Spectacular Spiders: Trepidation

by Dragonwarrior06

Summer begins for Peter and Gwen with a slew of twists and turns that puts their partnership to the test. A Last-day rescue at Midtown leads to the Spider Duo dealing with the return of a cat burglar, a buyout of Oscorp, and a new rising crime ring led by the invisible Kingpin, seeking to lead them into a web of his own.

Welcome to the next chapter of my Spectacular Season 3 series. Many have been asking for an episode for a certain black suited feline fatale to return and tangle with the Spider Duo, so consider your wish granted! My current episodes in order are as follows...

'Origin of Ghost Spider'

'Playing with Lasers'

'Rehabilitation'

'Extra-Territorial'

Enough small talk, enjoy the latest episode, and of course feel free to review!

---

Spectacular Spiders: Trepidation

It was just past noon, and the sun shone down illuminating the New York cityscape underneath it. Although one particular industrial conglomerate located by the Hudson River cast a dim shadow on the otherwise pleasant day, a reminder of all the dark events that had taken place within its halls in the past when it was once a thriving business.

Now, it was on its last legs, but as a white limo pulled up to the large industrial complex that was Oscorp, a watchman standing by the entrance made a call on his walkie, "inform the president, Mr. Fisk has arrived."

He watched as the limo door opened, and out of it stepped Wilson Fisk, the billionaire business tycoon and 'upstanding' city philanthropist. Although, those who truly knew him in the criminal underworld recognized that underneath that facade, was the man called the Kingpin, aka the new 'Big Man' of Crime.

"Mr. Fisk, the madame president is awaiting you," the watchman said upon his approach.

"Then let's not keep her waiting, after all time is money," Fisk replied.

The watchman escorted him inside, and after a 5 minute walk through the lobby and up the escalator to the building offices, they arrived at the biggest one. This was the private office of the late Norman Osborn, vacant now of anything pertaining to the corrupt CEO's personal interests. Upon entering, they noticed the walls were vacant of Norman's old mask collection, and a few boxes filled with random items and papers remained. A lone woman stood behind the lone desk in the room looking at her guests with a blank unemotional look.

Fisk walked up and introduced himself, "Mrs. Osborn it's a pleasure to finally meet you, I am Wilson Fisk, and may I say I was more than grateful to get your call."

"Yes I'm sure, but I'm not interested in charming small talk Wilson, let's just get down to business so I can leave," Mrs. Osborn sternly said.

"By all means then...do you have the contracts ready?"

"Better," she answered him before laying a folder down on the desk along with a writing utensil, "all of them, in order, with a permanent pen."

"Excellent, then I won't waste anymore of your time," Fisk said before picking up the folder and pen, then opening the folder to reveal the papers before he started signing. He also noticed something as he started…

"You know doubt wanted this sale more than anything today, seeing you've already signed your name where needed on these papers," said Fisk upon observation.

Emily Osborn said nothing in return, and returned to her emotionless state. Though it wasn't like she had anything left to care for at all, with everything that had just occurred in the past 3 months which resulted in her entire life being turned on its head. Years ago, she predicted that marrying a shady billionaire industrialist could backfire on her, and unfortunately she was right. Her late husband being revealed as a psychopathic crime boss in a Goblin mask wasn't bad enough, but his life had also ended that same day at the hands of the one who exposed him...Spiderman.

She did her best to take control of the situation after Norman's funeral and took the reins from the board until her son turned 18. Unfortunately she didn't count on Harry relapsing back into the same Globulin Green that had sent him away with her to Europe for rehabilitation last fall. This time around however was much worse, as he ended taking up his father's demented mantle of the Green Goblin himself, and even conspired to break out and hire all of the Sinister Six, and provided Roderick Kingsley with the technological resources to become the Hobgoblin under him.

It was all done for Harry's own personal vendetta: destroying Spiderman in revenge for his father, even if it involved threatening innocent lives, including his former friends at Midtown High, Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy. Now Harry was imprisoned in the Vault for his actions as the Green Goblin, passed the point of no return. Realizing that her family was now lost in more ways than one, Emily wanted nothing more than to disappear, after being rid of Oscorp and all the painful memories associated with it, and upon getting the call from Wilson Fisk to buy the company out, she immediately agreed.

Fisk noticed her silence and continued speaking while signing, "I can't imagine this must be easy for you, signing over everything your family built here all at once."

"My husband built all this, not me," Emily corrected him in a silent harsh tone, "and most of, if not all of it was for himself."

"Yes I am aware," Fisk answered unemotionally, "I can't begin to imagine what you're going through right now, your husband, your son…"

"Just finish signing the papers," she seethed at him, cutting him off.

"Apologies...and please accept my sympathies, I know how painful family affairs can be...believe me," Fisk said as his expression turned dismal remembering dark memories, "it's what's made me what I am today."

He finished signing the last paper and closed the folder before putting it back on the desk and said, "with that, the deal is complete."

"Good, then this sludge pile is your problem now and I can finally leave," Emily replied before walking toward the exit, but not before stopping right near Fisk to say one last thing, "one more thing, as far as your family being the reason you are who you are today Wilson?...bite me."

"Good day Emily," Fisk simply answered, and with that she left without another word, and he turned to his watchman escort.

"What now sir?" he asked Fisk.

"As of this moment, all of Oscorp's staff and property is now under my ownership and command. Spread the word out among the whole plant, for tomorrow, we begin anew…"

---

RIINNGG!

"YEEEEAAAAHHHH!"

Moments before the last bell of the school year rang, all the Midtown High students were assessing over their final exam grades they had received, and what their summer plans were. One particular couple had nothing but plans of splitting their time between being together, and protecting the city as masked partners in crime fighting. Peter and Gwen stood up as they waited for the mob of excited students to subside from the classroom in response to the last bell of the year, as did their redhead best friend who walked by them on the way out.

"Well, I guess that's the end of that, both the school year and the mob rush," Mary Jane commented.

"Be careful, they can still stampede out there," said Peter, making both MJ and Gwen giggle at the joke.

"No kidding, so you guys wanna come to the Silver Spoon to celebrate?" MJ asked them.

Gwen answered, "Sure! There's just something we need to do first."

"Ok then, later lovebirds!" MJ nodded before leaving the classroom, her last comment leaving Peter and Gwen blushing. They returned to normal as she disappeared from sight, and they directed their attention to Professor Warren at his desk, who seemed to be packing the last of his things before departing. Peter and Gwen together didn't want to leave without saying goodbye to their favorite teacher, and walked up to him together. Aaron noticed them upon their approach.

"Hey professor, Gwen and I just wanted to say goodbye before we left, and thank you for everything you've taught and done for us this year," said Peter.

Aaron smiled warmly as he replied, "thank you, both of you, it was my pleasure believe me. Finding bright young minds like yourselves among troves of students like Mr. Thompson, makes teaching nothing less than enjoyable."

Peter and Gwen lightly giggled at the compliment as the professor continued, "I've taught many variations of students throughout my years, and the two of you will definitely be remembered as two of my favorites."

"We're honored to hear that," said Gwen, "but we've still got one more year left to go, and we'll be looking forward to seeing you again!" The professor's face suddenly fell, along with the smiles on Peter and Gwen's faces. There was something the professor hadn't told them apparently, and clearly it wasn't good.

"I'm sorry Ms. Stacy," he soberly began, "but I will not be returning next year."

"WHAT?!" Gwen gasped.

"But...why?" Peter followed.

"I'm afraid that staying here in this school, even in this city, is no longer feasible for me," Aaron finished. Peter and Gwen quickly put two and two together, remembering why their teacher's mood had been downcast for the end of the year.

"It's because of your brother, isn't it?" Peter asked. The professor took a slow deep breath as his mood turned bitter at the mention of Miles, and the shame he had brought upon their family.

Aaron slowly nodded before replying, "I'm afraid so. Miles's actions have soiled our family name among the city masses. A week after the trial I was even asked by the school board to refrain from returning next year. Even though I thoroughly explained that I had no knowledge of any of Miles's criminal acts beforehand, the board already thinks the public image of the school will be better served without me." Peter and Gwen couldn't believe what they were hearing. The school's best teacher was getting sacked just because of what his brother had done?! This wasn't fair in any way.

"That's ridiculous! You can't be fired for mistakes a family member has made!" Gwen argued.

"I know Gwen, but I'm sorry, the decision has been made, and perhaps it's for the best. Poor mother can barely get out of bed now with her depressive episodes. Of course the turning heads and glares amongst our former neighbors doesn't help either."

"So...what are you gonna do?" Peter asked sadly.

"My great uncle left a pasture in his will to my mother out in the countryside. We will move out there to settle anew, and refresh our spirits." The young couple were glad to hear that Professor Warren and his family still had somewhere to go, but we're still disheartened about why he had to leave in the first place.

Gwen pulled herself to say, "Then I guess this is…"

"AAAAHHHH!"

A scream from the halls caught their attention, though this wasn't one of excitement for the end of school, it was a scream of terror. Professor Warren ran to the hallway door followed by Peter and Gwen. They peeked and saw to their horror, a red headed man in a black leather jacket pointing a semi automatic at the horrified students in the hallway!

"GET BACK! GET BACK! ALL OF YOU!" the deranged gunman yelled at them while waving the weapon in their faces.

"WOAH!" Randy called out with his hands in front of him and the rest of his classmates behind him, "easy man! There's no need for this, just put the gun…"

"SHUT UP!" The gunman kicked Randy in the gut, sending him to the ground.

"RAND!" Sally screamed in panic.

"Anyone else wanna be a hero?! HUH?! ANYONE ELSE?!" The gunman screamed.

Professor Warren turned around to push Peter and Gwen back into the classroom, "both of you stay in here, you'll be safe, call 911 and inform them of everything."

Peter argued, "but professor…"

"That's an order Mr. Parker! Keep Ms. Stacy and yourself safe, I'll handle this," the professor closed the door behind him, leaving the young super couple to themselves. Realizing the situation, they knew what they had to do.

Peter turned to Gwen and said, "Looks like New York's Spider Duo have one last Midtown debut before the summer."

Gwen nodded, "definitely, but first things first." She pulled out her phone.

"Calling 911?" Peter asked.

"Better...I'm calling my dad."

Peter nodded as her phone called Captain Stacy, who picked up within 5 seconds.

"Gwen, what is it?"

"Dad, you need to get to Midtown right now, we have a hostage situation."

"Who are the assailants?"

"Just one, as far as we know, and he's got a gun, a big gun, so hurry" she whispered to him.

"We're on the way, and Gwen…"

Click...Gwen hung up before he finished, for she already said what needed to be said. She would bite the bullet from him later, right now it was time for Spiderman and Ghost Spider to take action.

"Turn our backs to each other until we're changed," Gwen said to her boyfriend.

