Michelle "MJ" Jones

While we were in the basement, we remained quiet. Carmilla stood a few feet away from the entrance, her rifle readied. Things were rather tense. There was no TV or radio to tell us what was going on. The reception in the basement was basically non-existent, even with the Wi-Fi on, to the point where even the time was off. I didn't know how long we were down there for. It could have been an hour. It could have even been a day. I was too on edge to even try to figure what time it possibly could have been.

The basement itself was something else. It was rather large – about the same size as the living room and kitchen combined. The walls were made out of steel. There were a few beds against one of the walls, a fridge, and a pantry. Even gettimg to the basement was a trip. Behind a normal door was a stairwell that led to a blast door that led to this room. Something told me that this basement doubled as an emergency shelter.

After who knows how long, the sound of metal clinking was heard. The door was being unlocked. Ned, Betty, and I stood up. Carmilla aimed her rifle at the door. The door opened up. As Ned, Betty, and I stood up from where we were sitting, a part of me was afraid that he would see Kraven on the other side of the door. Luckily, that wasn't the case. Shadowcat, Frictor, and Frenzy were there. However, Shadowcat was half-carrying a limping Frictor with Frenzy following behind them.

"Craig!" Carmilla called out as she lowered her rifle and rushed to his side. As Kitty carried Craig over to one of the beds, Ned, Betty, and I joined the rest of the group. I looked around the room once more as Kitty helped Craig lay on the bed.

"Where's Peter?" I asked.

"Peter got snatched," Craig grunted out.

I snapped my head towards him as Kitty removed his mask. "What?!"

"Peter got snatched." He tried to move his leg, only to grunt in pain. "This woman was being hauled off in a van. Peter decided to handle it. Some minutes later, we got an S.O.S. from Edith, and we were tracking his suit. We almost got him, too, but Kraven popped up on the scene and sent the vehicle we were in flying into a wall with a freaking kick!"

"Wait, what?" Ned interjected. "I thought he wasn't superhuman! You beat him unconscious with your bare hands!"

At that, Craig scoffed. "Well, he's either an Oscar-level actor or he put himself on that Liver King food and 'supplement' regiment. After Kitty phased us out, he went straight for me. He worked my midsection with so many body shots, the meat on my ribs feel like they're about to fall off of the bone. Kitty tried to step in, but he caught her kick and tossed her to the side. He then kicked my outside knee so hard I'm not sure it's not broken."

"He even slammed me on top of Craig for good measure," Joanna grumbled. "Had it not been for Kitty phasing us into the sewers, we would've been fucked. Also, we're down another vehicle."

"Making things even worse is that Peter's signal went dead afterwards," Kitty added. "His last ping was somewhere near JFK."

Everything hit me at once. Peter was captured, and I started to have every bad scenario go through my head. What was going to happen with Peter? Was he going to be killed and have his body stuffed like a trophy? What if he was turned over to the government? Would he be imprisoned for life? Would he be tortured until he was forced to give everyone up? What if he was brainwashed to be a tool for the U.S. Government? Or will he be experimented on? Was I being ridiculous? I don't think I was. Even before the whole situation with Justin Hammer, I put extremely little past the U.S. Government. Recent events made that paranoia even more justified. So, of course, that was when it happened. I started to feel a heavy feeling in my chest as my heartbeat went up. I started to breathe faster and harder. Slowly, I turned away from the others and walked a few steps. Vaguely, I heard Kitty asked if I was okay. Her voice sounded a lot more distant than it should have, or like she was trying to calm to me from behind a closed door. I wanted to respond. I couldn't. I felt wobbly on my feet before I blacked out.

When came to, I was lying on my bed. I looked around, seeing nothing but ceiling at first. I groaned for a moment before I tried to sit up.

"Slow!" A voice said suddenly. "If you're going to sit up, then sit up slow, please." It took me a moment to realize that the voice belonged to Joanna. I took in a breath and sat up slowly, doing as she said. "There we go." I slowly turned my head to see Joanna stand up from a chair, walk over, and sit on the bed. She handed me a bottle of water. "Drink this. Just to warn you, though, it's Dasani." I grimaced. Still, I took the bottle from her. Seeing that the cap was off already, I put the bottle to my lips and began to drink. I ignored the taste as I drank the liquid slowly. The water was a little cooler than lukewarm, so I was able to drink the whole bottle in one go, albeit over a couple of minutes.

