Summary:The heroes try to set a trap for the hunter. Log Info:Storyteller: None |
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OCTOBER 30TH, 2019
7:15 AM
The cops are still processing the crime scene that is Anya's apartment. SHIELD has whisked away the rest of her family away into protective custody. Spider-Man is standing on a rooftop a few blocks away, hating himself for getting everyone involved in his mess. Even though it was a mess he never knew existed.
He sent a message to those connected to the Spider-Comm system. <He won't wait for long. He knows I am recuperating, getting my strength back, healing up. Everyone call in…let me know where you are.>
<Spider-Girl, checking in.>
Anya's voice has changed. No longer the voice of a young woman resting somewhere between vulgar, sassy and hyperactive, she now carries a dry, emotionless tone to her voice, with only the drive of duty that gives it edge.
Cut to a science lab deep within the Triskelion, where Spider-Girl is furiously banging away on a computer console. "I'm at SHIELD HQ. Triskelion. My family is here. Agent Simmons is recalling subroutines for…" She stops, recognizing that the technological banter is likely to be useless air. Words that aren't needed. "I'm networking her D.W.A.R.F.s into the Spider-Comm, and pairing it into DoD satellites. We'll have a map of the whole damn city, soon as I'm done."
Clicking off the Spider-Comm, the young woman reaches for a bowl filled with some kind of special mixture. Protein nuggets, dried vegetables, tiny sugar balls and crumbled up tortilla chips. It's a massive bowl, and she's been feeding herself voraciously. "And then?" she says to herself. "We're coming after you, you son of a bitch."
Robin was newly pinged into the Spider-Comm system via Blackbird's assistance during his interference in the past fight between the Spider-Gang (and friends) and Morlun. He had just landed on a new rooftop when Spider-Man called in.
<Robin, present. I'm at the edge of Hell's Kitchen, standing by if you need assistance.>
Yes, Robin was as committed to this as everyone else. He wanted this Count Dracula wannabe to get the hell out of his city.
Thea had been at Anya's and had called for Anya's family to get taken to protective company. So she had gone along to the Trisk, before she had ducked out for takeout. She learned long ago when her body craves something specific after a healing, she recovered much quicker when she fed it.
« Angel here. About to be back at HQ. Where are you, so I can come heal you up, and we can run this bastard a merry chase?»
<Spider-Woman here. I'm at with Spider-Girl and Angel, in the Triskelion.> This is Gwen's first time inside this building, and as much as she'd like to be going all touristy-goggle-eyed over the place, she's currently lying down on whatever happens to be most comfortable, behind Anya. <Angel put me back together, I'm just resting. I'm ready to get back in the fight as soon as you need me.>
After a pause, Gwen sits up and presses a hand to her forehead. "I still feel like a truck drove over me, but at least it's a smaller truck," she mutters. "Having any luck with anything?"
<Sarah Black here. I'm also at the Triskelion. I just finished talking with WAND's analysts about what I was able to learn about Morlun. They're going to see if they can dig up anything relevant, and they have my Dad patched in from London as well. If there's any reference in any text that could be helpful, or anything in our inventory that might be of use, we'll know soonest. Headed back to Medical now.>
In the time since stumbling across the Windemere evacuation and subsequently striking a blow against Morlun, Armor has scrounged the time to round up a couple of things. Some superheroes, even some X-Men, have no issues with fighting crime in their civvies; Armor is a little more practical-minded, and as she rendezvouses with some of the Spiders, she at least looks more the part of a superhero in a layered-looking outfit of navy blue and grey, with some gold trim at the shoulders, waist, and along the cuffs of her boots.
"This is Armor, calling in," Hisako says, partly to test the frequency that's been newly set up on her communicator. "I've got eyes on Robin from where I am right now; just tell me where I should be headed."
Spider-Man speaks up. <I never thought I'd have SHIELD involved . For what it's worth…I'm sorry.>
A short pause. <They found where he exited - 150 yards down the line. I suspect he went back to wherever his base camp is to clean up. Either he tracks by scent…or he doesn't want to continue while covered in raw sewage. They found his clothes, but not him.>
A white pinpoint appeared on the HUD of the Spider-Comm users with the eye insert, showing it near Central Park.
