A soft gasp could be heard on the other end of the call. Peter sighed as he felt the pressure on his chest start to grow heavy.
The voice on the other side whispered something to themselves. "I'm sorry that was rude of me. I didn't expect you to call. We give out so many cards and never get a callback." The person who picked up the call sounded like the redhead who gave him the card before.
Peter ran his hand through his hair as he thought of what to say. "It's fine, I guess I was shocked it was an actual number and not a prank. Had that happen a few times with the villains I faced. You have no idea how hurt I was to know they wouldn't invite me to their secret bases and meetings." Peter began to ramble as he felt himself grow red.
The woman on the other end of the call laughed at his jokes. A laugh that gave Peter a feeling of happiness that he hadn't felt in a long time. Someone was listening to him and not getting angry with him. Peter smiled as he held the phone a little closer to his ear in the hope it wouldn't disappear.
Peter heard the girl shuffle around on her side of the call. "Now then Mr. Spider-Man, I don't think you called to hear my little voice." The woman said, with a smirk that could be heard over the phone.
Peter started to panic a little and you could hear it in his voice. "I was told I could call if I needed help, and I'm going through a lot here. I don't think this is the kind of help that was intended but I was hoping to have someone to talk to." Peter cringed at the end. Here he is, the Amazing Spider-Man asking for a friend.
"I don't see why we can't be friends. Do you have any pen and paper near you? I have something for you.
"Umm okay; is it an address to a therapist for heroes?" Peter asked quickly.
"No, I'm going to give you my number. Then we will be friends and make a call every night." She stated.
Peter mumbled a quiet thank you. After being given the phone number and sending her a text. Which was a spider web emoji and getting a smile back, Peter was back on the phone with the girl.
"So what should I call you? I don't think you want to be called phone lady while we talk." Peter asked. He entered the stairwell to go downstairs for the coffee he was asked to get.
"Hmm, you can call me Jean." Peter pulled the phone away from his ear. He typed the name into the phone quickly and double-checked he spelled it right. Smiling to himself he put the phone back back to his ear.
"Jean huh is that a code name or something?"
"Nope, but now we know what to call each other so we can focus on getting you better."
"So you want me to call you every day?"
"That's right, this is the first step to helping you, Spidey. I want you to know you can talk to someone. When was the last time you talked to someone?" Jean asked. There was no pity in her voice, just genuine concern for a person she just met.
Peter couldn't believe it, he stood still for a few moments as he processed what he heard.
"Spidey? Are you there, shoot, did I hang up on accident?"
"Yes…yes, I'm here, sorry I was thinking about your question. No one has asked something like that in a long time."
"You're fine, Spidey. I'm just happy that didn't scare you away."
Peter continued his walk to the coffee machine in the lobby of the building. As he walked he continued his conversation with Jean finding out basic things about her. He would tell her a little about his time as Spider-Man. Some recent fights he got into and people he helped out. They were having a pleasant conversation until Peter mentioned Ross and how he wants to put Spider-Man in jail.
"Spidey, listen to me and do not interrupt me. That man has no right to decide what happens to you. He is as useless as a baseball in a hockey game. He is so petty that he wants to get back at Iron Man by trying to use you or get rid of you. But you have done so much good that no one can ever forget you." Jean sternly stated.
"Thank you, Jean, that means a lot to hear. I have to go, I have the coffee and I'm about to get to my boss's lab now so I'll give you a call later." Peter said as he approached the door to Dr. McCoy's lab.
"You're welcome Spidey, I'll talk to you later." Jean hung up after that and Peter smiled to himself. He was happy someone could understand what he does and the troubles with it.
Peter entered the lab and approached Dr. McCoy and placed his coffee on the table next to him.
Without looking up, Dr. McCoy spoke loudly, "Thank you, Peter, can you run the formula in station two for me while I continue over here."
"Right away Doc, would you like me to also run the system for the electrons recurve project?" Peter asked as he started to work on the formula at station two.
"No that won't be needed, I did that already." Dr. McCoy stood up and took a sip from his coffee.
"What! Doctor that wasn't safe to do by yourself. What if it backfired?" Peter exclaimed as he rushed to the other station to double-check his boss's work.
"Peter, do not stress yourself. The need for this project to work is more important than my getting hurt. You remember what I said was the mission right.?"
