Hi there!
Seeing as its DiAkko week round two, I knew I had to contribute something. And what better way than to contribute a story for the Little Witch Academia fandom that is a nod to both my pen name and my second favorite comic book character of all time; Venom (for those of you who are wondering, my favorite is Spider-Man)! This was supposed to be posted for DiAkko week day two, but unfortunately my work schedule got in the way. Such is the life of someone who drives constantly for work!
Although its not published as such, this story is essentially a crossover between Little Witch Academia and numerous Venom/Venom and Spider-Man stories. Most of the influence comes from what little we knew so far about the upcoming Venom movie starring Tom Hardy and the critically acclaimed mini series "Venom: Lethal Protector" with smatterings of influence from other Venom stories such as Venom/Eddie Brock's origin and "Venom: The Madness".
Please critique and support as always!
Kind Regards,
Symbiotic
"Dr. Cavendish?" a nurse spoke after cracking open the wooden office door. "That journalist from The Fact Sheet is here to speak with you."
"Okay," Diana said nonchalantly. "Send them in."
The blonde doctor didn't even bother picking her head up from the mountain of paperwork that was sitting upon her desk. This interview wasn't something she viewed necessarily as a convenience. Being one of the heads of staff, essentially the top doctor at Lady Beatrix the Affectionate's Children's Hospital was not exactly a job that allowed for many breaks, especially when she simultaneously had to do mountains of paperwork and administrative tasks during the course of her day. An interview with some journalist about whatever it was that needed to be divulged was not necessarily what she was looking forward to. She only wanted to get on with her day and go home.
But when she heard the sound of shoes moving across her office floor and the journalist say hello Diana couldn't help but have her curiosity mildly piqued. She expected it to be a male journalist, but was surprised instead when she was greeted with a voice that was clearly female. Looking up from her paperwork after the greeting Diana saw a woman just about her age, probably the same age in fact, standing before her. The woman had brown hair going down just past her shoulder blades and had striking red eyes, a color Diana had never actually seen before but was immediately caught gazing deeply into. And she had a well cut, perfectly fit figure that Diana also did not expect, though sadly that figure was adorned with an orange hoodie, blue and white striped shirt, and some denim shorts with high socks covering it up that did anything but make the journalist before her seem any bit more than curiously attractive. Still, there was something about her that caught Diana's eye.
"Hi," the journalist said. "I'm Atsuko Kagari from The Fact Sheet. You can call me Akko though, I know my name is a mouthful." The whole time she had a sheepish smile yet held herself tall.
"Akko, you say," the blonde replied, reaching out to shake the Asian woman's hand and getting a vigorous shake. "I'm Doctor Diana Cavendish, it is a pleasure to meet you. Please have a seat and we can get directly into…"
"Oh not to be a pain in the ass, but is it possible we could do this walking around the hospital?" Akko questioned. Diana raised her eyebrow at this. "I feel like I do my job better when I'm on my feet rather than just sitting down. And I kinda wanted to see some of the wings for my story, if that's okay."
This was a most curious development to Diana. Ambling about Saint Beatrix The Affectionate's Hospital to some journalist who she didn't know anything about at all was not something she had ever considered doing. For a moment she wanted to refuse and stay put, but then she looked back at the mountain of paperwork on her desk. Diana at that moment realized she didn't really want to be in her office, that she was distracted from what she really wanted to be doing with her day, and that getting out of the office was probably for the best. She politely agreed to the plan and put on her white doctor's coat before leading Akko out of her office and down the halls of the hospital.
"This place is amazing!" Akko said as she walked with Diana down each wing, looking at the hustle and bustle of the hospital, which was laden with all the latest and greatest technology but designed and aesthetically decorated in a manner that made it feel welcoming and homely, anything but the scary and sterile sort of environment that most people would expect a hospital to look like. "I still can't believe you manage to make this place seem so welcoming to everyone."
"That's a key part of the Cavendish's mission when it comes to all of our hospitals worldwide," Diana said as she led Akko through the building. "We want our facilities to appear in a manner that is relaxing yet organic. Making things cold and lifeless does nothing but increase the levels of fear and unease in a patient coming through our halls. And considering that Saint Beatrix's has devoted a considerable number of resources to being a children's hospital we want those who come to the facility for care to feel completely at home."
"It must really go a long way," Akko said, scribbling things down on her notepad. "Is it true that here at Lady Beatrix the Cavendish family has implemented the world's first sonic wave chamber for treating childhood cancers?"
"I see someone does their fair amount of reading," Diana replied, somewhat impressed by what Akko was saying to her.
"Well I didn't want to seem like a dunce, you know," Akko replied sheepishly. "I'm meeting with one of the most prestigious pediatricians, heck most prestigious doctors, in the world and an heiress to perhaps the largest healthcare empire in human history."
"How charming," Diana said. She stopped at a vending machine and reached into her wallet, asking Akko if she wanted anything to drink. Akko initially refused, blushing a little in a manner that Diana found rather curious but also rather cute. Something about it made Diana's heart flutter and made her insist that Akko have something, so Akko agreed to a can of Coca Cola while Diana herself drank some water. The two then continued back throughout the hospital. Akko asked Diana a variety of different questions, most of which Diana found herself highly willing to answer. She asked Diana about Cavendish family history going all the way back to Beatrix, the first Cavendish healer and the one whose legacy the family empire was built upon. She asked about Diana's formal training in medicine at schools like Oxford and Cambridge, and she asked about the massive amounts of research that went on at the hospital in regards to developing cures and preventions for childhood cancers, birth defects, and other congenital conditions that caused children to suffer. Diana found the whole interview rather refreshing, as she was more than happy to talk about the work she was trying to undertake to cure children of horrible diseases and conditions. It was refreshing to talk to someone who appeared to be sincerely interested about the work she was undertaking now and the direction she believed the Cavendish family would go in the future.
