18876/Descent: The First Slayer Strikes

Descent: The First Slayer Strikes
Date of Scene:	27 August 2024
Location:	Midtown
Synopsis:	On a grey evening, a flying robot-Spider attacks a group of people in Midtown Manhatten. But it seems to be especially fixated on Spider-Man.
Cast of Characters:	Peter Parker, Mary Jane Watson, Susan Richards, Doreen Green, Kaine Parker, Atrice Duckstein

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Peter Parker has posed:
It is a grey sort of day in New York City this early evening, the overcast sky dark and rumbly, the occasional sound of distant thunder rippling across the city below. But thus far at least not a hint of rain has otherwise disturbed the city below. Still, as the hour starts to creep closer and closer to full dusk -- admittedly a little earlier here in Midtown with some of the towering buildings plotting out the western sky -- it does seem only a matter of time before the downpour commences.

Still, the grey skies, the forthcoming deluge, it all seems to fit the mood of at least one of those hanging out in the very heart of Manhatten as the hour creeps towards dark. For Spider-Man, the world does seem like it has been entirely washed out.

It was only a short time ago that Peter Parker was trapped within himself, trapped as the hideously mutated Man-Spider, terrorizing New York. Trapped until a number of his friends pooled their resources, used their connections and found a way to trap him, to transform him back to the regular old neighborhood Spider-Man. No more six arms. No more head of a spider. Just good ol' Peter Parker, ready to resume his life after a pretty crazy summer.

Ready to pick up with his girlfriend, Felicia Hardy. At least until the bomb planted by Hammerhead's goons to all appearances ripped through her penthouse apartment, leaving no survivors.

And leaving New York's most infamous wall-crawler perched atop on of the equally gloomy gargoyles that still populate some of the older buildings in the city, crouched there, staring out over the streets below. Staring out over the people going back and forth, the early evening traffic still brisk as those late leaving the city try to do so now while others on their way to their evening engagements flit about the city accomanied by the occasional honk from a peeved driver at the usual traffic. Crouched on his favorite perch -- Bruce the Gargoyle -- though there is none of the customary banter with the inanimate statue tonight.

Soon it will be dark, well and truly dark. Soon he will go out into the city, will begin stalking all of Hammerhead's known associates, working his way up the ladder to their boss. Soon he will get his hands on the flat headed gangster and then... then... Spider-Man genuinely doesn't know just what it is that he is going to do.

For now he crouches and broodes, watching all those people scampering around below while not really seeing any of them, hardly able to take note of his surroundings at all. Hardly bothering to take note of that little tingle in the back of his head, just hte mildest of buzzes for the moment.

While Spider-Man might watch the city below with hardly any attention given, other eyes -- keener, focused eyes -- are busy watching him as flying drones in the shape of metal eyes flit from the shadows of building to building, all locked in on the bright costumed figure perched atop that gargoyle.

And in the distance, cutting through the sky increasingly dark with the onset of twilight, a much larger shape begins to wing it's way closer and closer.

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
She knows what loss is like. She knows what pain is about. But she knows that what Peter is giong through puts everything she feels to shame. All that she's known in her life pales in comparison. And after the explosion.. She's taken her time tracking him down. Trying to make sure she catches him before the grief and guilt spiral damns him more than he already damns himself. She's finally managed to figure out where he is and has jogged up to the building, scrambling without issue along the roof.

"Hey there Tiger." She doesn't say that she's sorry. He knows she is. She knows the words would be meaningless to put up there but they're understood. "Didn't want to leave you alone." She's not sure whether joking would help at all right now. Sometimes it does. Sometimes it doesn't. Providing he doesn't try to sling away or move away..

The redhead would go to sit by her closest friend, resting over against the side of the gargoyle. Not tracking the drones either. Her attention fully over on Peter. Her presence quiet. Whehter or not it's acknowledged or responded to. She just wants to make sure he has someone with him.

She wants to help make sure he knows all his friends care. His family cares. They're all here for him when he needs it. The same way that he's always been here for them.

So if not dismissed or told to leave, she would just watch out along the city. Expression mournful. Body language pained. But familiar with loss and guilt.

All too familiar with them.

Susan Richards has posed:
Sue was returning to the Four Freedoms building, following a trip to Metropolis today, her flying car zipping through the sky, as the sun set lower to the west. Dressed in a dark blue jumpsuit, with sleeves that faded deeper in shade to a navy blue at the cuffs, and a pale blue 4 on a shield of white upon her chest, the blonde piloted the vehicle with a practiced ease.

"I missed dinner, don't judge me." Sue spoke to the car's AI assistant, who was chiding her for having stopped off at a corner store moments ago, by landing on its roof, and slipping inside to get some fruit.

"There is no judgement here, Ma'am." The pleasant voice said back, as Sue smirked. She reached in to the plastic bag, and pulled out an organic Honeycrisp apple (since those are the best apples on the planet), and popped it in to her mouth, her teeth sinking in to the red and yellow skin.

"Ma'am, something unusual is appearing on scopes." The AI voice chimed in, as Sue pulled the apple from her mouth with one bite taken. She glanced at the screen on the dash, as it displayed something in the sky, which garnered a soft "Hmm..." from the driver.

