Meanwhile at the time when Peter and his group were going to meet Dr. Connors, Zapp was keeping an eye out for any spies who were following them. But while she was waiting for them, she muttered,

"Seriously, what's so stinky about sewers? They normally keep everything clean and toilets going. Sure it seems smelly, but it's better than going outside. Still…"

Just then, Zapp heard a noise from across the alleyway. Activating her powers, she proceeded to walk over to investigate the noise. She had no idea who or what made that ruckus, but she knew that something was up and she needed to find out the source.

"Whoever you are, you had better come out now before I fry you!" Zapp threatened.

She moved closer to see who it was. Zapp was feeling more tense as she approached the source. Upon getting a closer look, she noticed that it was just a police officer who fell and hit his head. Heading to his side, Zapp asked,

"Hey buddy, are you okay?"

She moved closer to hear if he was still breathing and tried to figure out what to do with him. But when she took a further look at him, she noticed a rip right near his jawline.

"What the…?" Zapp said, looking at the rip.

Moving her hands closer, she tries to grab the rip on the jawline to see if it's real or not. Suddenly, the man wakes up and grabs her right arm. Twisting it and pinning her to the ground, this mystery person reached for his earpiece and said in a raspy, russian voice,

"I got one, sir."

Growling in anger, Zapp activated her powers and fired a bolt of lightning at the officer, forcing him to jump off her in the process.

"Who are you?!" Zapp asked after getting off the ground.

"Just a shadow, loshad'. But you may call me the Chameleon." the officer said before running away.

Zapp ran after him when he made a turn towards the right corner of the alleyway. He was nowhere to be seen. Zapp got into a guarded position and proceeded to look for the Chameleon. She scoured across the entire alleyway, but couldn't find a trace of the masked fiend anywhere.

"Come out, skull-head! I know you're out there!" Zapp shouted.

Zapp continued to search for the Chameleon, but he was nowhere to be seen around the vicinity. But before she could search for him further, a hand reached out and grabbed her. Startled and turning around with her powers activated, she saw that it was none other than the others.

"What's going on?" Matter-Horn asked.

"There was a guy out there who looked like a police officer and was wearing a mask. He called himself the Chameleon." Zapp explained.

"The Chameleon?! What's he doing here?!" Peter asked, rather fiercely.

"And how was he able to get past you?" Miles asked as well.

"Look… I was keeping a look-out for you guys. When I heard a noise, I went over to investigate it. Just then, he got the drop on me. I had to electrocute him to get out of his reach. But when he was escaping, he removed his mask and he started speaking in this weird accent." Zapp explained further.

"He's Russian. He's also the brother of another villain I know." Peter said.

"Do you know why he's here?" Matter-Horn asked.

"I'm not sure, but he nearly came close to arresting me. I can only assume he was trying to capture one of us, so that he and whoever he works for interrogates us later." Zapp said.

They thought about this a little further, but they reached little to no conclusions at all. But they knew that they couldn't just sit around and grasp at straws.

"Dr. Connors gave us a few earpieces, so that we can keep in contact with one another. If you find the others, give them these. We already received ours." Peter said, handing Zapp the earpieces.

"But right now, we need to pay a certain feline a visit." Miles said, nudging Peter in the arm.

"Miles, don't…" Peter said in an annoyed tone.

"We have to visit this woman named Felicia Hardy who seems to know her way around the criminal underworld and is capable of stealing the parts we need to get home." Matter-Horn explained.

"She's also his ex." Miles said.

"What?! Seriously?!" Matter-Horn asked in disbelief.

"Miles…" Peter said, starting to feel irritated.

“Anyway, we gotta go now. Keep us posted!” Miles said before spinning a web.

Peter spinned a web and swung after Miles while Matter-Horn and Humdrum flew after them. Zapp flew away as well and tried searching for the Chameleon from the sky. But he was nowhere to be seen and all that Zapp could do was pick at straws while searching her surroundings.

***

While Zapp was searching for the Chameleon, the latter snuck his way out of the alleyway after removing his face-mask and donning another. He looked at the building Zapp was searching in and chuckled. As he walked away, he activated his earpiece and said,

“The bug is on her. You’re up.” the Chameleon said before taking his finger off the earpiece.

***

Perched on the tallest building, Vulture and Electro were watching Zapp as she started to fly away from the alleyway.

“She’s on the move!” Electro shouted as he started to hover with his electric powers.

“So are we!” the Vulture said as he flapped his mechanical wings.

Getting themselves off the ground, the duo proceeded to pursue the gullible pegasus as she flew off to parts unknown.

***

Sometime has passed after visiting Felicia Hardy’s tower and the gang was on a rooftop in front of a huge building which appeared to be a bar. It was distinguished by a large neon sign that read V8 Roadhouse. Peter and Miles looked at the bar in amusement while Matter-Horn and Hum Drum were taken aback by its tacky appearance.

“Do you think this is where Tombstone is holding the info on Alchemax’s security?” Miles asked while looking at the building.

“Wanna have some wings while we wait?” Peter sarcastically asked.

“Guys, we didn’t come here to lollygag. We’re here to get answers, not engage in shot games.” Matter-Horn reminded, trying to keep the Spider-Men in line.

“Why not~? Sounds like my type of speed~.” a familiar voice interjected.

The foursome turned around and saw it was none other than Black Cat, having just arrived at their destination.

“You think you can get good ol’ Lonnie Lincoln to talk?” Peter asked while looking at the entrance.

“Worth a shot. Although he’s not very keen on gold diggers~...” Black Cat said before jumping to the rooftop of V8 Roadhouse.

“I wonder why…” Peter said before jumping over as well.

Just as Miles was about to take the next leap, Matter-Horn stops him and asks,

“So is their relationship like this…?”

“More or less. It’s on and off.” Miles answered.

“That explains a lot…” Hum Drum shrugged.

Just then, they heard a sharp whistle from Peter, urging them to come over to their side. Wasting no time, Miles jumped over to the other side before Matter-Horn grabbed Hum Drum and flew over. But before they could go inside, Black Cat stopped them and said in a serious, yet carefree tone,

“When we head inside, you kiddies keep quiet and let the adults talk. The less said out of you, the better. Are we clear?”

“Just know that if you try to-” Matter-Horn said before being interrupted by Peter.

“Don’t worry. She won’t pull anything. Not this time…” Peter said before scowling at Felicia.

“Hmph. Now that we got this sorted out…” Black Cat said with a hint of amusement before opening the door.

They entered into the V8 Roadhouse, which was none other than the territory for the illegal activities of one of the biggest crime lords of New York; Tombstone.

Author's Note

Hello everybody. It's been a long time since I've done this story, but I'm back and I'm gonna see to it that I can get this finished. One thing you have to bare in mind, however, is that it will be done in short bursts as I will have various projects stacked ahead of me and I won't be able to focus. But if there is one thing I am thankful to the Coronavirus for is that I will be able to focus more on my projects and I will some time to write some of my stuff down before I have to go back to work. And if anybody is reading this, be safe, positive, and be healthy. Either way though, enjoy the chapter.