We made our way to the elevator. Once we were on the platform, I used the keycard on the console. As soon as the options were visible on the screen, I tapped the option for the ground floor. As the elevator ascended, I quickly glanced at the others before I looked forward.

"...So," Carmilla spoke up, breaking the silence. "How are things on the outside?"

"Sweetie, we are neither in the right place nor have ample time to get you up to speed," Shadowcat chastised gently.

Carmilla nodded in understanding. She was quiet for a few seconds. She then spoke again. "Okay, but I'd like to ask two questions for now." She looked over at Shadowcat. "First, is my room still vacant?"

"It is."

Carmilla then looked over at Cyclops with a shy smile. "Second… is there a spot open on this new X-Men team?" She looked down at the ground and gave it a kick. "Asking for a friend."

"We rescued you because you mean a lot to us," Cyclops reminded in a tone that was equal parts firm and gentle. "I would like you to rejoin the X-Men. Just don't disappear on us again. Whatever issue you have with any one of us, we deal with it like adults."

"Wait, you actually have an adult on your team now?" Frenzy snarked.

At that, Cyclops scoffed. "No. Carmilla is a SHIELD agent with three years of experience… starting since her powers emerged during her school's Homecoming dance her sophomore year."

"Oh, so your Homecoming was ruined, too?" I asked, genuinely curious.

"Yeah, it was," Carmilla replied as she looked at me. "I ended up killing my then boyfriend by accident when my powers emerged. I rushed home in a panic, then found my so-called parents being wheeled out on gurneys, dead from gunfire. SHIELD was on the scene, and they explained to me that my parents weren't really my parents, but HYDRA operatives." She then raised her eyebrows at me. "You?"

"I had to ditch my date at Homecoming because her father was a supervillain who was trying to sell alien tech, and she didn't even know it until after the fact," I explained. "He also found out my secret identity and threatened me to look the other way at the dance. But I couldn't. After I took him down… well, the next day, my date wanted nothing to do with me."

Carmilla groaned sympathetically as she frowned. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be." I smiled widely, though she couldn't see my face. "It sucked then, but I'm with the love of my life now, despite my best efforts to screw that up."

"And you better not forget it," MJ commented over the communicator. Internally, I chuckled.

"I'm glad to hear it," Carmilla complimented with a smile.

"Thank you," I replied.

The elevator reached the top floor. We quickly made our way up the stairs. After that, we ran out of the abandoned gas station and towards the SUV. Once we reached it, Cyclops took the driver's seat. Frenzy took shotgun. Carmilla and Frictor squeezed into the middle row next to Ned and Betty. Finally, Shadowcat and I took the back seat with MJ. Frictor looked like he was about to remove his helmet until we heard some whining from outside. We all looked out to see the Lockheed and Puff approaching.

"Okay, guys, I know we rescued you from the bad guys, but we can't take you with us right now!" Frictor protested. The dragons continued to approach. "I'm serious, you can't. I know this is a Suburban, but you guys are huge and won't be able to fit." It was at this point that they rapidly shrunk down until they were the size of dogs. They then climbed in – Puff moved onto Frictor's lap, and Lockheed onto Shadowcat's. "Unless you do that." Frictor shook his head. "What else can you guys do?"

"We'll find out later," Cyclops interjected. "We need to go, now."

Once all the doors were closed, Cyclops put the SUV in drive before he peeled out of the abandoned gas station.

During the drive, I lifted up my facemask. I couldn't help but sigh in relief as I felt the cool air from the A/C system hit my face.

"You okay, Peter?" MJ asked as she leaned against my right side.

"Yeah, I'm okay," I confirmed. "It's not exactly how I wanted to spend my first time in California. But, we got Carmilla."

"Are you guys X-Men, too?" Carmilla asked as she looked at Betty, Ned, and MJ.

"No, but we're close friends," Betty explained. She lifted up her mask, revealing her face. "I'm Betty."

