Dear God, I am profusely sorry for such a long wait!
Normally I'd just go on with the story, but I'm going to make good use of this space to say this:
I am not giving up on this story. I know it may seem like I'm losing steam with the long waits, but I can assure you, my stories are all I think about as I'm trying to work up to writing chapters. I really can't say I have an adequate excuse, but I do have work and I get super distracted...and sometimes my motivation likes to play hide-n-seek and it pisses me off.
Anyway, I'd also like to make a few pointers for the story:
I am indeed making Ghost's eye color change from white to blue an actual plot thing, and I was sure to write it in as cleverly as I can possible manage. And as for you romantic types, I don't really have a pairing in mind, but Claire and Ghost can get pretty flirty so we'll wait and see. As for the name of Ghost's offspring, I'll be putting that off for a chapter or two...
Now on with the story! (Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel, Spider-Man, and all that other jazz. I only own my OC's.)
Chapter 5: Order and Chaos
Recap:
Precious seconds passed as the scientists' screeching finally died down in conjunction with Cletus's shouts of surprise as an all-too-familiar red substance slowly covered him. Bullseye, not at all amused that his kill seemingly came back from the dead, drew his pistol back out and fired mercilessly at his target. The guards around us making the mistake of drawing all their attention on Cletus, none of them taking note of Mason's glowing blue eye patches as various objects in the storage room began to levitate. Our progeny, and his/her host taking a deep breath as all the levitating objects were then launched into all the guards, the scientist, and a retreating Bullseye (who may have muttered something like 'they don't pay me enough for this shit'). With much effort, we stretched a thin snake-like 'wing-claw' to retrieve what appeared to be a remote as it fell from the scientist's hand, pressing the button with great gusto as the magnetic locks on the sonic-bracers then clicked. As the offending restraints fell to the floor, we took that time to rub our forearms, Mason doing the same beside us.
"Not bad kiddo"
"Who you calling kiddo, I'm significantly older than you are!"
"We were talking to the symbiote"
"Whatever, let's just go find the others-"
"Ey!"
We whirled around in time to see Cletus, covered in red symbiotic flesh, toss a dead guard to the side. The little voice at the back of my head (that was not Ghost) screaming at the top of her lungs.
"You two gonna leave so soon?! The party just got started!"
Carnage was here.
We stood in dumbfounded silence, cursing ourselves and our rotten luck streak. I mean sure, there are things that happen that are completely out of our control, no biggie. But the real kicker was that we could have easily prevented the mess that reared its ugly red-head…its ugly red-head that was so lovingly taunting us.
"Ey now, why so shy?" Carnage jeered, brandishing his pair of symbiotic axes "Is it because I now got me one of them 'sym-bi-ote' thingies…?". Enormous white patches landed on us, a malicious grin growing wider as they did so, "Aww, that's it ain't it? And 'ere I was thinkin' that you'd like a playmate-!". We cursed loudly, phasing just in time for Carnage to lunge through and right into the stack of packaged weapons behind us.
Damn he's quick!
Right?! As if fighting Venom wasn't hard enough!
We spun around just in time to see the red symbiote erupt out from the pile, almost as if he were a child playing in snow. And the grin he was wearing certainly showed it. "Wow! Not even a scratch! I'm almost not mad at you fer pullin' that chickenshit stunt-!" this time we (including Mason) were ready as our shield-like appendages sprouted out of our back in fluid grace, easily intercepting Carnage's newly formed scythes. With a loud grunt, we used momentum to launch Carnage across the room, while Mason took that as his cue to join in by propelling several large metal benches in his direction. The benches, of course, didn't really succeed in pinning the slippery red bastard, but, they were distracting enough so we could charge him.
Mason was first, striking with elongated claws and levitating swords (yes, they seriously kept swords in here), taking the brunt of the damage from the madman's assault. Though it seemed like they were evenly matched as they parried and threw taunts, Carnage gained the upper-hand by first making a lewd comment and then brutally kicking the newly bonded pair to the side. Leaving him open for a barrage from our trusty forearm projectiles, which he did block, but our current partner proved that he wasn't going to be a slacker on his end and assaulted Carnage with even more levitating swords than he had before.
