Video. Burner Phone: Spider-Man. | hhhEEELP

[madeupnames]

Hey, so, need a hand — shit — damn it —

[LANGUAGE.

Also sorry, there's a THUMP-TING noise, because he clips into a light post he did noooot see in the middle of swinging over the city.

The feed spins to life, a red, white, and black masked face in instant view for a moment before the video rolls and rolls — a cement roof underfoot, as the figure stumbles with a gasp of surprise before pretty much crash-landing. The screen is black, the unseen figure moans, and then, holding achy ribs (it was a light fall, no worries, but the way this hurts way more when it didn't before is a little unnerving), he reappears again. It's the local Spider-Man, and the feed doesn't seem to want to stop shivering as the wind whistles. He swallows. Or, um, tries to, but he seems to have some trouble with that.

It's late in the afternoon, the light fading from the sky, and he's breathless from the running (swinging, climbing, panicking) he'd just done.]

Sorry! [Swallow.] Sorry. I fell, but I'm good. I'm, I'm fantastic. Never better. Don't tell Tony Stark. [An A-OK sign is held up with his fingers, the mask blissfully blank and pleasant and voice tempered into something less panicked; cool, we're in hero mode.] Uh, I was out looking for — for these two, Billy and Teddy? They haven't been around, so I was worried they'd... And then Lanie, she's this kid from the park, her mom can't find her. And I owe her, like, five front of the line amusement park coins at this point — right, not the time. But I've been scouting because her mom is seriously freaking out, and...

There were — there was this younger lady was flagging me for help. Said she hurt their ankle while she was out running, so I swung over, but it was tooootally a trap. Like, full-on 'Mouse Trap, look out, don't go for the cheese' kind of trap . And when I went to pick the lady up and take her to the hospital — [He seems to choke on the word a little, swallowing again, straining against something at his throat.] She snapped this on me, and some of their buddies jumped out to grab me once they knew it was latched and working.

[With a nervous chuckle, he shows the metal collar around his neck, which he vainly tries to claw his fingers under.

It's doing something to me. I can't see and hear things like I used to, and my strength's freakin' gone, and nothing's dialed to 11 right now. Like, it just sapped the powers right out of me. And let me tell you, swinging around when you've got no endurance and no healing factor is really scary! Indiana Jones is nuts. [A breathless laugh, brushing the situation off as easy-breezy and not an issue.] They must've thought my webshooters were a part of my powers or something, because they were were surprised when I took off like a bat out of heck. A-anyway, I'm really sorry. I didn't... I should've went after them, but I'm... I'm having a hard time focusing... a little...

This thing is, like, so uncomfortably tight. I think the clasp works like handcuffs do. [Another uncomfortable laugh that may or may not be bordering on a panic attack, as he scrapes gloved fingers against the too-tight collar again.] I can't even get the mask off.

[A pause, and he looks toward where he had swung in from — as if he's considering going back to the park, torn between common sense and his job as both a hero and perimeter guard member. "Peter, your heart rate is unnaturally high," Karen the AI says helpfully in his ear. He's trying to breathe against the fabric of the mask. His vision is blurry.

... He needs his glasses. But he doesn't own glasses anymore.

A bit more defeatedly:]


... Can anyone get this thing off and, I don't know. Figure out how it works?










Please?

Comments

[evite]

( killing him would be really bad news. mostly because she's pretty sure that's grounds for winding up on a part of the moon she really doesn't feel like exploring, but also because killing a fellow good guy just isn't a good way to start her week. luckily for all involved, death is not on the agenda.

once she's satisfied that he's taken the appropriate measures to steel his nerves, skye leverages all her carefully composed strength into wrapping fingertips around the connector head and tugging. one swift yank later, and the piece dangles from her fingertips, no more useful than a piece of cardboard. )

So far so good, right?

( she doesn't realize it, but skye's let her own held breath out too. )

Now for the ... ( a pause is super reassuring, obviously. it doesn't last too long, though, before curiosity gets the better of her and her fingers press against the exposed patch of wiring. ) We'll have to snip this, I think. Which miiight, uh... shock you?

( obligate pauses in case he wants to call the whole thing off, go. )

[madeupnames]

[Oh see, that wasn't so ba—

... Of course.

He blinks, mask eyes big and rounded and almost comical, and then laughs weakly.]

Well. I, I guess you experience new things every day?

[evite]

Uh huh.

