"TOXIN?! No no no! Wrong name!" The symbiote got annoyed when Alande called him that. (Maybe because it's a sore spot still...)
"The name is CARNAGE!" It then charged right at him, his ax arm sliding against the ground to give Alande an uppercut.
It was incredibly clear by the maintenance of the smile that Alande did not at all care about the fact that the name was 'wrong'.
"Same difference-" Alande tried to get a quip in, but Carnage was significantly faster than Alande was expecting. Effort forces him to shut up and move to the side, a swat from his blade barely preventing the axe arm from splitting his chin open The swat fails to cut into the axe arm even as it move it slightly.
Alande steps backward in an attempt to keep distance, making a quick low commitment thrust towards the back of Carnages axe as he does so.
While his blade did 'cut' into Carnage's body, the symbiote regenerated its thick, goopy flesh after a second, Any damage he took he could absorb, especially small cuts.
As he thrusted into his axe, Carnage moved forward still, using one of his tendrils to wrap around his blade arm to disarm or crush his entire arm. Either way, it moved its way up to his elbow, trying to push him back towards the symbiotes blade.
Alande's eyebrows raised as the pressure failed to abate, only getting worse. He managed to get off the prion changes, assuming that Carnage's nervous system even worked like he thought it did, but the tendril threatened his arm. In what's closer to a desperation move than anything, he started a single rapid step back as he turned the dial and hit a button now firmly on the complete defensive.
Entropic principles are invoked and align the rapidly vibrating blade to try and loosen carnage's hold on the blade. Meanwhile, the sleeve activates its defensive mechanisms and move-by-wire system to assist in Alande's bid to free himself and return to a neutral position in the fight.
While Alande's blade was free, Carnage wasn't stopped at all. He continued towards him, slashing and swinging wildly with reckless abandon; both with his axe hand, and his other which had morphed into massive claws the size of machetes. Each time they hit the bridge railings and metal floor panels, it cut through them like a sword through flesh.
When things seemed to be going well for once, Luer could not deny he was a little suspicious of it. He was right to be. Before much else could happen, something came down onto Vaudeville, and in turn at him. "Shit-!" The archer barely had time to roll out from under the woman and Carnage as he attacked. With a very minimal safe distance behind Vaudeville and the fight- dammit he did not need back in the room with the frog -he gave a concerned look from his knelt position.
He mentally rolled his eyes at Alande. They did not have the time for this. As long as Alande had his attention, though, the archer would not let the chance he was not noticed go. He took aim and fired at Carnage quickly. Whether his shot landed or not, he was less concerned with (his aim is great, of course he did not miss, but effectivity is a different matter for the poor human archer) as he turned focus on Vaudeville. "Are you alright!?"
It was a bullseye shot; nailing Carnage center of the back of his head. The arrow stuck out his skull, and his head whipped forward from the force of it, yet his body did not fall. Instead, he twisted around to face Luer, pulled the arrow out with his clawed hand, and threw it back at him with double the speed of when it was shot.
It was also covered in that red, symbiotic goo, with little tendrils along the edges of the shaft. Whether it hit Luer or not, the arrow would embed itself in the doorway he and his team came out from, and the tendrils would expand outwards to try and attach themselves to Luer and Vaud.
Luer was focused on Vaudeville, and because of that he had not checked to see if his shot hit or not, nor was he watching for any sort of retaliation for it. So when Carnage returned the arrow tenfold, it had more than enough speed to go right through the upper right side of his chest. He gasped, reluctantly dropping his bow to reach for the wound as he was pushed to the ground by the force onto his back with a pained groan. He gave a rather disturbed look to not find just blood on his hand when he checked, but rather an odd substance that not only had tendrils trying to come off it, it seemingly rolled off of him and… flailed? He was not sure. Regardless, this was a problem, and one he took quick notice of when he struggled to breathe.
He rolled over despite his pain to cough up blood and find himself still struggling for air. Fuck, not an unfamiliar feeling. He could not get a breath in through the blood. There were several thoughts rushing through his mind, of which one was that he recognized the wound- he was drowning in his own blood, which meant he could not heal it. Another, was one that prompted him to move. He did not have much time.
