Amazing Spider-Man: True Purpose

(Unknown Location)

Back in his base, somewhere in the middle of the ocean, Red Skull rushes into his laboratory with his S-Men hot on his tail. The man is holding the stump where his hand used to be and sweating profusely. He goes into the medical cabinet and rummages through it before he pulls out a bottle of pills. He struggles for a moment to open it with one hand before he just crushes the cap and pours it out onto a medical tray. He grabs a handful of pills and chugs them down before he collapses into an available chair.

'Where did it go wrong?' He wonders to himself as he waits for the painkillers to take effect. The pain of losing a hand is almost unbearable, but it's nothing compared to the taste of defeat when victory was all but assured, 'How was I defeated?'

"Herr Skull?" Insect calls out with trepidation and Schmidt looks to his S-Men with narrowed eyes, "What do you command, fuer?"

The former Hydra leader merely looks at his minions with derision. He gave them all the tools they needed to be a formidable force that would give the Avengers and X-Men trouble. He trained them to be better than them. But unfortunately, he forgot to account for some things.

'Spider-Man and those women.' He cannot understand how one man completely derailed his plans, 'Then again, that pest has a reputation for doing such things.'

Schmidt takes a breath through his nonexistent nose, "For now, rest and recover." He says as he gets up and goes over to better bandage his missing hand, "I will need you to be at your best. The Avengers and their allies may believe they have defeated me, but they underestimate what I am capable of."

"Well, we both know that's not true."

A voice only he is familiar with makes him and his minions turn to the other entrance of the medical room. His minions tense up and ready themselves to attack should the need arise. Red Skull however only tenses because he knows who this intruder is.

The intruder smiles evilly at the one-handed man, "Hello Schmidt."

Skull stays silent for a moment before he says, "Get out." The command was directed to his minions but they hesitate in leaving their leader alone with this mysterious person. Seeing this, Skull gets angry, "NOW!"

They lower their hands and immediately leave. When the last of them leave the room, Skull stands on his feet, lowers his head in respect, and says, "Lord Mephistopheles. This is unexpected."

The Master of Lies walks closer to the deformed man, "Is it?" He sarcastically asks before he looks at the injured part of Skull and puts on an act of concern, "Oh dear, what happened there?"

Shmidt looks at his missing hand and holds it closer, "A minor setback. Once I recover and gather the proper resources then me and my S-Men shall return to finish what we started." He states with assurance as he looks the demon lord in the eyes, "I will fulfill my end of our agreement."

Yes. His deal with Mephistopheles. In hell, Johann Shmidt had endured the most cruel forms of torture that was committed in the pit. The former Hydra leader had wailed and screamed for what felt like centuries. He had finally received a reprieve when the lord of that section of hell approached him with an offer to leave the pit and return to the land of the living. The conditions were ones Skull did not mind. Retrieve the mind of Charles Xavier, combine it with his own, and do what comes naturally to him. Now with the devil in front of him, Skull is worried that he is heading back to the pit for not keeping to his part of the deal.

"You've already done your part, Skull," Mephisto informs the man, surprising him, "I'm merely here to assure you of that." He then reaches into his jacket pocket to pull out something wrapped in a bloody piece of cloth, "And to bring you a gift."

Skull watches the demon lord unwrap the bloody gift and sees it's his missing appendage, "My hand?"

Mephisto nods as he tosses the severed hand to its owner, "I was passing by when I came across it. I had to overwatch you to ensure things went accordingly."

Connecting the meaning of his words with his actions, Skull gives him an accusing glare, "You did not expect me to succeed."

"No, I did not," Mephisto admits loftily. He sees the look the former dead man is giving him and smiles, "Come now Shmidt, you of all people should know, a deal with the devil is never straight as your kind would desire."

Shmidt knows that all too well as he touches his face. A part of the deal that wasn't required but was done nonetheless to him was to have his face permanently morphed into the Red Skull. No longer is he just wearing a mask. Now the face the world knows him best by is actually his face. He asked the devil why he did this and his response was simple and infuriating.

Because he felt like it.

But that is not the issue now. The problem is him uncovering what it is the demon lord before him, is after.

"So what does this mean for me?" Red Skull questions him hoping to gauge something in the response.

Mephistopheles merely waves his hand dismissively, "Your life is yours to do with as you wish." He says before he walks away, "As I said, I'm merely here to assure you of that."

Skull does not like being dismissed. In his younger days, he was happy to serve a master with a vision that they shared. But now after all that he has accomplished, he serves no one else but himself. So with that thought, he tries to prod the mind of the Master of Lies to see what his true goal is.

But just as he grazes Mephistopheles' mind, he is flung across the room and pinned on the operating table he has Xavier's body on. Now the corpse falls to the floor as he lies on it with Mephistopheles's hand wrapped around his throat.

The angry demon squeezes the man's throat as he says, "Do not let that newfound power of yours go to your head, Schmidt. My mind is not like Odinson's. I am not as easy to read or control."

He releases Shmidt as the man coughs while he rubs his throat. Mephistopheles flicks his hand and the hand that Johann dropped flies into the demon's open hand. He then grabs the arm that it belongs to and presses it against the open wound. A fire is ignited and Red Skull screams in pain. After a few seconds, the fire goes out and Mephistopheles releases the man. The hand that was severed is now reattached. He gives the man a hard look before he vanishes into a pillar of fire. Leaving the man who he had made a deal with to stew.

Johann did in fact let the power he now possesses go to his head. Controlling the mind of a god like Thor made him believe that Mephistopheles would be just as susceptible. He was a fool to think so. Mephistopheles is clearly in a different league than the Norse god. Life and death are aspects the devil can manipulate while Thor can only control the weather with a hammer.

Though now that he thinks of it, there were three others, humans, who did not fall under his sway.

"Spider-Man and his female companions." He mutters to himself as he wipes the sweat from his face. He sits up while he cradles his arm that just had the appendage reattached and rubs his throat with his other hand, "Why were they different?"

A pointless question to be asking since he knows little to nothing about Spider-Man despite his encounters with him. And he has never encountered the two women that stood with him. Though he had heard rumors of a notorious thief that was associated with the arachnid. She liked to wear leather and had a cat theme. He will have to gather information. He has heard many of the hired thugs over the years speak of Spider-Man and how the man seemed to be involved in stopping many nefarious affairs.

Yes. Spider-Man was often a topic of discussion when he overheard the hired help speak of who they would likely encounter in their activities. When in New York the most likely culprit always seemed to be Spider-Man. It did not matter if they were working for Kingpin, AIM, or his Hydra. Spider-Man seemed to get involved in their activities.

As he thinks about this, he can't help but wonder if it is a coincidence that Spider-Man was at the center of something Mephistopheles concocted.

(Streets of New York)

The battle against the Red Skull, his S-Men, and the mind-controlled heroes and denizens of New York was hard fought. Most of the ones that fought against them are fortunate to have a few bumps and bruises. Rogue got a few cracked ribs from fighting Captain Marvel. Wanda and Hope sport only a few singed marks on their clothes and a bruise on Wanda's cheek from their fight with Thor. Havok has a black eye and his uniform is torn up from his fight with the police. And Iron Man's armor is dented with a few missing pieces courtesy of his fight with Spider-Man.

Wolverine definitely looks the worst of the bunch. The Goat-Faced Girl shutting off his powers made it hard for him to deal with the swat members that attacked him. He has an eye swollen shut and plenty of cuts and bruises but it's all mending itself thanks to his healing factor returning.

Spider-Man, who still has Captain America's shield on his back, looks no worse for wear. The man is going around and helping people off the rooftops, who got put up there courtesy of Black Cat and Sonja. A lot of the heroes were impressed at how well the man handled himself in a leadership position. Granted all he really did was tell them who to deal with while he went directly for Skull, but still.

"What did we do?"

A random citizen starts to ramble, grabbing all the heroes' present attention. This starts a trend as all the citizens start to ramble on too.

"We did this. We killed so many of them."

"There was so much blood."

"She kept asking me to stop. Why didn't I stop?"

Having heard enough, Alex Summers steps up and announces, "You didn't do this." All the people go quiet as he continues to speak, "This was all on Red Skull. He made you do this. You were all helpless under his control. Even Thor and Captain America, the best among us, couldn't fight against his influence."

The people start to feel some sense of relief in knowing that even great heroes like the two Avengers were unable to fight against such an influence.

"You're wrong."

