Water dripped. The sounds seemed to be amplified by the cavernous expanse of the sewers.
Whispers echoed vibrating the walls. They captured the attention of something unwanted that was currently living there. It stirred causing screams from the pipes as they quit supporting a tremendous weight. It was a change that they had not felt in a long time.
White fangs were bared against the crimson appearance. Shadows engulfed it as it dropped into the sewage which further covered its appearance. It neared the voices that approached with curiosity.
They were familiar. It knew them as characters from its previous life. But the memories were getting foggier as it tried to call them up to the surface of its mindscape. They just crumbled back into the ether from which they came.
Light wrapped around the figure as it slipped off the new intricate structure that had formed in its skin. It moved invisibly mere inches from the two people who continued talking unaware of the stalker they had.
"Wait," the man ordered and stood at attention. Silence stood as the symbiote kept still.
"What's wrong Scarlet?" Dagger asked.
"I thought I heard something."
Scarlet continued scanning. It would've gone around smoothly, but he wavered a bit as his gaze swept over the symbiote where the air shimmered a bit as though its flow was interrupted.
Noticing that its location had been compromised, it had jumped out of the way before Scarlet's stingers were able to jam themselves into the wall.
Flashes of green moved across the ceiling took out the light sources near them leaving only the ones far enough away to not be able to wash light onto the vicinity. The darkness was only paired with heavy breathing now.
"Dagger? Are you alright?" Scarlet could feel her slumping into his back, she had gone through a lot today. She was obviously exhausted by all this. But he needed her help right now.
"Yeah, just a bit freaked out."
"Well, can you give us some light to work with?"
Harsh white light chased away the darkness in their immediate space which was enough to reveal a figure covered in green sewage.
Daggers of light filled the air as they were hurled into the creature's body. It tore through quite easily. No cries of pain came as the punctures remained without healing. Blood spurted from the openings a bit as it moved violently lashing out at them both.
Each dodge seemed to be a miracle instead of being done out of talent. The movements of the symbiote were just too erratic.
Spikes of the symbiote launched from it and connected with Scarlet. They didn't pierce his body, but they were covering him in an effort to entangle him. Dagger burst through and severed the connection between the two with a light dagger. Scarlet was infuriated by what the symbiote had tried to do and began to furiously stab it with his stingers. Each time he went in, they symbiote tried in vain to stop him. Eventually, after he stopped, the symbiote was battered and barely hanging together.
It fled quickly into the sewers losing them in its home.
Its body was weak. The symbiote could barely stay conscious as it struggled to walk through the corridors. It was looking for something. It was looking for home. This wasn't the actual symbiote after all. No, he was just a drone. And he had already lived out his purpose. All that was left to do now was report home. It made a mistake staying so long, it was nearly destroyed.
The symbiote entered a room lit up with a blue luminous glow. Several others sat cross-legged in silence. They didn't even move a muscle in acknowledgement to the new guest. At the far end of the room was his queen. The Carnage Queen.
She stood in her magnificence. The Blue was luminescent bringing the red, yellow, and black tint of her skin to life. The patterns seemed to swim around on her body yet stood in the same spot.
"So, they're looking for Peter Parker. And Luke Cage? That is an interesting development," the Queen observed as her informant began to fall apart.
A puddle of red formed underneath the creature and its features slowly fell away. Soon it was just a puddle.
Carnage turned over to two of the symbiotes that were sitting motionless and her eyes turned from yellow to blue for a short moment. The two suddenly stood up detaching from the tendrils that had them down.
"Bring them to me," she glared.
The symbiote drones quickly ran out of the room and headed in the direction that their brother came from. By the time they arrived at the spot where the battle took place, there wasn't anyone around. The lights were still broken and that part of the tunnel was pitch black. These drones weren't able to see in the dark. That was why they were in a brightly lit room. Only the scouts had that ability.
Regardless, they managed to stumble upon the hidden base Scarlet set up. Both of them squeezed through the cracks and reformed inside.
They rummaged through everything trying to find information on their targets. A mess was created but they didn't care. They were still tasked with finding and bringing the Scarlet Spider. The reasons for which were only up to their Queen and they had no desire to question her, only serve her.