10317/There Goes the Neighborhood

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There Goes the Neighborhood
Date of Scene: 05 December 2019
Location: Upper East Side, Manhattan
Synopsis: Shocker attempts to locate a mysterious treasure beneath an art gallery. Spider-Woman arrives to investigate, and Shocker's hopes get flushed down the drain--so to speak.
Cast of Characters: Shocker, Ghost Spider




Shocker has posed:
At this time of night, much of New York is alive with neon lights, incredible music, delicious food, and enthralling social engagements of all sorts.

But many of the galleries in the Upper East Side have closed, their exhibits resting in the quiet darkness until the next day's business hours.

This is the case at the Park Avenue Armory, an institution specializing in avant-garde visual and performing arts.

Despite that specialization, it's perhaps out of the ordinary for the building to vibrate, its structure--and many of the trees planted along the sidewalk around its perimeter--shuddering as though significant construction work were occurring here.

But no construction equipment or vehicles are in sight.

So what's the deal?

Ghost Spider has posed:
Gwen happens to be swinging through the neighborhood. Honestly someone should do some sort of study on how and why superheroes 'patrol' as it were.

The vibrating building is easily enough to perk the spider persons interest. "Okay that seems ... a smidge out of place really..." sure it hasn't seemed to set off car alarms or disturbed anyone else but Gwen knows enough with the whole whacky spider sense to try to flow with her instincs. Instincts which are telling her this is a bit unusual.

So she redirects her webline swing and heads ove towards the Park Ave. Armory to check it out closer.

Shocker has posed:
One of the back doors to the building is ajar--or at least as "ajar" as a door can be that appears to have been completely rent from its hinges.

The vibrating sound and effect grows much louder inside, and indeed some furniture, as well as art hanging on the walls, shakes loose and about the gallery.

From beyond another doorway, apparently leading to a basement, the sound is nearly deafening.

Then, the sound stops suddenly, the building and its contents reverberating for several long moments as everything settles back into the silence of the evening.

Except for the sounds of movement from down below, of course.

Ghost Spider has posed:
Gwen coughs into her fist "Suspicious" and then swings down to land on the ground by the wrenched open door in the back. "Some people and hammers...."

That is muttered before carefully prowling in a few steps looking around cautious.

This ... slow and steady approach trying to stay focused on her spider sense is continued as she delves deeper into the building trying to figure out what is going on with the noise and vibrations.

It does sound familiar really even if she is having trouble placing it.

She is also game to head into the basement.

Shocker has posed:
Footsteps pace back and forth on a cement floor in the expansive basement, which is set up as a large storage space, complete with chain-fenced compartments packed with various supplies and art pieces.

In the distance, a man angrily stomps about, waving one hand while the other keeps a phone shoved against the side of his head. A yellow-and-brown mask is pulled halfway up so that his mouth and right ear have unrestricted access to the phone.

"Fred!" the Shocker snarls, "you had better not be lying about there being hidden colonial treasure in the basement of the Armory. And you had /definitely/ better not be listening to this and snickering, or else I'll--"

He's interrupted by a loud beep and then a voice on the other end of the line.

<< BOOOOOOP. Maximum voicemail message length reached. >>

"Son of a ..." Shocker groans, throwing his head back and sighing loudly before pulling his mask back down. He slips his phone into a pocket on his belt and begins looking around. "Here, secret door, secret door ..."

Ghost Spider has posed:
Gwen just pauses at the top of the stairs and sighs lightly to herself "Crud... "

I mean Herman is kind of a lovable get rich scheme sort of short sighted loser in Peter's rogue gallery as far as she has experienced.... but the technology he has is dangerous.

Shaking her head lightly she makes her way down to the basement, leaping up to cling to the ceiling so as to be less noticable to someone scanning around for secret doors.

Finally closer, but ready to spring out of the way "Herman, when did you get out of jail!?" yeah she is a bit of a brat.

Shocker has posed:
The Shocker spins around, looking for the source of the unexpected voice.

"Where are you?!" he calls. "And I've been out for a /while/ now. Just ask my parole officer!"

Herman pauses. "Wait, actually, don't do that."

Still not having identified Gwen's location, the Shocker moves into a boxing pose, his suit beginning to create a vibratory aura that makes him look--to the normal eye, at least--fuzzy and more difficult to pinpoint.

"I haven't stolen anything," Shocker shouts. "This doesn't have to go down poorly for you. All you gotta do is just ... crawl away."

Ghost Spider has posed:
Another sigh.

"Breaking an Entering. Property Damage... aka destroying valuable art trying to find colonial treasure that obviously Fred is lying about... that breaks Parole even if you got a get out of jail free card from the Shredder or some such bullshit Herman."

