CHAPTER 10: TROUBLE ON THE RISE
Peter had just had a very long talk with the Professor, and he was worried about all of this. Although he did assure Peter he would look into this he was still worried. He tried to do his homework which was harder then normal but then after it he just kept pacing his room walking back and forth. He was pacing so much that he was literally climbing the walls well walking up them at least.
It was then that there was a knock on his door, "Come in."
In walked Kurt and Evan and then looked up, "Dude don't you never get sick or something with hanging upside down like that all the time?" Evan asked him seeing him stand on the ceiling.
"Actually no, not that you mention it," Peter put that aside for future research later on about just how long he could stay upside down like that. Then he let himself drop to the floor, "So I guess that you wanted to talk about the professor said?"
Kurt nodded his head, "Ja man ve're vorried about zhis."
"No kidding you got some punk gunning for you man," Evan added in, he didn't like the idea of some stalker creep after Peter or even them. "I mean I say we just find whoever this is and kick the crap out of them."
"Yeah well the problem is we don't know," Peter sighed, "The Professor and the other adults will look into it trying to see if they can find out. I gave Logan the note and he's out trying to see if he can find the sent." Although Peter knew that was a long shot at best Bayville was a large town even for him and he had said there hadn't been much of a sent on the card. "I think the Professor is going to try his hand at it maybe check to see if any of the Brotherhood have been following us with Cerebro or something."
"Hey you think it was that Max jerk? You know that guy has kind of had it in for you," Evan pointed out.
Peter had thought of that, "No not his style, he'll want to come up to my face but mess with my head."
"Vell any idea?" Kurt asked hoping that Peter would have any kind of clue seeing the look on his face was proof of that. "Vell vhat are you going to do?"
"I have no idea, honestly." Peter muttered to himself. Just how do you deal with some crazy stalker after you?
"Well we got a Danger Room session in a few minutes maybe the others could come up with some ideas?" Spyke told him and Peter had to just nod. After that the boys broke up as they put on their uniforms. Peter still felt a bit uneasy in his Spider-X uniform because it was similar to that living suit he had worn. Sure the shoulder pads and the spider design that had the legs make an X were different and the new web shooters and belt too but it was still odd when he saw himself in that mirror.
For a minute it was like looking at the other one but he shook his head and went to training. By the time he got there Kurt and Evan were already talking about his note and Peter had to sigh. He knew that Scott wouldn't take this lightly and then there would be Rogue who would worry and he hated making her worry. She had enough in life to deal with then his problems as it were, sure it had been easier since he made that bracelet for her but he was still working secretly with Forge and even Doc Connors and Beast on a more permanent solution.
Cyclops of course was the first to approach him, "Peter are what they're saying true?"
He only sighed, "Yeah Scott, and I've already talked to the Professor he and Logan as looking into it."
"Oh so that's why Logan isn't here for this and we got Storm instead," Kitty said out loud mainly to herself. She was a bit down because she still hadn't found the time to talk to Lance he and the others had already gone through training before them and she had been suited up. She hoped that later after this she would get the chance.
Rogue kept quiet about this but there was still a worried look on her face that she tried to hide. She knew that Peter could take care of himself most of the time but it was still a scary thought that someone was out to get you. But at the moment they had to push it aside getting distracted while in the Danger Room was a sure fire way to end up in the infirmary.
They entered the domed room, as today it would be exercises instead of a simulation like the infiltration mission or mock battles against the enemies they had faced already. It was going to be first a times exercise each one tailored for each person and then a group exercise. For Kitty she had to run through a maze phasing herself through walls and dodging anything else in there to find the finish line. Sometimes after phasing though a wall she came face to face with a trap like a machine shooting out small rubber balls. They weren't lethal but as any of them could attest to they stung like hell if they hit you.
For Jean she was being tested on her flight abilities. She had to keep herself in the air the entire time as she had to keep up a defense by deflecting all oncoming objects. Some were balls, others metal disks and other such things. She kept it up a good fifteen minutes as more and more objects were being shot at her all the time in various sizes and speeds.
