Issue#1 "First Measures"

[Nina]

On 5/16/2024 at 4:54 PM, Shameless said:

In a moment, the costume of the Silver Spider enveloped him, fitting snugly against him...   Quickly he scaled the wall and crossed the roof, heading back to the Quad, hopefully he'd arrive in time.

 

Marc crouched on the roof overlooking the quad, below he could see Emily and the Fancy Boys facing off. Emily had backed into the larger open area of the Quad but all this did was allow the four gang bangers to move into positions where she was surrounded. About three or four yards separated her from them.

 

A steady stream of Chinese passed between Emily and Grey Suit, Emily's voice calm and cool, obviously trying to deescalate the situation. The gang leaders excited, loud, and angry. He  turned his head slightly and made a chopping gesture with his right hand, "轴!" He shouted, and the other three reached behind their backs and drew out black painted hatchets and snapped their bodies into some sort of fighting stances you might see in a kung fu movie, Left arms extended forward palm out with the hatchets in the right hand drawn back beside their heads.

 

"You do not want to do this," Emily said quietly in english.

 

Grey-Suit laughed and whipped out two hatchets of his own, "Of course I do  志豪-太-詹 (pronounced Chee-Khow tài  Zhan), we cut you up, I get made!" He says in English then takes a different stance than his goons, and shouts "Go!"

 

Spoiler

ACTION! 

 

[Shameless]

Marc squared his shoulders as the gangsters moved in, and quickly found a place to swing down from, even as he leapt from the roof. The web shot out from his wrist and attached to arm of one of the large security light poles and he swung down in an arc ending with his feet planted firmly into the chest of one of the axe-wielding gangsters, sending him flying backwards as he kicked off into a backflip and landed firmly between Emily and the remaining gangsters   "Okay Guys, I'm gonna have to "Axe" you to put those toys away,  or I'm going to have to take them away."  He spoke with a supreme confidence as he took a ready fighting stance, having released the web he'd swung down on after the impact.

 

Spoiler

Shameless Request: [8d6] Roll: [5, 4, 4, 3, 3, 2, 2, 1] 4 success

 

[SalmonMax]

As the three remaining toughs faced off against Marc and Emily, there was something in the air behind them. A ripple, like a pond after a pebble was thrown in. It lasted just a breath, just a heartbeat, and then someone was there. A female figure, clad in a sleek gunmetal grey bodysuit covered in darker-edged hexagon texturing that extended over her head, hands and feet. Her eyes and upper face were covered by a set of goggles. Space roiled around her, like heat distortion off pavement on a desert highway.

 

The lenses focused as she looked past the gangsters at Marc and her lips curved into a smirk.

 

"Hope you don't mind the help."

 

One of them whirled and swung at her...but that ripple in the air she'd arrived in never really left her. She stepped in, putting a stiff jab into his ribs and then vanishing before his attack could land. His fist swished through the air as he tried to recover, and she was on the other side of him, landing a quick three hit combo that sent him reeling. His companions recoiled in surprise, but couldn't react fast enough as she appeared again behind him...catching him even as he tried to catch his balance and hooking his legs to send him crashing to the ground before following up with a punch down that took the wind, and fight, out of him.

 

"Hoo! Good cardio!"

 

Spoiler

SalmonMax Request: [9d6] Roll: [6, 6, 5, 4, 4, 2, 2, 2, 1] Result: 32

9 successes with Blink

 

[Nina]

"停止!"  Grey-Suit shouted throwing up his hands and taking a step back. "No harm, no foul, right 志豪 (Chee Khow). Didn't realize that 玉龙 (Yùlóng) had such friends. My bad."

 

The still standing thug backed away as Grey-suit spoke, the other two on the ground rolled over tried to get up but settled for crawling. 

 

Emily with wide open look of surprise on her face looked back and forth between the spider and the ghost, then she focused on Grey-suit and stood straighter, "You know the rules Billy," she said his name with a hint of sarcasm and contempt, "Chinatown and University are off limits to your Black Hatchets. Pick up your friends and get out of here and I won't tell the priests."

 

Grey-suit, Billy, scowled but glancing at the two costumed vigilantes, he nodded and gestured for his man to help with the two hurt thugs. Emily and the two heroes watched as the gangers limped away.

 

Emily faced the two and with a slight bowing of her head thanked them. "I am very appreciative of your intervention. I owe you a debt of thanks. that could have been very ugly."

 

[Shameless]

Silver Spider looked around and watched as the gangsters limped away.   "You sure we should just let them go?  They did come after you on school grounds with hand axes."  It was odd to say the least, and at any other time he'd have laid them all out and tied them up for the cops, but considering She knew these guys, there was definitely more going on than simple harassment.  He looked at the other hero, and nodded. "Great combi by the way."

