When the sun goes down and curtains up
It's time for the show oh oh oh
Brand new to the scene
Imma do my thing

I'm onna roll
You stare in my direction
I'm craving your attention
So now-

Turns out fixing a flash drive wasn't hard at all.

Apparently, it was just very, very time consuming.

But somehow, even without his usual gear - he'd lost all of that after they'd emptied out May's apartment - miraculously, Peter had made do.

Peter rested his cheek against the cool wood of his desk, lidded eyes tiredly looking over the salvaged flash drive. By the time he'd finished the repair, touches of sunlight had began peeking over the rooftops outside his window.

And for all he knew, it could have all been for nothing. For all he knew, there could have been nothing on this drive. Or worse, whatever it was, it could have been corrupted beyond repair.

For all he knew, whatever was on this drive could have nothing to do with the girls at the garage. But the night before, she had said that he owed her a flash drive. So maybe it was worth checking. Worth a sleepless night, at least.

Now he just had to pray that it actually read.

Peter sat back in his chair, rubbing sleep from his eyes.

In the last weeks he had lost nearly everything, but the two things he had were his suit and his laptop. His laptop was now effectively the most expensive, and precious, thing he owned. It had the entirety of his programing career, projects left over from his Stark mentorship, things he and Tony had worked hours to make together. It had his police radar scanning program, and for one, it had the video he'd taken all the years ago at the fight at the airport hangar.

Peter grabbed his laptop from the bed, it's screen blinking to life as he inserted the salvaged USB.

As the device read the drive, a pop-up appeared on his screen.

'This drive is encrypted. Would you like to attempt a decryption?'

So maybe it was something. People didn't encrypt nothing. Maybe she had been on to something.

He clicked 'yes'.

Outside his window, Peter could hear the sounds of New York City coming alive. The January chill frosted the edge of his apartment windows, and through the haze he could see the street lined with cars, people milling down the sidewalk, going about their lives.

The heat from the radiators had started to come up, and even the building around him seemed to coming alive with the buzz of movement and life.

Often, he saw the most hectic side of the city. The ugly side, the underbelly. But he tried not to forget the beautiful parts too: the people.

On the especially hard or the especially good mornings, Peter often treated himself. But to call Peter Parker broke was an understatement. Without a diploma, without an identity, nowadays even basic things seemed like a struggle. There wasn't much he could afford to treat himself to, but luckily a coffee down by the shop MJ worked at cost only $2.75.

Besides, he had some time to kill. The decryption status sat at a cozy 2%, and the ETA loomed at 197 minutes.

Peter bundled himself to the cold, pulling on his beanie as he stepped out into the apartment hallway. Even in his exhausted state, still he buzzed with the anxiety and excitement that came everytime he headed down to The Peter Pan Donut shop.

Peter had lost many things in the last three months. He'd lost big things, like May, like Happy and MJ and Ned and Strange. He'd lost his home, his privacy. But he'd lost small things too. Things like his graduation, like his legos, or home cooked meals, and social interaction.

That might've been one of the things he missed most. It had been lonely at first. Nearly unbearably so.

But sometimes, on mornings like today, he'd go down to MJ's bakery, he'd sit at the bar and order a cup of coffee, he'd listen in on her and Ned. He'd hear about how school was going, he'd try not to chuckle at their jokes from across the room. Not everyday, not enough to be a regular, but enough so he didn't go crazy. He found that it helped, if only a little bit.

But most days, the most interaction he got happened from behind a mask.

Most days, but not all.

"Morning."

At first, Peter wasn't sure he'd heard her. For a second, he thought he might have been hearing things. Felicia Hardy hardly ever greeted him first. But she had, as she stepped into the hall and locked her front door behind her, locs high in a bun and a leash in her hand.

"Hey," Peter said softly, grinning. "Good morning. And good morning to you too, buddy." he said, squatting to give Lucky, the Pizza Dog, a good scratch. The pup panted happily, tail wagging. Felicia tucked his leash into her pocket, head tilted as she watched Peter yawn.

"Long night? Not to be rude but you look tired as shit." Felicia asked, as if she was really one to care about rudeness. But it was her attempt at making small talk, of being friendly, and a part of him wished Kate was here to see this.

"Yeah," he said, repressing another yawn when Lucky yawned himself. "I was up real late studying. Was gonna go grab a coffee so I don't crash. You two heading for a walk?" he asked, Lucky looking between the two of them.

"Yeah, kinda messed up considering he isn't even my dog. Kate found him on the street somewhere. Been feeding him kibble and pizza." Felicia scoffed, rubbing between the pup's ears lovingly.

Peter felt a flutter in his stomach, the familiar twinge of nervousness. He knew an opportunity when he saw one: one to ask her out, to pick her brain, to get her to explain what Kate had meant yesterday. Spider-man had saved her, somehow, some time in the past. He just didn't know when, or why.

