Disclaimer: I don't own any Marvel characters seen, mentioned or used.


One of the worst days of his life started like any other day.

He woke up ten minutes into his alarm going off, leading him to panic and rush around his apartment to get ready for work, a race across the city to Horizon Labs, and just narrowly managing to make it on time.

His first clue that something was going to go horribly wrong that day was that he didn't come across any crime on his way over. No muggings, no people about to be run over because they can't bother to look both ways first, no crazed supervillain demanding vengeance, and no random flock of pigeons flying into him. The second clue was the fact he made it to work on time, not even that, he made it to work EARLY.

The third clue was that he got a phone call telling him his attempt to get a reservation at this fancy restaurant for him and Carlie to eat at was accepted. Well, actually the restaurant was booked but someone had canceled their reservation for tonight and decided to see if Peter would be okay with taking their slot instead. Happy, Peter accepted and sent a message to let Carlie know who in turn responded with a rather suggestive and flirty text that left Peter excited for tonight.

The fourth and final clue that actually got Peter to start lamenting on the first three things was when he was in his lab working on his new suit.

'Hmm, gonna have to tweak the formula for the composite helmet, don't need it breaking if someone with my kind of strength or greater slaps me and sends bits and pieces into my noggin'. Hmm, what if I just take this out and add…' Peter thought as he stared formula he's written down on the dry erase board before suddenly his eyes were covered by a pair of hands that smelled of lemon.

"Guess who Tiger?"

"God, is that you? If so, we need to have a serious talk." Peter asked dryly as he reached up to gently remove the hands covering his eyes and turn to greet his guest "What brings you here?"

Red hair, a million-dollar smile that was all natural, curves that make a circle seem square, high-quality clothes in the form of a black leather jacket and white slacks that make Peter feel like he's in literal rags whenever he's around her?

Mary Jane Watson…his ex-girlfriend and almost wife at one point.

Yeah, there was a lot, and he meant a lot to unpack when it came to his and Mary Jane's relationship, past and present.

"Dropping off the lunch you made but forgot to bring with you. Carlie asked if I could drop it off for ya!" Mary Jane grinned as she held up his old Captain America lunchbox.

Did he mention he got it signed by Steve Rogers himself?

"Uh-oh…" Peter said, his grin faltering as he stared at his lunch.

"What's uh-oh?" Mary Jane asked with a raised brow before a look of mild panic crossed her face and she looked down at the lunchbox "Did I grab the wrong one again?"

"No, no, no, it's not that." Peter said as he rubbed the back of his head nervously "It's just, today was starting to go all so well. I mean, I made it to work early for once because I didn't have to stop any bad guys from doing bad guy things, and this fancy place I was trying to take Carlie to called an hour ago to let me know that a reservation was cancelled and they decided to give it to me."

Mary Jane blinked at this "Wow, sounds like today was starting to be your lucky day…"

"But because something this small and inconsequential happened…" Peter began.

"It's now going to be your worse day since… sometime last week." Mary Jane finished solemnly.

The two stared at one another for a moment before they broke out into a fit of giggles.

"It's gonna be Stilt Man, already calling it." Peter said as he took the lunchbox from Mary Jane and set it on one of the tables that was the least cluttered.

"Nah, my money's on The Wheel, haven't heard from him in a while. It's always the guys you haven't dealt with in months or years that get the drop on you." Mary Jane said as she looked around the room with a low whistle "So, what new wonders you making today?"

"Well the other day was super glue, and last week I made some neat earphones that block out external sound, allowing you to enjoy your music, audiobook or self help guides to the fullest." Peter revealed "Based the last one off my Stealth suit."

"I'm sure that second won't lead to people getting into accidents because they couldn't hear anything around them." Mary Jane smirked "That intentional so you can have a constant flow of guilt going?"

Peter gasped dramatically at this "Mary Jane Watson, are you saying people won't be smart about noise canceling headphones?"

"They're not smart with regular ones. Hell, I nearly walked into traffic and got ran over the other day because I was too busy jamming out to my song." Mary Janer said.

"Yeah, well you listen to terrible music to begin with. It was probably a subconscious attempt on your part because you can't stand to listen to that crap anymore." Peter snorted, causing Mary Jane to glare at him.

"My music's great! You used to listen to it too!" she pointed a finger at him.

