(The Cat and the Prowler)

Superjoeyf721 (1): I know that Power Rangers still has a few good seasons, though of the newer ones, the only one I really like is Dino Charge. And yeah, Megaforce was incredibly stale. I will admit though, I do have a soft spot for Samurai, since it was actually the first Power Rangers series that I really got into.

Superjoeyf721 (2): Yeah that's right, Hobie was the original Prowler. Glad to see you know the original comics well, and the Ultimate comics had a lot of differences, but that won't stop me from incorporating a few elements here and there.

Guest: You have some pretty interesting ideas regarding Stockman. I actually do have a few ideas in regards to other scientists being recruited into the Foot clan, but those are going to be a fair bit later. As for Stockman himself, the 2003 version is sympathetic yeah, but the 2012 is pretty much meant to be just a joke character. I do have a few ideas for him though, so we'll see how they play out. However, the comparison with Doc Ock might be a little bit much.

Guest: Thanks, I'm glad to see you liked it. Daredevil is another vigilante hero stationed in New York, so I figured that if anyone would be a good ally to Spider-Man, it would be him. Plus I've been getting into his MCU series, and it's awesome. As for the Avengers appearing in this story, I haven't ruled that out yet, but if they do appear then it's not going to be for awhile. Of course after the fight with Shredder, Peter would definitely need to make some changes, whether it be new gear or working on improving himself. I do plan on sorting out Peter's personal life and working on fixing the issues that were left unresolved, but that's going to be more of a gradual process.

Guest: Yeah I actually saw it myself a few hours after you sent this, and I totally believe you now. I'm definitely looking forward to when it comes out.

Guest: I figured Hobie Brown being a the Prowler would get a lot of attention, but it's actually not that surprising to people who read the comics or saw every cartoon. Hobie Brown was the Prowler way before Aaron Davis came into the picture, and the Hobie incarnations appeared in the 90s cartoon and the 2017 cartoon, so I figured it would be better to go with that.

Vfc15650: Thanks, I'm glad to see you like it so far. I do have at least one or two idea's to show what Peter Parker is up to at the moment, and I do have a lot of plans for Gwen, but they'll mostly come into play later. As I've mentioned to others, the Turtles finding out Spider-Man's true identity is a gradual process, but they will find out soon enough.

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The night was calm over the skies above New York City, though it was too calm for a few people in particular.

Emily Osborn made her way out into the living room of her penthouse, musing to herself while typing away on her ipad 'Okay, now that takes care of minor criminal activities my loving hubby was taking part in… Banking schemes, real estate scams, and especially those annoniyng pop up ads that nobody even looks at. Then again, that isn't anything that most big businesses don't get away with anyway. Now to take care of the really important things. I already swore that I wasn't going to use the name of Oscorp in the same way Norman did. I'm going to change things, if not for myself, then for Harry.' her musings were cut short by the sound of her phone ringing, to which she let out a sigh "I thought I made it clear to only call me in case of an emergency. No I said that was to be discontinued. That's exactly what I said. Yes I was being serious. Nothing has come out of that project except pain and suffering for everyone involved, and frankly it's more or less the equivalent of us creating steroids, the legality of which is questionable in itself. Don't give me any of that about how much we're costing our shareholders, I think avoiding a PR crisis more than makes up for losing whatever money we would make from this project. I already have a new project in mind, or rather, an old project being brought back into the fold. Yes it's worth the expenses to manufacture it, and frankly it's better than the one we've been working on. It's not that hard to understand. Unlike the other project, this one is ethical legal, and frankly there's no chance of it being used to create a supervillain and aspiring crime lord. Alright hang on, I'm on my way down." and so she promptly made her way out of the room.

What went unnoticed was that a certain Spider-Man was watching the scene unfolding from his perch underneath the penthouse balcony, and he revealed himself after she was gone 'Well that was one of the most uncomfortable moments of my life. Now I'm beginning to imagine how it would've turned out if Harry had actually been here. Awkward as all hell if I had to guess, and not just because he blames me for killing his dad. Which I kind of did actually. Either way, it still feels wrong on at least a few levels. I mean I haven't even talked to Harry since his dad's funeral, and that was months ago. Well there was this one angry message he sent me about how mad he is that I'm still taking pictures of Spider-Man. I just hope that Gwen choosing to stay with him for the time being means that he isn't gonna go off the deep end and get back on the Green, or even worse, become the next Green Goblin, for real this time. As much as I want to be with Gwen, the fact is that Harry needs her right now more than I do. On the plus side, at least I have the Turtles now, so I can't say I don't have any friends, even as Peter Parker for that matter. Mikey's known for awhile now, and now apparently Donnie and Splinter do too. Which makes me wonder… is it only a matter of time before the rest of them find out? No I can't worry about that right now, I've got other things to focus on, and so do they from what I can tell. From what I know, the four of them went to go beat the crap out of the Purple Dragons, something about April and a missing phone, and then it somehow devolved into a series of messages saying that the A Team can choke on their shells. I still have no idea what that means. As for me, I've got other priorities, those being mainly to track down the Prowler. Seriously, it's been a week since I figured out who he really is, turns out it's Hobie Brown from school, and I haven't seen or heard anything about him since then. Dammit, I hate it when the bad guys get away. Well not really bad, I mean he's helped me and the guys out a few times, but there's also the whole thing about working for the Foot, and by extension, the Shredder. Either way I can't just let him keep running around and being this mercenary for hire. Plus I've got a week before I have to go back to school, and I'd like to get at least one more thing done before that happens, and all of the drama kicks back in. At least this is pretty uneventful.' then his Spider Sense started going off, and his expression dulled underneath his mask 'And I just had to think it didn't I?' he maneuvered his way around the outside of the penthouse until he could see the interior of the office space, and he let out a groan at what he was seeing "Not gonna lie, wasn't looking forward to this one."

