Chapter 1: An unexpected reunion
"I didn't think this would ever happen. So many people dead, just because someone was looking for a challenge. And now one of my friends' lives was on the line. So, how did we get here? Well, I guess it all started on my first, and last, day as a teacher. I was going to teach the class my friend Miles, AKA the other Spider-Man, was in. But that didn't last long as just a few minutes of class had passed when we suddenly had to deal with a giant and very angry Sandman. We defeated him and he was taken away by the authorities, but he warned us of a great threat that would come to New York. And it sure did. Some time later when we were helping RAFT escort Scorpion and Martin Li, we were suddenly attacked by a group of highly skilled and well-equipped people who called themselves Hunters. Unfortunately, they got away since we had to prioritize the citizens, much to Miles's dismay. Martin Li was responsible for his father's death, so I could understand why."
"But back to the Hunters. We found out that they were led by this guy named Kraven and that he was on the hunt for supervillains, so I asked Miles to get my ex Felicia Hardy, AKA the Black Cat, out of New York. He succeeded, thank God, but others weren't so lucky. Scorpion was killed and so were Electro, Vulture and Shocker. However, it wasn't all bad. I found out that my best friend Harry Osborn was in the city and had recovered from his sickness, which were the best news I had heard in a long time. Not only that, but he also gave me a new job at the best place possible. The Emily-May Foundation. It was a lab with state-of-the-art technology and scientists with the one goal of creating things that would help the world in various ways. Not long after that we decided to go to Coney Island along with my girlfriend Mary Jane Watson and have some fun together, like the old days."
"But once again, Hunters decided to ruin everything. A reformed supervillain I fought in the past, Tombstone, worked as a mechanic there and Kraven had marked him as his next target. And in classic Hunter style, they destroyed everything around them which again led to me having to save civilians while they got away with another supervillain. Help arrived though, but not from Miles. It was Harry that helped me. It turned out that Harry's 'treatment' had given him superpowers which let him use black tendrils of some kind. After revealing to him that I was Spider-Man we went back to the EMF and started testing Harry's powers. The next day we found out that the man who had helped with Harry's treatment, Dr Connors, formerly known as The Lizard, had gone missing. But first I went to find Tombstone so he wouldn't end up like Scorpion and the others. Harry showed up in the black suit that was giving him his powers and together we managed to free the reformed villain."
"After that we went to find Dr. Connors, but by the time we arrived it was already too late. Kraven had injected him with a serum that would turn him into the Lizard again and when we tried to help him… I got stabbed in the gut by Kraven. Never in my life have I been that close to dying as in that moment. Luckily for me, Harry gave, or transferred might be the more accurate term, to me. It saved my life and gave me a significant power boost as well as new abilities. But without the suit Harry was going to die from his sickness, so now we needed to cure Dr. Connors so we could get the suit back onto Harry. And the first step to do that was taking the serum from Kraven so we could use it to make a cure. So here I am. On a rooftop wearing a black suit and feeling more energized than ever."
Peter felt the rain drip on the black suit as he swung through the city, his webs now taking on the same dark color as his suit. It was a strange feeling, but it felt good. And seeing how strong Kraven was, he knew that he was going to need the extra power. But first he was going to see a pawn shop MJ had located. It specialized in weapons like the knife Peter had been stabbed with, so hopefully the owner could provide some answers. He landed on the shop's metal sign, only to see the place completely trashed and the owner cleaning up the mess.
"What happened?" Spider-Man asked.
"Hunters. They have been coming through here for days." The owner replied as he kept sweeping the ground with his broom.
Spider-Man jumped down from the sign and landed on the ground, giving the owner an apologetic shrug. "Sorry I wasn't here to help." He apologized.
"Could you tell me about this antique I found?" Peter brought out the blade that he had been stabbed with earlier, which was marked with Kraven's logo and gave it to the pawn shop owner. "It… almost killed me."
He gave it to the shop owner who examined the blade, but quickly returned it as soon as he laid eyes on the log. Upon returning the blade he quickly started backing into the shop, clearly terrified.
"I… I cannot help you. I've seen this symbol before. Please leave!" The owner pleaded and was just about to close the door when Spider-Man suddenly held up a hand, motioning for him to wait.
"Wait, I can protect you from the Hunters!"
The owner opened the door slightly and quickly replied. "I am not worried about them!" He stepped out and looked around at the street, as if a Hunter could be lurking nearby, waiting to strike.
"I thought I left this behind in Volgograd…" He prepared to go back inside again, taking one more look at the street before he started closing the door again. "The flames have been lit. This is his jungle now."
"Kraven?" Spider-Man asked.
"Kravinoff." The owner corrected him and closed the door to attend to his shop inside.
