"We need to move. Two major governments are getting involved, there's no way they won't check every single room." Agent Shadowcat raised a hand and three strips of Adamantium claws flung out. "I'll kill, you two go on ahead—"
"No. Way." Felicia did an X-mark with her arms and then put a hand on her hip. "I'm fond of assassinations, NOT mass killing. Far too drastic."
"So what do you suggest we do, cat? Twiddle our thumbs and let the soldiers barge in here? Dress up? They're going to confirm the IDs of every person that stayed here." The agent's eyes flicked toward the calm Spider-Man. "And I don't think he's going to be showing us his face anytime soon."
"..."
'Yeah, she's right. No offence to you too but I don't trust you like Rio.'
"Luckily for Mr. Silent But Deadly here," Felicia said with a small smile, "the Auction House is running a special themed event tonight."
"...?"
"Haah?" Rogue's claws retracted. "Isn't it cancelled?"
Neither the SHIELD Agent nor Spider-Man understood. Why in the world would the Emporium Auction still be going on? How even?
"We have back-ups. Duh. We're not idiots. Everyone that left this morning, I bet they were taken to the second Auction House."
'A second…?'
Now THIS Felix did not know. It was somewhat of a bombshell.
"We've never used it before though," said Felicia, "since up until now, we've had no issues. But now that this place is being exposed, I bet the Auction Master will be using the second base as the permanent location."
"That's…" Agent Shadowcat did a double-take. "Damn, that's fast. And one a hell of a risk. Who the hell runs this thing?"
'Agreed. They got everybody out of here and to where? Herbie, can you check? Scan the hotel records through camera footage we found and match up with the flight records.'
'LOADING. ESTIMATED WAIT TIME: TEN MINUTES.'
"And, wait, I don't get it, how can this guy," Rogue jabbed a thumb at Spider-Man, "get in there without being noticed?"
"You do know what they're selling tonight, right?"
"I wasn't told, so no. We knew the auction was happening but that it wasn't important for our mission."
"It's Creature Z. The monster's scales, to be precise! And in order to keep anonymous for these back-up events, we have a special theme for everyone. What do you think it is?"
No answer.
"Come on, consider what our best seller is." Black Cat grinned. "It's Spider-hero themed."
A beat passed. A collective sort of, "Ohhh."
"Well, let's not dilly-dally." Rogue was heading to the door. "Where does it take place? I'm guessing it's in the city somewhere—"
"Shenzhen, China."
Felicia's answer even caught Felix off-guard. Rogue, who was about to touch the door-knob, did a turn. "Are you shitting me?"
"Nope!"
"So first, we have to get out of here and then after THAT, we have to find a plane and get to another country. Great."
"No need for pessimism, Agent Claws, we can hit two birds with one stone. There's a teleportation device at the very bottom of the auction area. Only I know how it works." Felicia candidly walked over. "Well, me and the Auction Master."
"...!"
Felix's eyes narrowed. The thief may not have realized the importance of her words. 'So she knows the Auction Master. Met him. The man who started selling Creature Z scales…' Who could Felicia trust enough to inform them of her one and only technology from her universe? 'Wait, but what about her old teleportation device…?'
Herbie supplied an answer. 'THE PORTABLE TELEPORTATION FELICIA HARDY USES WAS ACCIDENTALLY SNAPPED IN THREE BY THE PRISON GUARDS. NOT OUT OF MALICIOUSNESS BUT CONFUSION AND INCOMPETENCE.'
'Damn. Where is it now?'
'WITHIN THE TRASH HEAP OF THE PRISON.'
'Send a Spider-Bot. Try and find it anyway.'
The lights started flickering. That was the impromptu signal: they had to move. Rogue was dragged by Felicia into changing into a proper dress. Felicia rummaged through the cabinets to find something that was Spider-Man related. "Ah-hah!" She found it too. Proudly grinning, she donned a black opera mask that was eerily similar to his current mask. Shadowcat received a white Spider-Gwen type mask, also opera.
"Alright, Spidey, what about you?" Felicia asked.
All Felix had to do was tell Rash, 'Style me up.'
'With pleaaasure! We will look fabulouuus!'
His costume changed from battle-ready into party-ready. A black three-piece suit with a perfect black white-criss-crossed tie, complete with gloves and a black undershirt to hide his skin tone. Felicia licked her lips in approval.
'Not bad. Seems like you learned from all those TV shows.'
'I told youuuu! TV shows are...eduuucational for ussss.'