"Thank you," I whispered after I lowered the bottle. "What happened?"

"You passed out," Joanna replied as she took the empty bottle away from me. "I'm no medic, but I'm pretty sure you fainted from an anxiety attack." She frowned. "Is that your first one?"

"No. It's been a long while since I had one." I went through a couple of attacks when things were messy between my parents, before I learned how to cope with their fighting. However, I never fainted from one before. I spoke up again. "What's going on with everyone else?" I really wanted to know what was going on, but there was a part of me that was afraid Joanna would ask more questions.

"Carmilla is taking Craig to Claire's clinic so he could get checked out. Kitty is brainstorming with Ned on what to do next while Betty monitor the airwaves."

I tilted my head. "Brainstorm?" I repeated. I felt my heartrate rise again. "Peter got abducted, and we're here brainstorming? We should be doing something!"

At that, Joanna scoffed. "And do what exactly?" Joanna questioned.

I sneered. "I don't know, maybe we shake down some guy like we did in Palm Springs when we went looking for Carmilla!"

Joanna shook her head. "It's not the same situation."

I leaned forward. "How is it not?!"

Joanna scowled at me. "Well, for one, we had coordinates to work off of. Second of all, the X-Men kind of lucked out with running into me instead of someone who wouldn't sell you guys out. Third of all, I had some inside information. And fourth of all, we're already risking an international incident by even tangling with Kraven. Going after somebody who might know what's going on with Peter's abduction would make that risk even higher." She sighed. "I understand you care a lot about Peter. We all do. But that's all the more reason why we have to play this smart. Not only could we be labeled as terrorists – if we're not already – we could be putting Peter's life at risk."

I pouted. I knew she was right. That didn't mean I had to like it. I looked off to the side and crossed my arms. "This is bullshit."

"I know it is," Joanna replied. I looked at her. She had small smile on her face that wasn't exactly joyful. "I get it, MJ. If it was Scott in Pete's position, I'd want to move Heaven and Earth just to get to him. But we have to play this smart."

I sighed. "You're right. I still hate this, though." I uncrossed my arms. Slowly, I turned my body and stood up.

"Where are you going?" Joanna demanded, looking me up and down.

"To the bathroom," I said in a low tone. "I could use some water for my face."

I walked out the bedroom and to the bathroom. I stepped inside of the bathroom and closed the door behind me before I walked up to the sink. I twisted the handle for cold water. After the water flowed, I cupped my hands together and put it in the stream for a second before splashed the water on my face. I kept my hands on my face as I took in a breath. I had to take a moment to center myself.

"Get it together, Michelle," I whispered to myself. "Get it together."

I huffed out a breath before I lowered my hands. After I twisted the handle to shut off the water, I looked into the mirror. I frowned. Of course, Dark Mirror MJ was there, looking at me. She had a certain look on her face that I couldn't quite read. Or maybe I could, but I just wasn't in the mood for it.

"Can we not do this now?" I pleaded quietly as I shook my head slightly. I couldn't even muster the energy to even sound angry – I was that distressed. "It's just not a good time." She didn't say anything. She turned her head slightly to the right and nodded towards that direction as she kept her eyes on me. It took me a moment to realize that she wanted me to look behind me. I narrowed my eyes at her. I really didn't want to. But I didn't have the energy to argue. I turned around slowly…

…right into a memory flash.

I was no longer at the safe house. I was in the Leeds residence. Everything around me was in slow motion. Right next to me was Ned. He had his left hand held outward while his right hand was going around in a circular motion. I also noticed that he had on some kind of ring that went over two of his fingers. I narrowed my eyes before I looked forward. Slowly, I started to see some kind of portal opening up. I remembered Peter talking about this when he came to clean to me, Ned, and Betty – about how Ned used some magic ring-thingamajig that he apparently swiped from the New York Sanctum to try and find Peter after May was killed, only to end up opening a portal for another Peter Parker from another universe. This actually happened twice back to back, if I remembered what Peter… my Peter… told me.

