4:56 PM

"I'm real proud of you, Jack," said Arcee to her charge as they rolled down the tunnel into the main area of the base, "You stood up to Vince and said 'no' when most others would've given in."

"I was just tired of his crap, that's all," replied the sixteen-year-old, sighing as he did.

Just yesterday, he had raced the school bully, Vince Brock, after the jerk had tried to humiliate him in front of Sierra. At first, Arcee was against it, but she changed her mind when the orange-haired ruffian insulted her as well. With his femme guardian backing him, the sixteen-year-old managed to turn the tables on Vince and leave him behind in the dust. Afterwards, the blue femme had told him they wouldn't do it again.

About an hour ago, the orange-haired delinquent tried to show Jack up again in front of the same girl. Only this time, the sixteen-year-old wasn't going to have it.


Jack rubbed his shoulder after Vince shoved him. The jerk then turned around to him and then made a challenge.

"If you think you can run with the big boys," he started before poking the teen in the chest, "the circuit, tonight…at 11:00."

"Vince, I can't do that!" stated Jack, remembering his nightly routine and wanting the bully to back off.

The orange-haired teen just sneered, "You always were a miserable wuss-ass. Always doing what mommy tells you. But guess what Darby, you ain't getting out of it that easy!"

"I said no, Vince!" shouted Jack.

The orange-haired ruffian then grabbed Jack roughly by the front of his shirt and pulled him close, glaring at him.

"You ain't backing out of this one, Darby! You owe me!"

The sixteen-year-old broke out of Vince's grip before grasping the other boy by the collar of his shirt and lifting him in the air a little, surprising everyone who saw, and glowered at him.

"Listen you overgrown turd head! I don't owe you a damn thing! And I've just about had it with you! You've been nothing but an ass towards me for nine years, but that ends now! So let me say this loud and clear; from this moment on, you're nothing but dog crap to me! And a lot of things can happen to dog crap; it can be scraped off the ground with a shovel, it can dry up and blow away in the wind, or it can be stepped on and squashed! So take my advice, and watch where the dog crapped you, because from here on in, I'm not doing this anymore with you!" Then he tossed the surprised bully to the ground and walked towards his blue bike, ignoring the gasps of onlookers who had witnessed his outburst.

When Jack was almost out of the parking lot, Vince just gathered himself up and shouted, "You know this ain't over Darby!"

The teenager heard him, but just kept going.


"Still," continued his guardian, "that was pretty tough of you."

Jack smirked at her and thought, 'Spending your nights fighting crime and stopping terrorists from hijacking and destroying a train would probably toughen anyone up.'

"Though something puzzles me," she added, "you said that Vince has been bothering you for eight years. Why is that?"

"Well, the thing is, Arcee-" started the teen before getting bombarded by an excited Miko and Raf. The blue femme just sighed and transformed into her robot mode.

"Dude that was SOOO cool!" exasperated the Japanese girl.

"Yeah," agreed the preteen, "the way you told off Vince-that was amazing!"

Jack was about to respond when Arcee beat him to it.

"And he was just about to tell me why he and Vince don't seem to get along. Isn't that right?" she asked, turning to her charge.

"Actually," started the sixteen-year-old, "there was a time when Vince and I were friends."

"Say what?!" exclaimed Miko. Raf shared her surprise while the blue femme merely looked intrigued.

"How could anyone be friends with that guy?" asked the Japanese girl.

"Y-yeah," agreed Raf, "isn't he a bully?"

"Well…" started Jack, uncertain what to say, "…it's complicated…and I'd rather not talk about it right now…mainly because, for me anyway, it's a touchy subject."

"Alright," said the blue femme in understanding, "You don't have to talk about it if you don't feel comfortable."

The other two just nodded, though they were still curious as to what happened.

"But," added Miko, "if you ever want to talk about something, we're all ears."


10:52 AM

The next day, the school had to call a day off due to a plumbing incident. However, just because there was no school didn't mean a certain sixteen-year-old didn't have to go to work. As he was doing a morning shift, Jack heard a voice that he didn't expect.

"Yo, Jack!" said a tall, redheaded eighteen-year-old boy at the drive-thru window.

"Is that-" started the dark-haired teen before turning to see his thoughts were correct, "Wally West?!" Jack was surprised to see his old buddy not only in front of him, but also the car he was driving; a red Urbana 500 with streaks of yellow lightning along the sides.

"The one and only!" smiled the red-haired boy before he and Jack reached to shake hands. Wally had befriended Jack after Vince had decided to cut ties with the latter. For a while, the older boy and Jack seemed inseparable, but reality changed that when Wally had to move away two years previously with his aunt and uncle to Keystone City, Pennsylvania; the reason being that Wally's parents had died in a car crash, and his only living relatives lived on the other side of the country.

