14772/Flashback: The Time the Hellcat met the Former Cat, now a Cat of a Different Purrsuasion

Flashback: The Time the Hellcat met the Former Cat, now a Cat of a Different Purrsuasion
Date of Scene:	25 April 2023
Location:	Somewhere in New York City
Synopsis:	Back when Tigra noticed somebody else was running around in her first costume, she met Hellcat (set around 2018).
Cast of Characters:	Patsy Walker, Greer Grant

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Patsy Walker has posed:
Some time ago, closer to when both Patsy Walker and Greer Grant were around New York City, neither were on the radar of the other...until things changed. Little did they know their pasts were intertwined in some way, but all that was about to become known.

Patsy, having settled in The City That Never Sleeps, was pulling a late-nighter. Such was often the case for the writer turned detective and vigilante. Having literally been through Hell and back, finding ways to harness her newfound abilities, not to mention the costume she'd had that became more mystically bound to her, led to starting up that detective agency while catting it up to help aid in solving cases.

It was Hellcat who scaled her way to the top of a building and used her enhanced agility, strength, and then some to make her way along a few blocks unconventionally, unless one happened to do this kind of thing for a living. The golden yellow costume wasn't easy to go around in stealth with, but it had a certain flair to it with the blue/black accents, the cowl, the sash, the claws. A leap here, a roll there, and she was well on her way toward the site of a crime scene she wanted to inspect more closely.

Greer Grant has posed:
While never a writer, Tigra certainly has done the detective thing, and the vigilante thing, herself. Hell is someplace she's steered clear of, as well as Detroit, though sometimes you can't tell the difference. She's out patrol, as well as stretching her legs, because a stroll around the block doesn't do it for someone like her, and taking the rooftop route certainly comes naturally to her.

The feline female's paused for a moment to stretch a bit after having done a climb and leap routine of her own, and looks out at the city as she does so, letting her gaze roam where it will, seeing if anything catches her attention--oh, hello. A brief flash of yellow does exactly that, though as briskly as it's moving there's many who could've missed it. Her tail gives a flick as she purses her lips. That costume looked awfully familiar, and, well, curiosity, cats, you do the math. With light steps she moves to parallel the costumed figure, watching and working her way closer while trying to stay unseen, sticking to shadows and moving when not looked at.

Patsy Walker has posed:
In a sense it's like looking at oneself in the mirror, only this 'reflection' has red hair cascading from the back of the cowl, not the black Tigra's once was (and can still be). The way the figure moves, it certainly draws comparisons to the way a humanoid cat might - there's grace, simplicity of movement, surety of balance and paths taken.

A few blocks ahead is a warehouse district. Might be that's the area this as-yet unknown yet familiar figure is headed toward. With Hellcat's pace not the fastest, it gives Tigra room to close ground at whatever speed she desires.

Greer Grant has posed:
The closer she draws, the clearer Tigra can make out the costume, one that's shockingly familiar to her. Is it a copy? Someone just following the color scheme? If so, why? It's not like she was that...influential, she's honest enough to admit, so it's not like there's a legacy to honor. Closer now, and the other woman's movements and body language are clear, and those aren't the movements of a normal woman in a plain ol' costume. A glance around, and a glance ahead compared to a mental map, and she picks up her pace to try to get past the other woman, heading for a tallish warehouse to lay in wait.

Patsy Walker has posed:
There's an answer to be found here. There must be. Question is, will it be what Tigra wants to hear? The Cat Who May Or May Not Be The Cat halts for a moment, her gaze passing over not where Tigra is now, but where she'd been a few seconds before. Is the jig up? No, not yet. While she can see into spectrums of light beyond normal, Hellcat can't make out someone who isn't there at all. Tigra's already moved beyond that area, crossing behind cover en route to her destination.

Then, it's onward again. The warehouse looms ahead, some yellow police tape fluttering on the breeze. It's been a couple days since they left the scene, and sometimes a good detective can spot things others missed. She swings her way closer, using a street light to vault from.

