"I can't believe you're actually making me do this." Peter shook his head, exiting her car. "Bribing me with plane tickets."
"It wasn't a bribe." She looked at him indignantly. "They're just a late birthday present. Violet told me that you wanted to go to The Grand Canyon."
"I bet you were just waiting for a reason to give those to me," he said grudgingly.
"I won't be in long. Ten minutes tops. I just need you to be my look out. Call me if anybody comes." They neared the building where the door to the bunker was. "And If I'm not out of there in ten minutes, you better come in there after me."
Peter sighed and leaned up against the wall next to the door. "Okay, I'll need those codes again then." he held out his hand in irritation as she pulled out a pen from her bag and scribbled '843462546' and '627952630' on it.
"If you need to get in, try using the second one first. It's Scarlet's. I don't want Harry's code triggering any alarms or anything. I'm sure they know something is up with him. If that code doesn't work, then just use Harry's."
"Whatever Felicia, just hurry up and get out. I don't want to go back inside there." he crossed his arms and huffed.
She leaned up and kissed him on the cheek. "Thanks, Parker. I owe you one again."
"No you don't, you gave me plane tickets." He rolled his eyes, trying to hide the blush on his face. She was standing so close to him that he could still see the golden flecks in her eyes in the dark room. It was then that he noticed a small scar above her upper lip and he briefly wondered what had happened to her. Suddenly, at that moment, he had the urge to feel her lips on his.
It was as if she could read his mind. Without warning, Felicia's lips met his. The warmth of her mouth sent a current through his body. Almost as soon as it started, the moment was over, and Felicia pulled away from him.
"I told you, that was a birthday present." she smiled smugly at him. "Anger doesn't suit you, by the way." She winked and entered her code, swiftly entering the room just as the door opened and then closed behind her.
Peter checked the time. It was nearly two in the morning. He sighed and pushed the some gravel around with his feet.
He wasn't sure why he had felt the sudden need to kiss Felicia, and he wondered briefly if it was a mistake. Then again, Harry had said there wasn't anything between them. There was also Lila to consider, but he knew a relationship wasn't really plausible between the two of them, being as he was her boss. When it came down to it, did he even want a relationship with Felicia? He didn't even know how he felt about her, or why he wanted to kiss her suddenly. He decided to wrap up the whole 'Felicia situation' for later, and focus on getting his friend better first.
"Hurry up, Felicia," he muttered to himself. It had only been two minutes, but he felt like a sitting duck here, and didn't want her alone in there either. Scarlet was probably out trying to find Harry right now, so she probably wouldn't be coming back to the bunker tonight.
He didn't tell Violet or Harry that he was leaving the house. Instead he left a note on the kitchen table for whoever saw it. Felicia had promised it would be a quick trip. He just hoped Harry would still be there when they got back.
He absentmindedly began tracing the numbers that she had scribbled onto his hand. She had told him that her code was "black cat" by using a phone keypad. Much had changed over the years concerning his feelings towards Felicia. She was no longer the ruthless criminal she once was. She was far from being what most people would consider "good", but she had her moments.
He idly wondered what Harry's code name was, so he took out his phone and looked at the buttons while comparing the numbers on the keypad. It took him a minute, and he laughed darkly as he found that the numbers came out as "the goblin." What else did he expect?
Curious to see what Scarlet's was, he looked at her numbers on his hand and began studying the phone numbers again.
"Okay..." he said out loud. The word 'Scarlet' was not in the number combination. He sniffed to himself when it wasn't 'demon' or 'demon bitch' either.
He checked the time. Felicia had four more minutes before he was going to come in and look for her. It was going to bother him if he couldn't figure out the last code.
Okay, he thought, so the second letter has to be an "a." He began doing different combinations with the couple letters that the numbers gave him, and when he got to the 4th number, his eyes went wide. He shook his head because subconsciously, he knew what the next letters would be, but he didn't believe it.
He put his hand in his pocket, not wanting to see the next couple letters. He felt his heart start to race, and he felt his hands curled into fists. He didn't want to see what the next letters were going to be. But he had to.
He took out his hand again. Starting from the first letter, just in case he had somehow made a mistake. He swore to himself as he found that it was, in fact, correct. He finished the whole combination and stared at his hand in horror.
Mary Jane.
He staggered backwards.
It couldn't be her.
That was impossible. He had watched her die, but then, he watched Harry die too...
He heard a beep and the doors to the bunker opened, revealing a smug looking Felicia, sporting a bag slung over her shoulders.
"He only had a few odds and ends, including this nifty looking knife-" she held up a neon green and black hunting knife, "-and then there's... Parker?" she questioned as she stuffed the knife back into the bag. "What's wrong? Looks like you seen a ghost."
She laughed and got into a defensive position, scanning the building for the possible threat.
Peter swore to himself. If this was somehow true, which there was noway it could be, Felicia would have known all along. She spent several years on that island, and she would have known the identity of the Scarlet Soldier this entire time.
