Jennifer “If you want to know the truth, Miss Storm, we all do already.  In the name of ‘freedom’ of course.”

Sue “Well, mine’s a little more direct.  I mean…I was lucky.  I had Maria, was her name.  She looked out for me when the rest of the feds wanted to turn me into a lab experiment.”

Natasha “You don’t have to worry about being a lab rat with us.  If anything, we want to make sure you can harness those abilities into something special.”

Pepper “Without having to go to that school up in Westchester County.”

Sue “With the mutants?”

Sue shakes her head.

Sue “I feel bad for those kids.  They don’t understand what’s happened to them and they have to deal with all of that resentment.”

Natasha “Perhaps, but…who knows what can happen if one of them decides the rest of us are the enemy?”

Jennifer “Miss Stark, what happens when one of us declares them to be the enemy?”

Pepper nods.

Pepper “She has a point.”

Natasha “I suppose.  Miss Walters, I’m sure you have more important things to worry about however than gifted students of Charles Xavier.”

Jennifer “Such as?”

Pepper leans in, smiling.

Pepper “Your wedding?”

Sue turns to Jennifer.

Sue “You and Betty are still engaged?”

Jennifer “We’re getting married next Saturday.  I still have mixed feelings about it.  We’re ready, but our families, not so much.  Her father…real pain in the neck.”

Natasha “That’s why the D.O.D. has him out in the desert.  Far away from Washington to be of as much worry with all that gamma testing.”

Jennifer “Betty’s been out there for a week, trying to work with him.  It’s been rough.  I’m flying out there tomorrow so we can both talk with him. Maybe finally talk some sense into him.”

Sue looks down at her own engagement ring, favoring it momentarily.  Everyone at the table notices.

Jennifer, “Oh, Sue…I’m sorry.  We can change the subject if need be.”

Sue “No…no, it’s okay.  I’m happy for you, Jen.  You’ve been a lawyer and a friend and you deserve to be happy.  Just…be sure you treasure every moment you have with her.”

Jennifer “I do.”

Pepper “Remember those words right there.  ‘I do.’  Don’t mess up on those words.”

Natasha “Or else, Miss Ross will hold it against you forever.”

Jennifer laughs momentarily with Sue forcing a smile to get through her own emotional pain.  Natasha meanwhile looks away from the table.

Pepper “Natasha?”

Natasha “We’re being tailed.”

Sue sighs.

Sue “Who now?”

Natasha “Cute red head.  Don’t look.”

Pepper “You know we’re going to look.”

Natasha “Don’t…look.”

Jennifer “She is kind of cute.”

Natasha “Did I not just say not to look?”

Sue “I don’t have to look.”

Natasha “And there she goes.  She just disappeared into the crowd.”

Pepper “Did you get a good look at her face?”

Natasha “She had sunglasses on.”

Pepper “So cliché.”

Sue “Natasha.  I’ve been meaning to ask you about the radiation spot.”

Natasha “I don’t think it came from us.  I doubt it came from the Baxter Building.  Wherever it came from though, it’s insignificant…barely detectable.  We kept tracks on it and I‘m sure S.H.I.E.L.D. has as well, but it‘s as if it‘s disappeared.”

Jennifer “Maybe it vanished?”

Pepper “That’s the thing, Jen.  We don’t really know.  It would be fascinating to find out though.”

Elsewhere in New York City.

It crawls about on the wall innocently, but confused.  It has been this way for some time for the tiny creature.  It spins its radioactive web, looking for release, no longer able to take the pain somehow inflicted upon it.  Gliding across the string of webbing, it finds itself crawling against the neck of a young lady named May.  May feels a sudden bite.  For the moment, it is just a matter of slapping the spider instinctively, killing it.  Soon, it is a matter of getting back to her apartment due to feeling nauseous.  It is only the beginning for young May Parker.