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It's midday at City Hall and protestors have been picketing for hours. The slogans scribbled across the large signs vary, with some scrawled with GO BACK TO WHERE YOU CAME FROM, FIGHT THE MUTANT THREAT, MUTANTS ARE DEMONS, and even PROTECT OUR FUTURE, the content varies, but the message is the same: mutants don't belong here. The chanting sounds much the same as the small group of 10 walks back and forth across the sidewalk, calling for legislation to address the current mutant 'problem' in the City. It seems Humanis First, the Church of Humanity, and the Friends of Humanity have teamed up to get a small group of ten to picket council.
Regardless, their efforts have not gone unnoticed, and have already drawn a few spectators at the coffee shop across the street. The day is chilly, yet some still linger on the shop's patio to see the spectacle that the protestors are making.
Sue Storm, in her little black dress, kitten heels, and tailored black blazer has a meeting with a city councillor in an hour. She's too-early as per usual, and has opted to remain at the coffee shop instead of entering Town Hall for said meeting. She sips at the cup of coffee in front of her before shaking her head.
She turns towards the patron nearest her and notes: "At least it's peaceful." Her head shakes.
*
Anya Corazon steps out of the coffee shop, styrofoam cup in hand, and happens to be the nearest patron to Sue. Anya sets her coffee on one of the outdoor tables, buttons her red overcoat over the plain brown blouse and tan trousers she wears, and sighs. "I don't know if there's anything 'peaceful' about this," she mutters, not wanting to start an argument with a stranger.
Then she does a goddamned double take. "Dios!" she exclaims. "You're Sue Storm!" Her face is clearly conflicted between not wanting to make a scene, contrasted with open admiration. "I'm sorry, I just, oh geez…" Anya takes a breath and pulls herself together, offering her hand in greeting. "H-hi, I'm Anya. I'm computering study science at NYU-, I mean /Computer Science/." She sighs, still flustered.
*
Those very vocal minorities arguing about very concealed minorities might be less than thrilled to learn that one of them is in their midst. Doubly, as a junior attorney at the city's foremost firm serving the empowered individuals of New York State and beyond, Jennifer is probably right up there as public enemy #6. Someone to argue about and shout or shoot at, as far as they care. Still, she lingers near the edge of the unfriendly group chanting and shouting, talking to one of the random pedestrians accosted by the group's sheer ability to keep him from paying his water bill and complaining that the neighbour wants to string up a whole curtain of Christmas lights complete with two reindeer on his second-floor apartment.
Not that Jen is especially imposing, unless one fears ladies in skirt suits. But her pointed look stops a harassing attempt to stuff a pamphlet in someone's face; it isn't the man's, but the young woman's. See, even a respectable fellow can let one of those working ladies run interference.
So far the conversation has been quiet, largely an excuse for him to loiter and then flee when he sees a gap. That gap opens up right about… now. A fresh body means a fresh target! Someone else to bother about the rising threat of jobs stolen by mutant people, schools at risk because of thought-readers, and why even the menace of unrestricted criminal mutants.
Let's just ignore the fact Jen is wearing a blue and red scarf with a bit of black threaded through it. No one has to know what that means. Chaos for the chaos god! Goodness, they are making a scene. Right as the scarf flaps over, she observes this and waves to Sue.
Spider symbol on scarf waves to the Humanis First people.
*
"Computering study science," echoes a very serious-sounding male voice from behind Anya. Turns out that voice belongs to the other Storm sibling, who has just emerged from the coffee shop himself with plans to join his sister at her table, a cup of coffee of his own in hand. Johnny is trying to keep his expression as deadpan as possible, but there's amusement dancing in his eyes as he studies Anya. "That sounds like a rough major."
At least Sue doesn't have to chastise him before Johnny's face splits into a wide, apologetic smile, and he immediately extends his free hand towards Anya for a shake. Peace offering. "Sorry. I tease. NYU's computer science program is no joke, you've gotta be smart as hell," he says brightly.
