Chapter 41: Nothing Goes as Planned

Despite the chapter title, this is actually one of the first endings to come out close to my plan!

I apologize for the many changes in point of view this chapter goes through. I wanted to deal with everyone's thoughts before this part was over. I hope I made it straightforward enough.

Peter woke to vibrations again, but these weren't threatening. These were the soft residual movements of the entire room as the others got up and started the day. Peter stretched, feeling slightly disoriented. He'd had a dream of home, of friends and family. Waking up without them . . . He missed them. And that was a sort of negative emotion, but it also wasn't negative . . . thinking of family never was . . .

Homesickness curled around Peter's heart and squeezed.

Staying still in the hopes that the others would think he was still asleep, Peter grappled with this emotion for the first time in . . . well, a long time. He hadn't left home since his definition of home changed at the age of six. May and Ben couldn't pay the rent for two houses, so they were forced to give up Peter's parent's place. Since then, Peter never stayed anywhere outside of home for long. An occasional sleepover at Harry's, or a weekend trip to the beach, and the one time Ben won a small lottery and treated them to a week-long getaway.

Good times. The best of times.

And every time, Peter knew exactly when he would go back home. Now, though . . . He was being held against his will. He didn't even have an escape plan yet. He had no idea when he would be able to go home.

These were the worst of times.

Peter curled in on himself. The shift in position made his web move slightly, jostling the things attached. The cup lay dry, the plastic bag only had a bit of dirt and leaves left inside, and the silk sac was still stretched irregularly around the skeleton of the chicken.

Well, maybe these weren't the worst of times. This was downright fun compared to other times he'd been kidnapped.

He squeezed his eyes shut as a feeling of wrongness swept over him. He wasn't supposed to be happy here!

But it was too late. He already was happy here. The trivia game was a blast, and hunting the chicken had been great, and he even purred in front of Tandy. Peter was . . . okay here. Everyone accepted him and no one knew he was Spider-Man. He didn't need to worry about what they would think.

He didn't need to worry about what May would think.

Yet there were still so many things he missed about home. The team's shenanigans, MJ's presence, Phoebe . . . Poor Phoebe. How was she doing on her own all day? Hopefully Ava was feeding her, but what if Ava forgot? What if Ava couldn't take care of her right?! What if May found her and called Shield and—?!

Peter needed to get home. He knew that. He had always known that. It wasn't like he wanted to stay here forever. He couldn't stay. Taskmaster would grow suspicious of Spider-Man's absence by the end of the week. He needed to get out of here.

He just thought this wasn't bad, per se . . .

Tears began forming in his eyes as Peter struggled with the flux of emotions. He curled up even tighter, using his stickiness to lock his limbs in place. He tried to block out the sounds of the others in the room. They didn't seem threatening at the moment, but their presence just wasn't helping. He could hear Adrien rustling his feathers as he stretched. Ty was waking Tandy up.

"Wha—Ty?" Tandy said sleepily. "Oh my gosh, I was totally ready to sleep in! Thanks for waking me up."

For a moment, Peter wanted to lock himself in the bathroom again just so he could be alone. But even in there he would be able to hear them, and he didn't want to get up now when they would be able to see his tear-soaked face. He was doing an admirable job of crying silently. He had picked up the habit when he lost Ben and been practicing ever since.

"Hey," Amadeus said, and the sound of his voice had the hair on the back of Peter's neck standing on end. "Why is the web dripping liquid?"

Peter froze, although he was already in a stiff ball. They couldn't know that he was crying, because if they did then Tandy would do her calm thing again and then Peter would be content again.

But hadn't he just been thinking about how fun it was here? Was he still under the effects of Tandy's powers, or . . .?

He couldn't hold it in, a squeaking sob escaped him. Below, the others were shifting, coming to stand under his web.

"Peter, what's wrong?" Tandy asked.

"I'm fine," Peter answered hastily.

"Something's wrong," Ty stated matter-of-factly. "I can tell."

"Nope, everything's honky dory." Peter's voice betrayed him by wavering. He bit down on his lip hard.

"Come on, you can tell us!" Adrien insisted.

Peter considered his options. He could escape to the bathroom where he could find temporary safety. Unless Taskmaster unlocked the door again. No, that was a bad idea, he didn't want to involve Taskmaster. Maybe he could pretend like he was falling back asleep. No, that was utterly ridiculous. Perhaps he could make up another lie—

Yes. Yes, lies were what saved him!

"I miss my aunt!" he blurted.

Oh great. What happened to the lie? Thanks, brain, for nothing!

There was a collective sound of sympathy from the others. "What happened to her?" Tandy asked gently.

"W—what?" Peter felt like his heart stopped. "Nothing should have happened to her! She's fine! I've just—I've never been away from her for so long."

