Chapter 11:

"Good morning Peter," He heard his Aunt say from outside his door. His eyes shot open and he practically leaped out of bed. He threw on more appropriate clothing before exiting his room, only to find his Aunt standing at the top of the stairs holding a basket of laundry. "Did you have a good sleep?"

"I uh..." he began, "I'm sorry if I woke you last night...and that I didn't call..."

"Mat explained everything to me on Tuesday, dear," Aunt May smiled warmly. "He told me about the no-phone policy. And when you'd be home. Of course he wasn't my only source of information." She continued as they both headed downstairs. As soon as he entered the kitchen, he realized what she was talking about.

On the table was a copy of the morning paper. The headline read 'Midnight shooting involving maggia and unnamed team of heroes.' Just under the headline was what looked like an amateur photographer's shot of the midnight battle. The only two figures he could possible discern where Liz, with her unmistakable aura of flame and Cassie, with her unmistakeable size, dwarfing everyone else around her.

"Peter, you're on the television!" He heard his Aunt call out from the living room. He quickly entered the living room and turned his attention to the television. The news station was playing home video footage of the fight.

"a loud ruckus outside his window forced a local man out of his bed in the early hours of the morning. Luckily, he shared what he managed to catch on his home video camera." After a quick nodd from the newswoman, the feed switched to a full-screen shot. Although the footage was extremely fuzzy and shaky, Peter could tell exactly what was going on, due to the fact that he had been there. He watched the fight play out from a different angle than what he had experienced. He watched as a man flew through the air and crashed onto the pavement several feet from the camera man.

"Oh my," Aunt May squeaked as Peter watched himself dart past the camera man and onto the street. Luckily, the man did not follow him, instead focusing his lens on Cassie as she shot upwards. "Oh!" his Aunt gasped, "Look at that..." she finished as the feed switched back to the newswoman.

"our witness says he distinctly saw the vigilantes known as Spider-man, Spider-girl and Titaness. We also have an unconfirmed sighting of the Human Torch, who was reportedly at a nightclub at the time. This is the second new team of heroes to appear this week. Earlier we talked with..."

"So," said Aunt May as she took a seat on the couch. "Tell me all about it! Who were you with last night? Where are you sleeping?" she finished with a smile.

"Well," he began as he inhaled deeply, unsure of where to begin. "we sorta got split up into classes," he said, "three of them. Six of us to a class, plus two instructors."

"With who?" his Aunt asked with a quirky smile.

"Can't tell you," he replied, "that's one of the conditions."

"Any other conditions I should know about?" Aunt May asked dryly.

"I'm going to have to head out sometime today. I'm supposed to report in every day," He said, "so they know I'm not dead or kidnapped or something." As soon as he saw the warm smile on her face, Peter knew he was off the hook for not calling her for four days.

The rest of his week went by without much trouble, given his chosen lifestyle. His days consisted of catching petty criminals and stopping every mugging he came across. He did as he had been asked to and reported in with his team once a day over the next three days.

He did his best to avoid the subject of the members of his team, as it would surely lead to him mentioning Uncle Ben's murderer. And he knew his Aunt would not take to that very well. The subject was however, inevitable, as she would ask the odd question.

"How big can that Titaness girl get?" she asked out of the blue one day.

"I don't know exactly, tallest I've seen her get is fifty feet" Peter replied from the other room. "And her actual cover name is Stature. The media just messed it up, as they usually do with these things." The fact that he had been sighted with a larger team also did wonders for his hero-work, even if he was alone against larger gangs.

"Shut the bitches up!" one man screamed one night several weeks later, as he and five other guys had just jumped two twenty year oldish women in the middle of the night. Peter smiled under his mask as he crawled on the wall, getting into a perfect vantage point over the muggers. "come on man! This looks like Cage territory!"

"Go back seven blocks," Peter mocked from the shadows, "take a left and you'll be right in front of his house. Go right twelve blocks and you'll be at Daredevil's. Or you could go north for about three and a half miles on 32nd street and be at Avengers headquarters."

"Oh shit!" another man shouted, "It's the spider! Run for it, man!" the man cried as he tore down the alleyway. Several of his friends might have joined him, if not for the gang leader's words.

"This punk's a joke," the man said as he puffed his chest. "If he needs five other freaks to back him up in a fight. I'll bet he can't..."

"I'd be really careful about calling Hulkling a freak," Peter said challengingly. "He might get a little upset."

"Wow, wait man..." someone stammered, "you're on that team with the giantess chick..."

"Yes," Peter said as he crept forward, closer to the men. "And she loves to go around stepping on people like you. It's her second favourite thing in the whole world." He almost laughed as he watched the colour drain from the faces of the men in front of him. "And if you really must know, she really loves to..." He never got a chance to finish, as the men scattered in a mad dash down the alley, after the first man. "I was going to say she loves to bake cookies. But I probably ask her first, seeing as I don't know yet. Oh well, you two okay?" he finished as he helped the two women to their feet, both of whom looked like they where halfway in between crying and laughing. It was only when the two women had left when he realized he wasn't alone.

"You talk way to much," Anya said in her perpetually happy voice as she leaped down from a rooftop. "Or not enough. I don't know, it's rather confusing," she said with a smile on her face. "You babble constantly to the bad guys, yet your lips are sealed tight when it comes to direct questions."

