Spider in Gotham - Chapter 17

The time was approaching midnight when Peter made it back to the apartment. Selina and Harley were pretending not to wait for him when he came in. They were reading while on the couch with Bruce and Wayne sleeping on the floor in front of them.

"I know that walk!" Selina called as Peter stepped inside. "Who was the lucky girl?"

Peter rolled his eyes and shook his head.

"A girl I met on campus." Peter shrugged.

"Are you going to head to the other college to get another piece?" Harley chimed in.

Peter paused. Did he need to check out the other campus? Not really.

"Nah." Peter shook his head.

"Must have been some tryst." Selina teased. "Are you going to see her again?"

"I don't know." Peter shrugged. "I'd like to, but it's complicated."

"I can relate." Selina sighed with a distant look in her eyes.

Peter took a seat in the open chair. He quickly found himself at the bottom of a cuddle pile with the two hyenas stacked on top of him. Harley giggled but didn't do anything to help.

"Could you get me the laptop?" Peter asked.

"Why?" Selina strolled over to the counter where the laptop rested. "Signing up for classes already?"

"Cancelling the tour for the other school." Peter easily shifted the two hyenas to a comfortable position.

The brief moment of comfort ended when Bruce and Wayne adjusted back into place. He rolled his eyes as he set the laptop up on the side of one of the hyenas. Peter had experience working at various different angles. There were times that he found himself perched in the corner of a room on the ceiling.

He easily navigated to the other website and cancelled the tour. With that done he started to scan through local news. Selina and Harley didn't seem to have anything going on. Instead, they had settled in for an easy night. That or they were in prep mode for an upcoming outing.

After everything, he had some energy to burn off. If he happened to run into Cass, that would just be a nice little bonus. Peter carefully removed the hyenas from his lap. He headed into his room and set out his suit. First, he needed a shower.

He took a quick, efficient one so he could get out into the city as fast as he could. The hyenas helped him get ready by standing in front of the bathroom door and constantly tackling him as he tried to get dressed. Thankfully, he had put on his under-suit before he returned to his room. They hadn't used his suit as a bed, which he was happy about, but their constant attention was slowing everything down.

"Harley!" Peter shouted. "Could you call the hyenas, please?"

"Babies!" Harley called.

The duo let out their little laughing barks as they rushed from the room.

"Thank you." Peter shouted.

Peter was suited up a minute later.

"Nice suit." Harley let out a wolf whistle as he stepped out of the room.

"Thanks." Black Cat flashed her a smile. "Don't wait up."

He stepped up to a painting of the city skyline and tilted it to the side. The wall slid out of the way to reveal short passage. There was a hidden elevator that led to the basement. From there, it connected to a tunnel that ended in a building a few blocks over. Once he made it there, he'd take another hidden elevator to the roof. The apartment proper had a few different entry points varying in distance in all directions. It had a few more layers of security than the other safehouses.

Black Cat popped up on the roof of a non-descript building. The exit was disguised as an air vent. It wasn't active. Selina wasn't going to regularly use an overheated metal tube as a path. He slipped into the shadows and let the night air cool him off for a moment. The suits, while breathable, could still get pretty warm.

As of yet, he didn't have a plan. Run around the city on the rooftops was about as far as he had thought. He couldn't tune into the police scanner, but he felt like that was stepping too close to the Bats. Cass and Steph were great, but he didn't think the rest of the crew would be so welcoming. It would be best to give them some distance until they knew he wasn't trouble. Helping those he came across at random was something that should be fine.

Black Cat jumped from one roof to another as he made his way toward at hot spot of the city. There was a buffer area between the industrial, commercial, and residential that was the perfect storm for bad things to happen. Muggings, robbery, and all sorts of nasty things.

It didn’t take long before he stopped a carjacking. The next street over he caught an armed robber trying to knock over a mom-and-pop store. Shortly after that he stumbled across a person in need of medical attention and was able to get them to the closest clinic. He had to put some extra strength in his jumps, but he got there fast.

