It took ten minutes worth of convincing and cat-fighting, but eventually, Agent Shadowcat sat down like a normal person. Her glare couldn't stay between the Black Cat or the Spider-Man and sufficed with glares toward both. Her arms were still locked in tendrils, an arm reaching out from the black Spider-Man, so maybe it was because of that she wasn't quite open to conversation.
"You have no idea who you're messing with," Agent Shadowcat growled. "This is SHIELD. They'll screw you and me over if they learn about this."
"So let's play nice, hm? You can't escape and you know we need answers," Felicia replied. "We won't tell a soul, we swear~"
Agent Shadowcat had made up her mind to speak already. But still, she was hesitant.
'On her SHIELD profile, they mention she's talkative and nonchalant about rules, so they restrict the amount of information she receives. The only reason why she's in SHIELD is because they have use for her skills and that even the SHIELD Super Prison struggles to contain her. Can't blame them, there's not a lot of metals that can hold back Adamantium claws. The only way to seal her is to completely lock up her limps. So rather than that, they gave an offer. They made her useful, albeit at arm's length. Sort-of.'
But even if she was fed the bare-minimum, it would be key to understanding the mystery of Peggy Carter's death.
'Plus, we don't have a lot of time. The prime minister's meeting is over. I just got a warning from Herbie that they're deploying forces. That means this hotel first.'
"Tch! We were stationed here because of Director Carter," Agent Shadowcat began. "Don't ask for the nitty-gritty. I fight. They give me a job and I do the fighting in said job."
"Excellent! Now we're getting somewhere!" Felicia smiled and clapped her hands together. "Who was with you then, for starters?"
"Coulson, Blade, and obviously the Director." Shadowcat then hissed, "Although those bastards abandoned me. Even my radio's been deactivated…!"
Felix squinted behind his mask. 'Abandoned? I see! Rogue doesn't know about Protocol Resurrection! She wasn't chosen for it!'
"You were with the SHIELD Director before she died, huh…"
That was when the dark-haired woman snapped up. "What!? Director Carter is dead!?"
Spider-Man cocked his head. Felicia voiced the question: "You didn't know?"
"When the hell was I supposed to know!? I got poisoned and then fell from a ten story building! And then security dragged me away and dumped me—ugh, the Director is dead!? When!? How!?"
Felicia looked at Felix, not out of confusion, but noticing that he was deep in thought. 'That confirms it. Teela died before Peggy Carter.' While Shadowcat kept demanding answers, Spider-Man returned to check on Teela.
'So you died first…'
"Ohh, I see." It took Felicia a while but she understood what he was saying. "This woman died first and then Peggy died afterward. Meaning…" The white-haired lady glared at Shadow. "You…were you and your little ponies responsible for setting me up?"
"As if! Look, I…I'm trying to think here, okay! Carter is dead so…so Coulson went AWOL. Which…I mean, there's a directive for it but…maybe there's something they didn't tell me? Is that why they abandoned me…?"
'She catches on fast,' Felix thought, standing up. His arm slowly started to unfurl. Noticing she wasn't tense or about to attack them, he finally released his black tendrils. 'I could use her. I think.'
"Seems like both of us have questions," Felicia said. "You got turned into a stray and I got trapped like a bird. So come on, let's take a leap of faith. Tell us everything you know."
Rogue was quiet for a moment. Not of sorrow, but confusion and tension. Felix recalled vividly that she was one of the lucky individuals to survive the terrible testings of the Super Soldier Serum. They were not fun testings either. They were painful. They were lengthy. They were the complete opposite of the ease that Felix received his powers.
'The scientists stabbed her and made her once bled out for four hours, all to test out her premature healing factor. So far, it only worked on cuts but the scientists wanted to push further.' Felix stared at her. 'Even when she did escape, it wasn't like the government wasn't aware of every move she made.'
"I need to agree on two things," Shadowcat said, snapping up once more. The shock had faded, there was only determination. "One, I need you two to take me to New York. I don't know what's going on, but it seems SHIELD is in disarray, and there's someone I need to speak to."
"Who?" Felicia asked.
Shadowcat's eyes flicked between her and Spider-Man. "Not you. I only want to tell the spider?"
"Haa?"
"He's a hero, you're a thief. I don't trust thieves, especially ones that smell like you."
Felicia was about to protest, until Spider-Man put an arm forward. Felicia rolled her eyes, covered her ears, and turned around. "Lala, I'm not listening."
"Great," Shadowcat stood up, eyes narrow and grim. "I need you to take me to Felix Faeth."
'....huh?'