"Haven't seen you in forever, man," said sixteen-year-old, "What've you been up to?"

"DARBY!" yelled the assistant manager, "BACK TO WORK! Those orders aren't going to hand out themselves!"

"Meet me in the parking lot in a couple hours. I'll be free then," the sixteen-year-old whispered quickly before handing him his order.

Wally just nodded and took his lunch and paid before driving off.


12.54 PM

Jack was finally able to call it quits for the day, and started walking towards Arcee in her bike form just as the car from earlier pulled up in front of him. The side window lowered to reveal Wally in the driver's seat.

"Hey, Wally, so what brings you back to Jasper?" asked Jack.

"Come on, do I really need a reason to see an old friend?" the older teen joked as he pulled into a vacant lot next to the blue bike. Jack leaned in his guardian's seat as his friend got out of red car. "Though if you must know, I'm here hoping to earn some cash."

"So you're job-hunting?"

"You could say that, and it's in a place I know friends are in."

"Well, I hope you land one that gets you a hell of a lot more respect than where I work."

"You know, I wouldn't have expected you to work in a place like this. How'd that happen?"

"Well, at the time, mom needed help paying the bills, and saw that they were hiring here so I took it. And I've been regretting it ever since."

"I imagine so. And mind if I ask why you have a blue bike with pink highlights?" Wally teased.

"Uh…" Jack found himself at a loss for words, "Well…it's…complicated."

"Hey, if you don't wanna talk about it, fine," dismissed the older boy understandingly.

"Thanks Wally. So, how've things been in Keystone?"

"Ok…I guess…"

"Why guess?"

"…Aunt Iris passed away a couple months ago…"

"Oh my-I'm sorry man!" said Jack quickly.

"It's fine. Uncle Barry took it harder than I did, but together we got through it."

"What happened to her?"

"She…got ovarian cancer."

"Ouch!" remarked Jack, feeling more sympathy for his friend.

"Yeah, and that's why I don't have any cousins. Uncle Barry tried to move on after that, but it was easy to see he was still shook up by it. And recently, he's been having a few health problems of his own, mainly concerning his heart."

Jack just stayed silent, uncertain of what to say, or even HOW to say it.

"But…let's not dwell on that, shall we?" said Wally as a smile returned to his face. "So, besides working here, how've you been doing man?"

The younger teen just smirked, 'Same old Wally, never one to stick to a sad subject.' The sixteen-year-old went on to tell his friend what he could without mentioning the Bots, Cons, superheroes, and the strangely powered criminals that seemed to be popping up. Plus, even if he did, Wally probably wouldn't have believed him anyway. He mentioned his mom dating again, and that surprised the eighteen-year-old, as he didn't really expect Jack's mother to date again. While the older teen did ask him a few times when Jack said something questionable, he didn't press it. When the sixteen-year-old mentioned his race with Vince a couple days ago, that's when Wally got interested.

"You beat Vince? Bet he didn't take that too well."

"Nope, he didn't. He tried to challenge me to the circuit yesterday, but I basically told him to piss off."

"Kudos to you man!" congratulated Wally as he bucked fists with Jack, "You did the smart thing. Though I take it Vince didn't want to back off?"

"Yep! He shouted that it wasn't over as I left."

"That sounds like him…even after all this time, Vince can't seem to learn when to let go of something."

"Tell me about it," agreed Jack.

Wally thought for a moment before saying, "Say, Jack?"

"Yeah…?"

"You said your mom's been dating again, but how've you been on that front?"

"Uh…well…I've…got a couple options," the younger teen said as he remembered his crush on Sierra and the girl who flirted/fought with him on the train. "But…it's a bit complicated with both of them."

"Oh?" asked Wally as he raised an eyebrow in interest.

"The thing is…you could say that one of them runs with a dangerous crowd," answered Jack as he thought of Black Cat's association with M.E.C.H.

"Seems you ought to rethink that one," said Wally with a little worry.

"Probably, and then there's Sierra, but most of the time I think I'm below her notice."

"I take it back; you ought to rethink your taste in women-period!" said the older teen, correcting himself. "I mean, a girl who runs with a bad crowd and one who doesn't notice you?"

"Point taken," agreed Jack before turning to his friend. "So now that we've talked about my love life, how about yours?"

"Well, back in Keystone I broke a few hearts, though there was this one girl who I was on and off with a lot. Linda Park's her name, and she has her finer points, but most of the time we end up arguing."

"Where you two on or off when you left?"

"Off," Wally said simply.

"Sorry man."

"Don't be. She and I have done it so much that it's sort of our thing now."

"No offense, but I pray I never get into that sort of relationship."