"Your aunt's still alive?" Adrien asked. "I thought you were an orphan like the rest of us."

"I am! I mean, kind of. My parents died, but my aunt and my un—my aunt takes care of me." An ice-cold shiver racked Peter's spine. Taskmaster hadn't killed May to make Peter an official orphan, had he? Peter had no way of knowing, and the uncertainty only worried him more.

There was a long moment of silence. Peter held his breath, hoping that they would just drop the subject even though he knew how improbable that was.

"Mr. Masters never invited someone who already had a home before," Ty said suddenly.

"Maybe Peter wasn't safe at home?" Tandy suggested.

Peter sprung around, kneeling on the web and gripping the strands with enough force to risk tearing them. He glared down through the web at the people below him. "I was perfectly safe at home! My aunt loves me, and she's spent the last ten years taking care of me! She would never hurt me!"

Adrien and Tandy flinched at his tone. Ty and Amadeus didn't. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have suggested that," Tandy apologized. "I was just trying to think of a reason why Mr. Masters would bring you . . ."

"You might not be wrong," Amadeus said. "Victims of child abuse can be in denial of their living conditions."

"I'm not in denial!" Peter shouted.

"That's exactly what someone in denial would say."

"Stop it, Amadeus," Ty said sharply. "We're not psychologists."

"Does your aunt know about your spider moods?" Adrien asked in a soft voice.

"Of course she knows about my powers!" They didn't need to know that it had taken ages for her to find out.

"That's great! But—um—I was asking about your spider moods specifically. Does she let you eat insects and make webs?"

Peter opened his mouth to shout again before the question sank in.

May didn't want him to eat more crickets than he was comfortable with. She cleaned up his web so he wouldn't have to.

The answer to Adrien's question wasn't quite 'yes', not unless Peter lied, not unless he denied the truth.

No. No, Amadeus couldn't be right. Tandy couldn't be right. No one here was right.

"I eat crickets at home," Peter finally answered much quieter than he initially intended. "And—and I made a web in my room once."

"You only have to make a web once and it stays up for months?" Amadeus asked dubiously.

Some of Peter's synthetic formulae could last for months, but his natural silk? He had no idea. He hadn't yet left it up for more than a day. "Regular maintenance helps."

"And what about dust? Between the stickiness and static, spider silk can be a dust magnet."

"I keep my room clean." That wasn't entirely true, but it wasn't entirely a lie either.

Another long silence, but this time Peter could see that they were exchanging looks. He felt his heartrate pick up. Why did this feel like his team's interrogation all over again? And why did it feel so hard to convince them that his aunt was just fine? That was the truth. It shouldn't be so hard to convince people about the truth!

"Peter," Adrien began tentatively. "How does your aunt feel about your spider moods?"

"I've never called them spider moods before . . ."

"So how does she feel when you follow your instincts?"

Yet another silence as truth and lies battled in Peter's head. Each silence seemed worse than the last.

"She's just fine with it. Now can you stop giving me the ninth degree on my own life!" Peter jumped up to the ceiling to reach the bathrooms without getting close to anyone. When he was safely locked away from the others, he let the rest of his tears fall.

That was the first time he ever lied about his aunt.

Or was it?

Ty practically had to force Tandy and Adrien to go to training with him. They wanted to stay with Peter. Ty understood that, but he also understood that they had a schedule to keep. And if Shield really was close to finding them, then they needed to be ready.

Plus, Peter didn't seem to be ready to come out of the bathroom anytime soon.

Mr. Masters was already waiting for them in the gym, looking slightly stern at their tardiness. His expression quickly softened when he saw them though. He always had a knack to know when something was bothering them. Ty used to fear he was psychic but had since concluded that Mr. Masters simply had great social skills.

"What's wrong? Is there a reason why you're late?" Mr. Masters asked.

Adrien nodded. "Peter woke up upset this morning, and when we tried talking to him about it, he just got angrier."

"I see. Tandy, did you help Peter as we discussed?"

Tandy bowed her head. "No. I thought maybe he needed to let his emotions out, but then he ran away and locked himself in the bathroom again."

"Perhaps the poor boy does need some time to himself, but he shouldn't be chained by his emotions all day, understood?" Mr. Masters waited for Tandy to nod before he turned to Ty. "What was Peter upset about?"

"He said that he missed his aunt," Ty answered. Perhaps he could get some answers now. "Why did you take Peter from his home?"

Mr. Masters considered him for the briefest of seconds. "Did Peter explain anything about his home life to you?"

"Yeah," Adrien spoke up before Ty could. "We think that maybe his aunt doesn't like his spider moods, but Peter is in denial."

Ty turned to him sharply. "We don't know that though. Amadeus was just speculating."

"Amadeus is a bright boy," Mr. Masters said. "I'm not surprised that he uncovered this for himself."

