Post by Drake on Jun 14, 2015 23:33:08 GMT -5
#10: A Life Worth Living
By Drake
Previously in The Amazing Spider-Man…
Three months ago, in the midst of battle, Peter Parker encountered a mysterious Spider-Woman, someone who seemingly had his abilities and had been inspired by his acts as Spider-Man to save the city. Later on, Spider-Woman was instrumental in the defeat of Electro, a member of Adrian Toomes’ growing Sinister Six…
Speak of the devil, Toomes had a right hand woman by the name of Jennifer Carlton. However, in a matter of days, Carlton had been suddenly replaced by someone else: Felicia Hardy, who, elsewhere, had taken Peter’s job from him as the Bugle’s primary Spider-Man photographer. Since then, Hardy has proven her worth, organizing Toomes’ plans, stealing goods as her alter ego “The Cat,” and using her feminine wiles and sly wit to infiltrate the Bugle, which now begs the question: why? Why is Felicia Hardy helping Adrian Toomes? What are her plans? Maybe most importantly…who is she?
…
PART 1: Cat Trap
3 ½ Months Ago
Busy work. That was all Jennifer Carlton ever got from her boss, Adrian Toomes. He paid well, sure, but she would never have even considered taking the old coot’s job opening if she hadn’t had family ties to the man. If her father had just paid up his debt before he’d died…
Jennifer shook the thoughts away. It was cruel to think ill of the dead, even if that dead person had gotten her stuck with a 10-year moral requirement to act as Toomes’ secretary—a bloody secretary of all things!
It was these regretful, spiteful thoughts that clouded Jennifer’s mind as she returned home from her latest Toomes’ job—paying The Mole to break three criminals out of jail.
Jennifer took a deep breath and cleared the anger from her mind as she neared her front door. She just needed to think happy thoughts. She had a beautiful home, a gorgeous, pregnant wife, and the weekend off.
Jennifer reached into her purse, produced her keys and unlocked the front door. It was only after entering the house that Jennifer realized that all the lights were off. That was odd. Megan would be home, and she refused to leave the lights off, even when they slept. Megan was still afraid of the dark. To be fair, that wasn’t a ridiculous phobia considering Jennifer’s line of work and the enemies she could make.
“Hell—“ Jennifer quieted mid-call when the lights flicked on.
Sitting down atop the arm of the living room couch was a voluptuous platinum blonde dressed in black catsuit. A black domino mask obscured the intruder’s face. The blonde carefully, but playfully flipped a pistol, catching the gun every time so that the muzzle faced another woman, a captive woman, someone who was far too pregnant to be safely strapped into a chair and gagged. The gun was aimed at Megan!
“I suppose you could call this hell,” the intruder quipped, before continuing tauntingly, “Although I assure you things could get much worse.”
Jennifer wasn’t fazed. She’d been in worse positions before. Even still, that was her wife and child in that chair. She had to act. Jennifer slowly, subtly tried to reach for her purse.
To distract the intruder, Jennifer began, “Is it really a good idea to be flipping a gun like that? You could shoot yourself.”
“Yeah,” the intruder agreed, “Or I could shoot your wife.”
Jennifer’s hand shot into her purse, or more specifically the .30 caliber resting in it. The intruder immediately jumped down onto her knees, crouching behind the pregnant hostage, her pistol aimed at the woman’s head. Jennifer froze, her hand caught around her gun.
“We both know how this would end,” the intruder threatened.
“I work for a very dangerous man,” Jennifer shot back. However, she still removed her hand from her purse, gun-less.
The intruder smirked. “I know. That’s why I’m here. I want to talk business. I want to talk about Adrian Toomes.”
Jennifer breathed exasperatedly. The situation was finally getting to her. “I’ll tell you whatever you want. Just let my wife go.”
The catsuited blonde shook her head. “I don’t want information. I don’t want to kill Toomes. I want to work for him. I want your job.”
“What?” Jennifer exclaimed incredulously, “I’ll—I’ll give it to you. Fine. It’s a deal. Just let her go.”
The intruder’s lips twirled up into a Cheshire grin. “That wasn’t hard at all, was it? For your…care, have this.” The armed woman unzipped the top of her catsuit so it exposed just a bit of her cleavage. She reached down into the suit and withdrew an enveloped. She tossed it to Jennifer, who caught it with shaking hands.
“What is it?” Jennifer looked the envelope over worriedly. Was it a bomb?
