Peter Parker

Later on that night, I met Craig and Carmilla at the bunker. Before we got into any training, I told them that my powers were starting to come back. They were happy for me, but they still made sure I went through a session. Instead of sparring with them, however, they made me put in work on the heavy bag, just in case my super strength came back out of nowhere. I didn't argue with that. Part of it was because I didn't want to accidentally injure or kill them. There was also a part of me that was happy to have a break from getting my butt handed to me by them even if I was making progress in my fighting skills, according to them. After a couple of hours of training, we put an end to it for a post-exercise meal.

"So Kraven really stopped by Peter Pan, and MJ verbally jabbed him?" Craig asked while the three of us each ate our two protein bars and Gatorade.

"I'm glad she did," I replied. "To be in the same room with Kraven made me want to throw a chair at him."

"I feel that," Carmilla said. "You know how many times I saw Kraven move through the city thinking to myself I could probably snipe him one of these days?" I didn't know if Carmilla was being serious or not.

"I can't allow you to do that, unfortunately," Craig grumbled. "I still want to run these hands with Kraven after what he did to me last time."

"We'll get our chance soon," I said with a smile.

"Maybe we can cage him up in the Central Park Zoo when it's all said and done," Carmilla suggested. "It'd make the headlines extra disrespectful."

I chuckled as I tilted my head briefly. "Maybe we can."

I went home a little later on. Once I was home, I called up Kitty to let her know the good news about my powers. She told me to keep her posted on any progress I made and to not do anything crazy. I told her I wouldn't before I went to bed.

The next morning, I was awakened by my phone ringing. I groaned as I reach over for my phone. I took it off the charging pad before I put the phone in front of my face. I looked at the screen for a few moments. I then sat up when I recognized the name. I slid my thumb across the screen, answering the phone before I put the device to my ear.

"Hey Scott," I greeted.

"Hey Peter," Scott replied from the other side of the line. "How's everything?"

"I've been better. I guess you heard about me not having my powers."

"Yes. I talked to Kitty before I called you. She briefed me on everything, including you having a clone."

"It's been a weird last couple of weeks." I frowned. "You ever had a time period like that?"

"Remember when Kitty told you that we've seen a lot of stuff? She wasn't kidding. For you, it may be a ridiculously rough patch. For me, it'd be a Tuesday, so to speak." At that point, I started to get the feeling that, despite knowing quite a bit about him, there was still a lot about Scott I didn't know. "Anyway, I wanted to see if you're okay. I heard your powers are coming back little by little."

"So far," I confirmed. "I got my ability to stick to walls. It doesn't do me much good at the moment, but it's a good sign." I decided to change the subject. "So, how's Haiti?"

"Oh, I left days ago," Scott replied.

I blinked a couple of times. "Are you back in New York?"

"No, I'm not. I'm actually in Europe right now."

I was confused. "How come?"

"I don't want to go into too much detail right now, especially since I don't want to worry you and the others with something that I haven't confirmed. You all already have enough on your plate. What I can tell you, though, is that something's been bothering me for months. So, I decided to do a little bit of investigating while I have the chance. Once I have everything confirmed, I'll let you all know. Okay?"

"…Okay." I took in a breath. I didn't like this, but I trusted Scott's judgment. "Okay."

"Okay. Now, other than that, how are studies going?"

"I think it's going well. Millie's very smart."

"Who?"

It took me a moment to realize that I was the only person who called Carmilla Millie. "Carmilla."

"When did you start calling her that?"

"I don't know," I admitted. "It just happened one day, and she didn't complain."

Scott chuckled. He was definitely amused. "Well, I'm glad to hear it. Oh, I just wanted to give you a heads up. Pepper, Happy, and Morgan are going to be in town next week. So, you might want to swing by SI New York when you get a chance."

I nodded. "Noted."

"Also, one more thing – be a little bit more patient. Being on the sidelines without your abilities suck, I know. However, you need to have faith in the others. They know what they're doing."

