Answers to reviewers' questions or statements:
treyalexander63917: Yeah most of those events will still happen and Peter will be involved with them. But Spider-verse is going to take a drastic change, I mean it'll start off similar but well let's just say the Inheritors will become an afterthought compared to what will emerge.
Guest: Nah, Peter won't be making any deals with the literal Devil, besides why should he when he'll eventually gain the power to resurrect the dead, plus he's now sort of on Lady Death's good side. Plus even Peter knows that giving himself to someone like Mephisto will end badly.
Darkspyder: Yes, she is in the harem. So far, the harem is Carol, Jessica, Wanda, Lady Death and one other person that I'm still deciding on. I've narrowed the choices down to four.
keyblade master cole: Yeah most of Peter's friends will be keeping him sort of isolated from the others. Not to punish him but until he can come to terms with what's happened and learn to gain better control of the Phoenix Force, it'd be risky to have him around people that'll either hate him for what he did, fear him, or distrust him. As for punishing the Phoenix for what it did to Logan, I have something in mind. Not it won't be Peter beats the hell out of it, but I think I can work this angle I've been planning to let something similar to that happen later on.
Adtr509: Yeah, this event was also a sort of wakeup call that Peter needs to get help with all that bottled up rage, guilt and what not. I mean yeah, the sense of guilt is part of his character but he needs to move on and come to terms with himself and the choices he's made over the years because if he doesn't, the nightmare will start all over again. Won't be easy for him, but he has to.
Karlos1234ify: Well she did knowingly back Scott's side in its assault on Wakanda knowing that people will die. That's on her.
EroSlackerMicha: he could try to off himself, he hasn't gotten that low yet but the Phoenix will keep that from happening. And if that doesn't work, Peter knows that if he dies, the Phoenix will simply find another host, or resurrect him.
Guest: Oh, she isn't giving up on him but what the Dark Phoenix said and tried to do to her will be one hell of a hurdle she has to overcome.
Fenrir44: I have plans for Laura and Peter to help each other heal but I'm still on the fence of Laura joining the harem. It'd just be a little weird that she'd be sleeping with the guy that sort of killed her father. Yes, he himself didn't actually do it but you get the idea.
jdrussom66: Other dimension, Old Man Logan. They'll have plenty to bond over, they both went on a rampage that caused the deaths of someone they considered a good friend, granted Logan's killed more but you get the idea.
The-everchosen: No, running would the absolute worst thing he can do. He needs to learn how to control the Phoenix force or at least not lose control like he did. After that yeah, he could go off on his own which I'll have him do after he learns better control. Explore the universe and all that, meet other people and maybe contend with Thanos about the whole Lady death thing.
Mezazra: Well, my new goal will be to somehow get you to cry before this fic is over.
Fox Boss: It'll be something like that.
Zerecue: Kitty doesn't need to. She's at the Jean Grey institute and they backed Logan. Storm will more have to seek forgiveness from T'Challa then Peter and as for Rogue, well I guess both Peter and T'Challa though more the latter since she did invade and attack his country.
Spawn Hades: Peter and Old Man Logan's meeting will be interesting to say the least.
Projectxtreme: Hope, not really since other than try and fail to remove the Phoenix which understandably at the time for her seemed like a good idea, she hasn't really done anything against him. Xavier tried to help Peter before this all went south and even when it was he was trying to reason with the man, not just to keep the X-men safe but to prevent Peter from doing what ended up happening anyhow. But a few X-men may try to seek forgiveness from Peter.
gunman: Reed not so much since he didn't know about at first and when he did, he altered it and modified its use so it wouldn't end up killing Peter. Stark, yeah, he may get of an earful from some people, mainly Jessica when she finally sees him again and Carol. Nah Namor and his people skipped town after the Dark Phoenix was brought down. Same with some of the X-men on Scott's side.
Gundamfreedomzer: Eh I just thought the Avengers vs X-men story line could have been better is all.
90skid4life: By then it'll be more Peter being like 'What happened, happened. Shove the apology and lets just try to interact as little as possible, sound good? Good'.
