The next morning, I was awakened by the sound of the front door unlocking. I opened my eyes and sat up. I turned my body and placed my feet on the floor. I watched the door, getting ready in case I needed to spring forth into action to deal with an intruder. Fortunately, I was awake enough to remember that there were only two other people with the key to this place – my landlord and MJ. And, fortunately, it was the latter that was in view when the door opened. She was dressed in a pair of ripped jeans and a black long-sleeved button-up shirt under a black jacket, both of which matched her nigh-signature pair of Chuck Taylors. Curiously, she had a plastic bag in her hand.
"Good morning, Loser," MJ greeted as she stepped inside and closed the door behind her.
"Good morning, Em," I greeted back as she locked the door. I stretched my arms out and cracked my back, groaning as I did so. I looked over at the clock, seeing that it was six in the morning. "You're here extra early."
"I figured the earlier I get here, the more time we can spend together before I have to head to work." She tilted her head. "Did I wake you?"
I nodded. "You did. But I'm not complaining." I looked at the bag and nodded towards it. "What's in the bag?"
"I got a couple of boxes of tea." She smiled. "I figured you could use some at your apartment. Also, I may want something to sip on whenever I stop by." Her smile became a bit wider. I chuckled as I shook my head.
After I took some time to shower, brush my teeth, and the like, MJ and I went about making breakfast. MJ made chicken & veggie omelets and brewed some matcha tea. Meanwhile, I made wheat cakes while also plucking out a couple of cups of vanilla Greek yogurt. Once we were done cooking, we ate and drank at my bed. By the time we were done eating, it was about seven o'clock. After taking some time to clean up the kitchen and wash the dishes, we lay on my bed and just talked about different things, from school, to books that MJ read (specifically, Dune by Frank Herbert and The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky), and, eventually, Ravencroft.
"So, of all places to choose, you guys decided to go with the sanatorium that is said to be cursed," MJ mused.
"Yeah, Craig wasn't thrilled," I replied as I looked up at the ceiling. I shook my head before I looked over at her. "I'm not thrilled either, to be honest. But, the place works to our advantage, so, there's that."
"Are you worried?"
I nodded. "A little bit, but not too worried. I… I know I won't be taking on Scorpion alone, which is a good thing because I'm like zero, one, and one against him so far. At the same time, though, I don't put anything past Hammer."
At that, MJ put on an expression of mock shock. "You expect Hammer to do something ridiculously beyond the pale? NOOOOOOO! He's always been so ethical!" We both laughed together after that. Our laughter died down as we both stared up at the ceiling. We remained silent for some moments. Then MJ spoke again. "…You know, dating a superhero sucks at times."
"Why you sat that?" I asked, genuinely curious.
"Because, like…" She paused for a moment. "…I know you're super strong. I know you're super agile. I know you have that Spider Tingle." At that point, I had to fight off the urge to tell her not to call my extra sense that. So, I stayed silent as she continued. "I know you can take a lot of punishment. And I know you can sleep off injuries that would put normal people in the hospital or worse. But none of that does anything to keep me from worrying." From the corner of my eye, I saw her turn her head towards. I turned my head and looked her straight in the eye. "Even before I knew you were Spider-Man, I always remembered that superheroes aren't invincible. But, since I've been dating you, there's this fear that you'll come across a villain you won't be able to take on by yourself – someone who is stronger, faster, more agile… And I'm afraid that one day you'll…" She trailed off before she frowned. "Am I being too worried?"
I shook my head. "I don't think you are. Thanos was more powerful than me – like, a lot more powerful than me. And Scorpion has me trumped in every way. So, I understand."
She nodded before she looked up at the ceiling. "…Are you ever afraid?"
At that, I scoffed. "I'm almost always afraid. It's part of the reason I joke around a lot when I'm doing Spider-Man stuff. I joke around so I could be slightly less worried about how intense a situation is."
"And that always work for you?"
"I say about 80 percent of the time."
"…Maybe you need better material."
I smiled as I looked up at the ceiling. "Maybe I do." We went quiet for a bit again. I looked over at MJ and smiled. "Hey." She turned her head and looked at me. "I um… I appreciate the fact that you worry about me. I think, sometimes, people don't understand that I'm no Superman."