"I wanted to change topics a little a bit, if that's okay," Akko said as they continued to walk down the hallway.
"By all means," Diana said. "What would you like to know?"
"I wanted to ask you some questions about rumors that Cavendish Enterprises is working jointly on some new research with Croix Meridies and The Life Foundation," Akko began.
Diana stopped in her tracks and raised her eyebrow. "Excuse me?"
She watched Akko raise her own eyebrow. "You haven't heard? I mean, aren't you on the board of directors for Cavendish Enterprises, Diana?"
"I am but I mostly head up the research and medical side of things. It's my aunt, Daryl Cavendish, and my cousins Maril and Merril that oversee the business and growth side of our family's enterprises," Diana explained. "Even still, I would surely...how do you know about this?"
"Oh a little bird told me," Akko replied. "I just wanted to know if you could tell me anything given that another little bird told me The Life Foundation has conducted experiments on less fortunate people that have ended up killing them, and I know that Cavendish Enterprises has prided itself on a highly ethics focused mantra of doing things as humane as possible. I mean, can you shed any light on it?"
"She won't be saying another word!"
Diana whipped her head around and behind her saw a woman in a blue and grey business suit with black shoes and a pearl necklace around her neck. Her heels clacked loudly against the tile floor of the hospital, menacingly making her presence felt. Behind her were a group of men in black jackets with earpieces wrapped around the backs of their heads. Diana was caught off guard by the sight. She had never expected this person to show up at the hospital, for it had been some years since they had last been seen there.
"Aunt Daryl," Diana said as the woman came closer. "What is the meaning of this?"
"I should be asking you the same, Diana," Daryl said in a huff. Diana watched as the men surrounding Daryl reached over and grabbed Akko's hand, taking the notepad that was in the Asian girl's hand and tearing it into pieces before grabbing her by the wrist, making the girl wince in pain. "How dare you let this cretin come into our the halls we have worked so hard to build for so long."
"She is a journalist looking to write a story on the hospital and our research, nothing more," Diana shot back. "Release her this instant!"
"I'm afraid I can't do that," Daryl said sternly. She nodded to the men and watched as Akko was lifted up off her feet and taken away down the hall. The Asian girl writhed and kicked in the grasp of the strong men. "She's poking her nose in places where they don't belong."
"You have no business dictating who I can and can't speak to," Diana said. "She was only doing her job and was asking nothing intrusive."
"And you have no right to speak on behalf of the family business based off of your own volition," Daryl replied. "This is my family as well, Diana, and while one day you will control it I still have say as to who can and who cannot gain further knowledge of our affairs, no matter how benign they are."
"Like something to do with the The Life Foundation, perhaps?" Diana questioned curiously. "Surely this doesn't have anything to do with that, now does it?"
Instead of getting a pause Diana watched Daryl laugh, quietly at first but growing in volume to while not to the point of full on hilarity clearly showed that her haughty aunt was highly amused by what Diana was saying. "The Life Foundation? Oh how absurd. You think a family like the Cavendishes would ever stoop to working with a fraud like Croix Meridies and The Life Foundation? Oh that's rich." Daryl continued to laugh before controlling herself in front of Diana. "Come now, Diana, let's get a meal and talk more pressing, more actual matters, rather than fanciful things like our family working with The Life Foundation."
Diana kept her eyebrow raised and slowly followed her aunt out from the hospital wing toward the exit of the building. The whole time she walked she couldn't help but find herself stuck on something that Akko had said to her during their brief time together. What did she mean that Cavendish Enterprises and The Life Foundation were working together?
A few weeks later Diana decided to not stay late as she typically had been for work and go out for the night. Dressing in a blue dress with a gold and brown belt wrapped around her waist and done up in her favorite lipstick, Diana drove out in her Jaguar XE and met up with her friends Hannah England and Barbara Parker. The two women had been friends with Diana for many years, since before high school in fact, and had remained close to her throughout college and into adulthood. Barbara had become an interior designer for the wealthy, while Hannah had gone on to become a lawyer who worked for clients throughout the corporate world, though not for Cavendish Enterprises for obvious conflict of interest reasons.
The three women decided to meet at one of the city's poshest upscale bars, The Press Club. Over tapas and martinis the three women proceeded to catch up on the latest happenings in their lives. For Hannah and Barbara that largely was a discussion over who they were dating and having sex with, as both women had yet to consider themselves worthy of settling down and were more interested in having fun than getting into anything truly serious at the moment. While Diana was more than willing to entertain these tales of conquest she was however still beholden by Akko's question about Cavendish Enterprises and The Life Foundation. Being asked about a company that apparently murdered its own test subjects was horrible enough, even if that was just a myth, or was it? Surely the Cavendish family, even with her aunt Daryl and cousins pursuit of greater things beyond just helping the world, would never be dealing with an outfit like The Life Foundation, would they?
There was one person who may have the answers though.
"Hannah," Diana said. The auburn haired friend of hers looked over and sipped on her martini. "Your firm does work for Croix Meridies, does it not?"
"You mean The Life Foundation?" Hannah said curiously. "I'm on a team that works for them, yeah. What about them?"
"You know I heard something a few days ago," Diana said, straightening herself out in the cushy chair at the table her and her friends had been sitting at before taking a sip of her drink. "I heard that The Life Foundation is doing work with Cavendish Enterprises."
"What?" Barbara said curiously.
"That was my reaction to," Diana said. "I mean surely if my family's company would be doing work with The Life Foundation I would be the first to know about it, would I not?" She glanced at Hannah out of the corner of her eye and saw the auburn haired woman give her an uneasy look back along with a slightly nervous pose. "Hannah?"
