Log:Impossible Challenge - Scene 8

Impossible Challenge 2009/01/28 	 Silver Spider Howl Fuzzt Mystique 1

Downtown
The downtown district, and above all famed York Boulevard, is an area of skyscrapers old and new and the jewel of the city where most of the real money is made. From the lower, older buildings like that of the Colonial Bay Chronicle to the height of the Corporate Tower, the district is alive with bustle through the day; while at night it is well lit by the light of ads and news reporting across the sides of the buildings, and the action is focused on a few clubs and other hotspots.

Silver Spider is settled outside the chronicle, sitting in a hammock as she reads the daily newspaper. "What a day..." She mutters. "This one really could have been a lot worse."

Mystique glides quietly down the street and stops in a shadowy shop doorway. A faint wispy tendril of mist seeps from her robes and snakes its way towards Shamrock's Bar and Grill becoming thinner and less visible as it progresses.

Silver Spider shrugs a little bit and keeps reading the newspaper. "Huh?" She manages as she notices the fog. "Well, it's not Blackjack Mcracken, but I'll take it.." She extends a webline and swings towards it. "Weird..."

Mystique crackles in seeming amusement after a moment and pulls out a PDA to make notes. She looks up at Silver Spider's approach. "Ah, the infamous Silver Spider I assume. Masked vigilantee and general trouble maker. I should thank you. You've been most helpful even if you were't aware of doing so."

Silver Spider's eyeslits raise for a moment. "Really...?" She says coyly. "How so? Are we a glorious fan of Knox Pooley here to take me down for the greater good? Have I fallen into your trap designed only to hear your evil laughter? Is there a muffin in your pocket?"

Mystique shifts her robes and the tendril of mist ceases emerging from her and dissipates.

You say, "I'll select none of the above. It's quite simple. You have created a reputation as someone who takes the law into her own hands. Your reputation makes you feared. I tap into that fear to encourage reluctant individuals to reveal information that they would prefer not to do so."

Silver Spider's eyeslits widen a little bit, but you can tell she's really rolling her eyes. "You had better thank Knox." She says. "He's the one who keeps trying to scare people with me, saying I'm a menace, a terror, and a blood drinker."

Mystique nods, "Do you? Drink blood that is?"

Silver Spider shakes her head. "No. Blood's gross."

Mystique crackles in amusement, "So only two out of three. Far better than the average reporter though."

Silver Spider hangs upside down on her webline, right in front of you. "Well, you're hardly average." She says. "In fact, all that fog kinda makes you a hottie."

You say, "I should consult an optician if I was you. In the event your eyes are not defective I recommend a psychologist."

Silver Spider laughs a little bit. "In this day and age, if you really wanted to turn people on, just change your shape, get a few nips and tucks, or stop generating fog, then. Fog makes everyone hotter." She says.

You say, "Why would I want to turn people on? It seems an entirely pointless exercise."

Silver Spider shrugs a little bit. "Because relationships are cool? Dating is cool? Unless you're made of stone or something."

You say, "I'm not in the remotest way human. The mating habits of your species is of academic and financial interest to me only."

Howl steps down from the maglev, his preferred way of getting around.

Silver Spider nods. "Ah..." She says. "Well, that would make a certain amount of sense. You're an alien." She says sweetly. "So, have you heard about this whole Mr. Impossible challenge business?" She says.

Mystique nods "Yes." She nods to Howl in acknowledge of his presence. "I have. A thoroughly irritating business. One that will cause me no little discomfort before it comes to a conclusion I'm sure."

Howl tips his hat to Mystique and then to spider. "Evening."

You say, "Good evening Howl."

Silver Spider shrugs. "Yeah. I had to fight Diamond, and Howl here declined me, so I'm actually standing in pretty good terrain. Hi, Howl!" She says. "Got gum?"

Howl arches a brow. "Gum?" He produces a cigarette. "What is this, second grade?"

Silver Spider pauses. "Oh, for god's sake..." She says. "I chew gum."

Mystique looks over to Howl, "You declined the challenge?"

Silver Spider shrugs. "Yesterday, yeah." She says. "He doesn't do that kind of stuff, specially since he said I'd own him."

