chapter twenty-seven
the cost of spider-man

    THE GYM WAS still alive in the midst of the Homecoming dance. But Felicia and MJ weren't feeling the blaze of the lights and the laughter as Flash told the story of Spider-Man stealing his car. The two girls didn't dance, they stood together by the edge of the floor, keeping their gazes on their phone to hear back from Nina, wondering where she had gone. She had left a good hour ago, and now seemed to ghost each every text and phone call they sent. Felicia was growing worried. Nina always did things with little thought of dangers. It used to be small things, such as dating her best friend without thinking of what would happen if they broke up, or drinking way too much hot chocolate and being surprised when she got sick the day after. But now, ever since she met Spider-Man, they got worse. She was determined to impress the vigilante, and it caused her to do things that might get her killed. And Felicia had joined in! She had felt the thrill of doing something for a superhero and tampered with the law to get the information the vigilante needed. And now, Cia just knew in her gut that this disappearance had something and everything to do with Spider-Man. She had always been protective of Nina, she was a shot of espresso in a world that always messed up coffee orders. But now, she found it harder to keep an eye on her, and Felicia didn't like what Spider-Man was letting her do, at all.

She couldn't explain this to MJ, of course, and it frustrated her to come up with lies, especially when Michelle was staring at her out of the corner of her eye with such suspicion in made Felicia awkwardly shuffle in her heels. If Felicia was to be honest, Michelle Jones had always intimidated her, which didn't settle well, since usually Cia was the one who intimidated people. But unlike Felicia who liked making people flustered with her risqué statements, questions and actions that gave her the same thrill and power she got from stealing something from the mall, Michelle did it in such a quiet, intellectual way that made you rethink everything you just said and believed. Maybe pigeons did record you for the government, even if the idea's ridiculous, the way MJ declared it just made you backtrack and tremble on her own confidence.

It made the air tense between them without Nina. She was the perfect mediator between the two of them, and now that she was gone, their conversation had switched to brief, awkward glances and desperation to get Nina back.

MJ glanced sideways at Felicia. "She ran out after Peter," she said suddenly.

"I know," grumbled Felicia, "I already got that part."

"You don't like Peter?"

"I don't hate him. I'm just don't trust him."

"You don't trust a lot of people."

And she was blunt. She was super blunt in a way that made people uncomfortable. Because she just read you like one of her books. Felicia gritted her teeth, trying to remind herself not to snap for Nina's sake. She really liked MJ.

Michelle pursed her lips and fiddled with the corsage she had taken off her wrist and held behind her cheap android phone. "I don't trust a lot of people, either. People suck."

"Oh, no, I love people," Felicia met her gaze, trying to make her uncomfortable instead. Felicia wanted that power back. She hated being powerless. "I just don't like it when they pretend they know my trust issues."

MJ realised and for the first time, flushed in embarrassment. Suddenly, Felicia felt ashamed for being so abrasive━she did it first, she defended herself like she was in middle school. It made her sigh and look back down at her phone. Nina still hadn't replied. Ned was nowhere to be seen either. The three of them were up to something. Her, Ned and Peter. Were they all into this Spider-Man shit?

Cia decided to take a deep breath and say, "I'm sorry. Just ... I'm not used to being around someone who━well, someone like you. You sort of ... well you intimidate me━" she chuckled, incredulous at the thought of it. "Which is crazy, because I intimidate, not the other way around. I like having control, I suppose ..." her brows furrowed, the words flowing out before she could stop themselves, "... makes me think I have control over how much I don't have control ... over anything in my life."

Michelle shrugged. Her dark eyes scowled, judging Flash who went around to everyone telling his story and, in passing, shoved Abe Brown's head towards the food table. "The only people who have control of people's life is the government."

For some reason, those words were comforting. Felicia chuckled again, shaking her head at MJ, but instead with a dubious judgment, Cia found herself managing a small smile. "From the Moon? Through pigeons?"

"No," MJ sent a stiff smile━but it was sweet, in a way she was sort of scared, "through taxes."

Felicia laughed, nodding, "Yes. Now, that is true."

"On the Moon."

"Okay, now I know you don't believe that."

MJ smirked.

Felicia bounced her brows, amused━and if not feeling a little more at ease with MJ━before she turned back to her phone. She shook her head, the amusement falling as she said, "Nina's still not answering. She's not like that━I probably should go and look for her."

Michelle nodded. "Okay, I'll come with you."

"No," Cia shook her head. "You stay here in case she comes back. I won't be long. She's probably in some classroom. I'll find her."

With that said, Felicia glanced around her and quickly snuck out of the gym before any teachers could notice. They were too buys trying to stop an argument between two Junior's that was starting to escalate on the other end of the floor.

