Cats and Spiders
Peter was laying down silently, resting his stomach against the cold concrete, looking down the hole of his scope. He was positioned on the edge of a tall building near Kingsley Ltd, the building he was hired to infiltrate. It was going to be a tough job, but he wouldn't have it any other way. It was times like these that Peter felt the most at ease.
He had an objective.
A Purpose.
During his time at the Hydra facility Peter had been given orders by his superiors every day, but now without a superior, Peter feels empty, like he has no purpose. He gains some sort of satisfaction in these jobs, they substitute an objective, they help him not stray completely over the edge.
Peter was paid a substantial amount extra for this job. He's been hired to retrieve information from Roderick Kingsley, Fashion designer and CEO of Kingsley Ltd, which is located in his highly secured office. Kingsley has been involved with Oscorp recently and Peter's been hired to find out why.
He had been posted on the roof silently since 6 PM watching Kingsley's every move inside the building for three hours. He needed to ensure everything ran smoothly. There couldn't be any mistakes, that would mean failure. Hydra trained him to be above that, there wasn't any room for failure.
They needed a replacement for the winter soldier, Peter was the perfect candidate. Young, intelligent, had super strength, enhanced reflexes, and a sixth sense. They didn't need to spend money on replicating the serum, all they needed to do was brainwash him. Without his memories getting in the way, they were able to develop him into the perfect soldier. Day after day of constant training, no breaks were given. The only time they stopped was when he passed out from exhaustion. He was taught elements from Tae Kwon Do, Karate, Judo, Kung Fu, Krav Maga, and Jiujitsu. Every day he would fight until his knuckles bled, his hands were broken, or he couldn't stand and then he would be strapped onto an operating table in the Hydra lab and experimented on. They wanted to try and improve his healing factor and wouldn't stop experimenting until his body could repair broken bones in minutes. It worked and now his healing factor is almost as enhanced as Deadpool's.
Hydra lost an extremely valuable asset when Peter managed to escape. After all, he is a highly trained superhuman with an excellent healing factor.
To Peter, the five years in captivity weren’t a waste. Alongside combat, Peter had been trained for stealth, infiltration, and assassination, as part of his super soldier regimen. The training has been crucial in his current occupation, he's basically a spy. Once he had adequate training and his conditioning had been deemed successful, he was promoted up in the program, Peter was allowed to be outside his cell and helped train new recruits. That was their most fatal mistake, he was able to escape after a few months once he memorized the building's layout.
Peter had been a great fighter before the program, but he’s even better now, Hydra had ensured it. They trained him until he was nothing but efficiency and calculation, though it had come at the cost of his sanity.
Scouting the area once again Peter began putting all his necessary items for the job in his utility belt. He needed flash drives, extra web cartridges, and a gun. Peter couldn't let this job go south, Kingsley is an important figure in New York, and if this gets out Hydra and SHIELD will be on his tail. He knows Hydra is still looking, they lost one of their greatest (living) assets when Peter escaped.
Caught up in his thoughts Peter wouldn't have noticed a figure climbing up the building had his spidey senses not alerted him. Peter narrowed his eyes at the figure scaling the side of the building with a grappling hook. It was a woman with white hair, in a seductive skin-tight black catsuit.
Who is she?
Doesn't matter. He couldn't afford wasting time on something as trivial as that, all he knew was the woman was a problem. Knowing his luck, she was most likely heading for Kingsley's office too. In a matter of seconds, Peter scraped his initial plan. He dropped his rifle and shot a web at the roof of Kingsley's building. He quickly made his way into the building, his suit making him blend into the shadows. He swiftly climbed the wall to enter the building through the closet window to the office.
Peter hid in a shadowy corner to avoid security guard with a gun. When the guard passed, Peter slipped into the office. Once inside, Peter swiftly jumped onto the ceiling in the dark office and webbed up the cameras in the room. He walked up to Kingsley's desk and reached into his utility belt to retrieve a flash drive. He had little time so he had to do it fast.
Right as he was about to log onto the computer he heard a click of doorknob from the other side of the room. In a matter of milliseconds, he was clinging upside down to the ceiling with the screen of the computer turned off. Hidden in darkness, he watched as the woman walks in and opens up a safe hidden in the wall.
What to do now?
If he only knocks her out somebody will find her and they will immediately know he was here if she tells them what she saw. It wasn't something he particularly desired. Jumping down from the ceiling, Peter stealthily made his way over to the woman without making any sound still trying to decide what to do. At first, he intended to bind her but it would be as unhelpful as knocking her out. In either case, he would have to get out of there without being noticed while dragging her with him. He hated every scenario.
Peter mentally sighed before bracing for everything that may happen and tapped her shoulder. His lips twitched upwards momentarily when she jumped away startled. Fortunately, she didn't squeak too loud.
The woman sized Peter with wary eyes and then she… smiled?
What?
"Well hello there Spidey, long time no see," she purred seductively showing off her body while somehow not making it too obnoxious.
How?
Peter raised an eyebrow under the mask, and without a single word he grabbed a gun from the holster on his waist and pointed to towards her head. It should be enough to make her obey.
“I have no idea why you are referring to me with that name, but I'm here to do my job and you are in the way. You're either going to do what I say until I leave, or I will have to get rid of you.”
She frowned for a brief moment before the smirk returned, "Don't be angsty about it. I didn't expect to find anyone else here either. I'm sorry for the mistake, you just reminded me of an old friend of mine. You both embrace the spider theme. Though I have to admit, you fill up the suit better than he did. You're easily about twice his size, yum."
