{ Peter }

Peter hurries after her and, man, she's fast. She's already up on the third floor. He thwips a web, swings himself up to the main hall, and finds her in the lounge. She stands motionless with her back to the open foyer, the morning light rising over the facility and pouring in through the windows behind her, and faces the darkness instead.

"He didn't mean it," Peter says, walking over to her.

Confusion crosses her face. "Yes, he did."

Peter doesn't understand what's got her confused, but something has her riled up. "He's just been worried about you," he says. "We all are."

The corner of Julia's mouth curves in the slightest smile, and Peter's chest gets all funny.

"Yeah, well, we've got bigger problems," she says, pushing her hair away from her face as she turns to him.

"Bigger?" Peter repeats. "How does this get bigger? It was supposed to be getting smaller."

"Marshall and Manfredi are still out there and so's the Juvenator," she explains.

"Yeah but without the cures, they can't do anything, right?"

"Not unless there's another manufacturing facility I don't know about."

"Well, that's a comforting thought."

"I'm, like, ninety-eight percent sure there's isn't one."

"That's a lot of room for error."

"I can't be perfect all the time."

"But you're Julia."

"So you think I'm perfect?"

Peter opens and closes his mouth a few times. "Can we focus, please?" He blurts out.

Julia laughs.

He exhales a shaky sigh and pushes down the heat rising in his cheeks. "You said The Commission planned to use ISO-36 to siphon energy but then Mr. Thompson blew up the hospital and their plan kind of failed, right?"

"Right."

"But if Silvermane's goal is to stay young, why didn't Marshall use the Juvenator on him when they had the chance?"

Julia tilts her head to the side. "Silvermane?" She asks.

"It's a long story. Mr. Thompson gave me a flash drive with all his intel and Ned found his code name and maybe it's not that long afterall."

She smiles. "There must be something in the compound that's not compatible with the Juvenator which is why they made ISO-37. Remember when Marshall shot it at us at the water treatment plant?"

"Are you saying we should be dead?"

"I'm saying I should be dead. I had ISO-36 in me."

"Yeah, and how did you get the Arc Reactor back? I always wondered about that."

"Oh, it was in the van when they took me to the warehouse. My hands were tied but I was able to pop it out of place."

"Wow. Craftsmanship is not what it used to be these days."

"No, it is not." Julia laughs a little, and Peter does too. It's crazy that this is what makes them laugh.

"So," Peter slowly starts, "there's not another manufacturer? Silvermane's not a risk?"

Julia inhales deeply while raising her shoulders. "I'd have to take a look at whatever records I can find and see if there's a trail — We need Ned."

"No."

"Peter — "

"No way! He's already gotten too involved! You got too involved and look what happened!"

"So, what?" Julia says, folding her arms. "We just sit back and let the police catch Silvermane? Peter, the police couldn't find me. What makes you think they can find him?"

"You just got back!"

"What if I waited for you?"

Peter's brow furrows. "Waited for me to what?"

"Peter, c'mon!" May shouts from below. "We gotta get going! You're gonna be late!"

He gapes at Julia and moves to the hall. "Are you serious right now?!" He yells down over the banister. "Are you serious? With everything that just happened, you want me to go to school?"

"People will get suspicious if you're not there! C'mon!" May turns to Mr. Carpenter, throwing her hands in the air, no doubt murmuring how teenagers are the worst. Well, sometimes adults are the worst.

"Go," Julia chuckles.

Peter looks at her, pulling her hood onto her head as she walks over to him.

"I promise I won't get Ned involved."

He sighs, turning away from the banister to her. "Promise me you won't go after Silvermane alone."

"I promise I won't go after Silvermane," she repeats. "I think we learned last time what happens when we do anything alone…"

The pain of getting beat to a bloody pulp flashes in Peter's brain. His lungs hurt just thinking about it. But it also led to one of his fondest memories of Julia. He held on to it so tightly when she was gone, holding on to hope he would see her again.

"I'll wait for you to get back, Spider-Man."

He looks at her. Her hair cascades down from under her hood like a barrier, a shield, blocking everything else, or maybe her senses are overloaded. Maybe her brain is overloaded like his. So much has happened and he has to act like none of it did but how can he when she's standing right in front of him —

Peter looks down at his hands and mindlessly taps his fingernails. "They called you Arachne on the news," he mutters. "You always said you hated Spider-Woman." He gives a breathless laugh, remembering how dumb the name was when he suggested it to her.

