Summary:Spidey and Firestar team up to foil villains, then meet Black Cat for chili dogs. Log Info:Storyteller: None |
Related LogsTheme SongNone |
Spider-Man wasn't often stymied. Usually, he had a pretty good idea of how to handle things.
But sometimes, he ran into some real characters.
He had seen the car driving out of the warehouse he had tracked the Triad goons, too, and their latest shipment was currently in the hands of the NYPD. The Triad boss elected to leave as soon as Spidey to talk to them about all the laws they broke by making a delivery of one long ton of heroin. The problem was he was riding in one of those heavily-armored Cadillacs, the ones with the bulletproof glass, the V-12 engine, the run-flat tires, and the battleship armor. It was a mother of a mover, too - Spidey was staying apace with it with a certain amount of effort.
He had to figure out how he was going to stop this thing.
Firestar is still relatively new to actual superheroing. Still feels weird even thinking of herself that way, powers or no powers. But here she is, out and about 'on patrol' in a golden leotard and a fire-themed domino mask. She has no idea how she's supposed to find crime.
And then a heavily armored car goes by and, hot in pursuit, is Spider-Man. Now, Spidey could be a controversial figure, but Angelica was a working class girl who lived in the same sort of neighborhoods Spidey protected. And her daddy always told her that J. Jonah Jameson was full of mularkey anyway. So she follows, flying in the wake of the hero and seeing if she can help.
She does that by flying up next to him and saying, "Hi, I'm Firestar, can I help?"
Spidey blinks. Part of it is the girl herself. The flame-red hair is attention-getting, like a multi-layered bonfire. The other part is, hey, Flying Girl Here!
He looks to her, startled. It must be the suit. The colors, maybe, it's why he's so noticeable and other heroes seem to twig to him quickly. But she is offering to help, and his Spider-Sense isn't tingling about her. So, give her a chance and the truth, and see what she does with them.
"See that black Cadillac down there? Triad boos trying to escape. Car's armored. Bulletproof plexiglass, Run-flat tires, and a massive engine, so no shortage of horses to pull THAT carriage. Want to stop it without hurting the occupants or anyone else…was trying to puzzle it out when you showed up, Firestar. Ideas?"
Angelica Jones smiles, "I've got a bit of an idea, although I'm still kind of new at this and, like, I don't think it'll wreck the car, but I can't be super totally sure, but I can use my microwave blasts to maybe melt the tires or melt down the engine? I don't want to make it explode, but I know enough about cars that I should be able to avoid the gas tank," she says.
"But I mean, you know what you're doing, I'm just…here to help, like I said. Does that sound like a good idea?"
Spidey took a few moments to think. "Actually, melting the tires sounds like a good idea." He nods, then points down. "Melt down the rear tires first. It's all-wheel drive, but less chance of them losing control. After that, melt the front tires. If it starts looking like it will fishtail, I'll come in and web the car, but I'd rather do it with all four tires melted off, so it'll have no traction." He looked ahead, then said, "Hit them past that intersection. The pedestrins thin out a lot…"
Angelica Jones gives a jaunty salute and zips down to do as they planned. She's fast enough to keep pace with the car easily enough, tilting to the side to avoid the dangling stop light as she flies lower to get an eye on her target. She's been practicing enough that she hits one tire on the first try, the second tire with a couple of more, leaving a few puddles of melted asphalt in the wake of the car but nothing too serious.
"Got 'em!" she shouts, watching them try to hold the car on the road as she swings around to repeat the treatment to the front tires.
Spidey was impressed. Dang, she's a good shot. Neutralized the rear tires in no time at all. The rear sags, but they keep going. Maybe they think the tires are flat instead of just gone.
Well, they're going to find out soon enough. As soon as Firestar takes care of the front two tires, he would throw down with the webbing, and that should immobilize the vehicle.
Dang, no comms. Well, he had to trust she would follow through.
Angelica Jones takes a few more shots on the front tires, just because they're driving a bit more unsteadily. She does slag a bit of the roof along the way, melting a hole just above the radiator, "WHOOPS!" she calls back to Spidey, "My bad! I hope that car's not stolen," she says. She and another heroine named Flare had stopped a fleeing criminal in a car earlier this week just by telling him he couldn't get away. He believed them when they flew on either side of his car.
She finally gets the fourth tire and takes back up into the sky with a bit of a spin, a trail of radiance in her wake, "All yours, Spider-Man!"
She's got him beat in spectacle, too. Ah, well. Spidey gave her a quick salute, but had to act fast. The front end of the car was beginning to oscillate in an unsteady way.
He fired to heavy blasts of webbing on the rear of the vehicle, then four short bands of webbing binding the rear of the car to the street. It stopped abruptly, the bare rims stopping along with their forward momentum. Which, for a car with no tires, was bad.
The occupants tried to get moving again as Spidey landed on a traffic lamp overlooking the car. The rims spun, but it was going to stay there until the webs disintegrated. And by that time, the people inside would be occupying a cell in the local precinct.
