It was understatement to say that Ned felt dizzy. He felt like his world had been tilted on its axis, or perhaps it had just started spinning in the opposite direction. Whatever it was, it was really messing with his stomach.

Ned leaned back in his chair, resting a sweaty hand on his tummy. "I feel sick."

MJ pursed her lips together and nodded. "I know."

Ned glanced up at her. "And this has been going for how long...?"

MJ shrugged. "Ever since Peter came back to school?" She said it like it was a question.

"Shit."

"Yeah."

There was a beat of silence between them before MJ spoke up again. "But you have to understand this is some real shit-this is a real threat. Telling you has put you in danger. And i didn't just do that for no reason. I told you because i thought you could help me. Can you?" She asked, biting back all the things that could happen to her friend, now her accomplice.

All the color drained from Ned's face but a more serious look passed over his features. This was all business now.

"Yes-yeah," he said, sitting up a bit straighter in his seat. "What do we have?"

MJ laid her hands out on the table in an imploring gesture. "Other than my phone that i left at home? Not much."

  Ned crinkled his nose and took a sip of his chocolate milk, trying to hide his panic behind the delicious beverage.

  "B-but you know a lot, right? You can remember your conversations?" Ned asked after swallowing. "I mean they must've slipped up at some point-dropped some clues?"

  MJ nodded hastily. "Yeah! Yeah, actually just today. They said they are really close to Peter. And if Peter is at the Tower, that must mean it is someone staying there as well!"

  Ned listened intently, grabbing a paper and pen from the kitchen counter to scribble on. "Yes, but we know it isn't Steve Rogers, Clint Barton, and Natasha Romanoff, you said?"

  MJ nodded. "They were my targets. They didn't know what was going on."

  Ned stuck his tongue out the corner of his mouth in concentration as he wrote that information down. "So that narrows the possible subjects down go Tony Stark-,"

  "No, it wouldn't be him. He's done stuff to protect Peter in the past but wouldn't go this far. Cross him off," MJ interjected.

Ned obliged and crossed off his name along with Pepper Potts'. "Wanda Maximoff, James Barnes, Sam Wilson, Colonel Rhodes, and that guy Happy. Anyone else we can eliminate now?"

  MJ took a moment to think. She hadn't met many of the Avengers still present on the list, but she did remember talking to Bucky Barnes. Even now in this situation, he still struck her as a bit of a wild card. She knew he was in "recovery" from his past, but that didn't mean he wasn't still capable of doing this kind of stuff. MJ decided he was definitely still a subject.

  But none of the others really troubled her. Happy for instance? Peter's grumpy chauffeur? MJ shook her head to herself. He didn't spend enough time in the Tower or around Peter for that matter to be it.

  "Cross Happy off," MJ said and Ned did. "And Colonel Rhodes. He wouldn't do that to Tony."

  Ned sat back in his chair, spinning the pen between his fingers. "So, that just leaves James Barnes, Sam Wilson, and Wanda Maximoff."

  MJ nodded, pushing a heavy breath from her lungs. "But what now? We can't do anything more without risking you and our position."

  Ned scowled. "You're right. Now we just have to wait to see who the next target is and go from there."

  MJ felt her stomach plummet into her feet. "No!" She exclaimed. "We can't wait! Peter's in danger! We have to figure this out now!"

  Ned threw his hands up in the air in exasperation. "What do you suppose we do, MJ?! I can't just call Peter up and ask to sleepover at 1:00 in the morning?!"

***

Peter just wanted to stay in bed and be mad at the world. Maybe if he fumed enough, the world would magically apologize for the shitty life it had thrusted upon Peter and bad things like this would stop happening.

Not only had he been shot, coughed up blood, and undergone surgery, but now he was being forced to have a sleepover at 1:00 in the morning because Ned was positive there was a gas leak in his house and he refused to sleep at the neighbors house for the night because he insisted that their cat was out to get him.

It was ridiculous. And frankly tiring.

So when Peter answered then door half an hour later to find Ned standing on the other side with a stupidly goofy smile on his face and way too many pillows and blankets in his arms, he was a little annoyed. Again, it was 1:00 in the fucking morning for crying out loud!

"H-hey buddy!" Ned beamed, cheeks dusted pink.

Peter cocked an eyebrow before stepping back and letting Ned into the Tower. "Hey," he replied flatly. "What's up?"

Ned dropped his stuff on the couch. "Oh, nothing much at all!" He assured through a forced laugh. "What about you?!"

Peter winced. "First of all, stop screaming. Why are you screaming? Second, I'm fine. And tired. I'm very, very tired," he grumbled as he took a seat on the couch and pulled Ned's blanket over his legs. His breathing became labored just from that small amount of exertion and he placed a hand over his abdomen protectively.