"None taken," said the older teen dismissively.

A slight nudge from Arcee told Jack to end the conversation quickly.

"Well, it's been catching up with you Wally, but I gotta be somewhere soon."

"No problem man. See you around?"

"You bet!" agreed Jack, and the two bucked fists before the younger boy got on his bike and drove out.


9:35 PM

Spider-Man jumped from rooftop to rooftop as he patrolled that night. At some points he was able to swing if the building was high enough, but since Jasper wasn't as big a place as, let's say, New York, he needn't to go too far up.

That night, unlike most others, was mostly quiet. Sure, there was the occasional burglary and mugging, but there wasn't much of that or anything else happening. The web-slinger wasn't entirely sure why, though he had a suspicion that it had to do with the underground circuit races going on. He had heard about it from some of the other students at school, and from what he understood, a lot of people were going to and participating in these things mostly to earn a quick buck. This was because there was quite a bit of gambling placed on the participants.

While most of the racing was kept to the desert outskirts of town, there would sometimes be those that brought their speedy antics towards town. Which, in and of itself, might be another explanation for why he wasn't seeing much action on the streets that night. After all, who in their right mind wants to risk getting run over by a no-rules driver?

Still, the web-slinger made a commitment, and he had to see it through. Though, he was starting to wonder if maybe he should start heading home if he didn't see anything to stop in the next few minutes.

He was interrupted from that train of thought by the sounds of motors revving. The masked vigilante looked over his shoulder, hoping that it might just be a regular night driver. But lo and behold, it was a speeding muscle car, being followed by two others.

'Oh great,' he thought disappointedly.

As the cars passed the building he was on, the web-slinger noticed something about one of them. It may've been nighttime, but the streets were lit by the buildings and street lamps. This made it easier to see the details on the cars, especially when one of them was red with yellow lightning bolts painted on it.

'It couldn't be could it?' wondered Spider-Man as his eyes widened under his mask, hoping that the driver wasn't who he suspected it was. Jumping down from the roof, he shot a web line and swung towards the cars. The web-slinger got close enough to catch a quick glimpse of the driver, right before swinging up to another rooftop. As he got to his feet, the masked teen caught his breath, taking in what he saw. 'Was that…Wally?' Spider-Man wondered in shock. He had talked with his friend earlier that day, and the older teen had congratulated him on staying out of the street racing circuit. And yet, he just saw that same teen, or someone who strongly resembled him, driving in one.

Before he could contemplate the conundrum of his friend further, the masked teen heard some tires screeching, as well as the sound of a woman screaming. He turned to see the red Urbana 500 trying to slow down as it drew close to a platinum blonde woman in a trench coat at a crosswalk. The woman herself seemed to be frozen with fear, like a dear in headlights.

Moving quickly, Spider-Man shot a web line before swinging down and snatching the woman just before the car could hit. He landed on a rooftop and set her on her feet, then looked back to see that the lightning-highlighted car had stopped before it could crash into anything.

"Whew! That was a close one!" remarked the web-slinger.

"Maybe, but perhaps mostly for you," said the woman as she put a pair of goggles on and tossed her coat to the side, revealing her black suit underneath.

"What're you-WHOA!" said the masked teen as his spider-sense went off. Then he bent himself back in time to avoid a roundhouse kick.

"Do you bend over this much for all the girls?" teased the woman.

"What's your-" started Spider-Man before looking and realizing who he just saved. It was that girl from the M.E.C.H. incident, and she was about ready to swing a blow at him again. He flipped in the air in time before she could collide her fist with his chest. Landing behind her, he remarked, "It's you!"

"Were you expecting Catwoman?" she asked. (A/N: No, she's not appearing in this story. Sorry!) "I figured you couldn't resist saving someone, and you fell for it hook, line, and sinker."

"I honestly didn't expect to run into you again. At least, not anytime soon, that is."

"Well, when somebody pulls a stunt like what you did on the train, they tend to end up on M.E.C.H.'s Most Wanted List."

"And they sent you after me?" asked the masked hero before jumping out of the way of one of her kicks, only to receive a sucker punch to the neck. That knocked him to his knees, where the girl proceeded to pin him face down by slamming her foot on him.

"You could say that. Silas and the boys get to go play with the robots while I get to play with you!"

"Sorry," he struggled, "but I have this rule against dating girls who associate with terrorists! Especially ones that could get me killed!"

The dark-clad girl then proceeded to kick him into laying face up before pouncing on him and pinning his arms and legs down with her own. She got close to the masked teen's face and blew on him.

"Terrorist is such an ugly word," she corrected, "I prefer realists. As for killing you, you're too cute for that. Sure, I might rough you up a bit, but you're proving to be too much fun to not keep around.