MooNight-Winter: You mean the whole molestation thing? No not in this story. Most of them have a general idea that Peter's life hasn't been easy by a longshot. But they aren't aware of just how bad some of those events, known and unknown to them, have really affected him. Sure, he's always seen cracking a joke or making an annoying comment, but we all know he buries what he's really feeling inside and just never tries to deal with it. Yeah part of the reason Wanda will be around Peter is to sort of keep him in check and hold him off until back up arrives, now if she had the power she did during the events of 'House of M' she could take the Phoenix on her own but well reality might implode at the point.
A Hero's Legacy: Sort of, Magik is for sure, Scott will still view Peter as that guy that may doom his race, same with Emma. Yeah Kitty and Angelica will pop up to help him, won't be part of the harem, but they can still be there as his friends.
Redrangerforever: No, but he'll have a few things to say to Scott when they next meet.
justafan: Kaine won't be getting some portion of the Phoenix Force or something like that, it's stuck with Peter for this story.
Doctor Dandy: Well then, I guess it's a good thing I'm not holding a gun to your head and forcing you to keep reading this story against your will, so your free to leave for something else since this is such a chore for you to read.
Disclaimer: I don't own any Marvel characters seen, mentioned or used
The first thing that Peter felt when he regained consciousness was pain. His entire body seemed to scream with every breath he took, every movement he could muster sent flashes of agony through his body and caused him to grunt in discomfort.
'Damn… haven't felt with the Worthy possessed Thing…' Peter thought as he opened his eyes to find himself strapped down to a bed with a series of Adamantium and Vibrainium locks and likely a host of other things while Reed and Steve stood a little ways off. It also didn't escape the man's notice that both older heroes looked exhausted and distraught
'Well that's as comforting as seeing Richard Fisk get off another charge of either murder, bribery or obstruction of justice…' Peter thought as he felt a sudden tightness in his chest as he cleared his voice "So… I take to things didn't go too well after the X-men attacked?"
"You could say that" Steve said with a sigh as he looked at Peter "Peter, what do you remember?"
Peer frowned as he tried to concentrate, something he was struggling to do as the pain in his head started to increase bit by bit every time he thought of something "I… I remember fighting Magneto, Magik and some Atlanteans with Jessica, and then, I guess Nightcrawler apparently joined in at some point. I remember hearing a lot of that weird 'BAMF' sound he makes when he teleports and the smell of brimstone"
Peter would have continued before he winced as his mind's eye was suddenly met with the extremely vivid image of Magik impaling Jessica with her sword. Peter's breath hitched as he glanced at the two men with fear "Jess, what-"
"She's fine, Sue was able to stem the bleeding and she's currently being looked after by some of T'Challa's best doctors" Steve said to reassure the man "She's a stubborn one, our Jessica. She's already asking us for a rematch with Magik"
"Thank god…" Peter said as he let out a relieved sigh before he noticed the looks on both men's faces "What is it?"
It was Reed that decided to answer as he stepped forward "Peter after Magik had incapacitated Jessica, do you remember what happened next? Anything at all?"
"What do you mean?" Peter asked with worry, the tension in his chest growing stronger as his heart began to beat like a subwoofer at a dubstep concert.
"Do you remember fighting the X-men?" Steve questioned Peter as he stared at the man with a watchful gaze "Or some of the Avengers?"
Peter stared at the two men in question as he tried to remember what happened after watching Jessica getting stabbed by Magik. It wasn't easy, every time he tried to call back to the moments afterwards all he got were these quick barely understandable flashes, sporadic and random. But there was one thing that Peter could remember, this what he could only describe as a feeling of being on fire and seeing nothing but these dark flames everywhere.
It was like walking through a burning house but without the smell of smoke, just this sort of intense heat that was unlike anything Peter's ever felt before, and he's been blasted by quite a few pyrokinetic villains and even heroes in his time as Spider-man.
