Disclaimer: I don't own Spider-Man. Spider-Man, and all related Marvel characters are owned by Marvel Entertainment.

Chapter 6 - Friend, Or Foe

Earth- Funtime, Inc. Facility - Base of the Illuminati

An armored figure could be seen emerging from a glowing doorway, and making his way to the center of the dimly lit room towards a circular computer terminal with holographic monitors all around it. A red light emanated from the terminal, and began scanning the new arrival. The armored figure stood still, and allowed the scan to continue unabated.

"Scanning - Identity: Confirmed. Stark, Tony. Welcome back, Sir. The others have yet to arrive." The artificial A.I. responded to Iron Man, who nodded his armored head in response. Iron Man walked over to the computer terminal, and started typing out data into the computer's systems. A three dimensional image appeared on one of the computer monitors taking the form of a man. Iron Man glances over at the image, and shakes his head in slight disbelief.

"Thanks, JARVIS. I actually got her before everyone else...that's a first for me." The synthesized voice of Iron Man stated to his artificial A.I. JARVIS with an amused chuckle. Tony continues to analyze the information he's getting from the screen in front of him. An access port opens up on the left arm of his gold, and red armor. "JARVIS, I'm uploading the files from my armor's systems. Several video files of our battle with Thanos are damaged. Let's see if we can recover them. I want to know what happened during that lost time." Iron Man lowers his armored arm, and a wire with a port connection at the end snakes it's way out to interface with JARVIS inside the computer terminal.

JARVIS nods his head from within the computer monitor, and data streams could be seen behind his computer generated body. "Very good, Sir. Beginning repair sequence: Twenty-five percent complete...Fifty percent...Seventy-five percent...Oh, dear." Tony raised a dark eyebrow at Jarvis, when he stopped suddenly, and Tony could've swore that he saw the A.I. flinch slightly. "Are you certain you wish to see this, Sir? The images are rather disturbing." Iron Man nods back at JARVIS, and waves his other armored hand dismissively at the image of the A.I. on the monitor screen.

"Don't mother me, JARVIS. Display repaired files 90824 through to 90852, Now." Tony ordered JARVIS in a 'don't argue with me' tone of voice. JARVIS let out a sigh, and began sending the video feed directly to the monitor in front of Iron Man. Tony gasped in horror when the video shows his friends, teammates, and allies lying dead at Thanos' feet. He watches through his armor's video feed, as he begins to fight Thano's creation Terraxia, only for her to decapitate him, and then juggles his armored severed head in her hands. Tony subconsciously rubs his armored neck with his free hand, and winces underneath his helmet.

"Nice. Thanos' mail-order bride kills me, and tosses my head around like a rubber ball. This is a memory for the old recycle bin." Tony mumbles under his breath to himself, and continues to watch in morbid fascination, as Terraxia throws his head away without a care. The feed shows his armored head rolling along the floor of Thano's citadel, and finally stopped to show Terraxia walking over to drape her arms around a disinterested Thanos. On the other side of Thanos is the demon Mephisto leaning over to whisper in the mad Titan's ear with a wicked grin.

Iron Man started to rub his armored chin with his free hand, and began to put two, and two together. "So, it was Mephisto who manipulated Thanos into bringing everyone back from the dead. The demon thinks of us as mere playthings for his amusement, and if all his toys are broken, then he can't play with them..." Tony is brought out of his thoughts when he hears JARVIS making a sound like clearing it's throat. "What is it, Jarvis?" Iron Man asked with most of his attention being on the visuals being displayed on the monitor.

"I apologize for interrupting your brooding, Sir...but some of your guests are now in transit, and due to arrive at any moment." Tony rolled his eyes under his red, and gold helmet at his A.I.'s comment. Iron Man started typing fast on the computer terminal, and then instructed JARVIS with a commanding tone.

"JARVIS, give these files maximum encryption...delta-six-one priority clearance only. Upload to my private server at Stark Tower, execute!" JARVIS nods back to Tony as his armor systems show the upload commencing.

"Acknowledged. Delta-six-one priority: Confirmed. Upload: Complete." Tony sighed in relief, and turned his head to where four other glowing doorways appeared in the room. JARVIS immediately begins scanning them to confirm their identities. The red beam scans an older bald Caucasian man wearing a light green business suit with a white shirt, and dark blue tie. He is sitting in a high tech hover chair that is moving towards Iron Man's location. "Professor Charles Xavier - alias Professor X: Identity verified."

