Here we are again, folks! As we've seen in the past couple of chapters, Spidey and Kitty went through some very odd "therapy sessions", beat some obnoxious companions and gained a whole new insight for their relationship, all the while the Marauders successfully entered Neo-Murderworld, but Arcade is unaware of it…yet. Let's see how long it'll take for him to discover the whole thing!

Enjoy the reading!

SPIDER-MAN AND KITTY PRYDE: DANGEROUS GAMES

Chapter 15: Gather 'Round, Boys and Girls!

Arcade kept a close eye on his prisoners since the first hour, even more so after he granted them 'at least an hour' of relative freedom before sending them to the deadliest traps of his repertoire. He hopes that all the accumulated tension will blow up and at least the apparent dissention within either group becomes more evident to the point of seeing them fighting against each other.

"Come on, one of you at least should be ready to bring up the anger to a boiling point" Arcade comments as he sees both screens "Should I activate the sound? Should I rile them up?" he ponders, playing with his fingers as he watches on, but he shakes his head in denial "No, no, I may be a traitorous supervillain at worst, but I will keep my word on this" he proclaims as he moves his index finger, but when he turns his sights back to the screen, his wishes come true first when he witnesses Spidey landing a solid punch to Wisdom "OH WHOA!" he exclaims as he jumps from his seat "Finally he punches that British #$%& +$*! God, I really hated that guy…Come on! Give him another! Give him another!" he moves his fists, faking some punches as he watches the situation unfold but then he turns to witness Black Cat and Kitty Pryde's fight on the other screen "Oh my God! Catfight! Catfight! Catfight!" he exclaims, channeling his inner Joey Styles as he screams "Why did I turn the audio off this thing!?" he complains while he puts his hands on his head "Come on! Rip off your clothes! At least Hardy's not ashamed of showing her stuff!" he then turns his sights as if he is looking for something "This is where I should be having some popcorn, some Cheetos, some Doritos, anything! WHY DIDN'T I BROUGHT A DAMN ROBOBUTLER UP HERE!?"

However, that inconvenient becomes something minor when he sees the other screen, revealing his drones already destroyed while the Marauder ship stands floating on the sea, the ice barrier melting enough to reveal the ice slide that leads to his platform, and the pieces of Donald Pierce scattered around the place over the aforementioned platform, meaning that somehow the Marauders broke through, and that is the moment when Arcade starts to panic.

INSIDE THE GAMES AREA

The Marauders managed to break in and the group split in two sides, using both access cylinders to venture into the place and search for their friends. On one side, Iceman and Emma Frost enter the area, where a large assortment of chainsaws and lasers are flying across the room and a series of floating platforms are activated.

"Can you find any of the guys around here?" Iceman asks Emma, who tries to concentrate and communicate.

"Seems that there's some sort of psychic blocker inside the structure, a way to prevent telepathic access to whomever is prisoner in here" Emma replies explaining the situation "Maybe that's why the psychic link I had with the crew suddenly broke, because it only affects once we hit underground"

"Then we'll have to do it the ol' fashioned way" Iceman replies, using his powers to freeze the surroundings and then links the platforms with an ice slide, marching forward the next cylinder and step down.

Meanwhile, Nightcrawler and Teresa march into their own path, finding spiked wrecking balls colliding with each other, giving very narrow space to walk, but at least they both managed to catch the other cylinder across the room.

"I have to say, for a place called 'Murderworld', Arcade really makes honor to its name" Teresa comments, this being her first experience with Arcade's methods and work.

"He calls it 'Murderworld'; I call it 'A third-rate Danger Room'" Nightcrawler quips while he holds Teresa's waist and they both Bamf to the other side, reaching the access cylinder without further complications.

MEANWHILE, FLOORS BELOW…

"Alright folks, we have to mentally prepare ourselves for this, Arcade will go for the kill once we step up, so let's not give him the satisfaction, OK?" Spidey tries to rally his fellow heroes, now more determined to find Kitty after the pep talk from Colossus.

