A/N: Hello. Now, this is where Amanda will meet Eddie again, and also where we get more in depth with his character. After all, he did lose his job, his relationship, and his apartment. He's mentioned it to Dora in the movie before, but I felt like that there should be more to why Eddie went along with Venom, or at the very least, it should be explained more. And we never did get a good look at Dr. Skirth's family to begin with, so I jumped the gun on that one. That's all I have to say for now. I hope you like it.

Chapter 3: Closure

Entry #5

It was pretty clear where to start. Spite told me that we need to regroup with Venom and Eddie. With the evidence that Eddie managed to get, Drake would be all over him like stink on rice. But, by that logic, since I achieved symbiosis, Drake would be all over me, too. And that was more than enough reason to go along with it and find Venom. For the time being, at least. There was one flaw in Spite's plan that'd make it difficult, though: I didn't know where to look since I only knew about Eddie from Dora. So, I ended up talking verbally to my symbiote at the expense of my apparent sanity, looking like a crazy person to everyone around me.

"Uh, Spite? I know we need to find Venom and Eddie, but how are we supposed to find them?"

We symbiotes have a link. When we get close enough to them, you'll know.

"Yeah? And how would I—?"

As an answer, I felt a strong sort of tingle in my spine, almost enough to give me a seizure. Maybe it was Spite's gooey essence flooding it, but I had a feeling I knew the answer as I heard her speaking to me.

Take a right.

"Yeah, sure, but a little warning might've been nice."

That tingle in your back is going to get stronger the closer we get to Venom. How's that for a warning?

That warning didn't exactly sit well with me, even if it was what I asked. It was a cold comfort at best. But if it meant bringing Drake and Riot down, I wasn't exactly in any position to complain. The closest I could get to that was a sarcastic reply.

"Yay."

As I walked to my right, as Spite said, the tingle became stronger. As a result, my spine practically reverberated like a gong, which took some getting used to. With the directions I've been getting in advance, it seemed to go on forever, though it might've been the tingle making it feel longer than it was.

Now take a left. Then a right. And another left.

"What are you, my mom?"

No. I'm your GPS. Now take a left.

Knowing how hard it's going to be to keep walking at this pace, especially with my spine feeling like it's been jackhammered (it's a miracle I haven't collapsed yet), I gave a groan before I tried to suggest an alternative. I didn't want to spend my time walking when I could be doing something else.

"Can't we just climb on the walls, or maybe jump on rooftops to get there?"

Out of the question. The point is to keep a low profile, the both of us.

"What's the point? Drake already knows we've bonded."

But everyone else doesn't. And I prefer to keep it that way.

"Well, can you at least dial down the jackhammer? It's murder on my back."

Oh, stop whining. You'll live. Take a left.

As I did, I wanted to vent my frustration, mostly because Spite was literally the closest one to yell at.

"Okay, I have had it! I'm sorry, but I really have had it! Just because we're on the same team, that doesn't give you the right to mess with my back, let alone give me directions when it's obvious that you have no idea—"

When I tried to, though, I took notice of a destination in front of me. It was a building of the network that dealt in serious stuff. At this point, I figured out what Eddie/Venom would be doing there.

"—where they are."

You were saying?

"Oh, shut it."

With the day I've had so far, including the craziness of what's going on between us right now, I really wasn't in the mood to talk. I just wanted to get this over with. In case Spite didn't notice, I'm still grieving over what happened to Dora. One would've thought that Spite would at least pick up on etiquette about this stuff. Not that I cared about it at the moment. Because as I rushed to the building, I saw Venom scaling the glass walls of the building, sending shards of it to the floor near me. And I wasn't too pleased about that as I turned to my partner-in-slime.

"Hey! Spite!"

Say no more.

With that, Spite coated my entire body quickly with her silver skin before I noticed someone looking at me in a shocked fit of surprise before Spite spoke to him.

"What are you looking at?"

Not even bothering to wait for an answer, Spite jumped up onto the glass walls. However, instead of clawing at the glass like Venom, I was— no. We were running up on it. Excited as I was, I still felt that person might complicate things for us.

"Did you really just let him see you?"

"Hey, you're the one who told me to go up there."

"I didn't know he was standing right there!"

