We've already met Felicia Hardy, now for her alter-ego!

I know Dmitri Smerdyakov actually appeared in Far From Home as a member of Nick Fury/Talos' team, but I'm disregarding that for the story.

I own nothing from Marvel or Spider-Man

Chapter 11: Cats & Chameleons

~A month and a half later~

It was now April, so the weather was getting warmer. Nothing big had happened in the city for a while, except the usual attempted robberies, B & Es, assaults, muggings, etc.

One thing that really helped Peter more than ever with being Spider-Man was the new app that Ned had created!

With his vast knowledge of the workings of social media, and the more advanced technical skills Aaron had taught him; Ned made an approved app for phones, dubbed "Friendly Neighborhood"! Anyone living in the city could send a request for Spidey's help, be it finding their stolen car, a lost cat, and more!

Peter had to admit, it came in handy at times. Of course, the odd jobs could be a bit boring, not that he was complaining.

"Dude, there's a break in at the Museum of Modern Art," Ned told Peter from his comms.

"I'm on it," he replied as he quickly changed into his Spidey suit and swung off!

He made it to the museum, crawled through one of the vents, and balanced on the rafters. There was a group of at least ten guys around the museum, some of them were lookouts, others were taking some of the art pieces and putting them in loading vans.

"This should be easy," Spidey mused as he looked around.

He zipped over to a rafter above one of the lookouts, pulled him up with webs, punched his lights out and strung him up. He soon did the same with the next one.

"Why don't you get comfy?" Spidey asked. "The cops will be here after I deal with your buddies."

One guy was about to take a painting that Peter himself actually liked, so...

'For that, you get this!' he pulled the guy up and completely cocooned him in webs.

"H-hey, what the-?!" the robber started before his whole head was covered in webs, causing him to let out muffled cries.

He got three more robbers, then the rest noticed something going on...

"Hey, where's Emmet?" One of them asked.

"...Ah, shit, don't tell me that damn spider is here...!" cursed another one.

"Okay, okay, don't panic!" urged the next guy.

Right when they said that, a shiny red sphere with a silver center in the shape of a web bounced on the floor! When it exploded, the three guys were knocked to the floor and trapped in webs!

'Web Grenade for the win!' Spidey thought.

The last two moved together, watching each other's backs. Spidey hung upside-down, slowly lowered himself to behind them, and knocked their heads against each other, knocking them out.

He then dropped from the ceiling and webbed them to the floor, "Okay, just sit tight. They usually pick up the garbage in an hour." But then, he heard a seductive, female giggle to his left. He turned and saw someone sitting on one of the second-floor railings.

It was a very shapely woman, wearing a skintight black leather suit, that definitely accentuated her curves. There were white tufts of fur on the top of her black boots and just below her elbows, and she wore a thin black mask with prongs on each side pointing up and down. She had short, platinum blonde hair, green eyes, and a black choker with a cat-like coin on her neck. The front of her suit had her zipper down to just below her ample bosom; it was clear that she was giving every dirty boy who saw her a peek at what they'd never get.

"Mm, so you're the Spider," she stated, leaning to the side in a sensual manner. "You've got nice moves."

Spidey stared for a minute, but recomposed himself, "Are these guys yours?"

The woman scoffed, "Please." She then backflipped off the railing, straight into a vent in the ceiling.

"Hey, wait!" Spidey web-zipped up to the vent to chase her. For one thing, she was fast. Almost a little too fast for him.

Ned and MJ were watching what was happening thanks to one of Aaron's drones following.

"How does she move so fast with a chest like that?" she asked incredulously.

The woman could also jump far, and she had a grappling hook, but Spidey still managed to keep up.

"So, uh, skintight leather...doesn't that kinda chafe?"

"You'll never find out, that's for sure," the woman commented. "By the way, how's the view from back there?"

"Uh..." Spidey muttered, a bit taken back, but then he shook his head. "Hey, wait a minute!"

"Bye~!" the woman said as she jumped onto a skyscraper and began to climb up it.

Still, he kept after her, and made sure not to lose sight of her.

