chapter thirty-three
almost had it all?

    PETER HAD barely any time to comprehend before the Black Cat sprung her attack. For some reason, the same senses that told him to dodge a bullet (or that there was a huge ass spacecraft in the sky) didn't seem to register enough to allow him to dodge the swipe her claws took. He was only glad his suit was made of metal, otherwise he'd be in a far different position afterwards. They sparked, raking across his chest and making his breath hitch in realisation.

    He managed to scramble back away from the second swipe, eyeing those claws that glinted like daggers.

    He didn't understand many things about this situation. 

    He didn't understand━first of all━what he stole from Felicia to have her so claws out (pun intended) at him right now. Second, he didn't understand what had made her so vicious. She was always a forward person, with strong opinions and an even stronger resilience and stamina━and while she intimidated him in school, she was never vicious. This desperate, dark side didn't make sense.

    But what he didn't understand the most, was what she was doing here.

    Felicia didn't Blip. That's what he was told. That was what Nina told him, what she was told. She didn't Blip, and survived the next five years, getting older while the rest of them were stuck in an intermission that felt less than five seconds. They searched for her. Nina called her best friend constantly, visited her mother's apartment only to find it empty, Peter searched as Spider-Man━they went looking for Felicia, but she might've been nothing more than a ghost. She didn't want to be found, and that hurt Nina━made her crumble, and if Peter wasn't so confused as to why Felicia seemed to be his age, having not grown older by a day (as if she had Blipped after all), he would be angry. Because if she did Blip, he couldn't understand why she hadn't come back.

    "Whoa, hey!" Peter dodged another strike, twisting his back over into a flip to gather some distance between him and the Black Cat. "Hold on! I don't know what you're even talking about."

    "Aw, don't play dumb for me," Black Cat caught him by surprise yet again, swinging her leg in a perfect arc that struck Peter right across the jaw. He let out a grunt of pain, hitting the concrete of the complex roof. "Believe me, it's not a good look. Neither is stealing," she smirked behind her mask, "trust me, Spider━" she darted away before he could get a grab at her, pushing himself back onto his feet. Felicia grabbed the drainage pipe locked down the roof entrance, holding onto it like she was a spider herself, "━it only works for the best of us."

    He really didn't want to hit a girl, nor did he want to hit his crush's ex-best friend, but Peter was beginning to get a feeling he might have no choice in the matter.

    "How about we have a nice long talk about this?" Spider-Man squared his shoulders and his footing, getting ready. "I'm sure there's all been some misunderstanding. Could be someone else, I am hard to recognise. You know, some people even forget the hyphen. Don't think I can't hear it, there's like this little gap between Spider and Man when people say it right."

    "Huh, funny━" Black Cat leapt off the side of the building, right over Spider-Man's head. Her feet landed on his back, using it like a spring board. He hit the ground yet again, face first. "Almost makes me want to go on that date you just asked."

    Peter blanched. He turned back around her, seeing her crouched against the stone, ready for another go, "I didn't━! I━I wasn't━

    He tried to get up again, but she was fast━way too fast. Felicia sprung forward, taking his wrists and spinning them over across the concrete. Peter grunted, trying to get her off him, but soon enough, she had him pinned down, her claws leaving marks on his suit. She breathed down onto him, and his heart started to race, having never been so close to someone like this.

    "Not that I don't like playing," she purred, "let's cut to the chase. Where's my cat camera, Spider? Don't tell me you didn't take it with your sticky fingers. I keep trackers in them, a little trick I learnt back in school. Unusual, so I followed it ... and here you are."

    Peter had a flashback to the strange ceramic cat he had found by the dumpster. His stomach twisted. The store it had been staring at had been the sight of a burglary just hours beforehand. "That camera━that was you." He gritted his teeth and managed to snag her wrists instead. Her breath hitched when he kicked his legs up and rolled them over again until he could keep those claws in his control, far away from striking. He ignored the small, amused smirk that dotted her lips to see him hovering over her.

    Oh, if Nina knew this ... Peter didn't think about that. Not that ... that they were together, just ... Peter really didn't want her to know that her ex-best friend has spent this entire fight threatening him and flirting with him as Black Cat. (And seemed to never have survived the Blip in the first place).

    "You know it's rude to film people," Spider-Man shot back, snarky, to Felicia Hardy.

    She pouted, not at all guilty for her actions, "But I like to film things." Her words had a deeper meaning, and Peter hated how flustered it made him.

    "Like jewellery shops?"

     Black Cat shrugged under his hold, "I was ... curious."

     "Yeah, I heard that's bad for cats."

