In the following evening, a masked Felicia waited on a rooftop in her leather outfit. She kneeled down to observe the warehouse for some time. It was quite big, accompanied by a small building next to it. The sonar pulses from her "cat ears" only revealed objects down there, no person in sight. Something didn't sit right... She could feel it in her guts.
Then, the sound of two weblines being shot and two thuds on the surface caught her attention. Black Cat deactivated her sonar mode, turned around and saw Scarlet Spider and Spider-Man behind her, who had just arrived.
"Sorry for making you wait, Cat," Spidey apologized.
"Don't worry. No biggie, Webhead," she smiled under the mask. "Oh and here are some earpieces for you two," she handed them to the Spider-Men, "In case we are separated so we can communicate."
"Thank you." The two pulled up their masks slightly to wear the earpieces, activating them, and slid the masks back down. Afterwards, the three heroes turned back to the warehouse and scanned the surroundings below.
"Anything or anyone?" Spider-Man asked Black Cat regarding the situation.
"No one in sight. It's just...odd," she answered.
"Weird... It's so empty," Scarlet commented, "I don't sense any bad guys."
"Me too. This is really weird," Spider-Man replied in a confused tone.
"Wait, you can sense danger?" Black Cat asked both of them and they nodded.
"Yup, like spiders. We have this sixth sense that alerts to nearby dangers. It gives a tingling sensation in our heads," the red-and-blue hero explained. "A-"
"Spider sense?" she guessed.
"Yeah! A spider sense, if you will."
"And there's his brainy side showing," Scarlet Spider teased his cousin, "He's basically a walking science book," he snorted. Spider-Man groaned in response.
"Well, that means I can make your life a living hell. I can spit science facts and formulas at you for days," he fired back with a joke.
The black-and-red hero became silent for a bit, realizing his mistake. "...I did not think this through. I played myself." That reaction made Spider-Man snort for a bit, trying to hold back his laugh. Only for him to lose it seconds later.
Seeing their banter, a chuckle escaped from Black Cat's mouth. "You're well-versed in science. Not bad, Spidey. It's not my thing but...I'm impressed," she expressed her admiration.
"Aww thanks," Spider-Man chuckled before he finally reminded everyone, "Okay, that's enough fooling around. We got a job to do." He looked at Scarlet and Cat, "Shall we?"
"We shall," they replied. The trio jumped off the rooftop and landed on the ground. Without wasting anymore time, they all proceeded to enter the warehouse while keeping an eye on their surroundings for any threats.
*
(A few minutes later...)
"So far, nothing..." Spider-Man said as he and his allies entered a wide hallway, "If there's nothing more in this warehouse after we check this part, let's go to the next building. We might find something there." Scarlet Spider and Black Cat nodded in agreement.
While walking, Cat glanced here and there for anyone as the sonar pulses kept pinging, showing her what was behind walls and other materials. But then, her sonar mode received statics and it stopped emitting pulses. "Ah fuck!" The static sounds were too much for her that she decided to turn it off.
Spider-Man turned around and asked with concern in his voice, "What? What is it?"
"Someone's here," she replied and pulled out her custom gun from the holster. "Don't know where exactly but they are here. And they're jamming my sonar pulses." She then checked its cartridge, which contained rubber rounds.
"We have to be careful," Scarlet said. When he noticed the gun Black Cat was holding, he tilted his head in curiosity. "What kind of gun is that?"
"Customized gun that shoots less-than-lethal rounds and gadgets. It once belonged to my..." she paused for a bit, suddenly remembering her late father, "My dad..."
"Is something wrong?"
Cat shook her head and tried to regain her composure. "Nothing's wrong. Don't worry," she told Scarlet. He could only nod although he knew there was more to it.
Along the way, they checked every room in the hallway. The webheads carefully opened the doors and peeked inside, while Black Cat used an endoscope camera attached to her phone to peek under the door. Strangely enough, there was still no one. Until she spotted a peculiar door with a window. No lights were coming through the window, the room was dark.