"Well, if you two are heading out, maybe we can grab coffee?' he asked. "You and me?" The question seemed to surprise her and before she could answer he added "I can tell you about those Spider-man stories I was talking about."

Peter could see the hesitation in her face, the look of talking herself into it, before she smiled. He drove a hard bargain. Felicia chuckled, bitting her lip. "Sure."

Winter had hit Manhattan hard, the threat of snow seemingly looming everyday.

A gust of January chill swept the Peter Pan Donut & Pastry Shop as Peter held the door open for Felicia. It looked exactly like some place Peter Parker would frequent: old-school and homey. Local and a little vintage.

The decor could've been straight from the 60's, the menus hadn't changed since 2000. And just like every time Peter found himself here, there she was, MJ behind the counter. The only thing missing was the recognition in her eyes. Her saying his name as he came through the door.

There was a reason he'd didn't have the emotional bandwidth to come here every day. But this is the first time he'd brought some one with. Maybe because before, he didn't really have any one else to bring.

"Hey, what can I get you two?" MJ asked, before she'd looked up. "Oh, hey Peter Parker." she said, remembering the boy who'd asked her about MIT. "This your friend?"

For a moment, he was shocked, and it took Peter a split-second to recover. He couldn't remember the last he'd heard her say his name. It seemingly still had the same effect, every time.

"Neighbor, actually." Felicia corrected, fighting off a smile at Peter's awkwardness.

"One coffee, the usual." Peter said when he recovered, just as Felicia nudged his side. She leaned over a bit, thrusting her chin in the direction of the donut display behind MJ. And on the top rack was today's special, a red and blue marbled donut, with white spiderweb icing to finish - the 'Spidey Special'.

MJ turned to look, catching the sight before giving them a reserved smile. "Yeah, I just took those out not too long ago. They've been going pretty fast." she shrugged.

"We'll take two. And a hot chocolate." Felicia grinned, opening her thick wallet and pressing a ten on the counter, and when MJ handed her the change, she stuffed the rest into her tip jar.

Still, Peter's eyes lingered on her as MJ stepped away to get the food, and when they sat down at the bar, Felicia asked, tone hushed, "Do you know that girl?"

Peter blinked,clearing haze from his brown eyes as he shook his head. "Her? Nah, nah. I just come here sometimes." he said. "Nothing else."

Felicia snickered.

"Hot chocolate, coffee, and two specials?" MJ asked setting out their order in front of them, and Felicia learned forward across the counter, smile devious.

"Hey, My friend thinks you're cute." she said.

Peter's face nearly went red. "No, I don't - I mean, not that I don't think you're cute. I do. It's just, I didn't say that." he explained, desperate to do damage control as Felicia broke into a grin.

MJ fought back a smile of her own, more surprised at his outburst than anything. "Thanks?" she said, as the front door chimed with a customer.

Felicia barely fought back a laugh at the embarrassed cringe on his face, just as, behind him, a tan kid tapped Peter on the shoulder.

"Just for the record," he said. "My friend thinks you're cute too."

"Ned!" MJ scolded him, as Felicia's grin grew.

Peter could hardly stamer an answer, sidelined by what was happening. It been months since he'd spoken to Ned, since he'd seen MJ smile, since he'd heard them laugh with him. Peter wanted to tell MJ everyday how he thought she was cute. Every day he wanted to laugh with them and joke with them.

Sometimes it was hard to remember why he couldn't just tell them. It wasn't worth it. It wasn't worth it to endanger them like that, not again. But god, did he wish.

"'Spidey Special', huh. Seems like it's a best seller." Felicia said, and she watched as MJ fetched another for the next customer. "Whatever Jameson says, people fucking love a good hero."

Peter looked down at his donut. Felicia was right - Spider-man did have his haters, his critics. He had no shortage of those. But he also had his loyalists, people like Flash, or people like her.

Once upon a time, Spider-man had ruined MJ's life. He'd ruined a lot of people's lives - May's, Ned's, Happy's. Even his own. Spider-man had taken his friend's futures, their privacy, everything they'd worked so hard for. But to Felicia, to people like her, Spider-man was a savior. A hero.

The look in her eyes as she'd watched him on TV told him so.

Sometimes he still couldn't believe it.

Felicia took a bite of her donut, eyes falling to the TV behind the counter as the morning talk show playing cut to commercial. Up-beat music prattled from the TV as an ad for 'Rogers - The Musical' overcame the screen.

" Oh my god. " Felicia snorted, shaking her head. "I still cannot believe they made that shit." she said. "A 'Super-Powered Sensation' about the time the government tried to drop a nuke on Manhattan."

Peter snickered. No matter how good the ads tried to make it seem, it did look ridiculous. "Yeah, and I mean, Ant-Man wasn't even there. Who knows where he was." Peter said incredulously, biting into his donut.