"Got it," Peter nodded to his girlfriend as they turned to face the opposite wall of the classroom. Peter started undressing to his Spiderman suit underneath his clothes, and Gwen pulled out her suit from her bag before she began undressing herself.

Out back in the hall among the terrified students, Professor Warren made his way through the students to confront the gunman. "Young man, what is the meaning of this?!" He yelled to the assailant.

"You!...you a teacher here?" The maniac asked in a disheveled voice.

"Yes I am," the professor answered.

"Good...then I've got my first target for the day," the gunman pulled up the semi to aim, causing the students to tense up and brace against the hallway lockers with their friends or romantic partners. Flash kept Sha-Shan shielded while Sally hugged a still cringing Randy, and Hobie kept his guard up in front of Liz and MJ. The redhead was hoping Peter and Gwen had suited up by now, having no doubt heard what was going on.

"Alright...alright...if it's me you want then you can take me, just let my students go," Aaron coerced the gunman with his hands raised, shocking his students with his statement of sacrifice.

The gunman however, "NOO!...Not a chance! BIG FAT CHANCE!"

"Ok...ok...just what is it you want?" The professor asked him.

The gunman merely stuttered out, "...I want this school to pay…"

The super couple were finally dressed in their costumes, save for their masks. They turned around to see each other in their suits, nodding one last time to each other before putting their masks on. Spiderman and Ghost Spider jumped over to the classroom window and opened it up before jumping out. Leaving their bookbags behind, the spider duo crawled their way to the roof, before heading for the school entrance to assess the situation.

"Do you have any idea how much this place SCREWED UP MY LIFE?!" The gunman screamed at the professor and Midtown Alumni.

Professor Warren continued with negotiating, "no I can't say that I do, I don't even know who you are."

"It's Fester! Norton G. Fester! Midtown Class of 1996...or I would have been if I hadn't been kicked out!"

Having started an somewhat informative conversation, Professor Warren continued, "tell me...why were you kicked out?"

"BECAUSE OF TEACHERS LIKE YOU!" His yell made the whole audience take a step back, "you flunked me...failed me out of everything...and when I tried to get back on my feet, YOU KICKED ME OUT!"

The spider duo had made their way crawling along the hall ceilings. They soon reached the hallway intersection where Fester was holding his hostages. Clinging to the ceiling wall, they eavesdropped on the last conversation between Fester and Professor Warren. Spiderman turned to his partner to voice his plan, "Ghosty, use your abilities to get that gun out of his hands. Then I'll take him down with no injuries to anyone."

"Got it," Ghost Spider nodded, before activating her invisibility. Professor Warren continued playing negotiator, hoping that Gwen's 911 call would soon be responded to.

"I am sorry to hear that, but neither these students nor I had anything to do with that, and…"

Norton screamed, "YOU HAVE EVERYTHING TO DO WITH IT!...Do you know what awaited me later out in the world?..nothing...absolutely nothing!...I have no home, no job, no family! AND IT ALL STARTED HERE!"

The professor continued attempting to negotiate, "look, just let these children go and we…"

"NOOOO! WHAT PART OF NO DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND?! and you teachers have called me stupid?! Why should I let these kids go have a life when this place TOOK MINE FROM ME?!"

Fester pulled up his semi automatic toward the students, making them panic, as well as Professor Warren, "No! No please wait! Please stop pointing that gun at my students, and take me…"

"Take you where?" Fester gasped out, "I don't plan on leaving here, there's nothing left for me...just like there won't be anything left for…"

THWIP!

His gun was immediately pulled out of his hand and suspended near the ceiling. The Midtown alumni gasped at the sight of the floating gun, whereas Norton yelled, "WHAT IN THE?..."

"Carrying a gun is dangerous enough," said a bodiless voice, before the spider heroine finally resumed visibility, "but pointing one at a bunch of innocent kids, is a big No No."

"Ghost Spider!" Sally cried with joy as the students and the professor sighed in relief.

"YOU?!" Fester shouted.

"Yes?" Another voice caught their attention as the original spider hero jumped out of hiding and landed in front of the startled maniac.

"Did someone call for the dynamic spider duo?" Spiderman quipped.

Norton's fear was the students' joy, especially for Spiderman's biggest fan, as Flash cheered, "alright Spidey!"

Norton looked like he was on the brink of a panic attack, which Spidey was quick to notice and gave him a simple choice, "Ok dude, you've clearly had a long day, so how about surrendering peacefully and we can walk you out of here?"

Norton's face broke in a deranged rage at the spider duo ruining his Midtown takeover, "you…RUINED ME! ARGH!"

He swung a frenzied punch at him only for Spidey to side step him, making him fall. The webhead then webbed him up in a cocoon subduing him, ending the threat.

He told Fester one last thing, "Take a chill pill. Also, next time you want a redo for high school...try a GED."

Ghost Spider jumped down from the ceiling, and then broke the gun in half over her knee with a SNAP before giving her two cents, "also, stay away from guns."

---

The police soon arrived on scene and Norton Fester was arrested on counts of domestic terrorism, attempted murder, and possesion of an illegal firearm. As the patrol car carrying him drove away to the Vault, Captain Stacy conversed with Professor Warren as the adult witness to the attack. Meanwhile, the spider duo perched together on the atrium lamppost in their typical fashion were receiving applauding praise yet again from their Midtown peers. Including cheers from their two biggest fans that were far from their favorites.

"Alright Spidey! One more win before the summer!" Flash clapped in praise.

"Ghost Spider rocks! Girls may rule and boys may drool but Ghosty rocks and rules!" Sally danced with a makeshift cheer.

To say the spider duo was uncomfortable was an understatement as they sweatdropped under their masks. Spiderman and Ghost Spider could only silently groan at the embarrassing cheers they were receiving from their respective school bullies. In the crowd, MJ could barely hold back her laughter at witnessing it first hand.

"Shall we please vacate?" Spidey whispered to Ghosty.

"Absolutely," she whispered before thinking to herself, 'I've had more than enough high school drama for one year.'

Ghost Spider waved to the crowd before saying, "glad to be of service everyone! Hostage crisis aside, I hope you all had a wonderful school year, and have an even better summer! See ya!"

"Also don't forget that if you go to the beach, remember sunscreen!" Spiderman added as he and Ghost Spider shot a web to swing away, "trust me, sunburns hurt even for us heroes, Later!" The spider duo swung out of sight leaving Flash and Sally to give one final praise of cheer.

"Alright! You rule Spidey!" Flash cheered.

"Ghost Spider rules more!" Sally argued.

"No, Spiderman does!" Flash threw back.

"Ghost Spider"

"Spiderman"

"Ghost Spider!"

"Spiderman!"

Randy and Sha-Shan had to cut in to prevent Flash and Sally from going at it about whose hero was better. The rest of the Midtown alumni could only watch the two A-listers in bewilderment. Mary Jane could only shake her head while giggling at the spider duo fanboy and fangirl having a spat before looking off in the direction her two costume-clad friends swung toward. 'No offense guys, but I'm glad I'm not in your shoes.'

After swinging back to the school roof unseen, Ghost Spider had to say something regarding their two self-proclaimed biggest fans, "Ugghh...I never realized how annoying either of them could be when they actually like us, even if they're completely oblivious to who we really are."

"Well as I've said before, welcome to my life," Spiderman quipped, earning him a Spider-LOOK.

---

Within the labs of Oscorp, Fisk was now assessing the whole inventory of the new business he had bought dirt cheap. What remained of the staff he preferred to keep to save time, but he fully intended on bringing in his own personnel to oversee and merge with them, just to ensure everyone knew who was in charge now. As for the scientific expertise that was currently lacking in the building, he already had a plan in mind...

"Have Stillwell move his entire operation over here post haste. Tell him if he wants to make the advances he so desires then he got his wish, as long as he moves over here within the day," Fisk spoke to his lackey on the phone.

"Yes boss, anything else?" Hammerhead asked over the phone.

"Yes," Fisk remembered one more thing, "call our old friend from the Chicago complex, tell him I would like him to relocate here, I have a new project I would like to begin that will require his expertise. Number is on my desk."

"Understood, I'll get it done," Hammerhead replied.

"See that you do, and Hammerhead..." Fisk proceeded to tell him one more thing, "don't forget about our operation tomorrow, I need that shipment moved without fault, am I clear?"

"Yes sir, absolutely," his flunky answered, and Fisk hung up the phone. Looking around the confines of Osborn's former research laboratory, now his, he realized his plans were finally coming to fruition. Step one of acquiring Oscorp was now complete, now it was time for Step two…

---

It was seven in the afternoon now, and New York's famed Spider Duo, in secret couple, were swinging through the New York high rises on their first summer patrol. Other than the hostage crisis earlier at Midtown that day, the two of them had to admit the summer wasn't starting off too bad. Both were relieved that nobody was hurt during the Fester incident, and also nobody else had learned their identities due to the fact that Professor Warren had conveniently shielded them in a classroom from their fellow alumni eyes.

Speaking of the Professor, they were all too proud to hear how he had stood up to Fester defending his former students at the risk of his own life. Gwen's father had taken his statement in stride, even telling him he would put a good word in with the school board about him actually returning next year. Peter and Gwen hoped for the best, for regardless of what crimes his brother had committed, Aaron Warren's actions today were nothing short of heroic.

After returning to the classroom and changing back to their civilian modes, they managed to end the school year with no one the wiser to the spider duo's identities. Peter and Gwen then joined up with Mary Jane again at the Silver Spoon for a celebratory fruit drink. Unfortunately, their mutual redhead friend had to leave early to go meet Mark and Liz for their own celebration, but not before wishing her two best friends well.

Prior to her leaving, Gwen assured MJ they would hang out over the summer when they could, when Peter and her weren't patrolling together of course. That left Peter and Gwen alone to enjoy their drinks together, not that either one minded. But once they finished, the two junior graduates made their leave to sneak into an alley unseen and change to their spider alter egos, and swing away for their first summer evening patrol.

Gwen had called ahead to tell her father what Peter and her were doing, and she was more than thrilled to hear that given the season, Captain Stacy was extending their curfew to 10:30pm, with the same rules applying. Peter surely wasn't complaining, and neither was Gwen, it just meant more time for them to spend protecting the city and with each other. Hearing all this good news in the aftermath of a foiled hostage crisis was enough to make them cheer as they swung through New York side by side.

"YEEEHAAA!" cheered Spiderman.

"WAAAHOOO!" Ghost Spider cheered after him.

Spidey just shot another line before calling to his partner, "Hey Ghosty! First one to the top of the next roof gets bragging rights!"

She looked ahead to see a tenant building roughly 100 yards away, smirking beneath her mask she accepted, "you're on!"