“The envelope contains plane tickets to Costa Rica, new passports, and Debit cards tied to those new identities, each connected to a bank holding 15 million dollars.” The intruder explained casually.
Jennifer frowned. “You’re joking.”
“Look inside,” The intruder shot back.
Jennifer opened the envelope and discovered its contents were exactly as the woman had described.
“9:45…” Jennifer looked up, “The flight is in three hours.”
“Better hurry up then.” The intruder didn’t miss a beat.
Jennifer wanted to get ready, to leave, to comfort her terrified wife, but she had to ask one last thing. It had been bugging her since discovering the intruder’s intentions.
“Why go to such lengths for a terrible job?” Jennifer asked. Her wife gave her a death stare, afraid she was going to give the intruder cause to take back the offer.
The intruder shrugged. “I have…plans.” She slipped onto her feet and bowed. “It was a pleasure doing business with you.”
The intruder slunk back towards the door. Jennifer immediately rushed to her wife’s side and began undoing her restraints, but she couldn’t resist from testing the waters.
“Who are you?”
As she leaped out an open fire escape into the cool New York night, the intruder called back, “That’s cute.”
Jennifer sighed and turned all her attention to freeing her wife. Upon finishing, the two embraced, and after they separated Megan managed to sputter out a single statement through her sobs.
“She took everything.”
“What?” Jennifer looked around the living room. Nothing appeared to be gone. “Everything’s here.”
“No…” Megan wiped away tears. She turned around and tapped a small metal device on the couch. Suddenly, the image of luxury faded away, and Jennifer and Megan were left in a room that contained nothing but the aforementioned couch and the chair Megan had been held captive in.
“A hologram…” Jennifer muttered, stunned. “How…?”
“She came in and tied me up while you were gone, and—and—and,” Megan sobbed, “And I could just watch as she took everything. She worked all day to…”
Jennifer wrapped her wife in her arms and let her cry into her shoulder.
“It’s fine, honey. It’s fine. We’re fine, and she gave us plenty of money…”
“I couldn’t do anything,” Megan whispered.
Jennifer took a deep breath and tightened her hold on her wife. She couldn’t understand. Why would someone steal so much only to give back more in return? Maybe more importantly, what plans could be so paramount that someone would try so hard to get a horrible job with a pathetic, old mobster? This all did lead to one final question, which could perhaps answer everything: who was the woman in black?
…
The catsuited blonde pulled off her platinum wig, revealing dirty blonde hair, and fell back onto her bed amidst an open bedroom. Despite everything she’d promised, the power she seemed to have and the wealth she seemed to crave, the woman’s bedroom was fairly empty. There was simply a widescreen TV, her nightstand, and her bed in the room. That was it.
The thief lifted her phone up, dialed a number and then pressed the device against her ear.
“Yes?” Came the crackly voice of Adrian Toomes.
“It’s the Cat. I hear you have a job opening,” the woman teased.
“So Jennifer is, in fact, leaving?” Adrian asked, “Just like you said?”
“Just like I said,” The Cat proudly admitted. She continued, “Don’t believe me, fine. She won’t show up for ‘work’ tomorrow. That’ll be proof enough.”
“Oh, I believe you. If there’s one thing you’ve proven to be, Ms. Hardy, it’s competent,” Toomes said. He paused for a moment, before asking. “And the plane detonation? That traitorous wench will die, correct?”
“Of course,” Felicia Hardy said. That was one line the thief wouldn’t cross: blowing up a whole plane of innocent people just to kill one person. However, what the old lunatic didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him. Like hell he’d ever find out; he never stepped foot outside his shit hole of a base.
“Welcome to the Vulture criminal empire, Ms. Hardy,” Toomes cawed.
As Toomes continued to speak, Felicia reached down into her cleavage and pulled out a crumpled up picture. She unrolled the picture, revealing the image of four men and one woman locked in each other’s arms. The first man was a handsome middle-aged blond man; the woman next to him bore a startling resemblance to Felicia from body type to face shape. However, her hair was dark brown. The next man was enormous—both in height and weight—balding, and the only one not smiling; this was a young Wilson Fisk. The last two were faces any everyday New Yorker would recognize: that of a young Norman Osborn and Roderick Kingsley.
Felicia slowly began to focus in on Toomes’ voice again. He’d gone on a senile rant about traitors and the past. The past. The irony of it all. If he just knew…if they all knew…
Toomes finished, “So, Ms. Hardy, are you trustworthy? Will you be more loyal than Carlton, that traitorous bitch?”
