Finding his trail wasn't hard, not exactly a lot of maniacs in purple suits running the rooftops at this time of night. Venom picked up on him quick, and we were soon gaining on the mystery man. Whoever this guy was, I'm sure the police would appreciate me dropping him off at the station. Wherever that was... I still wasn't exactly familiar with this part of New York.

"HEY!" I shouted, only two rooftops behind the man now, and gaining. His head whipped around briefly, his mask only had two narrow eye slots and a filter on the front like a gas mask. But he didn't stop, turning back around and continuing on his way. Leaping across to the next building, his metallic claws digging into the stonework before he began his climb.

"I don't think he heard you."

"Oh he heard me..." I narrowed my eyes, pointing one arm forward. A jagged tendril shot forward, striking the stonework beside the criminal before pulling me forward. I managed to take him off guard, I saw him jolt with surprise before looking back at me. "You could have killed someone back there!" I shouted, drawing back my fist as I closed the distance mid flight, ready to punch his lights out.

His response was launching himself off the wall. My turn to be caught off guard, I certainly wasn't expecting him to go on the attack. He rammed into me, driving his elbow into my gut and tackling me back down to the roof. Tumbling together with him ending up on top, his claws at my throat.

"Mind your own business, freak." His voice was filtered so I couldn't make it out, smart. But it also meant this guy wasn't a full time criminal, why else would he try hiding his identity?

"Dealing with criminals is my business," I answered sharply, grabbing him by the wrist and wrenching his grip away from my neck. He wasn't ready for my strength, so throwing him off was easy. "I was looking forward to a week off, some douchebag in a purple suit isn't gonna ruin that for me."

He rolled across the rooftop away from me, springing back up to his feet before extending both hands. Compartments along his gauntlets fired off small canisters at me. They exploded at my feet, releasing a thick smoke. Any normal person wouldn't be able to see through them, it was some kind of tear gas. My sense of smell was totally useless, but I could still hear those heavy boot steps.

"Gotchya!" A tendril shot out, this one tipped with a blunt, studded club. A loud metal clang echoed as it struck him in the helmet, knocking the man flat on his ass. As the gas slowly dispersed, I advanced upon him. "Now tell me who you are and where you got this fancy suit!" I ordered. Right, this was bigger than just a police chase, tech like this isn't exactly sold at your local grocery store. I had to get some information out of this guy.

But he was tenacious, rising to his feet and slashing at me left and right with those razor sharp claws. I had to duck and dodged to avoid getting cut up by them. This guy was fast, strong, definitely had some training under his belt too. But I think even he realized how outmatched he was right now.

Catching him by the wrist, I stopped his onslaught, "This doesn't have to be hard you know?" Before applying a sharp twist to his wrist.

"Aaagh FUCK!" Okay, I didn't mean to break his wrist, I just wanted to break the gauntlet.

"Ooof, sorry about that," I cringed slightly as he stumbled away holding his arm. Cursing loudly with every step, "See? This is what happens, now come on we've got t-"

I let my guard down for a split second. And just as he was stumbling away, the man in the purple armor turned on me. Aiming his gauntlet at me with a new chamber opened in the palm. Before I had a chance to react, a stream of fire came roaring out. I threw up a shield out of reaction, trying to get clear as the flames engulfed my body. I lost focus, stumbling back to get away from the pain lashing at Venom's skin.

"Ngh!" Yep, the back of my foot definitely just hit the ledge.

Off balance and severely burned, I fell back over the side and plummeted into the alley below.

Almost poetically, as a repercussion for my overconfidence, I landed in a dumpster.

Surrounded by garbage, with stinging wounds and a sore back. While above, I was sure the masked man was already making his escape.

This week was off to a great start.

. . .

"Wow, that was fast." When I reached the apartment, my Dad was just getting back as well. "I guess that guys wasn't so tough huh?" He chuckled, his confidence in me was staggering.

"Not really..." I grumbled, walking by and heading for the guest room. "I screwed up, and he got away... And now I need to shower."

"Yeah... I didn't want to say anything, but you stink," Thanks Dad, "How did he get away?"

"Just-" I didn't really want to admit that I'd been so arrogant, it was embarrassing. "Caught me off guard, the lucky jerk decided on a fire weapon which is bad news for Venom."

"Oooh so fire is like your weakness." Dad nodded his head.

"If he'd used anything else we'd have been fine." I grumbled, shaking my head, "Anyways, after I shower I'm gonna hit the sack, I'll talk to you in the morning." Waving him off as I made my way to the bathroom after grabbing my pajamas.

"I'll make sure breakfast is ready when you wake up."

