This chapter and the next one, follows the events of Episode 2 of the Flash season 1.
Chapter 4: The New Guy Part 2
(Three days later)
No matter what universe, he was in. One thing remained the same for Seth Rogers. He hates mornings. The feeling of annoying morning daylight hitting his eyes, irritated him beyond any measures.
But he had to wake up, wake up and take care of his business. Though waking up in a hammock between two buildings is not a good way to start his day. "Argh… remind me web up a pillow before doing this." Seth told himself as raised himself from his hammock.
"Duly noted. Though finding a home of sorts would not be a bad choice, would it partner?" The symbiote told his host and reminding him of his missing accommodation.
"Yeah, Yeah. I know, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it." He answered as he rubbed the last sleep of his eyes. Taking down the hammock before he dropped down to the ground. His stomach chose this moment to let out a growling sound, indicating of his hunger. "But first, breakfast."
Thankfully, he chose a spot to sleep not too far from Jitters. After his first visit with Detective West, he had gotten most of his daily meals there. Aside from dinner then it was Big Belly Burger, also with the detective. Since he came to this universe, he had built a good relationship with the detective, who had quickly grown acquaintance with the mutant now. Apparently, fathers of any universe can become best friends quickly.
Stepping through the door of Jitters, Seth saw there was not that many customers today, though it was early in the day, so not much to say to that. The line was short, so the mutant didn't have to wait long for his turn. "Oh, hi Seth, the usual for you?" Stacy, the barista asked her new regular that have been coming in almost every day lately.
"Yes please, Stacey and to-go this time. And also, a dozen of your best chocolate doughnuts." Seth replied as the young woman handed him a large cup of coffee in a to-go cup. The anti-hero immediately took a large sip of it, already feeling the caffeine doing its magic.
"So, Seth how's it going so far? You settling in nicely?" Stacey asked, playing with a lock of her hair while she made eyes at him. "Must be weird in a new town and all."
"The young female is very interested. The urge to mate is strong…" The symbiote told its host with a chuckle.
"Could you please not say it like that?" he asked his partner annoyingly before he smiled at the barista. "Well so far, its' been great actually. Just been sleeping around different places, and been having a great time with a new friend."
He took a sip from his cup before continuing. "Plus, the view here isn't so bad." The barista blushed at his words before handing him his order.
Taking the doughnuts with a big smile, Seth went to the exit. "She's still watching your rear, and so is the waitress passing by." His "other" stated to the host, who walked out of the door and, once he was out of sight, he jumped up to the nearest rooftop to eat his breakfast.
"Thought as much, but I'm not looking for anything right now. Especially dating, right now. Right now, we have to prioritize our orders."
"That is true, but as you've told your students back home before. You have to let loose once in a while, not be so uptight, we think you said once."
"Might be true. But with how things are right now, letting loose is not an option right now." He answered as he finished another doughnut. His "other" silently agreeing with him.
"What did you feel from that girl, Frankie Kane, from last night?" Seth asked his partner out loud, thinking back to that girl from yesterday.
"She seemed troubled… hurt a little. Kinda like you at the beginning of our bonding. And she seemed frightened of the very thought of going home." The symbiote commented. "Perhaps there is some similarities between the two of you in some way."
"Maybe. Just felt something about her seemed weird, like she was really hurt. Kinda felt like with Liv, back when we were kids… when we only knew one thing…"
"Hell." The symbiote finished off his host's sentence. The mutant host dreaded the feeling of another young kid like himself and his sister had to go through a similar painful experience.
Finishing off the last doughnut, he went to leap back down to the ground when the sound of screaming could be heard. Looking off into the distance, Seth saw a big smoke. It was about five buildings ahead of him.
Knowing what possibly happen to any residents, he made his move. "Time to go to work." He started running in that direction. His clothes shifted while he moved, slowly becoming his suit as he leaped to the next building. His head engulfed, letting his demon face breathe in Central City air again before sprinted off to the next building.
Some people down on the streets saw something big running on top of the buildings, but that was the least of Seth's concern. The anti-hero landed on the edge of another rooftop on a building on the street opposite of the burning building. A crowd had gathered on the entrance of the building, some of them having smokes on their faces and other coughing viciously.
