Throwing yourself into your work is the best coping mechanism

[bornredy]

WHO: The Scarlet Spiders (bornredy ) and OPEN
WHERE: All over the rooftops and alleyways of the City!
WHEN: Backdated to Saturday night
WARNINGS: Repressed angst
SUMMARY: With their genetically inherited crush ported out, the Spiders are "dealing" with it by patrolling almost non-stop. Clearly they need forced social interaction to get them out of their funk.

Comments

[youmakemesmall]

It might have been dangerous for most young women to walk around this City when it was dark but Jan had been trained by Captain America and was also a mutant AND an Avenger, so she didn't exactly feel threatened. At barely 5'3" and maybe 100 lbs, she was a predator's dream. And so, she was approached by a weaponless teenager who demanded her purse.

Jan almost laughed. She had all of three dollars and breath mints in there.

Oh well. Guess she was skipping the gym tonight.

[bornredy]

Pat noticed the woman and the punkish-looking youngster first. Which was odd, since normally he was the last of the trio to notice anything. He activated the suit's commlink. "Heads up, guys. We might have a situation."

The suit's cloaking system activated as Patrick swung onto the wall of the nearest building, clinging to the side and waiting for Van and Michael to arrive behind him. The boys watched and waited, preparing to snatch the mugger in a web the very second he tried to get violent.

[youmakemesmall]

The mugger went down easily enough-- clearly he was too high or drunk or whatever it was kids did these days-- to properly defend himself. Ridiculous. She might have used a little too much force when she punched him in the stomach so he would be sported a cracked rib or two. Well, maybe it would make him think twice about trying to attack people.

Jan took out her cellphone, debating if she should call the police or not.

[bornredy]

Well, they didn't see that coming.

The Spiders decloaked and dropped from their hiding spot, landing in the alleyway. Van and Pat turned towards the...uh, "victim" while Michael kneeled over the horrible excuse for a criminal to make sure he was unconscious.

"Uh, this might seem like a silly question, but-

-Are you okay, ma'am?" They were impressed, but couldn't figure out why this lady seemed vaguley familiar.

Barges in

[swornprotector]

Goliath is always on patrol himself... and seeing three men in elaborate creature-themed costumes puts him quickly in mind of the Pack, the cybernetic criminals from his homeworld. There's also the possibility that they are robots not unlike Xanatos and his Steel Clan.

So the gargoyle gliding above them follows their movements, to see if they will lead him to their master... or if they'll commit some sort of horror that he will have to stop.

[bornredy]

Healthy paranoia was a good trait of any good black ops expert, so it was unsurprisingly part of the Scarlet Spiders' Initiative programming. Despite that, it takes several minutes for any of the three to notice they have a tail - partially because because of positioning, but also because of their distracting personal issues.

They eventually do notice, however, and are a bit bothered by it. They're usually the ones doing the stalking tracking. The boys suddenly drop, falling fast before sending out new weblines, now swinging far closer to the ground.

[swornprotector]

Goliath isn't sure if they spotted him, or if they've just grown nearer to their objective, but he has to assume the former.

Still, he can't lose them, so he dives down lower himself, trying to regain sight of them - at least one of them, as he'd rather not have to try and take on all three at once if it comes to that.

[bornredy]

Too persistent is the thought that runs through the Spiders' minds simultaneously. At least it confirms that they are being followed, which just means they have to ditch the bogey and figure out why he's so interested.

After swinging a bit longer, the three red-and-gold figures suddenly make a sharp turn around a small building. The trio disengage from their webs quickly and cling to the wall, activating the suit's camouflage as soon as they make contact with the brick. Time to wait and watch the reaction.

[listen_bud]

[ He watched with a peculiar expression from a rooftop, hands on his hips and brow raised, as the three of them tried awkwardly to get in sync-- this just looked bad, though. ]

HEY! [ He cupped his hands around his mouth and called out. ]

COME ON, GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER GUYS! I'VE GOT A REPUTATION AT STAKE HERE!

[bornredy]

[That definitely got their attention. And amazingly, it worked for a second! The trio briefly swung in synch, riiiight over to the source of the voice.

A few seconds later, the Spiders landed on the rooftop.]