"I'm Ned," Ned said afterward as he lifted up his mask. "I'm Betty's boyfriend and best friend of Spider-Man and his girlfriend."

"Said girlfriend is me," MJ clarified as she lifted up her mask. "I'm Michelle."

Carmilla tilted her head. "…Are you guys mutants?"

MJ shook her head. "Nope. But we support the X-Men's cause."

"…Huh." She chuckled slightly as she shook her head. "I've really been out of the loop."

"You don't know the half," Frictor agreed. "When we get home and after you rest, we'll tell you everything over dinner. Sounds good?"

"Okay. But you have to cook." She smiled. She then looked around at all of us. "…I didn't tell you all this yet, but… thank you."

"No worries," Shadowcat said with a smile. "I know for a fact that if it was one of us, you would have done the same thing."

"And with everyone here, we can plan a huge date in the future!" Ned exclaimed with a happy tone. "Frictor has Carmilla back. I have Betty and Spider-Man has MJ, of course. Obviously, Cyclops and Frenzy is a thing."

"We are not a thing," Cyclops said from the driver's seat.

"Yet," Frenzy added in a suggestive tone.

"And Shadowcat has…" Ned trailed off as he realized what he was saying. I looked over at Shadowcat, who gave Ned a glare. Frictor gave Ned a glare as well as Betty shook her head. Even Lockheed was giving him a look. Ned slowly faced forward and coughed awkwardly. "…I… I'm sorry."

"Good job, Ned," I deadpanned.

"Aren't you tired of this, Ned?" Frictor berated. "Aren't you tired of having your foot in your mouth?"

I was about to pile on when I felt my senses go off. There was a loud ringing in my ears and I felt my skin tighten. My eyes went wide as a tingle went up my spine. Quickly, I slammed my mask shut.

"Spider-Man, are you okay?" Shadowcat asked in concern. Everyone looked at me, except for Cyclops, who continued to drive.

I was about to answer before I tilted my head upwards. On instinct, I closed my eyes. I just need to focus myself. After a few moments, I heard sounds. I couldn't recognize them at first. But after a few more moments, I was able to figure out what they were.

"I hear engines," I told them. "I hear a whole lot of engines… and two helicopters, too. I think they're coming for us."

"Those might be the reinforcements," Cyclops mused. "Everyone, masks down."

MJ, Betty, and Ned pulled their masks down over their face. Frictor, for his part, took off his helmet and placed it over Carmilla's head, prompting her to grabbed the sides of it and adjust it. During this, Cyclops made a turn to his right. The whole SUV was quiet. The only thing that temporarily broke the silence was the sound of Frenzy checking her shotgun. Eventually, we reached a highway. Cyclops pulled onto it and kept driving. A couple of minutes passed, but nothing happened. I wanted to breathe a sigh of relief, but I couldn't. My senses were still going off. I still heard engines. I still heard helicopters.

"Are your senses still going off?" Cyclops asked.

"They are," I replied.

At this point, Frenzy tapped Cyclops on his shoulder. Once he looked over at her, she pointed towards the windshield. We all shifted our position to see what she was pointing at. It took me a moment to see what she was trying to point out. But once I really focused, I saw it – I saw the huge cloud of dust that was rolling in. A couple of minutes later, I was able to see what was causing the dust cloud. It was a whole squad of vehicles. From what I can tell, it was a mixture of Hummer EVs and motorcycles on the ground, with two helicopters flying above them. They seemed to be headed towards the secret facility. Cyclops continued to drive, and we all stayed quiet. It was as if we all, on some level, hoped that if we kept quiet, they wouldn't notice us. And at first, it seemed to have worked.

But then…

"I don't think they noticed us!" Ned spoke up in a hopeful tone. It was at this moment that the squad of vehicles turned. They were headed towards the road we were on, looking ready to intercept us. "…Or maybe they did."