"Back off, you're crowding me," the woman called. "Shouldn't you be helping some old lady cross the street or something?"

"Nah, I already got that merit badge," he answered, then decided to fire some web balls at her to try and slow her down.

"Hey!" she cried in protest. Thankfully, the webs DID slow her down, so Spidey performed a web-zip when she jumped again and tackled her! They had a small tumbling match that ended with him pinning her!

Despite that, the woman wouldn't stop flirting, "Oh, you prefer being on top~?"

"Okay, you're kinda taking the fun outta me catching you," Spidey quipped.

She leaned up to him, rubbing her breasts against his chest and whispered in his ear, "Maybe I let you catch me."

Distracted by her actions, Spidey failed to prevent her from maneuvering out from under him to the other side of the roof.

"Hey!"

"The name's Black Cat, and I've just crossed your path," she introduced herself. "See ya around, Spider~!"

She then fell backwards off the roof! Spidey ran over to see where she went, but she was gone!

"...Black Cat, huh?" he muttered. "Hope that doesn't mean seven years bad luck."

~~~~~~~~~~~~The next day~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For some odd reason, MJ was giving Peter the cold shoulder. She wouldn't even look at him, let alone talk to him. Seeing potential "trouble in paradise", Brad tried to smooth talk her, only to receive a kick in the balls.

She even told him, "Since you can't take a hint, let me spell it out. I'm. Not. Interested. In you."

After that, people in the hallways scurried out of her path. Peter knew she was mad, but he didn't know why.

So, he decided to go and talk to Ned and see what he knew.
"Dude, why's MJ mad at me?"

"Honestly, I think it's because of that Black Cat chick," Ned answered. "Although, I'm not too sure."

"Oh crap," Peter groaned.

"So what are you gonna do?" Ned asked.

"I'm not sure..."

Nothing really changed during the day; MJ still wouldn't talk to Peter. She glanced at him briefly a few times, but always turned away before he noticed.

At PE, everyone partnered up for exercise switch-ups. Ned partnered with Betty, and Harry went with some guy named Shane, which left MJ with Peter.

This time, they were doing sit-ups. So, while MJ was doing that, Peter held her feet and counted for her. But, he also wanted to get some answers.

As they switched for him to do sit-ups, he whispered, "Are you seriously mad about Black Cat? I know she was flirting with me, but there's no need to be jealous."

She didn't respond.

"MJ," Peter pleaded, but she still didn't say anything. "Come on, MJ, what do you want me to do? Say I'm sorry?"

"It's not you," she finally said.

That made Peter sigh in relief, but that left the question of what she was upset about.

"Look, I just have a lot of shit in my head that I need to sort out before we talk, okay?" she asked.

"Are you sure I can't help with that?" Peter asked.

"Yes, I'm sure," MJ answered, bluntly.

"Okay, okay," Peter held up his hands defensively.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Scene Change~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile downtown, someone crashed through the window of one of the banks and...swung away...!

Yeah, you heard right; SPIDER-MAN JUST ROBBED A BANK!

But we just saw Peter Parker at school, so who's that?!

~~~~~~Later~~~~~~~

After dinner, Peter got a FaceTime call from MJ.

"Look, I'm sorry about my behavior," she told him. "I wasn't mad at you; I was mad at myself."

"Why?" Peter asked.

"...Do you know what I've been hearing people say about this Black Cat lady?" asked MJ. "That she has an awesome body and really great curves and all that..."

"Oh, no, MJ, don't tell me," Peter said, now realizing why she was being so uptight today.

"Yeah, I got jealous and I'm pissed about it!" MJ confirmed through clenched teeth.

"Whoa, whoa, easy!" Peter said.

"Relax, I told you, I'm not mad at you," she assured him. "I just hate that I'm feeling insecure again."

Peter was silent for a minute, "I'm sorry I was gawking at Black Cat..."

"Don't be," she responded. "You're a guy, it's natural."

"Are you sure it's no big deal?" Peter asked.

"Yeah, but if that fucking cow tries to kiss you, she's gonna get MY claws!" MJ exclaimed.