"He's the only one with the resources and ability to get this out of me." She tapped at her forehead. "Ever since I was a kid, I've had two chips inside me. One to track my movements and the other to scramble my brain. It's been there since I was picked off the street. It's embedded deep, deep into my brain. Will probably need a good scanner. So take me to Felix. He's the only one with the resources, the intelligence, and the …trust to do it."
Shadowcat stared at him and lowered her head. This was the closest thing to begging for her.
Spider-Man could only give a nod.
'Herbie, did you catch that?'
'YES, SIR. PREPARATIONS ARE BEING MADE RIGHT AWAY.'
He was going to somehow have to pull this off. Be Felix and help Shadowcat while also doing this investigation. The work just kept piling on. No use whining. This was what he signed up for. To help people.
"Alright, you can turn back around," Shadowcat kicked Felicia in the ass and then hopped back onto the bed. Felicia whipped around, glaring. "What, you want my story, right? Don't look so pissy." She smirked and then began all over again. This time, the truth and nothing but the truth. "Me, Coulson, Blade, and the Director were staying at Room 1009. We were there because of King T'Challa."
Room 1009…
'That's right across from where Peggy was murdered…'
"That's right across from where I had to go," Black Cat murmured. "Room 1007…and right across, in Room 1009, you were in there."
"I wasn't told the specifics but from what I gathered, that room was being used by King T'Challa's blackmailers. Him and the blackmailers were meeting there, or something like that. We were told to stay in case anything happened."
Felicia was intrigued. "Did the king know?"
"Hell no. We do this kind of thing all the time. As SHIELD, our job is to keep world peace. We're the shadows, or whatever."
"So you do this kind of thing all the time, huh?"
"Well, I don't, but the organization does. It's Coulson and Blade's speciality. They do the whole politician VIP protection." Shadowcat crossed her legs. "I am who I am. I'm no secret agent protector."
"So you were brought along because…?"
"Muscle. For once, they needed it—and Blade is a tough motherfucker. Best swordsman I know. Even I struggle to hit. Anyway, I guess the director thought this was too important to mess-up and brought me for once. We waited, we chilled. We had some cameras set-up. I wasn't looking, obviously, I was only there to man the door if any servers came up or whatever."
"But then…?" Everyone was begging for the nitty-gritty. The truth.
"Something happened. I wasn't manning the cameras, so I just listened. We barged out, went into the room, and there was. King T'Challa and his giant wiener out." Felicia did a double-take. Rogue kept going, "His bodyguards were gone and that Dora Milaje chick was there. Dead."
There was a quietness.
"The king killed his own bodyguard…?"
"It was a fake. A set-up. We KNOW bodyguards went in there with the king, but when we barged in, they were gone. I checked the window. Someone definitely used it and in all probability, the blackmailers killed the bodyguards and threw them out the window. Which made for, at least from what the director was muttering, a fake rape. A set-up for the king."
So it was the king and his mysterious blackmailer that entered the room first. He and his bodyguards were defeated, the bodyguards were thrown out, and a nude King T'Challa was left with a dead member of the Dora Milaje.
"Coulson was then able to intercept a phone call from outside. Someone was trying to report the rape. He managed to get it cut though, but it assumed it was the blackmailers," Rogue continued. "In order to prevent this from becoming a bigger mess, the director had Coulson go and carry the dead chick to another room. Obviously, with the cameras in the hallway and the bright lights, it was going to be hard, so he set-off an EMP. Whole building went black." She snorted and looked around. "And I suppose Coulson put her here in this room."
'Ah! The inconsistency in the security cameras! That was from the EMP he set-off!'
Another piece of the puzzle—solved!
"Me and Blade knew that would also be the biggest opportunity for an attack. I was at the window, he was beside the Director, and…that was when everything went to hell. In the darkness, we were attacked. By seven or eight, I'm not sure. They were phenomenally trained. It might have been dark and it wasn't like I had night vision but I'm not someone easy to push around."
Felicia laughed a little. "But that's exactly what happened. You got pushed out, didn't you?"
"Tch. Yeah, it did. I fell and my head got split open. By the time I woke up, I was about to get cremated! Damn idiots…!" She slammed a fist down her thigh. "Can't believe I got chumped like that!"
"So this blackmailer…" Felicia scowled. "That room…Room 1007, Ambassador Yvan and I used it from time to time. He must have been the blackmailer…!"
"...are you sure?"
Shadowcat's sharp question caught Felicia off-guard. "You have a better explanation."
"Not really, no. But the room itself was frequented by the Prime Minister of Latveria, Kristoff Vernard. That was one of the things I was told right from the get-go."
