The Daily Bugle.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOUR LEAVING PARKER?! YOU'RE THE ONLY GOOD FOR NOTHING PHOTOGRAPHER THAT CAN GET ME PICTURES OF SPIDER-MAN FOR CHEAP!" Peter wondered at this moment why he decided to tell Jolly Jameson why he was leaving the city, as he wasn't a fan of his very "strong" personality. He often wondered how he hadn't had a stroke yet from all the yelling.
"Its a long story. I'd just thought that I'd-"
"You'd what? EXPECT ME TO BEG YOU TO STAY?! YOU GOT APPROXIMATELY 5 SECONDS TO GET OUT OF MY OFFICE BEFORE I CALL THE COPS! GET LOST!" Peter sighed and rushed out of the office, seeing Rogue sitting at the waiting area. He walked over and sat down next to her, the pair of them looking wildly out of place.
"How'd it go?" Rogue asked.
Peter leaned back into the seat. "Well it depends. Were you able to hear the yelling?" Peter looked at Rogue and smirked when she nodded her head. "Then he took it better than I expected."
"And how exactly did ya expect him to take it?"
"If it went bad, he'd probably think I was bluffing to get a raise...then fire me...so I think it would've been the same result either way now that I think about it."
"Right." The two teens got up and headed towards the elevator and waited for it. When the door opened up, Peter was shocked at who was on the other side.
"Frank West?" Peter questioned. Frank was wearing a black and white with some pedant around his neck, glasses, and of course his DSLR camera.
Frank was sort of daydreaming, but broke out of it when he heard Peter's voice. "Ohh, let me guess. You're a fan right? Well sorry but I need to talk to Jameson urgently." Frank passed the pair of them. Peter was pretty bummed out to be blown off by Frank that quickly, but didn't dwell on it too long. Peter and Rogue got in the elevator.
"Who was that?" Rogue asked.
"Famous Photojournalist. Don't know what he's doing at the bugle though." Peter explained. "Either way, want to see more of the city or just head back?"
Rogue thought about it for a few minutes. "Ah think ah'd like to spend more time with ya."
"Wow Rogue. So forward. You must tell all the guys and gals at the ballroom dancing club that." Peter quipped. Rogue quickly went to a sourish mood and rolled her eyes at Peter, who couldn't help but chuckle.
"Peter, do ah look like ah've been anywhere near a ballroom?"
"Do you promise not to hurt me if I gave you an honest and detailed answer about your current look?"
Rogue folded her arms across her chest. "No, ah don't."
"Then we'll just leave this topic at no and move on." The elevator took the teens back down to street level, where they made their way out of the Bugle.
"So, what now?" Rogue asked. Peter thought about where to go next, or what to possibly show Rogue, but then an idea popped into his head.
"I think I got an idea."
15 minutes later.
"This is ah nice view and all, but why are we 50 stories above the ground?!" Rogue questioned both Peter and his sanity. She was closely hugging the wall of the roof despite the railings on the roof that were there to prevent them from failing.
"You're actually halfway off, stories wise, but I figured if you were able to sap my memories and powers, it'd be a good thing you learn how to use them. And, you know, get rid of the vertigo immediately." Peter was leaned against the railing, still in his street clothes, although he did have two of his masks on the floor.
"Seriously?!" Peter nodded his head in response. "Great, ah run away from some group of super-powered weirdos, and now they've been traded for someone who's lost a few screws."
Peter sighed. "Look Rogue, let's say hypothetically you touch me. Say its to save my life or whatever. You'd rather rely on fuzzy memories of powers you've never used before and no experience, or learn and be a better...ok, slightly above average version of me?"
Rogue could tell from his face he was serious about teaching her how to get used to his powers, as he's only slightly joked around with her. She figured it couldn't hurt to learn, albeit she wasn't happy about getting thrown off the deep end literally.
"Alright. Ah trust ya. But if we're jumping off this thing, you owe me big time."
"Deal. Now first things first, you'll probably need my power again." Peter reached out his hand, an invitation for Rogue. She took off one of her gloves and laid a finger on his hand. Peter's whole body immediately felt strange, like he was getting weaker for the few seconds they were in contact. As for Rogue, the feeling was weirder as memories of both today and yesterday flooded her mind, including Peter's expulsion and near juvie arrest. The pair broke contact and reveled in the after affect that sent chills down both teens' spines.
