(Content warning! More serious injuries! Really graphic descriptions! You've been warned!!!)

The knife man spun the blade in his hand, glaring up at Aurora. "You asked for this." He hissed at her. "You chose to be stubborn."

"Yeah because I don't feel like being a science experiment!" She shouted, her body visibly shaking with anger.

"Well, you aren't getting a choice in that matter." He snapped back, standing up. "You know what? Why don't we see what's under that mask of yours?" He asked, reaching out to grab hold of the bottom of it.

Aurora whipped her head back, pressing it firmly against the wall. If an unmasking happened, that'd be putting everyone at risk. At least earlier, she was among good people. Here she was not. "Touch that and you'll regret it."

"How so?" He asked her, smirking at her anxiety.

"I'll give you the once in a lifetime chance to have an up close interview with God." Aurora spat out, feeling not unlike a cornered animal.

He laughed. "Well, I have reassurance that you'd follow close behind at least. I can hook my holsters up to recall every blade in your body should you try anything." He replied. "So I think I like my chances."

"You sure like to talk the talk. Sounds to me like you're compensating with all these fancy blades." She quipped. Breathing was getting harder, as the blade embedded in her chest was continuously causing pain.

He didn't acknowledge her aside from stabbing the inside of her arm with a jagged blade, cutting deep and dragging it down in a clean painful slice to her wrist.

At first she thought he was at least going to get angry at her, but what he actually did was worse than she could've imagined. This time she wasn't able to contain her scream at all, and she turned her head, refusing to even look at the cut. She tried to focus on something, anything else.

—

Kasey stood in the bedroom doorway, about to reply when she cried out, covering her ears, tears streaming down her face. "You need to go! Now!" She told him, fear lacing her voice.

Claire looked started when she cried out and came over. "Kasey, what is it? What's wrong?"

Kasey shook her head, trembling. "N-no time! Y-You need to go!" She looked towards Peter.

Peter felt Kasey's voice shake him to his core. It sent him into a flurry, and shot him into action. He wasted no time in getting up to the roof access and taking off.

Matt sat straight up, immediately panicking at Kasey's sudden cry. He turned in her direction, listening for her. "Kasey, are you alright?"

He could hear her heart racing in her chest as she panicked, tears flowing down her face as she shook her head no. "I-Interweb-" She choked out. "She's being hurt-"

Claire's eyes widened. "What? Do you know who or?"

Kasey shook her head again. "I- I just heard her screaming-"

Matt sat up completely, keeping one leg up on the coffee table. He didn't know how he hadn't woken up to the screaming that Kasey was describing. If she had heard it, surely he should've.

"Any idea where it's coming from?" He could only imagine that it was that corporation again. They didn't know when to quit.

Kasey was quiet for a moment, trying to place it before shaking her head. "My best guess is on the edge of Hell's Kitchen..." She replied, letting Claire drape a blanket around her shoulders in an attempt to help calm her down.

Matt frowned, running a hand over his hair, finding it had turned messy as he was sleeping. His mind came back to the conversation. "I assume your friend went off to help, but... Do you think he'd be alright?"

"I-..." She hesitated. "I don't know." She replied, clutching the blanket around her shoulders. "I-I can't go with them..."

"That's alright, it might be best for you to lay low here for now, especially with Tony still out looking for you." Matt spoke, going over their options. If she left, then Tony might find her and it would cause major issues. It was safer to keep her here.

She nodded at that. "I'm worried about them..."

"That's okay to be worried about them, but know they should be able to handle themselves. Especially with two of them." He told her, in an attempt to reassure her.

Kasey gave a small nod. "I know, I just- I've never heard her scream like that before..."

Matt frowned, leaning against the couch. It was admirable for Kasey to worry about her friend, but she needed to worry about herself. "Do you want to come sit over here?"

He heard her bare feet approach him and she curled up next to him. She was still shaking a bit. The scream had really scared her... What if Peter didn't make it in time?

Matt waited for her to sit down, before putting an arm around her. He could tell she was freaked out by what she heard, just by the way she was acting. "The most we can do is just wait to hear back from them."

She leaned against him when he put his arm around her and gave a small nod. "I hate that..."

Claire watched them both with a small frown. Matt was right, they could only wait.

—

"Say something like that again and I'll cut your tongue out next." He hissed, pressing a blade dangerously close to her neck. "Now, let's see what's under that mask of yours or do I need to slice you up more first?"

Aurora kept the back of her head pressed against the wall. She wasn't wanting him to unmask her, but she wasn't going to risk him slitting her neck over it. That would just result in her being dead and revealed.

He scoffed and reached out to grab hold of it. "You really don't realize that either way you're gonna be tested on, do you? You just have a chance to live instead of being dissected."

