Age Of Carnage

Chapter 5


Darius awoke the next morning with shaky eyes. He didn't know what he wanted to do today, he wasn't training with Morgan this weekend as the man had business to take care of, which didn't shock Darius at all, the man looked like he had an agenda to dish out and he didn't wish to know what it was as it wasn't his business.

Darius shuffled in his bed lazily, not wanting to get up, but he knew he needed to patrol the Bronx. No, he couldn't…not with Supergirl there…but then it would be fishy for her not to see him, it would connect the dots that he was Carnage's host.

Darius threw the blankets off him and went to the bathroom to get ready, taking a twenty-minute shower to drain all the conflicting emotions he had. He went to his closet and looked for what he was going to wear today, settling for a gray compression shirt, and baggy black shorts. He wore gray socks and black sandals, finishing his outfit with a pair of black shades.

"This will work out just fine," Darius said with an amused smirk on his face. It took a minute for Darius to register the lack of witty remarks from his resident Symbiote. "You okay there Carnage?"

No answer.

"Eh, well, just talk when you want, I'm going out for a stroll."

Thankfully, Darius was going to graduate school soon, with it being close to summer vacation and all that jazz. It felt so surreal in his opinion, he never would've expected this to happen to him, he always thought he would fail in all honesty, but his father made sure to work him to the bone in his studies, and that led Darius to this moment.

Darius was heading back to Inwood Park to chill out for a bit, he wasn't in the mood to sucker punch some thug or anything today, he deserved a break every once in a while. That was another factor for him not wanting to be a part of the hero or villain business, Darius loved to lay around and sleep like a sloth, there were no major benefits on both ends of the spectrum in his opinion.

Just pain and suffering, and Darius has had enough of that for one lifetime. As Darius made his way to the park, Darius noticed the lack of people in it, and that alerted him. He took a moment to evaluate his surroundings, checking every nook and cranny with his eyes only.

Darius went to take a seat on a bench and sighed. He didn't know what to do at this point, he felt lost and barren, and that slightly scared him. He knew his father wanted nothing but the best for him, but that still was not enough to tell him what he should do. He would probably get an earful from his dad at this moment for being careless about this topic.

Darius heard the bushes rustle in the back, but he didn't pay it any mind, it could just be some bird. However, it did so a second time, and it caused Darius to look at the bush.

"MOVE!"

Darius listened to Carnage's warning and jumped from the bench and over on top of a fence. Darius stared intently at the spot he was previously at, and a few seconds later a figure came out of the bushes.

"You felt my presence, you're not just another weakling,"

Darius narrowed his eyes at the newcomer, his body began to tremble, but why? This was a weird feeling for Darius as he never felt this before, it was foreign.

"Who're you?"

"You don't know who I am, yet I've killed dozens to get your attention, honestly, what type of role model are you? Ignoring your fans is a crime, you know. Now, bring out Carnage, he's the one I wish to fight."

"This isn't an ordinary person…hm, a Symbiote!" Darius looked at Carnage and frowned at him.

"Alright, you take over," Darius said as he felt Carnage takeover.

"Come out and play!"

The man had a bulky build, wearing nothing but a blue shirt and navy blue shorts, he remained barefoot. He had dark skin and a faded hairstyle. His body was quickly wrapped up in a green substance, growing taller than he already was. They had a green outline and a lime green face, his face had rows of sharp teeth that looked closer to a vampire's teeth, this symbiote had a different feature than normal, it had long flowing black hair.

"We are Blood!"

"Ha! What a stupid name you gave yourself, Blood. So, what do you want? You didn't kill all the wildlife around for no reason."

Blood gave a broad grin. "We're both Symbiotes, we could easily take over this planet. It is rich in these human foods. At first, we didn't know what to do, but you didn't care, you came out here and started a new age."

Carnage wasn't particularly fond of this Symbiote, Carnage could feel the deadly aura this Symbiote has, and it reminded Carnage of the old Vampiric Symbiotes.

