I woke up the next day to a text from Kitty, inviting me over for breakfast. I couldn't help but shake my head – I knew I was going to be asked some questions about last night if I went. But I figured how good their food tend to be outweighed the embarrassment I would have to go through. So, I took her up on the offer.
When I got to their apartment, the table was already set. I took a seat next to Craig, who was seated across from Scott and Kitty. I saw the knowing smiles on their faces. But they had the decency to wait until we started eating. With some prodding from Kitty, I told them everything – how MJ and I were just walking for a bit, about how I got the idea to go to Red Hook to get Big E Style chopped cheeses, how we went to Brooklyn Bridge Park to eat, and how MJ basically read me like a book as I lay my head on her shoulder.
"I told you it was a date," Kitty teased with a smug look on her face.
"Yeah, yeah," I replied, rolling my eyes. I still wasn't sold on it being a date. After all, friends could go on little adventures and take a moment to be real with each other, right? But whether it was a date or a hangout between friends, it was a memory that I was going to cherish forever.
So, semantics, I suppose.
"I'm happy you had a great time last night," Scott remarked. "So does this mean you're going to pursue MJ again? I think it's pretty clear that there is mutual affection there."
I grinned. "Do you think so?"
"My dude," Craig cut in, giving me a look of slight exasperation. "You convinced her to go all the way to Red Hook with you for a food adventure. Y'all had dinner in a park underneath the night sky. She had you laying your head on her shoulder while she played with your hair. And she wants you to open up more to her so she can take care of you." He brought his hands up as he turned away slightly. "Now maybe, MAAAAAAAAAAAAYBE, she wants to be good friends with you." He then turned his head towards me as he lowered his arms and smiled. "But I think there's a good chance that Scott is right."
"I second all of that," Kitty said. She then wrinkled her nose. "A girl has to be really interested in you if you convinced her to go all the way to Red Hook for that monstrosity. Seriously, Peter. Chopped Cheese with Booty O's in it?"
"Oh don't you dare be sour!" Craig and I exclaimed in unison. We looked at each other then laughed. Kitty rolled her eyes at us. Meanwhile, Scott smiled in amusement as he took a sip of his coffee.
"Well, I wish you luck," Scott said after he lowered his mug. He then paused. "…But there's also the matter of… you know."
I nodded. "I know," I said. "…I decided I'm going to tell them. I don't know when, where, or how yet. But I'm going to tell them. They deserve to know. And if there's even the slightest chance of MJ and I being together again, she needs to know the truth." Scott looked at me for a moment. Briefly, just briefly, I saw a flash of red behind his glasses. He then smiled slightly.
"You're growing, Peter," he said. He chuckled quietly. "If you need any help with that, just let us know, and we'll help you think of something." I nodded at him. There was a good chance I'd take him up on the offer.
After that, I turned towards Craig. "So, are you still down to go suit shopping? Ned won't be available this weekend, but he's open next weekend."
"Probably for the best," Craig replied. "I got to handle something on Saturday night before I head off to work."
"Is everything okay?"
"Yeah, I just got tipped off to a stash house in Vinegar Hill. It's this old warehouse. From what I was told, a big time Fentanyl pusher from Harlem is keeping his stuff there. So I'm going to scope it out and see if I can destroy any drugs there, as well as take any cash that might be there as well."
"You need any back up?"
Craig paused for a moment. He then shrugged. "I'm never opposed to Spider-Man having my back. I'll hit you up and give you the location when I'm on my way, a'ight?"
"Sounds good."
The rest of the day went by as normal for the most part. I checked e-mails for assignments from The Daily Bugle. I went to class and took notes. And then I headed over to Peter Pan.
I hung out with MJ and Ned in the coffee shop until it was time for us to head to St. James Theatre to watch American Idiot. We met Betty, Kitty, and Craig over there and ended up with the same seats as before. Fortunately, there were no criminals rushing in during intermission. Speaking of intermission, I didn't have to go to the lobby to pull myself together. When Boulevard of Broken Dreams was being performed, I did start to unravel. Much to my surprise, however, MJ grabbed hold of my hand. I looked at her. She kept on looking forward, singing along. After a few moments, I smiled and gave her hand a subtle squeeze before I brought my attention back on the show, singing along without the lyrics getting to me. From the corner of my eye, I could see Kitty and Craig smiling at me like a brother and sister proud of their younger sibling.
