Chapter Four – Crossing Her Path

There was a sharp chill in the air as I swung through the streets. It was refreshing, like an ice bath. After the initial shock I could feel my body begin to relax. As I swung through New York I felt my stresses fade away almost as if they couldn't catch up with my arcs through the air. The memory of Gwen, the dream of the Goblin, all pushed into the back of my mind. They would return, they always did, but for now it was just myself and the city.

The night had been quiet. Breaking a car jacker's hand was about the most interesting thing that happened tonight. Maybe my takedown of Silvermane had gotten into the thugs and gangsters of the street. Yet another reason why people like Betty were wrong. I was Spider-Man. I had to do what was necessary – I had to carry out my responsibilities.

I rounded a corner and found the unconscious target of my swinging – 111 West 57th Street. I built up my momentum and flicked myself up, catapulting myself up the building and crawling leisurely the rest of the way. One at the top I pulled myself over the ledge and sat down. Steinway Tower was my place. The place where I could clear my thoughts. I had spent a lot of time here after Gwen's death, equal parts healing myself over what had happened, and torturing myself over my failure. I pulled my mask off and held it in my hand. I tried not to take it off too much. It was risky in a city like New York where there were cameras on every building. Steinway was big enough that I felt safe, even though the roof wasn't the biggest of spaces to fully relax on.

Central Park sprawled out in front of me; memories of picnics with Aunt May and Uncle Ben from when I was younger flooded my mind. Summers spent running through the trees, walking along the water, and eating ice cream on the benches. I felt a tightness in my chest, and suddenly I wanted nothing more to be a ten year old again, being held in the arms of my Aunt. I wanted to be seven, with my Uncle sat on my bed telling me a story to help me sleep, a story he had made up on the spot. The idea of going home to my Aunt crossed my mind, but much like the peaceful moments it passed quickly. How would I explain how I'd got across New York? Besides she'd worry. She would know something was wrong, that Gwen was on my mind again. No, I'd call her in the morning.

My fingers ran through my hair, pulling the curls up so I could slip my mask back on. The fabric fitted comfortably over my face, the large lenses adjusted to help focus my sight and senses. I stood and stretched, then let myself fall over the edge of the building. As I fell through the sky my mind went blank – I allowed the rush of air to empty my head. I considered just hitting the ground, leaving all this behind to be with Gwen, or at least just leaving everything behind. I pressed my middle and ring fingers to the press on my palm and the chemicals from my shooter launched out and latched onto a building, and I swung up back towards the heavens. Thoughtlessly I swung back towards the university as if on autopilot. I swung up onto one of the university buildings and looked around.

Something piqued my interest across the campus – a figure moving across the rooftops a few hundred feet away from me. They moved quickly and precisely, they had a target. I perched in a crouch and watched them as they got to a skylight, then after a second flung it open and vanished from sight.

Interesting…

I swung over to the rooftop and crouched by the open skylight. I got my surrounding and paused. This was the faculty accommodation. If this person was breaking in to steal things this was the wrong place – the expensive things were in the teaching blocks. Why break into the staff building when there were much more pricy things to rob elsewhere, especially since the other areas of the university would be much less occupied. I dropped down silently into the building and looked around for the intruder. They were nowhere to be seen; I closed my eyes and focused, listening for the quiet footsteps of an intruder.

There.

I turned and looked down the hallway. They were that way. I crept quietly down the corridor, moving onto the walls and heading up to the ceiling, pressing myself flat. I periodically paused, listening for the movements. Whoever had broke in knew where they were going, and moved with quiet purpose. They were currently on the floor below me. I spotted a staircase to my right about twenty feet away and moved towards it with urgency. Whoever was in the building with me wasn't here for money.

I dropped to the floor below and paused, once again listening for noise. I could hear muffled talking across the floor, two voices. I moved quickly once more through the hallways. It looked to me like I was on a floor full of rooms for those staff who lived on-site. Down the way a door was ajar, a weak light spilling out into the corridor. I moved towards it and slowly opened the door. There were two figures inside the room, one a man, large and darkskinned, wearing a nightshirt and a pair of underwear. He was sprawled out on the floor with a knocked over wheelchair nearby. He wasn't a concern, that was the other figure in the room.

The intruder stood there, silhouetted by the light of a computer. She had the figure of a woman, dressed in dark clothing, leather boots pressing down on the man's forearm. From what I could see she had blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail, and her dark leather jacket was zipped up to her neck, where it met a bandana which was pulled up to just over her nose. On her upper face she wore a pair of goggles with golden reflective lenses.

"Didn't anyone ever tell you about spying on girls?" She asked bluntly.

"What can I say?" I asked. "I just love slumber parties." I began to move forward, but paused as she brought out what looked to be a small canister from her bag she had slung on her shoulder, her thumb seemingly holding down a button.

"One more move Spider-Boy and this room is about to fill with some pretty nasty gas." She moved her finger slowly from side to side, warning me to stay back. I noticed a bronze spike on the tip of her finger.

"That's Spider-Man to you." I replied. "What do I call you?"

"I guess you can call me Black Cat."

"And here I thought they were meant to be bad luck." I looked quickly around the room, from the man on the floor, to the woman stood with her thumb holding the canister inactive, to the computer just behind her. There was a loading bar on the screen slowly filling.

"Only if you cross me, and I'm not someone you want to cross Spider."

"Why don't we talk?" I held my hands up in a passive gesture, hoping to relax her.

"We are aren't we?" She replied curtly. "What do you want to do? Play twenty-one questions?"

"Sure, you go first."

I heard a small chuckle from under her mouth covering. "Socks on or off in bed?"

"Socks off. I'm not a psycho." I thought for a moment. "Football or baseball?"

"Baseball every time."

"You any good at it?" I inquired.

"You tell me, how's my throw?" She twisted suddenly and launched the cannister at my head, then spun and grabbed something from the computer. I quickly dodged the metal cylinder, then shot a web, grabbing it from its flight towards the corridor. I turned quickly to see where she was, and saw her feet vanish out the window. In one swift move I flung the cannister outside before it exploded, then waited.

Nothing.

I peered out the window and saw the cylinder lying motionless on the ground; Black Cat was nowhere to be seen.

"I can't believe it." I said to the man shaking on the floor. "She lied to me."

I picked him up and sat him back in his wheelchair, dusting him off.

"What's your name?"

"Steven." He said hoarsely.

"Hi Steven, you probably know who I am. What did she want?"

He pointed to the computer. "She was interested in the Life Foundation. I work there, well sometimes. I'm usually between working at the university and working there."

The Life Foundation was a biological research facility in New York. The foundation was one of the science giants of the country, and had ties with the university for apprenticeship purposes, probably why Steven was here now. It worked a lot with another company, Alchemax, to develop new cures to various diseases and look at genetic disorders. I remember Harry talking about them – Oscorp used to collaborate with the pair of them quite often. I'm pretty sure Alchemax was partially responsible for the Goblin formula which made Norman unwind…

"What did she take?" I ask, looking over at the computer.

"All of my files on the place. She seemed to want access codes, layouts, passwords."

I paused. "Probably her actual target for a joint to heist." I turned to Steven. "You alright big guy?"

He nodded.

"Might be best to let your boss know about this." I backed towards the window and dived out of it, feeling my webbing attach to the side of a building and snapping my tendons tight, swinging myself up. I'd think more on this tomorrow. For now the sun was coming up, and Peter had an early lecture in the morning…

Song Recommendation: Glory Box - Portishead