I Am Carnage
Ch.4
Disclaimer: I do not own Ultimate Spider-Man or any other Marvel related thing.
When Carnage awakens he isn't at all surprised to see that it is still raining outside. It wasn't raining as hard as it had been last night, but Carnage had no desire to go back out into the pouring rain. Unfortunately, his stomach had other plans. After listening to his stomach grumble in hunger for about three minutes the red and black creature let out a loud sigh before he rolled out of his web hammock.
He landed on the ground gracefully and slowly crawled over to the windows. Carnage was able to get the windows open, but the second he got the windows open a thought popped into his head. Where the heck was he supposed to get food from anyway? Carnage felt like groaning and stumbling back to his web hammock. He was way too tired to deal with all of this. However, tired or not he still needed to get food.
'I'll figure something out.' Carnage thought as he web swung his way out of the window and over to a nearby building.
Eventually Carnage was able to park himself on top of a roof of a sandwich shop, and it turned out that using his web line was a really good way to snatch people's takeout bags. Granted, the guy who he stole a turkey sub from probably didn't appreciate his ability to grab bags with webs, but Carnage couldn't bring himself to care a whole lot. Instead he just hastily ate his sandwich and tried to finish it off before the rain made the bread completely soggy. He was able to finish half the sub before he heard someone call out a name from behind him.
"Peter?"
Carnage couldn't help but scowl upon hearing the name and when he turned around he wasn't all that surprised to see the four costumed people from yesterday. Granted, they were preferable to the Goblin but that didn't make their insistence to call him Peter any less annoying.
"Dude, where did you get the sub from?" The helmeted boy asked when he noticed that Carnage was holding his sandwich.
Carnage almost blurted out that he stole it, but he clamped his mouth shut when he realized that they might not exactly like that answer. Truthfully, Carnage did feel a little bad about stealing some guy's lunch but he had to eat. If Carnage had to steal to survive then so be it. He wasn't going to just sit around and starve to death. With that thought in mind Carnage quickly shoved what was left of his sandwich back into the plastic bag that it had come from before he quickly tied the bag close.
Carnage was pretty dang sure that these people wouldn't let him finish his food in peace, and he wanted to bring what was left back with him to his makeshift home. They looked amazed that he could even tie the bag up and that just served to annoy him. Once the sub was safely put away Carnage finally asked the first question that came to mind.
"Who are you?"
They didn't seem overly happy about the question, and they looked like they were unsure of how to answer it. Carnage clicked his claws down on the cement floor and frowned. The fact that they were taking so long to answer his question was making him a little nervous. However, just when Carnage was about to take his bag and go the woman in white finally started speaking.
"I'm White Tiger."
"I'm Power Man." The boy with the sunglasses said.
"Nova." The boy with the helmet said in a clipped tone.
"I am Iron Fist." The boy in the green and yellow costume said softly.
Carnage was unsure of what he should say now that introductions were out of the way.
Luckily, White Tiger save him the trouble of coming up with something to say by saying "We want to help you."
"Help me with what?" Carnage asked slowly.
"We want to help turn you back to normal." Nova said before White Tiger could even utter a word.
"I am normal!" Carnage shouted.
"You aren't normal! You're…." Nova shouted out only to fall silent before he finished his sentence.
That was fine since Carnage could probably fill in the blank all on his own.
"I'm a monster right?"
The way Nova looked like he just got sucker punched upon hearing Carnage's words made the creature think that he hit the nail on the head.
"I'm fine the way I am. I don't need help." Carnage said.
He didn't feel like there was anything physically wrong with him. He didn't feel like he looked wrong or that there was anything off about him. He was comfortable the way he was. Maybe he shouldn't be comfortable with being some clawed sharp toothed monstrosity, but he was. The four costumed people didn't seem as thrilled at the fact that Carnage was fine with being a symbiote. Although Carnage was slowly starting to figure out that he might not care that much about their opinions about him.