"The pain a man will go through to keep his woman happy and a spot open for himself in bed." Peter remarked with a shake of his head.

Mary Jane flipped Peter off at this before she looked over his shoulder and saw the various formulas and sketches on the dry erase board "What's that stuff?"

Peter glanced back at the board for a moment, wondering how he'd best be able to word it "It's… plans, for a suit I'm making. Armored one to be specific."

"Armor?" Mary Jane said with surprise "Why'd you need that?"

"With my spider sense gone- "Wait, your what's what?"- I needed something to compensate for it, thus I decided to break out the old Spider Armor. Of course I'm not going to wear the original armor, too heavy and it'd only slow me down." Peter explained as he showed Mary Jane a protype helmet he'll be wearing with the new, slowly developing suit "No, what I need is something new, something that'll keep me, relatively speaking, safe and not hinder my agility or speed."

"Or flexibility." Mary Jane teased as she took the protype helmet int her hands and held it up to better look at it "Can't bend in all of those wonderful ways you do if you're wearing plate armor."

"That's… not wrong." Peter coughed, doing his best to not blush at the way she said 'flexibility' nor the memories it stirred "Thus, Ms. Watson I'd like to introduce you tooooo…"

Peter gestured for Mary Jane to stay where she was as he ran behind the drawing board he was using and pushed out a simple mannequin partially dressed in what's to be his new suit.

"The Spider Armor Mark two!" Peter proudly declared as he stood next to the mannequin.

Mary Jane hummed as she examined the suit with a critical eye "Black… why do you always make your new suits black?"

Well, it wasn't completely black, there was a bit of yellow and grey thrown in, but it was going to be largely be black, even though all she could see was part of a torso, the arms and left leg.

"Psychic impressions as a result of my bonding with the Symbiote that lead me to, on a subconscious level, always making my next suit black." Peter said with a straight face.

"Really?" Mary Jane blinked in surprise 'That'd… explain a lot.'

"I'm joking but I think that's part of it." Peter chuckled "No, it's this color to make the body armor I'm gonna incorporate into it a bit less noticeable. I mean what's the point of body armor if I make it obvious what isn't protected?"

Mary Jane nodded at this "Oh… make's sense. And I'll admit, if it's not red and blue, black is definitely your backup color. Even if seeing you in it every time gives me flashbacks to Venom barging into our apartment and scaring me."

"At least it was Eddie." Peter pointed out with a thoughtful look on his face "Bad as he and the Symbiote got, they never hurt you, May or anyone else. They just wanted to torment me. Now if it was Gargan's Venom… yeah, I think he'd eat you."

Mary Jane made a face at this "Now that would be a travesty. Also, how did the Scorpion get the Symbiote?"

"Don't know honestly." Peter shrugged "But I gotta say, I kinda felt bad for the poor thing whenever I saw them."

"You should, letting your old sentient alien suit get with someone like Scorpion." Mary Jane said with a shake of her head "That's like you letting me get with Hammerhead! How could you allow such a thing?"

"Maybe the Symbiote was going through a 'I'm gonna be toxic' phase, and maybe I wanted that littler glob of death and misery to experience it, so it'd mature as an organism." Peter said with a pout.

"Oh, good to know that if I end up with Hammerhead, it's because you want me to go through unnecessary drama so it'll better me as a person." Mary Jane rolled her eyes at this before setting Peter's prototype helmet down.

"You're implying that relationship will be terrible for YOU, what about Hammerhead?" Peter said with mock outrage "I know for a fact what he'd be getting into and let me tell ya, I'd feel for him. Hogging the blankets, drinking straight from the carton like an animal, and the beauty products were everywhere. My god woman, I found makeup kits in our fridge!"

"How dare you!" Mary Jane said, breaking out into a fit of laughter.

"I dare like Daredevil!" Peter proclaimed proudly before he found himself infected by Mary Jane's laughter as well.

Once the two settled down, Peter gestured her towards a chair that wasn't occupied by crumbled notes, bits of wire and cable, metal or chemical stains that may or may not need the entire thing to be disposed of.

"So, how have things been for you." Mary Jane said once she settled in her seat and Peter went back to writing a few things on the board he was using prior to her arrival "Since… Marla's-"

"I'm handling it." Peter said with a tired expression.

"Oh, so brooding, self-loathing and gallons of guilt?" Mary Jane said with an unimpressed look.

