After what felt like months of recovery, when it reality it was only a few more days, Thea finally gained the strength she needed to escape. She had been planning out this for a couple of days.

Thea knew there was a camera in the corner of the room, filming everything that was happening. The only place in the room that did not have a camera filming was the bathroom. So Thea would have to go to the bathroom and break through the wall as silently as she could.
She already knew that this wouldn't be an easy task to do. Especially considering the condition she was in only a few days ago.
One wrong move while breaking out could prevent her from leaving at all.

As normally as she could, in order to not draw attention to herself, she swung her feet over the bed and both of them hit the floor at the same time.

The only thing she had shoe-wise was a pair of slippers. Nothing good for running in, so she had to rely on her powers for everything.

Thea slipped her feet through the slippers that were laying next to the bed and stood up. She took one last look at the camera and walked over to the bathroom.

She had already packed a bag filled with all the items that she needed for the trip. The bag was laying on the wall that she would soon break, a pure white wall with no windows or view of the outside world.

As soon as Thea entered the bathroom she quickly made her way to the wall that held her from freedom. She placed a hand on the cold wall and rested it there while thinking of what she was about to do.

Thea then transformed her flat hand into a fist on the wall and formed as much power as she could without straining herself. She then took a step back and focused all the power on the wall and the bricks that lay beneath it.

Slowly, the wall began to crack and bricks came out of their place in the wall. Soon enough, Thea had pulled out enough bricks silently, making enough room so she could fit through the opening.

It had already been 10 minutes and Thea knew the people watching the room would start to get curious as to why she was inside the bathroom for so long.

Using the last bit of energy, Thea lifted herself off of the ground with her remaining powers and pushed through the hole in the wall.

As soon as she hit the fresh air, Thea smiled. She took a few seconds out in the air before she began to hear the sound of the doorknob in her room beginning to rattle. Once Thea had heard that she wasted no time and blasted off into the clear sky.

A steady stream of purple mist trailed behind Thea as she reached speeds she had never done before.

Thea looked back at the building in the distance which grew smaller and smaller, she then turned her head back at the open air before her and smiled.

~~~~

It took Thea a couple more minutes to reach somewhere inhabited. She couldn't risk someone spotting her in the sky, so she did the most reasonable thing and landed in the woods nearby. The dense forest helped conceal her arrival by air and the soft earth cushioning her descent.
The woods around her were lush and green, showing that the place she was at got regular rain. Thea followed the natural trail that was on the ground after water eroded it down.

It took Thea another 5 minutes of following the trail to reach a road that led to the town. Her heavy bag was beginning to weigh her down and she needed to rest as soon as she could.

The town that she was in currently wasn't big. It was a small, wooded town that had rain clouds over it. A fog was rolling in at a rapid pace and the ominous clouds overhead only spelled trouble unless she found somewhere to stay. Damp streets helped lead her to a small diner across the street.

Thea crossed the empty street, her heavy bag resting on her shoulder. Thea strode up to the steps of the diner and contemplated whether or not to go in.

But the rolling clouds, that were at first silent, let out a large clap of thunder. Thea visibly jumped and started to feel the start of rain beginning to pour down. This sudden change in weather made the decision for her and she entered the diner.

The diner was warm and cozy. Unlike most other diners in Queens, this one felt familiar even though she had never been here before.

Once Thea walked in she was immediately greeted by an overly cheerful server who went by the name Amber, as displayed on her name tag.

"Table for one?" She asked with a bright smile on her face.

Thea stood there for a second, still taking in the diner before she nodded slightly.
Amber's face lit up even brighter and gestured over to where the booths were.

"Great! Right this way."

Amber directed Thea to a small booth on the side of the room and then proceeded to ask her what she wanted to drink.
Thea looked down at the table she was now sitting at and then looked back up at her.

"Just water," Thea answered.

With a cheerful grin, Amber went to the back room and left Thea to herself. Thea's mind could only wander to what was happening.
What am I doing?

Thea couldn't finish her own thoughts however because it didn't take long for the bouncy waitress to come back with her glass of water.

"Here you go sweetie, if you need anything else, make sure to holler at me," Amber said while setting down the glass filled with crystal clear water. Thea smiled back at her as she left.

Thea looked down and stared at the full glass, the water almost called over the brim of the cup. But while she was staring at the glass, it felt like someone else was doing the same thing but to Thea.

She looked over her shoulder discretely to find a middle-aged man, with locks of gray beginning to poke in, staring straight back at her.

Thea immediately whipped her head back around once they made eye contact. She internally shivered at the look in his eyes. A look like he had just found his next prey.

Thea shook off the contact and went back to her staring contest with the glass of water.

In the back of Thea's mind, she could still feel the piercing gaze of the man's eyes drilling a hole where they looked.

Feeling more than uncomfortable, Thea started and finished her drink, picked up her bag from the floor and left the booth.

On her way out of the diner, Thea stole one last glance over at the man who was staring her down. He was now looking down at his phone, searching through his contacts. 

Once she reached the door of the diner, Thea had failed to hear the same man say to someone over the phone, "I found her."

