chapter twelve!
rebellion for morale

     "OH, I'm gonna be in so much trouble..." whispered Felicia, fiddling with her pass. She stared at the photo hanging around her neck, heart pounding in her chest. If her mother found out━and she most definitely was going to, Felicia knew she will be grounded for perhaps the rest of her life. But she wasn't due to be back from her double shift until later this night, and that meant Felicia had the whole afternoon to sneak out of her home, catch a train to Jackson Heights, and forward onto the one place she promised not just her mother, but herself never to visit.

     Ryker's Island housed infamous inmates, and Felicia never once in her life thought her father was supposed to ever be one of them. Her father had been kind, and he had played building blocks when she was a little girl, and he brought home candy from the world grocer constantly where they'd always try candy from other parts of the world. But ... he was also the same man who taught Felicia how to pick a lock. The same man that taught her how to stay hidden from cameras. He told her these were life skills. He was the one that told Felicia never to settle for the worst, and to always strive for the best. In a way, he had been the person who taught her how to steal before she even tried to do it, just to see how it felt. And now, she couldn't stop. She understood the thrill of being caught, the feeling that in that moment, you were invincible. In that moment, Felicia understood her father. In every small theft in a grocery or drug store, Felicia felt connected to her father, felt like she impressed him even though she told herself again and again that she didn't care what he thought.

     But Nina was right, and Felicia had a hard time admitting that.

     She walked down the hallway accompanied by two officers. Felicia was quick on her toes━always has been. Fast, naturally flexible; it was what got her into gynmastics in the first place. It also got her into a lot of trouble when she was younger. Her mother could never catch up with her. Whenever she didn't want to talk, she always climbed up the old, dangerous fire escape that only she knew the right footholds to use to keep it from breaking and her falling. And her mother never followed.

     Felicia eyed each camera, each door━the names, the way out of here. She was waiting for the right place, the right time, the perfect way to stay far from the consequences of her troublesome actions. She was here for a reason, and it wasn't just to finally have a lovely chat with her father.

     She didn't say anything to Nina when she called, but those things she mentioned. The weapons, the damage, the danger ... Felicia had kept it to herself, like she did most things, but she had overheard her father many times talking about names she didn't know over the phone when he thought no one was listening. And when Nina had told her about the Shocker, Felicia knew she had to talk to him. He knew something about all of this, and if Nina was helping Spider-Man, than Felicia supposed she will, too; for Nina.

     Her father worked alone. He was a cat burglar━the best in the business. Walter Hardy knew what he wanted, and he knew how to achieve it. Felicia learnt that quickly after his arrest. To think that he had worked for someone; been trapped in a job for someone else, that sort of scared her.

      Felicia had already placed the quick EMP's she made in class in the reception desk, right before she entered the hallway, and she planned to put one just before she reached the room to which she'll see her father. She didn't want anyone overhearing what they said, mainly because that way, her father will never say anything.

     Of course, using an EMP was illegal, let alone making one for the intentions Felicia used. But something illegal never scared her away.

     "So," Felicia spoke up, filling the silence as she continued to search for the right place to put her little electronic bug. Thank you engineering classes... "You boys usually show a girl like me around or do you get some who are more fiesty?"

     One of the guards frowned at her. Then, he said, "How old are you?"

     She gasped, playful, "You should never ask a girl her age."

     "You look like a teenager."

     Felicia slowed down, walking softly down along the hallway as they neared the next checkpoint. She ran her fingers along a plant, stalling as she searched, then, she found it. "I'm fifteen," she said and dropped the last device near the desk powerpoint. They didn't even notice. Some prison guards. "But don't tell anyone."

      She showed her identification and they let her inside. Felicia passed the booths, her smirk falling immediately as that spark of fear hit her chest, making it a little hard to breathe. The guard that came in with her stopped by the door, watching her, but giving her space.

     Felicia took a deep breath, walking past each booth, scared to see who was waiting. One, two, three, four, five ... she came to the middle one, and she almost stumbled. She refused to show it, coming to a stop and quirking a thick brow at her father waiting behind the screen. He looked horrible; ragged with a lot of grey hairs for someone in his forties, considering how youthful he looked before. He watched her, surprised she came, and happy. It made her want to scoff, but she sat down and grabbed the phone. She placed it to her ear, making sure her back faced the camera; her father did the same.

