"Look! Look! This shirt has Iron Man on it!" Normie bounced with excitement. "Can we get it?"
Normie took the shirt off the shelf and held it to his chest.
"Sure," Peter said dismissively.
His arms were currently full with clothes for Felicia and Normie and he was ready to leave.
"Aw, he is such a little angel," an elderly woman said as she grabbed a shirt from the same shelf.
"Uh-huh," Peter nodded, inwardly not agreeing.
The woman bent down a little to talk to Normie. "How old are you?"
"I just turned four!" Normie smiled.
"Are you having fun shopping with your Dad?" the elderly woman asked Normie.
"Peter's not my Dad," Normie replied, giggling. "He's just watching me right now because my Mommy and Daddy were fighting each other."
"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that." The woman looked up at Peter and gave him an unreadable look.
"They're going through a divorce right now..." Peter tried to explain before trailing off awkwardly as the lady turned around and walked away from them.
Peter shook his head and ushered Normie to the front of the store so they could pay for the clothes. The taxi picked them back up soon after that. Peter was thankful the store was less than ten minutes from the hotel.
Normie was swinging his feet back and forth as he sat in the back of the taxi next to him. Peter could feel Normie's eyes on him.
"Why do you look so mad all the time?" Normie asked Peter all of a sudden.
Peter looked taken aback by that. "Mad? I'm not- why do you say that?"
"Well, your eyebrows are always pulled together like this," Normie replied as he mimicked Peter's expression, "and you never smile."
Peter snorted at the look on the kid's face. Normie instantly burst into a fit of giggles. Peter shook his head.
"I'm not mad," he said once Normie calmed down. "It's just- you met my son Andrew on the island, right?"
"Yeah! Mommy explained to me that he was my half-brother. She said that he can control things with his mind!" he said in adoration.
Peter glanced up at the taxi driver to see if he was listening. It didn't seem like he was.
"Shhhh," Peter whispered to Normie and gestured at the driver; Normie nodded, showing he understood.
"Well, I want him back. He doesn't belong with them. None of them do," Peter said quietly.
Normie raised his eyebrow in confusion.
"Doesn't belong there? Who's them?" Normie asked.
"Them. Andrew. Mary Jane. Harry," Peter said quickly.
"But Stryker said he helped them. Mommy and Daddy were dying and he saved their lives." Normie smiled. "He's a hero."
"He is not a hero," Peter said coldly. "This isn't the place to talk about it, but you need to know the truth about what's going on."
Normie hesitantly nodded they had pulled up to the hotel. Without a word, Peter exited the taxi with the bags. Normie silently followed him. The door to their room opened before Peter was able to knock. Felicia ruffled Normie's hair as he walked through the door.
"Here." Peter set the bags on the table.
"Thanks, Peter," Felicia said as she smiled at him. "I can only imagine what you picked out."
"Maybe you should have gone yourself," Peter snapped angrily.
"Ooh, what's your problem?" Felicia asked a little taken aback as she crossed her arms across her chest.
Peter sat down at the table and gestured for Felicia to sit as well.
"Normie, can you please tell us about Stryker and what goes on at the island? We just want to know your stance on this," Peter said.
"Stance?" Normie questioned.
"What you think of Stryker," Peter explained.
"Okay..." Normie seemed confused. "Stryker helps people that need help. Like people who are going to die or are very sick. Then he makes them better and sometimes they get powers!"
"Do you know about how he chips some people so that he can control them?" Peter pressed.
"The chips are for if they get lost though," Normie said.
Felicia shook her head. "No, Normie. The chips made us not ourselves. Stryker used the chips on the people who didn't want to be there."
"So... Mommy, Daddy, and Andrew don't want to be there with me?" the little boy frowned.
"And Andrew?" Peter asked as he stood up suddenly concerned. "Normie, does Andrew have one of those chips in his head too?"
Normie nodded quickly. "Yeah." He was starting to look worried. "The chips don't hurt them though. I thought- Stryker said it was just in case they get lost."
"Do you have a chip?" Peter asked.
"No," Normie replied as he began rubbing his arm. "I didn't need one."
"So Stryker wasn't worried about you getting lost?" Peter inquired as he raised his eyebrow.
Normie kept looking between Peter and Felicia.
"I don't know," he said in a sad voice.
Peter looked at Felicia. "If Normie is right about Andrew having a chip in-"
"-Then maybe he doesn't actually want to be one of the bad guys," Felicia finished for him.
"Bad guys?" Normie questioned, clearly confused.
Peter opened his mouth to answer, but his spidey pager started to go off.
"We haven't even been gone a day yet," Peter complained as he got up to press the respond button.