"Ned, you're not allowed to talk until this is over," MJ deadpanned as everyone sans Cyclops glared at him.

"Hold on," Cyclops warned. Suddenly, the SUV did a 180. I groaned as I tried to fight against the sudden shift in g-forces so I wouldn't crush MJ against the passenger door. Fortunately, for me, Shadowcat held on to the handle of her door, keeping herself from crashing against me. As the tires screeched, causing white smoke to fill the air outside, the vehicle went backward for some feet before it sped forward. "Spider-Man, I need you to contact Happy and coordinate an extraction point."

"I'm on it," I declared. "Edith, please contact Happy Hogan."

"Contacting him now," Edith replied. I heard the faint reading as I turned around and looked out through the back window. From what I can see, the group reached the road. During this, Happy picked up.

"Hey Spidey," he greeted. "Did you guys find Carmilla?"

"Yes, we did," I replied. "But now we have a different problem."

"Of course you do. Lay it on me."

"Right now, we're getting chased by motorcycles, Hummers, and two attack helicopters. Reinforcements were called. We tried to get out of there before they arrived. And we did. Unfortunately, we practically drove straight towards them." I heard a faint sigh. I could practically imagine him leaning back in his seat, his index finger and thumb pinching the bridge of his nose. Despite the current situation, I couldn't help but smirk in amusement at that mental image.

"Why am I not surprised? Okay… give me a moment." Happy went quiet for a moment. "Are you guys still in the Sonoran Desert?"

"Yes we are."

"…Okay, I have a plan. It's crazy, and you guys are not going to like this."

I scoffed. "As opposed to our current situation?"

"If you say so. Here's the plan…"

I listened to what he had to say. It was my turn to sigh. He was right – the plan was crazy and I did not like it. But we needed to get out of this place, this whole state, as quickly as possible, and I saw no other option. So, I nodded.

"Okay, I'll let them know," I said reluctantly. "Just get ready… and be safe."

"Aren't I always?" Happy replied with a humorless chuckle. "I'll see you soon."

With that, the call ended. I leaned back in my seat and looked towards the ceiling. Not for the first time, I was looking up to the heavens and wondering how I ended up in this situation. Internally, I scoffed. I didn't need God to tell me. I knew the answer. This was the life I chose. And this life I chose involved crazy things happening on a nigh-constant basis.

"What did Happy say?" Cyclops asked.

"…So, are you familiar with Chino Canyon?" I asked.

"Yes. Why?"

"Well, we're going to have to drive to it… then off of it."

"Why would we…?" Cyclops trailed off. He then sighed. "Let me guess. We have to get to the canyon, drive off of it and into the back of the Airbus. Am I correct?"

"Unfortunately," I confirmed.

"I'm sorry, what?!" Frenzy exclaimed.

"It's probably our best bet," Cyclops stated. "I don't like it, but we have to get out of here at all costs."

Frenzy stared at him for some seconds. She then groaned as she looked forward. "You owe me dinner for this." Surprisingly, Cyclops didn't protest.

"You guys are a little bit too calm about this," MJ remarked.

"Of all the things I had to do to escape a major situation, this will barely rank," Cyclops replied. "…I hope."

"Edith, how far are we from Chino Canyon?" I asked.

"We are 25.3 miles away," she replied.

"We're 25 miles out." I looked over my shoulder, seeing the group of motorcycles closing in. "What do we do?"

"We fight them off until we reach our destination," Cyclops declared.

"What else is new," Frictor commented.

"Does anyone have an extra gun by any chance?" Carmilla asked.

"Unfortunately not," Shadowcat replied with a sigh.

It was at this point that the motorcycles closed in on us. I looked around, seeing the riders in black speed around us until we were flanked on both sides. They then opened fire. On instinct, I unclicked my seatbelt and moved onto MJ. I straddled her as I wrapped my arms around her, covering the best I could, making sure that my head was between hers and the window. Fortunately, for me, the bullets didn't break the window. On the contrary, all they did was make noise as they bounced off of the glass. Eventually, the gunfire stopped.

