7741/Word of the Day

Word of the Day
Date of Scene:	08 September 2021
Location:	The Narrows - Miagani Island
Synopsis:	Arachnids of unusual size go on the attack in the Narrows. Alternatively: AHHHHHHH SPIDERS ALKSJDFSDF
Cast of Characters:	Tim Drake, Strix, Clark Kent, Helena Bertinelli, Lonnie Machin

---

Tim Drake has posed:
    "Just one more chapter!"

    Omar Said Hassan looks down at his daughter, her nose perpetually in a book. He sighs, but fondly, and rests his hand atop her head. "You say that every night, Fatima. Come on. It's already 10:30; time for bed."

    She grumbles but dutifully slides an embroidered bookmark in-between the pages and reverently returns the book to its place on the shelf before she stands. Soon enough, she's tucked beneath the blankets of her bed, in the tiny room of her parents' apartment in the Narrows. Omar leans down to kiss her on the forehead, and from the living room, faintly they can both hear Fatima's mother singing.

    "Alright then. What is the word for today?"

    Fatima's grin is blinding as she reaches for her phone on the nightstand, and opens up the app on her homescreen. "Suborn," she says, and her father repeats it after her. "A verb. To persuade someone to do something illegal, such as to lie in a court of law. It can also mean to obtain a false testimony from a witness by persuasion."

    Her father frowns. "That is not a very nice word."

    "They all have their purposes, even the heinous ones."

    Omar shakes his head, and then leans in to kiss Fatima's forehead once more. "Your mother will be in to say goodnight soon. Now, let me get out there before she does up all the dishes by herself."

    It's only ten minutes before her mother peeks her head in, drying her hands on a dish towel, but Fatima has already fallen asleep.

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    Midnight has just come and gone when reports start coming in from the Narrows. Strange reports. The people who live here don't often contact the police; mostly because they know the GCPD hardly, if ever, responds. But there are good people living here, and they work together to keep each other safe, because if they don't no one else will.

    But someone is apparently spooked enough to phone into the emergency line, reporting some sort of horrific creature spotted climbing down from the top of a building, and before the operator on the line can get any more details, the call cuts off with a horrified scream.

Strix has posed:
Strix is out and about in her Talon costume prowling Gotham for some mischief to get into, when the call comes in that some monster is terrorizing the city. This... isn't unusual for Gotham. Still, it warrants checking into and Strix is off bouncing from rooftop to rooftop (as you do) until she gets to the location of the call.

Hm. So far so quiet. What would Batman do? Oh, yes! Search for clues! So she starts wandering aimlessly about searching for clues! This is how you do it, right?

Clark Kent has posed:
Clark Kent isn't here to interview a little girl past her bedtime.

He's going to interview her in the MORNING and is doing a little bit of research beforehand. One of the things Clark loves about his job is he can't just Superman his way through the work; Clark Kent's sweat determines what sort of reporter he is. And, okay, a little super-hearing once in a while. Clark's also considered just how dangerous being a bright young lady with a gift for logic puzzles could be in this town, depending on how good Arkham's security is this quarter.

So he's at some all night pho shop, a man looking professional enough to attract attention in the Narrows, but big enough that no one's stumbling over themselves to mug him. Not yet, at least. Mild mannered Clark Kent sips his soup with a hunch, seeming like the timid sort of person that would immediately become someone's lunch here.

But the attitude is only skin deep, and just under, where you expect the real fear to be, is the kind of confidence that can laugh at a bullet to the brain. So Clark Kent sips his pho and goes over his notes.

Helena Bertinelli has posed:
The masked Huntress is baring down low over the handlebars of her purple motorcycle, the engine loudly ROARING as she cruises the street toward the site of this emergency. She's not hard to miss but she could care less. Her cape FLAPS overdramatically behind her and she frowns ahead, determination creased into her face. She turns the corner and rumbles some more to the Narrows.

The purple motorcycle chugs a little less as the Huntress throttles down the engine, because she spots her destination. She stops in front of the location given on the police radio, which she swiped with her super awesome spy gear, and she parks herself there next to a busted, old Cadillac missing its tires and wheels and other parts. She tilts her head and looks up the side of this building in "distress" .... .... a monster eh? "Yeah, I can be a detective too, you know," she mutters to herself, as she starts trying to figure out what's going on. She narrows her eyes.

