By the time Natalie could catch up to Victor, he had already made his way to the park across from her dorm.
"Victor, wait!" she exclaimed.
Victor abruptly stopped and turned to face the girl whom, up until a few moments earlier, he thought he would be spending his whole life with. "Your next words had better not be ‘it's not what you think' or ‘you don't understand' because more than likely, only one of those is true."
Natalie paused, obviously trying to come up with a phrase that would keep Victor's attention. "I'm sorry. I really didn't want it to come to this."
"Then you might have wanted to answer the phone when I called every once in a while," Victor snapped.
"I tried. But I just didn't have the courage to face you, even through the phone once I realized it was over."
"You could have written. Snail mail even."
"I know," Natalie replied, looking down at the ground. "But I just got so wrapped up with Brett . . . "
"That much was obvious," Victor said. "I could see that in the ten seconds I spent in your room."
Natalie sighed. "What I did was wrong, I admit. But, I just couldn't handle the long distance."
"So you decided to end it, all on your own. Not even considering me."
"Things weren't working anymore. It really wasn't your decision - "
"It's a relationship, Natalie. It takes two people. I probably could have taken it better when it was just about you and me. Not you, me, and the guy that I just blueballed in your room. I mean, do you even care about me anymore?"
"Of course I do . . . "
"You sure as hell have a funny way of showing it."
Natalie crossed her arms. "That's not fair."
"Fair? What part of this is fair?" Victor exclaimed, throwing his arms out. "I'm feeling like I really wasted a good chunk of my life here. We're talking years."
Natalie took a step closer to Victor. "But I still want to be your friend. That much, I don't want to lose."
Victor stared Natalie straight in the face and said, "The only reason I'm still standing here talking to you is because I have two secret identities on the line here." He took a step closer to Natalie so he could lower his voice to nearly a whisper, and even let some of the tone he used as the Shadow come forward. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't go into your head and make you forget about me and Peter."
"You're not that cold and heartless."
"I don't know. I'm sorta feeling like my heart's been ripped out, and I'm staring at the person who did it."
Natalie looked up at Victor and tilted her head to the side slight, trying to fight back tears. "Victor . . . "
"You don't know my family like I do," Victor growled.
Natalie leaned back, and her eyes went wide. Victor had never taken that tone with her ever before.
"Victor, it's me, not some depraved lunatic you're beating up on in a back alley," Natalie whispered.
Victor took a deep breath, and eased up a bit. "I know. We've known each other forever, and I'm having a hard time visualizing life without you in some form."
Natalie wiped tears out of her eyes.
"But you have severely pissed me off," Victor continued. "And I never want to see him again," he added, pointing back to the dorm.
"I didn't figure you would."
Victor sighed. "I better get back to New York. It's been an eventful month, and I don't think it's going to let up anytime soon. Plus, I'm not sure that I really like the west coast."
Natalie leaned forward and put her arms out. Victor hugged her, perhaps for the last time. "Sorry you came all this way for this," she said.
"It's not like I hadn't prepared myself," Victor replied. "But you take care of yourself. And if you need anything, just call me."
Natalie nodded, then broke the embrace and took a step back. "Bye, Victor."
"Bye, Natalie," Victor replied as he turned and walked away.
Natalie stood and watched Victor walk away, filled with conflicting emotions. Now she was free to continue her relationship with Brett unhindered, but she also wondered if she had been making the right decisions. And would the friend thing really work out?
On the other side of the park, Victor was pondering the same question, but he had come to a much grimmer conclusion. He would be lucky if he saw Natalie two more times in his life, and both of those would probably be accidental encounters. No matter how right some things seem to be, sometimes, they are just not meant to be.
Peter was awakened by a gentle knock on his door.
"It's some blonde chick," he heard a female voice say as he sat up in bed.
Suddenly, Peter came back to the conscious world, and looked over at his clock. "Gwen? What the hell is she doing here?"
He looked over at Cassie, who was fully dressed, which was fortunate for Peter. After their heart to heart over top Times Square the night before, they had come back to the dorm room to continue the conversation. What neither expected was for it to take all night. As a result, Cassie opted to just stay the night.
"Coming!" Peter yelled out, as he jumped out of bed. He turned to Cassie. "You need to hide or something."
"Where? This room is a shoebox."
"I don't know. But I have enough girl problems, and not all my friends are hip to the finer details of my life."
"What does that have to do with me?"
"Probably nothing, but these aren't the best circumstances to start introducing a long lost sister to the world," Peter replied, throwing a hoody on over the t-shirt he was wearing. "But can't you teleport or something?"
Cassie sighed. "I prefer not to. Look, I'll just chill in the closet. You get rid of her."
"Sure thing," Peter said as he grabbed the doorknob. Letting just enough time pass to let Cassie get into the closet, he swung the door open. "Hey, Gwen."
Gwen smiled. "I didn't mean to wake you up."
"It was a long night."
