"Well," said Maverick as the team sat down in the X-Force office with their newest member, Katherine Pryde. "This is a surprise."

"Yuir not kiddin'," said Siryn. "Sam dinnae mention this when I spoke to him earlier."

"Sam didn't know," said Kitty, sitting back and looking over the room of strange faces, who were now her latest set of team mates. "It was a decision by the X-Men after you spoke to him that I return to SHIELD. I've been off long enough anyway, and the atmosphere in the mansion isn't that great." She looked pointedly at Maverick who nodded.

"We're cool in here," said North. "There's no devices for listening in to what we say. I've checked and so has Lydia."

"Good," said Kitty. "What's going on here?" She looked about the team. "Is it anything to do with the emails I've been getting from Pete?" The other four looked at each other. Could this be the link they were missing in nailing the traitor?

"What did it say?" asked Lydia. Kitty went a little red, before regaining her composure.

"They were rather personal," she said. "I'm not sure I can tell you."

"Fury brief you at all?" asked Raven. Katherine shook her head.

"He said he was glad I was back, though obviously he'd have preferred it were under better circumstances. He thinks I've come back because of Pete, though I didn't mention the files you asked about. Pete sent me emails, but they weren't files or anything. Guys, what is going on here?"

"Okay," said Maverick. "This is what we know so far, or rather what we've been able to piece together. Our first mission was a set up, whether it was to fail or succeed we don't know, because succeed we did, but it was obvious that somebody had sold us out. Our targets knew we were coming, knew who we were and a lot more as well. It was someone in SHIELD, but before we could do anything the tragedy in New York hit."

"Yeah, we found out when we got back from space," said Kitty. "We couldn't believe it had happened. As if things weren't volatile enough..."

"Get's better," said Lydia. "You know there was a bit in the media about how it was a surprise and nobody had seen it coming? Pete didn't buy that, and to be fair neither did we, so we used our contacts to do some searching. There was nothing, they were right."

"Except that there was too much nothing," said Raven. "Someone's covered things up, allowed this to happen. It's what, a fair few months now since it all happened and the focus is now on the war. The cause is still being looked at, but not like we wanted. We started to put a case together, and when we had enough for Pete to make a guess at what was going on, they took him out. Attempted it, anyway and he was out of action for quite a bit."

"Huh," said Kitty, sitting back. "And then they killed him?"

"No," said Lydia. "Pete used the time to think and get his head in order, putting the pieces together. He reasoned that the traitor was someone high level and looked further a field to see what else was wrong. He figured the traitor was Fury and confronted him."

"The Colonel?" said Pryde, with scepticism in her voice. "No way."

"Way," said Lydia. "But this is where things get sketchy, as I'm still recovering from my own injuries and the team were in Russia."

"It seems that Fury convinced Pete he was wrong and then someone killed Pete, or had him killed," said North. "We didn't believe it until they found the body and the tests confirmed it was Pete."

"It is Pete," said Kitty. "I identified the body. There's a mark..."

"Yeah," said Raven. "The tests and everything are great, but we saw the body as well, don't forget. Ah did a scan. From what I've gathered from the lessons and such that the X-Men sent me, that a dead person has no mind that can be scanned, but there's a residual trace in mutants that makes up their bio-signature."

"Which is how Cerebro is able to detect mutants," said Kitty. "Yes. I mean we've never scanned for dead mutants, because they're dead. Though maybe we should have done, the amount of times Magneto's come back."

"Yeah, well Ah've been using my powers to act as a Cerebro, because with the way my defences react to a psionic intrusion, there has to be more to it. Xavier thought so, Ah've seen it in the files. Anyway, that maybe a perfect replica of Pete Wisdom, but it is a replica, because there's nothing about him that screams mutant at me."

"It's not him?" said Kitty. "But..."

"We're being lied to again," said Maverick. "I'm getting a might sick of this. Pete may be dead, he may not. He sure as hell isn't here."