Lonnie Machin has posed:
Tonight, Lonnie was out working in a soup kitchen. He knows the regulars by name. He knows the issues they're having. More than one, he surreptitiously slips them the medication they need but can't afford on the tray with their meal. He notes the new faces, and the regulars who don't show up. He notes the new faces. One kid gets a new pair of sneakers. It makes his night.

When he hears a scream from outside, he looks up and then says, "Emilio! I've got to go. I'll see you Saturday." He takes his apron off, and goes outside - fortunately he never keeps a backpack with his gear in it far away - a minute and fifteen seconds later Anarky is climbing a fire escape and onto the roof. "M.A.X.," His phone pings, "Check the police bands and intercept local cellular traffic - tell me what's going on."

Tim Drake has posed:
    This little corner of the Narrows isn't too bad, at least comparatively speaking. It's home to immigrants from a wide variety of nations, some refugees like Fatima and her family, and though the criminal elements from other parts of the area do come calling, the people who live here do their best to stay safe.

    So there's hardly anyone out on the streets, this time of night. People just don't do that here, not if they can't help it, not unless they have to.

    The waitstaff at Pho-natic, where Clark finds himself this evening, is just switching shifts. Two young women with their nametags now removed leave through the front door, huddled together. Outside, a man waits under a flickering streetlight, face obscured beneath the hood of his jacket. "Ladies," he says.

    And then the two women rush up to him, both hugging him tight. "Thanks for walking us home again, Carlos," one says.

    "Of course, pobrecita. Let's go before it starts to rain, eh?"

    There's already a light drizzle starting to fall from the clouds above, lending a fuzzy quality to the air. The weight of a storm on its way in can be felt, pressing down.

    There are few clues for Strix to follow, at least until a nearby bush rustles, and then suddenly from beneath it a small dog, paws covered in mud, emerges. It sniffs in her direction and then starts to inch its way forward, whining as its leash trails behind. The echoes of Huntress's motorcycle off the buildings is loud enough that it yips and runs towards Strix, trying to curl itself up behind one of her legs.

    Up close like that, maybe Strix will notice the blood on the leash's handle.

    Three storeys above, a rustle of cape and the soft thud of an impact is the only warning Anarky gets before Red Robin appears at his shoulder. "Just in the neighborhood?" he asks, staff slung over his shoulders. Lonnie's phone, and Tim himself, have little more to report than what have brought Strix and Huntress here: a woman on the phone somewhere on this street, reporting a creature, before the line went silent.

    By now, Carlos and the two ladies he's escorting have rounded the corner. They're walking together, careful and observant of their surroundings, doing their best to avoid nearing any alleyway openings. One of them seems to spot Helena's bike, and she whistles quietly. "That's a beast."

    Speaking of.

    From overtop the Cadillac she's parked it by, a pair of fuzzy legs emerge. And then... another pair. And then another. And then another, because it's a spider the size of either a very fat cat or a medium-sized dog, and all its beady little eyes seem to stare Huntress down before it leaps at her.

    On top of the building, two more spiders crawl over the edge of the roof. Another pair drop down behind Strix, and the dog at her feet barks at them with all the ferociousness its little body can muster, standing between them and her.

Strix has posed:
Okay, so first thing's first. The puppy gets a hug from Strix. Puppies needs hugs, especially ones who are missing their owners. After the necessary has been done, she takes a look at the leash, and inspects it, finding blood at the end of it. Aha! A clue!

Eyes down she searches for blood spatters and the like to see if she can track where the dog's master might have been dragged off to. That's when the dog starts barking. Whirling around she sees the two giant spiders, and she shivers. Last time she came across spiders this big she was on a job out in India and that didn't end so well.

In one hand she pulls out a sword, and in the other she scoops up the dog to make sure that it doesn't get ate by the spiders. The she turns to the monstrocities and quickly disposes of them with a snicker-snack of her swords. This is bad.

Lonnie Machin has posed:
    Tonight Anarky is carrying a bat, with 'Every Man His Own Master' etched into one side of it and 'Power Concedes Nothing Without A Demand' etched into the other, so that whenever he swings it somebody is catching one of those two sayings in the face. He starts, when Red Robin shows up behind him.

