Summary:Spider-Man and Gwen stakeout a bar until a brawl breaks out. Log Info:Storyteller: None |
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Peter Parker perches atop a somewhat steepled rooftop, the kind of gothic structure he usually avoids for fear of being mistaken for a gargoyle. Good disguise, but when you start moving, people start screaming and it's a whole thing. Still, it was convenient for the moment. In part, because it was right across the street from Mullet's, a rather shady bar where a rather shady person that Peter had been following in shadow had currently parked themselves for somewhat nefarious purposes as yet unknown.
Plus, the roof had little alcoves on which he could set his drink while he ate the pastrami sandwich he had tucked away.
"C'mon, bad guys, give me, like, ten minutes to eat and digest. I don't ask for much."
A certain Gwen Stacy is in the area too; either by happenstance, or some sort of secret spider plan — and hey, the Spider Comms are wonderful that way. Either way, a webline carries her around a corner in the streets, and she releases near the apex on the upswing to sail across the street and land on the side of a building, just below where a gargoyle might be. She takes a moment to adjust her hood, and climbs up the rest of the way.
"That is never going to get old," she comments, as she comes into Peter's field of view. She slinks into an adjacent alcove, and pulls a bottle of water out of her backpack for a quick drink.
"What's up tonight, then?" she inquires, leaning forwards enough to look over at where Peter's sitting. "Stake-out? Or just a stop for snacks?"
Peter Parker knew she was approaching, since the comm told him so, which is good, because he would normally be quite startled by people approaching him on rooftops. Yes, it was New York and there were lots of heroes, but it still presumed a certain degree of privacy.
"Hey! Oh, uh, do I have to choose? Little bit of both, if I'm honest."
He points at the bar across the street, "Guy who went in there named 'Sticky' Jack Halston. Just a petty thief kinda guy, I busted him once before," He says, doing his best 'cop on Law & Order' voice. "Anyway, I saw him looking kinda shifty and talking on a cellphone that he threw away. So I figure he's up to something. So I'm following him. Until something better comes along, anyway."
Gwen has another swig of the water, before she tucks it away and swaps it for a sandwich of her own — turkey, in her case, with lots of veggies that crunch when she bites into it. She looks down at the bar, and hunhs softly.
"looking shifty, hunh?" She leans back, arranging herself so she's comfortable but can still see the front door. "Talking on a cellphone and then chucking it is usually… not something that regular people do. Must mean it was a burner phone, so the question is, why'd he have one and who was he talking to?"
Gwen takes another chomp out of her sandwich, and hmms softly while she eats it. "So maybe he got himself into a 'Sticky' situation?" …Yeah. Gwen had to say it, and the smirk on her lips is evident in her voice. "Say. Does the place have a back entrance I need to go watch, since you're out front here?"
Peter Parker shakes his head, "Used to be, but there was an 'incident' and it got nailed shut. Technically in violation of codes, but I figure enforcing obscure civil laws isn't exactly superhero material,' he shrugs.
"And I don't mind the company. It might get boring. I have no idea how long he's going to be in there. Or in what state he'll come out," he says.
"I did retrieve the phone so I can try and go through it later, I just haven't had time yet."
"He might not come out," Gwen points out. "You never know. Maybe they're murdering him in there, and he's going to come out a piece at a time in gym bags so they can dispose of the body. I saw it in a movie once, can't remember which one." Gwen happily munches on her sandwich while she talks, and mmmms. "This is good. …I hope that's not what's happening to him though, I'd rather just web him up and leave him for the cops.
The blond spider ohs, "While we're swapping stories, keep an eye out for a… black and white lady? Like, she's white, with black hair and a big black circle around one eye. She's like a murder oreo cookie or something, she's really good with pistols and my danger sense didn't help as much as it should." She pauses. "Also, I have two bullet holes in my hood I need to fix."
