Sirens wailed in the distance. Felix's vision blurred with pain and exhaustion, the acrid taste of adrenaline sharp on his tongue. He glanced down at the lifeless form of Crossbones. The victory swelling within him was drowned by the sounds of the fire department and the police.
"Heal, heal, heal," he muttered to himself, staggering backward. "Come on."
His wounds knitted together painfully, his Extremis-enhanced healing factor working overtime. But there wasn't time to fully recover. The authorities would be here soon, and Spider-Man had to disappear.
'Come on, Spidey! Come on!'
A wave of panic washed over him. He had to escape. He had to vanish. He had to!
His heart pulsed. For a moment, he thought he was having a heart attack. He wasn't. Somehow, his body had responded to him. He felt a strange tingling sensation wash over him, like static electricity crawling beneath his skin. Looking down, he watched in astonishment as his hand faded from view, blending seamlessly with his surroundings.
'What…? Is this….'
Invisibility. But how? Why?
'Don't tell me…' Felix blinked, his legs disappearing from view. 'My body is in a state of panic and alarm! And because of this, I'm developing new powers. First the webs from my wrist and now this!'
He wanted to kill Crossbones; and so, desperate, he got it.
He wanted to escape undetected; and so, desperate, he got it.
That was the key to the adapting phenomena. Desperation. Panic. Adrenaline. Symptoms of a racing heartbeat, shortness of breath, trembling and muscle tension.
He took a deep breath, willing himself to calm down, to focus. He needed to test this. He raised his wrist and shot a web at the nearest debris. The webbing, too, turned invisible as it left his spinnerets from his wrist. The pain and exhaustion aside, this felt good. Felix almost smiled. This new ability might be his saving grace.
The sirens grew louder, closer. Felix's heart pounded in his chest. He focused, turning his entire body invisible, and jumped over to some debris. First, he needed to know where he was. Right now, he was looking out at the street. The buildings left and right of him were also damaged. Fire was almost everywhere, though strangely, he didn't feel any of it.
'Must still be adapting,' Felix deduced. People were far away, afraid, but ready to come closer when ready.
There was no choice, he had to go to the other end. While he could have gone through the street, there was no telling when his invisibility would end. He needed to go back. The backalleys and their shadows were his best friends right now. Spider-Man jumped and leaped like an Olympic athlete, avoiding the fire as best he could, his heightened senses on full alert.
He reached the end of the circle of debris and jumped to cling onto the building. He crawled up to the roof and could hear the shouts of police officers and see the flashing red and blue lights reflecting off the nearby buildings. He was invisible. They didn't know he was here. They were shouting because this was an emergency.
Because of that, he couldn't afford to be seen. He had to get home, where he could rest and recover.
He got up to the rooftop, still noting that he was invisible. Down on the streets were police cars. So many were coming.
'Here goes nothing.'
He took a deep breath and he jumped. Every millisecond step felt like an eternity. Felix's mind raced with thoughts of the battle, the explosion, the searing pain of the acid, and the new powers he had discovered.
Thwiiip!
His invisible web-shooters propelled him across the streets. The world around him was a blur of motion and sound, but he released, jumped, and thwipped again, driven by the need to survive.
His apartment building loomed ahead. Felix opened the window and climbed through. He deactivated his invisibility, his body flickering back into view, and his muscles shut down. He collapsed onto the floor.
"Haah…! Haaah…!"
He was panting. He was exhausted.
He was safe…for now.
Breathing heavily, he pulled off the remaining parts of his suit, wincing as the fabric peeled away from his still-healing wounds. His mind buzzed with a thousand needles of pain. The acid really fucking hurt.
"What were these? Third-degree burns." He hissed as he placed a hand on his abdomen. The wound was gone but the pain receptors lingered. "Can't you get rid of the pain, Extremis?"
No answer.
He healed, he healed, he healed…
Until a knock on the door jolted him from his thoughts. Felix froze, his heart pounding anew. Who could it be? He quickly stuffed his suit under the bed and pulled on a black shirt and grey sweatpants, trying to appear as normal as possible.
