Chapter 26 : Her Moves

It had been 3 weeks ever since Spider-Man met Black Cat. They had truly formed a team and would now go out to fight crime together. Things were not going as Peter had thought, Other than stealing some minor jwellerie here and there Black Cat seemed to be doing just fine.

They would meet up at the rooftop of some building and spend the rest of the day playing around.... 'Patrolling' the city. Even the Newspaper had taken notice of this. And Thanks to JJJ there were no good news at all.

It was all like —Spider-Man joins hands with thieves, True colours of the masked vigilante!.... Blah blah blah.

Peter didn't care about it much anyway so he didn't pay attention. Currently he was very content with his life. He had been doing well in College with MJ and her friends. He also had to spend less time in costume and get less injuries cause Black Cat was there to help him out in his battles. They were able to take care to things much faster.

And best of all, He had a very sexy eye candy as his teammate. Peter really liked spending time with Felicia. She was.... unique. That's how he would describe her. She had many sides to her. Sometimes cute sometimes playful but still overall she was a good natured person.

"Who is this Black Cat anyway?" asked Mary Jane Watson, who seemed a bit miffed for some reason. Since their majors had been different they usually don't cross paths regularly as much as during highschool. But they still meet every one or two days.

"Can't really give you an answer to that Red. It's a confidential thing, you know." Peter replied as they continued to walk through the streets of New York. In their normal clothes.

"Really Tiger? Hiding things from even me now? Hmm?" MJ raised an eyebrow at him.

"Well..... It's not like that. I'm not trying to hide it from you but, you see, I cannot just talk about black Cat's real identity without her permission. It would be wrong to her and..."

"Alright Geez. I know that. You don't have to explain so much." Mary Jane stopped his yapping.

"I knew you would understand." Peter gave her a wide grin.

"But seriously though. Doesn't she smells even a little bit shady? I mean look at her past. She was a thief until now. And suddenly one day she comes here to help You fight crimes?" MJ said as they both arrived at the Cafe they always visit. They went in and took a seat. In a corner so that people won't hear their talk.

It really had been a surprise when black Cat had told him that the special Training she was talking about had been Stealing.

"You're right. And I know that. And I haven't given her green light just yet. I'm still observing her so far too. But for what I can tell, She doesn't seems to be involved in anything bad as of yet." Peter gave her an answer. MJ had always been interested in his Super hero life. And Peter didn't mind telling her cause he knew he could trust her.

"Alright. Then what do you have to say about...." She took out a small notebook and pen and wrote something on it and passed the book to Peter. ".....This?"

Peter looked at what she wanted him to see. "Beetle, Tarantula, Kangaroo, Grizzly, Vermin,Gibbon & Hippo. Well wha about about them? They have already been defeated and sent to Ravencroft by yours truly."

He couldn't check onto what MJ was implying.

"Don't you see any similarities? In their names? or their Powers?" MJ gave him a hint.

Peter looked at the list for a few seconds and then finally understood what the girl was hinting at. "Heh. Seems like animal theme is the new trend in Villain Community."

"Exactly. All these jokers appeared recently. Just like a certain Cat." MJ looked at Peter with narrowed eyes.

"Hmm? I understand what you are trying to say Red. Black Cat is a part of this group of animal themed villains? But Cat doesn't have any special powers like these guys. And she called herself black cat waaay before. When we had met the first time." Peter didn't know but MJ didn't seem to like Black Cat much.

"All I'm saying is, You better take care of yourself out there Tiger." MJ gave a resigned sigh.

Peter looked at her for some time and then picked up the small notebook and closed it with a clasp sound. "You know what? Maybe we should stop talking about my depressing Life. Come on, Give me some new spicey news about yourself." He straightened his back and looked at Mary Jane with a coy grin.

MJ smiled too after seeing his silly expression. "Well, It's nothing much. But I got a spot in the Fasion show they are doing in the Grand Opening of That New Building - The Future Foundation."

"Seriously?" Peter was really shocked after hearing her. "That Future Foundation? Gosh, you are really lucky. That's the Government funded foundation that has brought some of the world's most intelligent young minds together."

