16443/Only in New York.

Only in New York.
Date of Scene:	21 July 2024
Location:	Long Island City, Queens
Synopsis:	Heroes find themselves chasing bad sorts in the Queens sewers. Nasty shenanigans ensue.
Cast of Characters:	Firestar, Spider-Man, Cannonball

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Firestar has posed:
Agelica is walking down the street heading towards her apartment. Could she fly there? Of course. Does she fly there? Sometimes you need a little exercise. People might get funny ideas about a lone woman walking in New York late, but that will likely end poorly for them.

As she makes her way to the next turn on the route home, an armored car making its rounds turns onto the street as well. Everything seems to be relatively normal for the moment, but does normal ever last?

Spider-Man has posed:
It's Queens. Practically Spider-Man's backyard. And he'd just come from Aunt May's attempts to stuff him full of things that weren't chicken nuggets cut into fun dinosaur shapes and she'd mostly succeeded. So to burn off some calories and to keep an eye on things in his old stomping grounds Spider-Man was swinging from building to building, zen and in the moment, letting his Spider-Sense guide him on where he should be heading. So far, nada, so it was a leisurely swing, keeping an eye on the streets below.

He did spot a familiar redhead not named Mary Jane and thought about stopping to say hi, but she was in civvies and probably didn't want to be bothered much. The armored car gets a second look, but so far no Spidey-Sense tripping. Still, it was an odd site in this neighborhood.

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie was planning on stopping by to check on Angelica. He had been out on the town doing some shopping. So we find Sam with a few bags in hand coming from a different direction but headed to where Angelica seems to be, or at least in the same direction

Firestar has posed:
The thing about armored cars. They run all the time and there are businesses around, but this is Sunday. The armored car isn't totally out of the ordinary. It slows to a stop near a business and then...nothing really.

At first Angelica doesn't register it. She just walks. By all appearances the truck is just parking...in the road.

Spidey might get just a tickle in his Spidey sense, but it isn't some 5 alram fire tingle. Just a little off for some reason.

Spider-Man has posed:
Peter had learned through occasionally bitter experience to not ignore his Spider-Sense. So he changed directions to make his way back to the armored car and perched sideways on a nearby wall, the eyes of his mask narrowed as he studied the truck. Not riding excessively low and he didn't have IR vision so he couldn't tell if it was running hot from a load of people in the back or not. Instead he still kept his perched and waited. Something would happen, he knew that much. The real answer was "What?"

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie will look over and spotting Angelica, he will call out "Hey Angelica." He waves one arm after swapping the bags to the other hand. He will start to jog over towards her. He may see the truck, but you see them all the time in town.

Firestar has posed:
About to notice the truck finally, Angelica looks to the sound of her name. That southern boy lilt can only be one person that knows her name. She smiles a little and turns to meet his approach,"Hey Sam. Long time." she replies with a hint of 'where have you been' in her tone.

The truck starts to move again down the road and turns to drive to the next stop. Not that anyone ever got out of the stop. Since Angelica and Sam are engaged in conversation, they will likely miss that the truck had been parked over a manhold cover, but Spidey might notice that from his vantage point.

Spider-Man has posed:
"Crap." he said to himself. Spiders didn't tend to do well in sewers but why else would the truck park over a manhole for almost a full minute, nobody in, nobody out via the doors, and then drive off? Atypical behavior. So Spider-Man jumped off his perch to land gracefully on the side of the street by the manhole, then a thwip of webbing to hoist the manhole up and out of its hole. His reflexes were quick enough that unless someone was waiting with a gun pointed in precisely the right spot he could probably get out of the way. Seriously tempted now to call to Angelica and whoever it was she was talking to, but so far things were quiet.

So far.

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie comes to a stop and is about to say something when he sees Spiderman heading to street level. His own body language changes if someone is paying attention. He stance more someone prepared for trouble. He does step slightly in front of Angelica, but not enough to block her from seeing whats going on. "Yea, sorry been busy, looks like there might be something to keep us both busy now though."

Firestar has posed:
From under the street comes voices. Those voices sound surprised and a few less than savory words escape them before there is genralized gun fire up at the street level. Nothing comes close or ever comes out of the cover, but that does send an alert to everyone present.

Angelica closes on Sam and smirks a little,"Life keeps us busy. You know where I am when you have the time." she tells the other. Noting his attention towards the arriving Spider-Man she raises a brow and mutters,"Spidey?"