Rogue was already at the door, peeking out and nodding at him. "Empty. And all we need to reach is the elevator. The cameras will be an issue…"
Spider-Man offered to do something about it by lifting an arm and two gloved fingers and showing the slow, black tendrils. The plan was set. He would block them out.
'When in reality, I've already got the cameras on loop. We'll be fine.'
The hallway lights of the Fortunov flickered as they slipped out of the room at last. The air was tight with tension. Spider-Man led, his arms instantly elongating and blocking the two cameras in the hallway. Shadowcat and Felicia followed close, both quiet, both wary.
The sound of rotor blades thumped faintly from outside and the footsteps...distant, but closing. Soldiers were very much storming this hotel, and fast.
The corridor was long. The dark reddish-black painted carpet negated footwork. They didn't act slow, of course. Knowing that soldiers were climbing through the Fortunov Hotel, it was likely they were equipped with thermal goggles.
Felicia jogged in her black dress and pointed toward the end of the hallway. They weren't going for the elevator in the middle of the corridor. Half-hidden behind a large painting of the Fortunov Hotel's founder was an elevator. It looked like a service lift, but when Felicia slid the painting aside, a sleek keypad was revealed.
"Doubt they changed the codes," she murmured, typing in a sequence with swift fingers. The screen flickered, flashed green, and the elevator doors slid open with a ding.
The three of them stepped in.
Felix turned to face the hallway just as the faint sound of boots echoed — many boots. The sharp rhythm of soldiers running, shouts in Hindi, radios crackling. The lights outside turned red as alarms blinked to life.
The elevator doors closed a second before the soldiers turned the corner.
Ding. The descent began. Rogue leaned back against the mirrored wall, arms crossed, claws still out but resting against her thighs. To match her mask, her dress was white and of a rosette drop waist design. It had less sex appeal than Felicia's midi dress, but ultimately fit into the rule of formality. "Underground, I'm guessing?"
"Of course. Can't be secret otherwise."
"How far down specifically?"
Felicia brushed her damp hair aside, catching her reflection. "About ten more below the lobby. Don't worry, the Fortunov was built for secrecy. Even the CIA wouldn't find it easily."
The elevator gave a mechanical groan.
Rogue frowned. "Comforting."
Felix tilted his head slightly — a silent, stay alert.
The air felt different now. Cooler. Older. The soft buzz of machinery gave way to stillness as the elevator stopped. The doors slid open with a hiss.
What waited for them below was an abandoned world.
The underground auction floor sprawled wide — once grand, now dead quiet. Velvet curtains still hung from the walls, though moth-eaten and stiff. Tables sat overturned, glasses shattered on the marble floor, as if the place had been evacuated in a rush. The air smelled faintly of perfume, smoke, and metal.
Felicia walked ahead, her heels clicking. "I always enjoy it when it's empty."
Rogue kicked a broken champagne flute aside. "Creepy as hell."
'No guards,' Felix noted internally. 'The Auction Master really got everyone out? Hm…'
They moved across the auction floor — past the stage where priceless relics had once been displayed — toward a door marked Storage.
Felicia entered a code and pulled it open. Through it, a narrow corridor stretched forward. Pipes lined the ceiling. The lights flickered dim yellow, then blue. It looked like something from an era before the hotel even existed.
Felicia led confidently. "Don't ask me about its history. Probably old as hell though."
Rogue sniffed, wrinkling her nose. "Smells like oil and rat piss."
"That's the nostalgia."
They reached a circular steel door. Felicia knelt beside a control panel covered in dust. She pressed her thumb to the reader, and a soft hum resonated through the hall.
The door slowly opened, revealing a hidden chamber. The temperature dropped instantly.
This was where the real secret lay: a small room, maybe ten meters across, filled with dormant machinery. Cables crisscrossed the walls. A circular pad, like a metallic ripple frozen mid-motion, sat in the center.
Spider-Man's mask lenses narrowed slightly. 'The teleporter.'
Felicia walked to it, brushing dust off the control terminal. "Here she is. Our ticket to Shenzhen."
Rogue crossed her arms. "This is gonna actually work, right? I believed you at your word only 'cuz we have no other options."
Felicia didn't look up. "Relax. I've done this before." She paused. Her hand hovered over the console. "Wait… what the—?"
Spider-Man tilted his head, stepping closer.
Felicia frowned, tapping at the display. "Someone used it. Recently."
Rogue straightened. "Used it? When?"
"Yesterday." Felicia blinked twice. "The Auction Master must have…"
Been here.