"Peter, I'd worry about you even if you were Superman," MJ said in earnest. "You have to understand, I never really had that much luck when it comes to getting close to people. So, the people I do get close to… I tend to care a lot about them, and that includes me worrying about them a lot. So, I'm warning you now, there are going to be times when I'll be super-annoying with how much I worry about you."
"Just as long as you don't mind the times when I'm extra clingy," I replied only semi-jokingly.
MJ smiled at me and nodded. "Deal." She brought her face closer to mine and placed a soft kiss on my lips. I kissed her back before I rolled over and lay my head on her shoulder. She snaked her left arm around my shoulders and started to play with my hair. I smiled as I enjoyed the moment.
Eventually, MJ left, having to go to work. We shared a goodbye kiss before she did. I closed the door behind her before I placed my forehead against it. I took in a breath before I released it.
"I have a long day ahead of me," I said to myself. I brought my fist up and lightly tapped the side of it against the door two times before I turned away from it.
Around 11 o'clock, I got a text from Craig, telling me to get ready by noon and pack some toiletries and a few change of clothes, including my very first Spider-Man suit. So, I packed a couple suitcases. Well, three suitcases, really – I had a custom carrying case for my Black Dahlia Armor. I wore my quick change outfit just in case something happened. I was ready to go at around five minutes before noon. That was when my phone went off. I walked over to it and picked it up before I read the screen. I smiled before I answered the call and put the phone to my ear.
"Hello," I greeted.
"We're here, Peter," Craig replied from the other end of the line. "We're rolling in my Toyota Highlander."
"I'll be down in a minute."
After figuring out the best way to carry my luggage, I made my way down to the lobby and exited. As Craig said, his black SUV was outside. Craig was standing outside of the vehicle, leaning up against the passenger side of the SUV, dressed in what I assume was his quick change outfit. He smiled as I approached.
"Ready to take the trip back to Silent Hill?" he deadpanned.
"Not even a little bit," I replied sincerely.
He chuckled before he walked towards the back of the SUV. I followed him and waited for him to open the hatch. Once he did, I looked inside. As expected, there were bags and suitcases in there. Unsurprisingly, Kitty was sitting in the front passenger seat. However, what was really surprising was the fact that, sitting in the second row of seats, looking back at me, was…
"Ned?!" I uttered out. Ned waved in greeting. Suddenly, I felt anger bubble up in my chest. "Dude, what are you doing here?! You didn't–?!"
"We asked him to come along," Craig cut in reassuringly. "We figured we could use another tech person to work with you and Kitty."
"Yeah, and who better than your Guy In The Chair, right?" Ned added with a smile.
"He'll only be with us for today," Kitty said from the front seat. "After we're done, we'll have him escorted home."
I took in a deep breath and released it as I nodded. "Okay," I spoke up. "Ned, I apologize. But please be careful when we get there. It's not exactly the safest place." At this point, I started placing my suitcases inside.
"So I heard," Ned replied with a nod. "I looked up the place when Scott called me. Like, there's this secret millionaire by the name of Harold Howard who has like a 200 million dollar open bounty for the place to explored, and nobody is taking that challenge."
"And for good reason," Craig added.
A minute later, we were on the road to Westchester. At Craig's behest, we briefly went through a Popeyes drive-thru and got food on Craig's dime. As we drove to Westchester, eating our food along the way, I couldn't help but ask about what we were going to do.
"So what's the plan?" I asked.
"Well, we'll have a better idea about what we're going to do once we see what Carmilla and Joanna brought for us to use," Kitty began after she swallowed a piece of one of her chicken tenders she was chewing on. "But, basically, we'll be setting up traps that we can trigger. We'll be setting things up in different buildings across the property, main building included. Assuming Hammer sends an army after us – and I'm almost dead sure he will – the more we thin them out, the quicker we'll face Scorpion."
"And the quicker we can leave that place," Craig added.
Kitty smirked. "I don't know. It looks like it could be a great place to use as the new base for The X-Men in the future."
"Yeah, I know I'm not an X-Man, but… no, just no!" Ned commented, prompting all of us to chuckle.
"Besides, I don't want to move to Westchester," Craig added. "Nothing against the county – it's just not for me."
