Peter was out as it was getting dark as Spider-Man; his police scanner saying that there was a robbery attempt of a delivery truck headed to the history museum. He had arrived at the armed masked men surrounding the truck and had gotten the driver hostage. Peter from his vantage point jumped down and webbed the hostage taker away to web him up allowing the driver to get to safety.
"You know what they say about those who don't learn from history being doomed to repeat it? I think you lot must have taken that to heart and want to study history up close... You know that you could have just purchased a ticket to see the new items to be shown..." Peter joked as he made himself known to them casually. Using his Spider-Sense he dodged their fire and then started webbing them up and disarming them. Punching and kicking them down as they came in.
"Another day... Another..." Peter muttered putting his hands together but then felt his Spider-Sense go off again; "Okay... What now..." Peter muttered as then up from above came a flying figure. It was a bald elderly man with goggles; a dark green mouth technological faceplate; a dark green bodysuit with shielding armor plates and on his back was a black giant giant wing pack. Around his collar was white fur as if it was like a vulture or a he was wearing a bomber uniform.
Peter had to dodge the figure coming charging at him again but then from the high tech wings came dark red bladed knives that he barely was able to dodge. "Okay grandpa... I have to admit that at least you have a better suit than Electro... What are you calling yourself... Birdman? Buzzard?" Peter asked mockingly webbing himself to the wing pack as police came.
The man lifted them up in the air and Peter held on and punched the gut of the man who grunted as he swooped down distracted with Peter yelling at the speed and height they are going up. "I am the Vulture and..." the man ranted and then coughed and felt weak but then pushed Peter off as he was falling with his back to the ground.
Peter then fell screaming and caught himself and managed to use a web to swing himself down. Peter found at the truck there was police officers who came in to take the defeated criminals and question the driver of the truck. "Okay... Officers; the truck is secure but the flying guy who calls himself the Vulture who i think was their boss got away..." Peter then said ready to start swinging away at the hint of them wanting to arrest him.
There was PDNY Jefferson Morales who sighed saying "normally I would use this to tell you to leave this to professionals but... I don't think anyone would have fared much better with Toomes being back on the scene..." Peter nodded but paused looking confused; "Adrian Toomes the Vulture. Nemesis of the Black Cat." Jefferson then said slowly as Peter stared at him taking the names in.
"Let's pretend that I don't know those names... So the old guy isn't new?" Peter asked confused as Jefferson facepalmed.
"Guess you don't know... The Black Cat was a masked vigilante from like 20 years ago... Taking the law into his own hands like you... Moved like a cat and known one knew who he was... His nemesis was the only recurring rogue if you want to treat him like a comic hero which I don't ... Toomes was this flight engineer who had some criminal ties and his business partner used that to get him arrested and take ownership of their work... Toomes broke out and used his revolutionary flying suit to try and kill him but the Black Cat stopped him... He went after him in anger... Their last fight; there was a crash of Toomes and he was taken into custody; no one could find the Cat... He used what was left of his fortune to hire some good lawyers that got him a reduced sentence and that was reduced further due to his age and health... Got out years ago..." Jefferson explained as Peter took this in amazed.
"What? Why haven't I heard about them? There was a flying suit guy 20 years ago? You would think that they would be more famous..." Peter then asked as Jefferson shrugged.
"The Cat didn't have a fancy looking suit or fancy powers... He didn't even have excessive methods or a skull on his chest for notoriety... The Vulture was seen as unusal but was forgotten about after he got arrested... Nothing strange like him happened... Until you showed up..." Jefferson answered as Peter then waved to him.
"I will be sure to be on the lookout for this aged bird guy... Thanks officer!" Peter said swinging away as the other officers didn't like the sight of Peter there.
Toomes had flown back to his secret hideout that was never found by the authorities; a secret lab where he had been storing his back up flight suit and was keeping it in good condition and working on improving it with the leftover money from his secret account. "A younger me would have squashed that spider..." Toomes ranted looking at a board where he had put up a photo of him in his 20s looking handsome and in a suit. "I was in the peak physical condition... With a brilliant mind to match... I had advanced the world of flight past where the Wright brothers ever thought possible... This was to be my crowning achievement but I was older and not as strong... Needed funding to get it to completion... Funding's existence that Bestman used to steal our work and sell it to Oscorp... He would be dead if it wasn't for that Cat but he used up his last life on our last fight..." Toomes was ranting to himself in frustration.
He then looked to a ripped out page of a history textbook with an illustration of a stone tablet there; "No matter... Once I have gotten this then I will be a young man again... I will kill the arachnid and claim the bounty... Then I shall escape and retire young in my new life..." Toomes then spoke with a sneer.
While this was going on; Felicia was in her bedroom watching a movie about punk rock with some Spider-Man article on the wall; in came in her father Walter Hardy a white haired man with a moustache. "Was on a call with Jameson... You know the man who will be Principal when you return to school... He wants to know if there will be a repeat of what got you suspended in the first place?" Walter asked as Felicia shook her head.
"I kicked Ryan in his manhood and punched his lights out in the hallways to send a message... No one touches me like he did without my permission... If I want to break up with a creep then it should a break up to remember..." Felicia retorted simply and Walter looked like he didn't actually disapprove of what she did.
"Still... I hope you will stay out of trouble... I know that won't happen but if you want to try and get that Peter boy to be on good terms with you again... He could be a good influence... The boy who you started liking more after how boldly he dumped you..." Walter then said as Felicia then smirked.
"Only wish that I knew that he wasn't the spineless dweeb I thought he was back before I asked him out... The fact that he has the pretty daughter of the Mayor at his side will make this more fun..." Felicia then said as Walter then looked to her collection of Spider-Man articles as posters. "What dad? Can't a girl have more than 1 crush she is in love with?" Felicia asked as Walter exited the room and then closed the door.
