November 14, 2015:
While searching for the Purifiers, Wanda stumbled on an old enemy and possibly makes a new friend.
Lower Manhattan
Characters
NPCs: None.
Mentions:
Plot:
Mood Music: None.
Fade In…
Late afternoon on a chilly Saturday so what better time to go looking for trouble? At least the trouble that bothered another member of X-Red the day before and almost killed her. That has Wanda rather irate. Dressed in her X-Red uniform - which is little more than coat and jeans (it's on her wiki) - she is currently sitting on the edge of an apartment building surveying the people below. "They could be any of them" she says to no one in particular before nodding to an unheard answer. "I could but that might hurt the innocents. Do you think there are still innocents?"
Cindy Moon would push a stray bang back behind an ear, her eyes darting about on the street below before she sighed and tilted her head back. Naturally, she was on an entirely different edge of an apartment building, most likely a block down from Wanda and her little observation point. Now, she was on the lookout for trouble herself, though far more of the 'petty crime' variety, it'd been a long morning at work and knew there was some small amount of irony in cooling off by looking for a little tussle, but well, it was cathartic! Honest! She's not… Well, weird or anything.
This was really weird wasn't it?
She would brush off the thought with a little grumble, some color coming to her cheeks as she closed her eyes and tried to focus on her senses. I mean, come on, this was New York. She had to find *something*.
"I guess we keep looking then" Wanda notes to her invisible friend before leaping from the rooftop and slowly lowering herself to ground, scarlet energy glowing around her before disappearing when feet touch the pavement. "Someone must have seen that" she whispers under her breath before striding out onto the main street. Her big blue eyes darting around, hoping to see something obvious…and evil would be nice too. She nods to unheard words. "I know. We're being watched…but I don't think it is intentional."
There is a rumbling sound underneath the road and then the ground starts to shake. Wanda grabs hold of a lamp post before peering around. "Do we get earthquakes in New York?" The surface of the road starts to crack open.
Cindy Moon caught sight of the woman, her eyes wandering for a moment as a familiar itch ran down her spine. She wasn't sure *why* she was watching her so intently, just a small voice telling her to keep her eyes open. She would follow intently for a moment before stifling a yawn and crossing her legs one over the other as she sits up a little taller. Figures, the one quiet night in this borough is the one night where she was looking for a little something! Well, a certain kind of something, and the woman in red wasn't that kind of something! (It's the spider senses, she swears!)
Aaaaand, then, just when she had resigned herself to Netflix (which was new and amazing to her, naturally) and a carton of ice cream, things started shaking, the woman catching herself in a bear moment and hugging against the ledge of the apartment as the building tremors with the shaking ground. Now, she wasn't afraid of falling, but she's a little concerned with the street splitting open like that!
Wanda starts mumbling to herself…as she often does…but this time the words are ancient and powerful. Scarlet chaos energy building around her fingers as they twitch and spasm.
BOOM!!!
The street erupts in a fountain of stone, tar and earth. The sound so deafening that the fleeing people have to cover their ears. A huge chasm appears. Broken water pipes gushing their contents into the air - hopefully it is not a sewerage pipe. And then there is the scraping of metal upon metal. The whirring of gears. A giant metal hook emerges from the darkness and latches onto the edge of the hole.
Cindy Moon cringes, crap-crap-Crap! Something comes to mind about being careful what you wish for etc etc, but well- that doesn't seem to cover just how /crap/ this was. She would squeeze herself up against the wall as her eyes narrowed and head tilted left and right, well- She didn't exactly have a choice at this point now did she? She would take one final breath before pushing off the wall, springing from it with one kick and diving down towards the road. She would twist and turn in cat like fashion before slinging a thread of webbing above her, using the silk to slow her descent as she drops to the ground several yards from the claw and hits a combat stance. Here we go!
Though, her fierce look is quite suddenly caught by Wanda, the spider pausing for a moment and flashing a confused look at the other woman when she catches sight of the red energy.
So it WASN'T just because she is pretty.
She… is really not sure if she should be happy about this development or not.
