9090/Hunting Symbiotes

Hunting Symbiotes
Date of Scene:	14 December 2021
Location:	Harlem
Synopsis:	Karai goes hunting for some alien DNA for experiments, and Clint gets mixed up in the conflict.
Cast of Characters:	Andi Benton, Shredder, Clint Barton

---

Andi Benton has posed:
There are places Andi and Mania love to get food at while on patrol. Chickpeas Gyro is one of them. It's one of the reasons they patrol Harlem a little more frequently than other parts of New York City, and the fact there's often a crime to help stop doesn't hurt the ol' self-confidence.

Swinging into the area, Mania settles atop a building a few blocks from said restaurant, solid white eyes skimming the streets below. Inside, there is a little conversation taking place.

//Are we eating now or later, Andi?//
<<Are you that impatient?>>
//Yes, and you did not answer the question.//
<<Soon.>>
//When is soon?//
<<Sometime after right now.>>
//That makes no sense, Andi.//
<<It does to me. We just ate on the way over!>>
//That was only five chocolate bars! Barely even a nibble!//

It goes on like this as Mania bristles slightly, the spiky bits shifting in place as if like a weird porcupine.

Shredder has posed:
    Above a parking garage on the top level, a rather diminuitive figure watches, unpolished armor providing little reflection, a black form fitting uniform betraying that it's a female. She's at eye level, really, but a good fifty meters off.

    "I have sights, Bebop, Rocksteady, 137th street. Are you still in range?"

    "Yeah yeah!" Bebop answers the communicator, pulling it out of his ear unnecessarily. Where is he? Well, he and Rocksteady, the mutant Rhino, are currently at a hot dog stand. Eating...how many hot dogs is that now? They probably can't count that high. "But we're eating."

    "Well stop eating," Karai hisses into the commlink. "Go break things. Get its attention."

    Bebop sighs, moving the comm back and forth from his ear to his mouth. "Fine," he grunts with a piglike snort. "Rock, she wants us to quit eatin' and go break things."

    Rocksteady snorts, and looks at the rather intimidated hot dog vendor before them with his cart. "We gotta go," he says. "But don't you worry none, we won't break youse stuf," he gives a rather frightening smile. "You got good hot dogs." Not that he plans to pay for them. He wanders...straight into traffic, and without seeming provokation, the 8 foot tall mutant causes a car to screech to a halt in front of him, and then pulls a sledge hammer that he has slung across his back like a sword, and smashes it down into the hood of the car. Rude.

Clint Barton has posed:
There is no such thing as a quiet night in New York.

omething always goes bump in the night. Someone is always getting mugged, shot, beaten, battered, bruised....there's always something going on in this city, which means that one Clint Barton is never out of a job. Despite his dedication to SHIELD, Hawkeye was still an Avenger and still had a responsibility to the common people. He wasn't one of the people on the team that only helped out when the going got so tough that people couldn't handle it anymore.

No, he's got arrows for everybody.

So he picks out a rooftop and takes point on it, full quiver of arrows on his back, bow in hand, and his standard issue gear being worn. Though he seems very capable of eagle-eying a situation from afar, he starts to move between the rooftops. Especially when he manages to spot Andi Benton. He takes a moment, even watches for a second.

"Mania on sight, investigating."

Andi Benton has posed:
While the internal debate over when to eat carries on, others in the midst of doing just that are getting their orders from someone else. Little does Andi or Mania know what is being set up, just for her. There is no Spider-Man around, and potentially nobody to assist her if things go south.

The first clue that something's amiss is a big one. A big, rhino-like one with an equally big hammer, followed by a rather large..warthog-like thing as well? There's no need for symbiote to alert host or vice versa. The commotion draws attention all around, considering the metallic crunch the hammer causes when it ruins the front of the car, the driver shrieking in surprise before quickly starting to flee.

"Shit," Mania says, the voice low and carrying a duality to it, alien and feminine. "Guess the food is coming later!" Leaping before looking, there is a nimble grace to the way she dives out from the roof's edge, sending twin lines of organic webbing out to stick to the sides of the buildings ahead of her as she swings in closer, until she lands atop the car itself.

