Rain: Happy V-Day! (I may have dated this chapter) but I am back with a brand new chapter for A Symbiotic Bond: A Venomous Titan so sit back, relax and enjoy the show!

Mario: Here we go!

A Symbiotic Bond: A Venomous Titan
Chapter Twelve

Champion City - Jade Garden Chinese Resturant
Garfield Mark Logan

"Man...Sounds like you guys went through hell," Garfield noted as he took a bite of rice into his revealed mouth.

It had been thirty minutes since their battle at the Diamond Center and now the three costumed heroes were eating away at the chinese resturant Black Cat had recommended.

Sure, it was strange to see all three heroes eating away in the lone table in the middle of the resturant, with everyone looking at them, more Garfield than anyone, with starstruck eyes but it was what it was and Garfield was starving.

"Yeah," Red X replied once he swallowed his food. "To think I found the love of my life in captivity astounds me."

Black Cat blushed at Red X's words and said "Yeah. I can't believe I spent a good chunk of my life without him."

"It must be nice having love like that," Garfield responded, a wistful tone in his voice. "The last person I loved...Well...Didn't end well."

He was truly envious of Cat and X.

Despite the awesomeness that he is, Garfield wasn't exactly the love magnet he proclaimed himself as. He went on a few dates but a lot of the girls he had gone with were only excited about the prospect of dating a Teen Titan and nothing else.

That was until she came into his life.

He didn't know how he felt about her at all after all this time. He cared for her, he trusted her and yet, he was furious at her, he hated her.

She played his emotions and nearly killed him but it still hurt. It hurt so much that since that time, he hasn't remotely gotten back into the dating game.

Sure, there are cute woman that he is interested in but he didn't want to be hurt like she had hurt him.

"Love...I could never understand it," The Symbiote said softly.

'I don't think I ever will either...' Garfield replied to her before he glanced at Red X, who put a chop stick full of rice into Black Cat's mouth, the latter blushing. 'But at least some of us are lucky to obtain it.'

"I suppose..."

Shaking his thoughts of the pleasent emotion aside, Garfield stretched out his limbs and stated "So to make sure I have this right, The Mandarin is gathering certain crystals that hold a map to this Crimson Gem of Cyttorak, that is known to hold a lot of power...And the crystal you guys tried to take tonight was one of them. Am I correct so far?"

"Very," Red X said with frown on his face.

"Good...I want you guys to deliever it to him," Garfield said, much to the shock of both thieves and the Symbiote.

"Excuse me? You want to give that to him?" The Symbiote asked in alarm. "Did you not see the memories of...him fighting someone that held that power?"

'I did,' Replied Garfield. 'But like I said, I have a plan. Trust me.'

"Are you crazy? This is the last piece to the map," Black Cat told him. "He will have the ability to find this powerful gem."

"Trust me," Garfield said, an unseen twinkle in his eye. "X, those collars on your neck, did he build them?"

"He did," Red X said.

Garfield paused for a moment and then asked "Is there a device on it that allows him to listen in on us?"

Thankfully, X shook his head and said "I checked for any bugs but there are none."

"Good...So, you're good with technology I'm guessing due to the many gadgets on your person, is that right?" Garfield asked. With a nod from X, Garfield smirked and said "Good...Because you're going to deliever the crystal to him and in turn, that is going to lead me and Rocket to him."

Black Cat's eyes widened in realization. "You want to bug the crystal..."

"Exactly. With the way you two explained how he trapped you, we all know he is smart so if you guys just showed up with Rocket and I, he would instantly know that you two betrayed him and do something heinous in return. So...Let's say we let you have it and happen to follow you because of it being tracked."

"Solid so far," X said with a tilt of his head. "But what happens once you get there if you want to keep the act of us working with him?"

"Well, knowing every villain ever, he'll probably want you guys to fight Rocket and I, which you will do but...you two will "lose" which will allow us to fight him and when the time is right, you two will strike him down," Garfield said with a victorious grin.

"It could work," Black Cat said as she looked to Red X, who nodded in agreement, which prompted Black Cat to say "We're in but how are we going to bug the crystal?"

"That I can help with," The Symbiote told Garfield.

'Really? How?' Garfield asked.

"I can split a piece of myself and put it into the crystal." The Symbiote asked.

'Whoa...Seriously?' Garfield asked in surprise.