We arrived about an hour later. Unlike Craig's Scion, the Highlander was able to fare much better on the beaten path. He didn't have to have to slow down too much. Add in the fact that we didn't have to worry about moving an abandoned vehicle out of the way, and we made it to the gate a lot quicker than last time. Said gate was open, and there were three vehicles inside – a black Hummer EV, an oversized vehicle that looked like it can hold a whole office, and a silver van that, I would later learn, was a Mitsubishi Delica. Scott, Joanna, and Carmilla were standing outside the aforementioned vehicles as Craig pulled up to them.
After Craig put the SUV in park and turned it off, he stepped out of the vehicle along with Kitty, Ned, and I. Ned carried a large backpack out with him.
"You guys made it," Scott commented.
"Yeah, we did," I replied. "I'm ready to get this over with it."
"You and I both," Carmilla said as she looked back at the sanatorium. "You guys were right – this place is creepy."
"I told you," Craig pointed.
"Well, tomorrow's the big day," Scott stated as he looked around at all of us. "We're going to do everything we can to prepare. To make things more manageable, we're going to split up into three teams, with each team focused on tasks at hand. Peter, you'll be working with Ned and Craig to set up a surveillance system. We're putting up cameras where traps will be laid, as well as other points of interest. As such, you'll be working closely with Joanna and Kitty, who will go about setting up the traps. That'll leave me and Carmilla to check the weapons we have. For the sake of sticking straight to our M.O., anyone who wants to use a gun will strictly use non-lethal ammunition. After we're done with everything, we'll convene to fortify the headmaster's office. Is everyone clear?" We all said our confirmations. "Good. Let's get to work."
We split off at this point, with Craig and Carmilla sharing a brief kiss right before we did so. While Scott and Carmilla hopped into the Delica and drove up into the main building, Kitty beckoned us to follow her. We walked up to the oversized vehicle. After pulling out a remote from her pocket and pressing one of the buttons, the back of it opened up, with the hatch opening downward and serving as a ramp. We all walked in, with Joanna having to duck head to keep it from hitting the ceiling.
"See, this is bullshit," she grumbled, prompting Craig chuckled. "Oh, shut up, Craig!"
I looked around the place, seeing that it was a small workshop. There was a desk with a chair. There was a Stark Fabricator. There was a cabinet that had, what I assume, tools and other materials. And there was a Keurig machine.
"Pepper let us hold this for a while," Kitty explained. "It's a mobile workshop."
"I'm surprised she's not helping directly on this," Craig commented as he walked over to one of the chairs. He grabbed it before he dragged it along as he walked towards Joanna. He offered the chair up to her. Joanna looked at him before giving him a brief smile and a grateful nod. She took a seat, looking relieved that she didn't have to keep her head ducked.
Kitty tilted her head briefly. "As much as I'd like Rescue to make an appearance, I think her having be a part of this will bring her some rather undue stress."
"So, what do we do?" Ned asked as he walked over to the desk and laid his backpack on it before he went about taking out his laptop.
"We'll need to create cameras," Kitty stated. "Preferably cameras that are able to be hidden easily. They'll need to have to a lot of range. Oh, and make sure they're EMP resistant. Beyond that, if you can create mock versions of our superhero costumes, that'd be great. "
"Got it," I said as I walked over to the fabricator. As I worked, Kitty continued to take charge.
"Hey, Joanna, what type of weapons did you bring? Besides guns, I mean."
"I got a lot of explosives," Joanna answered simply. "I got grenades, mines, C4, pipe bombs…"
"Do you have any flashbangs?"
"Quite a bit, actually."
"Good, we can use those. I got a lot of tripwire we can work with." Kitty turned towards Ned. "Ned, please try and pull up the most recent blueprints and maps of this place." She then regarded Craig. "And Craig, work with Ned to find the best place to set up these traps and to place the camera."
"Got it," Craig and Ned said in unison.
"Good." Kitty clasped her hands together. "…I'm going to make coffee. Y'all want a cup?"
