Robbery Gone Right

June 18, 2015:

A bank robbery unfolds, and heroes arise to confront it. Somehow, even though all of the robbers are caught, a bad guy gets away with something. Life can be so unfair sometimes.

Unnamed bank in Greenwich Village

Greenwich Village - New York City

Known simply as The Village by residents and locals, this is a mostly upper middle class neighborhood bounded Broadway, the Hudson, Housten Street and 14th Street. It has, throughout history, been very much a center of innovation and ideas - from the bohemian movement to counterculture movement of the 60's to the LBGT movement of today. It has a very college town feel to it, which makes sense because several universities have facilities within the district. The mix of academics, students and residents is somewhat unique in New York and lends itself to a slightly smaller town feel in the Big Apple.

Characters

NPCs: Various bank patrons, Various bank employees, Various unnamed bank robbers

Mentions:

Mood Music: None.


Fade In…

A quiet, quite warm late Spring day in the Village is a pretty good time to head out with a friend and enjoy the weather, the scenery, the ambience, good coffee, and good conversation. Carol Danvers is in New York City because, well, it's where she spends about half of her time. True, she works in Metropolis, but she flies as fast as a fighter jet, so ehs'e not shy about spreading her time. And she's always available by phone, so what's the big deal?

In this case, said quality time is being spent with her best friend, Jess. They're at an outdoor table of a small cafe, sipping high-end overpriced coffee and contemplating overpriced, outrageously caloric snackfoods, because it's mid-afternoon and that's when one does such things. Carol is dressed down, right now, casually sporting a heather grey USAF polo shirt with the logo on the pocket, and a pair of comfortable blue denim jeans, white cross-trainers with blue accents and laces on her feet. Her blonde hair is pulled back in a ponytail to keep the whipping breezes of the concrete canyons of Manhattan from making her eat hair instead of snacks.

"Anyway, first test flights went pretty well. Then we lit off the new engine, and the sky filled up with alien craft just about faster than I could sneeze. They didn't cause any trouble, except some panic. But I shut the engines down and dropped the nose back into atmosphere and headed home. Apparently, this new engine type sends out energy waves that the whole damned galactic community picks up and considers 'interesting' on the level of 'investigate now'. So that's on hold for a bit." Carol explains to Jess as they lounge comfortably.

Across the street from the cafe is a small bank. Or rather, the public-access area of the bank is small. But it's actually one of the older banks in the City, with a pretty massive vault underground that spreads out beneath some of the structures to either side. Structures the bank owns, and leases out to others. There doesn't seem to be anything untoward going on.

But this is a comic book. Anyone want to guess how long that 'nothing going on' is going to last?


Ben Reilly likewise works in Metropolis but finds himself spending a lot of time in his home city, or well, Pete's home city of New York. It isn't exactly his.

A half-twist in the air and a webshot sails past one leg only to connect to the end of a flagpost, he'll use this to sweep himself around the building and change course.

At least today the Scarlet Spider has a valid excuse to be in NYC, having returned a clients newly repaired BMW 328i, lower engine oil leaks. Common problem with that model and of course his boss overcharged, this helped Ben feel better about taking the trip from Metro to NYC, plus it gives him some hangtime on the way back. No way in heck he is using the public transit system. Especially not when he has webshooters! At this point in time he is crossing through the NYC above street level a couple blocks away from the small bank and the two 'off-duty' heroines.


Sometimes, Jason Todd pretends to be a 'normal' person…for whatever that's worth. On a day like today, it means walking about New York City like some trendy sort of hipster that many his age are. Even if he were to wear plaid and grow a bushy beard, he could never really be considered a 'hipster'. There's just something about him that just wouldn't let him fit in with that style…and he's all right with that.

