18757/Descent: To Catch The Man-Spider

Descent: To Catch The Man-Spider
Date of Scene:	12 August 2024
Location:	Central Park
Synopsis:	The trap is set to try and finally bring the Man-Spider to heel and restore the trapped Peter Parker from within.
Cast of Characters:	Peter Parker, Mary Jane Watson, Warlock, Felicia Hardy, Miles Morales
Tinyplot:	Descent

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Peter Parker has posed:
The pieces are finally all in place.

Dr. Curt Connors is once more himself, once more his brilliant scientific self instead of the ravening Lizard. The Neo-Genic Recombinator has been recovered and is in good working order. And the missing ingredient, the key that might allow the entire failed process to work this time -- the mysterious blood enzymes that Dr. Michael Morbius -- was working on have also been acquired despite some unexpected trouble from a being that might be the good doctor himself.

That is one more problem that they will likely have to deal with sooner or later. It is possible that Peter Parker, the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man isn't the only monster running around out there on the loose right now.

But he is, perhaps, understandably the first priority for his nearest and dearest friends. Each day he seems to slip a little further from the man he was. Each passing day he seems to become a little more then Man-Spider.

A counter-agent to the mutated virus that is rampaging through his system, mutating his DNA has been prepared, placed in suitable syringes should he be able to be pinned down. Contingencies have been arranged involving insecticides that Peter has shown allergies to in the past. Silver Sable International has been hired to provide additional manpower should the need arise, to scout through the city and try and track him down before it is too late. And Doctor Connors remains on standby, ready to come to them, ready to hustle to meet them at his lab or a SHIELD medical safehouse -- wherever they need him -- once the Man-Spider is finally theres.

All is in order. All that remains to do is actually track down Spider-Man.

They are not lacking in resources to do that of course. But New York is a big city. Even bigger when one factors in all the underground tunnels, all the maintainence passages and sewers that run beneath the city. Still, they have individuals with some extreme abilities. They have manpower in SHIELD and Silver Sable International. But they also have, perhaps, the strange insistence of the Black Cat who has the most unlikely source of intelligence on Peter's whereabouts of all. A dream.

Was it real? Was it just a symptom of lose and exhaustion? It wouldn't be a surprise for some to have doubts. And yet towards the northeast corner of the park, there is a sense of familiarity. Where the path diverges, curls around back to the west and a grantie rock outcropping looms up just ahead through the trees at least one of those who seeks out the Man-Spider might have a suspiciously vivid recollection of the place. As if they have stood here before. Maybe because they have.

And maybe, just maybe, there is the sense of unseen eyes watching from atop that outcropping, peering with the wary instincts of a hunter turned prey, that fight or flight instinct at war within.

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
Now the hardest thing is going to happen. THe most difficult part of this mission to save their friend. Namely how to capture him. Even if Peter trusts them, even if they can reach him emotionally.. The Spider-Sense still operates over on an instinctive level, and as the Man-Spider Peter is stronger, faster, and might only have enough self awareness to not strike them down. And even if they can pin him, he's likelier to run away from them. So how are they going to stop him long enough to save him?

Mary Jane goes to speak along the Spider-Comm as soon as she gets the report from Doctor Connors <<He's got it. Doctor Connors is ready and has a way to cure him. we just haev to find him.. And then keep him there.>> Because it's not like as far as she's aware they can just dump aerosols on him with his healing factor. It's likely (to MJ) that they need to give him a direct injection of it or he can just shake it off.

And so once her report is given, she heads to meet anyone else they're starting to throw together.

Warlock has posed:
Self is out enjoying the last of the day's late summer sunshine, soaking up energy in the form of a wide spread of flowers. This part of the park is a little out of the way, less likely for Warlock to be stepped on or plucked by unsuspecting humans. He's much less concerned about the local fauna, buds and leaves shifting when insects land on him, a little bit of a non-verbal giggle.

Plant Self is very zen. Everything is fine, there's no terrifying planet eater in spa--nope, don't think about that, just think about photosynthesizing. Be one with the chlorophyll. His leaves wave to the faint music he can hear on the wind as he cheerfully focuses on Not The Scary Things right now. It feels like there are eyes on him, but Self considers it likely to be a larger animal, or perhaps a mutant that can sense his presence but not see him.

Felicia Hardy has posed:
Felicia Hardy has been wrestling with her dream for days -- a dream that was more like a nightmare. A dream that, at first, she didn't want to wake from: Peter coming home to her.

Alive and well, with ten fingers and ten toes, the only thing that made seeing Peter even better was their matching wedding bands and the knowledge that the growing life inside her was his.

