"It's getting bad out there," Gwen sighed, wiping sweat off her brow as she Gutter jumped into their dorm. Andi was benched until Mania was ready for action, so she'd been up all night handling school work that'd started piling up. Gwen had been trying to get a hold of the Jack O'Lantern situation for a week, but it was quickly spiraling out of control. People were being killed every night, and entire apartment complexes had gone up in smoke. Jack was too erratic for S.H.I.E.L.D. to track down and moved too quickly for normal police.
"You're not gonna like this," Gwen sighed, wiping blood off her katanas before peeling herself out of her costume. Andi's eyes drifted along Gwen's back and legs- envious of how amazing Gwen's legs looked without even trying- before flicking back to her laptop. She was battered and bruised, but wasn't hurt too bad- how she managed to get so lucky, Andi never understood.
"What is it," Andi groaned. Bad news just kept coming and she wasn't sure she wanted to hear any more of it.
"All those guys that were working with Lord Ogre… They're with Jack now." Gwen sighed as she wrapped herself in a towel and collected her shower supplies. She looked up with a shrug at her friend, not sure how to comfort her from the new information. Andi did her best not to scream- between Mania and the Hell-Mark, she had to keep her cool. But this was something she couldn't accept.
"How?" Her eyes glowed a dull red, Mania squirming along her chest and back- the shirt disguise she'd taken up wavering as she felt the surge of emotion coming from her host.
"Well usually when you kill the leader of a criminal organization they just come back under new leadership. How do you think Hydra keeps coming back after the Avengers stopped Red Skull a dozen times? Baron Zemo, Baron Strucker, the half-dozen Madame Hydras… It's not your fault if that's what you're thinking. It's just how these things happen," Gwen shrugged, tucking her guns into her shark backpack before walking towards the door.
"Andi? I don't mean to rush you and Mania bonding or whatever, but this story arc isn't gonna end without the two of us." She opened the door as she spoke, eyes locked on Andi.
"It's not like S.H.I.E.L.D. is gonna- Hey, Himawari!" Gwen quickly stood in front of their roommate, looking back over her shoulder to glare at Andi and point at the costume and swords she'd left on her bed. Andi quickly reached up to the top bunk and hid the costume under her own sheets.
"Gwen, can I please come into my dorm? I really don't care about whatever things you were doing in here," Himawari groaned, trying to push past the woman. Gwen finally moved out of the way, allowing her roommate to pass just as Andi finished hiding the last of the swords. With a final look over her shoulder at the two, she walked towards the bathroom.
"It's not like S.H.I.E.L.D. is gonna what," Himawari asked curiously as she peeled herself out of her own clothes.
"Oh, um… We were talking about those murders that're popping up," Andi explained.
"With that Jack O'Lantern guy? God, can we talk about anything else," the Himawari whined, stripping down to her underwear before climbing to her bed. She looked more frustrated and exhausted than Andi had ever seen her. Maybe it was all the schoolwork, but it was definitely getting to her.
"Himawari, are you okay? Is that report you're working on bumming you out?" Andi asked concernedly.
"Yes! He's just- ugh! He's always one step ahead and there's no way to track what he's doing until he does it! Ugh, kare wa saiakudesu." She angrily punched her pillow a few times before shoving her face into it and screaming. Andi wasn't very good at the whole feelings thing, but she couldn't help but try.
"Hey… Your professor can't expect you to follow a case like this so closely. Can they?" To be honest Andi had no idea what the criminology courses were like at KSU.
"Ugh… Andi, can I… Can I tell you a secret?" Himawari pulled her face out of her pillow and sat up, legs crossed underneath her. The small woman was like night and day- in clothes she seemed petite and delicate, but out of them she seemed like a marble sculpture. Sunkissed skin stretched taught over wiry muscle, all that time in the gym having carved a masterpiece.
"Yeah, always," Andi replied softly.
"That security job I told you about? I lied. It's not just a security job, it's a S.H.I.E.L.D. internship," she explained, avoiding eye contact with her friend out of fear she'd be upset with her for lying.
"Oh, that's… great. Isn't that your plan?" They'd talked about it before. Himawari really wanted to join S.H.I.E.L.D. All of the working out and criminal science courses should've made that obvious. Andi couldn't see how she could be anything but proud for her roommate if she'd already been interning with them all this time.
"Yeah, it is! It's been great but… This Jack guy… Andi he's killed so many people and if I can't find out his pattern… this is my first real job and I can't do it." There were tears welling in her eyes as she spoke. She reached for her pillow again, clutching it close to her chest as she tried to squeeze the life out of it.
