Here is chapter four! Sorry it took so long to post it, like I said earlier, it was Thanksgiving here in the States, and I spent the week with my family :) Anyway, Let me know what you think!

"What took you guys so long? Where's Spider-Man?" Beck asked as the Schocker, Doc Ock, and Rhino walked into the building.

"There was a slight...snag," Schultz said through ground teeth, glaring at Octavius. "We would have been here sooner, but someone," he said, throwing another dirty look at the scientist. "Needed to try and prove how much of a man he is, and let the kid go instead of keeping a tighter hold on him."

"Oh, I'm sorry that you and Rhino did nothing to help get him back," Otto shot back, turning to face Schultz head-on.

"Well if you hadn't been trying to show off and intimidate the kid, we might still have him, and we could have taken care of whoever his friend was," Schultz fired.

"You let him get away?" Mysterio asked incredulously. "I can't believe you guys messed up the one part of the plan that you had to do! It wasn't even that hard! All you had to do was grab the twerp and bring him back here. Easy-peasy!"

"If it is so easy, you should have done it!" Rhino said, stepping forward as if expecting a fight.

"THERE WERE THREE OF YOU AGAINST ONE OF HIM!" Beck bellowed, lunging forward. One of Otto's arms snaked out and wrapped itself around Mysterio, lifting him into the air. Another arm had wrapped around Schultz when he moved forward to fight as well.

"We're all so glad you can do simple math, Mr. Beck," Otto sneered. "We were starting to wonder what it was you're really doing here. Besides, like we said, it wasn't just him," the scientist continued. "He had help. A man in a horned mask showed up out of nowhere and got the drop on us, which is the only reason the spider got didn't get away cleanly though," Octavius added in. "I threw him into some garbage, and before he swung away, I saw something sticking out of his leg, and you could tell he was hurt."

"Oh, so you're saying it wasn't a total disaster, because now he can go heal up before coming to find us again, with another hero at his side?" Schultz snarled from up high in the air, still struggling in Otto's grip. "This is just like the Vulture situation all over again," he muttered.

The argument would have continued, but suddenly Stane's voice broke into the conversation, stopping them in their tracks. "Gentlemen, stop arguing," he said. "Though you lost the spider, we don't need to worry about Spider-Man healing up before he comes after us again. I'd wager that he'll be here in a few hours at the most."

"What makes you so sure?" Rhino asked. He had stepped out of his metal suit and had crossed his arms over his muscular chest. Stane gestured for his group to follow him as he walked through a door, and Octavius and Rhino to follow him, while Otto carried the protesting Beck and Schultz. When Otto and Rhino walked through the door, both of them stopped in their tracks as they saw what, or who, was unconscious and tied down to a chair in the room.

"This is what makes me so sure," Stane explained smugly.

"Why didn't you tell us this was part of your plan?" Octavius growled. He didn't like being left out of the loop, and this was a pretty huge piece of the plan that Ezekiel had neglected to share.

"Because I didn't want you to drop any hints to the kid," Stane snapped. "If you guys had hinted that we had someone he loved, he would have had the upper hand on us, and the element of surprise would have been gone. As it is, you guys failed in the one task I sent you to do," he added in a disappointed tone. "But it's fine," he said, raising his voice to be heard over their angry protests. "Your mess-up might just be a blessing in disguise. Spider-Man is going to seek us out, and he's going to be angry and upset, meaning he won't be thinking clearly, so we'll have double the edge on him."

"Got any more hidden agendas lying around?" Octavius asked scathingly as he finally lowered Schultz and Beck to the floor.

"Not me," Stane said, giving a knowing look to Mysterio, who smirked as he straightened his shirt, which was rumpled after his time in Doc Ock's grasp.

"We've got a fun little game for the Spider to play," Beck explained, walking over to a cabinet and pulling out a vial of something. "Let's get things started."

0-0-0

By the time Peter and Daredevil got back to Peter's apartment building, the sun was well below the horizon, and it was dark, which Peter was grateful for. It meant sneaking into the apartment would be easier than it would have been if they were trying to do it with even just a little bit of sunlight shining on them.

"Hey," Peter said, stopping Daredevil before they could start climbing. "My aunt's up there, and she freaks out kinda easily, so, uh...just… just wait in my room until I come back with the stuff we need. She's already probably going to be freaking out if she's watched the news and seen any of this, so if I suddenly show up with a masked man with horns, she's gonna freak out even more, which none of us need."

