Chapter 71: No Friends of Mine Part II

Chapter 71: No Friends of Mine Part III

"You heard me you mutant freak, hands in the air air and walk forward," growled the leader of the MRD squad.

"Can't we talk this over like civilized human beings?" asked Spider-Man, but he found several of the weapons trained on him. "I'm guessing not."

Spider-Man maintained the illusion that he walked forward, his hands in the air, but immediately, when one of the MRD officers reached forward to grab him, he flung him down. With expert precision and grace, Spider-Man propelled himself in the air, before he disarmed two more of the troops, sending their guns up into the air.

Several miniature balls of webbing shot outwards, some of them blinding the visors on the helmets of the MRD as Spider-Man swung out the door that Annihilation made. Creed had slipped off already while Spider-Man battled the MRD officers.

"Get it together men, we can't have him escape, no matter what, do you hear me!" barked the commander, as he angrily ripped of his helmet off. "When I get my hands on that wall crawling freak..."

At that moment, the commander was cut off with a buzz from the communication link.

"Commander, this is Norman Osborn, I understand you are investigating the disturbance at Midtown High," said Osborn in a calm and crisp voice. "What is your progress? Have you captured the mutant in question?"

"We're just about to go after him, Mr. Osborn," said the commander with thinly veiled glee. "It's Spider-Man and we're..."

"Spider-Man?" inquired Osborn with a pause. "Leave it and return to base."

"But, he's out in the city, Mr. Osborn sir..." started the MRD commander.

"I said leave it," said Osborn. "Spider-Man is a special case. I have plans for him, but not now."

"But..." stated the commander.

"I order you to leave it, trust me, there will be plenty of other dangerous mutants to take care of," said Osborn. "And remember, officially he escaped into the city and you were unable to locate him. If I hear anything hinted otherwise, people might find out that you are a mutant."

"I'm not one of those filthy muties!" yelled the commander angrily.

"Perhaps, perhaps not, but to prove it, that would be rather tricky," said Osborn softly. "Now rally your men and return to base. That's my final word."

"Of course, Mr. Osborn," said the commander as he turned to his men. "Return to base, Spider-Man escaped and he's untrackable. Some day we may bring him in but not now."

With that, the MRD officers looked confused but agreed. Some of them only did sign up for this job to put food on the table and a roof over their family's head.

X-X-X-X-X

Harry Osborn's eyes flickered open, not that it could do him much good, because he was currently blind folded. And apparently bound and gagged as well, to the world's most uncomfortable chair.

"Mhhh, mmhh, hhhph, mmah, mah," grumbled Harry through the gag.

"Okay that didn't work," thought Harry through a daze. "Where I am? Who took me? What did my father do this time to piss someone off? Why does this place smell like rancid eggs?"

As Harry struggled in the other room, Toad, Avalanche, Blob, and Pyro, stood in anticipation as the door creaked open, with a very bad tempered Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch.

"Oh, look who's back, hey guys," said Toad who was bouncing up and down in excitement.

"Toad," said Scarlet Witch indifferently.

"Toad," said Quicksilver surlily.

"We've got a big surprise for you, in the kitchen, come and see it," said Toad.

"Not in the mood, Toad," said Quicksilver.

"Ah come on, you've been gone for two days, we worked hard to make sure we got this all ready for when you returned, so we can make our list of demands, together, as a team," said Toad.

"What list of demands, what surprise, what are you babbling about?" asked Scarlet Witch.

"Ah, this is a real great one, we kidnapped the Osborn brat and we're going to ransom him off for all of the mutants good ol' Norman Osborn has captured," explained Pyro.

"You did...WHAT?" demanded Quicksilver and he stood up straight.

"Yeah, we're good," said Blob.

"It was my idea, I came up with the finer details," said Toad in a proud voice.

"No, you're not good, you realize what Osborn is going to do when he finds out that you did this...you kidnapped his son," said Scarlet Witch.

"He's going to be worried sick with grief and let our people go, for getting his son back?" suggested Toad.

"No, he's going to have MRD people right on our asses faster than you can breath and that's if we're lucky," said Quicksilver.

"But I thought that we needed to do something about Osborn," offered Toad.

"We do, we do, but...we're going to have to go with this," said Quicksilver as he rubbed the top of his forehead in frustrating.

"No we don't, we just return him, and just pretend this stupid idea never occurred any of us," said Scarlet Witch. "Osborn won't know anything about you petty thugs kidnapping his son for a while yet...unless you did something stupid and leave a ransom note."

"Yeah about that," said Toad in an uncomfortable tone of voice as he shuffled his feet.

"You did it, of course you did it," said Scarlet Witch, as she stepped away to avoid the ever growing temptation to blast the rest of the group. It was very hard to control her powers at this point.

