A sound made a way into his unconscious mind. It was a voice...a soft singing voice. His aunt used to always sing to him when he was a child. She had a voice of an angel. Soft. Serine. However, as his mind became conscious, the voice changed. Peter slowly opened his eyes, which felt like lifting a million pounds off the ground. His sight slowly became clear He noticed that he was in his bedroom at the mansion, and he fixed his eyes on the girl who was making that beautiful, yet, different sound. She looked over to him and noticed his eyes open. "Your awake," Ororo said in relief after she stopped singing. "I'm so glad. You've been asleep for over 12 hours."

Peter found it hard to move. He was sore on his chest and arms, and his legs just weren't responding to his thoughts. Peter curled his finger signaling Ororo to come closer. She leaned in towards him. He tried to say words, but he couldn't speak loud enough. Ororo leaned in closer putting her ear near his mouth, and the words suddenly became very clear. "I'm I dead yet?"

"Not yet," assured Ororo. "The professor will be glad to know your awake. I'll go get him." Ororo left the room.

Professor Xavier stopped outside of Peter's room, and knocked on the door. Peter yelled as loud as he can for the professor to come in...but is was still just loud enough to hear. The professor entered his room. "Good morning, Peter," began the professor. "Or should I say, good afternoon." Peter laughed in agony. "How are you feeling?"

"Aches and pains," said Peter simply. "I'll get over it.

"I'm glad to hear it," replied the professor, followed by a short silence. "Listen, I admire your will to help Rogue, but you could have been killed," the professor got straight to the point. "Next time Logan tells you to stay, I expect you to listen to him."

The professor was pretty understanding for a guy who almost had to explain to May Parker why her only nephew had to be scraped off the ground and into a coffin. "Yes sir," replied Peter on instinct. "I will. I'm sorry."

"Good," replied Charles Xavier. "Now that we're clear on that, We have more...practical...matters." The professor began to unfold the newspaper that he had in his hand.

Great...There's more. Xavier showed Peter the front page of the newspaper, revealing a picture of....Spider-Man! Peter felt that he was going to pass out again. He didn't even take into consideration about the professor, or Logan, or Scott coming across the Daily Bugle.

"Shit..." said Peter under his breathe.

"Look familiar?" asked the professor. "Now, I've dealt with a lot of kids getting themselves in trouble in recent years, and usually their first defense is the ever-famous 'I didn't do it.'" Peter decided not to respond to that. "But, I don't know too many people who wear blue and red spandex, so I think we could skip that part." Peter once again didn't reply, simply because he didn't know what to say. "Let's see what the newspaper had to say about you," said the proffesor as he began reading. "'Spider-Man, Hero or Menace?'

Menace?

"'Many New Yorkers heard of the recent urban myth about a man who takes the image of an insect swinging about our fair city, and many have heard of the lives he saves and the robberies he has stop...'" The professor skipped a few lines. "'Why wear a mask? What does this guy have to hide? Stopping an incident he probably caused?'"

Peter once again didn't say anything.

"Listen Peter," began the professor giving the speech that he is all too familiar with. "I understand that you want to help people with your powers, and I respect and admire that, and believe me, your not the first one around here to want that. But the fact is that mankind isn't ready for us yet." Peter realized that the false article from the Daily Bugle was proof of that. "Now, you didn't do much 'damage' to our 'underground' status. Doctors and scientists are claiming that you are using advanced technology for your abilities. They don't believe your simply have 'gifts'." Peter was a little relieved to hear that. "But, I honestly think that now just isn't the time."

Peter's mind was flooded with thoughts...he just hoped the professor wasn't reading them. "Ok, professor," Peter finally spoke. "I understand."

"Good," exclaimed the professor. "Well, as you can imagine, it's far too late for you to go school now, so I asked Kurt to pick up your homework."

Peter nodded his head. Homework never bothered Peter, but in that instant...something else did. "Rogue!" Peter practically yelled. "How is she!? Is she alright!?"

"Calm down, Peter," said the professor smiling at Peter's concern. "Rogue is fine. She's just shaken up, is all." Peter sighed in relief. "She's resting in the infirmary, but I'm afraid it'll be a while before she gets back on her feet."

"Well," began Peter. "As long as she's fine..."

