Snuggles the Symbiote

Carnage was here. Carnage was here the whole time and I hadn't notice and he killed that Emma girl who set off my Spider-Sense at the mall and her friend and left them in my bed and... "Oh fuck," I squeaked. I didn't normally swear but I couldn't think of anything else to say.

Taylor grabbed me tighter and started pulling me back away from Carnage.

"Ya ever try somethin' new and it turns out better than ya ever coulda hoped for?" Carnage said, pretending to be friendly. "I didn't know ya knew those kids, I just saw a couple of teenaged girls dressed like whores out and about at night and decided 'eh, they'll do.' Third one was a slippery piece of shit, though."

In a few seconds, Mr. Barnes's face went from sad and crying to red and angry. In the corner of my eye, I could see him start to sort of lurch-run right for...

In the next second, I leaped from Taylor's arms and tackled Mr. Barnes to the ground. Just in time, too, becuase less than a second later a giant ax at the end of Carnage's hand whooshed right through the air where Mr. Barnes neck had been right before I tackled him.

"You need to get out of here," I said to Mr. Barnes. "Everyone needs to get the hell out of here and, and... does anyone know how to call those Triumvarate people?"

"Why I see that my reputation precedes me," Carnage said. "Well, kinda. I ain't quite Cletus, ain't quite Carnage... Papers' been callin' me Bloodbath. S'good a name as any."

And then, fast as lightning, Carnage grabbed me and hoisted me up by my ankle. "So, Jackie-Boy suggested that I let the fear marinate before going in for the slaughter... Since his little brat's been stealin' my leftovers, I figure I'll steal her kill. I'm in a good mood though, kiddo, so I'll let ya pick." He grew two more arms, little kid-sized ones out from the front of his rib cage. He had one raise a finger. "Option one, I cover ya in gasoline and burn ya up, alive, like a piggy on a barbecue, but your friends get to live another day as long as they don't do anything stupid... Or option numero dos," he had the other hand raise a finger. "I kill ya nice and quick... right after I finish butchering everyone else here alive? Ya got three seconds to pick."

And then Taylor threw up a bunch of spiders on him. He didn't seem to notice as they started biting into him. "Oh, sorry. Looks like your uh... Foster sister, was it? Just picked for ya." He dropped me and I landed on my back and I could see him shift all of his arms into long, thin, bladed things. He smiled wide and turned to Taylor. "This is gonna be so much fun," he said and then started laughing like a crazy person.

So, while my heart froze in my chest, I did the only thing I could think of. I summoned a thing-fist and punched him in the groin as hard as I could.

He oofed. "Seriously? Kiddo, I'm basically a skeleton wrapped in and filled with symbiote goo." He sounded more annoyed than anything else, which... Made me kind of upset that my signature move wasn't gonna cut it when I needed it the most. "Ya'd get better results trying to break one of Wolverine's bones."

And then he stabbed me through the shin. I'd been stabbed before, but this felt... a lot worse. It burned. And I could feel the blade shifting around and wrapping around my leg. I wasn't crying, it just started raining all of a sudden. I didn't scream either, but Taylor still punched Carnage like I had. He didn't seem to notice.

He lifted me up by my leg again. "But since you're so eager... Any last words?"

I spat on him. "Gabh transna ort fhéin, cúl tóna! Agus do chapall freisin!" I wasn't sure if that last bit was right. Grandpa hadn't taught me how to say "and the horse you rode in on" before he died so I had to improvise and I wasn't anywhere near fluent. I finished by spitting on him again.

"Fiesty little shit, ain't ya?" Carnage said conversationally. "Well, might as well get ta the meat of it," and then spun around and whipped me into the air, letting go of me at the last second and sending me flying. I had just enough time to feel the wind pushing against my face and shift into my costume before he was behind me. He slammed two fists into my back and sent me speeding back down with a crash.

My first thought upon landing was that those were some very pretty birdies. My second thought, as I shook the crazy out of my head and pushed myself up was that I really hoped that whoever owned the minivan I'd landed on had insurance that covered the roof caving in from a Ward being volleyballed into it.

I climbed down, slowly, and everything hurt. As soon as I stood up the leg he'd stabbed me through felt like it was full of red hot glass and I fell from lack of support. "Un... Mister Snuggles, why hasn't that healed yet?"

"The one designated Carnage has left a portion of its mass within your body and it is resisting attempts to assimilate. This one will not be able to heal Ashley's leg wound until it has purged the foreign matter."

Well, that's just great. I started levitating becuase I can't walk with one leg, which was a mistake, becuase Carnage landed right in front of me a little later and punched me with a fist like a piston and, since I was already in the air, that meant that I flew far...

...Headfirst through a live tree.

"Uhn... I hope I don't get brain damage from this."

"I wouldn't worry about it, Kiddo." Wait, where was he? And then came the sick-shattery, crunchy sound and my legs both hurting a lot more and I figured out where he was.

"...Why you callin' me 'Kiddo?' " I slurred.

"Becuase I don't respect ya enough to learn your name, same reason anyone would use a nickname that much," Carnage said casually while he lifted me up by the neck. He shifted his other hand into what looked like a set of garden shears. "Now, which hand do ya want me to cut off first?"

As fast I could, I formed my claws and drove two of them into his eyes. This made Carnage yelp and drop me and I summoned my ocktacles. I used two of them to hold myself up until my legs healed and slammed the other two into Carnage's chest to push him back and give me room to breathe.

