Chapter 36

Once Matt knew Kasey would have someone in the bedroom with Kasey, he had started for the living area. He wanted to sit down after this whole ordeal and rest his leg.

The pain hadn't been on the front of his mind since he was dealing with Kasey, but now it was getting annoying again. He motioned for Tony to follow. "We can talk in here. It's not as private as the office, but it will do for now."

Tony followed Matt after making sure they would be fine. "It's fine as long as I'm just a bit careful with some wording." He replied.

Foggy looked up from the table when Matt and Tony walked in. "Everything alright now?" He asked, concerned.

Matt managed to get himself over to a seat without further hurting his leg, and sat down with a tired sigh. "Yeah, I think everything's calmed down now. I thought we might be able to discuss a little bit of Tony's case while we're all here."

Tony took a seat at the table with them. "It's more of Kasey's but I'm not sure she's ready to talk about it herself." He explained.

Foggy nodded. "If it has to do with all of that, I'm not surprised."

Matt nodded in agreement. "I'm not either. It's easy to see that she needs help, and I'm more than willing to offer any we have."

Tony tried to figure out how to start before realizing. "You know, it really is convenient you called when you did. Webs and I were actually out getting more information on the place she uh, got out of." he explained, grabbing the bag he had with him and putting it on the table. "There's a lot and none of it's great..."

Foggy looked surprised as he looked in the bag. Lots of papers, files, notes, etc. "Wow. You weren't kidding."

"That sounds fairly dangerous..." Although Matt couldn't see the bag, the way he heard the papers shuffling around, and Foggy's reaction, he could tell how full the bag was. "All of that could help build her case."

Tony nodded at that becoming a bit more serious. "I originally just called for her but as we dug more it just... kept going. I still want to focus on Kasey as she needs it sooner but... there's more people involved than just her." He explained.

"May I look?" Foggy asked him.

Tony hesitated. "Just... be prepared for what you might find."

Foggy nodded and pulled one out and almost immediately froze. Subject 14. That was... holy shit. If he was understanding what Tony was saying then... "How... How many?" He asked after a moment.

Tony sighed. "We know of at least 25." He replied. "Including Kasey. But... that's just for one of their...projects."

Matt heard what they were saying, and frowned. "25 projects?" That was 25 too many.

"What do they say, Foggy?" Matt asked, not fully knowing if he even wanted to hear what those 'projects' were about.

Foggy hadn't even opened the folder yet, unsure if he even wanted to. "The one I grabbed is labeled 'Subject 14'." He told Matt.

Tony sighed and nodded. "That's probably one from the one Kasey was a part of." He explained.

He knew at this point they knew she was enhanced. She was on the ceiling for crying out loud so-

"I believe the project name translates to Spider... As far as we know, Kasey is the only one still around." He explained.

Foggy looked up at him, eyes wide. Spider? Like- oh shit- and 25 for that single "project"?

"The only one still around..?" Matt questioned aloud before the answer dawned on him, making him regret that he had even repeated what Tony had said. If all of this was happening in Hell's Kitchen, it was happening under his own nose.

"You're saying there were others affected by this group, that probably didn't even make it out of the projects?"

He nodded. "A few are confirmed." He replied. "More than a few really..."

Foggy set the folder down and shook his head. "This is horrible... and that's only one of the projects?"

Tony nodded. "We haven't figured out all of the other ones we have access to right now as we were focused on answers for Kasey but... there's a lot."

Kasey tugged on Aurora's sleeve, trembling a little. "Can we go to the roof? Please?"

Aurora snapped her attention back to Kasey, noticing her uneasiness. "Oh, uh, yeah. We can totally go to the roof. I could use a bit of fresh air anyways."

She nodded at that and carefully stood up. "Window?" She asked, quietly.

Aurora nodded and pushed herself off of the bed as quietly as she could. A bout of lightheadedness hit her, but once it faded she headed for the window and found a way to open it for the two of them.

Kasey noticed Aurora seemed a bit off but climbed out the window and swiftly up the wall to the roof.

Aurora followed after, closing the window behind them and scaled the outer wall, before she hoisted herself up into the roof. "It's a lot less stuffy out here."

Kasey leaned against the side of the building with a deep sigh. "Yeah..." She agreed softly.

Aurora sat down near the ledge of the building, leaning up against it. Now that she was up here, she reached up and pulled her mask off of her face.

Kasey heard her pull it off and glanced at her. "You're hurt, aren't you?" She asked after a moment.

Aurora went to speak, but hesitated. She had been lying so easily as of late, and it was beginning to irritate her. "...yeah."

