Summary:Hetty gets stir crazy and decides to get the heck out of the lab, runs into a friend, and might even be in process of making a new one! Log Info:Storyteller: None |
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Being a girl is definitely…interesting, that's for sure. Just figuring out how to use the water closet was a minor challenge, but Hetty soldiered on. Thankfully she declined Jemma's kind offer to help her get the 'full experience' — WITH SCIENCE! Many things were different, hell, her center of gravity has changed enough that she took herself off the active duty roster at the Institute. Regardless, after a bit she got sick and tired of wearing sweats, sports pants and a stretch top, or t-shirts what were too long in the sleeves, and too — WAY too tight in the chest.
An hour later she's fabricated herself something that will probably do well enough to go get something else to wear, yes, silly, not like she'll be a girl for much longer, but…need out of the lab!
She stands about five-nine, and is an exceptionally powerfully built woman, with very long arms and legs, and enormous hands, feet and…other attributes. She is wearing a sleeveless cobalt blue body suit that though snug, only reveals from the neck up and the shoulders down. Her feet are encased in massive boots with sturdy buckles on the sides, and there's a broad belt, a girdle really with a subtle silver X embossed circular buckle.
She has literally just arrived, climbing out of an Uber she hired. Her hair is stupid-long, worn in a ridiculously complex braid that hangs to her bottom.
Hard to dislike going out and shopping, even if it's only, or mostly, window shopping. Tigra likes to do that, now and again, this being one of those times, where she's out, an easily recognizable Avenger to help encourage interest in the rebuilding of the area. Naturally, she gets looks, but it's hardly like a movie star. There's no crowd or papparazzi following here, leaving her more or less undisturbed as she wanders. At the moment, she's getting a hot dog from one of NYC's famous carts, and while waiting for it to be served, glances about the area idly. She sees a…big girl getting out of a car, and can't help but do a double take at the woman's proportions. Hot dog in one hand, bottle of soda held by fingers of the other hand, and tail twitching with a mix of curiosity and wariness, she approaches from downwind, catching the woman's scent. "So, what's the story? Clone, or visitor from a parallel universe?" she asks as she approaches, the scent telling her this isn't merely a relative.
At that familiar voice, Hetty straightens. "Thank you, Evan." To the Uber driver. "I'll definitely rate your service highly." She then turns to face Greer. A moment to adjust her glasses, and then a quirky half-smile. "Hello Greer, it was neither of those, actually. Just a minor and temporary setback in an experiment." She looks to the other woman then. "So…how are you?" She folds really buff arms over a her considerable expanse of chest. "Out doing a bit of shopping too?"
On the opposite side of the street, a man is running, clutching a purse. He manages to look both ways before crossing the street, but no sooner has he breached the curb that a dark figure swings down from the sky. The mugger is suddenly yanked to a halt by some form of white webbing that's attached to his back, and with a yelp, he goes skyward.
"Someone get that purse!" calls Spider-Girl. She goes zooming by the general area where Hank and Greer are gathered, her feet leading the way as she yanks on another webline that's just been thrown to a building high above.
She allows the goon to rise up into the air, a solid, sixty britches-soiling feet, and even goes so far as to let him freefall for a moment, before she's zooming past overhead. Weblines are fired to opposing buildings, and a third thrown down to catch the robber moments before he hits the ground. He's yanked skyward, and left to dangle well above the cars below.
A small nibble of her hot dog. A brief flick of her tail. Tigra is processing what she's just been told. "You're kidding me," she says dryly, but taking the…woman's words at face value. "What the hell kind of experiment were you -doing?-" And maybe she doesn't want to talk to him about studying under him. Her attention is grabbed by the quick and efficient corraling of the mugger. "Hold this," she bids, tossing the drink towards 'Henry,' and takes a leap to go after the purse, grabbing it, rolling, and standing back upright, without disrupting her hot dog.
Bright blue eyes track the movements of the girl as she spins a web, any size, and catches that thief just like a fly! "Well…interesting, Spider-Girl has been off the grid for some few months, either she's returned, or this is a legacy or spin-off heroine, the moves track with what I've seen on YouTube, however." Yes, Hetty analyzes that all off the cuff…not that she -has- cuffs right now, of course.
