17338/The Sinister Shocker
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The Sinister Shocker | |
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Date of Scene: | 27 May 2024 |
Location: | East Village |
Synopsis: | A neighborhood in the Lower East Side of Manhatten comes under assault by the Shocker and a number of people arrive on the scene to help the situation out. |
Cast of Characters: | Peter Parker, Mary Jane Watson, Kamala Khan, Doreen Green, Felicia Hardy, Joan Wright
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- Peter Parker has posed:
Mew York City in spring.
All things considered it's a pretty good place to be. The weather is warming up, the heat of the day even lingering a little at night. Green is popping back out into the world, with the boughs of trees and the grass at nearby corner parks actually showing a hint of color after the grey days of winter.
Soon enough the heat will roll in in earnest, turning Manhatten into a sweltering concrete jungle, oppressed in a humid haze.
But for right now, in this moment, things are pretty good.
Mostly.
New York has been established on a pretty firm foundation of bedrock. It's what has allowed so many skyscrappers to spring up in such a tight cluster. Generally speaking the city doesn't have to worry too much about unstable ground. No shifting, no real earth tremors or the like.
While the Lower East Side is not populated with a whole host of towering structures like much of the rest of the island of Manhatten, urban density is still pretty extreme, as is the case most places in the city. And tonight, this particular neighborhood is home to a rash of very localized but extremely powerful tremors, virtually unheard of. Already a trio of tenements that have been creeping closer and closer to being condemned -- closer and closer to making way for new building, for gentrification that would certainly mean better conditions -- have collapsed. But would also mean a whole lot of people would lose their rent controlled apartments as well. The likelihood of this being a freak natural occurence? Scant, to say the least.
And with emergency responders on their way towards the scene, a fourth building has begun to shudder, to shake. A gas main has broken, leading to a small explosion and a fire starting in that shaking building making any sorty of evacuation much more difficult. While a few people have managed to get out, who stand in amongst others who escaped a similar fate from other buildings down the block, still others remain trapped as fire escapes shake free of the crumbling walls of the building, as dark plumes of smoke rise upward in a choiking haze and the building seems mere minutes from falling in on itself.
In an alleyway, just up the block from the latest building to suffer from this strange, unlikely fate, a hooded figure stands, arms extended, pointing towards the crumbling brick foundations of this structure, features beiled by that outear and watched over by a half dozen or so men who pay less attention to the nearby building then they do to the rest of the neighborhood.
- Mary Jane Watson has posed:
She had been on a walk. Just heading through the city while on one errand to another. Phone slung up against her ear, held in place by her shoulder. "Got it, Aunt Anna, I'll pick it up on the way home, yeah, everything is.." Sirens would go off. "Gotta get out of here, emergency services are running forwards. Love you, be safe." Then she's going to snap down to her 'friends' phone (the needing-a-better-name Spider-Comm) to rapidly text out an alert. Then she's immediately going to swear, hands reaching into her pocket to pull out whatever was in there. In this case, a squished up paper bag that held a danish she had grabbed on her way out. Said danish is long gone by now. She goes to poke her fingers through it to make two 'eyeholes', lets out a sigh..
And then is running in. She's never going to live this one down now, isn't she?
And so Bag Girl goes to rush on to help.
- Kamala Khan has posed:
After receiving an anonymous tip, Kamala Khan started tracking the beast about an hour ago. She first caught a glimpse in Jersey City, just a couple of blocks from the Colgate Center, but she was too eager and it got away. She followed it up to Hoboken, then across the Hudson River, and eventually through Soho. There was a slight double-eggroll-related delay in Chinatown, but Kamala's quest would soon come to an end in the lower east side of Manhattan, just on the edge of Tompkins Square Park.
"I've got you now!" Kamala Khan announces, staring down at the helpless creature otherwise minding its own business on the first patch of sidewalk that keeps the city safe from the park's verdant spring growth. She taps an oblong-shaped button on the bottom of her phone's screen and gently bites her bottom lip.
Kamala Khan's phone plays a little jingle to confirm her latest catch in Pokemon Go.
Kamala throws both of her arms into the air to celebrate, but soon retreats into her personal field of awkwardness as a group of boys about her age snicker as they walk by. 'What a weirdo' is the general summary of their remarks as Kamala stands motionless, shoulders tensed while she waits for this personal nightmare to end. She pretends to take a phone call, though the edges of her phone screen betray her, revealing that no one called her. Pokemon Go is waiting for her to decide what to do with her latest catch.
The tremors distract the already-prone-to-distraction Kamala Khan from welcoming the Pokemon onto the team. The emergency sirens and lights prevent her from sending it off for recycling. The screams are ultimately what send her running for the nearest alley. She begins fumbling with the bangle bracelets on her wrist so she can open up the secret compartment that hides her domino mask.
Ms. Marvel's mask.
- Doreen Green has posed:
It had looked to be a relatively quiet moment for Manhattan. As much so that Doreen Green, the Unstoppable Squirrel Girl... had stopped for a break with a sandwhich from the local deli. Which she had just stand down atop a billboard with, unwrapped, and opens her mouth to take a bite...
