C H A P T E R   44 :   T H E   T O R N A D O   T O   M Y   V O L C A N O

"I'm breathing in, and breaking down
I feel my time is running out
The fire in my heart will burn me to the ground
I did my part, I tried my best
The things I'm fighting to protect
Always shatter into pieces in the end

I'm up in blood, I'm runnin' dry
My heart's been beating overtime
To help this broken body live another night

Battlecry, is the damage done?
Who has lost and who has won?
Who will be there when my life's support is gone?"

Logan's POV

At the same time

As we ran through the hallways of the base, all we saw wherever we looked was signs of struggle. There was blood everywhere, on the floor, the walls, even the doors and sometimes the ceiling. Several HYDRA men were down, either unconscious or dead, many of them shot, burnt or with scratches all over their bodies. All kinds of guns were spread across the floor carelessly, most of them broken or out of bullets.

And the worst part was I could now smell her everywhere, in every drop of blood, in every atom of oxygen, and still I couldn't see her, as if this was just some kind of wicked game the universe was playing with me. We fought our way through any guards, led by my audition that was catching sounds of a big fight some hallways away from ours, but before we could get any closer, I heard a large sum of soldiers coming out of doors and making their way towards us. I looked up at the kids quickly. They were tired; even I was.

"Guys, we're closer than ever." I spoke fast. "I can feel it. But there's a big group coming at us right now. If we all fight them, we'll lose time and we can't afford that. You have to get past them and ran across some more hallways, I'm sure it's where she is. I'll hold these bastards back."

"Logan, we can't leave you behind." Bobby protested, shaking his head.

"You don't have a choice. We're here for her, not for me."

"But you're part of the group." Bianca intercepted.

"And that's why, as a part of the group, I have to stay here and buy you time. It's called teamwork, guys."

"He's right." Lewis said. "Besides, we all know who has the upper hand in a fight. They don't say you're the best there is at what you do for nothing."

I nodded at him, thankful. Then I looked at the other three at the same time HYDRA turned the corner.

"Be careful." Bobby said, giving me a last glance before he pulled Lewis and Bianca to his sides and created a slide of ice above the dumbfounded faces of the soldiers so they could pass over them while Spider-Man used the ceiling and swung with his webs ably. Wait, why am I praising the kid?

I waited for them to disappear into the next hallway before making my claws come out, the metallic sound catching their attention. Then I howled and roared and ran towards them, stopping the first bullets with my claws as the next ones hit my torso again and again. I let out a menacing snarl and started slashing and piercing, the blood gluing onto my skin like leeches.

Soon enough my heart was the only one beating in that hallway and I moved to the next one, the sounds from the other fights unfolding getting louder. She had to be okay, she had to. I couldn't even picture going through all of this just to find out she was dead in the end.

With a new sequence of grunts, I clashed against the next unit, and I could no longer see the metal in my claws due to the blood, but then something stung my neck like a wasp's sting and a sudden, excruciating agony took over me, making me fall down onto my knees, the feeling resembling the time when Magneto twisted the adamantium skeleton inside me. It felt like every inch of my flesh was being ripped out from within me.

I tried to get up, but instead my knees failed on me and I sprawled on the floor, the pain only getting worse and making me curse with all the letters in the alphabet. So close. Almost. What if. But then again, she and I were always like this.

"Do you know what this is?" One of the fuckers said, putting an unfortunately familiar bullet in front of my eyes. I gritted my teeth and let out a guttural growl, unable to speak. I couldn't move at all, the thing stuck to my neck paralyzing me. "I know you do. It's an adamantium bullet, reinforced since the last time you were shot with one. This one causes a damage so permanent I'm not sure one of your mind reader friends will be able to restore your mind and give you your memories back."

I watched powerlessly as he loaded the gun with the bullet, taking some steps back and slipping into the perfect shooting stance. I didn't even feel anger anymore, just this utter despair, this crippling fear, this sense of failure, that I had failed me, failed her, and that my last words to her would be names that didn't fit her, that didn't belong to her, that weren't true.

"Any last words?" The asshole mocked, pointing the gun at my brain.

"Go fuck yourself." I spat out.

"Very well then, I'll make sure to fulfill your wish." As he pressed the trigger, all I could think about was the distance between us, the years, the miles, the walls. She was only some feet away from me, I could feel it, but there were so many more barriers invisible to the eye dividing us and keeping us apart. And as the lethal bullet was shot, all I could think of was that we were so damn close now, yet we would forever be so far away.

"Ew, dude, that's gross!" That all too annoying, juvenile voice exclaimed, and my eyes widened when I saw him hanging from the ceiling upside down, a web coming out of his wrist and plunging in the air like a hawk. Branching out at the ends, the strange glue wrapped itself around the bullet and pulled it up and backwards, like he had done before with the rocket. Then he flipped in the air and caught the bullet in his hand, landing on the floor behind the soldier and punching him to oblivion, moving in between the others like water against rocks, knocking them out quickly and shooting more sturdy webs to tie them to the walls.