     "Felicia," he murmured, and the sound was weird across the phone, but also muffled through the glass.

     "Daddy," she replied, sarcastic. Her father closed his eyes, sighing. "How's prison food? I don't think it suits your rapid aging."

      He met her gaze through the screen, unamused, "And you're getting more and more like your mother every day." She rolled her eyes, taking a sharp breath through her nose to keep her composure. "How is your mother these days━?"

     "All right, here's what we're gonna do," she whispered, getting straight to the point. She leaned in closer to the screen, glowering. Felicia ignored her pain, the ache in her chest, the want to cry to see her father after all this time. She had so much to ask, so much to say, so much to scream and yell, but she didn't have the time. "In under just ten seconds, the cameras are gonna short out. I think you'll have under a minute to answer my questions before anybody notices. And you will answer my questions, Daddy, because then you'll disappoint your only innocent, little girl."

       Her father was confused. He stared at her, lips pursed. Felicia hated it, because it was his I'm disappointed in you face. He didn't have the right to be disappointed in her after what he did. He was in prison, she wasn't. "Felicia," he said in a voice of warning, "what did you do?"

     Felicia checked her watch, "Oh, ten seconds up. Okay, listen to me. Who were you working for when you took on the heist?"

     "What are you doing?"

     "Who's the Shocker? Who does he work for?" she was urgent in her whispers. Please answer, I have no time.

      Her father wasn't playing easy. They were very similar in that aspect. Her father matched her stance, and he whispered into the phone, "Listen to me, honey. You leave whatever power play you're trying alone right now, and let's talk as father and daughter, or things will get ugly for you."

     Felicia's stomach twisted, "Are━are you threatening me? Are you serious?"

     "No, that's not what I'm doing," her father shook his head, "I'm protecting you, honey. You do not want to get into the stuff I was, and the people in it."

     "It's not me," she snarled. "It's for a friend━well, a friend of a friend."

     Her father clenched the phone tight, "Well, then, tell your friend's friend to stay out of this. Or they're going to get really hurt."

     Felicia shook her head. She couldn't believe this. Suddenly angry, she pulled the phone cable a little to sneer under her breath, "You think you're protecting me? You got me dragged into this the moment you pulled that impossible heist that got you in here. I don't even want to talk to you. I hate you. I hate you so much."

      Walter Hardy just shook his head. If he was hurt by her words, he didn't show it. "You don't mean that, Felicia━"

     "No, I do," she cut him off, eyes sparking with a feline's fury. "You had me, and you had Mom, and you chose your greed over your own family. You chose to steal, and to get in here, than to sit at the dinner table like a normal Dad. You chose this over me━" her voice cracked. Felicia faltered at the sudden emotion that washed over her. Her grip on the receiver shook. She forced her next words out, "Y━I thought we were best friends forever, Daddy. I thought you were my partner in crime."

     "Believe me, kitten," her father whispered so low she had to lean in to hear it better, tearful and breath hitched━and she hated herself for it. She came in here, determined to show no emoiton, to not let herself fall, and she had anyway. "I never wanted you to be dragged into this. I did this for you and your mother. If I didn't, then this would be a completely different story."

     "You'd be a free man?"

     "You and your mother would be dead."

     Felicia froze. Her heart thundered, that fear crawling up from her stomach to her throat. Her father looked so serious after what he just said, that made her realise that he wasn't lying. Walter pursed his lips and closed his eyes. They had under twenty seconds left, but Felicia wasn't counting anymore. "That's who your friend's friend is dealing with. The Shocker, he's nothing compared to his boss."

    "Who?" she said, rushed.

    Her father dropped his voice even lower, "He calls himself the Vulture. And he's dangerous. Very dangerous. If I taught you anthing, kitten, you'll know you gotta protect your own, and protect yourself. Get your friends and yourself out of this, before you fall do deep into it, and get seriously hurt. You do not want to be like me, Felicia. I'm the last person you want to be like. Curiosity killed the cat, honey."

