Silverside
The morning was crisp, Webb managed to figure out how to make his bed comfortable to sleep in, mainly using blankets and sheets as parts of the hammock.
He managed to get a good amount of food for him before he had headed out back to where he met Swift the other day.
On way. He sent off to Swifts’ phone from his.
He slowly got to the spot they originally met in, his ears twitched gently as he waited and listened to the air.
The little spider-human watched people walk past him in the shadows, tilting his head slightly as his pupils flexed instinctively.
It wasn't much more than a few minutes later that he spotted Swift approaching. This time she used only her eyes to locate Webb, and when she did she offered him a small, plain smile.
"Good morning," she greeted. "Are you ready to go?"
Webb gave Swift a small smile back, giving a small nod to her words.
“Ready.” He replied with a twitch of his mandibles under his lips.
He watched Swift carefully, he hoped what he said the night before was believable enough to not raise any suspicion about everything happening.
But of course, he was dealing with informants. They were suspicious by nature. Even if his story was watertight, it wouldn’t prevent doubt from being cast on it. Still, Swift gave a nod of her own and turned, gesturing with a small wave of her hand for Webb to follow her. She did intend to bring him to see her boss, and if it turned out that the little spider-person was dangerous then her co-worker would simply dispose of him.
It wouldn’t take them very long to get back to the Silver Canary’s offices. The front was part gallery, part studio, with no clues on the exterior that there was an information business behind it… although anyone that needed to know already did. At first Swift stayed quiet while she led Webb through Silverside, but as they drew nearer she suddenly spoke.
“Since you mentioned it yesterday I’ve been wondering. Why is the leader of the Dark Aces hunting you?”
Webb followed quietly, he didn’t feel the need to really say anything as he walked; but he took in his surroundings, trying to add it to his internal map of Nocturnia. He had been around some places of Nocturnia in his time here; but there were still places he hadn’t managed to get to safely.
Webb tilted his head slightly as they got towards the Silver Canary’s Offices; he was surprised it was a gallery-studio for the front, but he didn’t think about it too much as Swifts’ words flooded into his mind.
Huh? He thought quickly before he gave a small shudder, “I uncovered secret.” Webb spoke quietly.
“Midnight Man unhappy what I found.” Webbs’ lower arms were wringing together in fear. “Webb just wishes for calm life.”
"I see."
If Webb did happen to have something on Ezra Blackheart, that would indeed lead to some danger. It would also be a great boon for the canaries though, whatever it was. Assuming that Webb was being truthful. Swift couldn't easily imagine a scenario where someone whose life was endangered by a mafioso -let alone the Midnight Man- would come to someone like the Silver Canary for help. To be honest she wouldn't be surprised if the man sold Webb out. Maybe it was Adel's impartial stance in the never ending war between mafias and city badges in Nocturnia that made him seem like a safe option, though. Or maybe this was all an elaborate set up.
It was hard for Swift not to be pessimistic.
"We're here."
The two of them stepped through the doors. Swift gave a little nod to a woman at the front of the building who stared at Webb with wide eyes. Then she led the spiderling around to a separate cordoned off area. The place was comfortably quiet, although once in the offices proper Webb and Swift were greeted by a boisterous voice.
"This the thing? The... guy?" A woman with short hair and tight black clothes stood before them. She was already a head or two taller than Swift, so she practically towered over Webb. She grinned wolfishly at him. "Huh, weird. Welcome to Silverside little guy. You a troublemaker?"
As they neared the doors, Webb seemed to become a bit twitchy.
“Canary’s know Webb is… Webb, yes?” He asked after a moment, “I do not wish to be killsquished.” There was a soft chuckle from the spider-male, “Others do not like spiders being size of men.”
They entered the doors, Webb gave a weak smile towards the person staring at him before they got to the cordoned off area. Webb relaxed a little before the boisterous voice echoed through the air.
Webb leapt instinctively up to the ceiling at the loud sound, lowing his body against the ceiling as he stared down towards the much,
much larger woman.
“No trouble.” Webb said gently, “Friend, promise.” He glanced towards Swift in hopes she would tell him that it would be safe to come down.
“No killsquish please?”
Unfortunately the brunette did not give him any peace of mind beyond a look that she felt a little bad for him.
