The Tangled Web | Peter Parker

Chapter 44

The cold evening air seeped its way into the subway car, causing me to scoot a little closer to Eddie to preserve the warmth. I rubbed my hands together, hoping the friction would bring back some feeling to my numb appendages.

"The heat must be out in the car," I shivered, shaking my head.

"You act like it ever worked in the first place," Eddie laughed, rolling his eyes as he leaned toward me, gently bumping my shoulder with his.

"This is probably a dumb idea," I mumbled under my breath.

"Uh, it's absolutely a dumb idea," Eddie scoffed, leaning back his head as he furrowed his eyebrows. "We have no clue what we're walking into."

"I meant going to the docks in the dead of winter," I stated, narrowing my eyes as I turned to look at him. "The wind is going to be freezing there. It's right off the water," I explained, shaking my head. "As for what we're walking into," I added, shrugging, "It probably won't be that exciting."

"God," Eddie laughed nervously, "I hope not."

"I mean," I continued, tilting my head as I thought, "It was a few weeks ago that I saw the blueprints and heard the guys talking about some shipment coming in. I'm sure that's long over by now."

Eddie shifted in his seat as he looked me up and down. "You know," he said carefully, "I'm still not over the whole 'you going to the warehouse alone and almost dying' thing. You wanna tell me more about that?"

And risk letting slip that Peter is Spider-Man? No.

"Uh," I stammered, closing my eyes. "Depends," I exhaled while lifting an eyebrow as I turned to look at him again. "Are you going to tell me what information you found out about the warehouse that made me go back there in the first place?"

"Harsh," Eddie laughed, trying to hide the pained look on his face. No doubt he still felt guilty about that. "It's really stupid, actually," he said quietly, lifting his hand to scratch the back of his neck.

"I almost died trying to figure out what was going on there," I huffed, crossing my arms as I pressed my back into the hard plastic of the subway seat. "The least you could do is tell me what I was pursuing in the first place."

"I already feel horrible that you went there because of me. You don't have to make me feel more fucking guilty for it," Eddie sighed running his hand over his face. "Okay, yeah," he nodded. "This is so dumb," he uttered under his breath, "so I kinda know a guy that started working there."

"Where?" I questioned, sitting up straighter as I laid into Eddie. "At the warehouse? When? What does he do there? I thought it was abandoned?"

"Easy there," Eddie reassured, holding out his hands before placing one on my arm. "You know, we really should cut you back on your caffeine intake."

"Your funeral," I shrugged, rolling my eyes. "Your friend works at the warehouse?"

"Technically, he works for Union Allied," Eddie said slowly, shaking his head. He ran his tongue over his lips before continuing. "He was out there the other day, surveying the building after his guys acquired it."

I furrowed my eyebrows as I contemplated the new information. "Wait," I breathed, shaking my head, "I thought an investment company purchased the building from Union Allied. Why would they still be involved?"

"I asked the same thing when he told me," Eddie admitted, raising his eyebrows. "It didn't make sense. I remembered what Foggy said. So I asked him," he explained, shrugging his shoulders.

"You talked to Foggy recently?" I asked, tilting my head.

"No, Adrian," Eddie laughed, shaking his head. "He's the contractor that was checking out the place."