Chapter 39: Identity Theft

Chapter Thirty Nine: Identity Theft

There was a state of shock in the Parker household, as two surly looking SHEILD agents quickly pulled Peter to his feet, as it took several seconds for him to gain his bearings. Looking around from side to side, he briefly considered fighting them off but realized that it would endanger his aunt and it would not be a go. He tried to look at Nick Fury, but Fury was avoiding all eye contact.

May Parker got to her feet angrily, as a couple of SHEILD agents took a step forward to prepare to restrain her.

“You can’t just burst in here and take my nephew without proof!” shouted Aunt May.

“We didn’t,” replied Fury in a crisp voice. “We have proof.”

“Peter would never do anything like that,” argued Aunt May, not willing to give up this manner.

“Ma’am, the evidence is pretty cut and dry,” said Fury gruffly. “Your nephew was caught red handed, stealing top secret government secrets. National security has been breached and we have to find out what exactly he found out.”

“You can’t be serious,” said Aunt May. “Peter isn’t capable of doing something like this.”

“You’d be surprised what your nephew is capable of,” said Fury and Peter just felt chills go down his spine. He thought for sure Fury was going to out him as Spider-Man right to his aunt and make this situation go even worse. “Your phone lines will be restored once your nephew has been safely brought into custody. Good day to you.”

The SHEILD agents stood, not turning their backs on Aunt May, who looked at Peter, who tried to give her a reassuring look but found it very hard when he was being dragged out the door.

“Oh Peter, I can’t believe this,” said Aunt May as she reached for the phone to dial for the police, as far as she was concerned, this was a kidnapping but sure enough, it was dead.

She was at a loss of what to do.

-

Peter was thrown into a small cell on the SHEILD transport, in shackles like a common criminal.

“Thought you could get away with this, didn’t you Parker?” growled Fury in a low voice. “I had thought this day might come but I was sure hoping that it wouldn’t. With your powers, I had a inkling you may have been corrupted by them and turned evil. We’ll find out what you stole and then I’ll find out what you’ve done. Rest assured, for this little stunt, both Spider-Man and Peter Parker will be disappearing for a very long time.”

“Fury, I didn’t do anything,” said Peter through gritted teeth but Fury just turned his back on Peter and walked off. He did not even bother negotiating with traitors.

Peter just sank into the cell. He would not be surprised if these cuffs had nullified his spider powers.

-

An entire day passed and Gwen walked down the hallways of Midtown High nervously.

“It’s not like Peter to just not show up for school,” muttered Gwen to herself, as she walked down the hallway. “The only time he missed school was…the incident.”

“Hey, Gwen, have you seen Peter?” asked Kitty as she walked over.

“No, can’t say I have,” said Gwen. “And there’s something about it that just bothers me.”

“Maybe he’s just sick,” suggested Kitty.

“Peter never gets sick enough to miss school, well not without the aid of a genetically altered arachnid,” said Gwen but there was a group of students who were talking in hushed voices.

“Did you hear about what happened to Parker?” asked a voice which caused both Kitty and Gwen to stiffen up.

“I know, it’s all over the news, I heard the teachers talking about it,” muttered another voice. “Got hauled away from stealing government secrets.”

“No way, it’s got to be some kind of mistake,” said Flash Thompson boldly. “Parker? He wouldn’t even steal a napkin.”

“Flash, he’s changed, perhaps he just snapped one day,” said another student.

“It’s unbelievable isn’t it,” said Harry seriously as he walked up with Liz. “Peter, I mean.”

“It’s unbelievable because I can’t believe it,” said Gwen only barely having an inkling of what’s going on.

“No one should if they knew Peter,” said Liz and Harry nodded. “Stealing top secret government secrets, he was hauled out of his home by black helicopters in the morning.”

“He just went willingly!” demanded Kitty.

“Well it’s not like he could stop whoever hauled him off,” said Harry with a raised eyebrow. “It’s got to be some kind of trick, a frame up but I don’t know who would frame him.”

Gwen was just silent, as she turned away. She sensed there were more sinister forces at work but she was at a loss.

“Are you going to be okay, Gwen?” asked Harry and Gwen just glared at him. “Yeah, stupid question I know.”

The next few minutes were awkwardly, as Gwen heard snippets of conversation regarding Peter. Many of them were trying to say that they saw this coming with only Flash Thompson of all people trying to defend Peter, even if it was in a back handed way.

-

The SHEILD transport had arrived to some kind of prison in the middle of what seemed to be nowhere. Peter felt like he had been on there for weeks but he suspected it was merely only hours. The doors of the cell had been opened, as two SHEILD commandos grabbed Peter and dragged him out, without even a word or a look to him. Fury followed, overseeing the mission, with a narrowed eye, as he watched Peter be hauled off.

