"Vhat are you so vorried about!?" asked Kurt as he, Kitty, and Peter entered Bayville High through the front doors. "Your a damned vizard vhen it comes to science. This test should be like a swing in the park for you!"
"All I'm saying his I should've studied more," replied Peter as they all made their way to their first period. "I only read the first 4 chapters of the new book. I hope the test doesn't include anything beyond the first 4."
"Vait, vait a minute," said Kurt. "You already read the first 4 chapters of that book!? Pete! I looked though that book, and a chapter is around 10 to 15 pages!"
"Listen, Peter," began Kitty as she began to put her two cents in. "If your not sure about this test, then why didn't you study more? You were home all day yesterday, what were you doing?"
Peter remained silent. "Oh, come on, Kitty," began Kurt. "You know what he vas doing...at night..." Peter punched Kurt in the arm followed by a yell of pain from Kurt.
"Oh, no..." said Kitty sounding disappointed. Peter forced a smile. "You mean your STILL sneaking out of the mansion and playing super-hero?" Peter didn't answer, but she knew the answer was yes. "Peter, didn't the professor talk to you about this?" The three stopped at Kitty's homeroom, but continued talking.
"I know, I know," replied Peter. "But it's not something I can just give up! I've been doing this long before I came to the institute." Kurt and Kitty stared at Peter. "Ok, maybe no LONG before, but, it's still been about a month and a half, two months. I understand the professor's concern and I respect his rules, but this is something I have to do right now." The warning bell rang.
"Ok, we need to go," Kitty stating the obvious. "But this isn't over! We'll talk about this at lunch.
"Fine."
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Lunch
"Why are you still doing it?" asked Kitty as Kurt and Peter inhaled their pizzas. "Do you realize how lucky you are that the professor let you off with a warning?"
"I know, I know!" replied Peter. "But once you start that kind of thing, it's pretty hard to stop."
"Hi, guys!" said Amanda as she approached and sat next to Kurt.
"Hey, Amanda," said Peter. "It's something I've been doing before I even came to the institute. I have the power and that mean..."
"Peter!" Kitty interrupted.
"What?" asked Peter. Kitty made an attempted to point at Amanda with her head discreetly. But it was quite clear. She obviously mean to say that this conversation shouldn't be held in front of someone that wasn't a mutant. "Oh, don't worry about it," assured Peter. "She knows. Anyway..."
"I know," said Kitty obviously growing uncomfortable. "But..."
"Um...if this is a private conversation," began Amanda who also was beginning to feel uncomfortable.
"No, no, no, no," insisted Peter and Kurt in unison. "It's alright," spoke Kurt. "Kitty is just getting used to this."
"No offense, or anything," said Kitty putting her hand on Amanda's. "This is just gonna take some getting used too."
"Yeah, I know," agreed Amanda. "So...if you don't mind....what's the hot topic?"
"Peter going out at night and being a super-hero." replied Kurt without hesitation.
"Oh," said Amanda. "I'm guessing everyone found out?" Kurt nodded.
"You knew about this!?" Kitty asked Amanda in shock.
"Um..."
"You know what...never mind," Kitty said seemingly admitting defeat. Peter raised an eyebrow. "If you want to put your life in jeopardy...not to mention your freedom...that's ok!" On no...not this. "The professor takes you in...and all he asks of you is to stop what your doing...but hey! Your...you know who...how could you possibly stop?" Peter and Kurt both buried their faces into their hands...and Amanda just chuckled.
"I hate it when she does that..." said Kurt quietly. Kitty was pretty good at the guilt trip thing... the professor taught her well. Amanda couldn't help but admire her skills.
"So...anyway..." began Kitty again who seems to be trying to change the subject. "If your not to busy being unfaithful to the man who took you in." Peter cringed. "I picked this up from my biology teacher," Kitty continued as she handed Peter a piece of paper.
"What's this?" asked Peter.
"Read it," replied Kitty.
Peter examined the paper and read it as quickly as possible, moving his mouth to each word. "...would be interested in working on..." Peter read a couple of words out loud then continued to read to herself. "...on research with....Dr. Conners?" Peter finally finished the paper. "What is this? Like an internship?"
"More like an unofficial...paying...internship," replied Kitty.
"Paying, huh?" replied Kurt. "Don't you think you got enough money Peter?" Peter gave Kurt a death glare...the kind of death glare that translates 'SHUT UP BEFORE I KILL YOU!.' Of course he didn't say that.