Venom saw a woman running around in the crowd, as if she was looking for something or someone. "Paige! My daughter! Has anyone seen my daughter?" she shouted out desperately while in search of her daughter.
The anti-hero set his eyes towards the burning building, knowing the daughter was still inside. "You ready for this Venom?" he asked his partner as he readied himself for action. "Save her daughter." The symbiote stated seriously. Seth smiled in his Venom form, showing off all his teeth.
Letting off a bellowing roar, the crowd's attention turned to the source. Their eyes widened in shock to see a giant black demon, that a second later leaped down to the front of the building, before jumping into the fire itself. As he acted, he ignored the shouts from the crowd.
Fire was everywhere on in the hallway he landed in, but the fire was the least of his worries. There was a kid inside of this building, and he was only one who could save her. "Where is she?" he said out loud, with all of his senses extended to their limits.
"Mom?" his attention diverted to a small young girl who had small smoke marks on her body and a teddy bear clutched in her right hand. "Mommy!" she shouted for her mother. She was on the other end of the hall, a sea of fire between him and her.
"Fire was never our enemy." The symbiote assured its host, who sprinted towards the girl, who was shocked when she was suddenly pulled into his chest as fire erupted behind her. Venom took the erupting flames, absorbing the fire when they connected with him.
"Can't absorb it with the kid in here." He thought before wrapping his arms around the girl and dashing towards the nearest window. Once within reach, he jumped out the nearest window. The moment he landed on the ground, he snapped his head up to meet the frightened eyes of the other residents who backed away from the sight of him.
But he paid no mind to that as his eyes searched for someone. His eyes perking up when he saw the mother from before. Opening up his arms, the mother's eyes snapped up in tearful joy when she saw her daughter, safe and sound.
"Paige!" The mother shouted as she ran towards Venom.
"Mommy!" the daughter shouted back as she hugged her mother who brought her child closer to herself in a tight embrace.
The mother raised her head to meet the eyes of the one who saved her daughter. "Thank you. Thank you so much." She said with sobbing eyes. "God bless you."
The anti-hero nodded his head before turning to the young girl in her mother's embrace. The daughter lifted her head happily when she saw the hero give back her teddy bear after dusting it off a bit. She hugged her teddy bear tightly with a bright smile. "Thank you, mister."
"You are welcome, young one." He said with his demonic voice, neither mother or daughter flinching from his voice. He raised back to his feet and turned back to the burning building.
Gathering up wind in both of his palms, Seth slammed them both together, sending a powerful blast of wind towards the building, the fire instantly killed upon collision with the wind.
Applause could be heard from behind him causing him to turn his head, seeing all the residents shouting "Thank you" and other words of appreciation and lots of cheering. The anti-hero raised an eye curiously at their applause before giving them a salute before shooting a tendril from his hand and launched himself into the air. Swinging around and disappearing out of sight.
Unknown to the anti-hero, another man was watching him from a distance. A man in red suit from top to bottom. In middle of his chest was a device placed in the shape of a lightning bolt. "What the…" he said, he pressed the microphone in lightning bolt on the collar of his suit. "Cisco, did you see that?" he asked with an astonished voice.
"Barry, it's Caitlin." The reply came.
Instantly Barry Allen became worried and tried to think of way out. "Hey, Caitlin. How's your day?" he tried to play it off.
"Get back to S.T.A.R. Labs. Now." Came the cold reply from the young doctor.
Barry with a defeated voice said, "On my way." Before he went to dash off, but halting when he suddenly felt weak in his body. Shaking the feeling off, he dashed to S.T.A.R. Labs.
X
(S.T.A.R. Labs)
"Have you both lost you minds?" Caitlin asked Cisco and Barry as she now knows what the two of them have been up to. Neither Cisco nor Caitlin saw the speedster's shocked face. "Who do you think you are?"
"Well, I'm the eyes and ears, and he's the feet." Cisco answered the doctor.
"This isn't funny. You could have gotten yourself killed." She and the others moved into the Cortex. "You can't be running around the city like some supersonic fireman." She told the resident speedster.
"Why not?" he countered before continuing. "This is what we talked about: Me using my speed to do good."
The night of the particle accelerator explosion caused a giant thundercloud to form, Barry Allen was hit by lightning that was infused with dark-matter, an unknown element that was released from the explosion. As a result, from being hit by lightning that night, he was put into a coma for nine months. And when he woke up from his coma, he discovered that he had the ability of super speed.