“Fury, you just can’t believe I would do this!” shouted Peter finally finding his voice.

“I’ve seen far too many things that people would not believe to believe that someone with super human powers couldn’t turn evil,” said Fury in a crisp voice, so only Peter could hear him.

“Any nutcase could put on a Spider-Man costume and frame me,” argued Peter.

“Who ever said that it was Spider-Man who was caught in the act?” asked Fury and Peter just paled. This situation had gone from bad to worse. “Rest assure, I’ll find out what you know. For your sake, it better not be much and you may be granted an extended stay in a SHEILD prison facility for the rest of your life. If you’re lucky.”

“Yeah, luck, like I have any of that,” thought Peter. “And the fact that they framed Peter Parker, rather than Spider-Man, that just really says it all about my luck, doesn’t it?”

Peter felt slightly noxious thinking about the ways Fury would determine how much information he knew. He doubted that they would be all that pleasant.

-

In office of the Daily Bugle, there was an uproar to say the least.

“Parker, please, like he would show enough ambition to even think about stealing government secrets!” bellowed Jameson.

“Always knew there were something about Parker that seemed shifty,” said Eddie Brock. “Always wondered how he got those photos of Spider-Man and then that photo of the guardian devil…”

“Brock, enough out of you!” bellowed Jameson as he turned the staff. “This is a news story, and it may even be more of one if it is a frame up and of course it is, Parker just isn’t ambitious enough to do this. I want everyone to put their best effort forward, uncover everything that the government will allow to slip past their clutches.”

Jameson just sank down in his chair as everyone walked off to get going on the biggest story of the day and perhaps the year so far. The fearless publisher of the Daily Bugle had thought the story to be absolutely absurd, a lazy teenager being able to steal government secrets. Granted, he had been in the news business for years, and had seen his share of the strange, but this was stretching credibility even for him.

-

“There has to be something more to this,” said Kitty to Gwen in a low voice as they walked through the melting snow, mostly slush now. “I mean, there are a lot of people who would try and smear Spider-Man’s name but really, there’s not that many who would even bother tarnishing Peter’s name. Unless of course, they knew they were one and the same and that leaves…”

“No, Kitty, I doubt it’s him,” said Gwen shutting down that theory right away. “It just doesn’t seem like Norman Osborn’s style. I think he thinks that he benefits more from Peter being out in the open. That and he sees Peter as the son that he always wanted”

“Yeah, after trying to kill him,” said Kitty with a frown.

“I never said Norman Osborn was sane,” countered Gwen but to be honest, trying to figure out how Norman Osborn’s mind worked was giving her a head ache.

“You think Peter’s aunt might know more than we do?” asked Kitty but Gwen just shrugged.

“Doubt it very much, I’m guessing that they took Peter and only told her about what leaked in the press,” said Gwen.

“So we’re stuck,” said Kitty. “What now?”

“I don’t know,” said Gwen biting her lip in frustration. “At this point, I’m at a loss. We don’t even know where Peter is.”

“Got to be a top secret government prison,” muttered Kitty, as the two teenagers made their way right towards the X-Mansion.

-

“Harry, what do you know about this situation involving Peter?” asked Norman as he surveyed his son, as he had just arrived home.

“About as much as everyone else does,” answered Harry and Norman just frowned.

“I should have expected you would be of no use,” said Norman in an icy voice.

“Come on, Dad, you can’t believe Peter would actually do something like this,” argued Harry and Norman’s eyes just looked at his son, impressed at his somewhat bold statement. Perhaps his son was not completely spineless after all.

“I never said I believed it,” said Norman in a crisp, cool voice. “I know Peter. Trust me, Harry, I know Peter. Much better than you could ever imagine.”

Harry just looked on in confusion, as he watched his father get up with that cryptic statement.

“Just seems like a sticky situation, but I’m certain that someone as resourceful as Peter would manage to find a way to get out,” said Norman as he exited the room, without a backward glance leaving a confused Harry Osborn in his wake.

-

“The kid’s gotten himself into trouble this time,” growled Wolverine as Kitty and Gwen had explained the situation.

“The thing is, he didn’t get himself into trouble, because he didn’t do it,” said Gwen.

“Yeah, surely you couldn’t believe that Peter would do something like this, Logan,” argued Kitty.

“No, he didn’t but he must have hacked someone off for them to go to all the trouble to frame him,” said Wolverine. “And they must have done a damn good job in framing him too, because Fury’s not the person who’s easily fooled.”

“Fury?” asked Kitty.

