Love Blossoms (OPEN NYC EVENT)

The flowers swayed. They were perfect spies, perfect sources of gathering information. Everywhere there were flowers. In stores, in homes, on the streets, in the parks. Nothing escaped her eyes. Everyone rushing and panicking to find someone. The senses of urgency. Every emotion that could be felt on this day was all so.

Intoxicating.

In fact, someone had asked the flowers as to where she was. A strange girl, one with horns protruding through her hair, who climbed and leaped towards the botanical gardens. Suffice to say, Cypris was expecting her, although she was not sure if this girl was brave or stupid for coming here. After all, this was her domain, and not even that spider brat had been able to stop her before her plans came to fruition.

Now, this little devil child was hanging off one of many vines. Cyrpis smirked, sitting atop the center of her flower, reclining as she tilted her head a little before resting it on her fist, amused but not concerned with the devil's presence.

"Hm," she hummed as flattery got the devil nowhere. As much as she may adore the praise, she had heard such remarks a dozen times over, enough to last a dozen lifetimes. It was something to be expected, nothing less, nothing more. After all, who else could compare to her pleasurable features?

The scarlet-haired vixen turned her attention to her nails, smiling a little, as the girl played and swung on the vine. Cypris was listening of course to the girl, as she quoted her words, listening before turning her head to the girl as she spoke her final words.

How will you break your curse, Cypris?

Cyrpis's thin, softly angled eyebrows rose up slightly before turning to the girl with a smirk. What an interesting question to pose. Much more interesting than watching all that was happening. She lifted herself from her reclined position, sitting up straight and deigning to look down upon this girl and her companion.

"Wait there, darling."

As soon as she spoke, the vine Lyra had been playing on would wrap around her body, joined by its other similar brethren, trying to trap her in place and hold her steady. Instead of bringing her soft-skinned legs to touch the ground, Cypris gestured for Lyra to come closer and the vines would do just that, bringing the girl closer to the petal-clothed woman before settling the devil upside down before Cypris for a closer examination.

Yes, what an odd girl that was before the floral goddess. One that seemed to lack a love for anyone or anything other than her interests.

"Solitude makes the heart grow fonder, although I suppose that was not the case for you. Why are you here? If you've been searching to spend your time with me, I'm afraid you'll find me a poor choice for that. A poor choice for you."

She smiled before glancing, peering through the girl, through her soul. There was no malice in her voice, just a subtle interest. A playful yet more elegant curiosity bouncing off of Lyra's own energetic and inquisitive nature.

"And, for a girl without love, you certainly know how to keep interesting company. Aren't you going to introduce me to your boyfriend? It'd be rude not to."

Her eyes would glance over directly to Satan's Shadow. She had known. She had always known he was there.

How did she do that? What else did she know?

Swinging from rooftop to rooftop, Cassidy's teeth gritted together as he huffed in frustration as he fired another web-line, pulling on it much harder than necessary, sending him flying further in the the heights of the sky.

So stupid. I should have taken the fight outside. Found a way to distract her. Anything. How could I be so stupid as to let this happen?

Another throbbing in his chest forced him to let go of the web-line, falling several stories as he struggled to raise one arm and fire off a line of silk to catch himself before becoming another victim of gravity. Letting go of the line, he fell again, only about 15 feet above the ground, and fell before rolling before being stopped by the slamming of his body into a few cars. No damage to the vehicles but himself but the superhero laid there.

Why was it so much worse for him?

He followed up on the symptoms, on how this affected you. Rapid tests have been made to try and figure out a way to work around this. The pollen-based substance might cause the occasional chest pain, but that was a reminder you still had it. It was minor. Nothing like this terrible sensation wracking his chest around his heart. The other symptoms may be altered serotonin and epinephrine levels, making you more likely to make impulsive decisions. Maybe something along the lines of being more willing to ask someone out. Not only that, it could have the body to create distinct pheromones that were associated with bonding. None of it was too serious, but it was enough of a spark to trigger what Cypris was going for.

Whoever she was, she was smart enough to account for all parts of the human biology involved in forming connections. Cassidy might have been amazed if he was not suffering the worst effects. Forcing himself to sit up as the pain died down, the vigilante began thinking of how

Think, Cassidy. She gave you a liquid variation through your blood to get you infected. Possibly it is more potent? If it is, we need to get away from everyone and find a way to get out of this.

His eyes widened underneath the mask.

Maybe I was infected by this earlier than everyone else. I was the first, which means . . .

He had less time than everyone else. Spider-Bite needed to get moving. Getting up with the aid of using one hand pushing himself off a car, the hero leapt towards the closest building and began climbing upwards. Either he needed to find a so-called 'date' or he needed to shut down Cypris before things got worse, for him and for everyone else. He made it to the roof before hearing a distinct buzzing from his phone. Reaching into his bag, he pulled it out before glancing at what could have been sent to him. A text message?

Another buzzing. He took out the burner phone. Another text.

Both from Memento. And it included both the numbers of Cassidy and Spider-Bite. And Venus? What? Why?

Oh boy, she's asking out if any of the three, or should I say two, of us want to try and help her. Perfect. Great. How is Cassidy and Spider-Bite going to do this without looking like a jerk?

Well, as much as Spider-Bite could ask Morgan out, being the flirty trickster he was, it was best if the two were not seen together in such a context. No need to give Legion or any supervillain ideas, even with the circumstances and context a date like that would be under.

Cassidy smacked his forehead in realization. He needed to check up on everyone and see if they were okay. Kore and Carmen should be fine as long as they had no jobs in New York. Silvaria kept to Yemen or Kore's office so she was in the same boat. Dapple was back in Millennium City so she was okay. Mettle should be fine, but it was best to see just in case. Cassidy never got Legion's number. Scramjet and Basilica could be in the city. He needed to check up on them. There was Venus and Annabelle as well.

No, wait, his mom and sister! What about them? What was he going to do? They would figure something out, right? They each had good friends to help look out for them and work with them through this. Still, considering how it might be chaos out there and everyone could be panicking, what good could anyone do for one another?

So, before answering Memento's text, Cassidy began sending out individual texts at superhuman speed, almost breaking his phone several times. Some would receive some from both Spider-Bite and Cassidy, if both identities knew the numbers of the people he cared about, although great care was taken to differentiate the two. Others would simply get a Spidr-Bite or Cassidy text, depending on his current working relationship to that person.

[Cassidy/Spider-Bite: Are you okay?/You safe from this stuff?/How are you holding up?]

Wait, there was one person he could not account for! Aster!

Please be back at the apartment. Pleasepleaseplease.

Sending a pair of quick texts to the Memento Mori chat, Cassidy devised a simple plan to keep Cassidy and Spider-Bite separate yet distinct without giving himself away or putting him a tight corner later. Cassidy sighed. As much as he could use Memento's help against Cypris, he needed to find Aster and call his family.

[Cassidy: I'm try to help, but it is insane out here. I have to check on my family real quick. Where do you plan on going? Venus, how are you holding up?]

[Spider-Bite: As cute as a button as you are, Memestress, I'm not doing so great and I've got my hands full with this craziness. I might be able to swing around later, but don't count on it. Stick with who you know.]

[Cassidy: WTH?!!!! HOW DO YOU HAVE SPIDER-BITE IN THIS CHAT?! ARE WE BEING PUNKED???!!!]

Yep, that should work for now. Firing another web-line, Cassidy began heading back to his apartment while dialing his family. Hopefully, he can knock out two birds with one stone and find Aster while calling his family.

"Please be okay. Come on!"

Time was of the essence.