As she stepped out, Felicia rang her best friend, walking down the school hallways. It felt weird to walk around her school in heels and a dress at night━it was almost ominous. The lockers casted shadows across the tiles, and something that at day was enough of a horror, became something sinister at night.

"Hi, this is Nina! Please leave a message, at the━" she timed it perfectly for it to go beep! afterwards.

Felicia sighed and ended the call. What could she be doing? What was so important from Spider-Man that she, Ned and Peter left the dance? She tried to think where they might be, perhaps a computer room, or had they left the school entirely━when she heard a mighty crash! outside.

Cia froze, eyes wide and her heart rising up in her throat. What? That was loud━that was horrifyingly loud; scary even. She began to think the worst. What had they gotten into? What danger had Nina put herself in now? Her feet began to run before she could stop them, heels clicking as she sprinted as fast as she could. Nimble on her feet as always, Felicia stayed on her toes, heading straight for the closest door to outside.

She made it in seconds, pushing open the door from the English block and stepping out towards the back end of the school where they could sit at lunch if they wished to. Felicia expected the worst━some villain with a gun, or something even worse, but she faltered to see quite the opposite.

Nothing. There was nothing.

Felicia rolled her eyes at herself. Now she was hearing things. She glanced around, trying to see━while her mind told her she was being stupid, there was something in her gut that said: watch out.

But there was nothing here. Absolutely nothing. The seats were empty, the foyer quiet━freakishly quiet, the only sound coming from the music and chatter in the gym. No more crashes, no thuds, nothing.

She still walked out to the centre of it. Her gut was screaming at her that she was missing something━an instinct that made her stay on guard. "Hello?" she called out. "Nina? You out here? Nina━?" her scream of surprise became muffled as something dark flung over her head. Felicia squealed, struggling and flailing as arms secured around her, lifting her, kicking. She couldn't see what was happening━everything was dark, and it made her frantic. She kicked, she scraped, she scratched. She thrashed and she elbowed and she screamed. A large hand encased over her mouth and then her stomach, keeping her flushed and tight against a body that was large, and strong━someone who definitely wasn't a student or teacher.

"Hold her still!" whispered a voice, harsh and rough.

"I am!" said the man holding her. "She's making it hard!"

"She's a kid! Hold her!"

Felicia tried to reach her hands up, groping for a face━anything to scratch and get herself out. Her shouts and screams her muffled━almost suffocating against her nose. Her heart pounded against her ribcage, her throat was growing sore. But this man just picked her up like she was nothing━not even a sack of flour. A sack of air.

She kept kicking her feet as they moved. She felt her shoes drop, and then, hands grabbed her ankles and they were shoved under the arm of the second stranger. Felicia cried, twisting and screaming and thrashing. Let me go! She cried, though no one heard her. Let me go! HELP!

"Quit moving!" snapped the man behind her.

She didn't listen. She threw her body upwards, desperate to free her legs, until she heard something━the sound of something open with a shring. And before she knew it, something cold and sharp was pressed against the material off her dress by her stomach.

"Hold still!" sneered the other stranger. "Or I'll cut you."

Felicia froze. She breathed hard, sobbing through the bag over her head. What was happening? What was happening?!

"Listen to me," said the man with the blade. "You think your father can get away passing information about our boss? You think you can get away with it? There's consequences for your actions, kid━in ways they don't teach you at school." The blade pressed deeper. Felicia whimpered. "This is your warning, girl━" Cia cried out, feeling the knife swipe through her dress against her skin. The hand pressed tighter against her mouth. "Shut up!" hissed the man with the blade. "Or I'll dig deeper━just like they stabbed your father."

Her breath hitched. Her sobbing came to a startled stop. She was trembling, bruised and bleeding━but her mind froze at those words. What about her father?

"Now," she was too dazed to understand what was happening. Her mind kept going on repeat like━her father, her father, her father? "You understand? I really don't want to scar up a pretty young girl like you." Felicia felt the blade disappear, and like that, she was dropped back onto the ground. Felicia was left there, terrified and crying, trembling as she tried to find the courage to take off the bag over her head, completely and utterly helpless.

*ೃ༄

SHE DIDN'T KNOW how long it'll take her to get used to waiting by her bedroom window for Spider-Man to return. Nina didn't think she ever will. She got sent home from the dance, and her father wasn't exactly to hear why. And Nina couldn't exactly tell him that wasn't the truth, and had to suck up with the lie Ned made in a moment's notice━and the embarrassment that came with it.