"Oh… Himawari, I'm sorry." It all made sense to her now. How else could the girl have gotten such detailed information on the cases so soon after they reached the news? She'd had inside knowledge on everything with Jack's name on it because she was working the case.
"It's fine, it's not your fault. It was cool talking to you and Gwen about all of this… But now… Ugh, he needs to be stopped yesterday and I'm working as hard as I can to find any pattern but it's been impossible." She buried her face in her pillow, her frustration threatening to win the battle over her composure. "And all of those heroes couldn't care less about us here in Philadelphia. They just stay in Manhattan in their big dumb Avengers Tower… even those two new girls were there a few days ago breaking into the Raft. S.H.I.E.L.D. needs to make people feel safe! We're supposed to protect people the right way! …but I can't even catch one guy in a dumb Halloween mask." She sighed, leaning back against the wall.
Andi felt terrible watching her friend like this. Technically all of this was her fault. Jack would've stayed in Hell where he belonged had she not gone down there to hurt him. Maybe putting her friend on the right track wouldn't hurt? Jack had to be captured either way, and it didn't make a difference whether it was by S.H.I.E.L.D. or the heroes. "Have you considered… the guy is baiting someone?"
"I have! I looked through his old file, but get this! The last guy in that costume died. Deadpool killed him in Wakanda weeks ago! The only people he could be targeting as a copycat are Deadpool, King T'Challa, or Agent Anti-Venom- he had issues with that guy about a year ago. But they're all in Manhattan or Wakanda. There's no one here for him." Himawari spoke confidently. She'd obviously committed most of the case's details to memory.
"Looks like you've done a lot of research on this guy."
"Yeah, I went through his case file dozens of times. This copycat seems to know everything about him though. Probably an apprentice trying to follow in his footsteps or something," she concluded, finally setting her pillow down and making eye contact with Andi.
"Maybe he's baiting someone new? He probably really doesn't like those two new heroes," Andi offered.
"Maybe… Maybe they're even working with him… I don't know," Himawari sighs, tucking some of her hair behind her ear. "Andi? Can you… can you not tell Gwen about this? About me interning with S.H.I.E.L.D. or this entire conversation," she asked softly.
"Uh… yeah, no problem? But why?"
"She's really into superheroes. And you've heard how she talks about S.H.I.E.L.D. She doesn't respect it. She doesn't care about protocol or anything. She just really likes heroes and I just… I'm uncomfortable with the idea of her knowing that I'm interning with the same agency she doesn't respect." It seemed like Himawari had been struggling to get this off her chest for a long time. Andi understood the feeling. Gwen's love of superheroes was apparently what got her shoved into this universe in the first place. And it wasn't that S.H.I.E.L.D. was anti-hero, but most heroes just refused to cooperate with S.H.I.E.L.D. regulations. Andi nods, hoping her friend wouldn't worry about her outing her secret to Gwen.
"Thanks, Andi. You're really great to talk to about these things." Himawari sighs and hops off her bunk, grabbing her own shower caddy. "Now if you'll excuse me I'm gonna go join Gwen in the shower," she sighs, grabbing her towel and taking a couple of steps towards the door before stopping cold.
"I- I mean! I meant take my own separate shower! Not like- I didn't mean I'm gonna shower with Gwen just-"
"Have fun."
"Andi? What are you doing?" Gwen had stumbled in on something she wasn't entirely sure she'd been meant to see. Andi was suspended from the ceiling by a large wad of black goo, almost the consistency of gum. Mania covered the entire back wall of their room as well as most of the ceiling and half of the floor. It wrapped long tendrils around Andi, pulling her in deeper as she fought to hold it at bay. Most people would probably run away and dial S.H.I.E.L.D. or something as quickly as they could, but Gwen simply locked the door behind herself and set her bag down at her computer desk, even as the tendrils snapped at her, desperate to swallow her as well.
"Gwen get out of here," Andi shouted, struggling to control the rogue symbiote. It refused to listen to a single command and had been fighting her for what felt like hours. She'd tried talking to her, begging, fighting, and controlling her with small puffs of Hellfire, but Mania refused to give up.
"Is Mania trying to take over your body or something?" Gwen playfully poked the symbiote with the end of a pen, curiously testing how it would react. Mania immediately snatched the pen out of her hand and whipped her wrist before retreating back to hold Andi.
"Yeah, she's… fighting me!" Andi struggled to speak as Mania wrapped tendrils around her neck, threatening to force some down her throat as she spoke.
"Yeah, I kinda expected that." Gwen took a step forward, gently nudging a tendril with the front of her sneaker.
