In a secret laboratory in a luxurious New York apartment, there were two men.
The first man appeared to be in his sixties, with an athletic physique. He had reddish-gray hair and green eyes. He was wearing a suit with a green pinstripe jacket, an orange vest and black pants with black shoes.
The second man was probably in his late thirties to early forties with brown eyes and hair, and appeared to be in good physical condition, if we exclude his missing right arm. He was wearing a blue shirt with black pants and a white scientific coat.
They both looked at a gurney containing an unconscious young man with half-length brown hair, bare-chested in suit pants and loafers.
"This is incredible." Said the man in the white coat, looking at the young man's left shoulder. "His wound could have killed him... but this thing healed him."
"If it could heal him from that." Said the older man, looking at a piece of metal resembling a piece of a metallic bird's wing, then at a container holding a black gelatinous substance. "Doctor Connors, could this cure Harry?"
"It's a possibility, Norman. But we'll have to do some more testing." Connors replied.
Norman nodded before handing the young man a white shirt, torn at the left shoulder, and leading him out of the room. Without realizing that a spider had escaped from one of the laboratory cages and bitten the young man's wrist.
A few days later, the young man was in a canteen, his shirt sleeves rolled up as he helped other people prepare plates for the homeless who were waiting in line.
He did this for a few minutes until an Asian man in a suit and tie with short hair came up to him.
"Hello, Martin." greeted the teenager.
"Hi, Steven. May said you wanted to see me." Said Martin.
"Oh, yes, I did. But could we talk about it in your office?" Steven asked, drying his hands before pulling up his sleeves and putting back his jacket, which was hanging on a coat rack in the kitchen.
"Sure."
Once they reached Martin's office, he closed the door and they were able to strike up a conversation.
"I heard about what happened to you when you went to talk to Osborn, are you sure you're okay?" Martin asked worriedly.
"I'm fine. I'm fine, don't worry, I'm fine. Apparently Norman treated my wound before taking me to hospital. I can't say if that's true, I was unconscious." Steven replied.
"Norman, did you treat me?" Said Martin, intrigued, with a barely perceptible hint of hatred in his voice.
"Let's cure him. Maybe he felt guilty, or didn't want to lose Oscrop's partnership with my father if I died." Steven joked, scratching the back of his neck.
"That's likely, yes." Martin laughed before placing an affectionate hand on the young man's shoulder, which unknowingly lit up ever so slightly with a black-and-white glow. "Your father is very lucky to have raised someone like you.
"I'm the lucky one to have him." Steven retorted before remembering why he'd come. "Oh yes, that's right."
He pulled an envelope from his jacket pocket and held it out to Martin.
"I know sometimes it's a little hard for F.E.A.S.T. to keep up so I saw with my dad to give you this." He said as Martin took the envelope and opened it to take out a check. "I know that on the scale of an entire association it goes quickly, but I wanted to help you all the same."
"Steven..." Martin said, looking carefully at the check, not really knowing what to say. "You do so much for us, I feel you do too much."
The two men continued chatting, until Steven had to leave the building.
Unbeknownst to anyone else, a glow from Martin's hand touching Steven's shoulder spread through the young man's body, changing residues of a black substance similar to the one in Norman Osborn's laboratory that was present in his body. Turning it white.
As night fell and the police were busy with a Shocker attack and Spider-Man's intervention to stop it, another person was preparing for one of her usual nights as she crouched on a rooftop.
She was a woman with platinum-blond hair and blue eyes. She was 1.80 m tall and had a figure that emphasized her natural curves. She wore a black suit with white accents, as well as a pair of tall boots in the same style and dark glasses.
It was Felicia Hardy, aka Black Cat.
She grabbed a grappling hook while looking at a wealthy man's penthouse, pulled a cable up to the roof and hoisted herself up, giving herself momentum and enjoying a somersault before landing perfectly on the roof with a sigh and a strut toward the access door.
"Who has an access door to their apartment?" Felicia asked herself before pulling her retractable 'claws' out of her glove and disabling the lock, then entering.
She went down a few steps and came to another door, easy to open. She slipped inside, her blue eyes looking around before stopping on a painting of a man in his fifties.
Black Cat then saw a display case containing jewelry and smiled before approaching it, looking around, then using one of her claws to start opening it. She stopped when the lights came on and footsteps were heard.
