2778/The Billionaire Boyz Club Goes Bankrupt

The Billionaire Boyz Club Goes Bankrupt
Date of Scene:	04 August 2020
Location:	Financial District
Synopsis:	The Billionaire Boyz Club is at it again. Mania almost exacts revenge on them again, but she is interrupted by someone else again - Ghost Spider.
Cast of Characters:	Andi Benton, Gwen Stacy

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Andi Benton has posed:
In many ways, the Financial District of New York City is the monetary capital of the world, fortunes often made and lost based on which way a decision goes. There are a number of stores and food options around, especially for the people who work their day jobs, but it is not without its seedy element.

A few months ago, Andi Benton almost fell prey to that element, in the form of members of the Billionaire Boyz Club trying to take advantage of someone they considered less than them. They might have got away with it if Spider-Man hadn't been on the scene. A few of them were apprehended and sent off to Crossroads Juvenile in Brooklyn, where Mania went in search of revenge shortly after bonding to Andi. It took intervention on the part of Spider-Man and Mary Jane/Red Sonja to keep Andi from doing something she might have regretted later.

It was a learning moment, cause for working on self-control amid other influences the symbiote brought into play, and since then she's made this part of the city one of her routine patrol stops. After all, the members of the "Club" wouldn't be in Crossroads forever, and while she put quite a fright into a couple of them, would the lesson be learned?

Tonight might be the night to find out, for a few of them were congregating in a small courtyard in between a couple buildings, discussing plans for the late evening.

Gwen Stacy has posed:
Gwen herself hadn't been in the midst of everything when Mania had lashed out. Only a passing encounter between the blonde and the Goth symbiote host had ment they even knew of the other's existance properly. Of course, there was a comlink on the 'Spidercomm', but other than that? The white and purple clad spider thought herself alone as she swung and slung herself between the buildings, a gymnastic display of ariel grace while she continued her patrol through the New York Night sky.

Andi Benton has posed:
Mania arrives in the area via her own version of the weblines the 'Spiders' have come to be known for. Pretty remarkable, what the symbiote can do to mimic that sort of thing.

It's probably fortunate the symbiote wasn't aided at first by something like a dung beetle instead.

In that courtyard, the discussion continues. Two voices are familiar, as Manny and Ricky, who had spent some time in juvie, talk with two newer recruits, Brit and Tucker.

Manny: "..with Conner still stuck in Crossroads, we've been having to take care of stuff for him."

Ricky: "That doesn't mean the goals have changed, and as new Boyz, your initiation is to find some poor loser and have your way with her."

Brit and Tucker both seem hot to trot based on their eager reactions. They all came from families with lots of money, lots of privilege, the types of kids who think laws and rules don't apply to them because mommy and daddy can just buy off whoever they need to in order to make it right. Manny and Ricky, meanwhile, carry a hint of apprehension to them. They haven't forgotten.

And, the one they haven't forgotten is close. Very close. Close enough, in fact, that from a rooftop overlooking the courtyard, Mania can hear it all.

//They did not learn, Andi.//
<<I know. We might have to teach them another lesson.>>
//Yes, and this time the Spider is not here to stop us.//

"No..he isn't," comes a spoken answer, barely above a whisper.

//Venom would make them pay.//

Andi doesn't answer, but Mania adjusts positions so she can see out toward the sidewalk at the end of the alley leading into the courtyard. It's an alley much like the one she was dragged into. A reminder of that plays out in her head, and the symbiote subtly amplifies the anger she felt from it. Outwardly, the white, patchy eyes that make up part of Mania's 'face' narrow.

Gwen Stacy has posed:
Sometimes one didn't hear things, get 911 calls or even spot things going badly when they were out on patrol. Sometimes it was just a feeling, a little hunch that caught the eyes and drew on the gut. That...compounded with a little of the classic 'Spidey' sense. It wasn't direct danger, not towards her anyway. Still, something guided the blonde in white towards the alleyway, lead her to zipline sideways and twist through the air before she drops downwards and perches herself down on the fire escape.

An alleyway? This wasn't the first time she'd dealt with thugs in such a space before, but now? She peered down towards the group. They radiated danger...but not the kind that had drew her nearer.

Andi Benton has posed:
A narrow alley, easy to use to box someone in. The courtyard within, more spacious and out of sight of those on the street. Almost a perfect setup.

Almost, because not everyone expects to have to look up.