Under his mask, Spider-Man widened his eyes and blushed a bit.

"Uh…thanks, I think."

"Don't mention it. Now let's see who's under that mask," stated as she reached for his face. However, the second she took her hand off his wrist, he maneuvered his hand to her abdomen and pushed her off. As she landed on her back, the web-slinger managed to get up and jump and shoot a web line before swinging away.

When he got far enough away, the wall-crawler heard a car honking and noticed the red Urbana 500 from earlier had stopped, and it didn't look to be in the best of shape. Apparently, the scare of nearly hitting a person had caused the driver to crash into a fire hydrant. The hydrant itself was now spouting off water while the hood and grill of the car was bent and torn. The masked teen landed and ran over to see inside the car.

There, in the vehicle's driver's seat, was an unconscious Wally West, along with an inflated air bag from the steering wheel.

"Oh dear Lord!" exclaimed Spider-Man with worry.

Then he pulled the door open and managed to get his friend out. The web-themed vigilante gently placed on the side of the damaged vehicle and patted him a little on the face to try and wake him up. It didn't work. He hastily looked the red-haired young man over to make sure he had no injuries. Thankfully, there was none. Then he noticed the still gushing fire hydrant and got an idea. Pulling the eighteen-year-old along, the web-slinger quickly got his friend's face in front of a jet of water. This seemed to do the trick, as Wally finally found himself awake and spitting.

"Glad to see you're still in the land of the living," teased the web-slinger as he let the older teen go.

"What…" he started as he spit out some more water, "…what the Hell happened?"

"You almost ran someone over and crashed into a fire hydrant! That's what!" stated Spider-Man condescendingly.

"Spider-Man?!" asked Wally, surprised. "What're you doing here? As a matter of fact, what am I doing here?"

"Didn't you hear a word I just said?" the wall-crawler deadpanned.

"I…Oh my god!" exclaimed the eighteen-year-old as realization struck him. He grabbed Spider-Man by the arms and asked urgently, "That woman, is she ok?!"

"Yeah, she's fine," assured the masked vigilante, remember where he had left the girl in question. "But that doesn't change the fact that what you did was reckless."

"I know!" snapped the redhead teen, before taking a breath and calming himself, "I know. Look, I'm sorry, ok? I understand that doing this is stupid, but believe, if I could back out of it, I would. But I can't."

"Why?" asked Spider-Man, crossing his arms.

"You wouldn't understand," stated Wally, turning his head away.

"Try me," countered the web-themed vigilante.

Wally sighed before answering, "I don't know why I'm telling you this, but honestly, I need the money."

"There're other ways to get cash."

"None that can get me it fast enough! Listen, I've got an uncle who needs a heart transplant, and we don't have the money to pay for it."

This caught the web-head by surprise. 'He told me his uncle was having heart problems, but I didn't know it was that bad,' he thought. "That's awful man, but why the racing?"

"It seemed like the best way to come up with the money fast. Though, after tonight, I'm not sure I want to keep doing it," he said with a remorseful look.

"Piece of advice; don't! Look, I'm not going to tell you what job is best for you, or how you should go about getting the money you need. But what I will say is that you need to consider your options and think them through. Okay? Oh, and you may need to think about getting a new car."

Then the web-slinger shot a line and swung away into the night, leaving the redheaded young man to think about his situation.

"Man…" Wally muttered to himself, "…what am I going to do?"

"Perhaps I can help with that," offered a female voice from a nearby alley.

"Wha-!" said the eighteen-year-old as he turned to face the silhouette of a platinum-blonde woman in a trench coat. "Who're you?"

"Call me Cat."


7:32 PM

The next day, Wally found himself outside of an abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of Jasper. He had suspicions about what he was getting himself into, but somehow, this Cat lady had talked him into doing it. In return for forwarding the money needed for his uncle's heart transplant, he was to participate in a little experiment by this…M.E.C.H. group that she belonged to. He didn't really know much about them, and while that made him more than a little suspicious, his concern for his uncle outweighed that.

The eighteen-year-old had been standing there for about a couple hours waiting, and already he was having second thoughts about going through with it.

"I should've known I was being Punk'd." he sighed, and decided to walk away. But before he could get even a foot away, three green cars pulled up to the warehouse. Out of them came ten men in dark green suits and masks, along with a scarred man and Cat.

"Ah, glad to see you've taken up my offer," remarked the girl.

"Believe me, I was about ready to leave if you didn't show up," replied Wally.

"And as you can see, we did," she looked up at the scarred man, "Well?"

"Not quite what I had in mind," he said unimpressed, but relented, "but he'll do."

"Anyone mind telling me just what the Hell you guys are planning?" asked the eighteen-year-old.