"Would'ya two quit throwin' shit!"
Someone's getting frustrated
Indeed, is he seriously going to throw that table at us even though-eep! We phased through the table, snarling at a snickering Carnage and Mason. Both of whom resumed fighting with claws, Carnage beating back Mason with a surprise mallet. Being that it was our turn to strike (again), our shields swiftly morphed into vicious claws as they swiped at the laughing little red turd in front of us. Sure, not that we did much damage, but it was enough of (surprise-surprise) an opening for Mason to come in all his telekinetic glory and pin the bastard with a beautiful assortment of all the damn heaviest objects in the whole room. We honestly cried (mostly Ghost) with how wonderfully our baby seemed to work with her host, though for the sake of the fight that surely determined the very safety of New York (and the whole world, in general) we had to suck it in and keep focused. Even though we saw nothing of Carnage except a twitching hand, we had to keep on guard. Even if it all seemed a little anti-climactic that someone as tough Venom's first-born would be subdued in one go. So, we took tentative steps forward, examining the 'cage'. It looked very sturdy, as if it wasn't going to get trashed at any second.
"Good work Burns"
"Yeah, no kidding, I seem to be the only one doing so" Mason huffed. It would have been funny, but there was something about his tone.
Finding ourselves to be particularly irate that day, we turned on the ball of our foot, away from the creaking and scraping, eager to show our displeasure with the older man's tone. And because we wanted to show just how irritated we both were, my Other retracted the symbiotic mask from my face. So now Mason was staring into my un-amused glare, and Ghost's hurt one. "That tone speaks volumes Mason, what is bothering you?" Ghost's blue (I remember the 'lenses' somehow changing from white to blue before Cletus stabbed us) patches-for-eyes glistened with worry.
There was more creaking, we continued to ignore it.
"Where to begin…" there was a pause, then blue symbiotic flesh retracted from the older man's face, revealing his displeased expression. "Well for starters, we got ambushed, beaten, and tortured…" Mason's frown deepened "Those two boys, which by the way are good friends of mine, could very well be dead…", he took a few steps closer, as close as he could get before invading our personal space "I catch you two working with that…that sick son-of-a-bitch". He spat, pointing a blue claw towards Carnage, or rather his twitching appendage.
Now, it was my turn to frown. "I already said why-"
"It doesn't matter! You should know damn well that whatever he knows, he's not going to share –or maybe he's outright lying to you, because you know, he's a criminal!"
I wanted to say more, but I found that my mouth was wired shut. And that Ghost told me through our mental bond to hear him out, although he seemed to be a little anxious too. So we continued to stand there waiting for Mason to finish venting out his anger. Because the last thing we wanted was for his anger to escalate, especially when he had a newborn symbiote. And here's a fact, newborn symbiotes are susceptible to raw, negative emotions. Yikes.
"How long" Mason suddenly blurts out, after taking a deep inhale and exhale.
"How long…?" Ghost parrots cautiously.
"Have you been expecting?"
We took a mental note that there wasn't any more noise coming from underneath the pile.
"I was made aware months ago…I, I still had a few days till she was due, but…"
"But then today happened" I mumbled.
Mason groaned loudly. "And you two didn't even bother contacting Dr. Mitchell? You know she specializes in...this stuff, right?" he stared and gestured to his whole body, the dark blue material covering him almost squirming from his scrutiny.
"Are you unhappy with your bond?" Klyntar teeth were bared, not menacingly, but to display Ghost's disappointment. It was all I could do to not gape at the man's blatant ingratitude.
"I'm unhappy that it has happened so soon, yes" Burns sighed "And in a situation where separation could mean death, for both of us"
Ghost hummed thoughtfully, "You seem to be aware of our spawn's frailty"
"Yeah, quite" Mason replied gruffly, "It would be a dick move if abandoned a baby, not matter what species". I relaxed upon seeing that he has calmed down significantly, if the small smirk on his face was any indication. And since that issue was resolved, it was time to focus on our other problem.
"Now that that's settled, any ideas on we should do with him" I jabbed a thumb in Carnage's direction, the little red snot was being alarmingly quiet, and me and my Other didn't want to waste anymore time standing around, not when we still had to find the Marx brothers and Venom.