"I mean...it's not like I know anything about what The Life Foundation is doing," Hannah replied back somewhat nervously. "And even if I did I'm legally bound not to say anything, ya know? Non disclosure agreements and all."
"That's a shame," Diana said. "Because I thought we were best friends, and that best friends don't hide things from other best friends, like when one friend pays to conceal the result of another friend's…"
"Okay, okay!" Hannah said quickly, holding her hands up in an effort to get Diana to stop, desperately not wanting the blonde to reveal the one thing that she hated she had done the most. "Look, I don't know for sure what's going on between your family's company and The Life Foundation, Diana. I mean I'm not in the labs. But…"
"But…"
"There's been some documents that have come up from the Cavendish side about interest in a research project that The Life Foundation is undertaking," Hannah explained. "Typical agreements about one company looking to buy out the other's project or get involved as a subcontractor. But all of them point back to some study...I don't know exactly what it is though."
"I see," Diana said. "Well surely then there is a way that these documents might somehow end up on a desk inside Lady Beatrix The Affectionate's now, would they?"
"I mean that would take a miracle," Hannah said nervously. "If those documents were to ever get out to someone who wasn't supposed to see them…"
"Well if someone's very religious parent were to ever know that their daughter got an…"
"I'm sure I could find a way for them to end up on your desk! I mean a desk I mean…" Hannah said very quickly. "Just, it might take a few days is all. Maybe the middle of next week I could have something?"
"Maybe you could," Diana replied with a nod of her head. "I think I would greatly appreciate that. Because if my family has all of the sudden decided to undertake research that ends up killing innocent people, I want to put an end to it as soon as possible. I would hate to see my family waste innocent lives in the name of science."
"Well I'm sure I can figure something out," Hannah said with a weak smile. "I mean, what are friends for?"
"I agree. What are friends for but looking out for each other?" Diana gave Hannah sly smile and continued to drink her drink, allowing her friends to continue on with talks about romantic conquests while she herself resolved to figure out just what her family was doing.
The days went by and Hannah hadn't spoken to Diana in quite some time. There was no sign of her friend or the documents whatsoever, despite Hannah assuring her that she would get the documents. Diana sighed at the thought. Even if she had threatened with telling Hannah's parents that Hannah had, during their time in high school, gotten an abortion that Diana had paid for, Diana knew she wasn't really going to threaten revealing that to Hannah's parents. Not only was that something she would never consider doing to her best friend, Diana herself was completely pro choice and respected Hannah's decision to do what she had done, and felt no regrets about helping her. Diana thought by this point it might be better to simply do the digging on the project Hannah was talking about. It wasn't worth jeopardizing her friend's livelihood anyway.
As Diana was about to wrap up her day and was logging off of her work computer she heard her cell phone vibrate on her desk. Looking down at the device she saw a text message from none other than Hannah, a message that read Got what you need. Meet me in the parking garage.
Surprised at the message but thankful, Diana quickly gathered up her belongings and made her way down to the underground parking deck for employees and those in need of emergency care beneath Lady Beatrix The Affectionate's. The whole time she couldn't help but continue to think about the documents. Just what were they going to reveal?
The elevator brought her down to the parking garage and opened up its doors, the overhead light flickering eerily as Diana made her way into the concrete structure below the building. The somewhat malfunctioning lighting made Diana a little unnerved, though she knew it wasn't anything that would put her in any real danger. The garage itself was still fairly well lit. And even not knowing where Hannah was Diana still didn't feel any real pressing sense of fear or urgency coming over her as she made her way through the parking garage. She just wanted to know just what was going on between her family and The Life Foundation. She had to get to the bottom of it.
Eventually her searching became increasingly fruitless and Diana became slightly unnerved. "Hannah?" Diana called out as she walked through the parking garage. "Are you there?" There was no response. "Hannah?"
Before she could say another Diana heard footsteps and what sounded like struggling coming from the other side of the garage where she stood. Quickening her pace, Diana called out Hannah's name once again and heard the struggling grow louder. She called out Hannah's name once more, stopping before she made her way into another corridor of the dimly lit underground garage. It was then that she heard footsteps again and the sounds of a person struggling, almost choking, were coming increasingly clear through the car park. "Hannah, where are you?"
"Diana," a voice squeaked. Diana turned her head and watched as Hannah walked out from behind a series of parked ambulances below the hospital, a look of pain on her face and her skin somewhat pale, as if she was struggling to breathe. Diana raised her eyebrows and ran over to attend to her friend but watched as Hannah held up her hand. "Don't get any closer."
"But why…"
The sound of more footsteps came up through the garage and from behind Hannah, under the flickering light, emerged two blonde women . Both of them had blue eyes and short hair, only differentiating one from the other by one wearing a blue scarf and a light purple suit while the other had a purple scarf and a light blue suit. Diana immediately recognized both women.
"Merrill? Maril?" Diana said confused. "What's going on?"
"Good evening, Diana," Merrill said, an overt amount of saccharine slipping off of her voice as she came up alongside her sister and behind Hannah. "Fancy seeing you here tonight."
"It's been so long since we've set foot in Lady Beatrix's," Maril said as she came up behind Hannah, whose hands were now holding something around her throat. "What a shame that we've had to come visit because of your friend and her intrusion." Diana looked at her blonde cousin, who had a sneer strewn across her face as she placed her hand on Hannah's shoulder. "I thought as a lawyer she would know better than to show you things that you aren't allowed to see. Well, you would've been allowed to see them, had you just waited."
"Waited for what?" Diana said as she held her ground in front of her two cousins, watching as Hannah continued to struggle in front of them with something on her throat. "What have you done to Hannah?"
