2894/A Moment of Peril

A Moment of Peril
Date of Scene:	13 August 2020
Location:	Midtown
Synopsis:	Spider-Man comes to a fork in the road, and accidentally burns it.
Cast of Characters:	Peter Parker, Felicia Hardy

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Peter Parker has posed:
The invitation came through Spider-Comm on the private channel, from the Black Cat herself. That text itself tickled his Spider-Sense.

The Black Cat was smart, canny, and a step ahead from the word go. And she sought him out.

Well, Peter Parker can't come to call on an international cat burglar, but Spider-Man...that's a different story.

Spidey swings in towards the GPS signal, landing lightly on the patio. The place reminded him of a T-shirt he saw on a bodega thief.

THE WAGES OF SIN...SURE BEAT MINIMUM!

Felicia Hardy has posed:
The Lair of the Cat, the Den of Inquity is...actually a really nice penthouse on Billionaire Row, in Midtown. It has a pool! And some fake security cameras, with the real ones far, far better hidden. And...

Spidey's been here before. He's been in this pool. Did he ever go back and look into who actually owned that apartment where Black Cat stole a kiss and tried for a million dollar selfie?

Inside the apartment, through wall-length glass windows, a girl with waist-length white hair bounces into view, looking surprised and concerned, holding a cellphone. She's wearing a long, white-and-black Spider-Man! t-shirt and...

Well, that's it, from what Peter can see, so far.

Giving him a surprised 'o!' face when she turns to spot him standing on her balcony, she jogs with a considerable bounce of her shirt to the sliding glass door, pulling it open. "Peter! What are you *doing* out here?!" The 'Spider-Man!' logo is stretched wide from the effort of trying to apprehend and contain the nefarious Black Cat. She kinda fills out the top half.

The hips are a little tight too.

Peter Parker has posed:
Boy, if his Spider-Sense wasn't tingling before, it sure was now. She was...actually somewhat intimidating. However, he'd hung tough in the face of the Wrecking Crew. He should be able to handle this...right?

He bowed his head to Felicia slightly, then said, "I...got your text. I hope this isn't a bad time..."
He does step inside. Come into my parlor, said the Cat to the Spider.

"I...should have guessed this was your place. You were a little TOO familiar with it..."

Felicia Hardy has posed:
Felicia Hardy watches Peter as he steps inside, looking amused as she hits a button on her cellphone. Notably she doesn't hit the big red 'Disarm' button, but rather the lower-right 'Arm Turrets' button. A little anime black cat gives a big wink as the system goes into standby. "Hey, three minutes later and I would have been in the shower. I was expecting a text like 'Pizza?' or a sheepish, 'I'm outside!'"

She follows him in, smiling, with a lazy sway of her hips and a swish-swish of her black-and-white shirt's hem just below her buns. "Y'know, from the front door? I actually had jeans ready."

Peter Parker has posed:
Peter blinks and turns around. "Uhm, I can wait until you put some pants on. It's really no trouble."

Felicia Hardy has posed:
The Cat looks like she's about to argue when she suddenly stops, lips parted, and her eyes slide aside. "...Sure. Wait right here." She sounds way too pleased about something and pads silently away.

Then, moments later, in a floor-length mirror arrayed next to a Roman statue and a vase of flowers, Felicia Hardy can be seen stepping into view, in her bedroom, taking a pair of jeans off the bed. Whether or not Peter continues to watch her slip into the jeans, when she leans forward to grab them she is definitely wearing something *very* tiny and very lacy under that shirt.

Whether he looks away or decides to keep watching, Felicia pretends not to notice either way.

Peter Parker has posed:
Peter starts to turn around to look, but the little tingle of Spider-Sense warned him of imminent danger and he looked back out to the pool on the patio.
It looked like a REALLY nice pool.

"Just, ehem...let me know when you're dressed? Please?" His voice climbed a little on the last word.

Felicia Hardy has posed:
He didn't watch, and she knows he didn't watch.

So, quite suddenly, her voice is a quiet whisper right over his shoulder, next his ear, "But...what if I'm not dressed at all? Should I still let you know?"

