Incognito

The pair walked down the streets of New York, hooded, disguised. Walking amongst all the people passing by on the streets, no one else knew who they were and what situation they were in. Just the state of oblivion in which Peter knew nothing about a single person who passed by felt more startling than it once did. The enemy was almost invisible, just like them. The world of espionage was a lot scarier than he once presumed.

"So it's obvious now that HYDRA has no interest in ignoring SHIELD's old files anymore," said Natasha. "We thought it was only a slight possibility of them wanting to take action, but I guess we were wrong."

"But what makes them think I'm a threat to them at all?" Peter wondered.

"Because they know you've crossed paths with SHIELD. They know you've talked to us. SHIELD was their enemy. Plus they know what you're capable of."

"So just one talk with SHIELD and I'm automatically on their kill list?"

"Basically."

Natasha looked around briefly to make sure there was no one suspicious possibly watching or following them.

"We can't just hide out while HYDRA keeps plotting against us," Peter said. "We need to do something." Natasha's reaction surprised Peter, as she looked quite surprised by his suggestion as well.

She looked at him and then straight ahead again. They noticed a newspaper stand. One of them mentioned something about Spider-Man. It talked about how he hasn't been showing up on at the scenes lately, and that people were getting worried. But the truth was that Peter had bigger things to clean up this time around. He stared at the paper for a while, and then moved forward.

"Well . . . we sure better do something," Natasha commented.

After a few minutes of silence and the two of them walking to elsewhere, Natasha spoke up again on Peter's idea.

"What did you have in mind?" she questioned.

"About what?" Peter responded.

"About your plan."

"I never said I had a plan. I'm just saying we should do something."

"And you had no idea what a good start might be?"

"Well I'm not an expert at this kind of stuff like you are," Peter argued.

Natasha smiled a little. "We'll think of something. I always do anyway."

The two of them found themselves checking into a hotel, of all places. Peter had no clue why Natasha did so, but he didn't argue against it either. She said she would think of something, but he guessed she needed a proper place to plan. The hotel wasn't expensive or anything. It was cheap, but it looked decent enough. Either way, Peter didn't really care about that. He was just trying to figure out why they were here.

After they checked in, the two made their way up the steps to their room. Natasha pulled out the electronic key, and swiped it through. They stepped inside, instantly noticing that same hotel scent. It didn't smell bad necessarily, but it obviously stood out. There were two beds. Peter closed the door behind them.

Natasha went over to the nightstand next to the bed she claimed, and sat the key down. Taking a seat on the bed, she removed her jacket, already tired of wearing it so much.

"Hotels are a funny thing," she said. "You have absolutely no idea what's going on behind every door."

Natasha spoke from her own experience as a spy traveling across the world for different missions, nearly all of which involved checking into a hotel of some sort. Peter would have agreed with her, but he was still confused as to why they were here.

"Romanoff, why are we here?" he asked. Once again, he was alone with just her, and it made him uncomfortable. The first time it was at her place, but at least they were somewhere he felt she had no domain over.

"Well, I thought about it, as we were walking outside, potentially exposing ourselves to the enemy," she started. "First, we needed a place to sit down; or rather I did because I need to think this through. Old Cathryn Jones still has lots of money in the bank, so a decent hotel wasn't a bad choice.

"Second, at this point, HYDRA may possibly know my fake identity as Cathryn Jones by now, as they've been watching me closely – for a while now, for all I know – and they may also be trying track me down by hacking into databases of all types of hotels, stores, and whatnot throughout the city, searching for recent places I might possibly have been. I realized that since we can't get to HYDRA, we need to get them to come to us. I know that sounds crazy, but I'll explain in a bit.

"And third, please, you can call me Natasha. I really don't care."

Peter would have found the humor in that last part more, but he was more intrigued by her plan than anything. It wasn't exactly a bad idea, but it was risky, that was for sure.

"I assure you, there's a method to my madness," Natasha said again.