Bemused, she accepts the drink, and holds it in one overlarge hand. She frowns the no doubt cursing thief a moment, then laughs a little. "I was going to say 'not something you see every day'…but this is New York." A nod. "And really? You generally do."
Spider-Girl flips end over end in the air, then dive bombs the trap she's set up for the mugger. She lands on the weight line, causing him to bounce in the air a bit, and scrambles down hand over foot looking very much like a human spider moving in to cocoon her prey.
"So, what's the deal huh?" she asks, looking at him from upside down. "Down on your luck?"
The mugger nods his head.
"Drugs?"
He pauses, nodding his head again with ashamed reluctance.
Spider-Girl's lips flatten out and she looks at him longly for a moment. "Alright pal. It's your lucky day." With quick motions, she scrambles around the mugger multiple times, literally wrapping his torso in webbing. Then, she yanks him off the weight line and onto her back, and goes scrambling across with impossibly delicate balancing skills, until she reaches the next rooftop, where no one down below can see. Whatever she is doing with him, it can't be seen just yet… but soon enough, she leaps over the edge of that same rooftop and lands down on the street below, her drop slowed by the pulling of a single webline.
"… so." She looks around at those who are watching with a coy grin. "Anyone get that purse?"
A block away, a woman is running closer, her face covered in tears. The mugger's victim, it would seem.
Not hearing any blood curdling screams, Tigra figures Spider-Girl hasn't done anything horrific with the mugger up on the roof. She figures he's either being prepped for NYPD, or perhaps catch and release. "Purse right here," Tigra says, holding it up, and looking at the woman running their way, waves it at her.
"So..yes, it was an attempt to reverse some of the changes my other serum did a couple years back, but I over did things a bit, this trial formulation ended up suppressing basically all male gender characteristics, it /did/ work in other regards, however, so ultimately mostly a success." Hetty says, returning to the question previously asked by Greer.
Still holding the Avenger's drink, she watches as the desperate addict is interrogated, and she actually applauds his sense in just being truthful. She watches as the Spider-Girl ties him up and no doubt drags him off to some dire fate - like freedom with a few extra bucks in hand. That's Hetty's guess, anyway.
A toothy smile reveals the cutest widdle fangs ever as Tigra and Spider-Girl discuss things, she absently hands the drink back to Tigs, expecting her take it with her tail, before she turns to the tearful woman approaches. "Madame, all is well, thanks to the heroics of the friendly neighborhood Spider-Girl."
Greer's voice draws Spider-Girl's attention, and she walks over toward she and Hetty with a grateful expression on what can be seen of her face. The bulbous, white bug-eyes seem to move with her facial expressions, making the half mask a bit less creepy.
"Hell yeah," she says to Greer, and throws up a high five. "Dig the furs, hermana," she adds in observing Greer's colorings, betraying the Latinx that could be suspected by her skin tone.
The woman looks between Hetty and Tigra, a ball of emotion in heels, and gratefully accepts the purse. "Did… did you catch him?"
"Nah, he got away," Spider-Girl answers. She isn't quite willing to explain her reasoning to someone who just experienced a trauma of sorts. "Didn't wanna go too rough on him, ya know? When I punch people, it's kind of overkill. But hey, at least you got that purse back, thanks to these good people." She turns and indicates Tigra and Hetty with a smile, though her attention now lingers on Hetty for a moment, head cocked to the side just a bit, though still holding a quiet smile.
Drink is retrieved via tail, hot dog is once again benibbled, and purse is handed over to the victim with a quick smile. "I doubt he'll try that again. Getting strung up like that puts the fear of God into people, I've noticed." And now a look to Hank, eyes sliding up, and down, and lingering in the middle. "It's certainly something," she says of his referring to the situation as a 'success.'
"Well, technically, Spider-Girl, the purse was retrieved thanks your apprehending the thief, I did nothing, and Tigra caught it and returned it to the proper owner." Hetty grins then. "So…legacy, homage, or the original?" She asks, she's not asking in a mean way - just honestly curious. Her voice, by the way, is very deep for a woman, but with her build? Probably not too surprising. She does offer the bawling woman a hanky, it was in a pouch on the belt. Yes, the belt Hetty wears has a bunch of pouches, Batman has nothing to fear, however.