"You forgot the depression." Peter said with a rueful smile "Been feeling plenty of that too."

Though to be fair, that depression was for something else entirely.

May Jane nodded at this before she leaned forward and rested her elbows on her knees and looked at Peter with a concerned expression.

"Are you okay, though? I know these past few months haven't been… great, in fact the past year has been hell for you. And lately you've been… off." Mary Jane said.

"It's… hard to explain." Peter sighed as he rubbed his temples "I mean it's been a lot of things lately, but recently, some stuff's popped up that… well it's been hell to deal with."

"You wanna talk about it?" Mary Jane asked "Like, actually talk about it. Not tiptoe around it, but actually deal with it."

'Honestly, no.' Peter thought as he felt another headache coming on "I… I wouldn't even know where to begin honestly. This thing, it's… well it's… it's been something that I've had to deal with for a while. Like years kinda while."

Mary Jane grew even more concerned at this "What is it?"

"I-…" Peter began before he stopped "I've… ummm… wow, it's, it's uhh, heh, words… ummm…"

Mary Jane said nothing, she just simply waited until Peter could figure out how to vocalize what he wanted to say. Felicia was like that too sometimes, he remembered, but often she'd simply goad Peter into telling her what was on his mind instead of waiting. Rather ironic for a jewel thief to be impatient, and the Silencer, she seemed always know exactly-

'Who the hell's the Silencer?' Peter thought with a frown before the image of a young woman with blonde hair in a bob style haircut.

She looked eighteen, maybe nineteen, and was dressed in white and blue skintight body suit, with a pair of red lips on her chest and a blue domino mask covering her eyes. She seemed to be looking at him with an amused expression that looked oddly familiar for some reason-

"Pete?"

Mary Jane was suddenly in front of Peter, gently cupping his face with a look of concern on her face.

Peter flinched at her sudden appearance and proximity before he stepped back "S-Sorry."

"You're pale as a ghost Peter." Mary Jane said worriedly "And you were starting to sweat a little, what's going on?"

"Sorry, sorry, it's… it's part of that thing that's been bothering me. Well it's bothering me a lot more lately because of…" Peter trailed off before he reached up to pinch the ridge of his nose "Just gimme a sec to get my thoughts all in order."

Mary Jane nodded and waited as Peter slowly collected himself. Once he felt like he could actually articulate what he wanted to say, he began.

"A few years back, I started to notice things…" Peter said as he fidgeted slightly "About my memories, specifically ones from when I was a teen, not long after I got my powers."

Mary Jane said nothing as she listened to Peter explain how he began to notice that entire months of his memory were gone, how no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't recall what happened during those days. He first chalked it up to simple brain damage affecting his memory before he recalled that while his healing factor wasn't anywhere near the likes of Wolverine's or the Hulk's, it was more than strong enough to help heal any damage done to his brain barring something outright lethal. Eventually Peter realized that the reason for his lack of memories was because of a telepath, leading him to believe that it was perhaps someone like Jean or even Professor Xavier that were behind it.

The anger Peter saw in Mary Jane's eyes worried him, and it took quite a bit to assure her that in the end it wasn't either of them.

Telling her it was actually Emma Frost's doing however, caused her to explode.

"WHERE THE FUCK DOES SHE GET OFF?!" Mary Jane snarled, kicking one of the toolboxes Peter and lying around with enough force to send it and the tools inside skidding across the floor.

"M-Mary Jane, are you o-" Peter began to gesture to her foot, he was certain she might've broken a toe, before the red head's gaze snapped back towards him.

"She went into your mind and screwed around with it! She stole entire months from you Peter!" Mary Jane said with anger.

If the red head ever got her hands on the blonde telepath, she'd rip that woman's hair out of her scalp and hang her with it.

"I wouldn't say she stole them, more like, locked them up so I can never remember them." Peter said with a wince, why the hell was he sorta defending her?

Probably another one of Emma's little psychic things.

For the next few minutes Peter watched and listened as Mary Jane raved about what she'll do to Emma when she got her hands on her. Honestly, some of the things the red head was saying left Peter speechless, he's pretty sure Logan would pale at some of the things dripping from her mouth.

'Times like this I forget how scary she can be.' Peter thought nervously as Mary Jane's rant had ceased and she was now breathing heavily, her hair in slight disarray, her face still a little flush.

