Curse of the Cat Woman from Channel 6 - 13/?UPDATE: Now Obselete!

Update 10th May 2016; This has now been split into two parts, with accompanying pictures so you may ignore this post.

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The wind tugged at autumn coloured hair and billowing coat as April O'Neil stood poised by the side of the street. She waved pointed fingers in vain as several cabs passed her by After what felt like forever in the chill wind, a yellow taxi screeched up to the curb. The relieved reporter hopped in and settled with a sigh

"You know Stark's? Upper East Side"

Before she'd barely finished her sentence, a rather out-of-breath Irma plonked herself beside April in the back of the cab. April rolled her eyes. So much for a little peace and solitude.

"Heya April! You forgot your watch!"

"My wha? Oh. Great. Thanks"

Irma dangled the white designer watch like a prize, beaming. April took the watch curtly and fastened it to her wrist. She didn't really need her watch, not with her phone taking care of (most of) her needs these days. The redheaded valued some alone time now over knowing the actual time.

The stocky cabbie eventually broke the somewhat uncomfortable silence with a deep but feminine voice,

"Ain't you that reporter lady from the TV? Hey, yeah! I saw you that interview last week with that gold medalist, uhm.. Walters! Jennifer Walters, right?"

The driver turned around to examine the passengers, showing off her array of piercings. The ring through the septum gave her a somewhat bullish, yet attractive appearance. Tousled patches of purple hair struck out from beneath her newsboy cap and her jacket, which was denim and torn, was adorned with a plethora of unusual and grotesque band names. "Semi Colon" would have been innocent enough were it not for the accompanying graphic illustration.

"Uh-huh" April replied with disinterest as she sat in the back seat, carefully applying a few finishing touches to her make-up in a compact mirror. Doing her eyeliner perfectly in the back of a reckless taxi was an art April had long since mastered, and after a quick inspection, proudly began applying her lip gloss in silence.

"And I'm Irma, pleased to meetcha.."

Irma scanned the cabin for the driver ID. It read Beatrice Bopp. The license was also expired by several weeks.

"..Beatrice"

"Ahh, call me Bebop! Or jus' B"

"Bopp. Is that Irish?" Irma inquired as she pushed up her specs.

"Yep! Fourth generation, "

The driver swung her attention back to the road as another yellow cab narrowly screeched past

"Getthafuckouttathewayasshole!" The punkish driver yelled from her window, thrusting a finger

Irma blinked a little and slunk back into her seat, turning her eyes to April who seemed to be suffering a little with motion sickness. Small beads of sweat had begin to gather on her brow which she was massaging with her long nailed fingers.

The driver was rattling off stories of previous journeys with the occasional snorting guffaw as she amused herself, and seemingly only herself as they inched through the mid-town traffic. The city was especially muggy on this late afternoon and April had seemingly reached her limit

"Fuck this shit.." April uttered as she popped the door and step out of the barely moving taxi cab.

"Hey. HEY! You can't just.. Dammit!" The driver pounded her wheel, leaving a rather bemused looking Irma to sit alone as April slipped away into the undulating crowds of the street. Unbuckling her own belt, Irma made as if to follow her fleeing friend when the cab suddenly accelerated around the obstructive traffic causing the door to swing shut in her face. "Ohnoyoudon't! I'm not losin' anutha fair. Not today, José! We're goin where we goin, an' that's that"

As the cab sped away, Irma caught brief glimpses of April's auburn bun until she had vanished in the crowd and was gone.

April knew she'd be better off on foot than in this traffic, and after a short claustrophobic trip on the underground, she welcomed the early evening air as dusk began to hint at a cool night. Hands slung in her jacket pockets she hummed contently to herself, feeling much more at ease without Irma's slightly obsessive, overbearing behavior and the potently grim smelling taxi. "Yeesh, what a pig!" she thought to herself about the loudly mannered driver. The confident newscaster made her way using various dilapidated back alley shortcuts that she'd learned over her lifetime in the city. She moved with what could best be described as a powerful strut. Her tight bosom bounced slightly with each step, loose hair streaking delicately across her features until she suddenly froze still.

The skin on her neck tightened, sending a shiver right through her spine. Her glossy brown eyes narrowed and her nose sniffed the air.

A low growl began to emanate through the alley, bouncing off the buildings and fences. April pulled her collar up close against her neck and turned slowly.

The sight of a feral dog, teeth bared, head down caused her to shriek and take a stumbling step backwards. The hound responded with a harsh, slobbering bark and took a step closer. April's heart raced as panic ran through her body, causing sudden sharp sweats all over. For every step backwards she took, the predatory canine took two steps forward, growling low. It was only when the beast was close enough to pounce that something took over, instinct perhaps, and in that moment the reporter lunged forward with a fearsome hiss, baring her own teeth, hands raised as if ready to claw the mutt's eyes out.

She watched the ferocious attack dog whimper away with shock and fear.  Her shoulders slumped as the adrenaline began to leave her alone and after a sigh of relief, let go a short smug giggle. She was feeling rather impressed with herself, until she caught sight of the time on her wrist and began to press on with steely determination. She hadn't noticed, perhaps due to the excitement of the near dog experience, but her nails were now ever so slightly longer, ever so slightly sharper and curling into subtle points. Her fingertips were throbbing softly, but then again, so were her ears, and her chest. She felt so pumped!

