#rainbcwbright

Honestly, MJ wasn’t sure how much she could realistically teach Karolina. She had been working tirelessly to learn martial arts for over a year, and rather than do it the longwinded way, SHIELD agents and other superheroes had been the ones teaching her. She could kick ass in a fight, and from what Karolina had told her, she knew nothing, but MJ was still a little stressed. To be fair, she never seemed to relax these days. She was constantly looking over her shoulder, expecting Pietro and his Brotherhood to be trailing, and she was so angry that every single blow she landed on the dummy reverberated up her arm, leaving it aching. She was doing great!

“Karolina Dean has arrived, MJ,” FRIDAY’s cool voice informed her.

Rather than force her friend to make her way through the hallways, MJ strode down, leaving the Spinneret mask in the training room. If she was going to be training Karolina, lying about her identity seemed counterproductive. When she arrived in the lobby, she immediately grinned and linked her arm through Karolina’s. “It’s so good to see you,” she said excitedly, making it sound like they hadn’t gone to lunch a week ago. To be fair, a week ago she stilled believed her boyfriend was a good man. (God, Karolina probably knew about that breakup. It was all over social media, MJ had never been subtle.) “Follow me,” she said, leading her towards the elevator.

When they arrived to the training room, she immediately tossed Karolina an extra pair of her boxing gloves. “So, I always promised you my origin story, right? This is pretty much it. I decided that I was sick of letting other people defend New York, and I couldn’t let civilians, the people a little too small for Avengers and big heroes like to protect live in fear anymore. So I found myself a mentor, Spider-Woman — the ex-Avenger — and then I started training. Eventually, I got good, and Spinneret was born. It’s not very exciting, is it?” After she finished, MJ walked towards the mat and began stretching. “This is super important even though it’s lame. I don’t want you to pull a muscle.”

Karolina had to be one of the coolest people in the world and discovering that she was in New York and not California thrilled Cassie. Sure, she was a little slow on the uptake, but in her defence, since the Runaways’ arrival, she hadn’t exactly been available. (There was another word for it, but every time Cassie thought about the specifics, she felt nauseous.) Naturally, the second she got time to contact Karolina and ask her to meet for lunch, she was ecstatic. Making her way through friends she wanted to catch up with was understandably a lengthy process, she had only been back from her ‘extended vacation’ for a couple of months, but it was well worth it. Slowly, Cassie was beginning to feel human again, and catching up with Karolina Dean would surely help.

When she arrived at their lunch spot, Cassie took a seat across from Karolina and smiled at her. “Pretty cool place, huh?” She asked her, glancing around at the very retro decor. “I found it on TripAdvisor and I am a big fan.” It was the first time Cassie had been there, but she wasn’t sure whether Karolina had read about her death in the papers or not. Playing it cool, like she knew exactly where she was and what was happening was the best bet. “I missed you,” she informed her seriously. “How have you been and what’s new? Catch me up!”

Karolina Dean was an old friend of Felicia’s, and one that she absolutely adored. She never expected to see her inside of New York City, especially when she was from Los Angeles, the second best city in America, in Felicia’s humble opinion, but she wouldn’t complain. It had been years since she last saw her, but Felicia didn’t expect anything to change. They had always gotten along effortlessly, and while Felicia certainly had secrets these days, they had never interfered with her daytime identity as Felicia Hardy.

They agreed to meet in a trendy restaurant in Brooklyn, and as Felicia waited for Karolina, she preemptively ordered two kambucha’s. They were extremely popular in Los Angeles, surely Karolina was a fan. When she saw her old friend approach, Felicia rose from the table and offered her a bright smile. “You look amazing,” she told her happily. “We have to catch up! What’s new and exciting in your life?”