16041/Pinned Down and Pissed Off

Pinned Down and Pissed Off
Date of Scene:	08 October 2023
Location:	Abandoned Apartments
Synopsis:	Joshua is ambushed by Reavers while making deliveries. He's rescued by Prisma, Spider-Man and Mania and he is faced with a cruel truth. There really is only one way to stop the Reavers.
Cast of Characters:	Joshua Foley, Andi Benton, Bunny Macleod, Peter Parker
Tinyplot:	Reavers

---

Joshua Foley has posed:
Earlier in the day, Joshua had been out making deliveries for the Candle, Books, and Belle. While he was out, he didn't realize he was being survelled. The day was cool and comfortable, the golden mutant in a pair of pants and a tshirt, wearing a helmet and elbow pads as he guides his skateboard down the sidewalk.

As he was skateboarding by the apartments with the packages for delivery in his messenger back, a sudden burst of gunfire sprays out, and Joshua is hit by at least three rounds. One goes through his messenger bag, piercing the book within while another catches him in the stomach and in the shoulder.

There's a cry of pain and Joshua tumbles off of his skateboard, tumbling onto the sidewalk as he curls into a ball.

<<Target's down, does Pierce still want him alive?>> the sniper in the apartment reports, stepping into the window of the apartment. Wearing a skull helmet covering his head, with a human torso, machine gun and his entire lower body is cybernetic, Skullbuster looks down at the bleeding Joshua. "Mutant trash."

Bursting out of the doors and shattering them underneath his tank treads, the mohawked Bonebreaker calls out. "Doesn't care anymore, long as we get the corpse to research his power!"

A third Reaver strides out behind him, Pretty Boy looking as handsome as ever as he glances down at Joshua. "Once a Reaver, always a Reaver, even in death." he comments with a chuckle as he pulls a pistol to aim at the mutant's head. "Let's see you heal from this."

Andi Benton has posed:
A team-up patrol? It's not something Mania and Spider-Man have done much of for a while. There's still the whole side of getting used to Spidey having been lost in the timestream or whatever it was, but stranger things have happened. Andi bonded to an alien symbiote that has now probably become her best friend.

Regardless, the one known as Mania did learn a lot early on from Spider-Man, and there's still a sort of fondness there. Not quite hero-worship, but a mentorship that's remained valued. Getting to patrol together is something that's actually looked forward to.

As they swing through the area, the sounds of gunfire pop up somewhere below them. Veering in the direction of it, she tells him, "That's gonna be trouble. We'd better see what it is." In this case, the 'we' includes him, not just the Andi/Mania partnership.

Bunny Macleod has posed:
    Gunfire. The vigilatne and Young Avenger had been on patrol, pausing to text a check-in to someone (WHY do apartments have a 'no superheroing' rider on their lease agreements now? When did that become popular, and why do they all blame MODOK?), and PRISMA aka. Bunny Macleodhad been grabbing a Pumpkin Spice coffee break with a muffin when she heard the gunfire report over the apartment buildings.

    She pushes off her place on the side of a window ledge, one of her shields rising up in a narrow ramp as she uses it to get up over the top of another building, the dark pink of her costume blending slightly with the shadows in the brick, eyes peering through the lenses of her goggles before she sees the situation.

    She recognizes Josh -- and the Reavers uniforms.

    "No -- no no /no/--" she whispers, and raising both hands, she tries to raise one of her gasoline-swirl shields between Josh and muzzle of the gun!

Peter Parker has posed:
"Oh, that's definitely Trouble." Spider-Man concurs wholeheartedly with Andi's assessment. He slips the line in his hand to stall his forward momentum and free-falls ten stories, watching the fight unfold. The lenses of his mask widen in alarm at the sight of the gun coming out.

"Mania! Sniper!" Spidey shouts, and launches a webshot roughly at Skullbuster's location.

The more immediate priority is the handgun. Spidey launches a webline down at the gun and at the last possible moment, yanks the barrel to the vertical. He times it perfectly with falling past a horizontal light pole, roping the webline over the old steel and yanking Pretty Boy up into the air to dangle one-handedly.

