The room was small and quiet, except for the hum of machinery. Peter looked around and took note. In front of them was a control panel. Above that was a window. On the either side of the room, there was a door. Peter also noticed the cameras above each door, and the control panel.

"What happened?" Cassandra asked.

"Looks like we got caught. Any idea what they hit us with?"

"Probably a weak toxin of some sort. Just something to knock us out."

"And there's no way of breaking out of here," Peter said. "Cameras see everything we do, and I don't doubt the fact that there are microphones around here. But where is here?"

It was Cassandra's turn to examine the room. "SHIELD," she muttered. "We're on the helicarrier."

"SHIELD? How could they know about this?"

"They have their ways."

"And how are you so sure?"

"My dad was in charge of SHIELD for a while. I've been around here a few times."

"Any ideas on how to get out? Is there something you carry on you at all times for cases like this."

Cassandra smiled. "Even if there was, we've been searched. And no, I don't know the place well enough to know of anyway out."

"Too bad."

"We appear to have time. Might as well get to know a bit about each other. So, what happened to your parents?"

"They died in a car crash when I was young, or at least that's what I was told. I never really knew them. I have some vague memories of them, but no real emotional connection. At least not until . . . "

"The photo," Cassandra finished.

"Their death was probably not too long after that photo was taken," Peter said.

"If they did die . . . "

"Are you saying they're alive?"

"Maybe not now, but I wouldn't be surprised if they lived longer than you were told."

The man standing outside the room had heard enough. He walked in.

Peter tensed. Cassandra groaned as she saw who it was. The man was a tall black man, with a white crew cut and goatee.

"I'm G.W. Bridge. As you might have figured out by now, you are aboard the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier." He looked at Peter. "You are Peter Parker, correct?"

"Yes," Peter replied. "Why did you capture us?"

"Wait a moment," Bridge answered. He turned around and pressed a button on the control panel. "There," he said, "the sound is off. We can talk freely."

"How can we be sure you can be trusted?" Cassandra asked.

"You can't. But I'm asking you to. I personally had nothing to do with your capture," Bridge explained. "But ever since the 'incident' last fall, SHIELD has had an entirely new agenda. I'm not sure I like it."

"So, that's why you're here?" Peter asked.

"Well, not entirely. I was involved with the Parker case, and I am interested in seeing it through."

"Involved?" Peter wondered. "In what way?"

Bridge was silent for a moment. "It was up to me to make sure that the Parkers remained what they were."

"And what were they?" Peter growled.

"As far as SHIELD and the American government is concerned, the Parkers were traitors . . . Russian double agents."

"Bull," Peter replied.

"That's what I think, too."

Peter was shocked. "So . . . "

"Look, I have a job to do. I don't have to like it, but it's my job," Bridge interrupted.

"Are you going to help us or not?" Cassandra demanded.

"Just give me a minute," Bridge said. "I'll go out. I need you to stay still for about a minute. I'm going to create a video loop. Then, I'll let you go."

Lois shook her head. "Not since he got that picture."

"Strange. He should have been back by now."

"Maybe he got sidetracked."

"Wanna check it out?"

Lois gave Jimmy a dumb look. "Jimmy, you know I do. But I have a deadline for this latest column. As much as I want to go out and find Peter, I'm sure he can take care of himself. He's a big boy."

"I can't do much, but I can direct you to a room where you might be able to find some information." He handed Cassandra a map of the air ducts.

"What will happen if they find out we're on the loose?" Peter asked.

"You let me worry about that," Bridge said.

"I never thought I'd ever be doing this. Crawling through the air ducts on a high tech helicarrier that most of the world isn't even aware exists," Peter said.

"Hopefully, you won't have to get used to it."

Don't bet on it, Peter thought with a smile. Aloud, he added, "So, how far away are we?"

"According to this map, we have two more turns."

"What about security?" Peter asked.

"I don't know. Bridge probably disabled it."

"I still don't fully trust him. He could be setting us up."

"True. Any ideas?"

Peter thought for a moment. Had he been by himself, and could change into Spider-Man, he would have been able to sneak into the room and get the information already. But he could not risk his secret identity. Even if he could trust Cassandra, there was still the chance that SHIELD would find out, and Peter did not want that to happen.

"We need to know everything we can about this room," Peter said. "For all we know, cameras are on, and infrared rays are covering the entrance." Yet, my spider-sense isn't tingling, but I have to make sure anyway, at least to keep appearances up.

