An Unusual Meet and Great (Open to Dark Syndicate)

[Madame Pryor]

In the casino there were all kinds of games going on that sounded like fun, but really Madame Pryor already had all that she wanted and more. Her goblins were happy, they didn't seem to be upset by any means that she could tell. She wore an old fashioned like black suit that went down to her legs and covered her arms most of the way anyways. Her red hair was done up pretty well as one of her goblin creatures rested in her arms. It looked more draconic than anything. It had two bat wings on its body as it rested on Madame's shoulder. It certainly was a full house for most of those that were in there. She went in a separate room but it was open for the others. some of the players were playing pool or even the roulette games. As the players noticed Madame Pryor's entrance they were a bit stunned to see her beauty, she was maybe even prettier than they realized as their jaw probably dropped to the floor. One of them even tried to get close enough to her as she sat down on the chair nearby that was able to sit at least two or three other people. But before the man could try and touch her shoulder the dragon's jaws opened and it tried to snap at the man before he looked stunned. That thing was real?

"You'll have to excuse my dragon friend here. He's rather protective of me. I do apologize for him nearly biting off your finger. But you better think twice before putting your hand on a woman's shoulder that you don't know." She warned giving him a look. She noticed that she may have been the first to arrive from the Dark Syndicate, suppose this was a group meet and great since she found out only a day or two ago that the Scarlet Spider joined in. Or Kaine Riley as he was known by. He hadn't really had much of an interest in getting to know the others, but they should at least know who everyone was.

'Kaine why don't you show yourself, you've been in your room all day. I'm in the right wing next to the casinos if you want to come and meet the other members.' Madame Pryor offered and even sent the mention towards the other members. They seemed so small but that's how it had been some of these days when the team was just starting out. And not to mention Blackheart had the help of the goblins as well.

'Do I realy have to come? I don't do well in crowds." Kaine asked with a bit of anxiousness in his thoughts just thinking about it.

'You only have to be here for a little bit, at least long enough to meet everyone." Madame Pryor said. 'I know you're the mysterious Scarlet Spider, but you should get to know the other team members. besides you might find a few friends from us.' She pointed out and it didn't take long before the spider anti hero to come up with a response.

'I'll be down in a few minutes. I'll at least come as Kaine Riley.' He mumbled softly before shutting off the response and all Madame Pryor could do was wait for the others to arrive for the invitation.

[Deleted]

This was the first time since Blackheart had been extending invitations to certain individuals that the current members were meeting together. They were still few in number and there was still some people of interest that were up in the air but right now he was content to have his current members meet and get to know one another. Perhaps they would grow but for now they had to make due, and his team needed to know each other. Maybe not on a very deep level, that would be a giving, but on some level that they knew who they looked like, what they could do, and having a small level of understanding to one another.

Of course, as the one having started this little group he felt obligated to partake in the meetings, most of them anyway. He still had other matters he attended to, most especially how to handle his father when the time came. It would take a lot of slow, future planning on top of a lot of manipulation and energy he needed to gather. He fed on misdeeds but they came in small doses and usually for power boosts so he only slowly and carefully kept some of that power to generate over time. He used just enough to make sure he could get a job done but from there he kept the rest in reserve so not to expend all that he needed when the time came.

For now, Blackheart sat quietly in the further dark corner of the side room, watching the men and women play roulette or doing pool, seeming unaware of his presence. Though it didn’t surprise the Prince of Hell, especially when most of his business-like dressed human disguise was cast in shadow, with only part of his body actually in the light. It was almost eerie, and if someone looked they probably would have seen the faint glow of his eyes but only briefly. Though his eyes glowed red briefly upon seeing Madelyne and all her wicked beauty, quite literally and the goblins in which she commanded.

It was a wonder that a woman like her could do so, seemingly becoming their queen and accepted despite her being a mere mortal. Although a part of him knew there was more to Madelyne then met the eye and he could see a long-term benefit of keeping her even if his plans were carried out. Maybe in time he could talk with her and make her right-hand woman when he took over this realm and his father’s, or make her his queen, a more contract, binding union to not only control demons but have her goblins as well. She commanded them and their combined forces would mean they would be someone to be reckoned with. Though as pleasant as the thought was he would have to keep such thoughts down as he finally stood, watching the display of someone yet again trying to get close to the red haired woman.

“I wouldn’t bother giving such buffoons your attention Madelyne. They can be quite a pain.” Blackheart said as he came over towards her, giving an unconcerned glance towards the no doubt scared men and merely looking back at the goblin perched on her shoulder. “But I must say, these goblin friends of yours, I am liking them more and more every time.” Blackheart said with a look of approval.

