Summary:A failed bank heist, a possessed mercenary, and a super spider collide. Log Info:Storyteller: None |
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The score almost went off without a hitch. They got into the vault, they ransacked the place, and they got back out to their awaiting van. An alarm was tripped, the shrill siren made that much perfectly obvious, but it didn't slow them down. They had been planning this hit for a while and the adrenaline only served to push them faster, filling their bags full of cash and personal effects from deposit boxes.
The temperature is a fairly mild 48 degrees fahrenheit. No snow, no ice, no rain. Clouds in the sky help to mask the moonlight, keeping the city dark. Perfect for a dark getaway vehicle to vanish into the urban maze. They're out on the road and quick to build up speed. Everything seems perfect..until the driver takes a turn a -little- too quickly and leaves a sizeable dent in the passenger door of a newer model Chevy Camaro.
Most drivers wouldn't have been able to see much. Unfortunately for these crooks the Camaro's driver happens to see -quite- well in the dark. The black knit hood is recognized for what it is. These boys are hot on a heist.
There's money to be made…
Also they HIT HER CAR.
Quickly following behind the van is the throaty roar of a modern V8 cutting loose, tires howling in the shadowy streets as the black coupe swerves around and takes off like a shot after the robbers.
Shit's about to get real in Staten Island.
*
Standing on the corner of tall rooftop is the Spider-Woman, looking down on the city streets below. She's not really doing anything just now, aside from polishing off a corndog she's holding in one hand, and a bottle of coke in the other. All in all it's been a slow night. She's even had one half of a pair of earbuds lodged in her ear for a while, listening to a lecture on tape about chemical reactions involving ketones, alcohols, and organic acids, and so on. Super interesting stuff. (Like, seriously, it's what she's doing her degree in, it's fascinating.)
The sound of a car accident, followed by squealing tires and the roar of engines piques her attention, however. She stuffs the last of the corndog in her mouth, and tosses the stick at a dumpster in the alley below. (Two points.) Her earbud gets yanked out and her phone stashed away safely. "Sounds like action," she muses to the crowd of exactly nobody standing around her, before she jumps off the building, firing a webline as she picks up speed, so it can carry her through an alley and into the next street over. By the time she's coming into view of a dark colored van and a badly dented Camaro, she's moving at a fair clip, coming around the corner and preserving her momentum in the turn so that, for the moment at least, she's actually catching up — and finishing her coke while she's at it. "You interupted my break!" she shouts, not that anyone can hear her yet, but she's shouting anyway. "Pull over before I gotta do something… I dunno, drastic!"
*
Unfortunately for Gwen, words don't easily carry over the cacophony of an inner city car chase! It doesn't take long for the sportier car to catch up with the lumbering van then the two are going all Ben-Hur on each other. The van has the weight advantage and swats the Chevy hard enough that it swerves and spins out but quickly corrects itself and resumes the chase. Someone's logged a few hours in Gran Turismo!
They may have also logged some hours in Call of Duty or something because as the Chevy catches back up there's the unmistakable crack of gunfire from within the car. The window's rolled down and the motorist is going properly postal on the van! The immediate response has the larger lead vehicle swerving, brushing up against parked cars to the tune of crushed metal and shattered glass while patches of paint simply vanish into bare metal from the incoming fire.
Maybe the van's just trying to get away..? Both vehicles are black and have that 'up to no good' vibe going on but only one of them is currently -shooting- at the other.
*
Gwen can't quite keep up with vehicles that are going absolutely flat out, but not being bound to the road has its advantages. Where the road curves she takes a shortcut, swinging through a back alley to save a little distance — and a little time. As she rounds the corner she flings her mostly-empty pop bottle at the back of the van, followed by a blob of webbing to stick it there. Why? Mostly so she can identify the van later. She clicks her tongue into her Spider-Comms to take a picture of the license plate, just for good measure, and then another of the Camaro.
A camaro which seems to have a very trigger-happy driver.
"Alright, that's enough of that!" the Spider-Woman shouts, though she's… falling behind again, dangit. Car chases are hard!
Fortunately, there are other cars on the road. She lands on top of a city busy that's swerving out of the way; she runs to the front of it and leaps, parkours her way along the side of a semi truck, uses a webline to pull herself onto the top of a sedan, and leaps off of it with a shouted "Sorry!"
