13318/Hello, Exterminator

Hello, Exterminator
Date of Scene:	18 May 2021
Location:	Holy Ghost Church, Clinton
Synopsis:	Some of the Defenders seek shelter from the rain. They didn't expect it to rain cats, dogs, and Symbiotes.
Cast of Characters:	Cloak, Dagger, Spider-Man, Venom, Iron Fist
Tinyplot:	Milk Cartons

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Cloak has posed:
It's a spring evening on the east coast, which means rain. A solid storm, in fact, though more a steady downpour and fitful thunder than lightning and wind. It's the kind of night most people stay in and enjoy pizza and Netflix. Even heroes (or fringe heroes) keep to cover on nights like this, though there's no hot delivery pizza to be found in the Holy Ghost. It's a canned soup and crackers kind of night, but it's a good night for it.

Not that Cloak eats, but he does know how to string a tarp. He's adjusting one that's over their cache of supplies to ward off a worsening leak through the roof, with the supplies in question already up off the floor on an old broken pallet and some milk crates.

"If the roof gets any worse, we may need to find another place. Certainly by next winter. It'll be too cold here for you even with heaters."

Dagger has posed:
"The roof will hold. It's held for hundreds of years." Tandy says, dressed in a pair of slim jeans and a baggy Xavier sweater that hangs off one shoulder. Her hair is as bit damp and pulled up behind her into a thick blonde pony tail. "It can last another rainstorm."

She tries to help where she can, though it is clear that Tyrone knows what he is doing, and the once rich girl has no clue what to do with her hands. She is glowing though, if anything to give her partner enough sight to see what he is doing.

"The X-Men have invited us again, to live with them." She says softly. "I told them no, again."

Spider-Man has posed:
It's a lousy night for patrolling and with most of the criminals hanging out inside Spider-Man has opted to take a little break from web slinging to check in on some friends. Swinging through Hell's Kitchen, the wall crawler makes his way towards the Holy Ghost so he can see if he can't track down Cloak and Dagger. Arriving at the church he slips in the back and makes his way into the church proper, lifting his hand in a wave towards the pair already present, "Hey guys! Mind if I take a break from getting soaked for a few?"

He lifts his chin and asks, "How have you two been? Any more news on those kids that keep getting kidnapped?"

Venom has posed:
The rain does not bother Venom, he is warm and toasty, generating his own body heat. His webbing works fine in the rain. He can see in the rain. Rain doesn't affect him, beyond the surface level inconveniences. The bigger issue is that the criminal element do not like it, and go indoors. Very few crimes are committed in the rain, and the ones that are, will be spread out over such a large area, that they are almost impossible to find.

So, after having swung through the city at length, Venom decides to take some comfort in a church. Eddie liked churches. He had been religious before the bonding, and he met his other in a church, not unlike the one he found himself. Accessing it via a hole in the roof, he moved along the rafters.

From his perch up high, the symbiote intoned in his head, 'Eddie, why do we not go and say high? They have food. They may have chocolate too. I want chocolate. And tater tots. And ooh, a chocolate covered taco.' Eddie had to communicate verbally to his other half, so he whispered up there, "we can't just drop in on them. We should find another place to wait out the rain." Even though he was trying to keep quiet, the acoustics in this place may have hampered his stealthy efforts. Hopefully the sound of the rain would muffle it.

And then they saw him. The symbiote practically yelled in Eddie's head, 'SPIDER-MAN!' So loud that Venom had to bring a hand to his ear, or where his ear would be under the suit. Eddie replied back, still whispering, "Not so loud. We promised not to kill him." The symbiote replies, sounding like an angry child, 'But Eddie!'

Iron Fist has posed:
You know who don't particularly mind the rain? Ninjas. Danny was following up a lead on some missing artifacts, ran into a batch of Hand ninjas. Turns out they weren't impressed by his titles, and he had to fight. It was an amazing fight, but he did take a knock or two, and in the end, the ninjas swallowed poison instead of answering questions. "Damn ninjas," he mutters under his breath for about the tenth time since slipping from that warehouse

He honestly doesn't know where he's even going at first, just ends up in front of the church. He frowns at the state of it, especially in the rain, idly starts wondering if he might just get the building fixed up for the duo since they didn't seem interested in his offer. He approaches the door and does the polite thing and knocks. Even says "Candygram" after the second or third knock.