[Deleted]

Skyla found it incredibly difficult to be in a place such as this. It was not meant for teenagers, much less someone her age who was only fourteen years old and felt like she was probably not the best fit as the others were. Even this new guy, Kaine, was older then her and would have easily looked like he could pass off as someone who was older, or could someone nineteen be fine without getting in trouble? She really didn’t know and a part of her felt like an outsider again in terms of age.

But it was one of the few places she also felt like she could actually get somewhere or be someone, allowing her to wreak whatever havoc she wanted without repercussions and avoiding jail time. Right now though she was needed for a team meeting, carefully peeking out the door of the office and seeing the crowded casino. It always was crowded and she doubted it would be easy to get by without being spotted. Instead, she decided to take her own route and jumped over the side of the stairs in its shadow, using her wings to glide down before carefully pressing against the wall to slowly make her way to the side room.

Slipping in silently, she skirted around the gamblers and players at the different tables and made her way to the gathering group, her wings giving an agitated shift. “We couldn’t have, you know, met in the hide out meeting room? Not all of us can look normal or get around that easily.” Skyla pointed out in an agitated growl.

[Kaine Riley]

Kaine wasn’t used to the idea of a telepath hanging around. But he had to admit that Madelyne was pretty strong and tough in her own way. She probably used her looks to entice unsuspecting men in to her direction and then seal the trap…that kind of sounded like a spider almost. But she was way too old for him upon first looks, they were several years apart, being barely a young adult himself he still considered himself a work in progress. But what was even stranger was the part that she managed to control some goblins, not one or two but a whole colony of them, whatever it was that they saw they liked with her, he’d never understand. Like the other spiders, he preferred the solo act.

He still didn’t feel comfortable going out as Kaine Riley so he just put on his usual super suit that held the black mask and as well as the red ruby suit and dawning the spider logo on the front. After getting his suit on he quickly crawled on the ceiling since it was more preferred for him that way and entered through one of the secret doors. Kaine had been doing his homework in learning about the casino. But on a couple of occasions he nearly made a mistake of opening one door that apparently went to a woman’s bathroom, that was a big, big mistake. A woman threw a purse right at his face dropping its contents to the ground, but the others might as well find that a bit of a chuckle.

“Well your not so friendly neighborhood Scarlet Spider is here. And I can agree with Bat girl over there not all of us fit in so easily to this kind of light.” Kaine said with a sigh as he noticed that the others had arrived. He could see Madelyne sitting with her dragon goblin and as well as Blackheart as a human, and finally a girl that he hadn’t seen before, but like him she was a bit on the young side and had full of potential.

“Oh and by the way, don’t call me web head.” He said with a serious tone in his voice on his last sentence. He really didn’t like the name web head all that much even though it did fit him quite a bit into the picture. “I’m not much of a nickname person.” He added again. This time he dropped down to their height from upside down using one of his strong webs to do so. He wasn’t so worried if Blackheart got mad at him for leaving the webbing all over the place; it usually disintegrated after a couple of hours.

[Madame Pryor]

Good everyone was here. Madelyne could see Blackheart…was being his usual mysterious self and then the two other younger members arrived. Madelyne remembered the other grey colored girl with wings was Bat Girl, and then there was Scarlet Spider as he arrived on scene. Maybe they’d be able to get a few brave souls that were too busy from their casino playing to try and join in with them? They may be a small group but they did have power and she certainly saw it.

“Of course, Blackheart I wouldn’t waste my time with these fools. If anything they’re probably just goblin food for them if they get a bit too close. My baby here is for protection but of course if he decides to go home with his goblin friend, that’s fine too. I can take care of myself.” She said with a soft nod towards Blackheart. She certainly sounded confident with her voice as she looked back while they were playing with the casino games. They were so engrossed with their work it was almost hypnotizing. “But I do appreciate it that you took us up Blackheart, the goblins may not say much but they do appreciate it.” She said as she brought her palm to her face and blew a soft kiss in his direction as if to emphasis her thank you.

“Well the two of you seem to have something in common. You know I can read both of your thoughts. You’re not freaks. You just need to find your powers and make it so that they’re useful.” Madelyne said. “I know I have embraced that side already.” She said looking back at the others. But this was probably something that Kaine was used to hearing Blackheart preach. “If anything this was just here if you want to meet others. I think we have potential even if we are rather on the small side.” She added as she looked back at the others. She even gave a little smile seeing how stunned probably Kaine was looking behind that mask right now. Did they really have a chance at being a big shot out there?