With that, Spidey shot a line at a nearby flagpole and pulled himself in, and upon contact started spinning around to build up momentum. Ghost Spider went with a different approach, shooting a web at another flagpole above her, and then held on for the long swing ahead. Spiderman built up enough momentum and released himself ahead, firing two more webs at the roof as Ghosty made her descent. It was close, but Spiderman made touch-down with a screeching halt by the time Ghost Spider had landed.

"Haha, oh yeah! I won this one!" Spidey bragged.

"Yeah, but only the first of many," Ghosty said with a raised mask eye, "just remember spider boy, the summer's only just begun."

"True, and you're definitely the best kind of competition, an equal and a partner all in one," Spidey complimented.

"Glad I can keep you on your toes," Ghosty said with a snicker, "though I thought you would have come up with a better reward than bragging rights?"

"Weeell...I did have one idea, but…" he replied.

"But what?" Ghosty questioned with her hands on hips.

Spidey smirked beneath his mask before whispering to her, "It would have broadcast our mask vs no mask policy out in the open."

Ghost Spider eyes went wide, before blushing beneath her mask realizing his context. Looking behind her, she noticed a roof extrusion concealed on one side. Pointing behind her she asked, "Then maybe we should step out of the light?"

Her flirty tone combined with her body language was enough to coerce Spidey to follow. Once behind the extrusion, the duo removed their masks so the two lovers could safely gaze at each other.

"So, do I still get my prize?" Peter asked with suave.

Gwen lightly giggled before reaching around his neck with both hands and pulling him close seductively, "what do you think?"

Peter wasted no more time in wrapping his arms around her waist and the two heroes locked their lips together in another loving embrace. Gwen ran her fingers through his hair moaning through the kiss while Peter pulled her closer and rubbed her back down to her backside. Needless to say the chemistry was growing, but they finally broke away to come up for air. Foreheads touching, they gazed at each other for a few more seconds.

"This is gonna be a great summer," Peter said softly.

"Definitely...I love you, my handsome hero," said Gwen.

"I love you more my beautiful lady," Peter replied. They kissed one more time, enjoying the moment to the fullest.

Tingle...Tingle...However the moment ended with their spider senses going off, breaking them apart. Peter and Gwen looked at each other wide eyed.

"Yours too?" He asked.

Gwen nodded before saying sternly, "masks on." Both of them returned their masks before looking around. They stepped away from the extrusion, looking around for anything threatening. Ironically, nothing was in sight, until they approached the edge of the roof.

The sound of an opening window next to the nearby fire escape below them caught their attention. Out of it stepped a dark suited figure in a skin tight uniform with pure white hair. The form was clearly female, and she was holding a small brown sack over her shoulder.

'Well look who's back,' Spiderman thought to himself knowing it could only be one person...Black Cat.

"Hey, isn't that the costumed cat burglar you told me about?" Ghost Spider asked her partner in a whisper.

"Black Cat, yeah that's her," Spiderman answered with mixed emotions, one was feeling frustrated that Black Cat was still up to her old tricks, angry of how last time they met she nearly forced him to break her dad, Walter Hardy, out of prison, and nervous about what other secrets of his could be revealed if they were to tail her. Peter had told both Gwen and MJ about his encounters with the female cat burglar, from how he had originally been set up for her crime in stealing the alien symbiote from the ESU lab, and months later when she tried to trick him into releasing her father from prison. However, he didn't tell them everything, hoping that due to Black Cat's animosity toward him now, she would have avoided him in the future. He should have guessed that was wishful thinking, because regardless of their history, she was still a criminal, which left one option for the self-proclaimed neighborhood protectors.

"Looks like our summer is starting off with rounding up an escaped stray," Spiderman commented as the cat burglar jumped down to the ground, oblivious to the duo above her.

"Then let the tailing begin," Ghost Spider suggested. Spiderman nodded in agreement, now eager to put Black Cat out of work for good.

The cat burglar had already disappeared from sight after jumping from the building fire escape and escaping through the alley. However, that wasn't enough to lose the tail of New York's Spider Duo as they began jumping from rooftop to rooftop to follow her trail from above.

Black Cat soon picked up the sense that she was being followed. She turned around for a moment only to see nothing, and continued running down the alley. However, as she made a turn into another alley to the right, she got caught in a THWIP!

Black Cat soon found herself pulled into the air via web to the foot after dropping her sack, and soon enough her whole body was encased in a web cocoon. She hung for only three seconds struggling with the bonds knowing this could only mean one person.

"Urgh...Ugh! Ok Spider you caught me, you can cease with the Houdini act, I know it's you," the cat thief said. Her words were responded to by Spidey suspending himself in front of her face, both upside down but seeing each other upright from their relative positions.

"Nothing gets by you does it Cat?" Spiderman quipped. "You know, I'm very disappointed to see you're still misbehaving, I would have thought you had learned by now to choose a different path then your old man."

"Don't you dare speak to me about my father!" Black Cat yelled, "you have a lot of nerve talking about him to me, after what you did. You had no right leaving him to rot!"

Spiderman's masked face scowled, before saying seriously, "wrong, I had every right to do what I did. Just as much as I have every right to leave you here for the police before you later do something you'll regret for the rest of your life, intentionally or not."

Black Cat scowled as Spiderman spoke his mind about his angst toward his Uncle's killer, mixed with the eternal regret of how Peter failed to save Ben when he could. While Walter Hardy showed his repentance for what he did by volunteering to stay behind during Spidey's prison shut-in, Peter's anger toward him remained, like a scar that never heals. Not that Black Cat would know anything about that due his secret identity still being secret from her.

"You would be wise to listen to him," Ghost Spider said, lowering herself on her own web strand, "trust me, it's a lesson learned hard."

At the female webhead's introduction, the lady cat thief commented, "so the stories are true, Spidey does have a new lady partner. You should be careful sister, he's known for stabbing them in the back."

Ghosty glared at Cat before getting in her face, "from what I've read about you miss, you would know about backstabbing better than anyone. So save your breath on any pointless attempts to talk your way out of this."

"Feisty huh? Hmm...I can respect that," Black Cat shrugged, "but don't say I didn't warn you." Ghosty just kept glaring with her most intense Spider-LOOK.

"Sigh, well as thrilled as I am that you two had the opportunity to meet," Spidey dryly interjected, "it's time to go to jail now."

A Cheshire-like smile crawled onto Black Cat's face before she said, "come on Spider, after all we've been through together, I thought you would know me better by now."

Both of them raised a mask eye, with Ghost Spider turning to her partner for an explanation, only for them to receive their answer from a beeping below. A small circle shaped device with a blinking red light, previously dropped by Black Cat, was sitting on the alley floor next to her bag. Black Cat activated a green glasses device that covered her mask.

Spiderman could only say, "oh…"

FLAAASSSHHH!

"AGH!...UGH!" Spidey and Ghosty together were blinded by a piercing flash from the device, incapacitating them long enough for Black Cat to make her escape. She cut through the web cocoon with her claws, slicing her way to freedom and dropping to the ground. She retrieved her bag and swiftly made her escape as the Spider Duo struggled to regain their sight.

After about 10 seconds, their sight finally started returning, and Spiderman groaned, "agh! What was that?"

"Flashbang! non-lethal cop weapon," Ghost Spider explained from knowledge gained from her father. Their sight fully returned, only to see in frustration that the flashbang did its job in Black Cat's favor. The cocoon was empty, and she was gone, along with her bag of stolen goods.

"Oh great, she's gone! Again!" Spiderman groaned.

"It hasn't been long, she can't have gotten far, let's split to cover more ground and find her!" Ghost Spider suggested.

"Agreed," Spiderman said before the duo split off to cover the surrounding area to search for the elusive thief. They jumped from rooftop to rooftop within the district, even crawling along the building walls for a clearer view. Unfortunately, their search bore no fruit, and after 30 minutes, they met up on another rooftop.

Ghost Spider asked her partner upon landing in front of him, "any sign of her?"

"Nope," he answered, shaking his head. "Sigh, and if we haven't found her by now, chances are she's disappeared from sight. Let's just get back to finishing our patrol, we'll try again another night."

Ghost Spider could only huff in frustration, "Ugh, you know, I always did prefer dogs over cats, and this can be added to the list of reasons why."

As the spider duo swung away to finish their first summer patrol, a few alleys away, a piece of cardboard lifted away, revealing the female thief who had covered herself with it. Knowing that the Spiders wouldn't stop until they found her, Black Cat decided to wait and watch from her hiding place until they had worn out their patience. It seemed to have worked, and with the coast now clear, she steathfully made her way toward her secret hideout with her stolen goods, knowing full well she would encounter the Spider Duo again.

---

The rest of their patrol was rather uneventful, with only busting one store robbery, which ended rather humorously for Ghosty after foiling the crime…

"I've got the money! Please don't shoot!"

"I'll shoot you for good measure if you don't hurry up! Now load the bag!"

The store owner finished emptying the register and filling the crook's bag, who grabbed it and a baked good off the counter before leaving.

"Thanks for your cooperation, and the snack, later loser!"

"Loser?" A bodiless voice from above asked before his bag was yanked out his hand and into the red and blue one belonging to the Friendly Neighborhood Spiderman perched above the store entrance, "you rob an innocent hard working man at gunpoint, and he's the loser?"

The crook glared at him in rage until he felt his handgun pulled out of his hand by a web from above. Someone then landed behind him, and he gaped in shock at the black and white costumed spider heroine that was Ghost Spider, "I think you need a lesson in civility sir, and I use the term loosely."

The crook panicked and ran in the opposite direction, which of course was futile as Ghost Spider shot a web at his foot, tripping him up. She then fired another web at a nearby lamppost, hoisting herself onto it, and then joined her two webs together which resulted in stringing the crook into air, helpless as a pinata. Looking him in the eye while sticking to the post, she quipped…

"Just hang here for a while, the cops will arrive to educate you further, after reading you your rights."

Spiderman jumped down to the ground as his partner dealt with the trapped crook, and returned the bag full of money to the store owner. "Here you go sir, every bill back where it belongs."

"Thank you Spiderman," he gratefully said, before turning to the spider heroine on the post, "and you too Ms. Ghost Spider, my daughters have been fans since your arrival."

"Aww thank you, that's sweet," she said with a grateful heart, "how old are they?"

"My eldest is 7 and the youngest is 5," he answered.

"Haha, cute," she replied before reaching for something on her belt, "here, one for both of them, tell them to have a Happy Summer."

She tossed two cards to the store owner who caught them, which made her partner raise an eye to her.

"Come on Spidey, our work here is done," Ghosty said before shooting another web to swing away.

"Uhh...yeah! Right behind you!" Spiderman shot one after her and swung to follow her. Police sirens were finally heard as the crook continued dangling in the web trap. The store owner finally read the card's caption, smiling as he did, knowing both of his daughters would love these as keepsakes…

'COURTESY OF SPIDEY AND GHOSTY...YOUR FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER DUO'

Spiderman asked his partner as they swung away side by side, "you gave him the updated cards didn't ya?"