Opening the door, he was met with Rio Morales.
"Felix! Thank god, you finally opened! Are you okay?" Rio asked, her eyes wide with worry. "That explosion was so close! I've been going around asking if everyone's alright."
'Right, it was close by. Certainly didn't feel like it.'
Felix forced a tired smile, leaning against the doorframe. "Yeah, I'm okay, Rio. Just... a bit shaken up. It's been a rough night."
Little did she know that he caused the explosion; that he fought the most intense battle of his life and came back just in time to not get caught.
Rio's gaze softened. "You look exhausted. Why don't you come over? I just baked some cookies."
'Cookies?'
Wow. Cookies. Huh. Despite having a high-paying job and being able to get what he wanted, he really hadn't…indulged. Eating cookies, drinking sodas, he could technically do all that without gaining any weight or issues. His body would heal and adapt, no problem.
Crossbones was dead. Reed was avenged. Felix had won.
For a moment, he was silent. Then he laughed, the tension in his body easing slightly. "Cookies sound great, Rio."
She raised a brow. "Wow, that's unexpected of you. Usually, you'd stay cooped up."
"Do you want me to?"
"No, no, no, this is fine. Great, in fact." Rio smiled. "You're always busy but when you are around, it's great."
They walked down the hallway to Rio's apartment. Miles was there, sprawled on the couch with a video game controller in hand. He looked up as they entered, his brow furrowing when he saw Felix.
"Man, you look rough," Miles said, concern lacing his voice. "What did you do? Run a marathon?"
"More like run a rough day at work," Felix replied.
"Damn, Oscorp is really pushing them labour laws."
"Labour laws? Do kids your age care about that stuff?"
"I'm from New York, we're born to care."
Felix chuckled. "Yeah, labours laws or not, I bet I can still beat you at Mario Kart."
Miles grinned. "Is that a challenge?"
"No, it's a declaration."
"Alright, alright." Rio laughed and went to the kitchen. "I'll get the cookies ready. Don't stay up too late, please."
Yeah, right. Staying up late was the requirement for a competitive night of gaming. Both Miles and Felix knew that.
***
Till sunrise they played. Hours of laughter, trash talk, and video games. Felix found himself relaxing, the warmth of Rio's home and the companionship of his friends soothing his frayed nerves. Because of his injuries, Felix wasn't able to play as well as he could and his wins against Miles were fifty-fifty. He didn't use that as an excuse though: once you played, excuses were not allowed.
They played until the first light of dawn crept through the windows, finally collapsing in exhausted but contented heaps.
Felix didn't sleep though. Unlike Miles, it was impossible for him.
The memories. The death in his hands. Reed. Was it weird to think that he actually found it great? That it completed a missing piece of his heart ever since Reed died? Ever since he came to Harlem?
"Ha…"
Miles was practically hanging off the couch while Felix leaned back staring at the ceiling. He didn't know if he was smiling out of joy or sorrow. Miles was nothing like Reed. One was a genius whose maturity swung between childlike to godlike, and one was an ordinary kid. But to be able to relax and hang out like this with someone after succeeding in his vengeance.
Honestly, there was no way around it. All these complex emotions could only be the result of one thing. One intertwining aspect of himself.
Satisfaction.
Felix Faeth was satisfied for once in his life. He closed his eyes, ready to sleep...
His phone buzzed. Sighing, he groggily swiped it open, finding a news alert. Tapping on the most prominent one, a familiar, blustery voice filled the room and he immediately regretted it.
"This is J. Jonah Jameson with the latest on the so-called 'hero' Spider-Man!" Jameson's face was plastered on the screen. The guy screamed outrage and triumph. Felix didn't know how but J. Jonah Jameson made the strangest of expressions possible. "Last night, our beloved Mamma Rosa's Pizzeria was reduced to rubble in a catastrophic explosion. And who do we have to thank for this chaos? None other than your friendly neighborhood menace, Spider-Man!"