Now, sitting on her bed (after hearing an earful from her father and mother that she was too young to be sexually active━and she had to persuade them that for the love of god, she wasn't! And then she had to deal with hearing her mother fret about making sure she had condoms just in case and it was super embarrassing━), Nina replied to all the messages she missed. MJ had sent her plenty, all of them with either photos showing how lonely she was at the dance, or faces with the words: where are you, loser? Get back, you asshole!

She also watched the news. Her laptop had it open, seeing everyone exclaim about the Stark Industries plane that crashed right near the abandoned project of the Staten Island ferris wheel. Nina saw videos from Instagram of smoke and flames that hovered over the shore like clouds from the crash, knowing that was exactly where this chase had taken Peter. He was there right now, in those flames, and while Nina knew she would rather turn the laptop off, but couldn't find herself able to tear her eyes away.

They couldn't get any good shots of anything going down on Staten Island shore, but the news reporter on the ground pointed up and gasped at what looked like a large, spinning man with metal wings carting a burst of red and blur before they both dropped down into the smoke again.

"I think that's Spider-Man!" said the reporter, surprised. "My God, it's Spider-Man!"

And so it went on like that, for a good hour. An hour on being on the tip of her toes until the fire died down, and reporters could step into the crash zone before they would be thrown out, and there, sitting amongst the many crates of Stark Industries tech he tried to steal, was Liz's father, webbed until he couldn't move, and a note stuck to his chest that said:

FOUND

FLYING VULTURE GUY
- SPIDER-
MAN

ps: SORRY ABOUT YOUR PLANE :)

Nina chuckled, her relief making her shake her head in disbelief, leaning back in her bed against her pillows. She checked her phone briefly to see whether Felicia had gotten back to her, but like recently, their conversations had become stale and short, left on delivered or open. It made her smile falter slightly, but she refused to let it take it away completely. She set her gaze onto the window, now just waiting for Peter to come back. He was alive. He had done it. He did it.

Another two hours she waited. Her parents were asleep now. Her father had awkwardly come into her room at about ten o'clock, knocking and peering inside to mutter, "Uh ... look, perhaps your mom and I were a bit too harsh, before. Just ... you know, if you want to look at those things, technically you're not supposed to as you're under eighteen, but it━it is your choice, it wasn't like we didn't read magazines━"

"Oh, my god, Dad!" let out Nina, scrunching her nose and throwing herself under the covers at her fathers implications. "I get it! I get it! It was a one time thing. I don't want to look at it again!"

"Yes! Right!" Her father cleared his throat, scratching his wrists awkwardly. "It's just, well, you're turning sixteen soon, and things happen, you━uh━you might find yourself wanting to━"

"Dad!"

He then nodded, wincing as he agreed, "Yeah, I'll get your mother to talk to you about it. She just makes me because I'm the doctor! The advice I give you as a doctor is to wait because right now your body━"

"Dad, please!" Nina clamped her hands to her cheeks to hide her red face.

"Yep! Yep! Got it," her father nodded again. "Just━uh━goodnight, honey, love you."

"Love you, Dad," mumbled Nina from behind her hands.

He had left her room after that, and for the next hour or so, Nina was alone, waiting for Peter to come back, just as he promised, to her bedroom window. And she'll be waiting for him. She'll always be waiting for him.

She was growing very tired by the end of it. All of tonights activities were starting to get to her, and she was exhausted. But she wouldn't let herself close her eyes. She had a call with MJ, who told her that Felicia had gone home, too━or she assumed so, since she never returned back to the dance, or told Michelle, and she couldn't find her after taking Cindy Moon to sweep the entire school.

Nina tried to give her best friend a call, but came up with nothing, too. She felt like she was at Washington all over again, and when she finally heard back from Felicia, she was not okay. She tried not to be worried this time, but she started to figure out a pattern with her best friend. And the pattern was starting again: a steep slope down that never ended well once Cia hit rock bottom. And Nina was going to be there to help her pull herself back up when she finally let her, as always.

The fire escape creaked outside. Nina shot up like a cork. She spun her gaze over and her shoulders slumped to see a crouched figure pull himself up to her window. Dressed in his homemade suit━it barely even looked like it anymore; it was burnt, and torn, and covered in dirt. His mask was discarded, showing a face through her window that looked even worse.

Nina now realised what it was going to be like to wait for him.

But despite how in pain he looked, how exhausted and how sombre, Peter Parker tapped on her window with his bloody knuckles and managed a toothy, cheeky smile.

A tear shed━Nina didn't realise how much she had been holding it in until now. She stepped off her bed and rushed to the window, pushing up the unlocked pane just for the sake of it, poking her head out to meet Peter's gaze.