Felicia nodded. "I know, why not add Vision in there since we're just fucking around now." she smirked.

Peter grinned, more surprised than anything. "So you're like an Avengers super-fan or is it just Spider-man?" he asked.

For a moment, Felicia hesitated, shrugging a bit. "It's just Spider-man. I mean, don't get me wrong, Thor isn't too bad on the eyes. It's just, Spider-man just does something for me, you know?" she smirked, resting her chin in her hand.

Peter could feel heat rising to his face once more. What could he even say to that? When she had that look in her eyes every time the topic came up? And since when was being nervous around Felicia becoming a common thing?

"Yeah, I know what you mean," he said sheepishly, scratching the back of his head, stomach fluttering. "It was Iron Man for me. Ever since I was little. He- uh, I had a moment with him when I was younger too. So I get it."

He had Felicia's attention before, but now her interest was piqued. "Define 'moment'." she said.

Peter hesitated, cupping his hands around his coffee cup as the morning commercials went on. "I was a kid. I was already into technology and stuff, so meant everything to me. Growing up it was just my Aunt May and I, but she managed to get tickets to Stark Expo one year. When we got there, I got separated from her, got caught in the fighting. Now looking back on it, I'm sure those guys would've kill me if they had the chance. But at the time, it was incredible. He made me feel like I was invincible."

Like he could be a hero too.

His eyes glazed as he remembered it. It was bizarre to think he'd lost Tony so long ago, the oldest of his many wounds. And it still felt as fresh as the others. But the world went on.

"Tony Stark," Felicia said. "Now that is a man without critics. I mean, Spider-man has his haters but, I don't think anyone can hate the man who literally brought back half of the universe."

A man who had died for half of the universe. Who had given up a wife, a child, a life, for half the universe.

"After five years,...We thought it was over. No one thought they were ever coming back. You know, we just accepted it at that point. Mass genocide of the universe. There wasn't a single person who didn't lose someone." she said.

And it had taken Peter a second to understand what she'd meant. "You were.. You were a survivor?" he asked. Because it hadn't occurred to him that she could have survived. That to her, those split moments, that short instance of terrifying nothingness, had been years, and not seconds.

Felicia nodded. "Me and Kate. Lost my dad, though." she said, sipping her hot chocolate. "Did you..you know?"

For a second Peter could feel his chest tighten, and he nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, I got snapped." he said softly. He could remember the feeling, how it crept in on him without any way to stop it. It had not been a flicker, it wasn't like a light going out. He didn't know how to describe it. It was like the world chipping and crumbling away into nothing. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.

Felicia frowned.

"Well," she sighed. "If it makes you feel any better, you didn't miss much. I mean, we still had Iron Man, but shit got out of hand really, really quickly. Sure, we didn't have to worry about aliens and killer androids but Tony wasn't worried about shit like the Maggia. Vigilantism became a big thing, people got desperate. For a while, the city became a really dark place. I thought we'd never get someone like Spider-man again. And then the Avengers did what they did, and he was back." Felicia said, twisting the silver rings around her fingers absentmindedly.

"So that was a plus." she said.

Peter could see the look in her eye, he could recognize it from yesterday, the warmth in her eyes every time she spoke of Spider-man, spoke of him. It made his stomach twist in a way he couldn't describe.

"When'd you meet him?" Peter asked, voice barely a whisper. Finally, Felicia's brown eyes met his. She bit her lip, and for a moment Peter wondered if he should have asked at all.

Finally, Felicia decided that telling Peter wouldn't kill her. "I was a freshman in high school." she said, "It was a couple months before the snap. I use to go to a specialized high school over in Queens, one of the ones for tech and science. He saved my ass. Stayed with me for a bit to make sure I was okay. I was going to see him again at one of his F.E.A.S.T appearances a couple months later. I wanted to thank him but…yeah, you know."

She had wanted to thank him, but he had been gone. Him and half of the universe.

And in his absence, her and Kate had gotten to work.

The tightness in his stomach returned, and Peter took a deep breath. "What school was it?"

"Midtown School for Sci and Tech." she said. "Do you know it?"

In that moment, it was as if Felicia had took hold of his head, and scrambled his thoughts. The tightness spread to his chest, mind racing as he tried to put the pieces together.

Sometimes, when things like this happened, the sensory of it all nearly became unbearable for him. When he could hear the sound of his heartbeat in his ears, when his mind raced faster than his emotions could process. To him, it didn't make sense. Or maybe it did. He just didn't know.

If anything, it did nothing but raise more questions.

He stammered, speechless for a second and when a reply came, it hadn't been him who said it.

"Are you guys talking about Midtown High?" the tan boy behind Peter asked, and Felicia sat forward to see.

"Yeah, by the the J and the Z trains, right?" she smiled.

