Chapter 30: Black Cat Part Two

Chapter Thirty: The Black Cat Part Two:

“So the Black Cat’s still at large,” thought Peter as he had read the Daily Bugle, detailing the break in at the Richard Fisk mansion. “Still can’t believe a selfless humanitarian like Wilson Fisk has such an utter jerk of a son but then again, Harry turned out alright, mostly, and look who his father is.”

Peter reached underneath his bed, before he pulled out his Spider-Man costume and web shooters, as he looked at it, mulling it over in his mind.

“She might not be the most dangerous criminal I’ve ever fought, in fact she’s rather harmless all things considered,” thought Peter, as he came to the all too painful conclusion of what she must do. “Still, giving up Spider-Man isn’t the answer.”

Peter looked at it with a frown but he just shrugged. He doubted that he was seriously going to give up being Spider-Man. As long as he had those powers, Uncle Ben’s words were always echoing in the back of his head.

“Yes, Cat, you might have won the first round but I’m not going to get caught off guard this time by you,” said Peter as he pulled on his mask and web shooters. “I’ve got to just focus and keep my head in the game, think with my brain and not other parts.”

Spider-Man was ready to swing back into the city after being out of action for a week. With the Black Cat still at large, it was just something that he had to do.

-

“So Kitty, you said you wanted to talk to me, so let’s talk,” said Gwen as she arrived at the park after school that afternoon.

“Well, you seem to not to want to talk with Peter and let him give his side of the story,” said Kitty calmly and Gwen just frowned, with an angry look on her face.

“So this is what this is all about, look, Peter seemed to brush it off like it was nothing,” said Gwen.

“Is this about the Shocker thing or the picture in the Daily Bugle, a paper that has a reputation in tearing your boyfriend’s reputation down whenever possible?” asked Kitty. “Gwen, he’s miserable, he just got over it just enough to be Spider-Man again and I can see you’ll miserable too.”

“I don’t know if I can ever trust him again,” said Gwen. “He…”

“Was drugged and she kissed him, I don’t know why and neither does he, but she just did, most likely to get in his head and distract him,” said Kitty and Gwen looked at her. Truth be told, she didn’t want to believe that Peter would do something like that but the way he had been acting lately, she perhaps jumped to the obvious and obviously wrong conclusion.“He could not have pushed her off even if he wanted to and believe me, he wanted to. Do you think he would throw away years of friendship between you to just like that?”

Gwen paused. No she honestly could not say that Peter would, even if he was off.

“That night, something happened, I don’t know what, but when Peter, Jean, and Scott returned, they looked like they might never be the same again,” continued Kitty calmly. “Peter more so, I don’t know how much he revealed or not, I was just told calmly that it was none of my concern and he was fine.”

“I just know it was something to do with how he got his powers,” said Gwen calmly. “As if I’m not burdened by that enough as it is.”

“You can’t blame Peter, I think if he had a choice, he would give up those powers, especially if it was for you,” said Kitty but Gwen’s eyes snapped up towards the younger girl’s face. She decided to voice a thought that had been nagging her at least on a subconscious level ever since Peter gave his powers.

“No, Kitty, it’s not Peter’s fault, he wasn’t the one who brought up the exhibit that we went to where it happened,” said Gwen in a look of guilt on her face. “It was me who brought it up, if I hadn’t opened my mouth about it, Peter would still be normal and….”

“He might be, but how many lives would have been lost with no Spider-Man?” asked Kitty.

“It may be true, but every time he gets hurt, I have to live with the small part I’ve played and the fact is I’ve encouraged him, I was supportive, because I thought it would be just something that he was guilty about after his uncle was killed,” said Gwen as she took a deep breath. “But he’s risked his life too many times. After the Shocker thing, I panicked, I didn’t hear from Peter so I thought the worst and…”

“You pretty much lost it,” summarized Kitty.

“I mean it was something that I had bottled up for sometime,” said Gwen. “It’s just that, I don’t want to see Peter get himself killed but it’s not like I can do anything to force him to give up Spider-Man. Even if I tell his aunt, which I don’t want to do, she does have more than enough to worry about after all, it wouldn’t stop him. He’s got it in his head that he has to do it because of what happened to his uncle and it’s noble, don’t get me wrong, but I’m afraid one day I’ll get a phone call and….well I don’t want to think about it.”

