7783/A Sale of Arms, a Suitcase of Cash, and You

A Sale of Arms, a Suitcase of Cash, and You
Date of Scene:	11 September 2021
Location:	The Narrows - Miagani Island
Synopsis:	Spider-Man follows an arms deal into the Gotham City hunting grounds, complete with a Huntress.
Cast of Characters:	Helena Bertinelli, Peter Parker

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Helena Bertinelli has posed:
The Huntress has been staking out the Mill Street warehouse for a while, ever since something didn't feel right the last time she was in town shaking down this area. This time, she's staring at the warehouse from across the street, in a shadowy alley, peering at it through some highpowered binoculars. It is night time and there's no movement on the street. She lowers the binoculars and frowns, as if she expected something different to be happening.

"Huntress, what'd you see huh? Are we ready to bust these guys up?" a teen asks her as he stands there next to her. He's as masked as she is, although wears a non-descript black outfit, vest, and boots, while he waits for her response. She's in her usual purple and black and annoyed look.

"Yeah, we going or what?" another teen asks her. He's similarly dressed, carrying a tazer cane weapon thing.

"They're already in there doing the deal. You three are watching the front, get it? I'm going around back to surprise them at the trucks. By the way, don't think on this. Do what I told you to do. If you see anyone, let me know," she explains.

Peter Parker has posed:
God, he hates when this happens.
It's bad enough that the detritus of various alien incursions floods the underworld with alien tech they BARELY understand. But then someone had the bright idea to ship the stuff to Gotham (who has a serious lack of alien invasions) and sell it there for cash on the line.
Spider-Man didn't have proof, but he suspected the smart guy in question had a name that rhymed with "Spring Tin."

He had been following the truck via the Spider-Tracer attached to it, and he was getting closer...
The GPS pin in his HUD stopped at the warehouse at the corner of Mill and 15th Street.
"...and Bingo was his name-o."
Two minutes later, a guy in red-and-blue long underwear landed on the roof of the warehouse, near one of the skylights. He barely made a sound as he crawled over to look down through the dirty glass.

Yeppers. The one known as the Tinkerer was standing near three large crates, while another man in the Kingpin hierarchy stood at ease, watching the rotund form of the Penguin waddle forward, flanked by two men with machineguns. A third carried a silver suitcase.
Spidey didn't think he had candy bars in there...

Helena Bertinelli has posed:
One of the teens smirks, "Already in there? How? We've been watchin the whole time," he tells Huntress as he follows her across the street.

Huntress frowns, "Will you shut the &&^# up? Front door," she tells him and uses a pointy finger to tell them where to go. She turns and walks around the side of the warehouse, which is unguarded and quiet. She pauses at the back and visually inspects the truck pulled up to the loading dock, still unaware of Spider-Man on the rooftop. The back loading bay doors are open though and she can see in, while Spider-Man can see down into the meeting now happening between the collection of men he has tracked here to this nighttime meeting.

"I'm standing in for the Kingpin," the GoonPin tells them, "So let's make this quick because I'd like to give the Man some good news, right?" he says.

The TinkerMan turns from the large crates and looks at The GoonPin, "So you have my money? If so, I'll even help you load it. It's all here."

Peter Parker has posed:
The Penguin stepped forward, umbrella being used as a cane.
"Easy, four-eyes. I don't BUY until I see the merchandise."
The Tinkerer shrugged, then opened one of the crates. He lifts out a rifle that looks like a rifle...if you made it chrome, part of it crystal, with what looks like a glowing egg where the bullet might be. "All right, Cobblepot. Anything in here you don't want to keep?"

The Penguin frowned, then pointed at a forklift in one corner. "What can it do to that?"

The Tinkerer shrugged, then aimed and squeezed the rod where a trigger would presumably be.
A bolt of blue light lances out at the forklift, which promptly explodes. Everyone flinches except the Tinkerer.
Cobblepot straightens...as much as possible...and grins. "SOLD." He beckons to the man with the suitcase, who walks forward with the suitcase. He places it on the table, then opens it to reveal the money. "Ten million, Big Apple Boy. As the Kingpin said."

Helena Bertinelli has posed:
Bob the Thug and Jose the Big Guy frown as they open the front door, and are about to light their cigarettes when they see the three masked teenagers. Two of the teens grab Jose and struggle with him, while the third teen TAZERS Bob the Thug out of his shoes, "GAHHH! AHHH!" he yells.

"It's the heroes. This meeting is OVER. Where's my transport?" the Tinkerer asks and looks around as some people confer with the Penguin over what to do next. The Transport is a hugeass guy, probably a wrestler or a gym rat, with more muscles than anyone can count. "I'm outside boss! Be right there," he calls out from the dark. The Huntress shakes her head at her plan which isn't going so well already. He's at the back door when The Huntress kicks him but this huge guy only stumbles a little. He turns and frowns at The Huntress, cracking his knuckles, "Now you pissed me off," he says.

