A delineation in the darkness of the night darts overhead. The silhouetted shape is contoured a tone of merlot purple, backlit by black shading. It's a living shadow, swiftly swinging with a form of liquidity. A blur in motion, this particular penumbra continues to glide overhead rooftops with window lights glinting along its glossy complexion.
This strange silhouette is none other than Spider-Man whilst being adorned in his new symbiote styled outfit. It's a recent change of attire that accommodates his nightly endeavors. Especially when those night escapades involve reconnaissance and spying. The dark features of the suit help him blend into the darkness of the city's skyline even without a needed camouflage effect. Which suits him nicely – quite literally – for this night's outing in particular.
After his brief bout with the ever elusive Green Goblin – a hit and run villainous encounter to say the very least – Spider-Man has been yearning to settle the score. As such, he's taken to trying to track down the mall mischief maker. In order to pick up a trail, he starts in the slums section of Musutafu. The Underground is where criminal kind likes to mingle. Most notably, the information broker he shook down with Naomasa Tsukauchi. Spider-Man is searching for Giran to get a lead on Gobby.
Along the way, Spider-Man stops to foil a few petty crimes. A car hijacker is shocked when being left suspended sixty stories up. An ATM robber gets a very similar form of treatment. Any low life scumbag that crosses Spider-Man's path gets part of the vigilante's wrath. Though most of that wrath is being strictly reserved for his rematch with Green Goblin. Spider-Man swings over a traffic light that switches from red to green and glowers down at it while passing by.
Things have been a little out of sorts after what happened. Since Class 1-A left for their training camp trip, he hasn't had the opportunity to see or speak with Jirou – nor any of the other girls like Hagakure or Kendo – and he's been left to his own imagination over what they must be thinking. He's not had any further interactions with Shinso either. The only person he could possibly reach out to is Melissa Shield and things were already kinda awkward between them. That means brooding while waiting for the angst ridden teenager.
That also means more frustrations to let loose on. If in the meantime he can't get ahold of Goblin, then he'll settle for Giran. Kagero Okuta is found where rats and trash is typically found. Behind a building, caught in a crevice, lurking from within an alleyway. The information broker idles by a dumpster while smoking a cigarette. Spider-Man plans to descend on his prey, or to pounce, but then… He stops.
Giran isn't alone. There's somebody else there that he recognizes. Giran is meeting with the girl from the whole I-Island situation. The Black Cat if memory serves correctly.
Spider-Man sneakily crawls overhead as the symbiote blends him into the scenery of the shadows with added camouflage. He goes from being hasty and recklessly driven to more practiced and refined in his spying capabilities. This is an interesting development as a turn of events, afterall.
"So the next League Of Villains meeting is really going to be here?", Black Cat takes a paper slip from the information broker before inspecting it more closely. She's good at pretending to not be so guarded but her hand on her hip is close enough to a whip that doubles as a belt for any needed action. It's seemingly strange that she'd behave in such a way while in shared criminal company but there truly is no honor amongst thieves for a reason.
Spider-Man stalks the femme fatale from above. Hearing that she's potentially got ties to the League Of Villains perks his interest. He's more interested in that than her friendly – or not so friendly – attitude. He starts to make assumed conclusions about her. If she wasn't acting alone in trying to steal the symbiote then that means the LOV might have wanted her to steal it for them. Which doesn't explain why she helped him and the others on I-Tower but…
Giran makes Spider-Man second guess things a little more when saying, "It's not an official meeting", which might mean Black Cat isn't an honorary member of the league per say afterall. The information broker blows out a cloud of cigarette smoke and makes things a little clearer. "It's just a good recruitment place for kittens like you wanting to dip their toes into things", the sounds of this planning makes Spider-Man believe this is much like when the league collected cannon fodder for their USJ attack.
Black Cat apparently has some knowledge about that as well to come to similar conclusions, "I'm too good for tryouts", she tries getting Giran to give an alternative option. Regardless of motivations or what the information broker is willing or unwilling to share, it's safe to assume by this point that the LOV is active and plotting something again nevertheless.
Giran shrugs, uncaring. He tosses his cigarette and steps away to leave the alley. "I don't make the rules, sweetheart!" With a wave over his shoulder, the scummy fellow bids farewell.
Spider-Man looks between Giran and Black Cat. He had come looking for the info broker to begin with in order to get to Goblin and starts to lean in that direction – however, Gobby and Giran aren't going anywhere and can always wait – the vigilante turns back the other way since Black Cat and the LOV are a little more difficult to track down by comparison.
Spider-Man crawls along the wall overhead to get behind the femme fatale. Once Giran is gone, he lowers himself down on a web. From an inverted angle, he has the symbiote undo his camouflage. Black Cat is none the wiser; she must lack Cat-Sense unlike his Spider-Sense.
