2158/Log 2158

Log 2158
Date of Scene:	25 August 2017
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Summary needed
Cast of Characters:	Fox, Crusader, Wu, Spider-Woman (Drew), Kaelyn Silverleaf

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Fox has posed:
    People have been talking about the "Elm Creek Arms" for like, thirty years now. The place had been one of NYC's best rated hotels, but it'd failed to keep pace. It hung on for years until finally going under in the eighties, and normally a place this big would have been torn down years ago. Then they found the lead paint, the lead pipes, the asbestoes, the radon gas, The black mould, the colonies of rats that tested positive for plague. It's just a lovely assembly of expensive, dangerous issues nobody seems terribly eager to assume the liability for. Which is why of course, the place is normally boarded up and all but the most idiotic of kids even steer clear from the place.
    So word comes out, that there are no less than two city inspectors and a pair of workmen missing? Well when it comes out where they were headed, the cops mysteriously find themselves entirely too busy to deal with it -this- shift. As night fell, the four are still MIA. Not that there weren't flashes of light in the twenty five floors above a little while ago, like a flashlight perhaps? Not that the normally padlocked front entrance has been left propped open by a lunchbox. No the cops, they ain't paid enough for this mess. You need a somone else for this sort of work obviously, somone who isn't paid at all.

    Fox was the first one in, if only by pure chance. Pausing in the lobby, where makeshift tables have been erected and lunchboxes, clipboards left. Thats not what brings her to a dead stop, it's a worryingly red smear on the wall, like eleven feet up. A drag smear to be precise, one leading into a vent. "Merde..."

Crusader has posed:
Some folks are able to hear words of odd occurances over even police frequencies...such as Crusader. He caught word of the missing inspectors, and seeing as the cops did not feel like investigating...he decides to go investigate himself
    Crusader approaches the building invisibly...before melting into a puddles that surges and flows through the cracks with ease before reforming in the hotels main lobby. He can already detect the radon gas....this place must be a piece of work
    But none the less...he notices Fox and cants his head. He himself being a behemoth wouldn't be too hard to notice...but he was remarkably light of feet as well. But before he says anything to make his presence detected he follows the direction of Foxs head to see where she was looking "....Well that is not of the good" he finally speaks up

Wu has posed:
    Gotham City Police by way of Hong Kong Police yet Alice is in New York of all places. "Pinning down a lead," is the excuse she's giving to her supervisor, but left unspoken is that the lead has little to nothing to do with her police work and everything to do with ... her other work. And, of course, she's out of reach of any official backup. Or official authority, for that matter.
    Now there's soemthing of interest: abandoned building. Lights in the windows. And a figure has just entered. Followed by another, far larger one.
    Alice quickly pulls out a sheaf of "rice" paper squares and ruffles through it, pulling three out. One she crumples immediately and swallows. One she licks and sticks to the inside of her vest. The third she crumples and palms. A quick check of her magazines and she steps out of the shadows and saunters over to the entrance.
    "What are we looking a..." Her voice pauses as she processes the blood smear and its implications.

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
In the neighborhood of the Elm Creek Arms is Jessica Drew, no doubt out and about on some SHIELD related business completely unrelated to what's going on inside the dilapidated old hotel.

Jess can currently be found on a neighboring rooftop, a pair of binoculars about her neck, and sitting on the edge of the building, one leg dangling off as she peers off at another building along the block.

Kaelyn Silverleaf has posed:
A dull fwump is heard somewhere behind the checkin counter of the Hotel, and there's the sound of something following, probably soft as it doesn't really clatter just kind of makes a bit of a smack.. There's a pause and now coughing and a few sneezes as what might at first be smoke, but turns out to be a dust cloud rising from the counter briefly... There's another pauses, then the dust is simply blown outward by a mild wind, carried away from the counter, before a hand with painted nails can be seen on the desktop.

There's more coughing, and some muttered cursing as a tiny brass dragon, the size of a cat can be seen wandering up the hand and pauses on the counter-top, while looking around. Though its metal and little jewels can be made out, even the occasional gear, the thing movements are awefully lifelike.. The thing even gives a soundless growl as it notices the other people in the lobby, of course there's only the very very quiet ticking of the things clockwork and little brass and nickle plates that make up its scales as the 'creature' moves.