“Mr. Toomes, sir, I’m a woman of my word,” Felicia purred.
“Yes, of course…well then, good night, Ms. Hardy.”
“Good night, Mr. Toomes.” Felicia finished. The old man hung up.
Felicia laughed. She couldn’t help it. She exploded with unbridled amusement. A woman of her word. Why, of course she was. She would keep her promise—her promise to her father that was. Even now, she could remember that phone call perfectly. His last words…
”Felicia, honey, your mother and I…we’ve been betrayed. You’re a big girl. You should know. We’ve been involved with criminals. We are criminals. And now…now we’re not going to make it home—ever. I’m so sorry, my baby girl. Please, Felicia, know we love you. We love you so much. Please don’t…”
After that, his phone had been taken away, he’d died, or…or something happened. The other side went quiet and she waited, terrified, but nobody ever answered. She’d hung up, called the cops, but they couldn’t help. Not without a lead, not without a location. When, eventually, her parents were found, it was too late for them.
However, it wasn’t too late to honor them. Felicia would avenge their deaths. She’d promised it over their graves.
It would be hard, but not impossible. Felicia knew who her parents had worked with, both from witnessing their ‘business’ and interrogating New York’s worst. Of course, they’d gotten in deep with a wealthy, powerful crowd. A crowd full of people who were supposed to be their friends; people who betrayed them!
Felicia’s end game was in her sights. She’d waited for so long, but it was now so close. She would overthrow Toomes, and take control of New York’s underworld. Norman Osborn, Wilson Fisk, and Roderick Kingsley—they would all die by her hands. So swore Felicia Hardy—so swore the Black Cat!
PART 2: Web of Life
Today
That is just my luck!
The white-clad, hooded hero known as Spider-Woman landed a swinging kick to the chest of one howling, psychopathic terrorist—Jack O’Lantern, sending him flying. The villain was dressed in black body armor and a tattered cape, had an appropriate jack o’lantern helmet, and flew—or, used to fly—atop a whirring metal glider.
The suburban neighborhood was packed to the brim with innocents who could do nothing but run at the sight of the supervillain. Before the hero’s timely arrival, Macendale had begun chasing people around while he laughed maniacally and chanted satanic curses.
I have way better things to do than screw around with some stupid C-lister.
“Gah!” Jack O’Lantern crashed to the ground, sending more pedestrians running for safety. The psycho struggled to stand back up. “Sp-spider. More spiders. Everywhere. Ah!”
Meanwhile, Spider-Woman was failing to control the villain’s glider. The high tech vehicle spazzed through the air, and the rookie hero barely managed to hold on.
“Can’t—let—it—crash—into—people,” Spider-Woman said through gritted teeth. With considerable effort, she managed to drag herself atop the glider. However, she may have been too late as the vehicle was currently soaring straight towards a pack of fleeing teenagers.
In a last ditch effort to save the kids, Spider-Woman grabbed the front of the glider and pulled up with all her might. While the vehicle did in fact change course, it ended up doing a 270 and crashing into the ground. The wreck launched Spider-Woman straight into the terrified Jack O’Lantern, causing them both to tumble to the ground.
“Thank God for invulnerable super suits…” Spider-Woman mumbled weakly after she pushed herself onto all fours and managed to hold back vomit.
The supervillain, meanwhile, remained stuck under Spider-Woman. He shook in fear, scrambling to grab a knife from his utility belt.
“AHH! Spiders bite!” The villain thrusted the blade forward. Spider-Woman couldn’t roll away in time, ending up getting both a nasty blow to her ribs and a face full of pavement. The knife, despite failing to break through Spider-Woman’s suit, would still leave a nasty bruise.
“You psycho asshole!” Spider-Woman slugged the villain in return. Her punch managed to knock Jack O’Lantern’s head to the side, but didn’t crack the helmet or stun the villain. The webbed hero froze with her fist raised. Her lenses widened in surprise.
“What…?” Spider-Woman muttered.
Jack O’Lantern cocked his head to the side. “Spider not funny like other.”
“That’s not what your mom said last night.” Silence for a moment. Spider-Woman continued, “Okay, I see your point.”
The hero brought her fist down, but the Halloween-themed villain caught it and threw her into a lamppost.
As she stumbled back onto her feet, Spider-Woman reached up to the earpiece inside her mask and said, “Yo, home base. You there? We need to check out the strength braces. I think they shorted out.”
“See? I not crazy! Spider talk to self too!” Jack O’Lantern cried with glee.
