Chapter 10: Cat's Eye
Spider-Man swung through the gaping hole in the windows that Hobgoblin had made for him and went right at the madman, kicking him back before he could throw his pumpkin bomb. Hobgoblin recoiled from the blow before then firing a laser blast at Spider-Man with his free hand.
"Ah, right on cue! Looks like my duplicate didn't keep you entertained for very long…"
Spider-Man dodged the laser blast and went at Hobgoblin once again. There were no quips to be had. No retorts either. No promises or vows that Hobgoblin would not kill his best friend so long as he was breathing. He just kept at Hobgoblin with as much force, speed, and fervor as he could muster.
Punch after punch, blow after blow, Spidey kept up the pressure as the reeling Hobgoblin flew around the mansion, still recklessly letting loose with pumpkin bombs left and right. Spidey fired web lines at each of the bombs and tried to throw them at the walls and out the windows, but some still collided with the floor in fiery explosions.
Finally, Hobgoblin forced Spider-Man off of him and then surged forward on his glider, bearing down on Harry Osborn with the intent of either running him down or skewering him with the glider's blades. Spider-Man didn't care either way. He wouldn't let his best friend die. Spider-Man swung forward, albeit awkwardly due to the narrow confines of the mansion, and grabbed his old friend, pulling him out of the way of the Hobgoblin's flight path. Spider-Man then set Harry down, and turned around to face his nemesis.
Hobgoblin hovered above the duo, eyeing them with his maniacal yellow orbs before finally saying:
"Well, I can see that I'm unwelcome. So be it. You're only delaying the inevitable my web-slinging friend. Eventually, everyone you've ever cared for will be pushing up daisies…"
Spider-Man's spider-sense buzzed. Knowing what was coming, Spider-Man grabbed Harry again and swung out of the way of a surprise pumpkin bomb. The bomb destroyed everything surrounding it's impact spot, and by now a good part of the room was aflame, the automatic sprinklers trying to suppress the fire as best they could.
The web-head turned and could see Hobgoblin flying away, certain that he could still hear his chuckling in the distance. Chuckling. But not being openly manic about it. The Green Goblin would have been cackling like the madman he was, but Hobgoblin was always just a bit more restrained there, however slightly.
Fighting the urge to hunt the lunatic down and tear him limb from limb, Spider-Man turned his focus back to Harry. His old friend was disheveled, his face was dirty from all of the rubble being tossed around by the explosions, and he looked just a little bit shaken. Understandable. For a moment Harry just stared at Spider-Man with a look of bewilderment, fear, and almost a lack of understanding. Spider-Man just returned the stare of shock, his black mask with large white eye-holes betraying no expression.
Finally, Spider-Man walked away slowly from his friend, and web-swung away. He could talk to Harry later as Peter Parker. Right now, he needed to make sure that his other loved ones were all right…
-X-
Johnny Storm sat watching television with Ben Grimm. Or rather, Johnny and Ben were engaged in a bit of a struggle over what they were going to be watching, and their debate drowned out the voice on the news before Ben turned up the volume:
"…and General Ross has not been seen since. In other news, the Mutant Population was in celebration today, when the Supreme Court decided that the bill presented by Simon Trask, which would have prohibited mutants from breeding with humans, was unconstitutional. But the news was less well-received by many non-mutants, and violent protests have—"
"Come on Rocky! I don't wanna listen to this stuff! Its depressing, and depressing and I don't mix…"
"Aw shaddup matchstick. You gotta listen to the news every now and then. Besides, this is good news."
"How are "violent riots" good news?"
"Not that, the fact that the bill got show down. It's about damn time these mutants start getting treated like people"
"I still think we should see what's on HBO…"
"…The X-Men's leader Cyclops was to make a statement on the increase in Sentinel production tomorrow, but unfortunately, this statement had to be delayed until further notice…"
"Aw nice going flame-head. I missed the last bit"
Before Johnny could speak up, the newscaster spoke again: "In the wake of the destruction of the Latverian Castle Doom being traced back to him, Colonel Nicholas Fury, the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. has disappeared, presumably having gone underground. To fill the void left behind, President Obama has put Maria Hill, Colonel Fury's former right-hand, in charge of S.H.I.E.L.D. until further notice…"
Johnny and Ben's struggle ceased as they listened to this. Once it had fully sunk in, Johnny exchanged a nervous glance with Ben.