...except it wasn't one life. And as her pysche clawed and raked at the shreds of her remaining sanity, she saw herself making a nest out of silk to lay her hundreds of spider eggs, chased the _feeling_ of Peter in trouble through the dense forest, emerged in Central Park, and was immediately set upon by a giant Man-Spider who was determined to keep his mate from the man that still fought for consciousness inside.

It was a connection to Peter that she couldn't explain. A connection to whatever sliver of Peter that still remained through whatever topsy-turvy bond of affection they had always shared.

Or maybe it was just a nightmare.

Then that message came from MJ over the Spider-Comm, and Felicia was on her feet and getting suited up in an instant.

>> Bring as much as you can with you to hand out. Meet me HERE (pin dropped) in Central Park.
>> (GPS Location Sharing Enabled)
>> We're going Spider hunting.

It's as simple as that. She sends an update to Silver's HIRED Goons, and after like an eternity and so many nearly impossible tasks, they finally have something that might be a solution.

Clad in her Black Cat outfit, all high-tech with white trim and lensed mask, Felicia prowls, meeting MJ with a familiar hand on her arm.

"Hey," Black Cat offers, looking a little more harried than she had to date. The stakes are higher. Sleep has been even more scarce after that dream. But this is it. The finish line... she hoped. "You have the counter-agent? Did Connors give you any of the... you know?"

The poison. She didn't want to even say it. She didn't want to think about using poison on Peter. It was too high of a risk. But, if he was going to hurt one of them...

Miles Morales has posed:
There's a jogger in the park. Dressed in a hoodie and sweatpants, he is near where Felicia's pin is dropped. Shoes fall on the path in a rhythmic motion. As he moves through the park, he glances about him warily beneath his hood. It's hot for what he's wearing, but he needs it. After all, he's on the Prowl, searching for a target of opprotunity.

He's the trump card for the two women. Peter doesn't know Miles is about and around, and in the moment, he's just on the periphery of the group. He doesn't speak on the comms. Peter's may still be active, and he doesn't want to tip his hand when it comes to what assets Felicia has to deploy. She even has a word to use to let him know to come racing to the rescue.

Hopefully she's moved past Pudding Pop.

Peter Parker has posed:
At the end of the day, Central Park does seem to be a likely place to find the Man-Spider. There have been a number of sightings there afterall and some near misses that almost resulted in the creature formally known as Peter Parker to being captured.

Or at least confronted.

He definitely is not the same Spider-Man as he was before all this started. Before Kraven. Before the Savage Land. Before the failed attempt to cure him in that Empire State lab. He seems to grow more spider-like with each and every passing day and thsoe corresponding abilities that came from the bite of that radioactive, geneically modified spider seem to grow right along with it. Faster. Stronger. With a Spider-sense that seems evn more effective, maybe almost too sensitive. And now with that paralytic venom that burns like acid.

And that was just what he was like the last time they encountered him. Who knows what if any new abilities he might have begun to manifest.

If Felicia's dream was more then just a nightmare, more then just a psychological horror show playing out for her benefit, it does seem like Peter is on the verge of losing himself entirely within that Man-Spider shell. So time feels even more of the essence then ever.

And while those agents of Silver Sable International might look at one another askance when the Black Cat lets them know where she wants them, their orders have been made clear to them; the infamous cat burglar is footing the bill. At least that's what their boss has said. And it would seem that none of them are inclined to argue.

So MJ and her will have that backup. Not quite as impressive as the unlikely joggers who lingers on those paths close by perhaps. Certainly not as gifted as the unlikely being who imitates the local flora so close to that clearing perhaps. But sometimes numbers count.

The clearing isn't quite exactly the same as it might have been in Felicia's dream. Though it is close enough. For one, the sun still hangs in the western sky, though increasingly blotted out by the high rises on the far side of the park that cast their long shadows over the wooded area that dominates the north end of New York's largest green space. The sounds of the city nearby -- the early evening traffic -- and of people still out enjoyingthe park before full dark flits in over the city give it a more likely air.

But the feel is otherwise the same. The unnatural stillness. The fact that not a single bird trills nearby, not a single insect buzzes on the otherwise pleasantly warm day, or an animals stirs in those leafy green branches.

It does indeed feel like a predator is present. And all the lesser animals and creatures have most definitely taken notice, walking or flying very softly indeed.

And from his perch at the top of that rocky outcropping, in that tree that hangs there, some of the boughs reaching out over the fifteen or so foot fall, those unseen eyes continue to watch, fastened on the platinum blonde woman there. The one from his dreams.

In the distance, the muted music of swiftly tilting rotor blades begins to creep ever closer.

