Spider-man: Alone in New York

~ Chapter 14 ~

Narrowing my eyes at the black SUV, I shot it a dark look when passing it. I turned to go into the cafe where Ned told me he was hiding in. The bell by the door rang when I opened the door and looked around the place. Despite being small with only around fifteen seats, the cafe was packed with people. I spotted Ned by the corner, sipping his cup with hat and sunglasses on. When I slid into the seat in front of him, Ned was pursing his lips at his computer screen, and at my presence, his shoulders immediately sagged with relief.

He placed his cup down, and I whispered, "I thought you don't drink coffee."

I could see him roll his eyes behind the sunglasses. "I don't, but it's weird to sit here without drinking or eating anything."

"I suppose that's true," I said.

"You know whispering makes us seem suspicious?" Ned said, whispering.

I frowned at him. "Then why are you whispering?"

"I don't know. You started it," He said.

"I did?" I thought back and realized that he was right while he grabbed something out of his bag. "Okay, maybe I did." He handed what he was searching for to me.

"A hat?" I looked at the hat in my hands.

"My confidence hat. If the driver comes in here he won't be able to identify us easily."

My gaze shifted to the hat he was wearing and back to mine, frowning. "Why do you carry two hats with you?"

"I actually have three. You know, for good luck." I didn't want to say anything, but boy did they need to start doing their job and bring us some luck. Begrudgingly, I placed it on my head.

"You see him? There he is," Ned whispered, and I looked out of the window. The driver was now chomping on some chips.

"You'd think they'd have shaded windows," I said to Ned, watching the driver miss his mouth and drop the chip to the floor of the car.

Ned shook his head as the driver picked it up from the floor and ate it. "Those are illegal. That would just attract the police, which they probably don't want."

"True," I agreed, slightly nodding my head and turning back to him, "Did you check the phone yet?"

His attention turned back to his computer. "Yeah, while waiting for you to come here. So the guy you attacked has been apparently calling one phone number for the past couple of weeks. I traced the number, and whoever it is has really been all over the place. But, most of the calls have been taken here." He showed me his computer screen, gesturing towards a small place on the map that was in blue.

I placed my head in my hands. "If I were a drug lord, where would I sell my drugs? And another time- you weren't there- I heard them talk about sex slaves, so this Zenon would need a place for prostitution and drugs."

Our eyes met and we said it at the same time, "Nightclub!"

We said it too loudly and glanced around to make sure we didn't get any unwanted attention. As soon as we saw everyone was busy fumbling with their own devices, we turned back to each other.

"I'll check." He twisted the laptop back to his side and typed on his keyboard. "I see three in the blue area."

I thought for a minute and then said, "Any of them dealing with police problems previously?"

After a pause, Ned answered, "Yes, one. Distribution of drugs, but they didn't shut the place down for some reason. Bribery?"

I hummed in agreement. "Wouldn't surprise me. What about messages? Did you find anything on that?"

"No, nothing. He only used the phone for calls." I mulled over our conversation and decided that I would target the club first, and see if there is anything fishy going outside. Perhaps I could find an entrance by the back that I could sneak into. I doubt they would otherwise let an underaged kid through, though, nor would they let Spider-man. Ned spoke up, "So, would you like to tell me about how you became Spider-man and why you're looking for this Zenon guy?"

I sighed. It was about time he should know all of this. After triple checking that no one was listening to us and lowering my voice so that he needed to lean in to properly hear me, I filled him in, giving him a shorter version, though. I went over how I got the spider bite in the first place which lined up with his memories because he remembered my absence from school the next day. Then, I told him of following Pierce and Damon, crashing the drug deal, and getting a package of the drug.

Once I finished, I looked at him. Ned was staring at me, mouth slightly open. "Um, Ned?"

He blinked twice, closing his mouth. "Yes?"

"You good?"

He looked at me with awe. "Yeah, it's just so amazing that I get to be a hero's best friend. I mean, who else gets to be so lucky?"

I snorted. Right now he was in danger because of me. Very lucky, huh? "We need to lose that guy first and then we can go home. Come on." I pulled him to his feet, and he stuffed his laptop into his backpack.

He bit his lip. "But how will we lose him?"

"Let's try backdoor, and if that doesn't work, we make a run for it." I grabbed his arm as he pouted at the word 'run', tugging him to a waitress. Tapping her on the shoulder, the waitress looked at me. "Hey, can we use your back entrance? Our teacher is by the front entrance and we're trying to avoid him. Missed homework and all that, you know?"

She burst out laughing. "Haha, that is so me. Come on." She beckoned us with her hand and led us through the kitchen and to the backdoor. Her last words were "Stay in school!" before she went back into the cafe.

Ned gave me a smirk. "Good one."

"Thanks. Low-key didn't think that would work but glad it did." I pointed to the left. "We should be fine if we go that way and then to the right." Quietly, we distanced ourselves from the cafe and once we were sure we would be fine, we started making our way to Ned's house. His mom would be out working at this time but would soon come home.

We went into his room, and he closed the door. Lego were strewn all over the place, some built cars, planes, and Star Wars sets, and others just singles. I kept an eye on them and gingerly stepped around, not wanting to crush anything underneath my sneakers.

"Can I leave my backpack with you?" I asked him as a frown appeared on his face.

"Why do you want to leave your backpack here?"

I said, "I'm going to the nightclub."

"You're going to go there? Isn't that dangerous?"

I shrugged. "I'll be fine. I'm Spider-man, remember? Anyways, I'm not going in today. Just observing the area, finding weak points, and such."

"Okay." He went to his desk, opened a cupboard, and took out something, handing it to me. "Here, put that into your ear. I'll be able to talk to you and direct you to the address for the club."

"But-"

He cut me off, "Do it for me. I'd feel a lot better."

I sighed, putting the earpiece in. "Fine." If it gave him a peace of mind, why not?

I changed into my Spider-man suit, if you can even call it a suit, and gave him back the hat he lent me. I attached my web shooters to my wrists, snapping them in place.

Before I exited the room, he said, "Bring the bixons with you to school tomorrow. We can look at them after school or during chem."

With a nod, I walked out of his house, going out through the front door.

Swinging through New York City, I followed Ned's directions until I landed on the roof of the building next to it. It was becoming darker, so activity was just starting. For some reason, I had a feeling it would be a long- and painful- night.

And apparently, I was correct because my spidey sense was screaming at me to duck out of the way.