He stared up at her, and━hoarse with pain━muttered, "Hello there, Nina Hart."

She chuckled again, finding it so absurd to hear him say it without a mask━to see him for him, bruised but with a smile and a mischief only she really knew glinting behind those eyes. And yet, at the same time, at ease.

Nina helped Peter inside. He winced at each movement, and she gently rubbed his arm, telling him it'll be okay. She led him to the pillows at her window seat, whispering, "I'll go get my father's kit━"

"Wait," Peter croaked, and the mischief was gone. Before Nina could comprehend, he had pulled her close into a tight hug. Immediately, he slumped, head falling into her shoulder. Nina heard him let out a suppressed sob.

She wrapped her arms around him, smelling burnt sweatshirt and rubble and dirty water. His hair was wet, blood was stained on his back and his arms. Nina sighed and rested her own head into his neck, too, silent as he let it all out. He saved New York from these weapons and the rampage that would've followed in the streets. He saved the neighbourhoods and all the little people just trying to live their little lives in a city far too big for any of them. He won. He got back up again and again. He was the last one standing in the fight.

But he was a kid. And he was scared, and he was hurt, and he was in pain. And all the throws and all the left-hooks and kicks and beatings━everything the universe threw at Peter Parker because he donned a mask and took up a responsibility even adults in metal suits with money could barely live with━showed at the end of the night. And Nina was here to let him be Peter again; let him be a teenager who needed comfort. Who needed to be held. And she held him back, because she was just a teenager, too.

When Peter pulled away, his forehead searched for hers, and she met it, eyes closed and a sigh shared between them.

"It's okay," she murmured to him, "it's over, now."

For now, she should've said, but Nina didn't want this moment to end. She just wanted━for one second━everything to be fixed, the world to be good, and their nightmares weren't haunting them in their sleep. They could be in Middle School again, living their lives, eating at Delmar's, playing Peter's video games, watching movies and spending days out at Central Park.

"It's going to be okay," added Peter, as if knowing exactly what she was thinking about.

Because in reality, it wasn't okay right now. In the night, Felicia Hardy was in hospital with her mother, crying and trembling after what had happened, learning that her father had been killed in prison━stabbed, just like the men had said. Michelle Jones got home and found out that her mother had kicked her father out, supporting a bruise on her cheek. Ned Leeds returned late to his Lola in their small apartment, tucking her into bed, before heading into his own room━passing a late rent notice shoved under the door━and fixing the picture of his mother on his bedside table. Liz saw the demise of her father━the man she admired with everything she had, the man who smiled and called her Gumdrop━on television after she got back home, frustrated that Peter had run off (again), and watched her entire world fall apart. Flash Thompson locked himself in his room, pacing his room as he heard his father shout about losing his precious car━a car far more precious than his own son.

And in another universe, both very similar to this one, Gwen Stacy woke up to hear her mother sobbing over the phone; her father had died, killed by her mentor onto of OSCORP Tower. Harry Osborn became a lone son in a house far too big for anybody, with a company on his shoulders and a vengeful thirst for the superhero who murdered his: Spider-Man.

Nothing was okay, that was the truth. They were all kids in cruel lives, but it was going to be okay━they all promised each other that, and they meant it.

*ೃ༄

PETER PARKER felt heavy as he climbed the fire escape towards Nina's window of her apartment. He remembered the look on Captain George Stacy's face as he died, in pain and determined not to show it, breathless without the chance to say goodbye to his family. That look on his face, it'll stay in Peter's head forever, until he was long gone, and even then.

He crouched outside her window, in pain. His leg screamed from the bullet wound, the Lizard's claws gashed his back and his head pounded with the worst headache in the universe. But New York lived another day. No one would spend the rest of their lives as mutant lizards, which was weird to think about now, but at the time, had been far more terrifying than anything Peter's faced in his life.

He grunted as he tugged off his mask, finally letting himself breathe in the cool night air. He still heard the sirens and the helicopters. Heard the busy evacuation still in place just in case. He had to grab eggs after this. His Aunt must be worried out of his mind. But he promised Nina. He wouldn't leave without seeing her.

Peter twisted his fingers under the window of her room, not even looking inside and pushed it up. He crawled inside, wanting to just drop onto the floor, but kept himself strong. Turning back over, he closed the window and let out a sigh, giving himself a moment to compose. He hadn't realised that Nina didn't speak, didn't greet him, didn't fret like she usually did. It was silent.

He turned around, and he soon found out why.

Peter Parker froze in his suit, his mask still in his hand, staring right at Nina's father sitting on her bed.

