Volume I: The Black Cat
Note: This is the Seventh Chapter of Volume I, this will introduce Felicia Hardy, the Black Cat as well as her origins.
In Little Italy, the criminal known as Silvermane came out of the limo as he walks in the back of the restaurant that is a front for his smuggling operations.
"How is business, Hammerhead?" Silvermane walked in.
He talks to a man that works for Silvermane name Hammerhead. Hammerhead is Silvermane personal enforcer and right hand man, he's got a deformed forehead where an adamantium implant is, with it he can do the most damage to his enemies.
"Business is good, here are the goods from Africa." Hammerhead shows the bag full of diamonds.
"Ahh... conflict diamonds... with these we can recouped on our financials since that wallcrawler is messing up my business. See to it that it gets to my penthouse safely." Silvermane hands the diamonds back to Hammerhead.
"Yes boss, I'll make sure of it." Hammerhead takes possession of the diamonds.
"Now if you'll excuse me, I have a meeting with the other crime lords to attend to." Silvermane leaves the restaurant.
Hammerhead and his men are leaving out the back of the restaurant, unknown to them a shadowy figure is watching nearby through the goggles and sees the case where the diamonds are in.
The car drove away as this individual tossed a tracer onto the car and follows after them across the rooftops.
The limo arrived at the warehouse where a lot of lookouts are watching the place to make sure no one is coming.
Silvermane got outside the car as he enters the building to find Kingpin and the Owl waiting inside.
"Were you followed?" Owl asked Silvermane.
"No, I was being careful." Silvermane assured of his discretion.
"You can never be too careful these days, especially since one of our own is dead, or did you not hear what happened to Lincoln?" Owl reminded Silvermane of Lonnie Lincoln's fate.
"Yeah, that Spider guy dropped him in a vat of chemicals or something." Silvermane heard that rumor.
"With Lincoln dead, our drug operations has been compromised and now the police found out about our connection to the attack on the school, the people of New York are still pissed about that day and still looking for the culprit. Everyday that he's out there taking down our crime activities, we're losing a lot of money and control, we're basically losing this war." The Owl explained their situation.
"I will not have what it took many years and so much blood be undone because of some bastard in tights. We need to focus on taking down Spider-Man by any means necessary. By the way Silvermane, have you got the goods?" Kingpin asked about the diamonds.
"Yeah, we had trouble smuggling them into the states pass customs, but they're safe, I'll make sure of it." Silvermane assured them.
"Good, with those diamonds we'll be able to continue funding our criminal activities. Now all we need is a buyer for those diamonds and we'll get the cash." The Owl still looking for a buyer.
Peter and Betty are outside the Daily Bugle at the hot dog vendor as he's reading the paper titled 'Spider-Man still wanted for the murder of Lonnie Lincoln.'
"Can't believe that Jameson still thinks that Spider-Man is responsible for what happened to Lonnie Lincoln." Peter is disappointed.
"I know, me and Robbie explained to Jameson about Lonnie trying to kill Robbie and Spider-Man while holding on and fell down the vat, but he still thinks that Spider-Man was there to kill Lonnie Lincoln." Betty explained to Peter.
"Here you are, dogs are ready!"
Peter and Betty each got their hot dogs and paid the vendor.
"Thank you." Peter took a bite of the hot dog. "Is there anything that can change everyone's opinions on Spider-Man?"
"Maybe, it's a long shot." Betty got an idea.
"What is it?" Peter is curious.
"What if we can seek out Spider-Man for an interview." Betty suggested to Peter.
"An interview? With Spider-Man?" Peter is surprised to hear those words.
"Think about it, right now the Bugle is still painting him as a vigilante who operates outside the law and thinks that he's dangerous to the public. If we can land one interview then it might change everything." Betty explained her idea.
"Well good luck finding him after JJ just painted him as a murderer, he'll probably be keeping a low profile after this story." Peter is secretly against having an interview.
"Wait! You take pictures of Spider-Man at almost all the crime scene he's been at." Betty remembers Peter takes photos of Spider-Man.
"Yeah! Why?" Peter asking Betty.
"Can't you seek him out and tell him that I like to do an interview on him?" Betty asking Peter on her behalf.
"It doesn't work that way, he seeks me out and lets me know when and where to shoot photos. Besides, you think that he'll talk with a high school girl who interns at the newspaper that paints him as a criminal?" Peter telling Betty.
"Why not? Since he lets you, a high school student take photos of him for some reason." Betty tells Peter.
"Touché... Okay, I'll let him know that you want to interview him, but no promises he'll do it, okay?" Peter accepted Betty's message.
"Thanks Pete, you're the best." Betty smiled at Peter.
"I know." Peter smiled and rolled his eyes.
Peter agreed to help Betty seek out Spider-Man, even though Betty doesn't know that he is Spider-Man. Peter doesn't like to share details about his life in the interview. He's conflicted in whether to do the interview or not.
At the same time at night, the car pulled over to the building as Hammerhead and his men came out carrying the case with the diamonds inside. Unknown to them, an individual in black has followed them to the building.
Hammerhead is in the elevator with his men going up to Silvermane's penthouse. He arrived at the penthouse to see armed guards looking around.
The mysterious individual watched from another building using the goggles to zoom in and sees Hammerhead walking into Silvermane's office. She sees him taking down a portrait and watches as he accesses the safe. She watched as he typed in the combination to the safe and memorize it, the door open as he puts the diamonds inside. Hammerhead closes the safe after he put the diamonds away.