A curious glance at the Spider-Girl, and then a hint of flush, and then when Greer's eyes linger, Hetty flushes a bit more. "Yes, well, I did say /mostly/." One hand moves to fiddle with her black wire-frame glasses a moment. "And I /did/ say it wasn't permanent, yes?"
"Well, thank you ladies, seriously," the victim says. She dabs at her face with the hanky before returning it to Hetty, then goes rushing away and back to the friend she was with, who is, of course, taking photos with her phone.
Spider-Girl waves to the woman, before looking back to Hetty and Greer. "Sorry," she says to Hetty. "I didn't mean to stare, I was just admiring… everything about you." She gestures with gloved hands. "And the guts to wear an outfit like that? Totally dig it."
The young heroine (some might say vigilante) adopts a more casual stance then. "Hmm?" she asks. "Oh, I'm the original. Well, that's in debate. There is another Spider-Girl, and there's kind of an unsettled debate over who was actually first to take the name, so, we just call each other 'Red' and 'Black', because of the costumes."
The conversation that she's apparently interrupted does seem to have caught her interest, but she doesn't want to be rude and pry! Still, she has the mind and curiosity of a scientist, and sometimes that insatiable curiosity stands in the way of polite behavior.
Tigra can't help but snicker softly at the flush her look gets, and the emphasis on mostly. "There's certianly a lot to stare at, isn't there?" Tigra agrees with Spider-Girl, giving a nod of amused agreement. "As for being temporary, well, we'll when it wears off," she can't help but tease the newest 'lady' among them. Not that she wouldn't empathize, of course. "So you two could do the song from Les Mis," she says to Spider-Girl, at talk of red and black.
"Oh, I didn't do much, miss. Have a great day." Hetty tucks the hanky back into her pouch, and then releases her glasses, and yes, still a bit blushy.
Not helping with that blushiness, you know.
"Oh, um…thank you. I am no fashion designer, my lab is mostly equipped with the means to make costumes when I foray into such arenas, so…retooled something simple, and honestly, with my arms…there wasn't much to be done about them." A shrug. "So…I owned 'em." She even flexes one a moment, and ye gods…that's a LOT of muscles.
"Welcome back then, I trust you're well?" Hetty was just starting to un-blush when Tigra makes her comment.
A flat look, and then a deeper blush. "Well, yes, temporary. Unless I need to study the results further and see where things went wrong, less than thirty hours before the changes should revert." She laughs softly then, and just shakes her head.
"Mmm hmm," Spider-Girl agreed with Greer. "Nothing to be ashamed of, that's for sure." If anything, the young woman in black and white seems to be all about body positivity.
Should one think of inspecting that costume of hers at this close range, it would appear to be woven of something that doesn't resemble normal fabric, but rather, stretchy spider silk.
Flexing muscles draw a low whistle from Spider-Girl. "Looks like you could hold your own in a fight," she remarks. However, now it is her turn to blush, as she realizes that Hetty was remarking on her absence. The brave and perhaps slightly overconfident heroine's posture becomes a bit… slouchy. "Yeah… I had mono. Don't tell anyone."
Bold faced lie, and she isn't very good at it.
Tigra's remark about Les Mis, though, has her suddenly busting out laughing after a momentary delay. "That's good. That's real good. I'm totally gonna do that! If she gets it, she'll be SO salty at me!" Once again the masked woman is grinning… and trying really hard not to start guessing about these experiments and changes and reversions.
Its probably why she hasn't asked for names, or excused herself, or gone back to deal with the mugger. At least the cops haven't shown up yet.
She was going to ease off a bit, knowing that this isn't exactly easy for Hank, regardless of the joking attitude. She can empathize with the situation, having dealt with transformations herself, obviously. But that flat look and deeper blush, well, that causes a giant furry foot to stomp on the urge to ease up, and instead, she smiles, somewhat toothily. "So, tell me," she says with deceptive mildness, "how hard was it to put those boots on when you can't see your feet?" Spider-Girl's comment about 'mono' gets a lifted eyebrow, showing doubt, but she doesn't comment upon it audibly.
"Yes, well, at the moment I'm off the active roster, medical reasons." No, Hetty doesn't go into further details, which is probably exactly the wrong tack to take with these two! Hetty -does- notice the silken construction, and then her eyes widen a tiny bit. "Oh my stars and garters, you weave your own costume material, don't you?" She's CLEARLY fascinated.