Sure enough, inside the office (which had a large section of the glass window broken through) was a slender female figure with white hair and green eyes, clad in a dark purple bodysuit with a mask over her eyes (Black Cat), breaking into the wall safe and pulling out what looked to be a jump drive, and then she glanced over to see Spider-Man lurking outside the window, to which she gave a scowl "Oh great, the enemy of anything fun just had to show his face right where he's not wanted."

"Hey what can I say, it's a gift." Spider-Man gave a shrug as he tried to shoot a stream of webs at the Black Cat, only for it to miss, and for him to be hit in the face by a small object that released a large cloud of grey smoke, leaving him in a coughing fit that forced him to lift his mask up and take a moment to compose himself "Oh great, you got smokebombs now."

"What can I say, I picked up a few new tricks. Oh and word to the wise Spider, next time just go ahead and leave the thieving and stuff to the people that can actually stomach it." and so with a mocking wave, she took off out the hole in the glass and leapt off the edge of the balcony, which led to her taking off running across various rooftops.

'Great, so much for no more drama.' Spider-Man was quick to compose himself as he shook off the effects of the smokebomb and glanced down to see the Black Cat making a break for it 'If I'm gonna be totally honest, I think I'd rather deal with the Shredder again. Maybe. It's actually pretty close as to which one would suck more. Oh right, gotta chase after her.' and so he leapt off the edge of the balcony and started webslinging after her, being sure to keep her in his sights 'So much for the whole "no more drama" thing happening tonight. I'd better go ahead and put a stop to this and fast, I wanna make sure I get home by Aunt May's new curfew.' so with that in mind, he leapt down onto the rooftop in front of Black Cat and managed to web one of her legs in place before she was able to react "Not gonna lie Cat, this turned out to be an even bigger disappointment than the last season of Game of Thrones, and that's saying something. I really thought you were gonna go down your own path, not just follow in the paw prints your dad left behind."

"Don't even think about talking about my father!" Black Cat let out a snarl "You don't have the right to speak his name after you left him to rot in that hole."

'And just like that, I'm no longer in the mood for jokes. Don't act like you're the victim of what happened that night, I had every right to leave him to pay for his crimes, just like I'm gonna do to you. But that doesn't mean I want to hurt you, so hand over whatever it is you stole from the Osborns."

"So what, that way you can steal it for yourself?"

"You actually think I was there to steal things like some petty burglar?"

"You think I'm petty?"

"I didn't say-"

"You didn't have to. But seriously, why else would you be there? What, the Osborns are your BFFs or something and you just happened to be popping up to check in on them?"

'...Irony, thy name is Spider-Man. As a matter of fact, I was there because I figured someone was gonna try and rob them blind. I just didn't think it was gonna be you. Either way, you gonna come along quietly or am I gonna have to put you on a leash."

"You really think I'm gonna just lie down with my paws up? Not a chance in hell Spider, and especially not for you."

"Didn't think so." Spider-Man promptly launched a series of Impact Webs forward.

"Nice little trick. Too bad I've got plenty of my own, so go ahead and let me know how that pavement feels when you get down there." Black Cat promptly leapt over the Impact Webs and tried to land a solid spin kick to Spider-Man's chest and send him hurtling off the rooftop. The key word there being that she tried to.

As it turns out, Spider-Man managed to duck underneath and catch her leg "You're not the only one with a few new tricks." he caught her wrist when she tried to slash at him with her claws, and then he subsequently ended up pinning her to the ground "Looks to me like the kitty doesn't always land on their feet, and the spider knows how to learn a few new moves. So you gonna be a good kitty and come along quietly, or am I gonna have to break out the cat litter?"

"Don't talk to me like I'm a freaking pet. Unless you actually have cat litter on you."

"Nope, just being myself."

"Yeah, the one that leaves my father to rot in some hole by infecting him with that steaming pile you call a conscience."

"Your father brought it on himself, don't even try to make me feel guilty about that. Now how about you give me some answers, starting with telling me what you got there and what you want it for."

"Hey don't look down that masked nose at me, you were stalking them like a predator."

"I have my reasons, now go ahead and give me yours. What's your game with that jump drive you got from the safe? Who are you working for? Tombstone? Shredder?"

"Seriously, you think I'd debase myself and stoop so low as to work for that albino wannabe of the Kingpin or that creepy dude in the helmet?"

"I'm looking for one or the other."

"It's neither Spider, neither of those creeps hired us."

"So then who was- Wait, did you say us?" and with his Spider Sense going off, Spider-Man was able to whip around just in time to be met with a small metallic device latching onto his chest and subsequently electrocuting him, causing him to cry out in pain as he fell to the ground with a loud thud.

"And for the record, yeah I said us." Black Cat gave a smirk as she pushed Spider-Man's prone form off of her and leapt back onto her feet "I gotta admit though, it took you long enough to show that armored mug of yours around here."

"Wait, what…?" Spider-Man managed to lift his head up enough to see the face of his assailant, and his eyes widened at who he saw "Oh come on…"

"Then again, you always did like to show up at the last second Prolwer."

Sure enough, before the two of them stood the purple and black armor of the Prowler, who then held out his hand to the Black Cat, prompting her to hand him the drive "Yeah well here's the big difference between us Black Cat, I'm actually a professional and focus on the task at hand. If I had been the one to head over to the Osborn address and get that jump drive, we'd probably be getting paid by now. But of course with you being you, you had to go and play around with your boy toy."

"Hey!" Spider-Man let out an offended yelp.

"No offense Webs, I'm just making a point."

"Either way I have to admit, getting reduced by a knight in shining armor like you can turn out to be kind of fun." Black Cat gave her typical seductive smile as she pulled the Prowler in close, only to be stopped by him placing a hand over her mouth "Hey!"

"Okay first off, I already have a girlfriend, we've gone over this on one occasion."

"Hey come on now, what's the problem with having a little bit of fun?"

