Summary:A bat, some spiders, and a biokinetic meet up in secrecy for a little meet-n-greet. Log Info:Storyteller: None |
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It's 8 PM, and Peter is suited up and out in the night. He is trying to get a few things done, as well as get a few things together.
Ten minutes ago, he sent a text to Thea, asking to meet with her. "There may be other Spiders there, too. Hope that's okay."
Having planted one seed, he sends a message through the Spider-Comm system: "Meeting a benefactor, would like you to meet her if you are available tonight."
And finally, a message to Batman for Blackbird. "Meeting a friend. Hoping you're okay, want to know if you'd like to be there. Spidey."
Each message has a GPS location—Belvedere Castle in Central Park.
Out of the shadows there comes a sound, the soft rustling of something moving against the wind. And then, Spider-Anya is there, as if she's come out of nowhere, landing nearby Spider-Man. Her midsection is encased in her chitinous hide; a strong, black material with luminescent blue underlay that appears when the light catches it just right.
She lands with a grimace and a bit of a grunt, then pauses to check the makeshift cast around her torso. "Might wanna switch this whole meeting location up next time," she tells Spider-Man. "In case someone gets wise to it."
Looks like someone's got a case of the masked paranoia.
Well, it's not like she had anything otherwise important to do, and hanging out with Spider-Man always got interesting. Spider-Girl (Red) starts swinging purposefully instead of just meandering. With a few minutes to go, the arachnid drops and lands next to Anya. "Ouch… You still healing? I wish there was something I could do…"
Blackbird came out of the last scuffle with the Nightfall relatively unscathed, thanks to…Well, probably one too many trips to the circus or something, but no one needs to know about that. "I heard you guys made good," is how she announces her arrival, lacking even the sound of a landing. "At least that's what the WAND folks said. Got a captive, even?"
There had been a quick response from Thea: "Other spiders? The two legged kind, I hope? I am not scared of spiders, but they are not my favorite non-mammal." There had been some silly emojis. "I'm fine if you think they want to meet me. I'm on my way. I might have to make a stop en route."
She won't take long, but she doesn't come swinging in or anything cool. She will wander on up, in her hooded jacket, that anyone with a shopping addiction will recognize as designer. Hair is strawberry hued and braided back in two french braids, and if there's enough light, eyes are a bright emerald green (thanks to contacts), and makeup is subtle and adjusted for the current 'look'. Under the hooded jacket is a black casual top, and snug dark wash jeans with black ankle booties.
She knows she's not alone, even as she strolls on up, her powers can tell her that. "So, is this a team or a club, or just a gang?" She will call out, completely at ease, even with being outnumbered.
Spidey smiles as she shows up. Okay. Game plan. Intro everyone, don't blow anyone's cover, thank Thea. This'll work.
Spider-Man nods to Blackbird. "Yeah, Rhino got hired by them, I'll give you the full rundown after the intros."
He lowers himself on a webline, upside-down, because that's how he rolls. Or hangs. He drops to land on his feet, smiling to Thea. "I'm glad you could make it." He looks up. "Come on out everyone.
"Vulture was there too, but he got away by using some kind of hand flamer to melt the webs. We're going to try to make more heat resistant ones. Or I'd just use my stingers…" SPider-May grumbles a bit to herself, before hopping down and landing in a crouch. "Heya. I'm Spider-Girl. Kinda new in town, and yes, i already know that there's another one, we've worked out a timeshare on the name. Nice to meetcha."
"Well, I can't see a doctor," Anya tells Spider-Girl (Red). "But, it ain't so bad." She pats the armor surrounding her torso. "Makeshift cast."
She turns to look at the others and says, "I'm also Spider-Girl." She thumbs toward Mayday. "She's from a different reality, and has been doing this a lot longer than me, but this is my reality, so we kinda figured, no one's changing codenames. We just go by 'Black' and 'Red' in the field."
