Spider-Man of Earth 65

Head slumped forward, Kate's breathing was shallow yet steady. 

Definitely alive.

Felix reached out, carefully tilting her chin up to check her face. There were no visible injuries, only the soft rise and fall of her chest indicating that she was alive. Felix let out a small breath of relief. 

'She's paler than I remember.'

Quickly, he rolled up her sleeves.

'Needle marks. Anesthesia I bet,' he thought. On a table over her shoulder, he spotted an empty syringe, a few water bottles, and discarded plastic plates with crumbs. The thief—Ashley or Felicia Hardy, as he suspected—had been keeping Kate fed and hydrated. A kidnapper's kindness.

"Kate," Felix said softly, lightly patting her cheek to try and wake her. Her head lolled to the side, unresponsive. 

He checked her vitals, going into scientist mode. Pulse: steady. Respiratory rate: slightly slow but unremarkable. She was healthy, but her body showed clear signs of sedation. 

"She's not going to wake up anytime soon," he muttered to himself. His fingers hovered over her wrist, checking her pulse manually one last time for good measure. He closed his eyes. With his powers, he was naturally sensitive to things. "Hm…"

Alas, it didn't work. He could adapt to many things but not to healing.

Felix went to check the syringes. He was no doctor, but based on her vitals and the remnants of the anesthesia, it would take at least a day for her to regain consciousness on her own. 

That was too long. 

The last place he wanted to take her was a hospital. His options were limited.

'My apartment is too risk. Aaron's is too since I went there. Rio...no, no way. Who else do I know? Who else can I go to?'

He quickly untied the ropes binding Kate, catching her as she slumped forward. Felix gently lifted her into his arms, careful not to jostle her too much. She felt lighter than he expected. The faint scent of shampoo clung to her hair, and for a brief moment, Felix's resolve hardened. 

"You'll be okay," he vowed, carrying her up the basement stairs. In the living room, he saw the unconscious thief on her own floor. Felix stayed there for a moment, thinking.

"Maybe..."

His car was outside and this woman was dangerous, especially if left alone. He had no choice. He had to take her with him.

***

Maria Hill was a private detective and a former SHIELD agent. She knew exactly how to hide herself from any and all prying eyes.

So who was inside her personal office?

She opened the door. "Ah."

Felix was sitting on her desk, his arms crossed. He had been expecting the private detective. "Hey." On the couch behind him, Kate Bishop lay unconscious, her face pale and asleep. 

Maria Hill's office was as no-nonsense as the woman herself. Located in an unassuming building near Midtown, the small space was functional and efficient. A rented place that was not documented by the landlord and geared with cameras. A dark wooden desk dominated the room, flanked by filing cabinets and a wall-mounted monitor displaying a security feed. The blinds were drawn, casting the room in soft shadows, while a simple black couch along one wall served as a makeshift resting spot.

"Felix," Maria said slowly. "How did you get in here?" 

"Aaron Davis," Felix replied nonchalantly, pushing off the desk. "He mentioned you had a nice couch. Looks like he wasn't lying." 

As much as she wanted to question things, there were more important things at stake. Maria's lips pressed into a thin line as she walked over to Kate, crouching beside her to check for any signs of injury. "Kate Bishop. Alive too," Maria noted, her tone clipped but relieved. "Where did you find her?" 

"I tailed the thief—the white-haired woman who took Little Thief," Felix explained. "I managed to track her to a house in Greenwich Village." 

Maria glanced up at him sharply. "You found thief and tracked her down? You?"

"A bit of a coincidence and some luck. See…" Should he tell her about Alistair's will and the assets that were passed down? Knowing Maria, she would likely learn about it sooner or later. "Following his death, Alistair left a will and in that will was a phone he gave me."

"What? A will?"

"All of Alistair's assets have gone to me. His house, his cars, everything."

Maria was so stunned that she was unable to say a word.

"Look, it doesn't make much sense to me either. You and I both know I wasn't super close to him."

Maria slowly said, "Either you're being set up or…"

Felix was the killer. Those were the two conclusions. And the fact that Kate was here…

Felix knew he had to hurry. Maria was feeling super tense. First, his private office was being broken into, now this. "Point is that I received a phone and in that phone was a mercenary-thief he hired. After that, it was a matter of pretending to be Alistair. They never met. Hell, she didn't didn't even know he was dead until I showed up."

"Hrm…" Maria glanced at Kate, then back to him. "Do you think Alistair wanted Kate kidnapped or was it purely coincidental?"

Felix re-crossed his arms, still on the desk, thinking. "Alistair hired this Felicia Hardy to steal Little Thief. During a rooftop chase, Kate is kidnapped. A whole woman was kidnapped and we couldn't find her. How? My guess is…Yuri Watanabe, the butler. She was probably serving as the drop-off point in a car. They drive off and complete the deal. I bet after receiving Little Thief, Yuri told Felicia to take care of Kate on her own."

