2019-12-28 - Mechanical Monstronsities

Summary:

Just another day in Central Park

Log Info:

Storyteller: None
Date: Sat Dec 28 22:19:51 2019
Location: Central Park

Related Logs

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Theme Song

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thearebecca-gadisonpeter-parkeranya-corazondylan-greyscandalkeikolydia-dietrich

Central Park is a popular place in general and the time between Christmas and New Years is no different. Today, heading towards late afternoon / early evening, families are walking, kids playing in the snow with some parents looking on unhappily know they have to take these ones to warm them up.

It all seems to be quite normal as Keiko Kurita waits in the line to buy warm cider for herself and the dark haired poppet at her side "Mama, I want to go to the zoo…" Elena is saying, her accent an odd one - Russian, American, Spanish all in one terrible mix.

Keiko, who's tattooes are covered by the jacket she's wearing, looks down at the child "Not today, mi estrella. Papa will want you home soon. But one day, yes?"

Maybe for once it's going to be a normal day. Maybe she'll be lucky.


Girls hangout was Anya's idea. They've already been shopping, but an alert on Anya's social media feeds directed her to a pop up shop in Central Park, one geared toward refurbished second hand clothing of a wide variety.

"Ladies. We cannot miss this," she had insisted.

And so, here they are, not far from Keiko and the munchkin. The pop up shop is crammed into three large canopy tents, and music is pumping from speakers. Anya is currently rummaging through a selection of old 80's era unitards, glee written on her face as she withdraws one in spangly silver and blue.

She holds it up to herself; currently dressed in black Doc Martens, a black punk-style leather jacket, a vintage NIN t-shirt that's ripped up a bit, revealing what appears to be a black matte bodystocking over her torso and legs, and black denim short shorts.

"Oh. My God," she says, dramatically. "I so need this."


Hands thrust deep into the pockets of a Winter overcoat, Scandal drifts rather aimlessly through the throng. A woollen hat is pulled down over her ears, matching the dark tones of the rest of her attire, but her expression is watchfully curious rather than surly - exposing herself to the life of 'normal' people is part of her on-going attempt at rehabilitation and integration, after all.


Peter Parker isn't in Central Park proper, but is overlooking it from a nearby building. Why no park for Spidey? Well, he's all about the webslinging, zipping from building to building, skyscrapers gleaming as he whips around their silvery surfaces. Do you know what there's a severe lack of in Central Park? Skyscrapers.

Still, it's a good view for a young hero's lunch break. He gets a sandwich carefully wrapped in deli paper out of his pocket, pulling his mask up just a bit to uncover his mouth. He has his feet clinging to the wall and his back braced against it, a webbing-made backpack holding his MONSTER energy drink and the granola bar he has for later. But first, the joys of pastrami, swiss cheese, pickles and mustard on rye bread.

Or so he thought. McAllister's Deli screwed up his order. Instead, he has what appears to be a pimento cheese sandwich. "Oh. This. This is fine. Yeah. I'm okay with this. I'm not disappointed at all, nope. Love me some…pepper cheese goo."

Peter takes a bite and actively winces. Should've taken that peanut butter his aunt offered him.


Dylan's just wandering around the park, taking in the sights. His first winter in Manhattan. His first upcoming New Year's Day in Manhattan. Your first time is always special and Central Park is pretty special at any time of the year. Seeing the crowd, he heads over to the tens to take a look at what's being sold.


Thea laughs at Anya's dramatics. "IT would look awesome on you." There's a smile that's been there all day, shopping with other girls is not something she's used to. She's already sent a couple bags home. "Can I pick it up for you?"

Thea is dressed in a plain red tunic and black leggings with some black riding boots, comfortable for shopping. Black hair is loose over her shoulders, and she's not wearing any makeup, just relaxed for shopping. "I need to find something fun." She starts poking through a rack of dresses.


Breaking into a bright smile as Anya holds up her find, Becca Gadison exclaims, "I love it!" She's dressed in jeans and a black 'Luke's' tee, a grey hoodie unzipped over it, and red and white Converse retro sneakers. Her thick blonde mane is tied back into a ponytail, making her simple silver ball-stud earrings more visible, and she's wearing minimal makeup, just a pale pink shade of lipstick.


