{ Peter }

Peter bangs his fist on Ned's door. He grips the edges of the frame, hunched over and catching his breath. He webbed his way across town all the way from Flash's house, changed into normal clothes in a back alley, and ran up here as fast as he could. The metal flash drive is slick in his sweaty palm but he hasn't let it go.

The door opens and Peter stands upright, taking a step back as Mrs. Leeds appears, smiling as she recognizes the unexpected visitor.

"Peter," she says, welcoming him inside, "come in, come in."

"Thanks, Mrs. Leeds." She steps aside as he walks through the threshold and is met with the smell of sweet, plumeria flowers. And then he catches a waft of Korean barbeque and his stomach growls with hunger. He glances out the window where the sun has lowered behind the skyscrapers. It's been such a crazy afternoon, his own needs haven't even crossed his mind because —

(finding her is all he needs — )

Ned emerges from his room, drawing Peter from his reverie, and walks through the living room to him.

"What are you doing here?" His friend asks. "This isn't about that new Fortnite update, is it? Because I — "

"No, I, uh…" Peter laughs nervously, clearing his throat and glancing at Mrs. Leeds who's returned to mixing the pan of stir fry on the stove. He leans in close to Ned. "I actually need to talk with the guy in the chair."

Ned lifts his head, his shoulders broadening with confidence, and gestures to the hallway behind him leading to his room. "Welcome to the Batcave."

Peter chuckles, relaxing a little as he follows him to his room. He looks around the familiar movie poster covered walls, anxiously tapping his fingernails together as he grips the flash drive in his palm. He knows he shouldn't be nervous. He just doesn't know what they're going to find. And if what they find is even helpful in finding her.

Ned closes the door behind them and Peter turns to his friend. "What did you need to talk about, young padawan?"

"I need you to hack into this," he says, offering him the flash drive.

Ned looks at him, skeptical, but takes it nonetheless. "It's not the 80s. No one says hack anymore."

"Just" — Peter groans — "Can you open it or not?"

"Can I open it," Ned grumbles, scoffing as he slides into his chair and twirls around to his computer. He plugs it in and begins typing away on his keyboard. Peter watches him work and can keep up for the most part until he opens the software's macro coding and starts programming it with his own to get past firewalls.

"Sorry that DNA test we ran didn't come back with a match," Ned comments.

Peter waves away his apology. He almost forgot that after Julia was taken and the hospital was in a frenzy, they swabbed his wrist where that old guy grabbed him. But the results couldn't find him in the police database (Ned hacked Mr. Thompson's credentials, it was awesome).

"There's a reason for everything," he mumbles, his eyes narrowing as he follows along with each of Ned's keystrokes.

"It's just that Julia's better at biology things in the Spider Squad, you know?"

Peter stares at him. "We are not calling ourselves that."

"Why not?"

"Ned — " Peter grabs at his hair, frustration flowing through him. "This isn't what I came here to talk about!"

"I don't see why we can't do two things at once!"

"Because there isn't time!"

"It's gonna take time to hack into this!"

"You just said no one says hack!"

"Everyone says hack! People love to hack into something even if it's their own password!"

"Then why did you tell me otherwise?!"

"Because I wanted to be the one to say — "

Ned's computer beeps, and Peter looks to the screen where the coding as disappeared and displays a single, unnamed file.

"We're in."

Peter frowns at Ned, double tapping the file open, and as much as Peter wants to be annoyed, the screen is flooded with pictures and news articles and police reports and —

"Whoa…" Ned breathes, leaning back and lifting his hands to show he didn't cause the chain reaction. "What is this?"

Peter's eyes dart across the screen as files keep opening one right after the other until the bombardment of information stops and a single photograph of a man appears in the center. Chills run up and down Peter's skin, every hair on his body standing at attention, every instinct screaming at him to run and hide —

"It's him," he says.

Ned moves the image to side (courtesy of Alias Investigations) and browses a few documents. "His name is Silvio Manfredi."

Peter scoffs as he looks at the picture again. "With that hair? Yeah, he's silver alright." He grabs a chair and pulls up a seat next to Ned, getting a better view of the screen. "How old is this guy?"

"I don't know, some of the information on the records is redacted." Ned moves the files around and clicks through a series of images. "The time stamp on these photos are decades apart but he's not aging."

