Chapter 5 - Black Cat
Heroes aren't supposed to swear. They really aren't. They're supposed to say silly things like 'golly-gee' and 'jeepers' and throw in the occasional 'tiddly winks'. It's in the manual someplace, the one that comes with the costume…
But I digress. There are simply certain codes of conduct we're supposed to follow. And I was breaking several of them simply standing there cursing up a storm in front of - get this - Shadow Cat and Black Cat.
That's another rule in that infamous book. You're not really supposed to have a name that's that similar to someone else's, or it makes life confusing as… well, there I go again with that swearing thing. I suddenly realize that the rooftop is really quiet. No one's saying anything. Then, someone speaks, and it only gets worse.
"Who is this?"
The tone of Kitty's voice is beyond dangerous. She's gonna blow up no matter what happens from here, the best I can hope to do at this point is aim it away from me. I pull down the hood of my costume a little hastily and turn halfway.
"Um… Shadow Cat… meet Black Cat…"
Introductions suck… along with the rest of my life. And I was actually having a decent night for once. That'll teach me to have a positive outlook on life…
The talking hadn't broken the tension; in fact, it had added to it. Felicia and Kitty stood there sizing each other up. I put a strangle hold on Spider-Man for now. Bad jokes about catfights were not what I needed right now. Geeky Peter Parker needed to take the fore here. I needed an answer. A solution. I needed a way out of this with my life and perhaps a few shreds of my ego intact - I'd already consigned my dignity to a long and torturous death.
And there it was… I nearly smacked myself for my stupidity. The last time I had seen her she was still a wanted criminal. It was jewel theft, and said jewels had been returned, but that hardly mattered right now. I just needed a way out. I turned my voice a shade dangerous.
"Okay, Cat. Go down to a police station and turn yourself in. You can do it peacefully, or I can take you in myself. Your call."
She didn't exactly give me the reaction I was hoping for. She laughed.
"And what makes you think you can take me Spider? You never could before. You always seemed to have… problems…"
With that last she stuck out her well-developed chest. She was *cough* an early bloomer. I gave myself a shake to get out of it. I could feel Kitty's heated glare on me, and I prayed that my death would be quick.
"That doesn't really matter. You're going in Cat. One way or another."
She grinned, and I grimaced under the mask. Then, without warning, I jumped at her, determined to bring her down. She jumped backwards as well, vaulting off the building and firing a grappling hook out and swinging away. I didn't bother to chase her. I turned back to a seriously pissed Kitty Pryde.
"Peter… No, I'm not going to talk about this now. Let's just find the others."
I nodded. She was being calm about this, and that was good. Problem was I wasn't going to wait to clear this up. Waiting proved to be bad in most cases.
"She's a thief. Jewel thief mostly. Never threatens anyone's lives though."
"Looked like more than that to me…"
I sighed.
"She was also my first girlfriend. After a time I knew who she was and she knew who I was… that's a story better left for another time. But I will say this. I don't like her in that way anymore. I do still care about her, but not like that."
She offered me a sad half smile in return, and I sighed silently to myself inside my costume. I went to the side of the rooftop and offered my arm again.
"Let's go."
She came over and again went red, but not as red as before, as she stepped into my grip. I jumped over the side and shot out some webbing. She whispered something into my ear as we sailed down.
"We're going to have a long talk about this later Peter…"
I let out a muffled 'eep' in response.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jean I hope you can do something about this, because I don't think we're going to have much luck in here.
It was late, and I was the only one up. I had watch duty. If something happened that we could take advantage of, the person on watch did it. Since we were powerless, I pretty much made it moot as far as powers went. The majority of us were in a single holding cell with a honest to god force field right out of Star Trek or something. The Professor and Magneto were in another, and Sabertooth and Wolverine were strapped down to tables to keep them under control. All in all a pretty spiffy arrangement.
If you're on the outside looking in that is.
I still didn't understand why they had taken us - other than the fact that someone was paying them a lot of money for us.
Okay, so I understand them but I just wish I knew who hired them.
For the most part only two of them watched us. Doctor Octopus and Mysterio. I was a little curious as to why only they were ever present, but I soon realized that it was because they didn't trust the others. I glanced around the room. The pinkish lighting seemed limited in its ability to reverse mutations. While neither could use their abilities, Kurt and Sabertooth were still… unique in their appearance. A sudden growling caught my attention. Doctor Octopus was lecturing Electro.
"… and no, I mean NO deficiencies in your attentions Max. I have to meet with our employers about the time remaining in their schedule. As much as we're getting paid, this is beneath us to do. They will give us something worthy of us, or be denied."