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
Is she aware of it? Being watched? Perhaps. Perhaps not. Mary Jane is the distant backup to Felicia. She's sitting on a bench as Felicia goes past, wearing a set of headphones and with a large duffel bag settled next to her over on the bench while she sips at a water bottle. She actually doesn't have weapons over in it - they would be the things that would freak Peter out, and they'd be no good anyways. She has a pair of heavy stun batons, but she doesn't expect she'll be able to use them at all.

As Peter tracks the woman from his dreams, Mary Jane does as well distantly. And here is where a separate life experience goes over to things. The life that is conjoined with her own consciousness. Sonja watches. Waiting. The unnatural stillness of everything making her hyperaware. Sonja just watches. At the branches, the abscence of the animals. The fact that even the small things used to humans have gone to ground in the brisk summer. She has her comms on her, and just watches for things amiss. the light jostle in the trees where something might hang. The twist in the branches, the chitterings of animals ducking to cover. In the stillness that is unnatural, all she has to do is hopefully sopt that one thing that's the first bit to change..

And then they'll have an idea. After all, nothing will be going towards him.. If they haven't gone to ground already. Time to wait..

Warlock has posed:
Warlock is aware of the eerie stillness of the area he's in, but that's fine. It's easier to vibe without worry, it's definitely not spooky, and Self Is Not Concerned. Even the joggers aren't coming over here anymore, and the music he was hearing has been covered by the distant sound of rotors. But he's still got sun to soak up before he transforms back, and if that means he chills in the eerie part of the park... it's fine. Self is fine.

Felicia Hardy has posed:
Okay. Everything's either in place or about to be in place.

Felicia could wait for Silver's people to arrive. They could fan out and scare the hell out of Man-Spider, run him off, maybe make him change his nesting ground. But waiting for others has never been her style.

So Felicia prowls farther into the park, following instinct and 'memory' instead of any direction on a map. And unlike Black Cat's normal method of stalking her prey -- rooftop to rooftop -- she walks plainly in the open. Completely visible. Following the improved trail.

If the area was more populated, she'd certainly be getting a host of odd looks. What woman in her right mind wears a mask and a catsuit to take a stroll through the park?

Maybe she's not in her right mind.

It's odd, what you'll do for love.

She spots it up ahead. A tree like the one she remembered. Not the same tree, but the 'spirit' of the tree, like the one Peter himself had been trapped in. He'd been calling for her. Pleading for her to help.

She told him she was coming. And now, here she is.

"SPIDER!!"

She's come to a stop and shouted his name, her arms coming out to her sides. Any other time, there might have been a rustling from the bushes and a stirring as a flock of disturbed birds took flight. But not now. Not here. There's just more of that silence.

She turns slowly, eyes scanning the trees.

...That's weird. Calling their name usually works.

Of course, she didn't see the jogger. Or she was so busy paying attention to the trees that she simply ignored him as background noise.

Miles Morales has posed:
'SPIDER!'

That's the signal that Felicia and Miles had planned in advance. Now that it's been called, as the jogger makes a circuit, he picks up speed, and changes his course at the very last moment. Past the three HIRED goons he runs, and then right towards the back of Felicia Hardy. As he gets close, there's a flash of a knife, a twist to open the switchblade as the silver blade flashes in the rough street light. Another step closer.

He reaches out, a gloved hand grabbing Felicia's shoulder to spin her around to face his faceless visage. The arm goes back, the knife again showing as he drives in towards Felicia's tone belly. A flick of his wrist at the last second closes the blade as he punches her in the stomach and splits the blood bag in her stomach. There's a grunt as he pulls the knife out, flicking it open, and showing it stained with blood, before he tosses it aside and runs off, leaving Felicia there. Bleeding. Hurt. In pain.

And as he runs, he's starting to remove a layer of clothing, because if this worked... either the Man-Spider will rush to aid Felicia...

...or avenge her.

Peter Parker has posed:
Sometimes the only real approach is the direct one.

That might be even more true with the Man-Spider given that ever increasing sensitivity that the innate Spider-Sense seems to give the creature. Though it is always possible they could put that to use somehow. They have first hand examples of where a too finely honed sense can actually work against the one with it.

Still, it's hard to imagine that the Man-Spider wouldn't sense a trap, any attempt to encircle him. That it wouldn't just go for one of the outliers, maybe go after MJ, or one of the Silver Sable Internation mercenaries instead. To break the trap and disappear again as he did when confronted by them previously. As he did when Gwen and Eddie tried something simiar.

But where subterfuge might fail, an open, direct approach just might be the key. Just the ticket.

