What the Future could Hold (Limited Series)

[Mir]

Felicia Hardy prided herself on her ability to not let things bother her. At least on the outside. On the inside, it could be a different story, but on the outside, she lived by the motto of never let them see you cry. She’d done well with that over the years of her career. Taking in a breath of crisp New York City fall air, she looked over the section of Central Park she sat in. She was in between jobs. She’d been asked to steal some jewels in Argentina and she had, though she’d kept a few others for herself. Mementos. Tokens if you would. She was looking forward to the next job, whenever that was.

Who knew what the future would hold? She didn’t, but she knew she was ready for it. There wasn’t a safe she couldn’t crack, a vault she couldn’t enter. They hadn’t build a security system Felicia Hardy couldn’t find a way around or through.

She was in this for the love of the game. Right now, she was in this for the love of the coffee she held in her hands.

Her eyes darted down, as a fallen leaf landed on the bench next to her. When she lifted her eyes, they narrowed as she saw some people in the distance.

There was a man, brown haired. He was tall but wiry. He didn’t look like he was built that strong, but she knew he was arguably the strongest man in the City. Pushing a baby stroller, he was laughing at someone the woman walking with him had said.

People noticed her, not him. Which, knowing what she knew, was a bit of a shame really. Her eyes went to the woman. A woman with a hair of brilliant red, she was a famous New Yorker. Then Felicia looked down at the baby stroller. The toddler whose hair matched the woman’s probably could have been walking but trust these two to baby their daughter beyond when she needed it.

Felicia’s eyes narrowed as she watched Peter Parker, Mary Jane Watson-Parker and their daughter May Parker.

If she had one regret in life it was that she hadn’t been able to pull this off. Her relationship with the Spider was complicated, which was putting it mildly. She understood his drive and desire to be both Spiderman and Peter Parker. They had been together and not together on and off for years. But now, his decision to stick with Red looked like it had stuck.

She closed her eyes for a moment, wondering what life would have been like. She had tried. Lord knows, she had tried. Spider had tried too. He’d tried to understand how difficult it was for someone like her to be tethered to one place, one life. How the act of stealing wasn’t a crime to her. It was something much more akin to joy. The thrill of the planning, the skill of the execution, the satisfaction of the accomplishment. Sure, she could do it for others, while being paid, but even then, even there, there was that feeling of competition and completion.

When she opened her eyes, her eyebrows lowered. They had stopped walking. Peter was on the phone with someone and he had turned to look at Mary Jane. He hung up and Mary Jane nodded at him. She watched him pick up the toddler and kiss her on the cheek a few times, before getting her back into the stroller and walking away.

Well now, wasn’t that interesting?

What was the Spider up to?

==-==

Peter Parker watched MJ and May as he stood on top of a rooftop near Central Park. He had finished changing into his Spiderman suit and was giving them a few more moments of his time, even if they didn’t realize it, before he rushed off. He had just pulled the mask over when his Spider-sense told him he was not alone. It hadn’t told him he was in danger, just not alone. So whoever it was, he knew the person.

Then someone tapped on his shoulder.

He turned.

“Felicia?” He asked.

“Heya Spider.” She said, in her Black Cat suit. “Whatcha up to?” She asked.

“How did you know I was here? Are you stalking me?”

“Not at this point in time. I was just in the area. You haven’t answered my question.”

“Dr. Strange needs help with something. Something ominous. End of the world, end of our reality as we know it.”

She thought about it for a second. “And he needs you to…spin a web so his coffee stays in place while he makes some spell up or something.”

“You aren’t funny, you know that right?” He asked.

She placed a hand on his chest. “We both know that’s a lie.” She replied, thumping him lightly. “You want some help? You look like you want some help.”

“I think we’ve got it covered.” Spiderman replied and she lifted an eyebrow. Never let them see you hurt. “What?”