"Wait, cycle back." Ned clicks through the photos once more showing the man at a healthy age but he looks worse for wear in the last few and Ned finds the image where he first starts aging. Peter looks at the time stamp. "This was three months ago."

Ned leans back in his chair, realization hitting him. "Wasn't that just before — "

"Yeah." Peter swallows thickly. His voice is lost in his throat as he thinks back on the last three months and everything somehow leading to his withering figure. It started with the water treatment facility collapsing then there was the hospital bombing and then the Juvenator came into play and —

"Well, what does he want?" Ned asks.

Peter sighs deeply. "I don't know… But a guy that doesn't age suddenly starts aging and now has a killer Benjamin Button weapon can't be good."

"We probably shouldn't say his name."

"Well, he's not Voldemort."

"Fair. But just to be safe, we should give him a codename."

"Mr. Thompson said they gave him one."

Ned performs a search through the file and discovers a document titled, "Silvermane."

Peter shares a look with his friend. "Cool," they state together in awe.

And then the excitement fades from Ned. "Yeah, but what's not cool," he says, looking at the photo, "is that he's the guy you met at the hospital, right? He's the guy who took Julia?"

Peter stares at the image of Silvio. He'll never be able to forget his iron grip or his piercing grey eyes, and it's not cool. None of this is cool.

Peter nods, not trusting his voice enough to speak, and Ned doesn't push him to. He clicks through the files, reading and sifting through the accounts of his appearances, and Peter notices a picture of Silvermane with Simon Marshall accompanying him in the background.

"And that's the guy that tried to kill her," Peter says, anger sparking inside him as he points to his scarred face. "And me."

"Okay, so," Ned says slowly, "I'm gonna need to destroy my laptop after viewing this."

Peter grimaces. "Yeah, probably. Sorry." He returns to reviewing the information and points to a series of documents in the corner. "Click on that."

Ned opens the file to reveal a number of police records and database files about Silvermane. It illustrates his past in Corleone, Sicily as racketeer in the Maggia, how he formed an alliance with Hydra.

"He's worked with Hydra?" Ned says, a little in shock but mostly fear underlining his voice.

Peter narrows his eyes as he reads over the latest of Silvermane's movements. "Now he's working with something called Roxxon Energy."

Ned opens a web browser and types the name into the search engine. A website for the company appears, he clicks on it and finds a map of the company's current location, and a hundred red thumbtacks pop up across the United States.

"And it's literally everywhere." Peter hangs his head and sighs. "That's just — "

"Horrifying, terrible, ominous?"

Peter lifts his head. "Great. I was gonna say great." He leans back in his chair and runs his hands through his hair as if to stop or at least slow the stream of questions pulling his mind in every direction.

What is a Hydra supporter, Maggia racketeer, who doesn't age doing in Queens?

What does he want?

Why did he take Julia?

"What are you gonna do?" Ned asks.

Peter leans forward and surveys the dashboard of information again. It must have taken Mr. Thompson a long time to put this together. And Silvermane's gotten away with all of it for even longer.

He took Julia for a reason. Whatever he's doing, whatever he's planning, Julia has to be removed from his equation. Queens isn't safe until she is. Silvermane took Julia for a reason, so Peter's taking her back.

"I'm gonna find her," he says.

"Not by yourself — "

"Ned, no. You're already too involved. I don't want you getting hurt — "

"Julia's already hurt," Ned says, and Peter looks at his friend, reading the pain and anger on his face, and realizes Julia's his friend too. "Peter, we don't even know if she's alive — "

"She is," he assures.

(because if she isn't — )

(if she's not — )

(he doesn't want to think about that — )

"Flash's dad told me she was there," he quietly continues. "She's the one who took the device, and I — I think…" Peter swallows, his voice caught between his heart and his head as fear poisons his stomach. He can barely stand to say it but he has to assume the worst.

"I think she's working for Silvermane," he says.

Ned doesn't say anything. Just nods slowly, turns to the computer, and begins typing up a storm.

"What are you doing?" Peter asks.

"If Spider Squad is gonna be whole again, you're gonna need a data compiling algorithm to get a location."

Peter looks at his friend, not even surprised by his courage, but slightly impressed by his coding skills. "Alright, guy in the chair," he chuckles, "let's find her."

