Here is part two of our epic story arc. In this chapter, Peter and Karen begin to look for clues on what happened to the kid who's been absent from school for days. Meanwhile, Black Cat finally arrives in New York and will eventually cross paths with our heroes.

Chapter 9

Midtown, Manhattan NY

Peter barely got any sleep last night. If this was the weekend, he would just chalk it up to him and Karen having non-stop sexy time like usual, but today's Tuesday so it's not that. It's not even because of the bullet wound he has bandaged over his shoulder (though it's been healing up quite nicely). It's because of what he saw on the news last night. Donald Phillips, an Honor Roll student at Midtown High, a student that was in Peter's science class, was found dead last night. His body was found in the East River and it appeared that he died from an apparent heroin overdose. He and Karen had a discussion about this last night. Donnie was a good kid. He got good grades, he barely gets himself into any trouble and from what he can gather after speaking to his parents, he also had a happy home life. So what exactly went wrong? Peter knew Donnie very well, well enough to know that the kid had zero interest in drugs. Peter could have easily wrote if off as "first time user, big time loser syndrome", but here's the weird part. According to the autopsy, there were no evidence that Donnie shot up, smoked up or snorted any heroin. No track marks on the arms, no blistered lips and no deviation of the septum. There was clearly some heroin in Donnie's system, but how it got in there in the first place was a huge mystery. Peter decided to call in sick while Karen told Simon that she was running an errand and the two heroes begin to track down a group of drug dealers that were spotted in near the East River the night of Donnie's death. This brings Spider Man and Power Girl to Midtown where the two begin to split up and look for the drug dealers. The spider hero was able to track them down, but decided to try to keep a low profile so he could follow them back to the source…at least that was the plan had he not been spotted.

The drug dealers have pulled out their guns and are now shooting at Spider Man. The wall crawler jumps away to avoid the gunfire but made sure no stray bullets hit the people down below.

"Alright boys, you show me yours, and I'll show you mine," he says as he shoots webbing at two of the dealer's guns.

"Dammit," says one drug dealer.

"It's all you man," says the other.

"I'm on it," says the last one whose gun is still functional. He continues to open fire until…

"No, I got you," Spider Man gets the drop on him. "Whatsamatta Elmer? No more bu-wetts?" He proceeds to take the other two dealers out while saying, "Duck season, Wabbit season." Spider Man eventually hears a car engine revving up. "Crumbs, I forgot about the one in the car."

Suddenly, something flew over his head. He looks up and sees Power Girl in pursuit of the car.

"Oh dem dukes, dem dukes," She says with a smile as she flies after the car. The Kryptonian was able to catch up with the car and lift it up in the air, "Hey, auditions for the new Fast and the Furious movie was last week." Power Girl lands on a random rooftop and sets the car down. She then proceeds to rip open the driver's door. The drug dealer, who looks to be in his late teens/early twenties, looks at Power Girl in terror. The blonde heroine looks at the dealer with a smug smirk, "I think it's time you and have a little ch…HEY, EYES UP HERE!"

"Hey, come on. Get this stuff offa me," says the drug dealer who is now webbed to a wall.

The two heroes are now standing in front of him ready to interrogate the kid.

"We will, but first, let's play a little game of 20 questions," Power Girl spoke up then looks over the Spider Man. "You're up Spidey."

"You got it Peej," says Spider Man as he casually walks up to the webbed up dealer and gets in his face. "There was a kid. Bout fifteen, sixteen, name of Donald Phillips. Went to Midtown High. OD'ed on ron."

"Ron?" Power Girl asks with a raised eyebrow.

The wall crawler looks over to his girlfriend, "What? I can talk street. It's my Kryptonese."

"Okay," the blonde heroine sighs and rolls her eyes.

"S…so, what about him?" the dealer now asks.

Spider Man turns to him and continues to interrogate, "I'm thinking maybe it was you who sold it to him."

"I'm thinking maybe you should eat it Pajama Boy. You too Super tits. I ain't saying jack until I talk to my lawyer," says the dealer.

"Super tits, wow, like I haven't heard that one before," Power Girl scoffs.

"Did I mention Donald Phillips DIED?" Spider Man asks.

"So? Who am I, Oprah? Like I give a…" The dealer begins to say but stops speaking when Spider Man jumps on the wall he's webbed to and hovers over him. "W…What the hell are you doin' man?"

