Chapter 2: The Hunt for the Lizard
Spider-Man swung across a bridge while keeping his left arm wrapped tightly around Black Cat's waist, still feeling a little dizzy after Kraven had rung the bell on him. Now that they had the serum, they could head over to the EMF Foundation and hopefully create a cure for the Lizard, AKA Dr. Connors.
In the midst of a swing, he activated his communication device and called MJ and Harry. "Harry, MJ, I got the serum! On my way back to Emily-May!"
"How'd it go?" MJ asked.
"Really well! Things just got a little… intense with Kraven. He's somehow stronger than he looks, if you can believe that." He replied and was about to let go of his companion so she could swing on her own with her grappling hook, but to his surprise he found her clinging onto his back and slightly nuzzling her face against him, so he just continued to swing without letting her go.
"Hey, the important things is that you're okay and you got the serum. You did great buddy; I'll start prepping the gear!" Harry chimed in and ended the call on his end.
But MJ was silent for a moment, until she slowly asked the question that had been on her mind since the start of the call. "How did it really go?"
"It was totally…" But Peter quickly realized that there was no point in sugarcoating it, so he just told the truth. "I didn't want to worry Harry. Kraven now knows that the suit malfunctions when it's within range of certain frequencies."
"How bad is the malfunction?" MJ asked with a hint of worry in her voice.
"Not pleasant, but I can handle it!" Peter tried to reassure his girlfriend.
"Well… I'm glad you're all right but watch yourself out there too." MJ sighed. "Let me know how things go at the lab?"
"Absolutely. Talk soon." And with that Peter ended the call. After a few more swings and web zips they finally landed on the roof of the EMF Foundation, Peter turned his head and looked at his "passenger", as if asking her if she was going to get off his back. "Why didn't you use your grapple hook?"
"I just like holding you. Besides, I know you're not going to let me fall." She whispered into his ear and got off him, stretching her limbs before she entered the building with Spidey following shortly after.
Inside the building Harry was currently making the final preparations on a hologram table where they would the make cure for Dr. Connors. Hearing two people land behind him Harry turned around to see Spider-Man and Black Cat, with the former letting the Black Suit change into a black sweater along with black pants. Harry raised an eyebrow at the platinum-haired woman and then looked at Peter.
"Wait, so this is your friend that you were talking about? You're friends with Black Cat?" He asked in surprise. "Are you sure we can trust her?"
"I'm right here you know." Black Cat said in slight annoyance.
"I mean, your personal doctor was the Lizard." Peter pointed out. "Besides, she came all the way from Paris to help me with the Hunters, so yeah. I think we can trust her."
"Fair point I guess." Harry replied in defeat. Even if he did not trust the thief he did trust Peter.
"This is Felicia." Peter said and made a gesture towards her. He then gestured towards Harry. "Felicia, this is Harry Osborn, my best friend. And founder of the EMF Foundation."
"I'm sorry we got off on the wrong foot." Harry said and held out his hand, which Felicia shook after a moment of hesitation.
"It's fine, I wouldn't trust me either. But like your friend said, I'm just here to help him. Now, we had a cure to make right? Let's not waste any more time."
Harry had some questions for both of them, but he decided to leave it be for now. With the introductions out of the way everyone turned their attention to the hologram table and brought up the serum's biological make-up on the display. Using an old sample of Connor's blood along with the Lizard serum they destroyed the atoms blocking the Lizard receptors, but something still seemed off when they were done.
"Does the structure look unstable to you?" Harry asked as Peter retrieved the vial from the holo-table.
"Hm. If we could beam a few electrons in there it'd stabilize it, but it's not like we have a…" Peter looked up from the vial and at his best friend, their eyes lighting up in excitement as they were both thinking the same thing.
"Particle accelerator!" They proclaimed in unison. The boys ran to the nearest railing where they could see the particle accelerator on the floor below them, with Black Cat calmly following them with an amused smile on her face.
"This is going to be like using a shotgun for a haircut!" Harry exclaimed with excitement as he leaned over the railing ever so slightly to get a better look at the particle accelerator.
"Hell of a haircut." Peter replied with a smile.
"You two remind me of kids in a toy store." Felicia chuckled and followed them downstairs.
Upon reaching the particle accelerator Harry tapped a few buttons on a tablet in his right hand and started booting up different parts of the machine. "The techs said it needs repair, maybe it's okay…"
"No black holes, no black holes, no black holes, no black holes, no black holes…" After putting the serum in the "input box" Harry opened the safety cover on a big red button and pressed it, which made the particle accelerator whir to life. To their relief no black holes seemed to appear, but then there was a loud noise, and the floor shook slightly. Harry looked at his tablet and sighed, immediately catching what went wrong. "Pressure change popped an inner section out of alignment. There's no way of fixing it without going inside…"
As if on cue, Peter's clothes rippled and changed once again back into the Black Suit as he moved towards the hatch that led inside the machine with both Harry and Felicia following him, feeling a bit unsure about Peter's plan.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa… what are you doing?" Harry asked.
"The suit will protect me, right?" Peter casually replied with a shrug and opened the hatch.
"Spider, are you sure about this?" Felicia put a hand on his shoulder and looked at him with slight concern. She had seen him kick some serious ass with the suit, but as his encounter with Kraven revealed it was not exactly invincible or invulnerable.
"Just relax and be good protons. Okay?" Peter patted Felicia's hand and then jumped into the tunnel. Harry and Felicia glanced at each other, unsure what he meant with the proton part. But he simply pointed at them finger-gun style and quipped. "Stay positive!"
Felicia giggled while Harry just rolled his eyes, then shut the hatch once they made sure that Peter was inside. Inside the tunnel Spidey was crawling and trying to find the misaligned part, luckily there was no lack of light as there were red lights throughout the whole thing which illuminated the space within.
"So, what's the inside of a particle accelerator like?" Harry asked over the communicator.
"Amazing. You gotta crawl in this when you get the suit back." Judging by the tone in Peter's voice he was genuinely enjoying it.
"Oh yeah, it's definitely at the top of my list." Harry replied sarcastically.
"What's going to happen when I realign it anyway?" The web crawler asked to get them back on track as he reached the part of the tunnel that had been misaligned. He put his feet up against the accelerator wall and then used a tendril to push the whole thing back into place. But just as he began crawling again a blue beam appeared just above him, sending small bolts of lightning here and there throughout the tunnel.
"Harrryyy…!" Peter called out to his friend and moved with haste, now not feeling as excited to be inside a particle accelerator.
"It's- it's powering up! But the beam's erratic, use the magnets to stabilize it!"
"How?!" It did not take long for Spider-Man to reach said magnets, so he let out his tendrils and grabbed the magnets, trying to move them into their correct positions.
"Just… find the sweet spot!"
"Particle accelerators do not have sweet spots!" Peter yelled but managed to find "the sweet spot" and stabilize the beam, at least for now. "There, good?"
"There's one more set of magnets ahead! If you can't stabilize the beam, it'll destroy the serum!"