"You're an old one, why not kick the bucket and die?"

Blood's red lenses shifted with latent fury as he knew Carnage wasn't going to take the offer. "That's a no, and here I was hoping you would side with me, but, I don't mind killing off a Red Symbiote, it'll make me powerful!"

Carnage lunged forward like a predator out of the bush, both Carnage and Blood slammed their bladed claws against one another in a heated exchange, but Carnage felt himself being overpowered and was sent flying into the fence.

Blood changed his claws into large spiked hammers and slammed them above his head as if wanting to attract attention. Carnage made his blades morph into spiked maces. Both Symbiotes jumped at each other and parried each other's attack in a battle of strength.

Carnage was hit by an unsuspecting punch to the ribs and sent flying across the whole park, landing on the concrete with a massive thud. The screams of the nearby pedestrians filled the air as Carnage was seen in the open. Blood appeared overhead, but Carnage rolled towards the left to avoid being used as a trampoline.

Carnage almost stumbled as he picked himself up from the previous punch. He noticed that Blood has three arms instead of two, which didn't shock Carnage, it was just unexpected is all. Carnage needed to play his cards so Carnage amassed a few tendrils and made them into sharpened blades.

Carnage and Blood didn't exchange any other words, both dashing at each other in an amazing display of speed. Carnage was the first to send a sharpened tendril, but Blood countered with his own and a few sparks flew from each strike they sent at each other.

"Gah! What the fuck is up with you?"

"Not used to someone else hogging all the cool tricks, huh?"

"Oh, shut the fuck up!"

The two Symbiote's bantered with each other, Carnage was usually never this caught up in the moment, it would seem Blood has messed with him a bit from the surprise attack earlier.

Carnage parried two tendrils and spun his body aggressively, creating a tornado that sucked up Blood, sending the large Symbiote spiraling inside before being flung into the corner of a building down the street.

"Hey, Sap, this guy is a problem."

'You can't beat him?'

"I'm positive I can, but he's all around powerful thanks to his tendency of drinking blood, certain Symbiotes can do that, but it's not what we would do now," Carnage explained to Darius in a calm tone. "I was thinking of letting you takeover, put that training to use."

'You're just scared…ugh, if you had asked me to fight before training, I would've said no, but I'm in the mood to punch someone, so yeah pass the torch!'

Carnage's body grew smaller, to the height of Darius, his serrated teeth disappeared and his lenses looked like they were glued on to something. Carnage created a scarf-like cape, as per Darius' request.

"So, the host is fighting? I didn't expect Carnage to be a chump!"

Darius's lenses moved angrily. "Carnage just didn't feel like dealing with you, now you're fighting me!"

'I'm totally scared right now.'

'Just let your instincts carry you.'

"Easier said then…AH!" Darius flipped to the side, avoiding being bludgeoned by Blood. The Symbiote swung its hammered hands wildly at Darius, who was able to narrowly dodge each one.

Darius saw an opening, clasped his hands together, and sent them straight into Blood's chin, knocking the Symbiote back. Blood staggered from the immensely powerful attack before shooting spiked tendrils at Darius, however, Darius was prepared and shot his tendrils that collided with Blood's. Darius jumped forward unexpectedly and socked Blood in the face with spiked knuckles, it was able to send Blood crashing into a car.

"Whoa...did I do that?" Darius said while his fist was shaking in front of him. He looked back to where Blood crashed and back to his fist.

"Haha! Yeah, that's the spirit kid!"

Darius jumped up and down as he began to pump himself up, flashes of vigorous training flowing in his mind as he was beginning to feel hyped. "Alright, come out, Blood, I know you're not done yet."

"Tch, it's not Carnage fighting anymore, it's the damn host himself. No matter, this ought to be fun!"

