"YOU!" she roared as she jumped to her feet, clenching her fists and her teeth as she glowered at the man.

Holding the electric baton in one hand, Alejandro held up the other, palm facing toward Ro, as if trying to calm her down.

"I'm sorry," he said in a surprisingly genuine manner, looking down at the girl with some semblance of concern in his eyes. "It was the only way I could stop you from running off."

"YOU SON OF A B!+(#!!" the hurt and furious girl screamed as she charged at him with fists at the ready.

"WOAH! Woah! Please, just listen to me!" he exclaimed defensively as he dodged one of her punches and caught another in his hand, dropping the baton. His strength was noticeably superior to those of the guards Roxanne had just fought off. He strongly gripped one of her shoulders in order to get her to look him in the eye. "I have no interest in my mother's project!"

Taken aback by what she heard, Ro paused for a moment, a hint of confusion flashing across her otherwise enraged expression. She then scoffed. "Yeah, right! How do I know that's not more bull$#!+ coming from you!?"

"Roxy, please," he continued barely above a whisper, as he still held her arms tightly to avoid her from attacking. His eyes were almost pleading. "You've come to know me so much better than any of these people. Those things I said to you down there, they, they were just to keep up appearances. So my mother wouldn't suspect anything. I didn't mean any of it, mi preciosa."

Once again, Roxanne's temples started to tingle, and she let out a light gasp as she felt this. Although she hadn't realized it, the moment Alejandro had taken her inside the lair and shown his cruelest, most sadistic side, she had stopped getting this sensation. Now that his loving self was seemingly back, there it was again, and with it came the unconscious need to beware of this man.

Ro started suspecting something, but in order to prove her theory, she would need to play along for a bit more. She seemingly began to calm down, no longer actively trying to attack Alejandro, although she didn't lift her distrusting eyes off of him.

"You... you didn't?" she asked him, raising an eyebrow and taking a few steps back, although she didn't unclench her fists.

"Of course I didn't. Well, not all of it, at least," he began explaining in a seemingly sincere manner, still showing his palms to the girl for transparency. "This did start out as a mission. A mission like any other: seduce the girl, keep a close eye on her until we make sure we've got what we need. But the more time I spent with you, the more I realized I was falling in love with you. Really falling in love with you. I knew what my mother wanted to do to you, but I began to dread the thought of you getting hurt."

The more he talked, the more intense the tingling was becoming. Alejandro attempted to walk around Ro, but she made sure to not turn her back on him. Her frown deepened. "That's not what it felt like when you zapped me and kicked the air out of me!"

"My love, please, try to understand," he took a hand to his chest as he explained. "This is all I've known for all my life. I've been trained to be a spy and a killer since I was a child, and began working as the Encantador since I was a teen. 'We might as well make use of that pretty face of yours,' Mamá always said."

Ro felt no tingles during this.

"But all the time I spent with you the last couple of years, it helped me realize how wrong it all was. In all my years of senseless conquests, you have been the first one I've ever loved. And your goodness has truly inspired me." He gestured toward her. "I want to be good like you, Roxanne. I don't want to have anything to do with HYDRA or Project Arachne anymore. Please. Let me help you. Let's run away together." He stepped closer to the girl and offered her a hand. "Just you and me. That's everything I want."

He looked at her with a soft expression, a small smile drawing on his handsome face. Temples once again stinging, the young woman's expression softened in sadness. She stared at the man's outstretched hand as realization began to slowly dawn on her. Suddenly, the uneasy feeling she had been getting around Alejandro for days was beginning to make sense. How she physically couldn't relax around him or how his sweet talk didn't feel quite right or how the way he had acted around the HYDRA guards and around his mother felt incredibly more natural than how he acted around her. Everything was beginning to make sense, and she hated why it did, so much.

"That, that would be truly wonderful..." she said melancholically as she closed her eyes for a moment.

Alejandro's face was inches away from hers, and he was slowly moving closer and closer. Ro lifted her face towards him, almost as if hoping to receive one last kiss, but as she felt a familiar, physical warning coming from the back of her neck, she knitted her brow and pulled herself out of the fantasy, reflexively catching both of Alejandro's hands in hers, not in the loving manner she had done so for years but with a tight grip that was halting an incoming danger.

She opened her eyes to find her now ex-boyfriend wide-eyed, gazing at her in utter shock as he struggled against her strength, grunting from the effort. In his right hand, which Roxanne was holding at the wrist, he was holding a pocket knife less than an inch away from her stomach.

"...If it wasn't another lie," she coldly said, staring into the traitor's eyes with a fulminant glare.

