NEW PROBLEMS

As Iron Fist teleported back to the Garden, and in front of an applauding audience, it didn't take long for the Avengers to come forward and congratulate him, the first one being that of Luke Cage, who gives his partner and friend a fist bump.

However, just before Spidey could reach the K'un 'Lun Warrior and give him props for winning his match, he heard a beeping sound coming from his right pants pocket, where he placed his Avengers I.D. card. Naturally curious, if not confused, Spidey quickly turned to Iron Man and addressed him. "Uh, Iron Man, why is my I.D. card going off? I mean, the Avengers are already...well, assembled."

Upon hearing this question, Iron Man seemed reminded of a detail he forgot to mention to Spidey once he gave him his reserve membership. But to be sure, he used the circuitry in his helmet to mentally command a few screens to pop up, all showing the membership cards of his teammates, and saw that Spidey's image was flashing, with the phrase 'cellphone' appearing at the bottom. "Oh, that's your cellphone going off, kid."

"My cellphone?!" asked the Web-Head, sounding even more confused. "But I didn't give it to you guys!"

"Yeah, about that," Iron Man replied. "Since you got your reserve membership, J.A.R.V.I.S. was able to look into the files S.H.I.E.L.D. had on you, and copied them into our databanks...including your cellphone number." As he explained, the Armored Avenger saw that he now was slightly freaking out the young Spidey. "To be fair, I was going to tell you this, but then all of this craziness happened and...it just kinda slipped my mind. But anyway, you can answer the call through your I.D. card, but you might wanna tell them that your too busy snapping pictures to talk."

"Right...thanks," Spidey replied in an uneasy tone, though he knew that Iron Man had the best of intentions, and was grateful that he would go the extra mile for him, he still found this news a bit unsettling. Nevertheless, he quickly walked over to the left side and off the stage, where he then pulled out his flashing card. Having no idea on how to answer this new feature, Spidey pressed the image showing his picture to see if that would work. "Uh...hello?"

To the Wall-Crawler's surprise, the voice that answered him back was that of the calm and pleasant J.A.R.V.I.S. "Hello, Spider-Man. I am afraid that the person who called is no longer on the line, but she did leave a voice mail. The number belongs to that of a young girl named Gwen Stacy."

"Gwen?!" exclaimed the surprised Web-Head, as well as worried. "Well, play it, hurry!"

At that moment, J.A.R.V.I.S. fulfilled Spidey's request, and thus played the message:

"Peter, it's Gwen! Look, I know you're in the middle of shooting pictures, but if you get this, please listen! The Thunderbolts are cheating! They have all of their matches rigged in the favor! I'm going to see if I can find more evidence as to what they're doing and will call Dad afterward, but I know that you and Spider-Man are close! Once you get a chance, tell him and the Avengers that they are in danger! Please, Pete!"

Once the message ended, Spidey was utterly mortified at what he just heard. Not from the fact that the Thunderbolts were cheating, but Gwen was now putting herself in harm's way. "NO!" As he turned, he saw the Avengers walking back to their corner, and then frantically approached Iron Man. "Mr. Sta...Tony! It's Gwen! She's in trouble!"

Iron Man, like the rest of the Avengers, grew concerned with Spidey's behavior and gently placed his right hand on his chest to calm him down. "Whoa, whoa, easy kid! Calm down! How is your girlfriend in trouble?"

Before answering, Spidey looked at the Shellhead with a flabbergasted expression. "What? She's not my..." At that moment, Spidey shook his head to regain focus on the matter at hand. "Nevermind! She said that she discovered that Osborn and his flunkies are cheating, and she's now trying to find proof!"

Hearing this news caused Iron Man to let out an aggravated groan. "Great, if it's not one thing, it's another."

As for Spidey, he soon clinched his fist turned to walk off the stage. "I need to go after her!"

At that moment, Iron Man quickly stopped the determined Web-Slinger by grabbing his shoulder. "Whoa, whoa, easy there, Romeo," he told the anxious Web-Head. "Look, right now, we don't want Osborn to get suspicious, so I'll tell you what. Call Gwen back as 'Peter Parker', and tell her that you notified us of what's going on. And if she's found out anything else, call her Dad about it and don't dig any further and find a safe place to hide!"

