A/N: I used ninja as both the plural and the singular.


Why did ancient ninja clans have to take things so personally?

Running over the rooftops while clutching the stolen platinum kabuki mask close to her chest, the Black Cat dared to risk a brief backwards glance only to then immediately regret it. The number of enemies perusing her had almost doubled, meaning that there was now close to sixty bloodthirsty Blue Monkey clan members on her tail and the gap between them was growing smaller by the second.

Leaping from one rooftop to another, Felicia Hardy momentarily considered simply tossing the beautiful, albeit troublesome, mask down some alleyway. She could picture dozens of the fanatical ninja blindly diving after it and in all the confusion the Black Cat could easily slip away, and come steal it back some other day.

A slight whistling in the wind was all the warning that Felicia got.

Throwing herself to one side, the Black Cat saw several star shaped shuriken flash past her before they embedded themselves into the side of a large rooftop air duct. Getting back on her feet, Felicia watched as half a dozen ninja jumped the gap between the buildings and landed on the same rooftop as her. Each of them was carrying a lethal looking weapon and not one seemed to be in the mood to listen to her playful banter.

Racing at top speed towards the edge of the building, Felicia decided that it would be better for her to hang onto the kabuki mask for the time being. It might be her one ticket out of this mess and she couldn't afford to waste the opportunity.

Firing off her grappling hook, the Black Cat dived off the rooftop and into the open night air before her line was properly secured, a move that would have made calm and stoic Walter Hardy curse and rage like J. Jonah Jameson had he been around to witness it. But as much as she loved her father and his endless wisdom and teachings, none of it would be much good to Felicia if she didn't create some much needed space between her and Blue Monkey clan.

Free falling for several seconds, Felicia turned her head and saw that the horde of masked ninja were perched on the edge of the building that she had just vacated, watching her uncontrollable descent with empty grey eyes. Then her grappling line went taut and the Black Cat began to swing away. Immediately they were after her, splitting themselves off into various attack groups, scrambling over the rooftops, leaping and rolling over obstacles like their animal namesakes in an attempt to cut off every avenue of escape available to Felicia.

Shifting her weight in order to gain more speed with her swing, the Black Cat began racking her brain for a plan. Things had been going so well, infiltrate the skyscraper, disable the alarm, crack the safe, steal the kabuki mask, exit stage left. No issues, no mistakes, and no witnesses. A perfect crime.

Then the ninja horde had showed up.

Coming to the end of the swing, Felicia Hardy flexed her gloved fingers which caused the three clawed head of the grappling hook to retract its hold on the building it had snagged. Launched forward by the momentum of the swing, the cat burglar aimed for the large empty roof of an apartment building.

Landing with a roll, the kabuki mask slipped from Felicia's grasp and bounced across the rooftop. Wincing at the action, the Black Cat tore after it and snatched the mask up before it had come to a complete stop. Turning it over carefully in her hands, Felicia spent a few precious seconds examining her prize, praying that she hadn't just gone and defaced the ancient and valuable mask.

At first glance, it appeared undamaged from its little fall causing the cat burglar to let out a sigh of relief. Once she got home safely Felicia would need to treat it to a more thorough inspection but for now, she had to keep moving.

Having seen her land on the apartment building, the Blue Monkey clan had begun spreading themselves out over all the neighbouring rooftops. The plan was simple, no matter in which direction the Black Cat chose to flee in she would come face to face with the devout members of the ancient ninja clan. She would attempt to fight her way through them, only to be overwhelmed by their superior numbers. The stolen kabuki mask would be retrieved and revenge would be delivered onto the thief.

Unfortunately as the old saying goes the first casualty in any battle was always the plan. The Blue Monkey clan members were swift, well trained, and ready to give their lives in order to complete their mission, but none of them had the means to swing through New York as the Black Cat did. This earlier move had given her an extended lead on a majority of the ninja horde who had struggled to keep up on foot. So far only a third of the masked hunters were in position to forge the human net surrounding the apartment building, and while the stragglers of the group rushed to plug the gaps, there were still several exploitable holes where the ninja numbers were lacking.

Running alongside the apartment building's parapet, it didn't take too long for the Black Cat to realise what the ninja were up to, and even less time for her to find one of the holes in the net. Holding on tight to the kabuki mask, Felicia Hardy backed up, giving herself the appropriate amount of room necessary for a running jump. Then taking a deep breath the Black Cat raced forward and flew from the apartment building towards a nearby rooftop guarded by a lone pair of ninja.

