Summary:Tombstone runs afoul of two Spiders and gets buried. Log Info:Storyteller: None |
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Peter takes a deep breath. It's been an interesting week. Met the Russian Heroine That Came In From the Cold, completed the hip replacement rig (he should think of a name for it. What was Phyllis' last name?)
But an hour ago, one of Spidey's contacts had called in. A shipment of assault rifles and explosives (RPG-7s and mortars) was being delivered to a dock in Brighton tonight. So, he sent out the call.
The message comes in through Spider-Comm. "Illegal arms shipment. Dock 12, Brighton, GPS attached. Who wants to package up some bad guys for the NYPD?"
Gwen wasn't far from the docks when the call came in. She isn't fond of the idea of being that close to that many firearms. But she knows that Peter will jump on it if he's anywhere nearby. Moreover, he would, even if Gwen did not. She has to respond, for that reason alone.
I'm close, and closing in," she responds into the comm. "ETA 3 minutes, as the web flies."
Spider-Man pointer icon shows up on the HUD built into Spider-Woman's mask, with a nearby red pointer signifying the warehouse in question. Then Peter's voice comes over the line.
"Hey, Spider-Woman. Glad you could make it. I have some news about the kid we rescued. Want the rundown while you're in transit?"
"Sure thing," Gwen replies as she takes a hard curve on a long web. "Fill me in. This the kid you guys uh….liberated…that evening in the alley?"
Spider-Man paused only briefly, then says in a slightly quieter voice, "His name is Tyler. His dad's in prison, which is jamming him up something awful. His mother is raising him alone. Kid's confused, acting out. His grades are in the toilet. So…for the last week or so, I've been going by for an hour or so and helping him with his homework. I'm doing good with algebra and physics…could use a better tutor for English. I'm thinking about hiring a guy from school. Lewis, who was in Honors English?"
"Copy that," Gwen replies. ETA 90 seconds." She fires another web and swings. "Listen I'm happy for him, that he's gettin' help. And he is real lucky he ran into you instead of who all the other strugglin' kids run into. Glad he gets a free pass…" Gwen says softly, and goes silent for the remainder if her travel.
Spider-Man says, "We can only help the ones we can help. It's the whole starfish story." A pause, then he continues, "We have 25 guys total. Eight outside with rifles, another sixteen inside…and TOMBSTONE is apparently the one handling the deal. We have a file on him now. Came from a couple of run-ins I had with him. Apparently he knows Robbie, grew up in the same neighborhood. Serious bad guy."
"Pshh. Only 25? And here I thought we had our work cut out for me." But she can't help remembering the last time they went into a warehouse full of guns and guys. It shudders her all over again. "W-we got this," she stammers. "Wanna drop in from the roof on our 8 outdoor friends?"
Spidey nodded. "Yeah, good idea. Let's do some webby-picking. They're spaced out pretty far, probably want to make sure they aren't shooting at each other by mistake. Inside is where it gets dicey. Lots of crates of other goods. Probably best to play hide-and-web with them. They've got walkies, but clipped to belts. If you come in from the south, the ship to the south should hide your approach. I'll webby-pick from the perimater. Fair?"
"Sounds good to me," Gwen replies. Ready, and going in." She thwips out a web and swings onto the roof, then flattens and moves to the nearest guard she sees below, dropping down a web net and snatching him up in it, as if she hasn't a care in the world.
It was kinda nice. This would be an exercise in tactics, but having Gwen turned it into almost playtime. He actually uses one web grenade to web up someone near the street, then tag a second who came to investigate the noise. Three down, five to go.
"Got a drone inside, sounds like they're haggling over price and gun condition. We might had a little more time than expected." He paused. "The two on your left, it looks like they are going to cross paths. Give ya a Morgan silver dollar if you can tage them both at the same time."
Gwen peers over the edge of the roof, waiting for just the right moment. As the two meet in passing, one holds out his hand to the other, passing over a pack of cigarettes. In that instant, Gwen fires both webslingers at once, covering them both in one large, continuous net that tightens the more they struggle. She hauls them straight ot the roof and cocoons them there, removing their guns from reach.
Spidey sighs. "Sucker bet." He really shoulda known better.
He looks to his left. One guy is talking on his walkie, but he's not showing any of the hallmarks of alarm. Probably just reporting in.
Spider-Man waits for him to clip the walkie to his belt before webbing him up and sticking him to the side of the wall.
Now, where are the last two guys?
"HEY!"
Ah, there they are. Below and to his right. They go for their guns rather than the radios. First big mistake.
By the time they have their guns brought up, he's webbed the barrels closed and yanked the guns up with one hand, webbing them to the ground with the other. "Okay. Spiders 8, Hoods 0. Time for the bonus round. Do you want to take the skylight or the back door?"
A small UPLOADING message comes up on the HUD, and then a map of the interior appears, complete with 16 yellow blips and one big red one near the center.