"They said the destruction of Castle Doom…weren't we a part of that mission?"
"Yeah. We were. Fury's little "Secret War"1 on ol' Doomsie's place, shoulda known it would cause trouble—"
"Hey guys"
Ben and Johnny turned to see their old mutual friend was clinging to the window, his way of asking to be let in.
"I need your help"
-X-
Hobgoblin returned to his safe-house hideaway and checked the…"bugs" he had gone to great lengths to plant. Almost immediately he saw that Glory Grant and Hobbie Brown's was not coming up.
Interesting.
He checked the others. The Connors were currently at home, Martha was helping her son Billy with his homework while Dr. Connors was still on the phone, still dealing with the consequences of his ill-conceived "Lizard-DNA" cure. Eugene "Flash" Thompson was currently not at his apartment, but a quick check of the other spy-camera/listening device revealed him to be in his office at ESU, busy looking over the medical file of one of his students with physical challenges.
Felicia Hardy's penthouse was currently unoccupied, Robbie Robertson and Betty Brant were in their usual positions in the Daily Bugle building, and old May Parker was, predictably, still at home in Queens, on the phone with her friend Anna Watson.
Oh, this will be far too easy.
Hobgoblin felt as close to being overjoyed as a sadistic sociopath like himself possibly could be. His war on Spider-Man had been going along nicely. True, there had been setbacks, but that was to be expected. Hobgoblin was still quite confident that his revenge against Spider-Man and the absolute decimation of his world would all come in due time…
Hobgoblin was shaken out of his dark thoughts by the sound of Ryan accidentally knocking over various disassembled and half-completed gadgets and weapons onto the floor. Hobgoblin frowned and turned around to face Ryan, who was visibly staggering.
The idiot must be drunk… Hobgoblin thought with contempt. He watched Ryan steady himself as he admonished him:
"Tell me something Ryan, what part of "peace and quiet" did you not understand? And you do also know how to walk properly right?"
"Right, right…sorry boss. I've just been feeling a little funny. My head doesn't feel right…"
"You're a psychopath of course your head doesn't feel right. Now be quiet and pick up those things you knocked over and put them back on the table.
And carefully, please. Some of those devices could blast a hole in the building."
"Yes boss…"
Ryan dutifully set about picking up the fallen weapon components and half-completed explosives as carefully as he could as Hobgoblin's thoughts drifted to Ryan. His right-hand goon had been "feeling funny" and "not been feeling right" and "was feeling light-headed" ever since he had come back from his failed assassination attempt on May Parker's life. Ryan had said that Venom had ambushed him. Hobgoblin wasn't a fool: he had a feeling what was going on but kept quiet about it. He wanted to observe Ryan further. See what happened. If what Hobgoblin suspected was true was in fact true, then Ryan was about to become a lot more useful to him indeed…
-X-
"So…you want us to do what?"
Spider-Man lost control of himself for a brief moment as he gave his answer to Johnny Storm:
"Weren't you listening Storm? I want you guys to look after my aunt…let her stay here, protect her. Keep her safe!"
Johnny held up his hands defensively.
"OK, OK. Easy, easy. No need to snap Spidey. We're friends here remember?"
"I know that Storm, but my aunt is in danger! Hobby's hellbent on killing everyone I love, and that means my aunt's a target. I need you…the FF…to keep her safe. For me"
"Look uh, not to sound callous here or anything, but couldn't you just get the police to—Oh, secret identity. Right…"
It was then that Ben interceded: "Look webs, I feel for ya. I do. But I just don't know what you think ol' flame-head and I are supposed to do. I mean, I don't think Reed and Sue want someone else here at the Baxter Building as….as uh…"
"As what?" Spider-Man demanded, again losing his temper. "Some kind of free-loader? You guys are supposed to be heroes! And I'm your friend! Ben, we've known each-other for years, and I have no one else to go to. I can't go to the police, the X-Men's got their own problems, hell there isn't even an Avengers right now. Who am I supposed to take her to? Who? SHIELD? Doctor Strange?"