She watched as Hammerhead walks away from the office as she got an opportunity to steal from Silvermane. She watched the sentries and their movements, she found an opening in their routine.
She looks at the ledge above the penthouse, she fires off a line with grappling hook and locked it onto the ledge. She swings across from the building to the penthouse, she managed to sneak past the sentries without difficulty.
Hammerhead is at the elevator door until the phone rang, it's Silverman calling.
"Hey boss, the diamonds are in the safe." Hammerhead confirmed that he did his job.
"Make sure to double check. Given what happened to Lincoln, is better safe than sorry." Silvermane says over the phone.
Hammerhead then decided to go back to make sure that they're secured again.
The thief took down the portrait and found the safe, she uses the combination that she memorized from watching Hammerhead. She succeeded in opening the safe door as she found the pouch that contained the diamonds, she pulled out one and gazed upon it.
"Meow!" Black Cat smiled as she gaze.
She then heard a gun cocking as someone is behind her.
"Turn around slowly and raise you hands up." Hammerhead pointed his gun.
Black Cat raised her hands up as she turns and sees Hammerhead in the Flash.
"You're not Spider-Man." Hammerhead doesn't recognize her.
"Very observant." Black Cat raised her hand.
"You got something in you hand that doesn't belong to you." Hammerhead still aiming his gun.
"Oh this?" Black Cat holding the diamond bag.
"That's right, hand it over slowly." Hammerhead demands the diamonds.
"Ah... no!" Black Cat smiled.
"You're funeral." Hammerhead is about to pull the trigger.
She moves fast as the bullet missed as she grabbed his arm and tossed him over with so much force. Hammerhead couldn't believe that he's getting bested by a woman in black. She sees that the gunshot triggered the alarm as men came in with guns.
"Time to bail out!" Black Cat tossed a smoke grenade.
The whole room is filled with smoke as she ran out and jumped out the window, Hammerhead and his men went to the window and sees that she swinging away as they fire off some rounds hoping to hit her but no luck.
"Damn it! The boss is gonna kill us!" Hammerhead is disappointed in his failure.
It's Sunday afternoon at the Stacy Residence as Peter and Gwen are still studying for a test they'll do in math.
"Why do we even need to study? You and I are great at math." Peter says while studying.
"We are, but it never hurts to keep the brain sharp, especially since someone is too busy in their work after school." Gwen is referring to Peter.
"Gwen, I told you that I need to work since May doesn't get paid much to cover the bills." Peter explained to Gwen.
"I know Peter, and I'm glad that you're worried for your aunt. But it's important to stay focused on school." Gwen wants Peter to focus on school.
"I am, it's call multi-tasking, I can study and work. You don't need to worry about me, I'll be fine Gwen, I promise." Peter assured Gwen.
"You know that fine stands for feeling insecure, neurotic and emotional." Gwen smiled at Peter.
"Did you just say those words to me?" Peter is surprised to hear them.
"Mary Jane told me." Gwen smiled.
Peter and Gwen giggled as George Stacy opened the door and brought in some hot coco.
"Here some hot coco if you kids want any?" George holding a tray.
"Thanks Captain Stacy." Peter grabbed a mug.
"You didn't have to do this?" Gwen grabs a mug tools
"But I want to, beside I remember someone saying about her fantasy was to live in a chocolate house." George jokes.
Peter smiled at Gwen. "Chocolate house?"
Gwen rolled her eyes.
"Thanks dad for the Coco." Gwen thanked him.
"Anytime." George turns to Peter. "Oh! I almost forgot, did anything happen with Spider-Man last night?"
"Not that I know of, why?" Peter is curious.
"Well, there was a robbery at the penthouse last night, someone broke in and stole from the safe of Silvio Manfredi, I thought that it could be Spider-Man?" George asking Peter.
"No, it couldn't have been." Peter assured George Stacy.
"Then it's someone new, someone who's moves almost incredibly fast as Spider-Man, someone dressed in black." George Stacy says there's another vigilante.
"You said that it was a robbery?" Peter wanted to know.
"Apparently that's what it appears to be though Mr. Manfredi denies anything was stolen. If I had to guess he had something he doesn't want the police to know, something illegal. Any chance that Spider-Man could look into it?" George is asking Peter.
"Why are you asking Peter?" Gwen is curiously
"Well, since he takes photos for the Bugle he must've have contact with Spider-Man somehow. Can you get the word out?" George asking Peter since he already knows that Peter is Spider-Man.
"Well... I can try." Peter agrees to look into it.
"Thank you, I hope that Spider-Man can find this thief before Silvermane does." George Stacy finished his sentence as he left the room.
Peter wants to know who this thief is, could be another vigilante.
"Listen Gwen, I should get going, work and stuff." Peter gets up.
"Right now?" Gwen is surprised.
"Yeah, I promise that I'll come back to your chocolate house and study some more." Peter smiled as he leaves her room.
Gwen nod her head down in embarrassment. "That's not going away anytime soon."
At Fisk Tower, the Kingpin is speaking to Silvermane and the Owl about the recent robbery of the diamonds last night.
"How could you let this happen?" Kingpin isn't too happy.
"It wasn't my fault, Hammerhead failed to protect the goods and allowed the thief to jump out to escape." Silvermane says on the screen.
"Jump out? Was this Spider-Man?" Kingpin is curious about the thief.
