Note to reader: I've changed the story a bit but I think it fits better for where I'm going. I hope you like it.
"How dare you!" Felicia yelled. "You're just some dirty crook."
Felicia could see the man twinge at the sound of her last words. "I wish I could tell you that I am not a criminal, but that's not true. But I really am your father."
"Humph," Felicia stubbornly looked the other way, avoiding the man's eyes as best she could, considering that she was tied to a chair.
"Still don't believe me?" The man in black asked. "Let's see. I gave you a pony for your fifth birthday. You named it marshmallow but you got bored of it after a week. Right?"
"That doesn't prove anything!"
"Lets see. What else can I tell you?" the man in black said aloud pondering to himself as he paced back and forth in front of Felicia. "You had a nanny named Maria who spoke Spanish. Your mother thought she couldn't understand English so she would always talk real loud to her when she gave orders. And your mother would say nasty things in front of her because she thought she couldn't understand. Maria quit. I don't blame her. 'Good riddance!' your mother said. Anyway, when she left you cried for weeks. Your mother didn't know how much Maria meant to you."
Felicia was calmer but still skeptical. "Our servants could have told you that story."
"What about this story. Every night, no matter how late I got in, I would stop by your room. I would kiss you on the forehead and whisper in your ear, "Good night kitten. One day you'll be all grown up like your daddy. But you'll always be my kitten."
"Daddy?" Felicia questioned in disbelief. "How? I thought you were dead?"
"I'm sorry. There's a lot I haven't told you. That's why I'm here. To get a chance to explain, and to offer an opportunity."
"Then why did you kidnap me and tie me up?"
The man in black laughed, "I knew you wouldn't listen to me unless I forced you to." He cut the ropes that had bound Felicia. She rubbed her hands over her wrists were the rope had chaffed her skin. "I'm sorry Felicia. I didn't mean to scare or hurt you."
"Daddy? Why did you leave me?" Felicia wanted to hug this man, this phantom of her father. But he still seemed a stranger.
"It's a long story. Everything started when I was just a kid. It was during the cold war and I lived in a suburb of the city. I had always been good at sneaking into places and me and my friends would sneak into the movies, steal beer from the local store. Nothing serious but it was the start of my career. One day, on a bet, I snuck into what we thought was an old deserted warehouse. I didn't think much of it, but once I was inside I noticed a glowing light from beneath the door to one of the rooms. I managed to climb up and around, and to squeeze through a window. And that's when I saw it."
"What did you see?" Felicia asked.
"The abandon warehouse was just a front. It was really a secret government facility that was researching a new drug enhancer. I didn't know this right away but I've pieced it together over the last few years. Believe me, I've had a lot of time to think. Anyway, I saw the formula for the drug written up on one of the blackboards. On the walls were diagrams of men and soldiers. I got caught by some official looking man. He threatened me but eventually let me go because he didn't think I knew anything. What he didn't know is that I have a photographic memory."
Frustrated and impatient, Felicia interrupted, "What does this have to do with anything?"
"The warehouse burned down a week later and as far as I know the formula and all the research was lost. I have my suspicions that the fire was intentional so that no one would discover the drug. But it was too late. I had already made it. I was just a stupid kid; I shouldn't have tried it. But I did. And I found that it gave me incredible strength and agility with each successive dose. I used it for athletics in high school and it earned me a football scholarship to ESU. That's where I met your mother. I fell madly in love with her. We dated for a while but she was never serious about me. She just kept me around to tease me. She was a sly one; as gorgeous as she was cunning."
Felicia looked down at the ground out of guilt. Her father's description seemed painfully familiar. She especially regretted the way she had just treated Peter.
"Your mother wouldn't marry me, and believe me I proposed a hundred times, because I wasn't wealthy or classy. But one day she came to me crying. Her family had fallen on hard times; they were living luxuriously but the family money wasn't going to last. So I did something that I'm not proud of, Felicia. I used my abilities from the drug to become a master thief. I was known as the Cat. I stole from all your mother's enemies until I had acquired millions. Once I was rich, I married your mother and saved her family from ruin. Some part of me would like to think that she loved me deep down somewhere in that cold heart of hers. But I don't kid myself.
"Anyways, your mother truly is a great business woman and she managed to invest the capital from the stolen objects and create enormous gains. I still don't know how she does it. She had an empire in front of her with billions of dollars, yet still it was not enough. She would send me to steal every now and again to ensure she didn't go broke, and sometimes to gain information about her business competitors. If we'd been content with what we had, I wouldn't have gotten caught that night and I could still be with my little girl. But I did. And your mother paid off the press so that no one would know that her husband was really the infamous Cat. She created a lie, told people I had died. Even got the death certificate and had the funeral to prove it. She was so thorough she didn't even have the heart to tell her own daughter the truth. So here we are now."
"Are you out of prison now?"
"Not quite. It was a life sentence, but let's just say I decided I needed a little vacation."
"So you broke out," Felicia concluded.
"They don't call me the great Cat for nothing." Her father smiled, "But I'm here to see you and to tell you the truth. And I have an offer. You see, when you were little I gave you mild injections of the drug. I wanted to make sure that you would be able to take care of yourself if I couldn't be there to protect you. And now I've brought the final dose, which will give you the same super-human strength and agility that I possess. It's a burden possessing these abilities, I want you to know. I understand if you don't want the drug. But I'll sleep better at night if I know you're safe and that you can take care of yourself. I haven't been a very good father to you but this one thing I would like to give you. What do you say?"
Felicia nodded. "Yes. I would like the final dose."
Her father took out a syringe from sack at his side. Felicia held out her arm and he slowly injected her with the dark liquid. At first she felt a wave of nausea, but then suddenly she felt a surge of power through her body.
"It take s few days to take full effect but you should start to feel it pretty soon."
She nodded, "It feels… wonderful!" Her body was warm with strength.
He sighed, "I wish I could stay to watch you develop."
"What do you mean? Where are you going?"
"I'm turning myself in and going back to prison. I consider it penance for all the wrong I've down. Promise me this: you will never use your abilities for evil. Learn from my mistakes."
"Yes daddy." The two hugged. Felicia held back tears. Her father was back, alive, and now he was leaving her again. "Can I visit you?"
"I would love it if you would, kitten. I could use the company. Just don't tell your mother. Besides, I want to teach you a few things about how to use these new abilities of yours."
Felicia smiled. She would visit her dad and take his advice. But she had someone else in mind for teaching her how to use her new powers.
To be continued…