"Huh... wasn't expecting that" Peter said as he looked down the park, seeing a large camo tent with several military vehicles.

"Wassup?" Mary-Jane asked, following Peter's eye-line before she spotted the tent "Wow, almost didn't see it there" Peter smirked at the joke before the two of them headed over to it without discussing it, their interests being piqued and their curiosity gained. Upon closer examination  they discovered it was actually a US Forces public tour, with several different schools being shown around the different weapons, ranging from tanks to jet planes that had been towed into the park.

As the two of them approached the tour ground they were stopped by a large soldier in his camouflage uniform.

"Sorry kid, you're not allowed in here" he said in a gruff voice. Peter was silent for a long second before pointing at the sign just a few feet away.

"Its a public tour" he said quizzically.

"Yeah, for schools" the soldier corrected. Peter glared angrily at the man before Mary-Jane rolled her eyes.

"See Pete, this is why we use our work cards to get into these places" she said, taking a small badge out of her purse and holding it up for the soldier to see "We've been sent by the Daily Bugle to take a few pictures for a story we're working on about the military's renewed attempts to revive public support for their troops after the Iraq war" The man took the press badge and stared at it with scrutiny for a moment before handing it back to her.

"Alright then, the CO told us about you guys showing up sooner or later" he said with a sigh "Sorry about that"

"No problem" Mary-Jane smiled, the soldier moving aside and allowing the two of them into the tent. Once the soldier was out of earshot Peter spoke to Mary-Jane.

"Were you supposed to write up the story?" he asked.

"No, J.J gave it to Bobby and Alexis but I need the paycheck" Mary-Jane shrugged.

"That's... that's kind of a jerk thing to do M-J" Peter said in a surprised tone.

"Hey, they stole my cover story about Spider-Man's fight with Electro" she said with a wave of her hand "Its fair"

"Did... did you know that this was gonna be here before we came out?" Peter asked.

"No, I knew that the two of them had been asked by J.J to do a story on the tour stuff but I didn't know where... so since we're here I figured I'd steal their thunder this time"

"Alright then" Peter nodded. He followed after M-J who had taken a notepad out of her bag before she talked to a few of the soldiers standing guard over the machines, leaving Peter to wander off by himself, although she had told him not to touch anything.

"Right" Peter said, cracking his knuckles "What looks the most fun to touch?"

"I wouldn't recommend it" a female voice said behind him. He turned around quickly to see a woman with tied back blonde hair wearing a green uniform. Peter leaned to the side, inspecting the taller woman's rank badge before reading the name on her chest.

"Major Danvers?" he asked her.

"That'd be me" she nodded "Can I help you?"

"Not really, I'm kinda just wasting time and taking photos while my partner does the brunt of the work" Peter shrugged, holding out a hand to the army major "Peter Parker"

"Caroline Danvers" she said "But everyone just calls me Carol"

"Right... you don't mind if I take a few shots of the tanks do you?" Peter asked.

"If they can take shells and rounds without feeling bad I think they can take a few camera flashes" Carol chuckled.

"Nah, never use the flash against polished metal, creates a reflection that ruins the photo, just like flash on in the mirror" Peter stated as he took a picture of the tank's serial number.

"Okay then, you seem to know a lot about pictures, maybe we can get together and you can give me a few lesson" she said, pretending to hold out a notepad "I'll just make a note of your name, it was Peter Pedantic right? With a capital P?" Peter laughed at the joke and turned around with a sheepish smile, scratching the back of his head with a nervous chuckle.

"Sorry, I can seem a little bit... prickish when you first meet me" Peter apologized "But I feel that goes away after you get to know me"

"Oh, I've heard that saying before" Carol nodded with a smirk "Doesn't that basically mean 'I'm an asshole but you'll get used to it'?" Peter laughed again and grinned, nodding his head slowly as he went back to get another angle on the tank.

"Pretty much, yeah" he chuckled "So, I recognize the rank badge but not the uniform, what corps do you belong to? Marines? Or maybe the Tank Battalions?"

"Not in the US Army, I'm in the Air Force" Carol corrected "The tanks are nice and all, but I've always preferred fighter jets, ever since I was a kid I've loved the thought of flying"

"I think we all do" Peter nodded "But not many of us actually get to"

"What about you?" Carol asked "You interested in enlisting?"