“Nick Fury, he’s in charge of something called SHEILD, Peter mentioned it before, he had to work with Fury a couple times,” said Gwen as she looked at Wolverine. “You know a lot more about this than you were letting on.”

“To be honest, it wasn’t hard to put together what’s going on here,” said Wolverine gruffly. “Fury owes me a favor, should be good enough to get an explanation out of him.”

“So what’s the plan?” asked Kitty.

“The plan is for both of you to stay out of this,” said Wolverine roughly. “I’ll track down Fury, maybe I’ll make him see reason, but that might be hoping for too much.”

“What about the others?” asked Kitty.

“Off checking on that mutant signature in Africa that Xavier picked up on this morning,” said Wolverine gruffly before he turned and walked off without another word.

“Well, let’s follow him,” said Gwen and Kitty looked at her with a confused expression on her face.

“I beg your pardon?” asked Kitty. “Are you actually suggesting that we disobey Logan?”

“Yes,” replied Gwen as she looked at the disbelieving look. “Look either you come with me, or I go on my own.”

“No, I’m coming, I’m just shocked that you’d be the one to suggest it,” said Kitty.

-

Deep inside a cell at a SHEILD prison, Peter sat. As he feared, the cuffs had somehow nullified his powers and despite his best attempts to remove them, he could not. He wondered if he would ever see the outside world again or if he was doomed to spend the rest of his life in this dark depressing cell, without the chance of every seeing the sunlight or breathing fresh air ever again.

There were movements of the guards outside but they did not bother to speak with him. Not even for a second. Peter stood, hands folded, bored out of his mind. Any time now Fury would come back but right now the man was waiting for him to stew and contemplate his own fate.

“Let’s face it, even with my powers, I don’t think I could escape here,” thought Peter, shoulder sagging. “I’d be gunned down the moment I left this cell. Who knows what Fury might do to find out any information? Even if it doesn’t exist. Who did this? What could they have to gain? I don’t know? It ends like this, after all I’ve been through.”

Peter continued to sit, as the minutes ticked by rather slowly. He could be here for a long time before he had even the slightest bit of human contact.

-

Wolverine stepped inside a seedy looking bar on the outskirts of town. Several of the patrons looked to be the type that would fight at the drop of the hat and while he would normally welcome such a thing, he had work to do. Wolverine walked inside, Fury tended to stop by this place on a regular basis. At least the last Wolverine heard and now the mutant looked around, before he picked up the scent of the SHEILD commander. Wolverine stepped forward, as Fury sat at the table in the back of the bar.

“Fury,” grunted Wolverine.

“Logan, it’s been a long time,” said Fury in a calm voice but Wolverine could see and smell that the man was tense.

“Not long enough, Fury,” said Wolverine in a rough voice.

“I know why you’re here,” answered Fury. “The press got their mitts on the fact that Peter Parker was involved and ran with it. The Bugle is demanding evidence, the irony is thick. It was something that I saw coming.”

“You can’t believe that Parker is a traitor,” growled Wolverine. “I’m not exactly the biggest fan of the kid but even I know something’s fishy.”

“Don’t talk about what you don’t understand, Logan, his friends must have put you up to having a talk to me,” said Fury. “And do you believe that I would take Mr. Parker in if the evidence didn’t give me proof without a reasonable doubt? I conducted an investigation, DNA was found. Genetically enhanced spider DNA, that matched what we had on file.”

“So someone whose good at covering his tracks,” said Wolverine. “Never said whoever did this wasn’t good.”

Fury just looked at Wolverine. A part of him did believe that something was a bit off but there was too much evidence that fingered Peter Parker as the suspect. The fact since day one, he had kept a careful eye on the process of Peter as Spider-Man, and managed to uncover the exact origin of his powers. The fact that the spider that gave the boy his spider powers was created based on the research of a madman who had corrupted his own DNA behind all recognition, warping his mind, had given Fury much to think about it. As it turned out, the fear was justified.

“What if you’re wrong, Fury?” demanded Wolverine.

“If I am, then Parker will be released, but there is very little chance of it happening,” said Fury. “There’s plenty of proof that points to the fact that he’s cracked underneath the strain of his powers. Don’t see why you should care.”

“If an innocent person gets put away for crimes they never committed then, I care plenty,” growled Wolverine, as his claws popped out.

“Put those away, Logan,” replied Fury in a bored voice, not intimidated at all. “I’m going to return to base in ten minutes to question Parker. You have ten minutes to try and find a way to convince me how I may be wrong. Start talking, the clock is ticking and be warned, if you try anything, there are SHEILD agents around this bar that will neutralize you.”

