Who: X23_GAB/Gabby Kinney, @ptrparkcrs, @akahellcatwalker,
Where: Streets of New York
When: 26th May 2020
What: Spiderman tries to stop Gabby’s attack, helped by Hellcat.
Warnings: blood, violence, death, brainwashing
Part 2: Peter Parker/Spiderman & Trish Walker/Hellcat
GABBY: Gabby's fighting was a combination of her training and a feral animalistic quality unleashed by the trigger scent. Even as Supergirl began moving civilians away, the scent lingered all around her. Later, Gabby would wonder how it had been dispersed over the crowd, but right now she wasn't thinking anything. The closest to her now was a young man she'd normally find familiar. A friend. Peter.
Friends didn't matter like this. She lunged towards him.
PETER: There had been the Spider-Sense, then the screaming, and the crowd, and Supergirl. Someone was hurt, Peter could see that from blocks away, so he swung in, ready to web up and quip out whoever was down there. As he got closer, he saw the civilians being led away, a few already fallen, and, at the center a small figure--a girl. One he knew. Not well, but well enough to know she wouldn't have done this, couldn't have done this. No. Not Gabby.
He landed in the street between the crowd and Gabby, sizing up the situation. His spider sense was on high alert, and she looked--wrong somehow. Feral, cruel, unrecognizable. He was going to make a joke, to hold her back so Supergirl could get the bystanders to safety, but she was too fast, and so much stronger than he'd expected. Her lunge threw him off-balance, and, as he fell backwards, he kicked at her.
GABBY: She didn't feel pain, and this was why. Alchemax didn't want their assassins to be slowed down by their targets fighting back. So despite Peter's kick pushing her back, it didn't stop Gabby coming. With a snarl, she slashed at him and kicked him back hard. Normally, when Gabby fought bad guys, there was some sort of glee in her face. Even if she wasn't smiling, that light shone through. But not now. Now she looked every bit the terrifying weapon she was created to be, the one she'd always been so bad at being.
PETER: His kick landed, but it wasn't enough. His spider sense was working--loudly--but it, too, was too little, too late. Gabby had come for him more violently than he could have expected (she was a kid!), and he couldn't dodge her attack, not enough. Her blow landed: the fabric of his suit tore under her claws, the blue stained purpled brown by his blood. Fuck.
Peter clapped a hand against his side and staggered upright. It didn't seem too bad, not too deep, nothing a little bacitracin and a good band-aid couldn't fix, but he was off-balance now, a little winded. "Come on, kid," he said, and fired off a web blast to try to hold her down. "Don't make me do this."
GABBY: Under normal circumstances, Gabby would've known who he was. Known that her friend Peter was under that mask, smelt his familiar scent. This Gabby had no idea, and didn't care to know. He had a different scent on him, one that meant she had to kill him. No part of her could stop to question it. His words do nothing to slow her, but the web blast does. Sticking to her and inhibiting her claws for a moment as she tries to slash her way out. But even then, she goes for Spiderman, attacking with her other hand.
TRISH: Trish heard the commotion a block over and she raced up to the rooftop to see what was happening. What was happening was a nightmare. One where the scent of blood hung heavy in the air. Even heroes among the crowd looked hurt by whoever this attacker was. A familiar red and blue caught her eyes and Trish jumped down, mask on, just in time to see the attacker lunging at the friendly, neighborhood Spider-Man -- a young hero that she knew Tony cared about more than most.
Grabbing the attacker's arm, she pulled back and punched the girl in the face on instinct. "Why don't you pick on someone your own size?" Trish cringed at that one... it sounded like something Carol might come up with.
PETER: He'd had her, he'd really thought he'd had her, but his webs had only slowed her. Before he could recoup, before he could quip or breathe or come up with a plan, she started to lunge at him with those horrifying claws.
-- Why didn't he have claws? They looked fun and effective and good in combat. All he had were his fists and sticky nets, which had seemed creative at the time, but, in retrospect, weren't great for when one of the Wolverines was trying to slash him to pieces. He'd disabled the laser eyes on the suit after he'd blasted out a chunk of Aunt May's garden shed, so he was really down to basics. Tony Stark's souped-up excess didn't seem so bad right now.
