Summary:Helena and Peter arrive at the scene of the crime to nerd out. Log Info:Storyteller: None |
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Twenty-four hours later, the police have collected as much evidence as they're likely to. They haven't released the scene yet, but they're not really keeping guard on it either - those personnel are better tasked helping people who haven't been hurt yet. Some people are a little more digged about getting information, though.
One of those people is inside the container at the moment, scrolling through the settings on her contacts to see if any different type of view makes anything stand out. She's little more than a shadow in the dark, all in black with a few pieces of body armor, including gauntlets, and a mid-calf cape with the hood pulled up. A dark mask covers the lower half of her face, leaving just a pair of golden eyes to look out of the darkness.
Peter had the same idea. More than a few cops are considering the bounty, but men like Captain Stacy are going are these men, and the Bugle is ACTUALLY planning an expose in a few days about it. JJJ actually going to bat for Spider-Man? Heh, snowball's chance in a blast furnace. But he *IS* rabid about corruption, and has the journalistic minerals to take it all the way to OsCorp's door.
However, it seems he is not the only one looking for evidence after the CSU had had its not-so-gentle way with the crime scene, So, he decides to make his typical entrance.
Helena is suddenly aware of an upside-down masked face descending from the top of the entrance to the shipping container. he stops at head-and-shoulders only, then a hand raises/lowers and he waves.
"I KINDA doubt you have a badge."
Helena turns at the sound of feet on the roof, stepping back toward the wall in a defensive pose until she sees just who it is. "Oh yeah?" There's a smirk behind that mask, visible only in the slight crinkle at the corner of her eyes. Even her voice is noticeably modulated. "I'm gonna go out on a limb and say: ditto."
Stepping back away from the wall again, she goes back to scrolling through settings by rubbing her thumb along the side of her index finger as she paces the area. "I was kind of hoping there might be something to give a clue about the magic. Not the sort of thing cops are usually looking for, you know?"
Spidey flipped over to land lightly on his feet. "I know what you mean. Magic isn't in my wheelhouse…but the materials they use *are.* The ink for the tattoos comes from a rare South American flower. And I do understand chemistry, so I was able to create a non-magic-based counteragent to neutralize the compounds of the flower in the ink. And the test during that little dust-up certainly proved effective." He sighs. "Two of the kids still got marked. I think they got magically tagged, like baby seals. To be collected later."
He pauses, then extends his gloved hand, the mechanism of the web-shooter visible on his inner wrist. "I'm Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man. And you are…?"
"Yeah, I heard," Helena nods at the mention of the counteragent. "It's pretty cool. What're you using to counteract the ink? What was your hypothesis on the active agent?" Neeeeeeeerd alert.
Even behind the mask and the contacts, the interest in her eyes when she steps forward to take the offered hand and sees the web-shooter is evident. "Sorry. Blackbird," she introduces herself. Her own gauntlets have retractable claws built in, though they're stowed for the moment.
Spidey nods. "Well, nice to meet you, Blackbird. " He reaches into his backpack and pulls out a small vial , half-full of a blue substance. "This is an organic mix. It has a high alkalinity, so, I started with something on the low end of the pH spectrum. Then added a particular brand of herbicide that happens to break down the cells very quickly." He gives the vial to Blackbird. "For your own analysis. Can't have too many chefs in the kitchen on this."
He holds up his left arm, then taps the bracelet colored the same at the costume, and Blackbird can see a window where a thin square cartridge is nestled. The black cartridge suddenly descends slightly, and then shifts to the right, revealed the bracelet as a series of cartridges, designed to be switched in a second. The next cartridge that comes up is pink.
"This one is the standard webbing, but it has also been infused with the counter-agent."
Helena takes the vial without hesitation, looking between it and Spider-Man as he explains and nodding along. "It's temporary right now, yeah?" she asks. "So you're interfering with the qualities of the ink rather than with the tattoo itself. Which explains why you can suppress the effects without engaging the failsafe that's causing the madness. But it has to be temporary this way, because if you degrade the ink too much, then you're risking triggering the same effect…"
She tucks the vial into a utility belt at her hips that looks like a smaller, lighter version of Batman's, even as she's leaning in to get a better look at the webshooter. "That is…genius. Carbon monofilaments?" she guesses, looking back up.
