8678/So There I Was, Swinging Through Queens

So There I Was, Swinging Through Queens
Date of Scene:	06 August 2019
Location:	Jackson Heights, Queens
Synopsis:	Carrie and Kitty fail to hunt down Hammerhead, but are witness to Spider-Man apprehending jewel thieves. Also? Carrie slaps him.
Cast of Characters:	Spider-Man, Shadowcat, Carrie Kelley

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Spider-Man has posed:
The first real sign of complications is always the wail of police sirens! Jackson Heights might not be the worst neighborhood in Queens, but it's got its fair share of ner-do-wells. That includes a low ranking group of Mafia hangers on that specialize in smash and grab robberies in jewelry stores. It isn't exactly high profile criminal enterprising, but seriously... How do you not appreciate that kind of Moxie?

Their vehicle, an early 2020 model sedan, has a few police cruisers in pursuit. As well as a familiar red and blue hero swinging between the buildings, quickly gaining ground on the weaving escape car!

"Come one guys! Don't drive angry!" The masked hero shouts down at them, certain there's no way they can hear him until one of them points a small calliber pistol out the window and takes a few successive shots in Spidey's direction!

Like some sort of precognitive wizard, his body folds around each of them... Twisting midair out of a cork-screw, legs bending, arms folding, back arching...

THWIP!

Pulled back into the chase with another webline, "It's like you read a book on how to be bad at this and are following it line for line! Can we talk this out? Can you just use your words?"

Shadowcat has posed:
Someone used a shotgun to take a shot at one of Kitty's long-time friends. That didn't sit very well with her. Kitty had been doing her thing on the internet, since, looking for references to this 'Hammerhead' fellow. One lead suggested some connections to a gang in Queens, though Kitty, a) considered it a specious lead and, b) thought the group in question to be rather dangerous to feel out for info.

As a result, Kitty had reached out to her friend Carrie, knowing not only she could handle herself in a scrape, but her acting skills might come in handy in getting some information out of these mafiosi.

Only the mission had been a bust. It was definitely not the Hammerhead that Kitty was seeking, given the man in their crew who had gone by that name had been gunned down three years ago.

Come on NY Times. Can't you list people's criminal alias in their obituaries?

And so it is that Kitty and Carrie's trip to Luigi's Pub had been for naught. But bringing up ol' Hammerhead had resulted in round after round of drinks being bought in remembrance, and with a beefy-handed thug looking like he'd get upset if someone didn't drink along, Kitty had drank with them, round for round.

Now? She's walking Carrie, her gait just a little unsteady. "They were kind of sweet guys," Kitty says of the underworld figures at the bar they'd just left. "I mean, apart from the larceny and numbers rackets," she says. The sound of sirens perks up Kitty's ears.

Carrie Kelley has posed:
Carrie Kelley has her arm around Kitty to steady her friend as they walk. She'd had to take some drinks, too, but she had managed to avoid drinking the majority by surreptitiously refilling the glasses of others with her own when they weren't looking. "Yeah, you grow up on the streets, you do what you have to. That doesn't mean you don't have friends though," she points out with a lopsided grin.

"Either way we were pretty lucky there," she starts to add when the sirens start causing her to glance off in that direction as well. The movement above causes her to groan at a not-too-unfamiliar figure. "Ohgod please don't be him again," she utters beneath her breath recalling the *last* time she ran into Scarlet Spider when he'd essentialy kidnapped her thinking she was snapping pictures of him.

Spider-Man has posed:
Oh Ben. Always making waves, the rascle.

Spidey swings in low towards the swerving vehicle and leaps forward with his arms back and knees bent behind him like a flying squirrel, "Here I come to sa-" More shots fired! Another need to avoid toxic levels of bullet poisoning! A line fires out from his wrist and yanks him upwards with a tug of his arm, end over end flipping back into another swing! "Stastically speaking, you've got a better chance of winning the lottery by playing baseball than hitting me while shooting from a moving vehicle..."

Webhead tells... well technically he's just telling himself. At that speed they couldn't possibly hear him and he's kind of being quiet anyways. Mostly talking to steady his nerves what with gunfire involved. "So I'm going to assume you're hashing your bets on luck!"

Spidey watches more closely this time, waiting for the arm to snake out the open window to snag it with a webline and yank the gunmen straight out into the street.

Both feet smack him in the solar-plexus and send him flying backwards towards a quickly constructed webnet between a stop sign and a streetlight! "Seeya in a bit, frien!" Spinning off a quick step over the stop sign, leap jumping atop the streetlight, and flipping into another swing after the vehicle...

