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Chapter 3– Cat and Mouse.

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Taking a running start, I jump across the street to land on another building and then run along the rooftops of that block, never taking my eyes off the moving target that also prowls the rooftops while sticking to the shadows like myself. I run and jump and bound across the concrete jungle, getting closer and closer to them, but while I move with efficiency and speed, they move with all that with some poise and some grace.

I feel mesmerised as they spin and twirl along Manhatten, making each jump and every leap look so easy, which is for me, but the person I am chasing is just an average human, and yet I am only barely managing to catch up to them.

I no longer care about catching them. I am merely chasing them now to watch the daring feats they perform with just standard human capability as opposed to myself, whose strength and existence are all fabricated and mocked up by some mad scientist in a silly green costume.

Still, I suppose nowadays, the evilest men aren't those in boardrooms and in meetings (some of them are), but they are mostly those who choose a green theme (and some of those guys are in boardrooms and in discussions). The Jackal, the Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus, Doctor Doom and those are just a few from this universe. Even in the DC universe, there is Ra's al Guhl, Lex Luthor with his favourite kryptonite, and finally, the worst one, The Joker, who takes madness to a whole other level and is the reason my other half is happy that he came here and not to that universe.

I actually have a lot of memories of different worlds created in my previous life by many great authors and creators, but if this universe turns out to be real, then doesn't that mean the- SPIDER SENSE IS TINGLING- I automatically transition into a handstand and push my fingertips against the ground to change my direction. As I do so, I lift my head and spot the danger I was awarned of, a pair of black bolas spinning through the air towards me.

As I watch them pass through the previous position, I realise that I had begun to daydream while enraptured by the enticing performance ahead of me and lost track of my surroundings. Springing back to my feet, I settle into a languid position as I am used to doing when facing others as Spider-Man and watch as my target-turned-assailant jumps onto the same rooftop that I occupy and stops a healthy distance from me.

"Well, now, I didn't think that I would be running into you tonight, Spider. I'm just having a late-night shopping spree. can't a girl have a little fun anymore?" Black Cat sultrily speaks as she begins to circle around me while walking with a sway in her step and a duffel bag clasped in her palm. I watch, finding it hard to not let my eyes wander away from her face.

The Black Cat is a 5'10" woman who weighs around 120 lbs, and she is an attractive tall (we are around the same height, she is just taller because of the heels) woman with a full head of platinum blond nearly white hair and fair skin with mesmerising deep blue eyes.

She wears a tight-fitting black latex catsuit with some small heels at the bottom of her feet. It is lined with white fur around the top half of the suit along the back of her forearms and around her collar. she wears a black choker around her neck that is stylised to look like a cat collar with a metal ring taking the place of the tag and to finish off the ensemble she has a black stylised domino mask upon her face that accentuates her features and her lipstick red luscious plump lips.

"Of course, you can have fun, but it's not fair if you are the only one having fun, is it? I also want to have some fun, so why don't you show me what's in the bag? I am sure it will alleviate my boredom." I speak with my arms crossed in front of my chest and tilting my head to the side, playing the role of Spider-Man to a tee having all the necessary memories and muscle memory to slip right back into the role as if putting on an old glove and the feeling that surges in me at this moment is immense and thrilling.

I don't know how I am going to part with such a thing in the future. I know that Peter used to feel a similar feeling as well, but what I am feeling right now is much more intense, and I can only assume that it is because of the new memories that I relish this feeling and wants more of it.

"You want to see inside my shopping bag. Wouldn't you rather we go somewhere more private, and I can model all my great purchases for you? Well, if you are that impatient, I suppose you can have a look inside, and you can pick out something dazzling for me to wear later on." She naughtily smirks at me before stopping and turning to face me before she lifts up the duffel bag and throws it up high into the air towards me.

I watch it go up for a second before I realise I have seen this same development in one too many moments. So my gaze flickers back down just in time to catch her leaping towards me with a foot aiming straight for my face. Moving slightly to the side, I reached a hand and grabbed her by the ankle that was flying towards me. Still, her moment carries forward, and she begins to swing around and fling her other leg towards my head, forcing me to release her from my grasp and jump backwards to avoid the blow.