Kasey chuckled faintly. "Does Tony know?"

Aurora let out a tired sigh and tilted her head back to watch the sky. "I told him it was just a surface cut."

"Doesn't smell like one." She replied, not even looking towards her. "Your side practically reeks of iron right now."

"That's disturbing, and kinda gross." Aurora chuckled, but was followed with regret, as a small pain shot through her side. "I didn't want to keep relying on Tony, so I engaged with a couple of enemies, even when he told me specifically not to."

Kasey chuckled a bit. "Seems we both can't follow orders, huh?" She asked. "Daredevil told me not to get into a fight while he was getting me out of there and yet, I went and got in a fight that almost got both of us killed." She told her, much more relaxed this time around. Joking about it helped too. "And I know Spidey does this too- Maybe it's a spider thing."

She nodded lightly. "Maybe it's a teenager thing." She said and it felt like soap on her tongue. "Never mind. I just sounded like an over-assumptive adult. Bleh." It was nice to hear Kasey joking again though.

Kasey laughed again, clearer this time. "You sound like Tony." She teased her, grinning.

"Ughhh that's worse!" Aurora grinned, finding Kasey's laugh to be a relief to hear.

"Oh come on, it's not that bad!" She lightly nudged her arm.

"Are you kidding me? He constantly says stuff like that. Gets tiring." Aurora chuckled softly.

Kasey grinned. "Maybe, but it means he cares so it's not all that bad, right?"

Aurora hummed in response. "I suppose. I do appreciate that, really I do. I just... don't want to be treated like some kid, y'know?"

"And that's kinda why I asked to stay..." She admitted softly. "I'm pretty sure he's gonna ground me for a month."

"Honestly, I don't think he would. He knows everything you're going through, and he probably wouldn't want to stress you out more by punishing you." Aurora explained.

She shrugged a bit. "I ran off without telling anyone. I doubt he'd let me do that again." She pointed out.

"True, he might keep you under a tighter watch, and maybe even keep someone with you at all times. But I don't know about keeping you at the tower." She let out a soft yawn, finding herself pretty worn out.

"You sound tired. Maybe you should head home." Kasey told her gently.

"I am pretty tired, but I don't want to leave you guys here." She replied, turning her gaze from the sky back to Kasey. Plus, she wasn't even sure she'd be able to swing all the way back, and walking would be a pain and a half.

Kasey chuckled a little. "There aren't many places available to sleep here." She pointed out with a slight grin. "But it certainly seems like that's what's going to happen at this rate."

"It is pretty late, isn't it? I hadn't even noticed..." She spoke softly. It wouldn't be the first time she slept somewhere other than her own bed. That, and she wasn't against staying the night in Hell's Kitchen, as she planned to skip school once again.

"I'd assume so." She replied. "Atlas, what time is it?"

"5 Am!" He chirped.

"Yep. Late."

"Good lord-" She shook her head. It wasn't the first late night she'd had, but she still valued her sleep.

Kasey laughed a bit at that. "You act like you've never done this before." She teased.

"Well usually when I pull an all-nighter I don't have a constant leakage of blood coming out of my side." Aurora responded, lighthearted, but sarcastically.

"Fair enough." She replied softly before slightly tilting her head. "I think they're coming."

"We didn't tell them we came up here." Aurora said, still sitting up against the ledge of the building.

"Nope." She agreed, popping the p. "Eh, it's probably fine. It's not like we ran off three blocks away."

"Yeah, that'd be too over the top, even for me. Plus, I don't want Tony any more disappointed than he already is." Aurora sighed.

Meanwhile back downstairs, Matt shook his head, not wanting to even believe what he was hearing. How he managed to not notice all of this happening was beyond him. Where did those other subjects come from, and how had the organization gotten away with their work for so long, unnoticed? "We'll need to see anything you find."

Tony nodded. "Absolutely. Kasey, uh, recently had a bit of a run in with them again. About last week? She managed to bring stuff back with her though." He told him. He gave a slight chuckle. "A couple folders and a whole damn computer tower."

The vials weren't important right now.

"Now that they've had contact with her a couple times in just a short period of time, they've probably been on high alert." Matt theorized, letting out a small sigh. They weren't going to stop going after her. Getting them all put away would help, however.

"That's good, though. All of that information is something we can use against the corporation." Matt nodded, pretty impressed that they had this much data to work with.

Tony nodded. "The thing is, if I'm understanding correctly, they have multiple locations. The one Kasey escaped from the first time wasn't the one she did last week." He explained.

Foggy frowned. "Same people or different?" He asked.

