Summary:The Black Cat finds someone sneaking into her home…and POUNCES! Log Info:Storyteller: None |
Related LogsTheme SongNone |
  |
~Now I know… what a TV Dinner feels like…~ Mars… /Raptor/… represses the urge to snicker as she crawls through the vents. Although, these are a lot dustier than they were in Die Hard. She only had to go down one floor from the roof, and if she's estimated things correctly, she should be coming up to the apartment now. Approaching a vent grill, she shimmers into invisibility before peering out.
Downtown Manhattan. This is the place to find people in high places—in finance, and in living space. A one-bed, one-bath apartment runs around 1.8 million. And a penthouse apartment with a view? What Felicia calls the Steve Austin Suite for its $6 million price tag.
She gazes out at the skyline, the lights of the city at night beckoning to her. Plans are in place, and research is to be done, but right now she is feeling antsy and restless. HE is out there, somewhere. And she cannot wait to go up against him again.
Hopefully, in more ways than one.
The place is accessible only by elevator. There is, of course, other ways, but grapple guns and parachutes are for when you want to get away from it all in different ways.
She sipped her glass of merlot, waiting…always waiting.
Aaaaaand it's occupied. /Shit./ Raptor stiffens, remaining as still as she possibly can, in case the occupant noticed her, before ever so slowly moving on. Figures, a place this expensive and they can't even clean their ducts- A tingle in her nose is the only warning she gets, before the amateur thief has to clamp her hands over her nose and mouth. The sneeze is successfully silenced. The dull clunk of the vent flexing slightly as her weight shifts is not.
Rule One when planning to steal. Don't Be a Schmuck.
Rule Two, however, is Never Steal From a Thief.
The laser grid in the vents can be seen in the swirling dust, but by then it's too late. Far behind Marissa, metal plates noiselessly rise up to cut off her escape route.
Felicia turns as the screen of her computer flares to life, revealing both the point where the laser grid detected the intruder and the alert that the metal barriers are up. Interesting. An intruder. Not a large one, either, those ducts are not made to be traversed easily.
She says softly, "The only way out…is in…"
Raptor curses her luck. She should have stuck with ATMs. And why did the idiots who made these things not take lasers into account? There's a little more soft scuffling from the vent before the grille itself lifts out, and a ripple in the air drops down to the floor. …with dust and fluff revealing the shape of a teenage girl.
Well…THIS is new. She had been on the facilities manager to get those ducst cleaned, but she might actually have to give him a little bonus, instead. She turns to face Raptor directly, then sheds the robe. She had been wearing her "work suit" after coming back from her most recent outing, and she was dressed to impress.
"Well, well, well…and who have we here?" she mused, her smile wry.
"…Uh…" Shitshitshitshit. With a faint electronic whine, the girl shimmers back into the visual spectrum. Dark haired, skinny, and kind of pale, with a vaguely avian domino mask suspiciously similar to Nightwing's, her bodysuit a mottled black and grey. "So sorry Ms. Cat, I didn't know that this was your place. If you wouldn't mind opening a window or something, you'll never see me again."
Felicia stops short. A costumed sneak-thief was not unexpected—there were more in New York than most elsewhere. But she looked…unhealthy. Pale. Slender to the point of almost gaunt.
She smiled slightly. "How long has it been since you've had a good meal, girl?"
Raptor blinks. this was… even more unexpected. Where's the asskicking for daring to take on the Cat? "Uh… I snagged a pizza a couple days ago that someone left on top of a car? That was pretty good." She squirms, twisting one toe and inadvertently grinding a dust bunny into the plush carpeting
Felicia was startled. "Oh. well, we can't have that." She points to the kitchen counter, where three oak stools were lined up like the usual suspects. "The bathroom is to your left. Get cleaned up, then sit there. This is NOT a request. If you obey, you get lasagna from LaMorte's. Try anything funny…" She smiles wryly. "…and you can go back to begging for other people's leavings. Your choice."
Raptor nods slowly, before disappearing into the bathroom. Another electric whine, the sounds of the shower turning on briefly, followed by another whine. The newbie thief emerges from the bathroom, somewhat mussed but entirely dirt free, and otherwise dry. She hops onto the stool, shifting nervously and looking around.
Felicia has been busy. The lasagna had been a little extra from the owner of the restaurant…which was a cover for his fencing operation in the sotrage room. She'd had it couriered from the restaurant to her home, and there were only a couple of slices carved out of it.
By the time Raptor is leaving the bathroom, she is met with the smell of meat lasagna. LaMorte used beef, pork, and veal in his meat and it made for a better dish. His talents were good as a fence, but the legit business was what he was truly great at.
One plate with a brick of lasagna, steam rising languidly from the plate, was set for her, with utensils, water, and a bottle of root beer, ice chips still melting on the bottle.
