The Webs We Weave

Matt raised an eyebrow as he waited for her to continue. Jessica leaned forward, placing her elbows on his island counter top and resting her chin on her laced fingers.

"Apparently, Spider-Man just disappeared through a glowing golden portal mid swan dive. Luke said the Avengers left and went straight back to the tower. None of them even spoke." she threw her head back laughing. "I've heard there's only one person that can make those portals. I didn't know Pete knew that Doctor Strange guy."

"About a year ago, during one of my more serious fight recovery episodes, Pete disappeared for about a month. Just, vanished. May was frantic. Then, he just shows back up. Perfectly fine, not a scratch on him. When we asked where he'd been, he told us some story about traveling with Strange who needed him to help fix holes in reality using magically enhanced webs. He went on to say they had to fight the beings that caused the holes and that Doctor Strange told them Spider-Man was some sort of being called a Hidden One or something so they'd fear him. He's been seeing the good doctor off and on since then. Apparently the man has offered to teach him these 'mystical arts'."

Jessica started at him with a blank face.

"I'm not sure if that story is so bizarre it's believable or so bizarre that you're lying."

"You just told me Luke said he fell through a glowing portal and you're going to question me on that story?"

"Leave it to Parker to get involved with a wizard."

"I just hope he has Peter back for work on Monday. I'm not sure 'I was helping my magical wizard friend' is a believable excuse for missing work."

A loud bang from Matt's bedroom made the two jump. Sharing a glance, the two eased their way down the hall towards the bedroom.

"I don't think we're going to like what we find." Matt frowned, picking up the pace.

"What do you--holy shit!" Jessica gasped as Matt flung open his bedroom door.

"Felicia!" Matt yelled as he dove to the floor where the battered Black Cat lay groaning in pain. "What happened to you?" Matt whispered as he lifted her and placed her on his bed.

Jessica ran to the bathroom, pulling out Matt's first aid kit and wetting a few rags. When she came back into the room, Felicia was already passed out.

"Jesus, what the hell happened?"

"I don't know, she went out without a word." Matt frowned harder, taking the rags from Jessica and cleaning the blood off the blonde's face.

"Can't say I like this. Black Cat is one hell of a fighter. Someone being able to do this much damage to her doesn't look good."

Matt made to respond when Jessica's phone ping. The two were quiet while Matt cleaned and doctored Felicia and Jessica looked over her phone.

"Matt." the detective said, glaring at her phone. "You might want to hear this too."

Jessica turned up the volume on her phone, the sound filling the quiet.

"Notorious burglar Black Cat may have met her match last night. Eyewitnesses say she was seen engaged in a fight with several dark clad figures. The burglar was last seen fleeing across rooftops with her attackers on her heels. The real question though, is whether or not this mysterious group was out to put and end to her antics, or something worse."

The two looked down at the unconscious thief. Whoever her attackers were, they definitely didn't hold their punches.

"Jess, help me get her out of her costume. I can feel the dried blood in areas. She needs to be treated."

"This is where I'd normally make a pervert joke, and I'm throughly pissed that this is so bad I can't."

The two carefully removed the leather outfit, revealing multiple black and blue bruises and deep gashes.

"Jess, did the video have any footage? Everyone has their phones on them these days. Surely someone caught something."

"Yeah, but it's to dark and only shot towards the rooftops to tell where they are. Still Matt, snooping is my job. I'll find out where she was. In the mean time, let's get her cleaned and dressed. I had no idea she went fully nude under that. Peter's a total perv." she said, rummaging through Matt's clothes. Pulling out a large t-shirt and a pair of boxers, she turned and walked back to the bed as Matt finished cleaning the wounds and started bandaging them.

"I'll tell you again, I don't want to hear about anything sexual in regards to Peter."

"Alright, Dad."

The two threw the banter, neither wanting to think past what was right in front of them until Felicia was cleaned and dressed. There would be plenty of time for that. One she was bandaged and dressed, Matt lifted her while Jessica changed the bloody sheets.

"I'm gonna call Claire. It wouldn't hurt to have her come take a look." Jessica said as she walked out the room, already dialing.

Matt stood by the bed a few more minutes, before finally following Jessica out to the living room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tony slammed the Iron Lad chest piece on with more force than needed. They had been chasing after Spider-Man going on a month now. They were following Steve's strict order not to engage in a physical altercation with Spider-Man, and it was getting them nowhere. Every time they found him, someone who suddenly pop up, demanding he help them with something and steal him away before they could approach him. The first few times they had brushed it off as coincidence. Spider-Man was well known in the vigilante community, it only made since he would help where he could. However, it was quickly becoming obvious a message was being sent. The message being that the Avengers were to leave Spider-Man alone. 

