The Phantom Spider, wearing his full costume, knocked on the glass window of Black Cat's patio. If things went well, he was going to find the Maggia that night, which would lead to him finding Herman Schultz, his mother's killer. However, he needed information from Black Cat first.
Within a few seconds, Felicia opened the door, wearing nothing more than black pajama pants and a loose white t-shirt. The hero noticed she wasn't wearing anything beneath the shirt, though he kept his eyes locked on her unmasked face with a serious glare.
"Hey, Spider." Felicia said in her usual sensual voice. "I didn't think you'd visit me again so soon."
"It's not for what you think. I brought the clothes I borrowed but I want to talk to you about something. Something serious." The hero's voice was monotone and his eyes glared into hers coldly from beneath his goggles. His glare almost scared her, as she was used to him looking like a lost puppy in the eyes.
"Okay... Come on in then." Upon having permission to entire, the dark hero entered her home and took a seat across from her at a table. The feline began pouring herself a drink, looking directly at the hero as if she were offering one to him.
"I don't drink." He said as he waved his hand, compelling Felicia to giggle slightly.
"You're really playing that model hero role perfectly, huh, Spider?" She said just before taking a sip from her cup.
"It's not playing a role." The hero said in an assertive tone. "I want to help people... I think. I don't know, I just sometimes get into a trance where I feel like I need to step in when people are in trouble."
Felicia raised an eyebrow, still drinking from her cup. "Heroes kill nowadays?" Felicia asked, shaking the spider to his core.
'How does she know about that?' Eren thought. There were theories going around that he was the one responsible for Fisk's death, though she sounded certain that it was him.
"What do you mean?" He asked, keeping his composer and sounding as if he truly didn't know what he meant. However, that facade was nothing but a transparent barrier that Felicia saw right through.
"You killed Fisk, right? I mean, you're the only 'hero' around town lately besides the Fantastic Four and that definitely was not their work. You also said something about him in your sleep when I was fixing you up the other day."
'She's smarter than she looks...' Eren thought to himself, taking her for a woman who was nothing but a pretty face.
The hero sat quietly, staring blankly at the table as he thought about his past actions once more. He didn't remember it, but he wondered if he had another nightmare about Fisk while Black Cat was tending to his wounds.
"You did it, didn't you? It's okay, I don't see you any differently." Felicia reached outward and grabbed the boy's hand, comforting him as his mind raced. "Did you wanna talk about it? It's okay if you don't." Her thumb rubbed on his, causing the emotionally vulnerable boy to open up to her.
"He killed... Someone I care a lot about. Someone important to me. So I killed him. Nothing valiant or heroic about that." Though he did not look up at her as he spoke, Felicia's eyes were sympathetic. Oddly, she did care about the boy, despite not even knowing his true name.
"I'm sorry..." Felicia whispered. "You know... Something similar happened to me when I was close to your age."
The hero's eyes slowly raised up from the table to look up at Felicia, her expression was solemn, though she continued speaking. "My ex-boyfriend... One day he didn't take no for an answer. After he did what he did to me, I wanted to kill him. I was consumed by rage and hatred and I wanted to make him suffer, but he died in a car accident before I could get my hands on him. To this day, I wish it was me who did the fatal blow, but I just have to learn to live with it."
There was a brief pause between the two, neither knowing what to say to the other at that point.
"My point is that it's okay to get revenge, Spider. FIsk deserved to become a blood splatter on the ground. Just like my ex did, I feel no remorse for him and I wouldn't even if I were the one who killed him. Fisk does not deserve your sympathy."
'She's right. He deserved it. Stop being a little bitch and finish the job.' His inner voice commanded him, causing the boy beneath the mask to let that part of him begin to lead him.
The young man looked at Felicia with stone-cold eyes before speaking once more. "It's not the same. I don't feel bad for Fisk, it's someone else. He had a daughter, Felicia. I took him away from her."
Felicia shook her head before looking at the spider with a solemn frown. "Fisk was dangerous, perhaps he even put her in danger. Maybe you had no choice."