"I'm cool with fun and all, but not if it involves cheating and/or maiming people. You tend to have no problems with either. Second of all, I don't think we want to make it too awkward for the third wheel over there any more than we have to." he jerked a thumb over at Spider-Man's downed form.

"Speak for yourself, I have no problem letting Mr Goody Two Shoes over there squirm for a little bit."

"And here I thought you weren't the type to hold grudges."

"Only to the little shits that deserve it." she shot a quick glare at Spider-Man.

"Right… anyway we got what we came for, let's just get moving already."

"Fine, whatever works for me. Tonight we celebrate, and then tomorrow night we go ahead and make the dropoff."

"Again with the lack professionalism, celebrating before we actually get the money."

"Well excuse me for living my life and wanting to have some fun with it. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna head home. We'll meet up tomorrow night at the rendezvous point. See you then handsome." so Black Cat pulled out a grappling hook from her suit and used it to latch onto a nearby building, and then she disappeared into the night sky.

"Right, I'll… see you then. Don't bother waiting around or anything." Prowler breathed a sigh from underneath his mask as he glanced back at where Spider-Man lay "Sorry about this Webs, really I am. I don't like having to leave you up here, but a guy has a debt to clear up and a lot of responsibilities to fulfill. If it's any consolation, the Remote Mine I stuck on you was set to stun and is going to wear off in about 10 minutes. See you around Spider-Man." and so the Prowler released a grapple from his armor and took off into the night.

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Morning came, and the sun was rising over the skies above New York.

'Well that couldn't have been any more embarrassing if I tried.' Peter let out a sigh as he slipped on his typical blue t-shirt over a grey long sleeved shirt and brown khakis 'On the one hand, it's good to know that thanks to my training with Splinter and the Turtles, I can at least keep up with the Black Cat in terms of skill. On the other hand, the Prowler had to resurface, now apparently he's working with the Black Cat. And to add insult to injury, Black Cat still hates me over the whole thing with her dad. See stuff like this is why I'm a dog person, Aunt May too. Yeah, I still remember having our dog Ms Lion. But putting aside the nostalgia for the moment, there's also the fact that last time I saw him, Prowler was working for the Shredder, and now Black Cat may be too. Granted she said she isn't, but how do I know she's not lying about that? And if it's not the Shredder, or Tombstone for that matter, then who else could it be?' he heard the sound of his phone vibrating and picked it up, and his expression dulled at what he was seeing, to which he let out a sigh as he made his way down the stairs 'And as if the universe is trying to kick my teeth in again, apparently Montana, aka Shocker, got let out on parole about a week ago, so that's another headache I have to deal with. Next thing I know I'm about to find some ridiculously huge surprise waiting for me in my own kitchen.' he reached the bottom of the stairs and rounded the corner to the kitchen, and he blinked at what he was saw 'Okay, apparently there's a lot more truth to that then I thought there was gonna be.'

As it turns out, a certain young wearing a yellow shirt and blue shorts, complete with red hair she had tied in a ponytail was sitting on the couch in the living room, and when she saw Peter she glanced over at him and gave a smile "Oh hi, you must be Peter."

"Uh… yeah, that's me."

"Right, we haven't actually met yet." she stuck her hand out "I'm April, April O'Neil."

"Peter, Peter Parker, but I guess you already knew that. Okay not gonna lie, I wasn't expecting this. I mean I figured I was gonna meet April sooner or later since apparently she's gonna be starting at Midtown at the start of the next school year, but that wasn't supposed to be for at least another week. I didn't think she was gonna just pop up in my house like this at random. Also, why exactly is she in my house?'

"About time you got up Tiger." this was when MJ made her way out of the kitchen, a coffee mug in hand "I was wondering how long you were gonna make two hot redheads wait around for you to show your face."

'And that explains it. Oh hey MJ, what brings you here so early? And where's Aunt May?"

"She had a doctor's appointment pretty early today, my aunt took her over there so I offered to be the messenger. I was showing my cousin around the neighborhood, so she offered to come with me and get the chance to meet you."

"Oh right, her check up with Dr Bromwell. I've been so preoccupied with… other stuff, I totally forgot about that. Thanks for that. So you said April is your cousin?"

"Yeah, and she talks a lot about you." April told him.

"She does?"

"Oh yeah, and she showed me that video of you doing Risky Business."

"You mean she put that on the internet?!"

"Hey to be fair Tiger, I did tell you upfront that I was going to." MJ gave a smirk, earning a loud groan from Peter.

"Great, just perfect."

"Hey if it's any consolation, I thought you did a pretty good job on it." April patted him on the shoulder and gave an encouraging smile.

"Thanks. Anyway as much as I appreciate you two coming over, the truth is that I don't have a lot of time. I gotta head over to the Daily Bugle and hand over some pictures to Jameson. If I don't then it means I'm gonna lose a paycheck, and probably my hearing for about an hour and a half after he's done chewing me out."

"How about we go with you then?" MJ was met with a look of surprise from Peter "Aside from giving April the chance to meet you, I figured maybe we could show her around the area since she's going to be starting at Midtown with us next week. Plus we could see a movie, grab some lunch, why not make a day out of it? Plus it's been awhile since the two of us got to hang out, and this way we can kill a few birds with one stone."

"Huh. Well when you put it that way, alright sure. But before anything else, I gotta show these photos to Jameson. Hopefully these ones he'll actually like."

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One cab ride to the Daily Bugle later…

"Crap, crap, total crap." Jameson wore his usual trademark scowl as he went through the pictures he received from Peter "Oh great, that ripoff in the catsuit again."

"Actually she goes by Black Cat as-" Peter didn't get a chance to finish before he was cut off by another scowl.

"I know what she calls herself, and the name that she uses. Some runt like you that runs around in short pants probably wouldn't remember, but there was another guy calling himself the Cat or something with that theme."

"Trust me, I remember. Like I'd ever forget who he was or what he did htat night. What I let him do.'

