The heavy oak doors of Professor Xavier’s private study closed, shutting out the grand foyer.
The room was lined with thousands of leather-bound books, smelling of old paper and polished wood.
Professor Xavier steered his hover-chair behind a large mahogany desk while Jean Grey sat gracefully on an armchair.
Peter pulls up his face mask to reveal his mouth and jaw, leaned against a structural pillar arms crossed.
“The landscape is shifting rapidly, Spider-Man” Professor Xavier began, his voice calm but layered with a stark severity.
“Things is like a powder keg.
Fisk is cornered.
When a man of his resources is backed into a corner, he might be a threat.
“The other matter regarding the growing population of unregistered super-beings will be a problem too” Jean Grey added seriously.
“The News outlet such as The Daily Bugles might frame both independent vigilantes like yourself and the mutant community together.
They want to force a government crackdown” Professor Xavier explained.
Peter nodded under his mask “I figured as much.
He wants us fighting each other so the feds look the other way”.
Peter stepped forward, tapping his earpiece.
“Homer, pull up the joint threat assessment profiles we mapped out”.
“Processing” Homer’s voice chimed in Peter’s ear, casting a low-light holographic display from his phone onto the desk.
“Data indicates that America government has funded tactical teams with upgraded high-density plasma weaponry capable of neutralizing standard physical defense.
Peter said looking at Xavier “These are threats we can’t easily deal with alone anymore.
If one day villains, syndicates, secret societies or government with specialized weapon come or world threat, we need a unified strategy.
A real partnership”.
“A wise assessment” Xavier smiled warmly, approving of the Spider-man’s plan.
“Solidarity is our greatest shield.
If there is a calls for aid, the X-Men will answer.
And I hope we can count on your unique gifts and exceptional scientific mind should a crisis brew that requires your expertise”.
“Count on it” Peter said sincerely.
With the official strategic alliance successfully outlined, Jean Grey smiled, gesturing toward the door.
“Now that the heavy lifting is out of the way, you are more than welcome to look around the mansion, Spider-Man.
Logan and Rogue can show you the grounds”.
Peter gladly accepted the break, walking alongside Rogue and Wolverine down a long, sunlit glass corridor that overlooked the courtyard.
“See?
That wasn’t so bad, Sugah” Rogue teased, walking close enough that her shoulder brushed his.
“I am curious!
How is your real life beside fighting crime?”.
Trust me, Rogue, you don’t want to know” Peter chuckled through his mask.
“It’s a nightmare.
Fighting the Kingpin’s entire army sounds significantly more relaxing compare to fighting female teenagers”.
“Oh, come on, a big strong hero like you, terrified of a few girls?” Rogue laughed, playfully swinging her hand backward to nudge his arm.
But as she swung her hand, Peter suddenly shifted his stance to look at a passing group of young mutant students in the courtyard.
The sudden movement caused Rogue’s uncovered, bare wrist to accidentally brush straight against the exposed skin of Peter’s neck, right where his mask met his collar.”Wait—!” Rogue gasped, her eyes widening in immediate horror.
She violently yanked her arm back, her face draining of color.
“Oh my god!
I’m so sorry!
I didn’t mean to….
Rogue braced herself, fully expecting the terrifying familiar rush of stolen memories, stolen powers and the agonizing guilt of watching Spider-man collapse onto the floor drained of his life force but nothing happened.
Peter stayed standing, completely stable.
He blinked under his mask, looking at his own hands, then at her.
“Uh…
did I miss something?
My spider-sense didn’t even buzz”.
Rogue stared down at her bare wrist, then up at his neck, her jaw completely dropped.
She touched her own face, totally bewildered.
“My power…
it didn’t work.
I didn’t take anything.
No memories, no strength…
nothing.
How is that even possible?
No living being is completely immune to my touch”.
Peter thought to himself ‘That is weird.
Rogue’s power should have worked on me.
Could it be the bio-electric field to cling to walls accidentally acted as a natural barrier against her absorption?’.