Wanda stares at the new arrival before looking up to try and figure out where she came from. "Hi" she finally offers softly before nodding at the hook. "You should probably move back a bit" she notes, pushing away from the post to take up a combat position not so close as Cindy. "My name is Wanda" she introduces, eyes still on the hook…which is now two hooks. They are starting to give the impression of fingers getting a grip now.
There is a loud screeching of metal as a third and fourth hook grab the rim of the abyss…this time the opposite side of the first two. Something is heaving its way upwards. Something metal. Something heavy. The top of a shining metal globe appears, rising up from the depths.
Cindy Moon is more than happy to take the suggestion, Cindy flashing an awkward look as she springs to her right, moving with no small amount of speed to put that distance between herself and Captain Hook. "You seem a little nonchalant!" She calls out, the red scarfed woman putting her back to a wall and locking her eyes on the growing abyss, her fingers twitching and moving in tight circles as she begins to weave webs around them in a claw like fashion, she was taking advice but there was no way she was going to sit this out!
"I uh… I'm Cindy." She replies, sounding appropriately weirded out by the introductions! Superheroes were weird. The kettle thinks about the pot. "… I can't help but think I've seen this somewhere…" She mumbles as the globe rises up, her hands coming up defensively as she awaits *whatever* horrible thing it was going to attempt to inflect on them.
"Would you prefer if I panicked?" Wanda smiles in reply to Cindy…and that smile does look a little 'crazy'. "Hello, Cindy. It is nice to mee…" Another loud scraping of metal interrupts Wanda and she scowls at the behemoth as if it should remember its manners.
The globe rises higher and higher until the 'legs' that link it to the claws can be seen. Around the center of the sphere is a rotating band with numerous barrels protruding outwards - gun barrels. Gun barrels that suddenly start spitting out death and destruction in a three hundred and sixty degree arc.
Wanda flings her hands upward and a wall of scarlet protects her and Cindy from the onslaught of metal. The bullets turning into rose petals as they pass through the barrier, floating lazily to the ground. "Are you like Spider-man?"
Cindy Moon blinks blankly at that crazed smile, yep, yep, they're *all* like this. But, well, the thought is caught as she cringes some herself, a hand going to her right ear as she hisses under her breath. "I'm starting to get annoyed with the metal robots." She grumbles to herself, always the worst of sounds really. Though, she was suitably impressed with just how large this thing was, one doesn't expect giant robots to really exist, let alone be genuinely *giant*. "Yeah! You to-" She starts herself, pushing off to the right as if to dodge the incoming fire, only to be caught with an empty expression as the bullets turn to flowers like she were caught in a particularly sixties acid trip. Really, she just kind of flipped in place for no reason now! Come on!
"… Yeah I guess." She replies, the egg firmly caught on her face as her cheeks turn a bit redder under the scarf. She was *always* compared to Parker on first glance, every time! While a lot of it fell on her, well, she would have liked to be a little bit more known. "I'm a lot more interesting than him though." She quips back, immediately edging towards the 'end' of the wall to poke out from behind it and shoot a glob of web at one of the barrels, only to duck back to cover as soon as she can. She moves fast at least!
"You are much cuter" Wanda offers as a sop to comparing Cindy with Spider-man before she is nodding at the woman's actions. "You can block the barrels with web then…like you are doing. You can shoot your web through the barrier. It will not affect it." The bullets are still turning into petals as they blaze away at the women.
With a last shuddering movement the giant legged sphere steadies itself on the remaining surface of the road. Its bullets /are/ ripping chunks out of the buildings instead and some civilians are wounded. And then the rotating band stills, the 'robot' turning to loom over Wanda and Cindy. Then there is another squeal of metal as a hatch opens at the rear of the sphere. And then a sounds of…'whooshing'? Jet pack clad soldiers emerge and fly into the air before turning for Wanda and Cindy.
