I'm working on Marvel's Spider-Man in American comics.

Chapter 123 The Truth About the Erkins Serum
"So, you're here looking for information about the Super Soldier program? Why? Because it involves human experimentation, and you're one of the victims?"

Peter tries his best not to reveal any clues or information he knows in order to avoid Black Cat discovering the connection between Spider-Man and Peter Parker. So he has to ask some really stupid questions. But unexpectedly, Black Cat doesn't deny the question outright. Instead, he looks around.

“We have to get out of here, out of Osborn Technologies. Then, I might talk to you.”

Spider-Man shrunk the eye on his mask, glanced at the black cat, snapped his fingers, and the closed laboratory door opened. Then, Spider-Man gestured for the lady to go first.

Black Cat took the lead and rushed out quickly, looking like she didn't want to be caught by Spider-Man. Spider-Man shrugged and chased after her. Even if she had superhuman strength, he couldn't shake her off. Besides, when he caught her kick, he had already attached a tracker to her boot.

So Spider-Man obediently shut down the system, closed the door, and took a look at the radioactive spider that Dr. Jonathan had developed to treat ALS. As for who it was meant to cure, that was probably self-evident.

Peter simply watched the computer shut down completely before leaving the lab. According to the tracker report from the system, he found the black cat—well, he didn't.

The tracker was left on the rooftop. Peter had just landed and picked it up when another flashbang rolled to his feet. He did a backflip and jumped off the building, narrowly avoiding the troublesome A1 flashbang. He then returned to his original spot and saw the black cat waiting for him.

“I noticed my boots were a few grams heavier, so I’m returning your little toy to you.” Black Cat sat on the rooftop ventilator, smiling as he rested his chin on his hand, watching Spider-Man’s perfect backflip. “So… should we talk?”

"Okay, first of all, why do you want to cosplay Catwoman?"

"I didn't... I didn't wear cat ears on my head!" The black cat was speechless for a while, then couldn't help shaking its head, and finally didn't continue the topic: "My teacher looks like this, okay?"

"You mean Walter Hardy, the famous Cat? How interesting, he has a seventeen-year-old daughter with the same hair color as you."

The black cat gave a cold laugh twice, without saying much. Just as Spider-Man had said before, her identity could be discovered with careful investigation. Of course, that would require seeing the black cat's face.

Most people don't have this ability.

"Walter Hardy was last seen in Budapest, Hungary in 2003, and his daughter was spotted in Budapest a few months ago. She has the same long silver hair as you and is very beautiful."

The black cat sighed and asked the question again.

"Are you always this annoying?"

Peter's answer was the same.

"The only ones who hate me are criminals and supervillains, so, do you want to talk about why you want to investigate the Super Soldier Serum?"

Black Cat looked at Spider-Man, still unsure why he was paying so much attention to her and whether she should trust him. However, considering what Spider-Man had said earlier, she decided to take the initiative: "So you go first. You said the Avengers discovered the escaped super-soldier human experiment survivors. What exactly happened?"

“On Rikers Island, a fugitive found a friend of mine. He said he was forced by the US military to participate in human experiments. Most of them died, but he survived and became a super soldier.” Spider-Man briefly explained the situation, then looked at the somewhat impatient Black Cat: “What’s wrong?” “You’ve said nothing at all.”

"Thanks for the compliment."

"I didn't praise you."

Felicia, feeling a bit frustrated, sighed and asked the first question: "Did the survivor simply gain enhanced physical abilities, or did he acquire other powers?"

Upon hearing this, Peter seemed to understand something: "You mean... there's something wrong with the super soldiers?"

"The super soldier serum was problematic from the beginning. To be precise, the Erkins super soldier serum that Steve Rogers was injected with was problematic from the beginning." Black Cat sorted out his thoughts and started from the beginning: "Almost everyone thought that Red Skull became Red Skull because the Erkins serum he was injected with was a failure, while Captain America was injected with an improved version, but that's not the case. They were injected with the same serum."

"Make the good better, and the bad worse."

Peter recited what Dr. Erkins had said to Steve Rogers in history. The black cat paused for a moment, then nodded.

"This is not a description."

The true effect of the Erkins Serum is not to create super-soldier serums, but rather to "make the good better and the bad worse." Red Skull became Red Skull because he yearned to be the next Führer, to replace Mustache, and to establish an empire based on Hydra, not the Third Reich. As for Captain America, he became Captain America simply because he was a genuinely good person who longed to be a soldier capable of defeating evil enemies.

“The fugitive became invulnerable, which means he longed to be unharmed.” Peter explained to Felicia about Luke Cage’s transformation, and then realized, “In other words, the true effect of the Erkins Serum is to reshape users according to their inner thoughts. But because the captain’s inner thought at the time was to become the best soldier, the U.S. military believed that the Erkins Serum’s effect was to create super soldiers.”

Therefore, since the end of the war, all of the US military's super-soldier projects based on the Erkins serum have failed—they either created substandard products or simply failed altogether. They could only develop super-soldier serums with severely emasculated effects, since any successful clone would have too many side effects.

They were completely unaware that this side effect was the true effect of the Erkins serum.

"And the civet cat appeared in Eastern Europe at the beginning of this century. He... he was there to steal Russia's super soldier serum."

Peter finally understood. In the 1970s, the Soviet Union created its second successful super soldier, Red Guard, which greatly shocked the US military. This meant that the Soviet Union had broken through the limitations of the Erkins Serum and was able to recreate, and even mass-produce, super soldiers. However, due to the KGB's strict secrecy, the US military did not take action until after the collapse of the Soviet Union, at the beginning of this century.

They dispatched the best thief of the time, the Cat.

　The Erkins serum setting in this chapter is a fan-created and modified version; please do not apply it to the actual setting.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)