Chapter 2

Kerri stood atop a tall office building looking out towards the Hollywood Hills. Rain came down all around her, on her, but it just bounced off the rubbery symbiote that now enveloped her body. Off in the distance was a massive, expansive mansion. It was the home of the man that had killed Kerri's uncle; the man that she had sworn to get revenge upon; Dario Sanchez. The symbiote split apart to reveal a pocket. Kerri reached in and pulled out her wallet. She flipped it open. Inside was an expired credit card, a bank card for a now defunct account, sixty-eight cents change, and a small picture. Delicately she removed the picture with her claw like fingers, sheltering it from the rain with one hand as she brought it up to her face with the other. In the picture was a man with curly red-hair and beady green eyes. He had a large nose and thin cheeks.

"I'll avenge your death Uncle Rusty," Kerri said softly to the picture.

The man in the picture just smiled back at her, his face unblinking. Rain drops dripped down the front of the symbiotic mask on Kerri's face like tears. She slid the picture back into the wallet and put it back into the symbiotic pocket. She stared down at her feet lost in thought. Her head then snapped upwards suddenly. The horrid tooth filled maw opened up in a vicious grin, "I'm ready," she said.

Dario Sanchez was sitting in his office reading over letters from various actors and actresses all appealing to him for parts in his movies. Dario had no intention of helping them. The only people he felt worthy of his assistance were those that tried to take it by force. That was how he had gotten to where he was; he had blackmailed and murdered his way to be the most successful producer in Hollywood. Dario's phone began to ring. He quickly snatched the receiver and brought it up to his ear.

"Make it quick," Dario said.

"It's Lieutenant Harris," the male voice on the other end said. "I've got some bad news; those four thugs you send to kill that girl earlier got killed themselves."

"How?" Dario asked angrily.

"They were killed, by Venom," Harris answered.

Dario calmed down a bit, "He probably thought he was just stopping a rape," Dario said, more trying to reassure himself than Harris. "It's a minor set back."

"Dario, that girl knows about your secrets," Harris said.

"I know that," Dario said. "That's why you're going to take care of the problem for me."

"But…" Harris stuttered.

"You will take care of it," Dario said and he then hung up before Harris could say anything further.

Eddie Brock stepped into his crummy apartment and he flicked the light switched on. The light flickered for about two seconds before the room went dark once again. Normally Eddie didn't even need to bother with the light. The symbiote had made it much easier to see in the dark. He stumbled his way to the TV and flicked the switch giving the room a dim blue glow that made it a bit easier to see.

"…And twelve more officers are wounded after the capture of convicted serial killer Cletus Kassidy also known as Carnage. Police say that while Kassidy is safely in custody the symbiotic organism is still at large."

Eddie stared at the TV in disbelief reading the subtext under the story running on CNN. This had happened not that far away, which meant that the Carnage symbiote could be at large in Los Angeles. Eddie began having second thoughts about giving up his symbiote. He wasn't sure if Kerri would be able to deal with Carnage, or if she would even try to stop it. Just then he heard his balcony door slide open.

"Why are you here?" Eddie asked not looking away from the TV.

"I had questions," Kerri replied as she stepped into the apartment.

Eddie finally looked up at her. She was no longer Venom. She was wearing a black tank top, a short plaid skirt, and knee high black leather boots.

"There's nothing I can tell you that the symbiote doesn't already know," Eddie said not wanting to answer any questions.

Kerri stepped into his apartment and slid the door shut behind her.

"There's a lot you can tell me," Kerri said. "Like how did you do it all these years?"

"I don't know," Eddie replied. "I really just nothing better to do. It was what I was good at."

"Were the rumours true?" Kerri asked. "Were you really a criminal?"

"That depends who you ask," Eddie said. "I've killed a lot of people over the years. A lot of people don't like it when you take the law into your own hands."

"But what do you think?" Kerri asked.

"People committed crimes, I gave them the punishment they deserved," Eddie replied confidently.

"Did you ever have any regrets?" Kerri inquired.

Eddie paused to think for a moment, "No," he replied. "I made some mistakes; I did some things I'm not particularly proud of. But I have no regrets. If I had to do it all over again I wouldn't change a thing. The same goes for you kid, do what you think is right and don't ever have any regrets."

The symbiote covered Kerri's body once more and she turned to leave.

"Kid, one more thing," Eddie called after her.

Kerri turned to look at him.

"Stay safe," Eddie said.

She gave a half smile, "Thanks." She replied.

As Eddie watched, the symbiote spread up and over her head, covering it with a cruel visage. Such a hideous image would have struck fear into the hearts of most men, but to Eddie it was one of the most beautiful things he had seen. It represented hope. Hope for the people of Los Angeles whose lives were being oppressed by crime lords, either in L.A. itself, or hiding safely in their mansions up in the hills.

Lieutenant Harris was a big burly man. He'd been on the force for nearly twenty years now. He remembered when he first joined how he had vowed to not put himself above the law, he laughed silently to himself thinking about how naïve he had been. It was pointless to not put oneself above the law. If you wanted to get ahead in this cutthroat town it was necessary, and that's how Harris saw it. He did what he had to, to get ahead and to get by. He didn't mind doing Dario Sanchez's dirty work. The man paid extremely well, much better than the salary he made as an officer.

