Upon entering the building, Detective Lee promptly made her way to the D.A.'s office. Normally she would have to explain who she was here to see to someone in the front, but it was now past the end of the workday, so before she knew it, she found the door cracked open to the room she needed to be in. She delivered a few quick knocks to alert anyone on the inside to her presence before poking her head inside, where she was surprised to find both the D.A. and the Chief of Police.

"Come in," the D.A. instructed, "but leave the door cracked. We're waiting for one more person still."

Detective Lee did as she was instructed, slipping inside and shutting the door most of the way behind her before stepping further inside.

"Chief?" Detective Lee questioned; she'd only ever met the man a couple of times before, when he'd come to address her precinct. "What are you doing here? What is this about?"

"All your questions will be answered soon," the man replied, "but we're still waiting for one more person."

Now the detective was really curious. Who else could be in on this? What was going on?

Barely thirty seconds after this, the door opened again, and another woman came in, coming up beside Detective Lee.

"Detective, this is Karen Page," the D.A. explained. "She's the investigator for the defense in the Allan case."

"Oh, uh, nice to meet you," the detective responded, extending her hand for Karen to shake, which she reciprocated.

"Likewise."

With the pleasantries exchanged, both women turned back to face the D.A.

"Ladies, thank you both for coming," the D.A. spoke up. "First of all, I want to make something very clear to you: what we discuss tonight cannot get out to anyone. Frankly, the chief and I could both lose our jobs if word got out about this meeting, but we both believed that we had no other choice. All that to say, can we trust that you two will keep this discussion confidential?"

Both Detective Lee & Karen responded in the affirmative, though in the case of the former, this only raised even more questions in her mind, and she was beginning to become concerned.

"You both were asked here this evening because you all either are or at some point were involved in an investigative capacity in the Allen case," the chief explained. "Detective, I understand that your captain removed you from the case in the wake of an attempt on your life, is that correct?"

Detective Lee had to fight from swallowing or otherwise even showing any of her frustration towards the situation as she responded.

"Yes."

"Well, consider yourself back on it in a semi-official capacity," he assured her.

The detective could feel her eyes widen.

"Thank you," she replied, "but why semi-official, if I may ask?"

"The chief and I have reason to believe that this case is being tampered with," the D.A. replied. "We don't have any definitive grounds for any accusations yet, but we have some things that we are looking into, and that's where both of you can help us."

"What do you mean?" Karen asked.

"For starters, I think we need to look more into the brother," the D.A. explained. "From what I've seen, his statements about his past check out, and but the circumstances surrounding how he came to our side of things was not exactly normal. Maybe it's nothing, but if there is something there, we need to find out what."

"And detective, there's a person of interest that I think might be trying to affect things from the outside of this case," the chief explained.

"Who?" Detective Lee questioned.

"His name is L. Thompson Lincoln," the chief answered. "He runs various foundations and businesses with his name in the background."

At that point, the detective felt at a crossroads. Should she tell the chief about her involvement with Spider-Man, and how he'd already pointed her in Lincoln's direction?

"Detective, is there something you want to say?" the chief questioned, and she chastised herself for not keeping her micro-expressions in check.

"Actually chief, I have already been looking into him somewhat even before this case started," she explained.

"Really?" the chief questioned, surprise written on his face. "May I ask what or who pointed you towards him? It might be pertinent to this case."

Detective Lee hesitated momentarily before getting the hyphenated word out.

"Spider-Man."

"Spider-Man?" the chief once again questioned; there was no anger in his tone, just curiosity. "Did he say how he caught on to Lincoln?"

"No," the detective answered.

"I think I know," the D.A. said, drawing the attention of everyone in the room. "When my husband... when he was taken over by that creature, he began obsessively looking into who might be the new crime lord of the city's underworld. I found a bunch of research in his office in our house, but I never looked at it; it was just too much for me at the time. Anyway, I ended up giving it all to someone who I knew could get it to Spider-Man. My guess is that Eddie's research led him to Lincoln."

Detective Lee then observed as the chief glanced off to the side contemplatively before eyeing her again.

"Detective, what does your gut tell you?" he asked. "Do you believe that you can trust Spider-Man?"

"Yes sir," she replied without hesitation.

"Then work with him, and speak to no one else about this," the chief instructed. "I'll do what I can on my end, but if you get caught and we still don't have anything, I can't help you."

"Understood sir," she replied.

"I still don't understand," Karen said. "I mean, I'm glad that we all seem to be on the same page despite being on opposite sides of this case, but why are you all helping us?"

"Because neither of us believe that justice is going to come out of this trial unless we find out the real truth," the D.A. answered. "I recognize the unusual nature of this meeting, but at the end of the day, we all want the same thing, and the chief and I both believe that this is how we get it."

Peter continued to fiddle with his new equipment, but really, he knew that he was simply stalling. While there were certainly smaller details that he was getting done as preparations were made for his first round of baseline testing, he'd really come to the lab with the intent to order some of the necessary supplies he still required to conduct them in the first place. Instead, something had held him back, and that something was Molten Man.