“Talk to Peter, just do it,” said Kitty.

“I will, I just hope he’ll forgive me,” said Gwen with a sigh. She perhaps had blown this entire Black Cat thing out of proportion and the Shocker thing even more so. “I’m going to head over right now…”

“I don’t think he’ll be home until way later, as he’s on the prowl for…a certain criminal,” said Kitty trailing off reluctantly and Gwen closed her eyes. “He’s been after her for the past three days but no luck.”

“I know I just hope that Peter doesn’t get himself in too much trouble,” said Gwen after a deep breath.

“It’s Peter,” responded Kitty. “Of course he’s going to get himself in trouble. The question is if he can get himself or not out?

“I think he will, I have faith in him,” thought Gwen, mentally bashing herself for doubting Peter in the first place. A couple of misunderstandings, one of them a huge one, but they would have to talk it out later.

-

“Three nights and little luck, maybe I should give this up as a lost cause,” thought Spider-Man to himself as he continued to swing from building to building but he gave himself a small shake of his head. “No, she’s somewhere, I just know it. I just wish I had a bit better plan than swing aimlessly around the city and hope for the best.”

Spider-Man continued his journey around the city but he paused, as he saw a flicker of movement out of the corner of his eye. He looked around and much to his surprise, he saw the Black Cat discreetly slipping inside of an opened window of a warehouse. It was only a brief second but there was no mistake that this was her.

“Well how about that, luck actually favors me for once?” thought Spider-Man as he moved around, shooting a small bit of webbing to keep the window open and prevent if from closing. He then swung over, with determination on his face. “Okay, Spidey, keep your head in the game. Don’t get distracted. She’ll exploit it, just like she did last time and you’ll be back to square one.”

He moved inside, ready to make the most of this opportunity.

There was unlikely to be a second with the trouble he had tracking down the Black Cat. She seemed to be unwilling to draw as much attention to herself as a lot of the other criminals that Spider-Man had gone against.

-

“They said to meet them here for a job,” muttered the Black Cat to herself but she turned around, to see a figure drop behind her.

“You know, talking to yourself out loud is a good way to get caught,” responded Spider-Man as he looked at the Black Cat who took a step back in surprise.

“Spider-Man, long time no see, didn’t expect you to show up,” said the Black Cat with a smirk but she looked over Spider-Man. “Unless you were the one who sent the note. Guess you aren’t as innocent as you make yourself out to be.”

“No, I’m here to finish what we started last time we met,” said Spider-Man before he amended his statement quickly at the raised eyebrow of the Black Cat. “To bring you to justice.”

Spider-Man shot a line of webbing right at her just as he talked in an attempt to catch her off guard but the Black Cat leapt out of the way. Both costumed opponents circled each other, before Spider-Man rushed at her but Black Cat flung him into the ground. Spider-Man landed, before he scaled the wall and shot his webbing down, but she rolled of the way. Spider-Man caught some of his webbing on a crate, but he quickly let go and dropped down.

“Why do you’re so insist to get me arrested?” asked the Black Cat as she gracefully back flipped over the charging Spider-Man but Spider-Man turned around and he shot a line of webbing towards her. She barely avoided being webbed up. “I mean, if you want to see me handcuffed, I’m sure we can arrange something.”

“I’m not going to put up with your little mind games, this time, Cat” said Spider-Man in a stiff tone of voice as he attempted to focus but once again, she was slowly getting inside his head. He struggled to stay focused.

“Oh, I can play other games,” said the Black Cat but Spider-Man shot webbing right around the Black Cat. The webbing wrapped around her, but she managed to just slice enough of the webbing on a nail to escape before she sprang up but Spider-Man caught her boot and threw her to the ground. She did a forward roll and landed on the ground. “I mean, we’re not too different. You fight criminals and to an extent I do too. I mean a lot of those people I steal from, most of them have a few skeletons in their closet. “

“We’re completely different!” yelled Spider-Man.