As her dragon friend was listening the small critter seemed to be curious about the new members. It climbed down Madelyne’s arm and went to go explore as it jumped off of the couch and crawled over towards the new members sniffing the ground. It kind of reminded her of how a dog or a cat did it when they were curious, it was almost cute. It seemed to be heading towards Skyla first.

[Deleted]

Blackheart gave Madelyne a slight grin, giving a slight bow towards her as he found this woman more than fitting for his future plans. Perhaps he could include her after all. Although he was careful not to broadcast these thoughts, keeping his own mental defenses up that he made clear towards Madelyne when they had first met and probably surprising her that she could only occasionally read his thoughts, often those on the surface. But he didn’t make a move to hint at his greater interest in her than just a teammate, something lurking there before it quickly seemed to vanish as quickly as it had been there. “You know I wouldn’t mind having you around Madelyne, and your goblins certainly are intriguing. I will have to test one day if they are maybe a different form of demon.” Blackheart said as he stood straight again, casting a quick curious glance to the creature.

Though he soon looked as Kaine and Skyla joined them, neither of them looking or sounding thrilled for their own reasons. “What Madelyne says is true my young friends, and I’ve even told you the reasons for you being brought here. You must embrace what you are, what you can do, maybe what you have yet to find in terms of your capabilities, not just powers but your skills.” Blackheart emphasized, seeing that part of that was probably being lost to the two, but then again they were young, naïve to a point, and seemingly rather difficult to fully persuade of their integrity. Okay, maybe not so much on integrity but they seemed to some sight of the cause.

He gave the two a look though, wondering if they would ever fully accept the fact that things were not going to be so easy here and they actually had greater freedom here than most other places. Perhaps they were restless, bored, having nothing to do while waiting for others but there was a part of him that once again had to agree with the red head. Things were looking slow, possibly even taking weeks to months before they got further membership among their ranks. The demon found himself quite frustrated with such a slow progress, having expected there to be a greater turn out than currently seen but he had to be patient, knowing sometimes the biggest things started small and started rolling from there.

“Sometimes the smallest flame can turn into a raging inferno my young friends, and burn everything in it’s path to make way for something new, something better.” Blackheart put in, using his Dark Force Manipulation to make a flame-like shape in his hand before it started to grow until he quickly caused it to vanish and giving a toothy grin, showing sharp fangs instead of regular human teeth at the moment. “You have to jump in, to take on something that you may not feel you are ready for but you are. As we have said, you must not be afraid, no hesitation, you have to grasp the reins of your destiny and grow.”

[Deleted]

“Lucky for you Bat Girl happens to be my codename spider boy.” Skyla retorted back towards him, crossing her arms as her wings remained folded behind her and she didn’t seem that thrilled still. She felt as if this team had been created but never truly did anything, like they were wasting time waiting for others. By now she thought if others had made their decision on the spot they would have already come along, but no one had answered the call. No doubt her and Kaine were getting more restless than the likes of Madelyne or Blackheart, both who seemed use to this sort of thing.

“Yea, yea, embrace your powers because there may be more than you might realize. Heard this all before with the X-men, if I wanted to take time to embrace my powers I would have stuck with them.” She growled impatiently, getting tired of hearing this since it was just another version of the same old words. Sure she got interested because the Dark Syndicate was very much different from the X-men but they had taken no action just like them. Not in the way Blackheart had spoken at least. “So long as “embracing my power” includes causing destruction and putting a world of pain on flat scans I’m more than happy to oblige.” She said, punching one fist into her hand, wickedness flashing in her pupil-less green eyes at the thought of causing some harm to humans. Of course, she used the derogatory term some mutants used for those who were baseline humans with no extraordinary powers or signs of a mutant gene whatsoever. Though she figured neither Kaine or Blackheart would understand the meaning, but maybe Madelyne would since from what Skyla knew she too was a mutant as well. Come to think of it, she reminded her of someone else.

But she paused to listen, tilting her head in wonder as she looked at their blurred outlines, wondering if this meant they were finally going to do something. ‘Took them long enough.’ Skyla thought to herself, not caring if Madelyne was reading her thoughts or not right about now. Quite frankly, she didn’t care since she was use to just speaking her mind anyway, and this time quite literally if they bothered to check. “Think so long as me and the spider boy here have something to do we’re more than willing to go along.” Skya indicated, gesturing with her thumb to Kaine as they spoke.