Howl wags a finger at Spider. "You know what they say. Don't websling and chew gum at the same time." He nods to Mystique. "Of course."

Silver Spider pauses. "Effectively, he did it two days ago, though, because I tried to set it up for the following day after Diamond challenged me. He said one a day. He didn't say you couldn't arrange them ahead of time and have them take place in safe unpopulated areas." She shrugs.

Mystique nods, "That is probably correct. I would follow Howl's precedent in any challenge and default the points, except I expect the irrational Mr Impossible would soon either disqualify me from the challenge or take further action against the city."

Silver Spider shrugs. "The Irrational Mr. Impossible hung me from a tower in France."

Howl shrugs. "If he has a problem he can take it up with me."

You say, "I saw the news media. So that was Mr Impossible's doing? You were lucky. It was by the heels, no? It could as easily have been by the neck I believe."

Silver Spider shrugs. "I guess I didn't offend him that badly, he was in a cheesy mood, or he was staring at my boobs when he aimed."

"Cheesy mood." Howl replies.

Mystique nods, turns to Howl, "Let us hope that if he takes umbrage at your disinclination to engage in his vulgar antics he does indeed take it out on you. One vanished building is sufficient."

Howl nods. "Even so, I won't participate. I'm not going to be extorted into playing his game."

Silver Spider shrugs and looks at Mystique. "So..." She says cheerfully. "Are you declining too, Miss "I am so not" Thang?" She scuttles up the webline a little bit.

You say, "No I am not declining. Which is why I expect this silly game will cause me some discomfort. If I thought I could simply decline all challenges from those who have the well being of the city at their heart and contest challenges by those who don't I would do so. However such gamesmanship is likely to draw ire from the maniac. We have already see what result that leads to."

"It's better to be resolved in the face of a madman." Howl replies. "You'll ever outmaneuver them unless you're mad yourself."

You say, "When faced with a five year old child holding a loaded gun it's better to go along with them until such time you can remove the gun from their hands."

Silver Spider shrugs. "So, you want to take me on, then?" She says congenially. "I'll be happy to send you to a brief, if important nap. Can't really allow myself to lose, after all."

Howl shrugs at Mystique. "Pick your analogy, I suppose."

Mystique looks at Silver Spider, "Happy to take you on? No. Of course not. I will, as the modern vernacular puts it so crudely, be utterly owned. But being happy is not the issue. I'm bound by pacts signed in ages long past to assist the forces of law and order in the place where I reside. Mr Impossible is as far from law and order as it's possible to be. So, happy or not, I shall not decline your challenge."

Silver Spider shrugs. "Okay. Do we want to do this here?" She says sweetly. "Or do we want to move to someplace a little less under the watchful eye of Knox..."

"You!" Knox Pooley shouts, opening his window! "You miscreant! You reprobate! You dirty unwashed swine!" He shakes his fist at Silver Spider. "Fighting in the street like a common criminal! You should be ashamed of yourself...!"

"...Pooley..." Silver Spider finishes. "Nuts."

Howl looks up at Pooley as he lights up his cigarette. "He needs a monocle. I think it's a law you have to have a monocle to say the word reprobate with any seriousness."

Mystique twitches her lips in what could be a smile. "Since Mr Pooley is already awake we may as well conclude our challenge here. Going elsewhere will, after all, run the risk of waking others who remain at this time sleeping soundly."

Fuzzt scuttles along on a suitable number of little tentacles. Two large tentacles hold a "Webford's Painfully Unabridged Dictionary for Advanced English Learners. By the time Knox launches into his tirade, Fuzzt has reached a point not far from the group. It stops, two new tentacles grow out of its fur and flick through the pages with a speed unexpected from such appendages. Finally, when it seems to have found an interesting page, it taps it and starts repeating, "Reprobate.... Reprobate... Reprobate..." getting the pronunciation better at every iteration. He turns briefly to the group, blinks, then returns to look on the page. "Oh goodness gracious. I must work on the monocle now."

Silver Spider chuckles. "No problem..." She says as she steps away a little bit from the doorframe. "Shall we?" She settles into a graceful three point combat stance on top of a subcompact, and beckons with a finger.

Howl folds his arms. "Well, see where this goes."

