(AN: Hey guys, I know this has taken an insane amount of time to get up but I'm finally getting back into writing and since it's Christmas Eve, the day this story is set, I figured it was time to return to the story I've had a blast writing so far, and I'll be working on it in the New Year some more alongside a new Avengers anthology series and an original Avengers story inspired by DC's Trinity event. This is the first of our interludes where Peter encounters a new enemy for the first time…)

Interlude 1: An Interrupting Call

"Peter? Peter, can you hear me?"

Peter's head was throbbing in a number of annoying ways as he managed to right himself and get comfortable on the perch he'd just about acquired amid the crazed Spider Sense incident. After a few moments he registered some form of beeping sound, and it took a few seconds to realise this was coming from the com device that Doctor Connors had given him. With some effort he activated the speaking part.

"Ugh, Doctor Connors, is that you?"

"Yes it is! Peter, are you positive that you're up to this, you vitals seem to be especially erratic."

"I don't know, something screwing with my Spider Sense since I got into this district, it's like it's coming from... wait, how are you tracking my vitals, Doc?!"

"Well... I didn't want to alarm you at the time-"

"Is there something you stuck in this com which lets you do that?!"

"Ah... yes, effectively. Something I managed to swipe from OSCORP technology and adapt for myself. I should have told you about it, really, but time seemed of the essence and-"

"Relax Doctor Connors, you were just looking out for my interests, and I seem to need them already."

"Yes, well… you tell us that your Spider Senses seems to have become erratic?"

"Yeah, soon as I got into this part of the city, once I start to move away it's lessening but I'm not sure how much of a barrier this is gonna be to me getting to the Plaza."

"Peter, it's Gwen, MJ and I have had a hunch about what might be affecting your Spider Senses. I got into the local wireless network and we're looking at some of OSCORP's sensors they're using to monitor the weather patterns or something, quite honestly given what I know about them I don't quite think that's legit but... There's a definite array of homed radio waves where you are. In fact there's a number of similar signals all over the city, but where you are definitely has the strongest levels right now. Doesn't seem like it's just a coincidence. Can you work through them?"

"I... It's giving me something of a major headache, but if I try to focus my Spider Sense it lessens somewhat."

"Great, well the signals are coming from a comm tower close to your location. You'll need to get inside and see if there's a sensor board or control panel emitting those signals and shut it down however you can. Looks like the tower's used for radio broadcasts and..." Her voice wavered as Peter heard her talking to Mary Jane in the background. "Ok. Peter, MJ's got some of the police frequencies up and running and they're reporting that an optics repair man was supposed to be working on the tower, some level of interference, except he hasn't shown up. The same group sent in a larger repair team but there's been no word from them in the last hour either. Something's definitely up."

"Guess you've inherited your dad's superior detective skills, huh? Don't worry, I'll check it out."

With great care the web-swinger crawled down into the darkened comm tower, head still throbbing from the acute interference. As he got inside though the pain seemed to lessen a fair bit, and Peter reasoned it was something akin to being in the eye of a storm. Or possibly he was simply adjusting to it better. As he clambered across the side of the dirt covered wall he became aware of muffled voices in a room adjacent to his.

"I swear fellas, we're the only ones here. We get a call that the towers are actin' up, strange signals, maybe storm damage from this crazy weather. So Manhattan Optics send a guy round to check things out, only he doesn't report back. We thought maybe he just couldn't get here with the weather at first, but there's no word for over an hour so they send us. There's no plan here fellas, we're just here to do our job." The voice was someone from Brooklyn, he could imagine the workerman type. Usually tough but whoever it was he was speaking to had him intimidated.

The second voice when it came sounded harder, tougher and muffled like he was wearing something over his head- an Inner Demon? What were Mr Negative's men doing here? Were they responsible for affecting his Spider Sense? "Yes, well we are simply doing ours. No one is to touch these towers."

"Oh hey, you want us to leave, there's no trouble there fellas, we got no beef with yeh boss or anything-"

"True, but what if you were to tell someone we are here? But do not worry, I've sent a text to our overseer on this project, we should expect an answer shortly."

"Wait, can yeh just, I dunno, call the guy?"

"It seems that he only responds to messages, his manner is… mysterious, but we are used to such things if he wishes to pay us and preserve his identity. Until then you remain here and we shall see if… heh, any openings to your position will need to be fill by tomorrow."

The workman sounded more frightened as Peter opened the doorway, resolute to stop possible violence. "Oh please, no! Don't kill us!"

"Well we shall-The heck is that!?" The Inner Demon's composed tones shifted violently, and the web head cursed as he saw that the goons were positioned down one level and the lighting from above had cast his shadows to huge proportions. Granted it gave the shock value, but he also had lost the element of surprise.

"It is the Spider! I thought he couldn't get in here!" A second thug yelled as he grabbed the hostage, guns pointed in Spider-Man's direction. "Stay away, wall crawler, or we'll open fire!"

Peter grinned as he realised they were confused enough not to open fire straight away, granting him the chance to suddenly spin a web upwards and into the shadows of the darkened ceiling, moving quietly forwards once he reached it. Below the Demons were panicked, trying to determine where Spider-Man had gone.