"Enough money?" asked Kitty. "What do you mean?"
Peter and Kurt tried to think of an excuse to help them recover. Telling Kitty about the daily Bugle was simply out of the question. "Well...um..." began Kurt stuttering. "Didn't...you...get that job...at Quiznos?"
Peter was now able to breathe easy. "Oh...No," replied Peter. "They turned me down..." Peter continued trying to sound as remorseful as possible.
"Well, that's alright," Kitty tried to comfort Peter, who in reality didn't need any comforting. "This'll make up for any sandwhich stand! C'mon we'll have fun!"
"We?" asked Peter.
"Yeah 'We!'" replied Kitty. "Why not?"
"Well...no reason," replied Peter. "Except it says we'll be working with lizards...you hate lizards."
"What!?" Kitty began to get defensive. "No I don't!"
"Oh, bull shit!" Kurt loved to get involved. He's last comment was proof of that. "Remember a few weeks ago when you screamed after seeing a lizard in the basement!?"
The bell rang. "I don't know what your talking about!" Kitty said quickly as she gathered her stuff. "Gotta go! Bye!" Kitty ran off.
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Peter was the last on of the team to get home. Most of them got a ride from Scott or Jean, but Peter decided to stay after school to help his biology teacher with next week's lesson. Lucky for Peter, he remembered to take his Spider-Man costume. Peter swung home in his costume and quickly changed into his civilian clothes before he reached the front gate. He ran to the front door as quickly as he could, into the living room, and collapsed on the couch right next to Kurt and....Amanda. "Tired?" asked Amanda.
"Let's just say today wasn't the best day," replied Peter. It really warmed his heart to see Amanda back at the institute. It's been a while since she's been back...but after going face to face with the Wolverine...who would really want to? Kurt must really be worth it.
"Oh no..." Kurt said softly. "You failed your chemistry test?"
"What? Oh no, that was a breeze." Figures. "It's just what Kitty said earlier. It really got me thinking."
Amanda laughed a little. "Yeah...I hear Kitty's pretty good at that kind of thing," she said.
"Well, you heard right!" insisted Peter. "So..what's going on? No session today?"
"Nope," replied Kurt. "The professor gave us the day off because of the other night."
"Lucky us..." said Peter...which quickly turned into a few moments of uncomfortable silence. Things have been pretty quiet since Rogue was sent to the infirmary. It's weird..she's the one who makes the less noise out of anyone in the mansion...but as soon as she's out of the picture, there's nothing to talk about. Speaking of which..."You guys wanna go see Rogue?"
"Logan says she's sleeping," replied Kurt. Well...that was short lived.
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"I know I shouldn't be complaining," began Spider-Man. "But I didn't sign up to be locked up in a room all night. This is something I have to do. I can't stop now. ....Heh...listen to me. When I first began doing this...I always thought that I could just stop anytime. I would tell myself, 'hey, it's only one time. No big deal.' But 'one night' turned into one week...then one week turned into one month...and one month might turn into one year...maybe even a decade." Spider-Man paused for a few seconds. Too many thoughts were running through his head for him to just simply spit it out. "But it has been interfering into our training sessions...and by the way, as hard as those sessions are, they helped me so much. Not just controlling my powers, but agility and self-defense as well. And don't even get me started on school. I dropped from a 107 to a 103 in Algebra! Can you believe that." Spider-Man paused again scratching his head in deep thought. "I don't know...maybe I just play hero on the weekends. What do you think, Bruce?" Spider-Man asked the gargoyle who was sitting right next to him...the inanimate gargoyle who was sitting right next to him.
Of course, the gargoyle didn't respond, and Spider-Man knew it wouldn't...but that's what happens when you don't have anyone to talk to. He has been coming to this same balcony for quite some time, of course the rest of the X-Men have no knowledge about it. "Eh...what do you know?" Spider-Man asked the gargoyle. "Your just a statue." Just then, something caught Spider-Man's eye. The moon above him was full, so it produced enough light to make shadows...but he noticed one of the shadows moving...and it wasn't his. Peter look over to see what it was, but he was concerned. Whatever it was...it didn't trigger his spider-sense.
Until just now.
Something was different. Whatever triggered Spider-Man's, it didn't seem to dangerous. It was more like a "caution" signal than danger. Spider-Man made his way towards the signal, but made himself look as if he were pacing. He felt the signal get stronger as he slowly paced the balcony. This was actually the first time he was so close to a signal without dodging or attacking, almost to the point where he could pinpoint the unidentified "danger". It was now right next to him.