-

“I think he went this way,” muttered Gwen as they arrived several minutes after Wolverine did. “Following him on foot…that might not have been the best idea come to think about it.”

“Well if I couldn’t use my powers to get through obstacles, then we would have been sunk,” said Kitty as she looked around, with a frown. “Yeah, that seems like the type of place that Logan would hang out. So what now?”

“Give me a minute, I really had no plan other than follow Wolverine,” said Gwen shortly as she looked around but heard footsteps. “Someone’s coming!”

The two girls ducked behind a truck as two SHEILD agents walked forward.

“Fury better get back out here soon, I’m ready to get back to base,” said one of the agents as he looked at the truck they stood beside.

“Better to be out here then in that place, too many lowlifes,” said the second agent but he looked around. “I could have sworn someone was here.”

A hand reached from underneath the SHEILD agents and grabbed his ankles, causing him to land on the ground. Kitty phased from through the ground and it took the second SHEILD agent a moment to realize what had happened but he moved forward to restrain the girl, phasing right through her. He turned around in confusion and got kicked right in the mouth, before he was quickly taken down and rendered unconscious.

“Easy,” said Kitty as she looked down at the two agents.

“Too easy,” remarked Gwen as she walked out from behind the truck. “I don’t like this, it shouldn’t be this easy. There should be more than two people guarding a government transport truck.”

“Well let’s get inside, before more do show up,” suggested Kitty, as she grabbed Gwen’s arm and used her powers to cause them to both become intangible, so they could phase inside. “Whoa!”

She caught sight of the impressive technology in the truck.

“Kitty, you can drool over this later,” said Gwen urgently. “We might not have much time to find out where they’re holding Peter.”

“Right, just give me a second, it should be like no problem to get into this,” said Kitty, as she sat down at the keyboard but she was met with a lot of security and firewalls. “Okay, maybe just a little bit of a problem.”

“Are you sure you can get in without triggering some kind of protocol that will have SHEILD hauling us in to join Peter?” asked Gwen.

“It was your idea to follow Logan,” replied Kitty. “And yeah, I can totally handle this.”

About a few minutes passed but the sounds of footsteps from outside had caused them to pause.

“I almost got it, they can’t be coming now,” said Kitty as she had barely scratched the surface to getting in the problem but the door opened and Gwen quickly grabbed Kitty, before pulling her out of the chair towards what appeared to be a holding cell.

“Phase, now,” muttered Gwen and they became intangible, just as Nick Fury entered the truck. Fury turned, with a look on his face of surprise.

“Someone has been hacking into the system,” said Fury in surprise but he just sat down. “No matter, this will make my job a lot easier.”

Fury quickly activated the truck, causing it transform into the SHEILD hovership and also activating a power nullifying field right inside the cell, as it lifted right off the ground.

Gwen and Kitty sat in the cell.

“Taking off,” said Kitty in a panicked voice. “We’ve got to get out of here.”

She prepared to phase right through the floor before it got too high but nothing. She was completely solid.

This was not going to be a situation that they would be able to get out of easily.

-

Nick Fury exited the bar, as he made his way outside, but he stopped suddenly, as he saw two SHEILD agents who were just in the process of awakening where the transport vehicle was. Fury stood, as he looked from side to side, before he walked over towards his agents.

“How could you allow this to happen?” demanded Fury.

“It wasn’t our fault, the girl appeared from the ground and caught us off guard,” said one of the agents.

“You were beaten by a teenage girl,” said Fury in disgust.

“Well to be fair, she is one of the X-Men,” said Wolverine gruffly, who looked amused before he sniffed. “Not surprised they didn’t listen, that’s teenagers for ya, and….no, it can’t be him.”

“What?”demanded Fury and Wolverine turned to tell him the news.

-

Peter sat in the cell. Two humorless guards patrolled outside but he rarely saw them. He held up his cuffed hands, helpless, unable to move. Suddenly, footsteps were heard outside the door.

“Guards, I am ready to interrogate the prisoner right now,” said the unmistakable voice of Nick Fury from outside.

“Sir, your orders were….” Stated one of the guards but he paused. “Alright, I don’t know who you are, but hands in the air, you’re going in for impersonating Commander Fury.”

Smoke filled the hall outside, as Peter got to his feet, to catch a closer look, but he saw “Fury” standing outside, picking up a key card and he swiped it.

“Now’s my chance,” thought Peter, as he leapt forward, but “Fury” grabbed him. Peter struggled valiantly but found himself unable to break free. “Well just like I feared I guess. No spider powers, no hope.”

