Peter Parker

During the subway ride, I kept an eye on the guy. With my sunglasses on, my eyes were hidden. At least, I think they were. He was only some seats away in the same car. I wondered how long he'd be riding the train for. For all I know, he could have been headed to Coney Island. I knew that Edith was sharing my location with Craig, but I was still worried I was going to put myself in a position where I would get caught.

I probably should have thought about that before I decided to follow this guy.

Luckily, for me, I didn't have to go too far. Twenty minutes later, the train pulled into another platform. I waited a moment before I stepped off the train. It looked around slowly until I saw the man step inside of a taxi. This guy was definitely in a hurry.

"Hey Edith," I whispered to myself. "Are you still patched into his phone?"

"I am," she replied. "Do you need me to track him?"

"If you would kindly…"

"Consider it done."

After some minutes, I was able to track the guy down to the Loew's Canal Theatre. Interestingly enough, the rolled up doors that were usually down were up. Out front was a black van with the logo for Williams Plumbing. I narrowed my eyes. Maybe I had it all wrong. Something in my gut told me to follow through. I walked up to the glass doors and looked left and right. I then checked one of them. It was unlocked. I slowly opened it before I stepped inside. I walked into the lobby. I crept slowly as I made my way to the stairs that led to the upper deck. I moved up the stairs, still keeping a slow pace. I paused for a moment when I saw something move. I relaxed when I realized it was just a rat pulling a slice of pizza up the stairs.

"You like cold pizza in the morning, too?" I whispered. "A fellow creature of culture, I see."

I continued up the stairs before I reached the deck. I crouched down low and crept forward until I was at the front railing. Luckily, for me, it was only the ground floor that was lit by some work lights. On the ground floor were six people. One was the guy from earlier. He was facing the other five. Four of the five men were wearing ski masks and black sweat suits. However, there was one other guy there. He was dressed up in a dark magenta business suit with a black shirt, tie, gloves and shoes. That would've been enough for him to stand out. However, what really stuck out was this mask he had on. It was black with gold accents and covered the man's whole head. It had these ears on the top of it, and it only left the man's eyes exposed. Honestly, the masked looked like something you'd find in an Ancient Egypt exhibit at a history museum. As I narrowed my eyes, I realized that it looked like the Ancient Egyptian depiction of…

A Jackal, I thought to myself.

Quietly, I pulled out my phone again. As I did this, I overheard them talking. The acoustics in this building was still pretty good, so I had to keep my mouth shut. I went through my texts and pulled up the conversation I had with Edith. I tapped away at my phone quietly.

"Record the video and audio of this conversation, please."'

I locked my phone and put it in my pocket. I then stared down towards the group and listened.

"…I'm not usually one to go on these types of endeavors," the man I was tailing said.

"I understand this is rather inconvenient for you," the man in the Jackal mask responded. I assumed that was The Jackal. "Please understand that recent events have been both a boon and a burden for me. On one hand, my latest procedure has paid dividends for all parties involved. On the other hand, that just means that I have to be extra careful about how I move around. It's been brought to my attention that I'm on SHIELD's radar. SHIELD may not be as strong as they were before, influence-wise, but their agents are still a threat." He shook his head for a moment before he shrugged his shoulders. "But such is the price of doing business. Speaking of business, you may be wondering why I called this little meeting."

The man nodded. "I assume that it's of some importance to Kraven."

The Jackal clasped his hands together. "It is. You see, a few of my… eyes and ears in the city have been hearing a few things from the grapevine. Specifically, one of my own experiments, who last appeared in El Paso, Texas, may or may not have made his way into the city."

"Forgive me if I sound dismissive, but… what does this have to do with Kraven?" the man asked.

"No forgiveness from me is needed, I assure you." The Jackal tilted his head. "Kraven and I both have a mutual employer. Said employer wants this experiment back within his 'management'. Now, while I do have two others in my employ that could take care of that under normal circumstances, I have to prepare them for another mission. So, what I am proposing to Kraven is a more comprehensive partnership. I continue to help him, and he helps bring me back this experiment of mine while he's dealing with his little X-Men problem, with me providing support for him in both endeavors, of course."