Tandy's eyes widened. "You already knew. Of course you did. That's why you took Peter."

"Yes, that's part of it. Perhaps I would have left Peter to deal with his aunt on his own, but with the added threat of Shield I deemed his living conditions to be too dangerous."

Ty wanted to frown, but he also didn't want to let Mr. Masters know that he had some doubts. Mr. Masters had promised to tell them everything they needed to know about Peter and Amadeus before they came, yet this trouble with Peter's aunt had never come up before. There was a chance that he thought they simply didn't need to know. But since the topic obviously meant so much to Peter, it seemed unlikely.

"I guess family isn't always everything it's cracked up to be," Adrien muttered.

"Indeed. Thank you for trying to help Peter come to terms with this. I'm sure it will be a long process. But for now, we should begin training."

Ty began his daily regimen, still trying to figure out where his doubt was coming from.

Taskmaster watched the children practice their combat skills, thinking over what they had just told him.

So Peter had a stressful homelife? That was interesting. Taskmaster hadn't considered such a possibility, but if it was true then that was yet another way he could gain Peter's trust and loyalty. He just needed to understand the situation better.

Maybe he should have pretended to be a counselor at Midtown instead of a coach. Oh well, Taskmaster always found a way to uncover the information he needed.

It took a while for Peter to compose himself. He blamed that on his artificial lack of negative emotions yesterday. He was already getting out of practice with them. But given some time and a semi-normal morning routine, he was feeling a little better. The only thing he hadn't done was brush his teeth. He was avoiding the toothpaste today. He didn't care if he was submitting the others to bad breath. The mint made him gag and everyone here were his enemies. This morning had reminded him of that rather forcibly.

When his stomach began to growl, he cautiously exited the bathroom, hoping that Tandy wasn't there to spring some more forced calm on him.

The good news was that the bedroom area was mostly empty. The bad news was that Amadeus was the only person still there.

"Hello Peter," Amadeus said without looking up. He was seated at his desk, writing something in one of the notebooks provided in their closets.

"Um, hi." Peter stood there awkwardly for a minute, trying very hard not to think about what had happened yesterday morning. He kept glancing at Amadeus's bandaged hand anyway. "Uh—do you know when breakfast starts?"

"Eight thirty, so in fifteen minutes. Hungry already?"

"That's my secret. I'm always hungry," Peter's mouth used the opening for a joke before his brain caught up.

Amadeus looked up from his work. "Was that a variation of a Bruce Banner quote?"

"Yeah, I'm a big fan of his work." After swapping bodies with the Hulk for a day, it was hard not to let the big green guy grow on you.

"I'm a fan of his work too. Have you read his paper on the role of gamma rays in wormholes?"

"Yes! That was one of the most exciting ones! And he even wrote it before we knew aliens had already used warp drives to travel here!"

Amadeus nodded as if satisfied. "Maybe you are smart enough to be Stark's intern. Want to hang out in the workshop later?"

Peter wasn't sure if he should feel happy, surprised, or wary about Amadeus's suddenly friendlier attitude, but he did want to take a look at the workshop. There might be some tools there that he could use to escape. "Um, sure. Have you been there yet?"

"Yes. It's not equipped to my standards, but the Iron Spider suit is there. Perhaps we can discuss it."

The Iron Spider suit! Yes! If Peter could get a hold of that then he could blast his way out of here without even revealing his identity! "Okay. Sounds good."

Peter waited a few seconds for a reply, but it seemed like Amadeus was done with that conversation, so Peter stepped away to find something to keep his mind off the fear and hunger. Maybe he could clean up his web? Ooh, that was a good idea. There were no trash cans in the room, so that would give him an excuse to wander the hall in search of one, and if he happened to find an exit along the way then that was purely a coincidence.

He climbed up to grab the plastic bag and cup, but hesitated with the web sac. A part of him wanted to recycle the silk, but the thought of revealing whatever remained inside had his stomach churning. He hurriedly stuffed the sac into the bag and tried very very hard not to think about it.

Carefully keeping his mind blank (because he definitely wasn't remembering how good the chicken tasted) Peter opened the door to the hall. Amadeus didn't react to it, so Peter left without another word.

Standing in the metal hall alone was a lot scarier than when Taskmaster was leading the way. The realization that anything could be behind all these doors was not a reassuring one.

Still, any one of them might lead to an exit, so he had to search.

Peter stepped up to the first door, pressing his ear against it to listen. When he couldn't hear anything from the other side, he tentatively cracked it open.

A closet. A closet full of cleaning supplies.

Okay, that was more mundane than expected.

Bolstered by that (and the hilarious idea of Taskmaster in a maid costume), Peter went to the next door, and the next. In all, he went through six more doors: another dormitory area, two classrooms, a storage room, and two small bathrooms. He was about to open door number seven when a hand rested on his shoulder. Utterly caught off guard, Peter squeaked and jumped to the ceiling.