"So we...I guess we have to go through this," said Quicksilver.

"Hey, we're the Brotherhood, we hang together, fight the good fight," said Toad in what he thought was a reassuring.

"We'll be lucky to get off with just hanging, just let me think, I'll come up with the plan and it won't be that half baked effort that you four did," said Quicksilver as he began to talk at super speed, with none of the Brotherhood being unable to keep up with him.

X-X-X-X-X

Norman Osborn stood in his office, note in hand, that had been handed to him by a guard of his. The expression on his face was one of noted indifference.

His son had gotten himself kidnapped. By some renegade mutants. The foolish boy had once again placed himself in danger and become a liability. Osborn had dealt with the Brotherhood once before and they had powers, but without leadership, they were just spinning their wheels.

"Mr. Osborn?" asked the guard.

"It's insignificant," said Osborn swiftly and dismissively. Obviously reacting right now would be playing into their hands. The Brotherhood would likely do something entirely reckless, to try and force his hand. He knew they would not be stupid enough to harm Harry, it was a bluff and Norman Osborn knew the game better than most. If he had thought that there was the slightest harm that Harry would have any lasting injury, then he would be concerned.

He knew better. Let Harry sweat it out. It would make a man out of him.

Trade the captured mutants for his son. Norman Osborn sat at his desk and resumed work, as he waited for more from the Brotherhood. In a few hours, he would act but right now, he would let them sweat.

X-X-X-X-X

In a rundown factory right in New York City sat a sadistic looking man. He had white hair that was showing signs of baldness, spectacles, and piercing, cold blue eyes. His name was Phineas Mason, but in the criminal underworld, he had another name, the Terrible Tinkerer.

He could engineer, build anything, as long as the price was right. He stood right across Graydon Creed, as the mutant known as Annihilation walked in.

"Just got away, Mr. Creed," said Annihilation. "I can tell why these filthy muties get off on all of these power, it feels good, to see all of these power cowering on me."

"The sacrifice you make for the cause, is admirable but do not forget, that none of what they do feels good, it is something that they should be ashamed of," said Creed swiftly. "Mr. Mason, your work is more than acceptable. You are truthfully a credit to humanity."

"I aim to please," said Tinkerer with a swift motion, as he accepted a large bag, full of stacks of cash. "It seems like our little freak made the news and Spider-Man as well. He escaped the MRD. A pity, I was hoping that he would be locked up but we can't have anything."

"One day, he and all mutants will be taught a lesson," remarked Creed. "Now, you have your loan fee for the power suit, all we need to do is get Mr. Smith out of the suit and he will no longer have the shame of even imagining he is a mutant."

"Just a simple matter, of working the remote with the proper combination and he'll be out of there soon," said Tinkerer but Annihilation grabbed his wrist and pulled the remote out of his hand.

"And what if I don't want to get out of the suit?" asked Annihilation.

"I beg your pardon," said Tinkerer.

"I mean, why, I felt the power, I felt good, I was just nothing, a working zombie, with a nine to five job, bratty kids, nagging wife, named Bob Smith, there are hundreds of guy's named Bob Smith, but as Annihilation, I felt power, I felt respect, I felt people cower before me," rambled Annihilation and with that he crushed the remote control in his hand.

"You fool, that is the only way to get out of the suit," said Tinkerer.

"Well, that sucks for you, sounds to me like you're out of control," said Annihilation.

"Smith, you're mad, you were a good human, why do you have to throw it away?" asked Creed.

"A good, boring human, now I'm something," said Annihilation, as he held up his hand and annihilated a table. "The Friends of Humanity, they obviously were not all I thought they were. You put the power in my hands to prove your vendetta and I like the power. And all humanity will bow down before me."

A hole was blasted right into the wall and Annihilation ventured into the city.

"Best I can tell, that helmet altered his brain chemistry," muttered Tinkerer. "Do you wish for me to figure out a way to stop him, Mr. Creed?"

"No," said Creed. "The people believe Annihilation is a deranged mutant. His rampage will serve humanity well. Let him play for a while before we put him out of his misery."

Tinkerer just shrugged. He had his money. What was it to him of innocent people got slaughtered?

X-X-X-X-X

"Attention Students of Midtown High, due to the mutant rampage in this school, you will be sent home early today, as we assess security on this school," said Davis and there were cheers from many of the student body. "You will make up this day later in the year and the school year may be longer thanks to the mutant attack today."

There was a lot of boos for that one. No one wanted to go to school any longer.

"So what did I miss?" asked Peter, as he popped up behind Gwen, Mary Jane, and Kitty, who jumped to a start.

"Well, we're being let out of school early, being sent home because of that guy," said Mary Jane.

