Chapter 8: Issue 8: X Factor Part I
May and Ben were still shocked, even Madeline couldn't believe her ears when Peter said he got Iron-Man and the Fantastic four to sponsor him.
MJ wrapped her arm around Peter before she said, "So how much do you think I'll get from the clothing wear?"
Peter did the calculations in his head, and said, "If you can get ahold of some good companies, then maybe even more because clothing can be sold to an even wider range of consumers. I won't be making any real money until word spreads. Materials for clothes can be sold to companies and shops alike. So, if I had to guess, it could anywhere from four to six digits."
MJ jumped into his arms, making everyone in the room scratch their heads in shame. Here they were struggling to get by, and now their kids would be making more than them.
Ben thought that Peter might have overheard them talking about their mortgage when he put his hand on Peter's shoulder and asked, "Peter did you do this for us, did you?"
Peter smiled and said with a lofty grin, "What, you think this is about the bills? No! I did it for myself. Helping you two is just a bonus."
May and Ben gave Peter a hug. They held him there for a while with pride welling up in their chests when Peter said, "I know things have been rough for you two. I mean, what kind of nephew would I be if I didn't help my family?"
While the three of them shared a nice embrace, MJ and her mother excused themselves from the room. Peter was let off with a warning but told not to let it happen again.
Later that night, he went to bed and slept for a few more hours, after waking up he stretched out his arms and decided to continue studying like he always does.
Turning on his computer, he began absorbing as much knowledge as he could, if there was something that caught his interest he would focus on that matter until he had a complete understanding of the subject.
After 4 hours or so he headed to his lab again to study Tombstone's genetics, and as he thought, there was an additional genome attached to the villain's D.N.A.
Peter scratched his head as he started to take apart the compound. It appeared to be similar to his Spider-Gene but was far less advanced. However, there was only one place that he'd seen such a familiar structure, and that was the Super Soldier Serum Luke Cage, otherwise known as Power Man was injected with.
The gas used on Tombstone gave him a watered-down version of Luke Cage's abilities, but there were still many issues and flaws in this strain. Peter sighed as he thought that the person who made Luke's S.S Serum must have been getting close to perfecting his formula, and he figured since this strain showed up, Luke should be popping up in Harlem sometime soon.
Peter walked back inside to get some food and saw Ben and May watching the News. They were covering the story of the Spider-Couple's work last night. Peter poured himself a bowl of cereal and sat down next to them and watched as his favorite J.J.J ranting on-screen.
"Reporting in we have our first description of the vigilantes that had apprehended 5 gangs last night, there depicted as a male and female pair that dress up with a spider-themed costume, and a man in a red devil's outfit that is suspected of being full body armor."
A drawing of them made by the NYPD's sketch artist popped up. All, in all, they did a pretty good job in depicting them, however, the proportions of his muscles and height were way off. "I guess the mobsters didn't want to admit getting their asses kicked by a person almost half their height and frame." Peter thought as he chowed down.
"It's total mayhem down at the courthouse as Lawyers are scrambling to handle all the new cases. With over 400 arrests made last night and the evidence handed to the police, it's looking like multiple open and shut cases."
Peter chuckled but what he saw on the news next made him choke on his breakfast, "Also a man responsible for killing dozens of members belonging to the Mexican Cartel, turned himself in this morning. As it turns out the killer was previously an army special forces Ranger and an undercover agent for the F.B.I. After the tragic slaying of his family and killing criminals related to his case, the recently presumed dead Frank Castle turned himself in peacefully and without a struggle.
"Peacefully my ass!" Peter thought as he quickly finished his meal, "Damnit, Frank! I put the ones he wants to kill behind bars, and he goes and turns himself in. I forgot how hard it was to predict his actions, out of all the Marvel Heroes, the Punisher was always the wildcard."
Peter stood up went over to the sink to wash his dishes, he then sighed before he thought, "What do I do? I know a lot of people are going to die, but if I interfere even more innocents will lose their lives. Frank isn't the kind of guy to care about collateral damage."
After cleaning up, Peter went up to his room and flopped down onto his bed. He scratched his head in frustration before he jumped back up and searched out Castle's history in this world. It was like a half and half of the Netflix and Thomas Jane version of Frank Castle.
Peter pulled out a pen and a piece of paper, and wrote down a quick spoiler, "Colonel Schoonover is Blacksmith. Billy Russo and Agent Orange are at the root of it all. Do what you have to do, but stop causing trouble in my city, Frank."
He couldn't stop a man like the Punisher; if he got arrested he just escape somehow, but if he gave him the killers, then maybe Frank would retire, and it's not like he didn't feel for him either, no man should experience what Frank went through. There is no therapy for that, only revenge.
He snuck out miles away from his house and sent the envelope to Matt with instructions to get it to Frank. Writing in braille was a new one for Peter, he had to cut each individual hole in the paper to perfectly match the braille patterns.
After dealing with the Franky mess, Peter then went back to his Lab and started working on his first nanobot design.
The next few weeks the two Spider Heroes got a lot of publicity, they weren't hiding their deeds anymore, and were out in the open working alongside the cops often in taking down criminals.