"What!" Andi could hardly understand her friend during the best of circumstances. She definitely wasn't making any sense now.
"Don't worry about it, let me talk to her." Gwen was cheerful as ever, casually walking up to her roommate as she tried to peel herself off of the wall.
"Gwen, it's taking everything I have for her not to jump on you right now!" Andi was clawing Mania back, trying to stop the symbiote from attacking her friend. It dragged her deeper into its mass, trying to swallow her whole even as it attempted to ensnare Gwen.
"Oh, don't worry she won't bond with me. I'd be way too OP with a symbiote, the readers wouldn't like that," she explained nonchalantly.
"What are you talking about," Andi shouted angrily.
"Come on, just let me talk to her. You need to wrap this up before Himawari gets here," Gwen groaned, stomping her foot exasperatedly.
"Gwen!"
"Andi. I have a project I need to finish by 12. I don't have time for this." She reached for her friend's hands and took hold, Mania quickly engulfing her in its mass and swallowing them both whole. "Whoa… this is cool," Gwen said excitedly. She was floating around a dark, empty void made of billions of black tendrils writhing over one another, some desperately reaching out to her. Off in the distance, she could see Andi, bound, blinded and gagged by a few dozen of the same, thick tendrils that made up this place. Gwen shouted for her, but it was clear Andi couldn't hear her as she struggled in vain. After a few moments, thousands of the black tendrils moved around her, forming a giant face with white eyes and a devilish grin. She swore she'd remembered seeing this exact scene in a Spider-Man cartoon.
"Oh. Hey, Mania. That is you right?"
"Yessss." Mania's voice was like boiling molasses. Thick, smooth and everywhere. The tendrils moved as one to mimic Mania's long jaw and tongue moving as it spoke.
"Right… well, if I can talk to you like this I guess you wanted to talk to me, too?" Gwen haphazardly swung her feet, the odd feeling of being suspended above a ground that didn't exist making her a little uneasy.
"To sssaaaave uuuusssss. Herooo."
"Mania. Look. I know you're afraid of Andi. But you're definitely a thousand times more terrifying than a girl with some hot breath could ever hope to be." The whole situation just seemed ridiculous to Gwen. An alien slime creature with super spider strength and a dozen other superpowers was scared of her friend- a young woman who could hardly control the demons she could summon, and Hellfire that barely did much more damage than regular fire.
"Queeeeen of Hell!" Tendrils wrapped around Gwen's ankles, pulling her down into the dark abyss they hovered over.
"She's not a Queen of Hell, she's just in the running," Gwen explained as she struggled against the tendrils that'd grabbed her leg. She wasn't exactly a fan of the way Mania felt against her skin. "She could never be Queen of Hell, just look at her. She's way too edgy- it's like she's trying too hard! Plus Mephisto never dies for long. That Hell-Mark is practically wasted on her."
"Theeee haaaatreeeed innnnn hhhhher heeeearrrrt-"
"She's working on it, Mania! You gotta give her a chance. We almost got locked up in the Raft trying to free you! The very least you can do is acknowledge the fact that she cares!" There was a lot more emotion in that speech bubble than Gwen had intended there to be.
"The readers better be appreciating this," she thought to herself, shivering as the tendrils slid further up her leg.
"Don't trusssst-"
"Mania. You're a member of the team. Maybe you don't trust Andi right now. You obviously trust me, right? You're in my head right now the same way I'm in yours, you know how much I care, right?" Mania stayed quiet for a long while, the tendrils around Gwen's ankles loosening their hold but still refusing to let go. "Look. I know Andi. She feels bad about this whole thing. You've gotta give her a chance. I promise if she goes full Hellspawn again I'll rip you off of her myself." A few sonic grenades and a flame thrower would do the trick- not that that wouldn't hurt the symbiote as well, but if it ever came down to it she doubted Mania would care too much as long as she was able to escape.
"Fiiiiiine." She was sure Mania didn't breathe, but that sigh seemed pretty realistic. The tendrils released their grasp and Gwen could feel herself floating back up.
"Now, just double-checking, you're in my head right now, right?" There was an itch at the back of her mind, and she knew the symbiote was trying to get a read on her.
"Yesss."
"Okay, then you've seen a lot of things that you know need to be kept secret, right?" Gwen was stern and serious for the first time in a long time. She couldn't be sure how much Mania knew, or how much the alien could make of it all, but any of that information getting into the wrong hands was dangerous.
"Beeeeeen... avooooidiiiing-"
"Well, that's… good, I guess. But remember. If you know anything, you need to keep it a secret, okay? Andi can't know. I'm serious, Mania. Even if she asks you can't-"
"I uuundeeeeerstaaaaand."
