5989/By the Skin AND My Teeth

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By the Skin AND My Teeth
Date of Scene: 20 April 2021
Location: Union Square
Synopsis: Spider-Man meets Mr. Livingston as they try to learn about a macabre killer.
Cast of Characters: Peter Parker, Roland Livingston




Peter Parker has posed:
Normally, Spider-Man doesn't hang around for the cops to do this kind of stuff, but it had connections to something he had run into before with a purple-haired magic-slinger, and Officer "Friendly" Friedman had said they were calling in a paid consultant.

Spider-Man nodded, looking down at what lay on the ground. "Yeah...I'll wait. I just hope this consultant shows up soon...the more I look at it, the less I like it..."

Roland Livingston has posed:
Dressed in his consulting attire, tweed coat and vest, nice slacks, shiny shoes, Roland Livingston is out assisting the police with a matter of the supernatural. He's also got a small arsenal in his Bentley SUV in case things go sideways, but he's not going to mention that to the fuzz.

When he arrives at the scene, shuts off and exits his vehicle, he notes the presence of Officer Friedman and a certain red and blue clad masked man. Well, he's seen weirder today alone and so the young guy shrugs his shoulders and moves to approach where people have gathered around, offering a business card to anyone who tries to stop him. It's plain black with his name, a phone number and an email address on it. "Special consultant Roland Livingston, at your service," he'll tell the folks once he gets fairly close.

Peter Parker has posed:
Friedman looks up, taking the card and eyeing it before nodding. "Right. Dispatch said you'd be coming by. This is Spider-Man. Dunno if you know of him, since I doubt you run in the same circles..."

"You might be surprised," the young man in the form-fitting costume said, raising a hand in greeting. "Are you a doctor of some sort?"

Roland Livingston has posed:
"How do you do, Officer? Spider-Man?" Roland greets the pair politely, his upper crust English accent coming through clearly. "I'm not unfamiliar with superheroes, had a team up with some fairly recently, but it's always good to meet another person fighting for good in their own way."

At Spidey's question Roland shakes his head, "No doctorates for me. Far too busy to get bogged down getting a degree when there's studying to do, knowledge and artifacts to find and monsters to deal with. Plus, Oxford doesn't offer Doctorates in mystical studies as far as I'm aware."

Peter Parker has posed:
Spider-Man nods, but says under his breath. "Dangit...so many Dr. Livingston jokes cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. Oh, well."

Officer Friedman rolls his eyes. "Meanwhile, back at the CRIME SCENE..."
Spider-Man looks to the cop, then back to Roland. "Right...this way." He walks over to the tent. "I found this originally while I was chasing a purse-snatcher. He's gonna need therapy." He pauses. "How much weird stuff have you seen, anyway?"

Roland Livingston has posed:
"I should see about getting an honorary doctorate to make the joke work, but I've got a few other things on my plate," Livingston says. Either he heard Spider-Man's words or he's heard the jokes before. The question gets an answer quickly enough, "I've been dealing with the supernatural since I was a child. I've had to take on everything from necromancers to vodyanoy. Once encountered a pooka, even. That was an eventful occurrence."

He'll follow the superhero into the tent, "Purse snatchings still happen? I'm surprised muggers can make money with everyone using bank and credit cards in place of cash in the States."

Peter Parker has posed:
"Tech can make a lot of things possible, Mr. Livingston. You'd be surprised..."

Spidey pushed the flap aside, and Roland get his first look at the object.
At first glance, it looks like a deflated blow-up doll. That image is dispelled as Roland realizes that the material is not plastic or rubber, but human skin. So...the complete skin of a person is just...laying here on the sidewalk.
The second thing is that it is almost completely intact. Apart from the holes that are presumably still there, it is a complete, undamaged upper and lower epidermis.

Around the...body...are tiny white objects that a medical examiner is collecting. A closer look reveals them to be teeth.

Roland Livingston has posed:
"Hmm," Roland says as he starts looking at the scene, a frown of concentration appearing on his face. The body is closely examined, as are the teeth. "This is quite strange, that's for certain. Looks almost like something a giant spider could do, dissolve the insides with venom and then suck them out."

He approaches the ME and asks, "What sort of teeth are those? Human, or other?"

Peter Parker has posed:
Spider-Man winces, a reaction that shows even through the mask. "They're human. Thirty-two of them, a complete set. The crime-scene guys can probably match them to a person." He looks down. "A giant spider. Great. I can just IMAGINE what Jameson would do with THAT kind of info." He looks back to Roland. "Have you seen them? Giant spiders?"

Roland Livingston has posed:
"I've only read and heard about them, but my great grandfather told me about killing a few during World War II that were harassing Allied supply lines. Flamethrower and machine guns seemed to do the trick, but they were incredibly stealthy." Roland continues examining everything inside of the tent. "I'm not convinced it's a giant spider yet, but I wouldn't be much surprised if it is."