“End of our reality as we know it, and you’re turning down help?” She replied, turning towards southern Manhattan. “Sanctum Sanctorum, Bleecker street. I’ll race you there. You lose, you owe me a pie from John’s.” She said and started running.

“Felicia!” Spiderman said as she jumped off the building. He watched as she twisted in mid air, giving him the double bird before she disappeared from view.

He chuckled before taking off after her.

[Mir]

Stephen Strange gritted his teeth. This was not going the way he wanted it to go. The magical energy he was currently expelling was ridiculous and it still wasn’t good enough. He really wished he had trusted Felicia Hardy more than he did. When Spider-Man had shown up with Black Cat in tow, Stephen had quickly decided that they needed to address the issue immediately. Better to keep the known thief out of a place like the Sanctum Sanctorum where there were more than a few items of interest.

Now, he really wished he had even one of them, even the Cymbal of Caresh. He could have at least banged it against his head in frustration.

Meanwhile, Spider-Man dodged a blast of eldritch energy.

“This guy really doesn’t like us.” He said.

“You don’t say?” Black Cat replied as she dodged an attack of her own.

She didn’t have much in the way of a ranged weapon, so she was doing her best to be a distraction for the foe they faced.

She’d only been barely paying attention to whatever Strange had been saying as they’d been leaving the Sanctum. In her defense, there had been so many interesting things in the Sanctum that were just itching to be liberated. She’d made a mental note to head back to the Sanctum and see what could be liberated. A few things would be kept, a few things would be sold. But more importantly, she would have broken into the Sanctum.

Again.

The other time, Strange didn’t even know had happened. He’d rebuilt the collection from the last time she’d been in there.

Which, when you thought about it, was rather convenient. She could fence the stolen items, and Stephen went and got them back, allowing her to steal them again.

It was almost basically free money, really.

That made her more convinced that it was more Stephen’s fault than hers. If he wanted the items to be properly taken care of then he should probably take proper care of them.

She was still fantasizing about the job when a blast grazed her thigh. She yelped in pain, rubbing the now exposed skin. Felicia grimaced and looked at the giant…thing…they were fighting. Something about a reality shifter.

“Doc, you got a solution for this?” She asked.

“I’m working on it.” He said, his hands moving in some weird kung fu looking motion.

“Sure. Want to work on it a little bit faster?” She asked.

“Felicia, do your job.” Peter said.

She shrugged at him, before scrambling forward towards the creature that was around fourteen feet tall. Spider wanted the claws, he would get the claws. The retractable claws on her suit came out as she leapt at the creature.

[Mir]

Felicia’s suit was torn in a number of places as was Spider’s. They were going through it. She had a fleeting thought about why in hell had Stephen only asked Spider to go with him. In hindsight, with just the two of them, they would have been dead already. The forest clearing they were in, in upstate New York, had also seen better days and she was crouched behind a fallen log, trying to catch her breath.

She jumped, slightly, startled as Spider-Man landed next to her. “Felicia.” He said. “You okay?”

“Never been better.” She said. “Does the magic man have this under control?” She asked.

Spider-Man peeked over the log and nodded slowly. “I think he does.” He said.

“Perfect, you can get back in time for dinner to your precious little family.” She said and he winced looking over at her.

“We’re not really going to do this right now are we?” He asked.

“What?” She asked, innocently. “You wanted the nice little home life and you got it, didn’t you?”

“We talked about this, Felicia.” Spider-Man said. “You know what I want out of life and-”

“And I’m not the one you can get that from. Yes. You made that crystal clear, buddy.” She said, looking over the log. “Can we wrap this up?” She called out.

Stephen held up a finger, which Felicia swore was his middle finger. He probably would have claimed that he was completing the spell to banish this demon back to whatever hell hole it had come from.

“Listen, I get it. I said that then.” Felicia said, hopping over the log and starting to walk over to where Strange was finishing up lassoing the demon. “I want you to know I’ve moved on.”

“Oh?” Spider-Man asked, joining her.