Tony shrugged. "I don't know. She doesn't exactly talk about it."

Foggy nodded a bit. "How'd she end up with you?" He asked curiously.

Tony chuckled faintly. "That's a story and a half." He replied, leaning back.

"As much as my own curiosity prompts you to tell that story, I don't think it's necessary to make Kasey's case. If they have multiple locations, it means the corporation is also bigger than I originally thought. It might take a bit of time to actually be able to take them down." Matt explained. He wished that they could take them down by morning, but that just wasn't possible.

"I could've told you that just from the amount of information we have." He replied with a slight smile but sighed. "And I'd be happy to provide as much as you need to do so with but right now, Kasey is my focus."

Foggy nodded. "Karen had said she escaped an abusive home but this sounds like it was much more than that." he pointed out.

Tony nodded. "Hence why I wanted to talk in person." He explained. "What I said about her not having anything to her name is true though." He hesitated. "I'm not sure how much of that she would let me tell without her permission."

"Well what you've been able to tell us so far is already immensely helpful. I understand that you wouldn't want to share too many intricate details over the phone though." Matt leaned back in his chair, feeling the wood press onto his wound, and nearly immediately leaned back forward. He had forgotten about that one.

"Once Kasey calms down and finds herself comfortable enough to talk about her situation, I'll ask her more about it if you're not able to tell us."

Tony nodded a bit at that. "I'm not entirely sure when that will be, if ever." He told him. "She only let me look into it. She wasn't even able to find it out herself. I had to tell her." He ran a hand through his hair. "She didn't take it well."

Foggy looked sympathetic. He had no idea what she had gone through but... He glanced at the folders again. He was starting to get some ideas.

Matt let out a rough sigh, rubbing his hand along the back of his neck. All of this was rough. The situation, the corporation, and the fact that all of this was happening to a kid like her. "Well, I can assure you that we have complete lawyer client confidentiality."

Tony chuckled. "I'm not terribly worried about that considering you've been keeping her safe despite everything." He told him. "Which I'm grateful for."

"Well, I tried to, before the most recent incident." Matt shook his head, 'looking' in Tony's direction. "We went out for groceries. Didn't think all of that would go down."

Tony hummed softly. "Unfortunately it seems she has a talent for attracting trouble. Though, that might just be a genetic trait for spider enhanced people." He scoffed a bit with a smile. "Interweb and Spiderman both have the same problem."

Foggy raised an eyebrow. "How do you deal with that?" After all Matt was somewhat the same way. Not to this extent but still.

Tony grinned. "Well, you can't stop it so you help 'em learn how to deal with whatever might come at them." He replied.

Huh. Not exactly the answer he expected. Foggy chuckled a bit. "I'm sure that goes over well."

Tony shrugged. "At least I'm trying." He joked lightly. "But, it does seem Kasey's had that even before getting enhanced." He pointed out with a small sigh.

"It seems anyone that tries to make the world a better place attracts trouble and, eventually, multitudes of enemies." Matt spoke, knowing that all too well.

"I know that Kasey has a strong will. She was up and moving around shortly after she woke up from her alley adventure, which was the whole reason I deemed her okay to go out in the first place."

Tony nodded. "Spider enhanced people have a healing factor. They heal much faster than normal people. A stab wound takes maybe a day and a half to pretty much fully heal if taken care of properly. Light scratches? An hour at most." He explained. "So Kasey's never been one to let that kinda thing hold her back when she found that out."

Foggy made a small, "Huh." noise as he listened. Man, he could only imagine what Matt would be capable of with that. He was still going out with massive injuries that he got an hour before-

Matt could basically read Foggy's mind through his physical actions. He knew Foggy well enough to know he was probably thinking about all the times he had gone out after getting stabbed or shot.

"Well, maybe she should learn that even if she can, it doesn't mean she should."

Foggy had just taken a sip from his water to keep himself from commenting. However...

Claire cleared her throat from the chair by the bedroom. "And you're one to talk Mister I refuse to rest after getting mugged." She snarked back at him.

Foggy just about spit out his mouth full of water at the comment, swallowing and coughing for a moment.

Tony just looked surprised by the comment. What the hell happened while he was gone????

Matt rose a brow in surprise, having not expected Claire to have even called him out on his BS. To be honest, he had forgotten all about the cover story they had previously thought up.

"Well when I had someone else to worry about, my problems didn't seem so bad." He responded, turning towards Tony again. "Muggers in this city love to find the easiest looking people to rob."

Tony scoffed but nodded a bit. "Pretty that's most of New York, unfortunately." He pointed out.