Finally a mane of red-hair can be seen as the person who belongs to the hand, and probably the clockwork can be seen pulling them selves up, looking more than a little dusty, and a little bedraggled. The woman then runs her hands through her hair, trying to arrest the unruly mop, before she gathers it in and ties it back with a leather tie... Kaelyn now sighs and as she does more dust is exhailed and she sneezes one more time while trying to dust her self off... "That as a bad idea." she mutters... Then looks at the clockwork... She frowns and sighs "Back in the bag." The thing simply dissapears at that point.

Fox has posed:
    Theres like a solid grand wrapped up in that dark set of camo alone, nevermind the extra bling necessary to get it made out of that particular angular grayscale camo pattern. That hard plate carrier is, well who knows how much more, but she is nothing if not color co-ordinated. Festooned as she is with webbing, spare magazines and pouches containing god knows what. There is a stubby little M4 sort of affair, furnished with polished french maple of all things. The reason why they call her "fox" though, is that particular headgear. It's a polygonal three dimensional affair cut from some sort of grayscale composite, in the shape of a Fox's head. Thus, well yeah. Fox, maybe you've heard of her? Anywho..

    Fox lifts her carbine upwards to bathe that vent in a few hundred lumens worth of illumination, before yeah ok thats not BBQ sauce. Glancing back towards this slowly assembling little war party, before casually extending that carbine's stock and doing a quick chamber check. "There are four missing, there are four of us in turn. Two up, two down?"The voice is soft enough, but theres a somewhat mechanical edge to things. You know, like she's running a voice changer or something under that elaborate mask of hers? "I do not believe it wise to venture into the ducting with, whatever may be present. Agreed?"

Crusader has posed:
Crusader looks to the desk where Kaelyn is...he recognizes her. An odd sort that broke him out of being an ice statue. He never did thank her for that. He looks behind him at Alice as well and considers this. He answers Alice first "Well something living in the vents are munching...people. Initial guess" he states cordially.
    He looks to Sophie "One can venture into the duct...One is sure One can at the very least avoid getting hurt by it and inform you all of what may be within...or.."
    He looks to Kaelyne "Perhaps one of your mechanical friends might be able to venture. Regardless" he looks back to Sophie "Teaming upis likely a good stratedgy" he of course wasn't away of anyone outside the building just yet.

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
Jess's attention has slowly started shifting towards the Hotel as she sits, odd noises her hearing picks up, and the general wierdness of the building, and perhaps that deep ingrained instinct of hers that something is just not right there. So, that all said, she moves to investigate.

The Spider-Woman leaps from her perch on the rooftops, her glider-wings deploying as she glides her way across to the Elm Creek Arms, moving to latch onto the building before dropping down to the ground outside, and into the lobby.

Wu has posed:
    Alice winces and covers her eyes as the light is speared at the smear.
    "I was looking at that," she says peevishly. "A bit of a warning next time?" After the glaring light is moved away she inspects the stain again. "It's pretty fresh," she comments. "Coagulation has barely begun. The risk exists that it's nearby. Pairing up is essential, I think."
    She idly clutches at her little jade pendant of Guanyin, the Chinese "goddess" of Mercy as her eyes scan the room around her. Kaelyn gets a friendly smile and a nod with a touch of a knowing expression. Fox gets an extra round of attention and a narrowing of the eyes. Jessica gets two swiftly-drawn pistols as she enters without warning shortly after it's been decided there's something in the building killing people.
    Beat.
    "Sorry," she mutters, putting the guns away. "You startled me."

Kaelyn Silverleaf has posed:
Kae glances around at the others inside and rubs the back of her neck... She then glances at the grate with the blood and stuff and tilts her head before she unslings her backpack, and tugs a small box out of it. She opens the box and inside is a clockwork wasp of sorts. The thing is made in agonizing detail. Instead of a key this time, she pulls a small pea-sized red stone from the box and sets that into the key-hole. Suddenly the wasp begins clicking and running, now moving as if it were the real thing, except this creature was like 4 inches long, it's a big wasp... Kae whispers to it, and motions to the place in question. The wasp's wings hum to life and the clockwork creature then flies into the vent... "There... Should it find something it will tell me.. If it is destroyed I'll know what's going on..." she says and smiles slightly before now sitting on the desk and offering a cheerful wave to Wu...

