62 Darkhölme

After leaving the sewers with Felicia, I said goodbye to her and created another portal leading me to the school so I could make it back in time for my game.

With only five minutes to spare, people had already started looking for me, concerned that I would be skipping out despite playing at practice matches, but Gwen had pacified my teammates, telling them I would be back in time which I thankfully was.

The games took part over the entire week, and as expected, my team won them all with ease, eventually taking the tournament's trophy. I tried to stay a lot more lowkey and not stand out as much as during the practice games but having several X-men members in my team pretty much guaranteed we wouldn't be losing against normal old humans.

(Note: I skipped the matches because, honestly, who the fuck cares.)

Monday evening, I also went over to the top of Oscorp Tower, and as I had hoped, there was a hard drive disk there taped to the roof which contained all of Connors's data Felicia had gotten.

I could have just fed all the data to Diana, and she would have developed an antidote within minutes, but instead, I chose to challenge myself a little by doing it myself, and after a few days of figuring things out and leveling up my [Biology Comprehension] I was finally able to create a concoction that could in theory cure Connors of his reptile side.

I say in theory because, of course, I haven't had the chance to test it out yet, nor had I even gotten the chance to put it together yet, as I didn't have everything needed on hand. I am still waiting for things to arrive from amazon…

What worried me more than the cure for Connors was that every night while sleeping, I continued to get the same message that worried me greatly.

[Gamer's Mind has successfully blocked a mental attack.]

I thought that it would be a one-off thing, but no, without fail, every morning when I woke up, I discovered that this message had shown up thousands of times over the course of the night. I even set up a camera in my room to see if there was anything out of the ordinary, but as expected, no results.

Since whatever is trying to invade my mind is utterly failing, and I have no way to track them as of right now, I chose to just ignore the messages to the best of my ability.

Now on Friday, after our final match and the ceremony where our team was given the trophy, only for it to immediately be taken away and put on display, I was changing clothes and preparing to go home, perhaps into the dungeon but was met with an unexpected invitation.

"The principal wants to talk to you. Please head to her office after you are done here." A boy from a parallel class who I knew to be part of the student council came by the dressing room and told me just as I was finishing up.

The principal? That would be Raven Darkhölme, better known as Mystique, but why invite me to her office? Did she take notice of me during the earlier games where I didn't hold back as much and considers me a mutant? Is she worried I am closer to the X-men mutants than anyone from the Brotherhood of Mutants…

Ignoring the questions in my head, I finish up changing clothes and set my course toward her office. There is not much for me to worry about anyway, realistically, she may try to invite me to the Brotherhood, and I can just refuse. Worst case scenario, she may try to blackmail me by promising to spread rumors of me being a mutant out to the public or try to get rid of me before I, god forbid, join their enemy, the X-men, but if she does that, it will be the last mistake she makes.

She has no clue how easy it would be for me to kill her, throw her body into my inventory, get rid of any evidence, and have Diana wipe the camera feed. I guess I would have to take care of the boy who knew about me coming here as well but… let's just hope it won't go to that.

Reaching her office, I knock on the door and get a quick reply "Please come in."

Opening the door, I stop a brown-haired woman with glasses, possibly in her 40s, sitting behind a wooden desk that is filled from edge to edge with paperwork.

"Peter Parker, correct? Please come have a seat." She says with a friendly smile on her face gesturing with an open palm to the chair that is across the table from her.

Deciding to play along for now, I close the door behind me and go to sit down on the chair while trying to appear a little nervous about being called to the principal's office. "Yes, that is me, Ms. Darkhölme. Can I ask why I was called here? I am not in trouble, am I?"

"Trouble? No, of course not, I had the pleasure of watching some of the games you were playing this week, and I have to say you did well… a little too well, to be honest." Her smile turns sly.

"Too well?" I ask and watch as she starts transforming right in front of my eyes, gradually becoming the blue Mystique I am more familiar with. She isn't wasting any time with games, is she…

"Do not be alarmed. I am a mutant just like yourself." She says, the smile never leaving her face. "I represent a group called the Brotherhood of Mutants. Despite what you may have heard of us on the news, we fight for the equality of mutants and men, and I would like to invite you to join us."

"I'm not interested in becoming a terrorist, also, not a mutant," I say plainly, and she shakes her head in resignation.

"I understand coming out as a mutant for the first time can be difficult, scary even, but you must accept who you are. And by all means, we are not the terrorists you think of us, it's just that humans are afraid of us and brand us as criminals hoping to delay our movement, but they won't be able to do it forever. You are free to go, but please think about my offer more when you can." She urged me as she turned back to the normal-looking human I saw when I first entered the office.

Getting up from the chair, our conversation was much shorter then I had anticipated, but that's good for me as I really didn't care for the Brotherhood or their invitation in the first place.

Walking out of the office, the earpiece that I bought so that Diana would be able to talk to me at any time began to make a sound. "You might wanna put on your suit. Your cop friend Yuri is organizing another raid on the maggia. This time, it's Hammerhead's family."

Wait, what? And she didn't even invite me?

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[Third Person POV]

The smile that had been on Raven's face during the entire conversation with peter disappeared from her face the same instant that the door closed and she was left alone.

Reaching into her pocket, she took out her phone to make a call and report on the results of her recruitment campaign. The phone only rang once before it was picked up.

"Mystique, I am expecting good news." The voice on the other side was that of an old man.

"Erik, I have confirmed that Peter Parker is indeed a mutant. He didn't even bat an eye when I transformed in front of him, suggesting he has had some experience with mutants before." Raven says to the leader of the Brotherhood of Mutants, Magneto.

"And did you manage to get him to join us?"

"Not quite. He called us terrorists and said he wasn't interested. I told him to think things over for a bit, but I don't have high hopes." Raven said and was met with several seconds of silence.

"Hmm… not many have joined us on the first invitation. As long as he takes some time to think about it, there is still hope." He says before giving out a command. "Don't do anything rash that could push him to Charles's side. Both him and Spiderman are possible recruits with a lot of potential. We must get them on our side by all means."

"Understood," Raven says, and the call is ended by the other side.

Putting down her phone, she sighs to herself. "I better tell the kids not to cause trouble for him and push him to the X-men."

She looks over at her table. "But first… all this paperwork…"

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Note: four for four so far this week.

Also, Option 2 won by a longshot last chapter, so I guess whenever we get to the point in the story where lemons are a thing, I will create a second book just for those.

Don't expect much, though. In fact, don't expect anything. Stomp your expectations into the ground as deep as they can go.