It could mean that he sticks out amongst so many other hipsters in the Village, but this is New York, baby. Every sort lives here. There's probably every sort at this cafe, even, which makes it a great place to people-watch. He's taken a seat at one of the outside tables as well, a half-eaten sandwich beside him as he nurses a large cup of tea. Blue eyes seem to flick between the two women chatting and something across the street…as if he's waiting for something.


Sitting across from Carol, Jess is dressed down herself, a pair of red and black no-heel boots, black leggings pulled up to her knee, and a loose blue dress that only barely qualifies as a 'dress' and is the sort of thing you pull off a rack at Old Navy. Slung over the back of her chair is her purse, or rather, her jacket bundled up to function as her purse. A pair of red-framed and yellow-lenses glasses perch atop her head, contrasting the black of her hair, which is left loose and the frequent breeze has her tugging locks back behind an ear.

Picking at a suger-laden muffin, the dark-haired woman listens to her friend's story and then her brows arch up a bit in surprise, "Wow, really? Well, good thing none of them decided to be aggressive…" Jess trails off, pausing there as she considers and then adds, "If the engine is giving off energy waves that draw that sort of attention, is the thing -safe-?" A small grin curves red-painted lips as she continues, "Not that an explosion is enough to do more than singe your hair a bit, but it does sound dangerous, Carol."

Trading muffin for coffee, she takes a sip and remarks, "I just got back from France the other night. Went with Steve. I imagine you can guess what that was about? It proved pretty fruitful. He's getting the ducks in a line for the next step, which, based on what we learned, I think is the last step." An idle glance away from her buddy causes Jess to note Scarlet Spider swinging along, not that he's close enough for her to notice much beyond a person swinging along in the sky. She points him out to Carol with a wave of her free hand, "Think he's headed anywhere fun?"


Carol's responses are textbook Carol Danvers fare, as expected. "Safe? Honestly, it's awesome. I get a real charge out of it." By which Carol is being quite literal; the energy waves coming off that engine power her up, and she loves the rush. "I don't think it's really safe for other pilots right now, so we're looking at what can be done to alleviate that. That's part of the downtime."

Regarding Steve, Carol's blonde eyebrows raise. "Hey, if you guys are ready to move to a final phase, there, you know I want in, right?" she inquires, making sure her best friend knows she has every intention of being involved. That she was off-planet when everything went pear-shaped around here has really bugged her of late. But she can only be in so many places at once; no energy clones for her. So far.

Glancing up at Scarlet Spider at Jess' urging, Carol purses her lips. "Mmm. Could be. Or he could be out joy-swinging." It's not as if she doesn't go joy-flying quite a bit, so she'd understand the impulse.

The first hints that something isn't right may vary. For Captain Marvel, it's probably the electromagnetic spike that goes off just before things start to unfold physically. For Scarlet Spider, it is likely to be a flare of Spider Sense jangling with a hint towards the bank's third floor balcony, as someone comes through the doors and stumbles against the wrought iron railing, teetering towars a fall. But for the rest of the public, it's thirty seconds later, as a van comes careening around the turn and races hog-wild towards the front of that bank, tires screeching and frame lurching at the sudden deceleration before its door is shoved open and a quartet of folks rush out and through the bank's front door.

At the flare of energy, Carol's eyes go wide and her head snaps around to look at the bank. She's just pushing her chair back, staring intently as the words, "Jess, I think …" come out of her mouth when the van comes around the corner. "No time, got to go!" she shouts, a flare of golden light traveling from the crown of her head down to her toes replacing her civilian attire with Captain Marvel's uniform. Then she launches herself towards the van with intent.


Mid-air redirect inspired by his Spidey-Senses has the Scarlet Spider pinwheeling through the air only to descend rapidly and land with a loud thud on the top of a parked bus. A dent… oops! Speaking about public transit he may have to ride a couple times not just to make up for that.

Sigh.

A lunge and his webshooters aim towards the van itself.

Splut. Splut."Oh crud. What timing… " Reloading a cartridge! Crouching there Scarlet Spider mumbles to himself, "Just a moment! Don't worry citizens… how embarassing."