Gwen fell on the linoleum floor of their dorm, landing hard on her butt. Andi landed on all fours onto her bed a few seconds later, clutching at her chest as she desperately sucked down some air. Except, it wasn't Andi. For the first time since she'd been sucked into the Marvel universe, Gwen was finally laying eyes on Mania. Her inhumanly wide mouth, sharp teeth and prehensile tongue, bright white spider contrasting harshly against the impossibly black living tar that made up the rest of the suit. She panted for a few moments, catching her breath before the tongue retracted and mouth sealed up, leaving a mask whose only features were its wide, white eyes and ridiculously spiky anime hairdo.
"Andi. That you in there," Gwen asked playfully, gently knocking on the spikes. "They feel just like hair… That's not what I expected at all!"
"Yeah… yeah, I'm here." Andi's voice was still weak and shaky as she collected herself, having been fighting for her life only a few moments ago. "What did you tell her," she asked softly.
"Oh, that she can trust you and that I'd kick your ass if you ever took advantage of her. Regular hero stuff," Gwen explained with a shrug. She walked over to her friend, placing a hand on her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her. The thin membrane that covered Andi was warm to the touch and no longer tried to snap at her.
"Gwen?"
"Yeah?"
"Thank you," Andi wrapped her arms around her friend, squeezing her in a tight hug. Gwen was getting ready to give some quip before she heard a key fitting into the lock in their door. The alien symbiote retracted, forming a loose fitting shirt and shorts as Himawari entered the room.
"Oh! Uh, we were just..." Andi fumbled for an explanation as she let Gwen go, still not too used to openly displaying affection.
"Nope, don't stop because of me," she replied playfully, climbing up to her top bunk but keeping a mischievous eye on her roommates. "I don't mind watching!"
"Gwen, why are we doing this," Mania groaned, squatting next to her friend on the rooftop of a building in Center City. Gwen had insisted they spend at least one night 'on patrol' as she got used to her symbiote suit again. She hated the idea, but decided spending a night getting some fresh air with Mania wouldn't be the worst way to waste time.
"First of all, it's Gwenpool when I'm in the mask. Second, Mania, I know I'm super carefree and exciting, but if I'm being honest, I'd rather not be shot again," Gwenpool explained casually, using a pair of binoculars to watch groups of people crowd the street down below. Center City was always full of tourists and other people enjoying the nightlife, but the crowded streets were no match for Time Square's swarming throngs of thousands of people. She was able to keep her eye on the groups that weaved their way through the streets and made sure nothing too fishy was going on.
"I need you in tip top shape if we're gonna take down Jack and his gang." She didn't look up from her spying but Andi understood the unspoken intention of her words.
"You don't trust me." Mania crossed her arms over her chest, more frustrated than she was surprised. Getting her symbiote had been Gwen's idea- hell, being superheroes had been Gwen's idea. Now she was gonna doubt her?
"I don't trust how rocky your relationship with Mania is right now. For all I know you breathe a little fire and she jumps right off of you." Gwen wanted to soften the blow with a quip, but something had caught her eye down in the crowd.
"Gwen, that's not how it-"
"Hush, hush! Look, down in that corner," Gwenpool tried to hand her partner her binoculars, but Mania's enhanced senses were sharp enough to see the scene without them. Three men in pumpkin masks were dragging a woman into a windowless van. She was flailing weakly, her mouth already gagged to prevent her from screaming. No one who could see them was even bothering to try to stop them.
"Lord Ogre's crew have been starting up their old human trafficking ring. They grab tourists too wasted to fight back," Gwenpool explained. A dozen emotions ran through Andi's mind, most not good. But it was impossible to ignore someone in need of help like that. She aimed a hand at the van, ready to shoot some webbing at their tires to keep them from getting away, but Gwenpool grabbed her wrist, shaking her head.
"Gwen, we-"
"I know. We will. But we've gotta tail them first. We gotta find where they bring the victims." Gwen's voice was soft but stern, and Mania cocked her head at her. She still wasn't used to this side of her friend; the determined, focused woman that spoke like a seasoned hero. It made her feel new to this even though she'd been in dozens of fights before.
"Come on, we gotta follow them," Gwenpool tapped her friend's shoulder. Mania looked at her friend from head to toe one last time before wrapping an arm around her and swinging after the speeding van. They followed the vehicle for a few miles, leaving the tall buildings of Center City behind for the shorter, more level buildings of South Philadelphia West. Without the advantage of the tall buildings to swing from, Mania had to rely on her athletics to get her from rooftop to rooftop. Every jump she cast a glance back to Gwenpool who was surprisingly keeping pace, matching her flips, vaults and rolls with practiced ease.
