Disclaimer: If you recognise it, surprise, I don't own it.

Chapter 4– Help in the Unlikeliest Place.

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I am in quite a precarious situation right now though there are some who would be pretty envious of my current position since Black Cat is lying on top of me right now. I can feel her purposely pressing herself against me, which is arousing all kinds of feelings in me, but at the same time, she is currently trailing one of her claws up the length of my middle leg, which also arouses more feelings in me though these feelings are a mixed bag.

Black Cat begins to lean into me even more, and her mouth gets dangerously close to my ear. I can hear her panting right up against my ear and her hot breath on my skin as her lips get closer and closer until she stops just before contact. as usual, she is being her teasing, flirty self. However, something is different this time as I don't think she has ever threatened me in such a way before. "Hmm, you aren't the Spider. You are someone else. Just who are you?"

All other thoughts immediately leave my mind as her words register in my ears, and suddenly I no longer feel any arousal at all. Instead, I only feel extreme danger at this point in time, as I am particularly aware of her pointy sharp claw skimming along the surface of my most valuable appendage.

I know that while the Black Cat is just a thief who doesn't go out of her way, she can also be quite vicious and ruthless when she wants something, and someone is in her way, so right now, I am in legitimate danger of being made into a eunuch under this siren because I am in her way. She wants the bag of loot I hold in my hand.

"Come on, don't be ridiculous, Cat. Who else looks this good in spandex, especially in such primary colours?" Projecting confidence and trying to make a dumbass quip, like the real Spider-Man would, I try to throw this woman off the trail she has somehow found. She is supposed to be a cat and not a hound dog, so I don't understand how she clicked on to the fact that I am not Spider-Man or at least not fully Spider-Man.

Apparently, my attempt doesn't work as she just narrows her eyes at me, and her smirk somehow extends to become even more significant, if that is even possible. Then, her tongue darts out to lick her lips for just a split second before it slips back into her mouth. Again, I feel like I am in the trap f some kind of predator.

"If that is true, you must be pretty high right now because you are acting nothing like you usually would. Right now, the pure and righteous Spider would have shrivelled and died under my grasp, but you? You are rock hard like a diamond, and this kitty likes diamonds." Her hand moves faster than expected and travels downwards to cusp me. I feel a shock journey through my body as five clawed fingers surround my balls and begin to dig into them a little, sending my concern and worry through the roof and in response, without even thinking about it, one of my arms moves off their own accord and strikes out.

I hear her gasp a little, and I quickly realise what I have done. My left arm is still outstretched and holding onto the duffel bag, but my right hand has encircled her throat and is grasping it tightly. Of course, Peter would have never done this, and while I should feel some shame at the thought, all I can feel is a little happiness as it proves that I am my own person, utterly separate from Peter Parker.

"Y-Yeah, there is no way you are Spider-Man, not a chance. He would never put his hands around my throat because of his aggravating morals that hold him back, not unless it was his only option. But, unlike him, you have quite the mean streak." Then, finally, she choked out, and I looked up at her in surprise to see that her jade-like pale skin had been marred by the bright red flush on her face because I was restricting her oxygen intake.

However, the most surprising thing is that she looks down at me and still smiles as my hand chokes her. She looks pleased with the fact like it is just her birthday, and she got the best present ever. Her eyes are now gleaming, and she has the same look in her eye that she has when she is trying to steal valuable items like I have seen in the past.

Getting weirded out and noticing that she is no longer focusing on threatening my sanctity as a man, I use my leverage on her throat to throw her backwards. She flies backwards to fall on her ass, so I take the opportunity to get back to my feet and gain some distance as I no longer liked the way this situation is heading. I wanted to get far away from this woman who seemed to have caught on to me, a woman like the Black Cat would most likely want to use the information for herself.

Thinking it is too much of a hassle to continue with this escapade any longer and wanting to get rid of this intuitive woman, I throw the black duffel bag back at her. But, unfortunately, she catches it just as she gets to her feet, sending her back onto her ass. I can find some other source of wealth because there is crime and opportunity everywhere, and I don't need Black Cat's loot to complete the goals that I have set for myself.

"Here, you can have this back. I don't need it. Hopefully, there are some diamonds in there for you to busy yourself with, as you love them so much. See ya later, Cat." And with that, I turn away and go to leave the roof to search elsewhere for a way to complete my objective. I am seriously contemplating going to Wilson Fisk's place and stealing from him.