Fox has posed:
    The moment that wasp takes to flight, it starts moving. Theres a creak and groan of ancient steel before it comes tumbling out of the grate, and hits the ground clumsily before clambering to it's legs with a hiss and a high pitched scream. It's like a grub somewhat, maybe four or five foot long, and covered in what might as well be a thousand little centipede like legs. it's head a mass of fangs, ugly hair and eyes. It's turbo gross yo, and it's coated in what is -not- actually rasberry jam.

    Fox had turned half way around, swiveling that mask around to give the resident spider a bit of a study when shit gets real. She half turns, sweeping that carbine up in a blur of motion. Stance widening, shoulders rolling foreward. Hitting the thing with the light, which is sufficient to ellicit another high pitched scream. "Oh what the fuck..."Because seriously, it's strange enough that she doesn't just rip a round off.

Crusader has posed:
Crusader was busy watching the CLockWork Wasp from Kaelyn take to the air and so didn't turn around. And yet he somehow seems to recognize Spider-Woman was there going so far as to say "Eveing Spider-Women just in time for the..." he he pauses

ANd watches the grub like creature actually fall out of the vent. He actually wasn't horrified (perks of being an alien technically speaking - you seen some weird crap out in space). He actually walks over "Hmmm, sensitive to light" and he actually reaches down to pick the grub up. Mainly he was looking it over to see if it was any sort of alien he recogonizes...if not it is either an alien he hans't encountered...or a mutant...a baby mutant considering it looked like a grub?

Oh lord. What have they gotten into

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
"You really shouldn't point those things at strangers." Jess quips as Alice startles her way, "Especially when there is a giant monstrous jam covered monster right there behind you..." She adds with a little bit of a forced smile.. it is pretty gross afterall.

"So.. what exactly is going on here, ladies, and gentleman?" Jess asks, remaining a little cautious as she eyes the critter, ready to leap into action should it start spewing acid, or poison, or something.

Wu has posed:
    The guns seemingly sprout out of Alice's hands again they're replace so quickly as the grub falls down and hisses and screams. The new target is acquired and ... dammit, the Incredible Bulk is in the way!
    "Please step out of the way, sir," she says to Bjorn, her accent slipping as more important tactical concerns start interfering with the space in her brain for minor things like pronunciation. She carefully holsters one of the guns and tosses away the previously-crumpled bit of rice paper onto the floor near where the vent emitted the creature. The gun is then replaced. "Shooting around you is a difficult shot to make."
    "Ms. Silverleaf," she says to Kae without looking at her. "Can you get your little friend there to check how many of these there are?"

Kaelyn Silverleaf has posed:
Well Kae's seen wierder, but for different reasons... She stares at the grub now, her wasp zipping back over to her and perching on her shoulder. Kae stares at the creature now curiously "Ummmmm.. That thing looks like a larvae of sorts..." She says and tilts her head curiously now while studying the thing. "I'm thinking the red is blood, and might be willing to hazard that this creature is maybe part of some parasitic creature that maybe used thoe missing folks as a host? I dunno." Kae says, she's just tossing guesses out, but she's studied a lot of different creatures...

Kae nods to Alice and sends her little wasp out, and well 2 more come zipping out of her backpack to go scout out the place... "There scouts are out." she says, one of the clockworks is a 4 inch long bee, the other appears to be a mantice of sorts. Kae then studies the creature more now, while keeping her distance. However as she moves and studies her lips are moving but no sound is really being heard.

Fox has posed:
    The grub thing writhes, flexing and those "legs" extend a good few inches, trying desperately to get out from under Bjorn's grip and get a bite in. Then well, it starts spewing what could be best described as bile. A mixture of stomach acid, vomit and yeah flecks of bone and it's just all about all manner of nastyness apparently. It's screaming however, has had an effect. Another grub thing, and then another, and another start coming out of that vent with their own screaming cries. Above all of that though, comes a low drone of insect wings. Loud as an idling car, from somewhere above.
    Fox doesn't hesitate to dump a single neat round in the first two grubby things, before lowering that carbine to dash out and around in a rough semi-circle. "Light'em up!"