Julia hums. "It's growing on me."

Peter looks at her and she's got this smile on her lips and this calmness in her eyes and —

How did she know —

About May and school —

About May and her dad and Ms. Palmer being here —

What did they do to her —

What can she do —

What's the extent of her abilities —

(how much is she like me — )

"And yes." Julia grins. "When you get back, you can ask me all the questions you want."

Peter's insides get all fuzzy. He didn't even realize he was forming all of these questions and her saying so only makes him more curious —

He sucks in a breath, forcing all his questions to the back of his brain, and steps closer to her. "I'll be back as soon as I can, okay?"

Julia laughs a little (Peter's not sure what's so funny) and nods.

He breathes easier, knowing she won't do anything reckless, and kisses her cheek. She smiles and he sets off for the stairs before he takes her hand and plays hooky for life.

May drops him off at school. How they made it on time is beyond him. The drive back to Queens was a blur of trees and the next thing he knew, the trees became steel buildings and while it's great to be back in the city, this isn't where he wants to be.

Julia will be okay, though. She always is. Even if she deserves better than just okay.

Peter walks up the steps to school with one of those empty backpacks May keeps on hand now. He heads over to his locker, weaving between classmates talking tiredly at eight AM on a —

Peter doesn't even know what day it is.

"Ey, Parker!"

Peter nearly jumps out of his skin, and whips around to find Flash sauntering over to him.

"You still work with Spider-Man?" He asks.

Peter nervously clutches the strap of his backpack. "Y-yeah," he chokes out. He clears his throat. "Yeah, well, he's pretty busy and I don't work with with him, more like I… know him by association?"

"Whatever. If you see him, tell him thanks for me."

Peter nods, unable to find the words that may or may not get him into more trouble, and presses himself against the row of lockers as Flash steps past.

"Oh, and" — Flash punches his arm — "that's from me to you." He flashes Peter a smile and continues down the hall.

Peter watches him walk away while rubbing the spot on his arm. It didn't really hurt, but it hurts that he had the privilege of dating Julia. He can't believe Julia dated him for so long. He understands why she did it, but sometimes he just can't believe it.

"Peter!"

Peter looks up at the trio of socialites racing his way. Nicole and Gabrielle bombard him, tugging on his sleeves and squealing, "Did you hear?! Did you hear?!"

"I actually can't hear in my ear now — "

"Julia's back!" Nicole cries. "The police found her!"

"Pretty sure Spider-Man helped," Kirsten adds, giving Peter some space.

(oh, if only they knew who they were talking to —)

"Can't forget Iron Man," Nicole sings.

Peter can't help but laugh to himself at how crazy his double life is. He's glad they recognize his mentor's help. He certainly couldn't have helped Julia without it. But he's not the only to acknowledge it.

Gabrielle groans. "Of course," she scoffs, gesturing to the TV in the hall, "Stark Industries is hosting a press release. He wants all the glory for himself."

Kirsten steps away to watch the news. "Or he's hiding something."

The four of them slowly make their way to the crowd of students gathered around the TV. Peter stares up at Pepper standing behind a pulpit surrounded by hoards of microphones.

"We understand this is a delicate situation," she continues, "and the investigation is still ongoing. Stark Industries continues to monitor the situation and plans to aid law enforcement in any way possible. The importance is not the crime syndicates at large but the safety of Queens' very own citizens. We will now open the floor to questions."

Reporters hurl their questions at Pepper from every direction —

"What happened?"

"The report wasn't specific — "

"Is Queen's Golden Girl safe?"

"Is Queens safe?"

Peter swallows thickly. Something heavy lands in his stomach, something drags him down to the depths of his worries, and it isn't the backpack on his shoulders.

"Hey, you interned there."

Peter snaps out his thoughts and looks over at Nicole. "Hm?"

"What's he like?" She asks.

"What did you even do at your internship?" Kirsten adds. "You never talk about it."

Peter looks between the three girls staring at him and chuckles nervously. "Why is the earth round? Why does the sun come up every morning? What do I do at the Stark internship? These are just some questions we're not supposed to know the answers to."

