Of The Twilight Hours

Sequel to 'Midnight is Meant to Be'

Disclaimer: I own none of Marvel/Stan Lee's creations, only the scenario and original characters in this story.

Sniff Sniff: So far no complaints besides you SMA, but I understand what your saying, I will try to cater for your tastes in another fic, bit of a challenge for myself but as for this one I'd freak if it stopped being so 'reflective' mid story! I meant chips as in potato chips, but I am English, trying to talk American and failing miserably!

Swinging away as fast as his arms would carry him, Peter only stopped a quarter hour after leaving that penthouse, that room, that girl.

Hitting the roof with a harsh thud, he skidded to a stop that left his toes dangling over the edge of the opposite side. Standing on the roof, inches from falling, his mind was somewhere else, looking down at the pavement as night started to take its hold, the streetlights flickered to live, their bulbs sparking his eyes, blinding him, he blinked, and upon opening he found he could think again, but too many thoughts then came at once.

"She's breaking up with John?" Shock "She's single" Scenarios "She was trying it on with Spiderman!" Jealousy, Disgust "Damn she looked hot" She always did.

"What was I doing in there?" he spoke only a rough low tone, but it was the sound of his own voice that broke his thought loop, the question it asked of him giving a suitable place to start answering, to start sorting his head out.

I, she said she had something to show me. What the hell are you doing, why would anything she has interest you? She doesn't know your Peter, you had no choice, and Spiderman can't hate her just because you do! I don't hate her, but I don't believe her do I? For all I know she could be just moving out and trying to double time John, just like she was with me. But she seemed so genuine, and I never did tell her about John being a cheat, should I have?

Ah crap, I still can't make sense of this. I mean all she did was tell me she is dumping John, and I didn't even tell her he was a cheat. She just offered Spiderman food, a sort of reciprocation, which was simple, no more, no less a problem than that. Was it even a problem? Yes it was, because people had always tried to talk to him, to make Spiderman a creature of the media, a social animal, Peter had always fled, but not tonight. Just like school, she had captivated him, her choice of what she said, what she didn't how, when and why. Everything about her stole his will, and he felt almost powerless, but that was only because he couldn't be honest with her, he was somebody else. Just like Mary Jane had told him once, something she had said to him that meant so much to him.

"I've always had to act, with everybody I have to be somebody else, party girl MJ or something, depends who expects what from me, but with you its different. I can be myself with you, you don't expect anything, I can just be…me"

Now he knew how she felt, it was hard having to act out a persona in public, trying to convince people your something your not twenty four seven. He had only just had a small taster of it, and right then, Peter knew he was scared. Stood in the darkening sky, he knew that for the first time in almost a year he didn't hate Mary Jane Watson, and that lack of simple anger towards her left a void he wasn't prepared to venture into.

Felicia stood in her apartment, the release of a yawn was finally allowed now her article was finished. Unbuttoning her shirt she threw it onto her pile of clothes in the corner sat on the side of her bed and started to unlace her boots. After being in the office for so long the silence felt unwelcome on ears and after a quick groping session of her bed she found the TV remote underneath the messy sheets, flicking on the box it was just as quickly discarded. As the second piece of footwear hit the floor Felicia pushed herself off the bed, despite her being tired she still had to go out and find Peter, he was out there on patrol, and she really wanted to see him.

He wouldn't be coming back any time soon, and looking at her cat suit hung from her wardrobe handle she knew it would take awhile to find him. Even so a shower was a necessary post work treat, and it wouldn't be given up no matter what. Stripping off in front of the bathroom mirror she looked at her own face, she looked relatively normal. Her hair was tied back, make up very light but evident, and she was just back from work, having a quick shower before going out for the night with her guy. True it wasn't exactly the kind of night out most girls had with their boyfriends, but it was special to her, it was where she could see Peter at his most vibrant, when he came to life with his witty comments and acrobatic flare. This was where she loved him the most.

During the day Peter was either in the studio taking photographs or out in the field, snapping various things for his boss, pretty much what he used to do at the Bugle, minus the expensive studio they had given him to work in. After he came back there was often no longer than 5 or 10 minutes before he was out the window he only really gave himself time off when he came to her apartment, and that was really only because she often took longer to prepare. Letting her hair fall loose around her face Felicia wiped her make up from her face and walked into her large shower, shutting the door behind her, shutting out the world. The couple of minutes under the scrutiny of the scorching water was when her normal life ended, the cold blast of air when she stepped out was when she emerged from the steam as The Black Cat.