"Just these brief images, I… I really can't tell what's going on in them. But, but I remember seeing fire, and this feeling that I was burning but it didn't hurt. I mean it did but not like if I was actually on fire, you know?" Peter said as he glanced at the two men with worry "What happened after… after Jess was hurt?"
"Well, for a time you were still in control of yourself, you were angry, very angry by what happened and no one could fault you for it" Steve said as he rubbed the back of his head "You began to attack the X-men and we began to worry that you'd end up going too far so I gave the order to engage and restrain you before things escalated any more than they already did"
"S-Something bad happened, right?" Peter said as he found it a little hard to breath "I lost control and… I did something"
"It wasn't you that did it Peter" Reed said with a sympathetic expression on his face "But yes, after you lost control, something bad did happen… the Dark Phoenix emerged and after that…"
"W-What was it?" Peter asked as he swallowed nervously and waited for the bomb to be dropped.
"Logan he's... he's dead Peter…" Steve said after a few moments of building up the courage to tell one of the men he's come to greatly respect and proudly call friend that they killed another man that he's come to hold in similar regards despite their often differentiating views.
'Logan he's… he's dead?' Peter thought with shock as he stared at the two men for a second before he gave them an uncertain laugh, the tension in his chest tightening to the point it was becoming even harder to breath than it already was. Peter shook his head of the thought of Logan of all people actually dying as he let out a hoarse laugh that anyone could see was almost painfully forced.
"Heh, you know Steve if your trying to make a joke, I'd recommend a better time and place for it"
"I wish I could say that I was Peter, but I'm not" Steve said with a heavy sigh before looking the man in the eye "After you lost control and the Dark Phoenix took over… it ended up killing Logan before it was finally beaten"
Peter stared at the man for several long movements trying to see if the man was being serious or not.
'He has to be, I mean this is Logan for crying out loud. The guy that has a skeleton made of the most durable metal in the universe on top of one of the world's most powerful if abused healing factor. Plus, he's more stubborn then Steve's super physics defying shield, there's no way he could be dead' Peter thought as he felt a multitude of emotions starting to hit him, a small part of dread that the men were possibly telling the truth but mostly annoyance at Steve's attempt to keep the joke going "Uh Steve, that bad joke of yours, yeah it's getting worse so maybe stop while your ahead"
"He's not joking Peter" Reed said as he leaned against the wall and looked at the younger man.
"Really Reed, you're in on this too?" Peter asked with a frown, the annoyance he was feeling giving way to anger as the dread while didn't increase seemed to be grow heavier somehow "Did Johnny somehow put you up to this? Because if he did, tell him not cool!"
"Is it really so hard to believe that Logan's dead Peter?" Steve asked with a look that said he's seen this before, which he has… far too many times for his liking.
"YES!" Peter said as he looked back and forth between the two men like they were crazy "I mean this is Logan we're talking about, the guy that's all 'I'm the best at right I do and what I do isn't very nice' which is staying alive to annoy us with his cheap smelling cigar smoke and loud obnoxious beer filled belches at poker night and his refusal to apologize for it"
'He can't be dead, I mean he might be a little banged up because I do remember smacking him around a few times, at least I think I do but… but dead?' Peter thought before he shook his head as best he could "No, no, I see what's happening here. You guys are telling me he's dead, you act really convincing while doing it and just as I began to start crying he pops in with that smirk of his and says 'Ha, got ya webs' before he takes a picture and posts it online or something"
Steve began to worry as he saw Peter was starting to become extremely agitated and from the looks of Reed's face, so was he as his hand drifted towards a button that will call the others, Strange and Wanda specifically if things escalated.
Steve cleared his head of those thoughts as he took a steady breath "Peter I know that it seems hard to-"
"NO!" Peter snapped at the man before looking past him best he could "Seriously Logan, this isn't funny anymore! Points for getting Rogers in on this but jokes over. Come out here before I decide to place a bunch of small microscopic exploring web cartridges in your underwear again! THIS TIME WITH AN ELECTRICAL CURRENT MIXED IN!"
