Disclaimer: I own nothing except for my OC Ryn and the changes her presence within the DC and Venom universes provides for the enjoyment of the various readers who follow this literary work.

I Am Ryn Chapter 2

Because things have been so slow in the industry lately Ryn has found it necessary to look in classified for any openings regarding dancers anywhere around town.

That's exactly what she's setting out to do today. Good thing, too. If Ryn doesn't make the quota she has set in her mind for each month then she won't be able to afford food. When that occurs then she might not be able to restrain Venom's savage urges and actually consume people like he wants. That's not going to go down on Ryn's watch.

Unfortunately at the end of the day Ryn feels like she's slipping back into a slump. The classified pages in the newspaper she's holding right now is filled with crossed out X's in boxes that used to contain notifications for numerous auditions all over Los Angeles. All of them turned out to be huge duds. Either Ryn wasn't the type that they were looking for or the positions had already been filled in advance and the companies didn't have the chance to remove the clippings in the newspaper before the next addition ran into print.

It's during one of these that Ryn almost set Venom loose. Turns out the owner of a club was hiring all right, but not for the job he was advertising for. Apparently the type of dancers he was on the lookout for were actually stripers, not trained artists. Honestly the nerve of the pervert. He's lucky all he got on the receiving end of her wraith is a slap in the face. He'll be seeing stars in his eyes for days after that fiasco.

The fridge is nearly empty so Ryn made her way to their favorite grocery store.

Chen's Market.

Ryn has become a loyal patron of this store and frequently comes in to get food and other condiments even though it's a small establishment.

The shop bell tinkles as Ryn swings open the door and makes her way inside.

The owner, Mrs. Chen, is sitting in her usual place behind the counter at the register.

"Hey, Mrs. Chen," greeted Ryn, waving.

"How you doing, Ryn," inquired Mrs. Chen, staking some merchandise in a display case at the counter.

"Lousy," grumbled Ryn, holding up the paper newspaper for emphasis. "Aches and pains. You know, aches and pains."

Nodding in understanding, Mrs. Chen said "I see. I'm guessing no luck today."

Mrs. Chen is referring to the apparent bogus auditions.

Ryn rubes a tired hand over her exhausted face.

Taking notice of this, blunt, Mrs. Chen said "You look like shit."

Within Venom growled.

"Excuse me," said Ryn, mentally warning Venom to be quiet.

"You look like shit," repeated Mrs. Chen.

Rolling her eyes, sarcastically, Ryn said "Thanks for the load of confidence. That's exactly what I need right now."

"Mind is body, Ryn. You really need to take it easy. You're going to run yourself into the ground at this rate," said Mrs. Chen, genuinely concerned for her wellbeing.

Giving off a strained smile, heels killing her feet, Ryn said "I'm working on it."

Mrs. Chen then speaks to Ryn in Mandarin which she doesn't understand at all.

Whispering under her breath so Mrs. Chen won't hear, Ryn said "All right, Venom, what culinary delights will tickle the pickle tonight?"

"Tater tots and chocolate," rumbled Venom.

Ryn swears if he had any right now then he'd be drooling.

Cringing in disgust at the selection, Ryn said "Seriously? The chocolate I get, but the tater tots are getting old now."

"Tater tots," hissed Venom, finding this unnegotiable.

"Okay. Okay," sighed Ryn, conceding. "I'll get them, but next time I come here to do the shopping we're not having them. Enough is enough."

Venom chuckles darkly.

As Ryn is placing the food in basket someone else enters the store. Ryn's eyes narrow when she identifies who it is, ducking behind a shelf to protect herself.

It's a thug for a gang she sees on a regular basis here. You see he's an enforcer for one of them that demands payment from small businesses for "protection". Exploiting hard working people for money when they barely have anything in the first place. As Ryn watches Mrs. Chen hand over the money for about the hundredth time she's conflicted. Ryn knows this is wrong and has wanted to do something about it for a long time, but fears it may go too far if she allows Venom to have his way. Each time Ryn's been faced with this Venom calls her a hypocrite since she pushed so hard for him to try and warn Earth about those Parasitic Invaders when he wouldn't. That's one of the main reasons why Ryn doesn't bring it up anymore. Truly Mrs. Chen's circumstances are oblique.

The thug leaves without further incident. There's an uncomfortable pause where Ryn somberly pays for her own food in silence and then leaves. The whole time Mrs. Chen keeps her head lowered in an unassertive and spiritless manner.

"Life hurts, Ryn," murmured Mrs. Chen quietly. "Life hurts. It just does."

Ryn doesn't say anything in response. Knowing that if she does it'll be a huge blow to Mrs. Chen's already decimated pride.

Ryn hates this so much. She wants to help people like Mrs. Chen with the ability's she's cultivated now, but is too scared.

Ryn just needs an opportunity to prove it, but where…?

Ryn drops the grocery's as she suddenly clutches her head in pain keeling over.

"Ryn," roars Venom, alarmed.

Ryn grits her teeth in pain, eyes clenched tight, as sporadic images flash in her mind. At first none of this is clear, but after a few seconds the wave of images becomes less fuzzy and the blurriness fades.

A minute passes and Ryn's eyes snap open in shock, disbelief, and astonishment.

Panting heavily Ryn movies into an alley where no one can see her and recover.

Forgetting the food Ryn leans against a brick wall fighting to catch her breath.

"Ryn, what was that," demands Venom, snarling visciously.

"We need to get to the Rocky Mountains. Now," declared Ryn, eyes hard, willing Venom to come out.

In mere seconds Venom's full form crawls out to cover her entire body in all its glory.

Ryn has a very bad feeling about this.

Authors Note:

Hope you guys all liked this one! I certainly did while writing it! ;D

And now we finally get into Secret Origins in the Justice League animated series. I have big major plans for Ryn that will be put in the works once Secret Origins is done and over with. It's going to be a hell of a lot of fun. I basically just have to really work out some of the kinks here and there first.

The bane of every writer's existence when they're working on something fantastic.

I think I've figured something out where it pertains to Ryn. For the line of episodes up until Starcrossed where their identity's pop given the situation they find themselves I am thinking that she keeps it along the same lines as Batman, Superman, and Flash. Throughout the timeline she should only be around them in her Venom form. I think it should make things a lot more interesting.

What do you guys believe? You know I'm open to suggestions especially in story's I have going like this one. So feel free to let me know what you might suggest. :D