Summary:Kwabena goes web slinging with Jessica Drew. Log Info:Storyteller: None |
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It's been a fairly uneventful night. So much so that Jessica is still wearing her blazer and jeans over her suit. Not that the shining gold metallic spider on her chest doesn't give her away, but it's been awhile since she worried about a secret identity. Tonight, she is just taking Kwabena along on her patrol. As darkness begins to settle in, she is becoming more watchful. But her blazer is warm. And her suit less so.
"What do ya think, should I change yet?" she asks Kwa as she turns on the sidewalk to face him. "Might not have a lot of time if something gets ugly."
Dark wash jeans, a black t-shirt, a grey hooded sweatshirt, and a black leather jacket. Someone hasn't quite figured out what color is yet, it would seem, but Kwabena doesn't mind the monochromatic outfit.
"Is it cold?" he asks. "De nanosuit can heat, and cool. So, I am not so good with undahstanding de weathah." His silver eyes look about casually, and then he grins slightly. "Did you read report I filed?"
Jessica catches stray hair as the wind tosses it heedlessly across her face, then pulls it back to tuck behind her ear. "It's getting there," she replies, glancing around them. "My suit doesn't heat. Or cool. Really, it just sits there and be's skintight." She smirks, looking back to Kwabena again. "I haven't been in the office, so I'm a little behind on reports. What happened?"
"You need second costume," he tells her. "One dat is insulated, yes? Like… Under Armor. Also skin tight. Good for aerodynamics." As they walk along, he seems at peace, though his eyes remain steadily vigilant. "I was out, just walking. You know, by myself. Agents Brown and Daron were dere, but just for escort. And den, dere was old man, with magic knife, shooting at things." He glances her way then, eyebrow raised. "And dere was anodah Spider-Woman, who was not you."
"I've heard of her. Haven't had the opportunity to meet her, yet. I think they have a little spider cult that I haven't been able to find my way into yet. But the day is coming…Oh yes…" The statement comes out so dry, and with such determination, that it is difficult to gauge whether she is serious or not. "If he had a magic knife, why was he shooting at things?"
To this, Kwabena snorts. "I was aware of how many people dere ah with powers, but, it was not something of concern. I was taught to be ready for anything, to believe anything, so, de idea of, things such as, magic? Angels and demons, being real? Yes, I believed it all, but it was nothing to consider. Now, is… different. I can think of men like Steve Rogers as an ally, instead of an obstacle. Howevah, if dere was cult of Shifts, I would not want to be part of it."
He pauses, slowing a bit as he looks around at the part of town they've wandered into. It can happen, just like that… you go from a nice spot into a less than nice spot. Trash on the ground, homeless folks trying to hide their sleep spots from overeager cops, an increase in cell phone shops and payday lenders. To Kwabena, it makes him feel more comfortable, like he can at least expect what one expects here.
"Hallucinations," he says. "You know of Thor, yes?" he asks. "Apparently, he was hunting it, and it got into wrong hands. We almost ICE'd de other Spider-Woman when she took knife, but, she let it go, and it was all fine."
Jessica nods slowly, looking around them with more vigilance. "Well, I'm glad no one had to shoot her. I mean…it would make MY life easier. But that /really/ shouldn't factor into it." She turns back to Kwabena, her brow a little furrowed. "So you don't think I'm weird, not wanting to be one of them? They're all…very young. I highly doubt if we were all in a single room without our costumes, that I would fit in with their group."
"Well," Kwabena counters, "at least was only ICER. Worst thing to happen would be, hitting head on ground with fall, or falling on knife." He looks back over to Jessica as she makes her point, and laughs a little. "No, I do not think is weird at all. What is weird is dat dere are more dan one person with, I guess, with spider-based power-set. How many are there?"
"Ahhhh…" Jessica pauses to concentrate for a moment. "Three other chicks, and…two? Guys. I think. So five? That we /know/ of. Could be more. I shudder to think….if one of them gets the ability to carry around a sac of bebbies….Yick."
"Five?" Kwabena asks, incredulously. "And… none of dem were experimented on like you? So, what was it, magic spell? X-Gene mutation? Don't tell me it was some kind of mutant spider. I don't have a problem with spiders, but, to think a spider is going around biting peopah and turning dem into Spider-Power-people?" He shakes his head, laughing at the concept. "You aren't going to bite my head off one of dese nights, are you?"