And then her own Spider-Comm goes off from MJ's text to interrupt her, making her tail bristle. "Aw macadamias, ain't that just the timing." And it turns out her tail as bristling because the device was hidden in it, until Tippy-Toe pops out of the fluff holding the gadget in one forepaw and shaking the other while chittering that it interrupted her nap. "I know, Tippy, I'm sorry." She grabbed it with one hand, flipped it open to see the message, and then stuffed it in a pocket of her bomber jacket. "But it looks like that nap is going to have to wait." She hops down from the perch to take off across the rooftops with squirrel-like speed and grace.
While eating as much of the sandwhich as she can. No one knows if she has cheek pouches amongst her squirrel-like abilities, and likely no one wants to really ask about such weird things, but she's doing a good job of chomping down as she goes.
- Felicia Hardy has posed:
Two nights only, the Ecliptic Star Sapphire is on display at the Sterling & Harrow Auction House before it's to be sold -- it's anticipated value?
12 million dollars.
Black Cat crouches on the rooftop, the cool night air whispering against her skin as she surveys the chaos below. Spring has finally come to New York City, but amidst the budding beauty, something is terribly wrong.
The Lower East Side trembles with unnatural, powerful quakes. From her vantage point, where she'd been casing the auction house, she'd already seen three tenements collapse, reduced to rubble.
"Of course," she mutters to herself. "There's only one night left. Why wouldn't there be a spontaneous earthquake?"
Now a fourth building shudders on the brink of destruction.
Even as flames lick hungrily at its base, Felicia is already on the move, sprinting across a building top and leaping -- grappling hook out, she swings around a corner and up, releasing it into a graceful flip and a crouched landing.
Closer and closer she races, black catsuit glinting as she crosses alleys, until she can see the full extent of the damage.
Until she can spot a figure from above.
Until she can launch that grappling hook into the side of a building and use it to drop down into that very same alley, white hair fluttering around her shoulders.
She rises to her feet, catlike balance holding her upright, though her hands are at her sides, claws glinting in what little light exists in the alley, facing down the hooded figure.
"What do we have here?"
- Joan Wright has posed:
A green jeep parks nearby allowing for a woman of a similar color scheme to step on out. Now, there are some days where it's good to have a Government related job. One of which are the observation of Federally recognized holidays. Well, barring any disasters. As such, Joan was set to enjoy her time off.
That was before the shaking started going on.
Considering Joan's abilities and general knowledge, she got a call. And while she may have hurried. The time to get here from Long Beach does make it so her arrival wasn't in time for the first three buildings.
But as she arrives upon the scene in her resistweave attire and various other saftey gear, the member of Damage Control frowns, scanning the scenery.
A pink and blue roomba-ish bot hovers behind her, spinning around to scan the area. Joan looks over to the less burning ones and then back to Bailey. "Search, tag, and notify." She gestures to the buildings in a set order. 1, 2, and 3... in the order Joan presumes that they were hit in.
With a beep and boop, Bailey zooms off, exploring the areas in which tiny flying bots may go. Until there's reason to go towards those building. Joan's primary concern is with the fourth building, most notably making sure the building stays standing long enough for people to get out.
A phone is removed from a pouch, quickly unlocking it to open the building profiles sent over for this area. a glance to the street signs and the number marker upon the building is all that's needed to pull up that particular building's profile and architectural plans to determine the area that would most likely affect the building's capability for standing at all.
- Peter Parker has posed:
Spring is indeed a lovely time in New York.
The weather is better. It is certainly much nicer for swinging around. While the evenings lack the harsh, biting chill of winter, they are still pleasant enough that the Spider-Suit isn't a sauna. Though a few technological gifts from a friend should help with that going forward.
So things should be relatively good for the city's favorite -- or most infamous -- wall-crawling menace, right?
Well, just hold your horses there. Spring also means that the Spring session at Empire State University is wrapped up. And while Peter Parker might be well on his way towards graduating with honors, not every last exam is written yet.
And even when it does, he still has his Master's program ahead of him.
So long story short, Peter Parker should probably be at home studying. Preparing to write his final exams. Not be out on the town.
Not that he is exactly enjoying himself. Okay, okay, he is very much enjoying himself. But that's not the point of things, honest. Yes, swinging through the city is incredibly fun. It will just never get old. But he's on the lookout for trouble.
And he's found it too, the trouble in the Lower East Side neighborhood so very apparent.
Against the dark of the sky overhead, it would be easy to miss him if one wasn't expecting him. If one wasn't looking up. The *thwip* of his web-shooters is easily lost against the rumbling of the soon to be collapsing building.
It's a mess. Certainly there is no good approach. But a mother and her child are framed in one window, trying to breath through the smoke plumes that rise up around them, the fire-escape having torn loose from the wall and offering them no escape.
No escape until Spider-Man comes soaring out of that dark night, having released his web line at just the right time to fling himself at that nearby wall, landing heavily on the shaking surface and stifling a choke as he passes through that acrid black smoke.
"Hey there, no more tears. Spider-Man is hear," he offers up as reassuringly as he can to the woman and child. "I'm just going to loop this around you and lower you to the ground. It'll be fine, I promise," he says in chipper fashion.
