THE TEARS HAD DRIED AND THE PAIN HAD DULLED, leaving me feeling empty and irrevocably grieved with nothing to distract myself with. Where I would have cried long and hard before, this just felt like a passive state of nothingness, which left me feeling worried for both myself and what little sanity I had left - did this mean I was giving up?

Inga hadn't been here all day, she had left early that morning after sticking pins and needles into me as though I was a кукла Вуду. She had replaced her ever impending presence with a large man who looked at me like I was the dirt on the bottom of his impeccably shined shoe, who left me alone but made sure I knew leaving my room was out of the question. News like that absence should and would have made me happy, but it hadn't been a relief of anger; far from it, as the man acted with the same cruelty and more towards me, leaving me broken when he left. Only, that time, the tears didn't fall, and I felt more resigned than I had in my entire time here.

I stood in the doorway of the open area Inga had declared her workspace, not saying anything but knowing she knew I was there by the way she had stiffened. I didn't even know what I had to say, or if I could say it; I had so many questions but the answers were things I feared and something I dreaded. It could confirm the realism of the demons that hung over my shoulders every waking moment of my life, or destroy everything I thought was a reality, or bring unspeakable terrors to devour my cruel vision of my world. There was no promise that she would give me what was asked for, but if she did, I wasn't sure how to take the truth.

Finally, licking moisture back into cracked lips and forcing myself to step forward, I spoke. "What comes next? For me?"

Inga didn't turn; I suppose my question wasn't worth the movement away from her work, or maybe she just didn't care - or both. "Извините?"

"After I do whatever it is you need me to do, what is there left for me? And what are you going to do to the boy? What is this...what is this all leading to?"

She didn't speak for several seconds, but when she did, she still didn't face me. "That is not your business to worry about. All will be dealt with in due time."

"That's not enough," I muttered. While inside I trembled and shook, I forced myself to looked resolved and more courageous then I felt. "I need more than that; what exactly am I here for? It seems to change every single day. I can't just...my place here isn't just to be moved around like a pawn in your game. I deserve to know just what damage that move will cause, don't I?"

"You already know."

"Do I?"

Inga whirled around, eyes flashing, and forced me to back away as she drew closer. Red nails flew through the air and barely missed my cheek, leaving her to retract and glare even more after my defensive step back. "Stop acting like a child and get back to work. I don't have time to deal with you."

Still, I stood tall, though my defiance had seeped out of my body and into the floor, deserting me in the time I needed it most. This time, however, I couldn't just fall and submit because of fear and because of Inga's intimidation; I needed answers, and it seemed as though she was the only one who could give them to me. "No, not anymore. I'm not just going to play your silly games - I'm not just your little toy. If I am going to be your weapon, I deserve to know the truth. What are you going to do to him?"

We stood in silence for several seconds, her eyes filled with anger and mine with worry and fear, a part of me regretting this decision but another edging me on. For a moment, her fists her tight and risen to her chest as though she was going to strike, and I carefully tensed in case she tried something. Finally, however, she broke, brushing past me into the open area that made up our 'home'. "When this is done, you will return to the Academy and be recognised for your work, as was told to you. You'll graduate, as long as you obey the rules until we get to that point. If you can accomplish this simple task, there would just be one last step and then you'd move on."

"What about the boy?"

"Why do you care? What does it matter to you? He's not your concern and you didn't give a дерьмо, so why are you questioning now?"

I bit back a rebuttal, her words starting a train of thoughts - she was right. I shouldn't care. I didn't care, yet I did; though the exact plans were unknown, it wasn't hard to assume the man who injected me weeks before wasn't there to make him a nice meal and hug him to death. There was something planned and nothing good for Peter, and for some reason, that made me feel bad and worry for him - the boy who looked at me with a bashful smile of total trust, the boy who got so excited over eating pizza with me, and the one who said, in a way, that I mattered. Peter seemed to care so much about me and my wellbeing, and for some reason, that just made me worry back.

My mouth opened, but the words that stung my heart didn't fall; instead, I simply shrugged and looked away. "I have a right to know, don't I? I'm the one doing the actual work."

Inga sighed and folded her arms against a toned body. Through the thin fabric that covered her torso, I made out a scar near her shoulder, long and thick and obviously from a deep wound, presumably a knife or other bladed weapon. For a second, pity joined my thoughts but was quickly burned and replaced with anger and impatience. "He is a boy of great power, one that can not be left to roam - not without knowing just how it is he is possible. It is believed that he could do much for certain people. Your job is to make him trust you, then bring him in so that they can understand just who he is. Then you will leave, and he will stay."