 They weren't fully sure yet if they were being monitored, or if Spider-Man was. It was clear the vigilante was unaware of the fact he was being pulled off on missions to keep him from the Avengers though. Every time he was asked for help, he always seemed a little surprised by their urgency. Regardless, it was becoming a problem that needed solving. Slowly the team had begun to assign new tasks. Natasha was obviously the first choice for the most important job, figure out where these vigilantes were watching from. Once they knew where their opponents where, it would be much easier to figure out how to dodge them to get to the wall crawler.

Of course, nothing could have prepared them for last night. A portal. A freaking portal had swallowed his protege! What do you even say to that? It wasn't like they could just go after him. The team had had no choice but to retreat back to the tower. Tony was furious. It was bad enough they kept getting interrupted by nobodies out to keep Spider-Man away from them, but now this?

An hour after being back at the tower. Natasha had introduced the team to the profile of one Stephen Strange. The man had once been a renowned surgeon until a car accident ruined his hands and prevented him from returning to the field. According to his S.H.I.E.L.D. profile, he was trained in the 'mystic arts', whatever that really meant.

'So he's what? Some kind of wizard?' he had asked.

Natasha had simply stared at him and answered. 'That's exactly what he is.'

Tony took a breath. How had Peter managed to get himself mixed up with an actual wizard? A wizard that clearly wasn't above kidnapping! How much worse could it get?

"Tony?"

Tony turned sharply to see Harley walking back into the lab.

"You alright? I heard the bang from the end of the hall. I mean, no offense, but I'd rather my suit be damaged in battle and not construction." the blonde grinned.

"Har har, kid." Tony rolled his eyes. "Just a little stressed."

"No progress with Spider-Man I take it."

"Just some minor setbacks. Spider-Man is apparently more popular than we took into account for. It's fine though. We're making alternate plans." Tony waved off nonchalantly. He had no plans to inform Harley that the team were running out of options of ways to peacefully approach the vigilante. If things continued, either the Avengers would have to use force, or Fury would act.

Tony paused. When was the last time anyone on the team had heard from the director? He hadn't been mentioned since the order to bring Spider-Man in was given. Even worse, Deadpool, minus Spider-Man, was continuing his 'hero' journey by continuing to intervene in crime sprees. He had even stopped the sultry Black Cat from completing a heist. He hadn't been able to catch her, but he had stopped the crime.

Neither of those things sat well with Tony.

Why was Fury being quiet? He had heavily implied a thin patience for waiting on them to bring Peter in. 

Why was Deadpool still stopping crime without Spider-Man? 

Not that Tony was complaining. He preferred that Peter not have anything to do with the merc. It was clear Deadpool didn't need Spider-Man...

"Boss. I have been instructed to tell you an emergency Avengers meeting has been called. Your presence is requested immediately."

Tony dropped the screwdriver he was holding, a cold feeling creeping through him. 

"Entertain yourself but don't blow up my lab!" he shouted, rushing out the door and leaving a wide-eyed Harley behind.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Adrian Toomes took a exhilarated but guilty breath as he stepped out the prison a free man. His wife and daughter were there, waiting to take him home and work on building a new life together. He had had a long phone call with his wife after being informed of his upcoming release. It wasn't going to be easy, but he meant it when he told her he'd never go back to jail again. 

He hugged his wife hard, then turned to take in the face of his much older daughter. His stomach lurched as looking at her only reminded her of what he had had to give up to get to this point. He pulled her close and just held her tight.

As he had waited for his official release, his mind had run with thoughts of what his 'savior' had planned for the Parker kid. He could clearly recall the startled look on the man's face when he told him the identity behind the Spider-Man mask. It had filtered through a range of surprise, betrayal, intrigue, then pure manic excitement. He had proceeded to mumble about 'lost potential', correcting 'past mistakes' and 'perfect successor'. 

Adrian would be lying if he said he didn't feel any concern for the future of Peter Parker. If the man was able to get him out of jail long before his sentence was up, what else could he do?

"You ok, Dad?"

Adrian looked down at his daughter and smiled, pushing back the thoughts of Peter Parker and his future fate. He could think about it at another time. Right now, all that mattered was his freedom, and his family.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I'm gonna head out and see what I can dig up on our cat's little tussle last night." Jessica said, shoving her phone in her back pocket. "I called Claire. It wouldn't hurt for her to take a look."

"Thanks, Jess."

"Don't think me yet. This may or may not be partially my fault." Jessica sighed, staring at floor. "I've been compiling information on the docks continuously Matt, and I thought I might have more time."

"I suggest you spill." Matt demanded.

"I have news and I have nothing." she sighed in frustration. "The docks are a set up for Pete. Whatever is going on there is intended for him specifically. The problem with that is, we can't keep Spider-Man away. If we do, whoever is behind this could move operations. If we allow Pete to poke around every so often, it's more likely they'll stay where they are and the better our chances of catching the person behind it. Felicia was most likely targeted because Spider-Man hasn't been anywhere near the docks because we've all been keeping him busy to avoid the Avengers."

