"So, what did you find?" Tony asked the moment I walked in.
I held up the flash drive. "Let's find out." Tony motioned to his workstation. I found a port on the side of the table and slotted the drive in. Immediately the screen began to populate with files.
Tony took over quickly, scanning through them with a precision I could barely follow. He looked truly focused. I watched as he moved through file after file before suddenly stopping on one.
He took a step back. "What's Subject D?"
I sighed. "Hell."
"You know it?"
I nodded. "It's a programme I shut down a few months ago while working an assignment for SHIELD. A pair of scientists were being coerced into recreating a genetic mutation — forced to experiment on children."
"How do you coerce someone into experimenting on children?"
"You threaten their family and friends," I said. "I put a stop to it, but it was too late. A lot of children had already died. What I can't work out is the connection — what does a child experimentation ring in New York have to do with an elderly scientist in Italy?"
"If it was Wyndham — a top-tier geneticist — I'd wager they used his foundational principles in the experiments. From what you've described, it would be a natural application." Tony turned back to the computer, typed for a moment, and sighed. "Alright. Good news and bad news. Which do you want first?"
"Good news."
"Good news: I found a Ghost drive." He pulled up a locked folder. "Labelled 'Super Serum Project.' But—"
"—Let me guess. The bad news is you can't open it."
"Can't. Corrupted file." He brought up an image of a half-complete jigsaw puzzle. "Only half the data is present. Without the other half, the file won't open at all."
"So you can't access it because part of it simply doesn't exist," I said.
Tony nodded. "Exactly. But there are plenty of other files we haven't gone through yet. Worth a look?"
I nodded. We spent the night working through them. We found nothing solid linking Wyndham directly to the scientists I had exposed. By the time we were done, it felt like wasted hours.
The next day Tony flew us home. I thanked him more than he felt was necessary. He didn't mind — he'd gotten time away from the lab and a break from his PTSD. I tried once more to suggest he speak to a professional. I don't think he took it on board.
When I got home I found Ben and May there to greet me. I told them about the trip — the version Tony and I had agreed on beforehand — and for the most part they bought it. That night I went down to my basement lab and began cross-referencing Wyndham's files with Peter's parents' data.
I was deep in the work when the basement window slid open. I turned, and the moment I saw Felicia shimmy through, guilt washed over me.
She landed with a smile. "Hey, Tiger."
I couldn't help it. I smiled back. I stood, walked to her — and before she could finish her sentence I had my arms around her, pulling her onto the basement bed, kissing her with the kind of desperation born of needing to replace the memory of Jessica Drew's lips.
She hummed into the kiss and gently pressed me back. "I didn't realise you'd missed me quite that much."
"You have no idea," I murmured. "Italy was hell."
"Why?"
I sighed. Time to be honest. I told her everything — how my parents were connected to my powers, how their research might have been the cause of those powers, and why I'd gone to Italy to find the man who might be responsible for their deaths.
Felicia listened throughout, sitting beside me, hand in mine. When I finished she exhaled slowly. "I... I think I understand why you wanted to handle it alone. But, Peter—" she slapped the back of my head, "—you were planning to break into someone's house and you didn't think to ask me?"
I rubbed the spot sheepishly. "Sorry. But—" I crossed to my desk, grabbed a black cardboard box, and handed it to her. "I brought you something."
She opened it. Two expensive-looking black leather boots with silver trim along the sides. Her face lit up. "Alright, I suppose I can forgive you." She giggled.
I smiled — but the reason for my guilt surfaced like a reflex. Why I had searched for the most expensive pair Tony could locate. Why I'd nearly cleared my account doing it.
Jessica Drew.
I shouldn't tell her. I knew that. But lying wasn't how you kept a relationship intact, and I knew that better than anyone. I took a breath. "Felicia, there's something else."
She looked up, worried. "What?"
"When I was at Wyndham's place, I ran into someone." I paused. "She was like me."
"Like you?"
I looked at her steadily. "Same powers. And she's the original source of my pheromone ability." I sent a small arc of blue bioelectricity off my fingertips.
