In her luxury Manhattan apartment, Felicia Hardy sat at the dining table, mechanically chewing on a piece of dry toast.
Her dark circles were prominent; she hadn't slept a wink since returning home the night before.
Every time she closed her eyes, Peter's image dominated her mind.
She saw him stepping out of that purple teleportation array, his silhouette tall and imposing as he saved her life at the brink of death.
Felicia was completely submerged, unable to pull herself out. She felt as though she could never love another man for the rest of her life. After all, looking across the entire planet, who could possibly be as strong, as handsome, and as domineering as Peter?
But... the thought of Peter already being her best friend's boyfriend made her heart ache until she could barely breathe. She didn't know how to confess these feelings to him, and she certainly didn't know how to face Gwen.
She felt trapped in a dead end. She couldn't force herself to forget the spark, yet she didn't want to become the kind of person she used to despise. She didn't want her years of friendship with Gwen to shatter over a man.
Most importantly, she knew—with a painful, sober clarity—that she couldn't compare to Gwen. In Peter's heart, Gwen was the singular, irreplaceable one.
This awareness was the root of all her suffering. Conflict, adoration, resentment, desire... the cocktail of emotions was driving her to the brink of madness.
Just as she was losing herself in the gloom, a soft, seductive voice whispered abruptly in her ear:
"Since you love him so much, you should tell him how you feel!"
"Whether he loves you back is his business, but loving him is yours!"
"Take this step. The probability of success might not be high, but if you refuse to even move, your probability of success is zero!"
"Who's there?!"
Felicia jumped from her seat, the sudden movement knocking over her heavy mahogany chair. She scanned the room, heart racing, but it was empty.
"Stop looking. I'm right here... on you."
In the silence, the voice echoed again. Felicia looked down, and her pupils dilated to the extreme.
A layer of aqua-blue, fluid-like substance had somehow covered her entire body, forming a sleek suit identical in style to Gwen's.
The streamlined appearance and strange, shimmering glow... it looked terrifyingly similar to the monster "Radiation" that had nearly choked the life out of her the night before!
Fear gripped her. She instinctively opened her mouth to sing, intending to use the power of the Emerald Dragon Scales to strip the creature from her body.
"Don't waste your breath!"
The blue symbiote coalesced into a smiling face on her shoulder. "I am a symbiote born from within you. Sonics won't harm me anymore."
"By the way, you can call me 'Tide.' That's the name I've chosen for myself."
"Felicia, we are one. I know everything—your memories, your emotions, your darkest thoughts. They are all open to me.
I have no intention of harming you or leading you into evil. I simply... don't want to taste your pain anymore. If you keep feeding me such bitter food, I'll end up malnourished."
Tide's casual, almost playful tone gave Felicia a strange illusion. It felt as if the symbiote was another version of herself—a version that was more direct, more courageous, and unburdened by social etiquette.
Noticing that it wasn't actually whispering for her to commit crimes or kill people, Felicia relaxed slightly. Then, almost uncontrollably, she followed Tide's logic:
"I understand the theory, but Peter loves Gwen. I can't betray my best friend."
Tide let out a sharp, mocking laugh. "He loves Gwen, but that doesn't mean he can't love you too!"
"Think about your father's 'collector' friends, or those 'successful' men your stepmother met at galas. Which of them didn't have half a dozen mistresses? If those losers can have it all, why can't Peter? He is so so unique. Shouldn't a man like him possess everything beautiful in this world—including you?"
Felicia was silenced. Tide's logic was so warped yet so undeniably alluring that she found herself unable to argue.
"But... what would Gwen think of me?"
"You're friends, aren't you?" Tide whispered like a little devil. "You know how kind she is. She won't even kill the villains who deserve it.
Do you really think she'd kill you over this? You just need to act a little pitiful. Tell her you have no intention of taking Peter away from her; you only want a tiny sliver of his attention. Do you think she could refuse you?"
"Remember that prom? She left Peter behind for the sake of her 'justice.' If she wants to be a superhero, she is destined to sacrifice the time she spends with him. In those moments, isn't it a good thing for you—her best friend—to accompany him and fill the void in his heart?"
"But..." Felicia was wavering, her internal moral compass spinning wildly. "Isn't that just bullying an honest person?"
"So, do you want to sacrifice yourself to satisfy the 'honest person,' or sacrifice the 'honest person' to satisfy yourself?" Tide asked, a question that struck her very soul.
Felicia fell silent again. Worse still, Tide continued to tempt her:
"Go. Find him. Tell him you love him. And then... possess him. You are so beautiful, your body is perfect. No man can refuse you!"
Just as her reason and desire were about to collide in a total collapse of her defenses...
CRASH!
A sharp sound of shattering glass erupted from the living room. Felicia gasped in shock, and Tide instantly shifted into battle mode.
The aqua-blue suit hardened, and Tide even had the presence of mind to extend a tentacle to turn on the kitchen faucet, drawing more water into the air.
When Crossbones and the Winter Soldier burst into the dining area, they were met with a bizarre sight.
A woman in a shimmering blue suit glared at them, while two ribbons of water coiled around her like strikes of a venomous snake, waiting for the moment to strike...
Crossbones and Winter Soldier froze.
Wait... this isn't right. Where was the "Nightingale" from the files—the one who only knew how to sing and move tiny trickles of water?
What kind of monster was this?!
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