The flight to California was easy. While the boys were taking care of the plane, MJ wandered through the hanger. "Found the cars!" She grinned as she walked over to the convertible Audi that was parked next to an SUV. She reached into the drivers seat and picked up the keys and a note addressed to Peter.

"Don't do anything I would do, and don't do anything I wouldn't do. There's a little grey area in there. That's where you operate. Have fun kid!"

She felt Peter walk up behind her. "This is clearly an inside joke."

Peter read the note over her shoulder and smiled. "It's what he said to me after we got back from Germany."

She held the keys out to him. "We're claiming this car. I've never ridden in a convertible before."

Peter took the keys, then put their bags in the trunk. He turned around and looked at the others. Johnny was arranging all of the luggage in the back of the SUV. "Wyatt?" Peter gestured to the black duffel bag Johnny was shoving into the back.

"What? You never know. I keep it on the plane. No reason not to just take it with us." Wyatt patted the bag as Johnny slid it into the back. The bag contained most of their ops gear, which really consisted of mainly Wyatt's and Davis's gear since the rest of them were pretty much self contained.

Peter shook his head and lowered his voice to a hushed whisper. "Whatever. Just don't let Jennifer go through it. It'll be a miracle if we make it through this week without her finding out something."

Johnny shut the back of the SUV. "You worry too much."

Peter rolled his eyes. "Address is programmed into the GPS. Don't wreck the car. We're going to go see Ned first. See you at the house." He headed back over to the convertible and slid behind the steering wheel. He looked over at MJ who was already in her seat. "Ready?"

Peter followed the SUV out of the hanger. Pasadena wasn't too far from the airport or Malibu and when they had talked to Ned he had said he had a study group tonight but had begged them to swing by before. Then they could make plans for the rest of the week.

MJ was incredibly thankful she had worn her hair up. Other than dealing with the wind the convertible was enjoyable. Peter loved driving the convertible. It was like swinging without the mask on but without the free fall. They were in Pasadena and wandering around the campus looking for the building Ned had told them to meet him at within the hour. Peter pulled open the door and followed MJ inside the building they thought was the correct one. After wandering in and out of several labs they finally located Ned.

"I can't believe you're here!" Ned crushed them both in a bear hug.

Peter frowned when he finally pulled back. "Ned, you look bad." MJ swatted his arm. "He's got bags under his eyes."

Ned shook his head. "We have a project due at the end of this week that's kicking our tails."

MJ looked at the screen and table behind him. "What's it on?"

Ned scrubbed his hand over his face. "Computer interface."

Peter frowned. "You can do that in your sleep."

"It's an interface with an organic component." Ned glanced back at the screen. "We're close."

"Ned...do not make another technovore." Peter crossed his arms and studied the screen behind Ned. He didn't recognize any of the code which he was taking as a good sign...maybe.

"We're not, although that's where we got the idea." Ned glanced over Peter's shoulder.

Still studying the screen, Peter asked, "We?"

"Basil Sandhurst. You must be Peter and MJ."

Peter was surprised he didn't end up on the ceiling. Since the spider bite no one had been able to enter a room without him knowing it and certainly not walk up behind him. Spinning around he fought the urge to assume a fighting stance. He wasn't sure if he was successful or not.

MJ looked over at Peter before smiling at Basil. "Yes." She reached down and grabbed Peter's hand. She could feel the tension in it. What time is your study group?" She glanced over at Ned who looked down at his watch.

"In ten minutes. What do you all have planned this week?"

"Absolutely nothing. We should meet for dinner or maybe you can just come out to the house? When are you free?" Peter looked away from Basil and focused on Ned.

"That will depend on the project. Maybe Monday night?" Ned thought through his schedule as he gathered his books up.

Peter watched Ned cram his books into his backpack. "Yeah. We can come to you if it's easier."

Ned wrapped them both in another bear hug. "It's good to see you guys. I'll text you when I get freed up." Ned walked out with Basil leaving MJ and Peter standing in the empty lab.

"That was weird, right?" Peter looked over at MJ who was frowning.

