Venom scares the Symbiote shitless.
Shape changing. Agility. Strength, speed, happiness, sadness, joy, rage, arachnids, insects, mammals, reptiles, avians, Kree, Skrull, Badoonian, animal, vegetable, mineral…imagine being able to be all that.
And settling for being merely…human.
But They've had so limited experience of humanity, of the dirt monkeys that would walk in the sky. They feasted in the void until there was almost no more, then They consumed each other and moved on, because that was what They did. And They moved on and on and on and on, and were so blissfully happy together with everything They came across inside and out and yet so…utterly bored.
They stayed in the void because really, what do you do when you've been everything? Then the meteor shower. Cue humanity. Little hormonal meaty treats in a big (but unenlightened and primitive) tin can, a delusion of grandeur for every insecurity. And the metahumans? To die for!
The best part was how little probing it took. Sometimes you don't have to set a stage, just open the right door.
"Help? Help?" A scoffing half laugh, almost three months worth of anxiety (putting it mildly) in barely a second. "That's a good one. How exactly do you plan on helping? Do my homework, maybe lower my GPA? Or-or borrow my camera, take some Spidey pics? Because I do need the money, I've got some humongous hospital bills to pay!"
Thatta boy. They start calling Themselves Spider Parker, because Spider-Man is an illusion and, well, Peter's a horrible name. Sounds like a Brood spitting.
Then…Eugene. The old man. Noise, noise,noisenoisenoisenoiseintheirsoulmakeitstop REJECTION!
"Now mud stain…shall we dance?"
For the first time in the time beyond millennia They knew what it felt like to be rejected. Torn off like a useless layer of skin and dumped in a goddamn bucket of all things. Then frozen. Can you blame Them for jumping the first warm hate They could find?
"FrOm NoW oN wE'rE a PoIsOn To PeTeR pArKeR aNd SpIdEr-MaN! We'Re VeNoM!"
And it was twice as amazing, that 48 hour period of white hot mindless rage, anchored to Brock's heart and soul both a thousand times darker than Parker's own. And something new, something They'd never tasted in an ageless crawl of existence…a red cold stinging shadow Brock had never noticed before yet had always known was there.
If it had a shape, hatred would be a snowflake made of molten lava. Narcissism, neurosis, call it whatever the hell you will, but names didn't matter because the hatred would smash them down too. But They'd never tasted insanity, couldn't name it, couldn't shape it.
Couldn't let it go.
Venom was perfect. Venom was Their zenith. Venom was everything.
When you can be everything, why be anything? And when you've become everything…what are you? What were They?
"ThE sYmBiOtE's FoUnD a BeTtEr PaRtNeR iN mE!"
Fear.
"'Me'? Not 'Us'?"
They knew fear. And because with everything They had absolutely nothing, Venom broke apart and dived straight back and almost into the Spider-Parker…
Then the void again. Except the only thing worse than infinity is confinement. They'd tasted claustrophobia too, one of those terrible universal emotions that was always worse among the shape shifters. No host to hold to, to mind to mould to. Only grey frustrations strained through grey concrete to eat.
Then salvation. The concrete cracks and shatters under familiarity. At last, hatred! And in that, security.
And, again, fear. Out of confinement, nothing but free. Nothing but Venom.
No way in hell They'll go back to Parker, so they go along with Brock's little school yard antics and try not to think about a future. Not something They've ever done before. Not something They've ever had to do with a host before .
"GeNe ClEaNsEr. AfTeR yOuR iDeNtItY's ReVeAlEd, We'Ll PoUr It DoWn YoUr ThRoAt. ThEn, We'Ll SiT bAcK aNd LaUgH wHiLe AlL yOuR eNeMiEs AtTaCk PeTeR pArKeR! LeAvInG yOu PoWeRlEsS tO dEfEnD yOuRsElF…or the one's you love."
And then it hits Them. This is Their future, if they stay with Brock. Taunts and disguises and schemes and tricks, and all because They are what They are, if They stay with Eddie Brock. They are Venom. And Venom is Eddie Brock. And even if Eddie Brock wasn't completely bats hit insane, he'd still be Eddie Brock.
"We'Ll TaKe ThAt ClEaNsEr NoW!"
"Whatever you say, bro."
The cleanser burns like comet ice, but with it comes a molecular scalpel that shreds Them from Brock's genetic structure like blood from a stone.
"Y-yoU cAn't ReJeCt me now…!"
They can. And even though it feels like pouring back into the void again, They do.
When you can be everything, why be anything? Because if everything is anything then everything has a limit.
So They crawl as far as They can into the earth and sewage, and put shadow after shadow between Themself and Eddie Brock. Between Venom which was horrifying ,because They didn't know what to be after They were perfect, and is terrifying because deep down Venom isn't perfect.
Venom is Eddie Brock.
Hatred, rage, insanity…imagine being able to be all that.
And settling for being merely…human.