"Not much we could do about that now. Except maybe prepare for what's about to go down."

As Spite suggested it, we heard a loud noise zooming just above us before we actually felt a painful part of our symbiosis: whatever Spite felt, I felt, too. And it hurt like you wouldn't believe. As we quivered at the noise for a moment, we were able to keep it together long enough to see Eddie falling off of the building sans Venom and I grew concerned.

"Eddie!"

"I got this."

With that, we went up faster on the wall and leaped up at him before grabbing him while we maintained our grip on the building's glass somehow. At that moment, Spite used the opportunity to shove Eddie through a glass window before we jumped through it next and Spite went away so that I could reappear in her place as me. Once that happened, Eddie looked at me in disbelief as he spoke.

"No way. Amanda?"

"Yeah, that's my name. Don't wear it out."

As I helped Eddie up, he must've remembered who sent him to me that night, because he had such a nerve to speak about her after what's happened.

"What happened to Dr. Skirth? I thought she was with you."

Not wanting to dwell on it any longer than I have been these past few hours, I made it blunt and short so that we could move on.

"Didn't you figure that out, Eddie? She's dead."

"What?"

As I heard the tone in his voice, I could tell Eddie was surprised to hear this. I couldn't figure out why, though, as I proceeded to explain it to him.

"Drake killed her with one of the symbiotes. He found out what we did. That means he won't stop until we're back at his lab either as his guinea pigs, or as sacrifices."

As I spoke this news to him, I noticed that Eddie was beginning to feel a little upset as I spoke to him.

"What's wrong?"

"Everything. Especially that word. I've made enough sacrifices for a lifetime."

Figuring Eddie was just wallowing in his self-pity, I scoffed at him and tried to prove to him how hard I've had it these past few hours.

"I'm sure you did. But I didn't just lose my friend tonight. I lost a mother."

When I said that, Eddie became confused and spoke to me curiously.

"Wait, wait, wait. She's your mother?"

"What? No. She's not my— no. Dora was a mother to three children. Two boys and one girl. And she had... such an amazing husband who'd passed away two months ago. These kids don't have their mother anymore. And it's because of him."

"Oh, really? Well, boohoo for them."

"Shut up! Do you even know what it's like to watch someone you cared about be eaten alive right in front of you?! DO YOU?!"

When no answer came from him, only a stunned look for a moment before I spoke.

"Of course you don't. You don't know what it's like to have anything like that taken from you. And you never will."

As I turned my back on him, leaving the words hanging in the air, Eddie was becoming angry enough to prove me wrong as he spoke behind me, causing me to turn back to him as he'd just finished writing a note to warn him about the evidence.

"You don't think I know about that?"

"Excuse me?"

"You don't think I know about that?! I tried to speak out against Drake once, tried to bust him for what he's done to those people, and just like that, I lost my apartment, my job, my fiance, ALL OF IT! He took away everything that was important to me! EVERYTHING! And yet, here I am. So don't you go thinking that just because you lost your best friend, you get to dump all that crap on me, okay?! This is my one chance to get my revenge on Drake, to get closure, and if you got a problem with that, you're more than welcome to leave. Because from now on, I'm looking out for me, and only me!"

As Eddie's own words were hung in the air, I was surprised. I always thought Eddie was someone petty or vengeful, but I never expected that. I guess he did know what it was like to mouth all that off to me without Venom. Didn't he have at lest one person to care about? Whatever the case, it must've been personal. And apparently, Spite was digging that.

I like him.

As the silence persisted, Eddie spoke to me again, wanting to know if I'm out. But it's not like I work for him.

"Well?"

Surprised by his waxing off the chest (a figure of speech), I didn't know what else to say except...

"I'm sorry. I had no idea."

"Well, now you know."

With that, Eddie headed towards the window but stopped short for a moment before he shook his head and spoke.

"You know what? I'll just, uh, take the elevator. It's safer."

As he did that, Spite quickly lost interest as she spoke.

Sissy.

I, however, didn't. With what he's told me, I started thinking that we could use each other's help, after all. Granted, I didn't think it worth the risk to tag along with those two after seeing that guy get his head chopped off, but now... now I saw it's a risk worth taking. Acting on that, I went to him as I spoke.

