3072/Tangled Webs

Tangled Webs
Date of Scene:	05 November 2017
Location:	Manhattan, New York City
Synopsis:	Summary needed
Cast of Characters:	Silk, Insect Queen (OMara), Doctor Strange

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Silk has posed:
    Its not unusual to see a mess of jammed up cars in Midtown Manhattan. Typically, they're all honking and noise- but for now, the noise is more of the screamy, run away type. "Run! Get away!" The people have abandoned their cars and are in break-neck runs 'away' from the intersection. But why?

    Well, there's a rather nasty looking creature tearing through the vehicles on a rampage. This creature, whatever it is, combines all the worst traits of a very angry bull, with a head like a crocodile. Someone was kind enough to replace the bullish body's upper half with that of a gorilla- this particular disgusting beast as comfortable on four legs as it is on two.

    The creature grabs a vehicle and tears into it- shaking its head- A woman is thrown from an open back door, shrieking.

    "My Baby! Its got my Baby! Please, someone help!"

Insect Queen (OMara) has posed:
"For the love of Pete, Mom, I'm 23! I pay bills! Stop calling me a Baby..." yells back Violet, half asleep, wearing a winter jacket /and/ being wrapped in a bunch of cheap, but thick, blankets.

She stirs, still lying down, and rubs her eyes. "...uh... what a weird dream..." She scratches her head, slowly pulls herself up, squints, and yawns.

"Let's see... Oh, ok. Waking up in unfamiliar surroundings. That thing again. Now, where am I this time..." She clicks her tongue, gropes around for her glasses, sleepily puts them on and then, still not completely awake, swings her head, slowly, leeeeft to right, riiiiiiiight to left, over the screams and, possibly, the beast's roars or whatever noise it's making.

"I seem to be inside a makeshift sleeping place. It's... a rickshaw? In the middle of the street?" She cranes her neck forward. "Oh, now I remember," she exclaims, snapping her fingers.

She leans outside. "Algernon," she yells. "You lost your bet, fair and square! You get to pull me around town, don't try to-" She freezes at the sight of the monster. And pales, agape.

Doctor Strange has posed:
    Stephen is less than pleased with this situation as he runs towards the sounds of the screaming. Yes he can teleport, fly and use various sorts of mystical transportation, but sometimes people forget how invaluble sprinting can be. The sorcerer supreme is hot footing it towards the intersection, his cloak flapping madly behind him as he weaves his way through the hurried individuals trying to flee from the hideous monstrosity.

    Stephen skitters to a halt not too far from the beast as he hears the woman's pleas for help to rescue her infant. He takes a deep breath and steps forwards towards the beast, calmly, walking closer as if the thing was an old friend he ran into at the grocery store. "Hey there! What's all this hooting and hollaring about?"

Silk has posed:
    Inside the car a child is screaming, shrieking in abject terror as its bodily shaken from side to side. Luckily, its in one hell of a toddler's car seat. She's shrieking loudly, pointing. "My Baby! Its got my baby, he's in the car seat!"

    Luckily, someone was already on the job as far as the baby was concerned. Cindy had been not far away, she saw the beast run by and had quickly put herself into costume. Silk appeared above the shaking car, flying in on a very spider-esque silk line that she released mid flight. She hangs in the air a moment before she begins to free fall towards the moving vehicle.

    *Twhip! Twhip!* A pair of web lines shoot out, grab the sides of the car and SIlk pulls herself hard towards the vehicle- now speeding towards the still moving, shaking, swinging vehicle. Watching Silk fall was like watching poetry in motion. She shifts and floats through the air- twisting and turning in perfect concert with her surroundings. A spider-silk white-grey blur that rockets through one window and out the other. She rolls when she strikes the ground, cradling something to her chest as the roll turns into an acrobatic masterpiece. Child and masked heroine landing safely on the other side of the street.