It was now very clear. That was what her powers had been trying to warn her about all along. She could feel him lying.

With his cover fully blown, Alejandro's confused expression melted away into anger, matching that of the girl restraining him. Struggling against each other, the former lovers shared an intensely furious stare for a moment before the man swept one of Roxanne's legs with his in a rapid movement, causing her to fall on her back. Luckily, her reflexes were just as fast, and she managed to kick the knife out of the man's hand before he could attempt to stab her once again.

Snarling, he furiously sent a fist at the girl's face, which she managed to dodge while jumping to her feet, taking advantage of their positions to send a mighty kick backward, which sent Alejandro sliding across the floor. He managed to stop himself before he hit the wall.

He laughed dryly and lifted his head, meeting Roxanne's eyes. "Guess the cat's really out of the bag now, isn't it?"

His insolent grin only filled Ro with more anger. She yelled as she ran to him, in a completely feral state. Alejandro, however, remained calculated and calm as he blocked her attacks and began fighting her. Although the girl possessed superior physical strength, he had more combat experience and knew how to use said strength against her. As Ro attacked him in a blind rage, he easily dodged or blocked her blows, practically dancing around her. At one moment, he managed to place himself behind her and grab her arm, bending it behind her back, making her cry out in pain. He held it in place with one hand and gripped the young woman's throat with the other.

"You want to hear the truth, now, don't you?" the man hissed in her ear as she was now the one who struggled against him. "Fine, then. Here it is."

Alejandro kneed Ro in the spine and then kicked her shin, the first hit making her yell out in great pain and the second causing her to fall to her knees.

"Out of all the jobs I've had, you've been the one I've hated the most." He took notice of a railing that was nearby, and began dragging the girl towards it. "Between how boring and bland you are, your so-called family being a pain in my @$$, and my mother's constant nagging about how important this specific mission was, it all became a drag very, very quickly!"

As he said the last word, he threw the very disoriented Roxanne over the railing, and she screamed as she fell. Between the fall not being very high and her reflexes being just fast enough, she was able to avoid receiving any major damage from the fall but could not avoid the impact. Grunting, she grabbed her left arm, which she had fallen on top of, and grasped it tightly as she remained face to the ground.

Alejandro jumped off the same railing, except he landed effortlessly on his feet. He took a sickening delight in seeing the young woman in pain as he slowly walked towards her.

"To this day, my mother believes that Arachne will be the next big thing for HYDRA. The greatest, most skilled assassin at our disposal. What she fails to realize is that I would do a better job than a useless, pathetic child like you ever could!"

He bent down and pulled at Ro's long brown hair, lifting her head with it, forcing her to look up at him. It was as if he was making sure there would not be a muscle in her body that wasn't in pain. "I mean seriously! Look at this!" he exclaimed in disgust as he grabbed the girl's bruised and cut face, digging his nails into her flesh. "This is going to become a master assassin? The most fearsome human weapon? HA! I could hardly use you as a doormat!"

He once again threw her against the floor. Clearly, he was reveling a little too much in both the physical and emotional torture he was inflicting upon the girl. Turning away, the man took a few steps as he soullessly laughed to himself. Roxanne tried to get up, but everything hurt too much, including the pieces of her broken heart.

"And I wouldn't even need those priceless little powers, which are the only reason you're anything close to being special. The only reason why any of HYDRA's human weapons are special! I may not be able to lift a car with my bare hands or walk on walls or sense a bullet coming, but I've got the skill, the discipline, and the focus that you freaks of nature could only dream of possessing!"

Alejandro once again turned himself towards the battered girl and took out a gun from the back part of his pants' waist. From one of his pockets, he took out a bullet cartridge and began loading the pistol as he continued speaking. "The higher-ups wouldn't even have to scramble up my brain every time they'd wanna send me to end somebody. My talents are being wasted as a spy and a mere seductor of stupid women. My training as a killer was only a backup, but everyone failed to see that was my TRUE calling!"

He cocked his gun as he walked towards Ro, looking down at her with a menacing snarl. "I was never given the chance to demonstrate what I was capable of, but if destroying my family's 'life's work' is what it takes to finally get that chance, so be it."

Alejandro pointed his gun at Ro, who shook and hyperventilated in terror as she was able to sense what was coming, but barely capable of lifting her head or dragging her body a few inches.

"Don't worry," the man chuckled as an evil smile crossed his face, his finger ready to pull the trigger. "I'll send the Garcías your regards."