But nothing happened, Logan didn't come out like Peter was hoping with a threat to stay away from his drawers followed by a distinct 'SNIKT' sound before the two would laugh the whole thing off.
'Maybe the room's sound proof, yeah or he's at the ops center for this place and is now rushing down here, yeah that's it… little grumpy old man, for a guy that's so young looking he can move slower than my aunt!' Peter thought as Reed stepped forward with a worried expression.
"Look Peter, I know you don't want to believe this, trust me I do, but we're telling the truth… Logan's dead Peter-"
"NO, HE ISN'T!" Peter yelled at the man and for a brief moment, Reed and Steve saw a small flash in Peter's eyes that caused both men to tense in worry.
"Peter…" Steve said as he took a cautious step forward but halted as Peter turned towards him with a small glare "Son, I'm going to need you to calm down…"
"Then stop lying to me!" Peter hissed at the man, his eyes starting to tear up a little "Look I know I'm all one for jokes and even pranks, despite how poor in taste some might be, but this, this isn't funny!"
"I know Peter… I know" Steve said sadly.
Peter stared at the man for several long seconds before he let out a yell of rage and slammed his head against the bed "LOGAN! I'M GIVING YOU UNTIL THE COUNT OF THREE TO GET YOUR HAIRY ASS IN HERE AND APOLOGIZE FOR THIS JOKE OR I SWEAR TO GOD MAN… I'LL… I'll…"
Peter trailed off as tears began to fall down the sides of his face "Come on Logan, jokes over… please just come on out…"
Reed and Steve both watched on as the man ceased in trying to break free from his restraints.
"Please…" Peter whispered sadly as he shut his eyes tight in some attempt to stem the flowing tears "Come on, just walk through that damn door and make some comment about changing my name to Spider-baby or something…"
But Logan never did...
…
Even before Kaine had arrived in Wakanda to see the results of the X-men's attack on the isolated but technologically advance nation thanks to a lift from Johnny Storm, the clone of Peter Parker knew that something bad had happened. Ever since he was called by Jessica, how she got his number he didn't want to know, and was asked to look after New York for Peter, he had only received vague and sometimes unhelpful information about what happened to Peter.
'Fuck, I only know as much as I do because Jess and Carol kept me in the loop best they could' Kaine thought as he glanced at the distant but foreboding devastation from the latest struggle between the X-men and the Avengers… and the emergence of the Dark Phoenix apparently.
It was then that Kaine felt a hand on his shoulder and the man tensed in reflex before he looked to see it was Johnny that had touched him.
"You good?" the young hero asked.
Kaine's red lenses narrowed "I was just told that my brother went on a near genocidal rampage that resulted in the death of one of his friends, you tell me smart ass"
Johnny's eyes narrowed before he closed them and let out a sigh "Right… sorry"
"It's fine" Kaine said with a tone that said it wasn't but he wasn't willing to pursue it any more than he already had "Just… just show me where he is"
"Right, he's uh… he's this way last time I checked" Johnny said as he gestured for the man to follow after him.
The trek through the halls were tense, partly because numerous Wakandan warriors were rushing past them while others were still brining in people from the flooded city. Kaine had to struggle not to look into certain rooms that had the doors left opened that showed numerous tables lined with sheets with distinct human shapes underneath them. It wasn't until after the duo passed a room that Kaine finally risked a glance and immediately wished he hadn't.
Inside were several hospital beds and each of them were occupied by a small child, some of who were missing either a limb or were so torn up that Kaine didn't even know if it was a child or just a short person.
"Jesus fuckin Christ…" Kaine said as he stared into the room.