Spider Man lifts his mask up to his nose, revealing his mouth, "Alright Spanky, here's another question. What's my name?"

"S…Spider Man," the dealer replies.

"Ok, next question. What do spiders do to their prey once they've trapped them in their webs?" the wall crawler now asks.

"Th…They drink their blood," the dealer replies nervously.

"Nothing like a late brunch," Spider Man says as he opens his mouth and moves closer to the dealer's head.

"DON'T EAT ME, DON'T EAT ME!" the dealer exclaims.

Power Girl puts her hand over her mouth to hold back a laugh. This is just a reminder of why the blonde enjoys teaming up with Spider Man. She gets a front row seat in fun antics such as this.

"If I had a nickel for every time someone screamed that at me before I drained all their blood," Spider Man threatened.

Power Girl decides to playfully jump in, "It's true, you should've seen the last guy he ate. Wasn't a pretty sight. Worse than any horror movie I've ever seen. So unless you want to turn into a mummified husk, I suggest you start talking."

"I'LL TELL YOU EVERYTHING I KNOW," the dealer cries out.

"So start talking breakfast," Spider Man demands. "Donald Phillips, you sell him the smack or what?"

Once again, Power Girl rolls her eyes at her boyfriend's "street talk".

"I didn't give it to him, but I took him to the guy who probably did," the dealer confesses.

"And that guy is…" the spider hero presses on.

"Some movie star type. He used to score from us…til we took him to Mr. Brownstone," the dealer continues.

"Who's Mr. Brownstone?" Power Girl asks.

"He's our supplier," says the dealer. "Don't ask me where to find him, cuz I don't know. I never went on any pick-ups."

"What about the actor? Gimme a name." Spider Man demands.

"I swear I never heard'a him all right?" says the dealer. "But I did see him on the cover of a magazine the other day."

"Oh yeah, THAT will narrow it down," Power Girl says in a sarcastic tone as she rolls her eyes.

"He's into teenage boys. I know THAT," says the drug dealer. "That's why I took the OD kid over to the actor guy's loft in SoHo. I figured bringin' him some fresh meat might get him to start buying from us again. But that was the last I seen of the kid. Honest."

"Then I guess we're done here. I can hear the police coming up the stairs," Power Girl says as she gets ready to leave

"Wait…one last question…" Spider Man says in a serious tone.

The blonde heroine stops in her tracks in looks back over to her boyfriend with a worried look on her face, "Spidey?" She recognizes that tone in his voice.

The wall crawler approaches the drug dealer once more, "The kid…the one you took to the actor's loft…Did he WANT to be taken there?"

Power Girl felt a chill run down her spine. Judging by the way he asked that question, she knows that Spider Man isn't playing around anymore…and it's starting to scare her.

The dealer spoke up, much to the Kryptonian's horror, "I mean…he didn't know. He might've…y'know…if he…No."

*WHACK*

Spider Man gives the drug dealer a right hook, knocking him unconscious. He then silently walks past Power Girl.

"Peter…?" Power Girl speaks up in a soft, nervous tone, her boyfriend's silence really worrying her.

Spider Man is now at the edge of the building and he fires his web line. He looks over his shoulder at his girlfriend and in a cold tone says, "…Now we're done here…" He starts swinging away.

Power Girl flies after him, relieved that her boyfriend didn't do something he'll regret. As soon as the two heroes leave, the police finally show up.

The Four Seasons Hotel

Felicia Hardy, wearing a simple black dress that goes down just above her knees, a black sun hat, a pair of grey gloves, black high heels and carrying a grey purse, finally arrives in New York and decides to check into a hotel before starting her search for her missing friend.

"…complete with a balcony that overlooks Central Park," says the connoisseur.

"A balcony?" asks Felicia. "Oh, I'll never use that. I'm afraid of heights."

"If there's anything else I can help you with, please don't hesitate to ask Ms. Hardy," says the connoisseur.

"Please, call me Felicia," Felicia says back with a smile. "And yes, there is one more thing you can help me with Harold. Can you send up a plate of those awesome chocolate colored strawberries?"

"I'll have them sent right up Ms. Har…" the Harold begins to say but was interrupted.

"Harold, what'd I just say?"

"Uh, sorry. I'll have them sent right up…Felicia."

"Good boy Harold," says Felicia as she goes to her newly acquired hotel room.

