Snuggles the Symbiote

"So let me get this straight," I said, "In an alternate universe, I was a supervillain who was somehow dating Panacea. Together we killed all the slaughterhouse nine, except Bonesaw who just kind of randomly went good, Panacea and I adopted her despite only being six years older than her tops, all three of us had symbiotes like Ashley's, and then we got eaten by crystal monsters?"

"I'm gonna be honest," Clockblocker added, "that sounds like the plot of a really bad cape-fic."

Twenty minutes after getting back to base, we were sitting around a table in a conference room. Aegis had had his arm sewn back on. Shadow Stalker—Sophia—was sitting unmasked with a cast on her broken nose.

Kid Win and Clockblocker were present, unharmed.

Gallant and Browbeat were still in the infirmary. Gallant's leg was broken and he couldn't walk, and the gash on Brockbeat's side was incredibly nasty and was still being stitched

Missy was quarantined until they could figure out why she was red with black lips, yellow eyes, slightly reddened hair, a year or two younger than she was this morning, and radioactive.

My own hand was bandaged. They'd actually had to rebreak one of my fingers. My counterpart had been right about me having a healing factor, so the bandages served mostly to make sure my bones healed right.

And Cuddlebug was sitting on my lap and refusing to let go of me. I let her, my good arm wrapped around her because she very clearly wasn't in a good place right now.

Armsmaster himself was supervising this meeting.

And Tattletale—Ms. Mystic—stood, back against the wall, at the head of the room.

"Yeah," she said, "that's the gist of it. It was a weird dimension. So," she continued, "the Poisons are a species of pathetic weaklings at the bottom of the food chain, but they discovered by accident that touching a klyntar symbiote bound to a host caused them to absorb them both, gaining their memories and powers. They went to war with a bunch of people from across the multiverse bound to their world's version of a Klyntar called venom. The poisons lost that war—"

"The poisons lost a war to the venoms?" Clockblocker interrupted.

"Yes, the Poisons lost to the Venoms," Ms. Mystic confirmed. "However, they survived, as that was only a small portion of the Hive. Later on, the vast majority of the species invaded Earth 616—which is very similar to but not the same as Cuddlebug's home reality of Earth 727—and forced a bunch of heroes to bond to symbiotes so they could eat them. Almost all the A-Listers. Their Queen was killed by that world's Marvel Girl—Jean Grey, Cuddlebug can explain her later—and the psychic backlash killed most of the other poisons in the multiverse.

"Bu~ut," she continued with a wave of her hand, "the Poison Skitter's core powers—controlling and administrating other organisms—allowed her to serve as a new hub for the hive mind, but she lacks the Queen's reproductive abilities. She needs the Bonesaw and the Panacea poisons to make new poisons artificially and artificial ones aren't that bright. It'll take them a few days to replenish their numbers after killing all the grunts this afternoon."

It was at this point that Armsmaster spoke up. "That's all good to know, but you've given us very little reason to believe that any of this is true."

"You have a lie detector in your helmet, don't you?" Ms. Mystic quipped back. "Has anything I said been a lie?"

"Nothing has registered as a lie, no," Armsmaster admitted, "But you've already been identified as a known criminal and, as a thinker, it's entirely possible that you've identified my lie-detector ahead of time and deduced a workaround. The knowledge of how to beat lie detectors is relatively common and not even mine is absolutely perfect. Not to mention… I can't believe I'm about to say this..." He sighed. "Since you're apparently some kind of sorcerer, everything about this afternoon could be completely manufactured with some… spell."

"What possible motive could I have for that, Colin?" The sorceress from the future leaned forward. Armsmaster's name was Colin? He frowned. "Known criminal? Well from my perspective that was years ago and you clearly have no problem with working with former criminals." She pointed to Sophia. "She crucified a guy and has at least two manslaughters to her name. Nothing that 'Tattletale' did or will do comes close to that kind of fucked up."

I was completely unsurprised by the possibility of this being the case. Sophia glared at Ms. Mystic, who went on. "Also, you could lock me up until you're sure but then people would die because there is a hostile entity with the powers and personality of Bonesaw being assisted by an evil Panacea and I'm the one telling you how to stop them."

"...don't wanna fight an evil Panacea," Cuddlebug mumbled.

