Peter Parker

MJ left The Bunker before I did. I wanted to walk her home, but I didn't. I was supposed to be in hiding. And even with the Edith sunglasses, a face mask to cover my mouth, and my long hair, I couldn't risk getting caught alongside her. Partially, it was because I didn't want to blow the X-Men's element of surprise – I learned from the time I inadvertently forced Craig to come to my rescue as Frictor. But mostly, I didn't want to land MJ in hot water and give Beck a reason to follow through on his threat.

Not that he needed much of a reason in the first place.

So, I had to be content with a hug before I watched her. After she left, I waited about an hour before I headed out. I actually smiled on my way back to David's apartment. The fact that we left each other on friendly terms was enough to make me feel… well, like MJ said, I wasn't good, but I was a lot better than before.

I wish I met Jericho a lot sooner.

The morning after, I was awakened by the smell of food frying. I groaned as I opened my eyes. I sat up slowly and looked over at the kitchen. David was in there cooking. I blinked a couple of times before I stretched my arms out and cracked my back.

"I see you're up," David said from the kitchen. "Good morning."

"Good morning," I replied back. I lowered my arms before I turned and placed my feet on the floor. "What time is it?"

"It's about nine. You don't have anywhere to be, do you?"

"No. I don't, other than a whole lot of waiting."

"That's good, because Craig and Kaine are coming over."

As David said, Craig and Kaine came over. David and I were done eating breakfast by the time they arrived. After checking to see that Craig and Kaine ate – they did – David led us to the roof of his building.

"You know, low key, Harlem might be my third home," Craig said as the four of us looked out towards the neighborhood."

"Third?" Kaine asked.

"Broward County will always be my first home, for better or for worse."

"I see."

"Harlem does have its charm," I commented. "I just wish most of my time spent here wasn't 'work'-related."

"I hear that," Craig replied. "But we're not here to lament, are we?" I looked towards him as he looked around at the rest of us. "Let's get down to business." He paused for a moment. "Actually, before we get into all that, I heard you and MJ got the suit rebuilt and upgraded. Did you two talk?"

I nodded. "We did." I looked out towards Harlem again. "Coincidentally, each of us had a session with Dr. Drumm without the other knowing. And because of him, we each realized that we had some issues from the past that we haven't quite dealt with. Then yesterday morning, we met up, we talked things out and came to an understanding, and then we rebuilt and upgraded the suit." I looked back at Craig, who tilted his head.

"Does that mean you and MJ are…?"

I shook my head. "No. We're not dating again. Maybe we will when this is over. But, for now, we're friends again. Considering everything that's been happening, I don't think I can ask for much more at the moment."

"I figured things went okay," David commented. "When you came into the door the afternoon before, you actually didn't look like you want to smash every object in your vicinity into pieces. No offense."

I chuckled. "None taken."

"I hate to interrupt things," Kaine interjected, "and I'm glad things are better between you and Michelle. I really am. But can we please get down to business? I'd like at least an hour or so of time to myself before I have to head to the bar for work."

"Sorry about that," Craig apologized. He brought his hands together. "Okay, so here's the deal. Scott is going to use Cess to have MJ call Beck. Once we get the details about where this meeting is going to take place, we'll likely have a couple of our guys there to get the drop on Beck."

"And we'll take them down?" I asked.

"Scott doesn't think so. If anything, we're just going to shake his confidence. And then after that, we'll go into Phase 2."

I raised an eyebrow. "And that is?"

"Well, there are two parts of Phase 2 that'll happen at the same time. One part deals with using the information that we got from Betty."

I tilted my head. "Information?"

Craig chuckled. "Yeah. See, funny thing is, Betty and MJ decided to play detective for a bit, and they figured Beck might be working with some of the same people he worked with for Europe before The Spell. So Betty contacted Pepper and asked for a list of employees who were fired between the times of Stark Industries pivoting away from military weaponry and the time of The Spell. Pepper gave Betty that information, Betty gave the information to Scott, and Scott handed it off to Kitty. Kitty is already looking into their financial records – deposits, payments and purchases, stocks, etcetera. That way we can get to one of them and get them to flip, or, at least surveil them until we get a tip on how we can get to Beck."

I nodded. "It makes sense. So what's the other part?"

Craig's smile became even wider. "The other part is the one I'm practically salivating over. We're basically going to crash out all over New York, taking down every single crime operation in the city without warning. We'll rattle the pro-Accords force and show everybody that X-Men aren't shook by Firestar. In particular, I want to take down Marcel. Jimmy wasn't kidding – Marcel has been playing with my name. Just yesterday, he was live on the 'Gram, talking mad spicy about the X-Men."

"Who is Marcel?" David asked.

"He's this drug dealer. I put him out of commission once, but he came back with a vengeance. He's been going around talking about how he was the one who put me out of commission and using my name to sell wolf tickets about what he'll do to people. So, the way I see it, when I get the go ahead from Scott, I'm buying every wolf ticket Marcel has in stock."

"Do you need me to come with you if that happens?" I asked.

Craig looked at me and smirked. "Honestly, I was I going to ask you."

"So where do I figure into all of this?" Kaine asked.

Craig's smirk faded as he looked at him. "Depending on where this meeting between MJ and Beck happens at, Scott says there's a good chance that he might have you as an inside man."

I looked at Kaine before I looked at Craig. "Um… what?" I uttered.

Craig held his hands as he tilted his head. "That's what Scott said."

"Look, I trust Scott as much as anyone here, but I have concerns." I beckoned towards Kaine. "I don't know if you notice this, but he's a bit on the tall side."

"Yeah, no offense, but I've seen linebackers smaller than this dude," David added.