"Of course doctor, I will always remember it. The mission of this project is to help mutants live in society without the worry of potentially hurting someone. You want to help them and I want to help you. I was the only person to raise their hand in the room when you pitch the idea and ask for an assistant." Peter explained and the system check he was doing came up positive.
"Do you see it, Peter? It comes up positive. I checked it three times already before you, I had to be sure of it myself."
Peter's face lit up in pure joy."Dr. McCoy, this is amazing! This means the project is another step to being done. We can start testing within the month!" Peter's excitement started to spread to Dr. McCoy before the doctor looked distraught.
"About that Peter. I have some bad news." Dr. McCoy started to say as he sighed. "The company has decided to give us 2 weeks to produce results which means we need to do testing immediately. I wish it were different but my condition is bad enough and I get treated poorly already."
Peter knew about how his boss was treated. He always hated it, and with a loud sigh, Peter looked at the results again. "But they should know you're close, why can't they see that? Peter started to get a little angry about this wall they were forced to face now. Peter didn't notice his hand gripping the edge of the table, as he let his hand relax and released the table a large dent was able to be seen. With a little bit of panic, he moved his body to block the view of the table before could spot it.
Dr. McCoy smiled at the words he heard from his lab assistant. He knew Peter was really invested in helping people. "Peter, thank you for your kind words. Your confidence in my mission is great to see. If only the rest of the world had a mind and heart like yours, my boy." Peter smiles at the praise from such a brilliant mind as McCoy's. "Now then why don't we move to a brighter topic," McCoy smirked, Peter looked at his boss in confusion clear on his face.
chuckled and walked over and placed his hand on Peter's shoulder, "I could hear your conversation on your phone you know. That young lady sounded like she was very caring." Peter's face started to go red, he forgot about his boss's hearing. "I mean I just met her and today was the first time we talked you know…" Peter started to ramble, it was funny to see and it made Dr. McCoy laugh.
Shaking his head trying to push down the blush that was on his face Peter tried to push the conversation back into the work they were doing. Especially with the deadline that they had to face now. The pair started to get back into the flow of their work as they say at their workstations, each one looking over notes and formulas. As they both worked into the long hours of the night the sounds of note-taking and frustration could ring out from the small lab. Peter rubbed his eyes as he started to feel tired from the constant work and staring at paper and ink for hours.
Peter stood up from his desk and turned around to face his boss. "Hey doc, I'm gonna grab something for us to eat from Mickey's." Dr. McCoy hummed a little before shaking his head.
The doctor stood from his desk and started to grab a nearby bag. "Actually I think we should call it a night Peter. You're dead on your feet and so am I." Dr. McCoy packed his bag with notes and other work he didn't want to leave at the lab. "Have a good night, Peter, get yourself some rest." The older doctor smiled and opened the door for Peter to leave the lab. With a nod of thanks Peter left the lab and soon exited the building to start making his way to his apartment. 'Maybe I should sleep in tonight, I could use the rest.' Peter thanked the doctor for his concern before making his way down the street.
Unfortunately for him at that moment a loud cry of police sirens ran down the street and passed him. Peter could see they were making this a tough night for him. 'You really had to open your mouth, Peter.' He let out a sigh as he raced into a nearby alley to change into his suit. Within moments a blur of red and blue leaps out of the alley and is racing across the rooftops to the scene of the crime.
Spider-Man shot a web to the top of a nearby building and allowed himself to fall from the roof he was running on before he gripped the web line. Pulling back he started to swing before he shit a new web out and started to take the fastest route he knew. As Spider-Man swung from building to building he listened to the sirens and was able to see the squad cars pull into a ring around an abandoned building. Spider-Man swung himself to the closet building where he stayed perched and out of the officers' way.
Officers ran behind the cars with several already training their guns on the building. One officer stood out amongst the others, he raised a microphone from the inside of his squad car to his face. "This is the NYPD, come out with your hands up!" The officer's voice rang out from the speaker in the car. The officer waited a few moments before continuing his speech again. Spider-Man shocked his head as he listened to the officer prattle on. "This is your last warning you mutant freak, if you don't come out we will go in and you will be shot. This is your last warning freak!" The officer screamed into the microphone. With a frown on his face, Spider-Man leaped off of his perch and landed behind the officer with the microphone.
