"In the end I'm realizing,
I was never meant to fight on my own!"
—On my Own
It was two in the morning, but most of the buildings still had lights on. Peter sat down near the edge of the residential tower he had landed on, looked at the few cars still driving along, at the other buildings. The glow of artificial lighting made it feel unnatural, unreal… the night was indeed a different world than daylight. He glanced at a still partially lit-office building, open windows and bright lights making the inside visible for blocks. Movement caught his eye in one, and he watched as a laughing man and woman started making out happily on top of a desk. He looked for a moment longer, but then forced himself to turn away when buttons started getting undone.
"Too pg-13?" A soft, mocking voice asked. Peter turned, not surprised at the silver-haired woman walking—he'd say swaggering—up to him. Her green eyes shone from behind her mask, and he saw her gaze go from him back to the couple. A grin tugged at her lips.
"I'm trying to cut down on the pervin'." Peter shrugged, trying to sound casual, and trying to keep his eyes from wandering down the plunging neck of her dark costume, showing off a remarkably fit and toned body.
"Or you just don't like that someone is having a good night?" Cat teased, her eyes glittering as she looked past him to the far off pair. "Instead of watching life pass them by in the rearview mirror?"
"I make a difference." Peter said stoically. "I help people."
"And leave yourself to rot. Misery, depression, and poverty. Your three best friends," she purred, sitting down next to him, glancing at the couple in the building briefly. "You could be powerful. Make a real difference. But instead you'd rather grab purse snatchers."
"I'll have made a difference to the girl who got mugged." Peter remarked.
"And you know why that girl can't take of herself?" Black Cat said in a low voice. "Because if she had a handgun tucked into a holster here-" she ran a hand down and pressed her hand in the small of his back—"the police will throw her in prison for a decade or two or three. So the police you protect help make sure that those women are nearly helpless to anyone with more muscle mass. How's that irony for you?" He froze for a moment. He hadn't considered it before, and it took him a moment to find a comeback.
"What, should I go fight the cops? The law is the law." Peter said. "Same reason why I'm not going to spend much time with a cat burglar."
"Is my hobby really so bad?" She shrugged innocently, looking out over the city. "You read much Shakespeare?"
"No." Parker said, unsure of where that was going.
"Henry IV." Cat said patiently. "Hotspur dueled Hal, and died in an epic battle. You know why he died?"
"Didn't dodge a sword fast enough?" Parker asked.
"Because he represented courageous virtue, honor, in a society that had abandoned it." She said off handedly. "he was in a society that was corrupt from the top down. The rulers were criminals. So why would anyone else be better than their rulers? They didn't, because everyone who stole or lied could say, 'Well, the King is a liar and a murderer, so why should I feel bad?' "
"It doesn't work that way." He protested. "What's right is right, whether or not some politician is doing so."
"Oh, really?" She asked wryly. "Is that why the police would throw anyone who tried to take care of themselves in prison? Because it's wrong to not need someone to swing down and save her helpless self? Tell me Spider, who has more prison years waiting , me or you?"
"What, you think all the women in this city need handguns, and crime will get solved?" Parker rolled his eyes, getting up and taking a few steps away from her, putting some distance between them.
"Because you graduated from police academy, so you're qualified to fight crime, unlike normal citizens?" She purred mockingly. "So in the end, you're helping to keep a system propped up that makes for targets. You make people feel safe, so don't feel a need to actually protect themselves—and they don't realize they'd go to prison with the rapists and murderers if they did. Thank you Spider-boy."
"I refuse to believe that." He said stoically. He heard a laugh, turned.
She was gone.
Part one of out five chapters planned, and yes, next chapters will be longer. Leave a review if you liked it!