Joshua Foley has posed:
Squeezing the trigger, Pretty Boy fires the round at Joshua but it is pushed up by Spider-Man's webline, and it never gets there as a flash of rainbow colors deflect the round, blunting it and sending it harmlessly into the ground as Prisma's shield does the job. "It's the Shield Bitch!" Pretty Boy yells. "We're getting a two for one today!"

As he is whipping around to fire at her, Spider-Man's web line has it's secondary effect, yanking him off the ground with a yelp. He dangles for a moment and then laughs. "Do your research, wall-crawler!" With that, he flings out his arm, extending it well over 30 feet to make a swipe at Spider-Man as he lowers his captured arm to lower him back to the ground and rips the pole out of the ground to use as an impromptu bat!

Bonebreaker rotates on his turrets. "I'm on them!" he calls out. From either side of his tank treaded body, a pair of machine-guns rise into position. "We get the kid and his little friend too? Pierce will give us a bonus!" He starts spraying a line of machine-gun fire from both barrels towards Bunny and the downed Joshua, the bullets striking the streets, kicking up asphault and debris as he tries to walk the rounds into the pair!

"I got the other Spider." Skullbuster reports, raising his rifle to start to track Mania as she is descending on the scene. "I bet you're gonna enjoy this, edgelord." he snarls, firing off several rounds, trying to track Mania's track across the sky, striking the building around her as he tries to range in on her before she can get close!

Andi Benton has posed:
Gifted with abilities that work roughly the same as Spider-Man's spider-sense, Mania is already angling herself to move in toward the location of the sniper. "We see him," is all she responds with. As shots blast out in her direction, the solid white eyes narrow.

<<Mania>> He is daring to shoot at us, Andi?
<<Andi>> Is it that obvious?
<<Mania>> We should eat his face.
<<Andi>> I'd rather not.

Making herself a less predictable target by moving more erratically than usual, she uses another building as cover to cross behind, getting out of the line of sight while she closes in. This may throw his tracking off.

Bunny Macleod has posed:
    "Mania - Spider-Man -- these guys -- (ohmigod are... is that guy a cyborg on tank treads?!)" Prisma starts as she launches herself down, catching on her shields which keeps her from tumbling down. And the first spray of bullets hitting her.

    "Anti-Mutant Militant *SCUMBAGS*!" she barks out -- and then it hits her.

    They know who she is. They have her on footage saving Josh from Bebop once-upon-a-time. If she was privvy to Mania, she might actually encourage the face-eating. She's got scars from the last encounter with them.

    But more importantly --

    She skates down one of her ramps, coming in fast and low and baseball-slides into place in front of Josh and brings her shields up. Heart pounding as she bubbles around him. The timer's going.

    "Josh, right now would be a *really* good time to make with the healing powers. I can only keep this up so long!" she whispers to him above the sound of machine gun fire from Bonebreaker as Mania kites Skullbuster, and Pretty Boy is lifted up where he belongs, in a manner of speaking, by Spidey.

Peter Parker has posed:
Spidey's eyes widen in alarm and he leaps into a spinning, horizontal evasion that carries him over the lashing of that prosthetic limb. It would look a little ungainly except how perfectly controlled it is, every twist and motion flawlessly executed.

With Mania dealing with the sniper, and Bunny protecting Joshua, Spidey goes on the offensive to try to neutralize the cyborgs. Bonebreaker gets a gooey web bullet right to his face that completely covers his eyes. It buys Spidey long enough to switch to a sturdier web formulation and start layering webbing down around Pretty Boy's feet and ankles. He ducks under another swing of that pole and counters by lunging forward to throw a deceptively acrobatic kick at Pretty Boy's leg.

Joshua Foley has posed:
As Mania becomes erratic, Skullbuster continues to fire at her, until she manages to get out of his field of vision. Realizing that she is probably getting ready to start trying to come up from beneath him, he steps back into the empty and ruined apartment. Dropping the rifle, he pulls a pair of carbon blades from the legs of his lower robotic frame work and grins beneath his back. "The itsy bitsy spider climed up the water spout, she got stabbed in the face and she bled out..." The blades flash in the darkness as he chuckles, waiting for Mania's arrival. He is confident he can handle her. She's not Venom, after all.