The rest of the officers who were nearby all saw the hero land and could feel how angry he was. "S-Sir you might want to stop." A lone officer tried to speak above the Officer with the microphone. "Why would I do that, so the mutant fuckers can take over the city? Those freaks have to be beaten down if they want to live here. Need to learn their lesson if they wish to stay." The officer spit onto the ground beside him before he noticed how all the nearby officers were staring at him. No not at him, but behind him. The officer turned around and came face to face with Spider-Man. "Oh Sorry Spider-Man I didn't see you there, listen I didn't mean what I said. It was just the heat of the moment and-". Spider-Man walked past the officer and grabbed his microphone. Raising it to his mouth Spider-Man tried to see inside the building but the windows were too boarded up. "Please step out so we can help you, my name is Spider-Man. I understand people being dicks because they have power. I want to help you, I'm sure you're not a bad person."
Spider-Man let the microphone fall out of his hand as he made his way closer to the building's entrance. Movement could be heard on the other side and a large figure came walking out. A disfigured hand reaches out and grabs the door as the rest of the body is pulled out. The figure is a tall mountain of a body that Spider-Man could see suffered from radiation. The large figure's head held very little hair with the few strands resembling straw more than anything.
The figure stood across from Spider-Man before he let out a loud groan as he shifted his body. Spider-Man let this giant man shift until he was standing at his full height. "Hey there, my name is Spider-Man. What's your name?"
The large man stared at him for a few moments before he pointed at the officers behind Spider-Man. "They want to hurt Banjo. Banjo didn't want to hurt anybody. I could smell the food that was cooking." Banjo backed away as he explained himself.
Spider-Man put his arms out in a show of peace. "I promise you they won't hurt you. They don't understand what they see, and they're afraid of hurting you. Can I ask you a question though?"
"You promise Banjo, they won't hurt Banjo right?" Banjo stopped taking steps back and allowed Spider-Man to come closer.
Spider-Man stayed a fair distance away not wanting to push his luck. "I promise, and it seems you may be a mutant. If you want I can help you I might be able to get you to a place where other mutants are. I just have to call them, is that okay?" He started to reach for his phone before he remembered he didn't have it on him at the moment. "Umm give me a second I left my phone in my bag." Spider-Man turned and ran to the officers.
The rude officer from before watched the discussion between the hero and mutant unfold from a distance. Suddenly Spider-Man started to run to him and the other officers. "Well is he gonna turn himself in?"
Spider-Man just shocked his head, "What crime did he commit?" The hero questioned. He pointed at one of the officers who was standing off on the side and gestured for him to come over.
"He was scaring the other customers, and when we asked to talk to him, he attacked an officer."
Spider-Man turned to face him and squinted his eyes to see that the rude officer's name was Smitty. "Well Officer Smitty, wouldn't you be scared if a bunch of old men were screaming at you?" Smitty went to yell at the hero when the Officer Spider-Man pointed out and came up to the two. "Y-Yes Mr. Spider-Man, what can I help you with." The younger officer shouted and saluted.
Spider-Man shocked his head. "First it's just Spider-Man. Second, can I borrow your phone? I need to make a call."
Jean sat in the kitchen of the mansion she called home. The kitchen itself was the size of a large five star restaurant kitchen. The bedrooms of the place were almost top-notch hotel rooms. She looked at her phone, a slight frown as she waited for her newest friend to text or call her. "Kid, you need a hobby, you know that." A rough voice spoke next to her ear. Jean jumped in her chair in fear as she heard the voice start to laugh.
Jean just let out a huff of air and looked back down at her phone. "Thank you, Logan, so happy to hear you're back." Jean pretended to be angry. She smiled though and was happy to see the older mutant. Logan gave her a smirk and patted her shoulder as he moved to say hello to the rest of the mansion.
"Jean! Is it true…IS IT TRUE? Did you meet Spider-Man?" A really young voice started to call from the top of the room. Jean looked up and saw the head of one of the youngest members of the mansion poking through the ceiling. Kitty Pryde was one of the younger members at the school, and a huge fan of Spider-Man for some strange reason. She also has the ability to phrase through objects. Jean placed her hand on her head since she knew this was coming. "Yes it's true Kitty, I met Spider-Man. We traded phone numbers by-" she started to explain but was cut off by a scream of a very excited young girl.