He was here. He was at this hotel, something he could never say with certainty. He could have been masterminding from the other side of the planet, that was how elusive this Auction Master was. But now…now he knew for certain he had been here. He could narrow it down. Many VIPs went in here, Prime Ministers, Emma Frosts, Pepper Potts, Warren Worthington, Justin Hammer. Hell, even Harry Osborn came to the Fortunov Hotel to buy a small piece of Creature Z for Oscorp's R&D Department.
'Herbie, how's the investigation on the guests going? Remember, the cameras—'
No, wait. If he owned this establishment, then the cameras probably blacked out. And could he even trust the names on the guest list? If he owned this building, he could wipe them out…
'It's better than doing nothing,' Felix thought.
"Ha. Hahaha!" Felicia laughed. "Did you run away, huh? Is that it? After setting me up, you just ran? Typical. And using that damn Ambassador for your dirty work too…" Felicia shook her head and started working. Even so, Felix could sense the change in her. The hate.
She wanted revenge now. She wanted to hunt the Auction Master.
"So who the hell is this Auction Master?" Rogue asked.
"I don't know," Felicia replied while working on confirming coordinates. "Look, we only had one face-to-face meeting. Other than that, they used Ambassador Yvan to speak to me."
"What did he look like? Or she?"
"It was a man," Felicia confirmed. "And we met here, actually. Exactly here, where he told me how amazing he was by invention. Had the blueprints I sold to him replicated and everything."
The first thing Felix wanted to ask was, "What did he look like?" Second, "How did he come into contact with you?" Two very vital questions that would get him a step closer to the truth. Rogue only voiced the first question.
"The Auction Master was…he seemed normal. I suppose." Felicia was typing commands quickly. Rogue stepped onto the platform first. Spider-Man followed suit. They were still waiting for her to elaborate, to give more details. "He wore a nice, expensive suit."
"Anything else?
Felicia stopped typing. "There was one thing. He told me to wear my costume. My mask. He said people like us can only show our true self when we think we can't be judged. So I showed up in my Black Cat fit and he, well…" She paused. "He wore the mask of the devil."
'The devil…?'
The devil…
This was the first time he heard the mention of a devil. There was Matt Murdock, the Daredevil, then there was the Devil mentioned in Hammerhead's mansion. PROJECT 666—as it was called in the scratched out document.
Was it a coincidence? His detective senses were telling him no, it wasn't. It couldn't be….
Felicia hit the final key. "Coordinates: Shenzhen, China. Hotel. It's done."
The pad began to hum, the light building beneath their feet. Bright silver lines spread outward like veins. The room trembled slightly once she joined them.
The lights flared white. The air twisted. Sound collapsed inward, a deafening thrum that rattled through the Symbiote, and the chamber vanished in a flash of blue.
Then silence.
…
…
…
He was temporarily blinded. The world was white.
'Rash? You there?'
'Yessss. That was…pleasant. Surprisingly.'
'Glad one of us had fun.'
Felix blinked until he could see again. They stood in another chamber, almost identical — cleaner, newer. The smell of ozone still hung in the air.
Rogue staggered slightly, bracing herself against the wall. "Oh, that sucked."
Felicia stretched her arms, shaking out her hair. "But it worked. Welcome to Shenzhen, lovelies."
Felix glanced toward the narrow window above the console. Neon light from the city spilled in, a wash of blue and pink. Tower silhouettes rose against the dark skyline, distant traffic humming.
Herbie's voice crackled in his head.
'CONFIRMATION: YOU HAVE SUCCESSFULLY ARRIVED IN SHENZHEN, CHINA. TRACKING SYSTEMS ONLINE. LOCAL TIME: 12:42 A.M.'
Felix exhaled. Herbie was back and they made it. They did it. They escaped the Fortunov Hotel and were now in…
'THE YÍXÌN PAVILION HOTEL,' Herbie answered crisply. 'LUXURY COMPLEX LOCATED IN CENTRAL SHENZHEN. PROPERTY IS UNDER A FRONT COMPANY TIED TO ASSOCIATED COMPANIES OF THE EMPORIUM AUCTION'S CONNECTIONS. CAMERAS HAVE ALREADY BEEN HACKED. CURRENT EVENT IN PROGRESS: "THE SPIDER'S MASQUERADE."'
Felix straightened. 'Good. I want surveillance on every corridor, staff member, and security camera. Full analysis. Facial IDs and everything. The Auction Master is here.'
'ALREADY PROCESSING,' Herbie replied. 'ESTIMATED COMPLETION: TWENTY MINUTES.'
