A/N: And from this chapter on, we're starting with my own work.

Chapter 4: The Search for Brock

In which Leslie gets some unexpected news.

When Leslie woke up, for a few seconds she naively hoped that everything that happened to her yesterday had been just a dream.

No such luck.

It took her one glance at the threads of oily black crisscrossing her skin to realize that everything had been real. She really did get possessed by an alien symbiote. She really did promise to help them find their previous host. And she really did get attacked by some whackjob with superpowers.

Oh, and she had also found out that her boyfriend was a traitorous, cowardly piece of shit. That happened too.

Leslie rolled over, buried her face in her pillow, and screamed.

"Leslie? Are you alright?" V asked, their telepathic voice full of worry.

"Peachy."

The symbiote radiated skepticism, which was fair enough.

Leslie kinda wanted to tell the rest of the world to take a hike and spend the whole day in bed, but that would be a tremendously stupid waste of time, considering that she still had some creep with superpowers on her tail.

What she needed was to reunite V with Eddie as soon as possible. Then she would be able to return to her quiet, normal life.

She sighed and climbed out of the bed, dragging herself to her feet. It was time to stop complaining and get on with it.

V had fully disappeared under her skin while Leslie showered, which was a pretty neat trick. Creepy, but neat.

Leslie should've probably felt a lot more freaked out that someone was watching her while she was naked in the shower, but for some reason, it didn't disturb her all that much.

She distantly wondered why. Maybe, since V was hiding, she had subconsciously fooled herself into thinking that she was alone. Maybe it was some strange side-effect of the symbiosis that convinced her brain that V wasn't an intruder.

Or maybe Leslie had already filled her quota on freak-outs and was too emotionally drained to muster much of a reaction. Who knew?

Once Leslie dragged herself out of the shower and put some clothes on – along with comfortable running shoes, because she had a sneaking suspicion she was going to need them – V had reappeared. They draped themself over her shoulders in a tarry mass that constantly moved and flowed, never quite staying still.

Leslie poked them absentmindedly while she made herself a cup of coffee. Despite looking like black tar, V wasn't sticky. Their surface was soft and smooth and actually pretty nice to the touch.

It certainly felt different from the cold slime she remembered from yesterday. Did V actually change their texture after they bonded? Or had they only felt terrible to her because Leslie had been so scared?

"Alright, so what's the plan for today?" Leslie asked out loud. There was no need to hide: she lived alone, having moved out of her parents' home as soon as she finished high-school. "How are we going to find Eddie?"

The black mass stretched out, forming into a long serpentine neck and a small head with white eyes.

"We should start with his apartment. The one we got after we bonded," V said. They had formed a toothy mouth which moved in time with their words, but Leslie couldn't tell whether they were speaking out loud as well or if their voice was still mental.

"Sounds reasonable," Leslie agreed. "If he had moved out, then the neighbors might know something. And if we're lucky, maybe he's still living there!"

That would certainly make everything much easier for them.

Of course, they weren't that lucky and nothing was ever easy.

Leslie knew what Eddie was supposed to look like from the memories V had shown her, but the guy she was staring at right now looked nothing like him.

"Can I help you?" the guy asked.

"Um… Sorry, maybe I got the wrong address," Leslie said uncertainly.

She tried to look confused and completely harmless, which wasn't hard to do, considering that V was currently pretending to be her jacket. And with the symbiote in hiding, Leslie was just an ordinary young woman.

"I'm looking for Eddie Brock," Leslie continued. "He was living in this apartment a few months ago, but I guess he moved out?"

"Sorry, doesn't ring a bell," the guy said apologetically. "I've only been here for a week. Maybe ask the landlord? Two floors up, last door on the left."

Leslie thanked him and followed the directions, hoping that the landlord would have a little more information for her.

"Eddie Brock?" the landlord asked. "Yeah, I remember that nutcase. Why the hell are you looking for him, missy?"

"Nutcase?!" V hissed. "How dare he–"

Leslie ran her hands over the sleeves of her living jacket, feeling it ripple slightly under her touch. Hopefully, it wasn't too noticeable, and it would just look like she was shivering from the cold. "Calm down, V. He is just some random guy. His opinion doesn't matter. We just need to get the information out of him, and we'll never see him again."