Seeing as how Spider-Man would not get any more information out of the pawn shop owner he swung back up onto the rooftops, where he saw black smoke rising towards the sky from two nearby buildings. "The flames have been lit. Hm."
He shot out a web and swung to the nearest building, but just before he arrived, he suddenly got a call from Miles, so he stopped to talk to him before he engaged with the Hunters.
"DUDE- MJ told me you almost died! You okay?" Miles said, his voice filled with concern for his mentor.
"Hey Miles. Actually, never felt better." Peter replied casually.
"I should've been- wait… really?" Judging by his reaction, he didn't know about the exact details of how Peter survived thanks to the Black Suit.
"Positive. Hey- let me call you back. Got some bonfires to crash." Peter told him as he began approaching said bonfire, scouting out the Hunters patrolling the area to see what he was dealing with here.
"Uh… okay…" And with that Miles hung up the phone, so now Spider-Man could get to work.
He began by webbing up the ones furthest away from the bonfire, so they would not be able to support their buddies from afar. Then he swung into action, literally, as he swung and kicked one of the Hunters straight into a nearby wall before he webbed them up. One of the other Hunters came swinging at him with two swords, but his Spider-Sense warned him in time, so he backflipped over them and kicked them in the back, sending them flying into a pair of nearby boxes. Following up the attack he grabbed them using his webs and threw them right at three other Hunters who were about to attack him. Seizing the opportunity, he knocked them all out and/or webbed them all up so they wouldn't cause any more trouble. Once the coast was clear and no more Hunters could attack him Spider-Man pulled a conveniently placed water tower down on the bonfire, putting it out almost instantly. With that done he could finally look around for some clues, so he walked over to a nearby workbench where he found an empty bottle of liquor.
"Vodka from Volgograd? Looks like it's for some kind of party… wonder what they're celebrating…" Peter mused and put the empty bottle back down on the workbench. "Pretty rude of Kraven not to extend an invite, but it has never stopped me before though." He said and web zipped away to the second bonfire where he would hopefully find out more about this party the Hunters were having.
The second bonfire was better guarded than the first one, with snipers keeping an eye out for intruders from the higher parts of the roof. But luckily for Spider-Man they were not really keeping an eye on each other, so it was easy work for him to take them out one by one. And with the snipers out of the way, he could finally fight the Hunters near the bonfire undisturbed. With a quick yank from his webs, he pulled down a water tower on the bonfire, which also heavily damaged one of the Hunters' robot dogs.
"Do you have a city permit for that bonfire?" Now that all the Hunters had been alerted it was an all-out brawl. Spider-Man jumped down and then turned his body about 45 degrees, narrowly dodging an incoming punch he then countered with a Tendril Punch, which was a punch from a bunch of black tendrils in the shape of a giant arm-like appendage. One Hunter managed to get in a kick on his back, but he quickly retaliated by backflipping behind the attacker and throwing a metal container at them. The rest of the Hunters had grouped up to use strength in numbers to try and take the Spider down, which proved to be futile in the end. They all ran at him at the same time, however, Spider-Man effortlessly reached out and grabbed them with a tendril each, before he slammed them into the ground and knocked them out. He was going to call that move the Tendril Yank.
(A/N: Since Peter doesn't know what a symbiote is yet the Symbiote attacks start with Tendril instead of Symbiote.)
"Let's see what they were up to." Upon defeating the Hunters, Spider-Man noticed that there was a secluded room off to the side that looked like it could provide some more intel. So he web zipped over to the double doors which he latched his tendrils onto. The sheer strength of the Black Suit tore off the metal doors off their hinges like cardboard. A computer was still active on a desk, so Spider-Man checked what it had been used for recently.
"They're shipping in more luxury goods from Volgograd for this… event?" With the intel he needed acquired he could finally leave and start looking for the next area of interest. "These shipments must be coming in nearby. No airfields here… but what about the docks? Maybe something there can lead me to Kraven."
It did not take him long to reach the docks, and when he arrived it turned out he was right on the money. A squad of Hunters were interrogating a worker and from the looks of it they were not happy.
"Don't make me ask again!" A Hunter yelled and kicked the civilian in the gut who cried out in pain.
"I told you, that's everything!" The worker pleaded, but the Hunter wasn't having it.
"Where is the rest of our shipment?!" The Hunter was clearly losing his patience, as he kicked the poor man repeatedly with each kick being more ruthless than the last.
"That guy really needs my help. Maybe he knows where the shipments went… I'll have to ask him after I have saved him." Spider-Man mused to himself and quietly moved on top of a metal beam until he was above one of the many snipers positioned across the docks. He lifted them up using his webs, before webbing them up and hanging them from the beam in one neat package. He repeated this process with as many snipers as he could, with the rest of them being taken down with swift strikes.