“Yes, I got another cat.” She said. “Much better behaved and does what he’s told.” She replied and he laughed.

“You expect me to believe that?”

“I don’t care whether you do or don’t Spider, that’s the beauty of this situation. You want a normal boring life and I want to be with someone who actually wants to be something. We’re not right for each other and you wouldn’t want to be with me if I was the last woman on earth.”

Spider-Man threw his hands up and spun around in frustration. “That is not…That is not even remotely close to what I said.”

She turned back to him. “You can suck my new cat Peter’s di-”

The creature suddenly broke free from the spell and lashed out, releasing some kind of wave of energy or something. Peter’s eyes widened behind his mask and he dove forward to tackle her to the ground. Strange threw up a spell shield barrier.

The wave pushed outwards, encompassing Felicia and Peter.

Peter, on top of her, slowly lifted upwards, looking around. Felicia shoved him off of her, scrambling to her feet.

Wherever they were, they were not in upstate New York anymore.

“Shit.” Felicia said. It was almost Peter-Cat’s lunchtime.

[Mir]

That was the least of their problems.

“Uh…Strange?” Spider-Man said, calling out. “Doc, you around?” He asked.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Black Cat said. “Goddamnit Spider, you got us teleported.” She said.

He turned to her. “How is this my fault?” He asked.

“You said yes when he asked for help.” She said, crossing her arms over her chest. “Now you better fix this.”

They started looking around, trying to figure out where they were. The sun was still up otherwise they would have been able to maybe use the stars or something. She wasn’t sure, but she knew Peter was smart enough to figure something out. They were still in a forest, which may have helped them. Soon however, they could tell that the forest was not the same forest they had been in prior.

In the distance was a mountain range and they agreed that it made sense to try to get some elevation to try to see if they could identify where they were. Maybe it would help them figure it out. Maybe. Felicia wasn’t putting much stock in the idea, but at the very least, it was something for them to try. As they climbed, she kept looking around, trying to see if at the next ridge there was something she could identify.

No dice.

As they came up over another ridge, she saw that there was something that looked like a cave entrance.

Which is when it started to rain.

Despite Felicia’s protestations, Peter insisted they go into the cave to get some shelter from the rain. Once inside, she activated some of her gear, allowing her to see better in the darkness. She had a lot of nifty tricks up her sleeve. Or on her waist to be more precise. Her phone had no signal, and his communications equipment was on the fritz. Maybe it was from that wave of…that wave that had hit them? She couldn’t tell.

Peter was sitting down, trying to figure out what was wrong with his equipment. The mask was off and he was fiddling with some of the wiring in the mask.

She had gone a little bit further into the cave.

Rounding a corner, she stopped and stared.

There was a slew of caveman style paintings on the walls.

“Peter.” She said, calling him. “Peter, get over here now.” She said and she heard him getting to his feet in the near distance. It wasn’t often she called him by his actual name.

The paintings were fresh.

[Mir]

“What’s going on?” Peter said, reaching out and gingerly touching the cave painting. “This doesn’t make any sense.” He said.

“You don’t think…” Felicia said, trailing off. “Peter, where are we?” She asked as he held his hand, palm out to the wall.

His suit started doing some calculations. Luckily that part of his suit was still working.

“What is it?” She asked.

“I think the better question isn’t where are we.” He said. “I think we’re still in the Catskills. The better question is when are we.” He turned to her. “The suit is saying these cave paintings were discovered in the 1930s.” He said and a quick holographic image of the paintings appeared above his hand.

She stared at him. “Shut the hell up.” She said and turned, starting to walk around the cave. Her hands went to her head as she tried to process what he was saying. They could not be in the past. No no no. Felicia turned to him and was going to say something but she closed her mouth and continued walking.

“I’m sorry.” Peter said, deflating a little bit. “If these are fresh, and I don’t have a reason to think they aren’t, I think we’re in the past.”

“I don’t need your thinking right now, Spider.” She shot back and he shrugged.