And that, all other things being equal, should give her enough momentum and speed to land on top of the camaro.
Provided she timed it right.
Otherwise this is going to hurt.
*
One benefit of inner city chases is that it's almost impossible to build up -too- much speed. Narrow and congested roads, dangerous intersections, and on Staten not a ton of straight sections. Gwen can make up the difference though the other drivers in the area might not appreciate her efficacy so much.
Landing atop of the Camaro is going to tell her a couple of important details right up front.
There's one occupant, some lady with a lean face. A lean and WHITE face, she about looks like a disembodied ghost with everything else being so covered in black! There's even a black circle around her left eye, a bit big for it to have anything to do with Speak Like a Pirate Day.
Making eye contact reveals a few more tricks. The driver looks -properly freaking creepy- at night. When the ambient light bounces off of her eyes they gleam like orbs of liquid metal. Oh, aaand she has small fangs. Those are easier to spot when she's..apparently..hissing..back at Gwen. Sound doesn't travel through the windshield. It's probably for the best.
Gwen's Spidey Sense should be much easier for her to hear. There's an uncomfortably brief window between getting a look at the driver and being given the business end of a nine millimeter pistol to stare at!
*Blam-Blam-Blam!*
*
"Hi! I'm just a concerned citize-WOAH!!" Gwen leaps off the camaro, just in time for three bullets to go sizzling right through where her head was a moment earlier. She jumps right into traffic coming the opposite direction, requiring a fancy mid-air twist to avoid getting acquainted with the grille of an oncoming Jeep Grand Cherokee (a 2005 model, if anyone's checking), followed by a jump off the side of a grey sedan.
"NOT COOL!" she shouts, firing a blob of webbing rather… blindly, but aimed for the open window of the Camaro. Unfortunately, she's a bit busy right now for anything more specific. She avoids a motorcycle, springboards off the cab of a cement mixer, and at least gets herself back into the correct direction of traffic.
"What the heck's your problem, lady?" she shouts as she uses a webline to pull herself up onto the the van, landing with a hard 'Whumph!" on the back door. "Now how 'bout you pull over nice and easy, put the guns down, and I won't have to PUNCH YOUR AND YOUR CAR'S LIGHTS OUT?!"
*
Concerned citizen?! Yeah, Domino's not buying it. She's running after a couple of bank robbers and -she's- getting harassed for it? Yeahsuremaybe discharging firearms in the middle of a major city might be committing a felony or six but this is how she happens to solve her problems, okay?!
In a flash the spider lady thing is off of the car and gone ..somewhere else. Whatever. Really doesn't matter. It gives the albino a chance to work on a one-handed reload after smacking the Camaro into a higher gear and stepping on it. Little does she know that there's now a webline stuck to the outside of her door..and Gwen's about to get herself one HELL of a speed boost.
The van's gotten a bit of a lead but not for long. Soon it has to take a hard turn and shed a lot of its momentum if it doesn't want to careen into the front of a building. It's a crazy dangerous turn but it looks almost benign compared to what the modern muscle car pulls. Whether the hard drift is intentional or not it sure gets the job done, barely avoiding slamming into three other cars as it sweeps out into the open. Miraculously no paint is traded! Although one of the other cars does happen to clip a street light enough that it sparks and goes black before starting to fall…
Heads up, Gwen!
*
There is a lot going on here, and Gwen hasn't felt nearly this challenged in a fight for… Well, not sinse taking on a Werewolf some time previously. She scuttles up on top of the van, keeping on the opposite side of it from the crazy gun-lady, though she does lean over to launch another gob of webbing, aiming for… well, whatever part of the car she can get, really. "Come on, enough with the guns and the—"
She stops talking as her danger-sense practically sings (like the proverbial large opera singer) and just hangs on tight as the van careens around a corner.
And then there's a lamp post coming down, right at her.
That turns out to be okay, actually; she crouches, planting one hand on the roof of the van and reaching up with the other, to quite literally… catch the lamppost. She sticks her fingers to it after the bone-jarring impact, that sends pain shooting up her arm and all the way down her rib cage. But, hey, it would've crushed most other people, so that's a win, right?
