Cat and Mouse

CHAPTER THREE

hey guys! i'm posting this early because my best friend's visiting from texas this weekend and i didn't know if i'd be able to make it to the internet long enough to upload. see you next saturday!!

Phil was hunched over his desk, the light from the windows long since gone and his eyes beginning to ache from being in use for so long. He probably had no business being awake at four in the morning, not for the third night in a row, anyway, but he couldn't help it. When inspiration hit, he tended to let it take him. Plus, there was no saying he would remember all of his ingenious ideas after a good night's rest. A lot of his inventions were built solely from his delusional, sleep-deprived mind.

What he was doing, though, was for the good of the public. The news was always thanking him and calling on him for help, for him to save them. Well, they didn't call on him exactly—they were calling on the Raven.

The Raven, the notorious superhero who'd risen against the dark figure that'd been tormenting London for ages now—the Panther. Panther was a stupid, evil, sonofabitch who made life more difficult for people everywhere. He got off on tormenting innocents and blowing things up for the fun of it. To make matters worse, the Panther had a legitimate superpower as far as Phil could tell.

In the beginning, before he'd become the Raven, he'd always wondered how Panther did it. How he seemed to be able to make things happen in several places at once, how he was always so prepared, everything so meticulously planned. That was before the knowledge of his superpowers had come to light, before they'd become known to the public and there'd been a mass panic, everyone trying to figure out how to keep themselves from being persuaded.

The very next day on the news, the anchor had stood up, climbed onto his desk, and clucked like a chicken, walking all over his and his co-anchor's sheath of notes. And then there'd been a crash, and the camera had panned away from the anchor, instead turning to face a now broken window, which the Panther had been leaning against.

"You can't protect yourselves," he'd said innocently. There'd been the sounds of footsteps running all around, the news station going crazy, everyone panicking about the fact that the Panther had broken in—and in broad daylight! He normally saved his shenanigans for night.

"Leave us alone!" the man behind the camera had said bravely. It was a foolish thing to do, as Panther had then turned his attention directly to him. Seeing as he was the one behind the camera, to everyone watching it looked like the Panther was looking directly at them.

"Where'd be the fun in that?" Panther had purred, and he'd actually taken a step forward, his head cocked to the side. "Now, Stevens," he'd called. The camera-man apparently hadn't been manning the camera anymore, but off-screen there'd been a loud bang. Panther had grinned.

In the background, there'd been screaming and shouting, loud crashes and more bangs—all of which the Panther had ignored. He'd sauntered up to the camera, smiling delightedly. Closer and closer he'd come, and once close enough, his cat-like eyes had become visible to the viewer.

"You can't stop me," he'd whispered. "You can only watch."

It was this, mainly, that'd inspired Phil to fight back. This video, of course, had been spread wildly all over the internet, creating more fear and distress in the hearts and minds of everyone who watched it. Phil was adamant to prove the Panther wrong—he didn't have to just watch. He would fight back, and he would put an end to him.

Thinking of the Panther never failed to make him angry. He was evil, obviously, but it was more than that. He almost acted as if the two of them were friends. And there was also, of course, the fact that he was inappropriately flirtatious with Phil—his enemy.