"And you know the worst part of it? Just like everything else in this day and age, they had to go and reboot it with a woman!"

"Was… Was that a jab at the new Ghostbusters movie?"

"What do you think?"

"I think I just gained a newfound respect for you."

"And so you should." Jameson rolled his eyes as he glanced down at the pictures "The only good thing that's come out of her so far is her getting the drop on the webhead last night. Now if only we could get the Sandman to do the same thing to him."

"Yeah, that's actually something I've been meaning to ask you about. You're saying you actually like the Sandman?"

"What of it?"

"But you hate superheroes."

"Hey come on now Parker, when have I ever said that?"

"Almost every time I've seen you."

"Don't minx my words Parker, I hate superheroes that wear masks. Why would they wear masks unless they had something to hide? But the Sandman isn't the same thing, he isn't afraid to show his face to the world, and he's a symbol of redemption. He's a symbole that people really are able to change. That anyone can become a real hero."

"Except for Spider-Man?"

"Exactly!" he looked down at the pictures on his desk, then back up at Peter "What are you looking for a standing ovation? I've got breaking news to publish! Out out out!"

"I'm… I'm still waiting to get paid for the-"

"Fine, $300."

"$300 each."

"That's outrageous! Done. Now OUT!"

"...Okay then." Peter let out a sigh as he made his way out of the office, and as he did he glanced over at a young woman sitting at the desk "So I don't know if you heard Betty, but-"

"I already got the check written for you." Betty gave him a smile and a pat on the shoulder as she handed him a check "Anything else I can do for you?"

"Uh, no thanks. I actually have something else to do. I'll see you later." Peter gave a small smile and a wave, and he made his way into the elevator 'Well at least everyone else here is sane, aside from Jameson himself, and at least they see the good Spider-Man is doing, with the mask or without it.'

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5 minutes later, outside the Bugle building…

"Sorry for the wait." Peter made his way out of the Bugle building and found April and MJ both waiting for him "Had to take care of that while I could."

"You at least get paid?" MJ asked as the three of them started walking down the sidewalk.

"Yep, a guy has to pay the bills somehow. Even if it is with a dude with a Hitler stash, thanks for engraving that into my brain by the way."

"It's what I do."

"I know."

"Believe me, so do I." April gave a shrug as she patted Peter on the arm, but then she noticed the look on his face "Are you okay?"

"Huh? Oh yeah, just… thinking about some stuff I guess."

"You wanna talk about it?"

"It's nothing really too big, it's just…" Peter stopped walking and breathed a sigh "Well, it's about Spider-Man."

"Really? What about him?"

"Just something Jameson was saying about him, something I've heard a fair number of times for that matter."

"That he hates Spider-Man with a burning passion? I read the Bugle for the articles."

"A lot of people do these days, at this point I'm barely even phased by it. He keeps saying that the only reason Spider-Man wears a mask is because he has something to hide. I don't think it's that simple."

"I don't either."

"You don't?"

"Well I know a few friends who say that wearing a mask like that is something that's a source of pride for those who do."

"That's… actually pretty interesting, I've never thought of it like that. But that's not what I was talking about. I think the reason Spider-Man wears a mask is because he knows that if people found out who he was, then everyone he cared about would be in constant danger. Maybe a man that wears a mask doesn't have something to hide, but really something to protect."

'A man in a mask doesn't have something to hide, but something to protect.' April frowned as she thought this over, and then

"At least that's what I think anyway."

"Pretty well said Parker."

Peter froze at the sound of the new voice, and he turned around to see a familiar dark-skinned face coming towards him "Oh uh, hey there. It's Hobie right? Because if I'm gonna be honest, I don't think I've ever actually heard you speak before."

"Yeah. I didn't expect to see you out here like this. Hey Watson."

"Hey." MJ gave a small wave, though she shared a quick glance with Peter as she did so "So how are things on your end?"

"Well enough, I just got some work stuff to take care of." Hobie paused as he glanced up at the Daily Bugle building "I'm guessing you too Parker? You're still a freelance photographer for them right?"

"Um… yeah." Peter glanced over at him as his expression hardened slightly "I'm still taking the pictures of Spider-Man, I have to pay the bills somehow."

"I totally get that. I respect it too. Sometimes we have to take big risks if we want to do right by the people that we care about."

"Yeah… you know I got some interesting pictures of him last night. Fighting two people called the Black Cat and the Prowler. They got away though, and they're still out there."

"Uh huh." Hobie's gaze hardened slightly, but he patted Peter on the shoulder in a rather affectionate way "I don't think you're gonna have to much to worry about… so long as you don't get too close to anything that you shouldn't. But then again, that's not easy to do in a city like this now is it?"

"No, it really isn't."

"Exactly. Well I'd better get going, I've got some work to do myself."

"Right." Peter patted him on the shoulder for a split second, and then he quickly retracted his arm "Take care of yourself."

"Yeah, you too." Hobie gave a grin to the group, and then he went on his way.

'Does he know I'm onto him, as Peter Parker?'

"Well that was a lot more tense than I was expecting." April broke the silence "So is he a friend of you guys or something?"

"We go to the same school, and you're gonna too in the next week or so, but I've never actually talked to him before today. Or heard him talk for that matter."

"Is he the shy or reserved type?"

"More like he keeps getting interrupted for one reason or another before he can actually say anything."

"Huh. Fair enough. So do you guys wanna go catch a movie or something? We still have a whole day ahead of us."

"Yeah sure, that sounds pretty good." Peter followed behind April and MJ as he glanced down at a small device in his hand 'I might as well take the time to enjoy today, because tonight, I'm going to get the chance to try out my new Spider Tracers. I gotta find the Prowler and Black Cat before they sell that jump drive she stole. I have no idea what's on it, but whatever it is can't be anything good, especially knowing her.'

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Nightfall came, and things were about to get tense.

