First Blood
The creature hung over Peter Parker ready to pounce on him. It made sounds that Peter had never heard before. Fear wracked his body as his life flashed before his eyes. Was this the end of the web-slinging, wall-crawling, Howard Stern loving, got a nice girlfriend, friendly neighborhood Spider-Man?
The shock went through him as he rose from bed. Peter looked to see that his Clock Radio was turned way too high, blasting the song that was on radio. Peter realized it was a Linkin Park song and that it did sound similar to what he heard in his dream.
But when he got up and looked around the room, he noticed the window he left slightly open for air was left open wider than normal. But the with the exception of the window, everything else looked the same. Which made Peter wonder? Was that a dream or something else?
"Peter!" Aunt May shouted from downstairs. "Come down for breakfast and turn down that radio."
He went over to his door and opened. "Be there in a sec." Peter went over and shut off the clock radio, he got himself dressed and went downstairs to find Aunt May operating a waffle iron with reasonable success.
"Take a seat, there'll be ready in a minute or two." She told him
Peter went over to the table and sat down. There was the usual stack of newspapers that sat on the table. He went over and pulled today's copy of the Bugle. What he found on the front page didn't put his fears to rest.
On the front page, was a headline done in the usual tabloid style. The headline read: PERP BITTEN WITH VENOM!. Peter noticed that one the front page there was an drawing of some kind of creature that the article addressed as Venom. His heart skipped a beat when the drawing in the paper looked very similar to what he saw in his dream. Making Peter ever more sure that what happened last night wasn't a dream.
He read the article with intensity that hadn't been seen since the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit edition.
PERP BITTEN WITH VENOM:
By Edward Brock
Daily Bugle Staff Writer
In the wee hours of the New York night. Officers Jennifer Dale and Donald Schultz were out on patrol when their nightly routines were interrupted by something out of the ordinary. What was out of the ordinary was that an attempted rapist had been thrown onto the top of their patrol car; Crushing the hood and breaking the windshield.
The officers safely stopped the patrol car and while Officer Dale had secured the scene. Officer Schultz went towards the direction the suspect had been thrown from.
"I had my revolver out and just as I'm running down the alley. This girl was coming out, she had her clothes torn. So as I'm coming down the alley I see this thing. I mean it was tall at least 6'5". It was black and I'm talking jet black, black as a mafioso's Lincoln Town Car. It has this thing on its chest. Strangest symbol I'd ever seen! And it had these teeth. I mean whoever this was had not been to a dentist in ages. But that was not the strangest thing. I told the thing to stop. It kept moving, so I fired a round from my revolver. For a second it stopped but then something came out of its body, came to me, and dropped the bullet right at my feet."
The rapist was found to be covered head to toe in what only could be described as webbing. But unlike the stuff known to be left by Spider-man. Police had to use automatic saws to cut through the stuff.
"This is the toughest stuff we've ever cut through." An Emergency Services Officer remarked as he tried to free the rapist.
The article continued by Peter had enough. It didn't require someone with his intellect to figure out what had happened to that symbiote that he had gotten rid off those many weeks ago. The symbiote found a new host, one who was stronger than he was. Although he didn't know why there was no mouth on it when he was wearing it. But nonetheless the alien costume was back. Peter slammed his fist on the table so hard that Aunt May looked over.
"You're going to break your hand doing that." She said sternly as she forked out a steaming waffle.
"Sorry" Peter replied back
He continued to think about the last few weeks when he realized something else. He knew Eddie Brock was in that warehouse when it had collapsed. So had the symbiote. Then it was simple in Peter's mind. Eddie Brock was probably the new host of the symbiote.
When Spider-man had gone out later that night to go web-slinging he knew he might be facing the symbiote. But if he didn't go out and find it as Spider-man. It might go and find him as Peter Parker. This was the only way to do it without harming the ones he loved.
He swung through the upper west side and made his way along Central Park. He stopped to look at the park from high above the ground. The moonlight gave the park a spooky look in some areas where there were no people. While crime had gone considerable down. People still didn't go out into the park at night. For fear of getting mugged or worse. Or at least that's what they say.
Scanning the park for anything, Spidey noticed someone running away with what appeared to be a purse. Since it was simple and Spidey had the time. He shot a web-line towards the park and came after the purse snatcher.
After only a couple of web-lines Spidey was able to drop right in front of the thief.
"Now, let's not reinforce the park stereotype." Spidey said
The thief tried to run, but Spidey simply shot some webbing at the thief's legs and let him dropped to the concrete.
"Oh this is much better." He said with joy. Figuring the park police would come by and pick him up. As he was about to shoot a web-line getting him back to the streets. He heard a voice.
"Spider-man" The voice called out, repeating the words as if he were being taunted. It was coming from another section of the park.
He couldn't pass up an opportunity, but there was a feeling that it might be the alien costume calling to him. Either way his spider-sense didn't give him anything.
With a web-line in hand, Spidey swung in the direction of the sound. He landed in a secluded part of the park. It was a flat piece of land that gave a breathtaking view of the sky. It almost looked like the setting of an arcade fighting game.
"Where are you?" Spidey called out
"I'm here." The voice shot back.
Spidey looked everywhere to see the person connected to the voice. It was a strange voice, definitely alien as if it was a man's voice being run through a synthesizer.
It was quiet and not a sound could be heard. Not even city traffic could break into the sanctuary. That was something Spidey was worried about.
Then just as turned around, a fist smashed right into his skull and Spidey went flying back. He landed a few feet away, landing in the soft earth.
He tried to get himself together and looked for what had hit him. He heard a strange guttural sound that he never heard before, also alien. A shadow started to envelop his body and Spidey slowly looked up and stared at what he was looking at him.
It was a face, an alien face. A face that was made up of two white eyes and a mouth filled with needle-like teeth. Spidey could feel the slime dripping on his face and seeping into his costume.
He knew it was the alien symbiote that used to belong to him. He had an idea that the man behind the suit was Eddie Brock. And he knew this, the creature had a name: Venom
To Be Continued
