2012-11-12 Another Day Another Dollar

Black Cat had just gotten her start as a cat burglar in New York City, and it was going swell. Sure, the equipment so far was pricy to maintain but the thrill was immense. The Cat had to admit she was addicted. She's even had a cute costumed hero chase her. It sure as hell beats a normal 9-5 job.
For that night's prize, Black Cat was commissioned to swipe an exclusive piece of hardware from Adams industries. It wasn't her usual type of gig, but the buyer was willing to pay handsomely.
Black Cat was on the rough of the building, quickly unscrewing the gates to the vents. It was going to be a tight fit, but it was her best option to sneak into the building undetected.While some people might just be starting to make a name for themselves in the city, others have had more then enough time to make their own makr. Certainly Spider-Man falls into that second category. Unfortunately for the web-slinger, the name that he has made for himself is mostly of the negative variety. Well... not so much that he's made. More that J. Jonah Jameson has crafted for him, like it or not. And Peter Parker most definitely does not like it.
At the moment the red and blue-clad figure dangles upside down from the ledge of a building, a newspaper held open in front of him, reading from the light offered from a window just below him. "Geez, talk about your lack of gratitude. If it wasn't for me..." he mutters to himself, rustling the paper irritably. "What a load of trash. And I can't believe I sold him that shot. What the heck was I thinking?" he grouses, finally crumpling the paper altogether. Though he doesn't toss it into the wind like he'd like. He doesn't need to add littering to the many, many offenses he's accused of afterall. That might be one of the few he hasn't been confronted with yet. Before he can find a way to dispose of his trash in a more ecologically friendly manner however it is a hint of movement on the rooftop across the street that catches his eye and he frowns behind his mask. "Little bit late to be doing maintenance on the ventilation system isn't it?" he mutters to himself.Black Cat removed the last of the screws as she carefully took off the metal vent. She glanced up at the camera to make sure it was still stuck in it's position away from her. A sly grin spread across her face, "Aw. A bit of bad luck. They really should keep their equipment up to date."
And with that she slid into the vent and began her descent into the building. She was fast, but methodical enough to not make too much sound as she climbed down. No heels on her costume, that's just impractical.Watching from his underhanging perch, Spider-Man waits until the shadowy figure across the way crawls into the ventilation shaft itself before he finally begins to move. It was possible, however likely, that there could be some legitimate maintenance that needed to be done afterall. But somehow he doesn't see a lone individual doing any work that requires them to enter the shaft all on their own. That definitely has all the marks of someone who is up to no good. "Mmmmm, beats reading this garbage, I suppose," he says to himself, hopping up onto the roof overhead to deposit his crumpled paper there.
Leaping from the roof, a webline shoots out and catches a building across the way as he takes to the air, his swing bringing him down perfectly only a few short feet from the ventilation shaft. Creeping over, he peeks in, listening carefully for a moment, the darkness almost impenetrable. But no one can move entirely silently in what amounts to a giant aluminum can and when he hears the soft creak of metal down below he swiftly follows, crawling in head first.Black Cat had a head start on the Spider, so she was farther along in the ventilation system. But it wouldn't take much time for him to catch up. She had reached her second tubing and as crawling to get to the exit point. Black Cat heard a noise somewhere behind her, and glanced over her shoulder. Even with her night vision on, she couldn't see anything yet. Rats maybe? Lovely. The job wasn't always glamorous.
She took a moment to check the display on her cell phone. The opening she was looking for was just up ahead. Bingo.Rats aren't really uncommon, sometimes even in the nicest of buildings as Peter has had the misfortune of finding out upon occasion. Despite the head start, Spider-Man does not seem unduly concerned, scampering through the tight confines with ease. Wall-crawling comes in handy at some of the oddest times. Clinging to one surface makes it easy to pick his way along swiftly, pausing only now and then... not to search with with eyes in the dark, though the scattered grates leading out do offer some light... no, instead the Web-crawler listens. Not that it isn't tricky too, with the way that sounds can echo oddly in such confined spaces. Still, he's catching up and when he turns the corner he can make out the shape of his target just up ahead, the light of a cell-phone display briefly offering a bit of illumination. Bingo. One bad guy, about to get the surprise of his life...Black Cat made her way to the final vent and quickly swung it open. She leaned in through the opening to take a look, her hair flipped upside down. The room hummed as various computers, at a podium near the front of the room was the hardware in an illuminated podium. And for the moment it looked like the coast was clear.