"...I check myself carefully for tags and tracers, so that must mean you were following me. Were you in disguise at the shelter or somewhere else?" He taps the bat against his shoulder, and then tilts his head at a burst of radio chatter. "I- you know Red Robin, I think you had a good idea - I'm going to relocate my hideout where there are fewer Cryptids. Are you afraid of spiders, by chance?"

Helena Bertinelli has posed:
The Huntress inclines her head around as the sniffing and meandering gets her attention, and she plops the kickstand down so she can hop off to follow the trail. She steps around the front of the busted Cadillac. She sees the incriminating TRACKS and eyes the deadly TRAIL, following it like a bloodhound until suddenly something leaps out from the overgrown side vegetation. Cut yer damn lawn, idiots.

The Huntress is agile and quick, like a cat herself. Well, maybe not but at least she's prepared, which is the first rule of being the master detective she imagines herself being. She knocks the leaping fat monster aside with a pointed KICK and hops up on top of the busted-ass Cadillac for safety, "You'll have to do better than that, fatass," she tells it with some grim determination. She points her gauntlet crossbow weapon thingie at it but can't get a clear shot, "I can't get a clear shot...!" she says as she eyes the bushes.

She then looks toward Strix from atop the Cadillac's hood and eyes the monsters, "Watch out!" she calls out, but it seems this lady can handle herself so she nods with teacher-vetted approval, "Good job," she adds, "Wait---are they coming down the building---they're coming out of the building!" she deduces, "S@**, gonna need other options...****," she cusses, fingering her utility not-bat-belt.

Clark Kent has posed:
Clark listens.

He hears the heartbeats of the girls, and Carlos, everyone happy to not be traveling alone. Gothamites are a tough breed, they have to be, and something's got the worst neighborhood in Gotham spooked. People are fighting, things are moving, someone's screaming.

This looks like a job for?

...Clark Kent, for now. But Clark's monitoring the situation and following the Lois Lane school of reporting: following the scream. Clark all but stumbles after the three young people, blinking at the bike and the giant..spiders?

"Golly." Clark says, a bit too loud for Gotham, "I heard they grew 'em big out here but this is ridiculous." Clark is utterly in the open, a huge juicy target for any sort of deadly monster looking for a quick meal.

Tim Drake has posed:
    This puppy is indeed quite huggable, and he--for it is indeed a he--follows Strix around, tongue hanging out the side of his mouth. He's helping her find clues!

    Of course, he himself is a clue. But he's helping her to find other ones.

    And when Strix scoops him up, he's remarkably well-behaved. Aside for continuing to bark at the spiders, he doesn't squirm or try to get down. As Strix's sword slices through the spiders, leaving gooey ichor and dismembered legs, the dog lets out a victory howl. Which unfortunately attracts the skitter of several more of the beasts, one coming around the side of a dumpster while the other two leap from an overhang towards Strix.

    Two more run past the tumble of curled legs that is all remaining of the spider Huntress just sent flying into a bush. They separate, one leaping onto the hood of the Cadillac while the other begins to climb up from the back.

    It's a flanking maneuver. Not one particularly well-done, but these spiders do apparently have some concept of battle tactics, as terrifying as that may be.

    Down the street, behind Clark, more soft scuttling noises. One does indeed leap at his back, since he's making himself such a fine target, but two more are on the opposite side of the street. The same as Carlos and the girls. And it's Carlos who spots them coming, but all he does is let out a surprisingly high-pitched scream; it's one of the ladies at his side that pulls out a stun gun from her purse without a lick of hesitance and fires. One of the spiders tumbles to the pavement and curls up, its legs twitching as several thousand volts streams through its body.

    While all this is happening, up on the rooftop above, Red Robin tilts his head to the side. "Do you?" he asks. "I wouldn't be so sure of that."

    He hears the screaming then, and he takes a few steps closer to the edge. "What are--"

    Which is when Anarky asks him about spiders. Tim turns around to say something, probably snarky, and reacts just in time to smack a spider away from himself with his staff. It was inches away from his face. "No!" he says, voice pitched higher than normal.

    The other one launches itself at Lonnie, who is left alone on the rooftop to deal with that as Red Robin swings down to the ground below.

Strix has posed:
Keeping the dog tucked under her arm, as spiders assault her from the building. They're not particularly tough opponents for the master assassin, but what they lack in skill they make up in sheer numbers. There's only so many she can strike down before they start overwhelming her.