Spider-Woman kept one hand on her comms piece and raised her other to the villain. “Silence, pumpkin head.”
“Focus on the fight. We’ll worry about your super strength when you get back,” a soft, feminine voice came over Spider-Woman’s comms.
“Yeah, but it’s kinda hard to fight a supervillain when you’re out of juice,” the hero pointed out.
“Then fight like Spider-Man—“
“—He has superpowers—“
“—Fight smart!” The comm woman finished.
Spider-Woman looked back at the supervillain, who seemed to be anxiously waiting for her to finish. She nodded. “Okay. I gotcha.”
Spider-Woman lowered her hand. Jack O’Lantern jumped into the air.
“You die now?” Jack asked innocently.
“I take it you mean ‘round two can start,’” Spider-Woman shot back.
The villain nodded excitedly. “Like Mortal Kombat! Fatality!!”
With that final word, he reached into his utility belt and produced two pumpkin bombs. Jack O’Lantern tossed the bombs at the heroine, and instantly an idea hit Spider-Woman.
“Get a load of this.” Spider-Woman managed to catch both of the bombs on web lines and swing them around. However, mid-turn both explosives slipped out of the webbing and crashed into a tree and a car, respectively. Spider-Woman flinched as the car exploded.
“That is so much harder than it seemed on Youtube…” Spider-Woman muttered.
Meanwhile, the supervillain decided his best course of action was to charge the rookie hero. With two knives in his hands, he began to swing his arms around wildly as he sprinted towards Spider-Woman. The heroine dodged to the side, but the supervillain reacted immediately, turning to her and attempting to cut across her chest.
Again, Spider-Woman’s suit remained intact, but the blows hurt. The hero kicked Jack O’Lantern away, sending him sprawling to the ground, and massaged her injuries.
“Home base, I think I’m also gonna need like a bullet proof vest or something,” Spider-Woman said.
“Noted. On a completely different topic, we’ve got to think of a better nickname for me than ‘home base.’”
“It’s a work in progress,” Spider-Woman replied as she leaned back on her left foot and leaped onto the fallen villain. Despite the heroine’s best attempt at taking control, Jack O’Lantern rolled away from her grasp, resulting in her crashing into the ground.
“Shit!” Spider-Woman cursed, pain shooting up her arms and knees.
Both the hero and the villain stood up. Jack O’Lantern picked up a knife from the ground. Spider-Woman rolled her shoulders.
“How you not dead?” The supervillain wondered.
“In this fight, or in general?” Spider-Woman asked. “Either way, I don’t know. I thought a C-lister would be easy, but…” Spider-Woman motioned to the situation at hand.
“C…Cat…” Jack O’Lantern stepped back. He held his head in his hands. “Cat will be mad! So mad at Jacky! Jacky run away and ruin plans!”
“Cat?” Spider-Woman realized something was up. Jack O’Lantern couldn’t be working alone. Thinking back on it, someone had broken him and two other villains out of jail. Someone had also obviously given him an upgrade. Previously, he’d just cut people up with his knife. Now he had body armor, a glider, and bombs. She needed to get information about his boss. “Who’s the Cat?”
Jack looked up. “No. I talk; I die. Jacky like life. Jacky like food, and beer, and that feeling Jacky gets when someone bleeds, and—“
“TMI,” Spider-Woman interrupted, roundhouse kicking Jack O’Lantern’s helmet.
The villain tumbled and tripped to the ground. This time, Spider-Woman managed to take control, straddling the villain and holding his arms to the ground.
“Who do you work for, Jacky?” Spider-Woman demanded.
“No! I not talk!” The villain cried back.
“Do you want the spider to bite you, Jacky? Do you want to die slowly and painfully?” Spider-Woman threatened. “Talk!”
Spider-Woman swung her leg around to replace her right arm in pinning Jack O’Lantern down. Now, in a tricky, almost-pretzel-like position, Spider-Woman reached up with her free hand to her mask and began to slowly raise it. Jack O’Lantern began to shake violently.
“No! Don’t bite me! Jacky want to live! Jacky will talk!” The villain began to sob. Spider-Woman let go of her mask, and Jack O’Lantern’s breathing slowed.
The terrified man continued, “Jacky…Jacky work for bad people. He say he work for old man Vulture, but Jacky actually work for—“
SMACK!
For Spider-Woman, everything went black. When she next came to, she discovered a gaggle of teenagers had surrounded her, and were watching her cautiously. And her head…oh God, her head!
“I think she moved. Did she move?”
