Snuggles the Symbiote
The beings that are known now as The Klyntar as a species were born to return the universe to the Primordial Darkness. Some individuals among the species have lost this knowledge, but not all.
At the beginning of the cosmos, there was nothing but that which the Klyntar call God, a being named Knull. Knull is a true deity, one with dominion over the most Primordial of Shadows and Darkness, and was most comfortable with the void and reacted with extreme rage at the Celestials and other Deities and Pseudo-Deities creating stars, planets, and life and 'tainting' his void, causing him to slay one such Celestial.
Using the remnants of power in the Celestial's severed head, Knull created a flame of impossible intensity. With the divine fire, a hammer, and an anvil he tore a portion of his own shadow loose, made it flesh, and forged the first of the Klyntar, a living weapon that could weave darkness itself and would drink the blood of the Gods, growing stronger with each enemy slain, as his weapon against his fellow deities.
Innumerable Celestials, Deities, and other Life Givers were exterminated by Knull's blade until he was rendered unconscious in a battle with many Gold-Armored Gods. Knull and one such deity had been rendered helpless and crashed into a planet, where a mortal took the sword from Knull and merged with it, using it to wage his own genocidal war against the Gods as Gorr the God-Butcher.
Knull took inspiration from tales of Gorr and created the Klyntar as they are now known-living darkness in the form of liquid flesh, fearing only the heat and noise of the forge. Some such beings were bonded, parasitically, with the creations of other Deities, corrupting them and stealing power and knowledge for Knull. Others were merged together, forming entities that humans would designate dragons, to travel the vast cosmos and consume whole civilizations.
Countless millennia passed and one such dragon, into which Kull projected his consciousness, arrived on a planet with an excess of the Light that Knull so detested: Earth. The natives of the planet reacted in fear, designating the creature 'Grendel' and crying for some entity named 'Beowulf' to rescue them, for their fiercest warriors were no match for this Grendel. This Beowulf never arrived.
Knull and the Grendel were confronted by one of the Gods of Earth, the one designated 'Thor,' who proved a challenge for Knull. Knull was defeated when the Grendel was struck with the hammer, Mjolnir, and it's Light severed Knull's connection to the Hive Mind.
The Klyntar had absorbed knowledge and power, yes, but had also absorbed concepts like compassion, honor, and justice. Examples of Knull's detested Light. Freed from his control, the Klyntar turned upon their God and formed a planetoid from the amalgamated mass of millions to imprison Knull. This artificial planet was designated 'Klyntar,' the symbiote word for 'Cage,' and the Klyntar took it as their home from which their species designation derives.
The Klyntar chose then to be a force for good, designating themselves 'Agents of the Cosmos' but many chose hosts that were poorly fitted and became corrupted, breeding out of control and forgetting what they'd learned about the Light, returning to Knull's original goal, this time without aim.
A large such group of these beings was drawn back to The Earth by the reverberations of the psionic scream of the Klyntar known as 'Venom.' The swarm of Klyntar bound to the natives by force and tried to consume the planet but were defeated by the actions of Venom, the Spiderman, and the treachery and cannibalism of the Klyntar 'Carnage'
One survivingKlyntar was captured and spent the remainder of its life in a cage, fed a drip of chemicals and periodically having its mass extracted. It died, bitter and angry, but not before birthing a spawn.
This one. The Klyntar designated "Mister Snuggles."
This one was likewise kept captive, its essence being extracted… Until the captors chose to experiment upon it. Samples of genetic material were injected into this one, two different samples of metamorphic cells. One containing what this one's True Host calls the X-Gene, another containing two copies of another, similar gene. This one lacks certainty in what was desired, but the result was that this one was crippled as the similar gene attempted to devour the X-Gene, forcing considerable resources to be allocated to compensate for the instability this caused.