Then the gunshots and she hisses softly turning that direction fully, though underground she can't do too much. She takes a few steps that direction, expecting Sam will likely be close.

Spider-Man has posed:
Spider-Man is inhumanly agile and it's at times like this when it _shows_. He leaps away from the manhole twisting his body in ways that would give Olympic gymnasts traction. Doesn't seem to bother him as he comes to in a crouch, one arm raised to point directly at the manhole cover. He's not going to call out to Angelica and her friend - if they want to get involved, at least he knew Angelica could take care of herself.

The lanky kid he was less-sure about but he was moving like he'd had some training so that at least was a positive. Plus no Spidey-Sense warnings about him. He then reached towards his wrist with his other hand and withdrew a ball of white ... stuff.

Which he promptly lobbed down the manhole, nothing but net, so that the web-bomb would hopefully keep the people inside entrapped.

Safer than his first plan, which was to jump down there and start dealing with the problem.

If he came home bleeding again Gwen'd give him the puppy-dog eyes she was so good at and then calmly ask why he didn't call for backup before risking his life. Again.

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie looks over and wonders why is it he always runs into Spiderman when he is shopping, last time it was with him looking for a hat for his ma. He will look around and slides his bags into a doorway, hopefully they will be there. He pulls a pair of goggles from a back pocket, and says "Want to head down to the sewers from here?"

Firestar has posed:
"You always take me to the most fancy places Sam." Angelica replies dryly. She nods to Spidey and look up the street. There is another manhole in three different directions. Since the one Spidey just webbed is closed now she shrugs,"One for each. Somebody will have to open one for me. Too heavy and I don't want to melt it." People sort of look, but it is New York and hey, there is Spider-Man.

Angelica looks to see what the other two plan to do. She might not be leader of anyone, but she definately has gotten better at strategy.

Spider-Man has posed:
Spider-Man closed the distance between himself and Angelica with a single controlled leap. "You want in or you want to get the civvies clear?" he asked, fully in Spider-Man mode, no real trace of Peter in his stance or his voice. Without looking, he webbed up the manhole cover she was contemplating and with a grunt of effort (because of the angle, not the weight) he hefted the manhole cover clear and swung it to the ground so that it wasn't in any danger of hitting Angelica or Sam. He then leaned up close to Angelica's eat and whispered something to her before making for the clear manhole.

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie will nod his head to Angelica as he puts his goggles on "Well, dinner and a movie would be so boring right?" He asks her, but then he is heading to one of the manhole covers, and he kneels down next to it doing a trick he has been working on, and a blast punch to one side of it to knock it up, so he can roll it out of the way once it is on it's side.

Firestar has posed:
"We'll deal with this together." she replies softly to Spidey. She nods to Sam as he moves to the other cover,"He's a good hand and can be trusted."

She slips her phone from her pocket and hits a few buttons before dropping into the sewers. For those looking in her direction there is a burst of bright yellow energy and only Spidey can see Firestar floating above the refuse and looking each direction to make sure she isn't a target already.

Spider-Man has posed:
Spider-Man, already most of the way to the manhole, called back "Hey, I felt that!" teasingly. "And tell Goggle-Man to do less damage to New York's finest manhole covers." he said before he dove into the open hole leading down to New York's finest sewers.

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie is doing much less damage than he normally would getting into the sewer. He will drop down into the sewer, but does not hit the water instead, he kicks in his blast field to hover in the sewer looking about. Making himself a target perhaps, but he is the hardest to hurt so may be intentional.

Firestar has posed:
It's the sewer. Nasty, smelly, and full of yuck. Needless to say the people down there don't know what to do when suddenly there are three costume types in the nasty with them.

One raises a gun to shoot, but another smacks him, asking if he is that stupid to shoot again and spark off something. They turn from the glowing red head and split up to run, only to encounter Spidey arrival and rounding the corner on Sam as well. With on other options, automatic rifles come to bear on both men and bullets fly.

Spider-Man has posed:
Can't have that! Spider-Man's agile enough to dodge the shooters, even in this confined space. And he's busy with his web shooters as he dodges, looking to web the guns away or, at the very least web them up in such a way that the gun will be fouled and won't fire. He shuddered to think about what might happen if Angelica cut loose down here, but he was also pretty confident in her ability to not roast them all by igniting sewer gas. The other guy had a roaring glowy thing going and it seemed to be enough to repel gunfire, so Peter didn't feel too bad about leaving him at his back.

