AN: I really like this chapter and also it isn't insanely late so yay for me

That evening, Katherine found herself back on the familiar fire escape of the Refuge. But this time she didn't know who or what she was looking for. So, she just tapped on the bars of the window and hoped that someone who could be helpful would notice.

It took a few minutes of tapping and waiting, but finally a small boy she didn't recognize - and had no reason to recognize - came up to the window.

"Who're you?"

She tried to smile at him. "My name is Katherine Pul - Plumber." She mentally cursed herself. She had to stop slipping up like that. "I'm looking for Jack Kelly, do you know where he is?"

The name seemed to be well known even in a place like this, and the boy seemed reluctant to give out that type of information.

"Why do you wanna know?"

She realized that she didn't exactly know how to explain this situation to someone who didn't already know. "Could you go find him, and tell him that Katherine's here? I think he'll want to see me."

The boy watched her closely, but ultimately nodded. "Yeah, okay. Wait here."

He disappeared behind the wall, and Katherine waited. She heard voices, including the boy's, and though she couldn't see where they were coming, this process seemed to be taking a lot more discussion from the other kids in the Refuge than was necessary.  But after what seemed to be a painfully long time, the boy she'd come for appeared, though she hardly recognized him.

"Jack..."

His face was so bruised and pale she could hardly make out his features underneath it all. But the most prominent difference was in his eyes. For as long as she'd known him, he'd had something in his eyes. A spark of joy, of mischief, of determination. Of strength. And that was gone. Now, his eyes just looked tired, empty, and broken.

When he saw her, though, there was something. A little glimmer of hope, maybe. But it was something.

"Ace." He immediately stuck his hands through the bars to hold hers, resting his forehead on the metal. "Ace." His voice sounded painfully hoarse

Katherine rubbed her fingers gently over his knuckles, which she noticed were split on one hand. "It's okay, Jack."

He shook his head, still not removing it from it's place on the bars. "It ain't." He lifted his eyes to meet hers. "I gotta stay in here for a year."

"Like hell you are."

Her tone was so determined that it almost made Jack smile. "Honestly, Kath? I think it might be for the best."

She looked at him as though he'd gone insane. "What are you talking about?"

"If I just stay here, finish out my sentence... Snyder won't have as much of a reason to come after me once I get out."

"No." Katherine refused to accept that. "Jack, if you do that, he's just going to start thinking of new ways to get to you once you leave."

"Ah, he'll get bored of me eventually, once he beats all the skin off my back." He commented drily, and Katherine stared at him, slightly horrified by the way he was talking. He sighed. "Sorry. Didn't mean that."

"I'm going to get you out of here, Jack. And trust me, it's going to be much sooner than a year."

"How're you gonna manage that?"

"I don't - " She stopped herself short, an idea forming in her head out of desperation. "How much time do we have?"

Jack looked at her curiously. "What?"

"I mean... how often does Snyder come in, how long do we have until he comes back?"

It took Jack longer than it probably should have to think about that answer. "Twenty minutes?"

"That should work..." Katherine muttered to herself, digging in the pockets of her skirt for a notebook and pencil.

"Ace, what're you doing?"

She grinned, and for once it was genuine. "Jack Kelly, how would you like to give me an exclusive interview?"

He finally lifted his head up to get a better look at her. "A what?"

"An interview! Jack, I could expose this place for what it really is, and that could be enough to get this place shut down, but if I don't have enough proof, it would give me enough for an article that any newspaper editor would be foolish not to publish."

"And talking to me could get you that proof." Jack murmured, and suddenly, the spark was back. "I'm in. Ask away, Kath, let's bring down the Spider and this hellhole."