<They lost him from there. He's as cunning as Kraven, I'll give him that.>
Then Gwen gets a text on her regular phone, showing up on her own HUD.
DEX HERE. TELL SPIDER-MAN THE HUNT RESUMES.
"Oh yes," Anya tells Gwen, though she doesn't turn from her place at the computer. "SHIELD already has Arana's subroutines, so networking them into Jemma's drones is pretty much a walk in the park. I'd already have us patched into DoD, but, something tells me hacking them when SHIELD can just, you know, make it happen, seems like a bad idea."
It's not as if she hasn't done it before.
The young woman clicks the Spider-Comm on again. <Spider-Man, we're about thirty seconds away from launching the DWARVES. I've got them spliced into the Spider-Comm. They'll follow my voice commands, but I can split them up and assign them to anyone. There are seven of them, named after the Seven Dwarves. Y'know. From Snow White. DoD tie in as soon as SHIELD gets off their merry asses and makes it happen.>
Someone's not salty about not being allowed to hack the Department of Defense's satellite network today.
Robin hears where the bastard got out of the sewers, humming just a little bit. His clothes, huh?
Damian doesn't respond for a minute on the communications network. <I'm going to the point of exit. If its as fresh as I think it is, I should be able to track footprints with my forensic scanner. With any luck, I'll find his base of operations.>
Damian already fires off his grappling hook and zips off further into the night, not anywhere near Spider-Man's web-slinging path.
Thea will finish downing her cheeseburgers with extra pickles like she's a competitive eater. «Spidey. Tell me where to head to, to intercept. It's time I get a look at this asshole myself.» She won't know what she can or can't do until she gets look.
Gwen lies back down, and reaches up to pinch the bridge of her nose. "I wish I could do something other than just wait," she complains. "Got anything a biochemist could do? …A beginner biochemist?" She sighs softly, and shakes her head. "What you're doing sounds awesome," she adds, tilting her head to watch Anya from behind.
She picks up her phone, swiping through a menu or two, and right about to press the button to call her Father, when a text pops up on the screen. She has to look at it twice, before she sits bolt up right.
<Spider-Man? Be careful. I just… Just got a text.> She stands up, and walks up to beside Anya's chair. <Morlun would like me to tell you that the hunt resumes.> With a rising pit in her stomach, Gwen puts the unlocked phone down beside where Anya is working. "Any chance you can use this? I should have thought of it earlier. But I have the phone number for Dex, the guy Morlun's been using as a local… patsy? I don't know. Maybe we can track his phone?"
<Harman, Black. I'll go with you. No one's going without backup or an exfil plan. Meet you at Simmons' lab?> And a few moments later, Sarah is arriving at the lab, where she gives Gwen and Anya a nod in greeting, but doesn't interrupt until she's spoken to.
"Hunt …" Armor's nose wrinkles; she's too focused on how to try and find Morlun to make any of the jokes that crossed her mind about trying to follow *him* by the smell, or the seeming impossibility thereof. And Robin's already on his way to see what he can find out from any tracks Morlun left where he broke back out of the sewer; Armor hesitates briefly, then armors up and starts trailing Robin. <So how are we splitting up? And do we know who Morlun's primary target is? That's the one person who *really* shouldn't be running solo right now.>
Spider-Girl and Spider-Woman are at SHIELD headquarters, Armor thinks as she lands from one jump, absorbing the impact through her armor rather than letting the roof beneath her take it, and then pushes off for her next leap. So they can back each other up - plus they'd be a hard target for anyone to get to, most likely. But if they're backing each other up -
<Spider-Man, who's with *you* right now?>
<Angel, I'm going to head southeast, toward FDR Drive. If you can get to the intersection of FDR Drive and the Queensboro Bridge, I'll pull him right past you in about ten minutes. I'll try to hobble him somehow. Worst to worst, I can put a…"
Then the door to the roof BANGS open and Morlun, dressed to the nines, rushes out towards Spider-Man at a dead run.
Spidey doesn't think. If he took the time to think, Morlun would have had enough time to catch him and rip his head off. He just jumped, and Morlun jumped after him. Only Spidey had fired a webline to pull him against the side of the building, and Morlun could not fly. He could FALL like a champ, though.