~~~~

The weather outside had started to clear up, the sun began to poke through a couple of clouds and warmth began to reach Thea's skin, melting away the cold she had felt before. But in her heart, there was still some cold left. Not physically, but emotionally. The cold left over from the family she had left behind, the cold she had left from the Avengers, and the cold she had left from Peter.
That is when Thea decided that she knew where she needed to go.

Thea needed to find Peter.

~~~~

Thea was positive that once the weather was completely cleared up, she would take her bag and leave the small town to go and find Peter.

Once Thea had left the small diner and the creepy man that was inside she had to figure out what she needed to do. Thea knew that making a trek to Queens by using her powers would be draining but that was her only option. She couldn't trust anyone, not after her encounter with the man. Thea would have to push through it all and make her own trek to Queens from this small town in upstate New York.

Behind the diner were only a dumpster and next to it, a large truck.

Thea walked over the truck, bag in hand and dropped the bag between the dumpster and truck. Thea then nestled herself in between the dumpster and truck. She then pulled the bag closer to her and she knelt down to the hefty bag. She took a single hand and opened the zipper to the bag and searched for her broach. Her broach, which let her become Dark Matter.

After a minute of digging, her hand finally grazed the metal and gem broach. Thea plucked the broach out of its place within the bag and held it in her hands. She felt the weight of the broach in her hands before she reached up with both her hands and connected the broach with her chest, her suit traveling over her body.

Once she was completely form fitted with her black cat-suit she then stood up from her kneeling position while grabbing her bag. 

Thea stepped out from the secure spot that she hid and looked left and right to make sure she was truly alone before she had to make the long flight to Queens.

Forming her powers in her hands, Thea shot out a stream of her signature purple mist and flew up to the clouds.

Her flight took about 1 hour to reach the city of New York. Halfway through her flight, she began to feel the strain on herself from using her powers for such an extended period of time. By the time she reached a familiar part of the city, Queens, she had already broken out a sweat and her hands had begun to shake from the amplitude of energy coming to a draw.

The continuous pumping out of mist from herself had its toll on her and her flying had already gotten dangerously low to the ground, just barely over passing the cars and trucks that drove by.

The only thing that kept her going through the pain and suffering was the thought of Peter. She needed to speak with him. The stupidity of the entire argument they had was childish and unnecessary.

With the last of her useable energy, Thea gave a powerful push up to Peter's window.

Although it was a Tuesday at 2 pm, it was now summer. So school was out and Peter wasn't at school anymore.

The moment Thea's feet touched the ground of Peter's fire escape, she collapsed in on herself. Her body falling to the ground loudly on the metal grate floor.

Still maintaining her consciousness she could manage to make out the sound of Peter exclaiming in his room, "What the...."

Thea could keep her eyes open and watch as Peter slid open his window to the fire escape and his eyes widen as he gazed down at Thea, collapsed on the floor, breathing heavily and her eyes now shut.

"Thea!" Peter said while climbing through the window at a rapid pace to get to her. He knelt down by her head and placed two fingers on her neck to find her pulse to make sure she was alive.

Peter sighed out in relief as soon as he felt a steady beating of her pulse underneath his fingertips. He then took his fingers off of her neck and placed his hand now on the side of her face gingerly.

Thea managed to crack open her eyes again and stole a look at Peter, whose hand shot back at the sight of Thea, now conscious.

Thea began to move her hand that was underneath her and use it as leverage to force herself up in a sitting position.

Her shakes hands making this hard to do on her own. Peter quickly caught on to what Thea wanted and gripped her bicep, helping her up to a sitting position against the railing and letting go as soon as she was upright.

With a hand resting to the side of her, making sure she wouldn't collapse again, she used her free hand to reach up to her broach and disconnected it from her chest. Immediately, the suit that formed from it, retracted back into it.