     She grinned at that, as if surprised by, but proud of his quip. "How about you be a good Spider and tell me where you hid it, then?"

    "How about you tell me what you're doing stealing from jewellery stores using cameras in little ceramic cats."

    Black Cat huffed, her arms tensing, "Sounds like fun," she teased him, "but I'd rather not. If you won't tell me where my camera is, guess I'll just have to go find it myself."

    And like that, she slipped out of his grip. Peter cursed himself. He had been holding his strength back. She should have never been able to find that room to slip out and raise her knee up between them to kick him away━but he had been too distracted by his questions and how stunned he was in this moment.

    She took off running towards the edge of the building. Spider-Man, desperate, stretched out a web in hopes of catching her━he had so many questions, so much to say. But how could he say it? How could he let loose her identity without threatening his own?

    Either way, if she could track these cameras, he couldn't let her find it in his school bag. If she saw that, his identity was just as screwed either way.

    He had to distract her. He had to stop her before he lost her. His webs missed her, and Peter clenched his jaw━he went for it. He went for the one thing that would catch her attention amongst this facade she held.

    "Wait!" He got back into a crouch, throwing out another hand. Black Cat had stepped onto the very edge━he had seconds. "Wait━Felicia!"

     Just like Peter expected, she froze.

    She spun around, and her eyes were wide behind the lenses of her slender cat mask. She stared at him in alarm. "How do you know that name?"

     With her attention grabbed, Peter Parker stood up, his heart still racing━but now with a far different pace. He stared back at the Black Cat, wondering what had happened to the girl behind that mask to make her so guarded away. He swallowed hard and said the only the truth he dared whisper, "Nina's asked to me to keep an eye out for you."

     Her stunned gaze turned into a dark glower. Peter could tell the mention of Nina struck a nerve. "So, you're still dragging her into your antics." Felicia clenched her fists. "You stay away from her, Spider."

     "Me, stay away from her?" Peter couldn't help but let out. "She's been looking for you! Desperate to find you! And here you've been━what━robbing banks and collecting stolen jewellery? Lying to her?"

     "Don't act like you understand!" snapped Felicia, her words dripping with venom. "I stay away from her to protect her. You follow her like a shadow, and that's going to hurt her far more, in the end. So don't lecture me, Spider-Man."

      Her hair drifted in a gentle breeze, but the look she gave Peter Parker was far from it. "But while I'd love to have a chat, I guess I'll have to find this camera another day myself."

      And like that, she brought something out from behind her back. Peter didn't even notice it was there until it was too late. Black Cat threw it, and it struck him in the chest of his suit. Spider-Man felt his entire body jolt as an electric shock jetted up his chest and down his arms. He crumpled to his knees, tasting burnt eggs at the tip of his tongue. 

      Dammit! He thought to himself, glancing up just in time to see Felicia leap off the side of the building. She travelled down to the road below with a series of acrobatic leaps and twists. 

      Smoke curled off his tongue and his suit, but Peter forced himself back onto his own two feet. With a grunt, he pushed off at a run. Following the Black Cat's footsteps, he leapt out into the night. He should be able to catch up to her pretty easily. He extended his wrist and pressed his web shooters ...

      Nothing came out. 

     Peter's eyes widened. He tried again, watching in alarm as nothing but sparks exploded from his web shooters, short-circuiting them. His stomach dropped, as did his body. He cried out as he got closer to the ground before━

      Just in time, he tucked himself into a ball. The impact made his shoulders tremble, but no bones seemed to be broken. He managed not to hit his head, and Peter looked up, catching Felicia shooting past him at a run down the slender China Town alley. 

     She shorted out his web shooters with an EMP. Peter's breath hitched, shocked. But he couldn't let himself dwell in how she managed to find one, and stood back up. He took another deep breath, swallowing the pain that ached in his muscles. He was going to have to go after her the old fashioned way. 

     So, he broke off into a run across the street. 

     Peter could see her getting away amongst the dim lights between two building complexes, nothing but the white of her hair letting him know where she was. He was glad he could run fast with his powers, leaping over a set of construction barriers around a loose fire hydrant and up over the top of a bright red dumpster. 

      "Felicia!" he shouted after her, his heart still racing. He hasn't seen her since five years ago, but Peter has seen what her absence has left, and now, he was desperate to know the truth of what happened━not just that, but Nina deserved the truth. "Nina's been looking for you!"

      "Stay out of this!" snapped Black Cat in reply, her voice carrying over the distant sounds of New York City around them. She clambered up a wired fence, twisting her body over the top and landing at a run on the other side. Peter followed, using the fire escape on either side of him as momentum to climb up, jumping between the metal barriers before somersaulting over. He kept trying his web-shooters. He wanted to know the moment Karen rebooted the system of his suit. 

