A Cure for Venom

By Churnok

Disclaimer

Spider-man, Venom, Dr. Ashley Kafka, and all other marvel characters are the copyright of Marvel and Fox and are used here for non-profit entertainment purposes only. Beacon and the multi-dimensional organization he works for, along with their powers, technology and abilities are my creation but I've tried to design them so that anyone can use them as long as they send me a copy of the resulting story. Permission is given to anyone who wants to archive this story as long as they let me know first and give me a link to their site. I welcome any comments, questions, and/or constructive criticisms. This story takes place within the 1994-1998 Spider-Man: The Animated Series continuity.

Eddie Brock awoke to find himself in what looked like a hospital room straight out of Star Trek. Despite the futuristic setting the hospital gown he was wearing was the same as he'd find in any regular hospital.

"I guess some things never change," he said as he finished examining the gown and started looking for a remote or a nurse call button.
"Indeed they don't." Eddie turned to see a strange man dressed in normal looking business casual clothes and lounging in one of the visitor's chairs. "Good afternoon Mr. Brock. I hope you had a pleasant rest."

"Who the heck are you?" Eddie shouted. As he spoke he realized that he was alone in his own head. The symbiote, the slime-like alien that bonded with him to create Venom, was gone, "and what have you done with the symbiote?"

"Ah good, you sad the symbiote instead of my symbiote," the man said as he sat up straght. "I hope that means that you're ready to live a Venom free life. But I'm getting ahead of myself. I am known as Beacon. You and your symbiote were found floating between dimensions and looking considerably beyond seasick. We pulled you in. Separated you from your living spandex, and I've been sitting here waiting for you to wake up,"

Brock was confused, "But I thought I couldn't survive another separation?"

"The medical technology we've acquired over the years is considerably more advanced than anything Doctor Kurt Connors has access to."

"How did you know Dr. Conners was the doctor who helped me? Can you read my mind or something?" Eddie was becoming more unnerved by the minute.

Beacon smiled cryptically, "or something."

Eddie decided not to pursue that issue. He wasn't sure he wanted to know. "Why are you helping me?"

"Because I can be sentimental sometimes. We know about your relationship with your psychiatrist, Dr. Kafka, and your desire to be free of your darker half. Normally we only contact new employees who have no real prospects in their own reality, but after your heroic sacrifice to save the good doctor's life I asked my employers if we could help you out. Needless to say, they acquiesced to my request."

"So you're going to send me back home?" Eddie asked hopefully.

"Once we're certain that you're fully recovered and you promise not to talk about your time here," beacon replied in a casual tone that still managed to make clear that he wasn't going to argue the point.

"Why don't you want me to talk about this place?"

"Because we value our anonymity. When people know about us they usually try to interfere, either by trying to tell us what to do, or by trying to keep us from doing what we want. We have yet to encounter anyone who can honestly do either, and we do have ways of neutralizing them, but they can be a nuisance."

"And if I can't promise to keep my mouth shut?"

"Then we scramble your brains," Beacon said casually. "It's still not an exact science I'm afraid. We might get it right and only erase your memory of this place, or we might get it wrong, in which case anything could happen. You could become a vegetable, a super genius, a six year old girl or all of the above with or without any number of bonus problems. It's really quite fascinating. Last time we tried it on a thief who was trying to steal some of our equipment. The poor fellow went in a devout atheist peacenik and came out a homicidal religious zealot." He looked thoughtful for a moment, "or was it the other way around? Either way he has no memory of his time with us and now thinks of himself as she."

"OK, I won't tell a soul about this place I swear!" Eddie fell out of the bed and begged.

"No need to embarrass yourself Mr. Brock," Beacon said with dignified alarm. "A simple promise will do."

Eddie spent a week recovering in that strange hospital. Assisted by Beacon and some of the most exotic nurses and doctors he had ever seen, but the only woman he could think about was Dr. Ashley Kafka. He visited the symbiote a couple times during that week, just to see for himself if he could resist the urge to rejoin. A part of him wanted to be Venom again, wanted the power it gave him, but the rest of him wanted to remain human, to be with Ashley.

They never told him what they were going to do with the symbiote, and he never asked. He didn't want it dead, he just wanted to be free of it.

When he was deemed fully recovered they gave him the clothes he had been wearing the last time he joined with the symbiote. He got dressed and was blindfolded.

"What's this for?" he asked. "I said I wasn't going to tell anybody."

"And we believe you Eddie," Beacon replied, "but we do have standard precautions that must be followed for your sake and ours. The less you know, the less likely you'll let anything slip that could cause us problems."

Eddie was lead to a place that sounded like a futuristic subway station and with a final goodbye from Beacon he was pushed through a portal of some sort and he blacked out.

He awoke to find himself lying in someone's front yard during a rainstorm. He staggered to the front door and knocked. To his surprise and delight Dr. Kafka answered the door in her nightgown.

"Eddie?" she said in disbelief.

"Ashley?" Eddie replied in equal disbelief.

They embraced each other as if to prove to themselves that the other was real. "I thought I had lost you forever. What happened? How did you get back?"

"I wish I could remember," Eddie lied. "One moment I'm falling through that vortex as Venom with that nutcase Carnage, the next I wake up here with nether Carnage nor the Venom symbiote."

"That's wonderful! You're finally free." Then she came to her senses and pulled him inside. "Now let's get you out of the rain and into some dry clothes. You did not come back from where ever you were just to catch cold on my front step."

Beacon watched from the shadows as the door closed behind the two lovebirds. His wide brimmed hat and black trench coat keeping him comfortable despite the night's rain. Eddie Brock had a second chance at both life and love. A rare gift in any dimension as Beacon knew all too well. As he strolled off down the street he wished them both the best of luck.