{ Julia}

Julia sticks to the ceilings and walls as she tiptoes through the compound, avoiding cameras angled down corridors. Thoughts from patrolmen nearby enter her mind's ears and she waits in a darkened corner for them to pass. She slinks down the corridor back to her room and pauses at the entry to the production floor. She feels —

She feels sad —

Frustrated —

Scared —

Julia peeks her head into the warehouse and sees the soldiers who stormed the Thompson's house standing in a row. They look like dogs with their tails between their legs with their heads lowered and their shoulders slumped. Simon and Hammerhead stand on the opposite side of them with Silvio. Anger sparks within Julia, flaring and heating at the lies Simon spins so the blame never falls on him.

"Disappointment doesn't begin to cover it," Silvio berates. "How does one boy overpower seven highly trained operatives?"

The room is silent.

And guilt trickles into Julia's stomach.

(because it wasn't just one boy, was it?)

"This is an open conversation," Silvio encourages with a smile. "Answers are welcome."

Silence.

"No one? No takers? At least tell me the police man is dead."

Another silence.

"So you failed at that too." Silvio shakes his head as he looks over the row of soldiers. He looks behind him to Simon, nods ever so slightly, and faces the men once more.

Julia watches Simon grab a metallic syringe from a cart and bring it to a man's neck. He pulls the trigger, the man winces in pain, and Simon moves to the next one. And the next one. And the next.

Julia grimaces as she hears their thoughts and feels their pain of the needle puncturing their skin as each of them are injected with something.

Injected with —

No —

"Fair enough," Silvio says.

No —

Wait —

"Everytime I tap my cane, one of you will die."

Julia looks between Silvio, gripping his silver cane, and Hammerhead who lifts the Juvenator and tucks it into his shoulder —

"Until you give me what I want."

No —

No, no, no —

Hammerhead aims at a soldier and —

Tap —

He fires the weapon —

And light blasts across the room —

And an energy wave crashes through Julia —

And the lights overhead shudder and flicker, surging with power and —

Thud.

Julia clasps a hand over her mouth.

She stares at the body on the floor —

He's dead —

Dead dead dead —

Tap, tap, tap —

Bang, bang, bang —

Thud, thud, thud —

And Silvio —

Silvio's younger —

Stronger —

And they're dead. They're all dead.

Julia's stomach lurches —

She's gonna throw up, she's gonna throw up, she has to get out of here, she —

She turns and runs down the hall, she doesn't know where she's going, she just knows she has to leave that place, she needs to leave this place —

This wasn't supposed to happen —

No one was supposed to die —

She just wanted to protect him, Peter —

No one needed to die, no one needs to die, but they're dying, they're being killed, and it's her fault, it's all her fault fault fault —

Julia stumbles along a wall and clings to the surface to keep her upright. She looks through her haze of tears and finds herself in an new part of the compound. There's a single door at the end of the hall, and she hears something behind it.

Something quiet.

Something… dormant.

She slowly approaches the door and peeks through the small window to find a white room, pristine as the one she woke in, and a man slumped over on the floor. A jacket binds his arms and metal gloves separate his fingers.

Julia looks at him curiously. His figure is familiar, thinner, but not unrecognizable. It's as if she knows —

Julia.

Julia gasps, jumping back at the voice in her head that isn't her own.

The man slowly raises his head and looks up at her with matted hair, gaunt cheeks, and bright eyes.

Her heart skips a beat and she peers closer at the man.

"Stephen?"

{ Peter}

Peter turns his key in the lock, slowly opens the front door, and peeks around. He doesn't see May in the living room or kitchen which means she's asleep in bed. He softly closes it behind him, takes a step to head to his room, but stops short at the sight of May barreling toward him.

"Where have you been?!" She cries. "This can't be like the ferry all over again!"

Peter flinches as she wraps him in a hug (which is very different than he was expecting) but sighs a breath of relief that she's not too mad at him. "I know," he admits. "I'm sorry. I had the internship then I was at Ned's, I — I just lost track of time. And that's no excuse, I know, I should have texted, I — I'm just sorry." He pulls back to look at her and after the long day both of them have had, he's just grateful to be home. "I'm glad you're okay."

"Yeah, but poor Mr. Thompson can't catch a break," May says, adjusting her glasses.

Peter shrugs, thinking back on this afternoon. "At least Spider-Man was there."