"Errand girl for LOV now?", Spider-Man starts by announcing his presence. She's startled enough to spin around and face him. "Quite the step up from burglary", Spider-Man continues once getting her attention. "Maybe you wanna talk about it", he finishes with his eyes squinted at her, "Just us."
The vigilante doesn't know what he was expecting. It probably shouldn't have been her opening up and willingly providing intel. He just didn't think she'd take off running either. At least it wasn't claw marks across his chest…
Spider-Man chases after Black Cat, the two racing up buildings and bounding across rooftops. The thrill of the pursuit goes on for a while with Spider-Man hot on her trail. He probably could catch her quickly if he really put in the effort but something about following her closely instead feels right.
"Slow down", it feels like a form of flirting in an odd way as he trails behind the girl and then gives her some space to regain distance again, "You'll last longer!"
He can tell by the smile on her face that she's enjoying it too. The way that she dips down from roof ledges and then grapples back up isn't like she's actually trying to throw him off her trail but like she's testing to see if he can keep up. And he can.
They have a bit of a dance. When he goes high, she goes low. Then.. Vice versa. They're both acrobatically graceful with their movements while flying through the air. It's something that syncs up rhythmically and neither of them wants to disturb or end the fun.
But eventually, it does have to end. Spider-Man cuts a corner and stops her. She bumps into his chest, which is when he grabs her. Not too roughly but not all that gentle either.
"Quite the late night workout..", he's somewhat breathless as he speaks to her – which is odd since he didn't ACTUALLY physically exhaust a lot of his energy – but he's still firm in his manner of speech all the same, "Now tell us what it is you're doing out so late in the first place."
"Would you believe me if I said I was looking for you?", she still has that same smile on her face that she's had throughout the chase not so long ago – even now after being caught – and the lips that the smile belongs to are inching closer to his own mouth regardless of a mask being in the way.
"..No..", Spider-Man's breath hitches with his heart. The area around his mouth peels away to create an opening from beneath his nose to his chin. The symbiote responds to his feelings and the lack of Spider-Sense to indicate that it's due to danger.
It's so sudden and without reluctance that the boy is confused to a point of having no confusion. His mind goes blank. Whatever standard embarrassment he'd usually have when around girls, he feels something else instead. It's like the confidence of his alter ego as Spider-Man takes on a whole new dimension.
Black Cat and Spider-Man kiss. It's a soft peck on the lips, but it's a kiss.
"That's fair..", Black Cat is now breathless too. She pulls back from the vigilante. He actually lets her instead of holding her in place. Instead of taking that as a chance to run from him again though, she stays. "Fine. I wasn't looking for you. But I am looking for someone."
"The LOV?", the symbiote covers the lower half of Spider-Man's mouth now that he's back to being all business, "Up to no good again?"
Black Cat's smile shifts into a smirk as she says, "If I was a completely bad kitty then would I have helped save your friends on I-Island?"
Spider-Man tilts his head to one side. "We were wondering about that.."
Black Cat's eyes widen from behind her domino mask. She misinterprets Spider-Man saying 'we' as in he's referring to the group from I-Island and not just himself. "Are you secretly apart of the Hero Course?"
Spider-Man continues to stare ahead. He doesn't respond in any indicative way other than leaning his head to the opposite side that it was previously leaning.
The girl sighs as she looks away. "Right..", she contemplates his silence for a second before relenting, "Not like you'd tell me even if you were.."
Spider-Man straightens and steps forward. "What are YOU willing to tell?"
"That I'm not apart of the LOV like you might've thought", Black Cat holds her hands up with the palms facing forwards – she turns one of them over to look at her claw tipped gloves like they're just a set of painted fingernails – the thumb and forefinger touch tips while she hums, "I wanna do what you wanna do."
Spider-Man looks down at the girl's makeshift claws, and then raises his gaze back up to her face. His unique eye lenses narrow while he inspects the mysterious allure that she has. "What is it that you think we want to do.. ?", his voice is a rough whisper while he asks a question that he himself is unsure of how to answer.
"Bring them down", Black Cat looks back at him with her smirk stretching at one end of her mouth. She whips her long flow of white hair back and explains the reason she sought out Giran, "I can help do that from the inside."
Spider-Man thinks that he feels somewhat unconvinced; he knows that he should still be slightly suspicious of the girl in front of him. There's something about her – and it's not just her criminal background – that makes him believe that he should stay on guard and be unable to fully trust what she has to say. "A bit of a change of pace from being a cat burglar", but he's still drawn in & captivated by her nonetheless.
"Is that all you think I am?", the girl teasingly feigns being hurt by his words. She has a knack for flirtatiously toying with him; she moves closer to him – close enough to inch & walk her clawed fingertips up his chest – she makes the symbiote shudder as a cool surface when the warmth of her breath draws near to say, "Cause there's so much more to the story than that."