"Oh good, you worked it out," Blackbird grins from behind her mask. "Because it was getting really wordy trying to differentiate. And complicated. Blackbird," she adds to Thea, with a slight flourish of the cape that hangs over her shoulders. "Broken ribs, or just bruised?" she asks Anya, eyeing the cast. "No trouble breathing?"
"Well, I did say I would make the effort to meet you out, so you can guard your identity…or identities, I suppose." Since there is more than just the one mask, now. There is an arch of a brow at Spider-Girl. "Is there more than one? I had no idea. I admittedly am still getting caught up on that which hunts crime in the dark." There is slightest hint of amusement to Thea's voice, as she smiles. "A pleasure, to be sure." There is a nod, eyes narrowing. "Color coded. Sounds as good a method as any."
"Cracked. Not broken. Some impressive bruising." Thea will state, almost a careless tone, glancing up to Anya's face. " I can help with that, easy, if you'd like."
Spider-Man smiles slightly under the mask. Anya'a a tough nut to crack, all right. "All, I'd like you to meet Thea. Thea was our benefactor in providing me with the funds to make the Spider-Comm system a reality." He looked to Thea. "It's already proved invaluable on more than one occasion, and easily upgradeable. All of them are forces to be reckoned with, BELIEVE me."
He pauses at Thea's offer of help. Well, since she mentioned it first, it is not blowing her cover. "Thea is a biokinetic. If she says she can help, believe me she can help."
To Thea's biokinetic senses, May's been through a /lot/ of fights. Like, so many healed microfractures. She gives the woman a nod, managing to convey gratefulness through her spandex. "The donation is /definitely/ appreciated. I didn't have anything like this back home, so I just had to use a dedicated Spider-Phone. Which got kind of inconvenient when people kept calling me in fights." She snickers a bit ruefully. "Definitely came in useful last night, too. Hopefully we're one step closer to saving the kids."
A little smirk is provided to Blackbird, before Anya's eyeing her makeshift cast. "Dunno. I really don't want some doctor finding out about… everything. I mean, doctor patient confidentiality and all, but I don't trust that."
Turning then to Thea as Peter introduces her, she seems to warm up a little. An upnod is given, and a slight grin of gratitude, but at the offer of help, her smile fades. "Really?" she asks, and reaches down to touch the makeshift cast. "I mean… I won't turn it down. If you can fix it. This little cast is helping, but it's kinda a pain in the ass."
"Yeah, well, dying of a punctured lung is also not a great way to do things," Blackbird points out to Anya, finding a nice, shadowy spot to lean as the last of the introductions comes through. She tilts her head at the description of biokinetic, though. After all, she did just tell Anya that it was theoretically possible to identify her through biomechanics. But there's not a whole lot she can do about that.
"I may have implied to certain adult heroic sorts that all the kids had a chat room with no adults allowed," she admits with a glance toward Spider-Man, the corners of her eyes crinkling with humor.
There's a smirk at Spider-man. "You do me too much credit." But she's not blushing, nor is she playing modest. It's more that Peter only knows such a tiny bit about her powers.
"If you have the means to act, you have the responsibility. Means, I have. I don't have web-slinging abilities and the like, so it makes sense to try and help those who do." She shrugs, hand sliding casually into her coat pockets. She seems to be looking at Anya, but her gaze behind the colored contacts are ever so slightly unfocused. There's a quick, rising heat, and a swift tingling that rides a close edge to stinging along those cracked ribs. "So you guys all have the.. communicator thing? Engineering is not my forte." She will glance between them, and the tingling will step down, the heat dulling to a comforting warmth that will ease muscles that have been borked by the pain.
Spider-Man moves over to Blackbird, the smile seen under his face. He gives thea a little room to work. He looks back to her and nods. "Wish our other Spider was here. She could have showed you her version, without the eye-reticle we use. I might have to stage a private demo." He looked back to Blackbird. "And if you give me five minutes alon with your hardware, I'm sure I could hot-code a connection to our Comms…if you want to become an 'honorary' Spider."
"Hey, I'm an adult. …Legally, at least." Spider-May snickers, leaning back a little against a tree. "Yeah, She doesn't have a full face mask like we do. So she's got a kind of armband thing. "Feeling any better, Black?" She tilts her head to one side a bit, watching as Thea works.