We all worked diligently. As I worked on creating the cameras, Craig and Ned worked on finding the best potential spots on the map, with Joanna and Kitty using those spots to talk about the best potential explosives they could use. I decided to get a little creative with the designs of the cameras. Instead of a normal design, I decided to make them into spider-like units that could be controlled so they could be moved. They weren't large – they were the size of the palm of my hand, legs included. I made sure they were a very, VERY dark blue that was just short of black. Internally, the spiders contained the components of a wireless camera, along with a range expander that would allow it to transfer live footage to Edith when I'm in the main building. Once I had the design down pat, I set the fabricator to construct them. In the end, there was about a hundred in all made.
From there, we drove the mobile work shop to the main building and grabbed as many mannequins as we could before we drove from building to building. In each building we reached, we set up traps in and cameras inside of them. It was a long tedious process, but we got the work done. After we got our last building done, we cruised towards the main building.
"I hope Scott brought my Taser X12 shotgun," Craig stated as he looked outside of the window.
"I thought you'd want the AA-12," Kitty remarked.
Craig shrugged. "I prefer the Mossberg 500, to be honest. Don't get me wrong, I like the AA-12, but the Mossberg is more practical."
"I understand. It's why I usually prefer normal pistols like an FN Five-seveN or an M1911, if I do use a gun. But, you know me – I prefer ninja tools above everything."
"Do you guys ever stop and ask yourselves if you're verging into Child Soldier territory?" Joanna asked.
At that, Craig scoffed. "Joanna, that ship sailed a long time ago, came back to the harbor, and sailed again," he replied. He looked over at her and frowned. "It's one of the things I had to come to terms with."
"And that doesn't worry you?"
"It sometimes does," Kitty replied in earnest. "But, when you're a mutant, normally your choices are to fight, hide, or die."
Once we arrived at the main building, Joanna put the SUV in park. We all stepped out of the SUV and walked inside to the building's lobby. Scott and Carmilla were there, sitting at a long table that held many a firearm and magazine, along with cartons of ammunition.
Scott looked up at us and nodded as we approached them. "How'd it go?"
"It went well," Ned spoke up. "We just need to set up a place where we can stash a Wi-Fi hotspot, and we'll be good to go."
Scott smiled slightly. "Good. Why don't you and Peter handle that? Once you guys return, we'll pause for dinner and we'll let Happy know you're ready to go."
I tilted my head. "Happy is nearby?" I questioned.
"He's in Mount Vernon as we speak. I called him earlier this morning, so he decided to spend the day there for leisure."
I raised my eyebrows briefly. "Well that's convenient." I turned to Ned. "Shall we?"
Ned and I made our way to the second floor. Once there, we went to one of the cells. As Ned kneeled down on the ground and pulled out a Wi-Fi modem out of his backpack, I reached into my jacket's pocket and pulled out my Edith glasses. I put them on just as Ned spoke.
"So, tomorrow it'll be over, huh?" he stated.
"Yeah, until the next time or the next one," I replied. I took a look around the cell. A part of me wondered what kind of things that the patients of this sanatorium went through. I read up on this place a little bit. Some of what I read was rumors and hearsay that has persisted for decades. Some of what I read was newspaper articles. None of what I read about this place painted a pretty picture.
Ned made a noncommittal noise. I looked over at him to see him smile a bit. "I can't wait to see the look on Jonah's face when you and the rest of the X-Men beat down Scorpion."
I scoffed. "I can. That whole workplace might call out sick when it happens."
At that, Ned laughed. "He'll probably yell about Spider-Man being a menace or something for five hours straight."
I raised my eyebrows. "Accurate." After Ned set up the modem, he pulled out a large box like device that looked like it was the size of a cat. "Dude, what is that?"
"Oh this?" He looked over his shoulder and smiled. "It's a power station I made from scratch over the semester. I wanted to see if I could make one from the ground up because I was bored one day. And, I did. I tested Lola's TV on it. I was able to watch every Star Wars movie on it and play several hours of Smash Brothers before it needed to be charged." He placed the power bank next to the router before he plugged in the latter into the former. "I never thought I'd get to use it outside of the house. But, then you told us you were Spider-Man and I'd figure I'd be using it sooner than later."
"I wish it wasn't like this, though," I commented with a frown.