Cloak has posed:
"You're not made of limestone." Cloak retorts to Dagger as he looks to her over one shoulder and past the edge of his hood. "...you should go. Or, at least accept their offer of an apartment. I don't /like/ relying on handouts. I don't, but at least you will be in a safer place than here." There's no mention of what he will do, however.

The rustle of motion and creaking doors draws his attention away. "Spider-Man." Is his simple greeting, lacking in the borderline hostility it has in the past. He must be getting used to the red-and-blue hero's presence. "There's plenty of room. I can't promise it's all dry. ...I haven't heard anything of note, not enough to follow up on yet."

There's something else creeping around above them. In his rafters, even. But Cloak does not have superhuman senses to hear the whispers above the rain. Nor can he hear the approach of another man outside in the storm, but he does hear the knock and swings his shrouded head to look that way. "...busy night."

Dagger has posed:
"There is no place safe for us, Cloak. You know that. Fate has chosen our path and it's led us to here. These streets and this church. I wouldn't feel right to take from them, even in good faith." Dagger says as she shrugs her shoulders. "But at least the supplies go towards me eating and keeping warm. Lucky for you, you don't need anything but my light." As her hands glow, she sends out a shard towards the swirling dark, a snack to tide the monster over.

At the sound of Spider-Man's voice, she glances over to their friend and gives him a smile. She brushes some blonde hair back behind her ear that is loose from her ponytail. "Hey Web Head. We have a few leads, yes. Just waiting for the rain to settle before we go back out. So far, no kids are missing that we now of, but we have a lead on a gang that is planning a trip through Mutant Town."

She gives a visible frown, then glances over at the door and the voice. "It's Iron Fist. Come in!" She calls, her voice echoing through the church.

Spider-Man has posed:
"Lets hope they've given up on crime and turned to a life of charity," Spidey says to Cloak with a nod. "Though I doubt it. Probably just making their next plans. Crooks like them don't seem like the type to give up easily."

His head turns when he hears the knock, "You two are getting popular, aren't you? Your fan club growing?"

Looking at Dagger he says, "Let me know when they start to move and I'll swing by and make sure things are safe down there. At least as safe as they can be." Then he turns back towards the door, "Iron Fist! I love that movie. Big fan of RZA."

Venom has posed:
If it had not been for the appearance of Spider-Man, Venom would have left. They didn't like to intrude or listen in on conversations, but where Spider-Man was concerned, their interest was considerably heightened. With a thwip, they would lower themselves down, not coming into peripheral vision yet, but closer, and overheard Dagger talking about kids that might be missing, or at least a gang planning on kidnapping them.

'Eddie, Eddie, we need to track down this gang of mutant kidnappers, and we will beat them, and then we will eat them.' The symbiote sounded so pleased at its idea. But Eddie was, "shh, maybe, we'll see," still trying to whisper. The symbiote continued to press, 'See! Spider-Man makes light of kidnappers. Can we kill him? Please, pretty please with chocolate fudge on top?' Eddie waved his hand while still lowering and dangling from the thread, trying to get the symbiote to stop talking in his head over them.

And then, with another extension of the line, Venom drops down into the middle of the assembled group, toothily grinning as they said, "If we sign up for your fan club, do we still get the football phone?" He likely startled them, Spider-Man especially, as the wallcrawler isn't used to people being able to get so close without his spider-sense going off.

Iron Fist has posed:
Danny enters, as Dagger invites him in. He moves a few steps in, eyes closing briefly and a confused sort of expression on his face. He glances around, and up, in thought, but apparently doesn't get a bead on what he was looking for.

"Oh, didn't know you had company," he says, keeping himself in a pose that to most seems relaxed, but is really on guard. He's dressed in his usual green and yellow outfit, the mask and the dim light hiding the shiner he just got (Again, you should see the other guy). "Um, hey, Spider-man. Big fan of the way you stop crime." He'd say more but then Venom drops down. Those previously relaxed muscles tense again, and he hops back a step or two. "Friend of yours?" he asks Spider-man.