If someone could sigh visually, Anya just did to Helena. However, before she can really react, she can feel that heat and the stinging in her ribs, and looks down at them. "Oh!" she quietly exclaims, and puts a hand on her makeshift cast. "Oh, that's… that's super weird."
Just then, a little drone painted black floats over and begins hovering over her shoulder. "Oh, this is my drone, Arana. Speaking of tech." She nods to the little drone. "TL-DR, she kicks ass and is kind of borderline AI, but don't expect her to go all R2D2 on you. Not yet."
Turning to Mayday, she grins. "Actually, yeah. It's so weird." She turns back to Thea and repeats, "Super weird."
"Spider-Man, you can't just come up to a girl and ask to be alone with her hardware!" Blackbird chides in mock dismay. "What kind of cape do you think I am?" There's a faint shrug and a rueful look for Anya, but that's the world they live in. "I'd have to, ah. Work that out, actually," she admits in the topic of hardware. "This one's kind of an interwoven system. But yeah. I'd like that. You guys are pretty cool."
She nods to Thea though, lingering in the shadows. "I think we're all on the do what we can page," she agrees. "The healing, though. That's a super handy skill."
Thea herself isn't much to watch. If you don't know she's doing it, you'd never know it was her unless you could pick up the faintest extra breathing and a beat or two a minute bump to her heartrate. There's laughter at Black, lips curling. "That's probably the most honest reaction I've ever got from someone when I do it at a jump versus the slow build. But it was just easier." There's a flick of her glance at the drone. "No putting my face anywhere, I assume you all know the drill. I don't have a mask, and my … handy skill.." There's a flash of grin to she who lingers in shadows. "is not public knowledge and I prefer it that way. "
Spider-Man nods. "Yes, we know the drill." He smiles wryly. "Besides, you've helped so much already, I don't want to ask any more. But maybe a spider-costume when you're meeting with us?" He chuckles. It's kind of a dopey suggestion anyway, but good for a laugh.
"Yeah, We've already got enough dirty cops coming for us, and we're just spiders. There would probably be a /lot/ of people who'd gun for a healer." Spider-May winces a bit, leaning back against her tree again. She does send an amused look towards Spider-Man and Blackbird, though… Probably best not to start teasing in front of Thea, though.
"You kidding?" Anya remarks to Thea. Her cast suddenly cracks and just falls away, and she stretches her torso with a sense of relief. "You just fixed me up and I'm gonna go post your shit out there? Bitch, please." She grins at Thea, hoping her ghetto style isn't too terribly off putting.
Anya then looks between Spider-Man and Helena; behind the mask, her eyebrow is lifted. She gestures between the two a couple times, stalling for a moment. "You too a thing, huh?" She settles back, arms crossing. "If you hurt her, Spidey-pants, I will web your ass to a wall and wipe that shit eating grin right off your mask."
"Whoa, hey, slow it down," Blackbird raises her hands to Anya with a laugh. "No one's a…thing. We take the whole secret identity thing pretty seriously in my circle. No offense," she adds with a look to Spider-Man. "It's just that 'things' usually involve, you know. Honesty, and a lack of disguises, and…yeah."
For a moment, the usually composed young woman seems a little bit awkward. Clearing her throat behind her mask, she searches desperately for a change of subject. "So, hey! Rhino, huh? So what, Nightfall's hiring two-bit thugs now?"
There will be a glance at Spider-Man and the young woman he's clearly crushing on (Hello, hormones!). Then her gaze shifts to Spider-Girl Red. "It's not that. It's more my parents abd family I want to protect. People can try to come for me if they really feel like it. It's been done." There's a shrug. She's still standing.
There's a snort of laughter as she looks at Anya. "Bitch, please, a girl has to make sure the terms are clear." Thea's not that much older than the Spider-lings and company, after all.
"So who is Rhino, and what is this about saving kids? And uh, Spider-Male. I have something for you."