Ned grinned. "You would not believe this. MJ! Come here! " he called down the counter, catching MJ's attention at the register. She finished ringing up the latest customer as Ned turned back to the pair. "Me and MJ use to go there. What class were you?"

"Class of 2021." Felicia said.

Ned's jaw nearly dropped.

"What's up?" MJ asked, looking between the three of them.

"MJ, This girl went to Midtown, says she graduated during the whole blip thing." Ned told her, and MJ tilted her head, curious.

"You took 's class?" she asked.

Felicia nodded. "Yeah, Did you hear his wife got snapped? Was really hard on him." she frowned.

MJ shook her head. "Oh, yeah, no. She wasn't actually- She faked her death kind of." she explained.

Felicia bit back a laugh. "That's terrible." she snorted, her phone buzzing in her pocket. Peter watched this unfold in morbid, disorienting confusion.

Ned however made no attempt to stifle his own laughter, just before MJ asked "What's your name?"

"Felicia. And this is my neighbor, Peter."

For a second, Peter had thought he was having an out of body experience. The anxiety tugged at him as Ned fist-bumped him. "Sup Peter, I'm Ned. And you probably know MJ." he said.

Peter nodded back, mustering a smile. He hadn't been ready for this, not yet. He had wanted it, dreamt of it, so badly just to have a conversation with them, and now he was clamming up.

"Hey, man." he said weakly.

Felicia looked down at her phone, raising her eyebrow at the text from Kate.

'new lead on Kingpin'

'we're going out tonight'

"Actually," Felicia said, looking up from her phone, and she took one last bite of her Spidey donut. "I was just about to head out. How about you two take my number and y'all can tell me all about and his wife." she snickered, grabbing her receipt and sprawling her number out with one of MJ's pens.

And before she headed out, Felicia turned to Peter, looking him in the eyes as her hand lingered on the sleeve of his jacket for just a moment. "We should do this again sometime." she told him. "Take my number too. And text me."

She took her hot chocolate and Lucky's leash, bundled herself to the cold. And then she was gone, back out into the January air, and Peter didn't know what to think.

'It wasn't a date. It wasn't a date'.

But the way she had hung onto the sleeve of his jacket had said 'date'. But it wasn't a date.

The words played on repeat in Peter's head as he unlocked the door to his apartment, because, wow, had it seemed like a date. But so had that moment on the couch. Apparently, Felicia seemed to have that effect. At the very least, on him.

Peter's thoughts scrambled with confusion, thoughts tangled in the after-glow of MJ's smile, of Ned's laugh, of Felicia's hand on his jacket. And the thing that connected them all - Midtown High.

It didn't make sense. Or it did, he just didn't know how.

Most nights, there was nothing he wanted more than to be Peter Parker again. He just didn't remember 'being Peter' as being this disorienting.

He'd asked Felicia to coffee for answers. What he'd gotten was more questions, and this feeling. Whatever this feeling was.

His computer blinked to life, a dialogue box centering itself on the screen.

'Decryption Complete. Would you like to extract file(s)?'

A distraction, thankfully.

A part of him hadn't even been expecting it to work. Broken never necessarily meant destroyed, but he was no miracle worker. Not always. But whatever the girls in the garage had been going after, the Russian Tracksuits had been intent on keeping it under wraps.

Peter slipped out his jacket, hanging it on it's peg and tugging off his scarf as he made his way to his computer. He clicked 'yes', watching as his laptop pulled file after file from the drive in rapid succession.

Most were corrupted. The rest was non-substantial. Except for one thing.

' ' - Status: Uncorrupted

So maybe she had been on to something.

"Girl, This isn't going to work. "

"It's going to work. " Kate insisted.

Felicia hadn't the slightest idea as to how she'd let Kate talk her into this. Because there were very few people on this planet that Felicia Hardy would agree to army-crawl through vents for.

"Hey, I asked you back at the apartment and this was the only idea. So you don't really get to complain." Kate said, rolling her eyes although Felicia couldn't see her in the darkness.

Besides, it wasn't like the infamous Jue Lan club was exactly easy to get into.

The Ten Rings liked it that way. It was by design.

It wasn't a place you could just walk up into uninvited, not unless you wanted a problem with nearly every crime circle east of New Jersey. A high-society of the illicit, what had once been a hub for the Mandarin's society of scholars and informants had shifted into New York's secretive underground heartbeat - part club, part information epicenter.

The Jue Lan Club was the Ten Ring's biggest money-maker in the city, and every criminal syndicate treated it as their own personal watering hole - a carefully balanced no-mans-land.

And the Jue Lan Club had been that way for the years, decades, centuries it had existed.

The 'public' liked the Jue Lan Club for it's world-class drinks, it's impeccable security, and it's elegant, secretive atmosphere. The criminals liked it because the Ten Rings kept the peace with an iron fist. Whoever mattered, was here. People didn't come to places like the Jue Lan Club without an agenda, or money to blow, or both. Kingpin seemingly had both.

