Fallen Friend

No Victory

"God damn!" Cried one of the frightened thugs as he tried to make an escape. "I'm not ending up like-UGH!" Black Cat had caught him and sent him crashing against the brick wall, knocking him out on impact.

Her ambush had completely caught the thugs all off guard and the hapless mob were quickly taken of care by her, it did show though that in that time with being Spider-Man's partner, she had gone from a simple cat burglar to a well skilled vigilantly in which the criminal underworld of New York feared.

It was just before she finally took down the last of the thugs that the thug in question pressed a small button on his wrist that faintly flashed a white light before Black Cat finished him off with a few swift punches to the face. She briefly glanced at the glow, but thought nothing of it as her thoughts went back to taken on the rest of the unruly pack.

After a minute of fighting, the motley group of thugs had all been defeated and Black Cat had now tied them up beside the van, awaiting their fate to be picked up by the police.

"You know," she jokingly spoke to the out cold criminals. "One bit of advice is that if you're going to attempt to fight me or Spider-Man...always have a weapon to use, just don't lose like that chum over there." She looked over at the leader who groaned in pain as his head hung low and she walked over towards him to smirk at him. "And please...get a career change, I don't like going out to fight, I'd would rather just like to stay in on a Friday night just cuddling up with...alright I'll shut up. Damn me and my big mouth..."

It was only then that she noticed the crate nearby that had been opened from earlier and she, with her typical curious nature, walked over to the wooden crate and peered into the opened box. It was there when she noticed two large thick rifle looking weapons that looked very advanced and she immediately recognized them as the same type that she and Spider-Man had found the other night. To top it all off, the words 'Oscorp Industries' were embodied into the guns that immediately made her realize their place of origin.

She took a step back, placed her hands on her hips, sighed and looked up at the night sky pondering over where on earth were these criminals getting these sort of weapons from Oscorp, something didn't feel right, never mind Harry Osborn's timely arrival back in New York. To her, it felt like if this was all being planned for something big.

Then she heard the sound of sirens coming her way, she didn't know if they were police cars or something else altogether, but whatever they were, she wasn't wanting to stay around to know and without further ado, she fired a grappling hook upwards before fleeing the scene and into the New York evening. Little did she know about what had happened to her love elsewhere in the city and a certain encounter that was soon to follow...

XXX

The female vigilantly was swinging over the city and heading on he way for home, though her thoughts will still on those weapons. Was someone at Oscorp giving out these military hardware like candy or was, as crazy as it might've sounded, Harry had turned into a criminal and terrorist mastermind who was willing the bring New York to it's knees?

In that moment however, she was able to forget out her thoughts and glanced round a familiar set of buildings that made Black Cat smile in remembrance. It was here in which she and Spider-Man had one of their first chases together, things seemed so simple back then...

Just then, she swore that she could hear the sound of a jet engine getting louder by the second. She looked up while swinging, thinking at first that it was a jet fighter passing overhead or worse, a falling airplane. She could see nothing and frantically looked round wondering where the ever-growing sound of an engine was coming from.

Then it happened.

She cried out in pain as she felt the full force of something crashing in from behind her and sending her hurling down onto a flat, gravel rooftop. Sadly unlike any cat, she didn't land on her feet and instead landed on her back, it was only then when she could finally see what had ran into her. Despite having hit the ground with such force, she sat up in shock when she saw a familiar figure on a certain glider...

"...You!" Black Cat cried.

"Found you on your own," Goblin sneered. "Then again, cats like going out at night on their own—"

Before he could finish his sentence, Black Cat fired one of her grabbling hooks at the glider and quite amazingly, managed to pierce a hole through one of the wings. Goblin began firing down at the platinum blond as the glider roared down towards her. Black Cat however was managing to avoid the shots as she still had a grip on the glider; it was a wonder to anyone that despite hitting the ground like that, she was still willing to fight. Her luck ran out though as the glider reached down to her level and in a brief moment, Goblin managed to simply scoop her up in his arms and carry her off, with sparks flying from the damaged glider.

"Get your hands off me!" Black Cat snapped as she managed to wriggle out of his grasp and stand on the unaffected wing and yet somehow managed to hold on to the glider.

"Oh, I like a spunky girl!" Goblin laughed. "I can see why Spider-Man has you tagging along with him!"

"I can be full of surprises," Black Cat answered back as she starting to fight Goblin. With the green menace's attention on fending off Black Cat, the glider was now flying erratically to the point that both it's occupants could've flown off it or that the glider could crash into a nearby building.

For a whole minute, Black Cat was showing that she was more than just eye candy and unlike Spider-Man, she was actually defeating the Goblin by laying a good few elegant yet pummelling strikes to him. It seemed that the Goblin had completely underestimated her and was now paying the consequences for such actions.

The Glider was seen crashing down onto a rooftop, sending Goblin flying off the machine while Black Cat landed nearby graceful. Just as Goblin had managed to get back on his feet, Black Cat carried on fighting him. Finally, the masked man was on his knees and the leather vixen stood over him with an angry yet proud look.

"Down and out," Black Cat muttered. "Save any talk you might have, I finally got you in the end."

The Goblin however just laughed as managed to get back on his feet again. "That's what you think...did you ever spare a thought about Spider-Man...?"

Black Cat was silent, then her green eyes narrowed and a sense of shock and anger gripped her as she began to figure out where her partner had gone. "...What have you done with him?"

"Don't worry," Goblin answered back as he went over to the glider, which still seemed all right for flying. "He's not dead...yet. Right now he is in an alleyway somewhere near the Bugle lying unconscious. I've left him for you to collect, I could've killed him but hey...would've been better if the two of you were together, dead that is"

A raging fire was pretty much burning in her eyes as she was trying her best to hold back the urge to pretty much murder the villain on the spot. "You bastard," she hissed as his hands tightened.

"You've got a choice little cat," Goblin then explained as he stood on the glider as it began to hover (with it wobbling slight due to the damage it suffered). "You can either find your bug boyfriend or you can try and stop me...the choice is yours...heroine." With that said, the Glider roared off into the night and left Black Cat standing there totally speechless.

"Oh God, Peter!" She whispered to herself as she placed her hands over her mouth. "Please don't be what I fear he has done to you!"

There was no choice; she had to rescue her love from an uncertain fate. Within a few seconds she was swinging over the city and racing towards the Bugle to find Peter. She only knew then in that moment that this battle with Goblin was going to be more personal to her than that with Doc Ock or any other villain she and Spider-Man had faced, all that matter though right now was to find Peter.