Johnny stopped and glanced towards the man with a small nod "Yeah… and their still pulling people out of the city. Most of the Avengers are there now to help Black Panther"
Kaine swallowed nervously as he glanced towards Johnny "Did uh… did Peter-"
"No…" Johnny shook his head vehemently "This… this was all Namor's doing. By the time Peter… well by the time he lost control the city was already flooded. Granted we may have been able to save more lives if it wasn't for the emergence of the Dark Phoenix Force but…"
"Best he's not told that" Kaine said with a nod as the two moved passed the room as a nurse entered it "Man's going to be broken up about killing Logan, no need to add inadvertently causing dozens if not hundreds of others' deaths because everyone was too focused on trying to prevent him from destroying everything else to do search and rescue"
"Strange placed a powerful spell or something like that on Peter's room to prevent the Phoenix and by proxy, him, from possibly sensing all this death going on" Johnny said with a tired sigh "Even if he's going to find out about it anyway"
"One step at a time matchstick" Kaine said as the duo made their way into a less crowded but even more secured area of the building.
It was around this time that the two saw Sue approaching from another hallway and Johnny called her over. Kaine's only ever seen Sue either through Peter's memories or on television but both times the man's seen her as an intellectually, beautiful and confident bad ass of a woman that had him question why Peter never made a move when he had the chance.
But now, well she looked rough. Her eyes were red from a combination of crying and lack of sleep, something half the people here seem to be experiencing.
"Hey Johnny…" Sue said before she saw Kaine and her eyes widened "Oh I'm sorry, I didn't see-"
"It's fine" Kaine said in a reassuring tone "I don't think anyone here was expecting to see me… not for this"
Sue nodded as she brought her arms up and hugged herself. Johnny placed his hand on her shoulder "How's Franklin and Valeria?"
"Confused… worried… wondering what's going to happen to Peter" Sue said as she wiped away a stray tear that fell from her face "I just dragged them away from a room where Reed, Steve and Tony just ended a half hour long argument with Maria, convincing her not to have Peter locked up in some damn SHIELD black site or thrown into the Negative Zone"
"Bitch can try" Kaine growled out as his hand tightened into a fist.
"Did you call Murdock or Walters?" Johnny questioned his sister with worry "If Maria's going to try that-"
"Tony's already called them and they're already putting a defense together for Peter if Maria tries to pull that damn murder angle" Sue said as she pulled Johnny into a tight hug "It's not fair…"
"I know" Johnny said as he rubbed Sue's back while Kaine glanced around, not out of embarrassment but because he kept getting this odd feeling that they weren't alone.
It was then that Kaine felt someone place a hand on his shoulder and he looked to see it was Sue.
"Come on" she said as she gestured for the man to follow her "Peter's down this way"
"Okay…" Kaine said quietly.
Johnny followed after them with an odd look on his face "Wait, how come when I touched you, you freaked out but when Sue did, you didn't seem to mind?"
"Because she's Sue effin Storm-Richards" Kaine said with a small chuckle "What man wouldn't want her touching him, be it platonic or not"
"Down boy… I'm married" Sue said with a small tired grin at the memory of Peter explaining who Kaine was after the events of 'Spider-island'. In the young man's own words, he was pretty much him without a filter… or the strong sense of responsibility and inferiority complexes.
"In this reality… thankfully there's quite a few others where you're not" Kaine said with a small shrug "I'm sure I'll find the Sue of my dreams one day"
Sue was quite for a few seconds before she looked back at him with a small smile "I hope you do too"
The rest of the trip was made in silence with the only sound being their footfalls. Eventually they came upon the door that led into Peter's room with two members of the Dora Milaje outside it. Sue let out an annoyed breath of air.
"Is this really necessary?" she asked the two women warriors.
"Just a safety precaution" one of the women said in a heavy accented voice as she stared at the trio "Our king doesn't wish for any more… issues"
"Well so long as there's no mutant girls with a giant ass sword still running around, I think we'll be fine" Kaine said with annoyance.
"Kaine…" Sue glanced at the man with a look before she looked at the two Dora Milaje "Look, can you come back in ten minutes or something. Give these two some privacy"
The two Dora Milaje stared at Sue's face for several moments before they both nodded "Very well… but only ten minutes"
"Thank you, if anything happens we'll call" Sue said with a tired nod as the two warriors backed away from the two and made their way down the hall.