This far, the woman seemed to be harmless. He only hoped she was obedient too.
“Don't do anything until I leave,” he repeated putting a lot emphasis on each word.
The woman huffed like a child, “Fine."
Peter stared at her for a second longer before walked over to the computer, turning it on, and continuing his job. He hacked into the laptop, bypassed the highly secure firewall and then inserted a virus that removed all video evidence of his presence and turned off the security on the floor and outside the building. Once he finished deleting the videos, Peter plugged in an untraceable flash drive, downloading all the important files. When the download was complete, he hastily placed the flash drive in a pocket in his utility belt. When he turned around he was greeted with a sight of the open safe and Cat finishing loading her pouch.
“What did I tell you,” he growled at her.
“I was bored,” she whined.
“Whatever. You didn't trip of the alarm, so I'll be kind and let you live. Don't make me have second thoughts,” he said and then walked up to a window. He opened it and was already going to jump when she spoke again.
"Hey, you know, it's not safe for a woman to be alone at night. Mind giving me a ride?" She asked in a flirty voice.
He was going to regret this.
"Wrap your arms around my neck and don't fall off," Peter responded angrily.
The woman happily obeyed and Peter swiftly shot a web to a nearby building. He made his way over to an empty roof and dropped Cat down there.
"Who are you?" Peter asked with a voice void of any emotion. He stepped towards her in a threatening manner and webbed her hands to a ventilation outlet on the roof.
"Kinky. Well, people know me as Black Cat but you can call me Cat if you want," she responded with a wink, then began struggling to get out of the webbing's hold.
Peter looked her up and down, "Why were you there?"
“A girls gotta make some cash. I just take a little here, a little there. Nothing too big, just a few items worth a few thousand each. Don't worry, I haven't stolen anything over a hundred thousand, yet."
Peter stared into her eyes determining how to phrase his next statement. She was a liability, an unprecedented variable, and he couldn't afford her slipping up.
“Just to make it clear, you never saw me. You didn't see anybody in the office and you made your way outside on your own. Also, if you ever tell anyone about me I guarantee I will find out about it, and I will have no problems killing you. I'm dead serious about this,” Peter said and was about to walk away when she called out again.
“I will do it only if you tell me what were you looking for there,” she demanded looking into the unreadable eyes of his mask.
He could go for that deal, it seems reasonable enough.
"I was hired to retrieve information. Wasn't that obvious?" Peter answered uninterested ready to go back to his temporary apartment.
Black Cat looked down and mumbled, "Well, it seems you really aren't Spider-Man, he'd never steal."
That sparked his interest, "Why is he so important to you?"
Black Cat's expression fell momentarily before a smirk took its place, "We had history before he disappeared. I thought I loved him, but Peter said I only loved the mask not him. He was right at the time, not anymore."
Peter almost backed away from her on that statement. He had no memory of ever meeting her before and yet she knew his name and was claiming to have had a relationship with him. He knew all about his alter ego and she's stating they were close, that she knew him both with and without the mask.
Peter pushed away the thoughts. He could not afford to have any emotional connections anymore. He shook his head and turn away to leave.
“Wait Spider, let me repay you for your help," Cat stopped him again.
He turned away and suddenly she was a millimeters his him. His mask was moved up to his nose and her lips were pressed against his. She pulled him down closer to her, and the rest of his words were lost against her lips. At first, she kissed gently, carefully like she was afraid of scaring him away too soon she rested her hands on his utility belt, pulling him closer her. She moaned softly, low in her throat, and then his arms circled her and she wrapped her legs around his torso, sliding her tongue into his mouth.
“That's enough.” He pushed her away. “You sneaky little cat.”
“So it is you... Pete.”
“Not anymore. You know, I'm already having second thoughts about killing you.”
She frowned, “What happened to you?”
Peter grimaced, "Hydra,” he answered as he walked over to the edge of the building. Then he shot a web to a nearby building and disappeared into the shadows of the night leaving behind a distraught Black Cat.
By the time Peter made it back to his latest apartment it was already 10 PM. He took off his utility belt, plopped down on the couch and turned on his laptop. On a secure email, Peter sent the information to his employer. The money should be transferred soon.
Once all the work was done Peter couldn't stop thinking about the woman he encountered. Opening a search engine, Peter tried to look her up but was only able to find information that he gathered from his own observations. But he knew her once, but how close were they? Were they really lovers like she suggested?
Peter yelled, then slammed his laptop closed in frustration. Just being in New York is evoking memories and long forgotten feelings. Feelings are a sore spot for Peter, Hydra trained them out of him. Emotions meant weakness, therefore they didn't allow him to feel anything but anger.
In the past two years since his escape from Hydra, Peter has slowly began experiencing emotions, but they are rare.
But Peter still received dreams. His memories mostly come in the form of dreams and most dreams are out of order, mixed up dialogue, scenes all wrong. He can’t figure out which ones are real and which ones his fucked up mind made up. They were easier to remember in the beginning of his captivity, but now he just gets warped snapshots.
The majority of the memories he does remember are the most painful ones. Peter's most common dreams are his aunt's death, an old man named Ben's death, a blond young woman's neck snapping and other tragedies in his life (his life is filled with them). His dreams are only painful reminders of his past, and when he does get a good memory it hurts just as much. They're too happy, too pure and Peter feels like he's watching someone else's memories. What really angers him about them is he knows he'll never get to be that happy again, Hydra ensured that.
Peter just laid on his bed, looking up at the ceiling. This city is poison, too much history.
He needs to get out before more of his past catches up with him.