“Facts are facts.” Peter said. He walked over to her, stopping her pacing by placing both of his hands on her shoulders. “Felicia, we need to think this through.” He said.

“We have no idea what’s going on. Your communication equipment isn’t working, my phone isn’t working.” She said. “I need…I need you to figure out what’s going on Peter.” She said. “Because we need to find a way back, if we are actually stuck in the past.”

“I know.” He said. He pointed out towards the cave entrance back the way they had come. “But right now, the rain is coming down, and we don’t have anywhere to go. We need to stay here.” He said.

“We don’t know who made these paintings.” She said. “We don’t know if this is their home. They could come back.” She added. “What if there’s a fight and someone accidentally gets hurt?” Felicia asked. “What if we’re changing the future and we don’t even know it?”

Peter’s face grew grim. “That’s a possibility. There’s a lot of theories about the butterfly effect as well as a multiversal reality.” The science geek in him was ready to dive off the deep end. The adult in him realized this was not the time nor the place, no pun intended. “We have to do the best we can and hope we’re not doing anything too damaging.” He said.

She started walking back towards the cave entrance.

“Where are you going?” He asked.

“I don’t know if they’re deeper in the caves. I don’t know if they’re coming back through the front. We need a direction to escape if anything happens.”

[Mir]

The night had passed. She had started a fire near the front of the cave, allowing the smoke to rise up. The two had taken turns keeping watch, as they didn’t know if the creator of those cave paintings were going to be anywhere near them. In the morning, Peter had decided to run a few tests, but he needed juice for that to happen. Luckily, his suit was designed with some solar panel type equipment built in to allow it to recharge in the off chance he was away from his home for some time.

Felicia was fairly certain this was not the situation he had been thinking of when he’d installed it into the suit.

So while he had gotten that whole thing set up, she had gone down back to ground level to do a bit of scouting. Their food supplies were limited and she had no idea how long they were going to be here.

Pushing the more dire thoughts out of her mind about them permanently being here, Felicia had used mapping information Peter had to locate a nearby river. The water hadn’t been too deep, but it was deep enough that fish lived there.

She caught a few of them, which she considered to be a little on the nose. A Black Cat catching fish? The jokes wrote themselves and Peter already had a terrible sense of humor. When she got back to the cave, she found Peter had finished with his set up and was running the tests. Felicia had always done some studying of science in order to better blend in based on a job’s requirements, but a lot of what he had talked about had gone over her head. That didn’t surprise her.

As long as it worked.

That was really all she cared about.

She cooked the fish while Peter ran his tests. They wouldn’t know until the next morning what the situation was, whether it was confirmed they were in the past or if the children’s show magician had played some weird trick on them. Something Peter had muttered to himself about as payback for this time Peter had webbed up a levitating cloak.

As she lay on her back staring up at the cave’s ceiling for the second night in a row, already two times more than she wanted, Felicia was worried. Worried about what was going on and worried about the future.

She just hoped, no she prayed that the future she was worried for was not really the past.

“Peter.” She said.

“Yeah.” He replied from his side of the cave.

“What do we do if we are in the past? Are we stuck?”

There were a few moments that passed. Enough that she turned on her side to see him in the moonlight. What she could make out of his features concerned her.

“One problem at a time, Felicia.” He said.

[Mir]

Felicia sucked at the little bit of blood coming out of her thumb. She’d knicked herself with the sharp edge of the stone she had been trying to sharpen for the spear she was working on. She’d been at it for some time and she wasn’t sure if it was a good thing she had actually cut herself or not. Cutting herself sucked, but it meant the stone was sharp enough. She looked over at where Peter was, working on something or other.

The morning after Peter had started the tests had given them news they both had dreaded. They were indeed in the past. Tens of thousands of years. Not only that, as far as Peter could tell, they were stuck. He couldn’t figure out a way to get them back that didn’t involve technology that wouldn’t be invented for at least…all of those tens of thousands of years.