"That's how I roll," Peter replied with a shrug, "take me or leave me."

"I don't think I'll take you," Any smirked, "Not in the dirty way, at least. I've got a boyfriend anyways. And the whole Spider-man dating Spider-girl theme's a little cliche, don't you think? Not that you aren't cute." She finished with a sly wink as the alley became illuminated by the headlights of a passing car. "Try Firestar."

"I did," he replied with a slight twinge of his mouth. "We went to the same high school."

"And how'd that turn out?" Anya asked.

"The head nerd asked out the head cheerleader, how do you think it went?" He replied with as much wit he could muster. "I can still hear the laughter."

"Man that sounds awful," Anya smirked. He did not let his history with Liz affect their teamwork. In fact they found that they had a lot in common, even more than both having superpowers. His initial observations of her intelligence had been mistaken. It turned out that she was very intelligent in her own right, when it came to guessing people's reactions. And her intuition came in handy more than once.

"Where did those guns come from!" Hulkling shouted as he pushed a man against a wall. Peter and Liz flanked him as Cassie and Anya watched the entrances to the back street they where in. "If you don't tell me in five seconds, I'll make sure you don't have kids." The man shook his head violently from side to side.

"I don't know!" he pleaded.

"Or we could always drag you out there," Liz smirked. "Just so all your thug buddies can see you. Your choice pal."

"All right I'll talk!" he screamed. And the man did. Gave them the name of the weapons supplier, who in turn pointed them to Hammerhead. Unfortunately, they where unable to arrest him, because all trace of his involvement disappeared in a convenient fire.

"Well it was a job well done," Wasp said when they returned to the mansion, tired and exhausted. She ordered them into a change of clothes as she threw their costumes into the industrial washing machine. When she returned, she brought several platters of food with her, with a little bit of assistance from The Invisible Woman. A total of ten trays where laid out for them.

"For the two biggest eaters..." Wasp smirked as she motioned to Peter and Cassie. Apparently, they both had an increased metabolism. Peter's came from his body's increased energy output. Cassie, on the other hand, had a large appetite after growing or shrinking.

"Shut up," Cassie grumbled as she grabbed a plate. Peter followed suit, and sat down next to her, "I can't help it," she muttered as Daredevil walked into the room, followed closely by X-23. At the first sight of her, Peter stood and exited the room without a word, something that did not go unnoticed by Daredevil. He followed Peter into the hall, stopping him by grabbing his arm.

"When I asked you to forgive Laura," Daredevil snapped in a low tone, "I meant that you actually talk. That you stay in the same room, that you..."

"I don't see you being all buddy-buddy with the Kingpin," Peter snapped back harshly. "Or going out for drinks with Bulls-eye."

"That's not the same..." Daredevil began to reply.

"Really? Not the same?" Peter grimaced as he turned to face the man without fear. "Because you told me that Fisk had your father killed for not blowing a fight, right? And that Bulls-eye was the trigger-man?" Peter continued mercilessly, "When you apologize to them, I'll apologize to the monster in that room."

"Your Parents would want you to forgive..." Daredevil began.

"Thanks to her," Peter snapped as he turned away from him, "I don't know what my Parents would want." He headed strait for the roof, looking for somewhere quiet to think by himself. He burst through the rooftop access door as the robotic voice called after him, asking if he wanted anything in particular. Peter didn't bother to reply, simply slamming the door shut as he walked out into the cool evening breeze.

He listened to the sounds of New York as he watched the sun begin to set. He heard the cars honking and the dogs barking. He heard the leaves rustling and the crowds as they moved from place to place. He also discovered that he wasn't alone.

"Stupid static electricity..." a tiny voice squeaked. Peter looked down at his feet. Attached to his left foot was a half-inch tall Cassie, who stopped and looked up at him, still wearing her unstable molecules suit. "Hi," she squeaked as she slid down his foot and onto the solid roof.

"What are you doing on my foot?" he asked.

"I honestly didn't mean to spy," She replied in a somewhat shaky voice as she began to shoot upwards. Within seconds, she had almost returned to her normal size.

"Then explain why you where on my foot," he said with a slight tilt of his head. "Because it looked like you where spying on me."

"I uh..." Cassie said as she brushed a lock of hair out of her eyes. "Oh god...I'm so embarrassed," she said as her frame began to shrink once more. He stopped her by grabbing her shoulders.

"You do that a lot," he said with a bare faced smile, "don't you?"

"I...do what?" she replied quietly, looking up at him as she did so. Weak smiles formed on both their faces as the sun sank lower.

"It looks like you shrink when you get embarrassed," he said as Cassie's cheeks turned a bright red colour. "Why?" He asked.

"I...I don't know..." she said in a flustered tone, breaking his hold on her shoulders. "I mean...it's...I've always been like this... ever since I was ten. I get sad, feel guilty or embarrassed, I shrink. If I get to angry or excited, I grow."

"That sounds kinda cool," he replied with half a smile.

"Well it makes relationships hell," Cassie said as the access door opened, revealing Wasp. Wearing an expression that spoke volumes, Wasp crossed her arms as she spoke.

"You two need to come inside,"" said Wasp as she beckoned for them to come, "Morgan Le Fey's been sighted downtown, and we're the only ones available for deployment right now."