"You'll see," replied Cat teasingly as she walked in the warehouse with the scarred man. Wally was about to demand a better answer when he suddenly found himself being grabbed by his arms by two of the other men and pulled in as well. After a few minutes he got the picture and went along as they let go of his arms.

The group walked into the warehouse, moving about in a large, dimly lit, empty space until they reached the door to a large elevator. Once everyone was inside, the scarred man snapped his fingers and the elevator began moving downwards.

"Ok, would somebody please tell me just what the Hell is going on?" asked the eighteen-year-old boy, "You said you'd give me the money I needed for my uncle's surgery if I helped you with a little experiment. But just what kind of experiment is it?"

"The kind that improves you," said the scarred man unemotionally.

"Improves me? In what way?"

"As I said," interjected Cat, "you'll see. And don't worry, you'll get the money after you do this for us."

Wally sighed in frustration, "How soon?"

"In just a few minutes," replied the scarred man.

Realizing that he wasn't going to get a straight answer, Wally decided to be quiet and played along to see how things would go. Finally the elevator stopped, and the doors opened to reveal a room that led to more rooms. Everyone stepped out, and they led the eighteen-year-old from one area to another until they reached what appeared to be laboratory. On one side of the room was a crowd of scientists that seemed to be examining a considerably big red crystal of sorts. The other side had a large chamber that had a human sized table with straps.

"The data confirms the red energon is ready for testing, Silas," said one of the scientists.

"Excellent," stated the scarred man, confirming that he was Silas.

"Ready for what?" asked Wally.

"First, we need to do a couple of things before we proceed," answered Cat.

The eighteen-year-old was about to reply when he felt a hand with a cloth cover his mouth. He struggled to get free, but within a couple of minutes, he was out cold.


11:35 PM

Spider-Man was leaping from rooftop to rooftop that night. And while he was trying to focus on his task, he couldn't help but think about his friend Wally.

The web-themed hero had caught the guy in an illegal street race, and now the older teen was missing. No one had seen or heard from the eighteen-year-old in five days, and that had the web-slinger worried.

"What's that idiot gotten himself into?" wondered Spider-Man aloud.

He would've continued to think about it, had it not been for the sudden whoosh that went past him as he landed on the next rooftop.

"Whoa! What was that?" asked the masked teen, and his spider-sense was going off like crazy. However, he did not see anything, and began to wonder if maybe his sixth sense was acting up for no reason. It had never gone off without something giving it a reason to before, so he knew that there was something amiss.

Before he could ponder it further, his spider-sense spiked hard and told him to move left. He did so, but as that happened, he noticed a reddish blur pass by him. Spider-Man suddenly realized that there was something attacking him, but whatever it was, it was really fast. Then, he felt a spike again, and moved to the right, narrowly dodging the speeding attacker.

"Alright, I'm not going to ask you to show yourself, because I know you won't, but I will ask what you're doing here," said the web-slinger aloud.

Suddenly, the wall-crawler found himself surrounded by what appeared to be a blurry red tornado of sorts. He could barely make out the shape of a man running around him in a circle, but the man was moving so fast that it seemed like there was more than one of him.

"Nothing personal, Spider-Man," said a disembodied male voice that sounded oddly familiar to the web-slinger, "but if I don't do this, someone I care about dies."

"Why?"

"Can't say," said the voice. Before the masked teen could ask any further, he abruptly felt a series of rapid punches on all sides of him. If he were a normal person, then he would be dead within a few minutes. But because of his changes from the spider, he now had increased strength and endurance, making him last longer. That didn't mean he couldn't feel pain, however, and those punches were coming in faster than his spider-sense could tell him to move.

Finally, he managed to duck down just in time to avoid another punch. Unfortunately, this only made the speedy attacker slam his palm on the web-themed hero's chest and jump over him. This caused the wall-crawler's head to bump itself on the floor of the roof, though not enough to do any permanent damage thankfully.

Getting back up, Spider-Man at last got a full look at his attacker; a man of sorts dressed in a burgundy body suit. The suit itself seemed to be a mix of spandex and padding made of hardened leather. On his head, he wore a mask that only showed his eyes and mouth.

"So, who're you supposed to be?" the wall-crawler finally asked, "Speedy? Scarlet Speedster? Runner? Speed Demon? Impulse?"

"Get a grip, Spider-Man," responded the attacker, "You think just because I put on this suit, run fast, and beat you up I have to give myself a ridiculous-sounding alias? I'm eighteen for crying out loud!"

"Eighteen?" said the web-themed hero, taken aback a little. Then, a realization came upon the web-head as it occurred to him that this sounded like someone he knew. However, he couldn't be sure until his opponent removed his mask.

