Out of coincidence, out of fate, out of whatever people called it, ultimately the Sheath arrived on Earth 65. It was their history. A part of their Earth.
Earth 2099 was searching for it with the Big Man at the helm. They established a market with Jefferson Davis managing it. Here and there, they meddled but ultimately, they didn't care. Earth 65 had nothing. Earth 65 wasn't ripe with superheroes or magic; it was rooted in reality.
They treated Earth 65 the same way a person would a stray cat. They kept their distance and fed it here and there. They kept an eye on the scars and battles they got into. They intervened and took when interested.
They never considered the Sheath was here. But it was.
Now, it was taken by their spy. By a woman who realized it WAS here.
The apartment was on the fourteenth floor of a building in Midtown. Yeah, it was just some building. It had no particular reason to be remembered. People living here were ordinary and had made their peace with that.
The woman inside it was not making her peace with anything.
She was packing her stuff. The bag on the bed was half-full and she was adding to it fast. That speed became too much and she winced. Her left hand went to her right shoulder, pressing flat against it through the fabric of her shirt. She held it there for a moment, then released and kept moving.
She pulled open the wardrobe and reached for the shelf above the hanging rail and stopped.
Knock, knock, knock!
The spy went very still. She tiptoed out of her bedroom.
Knock, knock, knock!
Her eyes darted to the door, then the window, then the bag on the bed, then back to the front door. The spy of Earth 2099 crossed to the front door without sound.
The peephole showed her the hallway in fisheye and unveiled a young man holding a paper bag that was visibly greasy at the bottom and a cardboard drink carrier with two cups in it. He was nonthreatening and, even for the spy, was succeeding in making her shoulders drop.
"Hey. I heard you got hurt. Figured you hadn't been out much."
The spy said nothing.
"I got burgers. Maybe we can eat and chill?"
She put her hand on the deadbolt, smiled to herself, and opened the door.
Why not? For him, she could make an exception. For him, she could have one final night.
The tips of Felix Faeth's hair were lighter than she remembered. Other than that, he was the same handsome young man she remembered. He was in a plain jacket and dark jeans and he was holding the burger bag with both hands now that the drink carrier was tucked under his arm. He smiled when she opened the door.
"Felix."
"Maria."
"Sit down." Maria gestured him inside. "I'll find plates."
In minutes, they were eating together in the living room. Table in between and lounging on her couches.
"So, uhh…sorry about Fury." Felix began.
"You were invited?"
"Yeah, in Norman's place."
"So why didn't you go?"
"I was…hurt. A bit like you."
Maria looked at him. She let a small laugh out, genuine in its surprise. "And who shared that with you?"
"Things changed after Osborn." Felix said sheepishly. "Certain doors opened."
Maria studied him for a moment. He held it without shifting or blinking.
"Hm," Maria said, and ate her burger.
Outside, the city made its usual sounds. Traffic and distance and the low continuous frequency of several million people existing in proximity. The window caught some of it and diffused it, made it ambient, made it background.
Maria ate. Felix ate. Neither were in a rush.
When she was done, she folded the wrapper. She looked at the bag in her bedroom, visible through the open doorway, and looked away.
Too late.
"Oh, you're packing," Felix said.
"Yes."
"Going somewhere?"
Maria picked up her drink. "Classified. SHIELD transition business. Lots of loose ends."
"Of course." He nodded slowly. He turned his cup on the table. "You're going back to Earth 2099, aren't you?"
The grim reaper could not have broken the silence.
Maria glanced up at him. She laughed through her nose.
"I'm sorry?" It was like being told something absurd by someone they'd previously considered intelligent. "Felix, what—where is this coming from? Earth 2099? What is that?"
"You know what it is. That's your home."
"That's...what are you even saying? The multiverse?"
"Mhm."
"...."
"I'm Spider-Man," he said. "That's how I know."
Maria stopped and blinked twice.
"You're…"
Felix smiled. That smile said everything. While Maria tried to resist, her brain understood what it meant. The spy knew lies from truths, but more than that, she knew how to connect the dots.
"Spider...Man..."
