitting in a conference room located in Avengers Mansion along with his soon to be new teammates and already he was dreading working with these people, well barring the likes of Steve, Beast and Bobby.
It was the rest of the team that Kaine knows he's going to have problems with. The spider powered man casted a brief glance towards his soon to be teammates with narrowed lenses while mentally wishing that Steve and Beast will arrive soon and Bobby will come back from the bathroom so he'd have someone to talk to that he knows.
Janet Van Dyne aka the Wasp and probably the only one of the present bunch he may end up liking was sitting next to him and was making a poor attempt to hide the fact she was checking him out.
Simon Williams aka Wonder man that happened to have feelings for the Scarlet Witch which Kaine just knows is going to become an issue at some point because the universe just loves making spiders lives filled with drama, sat across from her and was staring down at the table intently.
And finally, the third new member of the team was sitting as far from the others as possible was Shiro Yashida aka Sunfire, a mutant and former X-men that was talked back into being here by Xavier apparently. Kaine didn't like him because the man was an ass in his opinion.
"So this is how the unity squad first comes together… in a conference room" Sunfire said with a scoff.
"Not all teams come together because of some big epic fight Sunfire" Simon commented as he adjusted his seat.
"A small skirmish would be much better than this" the man said with a scowl as he and the rest continued to wait for the rest of the team to show up.
Janet looked at the two men and saw that she wasn't going to get much conversation out of either before she turned towards Kaine with a small grin "So, your Spider-man's brother? Funny, he never mentioned he had one before"
Kaine gave Janet a brief look "That's because he and I never really got along that much and even then, I've been dead for a while so yeah… no real reason there to mention me"
"Oh…" Janet said with surprise "Sorry, I didn't mean to-"
"It's fine" Kaine said with a wave of his hand as he glanced around the room "So Janet, what is it you bring to the table of this little team of ours besides your beauty and sense of style?"
"I fund the team and act as it' sort of PR rep" Janet said with a grin.
Kaine nodded at this before glancing at Wonder Man "What about you sunshine, why are you here?"
Simon glanced at Kaine for a moment before he went back to looking at the table "I'm here because Wanda asked me to be"
"Oh… okay" Kaine said with a nod while thinking 'Something tells me that he won't be staying for long… he strikes me as the type to up and leave because the woman he likes is getting comfortable with another man that's not him'
"Why are you here Scarlet Spider?" Sunfire asked as he passed his mask back and forth in his hands.
"I'm here to provide bright colorful commentary since my brother is currently indisposed for the foreseeable future" Kaine said with a small surg.
"You mean while he learns to control a power that he lost control of in Wakanda and killed Wolverine?" Simon said as he looked up towards Kaine with a frown.
Kaine stared at the man that's often said to be second to the Sentry in power with a cool expression "Maybe… or maybe he's simply shacking it up with Wanda in a nice little mountain retreat"
Kaine had to hold back a chuckle at Simon's hand briefly contorting into a fist while Janet gave both men a look "Behave boys… were supposed to be united remember? It's in the team's name, Unity Squad?"
"He started it" Kaine said with a snort as Iceman entered the room.
"Who started what?" the cryokinetic mutant said as he looked around the table "Hank and Steve not here yet?"
"Clearly not" Sunfire said with a dry look as he slid his mask on.
"Well I can already tell this team is going to form long lasting bonds with each other" Bobby said with a chuckle as he took his seat on the other side of Kaine.
"Positive or negative?" Kaine asked.
"Can't it be both?" the X-man responded with a smirk as he formed a small ice disk the size of a coin to pass between his fingers as Steve and Hank entered the room
"Sorry for the wait, me and Doctor McCoy here were just ending a meeting with Xavier that took a little longer than I hoped" Steve apologized to the assembled heroes as he took his seat next to Simon while Hank remained standing.
"You in charge fur ball?" Kaine said with surprise, he didn't see that coming.
