To the reviewers:

To Crys Skywalker: That's what you get when you have an English Literature major writing fanfiction. Unlike Otto, I actually know what T.S. Eliot is talking about.

To moonjava: Thanks.

The excitement builds up...and a new character is introduced.

I'm not too familiar with anything that has to do with symbiotes...so forgive me if there are any mistakes in continuity or characterization.Read and review, please!

Reminder: Chapter 6 of Just a Second Chance is also up. Chapter 2 of Nature Versus Nurture 2 will be up sometime soon.

Chapter 8: A Consummation Devoutly To Be Wished

"To die: to sleep;

No more; and by a sleep to say we end

The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks

That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation

Devoutly to be wished."

--Hamlet

She stalked the night, searching. Searching for people who needed help. Searching to get free of the mess her father had gotten himself—and indirectly, her—into.

Her father owed a debt to someone, and now that he was dead, she was paying for it—big-time. She, who when she took on these strange powers, swore to help the city, was now being used—used!—by a sociopath's own twisted purposes. But then again, Girl Goblin was a sociopath who was insanely wealthy and powerful.

And so when she was not being a hired stalker and hitwoman, she was a vigilante, trying to balance out the good deeds of the latter and the evil deeds of the former.

Because she was Kelly Brock, otherwise known as Misery. And as they say, misery loves company.

Right now she was in her stalker mode. Girl Goblin wanted this man and wanted him bad. She'd given Kelly a name, physical description, and the fact that he was a biologist. Kelly wondered what was so special about this job.

Finally she saw him. Tall—over six feet—and thin to begin with, he'd also lost a lot of weight. Wearing a black trench coat and sunglasses—odd in the dark of night. But he had a good heart—this she knew. Kelly didn't know what torment Goblin had in store for him. And she didn't want to know.

Austin Smith was walking down the deserted street when the voices started buzzing in his head again.

Brother…

Brother, you are in danger.

What? Muggers?

Worse.

And that is when he saw it.

The black monstrosity perched on the wall, like a spider-person gone wrong. The eyes were blank and white, the face grinning with an insanely wide grin full of razor sharp teeth. Jagged sapphire blue stripes lined the shoulders, arms, back, thighs, and legs. The form was grotesquely humanoid and muscular—and female.

"Holy shit." Austin muttered.

Okay, it's time to run now.

We've handled worse.

We will take care of this.

You're going to get me killed, that's what you will do. You run off the bioelectrical energy off my nerve synapses. If I die, you lose your power supply.

We are not stupid. Well, not all of us. We know this.

You will not be in any danger.

That is when the monster pounced. At the same time, the tentacles burst from the coat and attacked.

"Well, well, well, for a biologist, you're very well-armed," the monster hissed. "But we can play that game as well!"

Four black tentacles, hideous parodies of Austin's, sprouted from the monster's sides. For a few minutes they grappled like this until the monster realized that apart from the arms Austin only had normal strength. The monster squirted bluish-black, gooey web out of its wrists, which the tentacles could not pull off. All four were stuck together. The super-strong monster only had to hit once to subdue the out-of-work scientist. It then pulled Austin up.

Austin still managed a sheepish grin after this beating. "So…is this the part where you eat my brains out?"

The monster ruffled his hair and tapped his head. Austin shivered at its touch. "Nah…although we would love to, number one, eating your brains would be a sad waste of the scientific genius lurking inside it. Number two: We have our orders. We're not to harm one hair on your head."

"Orders from who?"

"Questions, questions, always asking questions," the monster chanted. "We don't really want anything to do with you. But we like the color of a Goblin's money."

Noreen. Who else?

The monster suddenly turned, cocked its head. It pushed Austin up against the wall and squirted more gooey web, fastening him tight. "Stay right here while we take care of this."

The tentacles struggled to get free of the sticky stuff, to no avail. Austin squinted down the alley to see what was happening.

Two men, gang members by the looks of them, had got hold of a woman as she was walking home. One knocked her in the head with the handle of a gun, knocking her down. The other rudely hiked her shirt up, pulled down her skirt, spread her legs apart, and positioned himself for rape.

"Um, forget it, will ya?" the man with the gun asked.

"Waddya mean?"

And then they saw it too. The black and blue monster with blank eyes.

"Who—or what—are you?"

Two black tentacles seized the gang-bangers, drawing them close. "We're your judge, jury—and executioner. You've just been found guilty of attempted rape. Now for the execution part."

The gang-bangers heard no more. Misery let them drop to the ground.

Finally, one of the tentacles managed to wriggle its way free. It peered down the alleyway, and through its camera, Austin saw what it saw. And he wished he hadn't.

The monster laid the would-be rapists on their stomachs, pulled their shirts up, and sank its long fangs in the middle of their backs, where the adrenal glands were. Then it started—sucking.

After this rather revolting meal, it came back for Austin. He closed his eyes. "You're going to do that to me, aren't you? Just get it over with quick."

"We told you," the monster hissed. "We are ordered to bring you in alive and unharmed. And moreover, we do not hurt innocents. You have a good heart."

That is when the black skin of the monster suddenly receded, forming into a blue sweater and khaki pants. Underneath the hideous covering was a fair-skinned strawberry-blonde woman with gray-blue eyes and a pretty face.

"See, I'm not so bad aren't I?" Kelly asked him.

"Uh, no."

"I was hired by the Girl Goblin to bring you in, like I said," she said. "She wants you real bad—I think she's just warm for your form." Kelly snickered. "I've seen her under her mask, you know. She's quite beautiful. Can't see what someone with her looks would want with someone like you."

"My wife finds me attractive."

"I'm sure she does. But I just think Osborn's kinky, with the skintight green suit and the attraction for a man with big steel tentacles sprouting out his back."

"How'd you come to work for her anyway?"

"Long story."

"Well…I like long stories."

And so Kelly told him.

In the middle of the story, Kelly suddenly reformed herself back into Misery. Why? Because the shadowy form of the Girl Goblin, in full costume and on her glider, appeared before them.

"Drop him, Misery."

She had no choice but to obey.

"You're back early, Goblin."

"I just came to give our biologist here a warning. A Goblin always gets what she wants. Always. So just run along home, Austin, to your little house up in Queens, and when you get there you'll see that everything has changed."