"They're slowing down," Gwenpool commented, stopping on the rooftop across the street from the building the van finally came to rest at. Two more men in pumpkin masks came out and dragged the woman out of the van before carrying her into the warehouse.
"There's probably a ton of people in that warehouse. We start fighting the bad guys and they'll use them as hostages," Gwenpool explained, rummaging through her shark backpack.
"So what's your plan," Mania asked curiously. Hurting people was easy. Saving people that were in danger… not so much.
"Stealth mission. You stay high, I stay low," Gwenpool fitted silencers onto her pistols and tightened her gloves, readying herself for what would come. "It'll be like those stealth escort missions in the new Spider-Man games except I'm way cooler than MJ or Finn and can shoot! We take out as many guys as we can, fight whoever's left, save the victims, and then you buy me a Philly cheesesteak," she explained.
"Why do you need a cheesesteak?"
"I didn't eat lunch, I'm starving." Gwenpool smiled before taking a deep, steadying breath. She really wanted this mission to go well. It'd be their first outing together and would be a useful gauge as to whether or not they'd be able to take Jack O'Lantern without too much trouble. Plus, this was definitely an issue that'd gauge how well they sold in stores from now on. It had to go well. "You sneak in first. I'll be right behind you. Make sure you don't get spotted."
"I'm not the one wearing pink and white," Mania pointed out as she fired a line of webbing across the street to stick to the side of the warehouse. She secured it to the weathered concrete in front of her before testing it. Looking over her shoulder one last time, she nodded to her friend before running along the thin line as easily as if she were running on a treadmill, the heightened sense of balance the symbiote gave her was incredible.
With a flip she cleared the side of the warehouse and landed silently on the roof. There was only one guard, his pumpkin mask and gun resting at his feet as he stuffed his mouth with cheese fries while staring off in the distance. Mania couldn't tell if he was either really bad at his job, or on break. She put him down with a strike to the back of the head, a move Coach Thompson had shown her to stop things from getting too… cannibalistic. She then dragged him into the shadows in case anyone came looking for him and webbed him up before making her way inside the building. Sticking to the ceiling, she was quieter than silent. The symbiote muffled every sound as she explored the warehouse, mapping the layout in her mind as quickly as she could.
The men had entered through a back door and were dragging their victim to one of several storage closets. They were locked from the outside, a heavy padlock keeping the door in place with only a small slit cut under the door to allow food and water through. Mania couldn't hear the prisoners, but she could smell them. They likely hadn't been allowed to bathe in weeks. She watched as they unlocked a room seemingly at random and tossed the woman inside before locking the door again. It made her sick to her stomach.
Gwenpool seemed to teleport to the floor beneath her, looking up to her with a quick wave. Mania dropped down from the ceiling, landing quietly on the balls of her feet. The superhuman agility was easily one of her favorite powers the symbiote granted her.
"I took down the guards outside. One of them was wearing a headpiece so we need to do this fast before the guys in here go to check on them." Gwenpool's white gloves were stained with a few specks of blood and Mania hoped her friend hadn't taken it upon herself to turn this into a 'killing allowed' kind of mission.
"I don't like this," Mania groaned before leaping back to the ceiling and landing on all fours.
"Could be worse," Gwenpool whispered with a shrug, and Andi did her best not to imagine what her friend could possibly have meant by that.
Gwenpool was surprisingly sneaky when she needed to be. She quietly tiptoed behind guards and shot them with a dart gun she'd brought in her shark backpack, or knocked them out with the grip of her katana. Two, four, seven guards were knocked out and dragged into dark corners of the warehouse. All the while Mania worked on her own guards. The symbiote dangled long, sticky tendrils above their unsuspecting victims before ensnaring them by the neck and pulling them up to her. The organic webbing gagged them and stuck them to the ceiling, out of sight and out of mind.
"I don't see anyone else," Gwenpool whispered as Mania slid down from the ceiling on a tendril.
"Yeah, it looks like we got them all. Should I call the police," Mania asked curiously. Coach never worked too closely with cops but maybe if they started early they could be those kinds of heroes?
"Ugh… I really don't want to but I think that's the smart option. The heroes almost never handle these kinds of victims directly unless one of them knows something. I'll call, just give me a sec while you start popping the locks."