"I'm gonna feel that in the morning," she gasps. "…And also right now."
Now crouched on top of a van and holding a lamppost, she does the only thing she can think of that's possibly logical: Use it as a club. She waits until the van is going more or less straight, then stands up, sticking to the van by her feet as she wings the thing around and down over the side, aiming for the hood of the Camaro.
*
Where'd that tricky lady run off to..? C'mon, quit hidi—SPLAT! Webbing -all over the windshield.- "The hell!"
The Camaro starts to back off as the driver now has to contend with kicking out the front glass so she can see where the heck she's going, giving Gwen enough time to catch the street light and sweep it around.
While removing the windshield Domino inadvertently tripped the cruise control and dials it quite high. While the muscle car screams down the road after the van its driver has just enough warning to see the pole coming around—
"Oh don't you fucking—"
*WHAM!*
The Chevy isn't making it out of this chase. Sparks shoot out from beneath the frame as it's slammed down into the pavement, the car immediately losing speed and shedding parts all over the road. It's also shedding its driver! Though in her case she's launched forward through the now empty windshield, flailing all the way toward colliding with the back of the van. It's a mad scramble as she JUST manages to catch onto the rear bumper and a door handle.
Behind them the Camaro's spun out and is doing a lovely roll down the street, it's all very dramatic. And now there's an armed albino clinging on for dear life.
"What the HELL was—WHOA!"
Another sudden turn causes her to slide across the back and pop the door handle, leaving the gunwoman to sweep out into empty space with VERY little to hang onto.
Oh hey, there's like five masked robbers inside of that van! And boy do THEY look surprised!
*
Deep down, that was satisfying. Not that she's going to admit it out loud, mind you. The Spider-Woman straightens, still holding the lamp post — which she has to admit is pretty unsafe, not to mention half her body hurts, so she waits for a moment until there's a decent opportunity and tosses it into a back alley, using a dumpster to cushion the sudden landing so it doesn't go flying through a wall. One dumpster down; ahh well. Sad days.
Now, she takes a moment to take stock of the situation. She can't see into the back of the van, but she knows the gun-lady is busy hanging off the back door — which has come open, so that ought to keep her busy for a minute or two. Right? Maybe? The van, however, seems to be up to no good, or at least it gives off that kind of vibe.
And seriously, you don't end up with someone in a Camaro shooting at you if you weren't at least somehow involved in… something. Right?
Boy, this is going to be embararssing if it turns out to be a police survaillance van or something.
Gwen crawls on all fours up to the front of the vehicle, and leans down over the windshield, right in front of where the driver probably needs to see. "Hello?" she inquires, with a rap-tappity-tap of her knuckles on the glass. "Is this a bad time? I was just wondering if you could pull over for a minute or two, just so I could ask you some questions. Won't take a minute! but it's a survey, see, we take of vehicle drivers who seem to be up to no good. Also it's mandatory."
*
Gwen may not have been able to see the people in the back of the van. That's cool. It would have been an awkward angle and a little different what with that one door swinging all over the place with a black and white lady on the back who is just FULL of language way more colorful than she is. However, crawling up front to peer through the windshield would give her a better idea of what the score is.
Literally. It's a bank score. The two guys up front have those black knit masks on. The passenger is even holding a damn crowbar. Who does that anymore?!
The two up front quickly turn and stare at each other before turning to stare back at Gwen looking like 'WTF are we supposed to do with her?' About the only saving grace is that these guys appear to be robbers first and foremost, none of them have drawn a gun of their own so far. Considering how well the job went they must not have anticipated having any need for weapons!
Herein lies a bit of a dilemma. Does Gwen deal with the active shooter who's hanging on by a mad wish, or does she deal with a bunch of passive bank robbers? Crime just isn't as simple as it used to be.
In the back one of the robbers is trying to reach for the open door but his grasp is falling short. He doesn't want to get tossed out!
Then there's the albino chick. Her situation is bad but it doesn't stop her from pointing her gun flat up against the door and -shooting right through it.- The round blitzes around the interior to the tune of several excited yelps then exits out of the passenger window, pinging off of the sideview mirror and twisting it at a peculiar angle. Oops?