But that relief stops when a single voice speaks out. All the heroes and citizens turn their attention to Spider-Man as he continues to guide a woman and her child to a man who has a knife wound on his gut.

Rogue, who is livid at the man for saying that about Alex's speech, steps past the crowd and towards Spider-Man and says, "What'd you just say?"

He turns away from the group he was helping and he calmly responds to the angry southern woman, "I said he's wrong." He steps past her as he begins to address the crowd, "Skull didn't make anyone here do something they already didn't want to do. I felt what he was doing. And trust me I know the difference between mind control and manipulation. He just brought out what was already inside of you all. That anger and resentment that you all have for mutants."

The crowd reacts with some shock at being blatantly called out on their prejudice. Some of them don't believe him because they don't outwardly hate mutants, while others don't like that the Queensborn hero is calling them out like this.

"It's not something you all want to hear," Spider-Man continues, "But it does need to be said. Skull sent Avalanche to attack the city to get you all scared. Because he knew that in your fear, you would be angry at the mutants. And that anger, he was able to mold into hate."

While the crowd remains silent at this, Alex turns to someone who he believes to be the most honest person around, and asks the question he hopes proves Spider-Man wrong, "Is that true, Steve?"

Captain America regards Havok for a moment before he looks down in shame, "After everything that's been happening lately, I won't lie and say there isn't some anger and resentment I have towards you all. Not over Avalanche's attack, because as Spider-man said Skull was behind that, but our fight against each other." Steve looks up at the Summers brother with an adamant expression, "But that doesn't mean I'm not trying my best to move past it all."

Alex looks the man in the eye and sees he means what he says. He does want to improve relations between the X-Men and Avengers. And the team he's forming is the best way to go about it. Today proves that. The two hero teams need to unite together.

But while Alex is hearing what Captain Rogers is saying, Rogue cannot believe what she is hearing. Captain freakin' America is actually saying he still has some anger against the X-Men. She doesn't even understand what he means in the part where he said he's trying to move past it all. What does he have to move past? The man was just as responsible for the war between X-Men and Avengers, yet he's got the nerve to be upset with them.

And what does he or any of the other Avengers have to be mad over? Spider-Man dying? The guy is standing in the middle of the street telling Alex that he doesn't know what he's talking about. Rogue has half a mind to punch the guy on principle.

Logan meanwhile has some similar feelings as Rogue but is more understanding. He knows his friends don't hate him and his people. Maybe dislike, but not hate. He looks at the other Avenger he believed would not have anything against mutants, "Thor?"

Thor nods while he keeps his face blank and responds, "Aye. What the Man of Spiders says is true. Though most of my anger resides with those who held me and my fellow Avengers prisoners, I cannot say that I do not fault all those who stood with them."

Logan and Rogue frown at this. Rogue has more of a reason to feel guilty over this. She may not have been a hundred percent on board with what they were doing to the heroes they captured she didn't speak up because she still thought they were doing more good than bad. She and so many others truly believed that ending wars and making sure the whole world plays nice to each other certainly made up for holding a few heroes in mind prisons and others in a mountain where hell worms slowly ate away their souls.

'Then again, if it was the other way aroun', you'd be pissed too, girl.' Rogue's traitorous conscience tells her. Making her grit her teeth in frustration. She turns her sights to the man she currently holds a lot of anger towards, "Why weren't you affected?"

It came out a little harsher than she meant it to, and Sonja, Black Cat, and Captain Marvel don't seem to be happy about it if their glares are anything to go by, but Spider-Man isn't bothered by it. He just simply says, "Because I don't hate them. Or anyone else for that matter."

That makes everyone, the civilians and heroes, look at him questioningly and Wanda asks what they are all wondering, "You not mad over what happened? Here and…"

She leaves the question hanging in the air and Spidey gets the unasked part as he responds, "Not really. I mean hey, what happened to me happened and I don't hold any grudges. But more to the point," he looks at the crowd, "I don't hate anyone because I was raised believing that hatred is a weak emotion." Everyone is stunned by this proclamation as he continues, "You hate mutants because you're mad at them for making you feel afraid. And you're afraid of what they can do. I don't blame you for that. It's okay to be afraid. But it's not okay to blame them for something that is out of their control."

A random civilian, from Brooklyn, speaks up and says, "D'ey almost burnt da world down tah save deir kind. But da world waz better off without dem."

Spider-Man sees and hears some of the people mutter in agreement while others don't say anything but look away from the man.

Spider-Man looks at the man and says, "Look, I can go into so many details about why the world wasn't better without mutants, but instead I'll ask you a simple question." He gives the man his full attention, "Why hate them?"

The man stands determined as he states, "Dey ain't like us normal peoplez."

"Define normal." Spider-Man challenges, "An average joe who works nine to five? Guess what? Plenty of mutants try to do just that but are still hated because they're mutants. So what, because they aren't genetically the same as us?"

The man's resolve begins to waiver, "I-I don' know. I mean, I don't mean like you or Captain America, I mean you guyz choose ta be heroez and do da world a lot of good."

"And that is what we choose to do." Spidey points out, "But not everyone with powers or abilities chooses to be a hero. Some of them just want to live normal lives." He shakes his head to not get off track, "But back to your original point. You said you hate them because they're different. But they didn't choose to be mutants. They were born with it. So again I ask, why hate them for it? What good comes out of it?" The man stays silent and Spider-Man gestures to the destruction around him, "Look around you. Look at what hatred gets you. All of this death and destruction. And for what? For one man's hatred of an entire group of people. You think he won anything today? Cause he didn't. He just showed how weak he is. He had this great power, and all he can do with it is cause misery and pain. Never once in all of history, has hatred ever accomplished anything good."

"So what?" Another civilian, a woman, speaks up, "We're just supposed to swallow our anger and live in fear."

Spider-Man takes a breath and tells her, "No." his voice adopts a sort of soft but still loud tone, "When you hate, you're hurting. And you want to hurt the thing that's hurting you. You think by doing so, some good or some satisfaction that will stop the hurt will come out of it. But that's not true. No matter how much you want it to be, it'll never be true." He can see some people doubt his words, so he points to the people he pulled down, "Look at that woman. She was attacked while she was protecting her child. Red Skull could not make her hate her own daughter. That man lying down over there got stabbed while defending them. He is a total stranger to them." Everyone looks at the aforementioned people. Spider-Man didn't even ask them how they got hurt, the woman just went on about how that man saved her and her child from the crazy mob, "So many other people, good people died today and you all feel guilty. And now you hate yourselves for it, right?"

The people look down in shame and regret. Nobody says anything as they accept the truth that their local hero is telling them. They do hate themselves. Red Skull may have been pushing them to act on their anger, it was still their anger and hatred that he used.

A voice from the crowd, one Spider-Man doesn't see the source of but definitely recognizes, asks him what they are all wondering, "How do you not hate?"

Spider-Man thinks about his answer for a second and honestly answers, "By trying to do some good." He sees a few people look at him with surprise, "You don't need to save the world to do good. Just make one person's day better. Or even make them feel better. Believe me, those kinds of actions can go a long way."

With that said he walks away from the center of the crowd to check up on the man he pulled down. As he gets there, a woman steps out of the crowd, "Wait," she says as she goes to kneel by the man with the wound, "I'm a doctor." Spider-Man watches as she examines the wounded man before she looks at him, "I have a medical bag in the trunk of my car. It's the turned-over blue Honda."

Spider-Man nods and leaps over to the car she was gesturing to. As he reaches it, Thor steps up and stands beside him, and places a hand on his shoulder, "Allow me."

Spider-Man nods and watches Thor flip the car right side up before he pries the trunk open easily. He reaches and pulls out a black bag that has a stethoscope hanging out of it and hands it over to Spider-Man, "I heard from Tony and Steve that you are leading a new team of Avengers." The Norse god brings up, "It would be a great honor to be a part of it if you'll have me."

Spider-Man smiles and takes the bag off his hands, "If you're willing to let me swing that hammer of yours now and then, then definitely."

Thor smiles before he places a hand on the shorter hero's shoulder, "I think my hammer is too much for you."

Spider-Man's amused smile drops as he furrows his brows underneath his mask at the Norse gods' choice of words. The man doesn't even wait for a rebuttal as he steps back before he twirls his hammer and flings it up and flies into the air. But he doesn't fly away and instead begins to pull people off the rooftops.

Spider-Man then starts to see all the people around start to help clean up. A lot of them work together to flip the cars back over, others start to pick up rubble and form piles, and a few just choose to walk away. He goes to hand the bag over to the woman, who takes it and begins to patch the man up.