"And I can't find Harry anywhere," said Gwen, as she bit her lip. "I..."

"I'll have a look around," offered Peter. "You two do what you need to do and I'll meet up with you, and let you know if I find Harry."

"Right," said Gwen as she leaned forward and kissed Peter, before breaking. "Let me know what happens."

"See you, Pete," said Mary Jane, as Peter slipped off, but Kitty was following behind.

"I have a hunch that it was no coincidence that mutant attack happened when it did to drive us out of the school," said Peter. "And the fact Harry's missing proves that hunch."

"You think someone kidnapped him to get back at Norman Osborn," said Kitty.

"Of course, and I have a pretty good idea who," said Peter but suddenly, he stepped over, to see a man on the sidewalk, just pulling himself up to his feet, surrounded by a crowd of bystanders.

"Muties, it was muties, they stole my ice cream truck," said the man as he shook his head.

"Wait, did you say, mutants stole your ice cream truck?" asked Peter.

"Yeah some big fat tub, he said he needed it to capture some Osborn kid before I was knocked out," said the man, as he slumped.

"Easy sir, the ambulance is on his way," said another bystander.

"The Brotherhood?" asked Kitty.

"Of course," said Peter. "The MRD has been rounding up mutants, I just narrowly escaped from them. Osborn's funding it, he built the prison, of course. I've got to find him."

"Wouldn't Harry's Dad send the MRD after the Brotherhood when he found out his son's been kidnapped?" asked Kitty as they walked out of the earshot of the crowd.

"Kitty, you don't know Norman Osborn like I do, he'd rather let Harry sit there for a while," said Peter. "He'd think it would be good for him, make a man out of him."

"That's kind of low," muttered Kitty.

"That's just the way Osborn's mind works," said Peter as he stepped to the side. "I'll change and deal with this...."

"You're going to fight the Brotherhood by yourself?" asked Kitty. "No way, you can't do that, I'll..."

"I'm going to do it Kitty, this is my problem, this is something that I have to deal with, besides I doubt that Xavier would approve given his current no action stance," said Peter as Kitty opened her mouth but Peter cut her off. "No, this is something I'm going to handle."

Before anything else could be said, the spider sense went off, which put Peter on alert and he saw Annihilation walking down the street, as people ran, as he exerted his power.

"And right now, this is something that I'm going to have to handle," thought Peter.

"I'll stall him," offered Kitty.

"Just don't get yourself maimed," said Peter as he walked Annihilation blow a large truck out of the way like it was nothing.

"Yeah, thanks for the vote of confidence," muttered Kitty.

X-X-X-X-X

"That's right flee, beware my power!" shouted Annihilation, as he moved forwards a group of cowering children. "Ah, children, the most precious and innocent of all of humanity. Time to put you kids to bed."

At the last minute, Kitty dove right into the attack, phasing the children underneath the ground, before popping them right back up out of harm's way.

"Can we do that again?" asked one of the children innocently.

"No, not again, run, get safely, this guy is bad news, he'll hurt you," said Kitty as she faced her enemy.

"You must be kidding, some teeny bopper mutie thinking that she can stand toe to toe with me," said Annihilation with an amused laugh.

"Okay, listen, I know you're mad because you're a mutant but...." started Kitty but Annihilation blasted an energy attack right towards her, cutting her off.

"You weren't about to give me the talk about how I can use my powers for good?" asked Annihilation. "That's played out."

"Fine, I'll just punch you in the face!" yelled Kitty as she tried to punch right through but she could not phase through the force field without being propelled back.

"Your fighting style, lacks something," said Annihilation, as he blasted right out of Kitty. "Let's see how well you can dance."

"Oooh, can I cut in?" asked Spider-Man as he swung right in and managed to catch Annihilation off guard, just enough to send him a few steps.

"Caught me off guard, that won't happen you meddling bug," growled Annihilation.

"Technically speaking..." started Spider-Man but before he could explain that spiders were in fact classified as arachnids he had to roll and duck under the attack. Police arrived in the distance, to help lead the rest of the civilians away.

Spider-Man landed.

"Keep him over here, while the police do their job and get the civilians away," muttered Spider-Man to Kitty.

"You two don't stand a hope against me, you will bow before me like the rest of this stinking city!" yelled Annihilation.

"The sooner we shut that tool up, the better," said Kitty as she moved into position.

X-X-X-X-X

"Everyone, stay calm move it, barricade the streets once you get the last of them out," said Captain Stacy, in the calmest voice he could manage. "We're moving you all to safety and isolating the area."

"There are still people trapped inside those buildings, Captain!"

"Move in but not before all of the civilians on the street are out of the zone, and keep them away from the middle," he replied. "Let those two do what they can, to deal with the situation."

