AN: So I got a great question about the history of my Marvel AU. To Celgress, I hope this answers you question: It is VERY similar to the 616 universe, except that in the Return of Black Cat story arc these two became a committed couple, and Doc Ock never took over Peter's body. some of your questions (for instance Hobgoblin) will be answered, but they play into my story, and I don't want to ruin my own fiction. Also, I didn't want to overcomplicate the universe with a bunch of history only I will understand. Without further ado, please enjoy.

Chapter 3

Peter and Felicia sat under the awning of a pleasant little Manhattan bistro that was well known for its lunchtime fare. The proximity to deli's, butchers and farmers marts ensured that food was fresh and the talented cooks inside knew how to bring out the most of the flavor. Felicia ate a Chicken Caesar Salad with the elegant and precise manner that a sophisticated woman would have. Peter tore through an Italian Sandwich that a man with only a half hour lunch break would have, even though he knew he could stretch it out.

Felicia set down the fork she was using to eat and stared at Peter. "You know," she started, "You can breathe."

Peter looked up from his plate and gulped down the wad of food that was in his mouth. "Yeah, but then I'll have to answer the strange questions that you want to ask me about where I've been." He said, knowing that Felicia would keep prying until she got answers. She was as curious as her alter ego's namesake in that sense.

Felicia grinned. "Maybe I just want to flirt with you in public, or get you to commit to an uncomfortable evening with me as an alternative to asking you those questions." She retorted.

"Shoving my face also prevents me from having that conversation." Peter responded and went back to his sandwich.


Herman Shultz, known to most of the public as The Shocker, hid in an alleyway behind a dumpster with three other men who he worked with on occasion to steal things. They weren't villains like him, with his Vibro-Shock Gauntlets and yellow insulating protective suit. They were just armed robbers with ski masks and Chinese Type 56 Assault Rifles. Yesterday evening they had been approached by a man at The Bar with No Name about a contract heist. This type of work came along from time to time for Shocker who was one of the best safe crackers around. Shocker only really stole things that he could use such as money, or things that he could sell easily such as gold. But contract heists usually gave a large payout because people wanted something that only he could get, or the other person didn't want to get involved in.

The person who didn't want to get directly involved in this case was Wilson Fisk, better known in the underworld as The Kingpin, or at least that is who the man who talked to them said he represented. Shocker signed on without hesitation, and his three colleague's right after. When Fisk was involved, there was money to be made, but a certain level of risk as well. Shocker was okay with risk. It came with the occupation of an armed robber.

What he was being hired to steal was some kind of nano-tech programing software on a computer drive. He was being hired to steal it from Alchemax. This was the type of thing that Shocker had neither the knowledge to understand, nor the tools or ability to make work. But he knew that it was worth a lot of money to a lot of people elsewhere in the world, usually to corporate types and scientists. Shocker figured that he was at the edge of some cooperate espionage and didn't mind that because the money was good.

A call came in on a phone that Shocker had on him. "What is it?" He demanded.

"The van is two blocks away." An observer told him. The representative of Fisk had given Shocker and his crew the route that the Alchemax van would take, so all they had to do was set a trap.

"Time to move." Shocker told the men behind him.

The four men walked out of the ally and into the street calmly. The white armored van with the Alchemax logo on the side approached them at the same pace as the rest of traffic. Upon confirming that it was indeed an Alchemax van, Shocker and his robbers jumped into action. Two of the three robbers got in front of the van and used their Type 56 Rifles to shoot the windshield. Though it didn't penetrate the bulletproof glass, it blinded the driver from the road. Meanwhile Shocker and his last man moved around the back of the now halted vehicle. The yellow clad villain fired his gauntlets on the corners of the rear door to ensure that the hinges were destroyed.

The robber with Shocker pulled the door off, which fell to the ground with a large bang. Shocker jumped inside the rear cab to find a man with security guard outfit and a Remington 870 Shotgun pointed at him. "Stay back." The man said firmly.

Shocker at least gave him points for not panicking. "I've got three more guys with automatic weapons." Shocker said calmly. He then lashed out with his right hand and grabbed the shotgun, sending a massive vibration out of his gauntlet, shattering the weapon into pieces. "And now you're unarmed." He continued. The sound of the front door opening and someone running away screaming. "Without backup." Shocker finished.

The man gulped. "Can you at least knock me out so I don't get into too much trouble and can collect disability?" the man asked with resignation.