"Nice speech."

Captain America's voice makes Spidey turn around and see him walking with Iron Man, Captain Marvel, and Havok beside him. Spider-Man becomes a bit bashful at the paise and rubs the back of his head, "Thanks. I uh kind of made that up on the spot."

The three Avengers smile at the embarrassed hero before Steve's smile drops and he looks down despondently, "I wish that what you said wasn't true. But it was. Skull got in my head and brought out the worst in me."

"We all have a dark side, Steve," Spider-Man tells him, "Whether we choose to act on it, tells us if we're good or not."

Tony lifts up his faceplate and gives the younger man a bemused smile, "You just can't stop, can you? I'm gonna make you my speech writer."

"Pay me enough and you got yourself a monkey with a typewriter."

And the smiles are back again as they roll their eyes at his attempt at humor. And while they are doing that, Spider-Man sees two women he really needs to talk to standing not too far off. One sitting on a car that's on its side while the other is leaning on it.

"'Scuse me a sec," he says to them before he starts to walk away. But as the arachnid-themed hero does so, Captain America loudly clears his throat. Spider-Man stops and looks at him questioningly, "What?"

Rogers just raises his eyebrows at him and holds out his open hand.

Spidey gives a blank stare in return, "What? You want me to lend you some money?"

The other heroes smile at this. Everyone present knows what Rogers wants. Even Spider-Man. He's just playing dumb but Steve isn't having it. The man doesn't say anything and just keeps his hand out.

"You want to give me a high five? Cause Steve you're supposed to hold up your hand.'

Again, Rogers doesn't smile and just keeps his hand out with an expectant look on his face.

Seeing that his ploy isn't working, Spider-Man asks childishly, "You don't have a spare or something?"

Steve simply shakes his head no.

"C'mon~, you can get T'challa to make you another one. A better one even."

No response from the good Captain.

"Tony can make you one made out of-"

"Spider-Man."

The younger hero drops his head while he lets out a disappointed groan as he reluctantly takes the shield off his back. He caresses it for a moment before he hands the iconic shield back to its rightful owner.

As Steve places it on his back, Spider-Man looks at it forlornly and asks, "Does she have a name?"

Steve and the others give him bizarre looks, "What?"

"A name. You know like Lucy. Or Matilda. Or Barbara."

"Why would I name it?"

"You've had it for this long. How could you not?"

The other heroes stare at the spandex-wearing goof before Tony and Havok get contemplative looks.

"In a weird way he's got a point," Tony says as Alex nods in agreement, "I mean I named all of my armors and most don't really last long."

Steve gives his friend a side look, "I'm not naming my shield."

The two start to bicker, while Spider-Man sneaks away to talk to two women he was heading for in the first place. His departure is noticed by one person.

Carol stares at his back as he stops in front of Sonja and Black Cat. He seems to say something to them before both women nod at him. He then starts spraying some of his webbing on them, which kind of weirds Carol out a little. She wonders what he's doing, but as she does so her mind drifts to something else.

His death really affected her. More than she wants to say. The other night when her good friend Jessica Drew invited her over for a girls' night, that consisted of them binging on ice cream and cheesy rom-coms, that woman decided to pry some more about Carol's feelings regarding Spider-Man. Carol was tempted to just bail but chose not to. And though she did not divulge everything, she did give enough to let Jessica know that she had feelings for the trouble magnet of a hero.

When he died, Jessica was there to see Carol breaking down in tears. She was there to make sure Carol did not go off the reserve and hunt down the people that killed him. Or their friends. And she was there to make sure Carol did not go back to her old habits. Which was her drowning her pain with bottles of alcohol. Fortunately, she did have a way to vent her anger by fighting against the people who were responsible for his death. Scott and Emma and the very few who stayed on their side. Though the blonde heroine was disappointed that Rogue wasn't one of the few who stayed with Scott.

'Definitely would have felt really good to knock that bitch around.' Carol thinks as she turns her attention to the source of her dark thoughts. The southern girl is talking with Logan, but she is sending the occasional dirty look in Spider-Mans direction. 'The hell is her problem with him?'

Actually, Carol can guess what her issue is with the Queensborn hero. And if she's right, and if Rogue is on the team Spider-Man will be leading…

"So this team of his," Carol 'casually' brings up, making the two grown men cease their bickering, "Who's on it?"

Steve gestures to Havok, "On the X-Men's side Alex, Logan, and Rogue. And I think Hope too maybe."

Not surprised by this, Carol just nods and then asks, "What about our side?"

"Thor and Wanda," Tony answers this time while he crosses his arms, "Not a lot of our friends seem to think it a good idea for ole Webhead to be leading a team."

Carol can understand that. Though the man may be a great hero, his style of heroism is not a common type. Most heroes are grim and serious types. Spider-Mans joking nature tends to make most heroes, hell everyone really, think he doesn't take what he does seriously.

'But they don't know him.' Carol looks to the hero on her mind and sees him still spraying his webbing on the two women. "What about those two?"

The three men beside her look to the hero and his company and Tony says, "I don't know about Miss Hardy, but I think Sonja will be on reserve."

Carol frowns at this before she looks over to where Rogue is standing by with Logan. She feels like that woman will cause nothing but trouble if left unchecked. Even with people she trusts on the team, like Logan and Wanda, that will barely deter Rogue from being a total B to Spider-Man because he's alive and XXavier isn't.

So with that thought, Carol says, "Well sign me up too."

The three men raise their eyebrows at her, "Seriously?"

Carol nods her head at Rogue and simply says, "I don't trust them."

Havok gets an affronted look. Steve sees this and looks back at his fellow captain, "Carol-"

"Listen," she interrupts him before he gets another word out and points to Rogue, "That southern bitch is pissed at the Webhead. Likely cause he's here instead of Xavier. And chances are there are plenty of other X-Men who likely feel the same."

Alex thinks about her words for a second before he says, "She's not wrong. Plenty of X-Men do hold resentment against him. I mean, I wouldn't go so far as to say they hate him, but definitely mad that he's alive over Xavier."

Steve sags his shoulders and sighs, "I know." He says while he rubs the back of his neck, "It would be easier to have Alex lead the team."

"Do you want to take the easy route?" Tony rhetorically asks.

And the reason why it's rhetorical is because he knows his friend too well. He will not back down when it comes t doing the right thing. Tony explained all the reasons why it would be best to have Spider-Man lead the team over Alex Summers. From him dying to show he has no hostility towards the mutant population to his good, and frankly better compared to the Avengers, relationship with the X-Men.

And these reasons are enough to make Steve shake his head and stick to his decision, "No. This is the best way to move forward."

Tony gives his friend a teasing smile, "It is so weird that we agree on something. Next thing you know, you'll be agreeing with me that having everyone wearing armor like me is a good idea."

Steve gives him a flat look, "Don't count on it."

"I'll convince you yet my star-spangled man with a plan.

"Do not start that again."

Carol decides that this is a good point for her to walk away. She also decides to head to where Spider-Man and his female companions are. He is by a car on its side and checking on Sonja and Black Cat as the two seem to be pretty bruised up. Their fight with Captain America took its toll. He sprays some of his natural webbing on Felicia's head. Sonja has some wrapped around her shoulder.

Carol walks by a few people who are helping others and cleaning up the streets. She eventually gets close enough to overhear his conversation with the two ladies he is with.

"…got to be the dumbest thing I've ever heard," Felicia says as she looks at the spandex-wearing hero in front of her.

"It's a guy thing." Spidey responds lightly while he finishes up spraying his webbing on her head, "We name things and have a tendency to give them girl names. I'm not sure why, but it's been said it's because, in a primal sense, we see women as property."

Carol raises an eyebrow at the back of the younger hero, as said hero receives mild glares from the two women, and wonders why the hell would he even say something like that.

"Do you ever think before you speak?" Carol voices the question the two women are thinking from behind him.

Spider-Man turns and is a little surprised by her, "Carol?"

"Spider." She greets him before turning her sights to the two women, "Sonja. Black Cat."

They both nod and greet her back, "Ms. Marvel."

"I'm actually going by Captain Marvel now." She informs them. She raises a brow at how much webbing they have on them, "So is there gonna be a uniform requirement to join the team or is this something you do with girls?"