She notices the Huntress on the other side of the Caddy, and makes her way towards her. In a lull from the onslaught of spiders, she holds up the dogs bloody lead to show her. Look! Clue!

Lonnie Machin has posed:
    Anarky says, "Good. Because there's a bunch of little ones crawling up our boots."
    This is when a spider the size of a bowling ball jumps at his face, and he swings his bat around in an arc. There's a meaty impact into the spider and it - bursts. Anarky looks at the slime on his bat and says, "Gross." And then he's taking the high ground to cross to the next building - which is when he notices human-shaped bundles of webbing hanging off the nearest fire escape, and a big hairy beast the size of a car advancing down toward him.
    He readies his bat. "Well come on, Shelob! You've got eight legs for dancing, I'm game!"

Helena Bertinelli has posed:
The wary Huntress steps back along the hood of this busted-ass Cadillac, toward the cracked windshield, eyeing a ... spider. It crawls in a gross way up the grill onto the hood but is met with a sudden THWAP, Huntress sending a crossbow bolt through it. The spider EXPLODES like a tiny, little blurp of gushing blood, sending chunks everywhere like in one of those grossass horror movies. "Yuck," she mutters.

Huntress spins around as another spider closes the distance on her and LEAPS at her like its brothers. She KICKS it just in the nick of time, sending it arching through the air like a football toward Strix, "Hey! HEY! Watch out ...F@%! watch it! Back up!" she tells her with some urgency because its obviously NOT DEAD. It takes only a few moments to reload her super crossbow gauntlet weapon thingie and she points it but she doesn't shoot because she might hit Strix.

Clark Kent has posed:
What are they?, is Clark's first thought, and he lowers his glasses to employ his x-ray vision to get a good look at the scuttling spider-things. Robots, maybe? Or mutants? One of Bruce's rogues dabbles in mutation once in a while, right? One's jumping on you Clark.

"Oh gracious!" Clark says, hunching forward as if afraid of deadly spider venom, like a human man would be. "Oh I'm terribly allergic to spiders, oh dear!" Clark stumbles backwards and. And it's like ballet.

He slips on one spider that was about to jump on Carlos's face, crushing it and sending Clark sliding with a horrible thud against the real imitation brick wall of the tenement behind him. Unable to regain his balance, Clark makes a tourist mistake and grabs for a genuine Gotham City fire escape to hold himself on.
^
There's a CRACK as a weak point shatters and a hunk of the fire escape falls with a horrendous crash onto the incoming army of spiders, effectively giving everyone in the alley a makeshift barricade at the expense of the dignity of one Clark Kent, ace reporter.

"Maybe I shouldn't." Clark pulls his glasses back up, slumping to the ground, "Put this part in the article, huh?"

Tim Drake has posed:
    There aren't enough working street lamps to properly light the area, and thus there are a multitude of shadows for the spiders to emerge from. It isn't quite a swarm yet, and they seem to be restricting themselves to the immediate area, around the apartment building and the adjacent alley. The big one Anarky is facing down is by far the largest of the lot, and it rears up on its back four legs before it jumps--

    Over him, a trail of silken spider web hanging in the sky. It seems more concerned with spinning a lair in-between the apartments and the building adjacent than it is with fighting off any interlopers.

    Which isn't to say Lonnie is safe, because two more dog-sized spiders leap down towards him.

    Thanks to Clark's quick thinking and well-acted clumsiness, though, everyone is more or less safe from the big one, who finds itself wedged half-beneath the crumpled debris of the fire escape with a dozen or so of its smaller brethren. Though it's still very much alive, legs skittering and digging at the surrounding brick and asphalt, unable to find enough traction to pull itself free just yet.

    "Only in Gotham," the young woman with the taser gun says as she loads a new cartridge. Carlos and the other girl are clinging to each other, clearly petrified, but also very glad to not be spider food. Though Carlos lifts a hand to point.

    "Behind you!"

    And indeed, another one has just thrown itself off of a street lamp, towards Clark. But Red Robin meets it boots first in mid-air, and he hits the ground with it still underfoot. The sound is almost unfathomable, and his shoulders hunch up as he steps out of the ichor. Of it and several smaller spiders that were indeed on his boots, like Lonnie warned. "Nope," is all he says, and then he looks up, spots Clark, and just shakes his head. "No, nope, no thank you."