     Their minute ended. She could hear the guard frown, hearing something on his radio. Felicia took this chance to finish, determined, "But satisfaction brought it back."

     Watler Hardy set his jaw, "Felicia━"

     "Miss," the guard spoke up and Felicia glanced back. "I'm sorry, but we need to cut this session short."

      "Don't worry," said Felicia, setting down the receiver and standing up before her father could say anything else. She felt sick, and weak━and not at all herself. "I was done here, anyway."

*ೃ༄

     THE MOTEL in which they, and the rest of the other Decathlon teams were staying was suprisingly impressive in comparison to other places Nina has stayed for school excursions. Passing the lobby, the centre of the wrap-around motel was grand with Academic Decathlon posters, fountains, tropical trees and a hallway leading to another open wrap around centre with a pool. They were all given their room keys from Mr. Harrington once he returned from the reception, passing them off. Nina got one with Michelle, which she wasn't too upset about. In fact, she preferred it. The trip up to Washington wasn't that bad. Aside from her small argument with Peter, and getting nothing out of it (as always), Nina had small talk to Michelle every now and then, and when she wasn't busy reading, she was funny ... in a dark humour way. But they realised they both liked watching Buzzfeed Unsolved, and despite not admitting it, Michelle had listened to J. Jonah Jameson's online talk show from the Daily Bugle sometimes when she read. (Or most of the time, and so they had listened to his latest episode the rest of the trip after Liz gave them a break from the practice questions).

    "Everyone stick together," Liz glanced back at the group of them, leading the way into the busy centre of group school meetings, shade tarps and banners. Nina was stuck in between Cindy and Michelle, neck craning to see everything that dangled above her.

    "Yeah," agreed Mr Harrington, fixing his yellow blazer better across his shoulders.

     "You kidding me?" Charles let out, spinning in a short circle to see the entire centre, mouth agape. "This place is huge!"

     Flash scoffed, brushing past him with a not-so-accidental shove that sent Charles stumbling into Abraham. "I've seen bigger."

     "Shut up, Flash," grumbled Sally, taking off her blue Midtown hat.

     Michelle rolled her eyes and pulled out her book again. Nina and Cindy shared a glance, having a feeling they would have to make sure she didn't run into anything (or anyone) from now on.

     "Hey," Abe pointed upwards towards the trees planted and stretching up from the centre, "there's a bird in here."

     "I got snap Cia this," stated Nina, bringing out her phone and turning to Cindy. She posed with a grin and thumbs up. Nina chuckled as she took the photo and sent it to Felicia with a: arrived!

      "Are we going to our room, or not?" Michelle made Nina look up. "I wanna get ready for the protest."

     "Oh," mumbled Nina. She reached for their key cards and passed her's over. "Yeah, let's go. See you later, Cindy."

     Nina spent most of the time afterwards in hers and Michelle's hotel room studying. She kept checking to see whether Felicia replied, but after seeing her friend had left her on open, which never happened, she started to stress. And when Nina stressed, she studied, and studied. She stress studied, and then she never remembered what she stress studied for anyway, so it was always useless.

     Michelle got back from her protest after dinner. Getting back into the room and throwing her cardboard sign onto her bed, she stopped to see Nina still on the floor surrounded by her highlighters, text book and notes. Michelle arched an unimpressed brow. "What is wrong with you?" she asked bluntly.

    Nina looked up, her pen in between her teeth, "Nothing," she said, before taking it out so Michelle could hear her better. "I'm just prepping for tomorrow."

     "You've been prepping since we got here," grumbled Michelle. "It's embarassing." She walked towards the blinds and closed them with a pull of the cord.

     "That's not nic━"

     "Why are you still talking to Peter?" Michelle cut her off. Nina blinked, startled at the sudden change of subject. "Like, seriously, stop watching him wherever he goes, you look like a beggar asking for lose change behind a cardboard sign."

     Nina made a face, not sure how she felt being called out like this. "I━I don't━I'm not ... I don't watch him."