After the show, we went to get ice cream and just shot the breeze. Then we all squeezed together into Kitty's car before we were all dropped off home. During the car ride, everyone teased MJ and I about our date. It went on like that for a while before MJ slyly asked about Kitty's and Craig's dating life. Both of them agreed that a change in subject was in order.
When I got home, I took some time to chat with my fellow American Idiots about random things. Eventually, I called it a night before I went out on patrol. As swung through the city, I had a huge smile underneath mask. Things were looking up.
That should have been a sign that things were about to take a downturn.
Saturday night rolled around. I started my nightly patrol early to get myself warmed up for tonight. As I waited for Craig's call, I stopped a few robberies and got a cat out of a tree. I know the latter act didn't seem like much, but being a Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man meant helping out with the little neighborhood problems. Once I got the call from Craig, and after he sent me his location, I swung over to Brooklyn. As I moved through Brooklyn, I looked down at Brooklyn Bridge Park and smiled fondly.
"That night was awesome," I said to myself.
Sometime later, I saw Craig standing in an alleyway. I cut my line and landed on the dumpster next to him, startling him a bit.
"You sure know how to make an entrance, Spidey," Craig said after taking a deep breath to calm himself.
"When your main mode of travel consists of swinging around like an Uncharted multiplayer character, making an entrance is practically required," I quipped.
Craig nodded as he put his hood up. "You're not wrong." He pulled his mask down. I looked at his outfit, seeing that he was in all black. He then looked at me as I dismounted the dumpster. "You know, I been thinking… you might need a quick change outfit of your own."
"It crossed my mind a few times." I looked down at my suit. "I probably could've used it in Europe when Mysterio popped up." I was reminded of when I had to grab this half mask to disguise myself when I thought I was helping Mysterio fight off a water monster. Looking back on it, it was a stupid disguise. I was still wearing my civilian clothes. It was a good thing my classmates ran for it.
"Yeah," Craig said in agreement. He then jerked his head in a direction, prompting me look across the street at a grey warehouse. "This is what we're hitting. According to my source, this is the stash house I was telling you about the day before."
"So what's the plan?"
"We break in and search the place. Any drugs we find, we destroy it. And if there's any cash, we walk away with it. We'll keep half of it, and give the rest to F.E.A.S.T." I looked at him when he said that. He looked back at me, and I had a feeling he was smiling. "I think your aunt would have appreciated it."
"You're right," I said. "…Thanks."
"Hey man, it's what we do, right?" He looked out towards the warehouse. "Okay, we're doing codenames from here on out. Let me work on the door. Be my look out. Once I get the door open, we'll head inside and start looking. Sounds good?"
"Yeah it does."
"A'ight – let's do this."
He walked out of the alleyway and crossed the street, making sure to look both ways for any incoming cars. During this, I walked to the nearest wall before I climbed it. I quickly made my way up to the roof. After that, I walked up to the edge of the roof closest to the warehouse. I shot a strand of webbing towards the wall of the warehouse before I used it to pull me towards it. I zipped through the air before I landed on the wall. I crawled up onto the roof and stood perched on the corner, keeping my head on a swivel. During this, Frictor was working on the door, picking the lock with a pair of tools. After about half a minute, he managed to get the door unlocked before he opened the door. He looked up at me and beckoned me to come down. I nodded before I jumped on the roof and landed in a three point stance.
"That don't hurt your knees?" he asked.
"Surprisingly no," I responded with a shrug. "Shall we go in?"
Frictor nodded as he stepped aside, allowing me to go first. Once I entered, he stepped right in and closed the door behind him. As he did so, I looked around the spot. Frictor walked up to my left side.
"…What the heck?" he muttered out.
The place was empty. As a matter of fact, the place looked sterile. The air smelled of cleaning chemicals. I looked towards the right at the loading/parking bay. There wasn't even an oil stain on the ground. Frictor walked deeper in the warehouse, looking around. I walked after him. I grabbed the bottom of my mask and pulled it up just enough to expose my nose. I took in a deep breath. I smelled more chemicals – bleach, ammonia, amongst other things. The floors were not only clean, but polished to the point where I was sure I could see a fuzzy reflection of myself if the lights were on. They must've been waxed.