"Okay so that's it, the jump drive is secured." Prowler placed the jump drive in a small container that he placed down on a nearby dresser as he glanced over at the Black Cat "All we have to do is wait for Hammerhead's guy to show up so we can make the drop, and then our business is done with. It's our ticket out, then I'm officially retired."

"Retired? Where's the fun in that?" Black Cat shot him a smirk "You'd be bored out of your skull so fast that you'd get back in the game in a matter of days, maybe even hours."

"I'm pretty sure you're thinking of you. Besides, I agreed to help you with this in exchange for you not ratting out my identity or trying to rope me back into this business."

"Now I'm understanding why you keep saying you're not right for this business, it's because you're way too soft."

"I already made my priorities clear. We make the drop with Hammerhead's guys, we collect the pay, and then I can go back to my family and you can go ahead and do whatever you want with your life."

"You think I wanna spend my life stealing for tools like that blockhead? I'm in this to look out just for number one, and that's yours truly. I'm only letting you in because of the agreement we have."

"Cat we've gone over this time and again. I'm in this because my dad messed up and got in deep with the Maggia, he couldn't pay and so they offed him, and now it's my responsibility to look out for my family. You're only in this because you like it and you've got way too much free time on our hands."

"And I'm in it because I'm so good at this stuff. Plus it's my way of… staying close to him, even if he isn't here."

"You really think your dad would want you to follow in those footsteps, knowing he is where he is now?"

"Don't even try to-" Cat was cut off by Prowler grabbing her by the arm and yanking her to the ground mere seconds before the wall in front of them exploded "What the hell was that?"

"My scanners were picking something up. We've got incoming, the kind you probably hate more than any other."

"You mean the Spider is here?"

"No but I'm guessing you hate this kind of guy even more."

"And what the hell is that supposed to be?"

"Well well well, look what we have here." from the gaping hole in the wall emerged none other than Dogpound, a malicious smirk spreading across his face "Not only do I get my hands on the traitor, but a little kitty too."

"...You do know that the whole dog and cat thing is a stereotype right?"

"You really think I care?"

"No and to be honest, neither do I." Black Cat brandished her claws as she leapt forward, only to be grabbed by the wrists and thrown aside, sending her crashing into a wall.

"You know those claws of yours are almost kind of amusing." Dogpound used his gigantic arm to block a series of energy blasts from the Prowler "Huh, maybe this thing is good for something after all."

"Then how about you try your luck with this." Prowler suddenly leapt onto Dogpound's back and gripped one of his giant spikes as he unleashed a surge of green electricity, only for this to end with Prowler being thrown into a wall himself "Ow…"

"Now then, before I finish you off, I think it's time I figure out exactly what it is you were doing out here." Dogpound's smirk widened as he barred his claws and took a step forward, and his eyes landed on the wounded form of Black Cat.

"Don't even think or I swear I'm going to shove these claws so far up your-"

"Forget about the hero act already, give me that little case of yours and this won't get messier than it has to."

"...(Bleep). I'm glad I added the censorship function into my suit." Prowler let out a low growl as he reached for the case containing the jump drive.

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Meanwhile, with the protagonist of this story…

'Alright, it shouldn't be much further than this.' Spider-Man carried on webslinging across the skyline of New York, talking into his Spider Cell as he did so "Anyway Mikey, to make a long story short in the interesting of saving time, I'm tracking Black Cat and the Prowler through that tracer I managed to slip on him."

"Right on dude, and who's to say sitting on your butt at a desk doesn't get you anything."

"I'm pretty sure that depends on whether or not it gets you a paycheck."

"Lucky us we live in a sewer, we don't have to worry about stuff like that."

"Then how do you pay for pizza and that sort of thing?"

"I dunno, how do people who tell stories know about the parts they weren't there for?"

"...Fair enough."

"Yeah. Anyway you gotta go track down this Prowler dude and your ex-girlfriend that hates your guts right?"

"Okay dude we've gone over this, Black Cat isn't my girlfriend. Sure she's hot, but in the sexy bad girl kind of way. Plus I'm not sure that's her natural hair color. There's also the fact that she hates my guts for, in her words, infecting her dad with a conscience, which is why he chose not to break out of prison."

"Eesh, so the whole cat person thing runs in the family?"

"Mikey we've gone over this too. Besides, after what he did, there isn't a chance in hell that I'd let him get out of prison." he paused as he landed on a rooftop and took a breath "Her father… is the man that killed my Uncle Ben."

"...Oh geez. Dude I didn't mean-"

"Forget it man, it's fine. Anyway I'm almost on their tail, the pun being unintentional, at least for the most part."

"How are you gonna track them anyway?"

"I ran into the Prowler earlier, kind of a long story that I'll get into later, and I managed to slip one of my new Spider Tracers onto his arm, and that's gonna be what leads me to him, and with any luck, to whoever he's working for this time."

"You mean Shredder?"

"He said something about quitting last time, but if he's teaming up with Black Cat then that would mean she's either working with Shredder too, or they're teaming up to sell the stolen goods and split the profit. Either way I'm putting a stop to it. Anyway I'm almost there, I'll talk to you later." and so he hung up and stowed his Spider Cell away in his suit.

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Meanwhile, with the criminals…

"...(Bleep). I'm glad I added the censorship function into my suit." Prowler let out a low growl as he reached for the case containing the jump drive.

"Hold it." Black Cat suddenly gripped him by the leg as she pulled herself out of the rubble "Are you seriously gonna just give it to him?"

"Unlike him and the (bleep) be works for, I'm not gonna let people suffer just for the sake of getting what I want. Besides, there's gonna be other jobs." Prowler grabbed the case with the jump drive and handed it to Dogpound "There, now you can take it and go."

"There you see, that wasn't so hard now was it? This on the other hand…" Dogpound's smirk only grew wider as he grabbed the jump drive and leapt out of the building, then grabbed a small metal ball from within his pocket and threw it into the hotel room, causing it to explode in a cloud of red mist as he took off across the rooftops.