"Take it easy kid. Aw geez, you're stressed out. I can tell. Ah look. I'll…talk to Reed and Sue. Tell them what you've told me, ya know, make your case for you. And I'll see if we can't do something for your aunt…"
Spider-Man thought about it. He was still panicking, still unsure. His aunt's life was on the line, and every second he stood around doing nothing Hobgoblin could be coming closer to taking the last person he truly loved from him. He couldn't let that happen. No, he couldn't wait…
"Spider!"
Spider-Man was shaken out of his ruminating by the sound of a familiar voice. He, Ben, and Johnny turned their attentions to Black Cat was there as well.
"How the hell did you get in here? The Baxter Building's—"
"My school lockers had better security hot-shot" Black Cat then turned her attention to Spider-Man:
"I've been looking everywhere for you. Listen: Moon Knight's back from the apartment complex you sent him to, and he found this…"
Black Cat took out a small, silver-colored device that Spider-Man identified as a very small and sophisticated spy camera and handed it to him. Seeing it, and knowing what it meant, Spider-Man angrily crushed it in his black-gloved hand.
"That monster was keeping tabs on them. Was keeping tabs on all of them, I'm sure of it…including Aunt May"
Spider-Man turned back to Ben and Johnny:
"All right, listen up: you guys are going to talk to Reed and Sue and I don't care what you have to say or do to them, but you will get them to protect my Aunt"
Rarely had Peter sounded so dark and threatening to anyone, but the stakes were high, his last loved ones were in danger, and he wasn't in an accommodating mood anymore.
Ben and Johnny exchanged a nervous glance with one another and Peter could feel Felicia's look of concern as well. He didn't care. Right now his loved one's safety was all that mattered.
But it was Felicia who responded:
"Spider, listen to me: I can help you"
Spider-Man turned to her.
"How?"
"I run a private investigation agency. It's called "Cat's Eye"2
"Cute name"
Black Cat shot Johnny Storm a piercing look with her green eyes that silenced him instantly. She turned back to Spider-Man and continued:'
"Yeah, "Cat's Eye". I formed it myself after I went straight. What a great use of my parent's money…anyway, I can send some of my agents down there. They'll take your aunt to a safe place"
"Yeah, my aunt's not gonna trust some PIs in suits, and honestly neither am I"
"And your aunt's going to trust a giant orange rock monster and a kid who can light his body on fire?"
"Kid? I'm older than both of you—"
"Shaddup matchstick. The lady's got a point webs. I don't think any old lady's gonna want to see my handsome rocky mug. Aunt Petunia's favorite ain't one for the ladies anymore"
"How can you people possibly be joking about this?" Spider-Man screamed. "Dammitt, in all of the time we've been standing here talking, he could have killed her already!"
"I know…that's why I had her moved already"
"You WHAT!"
"I called some of my boys and they went over to her house. She's in a safe-house now, and I've got Danny Rand3 keeping an eye on her. She's fine"
Spider-Man couldn't believe his ears. A lot of different emotions were rushing through him, but then he realized that it ultimately didn't matter. Felicia had possibly just saved his aunt's life, at least for the moment. And this was the woman who had never cared about Peter Parker's world before. She'd been totally selfless there. And he was going to react by having a nervous breakdown?
"Felicia…I…thank you"
"Now see? Wasn't that much better then yelling at me?"
Spider-Man didn't respond to that. Instead he just replied:
"Maybe your "Cat's Eye" can help me with something else"
"What?"
"My Aunt may be safe right now, but unless I take Hobby out for good, he'll just keep sending more robots and psychos after my loved ones. I need to find out who the Hobgoblin is."
Author's Note: Yes, I know that this chapter is maybe a little uneventful, but I'm trying to pace myself here. Don't worry: there are some big developments coming at the end of next chapter. Stay tuned!
And here's another little list of facts:
There was an actual story called "Secret War" that involved a Nick Fury-led invasion of Latveria in mainstream continuity. This story may not take place in mainstream, but a similar story did happen here, as you can see.
Felicia Hardy did indeed form a Private Investigation Agency called "Cat's Eye" in mainstream continuity. I don't think its around anymore, but it was a somewhat interesting idea that I thought I could include in my Marvel Universe.
Danny Rand is a martial arts superhero named "Iron Fist" who has fought alongside Spider-Man a few times before. He even posed as Spider-Man once to help the web-head out of a jam. In fact, Iron Fist seems to enjoying posing as other heroes, because he posed as Daredevil too.