"It is what it is, dude," Ned replied. He turned on the modem before he stood up. I was about to talk to Edith when I saw Ned turn around and give me a look. He was quiet for a moment. He then spoke again. "Hey, Peter… I know this seems like an odd time to ask this but… If you could change things back to the way they were before… would you?"
I didn't answer at first. I looked off to the side in thought for some moments. After giving his question some thought, I looked back at him and shook my head.
"Had this been a few weeks ago, I'd yes in a heartbeat," I admitted. "But nowadays, I don't think I would. Don't get me wrong, it still kind of sucks that Aunt May is no longer around, and that'll always suck. But, I'm not alone anymore. I've been in therapy. My dreams are no longer dead. And I've been having days where I think to myself 'You know, today doesn't suck'." I paused for a moment. My eyes became unfocused as I thought about what I just said. I then nodded slowly as I smiled. "…I'm not sure if I'm happy, but I know I'm a lot closer being happy than I was weeks ago. And you all have a lot to do with that."
Ned smiled as he nodded. "That's good, man. You look a lot happier." His smiled faded a bit. "…The reason I ask is… I want to ask you a favor."
I tilted my head. "What kind of favor?"
He sighed. "It's just… I remember you telling me that I used one of Doctor Strange's… sling rings? Is that what they're called?" I nodded in confirmation. "Right. So, I remember you telling me that. And… I kind of want to meet him and… maybe learn a thing or two from him. So, I was wondering if, when this is all over, we could make time to go see him. But, I wanted to make sure you're cool with it. I know Doctor Strange was the one who performed The Spell, and I don't know if you're at the point where you want to revisit that and… well, you know." I looked at Ned for a good few moments. To be honest, I don't think I was ready to meet Doctor Strange yet. I was afraid of how'd he react if I told him everything. But I knew that meeting had to happen sooner or later. After taking in a deep breath, I nodded. Ned laughed heartily as he did a fist pump. "Awesome! I can't wait!" He then tilted his head. "You think I'll get my own cape that'll allow me to fly."
I went quiet for a moment. I then shook my head as I chuckled. "Something tells me that's a Doctor Strange exclusive."
"Maybe I'll get something cooler like a large purple bat to ride on," Ned suggested. He then shook his head. "That's for another time. Want to check the cameras?"
"Yeah." I cleared my throat. "Hey Edith."
"Hey Peter," she greeted. "I hope all is well."
"It is. Um, so… the X-Men and Ned set up a whole bunch of cameras across the area. Do you think you can access them via this hotspot Ned set up?"
"I'll do my best. Connecting to the Wi-Fi now… Wi-Fi network accessed. Connecting to the cameras now…" Several video feeds started to populate my vision. "I see we're at The Ravencroft Institute. Shall I categorize the cameras by both building and number?"
"Please do," I urged.
Immediately, I saw the feeds being grouped into five columns. "The cameras are now grouped. I hope this is to your liking."
"It really is, Edith. Thank you very much."
"Anytime, Pete."
I paused for a moment. "You just called me Pete," I pointed out.
"I did," she confirmed. "It's to my understanding that people often come up with nicknames for those who they're close to."
I smiled. "…They do. If I come up with a good one for you, I'll let you know."
"That would be nice."
"Okay. Well, I'll be installing more cameras later on. I'll let you know."
"I'll be looking forward to it."
After we got done, Ned and I made our way back to the first floor. Once there, we were greeted by the others sitting in a circle on the floor, eating out of pouches with plastic spoons. Ned and I walked over and sat in the space they left open for us. Craig was to Ned's Left. I was to his right, and to the left of Joanna. Carmilla sat between Craig and Kitty and Scott sat to Joanna's right. Joanna paused her eating to pass Ned and I each an opened pouch along with a spoon.
"MREs," she explained. "Beef goulash, to be exact. It's not exactly fancy stuff, but it'll keep you full."
"Thanks," I said before I started eating. She was right. It wasn't fancy, but I didn't mind it. We all ate in silence for a bit. Then Craig spoke up.
"You know, Pete, I thought you were a mutant the first time we met," Craig revealed as he looked at me.
"Really?" I said with a smirk.
"I actually thought something similar," Ned added. "I figured he was some kind of superhuman."
"Was it when he said 'something is wrong' right before those gunmen rushed in?" Craig asked.