It was… Mary Jane had no reason to still look that good after a ten-minute rant about what state she'll leave Emma frost in when she gets the chance.

"And to think I actually admired her!" Mary Jane said with disgust.

Peter blinked at this "Uhh, what's there to admire?"

"She fights people multistory tall robots created specifically to kill her without ruining her hair." Mary Jane bit out "It's a woman thing."

"Oh..." Peter said.

Know idea how to respond to that-

*BRRRRRNNNG*

*BRRRRRNNNG*

*BRRRRRNNNG*

"Oh thank god…" Peter said as he rushed to grab his phone from his workbench while Mary Jane let out a frustrated sigh.

"Great, now I'm gonna be in a bad mood all day." she scowled.

"Yeah, Emma tends to have that sorta effect on people." Peter said as he picked up his phone to see who was calling.

It was Jessica Drew, Spider-woman.

"Huh, wonder what she wants?" Peter muttered before he cleared his throat and answered the call "Yellow, this is the ever dashing, ever amazing Human Spider, how can I-"

"*SNORT* The Human Spider?" Jessica interrupted with a laugh on the other side of the line "What kinda name is that? Sounds like something a dork would come up with."

"It's a super cool kind of name!" Peter whined before he leaned against his bench "Cause I'm a human, and a spider, not a spider and a man."

"More like a spider and a boy." Jessica teased before she adopted a more serious tone "Are you busy at the moment?"

Peter quirked a brow at this "This a need back up kinda thing?"

"Who's calling?" Mary Jane asked, hoping to distract and calm herself from Peter's recent revelation.

"Spider-woman/Who's with you?" Peter and Jessica said at the same time.

"Oh…" Mary Jane said as she tried to remember which one that'd be "The hot British girl in red, or the hot red headed milf in black with thigh high boots?"

"Is that your girlfriend, the one that's a cop or whatever?" Jessica asked before Peter could answer Mary Jane's question.

"No, it's my ex." Peter answered Jessica's question before answering Mary Jane's "It's the one in red, the other isn't doing that anymore."

Well, being Spider-woman at least, instead she was being Madame Web which so far had… interesting results.

"Oh/Which one? The actress or the cat burglar?" Mary Jane and Jessica responded simultaneously.

"Don't worry about it." Peter groaned as he ran a hand over his face "You said something about me being busy or not, what's up?"

"Got ourselves a Rykers escapee." Jessica said "Picked up a few transmissions between Rykers and NYPD about a transport that was moving someone to a new facility. Got into an accident of some kind, gas explosion on ninety-five, just by Tremont Park. Doesn't sound like it was planned, just crap luck and the transportee saw his chance and took it."

"Who were they moving?" Peter's brow furrowed at this.

Far as he knew, none of his usual bad guys were being moved, mainly because most of them were too dangerous to risk it. That, and there weren't many facilities outside of Rykers, at least at the moment, that could hold such dangerous and powerful individuals.

"That's… what's weird about this." Jessica said with a notable frown in her voice "Tried to dig a little deeper, get a better idea of what's going on, but I'm coming up with nothing. It's not any of your guys, checked with Rykers, all the ones locked up are where they should be, and I doubled checked to make sure. Also found that Rykers didn't have any scheduled transfers today, so whoever they're moving, they're keeping it on the sly."

"Hmm, curious and curioser…" Peter said.

"But, I think I have a hunch on what's being moved." Jessica revealed "It's brief, but one of the transmissions the convey sent used a codeword for a Sentinel."

"Which means, whoever's being moved gotta be a Mutant." Peter's brows rose at this "Either that or their diversifying Sentinel responsibilities."

"Probably the first one. You know any Mutants locked up in Rykers at the moment?" Jessica inquired "I called Logan, but he isn't answering. Called McCoy and he said he can't think of anyone off the top of his head but he'll re-check and call back."

"If Beast dosen't know who it might be, I think we can safely rule out anyone big." Peter sighed as he pushed himself off his work bench "Either way, we'll see when we get out there. Who else is coming?"

"…"

"I'm the only one going, aren't I?" Peter asked dryly.

"Sorry!" Jessica said with a sheepish laugh "It's just… well, you're the only one available at the moment. Me and the rest of the Avengers are down in Venezuela dealing with the Serpent Society."