"That's correct. With a piece of myself in the crystal, I can easily lead you to the location," Symbiote answered with a pleased tone.

'Man, am I lucky to have you Sym,' Garfield said with a grateful tone. He could feel appreciatation from the Symbiote and it made him smile. "Hand me the crystal," Garfield said as he held out his hand.

Black Cat handed him the crystal and once Garfield got the crystal in his hand, a small piece of his suit slithered into the crystal before vanishing. Garfield could feel a small pulse coming from the piece of symbiote.

'So you feel it by the pulse it sends,' Garfield noted as he stared at the crystal.

"That's correct. It may be a small pulse due to how close it is but the farther it gets, the stronger the pulse becomes. And before you ask, yes, you can ignore the pulse," The Symbiote explained.

'You're the best,' Garfield told the symbiote, once again feeling appreciation coming from the being before he gave the crystal back to Black Cat and said "And done. All too easy."

Red X's domino mask narrowed as he stated "A piece of your suit went into the crystal and vanished...What type of suit is capable of doing that?"

"A one of kind suit," Garfield said with a grin on his face, his mouth quickly becoming covered once more. "I'm going to go catch some ZzZz's. I suggest you guys do the same. We have a busy day tomorrow night."

Garfield placed some money on the table and said "To pay for our meal tonight. Catch you later." Garfield then hopped down from the chair he was sitting on and walked out of theresturant.

Champion City
Garfield Mark Logan

'Alright. So the plan is now set. All I need to do now is talk to Rocket about it,' Garfield said as he held out his right arm and shot a web at the building across from him and tugged himself up into the air before turning his right arm to the right to another building to begin web swinging.

"She seemed to have a strong dislike of Black Cat. I do hope that it won't cause discourse during the mission," The Symbiote said before she chuckled. "The Gem, Black Cat, Mandarin...It seems the universe and my original one shares some of the same forces. I wonder what other similarities the two hold."

Garfield landed on the building where Rocket lived in and stood up and began to walk up it as he said "It is strange but it's good in a way. It means you can explain some stuff to me I may not know about the enemy...Then again, you do that anyway."

Garfield paused.

"I really never said thank you, did I?" Garfield asked.

"For what? We are partners. I do not deserve thanks for that," The Symbiote replied softly.

"Nonesense...When I lost my powers as Beastboy, I felt lost. Abandoned...No purpose but then you came. You gave me these powers that truthfully, are a bit better than my original ones and they just keep coming. You saved my life and healed my wounds and you've been great to talk to. It's just...Thank you for choosing me of all people..."

The Symbiote was quiet for a moment, taken aback by the small speech Garfield gave before it chuckled gently and said "You don't have to thank me. If anything, I must thank you. You accepted me when I was abandoned by my previous host. You wanted to work with me instead of against me. You helped me survive here where I would have died without you otherwise. Thank you for wanting me."

Garfield was taken aback by the sincerity he felt from the Symbiote and then became touched by the words. While he knew that his former teammates cared for him and wanted him to be there, just hearing the words sometimes did make a load of difference.

"You don't have to thank me for that either then. Besides, I will always want you by my side," Garfield told the symbiote and while it didn't respond, he felt a brief burst of affection from the being before he continued his trek to Rocket's window.

Once he reached the window of his target, he gave two quick knocks on it. Seconds later, Rocket opened the window and said "You're here. Come in."

Once she stepped away from the window, Garfield crawled into the living room and stood beside her and said "Sorry it took so long. I was-"

"Eating with them. I know," Rocket interrupted, her tone soft yet annoyed. Rocket then shook her head and walked away from him and sat down on the couch as she told him "I overheard the plan. It's solid. The only issue is that can we really trust them to help us if we need it?"

"I believe they will," Garfield. "I have a truth radar on this suit."

"That must be handy," Rocket commented as she let out a small sigh. "It would have helped when I first met that backstabbing Cat..."

Garfield walked up to the couch and sat beside her as he said "I've been wanting to ask you what your history with her is."

Garfield then blinked and said "I-If you want to tell me that is."

Rocket snorted and replied "We're in this together, right? Why wouldn't I tell you?" Rocket then frowned and said began her story.