Doctor Frank Hart set his jaw at the sight of him standing there. Then, he nodded, as if he expected it. Looking at his hands clasped out in front of him, he said, "Nina's with her mother, they'd be asleep by now."

Peter swallowed harshly. It hurt to talk. "Is━Is she okay?"

"She's still a little bit in shock," Nina's father told him. "But she'll be okay, thankfully."

Taking a cautious step forward, Peter tried to explain himself, "Mr. Hart, I━I swear, I told her to get out of there, but she━" he winced at the movement, hand grasping his thigh. It burned. Tears welled up in his eyes, and Peter couldn't stop it.

Nina's father sighed and stood up. "Hang on there, kid."

He grabbed his kit━an advanced kit. He must've already known Peter would come back here, and he wasn't exactly sure how he felt about that, but right now, Peter just wanted to drop and cry. Frank Hart helped him towards the chair and he set out a towel. Peter sat down onto it, watching Nina's father pull out gloves. Doctor Hart picked up sizers and Peter watched him carefully cut away at his suit near the bullet wound. He looked away at the sight, clenching his eyes tight to stop the tears, but he broke then and there. About everything. The pain. Doctor Connors. Captain Stacy. Nina's father helping him despite his thoughts on Spider-Man. Even his Uncle Ben. Everything he's been bottling up the past few weeks.

"Let it out, Pete," sighed Frank. "I don't have everything with me, so this'll hurt."

And it did. Peter flinched, but Doctor Hart kept him still with a firm hand. He took the message, gripping the sides of the chair hard enough for the wood inside to fracture as Nina's father extracted the bullet with precision.

"I used to do this for my father," he muttered as he did. "As I got older, and Mom was working night shifts. Dad hid a lot of his pain, and we wouldn't know anything happened until he'd get home and try to fix it himself with a bottle of whisky and a needle and thread. The idiot. It wasn't even sanitised. So, I helped. And I saw some of the worst parts of my father."

Peter didn't know what to say. He was lucky that right now, he didn't think he could talk.

Finally, Frank pulled the bullet out and placed it onto the towel he set beside him. He stared at it like it was a horrible old friend. He started to clean the wound and Peter gritted his teeth. It hurt so much. "I'm telling you this because Nina's young, and she's bright, and she has a whole future ahead of her, you hear me?"

Peter nodded, starting to understand where this conversation was going.

"She's naive," went on her father. "She hasn't been met with a lot of horrors in this world, and I made sure of that. And I know you know that, too. She'll do anything to impress, anything to help━like tonight. And there are people out there who'll let her and not care. But I know you care a lot about my daughter, so I'll say this."

He pulled off the gloves and grabbed a new set. Peter watched him rip the packet open of a properly sanitised needle. "George knew the risks. So did my father. They go out, knowing that they might not come home. That's the job. But the other thing about the job is that you can't save everyone." He met Peter's eyes knowingly. He hung his head. "You can try to, you can do everything you can, fight every monster out in those streets, but there will always be another monster, some accident down the road, a tragedy just across the block. Look at me, Peter."

Peter did as he said, teary-eyed and in pain. Nina's father looked deadly serious. "So, you have to promise me one thing, Peter. And I mean it. I want you to promise on how much you care for my daughter, you hear me?" Peter Parker nodded, a lump in the back of his throat. "Promise me that you'll leave━" He said the words very slowly, making sure Peter understood every second, "━Nina out of it."

Something fell inside Peter. He wondered whether it was his heart.

His silence wasn't enough. Nina's father's gaze pierced him, "I want you to say it. You'll keep my daughter safe and away from all of this."

Dry and hoarse, Peter pushed back his tears to reply in a croaky voice, "I promise."

That was the cost of it all. The cost of Spider-Man.

*ೃ༄

a/n: considering the teachers somehow didn't see those intruders come into their school dressed as janitors, and didn't hear the complete trashing of school buses outside the dance, I'm pretty sure they'd completely be blind to two of vulture's thugs coming to terrorise Felicia--the fukers.

(tw below: sexual assault)

but this is my version of an origin story. the comic book origin story for black cat is much more ... heavy. it isn't something I felt comfortable putting in his book in regards to the tone of homecoming. I originally did something similar, but it was hard for me to write considering my own experiences surrounding sexual harassment, and writing the storyline of Felicia being full on assaulted by her college boyfriend Ryan is something definitely important to state and express for women's rights and awareness, but not something that would have been okay to have in the tone and rating of this book.

(also, I literally know nothing about mj and ned's families so most of it is creative license on my part).

(don't make promises you can't keep, mr. parker ...).

anyway, someone please protect these literal CHILDREN because it's not me and it's not marvel.

one more chapter to go of act one...