But even she had her limits and when a small object hit her lower back she lost her concentration as another hit her shoulder and she dropped to the floor. The exercise was shut down as soon as he feet touched leaving her sweating and panting for breath. Scott of course was right by her side to help her off the field. She didn't mind at all and smiled when he told her how much better she had done then the last time.
Spyke was up next as he was on his skateboard as the DR changed into a massive skate park looking construct. His goal was to skate and hit the targets that would show up without falling off his board. Normally Peter would have made a comment on using something like a skateboard but then he wasn't one to talk about using a device that shot out simulated webbing. Evan shot off fast as he went though the field, targets would pop up at random and he wasn't only just trying to hit them but get as close to the bullseye as he could.
He wasn't doing too bad until he got it into his head to shot off. Scott shook his head knowing that Evan liked to get like this and he would always make a mistake at this point but what Scott really didn't like was how Evan seemed to never learn from it. Spyke was doing well up until he tried to do a darkslide over a rail. A darkslide was a grind move in where you flipped the board so the top rode the surface and you stood on the bottom. Only with Evan he had still never mastered that move and slipped off at the last moment and wiped out a bit.
He picked himself up since he landed on the padding although up in the control room Storm sighed wishing that her nephew would start taking this a bit more seriously.
Kurt had an acrobatic test up next with rings and hoops as well as platforms. His goal was to get through it without hitting the ground. Kurt immediately went to work jumping through the air and using his acrobatic skills to fly through the air with a grace that most professionals wouldn't have. Plus his tail came in real handy like when he threw himself through the air he went into a spin, used his tail to grab a ring and swing himself with that. He jumped off the platforms as soon as he landed to try and make good time.
He slipped on one of the rings but at the last second teleported himself back up to one and worked his way on. Using teleportation gave him a few seconds deduction on his total time so he had to hurry. By the end of it he was just a few seconds shy of his personal best. They had Peter go next since his training was much the same as Kurt's only with Peter's impact webbing targets would be added to it. As Spider-X took to the air it was apparent that there was a difference in Peter and Kurt's techniques.
Peter because of his strength had a longer jumping range and he liked to stick to things more, although in these exercises he wasn't suppose to use his weblines since it would be like Kurt using teleportation. Peter would fly through the air and fire his impact wedding at his targets, even in mid flip.
By the end of it he had managed to get a pretty decent score and was thankful for the rest as he pulled off his mask to wipe the sweat building up. It was one of the major annoyances to having a full face mask. Cyclops was up next since he had to run through a corridor and not only dodge incoming attacks but also fire at certain targets that would pop up. Scott however being one of the most experienced there took to it very well.
He had been doing this for years like Jean and it showed in him as he expertly dodged, rolled and fired his optic blasts through his visor. They had to admit when Scott was in top form like this he could be very impressive. Rogue however wished she had a different one since going before or even after Scott in this one made her feel like a rookie. Which in compared to Scott she guessed she was.
She had to do the same thing since she was equipped with the metal throwing disks by her hip. She took a breath and heard Peter giving her an encouragement and she felt a bit better. She started in a dead run as she worked her way through the corridor.
She wasn't as fast as Scott and she missed a few targets but for once she was never hit by the devices. Rogue took a bit longer then Scott and not as high a score but by the end when she rolled under an obstacle that came out of the wall to hit her and she came out of the roll on the finish area she did feel better about herself.
By then end of it they were all tired from the work out and were glad it was over. Normally she would have gotten hit a few times but that time she had actually managed to pull it off. She smiled to herself feeling like maybe she could improve, given her powers she always felt like one of the weakest links on the team but at that moment she felt like maybe she wasn't as weak as she thought.
After that was a team skills exercise as they had to make it through to the other end of the Danger Room and back. This was to work on teamwork since they all needed to work together to help each other through the obstacles that Ororo placed in the way that would block one person but with help of their team mates they could over come them.
It went pretty well, and Peter was glad that he was improving in his team work skills. He really felt that he was starting to work well with the team since he used his webbing to clog up one of the weapons, picked up Evan and jumped over one with him, and even gave Rogue a tap to allow her some use of his powers to get through the course a bit more easily.
