Thankfully, there were no more incidents in the tenements themselves, and a quick trip up a couple of flights of stairs led Peter to the third floor room where Fiq and his wife were staying. They'd barely had time to reach the door and knock before she answered the door. Tori was a smaller woman, with red streaks dyed into long, black hair, round glasses, and a general geeky look about her, along with a nice, wide smile. She was quick to get them both in, and it wasn't long before she was trying to talk to Peter in between checking on the not-quite prepared dinner.
She was a sweet lady, and Fiq was a nice guy. They clearly cared a lot not just about each other, but about other people. Peter saw pictures scattered around the living room of the two, when Fiq was younger and Tori was thinner, the two posing with a soccer team in one, another with her in a graduate's uniform, holding a diploma. Some of them were with friends and family, others were just by themselves, almost always smiling at each other or laughing at something instead of looking dead-eyed at the camera like a lot of people did.
Peter enjoyed photography as an every-once-in-a-while kind of thing, so he could appreciate a good photo. Especially ones with heart in them like these did.
The strange thing to him was that the couple had no children, but, hey, maybe they just didn't have time for kids? Wasn't his place to judge. It's not like he was super into the idea of the nuclear family. He didn't really see himself having kids at all.
A part of his mind that he really didn't want to rise up posited a world where it was him and MJ in those pictures, and he started to feel sick.
"Ben?" Fiq asked, rousing Peter from his trance-like focus.
"Huh? Yeah, what's up, Fiq?" he asked.
"You alright, man? You've been quiet since you came in."
"Just, uh, thinking. Sorry. Don't mean to upset you guys, or be weird about anything, or impose, or anything like that."
"Sweetheart, you're not imposing on anybody. You're not the first person we've welcomed into our home, and unless God starts working a lot of miracles real fast, you probably won't be the last," Tori replied. "Fiq told me you're thinking about getting your GED?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"If you need any help with academics, let me know. I teach high-school maths if there's anything you need help with, so I'd be glad to give you a hand with any exams or the like."
Peter smiled, and nodded back at her. "Thank you, Mrs. Tori."
"It's no problem at all. If you need to take a shower or anything, feel free. I knew you'd be late, but I thought it'd take longer, and trust me, I learned the hard way that you can't rush perfection."
She gave a hearty chuckle at that as Fiq stepped away from her and walked around the kitchen counter towards Peter.
"I gotta make a call to Dan and talk to him about some stuff. You think you'll be sticking around long enough to work?"
Peter wasn't really sure. He doubted Strange would be coming back for him next week or anything, but if that's how it went down, well, he'd never see any of these people again, so what did it matter?
That was… a terrible way of looking at this, holy crap. Peter wanted to slap himself.
Regardless, it wouldn't hurt to have money coming in, and he knew he could work. Especially now, with his powers, manual labor wouldn't be too bad. He'd just have to take it a bit slow to make sure no one got any wild ideas that he might be a superhero in disguise or anything.
"Yeah, probably for a little while," Peter agreed. "You said we're going Monday, right?"
"Yessir, I was gonna let Dan know so he can set aside some time to interview you."
"Thanks, man."
"No thing, buddy, no thing at all. I'll be right back."
With that, he stepped into the hall on the other side of the kitchenette from them, and Peter was left alone with the sounds of his thoughts, and a rapidly-approaching dinner. His hands found his phone again, going through familiar motions to get to the photo gallery, one of the few things he could use with no cell service.
There were pictures of him and MJ, mostly, followed closely by ones of them and Ned, Peter and Ned, and a good few of Aunt May too. Happier times. Peters and MJs and Neds and Mays who didn't know what was coming next, who were just happy to be there in the now. Some photos from the trip, some from before, nothing really from after, save for the one live video he'd sent to Jameson's show.
'Yeah, your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man could REALLY use some more help,' he thought, his shoulders sagging under the weight of his predicament. He felt sore all over, now that adrenaline and nerves had long ago faded to remind him just how much he'd put his body through over the last day and night. He was also starting to get kind of hungry, now that he could smell the food being made.