"Maybe we should call the MRD."

"I'm sure someone's informed them by now, worry about the civilians, that is our first priority," said Captain Stacy as he allowed himself to watch a few seconds of battle. "So they can do their jobs."

X-X-X-X-X

"So, any ideas on how to actually beat this guy?" asked Spider-Man.

"Me?" asked Kitty who was caught off guard.

"No, my invisible sidekick," dead panned Spider-Man.

"Alright, yeah, let me see, yep, I've got it!" exclaimed Kitty. "Um, let's try Omega Move XQ94Z12".

"Try the who with the what now?" asked Spider-Man in confusion.

"Oh, yeah, right, you wouldn't know the official name, Danger Room thing," said Kitty. "The, I phase under the ground and grab his feet while you kick him in the face thingy."

"Right," said Spider-Man. "Why didn't you say so?"

Annihilation blasted right at them, but Kitty went low and Spider-Man went high.

Seconds later, Spider-Man bounced off of the forcefield and Kitty was bounced right out of the ground.

"I can't get even underneath him!" cried Kitty in an exasperated manner. "He's got to have a weakness, this is nuts."

"Yeah, well he's doing a good job at hiding it," said Spider-Man. "We're going to have to outlast him."

"I don't know if we can hold it up much longer," said Kitty.

"Yeah, even if the two of us are working together, he's too much," said Spider-Man.

Annihilation sent an energy blast but they evaded the attack.

"Can't run forever!" called Annihilation, but a blast had nailed him right in the back, to stagger him. "What the..."

The X-Men appeared right on the street, in the form of Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Storm, Wolverine, Rogue, and Nightcrawler.

"Oh, help, good," said Spider-Man as he shook off the cobwebs. "I see you came out of the Mansion."

"Yeah, well this is hard to ignore," said Marvel Girl.

"You're welcome by the way, Spider-Man," said Cyclops as he turned to face his foe, as he sent a blast right at Annihilation, who avoided it.

"Your fancy eye tricks worked once, but it's not going to work on me again," said Annihilation as he turned to face the group. "Do you hear me mutants, you're not going to get me, not this time. I am power, I will crush you, do you hear me, I am beyond everything you've ever faced!"

"I've been here a minute, I already want this guy to shut his yap," grumbled Wolverine.

"Nothing we try can break through his defenses for too long," offered Kitty.

"Well that's just charming," grumbled Wolverine but Spider-Man just looked at Annihilation, as Rogue, Nightcrawler, and Storm tried to battle him.

"Of course, it has to be that, it is so simple, that it's almost complicated," said Spider-Man. "His powers, they feed off of his own bio-energy. If we wear him out, we can get him."

"Really, and when does that happen?" asked Rogue, as she was blasted back. "Maybe if I drained some energy off of..."

"No trust me, that won't end well," said Spider-Man as every single scenario ended in nothing less than tragedy, some only slightly less. "I've got an idea. Give me five minutes. Keep it distracted for a bit."

"Should be no problem, it's just shooting at us," said Kitty.

"Hey, he's got a plan, more power to him, let's see if we can't weaken it a little bit when we distract it," said Wolverine as he popped his claws. "Let's see what he's really made of."

Wolverine rushed forward and propelled himself right under the blast, before he jabbed his claws, and he managed to just very push himself through the field.

For a brief second, before he was propelled backwards. Marvel Girl managed to lift an over turned and abandoned bus and send it right into Annihilation, who blasted right through that.

"You're pathetic,' said Annihilation. "Your powers are nothing compared to mine."

"We'll see about that," said Storm, as storm clouds appeared right in the air.

"A little rain, you think I'm afraid of a little rain?" demanded Annihilation but the winds kicked up, before a lightning bolt shot right out of the sky and zapped Annihilation.

He was thrown backwards, but he held up his hand, glowing, before he blasted Storm right out of the air.

"That one hurt," growled Annihilation, but he pulled himself up and Nightcrawler appeared right him front of them.

"That's it, come closer," said Nightcrawler as he bamfed right behind Annihilation. "Right behind you. No behind you, no over here."

Annihilation just turned around, frustrated.

"I'll rip your head off, you fuzzy little twerp," said Annihilation, as he swatted right in the air, but an optic beam managed to knock him around and a large wind propelled him off of his feet. "I have power, ENOUGH!"

Annihilation rapidly and carelessly shot blasts to the left to the right.

"I think we done pissed him off," said Rogue as she rolled underneath an attack.

"You think?" grunted Wolverine as he winced. A healing factor did not block the pain.

"If he's mad, then he must be losing control," said Cyclops. "Stay focused everyone."

