When Ben Urich and Peter Parker first arrived at the Starbucks café, Urich first began to scan the crowd, seeing if anyone seated would beckon him over. This was perhaps one of the more frustrating aspects of doing an interview with an anonymous source, the fact that they were unknown. While Urich certainly didn't mind interviewing them, given how useful they were, it was definitely frustrating to try and meet up with them. What more, the sources themselves were typically jittery and nervous, due to the information they were about to part with. This resulted in them asking to see multiple forms of identification, wanting assurances that they would remain anonymous, and of course asking if you were followed or not. During their walk to the Starbucks, Urich had begun to question his idea of bringing Peter along with him. While he knew full well that Peter was a smart kid, he was also privy to the fact that these kinds of sources were always jumpy and bringing an extra person wouldn't help things. Nevertheless, there was nothing he could do about it now, and what with Peter's age, he hoped it would work in his benefit, making it seem more innocuous, given that the likelihood of Peter having some sort of secret double-life was completely preposterous. In any case, they had arrived two minutes early, and had waited for five more minutes, with no one approaching them. Urich had offered to purchase Peter a drink, but he had replied with a simple, "no thanks." Eventually, after two more minutes of waiting at a table, still with nobody coming up to them, Urich decided that their "source" was either a crank caller or a no-show, and had gotten up and left the café, still unaware that they were being followed.

While Urich was scanning the crowd, waiting for someone to approach him, Peter had also kept a fervent watch, searching for the instigator who tripped up his spider-sense. So far, nothing had stuck out at him, and his head was beginning to ache. Since they had arrived at the café, Peter had determined that whoever was causing him the headache was probably not one of his usual enemies, but just a pedestrian, possibly a low-level thief or some other similar character. Otherwise, there might have been a massive explosion somewhere, or a large group of civilians would be running away, plus screaming, a whole lot of screaming. While Peter was somewhat soothed by these revelations, he still found his blaring spider-sense a painful irritant, and just wished that whoever was responsible would hurry up and reveal himself/herself, so that he could change into costume and deal with it. Unfortunately, that was a scenario which did not appear to be developing anytime soon. So, with some minor resignation, Peter got up and followed Urich out of the café, hoping that his buzzing would fade away as they headed back to the Bugle, allowing Peter to get back on track with the Trask research. Yet no sooner had they left the Starbucks café and were heading back towards Park Place then they both heard a voice emanating from an alleyway.

"Pssst-Hey Urich!"

Urich immediately turned to face the person who had called out to him, eyeing him suspiciously. "Who are you?"

"The one who called you earlier today…the one who said to meet here!" Said the man, eyes frantic.

Urich did not reply immediately, but instead, peered upon him with a look of befuddlement. While there were a few peculiar sources he had encountered throughout the years, he had never met one inside of an alleyway. If anything, the alleyway was a place unidentified sources tried to avoid the most. But after a quick appraisal of his hygiene and clothing, both of which looked relatively fresh and clean, he determined that this man was not a potential mugger, or some other vagabond. Regardless, he still decided it would be a good idea to ask: "Do you have any form of ID, to show me that you're who you really say you are?"

The red-haired man seemed to be rather frustrated, but still complied, quickly pulling up some sort of tag which hung around his neck, before tossing it to him. "Here! Now will you please get out of the street!"

Urich caught the tag, and flipped it up. What he saw made his hands tremble, and the small of his back to sweat. This guy had a government ID! He was the source! He was legitimate! Hands still shaking, Urich turned towards Peter, who was peering inquisitively at the man in the alley. "Peter?"

Peter's head immediately swiveled up to meet Urich's eyes. "Yeah?"

"You okay if we go into the alley?"

"Um, yeah, if you think this guy's real."

"Oh yes, he's real Pete. He's real."

The reason why Urich had all of a sudden gone light-headed was because something of this magnitude hadn't occurred before. The last time Urich could recall a federal source approaching reporters and giving them information about a government cover-up was Watergate, something which had occurred over thirty or more years ago! The potential for this story trumped all others, even his series of articles on the Kingpin! Urich could not believe it. He was ecstatic, he was ebullient, he was-

"Urich!" Said the source, beckoning with his arm, "get the hell in here!"

Urich immediately obliged, with Peter right behind him.

Meanwhile, at the Cryptkeeper headquarters, Ryder watched as Urich and the kid entered the alleyway. She was about to say something when Rodgers, who had her left hand over her earpiece, said, "Our guy wants to intercept, should we-?"