*
The remark from the stranger causes Sue's lips to part, not with disagreement, but a stitch of good humour, only to be recognized. She manages a tight smile and stands from her seat to accept the hand. Her eyes flit towards her brother for a second, and her smile finds it usual warmth. "Anya," she repeats. Her more diplomatic altogether-polished self, steps in, "Lovely to meet you. And," a glance is given towards the protest, "I meant peaceful insofar as non-violent. Keeping the peace?" she cringes slightly. "I'm not sure there's much to be kept near City Hall." Her fingers curl around her coffee cup once again.
Johnny's remark earns a nearly feline squint of her eyes followed by a small nod of approval. But it's Jennifer's wave that prompts her eyebrows to lift. "It seems our lawyer is having some fun at the protestors' expense." Her gaze sweeps towards her brother and then back to Anya, as her teeth toy at her bottom lip. A few beats pass before she's asking, "Begs questions why the rest of us shouldn't?"
Also begs questions if she has more of Victor's nanites on her brain.
She ticks her head towards Jennifer, silently indicating that both Johnny and Anya are welcome to follow her should they so choose. "Miss Walters," Sue greets warmly as she closes the distance between herself and the other woman. "Engaging in some intriguing debate?"
With the question posed, it seems that one of the protestor's ears burn, and he trails towards the two women, "Have you heard about — " only to stop and stare at Sue… who lifts a few fingers and issues him a wave.
Sue's gaze shifts towards Jennifer, a mute question plagues her mind, indicating in little more than her serpentine smile.
*
"Hi," Anya says again, shaking Sue's hand, and then turning to the further introductions. Johnny's appearance turns her tan cheeks even darker, which seems to annoy her more than the actual embarrassment. She laughs awkwardly, runs fingers through her short hair and offers her hand to him as well. The compliment about her smarts actually seems to stabilize her some.
"Actually, yeah, I'm pretty sharp," she says with a grin. "ALGOL is a mess, but the new FORTRAN compiler is pretty promising…" She stops herself before going full nerd, even if Sue Storm is her science nerd hero. Nodding at the introduction to Jennifer she says, "Nice to meet you Ms. Walters. Oh wow, is that a Spider-Man scarf? He is /so/ cool."
*
Their attorney has a sense of humour, yes, and her own reasons for wearing that scarf related to Sunday evening dinners. Jen probably isn't mindful of the complaints of the protest squadron behind her, the spill of 'Is that…?' mumbled off their lips in her wake. The Storms have the capacity to cause no little stir, and she happily falls right into the eye of it.
"Ms. Storm. Merely assuring my clerk safely filed paperwork for a new business license for a client, and assuring that we maintain a warm and cordial relationship with all the halls of law." There may have been a box of croissants left at the desk of a city official, with 'for your department, not just you, Don!' handwritten on the white cardboard lid. The records department seriously must adore friendly attorneys.
She briskly closes the distance and halts, giving an equally warm smile to Johnny and Anya, though the latter holds her attention. "Computer science? There's an impressive field. Jennifer Walters." She offers her hand, just in case. "Attorney for these lovely lot, among other things. This happened to catch me on a day away from the courtroom. Kurtzburg making opening arguments in a case. And yes, it is a Spider-Man scarf. He's quite the menace. A good reminder for lawyers and reporters to do what they do honestly." The voice says one thing, the mischief in her eyes says something else.
*
"Anya, right? Johnny." Not that Johnny Storm probably needs to introduce himself, but he's not that arrogant or impolite to skip it. He gives Anya's hand a warm shake — literally warm, at least as warm as the cups of coffee they're holding — before releasing it and he, at least, seems genuinely interested in listening to her approach Full Nerd.
But then Sue says something odd and he gets distracted, blinking owlishly at her. "Eh? What? We're going to — are you sure?" Johnny asks, glancing briefly to Anya before he hurries along in Sue's wake.
Well. If Sue says it's okay to have a little fun, who is he to argue? Johnny just offers a beaming smile to Jen in greeting, and his eyes are, once again, dancing. "Oh, g'wan. Spidey's a good guy," he says, making damned sure he's speaking clearly enough for the protesters to hear him. "He helped us out bigtime yesterday. You should be nicer to him, Jen," he says seriously, waggling a finger at her before he sips his coffee.