"Should we monitor it before heading home."

"Probably." Sue replied, the dark blue flying car banking to the west, as its velocity droped dramatically, the apple placed back in Sue's mouth, as she used both hands to pilot the car to the right.

Doreen Green has posed:
Mary Jane would not be the only friend concerned about Spider-Man's well-being after all that has happened. Which would be why the less famous but equally Friendly Neighbor Squirrel Girl drops down onto the ledge between the gargoyles, Tippy Toe sitting upon her shoulder as usual. "Oh good, you're still here." Doreen opens the brown lunch bag she's carrying and pulls out a fresh coney island hotdog, which is held everything short of just forcing it into his hands towards Spider-Man. "You should be sure to eat something before you go on patrol." And hunting the catburgler's foul exterminators.

It might not be suspected the almost always energetic and chipper Squirrel Girl, but she does know what loss of someone close can feel like. She lost the original Monkey Joe in the invasion of New York. Maybe not entirely the same, but enough she can figure out how the wallcrawler is probably feeling right now.

Kaine Parker has posed:
Kaine Parker does, and doesn't, know the pain of loss. It's complicated. He does know about a life lost. Well, two of them technically. One is painful because of the known. The other is painful because it's close to all he's ever known. Still, there is a peace with the latter, even if he misses parts of it.

Coming up from behind, back in the black and red, he'll land near Spider-Man and Mary Jane. "Hey. You're not alone in this," it's all Kaine will say. Much like MJ before him, if Kaine is dismissed, he'll leave with zero arguments. Still, he will try to extend an olive branch toward the other spider.

Kaine talked to Felicia a few times. The first sparked an interest from Kaine, but that is before a different thinking happened. Before anything began with Peter. So, Kaine is picturing that brief feeling, magnified by large numbers. He can surmise the well of emotions Peter feels. A blessing, and curse to clones, they can get a good idea of what other clones, or the original source, feels or thinks. That's why Kaine is here, afterall.

Atrice Duckstein has posed:
Atrice, otherwise known as Ducky, is in the area just by luck. The pale SHIELD agent is heading out of Saint Patrick's Cathedral with a little bundle of books that look rather old. They get safely stored away in the backpack that she was carrying.

Her mismatched gaze looks around her and then up as things start to pick up once she's outside of the cathedral. It's always a jarring thing. Peace and harmony versus the upbeat and chaotic. "Alright, what are we going to do with the evening?" she asks herself as she starts heading in the direction of the drones. She has no idea what pow-wow is going on above her with the Spider family.

Peter Parker has posed:
It might be a hopeful sign, the fact that Spider-Man does not immediately leap from his gargoyle perch atop the Midtown highrise, that he does not fire off a webline and take to the skies to get away from any more sympathy, any more well-wishers, anyone with some heartfelt advice.

That could be progress of a sort, a willingness to let his friends help without retreating even further into himself, into whatever black mood has cosumed his thoughts since he was just moments too late to warn Felicia of Hammerhead's bomb.

Or it might all fall on the other side of the spectrum. It might be even worse then it seems on the surface, that he doesn't even hear them anymore then he actually seems to see the comings and goings of all those people on the sidewalk, on the street, far below. Anymore then he pays attention to that little tingle in the back of his head that suggests that everything is not alright with the world.

But then Peter already knows that everything is not alright with the world. He doesn't need his Spider Sense to tell him that. It is obvious.

So while he doesn't flee from his friends, from his clone brother and the words of assurance and sympathy and well meaning advice they give, he doesn't stir from his perch either. Doesn't so much as glance up or offer a word of acknowledgement. He might as well be as much a gargoyle as Bruce is beneath him.

At least until that tingle in the back of his head blossoms into a full-fledged throbbing. That, apparently, is enough to cut straight through his pity-party a whole lot more effectively then anything else can manage.

Of course it is probably Sue, in the flying Fantasticar that truly sees the threat first, has it resolve on her scanners, as a large flying Spider-shaped robot in black and red -- nearly the size of the Fantasticar itself -- races through the darkening sky, towards the rooftop of that particular high rise where the quartet of heroes has gound itself.

Kaine naturally probably senses the threat almost hte same instant as Peter of course, though perhaps less intently. If only because it would seem that he is not the intended target. Merely collateral damage.

"LOok out!" Spidey calls out, the lethargic crouch seeming to vanish between the beatings of his heart as he leaps from that perch, quite literally backflipping away across the ledge of the building before hands press hard against the concrete under hand, vaulting him up into the air.

And just in time, as extending from the 'head' of the Spider drone are a pair of cannons that lash out, blasts peppering the rooftop all around the quartet up there. And instant later the Spider's mouth opens and a rocket shoots out as well, streaking across the sky with a plume of smoke trailing after it before slamming into the edge of the building's rooftop only feet from Bruce, the explosion sending up a spray of debris all around those up there.

And dislarging several large chunks of brick and concrete that begin to plummet down towards the ground below that suddenly peers up curiously towards the evening sky, seeking out the source of the disturbace.

All around them, those other flying 'eye' drones continue to keep the action going on firmly fixed in their electronic sight.