"Weird... I'll check that door," Cat said to the Spider-Men as she proceeded to check with the camera, using its night vision... Nothing. Just a wide empty area with some concrete objects inside. So she decided to investigate.
Just then, Spider-Man and Scarlet Spider's spider senses began to buzz intensely. They groaned in pain as the sensation overwhelmed them. The two looked at each other in realization.
"It's a trap..." Spidey rushed to the room to warn his friend, with Scarlet following him. "Cat, it's a trap!" he screamed at her.
"What?"
Before she could process further what he said, a flashbang grenade was thrown at the three heroes. But Scarlet quickly dashed forward and slapped it away instinctively, thanks to his spider sense. Everyone darted back, looked away, closed their eyes and covered their ears as the grenade released a blinding flash of light when it exploded, making the heroes' ears ring.
Soon after they opened their eyes and ears, the ringing faded out. Their eyes widened when they spotted four security guards exiting their cover of concrete, aiming their guns at the trio. They looked up to see Shocker and his four henchmen on the upper floor. Two of his men wore their own pair of vibro-shock gauntlets and yellow quilt patches on their costume while the others had rifles. Seeing this, Scarlet Spider shielded his allies with his hands because they all were cornered.
Felicia was horrified when she saw her father's killer, this time in person. Just by seeing him, her grip on the gun tightened. She wanted to shoot Shocker but she realized the group would be all goners if she didn't think through. So Felicia held back.
"Well, well. Quite a surprise, isn't it?" Shocker looked down at the group. "The Cat's back from the dead through his daughter. Never expected the bozos to be here too. But oh well, I'll be glad to get rid of you permanently," he chuckled darkly.
"Oh yeah! A surprise to be sure but not a welcome one," Spidey sneered at Shocker, which made him and his henchmen rather annoyed. Both Scarlet and Cat smiled, feeling eased up a bit.
However, what Shocker said about Black Cat confused the Spider-Men. But because of a more pressing situation at the moment, they decided to shrug it off for now.
"So, plan B, right?" Scarlet Spider asked Black Cat.
"Yeah. Problem is...how the hell can we get outta here first?" she replied as Shocker's group descended the staircase and the guards closing in, "One wrong move and we're dead."
For a moment, Spider-Man glanced back and forth at the opposing groups. He could feel his hands sweating, the intensity of his heartbeats, and how frantic his breathing was. So he inhaled...and exhaled a few times before thinking what to do. And one idea came up. "...Wait, we can stall them."
"How?" both Scarlet and Cat asked in confusion.
"Cat, use your non-lethal rounds to incapacitate the guards," he told her, "While I and Scarlet-"
"Use our webs to blind the others?" Scarlet Spider said.
"Exactly. You handle the ones with gauntlets, the rest is for me. Alright, let's go!"
Black Cat raised and aimed her gun for the guards' heads, firing twice in rapid succession. Two shots knocked out each guard. And the last guard quickly radioed for help.
"Backup! We need backup now!-" Another two shots knocked him out, but it was too late. The transmission had reached out to other guards.
"Damn it," Cat gritted her teeth under the mask.
Meanwhile, Scarlet Spider quickly shot three web splats directed at Shocker and two of his men. He also shot their gauntlets to make sure they wouldn't be able to shoot shock blasts. And for Spider-Man, he did the same to the last two with his web splats and yanked their weapons to the ground with his webbing.
"Okay, that's it. Now go!" Scarlet Spider ordered his allies, "Stick to our roles, stick to the plan. I'll handle these guys while you watch each other's backs." Then, he turned to Black Cat, as if wondering if he could trust her with Spidey.
She knew what that look meant and nodded, before exiting the area with Spider-Man.