"That reminds me," Ms. Mystic added with a gesture to Cuddlebug. "She doesn't go into the field until this blows over. She's the one they want. Sequestering her in Wards HQ would be best, but she won't stay put in so confined a space now that she can actually just, you know, get up and walk whenever she wants."

I held Ashley tighter. "Why are they after her?"

"Symbiotes get stronger over time as they adapt to circumstances and the DNA they're exposed to," Ms. Mystic explained. "And Cuddlebug's partner is a whos-who of major badasses from where she's from. I'm serious, I keep looking back at her and being surprised at how weak and tiny she is right now."

"Tiny?" Cuddlebug asked. She was still mumbling and I was pretty sure she wasn't okay.

"By the time you turn sixteen, you'll be six-foot-four with six-pack abs."

"...An-and that's good?"

"Some teenage boys from back home think so, but two-of-three odds say they're gonna be disappointed."

"...Oh-kay?"

"I'm not gonna bore you with the insignificant details," the sorceress continued, "but the Poisons showed up a few months ago—from my perspective—trying to get Cuddlebug. After several months and countless dead Poisons, it's an obsession for them at this point. I don't know how they traveled time, exactly, though I've got a theory, but there's something that I know but they don't."

"...Are you going to make us ask what?" Kid Win asked.

"I remember all of this happening," Tattletale explained. "So this is a time-loop, not multiverse theory. I'm sure everyone here has seen enough movies to know how that all works so I won't explain it. As long as you all follow my instructions exactly, we can close the loop and the new Poison Hive dies here. First, that new homeless healer that just got recruited into the wards? The one Piggot will have been told will be transferred in within the week this morning? Gonna be really useful. I'll have private instructions for how later."

She reached into her cape and pulled out a briefcase. I'm fairly certain that it couldn't have possibly fit under there without us noticing.

"Now, Gremlin—a teammate of mine in the future. You'll meet her soon enough—has Tinker abilities and a vested interest in having counter-measures for Bone-tech and other hostile wet-tinker creations." Ms. Mystic set the briefcase on the table and opened it.

And then Cuddlebug leaped from my lap and was clinging to the ceiling. A second later I could see that the briefcase was full of filled syringes. "These are compound vaccines for most of the biological agents we know of that Posionsaw or Poisoncea might use. Armsmaster, randomly select three syringes. That'll be enough for every test you can think of to verify that it's safe. Take any more and there won't be enough for all of the Wards—minus the new girl coming in, she's already immune because of her powers—and yes, that's including Gallant. He's gonna be back on his feet before this dealt with, as well as the local Protectorate. Don't bother sending PRT troopers out as anything more than crowd control and traffic cops, they're just mulch against the Poisons."

Aegis was looking up at the ceiling where Cuddlebug was still clinging. "Cuddlebug? Are you afraid of needles?"

"No." Cuddlebug quickly denied.

"Yes, she is," Ms. Mystic corrected. "Considering the kind of shit she went through, it makes sense. And sorry, kid, but you never really get over it. At least not by the time I'm from." She reached behind her back and pulled out two inhalers. "Gremlin has you covered though. These are aerosolized versions of the vaccine. Pick one, and I'll take it to prove it's safe," she said while holding up both hands.

Cuddlebug took a minute to respond. "...How do I know you didn't poison both of them with something that you're immune to?"

...And then Ms. Mystic groaned. "I hate that goddamn movie. Every sixth Saturday when it's Cuddlebug's turn to pick the movie we watch that movie. I've seen the Bet, Aleph, and 727 versions, the Bet remake with an All Case-53 cast, in five different languages each. And every time Cuddlebug and Gremlin take up the entire couch." She set the inhalers down on the table and double facepalmed. "Look. I'm not the Dread Pirate Roberts. There's no iocane powder anywhere near any of the vaccines. Death is not on the line, and I'm gonna be honest between your chem resistance and your symbiote you're probably immune to anything I could taint this with."

Cuddlebug seemed to be distracted by the rant. "...We have a movie night in the future?"

"Yes. We all live together in a god-damn mansion," the sorceress ranted. "It's like a fucking fairy tale. Just pick an inhaler."