Crusader has posed:
"One think you are right" Bjorn comments to Kaelyne....especially after hearing the beating of royal wings. He forarm covered in....bile he knew this ment trouble. Big trouble. He squishes the grub in his hand easily enough before jumping back as more grubs come out, and making sure Alice has all the shooting space she wants.
    But this only ment one thing - finger pistol time.
    Quite litterly Crusader makes the finger pistol gesture a ribbon of lightning sparks up and roast one grub, and than another butt ugly grub. "To answer your Question Spider Women, some folks have gone missing after being sent to check this building. ANd well now we have this giant...grub. And it has friends, lots of friends. And a tub of choclate says they got a queen up stairs" he says.

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
"Yeah, makes sense.. so which one of you has the insect themed arch-nemesis then that's imprgenating poor workers with it's larvae?" Spider-woman asks as she leaps backwards from the bile-spewing insect, her finger pointing out to fire out a blast of her bio-electricity at one of the insect grubs that plops on down from the vents!

Wu has posed:
    Alice takes one look at the flood of grubs, hears the evidence of something bigger upstairs, and sighs. With one grub squished and two grubs shot, she has brief respite. Closing her eyes and pointing her weapons in the vague direction of the spilling tide.
    "Bang bang, you're dead," she mutters to herself before squeezing off round after unaimed round, emptying the magazines in both of her handguns.
    Round after round hits the slugs as they crawl and fall, three per slug. Including some up the vent a ways, which puts a momentary stopper on the flood.
    "Something to cover up that hole would be nice about now," she suggests as she drops the magazines from her guns and starts pulling out their replacements, reading something scrawled on each one.

Kaelyn Silverleaf has posed:
Kae tilts her head... "What about fill it?" She asks curiously, tilting her head and looking at Wu curiously. She then comments "Ya know, if you add a little big of kanji to that paper of yours you could make that maybe a little more efficient in my opinion." She then glances at the hole the grubs came out, and hmms... She mutters again, her right hand raising as one of the bracelet's gems glow... "What about a directed chained ball lightning?" she asks curiously as a sphere of crackling swirling electricity, resembling a lightningbolt trapped in a crystal ball appears next to her, then swiftly, faster than an olympic runner mind you, moves and then zips up into the shaft, shedding light as it moves down the vent, leaving the smell of ozone in its wake. Once the sphere gets a few feet into the vent it suddenly comes to a stop filling most of the available space...

Kae glances to the others curiously and moves over toward them as she asks..> "Whatcha think? think that'll hold? Though it only has a 30 minute time limit for now... I can expend a little more energy and make it longer if you guys think that best. She says and looks from person to person again, then peers at Bjorn curiously "Weren't yu the fellow who was trapped in ice and decided to break when I told the ice to break?"

Fox has posed:
    Them grubs, well they got mighty big chompers and nasty spew. They are not however, intelligent nor particularly durable. Bullets, bio-electricity, chain lightning? They burst like water balloons, covering the area in pus colored bile and insectine flesh. That chain lightning does the job on the vent at least,sufficient for chunks and goop to come sloshing out onto the floor. It's the grub-pocolypse down here, and well the floor is starting to get slick with the slaughter.

    That about when it gets turned up to 11, and from the central staircase beyond that droning gets all the louder until, it comes bursting through the wall. A mess of black spines and chitin, it's body bloated and malformed, theres human arms grafted onto the thorax and the rest seems decorated in a mixture of pink flesh and stark black stitches. Enormous amber compound eyes settling on those assembled, before it moves in for the attack.

    Fox is the furthest one, and the first target. Theres a flare from that obnoxious flashlight, and the telltale -phut-phut-phut of .300blk sent down range. It's enough to shred a wing and send the thing skittering onto the floor but it's far from dead just yet. For her part Fox takes off in a dead sprint, opening up the distance as she exchanges magazines. She goes down for a roll, before rising to her boots having turned 180. Sliding to a stop with the squeel of her boots, Carbine barking out vile hatred as she restarts her slow advance. "Merde! Petit putane!"See, she swears in fancy.

