Perfect. It was way too easy. You'd think that a place as huge as this would be very heavily guarded. Especially if he's holding a lot of valuable stuff in there. But money or gems wasn't what Gambit was interested in. Well...at least not in this state of mind... All he wanted was the other piece. It was all he's been thinking about and nothing he does can get it off his mind. And it was right in front of him. He slowly reached for it, but something suddenly attached to his hand. A thick spider web.

"I knew you were a thief," began Spider-Man who was waiting patiently on the roof. "But robbing billion-dollar-mansions just didn't seem your type. I'm surprised at you Mr. LeBeau!" Gambit quickly took out a playing card from his pocket and used it to slice the web off of his hand. "Yeah...I've been getting a lot of that," said Spider-Man mostly to himself. Gambit then used the same card to charge and through it at the web slinger. Spider-Man easily dodged it, but the impact against the ceiling was obviously loud. "Ok...Now that you've basically ruined any chance of sneaking out of here, why don't you just drop...whatever the hell you've got and walk away?"

Gambit didn't, as suspected, and through a punch at Spider-Man....a clumsy punch. It was easily caught. Spider-Man pulled Gambit closer trying to reach for the item he stole, but he couldn't help but notice the look in his eyes. It was heartless...emotionless. Without a single hint of struggle or anger. The looked baffled Spider-Man enough to let go of Gambit's arr, who soon after, quickly began to run away. After Spider-Man came to his senses, he attempted to stop the Cajun thief, but they both were stopped by a pair of doors that suddenly swung open. There stood a man in sweat pants, no shirt, and a pair of angel-like wings connected to his back. "Oh, my God...." Spider-Man said upon the site of Warren Worthington III. He then turned to Gambit and said, "You must be stealing something REALLY bad."

"Who the hell are you!?" asked the blonde angel, who then focused his eyes on the man with the webbed mask. "Wait a minute." Gambit decided not to stay, so he suddenly took off heading for the front door of the ridiculously large mansion some has the decency to call it his home. Spider-Man soon took off after him, but Worthington still wanted answers. "What the hell!!?" He yelled as he began to use his feathered wings to fly after both of them.

"He stole something!" Spider-Man found the time to yell back as he jumped on the wall and began to climb the side of it.

Just before completely leaving the room, Worthington looked behind him to figure out what exactly he stole. "Oh, no."

Gambit eventually got out of the house, followed by Spider-Man and Worthington. The two men saw the thief hop the fence and give the item to someone in a hood. Both were determined to get the item and find out who Gambit was giving it too. While Worthington had no clue who it might be, Spider-Man guessed that it might be Magneto.

The two men made there way over the fence only to see that the man under the hood was not Magneto, or anyone they've ever seen before. It was a man with a yellow face and what could have been tiger stripes. Before any of the two could ask a single questions, both of there head suddenly became engulfed with pain. The both grabbed their heads to ease the pain, but to no avail.

Spider-Man and the Angel fell unconscious and hit the floor.

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Sometime later, Warren Worthington woke up still in front of the front gate of his mansion. He was alone.

Meanwhile....

Spider-Man could be found on top of a skyscraper, sitting on the roof, feet dangling of the edge, thinking about the weirdness that occurred not even an hour ago. There were too many things wrong with that picture. First of all, Gambit trying to steal something as early as 12:00 in the morning, a young bachelor worth three quarters of a billion dollars asleep as early as 12:00 in the morning, a creepy guy in a hood that presumably has the mutant ability to make people get gaping headaches and pass out, and lets not forget the fact that the rich, young bachelor just happens to be a messenger from our Father-Who-Art-In-Heaven. ...Or...maybe he just the mutant with bird-like wings that was on the news a while back.

Spider-Man's concentration was broken by the sound of foot-steps that were right behind him. However, he didn't need to turn around to see who it was. Who else would walk on a roof in high heels? "Do you purposely catch me at the worst possible time?" asked Spider-Man.

"Nope," replied Black Cat casually as she sat down next to the web head. "Just lucky, I guess." There was a few moments of silence. Spider-Man continued to think about his situation, almost completely forgetting that Black Cat was there. "So," Black Cat began again trying to get rid of the silence. "What's wrong? Eat a bad fly?"

"Funny," replied Spider-Man.

"Then what is it?"

"Ever thought of just minding your own business?" Spider-Man snapped back as he stood up on the balcony. "Why do you give a damn anyway?"

Black Cat stood up from her seat as well. "Whoa...sorry," she replied obviously not sounding sorry. "Your seating here as if your web just fell apart, so I thought you could use someone to talk to."

"I don't need anyone right now," replied Spider-Man as he took a few steps away from Black Cat. "Which is kind of the reason way I'm on top of an 800 foot building."

"Ok! I get it," replied Black Cat. "But don't worry! I know something that'll cheer you right up!"