"Why's Kraven doing all this now? It doesn't make any sense…" Spider-Man thought out loud as he webbed up the last sniper. "One second he's hunting Super Villains and now he's… entertaining?"
"PLEASE! SOMEONE! HELP ME!" The worker cried out for help, but the Hunter silenced him with another kick to the gut.
"It's just us. No one can hear you scream." He scoffed, but he could not be more wrong.
"Sorry to interrupt your little meeting, but I think you'll have to reschedule." Spider-Man quipped as he landed in front of the remaining Hunters in his classic three-point landing pose. The Hunters without ranged weapons charged at him, but he unleashed the wrath of his Tendril Strike upon them. When using this attack Spider-Man became a whirlwind of black goo and tendrils, which was great for taking out multiple enemies at once such as this occasion. He made quick work of the gunners as he simply dodged around the gunfire until he got close enough to knock them out. After making sure that no reinforcements were coming, he quickly ran over to the dock worker.
"Easy, easy. You're in pretty bad shape. Let me help you." Spider-Man said and lifted the worker over his shoulder.
"Hospital… please…" He wheezed.
"Already on my way." Spider-Man replied and used his webs to traverse across the buildings until he reached the nearest hospital. He hoped that once the worker was at the hospital he could ask him more about the shipments, but by the time he arrived the worker had passed out and it looked like he was not waking up anytime soon. Having no other choice, Spider-Man returned to the docks where the worker had been attacked by the Hunters to try and find some sort of clue, anything that could help him. But after some quick searching he found nothing, which frustrated him.
"Ugh, there's nothing here! No computers, no vehicles, nothing! Great, so after crashing two bonfires, saving a dock worker and taking down dozens of Hunters and I still don't have a location." Spider-Man sighed.
"But I do." A voice spoke behind him, the last voice he thought he would hear right now.
"Felicia?!" Spider-Man was in shock, he had so many questions, but nothing came out. He just stood there, blinking, trying to process the situation and deduce if what he is seeing is real.
"Hey handsome, long time no see." She smiled at him, as she usually did.
"But wait, hold on, Miles told me you went through a portal to Paris to be with your girlfriend?" He asked. Black Cat just smiled, slowly approaching him while swaying her hips from side to side ever so slightly.
"Are you jealous Spider?" She asked and put her right index finger on the middle of his chest, right at the top of his white spider symbol. "Did you miss me?"
"I mean yes, no- uh…" He stumbled on his words, but Black Cat just giggled.
"I'm just messing with you. But on a serious note… she didn't like my… let's call them 'activities', and so she broke up with me." Felicia replied bluntly. Peter was surprised by this, but he supposed it made sense. MJ did not like that he risked his life as Spider-Man almost every day, but she got used to it. It seemed like not everyone had that kind of patience.
"Oh… I'm so sorry Felicia." Spider-Man said, still trying to wrap his head around it all.
"It's fine, some people just aren't compatible with each other… and besides, it didn't have the same dynamic as ours did." She replied and began moving her right index finger down the white spider symbol on his chest, going further and further down his torso.
"I- uh… okay, wait, whaaat are you doing?" He asked in confusion, as Black Cat was now gently resting her hand against the spot where he had been stabbed by Kraven earlier.
"Are you okay? It was a pretty nasty stab you took." She asked with a surprisingly serious and concerned tone, something Peter did not see coming at all.
"Uh… yeah, I'm fine, but… how did you know about the stab wound?" He tilted his head, curious as to how she knew about it.
"Because I was there." Felicia replied and took a step back, turning around so Peter could not see the guilt written all over her face. "I came back the other day and started tracking the Hunters, to see what they were doing and… I didn't want to ask for your help. I didn't think I deserved it. I wanted to help you, but I didn't want to burden you either, so I decided to go solo. When I arrived at the zoo there were just so many Hunters that I couldn't get to you, and then… I saw Kraven stab you. I had to retreat after they called in reinforcements, but I tried my best to get to you… and it wasn't enough." She reached for her face and shook her head, but Peter put a hand on her shoulder and gently squeezed it.
"Hey, it's okay. I'm okay. My friend gave me this suit and saved my life, but now he's going to die if I don't give it back to him. There are a few steps in that process, but the first step is stealing a serum from Kraven. Do you think you can help me with that?" Peter asked and held out his hand for a handshake. Felicia turned around and looked at his hand, hesitation was evident in her eyes, but eventually she shook it and smiled.
"Despite everything I've done to you, you can never get mad at me. And I will never understand why." She said and laughed a little.