That the problem then, and the problem now is Caitlin dealing with her colleagues' choices.
"We talked about you helping us contain other people who might have been affected by the particle accelerator explosion. Meta-humans." The doctor announced. "And aside from Clyde Mardon, we haven't found any."
Barry gained a sheepish look at her last words, something both S.T.A.R. Labs employees picked up. "Actually, that's not true. I think, at least"
"What do you mean, Mr. Allen?" the three of them turned around see the founder of S.T.A.R. Labs, Harrison Wells wheel himself in on his wheelchair. "Did you see something out there today?" the paralyzed scientist asked.
"Yeah. Something, alright." He said, gaining the attention of those around him. "I don't what it was, I think it was another meta-human. But this guy was…I don't know, different." He said, not knowing how to describe the appearance of the giant demon.
"Different how?" Wells asked curiously with narrowed eyes.
"You mean like this?" Cisco said after typing around on his tablet, bringing the others attention to the screens on the wall. Showcasing a video taken from cellphone, a video of what happened at the fire. The scientists widened their eyes when they laid their eyes upon the roaring demon who charged into the building.
"What is that?" Caitlin asked both worried and curious.
They watched as a few seconds later the same black demon jumped out of the building with a young girl wrapped tightly around with its arms. Caitlin felt her heart skip a beat as the demon gave the young girl her teddy bear back. Harrison watched with passive eyes, wondering what this player might do now. Cisco grew a smile when he saw the demon's suit and the face.
"Dope suit." He said, the others giving him with "are you serious?"-eyes. "What? It's a really great suit. And that demon-head, he got going on: I'm really digging that."
"Yeah but that's not all he has or can do." The others wondered what Barry meant by that, before the video showed the demon slamming his hands together, the fire dying down immediately. "He didn't even go near the fire, except when he went in to save the girl, and was able to kill the fire off with just his hands." The speedster told his friends as the video ended.
"So, he's another meta?" Cisco asked the other S.T.A.R. Labs residents.
"Maybe? But can something like that even be a meta?" Barry asked them, the video showing the demon saluting to the crowd.
"Question for another time, perhaps. But for now, let's keep a close eye on him. And you as well." Harrison said as he wheeled himself to the computers.
"So, what's your take on this guy? Good? Bad?" Cisco asked.
"I don't know. But, I mean this guy did save a kid, so he can't be that bad." Caitlin said before she went to ' side.
"Hey, uh…Anything happen out there today?" Cisco asked Barry as he moved closer to the speedster. "The sensors in the suit were kicking back some weird telemetry, like your vitals spiked for a few seconds."
"Never felt better." Barry waved off his friend's worries. Cisco accepted the answer, as a beeping sound came from his pocket, producing Barry's phone. With a sigh, the speedster answered the call. "Hey, Joe, everything all right?" he asked his adoptive father.
"Great." Came the strange reply from the detective. "I got a fresh crime scene… A dead body… Detectives interviewing witnesses… Miles of that yellow tape stretched over everything. I'm only missing one thing. Can you guess what that is?" his adoptive dad asked rhetorically.
"I'll be right there." The speedster said immediately before hanging up. "My day job beckons." He said to the air, before turning around and dashing out, a gust of wind blasting paper all around the Cortex.
Harrison noticed something as the speedster dashed. "When do you think he'll realize he didn't take his clothes?"
X
"Good thing we never considered low profile when we got here." The symbiote said, as he and the host watched the video of themselves as Venom saving the child from the burning building.
"With our form, low profile was in our cards. Though, half-expected that those two from before would have been scared to see us like Venom." Said Seth as he leaned on the wall of a building he found. "But I'm glad that the kid is safe with her mother again. And even though we're still searching for Liv, and can't really get home, doesn't mean people in this city doesn't need our help."
"Agreed." The symbiote mentally smiled. "So, what do we do about our living situation?"
"Actually, might have found a solution to that." He said as he looked to the opposite street and saw a bar there. By the window of the bar, was a sign saying: "Help needed." Seth walked over to the bar and opened the door and looked around.
The place seemed like any other old-time bar. Stools at tall tables around everywhere, a big bar in the middle of the place, and curiously enough a big stage on the right side of the bar.
