The dead of night in Brooklyn, on the street outside the apartment shared by Patsy Walker and Ian Soo. 'So' Zoe Valencia declares. 'So' Ian Soo replies, narrowing his eyes. 'So... what?' Patsy Walker a.k.a. Hellcat asks. 'You haven't changed at all, have you?' Ian asks as he uses his telekinesis to levitate some rubbish around him. 'I'm guessing there's not much chance of you talking this out, is there?' Hellcat asks. 'Stay out of this, litter box' Zoe snarls, producing a knife, before she asks Ian if he has missed her. 'It wasn't a compliment' Ian snaps. 'You're still a monster' he tells Zoe, whose friend Jin stand nearby.
Eighteen Months ago:
A solemn Ian arrives back at the Brooklyn apartment that he shares with Zoe Valencia, who he finds sprawled out on the living room sofa, while the living room itself is a mess. 'Zoe, listen, I hate to ask -' Ian begins. 'So don't' Zoe snaps, before asking Ian if he can get her a root beer, she thinks there are some left over in the fridge. Ian is taken aback, before muttering 'Yeah. Sure' as he shuffles over to the fridge, while Zoe flicks through channels on the television. Ian opens the fridge and finds the root beer, as Zoe informs him that the girls are coming over in a bit, so she needs him to run out and grab some snacks. 'Oh, goody' Ian mutters, before looking over at a pizza box on the table as Zoe tells him that Ari wants to go tag some law firm over in Soho. 'I'm gonna borrow your black sweater, okay? It looks better on me' Zoe tells Ian, who opens the pizza box and is revolted by what he finds inside it. 'Did you hear me?' Zoe asks as she walks into the kitchen, where Ian is stuffing the pizza box into the trash can.
'Yeah. Yes. Zoe, you have got to clean up around here sometimes. Or at least... um...' Ian's voice trails off, as Zoe stands with her hands on her hips: “At least what”? she asks him. 'Maybe... I mean, I don't want to tell you what to do, but -' Ian begins. 'So don't' Zoe snaps, before collecting the root beer and walking out of the kitchen. She tells him that she is grabbing a shower and that she needs him to be gone when the girls get here. Ian picks up two small skull broaches from a table, when suddenly Zoe pokes her head out of the bathroom, yelling at him that they need toilet paper, too. 'Chop-chop, pretty boy!' she exclaims. 'Right. What was I thinking?' Ian asks himself as he leaves the apartment. And then the Terrigen Mist happened.
Present:
'Why would you come back?' Ian shouts as he hurls some of the garbage towards Zoe, who ducks as it flies over her. 'You can't let me be happy, can you?' 'Ian, stop!' Patsy orders as she rushes over to her friend.
'I'd listen to your lady friend. You may have picked up some party tricks, but I know you. You're not a fighter' Zoe calls back, while her friend Jin asks her if she is being harsh, much. 'Are you kidding, Jin? I'm going easy on him!' Zoe grins as she throws her knife towards Ian. 'Get down!' Hellcat exclaims as she kicks the knife to the ground before it can strike Ian. 'Stay out of this! It's not your fight!' Zoe yells at Hellcat, while Jin checks her cell phone and informs Zoe that they have to bounce. 'Now?' Zoe asks, annoyed. 'Yuh-huh' Jin replies, showing her phone to Zoe. 'Ugh. Fine' Zoe mutters. 'Guess we'll have to catch up another time' she waves at Ian, while Jin whistles for back-up. 'You can't outrun us. We're super heroes' Hellcat calls back to the girls, as their back-up in the form of other members of the Black Cats speed up on motorcycles. 'You might be. But he'll always be a sidekick!' Zoe exclaims as she and Jin speed away.
Furious, Ian uses his telekinesis to crush the trash can he is holding mid-air with his psionic power. 'Dammit, Patsy! You let her get away!' Ian exclaims. 'Yeah. I did' Patsy replies as she turns to Ian, who asks her why. 'Because you were losing control' Patsy points out as she starts to collect the rubbish strewn about. 'What did you want me to do? Stand there and take it? Be the sidekick?' Ian asks. Patsy reminds Ian that she has never asked him to be anything but himself. 'You're mad at her, not me' she adds. 'Do I have to choose?' Ian scowls. Patsy's Hellcat costume vanishes and she stands before her friend in civilian clothing. She tells him that he is her best friend in the world and she loves him, but that she is not his punching bag and asks him to talk to her.
