Big Spider on Mutant Campus

Peter stood in the lounge of his Aunt May's house, shaking hands with America's top cop/spy; he never imagined his day would turn out quite like this.

'Joining SHIELD' even as the thought percolated about his brain, he still couldn't quite believe that this was happening. He looked at his Aunt May; she might have looked like a frail old woman, but she was a tower of strength and courage. Peter turned back to Nick Fury,

"Listen Colonel, if I do this; I'm going to need some assurances. The first and biggest one being that I need you to guarantee my Aunt stays safe." Fury nodded,

"Way ahead of you Parker, which is why, if it's alright with you May, I asked an old friend to help out." Fury turned around, and with a gesture from his hand, a tall man walked in. He had short greying hair and a thick, white moustache. He was tall, and despite his obvious age, he looked very fit and well. The man saluted at Fury, then turned and smiled at May,

"Hello May" May gasped, then smiled happily,

"Keane? Keane Marlow? Is that really you?"

"It's me alright May, you can't keep an old war horse like me down." May laughed, and walked over to the old man, taking his hand in her's.

"It's so good to see you again Keane; it's been such a long time." Keane smiled, then looked over at a very much bewildered Peter,

"Good look May, he looks so much like Richard it's remarkable." Peter smiled a little uneasily,

"Excuse me sir, but who are you exactly?" May smiled,

"Peter, I'd like you to meet Mister Keane Marlow, Agent of the CIA and the man who taught your parents everything they knew" Keane smiled at Peter,

"Formally of the CIA, I retired some time ago; haven't got the energy to go running around like all those young adventurers any more. Did enough of that in the War, didn't I Nick?"

"There's still some like left in you yet Keane. You see Peter, I asked Keane here because I felt that if we were going to protect your Aunt, then it'd be better that she have someone guarding her that she trusts." Peter nodded his understanding; he looked over at May, who seemed very happy to see her old friend,

"Alright Fury I'm convinced, but what about my situation with the media, I mean I can't just disappear for god-knows how long with all this attention on me."

"First, most of the attention is just speculation, which is why no reporters have gone off hounding you for answers; as far as the world is concerned you've been outed as a Mutant. Okay, so maybe you are, doesn't make national news. The Spider-Man of it all; well lets say I asked a friend of yours to take care of things.

Daily Bugle

A well dressed man walked along a corridor in one of New York's biggest papers. He walked along until he found the office he was looking for; he knew he was in the right place as soon as he got there though; he could tell by all the shouting.

"WHERE THE DEVIL'S PARKER GOT TO?!"

"I don't know Jonah; the boy's probably taking some time to sort himself out. His whole world's been turned upside down."

"I DON'T CARE IF HE'S WALKING ON THE MOON ROBBIE, I'VE GOT QUESTIONS FOR THAT KID, AND HE'D DAMN WELL BETTER ANSWER THEM!" Joe Robinson sighed, and sat back down in the chair. J. Jonah Jameson was probably his best friend; he was also his biggest headache,

"Jonah, you don't know for certain..."

"Oh I know Robbie; you can trust me I know. Parker knows who Spider-Man is, or at the very least knows where he's gone. And as soon as I get my hands on that little runt he's going to tell me. I don't care if he has just been outed as a Mutant. Lousy bum hasn't been in here for months, hasn't given me a single photo of Spider-Man, not since the Goblin."

"Have some heart Jonah, his girlfriend was murdered by the Goblin." Jameson softened slightly, then sat down in his chair,

"I'm not saying I don't feel for the kid Robbie; of course I do. It's a terrible thing for a young man to go through, but he owes me, and I mean to collect." There was a knock at the door,

"Come in!" the well-dressed man walked in,

"Hello Jonah, been a while." Jameson gritted his teeth, nearly biting through the Cigar in his mouth,

"What do you want Murdock?" Matt Murdock smiled, and took out a document from his briefcase,

"I was asked to deliver these to you Jonah; I need you to sign them." Jameson took the papers, and started reading, almost immediately he spluttered,

"WHAT!? WHAT THE DEVIL IS THIS?"

"It's a formal request telling you that Peter Parker is now involved in something that is top-secret, and that his employment with you is, for the time being at least; terminated."

"HE QUIT!"