Which is getting dangerously close to a pair of ladies on the sidewalk! "Hey! The sidewalk is for pedestrian traffic! You have been fined one credit by the driving morality standard..."

Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty slides her arm about Carrie's shoulders. "Thank you for coming with me. Sorry it turned out to be.... such a big bust," Slightly Inebriated Kitty says. "At least I could drink there legally now. Yay 21," she says, giving a soft giggling laugh.

The sirens draw Kitty's attention and she glances up, seeing the figure swinging along above the speeding car much further down the block. Her eyes widen. "Oh, hey it's... ah... Spider-Man!" Kitty says, pointing him out to Carrie. As if she hadn't noticed for herself. But then Slightly Inebriated Kitty isn't catching on details quite like normal at the moment.

Kitty looks over to Carrie as she hears the comment. "What-" she start to say, but then Spider-Man is webbing the thug out of the car and capturing him in a web. "Yeah! Way to go Spidey!" she calls loudly.

"Hey. That car is kind of... coming this way!" Kitty exclaims.

Carrie Kelley has posed:
"Shit. Shit yes. It is."

Carrie glances to her inebriated friend with worry knowing she could easily avoid such an issue typically, but this wasn't a typical circumstance. "Sorry!" she blurts out as she shoves her friend roughly to the side, out of the way of the car. There was no way she could drag them both in any suitable amount of time so it made sense to get Kitty to safety.

Which leaves her smack dab in front of the oncoming car.

Bunching her legs she leaps, hoping to clear at least the hood to turn any impact into a forward roll over the roof to spare herself broken bones. And death. Definitely let's avoid the death possiblity. It was a long shot but a better one than just standing there or attempting to leap to the side herself now.

Spider-Man has posed:
Part of the whole bitten by radioactive spider gig is some pretty impressive vision, besides which, his senses start going absolutely haywire when the car veers steadily over the lip of the sidewalk in the direction of the pair of women... One of whom he realizes, pretty quickly, that he knows...

Knows well enough that he's no longer sending quips as he swings with renewed and intense vigor after the vehicle that is getting dangerously close to crashing right thorugh the pair; "No.. nononononononono..." If he hadn't shown off back there ont he stop sign, if he'd just ended this quickly, could this have been prevented? Why isn't Kitty phasing them?

Then Carrie shoves the dark haired mutant out of the path of the vehicle and jumping up as if she's going to leap frog the vehicle entirely, but it's coming quickly and looks like it might still hit her on the windshield if he doesn't do something.

That something is a webline and a yank, upwards, running along the wall out of a released swing. It doesn't hurl her up in the air, but it gives her that little extra something to keep her from being hit! Hopefully she can stick the landing... but anyone who stands toe to toe with a 2022 Sedan is boss enough to shoulder roll-out right?

There's still the business of the goons...

And a really pissed off Spider-Man who just saw someone 'very' important to him nearly get run down. he pushes off the wall with one foot and side-flips, rolling his shoulders back in a half turn that turns into a roll over back bend directly on the hood of the car. Guns come out, hands are webbed to the door, both of his grabbing at the passanger side window to flip in, reversing into a double kick that knocks both driver AND door out into the street.

One guy in the back gets his head webbed to the seat behind him and both red boots slam down on the breaks with his hand gripping the wheel tight enough to prevent fish-tailing...

With the vehicle stopped and put in park, Spider-Man swings out of the gap where a door should be and stalks purposefully towards the groaning man nursing a broken arm. Carrie might be forgiven if she draws parallels to the more violently inclined Wallcrawler.

Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty gets shoved and then everything gets a bit sideways from her standpoint. As she feels the hands shoving her unexpected, she instinctively phases. That's something that she trained at, being ambushed by noises, people swinging at her, and the like, until a moment of surprise it is instinctive to phase.

Carrie has already given her that momentum though and so Kitty goes flying not just out of the way, but disappearing down into the ground like it were water and she were going for a swim.

There's no sight of Slightly Inebriated, Phased Kitty for the duration of the excitement, with Spidey thwipping Carrit to help her clear the car. About the time that said car is being forced to a stop, a head with brown hair in a pony-tail sticks above the cement and peers about right and left. "Carrie? You ok?" she asks, rising up out of the ground and then running over to check on her friend, though with a glance back to make sure Spider-Man is good as well.

Carrie Kelley has posed:
Carrie Kelley gets some pretty good air with the jump alone, but she was not wearing her gear that was made for such dubious manuevers. The webbing catches her unawares but the difference in momentum is obvious enough that she tucks, and rolls instinctively ending up on the ground not far away. Scraped up a little, definitely dirty, but alive and whole. She just lays there a moment panting from the near-death experience so that when Kitty appears again she's just... sprawled.