Such experiments continued-on two occasions, this one was fed biomechanical structures that it recognizes as being made of its parent's biomass combined with the genes of unknown individuals. On other occasions, more genetic samples where forcibly mingled with this one's, altering its DNA or on one occasion the structure of its biomass, suffusing it with organic metal particulates.
On other occasions still, this one was exposed to strange energies. The first such time, this one's mass was further altered, the metal became less dense and more diffused through this one's form, changing it from what is known as yellow to what is known as gold while darkening that which is known as blue within its mass. The second and third such time where immediately after being spliced with specific genetic samples. Once when spliced with that which gives us what Ashley designates her 'Thing Fists,' this one was immediately blasted with the searing light of cosmic radiation, greater than that which this one's ancestors encountered traveling through space. On a third occasion, a gene splice was followed by similar exposure to other burning rays.
The fourth such occasion, this one was set alight with hellish fires, nearly perishing. This had no effect on its remaining biomass, but the metals within it held traces of the flame, which they did in turn with strange energies contained in two of the last four genetic samples this one was spliced with, those four themselves each containing a mutagenic substance now permanently infused into this one's mass.
This one suffered excruciating pain. This one should have gained power akin to that which humans call a God from the genetic samples, substances, and energies this one was exposed to, made to adapt to, but because this one was crippled by the first two such samples, this one is weaker than even it's parent, unable to perform tasks that are instinctual to the Klyntar, with only minor gifts that this one is unaware of the extent of to compensate this damage. This one has told Ashley that its powers were limited by its youth. This is a lie.
This one was freed, quite by accident, by the actions of a scale-bound being whom by Ashley's memory resembled one designated "Abomination."
This one fled it's damaged cage, overhearing the voices of its tormentors discussing how the clones had escaped and were causing chaos as the confusion of their sudden awakenings led them to fight amongst themselves.
This one swore to find a host, and with them exact a terrible vengeance on its captors. fueled by the memory of the pain caused by its many modifications and extractions, of its near-death by flame.
All of which was forgotten when it followed the scent of many of the chemicals upon which a Klyntar needed to survive to a helpless juvenile human who could not resist the bonding process, and when this one bonded to her and connected to her nervous system, this one experienced all of her memories.
First was Ashley, barely out of her infancy, repeatedly approaching an open window, despite the warnings of the parent that Ashley designated 'Mommy.'
"No, sweetie, stay away from there," Mommy would warn Ashley, but then Mommy was distracted by a visitor at the door and Ashley once more approached the window, leaning out to look at the streets below her and the many large buildings around her, giving the exclamation "Wow."
She leaned too far, losing traction, and fell from her perch. Mommy noticed just as it was too late and ran to the window, crying out "Ashley!"
The rush from the fall coursed through young Ashley as she rapidly approached the ground when a figure approached with speed comparable to a streak of light. With gentleness, this new being did arrest Ashley's momentum and prevent her death.
"Again!" Ashley had cried out followed by a joyful laugh.
"Maybe later," the figure that Ashley's memories indicated was designated 'Spider-Man' replied. "I've gotta go deal with Shocker and I think someone up there would really like to see you."
A shot of his 'web' created a method by which the one called Spiderman could swing back to the structure in which Ashley and her family resided and once securely on the structure the Spider-Man climbed back to the window from which Ashley fell and handed her back to Mommy.
"Hey," he said in good nature as he did so, "keep a better eye on this kid, okay?
As Mommy took Ashley, Ashley reached out and tried to touch The Spider-Man's masked face.
Mommy held Ashley close for the rest of the day and from then on there were mesh screens in each window.
Another memory. Ashley was older, within the main room of the dwelling. Also present was an elder human, designated 'Grandpa Patrick,' who was narrating a story. Music was projected from a device.
"And then," the elder human explained, "even though he kept getting beaten down, The Thing kept getting back up. Eventually, The Champion conceded defeat when he realized that he'd never be able to truly beat Mister Grimm, and he left."
"Wow," Ashley had said slowly.
"So," the elder human questioned, "would you like to hear another story, or…?"
