Summary:Batman and Spider-Man meet to trade information on the Mindless Ones and Nightfall - and they are interrupted by an interloping St. Roe. Log Info:Storyteller: None |
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Big Jake set up in his usual place in Brooklyn and waited.
He had set up his hot dog stand in this place for over 20 years. He had been here when he saw the Twin Towers fall. He had stayed to provide food to EMTs and cops and firemen after the Sentinels attacked. He had stayed even when his view included what the locals called the "Brooklyn Blitz."
The local hoods didn't mess with him. He had a rep for carrying a Louisville slugger in his cart. And once people heard about hoods messing wth Big Jake, they didn't mess with him a second time.
And now, he has a very hungry guardian angel who protected him and his cart from the Rhino.
"Hello, Big Jake."
Jake looked up to see Spider-Man, hanging upside-down from a webline. "Hey, Webhead. Got your chili dog and Coke read for ya."
And by read, that's what Jake meant. When he takes out the can, there's a note attached to it. It's addressed to Spider-Man, and the vendor looks at it oddly. "Huh, didn't know I was a fan-mail drop off for you, Webs." he offers with a good natured chuckle. "Here you go."
Nothing about the envelope sets off his Spider-Sense. It appears to be just your standard plain white invitation card, except when turned in the light, the faint watermark of a Bat symbol is noticed.
A certain hacker was just passing along, her eyes partially on the street, partially on the few people around, never really up to the skies, passing along one of her favorite late night snacks. As she approached the Chili-dog stand, she lifted a hand, lifting two fingers. "The usual. Soda, 2 dogs." she mumbles, leaning onto the stands corner without noticing Spidey for some longer moments. Only some 5, 10 seconds laters she seemed to realize the upside down other customer, her eyes following up the head to the body, then the zipline before moving down again to the masked head. "Nice AR ad, Jake. But you know, google glasses and such are not that common that hanging a spiderman over your stand is going to affect sales that much…" she says before stopping mid sentence. "Wait, that's the real one, is it?"
Spidey takes the card as he balances the Coke, and the chili dog. Upside down. Without spilling anything.
He looks at the card, then realizes there is a young lady looking up at him. He pulls up the mask to wave to St. Row with the hand holding the card. "Hello, miss. You aren't the one who gave me this card, did you?"
He pondered it as he took a bite of chili dog. The symbol looked vaguely familiar. He held it up for Roe to see. "Does this look familiar to you?"
The young woman shrugged a moment, then stretched out the hand to take it and hold it to the light of a streetlamp, her eyes evaluating it before handing it back a couple moments later. "That's a member of the family Chiroptera in an elipse. A rather stylized one. As far as media presence goes, that that thing has been seen on the clouds some times. Origin not really known, but some people suspect it to be part of an alien invasion plan, a sign to call some superhero, or a governement plan to make us watch the other way as they do unmentionables."
Spider-Man munches as he ponders. "The invasion plan sounds sketchy. Why announce it? And if it was a distraction, it's an extremely obtuse one." He finishes off the chili dog quickly. It really is delicious, and Jake's wife makes the chili daily.
As he sips his soda, he says, "Well, you know who I am, miss. But I have no idea who you are, or who this is, so I'm at a bit of a disadvantage."
"It's what the internet thinks it is. Who would use such an obvious sign to announce that some superhero is around? It would announce pretty obviously one of their allies which would have rather bad implications some times. And who might be linked to such a sign anyway? Dracula? He's a myth." The girl answered, slipping Jake the bills for payment as she picked up her things.
Wow, she dodged the question expertly. She…hey, now, it opens.
Spider-Man sets his drink down on a nearby ledge, then opens the card.
Inside the card is a pair of coordinates:
40 42' 48.258'' N
74 0' 43.4664'' W
741' above sea level
It will only take a little bit of information digging to realize it's the address for 7 World Trade Center - particularly the New York Academy of Sciences.
An invitation?
Spidey frowns. Roe can see the frown, because he hasn't yet pulled his mask down after eating.
"I…gotta get moving." He closes the card, then tosses it in Jake's trash bin. "Looks like someone wants to meet lil' old me."
He fires a webline, and is off and rolling, just like that. He certainly can get around.
The woman sighs as she picks up the card, taking a glance at it before pulling out a lighter to torch it. "250 Greenwich Street. 40th floor. Jake, forget this has happened, ok? You don't want to get involved too much into such." she advises the man before slipping him another bill and moving down to catch an Uber. She might not be as fast as Spidey… but she might get there.
