Welcome Back Everyone!
I was hoping I could get this chapter out sooner, but one thing kept leading to other things which pushed its release date back a bit.
I'm going to try to maintain my goal of getting at least one chapter out every month. I'm definitely going to see if I can go for two and see if I can crank out at least one more chapter before the end of the month, but inspiration is unpredictable, especially when real life problems get in the way.
So let's just treat this next chapter as my Christmas Present to you all! Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and Happy New Year!
IMPORTANT NOTE:
I dedicate this next chapter, along with my entire fanfiction to the memory of STAN LEE.
Two days after I published the previous chapter, this Amazing Legend of a Man passed away at the ripe old age of 95. I can't even begin to describe how much my heart broke when I found out that terrible piece of news, and I can't thank Stan Lee enough for everything he has given to the world, but I think I can do my best by making this fanfiction into something Stan Lee himself would have liked to read.
Rest in Peace, True Believer. You will be missed!
Enjoy!
Chapter 3: Monster in the Mirror
Gwen Stacy performed a graceful midair backflip and landed on top of one of the many skyscrapers dotting the urban landscape. The sky was pure and free of clouds, and the stars of the midnight sky mixed together with the lights of the glowing skyscrapers off in the distance to create a canvas of light and color in the dark. Gwen's adrenaline rush was still at its peak, even though she had already spent well over an hour swinging from building to building. She imagined this was how skydivers felt when they jumped out of a plane for the first time, pure invigoration, letting all their cares and stresses vanish as gravity guided them down. Of course, unlike them she never had to worry about falling, and so throughout her night, she just kept swinging, relying purely on her new instincts to guide her and not caring at all where she was going.
She still couldn't believe it. Over an hour of swinging and gliding through the city and she wasn't the least bit tired. Not to mention the feats of acrobatics she could perform as she leaped from building to building whenever she landed. Trained trapeze acrobats couldn't hold a candle to her abilities, and that was only scratching the surface as to what else she could do with her new symbiotic friend. She was giddy with anticipation at the thought of trying out whatever else was in her new bag of tricks.
However, as she stopped to observe the view of the New York Skyline, she realized her refraining from choosing a destination was a bad idea. She was looking at New York from a completely different point of view, in the air from the rooftops rather than walking on the ground like a normal human. It was like trading in a mental map she had used for years for one she never studied before, and it was confusing her sense of direction.
"Wait a second, where are we?" Gwen asked herself, feeling slightly embarrassed that her little adventure may have resulted in getting lost.
The voice in her head was quick to answer that question, and she instantly realized it was no accident or coincidence her web swinging guided her here. Since Gwen never made a choice on which direction she wished to go, the symbiote made the choice for her.
"Apologies, dearest host. You were so caught up in the excitement and the adrenaline rush of our web swinging experience, you had forgotten to choose a set destination of where you wished to take us. Before you say anything, I didn't force you to come to this part of your city."
"What do you mean by that?" asked Gwen.
"Think about what you subconsciously wanted, what WE wanted. We desired to test out our new powers, our new beautiful body, and our united mind granted that wish by taking us here. Perhaps your random web swinging wasn't so random after all. You should know where you are right now, don't you?"
As she took a closer look at the various buildings and streets below her, the answer slowly came to her. Judging by the surrounding landmarks, it appeared the symbiote chose the Meatpacking district as their destination, and apparently one of the more broken down back alleys of the neighborhood. It was quaint and attractive during the day, but at night it was a different story. Any dark alleys or abandoned derelict buildings were frequent hotspots, meeting places, or lairs for low life thugs or small time criminals, perfect for their goal of testing out their powers. It should have been obvious the symbiote would take her there. The only other ideal choice was Hell's Kitchen, but that was Daredevil's territory, and neither human nor symbiote were quite ready to make their presence known to any of the city's heroes yet.
Better they hear the rumors of a newcomer in town, a boogeyman lurking in the darkness, or boogey-woman so to speak.
The symbiote's excitement only grew. It seemed like it had been forever since the last time it experienced its true purpose, hunting down sinful humans.
"Now, all we need to do is go looking for trouble. Since we're in one of the nastier parts of the city, there's bound to be some lowlifes skulking about doing something they shouldn't. Certainly there someone nearby who deserves to be taught a lesson, someone who nobody would mind if they were just... assisted into an early grave by a helping hand, or a helping set of jaws as we feast on their delicious flesh!"
Gwen found herself drooling at the prospect. "Yes... sweet delicious... Wait, WHAT?!"
Gwen suddenly realized what she was thinking, what they were thinking, and her face turned slightly green. What was wrong with her? Did she just find the idea of devouring the flesh of another human being like a wild animal exciting?
