Late one Friday afternoon at City Hall; Mayor Jameson in his office was being shown a presentation by an aged man in a suit along with a much younger one; the older one was Spencer Smythe the head of Research & Development at the genetics and robotics company Trask Industries and the younger man was his son Alistair. They were holding a pitch presentation showing plans and tests of car sized robotic spiders meant to hunt down Spider-Man; much smaller than the massive Mutant hunting Sentinels that company founder Bolivar Trask invented in the 1970s.
"...with your signature Mr Mayor sir; we can start production off a full army to work with your Spider-Man Task Force in order to hunt him down." Spencer said finishing off the presentation as Jameson looked to be thinking it over.
"An interesting and fascinating presentation Mr & Mr Smythe; I have looked through this presentation and I have to say... Never in a trillion eons; please don't let the door hit you on the way out!" Jameson answered as they looked surprised. "I am not going to turn New York into a police state with giant robot spiders to hunt down that menace; people have a problem with dog sized police robots so I won't make it worse! An army of robot menaces isn't the answer to catch one!" Jameson continued on.
"Please reconsider Mayor Jameson; this Spider-Man could be the start of a resurface off the Mutant problem and we would have needed the Sentinels if it continued on as it did..." Spencer said with pleading as Jameson shook his head.
"Giant robots to hunt down members of the public; not only wrong on a moral sense but could easily cause much more property damage than the Webhead ever could and far more quickly as well with all sorts of human casualties! Nixon was an evil SOB and I have no clue why Ford pardoned him but him shutting down that Sentinel Program before it could even get started was the best move any President could have made in that situation! Plus as someone who saw the first two Terminator movies on their opening days; I know what kind of future these kind of robots will cause!" Jameson as he then called for security to escort the Smythes out.
They were displeased as they were shown to the door; "I thought that this was the best shot at being able to to put our new creations into production! Without widespread Mutant panic and proof that their numbers are growing again; we won't be able to to have the okay to have these mass produced! I thought for sure that the Mayor would jump at the chance for an easy solution to that Spider-Man problem!" Spencer fumed as they went back to their car. "You have any ideas Alistair?" Spencer asked as Alistair was pondering this.
"We use them to hunt down Spider-Man ourselves; with Spider-Man taken care of then the Mayor can't argue how efficient our Slayers turned out to be. The good press will get investors coming to the company for them to be mass produced; an army ready for when the Mutant resurgence is undeniable!" Alistair suggested as Spencer thought it over.
Saturday evening and Peter was with Grady and Debra at their favourite comic book store; "Guys you should check out the cliffhanger at the end of the latest Ricochet comic; it's pretty much guaranteeing that I will have to buy the next issue!" Peter said checking out the new Ricochet comic in the stands; one of his favourite comic superheroes since forever. The movies were coming out with a reboot after the last one under performed financially and critically with the studios mandating more villains than the movie could handle along with too much set up. Still the trailer for the reboot looked cool.
"You should check out the new Wolverine; I tell you guys that it's amazing!" Grady said looking to the X-Men comics section which were quite popular sellers; decades ago mutations in the DNA caused people to develop Mutant super powers and there was a dilemma with much panic along with fear and hatred towards the Mutants. It died down during the 80s as Mutant births became rare and rarer. There was a team of Mutants known as the X-Men who weren't seen for a long time; but the interest caused unlicensed comics made to this day which are popular just like the comics based on World War II hero Captain America.
"I prefer the more science based grounded stories; I mean as much as how mutation in the DNA leads to powers fascinates me... The X-Men comics lose me in their ability to explore that when they decide to put in stuff like a hidden Savage Land where Dinosaurs still lived." Debra muttered looking through a science fiction anthology comic.
Peter definitely liked learning about the X-Men during history class; their infamy really turned to fame and popular when they intervened and stopped the out of control Sentinel robots in 1973 during what was to be their revealment to the public. He liked to wonder what happened to the X-Men.
After they were done they were met with Liz in her jacket coming up from behind Peter to embrace him; "Ready for our get together to Coney Island; Petey?" Liz asked with a smile as the surprise that Peter had turned into a smile.
"Petey; is that some sort of nickname now?" Peter asked amused as he let Liz drag him away by the arm as Debra and Grady watched by the door from the store door.
"Peter is pretty much on a date with a cheerleader; I tell ya Debra, nerds and geeks are taking over!" Grady said as Debra looked on.
"We will have to find another route to Coney Island because off course we are going to spy on them..." Debra smirked planning on acting as the annoying sister that Peter sees her as. Unknown to them there was a short man in a jacket and hat spying on Peter.