Spider-Man quickly reached to his right into some kind of gap in the wall and grabbed what might have been someone's arm, and yanked it out the gap. He saw the figure he forced out of the gap, but spun a web, tying up the human figure before he could get a good look. The figure fell to it's knees as Spider-Man cut the web from his wrist. He was now able to see who the figure is. A woman. Wearing black, a mask barley covering around the eyes, and white hair...but she doesn't look aged. Not one little bit.
"Hey," Spider-Man was the first of the two to speak. "I know you. You're the cat burglar from the other night."
The attactive woman let out a laugh. An attractive laugh. She flipped her white hair out of her eyes almost seductively. "Well," she began...in an attractive voice. "Your half right." She began to get on her feet.
"Stay down," instructed Spider-Man. She didn't listen.
"Wow," she said with a smile. "I didn't know you were that kind of man." Just then she tried to break free from Spider-Man's webs...and she succeeded!! Spider-Man couldn't believe his eyes. "Or are you even a man?"
"It's in the name," replied Spider-Man in his usual smart-ass manner. "What's yours?"
"Me?" asked the woman as she struggled with the webs that were tied around her. "I'm just a stray Black Cat."
There was a few moments of silence, but then Spider-Man was forced to let out a laugh, which kind of broke Black Cat's spirit. "Black Cat?" asked Spider-Man still laughing a little. "Why Black Cat? Wait! Wait! Don't tell me! You're a huge fan of Michelle Pfeiffer. You love Tim Burton movies. And you think it'll fun to die your hair like grandma. Warm? Cold?"
"Ice cold," replied 'Black Cat'.
"Ok...then maybe that's just me," said Spider-Man somewhat quietly. "What do you want?"
Black Cat crossed her arms as if expecting something more. "What? No small talk? No drink invitation?" Spider-Man was taken back...so he didn't answer. "See? It's people like you that makes this world boring."
"Putting the cool mask and webs aside, you mean?"
"If you would have asked me that question a half hour ago, I would have said 'yes'. But according to you, there are more of...'us'. In fact, according to you there are a whole school of 'us'.
She was listening? Spider-Man felt his heart race after realizing he just unknowingly told someone about the Xavier Institute. Spider-man decided to play dumb. "What do you mean by us?"
Black cat paused trying to find the correct words. "Freaks." Spider-Man spun a web aiming for her face...but she caught it. "Aww...how cute. Did I hurt your feelings?"
Spider-Man became heated after hearing the word 'freak'. It's a word he strongly has hated...even before his transformation. "You're not like us,' he said almost as if he was in denial. "What powers do you have?"
Black Cat cut the web line. "I just broke from your web! Might as well have been steel," Spider-Man smiled under his mask. "That's some pretty strong stuff your packing."
"Thanks," Spider-Man's temper began to settle. "Now what do you want?"
Black Cat laughed and began to walk towards Spider-Man. "I just want to talk," she replied seductively. "It looks like you could use a friend."
"I already have friends," said Spider-Man somewhat harshly.
Black Cat laughed again as she approached the costumed hero. She walked behind him and put her hands on his shoulders. Spider-Man didn't move an inch. "Oh yeah....Bruce was it?" Spider-Man could feel his face turn red. It's a good thing Black Cat couldn't see it. She walked around him and got uncomfortably close to his face taking her hand off his left should and rubbing his right. "Or maybe you were talking about the one's at the 'institute.' You know...the ones you can't talk to?"
This made it clear that Black Cat has been listening to Spider-Man's 'conversation' for a while. "You make a habit of spying on people?" he spoke trying to change the subject.
"People?" asked Black Cat. "Is that what you consider us?" Black Cat let go of Spider-Man's shoulder, turned around and took a few steps away. "Just people?" It sounded as if she was making a joke out of it.
"As opposed to....freaks?" Spider-Man forced that word out of himself.
Black cat faced Spider-Man. "Ok, maybe that word was a little too extreme." Well...at least she took a hint. "C'mon! We're all masked people here! No hard feelings?"
"Hard feelings?" Spider-Man asked as he raised an eyebrow...which was kind of pointless because no one could se it. "I ain't making friends with a thief."
"Jesus! I'm not a thief!" Black Cat began to get a little frustrated. "What makes you think I'm a thief?"
"Oh, I don't know," replied Spider-Man sarcastically as he crossed his arms. "Maybe it's being at the seen of the crime, and you sure as hell weren't stopping the robbery."