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie will cross his arms looking at the goons "Now, you might want to rethink that, someone might get hurt." He makes sure he is blocking as much of the tunnel as he can. He does look the guys over not attacking yet, trying the whole intimidation bit while he tries to figure out what they were up to.

Firestar has posed:
Nobody wants to play with the one that glows in the dark. How typical. She starts to consider her options. A maser blast would be out of the question down here, but a gust of hot hot steam would be less so. She gathers the heat around her and pushes the steam at the ones facing Sam, then another blast at the ones fighting Spidey.

Neither group knows what to do when suddenly is it a sauna around them. Not enough to pink the skin. Just as she is about to fly towards them, something catches her attention down another tunnel. A moment later she is shoved into a side tunnel by a blast of some sort of force. She manages to roll with it, but definately no longer in sight of either man and something is coming down the tunnel towards the intersection.

Spider-Man has posed:
"Whooo! Feel that, boys?" he joked as he left one guy webbed to the wall and was proceeding to take the rest of them out with punches to their head. "Hot time in the city tonight, am I right?" he joked as he administered a proper beatdown. Then he went over to the one he'd spared and leaned up against the wall next to him. "All rightie now, buddy, wanna tell me what brings you down here on a fine Sunday evening?" he asked casually. "Because I don't think you lost a contact lens or were looking for the fabled gators. They're in Manhattan anyway."

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie will look over to Spidey "You got these guys?" He asks as he will head towards where he last seen Angelica, and also, ready to stop what ever is coming down the way at them.

Firestar has posed:
Flavor of the month. Some new, unknown mutant or meta type steps into the intersection and turns towards Sam and Spidey. Not Hulk big, but almost as big as the Thing and apparently able to push some sort of pulse of energy.

Content with the red head being out of the fray, he starts to stalk towards the other two, clearly intending to put a stop to the intrusion.

The guys fighting Spidey are beaten easily. Nobody seems to want to talk, but a few do look confused before getting knocked out.

Spider-Man has posed:
"Darnit." Spidey swore mildly. "Hey, Goggles. You want to get clear? This could get messy." he said uncertainly. His Spider-Sense was definitely telling him that this new, big guy was gonna be trouble. He took a breath, released it, then looked over at the big guy.

"Hey! You! Yeah, you! Big ugly with the crap all over his shoes! Wanna explain what brings you down here with your buddies here?" he asked.

Firestar has posed:
Seeing the bad sort that knocked Angelica aside, Sam barrels down the tunnel. There is a reason he is called Cannonball and he hits the bad sort, blast field in place. There is the story of the unstoppable force and the immovable object. This is a good example.

Like a pool ball, Sam caroms off the bad man, bouncing off down the same tunnel Angelica did. The big man falls back and into the wall. He gets his feet and starts to stalk towards Spidey again,"Interference will not be tolerated." The voice sounds Russian, but also sounds forced and faked.

Spider-Man has posed:
"Oh, come _on_!" Spider-Man said. "I've heard better Russian accents in 80s action movies!" he said, the thwipped out some webbing. See how strong this guy was, see if he could immobilize his legs together. Probably not but it was worth a try.

Firestar has posed:
Spidey sense tingles. The guy pauses when his legs are caught up. However, he reaches down and takes the webbing in hand and he tries to jerk Spidey off his feet.

Sam mutters a little and starts to move back to his feet. He pauses when he sees Angelica face down in the water. He moves to pull her up from the water and makes sure she starts breathing again, Spidey is on his own for the moment.

Spider-Man has posed:
Spidey was experienced at this - that may have worked on Miles, but he was more than prepared to let the webbing go rather than letting this guy Bam-Bam him into the walls. But his web-shooters were pretty full on charge and he thwipped again, hoping to entrap the guy's arm or arms to the tunnel walls. "I can do this all day." he bluffed, doing his best Captain America. "Why not tell me what it is you're after and if you need any help." he offered.

Firestar has posed:
Spidey hears Angelica coughing around the corner, then gagging, and then and shouted,"REALLY!!!" She wretches and probably throws us. Who wants to float face down in the sewer water after all?

The man looks at Spidey and before he can react gets caugh in the webs. He struggles of course, but that webbing has held bigger people. Down the tunnel opposite Angelica and Sam comes the sound of an alarm of some sort. People are yelling and there is the sounds of running footsteps.

