Chapter 2: New Friend, New Enemy

In which Leslie comes to an understanding with an alien.

Leslie was so freaked out, she froze in place. "Who the hell are you? What are you?! Get the hell out of my brain!"

She frantically clawed at her skin, trying to get it out.

An invisible force grabbed hold of her arms, pulling them back gently. "Please, stop! You're just going to hurt yourself. Please, just– Just give me a few minutes to explain. I'm not going to hurt you."

"Then why did you just take over my body?!" Leslie demanded. "What are you? What are you planning to do to me?!"

"I'm sorry I scared you, I really am, but I desperately need your help. I got separated from my host and I don't know where he is and I know he was hurt. Please… I'll leave you alone as soon as I can, but I need to find him. I just want my friend back…"

There was a shaky vulnerability in the creature's voice as it gave back control of her limbs. Leslie felt a wave of sadness, guilt, and grief wash over her: feelings that weren't her own, but ones she understood with all her heart as she remembered her own loss.

(A bike lying broken in the parking lot, abandoned along with a little Superman backpack… frantic calls… talking to news stations… a face on a milk carton… a little brother that never came home.)

"You have lost someone too…" the creature whispered, its voice soft and full of understanding.

Leslie rubbed her eyes, swiping away the first hint of tears, and tried to mentally shove the creature away. "That wasn't for you to see. Stay out of my head!"

She felt it move back with no hesitation. "I'm sorry. I'm used to connecting with my hosts mentally, but it does not give me the right to pry around in your memories. Please, forgive me. I still have a lot to learn about humanity."

Leslie could tell the apology was sincere. She was still a little miffed but a lot calmer. She wasn't sure if she fully trusted this whole situation yet, but something about this blob of alien goop felt honest and scared. It made her almost want to protect it as it reminded her slightly of her little brother, David.

But she still needed answers and to maintain control of the situation.

"Forget about it for now. Look, I'm going to give you a chance to explain. What's your host's name? Why do you even need a host? Did they consent to it?"

"My host's name is Eddie Brock. And as for what I am… I am a symbiote from an alien species called Klyntar. My kind needs a host to survive, but it's not just that for me." The symbiote was quiet for a minute. "I love Eddie. I was able to connect with him more deeply than any other host I've ever been with. We've shared joy and sadness and anger and pain… Eddie called us two lost souls that were destined to find each other and become one. He's my other half and I am his."

"How did the two of you get separated? Where'd you get separated?"

"New York City. It's– It's this city, right? We had a fight with my former host, Spider-Man, and he forcibly separated us."

Leslie narrowed her eyes in suspicion. Spider-Man was a hero, no matter what the Daily Bugle said. If this creature was as nice as it claimed, then why were they fighting in the first place?

"The reason we were fighting him is that he tried to kill me and ruined my host's life," the symbiote said, reacting to her unspoken question. Was it reading her mind again? "If you let me, I can show you my memories. It would be easier that way."

Cautious but intrigued, Leslie gave her permission. Immediately, alien memories flashed through her mind.

She saw the symbiote coming to Earth on a space shuttle, accidentally causing it to crash when attempting to bond with one of the astronauts, which Leslie could tell the symbiote felt guilty about.

She saw it bond with Spider-Man and help him fight crime. It had saved his life numerous times, and tried to protect him from the villains he fought in the best way it could: by trying to make sure it couldn't happen again and attempting to eliminate the threat. Permanently.

…Leslie was starting to understand what had happened there. Spider-Man was one of those superheroes who refused to kill if they had any sort of choice. She understood the symbiote's point of view, but she could see the clash of morals it must've led to.

The symbiote mulled over that, then sent her the next memory of how their host had thought the black suit was turning him evil, when it wasn't. It really wasn't.

All the symbiote had wanted to do was protect him, and the anger Spider-Man had felt was both his natural feelings and the symbiote's protective rage. They hadn't done it on purpose, and they certainly hadn't been trying to corrupt him or turn him evil or whatever he had accused them of.

"Did you try talking to him?" Leslie asked gently.