"And I'm not doing this because I want to, I assure you. I'm doing it because I have to," said the older teen regretfully as he zoomed in on the web-slinger, who managed to get out of the way in time before the one-man-stampede could hit him.

"Then why are you doing this?"

"Didn't you hear me earlier? If I don't do this, someone I care about dies!" the burgundy suited man snapped at him. Then he charged at the wall-crawler again, with the said masked teen narrowly avoiding him thanks to his spider-sense.

"So who's making you do this? Maybe I can help?" offered the web-slinger, only for the maroon-suited eighteen-year-old to shake his head.

"I'm sorry, but there's nothing you can do, Spider-Man. The one's who're making me do this, they've got eyes and ears all over the place."

"Just tell me who it is? Is it M.E.C.H.?"

This took the eighteen-year-old by surprise, "You know them?"

'So it is M.E.C.H.,' thought the web-slinger, "Yes, they're a group of tech-obsessed terrorists."

"Terrorists! They never told me that. Then again, why would they?" the eighteen-year-old asked redundantly. Then he proceeded to pull the same stunt he had pulled on the web-themed hero earlier by running around him in a circle whilst throwing punches at him. This time, Spider-Man jumped into the air to avoid the tornado of hits, only for the speedster to grab him by the ankle and, with enough momentum, toss him across three roof tops.

Before Spider-Man could scream "whoa," the speedster caught up with him and proceeded to grab him by the chest of the costume and spin around. The rotating they did finally ended when the scarlet attacker tossed the web-themed hero into a brick wall. Spidey may've crashed facing away, but it was no less painful.

"Don't do this, Man," said Spider-Man as he placed one hand out and put the other behind him to rub his back. "I don't wanna fight you, I wanna help you. So let me help you!"

"You can't! No one can!" shouted the speedster as he ran in for another blow.

"Wally, don't!" cried Spider-Man just before the guy could land a punch. The speedster reeled his fist back and just stared at the spider-themed vigilante for a moment.

"How…?" he managed to breathe out.

"Because I know you," said the vigilante as he reached and pulled up his mask enough to show his face. The scarlet-suited eighteen-year-old just gazed in shock.

"J-Ja-!" he sputtered before the younger teen hushed him.

"Shh," then he pulled his mask back down, "let's go somewhere less likely to have prying eyes, ok?"

The older teen nodded, and as the spider-themed hero tried to get up, Wally went over to him. The eighteen-year-old put his arm under the web-slinger's and held tightly before running them both through the town and into the desert.

"Wow," the masked sixteen-year-old exclaimed as he finally got back on his feet. "Just how the Hell did you get so fast anyway?"

"How did you become Spider-Man, Jack?" Wally responded as he crossed his arms.

"Touché," said the web-slinger before asking, "They don't have you wired, do they?"

"If I was, would I have called you by name?"

"Good point," agreed the spider-teen as he pulled his mask up again. Wally did the same, and the two could now see each other's face. "If you must know, I'm like this because I got bitten by this weird spider." He had considered just saying that it was a long story, but he figured his friend wouldn't take kindly to that.

"Really?" said the older teen with more than a hint of disbelief.

"Yeah, and the next minute I start feeling sick and pass out. The next morning, I'm not only faster, stronger and lighter than I was before, but I can also stick to surfaces, shoot webs out of my wrists, and later that day I found I had a sixth-sense of some kind that alerts me to incoming danger."

"How'd you learn that last one?"

"You heard about the Cheetah lady in Vegas?"

"Yeah, but I thought it was just some crazy publicity stunt."

"Nope, it was me fighting for my life."

"Wow!" said Wally amazed. Then he asked "And where did that, 'weird spider' come from?"

"Would you believe me if I told you it came from a lab?"

"Well, that explains a bit. And I'm the way I am because M.E.C.H. did some kind of experiment on me."

"What'd they do?" asked Jack with concern.

"To be honest, I was out of it for the most part. But what I do know is that it involved this weird red rock they called red energon."

That last word made Jack's eyes widen, 'Energon? How the Hell did M.E.C.H. get their hands on that? Why didn't the Bots tell me that it could be used on humans? Or…maybe they didn't know…' "And how did they get you in the first place?"

Wally looked away and sighed, "…You remember when I said that I needed money for my Uncle Barry's heart surgery?"

Jack nodded and figured out the rest, "I presume that they overheard and convinced you to do it by offering to give you the money?"

Now it was Wally's turn to be wide-eyed, "Am I that obvious?"

"At the moment, yes, you are."

The older teen sighed again, "I guess it doesn't really help that I knew it was fishy from the get-go. But Jack, after they did what they did to me, they told me that if I don't bring you too them, not only will they kill me, but also my uncle."