There's a glance at a rather expensive watch on his wrist before Jason takes another sip from his mug of tea. His eyes flick to the spider-man-type nearby as well as the women indicating him. Looking back at his watch, blue eyes narrow but his head jerks up as the van comes screeching to a halt outside the bank.

There's a heavy sigh as four people burst out of the front door and the spider-guy and one of the women are off towards them.

This is really not going as planned.

His drink is finished, the half-eaten sandwich left along with a few bills for a tip before he's also making his way towards the bank, only at a more leisurely pace. Only when he disappears behind a car does the hood go on, completely covering his head.


"Didn't you say that the company you were doing the piloting for doesn't, you know…know, about you?" Jess wonders idly in her faint accent that is reminiscent of some twisting of British and European. She twists her head to look back at her blonde companion after watching Scarlet Spider for a few seconds. On the matter of things related to her recent work with Cap, Spider-Woman bobs her head in a nod to Carol, "Of course I know that. I mean, not my horse though. Fury and Steve have that in hand, and I'm sure they'll have who they want, when it's time to finish it."

When things start to Go Down, Jess of course doesn't really have any idea, well not until Carol's eyes go wide like she got slapped. Spider-Woman's green eyes follow her friend's gaze to the bank, and she's slipping to her feet just a couple heartbeats after the other woman.

"What is—" Jessica Drew starts, before being cut off by the blonde's shout and shift into costume. Oh, boy. Of course, in all this, Jason goes completely unnoticed.

As Captain Marvel is already moving for the van, Jess takes the couple seconds needed to yank down her leggings, yank up the stetchy tops of her odd boots, and unravel her jacket, slipping it on and depositing anything it'd been carrying into the zippered pockets. Running after Carol, towards the van and the bank, Spider-Woman tugs down her red-framed glasses. "What's got you jumping! Robbery, or something else," she calls behind the costumed blonde.


"Not sure. Third floor." is all that comes out of Captain Marvel as she pulls up right at the van, actually /waiting/ the thirty seconds or so for Spider-Woman to catch up. Once she does, though? The blonde-haired heroine puts her hands around Jessica's waist and twists, shouting, " Alleyyyyoup!" as she hurls her friend towards the third story balcony, trusting in Jessica's agility and wall-crawlingness to make that something other than attempted murder.

It may seem crazy, but Captain Marvel is taking her time. She couldn't get to the van before it disgorged its armed intruders, so bursting right in on them was asking for a gunfight with possible civilians in the way. Now that they're inside, her first action after tossing Jess into the air is to fly up and then come back down, driving both of her booted feet down through the engine block of the van, quite destructively. Then she waves at the poor bastard trapped in the warped metal cab. "Bad luck for you, bub. You pull that gun, you eat it stock first. Clear?"

Hey, how is Carol to know this isn't their getaway vehicle?

Inside the bank, some muffled shouting and screaming can be heard. No gunfire. But there is a loud, hollow 'THOOOM!' sound that comes out of those open third story balcony windows, and sparks fly from the power junction boxes at the back of the building.

Anyone who gets to the open balcony has a civilian in a suit about ready to tip over and fall. Through the open doors is a very upscale office, its computers and electronics currently spitting sparks and letting out plastic-smelling smoke. And one of the paintings on the wall is askew.

At the front doors, the louvers are being shut to block out visuals, and someone is fighting with getting a lock bar pinned through the spinning entry door and into the floor to keep it from opening.


"Oh hey! Captain Marvel, right!?" Scarlet Spider shouts upon looking up now with the web cartridges fully replaced. No time to slow and chit-chat, wait, who is he kidding, he can always chit chat. It is like an extra power. He won't make it in time to the civilian but that doesn't mean he can't manage something else.