*
A flicker of a smile follows Johnny's assertions about Spider-Man. "Yes, Spider-Man. Oh so menacing~" the musical lilt in Sue's tone contains just a hint of comical sarcasm. "Assuming perhaps," her gaze turns upwards remembering the first time she met Spidey and put him in his place with his Doctor-Richards-based-assumptions, "But Menacing?" She hums. "And Joon's right, he was most certainly a hero yesterday," her own voice echoes louder towards the protestors.
By now the foursome have earned the ire of at least half the protestors — who stare daggers at the group. Again Sue lifts her fingers in a small waggle/wave. It's fortunate, however, that looks can't kill — at least those of non-ability'd human-types can't kill.
Sue's arms draw across her chest and she maintains that smile as she casually draws her attention to Jennifer. "Well, I'm glad business is good, Ms. Walters." There's a pause. "And it's technically Dr. Storm now. I defended nearly three weeks ago and passed with flying colours thanks to the family's coaching."
Her throat clears, "That reminds me, I think we may have some legal issues we need to work out. The Latverian Embassy has issued us a cease and desist following a rather…" her nose wrinkles, "disconcerting conversation that was completely mistaken to be accusatory. Evidently, the Latverian monarch thinks we could be guilty of slander. I had aimed to bring it by your office…"
Down the street, several darkly dressed figures mill about the crowd towards City Hall. While present, they seem just as other spectators observing the spectacle.
*
Anya smirks at Jennifer's 'menace' remark and shakes the taller woman's hand. Shaking Johnny's hand makes Anya skip a beat though. There's the warmth, the flicker of recognition, the… Johnny. It's not a long beat, but she just smiles and swallows hard, trying to keep up with the conversation. "Oh, congratulations on your defense, Dr. Storm. I'm hoping to graduate early and purse a PHD in the networking field. There's a whole future in webbing information together across different computers. Do you guys use computers much in your…" Base? Lab? Lair? "In your work?" It's directed at Johnny and Sue, although she's fascinated by Jennifer too. So many successful women role models!
*
"Quite. The habit of the press to assume someone is guilty of crimes without a shred of evidence presented to the court of public opinion, which is notoriously biased, does concern a proper lawyer. In fact, most lawmakers need to give sober thought rather than jump to baseless conclusions. Or swing, actually." Jen has no trouble maintaining beautifully enunciated words that have Czech cut crystal clarity. "What happened with Spider-Man last night? I suppose I ought to update my files."
What, is he another client? Apparently she has quite a few. Maybe he gave her the scarf as a token. Let's see if the protesters look ready to cry.
The fact Anya gives Johnny that look is reason to pause, and smother what totally amounts to a grin. Must maintain that professional poker face, and she does. "How long have you two known one another?" News is to be had. Gossip!
*
Johnny can't help the way he lifts his chin and squares his shoulders when Sue those three precious little words that every baby brother longs to hear their elder sibling say in public: 'And Joon's right.' Yes. Yes, he is. You hear that, New York? Joon's right.
"Ugh. Victor." He lets Sue fill Jean in on that little ball of sunshine, and turns back towards Anya instead. This line of conversation is way more fun.
"Do we — oh, we use them a ton," Johnny says brightly, smiling cheerfully at her. "Ben and I have gotten to build so much cool stuff. If you wanted to, you could come by the Baxter and have a look." Like Sue will say no. Pfff. "You can meet Roberta, it'll be great."
Oblivious to the dark figures down the way, Johnny aims a smile at Jen. "He helped us rescue a cosmonaut," he explains, sounding as if he's describing the weather. Just another day.
*
The spectators seem to grow in number as the four stand adjacent to the protestors. It seems that the Storms really are a draw. Even if it's not quite the crowd the protestors want. Yet the figures who had just joined the spectators seem to disappear from view.