"I think I might have a solution for that," Cassandra said, pulling something out of her pocket. "Here." She handed Peter a small canister.

"Breath freshener?"

"Yeah, spray it, and it'll show the infrared beams."

"I'm surprised they didn't search us."

"Just use it."

Peter lay down, and positioned his hand over the vent. He carefully pressed on the top, spraying a mist. There were no beams visible.

"I guess that takes care of that," Peter said. "Nothing. What about cameras?"

"You should be able to see from here."

Peter put his head against the vent, and looked around. Now, my spider-sense should be going off if there are any cameras that are working . . . but it's not. Then, he saw one. "Cassandra, is there any way to know if the cameras are working?"

"Do you see a red light under the lens?"

"No."

"Good. That means the camera is off."

"So, I guess it's safe. Which one of us goes down?"

"You know anything about computers?"

Peter chuckled. "That's an understatement."

"Normally, I think only one of us should go down. But, in this case, it might help if we both go down," Cassandra suggested.

"Okay, I'll go down first." And if the cameras suddenly come on, I'll know.

Peter grabbed the vent and pulled up. It was secured a bit tighter than he expected, and he hoped that Cassandra hadn't noticed the extra effort. He held on to either side and put his feet down the opening. He slowly lowered himself down, until he couldn't lower himself any farther. He then dropped down to the floor. He looked around.

"All clear!" he exclaimed.

Cassandra lowered herself, a bit quicker than Peter had while Peter walked to the computer. It was a large mainframe, with a screen that took up most of the wall.

"Amazing," Peter said. "It's the kind of computer you see in cartoons and sci-fi shows."

"This one is real, and it has some of the information that you need."

"How do you turn it on?"

"Press the red button."

"I don't believe it," Peter whispered. "It's so obvious." He pressed the button and the screen lit up. It asked for a user name and password. Peter looked at his companion.

"I don't know it."

"What about that map that Bridge gave us?"

Cassandra looked at the paper in her hand. "Of course, it's right here. It's probably not his, but it should work." She leaned over and typed it in.

Suddenly, the screen changed. It gave a variety of options. Peter chose the search option. He typed 'Parker, Richard and Mary'. And then, the information came.

It took a few minutes, but Peter was able to read most of the information available on his parents.

"I don't believe this," he said. "There is no way my parents were Russian spies!"

"That's what the files say."

"Files can be wrong. Someone wanted the truth about my parents to be concealed."

Just then, another thought entered Cassandra's head. "Uh, Peter, I just thought about something. They rotate the cameras that they look at."

"Huh?"

"Meaning that the cameras in this room are only on for a little while until they switch to cameras in another room. Then, eventually they will come back here."

"And the cameras will be coming on anytime soon," Peter concluded.

"Yeah, we should get out of here."

"Should we split up?"

"Yes. Bridge's camera trick might not fool them for too long. Plus, accessing information from various sources will be harder for them to track down."

"Agreed," Peter said, logging out of the system.

"But I'm worried about you," Cassandra said.

"Don't worry, I can take care of myself. I have a few tricks up my sleeve."

"Okay. But don't think I'm comfortable. Then again, I don't like the idea of us being here in the first place."

Peter was already climbing up into the vent. "Come on!" After he helped Cassandra up, he said, "Go on, I'll take care of the vent cover."

After Cassandra started crawling away, Peter activated his Spider-Man outfit, and used his webbing to pull the vent cover up. After securing it in place, he looked down, and saw the red light on the camera.

"That's odd," one agent said.

The other agent turned his head. "What's that, Marshall?"

"I've been watching the new prisoners."

"You mean the Queen girl and that Parker kid?"

"Yeah. And there's something strange about the video feed."

The agent rolled his chair behind Marshall's. Agent Marshall kept the camera in the room on for a couple of minutes. "It seems like it's a video loop," he said.

"We should call Bridge." He rolled back to his station and pressed a button. "Bristow to Bridge," he said.

"Bridge here," the voice came over the intercom.

"Sir, there's something you should probably see here."

"I'll be right there."

"Sir?" Marshall asked.

"I was just in there. They're still there."

"But there is no record of you being in there for quite a while, sir."

"That's because I turned the cameras off."

"Why, sir?"

"That's classified. In fact, there is no need to continue monitoring that room."

"Yes, sir," Marshall acknowledged.

"Is that all?"

"Yes, sir."

"Then I shall be off."

After Bridge left, Agent Bristow picked up the phone.

"What are you doing?" Marshall asked.