"Oh come on, Gwen Sweetie. It's technically not cannibalism since thanks to our bond, You're not human anymore! Where's your sense of adventure? You have so much tension in your body from all the stress you have been through since waking up. We need to cut loose! Go Wild, and our intended targets are those who prey on the innocent, so who cares if we eat them, right? Nobody will miss a few murderers, drug dealers, rapists, or super villains, now would they?"
The symbiote's attempted words of encouragement didn't help all that much. It only produced a stronger shade of green on Gwen's face.
"We can't just eat people like that." hissed Gwen, genuinely spooked at the symbiote's incredible blood lust.
The symbiote chuckled, its tone of voice making Gwen's skin crawl.
"The way I see it, dear host, WE can do whatever WE want! If we do not have the stomach to kill a bunch of petty thugs, then how can we expect ourselves to kill Norman when we find him? Don't you want to get back at him for stealing five years of your life? Isn't that why you agreed to let us stay bonded together?"
Gwen growled like the animal she was slowly becoming at the mention of Norman's name. Of course she wanted to get back at Norman. Of course she wanted that snake of a man dead. It was up for debate whether other criminals deserved the same fate she wanted to inflict upon the former CEO of Oscorp, but she had long since accepted that her fantasy of getting to kill Norman herself wasn't going to leave her mind any time soon. Nobody deserved the full wrath of her symbiotic powers and the bloodthirsty appetite of her new friend more then the Green Goblin.
The real question was getting to the warm up the symbiote mentioned. She agreed they needed to find some smaller time criminals as target practice to make sure Gwen was ready for when she finally found her enemy, and there was still the matter of Spider-Man, who certainly wouldn't take kindly to the idea that the symbiote was still alive. The two bonded partners would cross that perilous bridge when they reached it, but for now, Gwen still needed proper practice.
Gwen had lived in New York since Spider-Man first appeared in it, and she was still shocked as to how alarmingly high New York's crime rate remained no matter how many times Spider-Man put a stop to the latest maniac of the week. She could think of several members of Spider-Man's Rogues Gallery who were equally vile as the Goblin, and that's only counting the Super Villains. It didn't take super powers or a ridiculous costume to be a threat to innocent people. There were rapists, drug dealers, murderers, and mafia bosses hiding in every corner of the city. If Spider-Man's methods of keeping crime in check weren't enough, then perhaps a more permanent solution was necessary.
Gwen could feel a layer of steel surrounding her heart. If she was to go through with this, she couldn't let her weaker emotions get the better of her and prevent her from doing what needed to be done. It was a dirty job, and most people objectively agreed that killing was a sin even if the person you killed deserve to die. Do two wrongs never make a right, or was a necessary evil the right tool for wiping out evil?
"We know this is the right thing to do. With them rotting in the darkest pits of hell, they will never hurt anyone ever again. Soon, when word spreads of our activity, others like them will be too scared to participate in their wicked ways and hurt people, lest they encounter us!"
"Alright look if we're going to do this, we need some ground rules." Gwen spoke up, trying to regain control of the conversation. Her partner groaned in annoyance.
"If you really need to do this. If you really need to satisfy your urges by killing people, then we are only going to kill bad people, people who deserve to die, people like the Goblin. We can't kill civilians, and if you start forcing me to do that, then we're done. The deal is off. Our partnership is gone. No more US! No more WE! Got it?"
In truth, the symbiote wasn't too picky about what kind of human they got to sink their teeth into. Human flesh tasted the all the same, but the symbiote understood where Gwen was coming from. Hunting the guilty went hand in hand with protecting the innocent. Those two aspects of the symbiote's purpose were one and the same. To devour the flesh of the innocent would mean violating the meaning of their purpose.
"DONE! No civilians. No innocents on the menu. Nobody shall die by our hands unless they deserve to die."
"And the second and most important ground rule" Gwen continued. "You may be used to eating your enemies, but I'm not! So no eating people!"
"OH COME ON!" The symbiote whined like a little girl being told she couldn't have her favorite dessert. "If we just leave the bodies there, then all that flesh will go to waste. If we never eat it, then the meat will go rotten, and if you ever change your mind, then it's too late. It's spoiled and no good to eat anymore. Besides, human flesh tastes a lot like pork. You've eaten bacon before, so it's basically the same thing."
"IT IS NOT THE SAME THING!" shouted a horrified Gwen. "Alright look. I'll make you a deal. You clearly like other types of meat, don't you? Well this is New York, and there are so many different kinds of food that you haven't experienced yet, so if you just restrain yourself from eating humans while we're out fighting crime, I will make sure to provide you with a steady supply of all the chocolate you want."
"Chocolate? Did Gwen just say Chocolate?!"
Gwen suppressed a laugh. She still couldn't get over how this scary monster could be bribed with sweets.
"Oh yes! I know the absolute best places in New York to get the best chocolate and satisfy that sweet tooth of yours. Besides, you clearly like chocolate way more than meat, so think of that as some added incentive to behave."
Gwen suddenly heard a noise inside her mind that sounded like a squeal of pure joy.