Mystique looks at Fuzzt and really does smile, "Of all the so called wonders of your time the presence of alien minds among you is the most delightful. Such a enlightening counter-point to mere human mental patterns. Not that I intend to demean your species' achievements. But a single viewpoint is of its nature limited." She then steps clear of the doorway, "Silver Spider. I'm about to be battered by you for the benefit of this city and its inhabitants. Kindly omit the beckoning gesture. I am not some novice martial artist about to face a Sensi even if the skill disparity is somewhat the same."

Silver Spider shifts extended stance feet. "It's a fair cop. I always did always like those old movies." She winks an eyeslit.

Fuzzt smiles wide, back to Mystique. "Thank you, kind person! I am /delighted/ for... the... kind /verbiage/ you have been /bestowing/ upon me." He says the more uncommon words slightly more slowly and carefully. "I welcome the cooperation between species and the exchange of viewpoints myself! In fact, I have been learning many fascinating things on this planet! Now..." Those two extra tentacles turn the pages of the dictionary again. "...let me find out what a 'monocle' is..."

Silver Spider's eyes flick over to Fuzzt. "It's a...lens...that helps someone see with one eye."

Mystique looks Silver Spider in the eye slits. Momentary images of spooky dark swamps, creaking sounds, the flutter of wings just out sight, howls in the darkness, all the primeval fears of humanity hover at the fringe of Silver Spider's mind striving for admittance.

Silver Spider's eyes blink for a moment. "EWWWW!" She says. "I think I saw my Aunt Bertha!" She leaps forward and cocks a fist, aiming it at Mystique fiercely as she races in. Her fist charges up with blue green bioelectricity as she moves, and drives it forward towards the mystic....

Mystique it struck squarely by the bio-charged fist and thrown back along the street a full eight meters. Mystique's misty shield ripples as it slows the impact to some extent. Then her robes harden like steel under the point where the fist strikes. Even so Mystique is shaken up by the sheer power of the attack. Sitting on her butt she sighs, "The worse thing about having an analytical mind is predicting pain - and being right."

Silver Spider leaps forward as she clears the distance, engaging in a beautiful acrobatic flip for the sake of Knox Pooley! "Hey, Knox!" She coos as she gracefully glides towards Mystique. "Watch this, oh, Prince of Yellow Journalism!" She teases as she descends.

Silver Spider drives a fist into Mystique's face. "And the crowd goes wild!" She shouts as she lands just inches from Mystique. "Or, perhaps, Knox, I should call you "Crown Prince of Poo?" She shouts. "Ta-daa!"

Fuzzt goes ooooooh, reaching the correct dictionary page, where there even is a picture of the monocle. It looks between Silver Spider and the picture on its book, alternately. "Thank you, shiny person! I will treasure this knowledge!" He concentrates, and grows a new, thin, long tentacle out of its body. It hooks its end in a loop, and, lo and behold, said object turns into something that looks exactly like a monocle, with corresponding string disappearing into Fuzzt's fur. It turns towars Mystique, and chimes in, "I once heard someone say that the worst thing about having an /analytical/ mind is realising how messed up the world is." There is a moment of pause, whereby he tries to look as serious and important as possible, probably overdoing it a little, the faux-monocle only adding to the comical effect. "...Reprobate."

Mystique slides along the street on her butt leaving a wet trail of condensation behind her as Silver Spider connects. She's still, just, conscious. She sighs, "Don't rush on my account. I have all night."

Mystique gets to her feet and looks briefly at a parked car. o O(Large object. Squashed Silver Spider?) goes through her mind, followed by o O(No. My meta insurance premiums will go through the roof). So she lifts a hand and traces out a symbol of power, her voice whispering like the eerie sighing of wind passing through a derelict building. Around the area where Silver Spider stands acid vapours condense out of the air.

Silver Spider's head blinks as the acid roils towards her and she tumbles away fiercely, barely escaping the fog cloud. Under her feet, the curb begins to dissolve. "All right..." She says. "Now trying to scar me just isn't fair!"

Denied the original target the acid vapour sinks to the sidewalk and eats at the paving with sputtering, hissing, and a smokey acrid smell.

Silver Spider's hand cocks back and swings savagely at Mystique. "That was uncalled for! Did you catch your face in that spell?" She says. "Fashion models the world over are appalled! Knox is appalled! You ARE appalled, aren't you, Knox?"

