Part 3

It was early morning in New York. Where people would be getting ready for work or were still soundly sleeping in their beds, Peter Parker was sitting at a computer in his private quarters within the Traskilian. He was still a little wet from a shower with his Shield training fatigues slightly damp. Despite the air conditioning vent blowing cool air over his head he ignored the chilly temperature and instead centered his attention directly in front of him.

For the past hour he sat alone in his semi-empty room and stared at a picture he found on the internet of a young red headed teenage girl modeling the new back-to-school fashions. Every day he would search the internet for any and all pictures of her and would look at them for hours on end, remembering how it felt to be with her constantly.

It hurt to even think of Mary Jane as it is. She looked so beautiful in a simple pair of jeans and white Tommy Girl shirt and it killed him to not be able to contact her or anyone else for that matter. Carol Danvers made sure of that by monitoring his internet usage and making sure he had no access to a phone.

Reaching out, Peter touched the computer screen as he zoomed in on Mary Jane's face. He could almost feel the texture and warmth of her skin on his fingertips. Breathing deeply, he put his head down in his hands and sat quietly, retreating into his mind to search for a way to leave the confines of the Ultimate's base and the hovering eye of Agent Danvers.

A few minutes later, the silence of the room was broken by none other than Carol herself as she opened the door and came in without knocking. "Am I interrupting anything?" She leaned against the side of the door with her arms crossed. "I could come back if you need more time."

Peter looked back at her angrily.

"Hey, I know what it's like being a teenager. A teenage boy alone in his room with a computer; a picture of a hot girl on the screen. I wasn't born yesterday you know."

With a click of the mouse, the picture of Mary Jane disappeared. Peter pushed his chair back away from the desk and stood at attention. "So who am I going to train with today? Steve, Tony, or another squad of soldiers?"

"None. You have a mission. You're going into the field today."

Halfway across the state of New York, a large steel factory was being demolished in large fiery explosions. The ground shook from the pressure and large structures groaned from the stress they felt from being damaged. Thick black smoke filled the air along with the screams of men as they fled the area to safety.

In the middle of the fiery chaos stood a tall, slender man with long blonde hair moving around the charred structure, making sure everything he intended to destroy was destroyed. Small balls of energy manifested on his fingertips where he threw them at nearby structures, causing them to explode in brilliant fireballs that were reflected in his crazed blue ice.

"Vare are you!" His shouts were muffled by the deafening explosions. "I vant answers!" He continued to destroy everything around him while yelling at the fleeing men who were only trying to save their own lives.

High above the carnage flew a sleek, black stealth craft with its side hatch door open. The Shield aircraft ran silently as it approached the target combat zone with two men looking down on the fire covered mill. While not equipped to engage an enemy directly, its main purpose was to deploy the super soldiers it carried.

"Are you ready Parker?" asked a fully armed Tony Stark. His Ironman armor looked brand-new and ready for combat with his visor raised up over his face.

"Ready for what?" Peter asked. The sound of the wind was almost deafening as every word had to be shouted out, sometimes twice.

"To engage the target."

"What are you talking about?"

"You have prior knowledge of the subject. That's why you were chosen to go in."

"And I would have a degree on a subject. If someone would have watched my back better and make sure I wasn't killed!"

"You weren't killed Parker. Now stop being such a drama queen!"

"Drama Queen? Excuse me mister 'Oh no! My stock has plummeted by one point for two days in a row.'"

"Shut up."

"You've got enough money to buy a country! Big deal if you lose a point or two in the stock market."

"Enough, were going in hot."

"You may be but I'm cold."

"That's not what I mean."

"I know what you mean but I'm still cold!"

Tony roughly grabbed Peter by the collar of his new Spider-Man costume and brought him close. "Look Parker, you are in the field; that means you need to shut up, pay attention and do your job. Now get out there and do it!"

Before he knew it, Peter found himself falling through the air on this way to the fire laden buildings far below. Having no time to think, his body automatically kicked into a well-practiced movement. Muscle memory saw to it that he took the right course of action to slow his fall while slipping his mask on as he did so.

The HUD of his mask lit up and displayed every bit of information he may need when in the field. Weather analysis, target distance, temperature, even a bio signature of the target flashed in front of his eyes.

