"Eddie, grab that." Kenzie pointed to the top shelf to a box of instant mashed potatoes. He reached up and took it.
"I hate mashed potatoes..." He muttered, handing her the box. She placed the item in the cart and walked forward.
"I know, but I like them, so I'll make some for me with dinner." she said, and grabbed a package of gravy.
"Fun." Eddie muttered, and followed her through the store. He didn't want to come, but he had nothing else to do. Well, he certainly had other things to do, but he needed to stay with Kenzie for a while, at least until the bruise on her stomach was nearly gone. She claimed she felt fine, but Eddie knew she was lying when he saw her sorry attempts to hide her pain when she walked. He growled inside at the thought of it. Maybe he would need to punch Parker until his ribs turned to mush later on...
"You could have stayed home, or went to visit the lab. You don't have to follow me around like a duckling."
"Home is dull and the lab is the same." Eddie said, and shoved his hands in his jacket pockets. Kenzie cast him a worried look.
"You love the lab, Eddie. You always used to talk so excitedly about it. What changed?" she asked. He shrugged.
"I just don't like it there anymore, that's all."
"Alright..." she said, and looked back to the shelves. He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck.
"It's nothing for you to worry about, Kenzie. Seriously, I hate that you worry about me so much." he muttered. She gave him a stern look before taking a jar of peanut butter.
"Well, that's just something you need to get over." she said. She reached over and placed the peanut butter in the cart. She winced slightly when the bruise hit the bar. Eddie touched her back.
"Ae you alright?" he asked. She put on a smile.
"And you tell me I worry too much. Just a pot calling the kettle black, I swear." she said, and pushed the cart further along.
"I have a right to be worried. It's been two days and you're still walking lightly to keep from buckling over."
"Eddie, it's fine, I mean it. Bruises are like that for the first few days. The pain'll be gone in not time."
"Whateve-" Eddie was stopped when Kenzie suddenly whipped around and wrapped her arms around his waist. Some old women saw and shook their heads in disapproval, their minds trapped in the time when actions like that were considered obscene when performed in public. Eddie shot a venomous glare at them, and they quickened their pace to leave. He looked down at Kenzie, who's face was buried in his chest. "What?"
"Just chill out, you big dork..." Kenzie murmured. He felt her lips move against his chest, and he would have purred had he been a cat. Damn her strange abilities to calm him down.
"Fine..."
"Good." Kenzie pulled away and grabbed the cart again. He almost wished she hadn't. He followed her yet again, keeping one eye on how she moved, determining exactly how much pain she was in. He shook his head and sighed after a few moments.
'We'll kill him when the chance comes.' it said in his mind. Eddie nodded in silent agreement.
"Oh, my goodness! Manners, young man!" said one of the old women from down the aisle. Eddie looked curiously behind him to see what was going on.
"What the hell..." he narrowed his eyes at the figure that nudged the old woman. They were dressed in red yellow, their face covered, and goggles over their eyes.
"My apologies, young lady." the figure said, and kept walking toward Eddie and Kenzie. Eddie immediately stepped closer to Kenzie. She noticed the loseness and looked up in question.
"Wanna nother hug, or somethin'?" she asked with a smile, then frowned at his serious expression. "What is it.?"
"Nothing, just keep walking." he replied stiffly, and pushed her gently but firmly forward.
"But I still need to get-"
"Later, I'm feeling claustrophobic at the moment. Let's come back when the aisle's emptier." he said.
"But it's almost empt-"
"Just walk, please!" Eddie kept pushing her, and she decided to just go with it for the moment. Eddie kept looking back at the figure. He knew who that was.
Shocker...
He tried to pick up a scent, but there was none. He narrowed his eyes. Again, with the lack of scent. What the hell was going on?
"Uh, Eddie." Kenzie retrieved his attention, and he looked to what she was pointing at in front of them. His eyes widened. "Is that Rhino, or just a circus freak?" Kenzie asked.