Rapidly his hands begin to weave and flick through the air, shots of web being launched this way and that as he soon spins a web to collect fallen debris and (possibly people) at the base of the building. Can't have people street side getting taken out.

Who else is here? Spider-Woman was thrown? Awesome. Always a team player and eager he can't help but envy their co-op mode. It is not often he gets to play with others himself, well, unless you count last night in M-Town with the X-Men sorts, Snowcone, Lady Devil Pirate and Mental Lad.

Spidey-senses still on full alert and going nuts he knuckles down and tries to hurry his web-net along. Next maybe he'll get to punch someone! Nothing beats coffee in the morning like smashing a hooligans face. Ben has yet to see Jason Todd.


They are NOT following the plan. It's all the Red Hood can to do not let his head fall into the palm of a hand as he makes his way towards the back of the building and slipping into hiding there. It's surely not going to take very long for the heroes to burst in…he did see Captain Marvel throw the other woman, so it's only a matter of time.

This is what happens when you use people you don't know. So much for their tryouts.


"What about the thir—," Jess starts to ask before Captain Marvel, who is a whole hell of a lot stronger than her friend Spider-Woman, grabs her by the waist and chucks her towards the third floor balcony. The ease with which the dark-haired woman manages to twist her body in the air and catch the balcony railing to help her land lightly, probably betrays the fact that she's pretty used to Carol throwing her places.

The crunch of Carol stomping through the van's engine is ignored as Jess pulls herself up and over the balcony ledge, where she's met by that loud sound and a civilian. The latter of which, she quickly reaches out a hand for, steadying the man, "Hey!" And then her voice drops a bit, "Watch it, or you're gonna have an unpleasant trip. You work here? Stay here for now, you're safe."

Looking back towards the street, she spies Scarlet Spider swinging closer and lifts an arm over her head, waving it in an attempt to catch his attention. Then she points at the civilian before turning to move into the office, where it appears all the tech is fried.


The web net is completed, which should manage to save anyone falling from that balcony, which could - maybe - even include poor Spider-Woman. Just not right this second. The shaky older man in the now-rumpled business suit eyes Jessica, a bit goggle-eyed himself at the moment, and then he nods jerkily in response to the question. Yep, he works here. Stay here? The man quite literally sits down on the balcony, best to avoid any unpleasantness to follow. Now, if only he could finds his voice to scream. This is crazy!

The tech in the office does indeed seem to be fried. Whatever did that must have been what Captain Marvel sensed. Right? But what is the smoke leaking out of a crack in the walnut paneling of the wall upon which that haphazardly-titled picture frame rests? Weird, right?

Since no one else manages to hit the front door, Captain Marvel floats up out of the mess she made of that van, and then she approaches herself, pounding on the metal frame to set up a nice racket. "Alright, boys and girls. This ain't Avon calling. So you'd all best just lay down the party favors and come out friendly. Otherwise, I'm coming in. Count of ten." And then she starts counting down. All business, though she does wave to the male Spider on site, supportively. Let's get it done, folks!


A wave is given to Spider-Woman along with a thumbs up. What the hell is that supposed to mean, right? Right. Plummeting person caught by net. He has faith in his masterpiece of web-design. A second nod and a wave is given to Captain Marvel also. "Aw, I'm about to blush." Scarlet Spider quips while striding forward to stand near Carol, well, close ish as she floats there all impressive.

"YEAH! What she said!" It sounded better in his head and now that its out of him he feels a bit self conscious and has to turn around, waving any possible forming crowds back. Which includes slinging up some barriers. "For your own safety people. Just stay back and let the professionals handle this."


There's only a moment's thought before Red Hood pulls a grapple gun from a pocket in his jacket and shoots it at the top of the building. He then uses the line to hoist himself up to the balcony on the third floor where the explosion came from. He offers a nod to Spider-Woman even as he quickly goes to pass through the door, his voice calling, "Hey, you got up here? I'm going to make sure no one's hurt on the second floor."