"You know you were supposed to benefit from this just as much as we have, Diana," Merrill said with a shake of her head. "Croix Meridies has shown the Cavendish family the way forward. Her work has allowed us to make great strides towards things that we once considered impossible."
"What do you mean?"
"Diana, you need to get out of here," Hannah squeaked. "They're going to…" Diana watched as whatever was gripping Hannnah's neck, something she still couldn't quite make out, tightened and she stumbled back into Maril's hands, the older blonde woman looking at Hannah with a gaze that wasn't meant to only instill fear. Diana could swear she almost saw hunger in her cousin's eyes. "Diana, please…"
"Aww, does someone really think they can tell a fellow Cavendish what to do?" Merrill sneered as she ran her finger along Hannah's cheek. "That's a shame."
"Maybe we'll just have to do something about her," Maril replied with a devilish grin. "Maybe we'll just have to kill her."
Diana gasped and watched as Hannah continued to struggle in their grasp, still unable to make out just what was wrapped around Hannah's neck that was making her choke and gasp for air. Regardless of what it was, Diana decided she couldn't see her friend get hurt any longer than she already was. "Let her go," Diana begged quickly. "Let her go, please, she did nothing wrong! I'm the one who asked for those documents. I wanted to know what was going on between our family's business as The Life Foundation. I wanted to know if our family was behind any research that was claiming innocent lives. If anyone deserves to be hurt it's me. Please, both of you, let her go I'm begging you! I'll do anything!"
At those last words Diana watched as the once invisible grip on Hannah's neck was released. Diana thought it would be some kind of a collar or a chain. Instead it was something entirely different; a purple colored liquid-esque tendril that snaked from around one side of her neck and slid backwards behind Hannah, right into Merrill. Completely shocked by what she saw, Diana went to gasp but not before Hannah crumpled to her knees and fell onto the ground. All of the traditions, teachings, and her own desire to help kicking in, Diana raced over to her friend and knelt beside her as she checked to see if Hannah still had a pulse. Meanwhile her two cousins stood above her, sneering as they watched Diana attend to her friend. "What have you done to her?"
"Oh Diana," Maril said. "Always wanting to put others before yourself. You just be thankful that your cousin and I didn't eat her like we planned."
Diana's eyebrows shot to the top of her head and her mouth fell agape. "Eat her?" she said confused. "Did you just say you were going to eat her?"
"Yes, she did," Merrill said. "But since you want her to live so bad and you said you'll do anything to keep her safe we'll just have to eat you instead."
Before Diana could say another word she felt a snaking presence wrap around her body, coiling itself around her and hoisting her off the ground. Diana writhed but the more she struggled the tighter the grip became, feeling her bones crack and the wind begin to escape her lungs as sh was lifted up and brought up to eye level with her cousins. "Consider yourself lucky, Cousin," Maril said with a wicked smile as she brought Diana to eye level, Diana watching as the tendril holding her emanated from Maril's back. "Your friend gets to live because you put her first like a Cavendish always should. For that, Merrill and I will make sure your devoured in as little pain as possible."
"Which is a shame because I know I would love to see you suffer," Merrill said sadistically, a tendril coming up from behind her own back to slide around Diana and make her way to neck. "But that wouldn't be fair considering all of you've done for your pathetic friend, now would it? So we'll just make this quick."
Diana watched as more tendrils came from behind Merrill and Maril, overtaking their bodies and working their way down from their faces. Each one of them was covered in a liquid like substance, leaving Merrill covered in a blue and purple substance while Maril was covered in an inversely colored skin tight suit. She watched as her cousins faces disappeared as in place of their eyes became large white portals, almost like eyes on a mask, while their teeth became jagged razor sharp maws. She continued to kick and struggle, letting out a loud scream as her cousins raised her further above their monstrous forms.
"I always wanted to hear your scream, Diana," Maril said with evil glee. "Thank you for giving me that pleasure."
"And thank you for giving us the same! We love when our victims scream too."
Before Diana could do anything else a black blur shot straight past her face and straight into the face of Maril, who not only relinquished her grip on Diana but was thrown backwards straight into a parked ambulance, which crumpled at the sheer force of the impact. The grip on her being tightened once more, Diana watched another blur shoot out and just miss her head and hit Merrill directly in the mouth, sending her flying into a concrete pillar that smashed upon impact. The elder Cavendish then flew through some cars and crashed against the concrete wall, dropping Diana onto the ground. Quickly she held onto Hannah, trying to see if she still had a pulse. As she checked on Hannah she saw Maril, still in her monstrous form, began to loosen herself and stand up. Before should lunge at Diana a harsh, throaty, roaring sound ripped through the air behind them. Feeling a set of footsteps so heavy the ground was buckling under them, Diana looked over her shoulder to see yet another monstrous creature standing behind her. But despite looking like the form her two cousins were in, this monster was covered in veins and bulging muscles with a mostly black coloration and a large white marking on its chest. And while Merrill and Maril had jagged, colored mouths this monster had a maw filled with clearly defined dagger like white teeth, along with a reptilian like tongue snaking out from between them.
Before she could scream Diana watched as the hulking black monster plowed right into Maril, tackling her and punching her while Marrill proceeded to jump on its back. The black and white monster flared tendrils off of itself, much like Merrill and Maril had done, and sent the two monstrous women flying while it continued its assault. Reasoning that now was her best shot, Diana quickly went about the process of delivering CPR to Hannah, breathing into her mouth and doing chest compressions. After a few repetitions it worked, and the Auburn haired woman gasped for air as she came too.
"Hannah!" Diana exclaimed. She hugged her friend, though not overtly tightly. "Oh my gosh you're okay. Heavens I…"
"Diana, we gotta get out of here," Hannah said quickly. "You're cousins are trying to murder you! They're under some kind of influence."