May scoffs as she walks away. "Spider-Man causes trouble."

"Spider-Man stops trouble," Peter says, watching her cross the living room and leaving him to stand alone.

May pauses tidying up the magazines on the end table. "Peter, I know you look up to the guy, you occasionally work with him, you have that costume of him, but he's dangerous."

Peter's mouth gapes open as he flounders for the right words that won't give him away. "How is helping people dangerous? It's no different than you helping the less fortunate."

"Bad things happen don't happen when I help out," May says, tucking a book on the shelf.

Frustration sparks inside Peter—

"Bad things happen all the time! He just does something about it!"

May looks at him, puzzled. "Are you defending him?"

"N-no! Maybe… I — I just think he's a hero and does a lot of good and doesn't want the public turning against him."

"How do you know what he wants?"

"Because I'm — "

Peter stops.

He almost said it.

He almost told her —

He clutches the strap keeping his backpack slung over his shoulder.

"I — I know him, I work with him," he fibs, quieter this time. "He works with Mr. Stark." Peter hates the words as he says it. Even he doesn't buy that. He feels May's eyes boring into him and looks anywhere but her.

"How did you know about Woodhaven?" She asks. "This morning? You didn't want me to go."

Peter continues staring at the floor as he shakes his head. "Everyone knows Woodhaven's sketchy…"

"I want to see your backpack."

Peter's stomach jolts to his throat.

His backpack —

The suit —

He looks up at her.

"What?"

"I want to see your backpack," she repeats, walking over to him. "I keep buying you new ones, I want to know why. What's wrong with this one?"

Peter turns his back to the wall. "Nothing."

"Really?"

"May, it's fine — "

"Then let me see it — " She swiftly tugs on the strap, slipping it from his grasp.

"No — May!"

Peter watches helpless as she quickly unzips the pouch and stares at the red and blue fabric tucked inside.

Guilt, fear, and regret tangle inside him. He could throw up he feels so guilty about not telling her his greatest secret, for causing her such worry and stress. She wasn't supposed to find out this way. She wasn't supposed to find out at all.

"May…" He sighs.

May silently removes the mask and stares at the black rimmed eyes. "Who knows?" She says. Her voice is thick with tears but she doesn't show any. "Besides Tony," she adds, disdainfully.

Peter looks at his feet. He wishes she wouldn't hate him for this. This isn't Mr. Stark's fault. It's his and he knows it.

"I'm assuming Ned," she says.

He nods.

"Anyone else?"

He has to come clean —

He has to tell her —

If there's ever a time to tell her—

"Ju — "

"Just him?"

"J-julia," Peter breathes. "S-she knows — knew — too b-but that's — that's it." He nods eagerly, wishing, praying, hoping she believes him because he can't take this, he can't stand here while he's being torn apart, he can't even say her name, he knows she's alive but she's gone, she's still gone gone gone —

"Julia," May says slowly and softly. "Is that why… Is that what happened to her?"

Peter exhales a sharp laugh. "That's the thing," he says, feeling like his chest is going to cave in, "no one knows what happened to her… That's why I was at Ned's, he's helping me find her, Mr. Stark's helping me find her, that's why I was in Woodhaven today, Mr. Thompson's involved in this, but no one knows where she is and I… I am to blame."

May's already shaking her head and Peter walks over to her, he has to make her understand, she can't talk him out of this, it's his fault —

"That's why I didn't want you to know," he explains. "That's why you were in the hospital, that's why Uncle Ben is — "

Peter takes a shaky breath and wipes the tears from his cheeks.

"You're right," he tells her. "Bad things happen. But if I do nothing, they get away with the bad things. And I can't let that happen. Not again."

"And I can't lose another Parker," May says, bleary eyed and bringing a hand to his cheek. "Not again."

Peter's chin wobbles as tears of his own threaten to spill again, and he lets them. He misses him so much and she does too. He misses his parents, he misses Julia, he misses everyone he's ever loved —

Why does everyone he's ever loved have to be taken from him?

May wraps him in his arms and he buries his face into her shoulder. She strokes his hair and rubs circles on his back and it helps a little, knowing she'll always be there for him, but it won't bring them back. They're never coming back.

But Julia —

Julia still could.

Peter pulls back, drying his eyes with the back of his sleeve, as May pushes his hair back, tucking some loose curls behind his ears.