Peter also enjoyed the little stuff. Stuff like helping an old lady cross the streets, or changing a few flat tires here and there. MJ liked seeing Peter chat it up with the citizens. When he did stuff like this, she fell for him even harder.
MJ eventually earned a reputation for being a big anti-bullying symbol as she often put a stop to anyone who's been through Peter's situation. He caught her more than a couple of times yelling at and scolding some bullies they found.
When a poster of her came out that had an anti-bullying slogan on it, Peter started laughing at the red-faced MJ before she buried her head into his chest and hit him a couple of times.
John Jonah Jameson, unlike in the original didn't seem to harp on the two as much, maybe it was because they kept the damage to the city at a minimum and did more than just fight crime. For some reason, he seemed to want to interview them more than berating them.
It was still summer, so they had a lot of time to work on their image as Heroes. The next morning after the poster incident, Peter took a break and went out on a date with MJ. Since she got to decide where to go this time, MJ gleefully took Peter to the Mall to by him some new clothing.
He complained but she insisted that she pay for everything by saying, "Tonight, I'm going to be your sugar-mama."
Peter snorted before she explained. Apparently, some of the clothing samples she sent out to a few high paying clothing lines showed a lot of interest in the new fabric. Recently, Most of MJ's time was either doing hero work or dealing with numerous fashion lines and fabric producing companies.
After tweaking the webbing-formula into something that made high quality silk, which was much closer to clothing then armor, MJ managed to score more than a few dozen sponsors, giving her more than a few huge paychecks to make the product in large quantities.
Peter had Matt help her with all of the legal stuff so that she wouldn't be taken advantage of by greedy people in suits.
Peter was over the moon when she told him she already applied for the patent to protect the silk-formula and was considering hiring some college students that shared her interests in fashion. With some good workers, she could make her own clothing line.
Although MJ wanted to start clothing line in the future, she didn't want that to be all that she accomplished. She had a keen interest in technology now and was even thinking of applying for an internship at Horizon Labs when she graduated.
While Peter was sitting in a chair and Mary Jane was constantly swapping out clothes and placing them in front of him, he smelled a terrible odor approaching. It was like someone hadn't washed for months alongside the scent of cheap booze and cigars.
Peter poked his head out of the shop while MJ was picking out a pile of clothes for him to try on when he spotted a certain noticeable group.
Logan was a short but built man that looked and looked a lot like Hugh Jackmen. He wearing blue jeans, a white tank top, and a cowboy's hat.
Next to Wolverine was a young teenage Scott who was closer to his comic book design in appearance. He was dressed in blue jeans and a blue and red shirt with a tan leather jacket over top. He was holding hands with the red-headed Jean Grey who Peter had to admit was gorgeous and could even give his MJ a run for her money. Jean had on a green jacket, a pink shirt, and blue jeans as well.
Next to Jean, Peter saw Kitty Pride wearing a pink tracksuit, and walking next to her was the holographically disguised teleporter known as Kurt Wagner.
Peter started to sweat a little when Logan noticed Peter staring while sniffing, "Odd, I've been smelling this scent all over the city lately."
Jean, seeing their teacher focusing on the boy, couldn't help but use her psychic mind-reading ability on Peter and dropped her jaw as all she saw was a rush of random information.
Peter was thinking of advanced calculations and biological formulas along with random DC Comics and other geek culture references to try and keep Jean from reading his mind.
Jean looked a little confused when MJ came out of the shop and said, "Pete, you have to see this, they have Spider-Man and Spider-Woman Plushies!"
Peter slapped his forehead as the dam he put up in his mind came rushing down. When the image of him and Mary Jane in costume came to mind, Peter knew the jig was up.
No way!" Jean shouted in disbelief.
Jean was impressed with Peter's mental defenses, but being the polite mind reader that she was, she didn't want pry into him any deeper than his surface level thoughts. However, MJ's mind was an open audio-book for her that spilled their secrets by the truck-load.
"This is not cool at all, Jean!" Peter shouted mentally.
She waved her hand apologetically, making Scott raise a brow.
Peter then sighed and waved back seeing her as their party approach.
Jean rumbled through her backpack before she took out a pen and notebook. She then walked up to Peter and asked, "I'm a big fan! Can I get your autograph?"
MJ noticed Jean and walked up next to Peter before she placed her arm around his elbow and questioned him, "Peter who're these people?"
Peter rolled his eyes and took the pen and paper. When MJ saw him write, "To the X-Men known as Jean Grey, from your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man." she knew something was up.
After handing the notebook back, everyone who read it showed a shocked expression. Scott, however, frowned before he asked, "How did you know her name?"
"I know all your names. Since we're in the same line of work, it wasn't hard for me to figure out that the X-Men are students of Professor X, I just read up on you guys online. For having secret identities, you guys don't hide them that well," Peter said before MJ looked at them with stars in her eyes.
"Wait are they the…you know what men?!" MJ asked as she clapped her hands together.
