Ox and Fancy Dan looked panicked at the idea of fighting two super humans! ESPECIALLY after Black Cat easily knocked out Montana. As the two Enforcers tried to run, Ox was stopped by Spider-Man webbing him up while Black Cat tripped Fancy Dan with her grappling hook. Spider-Man and Black Cat wasted no time in knocking them out by punching them in the face. With the fight ended, the people who witnessed this began to clap for the two powered people as sirens were heard in the background. Spider-Man looked at Black Cat and motioned for her to follow him as he leaped into the air to leave the scene, swinging a short distance away and landing on a rooftop. Black Cat followed behind Spider-Man, who she knew probably was confused on why she helped him if she had intended to be a super powered thief. When both costumed figures were on the rooftop, Spider-Man began to speak.
"You know most thieves I knew wouldn't try to help superheroes." Spider-Man pointed out.

Black Cat gave him a flirty smile.
"Yeah, well... it's a good thing I don't intend on being a thief anymore. I want to feel free. I want to do what you do. Besides, I like our chats,, which we can't have if I'm in the slammer." Black Cat replied. This surprised Spider-Man, but he was also kind of relieved. He never really had help before with the one exception being when Harry helped him save Mary Jane from Venom and Sandman 2 years ago.

Meanwhile:
As Dr. Connors studied Norman's performance enhancer to integrate it with his lizard DNA experiment, he found himself amazed by how perfect it all seemed on paper. How could the enhancer have possibly failed in the end? He hated to admit it, but Norman Osborn made something that should have untapped the greater limits of human potential. As Connors walked to his computer to type in some kind of information, Martha walked into the lab.
"Martha, what brings you here?" Connors asked after he turned his head to see her.

"I wanted to help you with your work." She answered as she walked over to a stack of paper detailing Curt's note and Peter's recent decay rate algorithm equation. She found Connors' work fascinating. After skimming through the notes, she grabbed the notes concerning Norman Osborn'e performance enhancers. That's when she noticed that the enhancer had a major flaw.
"Osborn's performance enhancer has gobulin C, which must be used in liquid form in order to ensure no long term mental problems, but the enhancer is supposed to be distributing to users in a gas form." Martha pointed out.

Curt looked at Martha in amazement. He had been so excited at the potential that came with adding the performance enhancer that he didn't even think about the use of gobulin C! Peter had been so unnerved by the performance enhancer that he avoided even looking at anything concerning the late Norman Osborn. Maybe Peter had a bad history with Oscorp related experiments but Martha looked over the notes with a calmer frame of mind than Curt did, and was able to find potential danger in the performance enhancer!
"I suppose we should look into adjusting the performance enhancer's formula to include the more stable Gobulin A, which is meant to be the version of Gobulin that is used in a gaseous state." Curt told Martha.

Meanwhile:
Spider-Man swung from building to building with the Black Cat following him. Despite not knowing if he could fully trust her, Spider-Man was quite excited as he and Black Cat patrolled the city together. He never had someone to accompany him as he did hero stuff before, and as much as he loved Mary Jane, she couldn't fully understand what it was like to be a hero. She never had the power nor the great responsibility that came with it to live this kind of life. Even when his best friend Harry gained the power to potentially become a hero, Harry had been so caught him in his own belief that Peter murdered his father Norman in cold blood that he didn't even consider using his new powers to help others until the very end, when he died saving Peter from Venom. Now, however, he had the chance to share this part of his life with someone.
"Are you always so fast when you swing around the city on patrol?" The voice of Black Cat asked as she struggled to keep up with the webslinger.

"Sorry, I just thought with how well you moved during our first chase, you wouldn't need me to slow down." Spider-Man replied as he remembered that despite Black Cat being rather skilled at using her abilities to move around the city, her experience still paled when compared to his. Spider-Man slowed down slightly to allow her to keep up better.

