Felicia Hardy's perspective:

Felicia's phone had begun ringing. It was her boyfriend, Flash Thompson.

"Hey, baby," answered Felicia.

"Hey, silver pumpkin," said Flash. "Bye week's this week. Want me to come down?" College football had two or three "byes" off per season because the game was so physically rough.

"Don't you still have military training to do?" asked Felicia.

"I've worked it out," said Flash.

"What?" asked a puzzled Felicia. "Never mind. You're the star quarterback. I'll be waiting."

"Thanks," said Flash. "Love ya." He made a kissing sound before hanging up.

Felicia grinned. She may have lost Spider-Man to MJ, but she had found a suitable replacement in Peter Parker's high school enemy turned adult friend.

Peter Parker's perspective:

"That's it for today," said Dr. Curt Connors at his lab the next day.

"Yeah," said his scientific assistant, Peter Parker. As he left the lab, Peter reflected on what a great scientists Dr. Connors was. It was hard to believe that he had recently been transformed into The Lizard. Fortunately, he no longer had any symptoms. Unless another shoe dropped, that part of his life was over.

Peter checked the news on his phone. Carolyn Trainer, the second Doctor Octopus, had somehow been paroled. Alas, super-criminals were career boosters for slick lawyers. So he began searching the city. Along the way, he saw a mugger holding a gun on a couple with a baby. Spider-Man could not let this pass. He webbed the gun free of the mugger's grasp, then knocked him out with a diving punch.

The father clapped. The mother could not because she was holding the baby, but nodded.

"Great to have supporters," said Spider-Man, taking a bow before web swinging away. He did some more searching. No sign of Doctor Octopus. Which was odd. She blamed Spider-Man for the deaths of the man she loved, Otto Octavius, the original Doctor Octopus. It seemed likely that she would want to find Spider-Man even more than Spider-Man wanted to find her.

No luck. Spider-Man returned home. Before he would have changed, MJ asked, "I guess you didn't get diapers and a carriage for the baby."

Spider-Man grunted and tapped his forehead in frustration. He had been trying so hard to find Octopus that this had completely slipped his mind. "Sorry, MJ."

"No harm done," said MJ. "But the baby needs those soon. Understand?"

"Perfectly," said Spidey.

Doctor Octopus' perspective:

Doctor Octopus walked over the scientific facility where her father, Seward, served as head scientist. Climbing the wall to the outside of Seward's office by using her tentacles, Octopus broke through and encircled Seward's waist with a tentacle.

"This is a pleasant surprise," said Seward nervously As his daughter took him away, using her free limbs to get off the roof and make long strides so as to move quickly..

"I doubt it," frowned Doctor Octopus. "I've spent more time in prison than out over the last two and a half years, and not one measly visit from you."

"I-I've been busy with work," said Seward.

Doctor Octopus seethed but as an intelligent woman, she managed to maintain her path to the hideout. "The usual excuse. Seems you've never not been busy. You haven't changed a bit, have you, Daddy?"

"Was I really so bad as to deserve revenge?" asked Seward.

"More than you realize," said Octopus. "But that's not the main purpose for this kidnapping anyway. No, no, you have information I..." she looked up upon realizing that two police choppers were in pursuit.

"You picked the wrong day," raged Doctor Octopus. She used the laser turrets in her upper tentacles to blast the choppers out of the sky! The officers inside jumped out with parachutes. Octopus was inclined to let them go; they no longer posed a threat.

"What's happened to you?" asked a horrified Seward.

"You did, Daddy," said Doctor Octopus. She used the gas dispenser in one of her lower tentacles to knock Seward out.

Felicia's perspective:

"And so, despite only playing for a military school," said Flash Thompson at the restaurant he and Felicia were eating in, "There's a one in a zillion chance we make the playoffs if we win out. Of course, our biggest rival, Navy's gonna have somethin' to say 'bout that! I sure hope so. I don't want those scrubs to be the difference. With the kind o' aircraft we got, how come there even is a navy? Are you listening, Felicia?"

Felicia had found this very hard to follow, but thought it best to appear interested. "I wish you success."

"Thought so," said Flash.

Felicia had little interest in football, so perhaps it was best to change the subject, lest it be too obvious that she was humoring Flash.

"How's the Army side of things?" Felicia asked.

"The team's called Army too," grinned Flash, "But I can tell you mean boot camp. It's not going so well."

"Why not?" Felicia expressed her concern.

"I can take the exercise," said Flash. "And I'm a good shot. But the teachers can't drill discipline inta me. They don't think I got much of a future if pro football won't have me."