Spoken just as her fingertips touch his shoulders, sliding over them from behind, Felicia's face hovers close at his side, haloed by her silver-white hair, fluffed and flowing. "Well, except for the choker," she purrs. "I don't take that off unless you ask *really* nicely."

She's actually fully dressed, wearing that shirt and those jeans, but from where he's standing, Peter wouldn't know that for sure.

Peter Parker has posed:
"Uhm...uhm..." Peter shivered slightly. "...I...should probably tell you, RIGHT NOW, that I have a girlfriend!"
Wow, that came out a little louder than he had planned. And a little higher in the octave. and fairly quickly.
He doesn't turn around. He hasn't any proof she's...well, not dressed...but is incapable to believe that someone is actually interested in him to the point of trying to...well, seduce him.

Is it the suit? Do chicks dig the suit?

Felicia Hardy has posed:
Her hands instantly leave his shoulders, hovering a few centimeters above. There's silence.

And maybe some Spidey-Sense.

"...What?"

If he looks now, Felicia's eyes are a little wide. Confused. Hurt. Her whole expression is one of waiting for someone to say that was a joke.

Peter Parker has posed:
Peter slumps slightly. "Uhm...yeah. I...didn't know how I could tell you...until you found out who was under the mask. Then I figured I should say something. Not text or vidcall, either. Face to face..."
He stops, then his face goes red. "Except...I didn't even do THAT right. Uhm...I'm sorry."

Felicia Hardy has posed:
"You..." She shakes her head, in the classic 'That can't be true' way, with her hair jostling. "But we... The restaurant. And the..." She stops. He didn't actually *respond* to any of her texts. She just...assumed he was busy.

But she doesn't voice any of that. She's just staring at him, with wide, aqua-blue eyes, lips parted. "Get out..." she finally manages to say, breathlessly. Another moment, and her breath catches, and her eyes mist. She touches her heart absently without looking away, like she's never felt it hurt before and is confused. "Get out, get out."

Finally she can't hold it in and an awkward sob shakes her. She blinks, and her frozen tears fall. Everything she was going to tell him, ask him, reveal to him, burns away.

Peter Parker has posed:
He can't help it. He has to turn around, try to explain himself...

Oh thank GOD she is dressed!
He opens his mouth and she says "Get out" twice more, and he backs up. His back hits the patio door, and he quickly opens it, moving outside, hands up, still walking backward.

Yeah. THIS feels more familiar. Open mouth, insert foot.

"I'm...I'm sorry, I..." The Wrecking Crew? No problem? Defusing a bomb? Not a problem.
But the Black Cat is the one he is fleeing from. Because what can he do?

Felicia Hardy has posed:
"GET OUT!!!"

Screaming the words as hard as she physically can, Felicia looks as surprised as anyone else might that she did it. A step backwards, and black starts to run down her cheeks as tears run through her mascara. One of her contacts comes loose, flutters into her eyelashes, and is gone, leaving her with one green eye.

She looks for a moment like she's still waiting for him to take it back. For him to say it was a terrible joke. But then her other contact starts to come loose and Felicia shakes her head violently, the sting of it finally cutting through her. She turns, runs, and slams the bedroom door so hard it shakes the patio windows. The mirror from earlier falls forward and shatters upon the floor, clipping the flowers as it goes and ultimately taking the vase down with it.

Peter Parker has posed:
Yeah. Bridge burned, no doubt about it. His job is apparently done here.

Spider-Man practically RUNS off the roof, firing a webline to get away as far as possible. He has no idea what an angry cat burglar can do, but if he hangs around, he WILL find out, and his luck has been going south tonight like it's trying to reach ANTARCTICA.

So...did he lead her along? Maybe, even if subconsciously. He screwed up an AWFUL lot. It's why he got canned from Stark. At least with that, he was never going to cross paths with Iron Man.

He felt horrible. So much for inviting her to the straight and narrow - right now he didn't think she'd accompany him to his own FUNERAL...

Way to go, Peter Parker, way to go...