We both look each other in the eye. I see in her eyes the same wild excitement that I feel inside, and at some unheard bell, we both blast off to each other, with her starting with a high right kick that I avoid and counterattack with my own right jab, which she sways out of the way of but instead of retreating like I expected her to she brings her extended right leg down to wrap around my arm and then taking me by surprise she grabs my arm to lift herself into the air at which point she spins around to bring her left leg around which wraps around my neck. Still, she doesn't stop her spin, and I get caught up in the motion.

I find myself falling to the ground with my neck constricted in place between her left leg and thigh. After taking a moment to savour the feeling, I reach my hand out to press across the ground and stop my head from impacting against the concrete. Still, before I can do anything else, she slips away from me and out of my sight, avoiding my spinning back fist as I push myself off the ground and back to a standing position.

We are once again at a standoff, and as I keep my eye on her, I notice her gaze flicker to the side for just a second. When I see where she is looking, it reminds me that we both have different objectives here. Her objective right now is to fight me off and escape with her duffel bag of stolen treasures, while my goal right now is t- I don't know what my objective is right now because I only started chasing her out of boredom since I did not have anything else to do and no idea where to go or what to do when I spotted her bountiful form prancing along the skyline.

Right now, I am just fighting her because it is the basic instinct ingrained in me. The Peter in me saw her committing a crime (most likely, given that I did not see her do anything illegal, but she was carrying a suspicious duffel bag) and immediately went into action. In contrast, my other half saw a beautiful woman prancing within my eyesight like a graceful gazelle and was instantly gravitated towards her. Then that side got caught up in the battle and began to enjoy it in a way that Peter never could.

Now knowing that there is a difference in our goals here, I decide it is time for me to change up the game a little and play a bit of cat and mouse with her, with her obviously being the cat in this scenario and me being the mouse she is trying to catch, and I find it ironic that the roles we are both suited towards are going to be switched around.

I moved suddenly without warning towards her at a full-out sprint. Surprised, she jumped back to give her more room to function, knowing that I was approaching fast. But instead of going after her, I stop halfway and pick up the duffel bag and put it over my shoulder before turning around and running in the opposite direction from her.

"Hey, what the hell? THAT IS MY STUFF. GIVE IT BACK!" She shouts in the background as I run off, leaping over to another building. I can hear her chasing me from behind, and I find it hard not to laugh out loud at the thought of our roles now taking such opposite extremes, with the thief being the one who is chasing the hero, and this also puts her on the back foot.

Peter had never done anything like this and only focused on capturing her, with reclaiming the stolen goods only being a secondary objective. In contrast, I don't give two shits about capturing her, having enough problems of my own to deal with. She is basically just a harmless thief who steals from people who deserve to be stolen from and thinking about it, I realise that this here duffel bag may actually be the answer to my questions as it no doubt holds a lot of treasure and the one thing that I have been searching for all day is wealth to help finance my other goals.

Now wanting to actually get away with this duffel bag of loot, I begin to try my best to actually escape from her, running, jumping and flipping to ht best of my ability to escape my sexy latex-clad pursuer and get to a safe area where I can take stock of my stolen riches and figure out where to go from there.

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No longer caring if anyone sees me and knowing that those who will see me are only going to be those who are incredibly skilled or have powers, I begin to run and jump without care and without stealth. I feel so much freedom and so alive at that moment that I can't help but fully embrace it and go on autopilot, leaping and twisting through the sky as I continue to run and run without a destination in sight.

As I remain on the move, I begin to ponder what exactly my next moves are going to be after I have taken inventory of my newly gathered wealth, having already thought of several options before and knowing that they are not viable, which is why I decide to take the less than legal route. Still, even though that comes with risks, I considered going to the Fantastic Four for help due to my good opinion of them. Still, I realised that they cared more for Peter and would definitely inform him of my existence, so I thought of going to the Avengers. Still, I know that those members are a mixed bag, and they will probably break out into a fight with a difference of opinions.

