8667/Stalking the Stalkers

Stalking the Stalkers
Date of Scene:	14 November 2021
Location:	New York City Alleys
Synopsis:	Mania and Gothic Lolita foil a kidnapping ring before moving on to more important matters: where to celebrate.
Cast of Characters:	Andi Benton, Gothic Lolita

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Andi Benton has posed:
After the sun goes down, certain elements of New York City come out to play. Thieves, bullies, gangs, drug dealers, and worse. It's not that they ever really take a break or any time off, but when the shadows get longer, when the skies turn darker, opportunities multiply.

That is why someone like Mania also comes out to play. Andi Benton was once a potential victim, and someone aided her. Then, she bonded with a symbiote and became one of the protectors of others. Mania craves the action, but both symbiote and host have taken to playing the part of the vigilante, the hero, the good guy.

Tonight, it's a ring of kidnappings that have been taking place. A dark van, dark-clothed people, unsuspecting or simply overwhelmed victims snatched off the streets, kept for ill intent or worse. Tonight would be the last time for many of them, if Mania had a say in it. Currently, one of those vans creeps along before backing into an alley. Mania takes up a spot above, a rooftop's edge.

Gothic Lolita has posed:
Gothic Lolita, Agent of SHIELD and incredibly dangerous super powered artificial life form, has no idea about any kidnapping ring. She's recently back from Switzerland to mess with some HYDRA dealings, then she went to the Genoshan embassy to drink Magneto's champagne and top shelf liquor. (And look amazing.)

Now, she's engaging in her other favorite thing to do. Walk. When she has nothing else to do, she often walks the streets of New York. As many of them as she can. Not to 'patrol', she's a secret agent, not a superhero. No, just to experience all that humanity has to offer. From buskers to bodegas. Muggers to bootleg DVDs. She loves all of it. The muggers don't love her, but that's just funny to her.

She moseys down the street. The one that the van backed into an alley on. Honestly, she looks like an easy target, wearing a frilly dress, tights and chunky heels and not paying attention.

These poor bastards.

Andi Benton has posed:
The do-badders have found their mark. Their prey has been selected. The one dressed in the frills and gothy stuff. There are some people out there who are into the whole lolita look. It can pay good money.

As soon as she's passing the mouth of the alley, four pile out of the van, its side door already slid open. One reaches out with a chloroform rag while another awaits with a hood to slip over her head, while the other two seek to lay claim to her arms and legs to keep her from struggling. "Cute little girlie. You'll be a lot of fun," the one with the rag taunts.

Mania begins to ease forward in preparation for 'falling' atop the kidnappers, but recognition makes her pause as a hand reaches back to cling to the edge of the roof, leaving her leaning from above. The white eye slits narrow.

Gothic Lolita has posed:
Well, the goons get a split second to revel in the fact that they caught a cute little thing. GoLo is, after all, tiny and not at all threatening. The unfortunate part is that her processing lets her know with enough time to think about how she's going to react.

She decides to play along.

The one manages to get the rag in her face, and she gasps and sways, seemingly dazed. While the other two go to immobilize her and the last jams a sack over her head. Her body language, as much as she can while grappled, goes terrified for just long enough for them to buy it.

"Stop! Let me go! Don't touch me!" She squeals convincingly. She struggles weakly, though to the men, she probably feels like she works out, dense and muscled.

Honestly, she's going to play along until they try and pick her up. That's when they'll notice something is off, and then she will dunk on them. It'll be hilarious.

Andi Benton has posed:
It's almost too easy, but they've had it pretty simple before. They're good at what they do, which is why they're paid well. This time, however, they begin to realize things are not as they seem. There is less of an actual struggle than they're accustomed to, almost as if it's all an act. They really figure out things are amiss when they try to pick her up. "What the hell? When did you get so heavy?" the one who slipped the hood in place asks in disbelief.

Mania has come to realize who it is down there, and she already knows that it's over for the kidnappers. They're in the process of figuring that out for themselves, and she lets go so she can free fall down about four stories before using one of them as a landing pad, pinning him down with a hand pressed against his face. "Shhhh." Webbing covers his mouth, and the black and white figure's head turns in the direction of the others. "Do you know who we are?" she asks them, anticipation in the words.

Gothic Lolita has posed:
GL can't see at the moment, but she's swapped her vision to thermal while under the sack. When they try to lift her and figure out something's up, she squeals in mock terror again, only to stop when Mania smashes one to the ground from above.

"Aw. This was fun. Guess it's time for different fun."