"Yes!" Ryder said, pointing towards Rodgers with a rolled up packet. "Get Grab Team A in that alley now! Have the other teams get a layout of the alley and have them ready to plug it up if we have to, got it?"

Rodgers nodded immediately, pulling the earpiece out of her ear, and delegating orders to the various technicians. All the while Ryder stared very intently at screen one, whose onscreen imagery had zoomed in intensely, focusing on the alley, the result of the one agent's machinations, given how he was in possession of one of the cameras feeding live footage onto the screens within the Cryptkeeper offices. Now we've got you. Thought Ryder smugly.

To Peter, everything seemed to happen so fast.

When Urich and Peter first entered the alley, their source, who said that he could be called, "Charlie" immediately yanked on Urich's sleeve, insisting that they had to move now.

"What's the rush?" Urich had asked.

"If we don't move now, we'll both be dead!" Charlie had said. After he had delivered his urgent message, he then froze, hearing the sound of a vehicle rapidly approaching.

Urich, after he had craned his neck to hear the noise out on the street, turned to 'Charlie' and asked, "Are they looking for you?"

Charlie's eyes had widened even more, glancing at Urich to say, "Listen, we have to move now, and by the way, they'll be looking for you too, unless you want to take your chances with them."

To Urich, that was all the convincing he required. He quickly tucked his glasses and notepad away (since he had gotten them out for the impromptu interview) and said, "Follow me. Peter, you too."

Dammit! Peter thought to himself. I need to get out of here and change! Maybe I can lose them in the street-

Peter's thoughts were interrupted by Urich, who said, "Come on Peter, we've got to go!" With a silent groan, Peter acquiesced, running after Urich and Charlie, making sure to not outrun them.

At the Cryptkeeper headquarters, Ryder was in a full-blown commanding mode. Issuing directives left and right, asking for constant, up-to-the-second updates, as well, as remaining fixated on the three projector screens, whose footage was constantly altering as the four teams closed in on their quarry. To Ryder, this was her adrenaline high.

"We've got Grab Team A at the alleyway," reported one of the technicians, "do you want the rest of the teams to get in there with them?"

"No," replied Ryder, "we only need two teams in there to snatch them, have the remaining teams pull back and do recon-"

"So if they try to make a run for it, we can intercept them?"

"Exactly."

Rodgers chimed in. "We have a bird's-eye of the alley, do you want it up?"

Ryder pointed to the second display, "Put it up on screen two, and is the asset in the nest yet?"

"Just got there, received a text message a second ago, confirming her position."

"Excellent," Ryder said, thinking of Redfern and Urich. You've got nowhere to run.

In the alleyway, Urich, Redfern, and Peter were practically sprinting through the narrow passageways, with Urich in the lead, Redfern right behind him, and Peter bringing up the rear. Urich's first idea was to cut across, in order to reach West Broadway, where they might hopefully lose their pursuers in the crowded streets, given how it was nine-thirty in the morning and many people were in fact heading to their jobs. That plan, however, had hit a roadblock when they saw a silver minivan pull up and expel several men, who had proceeded to rapidly enter the alley, no doubt searching for them. This had forced them to take a sharp right, which would lead them to Park Place. Urich was about to exit when Redfern grabbed him by the shoulder, saying, "Are you crazy, don't go out there!"

"Alright, fine," Urich snapped, pulling Redfern's arm off of his shoulder and spinning around to face him, "do you have a better idea?"

Redfern had been thinking of one for a while now. He already figured that they would try to shut down the alleyway, and he was pretty sure that they might have some people outside, in case they managed to exit the alley. Unfortunately, that was all guess-work, and Redfern was not sure how exactly to lose them. Frustrated, he looked up towards the sky, wishing that something-anything would come to him. If only we could fly! He thought, before immediately becoming embarrassed, having come up with such a juvenile idea. But wait! Was it really that bad of an idea? Fly-up, up, upstairs…UP! Quickly, he turned toward Urich, speaking very fast.

"The building! We'll go up the building!"

"Excuse me?"

"Look, we're standing right next to a rather tall apartment building. We go inside, they lose us, got it?"

Urich was slightly perplexed, given the rapidity with which Redfern spoke. Nevertheless, he agreed.