"Fine. Just let me tell you something first-" Aurora dropped her volume, playing at being more exhausted than she was. Granted, she was exhausted and her head was spinning with every movement, but he didn't need to know that.

He squinted at her but lowered his hand, raising an eyebrow as he stepped back, half expecting her to spit at him again. "Alright..."

She'd have to put her pride aside for now. She didn't have enough energy for quips and jokes, so she resorted to stalling. For who? She had no idea. "First off, I wanted to know why you guys came here in the first place."

He chuckled a bit. "Do you not know already or are you just stalling?" He asked her but answered her, "We were sent to look for the three of you since you've been running around the Kitchen."

"Oh you'd like that wouldn't you, if I was stalling." She heard his answer, and honestly, it was pretty much what she expected. "Well you guys are pretty persistent. Haven't left us alone since we got here."

"Mostly because you haven't left us alone either." He replied to her. "And I'd be very excited if you are stalling, cause then I'd be bringing back two spiders." He grinned.

"Don't be blaming us for you guys picking the wrong fights." Aurora said simply. Her body had become heavy, and most of her energy was zapped. All of that healing from earlier went straight out the window. She just hoped she'd be able to generate enough blood quick enough to replenish what she was losing.

"Aw, you're getting tired already?" He taunted her as he stepped up to her. "Guess it's time to pull this thing off, huh?" He asked her. "Unless you want to delay it again?"

"I know you guys want my friend, and I get that you want to know what makes me tick, but what else?" She asked, her words sort of slurring together. "Or are you guys just spider exterminators?"

He laughed. "I suppose you could call us that. At least the four of us." He glanced at the others who were still out. "We were originally just sent to get 25 back, we've been trying to track her down for months now. We'd see her here and there but were never able to track her to a location." He explained. "So, we just observed when we could and started seeing a pattern." He shrugged.

"We caught her but she got out again but now here she is, lurking about Hell's Kitchen, even attacking the base. So we're waiting for her to poke her head out. Maybe we can lure her out with you." He grinned, reaching out and grabbing the bottom of the mask to pull it up.

Aurora continued to try and lean away from the man, but the wall blocked her. "Sorry but I don't think you're going to get anywhere using me as bait." She reeled her head back as far as she could, and sent it flying forwards, in an attempt to head tut him, or even his hand to get him away from her.

The man cried out as she headbutted him and fell backward, into a sitting position on the ground. "Shit." He held his head in one hand and glared up at her. "You want another knife in your gut?!" He snarled. He pushed to his feet, blade in his hand and grazed her side with it.

Aurora sprouted a malicious grin and let a tired laugh slip out. Even if she didn't make it out of here, she'd give him hell. "I'm beginning to think that you think I value my life a lot more than I do."

He was about to plunge the knife into her side when he heard the soft noise of Peter landing on the roof behind him. He showed no sign of noticing him when Peter leapt, throwing out a web, aiming to take the knife away but was caught off guard by him dodging the web shot and screamed in pain, falling and rolling on the hard concrete when the knife embedded itself into his knee.

The man grinned. "I had a feeling one of you was gonna show up."

Peter looked up at him, lens wide as his heart raced.

Aurora gasped sharply, pulling at her restraints again. It had been fine when it was just herself getting hurt, but then he had to go after Peter. "You leave him alone!" She shouted, straining herself against the cold metal on her wrists and ankles. The motion caused the knives currently in her to dig deeper.

He looked towards Aurora with a sharp grin. "You are in no position to be demanding such things. And maybe, had you cooperated, this wouldn't have happened."

Peter looked at Aurora and his eyes widened when he saw how bad the situation was. Shit- "Karen call-!"

Peter gasped in surprise as he was grabbed from behind and then in pain as he felt a sharp pain slide past his throat and he quickly pulled out of the shock to pull his mask up over his nose, like Aurora's and cough up the blood rapidly filling his mouth.

He stared at it in horror, his hand wrapping around his neck and feeling the warm liquid flowing from it, coughing more up as he was tossed to the ground like a ragdoll.

"Sorry little Spider, I can't let you call for help." He told him, holding the bloodied knife in his hand.

—-

Matt knew waiting this out would be hard for her. "Do you want anything while you wait? Something to drink? To listen to?"

She shook her head. "I-... I want to be able to hear if they-Agh!" She covered her ears again, tears spilling faster down her face as her heart dropped into her stomach making her feel sick. "They got him too-"

Matt leaned over, holding her close. He wished he could comfort her, somehow go out there and fix all of this. If they had managed to get Spiderman too... there's no telling what they'd do.

She trembled in his hold, gripping his shirt as she sobbed. She couldn't go out there with Tony looking for her, S-She couldn't! But-... If they were taken or- She choked back another sob. She'd never forgive herself.