"At that time, Walter Hardy's true identity had already been discovered by the CIA. He had retired from his life of crime years ago and had his own family and children, so he wasn't looking for trouble."
Thus, what followed was simple. The CIA might not have many other skills, but they were remarkably adept at coercing people with threats to their families. So, Walter Hardy was forced to accept a mission: to go to Russia to steal. The hope was to exploit the chaos following the collapse of the Soviet Union to acquire a mature Soviet super-soldier serum.
There was actually a significant flaw in this plan: if the Soviet super-soldier serum could also be mass-produced, then why hadn't the Soviets mass-produced super soldiers? However, Walter didn't need to consider this; he just needed to execute the mission.
Finally, it was said that in Budapest, the Cat completed his mission, but he didn't return alive. Only a corpse returned to the Hardy home. The CIA said nothing, only that Hardy had been discovered by the Russians and ultimately shot dead in Budapest.
"That's how it was. He brought back the super-soldier serum, but he didn't come back himself."
Black Cat recounted the entire story in a calm voice. Peter was about to ask something when he found Black Cat tossing him a test tube. Analysis revealed a trace amount of radiation in the test tube, and even more striking was the symbol on the tube—the Hydra insignia.
What the Cat ultimately found was not a Soviet-developed super-soldier serum, but a Hydra-developed one. For this reason, it was highly probable that a Hydra mole within the CIA killed the Cat, then brought back a super-soldier serum that, at least on the packaging, wasn't Soviet-developed. It was precisely because of this that the U.S. military discovered the true purpose of the Erskine serum itself, thus initiating new research—Luke Cage was a result of this research.
Peter had always known Hydra likely existed, but he had no proof. Even Nick Fury and Coulson had been evasive and indirect in explaining the situation to him. The instant he scanned the test tube, Peter cut off J.A.R.V.I.S.'s video link and demanded that J.A.R.V.I.S. delete any video evidence.
"J.A.R.V.I.S., how are Captain and the others doing?"
"The Avengers are still searching for leads on Jim Hammond near Southeast Asia."
That's right, ever since the Avengers learned from Peter that the original Human Torch, Jim Hammond, had appeared in Madripoor, they had deployed en masse, especially the Captain. When the Captain heard that his comrade might have been transformed into a biological weapon, he immediately deployed without hesitation.
So now, the only Avenger left in New York was Spider-Man.
"Notify them to return as soon as possible. There's secret information here that must be kept confidential," Peter said, putting the test tube back into his pocket. "I'll take this thing back to the Avengers Tower. Is that okay?"
"No problem. Everyone knows that only Captain America can solve this. But are you sure you need to be this cautious?"
Peter shrugged. Facing Hydra, everyone needed to be cautious. Who knew how many departments Hydra had infiltrated?
"So, the Cat didn't find the Soviet super-soldier serum, but another kind."
"He hid this thing, and only special people can find it."
Peter looked at Felicia. He now understood why Felicia possessed superhuman physicality; she had been injected with the same Hydra super-soldier serum as the Winter Soldier, enhancing her physical abilities.
Otherwise, how else could she deal with such terrifying enemies?
"The underground lab on Ryker's Island has been dismantled in an emergency. There's nothing left."
Peter told Black Cat, to save the girl from making another futile effort. She just nodded, then walked backward, asking, "Then... will you arrest me? After all, I didn't steal anything, and you even retrieved the information from Osborn Industries."
"If all this ends, will you not follow in the Cat's footsteps and be a good student?"
Black Cat just smiled, walked to the edge of the rooftop, then leaned back, using her grapple gun to quickly leave. Peter watched her retreating figure, thought for a moment, then swung home with his web.
The Avengers weren't around, so Peter first put the empty test tube into a safe, then specially concocted some web fluid and filled the area around it.
All that was left was to wait for Captain and the others to return. Hydra and the U.S. military—these matters required the entire Avengers team to handle.
After all that, Peter swung home. He had faked feeling unwell and gone to bed early to sneak out. Uncle Ben was responsible for distracting Aunt May so she wouldn't blow his cover. From the lack of messages from Uncle Ben, the deception was quite successful. Now it was time to go home and sleep.
Back home, Peter quietly snuck into his room on the second floor. Relieved, he pressed the spider emblem on his chest and took off his mask. Just then, his spider-sense flared. He instinctively shot a web, sticking an object thrown from outside his window to the wall, then looked out.
In the distance, Black Cat stood on a rooftop, waving at Peter Parker, then turned and left. Peter had no idea what had happened. He looked at the object stuck to the wall and ripped it down.
It was a simple radioactive isotope detector. As long as it detected the radiation energy of specific radioactive elements, it could provide a rough location.
And he had just held a test tube that once contained a super-soldier serum, which had residual radioactive elements. In other words, as long as he had touched it, unless he went to the Avengers Tower for a complete radiation decontamination, or even changed suits, he would definitely be detected.
She had been tracking him since she pulled out that test tube. And no matter how he looked at it, as long as he took that test tube, he would definitely be tracked by Black Cat.
Peter smiled self-deprecatingly. He had thought he could control Black Cat the whole time, but in the end, she had turned the tables on him. But it didn't matter. If Felicia Hardy knew Peter Parker was Spider-Man, and Peter Parker also knew Felicia Hardy was Black Cat, then neither had any leverage over the other.
They were simply on equal footing.
"No masks, I guess that's a kind of honesty. See you tomorrow, Felicia."