Rogue slowly reached out, her fingers trembling slightly as she looked at him with a mix of absolute shock and a strange, profound sense of wonder.
For a girl who had spent her entire life isolated by a curse that kept her from ever touching another human being safely, she was looking at a complete medical miracle.
“You…” Rogue whispered, her voice cracking slightly as a slow, breathless smile broke across her face.
“You didn’t drain…
I can actually touch you”.
Logan stopped dead in his tracks ahead of them, biting down hard on his cigar as he turned around, his sharp eyes widening in pure disbelief.
“Well, I’ll be damned.
Kid…
you really are a box of mysteries”.
Rogue stared at her bare hand, her breathing shallow as her emerald-green eyes locked onto Peter’s masked face.
The overwhelming realization hit her like a tidal wave as she had just experienced physical human contact without triggering a tragedy.
“I can…
I can actually touch you” Rogue whispered, her voice cracking with raw emotion.
Before Peter could even reply, she closed the distance between them.
Driven by a lifetime of touch-deprived isolation, she reached out and grabbed his arm, her bare hand gripping his bicep tightly.
Then, she let out a shaky sigh and leaned her entire weight against him, burying her face into the shoulder of his suit.
“Whoa, okay!
Rogue, hold on..” Peter stammered, his arms going stiffly wide in total panic.
His spider-sense remained completely dormant, but his high school survival instinct was screaming.
“I’m glad you’re happy but my personal space….”.
Rogue didn’t care.
The absolute psychological relief of holding someone safely was intoxicating.
She shifted, her bare fingers sliding up to playfully poke his bare cheek, then down to his jaw.
She looked up at him with a wide dazzling smile, her Southern drawl turning incredibly sweet.
“You ain’t getting away from me that easy, Sugah.
You’re officially my new favorite person in the whole wide world”.
From behind them, Logan let out a massive, rumbling laugh, shaking his head as he chewed his cigar.
“Well, kid.
Looks like you are Rogue’s favourite new toy”.
Peter groaned loudly behind his mask.
The commotion quickly drew the attention of the X-Mansion’s premier scientific mind.
Heavy, thudding footsteps echoed down the glass hallway as Dr.
Hank McCoy, better known as Beas, lumbered into view.
His massive, blue-furred form was clad in a white lab coat and his sharp, intelligent eyes blinked through a pair of reading glasses.
“What is going on?” Beast asked, his deep sophisticated voice booming.
He stopped dead, staring at Rogue, who was still happily holding onto Peter’s arm like a permanent attachment and poking her finger on Peter’s bare cheek.
“Rogue…
your gloves.
You’re touching him bare-skinned?” Beast exclaimed.
“I can touch him, Hank!” Rogue beamed, squeezing Peter’s arm tighter.
“Look at him!
He ain’t fainting, he ain’t losing his memory, nothing!”.
Beast’s jaw dropped, his blue ears twitching in absolute scientific shock.
He immediately walked around Peter, inspecting him like a prized specimen.
“Incredible!
Astounding!”
He snapped his fingers, looking at Peter with pure excitement.
“Spider-Man, I must request your assistance.
If you would allow me to run a few non-invasive lab tests on your blood and power, we might finally map the exact blueprint of this insulation.
This data could allow us to synthesize a permanent counter-sequence to help Rogue control her mutation at will!
Don’t worry i will destroy the result of your blood work once i am done”.
Rogue gasped, her grip on Peter tightening even more as she looked up at him with pleading, hopeful eyes.
“Please…
please?
If you do this for me, I’ll literally fly you back to Queens myself”.
Peter looked at Rogue’s genuine hope, then at Beast’s eager scientific gaze and finally down at his own trapped arm.
He couldn’t say no to helping someone break a lifelong curse.
“Alright” Peter sighed, allowing himself to be led toward the medical bay.
“Let’s run the tests.
try to make it quick.
If I don’t get home soon, my aunt might hunt me down”.
Inside the medical bay Peter sat in a high-tech glass isolation booth, his arm wired to a dozen flickering bio-scanners.