      "She thought you survived the Blip!" he ignored her, following her around the corner. Felicia was fast━really fast, but he was just as quick, even on foot. "Everyone thinks you survived! What happened?"

      He didn't care if he sounded too personal. Peter Parker felt hurt. Not just for Nina, but also for himself. Despite their differences, he liked Felicia. She was a good person━she had always been a good person with a bright spirit; sometimes a friend, sometimes a complicated mutual, but always with good intentions. "You don't look like you━" he didn't know how to say it. You look my age? Even he knew that was too dangerous to say.

      "You can tell any lie when the world is too busy to care," said Black Cat, finding some scaffolding behind a restaurant and bringing it cascading down. Peter had to stop, or be squashed, and instead jumped up onto the wall, running across it before landing back down onto the pavement, not missing a beat. 

      "Systems rebooting," Karen told him. "Full reboot in exactly one minute."

      "She's wondering why you didn't come back?" Peter tried to ask, using the tops of cars to try and grab as much momentum as he could to catch up to her fleeing figure. 

       They darted across the edge of Chinatown. Peter raced after Felicia down Elizabeth, dashing past the lights of the Hong Kong Supermarket. Some late night shoppers stopped to stare at the duo, not that either of them cared about their wide eyes and slipping grocery bags. 

      "Why do you care?" shot Black Cat over her shoulder, her voice harsh. 

      "Because━!" Peter pushed off the stone barriers from sets of stairs leading down below beauty stores and apartments. "━We━Nina━she wants to help! She wants to know where you are! She doesn't want you to be alone!"

     "Why not? I've survived everything else alone!"

      "I'm saying you don't have to!"

     They reached a busy intersection. As night dawned, there were still crowds waiting to cross the streets. Felicia darted around heads before they even noticed, and Peter lost sight of her, stuck with the gasps and chatter of awe as Spider-Man shouldered through. They called his name, asked for photos and whether he could sign their kids's Spider Plushies (man, he hates those things!), but he ignored every one of them. He could already hear Jonah's knew tabloid on his podcast: Spider-Man Too Good To Listen To The People! You heard it here first, folks! Spider-Man, the menace we all know, thinks he is by far better than the people he declares he serves! 

      "Sorry, I'm sorry!" said Peter to annoyed pedestrians. He threw his hands out as cars swerved to a halt on Broome Street. People shouted at him out of their windows and blared their horns. "I'm really sorry━Felicia, just━listen to me!"

      Her hair swung as she disappeared over another gate in beside a spa. "Stay away!" shouted Felicia. 

     Peter felt a jolt in his web shooters. Systems whirred to life in his ears and he saw through his lenses, all of his holographic screenings flash across. "Systems activated," stated Karen and Peter did not waste a second. 

      Leaping over the gate in one swift moment, Peter shot out his arm and pressed the trigger. He watched, satisfied, as a long stretch of web extended out. It grasped the gravel and he tugged. Peter twisted midair towards Felicia, raising his arms to grab her.

     But she was ready, she spun around and grabbed his left arm. With effort, she used his momentum to throw him over her shoulder and shove him into the ground. She kept him there to sneer into his face, "Leave me alone! And tell Nina I don't want to see her."

     In her hand was a second EMP. Peter gritted his teeth as it went off against his upper chest━sparks of blue electricity shot down his limbs to his toes and his fingers. His mind grew dazed, and he lied there, staring up at the sky, hearing the distant sound of Felicia Hardy, the Black Cat, running off into the night. 

*ೃ༄

    PETER PARKER had a track record of being late. 

     Nina was used to it by now.

     She was used to checking her phone, straining to hear sirens outside to have at least an idea of where he could be, and reassuring her mother that yes, Peter was on his way. 

     But this time, unlike many others, it felt different. 

    Just hours beforehand, Nina chuckled and he laughed, nodding and promising her with a kiss he'd be here for dinner, but he was nowhere to be seen.

     She told herself it was her nerves. She told herself it was her mind telling her terrible things, knowing full well the important things she wanted to ask him. The scary step she wanted to take.

     Nina's leg jittered up and down underneath the table. The restaurant they sat in was filled with chatting families, couples and work partners, enjoying their night with wine, Chinese dishes and the company of each other. She should be enjoying it, too, but all she could do was stare at her phone and the empty seat beside her. 

      She could feel her mother's gentle, concerned gaze on her, and her father's purse of his lips as he thought what he always thought━Nina just wanted this time to be different.

     What is taking him so long?