Spidey exposed a little more of the webshooter. "most of it is a titanium alloy. Hard to forge and shape, but light, sturdy, and easily to fix if damaged. The webbing is reverse-engineered synthetic spider-silk, stored in liquid form. I have a base design for the webbing, and can modify it to handle certain situations. The needle that enters the cartridge to withdrw the webbing also agitates the webfluid in the cartridge to keep it from setting or hardening. It's gone through a few iterations. I'd like to improve it, but the budget is a little on the lean side right now."
"And you can alter the consistency and the spray by altering the aperture. Wow. That's way cooler than just being able to shoot it out of yourself." Helena grins behind her mask, the amusement in her voice clear even through the altering. "Also less gross." She finger-guns before she steps back, trying to pull herself out of the nerd rabbit-hole before she gets too deep.
"Like I said, I was hoping there might be something here that had more to do with the magic parts. I checked with Batman and he said the mist that showed up when the Nightfall guys were summoning the creatures was new. I don't know for sure, but I've just got a gut feeling there was more to it than just special effects, you know?"
Spider-Man nodded, replacing the costume over the webshooter. "I was thinking about searching for residue from the mist itself." He takes out a small atomizer. "They seem to focus their magic on the same basic compounds. This solution should reveal if the residue from the mist is still here, and if they are using the same materials. If that is true, then you might need something I put together." He puts the atomizer in one hand, then the other one takes out a dull metal cylinder with a push-button trigger. "This used to be a paint grenade. I filled it with the counter-agent, but never got a chance to try it on the mist." He places a plastic cap on the end with the button, then hands it to Blackbird. "In case you run into this mist in action again."
"Thanks." Helena takes the grenade, tucking it into another pouch with a low laugh. "You know, usually I'm the one handing out the gadgets and explaining them. Kind of nice not to be the only one. It looks like they were just holding the kids in here so far. I haven't been able to find anything that looks out of place for that. You wanna check outside?"
Tilting her head toward the door, she starts in that direction. "As I understand it, magic requires a few different elements. There's material, but there's also ritual. Which can be words, or gestures, or symbols. These tattoos are like…a shortcut for some of that. Put in the time up front with the tattoo, then less work when you want the effects of it. I'm guessing the creatures still have to come from somewhere, though."
Spider-Man nods as he walks with Blackbird. "When the creatures are defeated, they go back to the summoner, but the shapes themselves show signs of blood, as if they themselves are bleeding. And, the summoner can't call it back until it has recovered." He pauses, then adds, "Just so you know, that grenade goes on a five-second timer, in case you need to 'cook' it for best effect. In any case, I also found that if they can't touch the tattoo, they can't summon the creature it depicts. Another good use for the webbing."
"There's definitely a link between the person and the tattoo," Helena agrees, nodding as she heads for where the portal appeared. "So they're probably sharing some sort of…mystical energy or something. It can't be all physical, though. That snake was too big to come just from the…" She pauses, waving her hands vaguely. "Metaphysical substance of a person. So maybe the mist is related to giving the creatures form? Some sort of raw material?"
"Or a magical smokescreen." Spider-Man muses about that thoughtfully. "So it's not just creatures. We might want to watch for any tattoos of weapons, as well. They may not be possible, but when you add Magic to the recipe, you tend to throw out the instruction manual"
"Right?" Helena wrinkles her nose, shifting the mask a bit. "Magic's got rules. They're just…like Alice in Wonderland rules. They only make sense in their own place. Magical smokescreen would be one thing," she agrees. "The monsters didn't show up on infrared. Which makes sense in hindsight, there's no reason for them to have a heat signature. I wonder if they'd show up in UV," she muses, rubbing her thumb along her index finger again. "What do you know about that plant?"
Spidey smiles ruefully. "It grows along the banks of the Amazon River in Peru, near (but not in) the National Reserve Allpahuayo-Mishana. Some of the locals worship a deity known as El Atento. Only the most loyal and devout will be rewarded beyond their wildest dreams. The translation for El Atento is 'The Mindful One.' The guy Deadpool, Spider-Woman and I ran into worshipped something he called 'Plotka.' Same spiel. What you want more than anything else, and then you enslave yourself to Plotka to get it. But it's a con game."
"Well yeah. If you ever heard a fairy tale that wasn't told by Disney, you know it's always a con game." Helena looks around, then takes a short running start toward a container, running half-way up the side before snagging the edge and rolling herself the rest of the way up to get a view from the height.
"So the portal was over there. The mist made it out this far, about this high. It didn't start until the actual Nightfall wizards showed up. There were four of them. Two with the head tattoos, two with the torso tattoos." She looks back toward Spider-Man, brows furrowing in a pensive frown. "Two for attack, two for cover?"
