Mania 1.3
Valentine's day is tomorrow… or is it today? Humans have a strange way of measuring time with am and pm. If it's twelve pm we get food but if it's twelve am it's a new day. We look at Taylor's clock and notice it's two zero zero am… so it is today. Learned from Flash that it is good to give gifts on this day. He gave some to Betty, his mom, his sister and even one to the Betrayer. He said that it was a day to give to the special people, especially women, in our life, and Taylor is very special.
She wants to be a hero, and therefore we will be a hero again. But first we teach hereverything they taught me.I don't think I could be a villain again… hurt too many people.
Like in the TV show!
"We can rebuild him. We have the technology. We can make him better than he was. Better, stronger, faster."
Change her body to make it stronger, like the Asgardians Gargan loved to devour. Muscles are compact and skin like theirs. Now, even without me she would be fine. Not that we will ever be apart. She'll be fast and in time I'll teach her how Flash taught me! Taylor is special now, but I can make her so much more special, just need time.
I miss having a TV in the same room where we sleep. It's the best way to learn things, like how to better my connection to my hosts! It used to be that I threaded tendrils around the spinal column and penetrated the mid-brain with neuroreceptors but I learned from what happened to Eddie and now I am as much a part of Taylor as she is of me.
Another step closer to Hybridization.
A step closer to perfect symbiosis
"You will travel far, my little Kal-El, but we will never leave you-even in the face of our deaths. You will make my strength your own. You will see my life through your eyes, as your life will be seen through mine. The son becomes the father. And the father, the son."
We will be great.
Taylor dreams… can see those clearly but I can't hear her thoughts when she sleeps.She dreams of her own Betrayer but she doesn't attack like Eddie would No, she smiles with our teeth and walks past her where she is greeted by a floating woman in black armor. She looks down on us proudly and says something that brings feelings of elation to Taylor.
She reminds me of Captain America. She brings out the same feelings as the old super soldier did for a few of my former hosts. Eddie and Flash loved Captain America. With Eddie we fought alongside him against our Bastard Spawn and with Flash we saved New York… We fought against him a few days later in the snow… but we saved his life. Which is good! Bad we fought, good we save!
But this woman is no Captain America. When our Bastard Spawn took over the small town of Doverton, Colorado, Steve Rogers charged in without a thought to free the Innocent. He didn't give the order to pull back. He didn't allow that waste of Genetic Material to ruin those innocents' lives. He charged in there with the intent of driving the Sickness out. Even when he was being tortured, he gave the signal and me and Flash…
No, Flash and I, Taylor doesn't like it when Iuse the wrong kind of grammar, used beat Cletus within an inch of his life. Flash couldn't kill him, no matter how hard I begged. Too soft instead he took Cletus to Thunderbolts mountain where he escaped and slaughtered again. I had killed Carnage once but Cletus brought him back.
But this woman, Alexandria, she abandoned an entire town to a filthy Goblin called Nilbog. But it wasn't just her. Legend and Eidolon; they let the Guilty flourish at the cost of the Innocent. Allowing Nilbog and those like him to live is an injustice I wouldn't tolerate if my Taylor allowed me to do something about it.
"I will not tolerate- I will not allow any talk of the necessity of necessary evil. I have spent my life on that line and every time I've seen someone cross it death and horror and shame was what followed. I will not entertain it."
I linger in the dream for a few more minutes before turning my attention away and opening the window. It is good to see Taylor smiling but it is better to see her smile when she is awake and aware. We take the form we took in my adventures through space because it is less likely to draw comparisons, as my other forms would to Taylor's preferred style. We then jump down to the roof of the garage and begin my sprint towards Taylor's gift.
Taylor is special and our bond goes deeper than the others. Where the connection with most of my former [MR20] hosts weren't complete, Taylor accepted our bond readily and fully. It wasn't poisoned by feelings of anger like Eddie, or the incompatibility with Flash… it felt a lot like the Betrayer. But Taylor is so different from him that there is little doubt in my mind that she will never cast me off.
The run takes us into docks where I stick to the shadows to avoid detection. This area is filled with the Guilty. It is regrettable that I simply do not have the time to deal with them, but I know that Taylor can be guided back here easily on our patrols. This conglomerate of Guilty like to mark themselves with green and red so they will be easy to identify when the time comes to free the Innocents from their oppressors.
Once I reach the water, I dive in and allow us to sink into the black depths. I see many strange fish beneath the waves in the liquid black, but they avoid us like the predator that we are. Eventually we come upon a large circular stone door that had been pushed outwards when I escaped from this place.
Crawling inside was easier with a host than breaking out of it was without one.
It took five more minutes of swimming before we reached the ruins of what used to be a submarine and above it an opening that allowed us into the laboratory. Emerging from the depths we immediately saw the lower half of the rotting corpse that belonged to the man responsible for bringing me here.
In this world he was villain known as Professor Haywire but in mine he was a hero that the people knew as Mister Fantastic. It was funny 'cause this guy wasn't from this Earth and fell in neither category. This Reed Richards had been an amoral opportunist with multiple bases on this Earth. He was a thief that liked to scavenge battlefields across the multiverse for technology, and one day he came upon me… it isn't a day that I want to remember.
It was a very sad day.
But he had a good assortment of gifts I could give Taylor.
Not that I would give her all these potential gifts… that would spoil her, and heroes cannot be spoiled.
But what to choose?
