13781/The Chugach Mask

The Chugach Mask
Date of Scene:	09 January 2023
Location:	New York City
Synopsis:	Even when turning over a new leaf Jinx runs in to more trouble than she bargains for. Jinx meets Spider-man and shows him what's what. But he's not easy to shake and he catches up with her, choosing to let her walk this time.
Cast of Characters:	Jinx, Peter Parker

---

Jinx has posed:
It's a small bank known for its secure boxes more than actual banking. What would normally take an investigate months of hard work was cut short by a little bit of scrying magic from Jinx. Now, she's dressed in a pants suit and wearing make up to fit in to the establishments expectations of who might come to a bank like this.

"Right this way Mrs. Abernathy," says the bank clerk and leads her in to the back rooms, down stairs, and in to the vault. The steel cage door is locked behind her and she is then left to her own devices.

Her British accent clips as she murmurs to herself, "Number 117..." and approaches the locked box. She doesn't have a key but that's no problem for her. Locking picking kit opened and a little bit of bad luck with a wiggle of a finger and the box springs free from the wall.

The Chugach mask, wooden and old, is placed in to her leather folio case. She puts the box back in to the wall and taps the call button. "All done here," she says cheerily.

The clerk returns and unlocks the door. "I trust everything was to your satisfaction," he asks and Jinx nods her head. "Yes quite," she replies. The security guard steps down from the staircase and reaches for his weapon. "Well, not from our end Mrs. Abernathy. The police have been alerted. I'm afraid you're just not 102 years old."

Jinx cracks a smile, "Well thank you for the compliment." Her hand raises up and she motions to the guard. He draws his gun, points, and with a *click* the weapon seizes uncharacteristically. The clerk grabs her arm but she spins his grip about in to a grapple and then knees him in the groin.

The guard tries to draw his baton and it fumbles in his hands bouncing on the floor. Jinx hooks a foot under it and kicks it back at him. As he leans forward to scoop it up it whacks him right in the face.

Moments later, the alarm is raised and Jinx is on her motorcycle racing through the streets. The sounds of sirens not far behind her. A big smile on her face because the thrill of the crime is something you can never shake.

Peter Parker has posed:
It has been a good day for Spider-man. Nothing more than a few attempted purse snatchings, classes had not yet resumed so he had nothing to occupy his mind, and he was still riding high from recent positive developments in his personal life. It was, in short, the exact opposite of Typical Parker Luck, for a change.

As he hears the sirens go off, though, he rapidly swings into action. "One last call for the night before I go and tuck myself in," he says to himself, redirecting his webline to take a swing toward and ahead of the sound of pursuing sirens. Experience has given him a pretty good grasp on this, where to go to anticipate the path of the bad guy based around where the sirens are going. Spider-Doppler, he jokingly explained to Ghost Spider one time. She would get it, at some point.

And so with some quick web work and web slinging, Spider-man found himself perched atop a streetlamp, seeing the motorcycle bearing down on the intersection with a parade of flashing lights behind her. The motorcycle is not hard to make out as the pursued entity. Spider-man tosses some webs at the cross of the intersection to prevent the cars from coming forward when the light turns green, much to the consternation of a few cabbies, but better they shake a fist at him than have their hoods dented by whatever thug is escaping the cops now, right?

Waiting for just the right timing, Spider-man watches the motorcycle and then blasts an elaborate and thick web in its path, close enough that unless the rider is magical there is no possible way they could stop fast enough to avoid landing in the web.

"Be home in time for Jimmy Fallon," he murmurs, miming dusting off his hands.

Jinx has posed:
There's a burst of runes in Jinx's face and symbols burn across her motorcycle body. Magic. Most definitely magic. Jinx was not expecting a web to come out of no where but the webbing itself burns up in magical fire before it can capture the bike. It does snag her and her bike starts to wobble.

She grips the handle bars tightly and stops the bike with a turn, staring up at Spider-man even as the sirens of the police get closer. "Huh," she says looking at the man in red and blue. "Do you secrete that or..."

A small shrug, either way, he's a problem. She revs the motorcycle and smirks up at him, "Sorry, can't stick around, though I do love your merch." A hand raises and a burst of pink magic blasts through Spider-man. Bad luck.

Jinx spins the bike and takes off down the road as two police cars race past Peter weaving in and out of the traffic trying to catch up to the thief.