Even spooky glowing ectoplasmic girls need to get out and enjoy the sunshine every once in a while. Lydia has found herself in Central park, and is generally enjoying herself despite the winter chill. She's wearing a thick, wool lined overcoat, a knit cap, fuzzy warm boots and jeans to the park. She's currently sitting at a bench, journal in hand, watching people go to and fro their normal daily lives, occasionally scribbling things in her notebook as she writes narratives on what she sees as a kind of writing exercise.


Anya, Thea and Rebecca's approach draws Elena's attention, the girl tugging on Keiko's SHIELD jacket. "Mama, can we see if there's something there for Papa?" That just causes Keiko to look blankly at her daughter. At least one of them has some human emotion!

"I don't thi—-" Keiko stops as a gigantic locust scurries across the park, heading towards the group that gathering near the pop up shop. It knocks a child over and steps on the boy.

At the same time, a frog hops over the bench where Lydia is sitting and flicks a gigantic tongue at a woman, knocking her over.

A enormous lizard nearly bowls Scandal over as it tries to hook her with its front claws.

Of course, people start panicking and screaming. The more panicked they get, the more the creatures seem to respond.

"Elena, remember when we were in Limbo, when Papa and I told you to hide? Do that now. Mama has work to do."


Peter is about to take a second bite of his highly questionable sandwich (Oh god, wait, what were those crunchy things? Was that onion? Celery? WHY?), when suddenly a 50s sci fi movie breaks out below, complete with giant animals and insects.

Peter tugs his mask down and assumes proper Spider-Man form, sandwich dropped as he releases his grip and hits a flagpole underneath him, feeling it bend under his weight before he uses it as a springboard to fling himself into the park in a high arc. Near the peak, he fires out a webline, hooking onto the giant frog on Lydia and pulling himself in towards it with a diving dropkick.

"Sorry, frog prince, all out of kisses today, just kicks and punches!"


"Really??" Anya's eyes brighten, a deep brown surrounded by a bright blue eyeshadow that matches the bright blue mohawk framed on either side by a closely shaved scalp. The excited expression suddenly shifts into one of a demure nature, and a grin curls across lightly painted lips. "Only if you agree to go clubbing with me again."

Tucking the unitard under her arm, she reaches over to nudge Rebecca over to the same rack, grinning widely. "Let's find you one."

Lacking any sort of spider-sense, Anya's attention is on the rack. That is, of course, until she hears the sound of people panicking and screaming. She pivots on a heel, eyes suddenly vigilant. "Mierde!" she curses in Spanish, and shoots a meaningful look at Thea.

Then, for some… crazy odd reason, Anya seems to fall into the rack of clothes, knocking it over. She yelps and flails her arms and legs, getting all caught up and covered in unitards, skirts, and dresses. A leg shoots out and hooks around the next rack, yanking it down to further bury her in clothing until she just can't be seen anymore.

Certainly, an accident. Just another panicking New Yorker!


Dylan picks up a black t-shirt with '…And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead' printer on the front and just kind of stares at it. Whu? Fortunately, giant lizards start arriving and people start screaming so he has something else to focus on. Dropping the shirt, he looks around and takes a few steps away from the tents. "Fascinating. This is not normal for Central Park I assume?" The question is asked of anyone in earshot.


Lydia is so engrossed in her writing exercises that she totally misses that there is suddenly a giant frog in front of her. With a squeak of surprise she's knocked clean over the bench and onto her butt by a long, slimy tongue. Fortunately, her ectoplasm gives her a certain amount of protection from the stickiness of the tongue so she isn't sucked back into it's mouth, but still she's now dripping with frog slime.

Before she can pick herself up, Spiderman is there, delivering one heck of a kick to the frog. She cheers her on, with a "Yeah!" and picks herself up. She armors up, her hazy ectoplasm crystalizing into glowing green armor, this time with a gargoyle motif. Green wings unfold from her back and she leaps into the air, arcing to slam a powered fist into the giant head of the frog.


Neither panicking nor a New Yorker, Scandal finds her training kicking in - first in having her combat-roll away from the lizard, and secondly in having her own claws appear as the Lamentation Blades sprout around her fists. An American-style princess might use Disney powers to commune with the giant animals. Instead, Savage's daughter snarls at the great beast menacing her, running her gaze over it in search of a promising avenue of attack or any evidence of how it is being directed. Knocking out a control collar or the like would probably be a simpler affair than killing the critter itself.