The first thing they had to do was find a backdoor. Fortunately, that was easy, as there was a door in their alleyway. Regrettably, it was locked, probably to prevent thieves and vandals from entering. This did not hinder Redfern, however, who, in desperation, proceeded to hammer on the doorknob with his foot, until the lock eventually gave way. There was little time for respite, however, as all three of them heard the sounds of rapidly approaching footsteps. Thus proceeding quickly, they all entered the building, closing the door behind them, hoping that a garbage pin propped up against the door would hide the damage to the doorknob.

Throughout all of this, Peter continued to search around, vainly hoping that there would be a chance for him to dart away into costume. At first, Peter had retained a vague sense of suspicion upon seeing Redfern, wondering if he was the reason his spider-sense was going off like a fire alarm. This, however, turned out to be a red herring, given that his spider-sense had not increased in its intensity when he came closer to Redfern. Instead, it had increased when whoever was chasing Redfern began to close in on them, causing Peter to believe that he and Urich had been followed to the Starbucks, and that whoever had followed them was part of the group who were now closing in on them. RRRRRRGH! If only I could change! But Peter had not been given a window of opportunity yet, since Urich always managed to keep an eye on both Redfern and him. Needless to say, all three of them were rapidly proceeding up the stairs, listening for any sounds of a door opening. They had gone up two flights when Redfern stopped and handed Urich his black attaché case.

"Give me your jacket."

"Excuse me?" Urich asked, somewhat stupefied.

"Look Urich, you've got to trust me on this. Outside we've got who knows how many government teams searching for us. We don't have a lot of time. If we change our outfits, we might be able to lose them and get away!"

Urich still looked skeptical, but complied nonetheless. "Alright, here," he said, taking off his trademark dress jacket and handing over to Redfern, who relinquished his own jacket, a lengthy beige trench coat, "but I still don't see why I need to carry your briefcase around-"

"Because that briefcase has everything you need to write this story," Redfern said quickly. "Listen, this briefcase is why those guys are out there chasing us, this is their playbook, this has most of their dirty little secrets. Thus, it is important, no, it is imperative that you not let them get their hands on it. Understand?"

"Perfectly," Urich said, becoming serious, "so what do you need me to do?"

Redfern said nothing, brushing his hand through his hair. Then it hit him. "Okay, so here's the plan, we each split up, you go out the front, and I'll see if there's another exit."

"You sure that's a good idea? I mean, what if there's someone out front?"

"I know, I know," Redfern said, pacing back and forth, "but it's the best plan I got, and I've got a bad feeling that if we don't do something quickly, they'll figure out where we are, and then we're screwed."

"But what if they mistake me for you, and then they grab the suitcase?"

"I don't know about that, but I'm pretty sure that if they did follow me here, than they must've been pretty damn good since these are completely new clothes which I bought here, and I took two different taxis to arrive at this particular location. Now, they may recognize my briefcase, so I suggest you hide it in the coat. It is big enough, after all."

"Got it," Urich said, "on one condition, the kid comes with me."

Dammit! Peter thought.

"Fine," Redfern said, "just make sure you stay in the crowd, and make sure not to panic and run."

"No problem," Urich said, extending a hand, "Good luck."

Redfern looked down at the hand as he buttoned up Urich's jacket, eventually clasping it and shaking it, "You too."

With that, they departed.

Sarah Ryder was beginning to feel uneasy.

It had been several minutes since Redfern, Urich, and that one kid had disappeared into the alleyway. It was only one block. They should have heard from one of the teams by now, but so far there had been no confirmation.

"Come on, people! We cannot afford to lose them," said Ryder, pacing the room.

"Get Mobile One into the alley," Rodgers said, pointing at the first monitor screen, with its live footage.

"Wait a minute, Grab Team A found something!" Said a technician, voice elevated so everyone in the room could hear it.

"What? What did they find?" Ryder exclaimed, heading over towards the technician.

"Mobile Four reported finding a busted doorknob on the side of an apartment building, right next to Park Place."

"Get them in there! And have the other teams focus their surveillance on that building! I'd also like to have a visual of the building up here," she said, tapping the biggest of the three screens.

While Cryptkeeper headquarters were rearranging their monitoring capabilities around the apartment building Urich, Redfern, and Peter had entered only a few minutes ago, Grab Team A was entering the building and had quickly fanned out. Two of them proceeded to rush upstairs, while the remaining two surveyed the ground floor. After Saunders, the team leader, and Jefferies, one of the other group members, searched all of the potential hiding places on the ground floor, they then hurried over to the main entrance of the building, which opened up directly to Church Street. Saunders immediately opened the door, but found the sidewalks to be incredibly crowded, filled with a variety of different people. As a result, he and Jefferies were forced to stand at the entrance, seeing if they could spot Urich or Redfern. After a few moments of waiting, Saunders heard a voice coming from inside his ear.

