Hello! I'm back! I'm super excited about how many people are enjoying this fic. So let's dive into the next chapter, shall we?

"Ava! Watch Out!"

The tigress turned around just in time to see a large car being thrown her way. If it had not been for her training, not to mention the tiger enhanced abilities, she would very well have been squashed. Thankfully though the hours spent in the simulation room, not to mention honing her personal gifts, played in her favor as she darted out of the way with a yelp. The teens stood, minus Peter who was huddled down on the ground clutching his stomach with a pained grimace, their bodies tense as they watched the their attacker stroll casually down the road, red goggles covering his eyes clad in blue and gold while spinning a gun in each hand.

"Sorry kids," he called jovially as he walked past them and further down the road "just on my way to the big city and thought I'd test these babies out!"

Peter gave a heavy gulp in apprehension, if those guns could shoot a car skyward then they had problems…big problems. The biggest one being finding a way to change into their costumes, which unfortunately mean letting the guy get away and then scouring the city for him afterwards. The spider allowed himself a smirk, thankfully he always carried a spider-tracer or two in his pockets, just in case something of this nature cropped up. Carefully sneaking his hand around to dig one out without being seen, Peter focused his strength and precision into this one shot. Balancing the spider-tracer between two fingertips, Peter flicked it much like a magician would a card and watched as it gracefully attached itself, light as a feather, to the back of the rogue's costume. Spidey smirked. To be honest, the boy thought to himself, even Hawkeye would be proud of his shot what with the thirty feet distance between them and wind shear and all that.

The four teen heroes watched as he disappeared before exchanging knowing looks "Let's go," Peter commanded "I got a tracer on him, so all we have to do is change and then I can track him from there."

Ava smirked at Peter noticing the change in his attitude "I thought that our team was dissolved?"

"It is," Peter barked his features dark "but just not right now. We have a situation that needs to be taken care of and if we don't stop that madman, he'll hurt someone. So are you going to stand there quibbling over technicalities? Or help me stop a criminal?!"

The tigress raised her hands in seeming surrender, but her smile hadn't left her face. This wasn't the first time Peter had quit the team for their own good, that's what he said at least, and she doubted it would be the last. But if there was one thing they could count on, was that as long as there was a New York to save and protect, Spider-man would always be there even if it meant delaying his supposed 'departure'.

As one the group ran into a nearby alley, all pulling out their costumes in tandem. Peter tugged his mask over his head, activating his communicator "Nova, you read?"

"I thought I said I'm not talking to you," the boy snarled over the link.

"Yeah I get it," Spidey barked back "you can be emo later, right now we've got a job to do. There's a heavy duty villain heading your way into the city, he's packing serious heat and isn't afraid to share the love. I'm sending you the coordinates from the spider-tracer now, I need you to keep him busy and contained until we arrive on the scene!"

Nova paused, his reply not coming for well over a minute until his strained voice came back over the com "Roger that,"

Peter wheeled on the rest of his teammates, his frame serious and commanding "Alright everyone, you know the drill. Let's not keep Nova waiting!"

"Right!"

…..

Nova shot through the sky like the human rocket he was, his eyes scanning the ground as the tracer in his helmet directed him towards where the criminal was. Spidey sounded pretty serious, so Nova knew not to mess around, whoever this guy was, he needed to be taken down and fast. Granted he was still peeved at Peter for keeping secrets from them, or at least one particular secret that even he didn't want to think about. True, Spider-man kept his personal life, personal. That's why he freaked when he first saw them enrolled in his school, and every time after that that they invaded his personal space at home. Nova understood that. Though he had hoped that them moving into his house would help Peter relax a little bit more around them and not feel so defensive. Secrets were part of the job, they were used to it. But this?

Whatever 'this' was, that is.

Sam snarled to himself, taking a sharp left. Something had happened, was happening that Peter wasn't saying and that made the guardian really frustrated. He could feel it during their spar just barely twenty minutes ago, Peter was weaker, and he had been slipping up a lot more during patrol. The team had just assumed that he was still recovering from his fight with Morlun, however Sam had been keeping certain suspicions to himself; suspicions that deduced Peter didn't actually come out of the fight with no aftereffects from the radiation. Nova knew radiation, his time in space had taught him many things, and radiation was just part of the playing field when running with the Guardians of the Galaxy. Even Starlord had to recover from some nasty effects from touching the infinity stone, some which still plague him every now and again. So the idea that Peter could just walk away from the battle with no remnants of the poison just didn't jive.

Not that he ever said anything to the team.