"She has spider powers?!" Felicia blinked.
I nodded. "Wall-crawling, enhanced speed and strength. And I think she also has the pheromone ability — a stronger version. She can project it outward. Anger, fear, joy, desire — she can induce all of it. And I think we were both affected."
"We?"
I felt my face warm. "She... she kissed me." Felicia's eyebrow arched. "I didn't kiss her back — I swear. She kissed me, I was completely taken off guard, and then I don't know what happened — her powers must have misfired because the next thing I know she's trying to undress me and I could barely think—"
"So she drugged you."
I winced. "Essentially. I genuinely didn't want it."
She was silent. A long silence. Then she looked up at me, eyes hard. "Did you kiss her back?"
"No. Never." Something raw opened up inside me. This relationship — Felicia — was the one thing in this entire borrowed life that was truly mine. Everything else, Peter could have built himself. But her? She was the one choice I had made out of something real. And to lose her—
Felicia stood. I went still. She walked toward me. I bargained silently with every higher power I could name.
Then her arms came around me and her head came to rest on my shoulder.
"I'm not leaving you because some Italian woman kissed you, Peter," she said quietly. "Did you really think I would?"
The relief hit me hard enough to blur my eyes. I held her tight. "Losing you is something I don't think I could survive. Not you. I'd stop being Spider-Man before I'd lose you."
She didn't answer. She knew I didn't want pity — just forgiveness. She rubbed my back and stayed. I knew I was behaving like a child. But for her, I'd do it every day of my life if that was what it took.
She finally pulled back and looked down at the boots. "Wait — is that why you bought me such expensive shoes?"
I chuckled. "Yeah."
"Hm." A pause. "Maybe you kissing other women isn't entirely without upside."
I rolled my eyes. "I sincerely hope not."
"So — are you going to show me what you found?" Felicia asked.
I nodded and led her to the computer, walking her through everything — Richard's notes, the files from Wyndham's system, all of it. Including the Ghost drive Tony had found.
"And that's the lot," I finished. "Not much to show for it. But at least now I know my parents weren't out of their minds."
"Hm," Felicia said, studying the screen intently.
"Something catch your eye?" I asked.
"That," she tapped a folder on my father's hard drive. "What is that one?"
I looked. "His university papers."
"Why is it here?" she asked.
"I think he just loaded everything related to the super-soldier serum onto the same drive," I shrugged.
"But did he really start working on it that early?" Felicia asked.
I nodded. "Yeah — he was something of a genius. Like yours truly." I grinned and clicked the folder.
An error message appeared. I frowned. The file was listed as corrupted. Couldn't be opened.
"You can't access it?" Felicia asked.
"No." I stared at the screen. "But... wait. That can't—" I dragged the folder and dropped it directly into the Ghost drive partition. I initiated the merge process.
A new prompt appeared.
File complete. Opening now...
My eyes went wide.
"Holy. Shit."
The file began to reconstruct itself. Numbers and formulae cascaded across the display in their hundreds — I was struggling to keep up with the notation — and then a new window opened over everything else.
The HYDRA logo. Green. Unmistakable.
"Shit!" I grabbed the main power cable and ripped it from the wall.
"What was that?!" Felicia asked sharply.
"Something very bad." I tore open the computer casing and went to work — CPU, motherboard, both reduced to scrap with my hands. Then I ripped out the hard drive. Then I crossed to the wi-fi router and pulled the cables. No unnecessary risks.
"Peter — what's going on?" Felicia asked, alarmed.
"That symbol," I said. "It's HYDRA."
Felicia stared at me. "You mean the Nazi group Cap fought?"
"The very same."
"What the hell does your father have to do with a dead Nazi organisation?"
I looked at her. "Who told you they were dead?" I turned back to the pile of components. "I need to take this to Fury."
"Can SHIELD be trusted with something like this? Didn't they try to weaponise that glowing cube?" Felicia asked.
I smiled. She was sharper than people ever gave her credit for.