Beast sat at a massive console typing furiously as image strands of Peter’s unique DNA spun on the monitor.
Rogue was standing right outside the open booth door, literally leaning against the glass.
“Fascinating!
Utterly brilliant!” Beast exclaimed, adjusting his glasses.
“The data is conclusive, Spider-Man.
It is not an immunological response.
Your bio-electric field, the very force that allows you to cling to sheer walls creates a continuous high-frequency microscopic polarity loop over your entire epidermis.
When Rogue makes contact her absorption signature is instantly deflected by your static field, leaving your life force and memories entirely insulated”.
Beast said with fascination.
Rogue beamed “Hear that, Sugah?
You’re a walking, talking safety blanket”.
“That’s great, Dr.
McCoy!” Peter said through the booth’s intercom.
“So…
can we synthesize a portable prototype device for Rogue?
Like a wristband or a belt that mimics my field so she can touch other people safely?”.
Beast sighed, his blue ears drooping slightly as he reviewed the energy metrics.
“Regrettably, no.
Not yet.
Your body produces this bio-electric field naturally and effortlessly.
To replicate a continuous, uninterrupted field of that magnitude artificially would require a massive, unstable electrical power source.
A portable battery would burn out in ninety seconds.
Until we can solve the continuous power constraint, you are the only functioning shield she has”.
Before Peter could process the fact that he was officially a non-replicable medical miracle, his phone resting on a tray outside the booth suddenly burst to life.
Buzz.
Buzz.
Buzz.
The screen flashed a contact name, Gwen Stacy.
Simultaneously, two massive overlapping notifications popped up from Mary Jane Watson and Liz Allan
“Oh, no” Peter grumbled as he slowly detach the wires.
“Homer!
Deny the calls!
Put it on airplane mode!”.
Before Homer could reply, Rogue said helpfully “I got it, Sugah!”.
Before Peter could scream “No!”, her bare hand snatched the vibrating phone off the tray.
She didn’t know anything about Peter’s high school layout.
She swiped the green answer icon on Gwen’s call said “Hello?”.
“Peter?!” Gwen’s voice ringed out through the lab, sharp and suspicious.
“Wait?
Who is this?”.
“Hi there!” Rogue chirped cheerfully, leaning against the glass booth and looking at Peter with a mischievous wink.
“Peter can’t come to the phone right now.
He’s currently locked in room”.
There was a horrific, agonizing three-second silence on the other end of the line.
“A room?” Gwen’s voice dropped into a dangerous, icy register.
“Who is this?
And why are you answering Peter’s phone?”.
“Oh, I’m Rogue,” she replied smoothly, enjoying the drama way too much.
“And you must be Gwen!
Hold on a second, hon, someone else is clicking through.” Rogue’s mutant reflexes tapped the screen, looping the incoming calls from MJ and Liz right into a massive, ad-hoc conference line.
“Alright, y’all are linked up!
Mary Jane?
Liz?
You there?”.
“What is going on?!” Liz’s voice exploded through the speaker.
“Who is this?
Peter, are you on this line?!”.
“Pete” MJ’s voice purred, though it carried a terrifying edge that made Peter’s spider-sense throb behind his mask.
“You’ve got five seconds to explain why a girl with a Southern accent is holding your device”.
“Listen, ladies” Rogue interrupted, her voice dripping with proud territorial satisfaction.
“I don’t know what kind of little game y’all were playing with Peter back in Queens but the status quo just changed.
Peter’s unique body chemistry is the only thing in the entire world that can safely handle my touch.
He’s currently helping me with a little personal physical matter, I ain’t letting him go anytime soon”.
Inside the glass booth, Peter buried his masked face in both hands, letting out a muffled, desperate wail of pure terror.
Peter bolted out of the glass isolation booth like a rocket, his sticky fingers violently snatching the phone right out of Rogue’s bare hands.
He slapped the speakerphone button off and shoved the receiver against his ear, his heart hammering against his ribs like a trapped bird.
He couldn’t mention the X-Men.
He couldn’t mention mutants.