Gwen handed Peter a stack of papers. "Well, get ready for another one. This is everything I have on the chem lab from last week, and I still can't get the numbers to crunch right. I figure it's your turn to have a crack at it."
Peter nodded as he took the paper. "Yeah. You've done plenty on this one. Thanks."
"You want to get together to compare notes sometime?" Gwen asked.
"Let me look over everything and get back to you."
"Okay," Gwen replied. "By the way, has Victor gotten back yet?"
Peter shook his head. "I haven't even gotten so much as a text message."
"Is that good or bad?"
"Either he's wallowing in self-pity or getting down and dirty with Natalie. Either way, I don't expect him to be in a mood to tell me yet."
"Understandable. Well, if he gets back in time, make sure to bring him along tomorrow night."
"To a study session?"
Gwen chuckled. "No, that little get-together we were talking about. My place, 8 o'clock, tomorrow night. You, Victor, and Mary Jane. And I'll make sure there are other people there."
Peter smiled. "Sure thing. Hopefully he'll be back."
"Okay, well, I have class."
"Okay. Thanks for the notes."
"No problem, stud," Gwen called out as she walked away.
Peter rolled his eyes and shut the door. As he turned around, Cassie was right in front of him.
"Geez!" he exclaimed. "You're a little too good with that stealth thing."
"Sorry," Cassie replied. "Part of the job."
"Yeah, I'm still not too clear on that whole thing."
"I promise it'll all make sense soon."
"So, do we have to go see Dad sometime now. Does he know?"
"If he does, it's not my doing. I haven't seen him in years."
"So, when we finally do come out and tell the world who you are, what name are you going to use? Are you a Webb or a Parker?"
Cassie looked down. "I really don't feel like either. My adoptive family never made me feel welcome. And I've only known you for a day."
"Okay, Parker it is," Peter said, smiling.
Several hours later, Cassie had left, and Peter was trying to distract himself from the craziness of his life by doing homework. Even Peter could laugh at the irony where homework was a welcome distraction.
Just then, the door opened and Victor staggered in.
"Dude, you look like hell," Peter said.
Victor said nothing as he walked to his chair and collapsed in it. He looked over at his desk. Seeing the photo of Natalie, he grabbed it and slammed it face down.
"Oh," Peter added, understanding what happened. "I guess it didn't go so well."
Victor sighed. "A break up is one thing. Walking in on her getting it on with another guy . . . "
"No way. I can't believe she would do that to you."
Victor nodded.
"How are you?"
"I thought I would be more pissed. Maybe I'm just in shock."
"Well, at least you get a clean break and she's over on the other coast, so she can't really flaunt the new guy. But you do have to change your Facebook profile."
Victor chuckled. "Make it all official, you mean."
"That's why we use it!"
"So, how are things over here? I miss anything exciting?"
"Ha," Peter replied. "Not really. My dad admitted to being responsible for Spider-Man, I found a sister I never knew, and Gwen invited us over to her place tomorrow night."
"I'm gone for a couple of days . . . Wait, your father created Spider-Man?"
"That's what he said. Somehow I got infected with the Scarecrow, and he's saying that was the catalyst for the spider bite to give me powers instead of kill me."
Both guys were silent for a second. Then, Victor spoke up. "How screwed up are we? I mean, neither one of us knew our dads until just recently. We're just starting college, and our biggest concerns should be classes and parties on the weekends. But instead, we're worried about some major plans launched by a super secret spy organization before we were even born. And why? Because we're not normal, we're both superheroes."
Peter just shook his head. Before he could answer, he heard a knock on the door. He turned back to Victor, a confused look on his face. "Expecting anyone?"
"Not really," Victor replied, walking to the door. He opened it and turned back to Peter. "It's for you."
"Hello, Victor," Richard Parker said, walking into the room. "I'm glad that you're around, because I need to talk to you too."
Victor closed the door. "No problem. What's going on now?"
"Are you boys familiar with the SHIELD helicarrier?"
"I had to break onto it a few months back," Peter replied. "It's when I first found out about you and Mom."
Richard nodded. "Well, like I told you last night, SHIELD has undergone a few changes in management over the last few years."
"What does that have to do with us now?" Victor asked.
Richard turned to him. "Because, they hold the answers. And they control the Scarecrow. And they've screwed with me for long enough. It's time to fight back. I need you to gather as many allies as you have to help us."
Peter and Victor looked at each other, both with concerned looks.
"You do have allies, right?" Richard asked.
"Well, I can think of one person I can call to help us, but for the most part, it's only us. Especially when it comes to this whole Oz mess," Peter answered.
"Okay, then. I'll call up your father, Victor, and see if he's up to helping. And if you have one ally, Peter, that makes five of us. We might be able to do this."
"We going in full costume?" Peter asked. "Because I might stick out a bit in the red and blues."
"I'm going to need the full range of your spider powers, including the webshooters, so modify the costumes how you feel necessary. But black is the best color."
"Not a problem."
"Good. Then start getting ready. We launch the attack tomorrow night."
Next: Assault on S.H.I.E.L.D.!