kittysense (kittysense) wrote in newalliance, @ 2012-05-04 19:57:00 |
|
|||
Entry tags: | black cat, spider-man |
Quips in the Night
Who: Spider-Man & Black Cat
Where: Gotham, New Jersey
When: May 4, 2012 Night
What: The start of something...interesting.
Rating: Low, some flirtation.
Most nights, after doing half of his homework, Peter was out on Gotham’s streets trying to do his best to help the city. He wasn’t sure if he was fortunate, or unfortunate, enough to meet any of the city’s more notorious criminals. Most of the time it was mafia thugs and tonight was no different. He always thought that New York could get pretty bad, but Gotham had proved him wrong. But the city wasn’t without its own heroes. Among them being the legend himself, Batman. Peter had yet to have the pleasure of meeting him, or anyone else that was associated with him as well. Big town, lots of crime, the chances were against him. Though in more recent months, especially with the Joker’s escape, it was like suddenly every moron in town thought they could get away with anything. Not everyone was hunting the Joker down...
“Seriously?” Peter looked at the guy who held the gun, “I just webbed your buddy’s water pistol and you’re pulling that on me?” The man behind the gun was shaking a little. Obviously they weren’t expecting someone to interrupt their jewelry heist. They’d done a swell job of knocking out the security system, but Peter made sure to turn it back on before he’d leapt in to save the day. A sigh and a flick of his wrist, the gun was webbed, the man behind it passed out. Apparently this was too exciting for him.
He looked around and counted. Yep, that was all of them. Three were tied together with webbing over their faces and the fourth currently on the ground unconscious and the last. He took the time to attach the unconscious one to the others and checked his watch. Gotham PD would be here any minute. He checked the camera to see if it had at least shown he was being a hero and...no dice. It was a fake.
Figured.
Peter heard the sirens and knew he needed to bail, so he made a quick exit. He was to the roof just as the police cars pulled up. Perching himself on the edge, he watched the action below, the officers there were scrambling, some of them questioning as to what happened, and the four unsuccessful burglars get hauled off. This was definitely better than working on his Chinese homework. That’s when the tingling at the back of his head started and Peter’s danger sense kicked in. Someone else was on the roof and they were coming right for him.
Felicia Hardy was getting the lay of the land, testing her newfound powers and the tools that had been left behind by her father. She leapt from roof to roof, marking the places in the neighborhood that might be good marks, focusing on jewelry, fine art, and other small items that carried big price stickers. The alarm at this place had gone off, and she arrived only to find the police already approaching it. A window had been smashed and the inside looked like a wreck. Amateurs. That was when she noticed that one of them was standing on the roof above. Why he was waiting around for a police zeppelin to spot him, she didn’t know, but if there was another thief in town, she was sure as hell gonna find out who they were and make it clear that she was cutting out her own turf in Gotham.
She decided the best way to do that was to show them she was not one to be trifled with. Getting a running start, she made her way to the competition, ensuring that she moved swiftly and silently as possible. He was sitting dangerously close to the edge, actually leaning over it, and she was going to have to be careful not to knock him off the rooftop.
She pounced at him, intent on tackling him and putting a clawed gauntlet in his face.
Thank god for that spider. It was one of the few times that Peter actually appreciated the little arachnid that bit him. He managed to turn around and his arms shot back to give whoever it was a punch. Blond. Female. The fist opened into a wide hand, the punch turn into a push and he was shoving her back while somehow managing to maintain his balance on the edge.
Black Cat’s eyes widened as she caught her balance. Spider-Man? In Gotham? She grinned. “The Daily Bugle finally ran you out of town, huh?” She knew how tough he was. She’d seen him swing by a few times when she lived in New York City. He was strong. Really strong. Catching cars, fighting other super-villains... if she wanted to win this fight, she was going to need distraction, guile... and probably a bit of luck.
Felicia dropped out of her fighting stance, brushing her hands. “So...”, she sauntered up, looking him over. “Where’s the jewels, Spider?”