Peter chuckled a bit.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Scene Change~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The fake Spider-Man sat in a chair, talking on the phone.

"Excellent work," A familiar rough voice said.

"I aim to please, Hammerhead," Fake Spidey responded before tearing his mask off, revealing a man with a rather weird appearance. His entire head was covered by a smooth silver-white mask that only left his mouth and dark green eyes exposed.
"However, robbing banks is child's play," The man stated in a thick Russian accent. "If you really want this Spider-Man's reputation ruined, I'll need to go after bigger targets."

"As long as the bug's name is dragged through the mud, I don't give a damn what you do, Chameleon," Hammerhead gave his approval.

"Excellent," Chameleon smirked as he hung up.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~The next day~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The school was abuzz over a post on social media about Spider-Man robbing a bank!

"There's no way that's real!"

"It's real, all right! Someone actually saw it happen! It's all over the news!"

"But this seems so out of the blue! That has to be an impostor! Spidey would never do this!"

"Look at his build as well," Betty pointed out. "He seems a bit more muscular than the Spider-Man we know."

Nearby, Peter happened to overhear the conversation.

'What? I never robbed a bank!' he thought, then went over to Betty. "When did this happen?"

"Yesterday, around 10:40 AM," she answered.

'Okay, that's definitely not me,' Peter thought. 'I was here at school. Unless it was Aaron, which I seriously doubt; someone's framing me for some reason.'

Later that night, Peter did his usual patrol, but was specifically on the lookout for...himself. One thing that helped was that the imposter was wearing his previous red and blue costume, while Peter had his red and black suit.

"Hey Spider!" Black Cat's voice called out from one of the rooftops he just swung by. "On your way to rob some more?"

Spidey web-zipped to the railing next to her, "No, I'm innocent!"

"Obviously," she responded. "Doesn't that phony know red and black is the new red and blue?"

"So, wait, you're on my side, here?" Spidey questioned.

"Only because you're cute," Cat responded, trailing her finger along his jaw.

He gently pulled her hand away from his masked face, "Look, I'll give you a chance to help me-"

"Great, let's go!" She jumped over the railing to the next roof, and Spidey chased after her.

"I wasn't finished!" he shouted as he swung after her.

"Just keep up!" She told him. Eventually, they reached a building just across from one of the docks, where a large boat was docked. There was a line of rich people going in.

"How can you be so sure he'll hit this place?" Spidey asked.

"I think like a thief," Cat answered. "A boat full of overdressed fat-cats is a can't miss opportunity." She turned on the goggles in her mask to get a closer look, and something caught her eye. "Oh! Mayor Waters is wearing the Stuyvesant Tiger."

"Cat, no door prizes," Spidey warned her.

At the dock, Captain George Stacy arrived with a few cops, providing security in case of theft attempts.

"I'm wearing a fortune in borrowed jewels, captain," Mayor Waters said. "Let's get this boat moving before a certain arachnid shows up."

"I don't buy it, your honor," Stacy stated. "I've seen Spider-Man in action. He even saved my daughter, so I don't believe he's turned to crime."

"You saw the newspapers, and the social media posts!" Mayor Waters rebuked.

"Well, it's possible Spider-Man is being framed," Stacy argued. "But rest assured, we're fully prepared for whatever may happen."

Later on the boat, the guests were enjoying champagne and horderves. Norman Osborn made a brief appearance to the mayor, before going to the men's room. Once there, he removed his face...which turned out to be a latex mask, a disguise for Chameleon. He opened his briefcase, revealing his Spider-Man suit.

A minute later, Mayor Waters made a speech, "And so I raise my glass to thank you for all your support. And, after the election, your city will thank you too."

Suddenly, the lights went out!

"As will your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Thief," Fake Spidey stated as he stuck to the window.

Soon after, the lights switched on, and as soon as everyone saw Chameleon-Spidey, they began to panic. He created two thievery bags out of webbing, "Fill 'em up, folks!"

"Take him!" Captain Stacy ordered, only for Chameleon-Spidey to fire a web-bolas at him, which quickly constricted his arms and legs. He then saw that all of his officers had been knocked out. All the guests reluctantly put their jewelry, watches and wallets in the bags, but Mayor Waters hesitated to put her tiger pendant in.