Sonja and Felicia smirk in his direction, "Well-"

"No," Spider-Man firmly says to her, making the two giggle and Captain Marvel smirk in amusement since there might be some truth in her words, and then says to Carol, "It's nothing like that. My natural webbing can heal people if I want it to."

Now she raises an eyebrow at him, "Since when can you do that?

"Since I came back to life." He casually responds with a shrug, "I just recently learned about it when a spider bit me and showed me in my head."

Carol gives him a weirded-out expression, as do Sonja and Black Cat behind him but he doesn't see, and says, "That is the dumbest explanation for getting superpowers I've ever heard. Not to mention lazy."

He subtly looks past her and gives a flat look, "I know." (What?) He says before he looks back at the Kree hybrid, "But at least it came in handy."

"I'll say." Black Cat speaks up as she tenderly touches her head, "Captain America may be a Boy Scout, but he sure doesn't hit like one."

Carol looks at the scantily leather-clad thief and comments, "Maybe if you didn't wear so much leather, you'd have stood a better chance."

Black Cat stops touching her head and slightly narrows her eyes at the blonde heroine, "Superheroing isn't really my thing sweetheart." She states in her defense, "I do the occasional good job every once in a while, but I tend to avoid these kinds of situations for a reason."

Spider-Man gives his ex an appraising look, "You know, I'm impressed," he says, "Not a lot of people can say they fought Captain America and won."

As Felicia tenderly touches the area around her head his webbing is on, Sonja asks, "Does that include you?"

Spidey shakes his head, "No. I've beaten him. Even when he had Catherine."

All three women look at him curiously, "Catherine?"

"His shield." He explains.

Sonja and Carol roll their eyes, getting what he's doing, while Cat asks, "He calls it Catherine?"

"I'm gonna convince him to." He tells her and all three women roll their eyes at this. He turns to Carol, "Anyway, you need something from me?"

Remembering the reason she wanted to talk to him, she says, "Just came over to tell you the good news. I'll be on the new team you'll be in charge of. "

"Oh?" Spider-Man looks at the blonde heroine curiously, "And why would you do that?"

Captain Marvel merely shrugs and gives him a playful smile, "Someone needs to watch your tight behind, other than for obvious reasons."

Spider-Man tilts his head in genuine confusion, "What obvious reasons?"

Carol's playful smile drops and she gives him a flat look. She turns her sights to the redhead who gives a flat smile and she nods at her. Basically conveying 'Yeah~, he's dumb.'

Carol looks back at the hero who is still confused by her words, "You're lucky you're smarter in other areas." She tells him before she floats up, "I'm gonna go help the others."

The three of them see the woman fly up and get more people down from the rooftop. As she does this, Black Cat shifts her attention to Spider-Man and raises a curious eyebrow at him, "You're gonna be leading a team?"

"Yeah," he says, "I felt it best to start working more with others. And what better way than to lead a team that is meant to show unity between mutants and non-mutants?"

Sonja/Mary Jane smiles at this. The supermodel always said he needed to work with others more often, if only so that not every problem that happened fell to him to fix. And now with him leading a team, it might make his life a little easier.

Or harder if his Parker Luck has anything to do about it.

And while the redhead is thinking about the possible benefits, Felicia is thinking about the problems that come along with him being a leader. One in particular. "Aren't you worried about Jameson and his rag?" Hardy asks him.

"Actually, he was interviewing me yesterday before me and Sonja went to stop Avalanche," Spider-Man informs her. He then dismissively shrugs, "And I kind of revealed my identity to him."

"WHAT?!" Felicia's shocked shout grabs the attention of almost everyone nearby. Spidey quickly shushes her but the woman barely keeps her voice low as she continues, "You told the guy, who hates you so much that he created villains to kill you, who you are?!"

He sheepishly scratches his cheek as he says, "I mean, I wouldn't put it that way."

"Why?" She asks in bewilderment.

"Well he's not like Kingpin so-"

"I mean, why tell him?"

He sighs as he explains his reasons to her and the two others, "Because A) Like I said, this team I'll be leading is also a way to symbolize unity between mutants and non-mutants. So some favorable media coverage and having a politician who used to hate me now like me is a great way to make sure the team gets off on the right foot. And B) I needed to change some things in my life for the better. Truth is, I should have trusted Jameson a while ago. Like before he became mayor."

The second lesson that he got from his Uncle Ben during the trial was that he should trust more. Trusting Jameson was an incredibly risky move. The consequences would be dire if Jonah decided to hate him even more now since he now knows Peter has been lying to him for so many years. But it could also be a huge boon for the arachnid-themed hero, in that it's one less enemy to deal with. It could have gone either way but Peter likes to think he knows the man well enough at this point in his life to see he's a better man than even he gives himself credit for.

And while Peter is musing on this, Felicia is worried that the man in front of her is too trusting as usual.

"So does he still hate you?" Hardy asks him, hoping to poke a hole in his plan to protect him.

He shrugs and answers with, "I don't know. We didn't finish the interview because of the attack." He then looks to the dozens of people that are cleaning up the streets and even helping put out the fires, trying to find one person that he knows is or was in the crowd, "But I get the feeling he's gonna wanna finish it now."

That voice that asked him the last question. He'd recognize it anywhere. It's been yelling at him for years, so it wasn't hard.

Understanding what he means, Sonja says, "So, you're heading back to the mansion."

Spider-Man nods in confirmation, "As soon as I finish helping out here." He then looks at the redheaded warrior woman and asks, "See you later?"

Sonja shifts her eyes to Felicia for a moment before she looks at her and her hosts' shared romantic partner and says, "We will."

He gives her a small smile underneath his mask before he looks at his ex. He gets a little uncomfortable as he says, "I still want to finish that conversation."

Black Cat gets nervous at him saying that as she turns her head away, "Kind of freaked me out with the big reveal. It was a lot to take in all at once."

He feels guilty and shows this by lowering his sights to the ground, "Sorry. It's just… there are so many things I want to make right. And with you… well there's a lot."

Black Cat finally does look at him and sees that he means it. And it fills her heart with so much joy. To know that there is someone who cares for her so much, despite knowing the kind of person she is.

Black Cat takes in a breath to steady her heart and says, "Still need to figure some things out myself."

Spider-Man nods in understanding, "Well until then, I'll just say this," he pauses for a second before he waves his hand at her, "Bye, Felicia."

He then proceeds to walk away and Hardy can't resist not smiling as she shakes her head at him, "Why is that still funny coming from him?"

Sonja smiles as well as eyes the platinum blonde watching his retreating form. The amount of affection in her eyes tells the warrior that the thief is more enamored than humored. Something that she and Mary Jane can understand.

"We still have to finish that conversation." MJ reminds Sonja. She nods and speaks to the thief, "We still have to talk."

Black Cat looks at the fierce redhead with a hint of worry. She then closes her eyes and sighs, "Yeah." She says before she gets off the car she was on and turns to Sonja, "But as much as a night owl as I am, I don't feel like going to the park after all this. My place?"

Sonja thinks about it for a moment before Mary Jane reminds her of a plan they concocted together. "No," she says as she shakes her head, "We need to retrieve something from ours. Let's meet somewhere."

They set the meeting place and then they depart. Both are not sure if they are looking forward to the conversation. And both have different reasons for feeling this way.

Back with Spider-Man, as he helps more people down from the rooftops with Captain Marvel and Iron Man's help, he can't help but ask, "So what's the casualty count?"

He knows he shouldn't hear it. It'll make him feel guilty if he does. But it's his stupid compulsive nature that makes him ask.

"From all the reports," Iron Man informs him as he flies down with two women, "Exactly, one hundred people died today."

'And there it is,' Spider-Man grimly muses as his heart clenches at the high number of deaths while he makes a pulley system with a net to help bunches of people down to the ground, 'The guilt of me not doing enough. Even though I was moving faster than ever. But not too fast where I could have potentially killed someone with whiplash. Yet even with that I'm still gonna beat myself up over this.'

And while Spider-Man is in his head, Carol can see he is making facial expressions to show he's doing that. 'Somehow.' She, like many other heroes, wonders how he is able to show his facial expressions through his mask, 'Seriously, that thing is just spandex.'

But as much as she would like to ask she'll instead focus on why he's making those faces, "You okay?"

Spider-Man gets out of his head and looks at her, "Hm?" He says before the question registers, "I'm fine."

Noticing he's just trying to play it off, Captain Marvel furrows her brow at him, "You sure?"

He lets out a sigh as his net touches the ground and people unload, "Just feeling guilty." He says with a shrug, "I can't help it. I feel like I could have done more."

