Disclaimer: I shouldn't even have to say by this point so I'll skip and get right into next chapter.

Chapter III
Darker Than Black

Christmas Eve was, as history had made clear, the most chaotic time of year. If that sort of chaos didn't translate into the hollowed halls of Ravencroft, nothing would. It was a strange feeling that overcame Ashley Kafka, since most of the inmates were relatively docile. Even Sandra Deel, or Shriek as she preferred, was as eerily calm as the eye of a hurricane. This year was different. Ashley was feeling a bit more disturbed by Cletus Kasady. He was giving off an eerie vibe that rattled the young doctor to her core. All through the therapy session that Ashley was conducting, Kasady just stared blankly at Ashley with his arms crossed. The Santa hat he was wearing didn't help matters. Regardless, Ashley continued with another inmate who had just finished an interesting story.

"Wonderful, Mark; that's very encouraging news," Ashley said to the inmate. Then she turned to Kasady, who was still staring at her. "Now let's welcome our newest member of the Ravencroft family, Cletus Kasady. How do you like your stay so far, Cletus?"

Kasady didn't even open his mouth. He just kept staring and it was becoming increasingly unnerving to Ashley. The other patients could almost sense the same vibe coming from their new member. Not a single one of them could really do much of anything about it. Or say much since some of them were sedated anyway. Shriek was the only one other than Ashley to react by smiling maniacally at Kasady. She seemed almost into Kasady, which in itself was disturbing. Ashley shook of the vibe and turned to another patient.

"Okay, will anyone else share their thoughts?"

"I'm going to kill you." said Cletus Kasady so suddenly.

Ashley was briefly stunned when Kasady spoke. "Excuse me?"

"When I get out of this dump," Kasady said. "I'm going to tear those pretty little lungs out and hang 'em over my chimney."

Ashley was now very disturbed and calmly said, "That's enough, Cletus."

"I'm not finished," Cletus continued on. "Then I'm gonna kill the next poor sucker that I see, and then the next one and on. You wanna know why?"

"That's enough, Cletus." Ashley said again, this time louder.

"Because I can," Cletus went on without heeding Ashley. "Because every single sucker on this damn planet is capable of senseless murder and carnage. They're just afraid to follow through with it, but not me. I got the guts to go out there and live free, so long as someone dies."

Shriek added her on commentary. "Yes, yes, kill them all. Kill the zombies!"

Ashley had had enough of Kasady's psycho rant. "Orderlies, take Cletus back to his cell, please."

Two burly men picked Kasady up from his seat but he wasn't finished. "First, I'm gonna have some fun with pretty little Doctor Ash and then I'm gonna kill the other zombies in this cesspool of an insane asylum. Or maybe the other way around! You can pick!"

Cletus Kasady kept on ranting nonstop as the orderlies dragged him out of the therapy session, which was ended soon after. Shriek broke into her own hysterical fit only to be sedated. Deciding to end the session, Ashley returned to her office and threw herself into her seat. She went into deep thought over what had just transpired, even rubbing the bridge of her nose in frustration. Only a few day of having Kasady in Ravencroft, and already he was giving Ashley problems. It wasn't quite the Christmas cheer that Ashley had hoped for.

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What exactly was Peter doing at the Daily Bugle on Christmas Eve of all times? He should've been at home helping to finish the Christmas tree with Mary Jane. It had to be at a last minute thing, didn't it? Thankfully, Aunt May stopped by to help with the decorating. So why was Peter at the Bugle? Duh! His Christmas bonus! Somehow, Peter knew it didn't quite sit well with Jameson to be handing out bonuses to his employees. He didn't need a spider-sense to tell him that. Peter would probably need a hearing aid upon hearing Jameson bellow Ted Hoffman out of his office about some random irregularity. It briefly occured to Peter how utterly ridiculous Jameson looked in the Santa Claus outfit he was wearing, minus the hat. Santa Jonah, maybe?

"You're ideas are even more useless than Rudolf, and he had a mutated red nose." Jameson bellowed.

For some reason, Hoffman foolishly joked, "I thought it was a birth defect."

"Get outta here," Jameson shouted, and Hoffman was gone in no time. Then Jameson spotted Peter. "Parker, what're you doing here?"

Peter stammered for a split second before answering. "I came by to pick my Christmas bonus."

Jameson shook his head like he had absolutely no clue what Peter was talking about. He knew but he was playing dumb. "What're you talking about? Photographers don't get bonuses."

Leave it to Betty to point out, "You had one set up for Peter two days ago."

"Thank you, Miss Brant!" Jameson said with his teeth clenched, and he stomped back into his office.

What got stuck up his chimney? Peter thought as he leaned in toward Betty and whispered to her, "Thanks Betty! I didn't think he'd actually give me my bonus."