“If you’re speaking about my jewels, they are currently, well...where they should be,” Peter replied, quite obviously referring to his own...jewels. Sadly, attractive blond girls who could saunter like that were never referring to that. Such is life, he mused mentally, “But let me guess, you’re more of a ‘diamonds are a girl’s best friend’ type, right?” His heart was still beating in his chest rather hard, though it was hard for him to figure out if it was because she scared the bejeezus out of him or that, like another rooftop vixen, she made him feel intimidated. As did Gwen and beautiful girls in general. Once a geek, always a geek, no spider bite could change that.
Then it hit him. “You read the Daily Bugle?” he questioned with a tilt of his head, “That’s a New York paper. Currently, the Gotham Gazette is working on tarnishing my good name. You try to do some good in a costume and blam, you’re labeled a hooligan with a penchant for spandex.” He shook his head in feigned disappointment.
“I confess,” she raised her hand solemnly. “I read.” Shaking her head, she stepped closer, offering a smile and giving her hair a little spin. “I’ve recently relocated from the Big Apple. You wouldn’t believe how difficult it is to make friends in a new city... oh wait, yes you would! We could be friends, Spider.” She inched closer, sizing him up with an appreciative glance. “I’m a nice girl, really. I just... mistook you for a jewel thief.” She stopped closing the distance. He was already at the edge of the roof. Where else was he going to go? “It won’t happen again, I promise.”
Was she checking him out? No, she couldn’t be. Maybe she was. Oh god, she was checking him out, wasn’t she? And Peter stood there slightly awkward, “Uh, okay.” Where was his masculinity? What was she doing on the roof? Be a man, Parker, be a man. Seventeen and still acting like an idiot. Jiminy Christmas.
“So right, I’m not a jewel thief. I’m a hero, despite what they say,” Peter informed, “And the jewels are down there still. Along with the police and... possibly an insurance agent.” He turned to look over his shoulder and then something weird happened. His foot slipped. Which was weird. For him. Normally that didn’t happen, at least, it hadn’t happened since before he got his spider powers and so it was just downright odd. He couldn’t seem to catch his balance either and oh, that sensation of falling. This time it wasn’t him jumping off the roof.
It was him falling off the roof.
He was falling! The weirdo who could stick to walls was falling? What luck! But Felicia quickly realized that, if he didn’t have the score, there was very little reason for this confrontation to be happening. It was a long fall. Springing into action, and still amazing herself at the speed with which she moved (she didn’t think these powers would ever get old), the Black Cat moved to the edge of the roof and caught Spider-Man, one arm under his back, and her other hand clinging to the building’s piping.
She noticed just how ripped he was, her arm feeling his back muscles tense. Felicia peered into the reflective eyes of his costume, grinning with her trademark joie de vivre. Could that be trademarked? It was probably open license. Still, she was enjoying the current situation, cradling this superhero in her arm on a moonlit night. Felicia’d grown up watching Gone With the Wind, but she’d always imagined she was Scarlett, not Rhett. It was so very modern, having the man being swept off his feet.
And this Spider-Man was so very... “Did you make this costume yourself?” she practically breathed the question. Her other arm wasn’t growing tired, so she was in no rush to pull him back up. The pipe groaned slightly under their weight.
This was...new. Peter looked up at her and felt like he should suddenly need a southern drawl and talk about how the summer heat was causing him to feel all a flutter. He resisted that urge, thankfully, and instead joked, “My hero.” Though their situation was still rather precarious as it was. That pipe wasn’t meant to hold body weight, even if this girl, that he still didn’t know the name of, didn’t look like she weighed much of anything. And there she was, holding his weight there like it wasn’t a big deal.
“Thank you,” he said, “I don’t know how that happened.” He could have caught himself, gotten his webbing to shoot out, but the gesture was kind as it was. She saved him, so to speak, and he couldn’t deny her his gratitude. The real question now was...how on earth was he going to get out of this situation? Should he ask politely? Or just make an attempt to take care of himself. He opted for the second and reached his arm out, touching the brick surface of the building. Peter drew his hand back, and felt the stick there.