She no longer thought the symbiote was evil, but hell, having something in your body that made you angrier, whether it meant to or not, would be truly terrifying, especially if you didn't know its intentions. She had been scared out of her mind until the symbiote had opened its non-existent mouth and actually told her what was going on.

Again the symbiote seemed to think this over, and Leslie felt a slight wave of guilt coming from them. "I was afraid. All my attempts at finding a permanent host had failed before. Whenever I tried to speak up, I always ended up scaring them and they rejected me. The only one–"

The symbiote paused briefly and Leslie felt an echo of old pain that they quickly pushed aside.

"I didn't want to be rejected again. I thought if I pretended to be just a suit, he'd be less afraid and more likely to accept me. And every time I hinted at being something more, he only got scared again. I thought if I just kept quiet, he'd be okay with me… But I was wrong."

The symbiote showed her the next memory: a fight with a villain named Shocker where once again the symbiote had tried to stop the threat permanently to protect their host. And when Spider-Man hesitated and still refused to kill Shocker, the symbiote had acted on their own accord, their fear for the life of their host overcoming even their fear of rejection.

(Leslie could feel an echo of a different memory beneath it, one full of pain and fear and guilt, but it slipped through her fingers before she could touch it.)

It had been the last straw for Spider-Man, who tore the symbiote off his body, ignoring their cries of pain at the horrible sound of the bells.

And then the symbiote was alone once more, rejected by someone they cared about. It hurt as much as being banished by their kind for wanting a mutual bond with their host, for wanting to do what they felt was the right thing.

Leslie felt their pain and heartbreak turn to anger for being hurt again for what felt like no reason.

Still in terrible pain, the symbiote had traveled down, finding Eddie Brock where he had been webbed to one of the bells. The symbiote had needed a host desperately, especially so weakened. They had clung to Eddie, bonding with him the same way they had done with Leslie. But they wanted to know, needed to know, if Eddie could accept this bond before it was completed. They couldn't go through that pain again, couldn't get attached to someone who would simply throw them away.

They couldn't remain silent any more.

So they spoke up. If they were shunned, they barely knew Eddie: it couldn't hurt as much as it had with Spider-Man. It would be like peeling off a band-aid.

But they weren't rejected. After a few minutes of gentle coaxing and reassuring Eddie that they were not about to eat his brain, they were embraced.

After all, he was as lonely as they were. Hurt by the same person.

Eddie wanted revenge. They did too.

But even more, they both wanted to be loved, wanted to be accepted for who they were by someone.

And they found it in each other.

They had three weeks together. Three weeks of anger at Spider-Man, of preparing for battle, of planning revenge… But in the quiet moments, when training was over and anger had been spent, there had been softer moments too.

Eddie loved showing the symbiote his favorite things about Earth, treating them to new foods, taking them to the bay, the park, places Eddie found peaceful. There was watching TV and talking and sharing their pasts… Creating new memories together.

And then it had all been torn away.

The symbiote paused to give Leslie a break to process the avalanche of information they had just dumped on her.

"I sort-of understand what made you so pissed at Spider-Man, even though I think it was more of a big-ass misunderstanding between the two of you, but why does Eddie hate him so much?" Leslie asked. "Also, do you want to get back together with him just so that you can get revenge on Spider-Man? Because I think I saw part of your last battle on the news, and yeah, not a fan of another one of those happening. You two might not have caused the most destruction of any villain, but I'm not okay with another superpowered rumble! Do you have any idea how much damage it could cause? What if someone gets hurt? So if this is all about a vendetta..."

"It's not about that!" the symbiote protested. "I care about Eddie! He– He saw me as a friend, not just a source of power. I love him. I want to make him happy and see him smile. I miss him so much… And we have a lot of similarities. It's one of the reasons I'm so worried about him."

Leslie could feel their concern. "What do you mean?"

"I won't show you his memories and I can't tell you everything. He's like you: there is some information he wouldn't want revealed to someone he doesn't know. But I'm really scared for him, so I'll tell you what I can. A few months ago, he worked as a reporter for the Daily Bugle. He found out that a scientist named Curt Connors had used a genetic enhancer and managed to mutate himself into a giant lizard."

"Only in New York…" Leslie mumbled.