"Meaning…?"
"From what it sounded like, the blackmailer was someone from King T'Challa's own inner circle. Something like that anyway." Shadowcat shrugged. "I mean…think about it. The blackmailer was allowed to sit with the king directly. No delegates or anything. Three body-guards with the Dora Milaje all around the building."
"Haven't you heard? Prime Minister Vernard and King T'Challa have been getting close."
"...like a gay thing or…?"
Felicia rolled her eyes. "No, you idiot, for PR. For Wakanda and Latveria to see each other as friends. But even for PR, I heard they got along well. Prime Minister of Latveria Kristoff Vernard…he's our target!"
Her declaration echoed loudly in the room. There was nothing wrong with her statement either. 'The Prime Minister…could he have really done it? Is he really—?'
His Spider-Sense went off.
His head snapped up. The semi-organic, semi-mechanical lenses of his mask shrank to pinpoints.
Without thinking, his arm shot forward. Two symbiote tendrils lashed out, one wrapping around Shadowcat's torso, the other around Felicia's waist. He yanked both women toward him in a single motion.
Before they could react, he rolled backward, dragging them beneath the bed, flipping the hanging towel down over the edge like a curtain.
Five seconds later, the room filled with white.
A blinding beam from above sliced through the balcony glass, sweeping across the floorboards, catching the shimmer of dust in the air. It lingered for a long, tense moment — as though trying to see something invisible. Or rather, something that wasn't supposed to be there.
Because the balcony door WAS open. Rogue had opened it and none of them remembered to close it. It seemed mildly suspicious for an otherwise dark, empty hotel.
Felicia didn't dare breathe. Rogue went completely still, muscles tensed. The sound of the helicopter's slow hover hummed through the windows, a steady, low thup-thup-thup that felt too smooth for normal tech.
Then the beam drifted away. The light shifted to another window. The hum faded.
Felicia exhaled softly. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me…helicopters!"
Spider-Man didn't answer, his head tilted slightly toward the balcony, like he was listening to something only he could hear.
Rogue sniffed, nostrils flaring. "That's not military. Not standard anyway." She squinted toward the window, though from under the bed all she could see was the faint shimmer of city light bleeding through the blinds. "Those are stealth rotors — can barely smell the fuel. SHIELD-grade, or maybe one of the Indian prototypes. State of the art."
'And why couldn't you tell me this beforehand, Herbie?'
'APOLOGIES, DR. FAETH. OUR COMPUTATIONS HAVE BEEN STRETCHED THIN WITH TRYING TO DELAY SHIELD, FINDING THE PARTS NECESSARY FOR AGENT SHADOWCAT'S OPERATION, THE HUNDRED-SOME SPIDER-BOTS, THE QUALITY AND SPECS OF THE HELICOPTERS, THE ANONY—'
'Okay, okay, I get it, I'm overworking you.'
'Loooks like the machine is inferior to ussss~!'
'Seems so, Rash.'
Felicia peeked out from the towel-draped edge. She then crawled forward. Out of curiosity, he asked Rash, 'Is it possible to coat all three of us with invisibility?'
'Of courseeee not. You might as well be asking if we turn this whole bed invisible.'
'Right, right, fair enough, my bad.'
From the light alone, it was clear there were police vehicles, drones, and military trucks. A full lockdown zone was forming around the hotel. Felicia crawled forward on all fours until she reached the window door of the balcony, staying low. Then she froze as another flash of light swept past. A second helicopter.
Felicia rolled to the side instantly, her back hitting the wall and no longer in view of the window. But from her new angle, she could see more. "Oh no," Felicia hissed under her breath. "This is not going to bode well for my nine lives…"
"The hell does that mean?" Rogue muttered, crawling out as well. "How many are there!?"
Felicia put her head out for a full view. "From what I saw, at least four."
Shadowcat's eyes widened. "Four!?"
"Shhh!" Felicia pressed a finger to her lips. "They've got the whole block surrounded!"
Spider-Man was able to get out and sit on the bed, all nonchalant. The girls looked at him, panicking, until they saw him turn invisible.
"W-woah. Hey, you still there?" Sniff, sniff. Rogue nodded. "Yep, definitely there. Like…metal. And goo. And…I don't even know."
"Right, right, invisibility. He can do that," Felicia muttered. "Think you can turn us all invisible and—"
He reappeared only for a moment to shake his head no.
"Shit." Felicia heaved and put a hand to her face. "I want to say they think they found the prison escapee but…"
Information from Herbie just came in. Yep, it was official. 'Seems the Indian government has finally realized how important this place is. We gotta get out of here—and fast.'