Liz Allan

I looked up at the ceiling as I lay in bed. Not for the first time, I was wondering what I got myself into.

How did it all start?

Oh, right – that car accident. It all started with that fucking car accident.

I was riding shotgun with a friend of mine. We were headed back to campus after going to see the Dazzler concert. That's when we got T-boned by a truck.

Guess whose side got hit.

The driver of the truck suffered a seizure before it happened. I was in bad shape. I had to be airlifted to the nearest hospital. With the injuries I got – especially the head injuries – I ended up in a coma for a lot of weeks and underwent quite a bit of surgeries for the broken bones and torn ligaments. I even coded out two times. By the time I came to, I was unable to speak or walk. But that was temporary. What I got from the coma was permanent.

I started to have memories. It was memories I forgot, but became all too familiar. The ones that concerned me the most were the ones related to Spider-Man.

Or should I say Peter Parker?

While I recovered and regained my ability to walk and speak, I looked all over the internet to see what was going on with Peter. The only mention of him I could find of him was his being a photographer for, of all places, The Daily Bugle. I didn't see any mentions of him being Spider-Man. I started to stew on that for a long time. This boy made a fool of me at Homecoming and was the reason my father was behind bars, and there he was, still living his life as a superhero. His reputation apparently took a hit from that London situation, but he was still active.

That was bullshit.

Once I recovered, I started trying to think of ways on how I could get my payback against Peter. After talking with MJ, I knew she was dating him. As tempted as I was, I didn't want to use her to get to him. That all changed when I came across a 4chan post from a user named Cage McKnight that claimed to know the secret identity of Spider-Man. I didn't even want anything to do with that shit stain of a site, but curiosity got the best of me. I made an account while using a VPN and started DMing this Cage McKnight. I figured he was going to feed me bullshit. Instead, he told me details that were too precise to be good guesses. He knew Peter's full name. He knew that Peter was from Queens and used to live with Aunt, May Parker. He knew that Peter was a student at Midtown High and was a member of the Academic Decathlon team. He also knew about his connection to Stark Industries. It had to be too good to be true. Under normal circumstances, that would have been the end of it.

Then again, under normal circumstances, there wouldn't have even been a start to it.

But this wasn't normal circumstances. No, it wasn't. I was craving an opportunity get back at Peter for what he's done to me and my family. So, I asked this Cage McKnight if we could meet in person.

A week later, I was down in Boyle Heights, California, going to a meeting in some abandoned warehouse. I started regretting my decision, especially since I was surrounded by people I never seen or met before. But then he came out.

Quentin Beck came out.

I had… so many questions. Like, how was he still alive? Wasn't he supposed to be dead? But there he was, looking alive but not quite well. He went on a whole rant, saying that Peter Parker – Spider-Man – took things away from each and every person that was in the room. He went down the line, pointing to each of us and saying what those things were.

Guess what he said about me?

I felt myself heating up – almost literally. I shouldn't be associating myself with these people. At the same time, though, I couldn't help but think of Peter. This boy asked me out to Homecoming. I said yes. He was a flake, but I figured he was a good guy. I was actually feeling him a bit. But then that night happened. He ran out on me and Spider-Man took down my father. When Peter's identity got revealed, I saw him for what he really was – a liar.

I was all in.

Over weeks, we've been scheming, looking for the best time to strike. It helped that Quentin Beck got backing from the U.S. Government by way of Justin Hammer. More people joined in, and we were ready. There were a couple things I needed to do on my end.

When I came back to New York, I've been talking and hanging out with MJ. I knew she and Peter broke up. I also know she still loved that fucker. I needed her out of the way. I didn't want her to get caught up in this. When Brad showed up, I saw the opportunity. It was a shitty thing to do, pushing MJ to have lunch with him. MJ told me what he did at the Valentine's Day dance. My negative feelings toward Peter didn't change the fact that what Brad did was some creep-type shit. But it had to be done. After that, I called up Ned. I knew the chance of him being with Peter was 50/50 at best. But, luckily, Peter was with him. I told them to come to lunch on my dime and gave them the address to the restaurant Brad and MJ were eating at. I watched Peter and Ned from afar until they got to the restaurant. After I got the text from MJ, saying that she was done, I sent a text to Ned saying I had to cancel. I witnessed it from way afar as Peter saw MJ walk out with Brad.