"May I finish?" the symbiote asked, slightly irritated.

Leslie smiled sheepishly. "Sorry."

"Eddie found out about it and he was going to report it, when Spider-Man tied him up. He got loose a few hours later and reported it to his boss, J. Jonah Jameson. By that time, Spider-Man had managed to cure the Lizard and sold his pictures of the fight in his civilian identity. When Eddie and Jameson got to the Connors' residence, Dr. Connors was back to normal. So everyone thought that Eddie had just made it all up. He was fired and… He lost a lot more than just his job."

The symbiote didn't think Eddie would appreciate it if they told Leslie that Eddie's father had rejected, disowned, and abandoned him for being a "liar" and not living up to his expectations, so they left it at that and tried to hide yet another prickle of anger at Eddie's so-called family. Eddie had wanted to please him so badly and his father's coldness had devastated him. Just like it had devastated the symbiote when they had been banished by their kind.

Leslie winced in sympathy. A reporter being labeled a liar couldn't possibly be good for his job prospects.

"When the space shuttle that brought me here crashed, its contents were robbed. Eddie tried to get his job back by reporting who the robber was. He thought it was Spider-Man. It wasn't. It turned out to be a supervillain called the Rhino, and Eddie was fired again. And to make things worse, he had gotten really sick. He thought it was just from stress over what happened, but he wasn't getting any better so he had to go to the doctors for it. It– It was cancer and he couldn't afford the treatment. Thanks to what Spider-Man did, he couldn't even afford his apartment…"

Leslie covered her mouth in horror. "Oh god… How bad was– Is he okay?"

"When I bonded with him, I consumed all the cancer cells and healed him, but– but I remember seeing in Eddie's memories that cancer can come back sometimes. What if it did?! What if it came back and without me around to remove it… What– What if he–"

Leslie could feel the symbiote trembling beneath her skin. Her entire body was shaking, their panic attack starting to affect her as well. She could feel their terror that they had arrived too late and Eddie might be extremely sick or even–

It was this fear, this… humanity, for lack of a better word, inside this creature that made her come to a decision.

She opened her mouth, ready to assure the symbiote that she would help them reunite with Eddie, that they had to keep believing that Eddie would be okay…

But before she could say anything, someone else was there with them.

Leslie whirled around. She saw a dark-haired man with a creepy mustache and goatee standing behind her. He was wearing a green jumpsuit with yellow patterns and a cape.

Before she could even ask who he was or what he was doing here, his eyes glowed bright yellow. Leslie found herself unable to move, mesmerized and willing to take any orders.

The symbiote, however, was unaffected. And extremely pissed. It lashed out at the man with dark tentacles, throwing him off his feet, which managed to break his concentration. Leslie snapped into awareness again as the symbiote formed itself around her protectively and let out a ferocious snarl.

The man was caught off guard, allowing the symbiote enough time to shoot a white web-like substance from the back of Leslie's hands. The impact sent the man flying and the sticky webs glued him to a tree.

It didn't deter the man for long. His hands glowed with green light and the webs covering him disintegrated. The energy blasts he released next nearly hit Leslie, only the symbiote's quick reflexes saving her.

They knew they were outmatched. This guy was powerful, and while Leslie had some self-defense and gun training, she was unarmed and not even a good fit as a host.

The symbiote wanted to fight and kill the man for daring to attack their temporary host, but they knew Leslie could get hurt if they did, especially since they couldn't work together as effectively with her as they had with Eddie.

The symbiote tapped into Leslie's surface thoughts, hoping she had a better plan.

Leslie's thoughts were racing as she frantically tried to figure out what to do. "Damn it, I had to forget my stupid gun at home… Can't get close enough to punch him if he can shoot lasers out of his hands… We're no match out here in the open... I was trained to deal with human bad guys, not supervillains. Come on, think of something, Leslie! We need to get into the forest, corner him, make him hit something, just get the hell away…"

It was a smart idea and the symbiote let Leslie's mind direct them.

They ran.

The symbiote took control of Leslie's body since they were faster than her. They kept close hold of their temporary host as they used the powers inherited from Spider-Man to swing through the forest. They shot out webbing, grabbing hold of tree branches as they tried to lose their attacker or make him run into a tree, whatever happened first.

