Age Of Carnage

Chapter 8


"So, we don't know who was in the building at the time of the explosion?"

"Unfortunately we don't, Commissioner."

Commissioner Gordan was now at a devastating scene, supposedly a meteor eviscerated a building and a few more, however, there were no reports of bodies, leading to the worst-case scenario that they were all burned down to cinders from the intense heat. It took almost two hours to calm down the raging flames, it was like they were alive, but thankfully the rain also helped the Fire Department.

"That's troublesome indeed."

A whoosh sound echoed and the police officers on the scene all turned around with their pistols armed and ready. They were met with the one and only Caped Crusader.

Batman.

He was in his traditional attire except with a yellow lining over his Bat symbol and yellow utility belt.

He wore a straight, no-nonsense look on his face.

"What happened here?" Batman asked blankly.

The Commissioner sighed. "A meteor apparently."

"Any witnesses?"

"A few, supposedly Black Mask was inside the building and escaped."

"Black Mask…I wonder what's he up to now."

Batman hasn't been keeping tabs on the Crime Lord as of late, he's been busy with League Business, so he's been pretty preoccupied as of late, however, he's hoping to change that now. If Black Mask was planning something, he needed to be prepared for the worst.

"I hope it's nothing major, I don't have the patience to deal with another gang war."

Batman and the Commissioner didn't utter a word to each other as they looked at the scorched remains of the buildings.


Darius awoke the next afternoon feeling more energized. He jumped out of his bed and took a moment to loosen his eyes. He reached for the remote on the small dresser and clicked the TV on.

["Thanks for tuning in to News 12. We have quite the interesting news for you all today, reports have it, that a meteor struck west Gotham, as of now no reports showing casualties were made, thankfully."]

Darius squinted his eyes as the news showed the damage of the meteor. "Was that the Meteor we were chasing but stopped when it went over the George Washington Bridge?"

"Seems like it, and I doubt it was any simple Meteor, isn't the Justice League supposed to handle this stuff?" Blood said as he appeared beside Darius's face

"That's my biggest gripe with all this, that wasn't just any meteor, something was in it, clouding its existence."

"I say we leave it to the Batman to figure that out," Blood disappeared shortly after saying his two cents.

Darius continued to look at the TV, tuning out the noise and only looking at the charred remains of the building the Meteor struck. Darius felt a magnetic pull.

"Oh no you don't sap, we made it clear not to leave the Bronx or Manhatten," Carnage was the one to speak as he appeared on Darius's left.

Darius rose a brow and looked at Carnage with a side glance. "You sound afraid, don't tell me more Symbiotes came along with that Meteor?"

"It's a high probability, I had to stick myself onto a shuttle to get here, it's not uncommon for us to go inside a meteor."

Darius pondered on the possibility of more Symbiotes being here on Earth, and so close by. If so, he needed to handle the issue that came with the Symbiotes. For some reason, his body could withstand more than 1 symbiote being in his body.

Darius walked to the bathroom to clean himself off and think about what he needed to do. He still had a client waiting for the damn amulet. He didn't understand what was special about it, but his client made sure to get the point across that it was of high priority.

After about thirty minutes, Darius walked out of the shower with a purple bathrobe on him, he left some of the bathrobe open to show off his well-toned chest. His skin glistened as droplets of water still trickled down. His purple hair stuck to his face as the water dampened it.

"I still got a full day ahead of me, I guess I can stop by the Burger Shack," Darius quickly went to change into a normal pair of clothing, which consisted of a navy blue Adidas tracksuit and purple running shoes. Darius' hair was put into a man bun and to finish off the outfit, he put on a pair of shades.

With everything set, Darius turned off the TV and ran out of the door in a hurry.

It took Darius about 20 minutes to reach Inwood. He decided to run all the way there as a test of his stamina, he didn't want to grow lazy at all. He took a small trip through the park, the birds chirped and flew around the trees.

Darius took a halt and looked around as a small visage of his first major fight happened here. Blood was a strong opponent, he was glad the Symbiote was on his side now more than anything else.

Darius didn't stay too long, he was feeling quite hungry at the moment, and he knew he had to eat triple for himself and the Symbiotes.

He was seriously going to start charging them rent.