Shocker though it over for a moment. "Sure, why not? Ed…" The robber with him hit the security guard in the head with the butt of his rifle, knocking him out cold, and then threw him into the street.

Above the felony in progress, another masked criminal flew above the scene on a high tech glider. "Well, well, well," mused the Hobgoblin. "Hasn't this job just become more interesting?" he asked out loud as he pulled a couple of Pumpkin Bombs from his satchel.


At the sound of gunfire a few blocks away, Peter pulled out some cash he always had on hand to pay for food when he needed to rush away to save the day. The two dashed into a nearby ally to change out of their mild mannered wear. The minutes that they spent changing was tense and without words as they assumed their new identities. Peter had luckily become accustomed to putting on the heaver armor that was in more pieces. Taking off his civilian clothing to reveal the black body suit he always wore underneath, Peter zipped open his duffle bag to reveal the black/grey MK. III Spider Armor inside. The boots, chest piece, mask, and gauntlets all came on in under two minutes. Felicia, because of her simpler outfit, was ready in half the time.

After hiding their regular clothing, the two crime-fighters flew out of the alley on web lines and grapples at a high velocity moving towards the commotion, which now included the sounds of explosions and maniacal cackling. "Please tell me that's not who I think it is." Spider-Man hoped aloud. At the sight of the orange clad Hobgoblin, he let out a chest full of air. "Oh thank God, it's the less unstable one".

"Thank God I don't have to stare at a purple and green color scheme. That is just horrid." Black Cat remarked. She noticed Spider-Man staring at her. "What. That is just a crime against fashion."

The two landed on a nearby wall and noticed that Hobgoblin was also fighting Shocker and his crew. "All right. Everyone hold on a second." Spider-Man yelled. The crooks all looked to him and his partner. "Now I don't know what you kids are fightin' over, but you are all going to stop right now and go to your rooms at Ryker's." Spider-Man said with as much authority as he could muster knowing that it was helpless.

"Your math is funny there creep." Shocker said. "I count four against three."

"We're not affiliated with that guy." Spider-Man said defensively and pointed to Hobgoblin.

"And you're all alone now." Hobgoblin laughed atop his glider.

Shocker looked around hand noticed that the rest of his crew had been taken out of the fight by the goblin's bombs. His insulated suit had protected him, but not his un-armored allies. "Good help is so hard to find." Shocker grumbled to himself. He then pointed his two fist outward, one at the Goblin and the other at the heroic duo, and fired a blast out of each arm.

Spider-man and Black Cat swung away to avoid damage. "Got a plan?" Black Cat asked.

"You take Goblin. I got Shocker." Spider-Man said firmly.

"Why do I get the creep?" She asked, a little offended.

"He's a thief, you're a former thief. Shockers a self-educated engineer, I'm and engineer. There's more in common." He compared. "We'll each have more to talk about." Spider-Man said in a hurry as he swing kicked Shocker into the back of the armored Alchemax van.

"Fine."

Black Cat then used the same move to kick the Hobgoblin's glider while he was focused on the brawl below. The sudden impact knocked him off and onto the concrete sidewalk below, and the glider into the air, where it deactivated before falling to the ground. Hobgoblin got to his feet with his teeth grinding in anger. Black Cat landed on her feet with a smug, self-satisfied smile.

"I can't believe that he sent the sidekick after me." The villain growled.

"Most men find me wonderful company. And what's with this sidekick business. I see myself as more of a Girl Friday."

"So a female sidekick." Hobgoblin said. He reached into his bag to pull out some spinning razors.

He threw the razors at her with deadly velocity. As they flew through the air, Black Cat dodged them by sidestepping and charging at Hobgoblin. She lashed out with a ferocious kick aimed at his head. Goblin blocked the attack with his forearm and then landed an uppercut into Black Cat's side. Goblin then followed up by dropping a tear gas grenade. Grey Gas quickly filled the space the two combatants occupied. Black Cat began to cough uncontrollably, and her eyes watered so much that she couldn't see.

Another fist flew out of the smoke and hit her again, followed by another. Black Cat was knocked to the ground in pain. She knew that she was losing and needed to escape. From a small pouch she carried on her belt, she dropped a flashbang grenade. A bright, light and a stunning bang erupted from the device, and the heroine back flipped out of the disabling fumes into fresh air. She then fired her grapple into the tear gas, and pulled Hobgoblin out.