"Of course!" Ghost Spider called out, "like I said before I'm not gonna rain on your parade, I'm just adding my own brand to it!"

The spider duo laughed to each other as they swung away back to the Stacy Residence incognito as their curfew approached. They landed in the tree in the backyard, before they said their goodbyes with a goodnight kiss. Spiderman then jumped out of the tree and swung away to the Parker residence while Ghost Spider discreetly made her way through her bedroom window. All in all, it was a spectacular end to the last day of school.

The next morning...

The sun eventually shone through the window, and Peter awoke on his own time after a good night's sleep. The beauty of summer vacation for a superhero, was catching up on all the sleep he had missed for the year. Of course, that didn't count for the other obligations he had, including his contract job with the Bugle, whom he had sent the photos of Spiderman and Ghost Spider's crime bust last night before falling asleep. Though knowing Jonah, he was more than likely to pin the crime on the spider duo, but they would cross that stormy bridge when they came to it.

Peter got dressed and made his way down to the kitchen, where his Aunt May had breakfast all set…

"Good morning Peter! I see you enjoyed sleeping in?"

"You bet! Never felt so good before! It's even better since we're starting off the day with your world famous pancakes!"

"Hehehe, well finishing 11th grade only happens once, so it's only right to celebrate," Aunt May said, putting the breakfast pastries on the table, before changing topic, "also I'm just glad to have you home safe, after that horrible incident yesterday."

"I know I know, and I can assure you Aunt May I wasn't harmed at all, no one was, and it was all thanks to the Spider Duo and Professor Warren," Peter consoled.

"Hmm, that does set me at ease," Aunt May replied before sitting down, "Huff, though danger aside, I can't help but worry Peter, you're all I have left after all."

Peter's mood turned dismal, knowing she was right, and how she was clearly reflecting the death of Uncle Ben at the moment. Come Friday, it would be exactly 1 year since his death, and even after all this time, the pain of that horrible night was still raw. His encounter with Black Cat last night didn't help either, who before she escaped, had reminded him of the one who took his Uncle's life.

Peter took his Aunt's hand and said softly, "I'm not going anywhere Aunt May, I promise you. Believe me, I miss him too."

"I can't believe it's been a whole year since he was taken, it feels much longer than that," his aunt sobbed letting a few tears fall, her crying prompted Peter to get up and hug her in comfort, which she gratefully accepted.

Peter pulled away and said, "tell you what, why don't we go visit him? I'm sure his memorial could use some company right now, but only if you're ready."

Aunt May calmed herself before replying with a smile, "that sounds lovely Peter, and yes, I think it would do us both some good."

"Okay, you just decide the date, and we'll be set," said Peter.

"The anniversary is this Friday, I'll just tell Anna not to schedule any friend dates then," Aunt May said.

"Sounds good, I'll also let Gwen know when I see her today, we were planning to spend our first day of summer together anyway," Peter informed.

"That sounds lovely, I'm so happy you two are doing so well, I don't believe I've seen such a loving pair since Ben and I," Aunt May commented.

Peter blushed before saying, "Hehe thanks Aunt May, though I think Gwen would agree with me if I say we have a long way to go before we reach that level."

"All in good time dear, just be patient and enjoy each day you have with each other, that much advice I can give," said Aunt May.

"You got it, now what do you say we dig in? Don't want to let these pancakes go to waste do we?" Peter asked. She nodded and the Parkers enjoyed their breakfast together. When they were all done, Peter cleaned and put the dishes away before telling Aunt May of his daily plans.

"Well, I need to go to the Bugle today to pick up my paycheck, and I'll pick up Gwen on the way, so I'll be out most of the day," Peter told her.

"Ok dear, though I'm curious when did Gwen start joining you on your photography job?" Aunt May asked, remembering how Peter had always done it on his own, even when he was dating Liz.

"Well, Gwen's always been more interested in my photography than anyone else. Now that I've got this job and with us seeing each other now, she's offered to accompany me, especially since that Ghost Spider girl became Spiderman's partner," Peter explained, hoping to be as discreet as possible about his and Gwen's alter egos.

"Oh yes of course," said Aunt May cheerfully, "that young Spiderman alone was a pleasant help, and it's become even better since that lady Ghost Spider joined him, especially from all the pictures you've shown me."

"Yup, I can concur Aunt May," said Peter, while thinking, 'Spidey and Ghosty can as well.' He was more than thrilled that his Aunt May approved of his girlfriend's alter ego. He still remembered how pleased Gwen looked when he told her of his Aunt's positive reaction to her initial debut. At least it was a good sign going forward when they would inevitably have to, as George Stacy told them, tell Aunt May the truth.

"Well now I suggest you get going, keeping a lovely girl like Gwen waiting isn't polite," Aunt May stated.

"Haha, yes ma'am," Peter chuckled before gathering his bag, and kissed his aunt on the cheek before leaving out the front door. "Later Aunt May!"

His aunt waved him goodbye as the door closed. In solitude, she spoke to her late husband in spirit, "oh Ben...you'd be so proud of him."

---

Peter took a walk to the nearest bus stop to avoid catching any suspicion from the Forest Hills neighbors. Then after catching a bus and riding it to the first stop within the city, he got off and snuck toward the closest alley. Soon enough, Spiderman started swinging through the cityscape, heading for his girlfriend's house.

At the Stacy Residence, the two of them were finishing their own breakfast, while discussing their plans for the day, starting with George, "so Gwen, what's first on the summer vacation list for you and Pete?"

"Well, he needs to pick up his latest check at the Bugle today, but he's coming here first so we can go together," said Gwen.

"Let me guess," George asked with a raised eye, "afterward you'll be patrolling together?"

"Hmmhmm," she nodded before quipping, "nothing slips by you dad."

"Don't you forget it," George reminded with a light laugh, "though I hope you two will actually try to relax and have fun this summer instead of playing hero the whole time."

"What makes you think busting crooks as Spiderman and Ghost Spider isn't fun?" Gwen asked him.

"GWEN," her father raised a stern eye, knowing she knew what he meant.

Gwen sighed before saying, "I know dad, I know. We'll try to relax, but if we're needed, we'll be there." She paused with a serious look before continuing, "Besides, Peter and I have unfinished business with that thief that escaped us last night."

"Black Cat?" George asked to which Gwen nodded, having told her father last night about their encounter with the cat burglar, "I've read the reports, she's eluded capture at every sighting. In fact up to a year ago she was rumored to be a myth. Of course, we once said the same thing about Spiderman."

Gwen nodded, "yeah, and from what Peter has said, she's not to be trusted. We'll have to be quicker on the draw to take her down next time."

"Just be careful Gwen," George warned her, remembering what he learned from Peter about her familial relations, "she could have something more lethal than claws up her sleeve, just like her father."

The Stacy's mood darkened at the mention of Walter Hardy, and the pain he had caused the Parkers. Nonetheless, Gwen was all the more determined to find Black Cat and take her down. Though at the same time, she couldn't help but wonder that Peter had not told her everything about his history with the cat thief, hopefully she was just being paranoid.

SPLAT

The sound diverted their attention to the backyard sliding door, where they smiled at the web ball that had been stuck in the corner. Knowing by heart it was her boyfriend's signal to her, she got up from the table, "well that's my cue to go, my partner needs me."

"Right...you two be safe, got it?" George asked sternly.

"Always are dad, always," Gwen replied as she made her way up the stairs to her room to change into Ghost Spider. Once in her room, she pulled her costume case from under her bed and opened it to reveal her suit. In about 5 minutes, she had changed out of her regular clothes, storing them in her backpack, and into her suit. Pulling her mask hoodie down and slipping her backpack on, she opened her bedroom window, and like a literal ghost, made a silent jump over to the lone backyard tree.

Upon landing, she found her partner perched on the branch below her, and greeted, "morning Spidey, miss me?"

Spidey chuckled and said, "Of course. You know, if I was anymore the cliche Romeo, I would crawl up to your window on a ladder with a rose. Good thing I know you're not one for stereotypes though."

"Heehee, doesn't mean I would stop you if you did," Ghost Spider giggled before dropping her mask so Gwen could look at him herself. Peter did the same as he gazed lovingly at his costume-clad girlfriend, "well I'm ready to go, just one thing."

He reached up and pressed his lips to Gwen's as they gave each other a good morning kiss. They lost themselves in the moment before breaking away.

"Good morning to you too Mr. Parker," Gwen said flirtatiously.

"Back at you Ms. Stacy," he replied with suave, making her giggle before she returned her mask.

"Well partner, time for our errand run," she said.

Spiderman nodded as he returned his mask, "Yup, follow me!" With that, the Spider Duo jumped out of the Stacy tree and swung into the city.

---

The swing to the Daily Bugle was rather uneventful, except in the last leg, the duo turned it into a race like they did last night. Ghost Spider redeemed herself as she gracefully landed on the building roof before her partner.

"Haha, I won this one spider boy!" Ghosty gloated as her partner landed next to her in defeat.

"Well then I guess we're tied up, for now anyway," Spidey playfully stated.

"Hehe, well you better get in there, or Jonah might just hand your check to the coffee boy," Ghosty said while gesturing to the nearby vent with her thumb.

"True, be right back," Spidey told her before approaching and opening the vent to slip inside. Ghost Spider watched him disappear with a loving sigh, before turning around to keep watch over the city below as she awaited him. Spiderman crawled through the vent to land inside the janitor's closet. He changed into his regular clothes from his bag and slowly opened the door into the Bugle office.

Fortunately no one seemed the wiser as Peter approached Jameson's office that was surrounded by his usual top staff. Robbie greeted him first, "Peter! Good morning."

"Morning Mr. Robertson," he said, "I came to collect my check for last night."

"Sure thing, Jonah's on a call right now, but give him five and he should be done," Robbie said. Peter nodded before Foswell got his attention.

"By the way, have you seen today's headlines?" Foswell asked, handing him a copy, which Peter took and read. To his dismay, he saw his picture of Spiderman and Ghost Spider foiling last night's robbery with the headline, 'MASKED MENACES SUMMER CRIME SPREE BEGINS'

"Ugh, no offense Mr. Foswell, but the last thing I need to be reminded of before starting summer is how Jonah continues slandering the Spiders with my pictures."

"I know," Foswell nodded before saying, "but I said 'headlines', not headline, open it to see the whole first page."

Peter opened the whole paper just like he said, and read bottom article headline with wide eyes, 'OSCORP REBORN WITH BUYOUT'

"Someone bought Oscorp?!" He exclaimed, catching the attention of the whole floor, making him feel sheepish, "uhh...sorry."

The stares ceased and Peter turned back to his two primary colleagues, "someone seriously bought Oscorp?"

"All true, as of yesterday, Oscorp is under new management," Robbie said before sipping his coffee, "and from what we've learned, it was a quick bargain."