Sue's hands find the pockets of her jacket, tucking away in their depth. Her eyebrows lift at Johnny's invitation to Anya, but she actually agrees, "Of course. The Baxter Building is our how, our lab, and our garage. And, as my brother so keenly pointed out, we are keen to demonstrate our — " but something catches her attention. Her head turns as she peeks into the crowd. Weren't there more people there just a second ago?
Her nose wrinkles and she shakes her head. No, she must be seeing things, prompting her to turn back to Anya. "Why thank you! I was pleased to — " but the thought isn't finished. A large wall of ice builds around the group of ten. "Joon!" the call is one for immediate action because no one can drop a wall of ice like the Human Torch.
Screams echo on the other side of the wall.
*
The way Sue's conversation starts to include half-finished thoughts is enough to get Johnny's attention, his brow furrowing in curiosity. That's not normal. He starts to ask before he sees the wall of ice beginning to form over her shoulder, and his eyes widen in surprise. "Aish! Hold this please!" he says quickly to Anya, passing her his coffee before he breaks into a sprint for the wall. Does he tell her to run somewhere safe? Sort of: "Stay close to Sue!"
Still looking entirely human, Johnny rushes right up to the wall of ice and slams his palms against the surface, steam immediately beginning to rise from his shoulders as a steady stream of water begins to pour from the entirety of the frozen construct. But as quickly as he can make it melt, it seems to replenish itself, causing him to narrow his eyes and crank the heat higher. Overtaking the ice's progress is going to take time.
"Need a hand!" Johnny calls over his shoulder. "Over or under, I'm workin' on through!"
*
How observant is Jen? Enough that she can count the people around her, yes. But the more important business is how well a lawyer reads faces and postures, and disseminates the data mentally to various portions of the brain until a resounding conclusion is heard: bad.
Without much hesitation, she steps in around Anya, as if one particularly unimpressive young lady is going to do much at all to stop trouble. Protesters might think that. They'd probably think wrong. "I had a bad feeling about this. You can tell me about the cosmonaut and your computer programming after, capiche? I want to know the details."
Already she is turning to the wall, and there is a look of horror and dismay on her face. "Don't tell me they attacked a peaceful crowd. No matter how unpleasant…" Her dark hair may be up in a chignon, but that doesn't stop it from curling at the ends. "I'll get your friend out of the way." That would be Anya. "If you don't want to be front and center." There's no way she can help looking like she is, unless it's throwing gang signs for Spider-Man. Therefore her reaction will be practical: she will run away to safety with Anya in tow, or not.
And, say, a minute later? Less? Smart girls go green to make ice cubes. If someone hasn't fully improved on it.
*
Anya quickly shifts from engaged curiosity, obviously interested in the conversaton, and she almost literally brightens when Johnny invites her over, basically on a date. It's obviously a date, right? And then everything changes.
Really, Anya wouldn't win any awards for acting, but luckily no one's really that focused on her when she says, "Uh, yikes! I'm going to hide in here!" Clap, clap, clap. Then she rushes back into the coffee shop, past all the looky-loos rushing out to see what's going on. The various coffees are left on the cafe table outside.
Moments later? In a swan dive from the roof, The black clad figure of Spider-Girl swoops down, scooping bystanders out of the way and to a safe distance away to whatever's going on. As she swings by, she calls out to Johnny and Sue, "What else can I do to help?"
*
ROLL: Sue +rolls 1d100 for a result of: 16
*
ROLL: Johnny +rolls 1d100 for a result of: 85
*
ROLL: Anya +rolls 1d100 for a result of: 95
*
ROLL: Jennifer +rolls 1d100 for a result of: 62
*
When Anya is being carried away, Sue refocuses her energies on the large wall and the people behind it. While Johnny works at breaking through the wall, with a WHOOSH, Sue is surfing on a bubble of psionic energy no one else can see. There's nothing official about her capacity in the air, thanks to her little black dress, kitten heels, and blazer, and she immediately regrets wearing the Givenchy dress instead of her unstable molecules uniform.
