Disclaimer: I guess it's so far, so good! You already know that I don't the rights to Spider-Man, so let's get right to it.

Chapter V
Bipolar Disorder

Swinging high above the city streets of downtown SoHo, Spider-Man was very much on edge. There hadn't been any sign of Venom since earlier in the day, when Eddie had "visited" Aunt May. It was all Peter could do at the time to keep from throwing Eddie out the door. Or the window! Then Eddie, as Venom, threatened to reveal Spider-Man's identity to the world at large. But he never made his move. Spider-Man landed on a ledge and went into deep thought. Why didn't Venom just go to the Bugle and rat out the web slinger's secret? There was no way was Venom just bluffing. Maybe he was just waiting for the right opportunity. Something caught the web slinger's attention and he sharply turning his gaze toward the general direction. Nothing! Venom was good at making Spider-Man see things that weren't there. It was almost an art form of sorts.

"C'mon Venom," Spider-Man whispered to himself. "Where are you?"

Spider-Man knew all too well that Venom was toying with him. Again, Spider-Man seemed to see some sort of movement and he gazed toward the unknown. Again, that was absolutely nothing out of the ordinary. It was pretty much official; Venom had gotten in Spider-Man's head. Shooting a web line, Spider-Man went back on his patrol of the skyline. It was starting to snow again, though it wasn't as heavy as before. The weather was the last thing on Spider-Man's mind. He gazed behind his back briefly to make sure Venom hadn't managed to get behind him. At one point, Spider-Man even swung in reverse to be sure of no sort of forthcoming ambush. This was risky since he knew Venom was spider-sense proof. Just as he thought he was in the clear, Spider-Man felt himself suddenly jolt to a stop in midair.

"What the blazes?" Spider-Man said in shock.

He realized that he was stuck in a giant black web that read of all things, "GUESS WHO?"

Spider-Man pulled himself free from the giant web and swung up toward the nearest rooftop. "Alright Venom, I'm right here! Show yourself!"

Without warning, Spider-Man was brutally kicked across the roof by Venom. "Guess who?" the villain mocking asked.

Spider-Man quickly picked himself up and shouted, "Let's finish this, Venom."

"Finish it," Venom wondered. "We're having way too much fun."

"Well, Fun Time's over!"

Spider-Man immediately threw the first punch, connecting hard with Venom's slobbering jaw. More punches follows, each one harder than the last and Venom was taking each one. Venom eventually fought back and threw a wild swing that Spider-Man dodged with little effort. Spider-Man just kept throwing bombs before dodging another swing from Venom. He didn't see Venom throw a backhand and the villain connected hard to Spider-Man's chin. Spider-Man was thrown back and rolled in reverse before regaining his footing. It was slightly more difficult to accomplish because of the slippery ground thanks to the most recent snowstorm. Venom shot two black lines at either side of Spider-Man and launched himself at the hero. Spider-Man just barely hopped over Venom and let him slam into the ground. The hero mimicked Venom's earlier maneuver, only it didn't work a second time. Venom rushed right at Spider-Man and tackled him to the snowy ground. The villain reared back at drove his burly fist straight down, expecting to cave in Spider-Man's face. Spider-Man quickly and subtly dodged the blow and back flipped away, striking Venom directly in the jaw. Spider-Man back flipped away and came to a fighting stance.

"Is that all you got?" Venom growled.

Spider-Man didn't provide Venom the benefit of an answer and full on charged at Venom. Venom did the same. Time seemed to slow down as the two rivals simultaneously leaped into the air and at each other. Venom won the aerial collision and hit the ground, with Spider-Man's head trapped in Venom's muscular arms. Venom squeezed tightly and Spider-Man found it extremely difficult to catch his breath. The symbiote face receded so it was Eddie Brock who had Spider-Man in his clutches.

"We bet you wish you still had the symbiote," Eddie snarled as he applied pressure. "That's what happens when you discard your hand-me-downs," The symbiote enveloped around Eddie's face. "You never know when they might come back to find you."