Spider-Man doesn't pull himself away nor does he push the girl off to cease her advances. Again, without his Spider-Sense to tell him it's a lie, the symbiote allows her this close proximity. Somehow, without any nervousness in his voice, the boy asks her a flirtatious question of his own. "Are you going to share that story any time soon?"
"Maybe", Black Cat leans in a little closer, "Still thinking about it."
Spider-Man can feel her chest pressing against his own now. She's leaning into him. Like an actual cat, her heartbeat practically purs with his own. Normally, this would cause him to shut down or panic. Instead, his mind goes elsewhere. "Hmm.."
"What are you thinking about?", she could have a mind reading quirk for all he knows. The way she asked that question sounded like she could already tell what it is that he's thinking about her.
Spider-Man keeps it simple and says, "A lot.." Because he is thinking about a lot. There's a wrestling match in his mind over his thoughts, like two opposing forces fighting for superiority.
"Oh yeah?", Black Cat's mouth edges closer to his own again – and again, the symbiote parts around the lower half of his face to accommodate the unspoken agreement – they're just shy of kissing a second time.
"Yeah.." It's clear which part of him is winning as his thoughts cease fighting for a thing to think.
The shrill sound of a ringtone obnoxiously disturbs the mood. Both the girl and the boy halt and stiffen. Then they each break away from eachother.
Black Cat turns away from Spider-Man, coyly playing with her hair. She indicates with a nod towards his phone that he should answer it while asking, "Girlfriend?"
The symbiote assists Spider-Man by brandishing the cellular device from a makeshift pocket – something the ol' red & blue threads severely lacked – a tentacle of sorts holds the phone up to be taken. Spider-Man grabs it and looks at the screen's caller ID. "..Mother.."
"Pfft", Black Cat tries but fails to muffle her brief bout of laughter with a hand held over her mouth.
Spider-Man turns away from her so that he can have some form of privacy before answering the call, "Hello?"
Inko Midoriya's voice responds over the line shortly after. "Izuku, sweetie, it's late.." She sounds worried but also almost cautious to ask her son about his whereabouts, "Are you working still?"
"Yeah.. Busy..", it's not technically a lie but it comes all too easily if it is. His head lowers, his chin almost touching his chest, as he silently apologies with a bow to his mother for continuing to put her through this hardship. "Gonna be home late tonight."
"Oh.. I see.." He can hear the disappointment in the tone of her voice. She sounds apologetic as well when clearing her throat to next say, "You sound in a hurry to go.. So I don't want to keep you–"
"It's nothing", he feels too bad to force her off the phone anymore and hurriedly does his best to smooth things over, "Just working with someone new and she–" In doing so, he realizes his slip in mentioning a gender that his mom might be able to latch onto and quickly corrects himself to cover it up, "THEY make us a bit nervous."
Whether she caught on to his mistake or not, her tone becomes more lighter and encouragingly supports him now. "Oh! Don't you worry! As your father used to say: Just picture them naked!"
Spider-Man glances over his shoulder at Black Cat to see her lounging on the ledge of the rooftop that they're on. With her body stretched out the way that it is, he can see all her curves and– "Yeah, mom.. Don't think that one is going to work.."
He swears he hears his mother chuckle from the other end of the phone like she knows full well the predicament that he's in. "Well, either way, good luck."
Spider-Man sighs and says, "Thanks mom", before hanging up the call. The symbiote takes his phone for him with a tentacle extension before covering it up again with a makeshift pocket spot.
Seeing that he's all finished with the phone call, Black Cat climbs off the ledge that she was laying on. She stretches with her arms over her head while innocently asking, "You close with your mother?"
Spider-Man has the symbiote cover his mouth so that his face is fully masked again before he turns around to address the femme fatale, "Seriously?"
Black Cat closes the gap between them so that he can see her smile is genuine and not a sly smirk. "Don't worry, Spider! I think it's sweet!"
"Cat.." Spider-Man sees that they're back to how they were before with their close proximity. It's suffocating without his mask open. He steps away from her and reminds himself of what this night is about. "Let's just focus on this LOV lead you got from Giran."
"I thought you'd never ask", Black Cat responds in kindness enough by producing the paper slip that Giran gave her, "Here's the address for our date."
Ripples of erosion carry across the water of a natatorium. It's the nondisturbance of a pool patio that crosses dark blue hues with a dark black sky above it. A boy floats on his back, soaking in his swimsuit. He's the only one using the facilitation of the place. Otherwise, there are others present here. A large man wearing a cloak and a mask idly sits by a bar. Even freakier than him, a scrawny man in a leather straightjacket stands in a corner. And lastly, a somewhat muscular woman reclines on a poolside lounging chair.
Black Cat, unsure of whether she fits right into the weird assortment or seems out of place in it, joins them by sauntering onto the set. Silently as he is stealthy, Spider-Man surveys the scene from above. He perches himself atop a canopy whilst being camouflaged. She throws a glance behind herself, as though she sees him – maybe she can sense him in some way – but it's a silent spoken statement of some sort regardless. Perhaps one of trust afterall.