"When you patrol the city, you always want to be aware with your surroundings. The more aware of what's around you, the better you can respond to situations as they happen. For example you might spot a crime being committed with your eyes or you might instead hear the sound of sirens in the distance. Sometimes, things may be as big as the rise of a new super villain or the chaos that comes with a gang war, it other times, situations may be small things like..." Spider-Man started to instruct Black Cat when they suddenly heard the voice of a child yell, "MY BALLOON!"

Spider-Man wasted no go,e in grabbing the Spider-Man themed balloon from the air and landing on the ground to hand it back to the kid as Black Cat watched.
"Here you go. Make sure to have a good grip on this guy." Spider-Man told the young boy kindly.

"Thank you, Mr. Spider-Man!" The kid yelled in excitement as he took the balloon back from the superhero. The father of the child then walked up to the local hero.

"Hey, Spider-Man, thanks for getting my son's balloon back. But here the thing now, my son and I are new to the city and I promised my son that I would take him to get some pizza. Do you know a good place?" The boy's dad asked. Spider-Man nodded.

"The nearest one from here is Joe's Pizza, it used to be located on 233 Bleecker Street, but now it is located on 7 Carmine Street. It's literally a five minute walk in that direction, keep walking straight and you'll see it." Spider-Man replied as he pointed in the direction of Carmine Street. The man nodded and gave the hero a thumbs up.

"Thanks, webhead. You're great by my book. Let's go, Wes." The kid's dad said as he held his son's hand and started walking in the direction Spider-Man pointed them to. Spider-Man then shot a web to swing away and both he and the Black Cat left the scene.

"Wow, you really think every situation is important." Black Cat commented.

"That's because it is all important. A hero is supposed to give people hope, and that comes by caring about the people during both the big situations and the small ones. If the people know they matter, they'll hold on to hope when things get tough." Spider-Man explained. Black Cat smiled at this. Maybe this was why she felt so intrigued by Spider-Man ever since she finally met him. He was a pure and honest soul.

'There aren't many like that.' Black Cat thought.

Meanwhile:
Wilson Fisk was meeting with various crime bosses from throughout New York City in a construction site being worked on by Fisk Construction. Of course, no worker was there at the moment, making it the perfect place for Fisk to hold this meeting with the crime bosses he once had under his thumb in the days before he was shown murdering someone via leaked camera footage.
"You know, when I heard my people tell me that the Kingpin has been unifying the city's gangs, I didn't believe it. I figured that you would use your second chance in this country to start living a life on the right side of the law." One of the crime bosses, Rosalie Carbone admitted. Fisk smiled and shook his head.

"This city is far too important to me to stay away from it. I still intend on tearing down the current version of this city and remaking it in my image." Fisk replied. Another crime boss laughed at this. Fisk quickly turned and glared at the laughing crime boss.

"Got something to say, Hammerhead?" Fisk asked a man in a suit with a large forehead who was currently laughing as if someone had told him the funniest joke in the world.

"Yeah. You're a has been, Fisk. Worse than that, people know you ran away when it seemed like you got caught getting your own hands dirty! I'm not about to take orders from a coward." Hammerhead declared. Fisk gave the younger crime boss a sadistic smirk before he walked up to Hammerhead, lifted him by his shirt, and tossed him across the room. As Hammerhead slammed into a nearby pillar, the other crime bosses looked at Fisk in surprise, but Fisk was not done with Hammerhead. As Hammerhead tried to get back up, Fisk was on him again, punching Hammerhead with powerful shots to the body again and again. As Hammerhead continued to get beaten down, Fisk laughed confidently.

"Stop... I give up... you win!" Hammerhead yelled in pain. Fisk smiled at this and walked back to the group of crime bosses.

"So, I have noticed that things have changed during the time of my absence. Namely, the rise of costumed individuals such as Spider-Man." Fisk started to speak before the crime bosses groaned at hearing the name of Spider-Man.

"He's been making our lives more and more difficult since he first appeared in New York!" An elderly man spoke.

