"So, Friday, huh?"

I looked up at MJ as she brought over a cup of coffee and a French cruller and set them down in front of me. I was sitting at the counter of Peter Pan, with Ned sitting to the right of me.

"Yeah," I said. "That's the plan, anyway. We have to meet up with another member of our team to get this project done." I was speaking in code, of course. It was the only way I could speak to Ned and MJ about hero stuff without anyone within earshot getting suspicious. I really didn't want to deal with my identity being out there again.

"Have you ever been to California before?" Ned asked.

I shook my head. "I can't say I have. I don't really travel outside of New York, usually. And when I do, it's usually on a school trip or something work related."

At that, MJ shook her head. "You need to get out more," she suggested. "Like, not just because of work and school stuff."

"I know, I know." I frowned. "There are quite a few places I want to go to, preferably with you guys and Betty and preferably without my work catching up to me. I want to go to New Orleans and try the food there. I want to go back to Europe and explore. If possible, I want to go to Wakanda. I even want to visit Alaska."

"Alaska?" Ned commented with an incredulous tone. "Seriously, dude, Alaska? Why Alaska?"

I shrugged. "I'm just curious to see what the Arctic is like."

Ned scoffed as he shook his head. "You're on your own with that one. I do a lot of things for our friendship, but becoming a human Popsicle is not one of them."

"That's fine. MJ and I can go together."

"Yeah, about that," MJ chimed in. I looked at her and gave her a puppy-eyed look.

"Come on, MJ!" I pleaded halfheartedly. "You don't think it'd be rather romantic? Think about it. We can build our own igloo, have a campfire inside of it that we sit in front of, and then we can step out and watch the Northern Lights. We could also do some sledding."

MJ stared at me with a neutral expression. She then sighed. "…You're such a dork." She tried to keep herself from smiling, but couldn't. "…It does sound a little appealing." She nodded. "I tell you what, I'll do it…"

"Yes!" I exclaimed as I smiled widely.

She brought her face closer to mine and whispered low enough so only Ned and I could hear it. "…if you can go thirty days without getting shot or stabbed."

My smile faded. "…That's not fair!" Next to me, Ned covered his mouth with his right hand and his shoulders quivered from laughter. "I… Come on, MJ!"

"Consider it motivation." She leaned forward and placed a kiss on my forehead. "By the way, you're not cute."

I smiled wryly. "I know, I'm adorable." I pouted. "Not adorable enough for you to go to Alaska with me without a caveat, apparently."

"I'll make sure the caveat is worth fulfilling."

I hung out a little more before I went home. After some homework and studying, I went on patrol. When I got back, I received a message from Scott, telling me to meet him and the others at their place at a certain in the evening on Friday and to be ready to travel.

The next day, I let J. Jonah Jameson know that I was going to be out of the state from Friday until the following Monday or Tuesday. The following days, I took time to get my stuff together for what I figured would be a five day stay. This included clothes, my suits, toiletries, chemicals for my webbing, and my laptop. With everything prepared, I just waited. On Thursday, in class, Scott announced that he was going to be out of town on Friday until about Wednesday, and that he was going to leave the class assignments to do, which will be due when he returned.

Friday came around. That morning, I sent a text to MJ and Ned, wishing them good luck on their tests. From there, I made some last minute checks over the stuff I packed, feeling like an idiot when I realized I forgot to pack socks. Later on, I made my daily trip to Peter Pan. However, neither MJ nor Ned was there. A bit to my surprise, one of the workers there had a medium cup of black coffee and a glazed donut waiting for me. There was a note written on the coffee cup. I read it aloud underneath my breath.

"'Please don't be mad at me. Signed MJ'." At the time, I figured she felt bad about not seeing me. I frowned. I then took out my phone and sent her a text.

"I have no reason to be mad. I hope everything went well with the test."

Yeah, that wasn't the reason she told me not to be mad.