As for the guys inside there's a lot of yelling between "Get that crazy bitch off the back!" to "Get this crazy bitch off the roof!" to "You said this wouldn't get ugly!" to "Would you just -shut up and drive?!-"
*
Oh, hey, bankrobbers. Gwen puts two and two together, and adds it up to… well, at least six. Maybe even six and a half. Well, one thing at a time, no matter how complicated things are "WOULD YOU PLEASE STOP SHOOTING!"
Gwen balls one hand up into a fist, and shakes her head. "Alright," she snaps, "Driving privilidges are hereby revoked." She punches her hand straight through the windshield, seizes hold of the steering wheel, and with a second showering of glass, yanks it right out of the vehicle before tossing it onto the sidewalk. Did she think this through? Probably not.
"Feel free to continue arguing, but hit the brakes," she suggests, before scurrying over to the back of the vehicle. While the robbers are hitting the brakes (well, hopefully they are, if they know what's good for them) she has to deal with the lady with the gun somehow. "Alright, hang on!" she shouts, as she jumps down on the side of the van, and… grabs hold of the loose, open door. Which she then tears right off its hinges, and flinds pulls some fancy web-work to attach it to a lamp-post by a webline as they cruise past; just a long enough webline that it (and its passenger, if Domino doesn't jump off) can burn off the momentum without hitting anything.
And then Gwen bails out, launching herself towards the wall of the nearest building, and skidding to a stop on the side of it. Seriously, that was getting ridiculous.
*
"And let them get away?!" the crazy dangling lady yells in response.
She's got enough problems back there for now. Soon enough so does everyone else in the van as the safety glass is punched through and the wheel is torn right off of the column.
"Oh my god!!"
"DO something about this psycho!"
"She took the damn wheel!"
"Watch where you're going!"
"Jeezus she's still shooting!"
"We can't turn!"
The threat of colliding with a parked car proves to be the last required piece of incentive for the escape driver to stand on the brakes, having to grab hold of the dashboard because there -isn't a wheel to hang onto.-
How do you shed speed without a sudden jolt at the end? Centripetal force is a good start. There may have been warning to hang on but the question left unanswered is 'hang on for -what?-'
Domino gets her answer when the van suddenly speeds off without her. OR the door. The two begin a rapid orbit around another street light which starts bringing them closer and closer until the two hit with a *Klung!* The albino is launched clear to slam ass-first into the back window of another stationary vehicle.
She'll be fine.
With the van rocking to a halt everyone's bailing out at the same time. The front passenger goes down first when the damaged mirror falls off of the door and lands right where he's about to step. With a quick scraping sound he's flung back against the van, knocking himself out on the doorframe before ragdolling to the street. One down, four to go!
*
Gwen's arm hurts. So does her whole side, really. But hey, give it a day or two, she'll be alright. She watches as one of the bank robbers hops out of the vehicle and promptly slips, knocking himself out. Well, okay then.
"Hey, boys, boys," she calls out, firing a large glob of webbing at one of them to stick his feet to the asphalt. "Look, we can do this the easy way, or the hard way, but one way or another you're sticking around for the police, alright?" She fires a couple more blobs, but somehow… misses. What? Really?
"Look, I'm on a schedule and I've got an exam tomorrow, so I'd really dig it if you could all just give up now, because I—" As she's climbing along the wall, suddenly it all just… changes. Was that a loose brick? No, that was actually two loose bricks in the facade, at the same time, and somehow Gwen managed not only to pick both of them to stick to, but her Danger Sense didn't warn her about it either. And so, mid sentence, she finds herself plummeting two stories to land face-first on the sidewalk.
Ow.
After a pause to gather her wits, the Spider-Woman pulls herself back up to a kneel, and then to her feet. "Okay, but really," she gasps. "Usually that doesn't happen. Could you all pretend you didn't see that? Please?"
*
That missed robber? It turns out that he's carrying one of the bags of stolen loot. Something which Domino had her own eyes set on taking. He'll run off somewhere, sure, but with his buddies left behind and no transportation he's not going to get far. He'll be easy to hunt down later.
There's much bigger game to deal with in the meantime.