Eren thought about it for a second, he wondered if any of what she was saying was true. 'Maybe she's right...' His thoughts paused but only briefly before he thought about the picture frame that was on Fisk's desk when he murdered the Kingpin. 'But the photo. He loved her, right? Would he harm her? Would others harm her because of him? Maybe. Maybe she's right.'
His more reasonable voice within himself was beginning to become drowned out by his more selfish side. The side of him that craved revenge, his vengeful self, was becoming the louder voice.
'No, she is right. He was a plague.'
Seeing the boy was visibly confused, Black Cat continued to comfort him. "Hey, Spider. We all make mistakes but maybe that wasn't a mistake. As I said, it's okay to get revenge for who you love, Spider."
The boy nodded. "Yeah, I tell myself that all the time."
'But who am I to play God. Do I really have the right to say who lives and who dies?' His inner, reasonable voice spoke clearly.
Fisk's killer spoke once more. "You're right, Felicia. Thank you."
'She's right, but... Why am I forced to choose? Why am I ALLOWED to choose? Why was I given this power?' His inner self spoke once more, though this time, it was drowned out by his other thoughts.
The vengeful spider spoke once again, getting to the point of why he was visiting her in the first place. "I have a question. Do you know who the Maggia are?"
Felicia, despite not being able to see his face, could tell something was off with the young man. Her hold on his hand gripped tighter as she leaned in closer to him. "Are you okay? You look-" Before she could continue, Fisk's killer interrupted her with a stern voice.
Those boyish thoughts, the ones that felt sympathy, fear, and guilt had been successfully suppressed by the Phantom Spider. Within him, Eren did not exist. He was merely an obstacle holding him back from his goal.
"You know about the Maggia. Tell me what you know. Please. I'm not here for therapy. The only thing that will save me is killing Herman. I'll be satisfied once that happens, that's why I can't forget about Fisk. I'm not sympathetic, I am unsatiated." The cold-blooded killer slowly withdrew his hand from the table, glaring at Felicia with a stony glare. "I need to know."
That last sentence he spoke, "I need to know." wasn't just referring to who the Maggia were or where they were located. He wanted to know what was going to happen when he find out.
What would happen to Herman?
Would he be ready to take his life?
Would something hold him back?
What would happen to himself after he kills him?
What if he doesn't?
Will he still feel guilty?
Will he feel satisfaction?
"I do... I've been tracking them for years but they're dangerous." After tragic events in her past, Felica, just like Eren, began obsessing with the Maggia. However, the Maggia were too powerful for her to deal with on her own. She was afraid, despite her confident nature.
"They're not too dangerous for me." The phantom spoke coldly, repressing his feelings of guilt so he could complete his quest.
"They're not too dangerous for us." Black Cat added, having a surge of confidence now that the young hero would be by her side.
Though the hero preferred to work alone, he could tell that Black Cat wanted revenge for herself so he didn't want to get in the way of that. As long as Herman was his, it didn't matter who helped him in the end.
And just like that, all was decided, Black Cat suited up and the two fighters swung across the city together to follow the Maggia's trail. Black Cat was serious about this, she had informants, and people on the inside that she paid to gather information about them so she knew where they'd be that night.
The Maggia were planning a robbery at the Museum of Modern Art. One of the most expensive paintings in the world was being held there, and the Maggia wanted to claim it for themselves to sell on the black market.
The two black-cladding fighters found themselves on top of the museum, looking down at the Maggia members below. They were all wearing suits, except for one who wore a bright yellow costume with a fishnet pattern. Among the others, there were two standouts: A bald man wearing a suit with grey skin and a massive albino man, also wearing a suit.
"Do you know which one Herman Schultz is?" The spider asked the cat.
"I do, he's the one in the yellow. He goes by the Shocker."
"..." Eren looked over at her, thinking she was saying some sort of joke, but she was serious.
"The big guy is Tombstone and the little Russian one is Chameleon, he can shapeshift." She said as she pointed at each of them through the glass. "The rest of these guys are just minions, let's get rid of them first."
