Carol Danvers | Captain Marvel (dontyouladyme) wrote in thedoorway, @ 2013-01-15 21:01:00 |
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CRACK went the shipping crate, as one does when a man in red and blue spandex gets tossed into it. Not that the colors mattered. Or the spandex. I mean, if you’re going to strip it down to the bare bones, it’s all mass times acceleration. You know, the force that resulted from a grown man being tossed -- even if Carol insisted on that grown man being “skinny.” “Ugh, that hurts. Thaaat hurts,” Peter groaned. But it was all of a fraction of a second before he was vaulting himself out and up again. He winced under his mask. Splinters. Why splinters? In his backside, no less. That sucked. It sucked as much as lunging into an actually pretty darn big group of thugs who were harassing dock workers, only to find out that maybe this fight was a little more balanced than appearances would suggest. “Couldn’t get some of Luke Cage’s powers, nope. I bet that guy never gets splinters --” Blabbing through a fight, as always, Peter threw a punch at a thickset gent who possibly was frothing at the mouth a little. That couldn’t be good. “Or papercuts -- hangnails. You probably don’t know who I’m talking about, huh? Not that you care, anyway. I mean, I can see you have, uh... a slight drooling problem. Also a staying-down-when-I-punch-you problem. Uh. Cap? Caaaap?” “Calm-” A huffed pause indicated she was knee deep in a good portion of the thugs, “Your-” A blast from her hands, straight into the guy to her left. “Tits.” Only half of what Peter was saying was actually getting through to her, but she also figured that wasn’t the point. He just liked to talk while he fought - or just talk all the time. It wasn’t something Carol could get angry about, given that she had her own tendency to quip. Just maybe not when she was pinned down by so many of them. “I’m gonna be a minute, “ Carol called over a few heads, and her body twisted and lifted into the air in some sort of martial arts movement, pushing back a few of the thugs. “You gonna be okay or is this a life-or-death thing?” Peter grabbed the man by the shoulders, launching up and over to kick the backs of his knees in. Sure, it wasn’t exactly the fair way to fight, but when four others were bolting in with murderous rage in their eyes -- one with a crowbar, awesome! -- it wasn’t like there was time to keep it all above the belt. He webbed up the toppled thug, before skittering up the side of a freight container. Mid-crawl, his spider sense flared. “Yahtzee!” was the choice of shout as he flipped over, back to the steel, and just narrowly dodging a bullet. “I wouldn’t call it life or death, but it’s all pretty relative, right? What’s a crowbar and a gun, really? What’s a dozen -- yeow! Watch the tights! These things run!” Because Peter had encountered claws? …claws. Halfway in while trying to get over to Carol. There were only a few paths from point A to B, after all. He wasn’t exactly checking to see who recently had a manicure. “What’s a vaguely zombie apocalyptic scenario because these guys are mentally roast, aren’t they?!” Peter called out, upon landing still a distance away from Captain Marvel, but taking in the full scene before him. Didn’t he take care of the woman over there? She was surely unconscious a moment ago. Hooboy. Catching up to them had been a bitch and a half, and Mindy had grumbled to herself along the lines of "having no superpowers blows" more than once, but eventually she found herself staring down at the fight already in full swing from her perch on a fire escape. Not wasting any time on the details of who they were fighting and why the situation seemed off, she bounced her way down the fire escape with her trademark speed and agility as Peter rambled away below her. It was on the tail end of his last sentence that she perched on the last railing before a twenty foot drop to the ground. "Are you sure it's them, Chatty Cathy?" she snarked as she leapt the last distance and bashed the handle of a hockey-stick-turned-fighting-staff (hey, she was making due until she got her shit back, okay?) into the back of Crowbar-Guy's head, driving him to the ground under her weight. "No wonder you eat so much crap. You need fuel for all the yapping." Carol had already opened her mouth to reply to Peter’s zombie comment when Mindy dropped down, and instead the reply got lost in a double-take. “What the-” With the quick realization that this was Peter’s fight-happy roommate, Carol broke off and took the time to fix Mindy with a stern glare. So, maybe they