As the now masked Spider-Man drew closer to the earth the sounds of the explosions grew louder. What should have been a suicidal death fall was stopped as he fired a web line and snared a partially broken gas pipe. With centrifugal force kicking in he swung twice around the pipe and came to a stop on the ground with a loud thud, catching the young blonde man's attention.

Pausing momentarily, the young man turned to face the costumed teen. "How many different costumes do you have?"

"Huh?"

"I asked you a question. How many costumes do you have? And you're shorter when I saw you on TV last night."

"I don't know what you're talking about but you need to... wait, you look familiar."

"You don't vemember me? I'm insulted."

Thinking back, Peter searched his memory and slowly remembered an event filled night where he and Gwen Stacy had crashed a party and ran into the blonde man. Like then, he was blowing up everything in sight, without a care as to who he may or may not hurt. "Geldoff?"

"So you do vemember!" Geldoff ran up to Spider-Man and grabbed him by his shoulders, clearly happy to know that he remembered him. "You can help me destroy this place, get out of here."

"Wait, what are you..."

"They kept me here. They wouldn't let me go or..."Geldoff stopped midsentence when he felt a familiar object on Spider-Man's shoulder. His eyes grew wide as his hand uncovered a Shield emblem on the costumed young man. "You, you're with them?" He took a few steps back.

"Who? Shield?" Spider-Man said while looking from the shoulder emblem back to Geldoff.

"You're, you're with them, you vant to take me back."

No. I just want you to stop destroying..."

"I'm not going back!"

"Wait."

Before Spider-Man could say anything more, Geldoff let fly several yellow glowing orbs that exploded around him. Knowing what he was capable of, Spider-Man dodged out of the way before he was caught in the blast. Geldoff didn't stop there as he continued to cause every structure around the fleeing, teenage superhero to explode.

"I'm not going back! You can't take me back!"

"I don't want to take you anywhere; I just want you to stop blowing everything up!"

As Geldoff gave chase, the explosions only grew louder and longer as more power were added to them. Spider-Man took full of vantage of his agility and leapt through tight enclosures, through narrow openings between pipes, anything to put some distance between himself and his pursuer. He needed a plan and an opportunity to make one as soon as possible.

"Parker," Ironman said through his mask's earpiece. "Get to the end of the factory. I'll take over from there."

Firing a web line, Spider-Man zipped for an opening in the side wall of the building and shot out of the structure with Geldoff close behind. No sooner had he cleared the structure when the mutant teenager caused another explosion close behind him. Once the smoke cleared, he reached the opening and saw Ironman appear before him. Before Geldoff could retreat back into the structure, he was shot with a blue beam and instantly crumpled to the floor.

"Target down," Ironman said. "Security and cleanup teams move in."

"What did you do?" yelled Spider-man.

"Easy Parker. He's paralyzed. He's perfectly fine."

"What is this place?" Spider-Man stared down at an unconscious Geldoff as two Shield agents descended upon their position using jet packs. "What were you doing with him?"

"Parker, the least said the better. For now let's just say he's an illegal genetic anomaly that must be dealt with."

"He's a human being! You can't just..."

"Listen, he was born this way. Someone was producing illegal genetic experiments for unknown reason with women who were pregnant with mutant offspring. Our job, your job now, is to find out who's behind it all. Look around you Parker, World War III is just over the horizon. We won't be using nuclear bombs or advanced weaponry. We will see men and women with powers literally tear this world apart if we do not figure out how to stop them or prevent them from doing so. If you want to keep wasting my time with these asinine questions than I suggest you wait until we're back at the base and make an appointment with my secretary."

"I can't do this Stark." Spider-Man shook his head with those words then looked back at Ironman.

"You want to live behind Shield bars for the rest your life kid?"

Spider-Man let his head sink. He really had no room to argue or compromise. He just wanted his old life back.

"Look Parker," Ironman placed a hand on his shoulder like a father speaking to a son. "Do your job and I'll make sure you get what's coming to you. Okay? I give you my word."

Peter looked up at him from behind the visor of his mask and sighed heavily. "Fine."

"Good, now back to base. You did good out here tonight. Don't know what tomorrow will bring."

To Be Concluded