An Evrensel Conflict Prologue: Gwen Enters the Fray

[Camleen]

Alone in a big empty warehouse sits a young girl. The warehouse had been acquired and used as a shared space for a number of different bands. Usually there is always someone there, but today it's just her.

Her name is Gwen. In her life she's had 3 different career goals.
Astronaut (with a pet unicorn (she was 5 at the time))
Police officer (like dad)

Drummer in a band

The first 2 didn't exactly pan out. Turns out she wasn't smart or motivated enough to join the Air Force… and unicorns are mythical creatures. Gwen didn't have the discipline needed to stay in the Police Academy. 'Rebellious' and 'willful' were words commonly used when people asked about her. But the third one… turns out she's a pretty good drummer.

BOM BOM BOM BOM

She sits behind a drum kit, her right foot pushing down over and over on the pedal for the beater, setting up her rhythm.

BOM bum bum BOM da-da-da BOM dum bum bum da-da-da bum bum BOM

Gwen pauses, letting out a sigh. She looks around herself at the mostly empty warehouse. Sure, she's a good drummer. But the career that she has taken up isn't really as a drummer, it's more of a side gig. To the other members of her band, it's their lives. But for her… the actual career of choice is much more enticing.

bum BAM bum BAM BAM da-da-da-DUM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM bum BAM bum BAM BAM da-da-da-DUM BAM BAM BAM

She starts to play once more, a more complicated rhythm, but still pretty basic. The sort of thing she might warm up with. A little smile draws across her lips as she plays. She really does love this. She does love her band. But her life is… a bit complicated. Gwen is alone tonight because the other members of her band, and another band they have a friendly rivalry with, are attending a set at a local club. A new band in town that everyone is talking about. But Gwen told them she couldn't attend. She had something planned with her dad that night, and she couldn't brush him off. They were disappointed… the lead singer of her band even might have fired her (you can never tell if she's serious when she fires people from her band), but Gwen couldn't relent.

Twirling one of the drumsticks between 2 fingers, she looks from the darkness around her towards the drum kit in front of her. A beaten, worn old thing. Been used by a dozen bands. Duct taped together in parts, even has a weld or two on it. It's been through the wringer, that's for sure. But it still sounds just beautiful.


An hour later.
'You know I'm not totally comfortable with you being here.' The voice of her father is soft in her ear, a small comms device. She doesn't respond. (1.) It creates the kind of tension in her father that pleases her (knowing he's sweating means she's winning!) and (2.) She's kind of preoccupied looking down/up at the 'suspects' as they stand idly in a warehouse (different warehouse, turns out there's lots of empty warehouses in New York for some reason). Her father speaks into the tiny mic of his earpiece once more 'I know you can hear me. Please answer me.' More of a command than asking a favor, she knows the tone. She grins a little as she does speak. Her voice is very soft… and has a very gruff edge to it, as deep as she can muster. "Rest at ease, Captain. Your best asset is on the job." Her father sighs as he speaks 'Please don't do that.' And Gwen responds on the same tone "Spider-Cop is on the case." The 'suspects' below her can't hear her, or see her. She's to high in the darkness and their music and conversation makes it impossible.

So let's pause here. A little explanation is perhaps in order. The career that kind of picked Gwen (instead of the other way around) was that of a superhero. Superheroine, rather. She's not sure exactly how it happened… but a few days after being bitten by a very big and faintly glowing spider she suddenly had… abilities. She could cling to walls, to any surface really. She was suddenly insanely strong, and insanely fast. All of this got the notice of a certain retired 'superheroine', and from that point it was on like Donkey Kong. The retired hero made 'web shooters' for her, mimicking a spider's web. Except it didn't come out of her ass. To hard to mount them there!

ANYways
The hero pointed out that Gwen's abilities were indeed very spider like, hence the means to make webs.
And from then on… she was Spider-Woman!

She's seen some… weird… things. Been hunted by her dad and a special task force he made just for that reason (before he knew her identity, of course). Stood up to the Kingpin of Crime himself. Even met Captain America! Held THE shield! Been a busy as hell couple years.

And now, in a strange twist of fate, she's helping her dad and his police department. Of course, he's the only one that knows she is there. Be bad if any of the others of the force knew of her presence, or her connection to him. Captain Castle (who now runs the task force instead of her own father) would not be a happy pickle.