Darius rushed forward, his arms becoming a mace. Blood reared his head upwards before roaring to the heavens. Blood charged at Darius and both of them clashed their respective weapons, mace against the hammer, Darius moved forward, avoiding Blood's second wave of tendrils.

Darius spun in spot and hoped to strike Blood, but the Symbiote moved his upper body section in time to dodge and slammed a dubious amount of fists onto Darius's back, sending the teenager to the ground, leaving only his head above ground.

"I can see why Carnage has bonded with you, you're a strong, resilient host, unlike mine who's nothing more than a pussy. How about you abandon Carnage, join me, and together, we can create a Utopia, where Symbiotes and Humans can coexist?"

Darius tried to move, but to no avail, his efforts were in vain. "Why would I?"

"Humans, always answering questions with a question!" Blood kicked Darius in the face, getting the teen to grunt in pain.

Darius remained silent as Blood circled him.

"I'm sure Carnage hasn't been affecting you emotionally yet, it makes me wonder, why? He's a Red Symbiote, he should've already taken away your life! But here I stand, with a Red Symbiote and a host actually…cooperating, GAHA! It's almost putrid to think about."

Darius moved his lensed eyes to show off how furious he was, his sharpened teeth have began to rattle and grind against each other. "I'm not going to question why he hasn't, but Carnage has been my friend from the moment we bonded, I won't let you kill…US!

Darius's body shot from its concrete prison and struck Blood, tackling the black and green symbiote into a passing truck and out of the other side. Darius grabbed Blood by the ankles and lunged him into the air. Darius looked at his surroundings and noticed a few glass shards on the floor. With his quick thinking, he created two open jaws with his arms and jumped into the air.

"EAT THIS, SCUMBAG!" Darius moved his hands together, making the jaws swallow Blood whole, but Darius wasn't finished as he spun around and forcefully slammed Blood into the pavement below.

Darius heard the large, buzzing sound of sirens in the distance and turned his head in the direction of the sirens. His large lenses moved in thought.

"We're going to have to retreat, Carnage."

"Not until we eat that damn Symbiote! We can take his powers for ourselves."

"We can do that?"

"It's highly likely, yes. If we live him alive, he will come back stronger than before, and we can't have that!"

Darius made one huge bound from his spot to the fallen Blood, taking a look over the unconscious form of the Symbiote. It seemed he could pierce his tough hide, which Darius felt was stronger than Carnage's skin. It was possible this Symbiote will give him a huge boost in defense. It would help him in his future fight with any of the major Superheroes that relied on their punches.

"Well…how do we tear the Symbiote from the host?"

"Like you would a tomato from a burger…"

Darius couldn't narrow his eyes but he just had a loose frown on his lips from the weird comparison. "Alright, simple enough, let's make this fast before the Cops-"

"FREEZE!"

Darius flinched at the heavy voice and turned his head to see the Captain himself, Dale. The Captain took a moment to survey the damage that has been done and looked at the fallen Symbiote that Darius was stepping on.

"There's more of you freaks? Let me guess, you had a disagreement and now you were going to hurt innocents in the process?"

Darius mentally berated himself for his carelessness. He knew he shouldn't have questioned Carnage and that was his downfall. "I was just trying to help."

Captain Dale scoffed and his teeth flashed. "Don't try to play it safe, just because you look different, you're still Carnage…even if you sound like a regular human…wait, human?"

"Captain, let's light them up, we can't wait for Supergirl on this one," One of the officers said.

"You're right, men, fire!" The Captain yelled out, and not even a second later, a rain of bullets fired at Darius.

"SHIT!" Picking up his former enemy, Darius quickly ran up a building, avoiding being pelted by a storm of bullets.

Captain Dale smirked, almost like he knew this was going to happen. "Thank god for plans."

Darius's newly formed cape billowed in the wind as it brushed up against him as he ran. Darius didn't feel any sort of weight holding him down from carrying Blood. Darius jumped from one building to the next as he felt he wasn't being chased. Darius placed Blood on the ground and looked around.