Dark blue symbiote tissue stretched back over on Mason's gruff features. "I believe that's your call to make, Mommy" both man and symbiote were definitely behind that remark, but we bit our tongue in favor of giving Carnage our full attention.
We can't leave him, obviously
But we don't really have anything to restrain him if we bring him along –wait! My eyes darted to the deactivated sonic cuffs and remote. "Mason, you want to grab those cuffs and remote?"
"It would be our pleasure"
Focusing back on Carnage, we noticed something particularly odd. Sure he made a bit of noise, but his hand was still in the same exact place…and that upon closer examination under the pile, we couldn't really find the arm it was attached to. What the hell? It was then, that we could practically feel someone's breath on our shoulder.
"What'cha lookin' for, sweetcheeks?"
It was all Ghost could do to keep my exposed head from being bashed in against a steel cabinet. My white and black symbiote covered my head almost instantaneously as we spun around to a grinning Carnage, not at all fazed by his effort of trying to inflict excessive head damage. However, he did have better luck lunging at and sinking his claws into us, before forcibly kissing (which almost felt like he was trying to eat our face, and that's not something I'd really put past him either) and throwing our flailing form at Mason. And because there was actually an energy limit to our phasing, we knocked an unsuspecting Mason to the floor. Carnage laughed at the pitiful crumpled heap that was us.
"This was fun kiddos, but I got places to be, people to terrorize!"
"Oh no, you don't!" Burns attempts to pin the madman with more debris, but Carnage jumps and scales the wall effortlessly, dodging all his attacks before morphing into a puddle and escaping through a vent.
Oh shit, I almost forgot he could do that!
"C-can all symbiotes do that?!"
"Just the ones that are fully bonded"
"But they just-"
We cut him off with a gesture, pulling out the key-card and then shoving it in his hand. "We don't know if you have the phasing ability yet, but you should take this just in case", we didn't leave any room for argument as we grabbed another key from the deceased scientist (God rest his soul, not) and hastily pointed a finger at the door. "You two go find the others, we'll handle Carnage"
"You do know I have more tactical experience and the stronger symbiote right?"
"You do know that your Other is my child right? And that you two are freshly bonded…" we were already over on the vent, preparing to chase after the red-clad madman, "We just need a quick breather before we can start phasing again, and we'll be very careful until then"
Whatever Mason was going to say after, we were already in the vent.
I remember the last time we were in puddle form, it was rather fun, I wonder why we don't do it more often
Because of the strain it puts on my body?
Oh yeah, sorry
We were currently in such straining form, pursuing Carnage through the ventilation system. It wasn't so hard to get a fix on his location; we just had to follow the screams and gunfire. After a few lefts here, and a couple rights there, we dripped though the duct stealthily, solidifying as we reached the ground and trying so hard not to look at the mutilated bodies around us. Even if they did threaten our lives at some point, we still couldn't bear to look into their empty eyes, so we kept focused on the corridor in front of us. Upon hearing another scream, we entered a dead sprint, reaching the source just in time to see Carnage dispose of a guard. Figuring that the stress on our body has eased up enough to make phasing possible again, we muffled our footsteps and advanced on him. Once close enough and with our wing-claws ready for action, we sprung.
"OOMF!"
Too bad that a whole lot of red tendrils kept us from even scratching the smug bastard, the vicious things tightening around us to the point where we had difficulty breathing. It was almost as if he had eyes in the back of his head.
"Cool ain't it?! It's like I have eyes in the back of my head!"
Oh, that's right, I forgot about this little detail too –damn, sometimes this universe does hate us
It's okay, it's not like you can remember every single detail about this yahoo
Yeah, but still, I feel pretty stupid
"I see ya chased me, yer too cute-!"
Thankful that we have recovered enough to start phasing again, we took a deep breath and used such special ability to escape Carnage's tendrils. An action that surely ticked him off one too many times as his grin disappeared and his eyes narrowed. "There it is again, how the hell do you keep doin' that?!"