But as another shudder goes through the building that seems less and less certain by the moment. Still, Spidey swiftly gathers up a webline in hand, wrapping it around the pair. Then, offering a hand, helps them step up out across the window sill, starting to lower them towards the ground.
"It's going to be okay!" he calls out again to the terrified pair, just as the building is rocked by yet another heavy tremor and he clings tightly to the brick underhand, doing his best to rapidly lower them down towards the ground and the waiting neighbors onsite to gather her up.
While that might be one small family taken care of, others trapped in the crumbling, burning building is virtually a sure thing and while the sound of sirens in the distance suggests help is on the way, it's not here yet.
In all the excitement, it is pretty understandable that the source of all this trouble might go overlooked. But at least one person on the scene arrives in the middle of that mess.
When the platinum blonde thief drops into that alley where the hooded man and his lookouts linger, the clear leader amongst the bunch mutters, "Shit." While his features might be concealled under the thick hooded sweatshirt, his voice is certainly familiar. As are those purple and yellow gauntlets that stick out from the long sleeves, pointed in the direction of the currently crumbled building.
"Would you deal with this?" he barks at the men surround him. "That's what you're paid for."
Guns appear in hands and a trio of the lookouts swivvel to bring their guns to bear on the Black Cat, probably not entirely understanding what they're dealing with.
For the moment, the other three men continue to scan the surroundings, looking for more trouble.
- Mary Jane Watson has posed:
The Bag Girl is totally not dignified in this, moving to run around over towards the tumbling buildings as she rushes along at high speed. A bit later than the others as she goes to quickly try and catch up with what's going on. Buildings being braced and collapsing, people inside trembling and unable to get out.. Mary Jane is forced to make brutal calculations. Concessions.
Save those she can. She goes to rush along towards those trembling as they would leave the buildings, disoriented, and try to help pull them towards the safe zone. Like a bucket brigade as people evacuate the buildings, and she goes to shepherd them to safety. As she looks over her shoulder and sees the men with guns she tenses. Teh platinum blonde has this. Right? Right?
Mary Jane pauses and as she herds a group of people away, a hand goes towards a parking meter. They still have those in the city? That implies there's anywhere to park at all. Everyone knows that's a myth. Hand going to the meter, Bag-Girl goes to rip it up and over, ready to use it as a club if she has to while making sure to put herself between people and gunmen just in case as she goes to then head back to the next group. Focused on moving as fast as possible.
- Doreen Green has posed:
And as Squirrel Girl comes bounding onto the scene there is, thank heavens, several heroes (and Black Cat, still not sure about that one) on scene. But there was no time for fangushing, there was saving people and thwarting evil to be done. Likely in that order, because saving civilians was certainly the more important of the two.
She sees Spider-Man swing up to the window to help the mother and child, and the knocked loose fire escapes that can't be used, so she doesn't have to ask which building is the main issue as she scampers along the next door roof. "Good job Spidey. We'll check inside!" Just as she reachs the edge of the roof and with an impressive leave that would astound even an experienced parkour runner leaps off of it, across the gap, and dives through another window. Doreen rolls with the landing and comes to a stop in a crouch. The room she landed in is empty... But Tippy-Toe climbs onto her shoulder, chirps for attention, then takes off scampering out of the room because she can hear the shouts farther down the floor that Doreen can't, and follows after the pink-bowed fuzzball.
At the other end of the hallway is a chunk of the roof knocked loose from the vibrations, and people shouting for help inside. "Good job Tippy!" Doreen gives the wall next to the blocked door a thump to get the attention of whoever is inside. "HELP IS HERE, BUT YOU BETTER STEP BACK FROM THE DOOR."
Then she steps back and cracks her knuckles. "Alright then, let's go, porportional strength of a squirrel!" Which serves as nothing more than to amp herself up before throwing her shoulder against the rubble pile. And Tippy-Toe doing the same at her feet. And managing to knock it over in the opposite direction to unobstruct the door. Which gets a good shove to open as well. "This way! Hold your breath and take the stairs, the fire escape is out!" Doreen directs the small group of people within.
- Kamala Khan has posed:
Kamala Khan is on the luckier side of secret identities. One of the benefits of being a Muslim girl is how easy it is to hide a superhero costume underneath her normal clothes. Her bangle bracelets might hide an impossible larger-on-the-inside compartment for supplies but they look perfectly normal on brown wrists. It's into this compartment that Kamala stashes her phone. The Pokemon will have to wait.
After stuffing her civilian clothes into her bangle bracelet's secret compartment (a green and pink 'SHE-HULK SHE-SMASH!' long-sleeve shirt that's pretty cool, for what it's worth!), Kamala Khan places a blue domino mask over her eyes and becomes...
Ms. Marvel!
That rumor that Ms. Marvel is on the scene doesn't need long to spread like wildfire, as the normal-sized teenage superhero from the other side of the Hudson River decides to...
"Embiggen!" she announces, voice echoing throughout the neighborhood as she transforms.