Cindy Moon goes about doing just that! Sending globs of thick webbing at the barrels with surprising accuracy, the woman quite at ease behind the shield as she lets out quite a withering fusillade of silk. One point that is quite clear is that she doesn't seem to have any external web shooters, which is rather odd isn't it? Especially for one that can be compared to Spider-man with apparent ease. And she doesn't even respond to the cute comment! Well, other than by letting her mind run a million miles, trying to cope with the actual giant robot attack *and* Wanda. Crap crap crap crap…
"… Wow." She would start, staring upwards at the soldiers, letting her shoulders slump for a moment. "That's awesome." She remarks in a sardonic fashion, sounding *immensely* tired now. It only ever gets better it seems.
She doesn't even *wait* for them to start shooting, the young woman already sending a web out at the closest soldier, trying to tangle him about the chest so she can get a 'hold' on the poor guy.
The zooming soldier, resplendent in his gold, winged helmet, suddenly finds himself entrapped in strong, sticky webbing. He squirms but it is no good. He even drops his weapon in desperation as he is grabbed, his jet pack sending him around and around Cindy like he was live action tether tennis.
Wanda laughs at the sight and, dropping her shield, she sends a ball of energy slamming into the caught soldier so that he is sent back the way he came. But then the sudden churning up of the ground around her reminds that there are others up there. The machine guns mounted on their arm controls spitting bullets all around the pair. Thankfully their aiming systems need work.
One of the hovering soldiers attempts to pluck the webbing out of the robot gun barrels - he doesn't have much luck. Another two are zooming after fleeing people. One is trapped in Cindy's web. That leaves two shooting at the witch and the webber.
Cindy Moon ahcks, one arm shooting out to brace the other as the soldier begins to turn about her, her feet scrabbling to keep up with the spin as she digs her heels in. "Hrnk- Friends of yours?" She would grunt, naturally assuming that nothing in this city ever happens by coincidence, well- other than the fact that she happened to fall into this little fight. "Here- Hold on!" She shouts, turning this way and that, following the turn of the trapped soldier before she suddenly puts a foot down, pivots on her heel and shifts all of her weight to the right, fighting the force as he turns once more- only to finally bring him to a stop and *sling* him back towards his two friends, throwing his momentum and weight and all back towards the two taking potshots at the women!
The swinging soldier slams into his hovering compatriots and sends them spinning through the air. One slams into the sphere, his jet pack exploding and making it rain body parts and blood. The other smashes into a building, a loud crack of his neck before he is falling lifeless to the ground.
"I like the way you think" Wanda smiles to Cindy, her voice heavily accented - Eastern European. "Friends? No. Not friends. They do not like me much." Her fingers twitch and curl as her energy builds up once more before unleashing reality altering chaos on the giant machine. The joints that connect one leg to the sphere start to shimmer and contort. They turn into jello…literally…and the robot starts to lean dangerously to that side. The soldier attempting to clear the web from the gun barrels starts to panic, pushing against it and using his jet thrust to stop it falling. It doesn't look to be working.
Cindy Moon can't help but stare in a terrified fashion- that, well- that was wholly new to her! The young woman more than a little caught off guard by the sudden shift in things! "You're kidding!" She shouts back at Wanda, dancing somewhat on the spot as she looks for a good angle- And there! She suddenly shoots off another thread of silk, catching the soldier pushing against the machine and attempting to whip him back, her left hand already setting up a webbing net so as to /capture/ this one, since fatalities in general don't tend to be her game!
"I take it you're not from around here- and neither are they?" She's more than a little impressed with the 'magic' to be wholly honest.
The newly ensnared soldier yelps in surprise as he is dragged away from the sphere…but at least he's alive!! The robot topples over, slamming into the ground with another BOOM!! The road cracks a little more. The flow of the water pipes coming to a sudden stop.
"Around here? No. I am from far away" Wanda confirms, eyeing the sphere with suspicion even as it lays there. "I do not know where these people are from but I think they work for the Clockwork King. He has been trying to kill me for a while but I do not know why. You are very good." A warm smile for the other woman before there is another hail of bullets - the other soldiers are coming back. Wanda flings up her shield once more but not before a bullet clips her thigh, making her spin to the ground before she flings her shield up once more. "Are you okay?" she asks Cindy.
