AN: Sorry this has been so long in coming. Real life, as well as a fickle Muse wanting to work on other stories, kept this from coming out. I have edited this as much as I think I can and as I just want to et this out I will let you point out all the many errors I am sure to have missed. Hope you enjoy it.

Venomous Sting CH. 3

Taylor

My heart beat frantically in my chest as fear flooded my body causing my head to start throbbing painfully. A headache that had been skulking in the background made its presence known.

It was a proven fact that telepathy was impossible for humans to develop such abilities. In fact, the only being known to have exhibited anything close was the Simurgh, and the fact that someone had just spoken directly into my mind left me with one terrifying conclusion.

"Oh for heaven's sake Taylor I am not the Simurgh!" the feminine voice exclaimed into my mind once more, a feeling of exasperation accompanying her words "I would hardly have saved you if I was her don't you think?"

My fear didn't lessen one iota as even if it wasn't the Simurgh speaking to me, which I didn't really believe for a minute, there was still someone currently inside my head.

"I know you're scared, but I really don't mean you any harm," she continued gently, a feeling of comfort accompanying it now. "In fact, I can help you if you let me."

My fear had begun to fade slightly at the words and feeling of comfort I felt, then it rose to new heights as the last of what she said registered, Faustian deals playing a prominent role in the thoughts running through my head.

Silvery laughter echoed in my mind before the voice spoke again. "I'm not some sort of demon after your soul either," she said amusement clearly coloring her words.

"What or who are you then?" I managed to get out despite still being deathly afraid.

I felt her sigh as she started to speak again. "That is a long and complicated story I'm afraid. To make matters short and for the lack of a better place to start, I was your necklace."

"You mean the crystal I found?" I said my thoughts beginning to pick up speed now that I had something to focus on besides the pain in my head and the fact that someone, still possibly the Simurgh, as it would be just like the Endbringer to use mind games like this, was speaking into my mind.

"Yes," she responded, "and for the last time I'm not her." the exasperation was back if only slightly, most of what I could feel was still amusement.

My mind finally started to function once more as my fear began to recede if only slightly. "Then you're what, a tinker device or something?" I asked, seeing no reason not to satisfy my curiosity since who or whatever it was, was in my head and as I couldn't get away from them and they weren't trying to kill me, at least not yet.

"That would be "or someone" sweetie. What you thought was a crystal was actually a small portion of my body that I hardened to protect my core self from entry into your atmosphere as well as my rather...spectacular landing. The majority of my form I had to compress inside of it, being as I am rather amorphous in my natural state." she replied calmly, though I thought I detected a hint of rye humor when she mentioned her landing.

Even as I registered that, my mind latched onto a specific word, "entry" not "re-entry." My mind vapor-locked for a moment as the implications sunk in. If what my poor abused brain was trying to tell me with was right, I was not only talking to an alien lifeform but said life form was now encasing my body and could apparently take it over at will.

As my brain began to come up with scenarios each one worse than the last, her voice broke into my thoughts again as panic threatened to overwhelm me.

"Taylor I swear to you I meant what I said, if you let me I can help you, but if you don't want me to, I'll leave and never bother you again," she said, feelings of sincerity washing over me. Though I could have sworn I also felt a flash of fear when she mentioned leaving me.

"You mean you'd leave if I asked you to? Just like that?" I said wincing internally at the quaver in my voice.

"Of course, my species are what you would call symbiotes we exist in harmony with our hosts. I wouldn't force you to do anything against your will," she said quietly.

Raising my arm to study it, her I guess I should say, if what she was telling me was true. I looked at the subst...symbiote covering my limb with interest even though my fear had only faded slightly at her words. "So this is your body?" I asked as I felt my arm, surprised that I had tactical sensation through her...skin?

"The...majority of it, yes," she said hesitantly.

And just like that my fear came roaring back even stronger than before. I asked, quite calmly if I do say so myself. "Where exactly is the rest?"

"I need a neural connection to be able to communicate with you as well as to know what you need me to do," she said quietly after a brief hesitation "But I swear it won't hurt you, I would never do that, I would rather die than let that to happen."

I knew I should be freaking out right about now but I was simply too numb, and my head hurt too much by this point to put in the effort. I also knew I shouldn't trust someone I had just met. After the last year and a half my trust had been worn away to almost nothing, and if it were only her words I wouldn't have believed her at all, but I could also feel her sincerity along with them and knew she was telling the truth.

If I was honest with myself, after being alone for so long I just wanted someone who I could trust. With that thought, my fear seemed to drain away, and I suddenly felt tired beyond belief, as well as unbelievably sore with a splitting headache. After the day I had just experienced, all I wanted to do now was to crawl into my bed and sleep the sleep of the dead.