"I got it…" Spidey replied and kept crawling until he found the second sets of magnets. Once again, he used his tendrils to try and move them into the right positions. "Do not wipe my library cards please and don't touch the beam… don't touch the beam…"
Once the magnets were in place Harry and Felicia heard a beep from the tablet, which was a notification that told them that the beam was stable again. "You did it Pete! We're home free! Come on out!
But as Peter kept crawling through the tunnel, he suddenly saw what looked like a smaller beam connected to the big beam pass right by him, which made him even more concerned. "What was that?!"
"Probably a static discharge! Means the accelerator's working, you clever freaking goose!" Harry replied.
Peter continued to crawl through the tunnel and moved out of the way anytime a static discharge came his way, eventually making it all the way back to the hatch which was opened for him. As soon as he was out Felicia immediately closed the hatch behind him and then looked at him with a worried look in her eyes. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm good. Those magnets just made my tendrils feel tingly." He replied and looked at Harry. "Is it working?"
"Lizard antidote, here we come." Harry smiled and was about to high-five his buddy when suddenly an alarm began blaring, making Peter go down on his knees as medium-sized tendrils popped up all over the Black Suit and wriggled around frantically.
"Shut it off!" Felicia yelled at Harry and helped Spidey up on his feet, who was still screaming in pain.
Harry slammed his hand down on the red button which shut off the alarm, which in turn made the Black Suit calm down. Peter let out a sigh of relief and shook his head, still feeling a bit dizzy.
"So the suit's got some sensitive ears." Harry said.
"Apparently."
"What happened?" Black Cat asked, wanting to know what caused the alarm to go off.
"More static discharges. Accelerator's still running though. The serum's okay." But his smile then quickly faded as the group noticed that something was wrong on the other side of the building.
"Fire!" Peter said and pointed at one of multiple fires. The three split up, with Harry grabbing the nearest fire extinguisher and running to the left side while Peter swung to the right.
"You get that side, I'll get this side!" Harry said and got to work.
"I'll check the other floors and see if there are fires there too!" Felicia grabbed a fire extinguisher as well and ran upstairs.
"Got it!" Peter used his webs to put out the smaller fires and for the bigger ones he got creative using the environment around him to his advantage.
"The static discharges must've fried our fire suppression sensors. I'll try to trigger them manually!" Harry informed the other two over the comms.
"Is the antidote still being made?" Peter asked, since it was starting to look pretty bad for the particle accelerator.
"Should be! But if the fires damage the accelerator, we'll lose it!" Harry quickly responded and then continued to put out fires, with Peter and Felicia doing the same. Once it was all clear on the second floor they moved up to the third floor and helped Felicia put out the remaining fires.
"Another fire's out. How are you doing Harry?" Peter asked for a status report and grabbed Felicia to swing over to Harry once it was all clear on their end.
"I'm bypassing every safety lock known to man. Living life on the edge!" He replied and put out the last fire. Once it was all done, he brought out the tablet again and saw that it said "Antidote complete". "It worked!"
The two friends gave each other a high five, which made Felicia smile slightly.
"So you'll power it down, I'll grab the antidote, find Dr. Connors-"
"Not so fast." Harry interrupted him as they began walking back to the accelerator. "There are 67 shutdown steps. If we take it out before then we'll lose the antidote."
"Sounds like it's gonna be a while. You hungry? I could go get us some pizza." Peter offered and then turned towards Felicia. "You like pizza Cat?"
"I don't eat it very often, but you can never go wrong with- GET DOWN!" She suddenly called out and all three of them crouched down as an explosion occurred in the ceiling only a dozen meters in front of them. Hunters were suddenly inside the building, breaking into it from various places.
"Shut it down and get the antidote! We'll handle them!" Peter shouted and gestured for Harry to leave, which he did without hesitation. The webslinger and the Black Cat stood side by side as a group of Hunters approached them with weapons at the ready, but the duo was ready to take them on. Spider-Man started by grabbing everyone in front of him using the Tendril Yank and then slammed them all down into the floor, crouching as his tendrils retracted and Black Cat used his back to leap into the air, landing a kick to the nearest Hunter's face. "No Kraven? I thought we had a thing going!"
"You're not his only prey!" One of the Hunters replied and took aim with a crossbow at Black Cat but was quickly stopped by a web that covered the whole weapon and stuck it to the Hunter's arms. Distracted by this, Black Cat seized the opportunity to land a few good punches in before Spidey finished the job with a Tendril Punch that sent the Hunter flying into a wall.
"Li?" Spider-Man remembered that he had not seen or heard anything about Mr. Negative since he was seemingly captured by Kraven, but perhaps he managed to escape. He was quite powerful after all. "Tell me where he is!"
"I don't think they're going to talk Spider." Black Cat pointed out and knocked out another Hunter with a roundhouse kick.
Suddenly Harry could be heard over the comms, which meant that he must have gotten to safety. "I thought Kraven was only going after Super Villains? Why are they here?"
"Kraven must have put a tracker on the serum before I stole it… and followed me here! Sorry, Harry." Peter apologized and web zipped over to a Hunter who was about to fire his rifle and knocked him out with a few quick strikes and some webs.
"Why are you apologizing? I'm not worried, you got the suit! Kick their asses!" And with that he ended the call and continued working on shutting down the accelerator.
"What step are you on now Harry?" Spidey asked and launched a Hunter into the air with an uppercut, only for him to be sent back down by a kick from Black Cat. The two were working well together, even better than back at the club. Now their moves were even more synchronized, more calculated.
"Diverting the beam into the auxiliary tunnel. What's new with you?" Harry replied.
"Well, I just got an extension on my student loans. Real excited about that…" Was Peter's response as he tossed a nearby pot at a Shield Bearer who blocked it with his shield, but the wall crawler used that to his advantage by flipping over the shield and hitting the brute in the back with a mighty Tendril Punch that sent him flying.
"Spider, take the birds, I got the humans!" Black Cat shouted as a few of Kraven's drone birds entered the fray. Spidey gave her a quick nod and got to work, using his tendrils to slam two of them into each other and then using the remaining three as projectiles to throw at the Hunters. Reinforcements arrived, but the duo continued to pummel them all almost effortlessly. But as the battle raged on the EMF Foundation was being torn apart, equipment and furniture ruined, and this was just the beginning. "Your friend needs to hurry, the longer we stay here the more damage the Hunters are dealing to the foundation!"
"We're making good progress; only 30 steps left until the antidote's ready!" Harry informed the duo.
"Great, because I don't think these guys are going to stop coming!" Flipping to the side, Spidey dodged an incoming rocket in the nick of time and then used his webs to throw it at one of the bird drones.
"You got this buddy!" And with that Harry ended the call and moved to the particle accelerator when no one was looking.
The two crime fighters moved in unison, covering each other's backs as they slowly but surely moved back to the accelerator. After knocking out another brute together, the duo deduced that the coast was clear, so they ran to Harry to see how he was doing.
"It's almost powered down!" Harry said as he frantically tapped on his tablet, trying to complete the last few steps as fast as possible.