Ms. Marvel's body begins to expand, growing and stretching and, well, embiggening!, to be about three-quarters scale compared to the building that may or may not collapse at any minute. She grits her now backpack-sized teeth as she presses her shoulder against the weight of the building. "Ugh! I gotcha!" Ms. Marvel declares. "It's alright! Yeah, look, if you have anything to say about my breath, blame it on the egg rolls over at Wo Hop, okay?" Things look like they're just about settled here, all things considered, and people have already begun celebrating and making their way down the fire escape, now that the building has been stablized by Ms. Marvel's gigantic body.
Until the fire escape's metal groans its last groan and detaches from the building's walls. "Oh no!" Ms. Marvel cries out. She's stuck, unable to shift her position, as the building's weight is now squarely on her shoulder and creating a Sophie's Choice of the poor people on the fire scape versus the countless people still inside the building. "I'm...I'm sorry! I...."
"Spider-Man!" Ms. Marvel cries out, relieved as the sound of those webs thwipping through the air signal that the folks on the fire escape would live to see another ball drop at Time Square. She grins wearily, clearly losing some steam in her fight against the building's weight. "...Having some trouble in the neighborhood, huh?" She smiles laborously, slowly revealing that something's wrong.
The building being supported by an embiggened Ms. Marvel rumbles uneasily as the hero suddenly shrinks about five percent. "...Oh...I....I really should've had three egg rolls, I think..." Ms. Marvel declares.
"Hurry! I don't know how much longer I can keep this up!"
- Felicia Hardy has posed:
"Shocker."
The word drips so sarcastically from Cat's lips that it's not even clear if it's a name or just a sarcastic interjection.
"Can you _stop_?" She's raised her voice to be heard over the rumbling, the crumbling, the vibrations, the fire, the sirens, the shouting, and the gauntlets themselves. It's a mess. "You're costing me twelve _million_ dollars right now."
There's no way the Sapphire stays where it is after this, so close to all the destruction. The auction will be postponed. The gem will be relocated.
And, of course, he's endangering all these lives.
Those matter, too.
But as was so typical with these guys, he wouldn't hear reason. He'd sick his goons on her, and it would predictably devolve to this...
...which was why she was already moving.
And she's fast.
She's on the first gunman just after he clears leather, grabbing and twisting until she hears a pop near his shoulder, his gun falling to the ground.
*POP* *POP* *BRRRAT*
Gunfire fills the alley as the Cat throws the first guy into the second and swings her grappling hook around the gun arm of the third, yanking him forward and off balance, just off centered so that her kick lands in his jaw and sends him tumbling back... ideally... straight into the side of the cloaked figure.
- Joan Wright has posed:
With a general of what needs to be done, committing the more immediate things to memory. Joan quickly puts the phone away before reaching back behind her head. She's not all fond of this part but considering the flames going about-
Joan tugs over the head covering portion of the protective suit before pulling out some yellow protective goggles to put over the eyes.
Better safe than fashionable.
As she rushes towards the building, she glances up to Miss Marvel, judging the angle. "Hang on! I'll get the foundation!" Joan shouts up. Fingerguns already out and the right one already swirling.
The plan was simple. Work on the outside, non burning portion first and... if necessary - go to the basement level to reinforce from the inside. Concrete doesn't really burn, she can work with it. But she sure as heck wants firefighters present before doing that part.
As the fireescape comes tumbling down, Joan's plan changes slightly as the escape halts mid fall, hovering there. The masked face looks up before the left hand lifts up, gesturing. "BACK YOU GO!" She barks.
The fire escape listens, returning back to where it once came. Miraculously, staying VERY much affixed to the building this time around.
That distraction out of the way, Joan goes back to focusing on the outer wall, commanding what pieces she can lift, back into place, shoring up the building as best she can.
She better get Tuesday off after this.
- Peter Parker has posed:
If there is one small relief in all of this, at least for those who might be increasingly aware that this is indeed not any amazing natural circumstances, those behind it don't seem to be looking for blood. No one takes pot shots at either the people going to try and deal with the people still trapped in the crumbling building, or at those saved. As people are drawn out of the people they are met by their neighbors, hurried away from the building as flames lick at upper story windows, as glass shards rain down from above where windows have been blown out, or other bits of debris offer up falling hazards.
As his own initial rescue efforts bear fruit and the small family is hurried out of the danger zone to safety, he spots a couple of familiar faces in the crowd and quickly flicks a salute towards MJ and Squirrel Girl. At least he assumes it's MJ. The red hair poking out around the fringes of that bag and all. The warning sent out over the Spider-Com that Kord industries helped to provide. The fact that who else would run into danger with a bag on their head?
Aside from him. Okay, he might have forgotten his mask once or twice. His many powers did not include an incredibly Spider-Eidetic memory.
Or maybe it id. Maybe that is the source of some of his problems. He has the proportional memory of a Spider. That doesn't really sound like it would be all that impressive.
Only a short distance away from MJ -- or Bag Girl. whichever -- a ground floor suddenly blows out, sending out shards of glass across the sheet. Licks of flame begin to play around the window frame while beyond the fire can't quite drown out the barking of a dog who stands over an unmoving elderly figure laying on the floor.