In Williamsburg, inside the Black Cat's lair, Felicia Hardy a.k.a. the Black Cat sits on her throne as some cats play nearby. Bailey a.k.a. Attache is held prisoner, arms tied behind her bag, as Zoe, Jin and their fellow Black Cats member, Ari, stand before the Black Cat, who announces that they have a problem. 'Wait, where's Lina?' Zoe asks. Ari looks anxious and elbows Zoe, as the Black Cat holds up Bailey's bag, and declares 'Therein lies the problem'. 'Please, I don't...' Bailey begins. Black Cat opens the bag and reminds Bailey that she said all she had to do was think of what she needed, and she could get it back. 'Well...well, yeah! That's how it works for me...' Bailey replies. Rummaging through the bag, the Black Cat declares that she can feel jewelry, purses, some boots and what feels like a minivan – but no Lina. 'You put our friend in there?' Zoe shouts. 'Hush!' Ari tells her. 'Please, I'm not lying to you' Bailey replies.
'Oh, I know. So get her back' the Black Cat tells Bailey as she slices the ropes that are restraining her. 'Uh, okay...? Here... goes!' Bailey replies as she rummages through the bag, and starts to pull an arm from it. 'YAUGH!' a voice shouts from the bag, as Lina is freed, and collapses onto the floor. 'Oh my God, are you okay?' Zoe asks. 'Was it weird in there? Is there oxygen? Gravity? Could you see?' Ari enquires, but gets no response. 'So, we need you to work this thing, apparently' the Black Cat points out. 'Oh, no. I'm not helping you!' Bailey exclaims, holding her bag close. 'No? I think you'll find my offer very difficult to refuse' the Black Cat announces as she looms over Bailey.
'So she just... left?' Patsy asks Ian as they stand back in their living room. Ian reveals that when he got caught in the Terrigen Mist, he blacked out for three days, and when he woke up and came home, his stuff was in boxes, so he tried to talk to Zoe and explain – he barely knew what was happening himself. 'She just...' Ian's voice trails off. 'Wouldn't listen?' Patsy asks. Ian starts to cry as he reveals that things with Zoe were rough, and that two weeks after they moved in together, she started ordering him around, taking his stuff and disappearing. He adds that Zoe never wanted to hear about guys he had dated, it was like that part of him didn't exist, and if he brought it up, Zoe would change the subject and get mean, so when he came back, she insisted that he had been cheating on her. 'That's horrible' Patsy replies. Ian adds that it took him so long to even be close to open again. 'Your friends are so cool with it, and Tom... he doesn't care about any of it' Ian adds, looking at a photo on his phone of Tom Hale kissing him.
'He cares about you' Patsy reminds Ian. Ian tells Patsy that he knows, and that Tom supports him – he even thinks Tom wants him to embrace his powers. 'We all do, in our way. But I'm not going to push -' Patsy begins, but Ian cuts her off, he tells Patsy that she is right, and that he shouldn't keep waffling on about it. 'I can't just stand by and let Zoe and her crew roll over us!' Ian exclaims. 'Hold that thought' Patsy tells Ian as her phone rings- it's Jubilee. 'What's up?' Patsy asks her new friend. 'In theory, how fast can you do that rooftop leaping thing of yours?' Jubilee asks. 'Theoretically, or-?' Patsy replies. 'Practically' Jubilee tells her as she stands on a rooftop that looks down on the Ishioka Museum of Costume Design in Queens, where several figures can be seen standing out the front of it. 'You ready to suit up?' Patsy asks Ian, as she re-materializes her Hellcat costume.
Those figures in front of the Museum of Costume Design are of course Black Cat, Bailey, Zoe, Ari, Jin and Lina. Black Cat asks everyone if they know the plan, to which Bailey replies 'Does it start with “let Bailey go home”?' Black Cat slaps Bailey on the back, while the other girls look at the cat-ear styled headsets. 'Oh, so cute! Headsets!' Jin exclaims. 'These are gonna smush my puff' Ari complains as she puts hers on, while Zoe looks at them and remarks that they look kind of conspicuous. Dragging Bailey behind her, Black Cat tells Jin and Lina to come with her. 'I have got to quit getting kidnapped' Bailey mutters. 'Shut it, bag lady' Lina tells her. 'It's Attache!' Bailey exclaims.