And it seems to work, though it remains to be seen if they will all be sorry that it does. As the Black Cat enters that clearing, stands before that granite outcropping and the tree perched at the crest of that ridge above there is movement in one of those overhead branches, the leaves stirring just enough to make it clear that something is indeed up there concealed in the greenery/ That it is too large to be some trick of the evening breeze rustling through those leaves that make them sway, make the light through them dapple on the ground below, the dying evening light sending an increasing pantomime of shadow playing across the clearing in its own intricate pattern.

And then he descends.

Not in a rush, not simply leaping from that not quite concealed perch to land before her. But instead lowering himself on that strand of silk, those webshooters that graced Peter Parker's wrists -- all six of them -- long since having fallen off, broken asunder by the twisting of those now twisty, black and hairy arms that look far more like some giant spider then any human being.

But all that caution is banished in a heartbeat thanks to that well-timed ploy. Does the Man-Spider's danger sense alert him that something is wrong? Almost certainly. It has to right? But on some level it doesn't matter. That dream reinforced one thing to be sure. That Peter Parker still resides within the Man-Spider, muted and locked away perhaps. But still unconsciously influencing his monstrous alter ego too.

enough so that on some level the Man-Spider increasingly seems to consider that platinum blonde thief his mate.

So when the hooded figure bursts from the undergrowth, when he lunges for the Black Cat and apparently stabs her -- red falling like a hailstorm -- a hissing, keening sound comes from the clicking mandibles of the Man-Spider and it leaps into the middle of the clearing, moving to stand over the fallen woman as those six twisty limbs come up, wehlines flying after the departed hooded figure's back.

That cry of 'SPIDER' serves as a signal to the mercenaries on retainer, the jumpsuited men beginning to close in, moving to try and surround the clearing without immediately intruding -- to set up an perimeter that their quarry can't pass without at least a serious attempt at bring him down.

The plan seems to be working as intended.

But over Manhatten's darkening sky, the sound of those helicopter rooters grows closer and closer until the chopper finally springs into view overhead, the downward thrust from those spinnign blades creating a backdraft below that sends all those leaves into a whirling frenzy.

And a single figure, dressed all in black hangs out of the side of that copter, rifle cradled in his arms and directed down towards the clearing below...

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
The plan seems to be working for the moment - right up until it all goes to hell with something they anticipated would be a potentially major issue but they had no real control over. There was only so much they could do to setup a contingency more in depth than 'pray' when it came to this situation. Mary Jane goes to hiss over to the comms, passing along to Sable's group <<Kraven.>> For once, she's actually glad they have some mercenaries on standby. Because that means that they might have -some- sort of backup option. And now she goes for Plan C..

Which is yanking up and out over of the large duffel bag and rapidly assembling what is a rather large hobby drone. It's a big one with a surprisingly large engine put into it. It was one that she had onhand if they needed to try and herd Spider some, but now she goes to use it for another circumstance. She has to trust the others to be able to handle a freaked out Peter.. And go to try and give them the time they need to get him down.

Then, she goes to rapidly work up the drone, fires up the rather amped up less than legal engine.. And it goes to rocket up and through the air, towards that helicopter where she sees the man going to pop out of the side with the rifle.. And Mary Jane, if she can, eyeballs the distance, evaluates how fast that she can get the drone flying and on an interception route.. And she just prays that she can get it up there over in time while the Hunter is trying to get himself in a position..

And she just moves to fire it upwards as fast as she can and go on higher, the revving of the drone almost invisible with the powerful thrums fo the copter over in the background.

<<I'll do my best to handle the chopper>>

Warlock has posed:
That Is A Very Big Spider, What The Heck.

Warlock is already slithering after the jogger that stabbed the platinum-haired masked woman, though the blood spilling from her stomach smells wrong. A long, thin tendril wraps around the hooded jogger's ankles with a light yank, the rest of him pulling into Self's human-passing form, albeit with one very long gumby arm. "Excuse me stabbed lady we need to get you medical help." His frown is comically large. "Oh no, is that helicopter filming? Did I interrupt a shoot? Self is very sorry, was just trying to get more sunlight to recharge." Black eyes blink at the woman and the spider, unsure what the protocol for maybe-fake-danger is.

Felicia Hardy has posed:
Black Cat doesn't have anything like a danger sense. She has a faster-than-average reaction time, which gets her out of most situations -- that and some clever pre-planning -- but precognition? Not so much.

Maybe she really had no idea she was in danger, because she sells it _really_ well. No over the top acting. No B-Movie shriek. She turned in utter shock that someone would dare confront her so directly, and before she could react, she had a knife in her gut.

Just one scream of pain as she falls to her knees and clutches at the 'wound.' A gasp as she goes to her side and then down to the ground, gloved hands covered in slick blood that was warm from being tucked under her catsuit against her skin.

One hand tries to hold the wound while the other slips under her. Palming the syringe.

Her breathing is shallow.

