Last time, Spider Man and Power Girl investigate Donald Phillips' murder and find out that it is linked to an actor named Hunter Todd. As they are tailing him, they run into Huntress and...unfortunately...The Black Cat. Here's Part 2 of 6 of our story.
Chapter 10
Carnegie Hall, Manhattan, NY
A chubby brown eyed male in a business suit, with dark hair and facial hair, presses the phone icon of his mobile phone and ends the call.
"Scratch Hunter Todd as a client," he says to a scrawny man, also in a business suit, with similar dark hair and glasses.
"Ah man, he was gonna give me "Producers" tickets," says the scrawny man.
"Why bother?" the chubby man asks rhetorically. "Lane and Broderick already left, and they were the only reasons to see the show."
"Hey, I like Mel Brooks," says the scrawny man.
"So watch Blazing Saddles again," the chubby man says back as he adjusts his bowtie. "In the meantime, see to it that all evidence of our association with Hunter Todd is trashed. Go through the party data bank and erase him from any of the RSVP lists. It sounds like we may have a few tights-set looking into Tricia Lane's disappearance."
"We've got costumes sniffing around now?" asks the scrawny man. "Who are you all of sudden, Roman Sionis?"
"Considering I'm not wearing a mask that's seared into my face, no," answers the chubby man.
"Which costume is it?" asks the scrawny man.
"Spider Man from the sound of it," answers the chubby man.
"Spider Man? Between Tricia Lane, Hunter Todd and all that friction with the Ortegas, you sure we're not getting just a little too high profile?"
"In this day in age? Really Francis, what IS high profile anymore." The chubby man walks out from backstage as the lady who was currently onstage begins to introduce him to the crowd.
"Ladies and gentleman, I give you, Garrison Klum."
The SoHo Grand
"This night just keeps getting better and better," Spider Man says in his head as he looks down at the medics and police officers below, carrying two dead bodies out of the apartment.
One of those corpses just happens to be of a guy who was connected to the death of one of the wall crawler's students. Just when Spider Man, Power Girl and Huntress had confronted the man, he and his "girlfriend" suddenly get overdosed with heroin. Then there's this Mr. Brownstone guy. How in the world was he able to inject them with heroin while casually talking to Spider Man over the phone? Does he have magic powers or something? Doesn't matter now, their only lead to this mysterious drug dealer is now going on a one way trip to the morgue…Which is ironic considering Spider Man and Huntress were having thoughts about ending him themselves after what he possibly did to Donnie, only for Power Girl to tell them not to entertain those said thoughts, speaking of whom…
Spider Man looks over at his girlfriend who is looking down at the police and ambulance below. She closes her eyes and looks away, her hands tightened into fists. She's clearly distraught for not being able to save those two people.
He softly grabs Power Girl's fist, eliciting the Kryptonian to uncurl it and grab his. "There was nothing we could have done. You did the best you could," the spider hero says to her in a comforting tone.
Power Girl softly smiles and tightens her grip on her boyfriend's hand, silently thanking him.
"Well, there goes our only lead," Huntress sighs.
"Eh, he had it coming," Black Cat shrugs.
Power Girl's face fell and she looks over at the former thief, "That guy may have been scum for what he did, but he didn't deserve to die."
Black Cat rolls her eyes, "Still the wholesome Girl Scout I see."
"And I see you're still a heartless, shallow bitch who cares for nobody but herself," Power Girl says back as she narrow her eyes. "Peter told me why you two broke up in the first place."
"Oh, did he now?" says Black Cat then looks over at Spider Man. "Are you still sour about that? I was a child."
"Yeah, the same way Amy Fisher was a child, and Monica Lewinsky," says Spider Man.
"Hey, I wasn't the one who ran off and hooked up with a high school sweetheart and then a goody two shoes. Maybe if you've been a bit more patient with me, I would've calmed down a bit and came around, but no, you just HAD to be with Mary Jane and now this white picket fence with tits."
Power Girl walks towards Black Cat and gets in her face, "I dare you to call me that again."
"What, are you gonna choke me out again?" the former thief asks as she points to her neck. "Do you know how long it took for that bruise to leave my neck? I had to wear a scarf for weeks."
"Serves you right after what you pulled," Power Girl says back.