"You got it, Webs" Star-Lord replies, showing his thumbs up, while Colossus silently nods in agreement to follow his lead.

"Now, Wisdom, while it's damn clear that we don't like each other, we need each other to get out of here, so how about if you cooperate for the next few mi…" Spidey tries to convince Wisdom to work alongside them, but his Spider-Sense immediately warns him of impeding danger, and he discovers it comes from Wisdom, who shoots a barrage of his daggers against him, but Spidey's reflexes help him to dodge them "I guess the cooperation part is off the table!" Spidey exclaims while he jumps to dodge his energy daggers.

Wisdom keeps his focus on Spidey, which fortunately prevents him from seeing how Colossus and Star-Lord come from each side to stop him. The Russian mutant lands a punch to his gut while Star-Lord manages to hit his already broken jaw again, dropping him to the floor. Spidey takes a deep breath after that but before he could thank his partners; he notices something on one of the walls, discovering a series of cracks.

"Huh…" Spidey mutters as he looks at those cracks "Say, Colossus, can you do me a favor?" he asks his improvised partner while he turns and points towards the other wall "Can you punch that wall for me, please?" he asks him, making him look at Star-Lord wondering why would he make such a request but they both shrug their shoulders and Colossus proceeds to punch that wall, denting it a little bit "Alright, now please come and punch this wall" he asks him, making an improvised experiment to prove his newest suspicion. Colossus punches the wall, but he also starts to notice the same thing Spider-Man discovered "Does this wall feel…?"

"Thinner? Da" Colossus nods in response, confirming his suspicion.

"Congratulations Wisdom, you ended up being useful after all" Spidey quips while he starts to wrap his fists with his webbing "Gentlemen, this could be the exit, but stay sharp, just in case" he comments while he and Colossus start punching the wall, creating bigger cracks and dents with the hopes of breaking through the other side.

And speaking of said 'other side', is precisely where Kitty and her improvised companions are, also trying to get their heads back to the game and make a move to end Arcade's plans and escape Neo-Murderworld.

"It won't be easy to escape, things must be said as they are…Silk and I can't have all the burden" Kitty talks while she looks at the group, shifting her focus to MJ "I don't mean to demean you, but you're a civilian, you have a very limited set of skills and I don't want to mean this as a way to call you a burden, but given the stakes, you better bring out you're a-Game for this, so we won't have to constantly worry about you, OK?"

"I understand the situation; I lived it before…so I'll help as much as I can" MJ replies with a serious tone, giving Kitty the affirmation of her cooperation.

"Which leaves us to you, Black Rat" Kitty now turns to Felicia "I don't like you, and after that punch and all I said before that, you pretty much hate my guts, but if you really are as egotistical as I think you are; and if you really want to prove me wrong about what I said, then how about if you pretend to be social for whatever hours we got left and helps us find Spidey and get out of here?" she asks her, who looks back at Kitty with a glare while she holds her broken nose, bandaged with an improvised small webbing courtesy of Silk.

"You think I haven't done this before?" Black Cat replies, with a hint of anger in her voice "This isn't my first dance, Pryde…I could do this without any of you, but hey, you want to have everyone together, then 'thy will shall be done'" she adds with big sarcasm, even faking a reverence after she says those words.

"Hardy, you're making it really hard for me to contain myself, because I really want to land another punch at your face" Kitty replies, visibly annoyed with Black Cat's behavior.

"Uhhh, guys?" Silk asks, starting to notice how the wall nearby starts to tremble, but Kitty and Black Cat keep on bickering "Guys?" her question seems to be ignored, but as the old saying goes: 'Third Time is the Charm' "GUYS!?" she screams, finally getting their attention "Wall!" she points at the wall, seeing how bigger cracks start to show alongside trembles, prompting the women to stand guard.

"Stand-by, girls, get ready for anything!" Kitty speaks, leading the crew as she stands in guard, waiting for the exact moment when the wall comes down, and just like that, the last blast creates a large hole in the wall, followed by a huge cloud of dust, prompting the women to step back and cover their faces.