"Me neither." Spider-Man replied and laughed with her. "So, you said you had a location?"
"I do. 718 Kent. They're hosting a party of some kind; from my understanding they're celebrating that Kraven finally has good prey to hunt." Black Cat explained and launched her grapple hook to swing away, with Spider-Man following shortly after.
"Do you know where Kraven is?" He asked and zipped to a rooftop, activating his Web Wings upon launching himself up to a higher altitude.
"No, but he should be there. And if he for some reason is not then there definitely be something there that can lead us to him." Black Cat replied.
"All right. Give me a second, I need to give a friend a call." Peter said and called Harry's phone using the Spider Suit's communication system. "Hey buddy, how are you feeling?"
"I'm fine. What's happening?" Harry said.
"Kraven- or Kravinoff- is hosting some kind of party at 718 Kent. Figured we would stop by."
"We?" Harry asked in confusion.
"Yeah, um…" Peter looked at Black Cat as they traversed the rooftops who gave him a quick wink, before he answered Harry's question. "An old friend showed up, she's helping me with Kraven and the Hunters."
"Wait, really? I didn't know you had another kick-ass friend. You'll have to tell me more about her later." Harry was a little surprised by this, but he supposed that it was not surprising since Peter was Spider-Man and all.
"Hold on, we're almost there." Peter said as they landed near a building with servers gathered around the kitchen entrance. Felicia moved to a different spot and grabbed a hidden box, while Peter listened in on the servers.
"How are you getting in?" Harry asked over the comms.
"Hold on, my friend's doing something." Peter tilted his head and looked in Felicia's direction.
"Hey Felicia, what are you… doing?" His eyes widened in surprise as Black Cat was, well, no longer Black Cat. She had removed her mask and put on a server's outfit, as well as making her hair blonde. "Harry… I'll
(A/N: In the Symbiote Spider-Man comics she had blonde hair as Felicia Hardy and white/platinum hair as Black Cat, don't ask me how she did it because I don't know. I just wanted to include it as a fun detail.)
"I… wow. You look… great. I forgot how good you looked in blonde." Spider-Man said and chuckled, rubbing the back of his head.
"Would Red approve of you saying that?" Felicia teased and smiled mischievously.
"I- uh- no, um…" Peter stumbled on his words and did not have a response, but Felicia just playfully nudged his chest and walked towards some cars outside the kitchen entrance where they would not be seen by the staff. She then suddenly turned around and tapped Peter's chest with her left index finger.
"I didn't plan on you tagging along, so I don't have an outfit for you. Do you have anything you can use?" Felicia asked and glanced at the doors.
"Too bad my tux is at the cleaners- wait, what in the-" But just as he said that the Black Suit began to ripple, tiny tendrils moving and swirling around on his skin as the suit began to change while his mask peeled back. And soon enough, the suit had changed from the Black Suit into a tuxedo. "Woah…"
But as Peter was in awe at the suit's display, Felicia cupped his cheek and looked at his face with a smile. "Um… what is it?"
"Nothing. I just didn't think you would look this handsome; you look even better than back in the day." She replied and patted his cheek, before moving towards the kitchen entrance with a sway on her hips. "Are you coming?"
"Y-yeah! I'm coming!" And so the two entered the building, beginning their infiltration. However, they had only taken a few steps when the kitchen expeditor suddenly called out to Peter.
"Hey. Hey, you! Come over here." He said and motioned for Peter to approach the table he was standing behind, a silver platter standing right in front of him. "Take this to Mr. Kravinoff's bodyguard."
"His bodyguard?" Peter asked, having no idea who the expeditor was talking about.
"Dima!" The kitchen expeditor retorted in a slightly annoyed manner. "Move!"
"Well, looks like our shift is starting." Felicia mused and sneakily grabbed the nearest silver platter to blend in when no one was looking. With a silver platter each they could now walk through the hallways with no one questioning them, so they began their search for this bodyguard of Kraven's.
"I was going to ask this before, but what was with your suit earlier? It seemed very… alive." Felicia asked, glancing at Peter as they squeezed by some Hunters.
"I don't think it's alive, my friend said that Dr. Connors was the one who designed it so it's probably just very advanced biotechnology." Peter replied, but just then they stopped to see two Hunters in a large area around a fireplace arguing about something.
"A 300-year-old sleeping dart will never work!" The first Hunter said.
"You are so certain, are you?" The second Hunter replied with a scoff.
"Show me then!"
"I'll show him too." The second Hunter grabbed the nearest server and pushed him towards his comrade, who grabbed him and held him in place so he could take the shot with the dart. "Let him squirm."
