Michael quietly closed the door behind him. It had taken longer than he had wanted to return home but the Terran had made a mess of things. He wasn't sure he had ever seen so many flashing lights. He thought it was best to avoid as much of it as possible which meant he had to return on foot the long way. The ring allowed him to teleport great distances but it tended to leave signs of use, even just using it to traverse the short distance across the city. So he had backtracked on foot and walked around the site of the altercation.

He had been following Fisk for the last couple days but the man was never alone. He could have taken the ring at any time but he was more curious to observe first. The fight on Moord had been more challenging than he wanted to admit. He had assumed they would fall without much effort so he had toyed with them at first. Then he had been caught off guard by the Power Stone bring taken by that child. Neither was a mistake he could make a second time. He had wanted to observe Fisk to see if he could be of use to him.

Seeing the ring in action had confirmed his belief in their power. The rings combined with his abilities would make him unstoppable. Not even Carina's father would be able to stop him. He and Carina could remake the universe as they wished. He slipped out of his clothes and pulled back the covers. Sliding next to Carina he could hear her soft, rhythmic breathing. At night she dropped the facade and he could see her pink skin illuminated from the moonlight coming through the window. Pulling the covers up over her, he stared up at the ceiling. Fisk could be useful but he was he type of man who wanted others to see him as powerful. Michael did not think that he would prove to be a reliable ally which meant he would take the ring from him when the time was right. Now, he was way more curious about a certain Spider. It was no coincidence that he kept encountering him. Their lives were surely entwined now. He had stayed in the shadows long enough to see him speak with the authorities. His face was younger than he would have thought but it didn't matter. He knew he was going to face them all again and he needed to do what ever it took to ensure that the outcome left Carina and himself on top.

xxxxxxxxxx

Peter ran up the stairs to the precinct that housed both Officer Davis and Captain Stacy. He had spent most of the night shifting through video of the incident. It was frustrating because all Karen had picked up had been the back of the large man. There had been a couple of half blocked shots of he mans' side but nothing that he could even begin to put through facial recognition. He had even checked the man's wrists and neck for tattoos that he might be able to trace and had come up empty. Pausing at the desk for the Sergeant on duty to wave him past he headed towards Captain Stacy's office.

Knocking on the door frame he waited until Captain Stacy looked up before speaking. "I wish I had better news." He crossed the distance to the captains' desk and held out a flash drive. "It's everything from last night...which isn't much."

George Stacy put down the report he was reading and stared at Peter before taking the flash drive. "Nothing?"

Peter shrugged and sat down in the chair in front of Captain Stacy's desk. "I never engaged him one on one. My cameras really only pick up what's in my line of sight. I also didn't catch how the apartment building went up so fast."

Stacy sighed. "I'll have our guys look at it anyway. Maybe someone will recognize him." He leaned back in his chair. "Are you patrolling tonight?"

Peter nodded. He knew a Spider-Man would be patrolling tonight, he just wasn't sure which one. "I want to know what's going on. Last night was messy. I'd like to avoid it happening again. The only way I know how to do that is to find out what's going on." Peter knew either he or Miles would be patrolling for the foreseeable future. He was just slightly worried he was going to have to head to the compound when Rocket showed up with the jump drive. The idea of leaving Miles patrolling on his own with everything going on didn't sit right. There were a couple people he could call to keep an eye on things as well but he wanted to talk to Miles about it first.

"Ok. Call earlier next time you run into trouble?" Stacy put his hand up when Peter started to protest. "It's why I let you donate all of the new vests. Let my guys do their job. They're a little more bulletproof now so let them help." As the bad guys got more technologically advanced, they had found that Kevlar just didn't keep up.

Peter pushed himself out of the chair. "So the gear is working out?"

George Stacy smiled, "NYPD is the only police department in the world that has Stark Tactical Gear. I don't mind saying it's made us the envy of a lot of departments around the country."

Peter smiled. He would gladly donate it to every department in the country but apparently there was some red tape surrounding what he could and couldn't give away. Luckily MJ had found a loop hole. By calling it beta testing, they were allowed to outfit the entire NYPD with new gear. It would roll out at an incredibly low price later on in the year and would only be available to police departments and the gear was tightly controlled. Peter thought they had put more time and effort into making sure it didn't fall into the hands of the bad guys than they did actually developing the material. "Good. I've had to wear Kevlar a couple times and I've hated it every time." Peter waved goodbye to the captain and headed back out. As he hit the sidewalk his phone rang. Before he could get a word out he was greeted by a gruff Australian voice.

"There is a really grumpy raccoon here that's pissed off that you're not here."

Peter laughed. "So Rocket showed up with the jump drive? I'm headed back to the tower. I'll head that way. Tell him I'll be there within an hour."

Davis looked over at the group standing in the hanger. "What am I supposed to do with them until you get here?"

"I don't know...get them something to eat? Dad headed that way earlier. If he's not there yet he will be shortly. He can get started on the Quinship." Peter darted between cars and headed towards the subway. "But watch Rocket. He tends to pick up unattended items."

xxxxxxxxxx

"I wish to meet the dragons."

Peter leaned out from under the Quinship and looked up at Drax with a look of confusion. "The what?"

"The Dragons."

"I told him there were no dragons on Earth." Quill looked over at MJ for confirmation. Lowering his voice he added, "Right? I mean it's been a while since I was here."

"Yeah, no dragons." MJ crossed her arms and frowned at Quill. Peter had been right, this group was an odd bunch. She had decided to come to the compound with Peter just so she could meet Rocket which meant she was now watching Peter, Tony, and Rocket work on the Quinship engines. She knew Peter and Tony well enough to know they'd both be covered in engine grease by the time they were done. They'd also find an excuse to keep working for hours. Tony was a born mechanic. Peter had always enjoyed building things. When you got the two of them building something together the chaotic genius was mind blowing.

Quill looked back at Drax. "I told you. Earth doesn't have dragons."

"But I did as I was instructed. I imagined them. Now I want to see them in person." Confusion turned into a frown as Drax looked over at Mantis.

Peter frowned, then it dawned on him what Drax was talking about. He looked down at Rocket. "Imagine Dragons?"

Rocket didn't shift his focus from the piece of the ship he was unscrewing. "Yeah...his people are very literal. I just ignore most of what comes out of his mouth."

Peter looked back over at Drax. "No dragons." He stopped talking when he saw Davis walk into the hanger. He had left as soon as Peter had gotten there. He felt his dad stiffen a little beside him. He had gotten the distinct impression that something was going on but so far he hadn't been able to find out.

Tony pushed himself up and walked across the room to Davis. "They found him?" The last piece of the puzzle was finding the Afghanistan cell. As soon as they were located all of the teams were going in.

"Tony, you don't have to go. I'll have backup." Davis crossed his arms knowing he was going to get push back. He glanced over Tony's shoulder at Peter. Thankfully he had been distracted by Rocket. He thought they were far enough away and there were enough other noises going on that Peter would have a problem hearing the conversation.

"He's not backup...he's a distraction". Tony thought through his options. The jump drive showing up now was bad timing. "When is everyone going to be in position?"

"Nat's scheduling their meeting now. My guess is you have about four hours to come up with a way to sneak out of the compound without Peter knowing what's going on." He looked back at Tony and met his eyes. "Or you could just tell him."

Tony growled. "Call in Fury. Someone will need to run ops from here. Make sure he knows Peter isn't getting involved."