I took an Uber to the X-Men's apartment. Once I made my way up and knocked on their door, Craig let me in. Inside was luggage that was already packed.

"Just in time," Craig commented as I stepped inside. He looked at my two suit cases. "Got everything you need?"

"I do," I replied. "I'm guessing we have a jet."

"Yup." Craig closed the door behind him. "We have one at Teterboro Airport in Jersey. We're using one of Pepper's jets. We would have had it a bit earlier, but, apparently, there were a couple additions she had added for our sake."

I raised my eyebrows curiously. "I wonder what they are."

"So do I."

Kitty walked into the room, dressed in jeans, a green t-shirt, and brown boots. "Hey Peter," she greeted with a smile. "You arrived."

"Yeah, I did." I frowned. "Of course, the first time I go to California, it's on a rescue mission."

She nodded her head sympathetically as she pressed her lips together. "Yeah, that's the thing about our line of work. You may travel a lot, but chances are you won't get to enjoy it."

"Yup," Craig grumbled as he crossed his arms. "I spent seven days in Japan once. I was so excited to go since I never been before. You know what I spent most of my time doing? I spent most of time fighting this Yakuza set that was headed up by Kitty's old sensei."

"You didn't get a chance to enjoy any of the landmarks?" I asked.

"The only landmark we went to see was The Suicide Forest, the one landmark we wanted to avoid at all costs," Kitty answered as she visibly shivered. "The place gives me the creeps."

"We don't talk about The Suicide Forest," Craig added.

I nodded. "I see," I replied. "Well, you heard about how my Europe trip was hijacked." I paused. "Though, I suppose I can't complain much since I ended up achieving my main goal for the trip."

"MJ?" Kitty replied with a knowing smirk.

I nodded, smirking myself. "MJ." I chuckled. "So, where's Scott?"

"He's picking up some last minute supplies before we head over to the garage. Joanna is supposed to be meeting us there."

Kitty, Craig, and I sat on the sofa and made small talk before Scott arrived with some first aid items. After we changed into our quick change uniforms, we packed Craig's SUV and drove over to the garage. Joanna was there, waiting with her own luggage. She was dressed in jogging pants and a white t-shirt, and a grey hoodie. After Scott gave us the order to mask up, we stepped out of the SUV

"Hello Joanna," Cyclops greeted in an even tone.

"Hey Scott," she replied with a smile. "How's everything?"

"I'm… okay." He shrugged his shoulders. "I'll feel a lot better when we get Carmilla."

Joanna nodded. She looked at us, then back at Cyclops. "Are sure you don't need more personnel?"

"I assure you that they're more than capable of holding their own." As he said this, he walked up to the door of the garage.

Joanna shrugged her shoulders a bit. "If you say so."

She walked with the rest of us as we walked up to Cyclops. He got the door open using both a keypad and a fingerprint scanner. After he pulled his finger away from the scanner, he looked down at his finger curiously.

"Odd," he muttered.

"Everything okay?" Frictor asked.

"…The scanner is sticky." He looked over at Frictor. "You did clean the surface last time we were here, right?"

"I did it right before we went home, remember?"

Shadowcat stepped up to the scanner and looked at it. "…You don't think someone tampered with it, do you?" she inquired.

"It's a possibility," Cyclops replied.

"Need me to kick in the door?" Joanna offered.

"We're good on that," I said as I stepped up to the door in question. I placed the side of my head against it and closed my eyes. After some seconds I heard footsteps and three sets of heartbeats. I took in a breath. "…There are three people inside."

"…Unfortunate," Cyclops commented in a slightly annoyed tone. After taking in a breath, he looked over at Shadowcat. "…Would you kindly?"