The large form called Rhino stood at the end of the aisle. His face was the only part of his body anyone could see, and the rest of his body was encased in thick armor that even Spiderman couldn't penetrate. A large , sharp metal horn protruded from the top of his head. What shocked Eddie was that Rhino had no scent either. He curled his lip angrily.
Eddie grabbed Kenzie's shoulder and placed her against the shelves. He moved in front of her as a shield. He could hear people shrieking and running away at the sight of the villains, and knew Spiderman would be there in a matter of minutes.
"Aw, ain't dat cute. Protectin' the lady like dat." Rhino said loudly, and began to walk forward, making the ground quake a little with each step.
"Amazin' how a fellow such as yourself can be such a gentleman, Mr. Brock." Shocker said in a thick texan accent. He to, walked toward them. "I truly commend you." he added.
"Too bad it ain't gonna do much good." Rhino said, and chuckled.
"You see, we need the little lady to come with us, sir, whether you like that or not." Shocker said. "Don' worry now, we'll have her back by supper time, I promise you."
Eddie growled and back against Kenzie. He felt she was shaking, and he became angry. "What do you need with her?" he rasped. Shocker put his hands in the air and stopped walking.
"Now, we only need to talk. That's all. Our boss needs to get some information from her regarding personal matters between them and them only." he said. Eddie didn't budge.
"I don't think so." he snarled. Shocker tsked and shook his head sadly.
"He said it would come to this. Too bad you were unreasonable." He said, and opened his hand. A ball of electricity formed and he raised it in the air like he was about to throw the sphere. Eddie smirked. That would only tickle.
"Eddie!" Kenzie shouted. He looked at her to see she was staring at Rhino. He barely even glanced at the behemoth before he felt a sharp pain his his head. The world went black, and he cursed as he fell to the floor and into unconsciousness.
Kenzie looked at Eddies crumpled body, her eyes like saucers. She looked at Rhino in fear and hatred. He had punched Eddie pretty hard.
"Now, don' worry, little lady. He's fine, I assure you. We need to talk." Shocker said, and stepped toward her. She flinched back away from him, and he stopped.
"Tell your boss," she said bitterly, "To go fuck himself." she ran from Shocker and slid under Rhino's legs before he could grab her. She stood back up and ran from them, hoping they'd leave Eddie be. She found the exit and ran out. Police cars and ambulances were outside, and the police waved for her to come to them. She decided to run away from them too. If she went to them, Shocker and Rhino would follow, not caring who they would hurt. The police called after her, but she kept running.
"Really, they couldn't grab a scrawny little thing like you..." a bored voice said from above her. She looked up to see Vulture gliding just a few feet above, and he reached down with his feet and tried to snatched her up with the metal prongs that were attached to his boots. She ducked before they got her and she quickened her pace. "Your running is useless, you know..." he drawled, and quickly caught up with her.
Kenzie turned a corner and saw a kid practicing swings with a baseball bat. He saw her, then saw Vulture, and froze. Kenzie grabbed the bat from him and turned to face Vulture.
"Swing like this, kid." she said, and swung hard at Vulture, who was too slow to avert his path. She hit him hard in the shoulder, and the metal wing attached to his arm sparked and sent him spiraling away, him shouting and cursing as he went.
Kenzie gave the smiling kid back his bat and began to run again. She found herself running through an elementary school lawn, and hopped a fence into the small playground. She reached the slide and sat down on its end to catch her breath.
"Eddie, please be okay..." she huffed, and she wiped the sweat from her brow. She watched the area, expecting Rhino to crash through the fence or something. Her eyes rested on the sandbox, and she gulped. "Please don't..." she said to it. As a response, the sand began to churn and rise, shaping itself out into the figure of a man. When it finally stopped, Sandman, dressed in striped shirt and blue jeans walked forward, a smile on his face.
"Hey, girly." he said, and his arm extended and shifted into a mallet of sorts. "Come with me either willingly or with a big bump on your pretty head. Your choice." he said. Kenzie smiled weakly at him.
"About that..." she said, and pointed behind him. He turned around, and gasped.