"How could they kill you? From what I've seen you'd be too fast for their bullets to hit you."

"They told me that they also put this implant in the back of my neck that would do the trick."

"Damn," said Jack aloud before putting his finger to his chin and thinking, "Hmm…wait! I got an idea!"


12:42 AM

At the warehouse, Silas and six M.E.C.H. agents waited for the return of Black Cat and Wally. Then, one of the agents got his leader's attention.

"Sir?" he asked.

"What?" Silas responded/snapped.

"W-Well," said the agent nervously, "Sir, s-shouldn't they be back by now?"

"Black Cat will return when she has to, and West knows what will happen if he doesn't bring the Spider to us."

"You mean this spider?" said the voice of the teen in question, who appeared in front of them carrying what appeared to be an unconscious Spider-Man over his shoulder.

"Took you long enough," said another agent, who apparently wasn't impressed.

"Believe me, it wasn't easy," replied Wally.

"And you didn't disappoint," Silas praised slightly, then asked, "But where is Black Cat?"

"Over here boys!" shouted the aforementioned girl from the edge of the warehouse's roof before jumping down and landing on her hands and feet, making slight craters in the ground. One would think that impossible given Black Cat's size and form, yet she got up and moved towards the group like there was nothing wrong. "Did I miss anything?"

"No," said Silas before gesturing everyone to step into the warehouse.

"Sir," said one of the agents, "if I may ask, why don't we unmask the Spider right here?"

"Because, it's too open out here," explained Silas, "If we stay out and he wakes up, he'd have a better chance of escaping. That's why we're bringing him inside, so he'll have less of a chance. Now move it!"

The group then made their way inside and towards the elevator. Once in the said elevator, the scarred Silas snapped his fingers and they made moved down to the same underground complex that Wally had been introduced to a few days earlier. Two agents relieved Wally of Spider-Man's unconscious body and moved him to another room. The eighteen-year-old then looked at Silas.

"So what're you planning to do with him?" asked the teen.

"Nothing that concerns you," answered the white-haired man, then he became less serious, "As promised, the money's been transferred to your account."

"And what about the implant you put in my neck?" Wally was then subjected to a shocking sensation from his neck downwards. Looking up, he saw Silas grinning whilst pressing a button on a device he held.

"I'm afraid that will have to stay with you until further notice. You understand that we can't take risks with anyone who we grant power to."

Wally glared at the man. Then, their conversation was interrupted by the sounds of yelling and guns shooting coming from the room where Spider-Man was taken to.

"What the Hell-?" Silas demanded, followed by a burgundy red blur moving in a circle around him, Black Cat, and the remaining agents. Without warning, the group suddenly found themselves being tied together by a cable of sorts. The blur finally stopped to reveal a smug-looking Wally standing there with his arms crossed. The leader of M.E.C.H. just glared and said calmly, "I presume you and the Spider are working together?"

"You're a smart guy, you know that?" said Wally before running to where his friend was. When he got there, he found the web-head standing there with three agents webbed to the ceiling. "Looks you like you got it covered," the older teen remarked.

"Yep," agreed Spider-Man before turning back to face the red-suited teen, "You take care of Silas?"

"He'll be busy for a little bit. In the meantime, let's go!" said the eighteen-year-old as he put his arm around the web-slinger and held tightly before running through the complex. When they stopped in a laboratory, he let the wall-crawler go.

"Whew!" gasped Spider-Man, "I'm not sure I can get used to that."

"Don't think I have a choice really," replied Wally, "As far as I know, this is permanent." Then he looked around and saw a M.E.C.H. scientist step into the room. The scientist herself was dressed from head-to-toe in a hazmat suit and mask, making it impossible to see her face. The speedster ran up to her and held the masked woman by the collar of her suit. "But what isn't permanent is me living with a bug in my neck! Remove it!"

The woman responded nervously, "T-That would require surgery and time y-you don't have!"

"Silas is tied up at the moment, so I wouldn't worry about him," said Wally, throwing her would-be threat aside. "Now is there another way to get it out?!" he pressed.

"W-Well…theoretically, i-if you vibrate yourself at the r-right speed, you could m-make your molecules p-phase it out," she said.

"That's crazy!" retorted the eighteen-year-old.

"At this point," added Spider-Man, "do you have a better idea?"

Wally had no answer. Then he put the scientist down on the floor, followed by the web-head shooting a bit of webbing at her to keep her in place. The older teen then began to shake, only for the scientist lady to halt him.

"W-Wait, you have to have y-your mask off. The device won't go through the fabric of the suit," she explained.

Wally nodded before turning around and taking his mask off. Then he started speedily shaking and vibrating again. He sped up more and more until a metallic ping was heard on the ground. The eighteen-year-old stopped as he and Spider-Man looked down to see a small chip-like device lying on the ground.