Becca turns. Then stares, wide-eyed, at the Sudden Giant Critter Mayhem. Dammit. She's been easing into the whole 'hero' thing, going out on 'patrol' with Anon on her nights off from the bar, but now here she is, with friends, and without her (admittedly rather makeshift and improvised) costume. Can't be helped. People are in danger, and she has the power to do something about it. Focusing her gaze on the locust, she concentrates, and the big bug begins to rise into the air — and off of anyone it has pinned, its forward momentum brought to a sudden halt.


Thea helps by dropping a couple things on the pile over Anya, to help cover her changing to her secret hero identity. She turns, moving to step out of the tent. "No, not quite normal." She asides to Dylan, before the locust is lifting up in the air.

She will still reach into her boot, pulling out a knife that is illegal by New York measurements, snicking it out of the base to be ready. But her focus is on the locust, trying to tear it's insecty insides out.


The others in the pop up shop are trying to get out of there, ignoring as Anya flails on the ground. The locust doesn't seem to care - as it approaches, the others will see it's enormous. As easily as tall as a person, and judging by the way it's knocking people aside, it's strong too.

Peter's drop kick takes the frog in the side of the head, sending it careening into Lydia's ectoplasmed fist. The head doesn't explode in goo as one might expect. The sound from both Peter's kick and her punch is sort of …. metallic. The frogs head lolls and then it turns on Lydia, opening its mouth and sprays a gout of fire at her, turning in an arc to find what hit it from the side.

Unfortunately there are people standing in that arc.

Scandal can't see anything on the lizard attacking her. The scales gleam in the pale afternoon sun and the creature advances, it's mouth opening and a spray of acid coming at her. Around her, people are scattering but she finds her path hindered by a woman who's fallen behind her and the child running between her and the lizard.

The locust starts to rise as Rebecca focusses her power, its forward momentum arrested for the moment. Thea's blade cuts through the 'skin' of the creature but she hears a metallic scraping sound as the knife comes to a stop. The insect doesn't seem bothered by any of this. Instead, it starts to spit small grenades in Becca's direction - and thus the pop up shop where Anya is currently flailing. The devices land in the snow and on the path with a 'thud', emitting an extremely high pitched whine. It's possible no one hears that - but anyone with Spider Sense will know something is up.

Keiko reaches Dylan just in time to hear the question. "This is not normal, no." She answers in that weird mutt of a latin accent of hers. In her hand is a silver staff. To Dylan's magic senses, it gives off a very slight magic energy. "Behind you." The small woman, tumbles past Dylan, rolling and bringing her staff up to smack a … dragon in the snout. Not before it lunges at Dylan though.


Peter Parker thankfully has a Spider-sense and quick reflexes and jumping ability and OH CRAP THAT FROG FIRE CAME REALLY CLOSE TO MY TOOTSIES.

"Judging by the lovely metallic sound, I'm guessing you're not a squishy live frog that I'm going to feel terrible about pounding, which is really good, because I have a lot of animal-based enemies and I feel like I'm bound to get kickback from the ASPCA sometime. Anyway, don't look now, but don't look now!" he says.

Spidey hops up to try and land on top of the frog's head, aiming webshots from each hand to try and cover its eyes and blind it for the moment.

"Hey, bystander!" he calls to Lydia, who he knows perfectly well but has to pretend he doesn't. "Be careful, this sucker's a-hoppin' mad!"


Even as she's flicking her blades back out of sight, Scandal allows herself a snort of mingled amusement and frustration - this would be so much *easier* if she could just throw the panicking irrelevances into the maw of her assailant. But that would certainly invalidate her rehabilitation deal, so instead she snatches for both the errant woman and the child, intending to snare one in each hand to get them out of the way of the lizard's spray. Ideally, she'll leap herself and both passengers clear of danger… but if need be, she'll settle for throwing them into the snow and taking the hit on the back of her coat. Hopefully it can at least be shrugged out of before the acid eats through to anything vital.


"Not just lizards." Dylan comments on seeing the locust. "And not alive." he adds, noting the mechanical aspect to it. Glancing over at Keiko as she addresses him, his attention is taken more by the staff than the woman and he turns to watch her and it as she tumbles past him in time to see the dragon lunging. Drawing the sword from its sheath which suddenly appears on his hip, he brings it down toward the dragon's snout where the staff ended up.


Somewhere beneath the pile of clothing is a NIN shirt, a black leather jacket, short shorts, and a pair of Doc Martens. Much can be said about Anya Corazon; among them, how good she is at quickly undressing.