"Oooooooooh, dearest host drives a hard bargain, but that's an offer I can't possibly refuse. Very well, Gwen. We shall refrain from devouring our opponents and leave their brains inside their skulls. We won't go overboard unless you are ready for it, or you simply want to."
Gwen felt a slight chill go up her spine. It seems the symbiote spoke that last part of their agreement as if it knew Gwen would eventually want to try it out.
Sensing Gwen's nerves, the symbiote quickly changed the subject.
"Isn't diplomacy wonderful?" the alien trilled. "Communication is the key to any successful relationship, is it not? Human relationships fall apart due to lack of communication and the relationship between symbiote and host is no different. Spider-Man never wanted to negotiate when we were together. Oh No! The moment he found out I was a living creature with desires, ambitions, and FEELINGS, and not some tool to be used, he wanted to terminate our relationship. No compromise, No diplomacy, only EVICTION!"
Gwen's eardrums stung from the symbiote's shouting, and once again she felt the raw emotions of the trauma her other half experienced. It was a deadly combination of rage and sorrow, a potent Molotov cocktail waiting to explode. Gwen understood it all too well. Despite being an alien from a planet lightyears away from Earth, its way of thinking completely different from any living creature, the symbiote now understood what it meant to have its heart broken. It was indescribably strange. None of the events leading to the symbiote's suffering ever happened to her personally, but after witnessing the creature's own memories of its agonizing separation from the wall crawler and spending hours feeling her partner's emotions as if it were her own, she couldn't help but take the symbiote's side of the argument.
Sure, Spider-Man didn't want to be the symbiote's host anymore. That was fine, but that didn't justify putting this poor soul through a fate worse than death at the hands of its own personal kryptonite. What made it even more infuriating in Gwen's eyes was how the separation made Spider-Man look like a total hypocrite. Spider-Man's little honor code prevented him from killing any criminals or displaying excessive levels of violence, but apparently that honor code didn't apply to anything that wasn't human. The wall crawler didn't want to kill the Green Goblin even after everything the Goblin did to her, but he was perfectly fine with torturing HER symbiote, HER friend, even when it explicitly stated that prolonged exposure to loud noises could be fatal.
She saw the memories again for a brief second. The symbiote begged for mercy, but Spider-Man just let the bells ring; any means necessary to get rid of the evil monster, to get rid of the PARASITE.
The thought made Gwen's blood boil. Some hero Spider-Man turned out to be. He was no superhero, he was a screw up! First her father, then herself, and now her symbiote. She half wished he was here right now, just so she could ask him, Why? Why did his efforts at being a hero always result in another part of her life ruined? She craved the opportunity to say it to his real face, to tear off that mask and finally find out who this guy was? Who was the source of the curse befalling the Stacy family?
Then she realized the answer was right in front of her the whole time. How could she have overlooked something so obvious. Her symbiote was bonded to Spider-Man for several months, living inside his mind, so it must know everything about Spider-Man as well as the identity of the man behind the mask.
"Symbiote, you were bonded with Spider-Man for over six months, so you know everything about him, right? Does that mean you..."
Dark laughter interrupted her.
"Oh it's not just I who knows the identity of the handsome male underneath the mask. WE Know who he is."
Gwen, growing perplexed, wasn't sure how to answer. "What are you talking about? I don't know his identity."
The symbiote laughed at her again. "Think hard. Gwen Stacy. You saw my memories of how the Spider rejected my tender bond with him. You saw how he spat in the face of every gift I ever gave him. Our minds are becoming one, Gwen Stacy. My memories are your memories. The problem is your own subconscious buried that important detail deep in the darkest pits of your mind because your heart knows it can't handle the truth. If you look again, if you concentrate, you won't like what you see."
"I don't care! I have to know! Tell me who Spider-Man is!" Gwen demanded, her voice starting to quiver with distress.
"Oh, I'm not going to tell you. You are going to tell me. Look hard, Gwen Stacy. Think hard. Witness my memories one more time, and this time don't let your emotions get the better of you. You watch who hurt me so and then you tell me who Spider-Man really is!"
Gwen did as the symbiote instructed. She closed her eyes and let her subconscious merge with the symbiote's once again, diving deep into the alien's past.
"Peter... You're hurting me..."
"Good, then maybe you'll get off me and stay off!"
"Peter... don't do this... we need each other... You're... killing... me..."
Then the bells came, nothing but bells, nothing but that dreadful Noise, Noise, NOISE!
The answer came to her and struck her with the force of a speeding car to her head, and Gwen Stacy's tear soaked eyes widened in pure shock as she saw in the memory, the black mask of Spider-Man peeling off from the separation to reveal her boyfriend underneath.
Peter Parker was Spider-Man.
Peter Parker was the reason why the Goblin kidnapped her in the first place.
Peter Parker was the one who failed to catch her.