Darius continued his thoughtless walk to the Burger Shack which took another 5 minutes or so and as he made it, he bumped and felt something bump into his shoulder, but this time he didn't get sent barreling to the ground, though the bump was still rough.

Darius turned his head to look at who he bumped into, and his eyes widened in surprise.

"Wade?"

"Darius? Sheesh, it was like bumping into a solid steel wall," Wade seemed to have been working immensely, he looked leaner but Darius could tell that Wade was more than he appeared now. Although Darius would have to look into it himself.

"How long has it been?"

"A clean two years, man."

Wade wore the same thing that Darius was wearing, except his tracksuit was white and black and his shoes were red. Wade also had a mustache with no goatee.

"Well, I'm about to sit down and eat, you wanna join?"

"I got nothing else better, sure," Wade said, a bit more happy than before.

Darius knew Wade has been through a lot over the last few years, mainly with his mother and his goal of trying to be a hero and stuff. It's not so easy as just saying that you're going to be a hero, it took time, training, and resources, and not be an ass, but Darius felt Wade had no resources, he couldn't say anything about the training cause obviously Wade has been working out intensely.

As they sat down, a moment of silence occurred between the two, both of them not knowing what to say to one another as it's been so long.

"So….still out of a job?"

Darius snickered. "You can say that I'm still managing though, what about you?"

Wade closed his eye as he tried to come up with a valid answer. Darius didn't know what was happening to his friend, but he could tell he was hiding something deep, but Darius was not one for prying for information.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, as long as I know you're still alive, that's more than enough."

Wade opened his eyes and smiled. "Thanks, I didn't expect you to say that, but thanks."

"Heh, I'm not that much of a hard ass anymore, I grew up."

"Speaking of…have you been talking to your father?"

Darius paused, his body seemingly stopped moving as he went rigid.

A tense moment for sure.

Darius released a large amount of air and looked at his friend. "I haven't spoken to him since we argued five years ago. I didn't even think about him until you mentioned it, I don't know how to approach him. He's still my father, yet, I can't bring myself to speak with him."

Wade didn't say anything, he didn't want to say the wrong thing and end up upsetting Darius. But…Darius needed to have a healthy relationship with his father while the man was still alive, Wade never got that luxury with his dad, he wasn't going to let Darius flop his chance.

"I know you may not want to hear this from me…especially since we haven't spoken in two years, but you should give your father a chance, for whatever reason the argument was, it's not something that should have you no longer speak with your father. I lost my dad when I was a kid, and I never got the chance to say I love him, I don't want that for your dad, don't end up like me, full of regrets."

Darius wanted to palm his face, and tell Wade that he didn't understand a single shit he was going through, a fraction of his pain, but…he decided against it; Wade was just looking out for his well-being and that was something Darius needed. Sure he had Carnage and Blood, but they weren't humans, unlike, Kara.

He truly missed Kara.

Darius slammed his hand on the table, almost snapping it in half. Wade didn't flinch, but everyone else did and looked in the direction of Darius and Wade.

"You're right, I shouldn't hold a grudge against my dad, I may regret it in the future."

Wade gave a sincere smile. "Aye, I'm your friend right?"

"Yeah…as long as you're not trying to become a hero still," Replied Darius with a chuckle. He felt jubilant at this moment.

"Oh come, that's why I've been training my ass off. I'll have you know I can lift a truck!"

Darius snorted. "What, you got superhuman strength now?"

"Hell yeah! Listen, man, I went to Star Labs a year after graduation to check if I had any sort of Meta Gene in my blood and turns out, I do. It was lying dormant because of…ya know, my weight apparently."

"So, what're your powers if you don't mind me asking?"

"Sadly, I still haven't fully activated it; supposedly it requires a certain condition."

Darius nodded. "Makes sense," Darius felt his stomach grumble. "Heh, let's order something, I'll pay for everything."

Wade broadly grinned. "Your wallet's funeral!"

Darius and Wade had departed about an hour later after eating their fill. It seemed they still ate a lot. Darius was thankful for the conversation he had with Wade today, it was enlightening in his opinion. His father was just looking out for his well-being and he shrugged it off like an angry child. He was an adult now, it was time to make amends with everyone.

Including Kara.

That was going to be harder than he thought, considering the reason why she doesn't talk with him. This time around, Kara stayed in Manhatten herself because of her company, Starrware Labs.