With a groan the albino lady peels herself away from the car and rolls out onto the street, taking a moment to pick herself up. When she does, Gwen falls. A faint smirk briefly passes across black-stained lips, gingerly rolling her head from side to side while closing the distance between the two.
"Oh I saw it," she calls back in a perfectly conversational tone. "Just like I saw you getting in the middle of my business."
This Spider ripped the door off of a moving van. Hand to hand engagement is not advised. Fortunately for the pale lady she happens to have a nine millimeter solution to this little pink and white dilemma.
Unfortunately for Gwen, Dom has also been denied her kills. This can be corrected.
The pistol is brought up in both hands and leveled at the oddly clumsy Spider. Dom's made tougher shots in her sleep.
*
"Lady, you were shooting at people," Gwen protests, "What's an honest spider s'posed to—"
Gwen might've said more, but she hardly needs precognition to know that she's in trouble here. Of course, her danger sense is going off anyway, practically screaming in the middle of her brain: Scary lady with a gun is going to shoot you, Gwen, do something about it like right now.
Without bothering to finish her sentence, Gwen takes a leap to the side, astonishingly at odds with previous clumsiness. A webline goes out and she pulls, yanking hard on what's left of the van, to pull it across the sidewalk and between her and Domino. Is she fast enough? Bullets are fast. Gwen knows, she's suddenly sweating bullets.
*
Alright, sticking a thread to a wrecked van and yanking it around like it's a shopping cart is kind of impressive… That could have been Domino getting thrown into a building. Mighta liquefied her. But this stage has been set and for one reason another the crazy albino chick doesn't seem intent on letting it go.
The van slides into position right as the first shot is taken, deflected enough to -just- miss striking Gwen but still punching clean through both sides of the wrecked auto before smacking into a building.
What is Dom even doing..? This seems like a stupid reason to be going Postal on one of the local powers. Just a misunderstanding maybe? Why not—
The bottom of her pistol slams up against the side of the van as a low growl escapes from the depths of her throat. Pupils dilate further, the silvery glint now fully on display. This decision is no longer Neena's to make. Something else has been provoked and it's not feeling quite so forgiving.
The Arachnid's quick. If Domino can't land a hit then she needs to keep this spider on the defensive. When she comes out of hiding it's full-tilt and guns blazing. She may not have weblines or free hands to work with but there's still plenty of options left open to her.
*
Gwen flinches as she hears a bullet zing right by her head after passing clean through the van. She crouches for a moment, waiting for more, but then there aren't more… or at least not yet there aren't. "Can we talk about this?!" she loudly inquires. "Are you mad at me? I feel like you're mad at me. How about I buy you a coffee and we talk this through?"
Well, buying a coffee might be on the table, but Gwen's not waiting for an answer. Since the van is still handy, she puts both hands on the thrashed vehicle, and gives it a hard shove, pushing it over onto its side and sending it sliding across the pavement towards Domino. With that done, she dives down the nearest alleyway, and starts scurrying up the wall around the corner. "You're gonna run out of ammo eventually," she adds, "And I won't be as nice then! You won't like it when I bend your guns in half!!"
That's it, Gwen, carrot and the stick approach. Or… the coffee and bent firearm approach? Not like you haven't wrecked her car already, surely you couldn't possibly make her any more mad than she already is. She keeps going up to the third floor, and there chances peeking around the corner, to see if the angry gun lady is still there or if she got knocked over by the van or something.
*
Knocked over by a van? Gwen couldn't be so lucky. A jump and kick off of the wreckage has the albino rolling across the street while bullets ricochet like mad across the alley after Gwen. One manages to shatter a window right beside Gwen's shoulder as if serving as a reminder that she's going to want more distance! She might catch some of the broken glass on her way past, too.
The Spider may be hiding but Neena's not so easily put off. Ammo is limited but she's not out yet, quickly reloading the pair of sidearms while storming toward the alley.
When the gunfire returns it's in earnest. It also might seem a little strange to Gwen because the pale lady clearly can't -see- Gwen, so..what is she shooting at?
The corner of the building. Chipping away at the brick and mortar. If Gwen's danger sense is going to kick in again now would be the time. The damage from those shots triggers a structural flaw within the building which causes a large chunk of the corner to split and fall into the alley. The same chunk which Gwen had been using for cover.
