3350/Darkness and Drugs

Darkness and Drugs
Date of Scene:	13 September 2020
Location:	Abandoned Warehouse
Synopsis:	Two spiders and a vampiress drop in on a drug deal.
Cast of Characters:	Peter Parker, Blake Riviere, Andi Benton, Helena Bertinelli

---

Peter Parker has posed:
Another Saturday night, and as Elton John opined, it is all right for fighting.

The tip comes from one of his little surveillance taps from a Serbian safehouse. The word came down on a "special" deal between the White Lotus Triad and the Belka crime family. It sounded like a big deal, in more ways than one, and Peter felt that Spider-Man should pay a social call.

However, with thirty people or thereabouts involved, he was gonna need help. Which is why Spider-Comm users got a sudden group alert.

<DRUG DEAL, LITTLE ODESSA, MIDNIGHT. THIRTY PEOPLE OR MORE IN ATTENDANCE. COULD USE BACKUP.>

Blake Riviere has posed:
Blake had seen a few narcotics, opiates and other drugs over her many years. Hell, during some of the time she'd worked as a nurse over civil and world wars she'd watched things like laudinum and heroin drift from standard practice to known dangerous substances. Learning was one of humanitys best traits after all!

Of course, such substances had their problems. The more of it that got into the community? The worse the community got, and the more 'donors' she had to avoid. Drugs themselves couldn't affect her after all...unless she happened to injest them in those she fed on. Some vampires found such indulgences fun, but it seemed the 'Draculina' wasn't a fan.

Unaware of the Spider's call, a small black cat appeared out of the night, the eerie light of its eyes and its overall cleanliness the only hint it wasn't a stray as she made her way to the window of the safehouse.

Andi Benton has posed:
Of late, Andi has not been using the Spider-Comm stuff quite the same as others in Spider-Man's group. Mostly, it's just been the communications side of it all. She's got her own phone and can do her own GPS lookups, thank you very much.

More than that, Mania was getting a little..annoyed at some of it. Independence was a good thing, and in the symbiote's opinion Mania and Andi had each other and that was usually good enough without overcomplicating things.

That didn't mean they weren't going to jump in and help, so a few minutes before the clock struck midnight, Mania appeared next to Spider-Man, silent as ever, giving off no warning of her arrival. "Did you say thirty people?" she asks, a slight reverb in her voice, hands resting at her hips where the spiked belt is.

Helena Bertinelli has posed:
Huntress has made it a point of keeping tabs on the mafia for a long time, ever since they murdered her family, leaving her in a not-so-good mood. She has been aware that the Belka family is up to something and intercepts Spider-man's comminication using the bat-comm interceptor she 'borrowed' from Batman, so it's going down sooner than she thought. She swings through the night to find the warehouse in Little Odessa, though that doesn't take long. She stays on the outskirts to scout out the place, looking around as she goes to find the person who sent the commication.

Peter Parker has posed:
Spidey blinks as Mania just...appears. "Well, glad you could show up." He pointed to the warehouse marked LINTECH EXPORTS on the side of the south wall. "So far, I see 15 people outside. I sent a drone to do some recon and it picked up another 25 inside, but there could be more." He points to the left side of the building. "In about...three minutes, the Belka Boys will be showing up. The Triad is already inside, and I bet every single one of them is strapped. I saw riot shotguns, AK-47s...so yeah, no pacifists here. They have the exits buttoned up, but I checked the blueprints on file at the Hall of Records and found one roof access hatch that looks welded shut. It'll be loud going in, but no one will actually SEE us."

Helena Bertinelli has posed:
Helena Bertinelli has the place scouted out in a few minutes, "Looks like about 15 outside," she tells herself and then ducks behind a dumpster as Spider-Man's drone comes whizzing by like a mosquito, "Dang it," she mutters, probably thinking it's an evil mafia tracking device. She glances out from her hiding place and looks at one of the exits dead ahead on the side of the building. It's marked EXIT helpfully. One man comes outside for a smoke and Huntress waits until he starts to light his cigarette to ambush him. She clocks him in the head and he rebounds off the brick wall, falling in a heap. She drags him back to the dumpster to deposit him out of sight.

Blake Riviere has posed:
Whatever plan she'd been making, the 'cat' suddenly tilted her head. Soft voices and quiet talking weren't likely to be spotted by the goons who were resting on the other side of the glass...but to Blake's ears? It was far more noticable. That and...well, the sudden scent of blood and sounds of head trauma. Curious.