When the young woman emerges from the haphazard pile of clothing, she's dressed in her full Spider-Girl costume; a brown ponytail emerges from the top of a mask that covers most of her face, hair extensions to conceal the blue mohawk she wears underneath.

A backpack is tugged out from beneath the upended clothing and ripped open. Spider-Girl pulls out her sleek, black spider-drone, nicknamed 'Arana', and throws it into the air. "Arana, modo de analisis completo!" she cries.

The drone's rotors come to life, and she rises into the air. The command in Spanish puts her into full analysis mode; observing the attacking creatures with her visual cameras, along with her built in EM and IR sensors. Anything she captures will be fed back into the HUD built into Spider-Girl's mask, while she simultaneously pops up on the Spider-Comm network, alerting Peter to her presence at the scene.

With lightning reflexes, her eyes dash from one creature to the other. Noticing that Scandal seems to be facing the lizard alone, she leaps from the pop-up shop and shoves her hands together, wrists an inch apart, fingers splayed out oddly. Black webbing shoots forth from both spinnerets, knotting together into a thick, black spiral that shoots forth like an elongated bullet. The thick webbing spreads a bit as it approaches the spray of acid; her goal here is to simply intercept it, giving the acid something thick and silky to feed on.

Those with magic senses will sense a surge in the arcane coming from the young woman when she uses her powers.


Lydia is distracted by Peter telling her not to look that she… doesn't look at the frog and looks at Peter instead. This proves to be a mistake as the frog just flamethrowers her. She pulls her arms up in reflex and she manages to harden her armor just in time so that the blast doesn't burn her to a crisp. Singe her hair and jacket, sure, but it could have been worse.

"I'm as much a bystander as you are!" Lydia shouts back. The *whong* sound the metal frog makes her realize that she doesn't have to be gentle with this one, the same conclusion that Spider-Man had come to. Long claws extend out from her gauntlets and she leaps at the mechana-frog to tear into its hide.


There is fluid cursing that cycles through various languages, as she pulls her knife back. She looks over at Anya in her new guise. "It's metal - I don't have any weapons against them, and my powers won't touch them." Damnit.

Thea will move, eyes searching from the frog to the lizard, knife tucked away as she balances on the balls of her feet, hoping to be able to do /something/.


If there is anyone still underneath the locust, there's no time to be gentle. Instead, any stragglers will be shoved out of the way by Becca's power, before she drops the giant locust… bot? And. with a rainbow flare of gravitic lensing, hurriedly throws up her shields around herself, against whatever those grenade-things the bot spewed around her are about to do.


Spider-Mans webs hits the creatures eyes and obscure its vision. The thing hops around in a circle, trying to throw the webslinger clear, shaking its massive head as well. This might not have had the effect that Spider-Man wanted - exactly. That gout of fire is still going and is being sprayed everywhere. The flames catch the awning of one of the vendors and now that's on fire too!

Lydia's claws rake down the frogs hide, rending the covering from it to reveal a mass of tubes and actuator motors. Right now, the frog is moving erratically - trying to get its two assailants from it, causing more damage as it does.

Scandal is hit in the back by some of the acid, the rest diverted by Anya's webs. Savages daughter can hear the sizzle as it hits her jacket but it doesn't hit the woman and child who are now buried in the snow under her. It burns though - the acid works fast and she can feel it hit her skin and keep burning. That's not her only problem though, the lizards maw clamps down on her back trying to lift and shake her like a rag doll.

Arana feeds the information it gathers to the spidercomms. Information its getting from those with the mechanics exposed. For those whose minds bend that way, it's a simple process to determine where to aim their attacks. All they need to do is share that information with the others. That's all - just that!

Dylans sword slices through the dragons snout, revealing the mechanics inside. The dragon roars, not impeded by the action overly, though its attention is split between the peruvian and the mage. Keiko tumbles again, under the belly of the thing this time. "My staff is not designed for this…" she grunts as she shoves the end up into the things underside. The staff catches and Keiko is dragged as the creature lumbers forward. Maybe that's enough time for Dylan to do something else?

The grenades around the pop up shop explode sending schrapnel everywhere. The bits impact on Becca's shields and hit several bystanders. At least one quite critically - Thea will sense that and know that those peoples time is short.

The locust crashes to the ground, knocking more people over - but not crushing them. It tries to get to its feet, the impact giving Rebecca, and others, a moment to finish it.


"Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap!" shouts Lydia as she sees that the frog is doing a lot more collateral damage than she'd like. "Spidey!" she shouts up at the costumed hero. "We need to keep it from flailing about!" She changes tactics to dig her claws into one of the hind legs to keep it from moving around. While armored up, she's strong enough to toss an SUV around so hopefully this will be enough for giant froggo.


Peter Parker winces a bit as some of the trees catch on fire, but trees, at the very least, aren't people. Probably. Still, he'll do his best and try to shoot some webbing into the sides of the mouth as he clings to the top of the frog's head, trying to jam up any flamethrowers or gears or…whatever is inside there. He could probably imagine a design if he was given some time to think and the proper tools, but this really isn't time to fantasy design giant animal monsters.

Arana's information pops up in the HUD of his Spider-comm, "Oh, that's useful. Try to get to the battery feed, it's a central cable right around the…well, the groinal region," he calls out to Lydia.


"Groinal region, check!" shouts Lydia and quickly changes tactics, moving from the leg to the indicated area of the frog. Claws extend even further a she tears into it, pulling out its guts and trying to get to the cable Spidey is talking about.


Dammit. If she'd thought faster, she might have tried to use her powers to fling the grenades away from everyone before they went off. But she's still new at this, and her panic to protect herself took precedence. Beyond the wave of self-recrimination, this has another effect on Becca. She's angry. "Enough o'you," she snarls, as she once again focuses on the locust-bot. Except this time, there is no one pinned by it, or otherwise in a position to be imperiled by her cranking up gravity by a factor of 10 for the mechanical critter. It might or might not be crushed by that, but it's probably not going anywhere, or getting very far with any more of its grenades.


"That's it!" Spider-Girl's right hand dances in the air, the webbing no longer shooting forth. Commands are entered, highlighting the mechanics and zapping it over the spidercomm.

Its all she has time to do before the young woman is suddenly peppered with shrapnel. Much of it bounces off the costume of spider-silk, but a handful of tears appear in the costume, and the exposed lower half of her face becomes a bloody mess in short order.

"Urrgh!" she cries, and leaps into the air violently, kicking her foot in a twist that rips snow and grass up underneath. Her hands are splayed out, sending a blast of webbing in two wide, cone-shaped arcs. Mid-jump, her body twists around into a lateral motion, causing the blasted webbing to spray along a different axis; the blasts are a bright purple in color, and the way her body twists and spirals, the webbing is absolutely going everywhere.

Its gonna be a huge mess to clean up, but if she can capture enough of that shrapnel, maybe she can save others the lacerations that now pepper her face and body.


Really, look it up in any rule book, in any century, in any country, and one of the things they stress when fighting dragons is to do so armored. (They don't specify that the dragon has to be a living variety.) The torc around Dylan's neck glows as light pours out of it, forming chain links and a surcoat around him at the same time it forms a helm to protect his head. The sword lengthens and the blade widens till he's holding a Welsh glaive, a long, two handed sword with a wide blade. Stepping to the side, he brings it down in a slash toward the machine's neck.


So much for the plan of whipping her coat off and dumping the acid in the snow. Though Anya's intervention spared her from some of the worst effects, chewing as a means of keeping her in contact with the acid was not a tactic that had occurred to Scandal… and she would hand it to the lizard (or its designer), if it didn't currently *hurt* so much. Indeed, it's sufficiently painful that she slips into the language of her youth, blistering the air with a string of furious curses… though to anyone unversed in the languages of Brazil's remote Acre province, not a single word is likely to be comprehensible.

Readily understood, however, is the violence of action accompanying her irate outburst. Silver blades sprout from within the sleeves of her coat and around her fists - Scandal opting for the short, broad form of her weapons as she slams one set into the upper jaw and the other into the lower. Amidst protesting gears and the hiss of hydraulics, she first brings the closing teeth to a stop… then forces them back apart. Bleeding from an array of punctures and smoking through the acidic holes along her back, Savage's daughter turns the tables on her assailant - screaming aloud as she rips its lower jaw past the point of no return, leaving it swinging loose and leaking a flood of oil as she hammers a succession of blows into its head and chest, each strike leaving a fresh hole in the machine's outer shell.


Thea herself gets bitten in the arm by shrapnel. There's a hiss, and then a shout. "Medic!" As if this isn't her niche. But if there's help around, that's always welcome. "Prepare, Spider Girl!" Anya will feel those injuries tingling, burning, as Thea swiftly heals them over enough to keep her from bleeding any more.

