Chapter 12: All of the Spiders

July 29

District Eleven

Miles was glad that Kamala's family had decided to move out of the ruins of Six and all that Hydra had left in its wake to come to District Eleven, because it meant he got to be home while still getting to hang out with his favorite person in the world … even if this time around, there was much more of a shadow with Kamala's big brother taking his role as protector way seriously.

Not… that Miles was complaining. At least not today. He'd met up with Kamala so they could talk about the message Coulson had sent out to all the Tahiti kids about the dangers everyone was facing, and the truth was, neither of them was sure what to think of it. They had their emergency comms, and they had each other… and Kamala had her family back. It didn't sound like she was in much of a hurry to give that up all over again because some lunatic was targeting people.

Again.

And Miles wasn't keen on the idea of going into hiding and not having Kamala around. He liked having her nearby to talk to and to show around all the best parts of his hometown. So if she wanted to stay with her family, he'd stay too.

Besides, Luke Cage was, like, three blocks down from Kamala's place, and anyone who messed with them would have to go through that guy, and he was built like nine different brick walls. So they were probably fine.

Miles walked past Luke's place on his way home — like he always did — and waved at Jessica, who gave him a little nod as he passed. This was almost normal for them, and he liked it. Not to mention he had his own place, and people were treating him more or less like an adult after everything that had happened with the war and all that. Even if he hadn't personally done much fighting in it. At least, not as much as other people had done.

Still, Miles wasn't going to take Coulson's warnings lightly, and he had his own sort of security setup at his place. Anyone tried to break in and they were going to end up stuck to the walls or ceilings — and that webbing was pretty much impossible to break through. He did not want to end up in one of Coulson's daily briefings as an 'also dead.'

He unlocked the door to his apartment and was instantly on alert — until he saw just who it was that his traps had pinned to the kitchen wall.

"He-e-e-ey!" He broke into a huge grin and rushed over to start cutting Jess down. "People have been looking all over for you! What's the big idea giving everyone a heart attack and a half?"

"I ran into Hydra and lost my comm," Jessica said before she blew a strand of hair out of her face. "I've been trying to shake them forever."

"Hydra? Is that who's trying to kill everyone?" Miles asked with wide eyes as he worked.

"Everyone? I … can only tell you what I've been up to. Who else is on the run?"

"Oh, well, Coulson just told everyone — I mean, all the Tahitis and victors and everyone — to keep an eye out." Miles shook his head as he managed to get one of Jess's arms free.

"And they're not gathering up?"

"Well, a few," Miles admitted. "But not everyone wants to."

"That's encouraging," she said. "It must not be too bad then."

"Um. People are dying?" Miles shook his head at her.

"But it's not mandatory to come in … so … they're not out looking for everyone to bring them in yet."

"You think that's where Hydra is going?" Miles all but squeaked out.

She shrugged as best she could and didn't offer her opinion one way or the other until she was free of the webbing. "Well, there won't be anyone looking when everyone goes 'poof'."

"You're forgetting about Director Dad, oh Queen Spider," Miles pointed out, tipping his head to the side as he watched her. "Are you okay? Do you want me to call someone?"

"No, no," she said. "I want to see for myself what their response time is." At that, she rushed him and cracked him in the jaw hard enough to knock him out cold.

July 30

District Eight

After a couple of days in Eight, the three boys still hadn't found any sign of Gwen… or Jess. And they'd just gotten the worried call from Coulson about Miles as well after Kamala had called in that morning to say that he had gone missing.

"Missing, not dead," Peter muttered like a lifeline, and Coulson nodded.

"Please, be careful," Coulson said. "I know you have to look, but you should consider regrouping. Maybe some of the intel we're getting from Miles' disappearance will help the search for Gwen. No way is this coincidence."

"We have a few more places to comb through," Logan assured him.

"Keep your emergency comms close. And don't stray too far into Osborn's territory. His security sensors screw with the signals on our comms."