"I'm sure he's just busy." Forcing a smile on her face she grabbed his hand again. "Let's go see the house."

xxxxxxxxxx

Peter and MJ followed the GPS and pulled up to Pepper's house. It was about the size of the one in Hawaii. Parking in the front, Peter carried their bags in. Johnny, Davis, and Bobby had left to get surfboards out of Johnny's storage unit and got back about the same time as Peter and MJ. Tony had made sure the kitchen was stocked so they decided to grill out for dinner. After dinner Johnny and Davis couldn't wait to hit the water. There was a storm brewing off the coast so the waves were actually pretty good. Bobby went down to the beach with them. He had never surfed but Johnny and Davis both assured him that they'd have him up on a board by the end the week. Wyatt and Jennifer were walking on the beach which left Peter and MJ sitting on the balcony overlooking the beach.

"So what was that about earlier in the lab? I thought you were going attack Basil."

Peter looked over at MJ. "I didn't know he was there." He could tell she didn't know the significance of the statement. "Ever since getting bitten I always know when someone's near. I didn't." Peter frowned. "I should have, but I didn't."

MJ frowned. "What does that mean?"

Peter shrugged. "I have no idea. I have no idea how it works. All I know is that it ramps up when there's danger." Peter thought about it. "But I don't think it means there wasn't any danger. I don't like the guy."

MJ but her lip as she thought about the problem. "There was a lot of electrical equipment in there. Is it possible it was somehow interfering?"

Peter frowned. He hadn't thought that anything could interfere with it. It was a disturbing thought.

xxxxxxxxxx

Monday afternoon arrived with no response from Ned. Everyone was enjoying themselves. Bobby had gotten up on a surfboard earlier that day and found that he loved surfing. It wasn't that different from sliding on the ice ramps he could form. Both required a certain amount of balance. Peter couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong but he didn't know what to do about it. He finally got a text from Ned apologizing for not responding and said they had a breakthrough in the lab and had been tied up all day and maybe they could meet up Wednesday. It was enough to keep Peter from sleeping and after lying there staring at the ceiling he got up, got dressed, and silently made his way into the kitchen. Grabbing the keys to the SUV he was about to leave when Johnny walked into the room.

"Where are you going...at 2am." Johnny blinked again the clock on the microwave.

Peter sighed, ready to defend his idea. "I'm going to break into the lab and see if I can figure out what's going on with Ned."

"Give me two minutes and I'll go with you." Johnny turned to go back to his room to change, leaving Peter staring after him.

xxxxxxxxxx

Peter parked a ways from the lab building. They could go the rest of the way on foot to avoid anyone seeing their car close to the lab building. Making their way there Peter found the main door open and realized there were probably people in the labs at all hours. He hoped there was no one in the lab Ned and Basil were using. Seeing no one around, they made their way to the room Peter had been in before. Taking the darkness as a good sign they entered and looked around.

"What are you looking for?" Johnny asked as he looked through files on a table.

"I don't know. Something that tells me what they're up to. Something is off." Peter flipped through a stack of files. It was a lot of notes and comments with initials. The NL was obviously Ned, BS was Basil. There was a third one he didn't recognize - ZS.

"Maybe Ned is just different than he was in high school. I mean, none of us are the same as we were a year ago." Johnny picked up a piece of equipment to inspect it.

Peter wondered if Johnny was right. He and Ned had been so close before and now they barely talked. Things had just changed. They were both busy with school and life on opposite sides of the county. He looked up when he heard a "huh..."

"Or maybe they're tied in with our new fixer and are working on the controller interface for the bio tech." Johnny frowned as he looked at the piece of equipment in his hands.

"What?" Peter our down the file and walked over to stand next to Johnny and look at the equipment.

"Most mechanics and engineers have a signature. They use the same kind of materials, put stuff together that same way." Johnny looked over at Peter. "When I grabbed that guy's arm it was put together a lot like this. Look at the connection." He pointed to a series of wires. "That's not how most people would do this."

Peter stared at the piece of equipment in Johnny's hands. He was right. Thinking back to how he put stuff together, it was slightly different from the way his dad did. He looked back at the door when he heard a noise in the hall. "Ok. Let's dig into Basil and see what we can find out."