"Mono?" A brow is quirked, but…privacy is a thing. Hetty won't pry and thankfully there's talk of Les Mis to distract.
She doesn't hesitate, and has a fair voice, albeit deep for a girl as she sings.
"The time is near
So near it's stirring the blood in their veins!
And yet beware
Don't let the wine go to your brains!
We need a sign
To rally the people
To call them to arms
To bring them in line!"
And then Tigra goes all 'Cat' on her, and she stops dead, and /body blushes/. "Um, well…yes, a non-trivial exercise, to be sure." OMG she is so red. "Fortunately I am quite limber…" And then she gets the most comical wide eyed look…and just murmurs incoherently a sec before silence.
"I sure do," Spider-Girl answers Hetty with a proud smile. "The usual spandex rips too easily, and I'm not about to end up accidentally exposing myself 'cause of some idiot. Second, it's bullet proof. Trust me, I found out the hard way." She shrugs. "It sucks to have to re-weave it so often, but at least it keeps it fresh and new."
Its entirely possible that the young Latina is about to keep chattermouthing, but something stops her. Usually it's the cops. She tries like hell to avoid the cops, even though today she would actually be willing to have an interaction with them. No… this time it's the singing. She turns to stare at Hetty for a moment, and a grin forms on her face. "Mierde," she curses in Spanish. "You're a total dork. I love dorks. I am one, so, you know. It's cool."
And there it is. That a-ha moment. Fortunately, half of Spider-Girl's face is covered, but her mouth still goes slack jawed for a moment. The words 'holy shit' stop somewhere in her chest, which she actually goes so far as to look down at, before looking back at Hetty's chest. She's not jealous, for she's… curvier than most women of her short height and athletic stature, but still.
Damn.
DAY-UM.
Poor Hetty needs saving.
"So, you have a lab?" she asks, and plants her fist on her hip with a sassy side lean. "I'm a scientist myself."
Tigra listens with polite curiosity as Spider-Girl talks about weaving her own clothes. Being a superhero, she can certainly understand the need for sturdy clothing. Interesting as it is, she's playing with her prey right now, and the pleasant rendition of Les Mis doesn't distract her. "Quite limber, hmm?" she asks, head tilting to the side, not sassy-wise, like Anya's hip, but with falsely innocent curiosity. "More limber now than before? And have you…experimented, o' scientist?"
"Oh well, of course, I experimented a bit with Synthetic spider-silk in some of the weaves but the material never /quite/ made the grade - it was also exceedingly costly to manufacture so I normally work with either unstable molecules, or a polymer-carbon fibre or carbon nanotube construction, possibly with ceramic or other reinforcements when needed." Hetty grins. "Fresh is good." She agrees with a judicious nod.
The reaction to the singing gets a half-smile and — well, she WOULD blush more if she wasn't already full body blushing.
She couldn't even answer about the lab!
Kitties -do- like to toy with their prey, don't they? "I…am actually about fourteen percent more flexible, and twelve percent faster, though I've lost some strength in the bargain - about twenty percent there, and my senses are not as keen. Still…um, no, no 'experimentation', not as you're implying." Really, she's already red as a can of Coke, not like there's any point not answering.
Maybe she'll take mercy! Probably not, but it /could/ happen!
"Unstable molecules?" Spider-Girl has never heard of such a thing, and even with her eyes covered, it seems clear that the young woman's grey matter is churning. The curiosity is strong with this one.
The temptation to kick Tigra's foot is very real, and yet, the temptation to giggle and join in the ribbing is equally real. Being in costume though… well, she's learned a few things about public appearance. So instead, she leans in closer to Hetty and says, "There's no shame in it if you want to. It may be your only opportunity ever, and if you go for girls, well…" She grins mischievously. "You'll be one of the few men out there who really get it."
Leaning back, she crosses her arms in a smug manner. "I'm more the IT, engineering type." As if to prove her point, she turns away and says, seemingly to no one, "Arana? Reagruparse." Then she looks back to the others and says, "Give her a moment."
"Ohhh, and you even measured, didn't you?" Tigra says with a bright smile. "Very much a scientist. And yet, you haven't finished your 'experiments?'" she asks with mock concern, and with a tone of voice that makes the quotes around experiments fall into place like lead weights. "That seems almost…short-sighted." She nods towards Spider-Girl, who is showing great wisdom in not kicking a tiger. "Take the opportunity while you have it." And then a puzzled look around for this 'Arana.'