Up on the rooftop: 'C'mon, Patsy...' Jubilee calls out, when suddenly: 'You rang?' Hellcat asks as she drops down beside the former X-Man, who is startled and switches into her cloud form. 'WAH!' Jubilee shouts. 'Don't do that!' she tells Patsy, who laughs and apologizes for being late, explaining that they had to make a pit stop. 'For what?' Jubilee asks. 'I thought I'd slip into something more comfortable!' Ian announces as he drops down from above, sporting a costume of his own, with one of the little skull broaches under the collar. 'No way!' Jubilee exclaims, before asking Ian where he picked that up. 'It looks sharp' she adds. 'I kinda...had it lying around' Ian admits. 'Saving it for a rainy day, apparently' Patsy adds. Jubilee asks Ian if he iis finally joining the club, to which Ian smiles and declares that he might as well, and that he can't avoid it forever – destiny and all that. 'Still going with Telekinian?' Jubilee enquires. 'We're... gonna workshop that' Patsy tells her.
They look down at the Museum, and Jubilee tells Ian that she hopes he is ready to break in the suit, as Black Cat is inside and she has somehow got Bailey. 'What? How? Why?' Patsy asks. Jubilee supposes that Bailey was nabbed from the office, and that she thinks Black Cat is going to use that bag to swipe something from the collection. She adds that two of the Black Cat's gang are inside and two more are stationed out front, just down below. 'Zoe' Ian and Hellcat declare in unison. 'You know her?' Jubilee asks. 'Intimately' Ian replies.
Inside: 'Welcome to the greatest costume collection in the western world!' the Black Cat exclaims as she, Bailey, Lina and Jin stand before rows and rows of costumes and accessories, all stored in glass cabinets. 'Oh. Pretty' Jin replies. 'Let's mess it up' she exclaims. Black Cat tells her to have patience and explains that the floor is pressure-sensitive, so if you step on it after 9 PM sharp the cops will roll up faster than she can say “meow”. 'So, how exactly -' Bailey begins to ask, but the Black Cat leaps into the air and lands on one of the cabinets. 'Like so' she smiles, before scratching a hole into the glass and pulling out the jeweled purse inside it. 'Purrrfect' Black Cat exclaims.
Back outside: 'So he can fly? Really?' Ari asks. 'Yeah. And he's living with the chick BC wanted us to tail' Zoe reveals. This causes Ari to laugh: 'Oh man, you said tail – like, because she's a -' Ari begins, when suddenly, 'Hey, ladies' Jubilee's cloud form grins at them. 'Mind if I cut in?' Jubilee asks as she reverts to her human-vampire form and kicks both of them aside. 'You again!' Zoe exclaims as Hellcat kicks her. 'And I brought company!' Hellcat grins, as Ari and Zoe find themselves flung into the air with a telekinetic surge. 'IAN?' Zoe shouts. 'That's my jacket!' she snaps at him.
Back inside, the Black Cat is perched on another cabinet, holding some jewels this time, she remarks that the trouble is finding an outfit to match. 'She's taking forever. Someone's going to come' Bailey tells Lina and Jin. Lina asks Bailey to relax, and points out that Black Cat is an expert thief. 'This is kind of her speciality' she remarks. 'It's weird, though... why a costume show? For that matter...why us? Doesn't she have, like, a whole bunch of goons at her disposal?' Jin asks. 'Who cares? Long as we get paid...I don't care what she does' Lina announces, as the Black Cat puts on some jewels that cover her fingers. There is a strange noise, and a glow seems to radiate from the jewels.
Black Cat returns to Bailey, Lina and Jin, as Lina contacts Zoe and Ari, informing them that they are headed out. 'How clear is that coast?' she asks them. Zoe is still in Ian's telekinetic hold, and tells her 'Ixnay on this way...ay. Back up. Abort. The cat is in the cradle' Zoe declares. 'Wait, which cat?' Lina asks, confused. 'Patsy!' Bailey grins. 'Oh, youi guys are so -' Bailey begins, when suddenly, the Black Cat slices her back with the strange jewels on her fingers. 'What the hell?' Jin exclaims. 'You killed her!' Lina adds. 'I completely take back what I said! This is not cool!' Jin declares. 'I'm sure I can change your mind' the Black Cat tells them, narrowing her eyes.
Outside, Ian and Jubilee stand watch over Zoe and Ari, while Hellcat speaks into one of their headsets, telling the Black Cat that it is over. 'We've got two of your girls. Come on our and hand the goods over' Hellcat tells her. 'Oh, I don't think so, Patsy' Black Cat replies as she appears outside, grinning. Lina and Jin stand at her side, while Bailey is in front of her, wearing some new clothing and with a mask over her eyes, she grins, too, and Black Cat announces that she is willing to discuss a trade.