"Not to mention how, whenever a super villain appears in your gang's turf, people are so freaked by the villains that they get underwhelmed by our gangs and the people don't take us seriously anymore. At least, not as much as they used to." Hammerhead added in agreement as he stood up and made his way to the group of crime bosses. Fisk continued to smile.

"Well, Silvermane, Hammerhead, that is what I called us here to discuss. There is this scientist at Horizon Labs who is experimenting in order to give humans the powers of a lizard. I have been secretly funding his research, now the reason I am telling you all this is because I intend to power myself up,  but... I am willing to spread the wealth amongst all of you... provided that you all turn command of your gangs to me. Now, you will all still be in charge of the day to day aspects of the underworld but also be answering only to me. Think of it. With powers of my own, not only would I be able to tear down the current version of New York, but in my New York, there will be no Spider-Man to ruin future operations." Fisk pitched. The other crime bosses all looked at each other. Powers and no Spider-Man. How interesting.

Hours later:
After a while of patrolling with Black Cat as Spider-Man, Peter was quite happy when he returned to his room in his and Flash's apartment. Peter had showered, eaten some food, and was now watching TV. As he looked for something interesting to watch. His mind was on the two individuals who were making his life interesting, Felicia Hardy and the Black Cat. Felicia was not only beautiful, but she was also smart and driven. It surprised Peter that, for some reason, she was interested in spending more time with him. Peter was not really used to the idea that, perhaps, someone could possibly be attracted to him in some way. Heck, for the longest time, he doubted the idea of Mary Jane ever coming to like him until Mary Jane confessed to loving him at Norman Osborn's funeral all those years ago. Then, on the Spider-Man side of his life, he now had the Black Cat to contend with. Sure, she originally intended to be a super powered thief, but she ended up becoming so intrigued by Spider-Man that she ended up wanting to fight crime alongside him, and against the standard muggers and gang members, she was a natural at taking them down. Even better, she seemed excited about the prospect of helping people and even helped someone during the patrol by giving them directions like Spider-Man had done with the father of the balloon kid, and the old lady was so grateful for it that she bought both Black Cat and Spider-Man some churros.
'Why can't all villains reform so easily and try to use their powers for good.' Peter thought as he imagined a universe where the Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus, and Venom had gone on to reform and use their powers to protect others. Peter then shook his head. Sure, a world like that was impossible but at least Black Cat was turning away from a life of crime, so he'd take that win.

Then, Peter's cellphone dinged. He grabbed his phone to see it was a text from Mary Jane. Instantly, all thoughts of Felicia Hardy and Black Cat faded as Peter's heart began to ache for Mary Jane. His mind flashed to how he had hidden his life as Spider-Man from her, causing some of the most miserable times of his life. Then his mind flashed to how she had saved him by saying she wanted to be with him despite of the risk that could have come if anyone evil discovered Peter's secret identity. Then his mind flashed to how he had all but ignored her feelings when he tried to purpose to her in the fancy French restaurant, and how she had broken up with him a short while later. He remembered how he was so angry and confused, further fueled by the symbiote suit he had that he had went on a date with his former classmate Gwen Stacy to the jazz club where Mary Jane worked, all in an effort to make her jealous. Peter knew Gwen never forgave him for that... Peter hadn't forgiven himself for that either. Nor did he forgive himself for being the cause of Harry Osborn's facial deformity after he had fought with Harry over Mary Jane. And finally his mind flashed back to that night when, after Gwen left the jazz club, Peter got into a fight with the guards of the jazz club, and accidentally ended up hitting Mary Jane in a blind rage. Peter never forgave himself for that either. It had been the primary reason why he still hadn't made much effort to pursue her again. As much as he loved her... Peter felt unworthy of her.

And yet, here was a message from her. One message that seemingly turned all of Peter's thoughts upside down as he wondered what MJ wanted.
'Hey Peter, you may be wondering what this is about, and honestly... I'm not sure myself, but what I do know is that I don't want to be alone right now.' Mary Jane's text read. Peter wasted no time in texting MJ back.