Tony Stark ran one of the most sought after hair salons in the city, which, in this town, was saying something. Perhaps it was the limited seating, or his perfectly toned muscular limbs, but a booking at Stark's was not something any self respecting fashionista would miss lightly. Funerals for loved one's have known to be missed, just to keep an appointment.

Tony was saying his farewell to his last customer while simultaneously charming the living daylights out of her with flattery and twinkling smiles, when April arrived in the doorway.

She cut an impressive silhouette in the doorway, visibly slightly out of breath, her slender curves wrapped in a long windswept coat, strands of hair lit up like a halo against the early evening sunset. Her shoulders were heaving gently as she inhaled and exhaled slower and slower. When she eventually spoke it was a breathy rasp that was dripping with self-indulgent sensuality.

"Hi Tony"

Paying no mind to the woman on the way out, she slinked towards her favorite hairstylist and greeted him with a warm, friendly kiss on the cheek. She lingered a moment with her fingers on his arms, gazing into his eyes. He was such a handsome devil, she thought to herself.

"April. Hi!" Tony casually returned the kiss and sidestepped away to close the door and turn the sign from open to shut.

"Beginning to think you weren't going to make it. Take a seat" he said in his usual clipped, fast-paced manner.

She obliged and settled into the comfortable leather chair but April didn't have time to respond other than opening her mouth and turning to face Tony, who moved busily about the room.

"So, what'll it be today for madame?" He spun April in the chair to face her reflection and with a flourish, wrapped a cover around her shoulders.

Irma shuffled through a handful of notes and apologetically handed the full fare, plus a little extra, through the plexiglass divider to the cabbie who counted as she mumbled "Yeah, yeah, thanks. Hey, good luck findin' that crazy friend o' yours!" before screeching off to the next job with a snorting chuckle.

Irma took stock of her surroundings, the tall glacial buildings and the glossy store fronts had all begun to illuminate the streets as the city shed it's daylight and slowly adopted the night. "Aw.. Shit!" she quietly spat when it became apparent to her she was several blocks away from her intended destination. She swatted at a stray flying scrap of paper and muttered something about unlicensed cabbies and this damn city going to hell.

After a moment to vent, the visibly anxious Ms Langenstein settled on a direction and went at it with long determined strides, as swift as her short frame would carry her.

Tony cut and snipped at the auburn tips of hair between his fingers, doing his best to ignore the stare he could feel coming off the mirror. April's reflection watched him with an intense, almost unblinking fixation. She eventually broke the silence with a low husky voice

"You smell wonderful today, Tony" she said before squirming a little, causing the leather beneath her to creak. Involuntarily, her tongue flicked across her lips and teeth, her nose twitching with a few quick quivers. She was idly stroking the arms of the chair with light touches of her unusual manicure

Usually not one to be disarmed, the smooth talker found himself a little caught off guard as he responded with a surprised, if not slightly meek "Uh. Thanks? Same cologne as always"

April had been coming here for two years, and although usually friendly, she was never quite so overtly flirtatious, nor was she single, which Tony did his best to remind her of.

"So, how's Casey doin'? Heard he's got a big game across state this weekend"

"Mmm, Casssey.." April responded with a smile as her eyes closed and mind drifted for a brief moment until she blinked her eyes open, regaining focus.

"I miss him, but he's sooo far away" she exclaimed with a sigh and a distant, dreamy look in her eye.

Tony continued to steer the conversation away from his scent, and his biceps and keep his friend, April's lover, Casey Jones somewhere near the middle of the topic, but found it a little easier to just snip snip in silence, and it was then he noticed something even more peculiar about his friend April O'Neil.

Second to April herself, no one was more familiar with April's head than her hairdresser, and Tony could swear that his clients ears, which were usually pretty though pretty unremarkable, were ever so slightly pointed at the top. Was there something different about her skull in general? Impossible, he thought. With a curiously arched brow he continued to work under April's fascinated gaze. He assumed this latest development was what had prompted the redhead to opt for literally letting her hair down, but the cause both eluded and fascinated him. He daren't ask in-case it was a result of botched surgery. He had a strict don't ask don't tell policy when it came to his clients cosmetic secrets. A wise choice considering his clientele and the lengths some of them would go to for "that look", and the lengths they would go to to conceal their methods.  A competitor once had her establishment burnt to the ground by a rather vengeful Selina Kyle who wanted to keep a little nip 'n' tuck to herself.

Irma trudged defiantly towards April's most likely whereabouts as she cursed herself for neglecting to bring a card or any more cash. A cab ride would have been useful about now, and having to fork out for April's share had left her pockets bare. Her large rimmed glasses caught the rising moon a she turned a corner.

Heavy, low and yellow, the moon still clung to the horizon across the bay but was visibly on it's way up. "Dammit April. This is not how I pictured this evening turn out. Why do ya always gotta go an-.." She was cut off mid sentence by her own ringtone.

"Irma speakin'. Uh, yeah. No! Everything's fine! Yeah. April's just.. well, no, no! I ain't lost her. No, I know where she is! Don't worry, I'll.. I'll handle it. U-uh huh.. I understand"

click

If she didn't look worried before, the petite brunette now wore a decidedly concerned expression and quickened her pace to a swift jog, holding her heavy specs in place as she bounced through the dusk.

PS - If you're wondering where the picture is, all is explained in the most recent blog entry, link above.  Read it, go on, you know you want to.