A Strange Encounter

Peter was uncharacteristically quiet on the ride back to the city. Being with the Mutants at Xavier's academy had made quite the impression on him, to the point where he was glad to know they were all on his side. Peter know that any paranoid civilian could panic and assume that Xavier was amassing an army, but the actual fact was Charles was providing a safe haven, a place to protect the children from the people who would harm them only because they couldn't understand them. He understood why the mutants were afraid, as Peter suffered from the same fear himself. What his Aunt May would say, or anyone else if they found out that young Peter Parker wasn't normal.

"You've been awfully quiet," Reed observed, "I was told you had no difficulty in the simulator."

"A little," Peter corrected him, "Logan is right, Scott is too bossy."

Reed let out a laugh, "The professor trusts him for a reason. You might not like your leaders, but that doesn't mean you can't work with them to achieve success."

"Fair enough," Peter noted.

"I can tell you connected with the professor," Reed also added, "He has the ability to do that with even the most stubborn of people."

"Like Logan," Peter said, remembering he came up a few times.

"Especially Logan," Reed confirmed, "I'm surprised how well you get along with the Wolverine. He usually doesn't play well with others."

"We shared a special connection," Peter informed him, "Mysterio swapped our brains one time. That was quite experience, walking in Logan's shoes for a whole day. We've been close friends since then."

Reed was stunned beyond words, to hear Peter experience something so profound but not being mentally harmed that much by it. They didn't say much more after that, as they arrived back in New York and the tower in little time. When the shuttle came down for landing hangar, Sue was there waiting for them and eager to hear what had happened.

"How were the simulations?" Sue asked as the door opened.

"They were okay," Peter answered modestly, before slinging a web to swing away to the hallway to walk back to his room.

Sue turned to face Reed, "They were okay?"

"He's being modest," Reed replied, "You have nothing to worry about. Peter couldn't have done better if he tried."

Upon hearing what level Peter was testing at and whose team he was working within the simulator, Sue seemed shocked again by Peter's achievements.

"He is just full of surprises," Sue admitted, "It's going to take a while to get used to him exceeding our expectations."

"This is just the beginning," Reed said, placing a loving arm around his wife's shoulders. "His potential is limitless, but he's still young. He is going to be surprised himself when he realizes what exactly is out there in the known galaxy. What threats lie out there that we've battled before, and many have to do battle with again one day."

"Let's not push him out there too quickly," Sue recommended, "I'd rather give him some time before overwhelming him with much of what we know about the worlds and evils that lies out there."

"Agreed," Reed said, kissing her brow. "He must be educated, trained for what lies out there first. He will learn from our mistakes, hopefully so that no one will make them again."

"Speaking of things that lie out there," Sue said, smiling. "You've been summoned to have tea with the sorcerer supreme tomorrow."

"Is that so?" Reed said, intrigued. "Should I take Peter?"

"You should," Sue replied, "He's been invited too. It appears everyone is curious about your new protégé."

"I expected the press and the people to act like this," Reed confessed, "But it appears a lot of our colleagues can't help themselves either."

"It's to be expected," Sue replied, "Everyone is curious when a secret is revealed, no one immune from curiosity. This will be a good step for Peter to take, a small sample of the vast universe that awaits him."

"Agreed," Reed concurred, "We'll just ask Stephen to ease up on the grand nature he has about him when explaining himself."

"Yeah, good luck with that." Sue said, laughing at the thought.

Reed didn't bother Peter for the rest of the day, giving him time to wind down and rest from the onslaught of simulations he tackled that afternoon. As the Professor had surmised, Peter had no trouble working with Scott's crew and dispatching of anything that was tossed their way, even a fleet of armored sentinels. Peter didn't slow too much, as he joined the G-Class for the last hour of class and then spent the next hour catching up on what he had missed earlier in the day. It was no trouble at all for Peter to plough through the work, as even the gifted class was starting to look below his immense intellect which Reed had feared. Once his work was finished, Peter chose to head down to cybertronics, a robotic division of the Reed foundation. He spoke with the engineers in the division and then showed them his web shooters and started to brainstorm with them about upgrades. It was four hours later when Reed came down to cybertronics to see what he was up to.

"Peter," he called out, "Is this your idea of settling down for the day?"

"I'm sorry," Peter replied, not even looking back. "I was getting bored and I've been dying to use some of your toys to upgrade my own."

"I see," Reed said as he walked up to inspect his work. Peter and the engineers were not just upgrading his shooters, they were building new ones from scratch. He was using a new metal that was not only stronger, but smaller so that the shooters were more out of the way and not as bulky.

"This metal is a good choice," Reed said, continuing his inspection. "It's so dense that you could use this as arm guards to defend yourself from weapons such as swords or clubs. Yet it's thinner so no one will be able to notice them as much."

"We're also upgrading the shooter system, adding options." Peter informed him.

"What kind of options?" Reed asked.

"Different web settings," Peter replied, "Light webs, or more dense webbing for stronger villains. There's even a setting to shoot web balls which act like small rubber bullets. I'm just trying to offer a variety so that I can be ready for most situations."

"Preparation is the key to any success," Reed concurred, "But don't stay up all night working on this. We have an important meeting tomorrow morning."

"We do?" Peter said, looking back at Reed, "With whom?"

"It's hard to explain," Reed admitted, "But he's a close friend and a man you definitely want to have on your side. We are meeting him at eleven tomorrow, meet me in the lobby at ten. I'll have a suit sent to your room before then."