Still, he couldn't help but notice the surprised sad looks on their faces. It was like they had just been told by a friend that he didn't want them around anymore. Thinking that they looked like a friend just told them to get lost was probably strange, but it was the first thing that popped into his mind. The looks that they were giving him were uncomfortable, and Carnage couldn't help but fidget a little. They all tensed up a little when they saw Carnage move almost as if they were expecting him to either attack them or run off, but they relaxed ever so slightly when Carnage stopped his movements.
White Tiger just stared at him for a couple of seconds before she said "We just want our friend back."
"Then go back to that lab and look for him!" Carnage snapped.
White Tiger jerked back like she had been smacked in the face, but Carnage didn't care. An animalistic snarl escaped from Carnage before he could stop himself.
"How many times do I have to tell you that I'm not Peter!" Carnage hissed out.
His claws scraped against the ground as he yelled out "Peter is a blue eyed brown haired human! I'm a symbiote!"
Carnage stood up and glared at the four humans that stood before him.
"I know Goblin kidnapped him. If he's not in that lab then Goblin probably hid him somewhere else."
A tiny voice in the back of his head suggested that the guy might be dead, but Carnage didn't voice that out loud. He was mad, but he wasn't heartless. Being told that a friend that you obviously care about has gone off to the great beyond would hurt, and Carnage wasn't quite mad enough to go shouting that suggestion out loud.
However, if these humans kept pushing him Carnage would toss the 'he's dead' theory onto the table without a second thought. Honestly, this whole situation just made Carnage want to punch someone just so that he could blow off some steam. Power Man looked like he wanted to argue with Carnage, but the creature quickly put a hand up to silence him.
"The sooner you guys let go of your delusions the happier you'll be." Carnage said.
Before they could even say another word Carnage web swung himself off of the roof and tried to put as much distance as he possibly could between himself and the four costumed humans. He could hear them shouting out at him, and Carnage was pretty sure they were trying to follow him. However, Carnage was having none of it. He was a master at web swinging, and if his escape from Goblin's lab was anything to go by then he could add escape artist to the list of things that he was good at.
It took a while, but Carnage did escape from them. However, it was only when he was halfway across the city did Carnage realize that he had left his sub behind on the rooftop. What with the cold rainy day, dealing with those weird costumed people, and having lost his food Carnage was pretty sure that he could safely say that today was the worst day ever…..
Five hours later and the rain still showed no signs of stopping. Carnage's agitation also showed no signs of going away. The white eyed creature was mindlessly drifting around the city with no clear destination in mind. He had hoped that swinging around the city would calm him down, but that wasn't happening. He needed to release his pent up frustration before he blew his top.
Luckily, he ended up stumbling over something that would help him to release some of his anger. He had stumbled upon the scene by accident. He had been swinging from one rooftop to the other when he heard someone yelling in an alleyway. When he went to investigate he saw a man with a knife mugging a woman. The man was blocking the only way out of the alleyway, and he was holding the knife dangerously close to the woman's neck. Although, it looked like the man had already hurt the woman. A long cut decorated her left arm, and while Carnage couldn't get a good look at it from his spot on the roof he could tell that it was bad. A small cut was also on her leg, but it wasn't as bad as the one on her arm.
Her wide brown eyes were filled with fear and she was shivering horribly. Carnage could just barely hear the man demand that the girl should hand over all her valuables. Watching this man rob and hurt the poor girl made Carnage's blood boil. He wanted to launch himself at the man and tear him a new one. However, he didn't want the girl to get hurt so launching himself down at the man when he was holding a knife up to the woman's throat probably wasn't a good idea. Instead, Carnage slowly crawled down the wall and into the ally.
Once he was in the ally he quietly suck up behind the man. The man never noticed him, but the woman did. When she saw Carnage standing right behind the man her eyes widened a little as she let out a small whimper of fear. Upon noticing that the girl was no longer looking at him the man turned to see what she was staring at. When he turned he moved the knife away from the girl's neck and Carnage took that moment to finally strike. He grabbed a hold of the man's wrist and quickly slammed him into the wall. The man dropped his knife in shock and the girl just held her injured arm to her chest and huddled up in the corner of the dead-end.
"What are you?!" The man yelled out in fear.