He closed his eyes, letting out a deep, shuddering exhale as he tried to banish thoughts of home from his mind just for a little while, turning off the phone and putting it back in his pocket.
She would wait for him to come back, he knew that. And he would come back, as soon as he could. He just really, really hoped Doctor- STEPHEN figured it out soon.
"Almost done, Ben," Tori called out from behind him.
"Thank you, Mrs. Tori."
Fiq was a few more minutes before he came back in, his hair tied up and with a fresh shirt that read… something Peter could barely read about class.
"Alright, Ben, we got you a job…interview. Most likely a job, too, but definitely an interview," he said, as he approached Peter with a fist extended outward and another one of his bright smiles. Peter smiled back, and returned the gesture, which Fiq followed up by making an exaggerated 'explosion' with his hand. He really was giving off mall Santa / embarrassing dad vibes, and Peter certainly didn't mind. He'd had less friendly first encounters with multiverse people. So far, Fiq had yet to try and bomb him, hit him with metal tentacles, or electrocute him to death. Solid start.
"That is… amazing," Peter said, nodding enthusiastically. "Thanks, man, really. I can't thank you enough for all the help. Really means a lot."
"Like I said," Tori replied, "we've done this before. Last young lady that came by-"
"Tori."
It clicked in Peter's head instantly.
"She's still in the complex, isn't she?" he asked, lowering his voice out of instinct. It wasn't like anyone was listening in… but they had mentioned there was a guy affiliated with the gang living in this block. Couldn't hurt to be safe.
"Yeah," Fiq replied, defeated. "Zhao doesn't know yet, because we've been moving her from room to room every night, real early. We had her when she first came in, then she went down the hall, now she's… where she's at now. There's another girl with her, says she's got a plan to get them out soon, but I don't know if they're gonna have time."
"Do you know where they are right now?"
"Ben, you don't wanna get involved in this," Fiq warned him, with Tori looking over from behind him with equal concern.
"You guys are already involved as it is, and I'm here now, so why not?" he asked.
Fiq didn't have an immediate answer, his brow furrowing with thought as he looked back at his wife, who nodded sadly. With a long, drawn-out sigh, Fiq turned back to him.
"The other girl's a parahuman. Ex-Empire 88. I don't like nazi motherfuckers very much, but this kid… she wants to do right. I can tell from the way she talked to us, the way she talks to Asuka. She wants to get her out, but Asuka still has family in the Bay. Family that she can't account for."
"They've probably already gotten her family," Tori continued, a deep sadness in her voice. "She doesn't know, the poor thing, or maybe she's in denial, but the ABB don't take betrayal lightly."
"She's just… she's not that important, is she? Just a… you know…" Peter couldn't find a really nice way to word 'prostitute', so he instead chose the fine art of the silent implication.
"She's property. At least to them," Fiq replied. "She stopped being Asuka the human a long time ago, now she's Asuka the piece of meat for them to toss at every lowlife in town until one gets fed up and strangles her to death, or she OD's, or offs herself. I watched that poor girl try to sleep. Emphasis on try. She couldn't sleep with me in the house because she was afraid I was gonna rape her, Ben. I ended up staying with the neighbor."
"The poor baby was up all night even then," Tori continued. "Sarah said she was convinced they were going to come kick down the door as soon as she fell asleep and take her back. I'm shocked she was able to calm her down, but eventually, Asuka managed to get a few hours. Sarah, though… she just stayed awake the whole time. Never so much as looked tired."
"As long as those two stay in the Bay, they're in danger," Fiq picked up where she left off. "If they stay here, the ABB will never stop looking for Asuka. If they move over, they're in Empire 88 territory, and Sarah's a 'race traitor' now, so you already know what they're gonna do to her. Their best bet is to leave town, but no one here is willing to risk driving them out. I would, but… I've already made an enemy of the ABB. They don't like me very much, and they sure as hell would try and run me down the moment they even suspected I had those kids in my car."
"Why does the ABB have a problem with you?" Peter asked.