The large hooded and masked individual turns towards the newcomer and makes a remark along the lines of, "Look what the cat dragged in!" Even if the guy has his face covered, a sick perverted grin can practically be heard from his tone and the sucking of his teeth.
Black Cat makes an expression of disgust while waving off the creep. "Tch! Please! Don't expect me to slip on a bikini", she glances at the pool that now reflects the moonlight.
The large man huffs out a laugh while also glancing at the pool, "Don't look at me kitty cat.. I wasn't the one that organized this."
Black Cat looks up, observant of the others. She eyes the freakish fellow that clacks his teeth together from a mouth opening in an otherwise restrictive suit. "Well, it surely couldn't have been that guy over there.." Her gaze moves to the muscular woman, "Was it you?"
"Don't look at me either, sister" The woman shrugs off the responsibility of the group gathering. A moment later, she pats the place beside her for a warm & welcoming invitation. "You can come sit next to me if you'd like though."
Given her alternative options, Black Cat takes the lesser of the evils and goes to sit down. "Don't mind if I do", she plays polite all the while.
The boy in the pool swims to an end and asks, "How'd you know I wasn't the organizer for this?"
To which Black Cat can't help but roll her eyes at. "What are you? Ten?"
"..Whatever.." The boy pushes off and swims back towards the center of the pool.
Black Cat soon starts to become acquainted with the woman beside her while she waits from then on. The woman's name is Magne on account of her magnetism quirk – which brings back bad memories of Doctor Doom from I-Island – but she doesn't seem nearly as bad. Magne nods towards the nutjob in the corner who bites at empty air and shares that the weirdo is actually a freaking cannibal called Moonfish. The boy in the pool goes by Mustard. And the masked man.. Well, masked people hide their identities for a reason.
Black Cat spares a sidelong glance back, assuming Spider-Man is stationed somewhere behind her. She wonders if he's growing as impatient with this wait as she is. She also wonders that if he IS losing patience then will he do something about it. Considering how outnumbered they are, she certainly hopes he doesn't go off like a loose canon.
Spider-Man looks away from Black Cat, turning his stare towards the patio's entryway. He recognizes a man covered by a patchworking of burns stepping out onto the scene. Dabi, if Spider-Man recalls the villain's name correctly, looks unimpressed with the others. Personally, the feeling is mutual since the arsonist isn't really taking a step up by joining this bunch. "A pool party? Seriously?" Maybe Dabi is just insecure about showing off his body's burns though.
In unison, the other villains gathered there respond to Dabi, "Don't look at us. We're not the organizer."
Dabi puts his hands in the pockets of his overcoat, "Well? Then who is?", he glances around for someone that isn't there now that his interest has been re-evaluated.
Magne puts on a pair of sunglasses – despite it being dark out – and reclines in her chair. "Yet to show up", her action of getting comfortable tells Dabi and the others all they need to know that the wait is only bound to get longer.
The largest of the group shuffles to stand, grabbing at his cloak in order to remove it. "Well.. It's getting hot with this shit on and no soak in the pool is gonna make it better so.." He has the muscular physique of a bodybuilder to go along with his size once standing straight. When his mask comes off next, he looks out at everyone with a single eye and the other one missing. "I was told I'd get to kill some kids though so what's the holdup?"
Black Cat nearly falls off the back end of her seat before getting to her own feet. She appears more distressed than disturbed over the man's unveiled appearance; the usual act she puts on with her personality slips. "Kill.. kids.. ?" Her voice is as shaky as her form.
"Yeah", the muscular man grins when seeing the younger girl's reaction, "Don't tell me you didn't know that much already!"
"Makes sense", Mustard shares some of his own motivation to confirm what the other villain is suggesting about their arranged meetup, "I was told we'd be hitting U.A like the League did the first time."
If Dabi has any qualms about going after children, he only expresses those qualms with a glance over at the youngest of the bunch. Though there's not much of a conscience peering out through the arsonist's lidded gaze. He asks Mustard, "Aren't YOU a kid yourself?"
"Shut up!", Mustard gives Dabi two middle fingers. But the alliance of villains all seem to be on the same page about the League's goals regardless of personal preferences or age. Mustard swims away, pouting nevertheless.
Black Cat backs away, nearly tripping over herself and falling. "Excuse me..", she has to then hurriedly leave to not seem any more suspicious than she already does, "I've had a change of heart.."
Dabi watches the girl go before turning to look at the others and asking, "What was with her?"
Magne and Mustard shrug. Moonfish keeps clacking his teeth together, probably not all that aware of his surroundings. Meanwhile, the muscular man who scared her off just laughs.
"Guess some people can't stomach the type of stuff that the League gets up to!", the one eyed villain licks his lips with anticipation over getting a shot at murdering U.A's Hero Course students.