She turned to see Steven, still dressed, who had just entered the apartment and was surprised to see a thief inside.
"How did you...?" he began, before Black Cat rushed in and knocked him unconscious.
However, the young man managed to defend himself despite the thief's experience and agility. At least, until she tackled him to the ground and straddled him.
"That was rather fun. Now if you don't mind, there's a necklace I need to get hold of." She said, preparing to strike Steven to knock him out.
Against all odds, one of Steven's arms rose violently and a white substance emerged from it, forming tentacles to attack Felicia, who dodged at the right moment and landed sitting on the sofa with her legs crossed.
"Wow!" she said, frankly impressed.
Steven got to his feet, panicking as the substance entered his body.
The thief and the apartment resident looked at each other, both surprised by what had just happened, and intrigued by the other.
2 years later, in a museum, Black Cat discreetly knocked out all those watching the room where her target was stored.
As she entered the room, she saw the object of her desire. Impeccable diamonds of perfect clarity. Small enough to be set off on a wedding ring.
She was happy to find them, but couldn't admire them for too long. After all, she was in a friendly competition with her partner and what she saw before her would grant her victory.
"Come to Mommy..." She said.
"You know, I don't think it's got your name on it."
Speaking of her partner, he stood behind her, feet on the ceiling and head down, as he walked towards her before falling right-side-up on the floor, being right-side-up at last.
He wore a suit with a rough texture, similar to white body armor, plated on black parts looking more organic and prominent white features, notably the eyes, black spider emblems on the chest and back.
She knew that under the mask was Steven, but the criminal world knew him as White-Spider. At least, to him and Felicia. He was discreet enough that no one knew who he was. He knocked out all the staff in the buildings they robbed and destroyed or disabled all the cameras that could film him.
That way, no one could try to flush him out, since no one knew what to expect.
"Seeing as you focused on those guarding the entrance, I took care of everyone else and disabled the cameras. I guess you could say these are for me. Besides, I don't want you to cut yourself taking them." He said with amusement, pointing to the diamonds.
"How sweet. But I don't see your name on it, either." Black Cat retorted with an amused smile.
"I'll show you where it is." White-Spider retorted.
Having teamed up with White-Spider for so long, she knew that her costume allowed her to infiltrate any gap of any size, lift it and retrieve the contents without setting off any alarms.
"You use your powers or those of your costume, and you lose the bet." she retorted.
"Aww, that's so adorable that you think I rely on my powers like a certain spider..." Said White-Spider in a falsely innocent voice. "Unlike a certain cat-themed burglar, I came prepared."
He raised a hand and a key emerged from his combination. It was a master key he'd stolen from a member of staff during a visit earlier in the day. The second he opened the display, Black Cat reached inside, grabbed the diamonds and ran off, leaving him biting the dust.
She heard the all-too-familiar sound of a web being woven as she watched her partner climb the building in style, using a web generated by his costume to get away quickly and without a trace. The police usually thought it was Spider-Man's webs he left behind, especially when it was a criminal's base they were stealing.
Landing as gracefully as possible, he kept his momentum and playfully tackled her to the ground. He quickly removed the bag of diamonds from her waist, and then winked at her in amusement, causing Black Cat to roll her eyes, before he took off with his web.
Knowing that she wouldn't be able to catch him, he had discreetly webbed her butt and legs to the roof of the museum. It wasn't enough to hold her for long, but it was enough to outrun her.
It looked like he'd won the bet.
A little later that night, Felicia was angrily cleaning the dishes, she heard the door open and saw Steven enter with his White-Spider suit retracting into his body, leaving him in black jeans and a white T-shirt, holding a large stack of 100s, which probably amounted to just over $2,000, he sniffed it in front of her.
"You know what smells better than money? The sweet honey scent of victory." He said.
"You know, it's OUR money." Felicia retorted.
"I know, I know. I haven't forgotten why we need so much money, darling."
This made Felicia smile, her encounter with him, helped her to abandon her short-lived relationship with Spider-Man and she ended up dating Steven in time.
They had talked at length after their confrontation in her attempt to rob him and ended up becoming partners in the robbery.
Even though Steven didn't steal as often as she did, working part-time in his father's business, this helped them to see their burglary and friendly betting as more special encounters. And she had to admit that her choice of alter-ego and Spider-Man-like powers had had a small effect on her. It was as if the universe had made her a tailor-made Spider-Man after her failed relationship with the original.
