Izuku took a look at the imposing Furisuku tower, while perched on the building opposite to it. This is where Nezu said he'd find the most useable information.
His injuries had finally healed up, and he was at 100%. And ready to dig up some dirt.
But first, he'd have to get in.
Izuku climbed to the top of the building, and found the vent where he would make his entrance, and removed the grate, before climbing into the ducts.
Alright, now let's head to the data room. Izuku started crawling through the vents, knowing exactly where to go.
Nezu had been planning to take down the Kingpin for years and had gathered plenty of things that would be useful for such a task. Such as blueprints of the tower. Which is how Izuku knew where he was going.
After minutes and minutes of crawling, Izuku finally found himself, above the data room.
Finally. Izuku thought to himself. Alright. So there are probably guards. Need to take them out and quickly before they can sound the alarms. Alright. 3.2.1. Go!
Immediately Izuku burst through the vent, ready to fight some goons with his spider speed.
Only to find every guard unconscious, lying face down on the floor.
"What the-" Suddenly Izuku felt his spider-sense activate, and he turned behind him, catching the hand of his would-be assailant.
Or rather, claw one could say.
Turns out his would-be assailant was a white-haired girl around his age, maybe a bit older. She was wearing a black catsuit and had white cat ears on her head, as well as a black mask on her face that somewhat obscured her identity.
She looked at him for a moment, and her eyes widened with realization. "Spider-man?"
"The one and only," Izuku said turning on his vigilante persona. "And I'm guessing your the one that took out these guards?"
"Yup." The girl tried to retract her hand, but Izuku kept his grip on it. "Mind letting go of my hand now?"
"Still trying to figure out if your friend or foe," Izuku explained. "And given that you attacked me, I'm leaning towards foe."
"Don't take it personally, a girl has to stay on her toes in a place like this." She explained. "Otherwise a guard will get the drop on me, and you don't want to know what crime lords do to pretty girls they capture."
"Fair, but did the fact that I came out of a vent, or the spider logo on my back not tip you off that I wasn't a guard?" Izuku argued.
"Well I wasn't expecting any pleasant company, so when I heard someone come in, I attacked." She said. "Even if I did think you were an enemy, I probably wouldn't have attacked someone whose skin is tough enough to break my claws."
"That's...fair," Izuku said, still not letting go of her hand. "But what exactly is a high school girl doing in a crime lord's date room?"
"Same thing I imagine your doing, trying to knock down the Kingpin." She said with a cocky smirk. "The names Black Cat. A pleasure."
"Black Cat...wait a minute. I know that name." Izuku squinted. "Your that thief that's been stealing from criminals and CEOs."
"The one and only." Black Cat teased. "Look, I bet you're here to take down that bastard too right?"
"I mean...yes," Izuku answered, not liking where this is going.
"Then let's team-up." Black Cat suggested. "This is gonna be a tall task, and you know what they said. Two heads are better than one."
Izuku paused for a minute, considering this.
On one hand, a bit of help would be useful in a mission like this.
But on the other hand, this girl was a notorious thief. And since when did he work with criminals?
Black Cat seemed to know what Izuku was thinking and rolled her eyes. "Look, I'm just a thief that steals from bastards. Who's the bigger priority. Me? Or the Kingpin of crime? Hmmm? Besides, it's not like your gonna knock me out, and sneak me out of the building all the way to the police."
"True enough...ok...fine." Izuku agreed. He could work with someone like her for a little bit. "Do you have a plan?"
"I imagine it's the same plan as yours. Download some data, find some dirt. Expose him." Black Cat explained. "So, let's get digging shall we?"
Black Cat then moved onto a terminal and stuck a drive into one of its ports.
Izuku took out his own data extractors that Nezu gave him and quickly got to work taking as much data as he could.
I really hope we can find something useful in here. Izuku thought. Otherwise, Nezu is gonna have to search through all this data for nothing.
