Let me tell you a tail

[heeeyadora]

WHO: Catra, OTA
WHERE: Billy's fantasy city
WHAT: The life of a Cat Burglar
WHEN: Superhero Event
WARNINGS: Violence and bad puns



The Classic

Catra dropped down inside the store, eyes glowing as she looked around to be sure the coast was really clear. The jewelry sparkled dully in the dark, and she grinned, fingering a sharp claw and scrapping a hole in the nearest case. This was too easy.

She filled her bag 'til it was bursting, certain she'd gotten away with it as she climbed back out onto the roof, only to spot a damn hero.

"Ugh, you’ve got to be kitten me, it's you. Don't you have anything better to do?"

The Corporate

This was bigger fish than a simple jewelry store. These people had the cash to throw around on real security. But Catra enjoyed a challenge.

She dropped down on a wire, eying the laser grid with a smirk. Was that all? She could do lasers in her sleep.

She typed the security codes into the computer terminal and they shut off, Catra purring as she dropped down to the ground and unhooked her harness. But a moment later alarms suddenly started blaring. Apparently those codes hadn't been quite as up to date as she was led to believe.

The Personal

This wasn't really the sort of job Catra normally worked. This was personal, to someone at least. She slid in through a back window, scanning the room and making her way through the space. She'd been instructed to take nothing else, in and out, no one the wiser.

Which would have been simple enough if not for the sudden sound of key in the door. Catra froze. They weren't supposed to be home yet, she'd timed this out perfectly! What had gone wrong??

Comments

[heeeyadora]

With a normal human that threat would have meant nothing to her, but Bucky had always proved a thorn in her side, easily able to keep up with her.

"How'd they even purr-suade you to take this job? This is a bit below you, isn't it? Security for hire now?

She skidded under a closing shutter, knocking over a pair of bins in his path to hopefully stall him long enough to lock him out.

[sinistral]

The job really was below his skills but Bucky tried not to let the taunting get to him. The target was important, after all, and he just needed to keep her busy for long enough.

"Bit below you too, isn't it? Petty thievery?" He cursed at her path, leaping a bin and flinging the shield to stop the shutter enough for him to hit the ground and slide under it. Just one of these days a criminal was going to come quietly. Bucky would probably have a heart attack from the surprise of it.

[heeeyadora]

"Aww, you know nothing's too low for me," she purred, giggling and shaking off the familiar feeling that she's said that line before now.

Damn. She looked back to see him slide under after him, and snapped her whip to try and drive him back. "Do we really have to keep playing cat and mouse?"

[sinistral]

"Yeah, we know you ain't high class." Not that she'd fall for the dig, but it was worth a try.

That whip though was a nasty instrument; he'd tangled with it more than once. The last thing he wanted was to get wrapped in its strands — but if he did, would it slow her down, dealing with him? He'd have to consider it; for now, he kicked one of the bins back at her and rolled to his feet, grabbing for his shield. "Come quietly and I'll see you get a nice cell with lots of sunlight to lay in."

[heeeyadora]

"Funny, coming from you," she panted with a smirk, stopping to block the bin from bowling her over, slicing it apart with her claws.

"Sorry, I'm an outdoor cat, don't like to be coopt up," she countered, skidding to an abrupt halt as a new laser grid lit up the room. The alarm was all ready triggered, she wasn't sure she wanted to find out what these ones set off.

[sinistral]

"Brooklyn's a class of its own, kitten." Even more than a New York thing, Brooklyn was Brooklyn.

Thank goodness for the second laser grid though; Bucky was still counting down the timing in his head. He just had to keep her occupied for another six minutes; by then the data would be dumped and the drives wiped — and this entire encounter recorded. "What's wrong? Get your whiskers singed?"

[heeeyadora]

Catra was trying to run a similar count down in her mind, and her tail flicked with increasing agitation as time ran out.

She glared back in his direction, and attempted to flick the whip out again, but it fell to the ground in pieces, her eyes widening in shock. Bucky's teasing wasn't too far off it seemed. These weren't ordinary lasers. This kind of tech wasn't even supposed to exist.

"You really don't have anything better to do, Mr. America?" she taunted, attempting to parkour her way through the maze of lasers. "No people to protect out there?"

[sinistral]

At least it was the whip and not her hand; for as much of a thorn in SHIELD's side as she was, he had no genuine desire to see her hurt. And he really didn't want this to turn into some kind of rescue mission, either, but apparently even the lasers weren't going to stop her.

(Good data, though; Stark should be happy. Whenever he managed to hack through firewalls to get his hands on the recordings.)

"What, disappointed to see me?" He poised at the edge of the laser field; the vibranium in the shield would deflect the beams, he'd been assured, but that didn't mean he wanted to enter before he had to. "Hoping for the Human Kite instead? Crimson Speed? Here I thought we had something special."

[heeeyadora]

"You might be my favourite, but that doesn't make me any happier to see you," she purred, "You've got more purr-sonality than most."

One of the lasers singed her shoulder and Catra winced. She didn't have time for this.

