Disclaimer: I do not own Spider-Man. Spider-Man is copyrighted to Marvel and Disney. I do, however, own and take responsibility for any and all original characters and storylines created throughout Spider-Man: Threatened Species.

Spider-Man: Threatened Species

Prologue

Thwip!

Thwip!

Thwip!

The sound of the synthetic web that was coming from the mechanised web shooters on his wrist was the only thing that could be heard on the streets of New York City. It was strange. The city that never sleeps was never supposed to be this quiet, even at two-thirty in the morning.

As he swung through the city, Spider-Man was constantly on the lookout, wondering why everything was so quiet; having always lived in the city, he knew that something was just around the corner.

And then it hit. The sound of a police siren blaring a few streets away. Spider-Man instantly picked up the pace and swung around the block to meet the two police cars racing down the vacant city streets. He kept slightly behind them in order to change his direction if need be. There were a few turns before the cars stopped at an apartment block.

Spider-Man flung himself up to the wall of the block and watched as the police officers jumped out of the car and raced into the building. He caught wind of one of the officers talking to his radio, calling in that he and his partner had reached the location of the suspected robbery. His Spider-Sense kicked in and he jerked his head around in time to see a shadow racing away on the roof of the building across the street.

Without even thinking, he leaped from the wall and used his web to flick himself up to the top of the roof. The shadow he saw in the distance had vanished. He slowly tip-toed forward, knowing that the culprit could be on hiding behind the stairwell exits or under the edge of one of the buildings. He could feel that they were close, whoever it was.

"I know you're here, Felicia," Spider-Man said. "Give me one reason why I shouldn't turn you in right now."

There was no movement in the shadows for what seemed like an eternity, before a figure slowly stepped out from behind the stairwell exit. She was wearing a tight, black latex outfit that hugged her figure, lined with a soft white fur that matched her long, platinum blonde hair. She was walking out of the shadows with her hands slightly raised, palms towards Spider-Man.

"I know what you're thinking," she started, "but please don't assume that this was me."

"And why do you say that? A well known thief who just happens to be at the scene of the crime?"

She clasped her hands together. "Peter, please, you have to believe me. I will admit that I was here because I got a tip off about an apartment that was ripe for the picking, but someone beat me to it."

Spider-Man stood there, staring at her, trying to decipher whether or not she was telling the truth. "Did you see who it was?"

Felicia simply shook her head.

"Do you know who gave you the tip off?"

She shook her head again. "I don't know, he found me."

"Felicia, you've gotta give me some reason to believe you."

"I can't give you anything more than my word."

Spider-Man looked down, considering what he'd been told.

"Peter, please." She was begging him, standing closer to him, trying to get into his view. "Peter, look into my eyes. I'm not lying to you. I already told you why I was here, but I swear to you this wasn't me."

He couldn't help himself, lifting his head, he looked into her blue eyes and saw something in them, but he wasn't sure what it was, whether it was fear or a cover-up by a very convincing liar. He had to make a judgement call.

"Go. Get out of here before I change my mind." While he couldn't deny that he and the woman

known as Black Cat would always have a strange relationship, he could have sworn that, for almost a moment, he could see that she was telling the truth. He was just hoping he wouldn't regret it.

Felicia turned and proceeded to the edge of the building where she would make her escape, but before she could jump, she turned her head and looked back towards Spider-Man, looking as though she was going to say something – but she never did, taking off without another word.

Spider-Man simply sighed and turned to see the police officers searching for clues in the apartment that had been robbed, but he couldn't well enough to make out anything, the two curtains flapping in the open window causing an obstruction.

After several moments, he came to a conclusion that there was nothing more that he could do from here, and he knew his relationship with the NYPD was very strained at the moment and didn't want to risk himself being caught and arrested. He hopped up on the edge of the building before leaping down, using his web shooters to pull himself up and swing away into the night.

A Brief Explanation (Supposedly)

Hello all! I would like to welcome you to my new story, "Spider-Man: Threatened Species".

Now, the first thing I must say is that, although I am an avid comicbook reader, and a huge fan of the Marvel Universe, I am not following along with the Marvel 616 Universe story line. I am merely using the characters in my own version of the 616 Universe to create stories. In saying that, you can almost treat this as an alternate universe, simply because I am not going to be following on with what has happened in terms of big events.

And while I'm at it, I will mention that this story won't contain ONLY Spider characters, it will also have characters from all over the 616 Universe making appearances.

There will also be some appearances from my own characters – I won't be going through the origin stories of them unless necessary as I feel it might take away from the story.

With that out of the way, I'd also like to say that, while I understand this entry was a little bit underwhelming, all I can say is that it will get better, and that is a guarantee. This was only a prologue, after all, and to me, a prologue is something that sets the scene – it gives you the back story, the beginning. As I said, things will certainly pick up. In fact, I'm working on the first chapter as I write this, and I can tell that things will certainly be a bit better.

As for the way I've written this story out, I'm going to try to keep it in the style of a comic book. I know I struggle to paint a picture a how the panel is supposed to look and what I want you to see, but hopefully I can improve on that. But basically, what it all comes back to is that I'm going to try to make every chapter feel like a separate issue in this series (apart from this entry). At this point, that definitely feels like it might be a difficult thing to do, so if I finish the first chapter and it hasn't quite worked out as well as I want to, there's a good chance I may re-write the chapter to my usual style.

Anyway, that was my long rant! Whoops!

But basically, I hope you guys enjoy, and of course, any and all criticism is welcome :)