"Whatever you say, kid," Daredevil responded, reaching out and grabbing the fire escape. However, instead of climbing up the stairs like a normal human being, he simply vaulted himself from one railing to the one above it, getting a headstart on Peter. The teenager gripped the wall and began climbing, thought it was a slow process since he wasn't able to use his injured leg. He finally caught up with Daredevil on the seventh and top floor, and the teenager opened his window, crawling inside and sitting on his chair, panting from the pain and exertion. Daredevil quickly followed, and he glanced around at all the stuff Peter had in his room. When he saw all the Star Wars merchandise, as well as the stacks of textbooks on the table, he was reminded once again just how young the kid had to be.

"Okay, just wait here for a minute, I'll grab the stuff we need. I just don't want you to freak May out," Peter said, shifting the horned vigilante's attention.

"Hey, hey, hey wait," Daredevil said, gently grabbing Peter's arm. Peter rolled his eyes before turning back around, glad that he was wearing a mask and Daredevil couldn't see the gesture.

"I know, I know," Peter said, shaking his arm loose. "You think I should sit still and rest my leg, and you'll go get the stuff, but you don't know where the medical equipment is, and like I said, you'd totally freak my aunt out, and-"

"Kid, that's what I'm trying to tell you," Daredevil interrupted. "There's no one in the apartment."

Peter stumbled to a pause. "How..how can you tell that?"

"It's a-"

"Long story?" Peter finished, trying not to snap. He stared at the horned man, his eyes narrowing slightly. "May?" he called out, briefly taking his eyes off his companion. "May, you home?"

The high schooler limped over to the door, ignoring the older man's insistence that he go first. The apartment was still silent though, and Peter's stomach sank further and further with each step that he took towards the bedroom door. "May?" he asked one more time again, this time with more than a little panic in his voice. It's fine, he thought to himself. She just got caught up at work, that's all. There's no reason to panic. This is fine, great even. She's still at work, meaning she won't have to see Daredevil, and-

Peter grasped the doorknob and twisted, and when the door opened, Peter felt the color drain from his face under his mask, and his heart stopped for several beats. The entire apartment was trashed; the table had been overturned, one of their stools had been smashed to bits, the couch was lying on its back, and random broken dishes were scattered all over the floor.

"May!" Peter yelled, moving as quickly through the apartment as he could, even though he knew he wouldn't find his aunt. He heard Daredevil come through his door behind him, but he didn't pay attention to the other hero for the moment. His aunt was missing, and he was going to find her.

"Slow down just a minute, Spider-Man," the older vigilante said as if he'd read the teenager's thoughts, but Peter didn't listen.

"Karen, call Aunt May," the high schooler instructed.

"Kid, what good is that gonna do? If she's been taken, she probably won't be able to answer it," Daredevil said, confused at what Spider-Man was hoping to achieve. Peter didn't answer; he simply held up his hand in a "wait" gesture, making Daredevil slant his mouth in frustration. Finally after thirty seconds or so, the teenager turned back to his companion.

"She didn't answer," he stated.

"I said she wouldn't," Daredevil pointed out, trying not to sound too know-it-all-ish.

"But I didn't hear it going off here," Peter added. "Did you?"

That gave the horned vigilante pause. He certainly hadn't heard it going off, and he hadn't heard it vibrating either. "No," he admitted.

"That means she's got it with her," Peter said excitedly.

"Woah, you don't know that," Daredevil said, reaching out to stop the kid from running out the front door. "They could have dropped it outside for all we know."

Daredevil's statement gave Peter pause, and he considered the other man's point for a moment.

"You're right," he admitted. "We need to find out where her phone is." He pulled out his phone and was about to hit Ned's number, but before he could, Daredevil's voice cut in sharply again.

"Kid, you're not gonna be any sort of help to your aunt if you collapse from blood loss or get sick because of infection. That webbing is already dissolving," he added, pointing towards Peter's thigh. When the teenager looked down, he saw that the horned hero was right; the webbing was dissolving, and what was left of the white substance was quickly turning red with every passing second. "Unless you let me take care of that wound, you're not going to be able to help anyone." Daredevil snapped. The teenager finally looked back up at Daredevil, and though the teenager still had his mask on, the older man could see that the kid was finally giving in.