"Indeed…originally invented by Reed Richards, the material is astounding! It can be actually tailored to a metahuman's individual powers and attune to them, allowing - for example - a person able to turn herself into a mass of living magma, and not be destroyed, or shapeshift with someone able to do such." SCIENCE! Yes, SCIENCE! Will save her!
And then she just has to sigh faintly, and accept that she's now the Sith Beast, and cope with the red skin.
"I…well, yes, I've thought about it, of course. And I do find females attractive, as well. It just seems so…base…to treat it like an experiment, to do such a thing as a 'one off'."
And then she realizes AGAIN what she said, and even if the other two took it otherwise, the innuendo is sure to be caught in her dismayed reaction.
And exacerbated by Tigra's teasing. "Yes." Almost a squeak. "I did indeed measure, blood draws every six hours to take measure of hormone balances and the like, to study the effects of the serum, full physical work outs to determine new limits." A tiny voice. "I declined the 'full experience' hormonal treatments suggested by my associates…"
As Hetty explains what unstable molecules can do, Spider-Girl is legitimately fascinated. It's outside of her typical realm of study, but science brains work in a funny way, much like musician brains. "That is… that is fucking cool."
To be fair, she's worked very hard on curving the potty mouth while wearing the silk, but sometimes…
"Full hormonal treatments could be risky," she offers, "especially if the changes have a definitive expiration period." Before she can say any more, however, a drone flies into their vicinity. It's sleek, colored entirely black, with a white spider emblem emblazoned upon its chassis that matches the one on Spider-Girl's torso.
"Oh! There she is. Ladies… meet Arana."
The drone hovers there for a moment in idle mode, though it seems to be rotating a bit.
"EM and IR sensors, hyperbaric omni-directional microphones, a pretty powerful audio amplification system, semi-intelligent tracking and data processing code. Oh… and she recharges herself by transforming ambient AM waves into power." She grins widely. "She's programmed to respond to my verbal commands only, but I've given her subroutines for the other Spider-Folk. Pretty easy really, since the code is modular."
Tigra's curious about 'hormonal treatments' and 'full experience.' The tip of her tail flicks a bit as she considers trying to get more specific information, and then she decides not to. Joking manner left aside, she offers a quick, sincere grin to Hank. "If it's safe, you should take the opportunity," is all she says before Arana shows up. "Huh," she says brightly at the sight of it. "That's pretty impressive," she adds.
"Doctor Richards does very good work." Hetty states with a nod. "It is, indeed, very cool." She grins and reveals those tiny fangs again, they're actually CUTE. Somehow.
"Yes, well, they were ribbing me a bit - by 'full experience' they meant simulation of, well, a woman's cycle." Still red? Why yes. "I /did/ consider it, but decided it would bias the other test results and data samples." Now /that/ is dedication to SCIENCE!
"Oh, if I didn't, allow me to introduce myself - I'm Hetty McCoy, more normally Hank."
And then she has cause to nerd out again when the drone appears and the specs listed with such pride. "Arana, hm? Spider…very apt. We can kit you out with Arana-Spike shuriken, and Arana-Flares, Arana-Shark-Repellent…" Yes, she's going there, poor Batman.
A pause. "Which opportunity? The treatments, or the…um…'experimentation'?" This to Tigra.
"She can patrol, run recon, build maps, chase assholes," Spider-Girl tells Tigra proudly. "Like having a second set of eyes."
Turning to Hetty, she's still grinning. "I haven't quite tackled weaponry yet," she explains. "Need to make sure the drive system can handle the extra weight, and the generator circuits don't short out with the extra power demands, but I'll get there."
She smiles brightly at Hetty and offers a hand. "Spider-Girl, Black when the other one's around. Nice to meet you." She turns to Tigra then and bows her head. "And Tigra… like, I'm not exactly Avengers material, but if you ever need a hand, just call."
Now turning back to Hetty, she seems suddenly empathetic. "Girl… you have no idea. When all of my changes first happened, I was terrified to have my period. I was afraid I was gonna start laying eggs, or shooting webs out of my badonkadonk. Thank God none of that happened."