“You’re coming with me, Mr. Parker, after all the work I have gotten to get you here,” said “Fury” as he dragged Peter off. He tried valiantly to summon up enough strength to pull the cuffs off.

-

“Any second now, he’s going to come back and then we’re so screwed,” said Kitty as she looked around. “Any luck in finding a way out.”

“Well no, I think the idea might be to keep the prisoners inside,” responded Gwen dryly. “No go on phasing us out of here either.”

“Well this was a bust, some help for Peter we are, getting caught like this,” said Kitty. “Our only hope is for Logan to track us down.”

Gwen turned and her cell went off. She quickly answered it.

“Gwen?” asked the voice of her father.

“Yes, Dad,” answered Gwen in a low voice possible.

“Where are you?” asked George Stacy. “It’s nearly nine at night.”

“Yes, I know it’s late, but I’ll be home as soon as I can,” answered Gwen.

“Gwen, please tell me you didn’t do anything to go after Peter,” said George over the phone and Gwen paused for a second. Her father knew her too well. “It’s out of your hands, it’s out of mine in fact now. So please tell me you didn’t do anything that could get yourself hurt. I would hope you know better than that.”

“Sorry, Dad, the signal’s breaking up,” said Gwen quickly even if it’s perfectly clear. “I’ll be home as soon as I can, if you can hear this, love you bye.”

“Gwen, Gwen,” said George but Gwen quickly put the phone away and shut it off.

“You’re going to be in so much trouble when you get home,” said Kitty.

“If I get home,” muttered Gwen. “Of course I’m more worried about what will happen when Fury finds out that we tried to hack into government computers. And the fact that we found nothing makes it even worse.”

“Yeah, it will be even worse when Logan finds out that I disobeyed a direct order,” said Kitty with a shudder. “We aren’t even closer to finding Peter.”

Both girls froze, when they heard foot steps that were approaching the cell. The room was air tight and guarded against mutant powers. Time seemed to stand still as the door opened.

-

“You will help me acquire something, Mr. Parker,” said “Fury”. “Something that only you can help me with.”

“What’s your game?” asked Peter. “Why did you frame me? Who are you?”

“So many questions, for such an inquisitive young man,” chuckled “Fury” before he contorted in a grin. “Your parents would be proud, they’ve always asked too many questions and stuck their noses where it belonged. They got there’s in the end.”

“My parents?” asked Peter. “They died in a plane crash. In an accident! What does this have to do with anything? What does this guy know?”

“You will learn why in a moment, but your DNA is important,” said “Fury” “In fact, the little bit I managed to acquire was enough to fool Fury, but not enough to open the doors that I wanted.”

“Where did you get my DNA?” asked Peter in a panicked voice.

“I was a substitute teacher a few weeks back, a Mr. Leon,” responded “Fury” “Mr. Cham Leon.”

“Mr. Cham Leon?” thought Peter before it clicked in his brain. “The Chameleon of course.”

“It was very simple to acquire your DNA by scrapping it off your test paper,” said “Fury”. “As for who I am? Well anyone I want to be.”

“Fury” changed into J. Jonah Jameson, followed by George Stacy. Then he shifted into Norman Osborn and then Spider-Man, before he turned back into Peter Parker.

“Like looking into a mirror, isn’t it?” asked the faux Peter Parker, before he turned into his real face, the Chameleon and he lead Peter inside the ship, with a gun to his back. “You will help me acquire this and the world will tremble.”

Peter walked towards the cell and he could have sworn he heard hushed voices. The Chameleon reached forward, while keeping an eye and a gun on Peter. Peter’s eyes widened, when he saw who was in there.

Kitty, seizing the chance, sprung into action and phased right through the Chameleon when she passed the room, grabbing the gun out of her hand. Quickly, she dodged the attack from the Chamelon, as Peter dropped down, as he looked at Gwen.

“Um, hi Peter,” offered Gwen with a weak smile but the Chameleon managed to knock Kitty right into the wall, before he picked up a gun and grabbed Peter, before he stuck it right in the side of his head.

“I have no idea how you two girls had gotten in here and quite frankly, I have no desire to find out,” said the Chameleon, as Kitty stepped forward. “One more step and I blow his brains out…both of their brains out.”

He threw Peter into the cell, before he turned, gun pointed at both Gwen and Peter.

“A mutant, that’s quite the interesting development and an annoyance as well, but not for long, these power inhibitors should keep you in check,” said the Chameleon, as he reached forward to pick them up. “Any tricks and you’ll be sorry.”

Kitty stepped forward, with the frustration that she had blown in big time. The cuffs were snapped on her and her powers had been blocked. The Chameleon shoved her inside with Gwen and Peter, the gun still on them to the very moment that the Chameleon shut the door.

