Back to Mysterio

Felicia left the hospital and went back into the alley she had landed in earlier. Once again, she checked she was alone, before letting the symbiote cover her body. Alright, now she just had to pay Quentin. She fired a web and swung into the city, heading for her apartment.

She landed on her balcony and went inside, where she opened her safe and retrieved the quarter of a million, she had promised him, stuffing it into a duffle bag, before going back onto her balcony and swinging away. Sadly, she was giving away a lot of her savings. But, it would all be worth it once Spider-Man was hers, she could always get more money.

Ardour returned to the old, abandoned theatre, strutting inside, and heading back to the stage.

"I'm back!" She called out, taking the duffle bag off her shoulder, as she walked to the edge of the balcony, "Want your cash or not?"

"Nice and early, good to see it." His voice echoed around the room.

"Still playing pretend, are you?"

"Throw the money on the ground to your right." The voice boomed. Ardour rolled her eyes and threw it to the ground. She bent down to unzip it, when an imp-like creature swooped down and picked up the bag, flying it down towards the stage.

"Hey! I want that bag back."

"All in due time." The voice replied as the bag, and the creature carrying it, disappeared from her view, exiting stage left. There was a moment of silence, he was likely ensuring all the money was there, "Thank you, glad to see it's all here."

"Cool, can I get my bag and go now?"

"Not just yet. I couldn't help but watch where you went, and so I want to know why you were in the hospital at the time of my distraction." Ardour could sense the figures surrounding her from behind. Well, her ruse didn't matter anymore, she'd gotten what she'd wanted.

"Thank you." She stated, pulling the tracker off her hand, which he'd placed when they'd shaken earlier, and throwing it to the ground.

"For what?" He asked back, suspicious. He had every right to be.

"I've been waiting for this." She replied, quickly flipping off the balcony and firing webbing at the decoys behind her, it wrapped around them and held them in place. She then fired another one above the stage and swung down onto it, the figure in the middle stepping to the side to dodge her. She ignored the decoy and ran for stage left.

"Where do you think you're going?" His voice asked from behind. She knew it was the decoy and ignored it, until she sensed something and ducked, rolling forwards. She spun to see it lunging at her. Fine, guess she'd have to stop this one quickly, otherwise he'd get away. She fired webbing at it, but the webs flew off to the sides, as if they had a mind of their own, the decoy continued to approach, ready to punch, "Your webs don't affect me!"

She was tired of his crap and parried the punch, grabbing the wrist and throwing the decoy away. The second she let go, so fired some more webbing, hoping they would stick it to the wall. But she didn't stay to find out, and quickly turned and ran off stage, into the narrow hallways behind it. Where had he gone?

Suddenly, multiple of the imps swooped at her. She didn't care and fired two webs, grabbing two of them, before swinging them around like flails to destroy the rest, which all exploded when hit. She didn't slow her run even slightly as she came to the back door, only to see him holding her bag and flying away on more imps.

"It was nice doing business with you!" The figure shouted. It was too obvious an exit; it wasn't him. She spun and looked around herself, she saw a dumpster and smirked. She webbed it and yanked on it, pulling it away from the wall, to reveal Quentin Beck, the great Mysterio, curled up with the duffle bag and a tablet. He looked up at her, his eyes going wide. He then smiled apologetically, "We can talk about this, right?"

"Not a chance." Ardour stated as she quickly webbed the tablet and yanked it out of his hands, smashing it against the floor. The decoy flying away disappeared, leaving only drones in its place, "Had you stuck to our deal, I would've let you keep the money, but you just had to track me, and I can't have any loose ends. Also, I said I want that bag back."

She fired a web at her duffle bag and yanked on it, pulling it out of his hands and causing it to roll across the floor.

"Well, there you go, there's your bag. I won't tell anyone what I know, I promise." He rambled, fiddling with his pockets, "So, can't you just let me go?"

She sensed something and turned to her side, keeping her eyes fixed on him, while her leg shot out, kicking straight through an animatronic, which stopped dead, its arms dropping to its sides. She saw his smile drop.

"Nice try." She stated, firing a web at him, and pulling on it, yanking him towards her. She caught him and slammed him into the wall. She then searched him, destroying anything electronic she found on him. Once she was sure he had nothing else hidden up his sleeves, she looked him straight in the eye, "You're coming with me."