Roxanne gasped. Hearing that name felt like a shot of caffeine for the girl, making her remember what was at stake. As the faces of the people she was fighting for crossed her mind once again, another rush of energy and motivation coursed through her body, allowing her to move quicker than she probably ever had before. Just as Alejandro aimed at the back of Ro's head and pulled the trigger, she managed to move out of the way and turn herself to face him, grabbing his hand and pulling it down just as the bullet left the pistol, hitting the ground that had been beneath her.

Without letting go of his wrist, Ro lifted her right foot and, using practically all the strength she had left, launched it at Alejandro's outstretched arm. A loud CRACK was heard as the man let out an agonizing scream, his gun falling off his hand and him falling on his side, arm broken.

Seeing the gun close to him, Roxanne quickly took it before he even had the chance to open his eyes back up. Shaking and panting, the girl roared furiously as she aimed the weapon at Alejandro, who in a turn of events, was now the one writhing in pain on the floor.

For a couple of seconds, she simply stood there huffing, watching the man as he clenched his forearm, fractured at the end. While still groaning, he lifted his face from the ground just enough to meet her gaze, giving her a look that was equally enraged and defiant. She wanted to do it. She wanted to pull the trigger and end this scumbag's life so badly, but as livid as she was, she just couldn't bring herself to do it. But why? Was she really so stupid as to believe that the man she thought she had loved a mere couple of hours ago still existed somewhere within this monster? Or was it because she knew what killing him would turn her into?

"I must say, that was quite impressive," a low female voice emerged from a nearby entrance, startling Ro, who pointed the weapon at the source of the sound.

Madame Franco calmly walked into the spacious room, casually stirring a cup of coffee and taking a sip from it. She had wisely kept her distance during the entire scuffle.

"Stay back!" Ro exclaimed in warning, turning to aim the gun at Alejandro once again, her hands shaking. "O-or I'll...!"

"I am very disappointed in you, Alex," the older woman addressed her son in a disapproving tone, completely ignoring Ro, tapping her coffee stirrer against the edge of the cup and throwing it aside. "I was aware of your indifference toward the family project, but your complete disregard and willingness to sabotage it are absolutely unacceptable." She then lifted her gaze to meet Ro's, and tilted her head towards Alejandro. "Go ahead. Shoot."

"What?" Ro asked in shock and confusion.

"Ma!" Alejandro exclaimed in indignation, staring at the woman in shock.

"It's only fair, is it not?" Adela explained matter-of-factly, setting her drink down. "I got your parents killed. Take my son's life and we'll call it even." She raised an eyebrow at Roxanne and gave her the smirk that her son had clearly inherited from her. "Don't pretend like you wouldn't be thrilled to do it after what he's done to you. Do us both a favor and finish this traitor off, Arachne."

The girl gave Franco a disgusted look. The mother figures she had known throughout her life had been nothing short of nurturing and loving. She could never imagine either of them casually allowing, to the point of practically ordering, someone to murder their own children in front of them. Madame didn't even seem to think of Alejandro as her son, just a random employee among dozens of others. If this had been what Alejandro had been raised by, it was no wonder he turned out the heartless manipulator he had proven to truly be. He was never taught how to love or how to even care. The life of crushing whoever stood in your way was truly everything he had ever known. She almost felt sorry for him at that moment, almost.

Turning to look back at the man, they both exchanged another scornful frown with each other. Roxanne inhaled deeply, and he flinched, bracing himself for the shot. Instead, the only thing he heard was the gun being thrown against the wall and opened his eyes to see the younger woman glaring defiantly at his mother.

"I am not like you, you murderous b!+(#," Ro declared as she slowly approached the other woman, who seemed completely unfazed at her threatening attitude. "I am not your Arachne. I will never be Arachne, but make no mistake. If you or your son or any of your people go anywhere near my family, I will stop at nothing, and I mean nothing, to keep them safe." She got on Franco's face and pushed down her shoulders so that she'd meet her eye level. "You hear me?"

Madame slightly lifted the right corner of her mouth in contempt as she and the girl exchanged a tense stare. "Loud and clear."

The arachnid-powered girl then threw webs at both of Franco's hands, pinning her against the wall behind her, making sure that the older woman wouldn't attempt anything suspicious while she escaped. She scanned the room and finally spotted a door labeled 'emergency exit'.

Before leaving, she looked down at her former boyfriend. He had watched the exchange between the two women with an incredulous look and immediately frowned in hatred the moment Ro's eyes met his.

"And by the way," she raised her voice at him, "we are SO over!"

He growled at her and could do nothing but stare as she trotted towards the exit door.

