Age Of Carnage
Chapter 3
"VIRBANK!"
Darius's eyes shot open faster than a can of tuna and slowly made contact with the one who shouted at him. His teacher. "Uh, yeah?"
"If you have time to sleep, then you have time to pay attention, hm?" Darius scratched his hair, messing it up.
"I guess, teach," Darius said lazily as he rubbed his eyes.
The teacher sighed and went back to teaching the class. Darius was not failing or anything, in fact, he had the highest score out of everyone else, Wade came in second and surprisingly Marcus was third. Darius knew the teacher meant well to him, wanting him to succeed. If that was because of how he felt, or due to how famous his parents were in the Bronx, he didn't know.
Darius wasn't afraid of getting detention, nor did he care about it, it was stupid, to be honest.
"Hey, Darius, you look like shit," Wade whispered, making sure to not alert the teacher, named Mr. Jones.
Darius turned to look at Wade with a clean, blank face. "I know that, Wade. I had a rough night."
It was true, Darius was now a wanted criminal in the guise of Carnage. The Symbiote had a ravenous appetite, and it didn't help that he had to be careful. Being wanted brought unnecessary attention, thankfully no one saw his face, otherwise, he knew he'd be arrested or on the run by now.
"I can tell, Homework?"
"Yeah…" Darius lied through his teeth. As much as he liked Wade, he didn't want him in trouble with Carnage. It was best this way.
Darius and Wade didn't share any other words as Mr. Jones turned around.
"Class dismissed, you don't have Homework for today, as I know how much you kids love the weekend goofing off."
Everyone in the class yelled in excitement. No Homework was always good. Everyone left the classroom in a hurry, wanting to chat with their friends from different classes before their next classes begin.
Darius and Wade stood by their next class, which was P.E, the teacher wasn't there yet, which gave the two friends time to converse.
"Hey, listen, did you hear about that Carnage alien thingy?"
Darius didn't look at Wade as he was still a bit tired from last night's run across the Bronx. "Yeah, crazy stuff…"
"All the people he ate, dogs too I heard. I don't know…I'm kinda envious," Wade said with a defeated voice. "He has cool powers, he can make arm blades, tendrils, and other things."
Darius looked at Wade with a curious stare. Wade…liked Carnage? Now that was weird. "You like Carnage?"
"I mean, all the people I heard he ate were thugs and scumbags. If anything, he's a better hero than the heroes we got," Wade explained with a loud tone. "I want to be a hero too, but not like Superman, but similar to Batman, you know, strike fear into people's hearts when they see you."
Darius and even Carnage were slightly surprised by Wade's declaration. "I'm sure you can be a hero, Wade. Did you come up with a name?"
"A name? I didn't think that far…"
Darius lowered his head with a chuckle leaving his lips. "Yeah, until you find a name, that's when you start your hero business. I don't see the appeal."
"What do you mean?"
Darius shook his head. "There are different types of heroes. Scumbags and Superman."
Wade snickered. "So you're a Superman fan?"
Darius shrugged. "I think Superman is the definition of a hero. True to his word and always arriving dramatically."
"Yeah well, Batman is always on time!"
"You really are a Batman fanboy."
"What do we got?"
"What do you think?"
Across the city, a road was blocked off by the NYPD. They were inspecting a crime scene. Three dead men, and from the looks of it, they seemed to be thugs. Their arms were missing and three holes were present on their chest. It wasn't as gruesome as the headless men they saw just a few days ago, but this took the cake. The NYPD wasn't used to seeing these kinds of…scenes. Grotesque and brutal.
"It's definitely that freakshow, Carnage," One cop said with disgust.
"Hey, I think Carnage is doing us a favor. These guys were scum anyway. Do you know how many cases of raped women we get here in the Bronx?"
"..."
"Thought so,"
"Captain Dale, we need to talk."
Captain Dale was an African-American man around the age of forty. He had metallic gray hair in a faded style and a freshly trimmed mustache. He wore a protective, bulletproof vest, black cargo pants, and black boots. He had a glowing heart pendant.
"What is it, Hearse?" Dale responded in a gruff tone.