"We'll finish it and grab the antidote, you need to get out of here!" Peter urged his friend to leave, but Harry wasn't having it.
"I can't leave, I'm the only one who can-"
But in that very moment Peter's Spider Sense went off like crazy, so he pushed Harry away from the accelerator and tackled Felicia to the side. The millisecond after Spidey had moved his friends out of the way an explosive arrow hit the accelerator and detonated, the damage causing the accelerator to go haywire. A few more arrows followed suit, but Spider-Man was quick enough to get up and use his webs to throw them away. However, the explosion sent him back and had temporarily stunned him as he laid on the floor and tried to get back. Blue sparks of lightning crackled all over the machine and in turn activated the alarm, sending Spidey once again into a state of pure agony. He held his head and screamed in pain as tendrils all over the suit wriggled around, unable to even move from the sheer amount of pain that he was feeling.
"Quickly! Cover the exits! Tell Kraven that we have the Spider." A Hunter captain shouted as even more Hunters moved in on their location, crashing through various points in the ceiling and using ropes to lower themselves down to the lower floors. Black Cat had gotten up and was currently fighting off the Hunters by herself, standing protectively in front of the dazed Spider-Man, but was quickly backed into the corner by the sheer amount of Hunters present. A bird drone secured its claws around the still screaming Spider-Man's shoulders and lifted him up as the Hunter captain laughed at the display. "Kraven is going to have fun with you."
"Spider, hold on!" Felicia yelled and kneed a Hunter in the face, throwing him into one of his comrades right after. One Hunter close to the captain took aim at Black Cat with a crossbow, sending Peter into a fit of panic. But just as the Hunter was about to fire, Harry slammed his hand down on the red button for the accelerator, putting an end to the alarm and the web slinger back into action.
Now that the pain had subsided Spidey immediately entered a fetal position while still being held in the air by the drone, then thrusted his arms and legs outwards as large tendrils protruded from all over his body in every direction, making him look like some kind of spike ball. The tendrils knocked away every Hunter within his proximity and destroyed the floor on which they were standing on, making Spider-Man and the Hunters land on the floor beneath them. Boards and debris came crashing down around Spider-Man as he made his classic three-point landing, with Black Cat landing next to him, ready for some more duo action. The Hunters who weren't knocked out by the Tendril Blast groaned and stood up, dazed and bruised by the powerful attack.
"Looks like they want more." Felicia smirked and held up her claws in front of her.
"Then let's give it to them." Spidey said in a slightly deeper voice than how he normally spoke.
Lunging forward, the two crime fighters began beating the Hunters left and right, destroying some EMF equipment in the process as more Hunters moved in on their location.
"What the hell was that?!" Harry asked over the comms, referring to the Tendril Blast that Peter had unleashed earlier which had taken out a ton of Hunters.
"I don't know, I was just so… angry…" Peter replied and dodged a sword strike before he webbed them up and threw them across the room. "And the suit just… exploded! I don't know how to describe it… but enough of that, are you okay?"
"Think so. I'm going to the breaker room; I can do the next steps there. Are you okay?"
"Yeah… I feel amazing!" Spidey said with a hint of excitement as he knocked out another Hunter with a Tendril Punch. Another Hunter attempted to shoot him in the back but was knocked by Black Cat who hit him square in the face with a roundhouse kick. "Besides, I have Black Cat."
As the numbers dwindled the room was eventually cleared, but Peter turned around to see a brute coming out of the trees in the main area. He was wearing the fur of a bear and was wielding a double-bladed axe with glowing yellow edges. The axe cut through one of the trees like butter, which then fell behind him as he approached the Spider.
"I didn't know there were bears in these woods." Spider-Man quipped and jumped back to evade an axe swing from the Hunter. He then continued to back up until his back was against the windows of the room. His companion was about to intervene, but he held up a hand to silently tell her that it was okay. So she nodded and waited to see what he was going to do next. "Okay, before we get down to business there's something I have to tell you…"
The brute grunted and gripped his axe with both hands, clearly not interested in Spider-Man's jokes.
"I'm fresh out of honey!" He whispered, but that only enraged the Hunter who slammed his axe into the floor so hard that it sent the crime fighter out the window and out into the main area. Fortunately, he wasn't really hurt by the attack. Skidding across the floor, he quickly got back up to see the Hunter cut down another tree before he entered a combat stance. "Come on, I thought it was funny…"
The brute swung his axe at the Spider but was quickly parried by Peter's tendrils who then followed it up with a few kicks and punches. Following up this attack, he reached out and slammed him into the ground with a Tendril Yank.
"You know, all this damage wouldn't take long to fix. Maybe we'd even keep some of it as a badge of- oh crap! Those arrows must've ruptured the accelerator's shielding. The beam's scraping the tunnel!" Harry said and frantically continued to type on his tablet.
"Can you still shut it down? What about the antidote?" Peter was sent back by a kick from the Hunter and was almost hit by an axe swing but was saved by Black Cat who slashed at the Hunter's lower back with her claws, making him grunt in pain.
"It's still being made, but… it's time to start crossing fingers!"
With the Spider and the Cat working together once more, they quickly overwhelmed the brute who was knocked out by a double kick from the duo. But their sense of victory was short-lived as the glass ceiling suddenly came crashing down on them, forcing Spider-Man and Black Cat to move closer to the walls to avoid the falling glass.
"What the-"
The culprit was a Hunter VTOL that immediately lowered itself into the building and fired a missile at the two as soon as the pilot laid eyes on them.
"Terrific." They evaded the missile by flipping to the side, but the explosion resulted in the particle accelerator becoming even more unstable which in turn caused lightning to spew out of the tunnel's outer walls.
"Oh no…" Knowing that the accelerator was already in a pretty bad shape before, Peter knew that this might ruin the cure for good unless they got really lucky. But as the machine continued to go haywire some of the lightning struck the VTOL with such power that it pretty much destroyed one of its propellors entirely. The aerial vehicle came plummeting down and spun around in several circles while Spidey and his companion just watched. "Oh… yes?"
The VTOL crashed on the floor and several parts flew off it, causing even more damage to the environment around it. With the vehicle now useless the Hunters inside had no other choice but to step out and face the duo head-on. Luckily for them more reinforcements arrived, but these were probably the last reinforcements they had available which meant that this battle was soon coming to an end.
"They just keep coming… and destroying everything." Harry said, who was devastated by the destruction of the EMF Foundation.
"Don't worry about that! You need to get out!" Peter prompted his friend to leave again as he continued to fend off the onslaught of Hunters.
"No! There are just a few steps left, we can still finish the antidote! I know we can!"
Deciding it was time to bring out the big guns, Spider-Man entered his Surge Mode and began beating the ever-living hell out of the Hunters. He sent them flying with just a punch to the gut and grabbed them by their heads with his tendrils only to slam them into the floor so hard that one might think he was trying to break all their bones.
"You all should've ran when you had the chance!" Peter said angrily as he used his Tendril Yank to stop almost a dozen of Hunters in their tracks at once and slam them all into the floor. But he didn't stop there. He didn't even give his enemies the chance to get back up as he used his Tendril Blast to send them all flying in every direction.