"Least I can do, especially after…" Betty stalled out, and Peter knew the reason.

"I know you're probably still stinging after what happened to Ned…" Peter started to say.

Betty waved off the conversation and said, "Hey, I'm over it. I took Ned's passing pretty hard and the past month's been hell. But I doubt Ned would want me to be depressed, especially during Christmas."

"I don't blame you." Peter said.

The conversation was stalled by a commotion elsewhere in the office. A young kid, younger than Peter, was trying to get through some other people. He wasn't doing a very good job. Peter did note the camera hanging from his neck. Actually, this kid reminded Peter a lot of himself. Was there somebody making clones of Peter Parker now? Peter would've written that notion off as some really bad comic book plot. In any event, the kid stumbled and came to rest right in front of Peter.

"Sorry," the kid said. "The boss's expecting me. Hey, you're Peter Parker, right?"

Peter was just slightly taken aback by the seemingly uncoordinated newcomer. "Um, yeah, that's me."

"Aw man, it's a huge honor to meet the man behind the Spider-Man pics," the kid said. "You're like, my idol. I would've given anything to be just as good as you."

Jameson suddenly burst out of his office shouting, "Reilly, I don't pay you to make idle conversation. Get in my office immediately," Jameson turned to Peter and handed him white envelope. "Here's your blasted Christmas bonus, Parker. Now please, get out of my sight."

For some God forsaken reason, Peter blurted out, "Merry Christmas, boss!"

Jameson gave his best Ebenezer Scrooge impression and shouted, "Bah Humbug!"

Betty couldn't help but chuckle at Peter's sense of humor before Peter asked, "So who's the new guy?"

"That's Ben Reilly," Betty answered. "He's our newest photographer; and he's a little green."

"Maybe greener than grass by the look of it," Peter said. "I guess I better get going and cash this check."

"You have a Merry Christmas, Peter," Betty said with a slight smile. "Say hi to Mary Jane for me."

"You too, Betty!"

Peter started out on his way out of the Bugle offices, stuffing the envelope into his jacket pocket. He gave some consideration to sneaking up to the roof of the Bugle and swinging back home. No! Peter didn't see much reason to do that. He decided becoming Spider-Man wasn't needed just to get home. Peter smiled as he waltzed to the elevator and absentmindedly looked out toward the window. His smile evaporated upon seeing a shadowy figure quickly disappear past the window. Without thinking, Peter rushed to the window to hopefully catch a glimpse of the figure. Nothing! Peter was getting absolutely frustrated, even coming close to ripping his hair from his scalp. It couldn't be him. It couldn't be that thing. It just could not be…

"Peter, everything alright?" Robbie suddenly asked and startled Peter.

"Robbie!"

"Are you feeling okay, Peter," Robbie asked again. "You look like you've seen the Ghost of Christmas Future."

More along the line of the Ghost of Christmas Past as Peter rubbed his forehead and said, "Yeah… I'm okay, Robbie. I guess I'm a little on edge."

"Go home, Peter," Robbie said, putting an arm over Peter's shoulder. "You go home, get some rest and take care of your wife."

Peter nodded and walked off, still a slight bit flustered as he entered the elevator. It would only take a minute or so to reach the bottom floor, but that wasn't what Peter thought about. The past couple of days had seemingly been getting weirder with each passing moment. What the blazes was he seeing? The elevator reached the bottom floor and Peter stormed into the street. It had started snowing but that was thing on Peter's mind. He grabbed his cellular phone and dialed Mary Jane's number. A few rings later, MJ answered.

"Hello?"

"MJ, where are you? Are you okay?"

"Yes, yes! I'm okay. I'm home fixing the tree with Aunt May," MJ said. She could sense something was amiss. "Is everything okay out there, Peter?"

Peter stammered on the question. "I'm not really sure."

"Does this have anything with what happened at Liberty Island?" MJ asked.

"Probably," Peter answered. "Listen, I'll try to get home as soon as possible."

MJ could be heard sighing, "Okay, but please be careful and come home safe."

"Yeah, bye!"

Peter hung up the phone and started walking briskly down the sidewalk. Maybe it would've been a good idea to change into his costume and get airborne. Peter looked behind periodically to see if anyone was following him. Nothing! Maybe Peter was seeing things. Who really knew? Peter was briefly distracted by a man is a Santa Claus suit ringing a bell for charity. Peter dropped some change into a plastic black pot and kept moving. He then glanced behind and still, there wasn't anything out of the ordinary. If there was, his spider-sense would've alerted him. But what if it didn't? Peter didn't stop to think about that. He kept walking and looking back every chance he'd get. Every time, there wasn't any indication of a major problem. Peter turned back to face front and he froze. The stalker was standing ahead of Peter and keeping a reasonable distance. His face was still obscured by the hood he was wearing. Peter didn't make any sudden moves and just kept walking very slowly. The stalker began walking as well, matching Peter's pace. Peter knew there was an alleyway coming up. He could easily slip in, crawl up the wall and lose this guy. No, for discretion seemed to be the wiser route. Peter reached the entrance to the alley and rounded the corner, and then broke into a sprint toward the other end. Once he reached the other end, Peter looked back toward the other end. There wasn't any sign of the stalker.