Unfortunately, that was not to be, as thoughts of my bed began to lure me to sleep, her voice rang in my head.

"Taylor!" she said sharply, worry infusing her words. "You have to stay awake. You have a concussion from being hit in the head. Luckily your mask saved you or we probably wouldn't be having this conversation."

Her words had the effect of a bucket of ice water begin thrown at me. The realization that I had almost died today finally hit me as I began to shake violently in the chair as the events of the past few hours played out in my mind's eye.

Feelings of tenderness and comfort washed over me as she said "You'll be fine Taylor, I can have you patched up in no time. If you want me to that is, I really just want to help you."

The shaking started to subside as the words and feelings penetrated my mind. Her words begin the first kind ones I had heard directed towards me in almost two years other than my dad's. I started to ask her what she meant when an errant thought crossed my mind.

"I just realized I don't know your name," I said abruptly.

I felt amusement radiating from her again as she said: "My kind don't really have names like you do, we generally take on the name of our host."

It may have been the concussion talking, but I felt that was rather sad and said as much. "That's so sad, that you don't have your own name, you should you know?"

Ok, strike that first bit, it was definitely the concussion talking, I felt my cheeks burn with embarrassment at my outburst. Kira smiled, and how I could tell she was smiling when she was a voice in my head, my poor brain couldn't figure out and said "If it truly bothers you, you may call me Kira. I've always liked that name."

I smiled as well as "Alright Kira," I said "what exactly do you mean by "fix me up"? Because right now I don't know how I could even begin to hide how hurt I am from my dad."

Kira was silent for a moment then she began to explain "It would involve being bonded closer than we are right now. As it is we are just past the threshold of the level of bonding necessary for us to communicate this way."

"What would the bonding involve?" I asked, starting to feel somewhat like Alice falling down the rabbit hole. After almost dying in an alleyway, I was saved by an alien being that took control of my body, and now I'm sitting here discussing the possibility of actually bonding with said being.

"The bonding process has several degrees to it. The most basic is a surface bond which allows for the most shallow of connections with the host, enough for their intent to be read and to respond to but little else." she began to explain.

"Deepening the bond to the next level allows for the host to access the majority of our abilities, enhancing them physically and mentally as well as being able to communicate and share emotions with each other." she stopped then, and I felt anxiousness emanating from her before she continued.

"When a full bonding is formed the host is able to access all of the abilities we can grant as well as making the mental and physical connections permanent." she finished quietly.

I sat there quietly, trying to wrap my mind around the fact that an honest to god alien was asking me to let them take up residence in my head as well as my body. To say I was unsure would be one of the understatements of the century.

"What do you get out of it?" I asked. I wanted to know why she was offering me this.

"I would get to live," she said softly. "My kind cannot survive long without a host."

"You mean that if I decide I don't want to bond with you, you'll die?" I couldn't help the despair I felt at the thought of her death, even though I had been scared out of my mind of her just a short while ago. I didn't understand why I felt that way, but something inside me told me that I needed to trust her.

She was quite so long I thought she wasn't going to answer when she began to speak.

"Normally, I could separate from you and find an animal to sustain me until I found a suitable host. The injuries I sustained from my arrival on your world, and what lead up to my being here means I would need to transfer to a strong human host to survive after the transfer," she told me in a soft tone. Though they disappeared quickly, I could feel a mixture of fear and helplessness radiating from her.

"I don't know what to do," I told her honestly, fear of losing myself to the bonding, warring with the thoughts that I would never be alone again. "This...this is a big decision, life-changing even. I just met you, and then you saved my life, and I don't want anyone to die. But if I bond with you, I would be sharing my body and mind with someone I just met." starting to feel the panic rise up again.

"I know you're scared because it is a big decision," she said with a mixture of sympathy and comfort coming through our connection. "I want you to understand that if you decide not to bond, I will leave and never bother you again."

If I had any doubts about bonding with Kira, they evaporated with those words, because I could feel the truth behind her words. I was amazed yet again how much easier it was to accept someone's word when you could feel the emotions behind them.

The fact that she would leave if I told her to regardless of the fact that it would most likely mean her death decided me. "How do we do this?" I asked. Surprise and gratitude, as well as joy, flood my mind at my immediate response.

"Thank you, Taylor," she replied solemnly, though I could still feel happiness seeping in around the edges. "The process is quite simple really, but to be safe, I think we should do so at your house as you might feel the need to sleep after it's complete."

When she mentioned going home, I suddenly realized I had lost all track of time. Before I could begin to panic, with thoughts of my dad wondering where I was Kira interrupted my thoughts.

"Don't worry about the time, we still have at least an hour before your father gets home,"

she said with gentle humor in her voice.