Matt sighed and rubbed his temples.

"Ok, what's the 'nothing' you have?"

"Not even the whisper of a name. I can't even tell you a consistency in dock activity, just that it happens. I should have mentioned something earlier but what could I say? It wasn't until a little while ago I even locked down for sure Peter is who they're after. That's literally all I know Matt, and it's driving me crazy! Whoever this is, they're exceptionally good. Almost to good."

"Possible team effort?"

"If not, we're in serious trouble with someone like that on the street. I'm gonna say this isn't a lone character. It pisses me off. I's slap an idiot who couldn't figure out this was someone with a grudge." Jessica huphed. 

"Do we know if anyone Peter got put behind bars is out?"

"Toomes got out this morning. I'm not putting him on my radar though. He doesn't have connections outside of jail to orchestrate something like this."

"We should probably look into his movements for a bit though." Matt said, moving to sit on his couch.

"I'll get on it. I don't like doing this, but I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner."

Matt waved his hand in a dismissive manner.

"What could you tell me? You said it yourself, you don't really have anything and I have Peter under surveillance. Just keep up what youre doing Jess. You've already done a lot by finding out Pete is a target. I've just gotta figure out how to explain the beaten girl in my bedroom to him. Jess, I don't want anyone telling Peter what happened. As soon as he turns back up I'll bring him back here and we'll talk. I don't want him hearing second hand information. Felicia is here, she'll tell us what we need to know."

"Well, I guess I'll take on the big lug then. He and Black Cat have been working together to boost his image without Spider-Man. He'll want to know what's going on and where she is."

"Just tell him she's safe and that he needs to keep his mouth shut until I talk to Peter."

"Right. I'll stay in touch, Matt." Jessica said, opening the apartment door.

"Jess," Matt called, making her look back. "Be careful."

Jessica nodded and closed the door behind her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~

Peter yawned as Strange's cloak kept him upright. The two men had been non stop since the wizard had gotten him Friday night. He figured he could squeeze in a few hours of sleep before work.

"You could always call in sick." Stephen raised an eyebrow.

"Some of us have bills to pay." Peter grinned.

"One day off won't hurt you. In fact, I would recommend it. Exherting yourself after multiverse travel is unwise."

Peter stretched and leaned into the cloak more. He could feel the weariness in his body. Maybe calling in wouldn't be such a back idea. People got sick all the time.

"Yeah, maybe you're right."

"Of course I'm right. I'm Sorcerer Supreme after all." Stephen threw Peter a cocky grin.

"I should probably let May know I'm ok. I'm sure she's wondered where I've been."

"Give her a call and then go to your room. I refuse to let you leave here looking like you could pass out at any moment. Before you ask, no, my cloak is not taking you home."

"You don't let us have any fun." Peter laughed, following the lively cloak towards the bedrooms.

"Thanks Cloakie." Peter grinned, as the cloak gave a wave and left to find Strange. Peter yawned again and picked his phone up from where he had left it on the night stand. Strange hadn't given him much time once he had dropped into the Sanctum. Taking a breath, he dialed May's number.

"Peter!" May shouted into the phone, far to alert for the the late hour. "I hope that Doctor Strange has a good explanation for not giving you time to give me a simple phone call." 

Peter blinked in surprise.

"How did you know I was with-"

"Matt called me to ask if you were home yet. He told me you disappeared through a portal! Doesn't that man have any other way of getting ahold of you? Like, I don't know, a cell phone? Portals, Peter. Portals give people heart attacks when they just appear out of nowhere."

Peter chuckled lightly as May ranted.

"Don't you laugh young man. Where are you?"

"I'm at the Sanctum, Aunt May. I"m gonna get some sleep. I think I'm gonna text Harry I'll be out tomorrow."

"Peter, honey, it's 2am. It is 'tomorrow'." 

"Until the sun rises, it's not 'tomorrow'." Peter smiled.

May sighed, then spoke softly.

"Get some sleep sweetheart. Come home once you get up and we'll either get lunch or supper."

"Sounds good. Love you, May."

"Love you too, Peter."

Peter smiled as he hung up and went to place his phone on the night stand, but paused when he noticed the screen. 46 text messages. He stared at his phone, debating if he should open them now or just go to sleep. Eventually, stupid curiosity won out.

The first text was from Felicia.

{Heard you pulled a disappearing act. Let me know when you get back. I want a bedtime story. 😘}

Then there was one from Matt.

[Let me know when you're back.]

 The others where all from Wade.

/Petey!/

/Baby Boy!/

 /I heard something a little concerning./