This process of data collecting went on for a while, until suddenly, Izuku's spider-sense went off, telling him that a powerful attack was about to come out the door to the room.
"Get down!" Izuku grabbed Black Cat and moved them to the other side of the room, just in time as the doors slid open and a blast of yellow lightning burst out, striking the machinery and causing it to malfunction and shut down.
"Thanks." Black Cat said as Izuku set her down.
It was then that a villain stepped into the room.
The villain was bald and wore mostly yellow with the exception of his brown, lighting patterned vest.
"Alright who's in here!?" Shouted the electricity-powered villain. "The guards didn't report back so I know someone snuck in here! Come out!"
Izuku and Black Cat were hidden behind one of the data panels, looking at the villain in front of the door.
He's blocking the door...and if I get hit then it'll damage the data extractors. Izuku thought. The vent is in his line of sight, I could sneak out with the extractors, but how would Black Cat get out? I can't rush him either, not when he's covered in electricity like that.
"Hey, I can practically see the gears turning in your head there Spider." Black Cat whispered. "Hope your thinking of a plan."
"...Yeah," Izuku said, pulling out the data extractors, and giving them to her. "Alright, take these and get out of here, I'll distract him so you can get into the vents. Then when you're out, I'll leave."
"Really?" Black Cat said, looking slightly surprised as she took the data extractors. "Thought you didn't trust me much?"
"I don't. But this is the best way of getting you, and these out of the building unharmed." Izuku told her. "And you better not screw me over on this, otherwise next time we meet, I'll take you down on sight."
"Oh, scary." Black Cat smirked. "I'll meet you on the rooftop, six buildings south of here."
"Understood," Izuku said, before jumping out into the villain's line of sight. "Hey don't shoot! I'm just here to deliver your shampoo!"
"What!? Spider-Man!?" The villain shot out another bolt of lightning at Izuku, who jumped to the ceiling in order to avoid it.
"Man your aim is just awful!" Izuku said, jumping down to the ground to dodge another bolt of lighting. "Man with aim like that you'd think you're hair would be in your face...oh wait."
"Grrrr! Cut it with the bald jokes!" The villain roared, as he shot out more lighting for Izuku to dodge.
Meanwhile, Black Cat used this opportunity to quickly jump into the vent, and crawl away.
Seeing this out of the corner of his eye, Izuku now felt safe to move around the room more, flipping and ducking and dogging around the various bolts that were thrown at him.
"Stay still you little shit!" The villain shouted at him. "Damn it Furisuku ain't paying me enough for this shit! RAGHHHH!"
Suddenly the villain shout out an explosive burst of lighting, that blasted Izuku into the wall.
"AGHHHHHH!" Izuku shouted out in pain as the electricity coursed through him.
Unfortunately, while Izuku could generate bioelectricity, and then use it as an attack, he could not absorb electricity.
When the attack ended Izuku groaned, as smoke came off of his body.
He didn't have much time to recover though, as his spider-sense went off, and he had to roll out of the way of another bolt.
Alright, time to get out of here. Izuku thought as he ducked behind a terminal, and turned invisible.
The villain moved to find Izuku, but he found that Izuku wasn't behind the terminal, or anywhere else for that matter. "Huh? Where the hell did you go!?"
And while the villain looked around for Izuku, Izuku crawled on the ceiling, into the vent, escaping the villain's wrath.
Whew. Izuku breathed a sigh of relief. Finally away from that guy. Ugh. Seriously that lightning hurt.
Izuku looked down at his costume, which now had burn marks all over it. Gonna need to get a costume repair. But first thing's first. Black Cat.
XXXXXXXXXXX
Once Izuku got out of the building, he headed exactly where Black Cat told him to.
As he swung onto the building, he saw Black Cat waiting for him.
He landed in front of her, and she smirked when she saw him. "About time Spider. You should no better than to keep a girl waiting."
"Sorry, I was dealing a lightning bolt shooting maniac." Izuku sassed. "I'm kinda surprised you actually kept your word. Thought there was no honor among thieves."