Felicia noticed something on one of the television sets attached to the restaurant walls. It showed Doctor Octopus escaping from prison. Although this one was a woman. The obvious reason Felicia had been unaware of this new Doc Ock was because her chats with Flash had taken Black Cat time away from her. But it was time to suit up first.

First Felicia had to finish this date. So she ate quickly. Upon finishing, she kissed Flash on the cheek. "I need to run an errand, so don't bother following me home."

"You sure?" asked Flash.

"Yeah," said Felicia as she walked away. She hoped this would not compromise their relationship, but this Doctor Octopus seemed even worse than the first one. Spider-Man would need help from The Black Cat. And though she had lost Spider-Man to another woman, the two superheroes remained dear friends.

It occurred to Felicia that Spidey had done it right. His trusting in his lover meant that these situations did not potentially risk the relationship. But it was too late. Flash may have been a bit too macho to take the double life of his girlfriend.

Spider-Man's perspective:

Spider-Man was aware of Doctor Octopus' kidnapping of her father, one of the country's top scientists. But Spidey also saw The Scorpion fleeing from rooftop to rooftop with a bag in his hand. It was best to handle the case that could be immediately cracked. Yet this seemed to be quite the coincidence. Was it possible that the simultaneous crimes of Doc Ock and Scorpion were connected somehow? Spider-Man would be sure to question The Scorpion on Doctor Octopus.

Spider-Man delivered a jumping kick at The Scorpion. This knocked him down, though he held onto his bag. He was tagged by The Scorpion's large tail, knocking him away. Spider-Man dodged a blast of acid from the head of the tail. His Spider-Sense began to warn him of another blast when he heard jamming sounds. Whatever launched acid out of Scorpion's tail must have somehow malfunctioned.

"Hey, Spider," Spider-Man heard The Black Cat from behind him. Her bad luck power must have stopped the acid.

"Damn," said Scorpion. "Time to bail." He beat feet.

"Guess I know why the chicken crossed the roof," Spider-Man joked. He followed that up by bawking like a chicken.

Spider-Man pursued (The Black Cat lacked superhuman speed so she was left in the dust). Spider-Man was catching up when The Scorpion pushed a billboard off the edge of a building and cut to the side. It would likely kill at least one person below if it hit the streets. Spidey had no choice but to spend time getting the billboard back on the roof with his webbing. As he expected, Scorpion was out of sight by the time The Web-Slinger was finished.

Black Cat caught up soon enough. "Sorry, Spider. But hey, you'll get another chance, thanks to me."

Now that he had a baby on the way, Spider-Man was uncomfortable talking to a woman who had crushed on him for some time. "I would have made it."

"Considering he had you on the defensive before I showed up," grinned The Black Cat, "That's a bold assumption. By the way, why so touchy?"

"MJ's pregnant," explained Spider-Man. "Sorry."

"So that's it," said The Cat. "Don't be sorry. We're past the point when we could have been together. I've got a new man in my life anyway."

"Glad you take it so well," Spidey smiled in relief under his mask. "But now we can't find The Scorpion."

"Maybe you can't," said The Black Cat as she drew a pair of binoculars out of her tool belt. She looked around. "There." She pointed at a distant warehouse. Spider-Man looked that way and saw The Scorpion meeting Doctor Octopus and the man she had been seen kidnapping. Spider-Man recognized this man as the renowned scientist, Seward Trainer. He was presumably the bad father who had partially caused Octopus to turn to crime.

Doctor Octopus' perspective:

Octopus met The Scorpion with pleasure. Seward was forced to analyze the synthetic costume. When he had learned enough about it, Doctor Octopus knew that it was time to make the next move.

"Scorpion," said Doctor Octopus. "Go get the equipment. Both for your cure and the hacking into phones that I plan to blackmail New York City with."

"Yes, ma'am," smiled The Scorpion as he left. "After all, this is the moment I've been waiting for the last couple years."

"Quality time, daddy," Doctor Octopus grinned sadistically at Seward.

"Why are you doing this, Carolyn?" asked Seward. "I never abused you."

"You also never did anything for me," said Octopus. "You expected Mom to raise me by herself. Well, she couldn't. She especially couldn't tell me what boys are like. I went dateless through high school and college because of you. The worst part was knowing that you were there but didn't care about either me or Mom. I'd have been better off if you'd left her and she could have remarried. I'd have taken an overprotective dictator. At least he would have cared."