"And what is so special about this experiment?"

"Let's just say, it'd be rather problematic for Kraven and I, as well as quite a few others, if the X-Men get to him." I narrowed my eyes. What kind of experiment was he talking about? And why would it be an issue if the X-Men got to him? Before I could ponder it any further, The Jackal continued. "That's all I have to say. You should run along now, while my men and I take care of our little spy." After he said that, he looked straight up at me. My eyebrows rose up. "After h–"

Before he could finish his statement, they're attention was taken away from me. I heard the sound of metal hitting pavement. It took me a moment to see something skittering across the ground. It then exploded, sending the group flying in different directions as it let loose a burst of light. I didn't stick around to figure out what was going on. I stood up and hightailed it out of there. I made my way to the stairs and ran down them as fast as I could. Once I hit the ground floor, I made it all of two steps before I ran into somebody. I fell backward to the ground before I stood up quickly. I was worried it was one of the masked men. It wasn't though.

It was Frictor, dressed in his quick change costume.

Or was it his default costume?

Eh, that wasn't important.

I opened my mouth to tell him how glad I was to see him. I didn't get a chance to. He shoved something into my chest. I brought my hands up and grabbed it. I looked down at it. It was a ski mask.

"Put that on and come with me!" he ordered. Without hesitation, I put on the black piece of fabric and followed him out. He walked up to the Williams Plumbing van and opened the door. Without saying a word, I moved around the other side and opened the passenger side door. I stepped inside and sat down. As I put on my seatbelt, Frictor turned on the vehicle and sped off. "So, you want to tell me how you ended up in this situation and why I needed to use a flashbang?"

I adjusted the mask a bit, remembering that I was still wearing Edith. "It's a long story," I replied. "I may or may not have used Edith to eavesdrop on a guy's phone call, and I may or may not have decided to follow him to this abandoned theatre."

"You know Shadowcat may or may not break her foot off of your behind for this, right?"

I smiled wryly, even though it couldn't be seen. "I mean… I think it was worth it."

Frictor took in a breath. "It better be, because last time I checked, you still don't have your powers back!"

"Frictor, I get that, but…"

"But nothing, Peter! Until you get your powers back, you're a normal kid from Queens who doesn't even know how to box or how to handle a firearm! So, guess what you should NOT be doing for the time being!"

"I get that, I do! But if I didn't –"

"Save it for Shadowcat, bruh," Frictor interrupted with a frustrated sigh. "The only thing I'm focused in on is getting you to the bunker as soon as possible and…" He trailed off. He tilted his head upward. He then sighed. "I think we got company."

I looked over my shoulder and looked through the rear window. Behind us was a black Chevy SUV. It looked like something the FBI would drive. But why would they be in the area?

"Maybe it's just a city vehicle," I said. A couple of seconds later, the SUV was lit up with red and blue lights as the siren sounded.

"Am I riding with Peter, or am I riding with Ned?" Frictor deadpanned. "Hang on!" He hit the accelerator. The van moved faster, but it wasn't setting the world on fire with its speed. Frictor sighed. "I should have driven there!"

"Where were you?"

"Not there! I had to leave my car in a garage because something told me you got yourself because something told me you got yourself wrapped up into something!"

I guess it was a high speed chase, but it didn't feel like one. Maybe it was because I've been involved in more hectic chases – Palm Springs came to mind. Still, as I looked over my shoulder, it was clear that we weren't going to evade the agent… or agents… on our tail.

"I'm contacting Shadowcat!" I said as I looked at Frictor.

"Might be a good idea!" Frictor replied. "Let her know we're headed for Pier 81!"

"Edith, did you get that?"

"Affirmative," Edith replied. "Composing and sending message now. I'll also share your location."