A few minutes later, Spider-Man, mask back in place, lands on the edge of the roof overlooking the courtyard area of the Academy. He had thought about coming here, or going to MIT, or Berkeley…
So much for that. Aunt May needed help now. He sighed heavily, then began looking around. "Yoo hoo…come out, come out, whatever you are…"
The rooftop of the New York Academy is a mirrored affair - there's a few solid spaces for where the landing lights and HVAC equipment is placed. For a moment, the only sound is that of the thrum of the AC as it works to keep the building dehumidified. Then a voice comes from the darkness.
"You're late." It's said deadpan, no sense of humor to the tone as the shadows seem to move, and a figure steps out of them.
There had been rumors of Batman's return. Most of them had been marked and debunked as fear. Though no remains had ever been found after the Battle of the UN. As the cape flows away from the figure, the black Bat-symbol, outlined in yellow is unmistakable - even if it's a change from the costume that existed just five years ago.
"You're working on the kidnappings and tattoo'd summoners surrounding Agent Turner and Keiko Kurita. I have information on it - and I want to know what information you have."
Spidey JUMPS. Spider-Sense and all, and he is still surprised.
He had expected it to be Batman like he expected it to be the Spanish Inquisition…which, truthfully, no one expects. He had heard rumors, but Batman had been like…the boogeyman for crooks. A couple had been fished up from above and had looked relieved when they saw it was him and not Batman.
He backed up a couple of steps before realizing it, and said, "Uhm…yeah…I am. I've been keeping an eye on two of the kids, Ricardo and Brian, but…holy cow, you're REALLY BATMAN…"
The Uber takes considerably longer to get the woman to the position, and then she still has to dodge the guard of the building as she sneaks in, manipulating the cameras to show a short loop as she slipped to the elevators. Though out on the roof, the sound of the elevators starting to spin up at this time of night was most likely noticeable… and clearly odd as the building was supposed to be mostly vacated….
"Two of the children. From East Side or Bayard Taylor?" comes Batman's question as he reaches into his utility belt. Yes, he has a utility belt. He doesn't respond to the comment that he is the Batman, instead, reaching into one of the pouches, he takes out a flechette, and tosses the blade underhanded towards Spider-Man. "This is what one of them was carrying. "It's an enforced glass with what is elementally titanium - but the bonds are not any that exist on Earth."
On the weapon itself is markings of an icon of the moon eclipsing the sun. "Were the children you recovered marked? Or had blood drawn from them?"
Spidey catches the blade and looks at it, and his jaw sets in determination. "Yeah. They were both marked with this symbol. The organization is called NIGHTFALL." He tosses the blade back to Batman. "This organization…HARVESTS children gifted with physical prowess or latent abilities. And they worship a deity named Plotka. They have some grounding in magic."
The elevator sound stops after long enough a time for the thing to going from ground floor to top floor, before it goes silent again. Down, on the floor below, the hacker moves along the floors to the starirwell, stopping some moments to open the door, before she is on the stairs up, her hands seeking a simple balaclava from a pocket to pull over her head as she is on the stairs still.
"The Mindless ones." Batman responds, "They're the ones most likely creating the dimensional rifts - I have some contacts I plan to have look into it." comes the explanation. As he hears the elevator coming up, part of him wants to reach for a Batarang, and leave the poor person trapped within for the night there - but their conversation it about over.
But his attention is turned to Spider-Man. "Did you ask someone else to come here?" comes the direct question. "Security is not due for this area for another twenty-two minutes."
"They're going after the gifted, or possible mutants then. And the tattooed ones." He takes out a second flechette, and this one he reaches into a different pouch for. Taking out a small lump of something metallic. Tapping it against the metal, it shatters the glass and the flechette.
The lump is offered to Spidey. "Elemental iron. Unprocessed. It could break their summons just as easily. I plan to find out."
Spidey looks to the elevator. He doesn't suspect Roe yet, but he has a niggling feeling he's forgotten something.
He looks back to Batman, then reaches into his backpack and pulls out a small vial. He tosses it to Batman. "One of the primary components of the tattoo ink. Only found growing along the banks of the Amazon River in Peru, near (but not in) the National Reserve Allpahuayo-Mishana. I'm currently working on a counter-agent to nullify the use of the tattoos…"
The door of the roof access opens just a short time after, someone ducking out onto the roof, the face concealed under the black ski mask. Bad timing it might be, the eyes scanning the roof as she tries to figure out who Spidey was meeting
Catching the vial in his hand, Batman slips it into his utility belt. Taking note of the information, he gives a nod of his cowled head in thought. The information is processed and put away. "I'll let you know what information I get after my meetings." he responds, starting to step back into the darkness to prepare to depart.