He glances at Pepper on the TV handling questions about Julia and he looks back at Julia's friends standing across from him and it's all a little too much.

Gabrielle blinks. "What?"

"I, uh, I gotta go," he lamely explains, "somewhere… Not here. Bye." He turns on his heel and runs down the hall.

"He is literally so weird."

"I think he's sweet."

"Shut up, Nicole! That's Julia's man."

And although it's a lot to deal with, Peter smiles. He gets to deal with it all with Julia.

{ Julia }

Julia places a hand on the banister as she watches Peter hurry off with May. He looks back at her one last time before stepping out of view —

I'll be back soon —

She smiles a little.

"Are you okay?"

Julia looks at her dad slowly approaching.

"I'm not sure I know what okay is anymore," she replies. A slight laugh escapes her lips but Julia knows it's to keep her from crying.

"Jules," her father says, but he stops himself as hesitancy creeps into his thoughts. His mind runs rampant with questions and Julia realizes just how difficult this is for him.

"I don't want to rush you or force you to talk about things if you're not ready but I need to know — "

"It's okay," she tells him, reluctance crawling up her own neck. "I… know you have a lot of questions."

She considers turning on the Inhibitor but he looks at her, concern etched into his kind features, and he's just her dad. He's her father and he deserves to know everything.

"And part of the reason I know," she explains, "is because I'm telepathic. More than that, I… I do what Peter does."

She looks at him with a furrowed brow. "You know about that, right?"

"That he's Spider-Man?"

She nods.

"Yeah," he scoffs. "Kind of hard to miss when he was standing there in the red spandex."

Julia breathes a laugh. "Right. Well, I was helping him and the bad guys we were after went after me. There was nothing he could do about it, it's not his fault…"

Julia's voice trails off as she thinks back on the past two weeks and how if it's anyone's fault it's hers.

"Sometimes bad things just happen," her father says.

"And sometimes you're the one who lets the bad things happen."

"And sometimes you're the one who makes it better."

Julia looks up at him.

"It doesn't matter what action comes upon you, it only matters — "

"What action you take," she finishes with a sigh.

"That's right. What you do has power. Everyone has that power in them."

Julia leans against the glass banister looking out over the entrance to the Avengers' Campus. "That's a lot of agency to give people," she thinks aloud.

Her father shrugs. "People can surprise you. You're never going to know what's right and wrong, good or bad, but this?"

He taps her chest, right over her heart.

She swats his hand away with a laugh. Doctors are way too good at anatomy.

"This knows," he chuckles. "If you follow that, that could never be wrong."

He leans against the railing with her and she leans her head on his shoulder. "Thank you," she whispers.

He kisses her head and it is the most at peace Julia's felt in a month.

But even as she grows comfortable being by his side again, she feels him slipping away from her.

"I better get going," he says, timidity entering his thoughts.

Julia stands upright and watches him move toward the stairs in his scrubs. "You really can't take off one day?"

"Sorry, kiddo, but with Forest Hills shut down, it's kind of an all hands on deck situation."

"I'm going with you," she says, and bounds down the few stairs to him.

"No, you're staying here."

"Dad, it's not safe with Manfredi and Marshall still out there."

"And what about you?"

"What do you mean, what about me? Did you not just hear me tell you I'm the girl version of Spider-Man but better?"

"Your dad's right," Tony calls out.

Julia clenches her fists and turns to the billionaire sauntering over to them.

"Not that I'm saying you're not right but your dad is also right. The safest place for you is here and the safest thing for your father to do is continue his routine."

Julia stares at him. "So I go from one prison to another?"

"It's not a prison," he emphasizes and Julia rolls her eyes at his lie. "You're free to leave anytime so long as you're accompanied by a member of staff. It's called checks and balances. We can't have people disappearing again."

Julia shakes her head. She should be out there, she should be doing something to help.

"Hey." Her dad places a hand on her shoulder. "I'll see you after work, okay? Maybe later we can…"

Julia wishes he doesn't end that sentence —

"We can go see your mom."

Frustration surges through her like lightning —

Julia jerks her shoulder out from under him.

"Is that supposed to be a comfort?"

She pushes past him and Tony further up the stairs and storms deeper into the compound. Lights flicker as she passes by and that white hot rage burns within her —

"And I wish they would just STOP!" She screams down the hall.