They both saw her coming towards them at the exact same second. Countless hours of training took over and they slipped into a well-honed defensive stance. The Black Cat landed in a crouching position on the edge of the rooftop and for a long second ninja stared at cat burglar in absolute silence.

Then they all began to move.

The ninja on the left raised his hand towards his ear, intending to alert the rest of the clan that he had eyes on the Black Cat through the com devices that they all wore hidden beneath their masks and cowls. Only to immediately forget all about raising the alarm, when to his utter horror, the cunning cat burglar threw the priceless kabuki mask like a cheap Frisbee right over his head.

Moving on blind instinct, the ninja jumped for the mask, stretching his arms high above his head. Gloved fingers brushed against the beautiful treasure and with a short cry of desperation the masked man grabbed onto the mask.

Landing with his feet spread apart; the ninja let out a sigh of relief and slowly brought his arms down and stared in awed silence at his own wide eyed reflection through the polished surface of the kabuki mask. "Thank the gods." He whispered.

Felicia Hardy meanwhile had rushed towards the second ninja with her claws at the ready. The masked enemy managed to ward off the first of her quick blows, but the second caught him in the stomach, driving the air from his lungs, and before he could hope to raise his guard, the Black Cat drove her open palm up under his nose, breaking it. Kicking her opponent aside, she lunged for the ninja holding onto her prize.

"Don't you dare drop it." She ordered, snapping him back to reality just as she drove her elbow into the side of his head. Snatching the kabuki mask out of his hands, the Black Cat turned and ran as the ninja hit the floor.

Not knowing how long she might have before the Blue Monkey clan realised that their net had been breached, Felicia Hardy wasted no time in swinging away into the night.


Sitting cross-legged atop of a water tower, the spectacular Spider-Man aka newly appointed teaching assistant Peter Parker twirled his red marker pen in anticipation. "Now that's a no-no." He muttered as he came across a block of text that Charles Houston had obviously copied and pasted straight from Wikipedia. Putting a big red x through the offending paragraph Peter continued reading on, only to stumble across several more plagiarised sentences taken from a variety of popular and familiar sources. "No, no, and no." The wall crawler emphasised as he crossed each one of them out.

Now left with less than a quarter of a page of original content, Peter decided that it simply wasn't worth marking anymore, and left a quick note for Doctor Connors at the top of the essay explaining things before he slipped the sheet of paper back into its plastic wallet.

Returning the essay to his work backpack, Peter searched around for the next one, only to discover that every one of the papers entrusted to him had been marked and scored. Zipping the backpack shut, Spider-Man reflected on the situation with a thought provoking "huh."

He hadn't expected to be finished so soon.

Peter hadn't yet much experience when it came to marking tests or essays, but when Doctor Connors had handed him the thick stack of paper and told him to get it back to him before Friday, New York's number one wall crawler had feared the worst.

It was no secret that his friends and loved ones found him to be unreliable at the best of times. Peter tried to make good on his promises and commitments but his life as Spider-Man would so often interfere and things would be delayed, or cancelled, or forgotten about leading to more disappointment.

Well not tonight.

Tonight he had finished a task ahead of schedule.

Tonight Peter Parker was on the ball.

Slipping his arms through the straps of his backpack, Spider-Man stood up. It was a small victory in the grand scheme of things he knew, but the urge to celebrate had suddenly infected him. Two weeks into his new job and he wasn't a failure. Yet.

He could call up Leo's, order a big peperoni pizza with extra cheese, swing on over to Felicia's and see if she-

Peter caught himself mid-plan and stopped.

They weren't doing that right now.

Space.

Spider-Man sat back down again, his joy momentarily dashed. They had both agreed, like the mature adults that they were, that they needed some time apart to get things sorted out.

Space, they had decided to call it.

Not a break up. Not a get out of my life, I hate you. Just a harmless little pause on things that was meant to last for three weeks. Four if they felt like it. Space.

Running a hand over the back of his masked head, Peter Parker looked over the surrounding neighbourhood. The city wasn't quiet, New York never was, but it had been peaceful recently. No supervillains were on the loose, no new threats had emerged to menace Spider-Man. Things were as close to normal as they could get. Which meant that there was nothing for Peter to throw himself into now that he was all finished up with his work and the urge to celebrate had vanished just as quickly as it had arrived.

