2013.04.29 - Superhero and Wicca-Man

Home though it may be, Queens lacks the high-rise buildings that allow Spider-Man to swing in his usual way high above the city streets. To that end, he runs across the rooftops with the aid of his superior speed and makes great leaps across the streets that intersect the blocks of three-story walk-ups and narrow, terraced housing – his form occasionally silhouetted against the moon as it makes it's rise into the sky. The way he traverses the rooftops is enough to make even the most ardent free runner jealous. And then his phone rings.

He slows to a stop, fishing it out of the backpack he carries slung over one shoulder and holding it to his ear, “Hello?”

Pausing at the edge of the building, his eyes knit as he watches a firetruck wail past on the street below. A few blocks away, a four story brownstone glows an angry orange against the purple sky of dusk. He frowns beneath his mask, agitatedly rocking back and forth as he hurries the caller along.

“Yeah. Okay. Aunt Ma-- Okay, yep. Sure. Aunt Ma-- two percent milk, sure. Aunt May? Aunt May? I've gotta go. My, uh, my bus just pulled up.”

Queens is a little outside of his normal area to patrol, but the teenaged superhero known as Wiccan has been tracking several odd reports of things in the area that are more in his area of expertise than any of his other Superhero friends. Truth be told, they are probably more in Doctor Strange's area of expertise than his, but since all signs are pointing at fairly low level oddness instead of the world ending stuff Wiccan has taken it upon himself to try and deal with it.

The wail of the fire trucks gets Wiccan's attention fast. Dealing with the minor supernatural pests is going to have to wait as he follows behind the first truck he sees until he gets close enough to see the burning building. "I really hope this is not like the last one." He says to himself thinking about a recent fight with a fire starter that had hostages tied up in burning buildings. As he speeds up his flight towards the brownstone he reaches out into thin air and grabs for something when a wooden staff covered in glowing runes appears out of nowhere in his hand.

Down on the street, one of the firefighters does his best to calm down an hysterical resident who points at the building over and over, demanding something in impassioned Hindi. He holds his hands up, shaking his head as the other firefighters rush back and forth in their best effort to battle the blaze, repeating over and over: “Too dangerous. Too hot.”

It is at that moment a soot-covered neighbor approaches the pair, translating for the inconsoloable resident, “She says her baby is up there! Fourth floor!”

A pair of firefighters rush for the door only to be near-thrown back by a gout of flame bursting forth. They shout for the ladder, waving it over urgently as the hoses are locked into the nearby hydrants.

“Hey you,” one of the firefighters calls to Billy, making the assumption that the flying kid is there to help, “There's a kid up on the fourth floor!”

A few blocks away, Spider-Man sprints in the direction of the burning building even as he talks on the phone, breathless, “Gotta. Go. Bye.” Beep.

Wiccan actually blinks in surprise for a second. Before he can start a spell to look for anyone trapped in the building he has fireman spot him and yell form the ground exactly where one is. Not even a youre too young for this, or a let the professionals handle it comes his way. Either he is getting famous enough as a hero that he is getting recognition, or things are just really bad in there. Wiccan decides it is the second.

"Iwanttobefireproof, Iwanttobefireproof, Iwanttobefireproof!" He is chanting his spell as he flashes forwards straight for the building. A cool bluish glow flows around him before he sends himself crashing through what is left of a window in the part of the building the woman had been pointing towards. "Hello! Is anyone there! I am a Superhero! I am here to help!" He yells out while starting his search for the child knowing his spell is only going to last a minute or two tops.

As Billy enters the apartment on the fourth floor, it is clear that it is in a bad shape. Clouded with smoke and violently ablaze, it is difficult to see even a few feet in front of one's face. A moment after he speaks, a nearby window shatters spectacularly inwards and the costumed figure of Spider-Man lands in a crouch right in front of him.

“Hi, Superhero. I'm Spider-Man. Here's an idea though, you might want to come up with a more original name.”

Spidey looks back and forth, scanning the blazing apartment for the one they're there to rescue. No sound is immediately obvious to the pair, but there is more than one room.

Wiccan covers his face for a second to avoid getting hit by any glass from the incoming Spider-Man. "Scarlet you..." He starts to say to the other person before blinking, nope it is not him. "...are not who I thought you were. I'm Wiccan and I was being generic because I am trying to get a positive reaction out of a scared trapped kid who probably has no idea who I am." He quickly says before starting to cough a little. "Ok, Iwanttheretobenosmoke, Iwanttheretobenosmoke, Iwanttheretobenosmoke!" He starts chanting again while a draft starts to pick up.

First it starts around Wiccan, then moves throughout the fourth floor of the building wind blowing out of nowhere pushing smoke out the various open and broken windows as well as pushing air past fast enough that a number of the smaller blazes at least get put out for now.

"I am going to fan boy later." He says simply looking at Spider-man. "Till then, you go that way and I will go this way till we can find the kid?" He asks pointing in two different directions out of the room they landed in before going in search yelling out. "Hey! Hello!" Stopping every few seconds to listen for a response.

“No autographs,” Spidey answers, his tone taking on a lighthearted air even as they split up to look for the baby, “And Wiccan is a lot better by the way. I wonder if it's too late to change to Wicca-Man? Wait, no, I saw that movie. I still can't look at an apiary the same way.”

All of this is said even as Spidey launches himself into the other room over a stretch of flame licking the ceiling. He doesn't seem confused by the magical removal of the smoke but, to be fair, he's seen stranger things than that.

Inside the room Billy is investigating, the smoke reveals no kid. In fact, there's no sign of anything child related. The bedroom is mostly on fire, but a few pictures not yet completely burned away show photo after photo of a cat. As if on cue, a terrified meow can be heard from the nearby closet.

“No kids in here,” Spidey calls from the other room, over the roar of flames.

Wiccan stops, blinks, and face palms. Oh yes, not only were they 'My Babied' in Hindi but apparently that baby is a cat. "No child, but found a cat!" He calls back before taking a breath and going for the closet door. He just knows he is going to end up having to explain getting scratched all over and have to endure at least one bad joke about it before he can heal himself tonight. He adds to himself as he opens the door, "And I still don't know if its a good thing or bad that I am apparently the only person on earth that knows that Wiccan is the male form of Witch."

“My bad,” Spidey calls back, moving back into the room, “I think I'll probably just stick with Spider-Man or 'Hey you with the webs.'”

The cat in the closet is, understandably, terrified. Should Billy move to pick it up it doesn't fight him off, instead opting instead to dig in the claws with righteous cat-strength to avoid being let go or tossed away.

Meanwhile, Spidey lets out a shout of surprise as a burning beam falls free of the ceiling and collapses in the direction of the Billy and the Cat. He's quick, remarkably so, and both hands jut out to catch the beam in a makeshift web hammock that doesn't look like it'll stand up to the flames for very long.

“Don't want to rush you, Wiccan, but grab Sylvester and let's split.”

Wiccan is making soothing noises at the cat, and already wincing in anticipation she reaches for it. He manages not to make a noise as the feline sinks its claws into him with all the righteous kitty strength it can muster, or when part of the ceiling nearly collapses on him. Quickly moving out from under the ceiling bits that had to be webbed into place he nods, "Got the cat, one more thing left. Iwanttoseeifanyoneelseistrapped, Iwanttoseeifanyoneelseistrapped, Iwanttoseeifanyoneelseistrapped!" He chants while his eyes glow bluish white and images float around him as if they were projected on a curved wall surrounding the teen. Once he is sure that there are no people trapped, or where any are they could get out, he is floating in air. "Ok, lets go!"

“Don't have to tell me twice,” Spidey announces, slingshotting himself out of the nearest window with a web line and leaving a trail for Billy to fly after him, “Let's go!”

Out on the street, Spider-Man comes to a landing amidst cheers and clapping from the residents and spectators gathered on the street below. Upon spotting Billy with the Cat, however, the Indian lady points and begins to jump up and down in ecstatic, tearful celebration. Nearby, Spidey holds up his hands and shakes his head as he points towards Billy, “All him. He saved Mittens, I just broke the window.”

“Jadugara!” the Indian lady calls to Billy, obviously over the moon with appreciation for him, “Jadugara! Hero! Hero!”

Should he get within range, she makes no qualms about moving to hug him and take the cat.

Wiccan is out the window right behind Spider-Man. While Spider-Man gets the fast acrobatic landing Wiccan has a slower more sedate one that ends with him actually floating an inch or two above the ground. After landing he goes to give the woman her cat back, and ends up hugged. Thanks to a recent bad moment with hugging women he goes a little stiff hoping like heck that this one does not end up like his last. Once he does get the cat peeled off his arm, and some feeling starts to return to it, the mage turns to look at the building. "Cosmetic, even minor structural damage I could do. This one is way to far along for me to be any help." He says looking at the fully engulfed building and seeing the memories and homes lost instead.

“Queens people are resilient people,” Spider-Man answers, stepping back from the throng of spectators to give the firefighters space to work, “C'mon.”

Spidey doesn't wait to see if Billy is going to follow him, leaping vertically through the air in an incredible display of the spider-strength in the air. He lands against the wall of the building on the opposite side of the street and crawls up the rest of the way, disappearing over the top only to peer back down afterwards.

The lady with the cat continues to thank Billy in Hindi once she's done embracing him, hugging the cat close to her chest and kissing it on the head. The spectating crowd surge closer once Spidey has gone, turning their attention to the superhero who is still there.

Wiccan is doing his best to say youre welcome to the lady, and not blush. At least not blush too much since there is little chance of him not doing it a little with how profusely he is being thanked. As more spectators close in he starts to feel more like Billy Kaplan with his social phobias and neurotic tendencies than the Superhero Wiccan, which explains well enough what happens next.

As more people surge in Wiccan is suddenly not there. There is a light fwoomf sound and a slight wind as air rushes to fill the space where he was, and on top of the building where Spider-Man is peering down from there is a matching sound and gust from air suddenly being displaced. "Great, I am going to end up going home bleeding and smelling like a smoked brisket. Mom is so going to give me The Look."

“Mmm,” Spidey says, standing up and rubbing his stomach as Billy appears behind him, “Brisket.”

With the action on the street and in the burning building now behind them, Spider-Man stretches and yawns widely beneath the mask. Sure, he may have super-strength and endurance but a daring rescue from a burning building still takes it out of him after a day of crime fighting.

“Can you, like, magic yourself up some clothes or something? I mean, you made the smoke disappear and did the teleporting thing just now.”

He lifts his hands, the universal gesture for no offense, “I mean, if that's like a magic no-no I'm sorry. I've got no idea.”

Wiccan grins and nods. "Same bit of magic that got me into the costume can trade it out with the civilian clothes I was wearing, but that is not going to stop me smelling like smoke." He shrugs a little and looks out at the burning building a second. "There are not a lot of magic nonos really. Only one I really have is don't do what Doctor Doom does. That, and the Sorcerer Supream really hates it when people try to summon demons from other planes of reality."

“Oh, don't you just hate that? When you just want to summon a teency demon and the Sorceror Supreme is in your face all 'No! Demons from other planes of reality are bad!' We've all been there.”

Spidey grins beneath his mask, though it's not all that obvious and he simply tilts his head to one side to get the fact that he's joking across.

“Anyway,” he gestures across the way at the burning building, “Good job in there. I'd have been looking for ages with all that smoke in there.”

"Yeah I know, not even a single incubus, but lucky me I got over that phase and was dating real live people before I found out I had the power to do it." Wiccan says with a light shrug. "And I have no idea if it should be exciting, weird, or just nothing at all that after working with Scarlet Spider enough I can actually tell most of the faces people are making when wearing full face masks. And good job yourself, I would have so been trapped under that beam if you were not there." After a second he adds, "Are you sure about the no autograph thing, because my best friend and boyfriend would both totally make high pitched noises if I showed up with one."

"Nice try, Mysterio," Spidey answers, his tone suddenly wary, "This was all some clever ploy to trick me into giving away my secret identity, wasn't it? No dice!"

He lets that hang awkwardly in the air a moment before waving a hand dismissively and laughing, "I'm just kiddin'. If you were Mysterio, you'd have to tell me. It's the law."

The tidbit about the Scarlet Spider is artfully ignored and it's more than a little obvious that he'd rather not talk about the Clone. At least not right now and not with someone he just met.

"Tell you what, I'll do you one better."

Spidey leans behind a nearby air duct and produces a simple, black backpack which he unzips and reaches into. Soon after he produces a phone, walking over and, with an air of nonchalance, throwing an arm over Billy's shoulders. He doesn't really wait to let the guy know what he's doing, holding out the phone and taking a Facebook-quality picture of the pair of them.

"Okay," he asks, stepping away with the phone, "Where do I send it?"

Wiccan just blinks and gives Spider-Man the Spock raised eyebrow look. Ok, so he said something really awkward in there that makes Spider-man uncomfortable. Quick review of what he said going on in his head and there is only one thing he can conclude, it was mentioning having a boyfriend. Of course that thought dies quick as he suddenly has an arm around his shoulders and just enough time to smile at the camera before it goes off. Wiccan blinks a second before giving Spider-Man a number, thank you cheep burner phone, and a confused look because now he has no idea just what he said that lead to the uncomfortable moment from Spidey. "That is awesome, and thank you." He does not mention that the picture is going to be less than great since his own face is going to be blurred badly as part of his spell that keeps his ID safe without having to put on a mask.

"You're all kinds of blurry," Spidey answers, looking at the picture as he taps in the number to send it off, "But you can still kind of tell it's you. I'm sure your boyfriend and other friend'll believe you. It's not like I'm Bill Murray or something."

A moment later, Billy's phone chimes that the picture has been received. Luckily, Spidey has a burner phone of his own just for Spider-Man things. You need to be connected in this day and age and not everyone can afford communicators built into their mask or Dick Tracy-style radio watches.

"I'd offer to sign something, too," he apologizes, "But I don't have a pen. Or paper."

Well, his homework is in his backpack but that'd give a little too much away. His name is all over his paper about hydrodynamics.

Wiccan is tempted, for just a second, to summon up a felt pen and his near mint condition copy of the first Daily Bugel that had Spider-Man on the cover but letst hat moment pass. It is bad enough he has fanboyed at nearly every other major hero he has met, and a few that were surprised anyone knew who they were, without risking getting though of as a Superhero stalker. "Oh they will know its me from the blurry." He says reaching up to tap his circlet like headpeice. "Go mutant magic powers, this thing means no pictures that could ID me and no one can ever connect Wiccan with the real me unless someone who already knows clues them in on the secret."

“That's handy,” Spidey replies, whistling appreciatively, “And here I am using a mask like a sucker.”

He pauses a moment to narrow his eyes behind the mask, looking at the circlet as though it's magical nature will be betrayed just by staring at it long enough. He gives up, though. He's a spider of science, not magic and he finds it best not to dwell on such weird and wacky things.

“Well, your secret is safe with me, Blurry Face. Just make sure you don't tell anybody my secret identity: I'm Tony Stark on his off days.”

Wiccan can't help but laugh and shake his head. "Don't worry not going to fish for secret IDs. More fun to browse the Hero forums and see the more interesting theories there than what ends up being real either way. Although, I have to point out, you're too short to be Colbert and I have seen Tony when he is not in the suit and you're..." He waves his hand non committal as he searches for the right word. "Too sober." All Spider-Man is likely to get from a close look at the circlet is a chance to see the Norse runes carved into it. Wiccan is, or at least before his powers showed up was, a pretty science minded person so he is perfectly ok with people not believing or just hand waving away the magic stuff. Half the time he does not believe it.

“Yeah, you're probably right,” Spidey admits with a shrug, “Like I need all that guy's problems on top of my own, anyway.”

And then curiosity overwhelms him and he asks the kind of question he'd probably avoid most of the time, “So, these superhero forums. What's the going theory on Spider-Man?”

Okay, so he's probably going to be up all night looking this up for himself. This is probably the point where he should go home, hide his costume in his closet and enjoy a home-cooked meal. But come on! Who wouldn't be curious?

Wiccan nods can't help but grin. It is like the day he found someone opened a new section on the forum based on him, horror and curiosity tinged with just a little pride that he had been noticed. "There are half a dozen with major numbers. The big trend is that your someone really really famous. Like Drake Bell or Tobey Maguire kind of famous. Although the Luchadore fanboy theory is up there too." There is a bit of a pause and then, "Oh, and as long as you want to avoid anything really mentally scaring stay away from the threads that include Peter Parker in the title. Some of the yaoi slash girls are really talented artists but have way way too much time on their hands."

Spidey laughs uproariously, the kind of laugh that has him doubled over and slapping his thigh. He even has to lean over to hold onto the air duct, shaking his head and lifting a hand to wipe a tear from his eye beneath the mask.

“Oh, man, heh. Heh. Sorry. It's just a bit funny, that's all.”

He doesn't go so far as to say the theories are wrong, but he's not going to confirm them or drop any hints either way. Mentally he bugs out a little at the notion that Peter Parker is linked with Spider-Man in any way but that was bound to happen given the photographs.

Wiccan grins at the laughter. "The guy gets some great shots of you, and seems to be the only one that can. I don't know if you know him, or date him, or what but I figured that would be too easy a road to pick for finding out secret IDs. Although, kinda paranoid hence the spell even when I don't think even the guys that used to beat me up would be able to pick me out if my face ended up in the papers. My theory was always that Peter Parker had some mutant power that just let him be in the right place at the right time." Wiccan nods sage like when he mentions his theory on how Parker always had the best photos. Of course, he is a mutant and with the exception of a few Gods and a couple of aliens everyone he knows with powers were all mutants so that is where his mind goes first.

“He's just nosy and I'm just vain,” Spidey answers with a shrug, waving a hand dismissively once again in response, “He secretly splits the cash with me, too.”

Oh, jeez. This is soaring too close to the sun on wings of wax. He's sure of it. Still, the fact that people on a forum somewhere are positing this theory means that the newspapers probably won't think it holds any water. Still, maybe he ought to let some other photographer get some good Spidey photos. His wallet weeps.

Wiccan laughs and shakes his head pretty sure that Spider-Man is joking about the sharing the money thing. "You want vain I could introduce you to some people. Don't buy that from you, not with letting those pics keep ending up in Jamison's hands. That man has a serious hate on for you." Wiccan shakes his head again thinking of the man with the near super villain level of obsessed hate for Spiderman. After a second a beeping starts to come from his pants leading him to pull out a cell phone with what has to be the thickest pure rubber armor available. "And it is later than I thought. I have got to go or it's going to be worse than the look." Wiccan turns to Spider-man and gives him a little wave as he floats up from the roof top, "Oh, and thank you again because so totally awesome meeting you!"