"You need your rest too," assured the professor as he turned around to leave Peter's bedroom. "I'll leave you to recover fully." Peter went back to his thoughts about what he's planning on doing. "By the way," began the professor one more time. "We have a training session before school tomorrow." On a Friday??? "If you don't feel up to it, let me know," said the professor as he left the room.

"Beautiful...."

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Peter healed very quickly, thanks to a certain spider venom. By 3 o'clock that afternoon, he was up, at 'em, and eating. Peter always thought helping the helpless and practically saving the life of one of your best friends always worked up an appetite, and the fact that he slept through breakfast this morning didn't help. Munching on left over pizza and canned foods was one of Peter's favorite past-times, but it was interrupted by a sudden thud on the table. Peter quickly look at what made the thud. It was a huge book. Peter looked up to see Kurt practically out of breathe. "Hey Kurt," said Peter. "What's that for?"

"It's a new chemistry book for you," said Kurt sounding a little angry. "Damn it, Pete. Vhat zhe hell do you need all these books for?"

"What are you talking about?" asked Peter.

"Vhat I'm I talking about!?" mimicked Kurt a little loudly. "Remember your first day of school? You only have 6 classes, but you brought home almost 10 text books!! What do you do with all of those?"

"I eat them," replied Peter with a smile.

"Funny," replied Kurt, as Peter went back to his food. "So...How are you feeling?"

"Not too bad, actually," replied Peter with food still in his mouth. "Those beams just knocked the wind out of me...so much that I passed out. I have a few pains still, but they'll go away in a week or two."

"And Rogue?"

"Your guess is as good as mine. I just got out of bed 20 minutes ago."

"Damn, you vere in bed zhe whole day?"

"So far."

"Are you going to school tomorrow?"

"I hope so."

Kurt laughed. "You hope so? I think you're the only kid in the mansion who would ever say that."

Peter laughed as well. "Well, I have a test in chemistry tomorrow. Looks like I gotta get started." Peter picked up his book and got up from his seat. "I wonder if Kitty could help me with this," said Peter.

"I doubt it," said Kurt. "She's in Marine Biology."

"Bummer,"

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From this point of view, the city was engulfed with light. It's true what they say. New York is the city that doesn't sleep. Whether it's sun light or city lights, the New York City was always bright. Peter didn't feel right about this. Although technically, he never promised the professor that he would stop doing what he's doing. He just said he understood what the professor meant. Peter sat on the edge of a balcony in his spider suit staring into the night sky. He's lived in this city all of his life...so he's always wondered what the sky would look like if it were covered in stars. Maybe it'll look like Manhattan from the top of the Empire State Building? He was trailing off again.

"Come on, Spidey!" Peter said aloud to himself. "Don't get off topic. What are you gonna do about this? You gonna use your powers to the fullest by helping this city, or will you obey the professor's wishes?" Peter got up from his seat, and began to stare at his gloved hands. "He's right, though. The world isn't ready for us...ready for me." Peter continued to stare at his open palms, which slowly turned into tight fists. "Damn! This is so confusing! I know what I should do, but if I turn a blind eye to this city...Oh great...now I'm talking to myself...what next?" Peter planted his head onto the wall of the vacant balcony. He simply can't give up the responsibility that was given to him along with his powers. He believed this with his life.

Spider-sense.

Peter looked over to where the signal was coming from. The signal was faint, so it wasn't any immediate danger, but he decided to check it out anyway. Put swung on a few webs towards the signal, landing onto a wall of an office building, and spotted around a dozen men breaking into a museum without tripping an alarm. "Their stealthy...." analyzed Spider-Man. Peter began to think of the professor's preaching earlier today. He then thought of his Uncle Ben, and what happened the last time he let a robber escape. "Sorry professor," said Spider-Man as he spun a web onto another building and landed on the roof of the building. Just then, Peter saw...or thought he saw...a black figure...a feminine figure....on the roof, but mysteriously disappeared.

Peter decided to forget it and climbed down the museum to the entrance. He entered the building and attached himself onto the ceiling as he watched the dozen men taking assorted paintings and other artworks. "I love what your doing with the place!" exclaimed Spider-Man as the thieves turned their attention to him. Spider-Man shaped his hands into a picture frame, looked though it, and said, "I call it, 'Morons-try-to-steel-art-just-before-getting-their-asses-kicked.' What do you think?" All of the robbers took out their guns and aimed for Spider-Man. "What? Too long?" Spider-Man immediately jumped off the ceiling while shooting too huge webs at the guns then pulling them away. By the time he hit the floor, more than half of the thieves were now unarmed.