    And none too soon, the beast shifts its head and *CHOMP* the vehicle is split in half. One half goes flying- the other is swallowed wholly by the creature.

Insect Queen (OMara) has posed:
Violet O'Mara watches shrieks at the sight, before Doctor Strange or Silk appear, and does what she does best in these situations: she zips back into her Rickshaw, and hides under the blankets, so, while Doctor Strange faces the situation with bravery and Silk redefines perfection of movement and saves a baby in the process, Violet gives a heart-wrenching rendition of a whimpering pudding.

A few more seconds pass, with people screaming and running outside. By now, with Violet unaware that heroes have already shown up on the scene, and with the grip of panic having left her mind enough slack to realise nobody is probably paying attention to a mass of vibrating bedding inside an abandoned Rickshaw, she gulps, closes her eyes, and gives her amulet a firm push.

From outside, the covers go from a mild wobbling to a set of convulisve spasms, then sudden growth, and finally, with a scream that starts out as very human high-pitched terror, transitioning to a distinctly non-human lower-pitched rage, the figure of a statuesque warrior woman in chitinous armour emerges from it, all four fists clenched.

And then she coughs. "*COFF* *COUGH* Oh for the Hive! *COUGH* When have those things been washed the last time?! They're loathsome! They probably have moths in them, and that would be their only redeeming quality!" She steps down with her nose scrunched, chin held high, dusting her shoulders off with haugty dignity. "Now, let's go deal with whatever got my wimpy mammalian form so terrified..." she says, calmly, as her heels click rhythmycally towards Doctor Strange, from Behind. As she does, she finally catches a glimpse of the Cindy. Her eyes grow large, she clenches one fist, and she looks to the sky. "Oh, finally!" she exclaims. "A mammalina who has some good taste in textiles!"

Doctor Strange has posed:
    Stephen glances up at the incoming Silk and blinks a few times. Something about the girl is pinging his mystical senses and it's an odd sort of feeling. "More heroes and-" He's cut off by the incoming woman behind him and the sorcerer supreme suddenly feels as if he's not needed, but the chimera does keep Stephen's attention longer as he's trying to calm the beast enough for Silk to slip into the car and retreive the baby.

    Stephen steps closer to the beast and lifts his two hands, both contorted into a mystical gesture, his cloak starting to billow strongly behind him, clinging to his neck. "You will focus upon me chimera as I am your only foe!" Stephen demands, a pink circle forming around both of his hands as a spell is prepared.

Silk has posed:
    Its not just the outfit- Silk moves like one would expect of a hunting spider. Now, she's rushing towards the mother- pushing the child into her arms, before both are grabbed up and she leaps, carrying both to the sidewalk, "RUN!" She shouts, before she turns back to face the creature, taking a deep breath. No more thought- just action.

    The Chimeric beast's nose flares, and it shakes its head as it goes through its rampage- eyes glowing. Pulsing- slowing for a moment before its attention turns squarely onto one Doctor Stephen Strange.

    It roars- a deafening sound that shatters the glass nearest to it, focused wholly and only on the Sorcerer Supreme. This is a being of mystic might, some kind of demon or spirit released by who knows what profane ritual. The beast rears up on its back hooves, beating its chest with those massive arms as it begins to charge- grabbing a vehicle and throwing it towards the good Doctor!

    Cindy is quick to move again, webbing shooting from her fingertips- another very non-mammalian aspect to her physiology. She's lifting herself up- up-up into the air to make a pass at the creature, throwing webs towards its eyes as she zips by. Only one manages to hit its mark, the other just shy as the creature shakes its head and roars in anger!