"Yes, Dad," the three of them answered in unison.

"If… if we can't find anything here, let's go to Eleven tomorrow," Peter said with a deeply settled frown.

"Anything you want, Petey," Logan agreed. "We should probably check in on Luke anyhow."

"And offer our friends a ride to Seven if they want to go," Kurt added.

"Kamala probably would say yes," Peter said, rubbing the back of his neck. "Especially with Miles missing."

"Let's not make plans just yet," Logan said. "We got a lot of turf to cover."

Peter nodded as the three boys made their way deeper into the district, falling silent as they considered the state of things and looked for any sign of their missing friends.

They were almost to the center of the neighborhood housing half of the smaller factories for parts that went into the bigger clothing production lines when Peter came to a sudden stop, clapping a hand to his forehead as it suddenly occurred to him. "They're grabbing the scientists." He spun on his heel to face his friends, eyes wide. "Miles and Gwen and Jess — even Otto. Maybe he turned them down, I don't know. But I'll bet you anything there's people on that list like… like Tony or Bruce or… or me," he added quietly.

"That doesn't explain Johnny," Logan said.

"He was a test pilot," Kurt pointed out. "Fitz told me he always tested their newest toys. Science isn't always limited to beakers and computers."

"Let Coulson know, Petey — it's your theory," Logan said.

Peter nodded. "Yeah. Alright. Next time we check in," he said. "Let's just… get through…" He trailed off, glancing around. "Guys… I don't think we're alone."

Logan stiffened up and turned to watch the green uniforms seeping in out of the shadows while Kurt simply drew his swords. The closer they got, the more the three of them went into a small circle, facing outward. "Well. I think we can still take 'em," Logan said.

"Undoubtedly," Kurt agreed.

No sooner had he said that, though, then one of the Hydra goons pulled out some kind of new toy. Peter had a very bad feeling about that thing and ran forward, throwing webs at it — and shocked when the webbing that stopped up the thingy started to melt.

"Uh- guys. Flamethrowers, apparently!" Peter called out to the two of them as the Hydra guy he'd been trying to stop managed to melt his way through the webbing, and a stream of flame leapt up close by. Peter let out a squeak and dove aside.

"Keep out of their reach," Kurt called out as he sliced through one Hydra soldier's arm.

"Web their faces," Logan suggested.

"Not a bad idea," Peter muttered as he switched out a cartridge on the web shooter and started to do that — on both counts — dancing out of the way of the Hydra goons at the same time he aimed with careful precision to totally blind these guys. He was entirely focused on taking out the guys with flames that he didn't actually notice that he was slowly moving further and further away from the other two until he turned around to find that he could only see green uniforms.

Kurt called out to him from what sounded almost nearby. "Peter! Where are you?"

"In a whole lotta green!" he called out, trying to spot where the other two were as he reached for another web cartridge. He'd brought plenty of extra, but with the flamethrowers melting it… he was running low.

"Never thought I'd say it, but keep talkin', Parker!" Logan shouted. "We'll come to you."

Peter blinked, wide-eyed. "For all the times in the world for my wit to fail me," he halfway whispered as he reloaded just in time to dart around a Hydra soldier who very nearly got an armful of Peter Parker. "No, no. Hands off the spider merchandise!" he squeaked out. "Me and Mama Spider are not interested in joining the forced spider brigade!"

It wasn't long before Peter could see Logan and Kurt heading his way, almost dancing through the scores of Hydra soldiers as they put their swordfighting into play. They were viciously brutal — and a very well balanced team, the two of them with their blades flashing between soldiers. Until ... the soldiers seemed to back away quickly.

Flames were keeping Logan and Kurt from going right to Peter, and when they got a little too close to the fire, Hydra agents on either side threw something at the two of them. It took Peter a moment to see once the flames cleared out that both of them had gotten darts thrown at them. Kurt had one in his arm, and Logan had gotten one in an arm and one in a leg.