Shocker and his men got rid of the webbing on their faces after trying for a few times to no avail. He didn't forget to tear off the webbing on the group's gauntlets, including his. "Remember that clown is not an ordinary human. So be careful when trying to attack him," Shocker reminded everyone, "Don't be afraid. We have each other's backs, alright? Now let's teach this wall-crawler a lesson he won't forget."
Two of the henchmen pulled out their pistols and started shooting at Scarlet Spider as the group ran down to the lower floor. He ran to different directions to dodge the bullets but a few managed to graze his arms. Scarlet yelped in pain and growled at his opponents.
"Seems like you're on the losing side. Need my help? I can give you some power boost," the Other tempted Kaine, "Go all out and kill all of them! And you'll win and won't lose anyone precious to you."
"No," he scoffed, "I don't need you. And I haven't lost yet." Kaine looked at his wounds and chuckled as they closed pretty fast, before turning his attention to Shocker and the henchmen, "Besides, I can handle them."
Focusing on one man with a gun, Scarlet Spider shot a web line from his fingertips toward the man, yanking him to the ground and punching him in the face. He then lifted up the henchman—who was slightly bigger than him—with ease and hurled his body to another henchman with a gun, knocking him out.
Such a feat of strength made Shocker and his remaining men step back in fear. However, seeing what Scarlet did to his group and remembering his goal and mission, gave determination to Shocker to face his enemy. He pressed a button on one of his gauntlets to activate its energized battering ram attachment and walked forward.
The group began to shoot shock blasts at Scarlet Spider but he managed to dodge some. They would sometimes use their battering rams for melee attacks which Scarlet tried to avoid. But eventually, one attack sent him flying across the area.
Struggling to get up, Scarlet coughed a few times. He groaned in pain, prompting him to hold his chest. Glancing back and forth between his opponents, a strained chuckle escaped from his mouth. "Looks like this is going to take some time..."
The Other laughed when he heard what Kaine said. "Yeah, gonna take some time. Says the one who can't handle these pieces of shit."
Now able to stand, Scarlet Spider just ignored his dark side's tauntings and let out a battle cry. Two of his stingers extruded from his wrists as he charged and jumped at Shocker's group.
*
On the other side, Black Cat and Spider-Man were running to the building next to the warehouse, with the intention of finding the next piece of information as a lead. But the problem was armed security guards were after them.
"Stand down or we will shoot!" the lead guard warned the heroes, before raising his rifle and aiming at them.
Spidey looked back, noticed the leader, and turned to his friend. "Cat, we got company!" He then told her, "You go to the building while I handle these guys for you, alright?"
"No," she said.
"Wha- Why?"
"Scarlet... He trusted me with you. I can't let anything bad happen to you, Webhead. So we face them together."
He froze for a bit... Peter couldn't help but chuckle. He nodded as a response and together with Black Cat, he stopped running and turned around to face twelve security guards before them.
"That's right. Now, don't do anything stu-" the lead guard got hit in the face with multiple web pellets. The impact made him drop his weapon and fall to the ground unconscious. His fellow security guards looked dumbfounded and speechless, seeing their leader knocked out. They turned their attention to the duo and gripped their rifles tighter. Some pulled out their stun batons as they didn't have any firearms.
"Let's get these bastards and teach them a lesson!" one of them said loudly before everyone yelled as they charged at the heroes, becoming two separate groups to handle them.
Spider-Man and Black Cat looked at each other, nodded, and charged at respective groups. For the webhead, there were two guards with guns and four with stun batons. And for the cat, three with guns and three with batons. The baton guards were closest to the heroes while the ones with rifles were farther but could kill them from a long distance. So, Spidey shot web lines at the armed guards, pulled the webs to make them fall, and webbed them to the ground. Meanwhile, Cat shot two rounds at each armed guard in rapid succession, taking down three of them.
Because of that however, one guard managed to electrocute Spider-Man, causing him to yell in pain and his body to convulse. Black Cat's eyes widened in realization and she quickly aimed her wrist at the baton, shooting a grappling hook toward it and pulled it to her direction. The guard was distracted. With this opportunity, Spider-Man delivered a light jab to his face but it still knocked out his opponent.