"Don't think you'll get rid of us so easily, preciosa!" he yelled menacingly just as she was pushing the door open, making her stop in her tracks, though she didn't turn around. With effort, he sat up, still holding his arm and grunting in pain. "We'll come back for you when you least expect it, Arachne." He practically hissed that last word, as if making sure she would not forget what they saw her as, what they wanted from her.

Ro simply shut her eyes and took a deep breath, restraining herself. "I'm counting on it." She then turned her head back to look at the spy one last time, her eyes filled with disappointment. "Goodbye, Alex."

Without saying another world, she left and slammed the door behind her. Alejandro was left dumb-founded after hearing that nickname. While most people are called nicknames in an affectionate manner by the people closest to them, that was not the case in the Vidal Franco family. While his mother would refer to him as Alejandro, Encantador, or even Agent Vidal most of the time, she reserved Alex for whenever she was disappointed in his work. Thus, he had come to associate the shortened form of his name with failure, and there was nothing in life he detested more than failure.

Well, almost nothing. There was now one person who was becoming a strong contender for the title, and his fury grew as he impotently watched that person slip away through the exit.

______________________________________________________________________

The only thought in Roxanne's mind was to run back to her family and make sure they were safe. She climbed to the top of the building she had just escaped from and used a string of web to swing herself to another one. From there, she simply sprang from rooftop to rooftop, gasping as she desperately ran and jumped as fast as her already weakened legs allowed her, ignoring the multiple injuries she was sporting.

She stopped only one time, when she passed next to a tempered glass building and caught a glimpse of her reflection against the setting sun. She couldn't help but feel like she was hit with a bucket of ice water when she saw the choker that was around her neck. She touched it as she stared at its reflection on the glass, remembering how Alex had given it to her at the end of their very first date, exactly two years earlier.

"I know they say that giving jewelry on the first date is of bad taste" he had said back then in a flirtatious tone as he handed her a small box, "but this is made of fabric, so technically, I'm not breaking any rules."

Ro had then opened the box to find a choker made out of silver-colored lace that had a pattern very similar to a chain. In retrospect, that probably should've been one of her first hints.

"Oh my goodness, it's lovely!" she had exclaimed as she took it out of the box and held it in her hand. "Thank you, Alejandro."

"Please, allow me," the man had said as he took it from her and placed himself behind Ro. She had then moved her long hair to the side, allowing him to place the admittedly uncomfortable accessory around her neck.

In the present, the girl shivered as she thought about what had happened the last time she had allowed her ex-boyfriend to get that close to her neck, mere moments ago.

"I know it's probably too early to say this," the man's words after having put on the choker on Ro were now echoing in her mind, "but I'm getting the feeling that you might just be what I've been looking for for many, many years." He had then taken her face in his hands and pulled her up for a kiss, which for her, was the very first. The kiss had taken her completely by surprise, but she had quickly and naively swooned, melting in his lips.

Little did she know, he had actually meant what he said. Just not at all in the way she had thought.

In the present, Ro overflowed with pain and anger as she remembered that scene. She unthinkingly snapped the choker away from her neck and threw it off to the street below. She wanted nothing from that man anymore. She took off the vest, which had also been a gift from him and threw it on the ground in disgust.

She continued running, trying to get as far away from the very memory of him as she could. Her eyes were flooding, and her head was burning, but she didn't stop as she crossed the rooftops. The streets below her slowly became more and more familiar as she ran, jumped, and swung through the city.

Ro finally spotted El Rinconcito in the distance. She accelerated her pace and threw a web to the building right next to it, not even noticing that she no longer had her mask or goggles on. She couldn't be bothered to pay attention to that at this moment.

She landed in front of the diner's entrance door. The sign hanging from the inside now read "Closed", and there was no one inside at either the tables or behind the counter. However, when she pushed the door, it opened, and she hurried inside. Ro was usually the one who locked everything up at closing time, so the rest of her family members had likely forgotten.

Once she was inside, she ran to the back door and up the stairs that lead to the family's apartment, loudly slamming the staircase's door shut behind her as she was finally home. She slouched against the door and panted loudly, desperately trying to recover her breath as the adrenaline was beginning to die down. Her ears were buzzing, and her head was starting to hurt, as was the rest of her body.

"Roxanne, is that you?" the girl heard a familiar and comforting female voice ask from one of the rooms. Andrea García looked out from the doorframe of her bedroom, and her eyes widened in horror as she took notice of Ro's current state. "¡Mijita, por Dios!" she exclaimed as she hurried to her adoptive daughter's side and worriedly cupped her injured face in her hands. "Look at you! You're all hurt! Are you okay? What happened?"