“Be warned, that while I may need Mr. Parker for the moment, you are very expendable,” said the Chameleon as he walked off. As much as he would like to eliminate any liabilities right now, it would be mere moments before it was found out that security had been breached and he needed to make into the air quickly.

-

“Too late, he’s already been here and taken off with Parker,” said Fury, as he rubbed his temples, as the knockout gas slowly wore off from his SHEILD agents. He was incensed that the Chameleon had gotten the jump on him again. He was tracking that fiend for years and the Chameleon was always one step ahead.

“Maybe not all hope is lost, Fury,” said Wolverine as he sniffed around. “They left not even ten minutes ago. I’m sure it should be easy to track your stolen vehicle.”

“Not if the Chameleon disabled its locating protocols,” remarked Fury. “And that is a logical assumption.”

“Then I guess, you’re going to have to rely on my nose, bub,” said Wolverine and Fury nodded with a grim voice before he walked off without a word, with Wolverine following him.

-

Three people crammed in a cell meant only for one person was not the most ideal situation.

“I don’t think you two should have gone after me,” said Peter stiffly after a few minutes.

“Yeah, pretty stupid right now,” said Kitty. “I didn’t even crack the computer code to get in, not even close.”

“Well at least what happened isn’t my fault this time,” responded Peter.

“No, it’s mine,” said Gwen dismally. “Happy.”

“No particularly and that’s not what I was talking about,” answered Peter. “The Chameleon mentioned something about needing me to get something. And…The Chameleon mentioned something about my parents, I don’t know what that had to do with anything.”

“I don’t either,” said Gwen as she frowned as she thought but she was unable to think of anything. “They were scientists, weren’t they?”

“That’s what Aunt May and Uncle Ben told me,” answered Peter as he racked his brain. Perhaps he was just being paranoid but there was something telling him that there was more to his parents than met the eye.

“We really need to find a way out of here,” said Kitty suddenly, as she could barely move or concentrate. “Think of something, Peter.”

“Why me?” asked Peter.

“Because you always get out of these situations somehow,” said Gwen. “I don’t know how.”

“Well you’re asking the wrong person, I just really trust my instincts,” said Peter, as he looked over the cell as much as he could.

“Already done that, its pretty much airtight security,” said Gwen.

“No security is airtight, there has to be some hole in it,” said Peter but he wondered if he felt confident on that. This cell looked like there was no way out, short of being let out.

-

The Chameleon kept focused. Having two hostages in addition to the Parker boy was a blessing in disguise. It would cause SHEILD to think twice about stopping him. The shape shifter turned the transport vehicle. He was in no danger of anyone catching with him. He would use Parker, before disposing of him and the other two. It was absolutely perfect. Then the package would be his.

The shape shifter touched down on the island. He was almost to his destination. Using the computer, he accessed the security protocols on the main part of the island, shutting him down one by one. The only thing standing in his way would be any agents and the protocols around the package, that Parker could disable.

He saw the volcano on the island as it rumbled with an anxious look. He had to work quickly, before his prize was buried forever.

-

“Any luck?” muttered Gwen.

“None,” said Peter dismally.

“Told you this place was good,” said Gwen as they heard the transport shut down.

“Maybe we can take him out if we all jump him at once,” suggested Kitty.

“Too risky, he’s going to be armed and any one of us can get shot,” said Peter, as the sound of a creaking chair was heard and the footsteps could be heard from outside. Everyone inside the room tensed up.

“Better think of something, Pete,” thought Peter. “You’ve gotten out of these situations before. You beat the Sinister Six with weakened powers. You can do this. You can do this, come on, I have to get everyone out of here.”

“Its time, Mr. Parker,” said the Chameleon, as he grabbed Peter, before he dragged Peter out of the cell and shut it immediately. He moved over and pressed a red button. The computer began beeping. “The self destruction protocols on this vehicle, it will blow sky high in less than five minutes.”

Peter paled immediately, before dove at the Chameleon but the shape shifter easily held him off.

“How heroic, thinking that you can save your friends,” said the Chameleon snidely. “It is for naught, Mr. Parker, I’ll have what I want.”

“You won’t be able to get off the island if this vehicle is destroyed,” argued Spider-Man.

“Don’t be so certain,” said the Chameleon, who had arranged transportation off the island. He was not going to chance the fact that Fury could track him further than this island. While the tracking protocols had been disabled, he was leaving nothing to chance. “Come now, Mr. Parker.”

The Chameleon lead Peter off, as he helplessly looked at the vehicle, as it was about to blow sky high but a whirling sound from above had caused the shape shifter to pause.

