Chapter 3-2

The Daily Bugle

One of the gangsters standing guard near the windows felt anxious. He kept his eyes on the back of the hostages' heads but he could not shake this feeling creeping up on him from behind. He looked over his shoulder at the window, which had been blocked off so police helicopters couldn't see inside.

The gangster rubbed the back of his head. "Hey, Abe, how will we know when the three copy-spiders will be here?"

Abraham came walking up to the gangster and put a hand on his shoulder. "They'll let us know."

Hidden in the air vents, Scarlet Spider tilted his head when he heard the name 'Abe' as if he had heard that name before. He scooted close to the grate and looked through. He touches the side of his mask and his spider lenses are lit up with x-ray vision.

His vision turned blue and every living person he saw was a skeleton. He counted ten gangsters and five hostages in total. He looked to his right to see Miles Morales, who was now going by Kid Arachnid, clinging to the outside of the window just beside that one gangster talking to 'Abe'.

He looked to his left and saw Cindy Moon - Silk - climbing down a vent, stopping at a gate on the ceiling.

With everyone in position, Scarlet Spider pressed his earpiece in his right ear. "Everybody ready? We take them down in one go."

"What's the plan?" Silk asked.

"We leap in at the same time, web their weapons away from them, then incapacitate them before they can pull out their sidearms. We gotta do this quickly before any one of them knows what's going on."

"Roger that," Kid Arachnid said. "Let's do this."

"Okay then." Scarlet looked through the gaps in the grate before he spoke into his earpiece one more. "On the go after three, we go in after them."

"On the go that's after three?"

"On the go that's after three," Scarlet confirmed before shutting off his X-ray vision. "Okay. One… two…"

Scarlet Spider froze up. He thought his eyes were playing tricks on him so he blinked thrice behind his mask before he got closer to the grate, close enough that his nose was touching the metal.

He wondered if his eyes were deceiving him, or if the cup of joe from earlier was causing his senses to go into overdrive.

That's when it struck him why this 'Abe' was so familiar. He thought it was a coincidence but this Abe had the same hair, eyes, and skin color as the man who murdered his uncle. He knew this wasn't some random guy with a striking resemblance because after his uncle was murdered, Ben memorized every single detail he could of his uncle's killer, even the position of the scorpion tattoo on his neck. The private detective he hired even provided an image of Copeland, which he used to recall every detail down to the tiniest size to identify Copeland.

'Abe' had the same scorpion tattoo in the same place as his uncle's killer. It was settled and Scarlet Spider felt his blood turn cold.

"...three…go."

The three copy-spiders burst into the room in a split second in one fluid motion. Shards of glass flew across the room when Kid Arachnid dived through the window and tackled Abe and the gangster beside him to the ground. Silk landed on the ground in a somersaulting fashion and she shot webs out from all ten of her fingertips and aimed them at the assault rifles in the gangsters' hands. She web-yanked them all out of their grip and swung them at the gangsters.

Scarlet Spider somersaulted to the ground as well and threw a grenade into the center of the room. When the grenade exploded, the gangsters were blasted with thick webbing that tied them up and sent them flying to the wall, where they stuck like flies in a spider web.

"And that's that," Scarlet Spider said. "Is everyone okay?"

Jameson looked up at Scarlet. "I knew you were in on it with these guys. You may have everyone else fooled but you can't fool me."

Ned gently shouldered Jameson's shoulder. "Come on, Mr. Jameson, they just saved our lives."

"I agree."

Ned turned to Eddie. "You what?"

"I think these spider-guys were in on it," Eddie hissed with a grim expression on his face. "A gang like the Scorpions may be stupid but not stupid enough to call the copy-spiders for a head-on fight. This was set up and I'm not entirely sure these copy-spiders were the ones who set everything up."

Silk rolled her eyes.

Kid Arachnid moved over and began freeing the hostages of their restraints. "Believe what you want," he said with a deep voice. "We're just glad you're okay-" Kid Arachnid's voice cracked at the end.

"Looks like someone's still going through puberty," Eddie snarked. Once his hands were free, Eddie rubbed his bruised wrists and sat up.

"Scarlet," Silk called out, "all the gangsters have been detained. There are also several ongoing bank robberies happening at this moment."