And that's why, despite being the daughter of an apparent criminal mastermind, even people like Kate and Felicia would never get an invite or a membership. But luckily, they needed neither.

Because Kate had vents.

"Look, Natasha told Yelena and Yelena told me that vents are a very valuable asset. That's backed by two Avengers, three now if you count me." Kate told her, elbowing out the gate to a room's vent before dropping down feet first.

"I'm not talking about the vents. I'm talking about the disguises." Felicia said, and she followed suit before looking around the room as Kate flipped the light on. Just as Kate had promised, they were in one of the single stall bathrooms. "I don't know why you think we're good at disguises. We're not."

Kate scoffed, stumbling over her words for a second. "Well, you may not be, but I'm pretty damn good at it, I think."

Felicia turned to her, face incredulous. "And how'd you figure that?"

Kate rolled her eyes, thinking about it for a moment. "Like at the banquet, with the explosion and the Ronin suit?"

Felicia bit back at laugh at her friend's shear audacity. "You mean the time you pretended to be a waiter and immediately got exposed?"

"Well, It worked for a little bit, on one guy," the brunette argued. "And I got the Ronin suit and Lucky out of it, so I consider that an absolute win.

"Besides," Kate said, dumping the contents of her backpack on the tiled floor between them. "We have masks this time."

Out of the bag tumbled two matching ensembles - slimfit, all black uniforms, along with two matching masks - each detailed with the insignias of the symbolic ten rings. It made sense - each Jue Lan employee was under orders to remained masked at all times, both to maintain discretion, and primarily to protect the 'personal safety' of the employee.

Felicia hesitated. "K, I don't know. I still think this isn't gonna work. I keep telling you it kinda feels like we're bringing knives to a gun fight." She sighed, turning around as she began to strip and change.

"Well if you think about it," Kate said, beginning to do the same, wrapping her hair up into a bun. "The Rings are martial artists, which is exactly what we are, so we should be fine."

"It's not The Rings I'm worried about. Last time I checked, Kingpin's men use guns. Like big guns." Felicia said. "Especially if he's sending Francis. I'm pretty sure that's like the top of his security detail. Whatever this man is here to get, I'm willing to bet they're willing to kill us for it." As if that had ever deterred them before.

Kate tugged the uniform over her archerer suit. "The reservation database said they booked a balcony VIP booth. All you have to do is plant the wire, give me the cue, and I'll use a wire arrow to grab it." Kate said, and she figured it was a clean break.

"Honestly, this is a lot simpler than the last plan we had. I really don't see how we could mess this one up." She shrugged, pulling on her mask.

Felicia turned to face Kate, fully dressed, biting back a smile. "I love your optimism for us, I do." she said, following suit. Kate had always been the one driving them. Sometimes, when she heard Kate talk, she was convinced there was nothing else they could possibly make a living at. It was the only thing they'd be happy doing.

That optimism was why Felicia called her a best friend. But that didn't mean she trusted Kate not to get herself shot. Especially considering that not even a month before, Kate had tried to take on a man that was 6'7" and 450lbs, alone.

"I still don't think this is going to work." Felicia admitted finally and she put in her mic and earpiece, hearing the reverb of Kate's voice in her ear.

Kate rolled her eyes, but still a smirk came to her lips. "Yeah, yeah." She said, but she couldn't even be angry at Felicia, because there wasn't anything they both loved more than proving each other wrong. They did it when they fought, when they bet, and when they bickered.

Kate unlocked the bathroom door, stepping out into the hall before turning towards Felicia.

Only one of them could be right. So either it'd work, or they'd probably get shot. Either or.

"You keep tell me that," Kate said, as the pair did their signature handshake, something they'd devised way back in high school. "How about when I prove you wrong, you tell me all about that coffee date you and Peter had earlier." Kate wagered, and even with the masks Felicia could tell that Kate was giving her the same devious smile she always did.

Felicia rolled her eyes, walking away from Kate, but as she spoke, her voice came to life in the wire in Kate's ear. "And what you need is to stop asking me that. It wasn't a date, we walked your dog, I brought him breakfast, that's it." she said.

Kate sighed, and she shook her head, always amused at her clueless friend. 'That's literally the definition of a coffee date, Fe.' she told her. 'And you say that because you didn't see how Peter was making puppy eyes at you yesterday during your 'me time', did you?'

"Kate, I assure you what we're doing now is like ten times more interesting than me and Peter talking about the Blip for half an hour. So let's focus on this, because we're probably going to die."

Kate scoffed. 'Ye of little faith ,' she said.

'Now just tell me what you hear,' Kate said, voice buzzing in Felicia's ear.

"Nothing when you're talking."

'Well, duh.'

