7104/Learning the ropes

Learning the ropes
Date of Scene:	27 July 2021
Location:	Ruins -- Roosevelt Island
Synopsis:	Bando accidentally has some real life practice when he goes to learn from Ghost Spider
Cast of Characters:	Bando George, Gwen Stacy

---

Bando George has posed:
    This is it! Bando has his backpack set for the big training. Ghost Spider is going to train him personally! First aid kit: Check. Water Bottle: Check. 5 hour energy that doesn't explode when it's shaken up: Check. Snickers, because you're not you when you're hungry: Check. Where was this place? He follows his phone's instructions, and he finds himself hearing the chime of the arrival. He closes the maps app, and looks up at the ruins. "Oh wow, this is like...the most awesome of secret bases." Naturally it's a secret base, what else could it possibly be? He doesn't use his powers to get in, though. He grabs the gate, and climbs up the top of it, pulling himself over. His backpack slams his shoulders as he drops to the other side of the barrier, and he walks in, wearing a pair of blue jeans and a T-shirt that bears Captain America's logo on the front of it. "Uh, Ghost Spider? You here?" he asks, glancing around. He did have the respect to show up on time. And by on time, in this case he means twenty minutes early. He just couldn't wait.

Gwen Stacy has posed:
Twenty minutes early? There's no Ghost Spider in sight. The Ruins *are* pretty nifty though, a bit out of the way of prying eyes which might just be why Gwen chose this place to meet at. In fact she is still on her way towards the place, knowing how teens are, never on time! She was one not that long ago so she knows how this goes...

So she is still getting her mask on, along with getting a few goodies to carry on her backpack (also JVD made), an energy drink or two, a snack and off she goes, up and away onto the New York skies, webs swinging her by towards her destination..

Back at the ruins there indeed is no Ghost Spider in sight. At least not yet. There *are* noises coming from a bit away and beyond the ruined property though, the sound of a motorboat? And some men talking.

Bando George has posed:
    Bando shoves his hands in his pockets, casually flopping his feet as he wanders about for a moment, checking out this amazing secret base. He looks for entrances. Surely there's something cool somewhere. Somebody that's part of the Spider-man group, they have to have the motorcycles stashed here somewhere, right? He pushes on a suspicious looking brick. Nope, that's just a brick. Maybe this crooked piece of iron fence. It breaks off. Oops. He puts it down, and tucks it under some of the vine overgrowth. He pulls out his phone, deciding to just play one of the many addictive money pits that have been crafted to fit in your pocket.

    Just as he's opening the app, though, he hears the voices. Perking up, he puts his phone away, and grabs the shoulder straps to his bag, and starts making his way to the sound of the motorboat.

Gwen Stacy has posed:
Nope, no motobikes anywhere. There's always the possibility of it being underground, maybe in the basement! But ruins and murder basements..? Never a good combination. Perhaps there's a secret lever somewhere to open up the entrance. It's certainly not the brick, or that piece of iron fence... Good tries though!

They may just be abandoned ruins too.

As Bando makes his way over to where the sounds are coming from he finds the source. There's a small speedboat by the island, one of those normally used by traffickers. If only Bando was a cop to know that! Or maybe he watches a lot of police procedurals. On it is a man, lazily resting against the controls and waiting.

Up ashore are a pair of men, cigarettes in mouth and digging at the side of the dirt, not far from the back of the ruined house.

Of course that's the time Gwen chooses to send Bando a message. <I am almost there. See you in a bit.>

It's comforting that there's reinforcements on the way. But the most likely 'chime' of a received message on Bando's phone also means that the men look up and glance over his way, blinking.

Bando George has posed:
    Bando wasn't trying to hide. He wasn't expecting that he should need to. He's standing in plain sight, and when his phone chimes the sound of Megaman dying...the irony is suddenly not lost on him.

    It's a test! He waves with a rather unashamed grin on his face. "Hey!" he says. "I didn't know it was going to be such an immersive thing! Oh man, are you friends with her then?" What is he talking about? He approaches the boat casually, as if there's not actual danger to him present. After all, it's a roleplaying simulation, surely!

Gwen Stacy has posed:
It's all very immersive indeed. Did they come from the local LARP community? The props they brought look very real! Specially the guns on their belts. They may even be real metal instead of plastic! One is about to draw his gun when the guy on the boat gestures to the man to calm down. It's just a kid!

"Hey..." It's the guy on the boat talking, leaning off from the controls, "This isn't a place for you kids to come play at. Shouldn't you be out in class or somethin'?" he inquires.. A nod then given to the other two. The men resume their work, shovel into the ground as they continue to dig out.

"You here with other friends of yours?" He then finally asks. All very casual. Just in case this turns into a band of kids around ..., they might just need to get going real soon...

Gwen is just about arriving at the ruins, one last swing and she lands close to the entrance, hands on her hips and looking around slowly. "Figures..., the kid hasn't arrived yet..."