This is how the two directing traffic, so to speak, end up surprised when lengths of organic webbing shoot out from above, directed first at the two most familiar to Andi/Mania. They cry out in surprise and, it must be noted, horror, for they do remember Crossroads.

After Mania has descended to the courtyard, the dark figure stalks her way closer to all four of them; Brit and Tucker don't seem to know what to do.

"Manny and Ricky. Did you miss us?" Mania asks in a sing-song tone that blends young woman and symbiote, but there's a darker edge to it. "Because we missed you /so/ much. Why don't you introduce us to your friends so we can all play?"

Instead of that, Manny swears out loud and shouts to the recruits, "Run! It's..it's her!"

Gwen Stacy has posed:
Ah...there it is. The black-coated figure hissing danger was indeed a trigger for Gwen, and those screaming men below made it pretty clear they were in trouble. Slimballs they might be, but she didn't need them getting splattered all across the sidewalk by an angry symbiote, and she'd seen what Carnage and Venom could do on a bad day...

Somersaulting through the air, the Ghost-Spider flings herself to touch down her ballet-shoes on the concrete at the other end of the alleyway. A soft -THWIP- of her webshooters is about the only warning before the two new recruits are snared at their ankles, yanking them upwards as she is pulled downwards.

Touching down, the woman straightens up, her figure-hugging outfit emblazened with the Spider emblem marking it rather clear if the webs didn't already just which 'family' the heroine came from.

Andi Benton has posed:
//Look, Andi. It's the other Spider. The one with the colorful shoes.//
<<I can see her. I have eyes too, you know.>>
//She can make them pay too!//
<<You're a little obsessed with that.>>
//Do you not want to make them pay, Andi? After what we saw they almost did to you? In your memories?//

"Those are mine, not yours!" Andi blurts, but it comes in such a way that it could easily, so very easily, be mistaken for a claim on Brit and Tucker.

Then, a bit of a recovery, regaining some composure. There is little to no expression in the face, for there is no real one showing right now aside from the narrowed eyes, so it's down to that, voice, and body language to give away the mood.

"We are happy to see you, Spider," 'they' say. "You're just in time to help us..teach..these losers a lesson because they obviously didn't learn anything in juvie." Attention shifts from Ghost Spider to Manny and Ricky, leading to Mania approaching them with a vengeful slant to the eyes. "You actually think you can just go right back to all of this?" she asks, sounding genuinely surprised.

They begin to stammer, while the other two plead to be let go, that they weren't /really/ going to do anything, that it was all just a joke.

Gwen Stacy has posed:
There's a flinch, a little twitch that might indeed suggest she had taken the outburst as the most literal claim to the terrified thugs. Already she was shifting, one leg sweeping back to a more 'ready' stance. Gwen didn't want to fight a symbiote, she certainly didn't want to come to blows with Andi of a couple of slimeballs like Manny and Ricky, even if she was technically blocking their path to flee in the other direction simply by merit of being there.

Running wouldn't help them anyway, it'd only make things worse if Mania was pushed to chase them.

"They can go back," she speaks slowly, unable to hide the slight tensing, the nerves electric and ready to act. "Conspiracy to commit a crime, it's still a crime...and they'll confess to it." A step forward, her eyes move towards the pair, the spider in white turning her unblinking mask towards each in turn. "They'll confess because otherwise this could happen again without me here. And that would be bad for them..."

Andi Benton has posed:
Internally, there is a sort of smug satisfaction on the part of the symbiote, for it noticed the way Ghost Spider alters her stance.

"What's so funny?" Andi asks, a challenging, accusing tone in her words.

//We thought we should point out that you are answering us aloud in front of others.//

"I am not! I..oh. Damn." The eyes shift toward a sheepish expression as Mania rubs the back of her head for a moment. "Ignore that. We were having a..conversation," she adds hastily, shaking it off as she advances closer to the gang members, who should probably be home studying right now.

The way she's talking, it probably won't make the others feel any better about things right this minute, but she moves closer to Manny and Ricky in particular, staring at them as if it was right through to their very cores. "You /will/ confess, yeah? Or should we remind you of what happened before? We thought you learned. Maybe we were wrong." A hand begins to morph away from being a hand, more toward a mass of writhing tendrils that creep closer to Manny's head. Both of them go as pale as part of Ghost Spider's costume. Brit and Tucker quiver and whimper.

What will Ghost Spider do?