Spider-Man nods. "Makes sense. Offense and defense. One provides cover for the attackers. The other…maybe some other kind of support, in case the mist fails. Might be a good idea to use that grenade for hitting the group if they don't spread out. Maybe they physically protect each other?"
"It sucks when they're smart." Helena crouches, elbows on her knees as she looks over the scene. "And specialized." Reaching into her belt, she pulls out the grenade to give it a speculative look. "You know, part of the hard part about cold iron is that not forging iron makes it a bitch to use as a weapon. But if you just ground it down…" She arches a brow in Spider-Man's direction. "Fine enough particles, properly aerosolized, could interrupt things as well."
Spidey looks thoughtful. "Iron particales, mixed in with the webbing…it would make the webbing weaker, maybe, depending on the saturation, but a smoke grenade that pumps cold iron particles? Problem is, that is poisonous, too. But what if we used iron-based paint? Similar to lead-based, but saturated with iron particles. Could coating them with that hinder them, or even keep them from summoning anything? Could it dispel one of the tattoo creatures…?"
His head is going a mile a minute, working out the logistics and contingencies.
"Most of us wear masks by definition," Helena shrugs. "We can filter it out. It wouldn't be ideal for this sort of situation where they've basically got hostages. But when we eventually take the fight to them? You start dispersing cold iron into faerie air and you're going to have a hell of an advantage."
She slides back down the side of the container, landing lightly on her feet. "Side bonus, it's probably cheaper and easier than the antidote to a rare South American flower." She watches him, following along with each step and branching off as well. "You know, circles are big, too. I wonder if you got them inside a circle of cold iron paint, if they'd even be able to get out of it."
Spidey stops, then points his finger at Blackbird. "Okay…whew. We need a magic expert. The problem with science is that we need to know the rules of magic in order to plan non-magic ways to circumvent them…" He stops. "I know of one who i will bet knows about real magic. Problem is, how to reach her?" He sighs, looking to Blackbird. "You wouldn't happen to know any magic types, would you?"
"Turns out, I do," Helena grins behind her mask. "Taught me everything I know about how not to get kidnapped by faeries. She's read in on this, but I'm pretty sure no one's asked her about the potential effects of circles painted with cold iron or the necessary quantities for incapacitation. Hey, speaking of," she continues, doing something with her fingers and the edge of her hood that looks almost like…typing? "Have you tried the antidote in something that's mucus-membrane permeable, or does it decay too rapidly in the bloodstream to be worthwhile on anyone but the ones that are covered in tattoos?"
Spider-Man shook his head. "I thought about hydrogen disulfide, but there is so much we don't know about the stuff. It might be toxic to them…and that is not how I do things. The leader, Giovanni…twenty years ago, he was a kid that got pulled into this cult. In spite of what he is doing, we need to neutralize what they do…without killing them in the process. The truth is, we have to err on the side of caution, because we will NEVER have a willing subject for these kinds of tests."
"What about the two kids who'd just been marked that we brought in last night? They haven't really had time to get brainwashed," Helena points out. "They're also kids, so. Side of caution. But it's definitely sort of a…control group. Might help us figure out how much of what these people are doing is magically induced and how much is just conditioning." She taps something out with her fingers again, with a sigh that's audible even through the mask. "If I'm being honest with myself, the whole 'magically induced' part is wishful thinking. More of a chance of fixing that than there is of convincing people they've been brainwashed."
Spider-Man looked to her. "'Why' is far down the list, Blackbird. Below 'What' and 'Where' and 'How.' I think we need your magic source for that." He looked around. "I think that, after taking samples of the affected area, there's not much else we can do here." He reaches into the backpack again and pulls out a portable sampling kit. "Want some samples to take, as well? I have enough vials to manage filling one for you."
"'Why' shapes those things," Helena shrugs, though it sounds good-natured enough. "Helps you get ahead of it, if you're lucky. I'm good," she adds, producing a vial from one of those pouches as well. "Thanks, though." She moves toward the area where the mist was, crouching down for a sample, before she looks back over at him. "Thanks…all around, actually. It's pretty cool of you to share."
Spidey grins as he takes out something that looks like a miniature vaccuum cleaner, the kind used to clean keyboards and the like. However, this one has a small plastic bottle filled with water. He slides a small vial into a round slot, open end into the unit, and it clicks closed. Then he places the vacuum, complete with circular nozzle, against the surface where the residue is, then runs it along the length of the surface, as if vaccuuming an office keyboard.