"Warning: Structural collapse imminent. Evacuate immediately." A robotic voice spoke through the speakers, which belonged to the building's own AI.
"Uh, Spider? We don't have much time left!" Felicia called out in a concerned tone.
"She's right, we need to leave Harry! How much longer?"
"I know, I know! I'm on the last two steps!"
Felicia knocked out another Hunter with a roundhouse kick, but then jumped to the side as a piece of debris came crashing down on the floor. She quickly moved to Spider-Man's side and helped him defeat the last few remaining Hunters.
"This whole place is coming down! We need to leave, NOW!" Black Cat was getting worried that they would all be buried if they didn't leave soon, and she had every right to think so as more pieces of the ceiling fell, and explosions kept occurring throughout the building.
"No! It'll hold! I'm so close!" Harry protested.
The duo exchanged a look and Peter jerked his head towards the exit.
"Go. I'll fend off the Hunters and get Harry out of here."
Black Cat wanted to protest, but she knew that they didn't have much time. And Spidey did have the Black Suit, so his survival chances were way higher than hers. So reluctantly she nodded and began running out of the building.
"I'll be nearby and let you know if any more show up! Be careful!" She yelled and flipped over some debris.
"I will, don't worry about me!" Peter replied and destroyed a robot dog with a Tendril Punch. All that remained was a single Hunter with a crossbow, so he shot out a web and grabbed the weapon, yanking it out of his hands and throwing it at his face before he webbed him to the floor. And with that out of the way he began making his way to Harry who was standing by the particle accelerator.
"Harry!"
"Just give me a second!" Harry tapped on his tablet a few more times and then pressed the red button, opening the box containing the serum. As he grabbed the vial from the box Peter landed right in front of him, in the nick of time.
"Let's go." Spider-Man grabbed his best friend and swung out of the building as more explosions went off, but they managed to get out unscathed. Upon landing on the ground outside, they could see a few helicopters approaching from the distance. Now that the fight was over Peter let the Black Suit change into some casual clothes, the same black shirt and pants from earlier. The boys looked up and waited for the first helicopter to land, which Oscorp security and Norman Osborn himself stepped out of.
"Harry!" Norman who was worried sick immediately embraced his son, who returned the hug. He then checked for injuries, but luckily there were none. "Are you hurt?"
"I'm fine. We both are. But the foundation-
"I don't care about that right now!" Norman said and gestured at the ruined building in a dismissive manner. He then put his hand on his son's shoulder, still very worried. "Are you sure you're okay?"
"Yeah."
Norman gave his son a small smile and then turned towards the nearest security guard, urging him to enter the building.
"Get in there and see what you can save!" He barked, which made the guards hurry inside. The billionaire then began talking to his other employees about the damage to the building and what they could do about it as of right now.
"Your dad's right. The foundation… doesn't matter."
"What?" Harry stared at his friend in complete disbelief. "This was our dream…"
"And it still is. But right now we have to focus on finding Dr. Connors and getting you healthy again. The foundation will be rebuilt right? Then we'll do everything else we can to heal the world in the meantime, starting with you." Peter replied and held out his hand, prompting Harry to give him the serum. "I got this."
Harry took the vial from his pocket and then put in Peter's hand, who patted his shoulder in return.
"We'll get through this all right? This isn't the end of the foundation."
Harry solemnly nodded and watched Peter leave, before returning his attention to the EMF Foundation. The building was burning and ruined, which was what his dream felt like right now. But he knew that Peter was right; it would be repaired and everyone working for the foundation could continue their work from home until the building was restored. Until then they would focus on finding and curing the Lizard.
The next day, around noon…
Spider-Man and Black Cat landed on the roof of the house belonging to Curt Connors, AKA the Lizard. Peter looked at his companion and while there was no way for her to know, he was smiling underneath his black mask.
"So, how are the web shooters working out for you?"
"Hm… they're definitely different from the grapple gun and they don't really fit my theme, but they are very handy. I just need to get used to them and I can probably beat you in a race across New York." Felicia replied with a playful wink and turned her wrists around as she looked at the web shooters she had put on.
"Heh, we'll see about that."
After the events of last night Peter had decided that Felicia needed some upgrades so it would be easier for her when they faced the Lizard, but also in case they encountered Kraven again. So now she had web shooters and web wings just like him, but he had also integrated his Iron Arms into her suit since he didn't need them anymore. It had taken a few hours, but they got it to work. So if they had to fight the Lizard or Kraven then they would be ready.
"Let's hope Connors is home… and still in control of his green alter ego…" Spidey said as he used a web to lower himself in front of the open bedroom window on the second floor. "Dr Connors?"
But no answer came, so he let go of the web and flipped into the room with Black Cat joining him soon after. "Dr Connors? You here?"
Seeing as how no one was answering the duo decided to start exploring the house in the hopes of finding the transformed doctor. The first thing they noticed was the alarm clock next to the bed which was still beeping loudly. Peter walked around the bed and turned it off, but then picked up something behind it to inspect it. After turning it in his hands he saw that it was a picture of Connors and a woman, which had to be his wife.
"Connors's family… I heard his wife left with their son after the first Lizard fiasco. Not that Kraven cares…"
Felicia looked over Peter's shoulder and glanced at the picture before she left the room to check the other rooms. They found nothing on the second floor, so they went for the stairs to check the first floor.
"The kid's stuff is still here, like he never left. He must really miss his family…" Peter said.
"Can't really blame them for leaving when he literally turned into a monster. But it's still sad." Felicia responded as they descended the stairs.
"Doc?" They walked down the stairs and into the living room, which was a huge mess. Books and papers were scattered all over the floor, but there were also large scratch marks on some of the furniture which indicated that Connors had been here recently.
"Connors was here all right… and fighting for his life by the looks of it."
The two looked around and found some documents on top of some scratched filing cabinets near the couch. Spider-Man picked up a clipboard and went through the documents, skimming through them just to get a general idea of what they were about.
"Genetic recombination research? He came home to cure himself…"
"It's hard to do experiments in your living room though, so we need to keep looking." Black Cat pointed out. They continued to examine the room and eventually moved into the kitchen which was in an even worse condition than the living room. Furniture had been destroyed and small chunks of wood were missing on some spots in the walls.
"Oh man… what did Kraven do to him?"
"Well, if he tried to cure himself then that means he can still control himself somewhat at least. So if we hurry then we might be able to reason with him, if we're lucky." Felicia said and put her hand on a scratch mark.
"Right."
After some quick searching they noticed that a certain part of the wall had more scratch marks than the rest of the room which had to mean something.
"He tore through here…" Peter said and examined the shelves, but then noticed a picture of Connors and his family that had somehow not fallen over in the chaos. "How are you still standing?"
After tugging on it he noticed that it was attached to a piece of metal, so he pulled the picture down like a lever which made a piece of the wall move to the side, revealing a keypad with four differently colored buttons. Upon pressing a button, it would play a note and they had to play the four correct notes to get it right. However, it proved to be very easy as they only had to play the fourth note three times and then just guess the fourth note. And once they completed the "password" a secret door opened to their left.