Greer Grant has posed:
The Cat Who May Or May Not Be The Cat is only, or mostly, human. Tigra is an Actual Cat Who Was the Cat, and that gives her certain advantages when it comes to stalking someone, even The Cat Who--oh nevermind. Green eyes sparkle lightly as she watches the yellow clad woman swinging up to a rooftop, and she makes her move, climbing a different wall with the aid of her claws and backfliping silently onto the rooftop. A glance around to locate the other woman, and if found, Tigra will step into view with a meaningful clearing of the throat.

Patsy Walker has posed:
The moment everyone was waiting for without realizing it comes to pass. There is a costumed cat and a very striped cat, one not far from the other. Hellcat lands with a sound to suggest that, if she was furred, some of that fur might be standing up.

"Oh, are you a stray?" she asks, arching a brow within the cowl. There are designs above each eye that already suggest such an expression. "I'm sure I can help you find the nearest shel..wait." Here, both hands fly to her mouth, the only area of her body where skin can actually be seen. "Cheese and crackers, you're Tigra! I'm a big fan!"

Maybe not the first thing one expects to hear from her not-quite-doppelganger.

Greer Grant has posed:
And one of Tigra's brows arches upwards, sans cowl and sans cowl guide path indicator. A stray? Really? We're going with that line? Not that she says that, but her dubious expression probably conveys the point....and then...cheese and what? Okay, now Tigra's thrown for a loop. "I'm sorry, cheese and...wait, what?" This is not going how she envisioned. A brief tail lashing as she tries to catchup to what's actually happening. "Uhm, yes, I'm Tigra, definitely not a stray, thank you, and I need to know, who are you, and where did you get that costume?" It's meant to be stern, perhaps with a touch of intimidating. Instead, in the face of the woman's eagerness, it winds up coming out more curious, with a dash of friendly.

Patsy Walker has posed:
"Of course you're not a stray. I just told myself I was going to say that to the first one I met who could talk back," Hellcat grins, lowering those gloved hands again. Fingers are each tipped with a very sharp-looking claw. Another thing that strikes as familiar. "Cheese and crackers. Just something I came up with to avoid saying something like 'Oh, shit!' Which I just said anyway because you're /Tigra/ of the Avengers."

She waves her hands briefly, then plants them at her hips. "Me? The name's Hellcat. Purrhaps you've heard of me? I'm one of the newer cats around town. And this?" She grimaces, the first true sign of something other than a bubbly, overly cheerful personality. "There's kind of a story behind that, but I don't know if it's the right time to share it. I was about to check out a recent crime scene for clues." Someone's coming off as evasive.

Greer Grant has posed:
Eyebrow goes back up, though this time in amusement at the explanation behind the stray comment. Eyes flick over the clawed gloves. "'Cheese and crackers,' huh? Nice." It does hace a nice sound to it. A small shrug, a bit of modesty. "Just Tigra. I mean, I'm Avenger, but I'm Tigra, I'm no Captain America or the like." Yeah, there's days when she can't believe she's ont he team herself.

The eyebrow's come back down by now, but then the other one goes up, just a hair, at the purrhaps. And it seems perhaps a nerve has been touched. "Well, you know the best thing about crime scenes? They usually don't move. Unless it's a boat or something, but then the scene usually stays together there." Meandering, dear. "It can keep for a moment. I'd really like to know how you got that suit."

Patsy Walker has posed:
Hellcat strides back and forth, the sash carried along on the breeze. Yes, even that would ring as familiar. "I'm mostly a loner. That's not to say I haven't teamed up with others. In fact, She-Hulk is a good friend of mine. But...I wanted to be a superhero back when I was little, and somewhere along the way some /things/ happened and I ended up with this. I didn't steal it. It was offered and I said yes. I know how it works."

The yellow-clad woman squints at Tigra, crossing her arms just enough while allowing her to rub one of them self-consciously. "Why? Does it mean something to you? I didn't do anything wrong."