Peter Parker tortured her friend and almost killed her, and if he succeeded, the symbiote wouldn't have been alive to revive her from her coma.
Peter Parker, the love of her life, was equal parts responsible for losing five years of her life.
"No... it can't be... Pete?"
"I warned you it would be painful." The symbiote spoke, equally distressed from having to relive the painful memory again.
"No, No, No, No, No! This... This is too much..." Gwen whimpered, but her whimpering quickly turned into an animalistic growl.
"I... We... We... We need to hit something... We need to bite something... NOW!"
Her anger was overwhelming, and she needed to find some outlet for her rage, something or someone to take her anger out on. Part of her wished Peter was here so she could pummel him into the ground with her new found strength, but another part of her was glad he wasn't here for that exact same reason.
Even with this heart breaking information, she still loved Peter. She knew that was never going to change, and that made this betraying reveal all the more devastating.
Gwen screamed at the top of her lungs to release her anger, which soon turned into a monstrous alien shriek of which no human voice could produce. With her anger fading into bitterness and heartbreak, she got down on her knees and let her tears cascade down her face. She sat on the roof of the building for what seemed like hours, clenching and quivering her fists so hard, she nearly crushed the bones in her own hands.
"So what do you suppose we do about it?" Gwen finally spoke. "You don't want to kill him do you?"
"KILL HIM? OH NO! ABSOLUTELY NOT!" replied the symbiote, genuinely shocked that Gwen would say that. "We could never kill our Peter! We love our Peter!"
"Yes... we do..." whispered Gwen, but her face turned sour as she realized something. "Well it's no secret now about what your ulterior motive was for waking me up. It's no coincidence you made your way to the hospital and bonded with me. You bonded with me because you knew how Peter would react when he finds out I'm your new host. You wanted to use me to get revenge on Peter."
"USE!" Hissed the offended symbiote. "Symbiotes do not USE their hosts. That is something a filthy PARASITE would do! Are you calling me a..."
"I'm just saying, you didn't just choose me out of the goodness of your heart." interrupted Gwen.
"Or did I?" The alien argued back, confusing Gwen once again.
"Peter wanted to see you again more than anything in the entire world, and I was willing to give Peter anything he wanted. It was the one problem I couldn't solve for him, and as I already explained to you when we first encountered each other, symbiote and host share everything both internal and external. His suffering was my suffering."
Gwen blushed. At least she knew how much Peter missed her, and in a strange way it was rather flattering to think of the symbiote seeing her in such a light, feeling guilty that it couldn't help her while bonded with Peter.
"So, in a twisted way, you really did care for us both." said Gwen. "Did you think waking me up from my coma would make him forgive you and take you back?"
"FORGIVE ME?! It's Peter who needs to earn our forgiveness! You saw how he tortured me with that dreadful noise to force our separation, and now you know he shares Norman's blame for taking away five years of your life, and do I even need to bring up the other human he failed to save? Your father, George Stacy! We both know physical torture isn't the answer. Oh no! We don't want to give him pain. We want to give him Terror! We want him to feel the fear we both felt when we both stared death in the face. Gwen Stacy's fall off the bridge, and the symbiote's suffering at the hands of the bell tower's terrible noise. He needs to taste that kind of fear for himself to understand how much we suffered. Only then will he get down on his knees and beg us both for forgiveness."
It was true. Technically Peter didn't mean to hurt them, but that didn't excuse what happened. He didn't need to die for his mistakes. He just needed to be taught a lesson.
"Oh yes. He'll remember just how much he loves the both of us, and he'll show it with repentance and devotion. Only when he does will our crusade come to an end. Neither of us can move on without putting the ghosts of our past to rest, and we cannot do that until Spider-Man understands the magnitude of how much he hurt us. That's why you know, Gwen Stacy, you know in your heart of hearts that your mate deserves to be punished."
"Yes, he does." Gwen muttered under her breath. "Even if he really is our Peter, Spider-Man still deserves to be punished."
"But if we have promised not to kill him and keep the physical harm to a minimum, then how shall we properly make him pay? What is the middle ground between too lenient and too harsh of a punishment? We have already set the stage for the greatest surprise of all. The fact that we have bonded and we have no intention of separating is revenge enough. The look on his face when he finds out will be absolutely PRICELESS!"
"Well you said you wanted him to feel terror, right?" Gwen reminded her new partner. "Why not just stick to that. Scare him! Don't actually commit horrible deeds against him, but instead make him think we intend to do it. If he wanted to treat poor symbiote like a monster and an enemy, then that's exactly what he'll get in return. What our dearest Peter wants, our dearest Peter gets! He will be unable to sleep at night knowing there is a terrifying monster out there roaming the streets doing God knows what, someone who could strike from the shadows at any moment, someone who is too powerful for him to defeat.
"And in reality, all we want to do is tear Peter's clothes off, push him down on the bed, and then..."