She wrenches her arms free and rips off the sack, tossing it aside. "You picked the wrong adorable creature." She reaches out, grabbing one of them by the arm. Her smile is sickly sweet as she body tosses him at the van. She sets her strength level at three Captain Americas. That should hurt a lot, but probably not kill him.

"Hi Mania!" She greets the symbiote cheerfully.

Andi Benton has posed:
"Hello," is returned to Gothic Lolita, Mania's currently mouthless 'face' still left to eye her. "We were tailing them." It's an observation more than a claim. There is no real point in getting possessive. In fact, upon seeing how the one guy is thrown into the van, leaving a cracked windshield, Mania decides to do the same thing with the one she'd leapt upon.

He goes through the glass, leaving a few surface cuts along his arms and face. Already, four becomes two. "We will make this easy on you. Tell us where you take them, and we will not leave you in a full body cast." The ringleader reaches for a gun, but tendrils extend from a hand to engulf it and pry it away, then solidify into a vice that begins to squeeze down on the guy. "Don't be stupid." He cries out in response.

Gothic Lolita has posed:
GL is all smiles as Mania menaces one of the remaining two. Loli grabs the other one by the wrists and squeezes. Bones crack violently, the man cries out. She lets him go and he falls to the pavement to his knees. "Now you can't hurt anybody else gor a while," she sing-songs.

"You'd better tell the nice spider-lady what she wants to know, or she might actually eat you. When you do that, I'll call the cops and they can come get you away from us, or," she ponders. The mecha looks at the man on his knees and then looks up, thinking. "Luckily for you," she says with a pout. "I don't think you'd survive the throw to the police station, so you get to stay put."

Andi Benton has posed:
Bones crack in unison on the remaining pair of losers, then Mania effectively binds them together once she and Gothic Lolita have finished dealing with them. Nobody promised there wouldn't be any broken bones. "Start talking, and now."

The leader of the group is quick to reveal the rendezvous point, telling them everything they want to know. When it gets down to it, they're all cowards, all people who put up the bravado when things are in their favor, but shrivel up and wilt when it goes the other way.

"Hmph. Pushovers. You ready?" she asks of her friend, hands coming to rest at her hips, near the spiked belt she sports. Loli did say she'd make the call.

Gothic Lolita has posed:
GoLo listens to the goons as Mania ties them up. Atthe same time, she does summon the police, dropping her SHIELD agent ID. And the fact that she won't be there when they show up.

"Already done. We gonna set a trap?"

She resists the urge to kick the tied up guys. It's very difficult.

Andi Benton has posed:
"We will let them deal with it. If anyone is there, it will be better that way." Is Mania turning down an opportunity to go all the way with this? Seems so. "We only wanted to get the information. We did not know you would be here, too. You made a good distraction."

She looks mostly eye to eye at Loli, given they're both a little taller with the footwear they've got on. "We had other plans if we found them sooner rather than later."

Gothic Lolita has posed:
GL shrugs. She did her part, even if it was accidental. "Happy to help, I guess." She brushes her dress off, not that it got messed up beyond wrinkled a little in this surprisingly gentle mess.

Funnily enough, they stand around the same height anyway, the only varience being shoes. GL is very heavy for someone barely breaking five feet. "I didn't have any plans. It's why I was taking a walk. Just lucked into this, I guess. Made it easier."

Andi Benton has posed:
"We can smell the cloth they used. Does that even bother you?" Mania asks, looking down at the chloroform-laced thing skeptically, nose seeming to wrinkle beneath the faceless visage. "We are happier to see you again. You are still looking very interesting."

That's one way of putting it, the 'loli' attire unique and distinct.

Then, Mania moves closer. "We were thinking of looking for a place to have some fun until we have to go. If you have no plans..."

Gothic Lolita has posed:
GoLo shrugs. "My schedule is wide open," she replies cheerfully. "Lead the way, though ... You might want to change a little. If we're hanging out in public, anyway."

Andi Benton has posed:
Mania's head tilts in Loli's direction, then after moving out of sight of the losers they've bagged, it all changes. The attire isn't an exact duplication of her own, but there is a seeming attempt to mimic it in some fashion. Andi remarks, "We've..uh, been practicing changing our clothes this way. I think it needs more work." The hair is the usual purple, the piercings in place, and she flashes Loli a thin smile. "High five for some good teamwork?"

Gothic Lolita has posed:
Loli follows Mania away to duck around the corner out of sight. As they turn back into Andi, the mecha nods appreciatively. "Nice trick."

She reaches up to high vive the other girl, but hesitates a fraction of a second to dial her strength level back down to relatively mundane. Then she gives Andi a high five.

"We did good. Let's go party."