"No, it's someone else, a woman in black. Apparently she bested my best man and escaped with the diamonds." Silvermane explained to the Kingpin.
"This is most troublesome, first Spider-Man and this woman in black. What about the other diamonds that are in route as we speak?" Kingpin asking about the other diamonds.
"They on the plane heading for the private airfield I own. Don't worry, we'll make sure that they're secure this time." Silvermane assured everyone.
"They better be, for your sake. I don't tolerate anymore failures." Kingpin giving Silvermane the threatening look.
The Owl and Silvermane signed off as Kingpin is left alone in his office to think. Things are already bad enough with Spider-Man disrupting his criminal activities, now someone is stealing from him and his associates.
Peter is at the Coffee Bean in the city logging onto his laptop trying to use the internet to find results on Silvermane and anything from last night. He sees Flash Thompson and the jocks hanging around.
"Peter Parker! Felicia Hardy!"
Peter gotten up and walked over to the barista to pick up his latte. As he went over to pick up his latte, he sees someone next to him grabbing her cup. A girl about his age with platinum blonde hair and green eyes, she's quite beautiful like Liz Allan, Gwen Stacy, and Mary Jane Watson.
"Ah, I think that I got yours." Felicia got the wrong cup by mistake.
"Oh... and I got yours." Peter hands her cup.
"Thank you... Peter Parker." Felicia read the name on his cup.
"No problem... Felicia Hardy." Peter read the name on her cup.
Flash walks over to say hello to the new girl.
"Hello there cutie. I'm Flash Thompson." Flash tries to flirt with Felicia.
"Good for you. I was wondering if Mr. Parker here came show me around the city since it's been a while for me, if that's okay with you." Felicia asking Peter for a tour.
"Ah... sure. I don't mind." Peter agrees to show her around.
Felicia and Peter both got their drinks and their stuff, Flash watched as the new girl is out with Parker.
"What does she see in Puny Parker?" Flash is confused as to why Felicia pass him by.
(Sometime later out in the city)
Peter and Felicia are at Time Square walking and talking.
"So where are you from?" Peter is curious.
"Queens." Felicia answered his question.
"Really? I'm from Queens too and in all my time there, I never seen you." Peter kept walking.
"It's because I'm attending boarding school in Switzerland, I'm now on break visiting my mother." Felicia explains why she's away from New York.
"I'm guessing that you learned that a lot of things have changed since you were away." Peter told Felicia about recent changes.
"I heard, this Spider-Man who goes around fighting off the bad guys, it's impressive." Felicia heard the rumors about Spider-Man.
Felicia's phone vibrate as she got an text from one of her sources about something tonight.
"I should get going, nice to meet you Peter." Felicia away goodbye.
"You too, Felicia." Peter watched as she walks away.
Peter's phone is ringing too as he pulls it out and sees that George Stacy is calling him.
"Captain Stacy?" Peter answered the call.
"Peter, I have some info that you might want to pass onto Spider-Man." George Stacy says on the phone.
"Go ahead." Peter is listening.
"One of our CI's has told us that Silvermane has something coming in the private airfields tonight. Normally I'd get a warrant but chances are that we could tip him off as he has people in the DA's office." George Stacy explains.
"So you want Spider-Man to investigate this matter? Don't worry I'll make sure that he gets it." Peter assured George Stacy.
"Thank you Peter, I'll text you the address." George Stacy hangs up.
"So lately I'm now Spider-Man's messenger." Peter says to himself.
Peter got the text from Captain Stacy about the airfield that Silvermane owns for his smuggling operations. He figures that it's the best lead he has so far, chances are that this thief might make an appearance tonight and he'll be there to catch this person.
Sometime later Felicia returned to her mother's house in Queens.
"I'm back home mom!" Felicia came in through the front door.
"Felicia, how is the city?" Lydia asking her daughter.
"Not bad, though I miss skiing in the Swiss Alps, the resort there has some of the best chocolates there is." Felicia says to Lydia.
"It's good to have you home." Lydia smiled at Felicia.
"I miss you too mom." Felicia walked up and hugged her.
Felicia finished hugging her mother as she went upstairs to her room. She looked around and sees a photo of her with her father Walter Hardy, she picked it up and holds it.
"I miss you too Daddy." Felicia teared up.
(Flashback)
Five Years Ago
Ten year old Felicia Hardy and her mother returned home after having fun at Coney Island. Lydia noticed that the door is partially opened.
"Felicia, stay here." Lydia told her daughter to wait outside.
Lydia slowly opened the door and found a blood trail on the floor, she walked in closer to find her husband Walter laying on the floor, murdered.
"Daddy!" Felicia came inside.
"Felicia, don't look!" Lydia told her not to look.
Felicia sees her father in the ground dead, her mother hugged her in tears as someone they loved was taken from them.
(Present)
Felicia still remembers that day, it haunted her. She found out that the crime syndicates of New York were responsible for her father's death.
"I'll see to it that Silvermane and the rest of the crime families pay for what they've done to you, I swear it." Felicia say to the photo of her father.
Felicia put the photo down as she walks to her closet and unveiled the suit that she worn in her career as a thief.
She undressed herself and puts on the suit that came equipped with tools needed for her thefts and heists. She equipped goggles that enables her to see motion sensors, it can double as binoculars to see from a distance, and can be used for night vision.
"Time for the Black Cat to go to work." Black Cat is all dressed up.
