Peter Parker

If there was one bright spot to this night, it was me webslinging home with Shadowcat in my arm. She was like a kid on a rollercoaster, laughing and hooting and hollering as we moved through the air. A few times, she asked me to do tricks. I obliged her each time, albeit reluctantly. If it wasn't for the mood I was in, I would have done so gladly without argument. Still, I almost smiled at Shadowcat's enjoyment of the trip. Really, on a better day, I would've swung with Shadowcat all night if she wanted me to. The wonder in her eyes was a sight to behold. So, I was a bit unhappy when we arrived at the roof of my building. As soon as my feet touched the roof, I felt reality crashing back down on me. As I made my way down the stairwell, I took off my mask once I was sure there was no one else in the stairwell with us.

Once we reached my apartment and entered it, I went straight to the kitchen.

"You want anything to drink?" I asked as I opened the fridge.

"You have any hard liquor?" Kitty replied. I knew she was being facetious… though maybe just partially so.

"I have some cooking wine if you want some."

I heard her scoff. "Yeah, I'll pass."

I smirked at that. After looking through the fridge, I grabbed two cans of Ironbeer. I turned and stepped away from the fridge. I stopped for a moment and used my foot to kick the fridge door closed. I tossed one of the cans towards Kitty. As she caught it with one hand, I walked past her and took a seat on the bed.

"So, are you okay?" Kitty asked. I looked at Kitty as I cracked the can open.

"I'm fine," I lied before I took a sip of the soda.

Kitty frowned. "You're lying. You haven't been okay in a long while."

I rolled my eyes before I glared at her. "So, if you know that, why do you even bother asking?" I paused for a moment. I realized I sounded mean. I frowned. "I'm sorry. It's just… it's just been a long last several days."

"I could imagine." Kitty walked over and took a seat next to me on the bed.

I shook my head. "You know, back in Madripoor, I told Craig there was a part of me that wished I could get a chance to fight Beck again, just so I can kick his ass for what he did. Craig told me not to put that out there in the universe. And looked what happens."

Kitty shook her head. "You couldn't have known."

I scoffed. "Well, maybe I should have known. You, during the night of that fire that you, me, Craig and Scott rescued people from, I told Craig that, knowing my luck, I'd end up facing some crazed big game hunter. And guess who appeared weeks after the fact?"

"…Okay, but…" Kitty paused for a moment. She then shrugged. "Two times don't make a pattern."

I pressed my lips together for a moment. "I don't need this. I really don't need this. I already have enough things to deal with, like what happened with Carmilla, Craig being in a coma, the SATs…"

"Your breakup with MJ," Kitty added. I wanted to tell her that things between me and Michelle were a little bit more complicated than that. I said nothing, though. I really didn't want to dwell on that subject. "I'm not going to press you on that, but I highly urge you to talk to Dr. Drumm about it."

"It's not a big deal."

"It is a big deal, Peter. Right now, people are seeing Spider-Man showing a consistent level of brutality that he usually only reserve for the most drastic of situations. They also know he's a part of the X-Men. With our line of work, PR is extremely important, and what you underneath the mask reflects on the X-Men. The last thing we need is for the public to completely turn against us." She frowned. "And more importantly, I don't want you to cross a line." Once again, I wanted to say something. But any response I may or may not have had died before it even reached my throat.

I sighed. "So, what am I supposed to do now?" I didn't want to talk about Michelle anymore.

Kitty cracked open her can of Ironbeer. "Just trust us." She took a sip from her can. "It wouldn't be the first time we've been backed into a corner. We'll get a handle on this and…" She trailed off as a ringtone sounded. "Excuse me." She stood up, reached into her pocket, and pulled out her phone. She looked at the screen before she glanced at me. "It's Scott." She took the phone call as she walked away a few steps. "Hello… Yeah, I'm with Peter. We got to his place with no problem… I won't be here for too long. I'll make my way straight home. Why, what's up?" She turned around. I saw the look of confusion on her face. "You need me back at The Bunker? I mean, I'll go, but I was just there… Oh…" Kitty looked at me for a moment before she looked away. "Yeah, I can do that. But is he cool with that plan?" She paused once more. "Okay, I'll head over there now. Good night." She hung up a second later before she looked at me. "I got to go."