Venom threw Spider-Man hard across the roof, where the web slinger impacted the wall. Spider-Man tried to get up but he was rapidly enveloped by a stream of black webbing and embedded to the wall. Venom snarled as he released a near endless stream of black webbing. By a few more moments, Spider-Man was totally immobile and Venom stood over him mockingly. He grasped Spider-Man by his cheeks and sneered at him.

"You think we're going finish you off now," Venom asked maliciously. "Wrong! We still have big Christmas plans, and once we're finished, maybe we'll pay a visit to that pretty little red head."

Spider-Man was ever defiant and shouted, "You stay away from her, Venom. You hear me?"

"You're really not in a position to tell us what to do," Venom mockingly tapped Spider-Man in the cheek and than said, "Anyway, we've got places to go and people to torment. Bah bye, Parker!"

Venom rushed off and disappeared over the edge, leaving Spider-Man to shout out, "Brock, come back! Come back!"

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Dr. Kafka didn't take to her latest assignment with much enthusiasm; a patient interview with Cletus Kasady. Ashley could swear she'd had a better, easier time interviewing Shriek. At least Shriek seemed to have some semblance of empathy, where as Kasady had none. Still, Ashley had a job to do and she would see it done as Cletus Kasady was brought into her office. Kasady had on a strait jacket and was escorted by a security guard. The guard forced Kasady into the waiting chair, and Ashley caught a glimpse of the psycho's demented grin. It unnerved Ashley to see that grin, being very reminiscent of a demented, psychopathic clown.

"I'll take it from here, guard," Ashley said. "You may leave."

"With respect, doctor, I should stay to ensure your safety." The guard suggested.

"I understand but I have this under control," Ashley assured the orderly. "I'll call if I need you."

Defeated, the guard started out for the door. "I'll be outside if you need assistance."

"Beat it, pig," Cletus mocked. "This is between me and the chew toy."

The security guard was visibly disturbed by Kasady's snide remark. In fact, he wanted to take his nightstick and smash it over Kasady's head. He'd have been doing the world at large a favor. Ashley shot a glance at the guard and he slowly walked out the door, keeping the back of Kasady unruly red hair in view the whole way. Ashley sighed in some form of relief, but now the hard part was about to begin. She reached to one side and started a tape recorder for the interview.

"Okay, patient interview #175, December the 25th; patient's name is Cletus Kasady."

"Hi there, hot legs!" Kasady said in a severely derogatory tone.

Ignoring the disrespectful man, Ashley said, "Let get to the business at hand; tell me, Cletus: Why do you feel the need to kill?"

Cletus chuckled at the apparent absurdity of the question and asked his own question. "What the hell kind of question is that?"

"I'd think it to be a reasonably good question." Ashley answered undeterred.

"You would," Cletus spat. "I say it's a pointless, stupid question from an all around stupid broad."

"Are you going to answer the question, Cletus?" Ashley asked, clearing losing her patience.

"Why do I feel the need to kill," Kasady mimicked the previous question. "Why does anyone feel the need to say, eat? Or sleep, or piss or even get laid? You really wanna know why, hot legs?"

"I think I'm entitled to that, yes." Ashley said.

"Because life is a meaningless little white lie," Cletus finally said. "It's all a big friggin' joke. The so-called universe has no center and its creator is a drooling idiot. The world is populated by zombies."

"People are not zombies, Cletus." Ashley saw fit to clarify. Obviously, Cletus wasn't expected to listen.

"Oh, yes they are," Cletus spat. "They're all zombies; every last sack of walking meat that walks the earth as we speak is a friggin' zombie with absolutely no idea of the crap going on around them. All I'm doing is saving these poor zombies from themselves," Cletus slowly got up from his seat and stared at Ashley. "If you like, I can do the same to you. What do you say to that, hot legs?"

Ashley by that point was scared to death, but she didn't dare show it. She shut off the tape recorder and called out, "Guard, we're finished here."

