I hope you don't get confused with this chapter. It starts out with a dream that Peter had the night before the second chapter. Then it switches back to where the second chapter left off. Hopefully, I don't confuse anyone...

-Flashback-

The night before:

BEN RICHARD BEN RICHARD BEN RICHARD BEN RICHARD

Peter was running. He was running into nothingness, eyes shut. All he could hear was the names of his father and uncle playing and replaying through his mind...

Peter sat bolt upright in his bed, a cold sweat running down his face.

Just a nightmare, Pete. Don't get so upset, he thought to himself.

Peter Parker, a.k.a Spider-Man, looked over at his beloved wife, Mary Jane Watson. She was sleeping peacefully next to him. A smile spread across his face as he looked at the woman he loved.

As he lay back down to sleep, the words that he had heard in his dream would once again not stop playing in his mind.

-Present Time-

Peter's mind worked in utter confusion as he looked at the man in front of him. He figured the man was only about nineteen, but why was he on a roof?

"What do you want?" asked Spider-Man.

"Are you a mutant?" questioned Ben suddenly.

"Am I a what?"

"A mutant. Do you have these powers because you are a mutant?"

"Well, no, I'm not a mutant. Who are you?"

Ben answered, "I am a mutant, and I think I have to the same powers as you. I know you can climb walls, so can I. I also know you are agile and have super strength, and so do I. I thought you and I had the exact same powers, but I can't shoot webs like you. Do you know why? Oh yeah, and do you get that funny tingling feeling when something's not right around you?" Ben said all of this in a rush, words tumbling out of his mouth one after another.

"Wait a second. You're saying you have the same powers as me and you're a mutant?" Ben nodded as a look of comprehension spread across Peter's invisible face, "Are you that mutant that I heard about? The one that was running from the police?"

"Yeah, but—"

The superhero cut him off. "Why were you running from the police?"

"Because I hit some guy, but it was out of self defense. When I was tried I was sent to jail because the judge was prejudice against mutants. Well, I broke out of the prison yesterday, and now the police are looking for me. The only place I could think of going was to you."

Spidey soaked all of this in. A mutant with his powers?

"What's your name?" asked Spider-Man.

"Ben Richards."

Ben heard Spidey gasp. Peter had just remembered the strange dream he had the night before. Was it really only a dream about his deceased father and uncle, or was it more?

Ben interrupted Spidey's thoughts. "What?"

"Nothing, it—it's nothing."

"Tell me," said Ben.

"It's nothing. Never mind."

"Do you have, like, a place to go 'cause I'm starving."

"A place to go?" asked Spidey, obviously confused.

"You know, for food?"

"Oh, yeah, I know a place."

"Are you sure nobody will say anything with you dressed like that?" whispered Ben across the table to the masked vigilante.

Spidey had brought the mutant to a small dingy coffee shop whose front door was placed in an alleyway that rivaled the small dingy-ness of the shop itself.

"I'm sure. They get quite the crowd here, but they make great coffee. I come in here all the time in my costume," Spidey replied.

Spider-Man watched as Ben took a sip of the coffee and instantly spit it out. He laughed and took a sip of his own.

"Bit too strong there?" Spidey laughed again.

"You could've warned me." This made the hero laugh even harder.

Ben could not help but laugh also.

Once the two had stopped, Ben said, "You really got a kick out of that, huh?"

"Yeah, well... Hey, do you want food with that? I know you gotta' be hungry," offered Spidey.

"Hungry's not the word, but I don't have any money."

"I'll treat you. Waitor, could we have a couple of sandwiches?" he called across the shop.

The waitor didn't so much as look up, but he did start to make the sandwiches. When they were served, Ben quickly grabbed his and started to scarf it down.

"Hungry?"

Between gulps, Ben managed to say, "Just a bit."

When the food was completely devoured, Spider-Man slipped the money onto the table. When Ben and Spidey couldn't be seen in the alley, they scaled the shop's wall and reached the roof.

"Well, I've gotta' run. I have work to do," said Spidey.

Ben nodded.

This could be the start of a great new friendship, he thought.