The vial villed with liquid drains as he does, the other vial filling with liquid as well as contaminates and particulates. A hand-held shop-vac.
"The liquid is distilled water. Best for testing purposes." He slides the vial off whent he device is tilted to put the output vial upright, then caps it.
Helena watches the process, her crooked smile hidden by her mask, though the posture is there all the same, even as she shakes her head. "Man. I like you." She collects her sample the old-fashioned way, with a swab, though she holds out a fist toward Spider-Man as she straightens up. "You've got a way to contact Batman, right? And vice versa?"
Spider-Man looks to her. "Should have suspected you were with Dracula, but he did leave a way to contact him once, So I can get in touch with him. I can also update the other Spiders if anything comes up." He puts the tiny shop-vac back in the plastic case, then stows it back in his backpack. And I'm not going to get all huffy about sharing stuff. As far as I'm concerned, we're on the same side."
Helena snorts back a laugh at the description, grinning wide enough beneath the mask that the mask itself shifts. "He's definitely big on the cape-swish vanishing act. Not weak to garlic, though, that part's just a myth." She takes one last look over the scene, just in case there's anything to jump out at her that she hasn't noticed yet. "I'll let you know what I find out. See if my friend can come up with anything more concrete on the magic front. And I'll give the paint-bombs a try regardless. I mean, worst case scenario, they're still covered in paint, so at least it's inconvenient for them."
Spider-Man nods. "And as long as they don't get any in their mouths, they should be okay. Tht pain will make then ralph all over the place." Spider-Man looks around. "How long have you been doing this, anyway? The crimefighting?"
There's that slight crinkling around Helena's eyes again at the question. "About…four days, give or take," she answers, wiggling her hand from side to side. "You?" That's right, just pretend that's a totally normal question…
Spider-Man looks thoughtful. "It will be…nineteen months next week." He smiles. "At least you had some kind of training and the ability to get top-of-the-line gear, so you're ahead of me there. I can tell just by looking at you."
"Yeah, I'm pretty lucky there," Helena agrees. "A lot of training. Possibly an excessive amount of training? Dracula, as you call him, doesn't really believe in 'excessive' preparation, though. He's more of a literal ESP is not enough preparation sort of guy. No powers, though," she adds with a faint smile and another of those shrugs. "Just the training and the gear. And the will. That's what we've really all got in common, right?"
Spider-Man looks to her for a long moment. "I think that what we have in common…what I HOPE we have in common…is the willingness to serve. To serve justice, to serve your conscience, to make the choice to do what is right, for the right reasons. You're lucky you made the right choice from the get-go."
"To make things better," Helena nods her agreement, smile fading to something more serious as she looks back toward the container. "To make things right. These are kids they're taking advantage of. Kids, and families that they think can't do anything about it. That's not the sort of thing you can just…let happen if there's anything you can do about it."
Spider-Man shakes his head. "They have to be held accountable." He looks to her. "You sounded a little like Batman, just now. It was a little eerie."
"Possibly an excessive amount of training," Helena repeats herself, though this time with a wink. "The difference is, I've got a sense of humor. And I'm sometimes wrong." Which apparently means Batman never is.
Spider-Man chuckles. "I've got a sense of humor…much of it bad. And I'm often wrong. And the wronger I am, the worse it is. The truth is, Blackbird, I'm a schmuck in a mask. Functioning on inspiration and luck alone sometimes. But I'm like Rocky Balboa. I don't give up. And I never stay down."
"Good. I heard that's Captain America's thing, too. And I figure if it works for Captain America, then it's probably good standard practice across the board." Helena rubs her hands together, shifting her weight awkwardly. "I don't know for sure who I am yet, or what I'll be. I just know what I want to be. I guess we'll see if I get there."
The Webhead chuckles. "Well, You know who you are, and who you want to be. You seem to have the line drawn from Point A to Point B. It's just a matter of getting there." He looks around. "Listen, the cops are going to make another round in here soon. I'm going to get before they accuse me of contaminating the crime scene. Listen, Blackbird…you take care of yourself, okay?"
"You too, Spider-Man," Helena replies, taking a few steps back. "I'll let you know what I find out. Try not to get knocked down too many more times than you have to in the meantime." She grins once more, the expression reaching those golden eyes. "Not enough people to talk science with out here as it is."
Spider-Man chuckled. "A man I respected once told me the winner of a boxing match was the last one who got knocked down…and got back up again." He fires a webline up to a light pole. "Besides, I heal quick."
And then he's off and webslinging, disappearing between two buildings and gaining speed.