Lost him. Peter thought.

Something didn't seem right about the goings on by that point. A small part of Peter came to believe that the stalker gave up. Breathing a sigh of relief, Peter prepared to head home. Then without warning, Peter was suddenly and violently pulled into the air by an unseen force. The upward movement was so rapid that Peter didn't know where anything was, so he didn't know what hit him as he was slammed into a fire escape. Peter uncontrollably reached the top of the building and crashed onto the snow covered rooftop, sliding across without direction. The whole ordeal reminded Peter of the same thing he did to Mac Gargan before the latter became Scorpion. Only now the roll was reversed and not enjoyable. Peter struggled to pick himself up off the snow and was suddenly kicked right across the roof. He rolled toward the edge of the roof and then was pulled in the opposite direction. Peter found himself staring at a slobbering hissing jaw and bug like alien eyes. There was no mistaking who, or rather what was staring back at Peter.

"Hey Parker; remember us," the monster threw Peter right into the snowy ground. "We most definitely remember you."

The monster kicked Peter across the roof, after which Peter barely got back. "Eddie; Eddie Brock? It can't be. I watched you get incinerated along with the symbiote."

The alien like face peeled back to reveal the face of the long thought deceased Edward Brock Jr. "We told you, Pete. You never wound what you can't kill."

"We?!" Peter wondered in absolute confusion. What reason did Eddie have to refer to himself in the plural?

"Me and the symbiote, the very same symbiote that you rejected. The same that I've come to embrace," The symbiote then re-enveloped Brock's face. "Oh yeah, you really should call us Venom from here on out."

Peter didn't have the time to change into his costume and quickly shot out a web line to get away. Venom wouldn't dare let Peter get away and snagged him with his own line. Peter felt himself get pulled in the opposite and was met with a closed fist in his face. Peter hit the ground back first and barely avoided a swift stomp from Venom. It was at that point that Peter noticed that Venom looked much bigger than last time. More muscle bound was the villain this time around, although he retained the distorted web pattern and the grayish white spider emblem. It wasn't the time to admire this new and improved Venom, who with a deep growl charged at Peter. Peter found a much needed opening and blinded the oncoming Venom with webbing. Peter charged and delivered a straight double kick to Venom' chest. The villain went rolling across the roof but righted himself and shot dual lines. The lines caught Peter's feet and he was tripped off and hit the ground again. Venom wasn't even close to finished and swung Peter around before throwing him into a wall. Peter was barely coherent as he was slowly going limp, but Venom would let him fall. The symbiote receded so Peter was face to face with Eddie Brock.

"We're just getting started, Parker," Eddie sneered. "You haven't even begun to hurt yet, and we want to very slowly rip you apart piece by piece."

"Brock, it isn't… too late," Peter struggled to say. "You can still… get rid of the symbiote…" Peter felt Eddie place a hideous black hand over his mouth.

The symbiote again enveloped Eddie's face. "Shut up! We are not Brock. We are Venom. We have always been Venom. You were to be ours but you betrayed and spurned us. Now, we're going to make you suffer. You, and everyone you love the most. You'll be seeing plenty of us."

Venom grasped Peter by the throat and dragged across the room, leaving a trail in the snow. Peter tried to get free but Venom held his fast and tight. It felt as if Peter was losing breath as Venom held over the edge. Peter glanced down to see the alley below. He could save himself in the forthcoming fall, provided he was still conscious. Venom drew Peter closer they face to face.

"Until then, we'll keep in touch," Venom snarled before letting Peter fall. "Oh, and Merry Christmas!"

Peter was barely conscious when he realized where he was. He shot a line out as quickly as humanly possible. Too late! Luckily, or maybe unluckily, Peter crash landed into a garbage dumpster. The lid closed on Peter before he could get out. When he managed to climb out, Peter looked up and saw zero sign of Venom. He was gone, but Peter knew he was out there. Things could only get much worse from that point. It had to be during Christmas of all times. Venom had indeed returned. Heaven help Peter and his loved ones.

Author's note: Venom is back with a vengeance. Hopefully, I can do him justice, unlike Sam Raimi. Let me know what you think!