Greer Grant has posed:
Yeah, the sash brings back memories. Tigra's fingers twitch lightly, remember how to trigger the cable claw in the suit, as if it was only yesterday. She looks a little thoughtful at hearing Jen mentioned. She's usually good judge of character, and hers is not a name to drop casually. Not unless one wants to be dropped. Casually. She folds her own arms, maybe a touch defensively at Hellcat's question, and ponders how to answer it. "The cable claw," she says with a nod towards that hand. "The line's about ten yards, isn't it? Compressed gas, recoils onto a spool." She holds out her hand and flexes fingers in just the right way to trigger it, if she was wearing the costume herself. "It means something to me, yes, and it's important to know how you got it."

Patsy Walker has posed:
A glance down. Then, up comes that hand and said cable claw is fired off toward the edge of a building adjacent to theirs, catching and digging in. It could wrap around as well, given the right object. Hellcat uses it to draw herself up to that spot, where she dislodges it, it winds back up into place, and she crouches there. "This little old thing? How would you know about that? Did you make this?" So close, yet so far.

Greer Grant has posed:
That's a familiar sound, not to mention the digging in of the claws at their destination, though Tigra's never heard it with these ears before. She steps over to the edge of the building that she's still on and faces Hellcat across the way. She crouches down and suddenly leaps across the way, landing lightly near Hellcat and pivoting to face her, leaning in more closely. "Where. Did. You. Get it?" She asks more firmly, and that may be a hint of a growl, or just rolling her R.

Patsy Walker has posed:
Hellcat rises back to her feet as Tigra closes the distance in her own way before pressing the issue of how said suit was obtained. "You know, I'm starting to not like you demanding answers from me about things that are private and personal. They say never meet your heroes, and I'm starting to see why." She can't growl or hiss, not in the way Tigra could, but her body language is giving off 'miffed' and 'annoyed' vibes right about now.

"Was it yours or something? We don't exactly have the same body type, and if I looked like that I wouldn't be so quick to cover it all up. Besides, it'd get pretty warm with that fur." She indicates the striped orange and black appearance, peering behind Tigra, then at herself. "No spot for that tail either, nice as it is."

Greer Grant has posed:
"And I'm not liking you avoiding the question. I asked you nicely." Well, sort of nicely. Well, politely, let's go with that. "You said you didn't do anything wrong in getting it, and I'm not questioning that," Tigra says, tail moving more briskly behind her with growing irritation and a touch of frustration. She picks up on the other woman's body language and closes her eyes. She doesn't count to ten, more like two, but she takes a step back with a guttural sound of frustration. "I said it's important to me. You said you're a fan, you said you know I'm an Avenger, and if you asked She-Hulk, she'd vouch for me. Is that not worth the benefit of the doubt and tell me where you got it?" Eyes closed again while she takes a deep breath. "And yes, it would get pretty warm with this fur. There's a reason why I wear the bikini."

Patsy Walker has posed:
There's a visible gnawing at the bottom lip on the part of the one wearing the costume the other one once had. Unknown so far, of course. "Look, I'm not trying to get out of telling you, but it's kind of tough to talk about." Seeing it's not exactly getting this conundrum resolved any easier, she paces this way then that, listening to Tigra attempting to appeal to her in order to build a little trust.

Finally, she says in a more quiet tone, "If I told you I've literally been to Hell and back, would you believe me? I used to be in the Air Force, and let's just say I found myself in a few situations that went beyond the usual. I was nosing around a thing or two, and one thing led to another. I got involved with some hero, good guy stuff. I was asked if I'd like to use this costume, and I didn't hesitate to say yes. I didn't know where it came from. I wasn't asking."

She continues. "I started calling myself Hellcat. Then I learned how it worked, and I'm gonna take a wild guess and suspect you know exactly what I mean. But things got so bad in my life that I took the easy way out and killed myself, I ended up in Hell for it having to fight in a place literally called the Arena of Tainted Souls, but friends of mine managed to save me, bring me back. I guess I picked the right name for that."

A gesture of a hand to the buttery gold suit. "And this? I could will it to appear or go away, lickety-split. Ain't that something?"