Bullets spray across Prisma's shields, sending up a variety of colors as she ends up next to Joshua. His golden skin is marred with blood, his helmet cracked and a trickle of blood down his face. He's unconscious, and it's becoming apparent that when he's not able to actively use his powers -- they just don't work. Well, they will when he's dead and he respawns.

Just as Bonebreaker was about to try to run over the two mutants, the webfluid in his face causes him to careen out of control. His treads spin wildly as he goes up on one tread and crashes into an abandoned car that's up on blocks. Smoke rises from his frame as he starts to try to pull his way out to re-engage as his hands claw at his sunglasses to pull them off so he can see again.

Pretty Boy actually helicopters his entire torso, using his arms and pole to try to catch Spider-Man when he gets in close. The webbing of his feet and legs is successful, and Pretty Boy snarls. "Smart, that was smart..." and just as he he swings around hard to catch Spider-Man in the back, the kick catches him in the leg, it crumples with a metallic crunch and he tilts, the helicoptering arms digging into the concrete and tearing it and his arms apart. "Dammit!" he yells. "Skullbuster, stop flirting and get down here to help!"

Andi Benton has posed:
First things first. Mania's advancement on the apartment building has the result of Skullbuster no longer sniping. Dealing with him may be a challenge, however. Time will soon tell.

Having pinpointed the room he's in, the building itself in poor shape to say the least, she maneuvers her way into the apartment one level below. There are a few holes in the floor, spaces where the ceiling has crumbled with the addition of water-based damage to soften it up.

This way, she's able to creep along and stick to the darker areas, moving in stealth before a plan is hatched.

Pooling up from a shoulder, a small caricature of the symbiote's head forms and extends upward, poking just above the level of the floor above for a peek around before it retracts.

<<Mania>> He is above us, Andi. Right..here.

A few steps are taken to one side, putting them a few feet from being directly underneath.

<<Mania>> Should we surprise him?
<<Andi>> I think we should.

Hands reshape into curved blades, akin to an axe or a scythe, sharp and thick enough to cut through the weakened ceiling. Then?

The blades surge upward to dig in at an angle, with the goal of getting Skullbuster to collapse down a floor with the rest, at which point Mania will pounce. "Surprise!"

Bunny Macleod has posed:
    Bunny had ducked her head, bracing herself as Bonecrusher makes his approach -- and then gets webbed!

    "GREAT Shot!" she calls out to Spider-Man, a little breathless, and she takes the opportunity to drop her shield as Bonecrusher crashes into a car, and she turns. Blood dripping down from his helmet. "No... no no no... not again. Don't you die on me again. I'm not leaving you this time!" Bunny whispers with panic creeping into her voice, and she unlatches his helmet from his head to investigate the wound, and reaches for his neck to check. There's a pulse.

    He's at least alive.

    "Joshua Foley -- *wake UP*!" she hisses, reaches down , and gives him as hard a shake as she can manage from the awkward position, trying to keep one eye on the treaded cyberpunk nightmare man!

Peter Parker has posed:
"Woah, hey, the man's taking a power nap," Spidey quips over his shoulder when Bunny slaps Joshua. "Give him a break. How often does anyone get a chance to really--" he grunts with the force of leaping over those flailing arms. "--get a good rest in?" he concludes.

Spidey closes the gap with a handspring and catches Pretty Boy in the stomach with a twisting, two-foot kick. Spider-Man twists, jumps and dodges around a brutal attack from Pretty Boy, some of the blows missing him by mere inches. Fast as he is, Pretty Boy is throwing almost too many blows to keep up with. Spidey gets clipped across the shin by one of those arms and falls flat on his face. He rolls to the side fast as he can and avoids a set of claws smashing the concrete where his skull was a moment previously. When another arm grabs Peter by the ankle, he yelps in surprise and is flung away with a violent toss.

Mid-flight he rights his trajectory and even uses the distance to lock Bonebreaker down by clogging his treads with webbing-- and helpfully gluing the cyborg's hands to his head with another well-aimed websplat.

Joshua Foley has posed:
Circling around slowly, Skullbuster is waiting for Mania to make her appearance. What he did not expect was for the floor beneath him to suddenly give way. With the creaking and cracking of the floor boards, he's alerted just a second too late -- he doesn't have the sense that Spider-Man does, after all!