The first Hunter was still skeptical about the dart and continued to argue. "The poison is ancient. And you don't even know how to use that thing!" But while all this was going on Peter and Felicia had stopped to watch, however, as the situation escalated two black tendrils slithered out of the bottom of Peter's shirt, moving along the floor like snakes until they reached the Hunter's feet.
"A true Hunter… adapts." But just as he was about to throw the dart, he suddenly felt something tug at his feet, making the dart fly past the server and right into the other Hunter's neck. He went out like a light and collapsed on the floor, which gave the server the chance to scurry off. Peter who was still shocked by the suit's action, continued to walk with Felicia in tow.
"Those Hunters were nuts. Can't believe the suit listened to me…" He chuckled.
"Like I said before, your suit acts very alive for being… well, a suit." Felicia leaned in and whispered. "What else can it do?"
"A lot of things. And I have probably only scratched the surface." Peter said. Still holding the silver platters, they made their way to the main entrance where a bunch more Hunters arrived. "That's probably the Maître D' by the podium."
The Hunters walked up to the Maître D' and one of them asked him about one of their colleagues. "Has one of the Shield Bears arrived?"
"Ah yes- he's in the other room by the fire." He replied and pointed at a pair of doors. The Hunters prepared to head over to said room, but the Maître D' had a question for them. "Um, will Mr. Kravinoff be joining us this evening? There are some-" But one look from one of the Hunters quickly made him back up. "Um… quite right."
Glancing at each other, Peter and Felicia followed the Hunters into the next room while whispering to one another. "Damn… Kraven isn't here." Peter whispered.
"But they did say something about a Shield Bearer, doesn't that sound like a bodyguard to you?" Felicia replied as they made their past more Hunters. Most of them had moved the furniture and put them in a circle to create a small arena where two Hunters were currently fighting, but whether it was a friendly spar or a fight to the death was unclear. Just like the Maître D' said there was a large man standing near a fireplace, wearing armor and a helmet that covered his entire head. "Must be your guy."
"Um… your meal, Sir." Peter said and bowed slightly, removing the cloche from the silver platter. The brute put up his left foot on a chair and rested his arm against his knee, inspecting the dish that had been presented before him.
"What the hell is this?" He rumbled.
As Peter looked down on the platter, it turned out that it was not actually a dish, but rather a large piece of raw meat. "Um, I was told to deliver this to Mr. Kravinoff's personal bodyguard?"
"What makes you think I am him?" The Shield Bearer retorted, while the Hunters in the room began to laugh at the young man's mistake.
"You know… you're huge?" Peter slowly replied with uncertainty in his voice.
The brute looked up at a set of doors on the floor above them, realizing who Peter was meant to deliver the silver platter to. "Dima's very hungry, so you should leave. Now."
Peter quickly put the cloche back on and grabbed the silver platter, quickly backing up from the armored brute. "So funny… I was just about to do that." And with that he rejoined Black Cat who was waiting for him by the next set of doors, giggling at what just happened.
"Did you know that was going to happen?" Peter whispered as he opened the doors, trying to spot an elevator that could take them to the next floor.
"No, but it was pretty funny." Felicia replied. After turning around a corner she spotted an elevator and pointed at it, motioning Peter to follow her. Walking up to the elevator, she pressed the button, expecting the elevator to be empty, but instead a server with a food cart came out of it. The server was clearly in a hurry as he kept trying to push the cart past Peter who had to back to give the server room to move.
"Sorry!"
"Don't be sorry, move!" The server replied in annoyance, but his impatience would cost him as he pushed Peter into another server who came out of a kitchen with a silver platter on his hand, knocking him to the floor along with the platter in his hand. The one who was pushing the card took the platter Peter was holding and put it down on the cart before moving to help his colleague. Seizing the opportunity, Peter and Felicia moved into the elevator and pressed the button to take them to the next floor. Once the elevator doors had opened, they slowly moved towards the doors the Shield Bearer had been looking at earlier while making sure that the coast was clear.
"We find Dima, we find Kraven and his Lizard serum. Then we go to the EMF Foundation and make a cure for Dr. Connors." Peter went through the plan one more time as they made their way to a set of two wooden doors.
"The EMF Foundation?" Felicia asked curiously, since she had been solely focusing on Kraven and the Hunters, she had not been keeping an eye on everything else that was going on in the city.
"Yeah, it's… an organization me and my friend are running. It's going to help the world and the people in it, but right now we need to focus on making him healthy again." Peter replied and opened one of the doors, entering the room with Felicia right behind him. But he suddenly took a step back as he saw something that he did not expect at all. A tiger of all things was resting on a table, but quickly got up when it noticed the two intruders.