"Whoa...freaky." Peter stated.
"Yeah..." Rogue simply replied. Peter picked up both masks and handed one to Rogue as he put the other one on.
"Here, I don't think you want to end up on The Daily Bugle's front pages. And before you ask, yes it's a clean mask." Rogue simply put the mask on and tried to adjust to it. She knew that no matter what happened with this impromptu training session, her hair and makeup was going to get messed up and mess up Peter's mask.
Peter then took off the webshooter on his right wrist and put on his gloves. "Give me your wrist."
Rogue extended her right hand. Peter pushed back the sleeve of her mesh shirt and fixed the webshooter on to her, making sure it would be able to fire over her glove and not into it.
"Ok. Quick history lesson on this webshooter. I made it myself, and it relies on web fluid that I also make myself. It's strong enough to hold a person, as well as heavier objects." Rogue looked at it while he explained it in a sort of intriguing fashion.
She was then concerned when she saw Peter sitting on the railing, but on the opposite side and with his mask on.
"Ah don't know Peter...what if something happens?"
"That's why I'm here. And also why I only gave you one of my webshooters." Peter extended his right arm for Rogue to grab with her left. She did and slowly (and hesitantly) sat on the railing the same way Peter was. She mad the mistake of looking down and immediately gripped Peter's arm hard.
"Ow ow ow. I know it's scary as hell, but can you not cut the circulation out my arm please?" She immediately loosened her grip, but still held on to Peter's arm as tightly as she could.
"Ok, what now?" Rogue asked. Peter looked down at the city below as he prepared himself.
"On the count of three, we're going to jump."
"WHAT?!" Rogue yelled.
"Onetwothree." Peter said extremely fast as he pushed himself off, dragging Rogue down with him and forcing the two into a free fall. Mentally, she was freaking out, but Peter was slowly getting the adrenaline rush he usually got when he took the time to jump off the Empire State Building.
"WHAT THE HELL PARKER?!?!"
"THIS IS TECHNICALLY THE BEST WAY TO LEARN. NOW POINT THE WEB SHOOTER TOWARDS A BUILDING AND PRESS DOWN ON YOUR PALM." Rogue followed his instruction and looked at the building right next to them. She closed her eyes for a second to calm herself and started to see past memories of Peter using his web shooters normally.
With the foreign memories still playing in her mind, she subconsciously shot a web line to the building, as did Peter to keep their level stable. They repeated the process a few blocks down until he heard Rogue start giggling a bit.
"Y'know, you might just be crazy, but ah didn't think this would be so much fun." Rogue cheerily said. Peter was smiling under his mask, but kept his cool as they kept swinging.
"Just wait till we get to doing trick in the air. Then you'll wish you could swing everywhere instead of taking the bus." The teens continued their impromptu training session on web swinging until the afternoon became the night, and they headed back to queens.
Parker Residence. (3 days Later.)
"Peter! I need your help!" Aunt May yelled. Peter came downstairs with a box in hand, as did Rogue. Today was moving day as May wanted Peter to start school again close to the start of the semester and seeing how the semester just started in midtown, he was going to have to play catch-up when he got to Bayville.
He set his box down, as did Rogue. "What happened?"
"I need to talk to you, privately." Peter nodded as him and hi Aunt stepped into the kitchen. Rogue went back upstairs to get another box from Peter's room. She entered the room and saw the last box he packed. She looked around his room as more of his memories came up in her head. She closed her eyes and let the memories play out. The first and most prominent was apparently years ago when he was a kid. She opened her eyes and saw a young Peter, along with a man she'd never seen in the house before.
"Oh c'mon Peter, you know my back isn't as string as it used to be." The man said. Kid Peter stopped at his feet, crossed his arms and pouted.
"But you promised you'd play space pirates and aliens with me. I can't be the pirate without an alien to fight." Rogue chuckled at the innocence of kid Peter.
"I know Peter, I know. I'm sorry but I'm just not feeling as good as I would like to." Kid Peter looked very sad as he stared at the ground.