I sighed in relief knowing I had plenty of time to get home before dad. When I started to get up from the recliner though I was reminded somewhat rudely that I had been shot not so long ago as my back protested violently with moving of any kind and my head had to put in its two cents worth by trying to split in two.

I collapsed back into the recliner with a moan of pain. There was no way I was going anywhere for the moment. "How am I going to get home now if I can't even manage to get out of this chair?" I groaned while holding my head trying to keep it in one piece.

"I can help you like I did in the alley," Kira responded, thankfully in a soft tone, as I didn't think I could stand any loud noises at the moment.

After a few moments of just holding my head, the pain receded enough that I could speak without the threat of my brains spilling out.

"Let's do that then." I finally manage to get out. After all, I thought, if I'm going to be sharing my body I might as well get used to it. I got a feeling of sympathy from her, as I felt my body slowly start to stand up. The world began to tilt a bit as we move towards the door and if I had been in control it might have been a problem, but as it was, it was merely a bit irritating.

We had made it to the outer door of the factory before I realized that as I was now, I would be anything but inconspicuous on my way home. Even as I thought that I felt Kira start to change. The mask flowing off my head like water as the rest of her changed color to grey on top and blue on my legs then gaining definition as the black and white costume I had been wearing changed into a grey hoodie and blue jeans as well as a pair of white sneakers.

With just a bit of impish amusement in her voice at my surprise at the change, she said: "I have a lot of tricks up my sleeve."

Pulling the spider-silk mask off and stuffing it into my coat pocket we made our way out the door and out onto the street, I couldn't help but think of all the things that had happened in such a short time. I had almost died to a bunch of gangbangers, then was saved from them by an alien symbiote who then offered to bond with me. A stray thought crossed my mind as I pondered the events of the day.

"Hey, Kira, how did you wind up in orbit, to begin with," I ask, curious as to how that happened. When she told me, it was a good thing she was in control of my body, as my brain had just reached its surprise quota for the day.

"Kira," I said in a weak voice " if I ever have the bright idea to ask you any more questions, please, for the sake of my sanity don't answer them."

Her only response was a peal of laughter echoing in my head as we slowly made our way home.

I had never been as happy to see my house than I was at that moment. Even with Kira doing all the work I still felt the pain radiating from my back and flaring up into white-hot agony with every step making the trip home seem three times as long.

Thankfully my dad's truck wasn't in the driveway. We made our way around the house and through the back door. Then slowly and painfully up the stairs and into my room.

I started to relax a bit when I realized I was in desperate need of a shower even though I had taken one only hours before. I would also need some help if I were going to get it.

"Can you help me take a shower?" I asked, feeling shy suddenly. Even though I knew in my head that she was already covering my body, the fact that she would now have to see me naked as well as help me wash had me feeling embarrassed.

"It's no problem at all," she said, warmth suffusing her voice. My "clothing" seemed to pull back into my body leaving me in the clothes I had been wearing when I left the house.

"That is going to be handy." I thought, imagining all the ways I could use just that ability alone. After getting out of the rest of my clothes and putting the bodysuit away, she guided my body to the bathroom and helped me quickly shower.

We had just finished getting dressed by the expedient route of her forming a new shirt and sweatpants for me to wear so I wouldn't have to bend over to put on new clothes when I heard a car door shut in the driveway, letting me know my dad was home.

Having looked in the mirror, I had no idea what I was going to tell him about the massive bruise on my temple spreading down my cheek and across my forehead.

Kira apparently knew what I was thinking. Before I had voiced my thoughts, I felt the same sensation as when she had saved me flowed over me. Before I knew it my face had been covered and after a second turned into a perfect replica of my face minus the bruises.

"There that should do it." I heard her say, seeming way to chipper for my taste when I felt this bad. I had to admit though, even knowing she was mimicking my face to look natural, I couldn't tell that it wasn't my real face.

"Thanks, Kira, I don't want to even think about the discussion dad, and I would have if he saw my face the way it is right now," I said with relief. Now all I had to do was make it through dinner without him noticing anything was wrong before I could make my excuses and escape back to my bedroom.

With Kira doing the walking for me I made my way down the stairs to greet dad as he came in through the back door and kicked off his boots.

He gave me a tired smile when he noticed me in the doorway to the living room. "Hey Taylor, how was your day?" he asked me as he made his way to the refrigerator and grabbing a beer before slumping down in one of the kitchen chairs.

"Oh the usual, school was school then I came home, nothing too exciting," I said.

"Unless you count almost dying and meeting a real live alien exciting." I couldn't help think to myself, but I wisely kept that to myself. I could feel Kira snickering in the background as that thought ran through my head.