"Wow, you really are a scaredy cat," Felicia said with an amused smile.

"How did you sneak up on me?!"

"Oh you know, my incredible skills, my delicate steps, my custom-made silent shoes." Her smile turned a bit more mischievous.

Peter frowned. Regardless of any advantages Felicia had, she shouldn't have been able to sneak up on him while indoors. He should have felt the shifting air of her approach. The hairs on the back of his neck should have stood on end. Was his spider sense still not working well after Tandy messed with his brain? Was he still somehow under the effects?

(Part of him hoped he was. He was far too ashamed of all the thoughts that kept nagging at him.)

"What'cha doing out here by your lonesome?" Felicia asked.

"I—I was looking for a garbage can." He pointed at the bag he had dropped.

"Ah, yes, the nearest one would be in the kitchen." She tapped a long nail against her lips in thought. "Hm, want to help me with breakfast?"

Well, it wouldn't hurt to see how the food was made. Then he could be sure it wasn't poisoned. "Okay."

Felicia led the way to the kitchen, pointed him in the direction of the garbage can, and then set him to work mixing a giant bowl of eggs for omelets. Peter carefully checked each ingredient as he added them, but they all seemed fine: garlic powder, onion powder, salt, peppers and onions. Everything was ordinary.

When he was done mixing, there was a huge professional griddle to make the omelets all at once. Peter poured the egg out as evenly as he could. Omelets were one thing he could make without messing up (most of the time at least), but he had never made so many at the same time. He normally had to closely monitor the one he was making to ensure it didn't burn.

Throughout this, he had been paying attention to Felicia's every move, so he wasn't startled this time when she came up beside him. "Anthony ordered some frozen crickets and mealworms. Want to add them to your omelet to spice things up?"

"I've never added insects to a meal like that before." Peter thought about when his aunt suggested adding spices to crickets to mask the flavor. Here, the suggestion was the exact opposite.

"You prefer them raw? Sorry, Spider, Anthony wouldn't let me go out for my midnight stroll, so we don't have fresh ones today. Only frozen."

Despite himself, Peter did feel sort of disappointed. He had discovered that he enjoyed trying different types of insects.

"Here, how about we put some on half to see if insects even go with eggs." Felicia sprinkled some mealworms on his. "What's eating you?"

"What?"

"You've looked lost in thought since I found you in the hallway. What's up?"

Peter looked away. "It's nothing."

"Aw, come on, humor a curious kitty?" She batted her eyelashes.

"I'm just dealing with being here." He wasn't going to make the same mistake of saying too much.

"I can understand that." Felicia glanced at her phone. "Tandy's looking for you."

Peter stiffened. "I'll see her at breakfast in a few minutes."

"Exactly what I was thinking. Now how good is your balance?"

"Um, pretty good . . ."

"And you do have sticky fingers, right?"

"Yeah . . . why—?"

"Would you care to be my waiter today?"

Peter blinked. "You're just getting me to do all your work this morning, aren't you?"

"And I really appreciate all your help! The serving trays are on the table. I'm going to fix my nails. Thank you!" She blew him a kiss as she left.

And Peter found himself alone in the kitchen, which was actually pretty nice, even if it could only last a couple more minutes. Also, those omelets weren't going to hop onto plates by themselves.

Felicia did go to fix her nails. She went to grab her steel-tipped gloves. Her natural claws were strong, but for a real fight nothing beat metal blades. She wanted to invest in vibranium-tipped gloves someday, but that would come after she got rid of Anthony. The man had plenty of money, and Felicia may or may not have done some snooping to figure out most of his hidden overseas bank accounts.

Today was going to be a good day. Peter was dealing with breakfast for her, she would be able to take Anthony's mini empire right out from under him, and she would be able to splurge on herself when it was all said and done.

And, if she could cause enough chaos today, then maybe she would have a chance to punch Amadeus in the confusion. It would be a complete accident, of course, but a punch nonetheless.

Yes, this was a good day indeed.

Breakfast was going to be very awkward after that conversation Peter accidentally had with the others earlier. But he couldn't give up hope. Amadeus was going to take him to the workshop later, and then Peter would finally have some supplies for an escape.

Until then, he didn't even know where the exit was unless he drilled straight up through the ceiling, and he felt like people might hear that.

Maybe if he could get something to hack open that doggy door in the Birdhouse, then he could squeeze out that way. The Birdhouse was too much like a silo to be underground. It and the chicken coop had to be above ground. And if he did go through there, then he could pick up a chicken on the way—

Peter breathed in sharply when he realized what he had just thought.

No. No, he wasn't going to do that. He was just hungry because it was breakfast time. That was all.