    He still turns and drives the end of his staff through the middle of another one about to jump, though.

    The obstacle in the alley has cut off one of the avenues for the spiders that were advancing on Strix, and since she's efficiently sliced her way through the ones facing her down, hopefully she'll be able to turn and take out the one Huntress has kicked her way. If not, the dog in her arm is doing his best to snap its teeth at the incoming creature, butt wiggling as he does his best to defend his savior.

Lonnie Machin has posed:
    "How are there so many." Lonnie says, before he javelins his bat at one of the two spiders, catching it right between all its eyes with a THUMP - it rolls over onto its back, its curled-up legs twitching. He takes his staff off his belt and snaps it out, the taser on the end of it humming to life, as he squares off with number two.
    He waves the cane at it, causing it to back off a step. "That's right." Anarky advances, using the cane to force it back - "Back, get back, get back-"
    Then another one of the dog-size spiders jumps at him from behind. He turns, as the spider bowls into him and they both go tumbling off the rooftop, with Lonnie gripping it on the underside, just below the mouth to hold it at bay as it snaps its fangs and horrible spidery mouthparts at him. As they fall, the spider snaps out a line to catch itself, and he's left hanging onto it.

Strix has posed:
Strix is good enough to see the spider being booted her way, and she spins with her sword flashing, cutting the beast in two. She sees how well her doggy companion is helping her out (it really isn't but the boy is a good boy anyway) and she nuzzles it affectionately, before turning to slice another spider.

They seem to be slowing down, now, so she sheathes her sword to free her hand. She taps on Huntress' shoulder to get her attention and gestures to the building where they all seems to be coming from. She nods her head towards it in a silent question, 'want to go in?'

Clark Kent has posed:
"Robin!" Clark Kent says, because hooray superheores are here! Well Huntress has been here but, listen, Helena, don't let it get you down.

So they have a moment to breathe. Clark thinks, seriously. "They seem to just be unexpectedly large spiders." Clark says which he hopes Robin will pick up as meaning 'I can't see anything with my amazing alien eyes'. Then again maybe the Batcomputer can find something Superman can't see.

Ugh, this suit's ruined.

"Where are they all coming from, anyway?" Superman asks the civilians and masked heroes. "Perhaps if we built a fire, we could use the smoke to force them back there?"

Helena Bertinelli has posed:
After hopping off the busted-ass Cadillac, Huntress stands next to Strix, "Good job," she tells her and then squints at her sorta-sign language, "What? No, going inside spider den is not a great great idea---Bless it ... watch out ... back up! Inside? Uhh yes, quick, here come some more!" she tells her as she sees a scurry of ugly-ass small ones veer towards Strix and Huntress.

Huntress raises her forearm and THWAPS another bolt into the ground ahead of the small little tiny spiders. She EXPLODES the dirt, sending some of them into the air in a bloody arc, but not all of them.

Tim Drake has posed:
    Message received. The nod of Red Robin's head is a slow up and down in Clark's direction, and then he looks past, towards--

    "Strix!" And then with even more relief, "Huntress." Good. Some of the tension leaves his shoulders, at least until he notices a spider crawling along his arm. Which he flicks off, but then his muscles clench up again and he definitely bites back on some kind of uneasy noise.

    This is about when Anarky descends towards them on a spider-line. And the spider he's holding on to continues to snap and snarl at him with its aforementioned mouthparts. Mostly the fangs, which are probably loaded with venom.

    Red Robin approaches and uses his staff to wedge between Lonnie's body and the spider, separating them and sending the arachnid towards the nearest wall--SPLAT. For a long moment after, he stands there staring at the dripping goo, before he takes in a deep breath. "I'm going to get you an actual grapple gun."

    He turns, and after Huntress fires her explosive bolt, the girl with the tazer rushes over to start stomping on the spiders. With an aggressive little yell, even. "I have to be up for an 8AM shift!" she growls out, and when one crawls onto her foot she lashes out her leg, sending it flying just like Robin did.

    Meanwhile her two friends stand behind, watching, mouths agape.

    "Anarky, stay out here and guard the... civilians." Tim glances towards Clark, but it's a subtle thing, done without moving his head. "Strix, we're going into the spider den. Huntress!"