"Because I'm here for my fucking community, Ben, that's why. I watch too many young boys and girls get dragged into the fucking gangs and kill each other. I see girls not even old enough to vote turning tricks on the next corner over. I see boys young enough to be my sons shooting each other. It makes me sick, and my momma evidently didn't whup me hard enough to make me a quiet man, because I mouth off when I get sick of this crap."
Fiq's voice had started to quaver as he kept talking, and Tori approached him to put an arm around his shoulder.
"I've seen good kids like you and Asuka chewed up and spit out by these streets, and none of those damn Protectorate capes do shit about it," Fiq finished bitterly. "It's just Brockton Bay type shit."
"Doesn't have to be," Peter replied, with conviction that surprised even himself. "You're a good guy, Fiq, trying to help them however you can. Same for everyone else here. Maybe it's time someone helped you guys out."
He debated what he was going to say next, but before he could get into the meat of it… well, the meat started burning. Fiq recognized it an instant after Peter, and turned around.
"Shit, Tori, the meatballs!"
"Oh, God, look at us," Tori moaned, turning off the stovetop with a resigned laugh.
The domesticity of it clashed with the intense discussion they'd just had. Fiq was clearly deeply invested in Brockton Bay. He mentioned to Dan that he grew up here, that this was home, just like Queens was for Peter. He wouldn't leave it behind, and he wouldn't leave the people behind either. Even without powers, Fiq was helping homeless people, letting them into his home, protecting them from gangs, apparently…
He was just as much a hero as any 'cape'.
"Uh, sorry, Fiq, can I tell you something?" he said, mustering up all his courage. He had the power to intervene. He was a superhero, too.
"With great power, there must also come great responsibility."
He didn't have to be Peter Parker. He didn't have to be Spider-Man. Ben Peters could be a hero, too.
As Tori salvaged the meal, Fiq turned around to look at him with a sad look in his eye. "You're good, Ben, you're good. What's going on?"
Peter took a deep breath.
"I'm a cape, too."
Fiq didn't say anything, didn't even move. Tori, who was putting the pot with the meatballs and sauce on the kitchen counter, also stopped and turned to look at Peter, though her expression had turned almost ghastly.
"Ben," Fiq started, "don't say-"
Peter jumped up to the ceiling, lifting his arm and pressing the pads of his fingers to it. As expected, he held firm, hanging by his fingertips with his feet dangling a few inches off the floor.
"Don't say what, Fiq?"
Fiq looked back at Tori, then back at Peter again, and let out a low whistle.
"Well, this just got more complicated."
The meatballs weren't Aunt May good, but they were pretty good. Peter wouldn't complain about a free meal at a time like this. He just wished the meal was under more pleasant circumstances.
He also wished he hadn't thought about Aunt May's cooking.
Fiq had given him a thorough interrogation, hitting him with a battery of questions that felt an hour long as they ate, prying at every corner of Peter's background and powers. He'd tried to avoid anything that might identify him as Spider-Man, so he used vague terms. He had 'net guns' on his wrists instead of web launchers, he had 'enhanced reflexes' and 'heightened reflexes' instead of The Tingle, and he had super-strength to boot. Fiq had seemed a bit confused, at first, asking Peter if he was a 'Tinker' or a 'Breaker' or a 'Striker', which Peter… tried to answer.
"Sorry if this isn't helping," he said as he finished the last few bites of his meal.
"No, no, no, it's clear as day you're not lying. So, you triggered as a result of poisoning from a spider-"
"I guess that's pretty accurate."
"-and you gained super-strength, super senses, and super reflexes. Oh, and you can climb up walls and shit, too."
"Yeah," he agreed, mainly because that was almost exactly what it was. "Yeah, that's about it."
"I see, I see…" Fiq muttered. "Well, unfortunately, you're not a Mover or anything that would help us sneak Sarah and Asuka out of the building, but you're strong, you move quick, and you can get the jump on the thugs if you hang out on the ceiling or something."
"Yeah, exactly. I'm good at the whole sneaking around thing, too, done it a few times now. I'm a lot more agile than I was before… you know, I got bit."
"Interesting…" Fiq murmured, drawing a concerned glance from Tori. "I think I might have an idea."
