Chapter 3:

"So, why were you so eager to get tutoring?" Liam asked Lydia.

The two were outside of the school, sitting on a bench and studying together.

"I realized I was falling behind. Quick." Lydia answered.

Liam was surprised a bit by that.

"You always seemed deep in your notebook." Liam stated. "Your pencil would go a mile a minute."

Lydia raised an eyebrow.

"Right." Lydia's face grew red as she tightened her hold on her notebook, shying away a bit. "Anyway… I heard you were smart, like, a genius or something, so I decided to hit you up."

"Who told you that, Chase?" Liam asked.

"Yeah, he told me you-" as she spoke, her voice began to fade out as the hair on Liam's arm rose. Tiny vibrations emanated around Liam's head, alerting every alarm in his head as his eyes darted around the room. "-had nearly all straight As, and…"

(A threat? Here?) Liam thought as he tried to maintain a discreet appearance whilst trying to root out the source. (What?)

His eyes darted to a blonde girl, half of her hair shaved, while the rest ended at her shoulder, highlighted with a soft pink at the tips. She was adjusted her backpack before entering the library.

His attention was brought to another student that was reading a book at a table. He fixed his glasses before turning to the next page.

"Liam?" Lydia said, getting his attention. "You okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, you were saying?"

Lydia hesitated before continuing with what she was saying.

Suddenly, a sharp vibration flowed around Liam's head as a woman with silver hair walked by him and Lydia. A moment later, Liam caught whiff of her expensive perfume.

Liam wasn't sure why she would set off his Spidey Sense. She seemed harmless. That was until she looked over her shoulder at Liam and dropped a piece of paper, causing Liam's Spidey Sense to spike briefly.

Within an instant, Liam scanned the area before using his watch, with a built in web shooter, to grab the paper.

Looking down, his eyes widened as he read the words that were written in elegant handwriting.

"Meet me in Hell's Kitchen at midnight, Spider. Yours truly-" after that was just a drawing of a Black Cat.

Immediately, Liam's senses were alerted. Looking up with eyes wide, Liam scanned for the silver haired woman, but she'd vanished from sight.

How could she know he was Spider-Man?

"-and, well, I figured someone like that would be great to learn from."

"Yeah, yeah, totally." Liam said, pulling himself back to the conversation.

"You okay?" Lydia asked, raising an eyebrow. "You seem distracted."

"Yeah, no, sorry. I was." Liam admitted. "Thought I had recognized that girl that just walked by."

"Oh? You knew her?"

"No." Liam shook his head. "Thought I did."

Getting back to helping Lydia, it wasn't long before the sun fell and the moon replaced it.

Spider-Man landed on a rooftop in Hell's Kitchen, the light from the moon illuminating him.

"How am I supposed to find you when you don't even mention a specific place?" Spider-Man questioned.

"I'm supposed to find you." A woman's voice answered from behind him.

Turning around, Liam was met with the same silver hair as before. However, the woman was donning a pitch black catsuit with a mask that only covered her face. Her catsuit was unzipped just enough to show off her cleavage, drawing the brief attention of Spider-Man before he got down to business.

"How do you know who I am?" He asked.

The cat clicked her tongue.

"I brought you here, I setup the meeting, I will ask the questions." The cat replied. "First, you can call me "Black Cat." The officials seem to enjoy referring to me by it."

Spider-Man crossed his arms.

"Second, I have a job that requires a certain… skillset. One you fit to a T." Black Cat stated.

"What job?"

"You ever hear of a place called Alchemax?" Black Cat asked.

"Should I?" Spider-Man crossed his arms.

"Hm. Guess not." Black Cat sighed. "Listen, I need something from that lab, Spider. And you're gonna help me."

"Am I?" Spider-Man scoffed. "No offense, but your entire vibe screams "petty thief."

"You flatter me." Black Cat chuckled. "Take comfort in knowing that what it is I need, is beneficial to everyone."

"How so?"

"What Alchemax is planning, could level the city. Believe me, I've seen the plans." Black Cat stated. "We steal this one item, and it'll disable the cannon before it can activate."