"Yeah, yeah. I can handle it already. You worry too much Doc. I can watch a bunch of powerless kids, no problem!"
The small man's eyes narrowed.
"There had better not be Max. You're on duty until Mysterio relieves you."
Then he stalked out.
Electro sat there for a while. Then, after an hour or so had passed, he started playing with his abilities, making sparks jump from finger to finger. After awhile, bored of this, be started making freestanding static images, tailoring them to his tastes.
Then, bored even with this, he made the images start moving. After he started doing this, he started making the animated electricity move faster and faster. Then, almost predictably, he lost just the lightest amount of control, and one of them touched the force field containing us.
It was then that all hell broke loose.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I grimaced under the mask. Finding the Acolyte place was easy enough once I got within the tracer's range, but to find out that they knew who I was…
I sighed, and shook my head. It was bound to happen, as the X-Men and Acolytes knew each other's identities, but it still irked a bit that Jean hadn't asked first.
And Kitty's still saving that talk for 'later'…
I shuddered, then stiffened as I felt the minor pulse from my Spider-Sense that told me someone was watching me. Not wanting to be too obvious about it, I turned to find myself looking at Black Cat.
Perfect. I need this like a hole in the head.
"What do you want Cat?"
She jumped down, landing behind me.
"I want…"
She paused a moment, then continued.
"I want to know what exactly is going on here. Just who was that girl?"
I smirked under the mask, but managed to keep it out of my voice.
"You sound almost jealous, Cat."
She sighed then, and walked past me, back to the edge of the rooftop.
"What happened to us, Spider?"
"You're a thief. It would never have worked."
She spun, anger in her eyes and voice.
"That wasn't my idea and you know it!"
"Maybe not. But what would you have done even if you hadn't been forced Felicia?"
She narrowed her eyes.
"If I hadn't been forced, I would never have had the ability in the first place!"
I didn't like it, but I backed down. The argument was going nowhere, and the fact of the matter was, she was right. Then I sighed.
"But that isn't the reason it wouldn't have worked anyways."
Her voice was softer now.
"Then what was it, Spider? Where did we go wrong?"
I laughed, a short, sad bark.
"The fact that you can't figure it out is a part of it."
Then I jumped over the ledge, heading back to the Baxter Building. I seriously needed to unwind before I hurt someone.
I hope we can go home soon.
Heroes aren't supposed to swear. They really aren't. They're supposed to say silly things like 'golly-gee' and 'jeepers' and throw in the occasional 'tiddly winks'. It's in the manual someplace, the one that comes with the costume…
But I digress. There are simply certain codes of conduct we're supposed to follow. And I was breaking several of them simply standing there cursing up a storm in front of - get this - Shadow Cat and Black Cat.
That's another rule in that infamous book. You're not really supposed to have a name that's that similar to someone else's, or it makes life confusing as… well, there I go again with that swearing thing. I suddenly realize that the rooftop is really quiet. No one's saying anything. Then, someone speaks, and it only gets worse.
"Who is this?"
The tone of Kitty's voice is beyond dangerous. She's gonna blow up no matter what happens from here, the best I can hope to do at this point is aim it away from me. I pull down the hood of my costume a little hastily and turn halfway.
"Um… Shadow Cat… meet Black Cat…"
Introductions suck… along with the rest of my life. And I was actually having a decent night for once. That'll teach me to have a positive outlook on life…
The talking hadn't broken the tension; in fact, it had added to it. Felicia and Kitty stood there sizing each other up. I put a strangle hold on Spider-Man for now. Bad jokes about catfights were not what I needed right now. Geeky Peter Parker needed to take the fore here. I needed an answer. A solution. I needed a way out of this with my life and perhaps a few shreds of my ego intact - I'd already consigned my dignity to a long and torturous death.
And there it was… I nearly smacked myself for my stupidity. The last time I had seen her she was still a wanted criminal. It was jewel theft, and said jewels had been returned, but that hardly mattered right now. I just needed a way out. I turned my voice a shade dangerous.
"Okay, Cat. Go down to a police station and turn yourself in. You can do it peacefully, or I can take you in myself. Your call."
She didn't exactly give me the reaction I was hoping for. She laughed.
"And what makes you think you can take me Spider? You never could before. You always seemed to have… problems…"
With that last she stuck out her well-developed chest. She was *cough* an early bloomer. I gave myself a shake to get out of it. I could feel Kitty's heated glare on me, and I prayed that my death would be quick.
"That doesn't really matter. You're going in Cat. One way or another."