"Yes, they did. But if HYDRA comes for the drive, it's better in SHIELD's hands than mine. That way Ben, May, MJ, and Liz don't end up in the middle of it." I exhaled. "It's a calculated risk. But it's the only option I have."
"Have you got a way to contact him?"
I nodded. "Something like that."
———
The Next Day:
"Are you completely sure about this?" I asked, for what must have been the hundredth time.
"Yes, Tiger. I've told you — I'm your girlfriend. I'm not letting you do this alone," Cat said firmly, adjusting her goggles and checking her kit.
"But if you come with me—"
"—What? Fury figures out who I am? Please. I'm fairly certain he already has a good idea. That photo of us kissing has been everywhere — MJ had it on her wall. He knows who I am, or close enough. So don't even try, Mr. Spider."
I smiled. "Yes, ma'am." Doc hummed along through the sky. The clouds parted ahead and the SHIELD Helicarrier came into view. It looked better than the last time I had seen it, though the retro-reflective panels were still down — which presumably explained why it was stationed out here over the mid-Atlantic rather than flying above populated areas.
"Hello? Unidentified vehicle, this is restricted airspace. Stop immediately or you will be shot down. Final warning," came a voice over the radio.
I sighed, put the helmet on, and activated the comms. "It's me. Spider-Man. Clearance code: I'm an Avenger — please let me land."
"Ah, right — one moment." A brief pause. "Clearance granted. Please use the upper strip near the main entrance."
"Understood." I cut the comms and eased us in.
"This is genuinely incredible," Felicia whispered.
I smiled as I set Doc down on the deck. We climbed out and walked toward the entrance. Clint was waiting — quiver strapped on, bow in hand.
"Hey, Legolas! Good to see you!" I called.
"Spider." He rolled his eyes and touched his earpiece. "Fury — it's really him. Yeah. I'll bring him to you."
"How's life treating you?" I asked as we headed inside.
"Better. No demigods tried to possess me today, so it's been a solid day so far." He glanced at Cat. "Is this a date?"
I shook my head. "Strictly business."
We walked onto the main deck. Fury was at the helm, working his console. He spotted us. "You two should be in school."
I shrugged. "It's summer."
"So why aren't you in a shopping centre with your girlfriend?"
"Something came up. And she's right here, so it's sort of a date."
"No it isn't," Cat said.
Fury pinched the bridge of his nose. "Look, kid, if you're going to waste my—"
"My father worked for HYDRA," I said.
Fury went still. He looked at me with his one good eye. "Excuse me? HYDRA is—"
"Alive," I said. I took the hard drive from my bag and set it on the console beside him. "My parents were working on something before they died. I found the files. When I tried to access them, the HYDRA logo appeared. Correct me if I'm wrong — but didn't HYDRA disintegrate at the end of the Second World War?"
"They did," Felicia said, "which means the only way their logo ended up on a file created within the last decade or so is if they're still operational—"
"—Or someone is using their name," I finished. "Either way — you need to see this."
Fury examined the drive, then took it from me. "You were right to bring this here. I give you my word — no one else accesses it."
"Good." I killed the voice modulator and let my voice drop. "I've embedded a kill virus in the drive. If anyone attempts to access the data inside, it fries your entire system and the drive along with it."
"Is that right?" He raised a sceptical eyebrow.
"Test me if you want," I said. "I'd prefer you didn't."
He almost smiled. "Don't worry." He handed it off to a passing technician. "Anything else?"
"No." I reactivated the modulator. "See you at the next Avengers assembly."
Fury rolled his eyes — until they landed on Felicia's equipment. "Is that the kit I issued?"
I nodded.
"You gave military hardware to a thief," Fury said flatly.
"Cap doesn't break rules, Tony's unpredictable, Nat's killed more people than I can count, Clint's only real skill involves a very specialised piece of wood—"
"Hey!" Clint protested.
"—And the Hulk has to avoid elevated stress, which rules out a lot. None of us are perfect." I turned and walked away, Felicia at my side.
"And what about you?" Fury called.
I glanced back. "I stop trusting people who betray me. See you around, Fury."