"We did it!" the Russian accent is heard as the cloud slowly starts to dissipate.

"Wait, I know that voice…" Kitty thinks in her mind as she sees the silhouette and then the figure reveals itself "Piotr?" she asks in shock.

"Katya?" Colossus asks in surprise and right then, two more figures appear, revealing to be Star-Lord, carrying a still wobbly Wisdom on his shoulder.

"What happened, big guy? Found anyone here?" Quill asks, but then looks stunned at the sight of the gathered women, recognizing the leading one "Kitty?"

"Quill?" Kitty asks, now looking at the knocked down Wisdom "Wisdom's here too?" she then puts both of her hands on her head, shaking her head in disbelief "This definitively defines it as my worst nightmare come to life".

"While I recognize the big one, don't know the other two" MJ points out the presence of the others "You know them?" she asks Kitty with curiosity, but Kitty remains shocked.

"Not only am I dealing with my boyfriend's exes, now I have to deal with MY exes too!?" Kitty exclaims, prompting dumbfounded looks from MJ and Silk, while Black Cat chuckles out loud.

"Now this is what I call Karma" Black Cat quips, crossing her arms while she smirks at the sight of Kitty's potential trauma "I think I recognize you" she mutters as she stares at Star-Lord, feeling familiar about him, and then looks at Wisdom, who is still trying to regain his senses "What happened to him?" she asks Star-Lord about Wisdom's condition.

"Spidey broke his jaw, although to be fair, he deserved it" Star-Lord replies, gesturing with his head towards Spidey "What happened to your nose?" he asks about her broken nose and her weird bandage.

"Crazy Angry Mutant over there did it" Black Cat gestures with her head towards Kitty.

"But she had it coming" Silk interjects, pointing out that detail "And you are…"

"Star-Lord, leader of the Guardians of the Galaxy, scumbag right here is called Wisdom" Star-Lord explains and makes a quick introduction.

"This can't be happening" Kitty whispers, still in a deep shock after seeing three of her ex-boyfriends in the same room, but then something brings her out of that shock.

"Hey guys? What's going on?" a certain voice is heard, prompting all the present women to look in anticipation, noticing the silhouette appear until he steps out and reveals itself "Did we walk in another of Arcade's Tra-AAAAAH!" Spidey's jaw almost drops to the floor once he sees the women in there "Silk? What are you doing here?" he asks Silk, the first one he sees, then turning to Black Cat "Felicia? What-What happened to your nose?" he asks, pointing at Black Cat's broken nose, but before she could answer, he stays stunned when he sees the last woman he could have expected to see in that room "M-Ma-Mary Jane?"

"Peter…" MJ whispers with a hint of sadness when she sees him, but Spidey remains in a deep shock when he sees her.

"Oh dear God, this just can't be happening" Spidey starts to reason in his mind "I have my girlfriend's exes and two of my exes in the same room, and-and-and I just can't bear it because this is the personification of every possible reason to go crazy and jump head first into these traps, and I can only describe this in three words: Typical! Parker! Luck!" he starts to breathe heavily, trying to cope with the situation but then he turns and sees the woman he was fighting for, the woman he was trying to rescue, just like she was trying to rescue him "K-Kitty? KITTY!" he screams her name as soon as he sees her, running towards her with relief that he found her.

"Peter…" Kitty whispers "PETER!" she exclaims, running to him to hug him, regardless of what had transpired before and during this whole situation, they are both truly happy to see each other "Peter! Your mask!" she exclaims when she sees that he is unmasked.

"I lost it in one of Arcade's traps" Peter replies, a bit calmed down, but still shocked about finding her.

"But I thought that you…" they both speak at the same time, remembering they saw the hologram of each other beaten and tied up, and then they both realize they were played by him "Arcade!"

"That solves one mystery" Spidey comments "But…why are Silk, Black Cat and MJ here?"

"I could ask the same thing about my two ex-fiancées and Wisdom over there, by the way what happened to him?" she asks, wondering why he looks beaten.