"How the hell was I supposed to know that you two are an item? Your boyfriend did a piss poor job trying to tell me in advance. I bet if you didn't have your "godlike powers" you would think twice about doing what you did again."
"You really think that without my powers you could kick my ass?" Power Girl laughs. "Such a common misconception."
"I don't think I can, I KNOW I can," Black Cat replies as she gets into the Kryptonian's face…even though said Kryptonian trumps her by about one inch.
"The Justice League has a training room in their watchtower with red solar emitters. How about we go there and test that theory?" Power Girl challenges.
"I'm game if you are," Black Cat accepts.
Huntress, who was watching the exchange between the two women, finally decided to step in and break the two up, "Hey Betty, Veronica, how about you guys fight over Archie AFTER we find out who this Mr. Brownstone guy is."
"For once I agree with Cheryl" Spider Man speaks up and Huntress rolls her eyes at the jab at her. "Let's all just put our differences aside for now and work together."
Power Girl and Black Cat continue to stare each other down then immediately cross their arms and look away from each other.
"Fine," they both say.
Huntress then looks over at Black Cat with a rather impressed look on her face. The fact that she was able to stand up to a woman who could turn her to ash with just one look earns her respect in her book. Of course, this is Karen she's talking about here. As much as she would want to throw this woman into space, she would never do it. This discount Catwoman has a point. Karen really is a goody two shoes. Still, that fact that she used to date Spider Man baffles her. How is it that women like her, Karen and this Mary Jane person can put up with that idiot for more than ten seconds?
Spider Man sighs in relief then turns to his ex, "So what's Hunter Todd's connection to Tricia Lane? And are we talking about THE Tricia Lane?"
Black Cat looks over at Spider Man, "You know Tricia?"
"I met her years ago during at some event with MJ back when we used to date. She used to work for her," the spider hero explains. "I looked through some magazines and noticed she went missing not long after Donnie. The magazines linked her to Hunter Todd so I tracked him back here. Was she into the ron?"
Black cat raises her eyebrow, "The "ron"?"
"I can talk street," Spider Man says proudly as he crosses his arms.
Huntress begins to rub her temple with two of her fingers and murmurs something in Italian, something along the lines of, "What an idiot".
"Don't bother, I'm still trying to wrap my brain around that myself," Power Girl sighs.
"Believe me honey, I stopped questioning him a long time ago," Black Cat says back. She looks back over at her ex. "No, she wasn't into "the ron", not that I know of. But she HAS been running with a young actor crowd for the last month or so, and they're not exactly known for their temperance. Especially that Hunter Todd."
"But we didn't see either him or his date cooking up or shooting up before they overdosed," says Huntress.
"Maybe this Mr. Brownstone gave them a hot dose with a delayed reaction before you guys started tailing them," the former thief suggests.
"I don't think so, they were calling about of drop-off before you, y'know, GOT INVOLVED," Power Girl says as she narrows her eyes at Black Cat.
"Well, sorr-ee," Black Cat says putting her hands up in defense. "I guess should look before I leap."
"The thing that doesn't add up is that Brownstone said he was GIVING them doses, not GAVE," says Spider Man. "Dammit, not of this makes sense."
"Says the guy who can walk on walls and sleeps with an alien with the powers of a Goddess," says Black Cat.
"She has a point," Huntress chimes in.
"Oh sure, take HER side," Power Girl glares at her friend.
The former assassin raises her hands up in defense, "Hey, I'm just saying, maybe we're not dealing with an average drug lord here. Maybe he has powers."
"Nice to know SOMEONE here is being reasonable," Black Cat says as she walks over to Huntress and takes out her hand. "I don't think we've been properly introduced. Felicia Hardy, I go by Black Cat when I'm in costume."
The former assassin looks at the other woman's hand for a moment then begins to shake it, "Call me Huntress for now. Just because I agree with you and we're allies at the moment doesn't mean I trust you."
Black Cat releases Huntress' hand and shrugs, "Fine, you can keep your secret identity. At least YOU were smart enough to wear a mask." She looks over at Power Girl and smirks. "Isn't that right…Karen?"
The Kryptonian's eyes widened and she narrows her eyes at Spider Man.
The wall crawler raises his hands up in defense, "I swear, I didn't tell her."