Another guard rushed at the webhead with his baton. But before he could succeed, Cat used the baton from earlier and tasered him. She backed away and her ally webbed the man to the ground.
"H-Hey..." Spider-Man turned to Black Cat and nodded in appreciation, "Thank you."
"Don't mention it, Spidey," she replied, with a smile beneath her mask.
"You two!" One of the guards shouted at them. "Whatever you are looking for here. You won't find it. You've trespassed this area, so you better stand down!"
Black Cat just scoffed at what he said, "Like I give a damn about surrendering. I won't stop till I get what I want."
"Oh, if you only knew," the guard laughed, which made Cat give him a confused look, "Trust me, lady. You won't find it here. You all have wasted your time."
The two heroes looked at each other confusedly. But nonetheless, they faced their remaining enemies. Spider-Man shot multiple web lines to yank the batons off from the guards' hands while Black Cat delivered punches and kicks to two guards. And for the other two, Spider-Man shot a web net from all of his fingertips to bind them.
They just stood there for the moment... Panting. Inhaling. Exhaling. Calming down their breathing. They turned their attention to each other as things quieted down. Spider-Man giggled softly and gave a thumbs up, which Black Cat responded with an appreciative nod.
With no more bad guys on their path, Black Cat and Spider-Man entered the building. It was an office with a few rooms. They searched through rooms for information to no avail. Only one room left. When they got inside, they found documents and computers and began searching.
As he sifted through folders and papers and Cat checked every computer, Spider-Man couldn't help but think about the guard's words. "Why did he say you won't find it here? And that we have wasted our time?"
"He was toying with us. That's all. Let's keep looking, okay?" she replied. Soon, Black Cat stumbled upon an intriguing folder in the computer she used. She raised her eyebrow and accessed it, finding a document. A smirk formed on her face. Cat quickly accessed it...only for the computer to suddenly trigger an alarm and went to shutdown. Black Cat felt shocked and confused at the same time.
"Cat, w-what did you do?!" She could only shake her head.
"I don't know! I was opening a document file. And then it's just-" Something occurred to her. "...It was all just a bait."
"What?"
"They baited us," she realized as she pieced the whole thing, "Shocker and Tombstone knew I was coming so they set up a trap... What they didn't know was that you two were coming too..."
"How did they know?" Spidey asked, still confused.
"I... Let's just say I made a foolish move by going to their doorstep and announcing my intention..." she admitted, shame in her voice.
He could only sigh at her answer. "Alright, well uh... I guess we can talk about it later. For now, we should get back to Scarlet-" His spider sense zinged as a loud blast from somewhere nearby interrupted the two. "Oh no..."
*
A shock blast just sent Scarlet Spider pummeling through the warehouse's wall into the parking lot, leaving a big hole in it. He was lying on the ground, coughing profusely and holding his chest in pain.
"No one. No one hurts my men!" Shocker yelled as he walked out from the hole.
Scarlet stood up to face the enemy but his body was shaking. Yet, he readied his stingers anyway, not caring for the pain.
"You should've not hurt them. Stabbed them!" He hit the black-and-red hero with the battering ram, sending him flying to a pillar.
The pain of getting hit with the pillar was too much. That and the abuse he had faced felt like agony. Moans of pain kept escaping Scarlet's mouth.
"But they'll recover," Shocker pressed down a button to charge his blast as he walked closer to Scarlet, "And we will. We. Will. SURELY KILL YOU, YOUR PARTNER, AND THE CAT FOR MESSING WITH US!"
Just the mention of him hurting his cousin was enough to make Scarlet Spider rise up. He snarled, ready to take Shocker down. "What...did you say..?"
"Embrace who you are, Kaine. Embrace your inner beast! Kill him!" the Other persuaded him, but Kaine ignored it.
