Logan finished his cigar, and as he turned and headed back inside the floor had already been turned into the sparring ring.
He laughed and shook his head as Laura let Talon slip over her, and he did the same. Rage conforming to his desire to stick with his tan and black uniform. He slid his claws in and out a few times to make sure she was sitting properly and then approached Talon.
Logan stretched and let the symbiote flex with him. His normal healing took care of everything but he felt the normal ache in his bones was missing. He had been told long ago the adamantium bonded to his skeleton caused problems, in the other test subjects they had either died or developed aggressive and fatal cancer within weeks of the process. Only his healing factor was strong enough to let him survive, and with Rage, it had been given an upgrade.
He walked past Gwen, who nodded before heading out and Laura stood on the mat, with Talon wrapped around her. "No holds barred," she said and he nodded.
"Ain't my funeral," and three blades slid out from each hand,
Talon nodded, but held up a hand, "wait. Prize?" and Rage sighed,
"Fine, I'll take you to Coney Island, just like you want." He had figured she would get Peter to take her, but after one of the other kids mentioned it, she wanted to go with him. It just wasn't his thing.
"And if you win, I'll run the exercises you want." and he frowned, and waved a finger at her
"That it? Your skinny little butt'll fix my car." and Talon giggled. He still hadn't forgiven her for scratching it, and it sat in the mansion's garage needing to be resprayed, which she had refused to do and hadn't even apologised.
Talon took her stance, and as Gwen closed the door of the warehouse, she heard the pair yell at each other.
Gwen knew where Poison would have gone. She had a tab running at one of the bakeries, which she had opened under Parker Inc and paid business rates for deliveries of danishes and lunches to the Parker Building. It was the only place nearby that Poison could get something sweet without having money, and as Cindy didn't drop off any luggage, Gwen figured she was broke.
It was strange being alone with her thoughts. Poison was quiet most of the time, as she hated Gwen's work, but they still spoke, and Poison would always purr or growl during meal times and Pete times. It wasn't that much of a downgrade for Gwen. They had all figured out how to keep the more personal information from each other, and the Symbiotes were content to just share the knowledge they gained. Her enhanced muscles made short work of the quick jog to the bakery and she spied Poison, sitting in her full symbskin armour on the bakeries sign, eating what looked like raspberry crowns. One of Poison's, but not Gwen's, favourites.
"I really hope you didn't go in like that," but Poison huffed at her and split her maw to slide in another crown. Gwen shrugged and shook her head, "funs over anyway, back to the warehouse. We need to give Cindy her medical, and Silk is all healed"
Poison huffed, and another crown slid into her mouth.
"Really? You want to do this?" and Poison shuffled and faced away from Gwen, holding the bag closer to her chest.
Fucking pain in my ass, Gwen sighed to herself, "Come on, you know we have treats at home. You can eat while we check out Cindy. No-one's going to take away your food," and Gwen shook her head as she had forgotten just how belligerent Poison could be, something she thought she had grown out of.
"Poison not here, go away." Poison said and continued to eat, she had switched to what looked like caramel shortcakes. Something after her sugar sensitivity Gwen could no longer stomach.
"Listen you little shit. You're in enough trouble without making me yell at you in the street." Gwen could see the store owner in the bakery, and as they reached for the phone, Gwen shook her head and pressed her palms together, begging them not to call the cops. The woman held up her hand, Five, and she put the phone down, standing behind the counter with her arms crossed. Gwen bowed at the women.
"You've got five minutes before they call the Shield or the ETF, then your ass is going to jail, and there are no treats in jail," Gwen shouted at Poison but she still faced away, stuffing the desserts into her mouth.
Pete's gonna kill me for this. Gwen moved to the Bakery window and took out her wallet, slapped her Enhanced card against the glass, "Enhanced, I'll deal with her. You've got our number, if there are any damages, call our office." and the woman nodded and ducked down behind the countertop.
Gwen stepped back, and eyed the distance, took a run and leaping up, grabbed and swung up to the sign, "You're coming home, like it or not you fucking shit."