"Finish that sentence, and no chocolate for a week!" Gwen stopped the symbiote right there, her face turning beet red from the embarrassing thoughts.
"Awwwww, and here I thought you were fun, Gwen Stacy." The symbiote teased her.
"Come on now, we both know what you have wanted to do to Peter ever since the two of you agreed to move in together. Such a long time together and you two still haven't mated with each other? How do you humans manage to pull that off and make the mating game so needlessly complicated? If you want someone, you go after him and let nothing stand in the way of your deepest darkest desires!"
The symbiotes seductive speech was taking root in Gwen's mind. The anger and heart break which crushed her only a few minutes ago was now empowering her. Her other half was right. If she wanted something, she should let nothing get in her way of obtaining it, and Gwen Stacy knew what she wanted. The vision of her future was clear as crystal, a repentant Peter Parker wrapped around her finger, and a dead Norman Osborn killed in the worst way possible.
Gwen's own excitement at the idea of sinking her claws into Norman's flesh surprised her. Perhaps she would let her symbiote feast when Goblin was back on the menu.
"Still, we can't stand this anger gnawing at us!" Gwen growled. "We're here for a reason! We need to sink our teeth into something! Anything!"
As if fate itself answered their prayers, Gwen's ranting was interrupted by some form of commotion coming from inside one of the abandoned buildings close to their perch. It sounded like a muffled cry of distress. Someone was in trouble.
"Ah yes. There's never a shortage of idiots who don't realize they are far too vulnerable to be wandering the streets of this city alone at night."
"But if somebody is in trouble, then that means some worm has chosen a civilian to be its prey. Why don't we go show these vermin what a real Apex Predator can do?"
"Just about to suggest the same thing." Gwen replied, sporting a deranged grin on her face. Five years ago, or even Twenty-Four hours ago she would have been horrified at the idea of brazenly attacking armed criminals and tearing them to pieces with her bare hands, but she knew for a fact that the Gwen Stacy who fell into a coma and the Gwen Stacy who woke up were two different people. If Peter had a problem with the new and improved Gwen Stacy, well then that's his problem and not hers.
"If we go down there, we're going to need a mask..." She whispered to her partner, causing another fit of laughter to erupt from the symbiote.
"Oh don't worry about that part, Dear Host. We have something quite fitting in mind. You're going to love it!"
()
The source of the commotion was more complicated than a simple case of an innocent bystander being attacked by a thug. As the now masked creature crawled through a hole in the roof of the rundown derelict structure, she saw the scene laid out before her. A terrified young man was down on his knees, and the thugs surrounding him all had their guns at the ready with silencers equipped to them so any shots fired wouldn't attract the attention of the police or a passerby who could call 911. Instead of rugged clothes of street thugs or impoverished gang members, these thugs were dressed in fancy suits and ties, while the man talking to the terrified bystander, most likely the leader, wore a brown fedora hat and a trench coat. It was a bizarre sight for the creature, almost like watching a scene from a low budget 1920s gangster movie, but even so, she knew this man and his lackeys were no less dangerous.
"Maggia…" the creature thought. The symbiote's detailed files of every crime syndicate Spider-Man encountered made it easy for her to identify the crooks in her line of vision. She hit the jackpot. These were no ordinary small time thugs, but trained mobsters with their pockets in the worst kinds of business, and from the looks of things, this was a traditional execution for someone who was either brave enough or stupid enough to cross them.
Silent as a ninja, or the spider her black costume imitated, she crept closer along the walls, eavesdropping on the conversation.
"Please Caesar. Have a heart." The cowering man pleaded to his captor. His face and torn clothes indicated he already received a beating from the thugs a short time ago.
"Please Caesar, Listen to me! I know I don't have the money. I know I'm behind, but you got to believe me! I'm about to get a really big pay day soon. Just give me two weeks and you'll have it! I promise!"
The fedora wearing man, Caesar, sighed in disappointment, and he placed a hand on his victim's shoulder like a father scolding a disobedient child.
"I like to consider myself a forgiving man, Tommy." Caesar spoke in a gruff Boston accent. "I believe in second chances, and I can let bygones be bygones. I could decide to give you a second chance and give you those two weeks. No big deal. Forget about it. However, there's just one little problem with that. You remember where my boys picked you up last night? A roach motel on the New Jersey boarder."
Caesar knelt down on one knee and stared at Tommy, his face inches from his victim. "Now that breaks my heart, Tommy. Don't tell me you were planning on running away and hiding from us so you wouldn't have to pay me at all, now were you?"
Caesar's scare tactics did the trick. Tommy was sweating bullets and any words coming out of his mouth were reduced to incoherent babbling.