Nova winced, guilt creeping into the back of his mind and making his stomach curl. Ok, so he was keeping his own secrets from the team as well. He had rationalized it as not wanting to cause unnecessary worry or make a mountain out of a molehill, so he kept his mouth shut. I mean, it was Spidey for goodness sake, right? Peter was strong, but now Sam had to admit that maybe he should have said something sooner.

The young guardian gave his head a violent shake, he would think about that later. Right now he had a villain to track down and contain so that no one would get hurt. Right on time, his tracker beeped alerting him that the criminal was right below him, in a black limo? That was one of their weirder moments. Nova merely shrugged, "I guess if you're going to go around destroying New York, might as well do it in style, right?"

Without a second thought, Sam dove down and crashed down onto the hood of the car, crushing the motor and essentially crumpling the entire front of the car. Nova gave a haughty salute as the driver dove out of the car, scrambling away and muttering about how his paygrade didn't cover crazy super powered teenagers. Hopping down from the hood, Nova strolled around the car, watching as the back door opened, and waited to come face to face with… J. Jonah Jameson?!

"What do you think you're doing you hooligan?!" the irate journalistic tycoon bellowed with impressive volume "You just totaled my car! Do you even know how much that is going to cost to replace?! I hope you're ready to pay for the cost in damages, not to mention the cost to replace my driver!"

"Uh….uh….!" Nova backpedaled, his mind reeling as he scrambled for a viable exit, only to bump into Spider-man himself. Grabbing Spidey by the shoulders Nova switched their places with a neat flip, effectively hiding behind the spider "Here Mr. Jameson you can talk to Spidey, he's our leader after all and I'm sure he'll be able to listen to your complaints!"

"Wait…WHAT?!"

Peter pushed against Sam, trying to back up but finding said boy pushing him still further onward toward his arch nemesis, curse you weakened spider strength! "Nova, stop!"

"No," Sam gave a vehement shake of his head, not wishing to be the sacrificial lamb to the altogether terrifying news editor "YOU'RE the leader, so YOU get to lead in handling negotiations" cue a small grunt as Sam proceeded to give one more healthy push against Spidey "with disgruntled citizens!"

"Well, YOU were the one who practically dismantled his car!" Spider-man argued back digging his heels into the pavement "Care to explain that?!"

"YOUR spider tracer said the bad guy was IN THERE!"

"Why would my spider tracer, which I put directly ON the villain by the way," Spidey snapped still struggling against Nova's desperate pushes "be on J. Jonah Jameson's CAR?! You know we give this lunatic a wide berth for a reason!"

"I don't know!" Nova bawled waving his arms as he let go watching as Spidey fell to the pavement in a heap "I was just following the coordinates you gave me!"

"Well YOU should have used your head and consid-!"

"GUYS!" White tiger finally shouted separating the two dueling teammates from where they stood nose to nose "maybe, if you took a second and actually used your brains, the villain found out about the tracer and sent us on a wild goose chase? Ever think of that?!"

The duo fell silent as the idea sunk into their heads and both gave a sigh of abject embarrassment "You're probably right," they muttered miserably.

"Of course I am," White Tiger snapped with a roll of her eyes "now we need to go before-!"

"SPIDER-MAN!"

The spider jumped with a yelp as Fury bellowed though his com "Yes, sir!"

"There's a bank robbery taking place at Bank NY ten blocks from your direction, the perp is holding over twenty hostages and messed with the traffic signals so the cops have no way of getting there. He's a new guy plus armed and dangerous."

"Got it! On our way!"

The team immediately turned, rushing towards the new crime scene, however Jameson was not to be ignored "HEY YOU BRATS! Is anyone going to do anything about my car?!"

"Uh, Sorry Jameson," Spider-man shrugged helplessly "I'll tell Fury to reimburse you or something like that."

"Why S.H.I.E.L.D. hired a menace like you I'll never know," Jameson snarled "you're a no good freak and danger to this city!"

"Yeah, yeah," Spidey waved away "I've heard it all before. Sheesh J.J. you'd think that for a journalist tycoon you'd have learned how to come up with new material by now, we've been hearing the same thing for years!"

"Just you wait, Spider-Man," Jameson continued in his rant "I'm going to tell the world what a worthless piece of trash you are. You're no hero, you just spread poison everywhere you go, hurting and causing destruction is what you do best!"

Peter bit back a wince, not for the first time thankful for his mask in hiding just how deeply those words pierced him "Got it," he quipped "oh, and by the way, Hitler called. He wants his mustache back."

With that being said Peter swung away, towards their latest villain, and a prayer on his lips that his body would be able to hold out long enough to take the man down.

Whew… Writing J. Jonah Jameson is EXHAUSTING. Hope to hear from you all, please REVIEW, I love reading them, even if it is a critique (just be nice, ok?).