"Mister Parker has far greater responsibilities than to you and your paper Jonah." Jameson growled, and went back to reading,

"What's this; I can't print anything in relation to what happened at NYCC today as it may be relevant to... NATIONAL SECURITY?!" Robbie took the document, and read it himself,

"Matt, what's going on? Where's Peter?" Matt looked over at Robbie and sighed,

"I'm sorry Robbie, but as of now, he's a national security issue. You, me and Jonah can't discuss where he is, or where he's gone." Jameson jumped up, slamming his fist down onto his desk,

"Just who gave you this Murdock? Who's in charge of this whole cloak and dagger game?" Murdock smiled, and turned to leave,

"He signed it at the bottom Jonah, make sure you post those documents; signed and sealed to my office by the end of today." And with that he left, Jonah looked down at the Papers, and scrolled his eyes down to the bottom; they nearly bulged out of his head when he saw the name, he sat down back in his chair, defeated; Robbie picked up the papers and looked at the name himself,

"Colonel Nick Fury!" Jameson nodded quietly; he sighed, and then scratched his head. Robbie turned the Paper around, and saw something he knew Jameson wasn't going to like,

"Uhh Jonah, you might wanna read this bit. I'll see you later." He hurried out of the office, and was down the other side of the hall when he heard,

"WHAT?! SPIDER-MAN IS OFF LIMITS UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE?!"

Matt Murdock smiled to himself as he left the Daily Bugle building,

'Good Luck Peter'.

Peter Parker's Apartment

Peter walked up the stairs to his apartment; technically it wasn't his but it'd been paid for by... a friend. He'd been living alone now for a while, and while he'd gotten used to the place; it wasn't really what he'd call home. In fact, as he moved about grabbing what he wanted to take with him as he moved out; there was hardly anything he that was his. It'd been furnished by his old roommate, but that had never bothered Peter, and since he'd never been particularly free in the cash department, his room for the most part was rather modest; modest was too kind really, his room was practically Spartan. He'd gotten rid of a lot of things when Gwen... he'd need to put it all away. It left him with very little, but he didn't care.

He didn't know what he'd think of his new accommodation's until he moved in; but it had always seemed like a nice place. The move would perhaps do him some good. As he reached his door he stopped, and sighed,

"On second thoughts, the move will definitely be very good." On the door, spray-painted in big, messy red writing was the words;

'MUTIE SCUM' Peter sighed, and went inside.

He grabbed a few books off of his shelves, just the ones he liked most, and packed them away into a box. He looked around his room, and noticed some photographs on a table, he walked over and picked them up; he smiled, and packed them away too.

He suddenly remembered something, and walked over to his wardrobe, and feeling his way about the bottom, took out a false panel he'd put it; in this small space he'd put the various chemicals and spare parts he had so he could rebuild his web-shooters. He'd lost them, and his costume in the fire, which struck him as ironic as he remembered all the times he'd torn, ripped, singed, burnt and soaked it over the years, and then for months he hadn't worn it, then; the first time he put it back on, it gets incinerated.

'Oh well, I can always make another.'

He placed the equipment inside the box, then, checking around his room one last time; he sealed it up, and carried it downstairs. Outside, Professor Xavier and Logan were waiting for him,

"Ahh Peter, do you need a hand at all?" Peter shook his head,

"It's just this box; I don't really have much in the way of things." Xavier nodded, and turned back towards the car; Peter moved round to the rear and placed his things inside. He then walked round and got in the back with the Professor. He took one last look at the apartment; it might not have been home, but it held a lot of memories, he turned to the Professor,

"Actually Professor, if it's alright, there's something I have to do before we go on to Westchester, someone I have to see."

Raven-croft Psychiatric Hospital

Peter stood outside the hospital; he was never overly fond of hospitals, but this place; well it just gave him the creeps. But he knew that, if someone needed help, this was the place to take them. Which is why HE was here. A young woman with short brown hair and glasses walked out of the main doors over to Peter,

"You can come in now Peter."

"Thank you Doctor Kafka." Peter followed the Doctor inside. Doctor Ashley Kafka was a renowned psychiatrist, both to members of the public and even criminals. She had a gift, a natural talent for helping people, and Peter knew she was the one person who could do anything that might help...

They passed various patients rooms until they came to an outdoors area; it wasn't very large but big enough for the patients to relax, and it was filled flowers and small ponds. She nodded over to a man sat on a bench looking at a tree and pond,

"He's over there." Peter looked, his desire to run away just as strong as his desire to be there for his friend,

"How is he doing?" Ashley looked over at him as well,

"He has good days and bad days. Recently there have been more good ones than bad ones, so we shall have to see. He mentions his friends; Liz Allen, Flash Thompson and Mary Jane has been to visit a couple of times, he always enjoys seeing her. Do you know if she might be visiting too?" Peter shook his head,

"She's off in Paris, big modelling career's taking off, but I'm sure she'll visit when she gets back. Listen Doc, I... I'm moving away, and I know this place is free, but I feel like I owe you something..." Ashley raised her hands to stop him,