Seeing his mother's killer beneath him enraged the boy. In an instant, he was no longer feeling any sympathy toward anyone, not even himself. The nightmares no longer bothered him, he didn't even think about them.
Felicia understood him, or at least, that's how he felt at the time. The other side of him, the side that he had to keep secret from his friends, would not have been accepted by anyone else in his mind. Her words. Her trust in him and his trust in her pushed him over the line of doubt.
His volatile, vulnerable mind truly believed that he was in the right at that moment. As Felicia told him, there's nothing wrong with revenge.
That's what he believed.
All that mattered was that Herman Schultz was there and his mother could finally be avenged.
The spider nodded as Black Cat pulled out a gadget from her utility belt. With a small laser, the feline began cutting a circle into the glass ceiling. "Put your hand on it for me." She told the spider as she continued forming the circle. He obliged and as the circle was completed, the piece of glass disconnected from the rest of the ceiling, sticking to the hero's hand.
He lifted his hand up and placed the glass to the side before looking at the cat once again. "Remember, Herman is mine." He said as he crawled through the hole and onto the ceiling from the inside. Black Cat followed behind him, dropping onto a beam just below their entry point.
There were about twenty guards scattered around the museum, all holding various firearms.
The Phantom Spider, using the darkness to his advantage, crawled on the ceiling until he was above two unsuspecting guards. Using his webs, he pulled a broom over, causing it to make a small sound that was only heard by those two guards, unbeknownst to them, it was the indication of their doom. They both looked over toward the noise, though only one approached it with his weapon drawn.
The curious guard took a few slow steps into the darkness, pointing his flashlight toward where the noise came from until he spotted the knocked-over broom. He let out a sigh of relief before turning around and looking back at where his partner was last seen.
However, his partner was nowhere to be found.
"Charles?" The thug asked, scanning the era rapidly to see where his friend went. Immediately, the thug's brain began having thoughts about the spider. He was a myth among crooks at first, however, his fight against Electro proved that he was real.
The man was scared, walking backward as he continued to scan the area. Deciding to check above him, the goon pointed his gun at the ceiling and his eyes widened. His partner was unresponsive, hanging from the ceiling as if he were a work of art himself.
Fearing for his life, the thug began scanning the area even more frantically with his flashlight before spotting the Phantom Spider's white insignia facing him from up above. Before he could even react, the boy's limbs flashed blue as he pushed off of the ceiling, punching the thug in the face in an instant. His body hit the ground, with a thud, and the sound of his gun sliding across the ground resonated through the building.
From the other side, a trio of guards reacted to the noise and began slowly walking toward it. However, Black Cat lept from the ceiling, knocking out one of the gunmen before disarming the other two in one swift move.
Once disarmed, the two guards attempted to punch the feline, though due to her Bad Luck Aura, which gives her incredible luck during fights, the two crooks missed and knocked each other out with their fists.
As she stood over the three thugs with a confident pose, she failed to notice another one creeping behind her with a knife. Before he could attack her, the Phantom Spider appeared out of the darkness, sending a Godspeed kick into the crook's face.
"Thanks, Spider." Felicia said seductively, though the vindictive wraith was in his flow state. Without acknowledging her, he leaped into the darkness, continuing to remove the guards one by one.
Eventually, Herman, a few guards, and the other two villains were able to unlock the case that held the painting which they planned on stealing. They were all oblivious as to what was happening and what was about to happen to them, but they would find out soon enough.
"Let's hurry up and deliver this to the boss." Shocker muttered as he approached the painting with haste.
Knowing stealth was no longer an option due to the remaining Maggia thugs being grouped together, the Phantom Spider emerged from the darkness, sending a powerful punch to Chameleon's face, disabling the villain in an instant.
The thugs all turned around to face him, drawing their weapons and pointing them at the assassin. Before anyone could shoot, Black Cat emerged from the darkness, using her Cat-Claw to pull one of the thugs toward her before doing a split kick to knock out two guards at once.
