Spider-Man: Duty and Loss Chapter 71: All according to Plan

"How long till an escape plan stretch? I am starting to get hungry." Black dominated Peter's vision as he started to come back to life. "I-I-I'm thinking of one, but it's coming along slowly. Having trouble thinking." The pained voice of Reed registered in his head as he shook it once and then twice.

Peter flexed his fingers on reflex, curling them until they stopped in surprise. His fingers curled on the cold metal over his palm and on instinct he tried to move his arms. And that was when Peter realised that he couldn't move them.

Not just that, he couldn't move his legs or torso either, it was all being restrained. Blinking his eyes in pain, he brushed off the ringing in his ear and his splitting headache and opened his eyes. "Anyone get the number of that truck?"

The words slipped out as he tried to shift his neck to no success. The noise that had been coming from around him stopped, as he reorientated himself. That was also when he realised that he was upside down. His eyes shifted down behind the mask and he couldn't help his thoughts. 'Thank god blood doesn't rush to my head, or I would have died ages ago.'

"Web head you're finally awake." The deep voice snapped Peter out of his thoughts as he registered that the voice came from ben. Looking to where the voice came from he spotted his big orange friends in almost the same contraption that he was in, but up right of course.

With metal covering his whole body except his head, Ben couldn't move any part of his body to exert strength and because of that, he was trapped. 'Just like the rest of them.' "Yeah…" His voice trailed off as he finally woke up fully.

His eyes scanned the room they were in noting the damp area, gloomy atmosphere and grey bricks that surrounded them. Taking a quick peek at the water of the ground, chains on the walls and old medieval torture devices that littered the room, his mind quickly came to a conclusion, one he shared with the others.

"We're in a dungeon. A real dungeon….It's been such a long time since the last one." "Wait you've been in one before?" The question came from Johnny who was also locked up. Turning to look at him peter saw him inside a square see through box, more of a containment cell. His body was restrained and he was up to his neck in some type of substance, Peter brain instantly figured out that it dampened Johnny's flames.

Peter looked him in the eye as he replied in a rather chipper voice. "You'd be surprised how many times you wind up in a dungeon in the line of business. I've been in…4…. No 5!" "That's not something to be happy about!"

This time it was Sue who spoke up as Johnny gave a small chuckle at the information. Turning to look at her Peter saw that she was also in a containment Cell. While she was not restrained like Peter or ben, the glass was something reinforced. She wouldn't be able to break them with one of her force fields.

With small holes in the roof to provide her with air, there was no other way out. "Calm down, we got one of the smartest people in the world in our corner, I'm sure he'll think of something soon." Saying that Peter finally looked at Reed.

He was in the worst condition of the group; unlike the other who were just restrained Reed was much worse off. The containment cell he was in connected to some type of vent that was feeding cold air into the room.

There were no hole to let out the freezing temperature and Peter could already see the ice forming in the room. Reed was restrained and strapped to a chair. Icicles had formed on his skin and he now knew why his voice was so pained before.

Having skin that was like rubber, Doom was making his body reach such cold temperatures so that he couldn't use his powers. If he did, it was possible that he could damage his internal blood vessels and cause even worse damage.

Not to mention the cold would affect his ability to think or do anything. Peter looked at him for a few seconds as no one said a word. They had already talked for a while before Peter woke up, trying to think of ways that they could escape.

But Doom knew them almost as well as they knew him. He had the cells specifically designed for them to detain them. Reed was going through calculations in his mind trying to think of a plan of action, while ignoring the freezing conditions and pain he was in. 'Adding in the unknown factor that was Spider-Man, there might be a possible way to escape'.

Doom couldn't have possible expected him. Though from his knowledge of Spider-Man's powers Reed knew that he wouldn't be able to escape either. As the conversation began again on how to escape, the small device in Peter's ear buzzed and Crystal's voice came through.

"Peter you are finally awake. I have been trying to get through to you for a few hours." Peter frowned a bit under his mask as he asked the pressing question on his mind. "How long was I out?" He said it in a small voice, so that no one heard.

"You were out for just over 12 hours; it is already the following day, 11:23 to be precise." His worry grew a bit more but he was still relaxed, he had bene in these situations before. It was just that he had told Felicia that he would likely be gone for a day at the most, her reaction about him not returning worried him.

As he was thinking this Crystal spoke once again. "It was surprisingly hard to break through this Dr Doom's security, he was using a specific magical component in his coding that took me a while to break. But I have been able to hack into their systems."

This truly got Peters eyebrows to raise, he had run into magic before, he had discovered it thanks to the tireless efforts of Crystal and had an adventure or two, a few years back. The fact that Doom, showed expertise in the field was not a good sign. He would have to talk to a certain someone when he got back to New York.

'But for now.' "Crystal, put the security feed to the room on a loop, I'll deal with the rest." Crystal replied after a few seconds. "Security feed is on a loop. I will provide whatever support you need." Peter gave a small smile. "Thanks Crystal, you're the best."

Peter could have sworn he heard a happy laugh from his ear as he addressed the Fantastic four. "OK Sooooooooooooooooo…." The other stopped talking as they looked at the web head. "All's going according to plan then?" Johnny and Ben shared a look before Johnny spoke up.

"What Plan?" The chipper tone returned to Peter's voice as he started to explain to the confused watchers. "Well, it was likely that the first plan was going to fail, always does. Some type of cosmic force I tell ya, messing with us. But!!!"

His right index finger stretched out as if to get his point across, though it looked a bit comical as he was restrained and upside down. The smug look on his face was completely covered though as he explained his genius. "That's why I always have a back-up plan."

A relieved look came to Sue's face as she heard the words while Johnny smiled; they had full trust in the first hero of the modern age. Reed was looking at Peter through his half frozen eyes and engraved the words in his mind. 'Always have a back-up plan. Should have thought of that before'

Ben spoke up first. "You got us a way out web head?" Peter tried to nod his head once, before remembering that he couldn't move it. "Yeap, I sure do! Ok say hi, to the Fantastic Four." They didn't understand who he was talking to.

But as they waited, slowly a small smidge of black started to show from the neck of his suit. And gradually the dot of blackness came out to look at the dungeon it found itself in.

Chapter end