As she felt the woman's motherly touch and saw the concern in her eyes, Ro let out a sob and finally released the tears she had been holding in, overwhelmed by both the relief of confirming her family was alright and the full weight of the events that had just transpired.

"¡Mamá!" Ro cried out as she hugged her mother and began sobbing uncontrollably in her shoulder. Now that her seething anger and adrenaline had died down, only the physical and emotional pain remained.

Andrea was confused at first but quickly hugged her daughter back. She felt great worry regarding what had happened to the girl, but realized that now was not the time to ask her any questions.

"Shhh, ya, ya, nena," she shushed the crying girl as she gently stroked her hair. "It's gonna be okay."

"Ro?"

She lifted her head from Andrea's shoulder and looked up to find her two siblings standing a few feet away them. They were watching her hug their mother with expressions of concern and alarm, and they were both visibly taken aback when they saw the multiple cuts and bruises on their sister's face.

"Manu, Cami!" Roxanne's voice trembled as she called their names, running to hug both of them tightly, crying still. Similarly to their mother, they were also equal parts worried and confused.

"Did, did he...?" Camila began asking her older sister, as she further inspected her and found more and more injuries on her.

"You guys were right," Ro said between sobs, without lifting her face from her sister's shoulder. She was hugging her with her right arm, and Manu with her left. "About him. About everything. I should've listened to you. I'm so, so sorry."

The heartbroken girl's cries became louder, and her siblings exchanged a surprised look with each other. It was clear that whatever had happened between her and her boyfriend had been much more terrible than they could've anticipated, and they suspected that it was somewhat connected to Ro's secret, but explanations can wait until later. Manuel threw both of his arms around his oldest sister, holding her tightly. Camila also surrounded Roxanne with her arms, planting a kiss on the side of her sister's head as she let her cry on her shoulder.

______________________________________________________________________

Two days had passed since the eye-opening nightmare. Ro at least wished it had been just a nightmare. Turns out, finding out that you're living a beautiful lie hurts more than the lie itself. The same thoughts constantly circled her mind day and night. As she realized that none of it had been real, she was left with a feeling of emptiness inside of her. For 24 months, she had loved someone who didn't exist. She fell for a mask and willingly ignored all the red flags that everyone else could clearly see. She had always known she wasn't smart, but she had never felt more stupid than now.

Seeing how much her breakup had affected her, Ro's mother had allowed her to take a couple of days off from work until she felt a little better. During those days, she had spent most of her time alone in her room. While she didn't want to talk about what had happened out loud, she decided to give her siblings a letter for them to read privately in which she expressed what had truly happened between her and Alejandro, mixed with profuse apologies for the way she had treated them during her "relationship" with him. Camila and Manuel were shocked to learn the truth about Ro's ex-boyfriend, but, of course, they were quick to forgive her and reconcile with her.

Today was Wednesday, and the diner was closed for the day. The patriarch of the family, Jorge García, was to return home that day after having spent a few months out of state for work, and Doña Andrea had left for the airport with Manuel to go pick him up. Roxanne was in her bedroom where she had spent the major part of the last few days, sitting on her bed staring out of her window in melancholic contemplation. Although she didn't enjoy pity parties, recent events had affected her enough to allow herself a couple of days to cry and get her feelings off her chest before getting back on her feet and beginning the healing process, the long, slow healing process.

She heard a knock on her door, followed by the sound of it opening slightly.

"Hey, sis," Camila greeted her softly, peeking her head through the door crack. "Can I come in a sec? I brought you ice cream."

Ro didn't lift her head, but looked at her sister in her window's reflection. "Syrup or peanuts?"

Cami cracked a smile as she let herself in and closed the door behind her, holding the bowl in her hand. "I think the situation called for both."

The older sister turned around and couldn't help but also crack a wan smile as she accepted the sweet treat from Cami. The younger woman stared at the dark circles under Ro's eyes as well as the healing bruises and multiple bandages that had been placed over her cuts from earlier that week. She slipped off her shoes and sat herself on the bed across from her sister, criss-crossing her legs.

"So, how're you holding up?" Camila asked cautiously.

Ro scoffed softly as she had a spoonful of the ice cream. "How does it look like I'm holding up?"

"Yeah, sorry. These things take time, and the first one's always the hardest, but you'll get there."

"Yeah, that's what I hear. I just..." she exhaled deeply. "It's a lot to process when the person you thought was the love of your life... was actually working for the evil organization that killed your parents and turned you into a spider mutant. And he also tries to kill and torture you multiple times."

"I, can't say I relate to that part", Cami awkwardly admitted as she moved to sit next to Ro and gave her a side hug. "But I imagine that's tough stuff to go through."