Cindy Moon nods, damn right! Though, she always gets annoyed when people seem so upset that she saved their lives! I mean, come on, its only just pri- And there her teeth go, chattering with the impact of the robot, the woman stumbling a bit before she catches herself. "Never could have told." She chirps back at Wanda, trying to make it *not* too obvious that yes, the accent was totally giving her away. "Pft, only as good as they're bad." She retorts, see! She's modest too!
Cindy turns just in time for the fire to come in, her senses tingling and forcing her to take a step to the rear, her back arching and face contorting into a deep frown as she stretches, time seemingly slowing as a bullet whizzes right where her face had been- well, it seems that Cindy is *very* fast, faster than Wanda at least. "A-Crap!" She shouts, totally unharmed herself, yet immediately going to Wanda's side, the young woman crouching down and shooting out several globs of web in defense. She's starting to feel herself get a little a low at this point. "Are YOU ok?"
"I am fine" Wanda lies, sweating now with the effort of keeping the barrier up - which has the added side effect of rose petals raining down on the pair. There is another rumbling. But this time it is the sphere itself. More hatches open and jet engines roar into life to push it into the air. It hovers for a moment as the soldiers reboard…and then it zooms down into the pit it made and quickly out of sight.
With a sigh Wanda lets the shield drop before peering at the web that covers her wound. "That is…interesting…" she notes, poking at it…and getting her finger stuck. "Nice to meet you" she smiles, "I think that was what I was saying before we were interrupted."
Cindy Moon lets out a sigh, dropping to her butt and staring upwards once the robot decides to make its retreat. "… Yeah!" Cindy finally replies, letting out an even longer sigh as she rests her arms on her knees and stares forward, adrenaline surging. "What do you even do after a giant robot attack?" She asks the air, more directed at herself than just Wanda, to be fair, this was the second time she had fought a robot, but none the less- this was a little more shooty shooty than the last one, and definitely bigger. And uh… She wasn't in the sewer at the moment. "And I uh, yeah, nice to meet you too." She finally replies bashfully to Wanda. Was she some kind of witch or something? Cindy had never seen powers like that before…
Wanda is quite impressed by the powers of Cindy's web too. She isn't bleeding and it…tingles. Her fingers glow once more as she casts her magic on her own leg. "That's better" she sighs happily before shrugging at the question that wasn't for her. "I usually get a coffee after a giant robot attack. Have you tried Espresso? So many coffees in this country." A pause. "Why?" Wanda offers the spider-girl a warm smile. "I like your costume."
Cindy Moon blinks as they get right to the coffee talk, her eyes watching those magical fingers before she sits up a bit. "… Yeah! Actually." She replies bashfully, tilting her head somewhat, hair falling about in a mess over her face. "I uh, recently tried that Starbucks place that was all the rage? It’s really expensive but they have this ehrm, pumpkin coffee something?" She starts, trailing off somewhat awkwardly as she coughs. "Which is odd, why would you drink a pumpkin coffee? But one of my friends made me get it and it was pretty dec-" She stops, her stomach dropping when the costume is mentioned. "I think it’s pretty spiffy myself!" She replies, busting out ye' ol timey words to get over herself, and well, it was better than that one web costume. But that was impromptu!
Cindy Moon totally lets the suggestion fly right the hell over her head.
"Is there a Starbucks nearby?" Wanda asks - she's new to all this too. It only takes her point five of a second to spot one on the corner of the next block. "Pumpkin coffee? Is that made out of pumpkin seeds or do they put pumpkin flavor in it?" Either option has Wanda confused and a bit ill. She slowly pushes herself to her feet, testing her weight on the wounded leg. A smile as it seems to hold. "I turned the bullet into water" she explains, "But it is your web that is keeping everything intact. Thank you." And that means Cindy gets a hug, whether she wants one or not. Then the witch who was living in dumpsters a few months ago checks her pockets for money. Satisfied she has enough she asks, "Shall we get a coffee? Maybe some donuts. I like donuts."