Ned nodded. "Yup."
"I figured." Craig looked back at me. "What is that, anyway?"
"It's like…" I trailed off a bit. "Whenever there's danger nearby, I get this tingle up my spine and this buzzing in my head. The bigger the danger, the more intense these feelings are. The thing is… I won't know what that danger is until I can detect it with my actual senses."
"So, you have a Spider Tingle?" Carmilla teased. I rolled my eyes. She chuckled. "But seriously, what do you call it?"
"…I don't know. I never got around to calling it anything. All I know is that it's like an extra sense. Like a…"
"Spider-Sense?" Kitty offered.
I turned my head slowly towards her and stared at for three seconds straight. I then looked at the floor as my face flushed in slight embarrassment. "Why didn't I think of that?"
Kitty chuckled shortly. "If it makes you feel any better, Craig and I went through a lot codenames before we settled on the ones we have."
"And all of them were rather questionable," Scott commented with a smirk.
"Oh shut up," Craig grumbled halfheartedly, prompting Scott to laugh.
"What were your previous names?" Ned asked.
Kitty sighed as she shook her head. "Okay," she began. "I went by Sprite, Ariel, Lady Shadra, Florence Prydengale, Petal, and Daughter of Demon."
"As for me, I also had quite a bit of previous codenames," Craig spoke up. "I went by Kid Slick, Kineceleran, Sideways, Clean Up - Aisle 5, Caution… I thought I had a good name in Skids, but turns out there is another friction-manipulating hero out there with that name. She sent a letter to the X-Mansion kindly asking me to change my name. So, I went with Friction for a bit before Kitty suggested Frictor. We found out weeks later that there's a character on this obscure cartoon The Ripping Friends that had that exact name. But, at that point, the name stuck, so I continued to roll with it."
At that, Joanna scoffed. She then smirked at Scott. "You're right, Slim," she said in agreement. "Those names are questionable."
"Oh shut up!" Craig and Kitty responded, causing the rest of us to laugh.
A bit after we finished up, Hogan arrived. I walked with Ned to the gate.
"Look after MJ for me, will you?" I asked as we walked.
"I will," Ned assured.
"And, if possible, get Pepper's number from Happy. In case anything happens to me and the others, I want you guys to be able to contact her."
"I'll do that."
"And in case anything happens…"
Ned stopped in his tracks and glared at me. "Peter. Don't do that. Everything will be okay. Okay?"
"I know." I nodded. "But… as I was saying… just in case I don't get a chance to say this… I love you, man."
"I love you, too Peter. But like I said, everything will be okay." He held his hand out towards me as he smiled. I smiled back at him before I brought my hand out. We both did our signature handshake before we walked the rest of the way.
After I escorted Ned, I made my way back to the building. From there, we finished setting up. I placed the rest of the cameras across all of the floors. During this, Kitty and Joanna placed the rest of the traps on the first, second, and third floor while Cyclops and Carmilla worked to fortify the top floor and stash the weapons there. After that, we were done. Much to my surprise, and a lot to Craig's chagrin, we weren't going home. We were spending the night there. So, we went to the second floor. Picking out the two cleanest padded rooms we could find, we split up into two groups – one room for the guys, and one room for the girls. After that, Scott distributed duffle bags with a camping bed roll, a pillow, and a comforter.
"I'm kicking Hammer in the nuts for this," Craig grumbled as he unrolled his bed roll.
"It could be worse," Scott pointed out.
Craig turned and glared at him. "What could be worse than sleeping in Arkham Asylum?"
Scott looked over at him. "Do you really want me to answer that?"
Craig stared at him for some seconds. He then shook his head. "No, sir."
Scott nodded before he pulled his pillow out. "Wise decision. Some things are better left unknown. Now rest up. We're going to need all the sleep we can get before we set things into motion tomorrow morning. Understood?"
"Yes, Scott," I replied.
"I hear you," Craig added.
"Good. You two have a goodnight."
"We'll try," Craig deadpanned.
"You too, Scott," I replied.
I got my bed prepared. Once I did, I moved under the cover as I lay down. I stared up at the ceiling for a few seconds. I then took a deep breath before I closed my eyes.
Tomorrow was going to be nuts.