"And how much is the item worth on the black market?" Spider-Man questioned.

Black Cat smiled.

"You know your stuff, Spider." She admitted. "We can split the profits down the middle. Seven figure sell."

Spider-Man's eyes widened at the thought of that much money. But he quickly shook them away.

"Regardless, you're a thief, and a criminal." Spider-Man went to launch a web, but Black Cat easily dodged out of the way, slipping behind Spider-Man, with the grace of a gymnast.

"That's unfortunate." Black Cat pouted. "When you end up helping me, I want you to remember our deal."

As Spider-Man went to catch Black Cat, she dropped a flash-bang, blinding the Spider and buying enough time to get away.

"Alchemax?" Spider-Man said once his daze faded.

The next day

Sitting in class, Liam watched a projection with the rest of the students. It was a recording of Kingpin. He was showing off his recently purchased lab, Alchemax.

"There's that name…" Liam said softly.

"Shh!" The teacher quickly hushed him.

As he watched, Lydia was eyeing Liam closely from the back of the class. Because of his sudden disappearance the other day, she was beginning to suspect that his attention was divided with another girl.

If only she knew.

The video showed a tour of Alchemax and the cannon Black Cat had mentioned the previous night. Instantly, Liam's Spider Sense flared, invisible waves dancing around his head at varying speeds.

(Black Cat was right. That cannon screams "bad news".)

Hours later

As soon as school released, Liam began heading to the subway station. He and Chase had used their lunch break to hack into Alchemax's security system.

"I still don't understand how you do that shit so easily." Liam stated, watching his friends' fingers fly across the keyboard at mach speed.

"Their systems are held together with fuckin' duct tape and Elmer's glue. Easy."

"Bet. Bust into that shit and show me what they got hidin'." Spider-Man edged closer to the screen as Chase flipped through security cam after security cam.

"We got about a minute before they realize they've been hit." Chase stated. "We gotta be gone by then."

"Work your magic."

Quickly browsing through each cam, Chase came across an exposed hole into the underground lab.

"Look." Chase zoomed in on the hole. "Looks like decay and… maybe explosives..? Did this. Rough estimate. Anyway, looks like this leads into the subway. And from that graffiti…" Chase quickly exited the Alchemax cams and transferred over to the subway cams. "Bam! Hell's Kitchen, 51st street. Closest entrance, and looks to be a bit of a hike. Good luck inside, man."

"Thanks."

Walking across the ceiling of the subway, Spider-Man approached the entrance to the underground lab. Crawling inside on the ceiling, Spider-Man made his way inside, only to immediately see Black Cat get thrown across the room by Prowler, a woman donning electric claw gauntlets and power boots. She donned a full set of armor, including a hemet that distorted her voice to sound masculine. Only reason why Spider-Man knew it was a woman was because he damaged it in battle once, hearing her real voice.

"C'mon, Prowler!" Black Cat shouted over their duel. "Seventy/thirty!"

"My loyalty can't be bought." Prowler stated before throwing a punch.

Spider-Man launched a web, springing himself towards Prowler and intercepting her hit.

"Heya fellas." Spider-Man taunted as he pushed Prowler back. The two engaged in hand-to-hand while Black Cat smiled.

"Thanks for the help, Spider." She said before rushing inside.

"Ah, hey!"

Black Cat came to a stop, looking back at the duel. She gave it a quick thought before sighing and launching a tiny wire from her wristband. It wrapped around Prowler, restricting her movements and causing her to fall over.

"C'mon. Don't fall behind." Black Cat said as she and Spider-Man ran through the halls.

"What's happening?" Spider-Man asked as the two engaged, and quickly incapacitated, a few guards in their path.

"They're firing up the cannon." Black Cat stated. "If you buy me enough time, I can snag the device needed to power this thing, and stop the cannon. Win-win!"

Spider-Man sighed in defeat.

"Fine, but I want a cut of whatever it sells for." Spider-Man told her.

"Sixty-five/thirty-five." Black Cat stated. "Only offer."

"Fine." Spider-Man shook her hand before the two parted.