Scarlet looked at Silk before glaring back at the detained gangsters. He licked his lips behind his mask before pointing to the window. "You guys go on ahead, I'll stay here."

"Why?"

"I'm going to make sure there aren't any other gangsters around. And I'll search for bombs as well."

"Bombs?" Betty panicked.

"Go on without me."

"Alright then." Silk gestured for Kid Arachnid to follow her. "Let's go, KA."

Silk and Kid Arachnid ran towards the window and dived through and swung in the direction of the bank robbery.

With Scarlet Spider left behind with the hostages, he carefully escorted them out of the room before returning all alone.

"There aren't any bombs," Abraham told, "no bombs of any kind."

Out of all the webbed-up gangsters in the room, Scarlet Spider stared down at Abraham with his spider mask. Although his face was covered, Abe could tell that he was seething with rage behind the mask, based on how he tilted his head and slowly nodded at him.

"What?" Abe demanded.

Scarlet Spider slowly took a step forward and made a beeline for Abe. Once he stood above him, he grabbed him by the back of his hair and hoisted him painfully to his feet before shoving him against the wall.

"Easy," Abe urged, "my hair is sensitive."

"Abraham Copeland?" Scarlet Spider hissed. "Glad to know you're a high-ranking member of the Scorpions."

Abe scrunched his nose and narrowed his eyes. "Do we know each other?"

"Yeah, we do. I am the way that I am because of you."

Abe tilted his head. "I'm sorry, that's pretty vague; did I kill someone that you love?"

"Guess."

Abe shrugged. "I've killed a lot of people so you're going to have to be specific."

Scarlet Spider hammers his fist into Abe's stomach, making him fold over. He collapses to his knees. Scarlet Spider yanks him to his feet by his hair once more and punches him across the jaw.

"You're not going to kill me." Abe spits blood out of his mouth. "You're not Spider-Man, you're just a copy-spider."

Scarlet Spider punches Abe across the jaw once more. The gangster falls on his side and spits more blood out of his mouth. Before he knew it, Scarlet Spider drove his foot into Abe's stomach, causing the thug to fold over. He kicked him several more times in the stomach before he stomps on his knees and elbows.

"I'm not going to kill you," Scarlet Spider declared. "That would be too easy." He stomps on Abe's head. "I'm just going to hurt you and make you suffer." Scarlet Spider begins pressing his foot down on Abe's head, similar to a person stepping onto an orange.

"I should've killed you," Scarlet Spider declared as he pressed down harder on Abe's temple. "I should've stomped your guts out the second I had you in my sights. You're going to fucking pay for what you did."

Scarlet Spider pressed his foot down on Abe's temple hard enough to make the thug's mouth gape open and eyes feel like they were about to burst out of his skull. He grabbed the vigilante's foot and tried to push it off but he lacked the strength to do so. He blindly reached for anything he could use as a weapon but that was easier said than done with his hands restrained by webs.

"Fuck you," Scarlet Spider hissed once more when-

Scarlet Spider was shoved off of him and went staggering back a few feet but managed to catch himself.

J. Jonah Jameson, editor-in-chief of the Daily Bugle, had shoved Scarlet Spider right off the thug. "What are you doing? What in god's name were you doing?"

"Stay out of this," Scarlet Spider warned. "This is between me and him."

"No," Jameson declared and put himself between Scarlet Spider and the thug. "I'm not going to allow you to murder this person."

"This isn't any of your business; stay out of it."

"No. As a law-abiding citizen, I can't allow you to torture and kill this man."

"This man is a thug and after what he did, he deserves to die."

Jameson sighed and composed himself. "That may be true, but it doesn't change the fact that you were about to commit murder. Even if he is a criminal who deserves to die, what you were about to do is murder this defenseless man. He's been incapacitated so the police should take care of this."

"You wouldn't understand, Jameson. Stay out of this."

Jameson grabbed the sides of his head. "Oh my god, I can't believe it. I was wrong about you and the other two copy-spiders. You're not menacing, you're criminals just like Spider-Man is."

Scarlet Spider's eyes widened behind his mask. "Huh?"

"And I can't believe I'm saying this but you make Spider-Man look like a hero." Jameson sucked on his teeth. "Yes, Spider-Man may kill people but he doesn't web up criminals and kick them to death like you were about to. You claim that you're better than the first Spider-Man but the truth is, you're just as bad, if not worse than him."