"Throwing suspicion on the butler," Maria stated as though there was something wrong with that.

"I…guess?" Felix drew in a breath. His deduction did not feel wrong though. "...something is off. We're missing something big. Regardless of whether Yuri and Alistair were involved, the main issue is that Kate shouldn't be out. Kate supposedly drugs her mother and kills her as well as Alistair. I saw Felicia Hardy's basement, she did not have means to do it. I'm trying to think of blackmail but…"

"Little Thief," Maria suggested. "Felicia persuaded her to kill her mother by offering Little Thief."

"Do you really think Kate would accept that?"

"Only Yelena is equipped to answer that question, not you or I."

In other words, Maria was saying they were not close enough to Kate to make a call on her morality. Felix silently disagreed. When she shoved him into the alleyway, he understood exactly the kind of person she was. Naïve and deeply respectful of justice in the right way.

"Well, if Kate won't wake up, then we ask the thief herself."

"Excuse me?"

"I tied her up and locked her in the trunk of my car. Err, Alistair's car technically."

"Let us…wait. Hold on." Maria stood up and raised a hand as if she was getting a head ache. "You've done way too much in such a short time. I need to collect myself."

Deep breaths. A whole ten seconds of deep breaths.

Maria finally opened her eyes. "About Kate, she has been like this since you found her?" 

Felix nodded, pulling a folded piece of paper from his jacket and handing it to Maria. "She's sedated. I ran her vitals—they're fine—but it'll be hours before she wakes up unless we intervene. This is what I need from the pharmacy." 

Maria unfolded the paper, her eyes scanning the list. It was concise but specific, listing everything from adrenaline shots to hydration supplements. She set the paper on her desk and eyed him.

'The real killer wouldn't be asking for all this, right? Come on, Maria. Trust me here.'  

"So our choices are either interrogating the thief or waking up Kate."

"Or both," Felix said.

A sigh from Maria. "You're lucky I keep a low profile. If SHIELD catches wind of this…"

"Trust me, I know. SHIELD's probably already tailing me after that EMP went off. I'm only here because the thief blacked out the block—"

"An EMP? Are you—" Maria stopped and slowly got out her phone. "I will call Yelena. She will be here to help with the interrogation."

"And you?"

Maria grabbed her coat, slipping the list into her pocket. "I'll get what you need. It'll take me about an hour." She stopped. "Although...on second thought, if you're going to do an interrogation, do it elsewhere. I don't want the other tenants hearing."

Felix didn't need to think of a new location for too long. "I have a place in mind. Text Yelena to meet me there."

***

The cold splash of water hit Felicia Hardy's face, snapping her awake with a gasp. She jerked against the ropes binding her to the chair, her white hair plastered to her forehead as she blinked rapidly, her ice-blue eyes darting around the room. 

She tried to move; to escape. She couldn't. Duct tape, rope, and metal cuffs kept her tightly bound. If it was one or the other, she might have been able to do something. But both?

"Morning, sunshine," Yelena Belova said dryly, tossing the now-empty bottle of water onto the floor. She reeled back and put a hand on her hip.

Felix sat on a leather chair. The interior of the shipping container was sparse—beanbag chairs in one corner, a small table littered with takeout containers, and dim overhead lighting. It was one of Aaron Davis's hideouts, strategically positioned near the stadium and hidden in plain sight. 

Felicia's gaze flicked to Felix, her lips curling into a defiant smirk. "This your idea of a date?" she quipped, shifting in the chair as much as her bindings would allow. "I usually prefer something a little more... bright."

Felix ignored her and pulled a crumpled letter from his jacket. He unfolded it slowly, holding it up for her to see. "Recognize this?" 

Felicia's smirk faltered, just for a moment. 

"Thought so," Felix said. He cleared his throat and began to read aloud. "'Dear Felicia, I hope this letter reaches you safely. Things on my end have been rocky. My manager has been acting strange, and I might need your help soon. I know I can always count on you.'" 

Felix lowered the letter, watching her closely. "Whoever wrote this seems to trust you a lot. A nice, innocent letter. But it's the only one addressed to Felicia Hardy. All the other mail had fake names. Why is that?" 

Felicia's cocky grin returned, though her eyes had a sharper edge now. "Maybe I have a pen pal. You ever think of that, genius?" 

Yelena stepped forward, her glare icy. "Cut the crap," she snapped. "What did you do to Kate Bishop?" 

Felicia blinked, feigning confusion. "Kate who? Sorry, not ringing a bell." 

Felix sighed, reaching into his bag and pulling out what appeared to be a phone from the 1990s, complete with thick buttons, a blue screen, and a scanner.