"Rafiq, we've talked about this-" Tori protested weakly.
"I know, we have, and I stand with you, Tori," Fiq assured her. "But this isn't just me. It's Ben. And Ben sounds like he's been at this for a minute, even if the details are a little… vague."
"If I could tell you more, I would," Peter said. "I'm really sorry."
"You told me everything I need to know to trust you with this. You finished eating?"
Peter pushed his plate aside gently as he stood up from the table, then grabbed it to head towards the sink.
"Nah, you leave that right there. We've got someone you need to meet."
Peter turned around, a bit of the Tingle prickling at the back of his neck, though not enough to really say 'trouble RIGHT NOW.' It was gone quickly. "Okay," he replied, "sure, sure."
"Come on. They're up a floor."
With that, Fiq also stood up, leaning down to give Tori a kiss on the cheek before motioning for Peter to follow him. He set a brisk pace, and Peter was quick to follow, striding purposefully down the carpeted hall towards the dark, dimly-lit stairs at the end of the block. It was a pretty long walk, and the stairs weren't a short trip either, which was sorta good in a way. It meant they'd have more time to prepare if they believed the ABB to be breaking in. Still, they were awfully tall for a tenement block.
"They're staying with my friend, Leslie, right now," Fiq whispered, trying to avoid echoing in the empty stairwell.
"Got it," Peter replied, matching his volume. "It's two of them, then?"
"Yeah." Fiq nodded. "Sarah's cagey. Don't do anything dumb."
With that, they were at the third floor access, and Fiq was opening the door into the hall, and immediately turned to his left.
"You know, when you're looking for something specific, you usually assume it's gonna be far away from you, right?"
Peter had never heard that before. "Uh… not really."
"Well, in my experience, the first place they look is always gonna be somewhere where they think you're hiding shit. And who would hide a refugee in one of the easiest-accessible rooms in the building, right?" Fiq asked. "Albeit one near the top. Perfect balance of 'not too obvious' but 'not so suspicious.'"
With that, he knocked on the door in a rhythm. Two knocks, then two more knocks, then three knocks, then one. It didn't take long for the door to open, revealing a ginger man with a thick beard and hair that likely hadn't seen a razor since Peter was born.
"What up, Leslie?"
"Fiq," Leslie replied, glowering at Peter. "Another stray?"
"One that's gonna help us out. He's a cape."
Leslie's expression instantly brightened, though he wasn't exactly a friendly-looking guy even when he was happy. He had deep lines in his face, and a few scars to boot. "Well, shit, that's the best news I've heard all day. What's your name, kid?"
"Just call me Ben."
"I meant your cape name, but whatever, Ben works. What can you do, Ben?"
"He can walk on walls, and he has super strength, reflexes, and hearing," Fiq explained for him, coincidentally ensuring that Peter didn't need to risk letting too much on. "Could probably win a one on one fight against any of Wei's goons, and I doubt Oni Lee or Lung is gonna show up over a missing prostitute."
"Good… good…" Leslie murmured, opening the door the rest of the way. "Come on, Zhao's been out of the building all day, so we're still good here."
"Cool, cool."
With that, Leslie stepped out of the door. Fiq held his arm out in front of Peter, stepping into the doorway first.
"I'm a familiar face," he said, and Peter felt no need to argue with that. He had no idea what kind of superpowers this girl had, but something told him that rocking up to another superhuman unannounced when they were paranoid about being attacked by gangsters was… not the best idea in the world. He'd had a few worse ones, for sure, but he wasn't about to try and test his luck again today.
He followed Fiq past the living room of the establishment and into a small hallway.
"The corner suites are nicer, got a shower in the master bedroom, Fiq explained. Thing is, with all the rooms in these tenements, every room has a window. Risk of being spotted. One exception."
With that, he turned and knocked twice, then twice, then once on the door to his right.
There was a sudden sound of shock from the other side of the door and the rustling of… something, before Peter heard something loudly grind against the edge of the door and send Fiq a few startled steps back as the door swung open. From inside what Peter assumed was the bathroom, from the peek of a mirror he got, a long, pale arm extended outwards, the skin at its wrist broken to expose an ugly, yellow-white and jagged bone…blade…thing?