The inside is not exactly a whole lot safer then the outside, the building continuing to shake and crumble, the floor under Squirrel Girl's feet occasionally buckling wildly. Fire creeps along the roof overhead, not yet spread to the walls or engulfing the hall in it's flames. But the odd chunk of debris falls from above, though Tippy Toe seems able to chart a course for her through the chaos and to those still trapped inside.
Who knows just how much more the building could possibly take. If it is on the verge of collapsing down with Squirrel Girl still trapped inside.
But then Ms. Marvel is there, body and soul embiggened to take on the load. Pressed up against it like that, supporting the whole structure on her very broad shoulders, she can feel the vibrations ripping through the structure, those tremors reverberating straight through her.
From his perch up above, he hears Ms Marvel call, spots the pair trapped on the collapsing fire escape and hurls himself down towards it. Despite only having a narrow railing to shoot for, despite flipping through the air, Spider-Man's spacial awareness is enough to land right there and scoop the pair up before launching him away.
Even as he plummets towards the ground, he watches as the fire escape suddenly stops that descend and instead raises back up to attach itself firmly to the wall thanks to Joan.
To late to help him, but still pretty damn impressive. Of course he only has a moment to admire that before he hits the ground hard, cradling his two passengers from the fall as the wind is knocked right out from him with a loud groan.
Between Ms. Marvel and Joan, maybe, maybe they have just bought themselves enough time to finish the evacuation.
It takes Spidey a moment to be able to roll onto his side, but as he does so he finally has a clear look down that alleyway. Finally spots the hooded man and those tell-tale gauntlets. Finally spots the Black Cat moving amongst them.
And he tries to scramble back to his feet. The emphasis on the word *tries*.
Still keeping those gauntleted fists pointed towards the building that is his target, keeping those vibrational waves focused on the buildings ahead, the Shocker does sneak a look back over his shoulder to check on the progress of his hired thugs.
- Peter Parker has posed:
It's not going well for them.
"Shit," Herman Schultz says again. "If it makes you feel better you're screwing up my payday too," he bites back. "Want to go halvies?" he suggests, even as he gives a sharp motion with his head to urge the other three lookouts into the fray, trying to delay the platinum blonde thief for a few more precious seconds...
- Mary Jane Watson has posed:
Bag-Girl goes to curse in her mind as she sees the infamous blanket ma-- SHOCKER going to unleash more spasms. Why couldn't he have just taken on a life as a massage therapist and made all the money ever? Instead of turning evil and having a ridiculous costume? But no time to deal with questionable tailors and bad life decisions now. She goes to call out to the elderly couple, "I'm coming!" It probably is hard to hear though, as things are burning, collapsing, and Shocker is doing his.. Vibrating thing.
Mary Jane goes to rush in, pieces of ash falling onto her bag-mask as she ignores it and goes to the pair, "Hey, come with me, okay?" SHe goes to help the two along wtih her. "It'll be okay, I promise, I'll get you out.." A large beam goes to fall, her bag-mask going to catch on fire, partially blinding her and singing her hair and eyebrows. Then one of the support beams is falling, partially cutting off her exit. FUUUUUU$#*###@
She breathes some words that Jameson would if he had to make a retraction on the front page.
"I'm sorry." SHe speaks to the older couple as she goes to grab them under each arm and goe sto bum rush them out with her even as she covers them and protects them from a falling beam, finally just making a jump up and out of the building to land with a *CRACK* that was definitely not from her.
"Sorry!" She would apologize to the pair that were probably going to need more than a couple hip replacements.
- Kamala Khan has posed:
Ms. Marvel nods her head a little at the tiny voice down by her feet telling her to just hang on and that they'll get the foundation. Normally, such a voice wouldn't bring much comfort to the gigantic Ms. Marvel doing the bulk of the work keeping the building up, but this particular voice belongs to someone with all the trappings of Damage Control. Some old newspapers fly out of the building's broken windows as Ms. Marvel's sense of relief escapes her mouth.
"It's okay, everyone! The real heroes are here!" Ms. Marvel announces to the entire block. The real heroes: the NYPD, the FDNY, and now Damage Control.
Despite this good fortune, the building quakes again as Ms. Marvel's stomach begins to rumble. Two eggs rolls aren't even close enough to provide her enough energy to keep this up. The gigantic superhero's eyes close slightly, lidded halfway behind her domino mask. "...The real heroes are here..." she repeats with less energy than just a moment ago. She shrinks another five percent as her stomach rumbles a third time.
Joan's efforts can be felt by Ms. Marvel, as portions of the building seem to be rejoining the structure, reforming into itself and requiring less and less of her support as each moment passes. She's not out of the woods yet, though, and Ms. Marvel's body shrinks another five percent...
"....H...Hurry...!" she calls out to Joan, not really sure where to direct her voice. Somewhere down there, at least.
- Doreen Green has posed:
Now you people see why Squirrel Girl doesn't bother with the whole secret identity biz... Well okay it has nothing to do with any of that. It's just hard to hide four feet of fluffy squirrel tail in a way that doesn't make it look like Doreen has a comically disporportional badonkadonk.
More worried about the rescues anyways. "Whoa!" The building shakes, the floor rumbles, the stairs creak and instinctively Doreen reachs to brace one of the older folks she's escorting out. While a young girl huddles in her tail. "Okay, we're running short on time folks, let's hustle." She picks the elder up, scoops the young girl onto her back (go go prehensile tail!), and hauls it on out.