Peter Parker winces under his mask, "Murder Oreo? Sheesh, I'm like terrified and excited at the same time. Maybe we need to dip her in milk? Sorry you almost got perforated, that sounds, uh, a bit scary," he says.
"I hope he's not being murdered. He's a scumbag, but he's not that bad, I feel like being chopped into bit is probably worse than any crime he's committed. But I could be wrong. No, I'm not, nobody deserves that," he sighs. "Maybe if we see him come out we can dangle him from a rooftop and question him or something, find out what he's up to. You can be bad cop."
Gwen laughs, "Tell me what I want to know," she growls, doing her best bad-cop voice, "Or we drop you on your head. From twenty stories up. It'll hurt, I promise, but not for long." She bursts out laughing afterwards, "I dunno if I can do bad-cop for long, but I'll try." She polishes off the first half of her sandwich, before pulling out the second.
"You'll know her if you see her, just… be careful around her, yeah? She's not like a regular person with a gun, she's fat, focused, has really great aim, and doesn't seem to be easily reasoned with. And she's smart." She scratches the back of her head, and quirks one corner of her lips up under the mask. "Yeah, I'm glad I didn't get perforated as well, that was a scary moment. Would've been tough to explain to my Dad, too."
Peter Parker chuckles, 'You can do it better than me. With my luck, my voice would break halfway through and I'd come off like a Powerpuff Girl trying to be a badass," he shrugs. "I'm good at many things, but scary is not one of them. Which is kind of a cheat. I'm Spider-Man. Spiders are scary!"
"Ugh, I hate it when the bad guys are smart. Dumb villains are the best. You always win the quip battles and you can trick them into knocking themselve out and they'll never, ever figure out your secret identity or have a secret agenda. Bless 'em.>
"Yeah, let's..just avoid getting shot in general. Make it a rule."
"Just say 'no' to accute lead poisoning," Gwen agrees. "Also, I may have wrecked this lady's car, so I think she has it out for me. I'm keeping an eye out for her, too, I have no doubt we'll meet again, and I'll be a lot more focused on her this time — last time there were bank robbers in the mix."
After another few bites of sandwich disappear, Gwen chuckles. "Yeah, you don't sound overly scary when your voice breaks. Sorry." She giggles, "I dunno, I mean part of my costume is pink? Can I still be scary?" She shrugs. "I'm not sure it matters though, he'll probably be pretty scared if we dangle him over the edge of a building."
She glances down, watching someone walk out the front door of the place. "Is that him?"
Peter Parker considers, "Judging from some of the stuff I've seen on twitter, there are lots of guys out there terrified of anything pink or even a little bit girly. Gives us nerds a bad name," he says.
At her question, Spidey pulls his mask down over his mouth again and sets aside his sandwich, taking a look, "Yes, yes, it is. And he's not alone," he says.
Sticky seems to be in a bit of trouble, as a group of rather large men are surrounding him in a threatening fashion. One of them pushes him down on the ground as he holds up his hands to beg off.
"Aw, crap, we're gonna have to save him."
"Yep, looks that way." Gwen bungs the last three bites worth of sandwich into her mouth all at once; she tugs on the straps of her backpack a little to tighten them, before she stands up from where she was lounging moments earlier. "I guess we'd better get down there before anyone draws a gun," she adds. She takes a couple of steps back, then leaps forwards and jumps, twisting in the air to dive head first with her back to the building, so she can watch what's happening to 'Sticky' while she's falling.
"What do you reckon? Bikers? Should we talk or just hit 'em?"
Peter Parker switches to the comms, "Give 'em a chance to scatter, at least. I mean, they won't, but you never know," he says.
He somersaults forward and then backflips off the roof himself, flicking out a webline to catch a lightpole and finally landing atop a parked truck with enough noise to attract the attention of the angry mob of leather and tattoo and mustache.