Tony flies back up in time to hear this and says with an incredulous tone, "Are you kidding me? You were all over the place. From reports, you saved hundreds of people from your trip here from the mansion."

Spider-Man nods but is still downtrodden, "Yeah but I'm not like I used to be. I'm stronger and faster. I can do more now."

"You mean like your webs that can patch people up anytime you want?" Carol points out.

"I wouldn't go that far. It does take its toll on me if I run out. Which is why I'm not all over the place patching everyone else up."

"You can run out?"

He nods as he thinks about it. The webbing inside him is not unlimited. Like real spiders, he has a set amount based on the sustenance he uses to make it. This was discovered after the testing he went through with Reed, Tony, and Hank McCoy. The physical aspect is much like in real spiders, in which he needs nutrients to make the webs. Fortunately, he can still eat whatever he wants and his body converts the proteins and other stuff into the necessary components to make his natural web fluid. But what they did not discover that he did, was that the web can heal but only if he has enough tantric energy to do so. And again, while he has an abundance of tantric energy, he needs to keep enough in store for when the Phoenix awakens. So he will have to severely limit how and when he uses this newfound ability.

As he thinks about this some more, he thinks about what Julia said back at the mansion. She said he should be learning more about what he can do now since he came back. New powers and increased abilities. And that's just what comes with his spider powers. He doesn't even know what will happen when the Phoenix hatches.

In truth, he was going to do it like he usually does and just wing it. But after the events of today, and really looking into his overall tenure as a hero, he knows he needs to do better. So he will have to do it like a lot of other heroes do it.

He will have to train.

'Huh. Buying the mansion for no reason suddenly pays off.' He muses as he realizes he can use the place's training facility more exclusively.

"Spidey," Iron Man calls out to him, "Even if that is the case, you still did plenty. Don't beat yourself up over what you could've done."

He appreciates the sentiment but it does little to soothe his guilt. So with a shrug he says, "It's my thing, Tony. I beat myself up over this because I have to. I need to be better. And if I don't feel like I could have done more then…"

Getting what he is implying, Tony decides to move on, "Well, you'll probably get your chance. You may have driven Red Skull out, but let's be honest, he'll be back. That guy is like herpes. He comes back with a vengeance."

Spider-Man and Captain Marvel look at him bizarrely as Carol asks, "Why not like cancer? Cancer is worse."

"I don't know much about cancer. Never had it."

The implications of that statement make both heroes reel back aghast.

Tony doesn't see their expressions as he is reminiscing. He stays silent for a few seconds before he continues, "…Anyway, with him somehow fusing his mind with Chuck, we can guess what Red Skull will continue to try to do. Get more followers and manipulate more people into joining his cause."

"Considering what happened here today, you can bet there will be plenty of supporters." Carol points out as they look at the fires and destruction the city underwent.

Spider-Man puts the pieces together and says, "That's why he sent Avalanche to attack in the first place. He needed people to be afraid of the mutants. And he knew that fear would turn to anger. And that anger into hate."

Carol furrows her brows before she raises one questioningly at him, "Star Wars?"

"You can't argue with the logic behind it."

Tony nods in agreement, "Well, there's no doubt in my mind you can handle it, Webhead."

Spider-Man feels a little happy in hearing this, "Really?"

"Well I mean there's a little bit of doubt," Tony says, making whatever good feelings leave the arachnid-themed hero, "But that mostly stems from the logical side of my brain." The billionaire starts to fly away as he finishes, "I do have complete faith in you though."

They both watch him fly away as Spider-Man says, "Thanks?"

He doesn't know if he should feel complimented or insulted.

Carol decides to better assure the hero beside her, "If it makes you feel better, I have faith you'll do a great job."

Good feelings are back. He smiles appreciatively at the blonde heroine, "Thank you. I mean I know I'm feeling guilty, but I think I did a good job in leading a team." He recalls two particular actions he did during the battle. "And not to brag," he says with a very braggy tone, "But I had Caps shield and hit Thor with his hammer."

Carol was halfway rolling her yes when he said he used Captain America's shield but stops when he says he used Thor's hammer. "Wait," she says in awe in her voice, "You swung Thor's hammer?"

A huge proud smile comes overtakes his face as he puffs up his chest, "I swung Thor's hammer."

Not believing him she simply says, "Bull."

"No, it's true! The girls they-dammit. Where'd they-You know what? Thor. He saw me. Thor! Thor! Come here a sec!"

Carol grins at the webswinger as he leaps into the air to grab the God of Thunder's attention. Yeah, she has faith he'll be a great leader. An unorthodox one to be sure, but a great one. And she'll be there to watch his back.

(Flatiron Building)

Back where she was when her former beau told her he loved her and revealed who he is, Black Cat sans her mask sits on the edge of the building with her feet dangling off with Mary Jane by her side. The redhead had arrived in her warrior form a few minutes after her with a duffel bag in hand. She did not reveal the contents and instead reverted to her normal self and began telling Hardy about her situation with Sonja.

"So Xena is a warrior spirit that is inside of you?"

Mary Jane rolls her eyes, but still smiles, "You know we're getting pretty tired of hearing that same joke over and over again."

"Spider?" Cat amusingly questions the obvious.

Mary Jane smirks as she shakes her head and says, "Oddly enough no. Everyone else seems to be making that joke except him."

Cat blinks in genuine surprise, "Wow, that is surprising. You'd think he would be all over it."

"Right?"

They slip into a comfortable silence and just look out into the city. Looking at the smoke from the fires scattered all over rising into the sky as the sun is directly behind them. And though Felicia feels a little guilty for not going out to help more, she figures that there are enough people helping out. She suspects that MJ feels guiltier than her but she felt like she needed to have this conversation before something else crazy happened

"So how does it work?" Felicia questions curiously to avoid what they should be talking about, "I mean between you and him with her around. You said she is her own person. Does she go into a corner of your mind or watch?

Mary Jane can hear the teasing tone, but it's also hesitant. The woman next to her wants to avoid what they should be talking about. But the question she had asked is a perfect way to bring up what MJ wants to tell her. So she decides to take Sonja's approach and be blunt, "Actually she joins in."

"…what?"

Mary Jane does not feel hesitant in telling Felicia this. Maybe Sonja is influencing her more than she should be but she does not feel inclined to care right now. After the day they had she does not want to beat around the bush. "Yeah," MJ nods with an amused smile at Felicia's stumped look, "Sonja is a part of the relationship too." She frowns as she realizes something particular, "Although she seems to be more interested in just being involved in the physical part."

"For me it's the best part." Sonja shamelessly admits.

'There's more to a relationship than just sex.' Mary Jane argues.

But before they can continue Felicia speaks up and says, "I'm sorry. You mean that… you and she and he… that the three of you…" She is struggling to find the right words. What the redheaded model told her makes no sense to her. So she just goes with her original question, "What?"

Mary Jane for her part takes the thief's stupefaction in stride and tells her about her situation, "Okay. So a condition that has to be met in order for me to transform into Red Sonja is that we cannot be with a man that does not defeat her in battle. So I had a choice in getting rid of her or not by sleeping with him without letting Sonja fight him."

To Felicia that sounded dumb. Where was the logic in that? Why did the warrior woman have to fight Spider and lose in order to be with him? Why did Mary Jane let them fight? Logically speaking, the model wouldn't have gone for it and said goodbye to the warrior if it meant she could be with the hero. Then again when it comes to Spider-Man, logic is pretty much out the window for a lot of his life. There was obviously more to this.

"What?" Felicia says again but more questioningly than stupefied.

Mary Jane this time does struggle to explain because even she barely understands, "When Sonja was alive she received a blessing from a goddess that made her into a warrior. The goddess, who I do not know the name of, made the condition that Sonja cannot be with a man unless she is defeated in battle by said man."

She'd give more info if she had more but Sonja is still rather tight lipped. Even though the woman knows everything about Mary Jane. "I'm in your head. It's not my fault."

Felicia, unaware of this, just says, "And you let her fight him. And he won."

"Obviously."

"Okay?" Not fully understanding this, since this goes against everything she knows about the woman next to her, "That still doesn't really answer my question."

Mary Jane smiles a beautiful smile, "I love him, Felicia." She simply states, "And so does Sonja. See Sonja has been with me since the first time I picked up her sword years ago. So everything I've experienced, she has too. Including me falling in love with Peter. And before you ask, no she and I are not confusing our feelings. My feelings and her feelings are two separate things. She genuinely fell in love with him on her own. It's hard not to." Mary Jane turns her sights to the platinum blonde woman, "You of all people should understand that."