As Morlun slammed into the roof of a parked Bentley, Spider-Man swung off, heading southerly. Morlun, rose, smiled voraciously, and then began chasing him at ground level, running along the road and sidewalk at about 40 MPH.
Spidey looked down, grimaced, then realized that they might not know what happened. <…sorry! Morlun almost disconnected me…! I was going to say, I can put him in a place you can attach some kind of tracer on him, Spider-Girl. Tag him like a baby seal!>
Spider-Girl turns when Gwen joins her, and looks at the phone with eyes wide behind her mask. "Bet your ass we can," she tells the other spider-woman, then turns back to the computer and re-engages the Spider-Comm.
<Spider-Girl here. I'm gonna track that text message, triangulate the phone.>
Disengaging the comm, she starts banging away at the computer, while grabbing a cable and jamming it into Gwen's phone. "Thank you, Agent Simmons," she young woman says to herself, before swiping a few things across the computer and routing all of the work into her own repaired mask system. <Drones online, and we've got DoD sat coverage. We've got eyes everywhere now.>
Disconnecting the phone, Spider-Girl tosses it back to Gwen. She's moving like a mad-woman, left hand dancing around in the air as she draws programs and algorithms together across her mask's HUD, finalizing everything so that she can focus on tracing that cell phone. "Most likely the bastard's got that phone bypassed and scrambled, but I have done this before. It'll take time."
Hearing the update from Spider-Man, she swings her left hand about. Eight drones come to life in the lab, one of them her own, the others donated out of the goodness of Simmons' heart.
<Copy, Spider-Man.>
"I'm ready," she says to the women present with her. "Let's go tag and bag this asshole."
Robin narrows his eyes when Spidey comes back on the comms. <Spider-Girl, do you require assistance?> Damian had arrived at the point of exit from Morlun's sewer journey, pushing a few buttons on his wrist gauntlet to allow the 'eyes' on his domino mask to glow a blue color as he tracks the heat signature. If the footprints were relatively fresh or even moderately stale, Robin should be able to track it.
Should being the operative word. Morlun could be jumping from rooftop to rooftop for all he knows.
<Spider-Man…do you need help? I can make my way over to you to slow him down.>
« Black, it's Harman. Can you get me there? To FDR and Queensboro bridge? » There's barely any change in Thea's tone, only a single discordant note in her words. She's hiding the fact her heart just painfully lurched in her chest. « I need to get where I can get a gander, maybe put a hurt on. » She's suppressing her chemical levels, no panic allowed. It will bite her later, but later is safer.
Gwen snatches her phone out of hte air when it's tossed back to her (it's got her whole life in it, not that that's a huge priority right at this moment), and she tucks it into a pocket of her backpack, that she then slings over both shoulders. "Damn rights," she replies to Anya, "I want a piece of him like I can't even tell you. My Dad would not be proud." she pauses, and shrugs her shoulders. "Or maybe he would. Let's go kick Morlun's butt."
<Spider-Man, we're on our way, just take care of yourself alright?> No amount of plan is going to alleviate the fact that a nightmare from outside their universe is busy chasing her best friend with some serious intent to kill. <I mean it, promise me you're going to stay safe.>
While she's talking, she falls into step with Anya, and loads a couple fresh cartridges into her webshooters. On her way, she grabs a bagel off a side-table in the hall and lifts her mask to stuff her face with it. It won't do if she's fighting Morlun and her stomach starts rumbling.
<Harman, Black. Affirmative. Looks like the four of us are going.> She gestures to Gwen and Anya to wait for a moment, before explaining off-comms, "I can portal us there. Thea's on her way, then we'll all go together."
Armor doesn't even stop to ask if Spider-Man needs assistance; 'Morlun almost disconnected me' is all the answer *she* needs. Even if Spider-Man doesn't say he needs help, he doesn't have to say it.
FDR Drive and the Queensboro Bridge. Hisako has to stop and remember where that is relative to where she is now, but as soon as she calls the city map to mind, she figures out the direction - and as soon as she lands from her current leap, she pivots and resumes movement, trying to pour on the speed as well as she can.