The older sister sighed once again, taking another spoonful of ice cream. "I was such an idiot, Cami. How could I possibly ever believe that a good-looking and cool guy like that could ever fall for a dull and stupid girl like me?"

"Hey, hey," the younger one began as she grasped her sister's shoulders softly and looked her in the eye. "Don't you talk about yourself that way, okay? The things that @$$#0l3 said to you are not true."

"Well, they sure were true for him. I could literally tell he was no longer lying when he started saying them." Ro said resentfully, frowning at her cold snack as she continued helping herself to it. "That's how I found out about my 'awesome' new power, remember?"

"Okay, so maybe Alex does think that way about you," Camila argued. "So what? Who gives a $#!+ about what that guy thinks? You certainly shouldn't."

"I wish I didn't. Believe me." Ro said sadly, and then groaned in frustration. "It's just so confusing! On one hand, I'm EXTREMELY pissed at the guy and I wanna punch his stupid face! But on the other, well," she became saddened again and turned to look at Cami with teary eyes, "two years of feelings don't go away just like that, you know?"

"I know," the sister said sympathetically, stroking Ro's hair. She looked away. "I can't help but feel responsible for this. If I hadn't encouraged you to go for it with that moron..."

"Oh Cami, please don't think I blame you for this because I don't," the older sister reassured as she placed a hand on the younger one's knee. "Your intentions were good, and you had no way of knowing." She then looked down. "Truth is, none of us did." She sighed again. "And to think that if I hadn't decided to go out and play-pretend being a hero, I'd still be living in that lie."

"Play-pretending?" Camila incredulously repeated. "So saving an innocent boy from being crushed was just playing? Or stopping so many people from getting mugged or businesses from getting robbed? Were you just playing then?"

"Well, no, but..."

"Contrary to what you or even your idiot ex may believe, you are a real hero, Ro. As far as I'm concerned, you are. Sure, your feats may seem small if you compare them to the Avengers stopping the literal end of the world, but that doesn't make them any less noteworthy. I'm sure the many people you've been helping these past months are more than grateful for what you did for them, so don't you regret making that decision. Yes, it brought some painful consequences, but I think the good you're doing outweighs that. Or do you regret having helped them?"

Roxanne sniffed and placed her spoon back on the bowl as she thought about her answer for a brief second. "Well, no." Her voice became more convinced. "No, I don't regret it, and I want to keep helping people whenever I have the chance to."

"That's what makes you such a great hero, hermanita," Cami told her with a smile. "You have such a good heart, and you're brave enough to always do what's right, so don't let the fact that some psycho failed to appreciate that bring you down."

Ro couldn't help a moved tear from escaping her eye as she heard her sister's words, and returned her smile warmly. "I love you, sis."

"Of course you do," Camila quipped as she pulled her sister in for a hug. "I love you, too."

As the two embraced, they heard the sound of a door opening downstairs, followed by multiple footsteps.

"Niñas, your father is home!" they heard Andrea call out from the floor below them.

The younger sister broke the hug and tilted her head to the bedroom door. "Come on. We should go greet him."

"Yeah, let's go."

The two sisters then exited the room and descended the apartment's stairs into the diner. Sitting at one of the tables, they found Manuel and Doña Andrea talking to a Hispanic man of late middle-age with graying hair and tanned skin. When he saw the young women, he smiled warmly at them.

"Ro, Cami!" Don Jorge called out as he waved his hand at his daughters.

"¡Papi!" Camila happily exclaimed as she ran to hug the man. "I missed you so much!"

"I missed you too, princesa," Jorge told her as he got up and held her tightly.

Ro stood behind and smiled at the exchange, rubbing her arm in slight awkwardness. Although she had grown to view this man as a second father, she admittedly wasn't as close to him as she was with the rest of her adoptive family. His job as a businessman required him to travel to different states a lot, sometimes for months at a time. Although he had proven to be deeply caring in the time they had spent together, Roxanne still didn't fully feel like she could be as affectionate with him as she tended to be with her adoptive siblings or mother.

Jorge lifted his gaze and noticed Ro standing away with a downward gaze and sad smile. He looked at Camila, and they exchanged a concerned look, breaking their hug. He walked to Ro, and he gave her a compassionate smile when she looked up at him.

"Hi, Ro," he greeted, his voice gravelly but warm and inviting.

She returned the smile, and encouraged by him getting close, she took some steps forward and gave him a hug. "Hi, papá. Welcome home." She couldn't help the sadness she was still feeling from showing in her voice.