"W-What about the X-men?!" Peter said with a huff "If a Mutant's involve, shouldn't they be foaming at the mouth and bum rushing over here to deal with them?"

At least Scott's people would be, and if they were, Peter could go and point and laugh at them the whole time. And maybe throw something at Emma if he sees her, like a hot dog he found in a trashcan.

And say that Jean was a better telepath to really get under her skin-

"They aren't picking up." Jessica interrupted Peter's train of thought.

"Really, huh, must've probably forgot to pay their phone bill. I know what that's like." Peter sighed before nodding "Fiiiine, I'll go see what's going on."

"But don't worry, when we get back… I'll make it up to you." Jessica said with a flirtatious tone at the end.

"You know I'm already in a relationship, right?" Peter deadpanned.

"You know I've never let that stop me." Jessica snarked before the sound of an explosion in the background on Spider-woman's end caused her to swear "We'll continue the pseudo phone sex later."

"And by that time, hopefully my phone's dead. Good luck." Peter replied before the call ended.

"See? That, that right there was why I was so paranoid when you two were ever out on one of your 'Avenger mission' things." Mary Jane said with a huff, crossing her arms "Always left me wondering if my faithful boyfriend was getting it on with his alluring counterpart!"

"I've seen that woman scarf down waffles like a boar that hasn't eaten in days, dressed and smelling like she just came from an anime convention. Trust me, that allure isn't as great as you think it is." Peter deadpanned.

Though the way she'd lick that syrup off her lips and give him that 'look' could be… dangerous.

"Can't she use… what's it called…" Mary Jane said as she snapped her fingers "Can't she make herself smell really nice or something and seduce you that way?"

"They're called pheromones and no, that's not quite how it works." Peter said with a cough to stifle the laugh he almost emitted.

"Well, my point still stands." Mary Jane huffed before she glanced at the half-constructed suit on the mannequin "You gonna take the new suit out for a test drive?"

"Not today." Peter shook his head "Gotta figure out a few more things still. Learned the hard way what happens when you take a new suit out without properly testing it."

Because of his eagerness to take on the Hobgoblin in his new Stealth Suit, Felicia had nearly died…

"Well, be careful." Mary Jane said with a worried expression "I get we're kinda joking earlier, about the whole luck thing, but if your day really has been going so well up until now…"

"It'll probably end with me hating life a little more than I already do." Peter said as he slid his mask on before glancing at the red headed beauty with a look of reassurance "Don't worry MJ, I'm not gonna take any risks."

Judging by the look on Mary Jane's face, she didn't believe him.

Peter couldn't say he blamed her.

Ten minutes later, Peter was suited up and looking down from a ledge at the burning crumpled remains of the Rykers convoy.

Four vehicles, one of them the transport itself, and three assault cars, each carrying four armed men outfitted with enough firepower to give someone like the Rhino pause. The main transport truck, a large twenty wheeled goliath of a truck, had been damaged the most, it's entire right sider had been scorched by a gas explosion from a passing eighteen wheeler. The vehicle lost control, slammed into the escorts which in turn crashed into other vehicles on the road and created a giant mess of metal, rubber and glass.

'At least no one died…' Peter thought with a sigh of relief as he scanned the area for a moment before leaping down to investigate further.

Police had already cordoned off the area, paramedics arrived to treat any injuries the convoy's personnel and nearby pedestrians had obtained and transport them to the nearest hospital.

All of them, except the convict being transferred.

"Weird that such a small group was moving them." Peter mused aloud as he glanced inside the main transport's portable holding cell, which was really just a large metal box filled with various forms of power nullifying devices.

There was a single seat in the cell, in the center of the space, one side damage from the force of the explosion from a passing rig hulling a tank of natural gas.

Which reminded him…

"How the heck did this even happen in the first place?" Peter said as he glanced a few dozen meters away to where the eighteen-wheeler was sitting, the large tank once filled with gas, now a twisted hulk of metal still attached to it.

The cells of these transports, especially for Mutants, weren't so easily damaged. And yet, a large hole was torn open into the cell, sending debris throughout the space, some of which damaged the restraints holding this Mutant in place, freeing him and allowing him to slip out during the chaos.

"Something's not adding up here… not adding up at all." Peter said to himself as he continued to examine the area.

Which led him to notice another odd thing, he was the only one in this place, there weren't any investigators combing through this place. The only police that initially responded had set up a perimeter after the wounded had been extracted and barred anyone from entering since.