Thea let out a breath of fresh air once her mask came off. Thea closed her eyes again and relaxed, the constricting suit now not on her body.

But she opened her eyes once more when she heard Peter call out in a soft voice, "Uhhh Thea? Are you okay?"

Thea smiled at him and nodded.
"Just a little overworked is all," Thea said.

At her statement Peter visibly relaxed but then stood back up suddenly.

"We're not safe out here, I don't want anyone to find up like this so come on." Peter nodded his head over to the open window.

"Peter I-uh...." Thea started to say, looking down at the grate floor.

"What is it?"

"I don't think I'll be able to get up, let alone walk." She said sheepishly.

Without a word, Peter took a step towards Thea and placed an arm under her legs and another behind her back.

Lifting her up with ease, Thea flushed slightly, a light pink tint forming.

Peter, carrying Thea, climbed through the window and over to his bed in the corner of his room. Gently, Peter set Thea down on his bed and went back to his window to shut it.

Thea watched as Peter pulled out a chair from his desk and sat in it, directly in front of Thea on the bed.

Thea cleared her throat in order to get rid of the awkward silence that plagued the room.

"So....hi?" Thea said while raising her shoulders.

Peter looked unfazed and asked Thea while resting his arms on his lap, "Thea, what are you doing here?"

Thea looked down at her lap and then back up at Peter who was eyeing what she was doing.

"I...." Thea paused, thinking of the right words to say in order to make sure this conversation would go right.
"I came here to apologize to you."

Peter opened his mouth, about to say something, when Thea interrupted him. "Wait! Before you say anything, let me finish."

Peter stayed silent and waited for Thea to talk.

"First and foremost, I want to say, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for the way I handled it all and how I was being such an asshole to you for everything. I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier about Tony and being Dark Matter," Thea paused. "And you don't have to forgive me, but just me telling you this is already 1000x times better than holding it all in."

Peter looked at Thea, and then his hands, "Look, I understand what you mean, but you also have to know that I did the same thing to you. And I'm sorry also. You didn't deserve what I did to you and I don't even know why I did it. I guess I had anger I didn't know I had and I had to let it out some way and you were my metaphorical punching bag."

Tears began to form in Thea's eyes at Peter's statement. "I guess we were both assholes." Thea laughed out.

Peter looked up and smiled at Thea, "Yeah...I guess we were."

"So...are we good now?" Thea asked.

"Yeah...we are," Peter answered.

A sharp knocking on the door of his room caught both Peter and Thea off guard. Aunt May's voice sounded from the other side of the door. "Peter? Is someone else in there with you?"

Thea looked over and Peter with panic in her eyes and Peter quickly responded with a shake my voice, "No, no one else is in here!"

"Okay..." Aunt May replied apprehensively. "Well I'm going out on a grocery run, I'll be back in an hour."

"K May, see you later! Love you." Peter yelled out to May.

"Love you too Peter!"

Peter sighed once he heard the click of a door closing, signaling that May had left.

Thea smiled at the interaction between May and Peter.
"Have I told you how much I love your Aunt?"

"You know, once or twice," Peter replied sarcastically. "Come on, let's get you home."

Peter then got out of his spot on the chair and walked over to Thea on the bed. He went to put his arms in the position they were in earlier in order to carry Thea in, but she quickly stopped him and said, "I think I just need some help making sure I don't fall while walking."

Peter took a step backward.

"Hey, hey, that doesn't mean that I don't need help up," Thea said to Peter, and arm outstretched towards him.

Peter smirked at Thea and walked back over and grabbed her forearm with his hand and slowly helped her up.

Thea took a couple of shakes steps toward the door, Peter, behind her watching her every step of the way. His hand came to rest on the underside of her forearm, making sure she was safe.

Thea immediately shook it off and said, "I got it." This success was short-lived because Thea make a wrong step and her leg collapsed under her. Her body began its descent towards the ground, but before she could ever touch it, a strong hand came out and grabbed her by her waist.

Thea looked up at Peter who had a slight pink tint to his cheeks, and breathed out, "Thanks."

Peter didn't reply, he only stood her back up and this time kept a steady arm on her.