"That's very nice," replied Spider-Man. "But I'm saving myself for the right woman."

Black Cat gave him a bad look. "You're a funny guy," she said back to him. Spider-Man nodded in agreement. "But I have something...well...not as good...but still pretty good." That made no sense, and Black Cat knew it. "Never mind...listen. Earlier today I was walking past some kind of science laboratory." Spider-Man laughed quietly, making Black Cat feel stupid, but she continued with her story. "And I heard some kind of struggling in there. So I went to check it out, and I saw the room completely trashed...along with a dea-"

"I'm sure that's very interesting," Spider-Man cut Black Cat off. "But I got a little more important fish to fry, so if you'll excuse me." Spider-Man jumped on the sill of the balcony he was once sitting on about to spin a web, but was stopped.

"More important?" asked Black Cat in disbelief. "You're a super-hero, aren't you!? What could be more important than-"

"Listen, kitty-cat," Spider-Man cut her off for the second time as he turned around to face her. Black Cat was getting frustrated and she put on an angered face...and that was what Spider-Man was going for. He continued to feed on that anger. "I'm not like you. I'm not just a costumed mutant 24 hours a day...a have another life. A real life. And just like any real life I have problems of my own." Spider-Man turned around again and spun a web onto a near-by building. "If your so interested in this mystery, you figure it out. Unlike you, I have real-life problems." Spider-Man jumped off the balcony and proceeded to swing back to the mansion.

Black Cat just stood there until she could no longer see the man in the red mask. "You have no idea..." she spoke quietly.

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"I GOT IT! I GOT IT!" Sam yelled as he chase the baseball in the right field of the baseball diamond in the backyard of the mansion. The ball was hit to hard, it was out of reach...but when did that ever stop 'Cannonball'? Sam jumped off the ground, and used his mutant powers of fast flight to get to the airborne ball. He caught it, then landed hard on the ground, using his other mutant power of temporary invincibility to cause a hole into the ground....but the ball was still in hand.

"Three outs!" Yelled Beast who was the umpire of the game. "Storms, your up to bat! Wolverines, your in the outfield."

'The Wolverines' moaned in frustration as they picked up their gloves and headed to the outfield. Amanda, who was the only non-mutant there, laughed upon seeing Cannonball catch the ball. She was finally formally introduced to all of the X-Men...including Wolverine...this morning. She loved to watch them use their powers, even though technically the aren't supposed to in this baseball game. "Hey, Amanda!" said Kurt putting on a baseball glove. "Grab a glove and play vith us! We have plenty."

Amanda laughed again. "I don't think I'll last long in 'mutant ball'," she said smiling a smile that never got old to Kurt.

"Your loss," replied Peter as he grabbed Kurt and dragged him into the outfield. Kurt was playing left field and Peter was playing right. The 'wolverines' whined as they realized that jean was up to bad."

"Look alive, guys!" Yelled Cyclops to the rest of his team in the outfield. "You all know she's gonna hit it." The three outfielders moved back, and the infielders stood ready. It was no secret that Jean was going to make the ball easier to hit using telekinesis, then slam the ball somewhere in the right field. Cyclops pitched the ball. Jean stopped the ball. Jean hit the ball.

The ball soared towards the right field, as expected. Peter new it was up to him. He prepared himself for the biggest jump he could make himself do. He bent his knees in crouch position, the jumped as hard as he can, which actually made him fly over the ball. Peter then spun a web from his right hand catching the ball with it, then swung it towards Kurt. Kurt teleported into the air and caught it.

"Yooooour outta there!" yelled Beast to Jean who was already on second base.

"HEY!" Jean yelled at Peter and Kurt who were still laughing over their excellent play.

"A cheat for a cheat, sweetheart!" Peter yelled back as he and Kurt high-fived each other. Just then, Peter and Kurt both noticed something. It was a shadow that suddenly shaded them from the sun. The two mutants looked towards to the sun to see a humanoid figure blocking the light from the sun. Kurt was baffled to what it was, but Peter recognized the figure. Because it also had wings. The winged man flew down to the middle of the diamond, confirming Peter assumption. It was Warren Worthington III...in his costume. A costume that Peter was familiar with.

"Angel?" said Scott upon recognizing him. "What are you doing here?" Almost everyone in the backyard...with the exception of Amanda who actually thought an Angel came down form heaven...crowded around the mutant the rest of the kids new only by Scott's story of his visit to New York city.

"I need to speak to professor Xavier immediately."

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"Guys," said Amanda, who was stilling shaking from the sight of the Angel, to Kurt and Peter upon entering the house. Jean, Beast, and Scott lead Worthington to the basement where to professor was working, who was secretly followed by a few of the girls...and Bobby. "Who was that?? He had wings!"

