Sorry, it took me so long to update. I've been busy and had a lot of stuff to do.
"So, I thought you might be trying to manipulate me. But I didn't think you'd take me for an actual idiot." Izuku said to his thieving companion.
Earlier, Black Cat had given him a message, telling him that they were going to find some more information on the Kingpin, and to meet her at the location, at night.
And where were the two of them now? Well, they were standing on a rooftop, facing the place they were going to break into.
An Art Museum.
"Come on, you have to know I wouldn't be this brazen," Black Cat said to him, her ever-present Cheshire grin never fading. "I've checked my sources, and they say this place is chalked full of juicy information. Which makes sense."
"Oh. Would you mind sharing why it would make sense for a crime lord to hide information in an Art Museum?" Izuku asked, crossing his arms and giving her a very unimpressed look. "Because to me, it looks like you want me to help you steal from an Art Museum."
"Look at it this way. Make a list in your head of the places you'd expect to find information on the Kingpin. Now, where is, Art Museum, on that list?" Black Cat asked.
"Just above the K.F.C. parking lot, but below the restroom at Taco Bell," Izuku said sarcastically. "What are you getting at?"
"Geez so impatient." Black Cat laughed. "What I'm getting at is that if you want to hide information, especially from people who can easily break into your facilities, it's best to hide it in a place they won't suspect."
"Ok. Fair point. But why an Art Museum?" Izuku asked.
"Simple, Kingpin adores Art. He's the kind of guy who spends his birthdays with a platter of wine and cheese in his hand, looking at a white canvas and calling it the most beautiful thing he's ever seen." Black Cat rolled her eyes. "Pretty boring if you ask me."
"And what do you do on your birthdays?" Izuku inquired half-seriously.
"Hmmm. Same as I do on any other day, steal from naughty old men who've never been punished in their lives." Black Cat smirked. "Maybe I'll bust out an expensive wine to celebrate though."
"I doubt you're old enough to drink," Izuku remarked.
"As if I care." She responded. "And what about you? What do you do on that special day?"
"...Same as any other day," Izuku said after a moment's pause. "Maybe a bust out a cake to eat by myself."
"No friends?" Black Cat asked him in an almost mocking tone.
"That's none of your business." Izuku snapped, his eyes squinting into a mistrusting glare.
"Oph. Hit a sore spot?" Black Cat continued. Her mocking tone and ever-present smile never leaving her. "To be fair you are a pathologic lair."
"Oh? And since when were you a psychologist?" Izuku asked as he continued to glare at her, getting more on edge as the woman continued to probe.
"I'm a thief. And a damn good one, which I have to be a lot of things." She bragged. "And it doesn't take a psychologist to see that you're a pretty good lair. Let's start with that little persona you put on."
Izuku's eyes widened, and he took a step back. "How-"
"It's pretty good for an amateur, and the mask helps sell the whole thing by hiding your expression, but someone like me can tell when someone else is putting up a front." Black Cat went on. "Your not actually that confident in yourself, and your definitely not the type to start making jokes mid-fight."
"...It's to keep my identity a secret," Izuku growled.
"I bet that's what you told yourself. But in truth, you're just projecting to the world, who you want to be. And who you want them to see you as." Black Cat analyzed.
"I thought we were here to get information on the Kingpin, not talk about my personal life." Izuku snapped, having enough of her at this point. "And why are you interested? I don't have any money for you to steal so what do you get out casing me?"
"Entertainment." She shrugged. "To put it simply, I like solving puzzles. Most of the time that puzzle is a variant of, how do I steal some money from a bastard, but I like to shake it up every now and again. And you. You're interesting. You show up out of nowhere with an absolutely amazing quirk, and instead of using it to become a pro hero, you become a vigilante. Not to mention, it seems like you may have more than one quirk. And then there's the mystery in of the tinkerer. So many mysteries caught up in your web. I can't help but try to untangle them."
"Well don't get your hopes up. I have someone intent on making sure my secrets don't come out easily and trust me, you don't want to mess with him." Izuku warned.
She laughed it off. "That only makes me more interested. If you can't tell, I'm attracted to danger."
"Well then, it's' time for your hook up. Let's get this started." Izuku responded. "You have a plan?"
"Of course. Closing time is right about…now." Black Cat said as they saw the lights in the museum turn off. "And the non-night guard staff should be exiting…now."