Felicia does not say anything. She does not know what to say. She just turns her head away from the redhead. Hoping that she doesn't ask what she asked earlier in the day.

"You know you never answered my question." Unfortunately her hopes are dashed out the window, "Do you love him?"

Felicia sighs. She was not looking forward to this. She lowers her head and recalls a memory from her younger days, "My dad told me once that when you love someone, truly love someone, they don't make you a better person, you do that yourself. They inspire you to be the best version of yourself. The one you don't think is in there, but they do. Because they can see past the mask that you put on for the world."

In Felicia's case, it's very literal. Mary Jane looks at the woman's domino mask. That mask and outfit is essentially who she wants to be all the time. She does not want to be Felicia Hardy. She wants to be the Black Cat. Mary Jane can understand that because she put on her own mask for a long time. And only two people her own age ever really saw past it.

Felicia takes a breath, closes her eyes, and confesses, "I love him." She doesn't see it but Mary Jane smiles at this confession, surprising hereself while Felicia continues, "I really do love him, Red. I love that goofball so much that it scares me." MJ can understand that, and understands the next part more so, "He sees this part of me that I don't see in myself. He's everything that I need in my life." Felicia opens her eyes and stares sadly down at her mask, "But I'm not what he needs in his."

Mary Jane lowers her head to be in Felcias peripheral vision and gently but firmly states, "That's not true."

"Isn't it?" Hardy sardonically asks as she glances at her, "Face it Red, I'm the bad girl in his life. I hate that that's what I am. But I don't see myself being anything else other than that." She looks at the redhead with some jealousy, "Especially not when he already has the perfect girl for him."

When Mary Jane hears that, she can't help but snort and then laugh. At first Felicia thought she was laughing at her, but then MJ explains, "Felicia I know exactly how you feel right now. Because I was in the exact same position you feel like you're in. I was the bad girl in his life at one point. The rebel party girl who did not let anything get her down." She gets a sad smile as she recalls a certain blonde, "Of course that was just a front. And the first person to ever see right through that wasn't him. It was her. Gwen Stacy."

The actual true love of Peter Parker's life. The woman that Mary Jane felt inadequate when compared too. But she doesn't resent her for it. If anything, she is inspired by her.

"This girl had it all." MJ closes her eyes and smiles as she remembers the blonde that was her best friend, "Looks, brains, and a heart of gold that made you believe the world was a better place with her in it. The perfect girl." Her smile turns a bit sad, "The one he was supposed to marry."

Felicia is a little stunned over this. She thought that Mary Jane was the girl Peter had always and will always love. But apparently there was someone else that was better than even her. The infamous thief is having a hard time imagining that, considering how amazing this woman is.

But MJ explains that too, "You think I'm the perfect girl for him. But I'm only like this because she's not here. She showed me how." Mary Jane turns to her and says something that shakes Felicia to her core, "And now I want to show you."

Shocked and confused by this declaration, Felicia looks at the redhead in bewilderment, "What? What are you-?

"Felicia." MJ interrupts her fully turns her body making her leg dangle off the edge, "You love him. I love him. Sonja loves him. And in case you didn't notice, Captain Marvel has her eyes on him. And she is not the only one."

Felicia still not fully understanding, or not really believing what she's hearing, slowly asks the woman, "What are you getting at?

"He loves me. And he loves you. And though he hasn't had much of a chance to be with her, I know he'll grow to love Sonja. He loves so easily." Realizing she is just beating around the bush, MJ shakes her head and just goes for it, "All of this is me trying to say, let's be with him."

"…Are you out of your mind?!" Felicia practically shouts as she looks at the model flabbergasted, "You want to-what? Share him?!"

Mary Jane, expecting this, calmly nods and responds with, "Yeah."

Felicia cannot believe what she is hearing. She did not believe the redhead when she said she and the warrior woman that's inside of her were with Spider-Man together. Now here the woman is, teling Hardy to be a part of it too.

"I-I don't know even how to respond to that!" Felicia eyes are wide as she tries to make sense of whats being proposed to her, "I-I mean I just-!"

"You just said you love him." Mary Jane interrupts her.

"Yeah okay sure! But that doesn't mean I'm okay with him being with other women too!

"Really?" MJ gets sarcastic and accusive, "Because he told me you had no problem being with other men when you two were a thing."

Felicia rolls her eyes in annoyance and says, "That was different. We weren't dating. We were just having fun."

"Were you having fun when you hooked up with Daredevil?" MJ throws another accusation at her.

Felicia huffs in aggravation, "Of course he'd tell you about that." She mutters before she says, "Nothing happened. The guy got a call and bailed before we went at it. And to be honest, I only tried to hook up with Hornhead to get at Spider for being a tool."

MJ nods, "I can understand that." Felicia raises an eyebrow at her and MJ clarifies, "Not specifically what you did, but definitely doing something to get back at Peter for him being stupid."

Though it was never his intention, Peter did things that made MJ want to throttle him. And it wasn't always Spider-Man stuff, though much of it was.

"Okay," MJ says as she slaps her thighs and stands, "I figured I needed to find a way to convince you beyond just words. So I have a plan." She grabs the duffel bag she got from her apartment, "We're going to the Avengers mansion."

Felicia gets perplexed and asks, "Why?"

"Cause that's where he'll be"

(Avengers Mansion)

Spider-Man exits out of the quinjet and onto the platform in the underground war room of his sometime home with Captain America, Iron Man, and Havok in tow. The area where they strategize and execute their plans. There is a large circular holographic computer that can seat up to twelve members. There is a waterway in case they need to head to the ocean and an armory is a few yards away from that.

The four of them head for the elevator and are conversing over a very important topic.

Naming Captain America's shield.

"What about Gretchen?" Spider-Man says.

"No."

"Gretel?" Tony says.

"No."

"Hannah?" Alex says.

"No."

This has been going on since they got in the quinjet. Spider-Man got the ball rolling and Tony, of course, decided to be a part of the fun when he saw how annoyed Steve was getting. Alex at first did not want to join in annoying Captain America, but even he saw how fun it was getting.

"Stella?" Spider-Man says as they enter the elevator.

"No."

"Francine?" Alex says.

"No."

Tony decides to point out the obvious when the doors to the elevator close, "You know we're not gonna let this go until you name the thing."

Not looking at any of them as he stands at the front of the group in the elevator, Steve says, "I have faith you'll all lose interest eventually."

"…Margaret. Or Maggy for short." Spider-Man says after a moment of silence.

Cap sighs in exasperation with a tired expression as he drops his head. He tried to steer the conversation into discussing the new team. When it would be official, who would be on it, and who was going to sponsor it. But all of that effort ended in vain because both Iron Man and Spider-Man were determined to annoy him for their amusement.

When they arrive at the ground floor, they get off and head for the kitchen. They go through the hallways while Spider-Man looks at the paintings and decor. Thinking he needs to put his own touch on the place to make it feel more homey for him.

When they enter the living room, Spider-Man sees someone he expected but still surprised to see, "Jonah?"

That's right. J. Jonah Jameson is standing in the living room of the famous hero team home. Just staring out of the window and looking at his city. The man looks rather unkempt and disheveled. His hair is a mess, his shirt is torn, and he looks to be covered in soot and grime.

Captain America, sensing some tension, glances at the other two men and says, "Let's give them some privacy."

Tony and Alex nod as Alex says, "Alright. I gotta get my stuff anyway. I'll move in on Monday."

Cap nods and then proceeds to walk out with the two men. Leaving Spider-Man and Jameson alone. Peter takes off his mask and enters the living room. He waits for his former boss to say something. He honestly doesn't know what to expect this time. So Peter will just wait for him to speak first.

Without turning to look at him, Jameson finally speaks and says, "Throughout my entire career as a journalist, I always stood by my gut when it told me right from wrong. I spoke up for civil rights for both black and mutant groups. I stood against corruption in politics. And if there was a way for me to expose the crime lords that ran rampant around this city, then I damn made sure to do so."

The man lowers his head with a sigh, "I love this city. It's my home. I've always done everything I can to protect it from those who would do harm to it." He turns around and looks directly at Spider-Man, "And it seemed like you always did more harm than good. All the collateral damage that was done in the wake of your battles. And you always played it off with a joke, making me think you didn't take it seriously."