"That depends upon whether your head tastes like ice cream, I guess," Jess replies matter-of-factly. "Some were bitten by radioactive spiders…some by the same spider. Which goes to show why it is a BAD idea to irradiate spiders… There's another chick who got her powers another way. I think I was the only one who was just created for the hell of it, just to see if they could do it. And they did. Gooo themmm yayyy…"
Shrugging his shoulder, Kwabena remarks, "If dey had not, you would not be in SHIELD." He glances her way with raised eyebrows, knowing that she'll put together everything else he could have said. A smile cracks the corner of his mouth, before he turns to observe the neighborhood again.
It's quiet, and not the 'bad shit is going to go down' kind of quiet. Just quiet.
"Is dis boring?" he asks then. "Just walking? You have a different way of doing dis, de… what is it you said? Swinging?"
"It's not boring," Jessica replies, nudging into him as she walks. "But I would take you swinging if you'd like. Might be more entertaining for you than talking about people and their spider powers." She winks.
"Swinging," echoes Kwabena, and does so with a grin. "I had an idea about dis. Only I will need safe place to stow my clothing." A brief change into smoke prompts the clothing to fall to the ground, then he's reforming in his nanosuit, and gathering up the discarded objects into a neat stack.
"Sure thing." Jessica lifts her wrist toward her mouth and speaks. From around the corner, Jess' car approaches and pulls up next to the curb to park. One door pops open. "Wand to put them in the car?" she asks, as if this is all totally normal.
It isn't normal?
Kwabena dumps the clothes into his car. "You next," he says, then grins wickedly at her. "Do not worry, I will keep you warm."
Jessica opens a door wide enough to step in between it and the car, shedding layers of clothes and folding them nearly in the seat, before shutting the door again. The car slowly pulls out onto the street and moves toward a parking lot around the next corner. "You know, it seems like anytime I start losing clothes when you're around, I do tend to get warmer."
"Save it for de bedroom," Kwabena answers with a grin. "Or a nice rooftop where dere is no wind." He's totally not watching her shred layers into spandex, except that he is, because they've earned that right. Once she's done, Kwabena approaches her, taking her hands in his and watching her for a moment, noting the car's movement in his peripheral. "Did not know you had self driving car," he tells her with a grin. Then, he looks into her eyes as long as he can before she masks up.
"Ready?"
Jessica grins. "That car can do everything but make me the perfect latte," Jess replies. "Always a LITTLE too much milk." Then she focuses on Kwabena again, pulling her mask down over her eyes, and smoothing her hair where it's been ruffled by mask and clothes. "Ready when you are, Baby."
It's been on his mind for some time. So, with a knowing grin, Kwabena massages her fingers for a moment, before the transformation happens. Into a cloud of smoke, one she is familiar with, but this time, the tendrils flick around her, finding purchase in her costume. A place to be stationary, a place for the biomatter to catch and hold to. Now she doesn't have the weight of him to carry, to slow her down, nor does she have to worry about where he is. The whispering sound of air on air can be heard, his voice, but without the accent and just audible enough for Jessica to hear.
"Let us go."
Jessica closes her eyes for a brief moment. The familiar sensation of Kwabena's "smoke" against her skin. It makes her feel safe somehow - secure. Jessica lifts her hand and thrips out a web, which slingshots her into flight, as she throws out filament upon filament, swinging from rooftop to pole, to rooftop again, flying with this precious cargo nestled within the threads of her.
There is a warmth to the gaseous biomatter as well. Kwabena wasn't lying; he can keep her warm.
The only downside to this experience is that his eyesight is gone when he is in smoke form. He interprets things, such as light and sound and spatial awareness, but it comes through differently; like a spectrum of senses that are actually enhanced to the same degree that his eyesight is gone, but it's all moving so fast.
It is exciting. He can't keep track of where he is, or where she is taking him, he only has skin and spandex to cling to. The effect causes Spider-Woman to be cast in an eerie shadow of black and grey, entirely fitting for the season as she swings into action.
