2928/The Most Dangerous Game

The Most Dangerous Game
Date of Scene:	15 August 2020
Location:	Bronx
Synopsis:	Peter Parker picked a peck of painful Puma.
Cast of Characters:	Peter Parker, Thomas Fireheart

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Peter Parker has posed:
It's Saturday, a hot day in August, and Spider-Man is on the job. Not an official job, but a job nonetheless.
He has been around Chinatown, trying to get the straight dope on Mister Negative. Problem was, he was one of the straightest guys around, and he was feeling like a dope for asking questions no one had answers to. He gave up after a few hours. Even the ones friendly to him had nothing to go on. The best he could do was position a few Spider-Drones and hope for the best.

Right now, he was traveling through the Bronx and thinking about heading over to Brooklyn. White Castle would be open, and it was a little past the lunch rush...

Thomas Fireheart has posed:
A new predator stalks the concrete jungle of New York City. This predator had replaced the mesas of the southwest with the towering edifices of manhattan. The Puma perches on a roof-edge in a pensive squint, the nostrils of his flaring. Despite the light tan fur covering his skin, the scowl and knitted brow are very human. It isn't easy to track something that flies or swings through the sky.

While the challenge is appreciated, this isn't exactly what he had in mind when he pursued the bounty posted by the local mob. Every moment he spends in pursuit, he wants the thrill of the fight even more. Would this Spiderman be worthy prey? He better be.

He vents his frustration on a nearby pipe, likely attached to some poor victim's rooftop HVAC. Wrapping the length of metal from its housing, he's about to begin bending it into knots when he finally catches sight of red and blue.

Lips curling into a fanged grin, he looks at the pipe, shrugs, and then throws it like a javelin at the Spider as he travels in mid-swing.

Peter Parker has posed:
"Egghead boys with thin white legs, they got modified features and software braAAAAAAAY!"
His heartfelt mangling of "The Geeks Were Right" is interrupted by his Spider-Sense going off. He jinked to the right as a projectile passed by his head by inches.

Yes, folks, you will believe a pipe can fly.

Spider-Man lands on the wall below the roof he had planned to pass over and looked around. Either someone threw it, or he was going to have to call the Mario Bros.

"Okay...who's the wise-acre that threw that?"

Thomas Fireheart has posed:
Claws shouldn't be able to pierce concrete. The fact that Puma's can has annoyed more than one urban landlord in recent weeks. He rends large gouges in buildings as he pursues Spiderman by leaping from surface to surface.

Arriving on the roof of Spiderman's intended destination, he's already positioned when the Spider asks the question. The answer is a laugh and a guttural, "You are a quick one."

Clutching the edge of the rooftop with one clawed hand, he swings down and attempts to rend the wallcrawler with his other hand.

Peter Parker has posed:
Spider-Man jumps back, and down, doing a backflip at a 90-degree angle, landing with his feet on the wall...and staying there. He faces upward, fists on hips, looking up at Thomas.

"...and YOU are new. haven't seen your face around before. Lemme guess...furry convention? Because that suit is KILLING it." He sounds wry and pleasant. "Must be Hell in August, though."

Thomas Fireheart has posed:
The claw impacts the building with a crunch. His eyes narrow at his intended prey. "Furry convention?" He inhales and tilts his head, coughing. "That's quite the statement from a man who smells like the fifth day of a comicbook convention."

Another feral grin is offered, "Unfortunately for you... This is no suit." He curls his legs beneath him and springs forward in a lunge directly downward at the Spider. This time, however, he anticipates missing. The next move is already planned. A prominent window ceil is real target. Something sturdy enough to grab and use to change direction. A way to continue the onslaught with slashes, clawed kicks, and snaps of his jaw. The quips would have to be made on the move from now on.

Peter Parker has posed:
Okay. No suit, and he already feels cooler, because some SERIOUS shade has just been thrown.

Then the big guy with the fur and sharp claws comes at him, but the Spider-Sense doesn't blare like it did. So, he did as Teacher Cyber-Ninja had advised and stayed loose, turning, and whoop, there it is, the follow-up. He is FAST, though. Even seeing it come, he had to lean WAY back for the claws to miss. Spider-Man jumps back to get some distance, landing on a fire escape.

"Jeez...allright, what do I call you? Because right now, you move WAY too fast to be called Anthro-Garfield. And I'm all out of lasagna, anyways."
Control the battlefield. This guy might be aces, but fighting against an opponent AND gravity is his personal preference, and he can do it well.

Thomas Fireheart has posed:
"You move very well, Spiderman. I glad that I will not be disappointed in this hunt." The wall is proving unfriendly terrain, and it is clear who has the advantage of mobility. He ascends slowly to the fire-escape and wraps a hand around a metal bar.

"Puma." He opens a mouth with very pronounced with canines. "I think I'll be eating someone much more exotic this evening then Italian. I might need to pick up some Cambodian spices."

He curls but then lunges directly upwards back to the rooftop. Hoping to break line of sight with the Spider, he moves quickly across the landscape of brick to hide behind a vent. No aware of how pointless it is to try and 'surprise' Spiderman, his choice tactic is to attempt a new ambush to counteract the speed of his prey.

Peter Parker has posed:
Is he going after this Puma?
...Yeah. Yeah, he is.
Spider-Man yanks a webline to slingshot himself up to the roof, landing lightly. No sense of fatigue, even if it could be smelled.
"...Okay, we're playing hide-and-seek now. Great." He moves forward carefully. "You know the bad part? You're saying my name wrong. Spider, hyphen, Man. I can hear you saying 'Spiderman' and it just annoys me the littlest bit..."

He certainly has a mouth like Circle-K, it never seems to close. Bravado, or covering nervousness.

"...I mean, it's just the TINIEST pause..."