"How are you sure they're going to come?" Peter asked.

"I'm not," Natasha answered, as she got up and went into the bathroom, checking herself in the mirror, fixing her hair. "But like you said, we can't just do nothing. And even if they don't, it's better than being out there."

Peter thought about the stage again. The stage was New York City. He was an actor. He had to keep playing his part. The audience was watching. HYDRA was still watching. But now he was backstage. Whatever he said, it wouldn't be heard. But he had to keep his volume low. The audience couldn't see him, though they would find where he is eventually.

He pulled out his phone and checked the time. It was 12:45 p.m. The day felt slow. He hoped that was a good thing, so that way this whole thing could be taken care of before he can go back home. He worried about Aunt May. He hoped she was safe.

Natasha came back from the bathroom and sat back down on her bed, sitting across from him sitting on his bed. They were about five feet apart. That was good enough for Peter.

"Where did Cathryn Jones come from?" Peter asked out of curiosity.

Natasha smiled and laughed a little. "Cathryn Jones. She was . . . a real person," she assured. "But she was also . . . a real bitch."

Peter raised his brow at this. He never expected to hear such a word slip out of her mouth. It kept getting more interesting to see her true side unravel more than her putting on her professional act she tended to show.

"Let's just say she was already destined to have no future," Natasha continued. "She was a privileged spoiled brat who had parents with no discipline whatsoever. They had it coming when their daughter starting acting a mess. So I found her to be the perfect victim."

For some reason it sounded kind of creepy to Peter for her to use the word 'victim' to suit the situation.

"I assume this isn't the first time you've stolen an identity?" Peter guessed.

"Actually it is," Natasha replied. "I would've used the aliases SHIELD had given me before, but I blew all of my covers after it fell apart. That was totally on me, but it was for a better cause. I don't expect to last too long with the cover I have now, since one, it's only a matter of time until someone catches me for identity theft, and two, it's only a matter of time until HYDRA may possibly catch me hiding out here."

"Does it suck to not be able to just walk around with your real name?" Peter asked.

Natasha was silent for a brief moment. "Sometimes. Sometimes it would be nice to not have to worry about someone out to get you every second. That's the only way I know how to live, though. I'm kind of used to it now."

For the second time since they've known each other, Peter actually felt some sort of sympathy for her. It wasn't easy alone trying to live a multiple lives as a nephew, a friend, a student, and a vigilante, but to not have the decency to be honest with both him and others sounded depressing. To be forced to lie but take it a step further seemed just wrong. He couldn't imagine ever getting used to it. But Natasha only did what she had to in order to survive. Peter chose this life. No one asked him to do it. No one told him to do it. And now, he knew for sure that he was glad to not choose SHIELD when he had the chance.

"I don't think I could handle that. Hiding under a bunch of other names . . . it just doesn't sound right," Peter said.

". . . In the world of espionage, nothing seems right or wrong," said Natasha. "If you wanna last in this field, you have to think neutral. For many, that's impossible."

"It is for me."

"And that's okay. At least no one actually knows you're Spider-Man. Now almost everyone knows who I am. What I am."

"You still don't feel honored."

"Why should I? I've done nothing to deserve it."

"You saved lives."

Natasha shook her head. "To the people, I'm a traitor first, and a hero second. No matter what I do, I'm never going to gain the same respect Spider-Man has. It's that simple."

Peter thought for a moment. "Sometimes it's not about what other people think. You just have to know who you are. And accept that, even if they can't. I know I'm always going to be the nerd, and . . . oh well, that's just me."

"And I'm always going to be the bitch," said Natasha.

"No – I mean, I guess if that's what you want to call yourself, I-

Natasha laughed a bit. "Okay, maybe not that, but . . . I see your point."

There was a brief silence between them.

"Who would've guessed that I'd be taking advice from a teenager on how to fit in?" she teased.

Peter actually smiled.