Scarlet Spider's back stiffened and his body suddenly went rigid. His breathing steadied and his head tilted down slightly, the man behind the mask obviously having mixed emotions forming inside him. After a few seconds of pondering and reflecting on what he had done, Scarlet Spider's head tilts down all the way, so much so that his chin is touching his neck.

His ears perked up when he suddenly became aware that Ned, Betty, Robbie, and Eddie were watching from the door into the room. Scarlet Spider looked up at them with a hint of shame in his body language, his heart skipping several beats when he realized that Eddie was smiling at him. Scarlet Spider didn't need telepathy to know that Eddie was glad that he was about to commit murder.

The fact that Eddie Brock, the biggest fanatic of the sadistic and murderous Spider-Man was smiling at him in approval made Scarlet Spider shut his eyes in shame.

Jameson said to Scarlet Spider, "I can't let you get away with almost killing a helpless man, even if he is a criminal." Jameson turned to the officers that suddenly flooded into the room and drew their guns on Scarlet Spider, but the vigilante had already leaped out the window and swung away.

"I'll be sure to write about this in the newspaper," Jameson shouted.

Ned approached Jameson. "Nobody reads the newspapers anymore, sir."

"Did I tell you you could talk, Ness?"

Ned lowered his head. "Sorry, sir."

Scarlet Spider swung in the snow and chilly air for about three minutes before he dropped on top of a building and perched down.

He was grateful that the mask he was wearing covered up the tears that began pouring out.

"I don't want to be like Spider-Man," Scarlet Spider told himself. "I don't want to be like Abraham Copeland. I don't want to be a murderer."

With Spider-Man

The young webhead swung to two of the three banks that had the alarms go off. Since nothing was happening there, with people still standing and getting money in and out of their accounts, he let them be. After a few seconds, he swung to the last bank and found that it too was empty of any bank robberies in progress.

After checking out all three banks, he swung to the top of a building and hissed behind his mask.

Where the fuck are they? All three banks went off at the same time but Hobgoblin and his gang weren't at any. No, they were definitely there, or at the very least, someone associated with the Hobgoblin. The banks' silent alarms didn't go off for no reason which means… Hobgoblin must have an ace up his sleeve as well. What if…

An idea crossed his mind.

Of course, I should've fucking known. That bastard tipped off all three silent alarms at each bank and then they waited. They watched from afar as I scoped the banks out and then when I swung away after finding nothing, they robbed the bank.

Without wasting another second, Spidey leaps off the building and swings for the East 31st Bank.

I'm on a time limit here; I only have a limited time until Reilly and the others finish up their business at the Daily Bugle and if I'm too slow, Hobgoblin and his posse will escape.

Spidey made it back to the East 31st Bank, where he saw the front doors blown in. His eyes widened behind his mask.

I'll give Hobgliblin credit, he's pretty crafty.

Spidey decided to stay where he was and sat down on the roof's building.

I'll just wait for them to come out and then I'll discreetly shoot a piece of this alien goo at them and then track them later.

Another thought crossed his mind that made his back stiffen.

Then again, if Hobgoblin managed to trick me with this whole bank thing then what's stopping him from coming up with a crafty plan to escape? He could blow a hole in the middle of the ground for him to escape through and I wouldn't be able to put my organic tracker on him. As much as I hate it, Hobgoblin is smart enough to do something like that. He's smart, but I'm smarter.

Without hesitating, Spidey leaps over the edge and swings into the hole Hobgoblin created at the front doors. He somersaults in the middle of the bank, where the civilians he saw from earlier were quickly hog-tied, gagged, and thrown up against the wall.

Huh, just as I thought.

Spidey looked at the civilians, taking into account what each one looked like, and bit his lower lip behind his mask. He licked his lips as he turned towards the vault, the giant safe being open. Spidey tilts his head and web-zips over to the vault. He jumps to the ceiling and crawls inside, finding lockers and safes full of money, bags full of various coins, and gold bars sprawled all over the floor. Despite the vault being broken into earlier, Spidey couldn't see any signs of the money in the vault being tampered with.

His spider-sense went off and alerted him that the vault door was closing. He leaped for it but the safe door closed shut before he could escape.