The high schooler grabbed one of their barstools that was still intact and sat dejectedly on it while Daredevil gathered the appropriate materials to clean and dress Peter's wound. While the wound was being taken care of, Peter finally called his friend. After only a ring and a half, Ned answered the phone, sounding frantic.

"Dude, are you okay? Where are you? When those three guys left the school, we tried watching where they went, but once you went into the football stands you never came out! We thought Spider-Man was dead!"

"Ned," Peter interrupted tiredly, watching as Daredevil walked back towards him with rubbing alcohol, bandages, and stuff to close the wound with. "Listen, I need you to do me a favor. You remember when you traced my phone back when the Vulture was around?"

"Yeah, that was awesome," Ned confirmed; Peter could almost see his friend smiling at the memory.

"Remember how Mr. Stark told you to get rid of the programs you used to do that?"

"...yes…" Ned confirmed, extremely hesitant.

"Please tell me you kept them?"

"I don't...of course I didn't...I don't want Mr. Stark to get mad at me..." Ned replied.

"You're not gonna get in trouble," Peter promised. "I won't tell Mr. Stark you disobeyed a direct order. I need you to track Aunt May's phone."

"May? Why her phone?"

"I don't think the three guys at the school were the only ones in their group, and I think they took her," Peter explained.

"Wait, what?" Ned exclaimed.

"Ned, I really just need to know where her phone says she's at right now," Peter repeated, trying not to sound to frustrated with his friend.

"Okay, hold on...it's pulling up right now," Ned assured his friend. After a few more moments, Ned finally continued, "Okay...it looks like her phone puts her at an old lot near 2nd and 17th. I'm pulling up a map of the area...it looks like that's the only building on that lot, and there's not much around it in the way of traffic."

"Awesome, thanks Ned. I'll call you if I need anything else!" Peter ended the call; he felt slightly guilty for cutting Ned off so abruptly, but he knew he needed to get going to save May. He got ready to stand up, but almost immediately leaned back in his chair with a hiss of pain as Daredevil began stitching his wound closed. He'd completely forgotten about his leg injury in his zeal to find his aunt, but now that he was thinking about it, the pain registered with his brain again full force, and he groaned. When he'd first been injured, it had been a sharp, shooting pain that made it hard to focus; now though, it had diminished to just a throbbing pain, and while it sucked, Peter was just glad that the sharp pulses of pain had died down.

"Sit still," Daredevil said with exaggerated annoyance, though Peter could tell the man didn't mean his tone...at least, not entirely.

The next several minutes passed by agonizingly slowly, and Peter couldn't watch as the older man finished sewing up his punctured leg.

After what seemed like hours, but was only a few minutes, Daredevil finally cut the thread and stood up, disposing of the bloody cotton balls and gauze pads as Peter stood up and experimentally put weight on his leg. Stitching it up hadn't suddenly cured the pain when he put weight on his leg, but he knew he had to push past the pain and discomfort he was feeling.

"Hey man, I just wanted to say thanks for your help," Peter said as he began limping towards his bedroom, intending on swinging out the window.

"You're welcome, but why does that feel like a goodbye?" the horned vigilante asked suspiciously, moving towards Peter in a non-threatening way, preparing to stop him if he needed to.

"You can't come with me," the teenager replied as if it were the simplest thing in the world.

"Oh can't I?"

"No. You've helped enough, and I mean that in the most sincere way possible, but this isn't your fight. You don't have any reason to come with me."

"Besides the fact that you're going up against at least three villains, each with crazy abilities that you couldn't fight off on your own in your condition? That's another thing," he added. "You're exhausted, and you're wounded." Peter opened his mouth to argue, but Daredevil held up his hand. "Don't fight me on this, kid. I'm coming with you."

"No, you're not," Peter stated emphatically. He raised his hands, preparing to web Daredevil to the wall if he needed to. In response to that threat, Daredevil raised his batons.

"We don't have to fight," the older man said, though he didn't lower his batons.

"I can't let someone else get hurt because of me," Spider-Man finally said, his voice cracking slightly.

"I'm a big boy; I can take care of myself. Look kid, there's no way you're going to win this argument. You have no logical points that would make me back down."

"I don't need logic. I just need to beat you in a fight."

Daredevil raised his eyebrows, though Peter couldn't see the gesture under the mask. "You really think you can do that too? It looks like you can barely stand up," he remarked drily. The two heroes stared at each other. Each was unwilling to budge, each unwilling to lose the fight.

Thoughts?