~~~~

It only took a few more failed walking attempts for Thea to finally make it to her abandoned apartment with the help of Peter.

Empty bags lay strewn about the apartment, uncleared dishes wherein the sink and a low humming came from the tv, showing it was on.

"Ah come on man! I left the tv on this entire time?" Thea groaned. But Peter only laughed at this.

Thea walked over to the tv and sat down on the couch, finding the tv remote she clicked the off button and the low humming came to an end.

Peter came too and joined Thea on the couch, he sat down with enough force that he bounced slightly once his butt hit the couch.

Now that the tv was turned off silence wrapped itself all throughout the apartment.

Peter turned to Thea and stared at her. All Thea did in reply was stare straight back. Thea could see Peter's eyes glance down at Thea's lips and then back up at her eyes. Peter began to slowly lean into Thea. Thea didn't move, she didn't move away or towards Peter. She knew what he was trying to do but didn't know how to feel about it.

Peter came so close to Thea that she could feel his breath on her lips.
Peter closed his eyes and Thea followed suit.

She waited for the feeling of Peter's lips on her's but it never came.
Thea then cracked open her eyes and saw Peter standing up and staring at the window next to them.

Thea stretched a hand out to Peter and tugged on his sleeve, "Peter what's wrong?"

Peter was about to sit back down when suddenly a loud blast shot through the window.

"Get down!" Peter yelled and Thea while pulling her down to the ground with him. Peter boxed Thea on the ground, him on top of her taking the brunt of the raining glass.

Once the glass stopped, Peter immediately stood up and turned around to see what seemed like 10 men surrounding both of them. The men were wearing black suits with masks covering over their faces, making them seem even more terrifying.

Thea, still too weak to fight back, could only stand up and watch as the men started to walk towards them. Peter, now in defensive mode, threw the first punch at one of the many men in the room.

Peter was good at fighting, but these men were even better. Without his web-shooters, Peter didn't stand a chance against them.

The men charged at Peter and began to throw punches and kicks left and right.

Peter tried his best to block them all but one man managed to get one good punch in at his stomach and Peter stumbled backward towards Thea.

All Thea could do was scream out his name, "Peter!" Thea desperately tried to form powers in her hands but only a small ball formed, nothing big enough for what was happening.

Once the one punch fell upon Peter many more came with it. Soon enough Peter laid on the ground, blood streaming out of his nose, most likely broken.

With one final punch to Peter, he lost consciousness and his eyes shut.
The men then turned their attention to Thea, who was still looking at Peter in shock and worry, on the ground bloodied and bruised.

Thea finally turned her head up to see the men making their way over to her. In quiet desperation she shook her hands, trying to get something to work.

One of the men pulled out what looked like a syringe filled with bright yellow liquid floating inside of it.

"Get away!" Thea screamed out at them. She couldn't fight back at the moment and they knew that too.

Thea would still struggle against them as much as she could, a man grabbed her by one arm and soon another one did to the other arm, restricting her movement. Her struggle slowly stopped once she felt a sharp pinch on her neck and she slowly began to lose consciousness. 

With her last conscious words, Thea said out aloud while looking at Peter, "Peter....."

Once she fully went limp in the man's grasp, they took her out of the shattered window and down to the abandoned alley where a van was parked.

They sat her down in the van and placed a blindfold on her eyes and put her in handcuffs that held an eerie, yellow glow to them.

The van started and took off out of the alley, taking Thea with them.

~ Author's Note ~

All rights to Spider-Man and original plot goes to the Marvel franchise and their fantastic movies and comics. I own new story lines and new characters, like Thea Quinton.

Ohhhhh honeyyyyyyy.......soooooo this chapter is where it all starts. Thea apologized and everything was about to happen when shit blew up (literally).

You'll have to wait till the next chapter to see what happened to Thea and why.

How are you liking the story so far? What are your theories? I would like to know.