"Very handy," Tigra says approvingly, still looking at Arana. She chuckles softly and nods at the 'Black,' not referencing the song again. A look back to Hetty now, and a slight shrug. "Experimentation, at least. The rest…it's nothing pleasant, that's for sure. If I were in your shoes, I wouldn't be looking to get kicked in the balls, and let's leave it at that," is all she overs. "And if you two will excuse me, I need to be on my way," she says, offering a quick smile, a wave, and then she heads off, tail swinging counterpoint to the sway of her hips.
"And powered by AM broadcasts, clever, very clever though I imagine burst power would be potentially problematic, have you considered trickle-charging capacitors? With the right materials they'd give you considerable reserves for emergencies, and could power a taser like system, for example." Hetty is definitely a bit calmer when talking SCIENCE! Indeed, it probably her true religion. Definitely she's rather devoted!
"Mmm…weight would definitely be a factor, I've not delved into many drone designs." She admits. "It would be an interesting design challenge. Carbon-nanotubes can be highly versatile, and tend towards lower weights."
"A pleasure, Spider-Girl, or Black when the other's around." Her grin is still pretty toothy.
And then the talk about laying eggs or firing webs from her ass…yeah. "Well, actually, those are both solid concerns from a conventionally biological stance." And Hank McCoy is quite well known in that field!
Hetty watches as Tigra departs after offering her sage advice, and then hooks thumbs into her girdle. "So…I -was- going to go shopping, but right now I'm thinking I should probably just…go somewhere to die quietly of mortification."
And yes…Hetty's still pretty darn red!
As Tigra goes, Spider-Girl watches. She's watching the way her tail moves and possibly more. Yes, it's distinctly possible that Spider-Girl just checked out an Avenger.
"I have considered that!" she answers, spinning her head back around to Hetty. "The real challenge is the drive system. Right now, she's fast and maneuverable. I need that, more than I need tasers. So, I could load her up for bear, but what good would that be if I'm faster than her?" She sighs wistfully. "If only I could get my hands on, like, repulsor tech. Then weight wouldn't be an issue at all."
Now she seems genuinely empathetic to Hetty's plight. She turns to walk down the road a bit, but gestures for her to follow. Movement yields privacy in New York, even for capes. "All jokes aside, it sounds like this was some sort of accident, and that it will reverse itself on its own?" she asks, and doesn't go any further just yet, instead waiting to find out if her guess is right.
Arana, meanwhile, rotors up and turns to follow them.
Honestly…Hetty was probably just as distracted, Tigra IS very attractive, after all! So…dual checking out it would seem.
A bright laugh at the mention of being faster than the drone. "It is very hard to beat the mass/lift ratio of repulsor tech but Stark doesn't license those out very often. Now if you were to tryout for the Avengers and be accepted, that might do the trick." Hetty visibly ponders a moment. "Perhaps something like an ion drive? Charged particles are much lighter than most fuels, done right you could get rid of the rotors entirely, which would likely be a substance mass savings…" She is chewing her lower lip, one massive hand rubbing at her chin as she thinks.
The offer to get someplace a little less visible is gratefully accepted once she's back from SCIENCE! Land.
"It was. The intention was a serum to revert some overt physical changes to my biology - specifically I wanted to be free of fur, and claws. It /worked/ in that sense, but my attempts to suppress the hirsuteness resulted in suppression of my Y chromosome entirely, fortunately the serum was only the first trial and designed to last about three days, which are about half way up, or so."
She sighs faintly. "At which point I'll want to be in my secured lab, hooked up to every sensor I can find and then we'll see how the reversion process works…in reverse."
One can always dream, but at mention of trying out for the Avengers, it would seem that it's Spider-Girl's turn to change skin tone; only instead of reddening, she pales a little. It might be easy to miss, considering only her nose, mouth and chin are visible. By all observations, she's typically a very fast conversationalist, but this time, her response is delayed. "That… could work," she muses aloud, "but I was always under the impression that ion drives are really only viable in low grav environments. Then again, that's one thing I have not researched."
Grateful for the distraction from whatever it was that had been bothering her, she listens to Hetty's exposition thoughtfully. "Gonna be honest," she admits. "That'll be weird. That'll feel weird. You had junk, then it inverted to its pre-gender state, then it's gonna revert back." She gestures with a hand as they walk. "Not trying to be weird or crass or insensitive, just… you've got to look at it from the science side while also experiencing the hormonal and psychological side. That's not easy." She turns to look at Hetty with concern on her face. "Do you have a support system around you? You know, to help you through the changes?"