I considered going to SHIELD and Nick Fury, but that was a dumb idea, and it would be better to stay away from such a paranoid man. I considered going to Captain America, but while he does have the heart and morals needed, he does not have the resources necessary to help me. I considered going to Tony Stark, but he is the exact opposite of Captain America, having the resources but not the morals or heart needed, as he is more likely to use my existence to his benefit and use me as an off-the-books operative and not for the first time I relent about the fact that we can't all be so blessed to have the fantastic Robert Downey Junior as Tony Stark in our universes.

This is why my most favourable option at the moment is the illegal one. I will probably end up going to some criminal like The Tinkerer or something who would easily take this bag of loot as payment and someone like him who would find it laughably easy to create a new identity for me and forge some documentation.

Hell, they could probably even make some mad invention to use on people and insert yourself in their memories to create a functional backstory which would actually be great for- SPIDER SENSE TINGLING- I seamlessly transition into a roll to avoid whatever it is that blasts past straight above me narrowly missing my body. I roll back onto my feet, but I don't let that stop my sprint, and I continue to run. Finally, I saw that the thing that was blasted at me was actually a miniature grappling hook.

When I turn back around for a second, I am shocked to see the cable attached to the miniature grappling hook coming out of the white fur on the sleeve of The Black Cat, who is pursuing me like a woman possessed with a focused stoic look on her face as her eyes focus only on the duffel bag in my hand. She chases after it with a single-minded focus, and when she notices me looking back, her eyes focus on mine, and I find myself scared at the intense emotions that reside behind her eyes. So I turned around again, more determined than ever to escape this curvaceous mad woman.

Having underestimated the woman, I stop my daydreaming and focus back on my goal, which is to escape from her sight and make off with her stolen treasure. Then I can work out the specifics later, knowing that this woman will not be as easy to shake off as I had expected. So I begin to make more use of my abilities to escape her as they allow a range of more options and paths for me to take. Still, I refrain from using my web shooters, not wanting to draw even more eyes to myself than there already are and swinging through the middle of the street definitely draws more attention, even if it would be the most effective tool at my disposal right now.

I continue to run, having an idea of where exactly I am going to run, and I hop and skip across the building in search of an area with my exact parameters. When I finally approach it, I can feel some relief rush through my body as I jump off of the ledge of a building to jump onto a brick wall attaching to it with both of my hands and feet having the duffel bag on my shoulder, after properly securing myself I look back to see The Black Cat still chasing after me.

To my knowledge, while she has some tools, her only method of transportation is those small grappling hooks in her sleeve, and so feeling in a safe place, I turn around and give her a two-finger salute while hefting the bag up with my other hand to grab her attention and shove it in her face. It works as I can see her start to growl, which amuses me greatly, and then I turn back around with only my feet up against the building. I begin to run up the side of the tall brick building, and I start to chortle as I can hear a scream of frustration sound behind me as I climb the building with increasing speed.

With this, I can be assured that I have lost her since I made sure to choose an area with multiple tall buildings. The real kicker is that these buildings will get progressively taller as I move more and more into the centre of Manhattan. I will continue to get higher and higher, which it will take time for The Black Cat to reach as she will be spending a lot of time shooting her miniature grappling hook to hook on and then pull herself up and then keep repeating the process while I am just sprinting up the side of buildings with inhuman speed.

I continue to run and travel up the side of a few more buildings changing my direction along the way to avoid staying on a linear path. Finally, when I reached the top of another building, I stopped having climbed more than enough and not believing that Black Cat would be able to catch up to me anytime soon. So I slow to a stop atop this building and take a moment to calm my breath and calm down my surging emotions and my plumping blood, having found the entire exchange and chase exhilarating and addicting.

I know that Peter enjoyed some of his encounters with villains and heroes alike. But, still, he more enjoyed the exchange of wit and making quips and jokes and riling people up that way, and while I also appreciate that my new personality meld means that I also like the fight and exchange of fists as well as the chase because I take great pleasure in the rush of my blood through my veins, the adrenaline surging through my body, the electricity that surges through my limbs and the fire that runs along my skin.