Ever since the trial had finished, he'd been pondering a lot of things, but one thing Peter had consistently dwelt on was the fact that Liz's brother's fiery persona would likely return. When he did, something in his brain feared that the circumstances would be as potentially catastrophic as ever, especially as Matt was likely to grill him on the stand tomorrow, and he would need to be prepared for when it did. That would include taking his wife's advice and concocting a new web formula that was more resistant to flames. Peter had finally found the compounds he believed were necessary for their creation, but they were expensive, and he would need the environment of the lab to make them instead of in his and M.J.'s apartment.

At the same time, Robbie and others had allotted these resources specifically to aid him in his work on finding a cure for paralysis, so that's how he should use it, right? He could just use his own money for the new web fluid, but with so much uncertainty right now surrounding the trial and how its outcome would affect M.J.'s business, he was hesitant to do that as well. They were in a better financial position than he'd been in his whole life, but they still hadn't saved a ton of money, plus there was always the possibility that someone would want to sue the Madeline's stores for the money Liz "scammed" off them, and who knew how that would turn out.

Wrapping up his latest menial task, Peter walked back over to his desk, glancing down at the picture he'd placed on it of his aunt and uncle. He took it in his hand, eyeing Ben especially. Here was the man who had taught him about responsibility, his last words even being about how one had a moral obligation to do a good thing for someone... but what was the good thing here? Was it focusing on his work as a scientist, as Peter Parker, in developing a cure for something that plagued millions, or was it as Spider-Man by creating something that could keep a bad guy from killing innocent people?

Just for a moment, Peter shut his eyes as he allowed himself to revisit the pain of Ben's loss. He remembered the empty feeling, like little else in the world mattered when the only man he'd known as a father was taken away from him. He remembered how May had barely held it together for a long time as he handled so much the wrong way at first, the two of them having to work through a lot together before they could really move on. He then set the picture back down, his decision made as he got out his computer.

His work on paralysis would always continue, but right now, in this immediate moment, Spider-Man's needs had to take priority over Peter Parker's.

Matt continued fiddling with the small device in his hand, remaining at the side of his desk even as he heard Karen come back into the building.

"Hey, so I got a call from the D.A. earlier," she began, "and I... what's that?"

"It's a message Foggy left for me after he died," Matt explained. "I could never bring myself to listen to it though. I want to now, because I think, or at least I'm hoping that it might provide some clarity on things, but uh... I still haven't able to start it."

Karen walked up to him, her shoes clanging lightly against the floor until she was right beside him.

"What if we listen to it together?" she suggested, rubbing the back of his coat gently. He turned her way before taking a breath and hitting the button to play it.

"Hey buddy," Foggy's voice said, and already Matt was feeling the change in his heartbeat. "If you're listening to this, well, that means I've kicked the bucket, and, well, there are some things that I wanted to say that I'm not sure I'll ever be able to say in person."

Matt braced himself.

"First, I owe you an apology. A lot of those times I was out of sorts in the office and stuff, it was... well it was that I was jealous. You were always just so GOOD, Matt; you were always so much more natural in the courtroom than I was, and I envied that. I didn't want to take that away from you, but, at least in that way, I wanted to be you, and that was wrong. Hopefully after recording this, I can come to accept that we just have different skills as lawyers, and I can finally move on from this petty thing, because it makes me feel all gross inside."

Matt let out a huff of air; he could feel the light smile on his face. Something about that last part just sounded so much like his best friend.

"Second, you are and will always be the best friend that I could've ever had. You put up with so much; I mean, the day we met in college, I took you out to meet girls, hoping that your 'condition' would give us both some luck in that department. Man, we were both so immatu... no, no, it was just me; I can't even fake that. You were always the level-headed one between us, but you put up with my spontaneity and my ever present need to say or do just the stupidest things sometimes. I'm glad you stuck by me man. I wouldn't be who I am today without you."

Now Matt was starting to fight back tears. Foggy may have been everything that he just attributed to himself, but he was also perhaps the sincerest person he'd ever met. How those two qualities could coexist inside the same person, he would never know.

"Third, about... about your night life," the recording continued, Foggy's voice much more serious now. "I know I didn't react how you were hoping when I first found out, that is if you ever wanted me to find out, and I'm sorry for that. It just scared me, knowing you were risking getting yourself killed every night, not to mention that you were technically breaking the law we were both trying to defend every day. The more I thought about it though, the more I realized something that you obviously figured out well before me: that true justice sometimes requires going outside the law. You were doing what you believed to be right, and looking back, there was a lot of good that came out of it. There was a lot of bad too, but, I mean, you could say the same about our day jobs. Still, you kept fighting, and even if I didn't show it, I always respected you for that. While I'd prefer you not go jumping off rooftops every night, I mean it when I say that I hope you never give up. You're a hero, Matt, never forget that man."

That did it; Matt couldn't control himself anymore, quickly removing his glasses as he began to sob into his hand. Karen wrapped him in a hug, her head leaning against his as the two of them bared their souls before one another, the wound of their mutual friend's death having been reopened. However, said friend ended up having one more thing to say as the recording continued:

"Oh, and one more thing: if you and Karen don't get married, I'm going to come back and haunt you both. I don't know how, but I will. Seriously, you two are perfect for each other; I know it, you guys know it, so enough of this 'will they won't they' and just get on with it already! Okay, that's it; love you man."

