The Marvelous Spider-Man

Chapter Fifty

By

Jason Richard

After a few minutes on Mysterio's arm, helping him sign autographs with his fans, Felicia noticed two things. First was that Mysterio often pretended to whip his hair out of his face, and often batted away hands that strayed too near his head, saying, "Please, don't touch the hair." Obviously, since his hair was actually a holographic image projected by the glass dome over his head, his attachment to his hair was just another part of the act so he could keep people from finding the holographic dome.

The second thing she noticed was that she was really bored.

"Mysterio," said Felicia. "I think I'm going to go mingle."

"Suit yourself," said Mysterio with a charming smile. "Just be ready for when we need to draw out Spiderman. Don't stray too far."

As Felicia walked away she muttered, "Of course not. Wouldn't want to tug at my leash now would I?"

As she walked off she figured this was the time to find Spiderman in the crowd before the enforcers did.

...

As Peter walked through the crowd, which was still mocking him occasionally, he wondered when his double would show up. After all, they probably had a plan to draw him, the real Spiderman, out so they could make another switch. Somehow he just knew that the double would be the bait. The question was, how did they intend for the double to get Spiderman's attention without anyone else seeing him. Peter looked around suspiciously, wondering when the trap would be sprung.

Suddenly a recent hit pop song started playing. Apparently this was a dance as well, as people in the gardens paired up and started to...what else? Dance.

Avoiding mocks from people around him he still kept an eye out...and watched with his Spider Sense as well, searching for anyone who acted differently from the crowd. He found one. There was someone who watched the crowd with the same kind of attention he was giving...and that person started walking towards him. He turned around to see a girl his age with a black dress and a cat mask.

"Hey," she said, "Wanna dance?"

...

Felicia had this old trick her father had taught her for picking undercover cops out of a crowd. Say she was a bar or a club in the bad part of town and she didn't want to get picked up by a cop or a bounty hunter looking for reward money on a high class criminal. Her father always told her, "Felicia, don't try to figure out who a person is by observing them. Take a look at whoever that person is observing. If a person is just looking at whomever he came in with...nothing to worry about. If he glances at men and takes long hard stares at the women, watch out, but don't feel the need look for the exits. If you see someone taking good looks at everyone around him, be careful. If you see someone looking for people that resemble you, get out of there as fast as you can.

That advice has saved her from many a cop that had been on her trail, and tonight those words came back to her. When the music started most people started looking for a dance partner. Felcia's trained eyes could tell her what kind of person someone was interested within a few moments of watching them look for partners. Whether or not they liked tall men, blonde women, or whatever, she could see it. Just about everyone was looking for a partner...

Except for that one guy with a bag over his head. He looked like a cop, taking quick but hard looks at anyone he could, mostly the men. At first she thought that maybe that was just his type, until she realized he was looking at people with a particular height and build. It took her a second to realize what that was.

The particular height and build of Spideman. That couldn't be coincidence, but why was this kid doing that? Could he be Spiderman, looking for his double? Well, Felicia thought, if he is Spiderman then this is my best chance.

She came up, and asked to dance.

...

Wait a minute, thought Peter, isn't that the girl who was with Mysterio before? Hmm...

"Sure," said Peter. As they started dancing Peter said. "I'm kind of surprised you asked."

"Well," said Felicia. "With a costume like that you're either making some bold statement against the fantastic four, or you saved your costume shopping for the last minute. Between the fantastic four fanboys and the generally not nice people who've been mocking you, I guess I just felt sorry for you."

"Gee," said Peter sarcastically. "Thanks." as he danced with that girl in the black cat mask (why was that ringing a bell with him?) he figured that the girl whom Mysterio personally escorted to this event couldn't asked Spiderman in disguise to dance by coincidence. On top of that, "Do I know you? I'm getting this weird deja vu vibe. My name is Peter Parker."

Felicia was a little disappointed. Of course it made sense. Obviously that guy who sold pictures of Spiderman to the Daily Bugle would be looking for Spiderman. Dead end...well...maybe not.

"I'm Alice," she said. "You're that guy that takes photos of Spiderman, right?" She made herself sound as interested as she possibly could.

"Yeah," said Peter, figuring her interest was probably fake, but decided to play along. "It's really dangerous too. I've got to get right up there next to all the gunfire and the punching...but I'm not scared."

"Oh!" said Felicia, pretending to swoon. "Tough guy. And you must be smart too. I mean who else can get that close to Spiderman?"

Just as I figured, thought Peter. "Oh yeah. No one else has figured out how to track him. I really am smart...smart enough to know that the girl who was escorted here by Mysterio himself isn't asking about Spiderman just to make idle chit chat."

They stopped dancing. Felicia chuckled. "Well then," said Felicia. "Let's get down to business. Can you get a message to Spiderman?"

"Sure," said Peter. "What is it?"

"His double will be in the storage room on the west side of the building in thirty minutes...should give you plenty of time to find him. If he wants to catch the double that's where he needs to go."

"Trap?" said Peter.

"Of course," said Felicia. "But what do you care? So long as you get your photo?"

"Spiderman has to be alive for me to get my photos," said Peter.

"Sure," said Felcia. "But it's Spiderman's best chance to clear his name. You can let him decide what he want's to do."

She walked away, and Peter imagined her with this really sly grin on her face. Little did he know that she actually had one. What he did know was that she was right. This was the best piece of information he could get. He'd have to be careful though. It was a trap after all.

...

Quentin Beck, still signing autographs and smiling generously to everyone around him, got a message from Felicia on the inside of his holographic dome. His head, within the glass, could see everything around him, while everyone around him could not see or hear the message from her. In the image, seen in the lower left corner of his vision, Felicia had her mask off.

"Quentin," she said. "I've got a message to Spiderman. We can meet him the western storage room in forty five minutes."

Quentin winked and returned to his fans.

...

Forty five minutes, thought Felicia as she put her holographic communicator away. Should give me fifteen minutes alone with Spiderman. More than enough time.