When we had gone, Fury turned to Barton. "I genuinely do not know how Romanoff manages him."
Clint sighed. "She has a particular talent with young people. You should see her around a baby."
———
With me:
I brought Doc up into the sky and turned back toward the city. "That went better than expected," Cat admitted.
"Maybe," I said. "I still feel like handing it over was an error."
"You said it yourself — their hands are the safest available. The virus isn't a bluff, is it?"
"No. It'll detonate the moment anyone tries to crack the encryption." I drummed my fingers on the wheel. "Right now Fury probably has his best people tracing my father's movements, working backward through everything he built."
"And when they find out it's the super-soldier serum—"
"They might do something stupid," I muttered. "I really hope Fury is better than that."
I landed Doc in a quiet field on the outskirts of Queens. We changed back into civilian clothes and I drove us in.
"So," Felicia said, relaxing in the seat. "What now?"
I smiled. "No plans. You?"
"Shopping?"
"Perfect."
I drove to the nearest mall. Felicia dragged me into the cinema and bought tickets for a sentimental romantic film. I hated it. Felicia — though she would die before admitting it — loved this sort of thing.
At the climax, the hero was boarding a train for Chicago when his love interest arrived at the platform at the last second. He waited until the absolute last moment, then leapt off the moving carriage. Physics suggested at least a broken ankle. Film logic delivered a perfect embrace and a happy ending.
I walked out laughing. "Why did he think jumping off a moving train was a reasonable choice?!"
"Oh, stop it, Peter — like you wouldn't do exactly the same," Felicia huffed.
"Maybe. But I have spider powers. That man was entirely, completely human!"
"It was still romantic."
I smiled. "So — you want me to throw myself off a train for you?"
"Oh no. For me, you'd better be jumping out of aeroplanes," Felicia smirked.
"Well, I think I can—" I stopped dead.
A pull in my chest. Raw instinct clawing at the edges of my mind. Not love — lust, reflexive and consuming. And floating through the air above the crowd, unmistakably, the scent of maple syrup.
"Peter? What's wrong?" Felicia asked.
"I..." I swept the crowd. "She's here."
"Who?"
"Jessica Drew." I found her — overcoat, baseball cap, standing further along the concourse. We locked eyes. I knew immediately.
"There," I said.
Felicia stepped in front of me. "Can you hold it together?"
"I'm working on it," I said through my teeth. "We need to leave. Now."
"We could take her here," Felicia argued.
"Not in front of all these people." I grabbed her wrist and pulled her toward the stairs.
We barely reached them when Felicia pulled free. "Peter — stop. You're hurting me."
"I'm sorry. I didn't—"
"It's fine." She rubbed her wrist. "Let's just go."
I pushed the shame down and kept moving. I always had to be careful with my strength. With half my mind fighting off the pheromone pull, that careful control was fraying fast.
We reached the parking garage. Empty. We ran for the car, our reflections flickering across polished bodywork.
A dark figure launched off the bonnet of a parked vehicle and came down at us. "Get back!" I shoved Felicia to the side and caught Jessica as she landed on top of me.
I used her momentum, kicked her overhead, and sent her flying. She landed on her feet. I landed on mine. We looked at each other across the cold concrete floor. The tension between us was suffocating. This was getting very, very old.
She sent a kick at my head. I ducked and went on the offensive, falling back on everything Nat had drilled into me.
It was like a dance. We both anticipated each other. My spider-sense kept the worst of her hits away while I landed my own. I pushed the pull I felt toward her down hard. She seemed to be doing the same.
She drove a fist into my ribs. One bruised. I kneed her in the gut and went for an elbow to her face. She blocked the elbow and hit me across the nose — like a hammer.
Jessica was well-trained. Every strike, every kick — she managed them all. But she had never fought someone who matched her on agility. That was the edge she had always relied on.
So I cheated.
She threw a punch. I stepped aside, grabbed her by the hip, and hurled her across the garage. She landed on her feet and straightened — just in time for a bolt of blue bio-electric energy to take her in the chest.