Now... still. Be. Still.

Which is a lot harder that it seems like it would be with the Man-Spider towering over her, shooting web-lines out of six arms towards one of his friends... a friend she'd convinced to help her stage this little show. She _had_ to make this stab count. If she fumbled it, if she missed, if she hit bone and broke the needle, Miles could get hurt...

...really hurt.

She had to wait.

But then there's... what the hell is it?! A... plant... thing?! That's HELPING?!

No.. no no no..

It's going after Miles. She can't move. She can't watch. She's dependent on listening for most of it. But then it's telling her she needs medical help, and her heart starts pounding even faster. If it approached her, whatever THAT was could be in danger from Peter's wrath!

Just a few more seconds... a few more seconds for Peter to get engrossed in catching Miles... if she moved now, she wouldn't make it past his ankle before his Spider-Sense went off like tornado sirens. She knew him too well. She needed a better opening..

So she continued trying to play.. if not 'dead'.. then dying...

Miles Morales has posed:
Be quick, Miles. Be quick! His danger sense is screaming at him as those lines come in. He doesn't get much time. He rips at the line of the zipper just as the weblines strike him. He's out of the jacket just as the lines grabbed a hold and pulled back. It gives him just enough time to yank his mask down into place to obscure his face. "Little late for a walk in the park!" he calls out in a taunt.

"But we can sit and have a chat. I'm digging the new look. Your Words Per Minute must be through the roof. But finding shirts in that style is probably a PITA." he admits as he leaps upwards into a tree and perches. "Unless you wanted to that whole muscle shirt thing. But those biceps are..." chef's kiss.

Buy Felicia time. Buy himself time. Keep Peter focused on /him/ and noone else.

Peter Parker has posed:
Surely the Man-Spider's danger sense must be going now, all those invisible little strands that seem to reach out from that little bump of trouble at the back of his beck, that seem to connect to hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of possibilities to weigh and measure what might bbe a threat.

And right now those senses must be going straight into overdrive.

The threat comes from beneath him, though to all appearances the Black Cat is down, her life's blood seemingly pouring out onto the dirt of the forest floor, leaving a slowly expanding puddle. And if that blood doesn't quite 'smell' right, that doesn't seem to matter to the Man-Spider. Because his mate is down, is injured beneath his feet. Maybe that is the threat it senses.

Or maybe all those little unseen threads are overloaded by the other threats. By the nearby tree that suddenly seems to shift and change before his hundreds of faceted eyes, that starts to approach, gets to close drawing a chittering warning from the Man-Spider, those mandibles wiggling ominously as that sickly green venom seeps to drool out from the 'mouth' beyond them.

Maybe the threat comes from that sense of the mercenaries closing around the position, that seek to cut off any avenue of escape, any chance that he might bolt again, disappear down some sewer manhole cover or access hatch leading down to the subway or other maintainence tunnels.

It could be the other Spider-Man, unexpected reinforcements arriving just in time to help even the odds. And if the Man-Spider has enough intellect left to realize that Miles would surely not have stabbed Felicia, that something must indeed be very wrong, it gives no sign of it and whether it is one of his weblines that entangles his fellow wall-crawler or one of warlock's tendrils, the chance of him chasing after comes to an abrupt end as he's brought up short.

Certainly the taunts have a certain ring of truth. What remains of the Friendly-Neighborhood Spider-Man is not a heck of a lot, the mask long since gone, along with the web-shooters, gloves and thin footie boots. Only patches of that red and blue costume still cling to the creature, more rads then anything though the black spider-symbol still somehow mostly endures, covering the creatures chest.

Or maybe the threat that confuses it is from the roar of those chopper blades overhead, from the sudden onslaught of leaves and other loose detrius that are stirred up adn whip wildly about the clearing.

IIs the man hanging out of the side of the helicopter truly Kraven?

It doesn't seem impossible. While masked and clad all in black, he is certainly the right size and build to by the infamous Hunter. He certainly holds that rifle like he knows how to use it, drawing a bead on the giant spider below and firing.

Just as MJ's modified drone reaches the scene and lets out it's own answering barrage to the whirly-bird. THe pilot jerks hard on the stick, banking the helicopter away from the attack and foiling the shot enough that it pings into the earth, only feet away from the Man-Spider and the prone Felicia, causing the spider-headed mosnter to whirl, to turn those multi-facetted eyes upwards.

In that moment, he starts to crouch, gets ready to spring towards this newest threat.

And in the process ruin the position that Felicia and the others have worked so hard to put themselves in...