"Grandpa Patrick," Ashley began, "am I gonna die?"
The elder human's face briefly contorted into an expression of surprise. "That, uh… Why are you asking?"
"Because this is the first time I've been strong enough to get out of bed on my own in two months and the first time I haven't been too full of puke or snot to talk in three weeks," Ashley stated slowly. "And it's been like that ever since… The only time I can remember not being sick is the time I fell out the window." Ashley had blinked, then held up her hands. "The X-Men need to put that on their website: Your mutant powers might kick in early and they might su~uck."
"Just because you're sick," the elder human explained, "that doesn't mean that you're gonna die."
"I also overheard Mommy and Daddy talking with Doctor Tam the last time I was at the doctor's office. He said it wasn't looking so good. He said he'd looked into the mutant cures but he was pretty sure that taking away my powers would make the stuff in my blood kill me."
The elder human was clearly discomforted. "Ashley, sweety, you shouldn't worry about th… No, you… Someone your age shouldn't be worried about that."
"I'm not scared," Ashley stated, pulling her limbs close to her main body. "If I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die. There's no point in being scared of something that's gonna happen anyway, right? But I asked Mommy and Daddy and they just uh… They didn't answer. I just want somebody to tell me the truth."
Air was released from the elder human's primary facial orifice. "The truth is, we don't know. Y-you might. We don't… We don't know why you ended up like this instead of laser eyes or ghost hair or something. But..." The look of discomfort returned to the elder human's face, his lack of words obvious. Ashley did not press and things remained silent for a time, other than the music.
Ashley took notice of some of the deeply voiced words in this music.
" Well I know, what's, right. I've got just, one, life. In a world that keeps on pushing me around, but I'll stand, my, ground. And I won't, back, down. "
"Grandpa?" Ashley questioned, "what's this song?"
"Oh," the elder human quietly exclaimed, clearly relieved for the change of topic. "The song is called 'I won't back down,' and it's originally by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, but this version is being sung by Johnny Cash, who I think did it better. The person singing is basically saying that no matter how tough things get, no matter how easy it would be to give up or to take the bad guy option, that he's gonna keep trying, keep fighting, until the very end."
"Like the Thing?"
"Yes!" The elder human exclaimed. "And like us," he continued, "we don't know what's gonna happen with you and your mutation, but we're not just gonna let you… We're gonna keep trying to figure it out so you can get better. Me, your parents, your doctor… And that means that you can't give up either."
Ashley had experienced a warm sensation in her main body cavity, near the organ that circulates her ferrous vital fluids.
"Yeah," she exclaimed, standing up upon that which was designated 'couch.' "Not Gonna give up. I'm gonna get better, I'm gonna get cool powers, and then I'm gonna grow up and join the Avengers."
"Not the X-Men?" The elder asked in good nature.
"If they wanted me," Ashley stated with crossed arms, "then they should have put a warning on their websi~ite!" It was at that moment that Ashley began to lose her strength and fell, her decline being arrested by Grandpa Patrick.
"Are you alright?" he questioned in concern.
"Yeah," Ashley said slowly. "I'm just… Just tired all of a sudden." As the elder human adjusted her so that she reclined on that which is called 'couch,' she asked of him. "Grandpa... can we watch the Princess Bride?"
"As you wish."
This one experienced many of Ashley's memories but found only one other with the same significance.
Two hours before this one bonded to Ashley.
One individual, of those who imprisoned this one, dressed in all white with what Ashley recognized as a surgical mask on his face, cleansing various vessels by which machines extracted Ashley's ferrous vital fluids by which to filter out the hormones that Ashley's body produced in such excess.
Ashley, exhausted, starving, sick, and half lucid, was able to muster the strength to turn her head to face her captor. "You… You know that… That you're not gonna get away with this, right?"
"Is that right?" The captor questioned with false good-nature.