"I'm on it," she replied. She walked a few feet to right of the door with the scanner before she phased through the rollup garage door. She was gone for about thirty seconds, but every second seemed to pass like a minute. From the corner of my eye, I kept Joanna in my field of view. I wasn't trustful of her. But I wasn't distrustful of her either. So, the possibility of her setting us up stung a bit… and somewhat angered me. Before I did anything rash, however, Shadowcat walked back out through the wall. She had her right hand over mouth. Though her mask was covering the top of her face, the way she looked up at the sky made me believe that she was rather annoyed by something. She took in a breath, lowered her hand, and looked straight at me.

"…Spider-Man, you need to talk to them before I do," she stated in a tone that suggested that she was a lot angrier than she sounded. I was a bit confused as I tilted my head.

"…Why do I need to talk…?" I trailed off as realization sunk in. "…Oh no… Oh no they didn't!" I quickly walked up to the door and opened it. I then stomped inside, hoping… wishing… that I wasn't going to find who I believed Shadowcat was referring to. But, of course, as I stopped in my tracks, I was looking straight at MJ, Ned, and Betty. Even as I heard footsteps behind me, I kept my eyes on them. All three of them looked at me sheepishly.

"…Surprise?" Ned offered weakly. Under my mask, my right eye twitched.

"…Friends of yours?" Joanna asked. I didn't move an inch.

"Three soon-to-be dead friends of ours," Frictor replied. "Seriously, guys, what are you doing here?!"

"I think it's pretty obvious what they're doing here," Cyclops chimed in as he walked up to my side. "…And the answer to that is no!"

"You didn't even ask us what we wanted to do," Betty protested.

At that, Cyclops scoffed. "I highly doubt you three broke into here, on the day we're supposed to head out, for the sake of just seeing us off. You guys want to come along, and I say absolutely not!"

Betty wasn't backing down. "With all due respect…" She trailed off. "…Your codename is Cyclops, right?" Despite himself, Cyclops nodded. "With all due respect, you guys mean a lot to us, and we want to make sure you guys are safe. Especially when two of you been kind of having a bad streak with injuries."

"Oh screw you!" Frictor interjected.

Betty glared at him. "It's the truth."

"Look," Ned spoke up. "We know what you're going to say. It's dangerous, we can get hurt, etcetera, etcetera. But… we just got Pe – " I tilted my head, causing Ned to quickly clear his throat. "I mean, we just got Spider-Man back and…"

"We're not at the point of being… semi-comfortable with him being out of the state, let alone out of the city," MJ finished. I turned my gaze towards her. She smiled sheepishly again. "…I was hoping the coffee and donut would butter you up."

I took in a breath. There was going to be an argument, and I didn't want the others to be around for it. "…Guys… can you give MJ and I a minute?" I asked, finally speaking.

"Do we have to?" Joanna joked. "I enjoy a good soap opera."

"Joanna… read the room," Cyclops chastised. "…Let's go down a level."

I watched as Frictor flipped the switches to open up the trapdoor. Once everyone made their way down, I turned towards MJ and removed my mask. MJ swallowed.

"So, on the scale of 1 to 100, how pissed are you at us?" she asked.

"101," I deadpanned as I glared at her.

"…Would giving you a Dalmatian help?"

"I don't think are enough Dalmatians on Earth that can calm me down right now. MJ, what the fuck?!"

"Look, it wasn't my idea. It was Ned's."

"But you went along with it."

MJ averted her gaze, looking downwards to her left. "I didn't want to, okay? Ned, Betty, and I were just hanging out on the roof after we took our exams. And Ned just kept on whining about how he won't be your guy in the chair. I told him you'll be fine, since you'll be with the X-Men, but the dork reminded me that you'll be with Joanna, who we don't know. And he kept on talking about things that could go wrong, such as Frictor getting injured again, or you getting shot, and… then I became worried. So the idiot got me on board with this, and Betty came along to make sure we didn't get hurt and…"

I crossed my arms and tilted my head. "So it's Ned who I have to flay alive," I grumbled out. "Good to know."