Spidey still wanted to leave and find Gwen but knew that given the situation, this was the only option. As such, he gave Iron Man a nod and turned his attention back to his card. "J.A.R.V.I.S., can you dial Gwen's cell number?"

"Doing so now," replied the Avengers trusty A.I., sounding just as eager to help the young girl.

Meanwhile, inside a ladies restroom, Gwen is at the mirror, checking her cellphone to see if Peter had called her back yet, but much to her dismay, she could see that he hasn't just yet. With a groan, she was just about to go back to snooping, but suddenly, she is startled when she heard the door open, thus prompting her to spin around and saw who was coming in.

It was that of Victoria Hand, who opened and held the ladies room door with one hand. "Ah, Gwen, there you are," she said the smile and trying to sound relieved. "You weren't in the skybox, and you had us all worried. If you had to use the restroom, I think the skybox had one that you could use."

Gwen's face almost turned white with fright at that moment. "Oh, uh, yeah, sorry about that," she said flabbergasted, hoping that her 'clueless act' would be enough to convince Victoria that she wasn't following her. "I guess I didn't notice."

Victoria had the feeling that Gwen knew more than she was letting on, but remained pleasant. "It's quite all right. But hey, if you're done, I'll escort you back to the box."

"Uh, yeah sure," Gwen replied with a smile to hide her uneasy feeling. Every fiber of her being was telling her to run, but from what she heard on the way to the stadium, Victoria was a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and could very well kill her before even getting a chance to the door, and thus. Knowing all this, Gwen had no choice but to place her phone back in her pocket and started washing her hands to help sell her 'using the bathroom' act. As she did this, she could feel her phone vibrate, knowing that it must be Peter trying to call her back. To her dismay, she did not answer it and allowed it to vibrate as she dried her hands and walked to Victoria so as not to arouse any more suspicion than there already was.

A smiling and seemingly calm Victoria allowed Gwen to pass her by, but as she left the bathroom, her smile soon disappeared and looked more serious, for she had a feeling that Gwen was hiding something and even more determined to keep an eye on her.

Back on the stage, the Avengers were now in a huddle of sorts, discussing what just happened.

The Thunderbolts took notice of this and were understandably confused and worried. But for the Iron Patriot, however, he wasn't too concerned, for even if the Avengers caught wind of what he was doing, the armored Thunderbolt had a few 'back-up' plans to keep him from failing to win this tournament.

Moments later, Iron Man had just finished explaining the situation. "And that's it in a nutshell. Looks like Norman's not the 'fair man' he claims to be.

This came as no shock to Hawkeye, who rolled his eyes in annoyed. "Why am I not surprised?"

Thor, a warrior above all else, saw this news as blasphemy. "Cowardly dogs!" said the angry Thunder God as he slightly raised his hammer, Mjolnir. "They shall pay for this treachery!"

Though Iron Man didn't blame Thor for being so angry at Norman's cheap tactics, he still held a hand up to get Thor's attention in hopes of not making a scene for the Patriot to notice. "Easy Thor! Yeah, Norman deserves to be given the godly wrath treatment, but we need him to think he has the upper hand at the moment. For now, best thing we can do is play this by ear, but to be careful while doing it.

Once he received this answer, Thor reluctantly lowered his hammer. "Very well, Iron Man," he said solemnly, then turned to the Shellhead with a narrowed brow. "However, I am hoping that you have, what you mortals call, a 'trump card?'"

The Armored Avenger gave his godly teammate a small smile behind his faceplate as he answered. "I'm working on it."

Meanwhile, back in the Thunderbolts' corner, Surge looked on at the Avengers in suspicion and thus approached the still calm Iron Patriot. "What's their problem?"

"Nevermind them," said the Patriot, still as cold as he was calm and collected. "You have a match coming up against the Avenger's robot. So go in there, take care of him and do try to keep your identity crisis under control."

This order from the Patriot caused so much annoyance within Surge; his eyes begin sparking with electricity. "Whatever."

Back in the Avengers' corner, Iron Man soon approached Vision, who was about to fight next. "Best of luck, Vision, and watch your back."

