An Uncommon Bond
Introduction
No comic book storyline has had as much work leading up to it then the Secret Invasion. The seeds were planted way back in Fantastic Four #2 and they slowly geminated over nearly fifty years with the introduction of Super Skrull Apox and Lyja the Secret Wars and more I always though it would be cool to see another Skrull story before the invasion and I always wanted to see a story where the Venom symbiote does something good for a change after all if you read the comics its behavior was really that of a mad ex girlfriend at least until a certain Saturday morning cartoon portrayed it as inherently evil what would happen if these two forces collided.
The Baxter Building
Spider-Man swings one evening in his black suit the destination the Baxter Building home of the Fantastic Four he breaks in of course even though he had an appointment. After making it past HERBIES security system Spider-Man found the four a little the worse for wear they had just come back from Latveria. Mister Fantastic and the Human Torch led him to Reed's lab but before he left the room his spider sense went of very faintly he thought nothing of it because the Torch was right next to him.
In the lab he submitted to a number of scans and Reed did not seem pleased as he examined the results. Peter had arranged this visit because the black suit he had acquired on Battleworld during the Secret Wars had been acting strange lately. After a few recent skirmishes with the Puma Mary Jane had arrived at his home and revealed that she knew his secret identity a few minutes later Black Cat who he had been dating arrived not pleased to see "the other woman." After the two left he had taken a nap in which he had had nightmares of his original costume and the new one fighting over him. When he woke up he had found himself sore and more tired then when he had gone to sleep the FF would give him answers.
"Spider-Man you had believed that the costume from Battleworld was an advanced fabric that responded to your thoughts" Richards said "my test indicate that it is in fact a symbiote a sentient being requiring a host to survive."
"You mean It's alive!"
"Yes I suggest you remove it."
Spider-Man quickly finds that it is no easy task the symbiote doesn't respond to his commands and he literally bounces of the walls in pain as he tries to get it off.
"It's as I thought" Reed said the symbiote is afraid it's trying to permanently bond with Spider-Man's body."
"I can try to burn it off." Johnny says.
"No you could kill him we'll have to do something else."
Reed stretches his arm around a corner and grabs a sonic blaster he fires it at the symbiote it weakens dramatically. Another blast and it is off of Peter who is now in his underwear. Reed quickly puts the organism in a glass container and Johnny can't help but laugh at his old rival's condition. He loans him a Fantastic Four uniform and a brown paper bag with eye holes. Reed moves the symbiote to another part of the lab and the Webslinger leaves.
…
The symbiote was not happy thoughts of revenge went through it's mind for several minutes but it shut them down. While such thoughts were somewhat tempting to the baser nature of it's contemporaries it had proved better than that. As the symbiote thought about it's predicament it realized that it was partly to blame. The symbiote had arrived on Battleworld after being exiled by its race. It had proved to be a blessing for the symbiote's home world was consumed by Galactus shortly afterwards.
A mutant of the 998th generation of symbiotes it had been different then the others, rather then enhancing it's host while simultaneously leeching there bodies of all its worth and then finding a new host, that is act as one among a species of parasites. The symbiote had chosen to consume only what it needed so that it's host may live, that is act in a truly symbiotic rather than parasitic nature. Then Peter had found it on Battleworld and changed everything. Not only was Peter's biology and lifestyle perfect for it's needs but it saw in him a kindred spirit, he to stood for what was right no matter how outnumbered he was, he lived his life and devoted it to protect others even though he could personally benefit from the power he had been given. Peter was also highly intelligent and introduced the creature to the simple pleasure of the wisecrack.
It pained the symbiote to think about it but its predicament was all its fault. Rather than communicate with its host at any time, explaining its predicament and offering him a choice to bond it had kept silent. Needing to curb it's hunger for a brain chemical so as not to harm it's host the symbiote had borrowed his body while he slept and spent the night as Spider-Man the adrenaline buying some time. The symbiote was so used to being a freak and an outcast among its peers it feared being rejected, it should have spoken up.
As it slowly weakened in its case the oily creature knew what it had to do. Richard's had thought that it could contain the symbiote in a glass case he was going to be quite surprised when he woke up. The symbiote changed it's shape to a more vertical orientation and discarded the small percentage of its cells that were dying, these formed a smaller puddle they would evaporate over the next four days much to Richard's bewilderment. The process combined with its epiphany further activated the symbiote's mutation and it changed color from a slightly blue tinted black to a deep purple. Over the next hour it oozed out of the glass molecule by molecule until the last of it plopped to the ground, by that time everyone in the Baxter Building was asleep.
The symbiote really needed to proceed with its plans but there was some business it needed to do here first. It snuck to the kitchen entered the pantry and then devoured four chocolate bars, good now it wouldn't have to eat anyone's brains.
It was about to start looking for a vehicle to attach to so it could start its journey back to its love when it smelled something for lack of a better word. The sensation was vaguely familiar and not human. The symbiote followed the source until it entered the room of the blind sculptress Alicia Masters. The symbiote oozed onto the sleeping woman's ankle and partially enwrapped her not bonding but just getting a sense of it. It was as the symbiote had expected Alicia was a Skrull named Lyja. A cursory examination of her memories revealed that she had replaced the real Alicia when the FF Spider-Man and other heroes were at Battleworld fighting the Secret Wars she was one of many Skrulls that had infiltrated the planet over the past year. The symbiote's race didn't mind the Skrulls much but having been bonded to Peter this one wasn't fond of alien invasions. The symbiote could temporarily bond to Lyja so she could ferry it to Peter but as a fellow alien it was too polite to expose the Skrull especially when she had feelings for Johnny. It appeared that Lyja's daily routine would find her near a Skrull safe house the next morning.