Gwen Stacy has posed:
Alright. Time to act, to remove the temptation and potential alike for Mania to start mauling the pair and the opportunity for them to even think about escaping or denying the outcomes Gwen had suggested. Hands raise, a sudden rapid-fire of 'Thwips' bringing the pair screaming upwards, pulled into the same suspended bondage that their eager compatriots had found themselves in. Restrained, unable to flee and out of arms reach of Mania. All very good things.

"It's time to get out of here," she speaks aloud, stepping towards the woman in the black bio-suit and raising her hands. "They're dealt with, cops have been flagged and they already have a record. They'll go back in...and they'll keep going back until they learn their lesson."

Andi Benton has posed:
Those eyes narrow, growing more slanted again, thinner. For a few seconds, the end of that arm twists and curls inwardly on itself, as though waiting for a decision to be made as to how to reshape it. A blade? A hammer? For now...back to a hand.

Mania, however, does not seem pleased, both hands planted at her hips. "We can help them learn a better lesson," both girl and symbiote say.

//Venom would.//

"Venom...would," is echoed verbally, though with it comes a hint of doubt, uncertainty, a half-step backwards taken.

It's as if there is an internal struggle over what to do, one that's seeping out for others to bear witness to.

<<We're not Venom! We're Mania!>> she tells the symbiote, back to thinking it.
//We can be like Venom, and take what we want.// it answers.

Gwen Stacy has posed:
"Spiderman wouldn't...and I wouldn't either." Soft-spoken, but firm. Gwen could see that rage as plainly as she could see the changing tendrils, she could practically -feel- the danger radiating off Mania even in a decreased dose. "They're scared, they'll stay scared. They don't get to make you be a monster just because they are..."

Hands lower, resting by her sides as she exhales a breath. Calm Gwen, calm. "C'mon, let's get out of here before the cops show up. Grab a burger or something and let them rot back in a cell. You don't need this...either of you."

Andi Benton has posed:
Body language continues to give away that frustration, mixed with an uncertainty that borders on being dangerous. "He wouldn't, and you wouldn't, but we might," 'they' say, the eyes shifting to go along with the mood she gives off. When she looks at the Boyz, that underlying menace surfaces again. To Ghost Spider, and it softens slightly.

"They would have hurt us, hurt..me, but they can't hurt us now. They can hurt others, and they must not be allowed to." A hand cuts through the air in their direction, nowhere close to them, rather just a gesture that undercuts what she's saying.

//We ARE hungry, Andi. If we can't eat them...//
<<What is all this about eating people? Why would you do that? Why would WE?>>
//Because they taste good? Ask Venom.//
<<But so does chocolate!>>
//We will accept chocolate, or meat.//

"We will eat. We could have chocolate-covered bacon!" Mania decides, a flash of eagerness rising in body language and eyes, since there is still no mouth. Still, she paces. She..they..are antsy, especially with Spider-Man not there to help keep her focused. Ghost Spider seems to have been stuck with that job tonight.

Gwen Stacy has posed:
Distraction seemed to have done the job, Gwen would run with it. Debating would probably just anger the symbiote and host more, and she didn't need them dwelling on the restrained rich kids. Besides, she really -had- flagged them with her mask and the cops would probably be here sooner rather than later, so leaving wasn't exactly a bad idea.

"C'mon," Gwen calls, the spider in white lifting a hand to cast a line skywards. "Follow me, I'll find us somewhere decent, although chocolate-covered-bacon might just be...bacon with chocolate topping squirted on it. I dunno anywhere that does that in town and there's not a heap in my fridge?"

A shrug, she slings herself up, checking back to make sure Mania followed. "We'll figure something out!"

Andi Benton has posed:
//The Spider is leaving. We can..//
<<No! You agreed on the chocolate bacon!>>

"I don't even know why that sounds so good, but we have to try it," Mania speaks aloud, finishing part of the internal dialog as she hesitates between staying and going, her weight leaning toward the gang members, then the direction Ghost Spider is headed toward. After a few more moments of consideration, she issues the webbed losers a warning, and that mostly blank face contorts into a set of sharp teeth along with that long, wet tongue the symbiotes are known for. "If you don't shape up, we will find you and eat you, after we pour chocolate on you."

It's not the best threat ever, but do they really want to find out if she means it or not?

After this, Mania's own webbing is created again, slinging it toward the side of a building along with another so she can gain momentum in swinging upward. No more rides needed!