"…Was my source wrong?" Frictor asked as he looked around.
"No," I replied. "I think whoever this stash house belongs to was tipped off. This place was scrubbed down before we got here." I pulled down my mask. "The whole place smells of cleaning chemicals. It looks like everything's been scrubbed. Even the floor is buffed and waxed."
"Dang it." Frictor shook his head before he turned towards me. "It looks like we got bad luck tonight. I'm sorry, Spider-Man."
"Hey, no worries. No one bats a thousand, right?"
"Right." Frictor sighed. He looked around the place once more, as if he hoped that, by some miracle, something would stick out to him that would made breaking in worth it. "A'ight, well let's head out before we get caught."
The two of us walked out of the warehouse. Frictor had the courtesy to pick the lock to relock the door. He sighed and shook his head. "So much for that." He then turned and began to walk across the street. I was about to follow him until I heard the sound of an approaching helicopter. I ignored it at first. But then the sound became gradually louder. I looked up at the sky to see the chopper gradually coming to a stop overhead. Frictor was halfway across the street when he stopped in his tracks. The helicopter being there was already odd enough. But then I read the words on the side of it.
Daily Bugle.
It was at this moment I felt an intense feeling up my spine and had a buzz in my head that just as intense. I felt my skin tighten – I knew that I had goosebumps all over my body. There was a major threat. But I couldn't figure out why my powers would go off with the Daily Bugle chopper…
Underneath my mask, my eyes went wide as I remembered the press conference earlier in the week.
"Three days' time," I muttered in realization. I then looked towards Frictor and yelled. "FRICTOR, GET OUT OF THERE!"
He looked towards me and tilted his head in confusion.
And that was when it happened.
The pavement behind Frictor erupted. Frictor himself stumbled forward before he turned around and backpedaled quickly. I quickly moved to his side. I was going to check to see if he was okay until I saw what was coming out of the hole.
"What the fuck?!" Frictor and I said in unison.
Out from underground was a tall muscular man that had to be at least seven feet. He was wearing a green and black armored suit that covered most of his body. Over his head was a green domed helmet that only left his mouth exposed, as he even his chin seemed to have some bit of armor covering it. The helmet also had orange lenses for his eyes. His hands seemed to each have two fingers and a thumb, each of the digits clawed. His feet each had two clawed toes. But the most striking thing about him was a metallic tail that curved above his head and ended with a large stinger. Much like…
"A scorpion," I muttered out. Frictor glanced at me briefly before looking back at him.
"…I was really banking on Justin Hammer bluffing," he groaned. "I was set up and I dragged you into this trap. Can this night get any worse?"
"Good evening, you two," the tall man said in a voice that sounded very familiar.
"Hello," I greeted, waving casually at him. "I see you were going for a stroll underground. How's the weather down there?"
"…Really, Spidey?" Frictor deadpanned.
"What? I like to be polite."
"Oh now you want to be polite?" the scorpion-like man spat. "Justin Hammer gave you three days to submit to The Accords or retire, and how do you respond? You can continue with your unlawful vigilante activities with no remorse. That's far from polite. If nothing else, it's blatant disrespect."
"And what's it to you?"
"I'm the scorpion that Justin Hammer warned you about." The man stepped forward. I dropped into a three point stance as Frictor brought his hands up, ready to fight. "And I'm also acting under the authority of The Sokovia Accords. But I'm giving you two one last chance to either surrender to The Accords or quit right now. If not, I'll be forced to take you down."
"With all due respect, Mr. Scorpion, sir, but I'm going to have to warn you that this is not the fight you want," I replied in a very serious tone. "There's two of us and one of you, and I sincerely don't like your odds.
"Scorpion" sighed as he shook his head. "Can't say I didn't warn you." That was when he quickly leaned forward and the stinger of the tail short downward towards us. Frictor and I parted as we jumped away from our previous spots in opposite directions at the last second. The stinger came down on the spot that we were previously occupying, turning it into a small crater.
"Well, looks tonight is about to be fun," Frictor quipped as he cracked his neck. "You ready, Spidey?"
"I'm ready," I replied. As the scorpion man with drew his tail, I moved into a crouch as Frictor took up a fighting stance.