'We should go out somewhere then. Any place you feel like meeting up with me?' Peter asked via his response text.

'We can meet at Central Park if that is ok with you.' Mary Jane replied.

When Peter arrived at Central Park, he felt nervous. The last time he was in Central Park with Mary Jane, she broke up with him as he tried to purpose to her, but she supposedly fell in love with Harry Osborn. Sure, this turned out to be a lie to provoke Peter, but still... it was not a very pleasant memory. Peter then thought he saw Mary Jane making her way to him when suddenly an old man in headphone walked past Peter, singing a very familiar song.
"Spider-Man, Spider-Man, does whatever a spider can!" The old man sung before he looked at Peter, surprising the younger man.

"Young man, you seem to be nervous about something." The old man told Peter. Peter nodded.

"I'm meeting someone here in Central Park and... me and her...we have a lot of history. I... I just... don't know what I should do." Peter explained, unsure of why he was opening up to this stranger, but the man somehow reminded him of Uncle Ben.

"We'll face front, True Believer. You may have had bad luck before, but luck's a revolving door, you just need to know when it's your time to walk through. You are here, right. So you know it is time to walk through it, so now there is nowhere left to go but forward. So keep your head held high! Excelsior!" The man advised Peter.

"Excelsior?" Peter asked.

"Upward and onward to greater glory. You got this, young man. 'Nuff said." The old man replied as he started to walk forward again, listening to a rendition of Spider-Man's theme song.

As the old man walked away, Mary Jane continued making her way to Peter. She gave him a smile as she saw him, one that he returned as he felt his heart skip a beat. He gave her an awkward wave, which she returned
"Hey, MJ." Peter greeted as she came to a stop in front of him.

"Hi, Peter." She replied. The two of them locked eyes and seemed to get lost in each other's eyes as neither of them said a word for a few moments. That is, until Peter realized neither of them has said a word beyond their greetings and awkwardly broke the silence.

"So, how are you?" Peter asked.

"Things are going well." Mary Jane replied as she nervously looked down to the ground. Then she sighed.

"So the reason I wanted to reach out to you is because... these past two years, while we have seen each other and have gotten along somewhat well... its obvious that we've been distant from each other and I find myself wishing that we could just start over. So, that's what I came here to do, Peter. I want us to be friends again, REAL friends. I don't want to awkwardly fidget around you anymore. I want to have you be a real part of my life again, and if we start to become something more again... I want to be able to embrace that." MJ explained. Peter nodded.

"In that case, I'm Peter Parker, it's nice to meet you again." Peter greeted as he extended his hand to her so she could shake it. Mary Jane smiled as she took his hand and shook it.

"I'm Mary Jane Watson, it's nice to meet you too." MJ replied. Both Peter and MJ laugh about their new 'first meeting' before they started to walk together.

Meanwhile with Fisk
Fisk smiled as he was back in his penthouse. He had gotten the other crime bosses intrigued by the promise of power and the elimination of Spider-Man,
"If you can guarantee us that we can also get some of this lizard serum stuff when the experiments are complete ANS that you can find a way to get Spider-Man out of the way, then we are behind you as the returned Kingpin of Crime." Silvermane has said to Fisk and the other crime bosses nodded in agreement, even Hammerhead who had just a few minutes ago called him a coward. Now, he went home as a Kingpin more power than before. As Fisk looked out of his window, he saw a kingdom that was yet to be truly ruled. He believed that he would be able to take back the city from the powered freaks and rebuild New York in his image. Suddenly his phone buzzed as he picked it up to see a text from Vanessa, the woman he had been interested in from the art shop. Some new art came in. Fisk smiled, knowing that he was not going there for the art, but for the woman who made art special to him.

Meanwhile:
As Peter and MJ continued to walk together through Central Park, both struggled to come up with a topic to discuss. Because of this, Peter decided to stop thinking and just start talking, allowing himself to relax and just speak to her like he would any friend.
"So, how's the life as a Broadway actress going?" Peter asked. MJ smiled.