Then, they saw the doors open up, as a large group of people left the building, with one man staying behind for a moment, to lock up.
"That means that the only things we'll have to deal with, are the nightguards. All 38 of them." Black Cat explained. "And also the automated security system."
"Not quite," Izuku said, as he took a small machine out of his belt. "Do you know what this is?"
"Can't say I do." Black Cat responded.
"It's a part. A part of an E.M.P. An E.M.P. that will cover the entire building. Taking out security systems and communications." Izuku explained. "Courtesy of the Tinkerer."
"Impressive. I think the Tinkerer is the piece of information, I'd most like to figure out." Black Cat's smile grew.
"Well if your a good kitty and focus, maybe I'll give you a treat." Izuku grit his teeth behind the mask. Oh, that is so weird and creepy sounding. She already knows I'm faking it, so why am I still acting like this?
"So then what do you have planned for the guards? They're going to notice if all of their high-tech fancy equipment stops working." Black Cat pointed out.
"Well at that point they won't be able to call for help, meaning they might try to get help from the outside somehow." Izuku deduced. "But they can't do that if they can't leave the building."
"And you happen to have super strong webs that could easily stop the doors from opening, and I happen to know the location of all the exits." Black Cat laughed again. "How convenient. But we'll want to hold off on using that immediately."
"Why?" Izuku didn't know what possible benefits there could be to keeping the security system up while they tried to sneak in.
"Simple, we need to figure out where the secret room, IS first." Black Cat pointed out. "And we can't spend all night looking around for it. Which is why we'll need to access the security rooms while the systems are still up and running."
"Right…if we can look at the cameras then we can see not only where the room is, but how to access it." Izuku realized, before seeing another issue. "But getting in there might a problem. We can't risk going in their guns blazing otherwise they may destroy the data. We need to do this without being seen."
"Then this might help." Black Cat pulled out a piece of paper, and unfolded it, revealing it to be a map of the whole place. "We can access the cameras in this security room. However there is only one entrance, and the vents leading into the room are too small to make it in through there. Meaning we'll need to get into through that extremely tough door, with no one spotting us."
"I can use my invisibility, but I don't know how to work the cameras," Izuku said. "I can take out the guards on the way to the room before any of them know what's happening, but I don't know if we can risk them being seen by the other guards on their patrol route."
"Good thing I asked the patrol routes then." Black Cat said, pointing at the map. "If you take out all 8 guards in this west hallway, then we'll have seven minutes before anyone can stumble upon their bodies. Maybe a bit more if we hide the bodies well."
"I can stick them on the ceiling but that's still not a lot of time," Izuku noted.
"It's the best we'll get." Black Cat said. "We just need to work as fast, and efficiently as possible. The moment we take out a guard we'll be on a ticking clock. You take out the guards, I'll sneak in the room, and while I'm looking through the security cameras, you web all the exits shown here and set up the E.M.P., and once I've found what we're looking for, I'll signal you to activate it. We'll go in, go through the entrance, and find the information we're looking for, and then get out.
"Ok, but how are we gonna get in, in the first place," Izuku said. "We can't just go through the front door, and like you said the vents are no good."
"Right, in order to get in through one of the doors at this time of night. You'd need a security pass, which can only be found on one of the guards, inside of the building. Pretty good security right?" Black Cat explained. "You can always rely on one thing to poke a hole into even the most airtight of security plans. Human error."
"So we just wait for one of the guards to come outside for some reason?" Izuku asked. "Doesn't seem like the best of plans."
"Must you always doubt me?" Black Cat shook her head. "As you've seen, I've gathered a lot of information about the place. That includes stalking the place. And I know for a fact that a few of guards like to go onto the east balcony mid-way into their shift, to have a smoke break."
"So when he comes out, we just knock him out, and take his pass?" Izuku asked. "But won't there be cameras watching the balcony?"
"Just one, and I've been tinkering with it for the past few days, slowly degrading the quality. So when you break it, they'll just think that the faulty camera finally broke." Black Cat explained. "Pretty clever huh?"
"Yeah, it's a shame you can't use that mind of yours for something better," Izuku noted.
"Isn't that what I'm doing right now?" Black Cat snarked.
"Ugh…wait. How long do we have to wait for them to go on a smoke break?" Izuku asked.
"About 3 or 4 hours." Black Cat answered, leaning against a chimney. "So you better get comfy spider."
Izuku took a deep breath. And prepared himself for a very, very long next few hours.