"Well, it was either 'that' or get groped by a bloodied tampon with feet"
Carnage's eye twitched, and a mere second after that, it was all we could do to keep the 'bloodied tampon' from forcibly ripping each and every bit of my Other off of me. I mean sure, we may have asked for it when we addressed our short-fused opponent as something so…gross. But we couldn't help that our mouth would spout the most obscene things when under pressure. Obscene things that got us into dangerous situations, like fighting a much stronger adversary close quarters. With a yelp, we phased through Carnage's claws (which pissed him off even more) and bounded down the hallway, desperate to find an area with more space. And perhaps more guards, anything to get the heat off.
"You're awfully quiet-" we nearly tripped as we barreled down another unfamiliar hallway, doing our ample best to avoid Carnage's scythes and needle-projectiles. "Perhaps we were too obscene to your liking?" a freaking claymore sword soared over our head, finding a new home in the chest of some random guard as he and the rest of his squad rounded the corner. We didn't pay any more attention to him though, and neither did Carnage as he continued to chase us through what appeared to be a mess hall.
"Disrespectful little shit, get yer ass back 'ere so I can slice it up and eat it fer breakfast!"
"Oh hey, sounds like you're cheering up –erk!" a red tendril snagged our throat, and by reflex, we phased. However, that proved to be a predicted move when as soon as we became tangible again, we were tackled by a snarling Carnage. He tried to pin us, but we kicked him off, the both of us exchanging a few blows before he got a good kick in that sent us across the room. Sputtering curses and holding our gut, we stood begrudgingly back on our feet, not quite wanting to leave the ground in a hurry.
Claire
Man if I were to take a shot every time you said my name…
I have an idea
Oh, I mentally scolded myself for being so moody; sorry…I'm all ears Big Man. We got low, poised to strike. Carnage grinned, doing the same.
The whole time we've been chased by Carnage, I noticed all the guards joining in too
Upon a brief examination of the room, we were surprised to see groups of guards just standing in random points of the dilapidated mess hall. They all looked torn between wanting to shoot us, and (really) not wanting to shoot us for the likely reason that they didn't want to provoke two symbiotes. It was a funny sight, I can tell you.
We should use their weapons
Something clicked, so with a grin, we charged the nearest guard. With a swift foot to the face before the man could pull the trigger of the obnoxious weapon, we nabbed it just as it left his hands. Flying up to avoid the assault of sonic waves coming from four other guards, we then latched onto the ceiling and proceeded to leap around, disarming guards with our projectiles and blasting Carnage with the sonic rays (making sure the weapon was on its highest setting). For once, my Other took all the credit for an absolutely brilliant freaking idea. If I didn't love the little marshmallow so much I would have been jealous.
"You get a needle to the knee, and YOU get a needle to the knee…" as we continued incapacitating guards, Carnage took it upon himself to kill a few while we were distracted. "And YOU can just butt out!" and that wasn't really something we condoned, even if the men were a threat to us too. So with a hip shot with the sonic emitter, we knocked the little red bugger on the ground, giving the remaining guards a chance to retreat. And whether or not there was actually some debate, all of them ran out wordlessly. Some even spared a grateful look over their shoulders as they escaped. We may have been vigilantes, but something was mighty satisfying about letting those guys go.
"You really are one big softie" Carnage growled, getting on his feet "I really can't wait to cut ya open and-". We didn't wait; we blasted him again with the lethal weapon, making him cringe and howl. As he fell on his knees, we walked over swiftly to a dead guard (who may have been a higher-ranking individual), fishing around briefly before pulling out a thing of sonic bracers and a remote.
Things seem to be looking up-
We delivered a few more blasts as Carnage attacked, knocking him out cold this time. I love ya, I really do, but can we save the victory speech until after we're done?
Okay
Hauling Carnage around and being stealthy was a feat in of itself, however, we still managed to find what passed as a surveillance room with little trouble and disabled whatever we could. And by disabled, I mean trashing the place. Sure there wasn't much in the way of security where we were (because from what we've seen, whoever captured us surely retrofitted an old -and by old I mean ancient- bunker with modern tech in a hurry), but it wasn't something we wanted to risk.
Now we just need to regroup with Mason, damn, we should have taken a walkie-talkie or something!
Claire…
God, I've really been on a stupid spree now haven't I?
Claire…
Haven't made a single good decision since yesterday morning…or was it the day before?
