"The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances; if there is any reaction, both are transformed." -Carl Jung
Carnage Part 4 - Kindred Spirit
It was very late at night. Spidey was in his regular costume, while Gwen and Mary Jane were dressed warmly. The three teenagers had their rendezvous on the rooftop of a small building in Queens. Though it was getting close to summertime, there was a chill in the air.
Spidey was very quiet as he absorbed the story the two girls just told him.
"Is that for real?" he said at last.
"Definitely," Mary Jane answered.
"Peter felt a little guilty exposing Cletus' secret," Gwen added. "But we all needed to know, and it was too big to keep to himself. So he told us, and we told you."
"So Carnage has D.I.D. like me and Pete. And now everyone's in on it. Hooray, hooray," Spidey said dryly. "And...? Now what? How does that help us stop him?"
"We know his legal name," Gwen said. "Should we turn him over to the police?"
"Oh, sure, Stacy. And it's totally not gonna seem suspicious when we can't tell them how we found out."
"Then what are we supposed to do about it?"
Spidey didn't respond with a quip or a burst of anger. He just crossed his arms silently. Gwen understood exactly what he was thinking.
Spidey is conflicted. Carnage is the only enemy. If he believes Carnage and Cletus are two separate people in one body, he won't know how to deal with them together.
But if he doesn't believe it... if he treats them like a single person with two sides...
Spidey would be rejecting himself.
Mary Jane noticed the silence. And she decided it would be a good time to change the subject.
"Hey, there's something I've been wondering about," she spoke up. "Peter heard Carnage mention something about 'killing Cletus'."
"Yeah. So?"
She crossed her arms in thought. "Do you think... Carnage doesn't know Cletus is his other self?"
Gwen was confused. "How couldn't he?"
"Spidey didn't know about Peter in the beginning."
"I didn't know much about anything back then - Don't say it," he pointed at Gwen. "Even if you hadn't told me, MJ, I would have figured it out eventually. What? Do you think Carnage heard Cletus' name and decided to hate him without knowing their connection?"
"I guess not. But killing someone in your own body... Doesn't that amount to suicide?"
"I've heard of split personality cases where some of the alters do self mutilation. Cutting, and stuff," Gwen said. "Maybe Carnage wants to commit suicide?"
"No. Carnage doesn't want to die," Spidey said firmly. "He's having too much 'fun'."
"So he wants to kill Cletus but still use the body himself... Can alters do that?" Mary Jane looked at Gwen.
Gwen shrugged. "Cletus was still there yesterday. Maybe Carnage doesn't know how either?"
"But he's looking for a way," Spidey realized. "That's his master plan."
"So do we have a plan?" Mary Jane asked.
"We need to take back the suit he stole. If Carnage loses his powers, stopping him won't be as much of a problem," Spidey said.
"Peter was going to try and talk to Cletus again tomorrow," Gwen said. "If he finds anything, he'll leave you a message."
"Alright... Tomorrow."
Spidey walked to the edge of the roof. "I'm gonna go on my rounds - unless you're too scared to head home without me, MJ."
"You're only offering for her?"
"Well, you're way scarier than any mugger, Stacy."
Mary Jane replied before Gwen could. "We'll both be fine, thanks."
Spidey swung away on his webs.
Mary Jane walked towards the fire escape. Gwen stood still, watching Spidey until he was out of sight, then spoke up. "Hey, do you think... no, forget it."
"What?"
"You'll just think I'm being mean."
"No, tell me."
Gwen hesitated, but soon said, "Do you think we should be worried about Spidey? He found someone who's an alter just like him. In a way they're almost kin. You don't think, someday, Spidey will be tempted to team up with Carnage, do you?"
"No way," Mary replied right away. "And I'm not just saying that 'cause he's my friend. Spidey hates that Carnage guy. Having something in common won't change that. Besides, he doesn't want to be a criminal, he wants to be a superhero."
"Right. But even if he doesn't join him... If Carnage really does find a way to destroy an other self... That might tempt Spidey a little."
"Sure, but it'd tempt Pete, too." She stepped onto the fire escape. "That makes it our job to keep both of them in line." She smiled. "Right?"