This is shaping up to be one of those days when flight would be a REALLY nice power to have. But other than thinking briefly of it, Armor focuses on the task of getting to where she can be of more assistance - and offers up a brief prayer, not the first of the morning, for the good guys to get through this without any more losses. One innocent life has already been lost to Morlun, and that's one too many. Just that she knows of.
It's not hard to track the sender of the text message. In the space of two seconds, it is pinpointed. Upper East Side, a building called White Tower Apartments…and in another second, the approximate location - Apartment 1210.
<Robin, you should be able to track my movements. Assume he's right behind me, because HE IS. But I need you to OBSERVE. Angel might be able to whammy him, but I want you to watch and document EVERYTHING you see, because…getting close to him is like sticking your head in a running wood chipper!>
He chances a look down. People are moving out of Morlun's way, and the more he travels, the larger of a gap appears. It means that Morlun doesn't have to push through people, but it also means he's not going to DE-BONE anyone unlucky enough to slow him down. People a block away are now getting off of the streets.
<Uhm, is SHIELD running interference? A lot of people are getting a LOT of advance warning. I think it's great, but how do they know?"
He's now along the FDR, the water off to his left, and the spires of the Queensboro getting closer…
Between the devil and the deep blue sea.
Another fist full of protein mix is grabbed and stuffed into her face before Spider-Girl is moving alongside of Gwen and Sarah. She looks between the two and nods her head quickly, but she's patient. She's had to be patient, but with every moment that passes, something ugly is growing inside of her heart; something her grandmother would not be proud of, or so she assumes.
Just then, her tracing work is complete. She swipes her left hand through the air, and her mouth opens in a gasp. "White Tower Apartments, Room 1210. It's in the Upper East Side."
Over the Spider-Comm: <We got the location of Morlun's local guide.>
She doesn't mean to ignore Robin's question, but there's so much going on, and no time to lose. She ties Spider-Man's GPS location into the DoD satellite feed, and begins honing the satellite networks in to zero down on his location. Hopefully she can put a virtual tag on not only Spider-Man, but on Morlun as well; between the DoD feeds, the DWARVES and her own programming, every piece of information they have will be useful.
"We need to send someone to that apartment," she tells Sarah and Gwen. "Find this guy, Dex, and take him in."
Robin is already zipping to another rooftop when Peter calls it in. <Got it. From what I've heard from all of you, I'm inclined to believe you, Spider-Man.> It doesn't take Damian particularly long to reach a good vantage point. He throws multiple Birdarangs with cameras attached to them as they find contact with multiple structures.
He then just holds position…observing as he records this whole situation as best as he can. Perhaps he will discover Morlun's quirks, his hesitations..the chink in the armor, so to speak.
Thea was taking the stairs two at a time, hair flying since she hadn't bothered to tie it back. « Be Ready, Black. Coming in hot, not a second to waste. » She will burst out of the stairwell with no thoughts as to stealth, her backpack cinched tight to keep it from bouncing or being lost. She's got things in there she might need.
« Hang on, Spidey. We're coming. I've had it with this jerk. »
Gwen's attention piques at the mention of going to get Morlun's local guide, and she shakes her head quickly. "No," she states hurriedly, then <No,> into the Spider-Comms. <Don't do that. Leave Morlun's guide in play. For one, we know where he's based now, and that might be useful. For another, if we go grab his guide, he'll just go mess up another person's life. Let's keep this advantage up our sleeve until we can use it.>
Finishing off the bagel in short order, she pulls her mask back down over her mouth, and checks her webshooteres one more time. Hopefully that's not going to turn into a nervous habit. <We're ready, Black, as soon as Angel gets here.>
Gwen clicks off the Spider-Comms, and spares the moment to put her arms around Anya, just briefly. "We'll get him," she murmurs. "We'll get him." She backs off again, and tilts her head to one side until the vertebrae crack audibly. "He doesn't stand a chance once we're together."
It doesn't take long for Sarah to open one of her portals. But all the same, she focuses her mind and makes the gesture as soon as Thea's spoken, so by the time her friend and fellow Agent arrives, the passage has irised open, an oval shape roughly the size and proportions of a standard room door, edged with shifting mystical symbols and geometries made of white-gold light. <Black to all. Intercept is a go. Moving now.> And then off-comms, as she gestures the others through, "All right, ladies. Let's go get this bastard."