"Wow. You seem to be having an orgasm just by hearing 'Future Foundation'. Is it that big deal? I mean I know some real big shots are gonna be there. But still....." MJ always forgot that this cool secret superhero was actually just a really big nerd.

"Of course. Imagine famous people like Reed Richards and Victor Von Doom. It's a shame they have put an limit of at least 20 year old. Otherwise I would have applied there too. Maybe next year." Peter deflated after thinking about such a big missed opportunity.

"Man I really wish I could be there." He jokingly whined to his friend.

"Fear not Mortal, For the Goddess of Extra tickets has blessed you." MJ tilted her head very high such that now she was looking at the ceiling.

"Really? You mean It?" Peter got elated after figuring out what MJ was hinting at.

"Yeah, I've got an invite for the after party too. And I can bring a partener with me there. And I'm giving you the big chance." MJ described things to Peter who looked like a happy 5 year old.

"Thank you MJ. Really Thanks. I don't know how much more depressing my life would have been without you." Peter was very happy at the idea of being able to attend that Party. Maybe he could take a picture or two for bugle too.

"Oh, Don't worry Tiger. I can take care of you for life if you want." Mary Jane looked at Peter with a small smirk.

Peter simply smiled back. Save to say, After spending a long time with her, He had developed a little bit resistance to her flirting. But maybe he didn't know, But the vibe seemed to be a bit different from past. Peter didn't have much idea about women. His only relationship was with Liz, which obviously never worked out well. He simply just brushed it aside.

__

__

__

Next day.

Currently Spider-Man and Black Cat were standing on top of a high-rise building.

"So what are we doing Today Spider? Same old Patrolling? Or maybe we can go somewhere else. You know what I mean?" Black Cat asked the Web-Head with a coy grin.

"Today Cat, we are going to Catch the villain named 'Vermin'." Spider-Man said in a serious tone. " This man, or rather, this thing, whatever it is, unlike other villains has been actively hurting people ever since he appeared. We Haven't found him until now. But this is the report i got last night from Officer Gordon. It has all the information about Superhuman activity in the past month. We will use this to find him." He showed her the file he had gotten from the police chief.

"And maybe after a candle light dinner after that? How does that sounds?" Cat was always in a playful mood. Especially around Spider-man.

"Sigh* Let's start looking over the information." Then they both got to work and started to sort through the info.

"Seems like we will have to do that dinner night of yours some other time." Spidey said as he thought about the place they would have to go look for Vermin. The Sewers.

Peter had went there enough of times to know how disgusting that place was. First of all, It was Sewer. Second, It Was The Sewer for Fuck Sake.

"I think you should do this alone." Black cat said as she started to back away.

"The hell you saying. We are parteners remember. Let's go." He grabbed her before she could escape and then they both had to do check out the Sewers near Houston Street.

__

__

__

They had spent 3 entire hours looking for The Vermin's trail. Every time they found something, it would only lead to a dead end. The duo was getting more and more frustrated as time went on.

Finally, As they were starting to take another Turn, Spider-Man's senses warned him of a potential danger nearby. They both stopped and Cat looked at him confused. Then she made a pop sound with her lips. "Is that the tingle thing?"

"Shut up."

"Are you tingling now?"

"Stop messing around Cat." Spider-Man gave his partener a stern warning.

He focused his senses on the surroundings. To sense from which direction the danger was coming from.

"It seems to be coming from all directions. keep your guard up cat. And stay close to me." Spider-Man gave the orders.

"I can take care of myself Spider. You just take care of yourself." Cat shot back immediately.

Suddenly small and big rats started coming from all directions towards them. Hundreds of them surrounded them in no time.

Peter didn't know what this meant but he was very much ready for taking action any moment. Cat also brought out her sharp metal claws she used as weapons.

Suddenly, from behind Felicia, a large human size black furred monster jumped out. Screeching, it lunged at Black Cat.

Spider-Man , taking quick steps, pushed Felicia out of the Way. But the Vermin was very fast too. Instead of Black Cat, it caught Spdier-Man but without hesitation it bit down on his left shoulder with all it's might.

Spider-Man punched him away before vermin could chomp down on his flesh. Vermin had given a good injury to The hero. As blood as pouring down profusely from the big wound. But it didn't seem to effect the Web warrior much. He immediately started a wrestling battle with Vermin.