So they were stuck.

Which meant they had to figure out what their next step was. To Felicia, that had been simple.

They couldn’t stay in that cave forever, they didn’t know who thought it might belong to them and be back around to stay in it for a while. Additionally, they needed to feed themselves and clothe themselves. The Black Cat suit was quite useful to get past highly advanced security systems. The Spider suit was quite useful to stop her once she had her prize. Neither, unfortunately, was that useful to their current situation.

One thing that was working for them though was the computer system that was built into the Spider suit. There was a wealth of knowledge in the databanks and they had to figure out how to properly use it. The solar panels they had would keep the suit charged and let them keep having access to the information. Which meant, after their lives, the solar panels were the most important thing to keep safe.

Peter had agreed with her point about finding more permanent shelter. She could tell he was devastated by finding out they were truly in the past. It made sense to her. He had a wife and a child. He had a family back in the past. That had been a trip. To start thinking about that time period as the past. She needed to keep focused and no matter what, keep moving forward.

What she also had to do was figure out how to keep Peter’s mind focused on the task at hand. She needed him. She needed his brain. He needed her. They needed each other.

Felicia stared at the sharpened stone, taking it and starting the assembly process to build her spear.

“You okay, Pete?” She asked, keeping her eyes on the spear.

“Yeah.” He said, lifting his head. The stubble was starting to show on his face.

She looked over at him and smiled. “What are you working on?” She asked.

“I’m thinking that we need to figure out a…” Pete trailed off. He looked over at her. “I don’t know what I’m working on.” He said.

She nodded slowly and rose to walk over to him.

[Mir]

She sat down in front of him, tucking her legs underneath. “Pete,” She said, looking into his eyes. “I know we’re not in a good spot right now.” She said. Felicia looked around at everything that surrounded them. Maybe she was searching for the words herself, the hope. That was his job. He was always the hopeful one. “But we are not going to figure anything out unless your head is in the game.”

“This is all my fault.”

She shook her head, smiling. Her Spider was always blaming himself, even when it wasn’t his fault. Peter took his Uncle’s adage about power and responsibility too far for her sometimes. This was clearly one of those times. “It’s not your fault.”

“If I hadn’t let you join me, if I had done something differently when we were fighting that thing. If I had suggested someone else to Stephen, then-”

“Then you wouldn’t be the Spider that we all know and love.” Felicia replied. “Well, love is a bit of a stretch, you are a quirky mess.” She added, quickly. “You want to make this better?” She asked and he nodded slowly. “Then let’s figure out what we need to do and do it.” She leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. “Stop being morose, it doesn’t suit you.”

She rose and went back to what she was doing. Waiting a few minutes, she tossed a look over her shoulder. Peter was back to work and she smiled. She waited a few more minutes, knowing his brain, besides the solar panels and the computer in the suit, was her strongest tool.

“So what’s the plan?” She asked.

“We need to figure out shelter and food.” Peter said. “I’m trying to get a topographical map of the area and figure out the water flow. If we can find a good spot where there’s good water flow, we can guarantee fresh water as well as power.”

She rocked backwards on her heels. “You mean like a watermill?” She asked.

“Exactly like a watermill. Well, yeah a watermill.” He said. “I know cats don’t like baths but…”

She stared at him. “Spider, I did not just go through all that mushy feelings stuff to bolster your confidence to get you to say that I need a bath.” She said. “You need a bath.”

He laughed. “Relax, Felicia, we both need baths.” He smiled as a holographic display of the area appeared. “I think I’ve found what we need. It’s a bit of a walk though. A few days.” He said and looked over at her. “We’ll need to figure out food for that trip.”

She held up the finished spear.

“I’ll make a list. I don’t know if we’ll be able to find cat treats.”

She rolled her eyes. “I hate you.”

He’s back. Thank God. I wouldn’t be able to make it through this without you Peter.