Because heroes are helpful like that, right?

He seems very intent on that particular mission as he goes directly to the stairwell.


Civilian safe, unless the building blows up. Or well unless Jess winds up in a super-powered fight in this office, maybe. Either way, the man on the balcony is out of her mind as she focuses on the office.

Private Investigator and Espionage powers GO! A look around the office pretty quickly leads Jess to the smoke-leaking crack near the crooked picture. Red-and-black gloved fingers start searching along the crack, looking for something to pry open.

And then there's somebody walking in from the balcony. —And not the guy she left out there. Green eyes flick to the hooded man, a brow arching upwards a bit skeptically, "Yeah, I'm good up here. Give a shout if you have trouble." No idea who that is. But, Carol probably saw him come up, so it must be fine.


"Spidey, I need that back of the neck tingle of yours. Be ready to go in." Captain Marvel comments as a soft aside to the wall-crawler near her own position. Whoops. This isn't Spider-Man? Damn. She'll apologize later. Assuming there is a later.

"Back off, you damn heroes, or somebody in here gets it!" comes the shout from inside the bank in response to Captain Marvel's declaration. Which, honestly, is the wrong thing to say to a hero. It's the one thing guaranteed to make 'em see red.

Which is when Carol decides that a little property destruction is in order. No more warnings. No discussion. She just launches herself right through the reinforced polymer 'glass' of the front doors and into the bank. She takes the hits as guns are fired upon her; she's bulletproof, after all. Instead, she just aims herself right at the only fool actually aiming a weapon at a civilian, fists glowing as she unleashes photonic blasts at his head. Yes. Multiple blasts. One guy's head. He made her mad.

Apparently, Carol is trusting Scarlet Spider to come in behind her and bat clean-up on the rest of the robbers.

On the third floor in the President's office, Spider-Woman manages to get the catch to pop - stronger than normal, she is - and opens the secreted panel, behind which is an empty elevator shaft. The smoke leaking out is coming from the electronics and hydraulics controlling said elevator. The shaft, by the way, appears to go down a lot further than merely the ground floor.

Wandering through the door to the hallway, Red Hood can see the receptionist's office, now empty - the receptionist would be the one huddled on the balcony right now, the President the one caught in the webbing outside. Beyond then is the hallway, other offices fronting on it, marble stairs leading down to the second floor, and then down to the rear parts of the first floor. A few people are poking heads out of their offices, but most are staying huddled and hidden. Safety first!


"Not a problem!" Not Spidey but the reflexive answer is there. Scarlet Spider is after all a carbon copy and his memories to a point are still Pete's. Danvers may or may not be in them. He'll sift through what comes up later right now its all instinct.

As the woman goes wrecking ball through the front he leaps in after right through the hole she created. A stinger launches out followed by another to tag robbers that are visible. Thats two. They will release a jolt to K.O. what they hit.

Scarlet Spider isn't quite bullet proof himself so ends up in a wild acrobatic dance behind and around Captain Marvel using her as cover. She is built for it after all. Criminals left and right are felled with kicks, punches and well-timed leap attacks in the process. He targets weapons first then the dismantling. Can't have the bystanders and innocents taking unfriendly fire.

"You guys picked the wrong day to try and be Clooneys."


Red Hood is at the rear stairs when he hears the sound of the property destruction. There's a pause before he practically parkours down the stairs towards the Safety Deposit Vault. Finding the cage door lock, he just tilts his head and fires at the lock until it's destroyed enough to open.

Bursting through the door with two guns a-blazing at those there, he scowls, "Idiots.," comes through the mask. "All of you. Can't even follow simple instructions." His guns each go off one more time, the shots aimed at each of the criminal's foreheads.

Leaving the newly-made corpses there, he steps over to one safety deposit box in particular. If the keys are around, he'll open it that way…if not, he'll pick it before scooping up what is inside and tucking it into an inner pocket of his jacket.