There are a few things that I recognize from my former Earth: Vibranium shield, Falcon's wings, Ant-Man's helmet and suit, classic Wasp suit, an Ultron head, Magneto's helmet, large metal box , Black Widow's shock wrist things…
As I look across the many gifts I can choose from I feel a foreign emotion just outside my sense of awareness.It's feels mature but at the same time nubile… and then I hear the echo of a voice speak in a tongue that my species used in ancient times. It was a single word before the emotion disappeared into the darkness of our shared mind.
I froze for an instant and dove into our mind in search of the source of the voice only stopping to inspect the Intruder. It was asleep like I had left it but we lingered there as I pondered the word…
{Query}
It means question.
And this raises more question than this single 'query'. Worrying but there were far more pressing manners. If and when this becomes a problem we will deal with it. Till then our focus is required elsewhere.
Looking over the neatly organized array of loot I begin to scatter the boxes, opening and closing them with mounting dissatisfaction until I to the first box I had looked over. I open the one thing I do not recognize. Our claws dig into the steel box, and with a mighty yank one of its sides was ripped open and I could sense a familial pull.
A dog with light brown fur strutted out wagging its tail, still healthy after weeks of being trapped in a box. The dog looked at us and I stared back at it and we grinned.
My Taylor will love this!
XxX
It's Monday.
And it makes me want to scream. Not because it's Monday, but because it symbolizes anther week of looking over our shoulder waiting for another shoe to drop. Waiting for Emma and her cronies to continue their harassment. Despite being ready for them, it still drags on my soul, to have to hide and fight every moment. Once to survive and now to maintain control, of both sides of myself. My other half has more uses than just being a hero; it knows how to hide in plain sight, how to get in close get the scoop and if you're lucky get the shot.
Camera shot. Apparently my beloved other has some serious knowledge about tabloid reporting and other journalistic styles. I wouldn't even need to goad them; we just have to lead them to place where we can set up some cameras. Then we can sell the story as Felicia to the Brockton Daily, make some cash, and hopefully ruin the lives of Blackwell, the Trio, and the faculty at Winslow.
…
A girl can dream. This dream is certainly better than the alternative one.
Chances are that whatever I dig up will likely be buried by whoever is keeping my bullying from being dealt with, but the mere opportunity of ruining some Guilty asshole's day is far too good to pass up… even if we suspect it's Dad's best friend. Okay, so maybe there isn't any evidence that Alan was shielding Emma or that he has any knowledge of what the Traitor has been doing to me but who else has the power and influence to pull it off? Zoe was a housewife through and through and Emma's older sister Anne was taking classes in New York.
Sophia, for all her track star trophies and athletic achievements is a nobody. Her father left her mom when she was kid. Her mom was nothing special in school, simply an athlete like her daughter and dropped out of collage when she got knocked up with Sophia. She still lives in a shabby apartment near the southern edge of the city and works as a waitress at a roadside dinner six miles out of the city. Sophia does have a younger brother who is seven, but unless he's a thinker we can clearly write him off.
John and Margaret Clements are… not what we would expect from someone who gave birth to Madison. For all accounts and purposes, they are genuinely good people. Pillars of the community that volunteer at shelters every other week, one of my sources claims. John runs a small novelty bookstore in the Market while Margaret works as a transcriber for the Lord's street courthouse. We dug into their financial records and there is nothing sketchy about them.
Which leaves Alan who works at the same office as Carol Dallon of New Wave. He's also friends with one of the mayor's aides and is having an affair with a Dominatrix that goes by the name Frigga. No connection to the E88. If she did, then that could be used to sink his carrier faster than covering for his daughter would. I really don't' want to do that to Zoe and Anne but the Guilty must pay for their crimes.
Speaking of relationships… it's Valentine's Day. Which means I probably won't see Dad today unless he hasn't already left for work.
We sigh as we shift in bed, and action that was closely followed by a whine. Now normally I would attribute that to our increased weight straining the bed but there was something particularly cute and not at all metallic about this whine that forced my eyelids to part.
Sitting across the room from me is a large four-legged monstrosity with four sets white eyes looking right at me from the corner of my room. It's head and body are military green while its two front legs and paws are green bordering on black, its right back leg was a vibrant yellow, and its left hind leg is a violet, pink, and black mess. The only thing that stopping me from webbing the creature to the wall was my dear other, who was standing next to it with a proud smile on his face obviously oblivious to the shock that was definitely clear on my face.
"HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!" My other shouts in glee. The creature barks like a dog and pounces onto the bed. I was surprised that my 'spider' sense didn't alert me of any danger as it began its barrage of slimy licks with its long, prehensile tongue. The creature shifted shapes, shedding the multicolored look that made it look so alien and replaced it with a large but normal looking German Shepherd.
We almost forgot about our plans for righteous vengeance as we wrestled with what was apparently my new dog. In their place were four words… or names in this case that floated happily in their place.
Lasher
Phage
Riot
Agony
How the fuck am I supposed to explain the dog to dad?
XxX
A/N: Introducing the all purpose tentacle attacks, she protects and most important of all she's really fun to pet!A little bit of history for those not so into the Marvel universe as I am. Hybrid is the combination of of four of the five Life Foundation Symbiotes. These symbiotes are weaker than their sibling Carnage and their parent Venom.I theorize it is because they weren't 'born' naturally and weren't allowed to find their ideal hosts. Together they make a powerful symbiote called but they can be used separately as shown in the pages of Carnage USA by Mercury Team. War Dog or Lasher, as she comes to be known once Deapool takes on Carnage.
So what do you think of a peek at Venom's psyche?
Ten Days till Canberra. (In Story)