Matt couldn't help but laugh, his and Karen's sobs both interrupted by one last happy memory. That was Foggy alright; even in the most sad or dire circumstances, the man just knew how to break the tension. After a moment, they settled down, the back-and-forth of emotions slowly beginning to settle.

"How did it feel?" Karen asked.

Matt sighed.

"Good; hard, but good," he answered. "Did he leave you one of these too?"

"Yeah," she affirmed.

"What did he say to you?" Matt asked.

"A lot of the same," Karen replied. "He told me to look out for you; he said that, whether you admit it or not, you need me."

Matt let out a huff.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome," Karen said. "So, what now?"

"Well," Matt began, "I believe we still have a case to win."

"I think I might have an idea of where to start with that," Karen explained.

After finishing the check-in process, an officer led Mary Jane to where Liz was being held. She still had no idea how receptive her best friend would be to her presence right now, but she felt she needed to make one last effort before the trial began again in a couple hours. Naturally, this meant that it was quite early, but she had a feeling Liz didn't sleep much that night anyway.

Finally coming to her friend's cell, the officer agreed to leave them be for a little bit, though he still stood close enough that he could keep an eye on things. As M.J. observed her friend, who was curled up in a fetal position on the floor of the tiny room, her heart broke. It was the first time she had seen where Liz was being kept, and it crushed her.

"Liz?" she spoke up, fighting to put her own emotions aside. The woman didn't move, not even flinching at the mention of her name. The angle she was sitting at hid her face just enough that M.J. couldn't tell what she was really feeling, and that killed her, but she carried on anyway.

"Look, I don't even know what to say. What happened yesterday... I can't imagine what you must be feeling. Before you go back out there today though, I just... I just want you to know that I'm still by your side. I haven't given up on you, so please, don't give up either."

Liz still didn't respond initially, and Mary Jane contemplated cutting her visit short and walking away, but just as she'd started to shift, her friend finally spoke.

"I'm sorry."

M.J. turned back, narrowing her eyes in the direction of her friend.

"What?"

Liz finally turned and, getting to her feet, finally stepped out of the shadows. The tear streaks on her cheeks didn't go unnoticed by M.J; it looked as though the woman had been crying all night along, and she couldn't blame her.

"When Mark first came to me, he said he was in trouble," Liz explained, her tone soft and weak. She could barely even look M.J. in the eye as she continued: "He said that he'd gotten in deep with the wrong people, and he owed a debt he couldn't repay. He just said that he wanted me to pay it, so I did. I thought... I thought that would be the end of it."

M.J. reached out, putting her hand over her friend's on the rail of the cell in the hopes of reassuring her. The gesture at least got Liz to look up at her properly for the first time, which was encouraging.

"When he talked about getting in trouble on the stand, I... I couldn't believe it," Liz continued. "I mean, Mark could get into trouble sometimes, but never anything illegal. Then he just started saying those things, and..."

Liz sniffed, her eyes squinting as still more tears threatened to well up. She managed to compose herself though and carried on.

"I was so angry at first, angry like I've never been before, but after thinking about it all night, I... I just think back to how little I checked in with him as we got older. College, moving out here and starting our business, I just got so busy. If I'd just checked in with him, if I'd been the sister I should have been..."

"Hey," Mary Jane said, gripping Liz's hand a little harder. "When it comes to family drama and disappointment, the line forms behind me, alright? Besides, whatever Mark did, HE is the only one responsible for that; him, not you. You hear me?"

Liz nodded, wiping her cheeks with her right hand.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you about what was going on with him," she said. "He made it sound so bad, that if anyone found out, him or myself might get hurt, and I just... panicked."

"You don't have anything to apologize to me for," Mary Jane assured her. "Like I said, I'm here for you, and I'm not going anywhere."

Liz nodded vehemently.

"Thank you."

There was a brief pause in the conversation before M.J. spoke up again.

"You know he's going to get on that stand again today, right?"

Liz nodded, though her look was worrisome.

"Are you going to be able to handle that?"

Liz shrugged.

"I have to be," she said. "I don't know how though. It's my brother testifying against me, trying to send me to prison."

"I know," M.J. said, "but right now, you have to think of yourself. If he's involved with the wrong people, then he's made his choice. All you can think about right now is how to prove your innocence, which means you need to let Matt do his job and prove that he's lying. I'll be right there behind you the whole time, alright? You don't have to do this alone."

Liz managed a light smile for the first time as she nodded again.

"I don't deserve you for a friend."

Now it was M.J.'s turn to glance away for a moment before meeting her friend's gaze again.

"I consider it more that I'm finally able to pay it forward," she explained. "Now let's make sure you're ready."

Hope you're still enjoying it!

Continuing to pray for you all; stay safe and healthy!

"Teach me to do your will, for you are my God; may your good Spirit lead me on level ground," Psalm 143:10