"Where the hell did he go?!"

"I don't know, he went up? I can't see him?" Figuring that they'd check the ceiling Spidey silently shifted to the side of an upper wall, using his senses as best as possible despite the dull ache of the signal afflicting him still. When the goons tried to see if he was on the ceiling he was already behind them. Then before he could move two dashed down a section of corridor, maybe figuring he had moved ahead. Only the Demon with the hostage remained.

"Stay... Stay back or... or I swear I'll shoot this guy, I'll do it!" Despite his words the man sounded terrified, evidently he wasn't one of Negative's brightest candidates. Grinning under the mask and perched on a metal outcrop Peter spun a section of webbing straight down, taking the man by surprise as he let go of the hostage and found himself upside down and soon half covered in webbing.

One down, two to go. Taking a second to see the worker was fine beyond some fearful glances, Peter spied a vent with a half open grate and slid down inside, knowing that with the armed men aware of his presence that it would make for a perfect means to regain surprise, a position he preferred.

As he used his fingers strong grip to navigate the vent he could hear the muffled yells of the remaining men. One was foolishly right next to the vent, covering another hostage. It was simple enough to appear suddenly and slam the man to the ground with a quick fist to the nearest nerves on the neck to knock him out. "You should try to get to safety as soon as you can, I've got this. Try to call the police and tell them the situation, ok?" He told the hostage before zipping up to another vent.

The last thug was close according to his senses, but Peter felt the amount of danger increase steadily – he could tell the man was scared enough to try shooting the remaining hostage ahead. Stealth was critical. As he slipped silently into a room he detected that the Demon was behind a section of a boarded up window, his quick breathing loud and clear as Peter heard the safety slipped off.

In as fluid and strong a motion as he could manage Peter punched his way through the wood and grabbed the man, pulling him down to the floor and knocking him cold as the hostage yelled with fright. Hopping nimbly into the main area he focused as hard as he could with the interference, but there didn't seem to be any further levels of danger beyond the signal. Evidently whoever was behind this had thought three men with hostages was likely enough, or that Peter wouldn't have found the place this soon.

"I can fix the tower, just please don't hurt me!" The hostage was bubbling, making Peter realise that some days he could come off as intimidating as Wolverine or DD depending on the circumstances. This man didn't need to be scared of him though. "It's ok, I just want you to be safe. Your friends are downstairs, go to them and wait for the cops." Without waiting he jogged down a hallway, hoping that he might finally locate this sense problem and get back to business.

After a couple of minutes and another flight upwards Peter emerged into a dirty room where sparks flew off a control panel in the far corner of what he reckoned to be the radio tower's control room, before he started at the sight of a prone body some distance from it. No signs of bullet wounds and the outfit matched that of the hostages from earlier. Recalling the conversation the hired Inner Demons had with them, Spidey figured this had to be the repairman tasked with fixing the tower. But what had killed him?

Peter wasn't the world's greatest detective but had some considerate smarts for such a young man, but even so he figured having Doctor Connors' help couldn't hurt. "Doc, you there?"

"Yes Peter, I'm here. Sounds like you dealt with those criminals effectively. Hired for some purpose involving your afflicted Spider Sense, but you still beat them! How do you feel now?"

"A little better, I mean it's still there but I think I'm in some kind of epicentre that the waves aren't as strong here."

"Peter? It's Gwen again. I can definitely tell you there's signals all over the city like the one you're dealing with. Maybe about five points of origin, including this one. If I didn't know better the person whose using them is trying to boost the strength. If we don't try to dealt with them all soon you might be affected everywhere in Manhattan, even over all of New York. And I don't wanna think what prolonged exposure would do to you."

Peter sighed, knowing that this had evidently been done to stop him interfering with Negative's plans. "Bear that in mind, but we've got a more pressing problem? There's a dead guy here with what looks like… scorch marks on his hands? Electrocuted by something…" His eyes cast across to the panel again. "Maybe he was trying to check that panel and there was some kind of trap to stop anyone messing with it. Maybe if I- woah!"

The webhead was more than alarmed as his vision shifted to blue when he examined the panel cautiously, revealing a series of rolling numbers to one side and an exposed hand print.

Connors' voice came onto the comm. "Interesting, the panel appears to have been rigged with an explosive charge when swiped with a key card, and the victim in question is a John Ostrum looking at the DNA pattern from the bo-"

"DOC! Stop… just… ok, simple question, why do I see blue flashing stuff in my mask now?"

The scientist was silent for a moment before he answered, sounding a little bashful. "Ah, well I was going to tell you about it besides the heartrate monitor via the comm, but effectively after your last encounter with the Tinkerer I was able to examine some of his hardware, very impressive actually, and whilst my field is more in reptiles than circuits I was able to combine some tech with some designs I found for Stark Labs and-"

"Simple question, Doc. Simple answer."