"Shit, Marrow, it's just me."
"Oh," came a raspy, feminine voice. "Hey, Fiq."
"O-ohayo," came a meek, quiet greeting from within the bathroom.
Fiq looked at Peter, offering him a nervous smile as the blade retracted from in front of his face and back into the arm with a… really gross sound. He had to admit, he threw up a little. Wrenching his eyes shut and containing his revulsion, he opened them to see a bare leg, only covered by a pair of very, very small bicycle shorts, stepping out from behind the door, covered in what looked like skin-covered spikes. The arm that followed was similarly bedecked, heavily tattooed, both on her arm and on her side.. The girl herself, 'Sarah', was only a little bit shorter than Peter, her hair cut short, highlighted with orange, and swept to the side. Immediately, she followed Fiq's gaze and raised a spiny arm at Peter.
"P-please don't do that again-" Peter started.
"Who the fuck is he?" Sarah asked.
"He's Ben, he's another parahuman. Cape from Queens."
Sarah digested that information for a moment, eyeing Peter like a cut of meat, arm still outstretched. "That right, Benny?"
"Yeah, uh, yeah. That's pretty much the gist of it," he replied. "Ben Peters. Nice to meet you."
"Marrow. Feeling's not really mutual."
With that, she lowered her arm, and turned back to look at Fiq. Now that he looked at her more closely, he could make out her tattoos. Some of them were… less than flattering, but made sense considering what Fiq said about her history. One in particular sat apart from the others, though- an omega turned sideways.
"Why did you bring another cape into this?" she asked.
"Because we can't hide you forever, S- Marrow. Wei and his boys are damn sure you're either here or in the next block, and we both know he isn't gonna ask nicely next time."
"I can deal with anyone they send after us," Sarah replied. "We'll leave when Asuka finds out about her family."
"Sarah… I understand her pain, but we both know good and well—"
"You don't know anything. You act like you do, but you don't," she replied. "We're not leaving Brockton until we know for sure."
"Well, you can't stay here much longer, because he will check every room, and people will get hurt."
"What if they never get that far?" Peter asked, drawing both of their attention back onto him.
"Ben-" Fiq started, only to be cut off by a raised finger from Sarah. "First of all, what the hell are you doing in Brockton Bay."
"I didn't come here by choice, if that's what you're asking," Peter replied. "I had to leave Queens. Bad situation. Fiq found me on the street, took me in. I heard you needed help."
"So, he's just going around telling everyone and his mama what's going on, then?"
"It slipped out. He got jumped by the ABB before I found him. How you think he got that cut on his head?"
Sarah examined him head-to-foot, nodding quietly. "So you wanna get payback on Wei?"
"I want to help you guys get out of here," Peter said.
"Well I told you, we're not leaving until we find Asuka's family."
"I'll help you. Tonight, we get you out of here, then I'll help you find her family."
"Awfully kind for a stranger," she noted, a hint of suspicion in her voice.
"You've got a bunch of strangers helping you right now, what's one more?" he retorted. That seemed to cow her a bit, and Sarah shook her head with a resigned sigh.
"Even if we leave here, these streets aren't safe for her. ABB has stool pigeons all over the Docks. We'd need to have a place to hide."
"And it probably wouldn't be smart to come back here."
"We're already gonna pay for what's been done up to now," Fiq said, an angry tremble to his voice. "And if you come back here after, it's gonna be even worse for you, but especially us. I told you that just hiding in the bathroom and running when the coast looked clear wouldn't help the situation, especially not now."
Sarah looked down at the floor for a moment, then back up at Fiq. "Thought you were fine with helping us out."
"Doing the right thing doesn't always mean the right thing gets done back," he replied. "I knew what I was getting into. Most everybody in this block does. Doesn't mean it's not gonna hurt when Wei and his boys start door-knocking. Staying down and keeping quiet might not help with the mood he's in."
"Well, what if we did something about it?" Peter asked. "Sa-"
She glared at him.