Peter Parker has posed:
Then, suddenly, a Arachne Ex Machina appears.
There is a quiet THWIPP! and something tugs on Transport's back. And then Transport is gone, yanked upward above the door lamp into the relative darkness. It's like a magic trick.
"Carry on...whoever you are," said a voice from above. "The big guy's a little tied up at the moment. But let 'em know I'll be in shortly."

The Penguin snarled, "Get the weapons!" He himself made no move towards the crates. In fact, he's starting to head towards the limo parked at one end of the warehouse even as his goons take up positions, guns at the ready while two men try to grab one of the crates.

The Tinkerer begins making his way towards the cab of the truck, but he isn't very fast without Transport.

Helena Bertinelli has posed:
Huntress puts her hands on her hips indignantly and smirks, "This your neighborhood?" she wonders as this Spider-Man yanks The Transport up into the air.

The Penguin's goons rip open the crates and start grabbing what they can in order to carry it out, "We're f&&###! Damn!" one of the goons lets out, "Just shoot em! Shoot all of em!" another adds.

The Tinkerer hops into the cab to start the truck but Huntress raises her forearm to put a bolt in the truck's front tire. The tire hisses air very quickly. She points the next crossbow bolt at the Tinkerer.

Bob the Thug is out like a light but the bigger Jose punches one of the teens and ragdolls the other, before turning on the third teen.

Peter Parker has posed:
Spidey responds glibly, "I'm Friendly everywhere, miss. Toodles. I have to go crash a party."
His head disappears, but he is not gone long. A second later, there is a crash of glass, and the exclamation loud: "Hey! You ain't the Girl Scouts?!"
There is a disconnected series of gasps, and then the Penguin yelled, "GET THAT BUG!"
A couple of goons with the alien rifles fired upward, but Spider-Man feinted to the left and webbed one of the shooters to the pavement. "Anyone got any Thin Mints?"

Helena Bertinelli has posed:
One of the thugs is webbed but the other two shoot at the roof and set it on fire as they try to hit Spider-Man, "Didn't I say shoot? SHOOT!" one of them yells.

"Get out," Huntress tells the Tinkerer with her crossbow leveled at his head but she frowns as she hears the teens struggling in her earpiece. The Tinkerer slowly gets out of the cab.

Jose advances on the third teen, who ducks under his punch, and tazers him like Bob but Jose shoves him away. The other two seem to be okay and start to get up.

Peter Parker has posed:
"Jeez Louise, you guys shoot like Imperial Stormtroopers!"
Spidey lands on the roof of the truck, then aims over the side and webs down the two shooters. "Stick around," he tells them, and then hears the squeal of tires. He looks up to see the limo peeling away through the loading bay door.
He is about to try and stop the limo when he sees Jose going after the third teen. He fires a webline and uses it to propel himself towards Jose, fist cocked back.

"HEADS UP!"
Jose turns just in time to catch the fist with his face, a right cross that knocks him cold and slams him into the ground. Spider-Man lands next to him, then extends a hand to the third teenager. "Up and at 'em!"

Helena Bertinelli has posed:
The fire escalates on the roof as the Stormtroopers pummel it with big fat lasers, before Spider-Man stops them cold. Huntress holds up the Tinkerer but before he can say something, she kicks him rather aggressively in the balls and turns in time to see the limo swerve past her. She fires a crossbow bolt at it and lodges it in the trunk. She smirks.

The three teens seem pretty proud of themselves and shake hands with Spider-Man, "Was all you, Spider-Man," one of them tells him.

The fire trucks can be heard in the distance, "I think this was all Spider-Man too," Huntress says sarcastically as she spots the group, "Place is on fire."

Peter Parker has posed:
Spidey looks up and cringes. "Yikes! Be right back!" He fires a webline to swing upward to the wall, then crawls up the wall while he switched web cartridges.

He got close enough to the flames before he started spraying the burning areas with webbing. The webbing singes, but as more is applied, the webbing begins to smother the fire, section by section...

Helena Bertinelli has posed:
"You guys, get going---out out the back," Huntress tells the teens, "I hear the fire department," she says as Spider-Man jumps up to fill in for the city's finest.

"Aww, we wanted to talk to Spider-Man, come on," the teens complain. Huntress uses her pointy finger again and they quickly head out the back. She looks up at Spider-Man and watches to see if he's successful or not.

Peter Parker has posed:
Spidey seems to be making some headway by the time the fire department arrives - the blaze is cut by nearly half before the firehoses get used.

One jet of water is deflected from a metal roof panel and hits Spidey square in the chest and knocks him off the wall. The empty crate breaks his fall, though.
"ERGH..." he moans.