"Carnage." Carnage said as he grinned.
The man shuttered upon seeing Carnage's fangs, and some part deep inside of him purred in pleasure upon seeing the man's fear.
"Don't hurt me." The man cried.
Carnage snarled upon hearing that and the man let out a loud cry of fear. This mugger hurt a girl rather badly and now he had the nerve to ask Carnage to not hurt him. One part of Carnage wanted to kill the man who had no problems with fatally injuring an innocent person just for their belongings while the other part of him had no desire to send the man off to an early grave. Two voices were yelling in his head about what he should do with the idiotic mugger.
Kill him!
Don't kill him!
Kill him!
Don't kill him!
Round and round it went with both voices screeching in his head while the rain fell and the woman sobbed from her spot nearby. The man just stared at him with wide blue eyes, and Carnage just stared right back at him. Eventually the calm voice of reason said something that helped it win Carnage's internal argument.
If you kill him you will be consumed by guilt.
Carnage couldn't help but frown at that thought. He was so angry that he hadn't even thought of how he would feel after he killed the guy. He might not be as bothered by the idea now, but later on he would definitely feel guilty. He probably wouldn't be able to handle having a dead man's blood on his hands. Still, Carnage felt the need to dish out some pain to the man. If nothing else punching the guy would definitely help to work out some of his pent up anger.
Carnage could feel the man struggling to get out of his strong grip, but Carnage's grip was too strong and he had no intention of letting him go. Carnage just squeezed his wrist and the bones in the man's wrist snapped like a fragile twig. The man let out a loud yelp of pain, and the small part of him that been arguing for the man's death squirmed in pleasure. Carnage may not be able to bring himself to kill someone, but the more bloodthirsty part of him seemed satisfied enough with just hurting the guy. Carnage quickly webbed the guy to the wall before he took a step back and admired his work.
The man was shivering violently now and Carnage couldn't help but reach out and run a clawed hand down his arm. He nicked the man with his claws, but the cuts were so small that it looked more like he got scratched by a kitten. It would heal quickly and it wouldn't leave a mark. However, the guy acted like Carnage had just ripped a hole into his arm. Carnage almost felt like laughing. The guy had no problem with causing other people pain, but when it came to receiving pain he was a baby.
Carnage smirked before he leaned forward and whispered "Be happy that I didn't hurt you as much as you hurt the girl. I could have done much worse, and if you try to hurt someone again I promise you I'll find you and do much worse."
The terrified look that he received was priceless, and after webbing the man's mouth close Carnage made his way over to the girl. The girl whimpered a little when he approached, and that made Carnage frown a little. He got a kick out of scaring the living daylights out of the mugger, but scaring an innocent person just made him feel bad. He carefully knelt down so that he was at eye level with the girl all while making sure that he had enough distance between the two of them so that the girl wouldn't start freaking out more then she already was.
Her clothes were stained with blood and her wide brown eyes were filled with fear. Carnage was actually a little impressed that she hadn't passed out from blood loss yet. He needed to wrap up the wound so that she would be alright until help arrived. Unfortunately, he didn't exactly carry bandages around with him so he didn't know what he could do to bandage up her arm. Carnage thought about what he could do for a few seconds when suddenly an idea hit him.
Why not use his webs? His webs were strong enough to hold a guy to a wall, it was comfortable enough to make into a web hammock, and it was sticky enough that it could stick to her skin yet if done gently it could be removed without irritating her wound. It was certainly worth a shot anyway, and he would rather try it then let the girl bleed to death.
"Hey, you need to let me bandage your wounds." Carnage said softly to her.
The girl's eyes widened even more upon hearing him say that and if the grimace was anything to go by Carnage could tell that the girl would rather cut her arm off then let Carnage touch her.
"H-how can you bandage my arm, a-and why do you want to help me?" The girl stuttered out.
"I can use my web as a makeshift bandage, and I'm helping you because it's the right thing to do." Carnage explained. "Besides you didn't deserve to be attacked by anyone much less the knife happy idiot stuck to the wall."
