1965-03-31 - Crowded Skyways
Summary: Spider-Man comes across the Nuclear Girl while swinging through New York.
Related: If there are no related logs, put 'None', — please don't leave blank!
Theme Song: None
peter-parker lorraine-reilly 


Flying is unlike any feeling in the world.
You feel the pull of gravity, but Strong Nuclear beats Gravity all the time. Like feeling a breeze but know it is nowhere near strong enough to push you down.
The winged woman is currently flying about 100 feet off the ground, wings spread fully, arms thrust forward to direct her path. She felt light-headed, almost intoxicated, but it is a drug without any after-effects, no ugly taste in the mouth, or the mind.
So, forget the subway, forget the limo, forget the subway. She smiles widely as she soars between two buildings in Mid-Town. This was the ONLY way to travel…


Flying? That's what pigeons and winged wonders do. Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man? He's not exactly flying. The webline catches on a building and the webhead slings him around the corner, where he arches and flings himself high, using the momentum to pendulum to the next line he fires from his webshooter to catch and continue the process.

It's more falling with style than flying. The twisting and turning hero has no wings as it were, so he relies on the twisting of his body as he flings himself towards a corner…

…and that's when he gets that sudden impending feeling of doom.

Both arms stretch and a pair of lines fly out to try to halt his process before he rounds the corner and finds himself with the flying nuclear woman. "Whoa, Nelly!" he calls out to himself. "I'm going to need your flying license and registration." he quips.


The winged woman turns and stops, startled. Was there a flying ordinance for superheroes who could fly? Some kind of FAA thing she hadn't thought to consider? If she was breaking the law, could she walk…
She stopped, her eyes narrowing.
"You're having me ON…" she says in a slightly disconcerted but nonetheless crystal voice.


"Having you on?" comes the response from the dangling figure in blue and red as Spider-Man takes a moment to translate what he just heard. "Oh! Leading you on. I mean, little too early for having anything." he points out as he releases one line to swing back towards the building and grips to the side of it.

Those closed off eye-sockets glances up at Lorraine and there's a smile in his voice. "So it's a little early for April Fools, but you know, with these sometimes crowded skies, might not be a bad idea. I mean, Iron Man speeds through here all the time!"


She'd heard of Iron Man, of course. But this one…
She tilts her head, and then recognition illuminates her face. She actually points a finger at the Wall-Crawler. "You're SPIDER-MAN, aren't you?"


"Uh. Well." Spidey considers for a moment.

And it's decision time. Usually when someone says 'You're SPIDER-MAN', there's going to be an attack that's gonna be following very quickly behind, along with some tragic backstory how a spider ruined their life or you know, Spidey meddled and boom, made a new super-villain.

Totally on accident. No matter how hot they are.

Literally.

Finally, he makes a decision. "That's what's written on the inside of my spidey suit. And you are.. well, flying. And all flamey."


The flying woman smiles. "Well, pleased to meet you. I am…"
Dramatic pause. Is it going to sound silly or corny?
"…FIREHAWK, The Nuclear Woman."
Okay, maybe a little corny.
She pirouettes in midair, turning back to face Spidey. "Wow, this is my first time meeting a superhero. Well, one in a costume. Okay, one in a costume that took more than five minutes to think up."


Okay, you can stop tensing up, Spidey. There's no attack forthcoming.

Whew. Did he just let out a sigh of relief out loud? Probably.

"Firehawk the Nuclear Woman? Huh. Well, I mean, I hope you don't have a meltdown when you eat ice cream!" Just to make sure she didn't feel totally corny, right? The webslinger considers for a moment and looks over his red and blues and there's that grin in his voice again. "Finally, someone didn't think I just stitched my pajamas together!"

There's a pause.

"I didn't. Swear."


FireHawk smiles, drifting closer to Spider-Man, regarding him with some amusement. "That's a very specific kind of pajamas, there. And no, I've already had my nuclear meltdown this past week, don't plan to have one anytime soon. But it HAS been awhile since I had ice cream." She looks back to him, intrigued. "Are you doing some crimefighting, right this minute?"


"No, I think I'm talking to a newly created superheroine." Spidey admits with some amusement. "Oh wow. That must have been a terrible date." Always with the humor. He gives it some thought before he shakes his head. "Nope, not crime-fighting at the moment. Just wanted to get out and about, feel the air on my uh.. suit.. and see if there's anything going on that needed my attention. You know, all these heroes, so hard to get a gig these days. I even heard that Batman was cracking down on joyriders."