It launched her backwards into a parked car with a crash of crumpled metal and a screaming alarm.
I stood catching my breath. "Damn."
"You alright?" Felicia asked.
"Little battered," I said. I looked over to see Jessica hauling herself upright from the wrecked car door. She snarled and drove her fist into the bonnet, crushing the alarm into silence.
"Why are you here?" I said.
"You stole from me," she said.
"I don't know what you mean," I lied.
"Don't play dumb. I know it was you." She narrowed her eyes. "You even smell the same."
'So she can detect pheromones too,' I noted. I straightened. "Fine. I only took what was already mine by rights."
Jessica blinked. "What?"
"Wyndham isn't what you think he is, Jessica. He isn't a good man." I kept my voice even. "He killed my parents. He made me an orphan. He did it to accumulate the power to build an army of people like us — weapons for his cause. Just as he's made a weapon of you."
"What are you talking about?!" she snapped. "Wyndham is a good person! A friend of my father's! He took care of me when no one else would! When I—"
"Do you know what he used your blood for?" I asked quietly. She met my eyes. "He took samples from you, didn't he? Did he ever tell you what they were actually for?"
"I... it was for a cure," she said, quieter now. "He was trying to help me."
"No, Jessica. He was replicating your powers." I held her gaze. "He had his people experiment on children. Not teenagers — children. They died. Every single one of them. Thirty-one of them died in the effort to build more people like you and me. Thirty-two, if I hadn't stopped them in time."
"You're lying!" Jessica roared. "He would never—"
"Then ask him!" I snapped. "Ask him what was happening in that laboratory in Hunts Point. Ask him what he did with your blood. Ask him the names of the thirty-one children he had killed."
Jessica looked as though she wanted to tear me apart. She charged, screaming, both hands beginning to glow a violent green as she swung wildly. I stepped back from the sloppy attacks when the energy erupted outward — concussive force launched me off my feet and slammed me back hard.
"Peter!" Felicia called, and she turned on Jessica immediately.
I groaned, pulled myself upright. Note to self: learn to do that. I looked up to see Felicia driving a kick into Jessica's sternum, making her buckle and hold her gut.
Then Jessica raised one hand and fired a blast of green energy into Felicia's midsection.
"Felicia!" I leapt, caught her as she flew back, and set her down gently. "Are you alright?"
"Stings like hell," she said, looking up at me. "Where is she?"
I scanned the garage. Empty. "She's gone."
"Damn." Felicia got to her feet. "That was like fighting you, except she didn't hold back."
I nodded. "How did she even find me? She should still be in Italy with..." I stopped. "Last night. When I connected the drives and they completed each other — Wyndham must have embedded a tracking programme that activated on connection. It would have transmitted my location before I even knew what had happened."
"Is that possible? You destroyed everything so quickly."
"Yes — but that was only after the HYDRA logo appeared. The signal could have gone out well before it announced itself." Ice settled in my stomach. "They know where I am. Which means... May. Ben."
We ran.
I hit three red lights on the way home. I didn't slow down for any of them. I threw the front door open. "May! Ben!"
Empty kitchen. Dishes drying by the sink. The television running in the living room — Ben's evening news programme.
"This can't be happening," I said, pacing.
"Try calling them — maybe there was an emergency and they went out," Felicia said steadily.
I called. The line rang. And someone picked up.
"Hello?! Uncle Ben?!"
Silence.
Then: "Hello, Mr. Parker. Or should I say — Spider-Man?"
"Wyndham," I said. "Where are they?"
"Safe, for the moment," he said. "But that is subject to change. We have them. Bring me all of your father's research, and I will return them to you. You have one hour. I'll send the location by text."
He ended the call.
I stared at my phone.
"Are they alive?" Felicia asked.
I nodded. "For now. He wants the drive. And he knows I'm Spider-Man."
"How?"
I shrugged. "He saw my powers. He knows I'm based in New York and connected to the Baxter Building, which has been publicly linked to Spider-Man. It wouldn't take much to confirm it." Or he could have accessed SHIELD's files directly, but that thought I kept to myself.