I know where he lives, and he is a bad guy, so- SPIDER SENSE- I leap to the side and turn around to see Black Cat sliding with great speed across the concrete floor, and she catches herself and slows herself down by sticking her claws into the ground, I stand there and stare at her as she gets back up and stares right back.

"Hold up, don't go just yet. The fun was just starting, and I am not that interested in that bag anymore as I found something else to preoccupy my time." Saying so, she quickly whips out two bolas.

She flings them at me, with one going towards my feet and the other heading towards my torso, but instead of dodging them and retreating, I instead move towards them and leap forward and spin to fit through the gap between the bolas, which takes her by surprise, I do a perfect roll to get back to my feet without losing any momentum and spring towards her wanting to incapacitate the troublesome woman and leave as I can do without the hassle.

Using this moment where she is surprised, I go straight for a finisher and launch an uppercut at her torso so that I can knock her out and move on with my day. Still, her reflexes are incredible as she quickly reacts and back springs away, leaving my fist to skim past her uniform and narrowly miss her. As she lands a distance away from me, I realise that while she may have escaped any damage, her outfit did not, as I can see two big globes of flesh hang out in the cold open air for my viewing pleasure.

I am taken aback by the view and stop pursuing her in favour of savouring the moment. And being confused as to why I stopped chasing her, she follows my gaze and looks down at her exposed upper body. I expect her to do some girlish scream and quickly cover herself and turn around, but instead, she looks back up at me and smirks, not the least bit bothered by her nudity which leaves me flabbergasted.

"You are definitely Spider-Man, no doubt about it. Nobody else would be able to pull off those moves with such ease and flexibility except maybe Daredevil, but there is no way I would ever forget that cute tushie of yours. But at the same time, you are not Spider-Man. He would have never stared at me for this long, and you haven't looked away even now. Not to mention how brutal you are as you planned to knock me out with a powerful punch to the stomach, whereas he would have whittled me down slowly, too afraid of causing me permanent harm though I can't say I dislike your style." She crosses her arms to emphasise her chest, making my gaze even more attracted to the bare skin.

Still, at her words, I look back up at her face to see her regarding me with a thoughtful look. I don't like how close she is getting to the truth, and I know that the longer I stay around her, the more she is going to become interested in me. So finally, deciding that I have had enough, I go to leave. But, unfortunately, I know that Black Cat may just throw one of her gadgets at me again in an attempt to stop me.

Still, this time after dodging, I will just continue to leave and run away instead of facing her. If she chases me, I may just end up using my remaining web fluid to swing out and leave her in the dust. I am willing to risk people seeing me, and most likely, even if Peter hears rumours about it (which I seriously doubt since Spider-Man swinging around New York isn't big news, it is just another Tuesday), he can be pretty stupid sometimes so he will probably just ignore it.

"Hold on right there, mystery man. You have piqued my curiosity now, and I want to know more about you. Also, you probably don't want me telling the real Spider about this, do you? I mean, meeting such an interesting person like yourself, I would find it hard to keep such news to myself, and I always run into Spider-Man when doing my errands, so I will probably blurt it to him. But, I really am just fascinated by you. with the Spider, I am more interested in the mask than the man beneath since I have a feeling that he isn't as fun or exciting when he isn't wearing his mask, but with you, it is the opposite, I am more interested in the man beneath the mask. So, really, who are you?"

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

I pause and stop in my steps. I look back at her as she stands there and looks me up and down, intrigued. I really don't know what to do in this situation because I know exactly what kind of person the Black Cat is, and I know she is the kind of person who will stop at nothing to get what she wants. Although I remember feeling great relief that all she seemed to want was to steal from rich people and nothing more serious, it would be pretty hard to deal with her if she had much bigger ambitions.

From all my memories of tangling with her and chasing her, I know that she is a selfish, greedy woman who wants everything, and she can sometimes be ruthless enough to get whatever she wants. But, most of all, she is a woman who loves excitement and thrill, and right now, she seems to believe she can get both from me. "You know, sometimes it is better not to know and stay in the dark. Have you never heard the phrase, curiosity killed the cat?"