And then, seconds before Gabby could get him, a masked woman landed a good solid punch to the face. "Wow, that's not subtle," Peter said. But it would do.
It bought him the time he needed to get back on his feet and up in the air to land another punch to the face for good measure. "Time for time out," he said, and stood up, rubbing his stinging fist. He felt bad doing it--this was Gabby, a good kid, not some faceless thug he could leave dangling in a web for the cops to find. But he had to do what he had to do.
GABBY: She snarled at Peter until someone else grabbed her. Someone she wouldn't recognise, even if she weren't under the effects of the trigger scent. The words wash over her--had she been in her right mind she would've snarked back. Probably something about being smaller than Spiderman in the first place, at only 5'1". But today she was five feet of unthinking murder. The punch to the face hit Gabby's nose hard, crunching as it broke, but even Hellcat's strength couldn't deter her.
She swiped at Hellcat right as Spiderman got up and landed another punch. Another break to heal quickly, but without pain it didn't stop her. She kicked at Spiderman hard, before grabbing his wrist and yanking him down to the ground.
TRISH: She barely missed the claws that swiped out at her, tumbling backwards to the ground with a lot less grace than a cat should have. Trish knew she was going to feel the bruises on her back in the morning. She didn't know who this kid was, but they weren't stopping the attack on Spider-Man, throwing him to the ground.
"Hey, stop!" she shouted, grabbing for the girl's wrist to stop her from slicing Spider-Man into a Spider-Ham for tonight's supper. Telling the bad guys to stop wasn't her best move and it never worked, but she was getting kind of desperate here.
PETER: His wrists, she'd gone for his wrists. He was agile, sure, he could land a solid kick if he needed to, but the web shooters were his real weapons. Without them, Peter couldn't get too far. He had a free hand, and he aimed it at her, but she was fast. Too fast. His spider senses wailed as she slammed him to the ground, and the asphalt tore at his costume. This is gonna hurt, they warned him. Yeah, I know. His ribs ached, his cheek was bleeding, his shoulder ruined. He'd be fine, he always was, but it would take a bit. A good shower, some bandages, an ice pack, a few hours hiding in Tony's workshop where MJ and May couldn't find him.
"God dammit," he growled, pulling his head from the ground. He could feel the wind on his cheek, which meant his mask was torn. Shit. With his good hand, he felt for the rip--it wasn't large, just some wear on his cheek where it had hit the street, a little blood welling against the fabric. That would be a bitch to fix later, and he had to stop it from getting too much worse.
At least Hellcat had swooped in to his rescue. "Thanks for the rescue," he said. "This damsel could use some help." He was getting his ass whooped by a child, and somehow, that wasn't the worst thing to have happened to him lately. Peter sat up slowly, groaning, and raised his hands to blast her. Alright, Karen, do your thing. Pick the one I need to take her out. But don't kill her. With a good solid thwip, he webbed Gabby's stabbing hands to her torso. It wouldn't hold long, but hopefully it would give them a little time.
GABBY: She felt something crack under her fingers, but Gabby gave no thought to if it was bone or tech. Nor the injuries that Spiderman sustained as the ground tore at his costume and blood showed beneath the torn mask. He was alive, so she wasn't done.
But before she could finish him off, she felt a hand on her wrist. Her lip curled in anger and she wrenched herself free. It only took a few seconds, but that was all Peter needed it seemed. Before she could attack Hellcat, strong and sticky webbing bound her hands to her body. She was stuck, that trigger scent still filling her nose and driving her to kill, and unable to move. But she was stronger than a normal person, and unafraid to hurt herself to get free, so it wouldn't hold her forever.
[ ✉ ➡️ Trish Walker] I just got a courtesy call that you’re in trouble again. If you need to hide a body, please tell me now, when I still have my work clothes on.
Ally paced around the practice room, obviously really nervous about what she needed to tell Trish. She couldn’t keep in it any longer and if she did Trish would just end up being mad at her. Biting on her bottom lip she waited for her curly haired friend to enter the room.