The lights burst with a pop —

And glass rains —

And darkness blankets the corridor.

Julia hangs her head and presses the palms of her hands into her eyes to keep from crying. She pushes back her hair, shoves her hands into her pockets before she shoves them through a wall, and just keeps walking.

She walks and walks past dormitories, kitchens, lounges, conference rooms, and most of them are empty with Captain America and crew in hiding.

News streams along a glass panel in a conference room and Julia recognizes Pepper standing at a podium.

"We understand this is a delicate situation, and the investigation is still ongoing," the business mogul states.

Julia comes round to the other side of the screen and turns up the volume.

"Stark Industries continues to monitor the situation and plans to aid law enforcement in any way possible. The importance is not the crime syndicates at large but the safety of Queens' very own citizens. We will now open the floor to questions."

Cameras flash and hoards of voices bomboard Pepper.

"The report wasn't specific — "

"What happened?"

"Is Queen's Golden Girl safe?"

"Is Queens safe?"

Julia watches Pepper handle questions one at a time. She doesn't know how she can answer their questions when Julia barely knows herself.

How could she have let this happen?

How could she have allowed her pain and brokenness to be exploited for someone else's gain? And Simon's of all people?

Is Julia safe?

Or did she put them all in danger because she's in danger?

Or is the danger herself?

The screen cracks —

A streak of energy spikes across the glass and shatters the image.

Julia stares at the broken glass and clenches her fists tight and walks away.

Back at The Commission, after saving Peter from that beam, she walked away because it was too much. She could do anything else — She could do everything Manfredi wanted, she could steal chemicals, fight for her life, fight Tony Stark himself — but she couldn't face him.

And now Manfredi and Marshall got away, again, and she let them walk.

It will not happen again.

Julia navigates the compound to another open room filled with screens.

"Computer?" She asks into the air.

The screen illuminates to life. "Yes, Julia?"

"Pull up everything you have on Silvio Manfredi."

"Retrieving files Manfredi comma Silvio. And please, call me Friday."

Julia's mouth curves at a smile as the AI works to fulfill her request like a friend would. She misses them, and knows they miss her too. "Thanks, Friday."

She watches as Friday processes the command and displays the requested information, but it isn't a lot. Files and images fill the screen and Julia pulls forward a series of newspaper articles and swipes through them.

"This is all S.H.I.E.L.D has?" She asks.

"Sorry, darlin'. He was on their radar, but never posed a threat. And he evades police every time a warrant is called for his arrest."

"Yeah, that's because he's paying them. What about Val Cooper?"

"Accessing."

Julia cycles through pictures provided by Alias Investigations.

"No records found."

"Curt Connors."

"No records found."

"Access FBI databanks. Retrieve whatever information you can."

"Running encryption."

Julia swipes the folder of images aside and pulls forward police records detailing his past in Sicily, but she knew all of this already.

"This will take a wee bit of time. There is an S.S.R. file involving Silvio's son, Joseph Manfredi, that might be of interest."

Julia looks up at the AI. "And you didn't think to lead with that? Show me."

A string of digits roll across the screen and a filing cabinet drawer pops open in the corner. Julia makes her way over to it, rifles through the old folders, and pulls the file.

"What's so important about you, Mr. Joseph, that you're not digitized?" She blows the dust from the cover and reads through the documents. Some of it is redacted and Julia reads the name listed on the report.

"Agent Carter?" She says.

Julia lowers the file.

"How do I know that name? Friday?"

"Agent Margaret 'Peggy' Carter of the S.S.R, founder of S.H.I.E.L.D, and exquisite sense of fashionability."

"Well, you can't argue with that," she mutters, reading the file again. "Hey, wasn't she…?"

"Agent Carter was involved in Project Rebirth. She rescued Abraham Erskine from Johann Schmidt and the success of her mission enabled the project's development."

Julia looks up. "Steve wouldn't exist without her?"

Friday is slow to respond. Julia might even think she's hesitant.

"That's one way of putting it."

Julia flicks through the information of Silvio's son, Joseph, and the case involving Whitney Frost and Zero Matter as well as a dozen other run-ins over the course of ten years, but there's nothing special really about him. Except for the fact that Silvio never mentioned him, only Lucrezia.

