"Okay, I'm sure we can work something out here," Peter said, holding his hands up. "Because I'm pretty sure you're not working with these Manhunters or whatever they are."
"How do you know of the Manhunters?" the man in the eyepatch asked, gripping his gun tighter.
"One of them mentioned it when my buddy and I jumped him."
"You attacked one?"
"More like it attacked first. We weren't expecting much of a fight."
"Well, sounds like you're not one of them, but the question remains, why in the hell are you sneaking around on the most expensive piece of spy equipment ever launched?"
"Short version is my dad made me do it." Peter stared at the end of the gun, and then quickly added, "Richard Parker. That's my dad."
"Parker?" The man eased up on the gun. "So, he's back, huh?"
"I guess. I don't know. Other than the past few days, I've never even seen him."
"Kid, do you even know who I am?"
Peter gulped. He didn't like pop quizzes. "Um, can't say I do."
The man put the gun down and offered his hand to Peter. "The name's Fury. I get this feeling I should be able to trust you."
"Wait a minute, Nick Fury?"
"That's me," the man nodded. "Mean somethin' to you now?"
"I thought I had heard you were dead."
"Yeah, those reports were greatly exaggerated. Now, come on, we have to keep moving."
Peter shook his head. "I have my own people to help."
Just then, a voice crackled over Fury's own walkie talkie. "Fury, come in. We have a situation down in the lab."
"On my way," he replied. Looking at Peter, he added, "I don't have time to play your games. So, if I still find you on this rig when I finish this up, you better have a good reason for not being gone."
"Not a problem," Peter said, running off.
Elsewhere, Victor was finishing off his problem. The agent called "Bristow" was now a smoldering pile of . . . something. Victor could see both robotic and flesh component. However, he did not have the time to investigate further. He quickly reloaded fresh magazines into both of his guns, and reholstered them.
"Spider," he said into the comm device, "what's our sitch?"
"Get to the lab. It's hitting the fan down there."
"Roger. Phantom or Avenger, you read?"
Silence.
"Phantom or Avenger, come in."
Again, no answer.
"Damn it," Victor muttered, pulling his guns out again and turning invisible as he started the long run down to the lab.
When Peter arrived at the storeroom where Cassie had been fighting, he saw her stumble out.
"Cassie!" he exclaimed.
"No real names, genius," she smiled back, as she leaned against the wall.
"Sorry, I'm a little caught up in the moment here. You okay?"
"Just a little winded. Took all my power to knock them out. Where was my backup? You crawl all the way here?"
Peter shook his head. "Can't crawl so well with the boots on. But I did nearly get my ass blown to oblivion by Nick Fury."
"You're kidding. Fury's been dead for years."
"That's what they said about dad, too."
Cassie grunted as she pushed herself to stand upright. "I heard about some commotion in the lab."
"I think our mission is just getting screwed," Peter replied. "Come on, let's go. Can you run?"
"Can you keep up?" Cassie answered.
Peter rolled his eyes and took off down the hall. Suddenly, behind them, he heard someone yell out "Freeze!"
"Keep going!" Cassie shouted. "I can cover our back side."
"That's not what I'm worried about. My spider sense is going crazy. We're about to be surrounded at the next intersection."
"Then we better make ourselves an exit. Duck!"
Cassie lowered the shield behind them and let some of the agents' fire go past them. Peter dropped and rolled to the side, where he was now facing the agents behind him. He fired some of his web, tripping up a couple of the agents. Cassie then launched some of her energy directly at the wall that the agents had fired at.
"Head forward, Spider!" she exclaimed. "You should be able to punch your way through!"
"Not a problem," Peter said, jumping up and launching himself completely against the wall. One solid punch and he was through.
Except that neither of them had realized how close they were to the outside. Instead of finding himself in another room, Peter was now freefalling down towards New York City.
He yelled a few choice words as he unloaded his webshooters to create a parachute. And then, time seemed to slow down. He looked up and saw Cassie freefalling towards him as well, except she was picking up speed faster than he was. Within seconds, she had grabbed onto him and all time had stopped.
"Nice trick, sis, but it would have been nice to have this done before I blew all of my web load?"
"You would have done that anyway. Instinct," Cassie replied as both Parkers were engulfed in a pinkish mist.
A second later, they were appearing on the deck of the helicarrier.
"There's no quick and easy way down, is there?" Peter asked.
"I don't think so," Cassie replied. "Unless you want to try that last trick again."
"I think I'll pass. I guess with all of the agents surrounding us, my spider sense was in overdrive and I misread it."
"No kidding. It would have been nice, though if my powers wouldn't give out so easily."
"Yeah, it is kind of lame to have such unreliable powers."
"Not like I asked for it."
"No one ever does," Peter said. "It just sort of happens. That's why some go bad, and some of us become the good guys."
Before either could continue the conversation, they both heard a series of clicks that sounded like guns being cocked.
"We either suck at stealth or planning," Peter said.
"I'm thinking both," Cassie replied. "How are we going to split this one up?"
As if on cue, the entire helicarrier shook, and everyone could see a bright light from the underneath side.
"Move it!" one of the agents shouted, and everyone started running towards the edge of the helicarrier.
"Was that an explosion?" Cassie asked. "Is this place really that big that we can't even hear when the bottom of this place blows up?"
"I'm just hoping it wasn't the side that keeps this thing flying. But at least it's a good distraction for us."
The duo started running for the nearest control tower, which they knew would connect them to the inside of the helicarrier.
"Spider, are you and Web okay?"
"Yeah, Shadow," Peter responded. "We're coming from the top. What about the lab?"