"Armored vehicle, remember?" MJ reminded. I leaned back and looked at her. Even with her mask down, I could tell she was grinning at me. She patted her hand gently against the side of my mask. "However, I appreciate the intent." I smiled, though she couldn't see it. Gently, I placed my forehead against hers before I removed myself from atop of her legs – with my suit on, I knew I was heavy.

Cyclops kept on speeding forward, but there weren't many SUV's that could outrun a motorcycle. Quickly, Cyclops turned the wheel suddenly to the left, colliding with five of the cyclists. I cringed as I saw them go flying.

"I almost hope their HMO covers that," Betty remarked.

At this point, Frictor rolled down his window. He then stuck his head out. "Hey buddy!" he greeted. He then stuck his arm out. A few moments later, the bikes suddenly jerked in different directions as the riders lost control. It was if they suddenly hit ice. While this cleared things to the right, it left room for two of Hummers to drive up. This time, it was Frenzy rolling down her window. With a grunt, she twisted as she brought her upper body out of the window. I watched as she aimed her shotgun. She fired off two rounds into the front left tire of the Hummer EV, shredding the tire and destroying the wheel. The vehicle veered off. However, the other Hummer slowed down a bit before it sideswiped the back of the Suburban.

The Suburban spun, doing a full 360 before Scott hit the gas and continued driving on. Underneath my mask, I bared my teeth.

"Spider-Man, I'm going to need you topside," Cyclops ordered.

"Say no more!" I replied. I looked over to my right, placed my hand on MJ's knee, and gave it a subtle squeeze. "I'll be back, sweetie."

"Be careful," she replied as she patted her hand on top of mine.

I nodded at her. After that, I stood up from the seat and placed my hands on the ceiling. Carefully, I crawled onto the ceiling before I made my way towards Frictor's window. I crawled out of it and onto the top of the SUV. Slowly, I stood up and looked at the motorcycles and vehicles around me. I took in a deep breath as I tried to think. I closed my eyes. My senses went off. Without looking, I brought my arm out and sent a burst of web off to my left. A few moments later, a motorcycle lost control and careened into another motorcycle. Our flanks were cleared, but we still had a whole herd of vehicles pursuing us. I had to do something about it. I eyed one of the Hummer EVs. Then I got an idea.

"Edith, I need you to combine the functions of the web grenade and Taser web for an EMP effect," I ordered.

"I'm on it," she replied. "Should I add a time delay, or would you prefer to detonate them on command?"

"…I say a give a five second delay."

"Working on it now."

"Thanks, Edith. Hey Frictor, can you hear me?"

"Loud and clear, homie!" he replied over the communicator. "What you need?"

"Remember when you used your powers on a wide scale to temporarily extinguish that fire on the roof?"

I heard him scoff. "How can I forget? I had to replace Shadowcat's Midol after I burned through it that week."

"Do you think you can do that again, except on the ground?"

"Just tell me when."

"Will do."

I dropped down to a three point stance as the SUV swerved. Another motorcycle pulled up. The rider pulled out an automatic weapon (was it an MP5? I wasn't quite sure) – and then they aimed it at me. However, before they could fire, the SUV slowed down a bit. Frenzy stuck her arm out, grabbed the rider by the back of their jacket and tossed them off of their motorcycle. The rider ended up being a speed bump for another two motorcycles, causing them to flip forward and buck off their riders. I cringed at the sight.

"Do you think they'll be okay?" I asked.

"Spider-Man, I'm going to keep it all the way one hundred with you," Frenzy replied. "I really do not care about their wellbeing right now, especially when they clearly don't care about ours." I wanted to argue against that, but I couldn't. Part of it was because, a bit to my shame, there was a part of me that didn't blame her. But mostly, I was on top of a speeding SUV trying to put my plan into fruition. I had to remind myself that not everyone's moral code was the same. Also, maybe I didn't have that much room to talk.

