Gunshots! A scream rent the air as Venom leaped from his perch and shot a web in the direction of the sound. A few seconds later the scream was cut short by another sharp report.
Here! From his vantage on the roof Venom could see into the alley where a scruffy man stood, smoking gun in his hand. At the man's feet lay the bloody forms that had so recently been a young couple. A deep, inhuman, menacing growl caused the man to look up in alarm. Webbing enveloped his gun and then it was ripped from his hand.
["Murderer!"] Venom hissed. ["We shall kill you for that!"] Within a heartbeat he was towering before his prey, black tendrils whipping out to ensnare the frightened human. The razor-sharp edge of the alien tongue wrapped around his head, slicing through skin and bone to the brain inside. The symbiote made a small sound of pleasure as it licked the inside of the man's skull clean.
A whimper interrupted its meal, it turned great white eyes to the dead couple. A child, hands stained with blood, sat crying between the bodies. Her short blond hair was mussed and her tiny glasses were sliding down her face.
Venom cocked his head a moment, conflicted. He couldn't just leave the poor thing, something would kill her, or worse. Still, he had to do something. Maybe she had relatives or something he could return her to. He wanted her to stop crying, it made him uneasy. Making a swift decision he knelt beside her.
["There, there, little one. We've got you, it'll be okay."] He scooped her up in one arm. She looked at him, her tear-stained face smudged and dirty. Her mouth opened, as if she were trying to speak, and she reached one bloody hand to her parents.
["We can't help them,"] he told her sorrowfully. ["We're sorry, little one."] Fresh tears welled up in the child's eyes. ["Don't cry,"] he said hurriedly, wiping away the tears with one huge black talon. ["We'll find some place for you to stay, okay?"] The child nodded, pushing her glasses back up on her face with her still-bloody hands.
["Here,"] he told her, catching her hand in his fingers and licking it clean with his long alien tongue. She giggled at the feel, then scrubbed her damp hands dry on his chest. ["Good girl. Now, can you hang on tight for us?"] He smiled in approval as she sank her fingers into his suit. ["Just like that."]
Looking upward, he raised his arm, shooting a strand of webbing with a wet 'plip.' With a sharp tug he launched them skyward. The child gasped as they sped to the rooftops, the web-lines carrying them up in a glorious, intoxicating arc. She watched as the lights of the city flew past, keeping her fingers tight in the symbiote's black substance.
All to soon they landed on the side of a building. Police Headquarters. Venom had been in there before, looking at the file of a serial killer, so he was familiar with the layout. He crawled around the side of the building and let himself in one of the windows. The shadows in the room seemed to swallow him up for a moment, then disgorge him by the desk.
["Captain,"] His voice made the rotund man at the desk jump and nervously scramble for his gun.
"C-come any c-closer and I'll shoot!" the captain squeaked fearfully.
Venom held up his free hand. ["Don't shoot..."] He didn't get any farther before the sweaty cop pulled the trigger. The alien turned, protecting his precious burden and taking a bullet to the shoulder. A second later the symbiote pushed the flattened slug out of its substance to bounce across the office floor. Venom looked over his shoulder, still protecting the child should the idiot fire again.
["We'll forgive you that one,"] he said, mildly annoyed. ["Because we have business to..."] Gunshots once again interrupted his explanation, and this time he had had enough. He fired a glob of webbing in the direction of the police captain and leaped out the window, swinging swiftly out of range. A quick glance at his burden confirmed his fears. She was crying again.
["It's okay, little one, we won't let that worthless scum hurt you."] Now he had a problem. It was getting late, there was no way he was going to find her relatives at this hour. He should have taken the couple's wallets, gotten their names and addresses. Oh, well. By now somebody would have found the bodies and reported them to the cops, so the information he needed would be back at the police station. Still, there might be a way around the cops. First, though, he needed to feed his charge and find her a place to sleep. Making another decision he dropped down next to a grocery store. He shifted the child in his arms.
["We're going to get some food, okay, little one?"] The girl nodded, then watched, fascinated, as his symbiote pulled away from his face and settled into the appearance of clothing. He smiled at her. "How do hotdogs sound?"
Their shopping trip was a short one, and the child clung to him the entire time. Venom was glad he had made a kill earlier; it meant he had extra cash and could buy the girl marshmallows, too.
Next stop was the subway, where they slipped past the stations and down one of the long dark tunnels. The child whimpered at the darkness, so Venom suited up again, his huge white eyes and spider crest glowing faintly in the dark. She seemed to be more comfortable with him suited up, he noted. Perhaps not so strange, it was a man that had killed her parents, it would stand to reason she would be less afraid of someone less human. Eventually they reached a door in the tunnel wall which led to a dusty, forgotten storage room, stacked with huge crates and coils of wire. In one corner was a small campsite, with a fire pit, sleeping bag, and a small crate.
He set the girl on the sleeping bag and lit the fire, then rummaged in the crate for a hotdog stick. The child watched sleepily as he cooked her a hotdog. She devoured the first, so he made her another. After she had finished the little girl wandered over and climbed into Venom's lap. He froze, unsure, but she sat still, so he let her stay while he roasted some of the marshmallows.