Ned chuckled nervously again, eyes studying his best friend and the obvious wound he was nursing. "Sorry, i didn't realize," he said at a normal tone.

Peter made an offhand gesture to indicate that it was fine. "Are you okay, though? You don't usually call to sleepover so late-i mean early."

Ned shrugged nonchalantly. "Gas leaks, am i right? Haha. But i also wanted to see you. I'm worried about you, man."

Peter sighed heavily, suddenly looking so small and fragile curled up under the blanket. His skin was pale, face stricken with bruises. If Ned didn't know any better, he would've thought Peter was ill, not injured. "I know," he said. "You don't have to, though. I can do this by myself."

Ned scoffed. "Okay, Peter. Whatever you say."

Now it was Peter's turn to look offended. "Are you saying Spider-Man can't handle a little drama?" He snapped before wincing when the action strained his freshly stitched-up wound.

"No," Ned said and crossed his arms over his chest. "I'm just saying that this is more than just a 'little drama.'"

Peter's eyebrows narrowed which, in turn, just made his eye bags look more pronounced. "Whatever. I'm not in the mood to be babied anymore tonight, so unless you have anything else to say, I'm going back to bed." And with that, Peter got up from the couch and started out of the common room towards the elevator, leaving Ned behind.

As soon as the elevator doors closed behind Peter, Ned let out a sigh of relief. Finally, he thought. I thought he'd never leave.

Sure, it was hard to pick a fight with his best friend, but Ned had bigger things on his mind. Bigger, more threatening things.

  "Is he gone?" Came MJ's muffled voice from Ned's back pocket. Ned pulled out the walkie-talkie. He'd have to thank his little brother later for letting him "borrow it," aka take it from his room while he was sleeping.

"Yeah, thank god," he whispered into the speaker. "Now what? Over."

MJ's voice crackled through almost immediately. "Don't start with me. And just walk around. Try and find the subjects rooms. Dig up some dirt if you can."

"Rodger that. Over," Ned said before shoving the device back into the pocket of his jeans. "Hey, Friday?" He called out, now addressing the entity of the Tower. "Where are the bedrooms?"

  "Hello Mr. Leeds," Friday responded. "The sleeping quarters are right this way. Continue straight out of the common room."

  Ned followed Friday's directions religiously, finding with every turn his heart would jump into his throat at the mere thought of what he might be walking into. But every time, it was just another hallway, or maybe a small lounge area.

  "Turn left and you will find yourself in a hallway. The various living quarters are on either side of the hallway," Friday instructed in a tone that suggested that Ned had finally reached his destination.

"Awesome, thanks!" Ned said and stepped through the doorway and into the hallway. Except, after the door slammed shut behind him, did he realize that it wasn't a hallway at all.

Ned slammed both palms against the door. "What the hell?! Friday, let me out!" He cried.

"Ned? What's going on?" MJ said. Ned grabbed the walkie-talkie through his panic.

  "Friday locked me in a room!" He said.

  "What?"

  "If you want your friend to survive, you'll do as i say," Friday said flatly, her mechanical voice echoing around the small room eerily.

  Ned froze, gripping the walkie-talkie in his sweaty palm. His voice shaking like a leaf in the wind, he pressed his lips into the speaker.

  "MJ," he breathed. "What do i do?"

  If you want your friend to survive, you'll do as i say.

  The words reverberated in MJ's skull. She felt like she was falling through the floor of the Leeds' townhouse, falling through the many layers of the earth's crust. The air was forced from her lungs as if she'd had the wind knocked out of her and she was left gasping while holding onto the edge of the kitchen table for dear life.

  "MJ?!"

  MJ's walkie-talkie was crying out for her with every shaky breath Ned sent through the speaker. She grappled for it with trembling hands.

  "Ned, you need to get out of there," MJ hissed, panic for her friend pushing through her own panic.

  A banging sound blurbed through the device and then Ned's breathless voice. "No shit!" He cried. "Friday is holding me hostage!"

  That sent a shiver down MJ's spine. She pulled in a deep breath and tried not to cough it back out. "Has she said anything else?" She asked.

"Yeah," Ned said. "But it didn't sound like she was talking to me."

MJ paled. She knew exactly who she was talking to.

"She said, 'A smart decision to leave your device, but did you really think i wouldn't find out?' MJ, was she talking to you?" Ned said.

It took a moment for MJ to choke out the words. "Y-yes," she stammered. "Anything else?"

  The only sound coming through the walkie-talkie was the sound of Ned breathing. Then, "Yes. That you knew the agreement."

  MJ didn't know when she stood up, or left the Leeds' residence, but the next thing she knew she was sprinting down the streets of Jackson Heights in the dead of night.

12/29/19