Felicia was frustrated; she had broken everything in the room. Steve sighed at the thief's behavior.
"What happened?" he asked.
"He's in control," she blurted out. "Red Hood controls the entire empire I took from Fisk," she said angrily.
She let herself fall into the chair as she tried to calm down.
"This is bad," she whispered. "If he controls everything, then he could do horrible things," she stated.
"I don't think so," Susan intervened. "If Red Hood is... Peter," she emphasized with difficulty, "he wouldn't use that empire for something bad."
"I have to see him," she stood up from the chair, "end this once and for all and... and ask for forgiveness," she whispered the last part.
"Don't act without thinking, Felicia," Steve reprimanded. "We need to plan carefully. He's still a hero with... questionable methods," he informed.
"What's your point?" Susan asked.
"That sooner or later, he'll show up during a robbery or emergency call, and that's when we'll intercept him," the captain explained.
...
Jessica Drew had slapped Julia Carpenter, who looked at her in surprise and brought her hand to her reddening cheek.
"And what was that for?" she asked.
"For your lie," she growled. "You knew, didn't you?"
"Knew what?"
"That Peter is alive. That Peter is Red Hood," she informed.
Julia lowered her head, unable to look her in the eyes.
"Since when?" she asked.
"Jess..."
"Don't call me 'Jess'. For you, it's Jessica," she said angrily. "So tell me: since when have you known?" she repeated.
Julia looked her in the eyes.
"Since I went to Japan," she whispered.
Jessica closed her eyes to calm down, turned her back, inhaled and exhaled... then turned around again to face her. Clenching her fist, she punched her in the face again, knocking her to the floor.
"Ow... my nose," she complained, touching her nose bone.
"You hid this for two years," she accused. "What the hell is wrong with you?" she asked, raising her voice.
Julia got up from the floor.
"Rachel is sleeping," she reminded her. "Please, lower your voice, okay?" she asked. "I'll tell you everything, just calm down."
Jessica Drew sighed. She had no choice but to accept.
"I'm not apologizing for the punches I gave or the ones I'll give," she warned. "So speak," she crossed her arms.
"I arrived in Japan and he was with Emma," she confessed. "When he saw me, he freaked out, and I understood... I had failed him," she sighed. "He accused me of failing him, of arriving too late, and he attacked me," she explained. "Emma made him pass out, but she restrained me, explained that he had changed, and told me not to say anything while she dealt with Logan."
"Peter changed because of you," she pointed out. "If you had spoken, he wouldn't be on this path."
"No, you're wrong. The only ones to blame are us," she replied. "No one helped him. Not you, not the Avengers, no one. So don't try to blame someone when you know perfectly well that it's all our fault," she declared.
"Tsk..."
...........
They entered the building, where they saw Red Hood leaving some men unconscious. Without thinking, the Captain threw his shield.
Peter's spider sense activated, and without thinking, he jumped, landing on the ceiling. When he turned, he saw the two heroes and the thief.
"I never thought you'd become this," the Captain said.
He let out a laugh and jumped down from the ceiling.
"You put the clues together, huh, Captain?"
The Captain was about to speak, but the sound of breaking windows echoed throughout the place. He frowned as he saw the Avengers entering, along with Spider-Woman.
"Nice gathering," Stark said. "Good to see you, Red, but we need to talk."
Black Widow frowned upon seeing some corpses and others captured.
"What happened here?" she asked into the air.
"We got here two minutes before you," Susan replied, "so we have the same questions," she explained.
"I told you we shouldn't trust Spider-Woman," Black Cat growled.
"I didn't say anything," she intervened. "They followed me."
"And you followed us," Susan declared.
"I don't have time for this," the Captain muttered.
Red Hood watched the situation with amusement. That had always been the Avengers' problem: arguments and distrust within the group always affected the team. It was funny to him—pointless arguments.
"Neither do we, and yet here we are, Captain," Stark replied.
Spider-Woman stopped paying attention to the arguments, just looked around and then at Red Hood. She refused to believe that man was Peter Parker.
"This isn't you," she drew attention. "You're doing everything wrong," she declared.
"Spider-Woman, what the hell are you doing?" the Captain asked.