( yes, positive thinking. keep that up, spider kid, because the sight of a pair of needlenose pliers heading in through your peripheral vision probably isn't the most friendly thing in the world. she's trying to be gentle, though — mostly out of questionable levels of compassion, but also because there's a minute unspoken chance that this collar is outfitted with anti-access explosives that may or may not go off if she powers it down. you know, just... casual hacker things. )

Here goes nothing.

( SUPER reassuring. but hey, a quick snip later leads to a series of short beeps and then the familiar sound of technology powering down, all of which indicates that all is well thus far. if everything's gone according to plan, anyway. )

Okay. Try ... taking it off. Pull on it here — ( gesturing to the now open gap in the collar where skye's been tinkering ) — and see if the pieces come apart.

[madeupnames]

[Oh thank god, thank god, thank god. His head didn't blow up, and he can get this thing off — just in time, too, because by the time he pulls the collar off he can barely handle the way his neck feels freed, sore but finally able to pull in air (it always could, he could always breathe, but it didn't feel like it-). But with the removal of the collar comes a strange sensation through him, rolling like waves. A tinny whistle in his ear, the firing panicked senses that aren't properly at play yet, and a nausea that nearly cripples him entirely.

Feels an awful lot like when a radioactive spider bit him. Not that Skye would know the difference between that and the collar potentially having godawful defense effects or something, sorry. He curls in on himself and hisses a breath, and that sound, that awful tinny vibrating sound grating on his eardrums — Fuck it, he needs to get this mask off him now or he's gonna lose it.

He swivels from Skye where he sits and rips off said mask, the buttons of his neck and unruly, sweaty brown hair turned to her as he sucks in a sharp breath. He's not really sure how identifiable he is from the back, but he's willing to risk outing himself to a SHIELD operative who had gotten the collar off.]

Sorry, sorry, I just need a second.

[evite]

( does his reaction worry her? of course it does. she might not be super capable melinda may, but even skye understands that moments in the field can lead to extremely unexpected repercussions. for somebody to be trapped in their own suit, collared like a wild animal with tech they couldn't rip off — she knows she wouldn't have handled it well.

her concern, though, only grows the longer he stays turned away from her. his breathing is loud and ragged, sweat pooled over his shoulder blades and the back of his neck, and it sounds like he's in the middle of another panic attack by the time she manages to choke out a quick — ) — hey, hey.

( cautiously, carefully, she reaches forward, resting the palm of her hand on his shoulder. a measure of reassurance, but not so much weight or pressure as to force him to turn around. just enough that he'll know she's still there. )

It's okay. Breathe. The shitty part's over, right?

[madeupnames]

No, I'm — I'm fine. Yeah. Yes.

[Shitty part is totally over! So. Um. Why isn't it over? The answer is pretty obvious to him at this point: his body is adverse reactions to suddenly having the collar removed. And just when he thought the panic attack was bad enough — well, silver lining's at least that he's not feeling like he's about to freak out.

He just feels woefully ill.

The shoulder under her hand is trembling. His eyesight is still blurry like the good ol' days, but now the light is like... too much. Everything's a lot at once, and the ringing in his ears nearly drowns out what Skye's saying before settling on something a little more tolerable (he can hear the water in the pipes, under them, in the roof — there's a ceiling fan under Skye's legs that's on its max setting for the summer)—

He sounds a little sheepish, keeping turned away.]

Body just needs a minute to, um, re-calibrate, I think.

B-boy, didn't think this would be how the night went. You come here often?

[Peter, don't make fake meeting-in-a-bar jokes to people who aren't around your age bracket.]

[evite]

( the recalibration bit she understands. he sounds like a person who's about to throw up, and she mostly just wants to be sure he doesn't pitch himself over the roof on accident as a result, because that's a thing that happens... though, in skye's experience, that's mostly for someone who's on sensory overload after one too much magic mushrooms. don't judge her, people do weird things when they're technically homeless and hanging with hackers who don't have anything better to do. )

To the roof? ( she's stifling a laugh. it seems wrong to laugh outright when he looks and sounds so damn miserable. ) Yeah, sometimes.

( she wants to keep an eye on him just in case, but she doesn't want to look like she's staring, either. so she settles for coming to sit down next to him, her gaze firmly kept outwards towards the city to allow for some modicum of privacy. )

So. Spider-Man, huh? Did you come up with that, or did somebody else get the naming rights?

[madeupnames]

[He sucks in a breath, listening to his own heartbeat (and her's) for a second. This is gonna suck; he wonders how long it'll last, because the actual transformation was a little too long for his liking last time. But hey, when he looks at his hand, there's no sign of a bite. Obviously.]