["Want another one?"] he asked, pulling it off the stick. The girl didn't move. He looked down. She was sleeping all slumped over in his lap. Venom watched her awhile, then shrugged and tossed the gooey treat into his mouth. Carefully he stood, trying not to wake her, and laid her gently on the sleeping bag. He looked at her again, then delicately removed her glasses. The last thing he needed was for them to break; food and a place to sleep he could provide, child-sized eye-wear, he could not. A quick search of the crate turned up a worn blanket which he draped across her tiny shoulders.
Better. The child should be warm enough. He settled himself against a large packing crate and closed his eyes. In the morning he would need to find her relatives, and then she could go home and he could go on with life.
Venom woke to the feeling of small hands tugging on one of his. He blinked, white eyes flashing black for a moment, then he pulled his tongue back in his mouth and sat up. The little girl pulled again, then tapped her hand against her face. Glasses, she wanted her glasses. He reached up to the crate and handed them to her. She put them on and then looked at him with big pale blue eyes.
["Good morning, little one."] A smile rewarded him. A quick search of the crate turned up several protein bars, which the child devoured. He scooped her up and headed towards the surface. They emerged from the subway in a worn part of town. Venom once again changed his appearance to his human form.
A young social worker lived here, he knew, he had saved her from a burglar, once. She would be able to help find the child's parents. He smiled at the little girl in his arms.
"We're going to talk to a nice lady, okay, little one?" The child nodded solemnly, then burried her face in his chest. He knocked, and a young brunette answered the door.
"What are you doing here?" she asked wearily, eyeing up the huge man and the tiny girl. "Let me guess, you need my help?" Eddie smiled.
"Yes. Her parents were the couple that got murdered last night. We were wondering if you could help us find her relatives." The woman's eyebrows arched delicately. She gave them another once-over, then opened the door to let him in.
"Yeah, probably." A few minutes later she was calling up her search on a battered desktop. "Let's see...okay, her parents are Robert and Cassandra Landon...okay, I think I found what you want. Andrew and Rachel Landon, three kids, and I found an address." She sighed, turning the screen so he could see it. "Is that all?"
"Yes, our thanks, Lacey." He turned to go.
"Don't think you can keep using me as your research girl, you lazy bum! I don't owe you that many favors!" She yelled after him. He snickered as the black suit enveloped him. The girl watched, facinated.
["Don't worry, little one,"] he told her. ["We'll be at your new home before you know it."] He launched them into the sky as his little charge snuggled against him, enjoying the rush of the wind against her face.
All too soon they dropped down in front of a quaint white two-story, with chalk drawings on the sidewalk and tricycles in the driveway. This would be a good place for the girl, she would be safe here. He commanded his costume to change and it swirled around him, settling into a NYPD uniform, complete with the hat. With the child still in his arms he walked up the drive and knocked on the door. A black-haired woman with a friendly face opene the door and gasped when she saw him.
"Ed Badger, NYPD." Venom said with a nod. "I came to return your neice."
"Evie!" the woman cried. "Oh, baby, we were so worried!" Tears ran down her face as she leaned forward and kissed the child on the forehead. "Come in, come in," she told him, holding the door open wide. "Where did you find her?"
"Thank you, ma'am." He followed her in. "Not too far away from the site." The woman reached for the little girl, who buried her face in Venom's chest and refused to let go of his uniform. This wasn't good. He needed her to stay here, he didn't want to take care of her forever.
"Hey, little one," he told her softly. "We have to go, now. Your aunt will take good care of you, okay?" Tears trickled warm onto his symbiote, invoking a twinge of uneasiness.
"Stay." It was barely a whisper, but he heard it.
"We can't stay, little one." Her tears increased, soaking a patch of his shirt. "We'll come back to visit you, okay?" he promised hastily, trying to stop her tears. She stopped crying and looked at him with big blue eyes from behind her smudged glasses.
"Promise?" she whispered.
"We promise," he assured her, giving her a hug. "Now go to your aunt, okay?" She nodded, and let him hand her to the woman.
"Bye, now!" Venom said, relived, turning to wave as he reached the door. The little girl waved, her big blue eyes tearing up again. The door closed with a final-sounding click and Venom suited up, taking to the rooftops in a heartbeat.
He was relieved. Now things could be back to normal. Even so, the child had been begining to grow on him. He wasn't exactly sorry that he had promised to return.
"It's been three weeks, and she still hasn't started talking," Rachel Landon told her husband worridly. "All she wants to do is eat marshmellows and draw."
Andrew Landon shook his head. "Do you have any idea what that black thing with the white eyes is that she keeps drawing?" His wife shook her head.
"I was thinking of taking her to a psycologist. Whatever happened to her between when Rob and Cassie died and when that cop brought her here, that's what's messing up her mind."
A floor above them in a small, neat room, a little girl was drawing something with utmost concentration. Her black crayon quivered with the effort, and one small hand pushed her glasses back up her face, and then reached for another marshmallow.
A small tapping noise made her look to the window. Her eyes lit up and she rushed toward the opening, then stopped and held out the fluffy white treat in her hand.
"Do you want a march-mellow?" she asked happily.