Insect Queen (OMara) has posed:
"...too bad her style leaves a lot to be desired," concludes the Insect Queen, and resumes walking. "Now, that large creature might take one heck of a coccoon, but I think that with regular injection, I could probably turn it into some magnificent grunt for my-"

As the creature starts to Charge, the insectoid flies up into the air, propelled by her wings, out of harm's way. She notices Silk's movements and web-slinging, and she grins. "Oooh, /maybe/ she isn't a Mammalian after all..." and, while turning her attention towards the beast and noticing the effect of Silk's attempts, she swoops down (but still keeping at a safe distance), and extends three of of her four arms, towards the beast, shooting three silken webs herself towards the other eye.

At the same time, she extends her insect telepathy to probe Silk's nature, to see how human or how insect she is. Having a privileged channel for communication, not to mention the potential for at least partial control would not be something to disregard ("...if the situation called for it," she hurries to add, mentally, in case the Despicable Human Form, later on, goes poking back into the memories of this instant. "Yes, worthless mammal weakling who pees herself upon seeing some fluffy thingy. I'm keeping the mind control of humanoids in check -- happy now?" she sneers mentally at her future self).

"You, there." She says, clipped. "Let it be known that the Insect Queen mostly approves of your style." And then, as an afterthough, she remembers about the glowy mammalian doing something as well down there. She quirks an eyebrow at him, and asks, "Need help down there as well?" ("Happy now, future self?", she thinks. "I'm deigning the mammalian of a glance /and/ to be on speaking terms with him. Seriously. We need to have a talk about which species are worthy of attention and which ones are not, some time or other.")

Doctor Strange has posed:
    This man is certainly worthy of attention, though he does not do what he does for attention. He does it because he cares and because he can. "No." He says in reply to the attack he sees coming in. Stephen lifts his hands towards the car and quickly the pink circles shift to green with his finger positions changing to a different spell just in time as the rapidly falling car missile and catches the thing before it would land on him. The spell lifting the car and holding it in the air for a moment enough for him to side step out of the way. He drops the spell and the car lands in a heap beside him with a heavy crunch.

    "You will stand down beast!" Stephen says, still trying to take the brunt of the beasts focus while two ... similar and very different individuals seem to be running support and blinding the beast. Though he worries they wont be a match for it should it turn it's attention towards either of them. Far too many unknowns in this situation for Stephen to be comfortable or confident.

Silk has posed:
    To Insect Queen's telepathy Cindy falls somewhere between human and spider- she's certainly more like a Spider than any other human around here- but she's also very much more like a human than any spider around here either. Cindy, for her part, doesn't notice the touch- not while her silk-sense is firing on all cylinders and she starts to come back for a second strafing run. "The Jaws!" she shouts out to the other silk-slinger, as the Queen's silk blasts find the creature's other eye.

    The Beast's attention is still, largely, on Doctor STrange- but it is still a creature with senses and when its eyes go out it begins to cry out in abject rage, grabbing at everything ti can. Smashing with those huge fists down towards where it last saw Doctor Strange. Blindness came just soon enough, because that beast stops and begins to flail in place- smashing where the Doctor had been moments before. Gnashing its teeth. "AFter the teeth, we go for the wrap up, Spider-silk burrito!" Silk cries out as she begins to fire webbing when she swings back across the void between the buildings she's using to anchor her webs.

    Doctor Strange's spell has no faultered, and the beast is still trying to find him- although now it is somewhat more difficult with the blindness... so effective is the spell that it is ignoring even its own blindness in pure, unadulterated rage.

Insect Queen (OMara) has posed:
"I am aware of that mammalian cinematic spectacle. It goes 'dun-dun dun-dun dun-dun,' and involves a ruthless predator. I like cinematic spectacles which involve predators and plenty of blood. They make me hungry, though. Especially when I am a mosquito,'" replies Insect Queen, the adrenalin (or whatever insectoids use in its place) rushing through her veins (or whatever insectoids use in their place) doing wonders for her mood. "Oh, wait, you mean /this/" she says. "Oooh, watch this," She says, and spins a ball of silk in each of her top two hands: kind of like a ball of yarn, except silky and sticky. When it's roughly the size of a baseball, she grins and starts weaving a strip of loose silk the width of a scarf. "Silk bolas. Used 'em once, neat trick," she says, and starts spinning them above her head.

