Selina could see the same shock reflected in those spider compound eyes. The other party seemed equally confused about why there was a person on the twenty-second floor. Usually, he could come and go freely on the building's walls and never encountered a similar figure. Even when encountering a fellow superhero with a similar color scheme, they'd typically float mid-air. He rounded the corner from the other side of the wall and was likely scared out of his wits when he saw Selina.
Seeing an even larger confusion in those big eyes, Selina almost laughed. But she cleared her throat and waved her hand, saying, "Move along, don't get in the way of my work."
"What... what are you doing here?" Spider Man asked.
He knew Selina, known to be from another universe as his girlfriend, but since he didn't know the other Catwoman, he had no idea what Selina originally did. Even though he could see the muscles on Selina's limbs, seeing her dangling high in the air caught his already slow brain off guard.
"I'm here to observe the Stark Group's interview," Selina said calmly. "A friend of mine is among the interviewees, and I'm afraid he'll forget his lines due to nervousness, so I came to take a look. What are you doing here?"
"I'm on patrol," Spider Man replied. "I'm responsible for the security task in this area."
"When you had a fight with Iron Man, didn't they relocate you?" Selina asked curiously.
"This place is relatively safe," Spider Man responded. "It's the safest area in all of Forward York City. If I go somewhere else, I might not be able to handle it."
"You might want to consider another place," Selina advised kindly. "As issues arise with the Stark Group, the security situation here will certainly deteriorate. I know you don't shy away from difficulties, but if things go awry, the situation might worsen."
Of course, Selina couldn't say that Hydra would definitely target this place. Although Hydra in this universe is quite weak, Spider Man in this universe isn't particularly strong either. Hydra, after all, has the numbers, and who knows if there are others eyeing this place; Spider Man coming here is purely asking for trouble.
"The situation deteriorating?" Spider Man thought for a moment and said, "I'll report it to headquarters, and they can send more people, but I still need to continue my patrol."
"Go ahead," Selina waved her hand, focusing again on looking inside the window. Spider Man quickly crawled away, but while leaving, he felt something was off.
Typically, even if a friend were inside interviewing, she wouldn't need to hang outside the twenty-second floor, right? And climbing up isn't easy; ordinary people don't have this kind of equipment. Was Selina once in the business of high-altitude window cleaning?
Unable to figure it out, Spider Man resumed his patrol, swinging among the buildings. Soon, he noticed some shady figures. The group wore tight outfits with strange masks, and although Spider Man wanted to follow, they were highly vigilant and quickly fled.
This Spider Man's greatest strength is being receptive to advice. Realizing he was in over his head, he immediately sent a message to headquarters. But Natasha had taken almost all the agents and a bunch of superheroes to the cathedral for an exercise.
Carter had no choice but to instruct Spider Man not to act rashly, monitor the situation nearby, and report promptly. But Spider Man wasn't an omnipresent monitor; he could watch one area but not another. Tiring himself out without gathering much useful information, he at least exhausted himself.
Hanging outside the office, observing the interviews, Selina wasn't surprised when Pepper noticed something was amiss. The candidates didn't look like office workers, but before Pepper could investigate further, a phone call dragged her away.
The remaining people felt suspicious but were more eager to resolve the staffing issue. After eliminating the most suspicious few, they still kept some Hydra members. Selina let out a sigh of relief.
The wall Selina dangled from was the back of the Stark Group building. The front faced a main road, and hanging there would be too conspicuous. If pedestrians reported her, police would come after her, so she specifically chose the back alley.
Being cautious meant she should climb up because the upper floors would definitely be empty and wouldn't be discovered. But the back alley was relatively quiet, and there was no one on the ground, so Selina decided to save energy and descended, intending to walk on the ground.
She descended to about the seventh or eighth floor, and when she looked down, she saw Pepper leading a few people out through the back door. Selina suddenly felt uneasy and hurried to climb up using a rope.
Before she climbed a few steps, several figures appeared in the alley and rushed toward Pepper. Selina sped up, climbing the building as fast as she ever had in her life.
She had clearly seen the assassins were Talons from the Court of Owls. She needed to escape the scene quickly; otherwise, when the Rebirth Alliance arrived, they'd capture her as well.
It's no wonder Catwoman is so experienced. Just seconds after exerting every ounce of strength to reach the rooftop, Wonder Woman's figure appeared on the horizon. Selina lay on the roof terrace, gasping, watching Wonder Woman give chase in the direction of the alley.