Gwen thought about this, then smiled and nodded. "You're right."
For better or worse, the next day was a school day.
Peter tried looking for Cletus during lunch, and again during study hall, but with no luck. The other boy was in a different grade and used a different schedule. Peter didn't expect getting alone with him to be easy, but it was still frustrating. Soon enough, classes ended and his only chance was to catch Cletus before he went home.
Peter decided to approach him under the pretext of "what happened with that stranger yesterday?" A natural excuse to act concerned about him. But even after he listened to whatever story Cletus would give, it might not be enough to learn about his other self or Protoform X. He needed a way to dig for information without driving Cletus away. And Peter walked through the halls desperately trying to think of one.
Worst case scenario, I can reveal I found out about Carnage from "a source" and just threaten him to talk, but... I'd really rather not do that. Maybe I can skip school sometime and have Spidey search his house for clues. Except I don't know anything about who he lives with or even-
"Excuse me."
"YAH!"
Peter jumped, and turned around as soon as his feet touched the ground again. Cletus Kasady was standing there. Calm, somber, and totally unfazed by Peter's jitteriness.
"Can we talk... alone?"
Cletus led Peter to the school roof. The roof was supposed to be off limits, but the servicemen were lazy about keeping it locked. Lots of students snuck up here before... Or maybe this time Cletus broke the lock beforehand. There was no way to know.
At any rate, he wasn't triggering the sixth sense, so Peter figured this really was the Cletus part of Cletus.
The redheaded boy faced Peter directly. "Peter, I'm just going to ask straight out... Are you Spider-Man?"
Peter didn't even flinch. He just stared at Cletus calmly and calculatingly.
"...What makes you think that?"
"You were the only one who saw me get into that car yesterday, and then Spider-Man followed the car. Also..." He pulled a small Ziploc bag out of his pocket. Inside were the broken pieces of a tiny electronic device. "This is a tracking device, isn't it? I'm sorry, but Carnage found it and destroyed it."
He admitted his connection to Carnage without caring about my answer, Peter thought.
He put the useless bug back in his pocket. "If I'm wrong - if it's just a coincidence - I didn't mean to accuse you of anything. I'm only asking."
Peter was silent for a moment. "...You're not wrong."
He smiled faintly, self-depreciating. He walked past Cletus to the edge of the roof and looked outwards. "Considering what happened yesterday, I guess it wasn't that hard to figure out. Just don't tell anyone."
Cletus nodded. "I see, so it was you." He turned towards Peter again. "If you're worrying about that suit - that proto-whatever that gives Carnage powers - I don't have it. I'm sorry. I knew what to look for this time, but it's not on my body. Carnage must have figured it wasn't safe with me anymore, so he hid it somewhere before we switched back."
"Do you have any idea where it is? Even a vague memory?"
"I already looked everywhere in my house. I don't know where else he would go... I'm sorry. I want to help, but I don't remember anything."
Peter sighed. Then he leaned forward, resting his arms on the short wall around the roof. "Well, it's not all bad. If Carnage hid it close to your house, then we might find it on our own. And if it's far away, then Carnage might not be able to get at it whenever he wants."
"So... So you believe me?"
"Hmm?"
"That man, Mr. Osborn's assistant, he thought the split personality was just an excuse to avoid responsibility. He didn't believe that Carnage wasn't me. I figure most people would think that... But not you?"
"I believe you, absolutely," Peter said firmly. But after that, he hesitated for a long time.
Nothing will start unless I start it.
"You see... I... I understand what you're going through."
"Huh?"
"When I admitted that I was Spider-Man it was both true and misleading. Spidey is me, but I'm not him... He's my alter... I have Dissociative Identity Disorder, too." Cletus was silent. Peter turned to face him. "So I guess-" He stopped when he saw the other boy's face.
Cletus was staring with his mouth gaping and his eyes bugging out. He looked very much like a little kid.
"Seriously?!"
"Uh, yes..."
Cletus ran up to him with his fists clenched eagerly. "Seriously?! Seriously, seriously?! You're seriously serious about this, seriously?! SERIOUSLY?!"