"I think it was that Angel guy that Rogue and Scott kept telling us about," Kurt replied as the three teenagers sat on the couches in the living room. "A few months ago during Christmas, Scott and Rogue went to New York to check out a mutant that the professor found there. That's were they met him."

"We was a vigilante for a short while," Peter added. Kurt and Amanda both looked at him puzzled. "He flew around New York city for a couple of weeks looking for crime...kind of like me. He's a pretty good guy."

"Wait, wait, wait," Kurt said still puzzled. "You knew him??"

"We worked together once or twice," explained Peter. "But this was before I came to the institute. After some kind of accident, he just disappeared. He supposedly knocked a little girl off a bridge with his wings just after saving her, then dove down and saved her again. Then someone accused him of doing it on purpose, then basically the whole town turned against him. I wasn't there, but I read it in the papers." Peter paused for a little bit, to let Kurt and Amanda digest this information. "I never saw him again after that...until last night."

"What?" asked Kurt. Peter just then realized how much better Kurt's English has gotten...he still had a thick accent though. "You saw him last night?" Peter nodded. "How? Where?"

Peter took a deep breath, then prepared to tell another story. "I was doing a routine patrol last night," began Peter. "I reached over to the richer part of town, then I saw Gambit entering a mansion. At first I thought that could have been Mangeto's place, so I followed him. It turned out to be the Angel's place. Gambit stole something from him, but I wasn't able to stop him."

"Why not?' asked Amanda.

"Someone else was involved in the robbery," explained Peter. "Some weird guy in a hood. I didn't get a good look at his face, but I did see that his face was yellow...I mean really yellow."

Kurt's eyes widened greatly. Yellow face? Hood? It can't be. Could it? "Peter," Kurt said with some fear in his voice. Amanda and Peter both looked at Kurt anxious to hear what he has to say. By the tone of his voice...and calling Peter 'Peter' as opposed to 'Pete' meant it must be serious. "Did this man have black markings on his face?"

"Well..yeah, he did," Peter revealed.

"Mesmero..." Kurt said softly.

Kurt was afraid. Peter was shocked. Amanda was baffled. "Um...Kurt?" asked Amanda. "What's going on? Do you know him?"

"Him and the X-Men had a run-in in the past," explained Kurt. That's all he said, however. It was obvious to the two teenagers that Kurt did not want to talk about it, and they respected that. Just then, Professor Xavier, Cyclops, Jean, Beast, and the Angel walked into the living room in their uniforms. Kurt and Peter stood up. Amanda remained seated. "What's going on?" asked Kurt still nervous.

"Mesmero's back,' replied the professor. Kurt's fear came true. "We are going to London right now. We might not even get there until tonight, so we might not be back until tomorrow. Logan and Storm will be here tonight. Tell the rest of the students. We will see you tomorrow." The 5 X-Men didn't have a moment to spare. They all went back to the basement and took off with the Black Bird.

Not so long afterwards, Kitty entered the living room where Kurt, Peter, and Amanda still were. "He guys. What's going on?"

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"When?" asked Rogue.

"A week or two before I came here,' replied Peter. He was one of his frequent visits to Rogue's infirmary. That's right...she pretty much owns this infirmary right now. She's been in here for around a week and a half. "I never saw him after that bridge incident though."

"I don't think anybody did." Rogue added making herself more comfortable on her bed. Peter sat on his usual chair just beside Rogue's bed. "Until just now."

Peter nodded in agreement. "And did I mention how rich that guy was?"

"At least 11 or 12 times," replied Rogue smiling in both annoyance and humor.

"Well, I'm gonna make it 13 or 14 times.," Peter assured Rogue as she rolled her eyes and Peter's comment. "Can you say the second hugest mansion in the whole damn city????"

"Not right now."

Peter laughed, and Rogue did her trademark smile. Peter then sniffed the air and made a sour face."By the way, what the hell is that smell?" he asked as he grabbed his nose. It wasn't unbearable, but it was pretty annoying "It's been around ever since I got here."

"Kitty's jalapeno pizza," admitted Rogue as if she were guilty of a crime.

"No way...you didn't eat it!?" Peter was acting as if he were mortified. "Don't tell me you ate it!?"

"I ate it," Rogue admitted. Peter acted as if he were hit in the hear with a bullet. He grabbed his chest, acted like he was dying, and jokingly collapsed on the floor. "I had to! It was the only way I could get Kurt and Kitty to stop worrying about me." Peter got up from the floor and continued to laugh. Rogue chuckled a little bit. God forbid she actually laughs. "Speaking of which, where is Kurt?"

"With Amanda somewhere," explained Peter raising an eyebrow.

"Alone?" asked Rogue seemingly slightly nerovus.

Peter nodded, eyebrow still raised. "Alone."

Rogue began to laugh. "God almighty, that's just what we need ain't it?" Peter didn't understand. "Little ity-bity blue elves running around the mansion."