"That wasn't very nice, you know," the figure chides. Black and white, noted for a general lack of facial features except the solid yet expressive eyes, spiky 'hair' above that. And, of course, the spider insignia front and back. "This isn't the demolition derby. They still do those, right?"

Shredder has posed:
    As the driver flees the car, Rocksteady laughs. "I love our job," he says, strolling to the side of the car, and reaching down to grab it by the side of the door, intending to flip it. Cars stop, and the ones in front try to back up, only to find themselves with no where to go due to the traffic behind them.

    Of course, before Rocksteady can flip it, the black and white vigilante shows. Rocksteady looks up, his 20 lb hammer in his left hand still.

    "Hey Bop! That was quick, see how good we are at this?"

    Bebop snorts, "Yeah, didn't even make it hard for us." He starts to approach. "Hey weird gooey guy," he says to Mania. "Looks like you have fallen into our trap," he declares. Which...yeah, the whole trap seems to be just picking a fight? Nobody jumps out of the shadows, no superweapon fires from the rooftops. It's just two big mutants.

Clint Barton has posed:
Clint watches...and he waits, though if instincts tell him anything, the first one to act is gonna be the first one to get the shot off. He finds his vantage point and starts reaching for an arrow. He pulls out an arrow that can make a lot of noise, letting him do other actions in the meantime. Namely, he draws an explosive arrow and knocks it into his bow as he pulls back on the arrow.

You just never know.

Though chaos quickly happens when a big Rhino-like creature and a big hog-like creature seem to be on the attack! Hawkeye's target shifts then in that moment, at first keeping an eye on Mania, now he turns his attention to Rocksteady and Bebop. He slowly exhales, focusing his shot. At this distance?

He can make it.

He lets loose the arrow. Assuming he's accurate, it would hit Rocksteady right in the chest if the behemoth of a mutant didn't move from his spot.... and that's taking wind and the like into consideration.

Andi Benton has posed:
"Good at what, forgetting how to bathe? You stink," Mania retorts, and whether that's true or not she makes a show of covering the lower half of her 'face' with a hand, the fingers tipped with claws. There is something about the being that appears more organic than not, like it might not be an actual costume. Don't expect Bebop and Rocksteady to be thinking that deeply, though.

Then the eyes narrow. "Guy? You think we're a guy? We're not /that/ small!"

//Andi, if that is confusing to them, we could always--//
<<Stop right there! I can tell where you're going with that and...just don't!>>

The look of offense in those eyes is, at least, obvious. Then she recovers enough to add, "Oh yeah? And what kind of trap is that?"

Before it gets to the stage of an actual fight, an arrow streaks in from another direction. Mania's danger sense triggers, causing her to glance quickly in that direction and turn toward one side before it strikes. When it does, the flash and noise it generates, regardless of where it hits, is enough that for a split second Mania's form..shimmers and shifts, a sound of surprise and discomfort emanating before the creature ducks away from the car, covering its ears! "What the hell?!" they blurt.

Shredder has posed:
    Rocksteady laughs, "The kind of trap where you get-" And that's when the arrow strikes him directly in the chest. It bursts on impact, and the explosion knocks the monster backward. He is sent reeling backward backpedaling to keep his footing, and he drops the hammer, gripping his ears and closing his eyes.

    Bebop, though he was a few feet away, feels the effects as well, wincing and covering his ears. Both of them take several seconds, though Rocksteady took a more direct blow, and try to get their bearings again.

Clint Barton has posed:
That worked better than expected, but Hawkeye doesn't move from his vantage point. Even if Mania may potentially eyeball his position. Depending on the accuracy of her senses, she may see a man hooked on a building ledge, bow in hand and another arrow already knocking in and releasing!

This time, the target is Bebop.

The arrow, on close inspection, says 'Shocker' on the side of it in cursive handwriting, and its coming straight for Bebop's forehead unless the giant hog moves out of the way! 2,000 Volts of electricity just waiting for it's target.

Bebop's a larger guy, and honestly, the voltage probably won't harm him too bad, but it'll hurt in all the right ways. Hopefully. Clint hasn't faced a mutant warthog before.

Andi Benton has posed:
Mania hasn't faced either of these things before, but she's seen the basic information on the Avengers and other metahuman groups out there. A few people she knows have ties to some of them, but Mania has remained more of a loner in comparison. In some ways it's safer. Others, not so much.

