Chapter 35: The Sinister Six, Part 3
Excellent. My plans are working to perfection. Six individuals, each with a grudge against Spider-Man and his cohorts. I have four of them already. Their names are Jackson Price, Maxine Dillon, Francis Klum, and Felicia Hardy. Yes, I know I said wasn't going to include her in the lineup, but I changed my mind! Anyways, all I need now are two more. Who should I recruit now?
"Mister Osborne, there's someone here to see you." Black Cat announced.
"Let them in." Norman Osborne replied.
The doors opened, and an old man with a beak-like nose walked into Norman Osborne's office. Nearby was a young woman in her mid-teens.
"Adrian Toomes." Osborne muttered.
"That's right, ya no-good shyster! I'm back again!"
"You do realize that I've given back everything you demanded-"
"Irrelevant, Mister Osborne! I've come to speak with none other than Spencer Smythe himself!"
"Mister Smythe's office is a floor below. And why would he let you in?"
"Because he's been rippin' me off for twenty years, that's why! Stole my blueprints and schematics, then used 'em to build his own stuff! If I had a nickel for every one of my machines he copied-"
"Mister Toomes, if this is about royalty payments, I can give you much more than a nickel-"
"This isn't about your damned royalties, Norman! It's about principle! If you don't get Spencer Smythe up here soon, I'm-"
"What are you going to do? Put on some kind of winged power armor and try and steal your stuff back?"
"No. I'm gonna sue the both of ya for every penny you got!"
"Be reasonable, Mister Toomes!"
"I'm a senior! I don't have to be reasonable anymore!"
"Grandfather, let's go home-" the young woman began.
"I'm not done here yet, Ashley!"
"Grandfather, you know what the doctor said. All this yelling can't be good for your blood pressure."
"Damn you, Norman Osborne! You can't get rid of me that easily!" Adrian yelled as his granddaughter dragged him out of the office.
"I'm not even doing anything!"
The doors slammed shut, and Black Cat turned to her boss.
"Just go, Miss Hardy. Please. Test out your newfound powers."
Black Cat groaned as she left the office for the nearby training facility.
Time to see what I can do. she thought as she entered.
Upon the training floor, she grinned as she hoisted a 22-ton weight into the air and set it down with ease. Afterwards, she proceeded to scale the facility's colossal wall and then leap down without managing to hurt herself.
Guess all I need to test these probability powers is a slot machine.
Meanwhile, at the Toomes residence, the geriatric Adrian slept peacefully, dreaming of the lawsuit against OsCorp. But the younger Toomes was restless. OsCorp would pay for what they did to her grandfather.
In the Toomes' garage, Ashley noticed a storefront mannequin covered with an old tarp. She yanked it off and saw what was mounted upon it: the upper part of a winged suit of power armor, its inner workings given the scantiest of coverings. Also lying nearby was an old leather aviator's suit, a ski mask and goggles, and some combat boots.
"Smythe, I'm going to get you and the rest of your corporate vulture friends." she muttered.
Something clicked in her mind.
"Yeah, that's a good name. Call me the Vulture…"
That night, near the old warehouse, a woman's footsteps echoed across the rooftops as the Black Cat approached. It had taken her a while to track down this place, but she had finally found it. And all thanks to a homing device on Iron Spider's suit.
Deftly picking the lock to the side door, she entered the warehouse and made a beeline for the computers. From there, she readied up her PDA and began hacking through the files, looking for anything interesting. Just then, she found the drone footage of Peter and Mary Jane's latest intimate encounter.
"One step closer to finding out who the wallcrawler really is." she muttered as she left.
Meanwhile, at the OsCorp building, Spencer Smythe was packing up for the night when something landed outside the window.
"Must be my imagination." he muttered when he looked out the window and saw nothing.
Suddenly, the window was smashed and Smythe found himself pinned against the wall.
"Who are you?"
"Not important, Spencer Smythe." the figure announced.
"How did you know my name?"
"How could I not know it?"
"What do you want?"
"To bring corporate vultures like you down a peg or three."
In the flickering light, Smythe finally saw his assailant. A young woman clad in a leather aviator's suit as well as a ski mask, a helmet, and goggles was holding him to the wall.
"What are you?" Smythe asked in fear.
"Call me the Vulture." the figure whispered, sending chills down Smythe's spine.
Suddenly, the sound of police sirens emanated from the streets.
"Oh-"
Just then, Spider-Man swung in.
"Whoever you are, put the man down!" he ordered.
"The name is Vulture, webhead!"
"I had you pegged as a buzzard, FYI."
Vulture charged at Spidey, who promptly side-stepped the attack and watched as she went out the window. Before he could get one wisecrack out, Vulture flew back up, showing off her mechanical wings and harness.
"Now that's just cheating!"
Spider-Man fired a line of webbing at Vulture and was promptly yanked off the floor as she flew off.
"No freeloaders!" Vulture exclaimed once she noticed Spidey dangling off her harness.
"Does it look like I have any choice?" came the reply.
"GET! OFF! OF! ME!"
With that, Vulture dove downwards, hoping to shake the interloper off. Unfortunately for her, she crashed onto a rooftop in the process.
"Now come along peacefully-"
"Does the phrase 'go suck on a lemon' mean anything to you?" Vulture retorted.
No response.
"C'mon! Open that big trap of yours!"
Spider-Man webbed her to the rooftop and grinned as a police helicopter approached.
"This isn't over yet!" Vulture cried out as she was taken into custody.
SOME HOURS LATER:
"I'll get you, Spider-Man!" Ashley Toomes screamed as she rattled the bars of her jail cell.
"And you will, kid." a woman piped up.
"Who's there?"
"Just call me the Black Cat."
And with that, Black Cat sauntered up to the cell and picked the lock.
"What's going on?"
"My employer is looking for unique individuals with a grudge against Spider-Man and company. Let's just say he liked the whole mechanical wings thing of yours."
"What's in it for me?"
"Revenge, mostly. Perhaps a chance to get Spencer Smythe to pony up Adrian Toome's inventions?"
Vulture grinned.
"Deal."
"Welcome to the team." was Black Cat's response.