[sinistral]

"Aww kitten don't be like that. Admit it, we've got something special." Bucky could only thank the fact that no one was around to really hear him; some heroes in particular would never let him hear the end of it.

He took half a step forward when laser burned flesh, not entering the field but unable to keep all his concern contained. "Kitten, I'm being serious, stop before you get hurt."

[heeeyadora]

"Mmm, well if I just gave in when you told me to it wouldn't be so special now, would it?"

She shot him a look of confusion at that concern, tail giving a slow swish behind her. Then her eyes narrowed with a determined look, pointedly moving further through the maze of lasers.

[sinistral]

"Thought you liked surprising me." Truly, that would be the biggest surprise of them all: a villain giving up without a fight and coming quietly.

Bucky knew better though; nothing he said would make her give up the objective. So back to the original plan of slowing her down, he entered the laser field, using his shield to deflect anything he couldn't dodge or jump. She had the advantage of flexibility and maneuverability, but considering the size of the metal, he could move pretty fast just by blocking a whole slew of beams at once.

[heeeyadora]

"I'm not just going to come quietly because we've got hiss-tory." Besides, breaking out of prison was annoying.

Her eyes widened as he began to charge through the beams, and she flipped through a particularly difficult section to make it to the computer terminal.

There wasn't much time left. She slid in a usb and furiously typed to set up the data transfer. This was going to be tight. And it left her with a fairly small amount of space to fend off Bucky .

[sinistral]

Damn but she was going to make him work for it. And while normally Bucky would enjoy this kind of obstacle course, being under a time limit with sensitive data at stake made things a little different.

He could probably destroy that terminal to slow her down but throwing the shield would leave him in the middle of the laser field without it, giving her far too big an advantage. So instead he focused on making it through, hissing as a laser clipped the side of his thigh where he didn't quite twist out of the way enough. It didn't matter though; he was through, and headed right for her.

"What if I just ask nicely, huh?"

[heeeyadora]

Her ear twitched back at the sound of that hiss, that swishing tail stilling for a moment, and she frowned, but didn't dare look back.

She finished typing just in time, starting the download and turning to pounce at Bucky, struggling to grapple with him long enough for the transfer to complete.

"That would be a start-" she panted.

[sinistral]

"Then would you please—" he lunged toward the computer; it wouldn't be that easy of course but he had to try, "—try not to steal things? For once?"

Laughable, but hey: he asked nicely. Not that it'd make any difference, but he could at least hope their struggling brought him close enough to knock the drive loose, or halt the data transfer. Hell, he'd settle for pulling the plug at this point

[heeeyadora]

She hauled him back with every ounce of her strength, claws digging into his uniform, a wild look in her eyes.

"You know-- hh-- you know it's not that easy-" she growled, "You don't just walk away from the Horde."

[sinistral]

"You can," he panted, straining against her. She wasn't as strong as he was, but she certainly knew how to use her not-inconsiderable strength to her advantage. "Let me help you."

Breaking free, he lunged for the computer again.

[heeeyadora]

She huffed and tried a more reckless tactic, kicking him hard from behind, into the computer, hoping to take him off guard by the unexpected move and not seal her fate. She leapt onto his back, attempting to pin his arms back. Just a little longer. That was all she needed.

"I don't want your help."

[sinistral]

"Fu—" The impact jolted the second half of the curse from his lips, turning it into a grunt as he grabbed onto the edge of the console. Bucky kicked out, trying to keep her back looking enough for him to type a few commands on the keyboard.

"I know you don't wanna keep doing this."

[heeeyadora]

She fell back with a groan, and only managed to half get to her feet, knocking the heel of her palm into the back of Bucky's knee repeatedly to try and drop him.

"You don't know me."

[sinistral]

"I know you could've killed me in Kiev." But she hadn't. Messed him up, yeah, but it would've been easy for her to slice his throat open, and she hadn't.

He lunged for the drive, fingers grazing its surface before she dropped him to that knee. Hopefully he knocked it loose enough to lose contact; he was too preoccupied with trying to throw her off to tell.

[heeeyadora]

She could've. Should've, probably, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. Just like now. Though her claws do dig into the flesh behind his knee as a sort of pointed punishment for bringing up that weakness.

Catra's thrown back, mental timer more or less run out and the breath knocked from her, and she lays there breathing heavily, unsure if she's managed to succeed or not. Either way she's about to be hauled away again, and she sighs.

"Could've killed you way more times than just Kiev," she mutters.

[sinistral]

He cursed when her claws tore into flesh; that hurt. But at least he shook her off enough to lunge for the drive one more time, pulling it from the slot and crushing it in his fist.

There. Now the countdown wouldn't matter; she couldn't her the data.

"You could've. And you didn't. Get out of here, kitten." He stopped her; he didn't need to capture her. And with the injury, he really didn't want to run after her. "Remember what I said."

<3

[heeeyadora]

Damn it.

Catra blew out a breath of defeat, laying there a moment longer before pushing to her feet. She spared him a hesitant look, only frowning in answer, but it's something. And then she was gone, making her escape before anyone else can show up who was less willing to let her leave.