"I'm in control!" yelled Annihilation, as he managed to restore his force field but every forty seconds, it failed for a second. "Come at me, I'm ready, I'm not a nobody anymore, I have power, you X-Men, you're nothing special."

At that moment, Spider-Man appeared behind Annihilation, as the X-Men continued to battle him.

"Lights out," said Spider-Man as he slipped right through the force field the moment that it failed and kicked Annihilation right in the back of the head. Before he could recharge, two lines of webbing shot out and Spider-Man snapped them forward, and kicked his enemy right in the face. Spider-Man aimed all of the attacks at the head, which appeared to be the focal point of the force field.

One last attempt to get the force field back up but Spider-Man snapped him down and a leaping stomp to the downed open.

Annihilation pulled himself up but the helmet on his head was cracked in the battle and hissing.

"Let's see where this guy came from?" asked Cyclops. "Jean."

"Right," said Marvel Girl as she walked forward.

"You can forget what you're doing, once I get up, you'll all dead, and I won't talk," said Annihilation.

"I don't need you to talk," said Marvel Girl. "Relax and don't think about who you are and where you came from."

X-X-X-X-X

"The mutants are dangerously close to finding out that our little friend is not quite who he seems," said Tinkerer as he carefully monitored. "Fortunately, I have a kill switch implanted in all my technology."

"Activate it," advised Creed without pause.

"I do warn you that this will likely kill anyone who is caught in the blast radius," replied Tinkerer.

"Do you find this a problem?" asked Creed who looked excited at the prospect of the X-Men and Spider-Man being wiped out. If some humans got caught, they died for a good cause.

"No, just telling you on the matter of full disclosure," said Tinkerer as he pulled out a second remote and popped it open, with a giant blue button. Without hesitation, he pressed it.

X-X-X-X-X

"His mind's messed up from his powers, no wait not his powers is...." muttered Marvel Girl, as she shifted through the tangled and quite frankly tormented mess.

Spider-Man suddenly went rigid before his head started ringing.

"We've got to get out of here right now!" shouted Spider-Man suddenly. "This is worse than anything...that's happened to me...BEFORE!"

A glowing red light engulfed Annihilation but Marvel Girl screwed her eyes shut, managing to block the explosion.

"Jean?" asked Cyclops tentatively.

"His powers, they're going to reach critical and I can't hold him off forever, there's no way," managed Marvel Girl, as sweat rolled down her face, with the strain that holding back such a huge explosion.

"His powers...oh no, once Jean's concentration break, we're all going to...that could wipe out the city," thought Spider-Man frantically. "Think fast....minimize, yeah, it could work, it might work, let's see."

"So what now, she can't hold that forever," said Rogue.

"Yeah, what now, Summers?" asked Wolverine.

"We need to get him where there are no people, but..." started Cyclops.

"Yeah, well we kind of are in the middle of the city, where there are people everywhere," fretted Kitty. "So we're kind of screwed either way."

"Guys, an idea now would be nice," managed Marvel Girl in a strained voice, as she felt a splitting headache coming om from the concentration.

"Under ground, that will minimize the damage, it won't be pretty, but...I've got it," said Spider-Man. "Kitty, phase him under ground just enough but get back up no more than fifteen seconds. Storm, blow that debris over where he is phased, then fly off. Nightcrawler, can you please get Kitty and Jean out of there the moment I give the signal?"

"Will do, Spider-Man," said Nightcrawler with a nod.

"The rest of you run, right behind the police barricade, I don't care if you have a supremely overpowered healing factor or not, just do it," said Spider-Man but he got a few looks. "What are you waiting for, a ticker tape parade? MOVE IT!"

"Okay, back behind the barricade, ignore them," said Cyclops, as Rogue and Wolverine followed them. Kitty dove underneath, as Jean held the explosion in place, blood dripping out of her nose, eyes bloodshot. Storm blew the debris over the top where Annihilation once stood before she flew to the safe zone.

"NOW!" yelled Spider-Man, as Nightcrawler grabbed Marvel Girl and Kitty and bamfed them out of the way, just as Jean lost her concentration

An explosion rocked the streets, but given the containment efforts, it was no more than a miniature earthquake that just knocked a good chunk of power out in the city, as opposed to blowing everyone in the radius to smithereens.

"So, we're not dead?" asked Nightcrawler after a moment's pause, as Cyclops bent over to check on Marvel Girl but she managed to pull herself to her feet.

"No, we're not dead," said Spider-Man. "And no one else appears to be even more than shaken."

"You think you can make us afraid of you mutants!"

A crowd had assembled, members of the Friends of Humanity who showed up.

"Look, how they put us in danger again, its bad enough where they tried to fire on us in their little jet, but now they tried to blow up half of the city?"