//Andi what is that? It is too loud, too bright!//
<<Just keep it together! That's the archer guy! From one of the teams! I don't know why he's here!>>

Symbiote and host find a car to duck behind, just because they need a few moments to recover from the sensory impact of the arrows. This was not what they had in mind when they came to Harlem. Not what they had in mind at all. Briefly, there is a flow of..something at a shoulder, and a disembodied head begins to poke up over the trunk of the car to look at the mutants while Hawkeye's location is tracked more conventionally, those white eyes staring, narrowing.

Shredder has posed:
    Bebop is struck by the electrified arrow, striking him square in the forehead as intended. He shakes visibly from the impact before roaring and pulling it free. He looks at the arrow, and with his thumb snaps it like a pencil, teeth grit. He looks up, trying to spot Clint.

    Meanwhile, Rocksteady is finishing his recovery, blinking his eyes a little to look for his target. "Where'd it go?" he asks, grabbing the damaged car in front of him and flipping it up onto its side with one hand. It teeters, and then continues a roll onto its hood.

    Meanwhile, up on the rooftops, Karai is discontent with Clint's interference, and quietly leaps to the roof where he is hanging from his line. She moves in, drawing her blade. Hooked to a building? She can fix that. People fall off buildings all the time in New York. Right?

Clint Barton has posed:
Hawkeye smirks as he gets ready to fire off a grappling hook arrow. "Alright Clint, try and do what that spider-kid does every single day, but lets see how we can do this." Though as soon as he starts to draw it back, he sees a glint on his arrowhead.

"Shit."

Suddenly, Hawkeye is in freefall! That ninja got the jump on him, that's not okay! he turns in the air and fires a shot at a nearby rooftop, holding onto his bow for dear life as he swings across the street and declaps with a flip, landing in a classic superhero pose.

"....ow." He slowly stands up, leaning against a car and grimacing. "That hurt like a bitch." He groans, then he spots the rooftop he ewas on, drawing a standard arrow and firing it towards Karai! SPecifically, aiming for her sword hand. At this distance, he had to aim high. Of course, this leaves him open to Bebop or Rocksteady making a move.

Andi Benton has posed:
Getting a look at Bebop and Rocksteady now shows they're not just big weird guys in costumes. That wasn't really what Mania was thinking anyway, having seen some of what's out there. It might be a passing thought for the average person.

Still rubbing the side of her head, she rises from the car she sought refuge behind, glaring at the pair. "Enough with the car, already. If you have something to say, say it." They can see her fingers beginning to elongate, growing by a few inches, something that would make it easier for her to swipe with.

Hawkeye's fall, while brought under some semblance of control, is noted but Mania's focus is more on the pair of mutants, less on the guy and the ninja who cut his line.

Shredder has posed:
    Karai looks over the edge to make sure that Clint falls to his doom, only to find an arrow coming back up the building at her. She ducks back, not aware that the arrow was aimed at her sword, but it causes a miss all the same. She frowns, red scarf covering her face. She's rather young, still a teen to appearance.

    Rocksteady laughs, "Boss wants us to catch ya," he says, openly playing his hand. "So we gonna catch ya."

    "She wasn't really specific on bruises," Bebop states, his attention caught by the falling image of Clint. "Hey, look!" he decalres. "It's that Green Arrow guy," he declares. He had the chance to just attack him, but instead, Rocksteady responds. "Nah, I think it's the Avenger dude."

    "Maybe it's the real Robin Hood, sent forward in time," Bebop offers a third solution. Are they fighting or are they chatting?

Clint Barton has posed:
Clint manages to get back to his feet, especially after noticing that Karai had dodged his shot. "Damn." Though he turns his attention immediately to Rocksteady and Bebop, his primary advantage suddenly gone as he narrows his eyes. "Hey guys. Lemme guess, Zoo had a break in?" Clint mocks the pair of mutants to try and anger them, make them do something stupid.

Then they return the favor. "Really? Come on, I'm cooler than Green Arrow." Clint draws two arrows, one for the both of them, holding his bow at a slight angle to make it easier. "I'm a better shot too. Though Robin Hood? Eh, I'll take the compliment." Self-proclaimed, but he fires off those two arrows at the mutants, one for each of them! It doesn't help that the arrows are beeping.

and getting faster with the beeping.

If those arrows find their mark, they will emit a largely concussive blast similar to a superhuman punch. Gotta pull out some bigger arrows for these two. Not his biggest, but they'll do.

Hopefully.

But he has to keep an eye on the ninja that tried to murder him.

Andi Benton has posed:
Mania's head tilts toward one side as the mutants tell of taking her in. "Oh, is that so? And how do you plan on catching us?" 'Us?' That could confuse them. It confuses many. Even confused her at first.

Thanks to the nature of the symbiote she's bonded to, Andi can see where Hawkeye is and what he's doing with Karai. It's that 'danger sense' in action. "Maybe you should stop worrying about Legolas over there and play with us. That's why you're here, right?" A line begins to open where the mouth ought to be, showing far too many teeth than what would be normal, and they're all needle-like, sharp. "We do like to play, and--"

The concussive blast arrows fly in, and just as her tongue starts to flick out, Mania has to duck away again and shield herself, expecting a repeat of the first one. "Damnit!"

Shredder has posed:
    Bebop and Rocksteady would have answered, but the incoming arrows give them reason to change their tune. Rockstead rips a tire free as he sees the arrows about to release, and the concussive impact hits the tire instead, which absorbs a lot of the impact.

    Bebop isn't so lucky, as he just uses his arms to block the force, which knocks him back and onto his rear.

    "Okay, this guy is getting annoying," Bebop confesses. "How about you cut that out and fight us straight?" he challenges. As if there's any question of who would win in that scenario.

    "I'll help," Rocksteady declares, throwing the tire straight at Clint as fast as any major league pitcher. "You can handle the one with the teeth."

    "Haha," Bebop says, getting up to his feet again. He starts walking steadily toward Mania. "I figure we catch ya by makin' ya knocked out," he says with a toothy warthog smile, and punches his opposite hand.

Clint Barton has posed:
Those shots could have gone better. He sees Rocksteady throwing a big tire at him and as he's about to dodge, he fires a steel-tipped arrow from his bow before he immediately drops to the floor to avoid the tire, the wheel barely touching his hair.

Little too close there Barton.

The arrow fired is going straight for Rocksteady's shoulder, seeing what works! Though Clint stays in cover for a minute. "Well that wouldn't be fair for me. It's about advantages and how you use them!" Clint calls back, and it looks like he's gonna have his hands full with Rocksteady.

Andi Benton has posed:
With the rhino and the warthog splitting their attention, it still leaves in question the status of the ninja Hawkeye was dealing with. Maybe out of sight for the moment, but not completely out of mind. Mania, her fingers still elongated to about twice the usual, stops shielding herself from the effects of the arrows as she straightens again, mocking Bebop by duplicating his hand-punching gesture.

"I think you'll find we are much harder to knock out than you think." In an attempt to prove this, she runs toward him, only to go into a slide around or between his legs depending on how he reacts, following on that by reaching up to cast a tacky blob of webbing at his face! "Why don't you stick around a while?" The smile is the stuff of nightmares.

Shredder has posed:
    There isn't a lot of finesse to Bebop. He's pretty direct. When the slide comes in, he attacks with the most basic of maneuvers that seem appropriate. He stomps his heavy foot down at the incoming symbiote at the same moment that he takes the webbing to his face. "Argh! This stuff smells funny," he declares, reaching up to try to pull it free.

    Rocksteady takes the arrow straight to the shoulder. It penetrates, and he looks at it for a moment before reaching up to pull it free. The barbs cause more injury, but as the blood trickles down his arm, he seems to have a high enough threshold for pain that he just keeps going. He tucks his horn down and begins to charge. "I think maybe you're just a wimp!" he declares to Clint.

    Down along the side of the building, the young ninja woman appears again, but she doesn't re-engage. Instead, she slips a small vial from her belt, and sprints along the edge of the building behind Clint and toward where Mania fights Bebop.

Clint Barton has posed:
Hawkeye lost sight of the ninja after he took that last shot at her. Thoug hhe remains in cover, drawing an arrow and preparing to fire it. This is going to be tricky, but its not like he's never dodged a Rhinocerous before. He stays behind a car, and waits for Rocksteady to charge. "Come on you moron...charge, charge me. I want you to do it." Clint tries to psych himself up at the same time as Rocksteady declares to Clint that he's a wimp.