Ok, so maybe now I can see why Felicia likes this guy after all.

"If you don't close your mouth, you're going to drool, and I'm sure that's not a pretty sight." Spider-Man said, leaning against the wall in an unnecessary effort to look cool. You know what, forget what I just said.

"Were you there all along?" I retorted, genuinely curious since I hadn't heard him arrive. He shrugged and walked towards me.

"Who knows?" He handed me his hand to take and I huffed, trying to get my body to obey me, but it felt like it was learning how to walk again. I cursed under my breath, trying to get to the thing they had shot at my neck. The pain was so intense it didn't even give me space to feel humiliated by my awkward position at the feet of King Spandex.

"Allow me." He said, taking a sharp, long dart out of my skin and analyzing it with interest. I felt my limbs start to respond to my commands again and sighed. Whatever that was, it had been paralyzing me and although it still hurt like hell, at least now I could move and hopefully heal.

"Don't let this become a habit." I warned, accepting his hand. The kid pulled me up with more strength than I was expecting from someone with such a lean build, but I guess after this day nothing else could surprise me.

"Which part?" He asked, tilting his head to the side. "Me using my webs to deviate projectiles from hitting you or saving your ass at the last minute?"

"Both." I groaned, stretching my muscles, my neck popping dangerously and making him shiver. "Other than that, thanks."

"What? I don't think I heard that well, care to repeat?"

"Not a chance in hell."

"Ah, well, I tried!"

"What are you doing here anyway?" I asked as he handed me the adamantium bullet. "I told you guys to go ahead. Where are the others?"

"Going ahead." He stated, and when I was about to argue, he cut me off. "Look, I was going with them until Felicia came to my mind. And in my head, she was shaking her head a lot in disapproval, and so I thought to myself, what is the point of all of this if she's just going to kill us afterwards for not helping the guy she lo... loathes? So I knew I couldn't let you die, because she still cares about you even if you're all weird with each other at the moment. I had to go back and make sure you were okay."

"Well, I am now, so you should go help the others now since there are more men coming."

"So you can stay behind again and get killed this time?"

"They caught me off guard. That won't happen again." I assured him, and even with a mask I could see his hesitation. This kid had a good heart, heck, perhaps one of the best. And for some weird reason it made me feel honored that I got to meet it. That Felicia got to love it. "Look, Spider, you have to go. Felicia's the reason why we're here, she's more important than me. I don't want you to help me when you could be helping her."

He sighed, scratching his mask as if to pinch his nose in thought.

"Fine, I'll go. But Lewis is right, you have to tell her eventually."

"Tell her what?" I asked, my brows furrowing.

"That you're in love with her."

"I..." I was speechless. But he was so unfazed, as if love was so simple. For him, perhaps. But for people like me and Felicia... we didn't know how to handle it right, much less when it came in this amount.

"I just think she deserves to know the truth, and you deserve to tell it. She deserves to realize that there's someone out there willing to both die and kill for her. She needs it." His voice was ancient now, wiser, a voice that came straight from the past, I guessed.

"I'm not sure I can do it." I confessed. "I had nothing to lose before. And then she came, and suddenly I've got everything."

He put a hand on my shoulder comfortingly, and I let him.

"That's what being alive means."

I looked at him through the mask and saw someone I could trust.

"Go." I said. "I'll hold back whoever comes next and then I'll tell her."

***

Felicia's POV

When I opened up my eyes again, everything looked the same and yet it all felt different. The world had a new, distinct lighting to it, a different taste.

And the best part? I had a place in it, a purpose, and it felt good.

Once we stopped fighting what we were meant to become, everything became meant for us. Easier. I couldn't remember what meant for me before, what my beliefs or drives were. And it didn't matter. I was part of something bigger now, something wholer than me, holier. I had a duty to fulfill, a debt to pay. HYDRA had given me a gift I was clever enough not to waste. An opportunity to write history, to create future, to save me.

His eyes of ashes were staring back at me, expectantly. When he smiled, I did too. He made me feel like a Phoenix; rising and reborn.

"Welcome home, my dear."

My face broke into a mirthless, contemptuous sneer and he helped me get up in gentle moves.

"Fe... Felitsiya?" I heard a voice call from behind me and I turned around to find the Winter Soldier gazing at me, cautiously, apprehensively, desperately. His whole face was suspended, on hold. I see. He knew the person from before, the parts of me that had occupied this body and mind before I took its place, before a new, better form was born. He was trying to pick up the pieces of someone that once was instead of looking at the masterpiece that'd forever be. He knew the past; I'd give him the future.

I smirked, and that smirk alone crushed him entirely.