"It's not your fault, Peter. Bad things happen for good reasons. You shouldn't have to worry about these things."

"I shouldn't," he agrees, "but I do. I have to. Who else is gonna look out for the little guy?" He chuckles, sniffling back his tears. He pulls at the ends of his sleeves as May looks around the apartment, and he waits for her to say something —

Anything —

"It's dangerous," she says, and Peter's heart falls.

He should have known she wouldn't be okay with his powers —

"But it's more dangerous without you."

Peter lifts his head back to her.

"Oh, don't look at me like that, I am so beyond ticked at you right now," she chides, moving to the couch and taking a seat. "We don't keep secrets. We keep secrets from everyone else. Not each other. So, you're grounded, and I'm gonna hold onto this until I can wrap my head around this whole thing. Deal?"

Peter looks at the mask in her hand, disbelieving this is actually happening. "You're not… gonna tell anyone?" He asks, slowly sitting down on the coffee table.

"I am not gonna tell anyone your super secret because it's our super secret, okay?"

Peter nods. He doesn't think he'll need the suit, at least not now, not while Ned is still establishing Silvermane's patterns and frequent visitations. "Okay," he says. "Deal."

May stands from the couch then leans down and presses a kiss to his forehead. "Get outta here. Get some sleep." She taps his shoulder with the mask as she walks out of the room and Peter laughs to himself in disbelief that this is happening. He's just relieved he doesn't have to hide it from her anymore.

He stands to go to bed but pauses as he senses something coming —

The room plunges into darkness, the lights flickering as an energy surge travels through the apartment, then levels out and returns to normal.

"I told you to go to bed!" May calls out with a laugh. "Stop messing with the lights!"

This wasn't him —

This was something else —

(Rock On Energy?)

(is that what it was called?)

Peter moves to the window to see if it's happening anywhere else and watches the power outage roll across the city like a wave, buildings flickering off and on, until it rolls out of sight.

"M-my bad!" Peter shouts back. "I'm — I'm going right now!"

He turns away from the window, heads into his room, and closes the door behind him. Whatever it was, he can't get into it with May now. He slides open his window and leans out the edge. It's bitter cold and the streets are relatively quiet, but the city is different. Darker.

Julia's eyes appear in the recess of Peter's memory and he thinks of her out there.

(Julia — )

Mr. Thompson said she was different.

(just — )

What kind of different?

(stay alive —)

She can't be bad.

(stay alive and get through it —)

Different doesn't mean bad.

"Stay alive."

{ Julia}

Julia stands frozen.

He's alive —

He's alive and he's here —

"Stephen?" She breathes, pulling off her mask for a better look. He shifts, trying to sit up but it causes more pain and he cries out, slumping farther down along the floor.

Julia eagerly webs the locking mechanism on the door and pulls, ripping the door off its hinges, and tosses it to the side. She rushes into the cell and kneels beside Stephen, propping him upright and and taking his face in her hands. "Stephen, look at me," she says, studying his pupils for reaction times. "You with me? Do you know your name? Do you know where you are? How long have you been here?"

"Stephen, no, same as you."

Julia lets go of him and rolls her eyes. "Alright, well, you're fine."

He rasps a laugh, leaning his head back against the wall and gasping for breath. She turns on her inhibitor, ignoring the pinprick of pain, and silences the thoughts streaming in from him. Thoughts and pictures she doesn't understand and would rather have explained —

She hears footsteps approaching —

Julia jumps to her feet, whipping around and facing Lonnie's pale figure in the doorway. The door must have triggered an alarm. She didn't even think. She's glad it's Lonnie though. He stands still, glaring at her then Stephen.

"I know," she starts, "I know I'm not supposed to be here but, Lonnie, you have to help me." His gaze shifts to her and she steps closer to him. "Why is Stephen here? What have they done to him?"

Lonnie stares at Stephen.

Frustration rushes through Julia —

She doesn't have time for this —

"Hey!" She snaps her fingers at Lonnie. "Look at me! What does Silvio want from him?"

Lonnie stares at Stephen.

Julia groans, anger pumping her veins —

"Lonnie, I swear if you don't talk me, I will out that you helped me escape, that you helped me protect Spider-Man. Now, what do they want from Stephen?"

"His brain."