"Hold on," Peter said, as he stopped working. "A suit?"

"Yes," Reed confirmed, "The person we are meeting is one of the most powerful men on the planet so while you can keep your new uniform and shooters underneath, we are going formal for this meeting."

"Alright," Peter said, "I'll head to bed after finishing these calibrations."

Peter was true to his word, heading to bed after the calibrations were done. He was used to heading to bed that early, but after all the late nights he came home to May's sore and in a lot of pain, it felt great to hit the sack without having to tend to his wound first. He slept soundly till there was a loud knocking at the door, which was the tailor with his new suit. They already had his measurements so Reed picked out something for him and Peter didn't fight it as he just put it on and prepared for the meeting Reed seemed to be so excited about. As long as it wasn't with the media, Peter was willing to go with it. Reed said something about the most powerful man in the world, so were they going to the white house? His hopes would be dashed later on when the car they took only drove them to another part of New York instead of Washington. Peter stepped out of the car and held the door for Reed before taking a look at the building that stood before them.

"One of the most powerful men in the world lives here?" He asked.

"Appearances can be deceiving, Peter." Reed answered, "You are about to gain a little perspective about powers you never knew even existed before."

As they walked up to the door, it opened all by itself to let them in. There was also a loud booming voice coming from upstairs.

"You may enter," the voice called out.

Reed sighed, "Stephen was always one for drama and theatrics. Come along."

As they walked into the foyer, Peter's spidey sense went off just before he noticed a man in a blue outfit and red cape levitate down to their floor. The man was unarmed so Peter did his best to relax and the man seemed to be pleased to see them.

"Thank you for accepting my invitation," the man said to Reed.

"Thank you for inviting us," Reed replied, "I'd like to introduce you to my protégé, this is Peter Parker. Peter, this is Doctor Stephen Strange. He's also known around the world as the Sorcerer Supreme."

"Doctor Strange will suffice," Stephen said, offering a hand to Peter, "It's a pleasure to finally meet you."

"Thanks," Peter said, shaking his hand.

"I've been aware of your plights as Spider-Man," Strange said, gesture them to follow him into another room. "But I didn't know the details of who you really were which confounded me. I try to know as much as possible about everything going on in my territory."

"Territory?" Peter said, confused.

"The world is protected by three mystical realms," Strange explained, "While the Avengers protect the world from physical threats, my colleagues and I defend our home world from those who mean to harm it from a mystical plane."

"You mean like magic?" Peter said, finding it all hard to accept.

"After all you've encountered," Stephen said with a grin, "Can you really be surprised to learn that Sorcerers such as myself exist?"

"I guess not," Peter admitted, "At least there are good people like you on our side to take care of that."

"And how do you know I'm good?" Stephen asked, "I'm merely curious, Reed."

"His spidey sense," Reed answered.

"And that is?" Stephen inquired.

"It's almost like a telepathic sense," Peter explained, "a six sense that tells me whenever I'm in danger. It went off a bit when I first saw you but I think that had more to do with your strange cape than anything else."

"Fascinating," Stephen said, thinking about it, "He has a biologic alarm system?"

"Pretty much," Reed confirmed, "It also warns him of danger in real time, which means it's nearly impossible to sneak up on him."

"That explains so much," Strange said as he took a seat in the main room where he was leading them. There was a tea set on the main table that started to pour the cups of tea by itself as they all sat down. "All this time, we assumed Spider-Man was very quick and agile, but he was also prophetic and able to dodge something before it got anywhere near him."

Peter took the cup of tea as he floated up to him, "Thank you."

"Your revealing to the world has sparked quite a chatter," Stephen continued, "but I am offering my assistance should you or Reed ever require opposing anyone using the mystical arts."

"Your offer is appreciated," Reed replied.

"Yes, thank you." Peter said, sipping his tea.

After speaking with the Sorcerer Supreme for about another half hour, learning more about the mystical world, Doctor Strange walked them back to the door to see them out. Peter was the first to say goodbye and walked back to the car waiting outside.

"Like many others, I had no idea Spider-Man was so young," Stephen said to Reed, "the things he's been through would traumatize most kids his age."

"I think his enhanced intellect helped minimize that," Reed guessed.

"Just how smart is the young man?" Stephen asked.

"He's going to surpass even me one day," Reed informed him.

"That had to be hard for someone with your ego to admit," Strange said as he patted Reed on the back. "I wish you the best of luck my friend."

"To you as well Stephen," Reed said, shaking his hand again. "Thank you for your support."

"It's here if you ever need it," Strange said as he floated backwards, with the door closing once he was out of range.

Reed smiled at the showmanship. After all these years, Stephen was still enjoying the little things about being a Sorcerer. Mr. Fantastic shrugged it off and walked back to the car, aware that there were more pressing waiting for him that afternoon. The world didn't revolve around the Mystic Arts, but it was still nice to check in on them and make sure everything was all right. Yet it was during their ride back to the Tower where things got a little sticky. Halfway to their destination, Peter's spidey sense went through the roof, as he was given a painful warning.

"Peter?" Reed called out.

"Out of the car!!" Peter said as he physically kicked Reed out through the door. He had hit Reed rather hard, but it was necessary to get him out considering they were both in immediate danger.

Reed couldn't see what was going on but moments after Peter had kicked him out the door, the car turned into a fireball as it exploded. He was unable to see if the young man that had kicked him to safety had managed to get out himself.

"Peter!!!" Reed called out.