Balancing the serving trays easily, Peter went across the hall to the dining room to serve the meal. Everyone was already waiting there.

"Ah, Peter, there you are," Taskmaster said. "You didn't have to help with breakfast today. It was Felicia's turn."

"I just wanted to help," Peter mumbled. Because he couldn't say that he had really been looking for a way out.

"I appreciate that. Come sit. We'll take care of the rest."

Peter set the trays down and surveyed the available seats with disappointment. Everyone was sitting in their same seats as if they were assigned or something, which meant that Peter could either sit between Tandy and Adrien again, or Amadeus and Taskmaster.

He wasn't even sure which was worse.

Well, Adrien wasn't so bad. If Peter could convince everyone that he had calmed down on his own, then Tandy shouldn't use her powers on him again, right? He wouldn't be able to avoid her forever anyway. Or however long he was stuck here.

"Hey, Pete, sorry about this morning," Tandy apologized as Peter sat down.

"Yeah, we didn't mean to bring up any difficult topics," Adrien agreed.

Peter clenched his fists but kept his voice level. "My aunt isn't a difficult topic. I just don't want to talk about her."

"Right, sorry." Tandy reached to put a hand on his shoulder. Peter tensed and tried to subtly lean away from her.

"Um, you don't have to help me with your magic anymore, you know? I'm feeling way better. Seriously."

"That's great! I'm happy for you. I'm glad you're here." Her hand was still approaching, and Peter was starting to feel like he should hiss. Something in his expression must have told Tandy how uneasy he was because she paused.

If Peter wasn't so focused on Tandy's hand, then he would have seen the pointed look that Taskmaster gave Tandy. She held his gaze for a moment, frozen with her hand mere inches from its target. Then she looked away from everyone and firmly placed her hand on Peter's shoulder, flooding him with her powers before he could protest. His expression went from guarded to completely sanguine.

Tandy took her hand away and risked a glance at Ty. He wasn't showing it, but she could feel how suspicious and angry he was getting.

She wanted to trust him. She'd always trusted him, and he had always been right every time before. But this time? This time they were finally someplace that was starting to feel like a home. They had warm beds and plenty of food and now even some friends their own age. They were protected from those who would use them for their powers. This was everything they ever wanted. Not to mention that Ty had even told her weeks ago that he thought they could trust Mr. Masters. Tandy agreed immediately. And when Ty and Tandy both agreed on something, then it was almost certainly right and true.

But now there were some cracks in the foundation of Mr. Master's story. He wasn't only taking orphans in need anymore, and his latest work had gained the attention of Shield. Ty said there was a chance their location was compromised. And Peter's situation was questionable too. Why did she need to keep him under her effects like this? She wanted to help him, sure, but not like this, not when it wasn't his choice.

She watched Peter throughout breakfast. He chatted and joked and smiled and laughed.

And every so often some spike of anger or terror would threaten to wiggle its way through Tandy's magic.

What could be making him so afraid? Unless he really was overly paranoid because of his spider side? But then where was that anger coming from?

Once upon a time, the world had seemed simple to Tandy. She had parents who neglected her, and so obviously the best thing to do was run away. She was practically already taking care of herself, so it could only be more fun to take care of herself on her own with the freedom to do what she wanted. Then she discovered what real life was like, especially for a young runaway. There was danger at every turn. If she hadn't met Ty, she probably would have died ages ago. Ty was the logical one. He was the rational one, the one who could read people and call out lies. They were only ever tricked one time; the time they were experimented on and given powers. And Ty's natural ability to read others only grew when they got their powers. Combined with Tandy's new power to purify, an attack that only hurt those with evil in their hearts, it seemed like nobody would be able to dupe them ever again.

Until now.

Well, that was only if Mr. Masters was actually duping them, which maybe he wasn't. Maybe they were just reading the situation wrong. Based on Peter's description of his aunt (or lack thereof), there did seem to be a good chance that he wasn't entirely safe living with his aunt. Maybe she would have sold him off to Shield given the chance. Maybe Tandy's manipulations were healing years' worth of abuse.

Or not.

No. No! None of that could be true! Because if it was, it would mean she was the bad guy. But she wasn't! She couldn't be! She only wanted to help!

Ty was just being paranoid. That was all.

That was all.

Peter finished off his third omelet, the one with mealworms. The larvae added an earthy flavor and were so soft they were practically indistinguishable from the rest of the omelet. Most insects Peter had tried had been crunchy, so this was an interesting change. He gave Felicia a thumbs up to let her know he liked it. She smiled at him.

This was a good day, almost better than yesterday. He got to figure out why he was angry at his aunt, he tried an insect infused breakfast, and he hadn't even bitten anyone! Plus, Amadeus was going to show him the workshop later. The only thing that could make this day better would be if Adrien took him to the Birdhouse again, but they couldn't eat chickens every day. That would get too expensive.