Kurt looked alarmed, but Logan only seemed to get angrier as he yanked the darts out and made a rush for the guy with the flamethrower. Kurt barely managed to rush into his wake as the two of them kept trying to fight their way to Peter.

And Peter, meanwhile, was trying to fight his way to his friends, downright concerned about the green-colored darts sticking out of his teammates that were way too familiar to mean anything good at all. He was spinning and dodging as he tried to keep away from the Hydra agents, but not only was he running out of webbing ... he was running out of space that wasn't on fire.

It was clear the tide was turning against them when Peter heard Kurt shout for Logan — and a peek their direction showed him that Logan had gone down. And Kurt wasn't far behind him. A moment or two later, his swords clattered out of his hands; clearly, he'd lost his ability to grip the hilts. And then the soldiers nearest him dragged him down, beating on him as they'd done with Logan moments before, leaving Peter as the last man standing.

"This ... this is really very not good," Peter squeaked as he managed to flip over the shoulders of one of the Hydra goons and pulled him down to the ground with him in the same movement as he aimed his web shooters to tag another guy in the face. But he was pretty well surrounded, and he could only keep that up for so long.

He had turned to kick one of the Hydra guys when a wall of flames came up in front of him, and he scrambled backward — avoiding getting roasted alive but backing up right into one of the guys with the flamethrowers, who simply wrapped his arms around Peter from behind in a strong hold that not only kept him in place but also had him gasping as the guy started to squeeze the air out of Peter's lungs.

When Peter woke up again, he was absolutely, one hundred percent expecting to find out that he was in some horrible, horrible Hydra place. So he was a little surprised when, instead, his first thought was that it was actually pretty comfortable, and as he started to stretch and shift, he looked around to find that it looked… normal. A bed, a dresser… kinda like a basic apartment in Eight for any normal factory worker, only without any windows.

He glanced around for a moment, still unsure as to whether or not he was, well, a prisoner or something. It didn't feel like it, but also… he didn't recognize the place.

He was starting to walk around, checking to see if he could figure out anything about this place other than the fact that it had no windows, when the door opened to admit none other than Norman Osborn, and Peter jumped back a good foot.

"Don't give a person a heart attack like that!" he squeaked.

"You're one to talk," Norman said, looking concerned. "Do you have any idea how close ... Peter. Hydra? I thought SHIELD said they were gone!"

Peter swept his arms out openly. "Don't ask me!" he said. "They just showed up!" He glanced around the room. "What happened? Did you… did you get Kurt and Logan too? Did Hydra take them?"

At that, Osborn let out a breath and sat down heavily in the chair nearest Peter. "I'm sorry, Peter."

Peter's breath caught in his throat, and he sank into the nearest chair. "Where… did they take them somewhere?" Peter asked in barely a whisper. "Can we get them back?"

"No, Peter … that's ... " He let out a heavy sigh. "No. You don't understand … your friends, they're gone, Peter."

Peter stared at Osborn for some time before he let out a hitched breath that was hiding a sob, his lower lip trembling. "You're wrong," he whispered.

"The lab is running what was in the darts they were hit with now," Norman said.

"You should let SHIELD look at it," Peter said. "They… they've had experience with… that kind of poison," he said, trying to keep his breath steady and failing miserably.

"It's too late for that, Peter," Norman told him gently.

Peter swallowed hard before he rubbed at his eyes with the back of his hand. "That… that's just… that's not how…" He swallowed again. "We should — does Kate know yet? Or Skye?" He paused. "Oh man. Skye."

"I couldn't tell you, Peter. SHIELD won't tell me anything."

"Right, yeah," Peter said with a nod, his head in his hands. He stayed there like that for a good long time before he finally glanced up at Osborne with shining eyes. "How'd you… the last thing I remember, one of those guys grabbed me."

"They went through one of my security zones," Osborn said. "Just sheer luck that they stumbled on one of the larger guard houses. And your friends took a fair number of them down. I'm told the carnage was … substantial."