Gunrunners. That's why we are here at this warehouse at this time of night (around 1AM local time). Word on the street was that 2 groups were meeting to deal some weapons of some kind. While they couldn't get specifics, the sources were reliable enough to get warrants. And a stakeout ensued. But the baddies had the warehouse pretty well covered. They mounted little temporary cameras, had armed guards on the roof. Even had lookouts through the neighborhood. But none of them spotted the police force that was currently watching said warehouse. And the armed guards on the roof never even saw Spider-Woman coming. They're taking forced naps right now.

"Captain Stacy's best… the Spider-Cop… creeps along like a damn ninja in the shadows. She didn't have a badge, but she had a license for badassery." Gwen says softly and gruffly into the mic. 'Language.' is the only response. She grins under her mask as she now crouches on the high ceiling of the warehouse, just keeping an eye on the party of men and women below. Her father and some of the rest of the stakeout force was in a taller building a block or so away. They had been there for 3 days now, moving overtly in and out of the building. They are using advanced optics and far reaching sound equipment, waiting for something to happen. Something that warranted the warrant. Captain Stacy stands near a window with blinds, the blinds partially drawn. His group in the room stand in darkness, save for the soft glow of computer screens and monitors. The earpiece he wears, the one he uses to communicate with his daughter in the building, is very discrete. Some of the men have even speculated it's just a hearing aid or something, he is of that age now. In one hand he holds a cup of cold coffee, in his other a walkie-talkie. He is doing his job, but he is still worried for Gwen. She insisted on being helpful… maybe if the police see her as an asset, the rest of the city won't hate her. Yeah, she is not liked very well. Even the mayor has spoken publicly about how she's a menace… and responsible for the death of a boy. Captain Stacy was hesitant… but let Gwen come along. First he knew she would do it anyways, and second if he agrees then he could put some guidelines out there for her to follow.

One of the indicator lights on his walkie-talkie starts to blink, and he raises it to speak into it. 'Captain Stacy here… what do you have?' he listens for a moment, bringing the walkie-talkie closer to his ear, as it is kind of turned down a bit. He nods as he listens, and then speaks again into it. 'Good work. You and the boys keep yourselves hidden until the all clear. Be careful, now.' He looks towards the others in the room as he says 'They're here. Let's get ready'.

Of course when he held the walkie-talkie to his ear… that allowed Spider-Woman to hear also. She speaks in her low, gruff tone "The winds of change were blowing, and Spider-Cop has her sails open!" She hears her father just sigh as now she moves, grinning widely under her mask. The men below her… 8 of them (well 6 guys and 2 girls) now start to move, opening the doors of their black and very shiny vehicles. She can tell they're all of the same gang… just not which one specifically. Spider-Woman pushes off the ceiling, letting gravity take hold of her for a moment. Her hands whip out then, a thin stream of webbing adhering itself to a rafter just as she passes it. She hangs there, upside down, her legs lazily swaying back and forward as she watches.

'Officer Grimm, get your men loaded up. This could go sideways really fast.' One of the officers nods, and he removes himself from the room. Captain Stacy looks out the window again as he frowns a little. 'They'll be pulling in any moment now. Everyone stay on your toes.' While it seems he was speaking to all of his officers, he was also addressing Spider-Woman covertly. "The Spider-Cop appreciates the concern. And hopes it's Koala Kommander or someone cuddly making this deal." 'Shh' her father says discreetly.