"Sorry bud, but we don't open for another five hours." Seth turned around and was met by a golden blonde-haired young woman with brown eyes. She was a head shorter than Seth but she still stood tall and proud on her feet. She had a dirty dishtowel around her hand, most likely used for cleaning out tables.
"Yeah, I know. I saw the sign in the window. You still have a free spot for a citizen in need of work?" Seth asked.
"Yeah we do actually." She said. "But which job would you like?" Seth turned confused by her words, something the young woman saw. "I mean, do you want to stay in and help in the bar, waiting the tables or cleaning them? Or maybe do the one that scares everyone away, and sing?" she said sarcastically.
Seth turned serious. "You actually let your staff sing there?" he pointed to the stage.
"Yeah. This is an old bar, and back then people used to go up on stage and sing their hearts away. I always loved that about this place. That and the staff could sing whenever they wanted to, but now people don't want to sing anymore." the young woman said disappointedly.
"Why?" Seth and his "other" asked worried after hearing her tone.
She exhaled a long breath. "Many of the costumers insults the singers because they either choose a bad song or because they have a terrible voice. Not everyone respects people in here, which is just bad manners altogether. My dad and I tried going to the police about it, but they couldn't help. They said that they couldn't stop random people from entering the bar." She added hatefully.
Seth clenched his fists in anger, he hated those kinds of people. People who think they are so high up in the food chain, that they can do whatever they want without ever facing the consequences. Pushing down some of his feelings, he placed a hand on the woman's shoulder, gaining her attention. She watched his blue eyes, full of feelings, something she didn't see in men often, not in her job.
"How about we make a deal then?" Seth asked, the young woman narrowed her eyes. "You give me the job, I'll tend the bar, clean tables, restock the bar whenever you say, and I'll even take a place on that stage and sing my heart out. And as a bonus, any rude customers ever step in here again, you send them my way. What do you think?"
"You sure about that, kid?" Both of the young people turned to the side and saw a big man. A bald-headed and long gray bearded man, wearing a sleeveless black biker jacket, showing off his tattoos on each arm. "Some of our customers are quite rude, you know?" he asked.
"Trust me, sir. Handling rude guys, is nothing new for me. And I don't scare easily." Seth told him confidently.
Both the young woman and the big man turned to each other. "Are you one-hundred percent sure? And I mean mostly about the singing part." The young woman clarified as she stepped in front of the mutant, the big man coming to her side.
"Yeah I am. More than anything." He said.
"Well if you're sure then you're sure. Welcome aboard, kid." The big man extended his hand. "Name's Rooster, I handle the inventory around here."
"Seth Rogers. New guy in town." The mutant shook his hand before turning to the young woman. "And you are…"
"Name's Joan Celia, but people call me JC, the best bartender in this place." She shook his hand too as she spoke. "My dad's the owner, he's name is Stan, but he's not here right now, he's out buying more booze for the bar. But otherwise it's mostly just Rooster and me and a couple of other staff-members that manages the place."
"Well, hopefully this deal helps us all out in the end." Seth said, his "other" looked around bar with enhanced senses for any chocolate.
"Hey kid, you got a place to stay?" Rooster asked, curiously of his living situation.
Seth briefly looked down. "Uh, no. I don't." he said while rubbing the back of his head.
Rooster and JC looked to each other again in thought a moment or two before heading to the stairs on the other side of the bar. "Come with us." The big man said, curiously the younger man followed wondering what was on their mind.
Going up the stairs, the three of them reached the first floor of the building. Once reaching a door by the end of the hallway, Rooster fished out a set of keys and unlocked it to reveal a flight of stairs going up the next level of the building.
Going up the steps and reaching a place above that had another door, Rooster opened after selecting the right key. Opening it up to reveal, to the mutant's surprise, a big loft.
Looking around, he saw there was a kitchen connected with the living room. A couch in front of some small chairs. Across from the entrance was a smaller hallway that led to the bedroom, on the other side of the hallway was a small bathroom.
With the curtains over the windows, it was dark. And there were different kinds of boxes that covered around the floor. But it looked incredible and Seth hoped that this meant what he thought it meant.