Felicia's smirk vanished. Her eyes widened as she leaned forward, her gaze locked on the device. "Is that—" 

"Little Thief," Felix confirmed. "Thought this might get your attention. See, I received this from Mister E, so in one sense, I wasn't lying."

"But most definitely lying about being Mister E," Felicia said slowly. "You've got my attention. What do you want?" 

Yelena pulled out a gun. She did not point it, the blonde simply started unloading and loading it. "Start talking. What were you planning with Kate?" 

Felicia leaned back in her chair, her cocky grin making a brief return. "A gun? Really?"

Yelena finally pointed it. "Got a problem? Want to play me? Do you really want to do that? Here where no one will know you'll die?"

The shipping container was assured by Aaron to be soundproof. Nothing short of an explosion would leak sound.

"Fine, fine. You want the story? I was doing a mission when a certain woman got in the way. I knocked her out, took her to my rendezvous point, and was told she was my problem."

"Yuri Watanabe?"

"You're well-informed," Felicia said. "Because of that dumb butler, I was left to drag a body into my basement. Not fun since I had to cancel a facial appointment. I don't kill so burying her wasn't on the agenda. And when she woke up, well…it became annoying. So I thought to do some research. Luckily for me, when I did background research on Ms. Bishop, I realized she was loaded—and I realized I could get shit tons of money and leave this city without looking back."

Yelena reeled back the gun. "You were going to blackmail Eleanor Bishop." 

"Use Kate as leverage to get what I wanted. It was a slow, great plan."

Felix exchanged a glance with Yelena, who folded her arms tightly across her chest. "And then what happened?" Yelena asked. 

Felicia shrugged, her white hair shimmering in the light. "Nothing. I was still in the planning phase. Eleanor didn't even know Kate was gone yet."

"You're saying Kate was still locked up when Eleanor and Alistair Smythe were killed?" 

So far, Felicia's expression had been mixed with coy. This time, her widened eyes were in full shock. "Wait, Eleanor is dead!? A-are you kidding me!?"

Bang! A bullet whizzed by Felicia's cheek, drawing blood. Smoke emerged from the nuzzle of Yelena's gun.

"Truth. Now."

Felicia did not care for the gunshot and blew the bang of hair that fell over her eye. She looked annoyed now. "Oh my god—look, just think about it. I have Kate kidnapped. I very clearly like money. Why would I kill my big payday? Why kill Eleanor and that other guy?"

"That other guy, Alistair Smythe, was Mister E," Felix said.

A second stunned expression. Felix decided he liked seeing her so shocked. "...what?"

"So you didn't know that either. A thief for hire through and through." Yelena lowered her gun. "Or maybe an excellent actress—"

The blonde raised the gun, only to be interrupted. "Wait! Wait, just…" Felicia let out a frustrated sound. "I didn't touch them, okay? You want proof? Check my phone. I love taking videos and photos. There's a good chance I was doing something else whenever it happened."

"And if you weren't?"

Felicia glared at Yelena. "Then do what you want."

Yelena and Felix exchanged glances for a second time. Arms and legs and waist tied together by tape and rope, there was no method of escape.

'My Spider-Sense isn't going off either. She might have bad luck but I do vividly remember my Spider-Sense working on it.'  

Felix nodded. Yelena crept forward, smoothly pulled the phone from Felicia's jacket pocket and began scrolling through it. After a few seconds, she found a video dated the same night Eleanor Bishop and Alistair Smythe were killed. She played it, and Felix leaned in to watch. 

The video showed Kate, tied to the same chair, her expression defiant even as Felicia questioned her. 

"What's your name?" Felicia's voice asked from behind the camera. 

"Kate Bishop," came the firm reply. 

"And how old are you?" 

"Twenty-two. And I'm going to—"

"Okay, that's enough. We'll try again tomorrow when you're more cooperative."

The video cut off there, but it was enough. The time and date matched: six o'clock. Felix rubbed his jaw, his thoughts swirling. 

"So?"

"Your alibi is good," Yelena admitted, her tone grim. 

"See? I told you—mmmphh!"

Felix taped Felicia's mouth. "Knock her out for me?"

"Sure."

With a chop to the back of her neck, Yelena silenced her hearing temporarily. The pair needed to think and this chick's voice wouldn't help. 

"If what this thief says is true, that means Kate wasn't responsible for the murders."

"It means the Kate Bishop we saw on the footage was a fake." Felix was quiet for a moment. "Say, your friend Natasha Romanoff wasn't, I don't know, able to shape-shift?"

The suggestion took her aback. It was almost offensive. "Shape-shift? No, that...what kind of stupid idea is that? We Black Widows were trained for espionage so of course we could disguise ourselves. But to...what? Change faces like you're suggesting? That's impossible. You saw the footage. Look at the eyes. Look at the neck. It wasn't a mask. I'm a spy, I've been trained to tell apart fake from real."

"Spider-Woman," Felix said quietly.