Peter Parker has posed:
Spidey groaned. "Great. Add it to the list. Right up there with modile brownstones." He looked to Livingston. "Sorry. The Blackstone family apparently tried to summon the minion of an Elder God and it infested their house. Turned each of them into an anchor to help it summon its master...whatever THAT was."

Roland Livingston has posed:
"Elder God?" Asks Roland, who suddenly looks even more curious than before. "Have any prints, any by prints I mean strange tracks, been sighted in the area? It might be possible to track the thing from here before it can get anyone else." Then he looks back to Spider-Man, "Is the summoning related to this, do you think? I'm unfortunately between magical weapons at the moment so it may require a great deal of the mundane sort of things to handle."

Peter Parker has posed:
Spider-Man points at another area. "There was a scuffle right there. But the tracks that lead away looks like tennis shoes, not the round tracks that a spider of sufficient size would make. But check it over...maybe you'll see something I missed."

Roland Livingston has posed:
"Tennis shoes? Shapeshifter, perhaps? Or a really bizarre sort of vampire, maybe?" Roland seems mostly to be asking the questions to himself as he moves to check out the scene of the confrontation. "Liquified bone and tissue is quite unusual, but there's bound to be some sort of explanation for it."

Peter Parker has posed:
The pavement is dotted with swirls of dirt and mud from the nearby empty lot. From the sight of it, someone wearing tennis shoes moves forward to attack another person. Signs of a scuffle, and then someone walks away, leaving the skin behind.

"The medical examiner removed the clothes from the...body...for evidence. The tennis shoes recovered match the tracks, and they still had mud on them."

Roland Livingston has posed:
Kneeling down next to the signs of the scuffle Roland devotes his attention to the ground, trying to determine where any tracks may have lead. The man is an expert hunter and survivalist, after all, and may be able to do this part of the investigation the mundane way. "I imagine you've got some sort of ability to fly, or jump or some such?" He asks the Spider-Man. "Have you inspected the sides of nearby buildings? Theoretically the perpetrator may be able to leap quite far and I don't want to leave any possibilities unchecked."

Peter Parker has posed:
Spider-Man points to the sidewalk. "I found something...but I don't know if it makes any sense. I have what looks like a woman in high heels moving into this area. Her path intersects with the guy in the tennies. A scuffle ensues...and then the woman in the heels gets up and walks away, in a different direction. So it looks like the guy in the tennis shoes jumped the wrong person, who did...well...THAT to him."

Roland Livingston has posed:
"Makes it sound like a human looking being of some sort," the young Englishman says with a frown. "Well, lets see if we can follow the trail. If we can identify someone wearing heels entering a nearby building or vehicle I'm certain the constabulary can find traffic or security cameras so that we can follow them." He stands up straight again and looks around once more, "I would very much like to find out what did this and make sure it doesn't happen again."

Peter Parker has posed:
Spider-Man sighs. "Yeah, well, this is the frustrating part. The tracks lead towards Union Square, and melds with hundreds of other tracks. So that's a dead end." He looks to Roland. "I think we're not going to find this person...or thing...tonight. But I would like to know if you'd be willing to help with the ongoing investigation. I know the NYPD pays you, and I can't afford your rates. But if you'd be willing to help...pro bono, as it were...I wouldn't turn it down."

Roland Livingston has posed:
"Ugh," Roland says when Spidey tells him where the tracks lead. The young adventurer shakes his head a little bit. "I'd love to assist in this endeavor, Spider-Man. I'll need to see everything the medical examiner gets their hands on, of course, but I'll take that up with the police." Still frowning, he says, "I'll do some further research into the matter." One more business card is produced and handed towards the arachnid guy. "I don't live far from here. Contact me in a hurry if you find anything else, otherwise give me twenty four hours to examine everything the ME turns up and call me so we can discuss my findings further. Is there some sort of Spider-Signal I can turn on if I need you quickly, or do the police have your contact information?"

Peter Parker has posed:
Spidey chuckles. "Let me give you MY card."
He reaches into his backpack and pulls out a simple white business card with a phone number on one side and a website link on the other. "If you have a smartphone, go to that website link to download an app that can connect you to our wireless network, Spider-Comm. Fully-encrypted, Pick a code name you want to use, and we can stay in real-time contact. I can even send you guest access to our independent criminal database."

Roland Livingston has posed:
"I shall join Spider-Comm, in that case," Livingston says with a smile, apparently Spider-Man's laughter is at least somewhat contagious. "I'll sign up for it tonight while I'm working on this case so that I can start sharing anything I find immediately."