But her ear twitched as she heard movement on the couch, tilting her head curiously from the movement and sending off a small frequency only she could hear to get the shape, the sound waves bouncing back and realizing it was the older woman’s goblin. Though she couldn’t see it clearly with the lighting she had seen glimpses of it when she was in a darker space. But her echolocation confirmed her wonder, currently being her form of sight. She held out her arm towards the goblin’s direction, letting it climb on if it wished, “Maybe me and you can have a little fun little guy, and some of your friends too. Could use a few aerial wing-monsters on my outings.” She mused to the goblin, seeming as they shared similar wings she found it almost amusing to imagine her and a flying armada of goblins terrorizing the city.

[Madame Pryor]

“Well like minded people often tend to get along; you should know that one, Blackheart.” Madelyne Said with a soft smile towards him. She liked Blackheart; he was just about everything she was into…well if you looked at her from a spookier perspective. Madelyne had always been into the dark arts, even trying a little sorcery of her own, but a tutor or mentor would be useful every once in awhile. But she knew that she resembled someone in this world a bit too much and it bugged her quite a bit. Jean Grey who belonged to the X-Men was almost a total opposite compared to a clone.

Madelyne raised an eye as Blackheart brought out his dark force abilities within his hands. It almost lit up the room a bit more from the tinted lights that casted down yellow and red lights among the room. It certainly was an interesting power. “Embrace your destiny? I believe I’ve already done that one. Check.” She said as if to emphasis what Blackheart had said. “My destiny is right here and with my goblin friends. You know I don’t think I ever told you how I came to be their queen. I saved one of their kind that was horribly injured and recovered it back to full health. It seemed to trust me enough to bring it to their realm and they were looking for someone to rule them. With a couple of choice words, I think I got something out of it.” She said knowing she didn’t need to wear a crown but she managed to convince them that she would be their queen and it stuck.

“By the way in case you’re wondering, Skyla, that Goblin’s name is Maelstrom. He may be pretty small but he has the force of a hurricane in him.” She said with a soft chuckle. “I’d just ask that you return him in one piece.” She added looking back at her kin and towards the younger members.

“To be honest, I think they’re just restless. The two teenagers there are like that some times. Kaine has been in and out a lot from the looks of things when I survey the area.” She explained knowing he was a loner and often did things on his own. Which he couldn’t help, and since it had been a part of his personality. “Well it looks like it’s just you and me now, Blackheart.” She said looking at Blackheart as the two teenagers seemed to leave. Probably to cause trouble in the casino or in the surrounding areas, maybe that was better that they did their own thing, after all they had plenty of time. As Kaine and Skyla left, she kept her eye on the man that nearly got his finger bitten off; he still looked stunned, which was fine with her.

As for her goblin, friend Maelstrom, he looked up at Skyla curiously, sniffed the top of her arm to make sure he had her scent and was familiar with it. And carefully he climbed up her arm and did his best to try and avoid hurting her with her claws. Once he was situated on her shoulder, he folded his wings a bit as he looked up at her a bit excited. He wanted his share of fun (And maybe bite someone else’s finger off).

[Kaine Riley]

The soft glow from the flames seemed to echo off of Scarlet Spider’s ruby eye pieces as if he had been memorized by the fire that Blackheart had created. He had never seen such a power before, but over time probably he was going to see more and more interesting powers as people came into join the Dark Syndicate. He had to admit he was feeling restless, the recruitment was slow, but it’d be worth it later on. “Looks like I got your name right, but mine’s Scarlet Spider.” Scarlet said correcting Skyla as she talked a bit. But he seemed to not mind the idea of going out and causing a bit of chaos out there for the others there in the casino or a bit further out.

“If you ask me I’m more of a work in progress.” Scarlet added showing that he lacked a certain amount of confidence in himself. Probably because of the way he had been treated back then in Oscorp. He wanted to change that sudden lack of confidence that swayed to and fro; maybe he’d be able to get his mind off of it for awhile. He thought joining a team would be helpful, and in some ways it was. He had a roof over his head and as well as a chance to possibly find out what happened to himself back in the past.

“I’ll join you and Maelstrom, Skyla. I’ve really had nothing to do these last couple of days.” Scarlet said as he climbed down from the roof so he was now level with the others. He stood a bit taller than Madame Pryor but not by much it was only a little bit as far as he could tell. “But we’ll make sure Maelstrom comes back.” He assured Madame Pryor. He couldn’t help but notice the older woman gave a soft smile in his direction. She trusted him. And if they didn’t bring him back, they’d feel the wrath that would likely follow after wards.

“Well do you have any place in mind, Skyla? I’m right behind you the whole way. Always wanted to scare the living days out of someone for awhile,” he offered wondering what Skyla had in mind. But he noticed that Maelstrom was almost grinning it was interesting to see creatures like him have emotions. It was true that he was curious to see how he and Skyla would get along, or possibly not at all at this point since they seemed so different.