76: A Black & Red Issue [02]

—

Even after messing around for a while, Peter didn't find anything that could lead him to Yuri.

He looked at the time; it was already 5:30 in the afternoon. He'd been searching all morning and hadn't found anything other than some really weird and gruesome dead bodies.

There was nothing but a single similarity between all the bodies.

They were headless. No one had been able to identify any of them yet.

Peter sat down on a bench near the scene where a murder like this took place.

He'd just gone and investigated the surroundings, but he hadn't been able to find anything.

The murders had gotten so out of hand that many bodies weren't even found yet. The police had set up a special task force to investigate the case, of which Yuri was in charge of, but they seemed to be having no luck either.

Yuri ended up being kidnapped.

Peter knew that he was on the clock. The motherfucker could kill Yuri at any time, and Peter wouldn't even know where she was…

Wait…

Peter's eyes widened; he'd just remembered something.

He had placed that protection spell on Yuri, no? And if Peter remembered correctly, he might even be able to locate her through that protection spell.

Why? Because the spell was designed in such a way that if she were to be in danger, Peter would know her location, meanwhile the spell would protect her.

How had he forgotten this?!

Peter gritted his teeth.

Wait... If Yuri had that spell on her and she was kidnapped, why didn't the spell activate? Why did it not send him her location?

Peter squinted his eyes.

There was only one possibility.

The spell had not detected any type of danger to her.

Peter trusted the spell form, it was made by the Ancient One, after all, so he believed that there wasn't any reason to doubt the spell's accuracy.

But what if the spell itself had been tampered with? What if someone had set up a trap to make sure that the spell would never detect any danger?

Hmm, it was a possibility too. If the murderer was someone who was in contact with the mystic arts.

But he or she would have to be at Ancient One's level if they were to do that.

So, Peter really doubted that possibility.

It was more probable that Yuri's life was not in danger, and that's why the spell didn't send an alert to Peter.

Now the question was, how can he find Yuri using that spell?

The spell forms were on her person, so Peter could probably use them to locate her also. The question was, how?

Peter sighed. There were so many questions.

He couldn't waste any more time. He needed to find Yuri, now.

Peter stood up and started walking again.

This time, to an alley, so he could teleport to Kamar-Taj.

He would ask for the Ancient One's help. She would help him, probably. She was his teacher, so she might just help him. After all, she'd helped him a lot of times.

With spells, papers, and even finding the reason behind his kid's stagnant growth.

So, one more help couldn't hurt, right?

Peter thought to himself.

Walking out of the portal, Peter was greeted by the ever mind-blowing scene of Kamar-Taj. The sun was shining in its full glory.

The sky seemed to be on fire, burning with a bright orange hue. It looked like the entire place was under attack from an army of fire-breathing dragons.

Peter sighed, diverting his attention away from the captivating scenery. It wasn't time to be amazed at the scenery; Peter had work to do.

Meet the Ancient One, and ask for help.

So, he quickly headed towards her chambers, he would ask her a about the spell and how to find Yuri.

He moved through the palace corridors, heading straight toward where he felt Ancient One was. As he approached, he saw that all of the doors were open as if someone had left them like this.

But Peter paid them no heed, and just walked inside her chamber. Of course, he knocked.

– Knock

"Teacher-"

Before Peter could say anything, he was fired back due to some kind of force.

"Whoa," Peter was startled, and he would have done something extreme if it weren't for the voice ringing in his head.

"I'm busy, don't disturb me. I know why you're here. I'll send you near her location, handling the situation is up to you entirely."

Then, before Peter could fully register those words, he found himself moving through a portal.

It burst open to some other place, and he was sent skidding on the ground.

Peter came to a stop, and stood up, dusting his suit.

For fuck's sake... She could've just sent him easily, without breaking a sweat, so why did she have to be so aggressive?

Peter sighed, and took in his surroundings.

He was in a desolate place. There was nothing but some kind of abandoned factory, a lake on the side, and New York City in the far distance.

The abandoned factory was, as he would expect, desolate. As far as he could see, there was no indication of life.

The factory itself, however, had some light inside it, and the glow came from a few dim lights scattered around on the floor.

It seemed to be coming from an old furnace in the back corner, which was now emitting its warmth into the cold night air.

Now, why was a furnace there? Peter didn't know.

This was probably some kind of metal factory or something.

Peter walked inside without hesitation. Of course, he didn't forget to cast an invisibility spell on himself.

Then, he walked in while his senses were spread out to spot everything.

He didn't see anything.

It was strange…

– Boom!

A loud explosion resounded from the side, and something red came hurling at him.

Peter was surprised, how could it see him?

Peter would have dodged anyway, but a black creature leaped from another place and smashed into the red one.

– Bam!

A screech resounded as the black creature's punch pushed through the red one. And they both fell to the ground, sliding and slamming into the factory wall.

Peter, for the first time, got a good look at them.

It was Venom, and Carnage.