"Us, we didn't do that!" yelled Kitty. "Look, what will it take for you people to get it through your thick skulls..."

"Kitty, just let it go," said Spider-Man in a tired voice.

"But..." started Kitty.

"Just let it go," repeated Spider-Man. "They're going to believe what they want to anyway. One day, people might find out what they're doing, their hatred is wrong, but sadly, it's not going to be today. And engaging them is going to make matters worse."

"So you actually agree that not going after the Friends of Humanity now," said Wolverine.

"There are other ways to deal with them, prove them wrong again and again, until people have no choice but to listen," said Spider-Man.

"I can see where you're coming for from that," said Nightcrawler.

"Absolutely," added Rogue.

"So, how did you know that thing you did would work?" asked Kitty.

"Please, I'm a science geek before I'm a super hero," said Spider-Man. "Although science and being a super hero are not too different. I mean, with both you have to think on your feet."

"I did manage to work out one thing from his mind," said Marvel Girl. "He wasn't a mutant."

"What?"

"He was a member of the Friends of Humanity, or was," said Marvel Girl.

"Creed," said Spider-Man darkly.

"Yeah but I doubt evidence gathered from telepathy is going to convince anyone much of anything," said Marvel Girl. "But Creed put him up to this."

"Yeah, figures a scumbag like that would pull something like that," offered Wolverine.

In the distance, there was an animated argument about whether mutants were scum or whether they had just saved them, with suggestions to arrest them.

"Just everyone calm down," said Captain Stacy. "The MRD has been given full jurisdiction over arresting mutant fugitives, that much was made clear to me. I can't override them, so I doubt that I will be far off in saying that I shouldn't step on their toes by doing their job. So all we can do is ensure that you remain safely behind these barricades and if the mutants happen to be gone by the time the MRD arrives, then it's out of our hands."

Captain Stacy briefly looked towards the X-Men before he turned back to the crowd to pacify the restless crowd.

"Did that sound like a not so subtle clue to get out of here before the MRD shows up to you guys?" asked Kitty.

"Better leave, and Spider-Man listen...thank you?" managed Cyclops, before he saw that Spider-Man had already departed.

X-X-X-X-X

Some time later Harry Osborn sat. Other that the voices of his kidnappers that he heard and someone checking on him every hour, he had sat there. He wondered if these people had gotten the hint that his father was going to let him sit for a while, as some kind of demented lesson.

Harry heard a window be forced open from the outside, but no glass hit the ground. Light footsteps indicated that someone had arrived. Whether it was someone to rescue him, the fact that he was blindfolded had prevented him from seeing anything.

X-X-X-X-X

"Are you sure Osborn got the note?" asked Quicksilver.

"For the last time yet, I made sure he understood the urgency, his son was captured, I don't understand what happened," said Toad. "Maybe we should do something, I don't know, to force his hand or something."

"Threaten that I barbeque him to a crisp if he doesn't come by," suggested Pyro.

"Yeah, like that won't get the MRD just blowing down our doors and dragging us in for endangerment of a human being," said Quicksilver. "You know, we could salvage this, but perhaps if we had kidnapped Norman Osborn instead of his son."

"Didn't we do that before?" asked Blob.

"Oh yeah, those were the days, I remember..." started Avalanche.

"Enough about going down memory lane, maybe he didn't get the note, maybe if we return his son, we can just pretend this never happened," said Scarlet Witch. "We're going to look like some common terrorists, everything Creed says we are, by doing this entire kidnapping mess."

"Hey, relax, we've got this far, what's the worse that could happen?" asked Toad but he got a look that caused him to back off . "Um, yeah don't answer that. Osborn's captured, his Daddy will do anything he wants."

"Speaking of which, time to check on him," said Quicksilver. "Wanda, it's your turn, to take a peak at him."

Scarlet Witch nodded before she walked off.

X-X-X-X-X

"Okay, I'm here to rescue you," said Spider-Man as he had removed Harry's blindfold. "Now, just remain calm, don't say anything, and I'll get you out of here."

Harry nodded, as his gag was removed and he was untied from the chair.

"Can you walk, just nod or shake your head," muttered Spider-Man and Harry gave his head a shake, he was light headed but he managed to walk just fine. "Alright, out the window right now, before they have a chance to know you're gone."

"Well I'll be, something is going to go right for once," thought Spider-Man but then the door opened and he saw the Scarlet Witch enter the room. "And I've got to stop saying things are going to go well for once, because that's a good way to jinx myself."

Scarlet Witch stood, for a moment, as she looked at Spider-Man to Harry. She mouthed something and pointed towards the window.

"What?" asked Spider-Man confused.

"Get out, before anyone sees you," whispered Scarlet Witch.

"Is this a trick?" asked Spider-Man in a lowered voice.