Drumming his hands against the roof of the water tower Peter made a decision. He would head on home, drop off his backpack filled with the completed essays, then do an hour's patrol, once that was done and providing nothing unexpected happened, he would go to bed at a somewhat reasonable hour.

A flash of movement from out of the corner of his eye caught Peter's attention. Turning his head and leaning forward, Spider-Man scanned the distant rooftops for any sign of life. There was nothing. Years of experience and misfortune prevented Peter from simply chalking the moment up to being his imagination. He could have sworn that he had seen someone swinging through the city, which wasn't exactly an uncommon sight in New York these days. Peter dawdled for a few seconds then stood up. It was probably nothing, but it wouldn't hurt to check.

A moment later and this hypothesis was proven correct as a small army of people appeared on the horizon, swarming over the rooftops in pursuit of whoever it was that had caught Peter's eye earlier.

Not needing a second invitation, Spider-Man leaped from the water tower and began to swing after the horde of roof runners. "Please don't be another group of extreme parkour guys." He whispered.


Felicia Hardy was starting to rethink her dump the mask stratagem. The Blue Monkey clan were once again hot on her tail, and this time the ninja's priorities had shifted. They still wanted their clan's treasure back, but before they had only thrown things at her when she had her feet firmly on the ground, ensuring that the mask wouldn't take a tumble along with her corpse if they hit her during a jump or swing. But now, knives, shuriken, and a variety of other sharp pointy things were being thrown in her direction every twenty seconds, and the constant effort it took to avoid these projectiles was really starting to take its toll.

The Black Cat couldn't run forever, and the odds were still too much in the Blue Monkey clan's favour to even think about engaging them head on. She needed to shake things up, and soon, if she was going to get out of this alive.

Leaping over a safety railing, Felicia left one rooftop, bounced of a rusting AC unit, and then landed on top of another, shorter, building. Less than fifty seconds later and the ninja shadowed her movements, their tired bodies fuelled on by zealous thoughts as the chase appeared to be entering its closing act.

Taking up a good portion of the shorter building's rooftop was a large polycarbonate greenhouse, and while Felicia hadn't got much of a green thumb an idea quickly formed within her head on how she could lose a few of her pursuers.

Charging forward with her shoulder, the Black Cat stumbled inside the greenhouse. Grabbing the plastic door as it swung wildly after such an entrance Felicia slammed it shut and began to run past row after row of potted plants, small fruit trees, and vegetable gardens.

The Blue Monkey clan followed her doggedly. But their zeal became a hindrance when several ninja tried to force their way through the small doorway at the same time. The door once again swung open, but only a single ninja from the horde managed to enter, while the other frontrunners of the pack struggled and pushed against each other in a bid to gain entry.

The group's delay was short lived. Realising that the door was limiting any hope of cornering the cat burglar, several masked warriors began punching, kicking, and swinging their weapons at the polycarbonate panels that made up the greenhouses walls, while others began running around the sides, intending to cut the Black Cat off.

Pulling out a knife the length of a man's forearm, the lone ninja who had managed to enter the greenhouse took aim and prepared to throw it at the fleeing Felicia. Reaching the end of the polycarbonate structure, the Black Cat pulled open the back door just as the knife was hurled towards her head.

Kicking it shut behind her, Felicia stepped back just in time as the knife's blade pierced the door. This hadn't gone quiet the way the cat burglar had planned. She had only seconds before the ninja who had taken the long way around reached her, there was not sufficient time for her to hit the greenhouse with a large dose of bad luck, but the Black Cat hoped it would be enough to slow down a chunk of the clan.

She closed her eyes and concentrated on the struts that held up the roof.

Ninja were now pouring into the greenhouse, still stumbling over each other as they crashed through the rows of plants in a bid to reach the exit first. A small crack formed in one of the frames holding up a roof panel. This lone flaw began to grow and spread, infecting the rest of the greenhouse's supports turning what was once a strong structure into an unsafe one.

Then the first of the ninja raced around the greenhouse corner and swung his short sword at the Black Cat's neck.

Ducking under the blade, she aimed a fast punch towards her attacker's groin. He let out a surprised cry which was cut off by a follow-up hit to the face. Falling to the ground, the ninja was joined by half a dozen more of his clan, and Felicia decided that it was time to go.

Running towards the edge of the building, she aimed her grappling hook at a nearby water tower, and fired. Once again Felicia leapt out into the open night before she knew if she had a secure anchor, but this time the ninja didn't stand by and watch their quarry escape.