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
What the -hell-? Mary Jane doesn't spot the drones - at least not until Spider-Man yells a warning and is launching himself, no doubt followed a moment later by Kaine and Doreen. She doesn't bother yelling back about it - it's already out there. Mary Jane immediately goes to jump over towards Kaine, presuming he can get her to the melee faster than Doreen. Doreen isn't quite as strong and MJ would slow her down getting there and this is an all webs on deck situation.

Well, and force fields given the presence of the Invisible Woman. As she goes to join the others in jumping to battle, Mary Jane lets out a sigh and goes to yank out a cheaply made spider-man hoodie that was gotten from a Times Square vendor for a horrifically high price. Someday she's -really- going to need to talk to Jessica about getting something a little bit better made for her when she has to dot his sort of thing.

She does, however, have her main toys with her. Slung over her bcak are her two sisters. Two blades.

One of a core of Hyborean steel lined with secondary adamantium. The other the blade of a fallen Aesir, a Shieldmaiden of Asgard. With them she could hopefully inflict some damage on the things they were up against. And then she's tensing as soon as she's going through the air as her personas switch out.

Susan Richards has posed:
Sue, with apple in her mouth, leveled the car off toward the aggressive robotic monstrosity. She heard her AI asking her questions, but with her mouth full, she was only replying with "Mmmmmhs!" and "Nnnnnlfff!"

Once she had the car leveled, and saw actual attacks taking place, Sue spat the apple out in to the bag with the rest. "God dangit, who is making all of these things."

Villains, Sue, super Villains.

She begins to rapidly jam a few buttons on the car's display screen, before she opens the canopy up. "I'm headed out. Keep on an aggressive interference position!" She shouted to the AI, as her blonde hair began to get whipped around from the wind flooding the car.

Sue vanished, once there, now no more.

When she reappeared, she was on the roof of a nearby building, encased in a softly glowing blue dome, and through it, she began to march forward, raising her hands to erect forece fields to try and intercept the robotic nuisance, to block its attacks!

Doreen Green has posed:
Doreen Green doesn't seem all too surprised or upset that the offered food isn't taken. Everyone grieves in their own way. But she had to at least try, and more importantly, be there for a friend.

Now she doesn't have any sort of 'squirrel sense' like the spider-folk do. But animals in general often have a heightened awareness of danger, which provokes Tippy Toe to shuffle to Doreen's other shoulder (which is the opposite side the unseen danger is coming from). Doreen opens her mouth as if to ask something but it will go unknown if it was towards Spidey or her companion as that's the precise moment Spider-Man shouts in warning and leaps away. Instinct and reflex kick in and Doreen does the same to vault off the ledge just moments before the first barrage rains down.

Forgotten the hotdog drops from her hand. Some city critter will get an extra tasty meal later.

While Doreen glides over the street thanks to the 'flying squirrel' wingsuit flaps of her costume, coming to land on a street light post. Where she hunches to grab the metal with her hands to brace herself, tail flicking for balance. First thing first, debris and rubbernecking citizens. We can't have that. "Tippy Toe, Monkey Joe!" One is already on her shoulder, the other pokes his head out of her tail fluff, and when Doreen balances to hold up her arms they realize what she's going to do and scamper down into her hands. "FUZZBALL FASTBALL MANEUVER, GO!" And she throws both squirrels at two of the larger chucks of blasted building, which they knock into other pieces in an attempt to ricochette several bits away from the street below. Go land in an alley or somewhere less dangerous you!

Then Doreen turns her attention to where the attacks came from. Which can only be summed up in one way upon seeing the metallic flying spider robot weapon.

"That would be SO COOL if it wasn't trying to kill us!"

Kaine Parker has posed:
Kaine senses the thing coming. That ping on the back of the neck that only grows into a "Peter Tingle." The Spidey senses. Kaine's already moving in the same direction of Mary Jane. The leap is quick, easy for her to make. It helps when your intended target moves toward you.

Once she's secure, Kaine swings, "What the Hell is that?!" he sees that black and red mechanical creature move quick. "Do we just get our own Sentinels!?" Oh, this could be very bad. Those laser blasts might cement Kaine's opinion on what this robot means. The rockets don't help either. Everything quickly goes to Hell.

Seeing the makeshift mask come out, "I know a guy. Maybe he could help you one day," Mary Jane could tell a difference with Kaine's costume. The material's dense, a little heavier duty. A lot of time, money, and effort, went into it. "You could pull off white. That's a color a lot of us don't use yet," he adds while trying to think of something on the fly.

Kaine realizes that he's not that target. That means for whatever reason, the targeting is on Spidey.

But that's when he sees pieces of concrete go toward the ground. He'll jump from one building to the next. An arm wraps around to try and support MJ. The other hand lets go of the webline, tries to create some kind of makeshift netting, hit the next building, and risne repeat until he's ground.

That's when MJ can slip down.

Kaine studies the drones, he wants to figure out how this machine works. Study it. A parker brain lingers inside his skull and he's trying to use it.

"You okay Red?" he will ask MJ because that ride might have been bumpy.

Atrice Duckstein has posed:
Ducky looks up with those mismatched eyes of hers and then her lips tug into a deep frown as rockets go off above the public. Then she is skittering off to the trunk of her car to unlock it. There is a quick second to find the handle to pull up and grab the gun case that is under the lining.