Now, which is the most direct way out?


Is that gunshots downstairs? Yeah, those're gunshots. Jess knows her friend is alright of course, and most likely everybody else is, as well. While those thoughts flicker around through her head, Spider-Woman is prying open the secret panel and peering down the empty elevator shaft. "Well. No sense staying up here…"

Jumping into the elevator shaft, Jess' wraps gloved hands around the thick metal cable in the center of the space. Pressing her feet against it as well, she lets herself slide down at a controlled pace until noticing a reason to stop.


Spider-Woman is in a perfect position - relatively speaking - to hear some very different gunshots ring out, along with some falling and clanging. The shots seem to come from not far away from the bottom of the elevator shaft she's careening down. At the bottom is the elevator car; easy enough to pop the ceiling door and drop down, finding the doors jammed open with a trash can.

Just across from those elevator doors is an open vault door easily eight feet around, currently swung wide open. Inside is an array of safety deposit boxes, quite a few having been yanked out of their slots and strewn over the floor, their contents being gathered into a pair of large duffle bags, currently lying on the floor. Also on the floor? Two men, masks on but wearing business suits. With bullet holes in their skulls. Whoops.

Jess might also notice footsteps running up a set of stairs that is off to the left of the elevator (or to the right if she's in the vault).

Inside the bank's public space, Captain Marvel lands astride the gentleman - term used loosely - she photon-blasted into unconsciousness. She turns to the woman beside him and smiles winningly. "Sorry about that. You alright?"

Scarlet Spider thwips and spins and leaps and thwips and … well. OK. Enough of that, the writer is getting motion-sick. Suffice to say, with the opening Captain Marvel made, and his own care, he is able to neutralize those of the goons that Captain Marvel herself doesn't take down. Which means that there are now five unconscious masked robber types in here, and a whole mess of civilians.

"Everyone, please remain inside. Move to the back of the room. The police will want to talk with each of you before this is all over." Captain Marvel offers. Of course, she's going to need to figure out how to get them here, since apparently all the electronics in here are fried, and she's betting the alarm is dead and so are the phones. Damn. Awfully well thought-out, that, compared to this rather reckless entry.

Wonder what's going on?


Scarlet Spider's impact webbing is distributed to the unconscious individuals one by one until he is snatching up their guns and breaking them in half. Sorry coppers. They can still be evidence even when in pieces.

"Ah, pain senses tingling. I think someone winged me." A quick circle and glancing around at his body he finds a hole in his hoodie and shoves a finger through it. "Yep, gooey."

Looking over at Captain Marvel then upstairs and back again, "Should we back up Spider-Woman? You guys got coms? Also how are you on dating co-heroes? And we might be okay. Not getting any early warning alerts just yet." Barrage of questions and his mouth is still opening to fire out some more.


Someone's coming down the elevator shaft. Guess that way is blocked. Grabbing one of the explosives from the robbers in the vault, he quickly moves over to the stairs, closing the door quietly behind him as he makes his way towards the locked back door. He's not really interested in tussling with superheroes, especially with all of the civillians around - this has nothing to do with them.

He actually keeps climbing until he's back up on the third floor with the balcony. Unless it's been removed, his grapple line is still there and he will happily use it to get back down to the ground.

Before he goes, however, Red Hood skids to a stop next to the President caught in the webbing. Tilting his head, he offers, "Sorry for the damage. I'm sure your insurance will cover it," before he grabs onto his grapple line and slides down the back of the building once more.


Opening the ceiling hatch of the elevator, Jess nimbly slips through and lands lightly on her feet. Jumping lithely over the trash can, opting to not remove it because it'd make noise, Spider-Woman lands in a crouch. Green eyes peering straight ahead, she notes the bodies on the floor in the vault and the quickly spreading bloodpools. Well, that explains the gunshots she heard on the way down the elevator shaft.