"No, Peter was kind enough not to tell me who you really are. I figured it out on my own," Black Cat says casually as she begins to put her snow white hair into a ponytail. "I see you in a lot of business magazines and was able to put two and two together. Seriously, you think you're the only one with a nice set of melons that people oogle at?"
"Yeah? So what? I bet yours aren't even re…" Power Girl says as she uses her X-Ray vision but stops mid-sentence when she sees that, yeah, they're real, and looks away in defeat. "Dammit."
Black Cat gives a smug victorious smirk, "Well, since we're done with our little boob measuring contest, how about we start tracking down this Mr. Brownstone and don't you worry Spider, your girlfriend's little secret is safe with me," Black Cat says as she fires her grappling hook.
Spider Man immediately grabs her wrist to stop her from leaving, "Wait, wait, wait, how are we supposed to do that without any leads? Shouldn't we come up with some kind of plan first?"
Black Cat looks down on the ground and shakes her head, "Man oh man, I forgot what a "Cautious Cathy" you are. People are dying out there cause of this guy Peter, maybe even one of my friends. I want to find him and nail him to a wall."
"We will, we will, but it wouldn't hurt to come up with a game plan would it?" Spider Man says calmly.
"Come on Felicia, even you of all people have to admit he's right about this," says Power Girl.
Black Cat sighs, "Fine, you win. What say we go back to my place? I'm staying at the four seasons."
Huntress raises an eyebrow, "As in, "The Four Seasons Hotel"?"
The former thief nods.
"Oh my God, their chocolate covered strawberries are a-mazing," says Huntress.
"I KNOW RIGHT?" Black Cat exclaims. "I can order up a plate of them while we all brainstorm."
"Please do."
Meanwhile Spider Man looks over to Power Girl, "I think Huntress may have found a new best friend."
The blonde heroine groans.
Back at Carnegie Hall, Garrison Klum is now doing a Q&A with a group of people after having finished his public speech. "And I told them, Rudy, give it to Rudy. The man was a rock for this city when we needed it most. Hell, even Harvey deserved it more than me, with the concert and whatnot. But they wouldn't listen to reason. They insisted on giving it to the least deserving schmo in town. Then I convinced them to give it to me instead."
"Where's the award going Mr. Klum? Apartment or Office?" asks a random female voice.
"I'm taking a page off of Joel and Ethan's book and sticking in the bathroom, over the bowl," answers Klum.
Suddenly, an explosion interrupts the banquet. Everyone looks to where the explosion was coming from and they are soon greeted by a woman in a scorpion themed costume and three people wearing outfits with designs that are similar to playing cards. First there was a male who was dressed like the jack of spades, then there was a woman with long black hair and in a white full body jumpsuit with a number 10 on the side of her arm, and finally there was a rather large male who is also in a white full body jumpsuit with a letter "A" on the side of his arm. The scorpion woman was none other than Elaine Coll, aka Scorpia while the other three were three members of the Royal Flush Gang: Jack of Spades, Ten and Ace.
"Sorry we were late to the party," says Scorpia. "Our invitations got lost in the mail."
Back in SoHo, Power Girl heard the explosion and screams from afar.
Spider Man notices this, "What is it honey?"
The blonde heroine looks over at her boyfriend with serious look, "We need to get to Carnegie Hall."
The people at the banquet are now running for their lives as the group of villains continue on their rampage.
"Keep you cummerbunds on," says Scorpia as she swipes at a few police officers with her tail. "We're only here for one man."
The man in the glasses, whose name is Francis, turns to Klum, "The Ortega Cartel?"
"Has to be," whispers Klum.
"Can you pump and dump them?" asks Francis.
Klum shakes his head, "There's too many of them, and I used up the nearest batch on Hunter To…"
Scorpia grabs him by the throat, "We've come for Klum…Hey, that rhymes."
However, Scorpia's victory was cut short by a drop kick to the face, courtesy of the Black Cat, "I prefer haikus."
"Aw shit, we got capes," says Jack.
"Seriously, why is it that people always call us that when not every superhero wears a cape? Although, to be perfectly honest, Ms. Skin Tight Leather over here isn't an actual hero. She's just a pain in the ass tag along. The Scrappy Doo of the group you could say." Power Girl quips earning a scowl from Black Cat and a few chuckles from the bystanders.
"Ugh, of course this city would have a Royal Flush Gang faction," says Huntress as she rolls her eyes.