"Guys, I get it, the food here is probably sub-par, but you should definitely just leave a really mean Yelp review and not beat this guy to a pulp about it. The diarrhea will pass in time, I promise. Maybe not for you, big guy. But everybody else, absolutely."
Gwen flicks out her own webline, using it to carry herself over the street and onto the side of the buiding right above the bar. She flattens herself against the wall and looks down, watching what's going on. She's low enough that she could drop down from where she is without hurting herself, and get down rapidly, but is staying out of the immediate view of the mean tattooed men for the moment.
"If they don't take your advice," she replies into the comms, "They're gonna get a surprise when there's two spiders, all of a sudden." She tilts her to one side and then the other, cracking the bones together. "I'm betting they don't. Bunch of bikers who think big muscles make 'em stronger than everyone else. Oh, sweethearts."
"Hey, look, it's Spider-Man!"
"Get outta here, freak!"
"Mind yer own business!"
"This is Rattlers' territory!"
Looking them over, a lot of them do seem to have a lot of snake themed gear, from patches on leather vests to prominent tattoos.
"Rattlers? Really? You know we don't have those here, right? Do you think this is Arizona? I can get you on the train real easy WHOOPS!" Spidey says, catapulting into the air when one of them throws a beer bottle at him. A big bald guy squats on Sticky Jack as the rest of the gang closes in on Spidey.
Into the comms, he goes, "Yeah, think that back-up's definitely gonna be a good idea."
"On it!" Gwen is right about to leap off the side of the building and directly into the fray, when she thinks: Nah. She fires a webline instead, grabbing one of the guys advancing on Spidey and hauling him straight up to where she is. A couple globs of webbing stick him to the side of the building, before she leans over to flick the side of his nose.
"You need to have a time-out and think about what you did!" she declares triumphantly, before she gets around to leaping off the building and landing in a crouch behind where the boys are approaching her friend.
"There's two of us," she sings. "And one of your buddies is on the fourth floor. You all should go help him, really. He seems to be in a sticky situation."
Peter Parker drops to the ground at Gwen's distraction, letting him swing and swivel, his legs sweeping along the ground and taking two guys out at the knees. They bump onto their backs with audible grunts, the wind knocked out of them before Spidey webs them down, pinning them to the street with a flick of his fingers.
"Being geographically confused makes you guys so angry!" he says, Spider-sense buzzing as he ducks a brass knuckle swing. Contrary to the earlier prohibition against lead poisoning, a couple of them seem to be reaching for guns in their pocket as Sticky Jack tries to squirm out from under the man pinning him down.
"Guns!" Gwen hisses into the comms, as she flicks her wrist and sends a glob of webbing flying at the fuy kneeling on Sticky Jack, before turning her attention to the two boys drawing weapons; her own danger sense is busy letting her know that, hey, this is about to get rough.
She turns on the two boys drawing pistols, and breaks into a run straight for them. As she approachs she jumps, leaping higher than an ordinary human ought to; in mid-air she summersaults and brings her heel down on one of the boys' shoulder.
That, of course, leaves the other one. "No lead!" she shouts, "Fast lead is a prohibited substance," she adds, as she webs his gun to yank it away, and pinch the end of the barrel shut before dropping it. "You really should just run along," she adds, pleasantly.
Peter Parker punches the guy who swung at him right in the face, pulling his punch enough to not break any bones but hard enough to knock the guy straight out. Kicks fling out on some of the remaining few, knocking several down and leaving one to try and run off towards the bikes.
"Jack, buddy, pal, amigo, I thought you were going straight," Spidey says. "I mean, you never actually said that, but I thought it was implied after I left you dangling for the cops six months ago. I felt like we had a moment. I'm hurt."
Gwen helps Peter with the clean-up, and leaves a few guys dangling by webbing from lampposts. "Should've listened," she comments to the last one, where he's busy sputtering and trying to be threatening. She puts a fingertip in the middle of his chest and pushes him, leaving him swinging back and forth, just out of reach of the ground. "Now you get a time-out as well."