     Michelle rolled her eyes, "You guys literally argued in front of me. You really don't think I would ask about it."

     "Well ... no, because that's our personal business."

     The girl just shrugged. "Well, it's obvious he still likes you. He watches you like a lost puppy and follows you wherever you go."

      Nina stared at her, incredulous. Michelle met her gaze, "You guys are losers," she finished.

      "You ... you say that a lot." Nina shook her head. "And besides, he doesn't like me. He broke up with me, so━and I don't want to get into it, Michelle, okay?"

     "You know, all he does is disappear off to nowhere."

     Nina sighed, closing her text book. "Yes, of course I know. Doesn't mean I know where to. Look, can we not talk about this?!"

     Michelle sat down on her bed, startled that Nina shouted. She looked frozen, her gaze quickly snapping away as what seemed to be shame cross her cheeks. Nina pursed her lips, feeling ashamed herself. She focused on her phone. Felicia still hadn't replied. She was getting really worried. There was an awkward silence between the two girls.

     "I'm sorry," said Nina eventually. "I shouldn't have shouted at you like that, it was just ... it's not something I like to talk about."

     "I'm sorry," said Michelle, too, very strained. She fiddled with her slender fingers. "I just ..." she found it very hard to get her words out, like she was moving bricks up her throat and from her tongue. "I ... find it hard ... to━um━to talk to people. And ... and to make friends."

     Nina stared at her, all of her anger falling away and filled with a soft sympathy for Michelle Jones. "You want to be friends with me?"

     "Well, yeah," Michelle mumbled, giving her a side glance. "You're a loser ... but not the worst loser in the world."

     That was the closest to a compliment Nina has ever gotten from Michelle. It made her smile a little. "Thanks," said Nina. "You know," she shrugged, "I would say that you're practically my friend now, anyway. I mean, I think you're cool, Michelle. And you don't have to try very hard to be cool."

     Nina waited a response. For a small while, Michelle didn't say anything. She continued to fiddle with her fingers and bite her bottom lip, deciding on what to say, like she was at a crossroads.

     Then, she muttered, "Call me MJ," she smiled a little at Nina; a sweet, awkward smile. "My friends call me MJ."

      This made Nina's smile broaden. "Cool," she grabbed her phone and opened up Snapchat. "That's what I'm gonna put on your contact."

     Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. Nina glanced back, confused, but she got onto her feet to answer. Pulling it open, she smiled, pleasantly surprised to see Liz there in a swimsuit and towl over her shoulder.

     "Hey!" greeted Liz, smiling. She glanced over Nina's shoulder and waved at MJ who waved back without smiling. "We're━um━we're all going to go swimming. You guys should come."

     Nina frowned, "But the pool's closed."

     "Exactly," Liz chucked her two chocolate bars, "rebellion before competition is good for morale, so━and those candy bars were really expensive, so just, get your swimmers on and meet us down there."

     Usually, Nina didn't like breaking the rules, but she was feeling a little brave today after just making a new friend with MJ who declared she never wanted friends. "Okay, cool━sweet, see you there, Liz."

     "Cool!" Liz grinned and carefully closed the door, as if scared she'd get them in trouble by causing even the slightest of noise.

     Nina smirked, playful. She spun on her feet to arch a brow at MJ who met her gaze. Immediately, Michelle shook her head. "Oh, no. You go and swim, I don't do pools. I'll just sit away from everyone and watch you losers get in trouble."

     "Fair enough," Nina said poshly before racing to grab her swimmers. (Thank God her mother made her pack them!)

      Suddenly very excited, Nina rushed to get them on. She pulled the two piece up and tightened the ties around her neck and back. She grabbed one of the towls from the bathroom, her phone and her key card. MJ told her she'd meet her down there and with a small supressed giggle, Nina raced out her door and━

     "Ow!"

     Nina's hand flew to her head, stumbling a little as she tried to figure out what just happened. Hands under blue hoodie sleeves reached out to her to grab her shoulders and steady her, a familiar voice stammering, "Oh, my god! Nina! I━I am so sorry, I━I didn't. A━are you━are you okay?"

