Chapter 18
Seems I can never catch a break from crime. Though this time, the crime seems relatively normal compared to the past three super villains. Though these are a bit higher profile than the common thugs, since I do remember news reports on these guys explaining how dangerous they are over the past week.
Lisa: “Not even a week after the arrest of Arthur Watts and the city is already plagued by a new series of danger at the hands of a new biker gang recently raiding the streets and are suspected of the recent case of drug trafficking. The leader of this gang has yet to be identified, but they are believed to be the paled skinned woman often seen heading the pack.” As they show pictures of a woman with dark green mohawk, yellow eyes and skin that seems to be some sort of green with greyish looking scaly patches on her arms and around her face. She wears a white tank top, black pants, a long-sleeved chartreuse shirt tied around her waist, some black boot and brown fingerless gloves. Her sinister looking smile shows all of her teeth to very pointy and sharp. That and the scales make me think she might be some king of reptilian Faunus. Though that doesn’t explain her skin color. Being a Faunus doesn’t affect the color of one's skin, unless you were a chameleon type and can change your skin color at will. Though that doesn’t seem to be the case here, it looks too unnatural to be that. “If anyone encounters this woman and her gang, please steer clear and report them to the police.” As far as I’m concerned, these guys sound like their worth my attention if they’re truly that dangerous. And as I’m swinging towards the sound of trouble tonight, I think I just might be having my first encounter with them if the sound additional sounds of motorcycles were any indications. Upon arriving at the scene, I see guys on bikes driving around smashing property, stopping to mug and rob people and even spreading around gasoline and starting fires. And in the middles of it all is the same woman shown on the news.
???: “Nice work as always fellas. The feeling of this rush never gets old!” Speaking in a sort of British accent. But what I can’t get over most of all is what ends up happening before I arrive on the scene. A woman in a black and white suit with white long hair, black cat ears and a black mask with violet eye lenses arrives and starts fighting through the gang. Didn't take me long to figure out this is the elusive Black Cat.
Black Cat: “Sorry to burst your bubble, but I’m afraid that rush will have to stop here.” As she draws her claws from the nails of her gloves.
???: “Heh. I wouldn’t be sure of that love.”
Ruby: “Then maybe I should tip the odds!” As I show up on the scene on her other side. The look of slight surprise I expected from the criminal, but I wasn’t expecting to notice the look of surprise on the Cat’s face before she returned her focus to the woman when she speaks again.
???: “Well, well, well. If it ain’t the friendly neighborhood Spiderling.” Ugh. Again with the Spiderling stuff? “Now this is getting exciting!”
Black Cat: “I wouldn’t act so cocky when it’s two on one.”
Ruby: “You might as well just give up now.”
???: “Not a chance. You wanna take me in? Then you gotta earn it for yourselves.”
Ruby: “If you're trying to intimidate us, then it’s not working.”
Black Cat: “Nothing you do or say will stop us.”
???: “With that mindset, I can only wish you luck and welcome you to try. Otherwise, I’ll make certain that you remember the name ‘Tombstone’ for the rest of your lives!” Tombstone? That supposed to be her street gang name? I guess the cat doesn’t care much as she goes straight on the offensive. Her gets up close and moves to swipe at Tombstone with her claws. I eventually join in and try to get in my own attacks, but she’s a lot quicker than I thought she would be as she manages to parry most of our attacks until she grabs my ankle mid kick and tosses me aside with ease, signifying she’s a bit stronger than she looks too. I recover quick enough to witness more of the cat brawling with her, and as I watch her fight, I can’t help but feel like I’ve seen the she way she fights before, but what surprise me most is what happens when she scratches Tombstone across the face. Not only does she seem unfazed, there's also not a single hint of a scratch anywhere, and when Black Cat looks at her claws, and saw that they have been broken off and then look to see them on the ground.
Black Cat: “What in the-?” She doesn’t have enough time to react as Tombstone punched her in the gut and grabbed her by the arms as she’s reeling before tossing her in my direction. She collides into me and we tumble into the wall of a nearby building.
Tombstone: “Eh. That was okay, I guess. Though to be completely honest, I was expecting more from you two. Oh well. I guess we all have our off days. I’m sure things’ll be better the next time we meet.” As she picks up her bike and starts the engine. “Later Yankees!” As she rides off into the night.
Ruby: “Ugh! Ow...” That’s when I look to see that during our tumble, I ended up yanking off her mask and her... hair?! A closer look would tell you that its some kind of special wig. Then I look over to see the cat who is now getting up herself, and I see who she is when she looks my way and I see the short black hair and the golden eyes of... “Blake!?” That’s when she realizes that she lost her mask and wig and then sees them in my hand.
Blake: “I uh... I mean... that is...” She starts getting a little frantic before she throws down a smoke bomb.
Ruby: *cough, cough* What the heck!?” *cough, cough* When the smoke clears, she’s gone and she snagged the mask and wig back along the way. That's when I hear sirens and take my leave to the rooftops. “What the heck? Blake is the Black Cat?” That’s when I think back to my earlier thought of seeing the cats fighting style before. I remember it’s the same as the Menagerin martial arts that Blake fought with during our sparring sessions. And when I think about it, the cat did start appearing after Blake moved to Vale and transferred to our school. This might also be part of why she was so quick to support my decision to become a hero. But then, why didn’t she say something earlier? *sigh* Hopefully I can get some answers from her tomorrow and we can work on stopping this Tombstone character together. If we can even find a way to stop her at all, given what happened with Blake’s claws back there. What the heck was that even about? Her claws are metal and they snapped off without a scratch. Judging from that alone, I already have a bad feeling about the coming challenges with this one. But that won’t stop me from doing what I can to protect the city... no matter what!