"Influence?" Diana said confused. She looked back at her two cousins and the black creature, who were battling fiercely with one another and smashing each other against the ground and walls of the car park. "What do you mean by an influence?"
"It's something with The Life Foundation," Hannah explained. "Something about achieving a new peak in evolution or something, I don't really understand it. All I know is you need to get out of here. You can come with me and stay at Barbs' or something for a little while before…"
"No, that's not a good idea," Diana said. She reached into her pocket and pulled out the keys to her Jaguar. "Take my car and go as far away from the city as you possibly can."
"But what about you?" Hannah said confused.
"I'm staying here," Diana said. "I'm safer here if I lock down the building than I am if I were to go home." She hoisted her friend upright and began to move her toward her car.
Eventually she reached the vehicle and watched as Hannah got inside and started it. "Are you sure you'll be okay?"
"I'm sure," Diana said. "Just please, get somewhere safe." She reached in and hugged her friend tightly. "I'll see you, Hannah."
"You too," Hannah replied. And when they separated Hannah closed the window and drove off quickly out of the parking garage. Once she was gone Diana quickly made a sprint toward the nearest elevator, frantically pushing buttons until the door opened and she could get inside. But as soon as the door went to shut a monstrous set of purple claws reached between the closed doors and began to pry them open.
"Come on, Diana," Maril said tauntingly, an unearthly rasp coming off of her voice. Diana scrambled into the corner of the elevator and cowered as her cousin forced herself inside and loomed over her. "I said I would make this quick and easy. Don't make yourself suffer."
Frantically searching for a way to defend herself, Diana looked over and saw a defibrillator hanging on the wall. As Maril reached down for her Diana cracked open the defibrillator case, turned it on, and shoved the paddles directly into Maril's chest. Her cousin let out a ghastly wail in her monstrous form and recoiled back through the elevator door, letting it close and allowing Diana to make her escape. The elevator quickly made its way up the building yet it still seemed agonizingly slow.
When it finally reached the floor she was hoping for Diana bolted out of the elevator and tried to find the nearest police officer. With not one but three monsters, two of them which were out to kill her, fighting inside the hospital Diana needed to do something to get all the employees and the most able bodied patients out of the hospital. Frantically she searched for someone before deciding her best option was to call the police. She raced to her office and locked the door behind her. She ripped her office phone off it's receiver and quickly dialed 911.
"911, please state your emergency," the operator said.
"Hello, my name is Diana Cavendish, and the hospital I work at is under attack," Diana said quickly.
"Under attack from what?" the operator replied plainly.
"From...uh...umm…," Diana began, trying her best to describe what was going on in the garage of the hospital but unable to come up with the words.
"Ma'am are you there?"
"Yes I am," Diana replied. "It's under attack by…"
"Symbiotes," a female voice said from behind her.
Diana gasped sharply at the unknown voice. Turning her head slowly, she was greeted by a slithering inky black mass pouring from an air vent into her office and materializing into a standing form in front of her. Diana dropped the phone and fell back in terror, watching as the form grew a pair of eyes and clawed hands as it continued to tower over her. But before she could say anything or let out a scream, the inky mass morphed from something looking like whatever has overtaken her cousins to a much more humanoid appearance. In a matter of just over a minute there stood what appeared to be a woman in a shiny, inky outfit with light, almost puce covered hair that exposed only one eye, like some kind of a goth. She had a slim hourglass like figure yet had no visible legs or feet, just arms. She looked gothic in appearance and actually somewhat normal, though her appearance still left Diana crippled in fear.
"Don't worry, I'm not here to hurt you," the mass in the form of a woman said nonchalantly. "As much as I want to my other says I can't."
"Y-you're other?" Diana babbled nervously. "Who are you...what are you…"
"Oh yeah, my other was right. You really don't know anything about what The Life Foundation has been doing, especially to us Klyntar," the mass said.
"Klyntar?" Diana said confused. "What are you…"
"Just call us symbiotes," the mass said. "That's what I am, and those other two down in the garage are. They've bonded to those two humans trying who were trying to kill you and your friend before my other made us intervene."
"Bonded? You mean things like you, I mean,...symbiotes...you're saying my cousins are bonded to..symbiotes?"
"Yup. And my other followed them here after they kidnapped your friend. Our priority first was to warn you as to what was going on, but that obviously changed when we saw what they did. Thankfully, things aren't as bad as they seem."
"I fail to see how things couldn't be so bad when my cousins and their..symbiotes…are trying to eat me," Diana said matter of factly. She shuddered at the word symbiotes. She still had no idea what she was doing or what was going on beyond that Merrill and Maril were trying to kill her and she was talking with a corporeal inky creature who did not appear to be from the same planet.
"You don't realize it now but inside this place is a powerful weapon you can use to kill a symbiote," the female formed creature explained. The creature then paused and looked to her side, as if it had noticed something. "My other is coming. They can explain more and together we'll try to keep you safe. But we need to reach the weapon before it's too late. Think you can help us?"
"I…," Diana said, still not believing just what was going on. "I'll do my best. But what do I call your other? Who are they?"
"You'll know soon enough," the creature said. The creature then went to dematerialize, briefly turning back into a pile of liquid before Diana interrupted it and kept it in its humanoid appearance. "What?"
"You said your other...wouldn't let you hurt me," Diana said slowly. "Why is that? And why would you want to hurt me when I've never even met you before?"
"Why would I want to hurt you? Because my other likes you, and the feelings they devote to you are ones they could give me instead. Symbiotes thrive off of strong emotions like affection and desire. We hate competition for those feelings," the creature explained. "But my other is right when she says that you're innocent, and both of us have sworn to protect the innocent. Now go help my other if you want to get out of this alive."