"Does it look armored? Maybe we'll just use that anyways..." she mutters as she gets it flung over her shoulder and then her bag is offloaded into the trunk. "Alright." she psyche's herself up and then starts running /towards/ where the action is happening.

"Please move back to a safe distance!" she calls to the crowd as she tries to divert their course to not under where the giant spider is. "Or better yet, just get out of the area!" the SHIELD agent calls.

Peter Parker has posed:
Really, the flying Spider-robot does cut an impressive sight as that squat black frame soars through the air, a series of thrusters in it's underside keeping it aloft as the red limbs twitch as it just waiting to join the fray themselves. It really would be the sort of thing that would certainly capture Peter's attention if he had the right sort of mindset for it right now.

And if it wasn't busy trying to kill him and his friends. That's a pretty big deal breaker right there as well.

The flying Spider-drone would no doubt drop right down practically on top of them to continue that assault, but they are offered some respite in the form of the Fantasticar as it zips around, continually interfering and getting in the path of the Spider-Slayer as it tries reach it's target. That car is considerably more maneuverable then the Spider itself it would seem, the thrusters on the unique drone's underbelly designed to lift up the armored robot, to get it where it's going fast. But it is only slightly more meanueverable then a tank it would seem.

Then again, the way tit lets loose with those blasters and rockets, clearly it isn't necessarily designed to get right up in melee.

Those blasters also make a difference, as one of them catches the rear end of the Fantasticar as it swoops past, sending it skidding away, finally clearing a parth to begin it's approach towards Spider-Man and the assorted others that are not likely to stand aside.

But that time has been bought. Time for INvisible Woman to live up to her name and disappear. Time for the others to clear the rooftop and those series of explosions there. For MJ to draw her swords. For Squirrel Girl's friends to help deflect the falling chunks of debris away from the crowds gathered below, seemingly unaware of the danger they're putting themselves in. Time enough for Blood-Spider to aid that effort with a few precise webshots to insure that no one is brained by the chunks of falling debris.

Of course, so long as people linger underfoot, there will still be plenty of danger and with the Spider-Slayer's approach cleared once more, it begins to blast away again at Spidey, driving him from his perch on the building, to fling himself out into midair, limbs all akimbo before a webline soars out, finds purchase on the building opposite to him and begins to carry him over.

Fortunately crowd control would seem to be covered too. Whether it is a natural voice of authority, or more likely it is a well reasoned inclination to listen to a woman wielding guns, but when Ducky shouts for people to clear out, most of them listen, starting to back away, starting to scramble for cover. As another set of explosions rips across the rooftop and that flying Spider-Robot swoops into view, beginning to hover directly over the street, that is enough to convince most people to start seeking cover in the shops and buildings that line the street.

Most, but not all. At least a handful of people have their cellphones out, have them directed upward at the action above, capturing the robot spider and the heroics of those who cling to the building, or perch on the lightposts. At least until an errant rocket launches from the mouth of the robotic spider and begins to spiral downward to that small collection of people without the finely honed survival instinct they should have.

Susan Richards has posed:
The Fantasticar sputtered away, after taking that clipped shot. But it was still up, still going, and as such, it reversed itself around, moving on all axis', it fired up its spotlight to shine upon the spider-robot monstrosity. Lighting the bot's face up, attemping to blind any optics that the robot might be using to visualize targets on the ground, the hover car zipped right to left, and back again, moving much like a speedy drone itself now.

Sue, wrapped in a bubble shield, slipped off the roof, and glided down to the ground below. With chunks of rock and cocrete piling up on the ground, Sue let her bubble shield fade, and a new one arise, this time over a group of civilians using their phones to dangerously record the enemy robot.

Once she had the dome erected, she held it up with her right hand extended, her left shooting forward to summon a collection of force-field discs that she used to rapidly shoot up at the spider-robot, to test its armor strength!

"Get off the streets!" Sue shouted to some of the citizens lingering nearby, gathering looks from them, before some actually obeyed the Visible Woman, and rushed for a storefront doorway.

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
Mary Jane Watson would chuckle at Kainea t the ride, "I'll definitely take you up on it. I think I need something a bit more dignified than throwing a bag on my face." Something she would never live down. Or if such a thing had happened in this place either, no one would have let Peter do so either if such an event had occurred. "And I've had worse!" When it comes to rides. It's not a Quinjet crashing with the rotors blasted out, it's not the Hellicarrier taking cruise missiles.

"IT's not like I'm new to this either!" She would quip at Kaine. At least she doesn't add 'I've probably done it more than you have' to that. Then she quickly looks up at the placement of the Spider-Slayer, evaluates and calls out to Kaine, "Launch me and I'll see if I can take some chunks out." She means throw her on top of it. "It's going to be armored heavier on the bottom and the sides and lighter on top." Even with hover-jets, it can't be super-heavy. That limits the maneuverability. So there are some tradeoffs. If the armor on the top isn't as thick but denser to make up for it.. She grins ferally.

Then she's launched through the air and hopefully takinga dvantage of a few things - she's barley metahuman and the Slayer will be prioritizing going after Peter. A girl being thrown with swords will register as a minor threat that can't cause significant damage in luck accoring to it's combat algorithms. And if it has a pilot, they'll be focused on the fast moving Spiders.

