Spider-X: A Spider-Man Story

Chapter 26: Ultimatum

Life at the Institute is great. It feels like living in a dorm. A luxury dorm with his own bedroom and bathroom, but all in all, he wonders if this is similar to college. He wonders if the community he feels, the fun, is what he would have experienced at MIT with Ned and MJ.

No, his mind reminds him. With you, they didn't get in to MIT. Without you, they get to live their dreams. They get to move on, without the pain of knowing Peter Parker. Maybe he should try and move on too.

In the kitchen, Jubilee, Bobby, and Kitty are discussing the newest Star Wars film and trying to catch Peter off guard by chucking fruit at his head. They're mystified by his spider sense, and though it's making his physics paper slow going, he's happy to oblige them. They think they're sneaky, talking nonchalantly and throwing without pausing their conversation, but without fail, Peter catches the apple, or orange, or even blueberry, without looking up from his computer before it can hit him.

"It's just freaky," Bobby grumbles. "And so not fair. I want a sixth sense."

"Have you really been to space?" Jubilee asks.

Peter half smiles, "yup. Fought an alien on another planet."

Kitty crosses her arms, "you're so lying."

"Believe what you want," Peter says with a shrug.

Bobby sets down the pineapple instead of throwing it now that Peter is looking up from his computer. "And, in your world, the Asguardians are real? Like the gods from Norse legends."

"We learn about Thor's hammer in physics class," Peter answers, "Thor is cool. So funny. I never got to meet Loki but I could never gauge how the rest of the Avengers felt about him."

"This is insane," Bobby starts, "another world where mutants are public heroes? And people like them?"

"Well," Peter scratches his head, "not everyone. Battles cause casualties, and innocent people die. There was this whole initiative called the Sokovia Accords, where the government wanted every enhanced person registered so they could only be deployed on UN sanctioned missions-"

"-Sokovia?" Kitty butts in.

Peter waves his hand to indicate it's not important. "Small country in Eastern Europe. It was the sight of a huge almost world ending disaster. It's not Wakanda or anything." At the blank stares, Peter guesses neither Sokovia or Wakanda exist in this universe. "Remind me to circle back on Wakanda," he says, "but the Sokovia Accords started out as this really cool idea and way to check the power of superpowered beings, but they ended up not being cool. Individual freedom and government oversight and all that. Plus it caused this huge rift between Captain America and..." Peter trails off, hit with memories of Tony recruiting him to come fight Captain America alongside him.

"And who?" Jubilee asks gently.

"Iron Man," Peter says after a minute. "Tony Stark. Tony. He was, um, he was my mentor. My friend. He, uh, he died."

A bit of an awkward silence after that.

Bobby breaks it. "Have you seen a lot of people die?"

"Bobby!" Kitty shrieks, "that is, like, so rude!" Kitty hops up on the counter to change the subject, "and Captain America? Who's he?"

Peter smiles, "Steve Rogers from Brooklyn. He was a World War II soldier given a super serum, then when he saved the world he got accidentally got frozen in ice for seventy years."

"Whoa, talk about a man out of time."

Peter nods. He hears soft footsteps and turns to see Logan in the doorway, his mouth slightly agape. "Hey Logan," Peter greets.