The 'cat' seems to fade away, melting into cold air and soft mist that rolls through the night only to coalesce behind the spider and Symbiote. The pale woman, red ribbon ties securing her deep black locks and her form wrapped in leather pants and jacket. Paired with what could only be described as some sort of deep red bustier, it all paired to some deliberate impression of 'goth biker chic'. A clearing of her throat, the vampiress' eyes cast off that eerie crimson glow at least one of the pair had seen before.

"Hello Spider, it has been a while."

Andi Benton has posed:
"We had no other obligations," Mania informs Spider-Man, and the insignias they both sport suggest they're connected in some way. The solid white eyes narrow visibly on the building indicated, and she goes through tallying up the count outside for herself. "Triads? We saw some of them once." She cracks her knuckles, as if to complete her thoughts on them.

The total number of people it sounds like are there, both outside, inside, and expected, is high. "Tough odds. We like them." Then she turns at the sound and sight of someone else approaching them, getting a closer look with an expressionless 'face' that makes it tough to tell any thinking except for the angle and shape of the eyes. Both remain narrowed. "Friend of yours, Spider?"

Peter Parker has posed:
Spider-Man blinks as the vampiress makes her grand entrance.
"I...sincerely HOPE so." He raises a hand. "Miss...Riviere, right? The vampiress? I...hope you've been well. We've been hoping to dodge the fifteen guards at that warehouse...
<14.> came the update from the drone.
Spider-Man paused. "Wait...REWIND."

He tilts his head slightly as the feed comes back, and he gets a glimpse of...SOMEONE...pulling one of the guards out of sight. It was a takedown any self-respecting vampire would envy.

"Mania, we gotta move. Someone's stun-stealing the guards outside and things are going to get..."

He glances to the warehouse as three black SUVs roll down the rampand into the warehouse.

"Crud. It's happening NOW." He looks to Blake. "If you want to spectate, feel free. If you want to mix it up, NO CASUALTIES. But it happens NOW."

With the firing of a webline, Spider-Man vaults out into the open air and swings towards the warehouse, the location of the roof hatch appearing with a red pointer over it in Mania's view.

Helena Bertinelli has posed:
Huntress appears to be readying herself to ambush the oncoming car until it stops way short of where she was hiding near the dumpster, "Dammit," she mutters. She sticks her head out to spy what the heck the cars are doing, maybe being spooked by something instead of rolling into position to be crossbowed.

She looks back at the building and the drone peels back toward her position, so she sends a crossbow bolt toward it instead of the car's windshield.

Blake Riviere has posed:
"Ah, so the other visitor isn't one of yours? How curious?" Blake's accented tones carry her amusement, but the vampiress turns her gaze to the black-coated Mania, a little sniff bringing a raise of her eyebrow. Familier, but she couldn't place it. Between the covered face and the fact Andi had been without her 'friend' last meeting, she didn't recognize the girl.

And then they're moving, things are kicking off and the vampiress gives a little mock-pout at the request of 'no casualties'. She leaps, seemingly gliding through the air unnaturally as she touches down atop the warehouse. "After you then."

Andi Benton has posed:
Mania notes, after Spider-Man has said 'no casualties,' "He always says that. And someone else is there?" Might have to keep an eye out. Then she springs forward and shoots off a line of her own from one hand, gripping it to swing in low and fast, aiming a couple blobs of the stuff at the guns of two guards outside the warehouse.

The pointer for the spot up on the roof would be useful, if only Mania had the augmented reality lenses in place. However, those have been left at home. It's only audio for now. Teenagers, always gotta do their own thing. Teenagers with an alien 'friend' with them? That's next level stuff.

The lack of the waypoint doesn't seem to hinder Mania's ascent toward the roof, however. Once she hits the side of the warehouse, she scales it the rest of the way and vaults over the edge of the rooftop, moving along silently toward the hatch. Seems Blake is going with them.

Peter Parker has posed:
Spider-Man has just landed on the roof when the feed from the drone suddenly cuts out.

<SIGNAL LOST.>
Welp, so much for recon. And he was going to have to rush the spare into service when he got home.

Spider-Man lands on the roof, hot-footing it over to the hatch. Sheet metal, spot welds. Something a little slow thermite could handle, if they had the time.
They did NOT have the time.

Andrei and his group of ten men, all armed with AK-47s, approaches Chin Sing, the deal-maker for the White Lotus. His bagman is carrying the suitcase with the money. "Mister Sing...how good to see you again. I trust all is in order?"
Mr. Sing smiles thinly. "Yes, and we have left nothing to chance."

The hollow BANG as Spider-Man punches through the hatch door can be heard throughout the warehouse.

Blake Riviere has posed:
Well, Blake wasn't going to be offering subtle recon or high-tech drones herself. She did seem to be a little anachronistic in her approach after all. There was no surge of mist, no bats or blurring such. Behind Spider-man, the woman in black and red simply strides into the room, a smile on her face showing the elongating canines that marked what she was and that eerie red to her eyes.

"Gentlemen," she speaks, that 'Queens English' accent adding to her attempt at authority. "Would you like to surrender now and avoid pain? Or would you like to indulge us in a little sport?"

Andi Benton has posed:
"Do you need a hand? Because we can...no, you don't," Mania comments dryly as Spider-Man does the honors. She's unaware of the drone's status, but it will impact Spider-Man's ability to keep tabs on the outside.

Deciding being seen and shot at immediately would not be in her best interest - and given the fact she hasn't /been/ shot so she doesn't even know what that would do - leads to her using some crates for cover. There are even some up here, stowed away for later retrieval. She is a silent presence, letting Blake draw some initial attention.

<<Do you think we can eat someone if the Spider does not see, Andi?>>
//..what? No! I told you, that's gross!//
<<Perhaps some of them will have chocolate, then.>>

The internal conversations between symbiote and host...

Peter Parker has posed:
Spider-Man's Spider-Sense is going haywire as Andrei and his men look to Sing and HIS men (and women, the Triad apparently does not discriminate) and then they all focus on their mutual enemy.

People dive for cover and open fire, or just open fire where they stand.

*And the man in the back said "Everyone attack" and it turned into a ballroom blitz!* Spidey thought as he went high to the top of one stack of crates and the webs are flying fast and furious, no vehicles involved. People are getting webbed to walls, to the floor, to crates...

But Spidey is not known as Spider-Men and, as Harry would have put it in a FORTNITE match, there's plenty of white meat for everyone...

Blake Riviere has posed:
Well, now there were bullets flying. Blake actually gives a little whince as a single bullet hits her squarely in the stomach. A splatter of blood, a staggering step back, the vampiress actually hisses a little. "I like this outfit..."

Then she's moving, a blurring after-image of inhuman speed flinging itself into the air before it's slowed by impact. The sound of her fist hitting the first man pronouncing the blow before he goes sprawling. Twisting around, she lashes out, snatching the firearm from the next man's hand and tossing it -hard- into his face. They'd live, but that had to hurt!

Andi Benton has posed:
What the others are doing, Mania can't afford to spend too much time paying attention to. They've engaged the bad guys, but it's her turn now. The good thing is the thugs and gang members are in a panic, firing at this and that, some of them even potentially catching each other in crossfire depending on where Spider-Man and Blake put themselves.

The thing in black finds an opening, leaping down behind three of them to land atop one a few steps behind, driving the side of his face into the floor before crouching atop his back, looking up at the others with a tilt of the head and shape of the eyes that suggests a desire to play. "Would you like to know who we are?" she wonders, before her arms shift into masses of tendrils that shoot out at the faces of the pair left upright, shoving both of them into the side of a vehicle. "We are Mania!"

Peter Parker has posed:
The various criminals of varying educational backgrounds have descending some kind of mob mentality.
Shooting doesn't work? Shoot MORE. Except it doesn't seem to be working that much. Unless they are trying to hack Blake off by shooting up her wardrobe, in which case, kudos.

Mania, on the other hand is MUCH scarier than the other two at this moment. It's the screaming in Serbian and Chinese that gives it away. They are firing wild, trying to hit Mania, but not doing such a hot job.

Spider-Man, on the other hand, is dealing with multiple tracks on his Spider-Sense, and his bobbing and dodging can get him far...

A stray shot punches through Spider-Man's calf muscles and through it.

...until it doesn't.
Spider-Man yells in pain, using the momentum to roll behind a crate to assess the damage.

And in all of this, Andrei is opting to get out of Dodge. He grabs the silver suitcase Sing had placed on the table, and his bagman opts not to leave the cash. A definite solid return...
...should they make it out of here.