“Yeah, she totally…”
“She totally is awake,” Spider-Woman mumbled, sitting up. She massaged her head as she continued. “Please tell me no one took a mask-less selfie with me while I was out.”
“No. ‘Course not,” one of teenagers said.
“Well, actually…”
Spider-Woman looked up to the speaker—a redhead.
“No! Don’t get me wrong. We didn’t take off your mask, but we might’ve,” the girl shrugged, “taken a pic or two.”
“Great, my greatest embarrassment’s going to go viral,” Spider-Woman grumbled.
“Nah. We won’t post it, promise. ‘s just cool.”
“Yeah. We promise.”
The voice of Spider-Woman’s partner began to echo in her ear. “Thank God you’re awake. I’m on my way.”
Spider-Woman ignored her crime-fighting partner and continued, “Anyone see what took me out?”
“No. We just found you on the ground, and we thought maybe…”
“Don’t worry about it.” Spider-Woman stood up. The teenagers took a step back. “All of you.”
The comment was directed at both the kids and her comms. The woman on the other side picked up on it.
“You sure?” her partner pushed.
“Are you okay?” one of the teenagers asked.
“Yeah,” Spider-Woman said. “I’ll be fine.”
As the teenagers continued to bumble out questions, Spider-Woman began to step away. Home base continued to speak.
“Well, I think you should know, while you’ve only been out for fifteen minutes, you did get called, like, five times by a cop.”
Spider-Woman waved goodbye to the kids and swung off.
“My dad?” Spider-Woman asked.
“No. Worse. Someone calling about your dad.”
“Shit,” Spider-Woman whispered.
“My thoughts exactly.”
“The usual?” Spider-Woman said.
“Yeah.” Silence for a moment and then, “Oh, and Harry called. Peter will be back at the hospital in about an hour. Harry thinks you should be there when he gets back.”
Spider-Woman changed her course, beginning a route to a destination she was all too familiar with.
“His aunt?”
“Stable.”
“Thank God.”
“Ditto.”
“Yeah, I’ll make it there before Peter shows up. Just hold down the fort for me ‘til then. I have to deal with my dad,” Spider-Woman explained.
“I know. I’ll text the cop you’re on your way. Good luck. See you soon.”
“Bye.”
As I was saying, this is just my luck. First, I find an asshole criminal who keeps me from helping my boyfriend through one of the toughest moments of his life, and then my tech shorts out. As if that wasn’t bad enough, right as I was getting answers out of Jack O’Lantern, I get knocked out cold by someone I can’t even ID. Lastly…this. I have to deal with this.
…
The door to Vinny’s Bar and Grill swung open. A beautiful blonde dressed in a green hoodie, blue skinny jeans, and black converse hurried in. Black hipster glasses rested over her eyes. A simple black headband completed her outfit, separating her bangs and the rest of her hair.
Gwen Stacy nodded in greeting to the bar’s owner, Mr. Vincent, who motioned her forward.
“Your dad’s been out for the last hour or so,” Vinny explained, pointing to the unconscious cop. Captain George Stacy’s head was buried in his arms, his dirty blond hair a mess. “Cop came by here earlier. Said she came looking ‘cause he didn’t show up to the department. Said she couldn’t take him home either. Had to run off.”
“Thanks,” Gwen said. She put a hand on her father’s back. “Hey, Dad, wake up.”
After a couple pats, the Captain’s head bobbed up. He looked his daughter in the eyes, his gaze hazy.
“Wha…? Gwen, why’re you here?” George asked.
“Someone has to get you home,” Gwen replied. She wrapped her arm around her father and helped him out of his seat. He remained a bit confused as they stumbled out of the bar.
“I…I don’t remember…”
“Yeah, I know,” Gwen said. “Let’s just get you home and cleaned up before we talk.”
“Gwen…”
“Dad, please,” Gwen bit her lip, forcing back tears. “Don’t start. Not now.”
Her father remained quiet as Gwen led him to his police car. He bumbled for his keys, found them, and unlocked the car. He almost insisted on driving too, before Gwen took the keys from his hands and sat in the driver’s seat.
As Gwen drove off, her father could only lean his head against the window and stare out at the city around him. The blonde looked at her father only once throughout the drive. The rest of the time, she kept her eyes on the road. However, Gwen’s mind remained fixed elsewhere on other topics…
This is my life. A drunkard dad. A troubled boyfriend. A double life. And more…so much more.
I’m happy, though. I swear. I’m so happy.
I have to be.