With a pair of -handguns- the albino took a chunk -out of a building.- What the actual hell!
She's also waiting. If Gwen jumps forward she's going to be met with a hail of live fire, no questions asked nor hesitation exercised. Domino's trying to flush her out so she can squash that jumpy little Spider.
*
The black and white spider certainly does catch the shower of glass, but fortunately her suit is made well enough to stop that sort of thing. Bullets, not so much, but flying shards of glass aren't really a problem. "Is this really necessary?!" she shouts, ducking back after only a very quick peek, given that there's an absolute wall of lead coming her way. "Where's an Avenger when you need one?!" she mutters to herself.
Well, given that there's no Avengers here, better deal with it yourself, Gwen. She leans around the corner, about to fire some webbing at the gunlady, when there's just… bullets. So many bullets. Bullets everywhere. The spider shrieks and pulls back again, flattening herself against the wall for cover; cover, that… promptly starts falling off the wall.
"What the—?!" Gwen jumps off the collapsing section of wall, and for a moment is airborne, falling backwards; but the great thing about being a spider, really, is the webbing. She holds out one hand and attaches herself to a part of the wall that's not collapsing, and with a snap of her wrist pulls herself in — straight for a window, which she hits feet-first for a graceful break and entry. Laws broken today, in the name of justice and public safety? Uhm… we're not talking about that.
Inside, Gwen crouches down with her back to the wall, taking a moment to check her Spider-Comms. Anyone else nearby? No? No Avengers, no Spiders, just her.
"Time out!" she yells out the window. "I'm calling Time Out. It's an honorable tradition, where we all take two minutes to think things through."
*
Maybe it didn't flush the spider out..but it did back her into a corner. As Gwen bursts through a window to seek cover inside Domino's tucking her guns away and sprinting, bouncing off of the scenery and scrambling up the walls until she's reached one of the -other- windows. The one which already had a busted out window, as it turns out! Gwen might get the feeling that danger is coming after her but there isn't a lot of noise to support the idea.
Not until another shot slams out from -inside- of the apartment.
Then the power goes out. No lights. The hunt is on.
It's luck and abyssal nightvision versus spider-sense and superhuman strength. Wind tugs at the curtains and flutters some loose pages around. Sirens can be heard somewhere way off in the city, gridlocked in traffic somewhere. Otherwise it's become ..eerily calm. There's totally not a demonically possessed mercenary with a couple of spiked machine pistols lurking around one of these corners!
That hiss is probably just the wind. There are lots of weird noises in urban life. Plays tricks on the ears, they do.
*
Well, the gunlady didn't respond to Gwen's call for a Time Out, but the fact that her danger-sense is still gnawing its fingernails in the back of her brain really tells her everything she needs to know. Fortunately, the building is an office building, so there shouldn't be any people in here — except maybe for a janitor, but we can hope — so aside from a bunch of computers with proprietary information, there's nothing here to get too upset about damaging. Right? Hopefully.
Gwen stands up, and makes a gentle hop, just enough to get her up on the ceiling. She crouches there, scanning the room by what little light comes in from outside. There's a door; she fires a glob of webbing at it, to stick it to the doorjam. And again with another door. "That oughta hold her for about eight seconds," she mutters.
That done, she turns, and jumps towards the broken window, straghtening herself out to pass through the broken opening without knocking loose any more glass; a soft 'thwip' is the only sound she makes before landing back on the wall, and scurrying over to the window that Domino entered by. She crouches above it, and leans down to have a quick peek. Just a little peek.
*
Domino's target is a strange one. She can jump, stick to seemingly any surface, fling webbing around and also happens to be incredibly strong. Rushing in after her is a great way to get pounced and stuck to the floor, or punched through the wall, or…
Wait. Wait and be patient. She'll rig the fight, try to keep the gunner occupied while retreating to the direction those guns -aren't- being pointed. It's a good plan. It should have worked, too.
Unfortunately for Gwen..it does not.