Spiderman stood by the school building, a kinked hose in his hand. He waved to Sandman before unkinking the hose and spraying him down with water. Sandman shrieked, and turned back to sand and mud, then slid painfully away from them and out of sight. Spiderman dropped the hose and ran up to Kenzie.
"You're popular." he said, helping her up.
"Yeah, with the wrong people." she muttered. "Thanks."
"No problem. Why are they after you?" he asked. Kenzie shrugged.
"Their boss wants to talk to me."
"Doc Ock?"
"Yeah."
"Why?"
"I don't know."
"That's helpful."
"Shut up, man." Kenzie began to walk out of the playground. Spiderman caught up to her.
"Where are you going?" he asked.
"Well, since there are a bunch of goons in costumes after me, then I might as well keep walking until I run into the next one." she said.
"I can just take you out of here."
"Yeah you could. But I'm not going to end up in an aerial battle and risk being dropped." she said, and shivered.
"Where's your boyfriend?" Spiderman asked. Kenzie raised a brow at him.
"Creeper, much?"
"Just observant."
"He was knocked out by Rhino." she said. Spiderman stopped.
"Are you serious?" he asked. Kenzie furrowed her brow.
"Yeah, have you seen Rhino? Eddie's lucky if he doesn't go comatose." she said.
"...right..."
"Shocker said he'd be fine, but..."
"You seem to know all these guys." Spiderman said, catching back up to her.
"I only know one of them."
"Really? Which one?"
"The good Doctor himself..." she said bitterly.
"On what basis?"
"When Otto Octavian still worked in OsCorp, I was starting as a photographer. He shared with me OsCorp's latest achievements and gave full detail as to how everything they created worked. He was a sweet guy..." Kenzie said, and her eyes became sad. "But his sweetness made him out to be a major pushover. He was constantly working because Osborn gave him overtime without pay. Otto didn't mind. He liked to work with all the gadgets, but the bags under his eyes showed he was definitely being worn down.
He was even bullied by some of the employees, and they shoved their work onto him along with his own. Osborn didn't stop them, and even contributed to the jeers sent his way. I don't know why Otto let it happen. He was too meek, I guess. I always told him to stick up for himself, and even punched a scientist when I caught him yelling at Otto just outside the building. Otto thanked me, but I told it should have been him to do it. I lectured him a lot on that subject..." Kenzie stopped talking.
"So, I guess it was pretty bad when you found out he became Doc Ock, huh?" Spiderman asked.
"Yeah, you could say that. He took my advice a bit too seriously and then totally twisted it to fit his persona...Now I hate him."
"I understand-"
"No...you don't..." Kenzie said, and she narrowed her eyes. No one would understand except her and the Doc.
"Please explain." Spiderman said.
"No-"
"Heeeey! You look bored!" Said a snide voice. Kenzie and Spiderman turned around to see Electro standing some feet off from them. His head was a large mass of electricity, as well as his hands. His electric blue eyes were wicked and wide. Electro shot a bolt of electricity at them, and Spiderman pushed Kenzie out of the way. He himself barely missed, and much appreciated his senses for alerting him.
"Hey, sparky, watch where you shoot those things!" he yelled, and shot webbing at Electro's hands, covering them. Electro sneered.
"Tough guy! Makin' a move on Venom's girl. You must be begging to die!" he spat. Spiderman froze.
What?
"Oooh, you didn't know? Well, now you do, haha! " Electro burned the webbing off his hands and sent more electricity after Spiderman. Kenzie sat up, a bit dizzy. Someone grabbed her waist, and she expected it to be Spiderman. She looked up, and jumped.
She was staring into a large glass dome. Mysterio wrapped his cape around her and a cloud of smoke encased them. She inhaled the smoke and her eyes became heavy. She heard Spiderman call her name, but his words faded away.
"You know, the top side to having this protective dome around my head is that knock-out gas won't effect me." Mysterio said to her as he picked her up and ran with her. She coughed.
"F-fuck you, snow-globe..." she muttered, and slipped into unconsciousness.