"Man glad that's over with," Evan said stretching.
"Yeah well be thankful it was Storm, you know that like, Logan would have totally had us go another hour in there." Kitty told him freeing her hair from its ponytail and working it out of the small mess it had gotten into while training.
"Yeah and I could use a shower and then get this thing clean out a bit," Peter told them and pointed to his uniform. It was common for the uniforms to absorb a lot of the sweat after a particular Danger Room session where they had a really good workout.
There were a few nods of agreement with that. Rogue pulled Peter aside for a moment, "Peter ah know that we planned ta go out tonight but if y'all want to stay in ah'll understand."
Peter knew that Rogue had been looking forward to showing him this club she knew of tonight and to be honest he needed to get out. He didn't want to live his life in total fear so he shook his head, "Naw, I'm not going to let this note thing scare me. Besides we shouldn't let our lives be controlled from some jerk giving me 'love letters' either."
Rogue gave him a little look wondering on this but she guessed that Peter had to go out sooner or later and if not on a date she knew he would go out as Spider-Man at one point and as Spider-Man he would be all alone. At least out on a date she could keep an eye on him. "Well okay, let's just get ready and ah'll meet ya in a couple of hours by tha front door."
Peter smiled and nodded, that sounded good to him. And given his day so far he needed to get away from it all and enjoy an evening out with her sounded the perfect thing to him.
-Brotherhood house-
The Brotherhood boys were just lounging around that night, Fred on the couch with Toad next to him, Pietro was looking bored and flipping through the stations quickly to see if there was anything worth watching on TV. Max was in a chair just looking pissed with a nasty bruise on his face still there. It wasn't until they saw a car pull up and heard voices when they started to get up.
"Hey who can that be?" Fred asked getting up.
"Might be Mystique yo," Toad hopped off the couch, "Not like we get visitors at least not after we scared off the last of the salesmen and those Jehovah Witnesses last month."
"Oh yeah," Fred smiled at that one, "That was fun, man I never knew normal people could run so fast they could almost give Quicksilver a run for his money."
Pietro just snorted as he went to open the door. If it was Mystique she had better have a good reason for not being here for so long. They needed to get some cash and other things and she was the one with the cash. Although how Max kept getting money for food he didn't know, 'That guy most likely thinks no one notices either that he had been doing that.'
Pietro got to the door and pulled it open, he was really going to let that blue skinned shape shifter have it this time no matter who she was. "Okay listen Mystique I have…only…one…" Pietro's jaw basically dropped as in front of him was a tall, girl roughly his age with black hair that was short in the front and very long in the back. She gave him an amused smile and she was a knock out for sure.
"Ah so you must be Pietro," She said in a nearly musical and yet sultry tone smiling at him.
This snapped him out of his daze and grinned at the girl, "Oh yeah that's me all right. So what's a hot thing like you doing in a place like this?"
She still smiled at him, "Moving in."
For a minute he wasn't sure if he heard right, after making sure that he wasn't dreaming that was only one thought in his mind, 'There is a God and he loves me.'
"Delilah what's the hold up?" Came the voice of Morrie from behind her. Pietro looked to see the brown haired boy and Mystique as well as another girl with long dark hair who looked like of pale, kind of like Rogue in a way. All of them seem to be unpacking as well.
"What the hell is going on?" Max yelled out and pulled Pietro away from the door to see what was going on.
"We're you're new recruits," Delilah said picking up couple of suitcases and just walking in through the front door with Morrie not that far behind her. They were halfway to the stairs when they both stopped and smelled the air. "Dear god what is that smell?"
"Oh sorry about that,' Todd grinned, "I got kind of a gland problem."
"Then why not take a shower?" Morrie asked the young gangly looking teen.
Todd righted himself up like he was insulted, "Hey man I took my monthly shower last week." Then suddenly Todd was hit by a lot of water as he was pushed back into the other room looking very wet at Morrie whose arm then reformed from water back into flesh. "Hey! What was that for?"
"You needed it," Hydro-man said to him picking up his stuff, "I can see that I already will be useful enough as it is keeping that guy from stinking up this place," He muttered to himself as he started to climb the stairs. Todd was just drying out his clothing mumbling about how unfair life was when Max noticed Mystique and the new girl.