"In other words, Emily Osborn couldn't wait to get rid of it," Foswell added. Peter's expression went blank at the mention of Harry's mother. Since his former friend had been arrested, he and Gwen had never reached out to her. Though they knew given what had occured with her husband and son, Peter and Gwen were probably the last people Mrs. Osborn wanted to see. Even though their identities were secret to her, their known affiliations with Spiderman alone were enough for them to keep their distance.

"So, she just sold everything off? What happened to her after that?" Peter asked sympathetically.

"She left town without a word, to parts unknown," Robbie said, "though I can't help but feel for the poor woman, literally losing everything in a short time."

Peter's guilt came to the forefront again regarding his role in those unfortunate circumstances, and said, "Yeah I know, I lost my best friend that day she lost her son, and I wish every day it could have been different."

Robbie, Foswell, and Betty's faces went sympathetic, knowing the whole story behind the fall of the Osborns, both father and son. Peter shook off the discomfort changing the subject, "though back to the article, who would think of buying Oscorp after all it's been through?"

"His name is Wilson Fisk," Foswell explained, "once named New York's businessman of the year, and for good reason, being the CEO and CFO of his own conglomerate."

Peter was stunned, "Woah, two chief titles held by one person? And of a corporation? Even in this day and age is that possible?"

Foswell answered, "guy is a corporate genius and financial wizard all in one, so yeah it is. In fact his own company, ENKOM, is rumored to own a piece of nearly every corporate business in the world."

"Wow, which ones?"

"That's way too long a list kid, it would be easier to say which ones aren't on it, Stark Enterprises being one of them," said Foswell. Peter's eyes went wide again, first in shock at the fact that Oscorp had been bought, and then by the corporate head who bought it.

"PARKER!" The sound of Jolly Jonah pulled everyone's attention as he and Lee marched out of his office, "Glad you're here, I've got a new assignment for you!"

"Assignment? But I thought I had the day off?" Peter asked.

"Yeah? WELL PLANS CHANGE!" Jonah yelled back, "now by the paper in your hand I assume you've already read about the company buyout? Well I just received word that Wilson Fisk is calling for a conference today regarding this new move, and I need you and Lee to head over there immediately to cover it, now move it!"

"Sigh...but Mr. Jameson, what about my pay for the pictures yesterday?" Peter asked regarding the reason he came here in the first place.

"You'll get it when you get back, all at once! But don't bother coming back without photos for today! NOW GO!" Jonah shouted once more before closing himself in his office with a SLAM.

Robbie could only sigh before saying, "that's what happens when his wife cuts out the coffee."

Needless to say Peter was frustrated that he was declined his check until further notice and instead was given another assignment which ruined his plans for the day. Ned sensed his frustration and consoled with an arm on his shoulder, "no worries, we'll be there, get the story, and be back in no time. This way, you'll have a bigger check to take home tonight than you expected, right Betty?"

Betty lightly blushed from his tone before saying with a nod, "right."

Peter smiled, seeing the silver lining, but knew he needed to do one thing first as he pulled out his phone, "Thanks Ned. Unfortunately, this hiccup has ruined the day I planned to spend with my girlfriend. Now, I've got bad news to break."

---

"Argh, and he was serious?" Gwen groaned to Peter over the phone with her mask up above her nose. Needless to say she was less than pleased about what he had to tell her.

"I wish he wasn't Gwen, and believe me, it was thrown at me in the blink of an eye."

"Couldn't he just get someone else to cover it? You can't be the only photographer he's got?" she asked him.

"No, but according to Robbie I'm the only one who's not away on vacation, sorry babe."

She sighed to herself before saying, "I don't blame you Pete, I'm just frustrated is all."

"I know, but maybe we can still make something out of this, something else that's important."

"What do you mean?" Gwen asked curiously.

"An investigation, think about it Gwen, this Fisk guy bought Oscorp, otherwise known as Spiderman Supervillain Central, that fact alone raises more than enough red flags."

Gwen understood his context, "you think someone might be looking to restart Norman's twisted vendetta?"

"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't suspicious, they could have started again without us knowing, especially after the Scorpion incident..."

Now Gwen was in full agreement, remembering that the first supervillain she and Peter took down together as partners didn't come from Oscorp, as far as they knew.

"...and if it's not beginning from where the Goblin left off, it's likely something else, and there's only one way to find out."

"Got it, you want to head over there together?"

"I'm actually already heading down to the news van with Ned to catch a ride, sneaking away to change would be too suspicious. Swing over ahead of us and assess the layout, I'll meet up with you afterward."

"Ok, I'll watch for you Pete, bye," he said goodbye in response before she hung up. As the frustration of their change in plans subsided, it gave way to speculation as to what could be going on at Oscorp now. As she lowered her mask and stood up, Ghost Spider could only suspect something new was brewing with the same criminal stink as before.

However, she thought to herself as she shot a web swinging toward Oscorp, 'if this is another rising crime ring, we'll deal with it like Pete dealt with the last ones, with one little addition...me!'

About 10 minutes later, Ghost Spider soon arrived a block away from the Oscorp complex. She made the last swing to the building rooftop across from its entrance plaza, and landed on a balcony edge in a spider stance to see quite the turnout. Clearly news of Wilson Fisk's buyout of Norman's former conglomerate attracted the attention of every newspaper in the city, not just the Bugle. Despite her reasons for being here, the spider heroine still felt quite disturbed being within close proximity of this place, given her last uncomfortable memories inside it. If she had her way, she would have had the place torn down brick by brick.

Ghost Spider looked down below from her perch to see all the news vans that had arrived, looking for one in particular. She found it as the Daily Bugle Van approached from the entrance road, pulling off next to its competitors on the side. She saw the familiar bodies of Peter and Ned Leeds emerge from the van and head over to the crowd. Ghosty decided to get a closer look and ran over to the left side of the building, and crawled down the wall to get a better view while still hidden.

With his camera in hand, Peter followed Ned into the crowd of reporters outside the Oscorp entrance. Peter opted to wait near the center of the crowd for a better view while he let Ned get closer to ask questions. He looked around to see if he could spot Gwen, but was unsuccessful. He tried a different approach and got his phone to send her a text. 'WHERE R U?'

Ghost Spider felt her phone buzz from her suit pocket, and brought it out to read. She smiled before typing and sending her reply.

Peter felt his phone buzz, and read Gwen's reply, 'BUILDING WALL BEHIND YOU'

Before Peter could turn around though, the crowd started to hype up around him. He looked ahead to see why, Wilson Fisk, the man of the hour, had walked onto the stage. Ghost Spider could see the whole thing from a distance.

The large oversize frame of the white suited Kingpin in disguise adjusted his collar before setting his cane against the podium. He had recently heard from Hammerhead that his assignment was already underway, now he just had to keep busy putting on appearances to avoid suspicion toward him. He knew buying out Oscorp would bring a lot of questions, for which he was prepared to answer as he stepped up to the microphone…

"Hello and welcome everyone. As most of you know, I am Wilson Fisk, owner and head of ENKOM International, and just recently, the proud new owner of Oscorp you see behind me."

"Mr. Fisk, what brought you to buy out Oscorp in spite of all its history?" Lee asked first.

"Are you concerned about any leftover problems from its previous management?" a female reporter asked next.

"Like all the citizens of New York, I am fully aware of all the nefarious activities that took place here. Though believe me when I say this, Oscorp may have been founded by a criminal, but it has now been born anew. Norman Osborn's legacy ended by his own hands. His criminal empire as the Green Goblin vanished with his death and his son's imprisonment. Despite its disturbing history, I see this company as a newborn needing molding. Even the most devastated of entities can be reformed into something remarkable. Throughout my years of enterprise I have counseled many failing or broken businesses and revived them, all for the same goal I have strived for my whole life, to build a better tomorrow. I now seek to do the same with Oscorp, to lead it to even greater heights than ever despite its dark past, just as a Phoenix rises from the ashes..."

Peter continued taking pictures while listening to every word Fisk was saying. His speech sounded legit, but he couldn't forget going through the same thing with L. Thompson Lincoln. Originally, the man calling himself Tombstone, aka the 'Big Man' was an entrepreneurial philanthropist in the public eye, before he was exposed for who he really was as the head of a criminal empire. Fisk's words sounded like a reflection of Tombstone before him, though Peter hoped it wasn't the case, the last thing anyone wanted was another criminal enterprise setting up shop so soon after the old ones had been dismantled.

Ghost Spider listened just as intently, though was probably even more skeptical than Peter. Given her own personal issues surrounding Oscorp, she couldn't believe anything good could come from this place, regardless of who was in charge. Other than that, nothing else seemed suspicious, and she turned her head to huff in frustration.

However, she soon realized she had turned around just at the right time, catching a glimpse of a slender black suited figure jumping from across the rooftops a block away. Ghost Spider glared knowing it could only be one person, and quickly sent a text to Peter before swinging off in pursuit.

Peter felt his phone buzz again and brought it out to read again, narrowing his eyes at the message, 'BLACK CAT IS BACK I'M IN PURSUIT'.

Peter turned around to the building behind him to see no one perched there. Knowing he had done his job here, he decided to slip away to change to his other job. As Ned and the other reporters continued interviewing Fisk, Peter slipped in between the vacant news vans and changed into Spiderman. Using the vans as cover to Oscorp's outer security wall, he made the jump over and shot a web to swing into the city in search of the two females.

---

Black Cat continued her run along the rooftops toward her destination. Normally she worked under the cover of darkness when doing a 'job'. However the one who had hired her for this particular assignment said that it was going down at this very hour, so there wasn't any choice. This may have been outside her comfort zone, but to the cat burglar a job was a job, and with all of New York's other professional criminals in the Vault, it opened more opportunities for her. Especially if she was going to earn enough for her father's enormous bail.

She was only a few blocks away when she heard a familiar Thwipping sound behind her. She turned around and scowled at the new black white and pink colored spider heroine gaining ground on her. There was no sign of her partner, but Black Cat deduced he wasn't far behind, and since she couldn't complete the job with the spider heroes on her six, she jumped down in between the buildings near her for Plan B.

Ghost Spider swung as fast as she could, having spotted Black Cat during her run. Upon seeing her dive in between the buildings, she made a swing toward it herself, back flipping several times in the air upon her descent. She shot a final web to cushion her descent and propelled her to a building wall where she stuck to and could see a full view of the alley.

"You're not sneaking away this time kitty," Ghosty whispered to herself on edge.

She crawled along the wall as she continued scoping the alley out. It was like a game of cat and mouse, where ironically the spider was the cat, and the cat was the mouse. Ghosty passed by a pile of discarded boxes before her Spider sense tingled, causing her to look down more intently. Upon closer observation, she could see a small fluff of white fur.

Ghosty smirked thinking, 'gotcha.'