     She shook her head, startled but okay. But Nina frowned; it was strange, she thought she heard someone else for a second ... but there was no way he would be here.

     Nina was wrong anyway. She pulled her hand away and saw Peter staring at her instead. It was a horrible silence between them━dry and aching, like they wanted to say something, but didn't know whether they should. Peter kept his grip on her arms, and she wondered whether he even noticed he was holding her. Nina suddenly realised she was in a two piece swimsuit and she blushed.

     "Uh," she swallowed back the sudden parch feeling in her throat. "Hi, Pete..."

     Peter kept his gaze. "Hey, Nina..." he replied, higher than normal. Then he realised he was holding her, and like he had been burned, sprung them back and pulled his sleeves down. Nina hated how she was a little cold without the touch, and she immediately missed it. "What ... what're you doing?"

     "Um..." Nina instinctivly grabbed her towl and wrapped it around her body. "Liz━well, uh━Liz had this idea to go swimming, so ... they're probably━um━" she pointed towards the pool, "━they're probably already there. I'm just━I'm just waiting for MJ, so ..."

     Peter frowned, "MJ?"

     "Yeah!" she nodded, gesturing to the door behind her. "Michelle━um━it's short for Michelle Jones ... I think, so ..." Nina chuckled nervously. She reached up as if to tap her pen on her cheek, only to realise she had no pen, so she settled for hugging the towl tighter around her body. "Liz━Liz says that━uh━rebellion is good for morale and I was like completely stress studying so ..." Nina quickly shook her head, closing her eyes, "Uh. I don't━I don't know why I said that━"

     "No, no," said Peter quickly, "yeah, no━I get it. You always do that━did that, I mean━" he shook his head, too, "━I━I'm sorry. You okay? What's stressing you out?"

     Nina pursed her lips. She didn't know why she was telling him━she didn't even know how this conversation hadn't gone downhill yet ... but Nina liked it. She wanted to keep it like this for a little longer. "It's probably nothing, just ... Felicia left me on open, so ... and she never does that unless something's bothering her..."

     "Oh," her ex pulled the straps of his school bag tighter over his shoulders. Peter shuffled on his feet. "I━it's probably fine. I'm sure she'll reply."

     "Yeah..." it finally hit Nina that Peter looked as though he was going somewhere in his blue zipped-up hoodie and school bag. She stood up a little straighter, immediately thinking the worst. "Um━hey, where━where you going?"

     Peter blinked. "What?"

     She gestured at his hoodie, "Y━you look like you're going out somewhere."

     It took him a second. Then, his eyes widened and he let out a, "Oh! Oh, no! I was, uh━I was gonna just go study in the━uh━the business centre."

     Nina breathed a small smile without realising she did it. When he rejoined, she thought the worst of something she didn't even know, and maybe she had right to, for it wasn't like Peter had the best of repuations recently. But him going off to study when everyone else was having fun? In his hoodie and his backpack ... it felt like old times. It reminded her of the Peter she knew, and she really, really liked.

     Maybe he had joined because he wanted to. Maybe he wasn't quitting on something for once.

     "Hey," began Nina gently, stepping a little closer. Peter's brows lifted, confused by the move. "Don't stress study, okay?" she got a chuckle out of that, and it made her heart flutter. Nina bit back a grin. "You don't even need to study, Pete, all right? You're literally the smartest guy I know━I've ever met, even. You were━like━the reason we won every science competition we went into. Remember second grade science fair? You got the mentos and soda fountain working, not me."

      Peter chuckled again, shaking his head. Nina blushed, and she couldn't stop her smile. Her heart rose with hope, watching him watch her with that old look in his eyes━that nervous, gentle look that made her blush and fiddle with her sleeves. "That wasn't me," he said, hunching up a little. "You made it, so, that win was you."

      Nina smiled at that, looking down at her fingers; she knew her cheeks were burning red. She pushed away Felicia's voice. For once, Nina actually listened to herself. She knew what she wanted: despite everything else, she wanted her best friend back, even if he was keeping secrets and disappearing. She wanted to be there for him, because right now, he was still the same Peter she always knew.