"Responsibility and Trust are two things I take seriously, Tommy." Caesar spoke, his ice cold voice growing more sinister with each word. "Hammerhead has enough on his plate dealing with the big problems. Kingpin, Silver Mane, Spider-Man. It stresses the poor guy out, so while he takes care of the big problems, he trusts me to take care of the little problems and make sure things keep running smoothly. It's just like my business deal with you. I want to make a little money on the side while I work with Hammerhead, so I apply my rules of responsibility and trust to other people. People ask me for some financial assistance, I trust them with a little bit of money, and it's their responsibility to pay it back when I say I want it back. Normally it works just fine. They pay me back just like they promise. We both walk away happy. Everyone wins. Pleasure doing business."
He paused to build tension. "Then there's irresponsible people like you, Tommy. Bottom Feeders! You take advantage of my generosity, you borrow a lot of money and then you betray my trust by trying to run away without paying. That makes me angry, Tommy, and when I get angry, people get hurt."
"Please... God... Please..." Tommy whimpered.
"Oh stop crying and take your punishment, Tommy." Caesar groaned. "You brought this on yourself, so God can't help you, but you'll get to talk to him in person right now."
Caesar stood up and snapped his fingers. "Jimmy! Put him down like a mad dog!"
"NO WAIT! PLEASE! I'LL PAY!" Tommy screamed. He closed his eyes and waited for the bullet to finally end this nightmare.
But the sound of the gunshot never came. Instead, what he heard next was a nasty slamming noise mixed with the shocked cry of one of the thugs.
Tommy opened his eyes to see who or what had delayed his execution, and there on the ground was Jimmy, and sitting over him, like a leopard pouncing on a gazelle was a muscular humanoid shape dressed in black.
"OH SHIT! IT'S SPIDER-MAN!" Caesar cried out in shock. The absolute worst case scenario. "SHOOT HIM!"
Caesar and the three remaining thugs drew their weapons and fired, only for the figure to do something Spider-Man would never have done. The black clad humanoid picked up the unconscious Jimmy and tossed him directly into the line of fire, where his chest became riddled with bullets. He was dead before he landed on top of Caesar.
"Holy shit, Spider-Man just killed Jimmy!" cried one of the thugs in horror. It was then that Tommy finally got a good look at his savior, but he soon wish he never looked at her at all. It was clear this individual was not Spider-Man, or even a man at all. While this newcomer's body was decorated in muscle, the curves and visible outline of breasts indicated it was definitely a woman underneath that costume, but with the way the mouth of this person, if he could call her a person, was moving, Tommy began to doubt if that really was a costume. The white tear drop eyes and the spider symbol on her chest gave her a resemblance to a black suited female counterpart of Spider-Man, but that's where the similarities ended. Spider-Man didn't have claws as long as hers, and he certainly didn't sport a mouth full of teeth the size of steak knives.
Tommy's heart stopped cold when he realized those teeth were real as a long wet tongue dangled down from the doppelganger's mouth like a red snake exiting a cave, wiggling around in the air in search of prey.
Tommy wasn't sure who he was in more danger from now, the thugs, or this demoness who crashed the party. For all he knew, she wasn't here to save him. She could just be there for a midnight snack, and unless he got out of there fast, he could end up becoming her second course.
The terrified civilian bolted, taking advantage of the monster's distraction to rush to the building's exit and out into the streets, screaming like a frightened monkey.
Lucky for Tommy, the monster didn't even take much notice of him. She had both of her bleach white eyes focused on the three remaining thugs. She licked her lips with sadistic delight.
"Now that's just rude. You boys were throwing a party, and you didn't even bother to invite us? That hurts our feelings!"
Nothing even remotely human could sound the way this monstrous woman was speaking. Savage and alluring at the same time, Caesar imagined that kind of voice could only come from something like a dragon from one of those medieval fantasy movies he liked to watch when he was a kid, and there was no doubt this creature was equally deadly.
"Jesus Christ, it's a chick, and she's got teeth!" one of the thugs spoke in a mixture of fear and disgust.
"I don't care if she has three tits!" Caesar roared as he forced Jimmy's corpse off his body and stood back up. "Shoot the bitch! Shoot her!"
The two remaining thugs didn't hesitate and unloaded all their rounds on the monster, but this proved useless. Like a jungle cat, she rushed towards them on all fours until she was in striking distance. She pounced again, catching both of their throats in each of her enormous clawed hands. Ignoring their muffled cries, Caesar watched in pure terror as the creature slammed one thug into the hard floor, guaranteeing a fatal skull fracture. She kept the last one in her hand, squeezing his neck so hard, Caesar almost thought the poor man's head would pop like a balloon. The demon dropped the doomed lackey before that could happen, his face a tombstone grey, locked in a state of fear.
That did it for Caesar. He had to get out of here. Bullets didn't even seem to work on whatever the hell this thing was. He tried to run, but he didn't get very far.
The monster fired two strands of webs, hitting a bullseye and wrapping around the mobster's legs. Like a fisherman reeling in a captured tuna, the creature pulled Caesar back towards her, ignoring his screams. Flipping him over and webbing his torso so he was completely immobilized, she gazed upon her defeated foe like a great white shark waiting for a wounded seal to bleed to death.