"Shit," he cursed under his breath. "I should've known." He leans against the wall before looking back at the currency. "I think I know what their plan is."

Trap me in this vault and then head to the other banks and steal money from there. Wow, Hobgoblin really IS smart.

He looked up at the air vent on the ceiling.

But not smart enough.

Spidey leaps to the ceiling, rips the vent open, and crawls through.

Huh, deja vu. Maybe I can get the drop on Hobgoblin from the air vents. Then again, the last time I tried to do that, he caught me off guard. That won't happen again.

He crawled through the vents until he reaches the end. He pushed the grate open and his spider-sense went off.

Aww shit!

A pumpkin bomb is thrown in his direction near his face. Spidey quickly swats it away like a fly before diving out the vent. The bomb went off with a small explosion but he was out of its radius. He was caught off guard and unprepared when half a second later, a rocket comes flying in his direction.

The rocket hits the wall behind Spidey and it would've incinerated him had it not been the…. Tendril shot out of his shoulder, sticking to the ceiling, and yanking him out of the rocket's radius just in time.

Spidey lands on the ground with his knees touching the floor before he looks forward. The Hobgoblin's glider was hovering ten feet above the ground, aiming its rocket launcher in Spidey's direction. The pilot of the glider, however, was not flying it.

Spidey remembered his final battle with the Green Goblin, how the Green Goblin was capable of controlling his glider remotely and he remembered how Hobgoblin's glider struck him earlier at that one bank that caused him to slowly but surely lose his powers.

Where are you Hobgoblin?

Spidey looks to the front doors where there stood the Hobgoblin, looking at him mockingly and menacingly with that rubber mask of his.

The sight of Hobgoblin alone was enough to make Spidey's blood run cold. He growled and prepared to leap at him when the sound of something his ears picked up sent him on full alert.

Police officers in their cruisers pulled up at the bank robbery scene and drew their guns on Hobgoblin and aimed for his back.

One of the officers in the car was none other than Captain Walter Hardy and his right-hand man, Sergeant Jefferson David.

"Freeze," Hardy ordered. "Get down on the ground Hobgoblin! It's fucking over for you."

Hobgoblin slowly turned to face the officers and uncharacteristically, he quickly raised his hands above his head in what looked like a desperate attempt to surrender.

"Nnnah!" Hobgoblin mutter. "Nnah!"

"Get down on your knees, right now," Davis shouted. "This is your only warning."

Hobgoblin, to the shock and surprise of all the officers, complied without a second thought. He slowly put his hands behind his head and began to slowly settle his front on the ground when he felt something collide with his back with a force that was comparable to a missile.

Spidey, losing all will to maintain a calm composure tackled Hobgoblin to the ground before turning him around and shoving him down on his back. He grabbed Hobgoblin by the neck and threw a punch into his jaw, pulling his punch only so as to not kill him too quickly.

I am a man of superstrength who can kill a person by not holding his punches back. The only reason I hold my punches is so that I won't kill anyone too quickly; I at least want to have SOME fun when killing people. And Hobgoblin, I'm going to enjoy slowly slaughtering this man right in front of me.

Spidey threw several more punches at the Hobgoblin, barely holding back but making sure that his punches had enough power and force behind them to make a regular human bleed at the nose.

"Spider-Man, stop!" Captain Hardy ordered. "Spider-Man, that's an order!" He anxiously waved his gun over to Spidey and contemplated pulling the trigger. "Don't do it; we have him apprehended!"

Captain Hardy's words fell on Spidey's deaf shoulders as he continued to plow at the down Hobgoblin, who did nothing more than just take the blows, the only sounds the villain made were incomprehensible mumbles.

"You'll die today," Spidey declared. "You'll never see another Christmas again, you flying yellow elf."

Spidey gripped the top of Hobgoblin's head like someone would when gripping another person's hair, and he reeled his fist back and prepared to punch with all his might and hopefully end this man's villainous life.

Captain Hardy couldn't find it within him to pull the trigger, but seeing Spidey about to kill a villain who willingly surrendered was enough to make him wink at him, his eyes shining a second later.