Then the brunette biokinetic starts working on the most severely hurt without delay. She will mutter what she hopes are comforting words, as she makes their bodies push the shrapnel out before healing it over. She has to focus on the people around her, but she knows Anya and Becca have her back.


Spider-Mans webs douse some but not all of the flames. Thank goodness these are Eucalypts and this isn't Australia in summer! Some webs also hit servo motors and the frogs dramatic flailing becomes more of a crawl. That allows Lydia the space to tear at the frogs most delicate region. She's coated with hydraulic oil and coolant as the frog stops dead ….

So quickly that Spider-Man might just find himself overbalanced.

Becca's use of gravity is a good one. She can hear the metal and creak as she brings it bear. The snow around the creature turns black as oil seeps out. The locust flounders and flails, going through its death throes before finally laying still …

Spider-Girls web goes *everywhere*. People splutter and whine as it gets in their face and their hair. However, it also catches enough of the scrapnel that it saves just those people. The kinetic force of the capture will cause Anya problems however.

Keiko holds on the staff for dear life, black scales covering her from head to toe and leathery bat-like wings sprouting on her back, trying to remove it from the dragons innards. It comes free, just in time, as Dylans large blade slices through the mechanical monstronsities neck …. Oil and fluid sprays over him, dulling the gleaming armour. When he looks, he's faced by a 'demon' covered in black scales, gleaming slitted yellow eyes and wings, wielding the staff that Keiko had not minutes ago.

Scandals strength is enough to tear the jaws of the lizard open, her blades rending the machinery till it just stops. It's not pretty, but it works and the lizard falls 'dead'.

Thea's actions save at least two people, removing the scrapnel and knitting wounds. She's got her work cut out though, there's a couple more to see to.

All around them are the now inert bodies of the mechanical creatures. A sound comes from the frog, it's laughing. "Have a GREAT NEW YEAR. Maybe we'll meet each other again." The dulcet tones of Auld Lang Syne play as the voice fades away.


Peter Parker luckily does overbalanced with far greater skill than many other things. He tumbles for a moment but throws out a hand, gripping at the hide of the thing and flinging himself end over end to land next to Lydia as she finishes her rather vigorous ripping and tearing at the thing.

And then the laughter and the Auld Lang Syne come through.

"Oh god, it's Ryan Seacrest, he's behind it all," he says, "Damn you!" he says, shaking his fist.


Lydia acks, as hydrolic fluid gets all over her. Fortunately her armor acts as a barrier so all she has to do is just drop it in order to slough off the stuff. Then the frog is laughing. "What. The. Heck." she says, looking over at Spider-Man to see if he has any ideas. "Ryan Seacrest. Great. That's not helpful at all. Other than him, and guesses as to who this might be?"


Spider-Girl lands unimpressively; sprawled out on her hands and legs, having focused more on her web blast than sticking a good landing. However, she scrawls quickly to her feet, the familiar burn of Thea's healing power a welcome sensation.

"Sorry!" she calls to those sputtering and yanking at webbing. "I'm sorry! Lo siento!" She starts checking on survivors who are caught in her webs, grimacing as she goes. "It's okay," she tells one person. "It'll come off, it just… it just takes a while."

Between her apologies and checking on people, she casts a look around at the others, observing them one at a time. Spider-Man will get an upnod and a snort at his pun; her mask will linger on Rebecca for a longer moment than the others.

"Hey Medic," she calls to Thea. "How sharp is that knife of yours?"

Maybe she can cut some of her poor victims free.


Becca keeps the crushing force going on the locust for as long as she's able, and finds herself thankful that the bot expires before she's forced to release it. The laughter and the music catch her by surprise, as her eyes scan over the crowd and the wreckage. She sees Thea, to her relief. But… where's Anya?

Panic welling, she starts searching the now-badly-disarrayed vendor's tent where she last saw her friend, just as this was all breaking loose.


Thea has managed to ignore the clockwork innards of the creatures. No trauma associated with any of that, nope nope nope. She hears Anya's call, a glance over before she half smiles. A hand reaches into her boot again, that closed blade is tossed over to her without a second thought. "It's plenty sharp enough." Teeth are bared in a not quite grin. She moves on to the next person she needs to help.