Spider-Man has posed:
Peter, confident that the big guy was webbed up, moved over to Angelica. "You all right?" he said, thankful that she couldn't see him wrinkle his nose under the mask. "You're definitely going to want a bath sooner rather than later." he told her, then put himself between her and the fake Russian, bro who he'd webbed up. "You still got your phone?" he asked Angelica without turning around. "Want to call this one in?"

Firestar has posed:
Sam helps Angelica to her feet. Her phone floats down the drainage swell. She shakes her head and looks past him,"Spidey. Incoming." she coughs and leans on the other guy. She's not calling or going far right now and Sam is keeping her on her feet.

From down the hall, four more people are running from hte sound of the alarm. They pause when they start finding people knocked out or webbed and look for the source.

Spider-Man has posed:
That would be your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, naturally. He moved up past the big webbed-up guy and said "Did someone call for a sewer convention and not invite me? Rude!" he taunted the oncoming wave of goons. "Wanna tell me what it is you're running from and why it has to do with that alarm that's going off?" he asked.,

Firestar has posed:
Three of the men rush at Spidey, probably because they are dumb. The last one breaks and runs towards the extraction, though he will find it webbed and will need to figure that out when he gets there.

The men don't talk really. Certainly don't look like average bank robbers either. Whatever the case, they look like know they are beat, but they are going to stall him anyway.

Spider-Man has posed:
Peter slipped around their punches with ease, his Spider-Sense telling him where they were aimed and then his agility letting him dance around their strikes. He returned them one-for-one, but the difference is that he could hit a lot harder if he wanted to. And while he never wanted to kill anyone, a solar plexus shot and then some webbing put bad guys down quite nicely, thank you.

Firestar has posed:
Angelica watches the last scuffle and tells Sam,"Go get the one running. Better, give him enough rope to hang himself. Follow them and see where they go."

Sam doesn't look happy with the idea of it, but he takes off after the last man. Angelica leans against the wall and watches Spidey take care of the last of them. She sighs and trudges to a body and starts pushing buttons on a phone. 911 is contacted and she gives a rough idea how to get where they are.

Finally she rises in the air again and says,"Let's get out of here Spidey. Good guys are coming."

Spider-Man has posed:
"And get you into a shower. Or a bath. Or something." he said with a grin under his mask. "Not that I can't use one as well, but you got up-close-and-personal with the finest sewage Queens has to offer." he said, then extended a hand out to her. "We'll let Goggles handle cleanup while we get gone." he said.

Firestar has posed:
Shaking her head, Angelica replies,"I'll have to go to an ER first. Water in my lungs. Can drown in air if I don't get checked out. Let's get out of here regardless. I'll need you to go into my place and get some clothes since I can't go like this."

She sound of Cannonball's blast shield fills the air and he flies into the sky, watching the path of the van. Angelica flies up and out as well and goes high altitude away from her place a few blocks and then backtracks to her apartment to wait on the roof.

Spider-Man has posed:
"Course." he said. "Expect Peter to pay you a visit." he said. And then she took off so the poor beleagured web-slinger had to climb up her apartment building the slow way. Slow being relative, of course, But he made it up to her room without any problems.

Firestar has posed:
She nods at the visit comment of course. Then she is gone.

Once he has her clothes, she nods and moves behind the air conditioning units to change. At least he had the good sense to bring some older clothes.

She comes back out, stashing the Firestar gear in a usual hidey hole and then tells him,"I'll be there. I doubt it will be over night, but it might be. The hospital is a few blocks away. Want to swing me there?"

Spider-Man has posed:
"Of course. Also, just so you know, the aircon unit over there is very shiny." he said, then reached out his hand to her to swing them both over to the hospital. He'd have to have her make the last block or so on her own, as Spider-Man was extremely visible to the press ane Angelica didn't need that kind of heat in her life.

Pun intended.

Firestar has posed:
"Of course. That would be why I stayed on the opposite side. Not that my friend would take advantage and look." she tells him flatly. She doesn't feel like too playful as she is sick and has to explain things to a docotor. Too many other things to think about.

When he puts her down, she starts to walk to the hospital. Once there, she gets admitted into the ER and gets to spend a night under observation she so doesn't dry air drown and to make sure her lungs are free of anything. Not that she wouldn't cook it out, but has to be checked.

If he arrives she is quiet, clearly tired, and needing to sleep more than anything. If he remains she is glad and sleeps easier, but sleeps regardless.

Spider-Man has posed:
Peter is a man of his word and indeed does stop by the hospital to sit by her. She was groggy at best and asleep at worst, but he was there at her side until he needed to catch a few hours of his own.