(( You are not like the other humans. You are special, aren't you? )), the Insect Queen attempts to project into Silk's mind, to probe the viability of two-way telepathic communication.

"Oh, wait. I know how to help!" She exclaims, in Doctor Strange's direction. She places her lower hands together, and starts playing some sort of cat's cradle game with empty air, except that she longer she goes at it, more and more web-like substance pops into existence. "It'll take a bit to finish this, though..."

Insect Queen (OMara) has posed:
Insect Queen, while still building the strange cat's cradle structure with her lower hands, launches the silk-bolas with her upper two.

Doctor Strange has posed:
    Stephen lifts a thick black eyebrow at the two insectoid and arachnid themed heroines, but he doesn't say much more than that as he dispells the spell he had cast to catch the car with a flick of his wrist and the green sigil around his hand shatters into nothingness. Then he quickly meets his two hands before his chest. His index and middle finger tips meet before his chin and he closes his eyes as a new incantation spell is cast, this timme towards the beast but is trying to assist the girls in wrapping the beast up with a large red band springing forth from the cracked pavement and reaching up to the things feet and attempting to bind it.

Silk has posed:
    Cindy is surprised, to say the least, to hear a voice in her head that *isn't* her voice. "Oh, its happened." she mumbles to herself. "You've cracked. Gone completely mad. Well, at least the voice is saying you're special. It could be telling you to kill. Small miracles.." And so, Cindy thinks- <Hi, there voice in my head. Now isn't a good time, I'm in the middle of something. If we could reschedule the psychotic break for after the fight, I'd be super spiffed.> The connection isn't stable. It isn't quite what the Queen would get with a proper subject to her abilities- but it *is* working. Kinda. Sorta.

    Silk takes a more direct route than the bolas- she dives head-long into danger like a crazy person. She was hearing voices, after all, so she might as well act like a crazy person. Its absolutely unsound logic, but its all she's got.

    Twhip! Twhip! Two webline's anchor along the long, crocodilian mouth. "I just hope this thing is like a real alligator and can't open its mouth so good..." she mumbles to herself as she flies over the beast's jaws. The lines go tight and down she goes like a trapeze artist. New York web-slingers are known for their agility and grace, and Silk is no exception. Even now she is fantastic to watch- like a dancer who knows every move to make as her arch crests, and now she's heading downward-- and under- and up again and then around once more swinging her body as she starts to trap those jaws shut with more and more webfluid being spent.

    Stephen's ribbon is helping, for certain- the hooved feet are easy to capture. Strange manages to get one of those beastly arms, as well. The creature seems to prefer three points of contact whenever possible. Unfortunately for the blind beast that means that right now, its got three limbs that are rapidly going out of commission. Is snaps its jaws shut and Cindy's lines tighten and tighten.

Insect Queen (OMara) has posed:
Insect Queen is not as much about elegance as much as she is about raw, sheer power. And arrogance. But mostly the power. I mean, the arrogance.

"That is another interesting trick, I must admit," concedes the Insect Queen to Doctor Strange, while completing the work with her lower hands. It looks like a silken... sponge-like structure? And now, a green fluid seeps away from her hands, and into the sponge. "Strongly smelling fluid. Not quite stinkbug, mind you, that would be nasty. But definitely fragrant." Everyone in the area with a nose will be able to confirm

She tosses the ball somewhere between Doctor Stange and the beast. "Feel free to focus the beast on that smell if you need a diversion safer than having the thing punch at you. That one doesn't have internal bones to break, you know?"

The Insect Queen could not suppress a shudder at the thought. A whole life stuck with an internal skeleton only? How do mammalians manage?