She slipped down and landed on one of the computer desks. Black Cat purred as her intel was correct, no cameras. "Bad luck for you, good for me."
She moved to the floor and slinked her way to the display.For just a moment Spider-Man takes aim at the grate in front of them, full intending to web it up and leave the would-be thief with absolutely nowhere to go and at an extreme disadvantage in such confined quarters. But wouldn't you know it, when he goes to fire off his webbing nothing comes out. Blinking in surprise, the red and blue-clad hero tries again... with exactly the same results. Resisting the urge to curse, he fumbles at his belt, managing to slip free a new cartridge and get it into place in his webshooter. But by the time he can level his hand again the grate is open and his target is already through. "You gotta be kidding me..." he mumbles softly to himself, crawling forward and perching himself in that opening, looking over the darkened room below, lit only by the blinking lights of the numerous computers and their displays. "You know, some how I don't think you belong in here buddy. So what say you make this easy on the both of us and come along quietly. I have had a really, really bad week..."Black Cat turned immediately, spotting the vent-crawler Spider-man. She hadn't actually seen this costumed hero before, just what that rag called a newspaper shows. He's become quite popular on tumblr as well. She lifted her brow and placed a hand on her hip, "Aw, bad week? You should let out some steam, have some fun. You're Spider-man Right?"
She took a step backwards, "So many spiders in this city."Eyes narrow ever so slightly at the comment about spiders in the city and Spider-Man hesitates on his perch up above for a moment. "Got it in one. And you're obviously not a guy," he replies in turn. There are the ever-present Parker powers of observation. Pulling his gaze away, he lets it dart about the room, taking in just where they are. It never hurts to know one's surroundings afterall and he has already been a little less aware then he should have been. "Let me guess, you just blundered in here by mistake right? Took a wrong turn and ended up in that ventilation shaft by accident. It's such an old story. I hear it allll the time..."Black Cat backs up against the podium and subtly places a small device on the electric lock. She smiles at Spider-man in the dark and tilts her head to the side, "I bet you do. Or you get,'Oh oh, I work here, Spider-man don't arrest me."
She glanced towards the door to see if they had any other company on the way, "I won't patronize you. I'm here to liberate this. But if you are /really/ having a bad week, maybe we can go find some fun. Just let me take care of this errand first."Well, he's not really surprised. Okay, the honesty is kind of refreshing he has to say, but the fact that she's here to rob the place? He might have missed the fact that she is, well, a she, but the thief part? He's been right on the nose about that since the get go. "Interesting, interesting. I'll admit, the approach has a certain appeal. And I do have to say you might be the first honest thief that I've run into in like... well, forever. So let me hit you with a counter proposal. You forget about the whole robbing the joint thing and we get out of here. My rep is bad enough already without letting people just walk off with whatever they like," Spider-Man points out, levelling one hand just an instant before his webbing sprays out. But not at her, no. Instead the target is the electronic lock and the device that is busy hacking it.Black Cat jumps to the side as he launched the web fluid. She sighs and lowers her head, "It's really too bad, Spider. I really wanted to show you a good time. Oh well."
She quickly focused on her Bad Luck (in whichever way her own lady luck decides to rear her lovely head), and elbows the glass in the podium and grabs the hardware. The alarms immediately begin ringing loudly as the lights flip on. She calls out over the noise, "Maybe next time, if you're good!"