Don't you have anything else to say?
"SERI-"
"YES, ALREADY!"
He looked like a child staring at the tree on Christmas Morning. His face simply lit up... and then it darkened down. Cletus slumped to the floor in a black miasma of depression. "Damn it..." he moaned. "Why is yours a superhero...? That's nothing like what I have to deal with... It's not fair..." He slammed his fist against the concrete.
Harry and I thought this kid was creepy and gloomy, but he actually has a pretty wide range of emotions, doesn't he?
"U-Um... I-I guess it's not fair to compare my problems with yours, but I don't exactly have it easy either."
"You're just saying that to make me feel better," he mumbled.
"No, honest." Peter sat down on the ground next to him. "Spidey may fight crime, but he's not a paladin on a white horse. I have two friends who know my secret. They've talked with Spidey. And the things they tell me makes my skin crawl!"
"Really?"
"Really. He talks back, and he's a smart aleck, and never takes anything seriously. And he never tells me what's going on even though he's supposed to leave me letters. I hear that and I think, 'Is this supposed to me? He was born from my brain?'"
"What did you do or think to make an alter who's nothing like you?" Cletus gave words to Peter's thoughts. "You get the 'why me' feeling. Why did this happen to me?"
"Exactly. Spidey goes out hunting in the city and fights people. He actually beats people up! And I can't get mad because they're technically bad guys, but still. And they fight back! I wake up in the morning and watch the news and I find out people were shooting at my body last night! That scares the daylight out of me!"
"I know, right?! It's supposed to be your body, but you can't control what it does, and sometimes you don't even know what happens until it's over. It's terrifying!"
Peter watched Cletus as he spoke.
He really gets it... Gwen listens and supports me... But Cletus gets it.
They went back and forth like this for a long time. Peter didn't care about the schedule he meticulously planned hour-by-hour. Though classes were over for the day, the school would remain open for various clubs, but they didn't care about that either.
Everything came out, effortlessly. The two boys compared their situations. Learning what they had in common. Learning what was unique. Peter found out that Carnage didn't come out every night or on a schedule like Spidey. He also learned that Carnage first came out several years ago, though Cletus wasn't sure of the exact time.
"So you don't remember what Carnage does, but he remembers everything you do?"
"I don't know. I'm sorry, I should have mentioned that at the very beginning. Your secrets might not be safe with me. But I'm not really sure."
"Why do you think Carnage has your memories?"
"Just... little things. Notes he leaves me. He taunts me. It just feels like he knows too much."
Cletus added, "He goes to school sometimes too. Pretending to be me."
"Really?!"
"Sometimes I wake up and the day's over. I miss everything. Doesn't that happen to you?"
"Spidey wouldn't want to go to school. He thinks it's boring. But everything's boring to him."
"Carnage doesn't go for the classes. I think he does it to watch people. Those things he's been doing - the robbery and the whole Supervillain thing - that's new. He used to be more secretive. Pretending to be me was like camouflage as he looked for a new victim."
Peter nodded his head.
Now I see. That day when I first met "Cletus." It was actually Carnage sneaking into the school. He wasn't acting like himself because he didn't want to draw attention. And that's why he was so impassive. It means Carnage doesn't know how to convincingly portray Cletus.
"Does anybody else know about you and him?" Peter asked.
"Some people. Mostly at my old home. It's not really a secret. But even when I told other people, they wouldn't believe me. Not really. But I can't tell the police or... or check myself into a hospital... If I do that, Carnage said he'd get even more violent. Everyone around me is like a hostage. So the only thing I can do is stay away from everyone... Not get involved..."
They were silent for a moment. Then Cletus put on a faint smile and changed the subject. "Uh, does anyone know about you and Spidey?"
"No. It's an airtight secret for me. The only ones who know are Gwen and Mary Jane. Now I tell Gwen everything, but they both found out my secret by accident... Come to think of it, you're the only person I ever confessed to."
"I..."
He hesitated.
"I'm really glad you told me, Peter."
Peter stood up and started walking to the door. "We should get going soon. We'll talk again when we have more time."
Cletus stood up too, but didn't follow him. "Okay. I'm gonna stay here for another minute."