"What... Winnie?" I mocked, an icy tone topping my voice. His eyes clouded when he looked from me to Dr. Heidrich, its colors muddied like the sky before the storm.

"I'm going to kill you!" He yelled, stepping towards him resolutely, but I jumped in his way and smiled at him, a smile that disarmed him completely, because there was not a single thing in my body that wasn't meant to kill. Each part knew its role. And they all wanted that final, grandiose act. Don't worry, darling. I will kill you with the details before we get to the main course.

The Soldier stopped abruptly, pathetically extending a hand towards me. I looked at him scornfully, and he let the arm fall, his shoulders dropping too.

"Felitsiya..." He murmured, looking back and forth between me and the Doctor, devastated. The previous me must have really been something, for him to be so disturbed. But I'd make sure to show him how much better this new one was. People were like technology; they needed upgrades.

"It's Felicia. Fe-li-cia." I pronounced, my eyes travelling over his body. "And damn, I must say horror looks very good on you."

His fists and jaw clenched hard, but his eyes were more persistent, still soft. No matter how many parts you divide me into, you'll never find one you know. Give up, Soldier. Before I recruit you to my war.

"Felicia, stop this. You can do it, I know you can. I... I never thought... never thought they'd get to you and now..."

"Aww, such a lost puppy." I said to my creator. "Makes me want to kick him."

His bleary eyes became clear, the clouds on them raining on me. He stopped that gusty stare on mine, our blues battling against each other. Oh, the tension, you could cut it with a claw. But you can't win this fight, buddy. Your feelings compromise you.

"I won't hurt you." He said, more resolution in his tone than in most people's future.

"Well," I said, stretching my fingers and letting my claws roll out of my nails, "I can't say the same thing."

I threw myself onto him and scratched his right shoulder, the vibranium cutting through his skin and making the blood run free. A loud, profound groan left his lips, but instead of faltering like I thought he would, he bit his tongue and grabbed my wrists in a grip of steel. Impressive pain resistance. Noted. Still thinking I'm somewhere in here. Good.

"You're hurting me." I whimpered and stared at him with the eyes he was longing for. He held his breath and loosened his hold instantly, allowing me to release myself and push him against one of the hallway doors so brusquely we yanked it off its hinges, his back hitting the floor harshly as I fell on top of him. The room we were in was a large, empty space meant for combat training, with brick walls and a metallic, rusty floor.

His left arm produced a shrieking sound upon colliding with it and we rolled on the floor repeatedly, as I tried to scratch him and he tried to stop me. We came to a halt with me straddling him, my claws inches away from his face as he blocked my wrist with his arms forming an X.

"Felicia." He let out with difficulty, his breathing uneven due to the effort of sustaining both my weight and strength. "Stop this. I know it's hard, but you have to fight it. I... I know how it feels like, and that's why I know you're still in there somewhere. Because I was too when it was me. And you can snap out of it. I believe in you."

"Well, your bad." I sniggered, and pressed harder against him, my claws scraping his skin lightly and making a trickle of blood run down his face. "Has anyone ever told you you're hot when you bleed?"

I saw him swallow hard to ignore the pain and then his metal arm hit me in the chin and the next second he had rolled us over and I was under him.

"Felitsiya, please!" He implored, his metal arm against my neck but not to the point of suffocating me. "You begged me to bring you back, but I think only you can do that. Bring yourself back."

"Why should I? I'm actually enjoying this. Not just the position, but hearing the great, terrifying Soldier beg for something."

"I don't want to hurt you." He ignored my provocations. "I really don't. But I won't let you hurt yourself either."

"Aww, you're so cute, Bucky." I mocked. "Wanna go out one of these days? I'm pretty sure that super-soldier package you've got there is in need of a revision and probably some workout. Wanna do some cardio together?"

Somehow, instead of getting upset at my words, he saw an entrance.

"I told you, I'm too old for you, doll."

I tittered, recognizing his tactic.

"That won't work with me, Winnie. If you think throwbacks and flashbacks are going to ignite something, you're wrong. Don't waste my time."

From behind him, I noticed my mentor holding a look of pride and victory in his face, his arms crossed over his lab coat as he watched the scene unfold in front of him. He hadn't given me any orders, and he didn't need to. He was just testing this new, better version of me, see how far I'd go by myself. That confidence in me made me want to do a good job.

"No, I'm not giving up on you, I refuse, I—"

"Oh, shut up." I interrupted, getting him off me with a violent strike. I heard him cough blood when he crashed against the floor, my smile spreading at the same time the air in his lungs didn't. I leisurely walked to him and leaned over his body to put him out of his misery, but then he moved his feet swiftly and made me trip, my head meeting the floor of its dreams. For a moment there, when all I could see was flashes as if there was a paparazzi hidden in my brain, I wondered to myself what it was that I was doing.