“Not exactly, you fight scum, I take money from the pockets of scum,” said the Black Cat. “None of this is done to inflate my own bank account. Quite frankly, I don’t need the money.”

“Then why do you do this?” asked Spider-Man as he avoided another attack by the Black Cat, and sent her spiraling to the ground. “I mean, if you fought crime instead of just stealing from others, you’d be a lot more effective.”

“That would be dull,” responded the Black Cat with a mock yawn as she deflected Spider-Man. “You seem awful intent in making me switch sides, Spider. We must have connected during our last time together. Maybe we can do this some time without masks and maybe without…”

“You aren’t going to get underneath my skin this time,” said Spider-Man to himself, as he knew what she was trying to do.

“A pity,” responded the Black Cat in a bored voice. “You can’t deny that you didn’t feel something.”

“Yes, I felt disgust when I realized I had been had and shame that I fell for such an easy trick,” said Spider-Man. “Besides, you don’t know how much trouble that one incident got me in.”

“Really, sure the Bugle had a go at you, but they do that anyway and…oh, I get it, you are already seeing someone or by my guess was seeing someone,” said the Black Cat as she went for Spider-Man but Spider-Man scaled the wall to avoid her attack. “But you wouldn’t get into trouble unless…you told her you were Spider-Man.”

Spider-Man didn’t answer, instead he was more insistent on taking down his opponent and he would not be distracted. Not this time.

“Talk about whipped,” commented the Black Cat as she avoided an attempt from the web slinger. “Of course if you’re into that kind of thing….”

She was caught off guard by a glob of webbing splattering against her mouth. She lowered her hands to pull it away and suddenly, several lines of webbing shot out. The Black Cat managed to pull her gag off but she was caught against several posts. Spider-Man dropped down as the Black Cat struggled and squirmed for several minutes but it was a tight fit.

“Guess, I was the dominating one,” said Spider-Man but he caught himself, realizing what he said.

“Hey, I can go either way, in more ways than one, that’s not necessarily a bad thing,” said the Black Cat. “Now how about you get me loose and I can see what you can really do with that webbing.”

“Sure, once I get in touch with the police so they can bring you in,” said Spider-Man and the Black Cat just slumped her head, with a saddened look on her face. “And that trick won’t work on me again. “

Foot steps were heard in the warehouse and a second later, the web slinger’s spider sense went off and he turned around, to see a trio of men. One was a man with a wiry built, the other was a very thick man who had muscles on top of his muscles, and then a tall man wearing a white cowboy hat walked forward, with a lasso in hand.

“Beat it junior,” said the leader of the group. “This here is Enforcer business, son, and we have no beef with you, Spider-Man. So why don’t you head on home, bug and let us take care of this little problem with the Black Cat.”

“Wait, Montana,” said the wiry looking man. “They’ve been saying that Spider-Man and the Black Cat are in cahoots.”

“Oh yeah, that’s right, Fancy Dan,” said Montana. “So, we’ve got to squash us a bug as well. Ox, I believe that’s your line of work.”

The large man, Ox, grunted, as he cracked his knuckles. He charged Spider-Man but the web slinger ducked out of the way, before he leapt onto the large man’s back. Ox attempted to grab onto Spider-Man but Spider-Man shifted his weight and caused the big man to land down on the ground with a thud.

Spider-Man got up a second, before he got blitzed right in the chest with a roundhouse kick by Fancy Dan. He landed right by the Black Cat, as the other Enforcers moved in.

“Who are these guys?” grumbled Spider-Man. His ribs, which were still tender after the battle with the Lizard, had been aggravated once again by that Fancy Dan kick.

“Hired goons, work for the highest bidder,” said Black Cat breathlessly. “They’re obviously here to kill us for working together.”

“But we’re not working together,” muttered Spider-Man.

“Well we are now,” said the Black Cat as she finally freed herself. “You take out the two on the left, I’ll take out the leader.”

“Now wait a minute…” started Spider-Man but he could not finish his sentence as Fancy Dan attempted to kick his head in, but Spider-Man dodged the attack. He moved in to attack the martial artist but Fancy Dan kept bobbing and weaving around his attacks and eventually kicked Spider-Man right into the waiting grip of Ox, who attempted to crush Spider-Man with his bare arms.