"For the time being" Hank said with a small laugh "I was hoping that Charles would be leading this team but he seems hesitant to do so"
"Given how well he led the X-men over the years and the mistakes he's made with them, is anyone surprised?" Sunfire said with a snort.
Kaine hummed at the mutant before looking at Iceman "I don't know why, but my spider-sense is telling me that my position as the resident asshole on this team is being threatened"
"I think it is" Iceman chuckled before he and Kaine were silenced by a look from both Steve and Hank.
"As I was saying, my leadership of this team is only temporary until we find a more suitable candidate" Hank said as he clapped his hands together "Now I know this will be odd and I'm not blind to the inevitable clashes, both personality and otherwise that will ensure between us by I do believe that we can make this work"
"If you say so…" Iceman said with a shrug before glancing at Janet "You're going to have your hands full selling this to the public"
"You'd be surprised with how good I am with people" Janet said with a smirk.
"All right, let's get back on track here" Beast said as he sent a look to everyone present "Now our main priority aside from helping rebuild the bridge that was burned between the Avengers and X-men is stopping any threats that threaten not just Mutant kind, but Humanity as well"
"What about the Inhumans?" Simon asked with a raised brow "They're a part of this world too"
"I've spoken with Black Bolt about possibly adding any Inhumans to our ranks, he said he will consider it" Beast reassured the man with a small nod.
"He actually said that?" Iceman said with surprise.
"Well not really given that any sound he emits can have very dangerous consequences but I have been assured by Queen Medusa that they will be looking into viable candidates to represent the Inhumans on this team" Beast clarified to the others.
"If we can pick, I call Lockjaw" Kaine said.
"Why?" Janet asked with an amused look.
"You have any idea how useful a teleporting dog would be? Besides how many people actually pay attention to him in a fight?" Kaine said.
"He does have a point, for such a big guy, Lockjaw's pretty easy to forget about in a fight" Iceman said as he began to see what Kaine meant "Also nothing says we're awesome like a bear sized teleporting dog"
"I'm sure" Beast said with a small chuckle before he cleared his throat and typed in a few things on a small holographic board that appeared before him that brought up a map of the world "Now then, according to SWORD intel, there's apparently been sightings of unregistered Skrulls in India that they want us to investigate…"
…
Over several hours passed as the team was briefed on what would be their first mission to India. Safe to say Kaine was a little nervous as this would be the first time he'd be actually working alongside a team. Sure, he helped them bring down the Spider-Queen when she tried to turn New York into a Spider kingdom but he really didn't have much of a choice at the time and even then, he left as soon as the fighting stopped.
'Now I'm going to be interacting with these people almost regularly' Kaine thought with a sigh before he spotted Beast leaning up against the wall as he rubbed his chest in slight discomfort.
"You okay Beast?" Kaine asked the man as he came to a stop beside him.
Hank's face contorted briefly in pain again before he gave Kaine a reassuring grin and nod "Yes my dear boy, just… just a little chest pain is all. Nothing to worry about"
Kaine didn't need to show his face to let the blue skinned mutant genius he was unconvinced "Riiiiiight…"
"Just something that acts up every once in a while. A byproduct of my various changes my Mutation has gone through over the years, both natural and intentionally" Hank chuckled as he patted Kaine on the shoulder "Enough about my less than healthy life style and questionable decision making skills, tell me what wonders you've been achieving at Horizon Labs lately"
Kaine gave Beast a side glance before he decided to drop the issue, for now, and answer the man's other question "Well I've stumbled across something that Peter's been working on and I've poked and prodded at it since then"
This seemed to peek Beast's interest "Is that right, and if I may be so bold as to ask what this is?"
Kaine shrugged "Some sort of possible near infinite energy source. Still looking into it but if it turns out to be legit… does Parker Particles sound too corny of a name?"
…
And done.
Next chapter, Peter meets his new telepathic teacher and the first lemon between Peter and Wanda!