"This is much more than I thought, If heroes and Villains do this shit daily, I want no part of it!" Darius said as he breathed heavily. A fight, on top of being shot by cops? Yeah, he wanted nothing from it, he just wanted to live low and relax.

"Hurry up and eat Blood! We don't have time, that damn Captain isn't done with us, in fact, I think he's tracking us!"

"What? Damnit!" Darius clawed his way into Blood's hide and tore pieces of the Symbiote, but the Symbiote wasn't unconscious like he thought as it struck him in the face.

"Ha! This thing is…wait, wait! Don't come in here, this is MY host!"

"Well, get used to it, he's mine now too!"

Darius felt his body jolt and fall to the floor of the rooftop. Darius clutched his head from the amount of pain he was receiving on a psychological level, the effect of having two Symbiotes enter his body was beginning to wear him, and Blood was much more potent…lethal. Darius could handle Carnage, but it was a different story now that Blood was here.

"STORM THE ROOF! I WANT THAT FREAK BELOW MY BOOTS!" Stormed Captain Dale from the street side.

"Uh-Oh! That's not good, kid, wake up! I was able to block out Blood's influence, but not for long, you can still use his hammer and durable skin alongside my sickles and blades!"

Carnage received no answer from Darius, it took him a second to realize that his host was unconscious, which was not what he wanted at this moment, but nonetheless, Carnage came to respect this host, no way in hell he was going to let the poor sap die.

"Alright, Captain Dale, let's tussle!" Carnage jumped from the roof and onto the street, his physique being taller than Darius, Carnage's appearance startled the Policemen surrounding the block.

Carnage looked from left to right, up and down. He was completely blocked off in all directions, and there were no rooms to escape this one.

"You think you got the balls to handle me?" Captain Dale said as he took the cigar out of his mouth and flicked it to the side. "I'll put you on a flag, Freak."

Carnage didn't give any witty banter or retort, he could feel the ominous aura Captain Dale was giving off. He wasn't scared of him, which was surprising since humans were usually scared of aliens…but…he had to guess it was because Supergirl was in town that everyone felt cocky and full of themselves.

"I normally don't use my Meta-Human abilities because the force rather not have me go wild, but I've been given clearance by an old friend to use anything necessary to bring you…IN!" Captain Dale thrust his right fist forward and a burst of flames shot from his palms.

"NOT FIRE!" Carnage panicked as he was able to dodge the flames, however, the flames struck the store behind Carnage, getting the Symbiote to gasp at the damage. That one single attack lit the whole store up. "BASTARD! WHAT IF THERE WERE PEOPLE IN THERE?

"As I said, any means necessary."

"And you'd kill innocents to stop us?"

"I don't need to hear a lecture about killing innocents from a tomato's sperm, I'll do what I must to keep my city safe from freaks like you!" Dale said while pointing at Carnage accusingly. "The people you killed will be happy to see you defeated and behind bars, and I'll do that in the name of peace!"

Carnage snarled at the mad Cop Captain. The bastard was nuts!

"Fine then, we'll kill you to keep the innocents safe, you mad cop!"


END

Response to Reviews: Reptoholic - Thanks for the reviews you posted, I'll be honest with you, this chapter was just sitting in my docs because I didn't know if I should continue or not due to the lack of reviews this was getting. Reviews really give me the energy to continue the stories I'm writing cause it shows me that people are actually reading (And I even got a negative review on my other story) So again, thanks for reviewing, I'll be making this story a priority.

I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Mainly action based but this continues the mini-arc. I do have a question for you guys.

Do you guys want Darius to keep the Blood Symbiote? I was thinking of giving it to Captain Dale and having the Captain be the first in Darius's Rogue Gallery. A corrupted Cop that wants nothing but the prosperity and safety of those he was meant to protect.

Again, that's all up to you guys. I will try to update this story whenever I can!