A few floors down they luck out as Tippy-Toe finds where the fire escape hasn't pulled entirely away from the building yet. "Yo, Monkey Joe, Gadget Gregg, need a few more paws here." The girl squeaks as two more squirrels poke out of the tail fluff by her, then starts giggling as they scamper off. They scurry out to the escape frame and up to where the higher sections were broken away from the building. Gregg with nimble paws and strong bites makes quick work of undoing some nuts and bolts, and once the lower portion is free the three squirrels can use their weight at the top to make the frame lean back towards the building juuuuust far enough for Doreen to reach out and grab onto the frame to pull it up to the exit.
Tail curls forward to set the girl down, and then Doreen helps the elder out onto the exit, with the other people following in fashion.
"Urf!" Doreen shifts to grab the escape frame with her tail as well once it's free. "Not to rush anyone, but we can only hold this for so long... or the building actually falls, which ever comes first."
- Felicia Hardy has posed:
Felicia smirks, her eyes glinting with mischief as she looks directly at Shocker. "Sorry, Shocker, but I'm not splitting my profits with a glorified jackhammer."
Before he can respond, three more goons rush her, their heavy footsteps echoing in the crumbling alley. She knows she doesn't have time to deal with them. Shocker has to be neutralized before the rest of the building comes down, and she'll figure out how to handle the goons afterward.
With a swift, powerful leap, she dodges their initial assault. Her lithe form twists gracefully in mid-air, a flash of black catsuit and platinum hair against the dim light.
"Playtime's over, boys," she shouts over her shoulder, her voice dripping with confidence and a hint of mockery. Her focus locks onto Shocker. "Let's finish this... before I miss my payday."
She lands lightly on her feet, the impact barely making a sound. Her muscles coil like a spring, and she launches herself towards Shocker, a streak of determination and raw power. The distance between them closes in an instant, her every move calculated for maximum impact.
With her shoulder lowered, she drives the entire force of her body into him.
- Joan Wright has posed:
"Working on it!" Joan calls back, hearing the pleas from Kamala. One perk of focusing on the outside part of the building is that it's easier to run the perimeter than ducking around walls and going down stairs.
As more and more pieces are added on, there is less movement within the building itself. It's just not all that flashy a thing. Finger swirling while one is pointing with nearby rubble zooting back and securing into place.
- Peter Parker has posed:
There are reasons why, wherever possible, the super set just needs some pretty impressive materials to make up their super suits. Kevlar, Nomex, Unstable Molecules, they are all terribly handy.
And they all have the advantage of not buring away in mid rescue anywhere near as often as paper. The paper bag on MJs head has done a heroes service, but one would expect it's utility is just about at an end.
But at least before it burns up, it lets the redhead get into that building, lets her help that downed pair and their dog who shies away from the fire. But with coaxing and a whole heck of a lot of hard work, another little fmaily on the verge of end is saved from their disasterous fate.
Squirrel Girl too has to act fast, deeper into the burning building then Bag Girl. But having that extra, prehensile limb definitely helps to gather up the huddled crowd, to urge them to keep low as smoke curls above near the flaming roof to hustle them towards the building's exit. And that big, fluffy tail has the added benefit of helping to keep the children's mind off the heat, off the monious creaks that sound from the building around them or from the occasional little fiery tendrils of debris that whisp down around them. Up ahead the opening in the building beckons, a lighthouse in the storm giving Doreen and her charges something to aim for. Using that agile tail as a makeshift sort of ramp is unconventional to be sure. But one after another, the last inhabitants caught inside are lowered to safety in rather fuzzy comfort.
But time is still very much of the essence. It is not hard to tell that Ms. Marvel's efforts have taken a lot out of her. And while they might very well have allowed the others to complete the evacuation of the building, it would seem that Kamala just doesn't have very much more to give.
Fortunately Joan is there to help. While it might be impossible to keep up with the increasing structural decay, those pieces of debris that do fly back in place continue to delay the inevitable. Precious seconds bought.
Precious seconds for backup to finally arrive. The sound of those sirens gets louder, joined by flashing lights illuminating the night sky as fire trucks, ambulance and police cruisers pull around the corner and stream down the street. In short order fire fighters are piling out of their vehicles, directing powerful sprays of water to try and bring the fire under control.
They might just turn this around.
While it might be out of sight from many of them, but at least some of the credit for that will surely have to be visited on the Black CDat -- no matter what else has brought her to this neighborhood. Any questions around that can wait -- at least in Spider-Man's eyes as he makes it back to his feet, grimacing under his mask. "Hey Hermie!" he calls out as he limps his way down the alley, slowly enlongating his stride. His back will be killing him later, but right now Pete just doesn't have time for that. "Fun time's over," he calls out, lifting a hand to hurl out a webline... and jerking to another target at the last second, that webbing *thwipping* out across the intervening distance to strike at one of the goons, jerking his arm back and the man himself off-balance before he can fire that gun at Felicia.