"This used to be mine. But then I got another apartment with my girlfriend." Rooster explained. "I've been keeping it up to date whenever I could, but for now I've been using it for storage."
Seth stepped inside, he could see the dust around the place, indicating the place hadn't been used in a while. He turned back to the two workers with a raised eyebrow. "Is this what I think it is?"
JC stepped forward. "Since you're willing to bring more life back to our little haven, then this is the least we could do. Though you have to clean the place up and move the boxes to the storage room. We will however take a little out of your payment every week for rent but the rest will be up to you." She said with a happy spin.
"This is incredible." He said as he looked around the place, that could be his home. He turned back to the two workers with grateful eyes. "I can't thank you guys enough for this"
"Well you got to prove to us, that you actually can sing, you know?" JC said with a raised eyebrow and a smile. Seth smiled in return, knowing that he was going to blow their minds
X
(Central City Police Department)
Barry Allen was at his day job, as the forensic scientist at CCPD. He was going over to his centrifuge to process the evidence he had gotten from the gun-store robbery. Placing the evidence in the machine before turning it on, he saw that it didn't work. Frustrated by the useless machine's incapability to work properly, he found another solution.
He briefly looked around to see if anyone else was there, before holding the small vial in front of him. Using his superspeed, he spun it around very fast, essentially doing the centrifuge's job with his hand. Stopping his quick work, he chuckled at the sight of the mixed blend in the vial.
Raising to his feet, he took of his disposable gloves as he made his way to the other table before another feeling of exhaustion came over him. He panted lightly as the feeling remained a while longer than before.
"This is all of your fault." The speedster turned his head to see Iris West, the girl of his dreams walking angrily towards him in a pretty white dress. "I could have taken European folklore to cover for my sociology requirement, but no." She stood before the scientist who looked her up and down.
"You said, "take journalism, Iris. Reporters have all of the fun." Guess what, Barry? Reporters have none of the fun." She said as the male kept looking at her. "Journalism is boring. I'm bored. I blame you." Seeing the scientist didn't respond to her words, she asked, "What? Why are you staring at me like that?"
Barry, after shaking his head, responded. "You look really nice." He said as he went to the table in the center of the room.
"Thanks." Iris said. "Why don't you look nice?" The unknown speedster drew a blank. "This afternoon? Suit and tie? The university is giving Simon Stagg…"
"Simon Stagg." Barry realized his arrangement with the reporter.
"Some big award. And you agreed-" She continued, the male picking up.
"To explain the science stuff for your article. It's all coming back to me now." He gave an apologetic look.
"How fast can you get home and change?" she asked, giving him another chance.
"Uh, pretty fast." He answered hesitantly but honestly without relaying information about his newfound powers.
"Hey, Allen" Both of them turned to entrance and saw Joe West's partner, Detective Eddie Thawne, walking into the lab. "Joe asked me to see where you're at on the evidence from the gun store shooting. Oh, hey, Iris." He briefly looked to Iris.
"Detective." She said meekly, keeping her eyes on him, while Eddie kept his eyes on the scientist.
Barry looked awkwardly between the two before speaking again. "Please, guys, uh, just kiss already. I already know, remember?" he reminded the couple before going back to his computer. He looked back to them, seeing them kissing.
He promised to keep their relationship secret from Joe, since Iris was dating her dad's partner. But it hurt seeing them like this, seeing the girl he loves kiss another man.
"Ah. Thanks for being so cool about this, Barry." Eddie said, the scientist nodding while typing on his computer. "I know it's not easy keeping a big secret."
"I'm getting used to it." He muttered under his breath. "Oh. Yeah. Iris." the reporter turning to him in surprise. "I'm bringing Cisco and Caitlin along with me, they said they still want to keep an eye on me, with the whole "struck-by-lightning"- thing, that okay, right?"
"Yeah, of course." Iris responded as she wrapped an arm around her boyfriend's waist.
X
(Central City University)
"Why are we again?" the symbiote asked curiously its partner, who had shifted his clothes into a tuxedo before they entered the glass-like university.
"If there's one thing that's universal, then it's that award ceremonies always spell out trouble." Seth thought back to his partner as a waiter gave the mutant a glass of champagne. "And if that trouble is Carnage, then he would definitely target a place with this many people. More toys for him to play with, as he would say. A buffet, even." He continued as he and the symbiote looked around the place.