Greer Grant has posed:
Tigra wants to tell Hellcat why it's important to her, she really does, but not before knowing more about how she came by the suit. A secret identity is the same for someone like her as it is for others, but caution's rarely a bad thing. She slowly lowers herself down into a crouch, just a casual pose, not a coiled to leap posture. "I'm a woman with a tail and a hairy chest, and you know what my teammates are like, so I wouldn't dismiss it out of hand," she says on the subject of going to hell and back. She grows quiet again and listens as Hellcat continues, and grimaces in sympathy at hearing about her easy way out. She considers for a moment. "That was my costume once, what seems a lifetime ago. It was before I became Tigra. I was human, wearing that costume I was a crimefighter known as the Cat."

Patsy Walker has posed:
"Really? Oh, sh...cheese and crackers!" Hellcat exclaims, body language and words doing more to give away the surprise of that revelation, since the eyes don't exactly do it. "I remember reading about The Cat! I even saw a picture or two. Guess I just forgot about that by then. Jeez.." She runs a hand over the top of her cowl, keeping it there near a shaped cat ear. "So I'm, like, your predecessor. No, wait. I mean, your successor! Were there multiple costumes made? There must have been. I never got the chance to find any answers about that."

Some of that apprehension is fading away now, replaced by an almost sense of kinship. At least, a connection. "Before you became Tigra. Sheez. You look even better now, if you don't mind me saying."

Greer Grant has posed:
"I think there may have been one or two others made, but far as I know only the one that I had survived. I guess it's possible that you've got one that I don't know about, but it doesn't seem likely to me," Tigra says, looking Hellcat up and down, mostly looking at the costume critically to see if there's anything about it that makes her think it wasn't hers. A small grin at the appraisal of her looks. "Thanks. I'd say I look pretty good these days, myself, and I don't mind your saying it."

Patsy Walker has posed:
Hellcat muses, "Guess it doesn't matter now. It seems this is the only one I really need, with the magical thing it's got going on." She flexes the clawed fingers of a gloved hand, a light shrug following. "I haven't looked into whether or not any others still exist. Maybe I should, just so we can be sure they won't fall into the wrong hands." Not something one would have to be concerned with from a normal suit, but this one never was.

"And it's a good thing you're not one of the shy types, otherwise you'd be going through a bit of a conflict," she adds, gesturing to the whole bikini look that's so very minimal. "I doubt you need one of mine." For she sees it as hers now.

Greer Grant has posed:
For her part, having some understanding of how Hellcat came by the suit, Tigra doesn't seem possessive of it. That was a different part of her life, to put it mildly. She grins again, this time crookedly. "I dunno. I mean, sure I'm not wearing much in the way of actual clothing," she says with a gesture at her her bikini top, but it's not like I've got much actual -skin- showing, is it? Not to mention it's not like a particularly tight fitting suit can't leave almost nothing to the imagination, for that matter." The grin fades a bit as she considers the other subject. "It might be worth looking into. I'd say it's probably not going to be an issue, but then, I sure as--, I sure didn't expect to see that one again." Let's not use the hell word around the woman who suicided her way there.

Patsy Walker has posed:
"Is there anything you can tell me about it that you knew?" Hellcat asks, moving a couple steps closer as the breeze sends the sash at her side fluttering again. The cowl and the rest does a good job of hiding her identity, save for the red hair resting at her back, beneath the cowl itself. "I haven't been able to track down any info, but obviously we know it enhances us somehow."

Then she squints, the solid white eyes narrowing as she crosses her arms. "It's not gonna turn me into another version of you one of these days, is it?"

Greer Grant has posed:
"There's something that I know, but I don't know that it's my place to tell," Tigra says, eyes dropping down briefly to that sash, attracted by the motion. She quickly holds up a hand. "Just to be clear, that's not because of you, but because it's other people's secrets. Let me address that, and then I can see about telling you more about what I know."

She puts her hands on her hips and sets them at a jaunty angle in something of a showing off pose. "You say that like it's a bad thing."