"Dude, I fry bigger fish than you for -patrol-." Clint tries to trash talk, and as Rocksteady charges him, Clint is going to jump onto the car and attempt a vertical somersault, hopefully jumping -over- Rocksteady. If not? This is going to hurt a lot. But if he manages to do so, he'll draw an arrow back and aim it right for Rocksteady's snout!

Weirdly, it doesn't look like it has an arrowhead like it should. Rather, it has a kind of compression release. If Clint hits his mark, some anaesthetic gas with shoot right up Rocksteady's nose. Or, if it hits somewhere else, it still has the radius of a standard smoke bomb so...maybe? If he's good enough?

Clint briefly sheds a glance andi's way to make sure they are just fine, and it looks like Mania is doing ok.

Andi Benton has posed:
Mania is being careful about staying away from Bebop's reach. He still looks strong enough that if he got his hands on someone, he could do some damage. The best way to avoid getting knocked out is to avoid getting grabbed. She's got a few tricks up her, well, sleeve anyway, if need be.

"It smells just fine to us! Maybe it's an acquired taste!" Now she tries to tag a hand with another blast of webbing, attempting to get them stuck together. She keeps moving, even if he has his sight disrupted, and aims a kick at the back of Bebop's legs in hope of getting him off his feet. Karai goes missed for the moment.

Shredder has posed:
    Bebop finds his left hand stuck to his face, and growls. "Yer gross," he accuses. Must be bad if a warthog is calling you gross. He pulls hard, tearing free the webbing, and finds himself tagged in the back of the knee. It buckles a little, but he maintains his footing enough to shift leg to the other foot and snap a kick out from the one that's been offended.

    Rocksteady's horn misses as Clint vaults over him, but enough tangles with other jump happy enemies means that he isn't without a recourse. As Clint soars over head, he reaches up and catches him by the foot, slinging to the side. There's nothing but concrete in that direction, and the angle reduced the power of the swing significantly, but it doesn't stop the arrow from striking him in the chest, exploding with the smoke. It bounces up to his nose, and he sniffs, snorts, and stumbles backward. He grunts, stumbling a little, clearly dazed by the anaesthetic. "What was in that?" he asks.

    Karai closes in on Mania, and looks up at the webbing on Bebop's face. She doe something that might be not completely expected. She charges Bebop, leaping up to take him by the arm and flip her body around him and take him to the ground. Surely he could have avoided it, but surprised as he is, he finds himself flipped over face first into the ground, a much smaller attacker over him. Whose side is she on?

Clint Barton has posed:
"Shit."

Clint is grabbed by his leg and he gets thrown across the way, bouncing off of the concrete off of his side, smashing his elbow ont othe ground. Thankfully, it didn't break his bone, but it does hurt like a motherfucker. Clint managed to get the shot off and it gives him time to recover...even if the fight might already be over without Rocksteady realizing it. Clint slowly gets back up to his feet, cracking his neck as he picks his bow back up.

"Anaesthetic gas. Strong dosage, you have about ten seconds I imagine before you hit the ground, unless you have the metabolism of a couple of elephants." Clint grins a little bit, though he's focused on Rocksteady, and offers no help to Mania because he can't quite see what's happening there.

He's a little preoccupied.

Andi Benton has posed:
Mania scoffs at being called gross. "And you're a freaky boar..person. We guess that sums you up well. A boar who's a bore." As she's got the /warthog/ mutant distracted with the webbing and Rocksteady charges off further after the archer, she hops over the retaliatory kick but then something further unexpected happens:

Karai moves in to attack Bebop as well!

Mania stops out of reach, placing her hands at her hips, the claws still readily visible. She's still got that mouth visible, and it shifts into a distinct frown. "Okay, who are you and why are you interrupting our fight? We had enough of that already with the other guy!"

Shredder has posed:
    Bebop looks truly surprised, glancing up and seeing the very contrasting figure of Karai's small lithe figure over top of him. She doesn't say anything to him, but draws her ninja-to and slices into the webbing holding his hand, a little residue naturally held to her sword.

