Spider-Man: Duty and Loss Chapter 49: Red Level Threat

Chapter 48: Red Level Threat

(The Next Day)

Peter woke with a start and kicked the sheets off his body. Looking around in a daze for a few seconds, he finally remembered where he was. Sitting up slowly, he rubbed his eyes as smelt something good wafting in from the other room.

"Mmm" He let out a small voice as they food in the other room smelt delicious. Looking at the clock next to him, he realized that it was around 10:30 am. He hadn't woken up this late in a long time. Well, accept the last time he was drugged here.

Peter felt a small amount of guilt wash over him waking up so late. He didn't go on patrol last night, who knew how many people could have needed his help. After wallowing in guilt for a few seconds he shook his head.

'No' He thought to himself. 'The city can survive without me for a night or two. I can't keep heaping the responsibility on my shoulders. There's the police, other heroes' Peter felt his heart rate spike a little and forced himself to calm down. 'Calm down, You can relax…you can relax'

Talking in his mind for a few minutes his heart rate slowed down. 'Was it always like this?' Peter asked himself this question as he shuffled himself out of the bed and the truth was, he couldn't remember. When did the duty of being Spider-Man get to this point? Was it after that day? Or was it like this before?

He had been going out quite often before the battle of New York, many times more than the first few years he had started, it only got worse after that day. Finally stopping his thoughts there, he banished them to the back of his head and stood up.

The smell of the food was too good. 'Felicia has a great figure, is good at athletics and martial arts, is great at cooking and has a great personality…..' Peter tapped his chin. 'On second thought, she has an alright personality.'

With a new smile on his face as he thought of the woman in the next room, Peter made sure his hair was alright before walking into the next room. Twisting the handle and expectant of the food being cooked, the sight that greeted him made him stop for a second.

A small amount of music was playing in the background as Felicia sung to herself. The stove was on and she was cooking, bacon, scrambled eggs, sausages and waffles. Peter felt a small grumble come from his stomach. He hadn't had a decent meal in a long time, something unthinkable to a person with an increased metabolism.

Standing still and taking in the sight of Felecia who was wearing very, very short shorts and a tight but somehow loose shirt, he didn't notice when Felicia stopped singing and turned towards him. She shot him a smirk as she looked at his dumbstruck expression. Seeing the laughter in her eyes when he came back, he quickly rearranged his face and made it stoic.

*Cough* Giving a fake cough, Peter moved to the table where the food was being set up. Ever being the gentleman he spoke once he sat down. "Morning." Felicia sat opposite him. "Morning." Before long a conversation started as the food disappeared at the speed of light.

Peter's eyebrows rose slightly as he noticed that Felicia was eating almost as fast as he was. 'And she still has a great figure.' Right after thinking that she shot him a look and his heart stopped, He could have sworn that she somehow read his thoughts. 'That brings back a few memories'

Just as the food was finished, as if well timed or done purposely Crystal's comms buzzed. Peter kept the device on him at all times and quickly felt the disturbance, looking down for a second he excused himself from the table.

Felicia gave a small frown as he disappeared behind the door, before getting up herself. She took a look at the empty dishes before leaving them; she could get Peter to do them later. With her ever present smile she left to her own room, she had a few things to do.

Closing the door behind him Peter reached down and grabbed the ear piece before placing it in his ear. "Yes Crystal?" Her clear voice replied with a bit of seriousness mixed in. Hearing her tone Peter grew concerned. It wasn't every day that Crystal got serious.

"Sorry to interrupt your conversation Peter. I have discovered a Red Level Threat to the city and the world." Peter stood shocked for a second, before he gripped his hand, there had only been a few Red level threats he had ever had to deal with, the last one being the Battle of New York, and he didn't have to deal with that one. The avengers only just fixed that one.

Peter's voice turned grim. "Details Crystal Please." He got a quick response. "I have discovered traces of corruption in Shield. Shield hostile takeover monitored yesterday. Previous director presumed dead, 40% Probability of truth. Captain America and Black Widow branded fugitives." Peter's eyes rose at that last bit. 'Branded fugitives? The mascot of America and avenger?'

"98% Probability of Hydra taking over shield. Plans found to decimate super human community with new 'Helicarrier programming'. Hacked Shield database for target list. List has been downloaded into Felicia's phone; if you would."

Peter's eyes rose even further as the news sunk in. Quickly bolting for the door he ripped it open and scrambled over to Felicia's room. Knocking extremely fast almost causing a dent, it was open in a few seconds.

Felicia had a surprised expression on her face seeing the small panic that Peter was in. Before she could say a word though Peter, said something at hyper speed. "Heysorry tointrude I just needtoborrow your phonereally quick. I'll giveit backin asecond."

Too stunned to reply Peter grabbed the phone right out of her hand and bolted back to his own room. Thankfully it was still open when he flipped it over. Bringing up the lists at lightning speed color drained from his face as he saw name after name, The fantastic 4, Matt, Jessica, Danny, Luke, Frank, All of the avengers. Even some politicians and police chiefs were named. That wasn't all, the list continued to go on and on, and was even divided by country.

If the plan was to go through, it could easily start a world war. Remembering the red haired girl that he had grown up with, Peter quickly searched for Jean's name. He found hers as well as Laura's name. He had no clue how they had got her information, but they knew she was a mutant.

Looking the list over a few times, Peter quickly noticed that his name wasn't on the list. He was about to ask Crystal about this, when he figured it out. Over the years his information had been scrubbed numerous times, if Shield ever tried to follow him or track him, Crystal would stop it.

They may have a Peter Parker on file, but he wasn't connected with Spider-Man, other than the fact he took his pictures. It gave him a little satisfaction that they still didn't know his secret identity, but they did know others….Like Felicia.

"What would you like me to do Peter?" Timing the question perfectly, Peter snapped out of his stupor. "Is anything being done to prevent this?" "Yes Captain America, Black Widow and another man by the name of Sam Wilson are planning to stop their plan." Peter thought to himself quickly. "When is it happening?" "Later today the plan goes into action; I calculate that they have a 60% Chance of stopping said plan." Crystal took a pause and Peter was about to speak out aghast, that was such a low number!

But Crystal continued before he said anything. "Conjecture, if former director of shield is still alive, which has now been raised to 88% probability, they have a 90% Chance of stopping plan." Peter stopped and thought over his options.

He could try to help the Captain and Black Widow, and he would have if the chances of success were still so low, but 90% was high enough for him. This was a probability done by Crystal, Peter knew well enough when she gave her statistics she factored nearly every possibility.

Thinking it over again and again, slowly Peter let his hands relax. He wasn't needed to stop this threat. But it was always prudent to be safe. "Crystal, hack into the firing program. If Captain America and his team fail to stop the launch of the 'Extermination program', shut it down, wipe the list and cripple the helicarrier."

Crystal took a few seconds to respond as she quickly did what Peter wanted. "Affirmative, Program changed." Peter let out a small sigh of relief as he heard her words. He was sure that the problem would resolve itself and he wouldn't have to intervene again, the captain would handle the rest.

"Was there anything else?" "No, Peter." Peter gave a nod. "Thank you for the heads up crystal." Crystal's voice turned gentle. "Always, Peter." Peter smiled slightly before flopping onto the bed. A small part of him still wanted to swing out and help stop the brewing crisis, but he suppressed it. It was a small step, but a necessary one.

He had to give the responsibility to others. He had to give the responsibility to other….

Chapter end