"Shut up," Spider-Woman growled, still not taking her eyes off Red Hood. "You still don't understand what's happened to you, do you?"
Red Hood let out a loud laugh, silencing the Avengers. The lenses on his mask narrowed, indicating he was frowning.
"You think I don't understand what it's like to be abandoned? Forgotten?" he asked. "To be the Spider-Man no one trusts?"
"What is this guy talking about?" Hawkeye intervened.
"To be the Spider-Man no one trusts," Black Widow whispered. "What's going on?"
"The way you act isn't right," the Captain intervened. "This isn't how things are done. And I know a part of you agrees with me," he stated.
"Someone explain to me what's happening," She-Hulk said.
"You work with Black Cat to keep her under control," Red Hood replied. "But even so, you know it's impossible. Everyone here knows it," he raised his voice.
"What is he talking about?" Stark asked.
Red Hood brought his hands to his helmet and slowly removed it, and reactions quickly followed.
Tony Stark froze upon seeing that face, Black Widow's heart stopped for a moment, and the Captain's eyes widened.
Black Cat hugged herself upon finally seeing him, and Invisible Woman began to cry.
The helmet fell to the ground, and Peter smiled.
"What I'm saying, Stark..." he looked at the Captain. "Is that... crime can't be stopped. That's what we never understood," he frowned. "But now I understand... I'm in control. You want to rule them through fear, but... what about those who aren't afraid?" he asked the Captain. "I'm doing what you and no one here would have the courage to do. I'm going to eliminate them," he declared.
No one said a word, still in shock.
"And obviously, Felicia is no longer afraid."
He stared at her intensely. He already knew where she was, so he quickly pulled out two smoke bombs and threw them. The cloud of smoke rose, and he quickly launched himself at Felicia, exiting through the window with her.
They landed on the rooftop of the adjacent building. Droplets began to fall, starting a rain.
Black Cat rolled on the ground to get away from him and painfully tried to stand. However, she felt her hair being pulled, forcing her to face him.
"You're nothing but another filthy criminal."
She wanted to cry. She didn't like how he looked at her. Those brown eyes expressed anger, betrayal, a bit of sadness... but not a drop of love.
"Peter," she said, voice trembling. "I'm sorry..."
"Tsk..."
He lifted her off the ground and threw her down again, cracking the concrete.
"Your hypocrisy disgusts me, Felicia," he growled.
He climbed on top of her and punched her in the face, splitting her lip.
"I always told you you were good at this job!" he said angrily. "To leave that life behind," he whispered.
He got up and quickly stepped back. With difficulty, Felicia rose from the ground and saw Peter looking over his shoulder.
"I..."
"I told you I loved you," he turned to her. "When I was kidnapped by the Goblin... I thought you'd be one of the first to come rescue me," he confessed. "But with you, I'm always wrong."
He grabbed her by the neck and lifted her.
"S-Spiderman... ahg... d-don't kill..."
Peter smiled and pulled her close.
"Spider-Man is dead," he whispered in her ear.
He pushed her away again and looked one last time into those green eyes that began to shed tears.
"W-what h-happened... to you?"
"People change. And I'm no exception."
And without saying another word, he threw her from the rooftop and approached to watch.
Felicia fell, but still didn't take her eyes off Peter, who watched her descent.
"He... he's going to save me," she thought. "I know he will," she closed her eyes.
She felt herself being caught by two arms. A small smile appeared on her face, but when she opened her eyes, the expression quickly disappeared upon seeing that it was Captain Marvel holding her, flying back to the rooftop. She was set down and quickly fell to her knees.
The Captain and Susan approached and crouched beside her.
"Felicia, what happened?" Susan asked calmly.
"Peter... he..." she began to cry. "He didn't save me like he always did," she whispered. "He... he really wanted to hurt me."
"He... he really wanted to hurt me..."
She looked up at the building from the alley. She smiled, knowing she hadn't noticed the microphone he had placed before throwing her.
"He... I mean, you drove him crazy," came Spider-Woman's voice.
Peter frowned and clenched his fist, crushing the small device. With nothing left to do there, he started his motorcycle and left.