"The emails," said Lydia. "How long has he been sending them?"

"Since September," replied Shadowcat. "Something about how the New York event got him thinking about us. I deleted them, but I know my way around a computer and got them back when Sam mentioned it."

"Right," said Maverick. "I think we ought to take a look at the email. If that's okay?"

"Yes," she replied. "It makes it a little better if he didn't mean what he said and was using me... Actually, he better be dead, otherwise I'm going to give a good slapping."

The team smiled. That was exactly like Pete to do that.

"So you used to work for these jokers?" said Pete. "I can't believe you were a Hydra agent."* He and Jessica were discussing their lives again, and she was telling him about her time as Spider-Woman, and this had been an interesting revelation.

* (That would have been in Marvel Spotlight #32 and Marvel Two in One #30-32 - David)

"Yes," Jessica admitted. "It get's worse though. I've tried to kill Nick Fury, and you know before when I told you I crossed Viper in Madripoor?"

"Uh huh," said Pete.

"There was a time when Viper believed she was my mother, and she hates me because she thinks I brainwashed her to think that. Or she used to. She once cared about me like a mother, but once she found out otherwise..."*

* (Spider-Woman #42-44 and Captain America #281 - David)

"Oh, good," said Pete. "Glad you've told me all this now. So what happened to you, that caused to lose all your powers? Well, the cool ones, anyway."

"My venom blast and pheromones were lost after I kind of died..."

"Is that a requirement when you wear spandex? Every so-called hero I've ever met is supposed to have died at least once."

"It's the nature of the work," she replied.

"I know that," said Pete. "But dead people really ought to stay that way. It seems kind of cheap to just come back. I mean, the funeral, the crying, all of that. What makes the people like us so special and not everyone else?"

"Dunno," admitted Jessica. "I was lucky. Doctor Strange helped me, because my body died while I was on the astral plane and he brought me back. It just cost me my powers. I still have the strength and the ability to stick to walls though. I think I'm still resistant to radiation and some poisons too, but I've not tested it."*

* (Spider-Woman #50 - David)

"Yeah, well, what are the odds that's what Zola's trying to restore," said Pete. "I'll put money the genetic potential's still there. I..." He paused a moment. "Oh, my."

"What is it?" asked Jessica.

"If I'm right, we've got a chance to get the hell out of here. Or at least you do."

"Why not us both?"

"Because," said Pete. "I can't stick to walls like you do. The gravity's knackered my legs being hung here like this. You can rest up. I don't have that advantage."

"What's you plan?" Jessica said, wondering what he'd picked up that she hadn't.

"I can't fire my hot knives, but you still have your strength, right? Well, so far you've tried to break your bonds. My idea is don't bother - pull the bastards right off the wall. Press back with your legs for the leverage."

"Why haven't you suggested this before?" demanded Jessica.

"Because," Pete snapped back, "I've only just thought of it. The Shadow King seems to be occupied somewhere else, and his focus isn't on us right now. You've got one chance, love. We've got one chance - you." Jessica took a deep breath and tried.*

* (Where's Farouk? See Scarlet Spider #7 and find out- David)

She hadn't realised she was resting her legs from the strain they would have been placed under, and because she was exercising them they were more or less fine. Her teeth were gritted and her eyes closed as she pushed and heaved at the walls that were keeping her chains in place and they started to creak. Sweat dripped from her face as she strained and struggled and the perspiration started to cover her body, soaking her already dirty and ragged clothing. Pete took a deep breath and swallowed the comment he was going to make, not wanting to ruin her concentration.

Then the wall gave under the pressure, and rock and stone came down around them and the room was filled with dust, but she was free and soon she broke the rock from the ends of the chains that held her, leaving her arms free properly.

"Get the fuck out of here," said Pete, coughing as he breathed in the dust filled air.