 

[Nina]

At University...

 

Emily studied the Silver Spider for several seconds before shaking herself back to the moment "Umm...pardon me I am not used to conversing with costumed heroes.  Billy Wang and his boys are... umm... posers. They strut and bluster, but the hatchets are just for show. They would not have actually attacked or harmed me."

 

Emily seemed to be thinking as she spoke carefully and her manner left the impression there were things unsaid.

[Shameless]

"I see. Well, probably a good thing nobody was really injured then.   It looked real enough to me, and likely would have to any cop that saw it."   He didn't really believe that it was just a show, not in the slightest.  "  There was definitely more to the story then.  "So why were they even coming after you in the first place?"  The Silver Spider's voice was wholly different than Marc's, it was much deeper.  He silently thanked Arachne for the forethought on her part, and got the mental image of a woman smiling almost immediately.

Spoiler

Think Keith David for Silver Spider   his normal voice sounds like Aaron Taylor-Johnson's Quicksliver sans accent

 

[Nina]

Emily was caught off guard by the Silver Spider's continued interest, she shrugged, "Ahh... Ling Mai, one of the girls who was picking on Hanami, probably sicced them on me to try and bully me." Emily wondered how much they saw and suddenly was wary, she looked at the grey costumed silent hero, did they understand Chinese?

 

"Billy and Ling Mai, are 'friends' if you get my meaning. He was probably already here to meet her."

[Shameless]

"Ah.  Well you're sure about this, once we leave you're not worried about them coming back?"  There was clear concern in his voice.   She was clearly not telling them the whole story, but he looked over at the other hero to see if she had anything she wanted to add.

[SalmonMax]

Tesseract absorbed all this unsmiling, her arms folded over her chest. The guys had had axes, and this girl wanted to tell them it was all jokes, everything was fine they were just going to scare us a little. Also, she'd started that line after telling them that it could have gotten ugly? What was she afraid of?

 

"Weapons just being 'for show' is great, until it's not just for show," she said flatly. "And that can happen at any time, with no warning. This Billy was riled up, weapon in hand...even if he started out just wanting to 'strut' or whatever, that's no promise he wouldn't change his mind once he got going."

 

She glanced at the other costumed vigilante and shrugged.

 

"Anyway. Nice work there Spider...uh...Guy. Good to see I'm not the only one keeping an eye on the campus."

[Shameless]

Silver Spider looked at the other hero and nodded.  "Yes, it is."  Clearly he was referencing her, same as she was implying with him.  They obviously didn't actually know each other.   Still, like him, with Emily backing them off, she didn't seem adamant about going to apprehend Billy and his boys, so he just let that part go.  

 

[SalmonMax]

"Right, so..."

 

She looked back at Emily. "Look, I have a number you can call if you need help." Tesseract fished out one of her 'business cards' and handed it over. It was just a small piece of cardstock with a phone number written on it. The number of her current prepaid cellphone, not her personal phone. "Call this, tell me where you are, and I should be able to get to you pretty quick."

 

After a moment's consideration, she offered the Silver Spider one as well.

[Nina]

Emily took the card and looked at it turning it over and back. She saw only the number. "What do I call you, hero?"

[SalmonMax]

"Tesseract. Or...Tess is fine. Shorter. And...you are?"

 

She nods, then fiddles with the little voice changer in the neck of her suit. The vibration from it tickled after awhile.

[Nina]

"Tesseract... interesting name. I am Emily Tsan and again, I thank you both. If i need your aid I will call but for now I should be going."

 

With a short bow of her head to the both of them she quickly backs away and turns to walk rapidly back to the hall and inside leaving the two costumed heroes alone together.

[Shameless]

Silver Spider looks to Tesseract, and shrugs.  "That's that.  There's more to do elsewhere then.  Was nice meeting you, Tesseract, and You were half right.  It's Silver Spider."  With those words he offered her a quick 2 finger salute, and was up and away using his web-line.  He was quickly up and over the building and gone, heading back to where he'd changed before, to change back after making sure it was safe to do so.  

[SalmonMax]

Tesseract watches him go, then says to herself, "Ling Mai. Black Hatchets." Just to fix those terms in her head. She'd need to do a little investigating when she'd gotten her lab work done. And at least a decent start on her mid-term studying.

 

The haze around her grew coarser, larger, darker...and she contracted into a point with a quiet shoomp noise.

 

Meanwhile, back in the stacks where she'd run to...and stashed her street clothes...she appeared in reverse fashion. It only took a moment to shimmy into her clothes, get her mask rolled back and tucked under her collar and do a quick check to make sure nothing showed.