weren’t exactly in the position to turn away help right now but either she had been following them or patrolling on her own, both thoughts made Carol a little wary about Mindy’s overall safety. Christ, she really had become Captain America. But even Carol had to admit that Mindy got a pretty damn good hit in. Unfortunately with her focus turned on the new player in their group, Carol found herself surrounded again by “zombie” thugs. “You and I are going to have a talk later!” She didn’t specify which of her companions that was meant for and levitated off the ground with both hands out, glowing energy blasting the group around her. They’d be up again in a minute, but the stunned few seconds earned her a short breather and the ability to close in on Peter. “Oh, no,” it was a muttered bit of alarm beneath his Spider-Man mask. Mindy’s appearance had snagged Peter’s focus, as well, and his heart gave a jolt. It wasn’t an intentional series of internal thoughts, but chief among them were that he should have been paying more attention to her, maybe she’d followed them and he missed that, and (of course) that she was his responsibility. And he needed to get himself over to her before something happened to her. “Okay, first of all, what are you doing?” A hurried question as Peter tore up some ground, belting a man across the chest before thumping him down with both hands. Was this group healing that fast? Maybe he needed to hit harder. “Secondly, thank you. But, really --” He tackled a woman careening towards Mindy, sure that Hit-Girl would do just fine with one of the seven others looking for someone to wail on. “Cap, we need to shut this down fast!” Mindy flashed a toothy grin at their reactions - she'd thought for sure Peter would pick up on her following them and ruin the surprise - and climbed off Crowbar-Guy's back to spin a roundhouse kick at a woman who'd started to reach for her. "What's it look like I'm doing? I'm kicking some ass," she tossed back to Peter as her foot connected with a jaw. "Now take a page from Captain Marvel and stow it until we're done here, Spidey. That guardian crap won't fly, anyway." Her opponent had been knocked back, but was quickly barrelling back towards her just as Crowbar-Guy started to struggle to his hands and knees. Flipping over the man's back, Mindy swung the hockey stick and grinned as it connected with the woman's neck as planned. While that one gasped for breath and tumbled back into the nearby wall, Mindy whirled the stick around behind her back and stabbed the butt end into the man's face. "Hear that? That's a broken nose, dipshit. Stay down or I'll aim for your eyes!" she growled. Killing people was so much easier than this bullcrap. It was on the tip of Carol’s tongue to tell Mindy to watch her mouth, but she clamped it down. Nope. Now was not the time, when they were in the process of isolating the problem and getting the hell out of there. She wasn’t making any headway with this group, not when they kept getting up after a few minutes and she wasn’t in the position to put them down permanently. A quick glance around gave Carol the answer she needed, and she swooped over a group of them to push herself up against the alley wall. “Sorry, apartment dwellers. This is for your own good.” She knew full well that no one was going to answer her, but it cleared her conscious as she shoved a hand into the grey box attached to the bricks. Energy coursed up her arm and through her body, setting it aglow. The power flickered and eventually failed all around them, and Carol focused that firepower on the main group of thugs, a bright flash of radiant energy knocking several of them out.. She lifted up off the ground again and shouted toward Peter, “S, web ‘em together! We’ve gotta contain them.” “I’m goin’, I’m goin’!” The crunch of a broken nose made Peter grimace, but as long as Mindy wasn’t going lethal, then they all had a bigger problem to deal with. Priorities, after all, were usually topped with the guys trying to murder your face off. Peter was just coming off striking his foot into a gunman’s side, nabbing the dropped weapon and lobbing it into the East River (eeeew), when he whirled about to get his aim centered on the densest area of attackers. A spare side glance -- he could afford it, Peter was sure -- was given to Mindy, making sure she wasn’t having the tables turned on her. And then? Thwip. Thwip, thwip, thwip. Cartridges of web fluid went fast, but at least this time the figures secured to the pavement weren’t tearing free. “Ugh, you have no idea how much this is costing me. I have to--” Thwip. Because