"Well, I'm not your ordinary two-bit thief." Black Cat smiled, pulling out Izuku's data extractors, and handing them to him. "I happen to have, a bit more class."
Izuku took the drives, inspecting them to see if they were fakes, but couldn't find anything wrong with them, so he secured them away in his belt, before turning back to Black Cat. "So, what's a thief doing trying to take down a crime lord? Wouldn't it be easier to just steal his credit card than expose him?"
Black Cat gave him a mixture of chuckle and a scoff. "And have the city's most powerful crime lord looking mount my head on a wall for the rest of my life? No thanks. I have a better idea."
"And that is?" Izuku asked her to elaborate.
"Simple, once the Kingpin is knocked down, all his minions will be scrambling to see who gets to be the next big boss. And once that happens it'll be easy to loot the broken fragments of his empire." She explained.
"Still seems like an awful lot of trouble." Izuku pointed out. "Seems like you could just stick to lower-level criminals."
"I could...but where's the fun in that?" Black Cat responded. "So, is this a one-time thing, or do you wanna take this partnership a bit deeper."
"We'll see," Izuku said. "How would I get in contact with you?"
Black Cat smirked. "Check your belt."
"Huh?" Izuku looked down at his belt and saw a slip of paper had been put there. "When did you-"
He looked up, and she was gone.
"Oh, that's gonna be annoying," Izuku muttered to himself, before looking back down at the paper.
He flipped it around, and a phone number was written on it.
And honestly...he didn't even know what to think of that.
XXXXXXXXXXX
Kingpin sat in his chair, looking out the window at the top of his tower. Overlooking the city.
He heard the door open behind him and turned around to see the villain that Izuku fought, walking into the room with a simultaneously pissed-off and nervous expression.
"Ah, Electro. Did you investigate why the guards in the data room didn't report back?" Kingpin asked him.
"Y-Yeah boss...Spider-Man took em out." Electro reported.
Kingpin paused a moment to take in what Electro just told him, before scowling. "Spider-Man, as in currently one of the most powerful, and most difficult to catch vigilantes of all time, Spider-Man."
"Y-Yeah...that one." Electro cringed as he saw Kingpin look even more displeased.
"And I don't suppose you killed or captured him," Kingpin asked.
"...I-I tried my best boss but that bastard was fast as fuck!" Electro defended himself. "Only managed to hit him once before he disappeared."
Kingpin glared at him for a minute, before giving an irritated sigh. "I suppose it's unrealistic to expect you have taken him down when even All Might himself failed. That being said, if Spider-Man was in our data room then he likely snuck away with some incriminating evidence. Obviously not enough to stop me, but this is still a matter of grave importance. If someone like Spider-Man wishes to oppose us, then the only proper response is to do everything in my power to end him. I want a bounty on his head. And get me all my greatest enforcers. Now!"
"Yes sir!" Electro said, before running out of the room to do as he was told.
Once the villain had left, Kingpin turned around and looked back out at the city. "This is my city. And if Spider-Man thinks he can take it from me, then he has another thing coming."
XXXXXXXXXXX
"And so that's what happened." Izuku finally finished explaining yesterday's events to Nezu, as the two sat in his office for the debriefing.
"I see," Nezu said. "A very interesting story for sure. Give me a moment."
Nezu then pulled out a laptop, opened it, and started typing away, and after a bit of a wait, he turned the laptop around, showing an image of the villain Izuku fought. "Is this the villain that attacked you?"
"Yeah! That's him!" Izuku answered. "I'm guessing you know who he is?"
"I do. This is Electro. An A-rank villain with a powerful electricity generation, and manipulation quirk." Nezu explained. "Able to both create, and control his electricity at will, as well as having complete immunity to it. Unless of course, he comes into contact with water. Any significant amount of water will cause him to lose his immunity, and thus often results in him shocking himself into unconsciousness. He was defeated about a year ago by Backdraft, but his prison transport truck was attacked, and he went missing."