Unexpected guests will need to get their information from their accidental plus ones. "You have talents, Spider-Man. Though you're still young. I look forward to what develops." With that, there's the pneumatic pssht of a grapple line being fired as Batman is yanked from the roof, his cape fluttering behind him as he takes back into the New York night.
He thinks I have talents. Wow, that's pretty…annnnd he's gone. Mysterious, scary creature of the night, are we SURE he's not Dracula?
His mental dialogue is interrupted by the appearance of someone in a mask. he turns around, then calls out, "Hello? Who's there?"
The masked woman steps out of the shadow after a couple moments. "I am the terror that flaps in the night! I am the winged scourge that pecks at your nightmares! I am Darkwing Duck!" The figure though is neither caped, nor with a hat or a duck. Just a female eith ski mask. "You got to be more careful, webslinger. Leaving your invitations behind…"
Spider-Man blinks, then it comes together for him. "Crud. Yeah, you're right…but, miss, this isn't a game. Why did you come? If it was to get Batman's autograph, you're a little late." He points into the night. "He went thataway."
"Why I came? Two things actually." The woman answered with a chuckle, her hands propping into the sides. "One you just answered yourself. The other you might realize by yourself too… or at least have so partially. You're careless. Telling me right away that you were meeting the Batman, and his direction…"
Spider-Man as the good grade to look a little uncomfortable. "Well, I've only been doing this for a little over a year. Besides, I didn't really think it was Batman until I showed up." He paused. Maybe the truth might scare her off.
"There's some secret organization kidnapping kids. I sorta blundered into it, but helped with the rescue of two kidnapped kids. It's getting worse, though. Actual MAGIC is involved…"
"Soso… What are you trying to achieve… scare me off? make me uncomfortable?" the woman called his bluff, shrugging a little. "And make that three strikes on the same front. You are really forthcoming when it comes to mining information, I don't need to ask questions…" A little laugh comes from her as she eyes up Spider-Man, herself pretty much uncostumed safe for her face mask.
Okayyyy…that's not working. "Well, you might as well take the ski mask off, I already know your face, and you look kinda silly wear a ski mask over normal clothing." He leaned against a raised concrete piling. "So what do you want to do about this? Unless you're a reporter? I kinda know most of the crime beat reporters…"
The woman just laughtes for a couple moments. "You think you know my face? I doubt. You left behind the note, it was unattended. I just found it, still warm from the touch." She keeps the mask on, her head slowly shaking. "So it's real, the Batman is back, after all the years, and he's working with you. Do you know his track record of sidekicks?"
Spider-Man tilts his head. "I'm no sidekick. I just met him for the first time tonight. And just because he's scary as heck doesn't mean these kids don't need protecting. And to finish, I'm wearing red-and-blue pajamas, I don't have a problem with looking foolish." He taps his temple. "And my eyes work fine. And you still haven't answered my question about what you want to do…"
St.Roe chuckles as she shakes the head slowly. "Oh, I just listen… you are such an easy source of information… Spider-Man. Let's see who you know…" A moment she is silent, her eyes in the mask just slightly unfocusing. "A psycho… an icon… your gender-bent counterpart, that should have been obvious… But maybe we should call Captain Marvel to ask if you are always that trusting…" Under the mask she grins wide, slightly more focused on the cyberspace side than the real world as she plays catch and probe with the virtual machine. "You should get Qubes…"
Spider-Man BLINKS behind the mask, and then goes very low-tech—he pulls the back of the phone off and pulls the battery, cutting the connection. He looks down at the phone, then back up at the woman.
She had done it so EASILY…
He realized his mouth had gone dry, and that he was suddenly scared. If she had broken through to find his personal information…
And that was the tipping point. She had tailed him, sought him out, and simply…invaded his phone, looking for God knew what. He had to get out of here. Like NOW, before she dug into the tech in his mask.
Running is easy. He'd done it all his life.
Spider-Man suddenly turns and bolts for the edge of the building, jumping off without so much as a by-your-leave, swinging away as fast as he can…
St. Roe eyes after Spidey as he leaves, bolting after him to the edge to try to stay in range just long enough to leave an extra number in the number cache instead of digging for the person behind the mask more. It was labeled as Saint Roe, though the number behind that would make no real sense - violating all the rules of normal number coding. But it would work. "Call if you want to continue that talk."