Tony —

Thank you —

Julia looks up from the file, hearing Stephen, and smiles. The doctor would never openly admit his gratitude for his rescue but as she hears Tony, glad to see him in one piece, she knows he would never say it either.

She scoffs. "Idiots."

Julia reads through another page detailing Joseph's background and grows bored of his Maggia life and finds herself drifting toward Agent Carter. She digs more files out on Peggy and Steve and Hydra and Howard and Tony and Ultron and —

There's a knock on the glass.

"Feisty pants?"

"Go away," Julia sings, flipping to another page of the Sokovia accounts.

"Okay," Tony says. "Want a grilled cheese with that solitude?"

Julia glares at him from the corner of her eye and returns to reading. "Yes, please," she mumbles.

"Tomato basil soup? Pep's making it."

"Same answer."

"Okay, then you have to come out and get it."

Julia lowers the file and stares at him.

"I'm not your butler. That was Vision's job, but he's not here anymore." Tony beckons her out of the room. "C'mon."

She groans and slaps the file shut, pushes herself to her feet, and follows the Avenger to a kitchen in their personal quarters.

Pepper serves up a few bowls and Tony takes one from her in exchange for a kiss. Julia quickly looks away.

( Peter — )

( hurry up — )

She glances at the clock.

Holy shit —

It is already time for lunch. It shouldn't be much longer before school is out and she can be with him again, and she will be with him again.

She takes a breath, finding comfort in the thought — no, the fact — and exhales her impatience.

Pepper ladles her a bowl of soup and Julia takes it sheepishly. "Thank you," she says.

Pepper genuinely smiles, light illuminating her features. "You're so welcome," she sings, glancing, more like glaring at Tony. "I'm glad someone around here has manners."

Julia looks over at Tony already sitting at the table slurping soup and dipping his grilled cheese into it with sauce smudged in the corner of his mouth.

"Wha?" He asks.

Pepper shakes her head with a sigh, and Julia breathes a laugh as she joins him at the table.

"Not just for this," Julia adds, setting down her meal, "but for the, uh… You know… Not turning me in… thing."

"As of yet, there's no connection between you and Arachne," Pepper explains, joining them at the table with her own dish. "Besides, Mr. Thompson said you tried to negotiate prior to…"

Guilt trickles into Julia's stomach. "Aggressive negotiations?" She finishes.

Tony humphs a laugh.

"He could tell you didn't want to do what you did," Pepper assures.

"But I still did it."

Tony's spoon clatters to his bowl, and Julia doesn't even flinch at the sound. Maybe she's used to creating messes, maybe she's used to being the cause behind them, that it doesn't phase her. She stares at the food on her plate and has no desire to eat.

"I'll be upstairs," she mumbles, pushing away from the table, and walks out of the kitchen.

"You're not gonna…?" Tony voices.

"Not hungry."

She is hungry, but it's the kind of hunger food can't satisfy. And even if it was, she wants to have a meal with her dad, her parents. She wants to be with her family, be home with Peter, May, Christine —

Tony and Pepper aren't even her parents and pretending that everything is fine isn't helping because she is nowhere closer to finding Manfredi and Marshall than she was when she was living under their noses. She knew so little about them when she should have been using them like they used her.

Julia marches through the compound and pushes open the lab door. She wanders the cutting edge tech right at her fingertips and unlatches the panel on her suit. A connector cable sits on the counter and she plugs in the small adaptor to her arm.

"Friday?"

"Still running encryption, Miss."

"That's fine." Julia pulls on her mask. "Pull up my display, map visuals."

"Initializing."

An enlarged version of Julia's vision appears before her and she pulls off her mask. She hates the business of her display constantly bombarding her with thermal imaging, records on strangers, bank statements, their latest Uber rating, it's all useless. The suit should read her like how she reads everyone else.

"No," she says, deleting contents by dragging them across the air into a holographic bin. "No. No. No."

Glad she likes the lab —

Julia hears Tony open the door and step inside.

She manipulates the display, programming it to her taste, and Tony leans against the counter watching her work.

"Manfredi make this?" He asks. Tony grabs the fabric at her wrist and pulls. It snaps into place but doesn't hurt her skin. He hums impressed.

She punches him.

"The rigidity to flexibility ratio is sufficiently adequate," he states.

"It's a polyester-spandex with electrode reducing embeds, it curbs my static emission."