Several bricks underneath a statue at the top of the bank dislodged and fell, causing the statue to lose balance and fall towards Spidey. A tendril shot out from Spidey's back and hit the falling statue hard enough to make it crack. Spidey was briefly distracted when the statue fell on him but even more so when he suddenly looked up at Captain Hardy's eyes and saw a shiny glint in them. It wasn't just any glint but the kind of glint he had seen before in Felicia.

All the newfound knowledge he had learned about Walter Hardy returned to him tenfold and it made his eyes widen in shock.

He used his bad-luck powers on me. I can tell; whenever Felicia uses her bad-luck powers, her eyes shine with a glint in them. Walter Hardy has that same glint.

This newfound revelation was enough to distract him when Officer Jefferson Davis aimed his gun at Spidey and pulled the trigger. Spidey jolted back when he felt a bullet lodged into his shoulder and gasped. He got up to his feet, staggered back, and checked to make sure that there was no blood that escaped his body. He took the bullet - he could feel it in his shoulder - but the symbiote had prevented any blood from falling out and was healing the bullet wound and working on getting the bullet out.

He gasps and looks over at Jefferson David, a new feeling rising up within him.

He shot me… Miles Morales's fucking father shot me in the shoulder.

He looks over at Walter Hardy.

And Felicia's BITCH of a cop father used his bad-luck powers on me. I swear to god, I'm going to fucking kill them both.

His spider-sense went off once more.

What? What the fuck? But, I thought-

A pumpkin bomb is thrown at him from behind. He barely manages to dodge it but by the time he does, the grenade goes off and sends him flying against one of the cop cars and hit the grille hard.

Less than ten seconds later, Hobgoblin, Scorpion, and Prowler came flying and jumped out of the bank, and made a break for it. Hobgoblin laughed at the scene of Spidey beating down on his double and laughed hysterically as he flew away.

Before he missed his chance, Spidey shot three pieces of the black goo from his wrist and at the retreating villains. He saw the goo make contact with Scorpion's tail and Prowler's jetpack but he made sure that he saw that the black goo would stick to Hobgoblin. He nodded with satisfaction when he saw the black goo stick to Hobgoblin's back before seeping into his clothes. Hobgoblin could be seen reaching behind his mask to feel for whatever happened but Spidey was confident that he didn't have to worry about anything.

Mission complete.

Spidey turned away and leaped into the air and swung off. He shot a line of black webbing at the building but the brick it clung to broke off and sent Spidey falling. He managed to catch himself by somersaulting off a semi and swinging way but one thought lingered in the back of his mind.

Walter Hardy used his powers on me, and Jefferson Davis shot me. They're going to pay; they're going to FUCKING pay. I'll add them to my list of enemies now. Eight enemies total.

Spidey chuckled under his mask.

Hobgoblin, Scorpion, Prowler, Reilly, Morales, Davis, Hardy, the Enemy Eight.

The Next Day

It has been one day since the incident at the Daily Bugle and the three silent alarms going off at the three different banks. David had his black goo of a friend don him some casual clothing under a jacket as he walked home from school with his girlfriend in tow.

David and Felicia turned down an alleyway where they were able to talk in privacy and if anyone was listening, David's spider-sense or enhanced senses will pick it up.

Felicia took out her phone and pulled up the latest article on the Daily Bugle.

'Scarlet Spider Murder Attempt on Gangster: New York Against Copy-Spiders'.

David smiled upon seeing the headline. "Ahh, the Daily Bugle has really outdone themselves."

"Was this your handiwork?" she asked. "Did you threaten Jameson with a false headline or something?"

"Absolutely not, I promise. What I did…" he hissed with pleasure, "was do the same thing I did with Octavius." He licked his lips and smiled. "After I found out Scarlet Spider's real name, I did a little digging. I found something on him I could use. It turns out, he has a generic superhero story with his uncle being killed by a gangster. The name of the gangster was Abraham Copeland." He licked his lips again. "It turns out, Scarlet Spider had been trying to find Copeland ever since his uncle died, even hiring an unsavory private eye to do so. I thought that Scarlet Spider would crack at the idea of facing his uncle's killer so I set him up. I knew there was no guarantee he would do something unkind to Copeland but the possibility existed so that was good enough to consider it."

"Man," Felicia smiled. "You are one bad spider, Spider."