The creature's feminine form gave way before Diana could ask just what the creature's "other" looked like and how she could help, slithering off through the duct which it came from and leaving Diana alone. Still in shock as to just what happened, Diana couldn't help but remain paralyzed in her office. She was only able to call 911 and explain that the patients of the hospital were under threat, but figured it was best if she stayed in her office. She was too frozen by fear to even contemplate what the symbiote was talking about.
"Diana?" another female voice, this one far more familiar, than that of the symbiote. "Diana, are you there?"
"Akko?" Diana looked up at her door from where she was sitting and cracked it open, looking briefly outside. Sure enough, standing there with a backpack on her back and wearing an orange zip up hoodie with khaki shorts and sneakers was Akko Kagari. "Akko, what are you doing here?"
"Oh my gosh, Diana!" Akko said. Quickly the Japanese woman bolted over to door and ran inside, locking it behind her and Diana. "You're okay! I'm so glad you're okay."
Much to Diana's surprise Akko reached out and hugged her tightly. Diana felt her heart flutter and was confused at first, unable to figure out how to return the display before briefly giving Akko a hug of her own. "I'm fine," she replied. "How did you find me?"
"It's hard to explain, but after I got all the dirt I could about what your family's company is doing with The Life Foundation I knew I had to show you before anyone else," Akko said. She reached into her backpack and pulled out a tablet computer to show Diana some files; everything from photographs to documents and videos. They all depicted experiments with symbiote in test chambers with the ensuing carnage from slaughtered test subjects who were deemed unworthy to utilize the alien creatures, who had been found in a crashed spacecraft somewhere not far from the city. Diana was shocked by all this, but nothing stunned her more than one of the videos which showed her aunt Daryl and her cousins standing in the background watching as an innocent person only named "Test Subject 300", whose face was blurred and voice obscured, screamed in agony as a black symbiote overtook their body and writhed in pain.
She couldn't believe this. "Why?" she said shakily. "What's the purpose of dealing with such monstrosities? Why waste innocent lives like this?"
"There's no time to explain," Akko said as she took the tablet away. "Your cousins have bonded to a pair of symbiotes and they're coming after you. But there's a way we can take them down, the three of us, if we work together."
The three of them? Diana wasn't sure she heard that correctly but decided to cast it aside. "How do we do it?"
"The sonic chamber," Akko said. "The same source who gave me this info told me that symbiotes are vulnerable to intense heat and high frequency sonic vibrations. If we can lure your cousins into the sonic chamber we can use that to separate them from their symbiotes and take them down like normal people."
"Are you sure that it'll work?" Diana asked.
"It's all we got to go off of," Akko said. "Can you take us to the sonic chamber?"
Diana was unsure just how to act. She had never been in a situation where her life was threatened like this. A good part of her wanted to stay huddled in her office and wait for the police to arrive. Maybe they could deal with her symbiote just fine. But the police could be some time away from arriving, and the longer they waited the greater the chance that anyone from hospital employees to doctors and nurses could die. Worst of all her cousins could turn on the patients of Lady Beatrix's, and Diana swore that she would never let any of them get hurt on her watch.
"The chamber is on the other side of the complex in Building B," Diana explained. "We'll have to go there on foot from here."
"Then let's go," Akko said. The Japanese girl stood up and went for the door.
"Wait," Diana said, stopping Akko with a hand on her shoulder. "What if my cousins find us?"
Much to her surprise Akko took Diana's hand and held it tight, which made Diana's mind and heart slow down greatly. "I won't let anything get in our way, and neither will my other. Neither of them will lay a finger on someone as innocent as you." Akko turned back to the door. "Come on, we need to move now if we want to stop them." Akko opened the door and they walked out into the hallway slowly. "Don't worry, my other is close by. They'll keep watch while we get to the chamber."
Though still afraid but assured somewhat by Akko's declaration, Diana made her way out of the office and led Akko down the halls of the hospital. The whole time they were quiet, but Diana thought every moment about things Akko had said. Three of them? Akko's other? Disturbing thoughts began to fill Diana's mind as they made their way to the sonic chamber. Surely, Diana thought, that Akko was just speaking strangely. Akko wasn't actually in the same state as her cousins. Akko couldn't possibly be bonded to a symbiote, could she?
Could she be that symbiote's "other", whatever that meant?
Trying to push those thoughts out of her mind, Diana kept walking until they made their way to a glass enclosed pathway several stories in the air that connected both of Lady Beatrix's Buildings. Without a second thought both of them made their way across the catwalk. But before they could get there Akko quickly tackled Diana to the ground. Diana demanded to know the meaning of this, but was interrupted by the sound of crashing metal and glass as dust filled the pathway. Coughing as she looked up from the ground, Diana looked up and saw two hazy figures that soon gave way to her two cousins, both still in their monstrous symbiote forms.
"Well well well," Maril said wickedly. "It seems like Subject 300 escaped."
"Surprising," Merrill said. She reached down and grabbed Akko by the neck with a clawed hand, holding her up as Akko kicked and writhed in her grasp. "I didn't think she was strong enough, that our new better halves killed her back in at The Life Foundation."
Diana watched with wide eyes as Maril punched a hole in the glass and Merrill walked Akko over to it, holding her against the cracked pane while both women smiled wicked smiles. "What are you doing to her?"
"Oh nothing," Maril chuckled. "We're just going to make sure that unlike your other friend, who we'll tear limb from limb when we find her, she dies in a painless way. And then we'll take our sweet time eating you." The blue and white monster of a woman cackled as she held Akko over the edge. "Any last words, you little wench?"
"Yeah," Akko squeezed out of her mouth. "Bite me!"