And then she's on top of the Spider-Slayer hopefully, and she goes to snap out both swords, bracing her heavy boots to stay afoot it and grins. Then she goes to start slashing like a madwoman. WHatever the heavy armor is, it's likely specialized in taking kientic force and energy blasts.. Not blades. And even highly dense metals can be cut through things with sufficient sharpness..

Like secondary adamantium and dwarf forged asgardian blades. So hopefully she can go to rapidly start skewering her way through the top of it to cause as much damage as she can, hacking away in a crazed state!

Doreen Green has posed:
Don't worry folks! Squirrels can fall from a considerable height and be just fine! Such holds true for Tippy-Toe and Monkey Joe after playing mid-air soccer with debris chunks and they quickly scurry off into a nearby alley to not get underfoot. They'll find a wall to climb up and eventually make their way back to Squirrel Girl. Who has acrobated her way down from the light post to the pavement because being an open target on a precarious perch isn't a good place to be.

Especially when there's still people in danger! Though Sue has that handled for the moment. So there's still the main threat. "Really need to do something about those weapons..." Doreen snaps her fingers. "Hey, Gadget-Gregg, front and center." A third squirrel (who knows how many actually hide in there) wearing techie goggles pokes out of her tail with a chitter. "Gimme your screwdriver."
There's a curious squeak, but he crawls forward to pull said tool from the pouch of her utility belt he stashed said tools in, and climbs up to put it in her hand.

There's no way she can get close to the machine to try to use that, is there?

Or maybe she doesn't need to. Doreen squints one eye, tip of her tongue poking out of her mouth next to the buck teeth in a goofily cute expression as she concentrates, takes aim, and with her 'Proportional Strength of a Squirrel' hurtles the screwdriver like a dart to try and wedge it into one of those weapon ports!

Kaine Parker has posed:
"The first masks always suck," Kaine says, but they're memorable. And they're often the building blocks to the current ones. Or at least the ones that stick around a while.

"Didn't say this was your first rodeo," he knows it's not. Kaine thinks Mary Jane has probably been on more Spider-Family adventures than he has. May Jane asks for a throw, he will do his best Colossus impression. Then he tosses Mary Jane toward the intended target as best he could. Not all of this is a science because Mary Jane may need to steer herself a little.

Once she's atop of the thing, Kaine things of launching himself up, but then he thinks against that. It could jar Mary Jane, maybe knock her off. He will keep an eye on Mary Jane's disengagement before doing that.

Looking about he sees Atrice trying crowd control. Kaine will jump ahead of her. "She said move!" he'll yell at some people then begin a webline that he connects to a spot across from it. Then another and another. He doesn't stop until four or five weblines. "Crowd Control works better with a perimeter established," he says and nods to Atrice. As he tries to help, and kill some time.

"Thwp! Thwp!" two weblines will go out, one from each hand then he starts to step back. Kaine's waiting to launch himself.

Atrice Duckstein has posed:
No one takes a redhead with an assault rifle seriously anymore these days! Not until there's a Spider Dude jumping out to help get people moving, "Thank you for the assist, Verpok." she tells Kaine with a bit of a grin.

For anyone who speaks Hungarian, that translates to Blood Spider.

Ducky then turns as she sees the robot spider, "Umm, so what pissed off the assault spider?" she asks as she aims the rifle up towards it, looking through the scope. She fires a shot, hoping to hit something that it needs to keep moving.

Peter Parker has posed:
The haze that Peter seems to have been laboring under all evening finally begins to dissipate. Less due to the constant danger to himself -- he almost welcomes that at the moment. Welcomes the distraction of this robotic monstrocity trying to take him down. But that the efforts of the strange flying spider-robot might only be directed at him -- but clearly whoever is behind it doesn't overly care about who might be hurt in the process.

And that is a whole lot less acceptable to Spider-Man, no matter how sorry he might be feeling for himself.

So Peter finally takes a moment to take in the scene, to let his masked gaze seek out Kaine and MJ to make sure that they are okay -- and finds his oldest friend seemingly taking a third class flight directly towards the hovering Black Widow Spider-Slayer that continues to track him across the sky.

While Kaine likewise seems fine for the moment, that might not remains the case because as those lingering drone eyes remains hidden in the shadows, in the little nooks and crannies of the surrounding buildings, increasingly that Spider-Robot seems to be splitting it's attention between the two Spider-Men, perhaps hedging it's bets after watching Blood-Spider do pretty much everything it would have expected from Spider-Man.

So when the next volley of those concussion bursts come raining down, they are split evenly between the two Parkers.

Even as Pete leaps from his perch next again, throwing himself atop a dangling traffic light and clinging precariously there, hands otherwise in constact motion, flinging out weblines, creating a sticky littlle trap should the Spider-Slayer continue pursuing him towards the ground. But he also checks on Squirrel Girl watching as that perfectly hurled screwdriver does exactly what is intended, finding the barrel of one of those cannons and jamming it up.

In reply however, when the Spider's mouth opens once more, it is to let that latest rocket shoot out, arcing down towards the lightpole where Doreen and her poofy tail are perched.