The amusement from the hero is obvious - despite the fact that he's been in existance for years, in super hero years, he still sounds so very young behind that all-covering mask that settles around his face and mutes his features. "So, have you gotten the whole 'welcome to the club, now here's the rules' speech?"


She looks thoughtful. "Someone else sorta inducted me into the club…without meaning to. It's kinda complicated. As for the rules…I didn't even know there WERE rules. Uhm…make sure there's a crime being committed before jumping in, preserve the chain of evidence, only use the amount of force necessary?" She paused. "Never give out your real name, help whoever needs helping, and experiment only as a last resort? Are those the rules you're talking about?"


"Well, I was thinking more about something my Uncle told me once." Spidey offers as he gives a shrug of his shoulders. "But it seems that you have it all well in hand." comes the encouragement from the wall-crawler, just before a window opens next to him and a man sticks his head out.

"Hey webhead! Move it, your ass is ruining our view!"

There's a blink of eyes at the man and he looks behind him, seemingly hurt. "It's not that big!" he offers up finally, before he drops off the side of the building and starts to plummet downwards.


FireHawk looked incensed. "Hey, look what you made him do!"
In a moment, she is soaring downward. She didn't see him as the suicidal type, but she's going to do what she can, just in case.
Because you never know…


Suicidal? Spidey?

Perish the thought!

A line thwips out and grabs the side of a building and he's flung up into the air again. "So. Just to make sure I have my notes straight. You're a new super gir- woman." See, he can correct himself! She is a woman, after all. "And you've had the talk, though that sounds like the talk SHIELD gives. Were they all in stiff looking suits and a guy named Coulson involved?" he asks curiously.

Another thwip, another line. "My advice, as someone that's been at this for a while? Don't take it personal. People are gonna like you, people are going to hate you - me, I have more hate than like, but when it comes down to it?"

"I love helping others. It's worth every jeer that's thrown out at me to see someone's relief when they know they're finally safe. Or even when I retireved their cat from a tree. I mean, not that I've done that and have the scratch scars on my arm to prove it. Cat claws hurt."


FireHawk smirks. "Would you believe I have a very conscientious father who wants me to do well, because of how mutants are seen?" She can keep up with him easily. "Don't take it personal. Okay…gotta remember that. And it's cool that you like helping people. It's not have you have, it's what you do with it that counts."


"Ah. I wasn't gonna ask how you got your powers. I mean, you could have been a irradiated by a radioactive hamburger. But mutant, that works." Spidey offers. He's not actually running, as his leisurely swinging shows. He goes from one building to the next, with relative ease as he carries on with the conversation.

"You seen Mutant Town yet? They could definetly use the extra help. And there's a school up north of here, but you probably already know that, right?"


She chuckles. "Well, I WAS bitten by a radioactive nuclear reactor. Except, when you think about it, I sorts bit IT, because I drained it completely dry." She looks thoughtful. "I've…checked the place out." The guy probably like his privacy, too. "The problem is, I'm still trying to sort out my powers. I was trying out flying, and oh BOY is it fun!"


It took five years for his girlfriend to find out what his secret identity was! It's a secret. Like the recipe for Coca-Cola. Or the Colonel's 11 herbs and spices.

"There's always a junkyard in Jersey if you want to test out your limitations and such. And I mean, there's the school." Spider-Man shrugs in mid-air between swings as he twists to consider the woman as he flips in mid-air and flips out a fresh line to swing him skywards. "But don't be surprised in the Human Torch wonders why you're copying his schtick." he offers up teasingly.


FireHawk paused. "I hope there's…oh. You're joking again. Do you joke like this all the time?" She's honestly curious. He acts like a clown but his exploits, the Bugle notwithstanding, are known to quite a few people.


"Joke? Me? That's more Peter Sellers than I am." Spidey offers as he uses a flagpole to grab and flip around before throwing himself into the sky again as he turns to face her. "After all, laughter is the best medicine, right? Don't tell Joker I said that." he amends quickly as he starts to fall towards the ground again. He sticks out his arm to fire a webline and …

…nothing.

Of course it'd happen now. Trying to impress the pretty flaming girl, and you know, impart some knowledge on a new heroine, and the cartridge runs dry. "I really should have a counter on how many charges I use.." he manages as he starts to plummet. "A little help?"