"Yep, they're pretty much the McDonald's of the criminal underworld," says Spider Man.
"You got that right, web-freak," says Ten. "And they always come with a Big Mac. Speaking of which…" She points to Power Girl. "Attack."
Ace charges at the Kryptonian.
Power Girl sighs, "Why do I ALWAYS have to fight the big guy?"
Ace tackles her through the giant hole the heroes were standing behind and they both go flying off the building.
The remaining heroes engage the remaining villains. Spider Man faces off against Jack in hand to hand combat.
"So where are the King and Queen? Did they get lost in the shuffle before the game even began?" Spider Man jokingly asks, as he's dodging swipes from Jack's staff.
"They're making sure the folks who hired us keep up their end of the bargain," says Jack as he continues to swipe at the wall crawler with his staff.
"I know I'm probably going to get some cryptic answer or some sassy remark when I ask this but, humor me anyway, who are you working for?"
"Wouldn't you like to know," Jack says with a grin.
Spider Man sighs, "Yeah, I figured as much. Oh well, I guess that means I can stop toying with you now."
With that, the spider hero grabs Jack's staff and swings him over to a table full of food. He uses his webs to embed him on the broken table for good measure.
Meanwhile, outside, Power Girl is now on ground level and is wrestling with Ace.
"Let me guess, you're another android aren't you," she rhetorically asks and she uses her X-Ray vision.
Inside was wires and circuitry, thus confirming her theory.
"Awesome, that means I won't have a guilty conscience when I do this."
She steps back from the Ace android and uses her freeze breath to freeze the robot in place. The blonde heroine then punches the frozen android to pieces.
"Power Girl wins. Fatality," she says with a smug smirk then sighs. "Wow, I guess that's what happens when you play a lot of video games with your boyfriend. But hey, it gets me out of doing chores."
Scorpia swipes at Black Cat with her tail and the former thief vaults over it. "Really? THAT'S your big move?" she asks.
"No, this is." Scorpia says back as she fires lasers from her gauntlets.
Black Cat does some flips to avoid the lasers, "A little help."
Suddenly, Scorpia's gauntlets were covered in webbing. She looks up and sees Spider Man hanging upside down, on a webline suspended from a ceiling, "You."
"Hi"
Klum and Francis are seeing Huntress throw down with Ten.
"Small world," says Francis.
"Too small," says Klum.
"Let's get out of here then."
"How?! With all these people watching?!"
Spider Man jumps onto Scorpia's shoulders, "Helloo."
"Thanks," says Scorpia.
"For?" asks Spider Man.
"Making it this easy."
Scorpia uses her tail to knock the wall crawler off her shoulders and he slams right in Ten, knocking her out.
Huntress walks over to the downed spider hero with a smirk on her face, "Thanks for the assist."
Spider Man, while still on the ground gives a thumbs up, "Don't mention it."
Meanwhile Black Cat does a front flip towards Scorpia, "Let's show the guys in the room what they REALLY want to see, some girl on girl action."
She jumps onto Scorpia's tail. Scorpia proceeds to swipe her tail around in an attempt to get the former thief off of it, but Black Cat is now riding the tail like a cowgirl on a mechanical bull, even going so far as to shout, "YEEEEHAW," while doing so.
"I'M GONNA TEAR YOUR FUCKING HEART OUT," Scorpia shouts.
"Spoken like my last five boyfriends," Black Cat says back as she grabs her face and pulls down on the ground. She then jumps off the tail and uses her grappling hook to latch onto it. Finally, the former thief starts to run towards the blown hole in the wall and leaps out of it, dragging Scorpia along with her.
"OH SHIT, SHIT," Scorpia says as she's being dragged down by her tail.
She was able to latch on to the edge of the hole in the wall which prevents her from falling out. However, the tail begins to snap off and Black Cat is sent plummeting to her inevitable doom. Outside Carnegie Hall, Power Girl sees this and she flies towards the falling Black Cat and catches her by putting her arm around her waist. The two women are now hovering in the air.
"You're lucky I was out here to see that crazy stunt you just pulled," says Power Girl.
"I knew you wouldn't let me go splat. My hero," Black Cat says as she brings her hands together and bats her eyes at her rescuer, eliciting an eye roll from said rescuer.