Yelena wasn't following and cocked her head.

"Ever since Gwen Stacy and Spider-Woman appeared, the foundations of science and what we thought possible have changed," Felix said. "Vigilantes exist. Mutants exist. Super soldiers exist." Other universes exist. "Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth. From what we've gathered, from what we've learned, we must be a dealing with a shape-shifting spy that has never been caught before. A Chameleon that snuck into Oscorp as a spy and changed everything. A Chameleon that likely disguised themselves as Kate and tried to confuse the murders."

"But...if it's a shape-shifter...then it could be anyone. Anyone. You or me o-or Maria..."

Felix eyed the computer, then closed his eyes. He had to turn his thinking around. 'Go with the understanding that it's a shape-shifter that fucked up my life. What changes? Who are going to be my suspects? Everyone? No, because the big risk with shape-shifting are interactions. You can only do it for a short period of time before it becomes too risky; before parents or spouses discover the truth. Before the other person encounters you. Risk. Risk. Who is the least riskiest to shape-shift into?'

No, that shouldn't be the question.

'We're chasing someone that has never been caught. It's not a matter of riskiest. It's a matter of when. When could someone have switched?'

Where did this all truly began? Half a year ago when Felix and Reed joined. Half a year ago when...

Felix's eyes widened.

Then he smiled.

"Felix? Something wrong?" Yelena cocked her head again when Felix went over to the computer and sat down. Instantly, he got to typing. Felix was extremely familiar with Aaron's homemade OS at this point.

"Yelena, how old is Natasha Romanoff?"

"Sixty years old. Looks the part too, although she does age slower, so she looks more to be in her forties. I told you this before, didn't I?"

Indeed. It was why Czarina was a half-suspect and why Felix only held mild expectations towards her being Natasha. Natasha was old and no amount of superpowers on this Earth could stop that.

This was not a planet of gods and myths. This was a city of grim murders, detectives, and tragedy.

"What's important is not how she looks like but her career." On Aaron Davis' computer, there were NYPD records and some important SHIELD files too. Impressive stuff. Stuff that even Felix did not have access since he had never interacted with SHIELD's databases with Herbie yet.

He tapped a key, pulling up a file marked International Crimes: Cold Cases. The NYPD records showed brief summaries, but the SHIELD files were another level entirely. Aaron had outdone himself. He scrolled through incident after incident, his brows furrowing deeper with every file he opened. There were thefts, assassinations, and mysterious disappearances dating back to the 1960s. Each was marked by a degree of precision that was inhumane.

Stuff that a super soldier could not do.

Stuff that perhaps only Spider-Man with full mastery of his camouflage and electrical abilities could do.

In 1974, the Louvre reported the theft of the Emerald Sphere of Alexandria, an artifact considered impossible to move because of its 300-pound weight and constant monitoring by a team of guards. Yet, one morning, it was simply gone. No alarms. No witnesses. Nothing.

In 1985, the De Beers Cullinan Diamond Necklace vanished during a gala in South Africa. The thief bypassed top-tier security measures, including infrared motion detectors, pressure-sensitive floors, and multiple guards stationed in every wing of the venue. Again, no one saw the culprit. One guard had gone missing; until five years ago where they were discovered in a cemetery, all skeleton.

Last year, through cutting edge technology that the killer likely never suspected would exist, SHIELD were able to discover that the cause of death was done by strangulation.

Felix opened another file. In 1996, the Crown of Saint Wenceslas disappeared from its heavily guarded vault in Prague. The vault itself was found untouched, no alarms were triggered, and no cameras caught anything. One guard was said to have drugs in his systems and marks as though he had been forced to swallow it. The guard insisted that he did not recall anything of the sort happening. Ten months later, the guard hung himself.

"Only two mistakes in a long career," Felix muttered. "The same mistake. No witnesses. No alarms. Always a victim who's been choked."

"I guess she couldn't help herself." Yelena squinted. "But...hey, go on there. The death of a Russian oligarch, five months ago. I've never heard of that."

Felix scrolled down. Reading, squinting, and coming to a conclusion. "Because SHIELD shut any and all information on it. Apparently, they had been spying on the Russian. They had to wipe evidence of it or else the Russian government would discover it."

"Five months ago...it can't be...does that mean...?"

"It does," Felix said. "It was Natasha's biggest job in her new lucky identity, until Oscorp Tower that is." Felix comforted himself on the chair, smiling. "That was her biggest mistake yet."

Yelena eyed the man in the chair. "Felix...I don't know why but I get the feeling you've already solved everything."

"..." He looked up at her. "Do you trust me?"

"You have the same look that Kate did. That look that says you can do anything and will do." Yelena laughed. "So hell fucking yeah. What's the plan?"

"I need you to get caught."

"Huh?"

"Don't worry. I'll be joining you."

"...huh?"