"You… wouldn't happen to be Dima, do you?" Peter replied and backed a few steps while his tuxedo changed back into the Black Suit. "Hey Cat, you don't happen to be good with tigers, do you?"
"Other than you, no. Sorry." Felicia replied and closed the door behind them. "So tiger, what's the plan?"
Spider-Man got up on the railing and surveyed the area, but then got off it when he suddenly got an idea. "Okay, I think our tiger friend is pretty hungry so first we need to get that raw meat back. Then we can apply the sleeping agent from that dart to it, then we have ourselves a meal that can put a tiger to sleep. Sound like a plan?"
"Sounds good. I'll grab the meat while you grab the dart." Felicia called for the elevator and then winked at the Spider. "Maybe I'll grab your meat later."
"Wait, wh-" Spider-Man was lucky his mask was covering his face, because otherwise his companion would have seen how red his face was. He quickly shook his head and climbed the ceiling, making his way over to the knocked-out Hunter who still had the dart in his neck. "I swear, Felicia is a bit too much sometimes…"
While Felicia looked for the raw meat Spider-Man moved across the ceiling and then used a thread to descend when no one was looking. The Hunter was still asleep, so Spider-Man easily plucked the dart and moved back up to the ceiling. "Shh… our little secret."
He returned to the second floor and waited for Felicia, who returned with the meat not long after he grabbed the dart. Taking the meat, he took the sleeping agent from the dart and rubbed it into the meat before tossing it into the room where Dima was waiting.
"Hi Dima! We're back… with a little snacky-snack!" And before the tiger had the chance to pounce at him, he quickly tossed the drugged meal to his right, which fortunately for him and Felicia, Dima focused on instead of them. Much like with the Hunter from earlier, the sleeping agent took effect almost immediately and put the predator into a deep slumber. And with that the Spider and the Cat could finally snoop around undisturbed.
"Guess Kraven's too cool for his own party… we should look around in case he left the Lizard serum somewhere in here." Spider-Man said after noticing that they were the only ones in the room. He began looking around and checked out the various belongings owned by Kraven while Felicia took off the server outfit and changed back into the Black Cat. They found potions, weapons, trophies, but eventually Spider-Man came across a desk that stood out to him. A necklace with a cross of some kind was laying next to a pair of lit candles and what looked like a family tree of the Kravinoffs. "Was Kraven… praying?"
"Speaking of praying, I think I found something that might lead us to Kraven." Black Cat was holding a note that seemed to be written quite recently. She handed it over to her companion and explained what she had gathered from it. "It mentioned him having a chapel prepared and that he was going to pray for this hunt he's about to go on."
"Wait, St. Sophia's only a few blocks from here, Kraven has to be there with the serum! Come on, let's move!" Spider-Man made a gesture towards the door, and they began making their leave, but just as Spidey was about to reach for the doorknob, he felt his Spider Sense go off. Without hesitation he wrapped his arm around Black Cat's waist and web zipped up to the ceiling, just in time for the Shield Bearer to enter the room.
"Dima?" The brute rumbled and looked around only to find the tiger asleep. He suddenly turned around and saw Spider-Man and Black Cat climbing out of a window which led back to the main area, but they both paused for a brief moment when they noticed that they had been spotted.
"It's… not what it looks like?" Spider-Man said and gave him a small shrug. Black Cat however, who did not want to risk it, kept climbing out of the window and moved away just in time for the brute to throw a chair at them. Luckily, Spider-Man swung out of the way and narrowly avoided it but landed in the middle of the room where Hunters had already gathered in a circle. Black Cat soon joined him, and they stood back-to-back, ready to fight together just like old times. Now it was on.
"Keep them alive." The brute ordered and walked off, much to the twosome's surprise. But that just made things easier for them.
"Okay suit… let's see what you can really do." With a roar and a burst of power, tendrils shot out of the Black Suit before retracting again, which was the signature of his Surge Mode. While in this state his attacks were faster and stronger, more ferocious, which was exactly what he needed while being in the belly of the beast. Without hesitation, he quickly used his Tendril Yank to slam half a dozen Hunters into the floor before he moved in and fought them in close combat. He sidestepped a punch and retaliated by grabbing the Hunter's legs with a bunch of tendrils, using them as a weapon to knock out the other Hunters until he threw them at a Hunter who was aiming his crossbow at him. "Harry did not tell me it felt like this!"
"Oh yeah? What does it feel like?" Black Cat shouted from across the room as she gave a Hunter a roundhouse kick to the face.