Angelica Jones crosses her arms over her chest and looks down, "That's pretty neat. Saves on having to carry zip ties. Heavensent told me I had to start carrying zip ties," she says, "But sometimes they, um, melt. And then I have a big claggy ball of plastic in my pocket, all melted together," she says.
"Sorry, talking too much. We should go. The police are weird about you, right?"
Spider-Man shakes his head. "Not as weird as they used to be. Still…" He drops down to the car, peering in the rear side window. "Oh, Mr. Shang…might as well come out."
The window edges down an inch, and a voice from inside can be heard. "Get bent."
Spidey shrugs, then puts one palm to the gap, and there is a quiet, "chunt" sound. Followed by, "What The…?!" and them a FLOOMP as the web grenade goes off in the interior.
He turns back to Firestar, smiling slightly under the mask. "NOW we can go." He points south. "Want to regroup at Big Jake's? He has the best street meat in New York."
Angelica Jones blinks for a moment, "I don't know that I've heard it put that way before. But yeah, that sounds good! I could use a nosh," she says. "Wait, are we…are we going in costume? Will they serve us that way? I don't know what the etiquette is on, like, masks and stuff," she admits.
Spidey fires a webline. "Follow me, Firestar, and i'll show you a few things."
On the way there, he does explain a few things as he swings along. He makes this particular method of travel seem almost effortless. "Big Jake makes the best chilidogs in the five boroughs. His wife makes the chili fresh every night. About a year ago, I saved him from a shakedown racket. Since then, I get free chili dogs every tme I show up. But I didn't want him to have to worry about anyone with me, so I bought a Visa gift card than I can load up with funds, then encoded the card-tap setup into my suit. So, my suit is now a debit card."
Angelica Jones lands next to Spidey as they arrive at the cart in question. The last revelation most of all makes her stare, "Your suit is a debit card? That's…wow. I…you did that yourself? That's amazing. Best I can do is unclog a stuck pipe."
"Um…one chili cheese dog, then, with extra cheese, please!" she says. "Remind me to make sure to rescue a cellphone dealer sometime. I go through them like hotcakes. Part of the problem of having microwave powers," she admits.
Spider-Man ponders as Big Jake makes Firestar's chili-cheese hot dog, and he does skimp on either chili or cheese. "Mocrowaves, eh?" He looks to Jake, and holds up a finger. "One of my usual. Cherry coke. And a drink for the lady."
Jake nods. "Usual method?" he points to the card reader/scanner. A tiny screen opens with $7.35 / CREDIT OR DEBIT?
Spider-Man then finger-guns it and says, "Bang."
The screen changes to APPROVED and Spidey grins to Firestar. "Tech's sorta my thing. Maybe I can think of something for you."
Angelica Jones nods, "Sprite, please!" she says to the man cheerfully, tossing a bit of her fiery red hair back over her shoulder.
"I mean, maybe. I'd be happy with a suit that'll shield my phone or thumb drives and stuff like that. You get asked to turn in papers sometimes on thumb drive and I've had at least two papers just wiped on the day they were due because I forgot."
Spider-Man points to a nearby bench. He likes days like this. A new person to meet, a new problem to solve. Plus they stopped a gang boss and no one got hurt. "Well, let's talk about your suit. What is it made of right now?"
Angelica Jones takes the seat, carefully balancing her hot dog in one hand and setting her drink down on the ground, "Um, just cotton with a bit of spandex and a few panels of kevlar I sewed into the lining. It's very DIY, I admit," she says. She tugs at the material, which is very snug to her skin, custom-fitted between herself and her Nana. Yes, she drafted Nana.
Boy, does he know this feeling. His firest costume was aturned-around hoodie, sweatpants and tennis shoes. She's kinda ahead of him here.
Spider-Man lifts up the mask partway to reveal a modest chin, pink skin and a mouth he soon fills with chili dog. He chews, but he has a thoughtful look on his face. "How's your budget for a new suit, ballpark?"
He looks like he has something in mind.
Angelica Jones considers for a moment, "Well, um…um…I think I have…seventy five dollars in my bank account? I'm hoping for a few checks in Christmas cards next month, though. Good old Irish families with lots of aunts and uncles," she says. "I do have a modelling shoot lined up, for like this teen catalogue thing? I can still pass for a teen under a bright white light, it seems."
Spidey nods. "I don't want this to sound weird, but I would like to try putting together a suit for you, with a compartment to protect your stuff from microwaves. I have some ideas, and I would like to test them. But if I'm right…I think I can put something together for you that will keep the microwaves out.
Angelica Jones nods, "That would be amazing. I mean, it IS weird, but, like, good weird, because I could really use that. Plus, like, you made your suit into a credit card, so I feel like this is probably easier than that? I don't know how much I could pay you, but maybe we could do installments or something?"
Spidey chuckled. "Let's make sure I can even follow through on the deisgn first before that. The truth is, I'd like to do this pro bono. It's for a good cause, it's an interesting problem, and I think it will be a useful exercise for me personally." He smiles, then takes another bite of chili dog.