Black Cat didn't wait for a second and attacked too. She aimed for Vermin's legs.

Vermin, seeing that he was outnumbered and his enemies were too strong chose to bail out of the fight. It put some dirty mud in Spider-Man's eyes. And tried to evade Black Cat's claws. Which still hit him but the damage was very less. Vermin ran away as fast as possible.

Spider-Man and Black Cat tried to chase after him But suddenly Spidey stated to feel lethargic. He felt like his head was spinning.

"His bite. That thing is poisonous. Are rats even poisonous?" Spider-Man babled as he went down on one knee. He put a hand on his head.

"Spider!! Are you alright?" The Black Cat asked as she looked at Him with concern. "I should first take you back up. We will deal with this guy later."

"No. no. It's alright. I'm fine. Just feeling a

bit weak. And i feel a bit nauseous. That thing stinks worse than Logan's fart." Spider-Man stood back up and shook his head a little.

"Let's go find that Rat." And then they both marched off after Vermin.

__

__

__

"Do you sense him?" Cat asked as she walked between Spider-Man, she was taking care of the rear.

"The Spider-Senses are buzzing a little. Keep up your guard." Spider replied.

They both checked the entire place. It was an intersection of tunnels. This place was Bigger. But also darker. An easy to hide spot.

As they were walking, The Vermin again attacked. This time they both were ready to face the monster though.

Spdier-Man immediately flipped into action and jumped over Vermin and sent web bombs at all entries of tunnels blocking off the way to escape while Cat handled the Vermin by herself.

Spider-Man jumped back down and started to assist her. But suddenly Vermin did something out of ordinary. He took out a spray and spray something black all our Spider-Man.

Until now it had not been recorded. But the Vermin, despite all it's activities being that of a rodent. Was a human shaped creature. Which means That He could be intelligent too.

Spider-Man jumped back and checked what it was only to find that it was only black paint. The Vermin didn't waste this chance and shoved Black Cat away and pounced at Spider-Man.

They both started to wrestle again. Until Vermin took out another weapon this time a big metal frame and smashed it on Spider-Man's shoulder injury.

"Arghh." Spider-Man cried out in agony as the wounds mouth opened even more.

"SPIDER!!" Black Cat screamed as she jumped at Vermin's back and slashed with her claws.

The Vermin screamed and jumped away. The monster started to eye Black Cat and soon pounced at her.

But this time intsead of jumping directly on his enemy. The Vermin's leg got entangled in something, sone kind of trash and Vermin fell down face first.

Black Cat used this opportunity to attack him and then Spider-Man witnessed a very unique fight. Every time Vermin tried to attack he wouldn't be able to and every time Black Cat attacked, even though a lot slower than Vermin, All of her attacks connected somehow, either Vermin would slip and take a punch or his tangled leg would stop him dodging.

Spider-Man , After the pain in his injury subsided a bit decided to end this fast. He started slowly charging up a venom blast. It was a lot harder than usual. With the injury and weakness from Vermin's bite it was harder to concentrate. But he after a few seconds he finally did it.

He went behind the monster while giving some signal to Black Cat. And soon after that, He jumped at Vermin. The monster turned around only to receive a powerful explosive punch that sent him flying a few meters.

Spider-Man then took a deep breath. "Hah... Now stay down you trash... hah*hah*." He webbed up the Vermin's body.

Black Cat walked to Spider-Man's side and looked at the bite wound. It was very bad. And the skin had also turned black. "We will need to treat this fast. Come on let's go. My house is nearby."

And then they both went out of the God damned Sewers. They webbed up Vermin to a nearby Pole and gave anyonomus call to police.

After that they had moved back to Felicia's home where She was now treating his shoulder injury.

"Sooo, You do have some kind of Super powers after all, right?" Spider-Man asked out of nowhere.

Felicia was silent for a bit before she spoke "Well, I wasn't trying to hide it."

"Could have just told me intsead of this guessing game. How did you get this powers anyway?" Spider-Man asked another question.

Felicia furrowed her brows "Why does it even matter?"

"I'm Asking , so that I know, That YOU, ARE NOT involved in something stupid this time again." Spdier-Man spoke in a very serious tone. He got up and turned to look at Felicia's eyes. "I know you didn't have this powers before where did you get them. Tell me where you got these powers from?"