She leaves through the window and jumped off as she went over to find a motorcycle hidden that she 'borrowed' for her activities. She rode off for her next theft.
At the private airfield in Queens, Felicia sneaks around and sees a group of armed guards their with automatic weapons. A cargo plane is landing at the airfield, she watches as it stops and the ramp opens.
A car came by, it's Hammerhead coming out of the driver's seat, opened the back door and Silvermane is here in person.
At the same time above the hangar nearby, Spider-Man is watching as Silvermane and Hammerhead are watching the plane being unloaded, the henchmen opened the crate and there's a statue inside.
"A statue? Doesn't make any sense?" Spider-Man says to himself as he's confused.
"Hammerhead, would you like to do the honors?" Silvermane says to Hammerhead.
Hammerhead got in closer to the statue as he's about to strike with his forehead, Hammerhead used his head to break the statue down hard, both Spider-Man and Black Cat sees that a bag full of diamonds were hidden inside the statue.
"Here they are, safe and sound this time. Let's get them into the safety deposit box where no one can get them." Hammerhead holds the diamonds in his hands.
Spider-Man uses his camera to take photos of Silvermane and Hammerhead importing conflict diamonds into the states.
"Hopefully these will come in handy for Captain Stacy to use as evidence." Spider-Man looked at the photos.
They then got surprised by a can tossed in front of their feet, it was a gas grenade, it let out a knock out gas as everyone in range is losing consciousness and falls to sleep. Black Cat walks out of hiding as she sees everyone laying on the floor.
"All too easy." Black Cat walks up pass them.
She picked up the diamond bag from the ground and holds one in her hand.
"So pretty." Black Cat gazed upon the diamond.
The diamond got webbed up as well as the bag, she looks up above the hangar, she sees Spider-Man holding the bag.
"Sorry Lady, can't let you have these." Spider-Man holds the diamond bag.
"So you must be the famous Spider-Man I heard so much about?" Black Cat meets Spider-Man in person.
"Have we met before?" Spider-Man is wondering.
"I think that I'd recognize a guy in a mask, but I feel like we crossed path somewhere. Do you know what you're holding in your hand?" Black Cat asking the question.
"Let me guess, since they were hidden in the statue, I'm guessing that these are conflict diamonds smuggled by these fellows here. Am I correct? Spider-Man guessed the questions.
"Very observant, guess you're more than just a cute face." Black Cat flirts with Spider-Man.
"Stop! You're making me blush!" Spider-Man jokes too.
"So can I have them back?" Black Cat wondering.
"Since these are illegal goods, I can't let you have them." Spider-Man refused to hand them to her.
"Pity, guess I'll have to take it from you." Black Cat pulls out her claws from her gloves.
"I really don't want to fight you." Spider-Man tries to reason with her.
"Then you shouldn't have gotten in my way, Spider." Black Cat prepares to attack.
She charges in at high speed as Spider-Man is surprised by her speed, she strikes at him with her claws but he dodged it and flips back.
"Easy there Freddy Krueger!" Spider-Man pulling back.
Black Cat kept on striking as Spider-Man redirects and blocks every strike until he got an opening and does a jump spinning back kick, she got hit and fell to the ground.
"Ow! Why did you hit me, I'm a girl you know!" Black Cat says to Spider-Man.
"Oh! I'm sorry, let me help you-" Spider-Man got closer to help her.
She kicked him in the gut hard and felt the pain. Black Cat stands up and gotten the best of him.
"I can't believe that you fell for that!" Black Cat smiles in humor.
Spider-Man in pain. "Yeah, well... I'm a sucker for women."
The effects of the gas wears off as Hammerhead and the rest of the men regained consciousness and sees Spider-Man and Black Cat fighting one another.
"What the?" Hammerhead stands up.
Spider-Man and Black Cat stopped fighting as they turn around and sees Hammerhead and his men standing up.
"Shoot them!" Hammerhead orders them.
The men fires off their guns as Spider-Man and Black Cat prepares to make their escape, they continue to run.
"This way!" Black Cat leads Spider-Man.
They arrived outside the airfield where Black Cat has the motorcycle hidden nearby.
"Nice bike, though I don't think it's smart to bring your own wheels out." Spider-Man looks at the bike.
"Who says that it's mine?" Black Cat smiled mischievously.
A gunshot is fired as they see a couple of cars heading their way.
"Get on!" Black Cat gotten on the motorcycle.
Spider-Man got on the motorcycle behind her as she drives off.
They managed to make it to the freeway as Hammerhead and his men are still chasing after them.
"They're gaining on us!" Spider-Man holds on to Black Cat.
"Hey! No backseat drivers!" Black Cat continues to drive.
The lead car is driving up closer as he pulls out a sub machine gun and starts shooting.
"Can't you do something?!"Black Cat takes evasive action.
"Keep driving, I'll be right back!" Spider-Man jumped off the bike.
Spider-Man landed on the lead car as he webs the windshield from the other car behind, forcing it to stop. Hammerhead then fires off some rounds at the rooftop as Spider-Man is dodging every bullet. Hammerhead ran out of ammo as he began to reload. Spider-Man gotten in closer to the driver's door and punched the glass knocking the driver out cold. Hammerhead noticed that the car is driving out of control as he takes the wheel.
Black Cat looks back and sees that Spider-Man needs help, she hits the brakes and stops. Spider-Man sees her waiting for him.
"Spider-Man, jump!" Black Cat riding the bike.