Armor lands from one last jump, and the shimmering yellow field of energy diminishes, fading out. It's not exactly a matter of catching her breath; rather, it's letting the part of her mind which projects her exo-armor take a moment to rest. In part, it's also reducing her visibility - one young woman standing on a roof is going to stand out less than a glowing exoskeletal field of telekinetic energy, no matter how tall it is.
Hopefully she's gotten to this point ahead of Spider-Man and Morlun. She moves to the edge that overlooks FDR and crouches, looking one way, then the other, trying to catch sight of the hero and his hunter.
There's a third reason for de-armoring while she has the chance: as much as she'd *like* to pound Morlun flat, Spider-Man is not wrong about the value of gathering whatever information they can get. Simply trying to lay him out may not be enough to end this, particularly since Morlun endured a dunk into the sewers, after getting pounded *through* the pavement at the last encounter. If there's a way to stop him for good, they need data.
She can jump in if she has to get Morlun off Spider-Man's back … especially if it's literal.
Spider-Man has done this stretch easily, even this fast. But with someone chasing you…
"Come on….come on…" he whispers, moving a little bit faster, swinging deep to increase his speed…
…and he looks and MORLUN IS GAINING.
You will tire. I will not.
"Really…? Let's see…"
<Thirty seconds to the intersection…and he's following as close as my own damn shadow…>
Pausing, Spider-Girl grins a little when Gwen points out a much wiser plan with the information she hacked out of the text message. She seems surprised though at the hug; possibly because her mind is on overdrive.
Stepping back and pulling her right arm from around Gwen's shoulders, she fixes the young woman with a smile that is somehow a little sad. "Yes he does," she counters, providing a shot of reality into what would have been a hopeful moment.
As Thea comes bounding in, Anya turns around. "Damas, sobre mi." The eight drones rise and form up around her; apparently the 'seven dwarves' have just undergone a little change in perceived gender, which she's happy to undo once this whole mess is over with.
Gritting her teeth, Spider-Girl is the first to go through, with the eight drones in tow.
Robin stays where he is, though he keeps in communication. <He shows no signs of exhibiting any kind of fatigue toxins and he's keeping up with you extremely well, Spider-Man. I am crunching the data as we speak.> Damian examines the footage closely. He sometimes is forced to move to another building to keep up, but he takes a breath.
Thankfully, it looks like the cavalry's arriving.
Thea almost literally skids through Sarah's portal. "You're the best, Black. " She will gasp out barely, eyes shutting tight to try and give herself any kind of defense away from disorientation. One hand is clutching at a strap of her backpack, as if to reassure herself it isn't going anywhere.
Gwen doesn't waste any time jumping through the portal either, with a "Thanks" for Sarah on the way through. On the other side she emerges with her fingers ready on her webshooters, just in case Morlun happens to be standing right there somehow and she might be able to do something useful with webs. …All of which is very unlikely.
<Alright Spidey, we're here.> She finds her way swiftly to the side of a building once they're through, webslinging her way quickly to an advantageous position — or at least, one that she feels is advantageous. I mean really, what even qualifies these days? At least, being on the ground is probably bad. Well, being anywhere Morlun can reach is probably bad. Leaving people you care about in such places is bad. <Let's get what we need so we can beat the snot out of him.>
Sarah waits until the rest of the group, including the drones, have gone through, before stepping through the portal herself and dismissing it from the other side. As she does, she states over comms, <We're here.> And then she quickly casts a glamour on herself, making her invisible at least to most forms of sight. As before, she's not laying great confidence on this including Morlun's, but she'll take the advantage if she can get it.
Robin has his Birdarang cameras, his mask's lenses, and who knows what else.
Armor has her standard-issue Mark I Eyeballs, and an eye for detail. Her vision isn't bad, but she's hard-pressed to pick out particular details about how Morlun's running, especially at the *speed* that he's running.
She tries anyway … and as she's trying, she powers back up, her exo-armor reforming as Morlun is passing down the street below her perch. Spider-Man was not wrong about the 'vampire' gaining on him, Hisako realizes - how can anything in a human shape and size run that fast, and that long?!
Never mind coordinating their attack - Armor gets moving again, bounding along rooftops that run more or less parallel to FDR. She wants to be in position to get the drop on Morlun when they *do* close the pincer on him.