"Shit, shit," the Shocker mutters again, glancing between the platinum blonde thief who is cutting a swath through his hired thugs and the advancing wall-crawler. And his reinforcements just beyond. "Don't call me Hermie," he snaps back. I really hate all of you," he snarls, finally, grudgingly dropping those gauntlets towards the ground in front of him.
The building abruptly stops shaking, though still left very much damaged and unsteady.
Instead, as those vibrations are directed downward, the alley begins to rumble, shake a little. And the Shocker? He starts to rise up tino the air as the countering force lifts him up towards the night sky.
- Mary Jane Watson has posed:
The couple are out of the collapse and others are helping them towards the EMT's. Mary Jane goes to sigh, look for the next thing to use to cover her face and.. Frantically goes through her pockets. Nothing that will cover all of it. So instead she goes to just put her hand down to the ground and much of the gunk, smearing it over her face and ash in a way that will totally ruin her hair for a week if not makingher chop it off entirely.. And hears the sounts of taunts. Yup, that's her bestie.
She can't go deeper into the building in time to help or make a difference. She just has to trust that the others are going in and have things under control. She goes to start to run along towards where the feline a fracas is going on with her parking meter bludgeon with her, racing in towards that direction. No, they're not going to need her help but it's good to be there as backup in case another supervillains hows up and she has to cover thier flank. WIth thier kind of luck it will be someone like Looter.
- Kamala Khan has posed:
It's not long before Ms. Marvel reaches the limit of what's possible when all that's inside her stomach are a pair of egg rolls and nothing else. As inspiring as Spider-Man, Damage Control, and the efforts of squirrels and others unknown might be, Ms. Marvel can't continue. She closes her eyes and tumbles to the ground as her body becomes only slightly larger than the double-parked Volkswagen that gets crushed underneath her. By the time she rolls off of it, Ms. Marvel is back down to her normal size and scale, revealing that the true hero is whoever tailored her costume.
But is that it? Unable to embiggen to such a size for now, does Ms. Marvel give up? No. The Unstoppable Squirrel Girl, Joan Wright and Damage Control, Bag Girl, Black Cat, and, of course, the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man can handle the building and its would-be attacker. Ms. Marvel will, for the moment, find her place among the NYPD and FDNY assisting residents navigate the rubble and debris that surround the buildings as they continue to evacuate.
"Right this way!" Ms. Marvel can be heard saying. "Watch for that rebar, ma'am!" She continues offering an oversized hand to those needing extra help getting to safety.
- Doreen Green has posed:
Everyone gets outside.... only for the ground to shake as well! "OH COME ON!" Squirrel Girl objects, flicking arms and tail alike to keep her footing as the pavement vibrates like a bad massage parlor.
But the final shakedown is thankfully short-lived as it was just Shocker launching himself up up and away.
She sighs a little as it calms down again. Her squirrels scamper up onto her shoulders. "Thanks for the help guys. Let's get these people clear so the EMTs can look them over." Shocker is a big mean jerk... but she's more worried about people getting safe and looked over after that dramatic experience. They'll worry about why he was playing Angry Birds with old rundown buildings another time.
- Felicia Hardy has posed:
*BANG*
The gun in that goon's hand -- the one Spidey's web-line is attached to -- still goes off. It just goes off in the air as he windmills backward and cracks his head on some debris. The shout and the gunshot are enough to bring Felicia's head whipping back over her shoulder to see Pete there.
Saving her.
Again.
"My hero!" she calls, lips curled into a lascivious smile, her voice as close to a purr as the shout will allow. "You're making a habit of this!"
But her attention snaps back to Shocker as the whole of the Earth seems to vibrate under her, threatening to send her off balance -- or at least making her widen her stance to counter the effects. She narrows her eyes, determination hardening her features. "We need to bring him down, Spider," she says, her tone all business now. "Before he levels the entire block."
And as if on cue, Shocker sends another powerful wave of vibrations toward the ground, causing the alley to tremble violently. Felicia sends one more look Peter's way, hoping to convey everything she needed to in that one glance: _Do you trust me enough to work together?_
Then she darts forward with feline grace, aiming to disable Shocker's gauntlets for good.
She uses her claws to latch onto his suit, clinging to him. "You're not going anywhere," she hisses, her fingers working swiftly to claw the devices -- even if she couldn't break them, just distracting him enough so that Spidey could help.
Of course, that meant she was getting higher and higher in the air, along with her 'ride.'
- Joan Wright has posed:
As Joan makes her way down the final side of the building, she lets out a momentary sigh of relief as the building stops shaking. With a glance in the direction of the other buildings, she sees a pink and blue dot of bot going into the rubble of the second one. A report of the first structure has likely sent to her phone.
Another turn of hehead takes note of the firefighters heading in. Taking note of the markings of the captain, she walks over to relay what information she had of the situation.
- Peter Parker has posed:
Paramedics rush in to attend to the hurt and the wounded, a collection of broken bones, cuts, scraps and smoke inhalation being the most common injuries.
No apparent fatalities.
It could have been worse. It could have been so much worse, that can't be denied.
Certainly Spidey is well aware that he could have pulled this off on his own. It is a pretty good reminder that, as much as he is a sole operator as often as not, as much as he sometimes has trouble trusting people, more and more this job is too much to stand alone.