"Guys, I used to be a hitman," Kaine pointed out. I looked at him. "And not all of my hits were done by brute force. I know how to get in and out of places discreetly." He looked past me. "Let Scott know that I'm up for the task." He then looked at me. "If I'm chosen, I promise I won't let anything happen to MJ."

I nodded. "Just be careful."

Kaine smirked. "One doesn't survive being in my position as long as I have without being careful."

After a little while, we left the roof. Kaine and Craig left while David and I went back to the apartment. David left not too long after that. He had a long day ahead of him – both class and work. That left me alone in my apartment. I kind of hated it. I don't mind having days where I'm alone, but that was only when I had a choice in the matter. But during this time, I was forced to stay put. No matter how much I wanted to, I couldn't leave this apartment or building without Scott or Kitty's go ahead for the sake of secrecy. And when I am able to go out, I had to make sure my face was obscured enough to hide my identity, but not too obscured to arouse suspicion. Beyond that, I was missing the little things. I was missing being able to call my friends or banter with them in the group chat. I was missing being able to hang out with them. I was missing swinging by Peter Pan for a cup of coffee and a pastry and to chat with MJ. I was missing going to school. I was even missing working at The Daily Bugle and drinking the crappy coffee in the break room during the times I forget to grab a cup of coffee on my way to work.

Ugh.

I felt like I was getting stir-crazy. As usual, I was doing everything I can to keep myself busy. I was streaming movies and shows. I read books. I listened to music. I watched videos on YouTube. I even ordered from a food spot I never ate at before using Door Dash (of course, I had to use David's account and make sure the delivery person left it at the door and leave before I grabbed the food). By the time I was done, night rolled around. It was only about seven in the evening. A part of me wanted to go to sleep early, but what was the point? If I went to bed now, I'd only just end up waking up early in the morning. I figured I might as well watch another movie before I hit the hay. And that was when I heard a knock on the door.

I looked towards the door. The remote to the TV was in my hands. I slowly set the remote down on the coffee table. Just as slowly, I stood up before I made my way over to the door, making sure not to keep my footsteps quiet. My Spider Sense wasn't going off. Still, I wasn't sure whoever knocking on the door was friendly. Was I being paranoid? Maybe, but when it came to Beck, I don't think it was possible to be paranoid enough. As I reached the door, I heard a heartbeat. It was steady. I didn't let my guard down until I looked through the peephole. I took in a breath and let it out before I opened the door.

I looked up and smiled. "Hey," I greeted.

Joanna smiled down back at me. "Hey," she greeted back. She held up a box. "I heard you like Star Wars and Legos."

My smile became wider.

A few minutes later, we were sitting on the floor with the coffee table moved aside.

"I didn't know you're into Lego like that," I said as I passed her a piece.

"I'm not really into Lego, per se," Joanna replied. "But every now and again, I tend to partake in it. I guess I have a little bit of a thing for piecing stuff together, like assembling rifles or playing Tetris."

"I see." Joanna offered me up a piece. I took it. "…How's Scott?"

"He's okay, sort of." I looked at her in confusion as she continued to put pieces together. "He actually wanted to stop by and check up on you, but there was a meeting at the school he teaches at that he needs to attend. So he asked me to swing by instead." She looked at me. I guess she saw on my face that I was wondering what she meant by "sort of". "…Scott's sleep pattern has been off since Craig was sidelined and it got to worse when you got injured so bad that you had to be put in a coma. Yesterday was actually the first time he's actually gotten a decent night of sleep. So now that there's this meeting between MJ and Beck coming up, he's trying his best to make sure that nothing bad happens to MJ."

I grimaced. "I guess I caused him trouble."

Joanna shrugged. "It was just an all-around shitty week for everyone." She went back to building. "I think we can all use a vacation after this. I know Scott and I will be taking one in late July, assuming that…" She trailed off. She then looked at me and smirked. "You know what? Let me keep quiet and not put that out there in the universe."

I chuckled. "Probably for the best." I remembered the last two times I mentioned something out loud that I probably shouldn't have spoken out about. I sighed. "You know, me and the others have been talking about a vacation for a while. Maybe we should actually do it."

Joanna tilted her head briefly. "We can all use a break from the bullshit." She nodded towards me. "But, how are you doing? You kind have been through the wringer, to say the least."

"I'm…" I trailed off for a moment as I thought about it. I was about say that I was okay, but was I really? I don't think I was. I don't think anyone in my position would think they're okay, either. "…I'm not good, but I'm a lot closer to okay than I was the day before yesterday." I stretched my lips into something that wasn't quite a smile. "I guess it helped that MJ and I finally talked things out."

Joanna nodded as she handed me a piece. "So are you two a thing again?"

I shook my head as I took the piece from her. "No. But we're friends again. MJ figured it'd be best if we wait until this situation is over before we talk about things beyond that and I agree." I paused for a moment as I put some pieces together. "…MJ and I… when we talked… we realized that there was a lot about each other that we didn't know. A lot of that kind of led into the issues we had with each other. I hate it had to take so much shit happening for us to finally talk, but maybe it was a blessing of sorts?"

Joanna let loose a short chuckle. "I remember when my powers emerged and I ended up killing my father. I held a lot of guilt about it for a very long time. Fending for myself didn't make things any easier. But as hard as things were, it beat being used as my dad's punching bag. I could've done without the trials and tribulations, but I'd take those over the alternative." Joanna smiled briefly. "Things will work out. Just, however you and MJ proceed, take it slow. Bridges aren't rebuilt in a day."

Later on that night, I was about to go to sleep. Before I did, I got a text from an unknown number. I opened it up and read it. It was a long one, and for good reason. It was from Scott – "Uncle Erik". I read the text slowly. It took me a moment to realize it was in code. Once I did, I understood what the text was about. I wrote only two words back.

"Got it."