Patsy Walker has posed:
Hellcat has a short laugh to that. "It's not, but there's only so far I want to go when it comes to actually being some kind of cat!" she retorts, waving it off although her attention lingers on Tigra and her pose for just a moment longer. "And I'm not going to go after anybody for a bad reason. Nothing like that. It'd just help with my understanding, and my appreciation of whatever went into it. There are others with suits that augment their abilities, but usually that's through some kind of technology. Take Iron Man, for example."

Greer Grant has posed:
The laugh gets a soft one from Tigra in return. "It's not for everyone," she agrees. "And I wouldn't have chosen it at the time, but I also wouldn't go back." Her tail gives a brief swish at the lingering attention, and then she notes. "I understand that, and it will probably be okay, but I owe it to others to be sure, because of their trust in me. A lot of what we do in this business rides on that. I mean, that's why masks, and secret identities and all of that."

Patsy Walker has posed:
Hellcat comes around to circle closer, without fully doing so. Cats can tell prowling and sizing up when they see it. People like them can't be that different in this regard. "It's different, that's for sure. Good that you've been able to accept it." She holds up a hand in a peacemaking gesture, even if they're speaking on civil terms already. "If you need to talk to someone first and get back to me, that's fine. I'm not into exposing secrets like that, especially with me tied up in it myself. You have people to protect. So do I."

Greer Grant has posed:
And with cats, you never know if prowling and sizing up will progress to hissing and fighting or grooming and cuddling. Or sometimes all of the above, because cats. For her part, Tigra doesn't seem uneasy with Hellcat's circling, not feeling threatened at the moment. A grateful nod at Hellcat's words. "I appreciate that, and thought you'd understand. Not everyone realizes some things are two-way streets, though, so I'm glad you see the other side of the situation."

Patsy Walker has posed:
Hellcat doesn't look like the type who's prone to hissing, but you never know. Probably not much of a groomer, either. She comes to rest her back against an HVAC unit on the rooftop, crossing her feet at the ankles. "Yeah. I don't want to push too much, but whatever you can tell me would help a lot. That doesn't mean I even need to meet with anyone else. I'm here to help people, not hurt them." A thumb is directed toward the warehouse building she'd been on her way toward. "Like checking out what's left of the crime scene down there."

Greer Grant has posed:
"I'll see what I can do, and what I can tell you or arrange," Tigra promises. "It may take a little time, but you know how that sort of thing can go. Not everyone's on Facebook." Or worse, they could have been on Geocities. She leans to the side a bit and looks past Hellcat towards the warehouse and nods. "I can give you a hand there if you want, but I'm sometimes a double edged sword with crime scenes. I sometimes still surprise myself with my senses, but when you've got this much body hair, contamination is something to keep in mind, so might be better to just stay out of your way." She stretches lazily for a moment, working muscles that had started to settle in place. "You can reach me via the Avengers, of course. Do you have a safe way for me to contact you?"

Patsy Walker has posed:
Shaking her head, Hellcat pushes free of the wall and readies her claw line to send out again. "Take your time, but hopefully not too long. I legitimately already used up one of my nine lives, and I'm not planning on seeing how many I actually have left. I just want to be sure of whatever else I can expect from this thing." She plucks at the front of it, near a shoulder, then she nods in the direction of the spot below. "The police have already done their thing. I was going to see if I could find anything they might have overlooked, and having your senses couldn't hurt. This isn't a date, but I'll buy you dinner afterward if you need a little temptation." And, of course, they can swap contact info. "Avengers, yeah. I've hung out with a couple of them, just a little."

Greer Grant has posed:
A serious nod from Tigra at mention of using up that life. An experience like that tends to focus one's outlook. "As far as I know, there shouldn't be anything 'hidden' in it. It enhances our abilities, and there's the cable claw of course, but there's no reason to expect it to do something like suddenly sprout wings, or start to talk to you." A small grin mention of a date, broadening a bit at talk of dinner. "Well, hard to turn down an offer like that, so happy to lend a hand. She-Hulk can easily get in touch with me, of course, since you mentioned you know her. So yeah, let's go take a look over yonder."