While the warning shouted by Ducky might not have been enough to make the most dedicated stragglers take shelter, that plummetting debris is a much better teacher, those that would be trapped beneath it throwing up their arms at the moment moment, their precious cellphone footage forgotten at last.

But instead of being crushed, that field of invisible energy catches those bricks, those chunks of concrete, letting them hover there, mere inches above the heads of those caught beneath. And when Sue yells at them to run, finally, they do so, the street mostly cleared except for a few faces that peer out the windows of cars on the street.

At least they have shelter.

That evacuation of the street is certainly sped along when Kaine joins the fray, webbing off some of the routes to more or less funnel the crowd in the safest direction. Though that concussion cannon continues to track him, occasionally spewing out more blasts that tear up the pavement mere inches from where he lands.

MJ's trajectory does indeed carry her true, letting her land atop the Spider-Slayer without an immediate and obvious counter attempted. Though soon enough the flying robot begins to buck, to gyrate wildly in midair as if to shake her free. And when that proves unsuccessful, either due to the redhead's balance or her sword slicing through the more lightly armored top to give her a grip, that spiderhead begins to roll, begins to twist unnaturally, turning to face her at an angle that would be impossible for a real, life creature. But works just fine for a huge drone.

Meanwhile, freed from crowd control duties, the assault rifle directed up towards the Spider-Bot, the shot fired off strikes true. Very true. One of the thrusters sputters, goes out, and the right side of the flying robot dips precariously.

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
IT works for a drone. It can spin, twist, and snap about all that it wants to. It clearly is capable of doing so thanks tot he hover jets it has on it. And while she might be well enough balanced to be able to stay atop it ordinarily.. When it goes to thrash about she would have worse luck. Now she gives herself fully to her other.

She screeches in an old language, forgotten and abandoned from many millenia ago. Words likely unheard in the melee as she goes to scream. One arm goes to slash up and down with the blade of asgardian steel. Intent on gorging through the middle of the thing to rather than rend it across to.. Snap inside of it as best she can like a hook. From there, she uses it to anchor herself, even as it snaps about.

This should snap her neck and back like twigs if she were ordinary. But she is not. She is the She-Devil.

And she has ridden many beasts that wish to throw her off and send her hurtling to her demise.

This brings her other sword up.. Which she's intent on continuing her hacking. Now her targets are more oriented towards the stabilizers. She might not be able to reach far enough from her position to hit the hoverjets upon it.. But she can hack anything that might be close to connected to them with her long reach and the basterd sword while cackling with mad glee as oil, electricity, and high technology blasts over her with fire!

Susan Richards has posed:
Sue is keeping her protective Force Field up, until the civilians flee from needing it. She reabsorbs the energy, as she notices Atrice take that shot, then call out. "Nice shot!" Sue shouts back to ducky, before glancing in her direction. "And I have no idea!" She called out, as shee moved her second hand out in front of her to join her first, creating a pair of nearly invisible shield bubbles, that she swept around to block any errant debris from slamming back at her, or behind her toward the storefronts where so many civilians had gone to hide.

Her blue eyes watched the spiders, watched MJ, and glanced up toward the Fantasticar that continued to zip around the damaged spider-robot.

"It's hurt, don't let up. Make sure the area beneath it is clar, and put the thing down!" She called out, not that anyone needed orders from Sue on this topic!

With a rush of debris headed toward a storefront window, Sue rushed forward, her hands thrust out to create a 'airbag' of protective energy that cushioned the debris, and shot it back out in to the middle of the street, across some empty cars, and in to the green space on the other side of the roadway.

Doreen Green has posed:
Missiles suck. But it's also better it's shooting at the heroes than anyone else.

With that in mind Doreen bolts from her spot, explosives blasting up smoke and more debris around the street as she grabs onto and scrambles up another building's wall, which is now potmarked and scarred from the blasts. "Ugh, JJJ is gonna have a field day with this. Probably some spin doctor bullshit about this being Spider-Man's fault because nothing like this attacked until he came back."

Doreen crawls up onto the roof, where sure enough she and Gregg and rejoined by Tippy and Joe. Tippy-Toe as the 'lead' claims Dorren's head, right between the squirrel ears of her headband, while Monkey Joe and Gadget-Gregg each take a shoulder. "I don't know about you three but I'm running out of ideas."

Someone shoots out a thruster, not immobilizing the spider machine but leaving it listing a bit.

Tippy-Toe points at some power lines and chitters. "Normally that's a good anti-robot idea, but not when we have friends fighting on top of the machine."
Gregg grunts a bit about the lost screwdriver, but then squeaks and chirps back and forth a bit with Joe.

Which gets Doreen to pause a moment, and look over the rooftop. "You two are right. It did mainly focus on the Spiders and everyone else was collateral. It only shot at us after we damaged it. Interesting but not immeadiately useful."

Monkey Joe takes off his dapper little tophat and holds it over his face. "Now is not the time for hat tri.. Oh. Ooooooh. I get you. That's a good idea!"

Quickly Doreen graps the glider flaps of her jacket and unhooks them. Then hooks the two flaps together to make one larger piece of durable fabric. She holds onto one end while the squirrel trio grab the other and the length is stretched between them. Doreen glances towards the fight, watching the spider mech try to maneuver with the damaged thruster while dealing with being attacked and MJ going rodeo. "Okay... wait for it... wait for the right spot... JUMP!"