"Well then, I guess it is a good thing that I have a few more lives to waste. Though I suppose I can understand your hesitation, I am asking you to reveal yourself to me, and I know how you spider guys don't like to do that. With Spider-Man, I never asked to see beneath his mask. I never took mine off in turn because I didn't want a relationship with him as the people under the guise as I thought we were truly the masks we were wearing. That part of him is all I wanted and not the other stuff. However, he didn't seem to be receptive to that idea which is why he has rejected my advances, but with you, I can tell that you are hiding your true self under that mask, somebody else's disguise and the person hiding underneath is fun and wild and just like me, and he is raring to come out. And so, because I am asking to see the person you truly are-"

She whips her domino mask off, exposing her bare upper face to my eyes. "I am willing to reciprocate in turn. after all, you are much more interesting than the Spider since you are as similar to me as you are to him, which interests me oh so much. I can't bear to let this opportunity go. I don't want to wonder just what kind of valuables I could have got my hands on. That is the worst thing for a thief like me, knowing you had something of considerable worth in your hands and letting it slip through your fingers." I stare at her face, and it is incredible just how much beauty that little domino mask is hiding as the area around her eyes is revealed.

I notice that her deep blue eyes have now changed to emerald green that is just as absorbing as her obviously fake blue eyes were (probably some sort of lense or tint on the eyeholes of her mask), but that is it as I already knew who was under the guise. In this world, the Black Cat has yet to be caught by anyone. Having only really been pursued by Spider-Man, and him being easily flustered and confused, he has ended up letting her escape more than once and only managing to retrieve the things that she stole.

But while Spider-Man did not know her real identity, my otherworldly memories did have that knowledge, and because of that, I knew exactly who she was. I knew that she was Felicia Hardy, what she had to go through and why she trained, which was to get revenge, but before she could find the man she wanted to kill, he was run over and killed in a car accident, left unfulfilled she started a life of thievery and enjoying the rush she made a career of it as she wanted to take back control.

"So you took off your little mask, is that supposed to make some sort of connection with me? Because news flash, just because I can see a tiny bit more of your face and your natural eyes doesn't mean that I will take off my own mask and show you my face. I don't know what you are trying to gain here, but I have better things to do with my time, don't follow me." Having had enough of this conversation and finding no reason to remain, I turn back around to leave.

Wanting to leave on the double, I decide to say fuck it, and I point my hand upwards and touch my fingers to my palm to release a strand of web that shoots out to attach to the side of the building. I go to jump off the edge of the building and swing away to actually- "You are scared, aren't you? That's why you are running away, just like he would." -I skid to a stop, still holding onto the web, knowing that I should have just jumped off of the edge of the building and left, and yet I find myself standing still having heard some words that I do not like.

"He is afraid to take off his mask, to expose himself. He has excuses like wanting to protect his loved ones and wanting to have a private life, and while those may, in fact, be true, he also has another reason. The truth is that he is scared. He needs the distinction between his civilian and his heroic identity because if he sheds the mask, then he will not be able to deny who he really is. He doesn't want to be only Spider-Man, and that is why he wears a mask so that he can do what he wants and be an illegal vigilante and so that he can also have his own life separate from that, but if he takes off his mask then he will be fully embracing his true self, and he shies away from that, he wants there to be a time when he can put down the mask and retire, but we aren't like that are we?" She says, and I can't help but listen.

"We don't want to fade away into mediocrity and disappear to live a quiet little life in the suburbs, we want to live a meaningful life full of excitement, thrill and joy, and we want to continue doing that till the day we die. I know I want to, and I think you do too, so will you be just like him and shy away from who you are? Or are you going to embrace who you are and live your life to the max, be your true self?" I don't want to listen to her words, and yet I can't stop. I know that Peter's reasons for protecting his identity are for noble reasons to protect the people around him, and yet I can't deny the fact that there is some truth to her words.

It was always in the back of his mind, the day he could finally stop feeling the guilt about Uncle Ben and the day he could stop repenting for what he had done, finally having retrieved redemption for the terrible thing he had done. Still, in the back of his mind, no matter how much he tries to deny it, he knows that he will never be free of the guilt.