Claire hummed vaguely at that. "I was tending to her and you kept getting up when I told you not to." She pointed out.

Foggy just sipped on his glass of water, trying to hide the slight smirk on his face.

Tony laughed a bit. "I take it the three of you are close at least to some degree?" He asked. It reminded him of Peter, Aurora, and Kasey.

"At the time, I thought that I needed to get up and help Kasey. Hindsight's 2020- well, you get the idea." Matt couldn't help but chuckle at his own slip up.

"I've known Foggy since college, and I met Claire through a certain mutual friend." He explained.

Claire gave a small roll of her eyes at Matt's slip up. "Yeah, now I have to deal with both of them." She said flatly but Matt could tell she meant well.

Foggy laughed. "Yeah, we've known each other for quite a while." He agreed.

Tony chuckled. "I figured considering she called you out like that." He grinned. "I have a few friends who do the same to me, so I'd know."

"Well, sometimes you just need someone to tell you what you're doing is dumb." Even if he didn't like to listen when he was told. Goodness knows Foggy had told him enough times. Especially after certain happenings, also involving bullets.

"Yeah, but it doesn't help that you don't listen 75% of the time." Foggy teased.

Tony laughed. "And that sounds like me."

"Anyway! We are starting from the topic at hand." Matt interjected, no longer wanting the focus to be on him and his resistance to listening to his friends.

Foggy nodded a bit at that. "What exactly were you wanting us to help with when you first called?"

Tony refocused and tapped on the table slightly. "As of the moment she escaped, she, uh more or less, stopped existing." He explained. "She has no documentation of any kind."

"No documentation, so she technically doesn't exist." Matt reached up, running his thumb across his jaw in thought. "She'd need to get everything from a birth certificate to a social security number. It's going to be difficult to create those legally."

Tony nodded. "Yeah, I figured." He replied with a sigh. "But she deserves to be able to do things normally if she wants to."

"I wholeheartedly agree with you there. It's hard enough being enhanced, but it has to be harder not being able to do anything a normal teenager would be able to do." Matt stated, wracking his brain to find a solution.

Foggy was also trying to figure out how to help until Claire spoke up.

"You know- It might be better if you talk about it after we all get some rest." She pointed out with a small laugh. "It's like 5 in the morning."

Matt hadn't been paying much attention to the time, but now that Claire pointed it out, it made quite a bit of sense. After all, he had woken up pretty late after he initially went to sleep. "Claire's right. We'll be able to talk some more tomorrow, or our next meeting."

Tony nodded at that. "Just let me know when and where." He agreed. "I'll see if I can condense some of this down as well. Make it easier to access." As he grabbed the bag and slid it around his shoulder.

"Will do." Matt responded and pushed himself up, favoring his wounded leg. He extended a hand towards Tony, to shake. "Thanks again for coming Tony. Couldn't have done what we did without you."

Tony took it and shook it. "Of course. I'm glad we got here when we did." He replied.

Claire nodded as she stood up. "Yeah. Much longer and that could've been really bad." She agreed.

Foggy stood up as well, shaking Tony's hand as well. "I'm just glad she seems to be alright now. At least somewhat."

"Well I think she should be okay for now. It seems she got over the rough part, and the rest is up to her. If she deals with her feelings properly, she shouldn't relapse into that state." Matt explained, leaning somewhat on the table.

Foggy moved to his side so he could lean on him if he needed.

Tony nodded. "We'll have to see. She's not the greatest about that."

"Thanks Foggy." Matt reminded himself that he'd buy as many drinks as Foggy could handle, after he was healed up enough to go out.

"Of course." He helped Matt over towards the stairs while Tony peaked into the bedroom, expecting the girls to be there only to not find them there.

He gave a deep sigh. "Can they not sneak off for once in their life?" He mumbled to himself. He figured they weren't far but damn it at least tell him!

He came over to the stairs with a small chuckle. "Seems they got tired of waiting." He told them. "Though I'm sure they're not far. Probably just outside if anything."

Matt laughed softly. "I don't know how you deal with it. I've had Kasey only for a couple days, and I've had my hands beyond full. How you deal with three of them is beyond me." He meant all good things by it, but those kids were something else. He paused, listening for them.

"They're probably on the roof. It's a nice quiet spot, and I've been told the view is... okay." He grinned.

Tony laughed a bit. "Honestly? Some days I have no idea." He replied with a grin. "Thank you all again for taking care of her." He told them. "I'm sure we'll talk again soon." He told them as he headed up the stairs.

Matt flashed his signature smile. "No problem Tony. I'll keep in touch."

Tony gave a small wave as he stepped outside. 

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