"I know, I know, it's just…" I paused for a moment. "…I was never really been a part of a team before. I mean, technically, I was an Avenger for a little bit. But, other than Tony, I wasn't close with any of the others. Prior to me taking GED classes, I didn't even know you existed." I sighed. "I guess what I'm saying is… I'm still trying to learn how to be a team player."

"If it makes you feel any better, I've dealt with worse teammates," Scott offered. "The downside to working with people of all different walks of life is that you often have to deal with clash of personalities, and that can be a headache in and of itself." He paused for a moment. "I get it Peter, I really do. But trust goes both ways. When we're out on the field, Kitty, Craig, Carmilla, Joanna, and I are depending you. Please give us that same courtesy."

"I will," I said. "I promise."

"I have faith in you Peter. We all do. Anyway, I got to get going. I have to talk to Joanna before meeting my contact in London. You have a good one Peter."

"You too."

I hung up the phone before I put the device on the charging pad before I lay back down. I didn't go back to sleep, though. I started to think about the last few days. Specifically, I thought about the Kraven situation and how this Jackal figured into it. I knew this Jackal didn't want the X-Men to come in contact with one of his experiments for reasons I did not know. But what was this experiment, and who? Was it Carmilla? I shook my head. No, that didn't make sense. Carmilla was an X-Man, and I'm sure Kitty briefed Carmilla on what I've done. Surely, something would've been said already, right? So who else could it…?

I sat up suddenly. At that very moment, Kaine popped into my head. He did say he was my clone. And he told Craig and me that one of his reasons for not helping out the X-Men was that he didn't want to attract the attention of certain people. Maybe it was just a coincidence. After all, he never specified which people. Something told me that I needed to talk to him. I reached over and picked up the phone and called up Kitty. Surprising, Kitty answered on the second ring.

"Everything okay, Peter?" she asked.

"Yeah, everything is okay, I think," I replied. "Um… I know it's early in the morning, but, can I come over? I need to talk to you about something. It's regarding Jackal… and Kaine."

"I was about to make breakfast anyway. Come on over."

"I'll be there as soon as possible."

About thirty minutes later, I was at the apartment. Kitty let me in. A bit to my surprise, Craig and Carmilla were not up. Kitty urged me to take a seat at the table. After taking off my shoes, I did just that. I waited for a few minutes until Kitty walked over with two plates. She set one in front of me before she sat down. I looked down at the plate to see some meat and rye bread with mustard on the side, along with a fork and knife.

"I hope you like corned beef on rye," Kitty said

"Are Craig and Carmilla sleeping in?" I asked as I picked up a fork.

"They're having a breakfast date at Skylight Diner." Kitty stabbed her fork into a piece of corned beef. "And once again, I'm reminded my dating life is rather dry." I opened my mouth to say something, but Kitty interrupted as she pointed her meat-filled fork at me. "If you're about to give me some words of encouragement out of pity, save it. Let me lament in peace." She smirked before she popped the beef into her mouth.

I chuckled. "Sorry, sorry."

After she chewed in swallowed, Kitty spoke again. "Okay, so what's on your mind?"

I took in a breath. "Yeah, about that…" I ate a piece of corned beef before I set my fork down. "So, here's the thing. You did see the recordings, right?"

Kitty nodded. "I did."

I nodded okay. "So, I was thinking about that, and then I was thinking about Kaine, so –"

"You were thinking that Kaine might be the experiment that The Jackal has been referring to, right?"

I was a bit dumbfounded for a few seconds. "…Yeah." I looked down at the table. "Of course you thought about that already."

"That I did." I looked back at Kitty, who smiled smugly. "I'm kind of decent at putting two and two together, you know." Her smile faded. "This Jackal guy apparent wants this experiment… this person… to be recaptured before we come in contact with him. And as Craig told me when he talked about the conversation you and he had with Kaine, one of the reasons, albeit not the main reason, for not working with us is because he's trying to keep a low profile. Granted, there are a lot of folks in this city who got people they want to avoid. Still, he's the best person I could think of, so I wanted to reach out to him for days now. The problem is, he's extremely reluctant to get involved in our business, right?"