    His hand circles in the air. "You have transportation, circle the block and make sure there aren't any more of these things."

    Then he looks at Strix, nods once, and heads into the apartment building.

Lonnie Machin has posed:
    "I had one in my cane but had to choose between that and a more powerful capacitor." Anarky says, "Also, how does Batman reinforce your uniforms so you don't pull your arm out of the socket every time you use one of those things-" He ignores his mystification and then he turns. "You're Clark Kent! One of the last bulwarks of real journalism in a Fourth Estate that's riddled with corporate allegiances and corrupted by the 24/7 news cycle! I read all your articles about life in Suicide Slum. It's an honor!"
    He pauses, and then says, "...He just gave me orders again, didn't he. Darn it."

Strix has posed:
Strix nods to Red Robin, visibly relaxing now that people she knows are actually here. She kicks another spider into oblivion (eugh. Her costume is going to need a washing after this) and starts heading towards the building, still carrying the dog underneath her arm. He still seems perfectly content in being tucked underneath there since it seems to be the safest place for him at the moment. Smart dog.

It doesn't take her long to find another clue. Blood drops on the cement! She follows them along (occasionally kicking and clawing at the spiders on the way there) into the building, and up the stairs. It seems to end on the third floor, however, and she stops, waiting for the others to catch up.

Helena Bertinelli has posed:
Huntress fires another bolt to ward off the spiders not stopped by the energetic woman and then jogs into the building after Strix. She glances around through the shadowy, broken architecture, "Keep going," she says, waving Strix on, "I'll circle around. I have a few more bolts left. I'll catch up with you," she tells her.

Tim Drake has posed:
    When Red Robin said "guard the civilians" he wasn't really expecting Anarky to listen, but hey, small miracles. Either way he doesn't actually hang back to see if Lonnie's going to follow through, and he's gone with a quick flap of cape right after Strix, in through the building's front door.

    There are more spiders inside, in the hallways, though a surprisingly small amount.

    "Hey, great job," he tells Strix when she brings attention to the blood trail, and then Red Robin turns around to stab his staff through the thorax of a spider trying to creep up behind them.

    Another, smaller one lingers on the doorjam of the apartment Strix leads them up to. Tim flicks it to the floor and steps on it, only grimacing a little bit at the crunch. Then he leans in, listening at the door.

    Whatever he hears makes him lean back and knock quietly with the back of his knuckles, then holds his hand up to Strix. Wait.

    Outside, there hasn't been any significant resurgence of spiders. But the big one, the one that Clark has managed to bury under the rubble of the fire escape? Its movements become more frantic, debris shifting atop it as it manages to dig its clawed feet into the sides of the buildings it has become wedged between. Slowly, it starts to drag itself free.

Clark Kent has posed:
Clark shrugs, wordlessly. No phone booths. Besides. Bruce'd throw a fit.

"Oh." 'Anarky' huh? Clark combs his memory but decides that if he was real trouble, Tim wouldn't be relying on him to protect people. Maybe. "Gosh, uh, always glad to meet a fan!" Fans of Clark's writing are sometimes shocked by how different he sounds on the page compared to real life. "I like to think of the Daily Planet as an exercise in teamwork, though."

Spider den, huh? This calls for MORE X-RAY VISION, in case the kids get in over their heads.

Gosh, Tim's all grown up and barking orders. "Speaking as a civilian, I don't mind having a little protection. Do you often get spiders like this here?"

Strix has posed:
Strix waits patiently for Red Robin to open the door. She's petting her canine companion to keep him calm. He's about as ready as she is to get in on the action. She waits, having Tim's back, keeping spiders off of him while he does his Robin thing.

Lonnie Machin has posed:
"No, I consider Perry White the last of the old-time newspapermen, a man who refuses to be beholden to anything but the facts at the end of the day. And Jimmy Olsen is one of the best photojournalists currently working-" 'Anarky' is thought by some to be a terrorist collective - or different individuals borrowing a frightening gimmick - who've operated out of Gotham City for the past decade. The tall young man standing here in the ballistic t-shirt and armored leather jacket with patches all over it certainly seems amiable enough.