But it wasn't just that. After all those dates, classics or heists they were doing together, one of them had turned into a night of more intense pleasure than usual. And a few weeks later, she discovered she was pregnant. They decided to keep the baby and, wanting to make sure their little boy or girl had the best possible life, they multiplied the heists and Felicia accepted more offers to steal for the Maggia before she was physically able to do so.
Their house was nothing special, just the penthouse Steven had lived in the day they'd met. Although officially she still had her apartment, a simple precaution in case she'd robbed someone spiteful enough to booby-trap her residence.
Steven's apartment also contained something very useful: a secret safe containing a good portion of the money from their petty theft, while the rest was in a real bank account.
According to Steven, this safe was used to keep the money safe from suspicious receipts.
After finishing the bet, also known as washing the dishes, Felicia walked down a corridor in the apartment, the carpet gently supporting her feet, and stopped in front of the room that would soon be their child's room when she felt arms snake around her waist and the soft touch of lips kissing her neck, and she moaned with pleasure and turned her head to see Steven holding her tight against his chest.
"Is something bothering you, darling?" He asked.
"What color are you thinking of for the bedroom?" The burglar asked.
The room contained absolutely nothing, just the carpet that all the other rooms had. The walls were bare, there was no furniture, just the room and the square window with blinds.
"I think the color of this room should be... hmm... gray." Proposed the spider-themed burglar.
"But our room is gray." Felicia retorted.
"What's wrong with gray? It's sober." Steven asked.
"You use it too often. There's a wide variety of colors to choose from."
Her silence meant she'd won that battle. She'd say it was one of her spouse's few faults: he was too indecisive about color choices when black wasn't a good option, and chose gray by default.
The only reason his White-Spider costume wasn't complete was that the substance it was made of was white. He regretted this a little, losing the stealth that black offered him in the dark, but it was the price he had to pay for the advantages she offered him.
She had no doubt that he was a good man, having seen him do it at F.E.A.S.T. or in everyday life outside their burglary.
She had her doubts, though... about whether they'd both be good parents with the lives they led. They were both thieves, a job that's always unstable when it comes to income, even if with Steven's day job they had security on that side. She feared that, one day, they would end up neglecting their child for the rest of his life.
She left the comfort of his arms and went into their bedroom, wanting a moment to herself, when Steven joined her and laid a hand on her shoulder.
"Felicia, is something wrong? I hate seeing this and I want to help you." Steven asked.
"Be honest with me Steven, do you think we'll be good parents? We're thieves, we go after those with the deepest and biggest pockets. I don't know if a child is right for us... I really want one with you, but..." She said before covering her face with her hands. "...I don't know!"
He didn't answer right away, which was discouraging for Felicia, to say the least. His silence was very awkward; she thought he didn't want the baby anymore. The thought that he no longer wanted this bundle of joy they had created in their happiest moment made her cry a little.
Then she felt his hands touch her arms and slowly withdraw them, while she felt his fingers wipe away the tears that had mixed with her make-up.
"Felicia, I'm going to be honest with you. Our baby is technically the result of one too many drinks."
"You're not really helping..."
"Please let me finish. We may not be the best parents, but I know we'll be the best parents we can be." He continued before chuckling. "I just hope our son or daughter doesn't come into our room and instead find his or her mom and dad. Instead, he or she will find White-Spider and Black Cat coming in through the window. Unless, one day, we take him or her on one of our escapades."
Felicia laughed at this last remark.
"You're not expecting our child to be a thief like us, are you?" She laughed. "That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard."
"That's the smile I saw on our special day. And not especially, although I admit the idea of a thieving family would be very cool." He said.
"You're so silly sometimes, Steven!" She said, playfully pushing her spouse away.
"Come on, admit it! You think a family of thieves would be cool too!" He insisted.
"... Okay, maybe it is a little cool..." She admitted.
"Told you."
She rolled her eyes at him and leaned against his chest as she found herself safe in his arms, she looked up into his loving blue eyes and their gaze met halfway as their lips made contact with each other, kissing passionately like the special night they'd spent with each other the day their child was conceived.
It may not have been the dangerous, high-risk life she'd expected, but in relationships like these, she was happy to make such compromises, if it meant Steven would be by her side throughout.