"Tell me! Tell me everything right now Jean. Please, Jean, I promise I won't take from your candy stash anymore if you explain. Please!" Kitty whined and begged. Jean smiled in fondness at the sight of the young girl who was like a sister to her going crazy over her superhero crush. "Hey, what do you mean you won't be taking from my stash, how long have you been doing that?" Jean shouted as she realized what Kitty said.
"Please Jean, you know I love him!" Kitty started to beg again as she let her whole body through the ceiling of the kitchen. Jean made room for her and started to tell her about how they met Spider-Man. Kitty latched onto every word of the story as if it would run away if she stopped listening for a moment. Kitty yawned a bit as the story ended which prompted Jean to look at the clock in the kitchen. "Okay Kitty, I think it's late and you should head to bed since you still have class tomorrow," Jean whispered as she started to lift Kitty up with her powers. Kitty's face held a smile on it as she just nodded and started to fall asleep. "Promise you will tell me more about him tomorrow, or better yet let me call him." She yawned as the pair came upon her room. Jean gave her a nod and set Kitty into her room, Kitty waved goodnight and promptly fell asleep on her bed.
Jean walked to the kitchen to grab the stuff she left behind, when she saw Logan sitting at the table she was at before. He stood next to the table with two mugs in his hands, he gave her a quick grin and motioned for her to sit down. "Kid you and I need to have a chat. One about how you ended up with Spider-Man's phone number and didn't tell me." Logan quickly said as he set the two mugs down. Jean didn't say anything but sat down and took a sip and smiled as she tasted the hot chocolate. "I don't know what to say, you probably heard everything from the team. Magneto was out and we found him and Spider-Man fighting. We stepped in to help when Spider-Man took him down. I gave him a card with our number and he called today." Jean gave a quick recount of everything. Logan nodded along with the story and accepted it with ease. "I didn't believe it at first from Scott since that kid has some issues but I can tell you're telling the truth. Be careful with him, he might not be an avenger but he is still dangerous." Jean nodded but this is one of the times she wasn't going to listen to the older mutant. She talked to him and he didn't seem dangerous, just alone, sad, upset. He needed a friend, maybe he could come to visit one day. Jean was about to defend him when her phone started to ring, both mutants looked at it before Jean snatched it up quicker than Logan had ever seen before.
Jean looked at the screen and saw it was a random number with the New York area code. She was going to let it go to voicemail but something in the back of her mind told her it was important. After a second of deciding she finally reached out and grabbed her phone and answered. "Hello, who is this?"
"Jean is that you?" A frantic voice shouted over the line. Jean had to move the phone away from her ear and quickly put it on speaker. "Umm yeah, who-?"
"There's no time, and I can barely hear you so I'm going to assume you can't hear me. I have someone here who needs your help. I..no not the one who put that down. Sorry, he's very excited at the thought of meeting other mutants. Come to lower Manhattan, near the Shawman's Deli, I told you about it remember? Okay, I got to go before the police shoot this innocent mutant. Bye!" Both mutants heard the click of the phone call ending. Quickly the two ran down to the hangar and got into their uniforms. The professor was already coming down as they finished up.
Professor Charles Xavier was a brilliant man who has spent his life trying to improve mutant lives. He started the school that took in mutants to learn how to understand and control their power. Unfortunately in his youth, he lost the ability to use his legs so he was confined to a wheelchair. "I see you both are ready as well, let's go help our new friend shall we?" He motioned for them to join him as he rolled onto the jet.
Logan made his way with Jean behind him, "What's wrong kid?" Logan turned to face her when she lagged behind a little.
She took a moment to think and made her way onto the jet and sat down in one of the seats. "I didn't think he would call me back for something like this. It's nice that he cares for people, even if they're different from him." Logan just gave her a weird look as they closed up and started the jet. The sleek black jet shot off into the night sky and headed to the location they were described.
"Move aside Spider-Man, he almost killed Officer Terrison. He's dangerous and has to be put down." One of the Police officers had his gun out and trained on Banjo. Spider-Man stood in between Banjo and the Officer with his hands out to cover as much of Banjo as he could. The other Officers were checking on the one who was apparently hurt by the large mutant. "Dammit Morrs stop this shit now I'm fine, just the big guy didn't realize his strength didn't ya Banjo." Terrison laughed out loudly with a few pats on the back of Banjo. As the rest of the officers calmed down at the sight of their fellow officers being cheerful they started to join in and talked to Banjo. Spider-Man was smiling under his mask, happy to see not all people hated others for their looks. Officer Morrs stood there angrily as he watched his fellow officers interact with this freak. He was about to say something when the sound of a jet engine could be heard above them. "What the hell is that?" He yelled over the sound.