Peter, for his part, takes what the older man is saying in stride. He figured that he would still have some stuff he needed to say. Maybe even the need to reiterate what he already said.

"But that wasn't true." Jameson lowers his head, showing humility, "I see that now. You love this city and the people in it. More than that, you value life. It's why you were so okay with a car getting totaled or a street getting torn up. Things can be replaced. A life can't be." He lifts his head back up and gives his former employee a hard look, "But even knowing that, I can't just get rid of all of this anger and hatred I have inside of me." Again, Peter figured as much, "I hated you for so long, saw you as a menace that hurt my city every day to satisfy this selfish need for attention and approval." Jameson closes his eyes and takes a breath, "But I know Peter Parker is not that kind of person. He is a kind young man who goes out of his way to help others. Flakey he may seem, but now it's obvious he's not. So I'm very conflicted about what I feel." He proceeds to walk around the couch and takes a seat on it, "I'm gonna give you this one chance. Just this one. If you don't convince me that you are a hero, then I will tell the whole world who you are.

Peter stands at the entryway for a second before he walks in, "I would say that's not fair, but considering everything…" He takes the couch opposite to Jameson, "I guess I got no room to complain."

Jameson nods, satisfied by this before he jabs his finger at the hero, "And you better take this seriously. No jokes and the whole truth."

Peter bites his lip to stop the joke that threatened to come out and just nods. Jameson nods once before he takes out the tape recorder and timer he brought with him the day prior.

He presses the recorder and asks, "How did you get your powers?"

Peter stays quiet. He bites his lips. Closes his eyes in a silent prayer before he says, "I was bitten by a radioactive spider."

Jameson gives him a flat look.

"I'm not kidding."

The flat look doesn't leave.

This is gonna be a long interview.

(Sanctum Sanctorum, Home of the Sorcerer Supreme)

In the library of the magical home, Doctor Stephen Strange meditates in the air. A glass of wine in his hand and his head resting in the other. His mind still reeling from the revelations given to him at the hands of Mephistopheles. He knows he shouldn't just take his word on it all, but he also knows that nothing he said could have been a lie. The demon lord made a pact to only tell Stephen the truth, but the sorcerer would not be surprised if the Master of Lies found a way to still lie to him. As impossible as it may seem.

"Stephen," Julia Carpenter's voice takes him out of his thoughts, making him realize he was very deep in them to not notice her presence. He tilts his head over to the side of his seat to see the seer of the Web of Life standing right behind him along with his friend Wong.

He stands and greets her, "Julia." He sets his glass down next to the small table before he looks at her curiously, "May I ask why you are here?"

The new Madam Web walks over to the available seat by the good doctor and plops herself down, "Peter told me what happened here," she tells him making him twitch, "What you did. A pact with the devil. Rather stupid all things considered."

Stephen takes a breath before he releases it, "It's not that simple."

"Is it ever?" Julia rhetorically questions him, "When Spider-Man is put in similar situations, he often makes choices that have significant consequences. When he is confronted, he always says it's not so simple," she gives a small pause to allow Strange to mull over his own hypocrisy on the hard time he's been giving the arachnid themed hero, "But I'm not here to accuse you. I'm here to hear your side of things."

Stephen regards her for a moment before he takes a breath and tells her everything. From the death of his satanic friend to the devil himself coming to him, and to the point where Mephisto was in his home waiting for him and Spider-Man to arrive. How the demon lord wanted Spider-Man to be here.

"He wanted Spider-Man here?" Julia questions with worry in her voice.

Strange nods at her, "Yes. Though you shouldn't be worried. He would not have been able to do anything to him or miss Watson while in here."

Julia becomes even more worried, "Mary Jane was here as well?"

Strange nods again before he continues to tell the fortune teller what happens in his home. How the devil wanted them to just listen to him ramble on and on about how he's not an evil being for being a liar.

A notion that Julia finds ridiculous, "You can't be serious."

"I am," Strange says with a nod, "He went on about how Peter told plenty of lies in his life to his loved ones and how it did more harm than good."

At the thought of her friend being told such things, she figures out what his reaction would be, "I doubt Peter took that well."

That man is the walking definition of guilt complex. He thinks that if something wrong happens and he could have prevented it, then the blame lies solely on him. Essentially carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. And he doesn't trust others to help. Or bear the thought of allowing others to suffer as he does.

The death of so many loved ones has done severe damage to his mental state. He struggles to accept that bad things will happen regardless of his involvement. Any villain attacks in the vicinity of those he cares for, and he blames himself because they simply know him. Completely ignoring that the city is almost in constant peril.

Case in point; the Red Skulls' attack.

"He didn't attack him," Strange informs her, bringing her out of her thoughts, "But he was mad."

Julia frowns as she figures out what Peter will do now. The web's champion will avoid Strange for a while. Not long but at least a few days, perhaps a week or two. Just until he simmers down from the hypocrisy he's had to deal with from the reinstated Sorcerer Supreme. And while Julia can't blame him, she hopes he gets over it soon. They need all the help they can get for what's to come.

And while the blind fortune teller is in her thoughts, Stephen Strange is in his own. Musing over what happened. He couldn't help himself over what he did. His mental defenses that would have protected his mind from the infernal text were non-existent. The demon lord somehow knew about this and used it to his advantage. And since then Stephen has been trying to figure out how it was.

What did Mephistopheles gain from doing what he did?

As he thinks about it, he looks to his only company in the room. Julia is very perceptive when it comes to people's actions. Not just because she is a seer, but because she has to know these things in order to do her job effectively. She has to know what actions to take in order to get the best outcome. Perhaps she could help illuminate some things he's struggling to see aside from the obvious.

"Julia," he says, regaining her attention, "Mephistopheles wanted him here. He made a pact with me to bring Peter here to listen to him ramble. Everything he said was everything he wanted Mr. Parker to hear."

Julia frowns at him reiterating what he has said before she realizes what he wants, "You want to know why?"

Strange shakes his head and responds, "I asked him why he is so obsessed with him." He turns his gaze away from her and to the fireplace, "And what he told me was shocking."

(Flashback)

Stephen Strange sitting in his chair across from Mephisto, who is enjoying a refilled glass of wine, courtesy of Wong. While the Sorcerer Supreme is giving the devil a harsh glare, the Master of Lies is amused. Evident by how his eyes seem to be dancing.

"Come now, Stephen," Mephisto says with amusement in his voice, "Is that really your first question?"

Strange doesn't respond. He merely waits for the demon lord to answer his question.

Mephistopheles, seeing his ploy to get him to ask another question, rolls his eyes and sighs in annoyance, "Oh very well. But to understand, you will need some context," he says before he leans back in the seat and looks at his drink, "I have dreams you know. Not in aspirations but actual dreams. I sleep when I feel the inclination to do so. And sometimes I have visions of the future."

This is certainly news to Stephen. He did not know that the demon lord could do such a thing. He wonders why he didn't see things in regard to his deal with Johnny Blaze. Or many other instances where his dealings backfired on him.

"I know what your thinking." The demon smirks at him, "Why couldn't I see outcomes of certain deals I've made in my tenure?" Strange frowns at him, not liking how easy it was for Mephisto to read him. "Well, the truth is, I am able to use powerful magic to peer into the future and see what actions I should take to benefit myself better." He pauses for a moment and the smirk turns into a frown, "But my dreams are not something I can control."

Still staying silent, but for a different reason, Strange waits patiently for the demon to continue.

"Years ago, over a century really, I had a peculiar dream," the demon lord closes his eyes to better vision his dream and a twisted evil smile works its way on his face, "All around me, the world was burning. My enemies lay fallen at my feet. And my domain, as magnificent as I want it to be. Everything my black heart desires in my grasp."

A nightmare scenario if Dr. Strange has ever heard of one. And if what the lord of hell is saying is true, which he is bound to do nothing but for now, then the good doctor is terrified of what this means. The world is in great peril and there could be nothing he or anyone else can do.

"But then something happens." Mephisto's smile drops and is replaced with a frown, "My dream changes. I do not see myself sitting on a throne of skulls. Instead, I see a single man. Soaring through the air. Over all the carnage and mayhem happening below. A single man opposing me. Do you know who that man is?"

Stephen makes the connection and answers his own question, "Spider-Man."