All three Cavendishes raised their eyebrows. At that proclamation Diana watched as the black symbiote, this time in its amorphous liquid form, slithered behind Merrill and Maril and wrap itself around them. But instead of choking her cousins the symbiote entangled itself with its kind and went to work, thrashing and tearing at Merrill and Maril with jagged teeth from a series of maws. Diana watched her cousins scream as they relinquished Akko and stumbled backwards. The black symbiote tore away, revealing half of Merrill and Maril's human faces and part of their torsos before being ripped off and cast asunder.
The symbiote then slithered across the floor back to Akko, who was laying crumbled upon the floor but then began to stand up. "We hope you liked that," Akko said harshly. "Because your suffering has only just begun."
Diana watched as Akko began to walk forward toward Merrill and Maril, a stern yet wicked look coming across her face as she came closer. Maril sent a tendril from her symbiote out at Akko but Diana watched the Japanese woman slap it away with her hand. More tendrils shot out from both women, but all were met with the same fate. Diana watched as the shorter Japanese woman looked over her two cousins, both of which were crawling back defensively. The heiress couldn't help but stare in shock and mutter the exact same words her cousin Merrill did. "What the hell are you?"
At that moment the tendrils that had been defending Akko slowly began to wrap around her legs. "We're poison to those who prey on the innocent. We're a bane to vile monsters like you. We…"Diana watched as Akko reached down and grabbed both of her cousins by the throats. The black symbiote continued its way up Akko's body, and as it did Akko began to grow in size, with muscles bugling from every part of her as black and white markings overtook her body and she grew taller in size. Diana watched as the inky creature made its final transformation of Akko, covering Akko's head while giving her a jagged mouth of razor sharp teeth and nefarious looking white spots for eyes. It stared directly into the faces of her cousins with a sinister gaze before speaking in a voice that seemed to combine Akko's voice with the one of the creature she had conversed with before. "Are Venom!"
Diana was left frozen in place. The symbiote, the very symbiote that she had spoken to in her office, was bonded with Akko. And not only was it bonded with her like her cousins with their symbiotes, Akko and it had given themselves a name, a name fitting given how vile and monstrous they were in their full flourished form.
She watched as Merrill and Maril flared their symbiotes and broke free of Venom's grasp, jumping backwards to the other side of the hallway. "Diana, if you want to live we suggest you set out to accomplish our main objective." Diana remained frozen in place for a moment, unsure just what she should do. Before she had a chance to move Maril lunged at her. Venom wound up a punch and hit the blonde square in the jaw, sending her flying down the hallway and crashing through a wall. "Go, now!"
Realizing she might die if she stood still and not wanting to test the larger symbiote's and Akko's patience, Diana quickly ran across the overpass and bolted to the stairs. As she entered the stairwell the wall in front of her crashed and knocked her backwards. Merrill stood in front of her, symbiote tendrils flaring off as she went to grab Diana. A black line of material flew in and grabbed Merrill, pulling her back from the stairwell as Venom came back into view. "I don't have time for competition like you!" the elder Cavendish hissed.
"Competition? Who said anything about competition? We're Diana's Protector!" Merrill broke free of the material and went for Diana again, but not before Venom jumped in and landed a punch to her chest. Merrill charged back at Venom, slicing the symbiote's face with spikes protruding from her hands. Diana wanted to help, her medically inclined instincts kicking into gear before Venom helped up a clawed hand to stop her. The symbiote then closed its wound rapidly, much to Diana's surprise. "The chamber, go!"
Diana picked up her pace and began to bolt up the stairs toward the chamber. The whole time she heard nothing but crashing walls and metal mixed with the growls of the symbiotes below her fighting each other blow for blow. The chaos was soon picked up by the hospital staff, who began bolting in various directions to try and get away from the insanity that was occurring inside of Lady Beatrix's. Diana kept on running up and the stairs and through the halls, gasping for air as the symbiotes gained pace on her. At one point she stumbled and watched as a purple and blue tendril shot behind her and grabbed her by the ankle but not before it was slashed free and she was given leeway to bolt. As the chaos continued to grow Diana couldn't help but look behind her and watch as Venom not only defended her from her cousins, but patients and doctors as well. The younger Cavendish was amazed and awestruck by all this. Not only had she never thought her cousins to be this cruel as to go after innocent people, but she had never in years expected that someone like this would be looking out for her, not someone with such power.
Finally, after sprinting for what felt like miles and with adrenaline flowing through her, Diana reached the sonic chamber. Hastily opening the door with her security card she locked herself inside and went straight for the control room. She looked over at the machine baffled, unsure of what to do other than how to turn the machine on, as she had never operated it herself. A crash wrang out through the chamber and Diana ducked, poking up her head as the dust settled to see Venom lying on the ground. Merrill and Maril jumped through the walls and went straight for the black symbiote, grabbing it by the throat and holding it up with dagger like hands.
"Diana, turn on the sonics," Venom writhed. "Please!"
Diana was frozen with fear. "But wouldn't it hurt you too, Akko?"
"If you don't then we'll both surely die," Venom said, breaking free and tackling Merrill to the ground while holding off Maril with its fist. "Do it, now!"