"You know I thought T'Challa was one lucky bastard for having an entire spec ops unit of women like them as his personal guards on top of being married to Ororo" Kaine said as he watched the two women move out of his sight "But given their personality and the fact Ororo just helped attack his nation, I'm beginning to think he has worse luck in romance then me, Ben and Peter combined"
"Wait till you meet his sister Shuri" Johnny said with a snort before Sue smacked him in the back of the head "Ow…"
Sue gave her brother a look before it softened as she glanced at Kaine "You gonna be okay in there?"
"Yeah… besides he and I haven't really spoken in a while so I guess now is as good as time as any" Kaine said as he glanced at the door and frowned as he for a brief moment made out some sort of magical runes flow over the metal door before vanishing. He then glanced back at Sue "Has he been told-"
"Yes… just… just try to be careful about how you address it… Peter, he didn't take to too well as you can imagine" Sue said as Kaine approached the door and stood before it as it scanned his form before beeping and began to unlock the inner mechanism within it to allow him entry.
Kaine let out a ragged breath as he felt Sue and Johnny's eyes on him as the final lock was released "Not how I thought my first trip to Wakanda would go…"
He then took a deep breath and entered the near barren room with a somewhat steely resolve.
Peter, from what Kaine could see, either didn't notice or didn't care that Kaine was now in the room with him, the man was too busy looking towards the floor, or as close as he could muster given how restrained he was, in silence.
"So… I take it things didn't go all that well huh?" Kaine asked as he removed his mask and ran a hand through his short hair after standing there for some time.
Peter nodded sullenly, his eyes red from crying, or well as close to crying as he was willing to get these days. Nothing was said as the two spider powered men stared at each other in a tense silence. Then again what could either man say?
While they have both come to see each other as brothers, to a very reluctant extent on both parts, they weren't very close outside the occasional call for back up or to make sure the other was still the same old same old. Like they didn't finally snap and go on a murderous rampage. Sometimes the other would find it funny, Peter and by a technicality Kaine, had for so long wished for someone to talk to, someone who truly understood what he's been through and see where they were coming from in the things they've seen and the choices they've made be they good or bad.
And they in a twistedly ironic sense got it, Kaine after all, had all of Peter's memoires from his first seven years as Spider-man, same with Ben. So, he knew what Peter felt when Gwen died, he knew what Peter felt when Jean DeWolff was killed, what it was like to be possessed by Venom, to be fighting against the nightmare that was Thanos with the Infinity Gauntlet and a litany of other events, some small and some so massive both men could barely comprehend them sometimes or how it is they survived it in the first place.
Yet despite all of that, the two could ever really find the right words to say to each other, more often than not falling back on their typical sarcastic remarks and quips. Finally, after what felt like hours, Kaine let out a sigh of exhaustion before nodding at this "Alright then… so now what?"
Peter let out a sniffle as he looked down at his restrained hands "S-Steve and Reed want to uh… relocate me somewhere… somewhere where I can learn how to better control the Phoenix… or try to"
"And how long could that take?" Kaine asked with a frown.
"Don't know… months… years even" Peter said as he tried to adjust his position as best he could.
Kaine gestured towards the restraints after seeing the look of discomfort on Peter's "Are those really necessary, or did you ask them to be kept on?"
"Bit of both" Peter said in a quiet tone "Don't want to risk losing control again"
"From what Sue and Johnny told me, I have some magical mutant with a sword to thank for that. And the band of Mutants she rode in here with named Scott, Emma, Namor, Magento and whatever the hell that girl that's apparently related to Jean from the future. Rebecca or whatever it is"
"Rachel…" Peter corrected.
"Who cares, cause I sure as hell don't" Kaine said as he began to pace the room "So after you manage your new powers, difficult as that may be, what are you going to do about Scott and his little group of Mutant terrorists?"
"What's there to do?" Peter asked with a tired sigh.
"Uh I don't know, get back at them for what they've done maybe?" Kaine said with a frown.
"Attacking them won't fix what happened. I mean yeah they should pay for the Wakandans they killed, but it wasn't the X-men that killed Logan… it was me… the Dark Phoenix" Peter said.