"Okay, something's defiantly off about all of this." Peter said, a feeling of unease growing in his chest as he approached what looked to have been the lead assault car for this convoy and peered inside it's crushed remains.

The interior was scorched from a fire, how one started Peter couldn't begin to explain, but the smell of burnt leather, soot and ash told him there was one. There was also a single folder lying on the car floor, covered in ash, but still relatively intact. Curious, Peter reached down and picked it up and opened it to see what was inside, hopeful of some answers to some of the questions that were forming in his mind.

First clue he found, was a name.

"Hmm, The Tormentor…" Peter read the alias of the prisoner aloud.

Well, that sounded like a charming individual.

'Hmm, fire burnt away most of the file.' Peter thought with a frown as he tried to read what sheets of paper weren't burnt 'Let's see what it's got.'

The individual was called the 'Tormentor' on account that according to his file, he was a serial killer. The pages that had more details about his crimes was missing, or destroyed, but Peter did find that this 'Tormentor' has been incarcerated in Rykers for over a decade, though where and how weren't listed. Same with any pages that had more personal information on the man, like his actual name, or even a picture. He did find a page, or rather the bottom fifth of one that seemed to be the tail end of a description of the man's Mutant ability.

"-Because of the nature of this field, all attempts for direct neutralization have failed. It's believed that this field extends approximately one hundred yards based off rough estimations from previous reports. Requests for further study have been denied." Peter muttered to himself; his brow furrowed "Well this isn't helpful. Guess I'm gonna have to find out what this guy does the old-fashioned way."

Tossing the half-destroyed folder back on the seat, Peter looked around for any clues that could tell him which way the escaped convict fled in.

"Hello, what do we have here?" Peter said as he kneeled down to see bloodied footprints on the asphalt, half washed away, but still visible.

Peter's gaze followed the footprints to their source to see they began at the transport, right where that hole was formed.

"So, you hopped out from there, ran this way…" Peter followed the prints with a critical eye and saw they went towards the edge of the highway to the sound barrier, where a SUV had struck it with enough force to leave a sizable gap for a person to squeeze through.

Okay, this was starting to get just a tad bit ridiculous with how seemingly lucky this escaped convict was being right now.

"Wonder if this guy's power is good luck. And if it is, if he's willing to spare some of it." Peter snorted as he stood up and made his way to the hole and peered through it to see that just below was a couple of dumpsters, still filled with trash "Not sure if this counts as good luck, but it beats landing on the pavement down there."

Peter took one last look around the wrecked cars and trucks before he jumped through the hole and fell towards the dumpster below. His landing was cushioned by bags filled with… well Peter didn't want to know what exactly, his nose was telling him whatever it was, he'll need a good soak in bleach later.

"Thank the powers that be I don't have Logan's sensitive nose." Peter sighed as he hopped out of the dumpster and landed on the sidewalk, scanning the ground for any blood footprints.

He found them, they led from the dumpsters, into the street… to a manhole cover that wasn't sitting properly.

"Of course he'd head into the sewers." Peter groaned as he began to approach the manhole, stopping for a moment to look to the sky at the sound of something approaching.

There, just breaking through the clouds and heading for the highway was a several story tall machine.

"There's that Sentinel Jess mentioned. Weird it wasn't a part of the convey from the get-go, and that it took so long to get here…" Peter narrowed his eyes at the sight of it before clicking his tongue and quickly making his way down the manhole, he didn't have much time.

It didn't occur to Peter until after he was down in the sewer, up to his knees in sewage, that the Sentinel looked to be a older model, one that wasn't used by the likes of SHIELD or O.N.E.

Very odd.

Peter wasn't sure how long he'd been crawling around, looking for any clues as to where this 'Tormentor' was, but he was about one more rat scurrying across his hand from leaving when he heard something.

It was the sound of pipes, specifically pipes falling and hitting the ground. Hopeful, Peter quickened his base down the sewer way he'd been crawling through for the past few minutes before coming to a junction. Keeping to the shadows, Peter looked around for the source of the pipes crashing to the ground and saw, across the junction next to a tunnel similar to the one he just came from, up a small staircase, was a door left slightly ajar.

'Gotcha!' Peter thought as he leaped across the junction and landed with a light 'thud' and peered through the door to see it led into a small service tunnel where, a few meters down was another doorway.