Helena Bertinelli has posed:
Huntress runs over to where Spider-Man crashlanded and frowns, "You alright?" she asks, nudging him callously with her toe to see if he's dead. "Yeah you're good right? Okay let's go, come on," she assumes, actually being really nice to help him up and outside the warehouse.

"I'd rather not spend anymore time here. And we should let these guys do their jobs," she explains.

Peter Parker has posed:
Spider-Man groans as he gets to his feet. "One bruised rib, bruised tailbone and a pretty solid shot to the public image, but that's basically like my appendix...anyway..."
He tested a step, then another. "Yeah, I guess we better go. Gotham City PD should have enough to make some arrests..."

He glanced down at a couple of stacks of bills, the paper band around them reading "$10,000." He nudged them with his foot, but moved onward without giving it a second look. "I think that door over there is far enough to be away from the crime scene..." he says, pointing to a side door.

Helena Bertinelli has posed:
Huntress glances up while helping Spider-Man to the door, the fire department getting busy but Spider-Man did help them so the building isn't collapsing, "I think we don't need to answer any questions," she tells him, "The police will corner off the area soon."

"Doesn't take a master detective to figure you tracked these guys here, huh? You knew them?" she says, "Looks like we stopped the deal, for the time being," she adds. Huntress helps Spider-Man outside.

Peter Parker has posed:
Spider-Man winces slightly, but says quietly, "Yeah...Tinkerer got a bunch of Chitauri rifles and got them to work again, but couldn't sell them in the Big Apple without attracting the wrong kind of attention...or the right kind, all things considered."

As they get outside, Spidey says, "So...how would you like me to address you? I'm not up on all the hero types in Gotham City, so I hope you'll forgive me..."

Helena Bertinelli has posed:
"Huntress," she tells Spider-Man, motioning to herself, "Any other questions?" she asks sarcastically.

"I'd rather not have any more guns in the city. Bad for kids. Next time, maybe you can give me a head's up."

Peter Parker has posed:
Spidey chuckles. "Well, if you wouldn't mind terribly waiting a few days, how do you feel about getting wired into an independent communications system for people like us? It's called Spider-Comm. Yeah, corny, but it was originally for me and a few other spider-themed people. Since then, we've added a few more non-Spiders...well, we refer to them as 'Honorary Spiders'...to the network. Augmented reality, independent database, text/voice/data...and you can get either the stripped-down app for your smartphone, or go full aug-reality with the Deluxe setup."

Helena Bertinelli has posed:
Huntress frowns, "A spider network? Yeah, I don't need anybody to keep tabs on me," she says and crosses her arms, "I already have helpers," she tells him, "But I guess if we need backup, we could call in," she says, begrudging trying to be ... nice, "Maybe."

Peter Parker has posed:
Spider-Man glances to her. "No major organizations, no loyalty oaths...we don't even have scheduled meetings. But should you need help, you can always reach out. And if any of us are in Gotham, we can give you a heads-up to keep you posted. I just got the network going in both Gotham City and Metropolis, in addition to New York City. So...it's just a good way to keep each other posted, informed, and available without having to jump through hoops to reach out to someone."

Helena Bertinelli has posed:
Huntress smirks in her usual distrustful way, "You don't even know me," she comments.

"Okay fine, sign us up for the spider network. But if I get a fee, I won't be happy."

Peter Parker has posed:
Spider-Man takes a deep breath. "I know you helped stop a major arms deal without killing anyone. That has to count for SOMETHING, Huntress."

Then he grins. "Well...I KINDA had to hack the WayneTech security on the cell network in Gotham. Rule One for setting up a stealth network is to not REGISTER a stealth network." He reached into his backpack and took out a card, handing it to Huntress. It has a website address on one side, and a graphic of the Spider-Man mask on the other side.

"You can download the app to your phone from there. If you want the full rig, let me know."

Helena Bertinelli has posed:
Huntress chuckles, "Yep, not even one death," she says amusedly. She takes the little spider-card, "A regular entrepreneur, arent you?" she adds.

"Hacked the WayneTech? Oh a bad boy, just my flavor," she says, because she's really a rule breaker too, in disguise as a superhero, "Alright, I'll be in touch. You take care, Spider-Man."

Peter Parker has posed:
Spider-Man shrugged. "Trying to get a group to handle stuff like this was like some kind of weird scavenger hunt. Now, help is a touch away."

He smirks a little under the mask. "It makes doing stuff like this much easier, really."

He steps back. "You take care. You can tell me what you decide with the app. And...well, be careful."

Telling her about Supergirl and Wonder Woman also being Honorary Spiders was a clear case of name-dropping. She'll find out eventually.

He waves, then fires a webline up to an overhanging gargoyle the next building over. "You have a LOT of handy stuff to swing from here in Gotham, you ever notice that?"

And with one hard pull, he is up and off. Same friendly, just a different neighborhood.