The next person to be scanned is tapping his winged left foot with growing impatience while waiting for the scanning process to complete. "Namor - King of Altantis: Identity verified." Namor's right eye began twitching when he noticed Xavier floating past him in his hover chair with a small grin on his face. The next two individuals arrived at the same time, and looked sideways at each other. and nodded in greeting.

"Blackagar Boltagon- alias Black Bolt: King of the Inhumans. Identity: Confirmed." The silent King strode with purpose to the others gathered in the center of the room, and nodded in greeting to them with particle energy crackling from the metallic, fork-shaped antenna on his masked forehead.

"Reed Richards- alias Mr. Fantastic. Identity verified. Welcome gentlemen." JARVIS greeted to all the newcomers. Reed hummed in greeting absentmindedly, and reached for a circular device on his belt, and placed it over his right ear. The device shifted, and created an orange colored visor over Mister Fantastic's eyes. He then took another portable device out of his belt, and silently began making calculations on it while walking towards the others.

Iron Man looked around at the gathered members of the Illuminati, and notices that one of their number is missing. "Have any of you seen Stephen? I sent out the message to meet up after the Avengers meeting was over. By the way, good job quitting the team, Namor. Now I'm the only member in the Avengers to keep an eye on things...what were you thinking, were you even thinking?!" Namor gave Tony the stink eye, and folds his arms over his bare chest, and sneers at Iron Man. Reed, Xavier, and Black Bolt all shake their heads knowing what will come next.

"I don't take orders from you, Stark. This alliance between us is mutually beneficial...as long as my Kingdom's safety is assured! What does it matter if there is one less of us to monitor the Avenger's activities? I am the sovereign ruler of Atlantis, and I answer to no one!" Namor gets right up in Tony's armored face, and Iron Man holds up his left hand, with a repulsor ray starting to charge.

"Let's keep this civil, your majesty. I just had the tech in this room upgraded, and I don't want to explain to Pepper about another anomaly in Stark Industries yearly expense report." Iron Man's repulsor energy in his metallic palm is glowing brighter, and Namor's eyes narrowed in anticipation for a fight. Black Bolt stepped in between them, and pushed them away from each other with a grim look on his face, and the particle energy growing stronger around his form.

Words began to form on the orange visor screen worn by Reed Richards. "Black Bolt says to cease this foolishness, and please get to the point of our being here." Black Bolt nods in the affirmative, and stares at Tony waiting for a response. Iron Man powers down his repulsor, and lowers his armored hand. Namor scoffs at Tony, but a look from Black Bolt puts him in his place.

"What did I miss?" The voice from above surprises the group of five, and they all look up to see the astral form of Doctor Strange floating down to floor level. Iron Man is the first to approach the Sorcerer Supreme, and has a questioning look on underneath his helmet.

"Hey, Stephen. Nice of you to show. Usually I'm the one that's fashionably late." Doctor Strange nods in greeting to Iron Man, and the other members of the Illuminati. "Why come in your astral form though...is something wrong?" Stephen looks around at the others, and then back to Tony with some uneasiness in his voice.

"You must understand that there are other matters that require my more immediate attention." Tony felt that Stephen was hiding something, but decided to put this mystery on the back burner until their meeting is over.

"The life of a Sorcerer Supreme is never a dull one, I guess. Well, onto business. Reed, were there any adverse side effects to Ben from the transformation ability he gained from Spider-Man using the power of the Infinity gems on him?" Iron Man saw Reed shaking his head in the negative, and tapped some buttons on his portable device. The large 3D monitor screens show an image of the Thing, and energy readouts from his body's nervous system, and other vital statistics.

"I've run thorough scans on Ben, and there have been no changes in the level of cosmic energy coursing in his system. Autonomic responses are at optimum levels, and the transformation ability doesn't strain, or damage his internal organs, and muscle tissue. I did discover an interesting benefit of the transformation when Ben's human form was threatened." Reed pressed a button on one of the monitor screens, and it showed the flying form of the Human Torch firing a fireball from his left hand at the Thing just before he started to change into his human form.