'Well crap, that isn't good.' it was at this moment that Spider-Man came webslinging onto the scene and saw Dogpound making a break for it 'And he's got the jump drive with him because of course he does. On one hand, I could probably drop him like a rock and get the drive myself. On the other hand, he just blew up a hotel room and there might be people inside. Crap, it's times like these I really hate the hero's dilemma.' and so he swung his way down towards the hotel room and started clearing away the rubble, where he found Prowler and Black Cat sprawled out underneath the wreckage "You guys okay?"

"Yeah, and believe it or not I'm actually glad to see you." Prowler breathed a sigh through the open bottom part of his mask, which he promptly closed again "That could've gone a lot better than it did though."

"No kidding, but at least now I know you were serious about quitting working for the Foot, so that's a plus."

"A plus my ass." Black Cat shot a scowl at him "That dog friend of yours almost ripped the two of us a new one."

"He's definitely not a friend, though I will say I'm more of a dog person. We call him Dogpound, he works for this new crime lord called the Shredder. And trust me, that dude sure as hell lives up to the name."

"Yeah well, I don't exactly care about that right now." Black Cat snatched a small metal device from the Prowler's belt and hurled it onto Spider-Man's chest, which promptly electrocuted him and caused him to fall to the ground in a heap "Your dog buddy has something that belongs to yours truly, and there's no chance I'm gonna let you get in the way of anything else. That right there is gonna make sure that you don't."

"You gotta be kidding me…" Spider-Man scowled underneath his mask as he looked up and shot a glare at Black Cat "You do know that I just saved your life right?"

"And you also know that you infected my father with your stupid conscience and left him to spend the rest of his life rotting in that hole. Alright let's get moving Prowler, we've got a giant dog to make a scratching post out of."

"Yeah, how about you hold the (bleep) up a second." Prowler was quick to stop her "Look I don't know what kind of history the two of you have, but he just saved our lives."

"How about you forget about the sentimentality and get moving, do you wanna get that drive back and clear your debt to the Maggia or not?"

"...You really know how to push people's buttons in the worst way possible."

"What can I say, it's a gift."

"More like a curse, pretty sure you call yourself the Black Cat for a reason." Spider-Man noted dryly from his place on the ground.

"Just shut your hole already Spider, and no following us to try and play the hero either. You got that?"

"Well I was planning to do exactly that so you can stick those claws in one of the holes that I would really rather not have it."

"Smart move. Alright enough talk, let's get moving." and so she leapt out the hole in the wall and promptly took off across the rooftops.

"And I'm left lying on the floor again. Just great."

"Well it could be worse. Like I told you before, the effects of those things only last for about 10 minutes, at least normally. That one is one of the older prototypes that I made months ago, so you should be good to go in about 3 minutes." Prowler gave a shrug as he prepared to take off after the Black Cat.

"Hold up a second Prowler. Hobie." that was enough to stop him in his tracks.

"You… know who I am?"

"I've got a certain informant who keeps me up to date on the really important things going on in this city, and it's thanks you him that I know certain things, like how you're better than this. You don't have to do this."

"I'm sorry about this Spider-Man, really I am. I'm not thrilled by the thought of leaving you up here like this. I'm not thrilled about a lot of the things I'm doing in this suit. But there are times in life when we have to do a few things we don't like, especially if it means doing right by the people we care about. Oh and just throwing this out there, we were originally gonna sell this thing to Hammerhead. Turns out he's taken over a faction of the Maggia crime family, you might wanna look into that later." and on that note, Prowler turned and took off after Black Cat.

'Okay, so apparently Hammerhead is making it big in the Maggia. Note to self, take a good long look at that later. Either way, this whole thing could've gone better. Seriously, it's times like this that I really hate having a conscience. Except I don't.' Spider-Man breathed a sigh of relief once the Remote Mine finally deactivated and fell off his chest, allowing him to pull himself to his feet 'Well I can say a lot of things about the Prowler right now, but apparently a liar isn't one of them. Anyway I'm done with being a punching bag for the hot chick in the skin-tight bodysuit, it's about time for me to get serious.'

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile, at a certain warehouse hideout…

Dogpound slipped his way through a hatch in the ceiling of a certain warehouse and promptly dropped to the ground in front of where a certain dark-skinned man with glasses and an afro was sitting at a desk working at a computer "Hey Stinkman."

"It's Stockman, like I told you three times already." Stockman shot a glare up at him, though he was quick to cower under the fierce glare he was receiving "So… did that radio-isotope grenade work the way I said that it would?"

"It blew that traitor and his partner to hell, and even if one of them survived you can just sick those annoying little robots on them, right?"

"Exactly, now they're covered in the stuff and if either of them show up here, they're MOUSER chow. Speaking of which, what do you have there?"

"Something I snagged off of Prowler and his new partner when I found them. No idea what's on it though."

"Well let's find out." Stockman held out his hand, to which Dogpound gave him the case with the jump drive, which he pulled out and placed into his computer, and after a moment the results made themselves known on his screen "Wow… okay, I definitely wasn't expecting this."

"So what is it?"

"Something I've actually heard of before. This jump drive you found contains the specs to mass produce the formula for Globulin Green. It's an experimental performance enhancer that was being developed by Oscorp awhile ago, the end result of a collaboration project they had going with TCRI. Something about their attempt at creating their own version of super soldiers like Captain America."

"And you know this how?"

"Because I used to work at TCRI awhile ago, before they fired me."

"Yeah, don't really care, just making conversation. So what's this stuff supposed to do?"

"Like I said, it was designed to turn the subject into a sort of super soldier."

"You mean like Captain America?"

"According to these notes, the formula was supposed to push the user even beyond that, and grant them increased levels of strength, agility and intelligence."

"Really now? Well I think Master Shredder is going to like the sound of that."