"What do we do?" Felicia asked.
"I'm going to get that drive back," I said, and walked out.
"We," Felicia said, right behind me, "are going to get that drive back."
I turned. "This isn't the time for—"
"People you love are in danger. That is exactly the time." She looked at me without flinching.
"I am not putting you at risk—"
"I am not letting you fight Nazis alone!" she said.
We stared at each other.
She wasn't moving. I thought about life without Ben and May. I thought about life without Felicia. There was no contest.
I nodded. "Fine. Don't get killed."
Felicia smiled. "Wasn't planning on it, Tiger."
We drove to a quiet spot, changed into costume, and I made a call. "Hey. It's me. I need a favour. It's dangerous, potentially a federal offence, and you may have to fight SHIELD." A pause. I sighed. "Yes, fine — you can borrow Doc on Sunday for your date."
———
Half an hour later:
"Unidentified vehicle, this is a restricted area — state your—"
"It's me, you absolute muppet! Who else do you know with a flying DeLorean?!" I snapped into the helmet mic.
"Easy, Tiger — he's just doing his job," Felicia said, running her checks on her kit.
"He'll cope." I cut the channel.
"Spider-Man, clearance granted. Please use the upper strip."
I set us down and we disembarked. Instead of heading for the bridge, we turned toward the laboratory section at the rear of the Helicarrier. We ran until Felicia spotted the drive — plugged into a terminal.
I walked in. The technician stood up sharply. "Hey — you can't be in here."
"I can," I said, stepping past him, pulling the drive free. I looked at the equipment he had assembled and whistled softly. "Impressive setup. What's the estimated crack time with all this?"
"A day, if I bypass the system lock and route all available server capacity," he said, almost reflexively.
"Good work." I extended a hand. "Spider-Man."
"Ah — Leopold Fitz," he said automatically.
"Fitz. Good to meet you. We should compare notes sometime." I turned to go.
"You — you really aren't supposed to take that!" Fitz called after me.
"Tell Fury I said thank you for looking after it!" I called back.
We ran. Felicia looked around as we moved. "It's quiet. Shouldn't there be more people?"
"Yes," I said. "There should."
We burst out onto the open deck and stopped.
Three people stood between us and the sky.
Cap, Nat, and Clint. Cap's shield was ready. His uniform had changed — the dark field variant now, sleeker and more purposeful.
"Spider-Man. What exactly do you think you're doing?" Cap asked.
"Nice new look, Cap," I said. "As for what I'm doing — I'm reclaiming something I handed to Fury under specific conditions. Conditions that were broken when someone tried to access the contents."
"That item became SHIELD property the moment you surrendered it," Clint said, arrow drawn, dot on my chest.
"Technically, yes. But given the terms were violated, I'm exercising my right to take it back."
"This isn't a game, Peter," Nat said. "This could be classified as an international crime."
"From you, that takes some nerve." A low blow. But I had maybe twenty minutes left.
"Peter — whatever this is, we face it together," Cap said, hands open. "We don't have to do this."
"Cap, you should be siding with me right now."
"And why is that?"
"Because HYDRA has my uncle and aunt."
Nat's eyes went wide. Clint looked stricken. Steve looked like the ground had shifted beneath him.
"W-what? But HYDRA is—"
"Alive." I pocketed the drive. "They have my family, Cap. This is what they want for their lives."
"What's on the drive?" Clint asked.
"My father's research."
"Into what?" Nat pressed.
"...The super-soldier serum."
Steve's expression collapsed. "Peter — you cannot hand HYDRA that drive. If they get hold of it—"
"If I don't, my uncle and aunt die!" I said. "I have to do this!"
"No, you don't." Cap raised his shield.
I breathed in and out. "What are you going to do? Fight me?"
"If that's what it takes."
Long pause. I focused everything. Cap crouched. Nat moved. Felicia and I mirrored them—
And then we both turned hard left and ran.
"What the—"
"Now, Johnny!" I shouted into the comms.
