A/N: First of all, I wanna say Merry Belated Christmas to all of you! Thanks for the ones following the story so far, I hope you all have a great time with your friends and family :D

I'm sorry for the long delay in this chapter too. Finals Week happened, had to focus on that. Thankfully, Christmas Break is here,so I should be able to upload more frequently...if I don't put all my time on Fallout 4.

Anywho, Enjoy! Feedback appreciated! :D

X-Mansion, After Times Square Event. Kitty Pryde.

It's late at night and I'm using my laptop. I would normally stay awake for some time during the night, browsing through social media, news forums, etc. As a member of the X-Men, I try to find more diplomatic ways of discussing Mutant equality. Yeah, I like beating the crap out of Anti-Mutant Activists and Mutant Terrorists alike, but I can't do that all the time. On the other hand, I can pretty much log on to the Internet at any time to continue fighting for equality, in a different way of course. Other times, I just continue talking with Magik or Rouge whenever we weren't able to finish a conversation.

I would continue using the laptop, but I've got a long day tomorrow. Continuing this Spider-Man mission and all.

Speaking of, I wonder why Parker regularly comes late to our little dates. Could it be that he's…..

Nah, that's silly. If he'd really be Spider-Man, he wouldn't be taking the time to talk to me because he wants to solve the disease. Parker's just a really busy guy, I can tell. He only complains about the rent too, not about the multiple things he's got to do everyday. It's crazy, I wish I could have that level of tolerance with jobs.

Before I could shut the laptop, I receive a 'X-Message' from the Laptop. Forge created a new system that interconnects all the electronics owned by the X-Men, us being able to call eachother at any times, but only for World-threatening emergencies. Forge also made the noise from it stand out, even the screen of whatever electronic you're using starts shining bright green. Extremely stupid name for the system, but it really does work.

I answer the call and what other person do I respond to than the guy who made it.

A message board pops up on the laptop, Forge's icon to the side of the screen.

"Kitty, this is breaking news-"

"If this is about that X-Defense Upgrade crap, I don't want to hear it. Good ni-"

"No, this is actually huge."

I noticed the emphasis he put on 'huge' and I started getting interested

"How huge?"

"Like, huge enough that I would tell Logan, but he doesn't seem to be responding to any calls I give him."

"None?"

"At all. Not even the X-Message"

"…..You think he…."

"Left us? I hope not. This is actually so huge, I had to delete it off the net."

"Spider-Man related?"

"Well yeah….sort of…."

"You keep deleting those articles off the net, they're going to track us down here."

"Ugh…..I know…I'm just following orders….."

"Why didn't you tell that to him when he assigned the mission to you"

"He's too stubborn to listen to me, sadly"

I sighed "Yeah, you got a point there...Continue?"

"So…..Spider-Man went berserk today….you might want to ask the Photographer about it tomorrow…."

"Will he be comfortable with it?"

"I think so…but….main point is…."

"Yeah?"

I was eager for the answer. Don't let this be stupid, Forge. Please.

"Magneto….he's back."

My heart literally dropped. Literally. My stomach felt incredibly shallow.

"He….what?!" I yelled

"Kitty! Quiet down!" Forge said

"How is he—?"

"Avengers. Times Square. Giant Fight. It doesn't matter if I deleted this news. Everybody knows. Everybody was watching. The Avengers can't even hide this anymore."

"Oh my...Have you told Jean or Scott about this? Or at least anyone else?"

"I came to you first since you're dealing with the Spider-Man stuff."

"I'm talking about Magneto though!"

"I already did, don't worry."

"So both Sinister and Magneto want him now?"

"Seems so…."

"Can't we just ask the Avengers to help us out?"

"Bit of a problem….Stark owns the MRD now, the Avengers are starting to get really government focused nowadays. They don't like us very much too."

"Wasn't Logan an Avenger?"

"Logan is a well respected veteran that even SHIELD counts on for Black Ops missions, probably the only reason Stark recruited him. But us as whole team? Coming to their mansion? Asking for their new recruit ? Yeah, might as well plant a bomb in each of us"

"Can't we just explain to them what the direness of this situation is?"

"They would probably try to fix the situation themselves. Probably not gonna end well. This Spider-Man thing is getting worse and worse everyday… We seriously need to act fast"

"I'll do what I can Forge….."

"Just….take your time but…y'know"

"Prevent Magneto from reaching him as well, got it"

I closed the laptop and put it to the side, laying down on the bed.

Magneto is back? How many times is that guy going to survive through everything? Where's Logan? Did he hear about this Magneto thing before all of us? Has he decided to capture Spider-Man on his own terms? And if so, why is he not able to trust his own teammates with it?

These questions kept weighing upon me as I slowly closed my eyes in the dark room

Avengers Mansion. Spider-Man.

"What exactly do we need to talk about?" I asked

"What exactly happened between you and Magneto?" Tony asked

"How am I supposed to know? Weren't you people watching from outside? What did you see happen?" I yelled

"You were the one fighting him, you should know what happened!" Tony yelled

"I wasn't able to control it, I couldn't even see what was actually happening! I was hallucinating!" I said

"Calm down, both of you!" Hank said, putting both of his hands in front of Tony's face and mine.