Crusader has posed:
Crusader looks to the giant bug monster...especially the arms. He narrows his arms "For the love of Juuthum" he loks to Kaelyne "Sorry miss, but pleasantries latter" and with that...being a moving wall he charges the creature shouting back....particular in reference to Alice "Just shoot" knowing she stopped because he was in the way
    He slips on the floor and actually slides towards the creature. Not the intended effect but he'll take it as he brings a leg back and "THWAP!" gives it a powerful kick to the head....which ends up with him sliding backwards in the goo.

Wu has posed:
    "Ni yao kai wanxiao!" You MUST be joking! Alice isn't even TRYING for English as she pauses in her ammunition sorting to stare at the pastiche creature.
    The magazines are dropped in her pocket and the guns holstered. Instead a sheaf of rice papers is in her hands as she quickly flips through them, reading the characters on them hastily until she finds the one she wants.
    "LOOK AWAY!" she shouts. Then, almost comically. "GRENADE!"
    She crumples the paper and flicks it with her forefinger at the monster. The little paper ball sails through the air, bounces on the floor twice before catching in a puddle of slime just a bit short of the target. And perhaps a bit close to comfort to Crusader. It explodes silently in a ball of light and blistering heat.

Kaelyn Silverleaf has posed:
Kae watches as her little ball lightning ball acts like a blender... She tilts her head and then blinks "Overkill..." She mutters and then now looks at the giant insectine creature that's attacking them "Ummmm... Yaaah sooo someone made that thing I think..." She says frowning as she backs away some, sliding a little in the gore, but she steadies her self, putting out a solid kinetic ward between her self in the creatre while muttering her hands out to the sides palm up. All the various jewelry on her wists are now glowing visibly as a number of spheres just barely at the edge of sight float away from her, outside the area of the just slightly visible ward... "If you need cover get behind me... "She says softly, but somehow making her voice carry. Next she rolls a hand, motioning at the orbs to her right with the corresponding hand, then the ones to her left while muttering a poem, in norse of all things as those tiny spheres suddenly change shape, foriming into long shards of ice. She then motions with her right hand and suddenly a those shards zip forward, moving like small guided missiles, trailing frost in their wake, and on target for the bug.

Fox has posed:
    The kick, lands -hard- and whilst it's hardly harmless it is more than a little dazed. The bug hits the floor finally, at just the right angle to nosedive onto that wad of paper. Theres an eruption of bile, and fire, and the thing stumbles back in a heap of flailing legs. Still ablaze mind you, Wu it seems landed the real killing blow here.

    Fox is still on the assault, closing in before she proceeds to empty the rest of her magazine into the thing. That is enough to draw the thing still, legs curling underneath as it broils. For the record, burning bug does -not- smell great. "Merde."Is all Fox has to say on the matter, carbine slowly lowering as she swings her gaze left and right. "Clear here, I'm OK. Everyone else?"

Crusader has posed:
Crusader kick didn't exactly send him far enough. He was fairly close to the rice paper grenade when it goes off. He realizes this and cross his arms in front of his face to shield himself. And well he gets caught in the grenades blast zone as well as in the bug guts. The force is enough to send him skidding back (on his side) and into a wall.
    But despite that...at most it seems a great deal of his guantlets and breast-plate has been baddly damaged with large chunks missing. And as he stands...bile and goo is dripping off of him in sheets. And he was dazed by that brilliant light. He blinks several times "One is...alive" he says as his answer. Good enough. He dosn't really try making more of the stuff come off "...but One is worried...they are more" he gestures to Kaelyne "As the lass said...it looked like someone made it"

Wu has posed:
    Alice swivels her gaze over to the Fox after carefully regarding the creature ensuring its death.
    "I think I may have torn a hangnail," she says acidly. "But I'm with the big one and Ms. Silverleaf. That is a construct. An inept one, but a construct nonetheless. Someone or something is behind it."
    She eyes the stairway up. "And if it is still in this building, there may be other constructs between us and it. Perhaps external ingress is preferable than internal."
    Now, in the downtime, she selects some magazines that have markings on the side and reloads her pistols before reholstering them.
    "Ms. Silverleaf, can your scouts check for us?"

