Here's the thing: Peter was generally pretty good about following Mr. Stark's instructions, except for when it came to anything Spider-Man-related. It only got worse when there was a threat hanging over MJ's head which hadn't actually happened before, but it was happening now. Really, the only time Peter was good about following Mr. Stark's instructions was in the lab. Sometimes.

In Peter's defense, Mr. Stark had decided to leave and call Pepper and the team. As soon as he'd stepped out of Peter's room, though, FRIDAY had come up with MJ's last known location by tracking the car she'd been shoved into.

"I don't know, man," Ned said, glancing nervously between Peter's closed bedroom door and the open window. "Shouldn't you wait for Mr. Stark?"

"He'll be on the phone forever," Peter said, tugging his mask into place. "Pepper's freaking out."

He could hear her questions from his room despite knowing Mr. Stark had gone out to the front porch to call her.

"Just―tell him I've got it under control, okay?" Peter said, perched in the window. "He'll come when he's done."

Before Ned could try protesting again, Peter jumped out his window and followed the path Karen had highlighted in his mask.

The car had been spotted leaving Cambridge and while there were many directions it could have gone, it hadn't shown up on any traffic cameras after heading north. FRIDAY didn't have perfect coordinates on the car's current location, but there were only so many places a car could hide. If Peter had to check every building within the AI's proposed radius, he would.

With Karen scanning every building he passed, it didn't take nearly as long as he thought to find MJ. He swallowed back a retort about the cliche of using an abandoned building as Karen guided him to an unlocked window on the second floor.

MJ's heat signature was to the left and up a floor. Alone.

Peter breathed a sigh of relief. She was being kept alone.

Karen picked up three other heat signatures just outside the room MJ was sitting in, but couldn't render a full scan past that.

"Something seems to be interfering with my scans," she told him. In front of him, he only had a partial scan of the room. "I recommend calling Mr. Stark before initiating any form of attack."

"We aren't waiting," Peter grumbled. He'd risk it. "Is he still on the phone, Ned?"

"Yeah," came Ned's response through the comm. "But I'm with Karen on this one. You should wait, man."

"There's no time."

Muting Ned, he tiptoed up the stairs and around the corner to where Karen indicated MJ was being held.

"Hey!" Peter yelled, grabbing the attention of the three men standing outside MJ's door.

The men turned to him, but Peter was already flying at them. With hardly a blink, he smashed the first man's head into the wall and let him crumple unconscious to the ground. The second man hit him over the head with his gun, but Peter turned and threw him down the hall even as stars danced in front of him. The third man dropped to his knees, but Peter didn't have the patience to hear what he said before kicking him into a wall as well.

"I can't get a clean reading of the room," Karen warned as Peter reached for the door. "I recommend―"

"No," Peter snapped, ripping the door handle off.

Tossing the handle behind him, Peter shouldered his way into the room, taking the door with him.

"MJ!" Peter's vision narrowed in on her, leaning against the far wall and with a scratch above her left eye.

"Peter, wait―"

Everything in his body screamed for him to move and he acted on instinct, narrowly avoiding a bullet. Spinning around, he expected to see one of the men from the hall but found nothing.

"What the―"

He twisted suddenly, avoiding another bullet from nowhere. Eyes wide, he turned, trying to see where his attacker was, but coming up empty.

"Karen!" he exclaimed, glancing at MJ to make sure she was still okay. "What's going on?"

His hair stood on end moments before a thick baton made contact with his ribs. Peter groaned, stumbling backward and tripping over... something. Nothing registered in his mask despite another hit coming from behind him. Pain erupted in his skull and he only avoided another hit by trusting his gut and moving.

"Something is interfering with my scans," Karen said as a bullet grazed his shoulder.

Peter bit back a groan and jumped towards the ceiling, hoping to avoid more invisible hits. It worked for exactly half a second before his spider-sense sent him leaping to the wall adjacent to where MJ was sitting. Something scraped across the ceiling where he'd been, leaving deep scratches and making Peter's eyes go wide.

"Call Mr. Sta―"

Peter's command was interrupted by something sharp and heavy hitting him in the chest. He dropped from the wall, coughing as he tried to catch his breath. Looking down, he spotted five tears in his suit where the invisible weapon had hit him. No blood yet, but another hit would surely―

He dove to the right and the same weapon scratched the wall where he'd been perched.

"What the hell is happening?" he gasped, reacting solely on instinct to avoid hit after hit.

Something collided with his chest and he felt electricity course through his body. Karen stuttered and his mask flickered, briefly giving him a view of a fully suited man in front of him. When the shock stopped, the room returned to empty, but Peter knew what he'd seen.

"Call Mr. Stark," Peter told Karen before ripping off his mask.

As soon as his mask was off, he blinked to adjust to the dark room. In the time it took him to drop his mask and move, a bulky figure covered head to toe in black tactical gear stepped forward and swung a spiked mace at him. Peter jumped and it hit another dark figure behind him.

He sensed the mace before it swung at him again, but he was surrounded and no matter which direction he moved, danger screamed through his head. In a panic, he jumped towards the ceiling again.

Mid-jump, one of the figures drew back and swung a thick baton.

Peter grunted and went flying into the wall beside MJ, cracking some of the bricks as he hit it. With a groan, he stumbled to his feet only for someone to cover his head with something that smelled distinctly like mushrooms. Reaching back for the man, Peter flipped him over his shoulder, creating a hole in front of him as the man landed.

When he got to his feet, though, he swayed.

What the hell was in that mushroom rag? he asked himself, tripping as he lunged for the next figure.

Just like the man he'd tossed over his shoulder, the next man had a funny-smelling rag and punched Peter in the face with it. Grabbing Peter's face through the rag, the man shoved him to the ground and Peter heard a crunch as his nose broke under the pressure.

His vision swam and his head felt heavy as he gasped, taking in a lungful of the mushroom rag.

"That's a good spider," the figure murmured through his helmet. "It'll be all over in a second."

Peter scowled and opened his mouth to bite out a retort, but his eyes felt too heavy.

I should have waited for Mr. Stark, was the last thing he thought before the man lifted him up and slammed his head back into the floor and everything disappeared sharply.