"If I remember correctly, he said he'd much rather drink a glass of rusty razor blades," I confirmed.

Kitty cringed. "He has a way with words, doesn't he?" She sighed. "I'd like to swing by tonight. Thing is, I want you to come with me. Maybe having a relative around will make him more open to reason."

I nodded. "It's worth a shot."

So, Kitty and I met later on in the afternoon and arrived at the bar Kaine worked at after we took a quick subway trip over. As we entered, Kaine was inside, wiping down the counter he was standing behind with a cloth.

"We're not open yet," he said. He then looked up at us. His eyebrows rose a bit. "…But you're not here for drinks, are you?"

"Hello Kaine," Kitty greeted. She walked up to the counter with me following her. We both took a seat at the bar.

Kaine glanced at her. "…Kitty, right?"

"You got it. How are things?"

"Things are okay, I guess." He looked over at me. "How about you, Peter? Are you back to normal yet?"

"I'm starting to," I said with a smile. "I got one of my abilities back yesterday."

Kaine made a noncommittal sound as he nodded. "That's good." He looked back and forth between Kitty and I. "…Why do I have a feeling that this isn't a social call?"

"That's because it's not," Kitty confirmed. "We need your help."

Kaine glared at the two of us. "Is my memory failing, or did I not make it perfectly clear that –?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, you'd much rather drink a glass of rusty razor blades." I looked at Kitty with wide eyes, more than a little surprised by how dismissive she was being. I looked at Kaine, who looked at Kitty with similarly wide eyes. "I get it, Kaine. I really do. And I was willing to respect your wishes. But, things got complicated on our end. We have a new threat in play."

Kaine sneered. "Respectfully, I do not care." With that, he turned around looked like he was about to walk into the back.

"Even if that new threat is The Jackal?"

Kaine stood still for a few seconds. He then turned around slowly and looked straight at Kitty with a look that was some combination of anger and surprise. "The fuck did you say?!"

From the corner of my eye, I saw Kitty nod a few times. "So we were right. This Jackal character is looking for you."

Kaine placed his hands on the counter as he leaned forward. "Where did you see him?!" he demanded.

Kitty brought her hands up. "Easy there, cupcake," she replied. She lowered her hands. "You're not the only one with questions. We have questions, too. The only thing we know about you is that you're Peter's brother. That's not good enough for me. I need to know your connection to this Jackal and know what kind of threat he poses."

Kaine stared at Kitty for a few moments. He then stood up straight and backed up a bit. "It's a long story, and this bar is going to open soon."

Kitty nodded. "Then we can talk tomorrow morning. We can even have breakfast, if you want." Kaine looked away. He turned his head away from me, so I couldn't see his face. But I knew he was being hesitant. "Look, we obviously have a common foe. Said foe does not want us to work with each other. And since this common foe is working with Kraven, we'll need all the information we can get. I guess what I'm saying is… you help us help you, and we'll help you help us. All you have to do is tell us the relevant details."

Kaine didn't move at first. He stood still. I figured he was weighing his options. Just like with Scott, I got a feeling from Kaine that he went through a lot in his life. What he went through, I wasn't sure. I was sure of one thing, though – he didn't know if he could fully trust us or not. After several seconds, he made his decision.

"…Fine," he said. He turned towards Kitty. "I'll help."

Kitty smiled. "Awesome. Let's exchange numbers."

After we did that, we made our way out. Before we exited, though, Kitty stopped at the door as I held it open for her and looked over at Kaine.

"Hey Kaine," she called out.

"Yes, Kitty?" Kaine called back.

"How tall are you?"

Kaine was given pause. He seemed like he didn't know how to respond for a moment. "…I'm six foot four. Why?"

Kitty turned away from him. I saw the smirk on her face. "No reason."

She walked out. Kaine and I exchanged looks of confusion before I left and walked after Kitty.