Of course while she is declaring all this she is lowering a wrist, thwipping a web netting, and moving as Herman is no doubt going to retaliate violently.

At least based on experience.

Shocker has posed:
"I never said I didn't do any of /that/ stuff," Shocker replies snidely. "I just said I haven't /stolen/ anything!"

As he completes the sentence, Herman depresses a button on his vibro-gauntlets with one thumb and points that hand toward what he's guessing is the location of his taunter.

As he does, the web netting catches his arm and sticks against a nearby section of chain fencing.

The resulting blast of super-compressed air strikes fencing about a dozen feet away, sending that compartment's fenced door and the cartons inside to explode up into the air, scattering office supplies all about the space.

"Oh /damnit/!" Shocker shouts, desperately trying to free himself from the webbing.

Ghost Spider has posed:
Just in case she missed or Herman was really on his game tonight, Gwen did not stay stationary, scrambling along and leaping down to the floor.

She moves quick though. "Why do you keep doing this to yourself Herman?" twisting her writ and firing a more solid Web Ball at his midsection, ready to try to dodge though if he fires a blast at her... thing could shake out fillings.

"You're obviously good with tech.. why crime..."

Shocker has posed:
"Are you kidding? It's way too expensive for the straight life!" Shocker cries out from gritted teeth, his vibrating suit shearing off from its base a length of chain fence to which his arm had been stuck.

He lets out a victorious laugh as he can move again, just as a sphere of webbing knocks him in the solar plexus. The laugh immediately becomes a loud, wheezy exhale.

"Gunnnhhh ... bluunnnhghhuuull," Shocker gasps, clutching his chest as he staggers toward what, he hopes, is cover. As he moves, he fires off another blast of air to buy himself time.

The blast causes several storage compartments to smash into one another, their boxed contents, apparently glass or crystal of some sort, shattering into thousands of pieces.

"Why ... why can't you just /not/?!" Herman asks between gulps of breath.

Ghost Spider has posed:
"Sweet jumping jack christ..." Gwen moves forwrd grabbing a couple of crystal sculptures that were not exploded with the shocking vibrtions and then ducks to the side to web them to another shelf.

"Because Herman.. I am a supeer hero... you are a villain." she doesn't include super there.

"It is the natural circle of life... real lion king moment here.... also ... you keep doing crime... why is it you all never thing of hero work.." she peeks around her shelf now and then charges forward ready to leap to the ceiling to dodge.

Shocker has posed:
"Hero work, eh?" Herman calls from behind a load-bearing column. "Pays a lot, does it? You pay your taxes as a Spider-Person?"

He dives toward a cluster of heavy wooden crates, firing off another blast of air that misses his target by a mile but that manages to blow a hole into the basement floor.

Shocker's eyes widen. "Oh, man--did I accidentally find James Madison's lost treasure?!" He waits half a moment and then sprints toward the newly-formed hole into the darkness beneath, trying to glance down into it with one eye while still looking around for his agile opponent.

Ghost Spider has posed:
Gwen is appreciative of his generally bad aim.

She ducks behind another cabinet when he fires at the floor and lets out a sigh, relief this time when he hits and blows a hole in the floor. "Don't fail me now tingles" is muttered just to herself.

When he is looking into the hole she leans out and fires a shot towards him, trying to snag and give a yank forward so he goes tumbling into said hole. "Take a closer look!"

Shocker has posed:
As Shocker tries to peek over the side, he also attempts to maintain his balance to avoid falling into it.

So when Gwen's web line tugs him forward, there's only a split second of resistance before Herman launches, head over heels, into that hole.

"Oh /shiiiiii/..." he cries, terror in his voice. The plummet seems to take longer than might be expected--and then there's a deep *SPLASH*.

It's just about this time that the unmistakeable odor of a sewer line wafts up into the Armory basement.

Down below, the course of New York's "other" subway takes Herman on a wild ride to ... somewhere. But it's definitely nowhere that he wants to go.

Ghost Spider has posed:
Okay that is evidently ... well honestly she wondered if it was the sewers... but... okay that worked out way to well.

Gwen's white spider mask eyes get very wide as he plummets crying out a bit longer than expected and then a splash. "Oh no..."

Hurrying forward she peers down the hole and the ... oh gross the smell... stepping back there is a giggle snort from her mask.

"I .. am not going to go after Herman... no way.. no how..."

She palms out comm device and holds it up to her head. "Hey Spidey.. I uh.. flushed Herman into the sewers I think.... it was a shocking development.. I mean... do you think he can swim?"