It all comes falling down to the next floor down, dust, asbestos, insulation, carpeting and Skullbuster. And then Mania is pouncing at him.

Which could be the wrong move.

Rolling up on his back, he brings his legs up and with a hiss to steam and a pneumatic /rush/, both legs launch towards Mania's midsection with the power of industrial pile drivers. It's an all or nothing attack, because if he misses, his legs are wide open to Mania's blades.

Good thing they aren't considering eating him, he really does not have much meat left on his frame.

Joshua's got a pulse. He's breathing. He's not dead. But he did take a pretty nasty fall. As Bunny shakes him, there's very little in the way of response as he fights to find his way back to awareness. Even Prisma's shake hasn't brought him around yet. The freed helmet unveils a goose-egg sized lump that is currently bleeding, which is why there's blood on his face.

Bonebreaker finally gets free of the car, and when he traverses and tries to fire on the two mutants anew, he finds himself with his guns jammed with webbing. "Fine, I'll just crush the pair of you!" The treads start to rev, and with Spider-Man and his friend otherwise occupied, starts to make the slow push towards the pair on the ground. He clearly wants to relish this.

Crushing the car beneath him, Bonebreaker's treads rise up in the air, eclisping the sunlight above Prisma and Joshua, just as Spider-Man jams up all the works and he grinds to a halt. Pointed up in the air, he can't even get his arms to swing down, not that it matters, as a pair of webs hold Bonebreaker in place. "Gah! Accursed webhead!" he growls, his treads making squealing noises as they're locked into place.

Pretty Boy slams into the ground, the arms and legs shredded, showing how much of him is truly cybernetic. What do you call a Pretty Boy with no arms or legs? ... I got nothing. Two down, only Mania and Skullbuster to go.

Andi Benton has posed:
Amid the ruined floor and ceiling, it wouldn't be difficult to get tangled up in the mess. The powerful strength in Skullbuster's legs do come as something of a surprise, but Mania's smaller, more nimble size - something Venom can't lay claim to - makes her a little faster to the point she seems to flow out of the direct path of that kick.

In the midst of this, the bladed hands reshape into something else. One surges for Skullbuster's mouth in order to flow in and start to cut off his ability to breathe. The other clamps down around his head like a literal vice, squeezing just enough to show she isn't playing around. "Stop, or we will pop your head like a grape." It's hard to tell if the threat has teeth or not, but is it worth testing?

Meanwhile, she positions herself so she can avoid those legs, effectively keeping him pinned down. Should that not get the intended result, she'll simply pound away at him.

Bunny Macleod has posed:
    Depends on where the Pretty Boy is. Ocean? Bob. Front porch? Mat.
    "You don't understand. If he's not concious, he's going to bleed out and be forced to regen, and if I overtax my shields -- *bad stuff*." she states to Spider-Man, and then, as Bonebreakr's treads rise up, and block the sun she turns, bringing her hands up --

    And then Treads is webbed in place. "Accursed Wedbslinger -- are you a highschool drama drop-out?" she asks incredulously, and then she turns back to the Golden Boy and delivers a sharp SLAP across his face before she uses the inertia to follow through, drawing herself up, spinning on her skates and forming a shield over her left forearm, she attempts to sheild-bash up into Bonebreaker's skull to try and snap his head backwards!

    "I'm going to send you back to the Revers in a thousand tiny pieces." she snarls, and brings her shielded arm down to give a sharp blow to the metallic spine!

    "TELL THAT TO YOUR LEADER!"

Peter Parker has posed:
Spidey kicks off a building wall and lands on Pretty Boy's back, knocking him onto his belly. "Nah, he's just an avid reader of our own Daily Bugle. And maybe a J Jonah Jameson fanboy?" he asks, ignoring the way Pretty Boy is thrashing and screaming in protest. The webhead keeps his weight firmly planted on Pretty Boy's shoulderblades, rodeoing him like a pro.

"Uh, let's see..." He examines the machinery integrated into Pretty Boy's torso, and grabs the back of Pretty Boy's jacket collar to haul it down. "Ah, jackpot," Spidey proclaims, and primes a web-tazer charge in his left hand. "Don't move, I'm a terrible shot," Spidey warns Pretty Boy, and delivers a massive electrical discharge right into the conductive plate near the top of Pretty Boy's spine.