As I showered, I thought about whoever that man might be. Maybe I should look into it more? Or just send a message to Mr. Stark... Yeah, that might be a better idea. I was supposed to be laying low this weekend anyways. Ignoring the fact that an entire crowd of people saw me transform and stop a car. Yeah, I might be hearing about that one in the morning.

Once I no longer smelled like garbage, I left the shower and flopped into my guest bed. Sighing heavily as I stared up at the ceiling. I thought about my Dad, and how he reacted to everything today. He was so supportive, and confident in me. It felt weird, I know he'd always been that way but... I don't know, maybe movies and books just conditioned me to think all parents are supposed to freak out and get in the way of the young hero trying to advance the plot or something.

Maybe he just wasn't showing it? Or maybe that was just a contrived, overused plot point used to generate a false sense of tension. Or maybe, he was just telling me what I wanted to hear because he didn't want to lose me like he lost Mom.

I was overthinking things again, I knew that. But even so, all these thoughts on family made a new idea pop into my head.

"Hey Venom, do Symbiotes have families?"

"We are capable of producing an offspring, but we do not have the kind of family structure you meat sacks do."

"So does that mean there are lady symbiotes?" I replied curiously, "Or are all Symbiotes burly man voices like you?"

"My voice is powerful and terrifying, as it should be." He grunted in response, "We do not have genders, any symbiote can produce an egg."

"You make eggs? Ew," I shuddered at the thought, "I thought it would be like... Cell division, because you're just an ooze ball."

"Why are you even asking these questions?" Ignoring that probably offensive suggestion. "What does it matter?"

Hmm, good question. "I don't know, I was just curious..." I rolled over onto my side, staring out the nearby window. "You may be a freaky alien sludge monster, but you're pretty interesting," It was true, I know I'd learned a lot about Venom but I was sort of squandering the opportunity to learn a lot about a real alien race. "I like learning more about your species, helps me understand you better."

"And why does understanding matter?" Venom scoffed at my words, "We are compatible, strong, and you keep me fed... That is all that matters." Was he pushing me away right now? Maybe he just wasn't good with processing emotions. "Why does it matter if I don't have what you humans call family? My people are not sentimental meat bags."

He was certainly being fussy, maybe I struck some kind of nerve? Oh well, "Speaking as one of these sentimental meat bags, that sounds pretty lonely." I answered simply, "You'd think a race that's survival depends on others would be more open to communication and understanding... But that's okay," Closing my eyes and getting comfortable for sleep, "You can be part of my family, whether you like it or not."

"Grrrmm... Go to sleep meat bag, the sooner we get to breakfast the better."

. . .

The next morning, I awoke the smell of bacon. True to his word, Dad was already cooking up breakfast. Rolling out of bed, I made my way to the kitchen.

"Morning," I greeted with a wave. Before blinking at the sight of the table, "Uh... Did you get a room mate I don't know about?" Spotting a third place set at the table.

"What?" My Dad blinked, "No, why- Oh, right the third plate." He chuckled, flipping a pancake over in the pan. "I wasn't really sure how Venom is with food, so I set him a plate."

I had to stifle a laugh, "Yeah, I'm sure he'll appreciate that."

"He DOES!" Venom exclaimed, head forming out of my shoulder, dramatic timing as per usual. I could already tell he was extra excited about basically getting two meals for breakfast.

As my Dad started bringing over the food, Venom was already drooling over his plate while I took a seat. "Are you going to say thank you?" I questioned, smirking at the symbiote head.

"Wasn't planning on it."

Of course he wasn't, "Well then I guess I'll just have to skip out on breakfast." But his weakness was easy to exploit.

"Hrrrn... Thank you, for the breakfast." Getting those words out of mouth in anything but a sarcastic tone was like pulling teeth.

Dad chuckled nervously at that, having watched the display. "Don't worry about it." Sliding a few pancakes onto each of the plates, followed by eggs and bacon. "Its still amazing to me that you can talk to him like that."

Quirking an eyebrow, and with a mouthful of pancakes, "What do you mean?" I asked.

"If I had a second head growing out of my body, and it looked like him?" Dad pointed at Venom with his fork, the symbiote greedily scarfing down his food making an absolute mess of the plate. "I'd be terrified, but you sass him like you aren't threatened by him at all."

Oh right, he didn't really get how this works. I laughed a little and took a drink of my orange juice before explaining, "Well the thing is, Venom needs me to survive, or at least a compatible host." Earning a sharp look from him, as he moved on to the plate of pancakes in the center of the table. Rather than let him devour the entire thing, I swatted him on the head to make him back off before tossing a few onto his plate. "And it turns out, I'm a perfect fit," Shrugging as I continued eating, "So I can pretty much tease and sass him as much as I want, because he needs me."