Cautiously, Peter stepped through the door and approached the second, taking a moment to leap to the ceiling and crawl the rest of the way. He could hear the sound of someone shuffling around in the room, kicking a few pipes on the ground into each other. Reaching the door, Peter peered through it to see, standing on the other side of the room, a figure wearing a dirty, but recognizable Rykers Island issued prison jumpsuit.

Peter's eyes narrowed as he took in the figure's appearance.

He was tall, several inches taller than Peter at least, and gaunt, and what skin he could see was a sickly pale looking color. Peter didn't see any weapons on him, though it was possible it was simply out of sight, the man's arms were folded in front of him after all.

'Well, this should be fun.' Peter thought as he rolled his shoulders before dropping to the ground and landing in a crouch before launching himself right towards this 'Tormentor's back, both fists outstretched and aimed at the space between his shoulder blades "Special delivery!"

The Tormentor didn't even so much as flinch as Peter suddenly found himself flying past the figure and slamming into the ground, kicking up bits of concrete.

"The heck?!" Peter said in surprise before he leaped to his feet and turned to meet the Tormentor head on… and froze by what he saw.

'No… no way… no fucking way…' Peter thought with horror as he stared at the man before him.

His face was pale like the back of his head though it had less scars, the all too familiar eyes were bloodshot, likely because of the transport escape and his lower jaw was missing, has been for years from the looks of it, but there was no mistaking whom Peter was looking at despite the many physical changes he's undergone. It's been years since he ever thought of him, years longer since he last saw him, but those eyes, bloodshot as they were, he knew all too well.

Steven Westcott., or as Peter used to know him as-

"Skip?"


And done.

Next chapter, Terror…

Answers to reviewers' questions or statements:

KaidoFett: I'll be going in my own direction, though a few things from Dan Slott and Zeb Well's runs will be shown here.

spiderman1fan: Things will start to slowly be uncovered. As for DC Absolute, meh, seems like DC's version of the 1610 Ultimate Universe.

Kyubishepard: Huh?

Brave2000: He did and that is something that is gonna be addressed and dealt with here.

Copper Forest 14: You might reconsider those words as this story unfolds, things are gonna get… dark. But, with sprinkles of Peter and Chat being sweet and nice to each other.

InsaneMakaioshin: I'll say more along the lines of he's only just turn 26, given the span of time from roughly this point in time and the time he mentioned being Spider-man for 13 years. Dock Ock running around in Peter's body seemed to last from between 6-8 months if not outright a full year, then there's the 8 month time skip that happened post Battleworld, with the whole Multiverse ending and then being remade by God Doom and so on and so forth. Granted comics are terrible when it comes to a solidified timeline but that's my best guess.

Harbinger Of Kaos: Why Emma did what she did will slowly be revealed as time goes on. As for why she refused to remove the blocks, that will also be revealed. Peter could go that route, but as Logan noticed, Emma put a sort of telepathic command on Peter that more or less discouraged him from seeking anyone's help about removing the mental blocks except for her. Betsy could, but as this point in time for the Avengers and X-men and some of the heroes, things are about to ramp up for everyone, so she might understandably forget.

Guest: You have no idea.

Spider-Menace76: It's more complicated than that, she does love him, it's just the sudden influx of memories, the feelings she was remembering, it was a bit much for her so she pulled back until she could get herself grounded.

Guest: She's grown as a person since then :)

Aemon D Boneless: He'll show up, eventually.

Legendarydeagonknight: They'll be a spiritual journey of sorts for some of the characters, but one of the main themes for this story will be trauma and had to recover from it. Creature Commandos is meh at best and filled with too much reddit humor, which seems to be the only type of people that liked it. As for the upcoming Superman and Fantastic Four films, I have very, very low expectations, especially from Marvel. Can't wait to see black Harry Osborn with the exaggerated swagger of a black teen. I stopped reading X-men comics after Jean came back, again and from what I've heard of Krakoa, I didn't miss much.

MasterToro: It was, she was not prepared for that conversation, or the sudden rush of memories and feelings attached to them.

Guest: He'll get a few 'upgrades', but not all of them will be good for him per say.

Sultan Kaiser: I wouldn't call it fun when what's behind those little psychic blocks comes through.

Badger12: We'll be seeing Emma again real soon.