Note: Again, I'm sorry for the delay. My life is too hectic. Enjoy the new chapter.
Present Time:
"Doc Connors, I think I've found something." Debra said as she looked up from her microscope. The anti-toxin she was currently working with seemed to respond to the poison.
Doc Connors rushed over to her station and peered through her microscope, "Interesting…"
"What is it? Can you help him?" Black Cat asked. She was sitting on the lab table beside Spider-man, his head in her lap. She had been gently caressing him, trying to remain calm, while the other two worked.
"This looks like it could work," Doc Connors replied. "Let me check his vitals before we administer it." He waved for the Black Cat to get away from Spider-man so that he could measure his pulse.
"Debra, prepare thirty milligrams of those anti-toxins."
"Will that be enough?" Debra asked,
"We'll see how he responds to the initial dose before we give him more."
Debra nodded in understanding and began preparing the serum.
Felicia paced back and forth. She wanted to scream at the two of them to hurry up. When she had been holding Spider-man she could feel him gasping for breath, she could feel him shaking and sweating as the poison raged through his body. Felicia couldn't bear it any longer. The only man that she ever really loved was dying. He was one of the few, if not the only selfless person left in the world. And the idea that he should suffer so made Felicia burn with fury.
And though he was only a few feet away there was nothing that she could do to save. In last couple years Felicia had learned to take matters into her own hands. Spider-man had been one of the few people to teach her that. She recalled those first days that she became Black Cat. Her father and Spider-man had taught her, but she smiled as she recalled another who had inspired her when she was just starting out on her journey. She didn't see him much anymore. And at that moment she was distracted from her worrying about Spider-man for a moment as she wondered what had ever happened to that sweet boy from a while back.
Felicia continued pacing. Doc Connors and Debra were huddled over their lab equipment, perfecting the serum. She overheard Doctor Connors say to Debra, "It's ironic. Peter is very good with these kinds of cellular transmutations. We could have used his help."
"Shhhh," Debra hushed. "I don't think she knows." She nodded her head in the Black Cat's direction as she whispered the last words.
"Really?" Doc Connors asked. "Are you sure?"
Debra nodded.
"Well I guess that's ironic, too." Doc Connors muttered. He was still shocked by the identity of the man behind the mask. Somehow now it seemed so obvious to him. But Doc Connors realized that he had to put his thoughts aside and concentrate on the task at hand.
"I think that this is the best we're going to do in the time that we have," Doc Connors continued as he held up the completed serum to eye level to examine one last time. "I don't know how much longer his body can fight off the poison. I just pray to god this works."
Doc Connors instructed Debra to cut the arm of Spider-man's costume. He then ripped apart the fabric until it exposed most of Peter's forearm. He examined his arm, found a vein, and then stuck in the needle, administering the first dose of the serum that he and Debra had been working on.
The Black Cat and Debra stood behind Doc Connors, watching silently. "Is that going to cure him?" Felicia asked, "How long before we know if he's going to be ok?"
"I don't know." Doc Connors quietly sighed.
"What do you mean you don't know!" Felicia pleaded, trying simultaneously to suppress her anger and her tears. "I brought him here to you hours ago. I thought you of all people would be able to help him. Why is this taking so long!"
"Look, we're doing the best we can."
"That's not good enough!"
"We'll see how he responds to this dose. But until then all we can do is wait." And then Doc Connors added solemnly, "And pray."
Felicia didn't respond. Instead she began pacing again, feeling completely helpless.
Five silent minutes passed. No one knew what to say. Each person in the room was suffering in their own way. Finally Doc Connors looked at his watch. "The janitor usually comes in around this time. I'm going to go tell the maintenance staff that no one is to disturb me this morning. I'll be back in five minutes. We'll see how he's doing when I get back and give him another dose."
Debra nodded. She couldn't help but be concerned considering Doc Connor's uneasy expression and his nervous tone of voice. She wondered if he believed Peter would be able to recover.
Debra heard Doc Connor's lock the door behind him, probably as a precaution, she thought. The Black Cat was still pacing restlessly back and forth across the lab room. Debra took Peter's hand in hers and quietly begged, "Please, please."
Felicia stopped pacing when she saw the way that Debra was holding Spider-man's hand. "Get away from him." She demanded sternly.
"Don't tell me what to do."
"You shouldn't be here. I don't know why Doc Connors called you."
"Doc Connors asked me to come. He needed my help." Then Debra said something that been building up inside her since the Black Cat's return, "Anyways, it's your fault that Spider-man's dying."
"What?" Felicia replied incredulously. She moved in closer to Debra, her body unknowingly preparing to attack. She restrained herself and questioned, "What do you know? You don't know anything."
"I know that he's wasting his time and risking his life taking part in the stupid charade of his! If he had any sense he'd realize he could probably save just as many lives if he put his mind to research, like me. I've been trying to tell him that but he won't listen. And you, you tempt him and encourage him. You don't love him. You don't even know him!" She was crying now, gasping for breath in between her words and her tears.
Felicia grabbed Debra by the neck. She held her in the air with one hand, choking her. "Don't talk to me that way. I love that man more than life itself. I won't listen to you talk about things that you don't understand." She let go and Debra fell crashing to the floor.
Debra's sobbing turned into an eerie laughter, "Felicia Hardy, I know so much more than you think."
Felicia's jaw dropped in bewilderment at the sound of her real name.
To be continued…
Note: Thanks for all the great feedback. And normally I hate shameless self-promotion, but I'll make an exception for this: please read my story the Sacrifice. The ending to the new movie (which is incredible by the way) is very similar to the story I wrote over a year ago. So read it and let me know what you think.