Angelica Jones finishes her own chili dog, wiping her mouth with a napkin, "I mean, free is always the best price. I would think you were up to something but, like, you're Spider-Man, so I'm sure it's cool. And yes, my powers have always been an interesting problem. At least I mostly have control of it now. Except if I get, like, startled. I melted the Christmas tree last year when a bulb popped.
The Black Cat wouldn't say she has been FOLLOWING Spidey. (Because that would be self-incriminating.) She also wouldn't say that she has waited until now to enter the scene because she would have an excuse to suggestively eat a hot dog. Because she needs no excuse to do that.
In fact, maybe she has just happened upon him, and wasn't following him at all. Either way, she slips into the frame from seemingly nowhere, and sidles up alongside Spidey. "Hello, Handsome…Making new friends, again, I take it?" Her suit is immaculate…clearly brand new, since the last one Spidey saw had seen better days. The fur trim on the black leather is pristine, and it fits like a glove, on a hand that is slightly too busty for its confines.
Spidey is startled, of course. She doesn't trigger his Spider-Sense, even though she is some special kind of "danger." He does nearly drop his chili dog, half-eaten, into his lap, but he recovers quickly. She can also get a good look at his lower face as the mask is lifted enough for him to eat. Clear skin. Firm chin. But really, nothing very spectacular.
"Oh! Uhm! Hi!" Yes, they are spaced out enough to be separate. But he takes a deep breath and actually manages a whole sentence or two. "Hello, Cat. Uhm, I'd like you to meet Firestar, She and i captured Shang, the leader of the Half Moon Triad. He's being untangled as we speak." He looks to Firestar. "Firestar…I'd like you to meet the Black Cat."
Angelica Jones blinks for a moment at Cat's appearance, sudden and rather spectacular as it is. She blushes a bit at the other woman's costume, her own snug but high-necked. "Black Cat, that's cool!" she says, managing to get her wits about her agin relatively quickly. "I didn't even know who it was, to be honest. I was just helping out. Pleased to meet you, Cat," she says, taking a sip of her Sprite.
Cat is transfixed by those lips, which she has never seen before, until this exact moment. 'Hello, pleasure to meet you, Firestar," Cat purrs, before turning her gaze back to Spidey's bare, delicious, and inviting lips.
"I'm glad you two have been continuing the good fight," she adds, finally seeming to break the spell, if only momentarily.
Spider-Man is a little puzzled as the Cat was looking at the bottom half of his face. He had some chili on his cheek, didn't he?
He wiped his mouth with a napkin and said, "Well, Cat, I'm still looking forward to seeing what you can do." He looks to Firestar. "When I first got my…gifts…I found a place where I could train myself to use them effectively. I invited Cat to join me and Spider-Woman. If you think you could use some place to practice, I would like to extend the same invitation to you, Firestar. It's our responsibility to train ourselves in whatever gifts and skills we have."
Angelica Jones wraps her arms around herself, "Just heroes, right? Not any…older people trying to mess with us? I started at a school like that, once, where we were supposed to learn how to use our gifts, but the woman who ran it, she was…well, I just didn't trust her. Maybe I just got scared. I dunno. But I'd be willing to…to try. To have an open mind," she says, grinning a little as she catches the way Cat looks at Spidey.
"Sounds…good." Cat looks back at Firestar. "If any older people try to mess with you, I promise to…mess with them." She gives a definitive nod. "I don't think you'll find any distrust or disloyalty within the Spider family. So far they've been fantastic to work with me the way they have."
Cat is having a hard time letting go of the image of that chin, and those lips. But she is trying. "Sounds like you already have a really good start." Those lips are definitely going to haunt her dreams.
Spidey is keeping those lips busy as he eats while Firestar and Cat talk. It's a cold night, and hot food is always a plus. He finishes the chili dog, and inadvertently makes it easier for Cat when he pulls the mask back down.
He swallows, then says, "No patrons, no mysterious organizations, no hidden agenda. It's a junkyard, pure and simple, but I added some stuff and verified no one else was using it. It's called King's Landing Towing, near Brighton. The owner and his family disappeared a couple of years ago, and no one cares about an abandoned junkyard tied up in legal oblivion." He shrugs. "But I did some cleanup work in there, so it's not gross or anything."
Angelica Jones smiles, "I'm pretty comfortable in junkyards. My dad's a handyman, so I've spent a lot of weekends helping him carry and pick out stuff to help at work," she says. Not exactly super close with her identity, it seems, but then there are a lot of handmen in New York City.
"No patrons is good. I've had enough of that sort of thing. But I'd definitely like to meet, like…more of us."
"There are plenty out there," Cat replies, suddenly able to function again. "Some good. Some bad. Most in the spectrum somewhere between the two." She shrugs. "But one thing's for sure…you'll meet a lot of them around Spidey here. He is a trouble MAGNET. Well…a Cape magnet, too…."
Spidey chuckles. "I think the two are related. Trouble brings capes. But…" He pauses for a moment. "A lot of heroes went to bat for me recently. I won't ever forget that. Maybe I'll tell you sometime, if you want to hear it. But some parts are definitely not for the squeamish."