During that fraction of a second, the world stopped. I had no direction, no mission, no goal. I was just lost; and there was no need for me to be found. Sounds, images, scents, thoughts, all gone, and for once in my life it felt good not to feel. But then everything came crashing down on me, first the sound, so clear and loud it made me grab my head involuntarily to stop the torture, growls, screams, shots, fights, metal and something else, a constant drumming in my ears that wouldn't leave me alone, a high-pitched sound sure to tear the Earth in half. It felt like I had two frequencies in my brain, two wavelengths. My body arched and I curled up, trying to block the hideous noise, trying to fall through some hole, trying to go. I didn't want to stay. I couldn't stay. Not in me. My body was trying to expel me from itself, as if I was an unwanted parasite.

I had been numb before but now I was being overloaded, my system about to implode. It was its way of telling me it couldn't sustain more than one version. One of us had to go. There couldn't be two of me in me.

Then the smell came, that ghastly and repulsive aroma of blood, sweat, tears, metal, gunpowder, terror. I pressed my nose against the cold surface of the floor because the odor was unbearable. It smelled like death. And death smelled like me.

And finally it was the images, the color grey, so close to my eyes it made me blind. I pushed myself away from the floor, rolling around rudderless. It hurt not having an aim. I needed someone to give me a direction, any direction. I'd accept them all. I just needed to be commanded, that's what I was made for. A machine couldn't work without a code. A soldier couldn't fight without orders. A puppet couldn't move without its strings.

"Subject 666?" The grey ceiling was facing me now, and it took me a while to realize it had the shape of eyes, eyes that'd know my soul if I had one.

Tell me what to do. Go away. Tell me what to do. Leave. Stay.

"Ready to comply."

He smiled and ordered me to get up at the same time dozens and dozens of HYDRA soldiers entered the room hastily and hostilely. And then red strokes in a grey canvas, getting closer as if I was watching the scene in 3D.

Before I could do anything, though, a web stuck to my chest and pulled me up, my back arching, but not painfully. I wondered if it was God, choosing me to heaven, or Satan, picking me up just to drop me in hell. And then I was being pulled towards him, all the way up to the ceiling, and he had me in his arms, though I didn't feel like I was in them.

"You're safe." Peter said as he hung from the ceiling, holding me tightly against him so I wouldn't fall. Well, I wasn't going to make that mistake twice, was I? "For a moment I... I thought you were dead, lying so still on the ground, surrounded by all those soldiers."

I shook my head slightly, trying to free me from him. This guy was in my brain, in some part of it, and I couldn't let the virus spread.

"Don't be stupid, Spidey." I snickered, and I could almost see from behind the mask his face going through the entire spectrum of emotions and summoning all into one. "I'm not the one who's going to die. You are."

And without another word, I scratched his left leg, making him waver in his stance and fall clumsily all the way down to the ground while I jumped away from him and landed smoothIy in front of him.

"So Spider-Man came to my rescue again. Tell me, who are you saving me from this time? Me? Are you sure you're willing to save me from myself?"

"I'm willing to save you from anyone." He said, either bravely or stupidly, I couldn't tell the difference, raising himself up with effort, his ripped suit showing off a big bleeding cut on his thigh. "Even from yourself."

"We all are." Another voice added from behind me, and I looked over my shoulder to Lewis, while Bianca and Bobby protected his back from HYDRA. His whole body was outlined by flickering flames, the red mist threatening to burn everything in his path, as if he had just come back from hell.

But didn't they get it? The real hell was this.

The real hell was me.

Ignoring the other three, I sped towards Spidey, allowing a malicious grin to reach all of my face. He had his hands on his left leg where blood was gushing out and staining the floor, a view as beautiful and tragic as a Dalí painting.

"Feli..." He started but I didn't let him finish and pulled him towards me, grabbing his red mask and yanking it out of his head in one fluid movement. His face came into my view, pale, shocked, terrified, not for having his identity unraveled, but because he couldn't find mine. His brown eyes were trying to dissect me like he was back in high school and I was the frog in his science class, but I wasn't going to just lay there and let him cut me open.

"Aww, babe," I derided, "don't look so astonished. You certainly don't mind that I kill you while staring at your handsome face, do you?"

I saw him swallow hard as his eyes wandered everywhere, completely lost. He seemed to have gone back years, as if he was once again a little kid who had just lost his parents. An orphan with no home. But if he was hoping he could find it in me, he was wrong, he couldn't. Inside of me everyone was homeless.

"What... Felicia, I... what?" He stuttered. "What's happening?"

"I am." I smirked, tilting my head to the side. "I'm curious, how does it feel like to know that this might just be the only time since we met that I truly, truly hate you?"