"I'll be back," she said to him, looking at him and feeling helpless that she couldn't do a thing to get him out of here. Then she jumped up, grabbed him around the neck and pulled him towards her and kissed him, her tongue tickling his teeth, perversely enjoying the faint taste of tobacco in his breath, and he answered her back with the same. Then she let go. "So you don't forget," she said and went back to getting out of the cell. Pete stayed silent, stunned in a pleased silence and he watched as she kicked down the door and made her break.

"Not bloody likely now," he said after a moment, to the sounds of surprised guards being clobbered by chains, wielded by someone with the proportionate strength of a spider...

"My God," said Maverick as he read through the letters. "Pete actually wrote this?"

"It's not exactly in his character," muttered Siryn as she read what had to be some of the soppiest, sugar sweet stuff she'd ever read in her life.

"He had his moments," said Kitty. "But not like this." Her initial embarrassment at these people going through her personal effects had subsided. She was a professional, and these people needed her. She'd used her own skill and expertise in computer systems to ensure that nobody could access the computers without physically being in the room.

"Agreed," said Siryn as she looked at Kitty, who failed to catch the glance. They were the two people in the room who knew Pete Wisdom best, with several years of distance between them. Terry wondered if Kitty knew about her past with Pete, but decided this was not the time to press the issue.

"I have to admit I look back on those times quite fondly," said Kitty. "But it wasn't the smartest thing I've ever done in my life. I thought I loved him. I was wrong."

"Did the two of you ever get together and sort things out?" asked Lydia, studying the text.

"No," said Kitty. "There just never seemed to be time. I half expected to see him when Brian and Meggan got married, but he never showed."

"He never stopped caring," said Raven, softly. "He just took it very hard."

"How do you know, has he talked about me?" asked Kitty, wondering where this insight came from.

"When we were in Madripoor," started Marcus, taking her to one side to tell her what it was that Pete had experienced when they had been captured, thanks to the dark force spawned powers of the Dragon Lord.

"Okay," said Maverick, looking at the other two. "Impressions?"

"If these things are the files," said Siryn, "then they have to be buried within the code of the mails or something, because they're not obvious."

"I'll check," said Maverick as he tapped a few codes in to the computer. "Lydia?"

"There's something about these messages," she said, placing printouts of the messages on her desk, scouring over the words. "If you read them, it somehow says something. I just can't quite grasp what's being shown to me here."

"Well, there's nothing in the code. No attachments, no encrypted data, no secret messages," said North, frustration edging in to his voice. "Maybe Pete was just feeling... I don't know... lovesick?"

"It's possible," said Lydia. "There were no signs of it when I saw him though."

Kitty and Raven came back across to the main group. "Maybe it was something triggered by his visions in Madripoor," she suggested. "From what Marcus tells me you were twisted inside out."

"Ah," said Lydia. "That could be it." She sat back, then grabbed a highlighter and began to mark words on the sheets. Then she grabbed another colour and did the same again. "Ye-es," she said. "That's it."

"What's it?" asked Maverick.

"The code. Now this is very clever. Very sneaky," said Lydia, a sense of awe in her tone. "Give me a moment." She did some work on the computer and brought up the letter and the computer began to reorder the words and brought up an entirely new document.

"What the hell?" asked North. "How did it get that?"

"Each of the messages has a separate word of text on it, in a specific sequence, working from the bottom of each message, starting at the third message. Doesn't have to be encrypted because you set the messages to send later on from when they were written and nobody would be any the wiser." Lydia sat back, pleased with herself.

"Now that is good," said North. "I mean that's very clever."

"Black Air training, I'd guess," said Kitty. "The art of hiding things in plain sight is something they were good at. I guess he used me."

"You sound a little disappointed," said Marcus. "I thought you said you weren't too proud of yourself back then."

"Yes, but he was still special to me. I'm not interested anymore, but... It's hard to describe. Maybe, just maybe, there could have been something special that I missed, or that I forgot, or something. What might have been, y'know?"

"Yeah," said Terry. "We know. So what does the message say?"

