Amazing Spider-Man Presents: Black Cat #3
The Trophy Hunters Part Three
Vasili Sidorov races to the storage depot where he stashed a tiara that once belonged to the Kravinoff family. There, the Black Cat is waiting for him because he has her mother hostage. She needs to stall for time while her friend Kyoko goes to the location where Lydia Hardy is being held prisoner. She does so by mocking his obsession with Ana Kravinoff whose picture is plastered all over the storage unit. When he threatens to set off the explosives he has rigged to her mother. However, Felicia has rigged her own explosion because Vasili was dumb enough to leave his bomb-making gear in the storage unit.
As this stand-off continues, Kyoko discovers that Lydia is being held prisoner at the Kravinoff Estate. Unfortunately, it is to well guarded for her to go in and rescue Lydia. Fed all this information through her earpiece, the Black Cat agrees to steal a sword that was once part of the Kravinoff collection. However, she points out that it is in the basement of the Metropolitan Museum and is a two-person job. She decides to trust Vasili with her mother for now, but warns against any ideas of crossing her as those who do experience some very bad luck. She returns to her safe house where her allies are already preparing for the heist. They have also detected that Vasili has returned to the Kravinoff estate and Felicia decides its getting close to time to call him.
At the Kravinoff mansion, Vasili says good morning to Ana Kravinoff, who tells him that tomorrow will be even better.[1] That’s when the Kravinoff butler tells Vasili that his prisoner has been singing, which is annoying Sasha Kravinoff who is not happy that he has a guest in their home. Annoyed, Vasili returns to his room and calls Felicia, ordering her to steal the sword and deliver it tomorrow, or else. Lydia Hardy is afraid, but her daughter assures her that she is doing what Vasili wants and she’ll be safe. Ending the call, Falicia has realized that her mother’s captor is getting antsy. She has also figured out that his collection of Kravinoff valuables in order to impress Ana Kravinoff. She then leaves her team to continue working on the plan while she goes to deal with another part of the plan, promising she’ll be back in an hour.
The Black Cat meets with one of her informants who keeps an eye out for Spider-Man’s comings and going in the area. She wants him to deliver a letter to the wall-crawler if she doesn’t make it back from her next heist. He points out that she can do it herself as Spider-Man is swinging by right now. The web-slinger is in rough shape after a long battle and is coming down with a flu. When the Black Cat stops him and tries to talk, Spider-Man dismisses her outright, saying he doesn’t need any more bad luck right now.[2]
That night, the Black Cat meets up with Vasili to begin the heist. He seals her in a large shipping crate which they are smuggling into the museum under a false shipping manifest. Vasili stays in direct contact with the Black Cat as she breaks into the area where the sword is being stored. Meanwhile, Felicia’s allies arrive at the Kravinoff estate and being unloading all of Vasili’s possessions on the front lawn, earning the ire of Sasha Kravinoff and her family as this was an unauthorized delivery. When the Black Cat returns with the stolen sword, Vasili knocks her out and stuffs her into the trunk of his car and heads back to the Kravinoff mansion.
There he has to answer to Sasha Kravinoff, who is not happy with him. He tries to make things up to her by presenting her the Black Cat, one of Spider-Man’s allies. However, Sasha reveals that this is not the Black Cat, but Kyoko in disguise. His horror mounting, Sasha then opens his boxes and discovers that all of his artifacts have been replaced with cheap fakes. Sasha is furious and is about to kill him but Ana stays her mother’s hand. Since the Black Cat is playing them, they now wonder where she is. At that moment, Felicia has found her mother and is working on freeing her from her bonds when suddenly the remote explosive tied to Lydia’s wrist suddenly becomes armed.
Recurring Characters
Black Cat, Spider-Man, Sasha Kravinoff, Ana Kravinoff, Aloysha Kravinoff, Vasili Sidorov, the Poet, Kyoko, Tami, Lydia Hardy
Continuity Notes
This is alluding to the Grim Hunt, where the Kravinoff family hunts Spider-Man to use him in a sacrifice to resurrect Kraven the Hunter. See Amazing Spider-Man #634-637.
Spider-Man has been run ragged due to the gauntlet of his old foes that he has been fighting during this period of time. See Amazing Spider-Man #612-633.