She watches one guy run for the motorcyles, and shrugs, apparently deciding to leave him to it, as she meanders back over to where Peter is talking to Sticky Jack.
"You know," she muses, "You might want to be real helpful towards Spider-Man here about what you were up to in the bar. He won't hurt you, but I bet these guys will if we let them have you back again."
Jack looks miserable where he sits, "Aw, man, I didn't do nothin', these guys just thought I was messin' the the juke and playing the same song over and over, an' I was, but it was s'pposed to be a signal to somebody and they didn't show up or they didn't say nothin' to me, but I didn' tmean to bug 'em, cept I tried to get out the back but it was nailed up and then they dragged me out here and aw man I didn't do nothin'!" he whines.
Spider-Man puts his hands on his hips, sighing, "Who were you here to meet?"
"I dunno his name. He sounded all classy and old. I heard there's a new gang gettin' together and they were payin' good. Figured I'd try to get in on it. I need the cash, man, I can't get a job just fresh outta the joint…"
"Try Burger King. I hear they're hiring," Spidey said. "Cause this is gonna get your butt kicked. By me if not by them."
"Or her," he adds, pointing towards Gwen. "And she's way worse," he says, pitching his voice to a whisper, "She'll drink your blood."
Gwen blushes under her mask, but… fortunately, nobody can see that. She just walks up to stand beside Peter, and plants one hand on her hip as she adopts the stereotypical femme-fatale stance, like in the movies. Her eyes narrow, and she makes a 'slrrrrp' sound under her mask, as she exagerates licking her lips.
Into the spider-comms, she subvocalizes "Drink his blood? Really?" She pauses, "Well… actually, I guess… spider-vampire is kinda cool, but… Well, maybe for Halloween that's an idea."
Peter Parker responds through the comms, "You are the terror that sucks in the night."
"Okay, okay. Look, I heard 'em call the boss guy the Gentleman. I dunno what that means, maybe he wears fancy suits, you all got weird duds nowadays, just…I promise, I didn't get the job, I ain't doin' nothin', just lemme go, I'll get my parole revoked if I get caught with these mopes."
Spidey looks over at Gwen, "Whaddya think? Should we show mercy? Or do we eat him?"
Gwen suppresses a laugh, and shakes her head. "That pun sucks," she responds. "Alright… no it doesn't, it's great. But it still sucks."
Spider-Woman takes a step forwards, and smirks. "Let me eat him," she states, out loud now. "I don't think he'll ever change, and it's been days since I've had something to eat. You know I promised to only eat the guilty. He's never going to get clean, he'll always be looking for the next illegal scam to get into."
Gwen glowers down at the man, even though she's busy smirking inside her mask. She looks up at Peter, and shrugs. "Your the boss, though. Do I get to eat him? Or do I just check to see if he's employeed at Burger King by next week?"
Peter Parker makes an overdramatic gesture, pointing at Jack, "We'll let him go…for now! But I'd better see an uptick in your general law abidingness, okay, buster? No more skulking around in thug bars or swiping gum at the newstand. THAT'S RIGHT, I SAW YOU. I've got eyes everywhere, see? So, just…like…be good and stuff."
He raises his hand and fires off a webline, "Well, go on. Run." he says, then zips up into the air and back into the night.
Into the comms, he adds 'C'mon, let's go get a pizza, at least. I lost half my sandwich in the gutter…"
Gwen watches Peter ascend on a webline, and then looks back to Sticky Jack. She lifts one hand to her face and pantomimes licking her lips, before she fires off her own strand and follows Peter upwards.
"I hope that guy's not going to start a Spider Vampirette rumor," she comments into the comms, as she assumes the rhythm of webslinging that's become second nature to her by now. "Pizza, you say? Sounds great. Just, not the cheap stuff, okay? Let's get a real pizza this time, with as many toppings as we can overload it with. I didn't make a big enough sandwich."