"I better take the rear entrance," Gwen replies softly. "You know how I can't resist a showstopping song if I'm coming in from above." She grins and begins to move lower to get down to that rear entrance. "Good shot, by the way!"
Spidey chuckled. "All right. Want me to be the distraction? I can distract like a champ, and if they focus on me, it'll give you that much more rope…or webline…to incap these guys." He hopped up to the roof, them leaped over to the skylight. "I'll go in first. You come in right after my signal, okay?"
"You got it. I'm ready and watin'…" Gwen is braced by the back entrance, just waiting for the signal.
Tombstone, all six feet seven inches on him, dressed in a black three-piece suit that contrasts sharply with his bone-white skin and hair, smiles as the idiots figure out that the agreed-upon price isn't going to change. "Money, boys. Love may make the world go 'round, but money greases the gears!"
The buyers, three of the 16 yellow blips, place the suitcase on the table, opening it to reveal the cash. Just as asked for. Maybe they weren't idiots after all.
"Looks like we have a d-" Tombstone begins, and then a gray ball lands in the briefcase. He, and the others think GRENADE and dive away from the table. There is an explosion, but not of shrapnel…of webbing. One guy is caught in the radius and is pinned.
"Hey! This isn't the YMCA!" comes a voice from above. Tombstone looked up, rage turning his white face blotchy. "Y*O*U!!!" he bellows.
Gwen can hear it clearly from her position. It's as good a signal as any.
Gwen slips in the back door, as a number of the yellow blips move toward Spidey's position. "Young man…there's no need to feel down…" Gwen sings into the comm as she thwips, jerks down, and webs the guy in back. Again, and again. Cause for each guy that goes down, there's a new guy in back. "Three…. Four. It's fun to stay at the Y M C A…."
All eyes are on Spider-Man. All guns, too. And he suddenly becomes very busy dodging bullets. He dives behind one stack of crates, rolling to his feet and moving to the left, gunfire peppering the crates he moves away from. One guy jumps into view and Spidey webs him to the crate behind him. He looks to the right, then jumps up as bullets fill the air under him. Tombstone is striding towards Spider-Man's estimated position, hands clenched into fists, still unaware of stragglers being webbed and ambushed behind him.
As bullets begin to fly, Gwen doubles down, firing webs from both wrists, and taking down gunmen as fast as she can pull them down. Once she's made it within range, however, she pauses for just long enough to prep her biggest, stickiest, and most effective web net, to launch it at Tombstone's back, trying not to make a sound…
Tombstone is moving faster. He's seen Spider-Man, where he is, and he has murder on his mind. When the web hits him, he stops, surprise darkening his features. He looks around, awakened from his tunnel vision, to find the buyers and his own men webbed and incapacitated. He turned and saw Gwen, doubling down on the rage that seemed to discolor his entire body.
"YOU MEDDLING BITCH," he growls, then turns towards her. The web holds, but she can see a few threads fray and snap. Either he's gotten stronger, or Gwen's never seen him at his strongest…
Gwen begins backpedaling, firing web after web, trying to moor him to the floorboards. Bola him. Anything to make him stop advancing. "Spidey, you okay over there??" she asks, her voice holding a note of panic.
Tombstone grins, "When I get you, little girl, I'm going to…"
Then a shot of webbing covers his mouth, and whatever he was going to say will remain unsaid.
"I'm good, Spider-Woman. Had to do a little cleanup on aisle four. Someone left some human trash on the floor." Spidey steps out from behind a pillar of crates, dragging the webbed body of one of the buyers.
Tombstone GLARES at the both of them, but the extra webbing is holding him in place.
Spider-Man looked to Spider-Woman, then reached into his backpack and drew out a silver dollar with Lady Liberty's face and the date 1872. He flips the coin over to Spider-Woman." You got eighteen, including the big fish. I have to up my game."
Gwen catches the coin and chuckles. "I'll just hold onto this till next time. If I had been the diversion, you'd have gotten eighteen." She walks up to Tombstone and tilts her head. "She begins running circles and wrapping him tightly. "I'm not lettin' anyone walk into this place till this guy is 100% immobilized."
Spidey watches Spider-Woman cocoon Tombstone. "You know, considering how he looks now, if you kept him in there for six or seven weeks, what ate the odds that he'll turn into a butterfly?"
"I'd say JUUUUST about as good as the odds that you will," Gwen replies with a laugh. "At least New York's finest will be able to take it from here."
Spidey nodded. "Put the call in. Tracking three police cruisers…AND a van from Customs and Border Protection. Wow. I guess they're cracking down." He looked around. "Well, none of these guys, Blockhead included, is going anywhere. We should probably get going, though. Leave the Mummy and his friends to reflect on the choices that led them to this place." He indicated the rear door and gestured with an outstretched arm. "Ladies first?"
SpiderGwen gives Spidey a sweeping bow, and trots out the way she came in. Just…about a hundred webs lighter, dancing as she goes. "It's fun to stay at the Y M C A…"