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
Too late. Too late. She misjudged the timing. Her original intent had been to try and blast the pellets up and over the rotors of the helicopter, which would force the pilot to veer off and have to focus on controlling the craft or risk it crashing. Even if the man was a hard follower, flight training would have been drilled in to take control of the copter before all else, and if Kraven is busy fighting with the pilot, that's time he's not able to spend trying to shoot at Peter.

Mary Jane is however too late, even as the rifle barks, and the shot goes down towards the ground and seemingly ruins their carefully prepared plan and setup. She can't risk smashing the drone up and over into the copter, which could send shrapnel everywhere and risk sending it out of control and crashing into a populated area.. So all she can do now as the helicopter twists is try and prevent a second shot.

She goes to pop 'up' the drone as it swivels about, and there's a series of loud 'POP-POP-POP' as it goes to fire off a series of expanding adhesive pellets. They're not like Spider-Man's web fluid - they're more like a reverse engineered version of Paste Pot Pete's glue bombs. Which you first might laugh at.. Then remember that at times they could slow down She-Hulk. So even extensively weaker ones would still hopefully take an enhanced human down for awhile.

And hopefully those adhesive pellets go to pop-pop-pop all over the Man in Black, leaving him all gunked up and with nowhere to go.

As Mary Jane swears under her breath <<Stay in da choppah>>

Your obligatory Ahnuld reference, folks.

Warlock has posed:
Self is confused, but it seems like the women - well, at least the redhead, jury is out on the injured-possibly-not woman - are here to help the spider. Well, that's fine, the spider let perfectly normal people pass earlier, because Self has been in that patch of sun for hours, okay? He would've noticed that much shifting. He's not a fan of random people shooting into a park, either.

Warlock shifts into something resembling a very, very large hermit crab shell, and Man-Spider is the very lucky, no longer being shot at from the back recipient of this housing lottery. Self is careful not to touch, to give the spider room, but there's a sloping roof and three walls around him, solid black with traceries of gold and copper throughout. "Please do not be afraid, Self did not want more shooting at, that is very dangerous."

Felicia Hardy has posed:
She might not have a 'Spider-Sense,' but Felicia tends to have an impeccable sense of timing. Nerves of steel wrought from over a decade of sitting in the dark waiting in the dark for exactly. the right. moment.

The tension was building. She could feel it. Through her partially closed eyes, she could see Man-Spider struggling against the onslaught of dangers, trying to pick out the _most_ dangerous -- Miles, Silver's mercenaries, the chopper, the plan -- no, the CRAB.

Maybe it's the gunshot that hit the ground next to her that did it. Maybe it's the plant-man turning into a giant, protective shell.

Maybe it's all of those things combined, and when Peter just starts to crouch -- a position that leans him over just enough to make him vulnerable -- there would be no better moment.

As Man-Spider's abdomen lowers towards her, Felicia rolls enough to free the syringe in her hand and sits up, stabbing it up into his belly with a fierce mash of the plunger.

"I love you!" she insists, the words a fierce breath that may be lost against the heat of battle. Maybe not. Either way, once the injection is done, she rips the syringe out and rolls out from underneath him, away from Warlock, tossing the syringe free as she comes up to a crouch on one knee, one hand on the ground... clearly uninjured.

Also clearly ready to move. Or to fight, if it came down to it.

Peter's seen that posture before. Hundreds of times. White ponytail arcing up behind her, blue eyes fixed on her target. She has no idea what to expect, but she's not playing games with him. She fully expects to become his next intended victim, and she's ready to give him a fight... even if she never could best Spider-Man in a straight up duel, much less Man-Spider.

Miles Morales has posed:
As the barrage of gunfire erupted around them, Miles Morales was primed to pursue the helicopter. However, Mary Jane's manipulation of a drone allowed Miles to maintain his concentration on Peter and Felicia. The moment of relative calm was abruptly shattered when a massive shell formed over the pair, creating a menacing shadow that enveloped them. "Damn it," Miles muttered, his voice tinged with urgency. He readied himself, preparing to unleash a pair of Venom Stings aimed at shattering the encroaching shell.

Before he could execute his plan, Felicia Hardy emerged from the chaos, rolling to her feet with a fluid grace that belied the peril of their situation. Miles' instincts kicked into high gear. His mind raced as he anticipated the next critical move. << Incoming! >> he voiced into his comms, the urgency palpable.

In a flash, he fired twin weblines, the threads arcing through the air with precise aim. They snared Felicia, yanking her towards him with an effortless pull. Miles' thought was on Peter, who was in the midst of a desperate struggle. The mutation coursing through his veins was a volatile cocktail, and Miles knew the importance of stalling any potential countermeasures. His strategy was clear: force Peter to come after him and Felicia. The injection needed more time to take hold before the mutation that made him Man-Spider could adapt and neutralize its effects. "We need to move. I don't know how long that shell's gonna hold."