One of the bay doors slowly opens as she watches from on high, and all of the gang members below now hold firearms of different sorts. Shotguns, pistols, even a couple automatic rifles. Spider-Woman's eyes widen a little when she sees that. "Oh boy" she whispers. Nope, these folks aren't playing around. One of them moves to one of the garage bay doors and slides it open, depressing a switch. Headlights shine through the opening of the garage, and a large white moving truck pulls in slowly. Each of the gang members already there look to one another slowly. Spider-Woman's eyes squint as she watches, feeling something is just… wrong. No, she feels like something bad is coming. She's never actually been witness to something like this, an actual bad-guy business meeting. Most of her work is done on the streets themselves, solo. She realizes this isn't exactly what she expected. But then… she's not totally sure what she expected. She hears her father's voice in her ear as she hoists herself up to the rafter she was dangling from. She then stands upside down on it, and she begins to creep along it silently. 'What happened to the picture? Did we just lose all our feeds? Chimowski, get those pictures back!' She can feel the sudden raise in stress of his voice. She's heard it enough in her time to know it very very very well. She hears him again as she now crouches upside down on the thin rafter, staring at the newly arrived truck. 'So the moment that truck pulled in we lost all signals? How? Wait what kind of jamming device?' He is talking to his tech guy… but also to Gwen. The door that was opened now slides down slowly closed, and 3 people get out of the cab of the truck. The group that had been there the whole time, they all wear leather jackets. Very cool leather jackets. But the men in the truck, they are all wearing snazzy suits. Is this going to be a fashion rumble? Because that would be awesome. One of the suits holds what looks like an iPad or something. Another of the suits now walks towards the leather clads, speaking in a tone lower than Gwen can hear from here. She immediately starts to feel frustration… but quickly dismisses it as she notices something mounted to the rear of the truck. Some kinda antenna… flashing between blue and green. Pretty! No no, come on focus Spider-Woman! Her head tilts to one side… moment the truck pulled in...jamming device… Well you don't have to be the daughter of a police captain to figure this out. But it does help. She glances down as the gangs converse, then she launches herself towards the garage bay door. She lands silently on the wall and crawls down it quickly. A quick look in the direction of the conversation… and she leaps again, landing on the back of the truck. She crawls along the door to get to the weird device. Reaching out to it she tries to find any buttons or anything… no it's pretty sleek. Nothing evident. So… she grips the device and just squeezes. With a crack and a little spark it implodes under her strength. She isn't sure if she just made them lose their satellite radio, or if the signal jam is done with. 'Thank goodness, picture's back. Get whatever we can, start recording. See if we can get anything from before, now!' She nods to herself, it was the jammie jam! She congratulates herself, not knowing the man with the tablet is now walking in her direction.

She starts to crawl up the door, but freezes when she hears and feels something unlatch. Her eyes widen as she hops up to the top of the truck, laying low on it. The back door of the truck slides open, just as the man with the tablet gets to it. He looks at the device Spider-Woman smashed, and mutters. 'The hell happened to this? You see anything?' He says to someone inside of the rear of the truck. 'What?!' she hears her father's voice in her ear as she remains motionless, hoping no one thinks to look atop the truck. 'I don't care what Castle sees, he doesn't have jurisdiction here! We're here to stop this deal, not arrest Spider-Woman!' CRAP their lil camera thingies musta saw her when she moved to the truck… and now Captain Castle is probably on his way. He must have had a feed directly to him.

But that emergency will have to wait. She has a more immediate emergency to deal with.

That alarm buzzer (she doesn't know what else to call it) goes off in the back of her mind, and at almost the same instant she rears up. And just as she does, a very very large gray fist punches through the top of the truck, directly where she was. If she hadn't moved, it would have hit her. "Whoah!" She declares as she now launches herself forward in the air, flipping once before landing on the roof of the truck cab, one hand planted between her feet. Welp, cat's out of the bag! Now all of the creeps, from both groups, are staring up at her. She can feel that buzz starting again as 2 of them start to raise their guns towards her, a third shouting 'Spider-Woman!' "Sho' nuff!" Is her response as she bounds from the roof to the ground right in front of the guy that said that, and she gives him a brutal uppercut. As her punch lifts him up, she leaps up also as she shouts loudly "TOOOORUKEN!" That buzz again, and she leans away and to the right as she twists in the air. A gunshot cracks into the night from one of the men, narrowly missing Spider-Woman. She thrusts a hand out towards him, a line of webbing affixing to the barrel of his gun. She yanks it right out of his hands, and pivots as she lands. Spinning, she hurls the gun right back at him, and he yells as he's smacked right in the face with it. "Is this NOT the Oprah book club meeting? Am I in the wrong abandoned warehouse at 1 in the morning?"