As the man chased after them, Leslie had an idea.

They grabbed a low hanging branch and quickly lifted it, so they could slip beneath. Then they released it.

Their attacker couldn't stop in time and the branch slammed right into his face.

"Good idea, Leslie."

"Thanks. Saw it in a movie once. Wait, I never said that out loud, how did you– Oh, right. Telepathic alien. Nevermind."

Before the symbiote could reply, a transparent and slightly glowing version of the man suddenly appeared in front of them out of thin air. They instinctively tried to skid to a halt, but ended up going right through the man, who dissolved on contact.

Neither Leslie nor the symbiote knew what it was – a mirage, an illusion, a hologram – but they didn't really care either. They took off again, not even noticing when the man reappeared, so great was their and Leslie's panic.

They wouldn't have stopped even if they did notice him: all they wanted was to get the hell away from that guy.

It took fifteen minutes of swinging through the forest before the symbiote felt safe enough to stop. They cautiously looked around.

No one was there.

They both sighed in relief and dropped to the ground as Leslie tried to get her stomach to stop doing flips. "I don't know how Spider-Man can stand this. I feel like I'm about to hurl… Who the hell was that anyway?"

"I don't know. I never met him or saw him in Spider-Man's memories."

"Oh, great… Just what New York needed: a new super villain," Leslie grumbled. "We'd better get out of here fast and find Eddie before Creep McCreepstick finds us again. I don't know what he wanted with me, but I'm sure as hell not going to give it to him!"

"You'll help me?"

Leslie could hear the hope in the symbiote's voice.

She nodded decisively. "Yeah, it's the least I can do after you saved my ass. Now let's go before Super Whackjob comes back."

The symbiote eagerly agreed and Leslie started to direct them back towards the city and her apartment.

Baron Mordo cautiously entered his underground lair where he knew Dormammu was waiting. His master would not be pleased with this development. Passing under the wooden door with deadly spikes at the bottom, he knelt by the white crystal showing the demon's head.

"Did you retrieve the symbiote?" Dormammu asked immediately, his flaming eyes glaring at Mordo. Mordo had a feeling he already knew the answer.

"There were some… unexpected complications. The symbiote managed to gain the trust and cooperation of its host before I could reach them. The host was easily hypnotized, but the symbiote perceived me as a threat and attacked before escaping with its host. They managed to evade me."

The flames around Dormammu's head flared up, turning bright blue with rage. "You fool! For our plan to succeed, we need the symbiote's loyalty and for it to bond to Eddie Brock again!"

Baron Mordo tried to placate him. "The symbiote still wishes to rejoin Eddie Brock. Its loyalty to him is still extremely strong, so it will seek him out. It will be going right where we need it to."

Dormammu calmed down a little, the flames around his head returning to their normal orange. "Good. Now go to Ravencroft Sanitarium and contact Brock. It is time for him to play his part in our affair."

"Yes, master. I will find the symbiote as well."

Though in truth, even if he did find it, Mordo wasn't so sure he would be able to gain the symbiote's allegiance. He didn't know whether it would even listen to him, and his hypnotic power didn't seem to work on it.

"As long as the symbiote is going to Ravencroft Sanitarium, it is of lesser concern," Dormammu replied. "If we get Brock's cooperation, the symbiote will follow. Make sure you are around when they become one again and let them know exactly who is responsible for their reunion. Their loyalty and anger at Spider-Man will cause them to play right into our hands."

The screen disappeared in swirls of purple smoke as Madame Web finished her observations. "You know what they say about the best laid plans," she muttered with a smirk.

She could already see the future shifting. The symbiote was letting go of their hate in the face of their overwhelming love for Eddie Brock. Their bond was much stronger here than it was in the Omega Timeline, and the symbiote gaining the help of blunt, sarcastic, logical Leslie Gesneria rather than just possessing her was a major step in the right direction, for their future and Leslie's.

And if Eddie Brock made the right choices as well, it would change everything.

With only a slight flicker of her will, the screen focused on Ravencroft Sanitarium.