Wilson Fisk had sent his left hand, Francis to the Jue Lan Club for a reason. A very simple and quick one. And the reason wasn't hard to discern the more you looked.

In the Jue Lan reservation log, Kate had found that the reservation had been made not under Francis's name, but under a Madripoorian one - the reservation fee paid with an off-shore bank account.

Madripoor was good for one thing: It had been a pirate-nation since its inception, a tax haven and underground trading hub in its modern day. Money went into Madripoor, and crime came out. Whatever Francis was here to retrieve was expensive, and foreign made.

Kate leveraged herself at her vantage point, tucked up in the darkness of the rafters above the dancefloor. In the darkness, from her perch, she could see Francis's dirty blond hair, the outline of his chiseled jaw in the low neon glow of the lights as he sat at the VIP booth overlooking the crowd. Across from him sat a crisply dressed man in a suit, an aluminum briefcase at his side.

In Felicia's other ear, the conversation at the table came to life.

' -final prototypes. Of course, It's not the production numbers we were expecting but, considering the.. circumstances in the development, what we have here is very promising. ' the man said, his Madripoorian accent light, easy to miss.

A long, disappointed sigh came over the wire tap. This, she recognized, had to be Francis. She supposed it wasn't what he'd been hoping to hear.

'Matter of weeks' is millions of dollars, and blood on your hands. You understand that, don't you?' Francis asked, voice calm and steady against the other's smug, assured tone.

"They're talking about some kind of prototype technology," Felicia murmured to Kate. "No say in what it is though."

'I assure you, such is a scientific breakthrough. 's work is remarkably impressive and comprehensive. I'm sure you'll find what you need in an acceptable time frame.'

Felicia had them in her sights, and she watched as the Madripoorian man set the briefcase down on the table between them.

"On my mark," she warned Kate.

'The final product should be in it's post-production phase in a matter of weeks-" the Madripoorian man said, going to unclasp the case.

Kate retrieved the trick arrow, docking the retrieval wire into her bow as she took aim. "On your mark," she whispered.

Felicia held her breath, eyes focus and narrowed. "Get set-"

"Go-"

'Thwip!'

"Hey fellas, I've got a order of onion rings for table 4?"

Well, he did know how to make an entrance.

Spider-man webbed the briefcase, tucking it under his arm as he perched himself on the banister overlooking the crowd.

"You do know doing deals in a dark club doesn't exactly sit well with the Better Business Bureau, right?" he told the men, shaking his head. The strobe lights danced along the iridescent blue of his suit, and the more Felicia saw it in person, the more she loved the new suit.

Plus she'd been right. Kate's plan technically hadn't worked.

"Oh no, you don't!" Kate yelled, her grip tightening on her bowstring. Last time, Felicia had let herself become sidetracked. Kate didn't fault her for it, it was understandable - Kate herself knew what it meant to be starstruck. But as far as Kate was concerned, her and Spidey were both Avengers here. And she was fine with civil war.

This time they were sticking to the plan. Kate let the arrow fly, and the net on her trick arrow expanded, cocooning itself around Spider-man.

Felicia nearly screamed in surprise, throwing up her hood to cover her hair. "Kate, what the fuck? " she hissed into her mic.

Kate had no apologizes. 'Fe, don't worry about me, the case!'

Francis and the man jumped up, arming themselves and taking aim at the pest in front of them. Spider-man struggled in the netting's embrace, dropping the case as the metal bag clattered across the floor.

A flash of anxiety seized Felicia's chest. In all honesty, she didn't care about the case. Not really. Even with Kate's voice screaming in her ear, she knew exactly where her priorities lied. A part of her knew that he probably could have handled it, but the other part of her didn't want to take that risk.

Maybe on instinct alone, Felicia went for Francis, throwing him into a flip, arm along his to disarm him. She pressed her claws into his wrist, and as he screamed in pain the gun hit the ground with a clunk. Next, she went for the Madripoorian man, swinging her legs to wrap around his waist and take him to the ground.

Spider-man fought against the netting, spidey-sense screaming at him as the Ten Ring's masked security surrounded him. He freed himself, eyes scanning for the briefcase, just as the brunette from the garage got her hands around it.

Spider jumped to his feet, webbing the guards and going for the girl just as she trained the arrow of a bow on him.

"Hey!" she warned, and he froze.

"Big fan and all, but we really need to stop meeting like this. It's starting to be a monumental pain in the ass." she admitted.

"Bow and arrow, very original, Katniss Everdeen."

"Says the guy who just used the most overused joke in the book." she scoffed.

"Not really the time," Felicia advised them, as chaos erupted around them. Members dashed towards the exits in a swarm as the staff called for backup in sharp Mandarin. For a moment the sound was deafening, a chatter of panic, utterly disorienting.

'Thwip!'