Her hand lifts in a thumbs-up to indicate she was okay.

"Zero-Ten. Do not recommend. Very bad Uber."

Spider-Man has posed:
Spidey continues to stalk, but upon getting to the goons side he doesn't start pummeling the helpless driver. In fact he looks like he might be making sure his arm is stablized with some webbing wrapped around the deformed forearm, "You know that research shows that most fatal accidents occure with in five miles of the home?" He says to the groaning man, "I realize you probably don't live there, but boy I sure would like to know where you guys are keeping all them stolen jewels..."

He's trying not to glance up, but that's like not licking a mouth sore. Sure, it's going to hurt, but you can't stop yourself can you? You know you do it. Spidey's head cants a little, glancing over to make certain Kitty is fine, that Carrie is fine beside her, and then pats the goons jaw. "You're a good guy, Joey, thanks for the info.."

Standing, turning around with a little self five at someone calling for him further down the street, Hey Spidey! "Hey you!" Double pointing, lacking the same enthusiasm, and spinning to half jog, half leap in the direction of the pair of women. "Hey.. sorry about..." Thumbing at the vehicle, half turning, "Joey back there is real sorry .. he would tell you himself, but he sort of..." He makes tumbling motions with his hands, "Then ..." Sprawl hands, "You okay... You look okay... but are you okay? Motioning between them, awkward.

Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty Pryde gets to Carrie and crouches by her. "Ah, rub some dirt on it and... oh wait, you look like you already did," she says, giving a teasing grin to her friend after seeing she'll be ok. Kitty reaches down a hand to help pull Carrie back to her feet. "Ok, a little tipsy, but still I woulda... you know..." Kitty says, and then touches Carrie's shoulder with her other hand than spreads her hands out like special effects as she says, "FWOOOSH!"

Kitty never 'fwooshes' when she phases.

But she seems to like the sound, as she makes it again, just softer. "Fwoosh," she says, grinning. "So, you know you have a web stuck to you, right?" Kitty says, pulling the bit of webbing off of her back. "Oh! Long polymer fibers," she says pulling at the sticky stuff.

Kitty looks up as Spider-Man comes over. She gets a really cute, goofy grin. "You got 'em then? Of course you got 'em. You're awesome," she says, trying to give him double finger-guns, but her hands seem to be webbed together now.

She seems slightly inebriated.

Carrie Kelley has posed:
Carrie Kelley allows Kitty to help her to her feet only to nod a little bit at that. "Wasn't sure if you would or not... Besides, don't need you being seen doing that, right?" A grin is offered to Kitty along with a shrug. At least until the webbing is mentioned causing her to glance over her shoulder as it's pulled off with a little crinkle of her nose.

Then Spiderman comes over. Her head snaps back around toward him, and she stalks straight at him finger jabbing at his chest. "YOU! I've been owing you this since last time..." And she hauls back to try slapping him straight across the face.

"Every time I come to New York at night I run into you, Scarlet, and you always end up doing SOMETHING to get me into trouble!"

Spider-Man has posed:
Spidey is watching Kitty, but it's hard to tell exactly how goofy the expression behind his mask actually is. If it weren't for the way his eyes move as if mimicing his facial expressions, it would just be a blank white stare set on red with black weblines, "A little touch of the bubbly, huh?" He muses quietly, amusement clear as he flips open a hidden compartment on his waist to retrieve a tiny vial. It's held out in two fingers towards Carrie, "Solv-"

Senses flash in his brain, but he's still staring at Kitty with a hidden goofy expression of his own as the hand comes in towards his face. Usually he'd have dodged that blow with relative ease, instead it catches him across the mug just as he's repeating "Oh no, I'm n-" SMACK

Jarring, but not as painful as it looks. He does turn away and bring a hand up to his face. Both hands come up, steps backwards, "I'm not Scarlet Spider.. read a newspaper, would ya? I'm Spider-Menace.. big difference... Do I look like I have my hair parted on the right side? No I do not... I'm a left part kind of guy..."

Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty Pryde is grinning at Spider-Man, the young woman mostly keeping her balance but those who know her well enough could definitely spot the tipsiness. The bad guys are being removed from their car by the police as they work to remove the webbing covering them.

Kitty gives the costumed crime-fighter a little finger wave. She's acting slightly fan-girl perhaps, when you throw in that little grin. But then Carrie whaps him across the face. "Carrie! That's...." Kitty says and cuts herself off. "Don't do that! He's a good guy!?" she says, keeping her wits about her that much at least, though she steps forward and will try to reach up and pat Spider-Man's face comfortingly. Or maybe she's protecting that face from more Carrie swings. Kitty knows how hard she can hit.