I figured I'd stay on brand until the shoe deal came through. Then I could be Nikes-Man or something.

[His breathing has at least evened out completely; he's not on the verge of hysterics, cool. And then there's a pause, because the last person he told this to barely took him seriously. He tucks his hands under his arms, feeling cold in the breeze (Mr. Stark put a heater in the suit, but he thinks maybe that would be a godawful idea). ]

Actually, I got bit by a radioactive spider.

[evite]

Yeah? ( of all the ways to suddenly wake up capable of Great Things, skye figures an animal bite can't be the worst option. at least it's better than winding up in a rock cocoon. ) That probably hurt like a bitch.

( she's glad to note that the sound of his ragged breathing has calmed. it's still a bit forced, if she listens closely, like someone who's trying very hard to get their shit together — but she can't blame him, either. she'd probably be freaking out too after being locked up in a metal maniac's dog collar. )

How do spiders become radioactive, anyway? Were you urbex-ing Three Mile Island or something?

[madeupnames]

... School trip to a lab...

[Okay, look, he figures at this point he's been pathetic enough that she probably has guessed he's not very old. He takes a moment, closing his eyes and feeling relieved that the sun is setting in the distance. Less light, the better.]

I don't really know how the spider got there. I mean, to be fair, I just kind of say it was radioactive, but who knows... Either way, I figure it was some breech in their work area? [He shrugs.] I got really sick — like, I should've gone to the ER, probably. When I woke up, my vision was 20/20. Or, um. 40/40. I don't know.

I could hear a conversation outside, seven stories down, across the street.

And I could walk on my ceiling.

You know. Typical teenager things.

[evite]

Aside from the spider-bite pukefest, that doesn't sound like the worst school trip in the world.

( to be totally fair, she hadn't really assumed his age until she'd seen his jawline out of the corner of her eye. that had told her she was working with someone younger, maybe late teens at the most. somebody who had an excuse for feeling as totally uncomfortable in their own skin as skye did. )

If it makes you feel any better — ( even though she knows it probably won't. ) — mine was a rock cocoon followed by a mild coma, so.

( a shrug. )

Getting superpowers, probably a solid three out of ten for me.

( THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE. )

[madeupnames]

[Yeah, I mean, the trip was nice until the whole pukefes...

Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait! He has to stop himself from just totally spinning around to face her, because now he's crazy interested — another super-powered type? That's like a moth to a bug zapper, here. But the awe is definitely heavy in his voice.]

A rock cocoon? That's — What kinda' power did you get?

[evite]

Yeah. Rock cocoon.

( she's pleased to see it's pulled his attentions away from how crappy his day had gone. if skye can share a little bit about herself and take some of that pain and suffering away, she feels like she really ought to do it. )

I can ... I don't know how to explain it. ( so she demonstrates. her hand stretches out, palm parallel to the roof line; after a beat, a slow wave of seismic energy rolls out towards the roof, shaking the tiles and lifting up pieces of rubble that are rocked and rolled right off towards the ground below. ) I can make things shake, I guess.

[madeupnames]

[Oh, his butt is rumbling. Nice.]

... Like an earthquake? Oooh, scary.

[But he clears his throat, feeling more like himself... albeit extremely fucking ill. But don't worry about that. Focus on the good stuff. Maybe if he does that, he won't puke on anyone's shoes.]

In a cool way, I mean... Not exactly just seismic noise, since you can use it on anything, right? Like, if you used it on someone's belly, it'd look like one of those weight-loss body-shaker thingys. Or does it only work on earth?

[evite]

( skye just gives him a Look. like, son, where were you born and what life have you led that earthquake powers makes you think of weight loss fat wraps? do you need an adult? are you okay??? )

I honestly have no idea — well, I mean, I don't have super great control of it yet. It's still new to me, so trying it out on people's bodies hasn't been... totally high priority yet.

( there's a beat. )

You're way too damn skinny to need a weight-loss shake, Spider Dude.

( and then, now that she's actually, you know, seen his face. )

Okay, look, I can't just keep calling you variations on spider shit, you have to have an actual name I can program into my phone.

[madeupnames]

[Ahem.]

Spider-Man.

... Or, uh. Or Peter. Peter's... good.

[Yeah, this was doomed from the start. He gives up identity covering at this point; like, once someone catches you in the middle of an undignified panic and you both end up super-powered allies, there's little point in trying.]