"Felicia..." he began, "I'm not sure what I am to you. I may have misinterpreted something down the line, but I was under the impression that you and I were friends. I consider you to be one of my only friends, in the fact that I feel as if I can trust you with... well basically anything." he lightly chuckled and ran his hand through his hair, his eyes finally making eye contact with hers.
"Does this have anything to do with Harry?" she smiled and cocked her head slightly to the side. "Because I'm sure he doesn't mind that I've been staying at your-"
"This had nothing to do with Harry," he stated flatly.
She must have realized something was wrong, because the smile disappeared almost instantly from her face. "What then? As much as I loathe the idea, I guess I would consider you a friend."
She attempted not to smirk again, and Peter's stare hardened. "Okay, okay. All joking aside, I do consider you a friend, Par-Peter. And likewise, you're one of the only friends I have. Now what's bothering you?"
Peter shut his eyes, taking a deep breathe before opening them again. "I have a question to ask you, and I need your complete honesty."
"Ooo, sounds interesting." she raised an eyebrow at him. "Shoot."
"Who is the Scarlet Soldier?"
She was obviously not prepared for that question. Her mouth opened and closed quickly. "I- I already told you. She was Harry's cell neighbor. I was on her team."
"Who was she before she became that? Her name, Felicia?" he pressed.
"I-" she began again, but shook her head.
Peter gave a frustrated sigh. "Last chance, Felicia. What is her name? I need to know the truth." His voice nearly broke on the last word.
"I think you already know," she said in a small voice.
"So... it's true then." He shook his head and slumped down to the ground. "She's been there the whole time. On that island. She was... my god, she was tortured!" he pulled at his hair. "Why?" he questioned, looking up at her.
"Why what?" she asked in a somber tone.
"Why didn't you tell me it was her!?" he stood up from the ground. "You've been back here for months, Felicia. Months! Why would you hide something like this from me?" The pain in his voice was evident.
"I don't know why exactly," she said in a strained voice. "At first I wasn't sure where you and I stood. I had information that you didn't know about that I could use if needed. But then... you let me stay at your house, you protected me. I-I wasn't sure how to tell you. Then I realized I couldn't tell you yet because I had to protect you."
"How is that protecting me!?" he yelled. She had tears in her eyes, but he didn't care at this moment. His fiancee had been alive for over ten years and he had been at home this entire time.
"Think about it!" her voice was full of emotion, "If I had told you, you wouldn't have feared her. You would have gone right up to her, tried to save her, you would have gotten yourself killed! I know you would have, because that's just how you are. You try to save everyone, but sometimes you don't even care about what happens to yourself. She wouldn't hesitate to kill you if you tried to capture her, or destroy her mission in any way. I figured that the less you knew, the better." He wiped away a stray tear.
"The less I knew, the better." he repeated, shaking his head. "Give me the bag."
"What?" her face scrunched up in confusion.
"The bag. Give me the bag." He pointed to the bag of Harry's belongings by her feet.
She looked between the bag and him quickly. "Those are Harry's things. I want to bring them to him so when he wakes up, I can give him at least some good news."
"You're not staying there anymore." he shook his head at her, "I'll give Harry his bag-" Felicia began to protest, but he kept going, "I'll let him know you were the one to fetch the items, but you're not going there."
"I don't care who you say got his stuff for him, just don't- don't be like this, please." she strained her voice, "I need to see Harry. You can't keep me away from him."
"I would never make him choose." he sniffed. "I'll give him your number. He can leave my house to go see you, but you're not coming to my house again." he said with finality.
She stared at him for several moments before replying. "Don't do this, Parker. I didn't keep this from you to hurt you, I did it to protect you. I'm not even going to say it was a mistake, because I don't know if it was. You're still alive, which is something." She tossed the bag over to him.
"She wouldn't have killed me, Felicia." he grit his teeth. "She won't."
"That's what I'm talking about!" she yelled. "You have no idea what you're dealing with Parker." she shook her head at him. "I don't want to see you killed."
"I'll let Harry know you want to see him. I'm sure you two have catching up to do." He didn't reply to her comment. "Goodbye, Felicia," he said, turning away from her to go back to his car. He didn't turn around or wait for a goodbye, but when he got to his car, he glanced back and she was already gone.
The ride home seemed like it took forever. His thoughts bounced back and forth between Mary Jane and Felicia. What was he going to do! What was he going to tell Aunt May, or his children? He had to see her first, to make sure it was actually her, and not another one of those shifters that he had met in the bank that one day not so long ago. He sighed, pulling into his driveway. He needed to talk to Harry about all of this in the morning, there was no need to wake him up now, after everything he had been through in the last day.
He made sure to be quiet as he walked into his home. Locking the door behind him, he stared at the picture of Mary Jane on his wall. Her red hair was practically glowing, and her smile was enough to push away any negative thoughts he had.
"If there is any chance, any chance at all that it really is you, that you're still alive," he whispered to the picture, "I will make sure to bring you back home to us."