"Not a very good password if you ask me." Black Cat shrugged as they walked down the stairs, clearly not impressed with Connors's security. If that was the best he got then she could have broken into his house with her eyes closed.
"You can give him some suggestions after we cure him if you're that interested in his security." Spider-Man retorted as they reached Connor's underground lab, which was in a state similar to the kitchen and the living room.
"This lab probably kept him and his family safe whenever he had an episode…" Peter walked up to some old lizard terrariums that looked like they hadn't been used in ages. "Reptile terrariums for Connors's initial limb regeneration tests… I never did find out how he lost his arm."
"Maybe you can ask him after we cure him if you're that interested." Felicia teased and looked at a computer that was still on. It seemed to be linked to a few security cameras that Connors had put up, maybe to record himself in case he couldn't remember when he lashed out. "Spider, you should come take a look at this."
"Motion sensor triggered the security cameras about 30 minutes ago. We're not far behind him." Black Cat put up a recording on the screen that showed Connors struggling to control himself as he stumbled around in the lab.
"What did he… put in me?" Connors said in the recording as he held a needle in his arm, knocking things over while trying to stay in control of his Lizard self.
"He was trying to test his blood…"
Then the recording showed the transformed doctor stumble into another room and shut a metal door behind him, but it looked like he was starting to lose control over himself as he yanked the needle out of his arm and tossed it to the side. Then he snarled and frantically moved around in the room. Spidey glanced to the side and saw the door that Connors had closed in the recording, but then looked back at the computer to see Connors put his claws on a treatment chair as his scales began to shed off his body and his body seemed to grow in size. He then disappeared from the camera's view and a loud crash could be heard, which could only mean that he had burst through the wall to leave.
"Kraven's gonna pay for putting Connors and his family through hell…" Peter said angrily and began moving towards the metal door, but Black Cat put a hand on his shoulder which made him stop and look at her in slight confusion. But Felicia just smiled and gently patted his cheek.
"Just wanted to remind you that you're not alone in this. I got your back Spider."
Peter was silent for a moment and just stared at her, but then slowly reached up and rubbed the back of her hand with his own hand. He chuckled a bit and then slowly nodded, acknowledging her statement.
"I know… I know. Thank you, Felicia." Spider-Man said and squeezed her hand before he got into action. With two well-placed webs he grabbed the door and effortlessly tore it off its hinges which allowed them to enter the next room without hindrance. As they entered, they were greeted by the sparks of broken cables and the sight of the broken chair in the recording, as well as a big hole in the wall.
"It couldn't hold him… exactly how Kraven likes it." Peter snarled and moved to the hole in the wall, but then spotted a vial on the floor like the one the serum had been in.
"Connor's blood. I mean, we already have the antidote, but I guess it could be good to have as a backup in case we lose the serum." Felicia mused and shrugged as Peter picked it up. They were about to discuss their next move when they suddenly heard some commotion outside.
"Cover the door. The beast could be anywhere…" A Hunter captain commanded as a group of Hunters were moving in on the house. But as the Hunters moved in on the property, they suddenly spotted a bunch of black tendrils bursting out of the basement bulkhead, right before Spider-Man launched right out of it and landed in front of the surprised Hunters.
"You have no idea." Spider-Man growled as Black Cat landed right next to him with a smirk on her face. He began by hitting a Hunter with a Tendril Punch that sent him flying into a nearby truck, which took him out effectively.
"You are glorious prey- worthy of Kraven!" The captain shouted with a hint of excitement in his voice, which was quickly replaced by concern as Black Cat attacked him with a barrage of strikes from the Iron Arms.
"Let me tell you how this is all gonna go down…" Spider-Man said and sent a Hunter up in the air with an uppercut, who was then swiftly brought back down on the ground by Black Cat who slammed him into the ground using a web. "You leave Connors alone… he doesn't deserve this!"
But the Hunters could not care less and just continued to attack, so the duo fought back. Black Cat shot out a web and yanked a crossbow out of a Hunter's hands, before throwing it back at him and going in for a barrage of strikes with the Iron Arms.
"But if you or Kraven keep going after him…" Multiple Hunters began to surround Spider-Man, but he was not concerned about it in the slightest. As they all tried to attack him at the same time, he used a Tendril Blast to send them all flying in different directions. After that he looked around and quickly webbed up anyone who had not been knocked out by the attack. "You'll answer to me."
Black Cat smirked again seeing her companion absolutely dominate the fight, but her thoughts were interrupted when a robot dog lunged at her and tried to sink its metal teeth into her. She managed to block the attack just in time using the Iron Arms, but then managed to get a good grip on it and throw it off her. With a few web shots the machine had temporarily been stunned, so she went in and turned it into scrap by ripping it apart with the Iron Arms. With the distraction out of the way she shot out a web and made her way over to the next block where Spider-Man was fighting reinforcements. She saw a Hunter take aim at him, so she used a web to pull herself down and kick the archer right in the face. Spider-Man glanced at her and gave her a quick thumbs-up, which she responded to with a nod and a smirk. She then web zipped over to him, so they were once again covering each other's backs.
"This whole Lizard hunt ends now." Spider-Man claimed and parried a strike from a brute using his tentacles, before hitting him with some kicks and punches. Black Cat was doing the same on her end, but with a swordsman.
"Does Kraven even know what he did to Connors?!" He demanded to know as he grabbed a woman's head with his tendrils and slammed her into the ground next to her knocked out friend the brute. "All so he can prove something… is this all just a game to him?!"
An archer took aim at Spidey and fired a net at him, the same type of net they used to restrain Tombstone, but just as Spider-Man turned to see it coming at him full speed Black Cat suddenly swooped in in front of him and slashed right through it with her claws. The two pieces flew past both sides of them as she smiled at the Hunter who was baffled by her speed and precision. But he didn't get to think about that much longer due to Spider-Man going in for a kick to the gut.
"Kraven wants a hunt? I'll give him one he'll never forget." Spidey staggered the archer with the kick, but then swept his legs with a tendril and then finished his little combo with a Tendril Punch that sent him through the fence. Spider-Man and Black Cat looked around to make sure that the coast was clear they moved over to one of the trucks where they could hear chatter over the radio, which had to be another group of Hunters. Spider-Man and Black Cat moved closer to the empty vehicle and listened in to try and get some useful information out of it.
"Satellites scanning all active feeds. Triangulating position…" There was a bit of radio silence for a moment but then they got exactly the intel they needed. "Target located at Harlem Fish Market. All teams converge."
"Lizard's across the river…" Peter said and realized something as he turned towards Felicia. "We're not gonna make it in time."
"So what do we do?"
"I think… I might have an idea."
Somewhere in New York City Miles Morales was currently walking across a bridge in a park with his crush Hailey, who were both just enjoying each other's company.
"Is it 1800s? I love the braids." Miles signed to his mute friend and scrolled through some images on his phone that she wanted to show him.