 

Then she headed back out of the library to get a coffee and think things over.

[Asarasa]

With familiarity with the city and the deepening night, RJ was able run through Chicago without drawing too much undue attention. But it was mostly due to the nature of people. All cops knew that while having eyewitnesses helped with investigations, they were notoriously unreliable. People generally only saw what they wanted to see. Surely that woman in the little black dress wasn't moving that fast? No shoes? No, she definitely has shoes, just a white pair of flats.

RJ made it to the Gold Coast without issue, save for a bit of a detour when she was skirting through one of Chicago's many parks. A pair of dogs out for a evening stroll with their owners caught her scent and decided to chase after her with wild barking. It wasn't their fault, with her metamorphosis, it seemed many animals objected to her scent, especially predators. It had been a disaster one time she had to follow a cheating husband to the zoo to catch him with his second family. Not wanting to punt the yapping little dogs half the size of her cat over the Magnificent Mile, RJ took the effort to avoid them and their equally yapping owners.

From the shadows, RJ checked to make sure the coast was clear, then leapt the short wall and screen of trimmed hedges surrounding Michael's discrete mansion. She slipped around the pool she and Mr. Invincible had had fun in more than one time and with another effortless exertion, jumped up to the terrace extending around the master bedroom on the second floor and knocked on the glass double doors.

Looking up from his phone, Michael glanced around to find RJ standing on his balcony, hair disheveled, the ripping seams of her dress revealing even more of her strong thighs, and nips looking ready to rip through the silk. Her pupils were widely dilated, the thin rings of her neon blue irises especially bright. He smirked and waggled his phone at her as he sauntered over to the double doors and unlocked them.

"I was about to call up some company," he drawled.

"That would have been unfortunately for her," RJ growled, voice thick with need, as she reached up and pulled Michael down for a hungry kiss, her tongue forcing its way between his lips. She could smell the other women that had been in Michael's room and it was good than none of them were here. "I don't feel like sharing."

When she let him go, Michael stepped back, smile widening as he appraised her. He typically dallied with models and socialites. RJ was easily as beautiful as any of them, if far more athletic, and though she looked barely old enough to legally drink, he knew she had at least a few years on him. And while he might be invincible, RJ had to be ten times stronger than he was. It was oddly intriguing being so easily... manhandled.

"You're feet are dirty, y'know. And there's speckles of blood on your face and hands and dress. If you're already tired playing with your other boytoys..."

He waggled his phone again and his smirk grew even wider as her lips tightened with barely suppressed fury and frustration. "Then I'll take a fucking shower!" she snarled, peeling off her leather coat as tossing it across the room and with a casual tug, ripped off her dress as though it had been made of tissue paper. True to her earlier claim, she wasn't wearing anything underneath except for her taut and toned self. "You better get your clothes off, because you're coming with me."

Michael barely had time to shed himself of shirt and pants before RJ jumped at him. He grunted as he caught her deceptively solid mass, more than that of two average women, her thighs about his waist tight enough to crush the spine of a lesser man, her lips back on his as she urged him to the bathroom. He went to make another snide comment, but she caught him off with a demanding, "Stop. Talking."

He had her hooked. There wasn't another man in Chicago who could survive her lust.

~~+~~+~~+~~+~~+~~+~~+~~+~~+~~+~~

 

Dawn was just a threat on the horizon. Dressed in a spare pair of jeans and a band shirt she kept at Michaels, wearing a pair of cross-trainiers and her reclaimed heels in hand, RJ strutted back to her car parked discretely a block away from Michael's place. She'd stop for breakfast someplace along the way, to go home to take care of Bastard before checking to see about any investigations that needed tending to, and then maybe stop by the office later, and...

"Fuck."

Michael was a great lay, no doubt, and he knew it. And there wasn't another man in Chicago who could survive her lust, and Michael knew that too. And, thanks to her ex-husband and his biological machinations, her needs were... exacerbated. Damnably fun, to be sure, but also irritating...

Although, flying girl, Odette, playing vigilante, seemed stronger than human. Might be Mr. Invincible wasn't the only super in Chicago, but the only public one. Might be I have other options in Chicago...

Whistling a jaunty tune despite the early hour, RJ climbed into her battered Corolla, slipped on her aviators, turned up the music on the local rock station, and started driving West and South.

Edited June 6 by Asarasa

[Nina]

The next day...

