Peter swings over to Calvin's house as fast as his webs will let him, his arms aching from pulling himself through the air so quickly. When he finally arrives, he crashes onto the sidewalk below, stumbles to the front door, and knocks as loudly as he can, praying that Calvin opens the door. A wave of relief hits him when it opens but it's cut short when he realises that it's not Calvin. Instead, a tall woman is standing there, a phone in one hand, and a pen tucked behind her ear.

"Um, hello, Spider-Man," she says, looking Peter up and down curiously.

"Oh, hi, are you... Ms Lawrence?" he asks. She nods.

"Yes. Can I help you?" At this, Peter tries to re-compose himself. This is the first time he's met Calvin's mom, and even though he's not there as Peter Parker, he's still nervous as hell.

"I'm looking for Calvin. Is he home?" he says, slightly peering over her shoulder to see if he's there.

"No, he said he had to go to a friend's house. Is he in trouble?" she asks, worry crossing her face.

"No, not at all," Peter blurts out. He feels guilty for lying to her when they've only just met, but he can't risk her getting the police involved and getting more people hurt. "I just needed to make sure he's okay."

"Okay?"

"Yeah. I made a promise to keep him safe and I mean to stick by it." She nods.

"I'm glad he's made some good friends, even if they might be masked vigilantes," she says, smiling. "I'm sorry you couldn't find him here."

"It's okay," Peter replies. "Tell him to, uh, contact me when he gets back."

"Will do," she says, slightly confused, and slowly shuts the door. Peter sighs and swings himself up to a nearby roof and pulls out his phone.

"Where the hell are you?" he whispers, calling Calvin's number repeatedly, always getting his voicemail. He knows something must have happened to Calvin. If he thought there was a chance they could still hang out tonight, he wouldn't have left his house, let alone go to a friend's. And even if he did, he would have picked up his phone by now. Just as Peter thinks the call is going to go to voicemail again, the ringing stops, and he hears slow breathing at the other end of the line. At first, Peter doesn't believe it and mistakes it for a dead line, but sure enough, there's another deep breath.

"Calvin?! Calvin is that you?!" he yells, clutching the phone to his ear.

"I'm afraid you might need to cancel that date tonight," someone else says. "Your boyfriend is a bit preoccupied with us." Peter grits his teeth.

"You're the same person Flash called," he says. The man on the other end chuckles.

"Very good, Mr Parker. But not good enough to save your boyfriend."

"How do I know you have him?" Peter asks, refraining himself from smashing his phone to pieces right there. There's a sigh before the noise of the phone being passed reaches his ears. The shuffling stops and he hears a faint sniff before someone talks.

"Pete?"

"Calvin!" he shouts. He feels like his heart almost stops from relief when he hears Calvin's voice. "Are you okay?!"

"They've given me a bit of a beating, but I'm fine," he replies. "You?" Peter almost laughs. Trust Calvin to make this situation as lighthearted as possible.

"I'm fine. Where are you?" The phone moves again and the other guy starts speaking.

"Be at the address we've sent you in 30 minutes, or that's the last time you speak to your boyfriend." The phone hangs up and a text appears from an unknown number with an address.

"That's like 45 minutes away, I'll never make it in time," Peter groans. A thought suddenly pops into his head, making the situation seem less bleak. "... Unless I have help."

***

Ten minutes later, he's in the passenger seat of a very expensive looking car, the wind creating a loud buzzing in his ears as he races through the streets of the city.

"I think... I think we could go a little slower, Happy," he says, clinging to the car door.

"Listen, kid. You told Mr Stark that you needed to urgently see a friend, I'm taking you there as fast as I can," Happy replies, quickly turning down a back road. "Who is this friend anyway?"

"Um, he's more of a boyfriend actually," Peter says, his face heating up. Happy looks over, his face slightly shocked but intrigued.

"Boyfriend, huh? Well, good on you, kid." Peter smiles back.

"Thanks, Happy."

Thankfully, Happy doesn't ask him any more questions as they drive. He drops Peter off a couple of roads away from the address so that he doesn't see where Peter goes. He wishes him luck before speeding off, music blaring from the car speakers.

"Two minutes left," Peter says, and sprints around the corner to the address. He reaches the abandoned warehouse, pulls his mask back down, and slowly pushes the doors open.

The first thing he sees is Calvin sitting in a chair, his hands tied behind him and a gag around his mouth. The second thing he notices is that there are only a few guys around him, maybe 12 or 15; he could take them on easily, especially since he was angry. Peter is about to take a step towards Calvin, when a spotlight glares down on him, making him cover his eyes.

"Spider-Man! You made it!" a booming voice echoes. A few of the guys nearby chuckle. Peter squints up at where the voice is coming from and manages to make out a blurred figure.

"What do you want?" he yells back, taking another step forward.

"I want you to realise the mistake you made trying to stop me!" they yell back. "For years I have been humiliated and called a failure, but not anymore! I will succeed this time and you will be the failure!" The figure moves slowly into the light and as Peter realises who it is, he wonders how he didn't figure it out before.

"Octavius."