Before Shocker could finish charging his blast though, something electrocuted him, causing his body to convulse. And he was yanked to the ground.
Scarlet turned his attention to Spider-Man, having shot the web lines to take down Shocker, and Black Cat, who just shot two shock darts from her gun. "Y-You guys are okay..." he expressed his relief weakly, retracting his stingers back into his wrists.
"We're even now," Spidey giggled before asking, "You okay?"
"Not really. But I'll recover in time," he reassured his cousin, "Thanks, you two. I would've been a goner if it wasn't for you..."
"Guys, sorry to interrupt but..." Cat cut into the conversation, "We need to get out of here."
"Why?" Scarlet then noticed the alarm blaring, "What's going on? The hell happened?"
"Later. We need to get out now! Otherwise, we're done for!" She holstered the gun, ran to the streets, and shot a grapple hook to a nearby building. It accelerated her upward and she began to swing from building to building. The Spider-Men soon joined her as they swung with their web lines.
Meanwhile, Shocker rose from the ground and watched the heroes retreat. He smirked and pulled out his phone from his jeans' pocket, intending to report to Tombstone.
"Hello, Herman. How did the mission go?" Tombstone asked with an expectant tone.
"The Cat got into our bait and it triggered an alarm. She fell right into our trap. Your idea for the trap was great. Backing up the original document to the cloud before removing it and replacing it with a trap," he let out a chuckle. "And we got some unexpected surprises."
"I appreciate your compliment. And what surprises?"
"She's teamed up with those spider clowns. They roughed up my men and the security guards." There was bitterness in Herman's voice as he recounted the events.
"Then we need to take that fact into consideration for our next plans," Tombstone noted, "This bait may only stop them temporarily. Meaning, our...problems may strike again sooner or later." After that, he told Shocker, "Thank you, Herman. You and everyone have done the best you could. Take the time to check their condition and return to HQ with your men ASAP. I'll wait for you back in the safehouse."
Herman let out a soft sigh as Tombstone ended the call. He turned around to the warehouse and entered it to check his men along with the security guards in and outside the building.
*
(Moments later, on a rooftop...)
"So you're telling me... We got trapped, baited just because of you announcing your intention to exact your revenge on them?" Scarlet Spider asked in disbelief.
"Yes. It was...a terrible mistake in hindsight..." Black Cat looked away in shame.
Scarlet facepalmed and let out a groan. "This could've been less complicated... Now, they are one step ahead of us," he said.
"Hey, guys. C'mon... What's happened happened, okay? No need to keep pondering on it." Spider-Man tried to brighten the mood by bringing up some facts, "Although the mission is a failure, we all did great! You both did an amazing job. Everyone had each other's back. The three of us make a great team. So, not bad for our first team-up mission. We can improve!"
This reminded Scarlet when he trusted Cat with Spidey. And based on what he said, she protected him like he did with her. So Scarlet Spider looked at Black Cat and gave an appreciative, grateful nod. "I knew I could count on you. Thanks, Cat. And I think Webs is right, we do make a great team," he smiled.
"You're welcome. And thanks for...trusting me, I suppose." It felt weird to have a stranger...an ally to trust her, especially the fact he didn't trust her in the beginning. But now, it started to change?
Seeing the two interact made Spider-Man smile. "Anyway, let's not focus on the problem for now. It's been a long day and the sky is already dark. Let's just go home and rest, shall we?" he suggested.
"Agreed. We can think of what to do tomorrow or something. I got an important thing to do too," Cat said.
And so, everyone bid goodbye to each other before going their separate ways. On their way home, the Spider-Men pondered on what Shocker said about Black Cat as they hadn't known Cat's background. For Black Cat, she wondered if she could start trusting her allies a little...
A/N: This really took some time to write cuz it's one of the longest chapters I've ever written XD Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the action and the interactions! The next chapter will be focused on the side plot, with Annabelle being the focus. Stay tune by following and making this story your favorite. Comments and shares are appreciated as well :D
