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Things had been quiet early on Sunday. It had been a decent day, not too warm, not too cold. Perfect as Spring comes along getting set to warm up the normally chill island of Manhattan. It had almost given Peter Parker the idea to perhaps take a day off, relax, enjoy some time catching up with his work and his family. But that, apparently, was not to be.
It started with that wild street fight near Hell's Kitchen. A near riot broke out because of it which then led into the NYPD freaking out and launching a manhunt that was in full swing until a few hours ago. During that time, the Spectacular Spider-Man had been hunted, hounded by the police who had apparently employed some new flying doo-dads that could track him. No fun at all.
But he still had enough tricks up his sleeve to give them the slip. To avoid getting sent to the hoosegow. By all rights he should have taken the opportunity to get home, get changed, get some rest. But then his spider-sense gave a warning jangle. Two men running fast across the rooftops, one with a rifle slung over his back and the other with a pair of binoculars. They were definitely up to no good, one looking furtively over his shoulder from time to time.
From Spider-Man's perch he could watch them as they made their way, one skidding on his knees to the lip of the building and starting to unsling his rifle. Yeah, definitely a bad situation. Without a word Spider-Man plants his hand on the edge of the water tower he'd been hiding out on, flipping off into the abyss between buildings, twisting into a swan-dive, then firing a web-line to convert that fall into a smooth arc that sends him hurtling into the air across the way and above those two men. Something's gotta be done.
There are days that she acts as an agent of SHIELD. There are days she acts as the Princess of Symkaria, showing up in her father's stead - like that dinner in Latveria last week. And then there are nights like this one, when she is acting not as an agent nor as the Princess, but as the CEO for a business and a friend to her employee. Her employees, it should be said, are nearly all Symkarian born and bred, which ensures that money flows back into the country. However, just like anyone else, they're human, and temptation comes to everyone now and then.
In this case, Silver's employee accumulated a bit of a gambling debt, and though she provided the money so he could pay it off (once it was tearfully confessed), the debtors didn't particularly care for the length of time it took for the debt to be paid. A lesson had to be taught. In this case? The men that have attracted Spidey's attention are in prime position to 'teach a lesson' to the money's personal life. It wasn't hard to track the men, not really. Silver followed her employee to see who they were, and employed more SHIELD-y tactics to follow them to this spot. She emerges from the exit into the building as they're setting up.
From her angle as she emerges from that stairwell that leads to the roof, she'll have a good position to see the languid silhouette of the wall-crawler as he cuts silently across the city's skyline. Just a red and blue blur that alights upon the bright illuminated billboard that provides those two gunmen a decent bit of cover from street-level. He crawls down the side of it, nimbly traversing the huge face of Rock Hudson shilling for his latest movie.
Meanwhile, those two men are setting the rifle, a small bipod clicking into place under the barrel as the other man starts to rattle off information to his shooter. "Range, about three hundred yards. Wind speed, 3 knots East South East."
The shooter gives a small grunt as he brings the weapon down, starting to take aim. He puts his eye to the eyepiece only for then to hear an abrupt /thwap!/ as a glob of webbing suddenly covers the scope, obscuring the view. And then there's an entirely too sing-song cheerful voice that pipes up.
"Heya fellas, is it wabbit season?"
Well /that/ certainly make things a bit easier, and yet trickier at the same time. Truthfully, she'd intended to give the men their own warning. Maybe with a little head trauma so they just remember enough to stay away. She's not picky. With Spider-Man's convenient distracted, Silver slips out from the door an approaches from behind, taking the second of the two men - the one furtherest from the webslinger. One hand immediately goes onto the back of the man's coat as she pulls him away from his partner and that firearm. One quick tug to throw him back and off balance. Hopefully further distracting his partner away from Spidey.
"I think we need to have our own chat while your friend is occupied with his new friend," Silver tells the man.
The spotter, upon lowering his binocs looked up at Spider-Man and his eyes widened with utter incredulity. Instinctively the man moved back, feet scuffing over the gravel rooftop, trying to get some distance from the wall-cralwer… which conveniently has him running into the waiting arms and tender ministrations of Ms. Sablinova.
There's that quick turn, the disarming motion, and then a subtle tug and twist that sends the man hurtling to the ground face first, his arms splayed out before him as he chokes on some of the gravel kicking up into his eyes and face. He coughs several times, and then a growl is torn from him. "Vhat in the hell is this? Do you haf any idea who I work for!"
She's probably seen it a million times. The subtle gathering of self that translates into easily read body language. The attempt to turn quickly, to dive and get the upper hand upon the woman who dared lay hands upon him, trusting to his greater size, reach, and weight.
But while that all happens, the sniper himself is drawing his own sidearm, bringing it up in a quick snap draw with a round chambering almost instantly. "Piss off, buddy!" Are the trio of words hurled in anger towards Spider-Man, each one punctuated by the crack of a round firing, following the trajectory of the vigilante as he drops from the billboard to land a few feet in front of the man, evading the first round. He slips to one side, sliding by the second, the swirls around the third as he closes the remaining distance.
"You're supposed to tell me it's duck season, then we do this back and forth thing… you know, nevermind." As he says that last, even as the man takes aim for the fourth round, Spider-Man's fist blurs up to the side of the man's head and /cracks/ a heavy punch into the man, knocking him to the ground to join his buddy.
"I've got a handful of ideas," Silver replies, growling in her Slavic accent. "The NYPD is picking him up right now. You should learn how to spot a tail." She could end the man right here and now. But that's not her style. Instead, she leans down and scowls. "Once your friend is done playing around, we're going to head down to the precinct and you can both explain how you decided to harass one of my employees."
Then, from nearby, Spider-Man's voice is heard as he interrupts between the two. "You know this fella, lady?" He's just a bit off to the side, now perched on an industrial sized air conditioner that's luckily silent for now. The sniper's out on the ground next to his webbed up weapon, leaving his spotter there alone to face the threat of not one but two vigilanteish types.
The spotter scowls first at Sable, then at Spider-Man, then back to Sable again. "I don't know what you're talking about." He extends his arms, "If you're going to arrest me, arrest me, get on with it. I know my rights."
To which Spider-Man sort of looks over at Sable. Nope, no badge on her, though she does carry herself with something like… authority.
It's just a simple silver grey pantsuit today. She left the spy catsuit at home. "Do you? I'm a bit unclear on them myself. I'm not from America." What Sable does do is she drags the man to his feet - or just drags him, really - to the edge of the building, slowly pushing him to dangle a little over the edge. "But right now seems like a good time to learn." Spidey is not quite ignored, but not a priority until she gets the spotter where she wants him to be. "These two were threatening one of my employees." She drills her fist into the man's back, as though to 'help' push him more over the edge. "You can deny me all you want, but innocent men don't come to a rooftop with a rifle."
"Ooh, she has you there, counselor." Spider-Man comments even as the man struggles a bit, but then winces as she gives him a good rabbit punch that has him reeling and wincing. He tries to stay back from the edge, "We do no such thing. She is clearly the crazy." The accent of the spotter is there, Eastern European? Perhaps she can recognize it better.
But then Spider-Man says quieter as he hops down to stand beside her, perhaps on edge at how the man's being treated. "No offense, lady. But maybe we should let the cops take it from here?" Though unfortunately for the would-be sniper… there's no sign of the police anywhere nearby.