The guard entered the office and quickly asked, "Everything alright here, doctor?"

"Fine, just take Kasady back to his cell." Ashley said as she slouched be into her chair.

The guard nodded and grabbed Cletus by his strait jacket. Before going anywhere, Cletus viciously snapped at Ashley and startled her. Then Cletus broke into a maniacal cackling that rattled Ashley further. Ashley remained stoic and silent. Perhaps it was simply a display of resolve for as soon as Cletus was gone, Ashley seemed to break down. Cletus Kasady had, without question, gotten to her in the worst way.

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Venom's trail had gone cold. That was as literal to Peter as it was painfully obvious. "C'mon MJ, please pick up the phone." Peter seemed extremely frantic to hear from MJ. He needed to be sure that Venom hadn't reached her.

Someone did answer the other line. "Peter, is that you?"

"Yeah, it's me," Peter answered, inwardly grateful that this call wasn't a repeat of the one from the Green Goblin. "Where are you?"

"I'm at Liz's apartment." MJ said.

In the background, Liz Allen could be heard shouting, "Hi Petey, Merry Christmas."

Peter was able to laugh it off, recalling one time that Liz had a thing for him. Sally Avril, not so much. "Are you okay, MJ? Eddie didn't get to you, did he?"

"No," MJ said with added reassurance. "I doubt he knows where I am. Where are you?"

"I'm just leaving the Bugle," Peter answered. "Nobody here has seen or heard anything from Eddie. I'm going to take one last patrol around the city and then I'll come find you."

"Okay, just be careful, Peter," MJ said. "I love you."

"You too, honey."

Peter hung up the cell phone and pocketed it and started down the street. He almost immediately got to thinking about the many ways Venom could torture him. Peter suddenly stopped dead in his track when he saw what he thought was Venom strolling toward him. It turned out to be a middle-age man who walked past Peter without even glancing. Peter kept walking, trying to keep a grip on reality. He glanced up at a rooftop billboard and saw Venom's face snarling right at him. Peter shook his head in denial and covered his face in his hands. He leaned against a wall trying to catch his breath, and then got a second look at the billboard. Venom's face was gone, replaced by an image of J. Jonah Jameson wearing a Santa hat. Peter was losing it big time, that much he knew. He needed to get out of the public and slowly walked into the nearest alleyway. As soon as he was clear, Peter began changing into his costume. He looked in every direction to make certain there wasn't anyone around. Peter had most of the costume on except for his mask and he kept looking around.

"Those are some real spiffy pajamas."

Peter looked toward the source of the voice. "Eddie!"

Eddie Brock, in civilian clothes, was clinging to the wall above Peter. "You know, Pete; when we mentioned spilling your dirty little secret to the old man," The symbiote enveloped Eddie's entire body until all that remained was Venom. "We weren't bluffing."

Peter didn't waste a shred of time. He threw on his mask and went after Venom, who quickly swung away towards the Daily Bugle. Spider-Man knew he'd be finished if Venom revealed his identity. He knew full well that he had to stop Venom.

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Chaos was the order of the Christmas day at the Daily Bugle, and not a single person was aware of the forthcoming danger. J. Jonah Jameson was in one of his usual moods, possibly due to his wife providing eggnog for lunch. The young and enthusiastic Ben Reilly was the boss's offices pitching what Jonah dismissed as the ultimate in lame ideas.

"No one's going to want to read that bull crap, Reilly." Jonah bellowed.

"But Mr. Jameson, that is the ultimate in front page news," Ben continued to pitch his idea. "Who wouldn't want to know Spider-Man's secret identity?"

Robbie was listening in to the whole conversion. "Spider-Man's secret identity could sell a hell of a lot papers, Jonah."

"Oh please, Robbie," Jonah snapped. "Nobody cares about what someone looks like under a mask. He might as well be Joe Shmuck for all I care."

As usual, Hoffman chimed in on the conversation. "Who, Spider-Man?"

Jonah looked at Hoffman like he wanted to tear his head off and said, "No, Baby New Year. Of course Spider-Man. We're not running that story and that is final."