Spider-Man looked to the air, where a large sleek black jet sat in the air hovering before landing on the street below. The wings started to fold up to allow it to be on the street. "That's not possible. You need a permit to do that!" Morrs yelled as he started to march over to the jet. Spider-Man just laughed as he also made his way happy to see his message was received. The jet's ramp came folding out the back and allows everyone to see the three passengers aboard the jet. Spider-Man sees a figure smaller than him but a lot more hairy standing next to an older man in a wheelchair. Another figure came out from the front of the plane, her red hair spilling out and giving her a ring fire around her.
Jean walked out of the jet and straight in front of Spider-Man. She put her hand on her hip and looked at him for a second. "Hey, you called for a pickup." She joked. Spider-Man stood there for a few moments taken back by how she looked in her uniform today. Unlike yesterday she had a simple blue and yellow uniform, with a red X on the belt buckle. "Hey Spider you okay, did you take a hit?" Jean moved closer to him to give him a check for any wounds. "I'm good, stunned that you guys actually came." He took a few steps back as he spoke, his hands in the air waving away any concern.
They were about to continue when Officer Morrs came storming in. "Listen here. you freaks can't land your superjet on a city street." Spit came flying from his mouth as he continued screaming at the two heroes. The hairy figure from before moved to the young heroes and got in front of the officer. Jean saw Logan coming over and let out a sigh as she muttered an apology to the officer. "What's your name bub?"
"Excuse me! Watch your tone when talking to an officer of the law." Morrs jabbed his finger at Wolverine. The old mutant just looked at the finger and raised his hand to the officer. Not saying a word Morrs watched in horror as sharp metal blades came out of the man's hand. "We're gonna take this mutant and you're gonna sit down and shut up. You got that officer." Logan growled in Morrs's face. Morrs lost all color in his face as he mutely nodded and stepped aside.
Logan made his way to the professor and as he passed the two younger heroes he gave Spider-Man a look over. "Jean, let's go to work, it's good to see you again Webs." Spider-Man nodded in greeting and joined Logan on his way to the professor and Banjo. Jean stood in the spot with her mouth open like a fish. "Wait, how do you know Spider-Man? Wolverine…Logan!" Jean shouted as the older mutant and local hero chuckled at a joke between the two.
After letting Jean catch up to the two of them, Logan explained to her how he met the red and blue hero. "I was chasing down one of those anti-mutant groups when they pulled out a giant magnet. It's the dumbest thing in the world but it was strong and it pulled on the metal in me. Felt like I was getting ripped apart at the seams. Then swings in this annoying kid that takes out the controls. Saved my life but not my ears. Now I have to listen to him from time to time."
Spider-Man let out a laugh before he steeled himself. He heard about the Professor and didn't really trust the older mutant due to the few times Logan has mentioned him. The Professor wheeled himself to face the trio approaching him and the new mutant. "Ah happy to finally meet you Spider-Man, I have heard great things about you from Logan." A smile sat on his face as he took in the red and blue hero. Spider-Man stood still before turning to face Logan who paid him no attention. Logan groaned out a sigh and made his way to Banjo who backed away before he heard Spider-Man start claiming him down.
Jean stood next to the Professor who held his smile again. "He's good with people. I hear how he helps the city and the people with some everyday issues as well as crime." Jean nodded with a thought on her tongue. She didn't know how to approach the idea that came to her, when Logan and Banjo made their way towards them and passed them on their way to the jet. Spider-Man came up to Jean and the Professor after the other two passed them. "Well I guess this is it, take care of Banjo for me. He's a good guy who just was given a bad hand and didn't know what to do with it." Spider-Man turned to shoot a web and swing away when a hand grabbed his arm. Jean's hand gripped his arm while she looked into his masked eyes.
"Please come with us to the mansion." Jean almost shouted as she looked everywhere but him. Her face burned with embarrassment at what she just did. She quickly released his arm and stood back to give the hero some space.
Peter didn't know what to say, he met this girl yesterday and only talked to her for a little bit today. Now she was inviting him to her place. He looked at her face for a moment before he made his decision.
Peter looked into her eyes, "No."