Spider-Man looks puzzled. "Hey, if I'm inviting her to our group meetings, I figure it's probably best that I don't have to relay my requests through BATMAN, if all people."
He looks to Thea, then says, "Okay. There is a cult organization called Nightfall. They appease a god named Plotka. I remember someone referencing him…it…as a Splinter Lord. The rest I barely understand, there's a LOT of magic involved. These people have tattoos they can use to summon various things used for combat. Apparently they're trying to swell their ranks with kidnapped kids with certain aptitudes. We're in it to stop them. Recently, we…ACQUIRED something belonging to the Nightfall, but also found out they are getting desperate. They have begun hiring super-crooks to provide support. Rhino and Vulture. Vulture flapped off, but we have Rhino in custody. AND we got the magical doodad."
Spider-May rises to vertical from her tree again, wandering over to gently slap Anya in the back of the head. "Be nice. When/If they make anything official, you can tease them /then/. As for Rhino…" Well, she might as well fill in what Pete didn't cover. "He's got a power suit that basically makes him a walking tank. Very strong, very durable, decently fast once he gets going, but that much mass doesn't turn very well. Vulture's got a flight suit, basically. Weak spots for him are the engines at the base of the wings." And May had had her share of fighting a very similar enemy until Raptor joined the light side…
"Uh huh." That's the most Spider-Man is gonna get on that subject from Anya. She can't hide the rueful smirk from her face, because unlike some of the others, she leaves her beautiful lips exposed for the world to be jealous of.
Looking back to Thea, she grins enough that her teeth are exposed a little, and snaps a gloved finger to create a classic finger-gun aimed at the biokinetic. "I like her. Can we keep her around?"
Which is precisely when Mayday swats her upside the head. Without missing a beat, she flings a wrist and casually sends a wad of webbing aimed right at the other Spider-Girl's bum.
"About that," she adds. "Ran into some magic users today, who've apparently also been in on this Nightfall biz. They told me that it's a very bad idea to take the fight to them. Especially on their turf. There was a lot of abraca-whatever-speak involved, but they suggested that there's this…" She lifts her hands, trying to aid her explanation by drawing a space between them, balanced out in distance and form. "… this balance in the magical universe, and if we completely shut them down, there could be some kind of equally drastic shift the other way. Like a pendulum. Or like what might happen if all the bees died off. How would flowers be pollinated?" She looks around the group, feeling a bit embarrassed. "Look, it's a shit analogy, but it made sense to me."
"Yeah, Batman's not a great social calendar," Blackbird chuckles. "From what the magic folks were saying at the meeting, it doesn't sound like we can take them all the way out anyhow. Best we can hope is to turn them like a flood. They're definitely getting more desperate, though."
She takes a breath, letting it out slow. "Speaking of sharing intel, though. I need to update you guys on the Batman issue, too. The guy who's been impersonating Batman? Clayface. Dangerous, and very, very good at imitating people. Batman and Catwoman've been working together for twenty years and he still gave her pause. I'd recommend a call and response system to make sure you're all on the same page if you run into him. He's weak to heat and cold, electricity, and water. But honestly, I wouldn't get close. He's working at the direction of a complete psycho by the name of Victor Zsasz, who's getting a…rise…out of all of this killing. Another level of bad."
Thea will aim a /very/ doubting look at Spider-man, brows up and together and all. "Plotka. You're sure." She will then chuckle. "Why would anyone think a Splinter Lord god thing would be named Roach? That's what Plotka means, roughly, in Polish. Learned it from a video game I got stuck playing when it was the only one that worked. Roach, or small fish. Someone is worshipping at the wrong altar." She shifts her weight, sharing a smile with Anya. "Magical balance. Yeah. Above my pay grade."
Spider-Man listens. "Yeah…that's good to know. Tell Batman to think up a good code we can use and send it to us." His problem, his monkey. He can discuss "balance" another time.
He pauses for a moment, then turns back to Thea. "What did you want to give me?" Maybe a souvenir, or something like that?