("It is the 1800s with a high-collar prismatic dress.") Hailey signed back and tapped on Miles's phone to move to the next picture. ("It juxtaposes Black History and Black Futurism. The gold paint reflects better in person, at Coney.")
"Yeah, okay, all right, I see it." Miles smiled and nodded, but his smile faded as he stopped in his tracks to look at a notification from a news article about Martin Li, AKA Mr Negative, the man who killed his father.
("Him again?") Hailey asked with a hint of concern in her facial expression.
Miles sighed and did not say anything for a moment, but then signed his response. "Li's still out there… the city needs me- Spider Man- right now."
Hailey just smiled and gently grabbed the collar of Miles's shirt, correcting it before she signed a response. ("Some people need Miles too.")
For a moment they just stood there and stared at each other, but then Miles's attention returned to his phone when he suddenly felt it vibrate due to a phone call. He quickly saw who it was and answered right away.
"Pete! What's going on? The Market? Yeah, yeah, I'll be there." And with that he ended the call and turned towards Hailey.
("Is everything okay?")
"I'm sorry! I'll text you." Miles apologized and began walking away, but then stopped to tell her one more thing before he left. "It's beautiful. Um. The mural, I mean."
("Thank you.") Hailey smiled and thanked him, then Miles left to do his duty as Spider-Man.
One suit change later and Miles was swinging out of the park as Spider-Man, web zipping between the trees and using his web wings to stay in the air whenever he did not have a good point to swing or web zip to.
"It's about time Pete called me back…"
Just as Miles got out of the park he suddenly received a call from his best friend Ganke, which he quickly answered.
"Hey, how's it going with Hailey?" He asked.
"Had to bail, Lizard's loose. Could use your eyes in the skies." Miles quickly explained.
"THE Lizard?!" Ganke exclaimed, just like Miles and Peter himself he didn't think that the Lizard would ever return since Dr. Connors had been seemingly reformed.
"Also, Hailey thinks I'm crazy for trying to find Li… seems like everyone does."
"We're protecting you. Revenge… ju-" But before Ganke could finish he was cut off by Miles.
"I'm not after revenge. Dad always believed in second chances, but that's not what this is. It's my job to protect y'all, not the other way around." He explained as he soared above the streets and buildings of New York using his web wings.
Ganke was not 100 % sure if Miles was actually telling the truth about not wanting revenge, but he decided to trust his friend and drop the subject. "I get it. Okay, let me boot up my gear real quick."
The call ended as Miles finally arrived at the fish market and landed near one of the large windows on the roof, looking through the glass to see if there was anyone inside.
"Looks empty… but I better check it out." But before he could even move he suddenly saw a large shadow pass over him, so he made himself go invisible as fast as he could and looked up to see a Hunter VTOL fly past him.
"Guess I'll have company after all."
The VTOL hovered above the ground while several Hunters exited it, immediately moving into the building as fast as possible. Miles crawled across the roof and got a closer look at them when he suddenly spotted several bird-looking drones leave the VTOL to join the Hunters.
"They're using drones to track the Lizard… maybe I can use them too…"
Just as Miles was about to turn around he spotted a green light coming from a device at the back of the VTOL, which was just above some kind of turret.
"Is that a passive defense system?"
His question was answered just a few seconds later when some birds passed by the scanner and triggered the turret, almost instantly making it release a barrage of bullets at the birds who frantically flew in Miles's direction. He fell backwards and hastily made his way back to the window from earlier to get away from the gunfire.
"Yep… good to know. Gonna keep my distance." He mused and entered the building, ready to take on the Hunters inside.
First, he surveyed the area and came up with a plan on how to deal with the Hunters inside. He began by destroying and/or webbing up the robot bird drones so they would not alert the others, then he moved in on the Hunters. After taking a few of them out he got up on a support beam high up and turned invisible again as he received another call from Ganke.
"Hey man, got your feed up on the battle station. Lotta hunters… are they using those bird drones to track the Lizard?"
"I think so, why?"
"Got an idea. I'll work on it while you clear the warehouse."
"Got it."
And with that Miles went back to knocking out Hunters left and right, either by striking them from above or webbing them up in neat packages. By the time the Hunters realized that they were slowly but surely being taken out by someone or something it was already too late. Eventually the warehouse had been cleared of all Hunters and their drones, so Ganke called Miles once again after watching it all play out.
"I'll never get tired of watching you kick serious ass!" While Miles checked that the coast was clear Ganke checked if he could connect to any of the drones that were still intact, and luckily it seemed like there was one that had only been webbed up without actually being damaged. "And… we got our birdie! See if your suit can override the drone's motherboard."
"Okay… I'll give it a shot." Miles replied and hanged down from the ceiling, touching the back of the bird drone which initiated a connection between his suit and the drone. "Okay, my suit's pairing… now."
"Okay, rebooting the altimeter annnnd…" The previously red light on the drone's head now lit up with a light blue instead as it broke free from the webbings.
"It's aaaliiiivee!" Ganke spoke through a speaker in the drone instead of the communications device in Miles's suit, which was a little surprising since they had never seen or heard the Hunters use this feature. "How do I look?"
"Like… a robot drone, man." Miles said and shrugged, still hanging upside down from a web.
Ganke just laughed in response, the speaker making his voice sound a bit digital. "Aaaand… a robot drone that's tracking the Lizard."
"Awesome, that was fast."
"Hmm… it looks like he's through there…" Ganke said and looked at a hole in the wall behind Miles, before he charged right at the wall.
"Woah! This thing handles like a tank- okay, woah… woah… this is gonna be BAD-" " Just as he said that the drone collided with a support beam and went spinning for a bit until he eventually got it somewhat under control, but even then he was still struggling to control it as he dove head-first into the hole with a loud thud. The drone then disappeared from Miles's view as it entered the room on the other side.
"Ganke! You good?"
"Yeah… but I think this way is blocked now though."
"Don't stress. I'll meet you on the other side." Miles responded and landed on the floor, checking around to see what could lead him to Ganke's drone. He then spotted a shutter that led to the building's garage, which was not far from the hole the drone just flew through. "Garage might lead to Ganke… and Lizard…"
Spider-Man used a web to open the shutter so he could enter the room behind it, only to find a large hole in the wall to the right. He moved to the next room where he found another wall with a hole in it, but this one led to a place full of pipes and collapsed support beams. Miles crawled through the wreckage and then web zipped up to a torn down pipe.
"Here we go…" He whispered to himself as he walked down the broken pipe, with water dripping down around him and sparks flying out of broken wires. "I gotta get outta here…"
After crawling across a brick wall he noticed another large hole in a wall, which was big enough for a car to fit in.