"Ok Uncle Ben." Ben saw this and sat down on Peter's bed. He then turned to him.
"Hey you, don't be sad. Come here." He picked up Peter and had him sit on his lap. "Look Peter, I'm sorry for not being able to keep these promises with you. I know how much you wanted to go to that science fair downtown."
"It's ok Uncle Ben. Really."
"No it's not Peter. I want you to remember my mistakes with this as a lesson. Don't make promises you can't keep. Its a disappointment like no other to experience. Can you promise me that?"
"I promise Uncle Ben." Kid Peter said, which brought a smile to Uncle Ben.
"Good kid." Ben kissed Peter on the forehead. "I want to give you something of mine." Ben pulled out a small bag with paper in it. Peter opened it and pulled out a compact CD player with headphones and a few discs.
"What is it?"
"It's my old CD player." Ben said. "It might be a little bit messed up, but it still works. I also got you a few discs for it. Some of my favorite music when I was younger, and some CDs about science."
Peter's eyes lit up. "They make CDs about science?"
"Absolutely." Ben said. Peter, excitedly, put in the CD about science and started listening to it. After a few more seconds, the memory started to fade out and Rogue soon found herself standing alone in his room again. She opened the box to see if the CD player was in there, but no such luck. She spent the next 5 minutes looking around his room for the CD player until she found it behind the headboard of Peter's bed. She grabbed it and put it in the box as she began to carry it downstairs. She stopped halfway down when she heard May and Peter talking.
"I just don't know if it's a good idea is all. I don't want to take her with us of she doesn't want to go."
"Aunt May, she's said to both of us she doesn't have any family, what's the downside of taking her with us?"
"She runs away again? And gets hurt? Then it would be on us."
Peter sighed. "I get your point but still, we should ask her. If she wants to come along with us, fine. If she doesn't, which I doubt, then she'll have to figure it out herself." May seemed content with Peter's logic, and agreed to go with his plan of asking her. Rogue didn't know how to feel. One one hand, she was grateful for both of them taking her in when she had nowhere else to go, but on the other, did they really not mind her there, or were just saying it to be nice? She continued her way downstairs and dropped off the box on the floor as she opened it.
"Hey Peter. Ah found this in your room." Rogue turned Peter's attention to his box, where she pulled out the CD player she found. Peter froze at the discovery she made as he rushed over to grab it, while not snatching it from her hands.
"How...how did you find this?" Peter asked. He looked at Rogue, but she gave him a look as to silently tell him "I'll explain later."
"Ah found it under your bed, figured you might still want it." Peter looked at the player in amazement, as he did with Rogue.
"Rogue...I don't know what to say. Thank you." Peter said with a smile. May's heart was warm at the scene of seeing her nephew genuinely happy again, as he hasn't been anywhere near that expressive in a long time.
"Well I guess that just leaves one matter we need to discuss all together." May said. "Rogue deary, we need to ask you something."
Rogue already knowing what question she was about to be asked, went along and pretended to not know what was going on. "Uhm, sure." She sat down on the couch.
"As you know, me and my nephew are moving to upstate New York, specifically in the Bayville area. I know we've never talked about it with you, but with you being a runaway and having no where to go-"
"My Aunt is trying to ask if you would want to come with us upstate. So you're not, you know, homeless." Peter interjected. May sighed.
"Well that's not the way I would've put it, but yes, would you want to come with us? At least till we help you find a more permanent home."
Rogue already knew her answer, but still was mildly surprised at May's friendliness towards her, a complete stranger who was couch crashing.
"And you wouldn't mind me coming along?" Rogue asked.
"Of course not. I think the change of scenery for all three of us could be a fresh start we all need."
Rogue stood up and smiled. "In that case, yes, I'd be happy to come with y'all." Peter cracked a smile and May was elated. The three of them enjoyed each other's company for a while before continuing to pack May's SUV. The three of them got in and drove out of the city. Peter looked out of the window as he reminisced on all the memories he had as Spider-Man in the big apple, while Rogue looked out her side, wondering if starting over with the Parkers is the fresh start she needed.
Both of them felt their Spider-sense going off, but neither could pinpoint exactly where it was coming from. They ignored it as they continued to drive, while a certain Raven followed over head.