It took Peter a little while to get Rogue's joke, but when he did, he began to laugh uncontrollably. Rogue shortly after began to laugh as well. Peter eventually stopped laughing a little and then pointed at Rogue. "There it is!" exclaimed Peter. "There it is!"

"There what is?" asked Rogue still smiling.

"Did you know that this was the first time I ever saw you laugh?" asked Peter. Rogue didn't respond. "I knew someday I'll see you laugh." Peter stopped....enter the awkward silence. Peter rarely saw Rogue smile, and when did...he loved it. He continued to look at her, and she stared back. He was expecting her to say something to stop this stare-down, but she remained silent. Her smile was now almost gone...but it was still there. That's when Peter's recent pet-peeve took over. He looked over at the clock...it was past mid-night. Rogue knew what was coming next. "I gotta go."

"Yeah, I know," said Rogue. Peter reluctantly put his hand over her gloved hand.

"Get well soon," said Peter as he got up and walked away. That was his usual line when he leaves the infirmary.

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"The Angel makes a return. Black Cat is still around. Kurt and Amanda are alone as we speak. And I have a possible crush on Rogue? This is insane. Too much crap has been going on recently, and the fact that an annoying, yet attractive woman dressed as a cat, who actually seems to care about me, isn't helping.

"...She does seem to care a lot, doesn't she? Every time we've met, she's always seemed...wanting to help. The first impression she left on me is that she was more like the actual Catwoman. Self-centered, thief, beautiful. But in reality she just seems helping, a good person, and beautiful....oh great. Now I have a crush on this girl too! Things just keep getting better and better don't they?"

Spider-Man landed on a 1036 foot building. That's right...he measured. Spider-Man began taking pictures of the view of Manhattan with his camera. "Well, at least I can keep my job. It's true I'm not going to be bringing too many more pictures of me anymore, but Robbie gets me a lot of jobs...and I'm talking to myself again." Peter kept zooming in an out of his camera. If Robbie was nice enough giving him this assignment rather than Brock, than Peter wanted to do an excellent job on it.

Spider-Man was about to leave the building until he spotted something on the other skyscrapper. Actually...it looked more like someone...or some people. Peter zoomed in on his camera. There were two people...one male and one female. The female had long black hair and a dark skin color. The male had shaggy hair and....blue fur? Peter put the camera down and stared at the two. "Kurt...you devil." Spider-Man decided to drop in on the two way-too-young lovers 'unexpectedly.'

Peter jumped all the way from his building to theirs and landed right behind them starling both of them. Amanda was about to scream until she recognized the Peter's red mask...now she was just freaked out. Kurt quickly recognized the costume and felt like he was going to kill his friend. "Hey guys," said Spider-Man casually. "Nice night, ain't it?"

"Pete!" said Kurt. He wasn't too mad anymore. "What are you doing here?"

"Did you seriously just ask me that question?" Spider-Man answered Kurt's question with one on his own. "Do you guys do this often?" Kurt and Amanda didn't say anything, but they circled there heads which translated as a 'sort of'. "Damn, Kurt. And here I thought when you snuck out, you'd just go to her house." Spider-Man walked over to his blue friend and patted him on the shoulder. "I have taught you well, Blue-hopper." Both Kurt and Amanda laughed. "So, what do you think of the view from up here, guys?" asked Spider-Man.

"Oh, god, it's so beautiful," Amanda answered quickly. Kurt nodded in agreement. "But, I guess it gets boring for someone like you."

"You'd think that, huh?" Asked Spider-Man. "But the truth is, I can't get enough of it."

Peter walked towards the edge of the building to get a better look of the view. "There's something about this city. I have no clue what, but there's something about it that makes me " There was a few moments of silence. Peter Parker, especially under that mask, was never one to talk about things like this. "This is probably the best way to view New York...you can't see all of the crooks and perverts running the streets."

"Perverts?" asked Kurt.

Spider-Man didn't turn around or respond immediately. "I've stopped at least 15 possible rapes," said Spider-Man feeling slightly uncomfortable. "13 were of them were high schoolers." There was another brief moment of silence. "This is one of my favorite spots. And when I view that city, it feels like home."

"Is that why you feel you need to protected it?" asked Kurt.

Spider-man took a few seconds to think. "Yeah..." he said almost reluctantly. "Yeah, I guess that had a lot to do with it."

"That was beautiful," said a voice from behind. It wasn't Amanda. It differently wasn't Kurt. The three teenagers turned around...and there she was.

"Oh no," said Spider-Man softly. "Not now."


Another completely wrong moment, and there she is. Does she just spend her time spying on me? Is that how she knows where I am almost every time of the night? She talks with such confidence, likes she knows me. I've met with her briefly only a couple times, but the more she talks, the more I begin to understand her. And what I realized is that no matter how far she goes, I can see that she has no direction.

(A/N: More commin. REVIEW!)