64 Spider Cat

"Ready to join a monastery?" I ask, looking over the bloodied up, barely alive Felica, who is currently handcuffed to a chair. She did say she would become a nun if she were ever captured by any of the Maggia…

After having heard the woman dressed in all black talking about Black Cat's cell, I quickly made my way down the basement and explored almost the whole area through the vents before stumbling onto what was really more of a torture room than a prison cell. In the middle of the room was a single chair with Felica handcuffed to it, and as already stated, she was not in the best condition currently.

Within an inch of her life, actually, Hammerhead's men made sure she stayed alive but just barely.

"Hu? Wh cha meeaan?" She asks, trying to stay conscious. Now isn't the time to joke around with her, I should free her and get her healed up first.

In the corner of the room lay a guard, the only one who was in this room when I entered through the vent. Naturally, I knocked him out before he even got a whiff of me, and he just so happened to have the keys to Felicia's handcuffs on him.

Getting the handcuffs off of Felicia, I take out one of my strongest potions from my inventory and after tilting her head back a bit, pour them down her mouth.

"Wha? Oh, the pain is subsiding…" She says as she swallows the medium potion I gave her. "It tastes good too."

Swallowing the last of the potion, she tries to stand up, but her face immediately scrunches up in pain. She grabs the right side of her stomach. "Fuck, the bullet hole still hurts."

"You got shot?" More importantly, the medium potion didn't heal her fully? Her HP is full, but she is still covered with wounds. Could it be that potions work differently on people without [Gamer's Body]?

"I went to hand over the data I got from that lab down in the sewers we went to together, but it turned out to be a trap, and they just shot me and dragged me away. For the past few days, they have been trying to get the location of my money and loot out of me by any means possible before handing me over to Osborn." She explains through gritted teeth.

"And did you tell them?"

"I told them to fuck off." She laughs, but that just intensifies the pain. "Shit, you know I was kind of hoping you would come to save me. I'm not sure why but I had the feeling I could count on you to come despite not even knowing I was here."

"Nice, now tilt your head back again. Let's get you healed up." I say, and she does as I say. I take a look at one of the perks that I some time ago for reaching 100 vitality but have had no use for so far.

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[Healing Blood]

Your blood has the properties of a potion. The higher your Vitality is, the stronger the blood's healing powers will be. Your own blood doesn't work on yourself.

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If a medium potion didn't heal all her injuries, then a stronger one should do the trick. Unfortunately, the only stronger potion that I have is my own blood.

"Are you gonna give me one more of those drinks?" She asks hopefully.

"Nope," I say and take out a sword to make a small cut on my arm positioned above her open mouth. The blood starts pouring out, but my healing works quickly and seals the cut within seconds. It wasn't that deep, to begin with.

Felicia is surprised by the sudden blood in her mouth, but before she can spit it out, I force her mouth closed and hold her nose so she would swallow. I turn my eyes to the bullet hole on her side and watch as it starts closing up at a visible rate. Damn, my blood power is stupid strong.

After Felicia is done with my blood, I let go of her. "What the fuck Spider? You could have warned me I would be drinking your god damn blood."

"Hey, your injuries are disappearing. You should be thanking me, not cursing me." I say, and she goes on to touch her face and the location of the former bullet hole, this time not feeling any pain.

"You're right. Wow, what kind of witchcraft is this…"

I ignore that question. "Now that you are fine, wanna head out of here?"

"Yeah, sure, just give me a moment to stretch myself. I haven't stood up for a few days now." She stands up from her chair in a stiff manner, unlike the very flexible Black Cat of the norm.

"Yuri is about to start her operation in a few minutes," Diana updates me on the situation outside, and I lean back against the wall. Perhaps it's best to wait a bit before leaving? It would sure be easier to get out of here if Hammerhead's troops were preoccupied with the police.

"We have time," I tell Felicia, who starts doing some simple stretches, all the while ensuring I get the best view possible.

While watching her, I think about something I haven't been able to get out of my head for the entire week. Felicia said she only steals for the thrill and doesn't care about the money. She does it because it's fun.

I know Rogue already basically became a partner of mine and, in the future, a possible second Spiderman, but… shouldn't it be possible to get another person for the team here?

"Hey Felicia, I have an offer for you," I say suddenly

"An offe- wait, what did you just call me?" She says, a bit of venom in her voice upon hearing her real name. She stops her stretches and stands up straight as a stick, staring at me.