Mephisto nods, "Yes," he says as he opens his eyes and looks at his wine as he swirls it around, "This dream became a recurring theme for me for a long time. I did not understand why. I had these dreams before Peter Parker's parents were even born. But do you know what's amusing? I never see anything beyond that. The dream always ends with him soaring through the air. So in truth, I do not know if he is responsible for my downfall or not."

Mephistopheles turns his sights and looks menacingly at the good doctor, "But I do know, a spider is the only one I see in the end."

(Flashback End)

Strange finishes his tale and lets the woman absorb this revelation. It is still a shock for him. To know that someone like Peter has a destiny this great, and yet shows no signs of coming close to being able to accomplish such a feat.

'At least he didn't use to,' Stephen thinks as he suddenly realizes that recent events show Spider-Man might be able to do what Mephisto is afraid of him doing, 'Ironic considering he is responsible for the recent development.'

The demon lord essentially dug his own grave.

Strange looks at the woman and wonders she is taking this hit of news. Though she most likely knew considering her position as Madam Web. He may not be a hundred percent sure with what that entails, but he knows that she is informed on many matters concerning Spider-Man and those connected to the Web of Life and Destiny. However, seeing her stupefied expression, he now isn't so sure.

"You didn't know?" Stephen questions her.

"I knew his destiny was great," Julia answers while shaking her head, "But I did not think it would be to this extent." Sensing his questioning gaze, Julia explains some more, "I can only perceive as much as I'm allowed by the web. And even then I can only reveal so much. Otherwise, I can do irreparable damage."

Strange nods in understanding. Julia is human and the web is controlled by forces beyond them both. Hell, the origin remains shrouded in mystery. No human knows what created the web. Or how the champions are chosen. Then again, no one really put the effort in trying to uncover such secrets. Maybe he should. It could help in his investigation to uncover why Mephisto is afraid of Spider-Man. And it could go a long way to mend bridges.

"Stephen," Julia calls out to him, making him look at her, "You said you were allowed two questions. What else did you ask?"

The good doctor stays silent for a moment. Again the only sound is the crackling fire that is lighting the room. Eventually, he speaks and says, "I asked him why he allowed Ms. Watson to retain her memories."

"And what did he say?"

He takes a breath and responds with, "Remember what you just said about irreparable damage." He looks at her intensely, "You knowing this, will cause that."

"Lies can do much harm. But they stand next to nothing when compared to the truth."

The lord of hell's words still resonate in Strange's mind. He knows he should ignore any words of advice that came out of that demon's mouth, but in this instance, it's hard to do so. This particular truth can do a lot of damage to both Parker and Watson. Both of them would suffer emotional distress if they knew the truth he now knows about them. About everything their love actually is.

"Love and destiny are such fickle things, Stephen."

(Avengers Mansion)

Peter trudges down the hallway of his mansion. After the last few days of no sleep, nonstop battle forces of evil, and a long interview with Jonah that was mentally taxing, he is about ready to crash on the floor and just sleep until the weekend is over.

The interview lasted two hours. Spider-Man decided to give Jonah another hour to ask questions that have been plaguing the man for so long. Most of the questions tended to revolve around his activities over the years. How did he get involved with this? How did he know about that? Why didn't he let the police or any other official handle it?

And Peter answered each question honestly. He told him how on his patrols, or even in his civilian time, he saw something suspicious or his spider-sense told him something was wrong. Of course, Jameson was very doubtful, but a few assurances from Steve had set him straight.

'Steve's good people.' Peter's tired mind thinks as he arrives to his bedroom door and opens it, "Honey I'm home."

He expected to see Mary Jane lying in bed asleep. And though he announced his arrival, he figured she would just mumble in her sleep and he'd just lie down next to her. What he did not expect was to see her awake sitting at the edge of his bed in a robe, waiting for him.

MJ gives him a smile, "Hey Tiger."

He returns it with some curiousness, "Hey MJ. What are you doing up?"

Mary Jane casually shrugs and answers, "The three of us wanted to surprise you."

He smiles happily, "Well gee that's-" But stops when what she said fully sinks in, "Wait, three?"

"Hey Spider." A pair of slender hands wrap around his torso, making him jump a bit in surprise, "Miss me?"

"Felicia?!" He looks to see his ex in her Black Cat outfit and is surprised by her presence. He looks back and forth between the two women, "What are you-? What's going on?"

MJ gets off the bed and walks up to him. She wraps her arms around his neck and hangs off him, "I talked to the Pretty Kitty here and told her about mine and our situation."

Figuring she means their deal with Mephisto, he looks at her shocked, "You-you told her?"

Mary Jane sees his panic and says, "I told her about Sonja and this relationship of ours. How it's not just me and you anymore."

He feels relief at this. He does not like the idea of telling others of his stupid mistake if he doesn't have to. Even though he trusts Felicia, he doesn't want to tell her about the deal if it will do is hurt them.

"And I told her that you and I want her in it."

Peter looks at her in astonishment. He figured the reason MJ was talking to Felicia was to let him talk to her. He did not think she would do this for him.

"Gotta admit," Felicia speaks up from behind, "Didn't think either one of you had it in you to do stuff like this." He looks at her and sees she has a hesitant look. "And to be honest I'm not sold on the idea myself.

"So then why are you-?"

Felicia interrupts him, "Red here told me she has something that'll convince me to go along with it."

Peter looks back at the redhead in question. MJ gives them a wicked smile and bounces her eyebrows at them. She slides her hands down his arms before she walks back to the bed, that he now notices is kinda lumpy, and grabs on to the covers. SHe pulls them off in a dramatic flair, "Tada!"

Peter becomes gobsmacked as he sees money spread all over the bed. He sees hundreds, fifties, and twenties. If he had to guess, it's about a quarter of a million dollars on the bed.

He looks back and forth between her and the money, "Wow. Where did you get-ow." He feels Felicia claws dig into him, "Ow! Ow!Ow!Ow!Ow!"

Hardy kicks the door close before she says, "Hands up."

"What?"

"Hands up!"

He does as he is told and raises his hands up over his head.

Thwip!Thwip

"Hey what the-?!" He suddenly finds himslelf pinned against the door by his own webbing. Courtesy of Mary Jane who got them when Felicia slipped them off his person and handed them over to the redhead. The platinum blonde woman managed to step away in time to not get caught behind him. And her eyes have not left the money on the bed.

Peter, with his hands pinned over his head and his pelvis pinned as well, is stunned buy this and looks at the model confounded, "Why?!"

Mary Jane drops the webshooter and her wicked smile becomes more pronounced as she says, "Two reasons. First, I needed a way to convince Felicia to go along with this."

"Red," Felica who is eyeing the money and licking her lips lasciviously, "I'm tempted to just take you and forget Spider if this is how it is with you."

"Hey."

"Relax." MJ starts to take the belt off her robe as she continues to speak to him, "We're just gonna entertain each other for a bit." She drops her robe revealing to be in a black Emmeline plunge bra and panty set (don't judge me), "See the second reason is because I also know how much of a screw-up you are when it comes to relationships. So I thought the best way to motivate you to take this seriously was to make you realize something."

He gulps as he starts to feel his blood boil from arousal, "What's that?"

She drops and poses on the bed, "Screw this up," MJ grabs some money and fans herself, "Me and party Hardy will still have each other."

Felicia cannot contain herself anymore and just leaps on the bed right on top of the model, "Damn right we will."

Felica pins and kisses Mary Jane passionately. MJ for her part laughs before she moans in delight at the thief's hand roaming her body and squeezing her in the right areas. Peter can only watch in misery. She may not have said anything, but he gets the feeling if tries to break out of the webbing before it dissolves, he will be left ou in the cold.

"Oh!" Mary Jane shouts before she taps Felicia on her shoulder, making the thief look at her inquisitively, "I almost forgot!"

Mary Jane goes under the bed and pulls out a tripod.

"A camera?!" Peter says in horror as she sets up the device. He whimpers out, "Oh, you're evil."

MJ finishes setting up the camera before she walks to her beau and gives him a lust-filled look, "Oh, tiger. You have no idea." She French kisses him for a second before she turns her attention to the leather-clad woman on the bed, "Now then gorgeous, let's motivate him."

Felicia bites her lips and is breathing a little heavily with her face flushed, "You got it, beautiful."

MJ climbs into bed and takes Felicia for all her worth. Sounds of their giggling and sensual moans of delight resonate in the room. And poor Peter is left helplessly pinned against the wall, forced to watch them go at it for the next hour or so.

"O-oh you're both so evil." Peter whimpers as a bra fly across the room and on lands on his head, "So so evil."