"I'm fighting a complete psychopath with stronger versions of all of our powers and years of experience with them... Mister Snuggles, we've got dragon wings, right? Can we breathe fire?"

"Ashley, if this one possessed any ability to resist and control one of the banes of the Klyntar, it would have made Ashley aware of the fact."

"Well, there goes that ide-Ah!" Carnage made a knife out of himself and threw it at me and it caught me in the gut.

And it was trying to wriggle deeper inside me so I grabbed it and, wincing and wheezing the whole time, ripped it out before it could bury itself in my organs except... Except it looked like part of it broke off. That's not—

My thought was cut off by Carnage sucker-punching me in the head. "Little tip, Kiddo? Don't sit around talking to yourself in the middle of a fight."

I coughed. I think some blood came out. "So, you said you're not quite Cletus or Carnage," I said. fighting wasn't working so maybe if I kept him talking help would come and... That was a drone camera. About thirty feet behind Carnage was a drone. Was it filming this whole thing? I put it out of my mind, something to work out if I got out of this alive. "So, it's just you?"

"Yeah, it's just me. No one else in here," He admitted as he grabbed my arm hard enough to pull my shoulder out of its thing and pulled me up again.

"Then you must be lonely," I said.

This was the wrong thing to say because it made him frown and he dug a claw into my already broken leg and twisted it. The good news was I was at the point where I was so hurt that I didn't feel more pain. The bad news was that I was at the point where I was so hurt that I couldn't feel more pain.

I don't know what he was planning next, becuase someone threw a brick at Carnage's head. Carnage twisted his head without turning and I followed his gaze to see a middle-aged man dressed in work clothes. I didn't recognize him. I didn't know where he came from. But he looked angry, and he was shouting. "Leave the kid alone you piece of—"

I wanted to tell him to run. To save himself. That this wasn't a fight he wanted to pick. But I didn't get a chance to. It was so fast. Carnage let go of me and jumped to the man and raised an ax-hand and...

Blood. So much blood.

I was wrong about not being able to hurt anymore. That man... he was just trying to do the right thing and he, and he...

I saw red. And I saw the evil in Carnage's black, wretched heart and the blood that stained his murderous hands. It didn't matter how much I was hurt and that my bones were broken. All that mattered was that Carnage had to pay. He had to hurt. The man who'd tried to help me... Emma and Madison... Everyone else Carnage had hurt... They all deserved Vengence.

Punching. Kicking. Clawing. Biting. Slashing. Headbutts. I drew on the memories of the Riley Davis who became the Poison so I could form the blades and tendrils we couldn't form on our own. To know where to cut and stab and tear to make Carnage hurt.

When my head started to clear, I was standing above Carnage's armless, legless torso and my mask was off. This time, I picked him up by the neck.

"You know, I've been wondering for a while where the whole fire-eyes evil-o-vison came from... And it's probably obvious in hindsight, but I think that somewhere along the lines my Symbiote got mixed up with a Ghost Rider." I gave an angry smile, trying to be scary. "So... Do you have a soul, Carnage... Sorry, Bloodbath? Let's find out. Look into my eyes!"

"Kido," he said one while looking me in the eyes defiantly, "even if ya do have Ghost Rider powers, just having one doesn't mean ya have them all. I can tell just by looking that ya don't have the Penance Stare. Two, even if ya did, the Penance Stare don't work on symbiotes either. Symbiotes are immune to a lot of that stuff, turns out. For three, ya just wasted the last dredges of whatever adrenaline kick got ya going again." He finished by making his tongue get really long and stabbing me in the left eye with it.

I screamed and let Canange... Bloodbath go so I could cover my eye and... Yeah, I was bleeding. Bleeding bad, and I think I saw Carnage swallowing something while his arms and legs grew back.

And all the hurt from before was coming back, and I was getting really tired and... how was standing? My legs were still broken.

"Mister Snuggles, is my eye gone? I can't tell." Why was I focusing on stuff like that when I was about to pass out in front of someone who wanted to kill me? I couldn't even understand Mister Snuggles' response. I fell down and... Hey, there's the drone from before. Why was it glowing blue?

Bloodbath stepped up over me and turned his arm into a giant curved knife like you'd gut a fish with. "And now it's time for the game to end."

Before he could do anything though, the drone exploded into a blue-white portal and something red and black came flying out really fast.

With a shwing and a snikt, two katana blades tore through Bloodbath's chest. Deadpool was standing behind him now. What was Deadpool doing here?

I could see more people walking out... Ms. Marvel? Best Wolverine and Honey Badger? Uh, I don't know what no-pants-ghost-marshmallow lady was called and I thought that Energizer was retired?

Three more people came out but I was starting to lose it... All I could make out was that the shortest one had a V on her chest and... Spider-Man! Spider-Man came out of the portal after them. Spider-Man was here, everything was gonna be okay!

"And we're officially in another Universe," V-chest said. "Tony Stark's copyright doesn't carry over so I can legally say: Avengers, Assemble!"

I could hear blasties and shooties and stabbies and then Spider-Man was leaning over me. "Are you okay?" He asked me.

"No," I slurred. "Everything hurts and... Night-night time is coming." Oh God, I was acting like a child in front of Spider-Man.

"Don't worry, Ashley, you're gonna be okay. I'm gonna make sure of it."

I giggled. "Spider-Man knows my name." And then everything went dark.