Yeah, Kara went by Karen Starr now, which wasn't a problem. The other problem was the other Supergirl, who was Kara Kent now.

It was weird.

But enough about Karen, Darius had a mission to do!

Night fell over the city and Darius was ready to commence his mission. He made sure to cover his body in red, he decided not to have Blood make the cape, it was too flash now that he thought about it long and hard.

Darius stood on top of a building, overlooking the Warehouse that had the amulet that Darius needed to retrieve. He was running low on money and he needed to get this job done, otherwise, he was sure his client would probably kill him.

Darius waited for the coast to be clear and with one bound he landed outside the warehouse. Darius looked back and forth, making sure he wasn't seen. Darius noticed that the Warehouse door was open, which wasn't surprising, these guys were delivering some heavy artillery.

Just what the fuck was Black Mask planning?

Whatever it was, Darius knew he had to stop the Crime Lord in his tracks. A reason Darius never went to Gotham to personally handle Black Mask was because of Batman and his little brigade. He didn't understand what Batman's deal was; but the guy was like a damn Lion, always territorial, but Darius had no room to talk, he basically imprinted the Bronx and Upper Manhattan.

Darius silently crept into the Warehouse, he made sure to mentally tell Carnage and Blood to shut up this time, he had no room for failure this time. Darius learned that money really did bring happiness and without it, he was miserable. He doesn't know why he was like this; maybe he was greedy, maybe he was selfish. But that was what made Darius.

A selfish, greedy prick with no friends.

Darius stretched out his palms and shot a tendril towards the Warehouse ceiling and he made his way up, he quietly landed on the ceiling, making sure to stick to it. He kept his eyes peeled on his target.

The Amulet.

Darius didn't know what the fuck the Amulet was, but he didn't care. He continued to crawl, he began to grow breathless as he was feeling tense. He didn't think this would be so hard.

"So, what do you think the boss is going to use these new plasma rifles for?"

Darius heard one of the henchmen wearing a heavy set of military gear. This was new, their suits seemed armored, like from that game called Doom.

Fun game by the way.

Darius wanted to hurry this up as he was feeling a bit antsy, like some warning.

"Well, obviously we're going to war, don't you see how sick these new suits look!"

Darius wanted to tune in more but he needed that Amulet, but he was angry that it was protected heavily by four guards. Darius didn't wait any longer and made a plunge, landing on the table with a thud. This got the four armed men to hastily turn and look up at the Symbiote Vigilante.

"Hey guys, mind letting me have this?" Darius shot a tendril at the Amulet instead of wasting time going to grab it.

"YOU'RE CARNAGE!"

"What gave it away, the red?" Darius quipped as he didn't waste time taking a dramatic flip to another table. The four men stood there silently as Darius tossed the Amulet up and down. Darius had to admit he didn't understand the charm.

"B-Bastard, we're not letting you out alive! Let's test out these Plasma Rifles!" On the shoulder of the armored henchmen, blasters appeared, they looked like pistols without the grip.

'DODGE!'

Darius didn't listen to the screech in his head, he only watched the four plasma bolts join together to create a large blast, Darius lenses lit up in fear. " SHIT!"

An explosion rattled and half of the Warehouse tore apart.

It took a few minutes for the dust to clear and the four henchmen all began to cheer.

"We did it! We beat that fucker!"

"No more Carnage? I was expecting more of a challenge; these bad boys really are tough," One of them patted the shoulder blasters with a chuckle leaving his lips.

"We should report in to the boss; Carnage is no more!"

"Not to be a party pooper, but I'm still alive," The voice of Darius was like a broken string on a guitar to the four henchmen. "If I didn't switch Symbiotes…I would've died for sure."

"What the fuck! How? I thought Plasma was like heat!"

"Sorry guys, but I'm not about to sit and waste any time, I got a client waiting!"


"Boss; we just got off the phone with some of our men in Inwood."

"Yeah, what do you got?" Black Mask sat in his chair, fixing up the stack of papers he had in his hands. "I hope it's good news."

Francis coughed. "Half of the Warehouse was destroyed by four idiots in the new suits."

Black Mask cocked a brow. "The new weapons?"

"That's correct, it seemed like Carnage was there."

"Heh…hehe….HAHA!" Black Mask suddenly began to laugh maniacally. "It seems everything is coming according to plan!"