"I really am sorry for almost killing you. Actually...I bet you're why Spider-Man isn't a public menace. You didn't testify that it was me that killed Nick Fury or those SHIELD agents."
It was, partially, why he chose this response. Why didn't Maria tell anyone the truth? Why didn't the military have any mention of Spider-Man potentially killing Nick Fury? Based on what Herbie hacked so far, it was listed as a far-fetched theory and nothing more. It wasn't corroborated when it should have been.
Maria put her elbow on the couch side and her hand over her eyes.
"...god." A long exhale. "God. Of course." She dropped her hand and looked at him. "Of course you are. Why didn't I—" She stopped herself, looked at the ceiling briefly, and looked back at him. "..."
Whatever assumptions she was making, Felix could only guess. But yes, Maria Hill was the spy from Earth 2099. A woman he had known from the beginning of his journey, who aided him in many things, who he believed was a former SHIELD agent that decided to join SHIELD again. From the very beginning, she was a foreign agent.
He had never suspected her, not until he saw the recording. Not until Xina was able to confirm that she had stolen the Sheath.
God. His heart stilled. He didn't want to look at her with this kind of smile. He thought he could trust her. He did trust her, still, on some level. After all, it was why he hadn't forcibly taken the Sheath from her. The good guy in him wanted to have dialogue first.
In an attempt to read her mind, he said, "Running isn't an option with me." When in reality, he had no powers. In a fight, he had no clue if he could take her. What mattered was the image he presented.
"...seems so."
An image Maria Hill believed. After all, she saw him kill all those people. She saw first-hand what he was capable of. And in this power-move of revealing his identity, Maria had no clue what he'd do. What he planned on doing.
Felix held all the cards.
"So. When you approached me. When you first…"
"Slept with you?" Maria said it without embarrassment. "In my world, Felix Faeth was a genius. Led the first generation of Alchemaxx's Public Eye."
"Public Eye…?"
"A police force. The police force. The most ruthless of the ruthless. You could call them the spiders of the city."
How funny.
"You weren't by the history books but you were remembered by the company. The best of the faceless scientists that invented and improved the standard armour and weaponry that's still in use today. You and your team didn't care what was necessary or who you killed to make your inventions work, as long as it was done and as long as Alchemaxx paid you. I knew you'd be useful."
Felix said nothing. Somewhere, deep inside, he found himself thinking back to the beginning. When he was in his apartment, alone, desperately lobbing for interviews. Desperately needing a job, any job, because he was a broke college kid.
Yeah.
'Yeah, maybe,' a part of himself was thinking. Maybe in some other world, if he wasn't Spider-Man, he would have climbed the corporate ladder.
"Clearly," Maria said, "you're not the same man."
"Maybe. Ultimately, you knew I'd be useful in advance…but you only did it after your father died."
"..." She looked down. "Yes."
Maria looked toward the window that held the city. She watched it for a moment before answering, and when she answered her voice had changed slightly. There was a tremble. A real tremble. In his heart of hearts, he was glad to hear it.
"Many spies are dispatched to…underdeveloped Earths. I am not the only one. Our tasks are simple: to blend in, observe, and report. Someone like you is to be blackmailed for insider information. We have a list of your archetype; middle-men of mild importance that crop up across the multiverse."
'Seriously? I'm an archetype?'
"But…" She bit her bottom lip. "I had other priorities."
"Your father?" he said, hoping.
"Yes. The father of the Maria Hill of this Earth was alive. That…was the reason I stationed myself here. On my Earth, he died before he could see me make anything of myself. But here—" She stopped and put a hand to her chest. "Here I could tell him. Here I could cook with him and sit with him and be his daughter. Those months meant everything to me." She smiled to herself without yet looking at him.
That expression, he had hoped to see. He was happy to see it.
At the time, she said she did to prove herself. To tell him that she'd do anything for revenge. It came out of nowhere, to the point that he thought she was manipulating him. And he was right; she was.
Yet, at the same time, there was another reality. Another side of that first time: desperation and loneliness. Maria lost her father. Felix lost his best friend. Pleasure was what they needed. To push aside the fog of despair, they gave into their desires. They just fucking went it.