She grinned, and I grimaced under the mask. Then, without warning, I jumped at her, determined to bring her down. She jumped backwards as well, vaulting off the building and firing a grappling hook out and swinging away. I didn't bother to chase her. I turned back to a seriously pissed Kitty Pryde.
"Peter… No, I'm not going to talk about this now. Let's just find the others."
I nodded. She was being calm about this, and that was good. Problem was I wasn't going to wait to clear this up. Waiting proved to be bad in most cases.
"She's a thief. Jewel thief mostly. Never threatens anyone's lives though."
"Looked like more than that to me…"
I sighed.
"She was also my first girlfriend. After a time I knew who she was and she knew who I was… that's a story better left for another time. But I will say this. I don't like her in that way anymore. I do still care about her, but not like that."
She offered me a sad half smile in return, and I sighed silently to myself inside my costume. I went to the side of the rooftop and offered my arm again.
"Let's go."
She came over and again went red, but not as red as before, as she stepped into my grip. I jumped over the side and shot out some webbing. She whispered something into my ear as we sailed down.
"We're going to have a long talk about this later Peter…"
I let out a muffled 'eep' in response.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jean I hope you can do something about this, because I don't think we're going to have much luck in here.
It was late, and I was the only one up. I had watch duty. If something happened that we could take advantage of, the person on watch did it. Since we were powerless, I pretty much made it moot as far as powers went. The majority of us were in a single holding cell with a honest to god force field right out of Star Trek or something. The Professor and Magneto were in another, and Sabertooth and Wolverine were strapped down to tables to keep them under control. All in all a pretty spiffy arrangement.
If you're on the outside looking in that is.
I still didn't understand why they had taken us - other than the fact that someone was paying them a lot of money for us.
Okay, so I understand them but I just wish I knew who hired them.
For the most part only two of them watched us. Doctor Octopus and Mysterio. I was a little curious as to why only they were ever present, but I soon realized that it was because they didn't trust the others. I glanced around the room. The pinkish lighting seemed limited in its ability to reverse mutations. While neither could use their abilities, Kurt and Sabertooth were still… unique in their appearance. A sudden growling caught my attention. Doctor Octopus was lecturing Electro.
"… and no, I mean NO deficiencies in your attentions Max. I have to meet with our employers about the time remaining in their schedule. As much as we're getting paid, this is beneath us to do. They will give us something worthy of us, or be denied."
"Yeah, yeah. I can handle it already. You worry too much Doc. I can watch a bunch of powerless kids, no problem!"
The small man's eyes narrowed.
"There had better not be Max. You're on duty until Mysterio relieves you."
Then he stalked out.
Electro sat there for a while. Then, after an hour or so had passed, he started playing with his abilities, making sparks jump from finger to finger. After awhile, bored of this, be started making freestanding static images, tailoring them to his tastes.
Then, bored even with this, he made the images start moving. After he started doing this, he started making the animated electricity move faster and faster. Then, almost predictably, he lost just the lightest amount of control, and one of them touched the force field containing us.
It was then that all hell broke loose.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I grimaced under the mask. Finding the Acolyte place was easy enough once I got within the tracer's range, but to find out that they knew who I was…
I sighed, and shook my head. It was bound to happen, as the X-Men and Acolytes knew each other's identities, but it still irked a bit that Jean hadn't asked first.
And Kitty's still saving that talk for 'later'…
I shuddered, then stiffened as I felt the minor pulse from my Spider-Sense that told me someone was watching me. Not wanting to be too obvious about it, I turned to find myself looking at Black Cat.
Perfect. I need this like a hole in the head.
"What do you want Cat?"
She jumped down, landing behind me.
"I want…"
She paused a moment, then continued.
"I want to know what exactly is going on here. Just who was that girl?"
I smirked under the mask, but managed to keep it out of my voice.
"You sound almost jealous, Cat."
She sighed then, and walked past me, back to the edge of the rooftop.
"What happened to us, Spider?"
"You're a thief. It would never have worked."
She spun, anger in her eyes and voice.
"That wasn't my idea and you know it!"
"Maybe not. But what would you have done even if you hadn't been forced Felicia?"
She narrowed her eyes.
"If I hadn't been forced, I would never have had the ability in the first place!"
I didn't like it, but I backed down. The argument was going nowhere, and the fact of the matter was, she was right. Then I sighed.
"But that isn't the reason it wouldn't have worked anyways."
Her voice was softer now.
"Then what was it, Spider? Where did we go wrong?"
I laughed, a short, sad bark.
"The fact that you can't figure it out is a part of it."
Then I jumped over the ledge, heading back to the Baxter Building. I seriously needed to unwind before I hurt someone.
I hope we can go home soon.