"See. Sidekick. Wall crawler knows to watch out for the good stuff." Hobgoblin taunted.

"That's why we're a team." Black Cat retorted. She then fired a grapple near Hobgoblin. The masked villain was expecting that trick and did a quick juke to avoid it.

"Missed me."

"Not what I was aiming at."

Black Cat had attached her grapple to Goblin's Glider and pulled with all her might. The glider flew into the back of the crook and knocked him to the ground. She let out a huff of air as she retracted her signature device, hoping he would stay down. Unfortunately, the Hobgoblin got back up and began to hit a series of buttons on the glider and a warning be began to emanate.

"This job is more eventful right now than they told me it would be." Hobgoblin muttered and began to run away.

"Hey! Stop!" Black Cat shouted.

"Later Sidekick." And the glider detonated with violent force that knocked Black cat to the ground. When she go up from the ground and got over the ringing in her ears she look a good look to see that Hobgoblin had disappeared someway.


"We'll each have more to talk about." Spider-Man said in a hurry to Black Cat as he swing kicked Shocker into the back of the armored Alchemax van.

"How do you plan to beat me in here?" Shocker asked menacingly.

"I was gonna use your suit to reupholster the interior." The hero joked.

Shocker then struck out with a right cross, left hook combo that was dodged without effort. The yellow crook then struck with his left knee and a right hook. Spiderman dodged the knee, and blocked the hook before launching his counter attack. The black and grey hero fired a right cross, then a low roundhouse kick with his left leg, and finished with a left uppercut. Shocker blocked the cross, but the kick and the uppercut landed.

Shocker let out grunts of pain with each impact and backed up to give himself more room. He then readied his arms to blast Spider-Man. The hero took a direct attack to his chest and was knocked down, but quickly got back up. Though he was a little winded, he wasn't ready to quit by far.

"How did you take a direct hit and get up so quick?" Shocker asked with genuine curiosity and slight worry.

"This has taken a direct hit from Rhino. It's pretty tough." Spider-Man casually explained the armor he was wearing.

"I can deal with that." Shocker said and charged at Spider-Man. He grabbed the hero around the waist and held on tight. Spider-Man above him threw a series of punches into his sides and elbow drops into his back. But the padding on Shockers chest was thicker to protect his organs, so it was like hitting a sponge.

Shocker then let out a battle cry and began to lift Spider-Man off the ground. The villain was going to perform a suplex as so commonly seen in wrestling. It would've slammed Spider-Man into the ground with tremendous force. But the confined space of the back of the armored van caused the wall crawlers feet to stick to the ceiling.

The two combatants looked at each other in a brief moment of amazement as they realized the other was upside-down. Then the brawl continued with each using exclusively using their fists to attack the other. The fight was brief as Spider-Man quickly realized that he could head-butt Shocker in his minimally protected groin, and did just that. Shocker fell to his knees grasping himself, and groaning in pain.

"Sure hope Cat didn't see that. Don't think I can handle her making comments about me 'giving head'" Spider-Man said to no one specifically.

Out of nowhere, a large bang came from outside the van. This caused both the men to turn to the origin of the noise and forget about one another for a moment.

"CAT!" Spider-Man called out with concern.

This outburst caused Shocker to focus first. He quickly grabbed Spider-Man's shoulder and, with every ounce of his strength and a fully charged Vibro-Shock Gauntlet, punched Spider-Man right in the jaw. This caused him to fall to the floor of the van seeing stars.

"This job is more complicated than he told me it would be. Time to go while the gettin' is good." Shocker said to himself, and ran out the back. He ran around the front of the van.

"Boss. Get it." And man in a casual panel van said. It was his observer. The three other guys had already piled in with their rifles and where ready to go.

Shocker jumped right in. "Move it." He demanded, and the van sped away from the crime scene.

When Spider-Man peeled himself off the floor he walked out the back of the van to see Black Cat stumbling around. "What happened to your guy?" he asked.

"Blew up his glider." Black Cat described with disappointment. "You?"

"He punched me in the face really, really, reallllly hard." He said.

Black Cat stared at him in disbelief. "Really?"

"I was distracted by concern for you." Sirens began to be audible in the distance. "C'mon, lets be gone before the boys in blue show up."

The two swung away from the crime scene, knowing that they were not going to be seeing the last of either the Hobgoblin, or the Shocker in the near future.

AN: Remember to review. It will make me set a deadline to get more chapters out, and I will work faster when I set deadlines.