Spider-Man steps out from the shadows of a low hanging billboard, the white insignia on his chest and his matching set of unique eye markings fading in as the symbiote stops camouflaging him. The vigilante moves to meet Black Cat on a rooftop some small distance away from the pool patio that they were staking out not too long ago. He had noticed the masked girl's odd behavior there before and he notices it now even more upclose.
"Cat", his own voice and body language is laced with concern while he reaches out to try & comfort her, "What happened back there? What's wrong?"
But she pulls away before he comes close to touching her. "Nothing", she closes him off with crossed arms, "I'm fine.." Her voice hardens with her gaze when she looks up at him, "It's fine."
"Doesn't look like it", Spider-Man meets her stare. She turns her head away from him. "Especially not after the way you ran off", he doesn't ease up on pushing the issue though, "You couldn't get out of there quick enough."
Black Cat practically hisses like an actual feline when she snaps at the vigilante, "I said I'm fine!" She doesn't hide her attitude, throwing her hands up in the air to show him that she is fed up. "Besides! We got what we needed! We know now that they're targeting U.A again."
Spider-Man shakes his head, "But we didn't get to see their organizer show up and we don't even know where–"
"I know where", Black Cat stops him with a firm proclamation and a harsh glare. When the vigilante falls silent, she elaborates. "It's a training camp where the Wild Wild Pussycats have a resort."
"The Wild Wild Pussycats.." Spider-Man suddenly feels very stupid. It had been in front of him this entire time why 'Black Cat' would choose such an aesthetic – or so he believes is obvious enough at this point – he doesn't know how he didn't realize it sooner otherwise. "It makes sense now", he can't think of any reason that the girl would know about U.A's training camp or its location if she weren't apart of the hero team, "Your getup … AND the way you reacted back there.."
Black Cat says nothing about that last part. Per her reaction, it was to be expected if she actually is apart of the Wild Wild Pussycats. Even if Izuku Midoriya weren't a hero fanatic, it's well known knowledge about what happened. It was a tragic moment in hero history. The Waterhoses were murdered by a mad man calling himself Muscular. Their son was orphaned and taken in by the Wild Wild Pussycats. Of course, Black Cat must feel some way about 'Muscular' having been present for this upcoming attack on U.A that they uncovered.
"If this is too personal for you..", Spider-Man places a hand on the girl's shoulder in an effort to console her.
Black Cat shrugs and shakes the hand off, "I keep telling you.. I'm fine."
"Alright", Spider-Man stops pushing the issue after that. He steps away and instead says, "We should go and warn them about this attack then. Before it's too late."
Black Cat hesitates, "Yeah.." But only for a second. She recomposes herself with a nod, "Let's go."
Spider-Man nods back. "Lead the way."
Foliage falls as night falls even harder. But, to an extent, the darkened forestry is no different from that of the city. Each abnormally thick tree trunk surrounding the site covers the same size as a building, for instance. Animal howls and nature's ambience speak a life into the area much like civilians tend to do within populated places. The terrain is a dense tree line along a massive mountain range nevertheless though, which means the environment is not ENTIRELY the same. For one thing, the brown trail is not as solid a surface as concrete.
Spider-Man looks down, watching where he steps very carefully. "Pretty sure this is mud..", his feet try and fail to avoid sinking into the squishy ground beneath them, "Or.. We can hope that it's mud.. At the very least.."
Black Cat casts a look back at him as she leads the way ahead, "And I'M the girl?", she carries a teasing tone and it's not so dark out yet that he doesn't also see her smirking at him – that, or Spider-Man's eyes have had plenty of time to adjust – she's fortunately back to being her usual playful self now.
"You try dry cleaning a symbiote", Spider-Man goes along with the lighthearted banter per his natural knack for it before realizing what he said too late.
Black Cat slows down, the two of them falling into an even pace side by side. "What?", she looks at him differently now – with a different kindof curiosity than she had previously – she squints her eyes as she studies him a little more closely.
"Nothing", Spider-Man looks away as he speeds up a little bit to try and get ahead of her.
But Black Cat doesn't let him get away from her so easily. "You're still wearing that thing, huh?" She reminds him that out of all the people who would know about his new suit best, it would have to be her per the way they had been introduced to eachother.
Spider-Man turns his gaze downwards as he contemplates whether it's a good thing or not that Black Cat knows about him keeping and wearing the symbiote. "Had no reason to return it yet.." Whereas she may not be his first choice of a person to trust with such knowledge, he settles for the reality of the situation that she's his only choice currently.
When Spider-Man raises his head to look at her again, he sees that she has both her eyebrows raised. She asks him, "Yet?"
Spider-Man stops. Which makes her stop too. He asks her in return, "What are you getting at?"
Black Cat places her hands on her hips. She appears either disappointed or judgmental and the tone of her voice only adds to that exhibition, "You're a vigilante.. Not a thief.."
