Carnage Unleashed:
Issue Two of Four
The Parker Home
Mary Jane ran up the figures and went methodically through the numbers. There was just no way they could afford the legal fees, but what choice did she have? The company wanted her to return and finish up the photo shoots that had been part of their original contract before she had called it off.
Running up what they said she owed them it turned out that would take her a little over four months of photo shoot. Meaning that she'd have to quit play she had recently agreed to work on. There had to be another way out of this. "Think girl, think."
Why was this happening to them? She and Peter were just finally getting things back in order. It wasn't fair. It just wasn't-. Stop whining. MJ commanded herself. Keep focused, girl. You whine and all that's going to happen is that you'll become miserable. Crying won't fix this problem; you have to fix this problem.
Mrs. Parker stretched her arms out for a bit and went back to the numbers. She was going to figure this out…for both their sakes.
---
Near the Brooklyn Bridge
Carnage stomped down the narrow street headed for his old neighborhood, his journey had thus far been a bloodless one save for except one instance. Some D-level superhero squad calling themselves the Justice Fighters had tried to test their mettle against him. He did have to give the big guy credit; opening up his rib-cage had been exceptionally difficult.
He couldn't waste much more time. It wouldn't be long before some real super goons showed up like the Avengers or X-Men or…
"Hey, Cletus, I don't suppose you're out looking for a psychiatrist."
Carnage grimaced, "Spider-Man." He spun around and found the arachnid hanging from a lamp-post, "Get out of here wall-crawler, this doesn't concern you!"
"Hold on there, reality check." Peter interjected, "You just slaughtered a bunch of innocent people there. Um, let me check if that's my business. Well, look at that, it is. So what about I kick your ass and we call it a day."
"I'll rip you in two and use your skull like a toilet!" Carnage responded taking on an aggressive posture.
Peter shrugged, "Hey, I didn't know you'd gotten a job at the Post Office, Cletus. Good for you."
A tendril lanced out from Carnage's fore-arm and unsuccessfully swiped at Spider-Man who managed to dodge it with ease. The latter leapt off of the post and landed a diving kick across Cletus' jaw sending him sprawling across the street.
"How about I go easy on you this time around? You can head back to prison and we'll pretend this never happened." Carnage's hands transformed into axe-like appendages, "Or not."
Peter dove in and slipped in with a barrage of rapid punches. Carnage grunted from the strikes but managed to recover in less than an instant. He swung wildly missing Spider-Man by mere centimeters. Peter performed a back-flip landing seven feet away from the super-powered lunatic.
Carnage grinned and immediately made a wall with his symbiote and projected it over to his adversary within seconds. The red-slimy wall slammed against Peter's chest throwing him through a store window with violent force.
He crashed against a candy display and came to a stop amid a pile of debris. Peter slowly rose back up to his feet and peered through the breach he had made only to see Carnage moving on.
"That's weird." He remarked stumbling out of the store, "Except for the guards at Ravencroft and those Justice dudes, Cletus hasn't touched a single person, definitely not his style." He fired a web-line and swung down the street with amazing speed, gaining lost ground with seconds and came down on Carnage's back with a double-stomp that sent the symbiote crashing down into the street face-first. Peter pushed off and landed on top of a car along the edge of the street.
"It'd be better for everyone if you just let me go on my way." Carnage exclaimed getting back up.
Peter grimaced, "You know I can't do that."
Cletus smirked, "I know." His hand transformed into an axe and lurched forward cutting the car Spider-Man stood on in two. Peter was already twirling in the air and came down behind Cletus with inhuman agility.
The battle raged on without stop. Spider-Man continued to land blows where he found them while Carnage used the blades formed by his symbiote recklessly tearing apart the very landscape around them.
Finally, Peter and Cletus found themselves on opposite ends of a war-torn street. Smoke spewed from wrecked cars. They faced off. Each showing no signs of flinching with each determined to see the other fall. And then they charged forward. A scream of madness emerged from Cletus' mouth while Peter remained deadly silent.
And just as they closed striking distance, Spider-Man somersaulted, while Carnage's blades cut through the air. And when it was over, Cletus was standing.
Peter came crashing down against the asphalt, blood seeping through a cut in his mask. He was motionless. Carnage grinned widely and turned away from his defeated foe. The bridge would be coming soon and after that it wouldn't be much further to his aunt's home.
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The Parker Home
Mary Jane looked over the numbers, not one iota better for her efforts and then the television which had been playing irrelevantly in the back suddenly caught her attention with the words, "Spider-Man."
She spun around to a split-screen image of her husband beside that of the murdering psychopath only known as Carnage.
"For those of you just joining us, Cletus Kassidy escaped from Ravencroft less than two hours ago." The news reporter went on while the images dominated the screen. "The Justice Fighters who attempted to confront Kassidy were killed. Spider-Man then arrived on scene where he and Kassidy got into a physical confrontation with one another. We're receiving some sketchy reports that Kassidy may have also killed Spider-Man."
The phone rang. MJ rushed over to it and picked it up, "May?" She asked almost in a panic and indeed it was the elderly woman.
"Are you watching the news?" Peter's aunt inquired while her voice trembled.
"I just caught it." MJ quickly responded.
May seemed to pause, still in shock, "What…do you think he's okay?
"He has to be." Mary Jane answered back trying to sound confident and failing miserably. She took in a deep breath and whispered so May couldn't hear her, "Come on, Peter."