He gently placed his hands on the girl's shoulders so he could speak to her face. "Your mamá told me about the breakup on the way here. How are you doing?"

Ro's pretense of contentment broke as soon as her father mentioned the breakup, and her expression immediately fell. She exhaled as she thought of her answer. "Well, to be honest, not all that great."

"Niños, why don't we leave your father and sister to chat alone for a moment?" Andrea told her two youngest children as she got up from the table and gestured toward the staircase.

The two of them silently agreed to this and followed her upstairs, as Ro and Jorge sat themselves down on a table.

"Hug o'clock!" Manuel exclaimed as he quickly threw his arms around his oldest sister and held her tightly for a few moments.

Ro couldn't help but let out a chuckle. "Thanks, hermanito," she told him as she patted his back and head affectionately, before he let go of her and continued to follow his mother and sister upstairs. Ever since Ro had returned home heartbroken, Manu had taken every chance he got to give his sister random hugs in hopes to cheer her up a little. Of course, they didn't make the sadness go away, but his sister still greatly appreciated and enjoyed the gesture, happy to at least be reassured that her little brother was no longer mad at her.

"So tell me, nena," Jorge began, keeping his voice mild but firm, "this Alejandro. Did he do that to you?" he gestured towards the band-aids and bruises on Ro's face.

She touched her face, slightly embarrassed. "Yes. And that's not even the worst part. He, he lied to me. About everything."

"Did he cheat on you?"

"Well, uh, yeah," she hesitated slightly but quickly realized that her answer was technically true. "Among other things." She sighed as she wiped a tear from the corner of her eye. "Don Jorge, he never loved me. Not even a little bit. And I finally realized what a big mistake this whole relationship was."

"I see." Jorge nodded. He was visibly containing his anger and indignation, as evidenced by his clenched fists. "Would you like me to go and settle things with that imbécil?"

Ro couldn't help but be slightly amused and oddly touched at the fact that her father seemed fully willing to throw hands with a man vastly younger and more athletic than him for her. "Don't bother. Camila went to visit his apartment yesterday with that same idea in mind, and it was completely empty. No one in his workshop has seen him since that day either. I think he left the city after I found out all his BS."

"Really?" Jorge lifted an eyebrow and then scoffed with disdain at the thought of Alejandro. "Well, if he not only hit you but also ran away after doing so, then he truly is a coward."

Ro frowned. "He is."

"I understand that this is going to be hard to move past, corazón," the man said calmly as he put a hand on top of his daughter's, "but don't forget that men like him are not worthy of your time, or your tears."

"Well, it's a little late on the tears part," Ro admitted sarcastically but then knitted her brow once again, "but I'm not giving that guy another second of my time, that's for sure."

Jorge gave her hand a gentle squeeze, and then took notice of Ro's expression falling once again as she kept her gaze on the tabletop.

"What's wrong, nena? Is something concerning you?"

After hesitating for a moment, Ro finally lifted her gaze and met Don Jorge's eyes, the pain and heartbreak visible in hers. "Do you think I'll ever find love again? I mean, that day, Alejandro made it very clear that he never cared for me, but could other men ever do?"

Jorge exhaled as he thought of his answer for a moment but then, placed his other hand on top of the girl's. "I know I'm not around much, Roxanne. We haven't grown as close as you have with the rest of the family, but in the time I have gotten to know you, I've become certain of one thing about you: you are a good, wonderful young lady. No one in this house has any doubt of that, and you don't need any man to remind you of that fact. However, I also know that you have a lot of love to give, and it's coming from a pure heart. I hope that one day, you're able to cross paths with an equally good man who knows how to appreciate and care for that heart because you deserve nothing less."

The two of them exchanged a sincere smile, and once again, moved tears glistened on Ro's cheeks. Without saying anything else, she let out a content chuckle and got up to embrace the man warmly, a gesture which he returned.

Despite her pain, at that moment, Ro felt truly lucky. She may have lost one loving father, but she had managed to find another one.

______________________________________________________________________

HYDRA base, somewhere in Alaska:

The next day, as Madame Franco viewed some numbers with her crew of scientists, she wrote down the information in a document held on a clipboard. Her son Alejandro walked into the room with his right arm in a cast.

"I think we've given her enough time to relax," he said to his mother as the rest of her employees returned to their individual occupations elsewhere. "Should we go back to retrieve Arachne tomorrow?"

"Patience, patience, son." Adela replied without lifting her gaze off her clipboard. "Three days is hardly enough time, she will likely still be alert and expecting us at this point. No, no, it's far too early still."