Some blocks on down the patrol, Jessica finally slows and then halts after a single, long swing that catapults her atop a building. "You ARE warm…" She moves to the edge of the roof, looking down into a dark but seemingly abandoned alley.
Sensing the stillness, Kwabena pulls away from her and reforms alongside. "So are you," he answers, leaving the nanosuit in total configuration, covering even his eyes and face. He can see through it, after all. Stepping up to the rooftop's edge, he looks down to see what she's looking for. "You will still need warmer costume. It becomes very, very cold in winter here."
Jessica smiles, and looks back to Kwabena. "I'm aware. I am just…a creature of habit. I guess I have the suits I like already, and I'm resistant to change." She presses her lips together and looks down again. "It's so quiet tonight. Not typical at all…"
"Change is good," Kwabena counters, but it is not in a combative manner. "Change is why I am here, not blowing up building." He glances her way for a moment, and beneath the nanosuit's covering, he's grinning.
Finally, the technology peels back from around his head, resting in a turtleneck configuration up against his chin. "I do not want dere to be something to do," he prefaces, "but I do want to fight someone with you. To see how you work, so you can see how I work. Yes, dis make sense, does it?"
Jessica nods. "It makes sense," Jessica replies. "We're going to need to learn to play to each other's strengths. And…y'know. Get a warmer suit," she says beneath a cough.
Kwabena laughs at that, then begins sitting down on the edge, pulling his legs together. "Sit with me?" he asks. "Pahhaps trouble will come by. And I have oddah ways to keep you warm."
Jessica moves to the edge of the rooftop and sits down beside Kwabena. She angles to rest her thighs across his and leans in against him. "I'm sure you have a multitude of ways to keep me war. I've seen them." She winks. "I bought you some new clothes. Stuff similar to what you have. Is there anything else you want or need? I want you to feel at home."
"I will need to procure a motorbike," Kwabena tells her. "Harley Sportster model, Iron 883, 2016 or later. But SHIELD will help me with dis." He puts an arm around her, finding her comforting, when suddenly there is a crashing sound not too far away. A window breaking, followed by shouting between two men.
"Ask and you shall receive," Jessica says, and hastily scrambles to her feet. "I hear two voices. You hear anyone else?" She watches in the direction of the sound. "You swinging in with me?"
"You Tarzan, me Jane," Kwabena quips, a dry smugness to his voice. He stands up and takes a step up behind her, lifting hands to touch Jessica's shoulders. "Don't get hurt," he tells her quietly, before transforming into smoke and once again surrounding her in shadow.
"I don't get hurt," Jess bluffs with a smug grin. She takes a deep breath at the sensation of being enveloped by Smokebena, and she fires off a web, leaping before it even makes contact with its intended target, and swinging off toward the sound of voices and breaking glass.
One voice belongs to that of a drug dealer; the other, an addict who owes the dealer a bunch of money. The apartment is disheveled with the telltale signs strewn about… burnt and bent spoons, cotton balls, spent needles, and the various detritus that comes with a $120/day heroin addiction.
The dealer has a gun raised, and is pointed at the dope sick addict's head. "I told you, bitch. Money today, or I blow your fucking balls off!" The gun drops toward the addict's lower body, prompting the poor man to cower backward into the wall and put his hands over himself, as if they could stop bullets.
"Please, I- I don't - I need help!"
"WHERE IS THE FUCKING MONEY??"
Jessica drops to the ground outside the door of the apartment. "I've got your money, right here," Jess says with no small amount of authority in her voice. It's her SHIELD voice. She's pretty proud of it. As she speaks, she thwips out a webbed net toward the gunman, and gives it a hard pull in am attempt to wrap him up in the clingy webs.
The dealer spins, but he's too slow. He's caught, and his finger ends up squeezing the trigger, shooting into the floor.
However, the cloud of smoke has departed from around the Spider-Woman, and now fills the air between the gun and the floor, absolutely spooking both the dealer and the user alike, so he stops shooting. Tendrils wrap around the gun, and then in the blink of an eye, Kwabena is standing there with his hands around the weapon.
"Boo!" he says, causing the dealer to jump, which is exactly when he rips the gun out of the man's hands with violent force.