"Not when he hears about the side effects. According to the drive, those would include an increase in aggressive behavior, loss of control and occasional blackouts. If Shredder gave this formula to his soldiers then it would turn out to be a disaster."

"Don't bother wasting my time with the details, just make it happen before I decide to tell Master Shredder that you're not pulling your weight, and you know what will happen then." that was enough to make Stockman go pale, until a large ringing sound came from the computer "What the hell is that?"

"That would be the security alarm we had set up earlier today, which means that someone is about to come crashing into the hideout, right about… now."

Sure enough, this was the moment in which Prowler and Black Cat both dropped down through the roof and landed on the ground in front of the two of them "Alright enough games Bradford, just hand over the jump drive and we're gone."

"I have a better idea, stand there while I drive these claws down your throat!" Dogpound let out a snarl as he charged forward and attempted to grab them with his giant arm.

"Nope." Black Cat leapt over Dogpound's attack and gave the Prowler the chance to bare his own claws at him, while she managed to grab the jump drive from the computer as she spared a quick glance at Stockman "Do the smart thing and clear out, and remember that you didn't see anything."

"Actually the smart thing would be for you to not underestimate my genius." Stockman pushed a button on his computer and took a few steps back, just as an enormous swarm of small robots came bursting through the skylight of the warehouse "I think I'll let the two of you go ahead and get acquainted with my MOUSERs."

"...Well crap. Hey Prowler?"

"Yeah I already know, I don't plan on ending my final mission as pet food." Prowler broke off his attack on Dogpound "So are you ready for this one?"

"Not really, so you sure as hell better have a lot more of those Remote Mines of yours."

"Actually I don't, you used the last one earlier on Spider-Man."

"You're telling me this now?!"

"You wouldn't have listened if I did before. Lucky for us, I still have those new blasters I've been working on." so the Prowler broke out the blasters and started unleashing a series of energy blasts aimed at the MOUSERs, though more of them kept coming each time a few of them were taken out "You know I still have that grapple attached to my suit, you see where I'm going with this?"

"Break the thing out already, it's time for us to break out that circus act you kept on going on about." once the grappling hook was extended, Black Cat grabbed onto it and started swinging it around, and the Prowler by extension, which allowed him to fire a series of energy blasts that destroyed a large number of MOUSERs, though it turned out that wasn't enough and two of them began attacking the Prowler's arms, as well as Black Cat's arm, snatching the jump drive away from her in the process "(Bleep)!" he was about to shoot an energy blast at them, only to hear the sound of a loud splat, followed by the MOUSERs being hit with a quick surge of electricity, causing them to hit the ground with a loud thud "Okay, I definitely wasn't expecting that."

"I like to think I bring a certain element of surprise with me." this was when Spider-Man made himself known as he dropped down onto the scene, to which he launched another series of his Electric Webs at a nearby group of MOUSERs, electrocuting them and casuing them to shut down "Hey guys, I'm thinking that next time we might as well carpool."

"Well your timing couldn't be better. Those some kind of electric webbing?"

"Yep, I've been working on them for weeks, and now I'm finally getting the chance to test out the latest batch. And I get to do this." Spider-Man glanced back to see a group of MOUSERs coming at him from behind, so he whipped around and launched a swift spin kick that proved to be powerful enough to rip them all in half in the same attack, their remains falling to the ground with a thud, one of them dropping the jump drive in the process, which he promptly picked up for himself "Not gonna lie, that felt better than it probably should've."

"I didn't need your help you know." Black Cat let out a growl as she shook off the remaining MOUSER trying to chomp down on her arm "We can handle this ourselves."

"Oh yeah, looks like you're doing great in that regard."

"You try fighting off a hundred of those little bastards!"

"I've fought off way worse than that."

"It doesn't matter you little-"

"Cat." the Prowler was quick to cut her inevitable tirade short "In case you didn't notice, I doubt we can really affort to be picky at a time like this. In case you didn't notice, we're in the middle of fighting for our lives right now."

"...Fine, I'll play along for now." Black Cat breathed a sigh as she cast a sharp glare over in the direction of Spider-Man "But don't get any ideas about this Spider, once we get our hands on that jump drive any sort of friendship we have is over. You got that?"

"Oh believe me when I tell you this Cat, I don't plan on putting you on my Christmas Card list anytime soon." Spider-Man told her dryly just as another wave of MOUSERs came bursting into the warehouse, and then he saw Dogpound charging at them "Oh crap. Hey guys, who's up for a round of Keepaway from Fido?"

"Right over here!" Prowler blasted three MOUSERs to bits as he caught the jump drive, then leapt over a grab attempt from Dogpound and retreated to the upperlevel of the warehouse, still being chased by Dogpound all the while.

"Well that takes care of one problem."

"How about you shut it and focus on the other!" Black Cat barred her claws and managed to rip apart a MOUSER, splitting its head open and revealing something inside that quickly caught their attention "What the hell is that supposed to be?"

"Give me a second to find out." Spider-Man webbed the device over to himself and was quick to check it out "I think this is a gamma camera. Those things are used to detect radio-isotopes, he must have tagged you guys with them somehow."

"Yeah that's very interesting, now how the hell do we get them off?" Black Cat nonchalantly stuck her claws into the head of a nearby MOUSER without even looking.

"You can't, if you get hit with that then you have to let them wear off gradually. Either that or you could spray someone else with the stuff, that way they would give off a stronger signal for these things to track."

"I've had it with you already you little traitor!" Dogpound backhanded the Prowler using his giant arm and sent him crashing to the ground, along with the jump drive, only to be met with a spin kick to the face from Black Cat that sent him stumbling backwards.

"We need to figure out what Stockman is using to control these things, then maybe we can turn it back on him."

"Allow me to handle this dog man." this was when Stockman stepped forward with a large metal canister in hand "One spritz is all I need to turn them into MOUSER chow."

"All I need to hear." Spider-Man promptly latched onto the canister with his webs and pulled it towards him, then hurled it back at Stockman, breaking it open when it hit the ground and covering both him and Dogpound in the red vapor.