David tilted his head like a dog, his smile never leaving him. "Thank you, my beloved kitty. This plan worked far beyond what I was expecting. Because Scarlet Spider assaulted a defenseless criminal, he has now been branded a wanted man, and now he and the other two copy-spiders are now on the cops' radar."

"What about the bank?" Felicia asked. "If I recall from what I read this morning, you beat up a civilian dressed as Hobgoblin. My Dad pulled off the double's mask and the civilian had his mouth closed with duct tape."

David rolled his eyes. "Yeah. I thought it was Hobgoblin but that little prick, he…" He narrowed his eyes as he looked down at the ground. "He outsmarted several times that incident but…" He licked his lips once more. "I got what I wanted. Regardless if I beat up some random extra or not, I got what I wanted."

"And what was that?"

David thrust his hand out. A piece of the black goo flew across the air and landed on Felicia's hand. She caught it in her palm and played around with it, marveling at it as it swung from finger to finger.

"That black goo is more than alive; that thing can detach itself and stick itself to other people. When it does, the main part can track that detached piece from anywhere in the world, or at least in the city I'm assuming."

Felicia fitted in the remaining pieces. "Your plan was to attach an organic tracker onto their skin, right?"

"Exactly." He petted Felicia. "Good kitty."

Felicia smacked his hand away sheepishly. "Aside from beating up a civilian, it looks like you had a good day."

David nodded. "Everything… and I mean everything went according to plan." He explained the entire plan to her, not leaving any detail out.

"You let your friend get taken hostage?" she asked. "Poor Eddie."

"It's not the first time his life's been in danger."

Felicia shrugged nonchalant-like. "Okay then, if you say so. I understand."

"Of course you do; a cat's gotta do what it's gotta do to escape from a dog."

Felicia laughed. "And a dog's gotta do what it's gotta do to get away from you, Spider."

David laughed. "Yeah."

"Now that you have a tracker on all six of your enemies-

Six?

"Your father."

Felicia looked up at her boyfriend with narrow eyes. "What about my father?"

"Your father… he has your powers… and… he used them on me." He hissed with each pause as he recalled the events that transpired yesterday. "He dropped a fucking statue on me… and he had his buddy shoot me in the shoulder. If it hadn't been for this goo covering me up, I could've left a single drop of blood behind and it would've been all over for me."

Felicia's back stiffened but she maintained eye contact with her boyfriend. She closes her eyes, sighs, and drops her head. She shook her head as she looked back at him. "I apologize on my father's behalf. And I apologize on my behalf."

David narrowed his eyes at her. "Why?"

"I guess I should've warned ya that I got my powers from him. But… I didn't think they'd be active. It's been years since he used them."

So my theory is true, Black Cat is a copycat of the Cat.

David laughed at the thoughts in his head. "So your father was looking at me that night I spilled my soda." He looked up at Felicia as she looked up and recalled the event. "You remember, the night I had dinner with ya."

"I remember. I 'member well."

"Goodie. You accidentally used your powers on me, made me spill my soda, and then he's looking at you. You said he hadn't used his powers in a long time, which means they've been dormant. But he used them on me yesterday."

"When did he use them?"

"When I was pounding down on the civilian dressed as Hobgoblin."

"Did Dad know it was a civilian?"

"Nope. All he knew is that Hobgoblin surrendered willingly and I was beating down on a surrendering enemy. I guess the shock and trauma of what I'd done was enough to reawaken his powers. I know for a fact it was his powers because he had that same glint in his eyes as you do."

Felicia clicked her tongue. "Wow, looks like my Dad is going to be gunning for you. You're not going to uh-"

David shook his head. "No, I'm not going to kill him."

Felicia stayed silent. After a few seconds of silence, she finally said something. "So now that you got a tracker on all your enemies, you're going to do what? Find out about their civilian lives and come up with a plan to outsmart them and kill them?"

"Yes. I'll kill all of them, all who pissed me off." He looked at Felicia and tilted his head once more. He bit down on his lower lip. "I've been wanting to say this for a while now, Cat, but you're a copycat. Your father is the original cat burglar. Based on everything that I found out, your father has been covering up your crimes and deleting all records and evidence of your existence. Am I wrong in saying this?"

Felicia shook her head. "Nope. Dear Daddy is helping his little daughter stay under the radar."

"Does he know about you and me, our costumed relationship?"