Spider-Man jumped off the car and gotten on back of the motorcycle, she drives off at full speed. Hammerhead stopped the car and gotten out to see Spider-Man and Black Cat has gotten away.
"Ahhh!!!" Hammerhead yelled in anger.
The motorcycle stopped in Flushing Meadows as its empty, they're in the clear as no one is chasing after them.
"Wow, that was fun." Black Cat smiled in enjoyment.
"Have to admit, I was getting worried that you were gonna leave me behind." Spider-Man gotten off the bike.
"I was, though it wouldn't be any fun without you." Black Cat gotten off and stands.
"Thanks." Spider-Man is grateful to her.
"So what now, you got the diamonds." Black Cat looked at the diamond bag in his hand.
"Now these go to the police as evidence, at least Silvermane won't be getting these back anytime soon." Spider-Man holds the bag.
"Pity, though you know best." Black Cat let him have them.
"So since we're here all alone, why don't you introduce yourself, didn't quite catch your name." Spider-Man asking for her name.
"The name's Black Cat, and I just crossed your path." Black Cat introduced herself.
"Black Cat, I'm Spider-Man." Spider-Man introduced himself.
"Nice to meet you, Spider. I never thought that I meet someone like me." Black Cat says to Spider-Man.
"I could say the same, though the only difference is that you steal." Spider-Man say to Black Cat.
"I only steal from criminals who steal from good people, like those diamonds for example, many have died over them thanks to Silvermane and his associates. I'm only stealing so that it can be put to better use like helping the poor who were victimized by the crime syndicates." Black Cat explains her mission.
"Like Robin Hood, noble, but it's against the law." Spider-Man says to Black Cat.
"And this coming from a guy dressed in spandex who operates outside the law?" Black Cat reminded him.
"Touché, though this is not spandex. Anyway, how did you become Black Cat? I've noticed that your abilities were beyond normal." Spider-Man is curious.
"Well... it all started with my father who was a master thief, he taught me some of his skills when I was very little. One day, I came home and found my father dead on the floor, it was the crime syndicates that killed him." Black Cat explains her origins.
"I'm sorry, I can understand losing someone you love." Spider-Man is sympathetic towards Black Cat.
"Over the next five years I've trained in martial arts and gymnastics to become a master thief, then one day I've got a job to steal an experiment super soldier serum from Power Broker Inc., I've seen the promising results of their research and instead of giving it to my client, I used it on myself and gain heighten abilities beyond my dreams." Felicia explains how she got her powers.
"And now you're using your gifts to steal instead of saving lives." Spider-Man says to Black Cat.
"So you're saying that I should be like you, a hero? I'm flattered but I don't think that it's for me." Black Cat isn't interested.
"Maybe there's more to you than just a thief." Spider-Man says to Black Cat.
"Sorry to disappoint you Spider, but this is who I am. It was nice to meet you Spider, this is where we part ways, so ciao!" Black Cat gotten on her bike and rode off.
Spider-Man watched as Black Cat continues to drive away.
"Well, at least I get to hand these diamonds to..." Spider-Man looked inside the bag and sees that it's nothing but pebbles.
Spider-Man is confused as to why there are no diamonds inside, until he remembers when Black Cat was close to him as they were riding.
"Great, she took them. Way to go Spidey!" Spider-Man says to himself in disappointment.
Spider-Man is still all alone in Flushing Meadows as Black Cat is already gone.
Spider-Man arrived at the bedroom to see Mary Jane is waiting for him.
"Is May home yet?" Peter took off his mask.
"No, don't worry. She's still working the night shift. How did it go with Silvermane?" Mary Jane got curious.
"Well we did stop him from getting the diamonds though the problem is that she took them from me." Peter explained to Mary Jane.
"She?" Mary Jane heard that word.
"Yeah, the thief is a woman and she's got abilities like me though not as strong as mines. We worked together and got the diamonds away from Silvermane but she swiped them from under my nose." Peter admits to Mary Jane.
Mary Jane giggled. "Ha! You gotta be kidding? You got bested by a woman? That's new."
"Glad that you're enjoying this, but I didn't leave all empty handed." Peter got his camera.
He pulled out the memory card and links it to his computer. He shows pictures of Silvermane and Hammerhead importing conflict diamonds into the states.
"Hopefully with these, this will be evidence against Silvermane for the police to take him down." Peter then prints the photos.
"Amazing, you did in a day that took the cops months or even years to accomplish." Mary Jane admired his results in fighting crime.
"Thanks, now to get these to Captain Stacy. If you'll excuse me, I'm off to the chocolate house." Peter jokes as he exits the room.
"Chocolate house?" Mary Jane is confused by what Peter said.
Back at the restaurant, Silvermane is communicating with the Owl and Kingpin about recent events.
"You failed once again Silvermane!" Kingpin isn't too happy.
"We were ambushed by Spider-Man and this thief, apparently they're working together." Silvermane explained to them.
"So they're both making moves against us, first is Lonnie Lincoln and now your next." Kingpin says to Silvermane.
"Not to worry, we still have the other diamonds from before locked up in the safety deposit box, it's under control." Silvermane assured them.
"If this is under control, I'd hate to see what out of control looks like. What are the chances are that they know about the box you own?" Kingpin is asking the question.
"Damn it! We mentioned it back at the airfield, it's safe to assume that they know." Silvermane realized that he slipped the information.