The girl just stared at Carnage as if she were trying to stare into his soul and see if he was really telling the truth. Carnage couldn't really do anything but hope the girl would trust him enough to wrap up her wound. Carnage couldn't help but mentally curse about his monstrous appearance. He was comfortable with his appearance and scaring the heck out of muggers was fun, but he knew that if he looked like a human and not a monster then it would be a little easier for the girl to trust him.
Luckily, the girl either wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt or she was really desperate because after staring at him for what felt like forever she finally held her arm out to him. Carnage gently took a hold of her arm and started wrapping it up with his makeshift web bandages. She flinched a little when Carnage touched her, but Carnage ignored that and focused on wrapping up her injury.
"It's not too tight is it?" Carnage asked.
"N-no, it's not too tight."
Carnage said nothing to this he just finished up is job of wrapping up her wound before he let go of her arm. The second he let go of the girl's arm she quickly pulled it away and studied the web bandage. She looked sort of mystified by the web bandage which was honestly better than having her stare at him in fear. Carnage examined the wound on her leg from his spot in front of her, but it wasn't nearly as bad as her arm had been so he figured she would be fine until help arrived.
"Do you have some way to call for help?"
The girl snapped her eyes up from her arm and looked at Carnage for a few seconds before she slowly nodded.
"My phone is in m-my purse."
The girl's brown purse was lying on the ground near his feat. Carnage grabbed the purse and started to dig through it for her cellphone. As he dug through the bag he couldn't help but wonder why the mugger didn't just take the purse and leave, but the girl was wearing some rather nice jewelry so Carnage figured the guy wanted to take her bag and her jewelry which is probably why he didn't just run off once she dropped the bag. The idea that the man might actually like to cause innocent people pain briefly popped into his mind to, but he quickly shoved that thought away before he could dwell on it.
Upon finding her phone Carnage placed the bag down next to him and held the small device out to her. She slowly took the phone away from him and started dialing 911. As she made the call Carnage started to think now was a good time to leave. However, before he could web swing himself away the girl got off the phone and stared at him with her large doe brown eyes.
"C-can you stay h-here with me until t-the police get here?" She stuttered out.
She was eyeing the mugger warily and Carnage was dimly aware of the fact that she wasn't comfortable with being alone with him. She was nowhere near being comfortable around him either, but when it came to being alone with the mugger or being there with him she would much rather chose the latter. Well, he did take the guy down and the fact that he bandaged her up probably helped to win him some brownie points with her.
"I can stay until the cops come." Carnage said.
She relaxed just a bit upon hearing his words, but she still looked like she was on edge. Carnage didn't dare go near her. He just stayed in his crouched position in front of her. The rain was pounding down on them now and Carnage could feel the cold chill grip his body, but he didn't dare move. Eventually after some time had passed by they could finally hear the police sirens approaching.
"I guess that's my cue to leave." Carnage said as he stood up.
"Wait a moment." The girl said suddenly.
Carnage glanced at her and was surprised to see that she was giving him a small hesitant smile.
"Thank you for helping me."
Carnage stared at her in surprise for a few seconds before he slowly nodded and web swung his way out of the ally. As he web sung his way home he couldn't help but feel a little giddy about the fact that the woman had actually thanked him. Granted, she had still been nervous around him but the fact that she had been able to work up the nerve to thank him was amazing.
It was almost embarrassing to admit it, but he felt happy to have been able to help and being thanked just made him feel all warm and fuzzy. That happy bubbly feeling stayed with him for the rest of the trip back to his shelter, and as Carnage made his way home he decided right then and there that saving people from muggers would make for a nice hobby….
Ladies and gentlemen Carnage has had his first official taste of being a (sort of violent) hero, and he likes what he's feeling. Anyway, info time!
Web Bandages: So in the Amazing Spider-Man 2 game when Spider-Man gets injured you can heal yourself. When you heal Spider-Man he just patches himself up by wrapping his injury (well his arm anyway) with his webs. I liked the idea of using webs as makeshift bandages so I used it here.
Anyway, I'll try and get the next chapter up as soon as possible so please review and don't flame.