It takes some work to scale the wall, and once over it, she can't help but have a pang of appreciation for how fast it was erected. It spans three sides, enclosing City Hall and the protestors against it. But on the other side, at least two of the ten has already been encased in a sheet of ice, prompting Sue to yell, "CALL EMERGENCY SERVICES!" to no one in particular before disappearing behind the wall of ice.
The combined efforts of Johnny and Jennifer create a hole in the side of the wall, and once the world on the other side is exposed, the view is relatively grim. Two protestors, still holding their signs are frozen solid in a pose that suggests they tried to use their signs as a weapon against whatever onslaught had been taking place, and a now-masked assailant, through the hole lifts its hands and sends a rather cheap, and very sharp array of crystals through the hole only to slam against the wall seconds later thanks to a burst of psionic energy.
Once through, the heroes will see smell smoke and char along the frame of the door to City Hall, and, at least eight protestors missing…
*
Between Sue's shout and the view Johnny gets once he and Jen finally put a hole in the wall of ice, the younger Storm's expression is grim. "Well. This looks bad," he asides to Jen, turning his back on the hole as the baddie's attack is halted by Sue. He's looking up towards the arriving woman in black, and slowly, he tilts his head to the side. Huh.
"Bad guy freezing people!" Johnny reports to Spider-Girl, waiting for there to be some distance between himself and Jen before he finally erupts fully into flame. "If you can take him out, I can deal with the ice."
Somebody's gotta thaw those two protesters out, fast. And he's best suited to the job, so he's gonna do it.
*
Nothing quite irritates Jen like inequality. Attacking protesters, even those she dislikes, infects her with that noblesse oblige that a certain man of spiders frequently shows. Without a word, she braces her feet against the ground about parallel with the protesters still entrapped in ice. "They are going to panic if they can see this," she tells Johnny, her nightshade lips tight.
Righteous anger she can leash. It does a body good, especially one so thoroughly irradiated that the surge of adrenaline tops her out over seven feet. All those afternoons spent wailing away as the sole female in a gym, practicing punches and kickboxing while men laugh openly about it… they prove valuable, now. She starts slamming her fists into the ice with a timed precision, pounding into the sheet around a victim's head without putting them at risk of being crushed. Her methodical approach uses that horrendous strength rippling along her compact biceps and triceps, and as soon as she can get her hands on a block, she rips it away. A foot to the front of the weakening ice wall probably would help. The facade behind the victim might be broken, too, because she is not holding back, except to keep anything higher from calving off like an iceberg into the Weddell Sea. As soon as that frozen howl is in the air, she can worry about ripping the ice off his (her? its?) chest far more gently. Oxygen first. Evil bad guy second.
Evil bad guy really doesn't want to meet the smiling, verdant Amazon up close, right?
*
"Yeah," Anya says to the bystanders she just dropped off. "Call an ambulance!" If Sue said it, it must be right!
Weblines thwip out from Spider-Girl, grabbing on to the wall of City Hall right above the Great Wall of Ice. Everyone always forgets to look up! Anya pulls hard on the webline and she shoots across the intervening diagonal, making a classic 'Superhero landing', but sideways, sticking to the wall.
Looking back down into the enclosure she tries the Ice-Guy's own trick against him, trying to cocoon him with maddeningly flexible, yet strong-as-steel webbing. Her hands are a blur, blasting blob after blob of the sticky stuff, doing her best to get him stuck in place and immobilized. "Looks like you need to /cool/ it, buddy!" Oh yeah, quippin' and thwippin'. It's on.
*
ROLL: Johnny +rolls 1d100 for a result of: 47
*
Johnny cuts through the ice surrounding the frozen protestors, causing them to find some malleability as they slowly, but surely, melt from their freezing. Like Han Solo's release from carbonite, each falls to the ground in turn, trembling with the shock and hypothermia that has overtaken their bodies. One of them, a youngish adult female curls into herself as her teeth chatter. The other, however, an older gentleman who had looked like he was attacking the assailant in turn (with his sign), doesn't move. His chest doesn't rise or fall.