"Doesn't mean I did it," she insisted
"So you where just watching those bastards rob a museum?" asked Peter getting slightly heated again. "Even though you might, and I'm pretty sure you do, have the power to stop it?" Black Cat didn't respond to Spider-Man's excellent point. "Sometimes witnessing a crime and doing nothing about it is worse than the crime itself."
"That's beautiful. Your mother told you that?"
"Watch your fucking mouth." Spider-Man was rapidly losing his patients.
"Wow, Ok," Black Cat said as she put her hands up as if being arrested. "Sorry. I guess that's a touchy subject for you." Black Cat noticed Spider-Man's clinched fist. "Oh c'mon! Ease up. Your too tense, you know that?"
Spider-Man slowly loosed his fists a little bit. His spider-sense isn't telling him that she's dangerous, so maybe she wasn't as bad as he thought. "Ok," began Spider-Man. "Fine. So...what's your story?"
"Oh, look at the time!" Black Cat responded. Spider-Man's inpatients returned. "I really got to run." Spider-Man clinched his fists again. "But I'll tell you what. We'll continue some other time." Black Cat jumped off the building, mimicking her last exit. But this time, Spider-Man foresaw this, and jumped with her, not giving her enough time to 'disappear'. Black Cat suddenly took out some kind of gun and shot a chain with a hook on it onto a building. Spider-Man spun a web onto the same building and followed her. Black Cat landed safely onto another building and looked over her shoulder only to see Spider-Man swinging right to her.
"You ain't going anywhere until I get some answers!" Spider-Man yelled at Black Cat who began jumping from building to building with incredible speeds.
"That's what all the guys say," replied Black Cat as she continued running. "What makes you any different?"
"Did I already mention the mask and webs?" Spider-Man asked as he continued to follow Black Cat.
Black Cat laughed. "It's going to take a little more than that to impress me." With that said, Black Cat left Spider-Man's sight. He continued to look for her, however to no avail. He landed on the last building he saw her on and began to look around. Everything seemed to be normal...except for one thing. Spider-Man found some scratch marks...claw marks....on the balcony of the building. Spider-Man examined them carefully while he reached into his belt and grabbed a small digital camera...that he bought with his daily bugle money....and took a picture of the marks. Peter then recalled the night at the abandoned church...
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11:00 AM
Peter has been alone most of the morning, from the moment he woke up an hour to now. All he has been doing for a past hour is sitting on the couch of the game room and staring up into the ceiling thinking about the night before. The Black Cat...the church. The similarities between the descriptions baffled Peter, but there where two things that still bothered him. The lizard skin and the saliva. It's possible that the new mutant at the church was someone else all together, but that would mean the professor couldn't detect Black Cat via Cerebro.
Maybe it was Black Cat at the church. Maybe the lizard skin was nothing...just skin. Maybe it was just Toad or something. Now that Peter has narrowed down the possibilities, he now doesn't know how to go about it. Of course, there's the obvious option of telling Xavier, but that would mean Peter would have to reveal that he has been sneaking out of the mansion again. What about Cyclops or Jean? ....Probably not. Those two are the closest to Xavier. Same as Dr. McCoy. And Logan is definitely out of the question for obvious reasons. Maybe he should just start slow by just telling Kurt, Rogue, and Kitty.
"You know...the ones you can't talk to?"
Peter closed his eyes tightly and grabbed his head. Black Cat's words suddenly began to haunt Peter. Maybe it's true...maybe he really can't talk to anyone. Maybe he is alone.
"It looks like you could use a friend."
Peter slowly scanned the possibility that Black Cat may be....right. Peter noticed something else about her. She was different. Instead of being alone and afraid like most mutants, including Peter, she would make the best of it...using it to her advantage. Maybe that's what Peter...Spider-Man....should be focusing on. Maybe using his powers to have a little fun.
"Ease up. Your too tense, you know that?"
She might be right.
Well if you wanted honesty, that's all you had to say. I never want to talk to me, or hear what you think. For all the dirty looks, the photographs I took. Remember when you made me feel worse than I ever needed to be. Well now I'm a total wreck almost every day. Well don't you look pretty walking down that skycrapper, making it seem like you had nothing to say. But you always had something to say, didn't you? You never even thought about keeping anything to yourself.
(A/N: Another chapter. W00t. I'm sure you guys can see where this is going. REVIEW PLEASE!!!)