“Looks like you have company,” said Peter, but the Chameleon grabbed Peter and yanked his arm viciously. He only had maybe a moment to open the doors and claim the package.

“DNA identification required,” stated the computer, as the Chameleon quickly jammed Peter’s hand. “Genetic anomaly, partial match for clearance, with unknown variable, scanning for possible solutions to problem.”

“What is this, Parker?” demanded the Chameleon in a crisp voice.

“That’s my spider DNA enhanced screwing you over, Chameleon,” thought Peter with a tiny bit of satisfaction, but it was bittersweet at best.

“The game’s over, Chameleon,” said Fury, as he stepped off the helicopter, with Wolverine, whose claws popped out and quickly, Chameleon grabbed Peter, placing the gun to his head.

“Just give me a reason, Fury,” said the Chameleon, as Peter looked at the Chameleon’s belt.

“The keys to the inhibitor cuffs,” thought Peter. “If only I can get to it.”

“Don’t worry about me!” shouted Peter to Wolverine and Fury. “Gwen, Kitty, they’re both in there, you have to get them out!”

“Kid’s right, he can handle himself,” said Wolverine, as he caught on as Peter was slowly edging his way towards the Chameleon’s belt and Fury caught on as well but he was not as easy to go.

“Better do what the boy says and save the hostages, before they are blown to pieces,” said the Chameleon and Fury turned to follow Wolverine. He was the only one who could disable the self destruction mechanism. “The DNA should have worked, it should have let me right in. What’s wrong with it?”

“Access granted for a period of sixty seconds,” said the computer and the Chameleon entered, as he shoved Peter right to the ground, as he managed to get his hands on the keys to the inhibitor cuffs and started to free himself.

The Chameleon stepped and sure enough, there it was, the cylinder, just as his employer had said it as. He picked it up and placed it inside a bag, before he departed. He would use Peter Parker as a hostage to get himself off the island and dispose of him later.

Needless to say, Peter Parker was gone, just as the volcano above them was beginning to smoke and rumble. The Chameleon looked around for his captive, but suddenly, a fist connected right to the side of his head that knocked him down to the ground.

-

“Chameleon did something to jam the controls, I can’t get them open,” said Fury.

“Then, I guess this needs a different approach,” growled Wolverine as he had pried the door open with his claws, as Kitty and Gwen had managed to get out. “Go both of you, to the helicopter, this thing is about to blow.”

“What about Peter?” asked Gwen firmly. “I’m not leaving without him.”

“It’s going to be taken care of right now,” said Wolverine shortly, as he walked out, ready for a battle but he heard a loud crash as the Chameleon was dropped to the ground.

-

The Chameleon pulled himself to his feet, as he looked around. It was becoming very difficult to see on the island, the smoke was building up and the volcano was at near eruption.

Another punch had knocked him completely off balance, and he turned around. He saw some movement around him, but he could not pinpoint the source.

“Show yourself, whoever you are,” demanded the Chameleon.

“Really, you shouldn’t be called the Chameleon,” taunted a voice. “You should be called the slug with how fast you move.”

“Spider-Man?” demanded the Chameleon, and sure enough, he was tripped up, before he was knocked on his face. He hit the ground and bounced up, before he pulled out the gun. Two shots but neither of them connected. “I demand you come out right now and face me.”

“Yeah right, that’s going to happen,” said Peter, as he took advantage of the smoke around him to make sure the Chameleon saw that it was not Spider-Man he was fighting but rather plain older Peter Parker using the voice that he used as Spider-Man.

“Gwen got on me about trying to change my voice when I was Spider-Man and now I can see why,” thought Peter. “To be able to pull off tricks like this without blowing my identity.”

Peter moved around and threw another punch, to keep the Chameleon guessing. He really wished he had his webbing, to really mix things up but that was worse. The Chameleon dodged around and was dangerously close to Peter

“Go to find a way to wrap this up,” thought Peter anxiously as he watched the progress of the volcano. “This thing is about ready to blow, and it won’t be pretty…my ride’s going to leave without me.”

Another loud rumble and lots of smoke, as the Chameleon stood, before he reached and pulled out a smoke grenade and launched it. Quickly, he carried the device, not even bothering to look behind him as he moved. It used his own cloud of smoke, and Peter tried to follow him, but Wolverine had grabbed him from behind.

“Forget it, Parker,” said Wolverine.

“I just can’t let him get away,” responded Peter.

“Forget it, Fury’s going to leave without you if you’re not on within two minutes,” said Wolverine. “He’s not too happy right now.”

Another rumble of the volcano and Peter followed Wolverine. He hated letting the villain get away. Wolverine lead the way, with Gwen and Kitty, along with several SHEILD agents and Fury, looking on.