Poison hissed at her and eyed at the empty bag, "finished anyway." and scrunched it up, huffing at Gwen. "Want more, Cindy wants more, give us more." and Gwen's shoulder slumped,
"There are more at home, you know what."
"Not fresh, want fresh. Want the sweety sour ones, want the super sugar ones, and want the sticky licky ones." Poison huffed,
"Poison. You can't, Cindy will get, Wait. Cindy. Why are you letting her do this? Change into normal clothes and we can head to the warehouse." but Poison stopped and crossed her arms,
"Cindy isn't talking. We want the sweety sweets or there will be no coming home. Home is boring, boring boring boring, all worky work, no playtimes, no Pete times, all just boring talky talk."
"Poison, you know we couldn't fight, so we didn't train. You didn't like fighting," and Poison huffed. She didn't, she liked sweets and Peter, but Gwen was busy and she didn't get either. "I promise I'll make more time for you okay? We can see what sweets you can eat and-"
"NO! Pete now!" and Poison grabbed her and lifted her from the ground, "No talky talk, PETE!"
Gwen balled her fists, "Pete isn't here, and we're going home before you get us arrested."
While Gwen was arguing with Poison, Logan was enjoying himself with the now christened Rage.
Talon had used her smaller size and speed to grab him in an armbar, but as his bones were indestructible, and with Rage bonded to him he could shut off his sense of pain he ignored it and he rolled onto his side, lifted the pair of them from the matt and slammed her back into it. It didn't matter if he dislocated his shoulder, as he rolled away he shrugged and Rage popped it back into place for him.
"I see why you all want one of these," and as Talon leapt, he sent out two lines, spun and swung her into the open end of the mat, she wrapped the lines around her wrists and pulled herself towards him, and their heads clashed. He was the victor though, adamantium was much stronger than bone, symbiote or not and she rolled away.
"Yup, but now it's nap time," he said, as Talon crouched on the mat, Rage rolled forwards and as she jumped to avoid a leg swept he spun, and with one hand lifted himself off the mat and struck her under the chin with both feet, as she went sailing he repeated his trick, sending out two lines but this time he yanked and as she flew towards him, even with blades drawn he shifted slightly, took them both in the soft tissue of his gut and stuck her on either side of the head with closed fists.
As she was stunned, he lifted her by the arms sticking her in his gut, slammed her down and then grabbed her neck, pitched forwards until there was a snap and she fell limp.
"Cherry red. Might as well respray the whole thing." and as she lifted herself up, tilted her neck until it popped back into place, "an' yup. I think I gotta get me one of these."
We want to stay, Rage spoke to him,
And don't Cindy get a say?
Not a toy dad, Talon interrupted,
What the hell? You can hear us? And Talon nodded,
Symbiotes share with host, need to speak in the mind. Baldy can't read your thoughts now, not unless Silk agrees,
Well, shit. You're all telepathic, Charles's gonna freak out when he finds out.
"But still, Cindy?" and Talon shrugged and shifted back into Laura's preferred outfit, a form-fitting black T-Shirt and tight black leather pants.
"Talon stays because Talon wants to. Little snot monsters live where they want, if we say no, they move," and Laura tilted her head, "or eat our brain. But they decide. Cindy can't make Silk stay."
"Yeah well, It's Rage now, and I guess it's stayin' here." and as Rage bubbled, she shifted and Logan was wearing a red and green plaid shirt, over a white t-shirt and blue jeans and tan leather cowboy boots. As he patted himself down he shrugged. "Oh, you little shit. You ate my cigars." and he felt Rage mentally shrug at him, "those were imports, an' they ain't." Logan sighed, "you know, I ain't buying you cigars to munch on, you smoke em', not eat 'em."
Those were the burning sticks?
Uh-huh
We are sorry, we promise not to do it again, we did not know, they smelt nice and we wished to try them,
"Just how sheltered was Cindy?" Logan asked out loud, and Liv answered,
"She is a twenty-six year-old girl, Logan. What exactly did you think she was going to get up to?"