THWIP!...She fired a double barrel blast at the boxes to pull them away, causing the hidden cat thief to jump out of her exposed cover and fire her own grapple at the heroine. Ghosty's spider sense went off again, causing her to jump away avoiding the grapple and landed on the alley floor. Upon their respective landing, the Ghost and the Cat traded glares with each other as the latter retracted her grapple.

"Well, I see you've learned Spider's annoying little habit of interruption."

"You don't know the half of it, and what you call interruption we call foiling. Now give yourself up now, or we do this the hard way," Ghosty pointed for emphasis.

Black Cat just shook her head, "look little girl, since you're obviously still new to this whole hero thing I should let you know...you're in way over your head."

"Fine then, the hard way it is," Ghosty stanced herself, not like she had a problem with the hard way against the cat burglar anyway.

"Alright sister, you wanna go a few rounds? Fine," Black Cat stanced herself in her own manner, "Let's see if you're even half as good as Spiderman."

"Allow me to show you," Ghost Spider sneered, before firing the first web shot, which passed by Black Cat, hit a crate, and allowed her to web-yank it toward the cat burglar. Black Cat jumped and dodged, allowing Ghost Spider to use the opening to jump in and make the first hit to her gut with a roundhouse kick.

Black Cat somersaulted back before springboarding herself off the ground to counterattack. Soon Ghost and Cat found themselves locked in a battle of close combat mixed with various martial art styles. As a police captain's daughter, George had put her through many self-defense courses from her youth up to now. Now against an enhanced foe like Black Cat, Ghost Spider was utilizing everything she had learned from them, enhanced by her own spider powers.

Despite that, the spider heroine still found the cat burglar a formidable opponent, matching and blocking her attacks move for move as Ghost tried to one up her. Black Cat went in for a sweeping kick, only for Ghost Spider to jump over it and Cat and land behind her on one hand and deliver a backside kick. Black Cat rolled out the kick's force, before springboarding herself again and delivering a driver punch across Ghosty's face knocking her back. Ghosty recovered quickly by rolling back into a spider stance.

"Hmph, not bad for an amateur," Black Cat complimented, "a few more years of practice and you might just actually tie with me."

"Appreciate the compliment...but no thanks," Ghost Spider replied back with edged sarcasm, "I'm finishing this here and now."

"Quick to finish huh? Boooring…" Black Cat said before coyly smirking at her female opponent to deliver a jab, "at least Spiderman was always willing to play along...when we had time together."

The tone of her voice mixed with the comment made Ghost Spider give Black Cat a Spider-LOOK with even greater intensity than before, "choose your next words carefully...feline," her voice laced with figurative venom.

Black Cat knew she touched a nerve and kept smirking, "ooh did I hit a sore spot?...sorry, though I should have guessed you were the jealous type."

Ghosty panicked at her suspicion but kept it hidden as she replied, "Spidey is my partner, nothing more, nothing less."

Black Cat wasn't buying it, "Please, you're talking to a master thief here sister, I can smell lies a mile away."

"Then you've just proven that every word that comes out of your mouth is nothing but a lie," Ghosty said point blank.

"Touche," Black Cat said, before she prepared to enlighten the heroine of something she knew would send her through the roof, "but maybe you would be interested to hear that Spider and I…"

THWIP! Black Cat's mouth was webbed shut by a web shot from Ghosty.

"You talk too much," Ghost Spider said before firing both her web shooters at the cat thief, engulfing her in another cocoon, which collapsed to the ground. Helpless and mute, Black Cat found that unlike last time, she couldn't even wiggle her hands to extend her claws.

"Don't bother, this one's extra strong compared to the last one," Ghosty enlightened, "apparently Spidey has one thing in common with his band of villains, all of you never know when to stop talking."

The sound of her partner's voice made her turn around as he swung into the alley, "Aw Ghosty I'm hurt," Spidey jested before sticking to the wall to her right, "and I thought we understood each other?"

Ghosty giggled at his joke before retorting, "Hehe, then learn to take a joke when it's directed towards you…"

As the Spider Duo reunited, several rooftops away, an armed watchman spotted the costumed trio out of the corner of his eye. Initially he panicked, worried that the Spider Duo was onto them, but it seemed like they were more preoccupied with the third body the female webhead had encased in a cocoon. Regardless, the watchman reached for his walkie to warn his superior.

"Hey Hammerhead, it's Buzz from Roof Sector-3, I got bad news, the Spiders are here!"

Hammerhead's voice groaned from the other end, "The Spiders? Great, we're still working on unloading the shipment, and the boss won't be happy if those bugs interfere with it."

"Good news is they don't seem to be suspicious, they're busy with some white haired dame in a catsuit," Buzz informed.

"Dame? Catsuit?...hmph, so the kitty's out playing again," said Hammerhead who recognized the description from her failed theft of the Rhino-Specs months ago.

"Boss?" Buzz asked, confused.

"Just keep an eye on them, a covert eye, if any of them get any wind of this, we're the Kingpin's dog food," Hammerhead ordered.

"Gulp...you got it boss," Buzz nervously agreed.

Black Cat was still struggling with her bonds and even managed to get the web gag in her teeth and tasted gnawing at it to try and tear it. The sight was quite amusing for the spider duo, especially for Ghosty.

"Huh...A cat chewing through its leash like a dog? Now I've seen everything," she joked, which Spidey chuckled at.

Black Cat finally bit her way through, spitting out the foul-tasting remnants of the webbing, "very funny sister...blah! What do you put in this stuff anyway? It's disgusting!"

"Trade secret," Spiderman quickly answered, "not that you'll have to worry about that in a jail cell."

"Also for the record, DON'T call me sister, you're far from anything of the sort," Ghost Spider sternly said with a glare.

"Hmph fine, though I don't suppose it would earn me a few brownie points if I told you my current job was to rob from a group of hardened criminals?" Black Cat asked them.

"I'd say you're lying through your teeth," Ghost Spider replied, "as I've said before."

Spiderman on the other hand, was suspicious, "where did you hear about this? For the sake of curiosity?"

Ghost Spider was baffled that he was actually willing to listen to her! She quickly tapped him on the shoulder so they could talk privately, "Uh Spidey? A word please?"

Spiderman figured this coming and knew he would have to be straightforward with his reasoning as he turned around with Ghost while Black Cat smirked.

The heroine got right to the point, "you can't seriously think she's telling the truth, can you?"

"Trust me Ghost, I know how slippery she can be, especially with words," Spiderman assured her, "but there's been moments in the past where her underworld insight has helped me bust bigger fish, this could be another one."

"Is there even a likelihood that it is?" Ghost Spider asked, still unconvinced, "you said it yourself she now hates your guts, which is all the more incentive for her to lead us astray."

Spiderman continued his explanation, "I know, but history has shown me that she does have a slight sense of honor. She may be a full blown thief, but unlike her father she's no killer, and if there's any sense of truth to what she is saying, we owe it not to ourselves or to her, but to all of New York to shut it down. Otherwise we risk another criminal empire uprising."

Remembering why they came out this way in the first place allowed sense to fall upon Ghost Spider. Dealing with another criminal syndicate was surely not the way she wanted to spend her summer, so the sooner they dealt with it, the better. Of course, that all depended on if Black Cat's word was viable, which Spidey assured it was, though a little too well.

"You seem a little too assured about her," Ghost Spider asked with a raised masked eye, "is there something about this so-called history you're not telling me?"

The Spider-LOOK that was growing on her face made Spidey cringe inside, but now was not the time to share it, "I told you we teamed up once right? And she saved my life and helped me save my reputation from Chameleon, just like when I teamed up with Rhino that one time to destroy the specs and kept a gang war off the streets. Sometimes I've had to force myself to make compromises with my enemies for the greater good, so I'm asking, please can you do the same?"

Ghost Spider listened intently to his monologue, knowing he had diverted to avoid the question. Though, maybe he had a point, and she decided to follow along with this, but she would talk to him later about it, behind the mask.

"Fine, then I'll trust you to take the lead," Ghosty said with slight hesitancy.

Spiderman nodded back, sensing her uncertainty, which didn't surprise him. He knew her reasoning for being skeptical, but was fully willing to ensure that she had nothing to be concerned about when this was over.

The spider duo walked back up to Cat with Spidey taking point, "alright Cat spill, where is this group of thugs hanging out? You tell me where it is, I'll investigate to verify if it's authentic, and if it checks out...maybe I'll consider letting you go...comprende?"

"I guess it would be too much to ask if there's a better deal?" Black Cat asked him dryly.

"That was the better deal," Spidey said with narrowed eyes, "now make your choice, take it, or leave it."

She pondered for a few moments with the spider duo standing over her with crossed arms before she spoke again, "there's a dock about five blocks from here, my informant has told me a large shipment is being delivered within the hour. Don't ask me what it is, because I don't know, all I know is a package of cutting-edge computer chips are part of it, worth a fortune to the right buyer."

"Fascinating, and just who is your informant?" Ghost Spider asked, repeating Spiderman's question.

"Trade secret," Black Cat threw Spidey's words back at her, earning another glare from both of them.

Spiderman and Ghost Spider looked and nodded to one another as they digested her explanation, then Spidey said, "Ok, then I'll go and check it out, Ghost, make sure she doesn't stray off. I should be back in no more than ten minutes.

"Alright, be quick," Ghosty replied. Spiderman then shot a web to the building ahead swinging toward the Hudson docks leaving the two female fatales alone.

---

Buzz was more than terrified now seeing Spiderman swing by from his hiding place, heading directly for the shipping dock where Hammerhead was working!

He stuttered into his walkie, "Hammerhead! Red alert! Spiderman is heading your way!"

"Fine then, the boys are almost done with the payload. Let him come, I'll just add in some payback. Get back with the others and return to base now."

"Yes sir, I'm out," Buzz said before signing off and heading for the fire escape.

Spiderman soon made his way to the building adjacent to the dock, and saw that Black Cat's intel was true. Two large forklifts were lifting a pair of large crates into a big rig container. To most people it wouldn't seem like anything illegal or out of the ordinary as Hudson's shipping docks were always busy as such...however…

'Well, look who it is,' Spiderman thought as he caught sight of the familiar suited figure of Hammerhead, Tombstone's former criminal flunky, now apparently acting on his own terms, 'Hammerhead's back too? Sheesh, it's been a week's worth of unfriendly reunions. Well if Hammy is overseeing this shipment, it can't be for anything good or legal. So let's get a closer look…'

Hammerhead watched as the forklift pair slowly made its way off the ship and onto the dock, carrying the two large crates to the transport rig. Once they were in, the whole shipment would be ready, once he tied up another loose end.

"Hammerhead, at your six," his hidden watchman radioed to him from a hidden comm on his collar. The faint Thwipping sounds he heard behind him confirmed it. Slowly, he reached into his jacket pocket, preparing his surprise.