Clearing his throat, “I think we’re going to break the pipe, and I know a guy who lives in this building. He’s grouchy and probably unhappy that his store was nearly robbed as it is...so...” He moved quickly, swinging the two of them with what weight he could at least muster. His back was now to the wall, feet planted against it and the girl’s hand still on his back. The situation went from comic to nearly romantic.
“So,” he said trying to move, “You out here to enjoy the weather, beat some bad guys, or rescue guys who fall off roofs?”
“Oh, you know, a girl can’t jog at night anymore, so I go by rooftop instead.” She traced the outline of the eye of his costume with her index finger, appreciating the stitch-work. Leaning in, she whispered into his ear. “But now I’ve got to find a new jewelry store to rob.” She pulled up and planted her feet on his solar plexus, kicking off of him and hopefully knocking the wind out of him as she leapt from the building, diving with a gymnast’s precision.
Extending her right arm, she activated the grappler hidden underneath her white-furred glove, hooking to the adjacent building. “Don’t text me,” she shouted, “I’ll text you!” She swung around the corner, wondering why she’d just told him she was planning a jewel heist. It wasn’t very professional.
Then again, she kind of wanted him to chase her. If he moved as good as he looked, this Spider might be worth that much more attention. Felicia grinned from ear to ear, feeling the wind rush at her face as she glided along her cables, swinging from building to building. “Whoooo!” she yelled, her voice echoing in the streets below.
A dog barked somewhere out of sight.
Ow. Peter thought rubbing his chest, and yes, she had knocked some wind out of him but not all of it. He gasped in a breath and then let his mind compose itself. Did she just say she was going to find a jewelry store to rob? Yes, why yes she did. He watched her move, the grappler giving her momentum in a way that he often used his webbing for as his ideal mode of transportation. He wanted her to be joking, but with the hit she gave him, he suspected that such wasn’t the case.
His Calculus homework would get finished in the morning. Peter leaped, flicking his wrist and the webbing sprung from it, sticking to the side of another building and he was moving. The more he did it, the smoother and more fluid the motion looked. If only learning how to fight was this easy. He always looked like a buffoon whenever he fought and he knew it. Daredevil had even pointed it out to him and one day, some day, he’d sign up for martial arts classes and actually learn.
“You were joking, right?” he shouted from behind her, “About the whole robbing thing!” He came to a wall and moved quickly, crawling across it to leap and flick another string of webbing out. He was gaining some speed and slowly starting to catch up.
“Because saving me back there doesn’t mean I’m going to let you do that!” he warned, “What do I call you anyway?”
She looked back over her shoulder, showing him her grin. “Black C- yow!” Her grappler caught the corner of an old brownstone building, but the limestone broke off and she started plummeting to the ground. Felicia retracted the cable, but it wasn’t going to be quick enough. She hoped that stuff they’d put in her made her more durable, as she braced for impact and prepared to duck and roll.
Oh crap. Peter wanted to laugh, but it would have to wait. Which was okay, because it gave him a little time to think of something fun to toss at her about her code name. It certainly explained the whole black and white coloring she had, though it lacked the rest of the bovine style. She was falling, and now it was his time to perform the great feats, which he did. Peter launched some webbing onto the very brownstone she had been aiming for only for it to break. His webbing stuck to the wall above a window and he swung. The short length of his line gave him more speed and he intercepted her fall.
He caught her mid-air with one arm, using the force of motion to draw her into a hug and the rest of his strength to guide them to the side of the building. “Hold on,” he instructed, “Arms around my neck, and legs, well, just hold on!” The line from one wrist cut, he shot another from his other arm and then swung them up from a taller building to the roof of another.
Sudden fear gave out to the thrill of a strong arm scooping her away from her imminent date with the concrete, and then again, as her stomach jumped with the second swing. She held on, arms around his neck, and closed her eyes. They came to a stop, solid roof beneath them.
“So Black Cow,” he said breathing a little hard, “You save me, I save you. Are we going to do this? Save each udder over and over.” Peter chuckled and then coughed, “I...you should let go now...”