He looked up to see the man of the hour, Simon Stagg thanking the people for the award granted to him. He even said that he was grateful for that his work was able to give people a second chance at life. He thanked the audience once again before walking off stage.
"Organ transference, that is important work indeed." He thought to himself. His background as a bio-engineer and doctor brought out lots of scenarios where such things could be useful. He halted his thoughts as he heard a chuckling in the back of his head. "Something funny Venom?"
"Look for yourself." The symbiote said cryptically. The host looked around curiously for the source of his partner's humor. He felt his breathe hold in his throat as he laid eyes on the same brown-haired woman he saw at Jitters a few days ago. She was clad in a beautiful forest-green that went to her mid-thigh. She still kept a stoic face like before, but she was still beautiful nonetheless.
Seth shifted his eyes a bit when he saw that she saw a guy with long hair who looked to be of Spanish heritage with a kind of a goofy face, and another guy who was head taller than his friends. But the sight of the dark-skinned woman in a white dress surprised him, he remembered the girl as Iris West from his conversation with his friend, her father.
"Must be friends. The tall male seems to be attracted to the detective's daughter. But we can't feel any similar feelings from her." The symbiote stated.
"Awesome, so one is in love with a woman, who doesn't love him back. And the other is Spanish guy who has a goofy face and smiles like a creeper, and a beautiful woman who doesn't smile at all. Cool." He thought coldly.
"Sound familiar?" the symbiote replied to its host, who didn't reply.
He watched as the group of four passed a waiter who gave them champagne glasses. The stoic-faced woman downed hers immediately, her friends looked at worriedly. "She's in pain."
"The detective did say that the particle accelerator explosion nine months ago took many lives. Perhaps she lost someone of importance to her like so many others in this city."
"Wonder if that's all it did that night?" Seth wondered as he sipped his champagne. He laid his eyes on the group before gunshots went off.
At the sound of the gunshots, he went around the corner, away from everyone's sight as he saw a masked man push down another man from the stage. "Quiet down! All of you!" he demanded of the audience. All of the audience dropped down to their knees in fear. More masked men came out soon, all of them wearing the exact same clothes. "How considerate! You're all wearing your finest jewelry! Almost like you knew we were coming to rob you!"
Seth looked annoyed by this masked group. "Which is going to your mistake, pal." "Time to work?" the symbiote asked.
"Time to work." The mutant muttered under his breath as his clothes shifted.
X
"Now everybody line up!" the masked man demanded of the audience, his companions going to each person and taking their jewelry.
When the person who took Iris' jewelry went to the next one, Barry wanted to take action. "Don't. Don't." Iris stopped him, Cisco placing a hand on his shoulder to keep him from moving. Caitlin kept her eyes on the robbers.
When crew of masked robbers were about to leave, they stopped when someone stopped them. "Freeze!" The audience and robbers turned to the stage area, to see a security guard run towards the robbers, aiming his gun at them.
The six robbers turned around and pointed their own guns at him. Screams could be heard from both lines "D-d-drop your weapons!" The security guard demanded while stuttering in fear.
The robbers were about to shoot, and Barry was about to act but neither acted because of the next voice that spoke.
"Leave! Now! And drop the bags! While you still can!"
The audience and the robbers looked around for the source of the deep dark voice. "Don't think you get it pal! You see we have the guns! Which means we make the rules here!" a masked robber announced as he shot off a shot in the air, making his point known to everyone as the audience dropped lower to the ground. "So, how about you face us like a man!"
CRASH
Everyone turned their eyes to the stage, where the crashing sound could be heard from. Their eyes widened in shock as they laid eyes upon the demonic figure of Venom. Iris was scared to see such a demonic looking creature in the same room as her. The S.T.A.R. Labs members watched in astonishment was this was the first time they saw the creature with their own eyes.
Barry was anxious to see this new creature in action.
"We are more men than any of you cowards. And we said…" Venom stepped off the stage, the security guard running off to the side. "Drop the bags and leave. Now!" he roared, the robbers shook by the roar.
All six of them turned to each other before making their decision. Raising all of their guns, trained on the demonic creature, they each shot off a shot. Venom didn't even flinch nor dodge as they connected with him.