The female abomination picked up Caesar's cocooned body and slammed him against the wall, her gaping maw twisting into a sadistic grin.
"Not so high and mighty now when the roles are reversed, now are you, Little Man?" the creature spoke, teasing him as if playing with her food.
"We know your kind, Caesar! If that is your real name! You have spent your entire life abusing your position on top of the food chain. You enjoy being a predator, but tonight you are the prey! Look at us! A lovely lady out for a night time stroll and what do we find? We find a giant cockroach of a man basking in his own sadism. You're too worthless to pick on someone your own size, so you go after those who are completely helpless."
By now the black she devil was close enough to Caesar that he could smell the foul breath of her gaping maw. All she had to do was move an inch closer and then close her mouth, and his face would turn to mulch.
"You have no idea how much that pisses us off. It's more than enough to give a girl an appetite!"
"P-P-Please... Please just let me go!" Caesar wailed. "I'll do anything! I swear!"
"Anything, you say?" said the creature. "That poor young male begged you the same thing and you completely ignored him. You were going to kill him no matter how much he begged for mercy, so why should we show you any mercy? What makes your life more valuable than his, or better yet, what makes your life have any form of value at all?"
"What the hell are you?" Caesar wheezed.
The creature grinned, her lips and teeth forming a Glasgow smile
"Wouldn't you like to know? Why spoil the fun of keeping you guessing?"
Then to Caesar's surprise, the creature cut the webs with her claws and threw his now free body to the ground. He made one last attempt to reach for his discarded gun, but she kicked it away before he could get to it.
"Playing with you and your lap dogs was a bit too easy, rather disappointing in our opinion." she said.
"So we shall give you a fighting chance. Run, Run, Run, as fast as you can, or we will eat you just like a Gingerbread man."
The mobster was too confused to move. Was she serious? Would she actually let him go? He looked around and saw three other guns next to the bodies of Jimmy and his two other henchmen. He could dive for one of them if he was quick enough. Make one last attempt at making her pay for killing his men, but one look from the creature made his blood run cold. It was as if she knew exactly what he was thinking, and she was silently telling him that was the worst idea he could possibly make.
"Remember, little human? You have no idea who or what we are, so let that little question burn into your mind and give you nightmares for the rest of your life. If you so much as think about causing harm to the innocent people of this cesspool you call a city, then no matter where you go, no matter where you run, and no matter where you try to hide, we will find you and we will tear you apart piece by piece! Eyes, Lungs, Liver, Pancreas! So many snacks, and so little time! Do we have an understanding, you worthless piece of rotten carrion?"
It was only now Caesar realized he was actually trembling. "Yes..." He squeaked. He dare not say more out of fear it would trigger an aggressive response.
"Good boy! Now since you've been such a cooperative little morsel, we shall give you a running start! You can pick anywhere you want to run. The hospital to treat your injuries, the police to turn yourself in and find safety behind bars, or perhaps to whatever hole you crawled out of in the first place. For the record, we don't care where you go! You have until the count of five to get out of our sight."
"One... Two..."
"You... You won't get away with this!" Caesar made one final attempt at bravery.
Bad idea.
"Two and a Half!" the monster teased in order to remind her prey that he was playing with fire.
"You'll pay for this, you bitch!" Caesar yelled through tear soaked eyes. "When the boss hears about this, you'll pay!"
"Three Four Five! Ready or not, here we come!"
The monster lunged at Caesar and he realized he should have ran when she started counting. He didn't waste any more time. He turned around and broke into a panicked dash that would have made Usain Bolt jealous, sprinting as fast as his legs could carry him. For a moment, he thought he could make it. Salvation in the form of the building's exit was in sight, only for his pursuer to backflip into the air and jump in front of him.
"On second thought!"
Caesar's shoes slid to a grinding halt and he stopped inches away from the creature's Amazonian body. He didn't have time to change direction or even scream, and the last thing he saw was the creature's mouth opening wide like the jaws of a crocodile. The monster sank its teeth into Caesar's neck, piercing his jugular vein and crushing his wind pipe. Death was instantaneous.
The monster let go of the dead criminal and watched his body fall to the ground in a limp heap. As if waking up from a dream, she surveyed the area, staring at the other corpses. Her bleach white eyes widened as she realized what she had just done, and then her slime covered face peeled backwards, revealing the stunned expression of Gwen Stacy underneath.
"Did we... Did we really do that? We... Oh God, did we really..." Gwen Stacy covered her mouth as she felt the urge to vomit. She remembered all of it clear as day. She had that man's throat in her teeth. She tasted his blood, and she liked it.
Gwen covered her mouth again. It took every ounce of restraint to force everything back down and not throw up.
"You humans and your weak stomachs." The symbiote teased its partner. "I don't see why you're upset now, Gwen? We followed your rules. We didn't eat him."