"Your honor, if you hold that tiger too tight, I bite," Chameleon-Spidey threatened, which made her give it up.

One of the guests helped Stacy out of his bindings, and the police captain noticed something, "He's too tall. This guy's a fraud."

"Wait...what?" the guest asked, but before he could get an answer, Stacy charged at Chameleon-Spidey, attempting to tackle him from behind. One of his men warned him and he kicked Stacy in the chest! Plus, he had a built-in spring in his boot which knocked him back into one of the windows, cracking it!

"That's spider-strength, people!" Chameleon-Spidey boasted. "Think I can fake that?"

"Actually, I do," The real Spidey arrived, landing in crouched pose.

"And who are YOU supposed to be?" Chameleon-Spidey asked.

"Spider-Man," Spidey said in a serious tone. "The REAL one."

Chameleon-Spidey scoffed, "The real one? You don't even have the costume right."

"Red and black is my new style, guess you missed the memo," Spidey responded before kicking the imposter into several tables! "You picked the wrong hero to imitate."

Chameleon-Spidey fired a web-bolas at the real Spidey, who jumped to avoid it, only to get tangled in another web-bolas! He quickly broke free as the imposter tried to hit him with a chair! However, he managed to break free and grabbed the chair before he could get hit, then he pushed Chameleon-Spidey against the window! One of the men that worked with Chameleon was about to approach the web-head, before a grappling hook pulled him and his cohorts outside, where Black Cat easily knocked them out.

Chameleon-Spidey got up, only to be hit with a taser, courtesy of Captain Stacy! The imposter fell to the floor, unconscious.

"Now then, let's see who my supposed dopple-ganger is," Spidey went over and pulled off Chameleon's disguise, revealing his silver-white masked face. "Another mask? That's just too bizarre!"

"I should've known," Captain Stacy said. "This is Dimitri Smerdyakov, also known as "The Chameleon". A master of disguise and imitation, on Interpol's Most Wanted List."

Spidey kneeled down to inspect Chameleon's costume to see how he copied his powers. He soon found the built-in springs in the boots and built-in suction cups in the fingertips.

"That's how he faked my strength, jumping and sticking to walls," he surmised. "And these web-shooters are good, but amateurish at best."

Soon, the crowd gathered and were applauding the real Spidey.

Once the boat returned to shore, Chameleon and his allies were handcuffed and put in a police van. Captain Stacy thanked Spider-Man, adding that he was glad he wasn't turning to crime.

"This city, hell, this world needs more people like you," he said. "Besides, I owe you an eternal debt for saving my daughter."

"Anytime sir," Spidey responded.

"Captain, the Stuyvesant Tiger is gone!" Mayor Waters exclaimed, holding one of the web-bags.

Stacy went to the van, "Chameleon, where's-?!"

Everyone saw that Chameleon was gone, replaced by one of the waiters that Chameleon's men had replaced. The man was only in his underwear, tied up and gagged.

"Dammit, he got away," Stacy cursed.

Spidey covered his eyes, groaning, "And now I've got the unsightly image of a grown man in his underwear in my head."

He swung away from the scene, then got a call from the phone in his mask, "Hello?"

"Hey Spider," Black Cat's voice responded. "We made a pretty good team back there."

"Yeah, we did," he agreed. "Maybe you could switch sides?"

Black Cat only chuckled in response, "Not that easy."

"O-kay," Spidey perched on one rooftop. "So, see you around?"

"Definitely," she then made a kissing noise before hanging up.

~~~~~The Next Day~~~~~

The news of the fake Spider-Man was everywhere.

"See, I told you that one was a fake!" Betty exclaimed.

"You know, I like his black and red aesthetic!" said another girl.

Peter walked down the hall with MJ and Ned.

"Sucks that Chameleon got away with the Tiger," the latter stated.

"I know that she helped you, but are you sure that Cat didn't take it?" MJ suggested.

"Honestly, I wouldn't put it past her," Peter responded.

Read and review, please!