"Peter, please don't. I know you feel like this is your fault, and that you're to blame for his condition, but it isn't so. You've done right by him, I assure you. And as for thanks; getting him better will be all the thanks I need. Now go on, talk to him." Peter let out a long sigh, then walked through the doors. He slowly strolled over to the bench, and stopped just behind the man,

"Harry? It's me; Peter." Harry didn't move, he just continued staring straight ahead. Peter moved round and sat down on the bench next to him,

"How are you doing buddy? You look well." Harry smiled, then looked over at Peter,

"Hello Pete." Peter smiled,

"Hi Harry. How are things?" Harry mused,

"Not too bad. The food's not so great, but Ashley's nice and she helps me a lot. Still have the nightmares sometimes, but they're not so bad." Peter nodded, the pain and sadness he could feel tugging on his heart like an iron chain. He cleared his throat,

"Harry I've got something I need to tell you." Harry smiled calmly,

"Okay." Peter smiled a little,

"I've got to go away for a while, and I'm not sure when I'll be back. I just wanted you to know, okay bud?" Harry seemed to pause, the information going into his mind; he then slowly nodded and turned his attention back towards the tree,

"Can you see the tree Peter? It's so simple, yet elegant and strong. Reminds me of my Father; he was a simple man at heart, but he had a fierce mind and a strong nature that made him what he was." Peter said nothing, just listened quietly,

"In my dreams, I see him. I see him and he comes and then everything is better. But then..." Harry's voice seemed to drift away, and his eyes glazed over. It was as if he was on pause, before suddenly he came out of it, only something had changed, his eyes; they were darker. He looked at Peter, smiling a little,

"But then, I remember seeing him die. I remember seeing the glider fly through the air, the blades on its front piercing his chest and nailing him to the wall." Peter felt his stomach drop, and started to move but felt Harry's hand grab his arm; the grip was like a steel iron. He looked up into Harry's eyes, one of them was his normal blue, and the other was a dark, sickly GREEN.

"I look over at the tree and I see the Goblin looking back. He's looking at you, he's looking right at you and he's laughing Peter. He's laughing at you... SPIDER-MAN." Peter felt cold and pulled away from Harry,

"I remember you Spider, in my dreams. I remember the day we fought; you tried so hard not to hurt me. But I tried to kill you, and I will always keep trying. I'll go on trying until I succeed, until the day I make my Goblin father proud, and kill you with my own hands. Just like he did to..." Harry froze again, as his eyes glazed once more, his eyes went back to blue, and he sagged. He looked up at Peter,

"I have good days, and bad days Peter. They can't give me pills, no pills. But I'm getting better, aren't I Peter. Aren't I?" Peter looked at Harry Osborn; his best friend. It was all he could do just to nod silently, Harry's face suddenly changed to a smile, and he went back to looking at the tree calmly,

"I know it's still in my system, I know what I put in there is still there. It's just got to burn itself out, and once it's gone, I'll be me again." Peter nodded, he got up, and as he went to go, he put a hand on Harry's shoulder,

"Be strong Harry. I'll see you around Pal." Harry didn't acknowledge him, he just kept looking at the tree. Peter sighed a little, and then went away; behind him Harry smiled.

Peter paused outside the entrance, trying to catch his breath. He stared up at the sky,

'This is YOUR legacy Norman. You turned yourself into a Monster, and then you turned your own son into one as well. He is so much better than you, and all he ever wanted was your respect and love. But you never gave it to him did you. No, you had to be the king of the capitalists; mister big time businessman. You abandoned him, chased after money and left him alone. And in doing so he turned to drugs, virtually destroying his own body, as well as his mind. And then... then he had to watch you die before his eyes. Right after you took my Gwen away from me.' Peter could feel the tears of frustration flowing down his face, he ran towards a building and leapt up to the roof. He sat on a wall and looked out over the city,

"And even when you'd abandoned him, he never abandoned you. He took off the Green Goblin outfit from your corpse, to save your reputation. And then, then came the worst of it all; barely a couple of months later and I discovered that Harry had turned himself into you; into the Green Goblin! I had to fight him, stop him from destroying us both. And that is the result of your Goblin serum; his mind almost destroyed. I hope you can hear me down there Norman, I hope you suffer knowing what you did to Harry; what WE did." He wiped away his tears, and slowly crawled down towards the car.

Logan sat leaning against the hood of the car smoking a cigar,

"Is the kid alright Chuck?" The Professor opened his eyes,

"Yes, he's fine now. Seeing the state of his friend greatly upset him, but that young man has depths of strength like I've never seen. He'll be a great addition to the school, and to the team." Logan grunted, then noticed Peter walking over towards them,

"Ready to go Kid?" Peter looked back for a moment, and then turned to look at Logan and the Professor,

"I'm ready, let's get going."