Ice Guy (TM) lifts his hands and fires a long array of icy-fury towards She-Hulk once she's in view. A person knows better than to not respond to a body like that. Of course, even as he does so, webbing begins to form around him. And while it may be strong, as it meets his body and wraps around him, it begins to freeze. There's no question is ability seems to be in overdrive.
And Sue… has disappeared. Into the building, theoretically. Because if the protestors didn't get out, and aren't encased in the wall, it's likely they went in…
Should others follow, the entrance looks grim. A long line of black char lingers across the centre of the wall, dividing the walls into half. Ashen shadows of presumed bystanders (or protestors?) echo some kind of flashpoint that has happened in this room — until actual fire is encountered just down the hall towards Council Chambers… flames that have several people stuck behind them on the other side. Including City Council.
*
Johnny trusts Sue, She-Hulk and Spider-Girl to be able to take care of themselves. He's a forward-thinkin' guy like that. So his focus is entirely on getting the civilians unfrozen, and checking on them in turn once he does. The girl looks like she'll be okay; Johnny drops his flames so that he can shrug out of his still-warm jacket and drape it around her shoulders like a heated blanket.
But then Johnny moves to check on the older gentleman, and he pales. Aw, hell. Where most heroes might focus their efforts on taking out the bad guy or investigating further inside, he turns his efforts to performing CPR.
Surely Sue will be fine, right?
*
Punching the ice does nothing but give Jennifer a case of wet knuckles. She kicks away the impressive heap of ice chips no one wants for a snowcone, and then hastens after the hallway with a gesture for Johnny indicating her direction. With quads like those, is her speed patently unfair? Only if cheetahs and tigers are consulted, and they aren't.
She recoils from the sight of the shadowy outlines, vague textbook images of Hiroshima's nuclear blast radius and that haunting outline of someone who had been a person practically ionized as a shadow on the wall hitting her. The green in her eyes and the green hue of her skin only deepens, and the usually forgotten whisper in the back of her head wants its due. Flames do not impress her terribly much, if they do not have a person shaped source, and clearly they should. Who wants to hear a rumbling, awful whisper right to their lizard brain: "If you caused this, I'll give you a head start to run."
Sadly, City Hall's furnishings are going to be dumped on the fire to help contain and kill it, starting with a rug she yanks away to smother it in part. No art will be added to the bonfire, and if the sprinkler systems are working? Fab. If they need help? Here's some flaming stuff.
*
Anya can only focus on so much at once right now. She-Hulk is inside, and Johnny's taking care of that old man. Sue is probably dismantling an atomic warhead or something. With her half-mask, Spider-Girl's frown is visible. "Hey, no fair!" she yells as her webbing is already cracking and flaking away from I.G.
From the wall, Spider-Girl jumps up and a little bit away from the wall. At the apex of her jump she's even with the second story, and her arms stick out in opposite directions. From her left hand, a webline shoots to stick near the lip of the roof, nearly three stories up. Her right hand fires a line grabbing on to Ice-Guy (TM, obv), and she yanks. Her goal is to bring these locations together, sticking Ice-Guy to outside of City Hall, some 30 feet above the sidewalk.
"Shut it off, guy! Shut it off or you'll fall!" Nevermind that Spider-Girl will totally catch him if he does fall. He doesn't have to know that.
*
ROLL: Johnny +rolls 1d100 for a result of: 9
*
The man that Johnny performs CPR on is nonresponse for several rounds chest compressions. His pale face and chilled hands feel downright icy, even through his clothes to Johnny — the much warmer and engaged member of the Fantastic Four. There's no breath that fills his lungs, just the continued emptiness of a body that had been frozen.
The sprinklers begin to rain down within the building, but it won't be enough to get the people out quickly without She-Hulk's intervention. A councillor screams at the sight of her, but walks towards the woman just the same. "The fire — " he objects loudly and it's altogether unclear whether he's more worried about the flames or the woman in front of him.
Two protestors that Jenn might recognize from outside are among those needing rescue, one of which has curled up into a small ball at the end of the hallway adjacent to the fire. She cries into her hands, murmuring something about wanting it all to go away.