"Sorry, I don't think the military life's the one for me" Peter said with a shake of head "Too soft for it"

"Fair enough" she shrugged, leaning a shoulder against the tank "But if you were interested, what would you go for?"

"Huh... I've always been more intellectual than brute force, maybe something in intelligence?" Peter suggested only to receive a disbelieving look from Carol "What?"

"Nothing, nothing... its just that, by looking at you, I figured you'd go for a more combat-orientated corps than intelligence" she said, looking down and chuckling to herself "But, hey, I'm not judging you" Peter was about to ask another question before his Spider-Sense went off, causing him to look to his right where he spotted the same soldier who'd stopped them coming in before reach into his pocket and pull out a small black box.

"What's the matter?" Carol asked.

"Its... nothing, it doesn't matter" Peter said as the man thumbed a button before putting the box away. Carol looked over his shoulder and saw what he was looking at, raising an eyebrow of her own.

"Wait... who the hell is that?" she asked.

"You don't recognize him?" Peter asked.

"No... I've got no idea who he is" she answered, taking her radio off her belt "Gimme a sec" She thumbed down the call button before speaking into the device.

"Zulu units this is CP, just checking in" she said "All units respond" There came several responses from other soldiers as they gave their unit, number and position but the man who had stopped Peter earlier didn't answer a radio call.

"He didn't answer... that's bad right?" Peter asked.

"Either he's got his radio off, which is against protocol on all situations in the field not classified as radio silent" she began "Or..."

"Or?" Peter asked.

"I think it would be best if you got out of here" Carol said, placing a hand on Peter's shoulder and beginning to steer him somewhere else "You get your partner and head out, this could be trouble"

"R-Right" Peter nodded, scratching under his shirt, his fingers rubbing against the fabric of his Spider-Man costume "I'll get her now" Peter looked around for Mary-Jane, spotting several other soldiers using the same black boxes as the previous one thanks to warnings from his Spider-Sense. He placed a hand on Mary-Jane's shoulder as he came up behind her, making the red-head jump slightly in surprise.

"What's the matter Pete?" she asked "I'm kinda busy"

"We need to go" Peter answered "Something here isn't right"

"What're you talking about?" she asked with a chuckle "I'm enjoying a chat with one of the soldiers" Peter looked up at him with a scrutinizing expression, deciding to use the same tactic Carol had.

"Your CP just sent out a call, she's a controlling one isn't she?" he asked.

"What're you on about?" the soldier asked angrily "I'm trying to talk here"

"Just saying that Lieutenant Danvers is kind of a pain" Peter shrugged.

"Yeah... yeah she is" the soldier responded with a nod. Peter knew now that something definitely wasn't right and he looked at Mary-Jane once again.

"Seriously M-J, we need to go" Peter said. It was at this point his Spider-Sense went off, a much stronger warning than before. He veered to the side as a hand attempted to grab him and he grabbed hold of the scruff of Mary-Jane's shoulder and dragged her away, feeling the eyes of the soldiers burning holes in his back.

Mary-Jane tore away from him and glared at him furiously, grabbing him by the collar and pulling him down to her level.

"What the fuck if your problem?" she demanded, her green eyes bright with fury. Peter didn't respond for a second, thinking of a good way to explain to her why he had seemingly abducted her like that.

Luckily for him, that answer came in the form of one of the smaller APCs exploding violently, seemingly destroyed by an exterior force judging by the way the vehicle's hull was crippled. Peter threw the two of them to the ground as a stream of bullets flew in from outside the tent.

"Yeah, that's why" Peter said as he dragged Mary-Jane back to her feet and pushing her forward "You need to get out of here!"

"Me? What about you?" Mary-Jane asked in an angry tone.

"I'll be fine, just go!" Peter said, shoving her forwards just in time for an unarmed soldier to sprint past them "Hey! Civilian here!" The young soldier stopped and looked at Mary-Jane before nodding, grabbing hold of her arm and pulling her with him.

"Wait, Peter!" Mary-Jane yelled but to no avail as the taller, stronger soldier pulled her alongside him as he began to gather more people to get them to safety. The crowd soon obscured Peter and he used this moment to vanish, setting his camera up on the string of a flagpole and hoisting it up higher before ducking into a porta-potty to change.

"Ewww" he groaned in disgust as the smell of the toilet hit his nose. Next Chapter: Marvellous Intervention Estimated time remaining: 8 Hours, 27 Minutes