40 Attack on hero Part 7

-Peter's hideout -

Peter blinked rapidly as his consciousness exited the Meta-verse, he could feel himself separating from Cypher again, his clones vanished in pixelated bursts of light from his mind's virtual space leaving only Blur Cypher's presence behind. It was uncomfortable being back in his body for a moment, it would take some time for him to get used to the effects of time dilation.

His stomach growled lightly. 

He sat up on his couch and glanced around the room for something to eat but found nothing edible in sight. It's been 27 hours in the real world since he'd eaten anything. The last time he came out was when he discovered its effects. After going back in he was to focus on how to exploit it among other things to come back out. Turns out his virtual self is incapable of hunger for obvious reasons. 

With little else to do, he decided it would be best to leave for some food. He left his hide soon after choosing to go for a walk for some much-needed fresh air and food.

....

-25 minutes later far from his hideout-

Peter walked through the crowded streets of New York City, lost in thought about various things as he headed for the nearest cafe. He had forgotten about the one crucial fact when he dove back into the meta-verse. He had forgotten about the side effects of his ghoul ability. 

Thanks to his intense hunger, another form of hunger came with it. That itch in the back of his throat was back. He tried stopping for a hot dog, but it tasted like ash and dirt in his mouth, so he decided to find a cafe with a good cup of black coffee. 

It was a poor substitute, but it would do for now. If the hunger persisted, he realized he'd have to break into a blood bank when he went for his annual visits to Aunt May. The urge was getting worse, the last time he had any blood was when he drained that thug out during his rescue of Yuri and that was two weeks ago. 

'Maybe two weeks is the limit for when I need to feed' he wondered. 

Suddenly, he almost collided with someone as he turned around a corner, but his reflexes saved him as the person he was going to bump into slipped by him almost falling. Peter grabbed them by the arm and helped them up gently. 

"Whoa, sorry about that," Peter offered an apology before he blinked in surprise as he looked up to see one Felicity Hardy standing before him, her eyes wide with alarm.

" Whoa, hey watch where you. Well, hello there, muscles~. Fancy meeting you here and you caught me too, aw~ my hero~. " Felicity said quickly with an over-top attempt at familiarity with him, offering him a sheepish smile, grabbing onto his arm as she regained his balance. 

Before he could say anything else, a group of men approached, their intentions clear from the predatory gleam in their eyes. Peter's instincts tensed, but then Felicia grasped and tightened on his arm and spoke in a rushed voice.

"Peter, there you are! I've been looking for you everywhere, " she said, her voice carrying a hint of affection that made their sudden closeness slightly more believable.

Confusion washed over Peter as he tried to go over her words, but before he could respond, the men closed in, their leers growing more menacing by the second.

 "And who are you? Come on Felicia you can't be serious, this guy? Really?" one of them sneered, eying them both with undisguised interest though his gaze seemed to linger on Peter for a moment, almost sizing him up. 

His hair was tied back into a neat cornrow, he was of African American descent and wore a noticeable purple and black-themed trench coat, with a white t-shirt underneath and cargo black cargo Pants with a purple line design and purple. The teen seemed to prefer purple. 

The men around him were far older than him shared were of the same decent as him but from the looks of it, they seemed to follow his lead. It was an odd group dynamic Peter thought. 

Peter glanced around at all the faces of the group of men before glancing back at Felicia beside him, her grip on his arm tightening more with a surprising amount of strength. With an exaggerated sigh he began to realize just what was going on right now, he stepped closer to her and gave the men a kind smile. 

He noted that one of the men beside the one who spoke up looked familiar, but he couldn't place his face and he to hungry and didn't want to bother now. 

"Yep, she's serious," Peter said popping the 'p' sarcastically, he opted to support her little facade to get whatever this was over with quickly. 

" So, Felicia, who are your friends?" He pulled her name out intentionally as he spoke. 

Peter reached over and gave her hand a not-so-gentle squeeze. Felicia's eyebrow twitched slightly but she gave him a bright and beautiful smile as she increased her grip on his arm, almost digging her fingernails into his flesh. 

" Oh well you know, there just guys from the place I'm interning at, isn't that right Miles" she said, nodding at the one who spoke, her gaze hardening on him among the group. 

"Yeah, yeah, that's right. Pete huh, name's Miles Morales, I'm a work friend of your girl here. I gotta hand it ya man, never seen her so fixated on someone before." the apparent leader of the group said, he reached out his right hand for a handshake. 

Peter shook his hand politely, feeling Miles adding some pressure as he squeezed Peter's hand in a way that would have been painful to a normal human. Peter activated his fool's mask and deactivated his abilities; he didn't need this right now. 

"Cool, nice meeting Miles, I don't know what I did, you could say it was her." He kept his polite smile on as he felt his hand almost break under Miles's increasing pressure.