He will always be Spider-Man, no matter how many times he tries to stop, until he is physically unable to do it anymore, and even then, he will probably continue to try and help in whatever way he can. He isn't a coward, but he also isn't true to himself, and he doesn't accept himself, but I am not Spider-Man. I am not Peter Parker. I am Ben Reilly, someone completely different who wants more than to be eternally pinned down by self-loathing and guilt. I want to be myself.

I am in disbelief as I open my hand and let the strand of webbing go. As it leaves my grasp, I feel as if I am letting some other things go with it as well. I watch it swing off, knowing that I am probably making a dumb decision, and yet I turn around to look at her and at the sight of her face, I again feel trepidation, and the smirk upon her face irritates me something fierce.

Still, I am more annoyed at the thought of being like Peter, of being a clone and having no other substance to me. I don't want to walk down the street and have people go, 'Hey, that's that dude, you know, Spider-Man's clone. What's his name again, Clone-Spider, right?' I abhor the thought of it, of being just a remnant of Peter, as if he scraped off a little skin one day, and that skin grew to be me as if that is all I am. So I refuse to have my Facebook profile be 'Science nerd, Arachnid lover, Genetic experiment and Peter Parker's clone. If you want to know more than just look at his bio, I am a copy and paste of him after all.'

I stare at her for a moment as she stands there, exposed in both senses of the word and uncaring of her current position, and she watches me like a hawk with enjoyment in her eyes as if a predator playing with its prey. I know that I might just be doing something that I may come to regret in the future. Even so, my hand reaches up and grasps the top of my mask, and I slowly begin to drag it up.

I am unsure if this is real as I have memories of doing my utmost to never take off this mask, yet I am doing precisely that. Of course, Peter would have never done this, and for good reason, but I don't care about good reason, and I think I am doing this simply because Peter wouldn't, and that is enough reason for me.

It is only when I feel my newly blonde hair flop down against my head and the cold breeze of polluted New York air across my face that I realise I have already taken my mask off. I pull my hand down to my face to look upon the mask of Spider-Man, the red spandex mask, the black lining stitched to look like a web and the white lenses fashioned from the screens of old watches. The maniacal man even went as far as to recreate the costume down to the most minor parts.

I look up from the mask to spot Black Cat paying particular attention to my features as if trying to burn them into her memory, trying to remember every inch and imperfection and store them in her mind. She finally pays attention to my eyes and looks into my hazel eyes as I stare right back into her green ones, she smiles at me, but I can't place exactly what type of smile it is. I don't know what she is thinking.

"I am Felicia Hardy, otherwise known as the infamous thief Black Cat. I used to be an Art Major, but I gave that up due to circumstances. I decided to be free and enjoy my life instead of being someone who is taken advantage of by society. Nice to meet you, ...?" She pauses, which is my cue to talk.

"Ben Reilly..."

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"So, Ben Reilly, welcome to my penthouse suite. Make yourself at home, please." She says as she walks around her furniture and to her coffee table. She takes the duffel bag, unzips it, and turns it upside down so that all the contents can spill out onto the coffee table. I watch as jewellery, cash, diamonds and gold fall down onto the table, and once the bag is empty, she throws it onto the sofa before turning around and going off into another room, leaving me alone in the middle of her penthouse suite.

As I look around her current home, I ponder what in the actual hell I am doing here. After taking my mask off on the rooftop and telling her my newly chosen name, she began to move, telling me to follow behind her. Not knowing what else to do, I listened and chased off after her, not knowing what to expect but knowing that it was better than staying on that rooftop, and she led me to this place.

I spend a few more moments observing the room, but it is just your ordinary luxury penthouse suite with nothing being out of the ordinary apart from the plates piled up in the sink and wrappers and packaging covering the kitchen counters and a whole lot of mess piled up around the room itself, she really does embody a cat with all of the mess she's created here while lounging around.

Finally, the door opens, and she walks back out dressed in an oversized loose-fitting t-shirt that descends to her knees, and I can't tell if she is wearing anything under there... She probably isn't. given her apparent disregard for clothing that she showed earlier and her okayness with nudity, she walks past me to the kitchen. She gets a bottle of wine out of the fridge and picks up a wine glass before plopping down onto the sofa and kicking her legs up onto her pile of goods on the coffee table, and she switches on the tv to watch some inane sitcom.

"So, Ben, what is your story? Also, what is your connection to Spider-Man?"