Rogue pushed herself off the wall, cracking her neck. "Okay, metalhead question—who the hell owns this place?"
"Don't ask me, I've only been here once to test out the teleportation device."
"You know, you REALLY could have done more research on this Auction Master."
"I did—and I came up with nothing. And given my circumstances, I had no choice but to keep following his orders. I worked for him and he gave me a luxury life," Felicia said, though her voice took on a bitter tone. "Although…I suppose you're right. Maybe I should have dug deeper. Maybe I would have avoided this mess. Ambassador Yvan and the Auction Master…" She smiled brightly despite the hollow look in her eye. "I'm going to kill them for setting me up."
The door hissed open to reveal a back hallway lined with velvet carpeting and gold trim. The music drifted faintly from above. Laughter echoed through the ventilation.
"Let's get going," Felicia said, hooking one arm around the Spider-Man. "Shall we?"
He grunted while Rogue rolled her eyes. They walked through the corridor, climbing a short flight of stairs until they reached a hidden service entrance that opened onto a grand ballroom.
What a sight it was.
The Fortunov had been opulent, yes — but this? This was indulgence made flesh.
The main chamber stretched several stories high, walls wrapped in crimson and obsidian drapery. Dozens of chandeliers hung above like glass constellations. Waiters glided through the crowd with silver trays of champagne and fruit.
Under his mask, he scowled.
'This is just sick and twisted.'
Spider symbols etched into the floor. Sculptures of stylized arachnids on the tables. Even the ice sculptures were carved into eight-legged silhouettes. And complimenting, like some childish rival, was the Lizard. Creature Z. The thing that nearly razed New York to nothing, that nearly killed him, now but a product of this. Of these peoples' amusement.
"He sure works fast," Felicia said with a giggle.
Rogue gave her a flat look. "This is kinda fucked up, but whatever." Her nose lifted her head. "I smell wine. Be right back."
Just like that, he and Felicia were on their own. They walked deeper into the room. Obviously, given their physiques and clothing, they blended in with the guests. Everyone was dressed in black-tie attire, yet every face was hidden behind a Spider-Man mask — each one different. Some opera-style, painted with ornate gold and red filigree. Others were full-face masks like his own, stylized with gemstones or silk veils.
It was a surreal sight: a hundred Spider-Men and Spider-Women dancing, drinking, and chatting as if this were some bizarre cult gathering.
At the far end of the ballroom stood the auction stage, curtained off for now. The event hadn't begun — this was the "party phase," where money and deals flowed freely before the spectacle. A live quartet played near the champagne tower.
Felicia leaned close to Spider-Man's ear, murmuring, "At Fortunov, the décor was all European—old-money chic. This one's sleek, modern, Shanghai glam. Guess the Master's adapting to the neighborhood."
"..."
She drew circles on his chest. "Come on, tough it out. I know this gets you mad but we should try and do some investigating, some talking and some flirting. You know how it is. Otherwise…" Her smile became eerie again. "How are we going to find that Auction Bastard otherwise? Hrm? You help me help you. You get me want I want, I get my justice, you get your justice, it'll be perfect. It'll be heroic. That is what you do, right?"
…she was right.
If there was anyone that knew the truth, it was Ambassador Yvan Draskovic and the Auction Master. Considering the scale and intensity of his operation, the Auction Master likely knew who the blackmailer was. Who framed King T'Challa. Who killed the Director of SHIELD.
The Auction Master had to know. In fact, considering everything, it was likely the blackmailer WAS the Auction Master. Which meant…
'If I find him here, I might be able to get to the bottom of everything. Of Director Carter's killer, of the blackmail, of this devil.'
All of it seemed to connect. Like a light in the shadow, Herbie reignited in his head and gave him good news. 'DR. FAETH—AN UPDATE: THE MESSAGE TO PRINCESS SHURI WAS SUCCESSFUL. FIVE MINUTES AGO, THE ROGUE AGENTS THAT ATTEMPTED TO INFILTRATE THE HEART GARDEN FAILED.'
Yes. Yes! Finally, some good news!
'ALL ROGUE AGENTS IN WAKANDA HAVE CONSEQUENTLY BEEN APPREHENDED. THE HEART-SHAPED HERB IS SAFE.'
After the confusion and death, for the first time in hours, something like relief flickered in his chest. He glanced back to the crowd — to the swirling masks and champagne and glittering chandeliers — and exhaled silently. Felicia heard it and looked up at him in confusion.
'Now all that's left,' he thought, 'is to find the Auction Master in this nest of spiders.'