"What was that about?" I asked.

"Scott came up with a plan to make sure you, MJ, Ned, and Betty have some extra eyes watching your back," Kitty explained. She pulled her mask out of her jacket.

I raised an eyebrow. "Are there other X-Men I don't know about?"

"No, not really. I'm just not the only one Scott can depend on to slip in and out of certain places."

I didn't know how to feel about it. On one hand, I appreciated the fact that there were other people that were going to help me and the others out on this. I really didn't want to take on Mysterio alone again. On the other hand, I didn't want even more people involved in this mess. More so, I couldn't put much, if anything, past Beck. He wasn't just crazed and depraved. He was also very smart, like, genius-level smart. And that was what made this whole situation dangerous. Beck's literally an evil genius – someone who was not only able to sink to the lowest of lows, but was more than smart enough to figure out the best way to do it.

Still, what else could I do?

"Okay," I finally said. I looked ahead and nodded. "Okay."

I heard footsteps. I then felt Kitty's arm around my shoulders. She pulled me close. I didn't fight her. "It'll be okay," she assured.

I grumbled. "How do you know?"

"Because it has to be."

The next day, I arrived at work. I barely sat down at my usual desk when Betty walked up to me with a cup in each of her hands. She placed one my desk. I looked at it, seeing that it was filled with coffee. The aroma told me that it wasn't from work.

"It's not from here," she said.

I looked at her and smiled. "I can tell," I replied. I picked up the cup and took a sip. I closed my eyes and sighed in delight. I really hated the coffee at The Daily Bugle. I opened my eyes and looked at Betty. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." She took a sip of her coffee as she sat down on my desk. She nodded towards me. "How're you holding up?"

I shrugged. "I guess I'm feeling a bit better." I frowned. "How're the others doing?"

"The others are okay, I guess. MJ didn't sleep much last night and Ned is…" She smiled wryly. "Ned is Ned." She shook her head. "I'm more than ready for this situation to be handled as soon as possible."

"You and I both, Betty."

Betty opened her mouth to say something. She then closed it and turned her head to look at something. I turned around in my seat to see Robbie walking up to us.

"Good morning, you two," Robbie greeted.

"Good morning, Robbie," Betty greeted as I waved at him. "How's everything?"

"Everything is everything, Betty." He then looked back and forth between the two of us. "Are you two okay? You guys look like you each had a long night."

"We had a very long study session," I said. "Betty's been helping me get prepared for the SATs."

Robbie nodded. "I see. Well, if you guys ever feel you need to take time off for that, let me know, and I'll do my best to get Jonah to accommodate you. After all, school is important and I'd hate for this job to be the reason you don't get into the college you're aiming for."

I smiled. "Thank you." I felt bad for lying to Robbie, but I was happy to know that he cared about my academic career. "Anyway, do you two have a minute? There's someone I want you to meet."

"I got time," Betty said as she stood up.

"So do I," I replied.

We went with Robbie to his office. Once inside, there was someone sitting in one of the chairs in front of Robbie's desk. As Robbie closed the door, the person looked back at us before he stood up and smiled. The first thing that stuck out to me was the yellow-tinted glasses he had on. He was dressed rather formally, wearing black slacks with a white shirt and black tie. He didn't look much older than Betty or I. He was probably around Kitty's age, if I had to take a guess.

"Betty, Peter, I'd like to introduce you to David Alleyne, current Empire State student and new intern," Robbie explained. "David, meet Betty Brant and Peter Parker, our best up and coming journalist and arguably are top photographer, respectively."

"Pleased to meet you," David said as he stuck his hand out.

"Pleasure's all mine," Betty said as she took his hand and gave it a shake.

"Ditto," I said before I went in for a handshake of my own.

"David will be working with the two of you," Robbie explained. "He's rather tech savvy and knows a thing or two about recording equipment. As such, I'm going to be sending you three out to cover some of the smaller stories that happen within New York."

"Sounds good to me," Betty said.

"I'm looking forward to it," David replied.

"You three should take some time to know each other." Robbie pulled out his wallet and pulled out a credit card. "I don't know if you guys had breakfast yet, but if not, why don't you three go out and have some?" She handed Betty the card, much to my relief. "Don't worry about clocking out – we'll consider it a team building exercise."