Joshua Foley has posed:
As the pneumatic press misses, Skullbuster doesn't have time to reset before Mania's upon him. The black goop goes beneath Skullbuster's mask, flooding his mouth and nose. There's a wheeze of air -- but he's a cyborg, does he really need to breathe?

As he's bringing up his hands with the blades to try to drive them into either side of Mania's hips, it's the threat to his head that gets him to reconsider. While he could survive his whole body being destroyed -- he's been rebuilt completely before -- if his brain module is destroyed, there is no coming back from that.

Instead of stabbing the symbiote that has him pinned down, he sticks both of his swords into the floor and he just glares in defiance at her through the slits of his helmet, as if daring her to take that step.

In the meantime, Prisma seems more than willing to take that step. The SLAP she deliver's to Joshua's face echoes in the empty street, and it's enough to alert Joshua. His eyes snap open, his breath quickening as his body tries to catch up with his suddenly alert mind. Then the pain hits and he cries out again, before a golden glow starts to encompass his injuries. They start to knit and heel immediately, ejecting the spent rounds from his body. Won't do anything about the blood on him, but in under a minute, he is trying to struggle to his feet, fully recovered from the shots he took. "...ooohgh." he manages, trying to find his bearings before getting up fully and ends up sitting on the ground again. "...Prisma...?" at least he has the presence of mind to use her codename.

But Prisma isn't here - she's taking out some aggressions on Bonebreaker, her spinning shield bash snapping his head back, cracking his neck, as she turns to slam down on his metallic spine. It's severed and the tank tread lower-body comes to a halt as smoke pours from the back of it. He can't fall away from it as his hands are still trapped by Spider-Man's webs. But he does slump, knocked unconscious by Prisma's blows.

"...we'll be back. We're not going to leave him alone." That is from Pretty Boy. He laughs. "We thought he was meat for our cause... but he is the key to our salvation and future. He will be reclaimed. He will be made ours. He /is/ a Reaver."

And that's when Spider-Man shuts him up by shutting him down with a well placed electrical overload. When he does, the back of his head splits open, and Spider-Man can see... well. It's a brain. Partially shielded by thick glass. Connected by dozens of wires, controlling the body and other functions of the cybernetic body.

Andi Benton has posed:
The blades are grabbed via some other tendril that forms independent of Mania's own limbs, used to send them off into a corner of the room. "Smart," she says through that evidently masked visage of hers, the teeth kept hidden at the moment. "Let's go see your friends."

She hasn't got the tricks Spider-Man does when it comes to zapping anyone, no shielding like Bunny out there, but the commotion still reaches the floor they're on. "No sudden moves. We might squeeze too hard." No doubt, Skullbuster can feel the pressure. It's right on that borderline between uncomfortable and catastrophic. "Ugly, aren't you? What are you supposed to be, anyway?"

She moves to help hoist him up vertically, intent on leading the way back outside step by step.

Bunny Macleod has posed:
    Bonebreaker the Broken is knocked out. Bunny considers ending him. Another enemy that can't... hurt... anyone anymore.

    "You're lucky it's me and not the Shield Maiden." she hisses at the unconcious form of Bonebreaker the Broken. She kicks his treads in anger, and then turns, hopping down off the ruined car and skating back down to Joshua.

    "Hey -- hey, it's okay. Spider-Man and Mania are taking care of the other Reavers." she states softly, offering her hand down to Joshua.

    "I'm sorry for slapping you. I'm... not really good at the first aid thing." she explains softly as she draws down low.

    "You got an awful knock to your head."

Peter Parker has posed:
"Yeah, good note: don't slap people with possible head trauma," Spidey tells Bunny. But it's offered with a cheery conviviality to show that she's certainly not in any trouble or anything. He goes back to studying the cybernetics but gives up a few moments later, and carefully seals the back of Pretty Boy's skull into position.

"If I had more time and equipment I could probably disable his main motor functions, but there's too much of a risk that I'll stop his heart or whatever passes for it," he explains with some chagrin. "But we can at least make sure none of these guys are gonna be a threat for Brooklyn's Finest," he offers, and starts disabling Pretty Boy's arms and the rolling combat chassis that Bonebreaker is stuck to.