At Coney Island; Peter was having a great time with Liz. They went on a ghost train together and while Peter didn't feel as scared as he used to as a kid, he did feel red in the face as Liz embraced him when the ride started getting to her. Then there was the water squirter game and Peter feeling cheeky soaked Liz in the head with it and she returned the favour.
"You're a big jerk Petey!" Liz told Peter as she then punched him playfully on the arm and they started laughing. Soon it was getting late in the afternoon and Liz surprised Peter by kissing him on the cheek as they started going to the exit together.
Unknown to the the short man in the jacket and hat who also had a five o clock shadow and sideburns was watching them and was with a young man with dark red sunglasses and a young redheaded woman. The man with glasses pointed a mobile device towards them as it beeped; "X-Gene signature detected, definitely a Mutant." the man with glasses said as the woman looked at Peter carefully.
"The girl doesn't know but the boy is definitely Spider-Man." the woman said as the short man glared at Peter.
"I will make sure that he realises the consequences that his actions could have for our kind!" the short man said.
"I think it should be Jean or myself Logan; you're not exactly the most approachable person around." the man with glasses suggested and the short man logan shook his head.
"Will be easier if I make the point across to him before we take him back to the mansion; no one who thinks their a superhero is going to take you seriously Summers." Logan retorted making it clear that his mind was made up to the man named Scott Summers.
Peter went to an alleyway and changed into being Spider-Man thinking about what had happened; he not only had a great time with Liz but he got a nickname and a kiss on the cheek from her? Could his luck be turning around?
His Spider-Sense answered when he felt his Spider-Sense go off and he got ready at top off the building only to see Logan had climbed up the building to meet him. "Peter Parker." Logan whispered quietly and Peter freaked out that this stranger found out who he was only to notic that between his fingers Logan had extended silver long claws that he used to climb up the building. "You know that you got the Mayor to send a manhunt after you; got people on his side and you are starting the formation of the return of the Anti-Human hysteria?" Logan snarled and Peter paused.
There was still a lot of people on the side of Jameson's smear campaign and he gulped realising that it could lead to people starting up old anti-Mutant witchhunts like he wondered if people suspected him to be a Mutant. "I am sorry but... Wait... You speak off Mutants and you have long claws... Are you Wolverine?" Peter asked in awe as he read the comics about one of the known X-Men members and according to comics he was considered immortal and didn't age or if he did it was slowly. "Do you have the red and blue spandex suit?" Peter asked surprisingly as Logan grew frustrated.
"Hate those stupid books; you can call me Logan and I am here to tell you about how much trouble your antics could cause to our people!" Logan snapped at Peter and Peter paused as he registered what he said.
"Mutant? Do you think that I am a Mutant?" Peter asked as Logan shook his head annoyed.
"Bub; you are going about in a stupid onsie thinking you're a superhero so you are beyond the stage that you are still in denial!" Logan snapped and Peter was about to be offended about the onsie comment when he felt his Spider-Sense go off as there were gas grenades being thrown down from a helicopter; so many being rthrown down that they both couldn't react as they became unconscious.
"Spider-Man as well as Wolverine; this is better than we intended!" Spencer told Alistair as they were in a room at an underground Trask Industries facility which was overlooking the testing area for their Slayer robots. Mutant detecting technology put into the helicopter so that they could track down Spider-Man for capture; "Once humanity has no choice but to acknowledge that the Mutant disease will once again be spreading; we will be ready to eradicate them from the face off the Earth! Wolverine will pay tonight for his and the X-Men's role in undoing all the work that had been done to cure this disease!" Spencer smirked as Trask Industries' ally Transigence had been producing Mutant gene suppressing drugs in manufactured drugs which was close to making sure that Mutantkind were wiped out but over the years starting from the early 2000s; the X-Men had managed to take down their facilities manufacturing the drug and the manufactured crops so more and more Mutant births were happening as well as people with the Mutant gene developing powers.
"Indeed father; soon Trask Industries will reign supreme." smirked Alistair as he actually didn't care much about his father's crusade against the Mutant race; he was more focused on making sure that the company is built up as it becomes the manufacturer and distributer off the ultimate weapon against Mutants. The disaster of the 1970s incident as well as their company's founder being arrested dealt a blow to the company and they only recently got close to the level that they had before.
Peter and Wolverine got up and noticed that they were surrounded by a large army of spider shaped Slayer robots; Peter saw on the wall was the Trask Industries logo and gulped saying "Trask Industries? Didn't they build those Sentinel robots in the 70s?" Peter asked as Logan gave a nod to him.
"Yep; looks like they are continuing the idea to bring the fight to us again." Logan answered and Peter wasn't in the mood to argue with him about this as the Slayer robots activated and went on. "Come and get a piece of this; the older Sentinels were much bigger and more impressive looking and these still cut right through them!" Logan said as Peter gulped.