"But we... Oh God, did we really have to do... that? Why did we like that so much!" Her pleasure centers were going haywire, and it spooked her beyond all reason.
"It's alright dear host." the symbiote whispered words of comfort like a mother soothing her frightened daughter. "The first time is always the most difficult, but you'll get used to it over time. We would never have been able to go all out like that unless we both wanted the same thing. You knew these people deserved to die, and so we gave them what they deserved."
Gwen's eyes hardened into sharp stones, and her shock faded away, replaced with her hatred of people like Caesar and these vermin. She was tempted to spit on them.
"Yes. They got exactly what they deserved."
"Perhaps it would make things easier next time if you picture the Goblin's face when you fight." Her other half suggested.
A wicked smile sported Gwen's flawless face. That would definitely make things easier. Why stop with the Goblin anyway? There were so many people in this city just like Norman, people with souls rotten to the core who deserved a special place in hell, and she would be doing the world a favor sending them there. Spider-Man never had the guts to do what needed to be done to truly clean this rotten city, so she would do it for him. Peter was blind, but she would make him see.
"Rest easy, Gwen Stacy. No longer shall you feel helpless and frightened. We'll keep each other safe. We'll keep each other close. We are one, Gwen Stacy, like twin sisters sharing one body. Nothing shall ever harm Gwen Stacy again, not while her symbiote is around, and the symbiote shall never be alone again with Gwen Stacy for company and shelter."
The mask enveloped her again, and Gwen felt her long snake like tongue lick her lips. She hugged herself, caressing her body, feeling the warmth of her only friend in the world, the only friend who truly understood her.
"We are the same. Two lonely souls who have suffered at the hands of the same person. We were brought together to complete each other and give birth to someone else entirely. There is no more Gwen Stacy and no more Symbiote. All that remains is this new beautiful creature, stronger than the two of us could ever be by ourselves."
The bonded creature hugged herself tighter, feeling comfort and empowerment by the warmth of the slime covered costume engulfing her human half underneath. Any form of doubt was now gone. This is who she was now. This is who she was meant to be.
"That one thug was correct though. Who are we, really? We do need a name after all if we want to truly make an impact in this city. Gwen Stacy and Symbiote? Those are who we were when we are separated, but now that we are bonded, we have become something else, something more, someone who can do things we could never do when we are apart. Tell me, Gwen Stacy. Who are we?"
She pondered her other half's question. "Our name... Our name... Who are we?" she hissed, human and symbiote voices merging into the alluring alien speech.
Her eyes darted towards an object in the otherwise empty building. A mirror, warped and broken, but still clear enough to see her reflection. The human half of the creature could now see her new face with her own eyes. She walked closer, doubting if this was really her, but it was. There was nothing else in her line of sight but her reflection. Mesmerized and entranced by her appearance, she gasped in wonder. She was so beautiful.
"It's funny." said the new vigilante of New York. "Perhaps Gwen Stacy did die when she fell off that bridge. We feel nothing like her anymore. We can't be. The Gwen Stacy of old would never think what we think, feel what we feel, desire what we desire. The symbiote is right. Someone else was born from our union, someone with a new purpose."
Her new name came to her instantaneously, and she spoke to her reflection in a thunderous and triumphant speech, a declaration of who she truly was and a vow of what this new Goddess of Revenge needed to do to protect the two halves that made her whole.
"We know who we are and we know what we want. We want revenge against those who hurt us. We are the darkness born from Spider-Man's failures. We are the poison born from Norman Osborn's greatest sins, a poison that will kill him slowly and in the most agonizing way possible. It started with the Green Goblin, but it will not end with the Goblin. This city is full of people just like him, people who want to hurt. Spider-Man is too soft to treat this infestation. He uses traps and prisons to deal with these creatures, but traps and prisons don't stop an infestation of rats. If you want to remove vermin from your home forever, you unleash a poison that kills them all one by one. We are that poison. We are the cure that will cleanse this city!"
"WE ARE VENOM!"
Authors Notes:
Well that was quite dark, wasn't it?
Caesar should be lucky the symbiote wasn't bonded to Eddy Brock this time around, otherwise Venom would have been even more violent.
Don't worry. I'm not going to write excessive levels of Gore. That's not my thing. The violence in Venom's fights won't go too far, but at the same time, Venom does kill the bad guys, so I am going to have to find a middle ground in my action scenes that will highlight Venom's style of crime fighting without crossing any lines.
I know it may seem early for Gwen to get into her new role all at once, but I figured the trauma of finding out her boyfriend was Spider-Man would serve as more than enough life shattering motivation to lash out and go crazy on the first criminals she got to fight.
So what did you think of the chapter? Did you like it? Did you not like it? Whatever your opinion may be, feel free to leave a review and let me know!
Until Next Time! This is Nox Descious Signing Out!