"Felicia..." He whispered, this time more urgently, more sadly. I rolled my eyes at him and made a motion to scratch him but somehow he reacted faster, gluing my right hand to the wall behind me. I cursed under my breath, trying to release my wrist from the strong grip. I had underestimated him, thinking he was completely thrown off balance, but clearly, even if the world was spinning, this kid could still stand.

"Let me go, Parker."

"No." He retorted, taking cautious steps towards me like a vet approaching a wounded animal. "Felicia, this isn't you."

"You're wrong, this is exactly who I am, who I should be." I brought my left hand to my right one with my claws out, ready to cut through the annoying glue, but before I could he shot another web, tying my left hand to the wall as well and making me stand there looking like a scarecrow.

"Let me go." I demanded, struggling to release myself. "You know how I hate feeling trapped."

"No." He shook his head, not impressed by my attempt to reach his mushy heart. "As much as it hurts, I won't. I can't allow you to hurt anyone, Felicia, because if you do, I know it will crush you once you come back to you and realize what you've done. And I can't see you suffer, not again. This way it'll be easier once you return to your normal state, believe me. You won't have to deal with the demons all over again."

"I'm dealing with one now." I spat. "And please, spare me the moral speech. You really think there's any chance I'll go back to whatever was here before? No, Peter, this is my normal state now. You'll just have to get used to it. Oh, wait! You won't, because I'll just kill you as soon as I free myself!"

His soft features hardened, making him look like a man of his age for the first time. I smiled and glanced around the room, wondering why the others hadn't come in my direction yet. The reason was simple: they couldn't. Each one of them was fighting against HYDRA, against my own, and I wondered how they had found me, what they were doing here.

"That's not you talking." Tight Tights said, though his voice vacillated. "I don't know what they've done to you, but I'm going to find out and I'm going to help you, Party-Hardy, I promise, we'll figure something out, I—"

"Oh, cut it, Daddy longlegs." I snapped, still struggling with the damn webs. "You're just as annoying and harmless as a fly in the soup."

Instead of feeling offended, he came closer to me, his eyes trying to find something that wasn't there. He couldn't recover what he hadn't lost.

"I know you can listen to me, the real you, I feel it." He said, his voice as soft as a dandelion blown in the wind. And I wanted his petals, all of them. I wanted to tear them out one by one and let nature decide. Kill you, kill you not... kill you, kill you more. "Remember when we used to go to Central Park and I'd watch you draw? All day long? And then you'd fake to be all upset when you found out I had been sneaking photos of you from time to time but in reality, you loved it? And then when we got home, we hung them on our walls? Do you remember that?"

Nice. Using our shared memories to try to bring me back. Such a lame technique, dork, such a low blow. But I guessed that's what love was. A low blow that made you drop to your knees and bleed out.

"I remember when I left you, how it felt good." I replied. "I remember you breaking my heart into a million shattering pieces and then be all appalled when they started cutting you. I believe you must have bled then. But not as much as I'm going to make you bleed now."

I saw his eyes widen when I freed myself from the webs, shaking them off to the floor with disdain, and then his muscles tensing when I scratched him on the chest, ripping his suit open, drops of blood and fabric strips falling down at the same time.

"Still don't believe me, Spider? Still think there's even an inch of the old Felicia here, an inch that you can reach out to? You're smarter than that, hon. She's gone and good riddance. Now let me tell you hello."

Taking advantage of his frozen state, I jumped forward and wrapped my hands around his neck. His eyeballs widened like a cartoon when I tightened my grip and his hands flew to mine, trying to take them off of him.

"Fe... Felicia, please..." He breathed out hard, his face getting as red as his suit and wounds. Such a nice color, red. Representative of both good and bad. After all, shed blood means nothing without some passion.

"Why aren't you fighting me, you idiot? Other than shooting some weak webs at me you did nothing to stop me! Why are you holding back? I know you're stronger than this, your enemies wouldn't be your enemies if they weren't afraid of you! But honestly, now even they would be ashamed of you! Why do you still care about the first Felicia? Don't tell me you're afraid to let her down, to let her go, when you've already done both!"

His hands on my wrists stiffened a bit, but his stare loosened.

"I can't." He let out. "I can't... let you go. Not... again."

As soon as his words left his mouth, my grasp on him relaxed. Peter gasped, and for a moment there was a spark of hope in his eyes, but it vanished once I pushed him harshly onto the ground, his back colliding loudly with the metal floor.

"Fight this." I ordered, kicking him once in the ribs. He shook his head defiantly, closing his eyes as the pain kicked in, tears in the corners of his eyes. "Fight this!" I repeated, striking him again, this time harder.

"Felicia, please!" He cried out, not from pain, but from something else, an opportunity for redemption, perhaps, as if instead of trying to save himself, he was still trying to save me. From me. This kid didn't learn. He didn't give up. He opened his eyes and in between his tears, he didn't look at me as if he was the victim and I the attacker. And I couldn'd get it. I couldn't get this kind of kindness, of silliness. If there was good in the world like him, what did HYDRA need killing machines for? Why did they need me?