Dylan steps back from the spurting, the oil dripping off of him and refusing to stick to his armor once he moves away. The golden surcoat with the red, rampant lion remains free of stain. As the drgaon falls, he sees the 'demon' and points his sword at her. The staff he recognizes, the wielder giving off the same feel as previously though stronger. "Friend or foe and be warned, I can detect falsehood."


Scandal - dripping with an aromatic mix of hydraulic fluid and oil, and still smouldering from her back - shakes some of the worst of the mess of her blades, before flicking them out of sight. Forcing her anger down unfortunately helps to bring the pain to the fore… and she moves only a couple of paces out into the snow, sinking to her hands and knees as she drags chill air into her lungs and attempts to assess how many major organs are going to be repairing damage. Still, she remembers to check on the woman and child whom she sought to protect, turning her head to search for them and check that her rare foray into heroism actually paid off. She did rather forget about them as soon as the acid hit, after all.


"Mama, mama…." Elena comes scurrying up to demon-Keiko as Dylan lowers his swords. The child stops a respectful distance from the woman, turns and puts herself between the sword and Keiko. "It is Mama … " The yellow eyed creature glares at Dylan, growling lowly as Elena interposes herself, a clawed hand reaches forward, to snag the girl and shove her behind. "It told you to hide, Elena."

Dylan will recognise the voice, if not the woman. "Not a foe." comes the answer as the scales slowly fade, leaving the small peruvian in the SHIELD jacket standing there. "Agent Keiko Kurita, WAND. Who is hurt?" that's loud enough for the others to hear though her eyes, still slitted but slowly turning brown again, don't leave Dylan. "The sword was sharp." She doesn't say 'good job' or 'thank you'. It's not her way.

In the distance, sirens sound. Fire brigade at the least. "If you are finished with the sword, I need to see to the others and work out who did this." beat "Who's Ryan Seacrest?"


Spider-Girl catches Thea's knife by its hilt, a wicked grin on her face. "Gracias, Seniorita," she quips, and gets to work on cutting the first of her accidental prisoners free.

Becca will soon find Anya's discarded NIN shirt and her signature backpack, covered in an array of pop culture patches, but no sign of Anya herself. "Stay put," she says to a young man who's found himself bound to a tree by purple webbing, and rushes over toward Becca. "She ran off," Spider-Girl tells Becca, confidently. Her head glances left and right, before she leans in closer to Becca, whispering something to her.

"HR called. They'd like for you to look after the girl's belongings."

Spider-Girl smiles at Becca and pats her on the shoulder twice, before moving back to the young man she'd left webbed to a tree. "Still there, huh?" she asks him, and crouches down with knife in hand.

"This is so cool," the fellow says, oogling Spider-Girl as she prepares to cut him loose.

"Keep your pants on, kid," the masked woman quips with a grin, "or I'll ignore your safe word."

The young man gulps.


Peter Parker answers the Seacrest question first, "One of history's greatest monsters," he says. Then he sees the badge and kind of slowly backs away, "Hey, SHIELD, awesome, you guys are a-okay in my book, just your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man here. I'm on the good list. The official good list. I'm sure you know how to consult it," he says.

He puts a hand on Lydia's shoulder, "You okay? I see my friend over there, but if you're feeling nauseous or have any like…electric shock or residual mecha frog guts damage, I'm pretty sure there's some people over there who could help," he says.


Giving Keiko a salute with his sword, it reverts back to a longsword as Dylan sheathes it. Both sheaths and his armor fade away a moment later. "The sword is very sharp." he agrees. "Dylan Grey, MI13, WAND. Just who is responsible for this does seem to be the question to be answered. It is not Ryan Seacrest."


Becca's panic had turned to confusion as she found Anya's discarded things. But then as Spider-Girl comes to her, and at the 'HR' line, those blue eyes again go wide with shock. "I… I'll do that," she replies, as she's processing the sudden knowledge that her friend is the costumed heroine.


Lydia gives Spider-Man a wan smile. "I'm fine. I've been through worse." She looks between him and the SHIELD agent and just shakes her head. "Seriously. I'll be okay. Get out of here if you need to. I'll help put out the fires." She turns from him and makes gigantic ectoplasmic hands that scoop up snow and starts dousing the more serious fires with it before they can get out of control and do more damage than they already have.


Thea looks up, seeing the woman she doesn't know in a jacket she does. "Harman. SHIELD." She will call out, before there's a grin over at Peter. She will finish up with her last shrapnel victim, rising to her feet and brushing at her pants and boots.