But aside from that, Peter was having a nice day. Good food and good science always made for a great day.

Plus, the others were planning what board games they could play tonight.

This was turning out to be the break from school and Spider-Man that May had wanted him to take.

He may not be entirely happy with his aunt, but he could still try to make her happy sometimes.

Since he had helped make breakfast, Peter was excused from cleanup. Amadeus had to help instead. Peter waited for him.

"Hey, want to check out our gym?" Adrien asked as he wiped the table.

"Thanks, but Amadeus is going to show me the workshop."

Ty turned to him sharply. "You need authorization to get to the workshop."

"Oh, do either of us have authorization?"

"I don't know." Ty considered him for a moment. "You'll probably want constant access anyway, so how about we go ask Mr. Masters if you need supervision."

Peter grinned. "I'm always safe in labs. Sometimes I'll cause a small explosion, but nothing a fire extinguisher can't handle."

"Right . . ." Ty did not seem comforted by that for some reason.

They walked over to Taskmaster's office, knocking before being allowed in. It looked the same way it had the other day: barren. Even Fury's office had more life than this, and that was really saying something. All Fury had was a picture of a nondescript orange cat on his desk with the word 'Goose' etched into the frame.

"Is anything the matter?" Taskmaster asked.

"Peter and Amadeus would like access to the workshop, but I don't know if they've earned it yet—"

"Earned? Ty, this is their new home. They have every right to explore as you do. I only had you escort Amadeus yesterday because he needed to become acquainted with the room and rules."

"Right," Ty said. "Of course."

"But thank you for bringing it to my attention. It seems I forgot to give them access. Now you're all set, Peter." Taskmaster smiled at him.

Peter smiled back. "Thanks. Are we allowed to make whatever we want?"

"Anything within reason. We can't have anything too dangerous. And you have to be especially careful with anything that would release noxious gases."

"Makes sense."

"Good, go have some fun."

Tandy was walking out of the kitchen when she spotted Peter and Amadeus heading down the hall. She jogged to catch up with them. She might not be sure if forcing Peter to be calm was right, but Amadeus definitely didn't help matters. She could be sure of that.

"Hey, guys, what'cha up to?"

Amadeus frowned at her presence. Peter smiled. "We're going to the workshop, wanna come?"

"Sure! I haven't been there much. I don't really have a head for science."

"Anyone can have a head for science!" Peter assured her. "You just have to find your own way of looking at things."

"Huh, no one's ever said that to me before."

"You haven't had very good science teachers then."

Tandy brushed a strand of hair out of her face. "I guess not." She hadn't been to school in years, but she wasn't going to bring his mood down with her sad backstory today.

"Okay, I guess I can show you one thing I'd like to work on," Amadeus said.

The workshop was just a couple doors away from the Birdhouse. They entered and turned on the lights. Tandy's gaze was drawn by the Iron Spider suit. She hadn't seen it up close yet.

"Hey, Peter, you helped make this, right?" she asked as she approached it.

"Yeah, with Mr. Stark."

"That's so cool!" The red and gold metal was so shiny that she could see her reflection when she got close enough. She wasn't able to touch it since it was still in its protective enclosure, but there were plenty of little details she could see now. It was broken up into many smaller segments, allowing the armor to contour with Spider-Man's fluid movements. There was a light web pattern etched into some areas, but not many, as if the creators weren't sure if they should commit to that design. And the lenses bulged out slightly.

A sudden movement in the reflection caught her eye, and she turned to see what the boys were up to, but Amadeus grabbed her wrists and clicked something on. Handcuffs. Handcuffs that glowed red? They chained her to the containment unit. Tandy summoned a light dagger. Or she tried to. Her hands glowed but the light refused to coalesce into anything solid.

"What are you doing?! Get these off of me!"

"Don't worry, the effect only lasts about five minutes," Amadeus said. "I couldn't make it any better with these subpar resources."

Tandy tried breaking the chain with brute strength, but she was only somewhat stronger than an expert body builder. "Peter, help me!" She was pretty sure he had super strength.

Peter began approaching her, but Amadeus stepped in his path holding something that was alarmingly gun shaped.

"Don't worry, Peter, I'm not hurting her. I'm only getting us out of here. I told you I would escape if I wasn't happy with the accommodations."

"But—you trapped her. She needs help." Peter looked confused.

Tandy bit her lip. Maybe her last dose of calmness had been too strong. He couldn't seem to comprehend the situation. Tandy didn't even know her powers could do that, but Adrien was the only other person she ever really tried them on. "Pete, please, everything will be okay, but you have to get me out of this."

