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She had been watching over New York in small distant corners she knew would be easy to hide in. It wasn’t that she faked her death, she just didn’t go out of her way to show that she was alive. The guilt didn’t wrack her body, it just settled its way into her mind, making a home for itself. There was no possible way she could make it up to him for what she had done.
She didn’t feel guilty about what she did to get what she needed, she just felt bad for letting Peter think he wasn’t able to save her. Something like that can really mess with a person.
“ The app is reporting a break-in in Midtown ,” Ganke reported without missing a beat. Miles was the watchful eye of the city at the moment, and had been for almost three weeks with Peter out of town, on a much needed break.
“On it,” Miles dove off the building side, and began to swing through the out pour of lights in the city. He was heading towards Midtown, for an apartment break-in. Pretty standard stuff.
He landed in solid snow, and perched over the side to view the location. The rooftop door was open. Nice apartment building, a lot nicer than any he was expecting. The door was being held open by an object he couldn’t quite see. He dropped down and approached the door. A black cat. It was solid, cute.
“ Dude, souvenir! ” Ganke said with a clear smile coming through his voice. Miles laughed, and put the cat to the side so he could enter the apartment himself.
It was less of an apartment by the looks, and more like a penthouse. If Peter were here, he could tell him a name off the top of his head, lucky for Miles, he had Ganke.
“ Big time Maggia place. Tread carefully dude. ” This sent a slight shiver down Miles’ spine.
“Who would be bold enough to rob a Maggia joint?” Miles whispered, stepping around carefully. He stopped almost suddenly when he realized the footsteps he was hearing were not his own. A shot through his spine, his senses awakened, he turned behind him to see someone. A figure.
“You sound surprised Spider,” a voice he didn’t recognize.
“Who are you?” Miles asked the figure aloud, turning completely.
“A stranger apparently ,” the figure shrugged in the darkness before opening one of the windows and rolling through it. Miles quickly shot through the window after them. He could see the figure at the edge, dropping off the side of the building. A chase had begun.
Felicia figured the best way to put herself back into the Spider’s eyesight was by doing what she was good at. A quick little Maggia job. It wasn’t even for anything valuable, just a little something to get back on his radar.
She missed the chase, the thrill, and him. But this wasn’t their chase, or their usual thrill. It wasn’t even him . But no better time to make new introductions than the present.
“ Hey !” Miles yelled after her. She jumped up off the street, and onto a rooftop, “ wait! ” He swung quickly after her, shooting up to the roof, and trying to get a few webs in her direction.
“ Who even is that? ” Ganke chimed in.
“No idea, but it sounds like they know me.”
“ Maybe not you,” Ganke suggested.
The thought suddenly seemed to occur to Miles. She shrugged off his webs and kept on the chase. He was gaining some ground, though. Closer and closer, a few more webs, and a few more steps. Suddenly his hand was on her shoulder, and he pushed her hard enough to watch her hit the ground. He webbed down her arm for good measure. In her free hand was some vase.
“Do I know you?” Miles asked.
“No,” she shook her head, she set the vase aside and used the silver claw of her forefinger to cut through the webbing; “but we have a . . . mutual friend. ” She quickly got to her feet and tapped on her chest.
“ Ohhh ,” he nodded, still a bit confused, “ right .”
“I was hoping to talk with him tonight. You must be the sidekick.” She smiled.
“I prefer protégé.”
“Good word. I like that one.”
“I still don’t exactly know who you are.” Ganke took this moment to analyze her face, and began to deliberate the information. Felicia Hardy, also known as the Black Cat, daughter of Walter Hardy, who used to use the same alias. She was missing, declared dead approximately a year ago.
“Black Cat,” Felicia held out her hand, “and you?”
“Spider-Man, or,” he hummed, shaking her hand, “ Miles .”
“ Felicia .”
“It’s nice to meet you Miles,” she picked up the vase, “where is your mentor tonight?”
“Symkaria. He’s been there since the beginning of the month, he’ll be back in two weeks.”
“ Hmm ,” she sighed, “well, when you talk to him again, tell him Felicia says hi, and that he and I need to talk .” Felicia gave a soft head tilt, and then a slight wave.
“Will do. But I can’t let you take that vase.”
She shrugged, and set it down, “not like it was worth anything. I’ll see you around, protégé .” Felicia dove off the side of the building and back into the night. The crunch of snow left his ears, and he stood now, by himself.
“ I have a feeling there is some history there,” Ganke suggested, “ At least she didn’t keep the vase. ”
Miles focused on backtracking his patrol the rest of the night, heading from Midtown and through all the way back to Harlem.
“So I did some extra digging on this chick,” Ganke started, “she was a big time thief, art, expensive alcohol, you name it. She only ever stole from big time guys though. Lawyers, maggia, rich folks. I respect that.”
“You said her dad went under the same name right? Got any history on him?” Miles sat up on his bed.
“He was also a big time thief, he was really big into art too, supposedly dead as well. Killed by maggia. I wonder how Spider-Man got wrapped up with this girl.”
Miles was wondering the same thing. This did reek of a history, and a specific kind at that.
“ How’s everything back home? I’ve seen some stuff in the news, MJ has had to do a lot of translating for me. ”
“Things are okay, I’m keeping track of that gang I told you about? The Underground? They’re moving around a lot, but I’m keeping active on it.”
“ You know the minute you need help, I’m on the next plane back. ”
“I know, but I got this Pete, I promise.” Something about Miles made Peter feel relieved. Maybe it was who he was as a person, or what their friendship had become, but he knew when made a promise, Miles would deliver good on that promise. He smiled to himself a little.
“ I know you do. Keep me updated, and I’ll see you in two weeks. ” Miles nodded, ready to hang up before he suddenly seemed to remember.