I saw the look on Peter's face. He looked hurt and betrayed.

Good.

Still, I hated lying to MJ. But she was out of the way. That's what I told myself.

Then came the next part of the plan – taking down Frictor.

I didn't want to do it – at least, not at first. But Beck reminded me of the grief Peter made me suffer, and going after Frictor would make him feel that same pain. With the thought of torturing Peter before we took him down in mind, I decided to go along with it as we set the trap. Frictor was the one we targeted due to him apparently being to the closest to Spider-Man and him being the weak link of the X-Men. It was easy to get to him. We knew that Frictor primarily targeted drug dealers and traffickers when he wasn't doing things with the X-Men (marijuana dealers aside). All we had to do was float a rumor around about a stash house belonging to a big time drug operation. We had him running ragged through Brooklyn before we set the trap in Queens. He found the fake stash house. He found the fake money and fake drugs.

He also found me.

After I beat him down, I left that boy trapped in that burning building and didn't look back. I couldn't look back. If I did, I might have actually tried to save him.

And now I was back in my hotel room. I was thinking over what I did. No doubt Peter will be beside himself when he finds out what happened to someone close to him. I was happy about that. But, as I realized, I might've just murdered somebody to do it.

"So, you lied to two friends of yours and might have just murdered somebody," I whispered to myself. "…Girl, what is you doin'?"

That's when my phone vibrated on the bed next to me. I reached out and grabbed it before I looked at the screen. I then sighed as I sat up and took the call.

"Hello," I said.

"Ah, Liz!" a voice said from the other line. It was Beck's. "I just wanted to see how things are going on your end."

"Things are well. I was able to do my part of the project."

"Good, good. Things are advancing well. Our friend Dmitri was able to do his part. With the way things are going, we might just be able to move on to the next phase of our plan in taking down The X-Men. So you'll be up to bat soon."

"That's great to hear." I didn't sound enthusiastic. That's because I wasn't.

"…Liz, you seem… not so thrilled."

"I'm not. I had to do some shady shit to do what you asked me to do. I don't like lying to my friends, and I don't like putting someone in the hospital or worse, even if it is for… you know. I still want to take him down. I really do. I'm just not sure if doing so will justify what I've done."

I heard Beck sigh from the other end of the line. "Liz… I get it. I really do. But think of it this way. This isn't merely about revenge. It's about taking down Spider-Man for the greater good. He and the rest of the X-Men have stated that they're trying to fight for mutants. And yet they're exploits are only making things worse for people like you all over the world. You know, a wannabe hero decided to fight crime one day and almost ended up killing the people he was trying to protect? All that happened because Peter and his band of so-called good guys, along with the rest of New York's vigilantes, are making people with powers think they can go around and be heroes without proper training and oversight. It sucks that you had to lie to your friends. And it sucks that we had to take such… drastic measures to take down Frictor. But you kept your friends out of harm's way. And not only did you hurt Spider-Man, you took an unrepentant lawbreaker off of the streets. You basically did New York a favor."

I thought over what he said. I then sighed. "I guess you're right."

"It'll work out in the end. And when we're done, you'll be the hero New York City needs. But, for that to happen, I need you to do your part. After all, this plan will fall apart without our Firestar. You understand that, right?"

"I do."

"Good. Well, I have to check up on the others and make sure they're doing their part. You have a nice rest of the day. And feel free to have some room service on my dime."

"…I think I'll do that."

"Sweet. Have a good night."

"You, too."

I hung up the phone and put it off to the side. I look ahead. I closed and took in a breath.

"It's too late to turn back now," I said to myself. I opened my eyes and raised my right hand. A split second later, it was covered in flames.

"…MJ… Ned… Frictor even… I'm sorry for what I did to you all. But Peter must die."

The End

The X-Men and The American Idiots will return