Carrie Kelley has posed:
Carrie Kelley thankfully didn't hit near as hard as she COULD hit. It was an open handed smack and not a punch. Though it was perhaps a momentary thought that had crossed her mind. She's still scowling by the time he looks back, and informs her he's the OTHER spider. That does cause her to pause, and she glances at the fangirling Kitty with a small frown of thought.

"Oh... you're not the one that kidnapped me that time then..." NOW who was awkward? "Kitty, you're drooling." Figuratively. Either way she lifts her hand to cough into her fist being a bit uncomfortable now.

"Sorry, then. It's kind of hard to tell the difference sometimes, though. Besides, I'm not from New York." Clearly not. Her accent wasn't right.

Spider-Man has posed:
"You've got a mean right hook, though..." To Carrie, first, because ouch.

Then Spidey glances to Kitty swooping in to the rescue and grins behind his mask.. while he's glad for that and kind of doesn't mind her palm on his cheek, he still reaches up to lightly pull it away by the wrist, patting it against her abdomen with a little nod, "I do /love/ a fan." It's worded a very specific way, looking from the brown haired woman to Carrie once again. "but there's all those cellphone cameras.. next thing you know we're on TMZ.. How about a selfie instead?" Wiggling his head back and forth.. but then,

"Wait, Scarlet kidnapped you? When? Wh- no why isn't important..." His eyes shrink, mask mimicing the thoughtful narrow on his face behind it, "I guess I'm going to have to talk to him... about that.." It had been a long time since he'd discussed anything with Ben.

Wasn't exactly the easiest kind of conversation to have, right?

"No, it's cool, I get it..." Hands up, side glancing Kitty, thankful his mask keeps the grin hidden, "You.. uh.. yeah, totally. B- Scarlet.. I guess his nonsense is kind of my fault? I mean not really, but..." So complicated, barely worth trying to explain in the street with cops around. "If the worst I get out of it is slapped across the face, I feel like I'm doing my civic duty, ya know?"

Hand held out in Carrie's direction, "We cool? You do handshakes? Fistbumps? Crisp high fives?" Alternating between the three.

Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty Pryde just grins a bit goofily and lets Spider-Man move her hand back. "It was great seeing you in action. Though I missed the ending there," Kitty says. Kitty looks back to Carrie, eyebrows going up. "Kidnapped. Wait. What?" she asks, turning to look to Spider-Man.

The explanation, or something explanation-adjacent at least, is illuminating enough for Kitty to not ask more. Though when a fistbump is offered to her, Kitty daps back at him. "So, um. Thank you, Spider-Man," she says, smiling at him. Kitty slips her arm around Carrie. "This is my friend Carrie. She's really awesome. Sorry she hit you."

Carrie Kelley has posed:
Carrie Kelley reaches out to offer a fist bump simply enough. "Don't need anymore webbing there," she points out with a nod only to glance aside at Kitty with a shrug. "Kind of. I mean, he grabbed me off the street because he thought I was taking photos of him. It was a weird night," she explains simply.

"Probably should get a cab the rest of the way home."

Spider-Man has posed:
"Carrie, nice to meet you. I'm Spider-Man... the good Spider-Man... well there's like a half dozen of us now, but I'm the first one, I think. Maybe there was a world war two version I don't really know about.. Give it a few years and I'm sure they'll defrost someone. Can't go fifty feet without hitting a thawed out War Veteran-" with air quotes, "amirite?"

A glance, then, to Kitty, "Aw schucks, Kits." Spidey says absently, scratching at the back of his neck with his foot jokingly toeing at the imaginary dirt on the sidewalk, "It t'weren't nothin' you ladies wouldn't have handled yourself. Right place, wrong time, just a lazy bum of a spider, doing spider things..." Humble as ever. "Well..." Patting his firm abdomen with both open palms, "I suppose I should get out of here before the Po-pos appreciative blind eye towards my vigilantistic actions ends... you good getting home?" To Kitty, glance at Carrie who looks far less wobbly, "Need money for an Uber? Friendly neighborhood Spider-Man all the way, ya know?"

He waits a second longer... probably a second longer than is comfortable and then nods and fires a web straight up. He jerks and pulls himself at least as high as a standing human, then fires off another line with his feet flung forward to propel him in the direction of a small studio apartment a few blocks away. His thoughts, as they often do after mention of his clone are brought up, go somewhere guilty and dark. "Ugh... why are you even like this, Ben..." Murmuring to hismself as he swings around a corner.

"Should probably explain //that// to Kitty too.. So, I have a clone.. wants so more pasta?"