400 yards….300…200…
"All right, Morlun, let's see how your cornering is."
His webline fires as he leads into the intersection, and he suddenly jinks to the right, swinging wide as he heads west.
Then Providence makes its call in the form of a Yellow cab that tries to run the light, and Morlun rushes right at it. He sweeps one arm, and then the cab goes flying.
But, for ten seconds…he is right there, in plain sight, and slow enough to target.
Spider-Man doesn't know where they are, he just have to believe they are there. He HAS to.
The moment Spider-Girl is through the portal, she's headed for the nearest shadow, and literally disappears into it. Only mechanical eyes will be able to see her, as an arcane influence falls over her and makes her one with the darkness. She takes a knee.
Her left hand dances into the air, keying commands into the drones and causing them to disperse, form up around Morlun at a safe distance, and begin scanning him with all of their technological advancements. Now comes time to answer Robin's earlier question.
<Robin, I have eight drones locked on and scanning the target. Metallurgy, radiation, IR and EM signatures, biosig's.> And that's just the tip of the iceberg. <Spider-Woman, you have knowledge of biochemistry. Morlun doesn't fatigue, he can take the hit of a missile, and he can suck the life out of someone. Use your knowledge, tell Angel what to look for. He has a weakness. Find it."
Shes on overwatch for this one, it seems.
Robin listens to the chime in from Spider-Girl. <Understood. Discover if he possesses any weakness, I don't care if its a goddamn lactose intolerance.> Robin then rises up to his feet, and he ponders for a moment, before he tries a similar trick while Morlun is probably getting overeager with his prey in sight.
He lets a birdarang loose! One thats aiming for the eyes and would explode if done on contact. Yes, he's gonna get his lick in, -if- he can get it in.
Thea isn't there, and then she is. She blinks once she's through the portal, and lets her powers lay over her vision without any holding back. Being so familiar with Spidey's bio-signature helps her find him… and then she'll see Morlun, and everything else will fade as she focuses.
Gwen checks the display over her right eye, and starts swinging towards where Peter is busy… keeping Morlun busy. She's not planning on coming full into view, but getting some proximity so she can look down from above might help.
<Got it,> she answers. <Well… he's a living being, we presume? He's got DNA and cells and all that like the rest of us. He must need to use energy in some form like the rest of us — we use ATP, he must use something similar, if not the same. Everyone's gotta obey science somehow, no matter…> Gwen, you're becoming pedantic. She pauses, sticking to the side of another building.
<Angel. His muscles must make lactic acid like the rest of us. Or he's got something mitigating that. Look for that, and maybe we can at least start making him tired. If he's tired we can mash him.>
Sarah now has one job — watching Thea's back. The woman represents possibly one of the best chances they have to take Morlun down — but only if he doesn't return the 'favor'. And it has now fallen to Sarah to make sure that the latter does not happen. She lingers invisibly nearby, ready to intervene if needed.
<I do hate to point out the obvious, but given the amount of magic wrapped up in him, I would not bet large sums on him obeying any of the rules of conventional biology. He also seems to have a mad-on for physics.>
<Or he simply doesn't care about our 'puny mortal' science,> Armor comments dryly over the radio as she dives from the edge of a building.
No, she didn't miss a step; she just doesn't want to give Morlun the questionable gain of any MORE innocent civilians dying as a result of his casually reckless disregard for anyone between him and his prey. Such as whoever's in that taxi; it might just be the cabdriver, but at this hour of the day, odds are that somebody was getting a ride to work. Or *from* work. Or maybe to the airport.
Either way, the now-orange (and growing more red) armor-shaped forcefield enlarges faster than it was just moving through the air; one giant, translucent hand of telekinetic energy scoops ahead of and under the taxi, while the other hand of the briefly-gigantic armor plants briefly on the road left vacant in Morlun's wake. Hisako barely has any time at all to figure out a safe place to put the taxi down; it winds up headed back the way it had just come, as the armor shrinks down towards a reasonable human size once more.
Morlun may get kicked in the head while Armor's readjusting her size and getting back into a standing position. It's the least of what he deserves, in the mutant's opinion - and as soon as she's regained her bearings, she's more than ready to dish out plenty extra where that came from.