Professor Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters

Peter starred out at the impressive and imposing building that was the school; his first thought was that it was very big; no it was huge! As they made their way inside, Peter had to marvel at the elegant decor.

His attention was suddenly drawn to the people who were in front of him; a tall, well-built young man who looked like he could break Peter in half. Beside him was a beautiful young woman, with dark ebony skin and shinning blue eyes that Peter had to admit mesmerized him. A little off from them was a middle-aged man with thick, blond hair and a bright green jumper on with his arm around the shoulders of a woman with dark reddish-brown hair.

As Peter smiled nervously at them all, he finally noticed some familiar faces,

"Jean! Scott!" He walked over and smiled at them warmly, shaking Scott's hand and giving Jean a hug. Jean smiled,

"Good to see you Peter."

"Thanks Jean, nice to see you both as well." Scott stepped forward,

"We're also glad to hear that you accepted the Professor's offer too." Peter nodded, and as he turned there was sudden whoosh in front of him, followed by a rush of smoke and the smell of brimstone. Peter jumped back in surprise, back-flipping and landing on a wall, he tensed his body in readiness, his eyes taking in the sight of a blue-skinned devil with 3 fingers and toes and a tail. The devil turned around and he smiled, scratching his head embarrassedly,

"Woops, sorry mein fruende; I did not mean to frighten you so." Peter un-tensed, and jumped down from off the wall. He walked over towards the blue-devil,

"Maybe you should wear a bell, uhh..."

"Kurt Wagner; sie incredible Nightcrawler." Peter smiled a little, and shook the outstretched hand,

"Nice to meet you Kurt; Peter Parker." Kurt smiled warmly,

"Let me introduce you to everyone else; the goddess over there is the lovely Ororo Monroe, otherwise known as Storm. The Russian gentle giant is Piotr Rasputin, aka Colossus. The blond Irishman is Sean Cassidy, so named the Banshee and the lovely lady he's got his arm around is our housekeeper Moira MacTaggert." Peter nodded at every one of them, before smiling nervously. He turned towards the Professor, who moved around to address everyone present,

"Well everyone, we have a new student to welcome to our school. He is already well-trained as a solo superhero, and I know all of you have at least heard of his exploits. Kurt, if you wouldn't mind showing Peter to his new room, I'm sure he'd like to get settled in." Kurt nodded,

"Of course. Follow me Peter Parker, let us see if you can keep up." Kurt leaped off, teleporting towards a wall, which he landed on then jumped up towards the stairs. Peter smiled a small, confident smile, and then ran after him, jumping and front-flipping himself with amazing agility, touching the wall with one foot, and springing away up the stairs after Kurt. The others laughed a little as they watched, and then quietly dispersed leaving just Storm, Colossus and the Professor. He turned towards his students,

"He won't be with us for very long I'm afraid, Mister Parker has a mission to undertake; something of grave importance. However he will be returning once it is complete, so for as long as he is here for now, we shall do our very best to welcome him to the X-men."

The following Day

Peter sat quietly in the mansion's kitchen, sipping away at a cup of coffee; he looked out over the school grounds, the morning sun slowly rising in the sky.

It was... peaceful. Something he'd never really gotten used to in his life; then again 'peaceful' didn't really happen much so when it did, he found it unfamiliar territory.

"You're up early." Peter turned, broken out of his revere; he saw Logan stood in the door-way,

"Yeah... I haven't gotten used to not hearing the noises of the city yet. It's gonna take me a while to adjust; that and well... I don't sleep well, not for a while." Logan walked over to a counter and poured himself a cup, then went and grabbed a chair, and sat down, opening out a newspaper. He sipped it, enjoying its sensations before looking at Peter,

"Bad dreams?" Peter paused, then nodded a little,

"Bad dreams... and bad memories, all sleeping does is remind of it all, and I definitely don't need that." Logan didn't say anything, and went back to reading the paper. Peter went back to his gazing, but his mind had drifted back to something else; to Gwen. He tensed, and the cup handle broke in his hands, and then dropped to the floor, shattering and spilling its remaining contents. Peter groaned with frustration, Logan didn't look up, save for sipping his coffee,

"There's a mop in a closet web-head." Peter rubbed his eyes, then walked over to the closet, grabbed the mop and set about cleaning up. When he was done, he sat down at the table; Logan paused then looked at him,

"Who was she kid?" Peter stared at him in surprise, then slowly relaxed,

"Her name was Gwen... Gwen Stacy. She was... we were in love." Logan sat there, silent; he then sighed deeply and then got up. As he passed Peter, he gave him a pat of the shoulder; neither of them said a word.