Peter put his hand on the door handle. But then he thought of something, and turned back to Cletus. "I almost forgot... Carnage was saying something about a 'master plan.' Do you have any idea what that might be?"
"Um... no... Since we moved here a few weeks ago, he's been coming out almost everyday. It seems he was really busy with something. But I have no idea what. I'm sorry."
"Whatever it is, it probably involves that suit. We need to find it and get it away from him. If we do that everything will be easier. So even if you can't remember what he does, pay close attention to where you regain consciousness, and where your memory stops. Carnage won't make it obvious, but we have to start somewhere."
"I'll... I'll do my best..." Cletus lowered his head. "I'm sorry. You and Mr. Osborn are trying so hard. Even though I want to stop Carnage most of all, I can't do much of anything..."
Peter stared at him. Cletus has been suffering for such a long time...
He ran over and placed his hands on Cletus' shoulders. "Cletus, I'm here for you, okay?!"
"Huh?"
"I'm here for you. My friends, Gwen and Mary Jane, they'll be here for you too. And Spidey, too - once I convince him. Carnage is the enemy, and he needs to be stopped. But none of us blame you. Okay?"
Cletus didn't know what to say. He looked overwhelmed. In the end he just nodded his head and said, "Okay."
Peter smiled. He turned and exited the roof, closing the door quietly behind him.
Cletus stared at that door for a long time, left alone in his thoughts.
He suddenly kicked the air-conditioning unit with all his might.
CLANG!
The crashing sound was loud and echoing, and Cletus' words couldn't be heard over it.
"Damn it to Hell," Cletus hissed. "Are you trying to make things more complicated?"
He forced his eyes closed and grit his teeth. "It was a mistake. I should never have talked to you... Not when everything is already over!"
Peter ran into the bathroom and saw Harry washing his hands at the sink. "Good, you didn't go home yet!"
"Were you looking for me?" Harry asked casually.
"It's - Oh!" Peter began looking under the other stalls.
Harry watched him, amused but confused. "What's up?"
Once Peter confirmed there was nobody else there, he ran up to Harry excitedly. "Harry, you were wrong about Cletus. It wasn't really him who did all those things. It sounds unbelievable, but he has a split personality!"
"Yeah, I know."
Harry nonchalantly dried his hands. Peter stared at him.
"You mean... you knew?"
"Yeah, I knew."
"How long?"
"The whole time."
Peter thought about this.
"You knew the whole time that Cletus and Carnage were different people?"
"If that's what you want to call it." He carelessly threw the paper towel away.
"Then why did you put all the blame on Cletus? Why didn't you tell me he had an alter?"
"I didn't think it was relevant."
"It's completely relevant!" Peter shouted. "Cletus is innocent, but you kept going on and on about what a bad person he was. You said he was dangerous!"
"I wasn't wrong, was I?" Harry was still nonchalant. He wouldn't even look at Peter. Instead he fixed his hair in the mirror. "Think of it as if he was carrying a bomb or a plague. Cletus himself is only the container, but does that make him any less of a threat?"
"...I can't believe I'm hearing this. So your solution is to just abandon him?"
"My solution is not to draw Carnage's attention to me or my friends. Seriously Pete, I feel bad and all for Cletus, but the guy has a monster inside."
Peter was silent for a moment. Then, "...What about me?"
Harry froze. He glanced at Peter. "What about you?"
"If I had a monster inside me, would we still be friends?" Peter firmly asked.
"Absolutely not," Harry firmly replied.
The two boys glared at each other.
Then Peter stormed out of the room without another word.
Author's Notes: (5/23/2013) Cletus' comical reaction to finding out about Peter feels a little out of place to me, but I couldn't find a better way to get the ball rolling.
Thanks again to JustNobody for reviewing. There are other reviewers out there, right? ...Right? Anyway, it's not that Cletus is ignoring Carnage so much that Carnage won't accept any type of coexistence. Their relationship is something I've had in my head for so long and something I've hidden for so long that it feels weird putting it into words now. I tried to get out the important basics in this chapter, and I'll be explaining more details as the story goes on.