All right listen up you lot," She told the four old members of the Brotherhood, "We've finally got some new recruits to help fill in the gaps and things will be a bit more differently from now on. I want you all to start training exercises and to start mastering your powers. Things are about to get hectic soon and I want you all to be ready."
Then Mystique turned to Sandra, "Sandra, I can show you to your room it will be the empty one next to mine."
She smiled at the blue woman, "Thanks, I'd like that." She looked at the other members that were living there. Also the house itself it could use a little fixing up but compared to some of the places she had slept before this was defiantly a palace to those buildings. She was led to a nice room on the top floor with a nice bed and a window. She already felt more at home here then she had at her old home with the people who had been her parents. But given how they treated her she no longer could consider such people that.
She stopped for a bit thinking on something that had happened, "Raven…are you sure you made the right choice? I mean…you didn't have to do what you did."
Mystique walked up behind the young girl and placed her hands on her shoulders and turned her around to face her. They had spent a few days learning about her powers but they also had been talking a lot and Mystique had found that it was hard to tare herself away from the girl and she knew the young girl was forming a bond with her as well.
Before they left she had pulled Sandra aside for a reason and told her something. For awhile now Mystique had been a very lonely woman, and so far she had to give up her children one by one throughout her life. Always she carried the emptiness within her about that, never having the family she felt she deserved to have. But with Sandra she felt she had another chance.
She had told her what she wanted and Sandra didn't hesitate to say yes to it. All her life Sandra had never been loved by her parents, never accepted, she had been alone and would have died alone if not for Mystique. She was the first person to actually care about her and Sandra would do anything for her as well.
Mystique had thought of a way to cover for her as with the others. When she had to submit the paper work she had altered it to hide their pasts from anyone that would look at them and to enroll them into Bayville. It wasn't as easy with her no longer as principle but it could be done. But for Sandra she had something else in mind, something special and the woman was glad that the young girl had accepted it so readily. "Listen I wouldn't have asked if I didn't want this. When I look at you I see lot of myself when I was your age. I had no one when I was your age and…I guess I can't just let the same thing happen."
Mystique let down her own personal mask that she always wore, Sandra could see the sadness in the older woman's face and she knew that Mystique was telling her the truth of it. "Then I'm glad for this," Sandra told her.
Mystique actually gave a small smile, "Well then I'm glad too…My daughter."
Sandra smiled at the words and actually hugged the blue skinned woman. Before coming here she had been given a choice to be either under Mystique's guardianship or adopted by her. Since she had never had a decent family life and the fact that she had been more of a mother to her then her real one she had gladly accepted it.
For the first time in Sandra's life she felt she was truly part of a family, although she didn't know just how large a family she had just been taken into at that moment as Mystique hadn't told her yet of her other children.
-Xavier Mansion-
Rogue was just fixing herself up for her date with Peter, sure she was nervous about that note thing but there was no way she would let this get in the way. She still found it strange how she was actually dating someone she had always thought she would be always alone because of her mutation. She looked once more at the bracelet that he had given her and a small smile crossed her face.
She looked herself over seeing the orange mesh and matching top and dark pants. She was glad Kitty went to talk with Lance so she had the room free. Rogue just put on the finishing touches as she went to meet Peter later on in by the front door. She passed a few of the people in the hall along the way.
Peter was fixing himself up with a nice dark long sleeve shirt and jeans. He was going to wear a jacket he had since he was also wearing his Spider-Man suit under it and the pockets would help hide the mask, gloves and shooters. Sure he was going out on just a date but with things as they were he wasn't going out and then being caught unprepared.
He went out of his room making sure he looked okay on the way there he saw Jean and Scott also looking like they were going out, "Hey, I see I'm not the only one with plans."
Scott gave a small smile, "Yeah we were going out to a movie. What about you and Rogue?" He asked him, although he was looking forward to it, ever since he stopped wearing those glasses he had still been enjoying the world of Technicolor and seeing things like movies with Jean was one of the things he enjoyed the most. Not only was he with her and could see her full beauty but at least now when he saw bits in movies like where someone was trying to figure out which wire to cut he could at least tell which was which color more easily.
