"Spider-Man, Spider-Man, does whatever a spider can. Spins a web any size. Catches crooks just like… nah this song sucks." Peter Parker said to himself as he took a nosedive off a forty-story building. When he was halfway down he simply pointed his wrist straight up and a web line shot out at high velocity sticking to a flagpole. Grabbing the web line and pulling his legs in he became a human wrecking ball spinning around the pole. When it looked as if his trips around the pole had brought him too close to the pole, he extended his legs and fired out like a torpedo and after a few somersaults he fired another web line and swung downwards towards the street. Another web line was fired and Peter rode an invisible wave back up towards the freedom of the sky. It was as close as he got to flying. The feeling was amazing. Spectacular. Sensational. Eh, it was vintage Peter Parker AKA Spider-Man!
"Days like this are the best. I have the photos in on Jonah's desk, low crime rate, and a whole afternoon of nothing but carefree swinging." Spider-Man smiled underneath his full-face mask. A mere moment later there was a distinct buzzing in his head. "And I've just jinxed it. Nice one Pete."
Spider-Man spied the area, "Nothing happening on the streets below. No costumed psychopaths flying around in the air. I don't see anything that would be setting off my spider-sense. Must be getting senile in my old age."
Out of the corner of his eye Peter saw something coming towards him at high speeds. He had no time to react as the booted foot hit him right in the face with a loud crack. His hand slipped off of his webbing and he was suddenly freefalling. Spider-Man's form smashed through the window of an office building a moment later. Peter cursed inwardly as he impacted the glass and it tore his costume and cut into him. He groaned as he hit the office buildings interior floor.
"Ya know Spidey, getting senile in your old age usually provides becoming old but at the rate you're going you'll be lucky to turn thirty." Spider-Man said to himself as he stood up and various employees of the building were looking at him, "Sorry about that folks. Got the sun in my eye. It happens sometimes."
Spider-Man then felt an impact on the building. Then another. Then another.
"Whoever attacked me must have landed on the side of the building and is climbing up." He thought, "That means they're pretty strong. Well strong or not we're going bungee jumping, Manhattan style!"
Spider-Man gracefully lept out the window and swan dived down below the building's climber and then fired two streams of webbing from his costume's web shooters. They hit their target on the back. Now all that was required was for physics to do its work and Peter would be pulling the idiot who had attacked him down the building screaming. At least that was the plan.
Peter crashed into the side of the building with a dull thud. He groaned again. Whoever he had webbed hung onto the building and basically made him look like an idiot. His spider-sense blared a moment later, and sticking to the wall he dashed out of the way of the piece of the building as it plummeted past where his head would have been.
"Okay chowderhead, that's not playing fair. Time for me to…to…die." Spider-Man sighed as he looked up and saw his opponent's face.
"Hello." Morlun said calmly with a smile on his face.
"Not you again! You're dead!" Spider-Man exclaimed.
"I got better." Morlun said before letting go of the wall and diving towards Spider-Man.
"Well obviously." Spider-Man sighed. This was going to hurt.
Buffy caught the man in what could be termed a death grip. He wouldn't get away this time. She had him right where she wanted him. She smiled.
"It's good to see you Scott." Buffy said to her cousin.
The tall brown haired man with the strange red glasses smiled back and responded with a death grip of his own.
"It's been too long Buff." Scott Summers, the X-Man known more commonly as Cyclops replied.
They released one another from their hugs and Scott immediately went to place Dawn in a similar bear hug.
"Good to see you too Dawnie." Scott said hugging his younger cousin.
"You stayed away too long." Dawn replied as Scott relinquished his hold. He then noticed the black haired guy who was about his height standing with Buffy and Dawn.
"Hey. I'm Xander. We don't need to hug." Xander said with a wave.
"I'm Scott." Scott said extending his hand to Xander, who took it, "So you're THE Xander huh?"
"My reputation precedes me. That's a good thing right?" Xander asked.
"Well since I've got you to thank for my cousin being alive right now, I'd say so." Scott replied.
Xander looked confused. Luckily Buffy stepped in.
"I told him about how you gave me CPR after the Master drowned me." Buffy explained.
"OH! That! Man, that was forever and a day ago." Xander suddenly remembered, "Wait a minute, he knows you're a Slayer?"
"Yeah, Buffy told me about her extracurricular activities when I came out to visit her after graduation. She knows I'm a mutant, so she told me she was a Slayer." Scott explained.
"Least I could do." Buffy replied.
"Wait up, you're a mutant?" Xander asked, shocked.
"That's not a problem is it?" Scott asked slightly defensively, unsure what Xander's next move would be. Xander just grinned ear to ear.
"That is so cool man. I would so pay money to be a mutant." Xander grinned some more.
"Sometimes we think you are." Dawn muttered with a sly grin.
"Wow. That's a surprising reaction. Most people aren't that tolerant. Especially when you can blow them to pieces just by looking at them." Scott replied.
"Well my best friend is both a witch and a lesbian so I kind of live outside the norm." Xander explained.
"That would be…Willow right?" Scott asked Buffy.