…Yeah, that's pretty much got the teen drooling. She gives Felica a nod of thanks, before diving in. "Mmmmf. Delish…" Any further speech is filed behind eating, although Raptor does occasionally flick her eyes over to nervously watch the master thief.
Felicia walks around as if she doesn't mind Raptor's presence. It seems more that Raptor is a guest, not an invader. "Don't eat too fast, dear. You might give yourself tummy-rumbles."
She appraises the girl. Young, yes, but gifted. And there is the possibility she could be helpful. Felicia needed a crew, no doubt about it. One she could trust.
And this girl could be the beginning.
"So…what is your name?" she asked pleasantly.
"…Raptor." Mars isn't /quite/ prepared to fully out herself yet. She does slow down eating, though, to a merely rapid pace instead of devouring. "I already know that you're Black Cat. …Seriously, I had no idea this was your place. I just looked through the windows and it looked fancy."
Fellicia smiles playfully. "Raptor…I like that. it took guts to make it up here. Through the roof, or up through the elevator shaft?"
"Roof. Easier to go up the outside of the building, use active camo to move past the cameras and windows. Didn't think the vents would be secured since nobody outside of action movies uses them." Raptor sags a little. "Well, action movies and me."
Felicia nods, although she is making a mental note to fast-track the installation of the low-profile heat/motion sensors. Her ivory tower was not yet a fortress. "Active camouflage. Interesting…very handy to have, I'm sure." She paused. "Raptor…are you tired of having to work with the barest amount of information for table scraps?"
"…There are people after me, though. You've been nice, but I wouldn't want to put you at risk." Finishing her lasagna, Raptor snags the bottle, taking a sip. "It would probably be better than kicking over ATMs, though."
Felicia smiles. "Dear Raptor, a little risk is healthy if there are great rewards to be had." She leans closer. "Do you feel that you could be greater, if only someone were to give you that chance?"
Mars nods slowly, looking up at Felicia. "…I could learn how to deal with electronic systems better. Then I wouldn't get caught next time someone has lasers in the vents." She offers a shy smile.
Felicia nods. "I'm new in town. And I need a crew. Someone who could help me. You could join me. Follow me, do as I say…" She extends the arm to indicate the enormous penthouse area, the rooms beyond…and the city beyond that. "…and this can be your life."
The teen looks genuinely hopeful. "Well, as long as you're okay with my particular issues… I'll need to fetch my backpack, though. It's kind of got all of my stuff in it. …I don't have to go back out through the vents, do I?
Felicia blinks, and a laugh is startled out of her. "What? No, of course not! After dinner, I'll enter your fingerprints and retina into the security, and then you can simply use the elevator." She looks Raptor up and down. "I will need to know your real name. I will need to know what we are dealing with. As for me…"
She lightly peels away the mask, smiling to Raptor.
"My name is Felicia Hardy."
Raptor hops to her feet, and bites her lip in concentration for a moment. Her own mask seemily dissolves into her face, a similar transformation taking place on her head as a wave of red rises from the roots, overtaking the black entirely. "Marissa Wheeler."
Felica smiles, walking up to Marissa and smiling. "Pleased to meet you, Marissa. I feel I have so much to teach you. Will you learn, listen, and obey?"
"Now there are two, master and apprentice." Marissa snickers, offering a grin. Hey, she /is/ still a massive geek even if she's been through some shit.
Felicia chuckles. "Since I'm a woman, wouldn't I be the Mistress?"
"Also works. But messes up the quote a bit." Mars does her best to not descend into a fit of the giggles.
Felicia nods. "But i assume from your adherence to geek culture that you are saying 'yes' to my other question. Now, finish your meal. A salad will be forthcoming. If you're going to be part of my crew, dammit, you are going to eat decent meals."
"It's seriously amazing food. …Fair warning though, I do kind of eat a lot. I think it might be something with my powers stuff. …Well, assuming implanted things count as powers." Mars grins, before returning to the stool.
Felicia grins. "Oh, my crew is going to get nothing but the best. I'll see that my personal dietician gives you a once-over…non-invasive, of course…so we can set up a decent diet to keep you in tip-top condition."
"…You have one of those?" That was honestly something that had never occurred to Mars. "Just make sure you really trust him. I don't really want to give too much away."
Felicia smirks. "Trust me to know what I'm doing. She'll ask you what symptoms you are feeling to see if you need something in particularcarbs, sugars, proteins, fibersand suggest foods to bolster your singular needs."
"I do need some particular metals every few weeks to manufacture new nanites." Mars nods. This does actually make sense. "…And thanks for not kicking my ass like you did Spidey's."
Felicia looks mock-offended. "I did NOT 'kick his ass.' I out-maneuvered him. He should get used to the feeling." She winks to Marissa. "They *all* should."