Getting his bow, he managed to slide it to the closest person to him (Vaudeville) with a pleading look. ANNA, if you can, ask them to hold my bow for me until I get back… Whether she could or not, he did not know, much less if she had time, because he certainly did not. He managed a whine amidst another unpleasant spill of blood before ultimately blacking out. The lack of oxygen took its toll quickly from there and overall, within a few short minutes, he had effectively passed and turned to ash.
Step after step, Alande is forced backwards from Carnage's onslaught. The arrow seems to be his saving grace, finally buying a neutral position as Carnage momentarily focussed off of him. It was incredibly unmutual of Luer to interrupt a gentlemens duel, but he can't undo what's been done. Shifting up his glasses at the attempt of the tendrils to bond to the pair, he has an epiphany. He mutters under his breath.
"Its a parasite..."
Noting the bonding agents of the symbiote, he grimmace's. He didn't have anything on hand to deal with parasitic organisms, let alone something like Carnage. He clicks a button, focusing his attention to try and find something that would hurt it.
The tendrils would be met by the maw of Vaudeville and slurped up like spaghetti. They fight, squirm, and Vaud thinks for a moment her ploy would backfire horribly, but she absorbs them and snarls at Carnage.
"Ohhh great. My beloved psychotic grandparent!" Vaud turns her hands into double-sided axes, and swings them down onto Carnage in an X shaped slash.
With Luer turning to ash, the symbiote had nothing to pair to. But, Vaudeville was certainly still an option. And upon swallowing his small tendrils, she could feel them wiggle about as they slowly made their way down her intestines. It was less spaghetti, and more worms picked out from behind the school she just ate. And would feel just as nauseating.
Her slash was absorbed by Carnage's arms, cutting apart into pieces of sloppy black gooey bits. He jumped backwards a few feet to regain some distance, perfect central between Alande and Vaud. Although Vaud was now much more interesting to him.
"GAAAAAASP! Another symbiote! HA HA HA!!!" He maniacally laughed aloud.
"O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA!~" As his arms morphed back, he began clapping cheerfully at such wonderful developments, even jumping for joy at the splendid sight of another ungodly creature.
"Another of our kind comes to join the party of the damned! And one I smell is not from my world either! Tell me, are you also a goodie two-shoes like your other dimensional cousins, or have you come to see the murderous light?" He asked her, reforming his ax hand
Pain that seemed to come from everywhere exploded through Baxter, sending his slipping focus and discipline spiraling away from his grasp. He could feel the curse overtaking him, blotting out his humanity and overriding his mind. Now wasn't the time to fight recklessly, now was the time to think and analyze...but as control began to fade, all thoughts of strategy melted from his mind. His vision, which had been turning a deep crimson, began to focus again on the strange creature that had seemed to cause the problem. It had to die.
With a howl that was somewhere between a human and animal (duh), the now wolfman barreled his way towards the symbiote with animalistic speed, regardless of any that stood in his way. Teeth bared and claws flashing, he rocketed into the creature with reckless abandon.
And certainly, nobody was in the way...right?
Right.
Because Carnage was straight in his path, looking away from the old Werewolf. A shame Carnage had spider sense, because right as Baxter's claws were about to ravage the symbiote's back and spine, he jumped a dozen feet in the air.
Quickly shooting bloody webs from his wrists, he pulled himself back towards Baxter with incredible momentum; reforming his feet into several sharp knived toes to mangle the werewolf into chop suey.
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AT THAT MOMENT
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When Luer awoke again from dying, (man he has to stop having this happen to him,) he would hear the familiar jingle of music.
Once again, he was back in the lounge. Sitting in the same seat opposite Penta. Except now his skin was all zombie like, and Penta was eating yet another steak.
"You didn't eat your steak, so I'm just gonna have it if you don't mind," Penta explained to him, his mouth half full while cutting up another piece to munch on.