CLAIRE
We (I) jumped, dropping Cletus. I didn't pay much attention to when the unconscious serial killer landed on his face; because I was too busy being shocked by Ghost's outburst.
Are you done?
I felt my cheeks burn, y-yeah, I'm done
I know how to find Mason, just…relax
As soon as I did, I felt…something. The same feeling we got before we got jumped by Venom. The same feeling we got once we spawned Ghost's child. The same feeling we got once Cletus became Carnage. And boy, did I really feel stupid.
Do you feel them?
Yeah, and the bloodied dead-weight on our shoulders…and –wait, that's odd, who could that be?!
You mean the third presence? Only one way to find out
I nodded, following the buzzing in my brain.
Our guess was that Venom found someone. Or that someone found Venom. Either way, saved us the trouble of finding him as we stepped into a large circular room, Mason at the center with his back to a cluster of computers.
"Someone's late to the party"
"Pffft, what party" we jerked our head around the room, exaggerating surprise "there's no one here". We ambled closer, shifting an unconscious Carnage on our shoulders, "On a serious note, where did everybody go? We were expecting an epic fight and a chance to uncover much needed secrets"
"Well unfortunately, things are currently that simple" a black shadow with white eyes and a toothy grin stretched out of the actual shadows. We would have jumped, if we hadn't sensed him already. "This room was already empty when we arrived"
"My guess is that shit went south for our captors, so they packed what they could and hauled ass"
We sighed, both relieved that we didn't have to fight our way out and disappointed that all the information we needed was probably in some shady guy's (or lady's) briefcase, in some chopper headed toward the Canada border or some shit.
"White Rabbit?" a soft male voice echoed from beside us. We turned to find happy, and tired, blue eyes gazing evenly at us. It was Wyatt, and as much as we wanted to hug the little cinnamon roll, we couldn't just yet.
"Hey fanboy, how are you holding up?"
"A little roughed up, but otherwise fine…ma'am" happy blues suddenly turned cautious as they looked upward at our cargo. "If you don't mind me asking, what are you holding up?"
Venom also looked curious, more so than Wyatt. So while we addressed the young lad in front of us, we stared at the large black symbiote across the room (who looked…leaner?). "There was an accident, involving a maximum security inmate and a vial of Venom's substance"
"…dear God…" White patches for eyes broadened.
"Did you see any more inmates? All the ones we found were…" Wyatt covered his mouth, clearly resisting the urge to vomit.
"No…we did not…Mason?" we really wanted to change the subject "were you able to salvage anything from the computers?"
"Some" he held up a damaged external drive, "Nothing a little magic from SHIELD's tech staff can't fix"
"Nice…now just one question remains…" our blue eyes scanned the room briefly before landing on Venom and narrowing. "Where the hell is Ryan"
The black symbiote looked particularly guilty, "We made a deal with your progeny…"
We looked over to Mason to see him scratching the back of his head.
"Help, for freedom. The one you call 'Ryan' volunteered"
Our eyes narrowed skeptically, so we turned to Wyatt, the younger Marx brother giving a weak shrug, looking completely out of it. Of course after the shit-show that just played out, we were all a little out of it.
"We're going to assume you have contacted SHIELD, and they're swarming in as we speak"
"Yes ma'am" Mason knew full well he outranked us, smart-ass.
"So what happens now?"
Comically, all eyes gravitated towards Venom. With a rather goofy and sheepish grin, the black symbiote detached himself from Ryan Marx in a natural fluid movement, escaping through a vent before any of us could react properly. Thankfully Ryan seemed unharmed, blinking away his drowsiness, that drowsiness evaporating as soon as Mason cursed loudly.
"Aw, damn it!"
"Forget him; he's a sweetheart compared to this guy" we jostled the red symbiote on our shoulders.
Both the Marx brothers could only stare in confusion as the remaining symbiotes in the room burst out laughing.
"Claire" Mason was now in a formal suit, looking quite snappy as he jogged up beside us on our way out of the SHIELD owned compound. He also looked quite guilty, and we both knew why.
"You want to separate don't you?"