Peter smiled and nodded, "Well I guess there's no hiding who we are anymore, but, can we move this conversation to another location? You know, somewhere more secluded?"
Jean nodded her head and handed the notebook to MJ before she asked, "Before we leave, can I get yours too?"
MJ blushed and nodded her head and signed her hero name next to Peter's before she commented, "This is a lot easier with the mask on."
"Tell me about it," Peter followed up.
"No fair! I want one too!" Kat and Kurt shouted.
"Not here, let's go to the roof to talk, I can sign one for you all there," Peter said as he started to walk away.
"Peter?" MJ called out
"Yes? My love." Peter called back.
"You're not thinking that this will get you out of buying new clothes, are you?" MJ asked with a frightening smile on her lips.
Peter cringed and visibly shook before he said, "I would never..."
Jean giggled before she said, "Yes, he would, and that's a rude thing to call a lady, Peter,"
"Don't need to be a mind reader to figure that out," MJ said as she and Jean smiled at each other.
"I have a feeling we're going to be good friends," Jean held her hand out.
"Funny, I was thinking the same thing," MJ declared as she shook Jean's hand.
While they walked to the roof, Jean had told her party that Peter was the Mutant Professor Xavier sent them to pick up.
Peter figured it was only a matter of time before Cerebro picked him up and he would meet the X-Men, but he didn't think it would be so soon.
After the spider bit him, the dormant Mutant Gene given to Peter by the One Above All became active. So, it was no surprise that he would appear on Cerebro's radar, and with an unsupervised Mutant as powerful as Peter running around unchecked, Spider-Man expected Charles Xavier would surely come knocking.
Thanks to Jean's telepathy, they all could easily gain access to the roof without raising an eyebrow. They passed by guards and restricted areas without any staff members batting an eye.
When they got to the roof Peter turned to Jean and asked, "Can you not pry into our thoughts, we have a lot of personal information we don't want to share."
Jean sighed and lowered her head before she said, "Sorry, it wasn't intentional. Although your mind is rather well guarded. I could still bust through your defenses though."
It took her a few seconds to realize how rude that sounded as she suddenly waved her hands in front of her face, "Not that I would! I mean, I could offer you some advice to better your mental barrier!"
"Whoa! How'd you learn to do that?" Kurt asked with a curious stare.
"I know Tony Stark, and the Fantastic 4, Sue taught me some tricks to fend off Mind Readers." The X-Men gasped while MJ figured it out she was the reason they were busted.
"Does this mean it was my fault?" MJ placed her hand over her mouth.
"Yeah! But it's my fault too, I should have prepared you for a mind reader," Peter said before he sighed in frustration.
"Peter, if you told me you wanted me to train my mind against telepath before now, I would have called you loony," MJ joked while thinking rather harshly of herself.
Jean lowered her head in shame, "I'm sorry! We were sent here by our Professor to see if we could convince you to come and visit his school. I didn't think we'd meet Spider-Man and Spider-Woman in person!"
"Oh, is that who is this kid is?" Logan asked with a disinterested tone.
"Autographs, please!" Kurt and Kat asked in tandem.
Peter and MJ sighed as they obliged them, after signing 'Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, and Spider-Woman.' The two were officially invited to go to Mansion and meet with Prof. X.
"So much for our date!" MJ said in a grumpy tone as she crossed her arms.
"Maybe after meeting with Prof. X, we can continue our date, or better yet make this our date!" Peter said looking at Jean, who bowed her head in apology again
"No, just no. After we're done here, we are going to get you some new threads, you have a hot body Parker, you should show it off," MJ declared earning a chuckle from the X-Men, excluding Logan.
Peter and MJ placed their masks on and took their clothes off revealing their suits underneath. After putting away their civilian clothes the Blackbird Jet appeared uncloaked with a certain white-haired ebony beauty flying it.
Jumping up effortlessly while the rest were carried up by Jean's Telekinesis, the whole group entered the Blackbird and took their seats.
After buckling up, Logan looked to the two of them and asked, "So, you two been dating a long time?"
MJ smirked before saying, "What gave it away? My close proximity? Or maybe it was the fact I said, you ruined our date?!"
Logan smirked and replied, "No, you two are drenched in each other scents."
MJ blushed and was glad the Logan couldn't see her face, she turned to Jean and asked, "So you can read minds, can you choose not to?"
Jean started to explain, "I don't really try to. Normally I would have to pry into an individual's mind, but some people are so open with themselves that it kind of just flows off of them. Peter here covers up his surface thoughts with advanced mathematics, and several different types of sciences, kind of like a barrier around his thoughts. Not to mention that lately my powers seem to be getting even stronger…it hard not to skim the thoughts of those in close proximity."
MJ suddenly thought of something and sat in a meditative position and cleared away all her thoughts, making Jean surprised, "That's never happened before, it's different than Peter's method but all your surface thoughts have been hidden by a black void."
Logan smiled, "The state of Zen, huh?"
Scott asked, "What's that?"
"Clearing your mind of all distractions, and thoughts," Peter answered.
MJ opened her eyes and maintained that state while asking, "Still leaking thoughts!?"
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone