@chase_moone: Don't love it but you know how I am with intros.
Juuust great. With the rain going like this, if I have to stay in this alley one more night I'll grow roots.
Katie slumped against the wall and to the ground. This was an absolute bust. Given Seattle's notable metahuman population she was sure she'd be able to find some sort of information on the attitudes and aftermath of Elsa's "cure." But hardly anyone even wanted to stop and talk in the first place, except those two creeps who she was pretty sure had experience with neither mutation nor the suppressing agent.
Slinging her Jake the Dog backpack into her lap, she pulled her pencil and notepad to review her list. Hmm...Seattle is shit. Maybe Los Angeles? Those narcissists love to talk about themselves. Might have to check in with Cruella de Vil first so she won't get suspicious. I could just tell her I'm in Ethusalia for my sister. But something tells me she'd have as much sympathy for "family matters" as a lioness.
She checked her wallet. $17.89. It'd be a long walk down the Western US unless she could get the fat man to wire her some money...for the seventh time.
Fat chance, she thought, the irony eliciting a late fit of giggling just before a familiar pang shot through her spine and settled at the base of her skull. Sirens in the distance, and getting closer. Katie couldn't really think of any reason to involve herself but—peowm! Something bounced off the wall, narrowly missing her head just as the vehicles sped past. But just as the danger passed an idea seemed to hit where it missed.
"Wait, that's it!" Katie shouted, passing a glance to both sides of the alley, hastily changing out of her t-shirt and jeans and into her hand-sewn costume. Please don't let me get sick, I just can't miss this! These criminals were a godsend! She didn't have to get involved. If she could get some good pictures and write up a story, some local paper would be happy to pay her for her work! Hopefully.
One moment she was standing in the alley, the next she was 20 feet in the air, deceptive strength propelling her like a springboard into the sky. Her webs still weren't perfect but by then she'd gotten enough practice to maneuver her spinnerets amply under normal circumstances, even if it did take nearly all of her concentration.
As she closed in on the shooters, trying to nail as many "shots" of her own, she realized they weren't just firing at the officers. A "hero." Guess Seattle's still got a few narcissists of its own. Katie's stomach turned. One who, while grossly undervaluing the seriousness of the situation, was trying to commandeer it to his advantage - Tch! No surprise there - and he had the nerve to try and issue her commands. "Fine! But I'm not helping you, I'm helping them," she called back and extended her arm toward the car.
Web attached to rear bumper. She was strong enough to stop them cold. But the inertia was too much. Bringing the car to a sudden stop, its occupants were thrown through the windshield. Battered by the impact, mutilated by shattered glass and the tumbling of their bodies along the ground. At that speed, there was nothing anyone could do.
Fate flashed before her eyes and, without shooting a web to save her or to stop the car, Katie was falling, leaving the vehicle speeding on its way. Haunted by the spectre of the last time she used her powers on ordinary humans, she came out of the stupor only by her own crushing impact with the ground. "Agck!" For nearly a minute she struggled to breathe against the constricting pain in her chest and though she ultimately did, her camera'd been smashed to bits and so had her sense of self-worth in the fall.
The officers stared on awkwardly before resuming the chase themselves, leaving the small-town spider alone to pick up the pieces of herself.
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