Cloak has posed:
Cloak can handle Spider-Man, even if he did briefly eat him. He can suffer some of the Avengers, and did try to eat them too. Iron Fist hasn't had the pleasure, though with Dagger knowing him he doesn't seem apt to lash out.

The same courtesy is not extended to Venom. Cloak sees motion, a hulking figure drop in between them, and a whole lot of teeth.

So he does what any man does when a monster drops into his home. He tries to remove the invader from existence. There's not a hi, or an expletive, or a mutter from Cloak. Just a sharp growl and the rush of fabric as the shroud he wears is thrown wide. Then he's lunging right at Venom with clear intent for a bear hug train to the Dark Dimension.

Dagger has posed:
When the black and white creature drops down from the ceiling, Dagger lets out a loud noise of surprise, moving almost instinctively and immediately along with her partner. He lunges fron one angle as her fists flare upwards into a bright concussive force of light that she erupts towards the creature from another. It's going to 'burn' quite a bit, looking to force him forward and into the dark.

She backpeddles in step, her eyes glowing as a cresent moon blazes over one eye from beneath the veil of thick blonde hair. "Holy shit! What is that!?" It looks like Spidey, but it's not. The church now has become a lit star, the shadows having melted away behind her blast radius.

Spider-Man has posed:
When Venom appears in their midst Spider-Man instinctively does a backflip to make room for maneuvering. "Whoa, Venom! You and I have an agreement. I don't stop you from... crime fighting and you don't keep on trying to eat me!"

Then he sees Cloak moving and lets out an "Oh snap!"

Iron Fist is given a warning, "Watch out, he's got webs like mine. And he's strong. And fast. And eats people." Well, Cloak eats people, but he's not holding that against him.

Venom has posed:
Unlike Spider-Man, Venom does not have a spider-sense per say. What he does have is omni-directional vision. He can see from all angles of his body, with the symbiote sending anything of interest to Eddie, so that he isn't too confused, and sometimes the symbiote simply takes control of their shared body when it doesn't have time to send the signal, as it does now.

Venom thwips, shooting out a second webline, which pulls him in like a bungee cord springing back after being pulled taught, enabling him to evade the fabric that sought to enshroud him, though he does sizzle a bit from the heat of Dagger's concussive force of light, "It is Venom," he says, "and it doesn't need the football phone if it's going to be this much trouble."

Despite having been attacked twice, Venom made no move to return the attacks. They just moved away, landing on the wall, near the stained glass window, looking very relaxed, actually. While their feet are stuck to the wall, knees bent, body sort of up, almost like it was kneeling on an unseen sheet of glass, "We haven't tried to eat you. You're all carbs. Now, are you going to continue to attack us, or are we going to deal with this gang of kidnappers?" Yes, Venom was the most rational one in the room, maybe tied with Iron Fist. Go figure.

Iron Fist has posed:
With the burst of action, Iron Fist hops back a few more steps, making some room between him and the C&D express that tried to de-venom Venom. His eyes narrow behind the mask, partially watching the possible-foe, and partially because Dagger is basically an angst powered floodlight.

The attack doesn't come, though. Instead, sense is spoken. It doesn't take but a moment more before he relaxes his fist, which actually had a gold glow around it, as he had charged up on instinct alone. "Dagger, Enemy of my enemy and all that, but its your call, guy's in your house uninvited." Of course he says all that in the annoying 'teaching moment' sort of voice.

Cloak has posed:
Cloak is fast, but so is Venom, and Cloak lacks that alien reflex and built-in partner. He misses and there's the sharp snap of striped fabric coming closed like the jaws of a beast. An unfulfilled beast.

There's a low snarl from Cloak as he rounds to track Venom's retreat and his teeth are bright white against shadow-covered dark skin. "I don't give a fuck about a phone." He snaps as he straightens up, his scowl only briefly angled towards Spider-Man and Iron Fist as they voice their recognition of the intruder. As no attack is forthcoming, the shadowman turns to stare back up at Venom.