That humanness, that was what Felix wanted to see. If Maria was some spy who slept him for the sake of it, who truly didn't care for her father's death, then…
Then he probably would have stolen the Sheath, knocked her out, and politely questioned her alongside Hobie and Xina.
But the Maria he feared was not the Maria in front of him.
"Nostalgia is a drug. A very pleasant drug. His death on this Earth was not part of any plan. I was sent here to observe and do my job, and I delayed some of what I supposed to do by living with my father." She was quiet for a moment. "When he died…and when I saw and met you, I…I remembered my mission." A soft smile touched her lips. "And I got swept up."
"I think I did too."
At long last, those brown eyes met his. They were sincere. "For helping me get revenge…I do want to thank you, Felix. Sincerely."
Thank goodness for that. Really.
However, that didn't answer anything.
"The original Maria Hill then. Where is she?"
"Cancer. Why do you think she quit the force?"
"Fury should have you—"
"I'm Maria Hill," she said. "Don't underestimate me. I can fool Nick Fury."
He almost smiled. Almost. "Why did you rejoin SHIELD then?"
"In case of the Red Goblin. I received a report on the Red Goblin from my superiors and they ordered me to keep a vigilante eye. That meant boring out my hole to join SHIELD."
"He was that much of a threat?"
"You have no idea. It was of the utmost priority. They had no idea where he'd gone or how he did it. The Goblin had just…vanished, and every spy across every Earth was told to find him."
"I suppose you've succeeded. He's dead."
"I know. I confirmed his corpse for myself."
"So what's next for you?" Felix asked.
Maria looked at the bag in the other room. "SHIELD is gone. You're here. And now I have nothing."
"Nothing except the Sheath."
"You defeated the Goblin. There's nothing in all the universes that can stop you." Maria met his eyes. "I do wish to know though: after taking it from me, what will you do with it?"
"You want me to tell you so you can report back."
"I'm thinking about it."
"Uh huh."
Silence. Her eyes darted around, to her bedroom and the bag, to Felix Faeth. The genius and the Spider-Man.
"Felix...is Spider-Man, huh."
Breath in, breath out.
"What? Still thinking?"
"Yeah. You being Spider-Man," Maria suddenly said. "That changes things. That, in fact, changed everything." Her finger came up to her neck, pressing lightly against the skin just below her jaw. "There are trackers inside me. A trifecta of them, actually, to make sure I remain here and to receive their orders. They can't be removed, not with the technology of this Earth."
"Wait—"
"Oh no, don't worry, they can't listen in. If Alchemaxx had tech that ridiculous, they'd have sent androids."
"I see…"
They had androids? What?
"Of course, one press of the button and I'm dead." Maria lowered her hand. "But…I'm thinking you can beat that. I'm thinking you can beat the Public eye, Alchemaxx, the Big Man, and set me free."
"You…" Confused, Felix tilted his head. "You want to betray Earth 2099? Just like that?"
"Yes."
The fully blunt, full eye-contact Maria Hill was back in full-force.
"Why?"
"Because I like this place. I like this Earth and its people. It has...hope. It has you."
Felix wasn't sure what to make of Maria and her sudden declaration. If anything, he was flustered. "Me?" The guy that could killed SHIELD agents in front of her? Who almost failed?
"Yes, you."
"Are you talking about Felix or Spider-Man?"
Maria smiled. It was quite possibly the most honest smile he had seen in a woman. "Why not both?"
That smile, that damn smile...
"I've known you as Felix, the guy that helped clear away all the radiation in the city - and you didn't do it for a single penny. You did it because you wanted to. You wanted to give a future to everyone."
"..."
"I've seen Spider-Man from afar, fighting Creature Z with everything he has. I've seen Spider-Man helping regular people in alleyways and on the streets. And recently, I've seen him right up-close, desperately trying to fight against being controlled. To not kill people. I decided not to tell anyone because the world deserves a hero like you. You're the best hero I know in any world. And...what a coincidence that you're the best human I know in any world too."
"Maria..."
"Apologies. I know I'm blabbering and pathetic but...if there's anyone that can save me from my despair, it's you." Turning, Maria lowered her head, forehead parallel to her knee. "Please. Help me."