"Right!" Johnny vaulted from the car in a pillar of fire and swooped between us and the three Avengers, laying down a curtain of flames.
"Did you really think I was going to stand there and fight you?!" I laughed.
Cap leapt through the fringe of the flames and charged. "Smart move, Pete — but it ends here!"
"Does it?!" I fired a repulsor at his shield — he blocked it, as expected — and used the split second to drop a liquid nitrogen canister at his feet. It detonated, locking his boots to the deck in a solid shell of ice.
"Sorry, Cap!" I called. And I swear — I swear — I saw him smile.
Felicia took the wheel. We piled in, she floored it, and we launched off the deck. Johnny dropped into the back seat and cut his flames.
"I'll be honest," Johnny said, sounding mildly cheated. "That was a little anticlimactic. You promised me danger."
"Believe me," I said, watching the tracker signal pulse on the car's HUD. "It's only just beginning. Keep her steady, Kitten." I pulled up the signal from the tracker I'd slipped into Wyndham's coat. "I've got a plan."
———
Half an hour later:
The deadline ran out. Wyndham's text directed us to a construction site a few miles out of town — a half-built frame of iron, fifty feet high and a hundred feet across. Concrete poured beside it, sand mounded along the edges.
Felicia and Johnny stayed low in the back as I set Doc down.
"Johnny — your hand," Felicia said quietly.
"Sorry. And for the record, I'm made of fire — everywhere's warm for me."
"Not for long," Felicia replied.
"Well if it's warmth you want—"
"Johnny," I said. "The last warning you'll be getting."
A beat of silence. Good.
"Stay in the car. Code word: Drewness." I stepped out and shut the door.
The site was still. I spotted the white van immediately — parked in the middle of the skeletal structure. I walked toward it. No need to hide anything now.
I felt Jessica's presence before I saw her. I looked up — a figure perched on a beam twenty feet above and to the left. I waved. She did not wave back.
Wyndham climbed out of the van with his cane. He looked at my suit with something approaching admiration. "Your father would have been proud of this, Peter. Stark's technology, adapted and improved. Truly, you are his son."
"I've heard my mother deserved equal credit," I said.
"Oh, certainly. But your father was the real genius." He smiled. "Now — do you have what I asked for?"
"My aunt and uncle first."
He stepped aside. May and Ben were bound and gagged in the back of the van, apparently unconscious.
"The files, if you please," Wyndham said, extending his hand.
I tossed the drive to him. "It's all there."
"I do hope so." He turned to leave, Jessica trailing above him along the beams.
I climbed into the van. "May? Ben? Can you hear me?" I shook them. Nothing. Something was wrong. I caught a scent — metallic, synthetic. I touched Ben's cheek. My fingers slipped beneath the skin.
I pulled them back.
Beneath the surface: circuitry. Robotics.
"You bastard!" I was out of the van in an instant, charging at Wyndham.
"Jessica, please," he said, without turning.
Jessica dropped and stepped between us. We fought again, sharper this time. I buried the lust, replaced it with fury for the people he had taken.
"You will do exactly as I say, Peter, or your family dies," Wyndham called. "I am the only one who knows where they are."
Jessica drove a fist at my gut. I leapt over it, came down behind her, and fired two web lines that wrapped tight around her arms and chest.
"What?!" She strained against the webbing. "How can you do this and I can't?!"
"I'm smarter," I said. I turned to Wyndham. "You're next." I ran at him.
"Did you not hear what I said?" he sighed.
"I heard. I don't care." I went airborne, fist first, closing the distance—
Something hit me from the side like a freight train and sent me spinning across the floor. I rolled and landed in a crouch.
The sand was moving.
Every mound in the construction site was flowing, coiling, rising around Wyndham like a shield. It compressed and shaped itself into the form of a man — dark hair, striped shirt, hands formed into a hammer and a morningstar. It turned and looked at me with something beyond animal anger.
"Peter," Wyndham said pleasantly, "allow me to introduce Marko. My first successful experiment in human genetic modification. Or, as he prefers — Sandman."