'Get the blaster primed. Time ta test it out.' The deep voice from inside the truck. The truck rocks from one side to the other gently, and from the back of the truck emerges a… very large man. His skin is a dark grey color, and he is a hulking mass of man. He looks to be almost 6 and a half feet tall, his form muscular. His hair is dyed blue, and it looks like he has discrete horned ridges along his brow and nose. One of his thugs moves into the truck now, and the large gray man starts towards Spider-Woman. Who, at the moment, is in the process of webbing the last of the gunmen. And giving them a lecture. "Honestly, I recognize 2 of you. I've put you away before! And now the police are closin in, and you're goin back to the big house! I am very very disappointed in you!" She says as she wags a finger at the group. All of them are bound together in webbing, save for one of the men webbed against a wall. He yells back at Spider-Woman as her early warning goes off. 'You're gonna be nothin but paste here in a second, woman!' She drops into a sudden crouch as a large hand flies over her head in a heavy swing. She leaps forward and rolls, popping up to face her new opponent. A very large opponent. He stands fully before her, fists clenched as he sneers down at her. 'Boss said you'd be here, Spider-Girl' "Woman. Spider-Woman." she politely corrects him. He just smirks and charges at her. For a big guy… he moves waaaay faster than she would have suspected. She is able to avoid his charge, her hand planting on his shoulder as she flips over him. He spins to try and backhand her, but again his speed surprises her. She isn't able to flip totally out of the path of his fist, but she is able to push her hands against him to buffer the impact. She grunts as she is thrown, landing on her back and then flipping to her feet. She stands in a low crouch as she eyes him. "That's a mean meathook ya got there. Ya here to buy or sell weapons you guys shouldn't have that I'm gonna take from ya?" 'My employer wouldn't like that to much, Spider-Girl' "Woman. Spider-Woman" she politely corrects him. He starts to move towards the truck once more, keeping his front facing Spider-Woman. She moves slowly with him, creeping along to keep him in front of her. "Don't spose you'd tell me who your employer is, would ya? I'll buy ya dinner if you do!" He says nothing as he now stops near the truck. From behind it a large rifle is tossed, and he catches it. Her eyes narrow as he levels it in her direction, her body dipping lower slowly. "That… is a very impressive gun ya got there, fella. Or are ya just happy to see me?" She quips as areas of the rifle begins to glow a soft blue.

'Get out of there! That's Systsevich, one of the Kingpin's heaviest thug!' She hears her father's voice in her ear, and smirks under her mask. "Syst… Systevich? Am I saying that right?" He narrows his eyes at her as he starts to draw back the trigger, the blue glow of the gun ports starting to get brighter. 'Aleksei Systsevich, Spider-Girl.' "Woman. Spide-WHOAH!" She cries out as she leaps, just as he fires at her. She flings her hand out to fire a line of webbing, and swings away from him. The beam of blue plasma like energy hits the floor with seeming no damage. Spider-Woman lands against one of the walls of the warehouse, her body turning to look towards Aleksei as she clings. "Ya know for a sec I didn't think that was a real gun, with all the pretty glowy parts. Needs more-" She drops from the wall abruptly as another shot from the rifle hits where she was a moment ago. She lands on her feet and rolls forward, and then launches herself up. A quick firing of webbing adheres to the side of the truck, and she pulls herself towards it as he fires again at her. She clings to the side of the truck, feeling her heart beating a mile a minute. "Needs more bedazzling, I was gonna say before I was rudely interrupted with the murder attempts."

'Systsevich stop playin around and get us free! That's our gun!' one of the webbed baddies shouts. Spider-Woman looks towards him, and then towards Aleksei as he aims the gun at the man. Her own eyes widened with realization and she bounds towards the large gray colored man. But as she does, the trigger is pulled. The image of the man's face… terror and fear draping it… will be something that haunts her for some time. A flash of blue light… and the man simply turns into ashes. "No!" she screams as now Aleksei turns the rifle towards Spider-Woman. And just as he turns, his head snaps to one side with the force of Spider-Woman's punch. He stumbles a little and she grunts as she punches him again square in the jaw, her teeth clenched under her mask. The rifle is still pointed at an angle upwards, and now Spider-Woman is balancing herself on it. Aleksei's other hand moves to the ground to prop him up, as does one of his knees. Immediately with a soft series of 'thwip' sounds she webs his hand to the floor, causing him to start growling angrily. Her feet suddenly plant on his shoulders, one foot on either side of his head. She grips the sides of the rifle and pulls it free from his hand as she pushes off of him. Part of the handle breaks off with the countering forces. Backflipping, she lands almost 15 feet away from him. He lets out an angry shout as he pulls on the webbing at his hand, it stretching but staying intact. The floor he's attached to, it'll break before her webbing. But it won't matter, he won't get to her in nearly enough time. She hurls the rifle over his head, and he tries to catch it. Another soft 'thwip' and her webbing affixes to the gun. She yanks hard on the webline, causing the gun to fly back to her. "JUDO CHOP!" she shouts, thrusting her fist towards the rifle when it's in range.