Hank sighed, looked at me, and started explaining "After Magneto trapped you and started crushing you with the metal encasement, we tried to attack him, but he was covered by a giant forcefield. We could do nothing but watch as he was talking to you. It seems he crushed you hard enough to trigger the disease, because all we saw was you beating him senseless afterwards. You hit him hard enough to fly through his own shield. You chased him out, and fought in front of all Times Square."

This caught my attention

"Does this mean that-?"

"Yes, you were in your monster mode in front of pretty much the entire city." Tony interrupted "That's why I'm asking you what happened. What did Magneto do?"

"Exactly what Hank said, he crushed me hard enough."

"So? There must be more to it then that." Tony said "What exactly was your hallucination about?"

"Not going to tell you, personal stuff."

"I have no time for this, just tell me what you saw and we might be able to figure out what exactly made you do this."

"I already said I won't!"

"Can you at least say if all the other times had hallucinations?" Hank said as he jumped in

"Not really...I saw a swarm of spiders in all the other times...but in this one, time legitimately froze"

"Would you mind telling us what your hallucination was about then?"

"For the last time, no. I'm not telling what it was about."

Hank seemed to respect that, but Stark looked at me directly in the eyes, his eyes full of anger.

"Look, I have no time for this Parker. All the Avengers are worried, the news has tons of questions,-"

"So they are starting to know? Why not just tell them?"

"We'll be forced to speak out about hiding something like this to the rest, they won't take it lightly. The trust in this group will be broken."

"Isn't that exactly what I said sometime ago?"

Looks like Hank thought this was starting to become a heated argument he understandably wants no part in, for he headed out the door in an instant, saying he had research to do.

Tony looked directly at me once again.

"Look you little wise guy, this isn't like dealing with the Hulk here. We were protecting the Hulk for he was already a monster, there was no hiding in that. You, however, you are Spider-Man. No one has seen Spider-Man act the way he did in Times Square. People would start thinking we're hiding more things, they'll doubt us"

"Oh, so that's what it's all about? All about what the people think? You're too fed up with praise?"

"Parker, it's worse than that." Tony stated

"I thought the Avengers were all about protecting the world, no matter how many people disagree with them. Now you're worried about what the public thinks?"

"We could get banned for something like this, y'know. It's not like we really do care about what they think, it's about what they can do to keep us down."

"Multiple banned groups continue helping the world, look at the X-Men-"

"The X-Men are a bunch of outlaws."

"Didn't you recruit Wolverine to our group one time?"

"Nick trusts him, I trust him. He's the only X-Man I have a tiny bit of respect for."

"Are you only calling the X-Men outlaws because they're mutants?"

"They break into national security, destroyed tons of dollars worth of government research-"

"Sentinels don't count. Those things could've killed us all."

"Only because Magneto tampered with them!"

"Well what if I have the X-Gene? What if I'm a mutant? Is that why you're worried about the image of the Avengers?"

"You don't have the X-Gene. Hank and I studied your blood about a hundred times, no trace of the Gene."

"There's obviously just mutant hate here"

"No, there isn't"

"Says the owner of the MRD"

"And what exactly does this mutant talk have to do with anything?!"

"You're pretty much only calling the X-Men outlaws because the government banned them. If the government banned The Avengers, would you people be outlaws?"

"Not really, we're all about helping people-"

"Aha! See? That's your problem here. If the Avengers are all about helping others no matter what the world says, why care about your reputation for hiding something? But you know what, you are right. The Avengers are about helping others no matter what, you're just generalising. The other Avengers wouldn't care if they got bad press, but you are so fed up with your own ego that you can't even resist getting it."

"Parker if you don't shut your trap I swear I'll-!" Tony stopped and looked at the door. The Avengers were probably listening to this entire encounter, so he decided to cool down.

I'll cool down as well, but I'll still explain my point.

"Am I gonna be able to stand up?" I asked, since I was still laying on the hospital bed.

"It shouldn't really hurt you" Stark said

I stood up, and wow it hurt! I was able to do it, but I had to cripple my way to the door. Magneto messed me up bad, even in my Man-Spider mode. That must require extreme skill...

I opened the door and looked back at Tony. I was able to keep a low voice.

"Look Stark, you're obviously a man that hides many secrets. It's obvious that you don't respect the secrets of others, but seeing how paranoid you are about what's happening to me, I know exactly why you're keeping those secrets. One of your secrets, if not more, could completely destroy your reputation if revealed. It may not look like it, but secrets have a cost. Remember that. This entire team can immediately screw up because of what you're hiding"

I leave the room and notice some Avengers waiting outside. I can see Tony just look down on the floor while on his wheelchair. He was speechless, I just hope he's using that to think about his actions rather than coming up with a counter argument.

Wasp, in her miniature mode, flew up to my face, flying back as I walk "You look pretty angry...anything wrong?"

I didn't answer, simply walking out of her way and heading straight for the door out of the Mansion.

I could see Cap right in the corner of my eye. He's laying his back on a wall, giving a pretty mean look to Stark once he exited the room.

All I hope is that Cap makes sure he keeps Tony in check.