"Uh, sorry, Marrow. Your powers, they're…that bone thing?"
She extended one of her bone-blade things, and Peter retched. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her smirk.
"Oh, come on, now!" Fiq protested.
"Some help, huh?"
"T-the noise is gross," Peter replied weakly, collecting himself. "Just, really gross."
"This noise?" she asked coyly, retracting the blade again. This time, Peter was ready for it, and though he cringed, he managed to avoid losing his lunch.
"Y-y-yeah, that noise. Anyway, yeah, that's your power?"
"Got it under my skin, too. Had it as long as I can remember," she replied, brushing aside some of her hair and accentuating smaller spines on her forehead, brow, and cheeks. "Can push it out. Blades, armor, can even shoot the spines off like bullets. Doesn't even hurt. Thicker than usual bone, too. Takes a lot more to break it. That's not even getting into the healing factor. You think I just walk around with holes in my skin?"
"Well, hey, that's great," Peter said, "that means you can take a hit. My suit's a bit banged up, but I can probably take a solid shot or two. Not that I'll need to, I don't think, it's nice to have."
"You got a power besides looking pretty, Benny?"
Oh, right. He probably should have went with that.
"I, uh, I have super reflexes. Super strength. Super senses. And I can climb walls. Nothing really special."
Got it. Very nice, nondescript power set that doesn't tip her off that she's talking to Spider-Man. She didn't seem too alarmed by the description, rolling her eyes at it, even.
"Boring, but it works," she muttered. "So you're suggesting we fight Kung Fu Hustle and his posse?"
"Yeah, pretty much."
She looked at Fiq, who nodded, before speaking again.
"They're probably coming back soon. Maybe even tonight. He won't have any capes with him, especially since as far as he knows, it's just Asuka. They don't know you bailed her out."
"Well, if you'd asked me a few months ago, I wouldn't have thought I'd be bailing her out either."
"Life has a funny way of changing your perspective, don't it?"
"You really gonna give me a life lesson right now, Fiq?"
"Considering you don't learn anything, I'm starting to wonder why I try," he replied, no malice in his voice or his grin. Sarah smiled back, then looked at Peter.
"Alright, Benny. So, we beat the shit out of Wei and his gang. Then what?"
"Then we ask him where Asuka's family is. See if he knows anything, or anyone who might know anything. Then, we leave 'em for the cops."
"The cops," Sarah repeated incredulously, still smiling. If anything, she was smiling even more. "The cops? Brockton Bay Police Department?"
"Yeah, the cops." Peter didn't get why she seemed so surprised. Fiq, too, seemed to be trying to hold his smile in.
"That'd be a PRT problem, since a parahuman runs the gang," Fiq explained, managing to beat back his smile. "And good luck getting them to do anything."
"They will. I'm a convincing guy."
"Well, I don't know about convincing, but you are most certainly an undying optimist, Benny, I'll give you that," Sarah said, walking up to him and placing a hand on his shoulder. As she did, a young woman he could only assume was Asuka peeked out from behind the doorframe, looking at him with fearful, doe-like eyes.
"Here's what I'm thinking, Benny," Sarah spoke lowly, slowly, in a way that made it clear she wasn't going to listen to whatever he said after this. "I'm thinking, your way sounds alright there at the start, but you kinda lost the plot at the beginning. Here's what I'm thinking. I think we act like good citizens, and do some community service, huh?"
Peter tried to take a step back. Sarah followed him.
"I wasn't talking to myself, Benjamin."
"I'm not gonna kill anybody," Peter said, catching her implication pretty quickly. "I get that you're mad, but that's only gonna make things worse. Retaliation and all."
"Oh, I disagree, but you? You don't have to kill anybody. I'm not even gonna kill all of 'em, myself. See, here's something you goody two-shoes guys don't get."
She moved her hand down from his shoulder to poke him in the chest, right above his heart. "This? This gets in the way in situations like that. They aren't using it. So why should I? These people, if you can call them that… we speak the same language, them and I. And I think it's high time we had a conversation."