Harold continues to watch the woman leave and sighs, "Mister…Harold…Hardy."

"The woman takes YOUR name genius," says the other connoisseur.

After taking a nice long shower, Felicia, now in just a towel, is sitting on a chair looking through magazines such as Entertainment Weekly and Vogue. From what she can gather, Tricia was last seen with an actor known as Hunter Todd, who is the star of a recent horror movie that came out called "Seeing Things". Apparently the two have been romantically involved and have been seen in a loft near SoHo. Felicia feels that her best bet would be to go over there and pay him a visit. She sets the magazine she was holding down on a nearby coffee table, only to have a business magazine catch her eye. On the front cover is an admittedly attractive blond woman in a business suit with her arms crossed and a huge smile on her face. Felicia couldn't help but look at it in annoyance. Despite what the magazine is telling her, she knew exactly who that is. Peter never really told her who his current girlfriend really is, but the fact that she doesn't wear a mask when she's in costume is a dead giveaway. She guesses that considering her costume has a certain…design to it…most people who see her normally don't look at her face anyway.

"I'll admit, it's a clever design choice. Almost makes me wonder why I wear a mask."

However, since Felicia has a nice rack of her own, she feels there was no need for her to be looking at someone else's…Well…maybe she'll take a quick glance, but that's it. Felicia continues to look at the magazine in utter disgust, "Ugh, even when she's not wearing the cape, she still acts all high and mighty. "Oh, look at me, I own my own company and I want to use it to help out humanity. I'm so pure and innocent." *sigh* First Mary Plain and now Ms. Tall, Blonde and Bland. You're standards for women are really lacking Spider." Felicia gets up from her chair. "Well, that's enough pining over exes with bad taste in the opposite sex, it's time to play a little game of "Cat and Mouse"." She goes to her closet to suit up.

SoHo, Manhattan NY

"I swear, the more I read this trash, the more brain cells I obliterate," Spider Man says as he is crouched on the edge of a rooftop and reading a random tabloid magazine. "And people read this every week?"

"Well, maybe you should spend less time dropping IQ points and more time helping me look for our pedophilic celebrity," says Power Girl as she stands on the edge of the rooftop putting her super senses to good use.

"Hey, I'm not the one with super hearing and different kinds of vision, and my spider sense can only do so much," says Spider Man eliciting a scoff from his girlfriend. "You got your ways of searching for our perp, I've got mine. Anyway, that meathead we interrogated back there says the guy on the cover of a magazine was a celebrity that he didn't recognize, and since Ben Affleck is on the cover of People and Robert Downey Jr. is on the cover of Premiere, I'm guessing our obscure actor is none other than this Hunter Todd guy."

Power Girl looks over at the wall crawler, "That guy from that awful horror movie we saw the other night? God, he was probably one of the worst parts of that movie. Well, that and the fact that the movie was PG-13. LAAAME."

"Yeah, well, every article I've read on the guy doesn't say anything about a teenage boy fetish, but he has recently been involved with Tricia Lane."

The blonde heroine looks over at the spider hero, "The supermodel?"

Spider Man nods his head, "I actually met her once when MJ and I were still together. She used to work with her."

"Now that you mentioned it, I actually got a call from her the other day saying she went missing too," says Power Girl. "I wonder if there's any correlation? Man, it's been a while since I last spoke to MJ. Maybe I should stop by at her nightclub to say hi."

"Well, it's good to see you getting along with ONE of my exes," Spider Man quips.

"I think MJ's pretty cool, and we both have one thing in common: We hate your other ex."

Spider Man closes the magazine and looks up at his girlfriend, "Come on, Felicia isn't as bad as you make her out to be. Besides, she had no idea that you and I are an item…Well, until you started choking her out for flirting with me."

Power Girl sighs, "Okay, so maybe I overreacted a bit…"

"A bit?" Spider Man interrups.

"Let me finish. I may have overreacted a bit but that still doesn't excuse the fact that the reason why you two broke up in the first place was because she only loves half of who you are. Shallow much? I know MJ broke up with you for the same thing but her reasons are more justified. She thinks the life you live is dangerous, which it is, and yet she doesn't want to stop you from doing what you do because of your dedication. At least she still supports and accepts both sides of you. Felicia doesn't."

Spider Man sighs, "Yeah, I guess you're right. But there's still some good in her. I've seen it before."

"Yeah, well, I have yet to see it for myself," says Power Girl as she looks out into the distance.