"I'll go down with you. I could've jumped off, but... I think we got off on the wrong foot. You don't... mind, do you?"

"Oh, nah. No, it's fine. Come in."

As I did, Spite did not hesitate to vent her dislike for the situation.

Are you for real?

"Yes, Spite. If we're going to work together, we might as well get to know each other. You don't have to put up with it; you can just hide in my, uh... temple until I say otherwise, okay? It's just between me and him."

Alright. But make it quick.

As I went inside before the doors closed, we just went down the incredible height of stairs as I sighed before Eddie did. I'm surprised he didn't look at me like I was crazy because it did seem that way for a while, but with how Spite saved Eddie not too long ago, I guess he knew who I was really talking to. Truth was, I didn't have enough time to come up with what to say prior to this moment. It's a good thing Eddie did.

"Hey, uh... I'm sorry about her kids. I didn't mean to take it that way. I'm just... having a hard time dealing with all this, that's all."

"It's okay. I'm having a hard time myself. And it's... pretty self-explanatory."

"So... you're doing it for revenge, too?"

"I guess. But... I think it's more like, uh... closure."

"Closure? You mean, like what I said back there?"

"Yeah. Drake didn't just ruin your life; he ruined mine, too. Again, self-explanatory. Dora died trying to protect this world. To protect her family. Seeing this through will help me get the closure I need. And maybe... that way, I'll know Dora would be happy, wherever she died to."

"Ah. I get it. So, what are you gonna do to make it happen?"

"Well, I have to break the news to them first, make sure they're okay. And then... me and Spite are going after Drake."

"Spite?"

"She's my symbiote. And, believe it or not, she's Venom's sister."

Hearing of that, Eddie became intrigued as he nodded with a look on his face that said it was good to know.

"Huh. Interesting."

At that moment, the elevator doors opened before we got out. After that, we noticed several S.W.A.T. officers trained on us. Wait. S.W.A.T. officers?

"Freeze!"

Crap! It must've been that guy who saw Spite. He probably called them here. When I see that guy again, I have some choice words for him. At the moment, though, I don't think we'll get around to that. I raised my hands in defeat, but then I noticed a red symbiote just above them. I knew who it was and I tried to point their attention to him as it crept closer to them from above.

"Uh, guys, listen. You need to look up."

"We said, 'freeze!' Don't move!"

"No, seriously! Look up!"

As luck would have it, one of them took my advice and noticed that symbiote. Unfortunately, it wasn't in time as that symbiote suddenly dropped to the policeman and swallowed him whole as his mouth was practically as wide as an anaconda's. That symbiote must've gotten a good chunk of the ground, too, because it left a huge dent in the floor as half of the officers trained their weapons on the symbiote as it stood up before it started calling Eddie out.

"Don't you want to play with us, daddy?"

That's him. It has to be Cletus. That voice, that psychotic demeanor, and that laugh. It is him! As I tried to process this, Eddie spoke up suddenly as he put his arms down.

"Mask!"

With that, Venom emerged in his place so suddenly before it spoke.

"Copy."

With that, the officers panicked and opened fire on Venom, but to no avail as the bullets didn't seem to have any effect on him. Is he a bulletproof vest or something? Regardless, they started shooting gas grenades at us, only for Venom to catch it and break it apart, making a mist go between us and them before they fired another gas grenade at us. Venom dealt with it just as swiftly as the first one as he bit down into it and shielded our presence from them completely. With that out of the way, Venom turned to me and spoke.

"Go! Find Dora's family and warn them!"

"What about you?"

"We can take care of this ourselves. Now go!"

Left with no other choice, given the opportunity, I had to. With the cover off me for the moment, now would be a good time to find Dora's family and keep them safe as I needed my symbiote's help.

"Spite! I need you!"

I know. I heard everything. I'll get you there as quick as I can.

"What? But I thought you had a plan."

I did. But you heard Venom. He can take care of himself. Besides, I liked yours better.

"My plan? What are you—? Oh, wait. You've been listening to us, haven't you?"

Maybe.

As I couldn't help but grunt at this moment of invasion of privacy, at the same time, I couldn't help but be grateful. That means we're on the same side. Although, I wondered what Spite's plan was from the beginning...