Meanwhile, a group of men down below were whistling at the two attractive women hovering in the air. Black Cat sees this and looks over at Power Girl with a flirtatious smile,
"What do you say Girl Scout, want to give the fellas down below a little show?"
The blonde heroine gives a smug smirk, "You want to make out with a woman so bad? How about we go to Arkham Asylum and pay Poison Ivy a visit?"
The former thief gives a deadpan look, "Funny."
Power Girl and Black Cat make it back inside the building to reunite with Spider Man and Huntress, just in time to see Scorpia and the Royal Flush Gang be apprehended by the cops.
"The Tinkerer, the mark of quality in supervillain hardware," says Spider Man.
"Tinkerer, built this?" asks Black Cat. "Wow, what a piece of crap. It just snapped off."
"Well it WAS supporting your fat ass," Power Girl quips.
Huntress covers her mouth to keep from laughing.
Black Cat looks over at the Kryptonian with a scowl, "You know, I'm getting REALLY sick of you constantly dogging on me. I cannot wait for you to show me that Justice League training room."
"Peej, Cat, remember our agreement," says Spider Man.
The two women glare at each other for a couple of seconds then look away from each other with their arms crossed and pouty looks on their faces, "Sorry."
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" asks Francis.
"If I don't want every columnist in New York writing about how I snubbed the jag offs who saved my life, then yes," says Klum as he approaches the heroes.
"Where are they? Where are my little life savers?" The heroes look over and sees Klum approaching them. He puts his arms around Spider Man and Power Girl's shoulders. "Who needs the Justice League when New York has two great heroes in the form of Spider Man and Power Girl, and look, he's teamed up with Catwoman and…well I'm not sure who the woman in purple is."
Black Cat glares at Klum while Huntress just looks down in thought.
"It's the Black Cat."
"Am I REALLY not that well known outside of Gotham?"
"Whatever," Klum says, responding to the former thief's comment. He begins to shake Spider Man's hand. "Garrison Klum at your service. But then, of course, you probably already knew that. The name, not the service part."
"Uh…yeah," the wall crawler replies. "Listen Mr. Klum, any idea why Scorpia and the Royal Flush Gang were after you?"
Klum begins to put his arms over Black Cat and Huntress' shoulders, "Kid, when you got as much money as I do, there's always a would-be kidnapper looking to make a quick buck. It's the price you pay for being successful."
Black Cat looks over at her ex, "He's leaning on my boob."
"Yeah, he did the exact same thing to me earlier," whispers Power Girl.
"Easy ladies," whispers Spider Man.
He looks over to Klum. "Perhaps being a bit less high profile might help?"
"And let the terrorists win?" asks Klum. "There's no point to that sir."
Spider Man's eyes widened in recognition, "That phrase. That voice. It sounds so familiar."
He looks over at Power Girl and she has a look that says, "You thinking what I'm thinking?"
Spider Man responds with a silent nod.
"New York's finest wants me to answer some questions, so I've gotta go," says Klum. "Thanks again for the assist."
"The Assist?" Black Cat and Huntress both say.
"If you ever need anything, you know where my building is. Keep fighting the good fight."
With that, Klum leaves.
"You know, I was this close to breaking that guy's arm," says Huntress, making a gesture that emphasizes how close she was to doing that. "I'm getting major Lex Luthor vibes from him."
"You're not too far off Huntress," says Power Girl as she glares at the man.
"What do you mean?" asks Black Cat.
Spider Man decides to speak up, "Well, call us crazy, but Peej and I think we may have found Mr. Brownstone."
Looks like Spidey and Peej found their mystery drug lord, what's going to happen next? Find out next time.
I apologize for the delay. Last week was a busy week for me, and next week I'll be just as busy well, especially with Finals being right around the corner. I'll try to get the next couple chapters out as soon as I can.
Also, I uploaded another one shot called, "Catching Up." Once again, it's in continuity with this story and it takes place waaay before the first chapter. Think of it as a prelude.
I know people are asking about when I'm gonna update my other stories. I'm sorry, you're gonna have to bear with me. I want to make sure this story arc is done before I move on to my other stories. That way I won't be stretching myself too thin. Don't worry though, I've got big plans for both Ensnare my Cold Heart and especially Hope and Responsibility. You just have to be a little patient.
Be sure to leave a comment telling me what you think of the story so far. Until next time...