“Got to get free somehow,” thought Spider-Man as he gasped, in an attempt to kick off but Ox kept his burly arms around the web head, as he watched Montana do battle with the Black Cat.

“The Enforcers have come to do a job and you won’t get away with this,” said Montana as he attempted to lasso the Black Cat but she avoided it. Montana moved in but the Black Cat flipped to her feet and aimed a punch.

“Yeah, right, like a bunch of goons could finish me off when Spider-Man even couldn’t,” said the Black Cat as Montana cracked his rope but he had just lassoed a crate.

“My boys are taking care of the web head just fine, girl,” said Montana and sure enough, Ox held Spider-Man, as Fancy Dan measured him.

Fortunately for the web slinger, he slipped out of the large Enforcer’s grip and Fancy Dan caught Ox right in the chest with a kick. Spider-Man scaled up but Fancy Dan jumped up and knocked Spider-Man out of the air. The Black Cat moved over to help, but she left herself open to Montana, who managed to tie the Black Cat up. She struggled but Montana held her tightly as Fancy Dan continued to deck Spider-Man, with Spider-Man attempting to sweep his legs out from underneath the skilled Enforcer, but he found this harder.

“Don’t worry, I’ll make this quick, you won’t feel a thing,” said Fancy Dan as he pulled a switchblade out and yanked the rope. The Black Cat was in a tight spot and this time, she could not wiggle out. In a way, her luck seemed to have run out. She knew that it would take a swift motion once she got close enough and Montana would slice her throat.

Spider-Man tried to move into help, but Fancy Dan had knocked him for a loop. Ox stepped over, with a grunt, as he grabbed Spider-Man’s head, fully intent in crushing it.

Suddenly in an instant, the warehouse had filled with smoke, obscuring the vision of all of the occupants.

Montana tried to look around, inadvertently allowing the Black Cat to slip through his grasp and seconds later, he was knocked completely unconscious.

Ox fell seconds later, followed by Fancy Dan, none of them even seeing these attacks coming.

Spider-Man looked around, through the smoke, as it slightly cleared, seeing a figure dressed in red with horns escaping. He could make out the letters “DD” on his chest, before he disappeared into the night.

“It must be so called devil…he’s real…but who is he?” thought Spider-Man in confusion. “Lucky he showed up when he did, he wiped out the Enforcers.”

The Black Cat was on her feet, and she quickly made a getaway while Spider-Man was preoccupied.

“We’ll meet again someday, Spider,” she muttered as she turned and slipped into the darkness.

Spider-Man turned and the Black Cat was gone but right now he was just going to let her go. She did help him against the Enforcers, even if it was kind of her fault that he had to deal with them in the first place.

“Guess I better get these guys wrapped up, even though I don’t think that’s going to be much of a problem,” thought Spider-Man as he did so, but the Enforcers appeared to not be getting up any time soon.

-

Peter Parker was in remotely good spirits in the morning, at least as much as he had been in the last couple of weeks. The Enforcers were behind bars, he had given Jameson photos of the battle, including proof that the Black Cat and Spider-Man were not criminal cohorts, even though the Daily Bugle publisher framed it in a manner that it was a disagreement. Of course, the greatest triumph of all was actually getting Jameson to pay a decent amount for a picture of the mysterious “devil” that Peter’s camera somehow caught in the battle. Even Jameson could not argue about this, especially when Peter hinted that there were other papers in the city that might want the picture of Jameson did not.

The look on Eddie Brock’s face was priceless when he had saw Peter returned to the Bugle. If nothing else, Peter got some amount of amusement out of that.

He had just finished breakfast and wondered what he would do today. Perhaps his good fortunate would continue if he could actually get Gwen to pick up the phone and talk to him.

Just as he was thinking of doing just that, his cell rang.

“Hello,” said Peter.

“Hello, Peter,” said Gwen.

“Gwen?” asked Peter in surprise, nearly dropping his phone. After she had not spoken to him in about a week and a half, he was about ready to give up home. “Er, hi.”

“Peter, can you come over in about an hour?” asked Gwen seriously. “We need to talk about what happened.”