Hearing the cat burglar criticize him for 'stealing' the symbiote is too rich to not huff out a laugh. "No offense but..", he doesn't even feel the need to give her a full sentence on that note in order to defend himself.
He regrets saying what he said – only a little though – when he sees the girl give him an emotionally hurt expression. She then looks away from him and whispers, "Not everything is as it seems, Spider.."
Spider-Man looks around at the wilderness surrounding them. "Yeah? So it doesn't seem strange that we're sneaking onto your resort property instead of walking through the front door like civilized folk?" He doesn't mean to make it sound like an accusation but now seems like as good a time as any to bring up what he's come to notice while wandering around with her.
Black Cat winces, which is not a reaction that helps her case. "I can explain that.."
Things only progressively prove to potentially get worse when Spider-Man's danger sense alerts him to more trouble with being in the forest. He whirls around to see that he and Black Cat are no longer alone out in the wild.
"Then you'd better start explaining", a colorful collection of characters start to surround Spider-Man & Black Cat – they're the pro hero team known as the Wild Wild Pussycats – and they look pretty peeved.
Contrary to how her black colored costume is notably contrasting from the others, Spider-Man would have expected Black Cat to not look SO much like the odd one out. "Shit.." The girl's back bumps into Spider-Man's back when she moves backwards.
The vigilante glances back at her over his shoulder. "Uh, you gonna tell your teammates to take it easy?"
The blue themed member of the hero team, Pixie Bob, points an accusatory finger at Spider-Man and Black Cat. "You are both trespassing on private property!"
"What?!" Spider-Man's mask nearly turns white from how wide his eyes get. "Wait.. One, two, three.. Four.." He quickly does a count and recount of the hero team, "They're all here", and realizes something very bad. He turns towards Black Cat to shout at her a question that he fears he already knows the answer to, "You AREN'T part of the Wild Wild Pussycats?!"
Black Cat nervously looks between Spider-Man and the hero team. "You're gonna have to all trust me on this", she tries to placate them all with her hands up as a show of surrender.
But Spider-Man is still reeling from the recent revelation that she isn't part of the Wild Wild Pussycats. "You lied literally not even an hour ago!", he physically points out that he has no reason to believe her with an accusatory finger of his own aimed at her.
Through gritted teeth, Black Cat grinds out, "NOT. HELPING."
The muscled member of the Wild Wild Pussycats, Tiger, steps forwards and plants a fist into a palm as the universal sign that there may be only one way to resolve this mess. At least he has the consideration and the manners to ask first, "Are you going to level with us or is it clobberin' time?"
Spider-Man spares a glance in Black Cat's direction. With a decision to make on the spot, he goes with probably the dumbest option. "Anybody here wear a watch?", he figures it's clobbering time anyways and gets the first attack in at the very least.
A pseudo web fixes itself to the red colored member of the Wild Wild Pussycats, Mandalay, and Spider-Man swings her around before letting go of the extension in order to send her flying some distance away. Next, a splotch of the same goo covers the yellow themed member's eyes to blind her temporarily.
"EW! GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF!", the yellow colored hero – Ragdoll – panics as she struggles to get the webbing removed from her face.
"No! Don't!", Black Cat tackles Spider-Man in an effort to prevent the battle from continuing any further. She inadvertently ends up saving him from getting whacked by Tiger, the two falling out of range from the attack.
"It's not like you left us much choice!", Spider-Man grabs her so that she rolls over with him when he moves them out of the way as Tiger comes down with a flying punch.
"We can't take them!", Black Cat worriedly looks at the team that outnumbers her and Spider-Man. The Wild Wild Pussycats have all recovered, Mandalay and Ragdoll joining Tiger and Pixie Bob in their fight.
An Earth Beast, a golem created by Pixie Bob's quirk, morphs into shape and rises up out of the ground. It's triple the size of an elephant and made of sheer solid rock. Whereas Black Cat is prepared to run away, Spider-Man stands firm.
"Wanna bet?", Spider-Man disregards Black Cat's concern about not being enough to challenge the beast or its masters. Since the golem isn't technically ACTUALLY a living being, there's no need for him to hold back against it. He allows himself and the symbiote to let loose a tiny bit.
Spider-Man smashes his fist into the Earth Beast, completely shattering it with a singular strike. Dirt combusts as the golem explodes into a collection of rock fragmentation and dust particles.
Seeing Spider-Man easily defeat one of her Earth Beasts so effortlessly, Pixie Bob takes a startled step back and can't withhold a gasp of shock. Right alongside her, her teammates Ragdoll and Mandalay are just as shaken by witnessing the vigilante's exhibition of sheer strength.
The only one slightly unphased is Tiger – though he may be foolishly naive to underestimate the otherwise seemingly small sized boy – he rushes in with a fist cocked back. "Think you're strong, little man?!"