A quick tap to the side of his mask brought up the time. So far, he had been out for just over an hour and he hadn't seen anyone else yet. Either there was something going on elsewhere, or it was just a slow night. The themed gangs seemed to be laying low. Penguin's Mercenaries stuck to the docks, so it made sense that they weren't out, but he hadn’t seen any clowns all night. He would need to remember to tell Salina that when he got back.

He stopped to take a break on the edge of a roof. The city didn't feel right. Like the calm before the storm. He didn't like it, but there wasn't anything he could do about it. Hopefully, Salina would know something. It wouldn't be a bad idea to make some adjustments of his own to the suit. Some sort of comms and maybe a radio scanner. He could probably add those to the mask with little issue.

His train of thought was interrupted as a zing of danger ran up his spine.

Black Cat dove to the side. A sword sung through the air where he had been a moment ago. He spung and swept his leg out to catch his attacker. They were fast. A nimble woman in a mostly black suit hopped out of his range. She wore a half-face mask that was half orange and black. Her eyes were blocked by a white screen that was so popular in Gotham. The armor on her suit appeared to be similar to chainmail but it moved too fluidly.

"Hi." Black Cat stayed crouched low. "I don't think we've met."

She glared at him with her sword at the ready.

"Who are you?" Her voice was deeper than he expected. Like the femme fatale out of an old detective movie.

"Black Cat." He gave a mock-salute that also motioned to the ears on his mask. "And who are you?"

"None of your business." She spun her sword then sheathed it.

"That looked pretty cool." Black Cat teased. "Are you going to tell me why you just tried to kill me?"

"If I tried to kill you, you'd be dead." She studied him.

Even without her sword in hand she gave off a dangerous vibe. Now that he had a moment to get a good look at her, it was obvious she wasn't playing around. Her suit was a mixture of an expensive mercenary and rooftop vigilante. She had a shoulder holster that set tight against her chest filled with throwing knives. Various intense looking gear were clipped to her belt.

"Doubtful." Black Cat shrugged. "Nine lives and all that."

She snickered.

"What's your name?" He asked. "Your masked name, not you-you."

"Ravager." She growled.

Black Cat chuckled. Her eyes narrowed.

"What is so funny?" She asked.

"Ravager." He shrugged. "Sounds like the main character in a romance novel." He waved his hand dramatically. "The Ravager, your heart nor your innocence is safe."

"Rich coming from a guy in a cat costume." She countered.

"True." Black Cat stood from his crouch. "What brings you out on this beautiful night?"

"You're a talker." She sighed. "Great."

"We could do this old school and fight for a while." Black Cat offered. "Don't be fooled by my charming, good looks, I'm quite the wild cat."

No reaction.

"Not a fan of puns?" He sighed.

"Good ones." Ravager shrugged.

"And here I thought you weren't trying to hurt me." He grabbed his chest in mock-pain.

"I never said that." She corrected. "I said you wouldn't be alive if I wanted you dead."

Sirens erupted. He scanned the area until he saw the familiar flashing lights.

"Listen." He gave her a teasing smile. "It was nice to meet you, aside from the sword thing. I'm going to see if they need help. More flirting later?"

"I'm not flirting with you." She crossed her arms.

"Sure, you aren't." Black Cat winked at her. "I winked in case you couldn't see it through the mask."

"Just go already." She waved him away.

"See you around." Black Cat hopped off the building and onto the one next to it.

He could feel her watching him. She stayed close as he pulled people from a burning building. The fire fighters didn't know what to make of him, but they weren't going to argue with someone saving lives. Black Cat earned a couple of extra points with the people when he went back in to rescue some pets as well. He also got bitten a few times by a very grumpy poodle. The fact that she followed him through the rest of the night was a good sign. At least, he chose to think of it that way. By the time he got back to the apartment he had forgotten to mention the strange feeling around the city.