I didn't exactly walk away with clean hands after The Battle For Earth.

"EMP Web is ready," Edith spoke up.

"Got it," I replied. "Frictor, on my mark."

"Standing by, Spidey!" he replied.

I stood up slowly. I took in a deep breath. I them jumped backward. As I sailed backward through the air, my body nigh-parallel with the roof of the SUV, I switched the function of my web shooters. I brought my hands out and shot my out a whole barrage of web bursts.

"Now, Frictor!"

I practically felt the shift in the air. As I landed on my back, I brought my hands down on the roof to hold on. A whole lot of the motorcycles up front lost their grip on the road. The vehicles that weren't affected either slowed to a stop or tried to move around the group. Unfortunately, for them, they weren't going to get far. The road behind us had zero friction. At that point, every burst of webbing that managed to hit either the vehicles or the ground around them went off. I saw the air shimmer and warp as multiple electromagnetic pulses were released, shutting down most of the vehicles.

"Ah man, I hope they have OnStar!" Ned laughed over the communicator.

"Forget OnStar!" Frictor retorted in an excited tone. "I hope their insurance is good!"

"I hate to put a damper on this feel good moment, but we still have two helicopters to worry about," Betty pointed out.

Sure enough, the two helicopters were in the sky. One of them sped past us. Under my mask, I narrowed my eyes, wondering why it was seemingly flying away. My attention was taken off of it when my senses went off again. I turned my head around. I saw barrels of the helicopter's machine gun start to turn.

"Spider-Man, get in here now!" Cyclops ordered. I was about to argue when bullets started to fly. Cyclops veered to the right, narrowly dodging the volley as the bullets destroyed to the pavement to the SUV's left. Deciding that I didn't want to test how sturdy my suit was, I obeyed Cyclops' order and crawled back inside of the SUV. I retook my spot between Shadowcat and MJ. "Spider-Man, Frictor, you two did good." Cyclops turned the wheel, dodging more gunfire. "You weren't so bad either, Frenzy."

"Like I said, I always do my job," Frenzy replied. She tried to say it in a tone that was business-like, but I couldn't help but hear a bit of delight in her voice. I looked towards MJ, who looked back towards me. Despite both of us having masks over our faces, I just knew we were sharing a knowing smile. "Anyway, what are we going to do about that chopper?"

"I think the chopper behind us is the least of our problems," Carmilla spoke up as she pointed ahead. We all looked forward. I then huffed out a breath. That chopper that sped up ahead was now facing us as it hovered in place a few hundred feet ahead of us.

"Guys… what do we do?" Ned asked.

"We keep pushing forward," Cyclops said simply. He turned his head towards Frenzy. "I need you to take the wheel." Frenzy nodded as she leaned over and grabbed the steering wheel. During this, Cyclops unbuckled his seatbelt. He opened the driver's door and leaned over. He had his fingers on the side of his visor. He fired off three blasts. As they travelled through the air, I couldn't help but notice how small they were. But it was for a good reason. The first blast collided against the helicopter's machine gun, shattering it into pieces. The last two severed off the two wings that held missile launchers. As the munitions fell to the ground, the helicopter was left unarmed. After that, Cyclops leaned out of the vehicle as he turned his attention towards the other chopper. Just like before, he used his optic blasts to destroy the machine gun and sever the wings of the trailing chopper. With both of them disarmed, the helicopters pulled away. With a grunt, Cyclops pulled himself back into the driver's seat. He took in a breath before he retook the wheel from Frenzy.

"…Are we out of the woods?" Betty asked.

"We're good for now," Cyclops replied. "…Spider-Man, would you kindly contact Happy?"