"Think YOU'RE strong, big man?" Spider-Man catches Tiger's mitt with a flat facing palm like the powered punch is nothing more than a kitten's paw. Then, as though he's lifting up a tiny cat, Spider-Man hoists Tiger over his head to be tossed aside.
"Tiger!" Mandalay worriedly cries out for her dispatched ally. Witnessing the team's strongest member so easily be defeated doesn't do well for her or the other Wild Wild Pussycats' confidence.
Fortunately for her and the others, Black Cat finally puts a stop to the fighting before it's a conflict that gets too carried away. "Alright, everybody just STOP!" She gets in the middle of the battle where everyone can see her as she rips off her domino mask.
When the Wild Wild Pussycats recognize the young girl's face – as well as Spider-Man – they all pause and react with surprised stupor. Every one of them all share the same uttered response… her name.
"Momo Yaoyorozu… ?"
Liquid washes over her pure white tresses and gradually removes the dye there until a natural black color of hair starts to show through. As such is the general process of a disguise that requires more than just a mask or makeup. Black Cat fades away, and soon, Momo Yaoyorozu stands in her place. She ties her hair up into a spiked ponytail and sighs from relief over having gotten the process done and over with.
Ragdoll looks on in openmouthed awe. "You do that EVERY time? Must get exhausting", the woman is in disbelief.
Yaoyorozu allows a faint smile to cross her face. Although, it recedes when she glances over at her other shared company. "Maybe I should've worn a full face mask", she tries getting Spider-Man to join in on the talk since he's been pointedly ignoring her ever since she unmasked herself.
Spider-Man crosses his arms and turns his head to look in the other direction. "Hm? Oh, are you talking to us? Because we're not talking to you."
Mandalay has to put a hand against her face in order to keep from shaking her head, "How immature."
Pixie Bob looks from Spider-Man to Black Cat. Seeing this as a chance to interject, she leans into the space between them. "If you two are going through a break, I'd be happy to be a rebound.." She offers a wink in Spider-Man's direction particularly.
Tiger does an eyeroll. "Are you THAT in a rush to try and find love?"
"I'm not getting any younger!", Pixie Bob throws her hands up in the air as she regretfully relents.
Tiger looks at Spider-Man with a raised eyebrow. "But THIS brat? Really?"
Spider-Man turns his head back in the cat themed group's direction in order to respond to Tiger in particular, "You're just mad that we made you stick your tail between your legs."
Tiger tenses his muscles as he takes a step forward. "You wanna go, punk?!" Obviously offended, the man frowns at the vigilante.
"Tiger!", Mandalay shouts for the man to stop beefing with a child. Seeing him settle down, she sighs and adds, "Please…"
Ragdoll takes the large man by the hand to lead him away, "Tiger.. Do you wanna go outside and get some air with me?"
Tiger throws one final glare at Spider-Man before surrendering, "Fine", and allowing Ragdoll to give him some space from the punkish instigator.
Once alone with them and Pixie Bob, Mandalay turns her attention to Yaoyorozu and Spider-Man. "Now.. Clearly you're both young enough to make stupid mistakes.. But THIS?"
Yaoyorozu starts to speak, "I can explain–"
"I wasn't finished", but Mandalay holds up a hand. After a moment, she continues, "And you're going to."
"We'd all like to know what this whole 'Black Cat' shtick was about", Spider-Man unfolds his arms and stands up in agreeance with the Wild Wild Pussycats leader.
Yaoyorozu sits down, nodding her head. "My grandfather.. He was the original Black Cat", she closes her eyes like she's processing her words as a painful truth for herself as much as it is to the people she's speaking to, "He was a renowned cat burglar that was never caught" The only sound in the room is her voice as she drops bombshell after bombshell, "I found out one day that's where the Yaoyorozu Fortune came from."
"So much for entrepreneurship being the family legacy..", Spider-Man tries to ease the tension but the joke winds up hanging in the air.
Mandalay silences Spider-Man with a stare, "Let her finish."
Yaoyorozu swallows before mustering up enough courage to continue, "Naturally.. I was distraught when I made the discovery about the truth of my family" She gives them all a small shrug. "So, I wanted to give back to the people we stole from and do some good."
"Is that why the Yaoyorozu Family paid for the Waterhoses' memorial and funeral service?", Mandalay doesn't need a mind reading quirk to figure out Yaoyorozu's connection & intentionality from there.
Yaoyorozu nods, "Charity work and.. Whatever I felt was enough to help put things right."
Whereas this all makes sense, there's still some things left unexplained. "So why take over the mantle of your grandfather?", Pixie Bob leans her head at an angle like she's trying to figure it all out by viewing things from a new perspective.
Spider-Man realizes that there is much more to be elaborated on and explored when remembering the way he met Yaoyorozu's alter ego to begin with, "Yeah.. What's with all the stuff you pulled on I-Island and now?"
