PETER PARKER
Present

I glared at Ned with pure hatred in my eyes. "What do you mean you don't know where she is?"

He cowered away from my stance and shifted nervously. "You never told me to check up on her every three seconds! This isn't my fault."

I grumbled under my breath and fell back onto his bed. I came here first in hopes of finding him and MJ, but he hasn't heard from her. And she wasn't in band practice yesterday. Ned was just out of school, sick. And I knew it wasn't his fault that we couldn't find MJ, I just needed someone to pin my anger on. I called her house, the school, her friends but no one knew where she was. She was missing. But I certainly know what must've happened.

"I told Happy we needed to protect her and he didn't listen to me." I rubbed my temples and tried to think of something to do. Normally I would break down, probably cry and freak out over something like this. But I couldn't help but feel anything but numb- and a little bit of anger. "No one ever listens to me," I groaned.

Ned looked at me with so much pity that I wanted to shove it right back down his throat. "Don't do that," I hissed.

He raised an eyebrow. "Don't do what?"

"That look on your face. I hate it."

"What's wrong with my face?" he questioned.

"It's so full of pity," I complained, "I don't want you to feel bad for me. I'm so tired of everyone walking on egg shells around me like I could break at any second." I peered up to him. "I already am. It can't get any worse. So there's nothing to worry about."

He glanced at me guiltily and fumbled with his hands. "You're hiding something," I realized. "What is it?"

He muttered a swear under his breath. "I have something that might tell us where she is," he admitted.

"Ned!" I barked. "Why didn't you tell me? Where is she? We have to go right now!" I jumped up from his bed and advanced toward him but he pushed against my chest.

"I didn't want to tell you because of this."

"Because of what?" I interrogated, "tell me now, Ned. I can't believe you would hide something like this!"

"Because I know how upset you are." He mumbled, "I know you're going to go into this irrationally and get yourself killed. I can't watch you get hurt."

I shook my head, "I'm fine."

He rolled his eyes at me and tried to push me back onto his bed but I didn't budge. "Peter, just listen to me." I glared at him and refused to move from my position. "Guy in the chair," he whimpered.

I grunted and gave in, plopping down onto his bed and staring up at the ceiling. Ned pulled a piece of paper out of his desk drawer and I went to grab it but he pulled away.

"Listen to me first," he commanded, "hear me out before you go all x games mode on me, ok?"

I nodded and sighed, waiting for him to speak up.

"It's a note from the person threatening MJ," he started. "It says that if you don't show up to the this address tomorrow, then he's going for May next." I shot up and tried to snatch the note but he tugged it away. "Just let me finish."

"I know you, and I know that nothing can stop you from going. But if you go into this with no plan then he'll kill you and MJ at once. If you have to go, then you have to win."

"Like what?" I snorted. "Captain's dead and Happy will kill me himself."

Ned rubbed a hand on my shoulder soothingly. "Maybe you don't need anyone else, Peter." He proposed, "maybe you just need to believe in yourself for once."

His words sent a ripple of pain into my stomach as I shut my eyes and breathed deeply. "Easier said than done." I let out a bitter laugh.

"Peter, you can do this. I know it," he told me, trying to soften up his approach to convince me.

It didn't work.

"I'm going to go on my own so that no one else can get hurt," I spoke, no question in my tone. "I'm getting MJ out of there. Whoever this guy is can do whatever he wants with me. I don't care anymore. As long as everyone else is safe."

Ned gave me that look of pity again that I hated, but this time it was much deeper. Like he could see into my soul and felt the deep pain lingering in my core.

"You're my best friend." He whispered, "I don't want you to die."

I shrugged and avoided his gaze. "Nothing matters anymore. I don't care if I die. Neither should you."

Ned froze at my words and I took the moment to snatch the note from his hands so that I knew where to go. He reached forward to take it back but I shot a web to keep his arm against the wall.

"Peter!" he yelled in protest.

"If I die," I choked on my words and avoided his gaze, "Try to get my grave next to Tony's." Ned looked at me with eyes full of tears, "Tell MJ I'm sorry for being such a shitty boyfriend. Tell Happy that I appreciate everything he's done for me. Tell Aunt May not to be too upset about it. And Ned?" I whispered, "Thank you for being my guy in the chair."