Julia's brow furrows. "What does that mean?" She turns to look at Stephen. "They don't need your brain, they have Simon for his skills. He's the one who made the cure. I mean, I saw the production lines, they were making the cure, but it wasn't the cure, it wasn't ISO-36, it wasn't yellow, it — "

"Was blue?" Stephen finishes.

Julia looks at him, his light blue eyes reminding her of the pale blue liquid she swirled around in a flask, the same liquid Simon injected into those soldiers —

She nods.

"It's not ISO-36," he explains. "It's ISO-37."

A pit forms in Julia's stomach. She knows she originally wanted her mom back and that would require another serum, she just —

Didn't think it would be so soon.

"How?" She asks. "I thought all of it was destroyed."

"They thought so too. Until they were in the hospital and saw the vial I gave you. I figured you would use it on your mother but they captured me, paused time, beat its location out of me…"

Julia shudders —

He gave her up —

"They needed it to recreate the cure, it was on your person when they brought you here, I'm so sorry, Julia."

Julia shakes her head —

(how — )

(how could he — )

"Stephen, you're stronger than that," she says, willing her voice to not break. "Why? Why did you help them?"

"Why are you?" He says. And there's a challenge behind his words and a fire in his eyes she immediately recognizes. She thinks of all the people they love. She thinks of Peter and Aunt Christine and her father and Tony and —

Even herself.

Julia kneels in front of him. "I won't let you do this."

"Julia," he sighs.

"Look what they've done to you? I won't let you stay locked up, not for me." She pushes herself to her feet, ignoring his protests, and turns to Lonnie, saying, "We have to get him out of here."

"We aren't doing anything," he growls.

"Fine! Then just help me get him — "

Julia jumps back as Simon emerges from the hall.

"Julia, Julia, Julia," he sighs, sauntering into the white room. Lonnie stands frozen. Simon claps him on the shoulder as if appreciating he got to the disturbance first. "I warned you not to go poking around in things you don't belong."

"He doesn't belong to you," Julia fires back, her stance shielding Stephen behind her. "And neither do I."

"Of course, you do," he chuckles, aimlessly wandering further into the room. "You all do. If you want that boy to stay alive. Or your father… Or May… Stark… the nurse…"

"You're not gonna kill them. If you did, you'll have lost your leverage."

Simon's eyes narrow as he exhales a breath, impressed. "You are good."

And in one swift motion, he pulls out the injection device, tilts Stephen's head —

"No!"

Julia steps forward —

But he's already delivers the serum into his neck.

Simon rests the injection gun on his shoulder and smiles at her. "I'm just better."

The cure —

The serum —

The same the soldiers had —

Right before they died —

It's in him.

Simon steps around Stephen cringing at the pain in his neck —

(Julia's grateful her inhibitor is on, she couldn't bear to feel his pain — )

"You saw what happened earlier," Simon purrs, walking up to her.

Julia clenches her jaw.

"Don't make that your friend. You already have blood on your hands."

Julia refuses to show any emotion and looks at him with a blank stare. "So you know."

"That you defied orders? Escaped containment? Protected the enemy?!"

If Julia didn't know he hated her, she might have thought he sounds proud.

"I know. I'd just hate for Silvio to know." Simon lifts the syringe to Lonnie's neck and pulls the trigger. The large man drops to his knees beside her and clutches his neck.

"Simon, stop this!" Julia yells.

"Oh, I'm not doing anything," he laughs. "You're doing this to yourself. Actions have consequences. I just don't want to know what consequence Silvio would deal you if he knew of your actions. I wonder if he'd still care for you if he knew you used your gifts against his family, our family. That you had them die to cover for you."

Julia swallows thickly, her gaze shifting to the floor, to disheveled Stephen slumped against the wall, to Lonnie on his knees —

They could die at any time —

They could fire the Juvenator and they'd be dead and it's all her fault.

"If I were you," Simon whispers, "I would back off and get back in line or you will watch everyone you love die for nothing. All because of you."

Julia clenches her jaw tighter to keep her lips from trembling.

Simon waves goodbye. "Sweet dreams."

Lonnie stands from the floor, grips her arm, and escorts her out of the cell to her room but she could be floating for all she knows. He could be dragging her down the hall and she wouldn't object because —

No one needs to die.

No one has to die.

If only she complies.

And compliance will be rewarded.