The Devil You Don't Know
Chapter 6: Chaos
Regaining consciousness, Felicia felt her limbs ache. They had obviously been in the same position for far too long. Her arms were tied behind her back, her legs at the ankles. She was lying on her side on a cold floor. As she opened her eyes blearily, she found she couldn't focus. Objects in the room…? cell…? remained obstinately out of focus, even as she tried to get her bearings.
Her disorientation was not just from smoke inhalation. Closing her eyes, she focused on her physical sensations, grimacing from the sharp pain she felt along her upper arms. How in God's name did this happen? she wondered silently. Was I drugged?
She dimly remembered one thing between passing out at the fire and now – the sensation of swinging through the air. At the time, she had assumed that Peter had somehow saved her. But the fact that she was here, wherever "here" was, and not in a hospital bed, quickly put the kibosh on that theory.
She struggled to a kneeling position, opening her eyes again. Whatever she had been drugged with was starting to wear off. Not enough for her to be able to figure out where she was – no matter how much she tried, her eyes stubbornly refused to bring her surroundings into focus. She twisted her wrists back and forth, trying to loosen her bonds. No use. What were these made of? It wasn't rope, or adhesive tape, or plastic cord… It simply held her wrists together, unmoving. She couldn't reach the claw trigger in her gloves, either. She strained with the effort of freeing herself…
"Awake, are you?" a gruff male voice came out of nowhere. A blurry figure stepped into her line of vision. She peered upward – the man seemed to be wearing a full-face mask and a duster that skimmed the floor.
"Who… are you?" Her voice came as a dusky rasp.
The hoarseness of the man's voice increased. "You don't need to know, Cat." The person stepped closer to her bound form. "All you need to know is that you wouldn't be here if you hadn't helped put me in prison the last time we encountered each other."
Her mind swam, she struggled to think – who? Unfortunately, there had been too many men she had helped to put away during her crimefighting career, both during and after her partnership with Spider-Man. The list was not short…
He moved toward her, holding something in his right hand. It wasn't until it got closer to to her arm that she could see it was a syringe filled with liquid.
She jerked away weakly. "Keep that… away from me… you bastard!"
He easily caught her arm in his hand. "Now, now. You and I both know that it's too dangerous to keep you awake." He plunged the needle unmercifully into her upper arm, piercing the leather sleeve.
"F#& you," she spat.
She fought a valiant, but futile, battle to remain conscious. The last thing she heard before losing that battle was, "Time to go distract your 'boyfriend.'"
Over the past couple of hours, Peter had been working in the lab, testing the sticky substance he had found at the site of the fire. As he waited for the results, he had time to think not only about finding Felicia but also why Mary Jane seemed so upset about it. As he was going over both problems in his mind, Peter was interrupted by the lab's intercom.
"Mr. Parker, are you there?" the voice of Jarvis echoed in the lab.
Peter smiled at that. He never really got used to it when the students at Midtown High called him that. I don't know if I'll ever get used to being referred to as Mr. Parker.
Peter answered, "I'm here, Jarvis. Is this about what you have planned with my aunt today? Because if it is…"
"No, no, no," Jarvis interrupted, "There's a message for you from that Dark Crusader person who was here earlier."
Checking up on me already, I see, he thought. "Can you send the message through the intercom, Jarvis?"
"Most definitely, sir. Here it is, now."
Within moments, the message began over the speaker. "Hey webhead, this is Dark Crusader checkin' in. I may have found a lead to the whereabouts of the Black Cat. Meet me over at the burnt out building that Felicia disappeared from. See you soon."
Once the message ended, Peter said, "Thanks, Jarvis."
"Do be careful out there, sir. You know how your Aunt May worries about you."
"I will."
When he arrived at the designated rendezvous point, the Dark Crusader was nowhere to be seen.
"Yoo-hoo, Dark Crusader!" Spider-Man shouted. "Where the heck are you?" No answer.
He continued to call out to the Dark Crusader as he searched the building. Was he late? Or just early? With no sign of the Crusader, he went up to the roof, finding what appeared to be a mask. "What the…" Examining the mask very closely, Spider-Man realized whose it was.
Damn it! Spider-Man thought frantically as he fired a web-line and hightailed it back to Stark Tower. Were the two disappearances related? he asked himself, hoping that he was not witnessing the beginning of an epidemic.
His duties finished for the afternoon, Edwin Jarvis prepared himself for his date with May Parker. He found it quite refreshing to have her around. May often assisted him with cooking and cleaning, but it was more than that. He had lived among larger-than-life heroes for years. It was nice to have someone as down to earth as May to talk to.
"Are you ready to go, May?" asked Jarvis, patiently waiting outside her room.
May replied, "Just a minute, Edwin. I'm almost ready."