Peter Parker has posed:
Just what the intention of that helicopter and it's pilot remains something of a mystery. Perhaps the runman was indeed Kraven, looking to put an end to his old nemesis at last after balking that night at the Central Park Zoo. At pulling back when he had the upper hand at last.

Maybe the intent was something else entirely. The bullet was close enough that it could have been intended for either the Man-Spider or Felicia. Maybe the intent was not to kill the Man-Spider... but to strip away the last lingering strands of his humanity.

And what better way to do that the kill the woman that he loves?

Either way, it is rendered moot as MJ's drone does just enough to kock that shot off it's mark and follow it up with a barrage of glue pellets that splatter over the black-clad assassin and the interior of the helicopter revealled by that open side door. Just what the masked man might have to say is lost under the roar of those spinning blades, but he does gesture frantically, almost certainly screaming into the headset he wears and sure enough the chopper begins to veer away, picking up speed as it starts to make it's way back out over the city, driven away by the redheaded SHIELD agent using a very different kind of weapon teh her usual broadsword.

Still that isn't what keeps Man-Spider from launching his counter attack, from attempting to defend what he believes to be his mate. Even as he crouches, those twisty black limbs coiled and ready to spring, that crab shell suddenly appears directly in front of him. Yes, it provides cover, provides safety from any further sniper attacks.

But intentional or not it is also perfectly timed to ground him, to prevent him from leaping after their aerial attacker. It leaves him open and vulknerable at just the right moment for Felicia to suddenly act, to drive that syringe home, the contents flooding his body.

To put it mildly the Man-Spider seems surprised -- even with all that extra-sensory perception he is gifted with. Betrayed perhaps? It chitters, those eyes turning downward towards Felicia as she starts to scamper away, prepared for the worst sort of responses. But the creature actually hesitates.

Which is when the next part of the trap is sprung.

With the mercenaries surrounding the clearing, with Miles on-site to help with any necessary subdual and with MJ guarding the skies -- not to mention Warlocks unanticipated aid -- a SHIELD team appears at the edge of the clearing -- Doctor Connors in tow with a pair of assitants who handle the Neo-Genic Recombinator not unlike a bazooka. "We need him slowed, relatively still if the Recombinator is going to have enough time to emit a concentrated blast and get those enzymes doing what they need doing," he says, turning sad but resolute eyes towards his old friend, now as much a twisted shadow of himself as Connors is when the Lizard takes over. "Sorry old friend. This is for your own good," he says.

The Man-Spider turns towards Felicia, taking a step in her direction, perhaps intending to attack, perhaps simply looking to snatch her up, to carry her away with him when he makes his break.

Either way, he is a second too slow as Miles suddenly jerks her away, those weblines tugging her to safety. An angry chitter comes from the creature and a stream of that burning, hissing venom launches from his spider-like mouth towards his younger compatriot.

But while he does that, the air is suddenly alive as the SHIELD agents with Connors raise their weapons, tranq darts pumped out in rapid fire succession towards the Man-Spider.

And while many miss the twisty form as he seeks to dodge, leaving the darts to sshatter uselessly against Warlock's armored form behind him, one strikes home. Then another. And another.

As those tranq darts start to pile on, the Man-Spider does start to slow, start to stumble. And the intense glow of the Neo-Genic Recombinator is directed his way, bathing him in that light...

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
In another place, another time, where the wildly gesticulating Man in Black, whomever he is, theorized accurately or not, one might presume that the howl he would let out would be that of the great Admiral Kirk taunting his archnemesis to come and get him. Mary Jane goes tos nap her head up and watch as the copter goes away, and she's breathing heavily. All right, the backup would hve been hoping that one of Sable's mercenaries had a MANPADs and.. Those would have been horror to see in a cramped area like Central Park and put civilians at risk. Then she snaps about as her own drone fritzes and burns, smashed up in the copter blades as it whirls away.

She geos to look over and watch as the trnaquilizer darts go to hit the Man-Spider, and then there's the glow of the Neo-Genetic Recombinator, and Mary Jane goes to brace herself and mutters, "Don't look into the trap.." She keeps one arm up and over in front of her face due to instinct, other hand dropping the remote she had used for the drone and readying if she has to to yank out one of her heavy metal batons..

"Come on Spider, you're not gonna just leave all of us here." It's now all in the hands of Doctor Connors. That started this in the first place. They can only hope that the man is true to his word, and true to his skill.

Warlock has posed:
Self is proud to say that he Does Not Panic, thank you.