Luer groaned when he came to, shaking his head as he sat up. He spent a few just resting his head in his heads as he pieced together what had happened. That thing threw his arrow back at him… He drowned in his blood, that was unpleasant.
Speaking of unpleasant, that music was annoyingly familiar, as was the voice broke that interrupted his thoughts. He spared a side-eyed glare briefly before sighing as he pushed himself up to stand slowly.
"Knock yourself out…" He grumbled, looking over himself for a moment before glancing to Penta.
"Why am I here?"
"Well, you had to go somewhere to respawn. Undead like you return to life from bonfires, but the last one you spawned from was back on that dead planet, so I thought I'd save you the headache and bring you here... You're welcome, by the way," Penta told him, grabbing his glass to take a sip of wine.
"Tell you what though, your teams in a bit of a predicament. Carnage won't give up without a fight, and they're out in the open to be pecked at by Wyverns hiding in the clouds. And your escape is a bit... 'vague' at best. So, I am more than willing to make an accommodation for my lovely customer and help out."
Luer made a quiet grumble of complaint to himself. He could not bring himself to entirely argue the logic here, since it was quite a bit more convenient for him. Still, that it had to be this asshole… He sighed to himself. Fine.
"Thank you."
He sighed heavily as he took his seat across from the man at the table.
"And what would I have to pay for that?" As it was he still owed an answer for the other deal proposed…
"Hey, he thanked me!" Penta shouted to the masked figures at the other tables. All of which raised their glasses in cheer.
"Not a thing. This is simply a 'thank you' on my part for keeping an open mind." He told Luer, before winking to him.
Luer rolled his eyes slightly at the cheers from the masked figures. He took a small breath, crossing his arms as he looked across the table at Penta when the other answered. That seemed too easy, and he did not like the implications that wink had. He was going to regret this…
"Counter offer, then. It does have to be something I agree to, but I am willing to do something for you in return." What that may be, well, that he could only hope was not too bad. If it was simply running an errand he could do that.
"HA!" Penta started laughing,
"Hahahahaha!~" The irony of the situation was not lost on him.
"HAHAHAaaaa! Oh, I love you Luer. Not really," he added mockingly.
"I take it this would not affect my first offer if I accept exchanging favors between each other?"
There was a small disgruntled grunt from the archer at the sarcastic affectionate statement. He shook his head though at the question.
"No… and I will… think on that one a bit more…" He answered. He was not yet sure he was ready to confront that deal just yet- doubly so for having just died.
"Then I accept," Penta confirmed,
"I give you and your friends an out, and in return... hmmm..." Penta grabbed his chin in ponderous though,
"I'll get back to you on that." With another snap of his fingers, Luer was transported once again
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BACK WITH THE TEAM
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A sweeping slash from an axe hand severs the webs and knife-feet before they can harm the wolfman. Vaudeville leaps forward, executing a sweeping kick at Carnage in mid-air to try and get him away from the bridge.
"I'm playing the hero here! Villainous symbiotes are played out, old man!"
Carnage flew across the bridge once his legs were cut away, but again they reformed like nothing happened.
"BLEGH! MILLENIAL!" Carnage mocked, forming both his hands into massive claws as sharp as a Samurai blade.
"Always taking for granted what the older generation gave you! Someone should teach you to respect your elders! OR DIE FOR THEM!" Carnage screamed charging once more towards Vaud.
After examining Carnage for a good moment, he adjust his glasses. Heat and sound. Neither of which he had any knowledge of manipulating, not by itself. He didn't have any magnesium on hand. He could make something flammable, but he wouldn't be able to light it. He glances at his compatriots and asks a quick question,
"Anyone have a lighter?"
"Here!" Snake shouted, chucking over to Alande his own military lighter. While all this fighting was going on, the flapping of a dozen Wyverns could be heard above. While they couldn't seem them through the fog still, they could definitely make out a flock of them were being attracted by all the noise.
Yet, an exit appeared in the middle of the bridge. A oval shaped portal, about sveen foot in size, appeared with a different location visible through it. They just needed to make a run through it before the Wyvern came flying down. Or Carnage destroyed the bridge for good.