 

On the Southside

 

RJ parked in her reserved spot and made her way out of the parking garage. It was a short walk and she was glad she kept spare clothes at Michaels. Parked in front of the entrance to her bungalow was a patrol car and leaning on its hood with a cup of coffee was Sgt Steve Callen, one of the patrol officers who she had worked with before the incident.

 

Callen was a twenty year vet who had somehow managed to stay on the street instead of ‘graduating’ to a desk position. He was a big bear of a man who looked like he was overweight but most of what people thought was fat as actually hard muscle.

 

He saw RJ when she made the corner and looked directly at her and raised his coffee cup in a salute. She she knew she had been spotted so she decided to continue on instead of sneaking around the back.

 

“Hello Sergeant,” RJ said as she approached.

 

Callen straightened off of the car, “Good morning Detective.”

 

“Not a detective anymore Sergeant, I’m a civilian now.”

 

“Yeah, yeah. You know once a detective always and all that. Beside calling you a private dick would just be weird.”

 

RJ chuckled, “You waiting for me?”

 

Callen nodded while not meeting RJ’s eye instead looking up and down the street. “Yeah. Captain Murphy would like to see you down at Division.”

 

Captain Francis Ann Murphy was the only female Captain in the Division RJ had worked out of. When RJ had been there Murphy had been her lieutenant but had been promoted after the then captain, J Vickers, had been reassigned after the shooting, to the harbor district. A demotion if ever there was one.

 

Murphy was hard as nails, fair but strict, and didn’t care whether you were a man or a woman, just that you bled blue.

 

Callen poured the rest of his coffee onto the ground and crushed the paper cup and shoved it in his pocket. He stepped to the front passenger side of his patrol car and opened the door. “I’ll give you a ride and bring you back.”

 

 

At University...

 

Baker Dining Commons was the busiest of the four dining commons on campus, thanks to its central location. Despite its classification as a cafe, it set itself apart with high standards for service and food quality. The spacious dining area offered both privacy and conversation options with its tables and booths. The staff were attentive and the prices were much more affordable than fine dining restaurants in the city. 

 

Gwen sat at her regular table, eagerly waiting for Cassandra to arrive. She had already texted her friend to meet her here so she could tell her about everything that had happened last night- meeting the Silver Spider, encountering a strange Chinese gang, and all the other details. As she reached for her phone to send another message, Gwen spotted Cassandra walking in from the far entrance. She waved excitedly, but then gasped in shock as she saw Marc Holt following closely behind her friend. Unaware that Cassandra was heading towards Gwen's table, Marc waved back at her before he headed the same way.

[Shameless]

Marc looked at Gwen, thinking she was waving at him he decided to go sit with her, and quickly realized he probably wasn't who she'd been waving at as Cassandra sat down there first.   "Didn't expect to see you here, Gwen.  I hope I'm not intruding, I'll go if I need to. "

He shrugged and smiled.  "I should have known you weren't waving at me."

 

[Asarasa]

On the Southside...

 

RJ knew when a request wasn't a request. She liked Callen, he was one of the few who hadn't treated any differently from before the incident to after her recovery and dismissal from the force. But he wouldn't meet her eyes now. If this was more than serious though, he'd have opened the door to the back of the patrol car and told her to call her lawyer.

Could this be about my extracurricular activities? Would Michael cover for me, if it was? She didn't need to worry yet, but this wasn't the first time she had considered what she would do if she was found out.

"I'll be right with you, Callen," RJ said, looking up at the big man, then tilted her head towards her front door. "But I've been out all night. You mind if I get a few minutes to feed my cat then let him out?"

Callen frowned, then nodded, closing the passenger door with a sharp click. One couldn't leave a patrol car unsecured, and especially not in a neighborhood like Ashburn. "That's fine," he reluctantly agreed. "Just make it quick."

"I will." RJ could smell something coming off Callen. It wasn't quite anxiety or caution, but he was clearly uncomfortable.

RJ walked briskly to her front door, Callen following in her wake, thumbs looped in his belt. She opened the door, and left it open as she went in, Callen taking station to the side. RJ chatted to her cat, loud enough to let Callen know where she was in the small bungalow, at she changed Bastard's litter, then opened a can of wet food for him. He obligingly bit her wrist hard enough to draw blood from anyone else, batted his dish over, then started chomping down on the food. She gave him a glare, then made sure his water and kibble was full, cooing brightly for Callen's benefit.

Going to the back of the house, she glanced at her bedroom door, for a moment considering getting her handgun and shoulder rig from the gun safe before shaking her head. It would be a statement and an escalation, and for all that she was licensed, she was a civilian now.

"Okay, be good baby. Might be a while before mama is back," RJ said as she opened the backdoor for the thirty pound monster. Bastard ignored her as he sauntered pass, floofing his tail with a flick as he passed her.