"Maybe this could be an opportunity to lure both mice with real cheese. Let them come and we'll set up a trap for them, once they come kill them both!" Kingpin orders Silvermane.
"Very well, I'll see to it that neither of them escape this time." Silvermane will take of it.
"You better, this is your last and only chance." Kingpin gave a threatening look before he signs off.
"Can believe that you let Fisk step over you like he owns you?" Hammerhead says to Silvermane.
"Believe me Hammerhead, I'm getting sick of Fisk bossing everyone around, not like he hasn't been making mistakes. That mess from the school last month was his fault." Silvermane says to Hammerhead.
"So what do you want to do Boss?" Hammerhead awaits Silvermane's answer.
"For now, we make sure that both Spider-Man and Black Cat die together, after that we'll make plans to take down Fisk, permanently." Silvermane smiles mischievously.
Peter is at the Stacy Residence as he shows the photos that he took as Spider-Man of Silvermane and Hammerhead smuggling conflict diamonds.
"These are definitely conflict diamonds they're smuggling." George Stacy examine the photos.
"Is this enough to charge them for their crimes?" Peter is wondering.
"For now no, but it's enough to open an investigation. If we had the diamonds as proof, that will be enough to serve as evidence, but thanks to this Black Cat, we got nothing but suspicion." George Stacy explains to Peter.
"Spider-Man mentioned that Silvermane has a safety deposit box that stores more of these diamonds." Peter explained to George.
"If Silvermane is holding illegal contraband in his name, then it'll be enough for an arrest warrant." George Stacy says to Peter.
"Problem is that Black Cat knows too about the safety deposit box, she's going to steal them next." Peter tells George about Black Cat.
"I'll see if I can check with banks and sees if there's a safety deposit box in Silvermane's name, I'll let you know so that you can pass it on to Spider-Man." George Stacy volunteers to help.
"Thanks, I'm sure that Spider-Man appreciates it." Peter speaks on Spider-Man's behalf.
Peter got up and left for home as he's got school tomorrow.
"I'm sure that you do." George Stacy says alone.
The next day at school, as it's break time, Peter is looking up anything he can find on this Black Cat and found some results, apparently she made a name for herself stealing from the crime families in Europe and is still wanted by Interpol for her thefts, though no one seems to know who's under the mask.
"What are you looking at?" Betty is behind Peter.
"Oh... nothing." Peter closes the laptop.
"Nothing dirty I hope." Betty jokes as Peter gave her the look. "I'm just kidding, why so serious?"
"It's about this theft that calls herself the Black Cat, she and Spider-Man crossed paths and she got away." Peter explained to Betty.
"Wow, even the new girl is too much for Spider-Man, shocking." Betty smiled in humor.
"Cute... but I'm guessing that's not why you're here, is it?" Peter could tell that Betty has something else on her mind.
"No, it's about the interview that I want to do on him. Did you send my message to Spidey?" Betty is curious.
"Yeah, he got the message... but he's not sure about the interview." Peter is still unsure.
"Why not?" Betty wondering why.
"He thinks that there are things that he likes to keep to himself, personal things that other people shouldn't have to know. He already made a lot of enemies with criminals, they'll do anything to get back at him, maybe Spider-Man is trying to protect the people he cares about from danger because of him." Peter explained to Betty.
"I see... but right now everyone in New York is painted him as a vigilante and a menace, but I know that's not true. Last month he saved me and everyone here from a group of criminals that held us hostage, and later he saved me and Robbie from a drug dealer. I think that the public deserves to hear from his side of the story and know that he's here to help, to give everyone hope." Betty explained her reason to do the interview.
"You do have a point there... okay, I'll let him know again and sees if he can do that interview." Peter assured Betty about the interview.
"Thanks Pete." Betty kissed Peter on the cheek, he blushed a bit.
Gwen is watching nearby as Betty just kissed Peter on the cheek, she couldn't help but being jealous, she shouldn't feel this way since she and Peter are friends.
Liz is sitting with Sally and Glory as she too sees Peter being kissed on the cheek by Betty Brant. She can't understand what is happening to her and why she's feeling uncomfortable seeing another girl kissing Peter on the cheek.
Sometime later, Felicia is at home as she hacked into the bank's computer systems and sees if Silvermane owns a safety deposit box and she found one under Silvio Manfredi. There's a bank downtown as got the address and the box number.
"Gotcha." Felicia smiled.
She got off the computer and walks over to her closet to pull out her Black Cat suit.
Peter is in the city at the Coffee Bean, he's still waiting for the call from Captain Stacy for the location of Silvermane's safety deposit box. He still thinks about Black Cat and what she's been through, losing a loved one. Peter remembered how his tragedy of losing Uncle Ben changed him, it's the same with this Black Cat.
Peter's phone rang as he picked it up and it's Captain Stacy calling.
"Captain Stacy?" Peter answered the call.
"The safety deposit box is at the bank downtown, I'll text you the address, hopefully Spider-Man can beat Black Cat to it." George gave the location.
"You and me both." Peter hangs up.
He checks the text and got the address and name of the bank, but knowing Black Cat she's already a step ahead of him, he gets up and put away his stuff. He left the Coffee Bean and runs to the alley to change.
It's late at midnight as Black Cat arrived at the rooftop of the bank. She looked down as her goggles spotted motion sensors around, she then pulls out her anti lock device and uses it to unlock the window, she succeeded.