Doreen and her squirrels leap off the the building with the fabric taunt between them, stretching it out to try and get it over the spider-robot's head!

Probably not quite as effective on a robot as blinding a person, but every thing more they can give the machine to deal with is a hinderance. Robots don't always deal with improvised wackiness well, and it's hard to get more nuttier hijinks than involving squirrels.

Kaine Parker has posed:
Kaine looks about at Mary Jane slashing and doing all she can. Riding the Spider like a mechanical beast, just with lasers and missiles. His gaze is still mostly focused on the spider. However, he'll look toward Susan creating those cushions. This causes the red and black spider to speak, "That's why you're my favorite of the four!" Granted, some of her older programs may create a biasness.

Although the sigh of her will cause him to look at his right hand then clench the webline. Pushing aside a bitter memory, he focuses on the here, the now.

Kaine focuses for a moment and decides to launch himself upward. He's hoping to hit hit the head of the spider. Something that will hurt it without jarring MJ too much. Last thing he wants is to be the result of her falling off.

Miss, or hit, Kaine will be in the air and this is when he looks for something to maybe change his course, or a good spot to land on.

Atrice Duckstein has posed:
"Thank you for the assist!" she calls to Kaine after he's helped rope people off. Ducky doesn't get in Kaine's way. Because this is a bad situation and she is sure that he has other things to take care of.

With that being done and the realization that there is someone riding the spider she doesn't attempt another shot, because she doesn't want to shoot MJ. That would be a bad thing. So for the moment she focuses on making sure the debris that is raining down is not hitting anyone in the crowds, employing decaying magics to help erode the pieces so it's just like snow...or ash coming down.

Peter Parker has posed:
Chances are that Jameson will indeed find a reason to blame all of this on Spider-Man. He usually finds a way to do that much, no matter the circumstances.

Though in this case, he might have a point.

Not a great one of course. It is highly unlikely -- no matter ho depressed or irrational he might be in this moment of grief -- that Peter went out and created and programmed a crazy drone to attack him and his friends. No, there is certainly someone else behind all of this undoubtedly. Still, the fact of the matter is that the Spider-Slayer clearly has it in for Spider-Man -- or anyone that might pass for Spider-Man since it is now dividing it's attention primarily between Kaine and Peter. Which means that, while it it might be entirely inadvertant, there is a level where Peter is indeed responsible for the damage to the surrounding buildings that loom up on each side of the street. Peter is responsible for putting all these people in danger with his presence.

Increasingly he is snapping out of that haze, and that continues as the others continue to wreck havoc on the Spider-Done's plans to turn him into a fine paste. He even wakes up enough to finally web his camera to a nearby light pole, starting to capture snap shots of the action that, while will almost certainly be used to slander his name, should help next him a nice little payday. Such is his lot in life.

So with Sure offering cover to those of them still on the street, with those invisible force fields catching some of those blasts meant to pulp him and Kaine, Peter is granted a little more time to work, ton continue to web up the street above their heads in a host of weblines, strewn seemingly everywhere.

Meanwhile the coordinated assault on the Spider-Slayer continues with MJ sliciing deep gouges into the top of the Slayer, that sword starting to find some key components, making them spark, killing the power to those concusion cannons at last.

But that head is twisting in her direction, a nuzzle appearing just beneath the sharp mandibles of the head, a spray of acid hissing out, drizzling towards MJ.

Which is when Kaine hits that same head, knocking it just off enough to make sure the spattering green viscous liquid goes wide, lands on the weakened bacl armor and plays even further havoc, eating away at the metal with a smoking hiss.

To insure that no further assaults come, Doreen and her incredible squirrels soar into place, draping that flexible fabric right over the forward optical sensors of the drone, foiling any further attempts to spray that acid towards the redheaded swordswoman.

With Ducky lending further aid to Sue to protect the the nearby shops and the cars that are still populated in the street -- falling bricks melting away to dust before people's eyes -- Spidey finally joins the frey above too, a webline streaking up through the maze of webbing already in place. Leaping up hard from the ground, Pete flies between all those lines, landing on the underside of the Slayer, gripping the surface with one hand while the other reaches under the waist of his costume, pulling out several of the extra web cartridges he keeps there.

Then, each in turn is jammed up into one of the thrusters, exploding moments later and jamming them with a veritable foundtain of web-goo.

With power cut off, the Spider-Slayer begins to plummet downwards towards the street -- one very large bit of debris with those weblines and force fields waiting for it.

"Last stop, everyone off," Spider-Man calls out.

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
The Spider-Slayer is going down even as Mary Jane is first bracing herself with her sword to quickly yank it otu if she has to when that nasty looking acid nozzel is coming her way to hit the ground - but fortunately the others are there for the rescue! Mary Jane goes to let out a hiss as the others finish it off, and then she sees those weblines going to offer out a way down towards the ground! She goes to quickly slash up with her hand, yanking out the mostly broken up optic to take with her.. Then she's retracting both blades, snapping them up and over to return them to their sheathes and going to jump down and let herself be reeled by those force fields, those weblines, or whatever other sorts of things might take them down!