Blake Riviere has posed:
Blake's drawing fire had resulted in a few bullet holes in fabric, but the skin beneath swiftly knitted and reformed itself until the pale flesh glimpsed beneath was perfectly intact. She didn't have any weapons of her own on her form, but the vampiress nails elongate with one particularly vicious swipe, slicing clean through the gun of the next man in line and sending the chunks of broken metal scattering before she twists around and plants her boot into his chest, launching him into the side of one of the vehicles.

Mania's sudden erruption of black tendrils? That has the vampiress pausing, a look best summed up by the audible 'huh' of interest escaping her before she's moving again in that same terrifying blur.

Then the Spider was hit, a sudden tang of that mutated blood in the air amongst the rest having her glance over his way. He'd live, but perhaps it was time for her to cease playing around.

Her arms raise and the vampiress seems to...explode. A swarm of bats, black-winged, fanged and with eyes of deeply luminscent red began to surge, throwing their mass like a tide at the gang members and casting them into walls, crates and even pummeling them to the floor.

She'd need to feed after this, but the vampire was certainly going to make an impression.

Andi Benton has posed:
Mania stands more upright after leaving a dent in the vehicle courtesy of the two she sent into it, both of whom are not getting up. Breathing, but not moving. For a moment, she surveys what's around her, catching sight of the red and blue wallcrawler in action, but also spotting the vampire, who she doesn't seem to realize /is/ a vampire until she's actually turned into a swarm of bats. "What the fuck..?" she asks aloud, though there's too much gunfire to really pick up on it.

Spider-Man has slipped out of view, but there are still bad guys taking aim at her as her hands and arms go back to normal. She begins to turn away as a semi-automatic is trained on her and the man opens fire, but the symbiote comes through in forming part of itself into a mass of swarming tendrils that solidify just enough to slow down the bullets and prevent them from hitting her.

"What the hell was that?"

<<We are protecting you, Andi.>>

"No shit.."

In one motion, she leaps atop the man, knocking his gun aside as her head reshapes to form a mouth full of sharp teeth, slimy tongue exiting to pass close to his face, which has become white as a sheet. "Give us one good reason why we should not leave you in different parts of this room," she warns. He answers by wetting himself, eyes wide with fright. An expression of distaste forms. "Not the answer we were looking for." All the same, she settles for knocking him out before vaulting away, webbing two more in passing before sending a line up a story, swinging around to pounce someone else.

Peter Parker has posed:
Spider-Man looked down at his leg. Armor-piercing. Which meant that, since he didn't wear armor, it didn't deform or shatter. Which was kinda lucky.

Your concept of luck tends to re-calibrate in this line of work, but he'd been shot multiple times and he never felt lucky about any of them.

He hazarded a glance and saw most of the gunners were being distracted...but Sing had disappeared during the dust-up, and Belka was bugging out.

<MANIA, BELKA'S GETTING AWAY!> It was the best he could manage - his entire left leg was numb.

Blake Riviere has posed:
The swarm of bats eventually coalesces once more, ending with a surging dash and a backhand that probably broke more bones than Spider-man would have been comfortable with if he hadn't been distracted by his legwound and fleeing mob bosses. When the call out comes of the escaping man fleeing with both goods and money, Blake turns and her eyes narrow...only to shrug her shoulders and gesture with a sweep of her hand.

"By all means my dear," she offers to Mania. "This chase is all yours. I'll deal with the leftovers." She moves now, sparing a glance to the Spider. "Stay down Spider, enjoy a little break while I play..."

Andi Benton has posed:
<<She is an interesting one. Maybe like us?>>
//I'm pretty sure she's something completely different.//

Blake has Mania's attention, and as she studies the vampire - that mouth having faded back away again into nothingness - another guy has the balls to try for an attack from one side. Without even looking, Mania's left hand extends to thrust him into the wall. Only then does she turn her head that way. "Was he trying to sneak up on us? What an idiot."

It's Spider-Man's call over the comms that draws her attention, looking around until she spots the vehicle with the guy who's probably trying to make a break for it.

<<There, Andi.>>
//Yeah, I see.//

A mock bow is offered to Blake before she webs herself along to gain speed, landing in a run of around 30 MPH to gain on the vehicle that's starting to accelerate...until its tires start to burn rubber. Mania has grabbed the back of it, planting her feet with tendrils snaking out from them to create anchor points in the floor. Slowly, the back end is lifted a foot, then another, then with more of a focused effort she /flips/ the SUV over onto its roof, the wheels spinning uselessly now that it's upside-down!