“Right, sure, see you then, Gwen,” said Peter, with a bit of apprehension. Her tone was even and he could not tell where her state of mind was.

-

Peter raised his hand and knocked on the door. He stood there and seconds later, it opened. He was face to face with Gwen, as they both looked at each other, in silence, neither apparently wanting to say the first thing.

“Hi,” said Peter nervously.

“Hi,” replied Gwen before she completely broke down. “Look Peter, I was an idiot, I should have trusted you, in fact, you probably had a good reason for what you did and the Black Cat thing, that was over the line how I freaked out.”

“I should have told you I was okay, Gwen,” said Peter nervously. “The thing is…I didn’t think you needed to worry about it. I know now that’s stupid, but…you shouldn’t have to fight this battle. It’s not your responsibility. You weren’t the one who was given this great power.”

“Peter, if I never suggested we would have went to the exhibition, you would have never got bitten,” said Gwen and Peter raised his eyebrow. “Every night you go out, every criminal you fight, I feel it’s my fault that you’re out there.”

“Gwen, you never twisted my arm to go there or to be Spider-Man or do anything,” said Peter. “If nothing, you’ve been supportive and is that really a crime?”

“Still I feel it’s my fault that you can’t have a normal life, if I never suggested that we went to that blasted exhibition,” said Gwen in frustration.

“Gwen, you couldn’t have known,” answered Peter simply.

“Just like you couldn’t know that letting that burgular get away was going to have the consequences it was going to,” said Gwen and Peter could not quite formulate a response to that and it took him a minute to collect his thoughts.

“Gwen, if you want me too, I’ll give up being Spider-Man at a drop of a hat, for you,” said Peter. “I did some good, but…”

“Peter, that’s sweet that you’d do that for me but we both know that’s unfair,” said Gwen as she grabbed Peter’s hand. “As long as you still have those powers, there will be a part of you who is guilty that you couldn’t have done more. And I would feel guiltier.”

Gwen paused as she looked at Peter thoughtfully.

“It’s not my call no matter what, a part of me wants you to give it up but at the same time, I realize that it’s important for you to put on that mask,” said Gwen.

“But being Spider-Man nearly destroyed us?” argued Peter.

“No, a common human misunderstanding nearly destroyed us, it could happen with any couple,” said Gwen but Peter just raised an eyebrow. “Okay, maybe not exactly the way it happened, but we had our argument and it’s over, it’s done with. The point is, if you don’t continue to be Spider-Man as long as you have the power, no matter how much I worry, you wouldn’t be living up to your responsibility.”

Gwen looked at Peter for a brief moment.

“And you truly wouldn’t be the person I love any more,” said Gwen as they embraced and kissed. After about a minute, they slowly pulled apart, a whole new appreciation of where they were and if anything a stronger relationship.

Still there was one more loose end that Peter or rather Spider-Man had to clear up.

-

Stilt Man escaped the site of his latest heist. The police would never catch him, as he would rise out of sight, but suddenly Spider-Man swung right in front of him.

“Not so fast, Stilt Man, you won’t get out of this one,” said Spider-Man as he lowered himself down as Stilt Man just laughed at Spider-Man in amusement.

“So come out of hiding have you Spider-Man?” taunted Stilt Man, as he held his ill gotten gains. “You can’t hope to defeat me.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard that from villains far more dangerous than you, pal,” said Spider-Man as he dove towards Stilt Man but the villain sprang up, using his stilt legs. Spider-Man put the breaks on and shot webbing, which stuck the feet to the ground. Stilt Man grabbed onto the ledge and tried to pull himself up but he found himself immobile.

“What the…” stated Stilt Man as while his suit was guarded against adhesive, the ground was not and his feet could not break free from the webbing that was stuck firmly on the ground. His legs retracted, as he came face to face with Spider-Man, who was hanging upside down. He tried to retract himself upwards again but Spider-Man pulled himself up where he was face to face with Stilt Man. Once again, with his feet webbed to the ground, he was stuck and Spider-Man reared back. One punch and Stilt Man’s retracted legs snapped backwards, before they slammed down in pain.

Another punch and Stilt Man was out on his feet and he had been put down for the count, as Spider-Man stood over him.


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