"Yeah. She's kind of busy. Studying with this Dr. Strange guy." Buffy answered.
"He's a good man. She's in good hands." Scott replied.
"Yeah, we're going to meet her and another friend later for dinner." Buffy said. Then she noticed something was off. "Hey Scott, where's Jean? She meeting up with us later?"
Scott looked down when he heard that and lost his happy demeanor. Buffy knew something was up.
"Hey Xander, take Dawn and go get a hot dog okay?" Buffy said.
Xander nodded, "Way ahead of ya Buff."
"Huh?" Dawn asked as she looked back and forth between Buffy and Scott. Then it hit her that Buffy wanted to talk to Scott alone. "Oh yeah. Hot dog. Maybe two."
As they walked off, Buffy turned back to Scott.
"Scottie, what's wrong?" Buffy asked her cousin.
"Nothing." Was Scott's reply.
"Scottie." Buffy said with some force.
Scott sighed, "Can we take a walk?"
"Sure, but start talking. Are you and Jean alright?" Buffy asked.
"No. No we're not alright. We are the furthest thing from alright." Scott mumbled.
"You want to talk about it?" Buffy prodded as she walked with her cousin.
"Yeah, at least I know you won't try and seduce me." Scott replied.
"Huh?" Buffy asked.
"Buffy, I'm not sure how to tell you this but things haven't been going well recently. This is going to sound far fetched, but about a year and a half ago, I died." Scott said looking up at the sky.
"That doesn't sound so far fetched." Buffy said remembering her own death at around the same time.
"You actually believe me?" Scott asked, "Most people wouldn't."
"Scottie, in case you didn't notice we're hardly most people." Buffy replied.
"Thank God I can actually talk to someone about this. I was, absorbed, I guess is the best way to put it by a powerful mutant called Apocalypse. I became part of him and he screwed up my mind. He screwed it up to the point that when I came back to "life", I didn't care about anyone or anything anymore. I just felt empty. Can you imagine what that's like?" Scott asked, turning to her. To his surprise Buffy wasn't shocked at all.
"Yeah Scott. Yeah I can." Buffy replied remembering the way she had felt after her own resurrection.
"Jean and I seemed alright at first, but then things started to slip away. I became attracted to another teacher at the school, Emma. She disgusted me in a lot of ways. She was everything I hated in a person, but I wanted her. I wanted her so much that we began a telepathic affair. Nothing physical. Just thoughts. It was sick and made me feel dirty, but by God it made me feel something instead of all this nothing I usually feel." Scott went on.
Buffy listened to his words and was reminded of her previous love affair with Spike. How he had been the only one who could make her feel alive, and how she hated it and him. She could truly empathize with her cousin.
"Scott, I went through some really similar circumstances not too long back. It gets better. You just have to let your friends help you through it. Don't shut them out, because it will only get worse if you do. And don't shut me out either. It's just like what I went through, death and all." Buffy said, hugging him. Scott hugged back.
"Jean found out and is possessed by the Phoenix Force again." Scott said as he embraced his cousin.
"Oh shit. You win." Buffy said thinking of Scott's already powerful wife, now a cosmic force capable of wiping out solar systems.
"There are other things that have been bothering me too." Scott grimaced, "Buffy, something happened to my brother Alex. He's in a coma."
"Oh God." Buffy replied again. She suddenly hoped Xander and Dawn got more than just one hot dog.
Los Angeles
Deep in the bowels of the Hyperion Hotel, in a cage in the basement, one of the most evil creatures in all creation slept blissfully under the influence of a supernatural drug. He smirked slightly in his sleep. Despite his great evil, his face was the mask of a cherub. Something so beautiful that hid something so deadly. His stomach growled, despite the meal he had begun before he was rendered unconscious, he would soon need food again. Soon he would wake up and feed again. Suddenly, he thrashed in his sleep. Something horrible was going on in his dreams. Something ghastly. Something that made him talk in his sleep. Something involving a puppy.
"N-no…. gotta get…out of here…. can't watch it again. Don't…no don't save it….…. God I r-really am…in…in Hell…ZZZZZZ"
Upstairs, voices were arguing.
"We can't kill him.", a dry British one said.
"Why not?", another younger voice sounded. Full of anger and resentment.
"Look kid, that's your dad down there.", another gruffer voice said.
"So?", the young one asked again.
"I can't believe you said that!" a feminine voice with a hint of Southern drawl added.
"He may know something about the Beast's master. We simply have to restore his soul to him.", the British voice said again.
"Yeah, Wes is right. After that, we'll have Angel Cakes back and we can stop the big Thing-a-mah-bad out there.", a mellow voice added.
"He's killed already. He has to die.", the young one said again.
"That is your father down there. More than that, he's the Powers That Be's Champion. We must restore his soul. If only we knew how." The British voice said again, slightly annoyed.
"Sounds like you guys don't need a champion." A new voice rang out.
All the owners of the voices turned towards the hotel's doorway to find Willow standing there with Doctor Strange a few feet behind her.
"Sounds like you need a witch." Willow smiled.