"Well… He's my cousin's… uncle. Through marriage," Leslie lied. "We're not close or anything, and I've only ever seen him on holidays, but I recently moved to New York for college, so I wanted to come in and say hi. Is– is there something wrong? Did something happen to him?"

The landlord scoffed, "My condolences for being related to that creep. He's been running around wearing some crazy mask and calling himself Venom. Like this city needs more costumed freaks! He's in prison now."

Oh, crap… Leslie did not sign up for orchestrating a prison break!

"Um… And which prison would that be?" she asked tentatively.

"Why do you even care?" the landlord asked. Leslie looked at him pleadingly, and his expression softened slightly, "…Can't choose your family, right? You're just stuck with the one you have." He sighed, "Listen, I really have no idea where he had been carted off to, but I'm pretty sure it was in the news. Check the old newspapers, there might be something in there."

It was a good idea, and at least it would give them some starting point. Leslie quickly thanked him and left, before V's patience ran out.

Next destination: library.

Digging through the old newspapers was immensely boring, though at least Leslie knew the approximate date she should be searching around. She tiredly rubbed her eyes. It had been several hours, and while she had already found a couple of small articles about Eddie, there was nothing about his current location.

She was bored out of her mind, not helped by the fact that V had been very quiet. (Leslie tried not to think about how quickly she got used to having a voice in her head. She was mostly okay with being V's human taxi, but she did not want a permanent subscription.)

Leslie rubbed the edge of her sleeve between her fingers, "Hey, V? You there?"

The symbiote rippled slightly, and Leslie felt a wordless question directed at her.

"It's just… you've been really quiet."

"I can't believe Eddie is in prison," V said miserably. "If we were still together, I would've never let him get caught."

"I'll get you to him," Leslie promised.

She still wasn't sure that a prison break was a good idea, but… Well. She promised to bring V to Eddie. What they did afterwards wasn't her business.

"…Would it have been different if we never went after Spider-Man?" V asked quietly. "If we just… forgot about revenge and tried to live our lives? I– I can't stop thinking about it. After Spider-Man rejected me, after he hurt me, I wanted to hurt him back so much… But now… I don't even care about it. I just want to see my Eddie again."

Leslie wrapped her arms around herself, hugging V in the only way she could, "You will, V. And I will do everything I can to help you."

After their little heart-to-heart, Leslie decided to take a small break. V had cheered up a little, but Leslie herself was still tired and starting to get hungry. Leslie stood up, planning to leave the library and grab herself something to eat, but a sudden wave of weakness made her collapse back into her seat.

"…What the hell?" she whispered. She was so dizzy, she had nearly fainted!

"Oh, no… It's accelerating! I– I should've realized it would accelerate with a host!"

Leslie grabbed the writhing sleeves of her jacket. "V, what's going on?"

"I'm so sorry! I didn't think it would be so fast–"

"V!" Leslie snapped. "Stop panicking before I panic too, and explain what's happening! I better not be dying!"

"You're not. It's– the problem is with me, not you."

"What is it then?"

"…I'm going to reproduce."

"Excuse me?!" Leslie yelped out loud. She quickly apologized when the librarian glared at her, and continued mentally, "You're pregnant?! What the hell, V?! Why didn't you tell me?"

"I– I didn't think it would be an issue! It began when I was in space. The conditions there were so inhospitable, the process had almost completely stalled. But now that I have a host, it accelerated and I can't stop it!"

V was starting to sound a little hysterical themself.

Leslie slowly exhaled. At least one of them needed to keep their cool, because she doubted a joint panic attack would be very pleasant to experience. "Okay… So, you're going to have a kid. Is this why I'm feeling so weak? Because I'm bonded to two symbiotes at once?"

"You're not really bonded to them," V corrected. "Bonding to two symbiotes is supposed to be impossible. But yes. They need energy to grow, and they are taking it from you. I'm sorry, I tried to limit it, but–"

"But the baby is hungry, huh?" Leslie rolled her shoulders and smiled a little. "It's okay, V. I don't feel that bad. And at least I don't get any weird cravings."

"That's not the only problem. Adult Klyntar can survive without a host for a fairly long time, especially if they go into hibernation, but a baby can't do that. They would need a host immediately. What's worse, we can't pick just anyone. The first host is incredibly important, because Klyntar always get some traits from them. It happens to everyone, even to those who completely suppress their hosts. And my child… I can feel that they already share my desire to have a mutual bond with their host."