Felicia sighed, then opened her eyes and gave him a dirty look. “Black Cat, funny man,” she said, sliding claws near his neck, enough to let him know they were sharp without cutting through the fabric of his costume. “Are you always so quick, Spider? I thought the chase would last a little longer.” She pouted, not letting go when he asked her to.
“Black Cat?” he asked, “Any relation to Catwoman? Apparently she’s a thief too.” He met Catwoman once. Listening to an opera on a roof. A short but interesting conversation, to say the least. He might have felt more comfortable talking, had Black Cat actually done as he requested and detached herself from her current hold on him. Apparently this was going to require manual removal...
His hands came up to her arms and began to gently try to pull her away. “I think it might have lasted longer if that building was sturdier. Though I don’t know how much thieving you could have gotten done with me chasing you.” Which begged the question...why had she told him she was going to go steal at all? He was still half convinced that she wasn’t going to do that at all, and just wanted to have a bit of fun. And yet...
“What makes a girl as beautiful as you resort to crime?” came the question. Peter blinked, but thankfully his mask hid that. He didn’t mean to ask that. His brain-to-mouth filter must be malfunctioning.
She grinned, accepting the compliment without pause, and let the hero remove her hold on him. “For the fun of it. The challenge! The same reason you fight costumed Rhinos and Scorpions and Mysterios...” She watched his mask, though it was hard to see what his expression was... somehow he was just as expressive with the tilt of a head or the tone of his voice. “People like us live to keep the world on its toes.”
“That isn’t why I fight them,” Peter replied a little defensively. Maybe before Uncle Ben had died, he might have flirted around the idea of being a hero for the thrills. But he learned his lesson the hard way, lost a father figure and the man he held to the highest regard. He went on, “It wasn’t a choice for me when I got my powers and, yeah, I messed around with them at first, but sooner or later you realize with great power comes great responsibility.”
The Peter that was joking around making a cow pun moments before was gone, replaced with an honest Peter who spoke from his heart, “I fight them because someone has to. There are a lot of heroes out there but there’s a lot of bad out there too. Me not wanting to help them is...” He looked away.
“It’s letting other people get hurt, people that can’t protect themselves,” he finished.
She frowned at him. A part of her was moved by the sentiment, and felt a genuine respect for what he said. The childish, foolish part of her. Felicia had experienced enough of life to know the bitter truth. “Most people wouldn’t do that for you. We don’t owe anyone any favors. You watch your own back, because no one’s gonna watch out for yours.”
“I thought that way once,” Peter admitted, “Take care of numero uno, even make some money. But how fulfilling is life without putting faith in people on occasion. The thrills are only exciting for so long. Look, I’m not here to lecture you, but I do what I do because I want to do something good. The newspaper may make everyone remember me as some crook, but I know I’m not that. That’s enough for me right now, and it gets me out of bed in the morning.” Rubbing a hand over his head and back he wondered when he got so preachy. He didn’t mean to, but why he did this, it meant a lot to him. It really was how he made it through each day.
Not too far off, the sound of a police siren went off. They were in pursuit of someone, and that meant trouble was afoot. “Duty calls,” he said after briefly glancing in the direction the sirens were blaring from, “Try...to stay out of trouble. Though I have a feline, we’ll meet again soon.” Why was Peter slightly giddy at the idea of that happening?
Peter backed up to the edge of the building. Definitely taking more precaution this time, “See you around, kitty.” A small salute and he leaped off the edge, shooting webbing as he did and went toward the sound of the sirens.
Her eyes followed him the look settling on annoyance and disgust. Slowly, her expression turned unsure. Shaking herself out of the moment, Felicia laughed, if only to convince herself she was still there and her mind wasn’t dwelling on stupid thoughts like hero worship and self-sacrifice. “Sure, Spider. See you around.” She turned the other way, shooting her grappler and then testing its grip to make sure it would hold. Then, gliding off the building, she made her way 'home'. The jewelry shops of Gotham weren’t going anywhere.