She locked the door with a sharp click of the deadbolt, then walked back to Callen and locked the front door. She gave him a nod. "Let's go see Captain Murphy."

"Don't know how long it'll be," Callen admitted, meeting her eyes for the first time, if only briefly. "Might be you shouldn't let your cat out."

RJ smirked. "Bastard is thirty pounds of mean Maine Coon and assorted other breeds. He'll be fine."

Callen gave her a sidelong glance and nodded again. "Alright then."

He opened the passenger door to the patrol car for her again, but she waited to sit down at the same time Callen was sitting down behind to wheel to cover how much the vehicle shifted under their combined weight. As the patrol car quickly got up to speed, RJ wondered just why Captain Murphy wanted to see her.

[Nina]

The drive to the precinct was uncomfortable,Callen didn’t talk he just drove and RJ kept quiet and just watched the city slide by outside the car window.

 

The patrol car pulled up in front of the precinct and Callen parked in a space marked “P1.” RJ took a deep breath, feeling a sense of nostalgia mixed with apprehension as she stepped out of the vehicle. The familiar buzz of the precinct surrounded her, the sound of ringing phones and shuffling paperwork filling the air.

 

Callen led the way, his gait purposeful as he headed towards the captain's office. They passed by desks where officers were focused on their work, some shooting curious glances at RJ as she walked by. She kept her chin up, refusing to let the stares unsettle her.

 

Captain Murphy’s office door was closed when they arrived, but Callen knocked twice before opening it without waiting for a response. The captain was seated behind her desk, engrossed in a file laid out before her. She looked up as they entered, her expression unreadable.

 

“Sergeant Callen, thank you,” she said,”I will call you when it’s time to take her back.” Callen nodded gave RJ a look then left the office shutting hte door behind him.

Murphy studied RJ for a few seconds then gestured to a chair, “Sit down Vergas, I want to show you something.”

 

RJ sat and Murphy slid a laptop toward her across the desk and turned it where she could se the screen. On the screen a paused video could be seen. RJ recognized it as the intersection where the fight took place last night. Murphy stood and leaned acros and unpaused the video. “Watch it.”

 

The video played there was no sound but it showed pretty much the whole fight. Both her and Odette were clearly seen in the video although the picture was not close enough to id RJ’s face and hopefully the forensics lab wouldn’t be able to make it much clearer.

 

Murphy paused the video, closed the lid of the laptop and sat back down. “Well? Anything you want to tell me?”

 

 Murphy

[Nina]

Baker Dining Commons

 

Cassandra cut her gaze back and forth between Gwen and Marc, curiosity driving her, “Maybe I’m the one who should be going,” she smiled and held her hand out toward Marc, “I’m Cassandra.”

[Shameless]

After setting his food down he smiled and shook the proffered hand.  "Hi Cassandra, I'm Marc."  he chuckled looking at Gwen.  "To answer that question, no, Gwen and I are just friends and sometimes lab partners when we have classes together."

[Asarasa]

CPD Precinct #13

 

RJ leaned forward, watching the video with avid interest. She'd gotten used to seeing her younger, more symmetrical, sharper cheek-boned face in the mirror, but this was the first time she'd seen herself in action. The only reason she recognized herself was because she'd been there. The improbably fit and gorgeous young woman in the little black dress moved too fast, hit too hard. Bending the shotgun in half with her hands might have been a little too... ostentatious, but she couldn't help but feel a sense of fierce satisfaction at how easily she and Odette had dominated the erstwhile robbers.

Murphy reclaimed the laptop and RJ sat back in the chair, watching her former captain with a bland expression. RJ could hear someone outside the office question Callen about her outside, and Callen responding with noncommittal grunts, someone cursing in the drunk tank. The smell of old coffee was sunk deep into the open pen. A subtle sniff, but RJ couldn't get anything off Murphy, no fear, no anticipation.

She had to bite back a challenging smirk as an instinctual aggression rose up in her. She could be on the other side of the desk before Murphy blinked, one hand around her throat and the other crushing her jaw before she could make a sound. RJ let out a long breath, suppressing the urge. This wasn't the first time she had considered what she would do if she was caught in her extra-curricular activities, and it wouldn't be the last. That said, unless there was another angle Murphy hadn't shown her, the video didn't positively identify her. Further, even if it did, there was the argument that it was self-defence and/or possibly a citizen's arrest.

No need to admit anything. Yet. Hope Michael disposed of the remains of my dress... 

"Looks like the first on scene had an easy cleanup," RJ drawled. "Guess Mr. Invincible might not be the only Meta in Chicago, nowadays."