My past life never had too many fights, and the ones they did have, they never felt like I do right now. Likewise, Peter never felt like I do right now, so I am a bit confused as to where this unexpected depth of emotion and feeling came from, but if it is not from Peter. If it is not from my past life, then I can only assume that it is mine and something that I myself have developed over the course of my so far short existence, and I love the feeling.

I am not Peter, and I am not the man from the other universe either, and while I am made up of both of them, I have my own emotions and feelings that are solely my own, which this situation proves. I am going to embrace those feelings and let the-. A black blur with white streaks flashes by me, and the duffel bag that was grasped in my hand is ripped from my palm and follows the black blur across the rest of the rooftop and off of the edge, jumping into the night sky and then falling out of my sight, shocked because my spider-sense didn't notice anything (probably because there was no harmful intent directed towards me, and the thief was only taking the duffel bag).

I run to the edge of the building and look down to see Black Cat free-falling headfirst through the air with the duffel bag in her grasp. Then, as if sensing me, her body spins around in mid-air. She sticks her pink tongue out at me before pointing her arm to the side and firing her miniature grapple gun to attach to the side of a building and transform her fall into a bastardised version of a web swing and then swings away into the night.

I just stay there and watch her go for a while. Instead of feeling frustrated, I just feel the excitement coursing through my body because I could easily just go searching through the streets and come across some regular hoodlums and tail them. They would lead me to their bosses, and then I would follow those guys to their bosses, and so on until I found a boss with sufficient wealth on hand, which I could steal, or I could just happen across a criminal's secret stash with this being New York and all.

But that would not be fun at all, a bubble of laughter escapes from my mouth as I back up a bit before running and jumping off of the edge of the building, and a feeling of freedom and utter profoundness fills my being as I shoot down through the air like a bullet. I get lost in the moment, so much so that I lose sight of my goal as I feel the cold air smash against my face as I nose dive straight towards the ground.

Seeing the ground, I come to my senses and remember that I am supposed to be chasing the lithe cat-themed thief who is currently running across the rooftops and gaining a lot of distance from me. Still, I don't find myself panicking at all, even though I continue to fall. At the same time, she gets further and further away. Looking up from the ground, I begin to closely examine my surroundings even though I am dropping like an anvil. Still, thanks to my enhanced sense, I can easily make out everything around me even as it passes me at hundreds of miles per hour and doing some insane mental maths in my head, I pick out a point on a wall a sufficient distance below and away from me and I reach my hand out to the side. For the first time, I used my web shooters to do a web swing.

I press on the trigger on the inside of my palm, and a strand of webbing shoots out and impacts the wall. I continue to fall for a moment before the web pulls taught, and I swing through the air. I swing until I am perpendicular to the ground, at which point I let go. I fly through the air which such speed that I think I might be able to continue on at this height forever, but eventually, I lose momentum and I slow down, but that doesn't matter as I have already accomplished what I wanted to do.

I spear through the air and tackle The Black Cat, who has no clue what has hit her, and we tumble across the concrete rooftop. As we do so, I reach my hand out and grab onto the duffel bag and rip it from her grip, ready to run off with it again. Still, as our momentum ends, we finish tumbling with my laying down on the concrete with my back against it and her lying atop of me, and I take a moment to relish in the situation.

Her head tilts up to look at me, and I smirk down at her. Even though I have the mask on, I can tell that she somehow knows what I am doing because her lips curl up into a beautiful smile. Still, even if it was beautiful, I could tell that it wasn't genuine as her eyes were regarding me with an emotion that I couldn't quite place. Still, I can't really bring myself to care about that right now as I want to continue the chase and escape with the duffel bag, which is within my grasp.

I heft it up so that she can see it just to rub it in her face, but instead of getting frustrated, her smirk somehow gets bigger, which confuses me. Then she nods down, and I follow her nod down the length of our entwined bodies to see her outstretched clawed hand dangerously close to my nether regions, and now that I can see it, I can actually feel the clawed tips skimming along the edges. I find myself nervously sweating, having not got to use the equipment yet, and already it is in jeopardy.

"Now, how about we have a little chat?" Black Cat whispers into my ear, and I feel her begin to trace one of her claw-tipped fingers upwards, and I don't know what to feel. Am I lucky or unlucky?