"If she scars you, the outside will be like the inside!" Pooley calls down from his window.

Spider swings in mid acrobatic leap, the punch carrying her upward and over Mystique, bringing her closer to Knox Pooley.

Mystique is sent tumbling backwards a full twelve meters this time and lays limp and motionless at the end of it.

Silver Spider winces as she watches Mystique drop. "Well..." She says and gets up, shaking her head. "Thanks for Watching, Knox..." She calls out as Pooley slams the window. "Here it comes. "Silver Spider Assaults Mystique..." She shrugs and walks over to her. "Shake hands? Apparently this doofus likes sportsmanship too."

Mystique stirs after a few seconds. Waits a few more seconds before rising to her feet. "That went as expected." She nods, extends a hand, which is a little cold and moist to the touch, and shakes. "I hope you will continue to strive to make it onto the final team. I would hate to have suffered that for nothing."

Silver Spider nods. "Well, I'm trying to find everyone I can. I have a good plan. Don't worry. This will work. I'll never be invited back, but sure."

You say, "I am curious in respect to one thought which crossed my mind while you were engaged in beating me senseless. Had I turned to mist, could you have affected me?"

Silver Spider shrugs quietly. "Yeah." She says thoughtfully. "Yeah I could."

Mystique nods. "It would have been pointless. As a defensive measure, since most cannot thus affect me when I assume my normal form, it works. Under the terms of these challenges though it merely makes for stalemate, which is unlikely to be considered a sportsmanlike tactic. Have you been defeated in recent years? I'd like a little assurance that having been so summarily trounced it was at least by someone to whom defeat was no shame."

Silver Spider shrugs a little bit. "I lose all the time." She says. "Victory isn't always measured by beating up your opponent."

You say, "But defeat is always measured by that criteria. Being morally right is no compensation for failing to stop your opponent completing whatever nefarious task he or she is engaged upon. Well, I have concluded my business here, and have a report to write that the client will no doubt be displeased to receive."

Silver Spider's eyes raise. "Client?" She says. "If Knox is your client, you picked a rotten day for it." She grumbles. "So who is your client?"

You say, "Privilege applies between client and PI. So I shall mention no names. However I will reveal it's a lady who seeks evidence of wrongdoing on her husband's behalf to sweeten a divorce settlement. The need to pay the rent on my office means I cannot always choose my cases. I have the evidence she requires. However I suspect she will not be pleased to hear her husband is indeed having an affair - with her lover."

Silver Spider blinks. "Wait a minute. I thought you were investigating me." She said. "That's what it sounded like."

You say, "No. I know of you, as I know of all metas in the city, the members of the city council, top officials in posts in the city, and those criminals and villains who I may encounter. That is part of the stock in trade of any competent investigator. However I have no reason to investigate you, nor any client who is willing to pay to have that done. I am here because the target of my investigation is in that bar over there. You are here for whatever reason you are. There is no correlation between those two reasons. Although given Knox Pooley's intense dislike of you your presence here outside his residence is suggestive of hassessment and perchance he should be having you investigated."

Silver Spider shrugs. "Actually, he harasses me with all those articles slandering me. So I get in his face as much as possible." She says. "I don't actually watch him, you understand. I just like to be in a place where he'll scream at me and embarrass himself."

Mystique nods, "Thus making his dislike more intense, causing him to write further articles, making you get in his face, thus making his dislike more intense. Until neither of you actually remember what started it or even who started it. It becomes self sustaining and solely destructive. Maybe you should think about that."

Silver Spider shrugs quietly. "Oh, he's hated me since day one." She says. "I'm an urban vigilante and all that other stuff. He writes the yellowest journalism in the city." You say, "And you clearly despise him. Which is the chicken, which is the egg? Unless I'm paid it's not my business. I bid you good night. Should you ever need quiet subtle investigation done contact me. My rates are very reasonable."

Silver Spider shrugs quietly. "Of course. Usually, I just do that stuff myself, though..." She says congenially. "You know, I'm not half bad at it..." o O (The problem with being an attorney is that not only do you know most of the rules, but you know rules that they don't know.)

Mystique turns into mist and seeps away dissipating into absence.