Satisfied the symbiote slowly oozed of off her and compressed into a puddle under her shoe. When Lyja awoke and got ready for the day as fast as the blinding contact lenses would allow the symbiote waited. Finally Lyja put on her shoes the symbiote clung flat to the underside. After about forty minutes it detached about a block away and slid across the sidewalk. It wasn't easy for it to enter the apartment building a little harder for it to slide by unnoticed by the highly organized and oddly quiet non human tenants. Nevertheless the creature made it's way to room 304 and waited.
…
That morning Spider-Man searched the city for Felicia it wasn't hard to find her. Spider-Man dropped to the rooftop trying to sneak up behind her. He tripped still not used to those "bad luck" powers of her's. Slightly startled she helped him up and said
"You came."
"Yes I need to talk to you."
"When you wouldn't let me leave yesterday I knew that you really loved me you wouldn't let someone else get between us."
"About that" Spider-Man said removing his mask (His non handsome romance novel guyness still bothered Black Cat but she was getting better at hiding it.) "that woman wasn't some other girl and I had no intention of cheating on you. Her name is Mary Jane Watson and I dated her well before we first met. She revealed that she knew my secret identity a few minutes before you showed up and I really don't think she wants for us to get back together."
"I'm sorry about that."
"Its fine just trying to juggle my chaotic dual life nothing I'm not used to ill see you tomorrow."
The two kissed and parted. After getting changed and having a bite to eat Peter went to the park and shared perhaps the most important conversation with Mary Jane recorded in the comics. (The Amazing Spider-Man #259) it was a most illuminating discussion.
…
A woman with strawberry blonde hair exited an office of Stark Enterprises for her lunch break. To her co-workers she was Hope Denby mid level Stark employee, but in reality she was Uni Skrullos a member of the race that was quietly preparing for an invasion that though less blunt and destructive than what there rivals the Kree would do was still a lot less peaceful than it could have been. Uni was different from most of her kind recruited at the minimum age for agents in the sector, she was an orphan. Though adept at her work she didn't fit in with the rest of the invasion force though loyal to the cause about once every month she would voice unpopular views during meetings. As a result the leader of her cell a cousin of Super Skrull named Proxy Adder had steadily shrunk the sphere of knowledge on her S-Net account. Uni knew there was a good reason for there presence here, there was a prophecy that there planet would be destroyed by Galactus and the Skrulls would find a new homeworld. Surveillance indicated that there planet had about three years before the devourer appeared.
As part of there job many Skrulls would get very in character it was the very nature of a shapeshifting race that planned long term, but for Uni Hope wasn't a character it was simply her Skrull self incognito trying to extract the Mandroid blueprints from Stark's mainframe, she was there to infiltrate rather than replace. Uni couldn't help but think that it would be better if the Skrulls went public or at least informed SWORD of there presence. She found the Men In Black movies scary with men in suits running around shooting aliens but there certainly could be some sort of immigration authority, her race had so much to offer.
After a five minute walk she found herself in the apartment complex. After giving Proxy a quick update of her progress she climbed the stairs to the third floor and entered her room. The symbiote watched as the Skrull closed the shades and revealed her true nature. After several minutes of observation the symbiote made sure it was between the Skrull and the door, it could only communicate telepathically and it would have one chance. Satisfied of its position it started to emerge from underneath the dresser and ooze towards Uni. She did spot it shortly before it would have made contact, but she just inched away a little rather then run, or shoot the puddle. As Proxy had once reported this graduate of the academy was dangerously curious at times.
After determining that it responded to her words she let it attach to her hand and then she could hear it's thoughts the link was much less… passive then the one the symbiote had once had with Peter and it took nearly several minutes for them to recover from the impact of each other's memories. The symbiote had wanted to use her as a tool to get back to its first love but it had forgotten the emotional investment and loyalty that came each time it attached to a new host. Uni for her part was surprised that the symbiote would choose her as a host and partner she also saw what they had in common being aliens who both had a bone to pick with Galactus and the power that the oily alien could offer her. Uni also saw the symbiote's memories with Peter and realized that he was just the kind of person she'd found lacking among the young Skrull men. She liked him just as much as the symbiote.
"See how well we could be together" the symbiote said "accept our bond and we can both find the new direction we seek."
"Yes I accept the bond."
The purple symbiote wrapped around Uni's body imbuing her with Spider-Man's powers and forming a plain purple costume with white eyepieces. The two felt very comfortable with one another and the bond was close enough that the symbiote though not irremovable would take a good six hours to do so. The two's minds were sufficiently (though not irreversibly) merged to refer to themselves as I as much as We.
"What should we call ourselves?" Uni said.
"We are one" the symbiote said "from henceforth we should be branded as Unity!"
"It's kind of corny but I like it."
Unity left the room in the form of Hope in a purple dress. She spent the next half hour erasing records and trying to facilitate her disappearance; once her work was done she left the building through the second story window now for the final step. The symbiote disassembled the molecules of a Skrull tracking device and pushed them out of the pores of her leg. After the last nanite was expelled form her body she set a course for her destination. After ducking into an empty alley to hide from a Skrull garbage man she took on a form rather familiar to Peter.
"Face it Tiger you just hit the Jackpot."