one of the downed, but semi-conscious, men had start howling, and it was so hard getting quips out over that. A bit of webbing over his mouth seemed like a good idea. “Shhh, I’m monologuing my anguish, here.” Still, there wasn’t much time to spend admiring the work. Peter pivoted, joining Mindy at her side and directing a ball of impact webbing at one of the three left standing. Watching the superheroes do their thing was quickly sorted into 'fucking awesome moments in my life' as Mindy smartly stayed out of the way of both of them. She may not have had any powers, but she was used to fighting junkies and really, this wasn't all that much different. Outside of the trying not to kill anyone thing, which she was only doing so she wouldn't immediately lose all chance at fighting with them again in the future. Priorities and shit. As the majority of the crowd was corralled and Peter seemed to be handling one of the three remaining, Mindy did a parkour flip off the wall in front of her to avoid the lunge of a straggler. "Take care of these too, will ya? If you're done monologuing your anguish, that is," she teased, swinging the hockey stick to knock him towards Peter before a second spin and sweep move sent the last stumbling his way, as well. “I was just getting started, but...!” Peter hooked the dazed man by the arm, forcing his head down and shoving him along a path right into Mindy’s delivery. There was a sound thud as they collided, and a webline sealed them up together before they toppled over. “Aw, isn’t that cute,” he added, when the set stopped twitching on the ground enough to look like napping, overgrown, and pretty hideous kindergarteners. He sent Mindy another look, but decided (for the moment) to instead turn to Carol. “Last one’s all yours, CM!” “You’re so kind,” Carol floated above Peter’s head and grinned down at the two of them. She was still glowing from the added juice from the block, and focused the rest of her energy on the remaining thug. He went down with a grunt at Mindy’s feet, and Carol slowly lowered herself to the ground to survey the damage. She pointed a finger at Mindy, and no doubt the glowing eyes either added either an element of humor or threat, she wasn’t sure which. “You are grounded.” Not that the remark held any weight, given that Peter was her guardian and neither of them were actually her parents. But, still. She flipped her head back to Peter and kicked a red boot at one of the legs. “This was worse than last time. And they’ve got... What the hell are those? Claws?” Mindy raised her eyebrows at Carol and let a second pass before throwing her head back in a cackling laugh. Maybe it wasn’t the wisest response, but adrenaline was still pumping and it was laugh or let the eyes freak her out. Her default was to laugh, even if she quieted down quicker than normal and tucked her hockey stick through a makeshift holster on her back to show she was ready to get serious. “Last time? You ran into these fuckers before? I thought they were just junkies, the way they were fighting, but that dude over there has something going on with his face that is way not normal,” she grimaced, pointing at a web-coated man nearby. “Okay, okay, wait.” Peter threw his hands up, pleading a moment to talk, before they got back to the thugs scattered around them. They had enough time to address the girl in a purple wig before getting back to the fact that claws and fugliness abounded here, right? They’d have to. “You,” he continued, looking as pointedly as he could though his eyespots at Mindy, “have got to not do that. The whole leaping into an on-going fight? Yeah, we are having talks about that.” Ugh, geez. This had to be the guardian thing speaking. Alpha going off the rails as his “sidekick” was still fresh in his mind, and Mindy didn’t even have powers like he did. If she got hurt, it was on his head and his conscience. But Peter sighed, his focus returned to the scene around them. “But since you’re here... yeah. Second run-in with something like this. Theeeeey... didn’t have claws the last time. New party trick?” He stooped over a sprawled-out man, plucking his hand up by the wrist. “Oh, yeah. New party trick. This world doesn’t really have a history of stuff like this.” No doubt he’d know something was up with his spidey-sense, but Carol made a face at Mindy from behind Peter, akin to a blabbing mouth. She ended it with a good-natured grin, though, and let him have his guardian tirade. It was hard for her to be too mad, even if Mindy was putting herself in harm’s way, if only because she actually helped and possibly even tipped things in their favor. Carol herself had experience with Spider-Girl following her around, and when that had started Anya wasn’t much older. Kids.