"I'm alerting someone to this situation."

"But Bridge said - "

"Bridge is hiding something," Bristow interrupted. "He probably let those two escape and start a video loop himself."

"Still, we report to Bridge . . . "

Bristow pulled his gun out of its holster.

"Bristow, what are you doing?"

Bristow pulled the trigger. Marshall gasped, and then fell over. The last thing he saw was the hole where his heart used to be. Bristow's eyes flashed red for a second.

He stood in front of the computer and entered the user name and password. Quickly, he found the files he wanted. Using his computer knowledge, he was able to access a highly classified file about his parents. It contained the picture of his parents in Russia that he had already seen. Most of the text was blacked out. But Spidey saw some interesting key words in the file. The most interesting phrase was 'doomsday weapon.'

Suddenly, he heard a click. Oh, no! The cameras are on!

Spidey bolted back up into the air vent, just as the alarm sounded.

Then, she heard the alarm. Oh, no. Peter must have activated the alarm!

"Psst. Bridge!" he whispered.

Bridge looked up. "It's safe. Come on down."

Peter came through the vent.

"Where's Cassandra?"

"We split up. That way we both wouldn't get caught."

"Good move. Did you find anything?"

"Yeah. With what little I could find, I stumbled upon something rather interesting. What is the 'doomsday weapon'?"

"Classified."

"Don't play with me now."

"Sorry, it's a habit." Bridge was about to continue when the intercom beeped. "Excuse me," he said.

"Sir, this is Agent Bristow. The prisoners have escaped, and we have already found some cameras that were covered up."

"I'll be right on it."

"Also, sir, someone seems to be accessing the SHIELD database from various locations in the helicarrier, with a user name and password I've never seen before."

"I'll get on that then," Bridge replied. "That's probably the prisoners. Bridge out." After he flipped off the intercom, he exclaimed, "Damn it! That user name was supposed to be a secret. It wasn't supposed to be detected."

"Your agents aren't what they seem."

Bridge and Peter turned around and saw Cassandra crawling out of the vent.

"What are you doing here?" Peter asked.

"It's too dangerous here," Cassandra replied.

"What did you mean that my agents aren't what they seem?" Bridge wondered.

"There's been a weird vibe from SHIELD ever since my dad left. I'm not even sure his retirement was willing."

"That's what I've been thinking. But . . . wait a second," Bridge muttered. He walked over to his computer and brought up the security footage. He looked at the main security room. "Oh my god," he said, seeing Agent Marshall's body lying on the control panel. He scanned back to see what caused the agent's death. Then he saw Agent Bristow shooting his partner.

"Cassandra, you're right," he said. "One my agents just shot his partner. Come to think of it, he was in the room when they noticed the video loop, and he's the one who found out about you two hacking into the computer."

"So, what do we do?" Peter asked.

"Quick, return to the room you where you were first being held. I'll come and get you out. Just don't take anything I say seriously or personally."

"You're free to go," Bridge said. "And we are sorry for any inconvenience this might have caused. But, if we ever see you again, you will regret it. And you," he added, looking at Peter, "forget about your parents. They died in a car crash, just like you believed for your entire life."

Bridge turned and walked out. Peter and Cassandra began to follow him, but the two agents blocked their way.

"Hey, he said we were free," Peter said.

"You are," one agent said, as both fired their tasers.

"Well, that was useless," Peter said, standing up.

"Not completely. Besides, you did find something about your parents," Cassandra replied, brushing herself off. "Are you going to continue looking?"

"Now right now," Peter replied. "And definitely not by sneaking around the SHIELD helicarrier. I only have a few months of school left. I'd like to live to see my graduation."

"And then?"

"And then I'll find out what the 'doomsday weapon' was that probably got my parents killed."

"Did you find anything out?" Jimmy asked.

Peter nodded. "But nothing I can tell you without risking your lives."

"What?!" Lois exclaimed, stopping her typing.

"SHIELD is involved somehow," Peter said.

"Come here," Lois ordered.

Peter came over and looked at Lois's monitor. She opened a file folder. Inside were many files related to SHIELD.

"Amazing," Peter said. "You've been investigating SHIELD?"

"There's something strange about a so called peacekeeping organization that has so many secrets."

"Okay, then let me ask you something. Ever heard of the 'doomsday weapon'?"

"I don't believe so."

"If you ever run across it, let me know."

"I will."

"It's a shame you didn't get a story out of it," Jimmy said.

"Oh, I will. There will be a story."