If Ice Guy is concerned about falling, he doesn't relent in his efforts, instead causing the webbing to begin to shatter. And as it does so, very slowly, ice guy begins to create a layer of ice beneath him. Yeah, he intends to skate in the air. If he weren't so evil, it'd probably look really cool.
A window breaks on the second floor — causing a loud BANG as the glass shatters outwards and rains on the block below.
*
ROLL: Sue +rolls 1d100 for a result of: 74
*
Johnny tries. He tries to save the frozen protester for longer than anyone probably would expect a powered person to, and when he sinks back onto his heels, he looks genuinely distraught at his failure.
Slowly, his eyes drift towards the on-going struggle between Spider-Girl and Ice Guy… and one of Johnny's eyelids twitches. THAT PUNK.
In one smooth movement, Johnny comes surging to his feet and then off of them, bursting into flame as he comes flying upwards to catch the oh-so-impressive airborne ice skater in the midsection with his shoulder, throwing a pair of flaming arms around his midsection. "Inside!" is all the Human Torch says to Spider-Girl. It's all he has time for before he puts on a burst of speed and begins to carry Ice Guy up.
And up. And up. And up.
*
"I swore an oath to the state of New York to protect people here, and I will live up to that oath regardless of whom they are," She-Hulk replies. It's something that she is wearing a white blouse and, well, at least there are nylons. She isn't so worried about the shorts, or that someone might take umbrage. Her fallen hair sheets to her waist and the water running of it helps to make her look exactly like them: soaked, very green, but very much concerned. "Everyone who can, out this way!"
That her voice rocks the entire hall at a full, commanding shout is helpful. No one can claim, even crying, they didn't feel and hear it in their marrow. If there isn't any action, she darts through the fire and simply picks up that sad, balled up woman in the fetal position in her arms, disregarding hitting, biting, or snot on her shirt. "I promise, you'll be safe if we go outside, ma'am." It helps to move so fast, bolting ahead of others. Does she have to carry three? Three she will carry, with some idea of politeness. They will be put outside, but not before one question to the city councillor.
"What about the fire? Who set it, where are they?"
Go heroic question asking!
*
Spider-Girl was /just/ about to give Ice-Guy some choice words, and probably in Spanish from how mad she looks, when Flame-Guy WHOOSHES past, stealing the Spider's prize. "Whoa, hey!" But then she shrugs. It's probably for the best. With the second floor window blown out, Anya takes that as her cue.
Swinging down and through, she comes to a crouch in the first room she finds on the second floor, scanning for anyone who looks like they'd could use an elevator down. "I'm here to /help/. Who's up here?"
*
ROLL: Sue +rolls 1d100 for a result of: 35
*
The Councillor nods, albeit somewhat reluctantly at Jennifer's assertion. "I see, ma'am. We need — " but he doesn't finish the thought, instead accepting direction as she commands. He bobs into a run as She-Hulk plucks the poor catatonic protestor from the floor (it's hard to say whether current events will influence her in any way). The protestor writhes in Shulkie's grasp, clawing and biting like a caged animal, but her strength and skills are no match for the Hulk-woman.
The Councillor looks at the green woman a moment before offering, "There were two. Both upstairs. Only one first — the Invisible Woman — " he points towards the staircase. "And then another came out of nowhere and closed us all," he motions back to where they'd been trapped.
Spider-Girl enters a very destroyed Council Chamber. Furniture is strewn about the room. Char lines its expanse. And a very haggard-looking Sue Storm with her hands held up can feel her resolve slipping. Even her normally trim appearance has taken on a very weathered edge: Givenchy dress now drenched from the sprinklers, her eyes burning with tears, brow gleaning with sweat, and nose running with blood. Her hands are held out, encasing two very hot thermonuclear types pushing back within an invisible forcefield of psionic energy.
Even through the forcefield the heat can be felt — angry and unbidden. They push Sue backwards with force, and her body slides unwillingly as she attempts to maintain that field around them.