"Mm…as I said, haven't tinkered with drone-tech much, mostly manned aircraft, such as our highly customized SR-71 Blackbird." Hetty looks thoughtful again. "Maybe ion propulsion along with a-grav? Meh, that introduces more weight. Still, a rather interesting design problem." She'll add that to her list of about a hojillion and five things she wants to tinker with!
Hetty smiles. "From what I saw, Spider-Girl, you have the skills to be at least considered. Alternatively, you could seek to work with SHIELD or Project Blue, if you wanted to be more 'official', though I don't think they would have much chance of getting you repulsor tech."
"Oh, it did, it was…very painful." Hetty says. "Fortunately I'm fairly durable, I nearly fainted a couple times during initial reversion during the live trial. I had three persons on hand, yes. Hopefully I will have the same three when I return to my baseline and altered form."
A grin. "The other changes…well…those were definitely an adventure, even using the water closet was a Brave New World." She quips lightly.
The young woman's demeanor darkens again, for just a few moments. "To he honest with you," Spider-Girl starts, but pauses for a moment, as if considering just what she wants to say, or how, or if she'll even say it. "I saw some shit recently. Really bad stuff. I didn't have mono, I… kinda walked away from it. Had to sort stuff out."
She gestures toward the building behind them, where the mugger has been deposited. "That douchebag back there? I'm not turning him over to the cops. He's sweating it out on a rooftop in webbing for a while, but I'm gonna haul his ass to a treatment center. I'm guessing it's meth, maybe coke, kinda has that tweaker vibe about him, and I told him… if he doesn't check himself in, I'll string him up and this time, I will call the cops." She nods her head sturdily. "That's my game. That's where I'm comfortable. Avenger level stuff, Hetty, it… it terrifies me."
Regardless of how interested she might be in this Blackbird, or the X emblazoned upon Hetty's unitard, she isn't talking about that right now.
"Question I have for you is…" Here she stops, in a relatively quiet area outside some abandoned storefronts. "Why do you want to change?" She turns to face her new friend, and seems to be making an attempt to look Hetty square in the eye, as if she weren't wearing that mask. "We live in a world of… of aliens, and mutants, and furry people, and people who can shoot spider silk out of their wrists. We're no different from dark skinned people, like me, or queer people, or good people who have autism or a learning disability. We aren't God's mistake, Het. If anything, we're God's answer to how fucked up this world has become. So why are you hiding?" She pauses. "Full disclosure… I hide to keep my family safe, but otherwise? I'd say… fuck what anyone thinks of me."
"I know you didn't." Hetty answers with a kindly smile, she's really a very caring person, and very very decent. Her reaction to a one night stand type thing just to sate curiousity being a sterling example of that.
"The world we live in can be a place of great beauty, and terrible ugliness and everything above, beyond and betwixt those extremes. Some of the projects I working on would turn your hair stark white, and churn your stomach." Her expression is lacking smile right now, and very..stern, almost grim.
"You have to act as your conscience dictates, Spider-Girl…black when the other is around." Yes, a faint curly of her lips as she teases a bit. "You do more good in the big picture if you help the man rehab than you do having him imprisoned for a few days, or longer if his record is long enough. I cannot and will not judge, you do what you feel is right and I support that."
A grin. "You think being an X-Man isn't its own brand of scary?" She says with a grin. "I quite understand, I truly do."
At her serious question, she actually laughs. "Oh, believe me…I am mutant and proud, but I just want to see /my/ face staring back at me from the mirror. When I first changed, when my own work ended up inducing secondary mutation and atavistic changes to make me furry and such, I spent almost a year trying to get my own face back. It might be hubris, but I want to see my old self." She shrugs. "It might be shallow, and I certainly don't care what people look like, or who they want to sleep with. Mutant, ethnic, straight, bent, it is all the same to me - it is your actions, and your person are that matters, none of that other dreck." She sighs. "I just want my face back, is that such a terrible thing?"
She really is a terrible liar, and she knows it. It brings a coy grin to Spider-Girl's face.