QUENTIN BECK
Present

"Where's Peter?" I wondered aloud. My cat, Spidey, meowed in response and rubbed his cheek against my leg in attempt for some attention.

Yeah, I named my cat after Peter. Stop judging me.

"No, I don't think he's there." I smiled down at him and scratched behind his ears and heard him purr.

Every day since Peter started to stay in Stark Towers, I would send a drone to check up on him. You could call it cute or creepy. Both are pretty accurate statements. But I needed to make sure he was ok, I couldn't sleep at night if I didn't know whether he was or not.

But this morning his room was empty. He always got up at 10:30 so I'd send the drone at 10. But his bed was made, which was the first red flag since the room was always a mess, and he was nowhere to be found.

The next clue was that the tower was full of guards roaming around frantically. Happy looked awful, too. You could tell he was trying not to panic and failing completely.

I smiled down at Spidey sadly. When I had first gotten him, it was because I almost ran over him with my car. I remember seeing the cat suddenly zooming across the street while I slammed onto the breaks. I thought I had actually hit him so I opened the door to get out, but he hopped into the car and when he purred against my chest I knew I had to keep him.

And it didn't help that he reminded me of Peter. The cat's eyes were a deep shade of copper that resembled Peter's and matched his rich, brown fur that reminded me of his hair. He probably didn't even look that much like him if you asked literally anyone else on the planet.

Just about everything seemed to remind me of Peter.

"We need to find him," I told Spidey as I pulled him into my arms and pressed a chaste kiss onto his forehead. His purring got louder and he started to knead his paws onto my chest. I carried him over to my computer, put him on my lap and turned it on.

Peter's suit had a tracker in it, curtesy of Tony Stark, that was moderately easy to locate if you were smart enough. And with Tony being gone it was almost laughable how quickly you could get into their network.

"Queens?" I read out loud, "why is he in Queens?"

And then, ironically enough, my phone rang. It was a random number.

"Hello?"

An unfamiliar voice responded from the other line, "Mysterio," he spoke, "it's a pleasure to finally meet you." My face paled.

No one knows supposed to know that I'm alive- how does some stranger know?

"Who is this?" I questioned and looked down at Spidey who began to growl for an unknown reason.

"My name is Raza, but you can call me Shadow."

I hesitated. "Um, okay." What a stupid name.

His evil chuckle ran from the phone and filled my stomach with an unpleasant feeling of dread. "I need your help."

"Help with what?" I asked suspiciously, being extra cautious and rubbing my hand down Spidey's back to stop him from growling.

"To get my hands on Spiderman."

My heart pounded in my chest. "What?"

"A life for a life," he explained from the other line, his deep voice seeping through.

"Whose life?"

I heard some movement for a few seconds before he responded, "over a decade ago, I made a deal with a man called Obadiah Stane to kill Tony Stark. I was a high-ranking member of the Ten Rings terrorist group and we captured him. But after we got him, I figured it might be better to keep him alive.

"His company was a weapon dealing company. And his creations were the most deadly weapons ever created. He was the most famous mass murdered in history. My men and I told him to build us a missile and after some... harsh persuasion... he agreed. We held him for three months while he worked, but he made a suit of iron instead.

He killed my men, dozens of them in his escape. He murdered my people, now it's my turn to murder his."

My hands were shaking as I gripped the phone in my hand tightly. "What do you need my help for then? How did you even know I'm alive?"

"I know many things," he rumbled. "And you know this Peter Parker. You know his weaknesses, what makes him tick. You can help me break him down in the most painful ways possible."

I cleared my throat and Spidey hissed viciously toward the phone. "And what do you plan to do with him?"

I could almost hear his menacing smirk as he spoke, "I'm going to get my hands on everyone he loves." He chuckled into the line, "I'm going to make him watch me kill them all."

My adam's apple bobbed in my throat. "And then what?"

"And then?" He cackled. "I'm going to kill Spiderman."

A/N
Raza is a villain from the first Ironman movie, I attached a picture of the actor up above.