"I won't kill you or squish you!" The other woman laughed, her hands on her hips. She stared up at the wall crawler. "Well, as long as you really aren't here to cause problems."
Webb watched the two of them carefully before he slowly dropped himself down from the ceiling; using his web as a lay-line before he stood on the ground.
“No here for trouble.” Webb said with a weak smile, “Just for help. Have secrets for Silver Canary.”
Webb looked to Swift, instinctively wondering why she didn’t say anything but she turned back to the taller woman. “Webb.” He moved to offer a hand to shake, tilting his head slightly. “Swift found Webb yesterday, brought here today. Trouble for Webb happen.”
The woman appeared very amused as she took Webb's hand in her strong grip. "Well then Webb. I'm Griffon. Kind of the second line of defense you see. So if you don't want the killsquish just behave and we'll all be friends!"
Dropping the handshake, Griffon looked back at Swift. She then gave the other woman a thumbs up, though Swift only met her colleague with a look of exasperation.
No, this is fine, she thought to herself. Griffon was... a character, for sure, but she wasn't incompetent. If she felt that Webb wasn't a threat then she should trust that.
"Alright," Swift said, stepping closer to the two of them. She pointed to an empty adjacent room. "Wait in there, Webb."
Webbs’ ears pricked up slightly as Griffon spoke, he nodded quickly at her words of behaving.
“No plan to not behave.” He continued before Swift spoke, he looked towards where she was pointing.
Webb gave a nod and moved into the room that he was asked to wait in, looking around quietly.
It was instinct for him to check all new rooms for any ‘informants’, if you will;
spiders. It was never a malicious thing to find the spiders and find out if there was anything he needed to know; it was just how he got his main information, if a place was good for living - If his friends needed more food, all of that good stuff.
Yes, he thought of every spider as his friend, even if he knew that if he was their size, they would hunt him for food.
Very warm. He commented on the temperature of the building, it seemed well maintained; so the chances of having spiders here were slim.
But it was never zero.
While he looked for his little friends (and eventually had to conclude that there weren't any to be found in this room), Webb could hear little snippets of conversation from outside the door.
"...o worries. If something hap... ...ould shred him... ...pieces."
"...nfident of tha..."
"I wou... ything happen t... ...oss. You kn..."
"...at about the b...?""...timing! This..."
"...hy did you e... ...said to m... omewhere else.""Wi... ...thing going on... ...oner. Especia... ...Blackheart."
"Swift—""...me on! Live a li..."
"...'m trying to do!"Swift and Griffon's muffled voices were easy enough to pick out, though an unfamiliar third voice eventually joined them - one that sounded near exasperation.
Webb was a little saddened that there were now little critters around the area for him to talk to, remembering what Ezra asked him; plant bugs.
That would be easy for Webb to do, bugs were sneaky when they needed to be - He’d choose things not too out of the ordinary for a house or office in this case; jumping spiders, silverfish, possibly even cellar dweller spiders for something more sneaky…
Sadly Webb didn’t understand that Ezra would have meant
bugs as in cameras and microphones; but the little spider-man was simple minded.
His attention returned to reality as he twitched his ears, trying to listen to the words spoken through the wall. He tilted his head to the side, trying to pick up on the words but he could only get little pieces.
Webb flinched when he heard ‘shred him to pieces’, almost wanting to go hide under the table; but that would look bad on him if he did so, so he waited. He was tense, his lower hands gripping onto the table tightly; his little claws digging into the table, leaving little dents.
Finally the door opened, and the man Webb was instructed to meet with was in front of him at last.
The Silver Canary was a thin man, well dressed in fine clothes. His brown hair reached just past his shoulders, but it was tied loosely at the base of his neck. Since his earlier meeting he'd donned a pair of simple but stylish eyeglasses, and his cold brown eyes studied Webb from behind them. He was taller than Swift but shorter than Griffon; and speaking of the women, the latter stepped into the room behind her boss, wiggling her eyebrows at the Spiderling as she shut the door again. Swift was nowhere to be seen.
"You've been looking for me?"Webb watched as the Silver Canary finally entered the room, his ears pricking up slightly before he moved to rise from his seat, moving to gently offer his hand to shake.
“Webb has secrets.” They started, wanting to make their point rather quickly as to not lengthen more of the fear they felt.
Webb instinctively looked to Griffon, knowing she could crush him with ease; even with his enhanced strength - he couldn’t stop someone just crushing his ribs.
“Was told you can help Webb.” Webb said gently, “Do not wish to interrupt, must be very busy.”
Webb was taking in Adels’ look, he seemed to be a very wealthy man by the way he dressed, but Webb was never one to understand the need of flashy clothing.
Adel didn't reply immediately. He was suspicious - he always was. And this was weird. It was clear to him that
something was up, but what it was he couldn't tell. And for some reason, Swift and Griffon thought it would be a good idea to entertain this... person. Clearing Griffon was having fun with it at least. She let the two of them talk, taking a seat in a chair against the far wall and kicking one of her legs over the other. She didn't appear to be hostile, but Webb had heard what she'd said. She was the Silver Canary's office security, and so she was there to secure the room and her boss.
Said boss deigned to keep standing. His posture and body language betrayed nothing to Webb. At the very least, his gaze had softened somewhat. Adel was not good with kids, and he didn't really like dealing with them. Didn't know how to. And to him, Webb looked like some kind of scared spider-kid, who'd probably got caught up in someone else's business.
"It depends on what you need help with," he said, brushing off the comment about being busy.
Webb felt his mandibles twitch under his lips before he was asked what help he needed.
“Webb found, secrets.” They started, looking to Griffon for a moment before looking towards the door for a moment.
He was hoping that Swift would enter as well, she’d be better at explaining everything but he tried to flex his shoulders slightly. “Midnight Man secrets.”
He swallowed, his fear was real; but not from holding secrets from Ezra.
“Midnight Man now after Webb, was told you could help.” Webb moved and pulled out a small envelope, “Webb just want live easy life. No want get in this mess.”
He fidgeted with his spare hands, again; not a lie. He just wanted an easy life where he wasn’t in constant trouble with
anyone.
After taking the envelope, Adel didn't hesitate to open it. Inside was a mysterious correspondence, its message typed out in black ink in neat rows. The Canary's eyes read the five sentences, then read them again, then once more. As he did, the woman in the corner sensed tension beginning to radiate off of him. She sat up, confusion set in her brow.
At the moment, Adel believed Webb. He did not put it past Ezra to come after anyone or anything. And if what was written in this note was to be believed...
"Who gave this to you?" he asked, swallowing thickly. It was just an assumption on his part, but he doubted the boy in front of him wrote this out.
“I found.” Webb said with a small nod, “Found while rummaging food; found injured person. Had on them, died on spot.” He drooped his ears slightly before he shivered slightly. “Midnight Man found somehow.”
He moved his arms to hug himself as he almost shrunk into himself slightly, “Not seem he knows where Webb-House is, but… Worried.” he looked to Adel with fear in his eyes. “Just… Just got house, do not want to lose.”
Webb flattened his little fuzzy ears back, “Cannot offer much for safety, only secret.” He said with a small frown, “And strong web-string! Offer strong web-string, good for nets.”
Adel raised one hand to rub at the back of his neck. Man, he really didn't like dealing with kids. How did a spider even pull off a kicked puppy look like that? After a moment he tucked the note back into the envelope, fetched a lighter from his pocket, and set the paper alight. It wouldn't take long for the fire to burn it to ash, and he held it in his hand until the last moment while he spoke.
"I don't really do protection. We aren't soldiers or guardsmen; we're just informants," he explained.
"If Blackheart is coming after you, there isn't a lot I could do to stop him."He couldn't even stop
himself from being picked up by the man, as evidenced by yesterday morning's events.
"I can see if I can find you a safe place, but that's about it."Webb nodded quickly at his words, “Would be very grateful.” He said before he looked to Griffon for a moment, before he looked back to the ash that fell to the floor from the paper.
Admittedly, there was part of him that wanted to see what the secret was, but he wasn’t too phased about the whole thing. He was just glad he was, in a way, accepted.
“If need informant help.” Webb started after a moment, “Good at sneaking, blend to shadows. Many not look up.” He grinned; maybe he could help both sides! Get information for Ezra, and help the Canaries with their work too!
They didn’t seem like
bad guys so to say, maybe they wanted to make the city easier too!
Now that took Adel a little off guard. This little guy had allegedly come to him for help, and now was all but asking for a job? On the one hand, having a part-spider person on the payroll did sound like it would be pretty useful. But on the other, this whole thing was way too suspicious.
"I don't think that's a good idea," he said after a moment, his voice carefully neutral.
"Aw, c'mon, he could be our mascot," Griffon chimed in with a chortle. She was still on alert, but she seemed to want to break some tension. Adel closed his eyes briefly to stop himself from rolling them. They did not need a goddamn mascot. The whole point of spying was
not to be seen.
When he opened his eyes again, Adel settled his gaze on Webb. Swift had told him that Webb had overheard his name and that he was someone who could help. That was the first strange thing. He'd never heard anyone speak about his business in that sort of context. Webb had said that the Midnight Man was after him because of what was in that envelope, and that he'd found the envelope on a dying man. That was the second strange thing. It was a hell of a thing to coincidentally find, and though it wasn't impossible that the Spiderling could evade Ezra so far it was unlikely, especially if Webb apparently had a home he returned to. The third was how insistent he was. Everything pointed to Webb being someone else's agent, the question was did he even know?
Adel worked his jaw as he thought. At this rate he'd probably smoke through another entire pack, as he'd certainly be indulging his nicotine addiction after this.
"...alright, Webb," he started, the tone of his voice already betraying his next words to Griffon. She blinked in total surprise but wisely didn't interrupt.
"I'll put you to work. In return we'll do our best to shield you from Ezra, alright? But that means you'll have to do what I say. And you can't stay in the office overnight."He would put out a blanket notice to the rest of his men. Keep Webb at arm's length. Treat him like a guest and not a colleague. If he was trying to get access to the Silver Canary's information network, or god forbid about the man himself, he would not succeed. And in the meantime, Adel could find out who had put the boy up to this in the first place. If things went well, he could flip Webb's allegiance - if he was aware of them in the first place.
Webb listened as Adel and Griffon seemed to disagree on him helping them out, his ears pricked up and flattened slightly at the different sides, before Adel spoke again, the spiderling looking immediately back to the Silver Canary.
Webb nodded at his words enthusiastically, “Will do as said.” He agreed before he tilted his head at not staying in the office overnight. “Will leave before sunfall; if make Canary comfortable?” He offered.
Admittedly Webb wouldn’t notice too much if people were told to keep him at arms length; many stayed away from him anyway - Not a lot of people take to a Spider-Humanoid very easily anyway; even if Webb never wanted to cause any trouble or harm.
Having more of a ‘stable’ Job would help Webb pass time, he was happy to be able to at least
help someone else; even under the guise of snooping.
"That works," Adel agreed.
"I'll let you know when I have something for you. And while you're affiliated with us, if you get into trouble call Griffon for help."He nodded towards the woman, who stood up at this point. She grinned at Webb once more, then crossed over to Adel and whispered,
"you know I was kidding around about hiring him. What the hell, boss? And whatever he gave you--"Adel tipped his head towards her, murmuring softly,
"I'll explain later."Webb watched as Adel seemed to turn away and talk to Griffon, but he paid no attention to it. He was looking around the room with narrowed eyes for a moment before he waited until he was able to leave.
Webb’s House, Xavier Tower, Jeweled Bank
Webb got back to his house easily, he collapsed onto his bed-hammock as he shed most of his clothes and clambered into the blankets.
He let out a long sigh before he fumbled to find his phone, realizing he had left it in the pockets of his clothes that were now on the floor. Webb gave a bit of a grumble to himself and moved to spit a web string to grab his shirt back to him.
Stupid clothes. He grumbled mentally before he got his phone and moved to hide in the bundle of blankets and sheets.
It was
warm, he needed this. This was comfort; like the silk cocoon that Jumping Spiders make in order to rest when they need to. He moved to start texting.
Hell0. He sent off to Ezra, hesitating after he sent the first message before he continued.
Silvr Caneery took sekret. Said I can work 4 them. G00d 2 have time to put bugs.His stomach grumbled, causing him to look towards the fridge with a bit of a grumble. He did need to eat, but he was so
warm. It was the trade off he wasn’t sure he wanted to do currently.
???
Ezra’s phone would buzz after Webbs’ texts came through, a new number.
Someone
else was texting him, but who?
Hello Midnight Man, it’s a pleasure to finally be able to text you.
You have some knowledge that I am after.
Do you have time to meet? Preferably somewhere out of sight.
Kind Regards,
The Doctor.
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