"Oh crap, not again." Stockman was quick to back away as he saw the MOUSERs closing in on the two of them.

"Dammit, get off me you little-" Dogpound tried to fight off the MOUSERs, only to quickly realize that there was too many of them, which prompted him to sling Stockman over his shoulder and prepare to take off running, though as he did he noticed the jump drive lying on the ground and picked it up "At least one good thing came out of-"

"Nope." a single strand of webbing latched onto the jump drive and yanked it out of Dogpound's giant hand and into Spider-Man's grasp, to which he gave a mocking wave "Yeah I think that's more than enough of that for awhile, don't you?"

"Don't think this is over you little pest. One of these days you and the Turtles are going to get exactly what you deserve. Oh yeah!" Dogpound busted a giant hole through the wall of the warehouse and took off running, with Stockman slung over his shoulder and the MOUSERs following hot on his heels.

"...Anyone else get the Kool Aid reference there?"

"I think anyone that's cultured would've gotten it." the Prowler made his way over to him, with the Black Cat trailing close behind "At least we stopped Shredder from getting his hands on that drive."

"Which raises the question, what exactly is it?"

"To put it in simple terms, it's the formula for Globulin Green."

"...You mean the stuff that-"

"Yep."

"As in the-"

"Yep."

"So they would've-"

"More than likely."

"...Yeah, that one is a big fat nope." Spider-Man promptly crushed the drive in his hand without a second thought "Like I'm gonna let Shredder get his hands on something like that."

"Probably for the best. Thanks for coming to help us by the way."

"It's part of the whole hero thing. I'm just glad you guys didn't leave me to fend off those things by myself to save your own skin."

"You oughta know by now that's not the way I do things."

"No I get that with you, but your partner on the other hand…"

"Yeah well, it's hard to spend money if you get yourself killed first." Black Cat dusted herself off as she pointed a sharp glare at Spider-Man "But don't think this is gonna make us BFFs or anything like that. You're still the reason why my father is spending the rest of his life rotting in that hole."

"Cat-"

"Next time I'm not gonna play nice." and so she leapt up onto the second floor, then leapt her way out of the skylight and into the night sky.

"...Well that happened."

"Tell me about it." Prowler breathed a sigh as he took off his mask "Though speaking personally, I don't see that as a good thing. I only took this job to help pay off my family's debt. I'm doing it for them."

"I wish I could help you with that, really I do. If it's any consolation though, keeping the stuff that created the Green Goblin out of the hands of someone like the Shredder is something that I would call a massive win."

"And out of the hands of Hammerhead and his faction of the Maggia. Seriously, you had better look into that later."

"Believe me, I intend to. For what it's worth, sorry your partnership didn't work out. Like I said, I wish I could help."

"Don't worry, I figure something out. You know as far as Black Cat goes, she really isn't all that bad. This whole partnership was actually her idea. She's got a good side to her."

"I've caught a few glimpses of it before, back when she helped me clear my name when I was being framed by the Chameleon, and when she saved me from the Green Goblin that night at the Vault. I just hope that someday she starts using those talents to help someone other than just herself."

"Well we can't do everything, but that doesn't mean we can't try." Prowler placed his mask back on and held out his hand "But I mean it, thank you for saving us back there Spider-Man."

"Like I said, it's part of the hero thing." Spider-Man shook his hand regardless "So what are you going to do now?"

"Hard to say. I still have to clear my debt for the sake of my family, but hopefully once that's taken care of, I can do some real good for a change. Either way I can tell you this, my days of working for grungy crime lords with no personal lives are over. Plus it's probably for the best I give this whole thing up. I hear that there's actually another guy going around the city calling himself the Prowler. The last thing I want is for him to come after me for using his name or trying to sue me or something."

"Works out for me."

"No kidding. Oh yeah, there's one more thing I should probably mention before I go."

"And what's that?"

"One other function I included in my Prowler suit… it has a voice recognition program installed in the helmet."

"...What?"

"Yeah, I can identify almost anyone by their voice, whether they wear a helmet of a mask or really anything of that sort. Well unless they have a voice modulator like Iron Man. I just figured it was only common courtesy to throw that out there. So yeah, that's pretty much all I've got for you at the moment, so… I'll see you in school Parker." and with that, Prowler took off out a nearby window and into the open night.

"...Aw crapbaskets." Spider-Man could only hang his head for a moment, before he webslinged his way out of the warehouse and into the open night 'Not gonna lie, this turned out to be one incredibly hectic day. I met April O'Neil and got to know her as Peter Parker instead of as just Spider-Man, and I managed to stop both Shredder and apparently Hammerhead from getting their hands on the formula for Globulin Green. Seriously, one of those was bad enough, there wasn't a chance I was going to let there be an entire Goblin Nation or something. Oh yeah, and apparently the Prowler knows my identity. I really hate voice recognition programs. Well I guess it could be worse, better him than any of my other enemies. I guess there's nothing else for me to do now except go home and see what's going to come next for your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man.'

A/N:

This chapter wraps up what I consider to be a mini-story arc focusing on the character of the Prowler. I knew going into this part that I was going to have that character appear in at least a few chapters, but I'm pretty satisfied with the way it turned out, and I'm eager to see what you guys think. Speaking of which, I did have the Prowler make a few nods to Hammerhead and the Maggia, something I plan to bring in later on in the story, and I mean MUCH later. And what's more, now Peter Parker has met April O'Neil, a development that's going to continue within the next chapter or two.

Oh yeah, and for those of you who didn't catch it, I made a little nod to Ms Lion, Aunt May's pet dog in Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends. I just thought that would be a fun little reference to include and I couldn't help myself.

Also sorry this one took as long as it did, I was going through some personal stuff for awhile, and it sort of took away my motivation to write. But fanfiction is what I love doing, and I'm gonna keep it up for as long as I can.