There was some awkward silence for a few more seconds before the spider hero stands up from his crouched position and spoke up once again, "Hey listen, about what happened earlier…You know, when we were interrogating the drug dealer…I know I probably gave you quite a scare back there and I'm really sorry for that."

He suddenly feels a hand on his shoulder. He looks up to see the Kryptonian giving him a warm smile, "I know how much Donnie means to you. He was your student after all. If it was any of my employees, I probably would've done the same thing. At least you were able to hold yourself back. That's all that matters."

Spider Man nods, "Well, I knew that if there's ever a moment where I even think about crossing that line, you would be there to stop me."

"Just like how I trust you to stop me if I ever try to go down that path," says Power Girl.

The two heroes exchange longing smiles when, suddenly, Power Girl was able to pick something up with her super hearing.

Spider Man notices this, "What do you hear?"

Power Girl points downward, making the spider hero look down to where she was pointing and he notices two people arguing and about to enter a taxi.

"Dammit, just get in the car Tiffany," says the male.

"I think someone's had a little too much to drink," the Kryptonian chuckles.

"Oh, lighten up Hunter," says the woman.

Power Girl's face fell.

"You're on MY dime all right? When I say it's time to go, it's time to go," says the male.

The blonde heroine uses her microscopic vision to take a good look at the male…it was him, "I think we found our guy."

Spider Man's eyes widened under his mask, "You're kidding. Wow, how lucky are we tonight?"

The two heroes follow the taxi.

The taxi lead them to a condominium, and they land on top of a building across from it. Spider Man and Power Girl watch the couple leave the car and enter the building.

"I see I'm not the only one who's after Mr. Fame and Fortune down there."

The two heroes turn to their right and they see a dark haired woman in a black and white leotard with an opening on her midriff, purple boots and gloves complete with a black cape with a white trim and a purple mask.

"Helena?" Power Girl spoke up. "What are you doing here?"

Huntress puts down her binoculars and looks over at her two fellow heroes, "There's this kid named Donald Phillips who was absent from school. He's supposed to be in my Italian class. When I called his folks, they said he's been missing for weeks. Then I hear on the news that he died from a heroin overdose. I looked into the kid's records and saw that he was an honor student, so the fact that he would take drugs in the first place just doesn't add up. Add that to the weird autopsy. I did some digging and it led me straight to this Hunter Todd guy. I take it we're all after the same thing."

"Yep, pretty much," says Spider Man. "Donnie was in my science class. One of the dealers Karen and I talked to told me he led him to this guy."

"Did he tell you about his sick fetish?" asks Huntress.

The wall crawler sighs, "…Yeah, he did."

"It's taking a lot in me not to put an arrow through this guy's head right now," says Huntress as she continues to look in her binoculars. "That fact that the poor kid was taken against his will…"

"I know the feeling," Spider Man says in a low voice.

"Hey, he may have done a very horrible thing but we are not about to cross that line," Power Girl says to the both of them in a serious tone then looks over to her boyfriend. "That's not who we are."

Spider Man and Huntress look at each other and then nod in agreement at what their friend just said.

Huntress sees Hunter enter his condo, "Well, here's our man of the hour. I was able to put a device on the window so I can hear what he's saying inside."

"I'll cling to the side of the building and listen in that way," says Spider Man as he leaps across towards the condo.

Power Girl stays behind and puts her super hearing to work.

The three heroes listen in as Hunter was talking to the woman who was with him.

"C'mon Hunter, I played your beard all night. Pay up," says the woman.

"Keep your thong on. I'm calling him now," says Hunter as he dials the phone.

The three heroes continue to listen in when one particular name caught their attention, "Mr. Brownstone? It's Hunter. We're here in the loft. Ready to dose."

Power Girl and Huntress look at each other.

"He's definitely our guy," says Power Girl.

Meanwhile Black Cat is standing on an adjacent rooftop and sees a figure on the side of the building. She was about to barge into Hunter Todd's condo and ask questions.

"Looks, like he's got himself an unexpected visitor," she thought. "What better way is there to get on Mr. Todd's sweet question-answering side than "deep sixing" the bad guy lurking outside his window?"

She fires her grappling hook and swings towards the unsuspecting figure.

As Spider Man is listening in on the conversation… "Spider sense? Wha…"

"SPIDER MAN, WATCH OUT!" he hears Power Girl yell out.