However this latest assignment definitely made him a bit nervous. A girl that had been one of Dario slaves had come back to town trying to find evidence linking Dario to her Uncle's death. Several of Dario's hired goons had been told to kill her and to make it look like a random rape and murder. But Venom had shown up and he'd killed them. Harris hoped that the girl wasn't still being protected by Venom.

He pulled up outside a rather grungy looking apartment building. He double checked the address he had written down to make sure he was at the right place and then went inside. He went up to the sixth floor, apartment 6J, and knocked on the door. A few seconds later he heard the deadbolt being slid open and the lock being undone and the door opened up.

"It's kind of late," the young girl on the other side of the door said. "Can I help you?"

"I'm looking for a Kerri Cuthbertson," Harris replied.

The girl pushed a lock of her red hair that had fallen in front of her right eye back over behind her ear and gave Harris a curious look as she studied him over.

"That's me," Kerri answered.

"Do you mind if I come in?" Harris asked.

She paused momentarily considering before she stepped back from the door and held it open to allow him in before closing it and sliding the deadbolt back into place.

"So what's this about?" Kerri inquired.

Harris drew his pistol from its holster and carefully screwed a silencer onto the end of the barrel.

"I'm just here to finish the job, that those useless punks screwed up," Harris replied.

When he looked up Kerri was no longer there. He looked around the room. It was dark and there was sign of the girl.

"Come on out," Harris called. "You're only delaying the inevitable."

"Well if that's the way you want it," a voice said from behind him.

Harris froze where he was, he could feel the hot breath of the person behind on the back of his neck. A hand grabbed his wrist and pulled it behind his back in a hammerlock. The skin seemed to have an odd rubbery texture. Then Harris felt something drip onto the back of his neck and sting. He spun around and found himself face to face with the very thing he had been afraid of running into. He wanted to scream but he found that his voice had already left him. He slowly backed away from the hideous creature before him.

Venom seems smaller than I've heard in the rumours, Harris thought to himself. That's when he realized that what stood before him wasn't Venom, it was some female copy.

"Who are you?" Harris asked.

"We are Venom," the creature replied as the hideous faces slid away to reveal Kerri's face. "But we are also Kerri Cuthbertson."

Harris wasn't going to let himself be afraid of some woman, especially not this little girl. He swung a fist and hit Kerri across the face sending her to the ground, he then ran for the door. He'd heard the rumours about Venom, about how bullets were useless against him. He wasn't equipped to deal with this problem. He had to get out of here. He tried to open the door but it caught on the deadbolt. He fumbled with the latch as he panicked to open it. He felt the hot breath on the back of his neck once again as a strong hand spun him around.

Harris opened his mouth to scream but his voice had once again left him.

"Please scream," Venom said. "It only makes it more enjoyable for us."

Harris' screams of terror could be heard from blocks away before they were abruptly ended.

Detective Linda Marshall arrived on the scene of a gruesome murder. The police that had arrived on the scene had already identified the victim as Lieutenant Michael Harris. This crime was likely going to be a very personal one, cop killers were the most sought after of all murderers. However, by the looks of this murder they weren't dealing with some ordinary murder. There was blood all over the floor, which was to be expected because Lieutenant Harris had literally been ripped in half. His legs lay near the door while his upper body was half way across the apartment, a large trail of blood leading away from the door to it.

"What do you think?" Linda asked her partner Ray.

"I'd say that he was ripped in half," Ray replied.

"But how? Nobody is that strong," Linda said. "Who was living in this apartment?"

"Landlord said he recently rented it to one Kerri Cuthbertson, age 19, we recently solved a suicide case involving her Uncle, the deceased Rusty Cuthbertson." Ray replied as he read from his notes.

"A nineteen year old girl couldn't have done this," Linda said. "But she may have been involved. There was no sign of forced entry, right?"

"Nope," Ray replied. "It looks like Lieutenant Harris was either invited in or allowed in, it's hard to say which. He did have two firearms on him."

"And yet he was ripped in two," Linda muttered.

"Maybe Lieutenant Harris was set up," Ray suggested. "He was involved in the investigation of this girl's uncle's death. Maybe she thought that Lieutenant Harris was somehow responsible and she lured him hear and with an accomplice and together they killed him."

Linda looked over Ray's notes, "The only problem with your theory is that nobody saw Kerri Cuthbertson return to her apartment," Linda said. "There's no sign that she's even been here tonight. For all we know Harris was in trouble with someone and they borrowed the girl's apartment to off him. There are just too many variables here. We need to find this girl and bring her in for questioning. Perhaps she can shed some light on what went on here tonight."

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Disclaimer: Venom and Carnage belong to Marvel and all the other characters belong to me.

Just a note, the first chapter was slightly rewritten on March 9, 2006 so if you read it before that you may want to re-read it. I just had to fix a few details that are bit key in Chapter 2.