She listens, carefully, and an understanding smile forms on her face. "Yeah… you know, that makes total sense." She might feel a little bad for busting the other woman (temporarily)'s chops, but at least they are now seeing the same story, the same picture. "So, it's like I said, buddy." She grins at that, before resuming. "You get to understand women in a way no other man ever will." The smile becomes a smirk. "So, you know, after this, when you're Hank again? If you ever crush on any of my friends, I'll totally vouch for you."
Some skills are not really such bad things to lack, and that grin is answered since in most cases Hetty's not all that proficient a deceiver either.
"My friend Cat doesn't seem to, I'll have to sit her down and try to explain. She's my lab assistant, a very dear friend." No, no layers on top of that, clearly they're friends and -just- friends. "You're allowed to give me a bit of sass, you know." Hetty says with a positively impish grin that's a little odd on such a burly girl. "And yes, I have learned a few things I never expected to…for example…breasts are a /pain/ in the gluteus maximus. BIG breasts orders of magnitude more so. Mind…I am rather fond of them on the whole — in abstract." She grins at the unitard. "This is specifically designed to keep mine — stable." And then looks up. "I'm pondering an better engineered bra, when I've got a prototype I'll be sure to keep you informed."
He grins then as she offers to wing-woman her as him. "Well, I would be delighted to accept. I'll accept any help I can get." She takes a business card out of another pouch, and offers it. "If you ever need my help or just want to talk…"
"I think Tigra gave you enough sass for both of us," Spider-Girl counters. She's got enough trans friends to know that, at some point, enough is enough. As for breasts, she giggles a bit. "Mine definitely got bigger after the… the thing happened. Which is weird, because I also got stronger. So I guess it evens out. But those aren't big." She nods to Hetty's rack. "Those are huge."
Reaching out, she accepts the business card and raises it with one hand to read it. With her other, fingers dance about in the air, as if tapping on a keyboard that isn't really there. Moments later, Hetty's phone will chirp or buzz with an incoming contact card for one 'Spider-Girl Black'.
"Right back atcha, Henrietta." She grins wryly, before hooking her thumb back toward the aforementioned rooftop. "I'm gonna go take care of our little purse snatching amigo. I think he's had plenty of time to sweat it out up there."
"Oh, I agree, I envy her sheer 'catitude', and yet she doesn't appear to be at all catty, at least not with me so far." Hetty laughs. "Unless the teasing counts, I'm willing to give her a pass on that." Hetty laughs. "The most common super-power." She says with a snicker. "Empirically proven with my own experiences, that's particularly supportive of the theory." A mournful sigh. "I actually hit myself in the face a few times during my physical testing…I had to figure out a set of restraints to prevent injury."
On the business card is Hank's full name, his degrees (6 PHDs!), his mobile and an email address. "Call me any time, day or night the call will find me. If it is urgent send it as code black." She grins. "Always good to make a new friend…and yes, the purse snatcher." And then she grins. "Trust me? I'd like to introduce you to a patent pending signature move of the X-men — the Fastball Special…"
"You got it," Spider-Girl says, and is about to move off before she stalks short. "Fastball Special…?" A moments hesitation and narrowed eyes, before she nods her head, skeptically giving permission.
Hetty moves over to the MUCH smaller woman. "I assure you, with your reflexes this is somewhat safe." Oh, well, that's reassuring! One massive hand grips Spider-Girl, balancing her like a javelin. "I'll try to not make it a slider or a curveball…" And then there's the wind up, and the PITCH! 16,000 pounds of thrust in a fraction of a second, aimed just over the rooftop, and amplified by a very long arm as lever. Yeah…going to be a fairly epic launch right there!
"I'm no stranger to dang-ooowhoooaah!" Taken off her feet, Spider-Girl dangles for a moment like a rag doll. Then her eyes widen, and her mouth opens with glee. "Just don't make it a foul and we're-"
The shock of it takes a moment to wear off. Once she realizes that she is, well, pretty much flying, her limbs stop flailing about and she tucks into a slender form for improved aerodynamics.
"Awwww YEEEAAAAAAA!" she cries out, no doubt attracting attention from passersby and their cell phones.
To keep from overshooting, she throws a web down toward her target building and heads in for a fast landing.
Fifteen minutes later, Hank's cell phone will receive an SMS:
Way more efficient than MTA (kissy face) (spider emoji)