Mania sighed and used her enhanced strength to snap the padlocks off the doors. One by one, the heroes opened the doors to scenes more horrid than the last. People had been locked in these rooms for weeks, just a bucket in the corner as a toilet with whatever food the guards decided to put together for them. They were starving, dehydrated and sick. Mania froze, unable to process the terrible conditions.
"Hello, everyone! My name is Gwenpool, this is my friend Mania. We're heroes-"
"You guys found my little side-business."
"THE DOORS!" Gwenpool shut the door nearest to her before jumping out of the way of a hail of bullets. Mania used her tendrils to slam the other three shut, not bothering to move out of the way. She didn't need to anymore.
"Oh, that's new. Is that you little Andrea Where? Where'd you get that new costume from? Wait, don't tell me, I'll just peel it off of you and read the tag," Jack steered his broomstick right into Mania's chest, the spearlike tip piercing her chest and pinning her to the wall. She screamed in agony, sharp teeth and long tongue glistening under the dim warehouse light. But she was alive- as durable as the symbiote she wore.
"Still alive? Oh this is gonna be fun!" Jack pulled out a knife, ready to start slicing before Gwenpool opened fire, unloading her whole magazine as the victims screamed in terror in their cells. Two bullets struck his back and were caught in whatever armor he wore, while the rest peppered the wall.
"And you brought your other half. You've been killing my friends for days, bitch. Mind telling me how someone with aim as shitty as yours has been bothering my guys?" He hopped off his broomstick, casually strolling towards Gwenpool. He wasn't at all intimidated by her obvious lack of skill or training. Instead, he found her amusing. Someone so obviously out of her league yet so dangerously determined. Well, dangerous for herself…
"Wasn't aiming for you, Sleepy Hollow." Gwenpool smirked, wanting to pat herself on the back for that one.
"Is this where I'm supposed to turn around and notice you shot the engine of my broomstick," he taunted, closing in on her with his razor sharp knife ready to slice her to ribbons.
"Something like that." Gwenpool jumped out of the way as Mania smashed Jack's pumpkin helmet with his own broomstick, driving him to his knees. The hero bashed him again, eyes wide and alien maw open wider as she struck the man that'd killed her father.
"Aw, no quip," Gwenpool asked disappointedly before jumping away as Jack drew his own guns.
"Now it's a party," Jack laughed, firing at the heroes. Mania's suit absorbed the bullets, spitting them out like marbles. Gwenpool was a little less durable, choosing to hide behind a stack of large boxes as the bullets whizzed past her. Mania took the opportunity to tackle Jack from behind, slamming him to the ground and clawing at the back of his head.
"I'm gonna have so much fun putting you back in the dirt," she hissed, Hell-Mark burning itself into the spider pattern on her chest. Her rage was burning in her heart, desperate to tear the man that'd killed her father apart. But she held on to her senses, fighting the effects of the Mark as desperately as she fought the man beneath her. She didn't want to disappoint Mania. She was concentrating on keeping her anger at bay so hard, she hadn't noticed three robots zipping through the warehouse until they'd bashed into her, knocking her off the man and into the brick wall.
"Icky, gooey cwazy girl!" They clawed at the hero, sharp talons shredding through the symbiote and slicing her flesh before the suit sealed itself over the wounds. It gave Jack the time he needed to recover and empty another clip into her. Her bond with the symbiote was still weak, and Mania was still recovering from being pushed so close to death only a week ago. Every bullet against her chest and face felt like being struck with a baseball, her body bruising under the thin layer of tar as the symbiote struggled to protect her from the assault.
"Did you forget I fought your daddy? He was way more fun than you," Jack laughed, quickly changing target to her knees. The bone shattered under the force, her symbiote unable to compensate in time and she went down. She roared in pain, clutching at her leg as another bullet struck her in the shoulder and the robots continued to claw at her face and back.
"Go on, heal! I'm not done with you yet," he laughed, finger on the trigger as he watched the symbiote squirm over her skin. The alien was spread so thin over her that small openings were beginning to appear for the quickest of moments before being sealed back up. He watched as one appeared on her shoulder before pulling the trigger again.
The bullet collided in midair and the ricochet drove it into one of the robots. Gwenpool changed targets, firing on Jack and forcing him away from her partner.
"My turn." The hero tossed a knife at him, the blade grazing his leg as he jumped out of the way. She followed up with three bullets aimed at his chest that forced him to take cover behind a stack of boxes.
"Mania, you okay," she asked concerned. It wasn't often a member of the Venom family was brought down by regular firearms.
"Watch out," Mania threw herself in front of her partner as a pumpkin bomb landed at her feet, the acid eating away at the symbiote before she'd had much chance to recover. She hissed in pain, her own skin burning and compounding with the pain Mania felt as the acid ate away at her body.