Bando George has posed:
    "I mean, that's why I'm here!" Bando continues to approach with all the vigor and excitement of his training session. "I just didn't know it'd be like this. He looks at the guns. "Okay, so I guess you guys are the bad guys, right?" he asks, pointing at the guns. "And that's your getaway boat. So the big question is, do I strike first before you can act, or is it more noble not to assume anything is wrong and you guys are just like, NRA members. Nothing wrong with that, by the way. I'm from Texas. I don't know what y'all's stance is on the gun control thing. Sorry, off topic I know. So..." he scratches his chin, thinking about what his correct answer should be, unaware of Gwen's nearby arrival.

Gwen Stacy has posed:
Getaway boat? Bad guys? This kid is assuming too many things! The man on the speedboat looks a bit confused at him, then looks at his friends, then back to Bando again, "The noble thing might just be to turn around and leave, kid." the man's tone is a touch harsh now. Not a lot of patience for teens! "So get out of here, you clearly don't know what you are getting into." typical bad guy speech, isn't it? But it's mostly just trying to put a little scare on Bando so he goes away.

One of the shovels appears to hit something, the man digging stopping and reaching in to drag out a couple of packs. "Got 'em.." he announces over to the man on the speedboat with a grin.

"Well, shit ..." Says the speedboat-man, drawing out his gun. "Get out of here, kid. You didn't see us." the smart move would be to shoot the kid, but they aren't that far down to do that kind of stuff to kids!

Gwen cranes her neck up. Is that danger? She shoots a web up to the house and swings up and over, getting to the rooftop and starting to make her way to the other side to check on what's going on. "This is in the middle of nowhere ..., what the heck .." she does hope it's not Bando!

Bando George has posed:
    "Oh man, that's good, just like in the movies," Bando compliments. "You really sound like you believe it even!" Bando smiles happily. "See, that convinces me." Bando reaches out with either hand. *Fwump Fwump*. The pistols suddenly both appear in his hands, removed from the holsters as he teleports them to himself. And look, they even are both normal!

    He adjusts his grip, checks safety. Ooh, that one was safety off. "Hey, you gotta be careful, you coulda shot your foot off forgetting the safety like that. I know they aren't loaded, but still, gun safety man," he scolds the man with the shovel. He points the pistols at the two.

    "So," he gives a smug grin. "How'd I do? I figure if you can de-escalate by taking away their weapons, that makes it a lot less likely to have to fight. Especially if they got their own guns pointed at them, right?" he comments, looking remarkably too comfortable with the guns. Though he's careful not to point them directly AT the men, but just off to the sides. Gun safety!

Gwen Stacy has posed:
Woah! What the hell just happened here?! Both men look surprised at suddenly their guns being on Bando's hands. "What the ..." the guy ashore says. The boat guy just turns reaches for the commands while the one ashore looks alarmed. "Don't shoot...!" and then, "Wait for me!" he starts to run to the speedboat so they can get the heck out of there. And provided Bando doesn't shoot them he jumps in.

The driver doesn't linger long to think on the drugs that are left on the ground. Their lives are more important! And there are powered people on this island. Clearly it's time to choose a new place to stash their product!

Gwen looks at the speedboat starting to sail away and then down to where Bando is standing with ..., two guns? She sighs and jumps over, landing some distance away from Bando just in case he has a happy trigger-finger. "Okay ..., what happened here?" she looks at the drugs and then the boat already a bit far in the distance.

Spiders don't swim unfortunately.

Bando George has posed:
    Bando hesitates as they run. "Uh..." he wasn't expecting them to flee! So he just watches awkwardly. He looks at the guns, frowning in disappointment.

    "So," he says when Gwen appears to ask him what happened. "I dunno, getting the guns was easy and all," he confesses. "Don't know that you set up a real challenge on that part, but then,' he gestures with one gun casually at the fleeing boat. "I don't know what I should have done to stop them, right? By the way these feel kinda heavy." He stuffs one in his waistband, and then ejects the mag. "Oh, wait, what? They were loaded!?" He looks back at Gwen. "I mean, I figured the training would be serious but don't you think that's a bit much?"

Gwen Stacy has posed:
The casual waving of the guns make Gwen tense. Those aren't props! Specially if they don't have the safeties on. She is taking in the whole situation, the guns, the drugs on the ground, the fleeing men. It doesn't take her long to figure it out... A sigh comes out..

"You are a trouble magnet, aren't you..?" she approaches and carefully gestures for Bando to lower the guns. "Let me see those..." she will reach to take the guns off him, being extra-careful with the one on his waistband! No need for accidents...

"So you think I hired some random guys to come here and ..., what? Fight it off with you?" she puts the guns on the ground after getting the safety on and then approaches the bag, opening it to check within. Yes, as she suspected.

"Most likely a drug stash. You got here right when they were fishing out the product." a brow arching from under her mask.

Bando George has posed:
    "Hey, be careful," Bando warns, as if he's instructing her for a moment. "Guns aren't toys," he does willingly hand over the guns, both have their safeties on, and he hands them over barrels down. "Yeah, I mean, why else would they have been here? This is where we were supposed to train, right?" It dawns on him, "Wait, that was REAL?"

...

"That.
    Was.
        AWESOME!"