"Supposedly we have an active sighting of Carnage, he's currently a few blocks down from here."
Dale laughed boisterously. "Well, I'll be! Great work, Hearse, let's go visit our new resident alien."
…
Carnage ran down a street, for everyone to see. Carnage wasn't afraid of the media or what others think, he was a Symbiote, and proud to be one. These humans were nothing more than dinner for him. However, his current host was different, it was hard to find the perfect match. When a perfect host is found, the Symbiote is stronger.
And Carnage felt extremely powerful. Carnage stopped as he looked for his next meal. Turning his head, he looked down an alleyway, the perfect place for an appetizer.
Away from Carnage, and down the alley, a group of men all surrounded a young boy, frail and most definitely weak in appearance.
"Well, look at this, a weak little punk!" The first one spoke, tapping his bat on the floor a few times. "I bet you got a lot of money in your pockets. Hand it over!"
"W-What? No, I'm broke," The boy said, however, the group of men didn't believe a word of it.
"Frisk him," The one with the bat said. The other men nodded and punched the boy in the jaw, knocking him over and causing his skin to scrap on the pavement. The group frisked the boy, taking out the wallet in his pocket.
"Well, what do we have here? A wallet. Didn't know we still used them," The leader of this little group said. "You may not know who we are, and that's okay, so I'll enlighten you. I'm Francis. And we work with Black Mask. I know you know who that is, yeah?" Francis wore a black tuxedo attire. He was a caucasian man with a lean build, he had his hair in a crew-cut style and his beard was short. Francis had a stiff-looking face, showing he took no shit.
The boy's silence answered Francis. This caused the man to groan.
"You better speak, or I'll bash your fucking skull in and send you back to your cocaine-addicted parents."
The boy's eyes flashed with a flash of anger. Francis took note of it and tapped his bat on the ground to shut the boy up. "The truth hurts, eh, kid? You thought I didn't know? Your parents can't just leave the gang and not expect no sort of punishment."
Francis bent down and stared at the boy at eye level. "Tell you what, you kill your parents…and then we can call this even, yeah?"
"W-What? No." The boy bashed his head against Francis, making his nose snap.
Francis pulled back and wiped the blood leaking from his nose. "You got a lot of fucking guts."
"What do you want us to do, boss?"
Francis looked unbothered by the fact his nose was broken. "Beat him up, leave him barely living, let him know that these streets aren't for little kids."
"Wow…and I thought we had it bad, you're downright mad!"
Francis and his boys turned around to look at the newcomer, Carnage. "If it isn't Carnage."
"The one and only, sap. So, tell us, are you ready to pay up?"
"What the fuck are you talking about? We don't owe you squat!" One of the goons said, only for him to get impaled by a red tendril that was shaped like a spear.
"The adults are talking!"
Francis looked unfazed by one of his goons dying and merely wiped the blood that got on his face with a napkin. "Get the bastard!"
"OH! A parley? Thankfully we were early, haha!"
Carnage and the goons got into a brawl, with Carnage transforming his hands into maces. Carnage proceeded to slam his right mace into the head of one of the goons that came close, splattering their blood into the wall on the left.
"OOOO! That had to hurt!"
The brawl between Carnage and the goons ended very quickly, Francis continued to tap the bat on the ground, with his lips moving with quelled fury. He didn't know how to beat Carnage. He just appeared and never left, as if he made the Bronx his own!
"You know…you're going to regret this, right?" Francis said as he walked up slowly to Carnage, stepping on the bodies of the dead goons.
Carnage's eyes moved as he smirked. "That's what they all say, but we're still alive! So, sap, what are you going to do, hit us with that bat?"
"What do you think?" Francis swung the bat against Carnage's face, however, the height difference, made Francis's swing less powerful than normal.
Carnage moved his head back and looked at Francis with a bored expression on his face. "Is that all? Aren't you supposed to be some hotshot?"
"FREEZE!"
Francis and Carnage both looked in opposite directions to see officers appearing from both sides of the alleyway, blocking off their escape.
"Oh…shit, we didn't even hear the sirens!"
"Well, it's nice to meet you in person, Carnage. You have quite the upstanding reputation," Captain Dale approached with no fear.