"I broke his jaw after he insulted you, he had it coming" Spidey quickly replies "I could ask the same about Black Cat's nose"

"She attacked me, I defended myself and she had it coming too" Kitty quickly replies, almost as fast as he did "But again, how did they…" then is when she realizes that they both have another thing in common, which is why they both pull out their controller devices they used to bring their summons.

"Arcade really wanted to screw us all up" Spidey replies, gritting his teeth in anger "But now that we're all gathered here, I say we should bring the fight to him" he comments, voicing his suggestion out loud, to which the majority in the room nods in agreement. However, before a plan could be laid out, a black and purple cloud emerges nearby as it descends from one of the cylinders, revealing two figures in the place.

"I suppose that we made it" the German accent is heard in the place, prompting Kitty to smile at the sight of one of her close friends.

"Kurt! Teresa!" Kitty exclaims, hugging her friend who laughs with relief after finding her friend.

"Kätschen! Thank God you're alive!" Nightcrawler replies, while Teresa goes near her brother.

"Oh my God! What happened to your mask?" Teresa asks Spidey, but he simply hugs her, happy to see a familiar face.

"Lost it in one of the traps, but the important thing here is that we're all reunited, I'll explain everything once we're out" Spidey replies, then he looks at Nightcrawler, approaching him more relieved than before "I assume that the rest of your crew is here" he comments, but before the German acrobat could answer, a dash of ice emerges from the other cylinder, with two figures emerging from there.

"Somebody requested for a rescue party?" Iceman asks, announcing his entrance with Emma Frost behind him.

"Oh dear…seems that our friends weren't the only ones caught by Arcade" the White Queen comments while she looks around, noticing that Spider-Man is unmasked, which Iceman and Nightcrawler also take notice of.

"Mein Gott, never thought I'd see the face of our arachnid hero" Nightcrawler comments to his fellow X-Man, who nods in approval.

"The oddest thing is…that I think I knew him before" Iceman comments, recalling his memories of the moments he shared with him and their mutual friend Angelica Jones, the hero known as Firestar.

BACK AT ARCADE'S ROOM

As the encounter was happening, Arcade was checking his footage to determine who dared to enter, discovering that Nightcrawler and his Marauders were the ones who broke through, accompanied by Emma Frost and an Agent he meets for the first time, leading him to groan and whine in frustration.

"Those pesky #$%&+ *% mutants!" Arcade complains, turning his sights to the other monitors where he discovers that Spider-Man and the men wrecked one of the walls and thus, both groups have reunited "NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NOOOO!" he pounds his fists against the control deck, but then he realizes that he still has one last trick.

He types his keyboard anxiously, checking the screen as he sees the hologram of a six-legged robot, activating all of its weapons and setting it online, sending it to the top of the platform while he stares at his prisoners who are almost free.

"Congratulations CHEATERS!" Arcade voices his frustration "You've managed to break through and avoid my most dangerous games, but what kind of villain would I be if I don't have one last trick down my sleeve? So I'll wait for you at the top, because I'll make sure that every single one of you lies DEAD IN A PUDDLE OF BLOOD!" he screams those last words as he cuts off the communication.

"Awwwww, little Arcade is riled up" Kitty starts to mock him, just like he did to them all this time "What a sore loser"

"Let's humor him" Spidey comments, surprising everyone involved "Let's head up top…so we can show him what this insanely ragtag group can do to him" he adds, motivating the group to make the final strike against him.

And finally, both groups are all reunited! But does it feel so good? Depends on who you ask. But the point is…a whole bunch of heroes (and one civilian) ready to bring the fight back to Arcade, who just unleashed his ultimate weapon. So, to my Top Reviewer Timeless Writer, I hope this encounter didn't let you down, pal. Now, get ready, 'cause we're bound to the last few chapters of our story! Stay tuned, folks!

NEXT CHAPTER: ARCADE'S BIG MEAN DESTRUCTIVE MACHINE IS UNLEASHED!