Yaoyorozu sucks in a big breath as she prepares herself for the next part of her explanation. "I found out about David Shield's quirk amplifier and thought I'd get it to exact vengeance on Muscular for what he did.. When paying for the memorial and funeral, I got a little emotionally involved that I couldn't let what happened go.."
"No wonder you enrolled in the Hero Course at U.A", Pixie Bob nods along since she can understand the way someone with the heart of a hero may feel such a way.
Yaoyorozu looks down at her hands while closing them into fists. "I had to help my friends when Doctor Doom attacked.. I couldn't abandon them", she looks ashamed of her actions for only a second before finding some resolve and putting on a determined face, "Just like I couldn't abandon my original mission by following up with the LOV."
Spider-Man mulls over the shared story while following along with memories of his own experiences, "So you were tracking down Muscular and when you actually found him.."
"I froze", Yaoyorozu goes back to appearing ashamed again, "I just.. He was even more awful in person.." Despite what she saw at the USJ or on I-Island, something about this villain boded differently with her.
Sensing that this has emotionally drained the poor girl, Mandalay decides that this is enough to go off of for now. "Thank you, Yaoyorozu" She allows them to wrap things up in regards to the 'Black Cat' mystery.
Which means… "So I suppose that only leaves you then", Pixie Bob and Mandalay turn to Spider-Man for his side of the story now.
"There's nothing as extreme as all that to share with ol' Spider-Man", but the vigilante holds up his hands & shakes his head in an effort to deter their efforts since he's not so willing to unmask himself and delve into personal details.
Mandalay steps closer, not about to back down so easily. "I doubt that", she fixes him with a stern stare that reminds him of his mother back home.
Spider-Man would ordinarily back off from someone closing in like Mandalay is but the lack of his Spider-Sense and her relaxed body language keeps him still. "Uh.. Why are you getting so close?", he still has to ask her about the lack of respect for personal space though.
Pixie Bob is surprised by Mandalay's actions as well. "Don't lecture me on trying to find love if you're gonna hit on guys too!", she accuses her ally of trying to swoon Spider-Man before she can.
Spider-Man shudders when Mandalay reaches for his face. The symbiote doesn't peel away like it had with Yaoyorozu but it doesn't stop her either. "What do you want out of this?", he reluctantly allows her hand to make contact with his forehead.
As it is, the extent to what Mandalay's mind reading quirk is capable of is limited to only empathically reading emotions or creating telepathic thought communication. However, this is enough for her to reach enough into the recesses of the boy's subconscious mind per a question to pose a thought in relation to that question. What she winds up understanding isn't something by sight like an exact memory's image but rather a full fledged feeling from within.
Mandalay's eyes actually start to water when she comes close to tearing up. "You were just a boy.. You still only are..", she hears the constant echo of words that mean everything to the crusader – with great power, there must also always come great responsibility – and she knows why he takes it to heart so much too. Mandalay kisses him on the cheek and whispers in his ear, "Thank you for what you do."
Pixie Bob's face lights up a hue as red as her teammate's outfit. "HEY!", she forcibly separates Mandalay from Spider-Man while complaining, "YOU'RE STEALING KISSES NOW?!"
Yaoyozoru's blush is much fainter but she too feels a certain way, and so she hopes to change the mood of the moment by clearing her throat. "Anyways!", all attention turns to her as she reminds them of the reason why they all wound up here in the first place, "Now that we've cleared up that Spider-Man and I aren't the threat here.. We have something else we need to tell you about."
Spider-Man's eyes widen when he remembers the whole prolonged point of this interactive meetup. It's as though the reminder of the danger of the situation is aided when his Spider-Sense suddenly starts to tingle in the back of his head.
That may as well be the case… "Do I smell smoke?", because Pixie Bob also notices that the atmosphere has started to shift into something much more unsettling.
The cat themed women and Spider-Man go to the nearest window to look outside. What they see is a bright blue illumination. The entire mountain range is covered in azure flames.
"It's too late..", Spider-Man swallows the rest of whatever he has to say since there's no point in warning the Wild Wild Pussycats anymore with the villains beginning their raid.
Yaoyorozu apologizes for not having told the hero team sooner about the incoming LOV assault. Nevertheless, all she can tell them now otherwise is an obvious statement, "The attack has already started.."
AUTHOR NOTES
Kudos to those of you that guessed and/or theorized Black Cat is Momo Yaoyorozu! Now, you've got your official confirmation!
And with the return of Black Cat, it's also a huge pleasure to see some familiar readers returning as well to leave reviews/comments again! Thank you Pikapowerz and theMAX360 for your continued support of the story!
And thank you as well, CapoPerk and Racan! Your positive takeaways are always much appreciated!
Hope to get more thoughts & feedback for what's to come since next chapter will be what I hope is a good payoff to a lot of what has been building up!
-Courtesy of your symbiotic author!