"<Mania, you coming down here or are you up there gloating?>" he inquires over the commlink, and looks up at the window where the sniper was.

Joshua Foley has posed:
Skullbuster moves at Mania's urging, hands behind the back of his head, taking the steps back down to the first floor as he really doesn't have a choice, what with... "What type of freak are you?" he asks of her when he gets a chance. They step out onto the street, where Mania can decide what to do with him.

"It... it's okay." Joshua manages, looking up at Bunny. Already, the bump that was on his head has some residual golden glow, but like the rest of him, has healed as if the injury never happened.

He accepts the hand up to get to his feet and rubs a hand over his face. His eyes reflect the terror that he feels in his heart. "When I died and came back, I thought I was done with this." He's realizing now, he may never be done. And it threatens everyone he cares about, like Bunny, and loves.

Even though Bunny got him to his feet, Joshua is still trying to get his bearings. "Thank you for helping her, Spider-Man... and..." he doesn't recognize Mania, unfortunately.

Andi Benton has posed:
"We are Mania." The answer serves both for Skullbuster and Josh, though after she squints at the latter she peers more closely at the former. "And you're one to talk."

She brings her captive around closer to the others, angling her spiky-haired head toward each one of them. "What's this about dying and coming back? You know these losers? This one was trying to shoot us without even introducing himself first. We never did get your name."

Yeah, that'll be ironic if it's spoken aloud.

She adds to Spider-Man, "We were not gloating, but we were smarter than him." Bunny gets a brief wave. That one, she's seen around the Young Avengers place.

Bunny Macleod has posed:
    "Yeah, I'll make sure my smelling salts and fainting couch are in my non-existant pockets on the skin-tight outfit." Prisma motions to her costume. "Besides, I know this guy. He's one of my besties in a manner of speaking. We get each other outta bad situations all the time -- including Reavers. Not real happy they know who I am though." she frowns, and pokes at the treads with one of her batons.

    "Mania's good candy, Goldielocks." Prisma gives a small smile to Josh.

    "Sorry 'bout your bag, though."

Peter Parker has posed:
"You should talk to Janet van Dyne," Spidey suggests for Bunny's benefit. "She made Ghost Spider's outfit for her. It's got pockets." Apparently, Spider-Man appreciates the necessity of storage space on a superhero costume.

Sirens start to whoop in the distance and Spidey jumps up to a light pole to look around. "Oh hey, good response time," he remarks.

"Listen, me and the po-po don't have the best relationship. I'm gonna bounce out of here. But if the cops give you any grief about these guys, let me know. I can drop off a statement or something just to make sure these dorks get the jail time they've earned."

Spidey shoots a web off and catches it in his hand, then looks back at Josh and Bunny and salutes with a two-fingered touch to his forehead. "I'll see you guys around, I'm sure. Mania-- keep being awesome," he tells the symbiont, and finger-guns at her with a click of his tongue.

And then, with a mighty leap, Spider-Man swings away!

Joshua Foley has posed:
"Elixir. People call me Elixir." Joshua really cannot hide his identity, his golden skin is a pretty big giveaway of who and what he is. But his attention turns to Mania. "I heal. When I touch someone, I can heal their injuries, and such." he explains. "The Reavers are cybernetic mutant killers." he snarls. "They want me, because they want to use my genes so they can self-heal.

"Just give it up, mutie." Skullbuster comments, "You're as good as a Reaver med pack."

And then Joshua's hands go to his sides, bunching into tight fists and the golden glow in his hands starts to turn the same black as Mania's suit. "I can also harm." He takes a step towards Skullbuster. "I could put my hands on you, break every organic part of you. Stop your heart, give you an anyuersm. I could just make you stop and cease to exist." he starts to say.

His bag is forgotten about as the blackness spreads up his arms. "...if I make an example of one, the others will stop."

It takes everything he has to stop himself. "But then. I'd be no better than any of you." When he hears the police sirens, he shakes his head. "I don't want to have to deal with this. You know where to find me, Prisma. Thank you for your help, Mania."

And with that, he's also trying to make his escape before New York's finest arrive.