"Spider-Man!" the familiar voice of Captain Winchester boomed through the pager. "Mysterio is back! He was last seen near 85th Street and Meadowview!"
"Let's go." Felicia jumped up and ran to the next room.
"Stay here, I'll be back in a few hours!" Peter called to her.
Felicia ran back into the room. "Okay, Normie, Aunt May is going to watch you and Violet for a few hours."
"Okay, Licia." the boy smiled at her.
"I can go myself," Peter tried again.
She let out a light laugh as she grabbed his hoodie and tossed it to him.
"You're not going to swing yourself all the way there, it's an hour away. Besides, I know how to hot wire a car. Do you?" Felicia asked.
"We're not going to hot wire a car, Felicia," he protested.
"Correction, you're not. I am. Now let's go, we're wasting time." Felicia shoved him out the door.
Peter knew she was right, and he figured they could just return the car later.
"See? We're making great time," Felicia said as she swerved through the traffic. "I cut down the hour drive to... twenty minutes!" she smirked.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just drive." Peter rolled his eyes. "Seriously though, after I take care of Mysterio, we need to come up with a plan."
"We need to find a way to draw them out, but it has to be on our terms-"
"Felicia, stop!" Peter yelled.
Felicia slammed on the brakes and the car screeched to a stop. A second later a black SUV landed in the spot their car would have been in. Peter looked up in the air and he couldn't believe his eyes.
"Well, it looks like we found them," Peter said as he began taking off his clothes, revealing his Spider-Man outfit underneath.
Scarlet was soaring through the air while Andrew was flying around on his glider. They seemed to be chasing... but that couldn't be right. There were what seemed like at least twenty or thirty Mysterios running around between the buildings, avoiding capture from Scarlet and Andrew.
"What do you think that's about?" Felicia asked.
"Mysterio can create illusions. I'm assuming he made several holograms of himself to avoid capture or to create confusion. I don't know why they're running from Scarlet and Andrew though," Peter said.
"I wonder where Harry is." Felicia looked around.
"I'm going to try to find the real Mysterio. I need to know why they're chasing him. Is there any way you can get some kind of electricity? Another taser?" Peter asked quickly.
"I'm on it." Felicia answered as Peter jumped out of the car.
She sped away and Peter looked at the scene in front of him. Most of the area was blocked off to civilians, he didn't see any people in the main combat area. Once again, all of the police were knocked out, probably by the same kind of gas Mysterio had used at the bank robbery.
One of the Mysterios was turned away from Peter, up against an office building. Peter silently ran up behind him.
"Okay Mysterio, what's going on?" Peter asked as he went to apprehend him. His hand went right through Mysterio's arm.
"Whoa," Peter said as he put his hand through the hologram again.
He heard an alarmed yell and looked up. Another Mysterio was running down the road. Scarlet was right behind him, whipping throwing stars at him.
"Oh no you don't!" Peter yelled out, leaping forwards to tackle the running man. He flew right through it again, revealing it to be another hologram.
"Damn!" Peter cursed. He quickly repositioned himself, thinking Scarlet was going to go after him next. As soon as she realized it was a hologram, she flew off towards another Mysterio.
Well, that was weird, Peter thought. Why didn't she try anything?
"No, wait!" Peter heard a Mysterio yell.
He whipped his head around to see Andrew about to shoot him with an arrow. They were standing in the inside of a building where half the wall had been blasted away.
"Andrew!" Peter called out.
Andrew didn't flinch. The arrow shot through the Mysterio hologram. Andrew growled in frustration as he picked the arrow up.
"Andrew!" Peter called to him again.
He carefully walked up to him as Andrew put the arrow away in the quiver.
"Spider-Man." Andrew nodded to him and walked past.
"Look at me!" Peter raised his voice as he turned around.
Andrew stopped walking.
"I need to know. Do you have one of those mind controlling chips in you too?" Peter asked.
"Yes, he does."
Peter froze.
He turned around and Scarlet was standing there, arms to her side and her mask was unzipped.
"Take it out," Peter said each word slowly. "MJ, you have to listen to me. I know you can hear me."
"My name is Scarlet." she said, walking casually towards him. "And we can't do that."
Peter's spider sense wasn't going off, so he stood his ground. Andrew slowly walked around to the front of Peter, as to keep him in view.
"Andrew, keep looking for Mysterio," Scarlet commanded.
Peter was about to protest, but Scarlet brought her finger up to his mouth.
She brushed her fingers along the edge of his mask and began to peel it up.
"Stop," Peter said, backing up a foot.