Without warning, Venom came crashing into Jonah's office and out to the desk, sending most of the occupants scurrying out of the office. "Hi there, boss!"

Jonah couldn't seem to figure out why, but he somehow managed to deduce who the creature was skulking in front of him. "Brock!?"

Venom grabbed Jonah by his suit collar and drew him in. "Good guess, old man. We go by Venom now, and we have quite a scoop for you, if you're interested."

Spider-Man suddenly swung into the office and kicked Venom off the desk right through the wall. Spider-Man then asked, "Is everyone okay?"

Jonah was the first to answer in his own way. "You again? Haven't you caused enough trouble?"

"Merry Christmas to you too, buzz head," Spider-Man mocked and hopped through the gaping hole left by Venom. "And a Happy New Year."

Jonah was left fuming. "I hate that guy."

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Spider-Man swung up to the roof of the Bugle but saw no sign of Venom, if he was even up there in the first place. Without his spider-sense, the web slinger knew he'd have a tough time dealing with his alien rival. Perhaps it was sheer blind luck that Spider-Man turned sharply to see Venom swing toward with his feet extended. Spider-Man ducked and let Venom pass by him. Venom landed and slid across the snow covered roof before shooting symbiote lines at Spider-Man. Spider-Man somersaulted over the lines and shot out a web line. The web line wrapped around Venom's arm and the villain took the line with his free hand. Venom pulled hard on the line and took Spider-Man with it, but Spider-Man was ready for the villain. Spider-Man kicked Venom directly in the jaw first, and then kicked him in the chest and into an air vent. The air was smashed by the impact, but Venom was far from finished. He charged at Spider-Man and threw wide swings which the hero dodged. Spider-Man fell to the ground and nipped back up, striking Venom again in the jaw. Venom roared and threw both fists right into the ground, missing Spider-Man by inches. Spider-Man back flipped away but Venom struck him with a mighty double kick to the chest. Spider-Man nearly flew off the roof but saved himself by twirling around a metal pole and back on the roof.

"Is that all you got, Venom?" Spider-Man asked, mocking Venom's previous asking of the question.

Venom tensed up. "We're just getting warmed up, Spider-Man."

"In the middle of winter," Spider-Man quipped for what felt like the longest time. "Good luck with that, slobber jaw."

"You're the one who's going to need luck after we demonstrate our new trick."

What the hell was Venom talking about? Spider-Man received his answer when Venom produced black tendrils from his body. Spider-Man frantically dodged the tendrils as they came from seemingly every direction. It very scarcely reminded the hero of his battles with Dr. Octopus. Meanwhile, a horde of spectators gathered at the bottom of the Daily Bugle, including Jonah and Robbie. News Cameras were rolling to catch as much action as possible. Spider-Man was finding it increasingly difficult to dodge Venom's attacks. He had to find an opening and make his move. Spider-Man took a chance and fired a web line, but one of the tendrils hit it, and thus impacted and snagged Spider-Man's firing hand.

"Oh, that's not good."

More tendrils rapidly shot out and trapped Spider-Man in their grasp. Venom roared his approval and shot out more tendrils. Spider-Man was fighting for his life to get rid of the tendrils, inwardly hoping the symbiote wasn't trying to bond with him again. Venom pulled hard and tripped up Spider-Man before dragging him across the snow to him. Venom hopped onto the ledge with Spider-Man wrapped up tight and dangled the hero over the edge.

"Look at all of your adoring fans," Venom mocked. "Let's give them a very special Christmas present, shall we?"

Venom reached over and yanked Spider-Man's mask clean off. "NO!" Peter tried to reach for his mask but Venom let it fall toward the ground below. Peter realized right then he was screwed.

"So tell us, Mr. Parker," Venom growled with delight. "Are you ready for your close up?"

Author: Don't you just love a good cliffhanger? Please be absolutely sure to leave a review, boys and girls a stayed tuned for the next chapter.