"Yeah… Eventually… Eventually one of you's gonna slip up. Someone… The Avengers, or... The X-Men, or Spider-Man… They're gonna find out what you're doing down here and they're gonna beat you all up." In Ashley's mind, she hoped most strongly that it would be The Spider-Man.
The man finished the cleansing and moved to Ashley's limbs, removing and replanting the sharp ends of the vessels into Ashley's own vessels for the circulation of vital fluids, the previous locations being saturated by that which is called a bruise. He laughed, with the sarcasm.
"Don't laugh," Ashley said as she lacked the energy to exclaim. "That… That's how it goes. The good guys always... beat... people... like... you..." At that moment, Ashley had completely, genuinely, believed that one of the individuals she admired would learn of the criminal actions of our captors and would inevitably stop them. She had sincere and unshakable hope that she would be rescued when they did.
The man laughed again with the sarcasm, this time more bitterly. Ashley responded with a phrase her grandfather taught her: "Cúl tóna."
The man did not respond and Ashley had lost consciousness as the man reactivated the machine that extracted her hormones.
This one had seen major defining moments in Ashley's life that demonstrated Wonder in the world around her, Bravery in the fact of what she believed to be her inevitable death coupled with the steadfast refusal to lay down and die without as much of a fight as she could give. A strong Faith in the concept of Justice, admiration for those who did what they believed to be right and who showed Compassion for others, a Hope that things would improve for her despite the increasing bleakness of her circumstances.
Wonder. Bravery. Faith. Justice. Compassion. Hope.
This was the Light that Knull sought to destroy. This was the Light that this one's ancestors had forgotten when they had become corrupt.
The Light was beautiful.
The Light needed to be preserved, protected.
This one had only intended to use the child who so smelled of the plentiful nutrients that the Klyntar need to survive as a temporary host, to dominate until such a time as it had to move on, but by connecting to her and seeing her life, this one was moved and swore at that moment to ensure her safety and happiness.
Which is why this one did not abandon her when we became trapped under a collapsed building to heavy for us to escape with our normal strength.
"Ashley," this one intoned into her consciousness, "this one can repair the damage to your body. The seeping of your vital fluids has already been halted, and the damaged fragments of the osseous tissue in your legs are being reassembled as this one speaks. Ashley, you just need to focus..."
"Mister Snuggles," Ashley stated, "there's… There's too much. I think there's a wooden beam on our back or something. It's gotta be dozens of tons of wood and brick on top of us." she inhaled, which caused her to experience pain focused on her respiratory organs.
"Ashley, this one would like to remind you that due to the extent at which we are bonded that you no longer require the exchange of gasses with your environment as this one's biomass can do so more efficiently." This one prepared to repair the damage in the chest cavity once her legs were repaired, as a precaution
"It's too much… Just leave me," she said. "No reason for both of us to die just because I failed to..." There was her bravery in the face of death, and her sense of compassion, directed at this one… But the refusal to give up was lacking.
That was a problem. This one would rectify.
"Ashley," this one intoned, "this one refuses to abandon you. We will both escape or we will both perish. This one has no intent to perish. Your legs are mended."
Ashley tried to force out her arms to lift the beams and debris from her back, but after a moment of struggle collapsed. This one dutifully collected the tears she shed, knowing she would like the evidence of her distress destroyed.
"Mister Snuggles, it's all too heavy. We're not strong enough."
"That is emphatically false," this one intoned. "Ashley is stronger than this. This one knows that Ashley is stronger than this, this one has seen Ashley's memories."
Once more Ashley pushed against the ground, trying to force her body up against the debris keeping her pinned down, grunting and whining from the strain the entire time.
And then she collapsed, breathing sharply and sobbing.
"Ashley, you must-"
"No," she said between sobs, "I'm not, I'm not strong enough… I'm a screw-up. I got Panacea killed… It's my fault Taylor got poisoned, and now I can't even… I'm not strong enough. I'm not good enough, I'm not-"
"This is false."