Only one thief had his gun, and tried to fire it at Spider-Man. He easily dodged it, but the museum alarm went off. "Oh, there's a smart idea!" yelled Spider-Man. "Shoot a gun while trying a stealthy robbery. Maybe I had you guys all wrong....you ARE as stupid as you look." All of the thieves scattered at an attempt to escape, but Spider-Man had a different agenda. He spun a web onto each of the thieves and attached them to the wall of the museum. "Y'know," began Spider-Man again. "It's a lot more fun if you stand and fight..." Spider-Man was cut off by the sounds of sirens. "Oh. That's my cue to leave. Don't drop the soap!" Spider-Man made his exit the usual way...slipping out of the back window.

In the distance Peter heard the police on the mega phone. "We have the place surrounded!

Spider-Man didn't see a single cop in the back of the museum. "Whoa...I thought when they say surrounded...they mean...surrounded!" He then saw a few cops approaching. Spider-Man quickly hoped onto another building and watched the cops surround the museum. Suddenly, something else caught Spider-Man's eye. On another building, that same black feminine figure stood by also watching the cops. "Aha! Time to get the boss...lady."

The distance between buildings wasn't that far, so Spider-Man was able to hop from one building to the one with the figure. Just as he landed, the figured looked at him. He was right about being a girl...a very...curvy girl...with white hair and a black body suit and white gloves...but Spider-Man tried not to notice to many details. "That's not very nice," began Spider-Man. "Planning a robbery, and when the going gets tough, you abandon your men. Anyone ever tell you that you lack compasion?"

The woman smiled...then jumped off the building. Just like that. Spider-Man jumped to where she was standing and looked around for her. She was gone.

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"Great, another super-villain," Spider-man was talking to himself again as he swung through the city. "I always thought I was one of a kind...then I met with the X-Men...and the Brotherhood. Now this black beauty shows up. Could she be with the Brotherhood? Or Magneto's crew? I doubt it, but...Oh great. I'm talking to myself again." Peter stopped on the roof of a building, took of his right glove and looked at his watch. "2 am," Peter said. "I got a test tomorrow...I should get back."

Peter swung back to the mansion as fast as he could and entered his room through his window. He put on his pajamas...which were green basketball shorts and a white t-shirt. Peter couldn't fall asleep just yet. There was something he had to do first. Peter left his room as silently as he could and proceeded to the basement. He stopped at a door that read "Infirmary" and entered. He came to visit Rogue earlier, but she was sleeping, and from the looks of things, she still is. But who wouldn't at 2 in the morning? Peter turned to leave. "Just get back?" said a southern female voice from the bed.

Peter was a little startled upon hearing the voice. He turned around and gazed at the wide away Rogue. Peter laughed then scratched his head. "Um...yeah."

"Still doing to super hero thing I see."

"Well, it's not like I can just stop."

"I know, that's what I told you."

"Oh come on, Rogue! Do we have to do this now?"

"If not now, then when?"

"I don't know. When I don't have a chemistry test in less than...12 hours"

"Then why did you go out in the first place."

"You know why."

"And sometimes that's not good enough."

Peter was at a loss of words...again. "I'm addicted, alright? I can't bear the thought of people getting hurt just because I failed to act. Haven't you ever watched the news, saw a disaster, and wondered what would've happened if you had the power to stop it?"

"I don't have the power to stop it."

Peter fell silent again. "I gotta get some sleep..."

"Yeah me too."


When I wanted a change in my life, I thought moving here would be the perfect thing. But the truth is, I would've never imagined me life this difficult back home. I was able to sneak in and out of the house at night without any difficulty, but now I have to walk through hell just to get past the front gate now that people would know my secret. They would tell me that it's dangerous, that they worry for my life. It makes my "job" difficult...but it's nice to know that they care.

(A/N: PLEASE REVIEW!!)

(PS: Do you like Teen Titans? Do you like Batman? If so, check out my new crossover, "Between Earthquakes and Darkness"....and REVIEW!!)