There's a couple second pause between taking note of the footsteps and deciding to follow them, since there doesn't look like there's anything she can do down here. Springing into motion, the heroine pads in the direction of the door to the stairs, pushing it open and peering upwards. Grrreat. Back up we go. And no telling what floor those footsteps stopped at. Jess herself stops at the first floor, shoving the door open and moving no farther while shouting really loudly, "Captain Marvel! Basement is clear. Two dead down there. Not sure where the killer disappeared to. Roof maybe!" Hopefully whereever Carol is, she heard that. How's that for coms? Jess however turns back towards the stairs, letting the door to the stairwell close again.


The civilians in the bank heed the strongly-worded suggestions and move away from the downed - now webbed - robbers, awaiting the authorities. Captain Marvel sweeps her gaze over them, looking for anyone injured as she contemplates how to get help to the scene.

"Little busy to be looking for dates right now." Captain Marvel comments to Scarlet Spider. "Any comms Spider-Woman and I had are fried thanks to the EMPs that were used, same as the phones and the alarms in here." Carol is about to direct the Spider up to check on Jess, when she hears her friend yelling from the top of the stairs in the back. "Crap. Can you go after her? Jump that rail. There must be stairs back there somewhere."

The stairs Jessica just climbed lead to the ground floor and a shot-out cage door. Down a hall, around a bend, and she can find the large marble stairs that lead up through the office sections of the building, and back to the third floor. And nothing. Though she may notice that the grapple from the red-hooded 'hero' who entered after she did is now gone. And the President's secretary is looking over the railing now at something or someone.


"Busy, oh this crime fighting stuff? Yeah I suppose. I mean, our line of work and all, hey wait.. is this about the webshooter thing out front? I swear that is the first time thats happened to me." Scarlet Spider is already jumping the rail and scrambling up the stairs beyond, a yell of, "Well always have Paris!" Can be heard fired back at Captain Marvel before he is ascending.

Dead bodies bypassed and Spider-Woman the secrtary are joined. "Hey, we all clear? Whats the haps, peeps?" As clown-around as Ben comes off he is still serious in action. Anyone familiar with Spider-Man (Peter) would be quite used to this.


The figure in the red mask is gone…with whatever it was he took from that lone safety deposit box. No doubt there is quite the crowd out front wanting to know what happened and wanting to see a superhero in person!

Yes, quite the crowd.


After her pointless trip from the basement back to the third floor, Jess plants her hands on her hips and stares around the office she came in through with a frown. Which is how Scarlet Spider finds her. She looks to him, "Hey, Spidey." She arches a brow after greeting him, eyeing his costume a moment before shrugging and asking, "You and Carol handle everything downstairs? I didn't manage to find anything." She waves a hand at the now open hidden elevator shaft, "Found that. Went down it." Jess pauses abruptly, frown returning, "Hey, did you guys see anybody come downstairs with a hood on? Somebody came in from the balcony a few seconds after me…"

Shaking her head, she looks to man who'd originally been left on the balcony, "Everything's in hand now, sir. The cops will be here….sometime. The EMP put a wrench in contacting them, but shouldn't be long." A pause, and she continues, "Two dead men in the basement were wearing business suits, but had on masks. Maybe they were employees? Either involved, or somebody wants to make it seem like they were." To the male Spider, she asks, "What'd the guys downstairs have on? Suits too? Maybe they're just all fashionable bank robbers." The last bit is added in a dry tone.


"Hey, Lady Spidey." Scarlet Spider replies while still profiling the scene, "This is uggo. Just way off… " A headshake, "No no one with a hood and didn't see any bodies come downstairs, just yeah, suits. Lotsa suits."

A noise escapes him like he is clearing his throat while looking at the second woman up here, "Maybe question her. I'll look around outside and distract the the crowds maybe buy you and Marvel some time." A pause at the opening as he follows the grapple line visibly, "And it is nice working with you again." Again? Slip up maybe or he is just being odd or a case of mistaken identity.