Meanwhile, the Phantom Spider sprinted toward Tombstone and delivered a powerful punch to the giant's face, sending him flying backward and crashing into an art piece. Due to his enhanced strength, he was still alive, though he was dazed.
All of this happened within just a couple of seconds, however, chaos would soon ensue afterward as the Shocker immediately pointed his fists at the spider before hitting him with a concussion blast. The spider's body flew backward, breaking through a concrete pillar as he flipped uncontrollably into the darkness. Shocker followed, leaving Black Cat alone with the remainder of the guards and Tombstone.
The cat burglar, knowing she was on her own, instantly dashed toward the crooks, evading their bullets with minimal effort due to her Bad Luck Aura. Using her claws, she slashed one in the face, persisting to dodge bullets before knocking out the other with a swift kick to the face.
Just as her kick landed, Tombstone rose from the ground and began sprinting toward the cat. She dodged his strike with ease, though her counterattacks of punches and kicks did nothing to the villain due to his superhuman strength and her being nothing more than a human.
The two skirmished for a while until Tombstone was able to get a hold of the feline, holding her up by the leg before grabbing her face with both hands. Using his great strength, the villain began to crush her skull, causing her brain to feel as if it were about to burst from her ears.
Simultaneously with the fight between Black Cat, the minions, and Tombstone, the Phantom Spider rose to his feet as Shocker lept toward him. The Phantom Spider, wanting to make sure that the Shocker was who he was looking for, held back as he punched his mother's killer in the chest with a still powerful Godspeed punch. Aside from wanting to confirm who he was, Herman deserved to suffer, so he was going to make sure his death was as slow and painful as possible. He also likely had information about Project V.
The Shocker, though formidable to anyone else, was a joke to the now Godspeed-powered Phantom Spider. The vengeful spirit flash-stepped forward, grabbing the Shocker by the throat and removing his mask.
Just as he had hoped, the man was Herman Shultz, he recognized him from the video that he saw in his mother's recordings. At that moment, Eren was completely gone. He was overwhelmed by anger, hatred, and pain.
"You..." The specter growled at his mother's killer. "I'll make sure you suffer as I did." Before the boy could do anything else, his spider-sense began to blare in his head loudly. He glanced over to see Black Cat's skull being pressed together violently by Tombstone, her hand reached out to the spider as if she were subconsciously asking for his help.
Using Godspeed, the hero flash-stepped over and sent an even more powerful punch to Tombstone's jaw, this time managing to do some damage to the giant. With his jaw unhinged and misplaced, the giant screamed and attempted to punch the boy, though he easily sidestepped it using Godspeed before sending an uppercut to the giant's jaw once more.
Tombstone flew into the air, allowing the Phantom Spider to web him by the face and yank him back down to earth. Charging his fist with Godspeed energy, the boy socked the mighty giant with everything he had, sending the man flying through one of the museum walls and disappearing into nothingness.
The young boy within the phantom clawed his way back from the deepest depths of his brain as he looked down at the injured Black Cat. "Are you okay?" He spoke as he bent down toward Felicia, forgetting about Shocker at the moment.
However, the sound of glass shattering as the Shocker tried to escape awoke the killer from within once more, causing him to turn around and flash-step out of the building. In the distance, he could see Shocker leaping from building to building using his concussion blasts, though his speed would soon prove to be child's play compared to the Phantom Spider's.
Using a quick Godspeed step to gain speed, the vigilante launched himself toward Shocker's direction, screaming as he landed on buildings, flash-stepping off of them and using his webs to yank himself forward to keep his momentum.
"Get back here Shocker! You can't escape me!" The killer proclaimed as he began gaining on the villain as if he were a hare chasing a tortoise.
The Shocker looked back, surprised that he was able to catch up. Though his face was not seen beneath his mask, the villain's face had fear written all over it. He knew he was going to die by the Phantom Spider's hand, though he still ran for his life.
"I'll chase you to the ends of the Earth!" The vengeful phantom yelled once again, devoted to chasing the Shocker no matter how far he flees.