"What's the difference between the Phoenix and Dark Phoenix?" Kaine asked with confusion "Isn't it the same or something like that?"
Peter shook his head "No, I mean it's the Phoenix but it's at the same time not the Phoenix"
"Huh?" Kaine said with a confused look on his face before he gestured for Peter to explain.
"Xavier says that the Dark Phoenix is created when the Phoenix Force is exposed to human emotions, dark and negative ones to be more exact. It turns the Phoenix, corrupts it for the lack of a better term. It changes from a being of life and rebirth to an entity that craves destruction and power" Peter said as he looked down that the floor with a sigh "And the Avengers experienced that first hand…"
"So, the Dark Phoenix is like if the Phoenix got a nice little taste of Venom or whatever?" Kaine asked, trying to make sense of the Phoenix changing into something else while at the same time not "Well shit, and here I thought the damn thing was scary enough on its own"
"Yeah… but that didn't keep Logan from stabbing it… me… through the chest. Just wish it did more than convince the thing to kill him off…" Peter said sadly.
"Funny, I thought nothing could kill that guy" Kaine said with a sigh as he rubbed the back of his head "Though I guess you should count yourself lucky"
"What do you mean?" Peter asked with a troubled look.
"Well as bad as it was, you or well the Dark Phoenix or whatever it's called, only killed one person" Kaine pointed out "I mean sure it beat the Black Widow into a coma and that bow wielding guy Barton won't be walking for a few months after this along with most of the X-men probably, but it could have been a lot worse"
"Yeah… maybe" Peter said with a broken and exhausted expression. Despite the fact he spent the better part of a day unconscious it still felt like he ran a marathon for superhumans like him in mind almost nonstop. His body was still healing and the Phoenix has thankfully been awfully silent during this whole ordeal.
'Though that's likely because of the psionic dampers I have on me. Try to keep it under lock and key until I'm in a better state of mind… heh now that's a joke if I ever heard one. Me, with a good state of mind…' Peter thought before he saw Kaine looking at him strangely "What?"
"You seem a little different is all" Kaine said with a nod thrown towards him "You seem… I don't know, just not the same as the last time I saw you"
"Well I did get blasted by an orbiting weapons platform after getting punched in the face by two Hulks and Carol as Binary" Peter said with a slightly bitter expression as he looked down at his injured form "I doubt any healing factor or insane durability from a source of power that surpasses even the gods will keep you looking the same after that"
"No, it's not that. It's just there's this sort of feeling your giving off that makes you seem different is all" Kaine clarified "Like you're the same but not the same at the same time, if that makes any sense"
"Not really but then when has things in our lives ever make a litany of damn sense" Peter said with a frown.
"Fair point…" Kaine sighed as he glanced around the room "So aside from Adamantium and Vibrainium locks and a few nice looking psionic dampers, what else is keeping you in here?"
"Some spells crated by Strange and Wanda. Might not be enough to stop the Phoenix if it decides it wants out but it should hopefully slow it down" Peter said as he leaned his head back and did his best to stare up at the ceiling.
"Surprised they didn't do that before hand" Kaine commented.
"In their defense, they didn't think I'd lose it that badly that quickly" Peter said quietly.
"Yeah but come on man, it's the freakin Phoenix Force, at what point in the times it's been on earth has things ever gone well with it? I mean shit man, with your luck that should have sent up everyone's red flags" Kaine said with a grim chuckle "If anything we're lucky you didn't end up eating a star or something which resulted in the deaths of bill-"
"You know Kaine, as much as I appreciate you being here, I'd appreciate it even more if you shut the hell up!" Peter snapped at the man.
Kaine quirked a brow at this "Just saying…"
"Yeah well right now I'm still trying to deal with the fact I killed just one person, I'd rather not have to deal with the possibility of causing the deaths of even more!" Peter said with growing aggravation.
For a brief moment Kaine felt his spider-sense go off and the lights in the room flickered ever so briefly before they stopped and the tingling sensation of Kaine's sixth sense died down.