The Torch had a horrified look on his face, but before he could call out a warning to Ben Grimm, he had transformed back into the Thing without him being aware that he was in any danger. When the fireball hit Thing, they all watch as he grabs a large sofa from the living room, and growls at the Torch swinging it at the laughing Johnny Storm like a baseball bat.

The other members of the Illuminati chuckle lightheartedly at the scene, except for Namor who stares with a blank expression at the screen. Black Bolt smiles warmly at their brotherly bond. Reed clears his throat to re-gain everyone's attention. "I believe this is a fail-safe measure added by Spider-Man to prevent Ben's human form from coming to any harm. With Ben's permission, I tested his new ability with different stimuli, and the tests show conclusively that only dangerous threats trigger his instinctual transformation." Reed tapped several buttons on 3D holographic screen, and turned back to the other Illuminati members to see if they had any questions.

Namor didn't look impressed in the slightest, and quickly made his opinion known to everyone. "One good deed done by the Web-Spinner doesn't mean that he won't become a threat to the universe in the future! He now has the power to do anything he wishes! That is too much power for any man...even a Spider-Man!" Iron Man felt like banging his armored head on a nearby table, and the looks the others were giving to Namor told him that they felt the same way.

Professor Xavier held up his hand to stop Namor from continuing his tirade. Black Bolt, and Doctor Strange gave Namor time to cool off, but sent him stern looks to tell him that he made his point. Xavier smiled in thanks to Black Bolt, and Stephen and began to speak. "There is some validity in making sure that the Gauntlet doesn't fall into evil hands. Spider-Man is a noble soul, and I trust that he has only the best of intentions...but the cosmic forces at large who will want this power for their own may be too much for him to handle alone." Doctor Strange nodded his head at Xavier in agreement, and Iron Man decided to add something to the conversation.

"I've got some news that some might see as good, or bad news. I was talking to Adam Warlock on sub-space before getting here, and he's decided to form a team to keep track of Spider-Man's whereabouts, and to relieve him of the Gauntlet if the opportunity presents itself. He's calling the team Infinity Watch." The other Illuminati members were less than pleased with this news, except for Namor who showed obvious interest in hearing more. Tony stares over at Namor, and sighs deeply before continuing. "He also wanted me to spread the word, in case any of the Avengers want to join up."

Namor was about to say something, but Iron Man interjected before he could begin. "Listen, Namor...I don't know what started this grudge you have with Spider-Man, but it ends now! Our main goal is to keep the Infinity Gems out of the reach of Doom, Thanos, and whoever else has less than good intentions planned. Spider-Man isn't my first choice for having this kind of power...heck he isn't even my twentieth pick, but he's all we've got right now!" Iron Man folds his armored arms over his chest, and the eye lenses on his helmet glowed white in response to Namor's posturing. Reed paid little attention to Namor when he began to argue with Iron Man, and returned to his calculations on his portable device. Reed looked up for a second, and shook his head. He was unfortunately getting used to Namor's bluster, and arrogant nature.

Professor Xavier was also lost in his own thoughts regarding Adam Warlock's team hunting for Spider-Man. "The news of Ben Grimm's good fortune has spread quickly among the superhuman community...several of my own students wish to speak with Spider-Man about issues with their own mutant gifts. Cyclops, and Rogue made requests to me to try and contact Spider-Man telepathically to ask for his help. This however will open up a Pandora's box for mutants seeking a 'cure'. Storm has been given similar requests from some of the Morlocks to ask for Spider-Man's aid. I must consider the ramifications of this carefully before acting on their behalf." Professor Xavier stopped his train of thought when he saw Namor leaving through the transit doorway back to his home in Atlantis. Xavier glances up from staring down at his closed hands on his hover chair to an exasperated Iron Man.

Xavier takes a moment to read Tony's surface thoughts, and he is quickly brought up to speed on the situation. "Isn't this a risky move having the Sub-Mariner joining Adam Warlock's group, Iron Man? I don't need to be a mind-reader to tell that he has his own agenda." Reed hummed in agreement, and the silent Black Bolt only nods his head to show his opinion. Tony has a faux hurt look on underneath his helmet, and goes back to his terminal to type in some new data into the system.