Food for thought.
Terrified as they might be, injured as they might be, those that have a chance lavish praise on those that helped them. On Mj and Squirrel Girl, calling out their gratitude to Ms. Marvel or Joan as paramedics begin to hustle those that need more attention into waiting ambulances, more arriving on the scene considering that three buildings have been entirely totalled and another one is in terrible condition.
None of the buildings on this block are exactly in good shape of course. But the urban decay is a whole lot greater now. And given the Shocker's involvement? It will certainly be worth looking into who owned those buildings. Maybe not right now though.
As the NYFD piles in, the fire is brought under control and while the buildings looks like a mess, it's still standing. That much of the plan thwarted at least.
But not everything is entirely handled. Not quite yet.
The Shocker takes to the air, trying to make his escape as the last of his hired thugs goes down, taken out of commisson. "You know us Spider-Types. Right place, right time," Pete calls back. Right before Felicia goes to do something rather dangerous.
There is no time to warn her off -- not that Pete has any belief that it would do her much good -- and then the platinum blonde thief is leaping at the fleeing crook, using those claws to grab hold, to cling to him even as he begins to rise up higher and higher into the air, lifting up just above the neighboring buidling.
"Get off me you crazy bi--" Herman Schultz starts to shout at the Black Cat, instinctively starting to point one of those gauntlets back towards her, instinctively starts to try and redirect some of that vibrational energy across his body to send his unwelcome passenger hurling away.
But it also divides both his attention, and those vibrational fields. At full strength, those gauntlets could repel Spidey's webbing. Divded? He has a chance.
Weblines fly out with that customary thwip, beginning to twine all around each of those gauntlets in layer after sticky lair. Gumming up the works. And as Spider-Man does so, the SHocker's already erratic flight path gets even more so, swaying wildly through the air.
You did this!" he shouts accusingly towards Felicia as he begins to crash down towards that rooftop adjacent to his target of moments before.
- Felicia Hardy has posed:
"And don't you forget it."
Felicia hisses the words viciously in Shocker's ear, still riding his lassoed body towards the top of the building -- payback for costing (or perhaps nearly costing... the night wasn't yet up) her the Sapphire she came for.
In truth, with all of the police and fire distracted by the buildings, the auction house might be an even easier mark than before.
Assuming she could get there before they moved it.
And so just as they cross the edge of the building, Felicia retracts her claws and leaps free, flipping once before landing with a roll.
Very briefly, she pops her head up over the edge, looking down at the Spider below, that big smile still on her lips.
She blows him a kiss, winks, and then she's gone.
She might have helped stop Shocker, but she couldn't afford to help stay and clean up.
She was on the clock.
- Kamala Khan has posed:
There. That's settled. From her position in this mess, Ms. Marvel wouldn't learn until later why the building started to collapse or the effort made to take down Shocker, but that's hardly important. All that matters is getting people to safety and keeping the damage to a minimum. Sure, she's sorry about the Volkswagen, but she did her part in keeping the building up and that has to count for something, right? Probably not to the owner of the Volkswagen.
There's still some commotion in the skies, but nothing that needs another set of hands, regardless of how large they can be.
Ms. Marvel smiles at the crowd celebrating the collective efforts to save the day, and gives a little wave before making her way towards a nicely secluded alley where she can open up her bangle bracelet and retrieve her other disguise.
"It got away!" Kamala Khan shouts, holding her phone high above her head and staring at it in disbelief. Pokemon won't just wait around forever and neither will nosey, over-protective parents. Her phone rings. It's the Imperial March from Star Wars.
"I know, I know, grounded till I'm a grandmother..."
- Peter Parker has posed:
Always playing the hero seems to come with a personal toll of some sort.
For MJ, that trademark redhair is probably a little singed.
For Kamala, the cost comes in lost pokemon.
Felicia may have missed out on a big payday -- though one would suggest that she can afford it.
For Pete? Well, he has missed out on time that he could have been studying for his finals. And one suspects that JJJ will find a way to make this all his fault of course. Par for the course.
And for Joan? One would imagine that her night is just beginning. That she will be here long after the rest of them are home, snug in their beds. Dealing with the aftermath.
While he hasn't done anything that should make any one angry -- this time -- Spider-Man and the authorities just don't seem to mix, so as the Black Cat slinks off into the shadows, he gives a quiet sigh -- perhaps suspecting that her night is not over. And that chances are it will involve things he probably doesn't want to know about.
So, shooting a backwards glance over his shoulder towards the police and paramedics and fire fighters, he then glances upward, firing uout a webline and rapidly ascending towards the roof.
There he finds Schultz sprawled out and unmoving and Pete adds some more webbing to the mix, trussing up the Shocker good before hefting him up over one shoulder, dangling him over the ledge and beginning to lower him to let the authorities better take him into custody.
With his job done, he pulls out his phone and sends out that short message over the Spider Comm -- a single 'thumbs up' emoji.
And then he takes to the night too, swinging from building to building, all those concerns about upcoming exams or how this will play in the media dispelled for a time as he crisscrosses the streets of Manhatten below, letting all those worries and concerns simply flow away in the joy of his web-slinging.