(( Devoting full concentration to battle, the mark of a true warrior. The voice in your head will catch up to you later, then. Farewell )), attempts the Insect Queen, slowly, loudly, as if she was talking to a young child over a faulty cell phone line. Bad connection. Telepathic coverage must be bad in this area.

The Queen proceeds to zip faster, changing the configuration of her wings to be even noisier, and starts flying all around the beast, not only to try and wrap it into an improvised silk-rope, but also to stall and confuse it even more the loud buzzing.

Doctor Strange has posed:
    The impromptu silk stink bomb is not something Stephen had thought of, nor is it something the wizard welcomes. As soon as the attack goes off, the wizard's hands move quickly to cover his nose as he doubles over.

    His binding spell is quickly evaporated and non-existant as his focus is broken. My is that pungent.

    Trying to recover Stephen drops down and hides behind the car he dropped safely moments ago, and coughing tremendously. Unable to help at the moment.

Silk has posed:
    "Oh jeez. Did we..er..I..just make a date with a voice in my head?" Silk asks herself as she shifts her weight and continues to apply more and more silk to the creature's now forced closed jaw, ensuring it wouldn't be opening any time soon.

    The legs are further wrapped up in silk and ribbon- pulled closer together in such a way that the creature was going to have trouble keeping its balance- its already begun to teeter towards the shoulder of its free arm.

    And the beast hits the ground hard, indenting the road surface below as its massive weight is brought to bare on the poor, innocent asphalt.

    But then, tragedy- The ribbon is gone- disappearing into nothingness as the will that had held it in place is removed entirely. The focus spell is likewise broken, and the beast howls as it tries to free itself from the silken bonds that now wrap around it, struggling to find its footing. One ape-ish arm reaches up to pull the silk off its eyes as growls and howls and struggles.

    Cindy was about to pat herself on the back when the beast shook its head as it tried to free itself. Her webbing line is still attached and she's suddenly flung rather hard towards a building.

    Cindy lands with a crunch, but manages to keep herself from hitting the ground. "Oh,jeeze..." she mumbles as she shakes the flying spiders from around her head and scuttles very much like an insect as she tries to get eyes on the prize. Strange seems to be out, gassed. She seems largely unaffected by the blast of disgusting scent.

    "Woah, that stinks worst than a filthy rag dragged out of a rotting cow's stomach. I am *so* glad I didn't eat before coming down here." Cindy says, however, as she's flitting down now to help Strange out. She swings down in a wide arch so she can grab him ip (assuming he allows it) and swing him up-wind of the rotting stench. "We don't have a lot of time, I think its breaking out!"

    Cindy then hands Strange a handkerchief made from spider silk- when did she weave that?

Insect Queen (OMara) has posed:
Insect Queen is likewise flung in the opposite direction, but having wings, after some flailing helplessly she just lets go of the silk she was spinning, and veers in a different direction. "Ok, ok, no panic. My Children!" She calls out, with both her voice and her telepathy, broadcasting the message to any insect or insect-like lifeform in the area. "Come, come serve your Queen! Hold this monstrosity at bay!" And, with a sigh, she adds, "And those who don't feel up to it, just come and help me wake up this other warrior." Mammalians. Sigh.

She flies over, right into the smelly cloud, headed where Cindy and Strange are, approaching in a large arc, and prepares to land in front of Strange. "Mmmm. This smell is making me hungry... For some reason I can't quite put my finger on, I'm /really/ in the mood for some mold off a rag left to fester inside a rotting cow's stomach."

If Insect Queen's trajectory continues as is, and she seems to have no intention of deviating or turning, she'll end up giving Strange... her back? Is this some form of insectoid disrespect?

Doctor Strange has posed:
    Stephen is suddenly in the arms of a small young woman and landing on the street on the other side of the beast and away from that dreadful smell. "Thank you." He responds, taking the hankerchief and wrapping it over his nose and mouth, tieing behind his head with a pinch of the sticky fabric.