    "You mean that I just stopped real drug dealers?" He throws his fists up in victory. "I AM A HERO!" he declares, his voice echoing off the walls. "Oh man, I wasn't even scared, I didn't KNOW it was real! Is that it? Just don't be scared, pretend it's a game, and things are like, easier?" he asks. "OH man oh man oh man! Argh! Who do I even tell about this? I just handled that like a PRO and I can't even tell anyone!"

Gwen Stacy has posed:
For a moment there it's almost as if Gwen's eyes can be seen rolling under that mask when Bando starts to instruct her about gun safety. REALLY! She just lets out a sigh instead, "That was real." she confirms to Bando, closing the bag again and once more taking in the speedboat that's disappearing in the distance. Ah well..

"I will bring these over to the police. Don't suppose you got a good description off them I can give the police? Long chance that it will help but ..." she lifts her shoulders in a shrug.

Bando's excitement *is* infectious though and she eventually lets out a laugh, "That's one way to handle it, but there's no extra lives. And it really hurts when someone hits you." she can see that overconfidence starting to ooze out of the young one though.. Never a great thing.

"And you just told me. It was well handled actually. But what would you *do* after they started running away if you knew it was all real? How would you had handled it?"

Bando George has posed:
    "I...am sure I can probably remember," he says, a vacuum of confidence behind the statement. "Oh, I remember, look at this," he says when she reminds him that getting hit hurts. He pulls up his T-shirt, revealing a yellow healing bruise stretched across his ribs. There's also a fading mark of sharpie that has been in that awkward 'you washed all you could off' phase. "I told my mom I was trying to do freestyle walking," he says. He pauses. "Actually, that might be the one that actually was from freestyle walking." He unshoulders his backpack and turns around, lifting the back of the shirt to reveal another longer bruise, a long thin straight line, like the imprint of where he hit the stairs when he fell down them. "That's the one," he says, unable to properly see it behind him.

    "So, if I knew it was real," he pauses. "I dunno? I guess I could have ported a sparkplug out of the boat motor?" he suggests. "Maybe the whole motor, not sure I wouldn't blow it up or something if I just took part of it. Or caught it on fire." He pauses, "Well, maybe just port the boat back, then they'd be stuck and have to come back to shore, and if they had other guns they'd all get wet!" As haphazard as he might be, it does seem that he's not completely obtuse.

    "You know, it's hard to think of that stuff in the moment, though."

Gwen Stacy has posed:
Both hands raise up when Bando starts on his 'strip' procedure of showing her his 'battle' wounds. Gwen shakes her head, "No need to take off your shirt.." she does wince at how they look though. Sure, they are young, they heal fast. Specially her with those powers of hers. But someone without her powers? They could very easily get hurt, specially without experience.

"One good rule to follow, if you are feeling too messed up or hurt no need to push it and go out the following day or night. Because I am *almost* sure you went right out again the following day after that fight at the apartment building, didn't you?"

Gwen then listens to how Bando explains on what he'd do if he knew it was all real. "That's the whole point thouogh ... You need to be able to think of it in the moment. Act with instinct. Sometimes a second is all we got. So you got to make it count."

Bando George has posed:
    "Of course I did!" Bando says, "I couldn't just leave that lady's air conditioner sitting on the fire escape! I had to go put it back in." Hey, at least he cleans up after himself. "But I didn't go fighting anybody, I was way too sore." He drops his shirt back down. "That'd be crazy." Why would she think he would do that?

    "Okay, so like, maybe I could go do a bunch of IQ tests, get my brain in gear to think of solutions really quick," he suggests. "That'd probably help." Would it? Maybe. It's certainly not the most dangerous option he could come up with.

    "So how old are you, anyway?" he asks, "I figure you can't be any older than me, right? How long have you been doing this?" Of course, all he has to go on is height and build. Apparently he thinks that makes Gwen younger than she is.

Gwen Stacy has posed:
"Okay, that's not so bad." Cleaning up after himself. At least it shows thoughtfulness. So Gwen nods just so in approval. She chooses to ignore the IQ tests because soon enough she is being questioned about her age.

What?!

She folds her arms in a somewhat defensive gesture, "I *am* older than you." she tells him. "You are like .., 15 right?" look, she may be needling him due to questioning her age. She figures he may be a little older than that.

"I am twenty." she informs Bando, lifting her chin a touch as if to show she's the clear superior here! "I have been doing this since ..., perhaps since I was 14?" a beat, "Feels like a lifetime ago though.."

Literally so, considering she is from another universe. But that's not a story to share right now ...

Bando George has posed:
    "Oh." Bando blushes, "Sorry," he apologizes. The look on his face is both embarrassment, and perhaps a little disappointment. Yep, it's like that. "And I'm sixteen. I'm old enough to drive!" Why did that not make him feel as justified as he thought it would?

    "Anyway, so, I'm two for two," he offers. "So that's good. And that second one I did pretty much by myself. But I figure it's better to get the drop on the bad guys than just...end up in the wrong place at the right time, right? How do you track them and stuff?" he asks. "Because I figure, with my powers, I could stop most bad guys if I was able to make the first move every time." Which probably is true for most run of the mill crooks, given his powers.