Kaelyn Silverleaf has posed:
Kae nods "The scouts are allready out, but realy havn't shown me much yet." She says, then she pulls her phone out of all things? Why in the world would she use a phone... She turns it on and hits an app button and a tiny sprite-witch appears while calling out "Hallooo Boss! What can I do for you today!?!" Kae hmms, and without even skipping a beat she says "Display a 3 dimensional image about 4 feet in diameter, showing what wasp, Mantice, and bee are currently seeing." The sprite on the screen nods "It shall be done!" and suddenly an spherical image resembling a crystal ball appears above where the phone is and this showing exactly what the insects are seeing as they zoom through the building. The phone is like -screaming- I am magic, not litterally, but well more like it -is- a magical construct in and of its self, an artificed item made to use magic but at the same time have the functionality of a phone. Kae looks over to the others and holds up the magical technological thing. "Regular phones don't allways like me so I made one." she says and smiles... "Pluss it acts on all networks, and I don't have to pay fees for its use." She informs and grins while she waits for the sphere to show folks what the bugs are seeing.

Fox has posed:
    There are the dessicated remains of eight men upstairs, but the only thing truly unexpected is the presence of a cage in the loading dock. The cage itself has been ripped apart entirely, but beyond that? The joint seems clear, no more grubs are detected if nothing else.

    Fox just gives a sigh, kicking the dead burning bug just to triple check. Then well, she casually reloads that carbine. "I would concur, but I'm not certain bugs are smart enough to be trained."and a pause as she takes a moment to eye the uglyness she's covered in. "I'm going to need a whole new outfit, no way this is going to come out in the wash. You have any idea how hard it is to find gloves in ash grey? Everyone wants to do "Wolf Grey" instead, which is totally different."

Crusader has posed:
Crusader frowns seeing the corpses. "If nothing else...One will let the police know about this - even they cannot ignore eight dead bodies in an abandon hotel...especialy fresh ones" and if they do...well the news papers will be hearing about this.
     "Thank you for all you have done ladies" he says to them, after all, it is nice to hear a thank you every now and again, especially when your forced to be covered in bug guts. WHich Crusader dosn't seem to be minding.

Wu has posed:
    Now that things have calmed, Alice notes Crusader's injuries. "Ooh... Are you going to be alright, big guy?" she asks. "If not, I'll see if I can concoct something to fix that. The ... uh ... grenade didn't bounce as far as it was supposed to. Stupid gore on the floor stuck it early."
    She peers closer at Bjorn to see how bad the injuries are.

Kaelyn Silverleaf has posed:
Kae glances from Sophie to Lice, then to Bjorn and the other curiously... She smiles "If you like, we can go to my shop here really quickly and I can restore your damaged equipment..." She looks to Sophie now too.. "Get you cleaned off as well.. There's plenty of room for everyone up stares in the apartment... That is if you don't mind the occasional clockwork or my familiar..." SHe adds and rubs the back of her neck... "My familiar doesn't come out with me really... but anyhoo, If you think it would help..." She states, looking at Crusader curiously, then to Alice, and finally to Sophie... Next the woman drops her ward, and steps to the side slightly, and waves a hand, suddenly a shimmer appears in the air and then well, it looks like just past that shimmer it's like it goes into another location... Just a faint shimmer around the edge of that 'window' to what looks to be a vestibule of sorts, just above a starecase, there's even nooks to stick shoes in.... There's lots of expensive looking carpets on the walls, all seemingly chinese made, there's a few tapestries from differing cultures, from Celtic, to Brittish, German, and even Italian, and there's an Indian Rug... it's actually floating above a pedastal....

Kae steps to the side of the gateway and looks to the others... "I can see to any injuries and damage to equipment there if you guys like." she says now smiling, the redhead idly flicking some off one of her shoulders, leaving no sign it had even been there... "Also, I can offer you plenty of tea, coffee, and bengets... My assistant Wendy fried up a ton today to go with the chickory coffee and I have extra..."

Fox has posed:
    Theres a pause, as Fox peers after Kae for a moment. That mask all the more difficult to read in the low light, and well it's not like Fox is terribly loud with the body language. She half turns, double checking her carbine is indeed loaded. Then without another word, she starts away. Collapsing that stock back down before she's off, all but strolling right back out that front entrance and into the muggy night air beyond.