“We’re not going to make a habit of this, Hit-Girl, but thanks for the help.” Carol leaned down to examine one of the unconscious bodies closely, and pulled a white cloth out of a cosmic pocket. “I don’t know enough about science to be even remotely helpful on this stuff. But.. blood samples.” She glanced over her shoulder at Peter, looking up questionably, “Don’t suppose you’ve got a vial in your tights we could use, do you?” She waved her white cloth a little, showing that was all she had to offer. Mindy rolled her eyes at Peter and made a talking motion with her hand to match Carol's face. She scooted around a body and nudged another one with her foot before replying. "You know, I don't actually need anybody's permission to patrol. If you don't want me around, then that's your loss. But I think both of you are smart enough to know telling me what I'm not going to do is a waste of breath." The man she'd nudged flailed uselessly against his binding and opened his mouth to hiss, flashing teeth better suited to an animal than a human. "Woah," she half-laughed, nudging him again, right in the neck. "On to more important shit, I think this one needs a dentist." Turning her head to glance back down the alleyway, she shrugged. The science-y stuff wasn't her gig either. "There's a store back about a block with household crap. They might have some jars or something? Open up a jugular and voila." “Nuh uh,” Peter cut in, the reply suiting more than one item on the docket. He stood up, a hand idly reaching to his backside, where those splinters were starting to smart a little. Gah, that sucked. And, okay, maybe he needed to stop that when he was trying to keep this mostly serious for at least another few seconds. “Next time, you catch me on the way out. If you’re coming with us, you got a voice to say so. There’s no I-sneak-around-behind-people’s-backs-whe But back to the problem at hand. “Also, no jugular-slashing. Nope.” They really could do with some DNA samples, though. There was a question about where those would get tested, but they could cross that bridge when they got to it. Peter looked around the alley. A pile of tires someone dumped, soggy newspapers... A-ha. A discarded glass Snapple bottle, up against the nearby warehouse. Peter snapped it up with one hand, unscrewed the lid, and held it out to Carol. “Fire it up, Cap. This’ll work -- just needs to be sterilized.” Peter got a lifted eyebrow from Carol with his practically offering to bring her along if she asked, but didn’t argue it. Silently, she would have agreed that keeping her where he - or they - could see her was the best option. For the most part. She’d let them battle that out between the two of them, though, and turned her attention to the teeth. Pliers were out, that was just mean. “Got any over there that look loose that could just be pulled out? Might want to check that over too.” She had just enough juice left in her to sterilize the bottle, and the glass glowed as her hand covered the bottom of it. “You know, usually I save this sort of thing for keeping my coffee hot.” Her hand went back to normal and she kept a hold of it, rather than handing it back and potentially burning Peter in the process. “So uhhh, without opening a jugular, what’s the best way to do this?” It was tempting to ignore Peter altogether, but Mindy gave him an exasperated look and waved her hand dismissively instead. She wasn’t going to run off on her own if she had other options, particularly not superhero options, but she wasn’t going to be bossed around either. Luckily, Carol’s question snagged her attention and Peter was spared a smartass response. Without any hesitation, Mindy pressed her foot down on the man’s throat, forcing him to open wide, and then knocked the buttend of the hockey stick against his top row of teeth. “Oh, whadaya know. I think one is loose,” she announced in a mock-innocent tone. A quick snag latter and she had a fang-like tooth in her hand. “And I still think the jugular’s easiest, but if Peter wants to be a big girl about it, then I can slice open a calf muscle. Should heal...eventually,” she advised as she tucked her hockey stick back into its sling and flipped out a balisong she’d picked up by way of a five-finger discount at a nearby pawn shop. “What are you even--” A hand was slapped over Peter’s eyes. “Oh, great googly moogly,” he finished under his breath as Mindy prised the tooth out. He slumped forward, wondering if