Carnage's eyes furrowed. "You're approaching us? Don't you know I can kill you where you stand, sap?"
"Well, I can't arrest you without moving forward, now can I?"
"Touchè"
"I'm not going back to the-" However, before Francis can speak any further, Carnage slammed his sharpened claws against Francis's neck, drawing blood.
"STOP!" The officers all ran in, however, Carnage shot a tendril into the top of the building and catapulted out of the alley.
"Captain!"
"Don't bother, he's probably long gone," Dale looked up and sighed before looking at the bleeding Francis. "Get him to the damn ER!"
Dale reached for his vest pocket and took out a cigar, lighting it up as his finger lit up in flames. "Man, I don't get paid enough to take down fucking aliens."
"Captain, these guys were a part of the Black Masks gang."
"They were? Here in the Bronx huh, first the alien, now we got Gothamites here running their deals, I need a raise if I'm going to have to deal with this…" Dale muttered in agitation. "Have this place scanned, perhaps we can find some way to defeat Carnage if we study any leftover goop."
"Right away!" An officer said.
Dale pulled on his cigar before puffing out the smoke. His head is on cloud nine. He needed to clear up his city again, it might be time to call his old pal, Commissioner Gordon.
Standing atop a rooftop, Carnage was present with the man from before, his name was….Morgan? Yeah. Morgan.
"You did some good today, Carnage," Morgan complimented with slight admiration. "Although, I think you should be more discrete."
"Discrete? That's for the host! Anyway, we assume you called us here for training?"
"That I did, bring out Darius," Morgan asked nicely, to which Carnage complied.
Carnage disappeared and out came Darius who looked drained. "Whew, finally."
"How's it going kid?"
"Eh, could be better, I mean seriously, It feels like I'm fighting alongside Carnage!"
"That's cause you are, you're sharing a body now, but enough about that, are you finally ready for training?"
"Y-Yeah…" Darius stammered shyly. He was a fighter, sure, but he was about to be trained. He didn't know Morgan's backstory, but he could tell Morgan was a seasoned veteran when it came to fighting.
"Alright kid, come at me, let's see how you fight."
Darius ran at Morgan, not wasting any time on words and quips. Darius went for a high jump kick, but Morgan moved his body to the left without moving from the spot. Darius rolled and with for a roundhouse kick this time, but Morgan caught Darius by the foot and flung him over and into the air.
Darius spun in the air and landed on his two feet, his eyes becoming as cold as steel as he went in for another attack. Morgan, however, stood his ground and blocked all the upcoming attacks from Darius.
Darius was kicked in the back, but he rolled forward and ran at Morgan, this time he was much faster, getting Morgan's eyes to flicker with a bit of surprise. Morgan smirked and slapped a punch coming towards his face.
'This boy…he might be the one, maybe he'll…no, not yet,' Morgan brought his arms up to block a kick. 'I'll have to pass on all I know to him, I can make Darius the perfect killer. And with Carnage helping him, it's a win-win in my book,' Morgan thought sinisterly.
Darius never felt like this before. He wasn't tiring, getting fatigued, or anything like that. And it looked like Morgan wasn't either, which slightly nerved the young teen.
Darius was picked up and slammed to the ground…with one hand! Darius was going to feel that one in the morning for sure.
"Alright, I've seen enough, well, I believe you have superhuman abilities. However, that's because of your little friend I presume, so we're going to still give you endurance and stamina exercises, understood?"
Darius quickly nodded his head. He knew Morgan was serious about this, he wasn't going to make the man feel unappreciated. "Right…can we start now?"
"What? Do you want to do it now? Don't you have to go home?"
"I actually moved out of my father's place and live alone, I can do what I want now…like stay out all night."
"Interesting…fine, we can start. But do note, this won't be like your average gym class, this is real life, I'm going to teach you everything I know, which includes killing techniques," Morgan warned with the sharp eyes of a predator.
Darius felt a cold sweat fall down his face. "Yeah…you got it."
Kara Kent was not having a good day, at all. She's only been Supergirl for less than a year and yet, she felt like she was doing the whole hero thing wrong, however, she can't let her regrets plague her mind. She needed to be like her cousin, Superman.