Peter sat there, lost in memories. He looked down at his own hands, and then felt something wet hit his fingers; it was a tear. He wiped his eyes dry, just as Storm walked in,

"Good morning Peter."

"Morning Storm, want some coffee?" Storm smiled but shook her head,

"No thank you, just water for me." She paused and looked again at Peter,

"Are you alright Peter?" Peter smiled, and nodded, he then walked out. Storm watched him go, her face wearing an expression of curiosity.

The Danger-Room

Peter looked around the large, impressive, sleek looking room. He was wearing a simple white vest and gray sweatpants; dressed for a heavy physical workout. If he hadn't heard about the training room before-hand, Peter would've thought it all very un-necessary.

The Professor's voice crackled over a speaker;

"Okay then Peter, this is a basic training program, nothing too complicated, but it'll increase in difficulty as you advance through the stages. If you get hurt the whole system will shut down at once." Peter flinched; he hadn't wanted to hear that,

"Are you ready?" Peter nodded, and started moving cautiously across the room. Almost at once he felt a familiar buzzing in his head; he leapt forward, missing a swinging metal hammer. He rolled and then jumped towards the side of the wall as the floor opened suddenly to reveal a pit. He took a moment to catch his breath when he noticed a large cannon pointing at him,

"Oh come on! That's not fair!" The cannon fired a net, which missed Peter as he somersaulted away, grabbing onto a giant swinging axe. He jumped forward again, landing on the floor just as a large, multi-armed robot appeared. The robot's red eyes focused on Peter, and one of its arms shifted and became a large, double-ended mallet.

"I take it you're really trying to hammer home the whole 'Danger' thing huh?" The robot swung down and Peter back-flipped away. He watched the robot carefully as another armed shifted and up came a large axe, Peter stepped back,

"No sense of humour some people." He tensed, then ran straight at the robot, jumping over its arm as it swung at him, he grabbed on to the arm and swung himself around until he was standing on it, he then wrenched it off, the robot looked at where it's arm used to be, and then at the Peter as he swung the axe around and cut off its head.

The robot froze, then buckled and toppled over. Peter jumped back, and landed gracefully on the floor. He threw the axe down, and breathed.

"Well I survived that." Suddenly his spider-sense went off, he turned and just managed to notice an even larger robot now standing before him when it swung an even larger hammer and knocked him through the air, clean across the danger room.

Peter curled into a ball; the wind being completely knocked out of him. He gasped for air, and then noticed the second robot stomping over to him.

He looked at the very large, very sharp blade that was raised above the robot's head, and then suddenly his eyes caught a glimpse of several hanging pipes between the body and the arm. He smiled a confident smile, and then just as the arm started swinging down, he sprinted forward, leaping and running up the arm, sliding himself around and grabbing onto the pipes, he tugged at them and they came free. He then swung himself around and kicked the robot square in the head, toppling the robot back, and separating the arm from the shoulder. Peter rolled off of the robot, exhausted. The Speakers crackled again,

"Are you alright Peter?" He was led on his back; he then raised one arm up, and then gave thumbs up. Professor Xavier smiled,

"Logan if you wouldn't mind, I think mister Parker could use a hand getting to the infirmary." Logan nodded in agreement, then walked out of the room.

The Infirmary

Peter was lying on a metal bed trying to ignore the cold and the feeling of self-consciousness as Professor Xavier and Doctor Moira MacTaggert poked, prodded and examined him,

"So Doc, what's the prognosis?" Moira smiled warmly, and walked over,

"Peter, I'd say you are a very healthy, very strong young man. In fact; I've never seen DNA like yours before."

Peter sat up, slightly unnerved;

"Is that a good thing or bad?" Professor Xavier smiled,

"Moira is just given over to scientific curiosity Peter. She's well aware of Mutants and Genetics, but your powers and how you got them is still very fascinating." Peter nodded slowly, then smiled.

"Well that's good and all but... can I put my shirt back on now?" Xavier laughed,

"Of course, I think we're done here for today any road. The others are upstairs preparing dinner, why don't you go join them."

At the mention of food, Peter suddenly remembered how hungry he was, he jumped off the bed, grabbed his shirt and ran up the stairs to the kitchens.

"He seems to be adjusting very well Charles."

"Yes. I think he'll like living here. I only wish I had more time to prepare him before he goes on his mission. But, I have complete faith that if anyone could save the world; he can do it. He has more strength inside of him than he yet realizes."