"Cool, Rogue wanted to go to this club downtown, I think it's called The Raven," To Peter it sounded like a Goth bar or something and he hoped he didn't stick out too much.
"Oh I've heard of that," Jean had remembered a few people talking about that including Taryn, "It's like this club where they hold raves and stuff."
Peter felt a bit better at that, "Oh cool, say you think you guys could lend us a ride?"
Scott looked to Jean and shrugged, it wasn't too out of the way and it's not like they would be late for the movie, "Sure I guess it couldn't hurt but you're on your own on the way back."
"Sure thing," Peter nodded and went to join Rogue. When he saw her he had to admit she knew how to dress going out. The black leather pants were very tight and showed off her nice legs. Plus he hadn't seen her in that orange top before and it looked nice. "Wow…You look great," He smiled and he saw her blush a bit as she tried to hide it.
"Thanks, y'all look nice too," She said back to him and saw Jean and Scott coming. She didn't mind the ride there when they told her, since it would cut back on the walking and they were dropped out in front of the club. It pretty much had an open door policy for the building and you could hear the music form outside the two story building.
Peter looked at the sign that had a giant black raven with the name of it in red neon. The windows up front were covered up and there was only on big looking brute as a bouncer in black up front. The line outside wasn't too bad as it only took them fifteen minutes to get in. Inside the place was large with two levels a live band was playing Indy music and there was a long bar for drinks and the usual staff around.
There was of course a huge dance floor with lights and lasers as well as people with those glow sticks and stuff in the darker lighting. All in all it seemed like a cool place. "Nice, didn't know you were the club type," He asked her a bit loudly so she could hear him.
"Yeah well ah lahke ta get out now and then. Plus this is one of tha only places that were good," She said back truth was it had been 'Risty' that shown her this place. That whole thing with her being Mystique the entire time was still an open wound with her. So far that was the second time that woman has lied and used her.
Peter caught her looking off in the distance remembering something and then took her hand. She looked at him snapping back to reality to his smiling face, "Hey let's go and have some fun okay?" She gave him that little smile of hers that he had grown to love seeing and together they headed to the dance floor. Although at first she hadn't been too good at this after that thing with Kitty, Evan and the Dracula play she had learned to loosen up a bit on the dance floor.
She was still a bit self conscious at the start but once she got into the music she started to feel a bit more free. She didn't have to worry about touching another person this time and it was kind of liberating. Peter tried to keep up with her, thankfully all that agility paid off on the dance floor and he had to admire how she looked in the changing light. She looked great as she danced there and he felt he could just watch her dance all night long.
Also inside the club they were being watched the entire time and Peter never sensed him once. He stuck to the shadows and mainly out of sight of his prey but things would get very interesting soon. He had been physically training and studying Peter and his freak friends. They were just like him, they needed to be dealt with. In the shadows out stepped Eddie Brock but he had changed, he was bigger then last time in fact he was bulked up then before as he was in all dark clothing.
He watched the two and knew that the alley behind this building would be the perfect place to start taking him apart. And of course that girlfriend of his was also a nice way to target him and so he started to move. 'Soon we'll have our revenge,' He sent to his other.
At first the idea of being bonded to a living creature was horrifying until he had learned everything about Peter Parker and these mutant creatures. He felt its pain and anger at Peter rejecting it that mirrored Eddie's own taste for revenge against Parker. Thanks to him he had lost his job, stolen his pictures and then sold them to someone else.
He moved to the front of the club and would wait out front to strike. He walked to the alley as his clothing started to liquefy and started to move over him like it was alive. It moved over his features until it reformed over his body with the same white spider design that had been on the living costume that Peter had worn only this time the face was more gruesome. The eyes were more sinister and there was now a large jaw with a long slimy tongue and rows of sharp teeth.
When he spoke the voice was altered into a very dark tone, "Soon Parker you'll see just how poisonous we are to your life. Soon you will know, Venom."
NEXT UP CHAPTER 11: VENOM