Peter Parker has posed:
There is a deep sigh that slips forth from Spider-man as he sees the webbing burn up. "Magic...what did it have to be magic?" he intones with that same resigned cadence that made Indiana Jones a star. He is already getting ready to move and throw some more webbing when Jinx starts chatting him up.

"You know, you'd think that, but I tell you, everyone would complain if they were getting stuck in Spider-man's butt thread, so I decided to just stick it here," he says, firing off some webbing from his wrists at her. But somehow a gust of wind catches the well aimed shots, and one of them hits one of the elevated trains and yanks him from the streetpost. "Hey now!" he says, before releasing and reorienting himself on a passing truck as he watches Jinx speed away.

"Don't go, if you really want, I can give you a punch card. Free exclusive 'I got webbed by Spider' comes after your fourth capture!"

He focuses a bit more on where he is going, watching each of his strands hit the spot as he swings after her. Usually his Spider senses let him compensate for the wind, but he has to do this the old fashioned way.

Jinx has posed:
Jinx glances back over her shoulder and lets out a laugh when she sees him get yanked away by the train. The action isn't over though. She still has the police to lose. Aaaand he's coming back at her. "Persistent little spider ain't he," she murmurs to herself.

She weaves past a truck and motions to its wheels. One of them blows out suddenly and blocks off one of the police cars with a crash. Jinx winces a touch hoping the sudden stop wasn't too bad for them. The other police car skids and diverts around the crash.

Peter Parker has posed:
While the bad guy is getting away (or bad gal, as the case may be), Spider-man's primary responsibility is still always to the people around him. "Hey, if you want a blow out, stick to your hair do!" he calls up towards the escaping thief while pausing for a moment to cast around some webbing to keep the police cars from skidding into each other. He jumps down to grab the truck, not relying upon the webbing to slow its momentum easily enough to prevent injury to the driver. Then he looks around, trying to figure out where Jinx is.

"She's trouble," he murmurs to himself. A few weblines to get him back up and swinging, and he listens once again to the sound of the sirens. He takes off, calculating an interception point a few blocks ahead, if she is going where he thinks she is going. And this time, he will be better prepared than just a web!

Jinx has posed:
Jinx scoffs at the shade thrown at her hair. "Wow, not so friendly neighbourhood spider-man after all," she says mostly to herself as she double-checks her cargo is still safe. But hey, if the spider is going to do damage control for her may be she doesn't need to be so careful.

Up ahead she sees a transport truck with large kegs of beer in metal barrels. They're tied down but, with a throw of her hand she sends out a bit of bad luck, then swerves out of the way as the rope breaks at a stress point and the barrels begin to fall down on to the road at speed.

She looks over her shoulder again. He's still coming. Well- she'll have to do something about that. She pulls out her phone and checks the maps. Aha, perfect. With a quick turn she moves down a side street.

Peter Parker has posed:
"What, makeover tips aren't friendly anymore?" Spider-man keeps swinging, because that's what he does. "I am pretty sure that's what's keeping TikTok afloat. Have you seen my channel?" He swings up high into the air and twists to gain speed with a controlled plummet towards the ground. "I made a mistake at first and was uploading to DocOck, and let me tell you, that is a _very_ different audience."

The kegs of beer represent a real problem. Compressed liquid, if they hit the wrong way they could fire off as projectiles. So Spider-Man does his best to catch them again, a bit of webbing here, some sure one-handed grabs there. He catches all but one which is spinning out of control towards the intersection before he swoops up to capture it look a fumbled football. As his pursuit continues he spots a dozen or so friends playing some B-52s on the top of their roof. He comes in for a quick landing and sets it down. "Just make sure you bring it back for the recycling deposit!" he says before leaping off to resume the pursuit. They all looked 21, right??

He catches sight of Jinx's quick turn, and arcs around to change his course as well. "Welcome to my parlor said the spider to the fly..."

Jinx has posed:
The second police car has to come to a skidded stop as the kegs start barrelling down the road. One of the officers gives a wave to Spider-man though as he stops the kegs hitting their car - that'll save on paperwork. The other is on the comms reporting that the suspect got away from them.

Jinx's motorbike echos loudly down the side road and she drives it up over a curb and in to a park. She skids to a stop and kicks off her boots. Feet plant to the ground and she rises off the bike.

This is the posture of a woman taking a stand. Her hands spread and a smirk plastered across her face. "Come out Spider-man. I'll make this quick because honestly, you weren't in my plans today and you're still kinda cool even if you think it's okay to comment on my awesome hair unsolicited."

The wind begins to swirl about her as it builds in to an invisible fury.