Her smile was now practically a rictus grin, and Peter realized a few of her teeth were… not supposed to be that sharp. "So, Benny, this is what's gonna happen. If we're doing this, you and me, we're gonna talk to Wei. Everyone else he brings? Well, we're gonna have that conversation. And if I win the argument… I don't think it'd be polite of you to interrupt, would it?"
Peter didn't reply, instead standing in silent disapproval of Sarah's plan. Killing these people would just cause Fiq, Tori, Leslie, and the other tenement residents more trouble in the long run.
"And don't call anybody, either. It won't be me you answer to if you do," she finished.
"What's that supposed to mean," Peter asked.
"I told you Sarah wasn't proud of who she used to be-"
"Rafiq," she hissed at him, spines extending from the shoulder closest to him.
"Sarah, he already knows your name and he's going to help you. He's not Empire, look at him. He isn't hard like that. Let me finish so he can understand why bringing the PRT in on this is a bad idea."
Sarah's expression softened, and she retracted her spines, giving Fiq one last smoldering glare before looking back at the startled Asuka, offering her quiet assurances in what Peter was pretty sure was Japanese.
"Marrow is a name she picked for herself. She used to be Scrimshaw, a heavy-hitter for the Empire. She hurt people. Good people, some of 'em. And she's been in and out of the system already. If she goes back… well, she most likely isn't gonna come back. She wants to do right, but the PRT doesn't see it that way. They don't care about Marrow or Sarah, they care about Scrimshaw. And they want her put away somewhere where she can't hurt anyone else."
"I killed a PRT rat," she confessed, half under her breath. "Informant within the ABB."
Peter assumed that wasn't the end of the good person thing, but he wouldn't dig further down there. "Asuka used to be with the ABB," he said. "Why save her?"
"She wasn't with the ABB, Benny, she was a fucking prostitute," she spat, and Asuka ducked back into the bathroom. "She wasn't pushing product on our streets, she wasn't fighting our guys and girls, and she most certainly wasn't doing anything of her own free fucking will. The only crime she ever committed was having a nice ass and not having the powers I do to defend herself from people who want a piece of it."
She let out a frustrated sigh. "And I wanted out of the life anyway. I can't even remember anything much more than working for the 8-8. One day I'm in this weird city that I can't fucking place, then I somehow found my way here. This life is all I've known, and I don't fucking get it. I don't remember being a fucking kid, for Christ's sake, I don't even know how old I am."
She looked back at the bathroom. "Asuka's not some subhuman piece of meat. She's a person. She has her own hopes and dreams away from this garbage city, and if I can help her get her family and get out of here, it—"
She then turned back to Peter, and wrenched her eyes shut for a second, before looking at him again. There was steel in those dark brown eyes now, a hard edge that made them almost look black in the dim light of the apartment.
"Nothing will make up for the shit I've done. I'm not stupid, I've hurt people, and not all of them were affiliated. But she'll be able to get away from this life. We will.. And maybe then I'll be able to sleep for the first time since I woke up from whatever nightmare started all this."
Peter had stood silently, listening. It was only right. Fiq hadn't been lying about these two going through a lot, and if anything, his conviction was only strengthened by what he heard and saw. They'd been put through the wringer, and they'd had enough. Sure, the bit about Marrow being, you know, a murderer… that didn't sit right with him. But something about her story seemed strange to Peter. The lack of memory, the fact that she was currently sheltering a person affiliated with a gang she was opposed to, who was also… you know, not white, which would be a little weird if Sarah was still a card-carrying, swastika-wearing (at least outside of tattoos he assumed she hadn't gotten to remove yet), flag-waving Nazi.
"You've been through it, huh?" he asked, quietly.
"No shit, I've been through it, Benny."
"I've been having a bad time of it too. Not the same, I know, but enough of one that I'm gonna help you out in yours. Just try and lay off the killing unless there's no other option, please."
Sarah looked at him with that same cold, steely gaze.
"I'm not gonna promise you anything," she stated coldly.
"Just try," he pleaded. "I just need you to try."
"I'll try."
Peter nodded. "Alright, then. I'll help however I can." Then, he turned his attention to Fiq. "So… how are we doing this?"