The Slayer robots then firing at Logan as he took the bullets and blocked them with his claws; Peter looked in awe as he saw the injuries healing itself much quicker than his did right before his eyes before he lunged and cut through the Slayer robots. This was amazing!
Peter gulped as he saw himself surrounded by Slayer robots but then they scanned them and turned away from them to his surprise; "They detected no Mutant gene..." Logan muttered finally getting what Peter said earlier as he decided to help smashing apart the robots. Peter then found a vent and ripped it open to go through seeing if he can find something to help them both.
"Spider-Man isn't a Mutant?" Spencer shouted agitated as they both went to work modifying the target designations of the Slayer robots to target Spider-Man as well. They didn't notice Peter coming up out of the nearby vent and stealthily tackled them and looked to the controls.
He actually found himself understanding them quite well and set the Slayer robots to self destruct along with the factory nearby; "You imbecile; do you realise what you have done?" Spencer shouted as an alarm went off and Peter went to get Logan as Spencer in a panicked state got up to try and transfer his data before trying to shut down the self-destruct.
Peter went to rejoin Logan who told him "You're a thinking on the fly type of guy; aren't you?" Logan asked and Peter gave a nod. Peter then saw that Logan was now activating something on his wrist which read out signal sent out. Soon Peter was about to point out that they should escape when suddenly teleporting in was a smiling blue skinned man with a devil like tail who caught them and teleported away.
Alistair as the ground was shaking tried to pull his father away to saftey as the self-destruct off the factory in the facility was affecting the area as well with debris falling on them. Soon it was collapsing around them and Spencer put the flash drive with the data into Alistair's pocket as Spencer pushed him through the nearby door to saftey as the debris came down upon them. Alistair yelled in pain as his legs was caught in the debris...
The teleporting Mutant who introduced himself as Kurt Wagner was quite friendly and told Peter he was a fan of him as he took them both to an alleyway; "You may not be a Mutant but that doesn't change what I said about how your actions affect us Mutants. We are building up again and the critics of you could lead to more trouble." Logan told Peter who sighed.
"I know and I am sorry about that; I can't stop what I am doing though. People need my help and I can only try and change one mind at a time." Peter sighed and Logan shook his head.
"Our boss sees potential in you; we could be working together again so I will be seeing you. I guess." Logan said shrugging as Peter grew excited and said goodbye to Logan and Kurt waving as he web slinged away; Kurt waved as he teleported away with Logan.
In the morning Alistair woke up in pain in a hospital room with the doctors overlooking him; he was informed that the damage to his legs were too severe and he may never walk again. "My father; what shape is he in?" Alistair asked and it took a few minutes before the doctors were able to delive the bad news that his father didn't make it.
He cried out in grief and denial about it; soon that grief turned to anger at Spider-Man. If it wasn't for him then his father would not have tried to pitch this project to the Mayor and it led to this; he messed everything up when he caused the facility to explode. Well that wasn't the only lab that he and his father had access to and he now had their research including their Slayer inventions.
Well now they will be reworked into Spider Slayers...
A mansion in Westchester, New York was used as a private school called the Xavier Institute and in the office off the property's owner and school's founder/headmaster Logan, Scott, Jean Grey and Kurt were talking to said property's owner. Professor Charles Xavier an aged balded headed man in a special bright yellow colored wheelchair like craft who acted as the leader and founder of the X-Men.
"So our Spider-Man; isn't a Mutant after all? Still he could be a valuable ally." Xavier pondered as he had his hands together and Logan sighed.
"How could that be? I scanned him myself and the portable Cerebro detected the Mutant gene!" Scott asked puzzled not understanding it.
"Wait... Didn't he have a girl with him at the time?" Jean pointed out.
At the home of the Allan family; Liz was having breakfast as her parents and brother were getting ready to work at Allan Chemicals. Mark was an intern scientist at the company and decided to tease his sister asking "so when can we expect your new boyfriend over?"
Liz shot him a glare as Mark left laughing and picked up her coffee mug as she began to drink it; "What?" Liz asked spitting it out as it felt hotter than she could stand. How could that be as she had already drank from it; not like it could heat up while it was in her hands...
The existence of in-universe X-Men comics and what happened to recent Mutant births comes from the movie Logan which I personally refuse to ever see as I am certain that it's as amazing as people says it is but the premise is too depressing for me and I refuse to acknowledge it as THE canon future of the X-Men movies. Plus I know in-universe Marvel comics also exist as there was the Marvels Comics Project a series of oneshots released as comics from the Marvel Universe and the Codename: X-Men is blatantly Mutantphobic and written by Garth Ennis which is all appropriate. Plus Ricochet being an in-universe comic hero Peter is a fan of comes from the Amazing Spider-Man 2 game which had it as part of the bio for the Ricochet suit.