Two silvery orbs float in the darkness staring right up at the Spider as she takes her peek. Somewhere between the Spider and those orbs happens to be a pistol, the vented muzzle end leveled directly at Gwen's head with very little room to spare. It's like the albino had been waiting there in that exact position waiting for the Spider to double back on her! To make absolutely certain that Gwen knows what she's literally sticking her head into there's a low, menacing growl which has no place coming out of a person, white skin or otherwise!
*
Ah yes.
Well.
Gwen doesn't stick around for long; she jerks back, rapidly given how high-pitched her danger sense was singing. Screaming, really. For her trouble, trying to take a little peek, she gets a pair of nine milimeter holes in her hood; a fact which she confirms by reaching up (well, down) over her head to poke at the intensely stylish part of her spider costume.
"Not cool!" she shouts, as she retreats up a floor. All this begs the question; how do you get close enough to someone to punch them, when they seem to have the best aim ever and no shortage of ammunition? Well… you don't. Do you? Gwen settles for sticking where she is for the moment. To give herself a little extra time to think, she casually webs the lid of a dumpster in the alley bellow, wrenches it off (destruction of public property… still not counting…) and uses a little webbing to attach it to the wall, covering the window Domino just shot out of.
Which might be a great plan, if she knew the layout of the building inside. …Which she doesn't.
*
The dumpster lid's a good idea, no sooner does it come up over the window there's a pair of bulges which magically appear in the surface with a comically loud *THUNG!* The van may not have stopped bullets but the lid's doing the trick!
The muffled sound which follows is even less human than before. Heavy blows impact against the steel panel, soon followed by the shrieking of metal against metal. The albino/creature may have been patient before but having been -this close- to a victory only to be shut out and denied seems to have her a little pissed!
Seconds pass then the sounds cease. She seems to know when the pursuit is more trouble than its worth… Gwen's danger sense should die down now that she's no longer 'on the menu' but there's still some crazy well armed chick rushing through the office, heading for the other side. Just listen for the breaking of glass.
Where could she be going now..? What's the play? Is she giving up?
*
Gwen is not giving up. Dad didn't raise her to be a quitter, afterall.
Question is, what's the gunfighter up to now? The dumpster lid held, but what's next? She takes a moment to peel the lid back off, and toss it back down onto the dumpster. (Because, that'll definitely make a difference to the devestation that's been visited upon this corner of New York; smashed cars are still smashed, broken buildings are still broken… man this is embarassing.)
The Spider-Woman has a little peek in through the window once again, but with her danger-sense no longer clawing at the inside of her brain, it seems pretty safe; for the moment… right? Maybe? The inside of the building is definitely Domino's hunting ground, and she's proved that amply, so really there's only one thing to do.
Gwen scrabbles her way up the building as rapidly as she can, jumping over the edge to claim the roof and run to the other side. She hops up onto the edge there, and leans forward just enough to look over the edge, to see if that's where Domino is popping back out. Maybe?
*
Broken glass on the sidewalk and street. She definitely exited from this side of the building. In a hurry, too. There is a danger still out there but it isn't gunning for Gwen.
The bank robbers which had been previously stopped are still there and still alive from the looks of things.
There was that one guy that got away, though… What happened to—
"Ohoh godOH GAAA—!"
The abruptly silenced cry lingers a little longer as ghostly echoes vanish into the depths of the city, replaced with the cold evening wind and the rapidly approaching sirens.
If Gwen searches for the fallen man she'll find that the bag full of money had been left behind! Though the robber had met a pretty gruesome end… Like some kind of wildcat had tore out his throat.
*
Go looking, Gwen does; and she finds… something she immediately wishes she hadn't found, and has to resist the urge to lose her dinner into the front of her mask.
"That was pretty unnecessary," she mutters, after suppressing another *hrrk*. Wasn't worse than anything Morlun did, she reminds herself. That was still worse. Still, this man didn't deserve, y'know, death. At least, she's pretty positive he didn't.
For now, the spider retreats. Approaching sirens, a devestated crime scene, and a spider with no perpetrator on hand really don't mix, afterall. She keeps to the rooftops and legs it, running and jumping from one rooftop to the next (or to a wall, when buildings just aren't cooperative enough to be the same size).
And now she's gotta go looking for someone she'd really rather not encounter a second time. Hpe you studied for that exam earlier, Gwen; it's gonna be a long night.
*