The robbers widened their eyes as Venom opened his mouth, showing dozens of razor-sharp teeth and a long serpent-like tongue and their six fired bullets that rolled off his tongue. "Cute. Our turn."
Seth shot off of a webline from his hand, connecting with one of the robbers before snapping towards the anti-hero. When within arm's length, he slammed the robber into the ground with large fist. The punch instantly knocking him out cold. The floor underneath cracking from the force of punch.
Two of the robbers went to charge Seth. One of them stopped and fired more shots off at the anti-hero, who tanked the shots. The other robber jumped at him, but was caught mid-jump by Venom's large fist.
"We warned you." He sneered out to the robber in his hand, before the masked man was thrown towards a pillar, a small gust of ice followed till it hardened around upon impact with the pillar, encasing the robber with ice around his body.
Looking to see the shooter still standing and about to reload, Seth charged and grabbed him. He sent out electricity through his hand, shocking the robber unconscious. Dumping him to the ground, before shooting web at him, keeping the robber to ground. Gunshots went off again with more screams followed.
He set his eyes on the three remaining robbers, seeing their guns smoking while aimed at three separate directions. All directions pointed at where their other companions were being kept at. Eyes filled with confusion looking around before shock replaced the confusion. He saw bullet holes in the skulls of the formerly unconscious companions. The robbers turned the other way before running away.
With an angry roar, he charged for them. One of the robbers saw this and fired off two shots randomly. Seth saw the trajectory of the shot. A feeling of dread overwhelming him as he that the bullets would hit the young woman with the stoic face.
The woman herself, Caitlin watched in horror and shock as the flying bullet inched closer to her. She saw that it came closer and closer, and her life beginning to flash before her eyes. Barry was about act and get the bullets away from her, but stopped when a blur of black came.
At the last second, Venom jumped in front of her. His skin hardening with a thick layer of ice hastily. With his entire body clad in thick layer of ice, he took the shots to defend the young woman. Hearing the metallic clatter of the projectiles hitting the floor, he looked up to see two robbers of the three remaining robbers. The third one most likely ran away. Their bags with the stolen jewelry still on the ground.
Fed up with these merciless robbers, Seth released a deafening roar. The audience and the robbers halting themselves to hold their ears. Using the distraction, he unleashed bursts of fire from his mouth, hitting the two robbers directly in the heads. Their bodies, mysteriously going limp the moment the fire impacted with the with.
Sneering a bit angrily he turned towards the young woman along with her three friends, the three friends looking frightened by the ice-clad demon. He paid no mind to their eyes, as his own was focused on the young woman's, who didn't look afraid. "Are you alright?" Venom asked, his voice shaking her friends to the core.
"Yeah, I am. Thank you." Caitlin said gratefully to her savior, who nodded as the ice around his body disappeared.
"Something's wrong." Seth thought as he shifted his eyes between the five dead bodies. "The others killed their companions without hesitation." The symbiote added.
Walking away from the group of four, they watched in shock as the giant demon picked up the burned bodies and sent out three long tentacles out of his back and towards the three other bodies. The anti-hero turned his head to meet their eyes, the group shaking a bit by his appearance. The tentacle wrapped around the bodies and pulled them closer to the host's body, before he jumped towards the exit door and leaped into the air.
The bags of jewelry still remaining on the ground. Indicating the anti-hero has no interest in stolen goods.
Barry, making sure Iris wasn't watching, dashed out of the building and wanting to track the demon-like savior. Seeing Venom swinging around a corner, he dashed towards the same direction, but when getting there he felt weak in his entire body, kneeling down on the ground before his eyes closed and he fainted.
X
(Later that day.)
Seth sat on the rooftop of a tall building, making sure no one was able to see a young man about to examine five bodies, two of which had burned-off heads.
"Why did that guy sudden kill his partners?" He said as he laid all bodies side-by-side. Seth couldn't figure out why anyone would kill their own crew like this. Knowing he couldn't much answers from the burned bodies, he went to the three others. Peeling off the mask off one body, he was met with the face of a quite pale man with black hair, probably mid-thirties and early-forties.
"God! What I wouldn't do to use a lab right now." The mutant groaned out, feeling the need for a lab to able examine the bodies properly. Knowing that he couldn't get to a lab anytime soon, he went to take masks off the other two.