"So they'll pick even more traits from whoever they bond with," Leslie guessed, rubbing her temples. "And I can't host both of you, right?"

Okay, this was a problem. How were they supposed to find a good host for an alien baby?

"How much time do we have before the baby is born?"

"I– I don't know."

Reassuring. Not.

Leslie tapped her fingers on the desk. "Okay, we really need to find Eddie. Once we do, you can go to him, and if there's no better option, I will host your child until we can find someone better. Will that work?"

"…You will really do that for us?" V asked in wonder.

Leslie sighed, "I'll be honest with you, V: I'm not cut out for this. I don't want a permanent bond. But I'm not going to let a baby die if I can help it! So yes, I'll host them for as long as necessary. Just… don't take too long searching for a better host. I do have my own life to live."

"…Thank you, Leslie. You have already done so much to help me… Thank you."

Finally, at long last, Leslie had found where Eddie Brock had been imprisoned: Ravencroft Sanitarium for the criminally insane.

She wondered why that place. Why not just a regular prison? But at least Ravencroft was a place for ordinary people, so it didn't have as many defenses as a prison for superpowered criminals might.

All the easier to break in. Or out.

Leslie nervously drummed her fingers on the desk. She would have to be very careful in there. The last thing she needed was for anyone to see her face or get her fingerprints.

She wanted to help Eddie, but she did not want to go to prison in his stead.

"Alright, we have our destination. Let's go."

Leslie slowly stood up, trying not to make any sudden movements. The bouts of weakness and dizzy spells had been getting more frequent, and she didn't want to fall on her face in the middle of the library.

She felt V shifting nervously around her. They were worried about both her health and that of their child, but there really wasn't anything they could do about it.

They just had to tough it out and hope that they would be able to reach Eddie before the child was born.

Leslie exited the library and slowly walked down the street. She had looked up the location of Ravencroft, and it was too far to easily reach on foot. Maybe if V was at full strength, it would've been different, but they were both too weak for it.

They would just have to travel the human way.

With that in mind, Leslie headed to the closest subway entrance. It should be faster than dealing with traffic, and right now, speed was paramount.

Unfortunately, they weren't even half-way there when Leslie felt a sudden stab of pain. She bit back a groan and doubled over, clutching her stomach.

Somehow, she couldn't tell where the source of pain was. It felt like it was shifting: her stomach, her chest, her back… One moment it was between her ribs, the next it was right under her skin.

"…V?"

"It's happening, Leslie! The child is separating!"

Leslie cursed under her breath, waving away the questions from some concerned pedestrians. Why now?! Why couldn't the little bugger wait just a couple more hours?

"V, what do I do?"

"Get away from everyone!" the symbiote ordered. "Once they separate fully, the child will instinctively bond with the closest host!"

And that would be bad, they had already established that.

Leslie gritted her teeth and forced herself to straighten up. She stumbled into a nearby alley, moving as quickly as she could.

"Leslie, as soon as the child separates, I will leave your body, so that they could bond with you."

Leslie tripped over her feet and nearly fell, barely managing to grab the wall and catch herself. "What about you?"

"Don't worry, I can survive on my own until we get to Ravencroft."

She leaned against the wall, struggling to catch her breath. "Alright. If you're sure…"

Another stab of pain, even worse than before, pierced her chest. Her living jacket convulsed in pain, and Leslie saw red mixing with the black.

…Blood?

"It's the child," V whispered. Despite the pain, they sounded utterly captivated. "My child is red."

"And what do we have here?" a voice suddenly asked.

"A pretty girl that took a wrong turn!" another voice laughed.

Neither of these voices came from inside her head.

Leslie looked up and felt her heart sink at the sight of four very large, very unfriendly-looking men.

Oh no…

"Leslie! We can't let the child bond with one of them!"

She didn't need V to tell her that. Thugs like this should never be allowed around children, no matter whether those children were human or alien.

"Can you take them down?" Leslie asked.

V didn't reply, but she felt their hesitation. Normally, some ordinary thugs would be no match for the symbiote, but there was nothing normal about these circumstances.

Dammit… She should've taken her gun with her, but she thought it would be redundant compared to V's powers, so here they freaking were…

"We should run," V said finally.

Leslie felt them shifting on her back, where they were pressed against the wall, ready to climb up the building with their remaining strength.

That was when a new voice called out, "Hey! Leave her alone!"