Spiderman swung in toward the nearby crane, hoping to assess the scene before swinging down to foil it. But as he attached himself to the crane arm, searchlights immediately lit up, blinding him, and forcing him to throw up his arms to block the light.

Upon triggering his trap with his remote, Hammerhead ordered the rest of his hidden goons, "FIRE AT THE SPIDER!"

The guards revealed themselves from the shadows before unleashing a storm of automatic fire from their AK-47's. Spiderman was forced to jump away from the bullet storm and the searchlights to find a new angle of attack.

Meanwhile, Ghost Spider was having an otherwise thrilling chat with a still encased Black Cat, much to her annoyance.

"I always wondered what it would take for Spider to take on a partner," Black Cat said, "personally, since I was the first one he ever partnered with, I always believed it would take a woman's touch, and what do you know I was right."

"I would suggest you be silent right now," Ghosty strongly urged, "because I'm more than happy to give you a second helping of mouth webbing if you don't clam up."

"Are you always this cheery with your captured convicts?" Black Cat dryly asked.

"Only the annoying ones," Ghost Spider answered point blank.

"Hmph, at least Spider has a more welcoming personality," Black Cat replied, before that Cheshire Cat like smile creeped up on her before saying something that would floor Ghosty, "and a great kisser too."

Ghost Spider felt every part of her body tense with rage, disgust, and pain. It took all of her energy to mask her discomfort and compose herself as she nearly spat out, "please...I don't need a lie detector to know how untrue that is."

"Don't take my word for it lady-spider," Black Cat kept smirking at her, "just ask your partner..."

Suddenly, the sounds of automatic gunfire echoed through the alley ahead of them, ending Ghost Spider's internal debate about slugging Black Cat. She anxiously thought, 'Peter.'

"...That's assuming of course he's still alive," Black Cat dryly said in response to the gunfire.

Ghost Spider said nothing, but shot a web at the nearby wall, creating an oversized web trap covering its face. She then picked up the trapped thief, and with a yell of discomfort, was thrown into the web trap where she stuck again. Ghosty finished with a few more web shots sticking her to the trap indefinitely.

"What are you?...THWIP!" Black Cat's mouth was muffled again before Ghost Spider finished.

"Making sure you stick around," the heroine answered her question, "so sit tight, we'll both be back to take you to jail." Black Cat struggled against her old and new bonds mixed together as Ghost Spider swung away toward the docks.

Spiderman kept dodging the bullet storm, barely keeping ahead of it because there were so many. Hammerhead's trap had taken him by surprise, since the steel-plated thug was not known for being sneaky. He'd worry about that later though, as he shot another web to swing closer to the docked ship to get out of range.

Hammerhead ordered over his radio, "he's on the boat boys, get him!"

Spidey grabbed onto one of the boats smokestacks, before his spider sense tingled again. More bullets shot from below forced him to jump and dodge as more thugs came out from within the boat deck.

One of the gunmen on the dock was watching the webhead avoid the shots from his 'colleagues.' Unfortunately, he didn't notice the silent body land behind him until...THWIP!...his gun was pulled out of his hand, and he was webbed to the wall with his mouth shut. The heroine broke the gun with her bare hands before jumping away to continue her sneak attack.

Spiderman decided to take to the offense against the boat gunman. He shielded himself with another smokestack body, before he reached for his belt and pulled out a prototype weapon he and Gwen had developed together. 'If there was a time to field test this, it's now.'

He pressed the only button on the capsule shaped item, then jumped out of hiding, and threw it directly below into the middle of the crowd of thugs below. The goon squad saw it land at their feet in confusion, until...BOOMM!

"AGH!...UGH!...GAH!" The goons all groaned as they found themselves covered from head to toe in a thick web blanket upon detonation.

Seeing how the web grenade did its job, Spidey swung down to finally deal with the head goon with a steel skull. He landed in front of the suited crook before quipping, "Hammerhead, long time no see, glad to see you 'stuck' around for old times sake."

Hammerhead growled at the webhead's bad joke, honestly not sure which was worse, his interference, or that he had one-upped him with a surprise trap of his own. That web grenade had incapacitated most of his goons, leaving only him.

"Bug...apparently you still need a lesson in interfering with other people's business," Hammerhead bull charged him, only for Spidey to flip over him to the opposite side.

Spidey then asked, "business? I thought you were out of business? You know after Tombstone let you go for being a rat and all? Among other things?"

"Past business is past business webhead," Hammerhead sneered before turning to face him, "there's a new ring in town, and first on its list is exterminating pests like you!" He charged him again, forcing Spidey to jump to the left and making him bust into a crate headfirst that was seated behind him.

Hammy broke out of it before Spidey quipped again, "So you got a new boss? Must be a real stand-up guy to accept someone with betrayal on his resume. Any chance you could introduce us? I'd love to get acquainted."

"Only in a body bag...bug," Hammerhead sneered. He charged Spiderman again and attacked with his knuckle bracers. The webhead and the crook engaged in hand-to-hand combat on the pier for the first time since the Rhino Specs incident.

The remaining 3 gunmen who weren't trapped by the web grenade made their way around to the exit ramp. Upon seeing their supervisor engage the webhead in combat, they took aim, ready to fire at the spider hero when he was clear. Except…

Thwip!...Thwip!...Thwip!

All the goons felt their firearms pulled out of their hands via web shots from above. Above them, Ghost Spider was perched on the closest smokestack as she tossed all of the guns into the river beside her, before jumping down to engage the crooks. They attacked her in futility, as she blocked and counterattacked each one before throwing them all against the ship railing and webbed them to it.

"Thanks for the dance boys, but I'm a one-man kind of girl, later!" She joked to them before jumping to aid her partner, who was still fighting Hammerhead hand to hand. She jumped behind the steel skulled goon before shooting two webs at his arms, holding him in place.

"Mind if I cut in?" Ghosty quipped.

Spidey cheerily went along, "not at all, maybe you can teach him some things I apparently couldn't."

Hammerhead tugged at his bonds, prompting Ghosty to web yank him towards her, with him ending up on the ground. Ghost Spider did nothing but give him a Spider-LOOK before giving introductions, "Hammerhead I presume?"

"The Lady Ghost Spider, so we meet at last," Hammerhead sneered.

"Aww I'm flattered you've heard of me," Ghosty quipped, "I would say the honor is mine, but from what I've read about you Mr. Hammerhead, that would be an utter lie." She glared with edge on that last line.

"Oh you're breaking my heart missy," Hammerhead said with sarcasm, before he pulled back on the bonds, which pulled the heroine towards him, allowing him to headbutt her.

CLANG!..."Ugh!" The force of the hit made Ghosty lose her grip as she fell on her back.

"GHOSTY!" she heard her partner yell.

She was in a daze as Hammerhead stood over her, before finally breaking off the web bonds, "little girl, it's time I taught you a lesson about messing with the big dogs."

KICK!...Spiderman kicked Hammerhead away from Ghost Spider with a spring boarded attack before declaring, "Rule#1 Hammy...you mess with one of us, you mess with both of us!"

"That so? Well, allow me to rephrase it...I squash one of you, then I'll squash both of you!" Hammerhead and Spidey charged at each other to attack again. Meanwhile, the only remaining goon who was the truck driver had finished securing the payload including the computer chips and was ready to leave. Upon seeing the fight, he radioed his boss for final instructions.

"Kingpin come in, it's Allen from Hammerhead's crew," he said.

"You better have a good reason for calling me right now," the Kingpin sneered, having only just ended his conference speech and left the crowd.

"Sir, Hammerhead's fighting the Spiders, he knocked one down and is brawling with the other," said Allen.

Kingpin was silent for a moment before replying, "is the shipment secure?"

"Yes sir, all of it."

"Then Hammerhead is on his own, make the delivery now and don't lose one piece of it, or we'll be having words later."

"Gulp, yes sir," Allen signed off before pressing on the gas and pulled the truck off the pier and into the city. Ghost Spider was just regaining consciousness as the truck pulled away, catching a glimpse of it before it disappeared around the bend. As she got to her feet to pursue, she turned and saw the fight still happening behind her and decided that aiding her partner was more important.

Spidey was attacking with greater focus and intensity then before, after seeing Hammerhead headbutt his partner/girlfriend out cold. Hammerhead noticed this and decided to play on it as he found himself in a deadlock with Spiderman, "someone seems a little cheesed off...upset because I knocked out your girl? Always figured you had a soft spot for someone."

"Unlike you, I wouldn't even think of abandoning my partners, let alone betray them!" Spidey growled, "so don't think for one second I'm gonna let you walk away after that cheap shot!"

"My thoughts exactly," a familiar voice made them turn around in surprise, and Ghosty got her payback with a hard right punch to Hammerhead's chin, knocking him down.

"Hah! Alright! Nice to see you on your feet again Ghosty," Spidey cheered.

"Please...I've dealt with enough hard heads in my life to ever be knocked down by a simple headbutt," she quipped, making him chuckle. Hammerhead rubbed his bruised chin as he got back to his feet, growling at the spider heroine.

"Now, where were we?" Ghosty retorted to the thug with her partner by her side.

Hammerhead said just one thing while cracking his knuckles, "in case you both haven't figured it out yet, I...hate...SPIDERS! Raargh!" He bull charged them again forcing them to jump away, and then springboard on their feet to counterattack which he blocked. The spider duo and the steel skulled thug duked it out alone on the dock for a good five minutes. However, even Hammerhead realized that the two Spiders together were proving more than he could handle after they knocked him down in a combined attack. He was actually now regretting his betrayal of Silver Sable months ago, for he could have really used her skills right now in fighting the duo. Realizing he was out of options, he pressed a small button hidden on his cuff link as he pretended to play possum.

Not that the Spiders were buying it, "really Hammy? An old possum trick? Not even a third grader would fall for that."

Ghosty followed up on Spidey's quip, "got that right, so pull yourself up and surrender, then we can turn you in with another we caught tonight for a nice matching set."

Hammerhead was silent before getting to his knees, and to their surprise, he started chuckling, "you think because you've got each other now that you can stop the new rising ring? Haha...you kids don't have a clue...and besides, you're not the only ones who can call for backup."

The spider duo raised a confused masked eye, until the sound of a humming motor caught their attention, along with their spider senses tingling. Rising in front of them from the Hudson River was a dark blue submarine with gold trimmings, in a similar style to Hammerhead's old limo. It's pilot was Hammerhead's lady chauffeur, who sneered at the Spider duo from her seat before activating their distraction.

A FLASH came from its right-side compartment, blinding the spider duo while Hammerhead remained unharmed due to the custom shades he had slipped on prior to the subsequent arrival. He made the jump and slipped inside the sub before it sealed up, and the deadly duo dived below the Hudson. As they regained their vision, the spider duo looked in frustration to see both were gone.

