Carnage Unleashed

Issue Four of Four

Brooklyn

Cletus Kassidy. If you ever see him on the street kiss your butt goodbye, because chances are he's not out on good behavior. He was dangerous before he joined with the Symbiote to become Carnage, but that pair... In a sick way, they're a couple, the kind that you envy because they were practically made for the other. You know what that's like, right? I'm sure you've seen them before, at birthdays or Christmas parties. Of course, something tells me, Cletus' idea of Christmas is a little bit different from yours and mine.

"Fall damn it! Fall down you bastard!" Peter exclaimed hitting Carnage's back with a fire-hydrant. The symbiote crashed down to his knees and agony and grunted while Spider-Man continued his assault with his improvised weapon.

With every strike, the hydrant dented further and further inward. Carnage grimaced and swung his scythe-like arm along the surface of the street.

Peter barely escaped with a back-flip that had him landing on the roof of a parked car. He fired a web-line aimed at Carnage's eyes. The latter would have none of it and caught the strand of webbing in mid-air. He tugged on it forcefully sending Spider-Man towards him like a missile only for Carnage to send the web-spinner down to the asphalt with a violent round-house kick.

Victoriously, the Symbiote roared at the sea of cars that surrounded them, their occupants watching in stunned awe. And as Carnage noticed a city bus stuck in the traffic jam a devious smile began to slowly creep across his face.

With an aching head, Peter came to amidst the sound of Carnage's cackling. "Let me guess. You just discovered the beauty of laughter and are ready to surrender."

Carnage stood over him, with a bus full of passengers in his hands. "This is your stop." He smashed the bus directly onto Peter. The force of the impact knocked Carnage down to his feet and literally cracked the street. He rose and without a moment's hesitation lifted the bus again, "Next time you might want to take the express line." Carnage flung the bus through the air like a rag doll.

With an explosion of glass, Spider-Man emerged from a window in the bus immediately spinning around. He fired two lines of webbing, using the first to anchor himself against a building and the second to catch the bus just in time to save it from crashing into a pack of cars. Peter carefully lowered the bus onto the street and turned only to find the symbiote had escaped once again. He took a deep breath of air, braced himself against his knees and lamented, "If Carnage doesn't kill me, trying to keep up with him will."

The Home of Jane Kassidy

Carnage quietly opened the door of his aunt's home. A nurse immediately approached him, "Excuse me, you are who?" She inquired accusatorially. He immediately slashed her neck with a quick motion of his talon-like fingers.

"I'm her nephew." He replied as she gurgled frantically in the final moments of her life. The symbiote seemed to recede into his skin, leaving only Cletus in his orange prison jumpsuit. He proceeded, almost tip-toeing like a child afraid to wake up his parents. Cletus grabbed a small knife from the kitchen.

The murderer entered the bedroom and found his aunt, Jane, lying in bed, tubes coming from her every orifice, hooking her up into a plethora of machines. There was a pile of bloody sheets to the side of her bed that had yet to be cleaned.

"Cletus…is that you?" His aunt asked, her every word carried by painful expressions. "I was wondering when you'd come for me."

"I left as soon as I heard." He replied coming to her bedside.

She smiled and brushed the side of his face with her shriveled hand, "I knew you'd come."

"What choice did I have?"

"I wish I could have been there when you needed me." She replied stricken with grief, "I wish I could have been there to stop your father from doing what he did. I'm so sorry, Cletus, I should have done more."

"I am what I have always been, nothing could have changed that."

His aunt nodded her head slowly, "Perhaps…did you know when you were a small little boy you wanted to be a doctor. You wanted to save lives."

Cletus nodded in a manner almost surreal, "I remember."

"Such lost opportunities." She frowned, "I weep for you, Cletus; you should have been so much more."

"We both knew that this was the only outcome, I…tried to avoid it, but I can't. This is how it is. I destroy everything I touch, it is my nature…Are you ready?" He inquired as his eyes began to fill with tears and his hands trembled.

She nodded, "I am."

"You were the only one that was ever nice to me." He tightened his hold on the knife and carefully inserted it into her neck. A quiet exhale emerged from her lips and then…nothing. He placed his head against her chest and began to cry. He wanted her back; he wanted it to be all right. But it was far too late for that, his path was set.

Finally composing himself, he said, "This was a very private matter." Cletus exclaimed turning his attention to a dark corner of the ceiling where Spider-Man had hid thus far, "You've witnessed the fulfillment of the Cletus family legacy: Unproductive, self-destructive madness."

"This was a mercy killing?" Peter asked.

"No." Cletus replied scornfully, "I don't kill out of mercy. She had to die, that was inescapable, and if it hadn't been today it would have been tomorrow or the day after. But I will say that I'm glad her death came with a release. She was a strong woman; she didn't deserve to die hooked up to machines. Even I didn't do her the respect necessary."

"What now? Do you turn big bad and ugly and we toss down again?" Peter inquired warily.

Cletus grimaced, "I hate to say this, but for the first time in my life, I've had my day's fill of killing. I'm going back."

He rocked his head back, somewhat suspicious, "After you've killed so many people? I can't just let you walk away like this."

"And what will you do? You're not a killer, the worst you'll do is beat me within an inch of my life. And what will that accomplish?" Cletus inquired of the battered and bruised superhero, "Let things be, Spider-Man, for now at least." He headed out of the bedroom but stopped suddenly at the doorway, "Just don't take this momentary reprieve the wrong way and think I'm going soft. Soon, today will be in the past."

The Parker Home

Peter followed Cletus' every movement until he was finally picked up by two squads of SWAT and taken to Riker's Island where he was immediately imprisoned in their Z block, a facility designed specifically to hold super-powered criminals. There was no telling how long he'd be there, Peter wagered at least until Cletus grew bored with being cooped up.

About an hour later, he slipped into his apartment through the window. He found Mary Jane passed out on the couch in front of the television feeding new reports concerning Carnage's capture. He shed his costume and stared at his naked frame in the mirror. Bruises and gashes marked his skin, sweat still dripped from his hair.

MJ appeared behind him, her eyes full of relief and gently wrapped her arms around him, "You're home, Peter, rest."

---The End---

Coming Next: The Spider and The Man