"I feel… strong! Like a one-man army!" He replied and moved to the side, avoiding a sword while Black Cat swooped in and slammed the sword's owner into the floor, before Spidey webbed them up. She then swept another Hunter's legs who was then hit by Spider-Man's Tendril Punch, sending them flying into a wall and swiftly knocking them out. One of them took aim at Black Cat, but Spider-Man knew this was coming due to his Spider Sense and pulled her towards him to get her out of the line of fire. She smiled at him and used the momentum to kick a Hunter in the face who was about to bring their axe down onto the Spider. Just like the old days.
Together they moved in unison, dealing with Hunter after Hunter with swift strikes and precise maneuvering. Whenever one of them was close to being hurt the other saved them, and so they dealt with the enemy until the entire club had gone silent. They panted a bit as they made their way to the exit, feeling a little bit proud of their accomplishment.
"That was fun." Black Cat said and glanced at Spidey.
"Yeah, it sure was." But he suddenly stopped in his tracks when he felt his Spider Sense go off. He turned around and tendrils shot out of his right arm, grabbing an arrow midair, which was aimed right at Black Cat. He dropped the arrow and looked in the direction of the source, spotting the culprit almost instantly. The Hunter dropped the crossbow and backed away in fear, but Spider-Man was not going to let him escape. Letting his tendrils out again, he reached out and wrapped them around the Hunter's torso, who screamed in pure terror, but the black-suited crime fighter just threw him right out the window above the doors.
"That… wasn't me…" Spider-Man's eyes widened, and he glanced at his hands, before looking at Black Cat. She looked surprised, but… not afraid. "I'm sorry about that."
"Why are you apologizing? I don't mind. The fact that you just saved my life and got angry about him trying to kill me was, well, kind of touching." Black Cat smiled again and winked at him. "Besides, I like this more… aggressive side of yours."
"Um… thanks. Let's go find Kraven." Spidey quickly changed the subject and web zipped through the window where he found the Hunter groaning in pain. "You should ice that."
Spider-Man and Black Cat left the scene, moving up to the rooftops when they suddenly received a call from MJ.
"Hey Pete, any luck?" She asked as Spider-Man and Black Cat made their way to the chapel.
"No Kraven yet, but we- I think I know where he is."
"How's the suit?" Harry chimed in.
"Weird. It's like it knows me. Don't worry buddy, we'll- I'll take care of everything. I promise." He said and ended the call.
"You didn't tell Red about our little team up. What gives?"
"I think you know why. I really don't want to make things even more complicated than they already are right now." Spider-Man replied, and web zipped onto a monument, now arriving at the chapel. The rain poured down around them with an occasional thunderstrike in the distance, but other than that it was quiet. Too quiet. Spider-Man shot out another web and swung towards the chapel, but suddenly his Spider Sense started going off again. However, he was already mid-swing so he could not evade the strike from the Shield Bearer he had met earlier. It was some kind of EMP spear that temporarily disabled his gadgets, including his web shooters. So when he tried firing his webs at the brute all that came out were tiny blue sparks. Distracted by the malfunction in his web shooters, the wall crawler failed to dodge the incoming charge and was sent flying through a brick wall but landed on his feet and skidded back a bit. "Hey, it's you! The professional chair thrower!"
The brute just grunted and charged at Spider-Man but was interrupted by Black Cat who kicked him in the back of the head. Spider-Man used that opportunity to fire a web at his opponent and blind him, now that his web shooters were back online, before using a web to throw himself at the brute and landing a powerful punch in his face.
"I would love to get to know you better, but I got some business to take care of. See, your boss has been up to no good lately." Spider-Man said and parried a spear attack from the brute, retaliating with a Tendril Strike that sent him flying up into the air. Black Cat leapt into the air and Spider-Man grabbed her hand, sending her even higher up into the air until he shot a web which she grabbed onto, using it to slam her feet into the brute and slam him back down on the ground. The brute grunted in pain and swung his spear in a wide arc, which Spider-Man had to block. "This is MY city. Not his jungle. He killed Scorpion, let the Lizard loose... and he stabbed me pretty good… so I would like a word with him. Especially about that last part."
The Shield Bearer did not give Spidey a response and instead just raised his shield to block an incoming pot that was thrown at him. Luckily for the brute reinforcements arrived to help him, but the duo was undeterred. Spider-Man engaged with the Shield Bearer once more while Black Cat fought off the regular Hunters, but they both assisted each other with their respective opponents whenever they could. Eventually Spider-Man knocked out the Shield Bearer with a mighty Tendril Punch and Black Cat knocked out the last Hunter with a well-placed punch to the face. She then walked over to her companion and jerked her thumb towards the unconscious Hunters.
"I took care of mine, and from the looks of it you took care of yours. Are we going inside now?"
Spider-Man held up a hand and shook his head. "No, I'm going alone. He's even stronger and definitely faster than he looks, when I tried to fight him last time I almost died. Please, I don't want you to get hurt." Spider-Man pleaded.