Amadeus turned his head enough that he could look her in the eyes. "Your days of mind control are over, Tandy." He pulled the trigger on his contraption, and a red laser shot out, hitting Peter squarely on the forehead.

Peter blinked once, twice. Frowned a little. Blinked again. Opened his mouth in abject horror and clutched at his head as he let out a pained shout. Dropped to his knees and sobbed.

"Pete!" Tandy cried. "What did you do to him?! Ty! Mr. Masters! Adrien! Felicia! Help!" She knew most rooms were soundproofed, but it never hurt to try calling for help.

Amadeus rolled his eyes. "I'm just counteracting your powers. Maybe I did it a little dramatically, but you're both going to be just fine."

"You're hurting him! Can't you see that?"

"It's not physical pain. Whatever he's feeling right now should be all the negative emotions you tried to banish over the past few days. If you had kept doing this, I wouldn't even have been able to bring the memories back."

That startled Tandy enough to make her pause. Her emotion-based powers could affect memory? Perhaps it was because if you never felt an emotion, how could you remember it? But shouldn't that be good for negative things? Most people wanted to forget their darkest days. "Look, Amadeus, I don't know what made you want to leave, but—"

"Isn't it obvious? Or are you really that gullible?" Amadeus asked with a raised eyebrow.

"This place is great! It's the best opportunity to be safe from—"

"From the one organization that all the good guys work for?"

"Shield is using them to—"

"To save the world and prevent catastrophes?"

"Stop twisting my sentences!"

"Stop spreading obviously false information."

That was the last straw. Tandy couldn't let this stand. She tried to summon a light dagger again, hoping that Amadeus's invention stopped working, but this time she couldn't even summon the faintest glow. And she wasn't shaking out of anger, was she? "Um, Amadeus, something's wrong."

"Yes, your perception of reality is extremely warped."

"Not that! I don't feel so well. These things . . . Please, help me."

Amadeus studied her for an uncomfortably long time. Tandy begrudgingly let her weakness show in the hopes that he would uncuff her. She really wasn't feeling good now. She didn't want to deal with this for the full five minutes he promised.

"They're not supposed to be that strong," Amadeus murmured at last. "Maybe I did a better job than I thought. Perhaps my looping mechanism is sustaining the charge long enough . . ." He consulted his notebook.

Tandy stared at him in shock. Why had Mr. Masters ever trusted this boy? She knew he wanted to help everyone just like she did, but Amadeus . . . She wondered if he would suffer from her purifying blast the same way that some drug lords did, the ones who murdered for fun more than anything else . . .

Okay, she was really feeling weak now. She had to kneel, which put her closer to eye level with Peter. He didn't look much better, still clutching at his head like he was in agony.

"Hold in there, Pete," she whispered. "We'll protect you."

The moment the words left her mouth, his head snapped up to look her in the eye. For a brief second Tandy had hope that she could at least talk him down from his pain even if her powers weren't working. But then he hissed at her and scrambled away.

Tandy's heart broke at the sight even as black spots filled her vision. Wait, black spots? She was feeling rather lightheaded now that she thought about it. "Amadeus, please . . . I'm faint . . ." But her voice was too weak to gain Amadeus's attention.

Peter wasn't sure what to expect from the small red laser. On one hand, it looked no stronger than the ones that people used for presentations and for playing with pets. On the other hand, he had seen similar lasers used to destroy entire buildings and cut through steel.

His spider sense didn't tell him that his brain might get fried, but then it hadn't warned him of much the past few days. It didn't need to. Plus, like Tandy's light (or any light for that matter) the laser wasn't even matter (heh) and thus there were no vibrations to alert him.

For a moment, it seemed like his initial assumption was right and it was only a harmless toy.

Then his calmness began to ebb away.

Then it disappeared in a sudden rush.

Then he was confused by its absence.

Then his mind started to fill the void with new thoughts.

Then he realized these new thoughts were really the old thoughts that had been shoved into a corner for the past few days.

Then he reached for the calmness like a security blanket.

Then it still wasn't there.

Then the original emotions associated with those memories came back.

Then he felt anger and sorrow and regret and pain and fear and guilt and shame and—

Then he realized he didn't even know how to identify some of these feelings.

Then he didn't care about that because it was all too much too fast. Everything was hitting him at once and he couldn't take it. It hurt so much that the pain almost felt physical. He clutched his head as if that could do anything to help the situation.

Then he heard noises. Maybe they were words. He was far too preoccupied in his own head to care.

Then one word punctuated the mess: his name. Even overwhelmed, his subconscious could still pick up that one personal sequence of sounds.

Then he looked up and saw Tandy.

Then he wanted her light. He wanted her to make all this go away.

Then he realized the truth behind that desire.

Then he felt his anger spike above the sea of other emotions, and he wanted to yell at Tandy, make her realize what she had really done to him.