May yelps a bit at the shot of web to the butt, shooting Anya a glare. "…Okay, definitely good to know weaknesses. We were already going to try to figure out webbing that was fireproof, so if we can work one of the other methods into it as well, could be useful. And it was a pretty good analogy Black, no worries. …oh yeah. And I still need to tell you all about Symbiotes, although we should probably get Silk here for that too-" She's cut off by what sounds like an older model cell phone playing a tinny, but still recognizable version of the Imperial March in beep tones. "…Crap. Civilian boss. Gotta take this." She thwips up into a nearby tree, pulling said slightly retro phone out of one of her cartridge slots in her webshooter, and answers. "Hello Ma'am. Sure. Okay, three bags, the usual brand. I'll bring it in first thing in the morning. Take care." Snapping the phone closed, she drops back down to the ground just in time to realize how that must have sounded. "…Look, I promise I'm not a drug dealer, but I really have to go, because the store I need to get to closes in like half an hour. Talk to you all later!" And with one final thwipped webline, Spider-Girl is gone.
Blackbird's words are taken in and filed away; she's secretly worried about Batman, but she isn't vocal about it. Thea, however, receives another one of her grins. Pay grade indeed. "So, we're fighting the god of leftover doobies," she notes, a bit of dry humor injected into the conversation. "Someone call Cheech and Chong, our real secret weapons."
When Mayday gets a phone call, Anya shoots her a grin and waves. A little note that her ribbing is all in good fun.
"Yeah, that thing," she notes, recalling the Symbiote monstrosity that helped them last night. "Whatever it was, it was so creepy it was almost cool, if I wasn't having nightmares about it biting my Mexican head off."
"Seeya," Blackbird waves after Mayday, turning back to the others at the talk of symbiotes and head-biting. "Boy, it sounds like you guys had a more exciting time than we did, between Rhino, and Vulture, and breaking ribs. We had a couple…I dunno. I guess they were big time magic guys? Not my department, though. I just got a tattoo lion. Although the iron-paint wasn't as useful as I'd hoped," she notes to Spider-Man. "I planted the grenade inside the lion and it just didn't do much."
Thea takes an envelope out of her pocket, and holds it out towards Spider-dude. "I am more sure now than ever, you could probably use the little bit of funding I can hand over. Especially with two spider-girls and ..Blackbird." She doesn't know what all the ties here are, and she's not assuming. "Make some more webbing or something." She'll shrug.
Spider-Man takes the envelope. It doesn't really occur to him what it could be, which is odd considering how many movies he has seen.
He opens it, then freezes for a moment. A quick verification, and Spider-Man says, in an oddly-proper voice, "I want everyone to know that Thea just…gave me three thousand dollars."
He looks to her and almost says something stupid about not being able to take the money. He had tried before, and she had politely but firmly shut him down. He just asks, "Are you sure about this? It would come in handy…" he looks to the others. "Could any of you put this to good use for equipment or something?"
Anya puts forth a great effort to avoid making a remark about allowance, and succeeds. The sass, apparently, can be reigned in. Or, perhaps, putting a face to the person responsible for making Spider-Man's brilliant invention a reality has her realizing that gratitude is more fortuitous than snapping off a good one-liner.
Truth is, for a poor girl from Spanish Harlem, she's never seen that much money in once place, outside of witnessing drug deals. She looks at Thea with an expression of disbelief, and for once, Anya Corazon just… doesn't know what to say.
"I'm pretty sure you're the one putting it to the best use, Spider-Man," Blackbird points out when he tries to pass it on. "She's right. Web-fluid. Comms. You've got a lot of things you can do with that."
And then something else occurs to her. "Hey, biokinetic." She doesn't mean it to sound like a name, it's just that ideas get her all excited. "Any chance you can get a quick read on the right nutrients she needs for organic webbing?" she asks Thea, pointing a thumb toward Anya.
There's a faint sigh. "If I wasn't sure, I wouldn't have made sure to take the money out of the bank for the next time you got in touch. I get paid very well for my work." She just isn't about to tell the truth about what that work is. "You guys are doing the right thing, fighting the good fight, rah rah rah. Inspirational speeches aren't my thing, and neither is blowing sunshine up asses. You guys know what you're doing, and what you need. I'm not spending recklessly, here."