XXXXXXXXXXXXX
"So it can't come out of your ass." Black Cat asked.
"No. It can only come out of my wrist." Izuku groaned, holding his hands to his face, wishing this would just be over already.
"Ah. Heads up Spider. It's time." Black Cat told him.
Izuku lowered his hands, and looked down at the balcony on the opposing building, and saw two guards exiting the building, pulling out cigarettes and getting ready to smoke.
"Thank goodness," Izuku muttered, before getting up, and getting ready for acton. "You ready?"
"You know it." Black Cat smirked, standing beside him on the edge of the rooftop. "Let's go."
Izuku turned invisible, and shot out a web towards the building, and jumped forward, pulling himself towards it.
He landed just above the doors to the balcony and stuck to the wall.
Alright. The camera should be. Izuku looked around and saw the in the upper-most left corner of the balcony. There.
He quickly crawled over to the camera. Alright, let's see if this works properly.
Izuku placed his hand on top of the camera and tried to summon those electricity powers of his.
He felt power welling up and spreading throughout his body, and focusing into his hand.
ZAP!
"Huh?" One of the guards looked up at the now no longer functional camera, after hearing Izuku electrocute it. "What was that?"
"Dunno. Think the crappy camera finally short-circuited." The other guard asked casually. "Better ask the boss to replace that sooner rather than later, before-ACK!"
In quick succession Izuku landed down on the balcony, and smacked the two guards on the side of their heads, knocking them both out.
Almost immediately afterward, Black Cat landed on the balcony's railing, before dropping onto the balcony and picking the guard's pockets, before pulling out a security card. "Perfect. Now let's get inside, shall we? It's about to rain, and I didn't bring an umbrella."
The two ran over to the door, and Black Cat held one of the passes to the scanner. They heard a beep, and she opened the door. "You first, Invisible Man."
Izuku stuck his head inside, looking around to see if anyone would see them before he and Black Cat stepped inside.
Black Cat jumped on his back and held on tight, and Izuku jumped onto the wall and quickly made his way to the ceiling.
"Good thing no one ever looks up huh?" Black Cat whispered into his ear.
They might if you keep talking! Izuku tried his hardest to concentrate. Although with Black Cat's irritating personality and the fact that there was a girl, pressed against his back, it was pretty difficult.
Eventually, they did make it to the hallway leading to the security room. Looking down at the trail of guards he'd need to take down.
Alright. Once I land I'll have about five seconds to take each and every one of them out, without making a sound. Izuku thought.
He took a deep breath and dropped.
The moment he hit the ground, he punched two guards in the face, sending them flying into the wall unconscious, before he rushed forward, swept the legs of another guard, and as he was falling, he elbowed him in the head, knocking him out as he hit the ground.
Izuku continued forward, and kicked another guard in the head, before running up to another guard and chopping him in the back of the neck.
Lastly, with only a second left, he rushed into the security room, where three guards were sitting in chairs looking over the cameras.
He jumped in, shooting out web lines at the back of two of the guard's heads, before pulling them together, causing their heads to hit each other, as Izuku kicked the reaming guard in the head.
Done. Izuku breathed a sigh of relief as he landed, and Black Cat immediately got off of him, immediately getting to the cameras.
"Damn that spider speed is something else." Black Cat told him, as she operated the controls. "Good thing your not a serial killer. I can't even imagine the death toll."
"Wonderful though to put into my head. Thank you so much." Izuku said sarcastically, as he went to the door. "Now if you excuse me, I'll be busy preparing for the next stage. Don't call me until you've found the entrance."
"But what if I get lonely?" Black Cat asked facetiously.
"Then feel free to wake up one of the guards," Izuku told her, before running out.
XXXXXXXXXXXX
After webbing all the knocked-out guards to the ceiling, Izuku went outside and webbed up all the exits. Except for the one on the balcony, which was too high up for normal people to use as a way out.
He then made his way to the roof, where he was now setting up the E.M.P.
Am I getting too comfortable with the Spider-Man persona? Izuku wondered as he set up the device. I was being really rude. I mean, she doesn't seem to mind much…maybe I'm just letting her get into my head. But seriously what is her deal? She says that she doesn't want to get on my bad side, but she deliberately ticks me off. I mean I guess she was right about being attracted to danger but still.
"Found it." Black Cat told him using their communicators. "Activate the E.M.P. and then meet me in the weapons exhibit."