"Fight me!" I shouted again, preparing for a third blow when he rolled over himself, dodging it by mere inches. I heard him whimper as he clumsily got up, his fists clenched, his stare stubborn.

"I don't want to hurt you, Felicia." He plead. "But I can't let you do this either. You're not hurting me nor destroying me as much as you're doing it to yourself. Every single hit, every single blow, it's going to ruin you once you come back. And I can't allow that. I didn't watch you break down and build yourself up before so the same thing happens now."

This time he was prepared and deflected my first attack easily, and then my second. It felt like we were slow dancing with one another, the Cat and the Spider, one too eager to get to the end, other too afraid to even begin.

I moved to one side and he did too. I moved to the other and he was already there. It pissed me off that he knew me. It pissed me even more that I knew him back. After about two minutes of hide and seek, I finally managed to trick him by feigning a punch to his left side and instead delivering a powerful uppercut to his chin that sent him up and backwards. I ran towards him, determined to finish him once and for all, and my claws brushed his skin just before he stretched his arm and a thick line of glue dove out of his wrist, wrapping itself around my fingers and incapacitating me from moving them. Then he did the same to my claws, wrapping them in a blanket of webs to the point it felt like I had ten cotton candies in place of nails.

"Very funny, Spidey!" I raged. I tried to move my fingers but the webs were strong, so I went for his lower body using my legs. I kicked him on his left thigh, where the cut I had made was still healing, and he fell on one knee. Then I brought my other leg up and kicked him on the cheek, making him spit blood. He moved his hands up to protect his face before I could kick him again and grabbed my ankle, making me stumble and fall to the floor next to him.

"Don't make me do this, Felicia, please." He murmured desperately as I tried to hit him with my feet before he glued them to the floor. Damn you. "Don't make me fight you."

"You don't have a choice."

"I would if you just came back." His whisper was the most desperate thing I had ever heard and for a second it felt right. For a second I felt wrong. I can feel somebody knocking inside me but I can't let it in. I can't let me in. Or everything goes out. I couldn't let his words get to my head. He was playing with me, like he always had.

"No." I shook my head. "Don't you get it? There's nothing to come back to."

And with that I shoved my elbow in his direction, hitting the side of his face that was bruised. As his head flew backwards, I gritted my teeth and centred my strength in my legs, tearing off the webs, and then did the same with my fingers. We got up at the same time, our eyes wrestling each other.

I moved first, placing a violent jab in his stomach. He jerked backwards, shooting webs at me, but I cut them in the air with my claws. I came closer to him, my eyes ice but my body fire, his eyes trying but his body tired.

"Party-Hardy, don't!" He begged as I pushed him against a wall, trapping him in a strong hold, my arm against his neck to the point where he was having trouble breathing and his feet were off the floor.

"Stop calling me that! We're not friends! Your friend is dead! And she's not coming back. I gave you a choice. And you refused to fight. And now you'll pay the price."

With my hand around his neck, I made him move down until his feet were touching the ground. His hands were on my arm, but he wasn't using all his strength. He'd rather die than fight me. Then so be it, coward. Your wish is my command.

"Don't be afraid, Peter." I told him, a devilish smile sprouting from my lips. "You broke my heart once. It is only fair that I break everything in you now."

"Felicia, no—" He begged, but before he could finish, I grabbed his hair and slammed his head hard against the sturdy wall, once, twice, thrice. And as the sound of things within Peter Parker's mind and body cracked, my heart mended a little more.

He was my heartbreaker. I was his life taker. The universe worked in fair ways.

As his body fell to the floor, immobile and bloodied, I felt a warmth taking over me, and it took me a few seconds to realize it wasn't the satisfaction of what I had just done but one of Lewis' irksome flames.

The ball of fire passed by me and hit the wall behind me, clearly not meant to harm me, and I rolled my eyes. How many more lives would I have to take for them to believe me?

When Scorching Heat reached me, his eyes got to the size of golf balls upon seeing Cobweb lying on the ground, so pale and still. I could hear his heartbeat, faint but stubborn, just like its owner. I could end his suffering right there, but for some reason I wanted to prolong it for as long as I could. Let him agonize. He won't last much longer.

"What, Human Torch?" I blurted out as Lewis inspected my eyes with his dark ones. I hated when they did this. When they thought they could get to me through the eyes. My soul is not in them. My soul is not in anything! "Do I have something on my face?"

"Who are you?" He whispered, shaking his head and taking a step towards me. Dumb move.

"Oh, please. Are you, out of everyone, going to give me a moral speech?"

"What do you mean?" He asked, uncharacteristically hesitant, like a character suddenly pulled out of a book and inserted into another. Lewis always seemed like a fish out of water except when I gave him to drink. But he couldn't walk into a sea of sharks and not expect to be bitten.