FireHawk blinks as something expects to happen does not happen and he goes from falling with style to just…falling.
Her irisless eyes widen, and then she is powering downward. He realizes she has to slow him down, catching him as they both descend, then slowing to a stop barely 40 feet above the ground, holding him in her arms.
Her body seems to hum slightly, but that is all.
"Spidey? Are you all right…?"


"I think I just swooned a little." Spider-Man offers. He really is a skinny thing in her arms as he stretches out dramatically for a moment. "Yeah, I'm fine, just need to reload." he comments as he pulls back his sleeve to pop out the wasted cartridge and reaches into the belt at his waist to pull out a fresh cartridge to place into the shooter.

"That's a secret between us, okay?" There's a wink that offered with it. After all, what would people say if they knew his webs weren't organic? Well.. they already say 'eww' for the most part.


FireHawk looks at the contraption. A devise that shoots webs? That would mean they weren't organic, but synthetic or…but how do you make a device like that?"
"Wow…you must be REALLY smart to think of something like that. That's…amazing, really." She talks quietly as they rise upward on nuclear wings to the roof, where FireHawk deposits him before landing on the roof herself.


"You're mighty warm. And I think you're trying to flatter me." Spidey offers with a grin to his voice as he settles on the rooftop and finishes putting the cartridge back in place to slide his sleeve back down to tuck the shooter back within the suit. "…I have my moments." he offers with a hint of self-depreciation, as the webhead rubs at his arm to make sure that it's all back and good.

"And if anyone's amazing, it's you. What, with flying and fire powers and all that awesomeness in a package that isn't at all square." he offers up a nod of his head as he considers her. "And you are using those abilities to help others - that's the real gift here."


The golden cheeks deepen slightly. "Well…okay, I can't tell you everything, but I have a good role model and leave it at that. Besides, it's irresponsible having this kind of power and doing nothing with it. Besides, I'm not smart like that. Gadgets like James Bond. I saw DR. NO with my dad and then the other three movies, and I had been looking forward to the next one. That's, like, right out of Q Branch!"


"Psht. Ain't about how smart you are, it's about what you do with what you were given." Spidey offers up in encouragement, as the blue and red hero gives the young woman a once-over. Of course she'd be taken. Duh. "It's not about the gadgets, either. Iron Man has all the gadgets, but can be a jerk sometimes. It's about doing the best you can with what you were dealt. But I get the feeling you've been dealt a pretty good hand, what with companions and training, you're going to be on the news and accepting the key to the city in no time."


She sighs, her mood growing somber. "I just want to be able to help people without hurting them in the process. I…hurt someone shortly after I became…this." She looks down at herself. "He was able to heal it, but that didnt change the fact I was out of control. I don't want to do that to anyone again. That's a little bit of why I'm so hard on myself."


There's a thoughtful pause, and Spidey reaches out and takes FireHawk's shoulder. Those large white eye-holes meet her eyes, and he speaks quietly. "When I first got my powers, I thought I would use them to make my own life better. It went well at first - but in the end, it was my own want not to help that got someone killed. Trust me.." he offers soberly, the smile gone from his voice and replaced with something far more earnest.

"It's better to hurt someone and know that you saved their life, than to allow worse through inaction. You will learn, you will grow. Don't let your powers define you, you.. you define your powers." he points out to her gently, yet with a firmness in his voice that suggests experience on this issue.


FireHawk takes a deep breath. "Yes…you're right, of course. I suppose I would have thought of SOMETHING unsavory to do if I had grown up with a different father. But the thought of hurting someone innocent…it chilled me to the bone, Spider-Man." Her body gives a sudden little shiver at the memory of it alone.
"Well…this is a new start for me. I even changed the costume. I guess that's one thing that's easy for me, being able to control stuff like that."


"Totally get that. I mean, helping people is what we do best, right?" Spider-Man offers encouragingly as he releases her shoulder as she shivers. "Well, have to say, the costume does look nice on you." he grins. "Though the hawk is uh.. rather strategically placed." There might have been a blush in his voice - there's no real way to tell with that fabric covering him, but he starts to move to the side of the rooftop. "I don't want to keep you from your flying. Enjoy that - relish it. Remember what counts."


FireHawk smiles coyly. "I never looked at it that way, but I suppose it is somewhat provocative if you looked at it a certain way. I'm not changing it, though." She sticks out her tongue, a very unladylike gesture.


There's a laugh from the webslinger before he leaps off the side of the building and thwips a line. It catches nearby and he's off swinging onto his patrol again, leaving FireHawk with that smile.

Which is the best part of his abilities, really.


Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License