"Well, now we know where he went," Izuku said. "Right into Kingpin's pocket."
"It looks like my suspicions were correct, he's hired high-profile villains as protection. And I doubt Electro is the only one." Nezu said. "But let's put that matter aside for now. As I believe we should discuss the matter of Black Cat."
"Right, so what should we do about her?" Izuku asked.
"She offered to assist you did she not?" Nezu asked him. "Well, then I believe you should accept her offer."
"But sir, she's a thief." Izuku pointed out. "How can we be sure she won't turn on us if the opportunity suits her?"
"We don't, however, I believe the reward outweighs the risk," Nezu explained. "She has no idea about your spider-sense and thus has no clue that any ordinary methods of backstabbing or entrapment, won't work, and given how little of a physical threat she poses to you, I think you should be able to deal with her quickly should she turn on us. On the other hand, this is a very important and difficult mission you're about to undertake, and I can't provide you with any other form of backup. Not to mention she has experience with breaking and entering, as well as information gathering, so she could be a very useful ally to have."
"I...I see your point." Izuku said, still not looking happy about this.
"Don't be too hung up on the fact that she's a thief," Nezu advised. "Ultimately in the grand scheme of things, she had better morals than most other thieves and doesn't seem to have robbed anyone innocent. If anything you could call her more like a vigilante than a typical thief, and you wouldn't be incorrect."
"I mean...if that really is the case, then maybe working with her is fine." Izuku said, slowly coming around to the idea. "Still, I'll keep my guard up around her."
"That would be wise," Nezu told him. "This a complicated endeavor, as such, you'll need to pay attention at all times so long as your in you're costume, and even when you're not. Be very careful Mr. Midoriya, because we have no idea what the full extent of Kingpin's wrath is."
XXXXXXXXXXXX
Meanwhile, in a small, dark apartment, in the bad side of town, a burly man sat on his sofa, cleaning a spear.
Suddenly his phone rang, and stopped cleaning, and leaned over to pick it up. "Yes?"
"Kraven." Said Kingpin's voice on the other end. "I'd like to offer you another bounty. "How about 100 Million Yen, for Spider-Man's head."
Kraven smiled. "This will be fun."
Alright, let's address the elephant in the room.
Izuku cannot absorb electricity or other energy like Miles can. Why would I do this?
Well, firstly it gives Izuku another limit. He can only use so much of his venom powers. And second, I need him to fight Electro...like it's not like I can just write a Spider-Man fic, and not have him fight Electro.
Now let's address the second, smaller elephant, the way I changed Black Cat. I made her a bit more noble in here than she is normally portrayed.
The reason for this is simple, Izuku thinks with his head, and not with his "head" if you know what I mean.
The whole Batman and Catwoman/Spider-Man and Black Cat thing, doesn't work when your hero isn't horny enough to overlook things they really shouldn't be overlooking.
Of course, both Batman and Spider-Man have tried to redeem their respective cat burglars, but it never sticks, and they always go back to crime, and the fact that Batman and Spider-Man keep trying to redeem them, and letting them continue to steal things, just makes the redemption thing look like a thin excuse to let their friend with benefits continue to go free, so they can reap those benefits. And it conflicts with their typical character portrayals...well maybe not Batman. Batman seems to let a lot of female criminals go free if they let him park his Batmobile in their cave, but I doubt that's how D.C. wants us to view him.
Then there is the excuse that putting them in jail is a waste of time, or catching them isn't worth the effort because they don't kill anyone, which are more valid excuses, but they also don't work here, because getting out of prison isn't that easy in the MHA world, and Izuku is so much more powerful than Black Cat, he wouldn't have to put much effort in taking her down at all.
Now, let's talk about the last elephant in the room, Kraven. Yep, he's here. Get ready because he's gonna have quite a few tricks up his sleeves, some of which you won't expect.
Anyway, that's it for now, please review and have a nice day.