"Aren't you the fun, reckless one? The Hothead?"

"Don't say that." He gritted his teeth, his eyes burning mine down. I held them back, but it was like trying to sustain the sun or stop an eclipse. They were two living embers, reducing me to ashes. I wondered if it was his power; or just that intensity of his. "Only she can call me that."

"I'm she."

"No, you're not." He retorted, his tone harsh and unwavering. I raised an eyebrow, surprised at the difference between them. The Soldier and the Spider had both tried to reason with me as if I was still the same. Roasted Marshmallow here knew I was different and wasn't trying to be smooth about it. "And I want her back."

"Too bad, then. She doesn't." I leaned towards him a bit, a smirk hanging from my lips. "Don't you think that if she didn't want to disappear, if she wanted to stay, I'd be here? She gave me permission. She gave me the remote control to our system and now everyone's blaming me for changing the channels."

"She would never do that." Sahara desert argued, his eyes red like lava. "She would never look at me like you are and not see me."

"Oh, come on, you're supposed to be the wild, rebel one!" I provoked. "Don't make me regret giving you that nickname, Hothead."

He pursed his lips and gave another step towards me.

"You stole me that role, now, haven't you, Angel Eyes?"

I didn't know why, but those words struck a chord somewhere within, like a clock striking midnight in a hourless day.

"Well, then maybe I should steal something else, no? It's what I do best, after all. What should I start with? Any ideas?"

Magma Boy stared at Super Glue again, who was still on the floor without moving. When he spoke, his voice was removed, bleak, beyond sad.

"Don't you think you've already stolen too much?"

I shrugged. "I wouldn't know. For that I'd need to feel something."

He shook his head, suddenly all crumbled, like a fire being put out.

"I guess that if he didn't manage to help you, no one will. I guess that if you did this to him with not a single hint of remorse, no one will ever be able to bring you back."

"Finally, someone smart! You should get an award for that. So you better not even try, Blazing Pants. You'll just be wasting my time." And without another word I used the wall behind me to propel me into the air and kicked him in the throat. He slumped backwards, doing nothing at first but gasp and huff, but when I moved to hit him again, a frisbee of fire was thrown at me. I barely dodged it, shocked but pleased that someone finally had the guts to fight me.

"I don't wanna do this!" He shouted above the sounds of the fight around us. I could see hints of ice here and there, and that annoying high-pitched sound worse than a goat bleating. "But I won't let you hurt anyone else!"

"Try to be a little bit more original, I've heard that one before!" I said, clutching his shirt and scratching his abdomen. He bit his bottom lip to prevent a scream and directed a blaze towards me, and I never got to know if it would actually hit me since it was frozen in the air.

"Lewis, stop." Iceman said, approaching us. "I can't let you harm her."

"Bobby, don't you see?" Lewis asked, and the tone of his voice was despondent. "Don't you see that who's in front of us is not our Felicia?"

"Still, we can't hurt her!" Bobby replied as I amusedly watched their quarrel. "If she comes back..."

"Bobby, look!" Pink Streak pointed at Peter on the ground. "Do you really think that someone that has crossed this limit is capable of coming back? Do you think there's even the slightest chance we'll get her back?"

Popsicle opened up his eyes, swallowing hard once he saw the body. His face turned from shocked to infuriated, then to sad and finally to mortified.

"Felicia..."

"Oh, for freaking's sake, she's not home! Stop trying to call her!" I flew towards them, trying to slash them, but before I could Bobby sprinkled an icing frosting on my feet, gluing me to the floor, and the snow quickly started growing around me until I was completely engulfed in a dome. Everything came to me muffled, as if I was underwater.

"Don't worry, this won't kill her, but it will hold her back for some time." Elsa male's version explained, putting a hand on Fuego's shoulder, but as soon as he said that, a loud crack was heard and the ice around me started to shatter like a castle of cards due to a sound wave.

"Bi, why would you do that?" Bobby asked, exasperated, but she ignored him and marched towards me.

"What happened to you?" She questioned me, and there was more hope than fear in her tone, and I couldn't decide if she was brave or just foolish.

I tilted my head and mouth to the side. "What didn't?"

They only had time to take a step back before I was all over them, my claws stretching in their direction.

"Watch out!" Bobby shouted to no one in particular. The first one to react was Bianca, who tossed a sound wave at me with a movement of her arm, sending me flying through the air and above several dead bodies.

I rolled over myself multiple times, pressing my hands against my ears to block the shrill sound, which was making me twist and screech in turn. It felt like someone was opening a hole in my brain with a drill and shoveling my neurons to the side, or wiping the dust from my thoughts to the corners of my mind. I felt alone inside of me, like no one was there, not even me. For a moment, I knew fear; for a moment I became it.