Spider-man went for the case, and Kate dodged, letting the arrow fly, and although it hadn't hit her target directly, she'd done exactly what she'd meant to do. The arrow blew Spider-man back into the wall, the putty arrow sticking him against the brick in a bubbling, purple splatter. And then she made a break for it.

Kate grabbed Felicia's wrist in one hand, gripping the case in the other as the pair went for their escape route, Spider struggling against the putty as reinforcements closed in.

"Girl, what the hell is wrong with you? I can't believe you just did that!" Felicia hissed, adrenaline screaming in her veins. But god, had she wished she'd gotten it on camera.

"I don't know!" Kate said, pulling them through the winding halls of Jue Lan club, up to the top floor. She kicked open the door to the roof exit, - and to her defense, she really did sound sorry. It's not like she considered shooting arrows at a kid who could probably catch a bus a 'good idea'.

"What the hell do you want me to do when he keeps stealing our stuff? It's not my fault you chose to like the hero who's the biggest pain in the ass!" Kate complained.

"Hey- I'd easily give that title to Doctor Strange. I swear, the ego on that guy." Spider said. Kate yelped in shock, turning to see as he leapt to the edge of the roof, having taken the more convenient way up - out the window and up the wall. He crouched on the edge of the building, picking purple goo from his suit.

Kate grabbed Felicia's arm, tugging her along as they both took off in the other direction. Kate tossed the case into Felicia's arms, fingers fumbling to fetch a grappling arrow from her quiver.

Felicia's eyes widened. "Hey, no- " she warned, because Kate and her had discussed this. And they had never come to a solid conclusion on if grappling the both of them actually worked like anything like web-swinging. But Kate didn't care. They weren't doing this again. He had botched it for them last time, but not this time.

She notched the bow, aiming for the edge of the other roof, and wrapping her arm around her best friend's waist, Kate leapt off the edge of the building.

100 feet in the air, 9 storeys up.

Felicia felt her feet leave the concrete, the jolt forward as the grappling hook hit its mark, lurching them to the other side. She felt the force of it in her stomach, and gliding to the other roof, Felicia's claws tore into Kate's coat.

"Aw, come on," Spider-man hissed, and he swung a web at the pair. The web hit the hooded girls's foot, and for a split-second the tension pulled taut between the wire and the web.

They accelerated downward, and with it Felicia's stomach plummeted. For a moment she thought they'd might fall to their deaths. Her and Kate hit the concrete of the other roof, the briefcase clattering from her arms, its contents scattering in front of them.

"Hey, where're you guys going?" he hollered.

Kate scrambled for the contents, the pair collecting the mess into their arms as Spider-man leapt forward, landing in front of them. These two would surely be the death of him. If they weren't exactly organized, they certainly were persistent.

As the hooded one gathered the case into her arms, he sent a web her way, launching her back and knocking the case from her hands.

Felicia struggled against the webs, the elastic fibers binding and clinging into her clothing. She hit the ground once more, smirking from behind her mask.

"Funny, some of my favorite dreams start this way." she snickered, struggling as her claws cut their way through the webs.

Spider hesitated, because he surely hadn't heard that one before. "Do they usually end with you in handcuffs too?" he asked, retrieving the case and tucking it under his arm.

"Remarkably, yes ." Felicia told him.

"Okay, now you're really coming across as rude." Kate said, because it was one thing to chase them, and another to actually, you know, attack. As Felicia cut herself free of the webbing, Kate balanced herself on her bow, launching a kick at Spider. On instinct, he braced the attack with his forearm, and just as easily, she caught it, wrapping her other leg around him and flipping him.

Spider-man barely had time to re-orient himself, the world turning over in a spin as he fought with gravity to stay on his feet, like a cat in the air. She had nearly gotten him to the ground, and only a second after he recovered Felicia swung at him, claws bared.

He barely dodged, heart racing as his senses dialed themselves to eleven. Both girls came at him from both sides, and as Kate swept his feet, Felicia went for the case, claws slashing at his wrist.

His left webslinger shorted, metal grinding against metal as her brass claws cut through his web-brace. He let go of the case, groaning in pain as web-fluid sputtered and leaked.

Felicia grabbed it, watching as he struggled with the failing webslinger, a triumphant smile coming to her lips. And as much as she loved this game, of getting one up on him, on getting him back, this ended now.

Kate notched an arrow, taking her aim on him.

"Hey, Spider." Felicia wrapped her arms around herself, case pressed against her chest as she backed away toward the edge of the building.

"What are you doing?" Kate asked, eyes darting from him to her friend.

Felicia ignored her, backing herself to the edge. Below her, the city street thrived in the night. Cars raced down Broadway, lights a blinding blur in the city looming below.

"Catch."

Felicia threw herself from the edge, feet leaving the concrete once more, this time no safety net. She clutched the briefcase tight, not letting go as gravity took its course, pulling her down faster and faster, her heart beating wildly in her chest.