Julia hears question marks going off inside his head, and then understanding.

"Well, I'm glad they were keeping your heart beating so you didn't die when you touched metal."

She smiles. Par of her wonders if they did it on purpose.

"And what's with this display? They gave you a swing pattern?"

Julia drags the swing pattern file into the trash. "They didn't know what to expect when I first started, but I didn't use it much. Only for certain locations."

Pain surges through Tony, not just the idea of pain, but pain itself as he looks at her. Memories of a dark cave and bleary eyes fill his memory.

"And that?" He asks, looking at her neck. "Do you use that?"

She shakes her head. She wants to use it, but it hurts too much. She can't turn it on, she can't turn it off, she can't turn off the endless stream of thoughts. She just is.

"Strange says you're telepathic. Literally now instead of intrinsically as you were before. You know, he owes you his life."

"Call it even." Julia hops off the counter, yanking the cord from her suit.

"Kid, I know you're frustrated about what went down — "

Anger surges —

And the lights surge —

And the power pops again and plunges them into darkness.

Julia presses her lips into a thin line.

"Okay," Tony draws out, hesitantly looking overhead. "Add electron transference resistant light bulbs on today's inventive agenda, but you gotta get past it. What's done is done."

"Is that what you tell yourself when you screw up?" Julia taps the air once and pulls up the records on Tony's mishap with Ultron. "I read the file. Ultron was your mess and you cleaned it up."

Julia taps the air twice and dozens of articles on the fire and destruction in industrial city all tied to Arachne and Spider-Man and Iron Man flood the space between them.

"This is my mess and someone else had to step in. Little different, don't you think?" Julia steps past him.

Kid —

Don't be like this —

"And don't tell me I can't change it," she spits, spinning around to him. "I know I can't. I tried to change time, that's what got me in this mess in the first place."

"What got you in this mess was some creep with literally too much time on his hands wanting to get back at Peter. What's this really about?"

Julia looks at him and the articles of death and destruction hanging in the air above them. "I wanted to study medicine so I could save people like my mom." Her voice shakes. "So I could become like my dad, like Stephen… I never wanted to hurt anybody." She looks down at her hands. "But The Commission could have helped a lot of people."

"You did help a lot of people," Tony says. "You saved millions of people."

"Heroes are supposed to save everyone. Every one. It's in the word."

"And the ones we lose are just as important as the ones we save. No one is more important than the other."

Julia rolls her eyes away from him.

He stands in front of her. "Are there people I would love to bring back? Yes. Hell yes. But I don't because I'm different and they would be too. You ever tried reheating leftovers? It's never the same."

Julia forces a smile. "Okay."

"You ever seen a zombie movie?"

"I got it." She moves to the door.

"Frankenstein?"

She opens the glass. "Thank you — "

"Never works out."

" — You're crazy, goodbye." She pulls the door shut between them and shakes her head, unable to help the scoff of a laugh passing her mouth, at the billionaire lecturing her on her own feelings.

But maybe he has a point.

Maybe.

{ Peter }

"I was supposed to have a room here. I would have been next to Vision." Peter looks out over the frozen river and white dusted trees surrounding the Avengers Compound. To think a view like this could have been his.

"What happened?" Julia asks.

"I turned it down."

"Why?"

"Didn't wanna be away from you." He glances at her; A view of Julia is all he needs. "And May," he quickly adds. "Obviously."

"Nice save."

"Thanks," he mutters, scratching the back of his head. Heat rises up his neck and embarrassment burns his ears.

( embarrassed? )

( we've kissed — )

"Your friends were asking about you," he says. Peter picks a smooth stone from their pile they collected and brought up to the roof.

"What'd you tell them?" She asks.

"The truth. That you needed rest." He throws the stone into the river. "Time to…" It lands in the water and is swallowed whole by the ice. "Bounce back."

"I don't think this is something you bounce back from…" Her voice is soft. Sad, even. Peter looks at her. The metal embed in her neck glimmers in the light of the setting sun. Questions bombard his head that he doesn't even know which one to ask first.

"I felt the same way after I got bit," he says, looking for a better rock.

Julia selects one from the pile and offers it to him. "Ask," she says. "I know you want to."

Peter takes the stone, his fingertips brushing against her palm, and loves the tingle spreading up his arm. He tosses the stone in the air.