"I got it," I replied. I looked over my shoulder and looked through the rear windshield, making sure we had no more pursuers. I then contacted Happy and explained to him that, while we were still meeting him at the canyon, we could board a little bit more safely. A few minutes later, we reached the canyon. The Airbus was waiting for us, hovering just off of the edge with the loading gate opened down to the rock. We drove inside of the plane. As the loading gate closed, we all stepped out of the SUV. I lifted up my mask, shivering slightly when I felt the chill of the air conditioning hit my face.

"Yeah, full masks aren't for me," MJ stated as she pulled her mask off. I looked around at the others. Everybody looked a bit tired… except for Lockheed and Puff, who slowly walked around the bay, sniffing around as they explored the area. They didn't grow back in size, making me wonder if this was their default size. Happy Hogan walked in, snacking on a sandwich.

"Is everyone okay?" he asked, looking around at all of us.

"Yeah, we're fine," Cyclops stated. "We got Carmilla back. And… we gained a couple of allies." Happy looked at the dragons. He stared at them for some seconds before he took in a breath. He then released it and shook his head.

"You know what? I don't want to know." He turned away from us. "I'm going to fly us back now. Don't think about relieving me. You guys have been through a lot, so please rest."

At that, Cyclops nodded. "Thank you, Happy. We couldn't have done it without you."

"Just remember this during Christmas." With that, Happy left.

After that, Carmilla removed Frictor's helmet from her head and handed it back to Frictor, who pulled down his half mask. Frictor took Carmilla's hand with his own as he looked at her.

"Hey," he said in a near whisper. "I, um… Like I said, I got some stuff I want to talk to you about. I know we're kind of tired but… I figured it'd be better to talk about it sooner than later. So… can we talk in the kitchen?"

Carmilla tilted her head. "…This plane has a kitchen?" she replied with a tone of mild surprise. She then shook her head. "Actually, that's not important. But, yeah, we can talk."

Frictor nodded. He then turned towards the rest of us. "I know I've been a bit of pain the last few days. And I get that. Some of it I'm sorry for. Some of it, not so much." He looked at Betty, Ned, and MJ. "I still think it was stupid for the three of you to tag along." He huffed out a breath. "But… with that said… don't think I'm not grateful for what you guys have done. So… thank you."

"Hey, us X-Men and American Idiots have to stick together, right?" I replied.

"Yeah, dude," Ned added. "I know we came for Peter, but I'm happy we were able to help you guys rescue Carmilla."

Frictor nodded. He then turned away from us. "Let's go, Carmilla."

She nodded, and the two of them walked away. "Okay, but… American Idiots?" she asked.

"That's another thing I'll explain later."

We watched them as they left the bay. I then yawned, realizing how tired I was. At that, MJ moved behind me and wrapped her arms around my shoulder.

"Aw, is my little spider tired?" she asked in a sympathetic tone.

"I don't think I got that much rest over this weekend," I replied. "I don't even think I know what day it is."

"We'll get a chance to rest in a bit," Cyclops assured. "But perhaps it'd be best if we all hit the showers."

I chuckled. "I hear that."

After taking time to shower, I went to bed with MJ. I didn't sleep right away. I was too busy thinking. After what we did today, I knew that there were going to be even bigger targets on The X-Men's backs, because there was no way Justin Hammer wasn't going to be pissed over this. I knew that meant another round with Scorpion. And I knew it meant more fuel for Jonah's slander of me and the rest of the X-Men. I sighed. There was likely no rest waiting for me back home. And if there was, it was going to be a short one. Because there was one thing I knew for certain.

Scorpion had to be defeated once and for all.

I felt a kiss on my forehead. I blinked before I lifted my head and looked up at MJ.

"Stop worrying," she said in a whisper. "Go to sleep." I nodded before lay my head back on her shoulder. I closed my eyes, trying to get some shuteye. Much to my delight, she started playing with my hair. I moaned in appreciation. A few seconds later, I was finally able to sleep.