The screen cut to shaky footage of the burning pizzeria, the devastation clear even through the low-quality video. "Eyewitnesses claim to have seen Spider-Man engaging in a brutal battle with a black, gooey creature. A creature, mind you, that we have never seen before. And what does Spider-Man do? He brings the fight to the heart of our community, endangering innocent lives! The creature could have been good for all we know!"
'...that last part is kinda true,' Felix admitted.
Jameson's face reappeared, his eyes blazing. "And let's not forget the bodies found in the wreckage—identified as the very same criminals who broke into Oscorp weeks ago. Coincidence? I think not! It's clear that wherever Spider-Man goes, chaos and death follow. You know what, I'll be the one to say it: Spider-Man was behind the Oscorp attack."
What?
"What?"
"When will we stop idolizing this masked menace and hold him accountable for his act—"
A knock on the door interrupted his thoughts and the video. Felix frowned, pushing himself up from the couch where he had crashed. He glanced at the door, then back at his phone, shaking his head with a rueful smile. "Thanks, Jameson. Just what I needed to start my day."
Felix forced himself up. At the same time, Rio emerged from her room, rubbing her eyes. Her hair was tied back in a loose bun, a few strands escaping to frame her face, and she had on a pair of fuzzy, open-toe slippers that made her footsteps silent on the apartment's hardwood floor. She wore a soft, oversized sweatshirt in a dark blue colour, its sleeves rolled up slightly to reveal slender wrists. The sweatshirt hung comfortably over a pair of well-worn, dark gray yoga pants that hugged her legs.
'Man, my brain must still be messed up. Why am I thinking about complimenting her ass?' Felix shook his head, trying to fling away the dirty thoughts.
"Who could that be this early?" Rio murmured, moving to answer the door. For the second time, he was tempted. She blinked and craned her head over, noting Felix's presence. "Oh, you're here."
"Still here." Felix's awkward smile and eye-contact was very much forced. Don't look down, he told himself. Going forward and turning the door knob, he said. "I got it."
Although he said that, Rio stayed to check who it was. To their surprise, on the other end were two police officers, their expressions serious. Felix tried not to tense up.
"Good morning," one of the officers said. "We're checking in with residents in the area to see if anyone heard or saw anything regarding the explosion last night."
Felix and Rio exchanged a glance. Rio spoke first, her voice steady. "We heard the explosion last night, but we've been here in our apartment the whole time."
"I saw the news just now," Felix added. "It was at a pizza place or something."
"Precisely. Mamma Rosa's Pizzeria, ever went there?"
Rio and Felix exchanged looks again and shook their heads.
"Nope," Felix replied.
"I think I tried their pizza once last year or something."
"So no affiliation again," the first officer muttered.
The second officer nodded and jotted a couple lines down on his note. "Thank you. And sir, just to confirm, you are the husband?"
Rio was taken aback by the remark. Felix wasn't. He understood that they were simply doing an inquiry. This didn't mean anything.
"Ah, no. I'm a neighbour." Felix cleared his throat. "I live in the unit right across. Came here last night because of her son. I'm close to him." That wasn't true but whatever. He needed an excuse.. Thank you Miles for your sacrifice. "Didn't see anything unusual. Just heard the noise."
The officers seemed satisfied with their responses. One of them smiled politely. "Alright. Thank you for your time. We'll let you get back to your day."
As the officers turned to leave, Felix added, "Oh, and don't bother knocking on my unit. It's right there." He pointed over their shoulders. "No one's there right now."
The police smiled, nodding. "Sure thing. Have a good day."
They closed the door, and Felix let out a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding. Rio looked at him, concern still etched on her face.
"Don't like the police?"
He smiled tiredly. "Something like that."
"Same. Asking me if you're my husband…" Rio laughed and tucked a piece of her hair over her ear. "I don't look that young, do I?"
"Trust me," Felix said, making direct eye-contact and pointedly making sure not to left his gaze go adrift. "You do."