"Felica Sara Hardy, daughter of the previous Black Cat Walter Hardy. Relax, I've known your identity for a while now. I'm not trying to blackmail you or anything."

Felicia still doesn't ease up. "If you've known for so long, then why randomly bring it up now? Surely there is something you want from me."

"As I said, I have an offer for you. I want you to switch sides, so to say. You told me earlier that you only steal for the thrill of it, and I don't mean to brag, but I've been making new enemies at record speeds, so you definitely wouldn't be bored."

"Switch sides to become a… hero? You think it's that easy?" She scoffs. "Turning from a hero into a villain is simple, but the opposite is not true at all. I have a certain reputation among the people in this city. It would be impossible for them to look at me as anything other than a thief."

"But if that weren't a problem, you would be willing to do it?" I ask hopefully, and she thinks for a second before smiling at me.

"Maybe for a salary." She jokes. "No, but in all seriousness, I would if I could. Contrary to popular belief, watching the news just to see people talking shit about you every day is not the most pleasant thing. Maybe the mentally challenged like the Rhino or Vulture love it, but over time I've come to hate it."

As I listen to her, a smile starts growing on my face beneath the mask.

"Well, I have some good news for you. You see, I have this AI." I tell her about Diana and her capabilities. "She will work ten times more efficiently than all Chinese bots that lurk in the comments sections of news articles combined to spread good, how do I say it.. propaganda about you. I promise that in a few weeks, the people of New York will look at you in a brand new light."

"You seem confident." She says, her gaze never leaving my eyes, well eye holes of the mask.

"It doesn't hurt to try, right? If things don't work out, it's not too late for you to go back to your old lifestyle." I reason. "You can get that salary you wanted too, how does 100 million a month sound?"

She does a double take "100 million? There is no way you have that much money to throw around unless you are like Tony Stark under that mask… are you Tony Stark? That would explain the way you've been staring at me whenever we are together." She hugs her body as if protecting herself from my eyes.

"No, Tony Stark has no suit (for now)," I say, taking off my mask. There is no point in hiding my identity from her since we are going to be working together anyways. It would be a little unfair to her, too, as Rogue already knows who I am.

(Note: Oh, and don't worry, there aren't any cameras or anything like that in the room, he checked)

"Have we met before? Your face is familiar, but I can't remember from where…" She says uncertainly.

Oi, are you kidding me?

"I'm the neighbor that moved in like a month ago," I say, and the realization hits Felicia.

"Oh, the poor guy who had nothing to steal! I forgot you even existed." She nods, remembering who I am. "How come you have so much money to throw around yet nothing to steal."

Why must you hurt me this way?

"So hmm, Peter, I think was your name? What now… should I start calling myself Spider Cat? Spider-Woman, perhaps?" She teases

I put the mask back on my head. "No need to change your name. Just keep going by Black Cat. And now that you are sufficiently stretched out, we're getting out of here."

I open up a portal leading back to Manhattan and make way to let Felicia go through first but she refuses.

"No way I'm leaving before I smash in Joespeh's skull, hopefully for good this time," Felicia says, wanting revenge after being held captive for several days. They didn't even give her anything to eat other than bread and water!

"You good to fight in your current state?" I ask. Felicia quickly touches the previous bullet hole.

"Doesn't hurt at all anymore, I'm good to go." She gives a thumbs up meaning we will be busting through this mansion right to Hammerhead.

Diana informs me that a 60-second countdown has started before the operation outside begins. I take out another pair of spare web shooters from my inventory and hand them to Felicia. "I know you have your grappling hooks, but you may find these more useful. Unlike Rogue, I probably won't have to teach you much on how to use these."

"Rogue? Oh, that must be the other girl I saw with you on the news. Competition for me?" She smirks, putting on the web shooters. "I won't lose."

Oh no, not you too.

"Ready to go?" I sigh and ask

Getting a nod of confirmation from Felicia, I go ahead and open the door that leads out of this room, and as we step out…

"Maybe we should have used the vents?" I ask while being stared down by more than 20 guns, as well as the chick in full black armor from earlier who has both of his desert eagles pointed at us, one at my head and the other at Felicia's.

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Note: Six days in a row now, wow.

What would be a good name for the team Peter is steadily building up?