She was currently in the Bronx on a little trip…not exactly. She wanted to learn about this Carnage situation up close. Her cousin was very busy, so he couldn't make it. Well, that was always his story.
She had time on her hands luckily.
Kara scanned the area Carnage usually roams, every nook and cranny, from alleyways to the bare streets. If it was one thing she was thankful for, it was that Carnage made sure he was seen making a ruckus.
She was in luck today, she saw another crime scene and she saw the one that was on the case, Captain Dale. He was quite known…for being lazy.
Kara flew down, her cape billowing and her hair swaying from the draft of wind passing by.
Captain Dale looked up to see the cousin of Superman descending, getting him to struggle a sigh from his lips. "Now we got Supergirl here in my borough, what is this year…"
"Nice to meet you too…." Kara said with a frown. She can tell Dale was going to be a hard nut to crack.
"What do you want? I can have you arrested for tampering with evidence," Dale shot his weapon, being the usual 'I will arrest you'.
Kara waved her hands in front of her defensively. "Whoa, whoa, I'm here to help."
Dale snickered with a narrowed glance. "You? If I wanted help, I'd borrow Batman from Commissioner Gordon."
Kara shook her head. "Look, these marks aren't from Carnage,"
Dale paused, letting his cigar drop on the floor. "Come again?"
"The slashes are different, from what you reported, Carnage like to slice off limbs…as gross as that sounds, and eat…their heads, but this one…they've been punctured, as if their blood was drained from them," Kara explained as she stopped floating in the air.
"So we got…a vampire out here now?"
"It's possible…as much as I don't want to imagine that, but this isn't Carnage's work," Kara said with some regret. She was hoping this was due to Carnage, but if it was something else, then this was now her problem. She did leave the confines of Metropolis to come here and investigate…while not being any sort of investigator.
"Well…maybe you're not just all looks there, blondie," Dale said before turning to look at the bodies. "Alright boys, this isn't Carnage's doing, we got a new suspect!"
"Is there anything I can do?"
Dale moved his head to look at Supergirl. "Yeah, get Carnage, and maybe I'll trust you a little bit more. I'll have one of my most trusted partners monitor you while you're in my borough, understand?"
Kara deadpanned. 'Okay…so maybe he isn't lazy, just extremely paranoid…like Batman.'
"Hey, Nelson!"
"Yes sir!" The one named Nelson was a red-haired lady, most likely in her forties from the looks of it. She wore the standard police attire.
"I want you to help Supergirl find Carnage, you know how I am about heroes and what not, so keep an eye on her. I want Carnage brought in!"
"Understood!" Nelson made eye contact with Supergirl. "My full name is Rea Nelson, it's a pleasure to finally work alongside a hero!"
Kara just blinked. "Nice to meet you too, at least you're not as stiff as your Captain."
Rea laughed. "Don't mind him…he's just paranoid. He means well though. But enough about that, let me fill you in on Carnage so far."
"Right, I appreciate it."
END
And that's it for this chapter.
Morgan Ducard is an actual character that was an enemy to Robin (Damian) and made Damian kill. I could've gone for Deathstroke to train Darius, but Deathstroke is a widely used character in most fanfics I've seen, so I wanted to separate myself from the norm.
So, Carnage isn't the only problem the Bronx is facing, we got a mysterious bloodsucker out there. This is just a minor arc before I get my ideas finalized for the first arc.
I hope you guys are satisfied with Carnage's character, I've read Maximum Carnage and he was quite the jokester in that run, so I'm basing Carnage based on that and from Venom: Let There Be Carnage. If you have any problems with that, I'm all ears on how I should change Carnage.
We also get to see Supergirl. She got the cold shoulder from Captain Dale, who made it clear he doesn't trust heroes. I didn't base his character on anyone, this is my own, original character.
So far, this is the harem.
Power Girl
Blackfire
Darius won't be a teenager this whole story, characters will age. Darius is going to age after this mini-arc, I just want to set his character in before I make any rapid changes.
I'm all ears for advice, more harem members, etc. Leave a review, it'll help.