He looks up at the spider freeing itself from the rubble. "Well Gotham City is famous for its cryptids. Man-Bat, Killer Croc, Solomon Grundy, Frank the Car-Driving Plant-" His taser snaps back to life. "If anything, I don't think this city's corrupt authorities take cryptids seriously enough! Do you know how many *vampires* live in this town? But do the cronies in the city council care when the average joe on the street gets eaten by a giant spider or carried off by a sewer alligator? No! They're all safe from Sasquatch in their cushy Brentwood mansions-" He's readying himself to take on that huge spider as it shakes free from the debris.

Tim Drake has posed:
    Not actually a spider den! It's mostly just a regular apartment building, and with Strix leading the way, she and Red Robin have encountered most of the eight-legged creatures inside. Though there is one down in the basement laundry room, somehow trapped in one of the dryers.

    It keeps tapping its legs on the glass. Tap tap tap. Tap. Taptap.

    One of the tenants eyes it warily as he folds his uniform shirts atop the washers. But he has to get to bed soon. Work in the morning.

    Three floors above, the door to apartment 3C slowly opens, the way bared with a chain-lock. From inside, Omar Said Hussan peers out warily, looking first from Red Robin, then to Strix, and then down to the dog. His eyes widen then with recognition. The door closes again, before reopening, the way no longer barred.

    "That's her dog, isn't it?" Omar says as he turns towards a young, dark-skinned man sitting on the couch in the living room. At his side is Omar's wife, Najma, dabbing at a cut on the teen's forehead with a cotton pad.

    The teen sniffs once, his eyes red, and then he nods. "Yeah, that's--that's Casey's dog. When that thing dragged her off, I--." He puts his face in his hands and starts crying, quietly, clearly not for the first time tonight. "I didn't even think to go looking for him, I just ran."

    Najma shushes him, rubs the teen's back, and looks up at the costumed vigilantes now standing in her living room. "Casey likes to take her dog out on late-night walks. We've all tried to tell her not to, but...." She looks away.

    From deeper in the apartment, a tired voice calls out "Mom...?"

    Outside, the rubble from the fire escape crashes down to the ground with a cacophonous racket, smashed bits of brick tumbling out into the street towards Anarky's feet. Carlos shrieks, the girl at his side jumps into his arms, and the other one whips her stun gun back out.

    But there's nothing to taze. There's no giant spider coming over the pile, no gooey remains of smaller ones crushed beneath the debris or left splattered on the wall or on weapons, smashed into the treads of boots. No spiderwebs criss-crossing the alley. It's like they were never there at all.

    Even the one in the dryer is gone. Which is just as well. It's not like the landlord would do anything if it had been reported.

Strix has posed:
When the spider corpses just disappear Strix blinks behind her cowl. She nudges Robin to point at where the corpses /should/ be but aren't. She puts the dog down, who seems happy to be back on all fours, and he runs around and starts sniffing everything in sight.

She pulls out her phone and taps out a message. "IT'S LIKE THE NINJAS." her phone says in that legally distinct from Siri voice. "ALL GONE."

Lonnie Machin has posed:
Anarky was facing down the spider and working up a really good rant, really cooking it up about the injustice of how the Elites of Gotham do nothing while monsters just gobble people up like candy... and then-

*POIT!*

"It's - gone?" He stands there looking befuddled. "M.A.X. run a broad spectrum scan - what just happened?"

Anarky's phone goes *ping ping* which is sassy phone for 'You got me boss'.

Tim Drake has posed:
    There is indeed no splatted spider out in the hallway. Not even a stain on the flooring to suggest it was once there. And when Strix brings his attention to this, Red Robin immediately moves to the window--apologizing to the apartment's tenants as he does so--and pushes it open so he can lean out, over the alley.

    And there aren't any spiders down there, either. Though the bottom half of the fire escape is more or less a complete loss. Tim makes a mental note to funnel some Outsiders funds towards getting that fixed as soon as possible.

    "You're right," he says to Strix as he looks back over his shoulder. "They are."

    Inside the apartment, Omar has picked the dog up. He's petting it behind the ears, but also blinking and sniffling. "Omar," his wife says. "You know you're allergic! Put him down!"

    "Ah, well, here," and he steps over to Strix, holding out the pup. "He seems to like you. Maybe you could keep an eye on him until they've found Casey?" There is a small amount of hope in his voice yet, though in the background Najma shakes her head sadly, and the teenager she's tending to continues crying quietly.