"No, no time to explain, now get out, before someone sees you," repeated Scarlet Witch frantically. She wanted no part of this kidnapping to begin with and she wasn't going to back away from a chance to get them out of this, before they got in too far deep.

"Wanda, what's taking so long?" asked Quicksilver from the other room, as the other members of the Brotherhood showed up and looked at Spider-Man, who had tried to make a mad dash for the window, with Harry behind him.

A jolt of fire shooting right towards the windows had halted that progress.

"So, fancy you play the hero, eh, Spider-Man?" taunted Pryo.

"Six on one, you didn't think you could defeat us," grunted Blob.

"Well the plan sort of was to get out of here before you noticed," said Spider-Man.

"So you decided to turn coward," said Toad, almost in disbelief. "Well, you're not getting out here."

"Well, so much for the Brotherhood taking the moral high ground, and I thought you guys wanted to be the ones who helped mutants," said Spider-Man as he waved them off. "And you asked me to join you guys, after what you pulled, any chance that's going to happen is out the door."

"Wait a minute, Quicksilver, you asked Spider-Man, to join the Brotherhood?" asked Avalanche in a disgusted voice.

"And you called my plan stupid!" shouted Toad at Quicksilver. "Well yours is dumber."

"No, actually yours is but only slightly," offered Scarlet Witch.

"Hey, we had a good plan, we kidnapped him, no one saw us," said Toad.

"Yeah, but Spider-Man just found us, so obviously your plan can't be that good," argued Quicksilver.

The Brotherhood argued about which potential plan to deal with Norman Osborn was more stupid and Harry looked at Spider-Man.

"Wouldn't it be a good idea, to leave now while they're yelling at each other?" asked Harry.

"Yep," said Spider-Man as they slid past the group.

"Yeah, well maybe if you two didn't have Daddy issues, we would have done something by now!" yelled Toad.

"That's the only reason the reason we joined this group, because we were promised revenge on Magneto, we're not petty thugs with powers like you four," argued Scarlet Witch but Avalanche looked over, and saw that Harry and Spider-Man.

Spider-Man had his hand on the door knob, where he had been rocked by the ground shaking underneath him.

"We'll finish this one later, right now, let's deal with him," said Avalanche.

"Oh no, don't mind me, continue your argument, it's best if you just let your feelings out," said Spider-Man but the Brotherhood stood right across from him. "Right, that didn't work."

Spider-Man braced himself for a fight with the Brotherhood although given the rundown house that they were in, he expected it to crack at any moment.

"Not a good place for a fight scene," said Spider-Man suddenly.

"Especially with me standing right in the crossfire," added Harry under his breath.

"Hey, you should have thought about that, before you stuck your nose in our plans," said Blob, as he stepped forward but sirens echoed outside and then footsteps and yelling to surround the house.

"Ah crap, the MRD!" shouted Toad before he pointed at Spider-Man. "You lead them right here, you traitor!"

"I'm a traitor?" asked Spider-Man. "A, I'm not on your side, so how can I be a traitor and B, you're the nitwits who left a stolen ice cream truck parked right in front of your hideout. How did you think I found you?"

"We've got to get out of here," said Avalanche.

"Yeah, thanks, Mr. Obvious, I didn't really get that fact," grumbled Quicksilver but he bolted out. "Catch you all later."

However a loud thump echoed, as Quicksilver dropped, as the MRD officers rushed inside, from both end, and surrounded the Brotherhood, Harry, and Spider-Man.

"Put your hands on your head, muties, and don't make any funny moves," said the MRD Commander. "We're bringing you in."

"You'll find that kind of hard because your guns won't work," said Scarlet Witch with a strained smile

"What are you talking about, you freak, our guns work..." stated the Commander, but suddenly they were engulfed in energy and they backfired, which sent the MRD officers backwards. Others swarmed in and knocked Harry to the side, causing him to land hard right on ground. He landed hard and felt his wrist shatter. Spider-Man was held back, pushed into a wall as well, as he tried to struggle out.

"Pick up Pietro and get out the back way, all of you, right now," ordered Scarlet Witch but the moment the Brotherhood made their way out of the back door, a wave of energy had dropped the five conscious moments to their knees.

"Slap the inhibitor collars on them," ordered the MRD Commander, as the officers surrounded the downed Brotherhood members.

The inhibitor collars snapped on the Brotherhood and they started screaming out in absolute blood curdling agony. The collars had forced their powers in to them and it was pain beyond anything they had felt.

"Osborn will be pleased how well these work," said the MRD Commander with sadistic glee, as a few of the officers looked uncomfortable but said nothing.