Francis took a step back. He didn't know why Black Mask was shrugging this aside. Usually, Black Mask would throw a fit of rage and throw stuff at him. But, here he was, laughing his mind off.

Black Mask clenched his fist as the laughter died down. He took a calm breath.

"Is the Royal Flush Gang en route?"

Francis gave a panicked nod. "They are, and by the end of the night, Carnage will be no more."

Black Mask liked what he heard and turned around, Francis swore he saw a pitch black string retract from Black Mask's collar; but quickly shook his head to make sure he wasn't going insane.

Thankfully he wasn't.

"I'm going for a walk."

"A…walk?"

Black Mask growled. "Yes, a walk. I'm not about to clear my head in a fucking limo, Francis."

Francis closed his mouth, he didn't wish to get killed just yet. Black Mask walked past Francis and went for the Doorknob.

"By the way Francis, you shouldn't feel like that, go out to the club and enjoy your night."


Darius jumped from building to building as he made his way toward his apartment, finally feeling happy that he accomplished his mission. Darius made sure to dial up his client before he did anything else.

"Hey, yeah, it's Carnage."

["Ah, Carnage! I was wondering if you were going to be able to secure the Amulet Of Aten, but it seems you live up to your reputation."]

"You give me too much credit, sorry that I was late on this; I got held up by some minor annoyances," Darius said, referring to Carnage and Blood.

["That's great; I would appreciate it if you meet me tomorrow for the transaction,"]

Darius hummed. "Of course!"

No other words were said as Darius hung up the phone. A loose smile formed on his face, even though you wouldn't be able to tell since his mask only showed white lenses.

However, before Darius could jump over a building a blue bolt shot at his feet, getting Darius to stop moving and flip back afterward.

"Well well, if it isn't the mighty Carnage, you don't look as monstrous in person,"

Darius looked up to see four…odd people on a large card. They all had some sort of gambling card aesthetic going on with them.

"Who the fuck are you guys?"

One of the two females jumped off the card and was just a few feet away from Darius. She had a pale white, form-fitting suit with spades decorating it and a ten on the knees, she had long flowing black hair and in her hands was a deck of cards.

"We're the Royal Flush Gang, and you…are unlucky."

Darius stood there unbothered by the fact he was dealing with four gambling addicts, at least that's what he thinks they are. Who goes around parading themselves as the Royal Flush Gang? It was stupid in Darius' opinion.

"Unlucky? What's next? Are you going to say "let me show you an ace in the hole?"

"No one said Carnage was a jokester. Ace, get him!" The other female named the Queen Of Spades said while pointing a finger at Darius.

"Seriously, you got one called Ace?" Darius said with an open jaw as he watched the one named Ace jump down in front of Ten. Ace was a large…bald man with a pale white suit with a large spade symbol on his chest.

Ace went for a curved punch but Darius moved his body to the side and grab Ace by the wrist and the middle of his arm near the elbow and bent his body in order to swing Ace around and slam him on top of the building, however, Darius held back so he didn't send the large man barreling into the building.

Darius also learned self-restraint.

He knew he couldn't go all out here, otherwise, he was sure he would reveal all of his hand.

Oh great, he was talking like he was a gambling addict now.

Darius saw that Ace easily recovered and went right on offense, but Darius was prepared, easily blocking Ace's punches. Darius was sure if he allowed any of these punches to hit, it would cause serious damage to his body. He did have a regenerative factor thanks to the Symbiotes, but he didn't want to rely on the Symbiotes too much.

"I knew he was a tough one, but we didn't get any information about how he fights…" The one who spoke was the King Of Spades or just King. He displayed annoyance and worry on his face. He watched as Carnage redirected all of Ace's punches. This was not going according to plan. Ace was their heavy hitter and if he couldn't land a hit, he was nothing more than a rust bucket.

"Don't stand there, Ten! Attack!"

Ten looked back at King and Queen and turned back to look at Darius who was now attacking Ace in the face. Ten didn't waste any time and went to help Ace by throwing a few cards.

Darius looked to his left to see a few cards being thrown his way, he even care to dodge them, and that was his mistake as it sliced through his Symbiote skin getting him to flinch. Ace used this slim opportunity to strike a good hit into Darius' chin and that turned the tide as Darius was sent rocketing into a large water container.