"Why are you being like this? I told you i wasn't trying to hide anything. It was so easy to see. Why are you acting like I'm one of those bad guys?" Felicia backed away from him a bit. "You want to know what happened to me? Well i guess you can, cause it's all because of you."

" Ever since I left New York two years ago. I felt a hollowness in my life. And to fill that emptiness I started to follow my Father's path and became a cat burglar. One time I stole an ancient Egyptian Necklace which, Somehow, I don't know, Gave me these special powers. To be Super lucky and give bad luck to others. After that I thought maybe now I can finally come back to my home. And when I saw you with the Avengers I thought maybe I can also help you fight these. Stand side by side with you all. The Good Guys. Is it bad to think like that? Am i a villain Because I have powers?" Felicia continued speaking like a dam Bursted open.

Spider-Man didn't know how to reply to her. He still didn't know wether she was telling the truth or not. But he choe to believe her. Cause from everything he had seen until now she was a. good person. That's why he decided to believe her too.

They both looked at each other for quite some time. Felicia was feeling down after their 'talk' .

She started to walk away but Spider-Man stopped her . "Cat.... Felicia listen. I..... I'm sorry, okay. I don't even know why I was angry in the first place. You see, these new super powered people are poping up a lot more recently and I've been a bit tense thinking about the overall situation."

"And that's why you chose to show me that you don't have trust in me at all?" Felicia asked back.

"No. No, it's not like that. I trust you Felicia. Believe me. It's just that..... The situation has been a bit tense and ..... I.... I'm really sorry." Peter didn't know what to say to make things better between them.

"Even after we spent a month working together?" Felicia looked down. "You know, i really like doing this hero stuff along with you. My dad would have berated me for needlessly putting my life in danger. But I don't care. Cause this is one of the only things that let me escape from my miserable life. And I thought you would understand me.But...

." Felicia had started to sob a bit and Peter didn't know what to do.

He looked at her sobbing and failing to form words and then came to a decision. He put a hand on his head and pulled of his Mask. For the first time in front of Felicia Hardy.

"Hey. I guess introductions are needed now." Peter said as he scratched his head with a lazy smile on his face.

"Peter Parker." Peter extended a hand towards Felicia who was still intently looking at his face.

"Felicia Hardy." She replied back with a big smile as she took his hand.

__

__

__

It was Night Time.

Felicia was sitting in the balcony looking at the scenery outside. It had been a day with many ups and downs. But above all, Today finally Spider had decided to show her how much he trusted her. He had shown his real face to her. And she couldn't belive Spider-Man was someone even more younger than her.

He had described how important his secret identity is to him and She had promised to keep it safe. She was feeling a lot of emotions after that and couldn't pin point what they were. But she knew she definitely felt good. She was smiling ever since then.

Suddenly the phone started ringing in the living room. Felicia got up and took the call.

"How's the mission going?" A man's voice spoke from the other side.

Felicia stay silent for a bit. She hesitated and then finally replied. "I've got The Spider's blood samples." She said as she looked at the bloodied cottons she had packed after treating Spider-Man's wound.

"Good. But What about the other objective?"

"It's all going how you wanted it to."

"I doubt that. Because if that were to be the case. Vermin wouldn't have gone down like that, without even being of any use to us at all."

"Well. It's Fur boy's fault. Who told him to start attacking people and attract Spider's attention so fast. I couldn't do anything about that." Felicia sighed as she talked.

"I don't want to hear any excuses girl. You either do your work or you don't. That's all I care about."

"Look I have already told you that I'll try to keep Spider off your tail as much as possible."

"That's not enough. You have been given a mission and you HAVE to complete it. Is that understood?"

"FINE. I promise you that Spider won't interfere and disrupt the plan and I'll make sure he does what we want him to."

"That's better. Keep doing that and I will finally be able to take over Fisk." After that the man cut of the call.

Felicia kept looking at the phone for some time."Yep. I promise Spider won't interfere."

She tightened her grip on the phone. "Cause Spider doesn't Kills people. But the BLACK CAT DOES."

And Then she smashed the phone on the table and both things broke apart.

_________________