"Ganke didn't make that…" He mused and zipped through the hole, landing on a pipe which he began to crawl up on. With other pipes being so close he had to move side to side to continue, but he was then startled and gasped as a dead fish landed right in front of his face. He froze for a second, but then he continued his way forward. "Guess it's sushi night tonight…"
After a while the pipe led into a small gap in the wall which Miles entered, but it was quite dark so he could not see much. But he then slowed down to a halt when he felt something drip down on him and heard what sounded like deep growling. Without making any hasty movements the anxious Spider-Man slowly looked up to see a scaly tail, only for it to slam down on the pipe and send him crashing down on the floor. He was completely fine however, so he got up and looked around to see multiple dead fishes around him as well as knocked over shelves. "That was him all right…"
Across the room he saw two shutters, one of which was blocked by junk while the other one was intact and fully accessible. There were a few others as well, but he would start with tje first ones he saw. Upon hearing some loud noises on the other side of them, Spider-Man made his way over to them to open the shutter to the right. "One guess what's behind door number one…"
After yanking the shutter open, he suddenly came face to face with a bird drone flying straight at him. Both Miles and Ganke yelped in surprise as Miles narrowly managed to flip to the side and get out of the way.
"Dude, Where the hell were you?!" Miles asked with a hint of both annoyance and relief.
"No idea. But I've… seen some things…" Ganke replied.
"Same, man." Miles said and moved to a different shutter that he spotted during his little spin dodge, opening it with his webs which made its gear let out a loud metallic creak as it opened. "Let's just… find this Lizard dude."
"Cool. Yeah. Drone doesn't have a lock on him though."
"He's somewhere around here… his tail almost got me." Miles replied and entered the room behind the shutter, which was a butcher and fish store. One of the lamps was dangling from the ceiling, but other than that the room looked untouched by the Lizard.
"It's hard to tell- the drone's tracking data is really incomplete." Ganke informed him as Miles searched through the room and then left it to move on to the final shutter.
"Ganke, get behind me." Miles told his friend and tried to open the shutter with his webs, but the gear slipped so he would have to use his bare hands to open it.
"You don't have to tell me…" Ganke replied in a slightly nervous tone. Despite being safe behind a computer screen this was all still terrifying to him.
Miles grabbed the shutter and forced it up, but then recoiled in shock and fear as he saw the face of the Lizard just a meter away from him. Both Miles and Ganke backed up a little, but then sighed in relief when they realized that it was not the actual Lizard.
"Just his skin." Miles commented and poked the dead tissue, which was laying on top of some broken shelves.
"Doesn't that mean he's… getting bigger?" Ganke pointed out, as if this mission had not been terrifying enough already. The drone then turned to the right and shined its light on the floor, which revealed a lot of fish remains.
"Hungrier too…" Miles mused, but his head snapped to his left as something suddenly came crashing through the ceiling. It was a mass of black goo and tendrils, which slowly retracted to reveal none other than Peter Parker in his Black Suit. "Woah… hey man."
Peter walked up to Miles and suddenly Black Cat landed next to Peter, which was something that Miles never thought he would see. Last time he had seen her was when she went through a portal to Paris to be with her girlfriend. "Wait, Felicia?! What are you doing here? I thought you went to Paris-"
"Some other time." Black Cat cut him off. Since they did not have a lot of time on their hands, she was not in the mood for answering his questions.
"The building's swarming with Hunters. Any sign of Connors?" Peter asked and got straight to the point.
"Uh yeah… Ganke's tracking him-" Miles jerked his head towards the hacked drone hovering next to him.
"Hey, Mr. Parker! Ms. Hardy! Mr… Spider-Man and… Ms Black Cat, I mean." Ganke awkwardly greeted the duo and then sighed.
"But the data's incomplete." Miles continued.
"Think I can help with that." Peter replied and held out the vial containing Connors's blood sample, holding it up for them to see.
"Is that… blood? Hey, wait a sec-" Ganke said and got an idea as he lowered the drone and opened a compartment on its back. "Try dropping it in here."
Peter did as Ganke said and put the vial in the drone, which then closed its hatch and began to scan the blood sample.
"On board scanner. Handy." Miles mused.
"Oh, dude! This is GREAT data!" Ganke exclaimed once the results were in. "Hang on a sec… okay! I think I got a lock!"
"Ganke, wait! Be chill!" Miles told his friend just as the drone was about to take off on its own.
Everyone suddenly heard a growl somewhere near them, but they could not tell where it was coming from. Peter and Felicia immediately got into a back-to-back position with each other, which surprised Miles, since he kind of expected to be the one covering Peter's back. So he awkwardly got back-to-back Ganke's drone, so together everyone had eyes throughout the entire room.
"That… wasn't me." Miles said.
"Me neither." Peter replied in a serious tone.
"I don't even have a stomach, so…" Ganke added.
"Focus up." Black-Cat reminded them.
Both Spider-Man suddenly felt their Spider Senses go off, so they both jumped to the side with Peter grabbing Felicia to move her out of harm's way. It was in the nick of time too, since the Lizard burst right through the floor and then moved right through the wall like it was made of cardboard. Peter looked at Miles and then Felicia, who nodded with a determined smile on her face.
"Let's go!" Peter exclaimed before the three of them swung out of the hole in the wall and saw the Lizard stomping his way forward until he leapt into the water, which happened to be next to some Hunter watercrafts. One of the Hunters was looking through some binoculars when he spotted the Lizard and immediately alerted his comrades, who revved the engines of their vehicles and took off for the Lizard. The chase was on.
"Can't lose Connors… Harry's dying and he's the only one who can help!" Peter explained over the comms as they swung between cranes and tried to catch up to the Hunters.
"We won't. You take the drones. I got the jet skis." Miles assured him.
"I'll scout ahead and try to find Connors, as well as keeping an eye out for reinforcements." Felicia said and used her web wings to fly ahead of them.
"All right, be careful." Peter said as he began destroying the drones. Miles on the other hand moved in on the jet skis and took them out one by one, knocking the drivers and passengers off them and into the water with swift strikes.
"This is… REALLY, REALLY exciting!" Ganke exclaimed as his drone flew in among the Hunters.
"Keep it tight man, watch out for those drones!" Miles warned him.
"Don't worry, they think I'm a friendly!" Ganke informed him, assuring him that it was fine.
The Hunters eventually caught on to what Miles and Peter were doing, so they began firing at the two Spider-Men with their rifles and crossbows, but they barrel-rolled their way out of the Hunters' lines of fire so they would not get hit.
"Y'all having a yacht party without me?" Miles quipped as he got on the last jet ski and kicked off the Hunters driving it. Finally, he moved on to one of the bigger boats and knocked out the Hunters in it with a few quick kicks, but suddenly he heard Black Cat give them a heads-up over the comms.
"VTOL coming in!"
He looked up to see the VTOL from earlier pass by him, guns ready to fire. It was homing in on the Lizard, whose back was breaking the surface of the water as he swam through the river with astonishing speed. Not that far ahead of all of this was a tour boat, where a tour guide talking to some tourists.
"The East River is not a river, but in fact a salt water tidal flat that…" The tour guide and the tourists then heard all the commotion approaching them and turned to see the Black Suited Spider-Man destroying a drone while the remaining boats and the VTOL were right behind him. "Spider-Man… is fighting on right now!"