Then murmuring as she relaxes, "Spider, you really gotta work on some of those inspirational gimmicks you're handing out." Even as the group is hopefully going towards the ground and going to have a smooth landing - and the robot doesn't have a self destruct because of -course- it will.

Susan Richards has posed:
"there will be autographs after the fight!" Sue shouted back to the red and black spider, as she rushed forward, just as the other spider flipped in to plant those weapons to down the damn robotic monster. Sue's blue suit reflected the energy glowing from her protective shield bubbles, as she began to fling a rapidly increasing number of them out along the sides of the building facades. She knew that big damn thing was coming down, and she wanted to protect the storefronts, and those inside them.

When it began to come to fruition, she was unfortunately right in the middle of the spot it was coming down at, or at least off to the sode of it just a bit.

The last bubble came up over top of her own head, where she crouched down beneath it.

Whomp.

Sue was beneath the shield bubble, her right knee down on the filthy pavement, her left bracing her left elbow up. She lowered her head, and just breathed, focusing her mind on her abilities, on maintaining the shields and keeping them persistent, strong, and resilient to the kinetic energies that wanted to burst them, for the safety of the city, and now for the safety of herself!

Doreen Green has posed:
A solid yank from their snagging over the head optics, then Doreen hastily knots the material in place, taking advantage of the hooks that connect to her costume to do so. She will have to make new glider flaps but that's a small price to pay for the safety of the city and her friends.

"Some mad scientist out there has a sick sense of humor," she comments to the others hanging onto the machine, "trying to take down Spiders with another spider!" Monkey Joe chatters a bit. "Actually no, I don't know if spiders prey on other spiders. Wouldn't make it any less weird of a thematic choice."

Then Spidey suggests they get off. Doreen lets go, squirrels jumping onto her as she drops off, once again taking advantage of the drop distance squirrels have. Though Doreen's isn't quite as fantastic as an actual squirrel due to her size. Fortunately there's other soft things to land on.

Kaine Parker has posed:
Kaine's shot rings true and then he's in the air. He'll look at the group on the Spider Slayer's back. The thing is going down and everyone looks to be going for a ride, "It's like fighting fire with fire, but y'know, more qwips," he grins under the mask. Every now, and again, Kaine has these moments.

Then he will make sure MJ has a ride before trying to go for a webline to another build to avoid his own fall.

Atrice Duckstein has posed:
Ducky gives the magic of hers an odd look, "When did we start doing /that/?" she asks herself. Welp, that is never a good thing to hear. Thankfully everyone else is occupied by the mechanical spider!

Since things are getting handled by everyone up above, she returns to making sure the perimeter is under control and nobody else is getting hurt.

Peter Parker has posed:
In better, happier times the notion of getting an autograph from one of the Fantastic Four would be a whole lot more exciting. Peter is hardly the only kid who grew up dreaming of going on adventures with that quartet. Of ocurse few of those kids ever grow up and have the opportunity to make an ill-fated attempt to join that particular family team.

But one bad experience doesnot dispel an entire childhood's worth of yearning all at once.

With those thrusters all now thoroughly clogged, any chance that the Spider-Slayer had of retaining altitude is pretty much gone now and it begins to drop rapidly as those onboard hastily begin to vacate the plummetting hunk of metal.

That nagging sense of responsibility for this insures that Pete insists on being the last one off, waiting as the others find thier own webline to draw on to leap to safety, or rely on their natural squirrel agility to leap to relative safety from the plummetting hunk of debris, sparking and all but useless now.

Only when they're gone does Spidey hurl himself aside as well, aimming for one of those weblines he covered the street in earlier, dropping towards it and grabbing hold to break his fall before using his momentum to flip to another, and then another, each little spin, each little flip carrying him closer and closer towards the ground. Across the street, his camera continues to click away, capturing all the action an he doesn't look back, not even when the dead-in-the-air Spider-drone crashes into that first layer of webbing.

Crashes into.. and then right through, continuing to fall aways the street. Another layer is casually ripped through, the heavy armor giving it enough momentum to foil even Spidey's web formula. But each layer also slows it down, just a little. Just enough.

Reaching the ground level, Pete crouches and finally turns his attention upward again, watching as that falling Spider-Slayer continues to tear through that webbing. And he braces himself, grimacing beneath his mask as he prepares to do his best to catch that plummeting drone.

Fortunately for his arms, shoulders and just generally his upper body, it proves unnecessary. Those weblines slow down their falling attacker just enough for Sue's shields to absorb the impact, to watch that armored spider robot. Up in the sky, those shadowy spy-eyes continue to record right through the end, only beginning to slip away after that, disappearing into the night sky, back to wherever they came through.

The crowd taking shelter in the local shops, in their vehicles begin to emerge, to offer thanks and in the distance the sound of police cruisers grow closer and closer. But Peter doesn't linger, just shooting a last look, to make sure his friends are safe.

He doesn't dwell on the fact that he has seemingly picked up a new enemy somewhere, one capable of some pretty advanced engineering and the financial where with all to turn it into reality. He tries not to think about how he has endangered his friends again.

Instead he tries to focus his mind on his hunt, on tracking down Hammerhead. On seeing justice -- or vengeance done.

Then, then he will worry about all of this.