Looking up, I could see Cuddlebug' eye lenses narrow. "Give me both of them." She swung down and around so that she was suspended from the ceiling, facing Ms. Mystic, from only her feet.

Ms. Mystic tossed both inhalers to Cuddlebug, who produced two of her tentacles and then did a weird four-armed upside-down juggling motion. She then tossed one back to Ms. Mystic.

I couldn't see her eyes well through her mask, but I could have sworn that Ms. Mystic was rolling them. She removed the cap from the inhaler's mouthpiece, stuck it in her mouth, and pressed the button.

"See," she said. "Harmless."

Cuddlebug waited another minute, sniffed the inhaler, and then took it.

"So.. This is a lot more frustrating than I expected," Ms. Mystic said. "I'll be back, but I'm gonna go put some protective wards on some places, warn a couple of people about a couple of things, and in general tie off some spare loose ends. Stuff that's less frustrating. I'll be back in about two hours and when I'm here I'll need to meet up with the protectorate and—oh. Before I forget," she said in sudden remembrance, "you can let Vista out of quarantine. The radiation she's letting of is harmless because of reasons and the worst that'll happen is that she's gonna be moody for a while because she'll be stuck like this for a couple of weeks. She's basically a living metaphor for her own psychological issues right now, Cuddlebug can explain it, bye now."

And then she vanished in a burst of sweet-smelling smoke.

"Once more," Armsmaster said, "I can't believe I'm saying this: Cuddlebug. How often do time travelers from the future come back in time to solve problems like this?"

"Half of the X-Men I know of are time-travelers from possible futures who got stuck in the present because multiverse theory," Ashley said. She wasn't as excited as she normally was when explaining Cape stuff from her world. She didn't elaborate on what that meant and instead asked, "so, who is Bonesaw?"

Aegis leaned over, "have you ever seen a Frankenstein movie?"

"...Movie?"

Before anyone could ask if she was serious, Armsmaster spoke up. "Bonesaw, real name Riley Grace Davis, is a wet-tinker—a Tinker specializing in biology—with a wide range of skills including advanced surgery, the creation of viral, bacterial, parasitic, and prionic biological weapons; advanced, cybernetics; crude-robots that imitate animal movement, and the reanimation of dead flesh. She also seems to have a sub-specialty in powers and has dabbled in chemical engineering and computer science having demonstrated great skill in both regards."

"She's one of the core members of the Slaughterhouse Nine," he continued, "a band of empowered spree-killers, and has been since her debut six years past. She's somewhere in the ten to twelve range and her first known victims were her mother, father, elder brother, and pet dog. However, there are some who question her official profile as the bodies of her family and a handful of other early victims show a radically different pattern than latter victims and it's known that other members of the Slaughterhouse Nine were present in her home the night of the first killings. We'll probably never know for sure, however, as it would require an in-depth psychological examination and she's been deemed too dangerous to capture alive."

"...That's sad," Cuddlebug said without emotion.

"Are we done now?" I asked. "I mean, I'm not even sure why we were here in the first place beyond 'the wizard said so' and I should really go warn my dad if the Poisons are going after Cuddlebug."

"A plainclothes agent has already been dispatched to escort your father to a safe house," Armsmaster replied. "Standard procedure when we have reason to suspect that a Ward's identity is compromised and with one of the Poison's apparently being an alternate version of yourself we felt that it was a safe assumption that they knew who you are. You'll be able to go and see him in a few hours. And yes," he admitted. "I think it's alright to dismiss you for now."

As we filed out, Clockblocker pulled Cuddlebug and I aside. "Hey, kid," he said to Cuddlebug, "don't sweat about being afraid of needles. Lots of people hate them, it's nothing to be ashamed of." We went our separate ways without Cuddlebug replying.

If Dad was in a safe house then there was no reason for me to go home. Instead, I took Ashley back to our room in Ward's HQ.

As soon as we were in our room, her mask liquefied and receded back inside her body. I was never going to get used to gold and blue slime oozing in and out of her nose, mouth, and around her eye sockets. She…

"Ashley? Are you okay?" I'm pretty sure I already knew the answer.

"I saw my Mommy get shot again today," she said very quietly. "I know it was just a trick, but… I'm so sick of seeing people get shot."

I pulled her into a hug so that her head was on my shoulder just as she started to cry.