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 13: Turning Against Him

As Spider-Man web-swung to Donna's house, he saw a very pretty familiar face. MJ, he thought. He put the file in his bag, and swung down to see her. Her eyes were bloodshot; her cheeks hollow, as if she hadn't been eating. Her hair was unkempt and she stared at him as if he were a ghost.

"What do you want?" she asked.

"Talk to me?" he inquired softly. He took a step closer.

It took a moment, but then something clicked, and anger flared up in her eyes. "Not on your life!" she growled, shoved him backwards, and then started to scream bloody murder. "HELP ME! HELP! SPIDER-MAN'S TRYING TO RAPE ME!"

Stunned by disbelief, he stood there, not moving. It wasn't until he saw people gathering did he swing out of the area. He didn't see MJ walk backwards into the street, not paying attention to where she was going with a horrified look on her face.

He heard a gunshot nearby, and went to investigate. As he got closer, he noticed a woman and a tiger closing in on a bank robber. Confusion abounded in his mind, and he webbed up the robber from his vantage point. He almost let go of the wall in astonishment when the tiger turned human. She looked no older than 17 with her blonde curls and large, blue eyes.

"Spider-Man!" she called.

He walked slowly over to them. "Hi there. I'm guessing you've been doing these kinds of things since I've been gone?" he asked.

The woman tossed her layered, brown hair back and nodded. "I'm Nightingale. This is Annie," she introduced.

"Mutants?"

Annie nodded enthusiastically. "We've been doing your job for you. We hope we're doing it right," she gushed.

Spider-Man would have laughed a bit at her enthusiasm, but didn't find himself in the mood to laugh at all. "Since I haven't seen tabloids with headlines like 'Crime up 75%', you're obviously doing something right," he assured.

Annie flashed a large smile, but Nightingale looked a bit perturbed. "Why are you here, anyway?" she asked curtly.

"I came back to do some unfinished business. Now that it's done, I can go back—"

"I meant 'Why are you taking Donna with you?'" she rephrased snidely.

"Donna's been chosen, like me, to be a part of something bigger than this city and its people." He carefully evaded that question. Unfortunately, Nightingale saw right through it.

"You're taking her to her death, aren't you, you bastard?" she snarled. She went to take a swipe at him, but Spider-Man was faster. He quickly webbed her wrists together and held them in one hand.

"What she's doing is of her own accord. It's not my fault she was chosen to leave. She knows the risks, and looks forward to them," he explained while Nightingale fought against his immense strength.

"Let go of me!"

"I will, if you swear that you won't try to fight me. I'm on the same side as you," he reminded.

"Fine," she spat. "I promise."

Spider-Man let go of her wrists and ripped the webbing in one swift motion. Nightingale looked at the web still on her wrists.

"You're a freak," she sneered. Her face held a look of disgust as she shed the webbing from her hands.

"Not any more so than you, I imagine," he quipped.

"I don't make…animal excrements come out of my body like that."

"I'm sure you're power is something equally disgusting to someone else."

She glared at him.

"Karen! Leave him alone. It's Spider-Man, for crying out loud," Annie spoke up.

"Thanks, Annie. I can take care of myself, though. I hope I see you some time in the future. Both of you; especially you, Nightingale, being as charming as you are." He chuckled softly as he swung away.

He found Donna's address easily enough, having been in the area twice before. He found that the more times he went in, the easier it was to navigate around the puzzling area. He knocked on the door and was let in.

The first thing Peter noticed was that the house was very neat. The chairs and couches had plastic coverings on them and everything was immaculate. "Used to having visitors?" he asked her.

She sighed. "Not really," she responded dreamily. "I just like to keep a clean home."

Shrugging, Peter followed her to the guestroom, where he changed back into his normal clothes. It was then that all the occurrences of the day came back to him. His battered heart felt deflated at MJ's reaction to seeing him. He felt as if a dark cloud had come to rest over his head. He'd humored Nightingale's attitude towards him, but that hurt, too. Why was everyone turning against him? He'd done nothing wrong! Mary Jane's actions were just odd and painful. He couldn't think of why she would suddenly reject him. Thinking about it made his head hurt and his eyes tear. Mary Jane knows that I love her. How could she forget? he mused depressingly. He cared so much about her it killed him. No one cared about him any more, he thought. He knew someone who used to, but it wouldn't help anything if she was dead.

Jackie and Inigo collapsed on the stairs of Xavier's School at about noon. Jackie couldn't move anymore, or she'd faint. Inigo's arms were killing him from holding on. On the last part of the journey, the two just shut up, knowing that arguing would just get them more exhausted. They took deep breaths, hoping someone would find them and they wouldn't have to knock. They lay there for two hours before Inigo found that he could get up. He pounded on the doors with his body weight, and then heard footsteps approaching.

"Someone's coming," he mumbled.

"Eh," was the only thing Jackie was capable of saying. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head and she passed out.

The door opened, and Logan saw the two youths. He lifted Jackie and led Inigo to the infirmary.

(A/N: I'm real sorry I haven't been updating in a while, but I started high school Tuesday and it's a BLAST!!! Holy cow I've already got a full blown crush [and going through drama cuz of this other girl], and I'm already beginning to get to know everybody! It's crazy!!! I hope you'll forgive me for this...I'll make it up to you by posting another chapter right after this one.

Mary Jane Watson-Parker: It wasn't easy, I can tell you that much! -winks back- Anywayz, glad you liked the last chapter. Sorry for taking so long with this one! Life grabbed me and shoved me into a large high school named Argo without directions on how to get around :-p. Thanks for reviewing, and hope you like the next couple chapters (which are getting posted at the same time!!!)

DiabloDude1: Did I tell you this before? Hmmm...Well I'll say it again, anywayz. I LOVE TO HEAR RAMBLING!! It reminds me of what I love to do :-p. Yeah...you reviewing quickly is messy...-sigh- I can't review that fast anyway cuz of life, now. Thanks for reviewing and I hope you like the next couple chapters.

Oddball91: (the confused one) Lol! Confused is a good thing. OMG this girl Carolina (freshmen) likes Droubie too!!! It was so funny i think she wanted to get me jealous or something at swim practice but it didnt work and she was all like "Well he likes me, too..." and crap. I was just like "Ok...I care why?" LOL!! Sorry about that...You can look Kiyoshi's name up at babynames . com . and type in Kiyoshi. Thanks for reviewing. Hope you enjoy the next couple chapters! LYLAS 4EVR!!! AND EVR EVR EVR until God brings us home! :-D

I'm a people-person. I get to exercise that trait when I get to talk to people because they reviewed my story. Help me exercise my people-person-ness. (lol) and review. Please!!!! -waves good bye-)