I know this is going against my plan of working on one story at a time, but I figured Mentoria deserved another chapter for being patient with me for so long. I don't know when the next chapter will come out and I'm certainly not guaranteeing anything, but hopefully this may dissaude you from wanting to strangle me in frustration =)

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EDIT: Had to make a couple changes, the four villains were a little too big, heh heh...

Chapter Two

New York City

9:21 AM

Peter Parker was pretty average, if he did say so himself. He was pretty smart, stayed out of the limelight, had some good friends (one of whom was a very attractive cheerleader), had a job, and some serious potential for MIT.

Peter Parker was also Spiderman. But it wasn't like he could put that on his resume.

Having a secret identity was a lot like…well, Peter wasn't sure what it was like. Perhaps like keeping a really big secret, for yourself, from everyone you do and don't know. It could get risky. People could get hurt. But it would be a lot worse if his enemies realized Spiderman was just a nerd with special abilities. He had a reputation to keep up!

And despite all the angst and frustration a secret identity gave him, Peter didn't mind it so much when he had benefits. Maybe not the media-totally-gives-him-unfair-coverage-no-thanks-to-his-boss-Mr.-Embolism-Jameson, but the He-gets-to-kick-butt-and-even-his-own-tormentor-worships-him was worth it. And the interesting phenomenon where girls seemed to notice him more at school ever since he became Spiderman. Maybe they were drawn to his new-found confidence, or his mysteriousness. Or maybe girls had the innate ability to sense powerful people. Who knows?

He had a hard time concentrating at school that day, however. Last night not only put him back on study time, but the strange disappearance of the burglars left him worried. He wanted to think they were some dumb goons who got in way over their heads, but most dumb goons don't get special powers from nowhere. And if they got away, when would they show up again?

Peter paid more attention to the black computer chip than his English teacher, Miss Montague. He usually listened to her lectures, but it wasn't like English was his favorite class. Now, science? That was a class worth sitting through. Peter had asked most of the teachers in the science and technology wing if they recognized the chip, but none of them had ever seen it before. This bothered Peter – was this some sort of secret technology that only really smart government people knew about? Was this some sort of key to an interdimensional vortex, and without it, the thing was useless? What had Peter stopped (or started) by taking this seemingly unimpressive bit of computer tech?

He couldn't wait for school to end. Peter had to go the lab, see what Dr. Connors' knew. Hell, if anything, he knew more than a high school teacher. And it might help him figure out what it goes to and why those baddies wanted it so bad.

Peter hoped it wasn't expensive or belonged to the government. The last thing he needed was the media and the FBI on him for crimes he (probably didn't) commit.

OoOoO

"Sorry, Peter," Dr. Connors shook his head, handing the little device back. "I've haven't a clue what it does."

Well, that stinks. The smartest person on Spidey's side couldn't even figure it out. What was he going to do now? It wasn't like he could just go back to the scene of the crime and poke around –

Oh, wait. Yes he can.

After saying thanks and walking out the building, Peter ducked into a dark corner. It smelled here, no thanks to the dumpsters, but it would have to do. Quickly pulling off his civvies and stuffing them into his backpack, Peter checked if the coast was clear before slinging his way into the city.

Spiderman knew Manhattan like the back of his hand, even before it was covered with a red glove. If there was one city you could never stay lost in, it had to be here. It was so organized, so neat that even fifty feet above, Spiderman knew exactly where he was. And he had to admit, after a bad day at school, it was always a blast to go through Fifth Avenue and give those tourists a show. The screams of admiration and love from his fans – you can't get any better than that.

The lab was to the east, near the river. There were no cars there, but he could still see the tire tracks that the emergency vehicles left behind. The place looked downright abandoned, with its broken windows and half of the building scorched due to a malfunction in the electricity system.

Sneaking through a broken window, Spiderman clung to the walls as he scoured the area for any more activity. Who knows, maybe they'd come back for whatever they wanted. Or just destroy the entire place. Because sometimes they do that.

But Spiderman's first impression was correct – there was no one here. He eventually found the room where the fight took place. The mushroom machine had been removed, leaving a giant white mark on the wall, someone had accidentally spilled his coffee all over the place.