Peter Parker has posed:
Sure enough, Spider-man does swing into the scene as expected. He adopts a perch on a streetlamp, knees out to the side as his hands rest on either side of the lamp. "Don't take it personal, honestly, I have no idea how you do your hair. You blow out a truck tire, I have to make a blow out joke. That's my thing." He tilts his head. "Honestly, I'm not even sure what a blow out even looks like, the only hair thing I know are perms and --- " And that's when the webbing fires out at Jinx, as if hoping to distract her with his meandering take on hair styling.

Jinx has posed:
Jinx isn't playing around now. Well, she is, but she's bringing the big guns. Not just her innate bad luck but actual magic. The wind whips up around her as the webs coming flying at her. They are pulled in to the whirling wind and flung to the side.

"How's the song go? incy wincy spider somethingsomething water spout. Along came the rain...," she says demonstrating her mastery. Well, it's not so much mastery as journeywoman at this point but the sky rumbles as dark clouds begin to gather.

It was a misdirect of course - she thrusts out her hands and blasts the willy willy at Spider-man to scoop him up in to the vortex. "Hah!," she chirps. "Gotta love that feeling of flying, right Spider-man?," she's certainly not sounding vindictive or even like she intends to do him harm. But she does, suddenly, let go of the wind over a pond of water.

Peter Parker has posed:
"I _hate_ that song," mutters Spider-man as he watches the wind take up. "Look Little Miss Motorcycle, can we just agree that I can scare you and eat your curds and whey, and call it a day?" The chatter does not mean that he is taking it lightly, his spider-sense kicking him in to give him a bit of warning that there is a misdirect, but not quite enough to prepare him fully for the assault of the wind.

"You know, it's a good thing you never asked what kind of Spider I am," he says, as he quickly whips up a little parachute of webbing as the wind finally relents, giving him some way to slowly steer his descent, trying to avoid the water. "Lots of us have different tricks."

Jinx has posed:
Jinx watches with fascination as he floats carefully down to the edge of the pond. "What are you, inspector gadget?," she quips back at him and sighs, "Fine. You're clearly too good at this so I'm going to have to be mean."

She lifts up her hands and claps them together. Peter finds himself suddenly stuck in place, like a statue caught in a moment of consciousness. "And if I'm being honest, I only really do this to people I don't like. You're kinda fun though so don't take this the wrong way. Think of it like - a complement. Oh and don't worry, it'll wear off in a few minutes," she says genuinely concerned he might freak out.

She slips back on to her bike and leaves behind the designer boots. They were probably stolen anyway. "Hope I don't see you around Spider-man," she says and revs the motorcycle.

The sound of her bike is long gone by the time Peter can suddenly move again.

Peter Parker has posed:
"I can only aspire to be as cool as him!" retorts Spider-man as he glides down towards the shore. "And flattery will get you everywhere. Including a cell tonight, if you keep this up."

He hits the ground and starts to run towards her before he finds himself suddenly unable to give chase. Or move. Stuck in place. Like a fly in a .... "So THIS is what it feels like. Man, now I have some sympathies..."

Despite the quip, Peter is flexing to try to see what movement he can get in spite of the magic. "A few minutes? But I'll miss the monologue, and while admittedly that's not where Jimmy shines, I was really hoping to hear his take on the Jets total failure this weekend!"

But then she is on her way. Leaving behind the boots. He calls at the retreating motorcycle, "IF YOU THINK I AM GOING TO COME AFTER YOU LIKE PRINCE CHARMING YOU HAVE ANOTHER THING COMING." He sighs quietly, waiting for his fingers to work again.

"Yeah. I'm totally coming after her like Prince Charming." He looks up as sees a pigeon circling around. "You better not..."

Jinx has posed:
--- The next day ---

It's not a terribly fancy restaurant. People aren't required to wear fine clothes here. But it's not a food court either. The Italian restaurant has booths and leather seating. Jinx is fine with the location because if she's not paying then it's free food.

Taking a seat at the table with the three gentlemen. In suits themselves, with long hair tied back, they represent three different generations. One with silvery white hair, another with the lines of age, and a younger man who has an intense look about him suggesting he's not quite as confident with today's proceedings as the others.

Jinx sets down her leather folio on the table and smiles to the men. "I got it," she states matter of factly. The young man looks about to make sure she wasn't followed or that this isn't a sting. The middle aged man simply nods and places a briefcase on the table top too. The older man, however, looks genuinely relieved.