"Anyone else hurt and need fixing?" She'll call out, feeling her hands still tingling.


"WAND? New to the group?" Keiko asks as she wanders through the debris. "Want to call this in and get some of our people down here? It doesn't look magical, so SHIELD will do." Elena follows her mother, a quiet shadow - not touching or reaching for the woman. Keiko glances behind and holds a hand out "You did well, Elena." Rare praise from the serious woman.

Now the demon spirit has receded there's only the faintest of sense of the supernatural about her - but it's there.

"I know who you are, Spider-Man. If you need to go, go. We'll take it from here. Same for your Spider-Girl and you …?" That's to Scandal, Becca and Lydia.

With a look back to Dylan, "Do you know Agent Harmen? She's from SHIELD as well."

All that's left is the clean up and no one will notice if any of the bits of the mechanical monstrosities go missing.


"Well, I don't -need- to go, I don't have any appointments or anything. I have a totally free schedule, actually. My spin class doesn't meet until eight. But, I do imagine there's a chance that some sort of terrible, non-frog based crime is happening in the city and I should probably attend to it," he says.

He uses the finger controls in the Spider-comm to communicate with Anya, mostly just to drop the words YOU GOOD? in caps across her heads-up display before he fires off a web with the full intention of swinging away.


"I do not. Agent Harmen." Dylan greets, giving her a slight bow from the neck. "Taliesin, send a report to SHIELD please. Central Park attacked by large mechanical creatures. Threat has been terminated. Send a clean up crew." A faintly artificial sounding voice with a Welsh accent replies "Sent."


Spider-Girl's face is still bloody, but the wounds have not only stopped bleeding, they're healed and will not scar. The same can be said for places where her costume was slashed open. Boy, that's breezy!

Becca gets a thumbs up, before she finally frees the young man.

"Go ahead, Instagram it," she tells him with a grin. "I won't stop ya."

Dusting her hands, she moves to join up with some of the others. "Eh, I'll scoot if any of the cops get salty," she tells Keiko, before looking around at some of the others. "Ten bucks says these things hit Times Square when the ball drops."

A brief grin shows, and her right hand taps a message in response to Spidey.

All good. Give Auntie my (heart emoji)


Scandal is on all fours in the snow, teeth grinding as her back reknits itself and the assorted giant lizard-tooth punctures close up. Regeneration is a wondrous thing… but hers is a great deal slower than that of some more famous types, and comes without any form of anaesthetic. Still, she doesn't seek to put herself forward for any other form of healing, instead doing her best to take note of the array of SHIELD and WAND identifications being provided. As well as the Spideys. One hand comes off the ground to dip into the (comparatively intact) front of her coat, coming up with her own official wallet-and-badge, just in case anyone challenges the Thunderbolt to prove that she's a licensed maniac-with-blades.


Thea will brush her hands together, eyes darting from person to person, not seeing anyone with 'normal' vision. She will nod to Dylan. "Pleasure to meet you." Then her eyes dart from Peter to Anya, then to Becca. "You guys should probably get out of here anyhow. Never know what or who shows up for this"

She will offer a quick smile to Anya and Becca. "Meet you at the usual?" She will remain, helping clean up - including the pop-up Vendor and his wares. Anya will get her unitard, and Becca will get a vintage jean jacket. Because she can.


Having gathered up Anya's things, Becca nods to Thea, saying, "Think I'd rather not be answerin' any awkward questions. Sorry for the mess, y'all." And she turns to go, one gravity-shielded foot giving the inert locust-bot a solid kick as she passes by it.


Lydia gives Spider-Man a thumbs up, and manages to get a few of the worst fires under control. "Lydia," she says, introducing herself to Keiko. "Just… Lydia. Don't let the green fool you. I'm not a superhero or anything. Just an English major taking a break in Central Park." Still. She doesn't make a move to depart the scene of the crime, instead hanging back and offering to help out where she can. Sure she's not a superhero, but she just can't sit idly by when she has the capacity to help out.


It's not long before the fire brigade arrives, the trees mostly doused from Lydia's efforts. Not long after that, other first responders turn up and then SHIELD vans to collect the debris.

Keiko offers Scandal a hand up, the girl still by her side. For all that's gone on, the child seems calm - like this is just another day for her.

"You all did good work." the peruvian says to those departing. For the rest of them, the work is barely begun. "Welcome to New York, Agent Grey."


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