She repelled down onto the floor and looks around to see that it's empty, no sign of anyone. She proceeded to the room where the safety deposit boxes are. She enters the room and sees the numbers on each safe.
"Okay, 237 where are you?" Black Cat is searching around.
She continues her search until she found the number.
"There you are." Black Cat found it.
She pulls out her tools to pick on the locks, she opens it and pulls out the box. She uses the same tools to pick on the box and opens it, she picked up the diamonds in the bag as she gazed upon one.
She exits the room to find out that she's not alone, Hammerhead and his team of men are aiming their guns at her.
"Put them down Pussycat." Hammerhead says to Black Cat.
Black Cat holds the bag in her hands. "Oh! This? Sorry, what can i say? Diamonds are girls best friend."
"Last chance before we find out if you really do have nine lives." Hammerhead points his gun.
The window ceiling came crashing down as Spider-Man lands on his three point stance.
"Hello Kitty!" Spider-Man looking at Black Cat.
"Spider, couldn't resist being away from me, could you?" Black Cat smiled.
"Well, it's just our luck, Spider-Man and Black Cat here together, we get to kill two birds with one stone after all." Hammerhead smiled mischievously .
"So you guys knew we were coming, this whole thing is a trap?" Spider-Man says to Hammerhead.
"Black Cat here has been stealing from my boss, as for you, you've done nothing but cause my boss and his associates trouble." Hammerhead explained his motives.
"Your boss was also involved in the Midtown Attack? Who else is there? I want names?" Spider-Man demanded answers.
"I could tell you but they'll have my head for this, quite frankly that's the part of me that I'd like to keep." Hammerhead refused to divulge information on the Kingpin.
Hammerhead and his men have their guns pointed and ready to kill both Spider-Man and Black Cat.
"Kill them!" Hammerhead orders his men.
Black Cat tossed a flash bang as everyone in range is blinded including Spider-Man. Everyone got temporarily blinded as they recovered their sights, Spider-Man and Hammerhead finds out that Black Cat is already gone with the diamonds.
"Damn it, she got away! At least we get to kill you." Hammerhead aims his gun.
Spider-Man webs up the pistol and jammed the barrel. The other men started to fire off their guns but Spider-Man jumped up and webs their eyes to blind them. He lands as more men came at him without guns. He engages them in hand to hand combat.
(Outside the Bank)
Black Cat escaped from the bank and kept on running out with the diamonds in hand.
"Perfect, Spider-Man gets to take them on by himself and I get away with the prize." Black Cat kept running.
She then stopped and thinks about Spider-Man, she knows how dangerous Hammerhead and his men are for Spider-Man to take on alone. She just used him as a distraction for her getaway. She still hold the bag with diamonds inside and thinks about disappearing.
(Back at the Bank)
Spider-Man still fights off the henchmen alone as they're no problem for him. A henchman behind him throw his fist but Spider-Man dodged it and grabbed the man's arm and tossed him down over his shoulder.
"That's was too easy." Spider-Man's spider sense tingles.
Hammerhead came charging in at high speed and hit Spider-Man and he got pushed towards the wall.
"Oww!" Spider-Man felt the pain.
"I expected more from you, time to put your lights out!" Hammerhead smiled.
Spider-Man is still recovering from the impact as he sees Hammerhead charging in again at him with full force. Hammerhead kept on running until Black Cat came in swinging and kicked Hammerhead hard on the head.
Black Cat stood in front of Spider-Man and offered him her hand.
"You came." Spider-Man took the hand.
Black Cat helped Spider-Man up on his feet as she saved his life.
"I thought you were long gone." Spider-Man says to Black Cat.
"I was, had a change of heart." Black Cat smiled at Spider-Man.
Hammerhead got back up along with his men as they see Spider-Man and Black Cat together.
"Looks like this dance is still on, shall we Tango?" Spider-Man asking Black Cat.
"I thought you never ask." Black Cat smiled in excitement.
"Get them!" Hammerhead orders his men.
Spider-Man and Black Cat team up to take on Hammerhead and his men. Spider-Man took on Hammerhead and two of his men while Black Cat took on five men.
Black Cat sees a couple of men with bats coming at her, she runs and pulls out her claws as she slice through the wood. The men looked at their bats as they're only holding the handles. Two more men came at her with fists only, she puts away her claws as she blocks every punch they throw. She jumped up and does the scissors kick.
Spider-Man fights one of the men as he kept dodging the punches until he caught his wrist and sees another one coming, he did the kneeling shoulder throw and tossed the man at the other guy, he webbed them both together. Hammerhead came in charging as Spider-Man knows what to expect from Hammerhead, he dodged his attack by cartwheeling out of the way.
Black Cat took out one guy with a roundhouse kick, she left with two guys. One guy came running at her until she jumps and does a spinning back kick. The last guy is out of his league as Black Cat is still standing victorious, he decided not to fight and runs out.
Hammerhead is having trouble using his head to hit Spider-Man as he's too fast and agile to hit. Hammerhead switches to his fists as he throws a lot of punches as Spider-Man dodges them.
"Damn it! Stay still Bug Boy!" Hammerhead kept on punching.
"Ah! No!" Spider-Man taunts him.
Hammerhead then tries to charge in with his head, Spider-Man runs to Hammerhead, he then jumps and does a hurricanrana move and tossed him down hard on the ground. Spider-Man webs him down on the ground.
Spider-Man looks around and sees that he and Black Cat took down Hammerhead and his men.
