So much for writing this during summer break. My bad people. Slow updating is persistent then.
Guys, be warned, graphic descriptions of gore at play. You've been warned.
Welcome back anyhow. Hope you're all doing well!
Bringing in the new kid had its upsides. Jennifer was less pesky, and the boy provided a small income of food from dumpster diving and certain places he apparently knew of.
However, there were downsides as well.
For one, there was the increased need for food and other necessaries. Irritating, but manageable. The crazily increased level of noise in the small place was a little more of a source of frustration than a serious problem, but since there was less bothering of Venom, the symbiote could see the advantage. Eddie hadn't been completely wrong. But there was one, serious issue now. Space.
The small home consisted of 3 tiny rooms, on just about 60m2. Venom's bedroom only had space for themselves, so the kids had been sharing the living room, trying their best to both fit on the small couch. In the end they had to take turns sleeping on the floor.
"We can't stay here."
"Where else do you want us to go? This is all we have."
"There's not enough room for all of us. We need bigger housing."
"And where do you propose we find that?! At Walmart?!"
"I, argh, I know, but we don't have enough space..! We need to go look for a new place."
"All this would've been avoided if you hadn't-"
"I know Venom! I know, none of this would've happened if not for the kids, you've told me a thousand times already! But telling me what I already know isn't going to change anything!"
"Ugh, fine. Let's move then. The brats are entertaining themselves anyway."
So let's take a look at the task list of these past few weeks;
Study for important test one week away: Nope.
Get some money for pictures at the Bugle: No pictures, no money.
Take Liz on a date: No money, no date. And Marc wouldn't give him a break.
Stop dangerous psychopath from escaping mental institution: Kasady got away, Spidey was yelled at by officer.
Track and catch said escaped psychopath after escape: No trace of Kasady, public opinion of the web head lower than ever.
Find Venom and save kidnapped girl: Got slapped around, dislocated hip, and puked in mask. Suit was only just cleaned out properly.
Patch things up with Aunt May: They had barely talked all week. She'd been avoiding him, and he hadn't had the guts to talk to her.
So, Peter Parker AND Spider-Man had been a total failure. He was going to fail his test, had no money, couldn't face his family, and everyone thought Spider-Man stank.
Maybe it was just a sign. That it was time to hang up the webs, get a real job, and drop the whole "I can save the world with some mixed up liquid cement."
And yet, here he was, swinging through lower Manhattan, too high up to hear the yells from the citizens below. Somehow, he could only find some level of peace when he was swinging through the city, looking for trouble. Probably not the healthiest habit.
The empire state building whooshed by, as he passed it the umpteenth time that day. Good thing the webbing dissolved on its own, or the city would've drowned in webs long ago.
Doing a flip and landing on adjacent skyscraper, Spider-Man looked around and gave off a disappointed sigh.
Apparently he'd scared the criminals off the streets again. At least that was something.
Seriously, where we all the Doc Ocks and Sandmans and crazy furry hunters today? Why did it need to be so quiet? Maybe he should just head home and study instead...
He spun a web and hopped off his skyscraper when he noticed someone familiar swing by a few blocks away. Maybe he shouldn't have wished for trouble...
He ran alongside a roof and swung towards where he'd noticed Venom. As he got closer, he regained his visual of the symbiote-clad man swinging towards Hell's Kitchen, just out of sight of people below. Wait, was that..?
It was! The missing girl, alongside some other kid Peter didn't recognize were tied to Venom's back with black webbing, faint yells and shrills sounding from their direction. Peter felt his pulse speed up as he tried to catch up with Venom, praying he wouldn't be noticed until he got the kids to safety.
His wish did not come true, however, as a high thin voice suddenly screamed out, and Venom spun around. Wonderful
"Let those kids go, Venom!" He wasn't positive he was heard, the wind was in his face and there was still a fair distance between the two of them. Venom probably wouldn't have heeded orders anyway.
The black figure spun around again, landed on and sprinted down a building, trying to lose the wall crawler in the alleys below. But Spidey wasn't having it today.
"Come back here!" He followed the alien as fast as his legs could carry him, turning and twisting to avoid staircases, doorways and people, as the two, uh, FOUR of them dashed through the walls of the alleys, spooking quite a few passersby, darted into the sunlight on the main streets, ran to another alley, up a building, swung across a street, down a building, turning left, right, left again, down, right, right, up, and through the alleys again.
Heart was going seventy thousand mph, lungs were on fire, legs numb, head spinning.
He was going to lose them. No way he was gonna catch up, he was either going to faint or run into something and bust his head open.
He had to stop but he couldn't.
He couldn't allow himself to lose them, couldn't admit defeat and give up. Everything had been going wrong lately, he HAD to make SOMETHING go right. This was why he put on thighs every night! To protect people, to keep them safe! He HAD to save those kids, stop Venom.
Speaking of Venom, Spidey had lost visual. The alien had disappeared with the kids somewhere in the shadows, and at this point, Spidey couldn't even stand up anymore. He slumped down, crumbling in the alley, and spend several long minutes just lying there and gasping like fish on land. Wonder if there was gonna be a fish-based supervillain someday? Or like, a Sandman but water? Could Sandman give him good dreams like in the stories?
Spidey wasn't completely aware of how long he'd been lying there, half unconscious, half dead, just waiting for this torturous misery to be over. When his head finally cleared and the pain subsided enough for him to slowly scramble to his feet, he took a slow look around.
Where was he? Some alley on Manhattan, probably. Hopefully. He honestly couldn't tell right now.
Leaning against the wall for support, Spider-Man slowly regained his bearings. Definitely Manhattan. Not as far away as he had initially thought, Venom had had them running around in circles, probably trying to shake him off.