"Peter…"

"Peter nothing, okay?!" I leaned forward. "Look, I get it. You guys are worried about me. I appreciate that you guys care, I really do. But you guys can't…" I trailed off as the gears started to turn in my head. I couldn't tell them to stay home. It's not that I didn't want to. But, fact of the matter was, even I did, something told me they'd figure out a way to find us. MJ already had the coordinates. They'd figure out a way to get California and meet us there. Telling them to home would have just delayed the inevitable. With that in mind, I turned around and threw my hands up in defeat. "You know what? What's the point? Telling you guys to stay home is not going to do anything. You guys probably have flights booked already, don't you?"

"…We had a backup plan," MJ admitted. "…And you would have hated us even more if we resorted to it."

I scoffed as I shook my head. "What did you guys do, promise Flash a favor?" I asked mockingly. There was a period of silence after I said that. My eyes went wide as I quickly turned around and faced her. While her expression was neutral, there was a certain look in her eyes that told me the answer to my snarky question was a sincere yes. "…Oh, my, God! MJ!"

"I said you weren't going to like it. …Basically, Ned kind of let slip out that I was an acquaintance of Spider-Man, and Flash wanted you to show up to host his party in exchange for plane tickets. I told Flash he could get fucked. Ned convinced us to keep it as a backup plan. But, we're here now, so… we don't owe him a favor."

"…Em…" I took in a breath. I then turned away. "Let's just tell Cyclops we need to go."

"Are you still mad?"

"Livid, Em! I'm freaking livid!" I turned back towards MJ. I really didn't want to go off on her. But I was too angry. "I'm already going on a dangerous mission as is! I'm already worried about my fellow X-Men getting hurt or killed, and this is despite the fact they got powers, skills, and training. But now, I'll have to worry about you guys getting caught in the crossfire or the fallout from whatever happens out west!"

"And you expect us to stay here and hope for the best?" MJ shot back. "No offense, Spider-Man, but when it comes to protecting those you love, you've made some very bad decisions and – " She quickly brought her hands over her mouth as her eyes widened. She just realized what she said. I saw the regret in her eyes, but the damage was done. She lowered her hands. "…Peter." She said my name in a whisper. I knew she wanted to apologize.

I didn't want to hear it.

I put my mask on and turned away from her. I made my way down the stairs. I looked around and everyone. Most of them were looking at me. Cyclops, however, was sitting on his chair, head bowed. I turned my head and glared at Ned. He smiled sheepishly.

"…Judging by how Cyclops head is bowed, I'm guessing you convinced him to let you guys come along, huh?" I growled out.

"Dude," Ned began as he held his hands up.

"Save it, Ned!" I took in a breath. I was getting agitated. "Just don't do anything stupid!"

"That might be easier said than done," Joanna muttered out.

"We're going," Cyclops declared with irritation in his voice as he stood up. "Shadowcat, grab the disguise kit. Frictor, grab the extra vests."

"You got it," Shadowcat stated as Frictor nodded.

"As for the rest of you American Idiots…" He turned to look at Betty and Ned. He then turned his head towards the top of the staircase. I looked over my shoulder to see MJ at the top of the stairs. Her expression was downcast. "I understand you guys care a lot about Spider-Man. And I'm glad you want to look out for his wellbeing. But your wellbeing matters a lot to him as well. You would do well to remember that in the future."

We finally left the garage, driving out in a black Chevrolet Suburban, which, according to Frictor, was heavily armored. I took the front passenger seat as Scott drove. I wasn't in the mood to talk to MJ, Betty, and Ned. I was too angry at the moment. So I busied myself with staring out the window. As much as I wanted to tune everyone out, I still overheard a bit of the conversation between Ned and MJ.

"On the scale of 1 to 100, how badly did we piss off Spider-Man?" Ned asked, worry in his tone.

"…101," MJ replied with a tone of remorse.

Internally, I sighed.

This was going to be a long trip.