Black Cat seemed reluctant, but then sighed and walked over to him. "I can handle myself… but fine. I'll stay here and keep an eye out for any more reinforcements. I'll call you if any more arrive."
"Thank you, Felicia." Spider-Man nodded and started walking up the stairs leading to the chapel's main entrance, but then stopped when he heard Black Cat call out to him.
"Hey Spidey. Be careful, all right?"
"I will." And with that he slowly opened the doors, walking inside the seemingly empty chapel. Candles had been recently lit, but there was no Kraven there. "Here to pick up a serum order for a Dr. Connors!"
He noticed some movements over the support beams in the right corner, so he swung up and slowly walked down the center beam. What he failed to notice however, was the rain smattering against the chapel's bell. It was barely noticeable, but it created a subtle noise that seemed to dull Spider-Man's senses, making him look at his hands in confusion as his vision blurred a little.
"You have hunted me." Kraven's voice echoed throughout the chapel, but Spider-Man could not tell where he was. "This is good."
Spider-Man suddenly bent his back a bit and turned slightly to narrowly dodge a knife that his Spider Sense warned him about, which then lodged itself into one of the wooden beams. "Let's see if you have the strength to finish what you started."
Spider-Man's eyes darted between different spots, but his vision was getting blurrier, and his head even began to throb a little, which made it easy for Kraven to tackle him off the beam and disappear into the shadows again. But Spidey swung himself back up onto the beam, his unwavering determination giving him the strength to continue. But sheer determination alone would not be enough, as he received a kick that stunned him for a moment, which was all Kraven needed to grab his knife and pin the wall crawler to the wall with a chokehold.
"I see a man… but I sense… a beast." Kraven said and tightened his hold on Spider-Man's throat, making him groan in pain. But despite the pain and his blurry eyesight Spider-man spotted the vial around Kraven's neck, which was what he came for. Suddenly two black tendrils burst out of his chest and sent Kraven flying, right into the chapel's bell. Spidey jumped up to the beam leading to the bell but started twitching and gasping when he felt the soundwaves that had been created from Kraven's impact. He was suddenly unsteady on his feet, undoubtedly because of the loud sound that the bell emitted. Kraven turned around and looked at the bell, a wide grin spreading across his face as he stood up and faced Spider-Man once more. "Why don't you set it free?"
But Spider-Man was not in the mood to talk, so he shot out a web and yanked the serum from Kraven's neck. "I'm just here to save my friend."
Kraven's grin turned into a scowl in response to this, so he kicked the bell and made it ring loudly, making Spider-Man scream in agony as tiny tendrils stuck out of the Black Suit, even the suit itself seemed to be shrieking in pain. He collapsed down on the beam and writhed in pain. Just as he was about to counterattack Kraven kicked the bell again, which made the crime fighter unable to do anything to stop it. Kraven chuckled darkly and was about to kick the bell again, but suddenly heard the crash from a window next to them. Kraven grunted in pain as he was scratched in the face, making him stumble back a step. He looked up to see none other than Black Cat standing between him and Spider-Man, her right claws red from Kraven's blood.
"The Black Cat? My Hunters had told me you vanished from New York completely… but I guess they were wrong." Kraven wiped the blood off his face with his left thumb and then rubbed it between his fingers. "But I have lost interest in you. The Spider and the Lizard are my pray now."
"Not happening, so you better stay away from him, or I won't hesitate to scratch you blind." Black Cat hissed as she held up her claws in front of her, ready to fight Kraven head-on despite the gap in size and strength.
Now that the bell had stopped ringing Spider-Man could finally move, so he did not waste any more time and hit the bell as hard as he could with a Tendril Punch, pinning it to the nearby wall. He took a few deep breaths and got up, wrapping his right arm around Black Cat's waist. Using his tendrils once more, he smashed a window and then looked back at Kraven.
"We'll finish this later." He growled and swung away while holding Black Cat close to him.
Kraven made no attempt to follow them and instead just rested his right foot on the ledge, with his hand on his knee. He grinned again, nodding in approval as his pray moved out of sight.
"My final hunt."
A/N: There you have it! I hope you enjoyed it, I put a lot of unnecessary pressure on myself to make this as good as possible even though it's just the first chapter in my first fanfic, but I will improve! I will be answering your reviews here at the end so if you have anything to say, then go ahead and leave a review. But please, if you are going to criticize my fanfic(s) then I want you to give me constructive criticism, because if you just say that it's bad without explaining why then there's nothing for me to learn other than that an idiot read my fanfic… so yeah. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it and I'll see you next time. Peace.