Peter took a deep breath before he let out a small exhale through his nose "Sorry…"
"I'm a big boy Peter, I can stand a raised voice or two thrown my way" Kaine said as the room slowly fell back into a sort of awkward silence.
Finally, after several minutes had passed at a painstakingly slow rate, Kaine muttered a low 'fuck it' and stood up and placed his hand on Peter's head and gave it a sort of heartfelt if awkward pat on the head. The new host of the Phoenix force glanced up at the man best he could with confusion and embarrassment written all over his face.
"Uh, what are you doing?"
"That weird pat that 'brothers' are supposed to do that means 'I'm here for you and I'll watch your back'. Why am I doing it wrong?" Kaine asked as pulled his hand back and glanced at it "Hmmm… weird"
"Something wrong?" Peter asked as he looked up at Kaine best he could.
"Nah, just they might need to really tweak those psionic dampers is all, felt almost like a rush of energy flowed through and around me when I touched you. Didn't help when you raised your voice a little earlier at me I felt my spider-sense go off while the lights flickered" Kaine said as he lowered his hand just as the door opened to reveal Steve, Reed and Stark.
Kaine's eyes narrowed at the trio "What do you three want? We're having one of those weird brotherly bonding moments that's more awkward then heartfelt"
"Kaine, please try to be nice" Peter sighed in exasperation.
"Why should I?" Kaine questioned his genetic template as he nodded towards the three "Out of all of them, the only one I like is Rogers since he's so far yet to screw you over in any real way outside being a better hero that can make throwing a shield seem badass"
"How'd I screw Parker over?" Stark asked with a frown while Reed adverted his gaze towards something else in the room, the leader of the four didn't need to be told how he 'screwed Peter over' as Kaine put it.
Kaine simply stared at him as he slid on his mask, waited a second before pulling it off "Hi world filled with a lot of people that hate me, my name is Peter Parker and I've been convinced to help Stark arrest people be they heroes or villains but mostly heroes and lock them away in the life draining Negative Zone. The only good thing you ever did to him was give him that sweet Iron Spider suit that we've since made far better advancements to"
"You've been tinkering with my Iron Spider suit?" Peter asked with surprise.
Kaine shrugged as he glanced at Peter "Hey, I have a lot of free time working in your lab at Horizon when I'm not playing you or sleeping with your feisty co-worker Sanjai"
"Wait what?!" Peter said in surprise before Steve cleared his throat
"As much as I would like to hear that, and to be honest I actually don't, it's time" the first Avenger said with an uncomfortable expression on his face.
"Time for what?" Kaine asked with narrowed eyes.
"We're moving Peter to somewhere more secured so he can learn how to better control his new-found powers, well most of them any how" Reed spoke in a diplomatic tone "And before you ask, no it's not some SHIELD black site"
"And where is this place?" Peter asked nervously.
"Yeah, I want to know where too" Kaine said as he glanced between the three while he slowly got between them and Peter and stared them down with narrowed eyes "That way if you all try something, I want to know where I'm breaking into and how much hell I can reasonably raise"
Steve stared at the dark minded spider man for a moment before he took a deep breath and revealed the location
"K'un-Lun"
…
And done.
Next chapter, Peter is relocated to K'un-Lun to begin training in controlling the power of the Phoenix with the aid of the Immortal Iron Fist and the Scarlet Witch while struggling to come to terms with what happened in Wakanda. Meanwhile Lady Death locates and confronts the Beyonder in regards to convincing the Phoenix Force to choose Spider-man as its new Avatar…
Also, anyone hear the word for December? Marvel seems to actually be doing something right for a change, bringing back a character that we've all have been hoping to see for some time now but only got glorified cameos that were left as either possible hallucinations or the real thing or just the occasional mention, but nope Marvel's actually going through with it seems and their going to keep them around.
THE ORGINAL JEAN GREY IS COMING BACK!
Let's just hope Marvel doesn't pussy out like they did with Hickman's run that led up to Secret Wars and Battleworld and was supposed to be a hard reboot for Marvel's comics.