Hermit crab form slams down around the large Man-Spider as soon as the glow ceases, preventing anything else being aimed at him to bounce harmlessly off a techno-organic shell. Warlock forms eyes on the inside, watching the very large spider in concern as he comes to a slow, stumbling halt. Very, very slowly he creates the narrowest holes, making sure that the spider can get air, but otherwise he's acting as blocker - nothing in, nothing out.

Felicia Hardy has posed:
Felicia wasn't expecting to be attacked from behind. All of her focus really _had_ been on Peter, this time, and Miles's spontaneous assault really _did_ catch her off of her guard. The lines _stick_ to her shoulders, and she lets out a quick shriek of surprise as she's hauled backwards off of her feet like a Black Cat Bullet.

If there's any benefit to it at all, it's that even as she's sailing back towards Miles, in that split second, she can see Peter's attack. Surely Miles could feel it through his own Spider-Sense, but she couldn't depend on that.

Her back hits him with a solid thud, but rather than fighting to get away from him, she turns and grabs him and rolls with him across the ground -- once, twice, three times.. enough to clear that acidic spit.

She ends up pinning him down, wrapped up in a tangle of webbing with him, and looking over her shoulder at the tanq-darts being fired in rapid-succession at the elder Spider-Man (if only by six months)... or, Spider-Man I, if you like.

He's slowing when that shell is starting to close him in.

They have him.

SHIELD has him. Doctor Connors has him. MJ has him. Miles has him.

And Felicia is left with the same decision she had that fateful day on ESU's campus when Doctor Connors tried to use the Recombinator the first time. Does she say and risk her bad luck interfering?

She did, before, and that mistake led them here. Her bad luck led them here. She wouldn't make the same mistake again.

"Sorry, Spider." It's Miles she's talking to. Miles she's looking down at, her ponytail hanging sideways beside her head, her abdomen still covered in blood. "You're cute, but you're not _my_ Spider."

Her lips twist into a sad smile as she lifts one hand, claws extending from the tips of her gloves, and slides through the webbing they'd gotten wrapped up in, jumping to her feet.

Without so much as another sentimental glance back over her shoulder to see the outcome, the Black Cat is sprinting away from the scene as fast as she can, to put as much space between herself and Peter as she can manage.

Miles Morales has posed:
>> SPIDER-SENSE TINGLING <<

Okay. Miles was just trying to get Felicia away from Man-Spider. This was NOT A COUP. He's already dating someone that's a redhead and and they're working on their relationship issues and hi my names is Miles, and you're probably wondering how I ended up here.

Because Miles is.

One second, he was pulling Felicia to him, the next.

"That's a nice ponytail."

And off she goes, leaving him in his own webbing.

This isn't embarassing.

It's just another Monday night.

Peter Parker has posed:
Maybe it is the Black Cat sprinting away that keeps that unseen aura of bad luck from interfering. Or maybe it is just a matter of a well executed plan, of ample preparations made that finally make the difference this time.

Either way, the enzyme cocktail has been delivered -- in large part thanks to Felica's efforts -- and as the light of the recombinator washes over the Man-Spider's form, it does seem to start to contract, that twisted body suddenly spasming, contorting almost violently. So violently that it might almost seem like bones are breaking or tendons are tearing. violent enough that it would be hard to watch.

Fortunately or not, they are spared the need to do that as Warlock's shell suddenly shifts and grows, completely encircling the spasming Spider-creature, that lingering glow still hovering around him but almost completely blotted from view as that outwardly hard carapace surrounds him.

And for moments, there will only be that lingering tension. The confusion at Black Cat -- the architect of so much of this -- suddenly darting away. the tension of not knowing whether Doctor Connors has made another miscalculation that might somehow make things even worse. Maybe instead of a Man-Spider there will just be a huge Spider-Monster left in his place.

Almost a minute will pass in near stillness, the noises of the park, the noises of the city seemign that much more distance, though the growing evening breeze rustles through all those leafy boughs up above, playing that natural symphony.

Warlock, of course, will be aware of the effects first. Aware when all the contortions, all the twisting and pained grunt subsides. When there are no longer eight dark and twisted limbs jutting from the mutated form of Peter Parker. When there are no longer hundreds of multi-faceted eyes circling a too bulbous head.

When it is just a man -- two legs, two arms, two eyes -- laying in the remains of a tattered and soiled spider costume, maskless face pressed against the ground, smeared in dirt. Just a man sprawled out on the ground, breathing still somewhat pained by the ordeal.

Just a Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man once more.

Warlock has posed:
Self shrinks a little, still giving the now-normal-size man plenty of space. His face reappears on the outside, focusing on the redhead. "Man-Spider is just man now! Probably needs some covering, thank you please deliver right here!" A small opening forms like a tunnel, just enough space to stick an arm in but not enough for anyone to see what's actually happening inside the small dome.