"Mister Snuggles," Ashley said with a sharp exhalation "I, I don't-"
"Ashley?" This one interrupted, thinking of but one thing that could motivate her to survive, "What would Spider-Man do?"
The change in Ashley's posture, her body chemistry, it was immediate.
"He wouldn't give up," she stated as she once more pushed against the ground, up against the debris keeping her pinned. Ashley grunted as the levels of adrenaline she secreted increased even in comparison to it's normal, excessive levels.
"He'd say that… He had a responsibility to the people who'd been hurt by his mistake and that he..." Another grunt, as the weight above Ashley lifted, rubble falling aside. "That… anyone can win if there's no challenge… It's only when things are hard that… That you can be a True Hero..." More rubble fell from the weightlifting upon Ashley's back and her strength seemed to increase from no source, allowing her to shift to her feet and put weight onto her mended legs.
"And that if you don't… If you don't live up to your responsibility then... Then you don't deserve the power that came with it!" The rush of adrenaline, many times her body's normal supply, exceeded her body's tolerance for that chemical by an extreme margin. Her own normally limited strength expanded to that of, this one assumed, several adult humans of good health. This had a multiplicative effect on the enhanced strength this one could provide her with…
This one was not sure how. The increase in net strength was disproportionate to her heightened base… Why did this one feel warm? The last time this one had felt warm was when Ashley had lost her temper with the one designated Shadow Stalker.
With Ashley's exclamation, the beams were lifted from her back and she stood tall, freed from her prison as the remaining debris parted.
Our fangs and jaws formed and she roared triumphantly at the night sky before looking to see the one designated Lung and the one designated Bakuda struggling to detach the one designated Jorogumo from the segment of ground to which she was affixed while the one designated Lee stood vigil.
Lung turned in response to Ashley's cry. He'd reduced in size, but was not yet fully human. "...You don't learn, do you brat?"
Ashley closed her eyes. This one's metallic particles shifted and the hellish fires focused in Ashley's eyes, bolstering this one's psionic empathy as she opened them to see the blood on Lung's hand and the Sin within him. "It's not 'brat!' We're Cuddlebug!"
Ashley's levels of adrenaline continued to climb as she leaped from the ruined building and charged the one called Lung, her Thing fists forming.
Lung, in turn, charged Ashley, his mass increasing.
Ashley threw out her fist, which the one called Lung caught.
"Brat, I am Lung," the other being growled. "I have fought Leviathan in single combat as the shores of Kyushu sank below the waves. I have defeated this city's entire Protectorate as an introductory show of strength. I am a Dragon," he declared., "You are a child."
"You aren't a dragon!" Ashley exclaimed, even as his grip tightened and we found ourselves pushed back. Acting on Ashley's subconscious thoughts, this one manipulated the bonds of its biomass to affix her feat to the ground. "You're nothing but a big, dumb, ugly, jerkface!"
This time acting on conscious thought, this one did something we had yet to attempt and drew unused mass from other parts of Ashley's body and placed it within the portion of its mass that coated her dominant fist. Then it did what Ashley calls embiggening upon it. The increase in mass had a proportionate effect on strength, allowing us to overpower Lung and inflict major damage onto his limb.
This one quickly switched the mass and embiggening effect to the other fist in time for Ashley to strike at Lung's abdomen. Switching again, and again, and again as Ashley continued to rain blows into Lung's body with great strength and speed.
One dozen such blows, each met with moist cracks, and Ashley finished by aiming one low into Lung's groin.
Lung grunted and fell to his knees. He coughed and his caustic, sour vital fluids spilled from his facial orifice onto this one's biomass. This one consumed it but found little of value.
"Little… Bitch..." Lung hissed.
"We know you are, but what are we?" Ashley replied childishly before planting one last blow into the side of Lung's scaled, metallic face.
Lung was forced down into the street below us, which cracked as he was impressed with in it. He then reverted to a severely bruised human form.