"Right… well there's a heads up display in your mask's visors. Let's me see through your eyes when I activate it though it does cause that, ah, blue tint. But it allows us to monitor the environment in a more visual way than your spider sense. I wish I had time to tell you before, it was going to be a belated Christmas present for your crime fighting in the New Year, but then this came up. I'm glad to see it works though, especially for a prototype!"

"It does seem like it would come in useful, anyway. Just let me know in future if you're planning something like this, alright?"

"Of course. Now let's see…" There was a burst of momentary static before Spidey was amazed to see the particle outline of a person at the control panel, before he was suddenly thrown back by the violent explosion and had his deceased body roll to its current position. "Now you should be seeing the estimated direction of the victim's actions like me. Now, check those fingerprints on the panel again." As instructed Peter focused his attention on the panel, showing the same distinctive hand pattern. After about a minute the voice of Conners returned.

"Ok Peter, MJ's run the fingerprints into a police data matcher for me and they've come up with a result – John Baker, small time thug in the city, no real ties to any one distinctive crime boss… oh, now that is interesting."

"What is it, Doc?"

"Gwen has some limited access to the police criminal files via a friend of hers, and she already has Baker's file here… says that Baker was found dead in an apartment in Brooklyn just an hour ago."

It seemed like whoever was behind this was already covering their tracks as best as possible. Just as well Peter had three smart allies for back up. "Guess that's a loose end we can't check then. What about the control panel, looks like there's no other way to the source of the interference…"

MJ was speaking next. "Peter, Gwen says going on the description of that trap, there's gonna be an encryption device close to hand… if you locate it you should be able to deactivate the trap. If your Spider Senses still aren't to natch you could probably use Connor's new visor system… seems pretty handy if we're gonna need to solve these things."

Carefully Peter began to glance about the room. True that his Spider Senses might have acted as a means of homing in on the general location of the device, but Connor's visor brought that down to a handful of seconds as he spied it behind a vent. A small computer attached to the wall securely, but Peter's strong grip priced it aside in moments. Harder was figuring out how it worked, but with some assistance from Connors he figured one manipulated two joysticks in the right order to determine the code to switch off the trap. Of course Peter had played more than enough video games to know how to do that.

With the door open he stepped through, showing a ladder for him to climb up another level.

Only a single metal door now stood in Peter's way, and he knew from the fact his headache was reduced to the merest whimper that this was the right place. Thank god it wasn't the reverse effect, he wondered. A quick sharp shove on the door hinge and a second twist up exposed an array of computer panels and consoles, evidently the source of the interference. At its centre was a larger version of the control panel from before, and glancing down at the device he'd acquired Peter figured it might have the same effect.

"Well… I was wondering if you would show, wall crawler." The sudden voice and activation of a visual screen startled Spidey, whose Spider Sense had only activated moments before. The figure was in some dark room and thus virtually in shadow, though the voice and profile was definitely male, the tone arrogant and perhaps a little curious. "I apologise for the mess downstairs, I wasn't expecting you quite this soon, but it made a good test nonetheless."

"Who is this?"

"I'm afraid that my true identity is of no concern to a young hero like you, it can remain a faceless mystery for as long as I choose it to be. Until then, you remain bound to my every beck and call, Spider-Man."

"Huh, gotcha, well Call sounds about right then. You're calling me up, after all."

"As you wish. A theatrical enough name, if a little dull. But to business. Whoever I am, I have been charged by certain parties to deal with your interference, and as you can see I have provided some of my own. I bet you never predicted someone could manipulate your Spider Sense so easily. Perhaps with practice I can cause a more imposing effect. But right now your pain will cost you time and effort, if nothing else. And as I'm sure you are aware, I have planned devices in the towers all across the city. Without you destroying them you will become increasingly futile!"

"Oh really?" There was a beep as Peter figured out the combination for the device and it shut down, and for a moment he could imagine a twitch of irritation on Call's face.

"Hmph. Well the first is the easiest. Though Mr Negative won't exactly be pleased, I suppose. Until next time, web head." The transmission shut off, leaving Peter alone with his thoughts. At least until Connors came in on the radio.

"That signal's stopped working now, Peter, that whole area will be safe to use your Spider Sense without risk of some migraine. But I do wonder who this 'Call' is. Anyway, you should probably get a move on and get to Chelsea Plaza, we've spent enough time on this. If Hammerhead and the Enforcers know anything about what's going down this evening, we'll need to know about it. Get back to us when you're there."

"Sure, and Doc, thanks for the new tools, even if they were a little surprising."

"No problem, and keep onto that hacker device, it definitely seems like it'll help shut down Call's Spider Sense Inhibitors. Annoying as it sounds we'll need to get all of them shut down across the city if we're going to let you be effective enough, alright?"

Peter simply opened a side door into the windy chill of the winter evening and spun off in the direction of the plaza, hoping he wasn't too late.

(AN: Who is Call, you might wonder? Well you might have an idea already, but it'll be a while until his identity is so clear over some other interludes. And did you spot a reference to a Marvel Video Game? In any case we return to the main plot in the next chapter as Peter encounters the fearsome Enforcers in an arms deal gone haywire before he must face the gauntlet of the Golden Mountain! Until then!)