"Oh yeah, I can believe that she can be kinda crazy sometimes," Miles replied as he let go of Peter's hand. 

"Oof, that's quite a grip you got there. You work out or something?" Peter flexed his hand which was slightly red and bruised. He shoved it in his hood to hide it from sight. 

"Oh yeah, this guy a total gym nut, anyway, it was nice catching up and all but me and my man here have a date to get to, isn't the right Petey pie" she pulled on him to the side highlight as if to remind him of their fictional date. 

"Ah, right, we are getting kinda late aren't we, well, it was nice meeting you Miles, guess I'll see you around." Peter offered as he made to move past Miles and the man around him. 

Thankfully they did just that. 

"I think we'll be seeing each other more often than you think, as long as you keep hanging around Felicia here, she's very important to the work we do, ain't that right boys." He said as he moved out and gave them way to walk down the footpath.

The men laughed in affirmation, clearly amused by Miles's words as they parted to let them pass. 

"See you around Felicia, don't forget what I said, the offer's still on the table," Miles called out after her. 

As the men scattered, the tension melted away, leaving behind a sense of relief as they walked out of sight. Peter turned to the teen beside him, her eyes focused on the road ahead with hurried steps.

Soon they turned another corner and were hidden from sight. 

"Thank you," she breathed, her voice filled with genuine gratitude. Peter pulled his hand free form, and messaged his other red hand, simply regarding her with a raised eyebrow. 

"Work friends really? Are you following me or something Hardy?" Peter asked. She showed some small amount of remorse as she glanced at his red hand. 

"You wish Parker we just happen to meet today… look, I'm sorry, they had me cornered alright, didn't mean to drag you into that," she replied apologetically, trying to sound nonchalant despite the guilt-ridden expression, she still didn't answer his passing question about who they were, and Peter didn't feel the need to pry. 

"How about I buy you lunch? you know to make up for it and for your hand." She offered with a small smile.

Before Peter could protest, his stomach chose that moment to growl loudly, betraying his hunger. He kept fool's mask in tight and swore in his mind that he should have stopped that short, but it was too late now. 

Felicia laughed, a warm, melodic sound that seemed genuinely unlike her. "Well, looks like I'm about to save your life, Pete, come on, let's go I know a good place, it's only as a thank you and sorry for what happened nothing more Pete" she offered, her eyes sparkling with amusement before her stomach growled as well.

Felicia's face lit up lightly as she cleared her throat in embarrassment. Peter gave her a deadpan look which only seemed to make her smile at him sheepishly. 

"Looks like we both could use a meal, come on I know a good place," she said, her tone teasing as she led the way to a nearby café.

Peter reluctantly followed her for the sake of keeping up appearances. 

"Fine…You know, I only drink black coffee with no sugar." 

 "What?! Really, what are you some kinda alien?" 

.....

Miles Morales watched Felicia turn a corner with her new boy toy, Pete whatever his name was, one of his men with a noticeable band-aid on his nose stood up beside him. 

Felicia, he just couldn't understand the strange girl despite his feelings for her but damn she was hot, crazy, and dangerous, what more could a man want in a woman. he could still remember the first time they met when his uncle took him under his wing Felicia was doing jobs with his uncle for the Kingpin in the place of her father. He fell for her, and he fell hard. 

But that was a story for another time, right now he had another problem to deal with. 

"You sure that's the guy?" he asked aloud. It's been a few weeks since his uncle Aaron was hospitalized under strange circumstances and since he took over the reins for the Prowler gang in his uncle's place. Things have been going well since the incident but now it turns out the one responsible for his uncle's state just so happens to be the same person the girl, he's been pinning for who has a thing for. 

What were the odds of that?

" Yeah boss, that's him alright, I'm telling you, I never forget a face, he was the one who put your uncle Aaron in the hospital that night. Found him with a gun on the bridge before, unhinged, he went bat shit crazy on us. Guys a fucking nut. We didn't even see it coming." Jamie answered him. 

"Damn it Cat, that's just bad luck, isn't it? Why you gotta go liking someone like, looks like I'm gonna have to break your heart… tsk, tsk, tsk…, Oh well, that's life for ya. Find out who he is and where he lives." he said as he turned to walk away, some of his men turned to follow after Felicia. 

'No one messes with the Prowlers and walks away alive, especially not my uncle, Peter huh, just wait for.' his thoughts resounded. Miles needed to head back and suit up, soon the prowler would come out to play and take out the bitch that put one of them in the hospital. 

.....

-Chapter End-

 Bet you didn't see this coming, so the Prowler Miles universe was pulled into this new timeline too via the anomaly of Peter Parker 65B, which means, well... Spider-verse is gonna be up soon. 

Character Reference with images attached

Yuriko Watanabe 'Sin of Lust'

Wilson Fisk 'Cused Virtue: Justice'

Felicity Hardy