"It's not the files," said Lydia. "That would have been too easy. But it is details of how to find them. There's also something personal for you, Kitty. I'll segment it and send it across to your console."

"Oh," said Kitty, shocked at it. She should have guessed that Pete wouldn't just dump all this on her, but it seemed easier to paint him in a different light. "I'll read it later."

"Okay," said Maverick. "We've got a starting point at long last. Where do we go from here?" He looked pointedly at Lydia.

"I..."

"X-Force report to the Director's office," came the announcement over the commsystem. The team looked at each other and Maverick nodded at Kitty who checked the computer systems.

"We're secure," she said. "There's no way anyone could have gotten past the additional security protocols I've added."

"Guess we've a mission then," said Maverick. "Lousy timing."

"I'm still not cleared for active duty," said Lydia. "I can get to work on this, and report to you later."

"Okay," said Maverick. "Sounds like a plan, and seeing as you're the only one who's read the file, it keeps the security limited. Marcus, keep in contact with Lydia at all times. Anything happens, I want to know as soon as possible." The team nodded and then went to see Nick Fury wanted them for, leaving Lydia to make some calls of her own. The proof they needed was finally within their grasp.

Jessica Drew made her way to the surface levels of the base they were being held in. She didn't know exactly where she was, but she was surprised at the resistance she had encountered. It had been quite minimal, especially for the headquarters of Hydra and it wasn't what she had expected at all. Not that she was complaining and she took out another couple of guards, enjoying the finally cut loose and get some payback.

Then she barrelled through the main doors, running across the carpeted foyer of the place and breathed fresh air for the first time in ages. She was virtually free and she began to run down the path that she could see led to a gateway at the bottom of the drive. Alarms were sounding across the place and she knew if she escaped she would be luckier than she deserved, but it had been a valiant effort. The chains that were still attached to her arms were beginning to feel heavy now, and she knew she was out of shape. Yes, she still had strength, but she'd not done anything like this in a long time and she leapt up over the gate, landing, rolling, standing and on her way again. She was starting to tire and she could see that the world outside was an island. They were on an island, but she wasn't sure which it was or where she could possibly be.

The cliffs the house was situated on were unfamiliar to her, but it certainly wasn't Madripoor anymore. But what if they were close to Madripoor? The possibility intrigued her, but she didn't know of anywhere quite like this near that island. The sun was beating down on her and she could hear a lot of noise. She took a moment to look about, and noticed there were lots of other islands about as well. It was somewhere quite warm, lots of islands, and if she was right close to Madripoor and America, which where Pete was from. It wouldn't be hard to work out, assuming she got the chance.

Then there was an amount of weapons fire and she heard someone cry that they wanted her alive. She looked over the edge of the cliff at the waters below and took a gamble. She was tired and these chains would weigh her down, but there was little to no choice and she leapt as far forward as she could, past the barrier, and hoped she wouldn't hit the rocks of the cliff as she dropped down to the sea below.

All she knew was she wasn't going to be captured again, and she waited for the waters to hit her.

"Damnation," muttered the Shadow King as he tried to sense her presence. She had escaped somehow and he had only been gone a few hours. There was much for him to do, old scores that needed to be settled and other situations that needed to be monitored, as other powerful forces played there own games. The loss of the Spider-Woman annoyed him. Annoyed him greatly, and he could not tell if she were alive or dead. He simply could not detect her presence.

"She won't get far," said Viper, speaking to the presence that inhabited her body as Arnim Zola examined her swollen belly, making sure that both mother and child were healthy.

"It's not that," said Farouk. "It's how long it takes for us to get to her. Alive, she has chance to raise the alarm, dead... well the longer she's dead, the less chance there is I can place someone else's mind in to her corpse. She would have been perfect for you, Viper. Perfect for us all."

The Shadow King sighed, then he had an idea . "I think I know the perfect way of finding her." Viper looked at Zola, who cowered back, but there was no escaping what would happen next. Farouk departed her body and entered Zola and went down to see Pete Wisdom.