"Not bad Cat, couldn't done this without you, thanks." Spider-Man is grateful to her.
"Sure, I was gonna go with the diamonds but I couldn't leave you behind." Black Cat holding the diamonds.
"I appreciate your help, but you're gonna have to leave that here." Spider-Man tells her to leave the diamonds.
"Oh come on! Can't you make an exception?" Black Cat pleaded with Spider-Man but he wouldn't take it. "Fine, here."
She hands the diamonds to Spider-Man, he checks to see if they're real this time. Spider-Man tossed the diamonds on the ground for the police to find. They then hear sirens coming in.
"Think that it's time for us to go." Black Cat suggested to Spider-Man.
Spider-Man and Black Cat made their exit as the police came into the bank and found Hammerhead with his men all webbed up and defeated, the conflict diamonds on the floor.
Sometime later on the rooftop as Spider-Man and Black Cat overlook the city.
"Thanks for the help back there and I'm sorry that you left empty handed." Spider-Man says to Black Cat.
"Well, you win some, you lose some. Beside I couldn't bear to have you die." Black Cat explains to Spider-Man.
"Why? Why give up your chance for some easy money? Why risk yourself for me?" Spider-Man is curious about her intentions.
"Can't you guess? Then let me show show you." Black cat walks close to him.
Black Cat pulled up Spider-Man's mask partially and exposed his lips, she leaned in and kisses him, Spider-Man was shocked but surprised, he didn't even react but allowed it, it's his first time fully kissing a girl, Spider-Man and Black Cat pulled away as they finished kissing each other.
"Wow!" Spider-Man smiled in amazement.
"Keep the mask on, it's more you." Black Cat licks her lips.
Black Cat walks over to the ledge as she stopped and looked back at Spider-Man.
"Till next time Spider." Black Cat blows a kiss to him.
Black Cat jumped off the ledge as Spider-Man watches her swing away. He was surprised as they started out as enemies, then as partners, now they're more.
Back at the restaurant as the patrons already left, Silvermane received the news that the police already arrested Hammerhead and his men, the conflict diamonds are now evidence as proof in Silvermane's involvement in smuggling.
"Damn it! Hammerhead has failed and now the police are coming for me." Silvermane felt defeated.
The phone rang as Silvermane picked it up and sees that Kingpin is calling him.
"Fisk, I assume that you already know what's happened." Silvermane talks to Kingpin.
"The police are coming for you and I know that you'll take down anyone with you." Kingpin says over the phone.
"That's right, I risked everything for you, if I go down then you'll go down with me, I promise you that." Silvermane stated to Kingpin.
"That's a shame for me, too bad that I plan ahead." Kingpin says over the phone.
Silvermane and his men hears some kind of beeping sound as they found a bomb hidden underneath the table.
"Goodbye old friend." Kingpin says to Silvermane for the last time.
(Outside the Restaurant)
Captain Stacy and his police force drive up to Silvermane's restaurant until they see the whole restaurant blown up before their eyes. They stopped the cars as George Stacy steps out and see the whole place is on fire.
"Oh my god!" George Stacy is too late.
They were so close to catching Silvermane and arresting him, he could've uncovered everything about his associates but unfortunately those secrets died with him.
Peter is walking around in Forest Hills as he read the papers titled 'Silvermane: Presumed Dead'.
"Great, another connection is lost like Lonnie Lincoln, whoever is behind this bombing of Silvermane is also involved in the school attack, and I'm gonna find them, whoever they are, that's a promise." Peter made a promise to himself.
Peter continues to walk until he sees Felicia Hardy again outside her house with a suitcase being packed into a car.
"Felicia!" Peter calls out to her.
"I remember you, Peter... Parker, correct?" Felicia remembers his name.
"That's me, so you're leaving so soon?" Peter looked at the suitcase.
"Yeah, break time is over and I need to head back to boarding school. Anyway, I had a great time here." Felicia smiled in joy.
"Really? You meet someone?" Peter got curious.
"Yeah, he's... mysterious and cute." Felicia described the guy.
"Funny, I met someone too, though I'd didn't catch her name." Peter tells about his time.
"Anyway, it was nice meeting you, in some ways i felt connected to you for some reason." Felicia says to Peter.
"Thanks, I feel the same way about you." Peter says to Felicia.
"I should get going, my flight will leave soon. Goodbye Peter." Felicia gave him a kiss on the cheek.
Peter blushed as Felicia gets into the car, she drives away with her mother as Peter waves her goodbye, he hopes that their paths will cross again someday, there's something special about Felicia that he can't yet figure out.
"Now that Felicia is gone, there's one more girl I need to see." Peter said in his thoughts.
Peter remembered about helping another girl in his life.
Later in the city as Betty is walking down the sidewalk she tries to get in touch with Peter but no success. Unknown to her someone came in closer and grabbed her. A lot of people sees Spider-Man came in and took Betty Brant in his arm.
"Whoa! Spider-Man just took that girl!"
Betty is surprised to sees Spider-Man holding her as he swings around. They eventually made it to a rooftop as Betty didn't think that Spider-Man would come to her.
"Spider-Man? Why did you take me?" Betty is curious.
"Someone told me that you wanted to interview me, here I am." Spider-Man wants to do the interview.
Betty is surprised as Spider-Man who spent his entire time avoiding her now wants her to do an interview on him.
Note: Please write comments or reviews about this chapter and tell what you like, thank you.