Thea's gaze will turn to look at blackbird. "You mean webbing like a spider? That's…a new one." Thea doesn't get too many things. She will study Black, teeth pressing together, jaw clenching. "Experiment with a lot of protein, complex carbs. But don't forget simple sugars. I'm sure you guys burn through glucose at a hellishly fast rate."
Spider-Man has the good grace to look a little sheepish. "Sorry. It's just so epic of you to do this." He looks to Black and Blackbird. "Okay…Black, you need something, let me know. I'll hold this for the group. If no one else can use it…I was thinking about re-designing the suit."
"It's like Christmas," Anya remarks. "All the carbs, protein, and sugar I can take?" She's grinning now, and talk of it has her stomach grumbling a little. As for Spider-Man's offer, she shrugs. "Those SHIELD folks are hooking me up. Arana's already got IR and EM sensors, and they've boosted her power a ton." She shrugs. "Hold onto it, we might need it and wish we hadn't blown it on something stupid." A pause. "Your suit looks great."
For all the ribbing she gives Spider-Man, there's no denying when she's being vulnerable enough to be flatly honest.
"I'm trying to formulate a supplement for them," Blackbird nods to Thea. "I'm analyzing some webbing, I just…you know. What comes out isn't necessarily reflective of what needs to go in, from a nutritional standpoint. And privacy being a thing, no one really wants to do the lab rat thing. I figured if you could get a read on it, it might save us some steps," she admits, the corners of her eyes crinkling with a grin. "Thanks. I'll try some of that to start."
She's certainly not one to judge on the topic of suit design - if anything, it looks like she's spent a long time on hers. And as Spider-Man has already observed, a pretty penny. "What're you thinking on a redesign?" she asks, curious.
"So re-design the suit. Do whatever you want with it. It's not like I can't afford that donation." Thea says to Spider-man. "I promise to never put myself in the poor house, okay?"
Thea will startle at the mention of SHIELD, starting at Black. "I'm sorry…SHIELD? You're in with them? I uh.. have a card, somewhere."
Spider-Man paused. "Better fabrics, more resistant to stuff like scrapes…stains…sweat…and blood. I was thinking Kevlar fibers to do that. Also wanting to put a neural-net system in the suit to basically turn it into a wearable computer, with various connections and modular design for upgrades and plugins." He pauses. "Annnnd…maybe change the look a little."
"I guess I'm what you call a 'Civilian Contractor'?" Anya tells Thea, somewhat concerned by her startle. "Only I'm getting paid in… not money." She shrugs. "Guess they aren't holding anything back on dealing with this Roach God of ours."
A grin is cast toward Spider-Man, but she says nothing of it. One can certainly appreciate another scientific mind.
"There's not a lot of research on actual spider silk," she agrees with Helena. "But it's pretty neat stuff." She lifts a hand to pinch the arm of her costume, stretching it much farther than any spandex would do. Then it snaps right back into place. "Spider-Silk," she admits, with a proud grin.
"Nice," Blackbird nods to Spider-Man, brows rising. "Neural net sounds like a heck of a project." She's easily distracted by Anya's costume though. "Part of me finds that really cool, and the other part of me is imagining the the process of spinning and weaving it and I'm extremely not sure how I feel about that," she admits, rueful. "So I'm going to stick with calling it cool and not think too hard about it."
Thea hmms. "I was considering if they did any such thing as civilian contractors. I mean, how can you not at least think about joining up with something like that, when Captain America himself gives you the card, am I right? Not my type, but he's about as white hat good guy I think people can get." There's a faint twist of a smirk. "All right, Spider Gang. I have plans to get to. We all good?"
Spidey blinks, then says, "Uhm…yes, of course. I'll be in touch with you soon. I figure you ought to know where your gifts are going." He pauses for a moment, then says, "Listen…thank you, Thea. It is always appreciated."