*
Holy cow. Anya was not ready for seeing the great Sue Storm actually at an impasse. Spider-Girl's confidence falters for a second, and then she gets an idea. Springing to the window she shouts, "Get ready Sue, I /got/ this!"
Feet stuck to the wall above the broken window, Anya uses both hands to fire a double web line down to the street. It gloms on to a chunk of ice the size of refrigerator. It seems like it shouldn't stick, but like a tongue on a flagpole, thermal conductivity makes it grab just long enough. She hauls up on the slab of ice hard, making it smash through the broken window, widening it even further where bits of wall are disintegrated.
"NOW SUE!" And Spider-Girl hoists the block /hard/ at the Thermo-Guys, hopefully bowling both over just as the forcefields wink out. It's all in the timing.
*
The forcefield falls just as the ice block hits its target. Both of the Fire Guys (TM, obvs), collapse backwards, hitting the wall and getting reduced to not-fire as they come in contact with the ice. And in case that isn't quite enough, it's at that moment that they're both hit with strong blasts of psionic energy, knocking them both out (as a double-tap because Storms learn their lessons) as Sue lifts her hands again. "Thanks…" she whispers before her knees buckle beneath her and she crumples to the ground.
The exhaustion is real.
*
There is one Fire Guy on the scene who is still conscious, but that's probably for the best. The Human Torch returned — empty-handed, it is worth noting! — just in time to witness Spider-Girl's problem solving skills, hanging back in the air a safe distance away.
His return is probably given away by the increase in temperature behind her, if not his voice. "Looks like you really saved our bacon," Johnny tells her, craning his neck to peer worriedly between the two unconscious figures and his clearly exhausted sister. "Seo? You in one piece?"
*
Anya is just halfway into a sigh of relief before she sees Sue start to drop. Rushing to her side, Spider-Girl scoops up the woman in her arms and carries her to the window before she even realizes Johnny is there. "Oh, hey," she says, suddenly more confident and not awkward at all. It looks like Sue weighs almost nothing in her arms.
"She'll be ok," Anya says to Johnny. "I think she just passed out. She was holding both of those jerks for ages…" She steps out of the window, hugs Sue to herself, and uses one hand to gently lower both of them back down to street level. "Can you bring those two down? I think they're too hot for me to handle." Phasing, Anya. Phrasing.
*
Sue's small frame somehow looks tinier in her utter exhaustion. Her pale face, strewn with the blood from her nose that has since glopped down her cheek, combined with the moisture from the still running sprinkler is a call back to her recent sick self. Bruising has begun to form underneath her eyes, evidence of a hard blow to her face of some kind. Likely a lucky shot. But despite her appearance, for the moment, she looks oddly peaceful.
Sirens blare from the street with the fire department and other authorities finally showing up now that the situation is (mostly) in hand. There's no question more than one person will need medical attention…. and arrest.
The noise prompts Sue to stir. "My head," she groans rather than speaks. "The world is spinning…" she mumbles softly.
*
"Yeah, I've got 'em." Johnny must be the only person in the city this quick to trust masked individuals with spiders emblazoned across their chests. Retrieving the two knocked-out Fire Guys isn't hard — one gets slung over his shoulder, and he just straight-up drags the other one behind him by the scruff for the short journey down to street level.
Once he's on the ground again, Johnny lets his own flames fully go out. He doesn't seem hurt, but he is carrying some new tension around his eyes, particularly as he moves over to peek at Sue. <Just relax, Seo. She's got you,> he assures her in Korean.
*
Anya looks very alert at the sound of sirens, but she doesn't hop up or rush away. After glancing around briefly to make sure cops with guns aren't running up, she gives Sue another hug, and carefully props her against the wall. "Shh, you should rest." Sighing, and looking genuinely disappointed, Spider-Girl turns to Johnny. "I'm sorry I can't stay," she says, nodding at the incoming emergency vehicles. "It's about to get real complicated here. Just tell 'em Spider-Girl helped, si?" She hesitates briefly, but not long. Then with a thwip, she's up and gone, over the building with the coffee shop in it.