"It's been great so far, but we're still only in the rehearsal phase. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous about how I'll do when the shows start up though." Mary Jane answered. Peter gave her a reassuring smile.

"I thought I was going to do great last time and then when that turned out not to be the case, I instantly got recasted." Mary Jane reminded him. Peter sighed before he spoke again.

"A lot has happened since then, MJ. You are persistent and ambitious, so I know you did all you can to make sure you made the most of your journey to get a second chance. So, my advice for you is to let that bad memory inspire you to perform better... to perform at your best, and I know you'll do great." Peter encouraged her. Mary Jane looked more relaxed after this and she look a moment to study Peter.

"It sounds like you are talking from experience." MJ verbally noted. Peter nodded.

"Not to make everything about my night job, do you ever wonder why I keep working for Jameson, despite his constant libel against Spider-Man... even though my job at Horizon Labs is pretty secure and I don't really need the Bugle job anymore?" Peter asked. MJ shook her head. She had actually been wondering about it for quite some time. Why didn't he just quit the Bugle after getting a better paying job at Horizon Labs.

"It's actually BECAUSE of Jameson's hatred for Spider-Man that I continue to work for him. He has launched smear campaign after smear campaign on Spider-Man, and yet, over time I find myself using those lies Jameson prints as motivation to do my night job better. It's a weird way I keep myself accountable...  not that you need to do that, but you know there will be lots of critics and haters waiting to see you fail again,  and you can't avoid that. So, you might as well use their words to improve yourself and rise above them. At least... that's how I think." Peter explained. MJ nodded at that.

Maybe she was looking at her first failed experience in Broadway as a scar for too long, rather than as a stepping stone to reach newer heights.
"So, is there anything new with you?" Mary Jane asked. Peter nodded awkwardly. He wasn't sure if he should mention what he was going to mention, but he figured, since he and MJ had been dancing around each other for two years that she had a right to know of the potential changes that might be happening in his life.

"I might... I might be seeing someone now." Peter informed MJ, who gave him a surprised and confused look.

"You mean, like a girlfriend?" She asked.

"Well, like... I like her." Peter replied as Felicia Hardy came to his mind. Just what were they now? He didn't have the time to ponder that for long as he heard MJ let out a silent sigh, not realizing that Mary Jane was now remembering when their roles had been reversed all those years ago.

"What?" Peter asked, worried that he may have upset her.

"I'm ok. I'm good. Just didn't expect it is all. That's good for you... companionship..." Mary Jane assured him awkwardly. Peter nodded.

"Yeah, I don't really know what she and I am right now. But enough about that. What about you? You find someone?" Peter asked. Mary Jane shook her head.

"Honestly, I've been trying to sort out who I am as me. I got a therapist I talk to and everything. She's been helping me after everything that's happened since Harry's death." She replied. Peter nodded.

"Yeah, I wish there was a therapist who specialized in super heroes. With all the craziness that the job comes with... I could use someone to talk to about it." Peter told MJ silently. Mary Jane looked into Peter's eyes.

"I know I can't relate in every sense but... you can always talk to me. After all, I know about that part of your life and... I'll always take the time to listen to you." Mary Jane promised Peter.

Author note: Happy belated Spider-Man Day everyone. This chapter was meant to come out on August 1, but my personal life made sure that it was impossible to do so. That said, I knew that I wanted to get back to my Sam Raimi Spider-Man continuation. That said, I hope you enjoy the Stan Lee cameo I wrote for this story... even though Stan Lee and Steve Ditko are both no longer with us, their characters still live on, and I hope that I was able to capture the optimistic, inspiring aura ol' Stan inspired in me whenever he would speak about his life and what it took to create characters and stories. Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, whom we would not have gotten the classic Spider-Man costume without, not the designs of the rest of the villains, are inspirational geniuses and I hope I can do their character justice as I continue to work on more Spider-Man related fan works.