Well, this escalated badly. But at least the security had two targets to shoot at. She ran for the door and out into the hallway.The simple, smart thing to do would be to simply duck back into the ventilation system and crawl his way back to the roof. He would easily be out of here long before any of the building's security could hope tocatch up to him. The problem with that however is that it would give her unobserved access to the rest of the building. Who knows what mischief she might get up to. Besides, thief or not she doesn't really deserve to be shot by security does she? What can he say. Peter's a soft touch. "I'm pretty sure I'm the one who's supposed to tell you to be good," he counters, another webline leaping forth as he drops from his perch, rapidly falling towards the floor, landing in a crouch. in a heartbeat he is back on his feet, darting out into the hall in pursuit.Black Cat was making her way down the wallway, and took just a quick glance at her phone for the blueprint. There should be a set of windows just ahead. But there was a security officer blocking her path. He shot at her feet and shouted out a warning. She held up her hands and tisked, "Nobody knows how to treat a lady, I tell ya."
She flipped forward, and wouldn't ya have it? Gun jammed. She landed behind the security officer and kicked him forward. But in the distance she could hear a group of heavy footprints on their way, and surely Spider-man was on her tail. Swell.It comes as a little bit of a surprise to Spider-Man just how well this elusive thief has put her headstart to use. He expected to catch up to her in a matter of seconds, but instead finds her out of sight by the time he exits the computer room. Still, options are limited over where she can flee and he quickly begins to eat up the ground between them, practicalyl leaping from the ground with each step. Rounding a corner, he shows up just in time to watch as she makes that acrobatic flip, kicking him out of the way and Spidey lunges forward, catching him before he crashes into the wall. "None of that now. She didn't take anything, honest," he says, divesting the man of the gun and sliding it back down the way he came, out of reach. "See? I knew you were going to get in trouble," he calls out after her retreating form, getting back to his feet and pursuing though once more he has lost a good part of the time he had made up.Black Cat found herself face to face with more security officers shortly after. She doubted that /all/ of their guns would jam at the same time. Black Cat held up her hands in the air, as the were training their guns on her. She smiled and spoke innocently, "Would you all believe if I just got lost? No?"
She glanced behind them to her exit, the windows. One good jump through the glass and she was good to go. Black Cat hoped for a bit of bad luck to come their way.Timing is everything sometimes, especially in this line of work it seems at times and once more Spider-Man begins to quickly eat up lost ground, rapidly gaining on the black-clad thief. But this time when he rounds the corner it is his timing that is a little... inopportune. Almost at once several of the guards focus turns his way, one of them a shakey youth. The gun goes off, randomly, wildly, but still tearing off a chunk of the wall only a short distance from where Spidey stands. "Hey, I'm on your side!" he shouts, jumping back for the cover the corner offers. The second shot that thumps into the wall only inches away suggests that he is not entirely believed. One person's good luck is another person's bad...Black Cat considered an idea for a moment. It was a bit of a clich, but worked for a reason. Besides, she didn't want the Spider to get shot himself. They were just getting to know each other. She reached into her pocket and tossed a smoke bomb. Kept handy for when situations like this get sticky. At this she booked it for the windows, to hopefully make it home free.While he won't hesitate to put his life on the line for a good cause, pursing a thief who hasn't actually managed to steal anything through a hail of gunfire doesn't exactly qualify in Peter's estimation. "Would you quit shooting at me already!" he shots out just as the sound of coughing overtakes the lingering echo of the gunfire that resonates in the hall. Taking a quick peek around the corner, all Spidey sees is a rapidly expanding cloud of smoke and even squinting doesn't let him catch a glimpse of his elusive burglar. Hesitating for just a moment he darts back down the other way, discretion the better part of valor tonight. Besides, he has a feeling this isn't the last time they're going to run into one another...Black Cat leapt through the glass and grappled her way to another rooftop for a moment of safety. She took a minute to catch her breath, what a workout. But even moreso, what a thrill. Black Cat looked back the building in the distance, she found herself hoping that Spider-man got out okay. She really shouldn't care, but perhaps she was developing an acquired taste for arachnids. These Spiders were so cute. And the one she met today was charming.
She slid the hardware out of her sleeve to make sure it was unscathed, "Another day, another dollar."
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