"I haven't gotten there yet. And I still can't get Phantom or Avenger."
"Damn," Peter whispered, as he burst through the door of the control tower.
"Hey, here's an elevator," Cassie said.
Peter studied the wall. There were two elevators. Obviously, in something as large as the helicarrier, only having one entrance into a control tower was not a wise decision. He looked at the floor readouts and shifted slightly to stand in front of the elevator where the car was still parked at the bottom. He grabbed what little he could of each door in the middle and started pushing.
"Wouldn't it be easier to just push the button?" Cassie asked.
"Easier . . . yes . . . quicker . . . no," Peter replied, grunting as he struggled to push the doors open. "Got it. Now, come here," he said as he grabbed Cassie by the waist.
"Hey, watch it, buddy. We may have just met, but I'm still your sister."
"Just put your arms around my neck. And hold tight."
Cassie looked nervously at the elevator shaft. "I'm not going to like this."
In a sudden movement, Peter stepped forward into nothingness, and began falling down the shaft. After a few floors, he shot a webline directly up to the top, which kept unfurling from the shooter itself. He used the other webshooter to fire more weblines to the side.
A minute later, and with only a few floors left to go, Peter tugged on the weblines, and slowed the descent. Their feet dangled only inches above the elevator car.
"You're good, baby brother," Cassie said, hopping off.
"But, wait, there's more," Peter replied, crouching down and punching the top of the elevator car. "You mind?"
Cassie used her power to widen the hole, and soon, the Parker siblings were standing in the elevator.
"Now for the easy part," Peter commented as he pushed the button to open the doors.
"What the hell?" Cassie wondered as the doors opened and she saw SHIELD agents lying unconscious, or worse, all over the corridor.
"I think we missed the party," Peter quipped as he stepped out of the elevator. "And it's a good thing, because I usually don't care much for party favors."
"I wish I could say it was a hell of a battle," Victor said, walking up from the side. "But they were like this when I got here."
"Are they dead?" Cassie asked.
"I don't even think half of them were even alive," Victor replied.
Peter walked down the hall to the remains of the lab. He looked inside and saw that everything inside was charred, and one wall was completely missing. "This place got torched. Where's our dads?"
Victor shrugged. "I haven't been able to find anyone but SHIELD agents anywhere around here."
The three continued to move about the lab, looking for any clues as to the whereabouts of their fathers. Peter looked around for any signs of the Scarecrow drug.
"I should have seen it coming."
Peter turned around and saw Monty Cranston standing up along the edge of one wall. Victor quickly rushed over to help his father up.
"Seen what coming?" Victor asked.
"About Richard," Monty replied. "He was never going to destroy the Scarecrow. He just needed to steal it away from SHIELD. He's been chasing this damn stuff for twenty years."
"Is he responsible for all of this damage?" Peter asked.
Monty nodded, and then his eyes grew wide with fear.
Peter did not even need to turn around to understand why. He could hear the familiar sound of a glider behind him, following by a maniacal laugh.
"Admiring my work, aren't you?"
"Green Goblin," Peter said, through gritted teeth as he turned around. "I should have known you would have turned up sooner or later. But I sort of got distracted after our last encounter." At that moment, Peter remembered the exact conversation he had had with the Goblin that night in the ruins of Oscorp, and his face softened up. "You knew about my father. And you've been around this Oz and Scarecrow drug thing for months now."
"Smart boy," the Green Goblin said, landing his glider and stepping off. As he walked closer, he voice started deepening, sounding less like the high pitched maniac, and more like an actual person. "But can you figure out the rest of the story?"
"You killed my father, didn't you?"
The Goblin laughed hysterically. "Oh, no, dear boy, what I did was far greater than that. See, I know all about you, and your sister over there. One big superpowered family. And it is all thanks to the same drug that I just pumped into my bloodstream."
"Did Osborn tell you all of that? Does he know what those drugs can do?"
"Come on, Peter!" the Goblin exclaimed. "I gave you more credit for brains than this! Osborn didn't have to tell me anything, because I'm the one that tipped him off."
"No!" Peter yelled, finally understanding the truth. "This can't be happening."
The Goblin stepped back and climbed on his glider once more. "Face it, kid," he said as the glider roared to life. "I am your father."
"NO!!!" Peter shouted as the Goblin flew off, his evil laugh echoing in the night sky. Peter started running forward, but Victor grabbed him and held him back.
"Peter, calm down. Jumping out of the helicarrier is not going to solve anything," Victor said, very calmly into Peter's ear. "I need you to collect yourself, and get your head back into the game."
"Victor, don't you realize that we've been working with the enemy this whole time? Everything that's happened since we started college has been one sick game to get to me."
"We'll sort it all out. But right now, we have to find a way off of this thing and back to terra firma to make a plan."
Peter took a deep breath and relaxed. Secure that his friend was not going to do anything rash, Victor let go. Peter turned back around and saw the tears streaming down Cassie's face. He walked over to her and put his arms around her.
"It's okay, Cass. I'll kick his ass good."
Cassie smiled through her tears. "I guess this means Dad knows about me."
Peter nodded. Cassie took a step back and broke the embrace. She wiped the tears off of her face. "Okay," she said. "I'm with Victor, let's get the hell off of this thing before we turn crazy."
"I'm sure there are some escape pods somewhere," Victor said. "I'm not much in the mood for teleporting."
Next: Spider Wars concludes in our giant sized 50th issue! All of the loose ends from the last 25 issues are finally tied up and it's Spider-Man vs. Green Goblin in a battle like you've never seen before!