“Get in now, Parker,” said Fury without a word not even bothering to make eye contact with Peter. “Circle around the island one time, the Chameleon couldn’t have gotten too far.”

The helicopter rose up but the volcano below them had erupted, causing lava to shoot up into the air.

“Commander, we have to pull out,” said the agent.

“Damn it!” yelled Fury, as he realized that his chances of finding the Chameleon now had slipped away. “So close to getting him, if I didn’t have to babysit, I might have grabbed in this time.”

Fury gave a disgusted look towards the three teenagers, but Peter just stood up to face Fury.

“Actually none of this would have happened, if you would not have expected the worst of me,” said Peter calmly and Fury looked at him with disdain.

“I should have your powers taken away, Parker,” responded Fury. “It may be doing you a favor in the long run.”

“We both know you can’t,” said Peter, who hoped that he was calling Fury’s bluff. “I didn’t want the Chameleon to get away either, but he did. He can’t evade capture forever.”

“The thing is he has and this time, he didn’t just steal information, he actually got his hands on something tangible,” said Fury.

“Look I want answers,” said Peter.

“You don’t deserve them, Parker, ” answered Fury. “All you need to know is that the Chameleon has gotten his hands on something dangerous and it’s all your fault.”

“My fault?” asked Peter, but the other SHEILD operatives looked at him, and he wisely shut up.

“You better be grateful that I’m not flying all three of you hack to the SHEILD prison and locking you up instead of taking you back home,” said Fury. “You’ve endangered the security of this nation and the world with your irresponsible actions.”

That was the last word that Fury said to anyone on the trip, as Kitty, Gwen, and Peter looked at each other. Today’s events had raised far more questions and very few had been even close to being answered.

-

“Sit down Gwen,” said George Stacy as his daughter had arrived home. He was calm and collected and also relieved.

“I don’t regret going after Peter,” said Gwen firmly.

“I know,” said George calmly. “And in many ways, the way you stood by him is admirable but at the same time, this wasn’t too smart to risk your life like that.”

“Not going to say it was, but Peter shouldn’t have to go through something like that,” said Gwen. “I did what I felt I had to do. If you want to ground me by sticking by my boyfriend, then fine, but it’s not going to change the fact that I would do the same thing again.”

George paused for a few seconds.

“No, I won’t do that because it would do no good,” said George. “Just be careful. When you roll your dice with life, there is a chance that you might not come out alive next time. I take that chance every day with my job but there’s no reason that you should.”

Gwen just nodded in a half understanding manner. She knew her father did not really want to see her hurt or worse and had Peter been here, she had a feeling that he would agree one hundred percent.

Still, she was not about to hide underneath a rock.

-

“Oh, Peter, thank God,” said Aunt May. “I can’t believe Fury would haul a seventeen year old in to a place like that.”

“Now, Aunt May, it was a simple mix up,” said Peter who was glad that he had only told Aunt May the basic details of what happened.

“Trust me young man, I’ve been involved in some simple mix ups and this is a bit more serious,” said Aunt May sternly. “You could have been suffered because a horrible injustice.”

“That doesn’t matter Aunt May, I’m here, aren’t it?” asked Peter.

“Of course, Peter, of course, I don’t think I could bear it if I lost you too,” said Aunt May. “Now how about something to eat? You must be starving.”

-

The Chameleon arrived back at an abandoned shack in a desert. There was no one else around for miles. He had just narrowly escaped the island before the volcano had erupted. He had the device that he wanted. Walking over, the Chameleon began punch in a series of commands on a computer, before he opened a communication channel to his latest employer.

“I have it,” said the Chameleon.

“As I expected you would,” said a distorted voice. “No problems.”

“Fury was dangerously close, there was some mutant interference, and Spider-Man showed up,” said the Chameleon. “The Parker boy allowed me to gain access, even though his DNA caused me some problems.”

“I was lead to believe that it would allow you to enter without trouble,” said the distorted voice.

“No, it’s almost as if it had been altered in some way,” said the Chameleon.

“Intriguing,” answered the voice after a few seconds pause.

“It is too bad that I could not delve into this matter further,” said the Chameleon.

“It matters little, there will be plenty of time to delve into such manners when the world has been placed underneath my thumb,” stated the distorted voice. “The first of three and then I will be able to put it back together. Then the world will be mine as it should have always been. I will send word to when I will have the component retrieved. You have done will Chameleon and you will receive your payment.”

“Very well,” responded the Chameleon as the transmission went dead. Given the trouble he went through to get his hands on this one component, he prepared to receive a handsome payment.  


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