"Well," said the wall-crawler, "that takes care of that, now to getting ourselves out of here."

"You two aren't going anywhere!" said a familiar voice. The two teens looked from the floor to the doorway and saw Silas and a grinning Black Cat standing there with agents behind them, all armed and pointing guns at them. "Admittedly, cables are tough to cut through."

"But they're not as tough if you have claws and strength like mine," said the platinum blonde girl, making her clawed fingers dance in the air a little to emphasize her point. Silas stepped in front and spoke calmly.

"I'm not unreasonable gentlemen. You've both proven yourselves to be quite capable individuals. Why not put those talents to use and join M.E.C.H.?" he offered. "The world's changing, and with that change comes chaos. What it needs is a strong group of men and women to rein it in. We are that strong group, and there's a place for you two in our ranks, if you're willing."

For a moment, the two teens did not say a word. Then they looked at each other and nodded briefly. Spider-Man then turned to the M.E.C.H. leader.

"Sounds tempting Silas, but before we do anything, there's just one thing I gotta ask."

"What?"

"I was wondering do you have a techno-fetish or something?" he said before shooting a web-blast at Silas' face. Then Wally proceeded to use his speed and, within a blur of motion, took away and disarmed all the guns. After that, he grabbed Spider-Man and made the two of them bolt for the elevator. The eighteen-year-old tried snapping his fingers, but nothing happened.

"What?!" he exasperated.

"What's wrong?" responded a concerned Spider-Man.

"Whenever he snapped his fingers, the elevator would go up, but it's not doing a damn thing for me!"

"Well we can't stay here!" stated the wall-crawler.

Wally looked up and smiled, "I've got an idea!" Before the masked teen could say anything, Wally clenched his hand into a fist and vibrated it rapidly before punching a big hole into the roof of the elevator. Climbing up, he then pulled the younger teen up as well right as some running boots could be heard. Holding on to his friend, Wally ran around in circle to build momentum before running up the shaft all the way to the top. The fact that it was closed proved no trouble for them, as the wall-crawler used his own strength to pull it open.

After that, Wally grabbed Spider-Man, and the two ran off, all the way back to Jasper's suburbs. Letting go of the web-head, the eighteen-year-old and sixteen-year-old stopped to catch their respective breaths.

"That…was…intense!" panted Jack as he pulled his mask up.

"You're…telling…me?" responded Wally with his own labored breaths. Once he got his breath back, he turned to Jack. "I gotta leave soon."

"What?" asked the younger teen.

"M.E.C.H. knows who I am Jack, and they know where to find me and my uncle, as well as anyone else close to me. So it's best for everybody that I disappear, at least for a while anyway."

"You sure about that?" Jack responded, seeing his friend's logic but still a little unsure.

"Positive."

"Well, where would you go?"

"Don't know; just have to figure out a place where M.E.C.H. or anyone else can't get me."

"And what if you can't find that place?"

"Then I'll just keep looking. That's all there is to it really."

Jack sighed, "Well, if that's how you feel about it, then I wish you luck."

"Thanks man," said Wally as he and his friend bucked fists. Then, he sped off into the distance, leaving Jack and everything else behind him. The sixteen-year-old nodded in the direction his friend left before making his way back to his own house.


1:55 AM

Back at the warehouse, Silas and company finally managed to get the elevator working again. As they got out of it, the M.E.C.H. leader turned back to his troops, Black Cat included.

"We'll have to relocate," he simply said.


A/N: Well, there's the latest chapter. Hope everyone liked it, and as you might guess, Wally is this story's version of the Flash, with no predecessors to give him any hints. And a few guys have noted more than once that I didn't do more original stuff in this, so I believe I've done better with that thanks to this chapter. And please, no one get on to me about overcrowding? I KNOW I'm using a lot of characters, but I'm setting it to a limit.

Plus, it's like Megabob452 told me, having multiple villains isn't necessarily bad if you manage them properly.

I originally wanted that scientist lady to not be cowardly, but I found myself written into a corner by the fact that I couldn't give the guys a proper response. I also put her in because we didn't see a lot of female members in M.E.C.H. while the show was on, as it seemed to be just a bunch of guys. So with her and Black Cat, that's two.

And to the guy who pointed out to me a while back, yes, I already knew that in the comics Spidey has the mechanical web-shooters. I went with the organic ones because Jack's not smart enough to make them.

Next up is Predatory, the one a lot of people have been waiting for. Not only will we see the introduction of Airachnid, but we'll also learn the answer to something about Jack as well, though you'll have to wait and see to find out.

As always, read and review, and if you have any questions or suggestions, PM them to me.