"The process left his cognitive functions somewhat compromised," Wyndham added, almost apologetically. "But he follows instructions quite reliably." He pointed at me. "Get him."
"Drewness! Drewness! Total Drewness!" I shouted, already swinging clear as a tsunami of sand surged toward me.
Johnny exploded out of the back of Doc trailing fire. "Someone call for a— what the hell is that?!"
"Giant sand creature! Heat turns sand to glass!" I yelled, rolling under a fist the size of a battering ram.
"Get back here!" Jessica had broken the webbing. She launched herself from beam to beam in pursuit — until a black-booted foot came out of nowhere and sent her dodging sideways. She landed on a steel beam.
Felicia was right behind her.
Jessica looked Felicia up and down. "And who are you?"
"The girlfriend of the man you tried to undress in a garden," Felicia said calmly.
Drew had the grace to look embarrassed. Before she could respond, Felicia attacked.
Johnny bathed Sandman's left side in sustained fire. Sand melted to glass. The creature roared and swung at him. Johnny ducked under it easily.
"Going to need to do better than that!" Johnny taunted.
"NOT. FREAK!" Sandman bellowed, and unleashed a wave of sand that the Torch only barely avoided.
I left my teammates to it. One target.
Wyndham saw me coming. He looked almost amused. "Unexpected backup. No matter."
"Where are they?" I said.
"And if I don't say?"
I raised my arm, aimed at Sandman's lower half, and fired my repulsor at full power. The creature's legs detonated in a burst of flying grains.
"Brilliant, Spider!" Johnny yelled, immediately hitting the creature's right arm with fire.
I levelled my arm at Wyndham. "That."
"You need me alive, Peter," he said. "I am the only one who knows where your family is being held. You will stand down."
I nodded. "Sound logic." I grabbed his arm and snapped it at the joint.
"ARGH!" He collapsed to his knees.
"I don't need to kill you," I said, pressing my weight down on his arm. "I just need you to want me to. Where are they?"
"To hell with you!"
"After you." I hauled him upright by the collar, drew my fist back—
"Spider! A little help!" Johnny shouted.
I looked. Sandman had him compressed — sand wrapped around him like a vice, smothering the flame before it could build. I swore.
I drove my forehead into Wyndham's nose. He dropped. As he fell I slid a micro-tracker into the lining of his coat. Then I ran.
"Hey! Here!" I yelled at the creature. It turned. I went high, threw several nitrogen capsules down in a spread. The creature swung — one arm froze. I landed on the frozen arm, ran its length, raised both hands, and fired twin beams directly through its head.
"Marko! To me!" Wyndham's voice, from somewhere behind.
Every grain of sand in the site responded simultaneously — flowing away from us, rushing toward Wyndham. The mass rose around him, sealed him inside, compressed into a dense rolling sphere, and accelerated away at a speed that made me genuinely concerned about whether the man inside would survive.
I turned to Johnny. "You good?"
He brushed off the last of the sand. "Yeah. Wounded pride, mostly. Losing to a sandcastle is not exactly a highlight."
I nodded. Then I looked toward the beams.
Felicia had taken a tooth out with one kick and put Jessica down with a combination that ended with a bola around the beam and Drew tied fast to it. Jessica strained. Felicia stepped forward, cracking her knuckles.
"Next time you think about putting your tongue anywhere near my boyfriend," Felicia said quietly, "I will rearrange your face." She threw a punch that snapped Drew's head back against the beam.
Jessica went limp.
"I am making a permanent mental note," Johnny said softly, "never to make her angry."
"What in hell's name is going on here?!" A familiar voice rang out.
All three of us turned.
A SHIELD hover-jet was setting down at the far edge of the site. Its bay doors were already open. Fury strode out with Cap and approximately a dozen field agents behind him.
Johnny looked around at the wreckage — the frozen sand, the wrecked van, the unconscious spider-powered woman zip-tied to a beam — and grinned.
"So. How much trouble are we in?"
Fury narrowed his eye at me. "A great deal. Start talking, kid. Leave nothing out."