"On it." Izuku responded as he put the final piece on the E.M.P. "Alright. Let's do this."
He pushed the on button, and then-
PWENM!
The device shot out a large shockwave, that reached every corner of the building.
"Alright. I think that worked. Thankfully my stuff should be safe in my belt." Izuku said to himself. "Quality gear, well made. Time to go meet Cat."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
By the time Izuku crawled his way to the ceiling of the weapons exhibit, he saw that Black Cat had already taken out all the surrounding guards, and was standing in front of a katana, that was half out of its sheath.
"So, where's the entrance?" Izuku asked as he dropped onto the floor.
"According to the camera footage, all we have to do is this." Black Cat grabbed the hilt of the sword, and slid it, completely into the sheath. And then…
Nothing happened.
They waited a few more seconds.
And nothing still happened.
Black Cat, for the first time all mission, finally stopped smiling and looking concerned. Thinking for a second, wondering why this wasn't working, until she had a breakthrough. "So…the entrance is under here, but it appears that the E.M.P. shorted out the sliding mechanism."
"Damn it, I should have seen that coming!" Izuku cursed his lack of forethought. "Now what?"
"Well it's a pretty simple solution, just use some of that spider strength, and force it open." Black Cat told him.
"That'll make a lot of noise," Izuku warned.
"At this point, we don't really need to worry about the guards." Black Cat smirked. "If they come, we'll take care of them."
"I mean…I guess we don't have a choice." Izuku walked up to the display.
He put his hand on either side of it, before lifting the whole thing up, tearing it out of the ground, and revealing the secret entrance.
Izuku set the display to the side and dusted off his hands. "Alright. Let's finish this."
XXXXXXXXX
After getting through the entrance, they found a large secret room, that looked like some kind of…war room. There were filing cabinets, maps laid out on a table, computers, and more.
"Interesting. Looks like Kingpin's been busy." Black Cat said, as she immediately made her way to the computer. "Now let's see, exactly what you've been up to fat man."
Izuku went over the filing cabinets and started looking through them. Thankfully, everything he saw was being recorded and sent to a computer back at the Tinkerer's lair. So he didn't really have to read anything, which is good because he didn't have time to read anything, just look at it.
The two of them continued gathering data. Looking at maps and files, and downloading info, for a while, before they felt like they got everything they needed.
"Alright. We should get going." Izuku said, putting the last file back in its place. "Those webs only last 2 hours."
"Good to know." Black Cat said, pulling out the last flash drive. "Alright, the date was fun, but I think it's time we went somewhere more private."
"Does everything have to be an inappropriate joke to you?" Izuku asked. "By the way, did you get any understanding of what…this is all about."
"Well, it looks like Kingpin is getting into a bit of a scuffle with the Demons." Black Cat explained. "They're one of the many pieces of Yakuza that flew off when the main organization fell apart."
"I see, so it's some kind of gang war." Izuku summarized. "...Maybe I should look into that some more."
"I wouldn't worry about it too much." Black Cat said. "Once you take down the Kingpin, the war will pretty much be over."
"I guess. Alright. Let's go." Izuku said.
XXXXXXXXXX
After leaving the secret room, and beating up some guards on their way out, they left the museum and made their way back to the rooftop.
"Alright, hopefully, I can make good use of this, info," Izuku said, before turning to Black Cat and sighing. "I supposed…I owe my thanks."
"Aww. So you can be nice." She teased.
Izuku shook his head. "Don't-"
And then suddenly, his spider-sense went off.
He quickly turned to the side and swatted a dart out of the air, that was heading towards his arm.
Izuku looked up in the direction where the dart came from, and saw, standing on a rooftop adjacent to them, was Kravin.
"Is that guy wearing a tiger pelt?" Black Cat asked.
"I think so," Izuku said.
Kravin jumped from his rooftop to their's landing a few feet in front of them and giving them a vicious smirk. "Spider-Man."
"Hello, weird, Russian man," Izuku responded, getting into a fighting stance. "Guessing you're here for a fight."
"No," Kravin responded, pulling out a spear. "I'm here, for a hunt."
Alright, so now we have the confrontation between Izuku, Kravin, and Black Cat.
Also, a lot of people seemed to assume that Black Cat was an MHA character taking on the mantle of Black Cat…Why?
Did I do something last chapter that implied that? Because she not. She's just this version of Black Cat for the story.
Anyway, please review and have a nice day.