[Mir]

Felicia was struggling and blew hair out of her face. They were climbing up through the hills and mountains and she was not doing well. She absolutely kept her body in top shape. She needed to do that in order to do the jobs she did. But she also did not subject herself to things like this. She stared up ahead at the back of Peter’s head.

“Couldn’t you have swung us up there?” She asked. “It seems like we could have avoided a lot of this.”

He laughed. “I’ve only got so much web fluid you know that. We’re not advancing out of the bronze age any time soon, so I think we may need to conserve it for when it’s absolutely necessary.”

She made a face at the back of his head and reached down, grabbing a pine cone. Tossing it at him, she laughed as he moved his head in time. That damn spider sense. “You just want to see me sweat.”

“I’m not even looking at you.” Peter said and turned around. “But it’s still a great visual, thanks.” He added before continuing to walk.

They were almost there, so really she shouldn’t be complaining too much. That wasn’t going to stop her from trying to annoy Peter. It was so rewarding and had been so rewarding over the years. She had never tried to hide her feelings for him and he had done a good job of hiding them on both of their behalfs.

She knew the situation they were in and she doubted it would change anything in that regard. As such, annoying him was a great way for him to make it up to her. Even if he didn’t know he was doing that.

Peter reached the clearing first as she was lagging behind. He stood at the top and stared.

“Felicia.” He said.

“What?” She asked, dreading he was going to give her bad news.

“It’s perfect.” He said.

She reached it and stood next to him.

He was right.

There were acres of cleared space, maybe around four. Surrounded by trees, the area had access to the river and with the sound of the water, she could tell it flowed rather strongly. She smiled, leaning against Peter’s shoulder. She couldn’t help it and rested her head on his shoulder.

“It is perfect.” She said. She interlinked their fingers. “It’s exactly what we need.”

[Mir]

Time had passed. The stubble on Peter’s face was fast approaching an actual beard. They had used some of the non-essential metal parts of Peter’s suit and her suit to craft some rudimentary tools they could use. Cutting down trees with the makeshift hatchet hadn’t been fun, but they’d pulled it off. Now they had a small hut and Peter’s solar panels were at work, generating electricity they could properly use. The question was how to use it.

Pete was already at work trying to reprogram a few of his Spider-Bots. Luckily for them, he had brought a few of the collapsible little robots with them in his suit. With the power generated from the solar panels, they would be able to keep the bots running for a long time. The question was how best to use them.

Felicia’s primary concern was food. One of the beauties of the computer database she had access to was its ability to provide survey information and different information that could provide them with food information. They had access to a river which provided them with different fish. They had access to the land wildlife. The question was going to be vegetables and grains.

Her secondary concern was clothing. There was only so much mileage they could get out of the clothes they had brought with them. Using the computer database, she had a few options there. The question was going to be raw materials.

She had to move fast and as the days they spent here got longer and longer, her work got further and further along. Peter and the Spider Bots kept expanding their hut, turning it into an actual house. From there, they got to work on a windmill, continuing to clear forest.

Weeks passed and she built out their food stores. One of the Spider bots, it turned out, was a great hunter and with that bot, she also started digging into the plateau. The next thing she was going to focus on was going to be quite difficult, and they would need time. More importantly, they needed to make sure none of the Spider bots were damaged beyond repair.

Felicia sat, legs crossed on the ground, looking at the fireplace as she worked on their dinner. An amazing Spider-Man could do a great many things, but he was definitely not the best when it came to cooking anything.

“What are you thinking about?”

She looked away from the clay pot she’d finished a few weeks prior and shrugged. “How nice Paris restaurants are.”

“Aw, they don’t have the ambiance that Chateau de Spider has.”

“Excuse me?” She asked. “If anything this would be the Cat-eau.”

Peter laughed.

She looked back at the pot and thought about voicing something she had been thinking for a little while now. Turning back, she saw him repairing one of the Spider Bots legs. Felicia shook her head.

No, it wasn’t the right time.