Because if Felicia knew one thing, it was between going for the criminal and saving the life, Spider-man would always choose the same thing, every time, without fail.

Kate nearly screamed her name. In the distance, she could hear the batting of helicopter blades on their way.

She ran to the edge, looking over, and it took Spider a split-second to realize what she had meant, what she was trying to do, exactly what position she was trying to put him in. To lure him away from the other girl. To make him save her life or let her die.

Spider-man leapt from the edge, the feeling of dread hitting his stomach like a wave.

For him, it was as if the world had slowed around him. He could hear a voice in his head, his own from a multiverse he'd long gone back too. He thought about all the ways he could catch her, all the ways the force alone could kill her - could snap her neck or break or spine - or -

He threw himself forward, slamming his body into hers and wrapping his free arm around her. He tried his best to cradle her head, and he prayed, prayed, he hadn't hurt her. He used his surviving webslinger to grip the edge of the building across the street, feeling the fight against gravity as they swung up and landed on the opposite roof.

His heart beat so fast it almost hurt. He landed in front of her, hands braced along her arms gently.

"Please, say something." he said, setting her down. Because criminal or not, he didn't want anyone to die because of him. Not over a briefcase.

Air slammed back into Felicia's lungs. Air, vindication, the knowledge that she'd been right. That he'd saved her life. She clutched the briefcase to her chest, crouching as she leapt to her feet.

She was lightheaded from the adrenaline, brain buzzing with the rush and the risk and the feeling of him, his chest against hers. And of all things, she was laughing.

To anyone he had ever known, everyone he had ever taken swinging, they had always found it absolutely terrifying. But she seemed as if she was coming down from a high. As if she loved it.

"We've got to do that again sometime," she told him, keeping him at arms length. "I really love doing this with you, Spider. I do-"

"You need to listen to me," he pleaded, taking a deep breath to fight off the anxiety that rang in every part of his body. "What you're doing and what you just did is going to get you hurt."

Felicia scoffed, backing up again. "You have no idea what I'm doing." she said, shaking her head under her hood.

"I do." he promised. "I do. I saw what was on that flash drive of yours. I know that you're going after Wilson Fisk. But whatever beef you have with him, it's not worth it. I'm telling you."

Felicia narrowed her eyes at him. "Boy genius, aren't you? Didn't think you'd pull it off considering how wrecked that drive was." But how could she be surprised at the boy who seemed full of surprises? Finally, she stopped, standing at the edge once more.

Felicia held the case out over the edge.

Spider held his breath. "I can help sort this out. But what you need to do is let me have that case. A lot of people can get hurt if you don't." And a part him hoped that this was something they could simply talk out.

But Felicia wasn't one for compromise, no matter how much she liked him.

"What you need to do is tell me one reason why I shouldn't destroy what's in this case right now." she told him, dangling the case over the edge. "And then maybe we can talk about what was on the drive of mine."

More and more the girl in front of him was making it clear, there was no room for talking here, no transfer of power she was willing to give. Felicia watched his chest expand as slowly, Spider-man sucked in a breath.

"Because if you trusted me as a hero you'd let me handle this."

Felicia froze. For a second, she narrowed her eyes, and from the other roof, she could hear Kate's voice in her ear as she said 'Fe', no.'

Felicia took a deep breath, her grip on the briefcase tight. "That's a good reason," she told him carefully, a smile coming to her lips under the mask. "I have an even better reason."

And with one hand, Felicia hit the latch of the briefcase. The case swung open, the lid falling to reveal

Nothing.

Empty.

Spider-man felt the arrow before it hit him, but the realization of what they'd done shocked him more than the arrow could, and it wasn't until Kate's electro-arrow pierced his side that he realized what they'd done.

He fell to the floor, body-seizing and web-slinger shorting, as it all clicked in to place. When they had gappled to the other side, hit the other roof, and emptied the case in the chaos.

"And now we're one to one." she said, and Felicia knelt over him, watching as the blue electricity danced along the fabric of his suit, his body tense and convulsing. She gave Kate on the other roof a thumbs up, as the black lenses of his eyes narrowed at her.

Peter groaned in pain.

"Until next time, Spider." she said, and she crouched lower, pressing a kiss to his cheek. "Next time, bring me my drive."

Come back to the beat
Get up on your feet
Gonna be your superluva
Right back to the beat
Get up on your feet
Imma be your superluva

I'll be your superluva
I'll be your superluva

Superluva - Starshell

A.N: Happy Sunday, y'all.

Hope you liked, this one was definitely difficult but fun to write, can't wait for the next one. Plus it was very fun to play with MJ and Ned! Maybe we'll see more of them. Maybe.

Fun Fact: The Jue Lan Club is actually a real restaurant. Just not in Chinatown. The more you know.