Peter Parker has posed:
There are some questions that Peter Parker ponders popping promptly per proforma, and as a result he has taken a quiet stroll to search out in preparation a properly positive proprietorship. And as luck would have it (good or bad) it is the Italian restaurant that Jinx has chosen to make her exchange in. There is no tingle as he steps inside, but he certainly recognizes that hair. The subject of a much scorned quip the prior day.

He attempts to blend in, but he lacks the stealth of either Ghost Spider or Spiderman (III) and so the host definitely notices him lurking there and gazing into the room. Trapped in conversation, he does his best to explain his interest and ask about the possibility of getting a reservation, keeping half an ear on Jinx and her associates. Hopefully he can detach and get outside and into a different outfit before she is leaving.

Jinx has posed:
Jinx, unaware of Peter Parker or Spider-man for that matter, is happy to open up the folio and show the older man a wooden mask. It's very aged, it's not whole but perhaps it rotted naturally. She places it on top of the folio and slides it over.

With trembling hands he touches it and he speaks his native Chugach. It is quite obvious that the three men are Native American at this point, though the middle aged man looks like he'd be at home running a Casino more than seeking out historical artefacts.

"You can always be relied upon," says the middle aged man even as the younger man eyes over at Peter for a moment. His hand disappears, perhaps toward a concealed weapon. The young one is certainly on edge.

"Your payment, as per our arrangement," he says and opens the brief case for Jinx to see the stacks of bills. Her smile widens and she nods her head, "It's always a pleasure Chief." Jinx shuts the case before too many eyes see her prize. "I trust you and your word."

The young man whispers to the middle aged man, "I just wish we didn't have to rely on criminals like her to right these wrongs."

The older man slides the mask back in to the folio and says to the young one, "I am not your tribe, but you will learn that this world," he motions to the restaurant, "was not built for us. And that means we need to find skilled people who are willing to do what is right, to help us."

Peter Parker has posed:
The snippet of conversation makes its way to the ears of the young gentleman scouting out the restaurant for a date, and Peter Parker nods to the host. He murmurs softly to him, his natural voice and not the one he affects when speaking as Spider-man, and makes a reservation for as soon as he can. Some months in the future. That will be fine, he tells himself. And then he slips out the door, and then quickly down an alleyway. With any luck (good or bad), he will be in costume as Spider-man by the time that Jinx is making her exit.

He has some words to exchange with her...

Jinx has posed:
The older man smiles to Jinx though and says, "Five to go. Same arrangement?"

Jinx nods her head and leans forward offering her hand to the older man. He shakes it. "A pleasure as always." She picks up the brief case and winks at the young man just to mess with him, then heads out of the restaurant.

A good piece of work, as far as she's concerned. She turns down the alleyway where her bike is parked unaware a spider is waiting for her.

"You know," she says to herself, "we should have done this years ago..." Because it's clear she looks very pleased with herself and it's not just because of the money in that briefcase.

Peter Parker has posed:
"Excuse me, miss, I've been going door to door trying to find the lovely young woman that these match." The designer boots thump down onto the ground on either side of Jinx's motorcycle, tossed down with a decent degree of accuracy from a Spider-man perched on the brick wall up the side of that alleyway. His hands and feet are both planted against the wall, and he is just watching her for the moment.

Jinx has posed:
Jinx's brow furrows in confusion and then she looks up at Spider-man. "You again. Bug off would you..." she says with a sigh and then places the briefcase on the back of her motorcycle. "Ya know, I tried to be nice but now you're just being a creepy stalker."

Yet she's not immediately zapping him with the bad luck. No, she's clearly in a good mood. She looks up at him and squints a little, framing him with thumb and index fingers of both hands, "You're very photographic though. Why don't you come down here and talk like a normal person. Or do I have to start internet rumours you shoot your webs out your butt?"

Peter Parker has posed:
"Technically, arachnid, actually," replies Spider-man, not moving from his perch as she arranges the briefcase. "And what's so creepy about bringing a girl back her boots? It's not like I drank out of them while I was holding onto them." He pauses. "Really. Honest. I did not do that."

As she arranges the squares he moves a little bit into a pose. "Careful, though, I do have an exclusive deal with JJJ at the Bugle to give him all the embarrassing ones, so if any of these aren't good, they gotta go through him first."