Goosebumps erupted from Peter's body, a mixture of his spider-sense and his surprise.

What were these two doing here?!

Peter was bewildered.

He had expected Venom's existence, but he hadn't found anything substantial. And now, he found both Venom and Carnage.

Peter scowled, and jumped up, toward the two behemoths fighting. They weren't as small as the one's in the Venom movies. Peter was not sure how they got so big. Both were at least Hulk's size.

Before Peter could do something, he was grabbed by Venom's big ad black veiny hand. It was disgusting, and slimy...but surprisingly strong.

"Let go of me!"

Peter struggled against it, but Venom was too strong for him.

Venom released its grip, and looked down at Peter with those glowing eyes.

"Get away," there was a guttural tone to it, a tone that sent shivers down Peter's spine.

Fuck... Peter was unprepared, he wasn't even sure how strong this version of Venom was.

"We don't want you to interfere, bug." Venom growled, his teeth glinting between the black slime that was his body. Then, the black monstrosity was gone, jumping at Carnage who was coming Peter's way.

Carnage saw Venom coming, and moved out of the way. But before he could react, Venom's fist came flying.

Carnage felt the impact of Venom's blow, and he got thrown back into the wall.

But he was strong, too, so he stood up without a breath and slammed his red arm into Venom's face.

"YoU WiLl nOt sTOp uS FrOm HaVInG ouR ReVenGE, FATHER!" Carnage screeched, his voice similar to that of nails being scratched on a blackboard, or the breaks of a train.

Peter and Venom winced.

Peter wasn't sure what was going on, but he just remembered that he was here for Yuri.

He was torn out of his mind. Where was she?!

Peter looked around, and sure enough, there she was, lying unconsciously on a chair.

He would have walked up to her immediately, but he noticed that the whole room had gone quiet.

He didn't know what it meant at first—it seemed like both Venom and Carnage had stopped fighting, but he was wrong.

– Boom!

A loud, ear-piercing explosion resounded, and the shockwave hurled Peter away. He hit another wall hard, and then fell onto the floor.

This time he was a bit hurt.

His head throbbed and his body ached a little.

Peter wasn't sure what had happened.

So, he quickly stood up, and looked around, only to find Venom pinned to the ground, with a really fucking jacked Carnage on top.

It seemed that Carnage had slammed Venom over his shoulder, the impact to the ground was so big that a crater had been formed.

The factory was shaking a bit, and Venom was on the ground, heaving up and down slowly, a guttural sound with a low rumble into it was ringing in the vicinity.

There were protrusions of Carnage's body, spikes, inside Venom. But the symbiote didn't seem to be reacting to this. Instead, it just kept devouring Venom.

Carnage ripped out a huge chunk of Venom, and then started chewing it ferociously.

Venom growled, slamming his hand, which was jacked with slime, into Carnage's face.

But instead of making contact, the punch moved through Carnage's face. Carnage's face distorted, and the symbiote expanded to Venom's fist, and farther toward the black symbiote itself.

Venom growled.

But Carnage didn't relent.

The face of Carnage could be seen a little, and Peter wasn't surprised to see Cletus Kasady.

Hmm.

Peter just sighed and jumped, he was not just going to stand on the side and let Carnage consume Venom.

"Carnage!" Peter yelled.

Carnage opened his mouth wide and swallowed Venom's, and in extension, Eddie Brock—possibily—whole.

Venom growled aloud, his and Eddie's voice overlaying atop each other as his limb regenerated at a visible pace.

– Bam!

That's when Peter's feet slammed into Carnage's face.

Peter's feet sunk into the face like he was standing on sand, and Peter's spider sense blared.

Peter couldn't really do anything, his feet were stuck, and Carnage was too fast.

A red hand came crashing down on his face, and Peter felt his world wobble.

Carnage grabbed his mouth, and slammed him head first into the concrete ground.

– Bam!

Peter's head spun, and his vision wobbled.

He tried to move, but his legs wouldn't budge.

His head hurt like a bitch, and he was feeling drunk. A constant high frequency was blasting into Peter's ears.

He knew that if he weren't Spider-Man, his head would have been slammed to paste by now, and he'd have been dead.

Peter couldn't move.

Then he heard a roaring noise.

He looked around with his aching head and saw that Venom was up on his feet.

He walked to them, his legs wobbling.

Peter didn't even know for how long Venom and Carnage had been fighting.

"You," Cletus said, not Carnage, as his face emerged out of the symbiote. Cletus stared at Peter, and his face scrunched. "I rEMemBer YOU!"

Cletus' voice got clouded by Carnage's screeching voice, and Peter was grabbed again, then he was slammed around.

"WE REMEMBER YOU," Carnage growled, his hateful voice irritating Peter's ears.

Peter wasn't sure what this ugly mug was talking about.

He didn't remember meeting Cletus at all.

Then how could this fucker have met him?!

Peter had had enough.

As Carnage grabbed him by the face again, Peter glared at the fucker.

And activated [Release].

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