"Oh." the information was much more detailed and informative than I had thought, and I wasn't sure how to respond, moreover respond with more insistent questions. "What happens...what happens after that? After you know?"

Her gaze didn't falter, "they take him apart and put him back together again and figure out just why he's called Spiderman."

The room felt as though it was beginning to collapse in on me, and I staggered back, panic flooding my mind and nausea bubbling in my throat. Her words, while vague, couldn't be more clear on what was to come of him with all the previous knowledge and first-hand experience in seeing their victims. As soon as I handed him to them, his body would become a puzzle, each piece a temple of hidden information that many would kill to know. He wouldn't be considered one of them or even a human being, either; nay, to them, he would be less than a human, and just there for their perversive scientific pleasures. Peter Parker was an object of knowledgeable lust, a reverse science experiment, nothing more.

And I was to be the one who brought him in, of course.

"And...after that?"

I thought she would have hit me again, or reprimanded me for my burning curiosity, but like before she stood stiffly and spoke once more. "It depends on how well the experiments go. There are some that survive, and some who do not, and some who become more than human."

"What?" For some reason, words stuck in my throat and fell out hoarse and forced, sounding much more fearful than I thought. "I don't...understand."

"There are some who survive the treatments and develop abilities they didn't have before - ordinary humans gifted with strength and speed and other things. If a boy like him survives somehow, he could be a god among men - unparalleled by anyone. With his skills and more, he'd be a gift."

"So he's just a weapon to them." My voice broke at the last part, but I forced the tears back as I forced my blurry gaze onto the woman in front of me. I had to make her hear my words, hear the pain in my voice, maybe somehow force her to realise that this was wrong and that he was an innocent - my wish was a lost cause, but I couldn't help but try, staring her down with all the anger and pain racking my breaking heart. "A dumb science experiment - you're willing to sacrifice a poor innocent just to get whatever it is you want? You're going to kill a poor boy just to get some stupid results? You're all monsters!"

Her eyes flashed with sudden anger, but there was more behind it; something I couldn't read, but unfamiliar and strange for someone like her. "Say it how you will. Go. I have work."

"No! This isn't right! You can't just let this happen, you need to-" the rest of my sentence was mumbled and lost in the groan of my body toppling over in pain; she struck again, practically fuming with annoyance at that point. I wiped at my nose and glared at her, forcing myself back up. "You...you can't let them do this, please, just...let them take me, or anyone else - just don't do that to him. Please."

Inga had returned back to her original position. "Go, Freya."

"But-"

"-do not make me ask again."

My feet felt like they each weighed a thousand pounds as I staggered back to the grey room that was slowly turning into another temporary prison, not sparing a second look back for fear of losing all ability to move altogether. It felt like, all in the span of mere minutes, the world had begun to end around me and everything that I held onto had been whisked away and replaced with thorny needles of hurt and fear.

Of course, I hadn't thought that this would end pretty; from the first day at Midtown, the mission of protecting and watching Peter Parker had seemed daft, insane, ridiculous. However, though I knew I was wrong, I had hoped that he could walk away from this unscathed and that he wouldn't have to deal with the pain that was now flooding through me and had run through me my entire life. He was a good kid, one that didn't deserve that happen to him - none of it.

No tears came, though I begged for that rush of relief. All I was given was the crushing weight of hopelessness and guilt that came with the knowledge that my existence meant that I would have to be the one to drag the Parker boy to his impending doom.

This chapter's sort of short, sorry loves - I was originally, again, going to attach this to the last one but then it was an awkward length, so instead we're getting a barely under 2000 word chapter about Freya and how awful I am to her. Again, sorry, Freya, and readers haha. However, the next chapter is gonna be exciting, I'm sure you already know what it is but it'll be something, to say the least. Let's hope it can make up for this hella weak one.

Also, just so you know, I have heard your comments and seen how much you love her, so you're going to get four endings in total - yes, that's right, four. One official ending that has been the ending since I began to plan for this story, and that will be how the story ends, no ifs, ands, or buts. However, I was toying before with different ideas and endings and since you guys are attached to Freya or want to see Inga get redeemed [though she sort of does in the official end, not really sort of] or any of those things, I'm including in this/have written three alternate endings for this story. Take that how you will, just a tidbit of information for you. Just know that only 14 [official] chapters left now!

Also, thank you @allyyargent for the cover - it's beautiful! The new cover that you see was made by another extremely talented gem, @voidkhaleesi, so shoutout to both of these beauties who outdid themselves, truly.

Thank you for reading!