     Are you okay? She had sent messages. Has something happened? But she got no reply. 

    "Perhaps he's gotten lost," Nina muttered, knowing it was a useless excuse, glancing at the food she had already finished on her plate. "I━I think I gave him the right address ..." She had given him the right address, and the right time. 

      He was just late. 

    She tried not to be bitter. She tried to tell herself she understood━and she did! She knew why he was late. She knew what could be happening. She knew he might be out there, doing far better good than she'd ever imagine she could do. Saving lives and helping others at the cost of his own personal life. That was who Peter was. 

     And she appreciated it. She understood it. She loved him for it. She loved the mantle he put on, slipping a mask over his eyes and leaping off into the streets of New York only to return bruised and in pain by the end of the night. 

     But it also put a gap between them━a fissure where he was late, where he had to say no, where he backed away last minute. Where he missed her speech and might just miss this with all its opportunities, and it━despite everything━made her a little bit bitter. 

     She tried to keep her mind active━to take up the time. Nina scrolled through her photo album of them on her phone, managing a small smile that washed away any bitter feeling at the picture she held of her snuggled up into his neck, fast asleep where he thought it would be a perfect moment to snap a picture. He had many pictures of her━some posed, others when she least expected them: times where she laughed and she smiled, or she almost fell asleep onto her notes (or did) and he decided to capture that moment in time because to him, they were beautiful. She was beautiful.

     And for her, he was what made every problem, every time he leapt off the building and left her there, breathless and hoping he'll come back okay, worth it. Every single moment. 

     "Honey," murmured her mother, drawing Nina's attention away from her phone and up to her gaze. She smiled and nodded towards the windows. "Someone's out there waiting for you."

     Nina's heart leapt. 

     She glanced over, and in seeing his figure through the window, standing amongst the lights of Chinatown with his hands in his pockets and his shoulders hunched a little in the cold, a smile grew onto her face. 

     Only for it to falter slightly when after catching her gaze, Peter looked away and down at his feet. She knew that look. 

     Her excitement and relief to see him dropped down to dread. 

     Nina pursed her lips and grabbed her purse. "I'll uh ..." she glanced at her parents as she stood up. Her father frowned, a little confused at the sudden change on her face. "I'll be back."

      She slipped on her jacket she left over the back of her seat and made her way out of the restaurant and into the cool night. He stood there, waiting for her with a glum look in his red-rimmed eyes, as if he was resting the urge not to cry. 

     Nina's heart jolted with a sudden breath of fear. Her brows lifted, "Peter?" she asked, wary and hesitant as she walked up to him. He managed a tight smile at the sight of her. "Hey ... what is it? We've been waiting inside for you." 

     He sighed and wouldn't meet her gaze again. Nina felt her heart rise up her throat. She knew this all too well. "Peter? What's wrong? Are you all right?"

     Peter Parker clenched his eyes shut, shaking his head before just letting out what had been bothering him the entire day, "I━I don't know what I'm doing."

     Nina bit back the sour taste on her tongue. She watched him glance briefly through the windows of the restaurant, fixing on her father before looking away. Her heart raced behind her ribs, anticipating something she dreaded, but knew was coming. She knew was coming, and it hurt so much. "It's ... it's my father, isn't it?"

     Seeing the look in her eyes━the pain across her pretty features, Peter hung his head. "Yeah," he muttered, and she barely heard him. She didn't know whether it was because he was ashamed, or whether not looking at her made it easier each time. "Yeah, I━I see him everywhere I go. I can't ... I━I don't know what, I don't know what to do and I can't get him━get him out of my head━"

     "Peter," Nina didn't want him to get too far. She didn't want him to get to the point she knew he was going to. She wanted him to come inside. She wanted him to hear her father out. She wanted him to see that they had a chance. That he was going to give them a chance. She wanted him to see the future she wanted to start. She wanted him to see, and realise everything was okay. "Peter, please, just come inside, okay? Everything's fine with my dad, okay? I promise."

    "No, no, Nina━" Peter shook his head, she wouldn't let him finish. 

    "Just trust me," she hated how her voice started to break up in the back of her throat, "okay? It's━just trust me, come inside, okay? Please come inside━"

     "Nina," the way he said her name made her lips press shut. Peter looked pained. He was pained. She was pained, too. This can't be happening, she thought, feeling that lump grow in her throat. This can't be happening, not again. "I promised him that I would keep away from you, a━and now I'm gonna come and eat dinner with him and your family?" His voice cracked for a second, heavy with emotion. His eyes grew tearful. "H━How can I do this? What does that━what does this make me?"