Spider-Man was awakened by the horrific shrieks of the Brotherhood. He caught a glimpse of them being loaded into the back of the MRD van and being driven off. Once the doors were shut, their screams were muffled, although he had heard enough.

"That's...whatever the Brotherhood did...those collars, they weren't to block powers, they were to use the powers against the target, as pain," thought Spider-Man, who felt repulsed. "That's torture...inhumane, oh Osborn, what have you created? And they'll be back for me."

"We're get you out of here, get you some medical attention," said Spider-Man as Harry was leaned over, racked with pain but the screams of pain in the distance haunted his mind. Not to mention the nagging doubt that he maybe lead the MRD to the Brotherhood.

X-X-X-X-X

The van that contained the Brotherhood stopped immediately and the MRD officer stepped out, to open up the back of the truck.

"You fools are lucky there is use for you, otherwise I'd let you rot in that MRD jail," said the officer, as he morphed right into Mystique and she took her time unlocking each member of the Brotherhood from the inhibitor collar.

The Brotherhood all stumbled out of the back of the van. They were flushed and sickly, extremely pale, as if in the midst of a really bad bout of the flu.

"Now listen to be very carefully each of you," said Mystique. "I don't know why you thought it was a good idea to kidnap Osborn's spawn and I don't care. But none of you are ever to pull a stupid stunt like that ever again. You could have jeopardized everything with what you did. I'm going to send you to a new safe house and you're going to remain there, until I say so. If I remember, I'll send supplies by once a week and they better last. Especially, the food, Blob."

The Brotherhood all nodded, barely able to stand up. Mystique roughly shoved a piece of paper with directions in the hand of Scarlet Witch, as she leaned against a post to keep herself up.

"I'm not bailing you out again," said Mystique as she stepped into the MRD van, locking all of the doors.

"Wait, how we supposed to get there?" managed Toad.

"You have legs, use them," said Mystique coldly.

"Man what a bitch," muttered Toad as Mystique drove off.

X-X-X-X-X

"Yeah, in hindsight it wasn't a good idea for me to walk off like that, I'll remember that next time so I don't get captured by someone like those Brotherhood people," said Harry, as he winced, a cast on his arm. "They didn't come out too well, I heard those screams, it sounded like they were being tortured."

"Well they didn't really deserve that, did they?" asked Gwen, as she cast a look at Peter, who look still rather shaken.

"Dad wouldn't agree with that," said Harry. "And I'm not finding myself too forgiving of them. Although they got me out of school for the rest of the week."

"Just rest, Harry, and get well soon," said Peter.

"We'll see you later," said Gwen, as they turned to walk out. "Peter...."

"I heard the screams Gwen, I'm not about to forget them," said Peter grimly, as Gwen grabbed his hand. "Norman Osborn created this technology and now....I just don't know."

"You saved the city, that's got to be something," said Gwen.

"Maybe, but I just feel down about what happened today," said Peter.

"I get exactly where you're coming from," said Gwen as she leaned against Peter. "I really tried, to make people listen to reason and make people think that Creed was full of it, but...no one's going to remember it."

"You did well Gwen," said Peter with an encouraging smile. "Awesome in fact, you really might have gotten some people thinking. Creed was behind that little stunt by the way."

"Figures," muttered Gwen solemnly. "I just...people can be so cruel about things they don't understand and...things just have to get better, won't they."

"Gwen, you're really looking at the wrong person for positivity and encouragement," said Peter, but all the same he put his arm around her in a comforting manner. "But...some day they have to see what they're doing is wrong."

"I'm just scared to death that innocent people are going to get caught in the crossfire," thought Peter.

"So dinner?" suggested Gwen

"Gladly, its been a long day," said Peter in relief, as they walked to the elevator.

X-X-X-X-X

"The Brotherhood escaped, Mr. Osborn, the van that brought them never reached the Mutant Containment Facility."

"Failures like this reflect badly on the effectiveness of the Mutant Response Division," said Norman crisply.

"Sir, I'm sorry..."

"Do not bother to waste my time with your apologies," said Norman as waved his hand dismissively despite the fact the communication was over the radio. In truth, the entire fiasco with the Brotherhood kidnapping his son, and then their subsequent escape presented an opportunity that played right into his hands. "The MRD had the technology, but they had one fatal flaw."

Osborn disrupted the communication.

"A fatal flaw which I intend to correct," said Norman as he turned to call another employee. "Trask!"

"Yes, Mr. Osborn," said Bolivar Trask over the communication.

"I'm sending you the modified specifications on the project we spoke of, your team is to begin developing the program immediately," said Norman. "Is that understood?

"Yes, sir, Mr. Osborn," replied Trask. "We will do so immediately."

"Very well, I'm sending it now," said Osborn as he sent the file, which had the name of "Master Mold."

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