"You were saying…?" Jess quips to the dealer as she fires off another net to secure the dealer. Her offhand fires another web, aimed at the user. "Welcome to your rock bottom, Boys. One of you is going to jail, the other is going to rehab. Consider this…" She gestures vaguely. "…An intervention."
The addict is sobbing, but he's not resisting. The dealer, however, is cursing up a storm. "Shut up," Kwabena tells the dealer, before raising the gun into the air. The nanotech gloves sparkle, and then for a brief moment, a brilliant light fills the room. The gun falls to the floor, a molten slag of metal vaguely resembling its former shape.
Turning, he walks over to the user, crouches down, and helps him to his feet. "Rehab is not so bad," he tells him, though his face remains masked in darkness.
Jessica works to secure the wrists and ankles of both offenders with reinforced webbing, and she lifts them, sticking them to the wall with enough static electricity to hold them there like a balloon she had rubbed on her hair. She touches her comm, near her ear. "NYPD alert - two secured and disarmed perpetrators, male…" She checks her HUD and rattles off the address. "Dealer and User. The uh…skinny one's the user," she adds rather unnecessarily as the man whines. "Two SHIELD-issue capes on the scene. Vacating the area presently. Please contact SHIELD for pertinent info. They have the video."
"Dey will not be happy I melted gun," Kwabena remarks, before stopping by the dealer's webbed up head. "But happy I did not melt dealer's face."
The dealer looks looks up at the mysterious man in black, eyes wide with fear. "You're a ghost!"
"No. I am Shift."
Bursting into smoke once again, he forms up in a cloud around Spider-Woman, tendrils roiling about her form ominously.
Jessica turns back to the dealer with the smoky tendrils roiling about her. "Worse than a ghost: he's with me." And without further explanation, she fires a web, leaping high enough to swing away the moment the web makes contact with the corner of a rooftop. As she disappears from sight, sirens wail from approaching police.
Once they are a safe distance away, Jessica perches atop another rooftop, watching in the direction from which she had come. "Well. THAT was fun."
Letting go of Jessica, Kwabena reforms at her side. "It was easy," he tells her. "I hope police send man to rehab, not to jail." He lols her way, smirking. "So, dis is… uh….. extracurricular activity, but you still use SHIELD?"
"They monitor my activities. I am obligated to identify myself to the police. If I ever overstep SHIELD-sanctioned behavior, there would be consequences. It's a bit of a catch-22, but it keeps me safe, and it keeps SHIELD safe." Jess shrugs. "It's unfortunate that we have no say in what is done with these guys once police take them into custody."
"Dis will probably happen to me," Kwabena tells her. "Right now, de agent escorting me is responsible, unless I take dis responsibility." He shakes his head, and triggers the nano suit to withdraw from around his head. "Dere ah so many rules to learn. I am probably breaking too many of them already."
"I won't let you break any rules on my watch," Jessica assures him, removing her mask and letting it dangle from her fingers at her side. "Everything will be fine." She reaches up to rub his bicep reassuringly.
"Prevoshkhodstvo has been silent." Kwabena appreciates her confidence, and he appreciates her touch, but it has been on his mind of late. "Dis means, what plans dey had, have changed. All changed. It will be difficult to find them, but. They will act again."
"The we will have to gather intelligence and anticipate that move," Jessica replies with determination. "I'll help with that however I can. There's no reason why we can't get ahead of their game, Kwabena. We will." But her expression turns from stern to somewhat daunted. "There's no choice really. It has to be done."
"Yes," Kwabena tells her dutifully. "We will." He turns then to face the woman, a grin on his face. "So, what now? More swinging? Or do we call for car, put our clothes on and find a nice late night diner? I would kill for steak and pie."
"See, that, right there." Jess points directly at Kwabena's nose. "That is breaking the rules. We don't need to kill to get a steak OR pie." She grins and tosses her head in the direction of the street, uttering a command toward her wrist. "The car's on its way. But I gotta get you down to it. I /can/ hold your weight, if the need arises."
"I can do it just fine," Kwabena answers with a wicked grin on his face. "You're just faster."
Turning, he leaps off the building in the direction of the street, suicidal for most, but not for him. He dives toward the ground, head first. Upon impact, he becomes a cloud, and then reforms standing up.