      Nina felt stupid at how desperate she sounded, "It makes you my boyfriend."

     "No," he corrected her, growing more and more emotional by the second, "it makes me not able to live with myself."

      He brushed past her, turning away towards the umber lighting of a Chinese lantern hanging above a beauty salon. Peter kicked at the pavement, taking a long, shuddering breath to keep his tears at bay. Nina thought of the promise her father made this morning, the apartment in the East Side that had her and Peter's name on it. The life they were supposed to have. 

     Nina couldn't give up on that. She won't give up on that. 

     And yet just as she was about to get everything she wanted: a scholarship to NYU, help to an apartment, her father's blessing and belief that Peter would take care of her with everything he had (even though she was very much capable of taking care of herself) ... she was so close to losing it, right here, right now. 

      It made her choke up. "I━" Nina swallowed back a sob threatening to break through, "━I thought that it meant you loved me?" she asked Peter Parker.

     "I do love you," he nodded immediately, voice quiet and mournful. He sniffled to the brick exterior of the building opposite. Quiet, he turned back to her, "I love you."

     "So come inside," begged Nina, marching up to him. She stopped right in front of him, gazing up and seeing a tear trace his cheek. "Have dinner."

     He shook his head, "I can't."

     "Why not?"

     "Because," said Peter, "what if something happens to you? Just like it happened to Gwen's dad, because of me?"

     She shook her head, too. If he could just come inside. If he just listened━ "Peter, listen━"

    "No━"

    "━my dad, he's━"

    "━wait━"

    "━no, listen, he's going to━"

   "━wait, wait!" she shut up, clenching her fists at the way he gestured to her, not letting her finish. Peter was silent for a moment, waiting to see whether she'd say more, and when she didn't, he added: "I cannot let that happen, okay? I refuse to let that happen."

      Now sure that he was finished, Nina took another step closer to him, stubborn. She was not going to lose him, either. He held a responsibility, and she admired that, but that didn't mean he could dictate her choices in this relationship surrounding whether she was in danger or not. That was her choice. "Listen to me," she told him, and he stayed quiet, upset. "You're Spider-Man; and I love that ..." Nina hesitated, but decided on her next words with all heart and not one lie breeching her lips, "... but I love Peter Parker more. That's worth it to me."

     Her words struck him, she knew they did. But he wouldn't let it change his mind. Peter Parker kept shaking his head, as if scared that if he didn't, he'd break and come inside. He'd lose the determination he had to push her away ... again. "I can't lose you too," he whispered. "I━I can't..."

     "You can't lose me," she said, clenching her jaw, "and so you can't be with me." Nina arched an accusing brow. "Tell me, Tiger, who does that work out for?"

     Peter took a final, shaky breath. She knew she was right, but he wouldn't let himself admit it. "I can't," he croaked. "I'm ... I'm sorry, Nina."

     She felt the tears brim in her eyes. They wanted to fall, but she refused to let them. Nina turned away, taking a sharp breath through her nose. She felt something in her break, but she didn't want it to show, she covered it with a fresh anger━the bitterness she felt after being toyed around on a thin string of web, clinging onto Peter for so long each time he almost broke away, finally showing itself. 

     With a scoff, she said, "Wow ... wow ..." spinning back to him, she said: "You have done this to me again and again ... Peter." She gritted her teeth, biting back the ache in her jaw from the desperate need to cry. (Again). "I can't live like this. I won't live like this, okay?" 

      She threw away the double bed. She threw away the ensuite. She threw away the nights cooking and studying together on a couch before getting distracted by some movie on the screen. She threw away a future she had desperately wanted, planned, almost had ... 

     She had to throw away it all. 

     "I break up with you this time," she told Peter Parker. His brows knitted together, digging his chin towards his chest. He didn't say a word. "I break up with you."

     She left him there, walking away like many other times before. Except this time, there was something about it that felt permanent. 

*ೃ༄

    a/n: black cat is not flirting with a minor! Felicia did blip. 

     just because I got a few comments on the last chapter about this, I felt like I need to specify.

      she's faked her death in the comics etc, it's a play on that. she's faked an entire life the past five years to distance herself from nina and everyone else. she's used it to create this enigma of black cat to get her into places where she can steal artworks and etc. 

      and with the amount of crazy shit the world was like in marvel after the blip, I figured it would've been easy to lie either way and get away with it. 

     also, I don't live New York, I literally went a walk on google maps to location spot for the first part of this chapter so I could make it an 'authentic' chase lol. but my bearings? non-existent. I think I tried to go into Little Italy but somehow we ended up near Bourke street, which I think is like on the other end like I don't know I tried-