    From the vantage point up here, the scans Red Robin runs through his mask HUD come up with similar results as M.A.X. down below. Which is to say, nothing.

    Still with his upper half hanging out the window, Tim sighs. "Why does this keep happening?" And then he pulls himself back into the apartment, shutting the window tight behind him. Soon enough--once Najma has assured Red Robin and Strix that she can take care of the young man's minor injuries (apparently gained when he fell down as he ran away)--Tim emerges from the building through the front door, holds up his hands for a moment of pure bafflement, before his arms fall back to his side.

    He looks at Lonnie, clearly about to say something, but then he lifts a hand again. This time to touch his ear, and his lips press together, corners downturned. His head turns to look up towards the apartment he'd just left. "Huntress found a body," he announces as his hand drops.

Strix has posed:
Strix heads out of the building behind Red Robin, this time leading the dog by his leash. As much as she enjoys the company of the dog she has no idea how to take care of one. She walks up to Tim and tugs on his sleeve to get his attention. "I DO NOT KNOW HOW TO TAKE CARE OF HIM," she says. "WILL U HELP? I WILL COME WITH U TO ROOST."

She looks down at the dog and picks him up once again, much to his joy. She looks at the tags on the collar and finds out that the dog's name is Beast. She decides this is an apt name. Beast. Destroyer of spiders. Defender of the innocent. She smiles behind her cowl, gives Beast a pat on the head and sets him down again.

Lonnie Machin has posed:
    "There were some people who got webbed up up on the fire escape who should get medical attention too." Anarky says, as he looks around and then back to Clark. "It's been a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Kent. It really has been. I hope you're here to do what you've done for the oppressed classes in Metropolis." His eyes are keen, despite the bland expression on the china-doll white mask he wears. He nods, once.
    He waits until Red Robin is distracted by something trivial though - and then he reaches out with a feather light touch of his fingertips - mimicking a spider crawling up the back of his neck, before he pulls his hand back and acts like he was doing something else.

Tim Drake has posed:
    Since it's been brought to his attention, Red Robin tips his head back to scan along the portion of the fire escape that's still standing. And there are a couple of people, one half-draped over the railing, another laid out flat on their back. Alive, judging by the readings he's getting.

    So he's about to head up there when the window he'd leaned out before opens, and out comes Najma. She leans over the railing and nods down at them, before retrieving a pen light from her pocket. "The ambulances won't come," she calls down. "Not at night. I've called a doctor from the clinic, if you don't mind waiting for him?"

    Red Robin salutes up at her, and she says, "Thank you!" as she crouches down. One level below, the other injured person seems to rouse, and she rolls over onto her hands and knees with a groan.

    "I wonder if the venom disappears too. They've left bruises behind before, but no actual trace of their--hhhzzzch!"

    With a spasm, Tim jerks his whole body down away from Anarky's fingers and spins around, staff extended in his hands. Then he stands up straight, breathes out through his nose heavily, and glares at Lonnie. Which is impossible to actually see, what with the mask, but it's there in the grit of his jaw and the clench of his teeth.

    Retribution is set aside for later, though. "I don't think you'll have too much trouble with this one," he says as he crouches down to pet the dog, who sits properly at Strix's feet. "See? He's a good boy." Cue tail thump. Tim looks up as Strix's phone reads out her message. "Sure--yeah, of course. I have some homemade dog food in the fridge still, and we can order some stuff for him."

    He smiles at Mary and pointedly ignores Lonnie.

Lonnie Machin has posed:
    Lonnie pretends not to notice Tim glaring at him - but he does do something mean and nasty only a pair of total nerds would understand - as he busies himself attending to some of the people shell-shocked by this mysterious encounter, he hums this tune: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKdsBlRNgX0

Tim Drake has posed:
    Eventually, a car pulls up to the curb, and from within comes a slim man in a white lab coat, badge still pinned to his chest. The doctor from the clinic, and he's accompanied by a man and a woman, both in scrubs. They all hustle into the building, and the two victims who were previously spider-bait are left in good hands, injured but apparently not envenomed.

    The same cannot be said of the body Huntress finds around the block, pulled half underneath a dumpster. Casey McClain is eventually identified by the residents of the building.