"And I ain't no bagel. You got ten seconds to tell me why I let you stain my wall, let alone trust you to come on a run with us."

"Ten..."

Dagger has posed:
Moving swiftly, Dagger tracks the beast through the church, then flings foward a blade of light, one that THUNKS right into the wall next to Venom's head, burying deep. The heat of the light radiates off it, enough to warm his cheek. Her eyes narrow some, her knees bent and bouncing as she forms another knife in her palm.

"You want .. to help the kids?" She says, her voice trailing off, then gives a glance over to Iron Fist and Spider-Man, her brows lifting upwards. She gives a pause, then reaches out with her hand to grab Cloak's.

".. Really? You would side with us?"

Spider-Man has posed:
"Well, Venom's not the worst guy out there," Spider-Man says as he watches his former foe cling to the wall. "So far he hasn't broken our agreement, so he might be an asset to us next time we go up against those guys."

The red and blue suited hero paces slightly as he thinks, wondering if it might be such a good idea to have the symbiote on their side, eventually shrugging, "I mean, as long as he's taking down the right people then we might as well point him in the right direction." Was that so hard to say, Spidey?

Venom has posed:
"Tsk, tsk, you should watch your language! There are Spider-Boys present." Venom said as Cloak seemed to be growing quite agitated, and was now making threats, complete with a countdown clock. Dagger was getting in on the act, sending a heated blade of light dangerously close to Venom's head. The symbiote actually pulled away from the heat, exposing what looked to be human flesh underneath, a Caucasian, and practically chiselled out of marble.

He would send out another line of webbing, this one towards the rafters, and begin to climb up, wanting to get away from the heat source, and the promise of more. Despite Spider-Man's half-hearted defense, Venom wasn't taking any chances with how Cloak and Dagger had reacted.

"We will save the children, while you enjoy your soup and crackers." He was scurrying now, trying to get away and out of the path of destruction, reaching the hole in the roof that he had first come through. He disappeared through it, then re-appeared, head only, "try not to burn down the church. We don't take kindly to that." And then he disappeared back into the rain.

Iron Fist has posed:
"Well," Danny says, watching Venom crawl off. "You guys sure do know some interesting people." He glances to Cloak a moment, having meant to introduce himself at some point, seems things keep coming up. For now, he glances as the Duo and Spider-man. "Think that guy can be trusted?" he asks. "Or...guys?"

Cloak has posed:
Denied again. Cloak's darkening scowl could almost be a pout if a hungry crocodile could make that kind of face. Instead it's just bared teeth and an almost subsonic grumble.

"None of this shit'll burn with this rain." He grouches as Venom disappears back into the night. "Even if I wanted. The gangs ain't going to move on a night like this. Not enough people out and about to hide the activity. That guy? I don't trust him as far as I could throw him. But I've lived longer extending that to just about everyone."

"You know him." Cloak states to Spider-Man. "But I ain't just telling him to go do my work. Nuh-uh. If he can pull his weight and do the job, fine, but he's your problem if he steps out of line."

Dagger has posed:
As the light fades away, the church is once more bathed in darkness as Dagger drops her arms down. She wraps her arms around herself into a bit of a hug. "Venom. I've heard of him. God, what a monster." She breathes out as she rubs at her arms a bit, trying to ease down the goosebumps. She stares up at the ceiling from where he disappeared, then back towards Danny and Spider-Man. "I am not afraid to ally with those that make me uncomfortable if the results are good. At least I won't have to worry about my soul for a change." She starts off for the back of the church, letting out a sigh. "I need soem fresh air, gonna take a walk. I'll catch up with you guys later." She calls over. 'Tomorrow for lunch."

Spider-Man has posed:
"I don't trust him, but if we work with him and he doesn't play by the rules I should be able to keep him in line," Spider-Man says. That 'should' is a big thing, though. He looks between the other two that are still there and says, "I've got an agreement with him that he's stuck to. If we work that out in the future we might be able to strike up a working relationship." Then he shrugs, "Just tough to know what to do right now, though. I've got to think about it." He heads towards the back door, "I'll talk to you later. Hopefully for lunch tomorrow."