"Yeah, that's my team," Peter said quietly. "Unstoppable." He made a little sort of strangled sound and swallowed hard at that, looking down again quickly. Osborne watched him with a perfectly sympathetic expression, and Peter took a moment to just… get his breath. "Thanks for, uh, for getting me out of there. I … I should probably call Coulson. He might not know…"

"Before you decide to do that, we should probably take a little walk. Let you get your bearings. Compose yourself."

"He… really should know," Peter said uncertainly, though even he had to admit that he wasn't much up to reporting that his friends had been killed.

"I'm sure he should," Osborn agreed. "But please, take a moment for yourself."

Peter took a deep breath and nodded, just sitting in silence for a moment. He probably would have taken longer to feel totally miserable, but he just… wasn't all the comfortable with Mr. Osborn watching him. Maybe when he got home… found Kate…

"Hey, you haven't heard anything new about Gwen, have you?" Peter asked, looking up at last. "That's why we were here."

"I have, as a matter of fact," Norman said. "You should have come to me first."

Peter almost instantly straightened up, unable to stop the totally hopeful expression. "Good news?" he asked.

"I believe so," Norman said. "She's agreed to go to work for me. And I hope you'll do the same."

Peter stopped, totally still as he glanced up at Osborn again. "She… wait a minute." He got to his feet, his hands clenched tightly. "How long has she been here?" he demanded.

"Calm down, Peter," Norman said. "I'll take you right to her if you can relax."

"If I can — calm down?" Peter was instinctively moving his hands to his his web shooters, though he realized after the fact that they weren't there — and he'd run out of web fluid back in the fight anyway. "Calm down? How long have you had Gwen?"

Osborn let out a sigh and got to his feet. "I'm sure you already know the answer to that, Mr. Parker."

Peter glanced around the room, but he couldn't see anything useful — not his comm, not his webshooters, not even a window. Not even a lamp or something he could throw and feel better. "If she's hurt… if you did anything…" he said, starting to all but pace in place.

"If you're going to be difficult, you can stay here until you find your manners," Norman said, losing his gentler tone entirely.

Peter turned toward him, still totally livid, but he took a deep breath and tried to force a calmer expression, holding up his hands. "Where is she?" he asked in an attempt at a softer voice.

"In the lab, of course," Norman replied.

Peter swallowed. "I'd like to see her," he said carefully.

"Certainly," Norman agreed. "You'll have your own section of the lab, of course."

"Is that what you've been doing with Miles? And Jess? And Johnny Storm?" Peter asked, trying to keep his voice from rising.

Norman just smirked and let out an almost inaudible chuckle. "I'll answer your questions in the lab."

Peter took a moment to clench his fists before he nodded. "Alright. But I want to see Gwen. Not just the lab. Gwen."

"Now, Peter," Norman said. "No reason to act like this is some kind of hostage situation."

"You kidnapped…" Peter saw Osborn raise an eyebrow his way and gulped in a breath. "Don't lie to me. Please. I'm not as stupid as I was when I was a kid, and I don't believe it anymore."

"I'm not lying to you, Peter. I'll take you to Gwen and show you your lab. It's all very civilized."

"Except the kidnapping part," Peter muttered under his breath before, more audibly, he said, "Lead the way," with a wide and sweeping gesture.

Norman did just that, leading by several paces as Peter scanned the halls, trying to find a way out … For a moment, he considered just cracking Norman in the back of the head, all the way up until they got to the glass walls of the lab — where he could easily see inside, in a white lab coat …

"Gwen!" Peter rushed to the lab walls, totally melting in relief to see that she looked fine, she looked alright, she was alive. He pushed his way through the doors and didn't bother with anything except to run right to Gwen, who seemed totally surprised to see him there.

"Peter?"

In just a few steps, Peter had simply wrapped his arms around Gwen, and she all but melted into him, both of them clutching each other close and relieved to see the other unharmed — and not even caring, at least for a moment, that everything else around them was so very bad.