"I wouldn't rule out the possibility that he might know, considering Spider-Man's history of finding and killing all sorts of criminals, even the stealthy ones."

"Yeah, true. I always find my enemy, one way or another." He clicked his tongue as he thought of something. "Now, this may be a bit of a stretch here but let's say that your father does know about us, Spidey and Kitty, why do you think he hasn't done anything?"

Felicia clicked her tongue and rubbed her chin as she contemplated an answer. "I'd probably say because we've been in a relationship and you haven't done anything to harm me, and even saved me from Green Goblin, that he won't do anything to sabotage our relationship. I think it's because he knows that I have nothing to fear when I'm around you because you've made no attempts to be ill with me."

David nodded. "Yeah, true. Okay, so, he knows about our relationship, hypothetically, he's put in the bare minimum effort in catching me as Walter Hardy but for some reason, his dormant powers awakened because of me. What I find interesting is, if he knows about our relationship, seeing me beat down on a surrendering enemy is far more horrific to awaken his dormant powers than a psychopathic killer dating his daughter."

Felicia pointed her finger at David. "Maybe it's because you beat down on the criminal that it caused his powers to reawaken."

David rolled his eyes. "I just said that."

"No, but think about it: Spider-Man is reasonable. Murderous but reasonable and he treats me well in our relationship but when he sees the reasonable Spider-Man beating down on a surrendering criminal, what's going through his mind is what could happen if Black Cat makes Spider-Man mad. He wasn't mad at you beating down this surrendering criminal, but because you devolved to such a state where you're beating down surrendering people."

David smiled. "Aww, when you put it like that, it sounds comforting and warmhearted. He was more concerned about you making love to a killer than some supervillain getting pounded." He crossed his arms over his chest. "Then again, this is hypothetical because we don't know what's going on inside his head."

"True, true. When he got home last night, he didn't say anything to me. Probably because I was already asleep by the time he got home and still asleep by the time I woke for school this morning."

"If our proposed scenario is true then I have every reason to be careful of the police."

"They'll be gunning for you now, Spider, or at least my father will." She nods. "Even with that black suit of yours, you're going to have to be extremely careful. You might need assistance in this battle. If your plan is to kill this black-and-white group of six, my powers could come in handy."

David nodded. "Thank you for the assistance, kitty cat. Until I find out more about Hobgoblin and the others, I'm going to keep my Spider-Man-ing to a minimum. And as for you, I want you to be extra careful around your Dad. My suggestion is to find out everything you can about your Dad because if we get sloppy or reckless, I could be thrown in jail." He moved over to her. "And I know you wouldn't like that, Cat." He kisses her on the lips. "You're going to miss your little spider plaything too much, Cat." He kisses her again on the lips. "You'll be climbing the Brooklyn Bridge all by yourself and I know how much you don't like that."

Felicia kissed him back. "I'll keep tabs on my father, Spider. Until then, keep your nose clean." She held her hand out. "You can take your black gooey friend back."

David looked down at the alien goo stretching out from her fingers and trying to rebond to him. "Keep that piece, just in case. If Hobgoblin or someone decides to make a damsel in distress out of ya, then I'll know where to find ya."

"Or I find something that could help you."

David nodded. "True."

Felicia took her hand back after the black goo seeped into the bare skin on the back of her hand. "You're coming with me, little guy."

Felicia turned and walked out of the alleyway, leaving David alone.

As soon as David was alone, his smile dropped into an angry expression.

There's no way in hell Felicia would betray her father, which means I shouldn't put too much trust in her. He used his powers on me and that bastard cop shot me. If I ever want to continue killing people without any interference from the cops, I'll need to take out Walter Hardy. The simple way would be to kill him but it would be an extremely big hassle and would take up a lot of energy. I gotta figure out a way to have him killed while not having me be the prime suspect. I also got to make sure it looks one hundred perfect real and not fake.

He turns and begins walking out the alleyway and back home.

Worst case scenario, I could gouge his eyes out so he can't use his powers on me but he may still know about Spider-Man and Black Cat. I can't afford to take any risks. As for Officer Jefferson Davis, he's just a regular human and I will take great delight in killing him for shooting me.

He slapped himself on the temple.

Stay focused David. First stop, Hobgoblin's base of operations.