“ Oh! Wait! I almost forgot to mention—someone named Felicia wanted me to tell you hi, and that you two need to talk when you get back. We talked, she was pretty nice.”
“ Did you say Felicia?” Peter nearly choked on his water.
“Yeah,” Miles could feel some sort of awkward creeping in, “did I just walk into something?”
“You’ve got no idea. I’ll —I’ll talk to you about it in the far and distant future sometime.” Peter hung up, feeling dazed almost.
Peter didn’t sleep that night, nor the next. He laid in bed feeling everything from his brain shoot into his stomach with a force he couldn’t prepare for. His eyes were glued to the ceiling, and MJ couldn’t help but notice.
“ Hey, ” she whispered, Peter turned to look at her, “you okay Pete?”
“ Just ,” he saddled on it, holding onto the letter T, as he took a moment to wonder if he should tell her about everything. The honesty would have probably been positive, but to bring up Felicia on their long needed getaway felt — like a heaviness he wasn’t ready to share with someone else.
“Just what?”
“Out of it. Long day snapping pictures, and asking where the bathroom is.” MJ grinned a little. His joking nature did seem to ease whatever tension existed.
“Get some sleep, tiger,” she kissed his cheek.
“Peter, wait, wait,” MJ sighed, “do you have to go now ?”
“Miles, he-he really needs me. I mean there is that big stuff happening with that group he was talking about. I trust him, but what if he’s in over his head?”
“ Pete , we’re only here for another week-” She paused, biting her own tongue realizing how selfish this sounded. Of course Miles needed him, he was only a kid. Peter was the pro after all.
“I know. But I-I have to. I told him to call if he needed me, and I owe it to him to be there.” Peter lied well. Too well. Practice doesn’t make perfect. But perfect practice does. He had only been lying since he was sixteen. It was an art at this point.
“You do. I’m sorry. It’s just been nice to be partners like this again, doing something meaningful together. I guess I’m feeling a little selfish.” Her smile softens, and Peter feels all the more guilty. She reaches out for him, and presses a long kiss to his cheek, then to his lips.
“I’ll see you soon, MJ. One more week.”
“One more week, Tiger.”
Miles was happy to know Peter was coming back so soon. But then that feeling set in. Was this because Peter was worried about him? That everything on TV was so crazy that he thought Miles was in over his head, and needed the back up? The thought was nice, but all he wanted was a little trust.
“Of course I trust you,” Peter reassured. He wasn’t sure if he was so ready to explain everything about Felicia to Miles. As if it ever could be. She was just all that complicated.
“You didn’t have to come back early; I know everything on TV seems so extra crazy, but me and my best friend? Ganke? He and I put together this app-and we’ve been taking care of everybody, and we’re—” Peter pulled Miles into a tight, unexpected hug.
“You’re making solutions, and saving lives. You don’t know how proud this makes me.” Peter patted Miles, “I’m so lucky to have you Miles, to have someone who-who cares about people the way that you do. The way we do.” Suddenly, relieved, Miles pats Peter back.
“Then, wait,” Miles pulls away, “why are you back?”
Laughing painfully, Peter conceded.
“I’m here because of Black Cat.”
“Wait-wait. Felicia? ” Miles almost laughed.
“Yes. Since you called,” he paused, like he was catching his breath, “I haven’t been able to think about anything else.”
“I’m definitely not gonna tell MJ that.”
“She’d kill me if she knew why I came back early. God.”
“You didn’t tell her? ” Miles finally laughed, “oh my God. You really are in trouble with her.”
“The last time I talked to Felicia—That created enough complications for us. That’s another long story for another time.”
“She’s your ex. I knew it! I totally knew it! Me and Ganke we-”
Peter’s face almost visibly deflates.
“Sorry.”
Felicia sighed, she sounded almost dreamy when she did. Peter sat on the edge of a roof, watching over the city, with the night sky as his background. Even if she had a camera, there was no way it could possibly capture the moment as perfectly as her own eyes.
“Are you going to come and say hi?” Felicia asked, breaking the silence. Watching him turn around was somehow better than the moment prior. She had to contain the urge to beam with a smile.
“You’re alive.”
“Did you really believe I was dead? I thought you knew me better.” She feigned hurt, a pout almost.
“Where have you been?”
“ Around . Taking care of business.” In her fingers, suddenly was a flashdrive.
“You’ve always got yourself in something don’t you?”
She shrugs, still a little grin on her face, she wasn’t so easily insulted after all.
“This is for that new group, The Underground? They’re closely associated , so to speak, with Roxxon.”
Peter reaches for the USB, and Felicia’s hand quickly moves back.
“Cat.”
“This is a welcoming gift to your protégé. ”
“So you’ve met.” He says it less like a question, and more like a definitive.
“He’s very polite, you raise them well.”
Peter’s palm opens, and she places the USB carefully into his grasp.
“I’m,” she almost holds her breath, “ sorry , Peter.” It feels sudden. He realizes the USB is just as much an apology as it is a gift. He closes it into his grasp, and looks at her. The look is something he wants to say out loud, but can’t quite bring himself to say it. Because if he says it, he’s afraid of what that might mean.
“You don’t call me that very often. Sounds weird when you say it.” His joke falls flat, just as he expected.
“Are you still with that redhead?” She pins the question down on him.
“ Yeah .” He softens.
“Be good to her. I like her.” She steps close to him, and her fingernails draw onto his chest, before her voice drops into a whisper; “ but I like you more. ” She kisses his cheek, and sighs, somehow relieved.
Peter feels something run up his back. It’s almost electric. She walks quickly away, and stops at the edge of the building, her foot teasing the ice.
She gracefully dives off the side. He can hear her as she runs away back into the night, not a trace left of her behind