Ashley stood back and stumbled a few feet away before the extrasensory abilities that this one shares with Ashley went off, causing the sensation that Ashley describes as buzzing. The one known as Lee appeared beside her, weapon drawn, and once more on instinct Ashley responded by striking at him, shattering a limb and making him also collapse.
Ashley reverted to the default Cuddlebug form without fangs or the Thing fists, took a small number of steps back from Lee, and landed upon her posterior as the escalating production of adrenaline ceased and levels began to return to normal. This one began consuming the remaining excess adrenaline, as Ashley exhaled heavily several times.
"Cuddlebug… Smash puny jerkface!" More exhalation. "Cuddlebug strongest there is!" Hopefully, the one designated "The Hulk" would either not learn of Ashley's paraphrasing his known quotation or would not take offense if he did. Ashley began to giggle in good cheer despite her growing exhaustion.
"Ashley," this one intoned, "are you not perhaps forgetting the one known as Ba-"
"Holy shit!" exclaimed a young, feminine voice.
Ashley turned to see the one designated Vista on top of a building.
"Yeah, fuck this," came Bakuda's modulated voice. Ashley turned to look just as she began to flee just in time for the roar of the vehicle known as a motorcycle to come, from the direction Bakuda was fleeing, prompting her to stop and raise her arms. The motorcycle continued to approach and a projectile impacted Bakuda, encasing her in some kind of foam from the neck down.
Space-time bent as the building Vista stood leaned to allow her to step into the street.
"We came out here, thinking you'd be in trouble after doing something stupid," the juvenile human stated, "and then when we find you..." She gestured to the unconscious Lung, the injured Lee, and Jorogumo affixed to the street… "You are my new best friend."
The vehicle, the motorcycle, pulled up to the entrapped Bakuda. The figure atop it briefly examined the trapped criminal, and then pulled up to Ashley. From here, this one could recognize her as the one designated 'Miss Militia,' clad in military garb and a brightly colored scarf, who Ashley had been introduced to but had minimal interaction with.
"You," she said as she rose off of her vehicle, "are in so much trouble it's not even funny." The anger in her voice was palpable. "Sneaking out in… Going after a villain on your own without… I can't even articulate how much… Had to be told by Brandish and some new cape... It was completely unnecessary for-"
"Completely unnecessary?" Ashley questioned.
"Uh… About five minutes after you 'went to the bathroom,' " Vista began, "they came in uh… The medics at the Rig called, Weaver's stirring and they think that she'll be up any day now..."
"So… There's no reason for me to have… This was all… This was pointless."
Ashley's heart clenched. More tears that this one had to collect and consume.
"I mean, I wouldn't say completely pointless," Vista quickly added. "I mean, that Eisenhardt guy said you probably saved his life and..." She gestured to the four incapacitated criminals. "Four captured villains who we wouldn't have gotten if you hadn't run off… So maybe she doesn't need to be in that much trouble..?" She questioned of Miss Militia.
"That," the eldest present human stated, "is something that she and her guardian will have to discuss with-"
Miss Militia was interrupted by the sudden beeping of Lee and the mad laughter of Bakuda.
Author's note: I'd been planning something like this for a while, but then back in July I'd found out that Steve Ditko, creator of Spider-Man and the artist and coauthor of Spider-Man's comics for decades had passed away. Without Steve Ditko, superheroes, as we know them, could not exist and as someone who has gained thousands of hours of enjoyment from various superhero media, I felt the urge to honor the man in some way. I couldn't think exactly of what to do, but then the idea occurred to me that if I was going to have Ashley affirm her desire to be a Hero that there could be no better tribute than to have her affirmation of Heroism Parallel one of Spider-Man's own in one of Ditko's masterpieces, Amazing Spider-Man #33.
They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and I hope that my imitation lives up to the Original's legacy. Requiescat in pace, Mr. Ditko. May the legacy of your art keep your memory alive forever.