As promised, a minute later, May came out of her room, looking ready for a night on the town.
Jarvis smiled at her. "You look lovely, May."
"And you look very handsome, Edwin," May replied, giving him a peck on the cheek for the compliment.
"Shall we?"
Nodding, she took his arm. They made their way to the elevator, and eventually out of the Tower to grab a bite to eat.
When they had arrived at the restaurant, the time just flew by between a wonderful meal and a lively conversation.
Before heading back home, they decided to take a leisurely stroll through Central Park. Walking arm in arm, May and Jarvis enjoyed the scenery of the park at dusk.
Their contentment was brutally interrupted when Jarvis was forcefully knocked to the ground. May cried out in fear.
"Get away from the lady, old man. She's coming with me," threatened a bruising man dressed in a duster and wearing a full-face mask.
Jarvis pushed himself up from the ground and challenged his attacker. "I beg to differ, you… ruffian."
His bravery was rewarded with a powerful punch, which knocked him back to the ground. The masked man proceeded to pound on him until Jarvis was unconscious.
"Edwin!" May screamed, terrified at seeing Jarvis beaten savagely. "Someone, anyone, please we need help!"
"Shut yer yap, you old hag," the man spat angrily. "Like I said before, you're comin' with me." Without a moment's hesitation, he fired a spray canister directly at May's face, knocking her out in a less brutal but no less effective fashion.
Giving Jarvis another swift kick, the masked man picked May up, slung her over his back and bounded away.
Minutes later, Jarvis came to, feeling the aches and pains from the beating he had taken. The cobwebs began to clear slowly from his head as he got his bearings. Jarvis then realized that he was alone and called out frantically, "May? Where are you, May?" Jarvis got no response - now he feared the worst. Pain shot through his right arm as he struggled back to his feet. To his dismay, he realized that the arm might be broken… Holding it carefully with the other arm, he slowly got to his feet and unsteadily headed towards Stark Tower.
With his good arm, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone. He dialed Peter's apartment number... no answer. How will he take this news? Jarvis wondered, as he tapped in 911.
"We don't have proof that these are even connected!" Peter defended, frustration tingeing his voice.
Mary Jane shot back just as fervently, "Peter, of course they are! When this many people go missing, it can't be a coincidence..."
"But I've found no evidence to prove that. If the same person or group grabbed Felicia, wouldn't they have grabbed the Dark Crusader along with her?"
"Well, if it is just one guy... Jarvis said only one person attacked him. Maybe he could only handle one at a time."
"But Aunt May is an average person, so one person could take her, in the right situation. A pair of men could've done the same thing. Right now, I don't know what to think because both Felicia and Aunt May are missing. I have no idea who would want to take my aunt," Peter replied, upset, anxious, and highly agitated.
Mary Jane waved her hands in front of her body, dismissing his reasoning. "Whatever. I just think it's kind of suspicious that as soon as you let Felicia back in your life, this happens."
"Come off it, MJ. You don't mean that?"
"Of course, I mean that! Think of the last time the two of you worked together!" She ticked the events off on her fingers. "You broke Norman Osborn, your worst enemy, out of prison… Osborn threw a fistful of your rogues gallery at the two of you… He kidnapped me, and took me to that stupid bridge…" She huffed, irritated. "Do you see my point?"
"I couldn't let her get Osborn out by herself. Besides, she volunteered to do it. I have also fought all of those guys either by themselves, or within groups, and in the end, I was the one still standing," Peter shot back. "And whatever I can't handle, I'll always have the other Avengers as back up."
"You still don't get it, do you?" she fired right back.
"Yeah, I get it. You're jealous of Felicia."
"What did you just say!" Mary Jane asked, shocked that Peter would say that.
"I said, you are jealous of Felicia – and for the life of me, I don't know why."
MJ stilled suddenly, so angry that she couldn't speak. Peter could see her face flush, and then she suddenly brushed past him, going into the bedroom, and slammed the door, hard.
"MJ!" Peter called after her, immediately regretting what he had said. He strode over to the door, knocking. There was no answer. He tried the door and found it locked. With all his being, he wanted to burst through the locked door and try to resolve this... but common sense won out. She would come out, and they would talk in a more civilized, less angry way later on. At least, he told himself that…
To get his mind off his argument with Mary Jane, Peter went to check if the analysis of the sticky substance was completed. By now, the results would surely be ready; they had probably been done hours ago. The elevator ride seemed interminable, his thoughts torn between a missing Felicia, May and Dark Crusader, and his angry wife. The doors to the lab slid open with a quiet hiss, and he walked purposefully over to the screen.
What Peter saw surprised him. "How could I have missed this…? I should have known!" Peter mentally cursed himself.