The glass of a window shatters courtesy of a fist, which roots around inside while she steps closer to crouch in view of whoever's in there. "Come out, come out, wherever you are," Mania taunts in a sing-song voice that's only made more frightening by that sort of reverb kicking in.

Peter Parker has posed:
Spider-Man reached into his backpack for the medical kit and quickly pressed a pad against the hole to stave off blood loss. Blake and Mania seem to have things under control, as there seems to be no one left to put up a fight.

The bagman, a short, pudgy fellow squirms out of the window, eyes wide as he sees Mania. "Don't...don't hurt me, please. I just carried the money." He looks to the SUV, then back to Mania. "Mr. Belka's out cold. Please...don't eat us..."

Blake Riviere has posed:
Fists, elbows and elegent leather boots make quick work of the remaining thugs until only the bagman remains. That, Blake will happily leave to Mania. Instead there's an exhale of delight from the dark-haired woman before she closes her eyes and her fangs retract. When they open again? Far more human blue irises have taken the place of crimson before she turns to face the injured Spider trying to tend his own wound.

"Let me," she offers, approaching and reaching for the kit before a chuckle leaves her lips. "Don't worry, I won't bite...I almost always prefer voluntary meals most of the time."

Andi Benton has posed:
Mania hoists the fat little man up. While he may not be tall, good chance he's equal to or taller than Mania is, even as she is now. That mouth forms again. "Eat you? That sounds like a great idea...but you are too fat." All the same, that tongue comes dangerously close to slathering itself all over the guy's face, making contact a couple times. It is warm, wet, dripping with some kind of alien saliva. At least it doesn't burn. Is it meant to freak the guy out? Absolutely.

She checks him out before tossing him aside like a bag of trash, crouching to rummage around within the SUV a second time before dragging Belka out, confirming he is in fact not alert. A bag full of money follows. "This would buy a lot of chocolate," she muses, that fang-filled mouth remaining for the moment before she finds the silver case as well. She turns to stride toward Spider-Man and Blake with a strut in her step. "We came, we saw, we kicked fucking ass."

Peter Parker has posed:
Spider-Man holds the pad in place until Blake approached, then sat back as she set to work, putting the medical kit within her reach.

"Yeah, you probably wouldn't like the meal anyway..." he groans slightly. "Spiders and radiation and...well, it ain't pretty."

He looked up as Mania as she comes with the two cases. He frowns. "I thought there was a lot of product involved..." He looked to the nearby crate. "Put it there and open the drug case, please, Mania? I want to see what the fuss is about..."

Blake Riviere has posed:
"I like my current amount of arms," Blake confirms, giving a little chuckle while she sets to work, supprising comfort and precision found with the use of the tools and sutures. It'd sting, but it'd be over quite quickly. Perhaps the 'Countess' had a hobby in first aid? The heroes couldn't be certain.

Setting the case aside as Mania returns, she turns to smooth her hands over her legs, lamenting one particular frayed hole in the otherwise flawless black material. "Go ahead," she speaks. "Lets see what fetched such a price..."

Andi Benton has posed:
Mania drops the bag of cash, her visage looking more dangerous with a mouth than without, depending on one's perspective. A blank face with only eyes to go by can be creepy as well.

"Yes. We are curious, too." She sets it down atop the crate, though a closer look is had toward Spider-Man and the injury he suffered, eyes narrowing toward him. Then the latches are flipped, a black, claw-tipped hand lifting the lid on the case.

What have they won, Monty?

Peter Parker has posed:
The case opens...

It doesn't seem like much, at first. Three canisters in paddes slots, metal tops and bottoms, clear plexiglass cylinders...and within them a liquid of a deep azure blue. Tiny air bubbles shift as the case is moved, revealing the contents as liquid. Each canister is roughly the size of a 2-liter bottle.

Spider-Man frowns, then looks to a digital readout inside the case that reads "CONTENTS STABLE AT 79 F."

"What kind of stuff has to be..." He stopped. That temperature is indicative.

Then the eye-lenses go wide.

"Holy Toledo, that is MUTANT GROWTH HORMONE. A biological steroid. Jeez, each of those canisters is probably worth five kilos of pure cocaine. EACH."

He looked around. "I think it's time to call the cops."