     "And besides," went on Nina before she got too scared to stop herself, "um, MJ isn't gonna go in the pool, she's just gonna read, and I'm pretty sure Flash is like, wearing these really weird swimming shorts that I so wanna make fun of, but I have no one to make fun of with, so ..." Nina grabbed the candy Liz had given her to chuck right at Peter. He caught it with a fumble. She smiled, mischevious. "If you wanna have some fun, just as ... you know ... friends, again, maybe?" Nina gestured back to the pool again, finding it hard to meet Peter's gaze, "I'll━uh━I'll be waiting, so ... get your trunks on, okay?"

      Peter didn't answer. He just watched her, and Nina couldn't exactly understand his expression. But, tonight, she didn't want to be accussing, she didn't want to look into things. She just wanted to be rebellious right before a competition, and so far, everything tonight was going really well. So, Nina will believe he will come.

     "Hey, Nina!" she heard Liz call her name and she spun around. Liz chuckled, waving her hand towards her with an eager grin. Beside her, Cindy Moon was a giggling mess and Flash was sending raspberries Peter's way. "Come on!"

     "I'm coming!" she whisper-shouted back. Rushing along the concrete balcony walk, Nina glanced back at Peter with an excited smile, and he smiled back━almost a little sad, and perhaps it was a good thing that tonight, Nina hadn't noticed.

     He didn't turn up, of course. Nina sat there, not in the pool, waiting and waiting for him to arrive, still holding onto the hope. She was coaxed into the water, being splashed at and pulled in, forcing her to laugh and let herself play in the pool, but Nina wasn't completely feeling it.

     She felt as though eyes were watching her, and she glanced upwards into the night at the top of the motel walls, expecting to see someone staring back at her ...

      But Peter Parker had ducked away, pulling on his mask before she could ... and he saw the fall of her face, and he felt it in his chest. He watched her look away and focus back on the balconies and the stairs, waiting for him to arrive ...

      And Peter realised that no matter what he wanted, he probably never will.

      He let out a long, melancholy sigh when something in his hear spoke.

     "Good evening, Peter."

*ೃ༄

a/n: hey guys! A few things

one; this is the mcu, pls don't come at me for Felicia using emp's. u can make pocket emp's, and this girl is rly smart, plus the mcu science is like so advanced and black cat uses bugs such as these in the marvel's spider-man game that I took a little inspiration from. so just like, let it pass? pls? ahaha.

     I honestly don't know whether I can do a full on black cat origin story, because I have no clue where spider-man is going after nwh, but we'll see what happens.

     this isn't turning into a black cat story, it's primarily focused on Nina and Pete, but there might be some Felicia moments here and there just to add to the plot.

two; I know it's riker's (?) but in the marvel comics it is ryker's. also, I don't know New York as well as I wish ahaha, I tried to follow the google maps, but I don't know the way to get there or do I know what riker's is like inside, so ... marvel fanfic pass?

three; nO SPOILING NO WAY HOME. I have seen it, I know some of y'all have seen it, but not everyone has so if you want to say something that has ANYTHING to do with the movie that contains even the slightest of spoilers, pls put it in a comment reply to a NO WAY HOME SPOILER ALERT comment, that way people just scrolling the comments won't have it ruined for them unless they make the decision to click onto it, and if so, that's on them. if you don't, I'm sorry, but ill have to delete it (can I delete other peeps comments?)

four; meme:

felicia deactivating cameras to talk to her father like:

five; I am working on a spider-man ps4\5 game fic, probably with another alteration of nina because she has my heart. I cannot promise anything because I have quite a few fics and some new ones coming up, also writing a fic for that game is seriously hard ... but I have sorta started a chapter, so we'll see what happens.

six; the ending of nwh has given me a fic idea, but I'm too scared to do it because I have no idea what will happen to spidey now. like possible new trilogy? but tom keeps saying he wants to take a break from acting (as he deserves)? I hath got MIXED SIGNALS! Is miles coming? hOw aRe thEy intROduCIng?! Sony, marvel, TOM I NEED AN ANSWER