Severing Ties
Summary: Things are looking up for Peter. It had been a few months since Doctor Octavius passed away, and Peter was getting his life on track except for a few things that wouldn't let him be. That's all about to change as someone, somewhere, needs Peter, and he's going to be in for a wild ride.
Chapter 8: Meet Virginia
Peter whipped around. "Who's there?" he called out.
"Xavier's started on him," Logan commented to Scott.
"Peter."
"Why is there a voice calling to me?" he asked Scott.
"You'll see." He opened a pair of oak doors and led him in. Sitting at the window was an elderly man who was bald and in a wheelchair.
"Welcome, Mr. Parker. My name is Professor Charles Xavier, and I am the headmaster of this school," the man said.
Peter, still in the Spider-Man getup, didn't even ask how he knew his name. "What do you want with me?" he asked.
"I was wondering if you'd like to help us. What with your abilities and background, you would have been a target to those machines, and if you were to join us, we couldn't have you 'registered,' now, could we?"
"What exactly do you do?" Peter inquired.
"We campaign for mutant rights. We find the oppressed mutants and take them here, where it is a haven. We stop those trying to harm others, and we teach those who are underage responsibility. Something, I'm sure, Mr. Parker, you understand completely."
How he knew was beyond Peter, but there was only one more question on his mind. "What are you going to do about Jackie?" he asked.
"Virginia Salvani will be closely watched by the mutants in the area. For too long they have hidden inside the enemies' quarters, and they will break free now, and help young Virginia back."
Peter felt his thoughts being probed. His perplexity was let known to the professor.
"Virginia Salvani is well known to all mutants. With her powers, everyone who knew anyone that was a mutant knew of the girl nicknamed Jack-of-all-trades. All her life she was shunned, and when people finally started to notice her, they saw that she was, indeed, a very powerful little girl. She came to us five years ago. She has changed very much since then. I realized that she could be a very valuable asset in our latest… mission, I guess you could call it. When we planted her at Columbia University, she could not have her real name. As to avoid confusion, we gave her all the credentials to be Jacquelyn Marie Salvani, instead of Virginia Rhian Salvani. The people from this school are used to calling her 'Jack,' so it would not be too much of a change to get people to call her 'Jackie.'"
Peter nodded. It all made sense. "I'll join your group. What do I do, now?"
Jackie collapsed on her porch in her regular clothes at five in the morning after her first day of patrolling NYC. Her breathing was heavy and she was exhausted. "How the hell does Peter do this every day?" she asked to no one in particular. She wasn't working, or going to school. She basically didn't exist, except when she had her black outfit on and she was defeating crime. A new baddy showed up and tried to use her to get Spider-Man to come back, but he had realized that Spider-Man was gone forever. After a death-defying plunge to the ground from a hundred story building, Jackie was shaken to the core. Still was. Then he attempted to blow the hundred story building up. She was able to get everyone out, but there were still a few casualties; people who were walking by, or the people who didn't hear the announcement to evacuate the building. She'd left with one of the police officers telling her that 'she couldn't save them all.' Now, she crawled on her hands and knees throughout her house and found a message on her answering machine.
"Hey, Jackie. It's MJ. Have you seen Peter? He's gone. He was supposed to move in with me, today, but I have no idea where he went. If you've seen him, give me a call, will you, please? I'm half out of my mind with worry. He wouldn't be gone a whole day doing…other stuff, but he hasn't been in all day!"
Lady, I just spent a whole day doing other stuff. It's entirely possible he could spend the rest of his life doing that, and nothing but that, Jackie thought in response to the message. She sighed as she strained to stand and then she picked up the phone and dialed the number MJ left in the message.
"It's Jackie," she said into the phone. She didn't know whether or not MJ would even be up this late, or rather, this early.
"Oh, my God, do you have any idea where Peter is?" MJ asked frantically. So she was. Jackie now knew the extent of her affection for Peter.
Jackie decided the truth would be best. "Peter isn't coming back, MJ. He's been recruited for something much bigger than crime-fighting in this city."
"You know? He told you?" Jackie knew she was talking about the fact that he was Spider-Man.
"I won a bet, but I would have found out eventually. There is an organization that wanted Peter's help with something. It has to do with mutants."
"You mean Peter just left everything?"
"Exactly. I'm telling you this because I think you're a good person and friend. And because Peter loves you." She paused while MJ held her breath. "I was a plant. I was to talk to Spider-Man and get him to join the organization."
There was silence on the other line. Suddenly, Jackie heard the dial tone. She swore to herself as she hung up. She cursed herself for thinking MJ would understand.
Damn the world, and all who live in it, Harry thought to himself as he reflected on his latest failure. He meant to capture the little super-heroine and lure Spider-Man to come to him. Then the bitch told him that Spider-Man was gone forever, and that he, Harry, would never be able to touch him. Furious, he had thrown the girl over the side of the building. From her screams, he doubted she lived through it. He smiled evilly. She deserved it. They all deserved it when the building blew. Every single one of those people deserved to die for different reasons. Harry's madness talked to him late into the night. Though it had started as his father's, the voice slowly changed into his own and his original intentions were forgotten. The only clear thing that was constant now was the fact that Spider-Man must die. He fell asleep thinking about all the satisfying ways to kill Spider-Man and his adoring fan in black that was covering for him.
Jackie woke up when the alarm in her head went off. She'd thought of a power that would tell her when something notorious was going on, and it worked. In Jackie's opinion, it worked too well. She'd slimmed down the requirements, and it was still buzzing every few hours. She got up and immediately put on her outfit and headed out from the back. She followed the alarm, and found the baddy from yesterday. He was green and tall and he was standing on a flying machine.
"Not you, again," Jackie moaned.
"I suppose I could say the same for you."
In the back of her mind, Jackie vaguely remembered hearing Peter talk about the Green Goblin. She'd read about him, too, of course. But she thought he'd died. She didn't ponder on that subject because bombs were flying at her.
She jumped out of the way as the Green Goblin threw a ball at her that opened up into ninja stars.
"Just don't seem to die, do you, little girl?" Goblin asked mockingly.
"I'm Jack-of-All-Trades, not some little girl." Jackie closed her eyes, and Goblin's glider stopped working, and he plummeted to the ground to his death. Knowing it was too easy, Jackie looked to the ground to see a pumpkin bomb explode in her face, and then she felt nothing as blackness enveloped her.
(A/N: Right about now you wanna kill me, right? I hope not! -shudders-. Those who have seen X-Men 1 should have been able to recognize that the one who called Peter was Professor Xavier!
Laurajslr: There are supposed to be a lot questions. -hehehe- I like confusing people. I live off constructive criticism! Never hesitate to tell me it. I'm not that good with feelings (then why am I writing drama? NO CLUE!) and I tend to forget about certain things…like, not remembering to put in the battle that went on in Peter's mind. Because it was a battle. There are a lot more cliffhangers…I've prewritten everything up to chapter 15, I think. Lemmie tell ya, it gets very interesting! Thanks very much for reviewing!
Oddball91: Hello, hello. Thanks much for leaving a review, this time. No, don't pull out your hair! Speaking of hair…I'm dying mine red -big grin-. I like it.
Mary Jane Watson-Parker: My thanks to you who has left me such a nice review! I appreciate it bundles! Here's the next chapter!
I'd love you if you reviewed!)