Jessica watches Kwabena fall, peering over the side of the building. She attaches a web to the fire escape and drops leisurely until she is standing by his side. "How was this faster?" She grins and nods toward the car waiting at the curb. "Our chariot awaits. As do steak, and pie."
"I'm always fast going down," Kwabena tells her. "De wind will say how fast I can go up." He then grins, and shrugs. "I do not have web strings to make me go fast."
Once the car arrives, Kwabena reaches for a door. "Coffee," he adds. "Definitely coffee."
"Ooh coffee…that sounds fantastic. Best call of the night." Jess slips into the car, which is already toasty inside. "I know just the place," she offers. "Best short order grill on this side of Brooklyn." She slips on her blazer for a little added warmth, and pulls out into traffic. "So…do you think this is something you'd like to do more often? The patrols? The glamor? The prestige?"
"I do not know," Kwabena answers Jessica truthfully. He looks on, watching the lights go by as they drive through the dark. "All of de things I learned were to be deceiver and killer. I looked de other way when bad things happen, unless the bad things had anything to do with what mission was. So, it is… weird." He looks over to her, hoping that his honesty is not upsetting. "It feels like, waste of time? Even though part of me knows it is not."
Jessica nods. "I can see that. It's part of who you were, for a very long time. And so it's still a part of who you are. But you have to admit that you are not exactly the same person you were a few months ago. You change. Everyone does. It may never be your cup of tea. But then someday it might become part of who you want to be. Neither is wrong."
"I am beginning to undahstand what de word 'morality' means," Kwabena tells her. "To be honest? When I heard dis word, I heard word, mortality. With a T. It is only when I saw it written and looked for it in dictionary did I understand." He looks out the front window, his face a mask of intent thinking. "Why we do not just… kill some people. Why we even bother with ICER."
He looks toward Jessica as she drives. "Since it is important to SHIELD, and since I have agreed to be SHIELD, I comply. I know how to comply. But when it is important to you… to agents like Jemma and Frank? Dat is different. I do not think I know why, but it is different."
"The most important thing is that you don't simply comply for the sake of complying," Jess says softly, with a hint of trepidation in her voice. She has heard the word cross his lips before, in less than ideal circumstances. "You have to do what you feel is right, or you're no better off than you were before." Jess signals a turn and eases onto a sidestreet, seeking and finding a space to park, even if it isn't necessarily the most conventional. Who's going to ticket a SHIELD vehicle?
Jess turns to Kwabena, once they have come to a stop. "Does that make sense?"
For a few moments, Kwabena tries to comprehend what it is she is suggesting. "What I feel does not…" His eyes are screwed up a little, his face frowning. "I do not know what I feel, in most circumstances. SHIELD is… comfortable. Because it is a group. An organization. With missions, tasks, things to accomplish. So, I accomplish, I follow rules. This is easy for me. It is what I feel is right."
Then he grimaces, remembering the power plant, the bridge. "But… some of the things I did were wrong." He reaches up to pinch the bridge of his nose, struggling with the concept. "It was… right. But wrong. Because Prevoshkhodstvo was wrong?" He looks toward Jessica. "It was wrong, was it not?"
"Some things were wrong," Jessica agrees. "But you complied because you felt it was what you had to do. You're still learning what it is to have free will, Kwabena. You had no choice in what you did before. Now you do. And you will have to begin to decide for yourself what is right and wrong. I know it isn't going to be easy. But it will become easier. You are free to decide what is right for you. And even if that means doing something outside of an organization, it isn't wrong. It may just be different. Complying is not your whole identity, anymore. There is a whole world beyond the walls of SHIELD, just like there was a whole world outside the walls of Prevoshkhodstvo."
There comes a long silence, during which Kwabena is digesting these words. However, he does not speak of these things further. Instead, he reaches a hand across the way to try and capture hers. "Take me home," he tells her quietly. "I would like to watch 'Return of Jedi' with you."
Jessica considers for only a moment, then nods. "There's coffee and food at home. And 'Return of the Jedi' on a screen the likes of which you may never have seen before…" She gives his hand a squeeze, and pulls back onto the road. "Let's go home."
Kwabena sits back in the seat and smiles. If he's gonna learn about morality from Star Wars, it's a damn good start.