"Do you have any idea how outmatched you two are," Jack asked with a laugh, charred skin cracking as he smiled wide.
"I'm the world's greatest assassin. Neither of you are getting out of this alive, and when I get that suit off your friend I'll- OW," he shouted, ducking back into cover as Gwenpool's bullet grazed his shoulder.
"I don't think Taskmaster or Bullseye would like you calling yourself that," Gwenpool taunted, leaving her friend behind and approaching Jack's hiding spot. She could see a blood splatter from where her bullet had struck him at the top of the stack of boxes.
"Make sure you attack on his right side, that shoulder is hurt," she thought to herself, forming a quick plan on how she'd subdue the man without killing him. Andi had to be the one to do that. With a quick slash of her sword she rounded the corner, but Jack wasn't there. A sharp pain down her back made her scream and severed the straps of her shark backpack. She spun around, trying to slash back at him but a kick to the back of her knee knocked her down, her gun pinned underneath her body. Jack stomped on her free wrist, leaving her unable to slash back at him.
"This wasn't even fun. You're going to die now. And then I'm going to peel your little girlfriend out from under that suit, and I'm going to torture her for as long as I like." Jack smiled wide, playfully choosing his target. Heart? Face? Stomach? The explosion that tore through the building nearly knocked him off his feet.
"Oops! Party's over," Jack screamed, firing wildly and hitting several S.H.I.E.L.D. agents that had entered the building in weak points in their armor, killing and wounding them as he fought to make his way to his broomstick. None of the three had seen the woman they'd brought with them until it was too late.
Jack was lifted off his feet and ruthlessly slammed into a stack of boxes by the creature. Dark blue scales absorbed most of the dim light, making the monster almost invisible besides a dull green glow that radiated from her claws, eyes and mouth. She was so much shorter than him- hardly five feet tall- but she easily lifted him off his feet by his throat, choking him mercilessly. She stripped him of his weapons and jabbed him in the gut, knocking the wind out of him until he gurgled helplessly in her hold.
"You're under arrest, you piece of shit" she growled, scowling at the man as he lost consciousness. She waited until he'd stopped kicking before turning her head to see who he'd been fighting.
"YOU," she roared, green eyes glowing even more intensely as she recognized Gwenpool.
"Uh, do I know you," Gwenpool asked curiously. There were a ton of reptilian people in Marvel, but the only one that came to mind at the moment was normally dressed in a lab coat.
"From the Raft! You- Why are you here?!" The creature hissed, bristling in anger as she looked at them.
"The Raft? Ooooh! Right you're that dragon chick from like two issues ago! You work for S.H.I.E.L.D.? That makes sense I guess. We did your job for you," Gwenpool shrugged, pointing to the storage closets. "All of the hostages are in there."
"This is official S.H.I.E.L.D. business and you two almost ruined weeks worth of planning," she snarled, smoke pouring from her nostrils.
"Ruined?! We got him for you," Gwenpool shouted angrily.
"I just pulled him off of you! He was going to kill you," Star shouted back.
"It's called a fight. I get some hits, he gets some hits, Mania and I turn the tables and win. You'd know that if you did anything other than traumatizing shackled prisoners all day," Gwenpool rolled her eyes in exasperation.
"Who the hell do you think you are?! You don't know anything about me," Star growled, her tail lashing angrily, her ears pinned back on her skull.
"For once you're right about something," Gwenpool shrugs, rolling her eyes.
"GWENPOOL!" Mania shouted, firing off webbing at Jack as he brought a sharp metal beam down on her. Her web struck, but there was no time to pull! Mania shouted, watching as her friend was too slow to react. Her pink lenses opened wide and she tried to move but-
Star had barreled forward, shoving Gwenpool to her knees as she took the brunt of the attack. The beam sliced through her uniform but bounced off her scales. Mania yanked hard pulling Jack off his feet and onto the ground. She reeled him in like a fish on a line, ready to do what she came here to do, but Jack wasn't done. He tossed one of his pumpkins at her and she was forced to jump out of the way. Using the moment, he grabbed a knife off his waist and sliced the webbing off of his wrists.
"Hey, you missed," Gwenpool shouted, landing a jump kick to his back that knocked him over again. He turned the fall into a roll, tossing two pumpkins at Gwenpool. The gas bombs stopped short, crashing into the edge of the Gutter as the hero smirked.
"You bitches really think I'm going back to the Raft," he shouted, standing up quickly as he grabbed a small device from his belt. It had a button and Gwen instantly knew what was happening. "One wrong move and this whole fucking place goes up," Jack shouted, moving to keep Gwenpool and Star in front of him.