After resting for a while on the rooftop, Selina walked to another direction of the roof terrace, continuing to look below. Wonder Woman had already taken down the Talons. Selina furrowed her brow just as she saw another shadow appear at the street corner.
Bang!
The instant the gun fired, everyone scattered in panic. Pepper clutched her chest and fell. However, Selina fixed her gaze on the figure who fired the shot—it should be an assassin from the Assassin's Union.
As expected, the restless criminal organizations had long targeted the Stark Group. Hydra was considered slow to react, maybe because it couldn't compete with other villains and was too busy dealing with heavy losses. But the Court of Owls and the Assassin's Union weren't slow to react; they wanted to completely eliminate the Stark Group.
Just as Selina was contemplating Pepper's injury, she suddenly heard the rooftop door make a sound. Selina was startled and quickly flipped over to hang outside the wall. Soon, she heard heavy footsteps.
She quietly peeked out with half her head and saw a figure in black and yellow. Selina suddenly understood—it made sense that the world's number one mercenary, Deathstroke, wouldn't miss such a big opportunity. Many on Wall Street wanted the Stark Group to go under as well.
But what was funny was that everyone targeting the Stark Group was going after Pepper Potts, not Iron Man. It was unclear whether they thought Iron Man was finished or that without Pepper, Iron Man would inevitably ruin the group. In any case, all the assassins were after Pepper.
Selina watched as Deathstroke set up the sniper rifle. However, she noticed that the bullets Deathstroke was loading into the gun were unusual, which made her feel a bit hesitant.
Although she wasn't a superhero, she didn't actually want Pepper to die. But the problem now was that if she jumped up there, she might not be able to beat Deathstroke. The disparity between them was too great, and Selina hadn't brought any firearms with her. Her chances of winning were too low, and she might end up getting herself killed.
So she simply descended to the ground from another direction while calling the Rebirth Alliance to report her position. Preventing a sniper was relatively simple; one just needed to stay out of the opponent's line of sight.
Unexpectedly, before Selina reached the ground, the gun fired again. This shot was louder, and she couldn't see if it hit Pepper, but soon she saw Wonder Woman carrying someone to the hospital.
Selina let out a helpless sigh, landed on the ground, and retracted her hook. Just as she was about to call Bruce, she looked up to see Iron Man flying across the sky, heading into the Stark Building.
She thought it was because he had heard of Pepper's attack and was coming to save her, but Iron Man's flight was wobbly, as if something was wrong with the mecha. Had Bruce taken action?
"Hey? What's up with Iron Man?" Selina asked.
"His mecha's operating system has been hacked by Brainiac," Bruce said.
"How did he end up against Iron Man?"
"He wants the improved version of the Extremis Virus," Bruce said. "Don't forget, the Extremis Virus that made fish stronger before can also make other animals bigger and better. Brainiac has always wanted to develop animal husbandry but lacked the technology; he definitely wants to make a deal with Iron Man."
"But this Iron Man probably won't make a deal with him," Selina sighed. The White Can was stubborn, only going backward. It's hard to imagine how the two could have a rational conversation; the White Can might threaten Brainiac to help it fulfill its evil pyramid scheme plan.
"And Brainiac isn't easy to deal with either," Bruce continued. "He's just pretending to be a person, but in reality, he's an evil robot. Iron Man's Symbiotic Battle Armor is broken, and the remaining mechanical armor is naturally restrained by Brainiac, so he's probably done for."
Bruce sounded as if he were lamenting for Iron Man, but Selina knew him well. After all, Brainiac is an electronic life form and doesn't know much about bacteria or viruses; it was definitely Bruce who incited him to mess with the Extremis Virus.
"How are things on your end?" Bruce asked.
"Hydra has infiltrated the Stark Group, but they are clearly too mild. The Court of Owls, the Assassin's Union, and Deathstroke have already taken action; Pepper should be in the emergency room now."
"Next is Luther," Bruce's voice turned a bit cold. "This guy is beyond redemption. He's lost an eye, yet he still wants to frame Spider-Man..."
"Wait," Selina said, "he wants to frame Spider-Man?"
"He's always wanted to frame Spider-Man," Bruce said. "For some reason, he dislikes Spider-Man even more than Superman."
"But Spider-Man has his spider-sense, and he shouldn't..." Selina paused, but she also knew that the spider-sense wasn't all-powerful. For the very green Spider-Man, it was still too dangerous.
"Don't worry, someone will take care of Luther," Bruce said. "He won't be able to act out for too long."