Making his was to the cannon, Spider-Man perched on the rail. However, unbeknownst to anyone, someone else had made their way to the lab, having followed Spider-Man since the Subway.

Lydia.

As she watched Spider-Man with awe, a tiny spider began to web it's way down to her, a number on its back. "223".

Landing on Lydia's shoulder, it crawled over the hood of her jacket and down the back of her neck.

Feeling a tingle, Lydia went to swat the spider just as it sunk its fangs into her skin, injecting her with radioactive venom.

Yelping as she swatted the spider, Lydia glared down at it.

"Dick."

Returning her attention to the fight, Lydia kept a safe distance away, avoiding getting too close to the edge.

"C'mon, Prowler! What're they paying you? Bet I can double it." Spider-Man joked.

"Seriously doubt that." Prowler retorted as she threw punch after punch. "Now hold still!"

Swiping Spider-Man's feet, Prowler kicked him under a set of rotating pylons.

"Okay." Stopping the rotations with his hand, Spider-Man shot a web past Prowler, pulling himself directly towards her. Just as he did, Green Goblin tackled him, punching Spider-Man before throwing him into the air.

"Can the Spider-Man come out to play!" Goblin laughed as he set his glider to slam into the Spider.

Grabbing hold of the twin blades, Goblin directed his glider to the wall.

"Collider sequence test beginning." An automated voice said.

"Oh, that's not good." Spider-Man said as he was pressed into the wall. Gripping both blades, Spider-Man kept them from piercing his chest at the cost of slicing his hands.

Goblin laughed as he redirected his glider towards the collider beam, just as it began.

"No!" Kingpin, who had been watching from the viewing room, was more than pissed at Norman for this. "Take him out of the Collider!"

As the beam hit Spider-Man, the sudden stop made him bend backwards a bit, causing the glider to flip over him and make a nosedive for the ground.

Seeing images of countless variations of Kingpins daughter, one he had lost in a recent car accident, flash before him. Followed by five brief versions of Spider people.

"Pull him-" before Kingpin could finish his order, the Collider suddenly shut down. "-out!"

There was a pause before the Collider exploded, sending out three energy waves and knocking Spider-Man, the people in the viewing room, Lydia, and Black Cat down.

"No." Lydia whispered as she rushed over to where Spider-Man crash landed. Moving some debris, she saw Spider-Man push himself upright, a hand on his side.

"You're okay."

"What-?" Spider-Man cleared his throat. "What are you doing here?" He asked in a deeper voice.

Lydia didn't answer as she gave Spider-Man a shoulder to lean on.

"Search for him." Kingpin growled in the smoke.

"Oh, no." Spider-Man coughed before stumbling as he took a step. "Sorry."

"For wha-aaaaaaAAAH!"

Spider-Man flung Lydia back into the subway, using his webs to cushion her landing.

"Kingpin… buddy…" Spider-Man chuckled as he backed away. "How's business?"

"Boomin'!" Kingping declared.

"That's just gREAT!" Going to launch a web, both of Spider-Man's web shooters clicked. "Seriously?"

Kingpin punched Spider-Man, sending him into the dust.

"No!" Lydia shouted, getting the attention of Kingpin and the others.

Seeing her dart right and towards the subway station, Kingpin only glared.

"Kill that girl."

Prowler immediately launched after her, claws dragging across the floor, sending sparks. Lydia rushed down the subway, Prowler hot on her trails.

Kingpin and Goblin, along with Tombstone, approached the recovering Spider-Man.

"This is the last time you interfere, Spider-Man." Kingpin growled. "Kill him."

Goblin approached, pumpkin bomb in hand.

Spider-Man scoffed before looking at Kingpin directly.

"Don't you wanna know what I saw in there?"

Kingpin held his hand up to stop Goblin.

"I know what you're trying to do. And it won't work."

Kingpin chuckled before raising both fists, bound to bring them down on Spider-Man's chest. But, before he could, Black Cat landed on Kingpin's giant shoulder, slashing her claws across his face and making him lose balance.

"Sorry I'm late, Spider." Black Cat stated before dropping multiple smoke bombs and using the distraction to get herself, and Spider-Man, to safety.

End of Chapter 3