Vision, at first, appeared to be confused upon being cautioned by Iron Man, all in which prompts him to turn his head entirely backward and look down with his eyes at his caped back, something that baffled his teammates. "I am indeed watching my back, but I must ask, how will this aid me in my match?"

A very shocked Ms. Marvel decided to address the misunderstood android. "I think he meant for you to be careful, Vision."

"Oh," said the enlightened Vision, then turned his head forward to look at Iron Man. "Well, thank you for your concern, Iron Man, I shall exercise caution."

Though glad to heard that Vision heeded his warning, he like the rest of his teammates, could help but feel a little disturbed on what Vision just did with his head. "Good to know, buddy."

It was here that Hawkeye to whisper this to the equally baffled Black Panther. "We really need to work on that guy's people skills."

"Indeed," the Panther replied in agreement, something which he rarely did with the archer.

Back on the center of the stage, the announcer once again addressed the crowd. "Let's keep the show running! Up next, we have the Thunderbolts electrifying member, Surge, going up against the Avengers sensational synthezoid, the Vision! Gentlemen, to the teleportation pads please!"

As the Vision and Surge walked to the pads, Spidey held on to his I.D. card, more worried than ever as he called her three teams but did not answer. "Gwen's not answering her phone! I'm really hoping that none of Osborn's goons got to her!"

Before he could answer the Web-Head, Iron Man looked up in the crowd and spotted something peculiar. "Hey, kid, stop me if I'm wrong, but does this Gwen have blonde hair, blue eyes, and pretty in a 'girl next door' kinda way?"

Hearing Iron Man's describe Gwen perfectly caused Spidey to give the Shellhead an awkward expression. "Yeah, why?

To answer that, Iron Man pointed up at a spot that was high above the crowd. "Look up there."

The confused Web-Slinger looked up and what he saw caused his eyes to grow wide with shock and fear.

It was Gwen in the skybox, sitting in her chair with a worried look as Victoria is standing right behind the girl as if she was watching over her.

Seeing Gwen now in trouble is enough to spark fear in Spidey. "No...!" he whispered, and at that moment, Spidey was just about to run in and save her, only to be stopped by Iron Man and Cap.

"Hold it, kid," said Iron Man to the worried Wall-Crawler. "The plan, remember?"

Cap then took his turn to speak next, feeling that since he and knew Spidey the longest, he would listen to him. "I'm afraid Tony's right this time, son. Right now, we can't afford to tip Osborn off!"

Iron Man was just about to reassure Spidey next, but hearing Cap's words caused him to give the Super Soldier an awkward look. "Whoa, whoa, Steve, what do you mean right this time?" Suddenly, the Shellhead could heard a loud, almost angry cough of the Wasp, causing him to turn and look at the shrunken and flying female Avenger, who by this time had her arms crossed and giving him a dirty look, annoyed on how he could let his ego get in the way of trying to help a friend in need. As such, a worried Iron Man turned his attention back to Spidey. "But anyway, I'm working on a plan that'll help us end Osborn's sick game quicker and save the girl. But for it to work, we need Osborn to think that he's still in the driver's seat. Trust me; she's safe for now."

A discouraged Spidey only let out a sigh as he saw Iron Man's point, and reluctantly gave him a nod of acknowledgment.

As Iron Man and Cap walked away from the worried Spidey, Wasp took it upon herself to fly over to him and try and lift his spirits. "Hey, don't worry, Pete. If we can save the Earth from a giant planet eating alien, we can save both your friend and your aunt.

Spidey turned to the shrunken Wasp and gave her a small smile behind his mask. "Yeah, thanks."

The Wasp gave the troubled Web-Head a gentle smile before turning around and flying over to Iron Man and the rest of the Avengers to watch Vision teleport to his match.

Just before he could follow the pixie-sized Avenger though, Spidey looked up and took one last look at Gwen in the skybox. "Don't worry, Gwen, I'll get you out of this...somehow." With that quiet vow, the Web-Head turned and walked over to his fellow Avengers. And at that moment, Spidey, as well as the rest of his team, all saw Vision and Surge standing on the pads, and seconds later, both vanished out of sight and to their unknown destination to start their upcoming match-up.