"How'd it happen?" He winds his arm back. "What did they do?" The stone launches from his grasp and plunges into the water further than before.

"A series of injections comprised of spider venom and exotic plant extracts." The answer sounds rehearsed, and Peter eyes her warily. She smiles. "Which is just another bullshit way of saying ISO-37 which is more of that bullshit magic formula and they just pumped me full of it." She cracks a smile and Peter exhales a laugh. At least she can laugh about it.

( because now she's awesome — )

( she was awesome before too — )

( but now — )

( just stop — )

"I noticed you don't wear web-shooters," he tells her.

"So?"

"So…?" He asks, trying to elicit the question from her as if it wasn't obvious.

"Where do the webs come from?" She finishes.

"Yes!" Peter sits criss-crossed facing her, ready and eager and willing to listen, because if there is a way he doesn't have to wear web-shooters, no matter how elegantly designed, he wants in.

"Telemolecular manipulation," she says.

Questions rise within Peter, like, hundreds of questions and all he manages to ask is, "How?"

"How does the sun rise every morning? I don't know!" She laughs. "It just does. I just can. Doctor Conners thought it might be because of the car battery Marshall hooked up to me that when they did the procedure, it altered something in my brain. It's how I'm telepathic."

"That explains so much."

She frowns. "Sorry."

"No! Don't be! It's awesome. I just, I — I couldn't… sense you."

Julia smiles softly. "I didn't want you to. Other people like us who have that sixth sense, I can control it. Like on the rooftop, the night I was bleeding my guts out? I was kind of… bleeding my guts out and couldn't focus, so our energies were colliding all over the place and then you saw me and I panicked so I blocked you but you already sensed me so, it was kind of a wash."

Peter gapes at her. "Wow. You literally blocked someone in real life. That's… so cool. You can read minds too — How do you tell people apart?"

Julia laughs like she was expecting all of this, like she can hear all of this, and answers as easily and patiently as a teacher explaining calculus to a five year old. "You know how your handwriting is different from mine? Which is different from Ned's which is different from MJ's which is different from May's?"

"Uh-huh.

"Well, it's the same with voices. Your mind's voice. It's an extension of you, a signature unmistakably and undeniably you. And it's not just thoughts, it's emotions, memories. It's what you said, how you felt…"

Peter starts to think of all that's happened lately, all he's felt lately. And it's a lot.

"Part of telepathy," she says, "is empathy."

Peter looks at her and the light hits her glowing face, illuminating her already bright eyes, a breeze shifting her hair. She laughs a little, her dark lashes fluttering down as she adjusts her beanie.

"I wish I could read you." Peter brings his knees to his chest. "You've always been able to read me," he says, then looks at the metal in her neck and reaches a hand to it, "even before this."

She swats away his hand with a smile. "You don't need this to read me."

Julia's smile falters and Peter know's something's wrong. He doesn't touch the plate of metal, looking more and more like an electrical interface, and instead brushes her hair past her shoulder for a better look. The skin around the metal is stretched and scarred.

( she heals fast like him — )

( good — )

"Does it hurt?" He asks.

She nods.

He lets her hair fall. "I'm sorry."

She nods again.

"And the thing with the lights? When they went…?" Peter mimics an explosion and she cracks a smile. He'd do anything for that smile.

"That was me," she admits, "but that was new. That hasn't happened before."

"Well, maybe you can do it again. It's absorbing and transferring electrons, it's not any different than manipulating molecules."

Julia scoffs, affronted. "I'm not Scarlet Witch, okay? I can't pick up crap and move it."

Now Peter's affronted. "Why not?! You create webs out of thin air! You draw power from the air around you and convert it into electricity! You can do anything, Julia."

( an idea pops into his head — )

( she can be Scarlet Witch — )

( she can be better than Scarlet Witch — )

"And Wanda can help you," he says.

Julia's brow furrows. "What?"

"I need to call Captain Rogers." Peter springs to his feet and somersaults off the edge of the roof to the lower level.

"What?!" Julia shouts. "Peter!"

He looks up at her still on the roof and waves for her to climb. "C'mon!" Peter clambers down to the main level and Julia glides to the ground, a web evaporating from within her grasp, and steps in stride with him marching towards the Compound doors.

"You're amazing," he says.

She tosses her hair over her shoulder. "I know."