And he absolutely could not mention Spider-Man.
“Gwen!
MJ!
Liz!
Hey!
It’s me, Peter!” Peter rambled at triple-speed, pacing the lab floor frantically while Rogue watched him with an incredibly amused smirk.
“Listen, everything you just heard is a misunderstanding!
Rogue is…
she’s a friend from Westchester!
She is just playing a joke”.
“A friend?” Gwen’s voice was lethal, cracking through the earpiece.
“Peter, she just said your body chemistry is the only thing she can touch!
What kind of ‘research’ are you doing up there?!”.
“Medical research!” Peter hurried answered, sweat breaking out under his mask.
“You know how I’m always doing advanced biochemistry stuff?
We are talking about bio-electric field that might act as a natural static insulator.
It’s purely physics!
It is a laboratory experiment!”.
MJ’s voice cut in, entirely unimpressed by his answer.
“Funny, Peter.
Because she sounded less like a scientist and a lot more like a girl staking a claim.
Care to explain the part where she said she ‘ain’t letting you go anytime soon’?”.
“She’s just excited about science!” Peter yelled, waving his arms around the empty medical bay.
“You know how people get when a hypothesis is proven correct!
They get enthusiastic!
They use colorful Southern metaphors!
Liz, back me up here, you saw how passionate I got about the butterfly wings at the museum!”.
“Peter” Liz said flatly, her voice filled with deep, protective skepticism.
“If this is just an ‘experiment,’ why did she say statue quo?”.
Peter froze, before slowly saying “I think she just love causing chaos”.
The line abruptly went dead as the three girls slammed their phones down simultaneously.
Peter slowly lowered the device, his shoulders slumping as he stared blankly at the wall.
Beside him, Rogue let out a soft, delighted giggle, crossing her arms.
“Wow, so….
Pete.
You sure know how to dig a hole.
Don’t worry i am here for you!”.
“I am a dead man” Peter whispered to the empty room.
“Tomorrow school is going to be a nightmare”.
Peter has managed to keep his secret identity safe but his high school life is officially a war zone.
Peter stared at his dead phone, his brain completely fried by the impending high school apocalypse.
“Alright, that’s it” Peter said, desperately stuffing the phone back into his utility pouch.
“I need to go.
Right now.
I will web sling to the nearest bus station or train station”.
“Hold your horses, Sugah” Rogue said a brilliant predatory smile breaking across her face as she stepped directly in front of the lab door, completely blocking his exit.
“You ain’t walking or taking any greasy train.
I promised I’d fly you back myself if you helped with the tests and I always keep my word.
Besides…
I want to see the look on those Queens girls’ faces if they’re waiting for you”.
“Fly me?
Like, in the Blackbird?”.
“Not in the jet, darlin” Rogue purred.
She slowly slid her leather gloves off again, letting them drop onto a medical tray.
She reached out, her bare hands firmly gripping Peter’s shoulders, pulling him right up against her.
“Direct flight.
Just you, me and the open air”.
Peter’s eyes went wide under his mask.
“Wait, wait, wait…”
“Hey!
Lay off the kid, Rogue!”A gruff voice barked from the doorway.
Wolverine marched into the lab, a freshly lit cigar clamped between his teeth and his brow furrowed in a deep scowl.
He looked at Peter’s completely rigid, terrified posture and then at Rogue’s determined grip.”You’re suffocating the pup” Logan grunted, stepping between them and placing a heavy calloused hand on Rogue’s shoulder.
“He’s got enough heat coming down on him now.
I can fly him back later”.
Wolverine said.
Peter let out a massive sigh of relief, throwing his hands up.
“Thank you, Mr.
Logan!”.
Rogue didn’t budge.
She just tilted her head as she looked at Logan.
“Oh, come on, Logan.
Peter’s my lucky charm and I’m giving him a lift”.
With lightning-fast mutant reflexes Rogue didn’t just hold Peter, she scooped him up entirely swinging him into a secure bridal-style carry.
“See You!
Logan!” Rogue yelled.