maybe this was some kind of karma. His eyes fell on the glass bottle, then he looked at Carol, then Mindy. “You two know that you can just get a DNA sample from the inside of someone’s cheek, right? Yeah? No? Not that I’m trying to discourage any arts and crafts, but I hear tooth necklaces aren’t exactly in.” He took the cloth from Carol and crouched down to get a swab from one of the men. With the cloth deposited in the bottle, he popped the lid back on, and held it up. “See? Sample.” Carol couldn’t quite conjure up the same level of surprise that Peter had, not when she had been expecting at least something similar to happen. And hey, she couldn’t fault the girl for getting the job done. She backed away from the unconscious man in front of her, hands held up in mock-surrender. “All right, all right.” She grinned at Peter. “I give up, Nerd Man. This part is all you.” She leaned over and called out to Mindy, the grin still on her face. “Hang onto that tooth, Hit-Girl, we’ll need it later.” "You can also get DNA from the inside of a tooth, right? I thought I saw that on tv once...anyway, it never hurts to have physical proof that weird shit is afoot," she joked, clearly not even slightly fazed by his frustration. Captain Marvel had asked about a tooth, Mindy had gotten her a tooth. It was simple math as far as she was concerned. What she didn't do so well with was geeky science crap. So she saluted Carol and pocketed the tooth, wandering over to lean against a nearby wall with her butterfly knife being flipped open and shut in a slick show of absentminded skill. "But, hey, whatever. I'm ready to bounce, so get on with it Dr. Parker." “Hey, uh. Mask is on?” Because there was a Peter Parker here that stood to lose a lot if the wrong person heard something. At least his spider sense didn’t flare up, so there couldn’t have been anyone around who was conscious enough to register the slips. “Guy over here with an alternative reality family out there, hoping to not have crazy people beating down their door?” But, this was going swell. Oh, yeah. So great. Maybe this was what Captain America had to deal with on every mission. ...then again people listened to Cap. It had to be the chiseled jaw. Everyone listened to a guy with a strong profile. And the height. It helped being over six feet tall. Ugh. Puberty, you short-changer. Peter surveyed the area one last time, then, before easily jumping up the side of the nearest brick building. “Anyway, I’m headin’ back. I think the workers that bolted called --” In the background a familiar WHOOP, WHOOP of a siren broke the air. “In my favorite song. Yep. Time to go.” He sent Mindy a look before nodding to Carol, a silent signal that the eleven-year-old could use a carpool. “Hey, saves me having to call it in,” Carol added on with a shrug. She’d been ready to warn Mindy against using names, but Peter saved her the trouble and with probably far more class than Carol would have been able to muster up. Striding up to Mindy, Carol held out a hand to the younger girl. Most of the energy had dissipated, and the glowing had stopped. “Want a ride? Unless you want to try and outrun the cops..” Carol had no doubt Mindy could probably get away with it, but leaving her behind wasn’t an option. Not with already having hit Peter’s patience threshold and knowing that leaving behind the kid he was a guardian to would be a bad idea. Mindy winced, for the first time showing an ounce of guilt for her careless ways. "Right, my bad. Where I'm from, everybody knows your name because you're not real," she grumbled by way of apology. The approaching sirens had her putting her balisong away and grabbing onto Carol's offered hand. "Fuck yeah, I want a ride. Uhhh, do I just climb up onto your back or are you gonna do the baby carrying thing?" Mindy grimaced, curling her nose in annoyance at the more likely option. "Can I get a vote here?" First instinct was to just pick her up like Carol did to everyone who hitched a ride. There was just something demeaning about carrying someone on your back, but did she really want to listen to Mindy bitch the entire way home? Leaving her wasn’t an option. So, back it was. She’d make up for it by grumbling and forcing Peter to buy her dinner later. “Climb on up, kid. Hang on tight, and if you drop the tooth and I’ll make you go fishing for it.” With that promise made and Mindy securely attached, Carol shot off to the sky. Only, before they could zip away, Peter snapped a picture of the duo. With a grin behind his mask, he shot a webline out, pocketed the phone, and was gone before either could remark. |