Dropping his backpack on one half of a broken lab table, Spiderman wandered around, hoping to find some evidence, some clue as to who were those strange villains. They were unlike most he encountered, since most were just petty criminals. But as supervillains? Granted, they could barely hold a candle to the Sinister Six, but Spiderman chose to remain wary. It wasn't like he got time to know these guys. Maybe they were more powerful than he thought, even if they didn't really show it the first time around.

Or maybe they were just ineffectual bad guys. He met a couple of those, too.

Ha-ha, the Ineffectual Four! Just when Spiderman thought he couldn't get any funnier, he surprises himself.

Besides the occasional acid-burned marks, he couldn't seem to find anything suspicious. For a bunch of first-timers, they were careful in not leaving behind evidence. He had to give them credit, at least they could clean up after themselves.

Resigned, Spiderman grabbed his backpack and showed himself out.

oOo

"I can't believe it!" Shadow exclaimed, pointing up hundreds of feet above them.

Well, it wasn't exactly hundreds of feet, but when you're the size of an ant, it puts a lot of things into perspective. And when you're only an eighth of an inch high, just about anything, even if it's Spiderman, will look like a miracle.

"What's he doing here?" Fever demanded, scowling. It's been over twelve hours and nothing had happened. Even worse, she lost her powers. Now she couldn't incinerate stuff even if she wanted to! "Will he find us?"

"No." Tracker said. The other three turned to him, expectant, but he didn't elaborate. Fever's scowl deepened and Shadow just rolled his eyes, but Gravity actually caught on pretty quickly. Raising a meaty hand into the air, he pointed to the backpack left on the table, which wasn't really a table anymore. "Go in there."

Tracker didn't need to give a command for all of them to race over there. But even though they were running as fast as they could and the distance between them and the bag couldn't have been more than twenty feet, if felt like miles. And leaping over those giant cracks in the floor? Talk about exercise.

By the time they reached the bag, they were exhausted. Shadow bent over, gasping for breath, while Gravity couldn't even stand on his own two feet. Tracker decided not to insult their lack of initiative, instead trying to find enough air to give command. Not taking his eyes off of Spiderman, he counted the seconds of their recovery, before deciding that five minutes was far too long to catch your breath. The table was at a slant and the backpack had slid to the floor, making for easy access.

Pushing Shadow out of the way, Tracker made his way to the bag. It was upright, but didn't take too much to knock over. It didn't alert Spiderman, so they were able to sneak in unnoticed.

"Ugh!" Fever gasped as the smell of the inside washed over her. She glanced at a fold of jeans, wondering why the place would be filled with clothes. "This reeks! Why do we have to go in here for?"

"Yeah!" Shadow agreed, hand over his mouth. It was dark in there and almost impossible to see him if you didn't already know where he was. "I mean, why can't we hitch a ride in one of those comfy little pockets? They probably don't smell as bad."

"The dimensional capacitor is here." Tracker replied bluntly.

"How the hell would you know that?" Shadow sneered. "None of our powers work, and neither do yours!"

This wasn't true. Tracker didn't have what most people would consider a real superpower. It was something hard to define, but if Tracker wanted it, by God he would find it. There was no scientific explanation for it, no reason for it to work – it just did. But aside from that, he had incredibly honed senses, as well as martial arts experience (something Shadow wouldn't know about). His hearing was beyond amazing and sense of touch phenomenal. It was also the reason he wore some very well made gloves. After discovering he could feel small dirt, dust, and hair particles on surfaces, it irritated him to no end. The soft gloves not only kept his fingers safe, but also soothed his otherwise obstructive nerves.

Shadow was also correct (as amazing as that was): ever since the shrinking, Tracker discovered he could not sense or feel as much as he could before. They were almost eaten by a giant mouse, one that he didn't hear until it was two feet away. Not only was it embarrassing, but it almost got him killed.

Shadow was still wrong, though. While Tracker could no longer find the capacitor if he wanted to, he already knew it was here. Spiderman had taken it, that was for sure, and he was unlikely to keep it anywhere except on his person, where he probably deemed it safest. No person, superhero or not, would want this to fall into the wrong hands. So it had to be here. It had to be.

There was a giant lurch as the bag was hefted into the air. Fever gasped as she clung to the jeans for dear life. Shadow uttered a childish scream before whacking his head against a zipper and knocking himself out. Gravity grunted something unintelligible as he fell head first into a crevice. Tracker himself remained absolutely silent as they were taken out of the lab building and into the late afternoon sky.