An hour or so earlier, Mason kept quiet during our conference with Coulson, Mitchell, Jones, and a few other staff. No Fury, but it was probably for the better. The whole meeting was awkward, so one can understand why Mason didn't drop the bombshell that he was bonded to our offspring. We thought at first that his silence was to protect her, so he could keep her. We were half-right, to say the least.
"It's not safe for her here, not when we could have a potential mole. Despite what you two may think of me, I don't do things for myself, not all the time. Please…" the dark blue 'fabric' hesitantly stretched out, revealing the actual black fabric of a real tailored suit underneath. There was no surveillance where we were standing, so our progeny could take her sweet time separating from Mason Burns. When it was done, Mason stood there wobbling, but was otherwise stable. With a nod, we turned and walked off, the young blue symbiote wrapping herself over my flesh but beneath Ghost's, making it appear as if I was wearing a blue layer underneath. As we walked through the door, a large hand stopped us.
"For what it's worth, I really am sorry. And…I hope she finds someone"
We gazed at the grey eyes of the older man behind us, smiling a little at how much softer they were.
"Home. Sweet. Freakin'. Home~!" I just about sung as I plopped down onto my couch, drained from all that had happened over the last day and a half. "Ah, but ya know what would make home even sweeter?" I grinned and skipped over to the cabinet, grabbing a thing of chocolate cake mix, "Chocolate cake!". As if on auto-pilot, I flitted about the kitchen, grabbing ingredients and pulling out kitchenware.
I was going to suggest a shower and nap, but who am I to refuse chocolate?
I hummed in agreement, shuffling over to the TV remote and pressing the big red button in the top right corner. I didn't even get to enter the kitchen before the news started blaring, filling the room with the obnoxious voice of a female reporter and making our poor baby screech.
: "This just in, we are getting reports from witnesses saying that they have spotted Venom in upper Manhattan-":
And as soon as it had come on, the TV shut off. I gave an agitated sigh, ambling toward the kitchen to put away the mix and the rest of the ingredients. You know what, a shower and a nap sound really good
But the chocolate cake…, both my Other and his spawn stared at me with big puppy Klyntar eyes. With a groan, I pulled back out all the stuff.
One chocolate cake and a shower later, we were all comfy in bed and looking on my phone. Spider-Man had really pulled a lot of weight while we were gone, anywhere from small crimes to having a run-in with Shocker. I frowned at one particular head-line bad-mouthing us because of our absence.
Gee, no one cares about what we do till we don't do it
We will make up for it tomorrow, don't beat yourself up-
Before I could reply, my phone buzzed with a message. Frown gone, I pulled up the message and read the text, unsure of whom it had come from.
:Hey Stranger, ;):
Hmmmm, my curiosity is piqued
Calm down hound dog, could just be some creep that got a hold of my number, a white blob with blue eyes peeked out over my right shoulder, while a little blue blob with the same color eyes peeked out over my left.
:Uhm…hello, who is this?:
Seconds ticked on by.
:Oh, sorry about that! I can't help myself sometimes: another second ticked by, :remember the art gallery?:
Buffering…
"The white-haired girl!" Ghost wriggled in delight. That's right; I had a promise to keep.
:Oh yeah! I'm sorry, thought you were a creeper:
…
:I have my moments:
More typing, I had to be careful not to use 'we'.
:I did like talking to you, but I never asked your name:
As if for dramatic effect, there was a twenty second pause.
:You can call me Felicia ;):
This girl has a name that sounds awfully –wait. Oh my god!
"Another one?!"
"Yep!"
:I had a feeling it would something girly, but badass. So…how did you get my number? Just curious:
…
:The gallery's website:
"Dope"
"Shush"
There was a giggle from our little blue bundle.
:Neat-O. Hey, if you don't mind me being presumptive, did you contact me because you want to hang out?:
"What about-"
"I'm working on it, shush"
:…maybe…:
"We'll be moving too fast if we go on an actual date, I was thinking that we could just hang out as if we were on a date"
Ghost hummed, then nodded, pleased.
:How does tomorrow at 3 sound?: I linked a Google Maps location with the text, and then waited.
Thirty grueling seconds passed before a reply came.
:Sounds good, I'll see you then ;):
"She really likes the winky-face"
I burst out laughing.
And there ya go ;) hope you enjoyed. I'll try to update sooner!
Stay beautiful.