He stumbled a few steps forward, suddenly noticing the sound of child voices.
"We lost him! He'll never find us!" The voice was light and thin, sounded like a little girl.
"Shh Jenn! We can't be sure yet!" Another voice. More hushed and not as light as the first.
"Shush, both of you. Now get inside!"
Venom! And the other two must've been the kids! Why did the girl sound so happy about getting away though?
He carefully snuck closer, just managing to catch a glimpse of a large dark humanoid figure entering a hidden doorway and closing the door behind them.
So this was where Eddie and symbiote had been hiding all this time. He'd actually found Venom's hideout! Trying to control his ragged breathing and the stupid grin on his face, the teenager slipped back into the darkness of the alley, making sure to keep track of the route and nearby landmarks so he could find the place again later.
Humm...
It was a good night. Cloudy to the point of almost raining, cold and clammy, and with low visibility in the dark. Even the sounds of the city seemed hushed. A good night indeed.
He grinned in anticipation and slipped out of the alley towards the street. A great night really. His kind of night.
A dog barked stupidly somewhere, chasing and mauling a stray cat. A rat scurried away as he approached, hiding somewhere in the trash to gnaw on someone's cadaver... And trash. Lots of trash. The city was full of trash. Everyone was full of trash. A fantastic night.
Another man walked down the other side of the street. Sneaking down by the streetlamps, biting off a large chunk of a human-entrails sandwich, gore and saliva dripping down his chin and he hummed and licked his lips in a drugged haze. The best kind of night.
As he licked his lips and tasted the blood from where he bit himself earlier, he started moving to cross the street and get to the meat bag. He suddenly jumped back into the darkness of the alley when several police cars sped by, sirens off. Uh-oh, someone was getting it today. But not him. He giggled lightly. Not him, not tonight. Perfect night.
He returned to the alleys and went to find another place to hunt.
"I'm hungry!"
"Hi Hungry, I'm Eddie."
Jennifer looked utterly confused.
Oliver huffed. "She's serious, Venom!"
"We thought she was Hungry?" Eddie laughed at his own stupid joke. The symbiote mentally groaned, leaving the humans to their bickering and tried to take a rest.
Truth be told, they were exhausted. The escape through the city had been hectic, and the spider had been far more persistent than usually. They almost began to think they'd have to stop him with force, but then they lost him not far from here. Having the spider this close to their home was dangerous, but both symbiote and host were far too exhausted at the time to even consider leading the spider further away.
Something was definitely up with their spider though. He was uncharacteristically quiet and seemed utterly unconcerned with his own safety. Perhaps something was up with his friends again.
But the kids were safe, they were safe, and while they had returned without a new place to live and had no food for the night, going out to search was currently too dangerous, even for Oliver. Eddie had read in the news that some dangerous lunatic escaped the police, and was on the loose somewhere in the city.
There was a firm knock on the door.
Symbiote, kids, and host all turned to stare at the door in horrified anticipation. There was another knock.
"Venom! We know you're in there! Let the kids go, or we'll sent to SWAT team in!"
No. No, no nonononono, no, this wasn't happening. Not now. Not here.
Jennifer snapped for breath, slowly turning and looking at them with wide teary eyes. Oliver was pale as a sheet.
"Venom, come out now! This is your last warning! You are surrounded!"
Venom took a deep breath, weighing their options. Sounds of weapons being prepared outside could be heard faintly through the door.
"Eddie, go to sleep."
"WHAT?!"
"We need full control of your body to handle this. Go to sleep."
"I... I trust you. Don't let them hurt the kids."
"Promise. Now go to sleep."
Eddie obeyed and Venom took the full control, slowly turning to their stronger form. They kneeled down and the kids climbed to their back.
"Be with you in a minute officer..."
They took a contemplative look at the window above the couch. Should be big enough to fit them all. Their own precognitive senses warned them that there were snipers pointing at the window... But no sonic weaponry here. They quickly covered both kids in tendrils, leaving just enough space for air to pass to them.
As an officer kicked down the door and pointed a gun everywhere they jumped through the glass. A bullet grazed the side of their face, but the snipers stopped firing as soon as someone realized they were carrying the kids. The Spider was conveniently not present, and so they ran, leaving home and police behind.
They had no idea for how long they fled. They were still on Manhattan, because the police had blocked all roads leading off the island. When they stopped, dawn was breaking, and they needed some kind of shelter. All they found was a tiny apartment in a condemned building. Both kids were exhausted and crying, and after waking him up, Eddie was on the verge of crying as well.
They lost everything. Everything they owned were still in the apartment, lest the police had taken it away. Clothes, books, treasures... Gone. Just like that.
The spider was going to pay for this. One way or another, he was going to pay for this. Going to regret ever crossing them, they'd tear his spine out through his nose, they'd eat his fucking brain!
But first, they'd tend to Eddie and the kids. It was cold, they were hungry, and they were scared.
"Eddie, it's too cold here."
There was no answer.
"Eddie."
...
"Eddie!"
"He's going to pay."
"Yes. Yes he is. But we're freezing, we need to-"
"We should've killed him when we had the chance."
"...The kids are cold."
Eddie turned his attention to the shivering kids and quickly scooped them up, taking off and using his jacket as a make-shift blanket. The symbiote dislocated itself from Eddie and covered as much of the humans as it could, having lost a large amount of body mass during the earlier escapes.
"We're going to be okay."
The kids looked up at Eddie, eyes teary and white, but no longer crying at least.
The four of them huddled together in a corner of the small room, trying to get some sleep, despite the cold and the hunger, clinging to Eddie's promise as much as they each dared.
And, I think we'll end it here. A few more chapters and the plot will start picking up :)