    Stephen then stands back up and turning to face the chimera he lifts his hands and slowly four more arms slowly split from his normal ones until a circle of hands is formed by the way he holds them. A third eye opens up in the amulet he wears around his neck, and from within the eye a trio of white glowing circles expand out and form around his hands in almost a Vitruvian Man kind of way.

    He whispers from his lips towards the Insect Queen. "Just keep him distracted." Stephen then pulls his legs up off the ground and closes them in a cross legged sit. While his hands all take on different gestures, sigils appearing off of them and within the glowing rings encircling him.

Silk has posed:
    "Oh, my pleasure!" Cindy offers with a truly genuine tone. Luckily, if spider silk has any scent at all it is very much so inoffensive. "Got it. Distract it. I can do that."

    Cindy is off again, another flash of webbing and she's in place once the beast has begun to truly wake up. "Hey! Er.. Ugly!" Yeah, that's some expert quippery there. "Why no tears? I'd think by now you'd be crying?"

    Cindy isn't particularly certain of this part of the fighting, but there's a kind of shine to her fingers as she rushes forward and jumps to find a place ot stand right near the creature's big, yellow eyes. With webbing claws she claws at one of those eyes0 a vicious poking!

    It somewhat pisses the beast off. Its *absolutely* focusing on Silk, now.

Insect Queen (OMara) has posed:
Insect Queen did land giving her back to Strange, and, apparently, it was not a form of disrespect. In fact, now she's using her wings to fan the nefarious smell away from Strange, like some sort of towering insectoid air conditioner.

Incidentally, given her current six-foot-two size, it is entierely possible that this act officially makes the Insect Queen into Doctor Strange's biggest fan. Technically.

"No, you idiot kid!" Yells the Insect Queen, from afar, cupping her two top hands around her mouth, and straightening the other two, with fists balled. "/I/ was supposed to distract it!" She groans. "Look, is the change of plans okay with you, Random-Body-Part-Growy-Guy? Or want me to take over from Too-Dumb-To-Live-Kid?" One of the Insect Queen's four thumbs is shot to point at Silk.

Doctor Strange has posed:
    "As long as it's not trying to kill me, you can distract it with an iPad." Stephen says and then falls completely silent.

Floating above the pavement with six arms, Stephen is somehow not the oddest thing in the street today.

    His middle eye remains open as he uses it to look at the beast but see everything about it and with that knowledge he's able to see into its past.

    "There." He says and a large circle forms about the chimera and slowly the pavement gives way beneath it in large puzzle piece type formations. Until enough pieces fall away that the beast can slip through the hole in reality into its home dimension.

Silk has posed:
    Silk hops and jumps and flips as the beast tries to get her to stop whatever it is she's doing. When the beast begins to sink she's out again- THWIP! She's off into the air, a flip and a grin. "We did it! We did it!" she squeaks suddenly, hopping in place and doing a little dance right there- wiggling her hips and dancing in a tight circle. "We did it-ohoh-We did it!"

    It is as pure a victory cry as there ever was. Albeit somewhat silly.

    Silk grins over to Strange and Insect Queen. "We did it, guys! Good job! Wow!" Her heart is beating a mile a minute... Okay, so I'm Silk- it was super cool to meet both of you, so I hope to see you both soon. I gotta fly!..Swing, I mean!"

    Silk is gone then, shouting in joy as she flits through the air with all the grace, and poise one expects from one of New York's friendly, neighborhood web-slingers. "Victory!"

Insect Queen (OMara) has posed:
The Insect Queen stares at Doctor Strange. "Fine." She says, and after a short run, she leaps into the air, and zips towards the rickshaw from which she emerged.

She rummages among the blankets, and after grabbing something, she flies back to the scene of the action.

Once she arrives, Silk is already webslinging away. "Ok, yeah, yeah, we did it. Great. But what do I do with this, now?" she asks, raising Violet's iPad and showing it around to anyone who might be left watching.