Spiderman was irritated about yet another flashbang escape, "Huff...you know, maybe we should think about investing in some Spider shades or something."

---

Police sirens soon echoed into the pier after Captain Stacy received a call from his daughter about 'hearing' shots fired within the area. Keeping her involvement discreet, he led the unit there to arrest all the goons that had no doubt been subdued by the spider duo, given the webs spread everywhere.

As for the Spider Duo, they backtracked to the alley where they had left Black Cat, only to be further disappointed by the sight of a ripped up and empty web cocoon.

"Oh come on! Twice in one week?! Man this sucks!" Ghosty vented.

"Well, as the old saying goes, third times the charm right?" Spidey replied, only to receive a Spider-LOOK.

"Huff...sorry, too soon?" He wryly asked.

"Like this is anything to joke about. Not only has one A-list criminal gotten away from us today, but two have! Not to mention whatever shipment came in at the docks is gone, carrying who knows what for God knows what purpose. Not to mention it's all been confirmed now that a new criminal empire is rising in New York, huff...so much for it being a great summer."

"I know your frustrated Ghost, believe me I know the feeling. But we can't let all these preluding problems get the better of us. The moment we do, is when the bad guys really win," Spidey consoled her.

Ghosty just sighed, "Yeah I know, it just feels like our whole day was turned on its head, all our plans went out the window, and in the end, we couldn't even catch one of the big fish."

"Welcome to being a superhero. The life where nothing is as glamorous and straightforward as it appears to be, just like celebrities," Spidey quipped still trying to brighten the mood, but turned serious when he saw it wasn't helping, "hey, all joking aside, let's count our blessings, one, we did confirm without a doubt that something new is going on and we gave your dad's forces a lead on it, two, we took down a whole army of armed thugs without any injury to us or anyone else, three, we...well...three uh?"

"Yes?" Ghost asked, raising an eye.

Spidey then thought of something she would agree with, "well, you took it to Black Cat and showed her who's boss, didn't ya?"

Ghosty finally laughed in agreement, "hehehe, you got that right, and next time we meet, she's going down for good."

"Absolutely," Spidey nodded.

Ghost Spider then changed the topic to something very uncomfortable for her partner, "although, there's something that's really bothering me...she said something about you that only Gwen and maybe Liz would know about."

"Uhh...what?" he asked, highly discomforted.

"She said you were a great kisser, care to enlighten on that?" she asked with a full-blown Spider-LOOK.

Spidey felt his legs turn to jelly, the growing penetration of his girlfriend's signature glare made him feel like an ant as his worst fear had been realized. He stuttered as his partner/girlfriend continued giving him the LOOK, "haha...well...um...you see...haha...it's a really really funny story…"

---

In a lone warehouse secretly owned by ENKOM, the truck from the docks had entered through the main shipping door. Awaiting him at the other end of the building was the white suited frame of the Kingpin himself, along with Dr. Stillwell to his left. The truck came to a stop and the driver exited.

"Allen, I'm pleased to see you've made it, though I'll be even more so knowing everything that was requested by me is with you," said Fisk.

"Its all here boss," Allen said carrying a custom rectangular box under his arm, which he brought up to see, "including all the chips that go with it."

"Excellent," Fisk said, before turning to his hired scientific hand, "they're all yours Dr. Stillwell, use them wisely."

"I intend to, believe me," Dr. Stillwell said taking the box from Allen.

"We're here boss!" the sound of a familair voice caused them to turn right and see Hammerhead and his chauffeur walk in the side door.

"Hammerhead," Fisk said, his voice latent with suspicion, "and here I thought you had been captured."

"The spiders almost got the jump on me, but I gave them a one-up and slipped away, with no witnesses," Hammerhead explained.

"For your sake I hope you're right," Fisk warned, "we've come too far now to let anyone interfere, especially those pathetic spiders."

"If it's any consolation boss, I got in contact with your asset in Chicago before arriving, he said he's on his way and he'll be here by the end of the week," Hammerhead informed.

Fisk listened intently before answering, "good, then I'll leave you to arrange a proper meeting with him. Once Smythe lands it will be your responsibility to ensure he arrives unscathed, understood?"

"Of course," Hammerhead nodded.

"Good," Fisk then turned to Stillwell, "Take time to prepare your lab Doctor, your roommate will prepare his space once he arrives."

"As long as he leaves me to my own work I have no problem," Dr. Stillwell answered blankly.

"I assure you Professor Smythe is one of professional manner, and a genius in his field as much as you are in your own," Fisk narrowed his eyes with sinister plans in mind, "and with your combined expertise and the resources I've now acquired, no one, not even Spiderman or Ghost Spider together, will stop us."

---

The next day was silent compared to the day before. No crooks, no armed madmen, no visible crime from a rising empire. Just a scene of a hurt, lonely, and still angry teenage girl who was sitting alone on a bench on Central Park. She had come here plenty of times with Peter since they started dating, but now, she just wished to be alone.

After Peter finally confessed about his formerly unknown kiss with Black Cat, Gwen couldn't deny how much she was hurt. All this time, she had believed that pleasure was hers. Sure, she may not have been his first girlfriend, just like he wasn't her first boyfriend, but they had moved past that. She always relished in the fact that last Thanksgiving, her first kiss was Peter, and believed it was the same with him. Now she had no idea how to process this uncomfortable revelation, she just swung away from him after saying she needed to be alone right now.

Her discomfort was clear to her father when she got home and asked what was wrong. She just gave him a half-truth saying that Black Cat escaped again, only after mocking her. Captain Stacy just gave her some encouraging words as a father only could, and she accepted them, at face value.

Now it was a new day, the pain seemed to have subsided, but was still there, and she was at a loss at what to do about it.

Meanwhile, sneaking behind her, Peter could only look at her in shame with what he had told her yesterday. After his confession and her leave, he had headed straight home. Though not before after calling Ned and explaining his cover story for his absence after the conference ended, and to inform Jonah he would send the photos as soon as he got home, which he did. He ended up swinging to the Stacy's early in the morning, and after learning from her father at the front door that she had left early, set out to find her and make amends.

He had tried all their usual places before coming here, and was disheartened from seeing the clear pain on her face. He hated the fact that he was the cause of it, despite never knowing of Gwen's feelings for him before Black Cat had kissed him as Spiderman. Honestly deep down, he knew it was a weak excuse, and hated that he had kept the truth about it from her until now. Well, he dug himself into this pit, now he had to climb his way out, starting with the first step.

"Hey Gwen," he walked up to her with a solemn face, getting her attention in the form of an angry LOOK.

"Peter," she sternly replied before turning away.

Peter kept his cool, knowing he was going to have to tread lightly as he sat down on the opposite side of the bench, "Gwen, I'm really sorry for not telling you about Cat. Honestly, I thought it didn't really matter, I mean, when she kissed me I was surprised, yes, but I don't believe I even kissed her back. Compared to when you first kissed me, I didn't feel anything with her. It was only after you first kissed me that I really felt something special. Even when I was dating Liz, it didn't feel the same either, no other girl has made me feel the way you do, and that's the truth, the full truth."

His words seemed to calm her down, as the anger in her eyes digressed to sadness. She closed her eyes for a moment before speaking, "why didn't you just tell me about it sooner then? If it meant nothing, then it wouldn't have been such a big deal. Instead, I had to find out directly from her." she said that last word with an edge before continuing…

"I'm not as upset about finding out about the kiss Pete as I am about you keeping this secret from me...I thought we were past that."

Understanding her reasoning, Peter could only say, "I know I know, and it was a bad call deciding not to come fully clean. I guess I just thought...well, from my perspective she only kissed Spiderman, but she didn't kiss Peter Parker, that was all you Gwen, it always has been."

"And that's it then? There's nothing else underlying there?" She asked.

"Gwen, there was never anything there to begin with, you're the only girl that matters to me, always have been and always will be. Just please...forgive me?"

Gwen kept silent for a moment, keeping him in suspense, until she finally decided he had sweat enough, for now, "I'm hurt Pete, there's no denying that, and it will take a while for it to fully fade away."

Peter's face fell from her statement, until she continued, "but I forgive you."

Peter's face lit up, and smiled from seeing the loving grin Gwen was throwing his way. She flirted saying, "Besides, it would take too long to train anyone else."

They mutually laughed at her banter, and Peter asked her, "is there anything else I need to do and can do to make up for this?"

"Hmm, I've got a few ideas," Gwen quipped while smirking at the discomfort on Peter's face. "Heehee, relax I'm kidding. Though to be serious, could you...just please hold me?"

"Gladly," Peter said before embracing his girlfriend in a loving hug, allowing her to rest her chin on his shoulder, inhaling his scent. They stayed like that for three minutes before releasing each other, and then suddenly Peter said, "Wait! I just remembered! Wait right here and close your eyes."

Gwen gave him a confused look, but relented when he pleaded, "pleeaassse?"

Gwen stood up off the bench closing her eyes as Peter turned around and ran back to get his surprise. After a few seconds he returned and said, "Okay, you can open them now."

Gwen did so, and her face lit up from the large extravagant rose bouquet Peter held in front of her as a gift. He said with a red face, "I know its not much, but I couldn't come here without some way to show I'm really sorry, and to say that I love you Gwen, hero and all."

"Oh Peter," she cooed while taking the bouquet while blushing red herself, "they're beautiful."

"You're welcome babe, though the largest bouquet in the city couldn't do justice for the most beautiful woman in the world...so I just went with what I could afford."

Gwen giggled at his adoring charm, "Heeheehee oh you romantic." She held the roses off to the side before looking him in the face.

"It can certainly be said that when you do screw up Mr. Parker, you're quick to make up, and you certainly don't do it halfway."

A still red Peter could only shrug before adding, "Um Gwen, I've been wanting to tell you, my aunt and I are going to visit my Uncle Ben's grave this Friday. Would you honor me by attending with me?"

Gwen's face softened before replying, "Peter I'd love to, and the honor would be mine, if it's ok with May."

"You kidding? She'd love to have you there, and I'm sure if he were still here, Uncle Ben would too," Peter added.

His praise made her earlier pain seem to vanish, as Gwen finally said, "I love you so much Peter."

"I love you more," he softly replied before embracing her in a loving kiss as she held the roses behind his back. Despite the madness of the past two days, the young couple thought one thing at the same time, 'this is definitely going to be a great summer.'

THE END

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Truthfully, I've been wanting to do an episode with Black Cat, especially with a scene where she and Ghost Spider(Gwen) face off. Needless to say, the conversations between the two Spectacular females was both interesting and hilarious to write.

I also wanted to do an episode that broke from the usual supervillain outline and just do one with the New York criminal element in play, after introducing Kingpin in the original story, along with the return of Hammerhead, and I have to say it worked out pretty well.

This might be my last episode for a while, but I will continue one day...Until then true believers!