Knives, shuriken, and anything else close to hand was thrown at the escaping Black Cat. Holding on tight to the kabuki mask as she flew through the air, Felicia closed her eyes and returned her focus on the greenhouse. A few seconds later and a crashing sound, followed by dozens of cries and loud cursing, informed her that the greenhouse had collapsed and that the number of enemies giving chase had hopefully decreased.

Then she felt a sudden jerk through her grappling line.

Looking up the Black Cat saw that her thin but strong cable had been cut by something and that the titanium line was beginning to fray.

"Oh crap." She muttered.

Not giving in to blind panic, Felicia put into practice what she had trained herself to do in case of such a situation. Adjusting her weight, she changed the angle of swing, trying to maneuverer herself over something that could help break her fall, while also trying to raise the arm that was currently holding on tight to the kabuki mask. To add to her problems, the Black Cat was halfway over an intersection and a New York cab was not exactly what she wanted to cushion herself with.

A small cloud of shuriken flew through the air.

The grappling hook's cable snapped.

And the Black Cat fell.

Transferring the mask between her hands, and hoping that she had enough time to save herself, the Black Cat stretched out her now free arm and made to blindly fire her other grappling hook when something crashed into her.

"I've got you." A familiar voice exclaimed as a strong supporting arm held her close. The oncoming ground vanished from sight as Felicia was carried back up towards the rooftops.

Letting go of his web line Spider-Man landed them on a fresh building. Slipping free from his protective hold, the Black Cat took a big step back from the brightly coloured costumed vigilante. "Are you okay?" He asked almost immediately.

Felicia didn't want to think about how close to death she might have come just a few short seconds ago. It was all part of the fun, dancing with danger, the life of a cat burglar. But no one liked to make that close of a call.

"Sure." She nodded, giving away nothing as she looked directly into his mask's white eyes.

Spider-Man was about to ask a follow up question when a familiar tingle at the back of his head informed him that Felicia's playmates had just caught up. Turning, Peter took aim and fired several quick shots of web fluid towards the onrushing group.

Years of practice meant that Peter's opening barrage struck with deadeye precision. The sticky goo blinded the first of the ninja, causing them to stop mid charge and let out cries of confusion and panic as they began tugging and pulling at their new blindfolds.

Pushing their crippled comrades aside, the rest of the horde carried on, determined to retrieve their clan's mask and kill all who stood in their way.

"Wait are those ninja?" Spider-Man asked with wide eyes as the first wave of enemies landed on their rooftop.

"Yep." The Black Cat answered as she curled one hand into a fist while the other continued to hold on tight to the kabuki mask.

"Real ninja?" Peter continued, as he dove into action. In seconds the Blue Monkey clan was in a state of confusion, as Spider-Man leaped, ducked, and dived through their ranks with inhuman speed, lashing out with powerful strikes only to then vanish over their heads.

With Peter by her side, Felicia knew the odds were well in her favour even with one hand currently occupied. Working within the web of confusion that Spider-Man weaved the Black Cat began picking off ninja one by one, striking hard and fast and not giving them a second to get to grips with their new situation.

"So are we talking like proper Japanese trained ancient ninja clan ninja?" Peter yelled over the fighting, kicking two of the masked enemies away before ensnaring a third with his webbing who was then tossed into the thick of the horde sending several foes tumbling backwards. "Or are these like the fake ninja guys you sometimes see on the west side who learnt all their moves from watching Karate Chimp three?"

"Why are you asking this?" The Black Cat answered with her own question, as she side stepped a knife thrust aimed at her stomach and then proceeded to break her attacker's outstretched arm over her knee.

Spider-Man shrugged, ducked under a wild sword swing, and then uppercutted the ninja into the air. "I guess it's my first time and I was just wondering-"

He didn't get much further when Felicia's laugh rang out over the battlefield. "This is your first real ninja fight? She asked in disbelief.

"I mean…" Spider-Man trailed off as he knocked back an enemy, leaped clean over another, and then kicked a third in the face before hitting the ground.

"Wow." The Black Cat mocked, driving her fist into the face of one of the last twelve or so Blue Monkey clan members still left standing. "So sheltered."

"How am I shelt- you know what, fine." Peter responded, tripping a ninja. "How many aliens have you fought?"

"Aliens aren't real." Felicia barked back with a grin as she dropped two ninja in rapid succession.