Oddly… she feels her early warning go off as she does. But she ignores it. Her hand goes right through the rifle 'NO!' Aleksei screams as he pulls himself free, the floor crumbling where his hand was. From the hole where her hand went through, there is a sudden brilliant glow of energy. It flows outwards, seeming to pass harmlessly through her own body. She feels lightheaded for a moment, but otherwise fine. But the rifle… it suddenly ignites into blue flames of energy, and then disintegrates.

"Well that was pretty cool…" she utters, not noticing her warning system ringing. She lets out a surprised gasp as Aleksei suddenly grabs her, his large hands completely enveloping her waist. She feels him squeezing, her hands moving to push on his arms as she struggles in his grasp, her feet kicking back and forth. 'Stupid… little… girl…' he growls out, simply irate at this point. "Woman…stupid... little…" she now looks towards him as she takes a deep breath, holding it for a moment. "Little woman…" her hands whip upwards and she smashes them against his ears. He screams out in pain as he lets her go. She drops and webs his feet to the floor as she lets out the breath more. "Hey, watch those mitts, grabby hands!" She leans back, planting one hand on the floor and kicking out towards his stomach. He is thrown backwards off balance, his feet remain planted. Hitting the ground on his back, she now webs his hands to the floor once more. Hopping up then, she crouches down on his chest. Looking down at him right in the eyes "Hashtag metoo, bruh." 'I'mma kill you!' he says in a very angry tone. "I know I know." She leans down suddenly as his eyes widen, and she puts her head next to his as she does. One of her hands holds her phone high, and she smiles under her mask. "Say beeeeeatdown!" She takes the selfie, and then leaps away from him. As she sails through the air, she casually looks at the pic she just took. "Hey not bad. That's goin on the wall."

One of the webbed men against the wall struggles anew as police sirens are head. 'Let me out of here you bi-' 'thwip' he is cut off as his mouth is suddenly covered with webbing. Spider-Woman bounds to right in front of him, leaning towards him as she narrows her eyes. "Gonna go ahead and assume you were gonna say 'bitcoin' or 'bitter' or 'bitmap'." She then flicks his forehead, and he closes his eyes as he utters 'ow'.
Her gaze moves to one of the high windows of the warehouse, now seeing the familiar red and blue lights. Her hand shoots up, releasing a line of webbing into the shadows. "Have fun in prison, ya'll! Don't drop the soap!" She tugs on the line as she leaps up… and she is gone as the police bust into the warehouse.

It's been nearly a month since the incident at the warehouse. New York's finest has upped its game in search of her, Captain Castle of the NYPD now taking personal stake in it all. He has formed his own task force, and has even begun to use some tools/weapons from his days in War Machine. But Spider-Woman always seems to be just a few steps ahead of them. It's been quiet, otherwise. Spider-Woman has caught Bodega Bandit at least 3 times in the last month (he is just the worst arch-nemesis). She even feeds his puppy, Bandito, while he was in jail. But he always seemed to stay in jail for a day or so at the most, and then somehow got released. And then went right back to petty crimes.

She is now crouching atop a water tower above an apartment building in Harlem. She happily munches on a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (no crust, please) as she looks over her social feed. Lots of invites to date random guys and girls. Which she has to always decline, of course. She gets a text from her dad, asking when she'll be home. She shrugs as she responds… she has to be at band practice soon, and then after she'll be home.

She finishes her lunch and pulls her mask down. Putting her earphones on, she swings away from the building as 'Wish You Were Here' plays. She's been putting together a list of songs for her band to cover… and in her opinion there has to be at least one Pink Floyd song. Gilmour era, preferably. She gets a text notification in her earphones, and she pulls out her phone once more as she swings along the New York horizon. Em Jay asking where the hell she is and she's late. To which she responds (using just her thumb to type) that she is on her way, train was late. And then a smiley face with sunglasses. Which she knows annoys Em Jay.

Spider-Woman tucks her phone away… and her warning alarm starts to scream in her head. Eyes go wide as she now grips her webline with both hands, her head whipping around to try and see where the danger is. But she doesn't see anything. And just as she crosses into Queens from the Whitestone Bridge she lands in a crouch on one of its support beams. Her body rears up as she now grasps her head in pain, eyes closed tightly under her mask. She has never been hit with this intense pain, a pain originating from her early warning alarm. And a moment later, she is gone. Vanished into the night's air as if she had never been.



The rhythm is set by the beat, sort of like warming up for the rest of the piece.