THWIP

Scarlet Spider is off and on the hunt for the mysterious Red Hood.


Eventually, the sounds of sirens can be heard. Someone outside managed to get to a phone that hadn't been murdered by the EMP, apparently, and help is on the way. Meanwhile, the male secretary on the balcony looks to the two spiders - one male, one female - and blanches a bit. "I hope they weren't employees. Someone came up the stairs and pushed past me, threatening the President of the Bank. I did what I could, but they just backhanded me. I'm no security guard, I'm afraid, and I have no idea where they came from before they showed up at my door. There were two men, wearing jumpsuits and masks."

Searching downstairs, jumpsuits can be found in the duffle bags, stripped off to reveal the suits. Clearly, some part of their plan was to blend in with the civilian in the bank at some point. That is, before someone capped them. Wonder who that was? The EMPs knocked out surveillance, alarms and communications in very short order. Very professional. But the burst in on the ground floor was one step up from amateur hour. It's a mystery.

Once the cops arrive, Captain Marvel will make her way up to the third floor to check on Jessica … and find the rest of the mystery. "OK. This is just weird."


Rubbing at her cheek after her chat with the secretary, Jess looks to Carol and offers a small smile, "Yeah, it's a little weird. Everything went alright downstairs?" Her hand drops and she grimaces as she adds, "I think I slipped up. Somebody came in from the balcony a few seconds after I did, I figured he was just some costume I hadn't met yet, and sent him downstairs." Blowing out a frustrated puff of breath, she continues, "Spidey said he didn't see anyone come downstairs with a hood up, though. And..I just barely missed whoever killed the two in the vault."


Carol frowns, and walks over to slide an arm around Jessica's waist, hugging her. "Dangit. Sorry. No, no one with a hood downstairs. Just Spidey and I coming in the front door, and foor armed goons. All captured, none lethally, no innocent bystanders hurt." Annoyed, the blonde heroine makes a face. "So, someone came in after you, made their way downstairs /fast/, and managed to take out the two downstairs, then get back up and out. Sounds like we had three groups, here, all in on the planning. But this last guy decided to cut out the extras. And we have no surveillance to pin him down. The cops are going to love us on this one."


"This was definitely very well thought out, by somebody," Jess mutters as the blonde hugs her, leaning into the woman for a brief momant before drawing back, with a faint smile, and a roll of her eyes as she remarks, "The cops can't be too pissy. Nobody got hurt but the criminals. Might not have it all bundled up nice and neat for them, but we stopped anybody from getting hurt, and caught half the crew." Glancing idly at the elevator shaft, she hmm's to herself. "Well, one small question to ask is how the guy got on the balcony." Green eyes flick to the secretary again, "Did you notice? Might be a clue towards his identity."


The male secretary looks to Spider-Woman, and manages to unswallow his tongue. "He — he came up on one of those climbing line things. It was attached to the railing, there." He points it out. "He climbed up, swung over, and walked right past me. Then he came out, just a minute before you did, jumped over and slid down. Then disappeared into the crowd. I was watching, carefully. Wondering. But he just … vanished. It was creepy."

Captain Marvel listens, and makes a face again. "Great. Disappearing hooded villains who kill criminals. So wonderful."


"Well, not much of a super, if he had to climb up on a rope," Jess muses after listening to the man and thanking him for his help. She looks to Carol and nods, "Well, he'll pop up again, I'm sure. They always do, sooner or later." Making a face, Spider-Woman looses a sigh, then curls an arm around her blonde bff's waist and asks, "Did you already handle the whole 'talking to the cops' bit, or do we need to head down and do that?"


"I started. I'll give them another round before I head out. Let's leave by the stairs, so they can get their pound of flesh and answers. Hey. Thanks for coming in. Can't be two places at once, without a partner." And there's no on on Earth Carol trusts more than Jessica. "Let's go."

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