Seward seem touched by his daughter's furious remembrance. "You're absolutely right, Carolyn. I'm sorry. I can't change the mistakes I've made, but if you call this off, I promise to be a proper father from now on."

But it was a decade too late for that. Carolyn gripped her father over the head in one of her metal hands. "You better hope I choose to see if you mean it over taking your head as a trophy."

Spider-Man's perspective:

Spider-Man paused upon seeing The Scorpion leaving the warehouse with a trench coat and matching hat worn over his costume. It had apparently been money he had stolen and was going to use it to buy equipment for some twisted experiment of Doctor Octopus's.

"Looks like we've got to alter our plans," realized Spider-Man.

"Maybe I do," said The Black Cat, "But not you."

"You want to take him yourself, Cat?" asked Spidey.

Black Cat nodded.

"I don't think so," Spider-Man shook his head. "You're out of your league."

"I'll make your Web-Shooters malfunction," grinned The Cat. "Then we'll see who's out of his league."

"This is not a joke," said Spider-Man. "If your power doesn't make Scorpion unlucky enough, he'll kill you!"

"I see part of you still wants me," said The Black Cat. "I understand MJ was upset about that kiss we had two years ago. How would she feel if she knew that I still drive you wild?"

"Take full control of Peter Parker's life," said Spider-Man.

"Then you don't want me telling her, do you?" asked The Cat.

"You wouldn't?" asked Spider-Man.

"Hey, I'm an ex-thief," Black Cat reminded Spider-Man. "What do you expect. She fired her grappling hook and swung on it.

Spider-Man sighed. He had no choice. He just hoped The Black Cat knew what she was getting herself into.

The Black Cat's perspective:

The overprotective male friend was long gone. It was time for The Black Cat to take out a super-criminal herself. She decided she should go for a quick win, so she tried to ambush The Scorpion with a flying kick.

But The Scorpion had apparently heard her coming and dodged the kick. "Nice try." He let loose with acid. Black Cat dodged but a bit of hair was still cut off.

The surprise by the speed of the acid made her vulnerable and Scorpion capitalized with a tail whip. The Cat was struck in the left arm and knocked away. She had been lucky that had not broken any bones.

The Scorpion was about to shoot killing acid when a nearby lamppost tipped over, another victim of the acid, whacking him in the head! He was stunned and had become wobbly-footed. The Black Cat took advantage with a flurry of kicks and claw strikes. The Scorpion was on the ground, heavy-headed and clutching cuts all over his body in pain.

That was a close one. Thank God I've got luck on my side - bad luck. Now to finish the job. He tried to kill me, after all. On second thought, I've pissed Spider off enough for one day.

Spider-Man's perspective:

Spider-Man could find no windows in the warehouse that were not locked, so he burst through one. Doctor Octopus was alerted. "Hello, again," she said gruffly.

"Hi, beautiful," said Spider-Man. The metal tentacles lashed at him. As Spider-Man dodged, he heard the sound of her force field activating.

Perhaps a mind game was appropriate for this situation. "I know Seward Trainer is your father. Why him?"

"None of your business," said Doctor Octopus.

"You know you wanna tell me, Doc Ock," Spider-Man pried.

"Let's just say, do you know what it's like to grow up in a household where Daddy always has something more important to tend to than you?" asked Octopus. "Do you?" She seemed upset.

"No," said Spider-Man as he took advantage of the distraction to web Doctor Octopus' upper arms together, than did the same to her lower arms. This would not last long, so Spider-Man leapt behind her. He delivered punches and kicks. Just as Octopus had freed her arms, her force field broke down. One more punch knocked her out.

"Thank you," said Seward. "You saved my life."

"It's apparently more than you deserve," said Spider-Man.

As Spider-Man watched the police apprehend Doctor Octopus from another rooftop, he heard The Black Cat say from behind, "I see you got your job done too." Her gloves were bloody.

"You didn't?" asked Spider-Man, fearing that The Black Cat had killed.

"No," said The Cat. "But I thought about it. See ya later, Spider."

It was time go home. Or not. While it was dark by this time, Spider-Man remembered Doctor Octopus words: "Do you know what it's like to grow up in a household where Daddy always has something more important to tend to than you?"

With all Spider-Man's talk about power and responsibility, his work was not done. And as his Aunt May had told him, there was no greater responsibility than raising a child.

Peter's perspective:

Back in street clothes, Peter came home with the diapers and carriage.

"You didn't have to get them tonight," smiled MJ. "I knew you were busy. I'd have understood."

"Maybe you would have," said Peter, "But I wouldn't have."

MJ kissed him on the cheek.