He does not take her invitation to come down. "Listen, uh. I can look the other way on this one. I did a bit of research into what you stole, and it turns out the people that you stole it from didn't have the rights to it either." He waggles his finger. "That doesn't make it right, and what you did was _very_ dangerous, but..." He shrugs. "No one got hurt, thanks to me, so...promise me you'll let things get sorted out the right way, and you can ride off into the sunset." He nods. "With your fabulous boots."

Jinx has posed:
Jinx peers at the boots, now doubting him on the whole 'drinking from the shoes' bit. She hmms and picks them up, putting them on top of the brief case and securing them down to her bike.

"I don't know who J.. oh wait, that blowhard from the Bugle? I always thought he was going to join Infowars or something. That guy is vile," she states bluntly. It's not like she has to dance on egg shells about the guy.

With a smirk, though, at his declaration that he'll 'let this one go' she finger guns at him, "Sure, I'll totally leave the return of stolen Native American artefacts for people to .. do the right thing." She laughs.

"Come on spiderbutt, what reality do you live in? the woman who had that mask bought it when she was twenty and kept it hidden because she was scared someone would tell on her. She knew she was doing the wrong thing but didn't want to give it up anyway. They're all like that.. rich fucks."

She mounts her bike and lifts her chin a little, "Besides, we both know how it'd end if you tried to stop me again."

Peter Parker has posed:
"He's not such a bad guy, honestly, if you get to know him. Deep down, like, WAY deep down, he has a heart." Spider-man tilts his head. "I think. Maybe it's like the tootsie roll center of a tootie pop, except instead of the three and the crunch, you ... " He trails off, and then looks at Jinx. "You're right, and yes, doing the right thing is hard, but this life isn't about what's easy, but it's about what is right. Right?"

He flips off from the wall, doing a back flip before he lands a few feet away from the bike. "Listen. You've got magic, I get it. I have bad luck, it's just part of my charm. But my bad luck doesn't outweigh my stubbornness." He sighs. "Look," he says quietly, leaning forward and glancing up and down the alleyway as if to make sure they are not being overheard. "Avoid the police chases that risk the safety and lives of the people of the city if you're going to keep doing this, ok?"

Jinx has posed:
Jinx smirks a moment and then watches as he flips down in to the alleyway. She wonders whose behind that mask. Whoever it is clearly has his heart in the right place - he bothered to research what she stole after all. But not before he would have had her thrown in jail.

"I got a reality check for you Spider-man. I was outrunning those police just fine until you threw your web at me," she shrugs her shoulders and raises her eyebrows challengingly. Is she claiming he escalated things? that she had it all under control? .. if only. If she really had it locked down the alarm at the bank never would have been raised.

Her eyes stare intensely for a moment and then she looks down at the bike and presses the start button. The engine thrrms to life. "I'm not trying to get anyone killed. I'm just trying to right some wrongs you capes and suits turn a blind eye to. This world sucks and if you don't bite back it'll eat you up."

Peter Parker has posed:
"You may have gotten out fine, but you were about to leave a path of chaos behind you that someone would have had to clean up." Spider-man shakes his head. "I get it. I really do. But what if someone got hurt? How would you have felt then?"

He watches her turn on the bike, and he sighs. "You think I turn a blind eye to things?" He shakes his head. "I do what I can, to look out for the little guy. Sure, I'm not changing the world on a grand scale, but what I'm doing, I change a few people's lives every day in sometimes a big way. It'd be nice to fix all the world's problems, but i'm just a friendly neighborhood Spider-man."

He takes a step back from the bike. "Right the wrongs you can, but don't create any more along the way. Ok?"

Jinx has posed:
Jinx looks at him for a while, "Nah. You're not imposing enough..." she says apparently deciding something but then shrugs, "Look if you were really going to make a difference in the world - help the little guy - you'd shut down the mob banks. You'd lean on the D.A. to do something about it. But you're no Batman. No one is going to take you seriously if you do scary voice. So.. yah.. you know what, you keep saving those cats from trees."

She grins a moment. It's clear she's biting at him just to win one over on him. Perhaps his words hit a little too close to home. She's hurt on the inside and doesn't want to show it. But there's a sadness behind her eyes that betrays her. She doesn't give him the chance to dig in to the wound though.

Her feet lift up and she revs the bike and with him out of the way, she takes off out in to the street. A car suddenly breaks to avoid hitting her.

Peter Parker has posed:
Turning to watch Jinx goes, Spider-man waits until she's out of earshot before sighing dejectedly.

"But they are _cute_ cats..."

And with that, he casts up a webline and starts to swing away, somehow suspecting that the Jinx will cross his path again some day...