Logan shrugged, "I dunno, it's been a while since I was twenty-anythin', but don't you all party and have uh," and as he saw the Liv, Laura and Felicia were all staring at him, "yeah, you know what, don't answer that one."
Felicia laughed, "that's us. We figured out," and she paused "oh, uh, we've never had to deal with a man being bonded before. Shit, can you get Pete?" and as Liv looked at her phone, she shook her head,
"Wakanda is still restricting access." and Liv scrolled through her contacts, "I've sent Eugene a message though."
"Something I'm missing?"
Felicia looked over at Liv pleadingly, who rolled her eyes and shrugged.
"Symbiotes are addicted to our neural chemistry, they get violent as adrenaline and noradrenaline are both apparently very tasty, but unfortunately so is testosterone, and dopamine, and serotonin, and a lot of other chemicals released during intercourse."
Logan stared for a moment and then laughed, "so guess that explains the horndog, so Rage an' all?" and Liv nodded.
"In fact, you will secrete a hormone to attract a mate, and unless you actively control that power, you will be busy. Peter has us all practice creating a thin invisible layer of armour over ourselves. It's not a symbiote per se, almost like a second skin, but unless you want to be buried under a mountain of flesh, practice, and oh, here." and Liv took the spare bottle of neutraliser they kept under the kitchen table. "Anyone coming onto you, spray them with that. You all might have issues with Peter, but he is very self-conscious about it, and very very much into consent."
"Yeah I know, I ain't judgin' the way you all live here, but I knew it was a power of his, I can smell it." Logan nodded, "It still ain't right though." and Liv sighed,
"It's a function of their biology. How else would they attract hosts? You don't get angry at flowers do you?" and Logan shrugged, he got angry at a lot of things.
While Logan and Liv waited for Flash to respond, Gwen was having less luck trying to persuade Poison to return to the warehouse.
She had grabbed her, and Gwen brought up both knees and smashed them into Poisons chin, stumbling back the symbiote rubbed her face and snarled,
"No fight, want Pete, want cookies, want fun." she hissed.
"And you can get them, but you need to come home." but Poison just hissed at her again and crouched down, holding one hand on the roof of the bakery while she readied herself to pounce.
"No. Cookies!" and she lept past Gwen and down onto the street.
Gwen swore as she heard the bakery owner scream. This time Poison hadn't even bothered to change, and with her gruesome visage and shark-toothed maw, she was not the nicest looking creature around.
Gwen huffed and clenched her fist, screaming to the empty roof. As she let out a breath, she grabbed at her pocket and pulled out a vial. She had taken it from Peter's lab, as Liv had told her of its existence.
As she waited, Poison swung back up to the roof, carrying a tray of cookies piled high with, and Gwen sighed, everything. Poison had emptied the shop's supply onto one tray and stolen it.
"Listen you fucking shit. You'll be paying for those," and Poison opened her maw and hissed. As she did Gwen popped the top and threw the vial at her, before sliding forwards and driving a fist into Poison's stomach, swinging around, taking her by the neck and bending her, driving her knee into the Symbiotes head.
After Logan had admonished the group, and Laura had almost gutted Peter, Liv had begun to work on several non-lethal methods to neutralise the Symbiotes. The idea of simply killing them was abhorrent, especially if the host had no control over their actions. It had been kept secret from everyone, and it was only when Gwen was unbonded that Liv shared a paralysing formula. One Gwen might need to subdue Cindy if she was better trained.
As Poison staggered back, Gwen grabbed the tray and smashed it over her head, and then, taking the thin edge, drove it onto the small of her back and then again into the nape of her neck, knowing she wasn't strong enough to snap anything but it would be incredibly painful. As Poison lay still, she uncoiled a rope. It was another of Livs creations, woven from the same nano polymer they created from Peter's webbing, and incredibly difficult for even a Symbiote to break, and began to hogtie Cindy.
Gwen stood over the broken form of Cindy. She hated having to cheat, but with Poison becoming violent, she needed to. But as she finished restraining her, she looked up at the sky as a ribbon of red spread across it.
"What the hell is that?"