The three symbiotes continued to do battle with one another, furiously dealing each other blows as they moved throughout the sonic chamber. Hastily Diana began to push buttons and turn knobs, trying anything she could to activate the machine and do something. At first nothing happened but when Diana struck a certain combination of buttons a pulsing frequency began to grow in the room. It thumped the walls from the specialized speakers and beams that permeated the chamber, all of them designed to target specific tumor infested areas of a person's body. The sound made all three symbiotes pause and stumble backwards, Venom in particular holding its head in agony as the frequencies continued. Seeing how the sound incapacitated the three symbiotes Diana quickly began to turn more dials and listened as the sonic vibrations upped in speed and volume, growing louder and harsher with each turn of a knob and push of a button. Merrill and Maril screamed in agony, pounding their fists into the floor in pain as the volume continued. Venom fell backwards on the floor and began to recede from Akko, slipping off of her to reveal the Japanese girl underneath the symbiote. Merrill and Maril's symbiotes soon began to do the same, falling off completely and going to slither away as her cousins lay on the floor of the sonic chamber completely limp. Seeing the symbiotes try to retreat and seeing Akko, the woman who had risked so much to protect her, on the ground in immense pain, Diana activated an emergency kill switch and shut off the sonic chamber, killing the noise inside.
Once it was silent Diana ran from the control room and went straight to Akko's side, the Japanese girl lying crumpled upon the floor of the sonic chamber. "Akko," she said quickly, checking to see if the Japanese girl had a pulse. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah," Akko winced. "I'm okay."
"Oh thank goodness," Diana said. She reached down and hugged Akko tightly, unsure where the hug was coming from but just thankful that the Japanese girl was okay. Akko pushed her away gently and began to stand up. "Akko?"
"This isn't over," Akko said as she stood up, cracking her neck both sides. She slowly stood up and clenched her fists, looking at Merrill and Maril's symbiotes. The creatures were lying in the corner of chamber, to weak to bond with their hosts again but not quite dead. Akko made her way slowly toward the symbiotes, Venom slowly creeping up behind her and overtaking her body until she grew into her monstrous form. Diana then watched as Venom grabbed the two other symbiotes, held them in its hands, and shoved them down its throat, the two other creatures screaming as they were shredded in Venom's razor sharp maw.
"Now for you two," Venom said. Diana raised her eyebrow and looked over at the hulking black monster, watching as it starred nefariously at Merrill and Maril, who both lay naked on the floor of the sonic chamber. Both women began to come to from the sonic assault and separation from their symbiotes, looking up in fear at the monster before them. "Both of you are despicable." Venom grabbed both women and held them up with its hands, both Merrill and Maril making gagging noises as the symbiote held them by their throats. "Preying on the innocent. You both bring nothing but pain, misery, and death to those who don't deserve it."
"Akko, what are you…"
Before Diana could finish her sentence she watched as Venom flared tendrils off of its body and sent them snaking up Merrill and Maril's arms and toward their mouths. "Now you'll do nothing," Venom began, snaking the tendrils from its body up into Merrill and Maril's throats and nostrils. "You'll do nothing but decay, running in rivulets of rot and corruption as you mingle with the rest of the filth that is your kind." Diana now knew what was happening; Venom was trying to kill her cousins to protect her, trying to suffocate them from the inside.
"No!" Quickly Diana bolted back to to the control room and re engaged the sonic chamber, sending the frequencies back into the room and making the symbiote retreat until they were shut back off and Venom dropped her cousins. "No! No, I won't let you!"
Akko, still covered halfway by the symbiote but kneeling on the ground in pain, watched as Diana rushed up and punched her in the exposed face, holding her cheek as the symbiote slowly began to recover around her. "Why?" Akko said perplexedly. "They were trying to kill you this whole time."
"Because," Diana began, in shock over the fact that she had punched someone, much less someone as apparently as strong as Akko or Venom was. "Mercy is one of the core values of the Cavendish family. Beatrix herself would help save anyone, no matter who they were or what they may have done, they all deserved to be saved. None of them deserved to die. It would go against everything my family stands for to allow you to kill them, even after all they've done to me." Diana watched Akko stare her down as the symbiote began to overtake the Japanese girl. "Please, Akko. Please don't do this. Your symbiote told me that you two want to protect the innocent and if you were to kill my cousins than you would be just as guilty as they are. Please, I'm begging you, don't do this!"
There was a pause between them as the symbiote completely overtook Akko and Venom stood before Diana once more. The monstrous creature looked back over at her cousins, who were now lying knocked out on the floor. Footsteps them began to make their way down the hall. Both Diana and Venom poked their heads out the door to see a group of heavily armed policemen making their way down the halls to secure the area. Unsure as to what would happen, Diana watched as Venom snaked its way off Akko and wrapped itself around her cousins, slithering them out into the hallway for them to see before coming back to Akko. "You're not safe here," Akko said as the symbiote began to overtake her. "There will be more who will come after you. I...We...can't let you get hurt." Venom reached over and grabbed Diana, pulling her in close and staring at her with its jagged eyes, its reptilian tongue and saliva dripping from its mouth. Diana went to scream, the symbiote appearing to go back on its word and hurt her despite what it had said before. But instead of devouring her it receded and revealed Akko's face, which bore a look of concern and empathy that Diana immediately could tell was genuine. "Do you trust us?"
Diana paused before looking deep into Akko's red eyes, confirming that the Japanese girl was genuine and wasn't going to hurt her. "I trust you, Akko," Diana said quickly. "But can I trust...your other?"
The symbiote then slithered up Akko's face and covered her completely, staring at Diana with a terrifying yet serious look on its face. "You can." Diana was carried out of the sonic chamber and toward a window in the hospital. Venom reared back its fist and punched through the glass, revealing cop cars surrounding the hospital and helicopters flying overhead. When one of the aircraft passed Venom held out its arm and shot a black line of material out that grappled onto a nearby building. "Hang onto us. We wouldn't want you to fall."
Nodding, Diana wrapped her arms around Venom's neck. Venom then kicked off and swung away on the line, shooting another one out with its hand as it flung them from building to building across the city. And although she was scared Diana knew deep down that she was safe in the hands of Akko and the symbiote, and that she would always be protected by Venom.