My Dad blinked in surprise, looking between me and Venom, "When did my little girl get so sharp?" He chuckled, shaking his head, "Now I'm not sure which one of you is scarier."

"Me," Venom answered, bacon stuck between his teeth and mouth dripping with syrup and runny egg yolk. "Definitely me."

Playing along with my Dad, I laughed, "I don't know Venom, what makes you so sure about that?"

To which he flashed a big toothy grin, trying to be menacing as he loomed over me. "Because bitch, I eat people."

God dammit.

"Wait, what?" My Dad blinked.

And now Venom was playing his own game to annoy me, "Oh uh, yeah he'd eat anything meaty, even people." I explained with a nervous laugh, "But only if I didn't keep him fed! And even then, he's very well behaved and wouldn't do that." Glaring daggers at Venom's smug grin, "Right, Venom?"

My eyes said, "You won't eat for a week."

And his face said, "Try me bitch."

Luckily, before anything else could be said, my phone began to go off. The noise echoing from the hall leading to my room. "Oh, hang on I'll go get that."

Venom protested immediately, "But I am not finished, neither are you, eat more!"

I rose from my seat, dragging Venom along, "It might be important! We can eat after we're done." I couldn't imagine who might be calling me, it was either Mr. Stark or maybe Miles? But the latter, I seriously doubted. Sure enough, the screen showed an image of the Iron Man himself. I hit the answer button and brought it to my ear, "What's up?"

"Good, you're up," He didn't sound upset or worried, maybe he was just checking in. "Remember what I said to lay low?" Uh oh, "Well now there's a video of the mutant girl stopping a car from crashing into civilians, and then swinging off into the night to chase the Prowler, and now its going around the internet."

I was immediately on the defensive, "Look, I can explain- Wait, Prowler?" I blinked, before remembering, "Oh yeah! The purple guy! Do you know who he is?"

"Just some a thief with a fancy suit," Stark answered quickly, "Not the point, just wanted to let you know that you got me in trouble." He sounded more sarcastic than upset at this point.

"How does me chasing a bad guy do that?" I asked, walking back out into the main area where Dad was still eating. Letting Venom chow down while I spoke with Mr. Stark.

"Well I was going to address the press this morning about the rumors of a new Avenger and try to throw them off the trail," He explained, "Aaand then they threw that video at me, so ya know... That was fun."

Kinda getting some mixed messages here, "So am I in trouble?"

"No, not technically... Just giving you the heads up that your costume is kinda going around." Stark warned, sounding dismissive as ever, "People are calling you, Venom."

"What? Why?" How, they didn't know about him, that wasn't possible!

"You shouted it before transforming." Oh, right... Crap, "Either way, try to stay out of trouble for the rest of the week if you can? I'm thinking we set up a press conference afterwards and maybe... Officially introduce you to the world, just to get the media's collective nose out of our business."

Great, "Uh, yeah sure Mr. Stark that sounds... Fun?"

"Not really, but enjoy the rest of your time off." I could hear his voice getting further from the phone.

" Wait! What should I do about the Prowler!?" But he'd already hung up. "Huh..." Tucking the phone away, I shook my head and sighed. "I'll just text him later..."

"Was that Tony Stark?" Dad asked, starting to move dishes to the sink for cleaning. "He just, calls you like that?"

"Well, technically I've spoken to him more in person than over the phone," I shrugged, Venom was licking both my plate and his own clean. "We do sort of live together."

"Right, almost forgot about that..." Dad hesitated, before snatching away one of the plates Venom was licking. Finally, I tugged on the Symbiote's extended neck. He got the message and melted away back inside of me. "How is living with the Avengers?"

What was left of them anyways, "Its interesting, they don't really treat me like I thought they would," I explained with a fond smile. "They're nice, treat me like an equal for the most part."

"I'm happy to hear that," He smiled lightly, running water over the plates. "So hey, I've gotta run some errands and will be gone for awhile, you gonna bum around here all day?"

Well, if he was just gonna give me an out like that. "Nah, I think I'm gonna head back to hometown, see how everyone is doing." I shrugged casually, sliding into a chair. "Check in with Miles, maybe."

"Alright," He nodded, "I'll leave you some spending money, but stay safe."

"Oh come on," I chuckled, waving him off, "I can handle myself."

"Maybe... But you're still my little girl," He argued, "No matter how badass you are now, so I'll keep worrying."

My cheeks flushed a little at that. "Alright, if it makes you feel better." I shrugged it off, but deep down I think I really appreciated that. Despite how much I've changed, despite having this thing inside of me. He still looked at me like his daughter, that needed to be protected.

It made me feel more human.

"Thanks, Dad..."