Scarlet made a pouting face. "That's not fair, I don't have a mask on. Besides, nobody is around to see you." She gestured outside at the police officers that were passed out on the ground.
She began to take his mask off again, he didn't resist this time.
"I can see why I used to like you," Scarlet practically purred as she ran her hand down the side of his face.
"You have to see that what you guys are doing is wrong," Peter said.
Scarlet began combing her hand through his hair.
"I know that it's wrong, I just don't care." She said with a shrug. "Not having the burden of emotions is actually a great thing. I just do what I want, without having to worry about how I'll feel afterwards."
Peter stepped back again, letting her hand fall from his hair. "I know that you're not yourself right now, MJ. But please, listen to me. I'm sorry that this happened to you. I'm sorry about what happened that night with the Sinister Six. I'm-"
Scarlet cut him off by roughly pressing her lips to his. Peter's eyes opened wide and he tried to shove her off.
"Don't-" he started, but she persisted.
He gave in and began kissing her back, pressing her closer to kiss ended as soon as it started.
"Sorry, I just feel... nothing." Scarlet smirked.
Her head turned a margin of a fraction and she winked. Before Peter was able to turn around, he felt a white hot pain in his side. Somebody had fired a gun at him.
"I'll leave you to it then," Scarlet called to the person behind Peter.
She ran out of the blown out building, right after another Mysterio. Peter turned, clutching his side. Blood was already flowing through his hand.
"Long time, no see," Goblin laughed as he tossed the gun to the side. He took out his bowie knife from his sheath and lunged at Peter.
Despite his side feeling as if it were on fire, Peter was able to jump out of the way in time. "What's going on out there? Why are you guys trying to kill Mysterio?" Peter questioned, leaping out of the way again just as Harry lunged for him.
"Kill?" Goblin laughed. "We've been ordered to capture him, alive. Another project for Stryker." He smirked, showing off his razor sharp teeth.
"I'm not going to let you guys take anyone else." Peter tried to web the knife from the Goblin's grip, but he was too fast.
"Where are Normie and Felicia, Parker?" the Goblin asked as he began circling around Peter. He glared darkly at Peter.
Peter's side was burning.
"I'm not telling you anything," Peter said through gritted teeth. "Nobody deserves to be Stryker's slave. Not even you, Goblin."
The conflict of emotions followed one another in quick succession across the Goblin's face. There was a small sound behind Peter and he saw the Goblin turn towards the sound behind him. The second that Peter turned to see what, or who, was behind him, the wind was knocked out of him and he found himself on the floor. The Goblin was on top of him, knees digging into Peter's stomach. Peter tried to shove him off, but the Goblin punched his nose, causing it to break.
"Fuck!" Peter yelled out, holding his nose.
The Goblin suddenly began digging in the bullet wound on Peter's side.
"What the hell is wrong with you!?" Peter managed to gasp out.
The pain subsided as the Goblin stopped digging. He held up a small shiny object to Peter. The bullet!
"This bullet is very special. It burns for several hours after being fired if in contact with living tissue. It would have slowly cooked your organs until you died," the Goblin said.
He tossed the bullet to the floor, once again glaring at Peter with a blackness in his eyes.
"Let's get this straight. I fucking hate you," the Goblin growled out. "But ever since Stryker did this-" he gestured to himself, "-to us, Harry and I are more fused than we were before. His pain is my pain. It would literally kill him to see you dead."
The Goblin shook his head in disgust.
"Give up Normie and Felicia while you still can. Stryker gave the order to kill you if you attempted to rescue any of his projects. If they are seen with you, you're as good as dead. He already knows they were at your house." the Goblin smiled as if he was remembering something, and then got up from Peter's chest.
"Normie is your son! You don't really want him to stay there, do you? You know what will happen to him." Peter struggled as he got up.
Peter heard a static noise, and the Goblin brought his hand up to a small device on his ear.
"You got him? Good. I'm coming. Andrew? No, but he knows where to go." The Goblin took his hand away from the device.
"Well, looks like Scarlet got the real Mysterio. They're on their way back to the island as we speak." the Goblin smirked. "You failed again, Parker."
"I will get you all out of there." Peter assured him. "Stryker is going to pay."
"You just don't give up, do you?" the Goblin snickered.
"Well, Harry-" the Goblin turned around, "-I gave him fair warning. Next time I see him though, I will end him."
"You won't kill me," Peter laughed. "You just saved my life."
The Goblin bent down to pick something up. "Here's your mask." he said as he tossed Peter the mask.
As soon as Peter caught it, the Goblin stabbed a syringe into his arm.
"Can't have you following me back now, can I?" the Goblin said.
And everything for Peter went black.