    The warthog doesn't offer any quips, just frozen, looking rather confused at the turn of events. "Uhh...." he stammers, looking at Karai.

    The small ninja stands to her feet, glancing at the residue on her blade. "Just a little good deed," Karai answers, pulling the vial and scraping it along her blade with little intention of hiding it. Her finger taps over the lid to close it again.

Andi Benton has posed:
Observing this, Mania keeps herself separate from the two. However, those angular white eyes begin to narrow further as the vial is spotted. Collecting webbing? The joke will be on Karai when she finds it's turned into, more or less, nothing within a matter of minutes. However, it prompts a question.

"We see you are interested in our webbing. Would you like more of it?" The question is followed up with both hands raising to send more blobs of the stuff at the ninja, intended to connect wherever it will. Bebop is kept in focus as well, expecting him to get back to his feet at any time.

Shredder has posed:
    Her eyes go wide as the flinging of the solution comes toward her, and Karai ducks to the side, narrowly avoiding the black webbing as she tumbles to one side. Her hand returns the vial to her sash, and returns with the replacement of a small black pellet, flinging it forward at Mania's feet. A loud snap, is followed by the explosion of charcoal smoke.

    Meanwhile, Bebop leaps up. Rather than attacking Karai, he stays focused on Mania, and begins to charge again, a clear unadulterated full body tackle incoming as he leaps forward, trying to bear hug her to the ground.

Andi Benton has posed:
The noise of the pellet that lands is enough to disorient Mania, just enough that it has her grimacing and staggering back. This is easier to see due to the fact that mouth is still present, rows of sharp teeth visible along with the slimy tongue. "That was not nice!" she complains.

The smoke proves more of a challenge to see through, and she can hear Bebop in motion but not quite see him until he's upon her, arms getting around the slim form. "Oof! Is that the way you want to do this, then? We'll warn you, we have a few surprises!"

The first is a hand getting behind Bebop's neck, turning malleable and more liquid as it begins to quickly creep over his head!

Shredder has posed:
    Karai has what she needs, and with the distraction provided by Bebop, she sprints back from the fight, returning toward the cover of car headlights in the street that may make her movement difficult to track. Bebop ignores the liquid forming around him, instead opting to lift up, maintaining his grip, and suplexing the symbiote with all of his strength. Certainly enough to easily kill a normal person. It's a good thing that Mania is not normal.

Andi Benton has posed:
Usually, people panic when blobs of symbiote start to cover important parts of the body and even threaten to suffocate or block the senses. Maybe Bebop figures he can take care of Mania before she gets far enough to impact him further.

Speaking of impacts, the landing is not a gentle one. It even stirs an "Oof!" out of the creature. Then, laughter follows. "We almost felt that." What happens next is further proof Mania is not normal. She rolls with the landing, feet splaying out to help anchor her better to the ground, and she shows the strength /she/ possesses by lifting Bebop up, throwing him at the car Rocksteady had already hit with his sledgehammer earlier.

Shredder has posed:
    Bebop certainly seems to not expect this as he is flung with such ease through the air and into the car, crunching the remainder of it. "Wow, you can hit hard," he laughs, fixing the shade style sunglasses on his face. He starts to get to his feet. "But uh, I guess we're done," he shrugs. He doesn't attack again. "No hard feelins, huh?" he suggests. Wait, why is the fight over. "Also, you seein' anyone?" Is he hitting on her now? The insanity!

Andi Benton has posed:
Mania sweeps the area for other signs of danger. Karai has removed herself from things, Rocksteady and Clint are out of sight, and Bebop is picking himself up from the remains of the already totaled car.

He is definitely built to take an impact, that much is clear, if he's laughing it off. A stalemate, it seems. "Done? Yeah, that's what we thought," she taunts, the hand having since reformed. Just a taste of what they're capable of.

"Hard feelings?" Those eyes narrow once again, and then the last question is the one that catches her more off guard. Good thing she's let the mouth close back over, which helps hide any expressions the eyes and body language don't give away. "Whatever."

Rather than giving a more definitive answer one way or another, she sends out a webline to carry her back up to the top of a nearby building, but she watches to ensure he really is going to leave.

//What just happened, Andi?//
<<I'll tell you when I figure it out.>>

Both sides of the symbiote bond are clearly confused.