Before Wolverine could swing his arms or grab her, Rogue ignited her flight powers.
A brilliant sonic shockwave erupted from her boots, shattering the lab’s reinforced ventilation seals.
She launched herself horizontally straight out the high-tech window, carrying a screaming Spider-Man out into the crisp evening sky.
Logan stood frozen in the ruined lab window, a massive gust of wind blowing his hair back.
His cigar tip glowed red as he watched the green and yellow streak rapidly vanish over the tree line toward the New York City skyline.
He slowly took the cigar out of his mouth, letting out a heavy, defeated sigh.
“Well…
I tried.
Kid’s on his own”.
“ROGUE!!” Peter shouted as his voice crack violently over the roaring wind as they soared thousands of feet above the Hudson River.
“Relax, Pete!” Rogue laughed over the wind, tightening her bare arms around him and completely loving the fact that she could feel the solid warmth of his shoulders without worry “You’re Spider-Man!
You fall off skyscrapers for a living!”.
“Yeah, but I usually have a web line attached to something solid not a mutant hurricane!” Peter yelled back, though as his eyes adjusted to the speed, he couldn’t help but look down.
The entire grid of Manhattan was lighting up below them, a grid of glittering gold and neon jewel tones with the Empire State Building passing by like a toy model.
“See?
Ain’t it beautiful?” Rogue murmured, her voice dropping into a soft genuine warmth right next to his masked ear.
She leaned her cheek against his head, holding him close against the biting chill of the upper atmosphere.
“Thanks for helping Hank in the lab today, Pete.
Seriously.
Even if we can’t build a machine…
just knowing you’re out there means a lot”.
Peter stopped panicking, his body relaxing slightly in her grip as his bio-static field kept them both perfectly insulated.
“Yeah.
Anytime, Rogue.
Just…
put me anywhere is Queens, I can go swing home myself”.
“No promises, Sugah.
Just tell me where is your home.
I will send you back” Rogue teased with a devastating wink as they made their final roaring descent right toward the quiet amber-lit streets of Forest Hills, Queens.
The tranquil night over Forest Hills, Queens, shattered in a split second.
A high-pitched, agonizing siren wailed directly inside Peter’s mask.
It wasn’t his spider-sense, it was an artificial override.
“CRITICAL WARNING, SIR” Homer’s voice roared through the comm-link, flashing bright red schematics over his lenses.
“Localized military-grade tracking systems have locked onto your coordinates.
Multiple supersonic, armor-piercing projectiles inbound from ground level.
Source: Mercenaries contracted by a covert HYDRA operational cell!”
PING!
PING!
Two heavy-caliber sniper rounds sliced through the air, one tearing a hole right through the trailing fabric of Rogue’s green costume and the other nicking the edge of Peter’s web-shooter.
“Hold on, Sugah!” Rogue yelled, violently banking hard to the left as a volley of tracer rounds illuminated the night sky.
“They’re forcing us down!” Peter shouted over the rushing wind, his spider-sense finally flaring like a car alarm.
“Homer, find the firing grid!”.
“Mercenaries and elite contract killers have established a perimeter across the industrial rooftops flanking the rail yard” Homer analyzed smoothly.
“But telemetry indicates an escalation.
The HYDRA cell has leaked your coordinates to a massive coalition of radical anti-mutant extremist groups.
They are deploying!”.
Rogue dropped Peter onto the wide, gravel roof of an old train depot, landing right beside him with her fists clenched.
“Let ’em come.
I’ve been itching to punch something all day!”.
A dozen heavily armed mercenaries clad in black tactical gear poured onto the deck, flanked by angry baseball-bat-wielding zealots wearing Friends of Humanity armbands.
“Get the freak!
And take down the wall-crawler!” the mercenary commander barked leveling a high-density plasma rifle.
“I’ll take the shooters, you handle the ground support!” Peter yelled.
He sprinted forward, diving beneath a stream of plasma fire.
Using his superhuman spider agility, he slid sideways along a brick ventilation shaft while firing a web line that snatched two mercenaries by their tactical vests and slammed them together like bowling pins.