Morlun provides a wealth of information, but it's not good.
Thea can sense Morlun's body, but it is different. Healing Gwen and Peter is much like connecting to their bodies like plugging into it, accelerating systems within them. But Morlun is a machine that is plated in steel, all connections are closed, and the language is completely different.
Morlun is a creature completely alien to Thea's sight.
Then the birdarang comes down, but Morlun spots it, swatting at it like a fly. It explodes with the force of a grenade, the ball of concussive force shattering the windows of nearby cars…and then Morlun is moving again, going after Spider-Man, the shredded sleeve the only sign of damage.
Spidey hadn't bothered wasting time looking behind him. He was too busy trying to put as much distance as possible while Morlun is delayed, even slightly. If he had been stopped, it would just be a long trip back.
But the drones give him the bad news…which means the chase continues.
And with that, the first signs of fatigue begin to show in Spidey…
The cabdriver looks up at Armor, staring. "What the bloody 'ell happened?" he blurts out in a London East End accent.
Within the shadow that conceals her, Spider-Girl wills the transformation into being. Armor that is black as night, with translucent blue underlay, begins to form over the black and white costume, transforming the angular young woman into a visage of arachnid nightmare. It happens much faster than before; an effect of the quiet malice that has been born in her pure heart.
<Science and the arcane,> she speaks over the Spider-Comm. <One, or the other, or both.>
When Morlun passes, Spider-Girl leaps from the shadows. Her weblines are a mixture of grey and gold, matching the harsh contrast between the rising sun and the urban jungle. She keeps far behind Morlun, ignoring the red that is in her soul, focusing only on her web swinging and the data coming in from the drones.
"Bide your time, you worthless fuck," she says to herself, off comms.
<The drones are getting data, but it doesn't match anything on file,> she reports over the Spider-Comm. <We're gonna need time to collate this. Armor, think you can pound his ass into the East River? We need him to stop again.>
Damian is running through the data, but he notices Peter was getting a little sluggish on his upswings during the webslinging. <Spider-Man, your getting tired. Team, we need to get Morlun off of Spider-Man. Can any of you open a portal to get Spider-Man out of here?> He chimes in, Damian already getting on the move to do his part if he needs to in order to stall Morlun.
Because if Spidey dies, this whole thing goes to immediate shit.
"Shit!" Thea yells out, fury spiking through her system. « His bio systems are completely unknown to me. I can't /see/ how to wreck him from the inside out. » She can, however, give Peter a significant boost. « He read my mind. Can you open a portal in front of Morlun and punt him somewhere, Black? Preferably somewhere he'll die slow and painful?»
Gwen puts herself in motion once more, swinging along streets parallel to where Spider-Man is outrunning Morlun (or at least not getting caught by him). <Well this is stupid,> she declares, <He must be vulnerable to something. Don't suppose SHIELD has any orbital zappy-zappy satellites that could fry him like one of those omelettes my Dad makes?>
Gwen swings along, keeping up the best time she can manage; but she doesn't have as much practice at this as Peter does by any stretch, and she's going to fall behind soon enough.
<Spider-Man… anything I can do to slow him down? Come past me, I'll whip some parked cars at him or something?> Behind the fairly bland question is a palpable undertone of fear; the sort of fear you feel when there's a great white shark in the water with your friend. …Except this is worse.
<Harman, Black, Ahead of you there. Been waiting for a chance to try this…> And after a quick jaunt to get herself into position, Sarah opens a portal directly in the path of the speeding Morlun. A portal with an opening that could have swallowed a city bus, and so is beyond even the alien hunter's reflexes to avoid plunging through. And visible on the other side is… pitch darkness.
The moment Morlun vanishes into it, Sarah collapses the portal, so as not to offer the villain an easy way back. <Enjoy the trip, arsehole. Too bad the previous tenants moved out.> Of the group, Thea might have an inkling of where Sarah just dropped Morlun. Down an elevator shaft. Into the remaining wreckage of an underground facility…
Armor replies mildly to the (transplanted?) cabbie, "I kept your insurance premiums from going up." Which would probably have been the least of the cabbie's worries if his taxi *hadn't* been caught. "You may want to take a different route today."