He looks behind him and sees Black Cat swinging towards him.

The former thief also heard what Power Girl said and immediately recognizes the man she was about to jump, "Peter?"

Black Cat collides with Spider Man and the two come crashing through the window.

"What the hell?" Hunter says as he looks over to what's going on.

"Ow, I think I busted a rib, maybe dislocated a knee," Spider Man says as he's struggling to get up.

"Ah, what the hell are you doing here?" says Black Cat as she's rubbing the back of her head.

Power Girl and Huntress emerge through the broken window.

"Spidey, are you…" Power Girl begins to say and then she sees Black Cat. Her face went from a worried look to a bona fide death glare. "You."

The former thief looks up and sees Power Girl. She now rolls her eyes, "Oh good, SHE'S here too."

Huntress looks at her friend, "You know this woman?"

"She's my ex," Spider Man answers as he puts his arm on his back and tries to stand up straight.

The former assassin's eyes widened, "…Oh…Well this is awkward."

"Oh my God. Is that Spider Man and Power Girl?" the woman, whose name is Tiffany, now asks.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?" Hunter finally asks.

"I'm looking…I'm looking for Tricia Lane," Black Cat answers as she gets up.

"T…Tricia Lane?" Hunter asks.

"Yeah…T…Tricia Lane?" Spider Man mimics Hunter.

"Yes Tricia Lane, and again, what are you and "Little Miss Perfect Angel" over there doing here, and who's the chick in the S&M costume?"

Huntress begins to yell some Italian profanity while walking towards the former thief.

Power Girl retrains her friend.

"Yeah, I don't think I want to know what she's saying right now," Spider Man quips. He looks back over to Black Cat. "And to answer your question Cat, I'm here to ask Actor Man if he knows anything about a kid named Donald Phillips."

"Oh my God," Hunter says in a shocked tone.

"I call that a big yes," says Power Girl as she narrows her eyes.

"Yeah, me to," says Huntress as she points her crossbow at the celebrity. "So start talking."

Hunter looks at the crossbow with fear in his eyes, "IT WASN'T ME, IT WAS HIM. HE GAVE HER TOO MUCH. HE…" The celebrity begins to convulse and fall to the floor.

Huntress raises her hands up in defense, "I didn't do anything, I swear."

"OH MY GOD, HE'S OD-ING," shouts Tiffany.

"What? How?" Spider Man questions.

"From heroin stooge," Black Cat answers.

"Hey, don't you speak to him like that," Power Girl says to the former thief.

Black Cat rolls her eyes, "Just get him on the couch, quickly."

The wall crawler quickly picks the man up and sets him down on the couch.

Black Cat turns to Tiffany, "Do you have any adrenaline shots in this house?"

"I don't know. I never…" Tiffany begins to say until she starts to convulse as well.

"Oh my God," Power Girl says in horror.

"What the hell's going on here?" Spider Man now asks.

"I think I might be able to shed some light on the subject for you," says a random voice.

"Where's that coming from?" asks Huntress.

"The phone," Black Cat answers as she point to the phone that's on the table.

Spider Man moves over to the phone and picks it up, "Who is this? What's happening here?"

"Both Mr. Todd and Ms. Cummings are experiencing massive overdoses. They'll be dead within moments," says the mysterious voice on the phone.

Spider Man looks over at Power Girl who was listening in with her super hearing, "Peej, you think you can fly them to a nearby hospital in time?"

"There's no point to that sir," says the mysterious voice. "I'm giving them large enough doses to ensure they won't be able to impart any more information from you."

"Giving them how?" Spider Man demands. "WHO IS THIS DAMMIT?"

"I'm Mr. Brownstone," the voice answers. The line immediately goes dead after that.

And that concludes this chapter. Next time, our heroes will find out who this "Mr. Brownstone" is and there will be a "verbal" catfight between Power Girl and Black Cat, and poor Spidey will be stuck in the middle of it...with Huntress watching in the sidelines.

I'm gonna be putting more focus into this story since I actually have a plan on where exactly it's going to go. So expect more updates to come from this soon.

Also, be on the look out for a special separate one shot story that is in continuity with this but takes place sometime between the last chapter and the one before it. It's called Richard Parker's Philosophy. It features Peter giving his famous life lesson to a certain young Kryptonian.

Be sure to leave a comment telling me what you think of the story so far. Until Next time...