Then he couldn't figure out how to put his situation into words. How was he supposed to describe the moral agony he was feeling right now?

Then he got frustrated from trying and hissed at her instead and scrambled away from her because he was not going to let her light touch him ever again!

Then suddenly, some of the calm came back.

Peter sighed in relief.

Amadeus had not expected Peter to react like this when he canceled out Tandy's powers. What Amadeus had expected was that Peter might suffer from some brain fog for a short while, and then be back to his ordinary self, ready to follow the rest of Amadeus's plan.

Instead, Peter was acting like he was in physical pain, which was impossible. Amadeus had double checked his calculations to make sure he didn't go too far in the opposite direction and achieve the effect of Ty's fear powers instead. Even if he accounted for the small margin of error, Peter should only have experienced a small burst of doubt, nothing like this.

So Amadeus waited patiently for Peter to get over whatever this was, engaging in conversation with Tandy. There was another surprise: the handcuffs weren't simply stopping her from using her powers, they were actively draining it from her. But this Amadeus had known was slightly possible. He had looped the power on the handcuffs to ensure that they would last as long as needed, and the method turned out to be far more effective than he had hoped.

But now, Tandy was losing consciousness and Peter was still out of commission and Amadeus was getting bored and antsy at the same time. He had gotten Peter into the workshop a little earlier than expected, but the escape plan was still on a schedule. They needed to be ready to go soon.

Suddenly, Peter hissed at Tandy which caused Amadeus to jump. His hand was still healing from the other day, and he didn't want to run the risk of a repeat incident. So Amadeus did what he had to do. He recalibrated the laser gun to give a low dose of Tandy's calming powers and shot Peter a second time.

Peter abruptly stopped skittering away from Tandy and blinked a few times before his eyes focused on Amadeus.

"Okay," Peter said somewhat shakily as he stood upright. "People really need to stop messing with my emotions. Because if it happens just one more time, I'm going to—I'm gonna—auughsss!" he shouted frustratedly. His jaw and fists clenched before he managed his own anger for what might have been the first time in days. "Sorry, I'm just—going through some things. What did you say about an escape plan before? You did say escape, right?"

Amadeus found his gaze focused on Peter's lip where his fangs had been bared only a second ago. "Yes, I did say escape. I called Shield and arranged for them to retrieve us today. They should be here any moment now, so don't be too surprised if you hear some commotion."

The last trace of anger in Peter's eyes gave way to hope. "Shield? They're coming?"

Apparently, the brain fog was still an issue as Amadeus had originally expected. "Yes, they're going to subdue as many of the others as they can and come here to escort us out. Now, on the chance that they are delayed or fail entirely, I've arranged some backup plans to keep us safe. The Iron Spider suit is, obviously, instrumental for most of these plans. Do you know how to operate it?"

A brief but noticeable hesitation and then: "Yes, of course."

"Great, so you can wear the suit. I've already coded a simple automation feature just in case your instincts kick in and you want to run away. Of course, running away is still a viable option for many scenarios, but not if you're running away from the exit or leaving me in mortal danger."

Peter's lips pressed together tightly. "Right. Um, are you sure that's the best—"

"Yes I'm sure. I've run through the probabilities. This is our best chance at surviving and escaping unscathed."

"You can't possibly have predicted everything."

Amadeus rolled his eyes. "Well of course there's always still a chance that the most improbable of things could happen, but you can't plan for something as rare as winning the lottery. And so far, everything has worked almost exactly as planned."

Peter winced. "You shouldn't have said that."

"What? Why?"

"Now something crazy is going to happen because you tempted fate."

"Fate? I thought you had a scientific mind, Peter."

"I do, but I also have a lot of experience with bad luck."

"And I have experience making complex plans." Amadeus raised an eyebrow in triumph.

Peter's jaw clenched again as he looked very ready to counter that statement, but his head abruptly jerked to look towards the door. "I think they're here."

Hm, knowing someone with enhanced hearing was helpful. Amadeus hadn't heard anything. "Excellent. Now they should reach us within ten minutes if all goes well. You should get into the suit now to be ready. I already have the laser ready to subdue Ty if he teleports in here, and the suit should be able to take care of anyone who comes through the door. See, I told you I had everything planned."

Peter opened his mouth to protest, but the wall opened up to protest instead.

A red and black figure crashed through the wall behind them, screaming, "Ha! Take that, Tasky! I bet you booby trapped all the entrances, never suspecting that someone might come through the wall of your underground bunker! Heh, I said trap." The figure stood there amidst the rubble, suit caked with dirt and two swords in hand. "Wait, this isn't Tasky's office, is it?"

"Deadpool?!" Peter exclaimed incredulously.

"Petey!" Deadpool exclaimed happily.

"This shouldn't have been possible!" Amadeus exclaimed angrily.