Eyes widened in shock to see the exact same pale face on the other body as the first. "What the…" he added looking at the third body. "It's couldn't be…" he said before going the third dead body. Peeling off the mask, he was met with another exact pale face.
"What is this?" the symbiote asked surprised to see three exact bodies side by side. "Could this be mutant?"
"That or the parents were unlucky enough to get triplets, all of them equally as hideous." The host added in his dark humor. Looking at the bodies, he remembered something that he was told a long time ago.
"I remember, a long time ago… when the Brotherhood tried to recruit me and my sister to join their cause, they mentioned some of their dead members to. A "Multiple Man", I think? And he had the ability create instant duplicates of himself." He pointed to the dead bodies. "And I think this guy have a similar power to this guy."
"So, these are not real humans, just the clones of the real one, the prime?" the symbiote asked, even though he knew the answer form his partner's memories, but the host nodded nonetheless. "That explains why these were killed by their companion. They are just empty shells without their creator's orders."
A few seconds after Seth observing the bodies, he jumped back to his feet, seeing the bodies disintegrate to nothing. "And that happened."
"The authorities are bound to act after what happened at the university, Seth."
"Tch, I know. But they wouldn't believe us if we told them that there as a murderous guy that can generate clones of himself instantly." Seth said before remembering a friend. "But Joe's bound to do take action, since his daughter was at the scene of the crime."
Saying that, he dumped the bodies, or what left of them, before letting the symbiote envelope him. He swung towards CCPD.
X
(Central City Police Department)
Getting there, Seth went to the detective's desk. While walking he still received the same distrusting and suspicious eyes from the other officers, but like before he paid them no mind.
Reaching the desk, he saw the detective sitting there, but his face looked sorrowful… even hurt. "Joe?" he gained the elder man's attention. "You okay? You look like Hell." He said.
"Thanks for that pal." Joe said with a chuckle. "It's nothing."
Seth knew that was a lie. He had used that same sentence himself many times because he didn't want others to dwell into his problems, but he wasn't going to let Joe deal with his problems alone. "Oh, it's a family problem of sorts?" he deduced.
Joe looked at him with a surprised look. Seth chuckle hollowly at the eyes he got from the elder man. "I've been using that same sentence every time someone tried help me after…recent events." He said for a lack of a better word, the Detective knew what he meant by his words, remembering their previous conversations regarding family. "So, what's your problem?"
The native man sighed before gesturing to the seat in front of him, Seth saw that and took his seat. "It's a bit of a story I guess, but it happened a long time ago. 14 years ago, actually. There was a doctor in town, Henry Allen, a good man, people loved him. Hell, he was one of my good friends. His wife Nora was a great person too. Their son, Barry, he was Iris' best friend since long before then. But one night, it all changed."
Seth and his "other" listened carefully and intently from those words onwards. "One night, I get a call from the precinct, saying there was emergency at a house. When they gave the address of the crime scene, I realized that it was Henry's address. I got to the scene as fast as I could, fearing the worst had happened to any of them. But none of my worst fears ever came close to what really happened."
"When I came to the house, the murderer was still in the house." Seth gained a confused look at that. "The killer was still in the house, because he lived there. And he killed his wife in front of their own son." Eyes widening as Seth pieced it together. "The killer was Henry Allen."
Seth didn't say anything as he felt there was more to the story. But that didn't stop him from clenching his fists tightly at the story. He could hear a very loud and angry sneering in the back of his head, his symbiote not doing any better in that department. Exhaling a few times, he listened again as the elder man continued.
"After that night, I took Barry in, I adopted him. 14 years with that kid…" he placed a hand over his mouth as his eyes watered a bit. "It kinda brought a light in our house. Since my wife died a long time, me and Iris didn't have that light. The house felt empty. Till he came along."
"And he told you today, that you're not his father after you tried to set him straight, right?" Seth asked already knowing what the detective's problem is. He got his confirmation with a slow nod from the opposite sitting man.
"Yeah, not a great thing to hear, you know." Joe said while wiping his eyes.
"Sounds like this Barry doesn't know what a family is." Seth said calmly, the detective giving him a questioning look. "How about I tell you a story of my own."
To be continued…
Next chapter, Joe will hear an aspect of Seth's life, that makes Barry's seem like a dream.