"Felicia, stop this!" Bianca beseeched, running towards me followed by the others but stopping at a safe distance. She saw me crawl on the floor in pain and reduced the intensity of her powers, though I could still feel a foreign frequency messing with my brain waves, as if someone had shoved a radio that didn't fit into my head. I could breathe now, but not do much more than that. Who knew the sweet one could be ruthless? "Please. Don't do this to us, but mostly don't do this to yourself. Stop. Just stop."

"I don't think she will listen, Bianca." Lewis said, voicing what they all thought was true.

"She has to." Green hair let out, disheartened. "She needs to come back. This isn't who she is. HYDRA can't do this to us, they can't take her from us, they can't... they can't..."

"They already have, Bi!" Bobby chimed in, a tired tone stressing his hopelessness. "If Spider-Man didn't manage to bring her back, then who the hell will? If his love for her isn't enough, do you seriously think ours is? Do you seriously think there's someone out there capable of seeking the light within her and bringing her back from the darkness when she's so bent on staying in it?"

Bianca remained silent and I saw them share a troubled, anxious look. And even though my mind still felt like a karaoke party in a bar full of drunks, I had to take this chance, so I got up and raced towards them, madder than ever, my claws ready to collect its debts, to claim its rightful blood.

Their heads turned to me at the same time, watching me as I jumped over corpses and debris, the same expression of disbelief, refusal and dread leaving them petrified, three stranded statues against a tsunami.

"I want to know too." I said as I ran, thinking how easy the killing would be. I liked hunts that lasted, but this would do too. "Who's gonna save you if you don't, who's gonna defend you if you can't, who's gonna fight me if you won't? Who's gonna rescue me from pitch-black and bring me back?"

I smiled when they didn't answer, preparing for the ultimate attack, but before my claws could finally touch them, something got in the way and crashed their body against mine, a tornado of copper and bronze pushing me back and pinning me against the nearest wall in a mess of claws against claws, skin against skin, disaster against disaster, the tornado trapping the tsunami and turning it into a volcano about to combust and burst when it heard him speak.

"Perhaps I will." The harsh impact had made me close my eyes while my back collided with the hard wall, but then that voice spoke and they opened against my will, taking in on a portrait I wasn't ready to see, that I'd never be ready to draw, a portrait of shock, confusion, anger and so many other emotions I couldn't decipher, emotions that made my body go weak, that sent rays of pain throughout my bones, emotions that made me strong, that granted me more odium and power and me than anything else in the world.

My arms were in front of my body, wrists locked in his strong grip, and I didn't know if I wasn't moving because I couldn't or because I didn't want to. No. No. No. Do something. He's not inevitable. He's not even slightly likely. And yet he is so probable; and all his odds fit into yours.

I growled at him, trying to release myself, but this guy wasn't messing around. There was no fear in his expression, no hesitation in his posture. Wolvie knew how to hunt. And he knew how to catch.

"Felicia." The murmur that came out of his mouth was stable, unyielding and resilient, his eyes studying every smidge of my face. I didn't like this. This one was different. Looking at him was seeing through me. It felt like he had come all the way across the universe just to be here, fighting his way past planets and moons, rerouting the stars. From the other side of the galaxy to the other side of me. He wouldn't budge for anything.

"Hello, Logan." I smirked at him, ignoring the unwanted trembling he provoked on me. Ignoring everything, to be honest. I was slightly aware that Bianca, Bobby and Lewis were no longer watching us to help the Soldier with HYDRA. I was slightly aware of the world around us, but only slightly, and I didn't understand how this hairy dude had the ability to make me forget everything around us and remember everything in between us.

That's it, I thought. If he has this effect on me, I have this effect on him. And I sure as hell am going to use it as my advantage.

Ignoring the way my heart reacted to his, ignoring the way my body felt under his touch, I stared at him with radiant eyes, which fell to his mouth for only a second before meeting his breathtaking gaze again.

"Did you miss me?" And then, with his hand on my wrists, with my back pressed against the cold wall and my heart about to jump from my chest and into his, I leaned forward, smashing his lips with mine, the people, the movement, the images, the sounds, the scents, the whole world around us trembling and shaking and fluttering and disappearing as the volcano miraculously moved and became one with the tornado.

"Barely breathing, lost all feeling
I'm barely breathing, still holding on

I'm broken and I'm barely breathing
I'm falling cause my heart stopped beating
If this is how it all goes down tonight
This is how you bring me back to life

I'm broken and I'm barely breathing
I'm falling cause my heart stopped beating
This is what it's like when we collide
This is how you bring me back to life"

A/N: Picture I made just for fun, song is "Bring Me Back To Life" by Extreme Music which is so perfect for this final moment! Don't forget to vote and comment if you liked Felicia's and Logan's reunion ;)

Loads of love ♥