What were the odds?

I blinked once. I was back in the bathroom. I thought about what I just saw. What was Dark Mirror MJ trying to show me? Then it dawned on me. Quickly, I turned around to look at the mirror. Dark Mirror MJ was gone. I put on a half-smile.

"Thank you," I whispered. I sighed. "This doesn't mean we're cool, but thank you." With that, I walked out of the bathroom. "Hey, Joanna!"

A few minutes later, Joanna and I rejoined Kitty, Ned, and Betty in the living. I quickly took a seat next to Ned.

"Hey, Ned, question," I said suddenly.

"Okay, first things first," Kitty interjected. I looked at her. "Are you okay?"

I nodded. "I'm fine. But I have an idea about how we can find Peter." Everyone looked at me. I looked back at Ned. "So, Ned, you're learning under Doctor Strange, right?"

Ned narrowed his eyes. "Are you sure you okay?" he asked. "Because I'm pretty sure you already know that I am."

I held back the urge to smack him upside the head as I glared at him. "I'm just making sure, dork. Anyway, did he give you one of those ring thingamajigs?"

Ned tilted his head. "You mean a Sling Ring?"

"Yeah, that."

"I do have one, but why would you…?" He trailed off. I leaned forward and raised my eyebrows. Slowly, but surely, it dawned on him. He quickly stood up. "Oh my God, why didn't I think of that before?"

"Think of what, Buttercup?" Betty asked.

"Buttercup?" Joanna interjected. We all looked at her as she chuckled. "Oh that's adorable."

"Joanna, now is not the time for teasing," Kitty chastised. She looked back at Ned. "Seriously, what's up?"

"So, the Sling Rings are what sorcerers of The Masters of Mystic Arts use to create portals, right?" Ned began.

Kitty nodded. "Right."

"So, because of that, we can use the Sling Ring to not just find Peter, but open a portal to wherever he is!"

Kitty stood up as she smiled. "Awesome, we can grab Peter! Do you have it now?"

Ned looked off to the side sheepishly. "I… I don't. I've been banned from using a Sling Ring outside of The Sanctum. There was incident involving a whale shark and…yeah."

"Do you kids just be having wild adventures for fun when you get together?" Joanna deadpanned.

"No, sometimes we like to get together and have movie nights at one of our homes," Betty replied with a sweet tone that sounded faker than Dr. Umar Johnson's school. "Preferably, without the risk of overhearing two adults enjoying their night time coffee."

Joanna glared at Betty. "Listen here, you little shit…"

"Okay, so we'll have to make a trip to The Sanctum," I interrupted. I really wasn't in the mood for the normal banter that we liked to engage in, especially when every passing second was another second of Peter being in danger. "What are we waiting for?"

Kitty scoffed. "'We'?" she said. "The only 'we' there is going to be Is Ned and I. You and Betty are staying here under Joanna's watch until we get back." I opened my mouth to argue. But before I could even say a word, Kitty stepped up to me, phasing through the coffee table as she did so. She grabbed my shoulders gently and looked me in the eye. "MJ, I get it. You want to help. However, after what Kraven did to Craig, I don't want you guys out in the open. You love Peter, and the feeling is mutual, which why I'm sure that if you guys get hurt under my watch – especially you – he'll want to bury me six feet under."

I frowned. "You can phase," I pointed out.

"All it takes is for one second for me to get caught slipping." Kitty smiled briefly. "Let us handle this, MJ. I promise we'll get Peter back. Just wait a little longer."

I took in a breath before I nodded. Kitty offered me a smile before she walked through me. I barely heard her tell Ned to come with her. I knew that Kitty could handle herself. I really did. But I still wanted to be there. Oh, well. There was nothing I could do about it. I couldn't fight Kitty over it, verbally or otherwise. She was the leader here. She was a lot more levelheaded than I was at the moment, and I'm almost 200 percent sure that she could rip my arm off and beat me unconscious with it if she wanted to.

"So," Betty spoke up. "Anyone up for a movie?"

"Preferably one without a sex scene," Joanna replied. "I wouldn't want to soil your not-so-virgin ears."

I sighed. This was going to be a long wait.