Looking at him I could see he seemed a little more tired than usual. Making a sudden decision, I asked, "Why don't we order in tonight dad?" I said with a smile. "You look about as tired as I feel, that way neither of us has to cook."

"Your old man really look that bad, huh?" he said with a wry grin creeping onto his face.

At that, I laughed and said "Of course not, I just thought it would be nice to get a pizza and watch a movie for a change. We haven't done that in a while."

"Sounds good to me then, why don't you put in the order while I go get a shower, then we can see what we can find to watch," he said as he stood up and started for the stairs. As he passed me, I suddenly felt the sudden urge to hug him. Kira again seemed to sense my need as my arms wrapped around him, and after a second I felt his arms go around me.

"What brought this on?" I heard him ask, surprise evident in his voice.

"Nothing, I just felt like it. I don't think I've been doing it nearly enough." I said into his shoulder, a hint of moisture in my eyes.

He didn't say anything, just tightened his grip, we just stood there enjoying the moment. The pain in my back was worth it. He pulled out of the hug after a few minutes and the smile he gave me this time was more genuine and less tired, he then ruffled my hair which he knew I hated, laughing softly as I batted his hand away he headed up the stairs.

After I heard him close his bedroom door, I quietly said: "Thank you for that Kira." My arms hanging at my sides after she had helped me raise my tired arms to help me hug my dad.

"Your welcome," she said just as quietly.

Shaking off the moment, with Kira's help I placed our order and got out the plates and glasses and put them on the coffee table as well as iced tea for me and another beer for him. I finally sat down with relief.

As I sat there just trying to will the pain in my back and head away without much success, Kira seemed to be content with the silence.

A little while after I sat down I heard the shower shut off and dad make his way back to his room, another few minutes later he made his way down and plopped down on the couch next to me. I hid my wince as it jostled my back.

"So what are we watching tonight," he asked "and please don't say Princess Bride." was said with a mock horror on his face.

"Philistine," I exclaimed in just as much mock horror "you dare besmirch the beauty and wonder of a classic movie. I should have you flogged." Despite my pounding head I barely keep the grin off my face as the old routine of his reluctance to see the movie, when he was the one that had introduced it to me in the first place.

"You've seen it at least twenty times!" he exclaimed following his part.

"Twenty three to be precise but that's beside the point. What's important is that it's a classic that can be enjoyed over and over and has something for everyone to like." I said with a triumphant smile. Before he could continue, there was a knock at the door signaling the arrival of our dinner. Needless to say, we watched Princess Bride.

By the time credits were rolling both of our eyes were trying their best to close. Turning off the movie and standing up dad stretched and let out a loud yawn.

"I'm going to head on up to bed," he said as he bent down to place a kiss on top of my head. "Thanks for tonight, I think we needed something like this."

I smiled up at him and said: "Me too dad, we should do it more often." I was feeling better than I had in a long time about he and I, even if all we had done was watch a movie we had both long since memorized, it was a start.

After he had gone up to his room, I had to ask Kira to help me up as my body was apparently still on strike at the moment. Chuckling she got me off the couch, up the stairs, and into my room.

My clothes changed into pajamas as we made our way to the bed and got comfortable, the feeling of control returning to me.

"So how does this work?" I asked feeling excited yet still a bit nervous.

"It's quite simple as it is now," she said projecting feelings of comfort and safety to help calm my nerves. "I only need to continue to further the connection that I already have in your mind and complete the merger with your body. The connection to the body will finish first and then the full bonding of our minds."

"After the bonding is complete we'll need to rest to acclimate to the changes." she finished, then a mischievous tone entered her voice as she added, "When we wake up we can go test out the upgrades."

I laughed at that and felt my remaining nervousness fade away. "I'm ready when you are," I said with a smile growing on my face.

I was grateful that we were doing this laying in my bed as my back made even laying down painful but at least the mattress was soft. The tingling began subtly, throughout my body and began to slowly increase in intensity.

"Almost done sweetie," she murmured gently. I could feel her surprise a moment later just before a spike of pain rammed through my brain. My senses exploded, flooding me with sensory information too fast to understand.

I heard a scream in my mind as well as my ears as darkness claimed us.

We were floating in a void filled with stars.

"I've been here before/Where am I?"

Filling the horizon were two massive serpentine shapes made up of billions of mirrored scales covering their immense forms as they floated above a small blue planet.

"I've seen this before./What are they?"

The undulating forms twisted about each other occasionally brushing against each other, with each impact thousands of scales were dislodged and were sent spinning into the void to rain down upon the planet below.

"I know what comes next./What's happening?"

A significantly larger than average scale broke off and fell towards me as I floated in the void. It seemed to pick up speed as it grew closer. The mirrored scale filled my vision.

"This is gonna hurt./Oooh shiiit!"

Darkness claimed us once more.