Mary Jane seemingly had reached the peak of the night all of 20 minutes ago, now on the other side she was stuck wondering what exactly to do now? She had just received a text from John saying he was staying at his parents tonight, and so she was free to do whatever she wanted, only problem was that nothing could really top having coffee with her superhero stalker. With opening night in two days she knew the coming daylight hours would be packed with rehearsals, so maybe going to bed was a good idea? Wasn't quite sleepy yet, wait. The bulb in her head blinked to life as she saw one of her few possessions in the penthouse on the shelf across from the sofa she was sat on the arm of. Walking over she picked up the delicate silver frame, looking with a warm smile at a photograph of herself, Peter and Aunt May stood just outside Aunt Mays house in Queens. It was a warm summer day, before Peter's Uncle Ben had been killed; it was him behind the camera making them all laugh. This photo was one of the only things she actually owned that was in this penthouse, the rest of her possessions being in storage at her Aunt Anna's place.

Despite her little superhero coffee break the next big event in MJ's life was the finishing with John, and that required some work to be done. The apartment was sorted, just needed to drop in the deposit tomorrow, then there was the obvious telling John he could go to hell, and then there was the moving out. The last and most crucial part involved moving all her stuff out, and in order to avoid coming back to rub his nose in it, the moving out would be done in one fatal move, at the climax of telling John it was over. So whilst he was out for the night Mary Jane decided to pack all of her things into her bags, ready for the eventual last walk out of the door.

Tomorrow would probably be the best time to do it, when John came back she would tell him it was over, stay at her Aunt Anna's for a few days until she could move into the apartment and then it would be opening week and she would be busy with the play and moving all stuff into her new home. Maybe she would actually get the guts up to call Peter too, she just needed to figure out what to say.

Stepping out from the burn of the water Felicia felt refreshed, cleansed. Drying herself roughly with a towel it was then wrapped around her as she ventured back into her main room. The TV was still humming its constant audio drawl, and as she sat to do her hair in front of the mirror it faded into coherent words, and then it gained her attention.

"pretty sure it wasn't. Police say that the deaths of the men more popularly known as Rhino and Shocker was due to unknown circumstances. We have reports that no physical evidence of foul play was found on either corpse, as if they just died suddenly with no explanation. Police are still treating their deaths as suspicious"

Felicia frowned, that was no help at all, she still didn't feel right about the whole situation. The reporter started to talk again.

"Anyway back to you Diane." The studio anchors Diane Simmons and Tom Tucker appeared on screen, Tom opening his mouth just as Felicia's interest was beginning to wane. "Back to our main story tonight, Sergei Kravenoff the vicious Australian murderer escaped today after 10 months of his life sentence in a maximum security prison. His whereabouts are currently unknown but he is suspected to be at large in the Manhattan area, anybody who sees a man resembling this image are warned that Kravenoff is considered to be armed and vary dangerous."

Felicia looked on in astonishment, how the hell did people keep breaking out of the same prison? This Sergei Kravenoff guy sounded like a nutball, and although she didn't know who he was, she had a hunch that Peter would. After doing her hair and adding her now trademark blood lipstick, Felicia stood in front of her balcony, just adding he mask to complete the transformation. The Black Cat was now coming out to play, and as she launched out into the darkened sky of the city she was hoping to find Peter sooner rather than later, she had to warn him another psycho had managed to escape from that 'maximum security' prison, not only that buy she had a feeling that just like the last two escapees, that the Cat and the Spider would inevitably end up taking this guy on.

Shocker and Rhino were both pretty much retarded, but in a non-excusable way, but neither of them had really tried to kill anybody, except for when they had escaped the other night, when they seemingly had one thing in common, a blood lust for those who put them in prison. This new runner was already a famous murderer apparently, somebody like that was one person she didn't want to face alone, if at all.

Felicia had wanted to see Peter all day, and as soon as she found him she would let him in on the little reward she got for covering Mary Jane's play progress, two tickets for the opening night.

Hope you liked it, please let me know what you think! Anything you want to ask or burn my sorry English ass for?