"Good! That's more like it!" King said with more contentment in his voice. "Beat him bloody, Black Mask didn't say we couldn't have a bit of fun, just bring him in alive."

Ace walked over to Carnage, but as he brought a hand down to grab the Vigilante, his hand was cleaved off from the wrist, but no blood came out, only sparks of electricity crackled.

"I knew you were a machine! Looks like I win the bet!" The more animalistic voice of Carnage ranged into everyone's ears.

Ace took a few steps back, out of pain? No, but mainly out of fear.

"Now tell me, do machines feel fear?" Carnage said as his claws seemed to crack in anticipation.

Ace used his free hand to attempt a punch, but Carnage sliced clean through Ace's shoulder. Ace's mouth opened but nothing could be heard as Carnage sliced through his neck, letting the head fall on the ground with a choppy thump.

Ten flinched in fear as she looked helplessly at what happened to Ace. Her hands shook and her body trembled.

Carnage was then replaced with Darius once again. The young man moved his head, and a cracking sound could be heard. "I don't feel like hurting a lady, but I will if you tempt me."

"This bastard! I'll finish you myself!" King jumped off the large card and ran at Darius. However, before King could do anything, Darius embedded a fist into King's gut, instantly knocking him out.

"I suggest you all leave while I'm in a good mood."

The Queen weighed her options. Ace was out of commission, King was knocked out and Ten was still shaking in fear like a scared puppy. She was truly out of luck.

"Tch, fine, I'm not wasting my life over five grand!" The Queen left behind everyone, fleeing before she was Carnage's next prey.

Darius scratched his head seeing the Queen flee into the night. "You know…she just ditched you guys?"

Ten looked back in a rush and saw that the Queen did leave her to fend for herself. The damn pompous bitch. Ten was going to kill the Queen!

"Listen…I can tell you're not….like the rest of your fancy group; so I won't call in Captain Rea, but the King…yeah he needs to be put away."

'I say eat his head!'

"We won't eat his head if that's what you're worried about, Ten…right?"

Ten shakingly nodded her head. "I thought you were about…blood and guts?"

Darius chuckled. "Not all the time, anyway, I would really like to stay and chat; but I'm seriously tired. I'll let you guys off the hook!" Darius jumped off the edge of the roof and decided to swing his way home.

Ten was left to wonder about her options. "I…seriously need to rethink my life choices."


"Well, he's certainly strong," A figure in a brown ragged cloak said, their voice modulated. They seemed to wear a black domino mask that looked similar to the black fur around a Racoon's eyes.

The figure was watching from afar Carnage's fight with the Royal Flush Gang. It was to be expected that Carnage was going to ultimately win that fight, the Royal Flush Gang isn't someone you use and expect a sure-fire outcome.

If you want to know who this figure was, his name was Phantom. And you may be asking.

Who is Phantom?

Phantom's real name is Wade Nelson. That's right, Darius's best friend Wade. Over the last four years. Phantom has been just that…a phantom, striking when you least expected him to strike. Phantom was a Meta-Human that could control shadows, he could do a lot with it too.

Right now he was using his shadow powers to track where the Queen Of Spades went to. He was going to handle the mess that Carnage made.

For he is the Phantom.


END

Whew, this chapter is done. I wanted to have a rather laid-back first half with Darius finally meeting with Wade again after a few years. As you can see, Darius hasn't spoken to his father in five years; Darius made up his mind to go see his dad. Of course after his mission.

I've decided to cut the Harem idea, I think Darius and Kara (Karen) have a chemistry going on right now and I think a harem would mess that up (And it's better for me) or I might add in an extra lady, so the question is, who do you guys want that to be? Give me someone outside of the box.

I'm open to paring ideas for Wade because he's going to be a very prominent character after the next chapter.

I also recently finished Flash Rebirth (most of my knowledge about DC stems from Rebirth) and my god, Flash became my favorite Hero. I just can't bring myself to hate him (Barry and Wally)

Reptoholic - I know the Timeskip was sudden I'll admit, but I won't be doing any more of that, now the story is really progressing. Hope you stick around!

Bearticguy7 - I actually saw a picture of that, that's pretty sick.

Once again, I'm open to ideas for this story and pairing suggestions, leave a review, it'll help me continue the story.