"I have the Fantastic Four on speed dial who would love to explain to you how wrong that statement is." Felling the last of the ninja with a triple kick combo, Peter looked over the horde of defeated warriors and let out an appreciative whistle. "Not what I expected to be doing tonight."

"Well you looked good doing it." The Black Cat smirked as she stepped over unconscious bodies and moved towards him.

"Thanks." Peter said with a smile in his voice as he began the monotonous task of webbing up the downed Blue Monkey clan members so that they would all still be here by the time the police showed up. "I think I prefer fighting regular old street thugs though. Whole lot less sharp star-thingy throwing."

Shaking her head Felicia waited patiently while Spider-Man continued to detain the ninja clan, all while wondering what exactly happened now.

Space.

Did she just thank him and go?

Stick around for a bit and ask Peter about how the new job was going?

Tell him that she wanted to call the whole stupid thing off and for him come back home with her tonight?

"So what were these guys after?" Spider-Man asked, turning to look at the Black Cat as he finished up.

Without thinking she lifted up the platinum kabuki mask. His mask's white eyes widened for a second but quickly returned to a more neutral expression. "Oh." He said after a moment.

"I am not giving it back." The Black Cat stated. Lord knows she had gone through quiet the ordeal tonight because of this mask, and there was no way she was giving it up now.

Rubbing the back of his head, Spider-Man looked towards the ground. "I uh, wasn't going to say that."

"Yeah, I think you were."

"Probably was." Peter agreed.

"Well it's not happening; rule number fifteen of the thieves' handbook is to never give things back to evil ninja clans."

Spider-Man smiled beneath his mask and slowly walked towards her. "Is that like an official book or a Hardy family exclusive type of thing?"

"Exclusive." Turning on her heels, the Black Cat made to leave, only her getaway strut was hollow and lacking its usual pace. She was waiting for him to stop her. To say something to make her stay. Should she say something? "I want-"

"Cat I-" Felicia turned around and found that Peter had followed her. "Sorry I didn't mean to interrupt-." He started apologising.

"It's fine I just-" The Black Cat stopped talking the exact same time he did leaving them both staring at each other in silence. A feeling of dread crept within Felicia's stomach. Had they just gone and ruined everything?

Space.

It was meant to be a break between them, to give them time to get things sorted out, not to make them act like awkward teenagers who struggled to string half a sentence together. Clearing her throat she tried again.

"Listen Spider I just wanted to say-" What did she want to say? Her mind went blank, did she tell him that this space thing was dangerous and that it could be hurting their relationship? Did Peter feel the same way or was he happy with how space was going? "Thanks." She uttered, not realising her brain had shifted into automatic. "Thanks for lending a hand."

"Yeah." Peter nodded. "Always- I mean, I'm always happy to help… you."

"Great."

"Yep."

"Cool." She replied. Turning away once again the Black Cat pretended to study the kabuki mask for a few seconds. This wasn't them she silently fumed as she wiped away a speck of imaginary dust. They were exciting, fast paced, passionate. Not… whatever the hell this was.

"Cat?" She heard Peter whisper close to her ear causing her to jump. Wrapping his arms around her, Felicia froze for a second in alarm before melting into his embrace. "I've missed you." He confessed and all of her fears vanished.

"I've missed you too."

"I think we should forget about space."

She turned to face him, enjoying how he didn't relinquish his hold on her. Reaching for his mask, Felicia raised it up so that his mouth was exposed. "Are you sure?" She teased, bringing her lips dangerously close to his. "We still have a week left and I wouldn't want to force you into anything you didn't want-"

The rest of her speech was cut off by Peter's kiss and Felicia couldn't have been happier.

Dropping the platinum kabuki mask without a second's thought, the Black Cat deepened the kiss. It was a while before either of them came up for air.

"I'm sure." Peter managed after a few seconds of heavy breathing.

"Great." She flashed him a smile. "Your place or mine?"

"Yours." Was the predictable answer. "Just let me get my stuff first." Peter continued as he remembered that he had dumped his work backpack early into the chase with the Blue Monkey clan.

"Fine." Felicia teasingly grumbled as she broke their embrace and bent over to pick up her stolen mask. "But I am still keeping this."

"We can discuss that later." Spider-Man grinned. Then without waiting for her permission, he swept the Black Cat into his arms and began to carry her over the rooftops towards home.


Thanks for reading. Hope you enjoyed it, if you have any thoughts, comments or constuctive critisism, please let me hear them.