We continued to drive with the FBI SUV on our tail. If there was one silver lining, it was that the NYPD was not joining the chase. Several minutes later, we arrived at the pier. Frictor went heavy on the accelerator before he crashed through the gate. The SUV was still on our tail.

"I don't think we're escaping them!" I said as I looked at Frictor. He sighed.

"You think this van has a sturdy back?" he asked.

I tilted my head. "I think so. Why?"

He didn't answer – at least, not verbally. Instead, he suddenly slammed on both the main brake and the emergency break. The van came to a sudden stop. I felt my body go forward. Luckily, the seatbelt kept me from flying through the windshield. I barely heard the sound of tires screeching before I was sent back into my seat. The van skidded suddenly for a few feet before it came to a stop again. Frictor and I took a moment to fix our breathing before we looked at each other.

"You good, homie?" Frictor asked.

"Yeah, I'm good," I replied. "Are you?"

"Yeah." He huffed out a breath. "Let's go."

Slowly, I stepped out of the van. I looked over at the SUV. Through the windshield, I saw the deployed airbags. I was a bit glad that whoever was in there was most likely okay. As much as I wanted to further check on them, when Frictor tapped me on the shoulder and beckoned me to follow him, I didn't hesitate to move after him. Out in the distance, I heard sirens. Eventually, we made our way inside of an abandoned warehouse, using an overturned trashcan to climb up to a window before we squeezed through it.

"So, what we learned?" Frictor said after he dusted himself off.

"Be a bit stealthier?" I deadpanned. I looked at him. He glared at me. I cleared my throat. "Okay, I get it. I'm sorry. But give me some credit. I shared my location with you, didn't I?"

Frictor leaned over slightly. "You know what would have been better? Actually calling me or Shadowcat about what's going on and waiting for us to decide on what to do!"

I glared at him. "I'm not that fragile without my powers!"

At that, Frictor scoffed. "First of all, and respectfully, your current self is a china doll in comparison to your normal self. Second of all, it ain't just about you. Because of what you did, Frictor had to come out and play. And because of that, there's a good chance that word goes around that the X-Men are still in New York, and the G-Men are going to ramp up their search for us! Do you not get that?!" I wanted to retort. I really did. I even opened my mouth to say something. I then closed it as I bowed my head. There was no getting around it. I messed up. Shadowcat was going to kill me… if MJ doesn't kill me first. Before I could dwell on that, the sound of pounding was heard. Frictor and I both turned towards the door. The pounding was repetitive – they were trying to break in. I sighed.

"I messed up," I whispered out.

"We'll worry about that later," Frictor whispered back.

We had nowhere to go. Frictor cracked his knuckles, ready to fight. Of course, he was the only one out of the two of us who could do anything. I shook my head. If Frictor got hurt, it would have been my fault. Slowly, old feelings started to creep in – the same feelings that had me distance myself from MJ and Ned. I felt like I was nothing but trouble. Before I could fall too much down that rabbit hole, Edith spoke up.

"Peter, I just received a message from Shadowcat," she said. "She says 'don't move an inch'."

"Good to know," I replied.

"What's going on?" Frictor asked.

"I got orders from Shadowcat. We're not allowed to move an inch."

"…I'm sorry, but why?"

Before I could reply, I felt something wrap around my ankle. I didn't get a chance to look down. I was suddenly pulled down through the floor. A few seconds later, I landed on my back against something soft. I looked around. I was now on a black inflatable raft, complete with a motor. I looked up to see that I was underneath the pier. It must've been low tide. Frictor landed next to me a second later. Right after that, Shadowcat dropped down onto the raft and landed in a three point stance, wearing her quick change uniform. I took in a breath.

"Thanks Shadowcat," I replied with a smile. My smile faded when I saw the glare on her face. I looked over at Frictor when he placed a hand on my shoulder. He shook his head. He didn't have to speak. I knew what he was telling me.

Silence was my best option.

A few moments later, the raft was on its way. All three of us took off our masks before the boat moved from under the pier.