Her attention snaps back to the Morlun problem … riiiight as Agent Black thinks with portals, and provides a handy detour that is, Armor hopes, a *very* long way away from here. But Morlun's already demonstrated he has *some* cornering skills.
Simple answer: Take the problem out of both Morlun's hands, and those of regular physics. Armor charges not unlike a linebacker, and attempts to shoulder-check Morlun from behind - ideally, making SURE he goes right through that portal, possibly at an even higher speed than his own legs would have carried him.
There may be the slight follow-up issue of then making sure Armor herself *doesn't* follow Morlun into the portal … it wouldn't usually be much of an issue, but this morning has been somewhat replete with new and surprising twists on what used to pass for 'ordinary' in this corner of the New York superhero community.
<Don't worry about me…I'll give you some time. I can stay ahead of him. I've plotted out a route that can stay away from people for awhile. We need to get a physical sample. Blood, skin, even saliva, SOMETHING…something we can put in a mass spec…or under an electron microscope…>
He is so intent, so focused he doesn't realize what is going on…and then the drone feed shows him what happened and he slows down to land on the side of an apartment tower, looking back at where Morlun used to be. "…Wha hoppen?" Spider-Man asks, puzzled.
<Too precise a strike,> Spider-Girl answers Gwen. They simply don't have the tech to fry someone from orbit who is moving so fast.
Swinging along, the arachnid monstrosity can feel a sickness filling the pit of her stomach. She's seen Peter's face, knows where he lives, and can picture his skull being crushed, just like she witnessed the horrible killing of her Uncle.
And then it's over.
Spider-Girl lands on the side of a building, two armored feet and an armored claw digging into brick that sends detritus falling to the street below. Her mouth forms a quiet gasp, one that is not delivered over the comms.
"She sent him to never-never-land," she breathes, not realizing that her comms are still open.
<Working on it.> Damian replies to Spider-Man, but then Morlun is gone!
Well then, that was easier than he thought it would be. Its lovely having people who can send people a vast distance away. He zips up to another rooftop to get a better view of the whole situation. <He's gone.> Damian breathes a sigh of relief.
She turns, blinking as she looks at Sarah. "Did you send him…?" Sarah knows what Thea means. The place Thea's first ever moment of helplessness started. "It won't last long, but we can move to be on our turf. If he's half as smart as he is fast." She takes a breath, before turning her comm on again. « Everyone in one piece? »
Gwen swings upwards, and lands in a light crouch on the corner of a rooftop. <Well, that was… smart,> she observes. <I mean, that was a way better plan than what I was thinking. You're pretty awesome to have around, Black.> She sits where she is, collecting herself after that mad dash through the city. The immediate threat to her friends is gone, but not gone very far, so it doesn't really do anything to alleviate her general state of terror.
<Hey. Wherever you sent him, think there's any odds he might've gotten hurt on landing? It'd be pretty slick if we could get a sample. Maybe we could learn something.> She pauses, and settles down, dangling her legs over the edge. "Spidey, you need a rest.>
<I very much doubt it hurt him, at least not in any meaningful way,> comes Sarah's reply, after a solemn confirming nod to Thea. <I don't think a fall down a shaft is likely to do much more than inconvenience him, but at least it will take him time to get out and get back. I suggest we use it well.>
<Robin, I don't suppose any of your throwing-star thingies happened to draw blood earlier?> Armor inquires, moving from the street to the sidewalk. She's staying armored up for the moment, mostly by a combination of stubbornness, paranoia, and what little good the energy field does to obfuscate her identity (read: not very much at all). <More importantly, is everyone else all right at this point?>
She looks over at Agent Black. "Good idea with the portal … although if it's true vampires can't cross running water, maybe we *should* try the East River, next time. If we have a next time."
Spider-Man was taking deep breaths, sounding winded as he speaks. <I'll…be fine. Okay, maybe a little rest. But we need to know if he's even stopped, or just stopped for now.>
Morlun stood up, looking around. This place stank of old conflict and alien purpose, like the lair of some old, poisonous beast.
He smiled to himself. "Well done. You pick your friends well, Spider-Man. But the Hunt is not over. AND I WILL NOT BE DENIED."
With that, he began to climb…