"We're heroes Jack. Do you really think any of us are gonna get killed by a bomb," Gwenpool sighed exasperatedly. She was bluffing of course- she wasn't sure if Star would survive that and Mania certainly wouldn't in the weakened state her symbiote was in. Even if she could escape there was no way she'd be able to grab the two women in time.
"There're hostages here," Star snarled at Gwenpool, eyes narrowed. "Are you really willing to bet their lives on-"
"Well if you're gonna ruin the bluff," Gwenpool shouted angrily. "God, do you know anything about being a hero? Is it your first day on the job or something?! Does S.H.I.E.L.D. not teach their agents how to work a hostage situation? Or are all of you guys so easily distracted?!"
Mania had used Gwenpool's and Star's distraction to get behind the man. He was so focused on the women in front of him he didn't notice her until it was too late. With one big punch, Mania shoved her fist through the man's back, her hand coming out through his chest and grabbing the detonator from him.
"See you… in Hell," Jack smiled, one last wheezing chuckle leaving his mouth before he collapsed in a pool of his own blood.
"WHAT DID YOU DO?!" Star shouted, a horrified expression on her reptilian face. "YOU BASTARD," the monster roared, bounding towards Mania. Smoke poured from her nostrils, eyes glowing an intense green as she closed in on Mania. She bounded on all fours, impossibly fast as she closed the distance on the hero. She pounced, teeth bared as she tried to land on Mania before slamming face first into the border of the Gutter. She roared in pain, clutching at her face as she shook herself off.
"Uuuh, Mania, she's really mad and that trick isn't gonna work three times in a row," Gwenpool warned, eyes wide as Star turned her attention from her friend to her. She yelped and opened a tear into the Gutter. She was nearly through before Star grabbed her by the ankle and dragged her out of her dimension and back into the panel.
"You're not teleporting on me again," she hissed. Gwenpool lurched to one side as the creature slammed its fists down where her chest was only a moment ago. The dents in the concrete made her realize just how much trouble she was in.
"Leave her alone," Mania hissed, dodging bullets from the couple of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents who'd finally entered the building as she tackled the monster, knocking her off her partner. They wrestled on the ground for a few moments, Mania using her enhanced strength and tendrils to wrap herself around the stronger woman and pin her to the ground. The lizard woman kicked up into Mania's chest and stomach with her powerful hind legs, sharp claws heating up and tearing into the symbiote as she fought to get it off of her.
"Mania, we gotta go," Gwenpool shouted, hiding behind a large crate from the gunfire.
"You're not going anywhere," Star roared, green fire pouring from her mouth and engulfing Mania. The symbiote screamed in pain, the fireproofing Andi's Hell-Mark provided not entirely transferable through their weak bond. Andi dug deep and responded with her own roar of fire, green and red flames meeting for a moment before a large explosion sent both women flying in opposite directions.
Andi landed relatively painlessly on a bag of concrete mix before struggling to her feet, Mania loosely clinging to her. She willed the symbiote to take shape, morphing into razor sharp teeth and claws as her Hell-Mark burned itself onto her chest. Her long tongue whipped from side to side as the reptilian woman kicked the rubble off herself and got to her feet without a scratch. Mania stood her ground, ready for more.
"Close your eyes," Gwenpool shouted, tossing a flash bang at Star from the backpack she'd recovered. The reptilian woman roared as it detonated, her clearly sensitive ears pinned back against her skull as it stunned her. "Come on," Gwenpool shouted, beckoning Mania over so they could leave the place together.
Star turned her attention back to Gwenpool, eyes burning an even brighter green as she breathed a torrent of fire in her direction. The hero was forced to take cover behind a broken slab of concrete, the flames singeing her costume as they rushed past her.
"Hey I'm not fireproof you jerk," Gwenpool shouted angrily.
"You three are going back to the fucking Raft," Star roared, running towards Gwenpool as she huddled to protect herself from the bullets.
Mania took her chance, shooting two lines of web at the far walls and using them as a slingshot- a move she'd seen Spider-Man do on the news. She used the momentum to knock over Star, kicking her in the back before using her as a springboard to avoid the last hail of bullets. She landed next to Gwenpool only slightly out of breath.
"See ya later alligator," Gwenpool quipped, taking Mania's hand and sliding into the Gutter. The monster reached out, desperation on her face as she tried to grab on to the two women, but in an instant they were gone.
"I can't believe this," she hissed, angrily kicking a bag of concrete mix so hard it exploded against the brick wall of the warehouse.