The man huffed in frustration as he frowned at his mother. "I still don't understand why we fled in the first place. We had every leverage over her! We have more people, we know where she lives, we left her very vulnerable..."

"Smart moves, Alex, as I always say," the woman said as she approached her son and jabbed him in the forehead with her pen. "Think. This girl demonstrated a remarkable talent to escape from our grasp the last two times we've had her in our custody. What good will it do to capture her if she'll only run away over and over again?" She put her clipboard and pen down on a table and picked up a tablet, comparing data in it with numbers written on a nearby blackboard. "Besides, with everything she destroyed in the latest altercation, she set our work back several months. We need to be better prepared before we..."

"Are you sure this isn't just about you being afraid of your greatest, most prized creation disobeying you, mother?" Alejandro inquired in a bitter tone, interrupting Madame. "After all, you couldn't get her to murder your own son."

As she paused her typing for a moment, Franco then turned to look at her son with barely contained anger. She turned around to face him and placed her tablet down on the table. Then, she slapped Alejandro across the face.

"Know your place, Alex!" she yelled at him before regaining her composure and continuing calmly. "That was merely a test to see if Arachne could indeed be as ruthless as we need her to be, and evidently, she is not. Not yet. So, until we have a way to ensure that she will do our bidding, she is of no use to me." She then grabbed her son's face, digging her long, oh so very sharp acrylic nails into his skin. "Be grateful that you still are because if you were not my own blood, that insubordinate move you did would have cost you your life."

She let go of Alex's face and returned to what she was doing. He stared back at her, resentfully rubbing away her nail marks before exhaling sharply through his nose as his patience grew thinner. "I'd still be willing to collaborate in making Project Arachne a reality. All I'm asking for is one chance to..."

"You've run all out of chances, Alex," she shut him up. "You have proved ineffective in restraining Arachne, and it's thanks to you that she's once again out of our grasp. So, whenever we're ready to make our next attack, I'll send in a different asset after her. Perhaps Pierce's little pet could do the trick."

"What!?" he asked incredulously, offended even. "THAT old thing that's been around since the 40's? You said so yourself, it's an outdated and flawed model."

"Indeed. But it is also efficient and gets the job done. Our version will be superior, yes, but in the meantime, it's the best we have. Don't even try and convince me to 'give you a chance' to prove yourself. You've proven yourself enough with your latest failure, and I can no longer trust you with this project, Alex."

The younger man could only gape as he listened to his mother, staring at her in disbelief.

"Now mijito, why don't you be a dear and go get yourself ready for your next assignment." Madame Franco briefly looked at her watch before resuming her work. "Young Miss Campbell will be expecting you in less than an hour."

Alejandro tensed his jaw and clenched his left fist as he shot the woman a hostile, bitter sneer. He exhaled sharply before replying. "Sí, señora."

He walked pass her and crossed the room with a dark yet determined expression drawn across his face. His frown deepened as he spoke under his breath. "Rest assured, I will not have another failure. In fact..."

He stopped and turned to look at one of the numerous screens in the lab, one of which was showing security footage of Roxanne from a few days prior, as she was struggling to free herself from the glass cell. He stared at the image of the girl with a deathly, fulminant gaze.

"...I will not have. A single. One."

______________________________________________________________________

AUTHOR'S NOTES: And with that, the first story arc of Roxanne's story is officially DONE! (This would be her first movie, in my head. You can think of that last scene with the baddies as the post-credits scene :P)

Let me just emphasize this in case anyone missed it: yes, Roxanne can, in fact, detect lies! It's part of her powerset :D It was partly inspired by both Toph from ATLA and also Screwball from Disneyfanatic2364's "Daughter of Discord". I've always thought of that as a cool and underrated power that I wanted to see more characters have. Why does she have it, you ask? Well, you'll just have to keep on reading to find out ;D

I had to move around some stuff between this chapter and the last one, and even then, this one came out the longest so far xD But I'm sure it won't be the longest of the fanfic, hehe.

Like I've been saying, it was important to me for you guys to really understand who Roxanne is and what she's been through in both her personal and love life before I officially pair her up with Bucky. That's what the purpose of the whole origin arc was, and I'm hoping that by now, I've been able to get you to care for the character as an individual. For me personally, that makes it easier and more satisfactory to care for a character within a romantic pairing.

And as you guys saw, I put a bit of a teaser of a certain "asset" in there ;D HE IS COMING PEOPLE! HE'S FINALLY COMING! I would take a break at this point, but with how the past few updates have had delays, I would honestly feel bad doing that xD Though I might also take an extra week for the next one. Either way, keep your eyes peeled on my socials!