"I know a good place," Betty said.

"I wouldn't mind eating," David commented.

"I… I can eat," I added after thinking about it for a moment.

We went to Galaxy Diner. We took a booth in a back corner. After getting some coffee and placing our orders with the waitress, we started talking.

"So you two are local?" David asked.

"Sort of," Betty said. I looked at her. "Peter here is Queens, born and bred. I live in Manhattan, but I'm originally from Philly."

"Wait, you're from Philadelphia?" I asked.

Betty nodded. "Yup. My parents moved here when I was in middle school."

I tilted my head. "How did I not know that?"

She scoffed at me. "I guess I'm full of surprises." She looked at David, prompting me to do the same. "So, what about you? Where're you from?"

"I'm from Chicago," David explained. "On advice from a friend of mine, I decided to apply to ESU during my senior year of high school. They accepted me, and the rest is history."

"What are you majoring in?" I asked.

"Computer Science with a minor in Audio Visual Technologies." He smiled as he adjusted his glasses. "The latter helped me land a job The Daily Bugle."

I smiled. "And you're in… what? Your second year?"

"Yup. This sophomore has two or three more years to go." He nodded towards us. "So, what should I expect working with you guys?"

"With how our luck's been, we'd probably be covering the next person going after Spider-Man," Betty grumbled. "You probably already knew this, but Jonah… he has a bit of a thing against Spider-Man."

"A thing?" David chuckled. "Now sis, let's not understate things. Coca-Cola has a thing against Pepsi and vice versa. Tim Hardaway has a thing against Allen Iverson. Nah, what Jonah has against Spider-Man isn't a 'thing'. It's a hate-boner so big I'm surprised all of his broadcasts aren't pixelated."

I actually chuckled. "You're not wrong," I said in agreement. "So what do you think about Spider-Man? Do you think he's a menace?"

David shook his head. "It's hard for me to believe that when Erik The Red is working with him." My eyes went wide and my mouth went ajar. I looked at Betty, who looked at me. She also looked a bit shocked. "I guess I should tell you guys now." We looked at him. "Scott and I go back some years. He told me about the situation that you, him, and others are having with a certain supposed-to-be-dead evil genius."

I narrowed my eyes. "So, you're one of… 'us'?" By 'us', I meant the X-Men.

He shook his head. "Not really, no. I'm just a man who is trying to repay a debt and hold things down until Craig recovers."

I nodded slowly. "So you're the one who's going to be looking after us."

"At work, and during other times, yeah." He looked at Betty. "Someone else will be keeping an eye on you and the others at Midtown. They're probably connecting with the others now."

I smiled a bit. "Thanks a lot for this."

"Hey, friends of Scott, friends of mine… for the most part." I raised an eyebrow. "I'm trying to give Buford a chance. But the Chi-Town in me keeps giving him the side eye due to his profession." He frowned. "I've had some bad experience with the boys in blue back home."

"I can understand that," Betty said. I saw her nod from my peripheral as she said that. "So, since you know Scott, does that mean you're… gifted?"

"I am," David confirmed. "But, I'll tell you what I can do later. I don't like to talk about that out in the open."

I nodded in understand. "Makes sense," I commented.

"So, I got a question." David raised an eyebrow. "What is this American Idiots thing about?"

"It started with this group chat I made," Betty explained. "You heard of the St. James Incident, right?" David nodded. "Peter and I, along with Ned and Michelle, were there with Kitty and Craig. It started with the former four. I called it that just to try and make light of the situation since we didn't get hurt. I then added Kitty and Craig when I got their numbers. The name stuck since."

David smirked. "Now that's adorable."

"Betty's been looking out for us the best she can," I added. "Sometimes a bit too much."

Betty glared at me from my peripheral. "And you love me for it."

I looked at her and smiled wryly. "Weeeeeelllll…"

"Oh, whatever!"

We spent about an hour at the diner just talking. As we talked, I couldn't help but feel a little bit of hope in my chest. I allowed myself to at least be open to the possibility that maybe, just maybe, things will be okay, and Beck wouldn't be able to get the drop on me.

I could allow myself to be optimistic.

Right?