Sorry about that-

-we're not training to make you look bad or anything-

-Promise.

[listen_bud]

[ He puts his hands up ] It's cool, it's cool, you were just doing this... thing...

[ He hops awkwardly on one foot, lifting the other high in the air before stopping entirely to readdress them. ]

So, what, new suits or something? They're not chafing in the [ He whistles and points down. ] cause, you know, baby powder.

[ Awkward silence. ]

So, uh, what's up?

[bornredy]

[Three eyebrows raise in unison underneath the masks.] Uh, no, nothing like that-

-it's just...

[Van trails off. The boys look to one another and then back to Spider-Man. Sort of. They're actually all looking in slightly different directions to avoid eye contact.]

-Nothing's wrong. [They are crappy liars when it comes to personal problems.]

[gallitrap]

It was still relatively early in the night, though sunset had already come and was mostly gone, the sky growing dark. But the City was the city, and the streets were never truly dark. Unless, of course, the power went out. Again

[bornredy]

They should wait until they have a clearer idea of the situation. That's what their programming was telling them, but the Spiders had shirked it before and with how this was starting to play out? Yeah, standing by while a child was in danger wasn't going to work for them.

Patrick was chosen to "make contact with the civilian", as Michael had put it, his choice of words made it very clear why Pat was usually the one who handled situations that required a friendly personality. He swung overhead and landed on the side of the corner's lamp, sticking there while addressing the girl. "Hi there! It's dangerous to be out this late alone, you know."

As if on cue - because it was. The Spiders were, if nothing else, good about timing - Van and Michael dropped from the sky on either side of the man. Their words came closer than usual, in a far more intimidating tone. "Hello. We sure hope you weren't about to do something other than turn and walk home.-"

"-And we will be watching you for now on."

[gallitrap]

The girl, who had been preparing to cross the street, instead jumped and jerked back in surprise at the sudden voice from above her; in her fumbling, she nearly dropped her communicator (not a normal phone, it seemed), but held it close to her chest when she looked up at the first voice-and around at the second and third.

Jeez, Edgeworth was going to kill her if he found out about this.

The man now had his hands up, backing away from the other two not-Spider-Man-guys with a babble of 'not looking for trouble.'

Hoping that this wasn't going to wind up being some elaborately complicated kidnapping scheme, Ruka edged closer to the street lamp. She thought the uniform looked familiar (beyond the "looks like someone raided Parker's closet with spray paint" manner, anyway), but couldn't quite place it...

"Uh, th-thank you," she stumbled a little, still unsettled by the whole situation. "I guess I didn't notice."

[bornredy]

A communicator. They hadn't noticed that from afar, but now that they have it made the situation a lot easier to handle. Patrick twisted around on the lamp, now talking to the girl from a mostly upside down position. "You're an imPort, right? I'm Patrick, with the Scarlet Spiders. We work for Tony Stark." We has aware of how...not particularly trustworthy that was for some people, but hoped it'd at the least prove he wasn't some kind of deranged villain. "If you need directions or a ride or something I'd be happy to help."

Meanwhile, the other Spiders proceeded to glare at the man behind their golden bug lenses. "Mister, you try and creep up on a child again-"

"-And trouble will find you."

[acrossyourpath]

Leaping from one rooftop to the other, Felicia took her usual care to stick to the shadows in spite of the constant incessant light from all the buildings. Such was life in the City -- or any city. She was used to not seeing stars.

She didn't have anything in her hands right now; not yet, anyway. She landed on the roof of a museum, looking over the roof to survey the area.

[bornredy]

When someone surveys an area, they're probably not expecting to see three red and gold Spider-Man copycats webswinging their way in front of a museum.

Of course, since that's not expected, it's exactly what's happening right now.

Van noticed the figure on the roof first - being on lookout was his job for this leg of the patrol - and after quickly pointing it out to his brothers the group made a quick webline u-turn to go check it out.

[acrossyourpath]

She backed away from the edge of the roof, turning off the night vision on her goggles. What was that? And why were there three of-- oh.

Moving towards the roof grating, she frowned, putting her goggles and suspension cord away in her belt. Why did Spiders love making her job more difficult?