"Mobile Four, this is Mobile Two. No signs of the subjects up here."

Saunders responded immediately, speaking into the lapel of his jacket. "Roger that, Mobile Two, return to ground floor."

Saunders then returned his gaze to the sidewalk, when Jefferies suddenly nudged his arm, directing his attention to a man wearing a lengthy, beige trench coat, with long, dark hair, stopping at his shoulders. Saunders began to wonder if this was Urich, considering that he had arrived at the Starbucks wearing a shorter dress jacket, not this lengthier one. Despite this, Saunders still determined that it was worth a shot. Thus he radioed in, telling the rest of his team to rendezvous at the entrance to the apartment building, and called in to the Cryptkeeper headquarters, telling them about his potential lead.

After he had radioed to both his team and HQ, Saunders and Jefferies began to quickly push through the crowd, in an attempt to catch up with their target. Normally, Saunders would have waited until his entire team had regrouped, but time was of the essence, and if they waited, they would risk losing him. They were now both rapidly gaining on him, Jefferies taking out an auto-injector filled with a heavy sedative out of his jacket pocket and prepping it, while Saunders was mentally counting down the seconds until they reached him. Ten…nine…eight…they were so close…six…five…damn! Both Saunders and Jefferies were stopped, rather abruptly, by traffic, given that their target had managed to traverse the crosswalk heading across Park Place, and the traffic waiting had been given a green light. Dammit! Thought Saunders, as he reached down to speak into his jacket lapel again.

"Mobile Four has lost the subject," reported one of the technicians.

"What happened?"

"Got stuck at a traffic crossing, the subject managed to cross before they could."

Ryder sighed. Nevertheless, she remained unfazed. "Did the subject just cross the street?"

"Yes ma'am, but we still haven't heard anything about Redfern yet-"

"Forget Redfern. Let's just focus on what we do know. Can we get a visual of our current target?"

The technician complied, and soon enough, Mobile One, still perched on the third floor of a building across the street from the Starbucks, had zoomed in on the target-in-question, giving a crystal clear image of the person they were focusing on.

"That's him," Ryder said, staring at the image of Urich onscreen.

"What did they do? Change jackets?" Rodgers asked curiously.

"Seems like it."

"So what do you want to do?"

"Do we have any teams nearby?"

"No. Grab Team C is on Murray Street, and Grab Team D is parked at Park Place. The other two are in the building and the alleyway."

"Can't Grab Team D pull out and get him?"

"Unfortunately not. Traffic's too heavy, and there's no way they'd get to him in time on foot."

"Alright," Ryder said, turning to look at Rodgers, "give the asset a green light, take him out."

Meanwhile, Urich and Peter were walking quickly down Church Street, with Urich trying very hard to suppress the urge to run, or to look behind him. In an attempt to make him forget about his potential pursuers, he began to strike up a casual conversation with Peter.

"So, Peter, how about that, huh? Pretty weird, right?"

"Uh, yeah, sure, whatever you say, Mr. Urich," Peter responded, looking around. While his spider-sense had hit a real high note a few moments, it seemed to be dying down now. Maybe-

Peter's thoughts were all of a sudden interrupted by what sounded like a dull thunk. No sooner had Peter heard that almost imperceptible sound than Urich immediately fell to the ground. Alarmed, Peter rushed over to his side and turned him over, saying, "M-Mr. Urich? Are you okay? Mr.-"

What he saw caused him to become somewhat dizzy, as well as a little light-headed. Somewhere nearby, he heard a woman scream as a crowd began to form around him and Urich. Urich was crumpled up on the ground, eyes wide, with a halo of blood forming around his head. Peter, all of a sudden feeling as though he needed some air, pushed his way through the crowd, looking up at all of the tall buildings, feeling his anger and rage boiling. Who did this?! WHO!

* * *

While the crowd was forming around Urich's body, a lone figure was standing perfectly still behind a billboard with rotating advertisements, a sniper rifle, perched on a stand anchored to the ground. Being methodical, she remained in position, surveying the area where Urich fell, to ensure that she did in fact hit him. During her wait, someone emerged from the crowd and proceeded to look around, as though he was searching for someone. This person, he seemed familiar to her, who was-

Then, suddenly, it clicked, and a voice rose up from somewhere in the back of her mind, saying, Peter?!

After that, she blacked out.