Thomas Fireheart has posed:
A flurry of bricks thrown at high-velocity form Puma's eloquent response to the correction in the Spiderman pronunciation. There's a blur of light tanned fur as the predator darts between visual obstructions. Another onslaught of debris follows in the form of ripped sheet metal and broken pipes.

A little more lethal than rotten tomatoes, but the point is made. Puma is a critic. He's also carefully observing his prey as it goes through the paces of dodging his attacks. What strange creature this... Spider-Man. His feral voice calls out from a stack of HVAC equipment, "No wonder the mob wants you dead. Between that mouth and those moves, you are a true annoyance."

Peter Parker has posed:
The high-velocity projectiles come at Spider-Man like arrows of outrageous fortune. (Hey, Shakespeare reference. MJ would approve.)
He swats some out of the air, dodges the others, and tosses webs to block the stragglers.

To Thomas, it looks like a carefully-choreographed routine they are both participating in. But a choreographed scene only works if both parties know what is going on.

And that is the disquieting part. Puma may be leading, but Spider-Man is moving right where the projectiles AREN'T.

"Which mob, Puma? There are so MANY nowadays. You're not with Mister Negative? Nahhh, you don't have the Mind Control Cloud..."

Spider-Man has acted in enough movement for Thomas to detect a very ninjitsu-like pattern to his movements. He may be only somewhat-trained...but he is in training.

Thomas Fireheart has posed:
"It's a long list, Spider-man. Someone with deep enough pockets to want you out of the way for good." A lot growl rumbles in his broad chest. There's a loud crack behind the HVAC stack as brick, and other building materials are cast aside. A scream from within the building makes it clear that Puma either decided to retreat or change the battlefield.

In follow, his trail is obvious at first. A large caping whole in the roof the building and the ceiling of an apartment. An over-turned couch. A door hanging off hinges. A older woman in a set of very nostalgic curlers yelling profanities in Italian.

Peter Parker has posed:
Spider-Man looked down, then smiled apologetically. "Sorry, ma'am. No speaka da lingo."
This is a trap. He knows it is. But this stray cat is going to cause a lot of damage, and someone has to stop him.
He sighs, then drops through the hole, waving to the angry woman yalling at him on the way down.

Thomas Fireheart has posed:
Puma's trail leads down a corridor. It becomes decidedly less destructive one he's left the woman's apartment. There are, however, the signs of clawed feet scraping across polished concrete floors. Another scream echoes around a corner, echoing like it's within a stairwell.

There's only one way to go being the top floor, so it's obvious the fuzzball has gone down. Someone further down the stairs calls out something frantic in Cantonese. While the languages are diverse, panic sounds universal.

Peter Parker has posed:
Spider-Man shook his head. "Great...gotta play tag with this guy." He loads up the extra-strong webbing in the web-shooters. Anyone who can start a game of Brick Baseball is not to be trifled with.
"HEEERE, kitty, kitty, kitty...come out, come out, WHATEVER you are..." Spidey calls as he follows damage. "You are REALLY bringing down property values here!"

Thomas Fireheart has posed:
As Spiderman is calling, "Kitty Kitty." Puma is waiting just around the corner in the apartment hallway. His large clawed hand muffles the mouth of a middle-aged man in a tracksuit, a single claw aimed at his throat to enforce silence. There's likely small tickles of danger to Spidey's trump card before a figure lunges at him.

The devious part on Puma's side is the switch-a-roo. The lunge is actually the tossed bystander. The real threat dwells behind the distraction, mustering all its speed. Based on the hero's previous move, Puma tries rending where he thinks his target will be based on the more confined quarters

Peter Parker has posed:
INCOMING!
Spider-Man's eyes go wide at the middle-aged guy with the HORRENDOUS fashion sense and catches him, lunging back as Puma comes in swinging. "Excuse me," Spidey says as he deposits the guy in the doorway of another apartment, raising his hands to block the guy's arms. The blows are punishing, but the claws only graze the suit, tearing it in two places.

"THAT TEARS IT!" Spidey barks, and suddenly Puma gets a webbing facial treatment from one of the webshooters, covering his face with a net of webbing.

Thomas Fireheart has posed:
Puma's quick enough to lull his head to the side, so he only gets a half-face of webbing. He growls as yet another one of his ploys is outmaneuvered. Another door is torn off its hinges and used as a shield and visual impediment. Tossed as a very wide projectile, only someone like the Spider could avoid getting a face fool of treated wood.

Puma is already retreating once more. Another exit into a stairwell. A wad of torn fur mixed with spider-webbing is seen on the ground. Padded feet make him difficult to track by hearing alone.

Peter Parker has posed:
Spider-Man caught the door, wondering why he was doing this again. He put the door aside, then checked the various places. The A/R HUD picks up the webbing and hair, which goes into an evidence bag for later. He wants to get a better look to see what makes that stray cat strut.

"Puma, in about two minutes, I'm going for pizza. I've ALREADY done the cat-chasing thing, and just because you're bigger and stronger doesn't make you any less ANNOYING..."

Thomas Fireheart has posed:
There's no answer. Without continued pursuit, Puma does seem to give up the chase for now. An experienced enough bounty-hunter and assassin. He doesn't intend to keep flailing at the young hero until he manages to get gift-wrapped for the police. He had a scent now. He would have to be a more devious hunter for this one.

As for the fur, that will be an interesting time in the lab. A mix of mountain lion and human. It will hold very little insight additional for the tools and methods of science. The source of these powers come from the domain of the mystic, but who knows, maybe Peter can phone a friend.

Peter Parker has posed:
Spidey goes out to the main floor, then sighs. "Great. Another one to add to the Database. I wonder what the Black Cat...ah, crud. I have to block her access now."

He sighed. He REALLY wanted a cherry Coke right now...