On the TV in the living room it was paused on a sighting of the return of the costumed supervillain Adrian Toomes the Vulture; he then looked to a closet and then opened up a secret door. Inside there was a black uniform, a whip and a pendant in the shape of a black cat head.
The next morning Peter went to the local teen hangout in Queens that was the Coffee Bean store and was at a table with Eddie and Mary Jane. Eddie was showing photos of old articles including the few photos that people could get of the Black Cat showing a figure in a black suit and then there was the of the 20 years younger Toomes being arrested after the crash. "This was 20 years ago... Spider-Man is bringing the old freaks back out of the shadows along with the new ones... People need someone to report on this and take these freaks to task." Eddie then said matter of factly as if this was something serious while Peter and Mary Jane stared at him blankly.
"Someone like you?" Mary Jane asked as Eddie grinned.
"Looks like you are not all looks..." Eddie then replied without thinking as Peter facepalmed and Mary Jane glared at him.
"Excuse me?" Mary Jane asked as Eddie realised what he had said.
"If you ask me... Vulture is better off still being in hiding as the geyser could be embarrassed if he takes on Spider-Man again!" said a voice and then there was Felicia there smirking as Peter looked hesitant to see her there. "Come on Peter... Afraid of letting me back in your social circle... Remember the good times? The kissing... Okay the secrets and motivations but still... Good and the bad..." Felicia said trying to look sly.
"Felicia; we were in the middle of something... A new story coming up and... I won't be able to chase it this time..." Eddie said and groaned as he then thought of something. "Dad got a call from Jameson... I have been assigned some big homework if I want to avoid a suspension... Can you come over this afternoon at the library to help me study?" Eddie asked pleadingly to Peter who was on the face considering the last time Eddie wanted his help with schoolwork.
"You know... Mind if I join you please... Make it a study date... Make sure that my Mayor Dad doesn't get on the case about if I am working hard and not embarrassing the family name?" Mary Jane ended up asking and Peter figured that if Mary Jane was there to help him make sure that Eddie actually takes his work seriously...
"Why not... Make it the 3 of us..." Peter then said with a smile as Eddie and Mary Jane grinned.
"I would join you but I know from experience that I get too distracted by the cute dork saying the boring school stuff that I don't pay attention to said boring school stuff." Felicia then said as Peter just groaned at Felicia being Felicia.
Peter was in his room that afternoon with May still being on a late shift; he was getting ready to go to the library with Mary Jane and Eddie. However the police scanner went on and said that there was a report of Toomes appearing and attacking the history museum as they were loading the delayed delivery. Peter thought about his planned study date but decided he should have enough time.
He got changed into being Spider-Man and sneaked through the window and started swinging away to the location of the museum and found Toomes flying away in his suit. Peter then webbed to the back of his wings and was more prepared to ride in the air and then move about to avoid the blades being sent his way.
"So... Vulture... Don't you think that you are rusty and too old for this? Why don't you put whatever you stole down and have a nice talk with the police?" Peter asked as Toomes grinned as he got a hold of a stone tablet with writing on it.
"I have none other than the Lifeline Tablet and I have spent years studying the language... I shall decipher the text to use the magic... A king of a forgotten kingdom wanted to reign together so he had his kingdom's magic experts put the Tablet together... Be able to draw forth the youth from others to make him young forever!" Toomes shouted out as Toomes then managed to get a blade to cut through his web and cause him to fall down to the top of a building.
"Okay... So you're master plan is to use a magical rock that has a myth attached to it... Didn't realise that I was dealing with a flight expert who still believed in stories..." Peter asked as Toomes flew down and started chanting some words.
Peter saw it glowing bright blue to his confusion and Peter felt himself growing taller and feeling more muscular; becoming more into his suit and it seemed like Toomes was getting younger as well with his hair returning. However a figure clad in a black bodysuit and using a black whip to grapple up and wearing a black mask that covered the top half off his head then came in. He tackled Toomes and the Tablet before Toomes snapped it away.
Toomes with his now red hair sneered at the figure; "I thought that I had finally killed you in our last battle... It still seems that you have lives left Cat... Still no matter... I shall escape with my size..." Toomes ranted as he flew up and away.
Peter looked at the figure and got up asking "so you're the Black Cat? I wonder if you were any good at being a crimefighter since you let him escape?" Peter was startled by how older he sounded.
The Black Cat then greeted Peter with a smirk and said "With the Tablet that I put a tracer on that I can trace with my app... You want to help?" He then showed off a tracking device and Peter was silenced at that retort that shot down his criticism.
"Okay... You know... That rock I am starting to think is magical..." Peter said feeling his muscles now different as the black Cat then started grappling his whip at the top of the building and started swinging away with Peter following with it feeling different.
"Kind of figured... I got this magic talisman that makes me faster, stronger and more agile..." the Black Cat said simply as Peter was silent as they just followed the lead on the Black Cat's device quicker they got the Tablet back and returned him to normal the better. But the fact that magic actually existed...
Hopefully aliens do as well...
Got you fooled! I said the Black Cat but I am starting with Walter Hardy still in the identity to mix it up and inspired by the current Ultimate Spider-Man comic that not only has him still active as the Black Cat when we first see him; but is also a member of the Kingpin's Sinister Six which in this verse are basically his personal underbosses who all each run a borough of New York. Though it's clear that Felicia will take up the mantle in the comic from the promotional material and the covers of the upcoming issues.
Plus some inspiration for this also come from the 90s Flash episode Ghost in the Machine and also some of Static Shock episode Blast from the Past with the premise of an old retired hero teaming up with the hero to fight their returning nemesis. Here Black Cat is the old hero and Vulture is the nemesis.