The VTOL opened fire and bullets rained down on the water in an attempt to slow down the Lizard, but all it amounted to in the end was damaging the tour boat and setting it on fire.
"Help the tour boat!" Peter told Miles as he swung after the VTOL. "I've got the metal murder bird!"
Peter swung through the air as fast as he could using cranes and bridges as swinging points, but whenever there was nothing he could use to swing from he would just use his web wings to glide through the air.
"I warned you about going after Connors… now this is on you." Spider-Man said angrily as he passed by a cargo ship and did a barrel roll to avoid a barrage of bullets from the VTOL. Then it released clouds of poison in an attempt to slow him down, but that was definitely not going to stop him. "Poison clouds?! Is that all you got?!"
"Almost done here, civilians are all safe. How you lookin'?" Miles asked over the comms.
"This gunship won't quit…" Peter replied in an angry and annoyed manner as the VTOL blew up the supports for some cranes, making them crash down in Peter's path. However, they did not even slow him down in the slightest.
"I'm right behind you… we'll take it down together."
"No, there's no time." Peter protested and swung perfectly through a train cart, like a bullet exiting a chamber.
"Don't worry about him, he'll be fine. Besides, he has me." Felicia assured Miles over the comms, but he still could not see her anywhere.
"I got you now…" Peter said as he managed to attach a web to the VTOL, which he used to propel himself towards it with his tendrils out and ready to tear it apart. "Time to go boom, boys!"
Miles was not far behind him and saw his mentor charged right at the gunship, not knowing what was about to happen. "Oh, no no no, Spider-Man, it's got-"
But his warning came too late as the gunship had already opened up its missile launcher and fired a barrage of missiles at the Black Suited Spider-Man. When it looked like Peter was about to get blown into smithereens, something black and white tackled him to the side and barely managed to prevent them from getting hit by the missiles.
"Sorry I took so long; I'm still getting used to traversing with these things." Black Cat apologized as the two used their web wings to regain their balance, but the Hunters used this opportunity to launch nets at them. So, they had no choice but to push each other away to avoid getting hit by the nets, resulting in them landing in the water.
Miles was about to help them when one of his webs accidentally hit one of the nets instead of his intended target, which made him lose his balance and begin tumbling through the air. As he fell, he saw the Lizard emerge from the water for a brief moment and then jumped back in, so now he knew where the Lizard was going next.
"Miles! Grab on, let's go!" Ganke's drone suddenly flew down, which let Miles grab on with a web. Even though he could have used his web wings to fly, this would make it easier for him to see the Lizard and where he was going. Although, that was not really an issue since he could see said reptile jumping out of the water from time to time and destroying Jet Skis as well as tossing Hunters around like they were nothing. The VTOL moved in and began firing at the Lizard, which Miles figured out would hit an innocent bystander further ahead. The poor guy was just fishing without any idea of what was going on, so there was no time for him to. He let go of the drone and swung as fast as he could to save the civilian, then he grabbed the web that was still attached to the drone and followed the path of destruction that the Lizard was leaving.
"EVERYONE TAKE COVER!" Miles shouted at the top of his lungs, but those who did not hear his warning would very soon know that they had to leave the area as the Lizard was destroying a deck just by moving through it.
"What are you guys doing?!" Peter asked angrily as he and Black Cat were catching up, seeing the destruction happening right before their very eyes. The Lizard was running on the wall of an industrial building while the VTOL continued to try and shoot him, which did cause a lot of collateral damage.
"Trying to take out that gunship! Can't get close enough." Miles quickly replied as he hung onto the web for life while trying his best to dodge and weave around debris that was flying everywhere.
"But I can… I'm one of them, remember?" Ganke pointed out.
"Bro, that's it!" Miles said as he got an idea. "Pete- alley oop on three?"
"Fine." Peter was not happy with how things had turned out here, but he acknowledged that this was the safest way of taking out the gunship since they would probably get hit by a barrage of bullets or missiles if they tried anything else. Felicia had no idea what "alley oop" was, but she assumed that it was some kind of coordinated attack so she did not ask about it and just waited to see what would happen next.
Miles let go of the web and wrapped up a huge metal sign in webs, preventing it from falling down on some civilians before he launched himself through the small gap between the sign and the ground. Peter soon joined him as they were both in the air, ready to finish this once and for all.
"One…" Miles let out his orange lightning and used it to overload Ganke's drone until it was sparking with electricity, making it highly unstable. "Two… three!"
"Alley…" Peter then used his tendrils to grab the drone and swing it 360 degrees, launching it at the VTOL like a missile. "OOP!"
Ganke let out the loudest war cry he could muster as the drone flew right into the gunship and exploded, dealing severe damage to the gunship which immediately came crashing down. Peter landed on a boat and watched as the Lizard swam into a sewer tunnel, then swung back to the port where parts of the broken gunship were about to land. Civilians were screaming and running for their lives, but luckily the two Spider-Men were here to save the day, along with Black Cat who actually helped Peter with some of the civilians, despite her not really caring about them.
Peter landed on the deck and looked back towards the tunnel the Lizard had entered, but there was no movement or any signs of activity for that matter. "He got away from us!"
"It's good, Pete." Miles assured him and landed next to his mentor. He brought something out of his pocket and held it up to him. "I saved the tracker!"
He gave it to Peter who looked at it, then prepared to swing away. "Let's go man, before he gets too far-"
But Peter put a hand on his shoulder, stopping him as he looked Miles in the eyes. "No. He's ours." He said as he looked at Felicia who was standing next to them.
"Are you sure? He's got BIG teeth."
"So do I." Peter coldly replied and swung away, with Black Cat right behind him.
"Um… he's not normally like that, right?" Ganke asked over the comms with a hint of concern in his voice.
"No… he's never like that."
There you have it! It only took me over two months… hehe… sorry, kind of. I have tried to work on this consistently at least once or twice a week and I'm going to try and uphold that "schedule". I'm not gonna lie, I did feel like my writing was a bit sloppy at times when writing this but I honestly just wanted to get past this part so I could start writing the more interesting chapters. As you've probably noticed, so far a lot of the events and the dialogue are the same as in the game but don't worry, eventually my story will go its own path. It will just take time. Speaking of time, I will be taking a small break from writing, maybe like a week or two at most but it won't be that long. Anyway, I hope you liked it! If you have any questions, tips or feedback then let me know, I am always looking to improve so feel free to give me some constructive criticism.
Now, for the first reviews of the fanfic so far.
Guest: No way black cat would have made it back from France to America in time to assist Spider-Man she was officially retired when she went to France and she was in France because the only place that has same sex couples benefits they're going to get married black cat and a female friend.
Um… you do realize that several days passed in the game between Black Cat leaving and Spider-Man getting the Symbiote suit? A plane from France to the US only takes like 12 hours, so she would have plenty of time to get back to him. As for her retirement and marriage, that's obviously not what happened here so I don't really understand how that's relevant.
J0ker st0ry: Damm this is fantastic i cant wait for the next part
Thanks man, I really appreciate it! I hope you'll like this chapter and the ones to come.
That's it for now! See you guys next time!