"I met Felicia two years ago, after I got these powers from the now retired Icon, my mentor. We hit it off right away. We had the same hobbies, loved the same food, loved the same movies and everything. It was like we were seperated at birth...But around this time, a thief known as Black Cat was robbing everyone..."

Rocket looked at her opened hands and said "I spent six months trying to capture Black Cat. She always escaped my grasp as the last possible second and it got to the point that I was obsessed with capturing her. Back then, I was trying to prove to everyone that I could be the replacement Icon needed...But I was really trying to prove that to myself."

Garfield nodded in agreement.

He knew all about that due to his own feelings about his mentor, Mento of the Doom Patrol.

"But while my obsession with Black Cat grew, Felicia and I had grown even closer," Rocket said before she suddenly blushed, which caught Garfield's attention.

"How close we talking?" Garfield asked.

"We both started...dating one another," Rocket admitted.

"Whoa...That is very serious," Garfield noted.

"Yeah. I've only dated one guy before and I'm into trying new things and...We both felt the same way so we gave it a shot and for that time...It was great," Rocket said, her voice taking on a wistful tone before she shook her head and frowned.

"It was so great, I foolishly told her that I was Rocket so while she hugs and kisses and encourages me as Felicia Hardy, she taunts and fights and steals as Black Cat..." Rocket paused to to take a deep breath.

"But the end of everything came was one year ago tomorrow...We were in the middle of fierce battle, with her taunting me over and over about how she was going to win and with each word she said, I was growing furious. Not only because of her words but because she was quicker than I wasbut I finally landed a punch on her stupid flexable body. At the time, she wore a mechanical mask that disguised her voice. When my punch shattered it and she spoke...I instantly knew."

"I'm so sorry..." Garfield said.

"I cared about her. I trusted her and she betrayed me...She used the fact that she was my friend against me as Black Cat. I was hurt...And I guess after seeing her after all this time, I still feel that hurt."

"Do you still care about her?" Garfield asked her.

Rocket paused, her mouth opened to respond but then she looked down and replied "I don't know. I miss what we had but I hate her for tossing that away...for betraying me..."

"I know how you feel," Garfield told her after a few minutes of silence.

"Do you?" Rocket questioned, slightly skeptical.

Garfield nodded in understanding and replied "I do. A year back, met girl I was crazy about. We liked the same things, found humor in same things and grew to care about one another...But turns out she was a spy for a very powerful enemy for me and my group."

Garfield took a deep breath and said "One night, she took me out on a date. Her favorite diner and a amusement park. We had a blast but little did I know, she gave our fierce enemy the password to our base. While I was having fun, my teamates were fighting for their lives against swarms of robots. They survived but they destroyed our base."

"How did you find out about her?" Rocket prodded softly.

"During the date, her master attacked us on the Ferris wheel. He revealed it then. I didn't want to believe him but when I asked her in the house of mirrors, I admittedly didn't take it well. I felt hurt and betrayed...Then I left. A few months later, she came back and one by one, she took us all down, making sure to say some heinous, mind shattering shit before she did...And she nearly killed us all."

"Whoa...How did it all end?"

"She had a change of heart," Garfield said. "I managed to change her heart to betray her master. In the end, she died saving all of our lives. While the others and I forgave her, I never forgot what she did..."

"It makes trusting people harder," Rocket said in understanding. "Not just a friendship, but relationship as well."

"Yeah..." Rocket murmured.

Rocket then turned to Garfield and said "You're the first person I ever told that to. Not even Icon knows about any of that." Rocket then gave him a warm smile and added "I guess somewhere from our talks and partnership, I came to trust you."

"Likewise," Garfield replied.

Rocket leaned forward suddenly and placed a small kiss on Garfield's cheek, which made him freeze in surprise, a small blush going across his hidden face. "Thanks for listening to me," Rocket said before leaned her head on his shoulder.

Garfield looked down at her and smiled, his mouth becoming visible so she could see it. "Anytime," he responded sweetly, his head resting against hers.

Rain: And that is where I will end the chapter. So this chapter was another bonding moment between Rocket and Garfield. Now, this chapter is a bit of a fork in the road because some people want to see Rocket be added into the BB/Rae/Jinx thing I have going so if you guys want her to be in it, I have no issues with that but the thing with Black Cat would be a good out if you guys don't want it to go that way with her and BB so I'll leave it up to you. The next chapter is going to be very action heavy so until then...

Mario: See you next time!