Rogue dropped from the sky like a meteor, her fists smashing directly into the center of a Friends of Humanity squad.
The impact shattered the concrete sending a shockwave that threw the attackers backward.
A contract killer tried to ambush her from behind with an electrified combat knife but Rogue casually caught his wrist with her bare hand.
Because Peter’s insulation trick had proven her powers were fully functional, she didn’t hesitate and instantly absorbed the killer’s martial arts training, dropping him with a flawless sweep kick.
“Nice moves!” Peter called out, web-zipping up to the top of a crane to rip a sniper’s rifle right out of his hands.
“Alert, Sir” Homer chimed.
“Biometric scans indicate cybernetic augmentations approaching from the eastern fire escapes.
The Reavers have arrived.
Concurrently, heavy armor units from The Purifiers are establishing a ground blockade.
“The air grew hot as a squad of cybernetic killers ‘The Reavers’ bounded onto the roof their mechanical limbs whirring.
Behind them fanatical Purifiers clad in high-tech silver armor opened fire with localized flamethrowers turning the rooftop into an absolute inferno.
“This is getting insane!” Peter shouted, his spider-sense buzzing as a Reaver with razor-sharp cybernetic claws lunged for his throat.
Peter backflipped over the blade, planting his sticky boots firmly onto the cyborg’s metal chest and using his full strength to launch him directly into a Purifier’s flamethrower tank.
Rogue flew straight through the wall of fire, her durability keeping her completely unharmed.
She grabbed a Reaver by his robotic arm, spinning him around like a hammer throw before hurling him straight through a brick wall.
“They’re relentless!” Rogue panted, flying back down beside Peter “It’s like the whole city went crazy!”.
Before the Purifiers could regroup, a massive, high-tech drone nearly look like a sentinel descended from the clouds.
Its eye piece glowed an ominous neon purple as it scanned the rooftop.”MUTANT SIGNATURE DETECTED.
ELIMINATION PROTOCOLS ENGAGED.
The drone opened fire with a continuous, high-intensity particle beam that began cutting the train depot completely in half.
“Rogue, we need a combo!” Peter yelled, dodging a blast that melted the gravel beneath his feet.
“I’ll bind its targeting lenses, you drop the ceiling on it!”.
“You got it, darlin’!”Rogue answered excitedly.
Peter launched himself into the air, firing a massive, thick web-barrage directly over the drone’s glowing eye sensor, completely blinding its tactical targeting system.
The drone flailed blindly, its particle beam cutting wildly into the sky.
Rogue screamed, flying straight upward into the heavy steel crane tower above.
She wrapped her bare hands around the iron support beams ripping the multi-ton structure right off its foundations.
With a fierce shout she hurled the entire crane downward, crushing the drone into a twisted smoking heap of metal and wires.
The remaining Purifiers and mercenaries looked at the crushed drone, then at the masked wall-crawler and the glowing mutant powerhouse standing side-by-side completely unfazed.
Just as the smoke from the crushed drone began to clear, his spider-sense buzzed “Rogue, down!” Peter screamed, lunging forward and tackling her flat onto the gravel.
BOOM!
CRACK-CRACK-CRACK!
Seeing their advanced drone obliterated, the surviving remnants of The Purifiers, Friends of Humanity, and The Reavers hadn’t fled the neighborhood, they had taken up heavily fortified sniper positions on the water towers and brick parapets of the apartment buildings three blocks away.
Suddenly, a continuous devastating wall of long-range fire rained down on the train depot.
High-caliber sniper rounds, specialized anti-mutant plasma bolts and heavy laser-rifle fire chewed into the concrete.
The gravel roof was instantly shredded into a deadly cloud of flying shrapnel.
“They’re pinned us down from a distance!” Rogue shouted over the deafening roar of gunfire, her bare hands gripping Peter’s shoulders as she used her body as a partial shield against the rain of debris.
“I can’t fly up to punch ’em without taking a thousand rounds to the face!”.