"Is anyone else missing T'Challa on the team? Why did we want Namor here again? Never mind. The reason why I gave in so quickly is because I wanted Namor to THINK he was the only plant on Warlock's team. I'm going to have someone else joining the team with Namor, and her particular power-set is ideal for keeping his royal snootiness in line, and lulling the other members into trusting her quickly." Iron Man held up a armored hand to stop anyone from talking in the background. "I'm giving her a call about the details. Hope she isn't in the middle of anything too important."

Earth- New York: Manhattan Skyline

"The Shocker, Rhino, Vulture, and the Scorpion all in one week! How did you do it, Peter?" Were the thoughts of a female figure flying high above the New York city streets. She gracefully flew, and maneuvered around the tall skyscrapers keeping an eye out down below for any criminal activity. "I'd be in over my head if Carol wasn't helping me out...bless her big military heart." She started to descend a little to fly closer to street level, and she passed by a large office building with glass windows. A lone male clerk was staring at her with wide eyes, and dropped his large stack of file he was carrying. She decided to have a little fun with the clerk, and waved at him before flying away. The clerk quickly ran to the window, and pressed his face to the glass of the window to watch her leave.

"Come on, Peter...how long are you going to be gone? It's been more than a week, and you haven't come back once! You've got infinite power, and you can't take a second to call to let me know your okay? *sigh* I'm probably overthinking this, plus the lack of a good-night's sleep is making me cranky." She then heard her Avengers I.D. card making a pulsing sound in the pocket on her costume, so she soared over to the nearest rooftop, and landed with her yellow boots hitting the roof without a sound. She reached into her right pocket near her waist line, and pulled out the still pulsing I.D. Card. She used her thumb to click the hidden button on the card to answer it.

"Hey Jessica. I didn't catch you at a bad time, did I?" Jessica Drew aka. Spider-Woman saw the face of Tony Stark in his Iron Man armor on the small screen of the card.

She rolled her eyes under the yellow lenses of her mask, when she noticed Tony looking back, and forth at her surroundings. Jessica places her other gloved hand on her hip, and sighed at Tony's exuberant look. "Hi, Tony...and no, Carol isn't with me. How many times do I have to tell you, we're just friends...no benefits!" Tony smirked at Jessica over the comm-line, and coughed something that sounded like *denial*. Jessica laughed, and shook her head, and her long black hair swayed from side to side. "Keep dreaming, Shell-Head." Was Jessica's answer to Tony's remark, and his smirk fell a little.

"Since we're having a casual conversation, I'm guessing this call doesn't involve an Avengers Priority One alert?" Iron Man shook his head, and Jessica let out a relieved breath of air. "Tony, you wouldn't believe what Spidey has to go through in the run of a week. It makes Hydra boot-camp look like a Sunday picnic." Jessica pouted slightly when she heard Tony snicker over the comm-line.

"*Ahem* Y-yes, Jessica...we all appreciate your efforts along with Carol to keep Spider-Man's Rogues in check. Speaking of which, I have a mission for you that you won't want to refuse! It involves the retrieval of a certain wayward Wall-Crawler." Jessica gave Tony a thousand watt smile, and nodded her head to Iron Man immediately after Spider-Man was mentioned.

"I'm in! Can you give me the specifics over the line, or do you want to do it in person?" Tony had a thoughtful look on his face for a moment on the small screen, and a holographic map of the city was projected by Jessica's I.D. Card. The map showed Jessica a route through the city to take, and where the meet-up will take place.

"Meet me at this location, and I'll give you all the details that you're going to need. Now for a bit of bad news. You're going to be working with *thesubvvomarniner*." Tony mumbled the last part lowly, and Jessica gave him a confused look over the comm-line.

"What was that, Tony? Your voice came out all garbled." Jessica heard Iron Man sigh deeply over the line, and had a defeated look on his face.

"I said that you'll be working alongside Namor."

Spider-Woman groans, and starts rubbing her masked forehead with her thumb, and index finger to stave off an oncoming headache.

"Why do you hate me, Tony?"

Author's Note: Chapter 6 Complete! Thanks for reading, and let me know what you thought of the chapter in a review! I hope to see again in chapter 7 of 'Infinite Responsibility'!