Chapter 11: Infernal Showdown

In which nothing goes as planned.

Inferno didn't slow down as he fell towards the Stark Industries headquarters. Instead, he blasted straight through the roof, tearing through who knew how many floors in the process, and flew in.

"After him!" Venom ordered and ran towards the building, swinging up the wall the moment they were close enough.

Carnage followed after them, carrying Leslie on their back. She dug her fingers into their shoulders in a death grip, even though they already had several tentacles wrapped around her.

Leslie wasn't a big fan of heights. It had been fine when she had been hosting V, but as an ordinary human, she preferred to have her feet on the ground.

And it certainly didn't help when Stark security started shooting at them.

"Lee, hold on!" Carnage shouted.

They jumped from side to side, scaling the wall in a dizzying, unpredictable pattern. It made them harder to target, but Leslie couldn't quite appreciate it when her stomach was trying to climb into her throat.

"Why don't they do something useful and shoot at the bad guy instead of us?!" Leslie groaned.

"Well, where's the fun in that?" Carnage laughed nervously, jumping onto the roof and running on all fours towards the hole Inferno had busted through.

Leslie shuddered at how hot and dry the air around it felt. She had no idea how hot Inferno's flames could burn, but it was a good reminder that this maniac could melt steel without even trying.

Venom vaulted over the edge without hesitation, but Carnage froze with a minute shudder, digging their claws into the crumbling concrete.

"Point of no return…" they whispered.

Leslie patted their shoulder, "I think we hit that one already when we decided to get involved with aliens."

"Might as well see it through!" Carnage agreed and jumped in.

Cameron wondered distantly if Spider-Man had ever felt like this whenever he was about to engage some crazy villain. He couldn't even tell whether it was Carrie's instinctive fear of fire or his own quite logical fear of injury and death that left him shaking and vaguely nauseous.

And yet, his biggest concern wasn't for himself. Despite knowing that Inferno could do much worse to him than a knife to the gut, he was more afraid for the innocent people that were trapped inside with that lunatic.

"We will save them. We will save everyone," Carrie promised.

Their determination and desire to help melded with his own, bringing their already tangled minds even closer, until it was impossible to tell where one of them ended and the other began.

Together, they fell through the broken roof with Leslie clinging to their back. They stabbed several tendrils into the walls to slow down their fall and landed in the corner of a large auditorium, just in time to see Venom rip out a huge chunk of the wall and throw it at Inferno.

He blasted it into pieces and laughed, "Eddie Brock! How nice to see you here! Have you decided to join the party? I heard it's to die for!"

Inferno threw a massive fireball at them in retaliation, but Venom was faster. They quickly webbed away, landing on the wall.

Since Venom could take care of themselves, Carnage didn't immediately run to help them. Instead, they were more concerned with people – far too many people – that were still inside the auditorium.

There were several exits in this room, but one of them was buried in rubble, another was consumed in flames, and the rest were far too close to a serial killer with superpowers to be safe to use.

Which meant that while Inferno was busy fighting Venom, their first priority was getting the bystanders out.

Carnage leapt towards the blocked exit. They landed next to the pile of rubble, causing the people who had desperately tried to break through it to scream and back away in terror.

That hurt a little, but they had expected such reaction.

"Don't worry, we're here to help," Leslie assured.

Carnage released her and said, "We'll open the way. Lee, you round up the rest."

Then they clasped their hands together and started to change their shape. It was something they had been vaguely aware they could do, but didn't really get the chance to try before.

Their– Carrie's– their mass shifted, enveloping their hands and solidifying to form a heavy hammer. So heavy in fact, that when they tried to swing it, they lost balance and nearly faceplanted into the floor.

…Well, that was embarrassing. At least the people around them looked moderately less scared?

For their next attempt, Carnage formed several tendrils on their feet, stabbing them into the floor to anchor themselves. Then they raised their new weapon once again and bashed through the blockade.

Fight, flight, and freeze were the three most basic reactions to danger.

Inferno was too powerful for ordinary unarmed humans to fight, and the exits were blocked, leaving them unable to flee, which left many freezing in fear.

But that was where Leslie came in.

She ran through the auditorium, shaking the people out of their stupor and directing them towards the blocked exit that Carnage was trying to break through. Some needed only a tap on the shoulder to snap out of it, others had to be bodily dragged away.

And most were too scared to approach Carnage, forcing Leslie to waste time on assurances that yes, they were the good guys, and no, Carnage wasn't going to eat them.

Thankfully, Venom kept Inferno's attention on themselves, so at least Leslie didn't have to dodge fireballs in the process. Small mercies.

Of course, that didn't change the fact that Inferno was still throwing flames everywhere. Judging by the burn marks on the ceiling, any fire suppression systems had already been destroyed, so there was nothing left to lessen the heat. Inferno's magical fire didn't produce much smoke, but it was still eating up oxygen, making it harder to breathe.

…Well, no one said that doing the right thing was easy.

Leslie wiped the sweat from her forehead and stubbornly continued her work.

Venom felt like they were dancing on a razor's edge. They knew their weaknesses well enough to realize that a single hit from Inferno might be the end of them. It wouldn't kill them outright, but it would temporarily incapacitate them and leave them defenseless before the next attack.

And yet, despite the danger, they had never felt more alive.

Adrenaline was pumping through their veins and their minds were more in tune with each other than ever before. Their goal was clear: stop Inferno from getting his hands on the interdimensional probe and keep him occupied until the kids got everyone out and could join the fray. Then they had to figure out a way to douse out Inferno's flames long enough to tear open his ribcage and pull out the magic crystal, either killing him outright or reverting him back to a regular human.

It wouldn't be easy, but they could already see a few points they could exploit.

Inferno had completely surrounded himself with flames, making their webs useless, but he had to either dodge or blast away the rubble Venom threw at him, which made it harder for him to retaliate.

His reaction time was worse than theirs too, especially once SI security forces had joined the fight. Fire wasn't a good defense against the energy weapons they wielded, and Inferno was forced to take several hits.

Venom could see the energy blasts tearing off pieces of scorched flesh. They didn't know if it actually hurt Inferno, considering he already looked like a charred corpse, but whether it was the pain or the force of the impact, it still made him flinch and sway slightly in the air.

Inferno lashed out with flames, but a lucky shot threw off his aim, and rather than burning the guards alive, he merely blasted apart the floor under their feet.

"Oh, so you don't want to die quickly?" Inferno asked, lighting up another fireball in his hand. "Because I'm happy to oblige! I'll burn you nice and slow!"

That was when a sudden blast of energy hit Inferno in the side with enough force to blow him away. He slammed into a wall, which broke into rubble and buried him beneath.

The blast came from a person who was probably not Iron Man, although their armor was similar in design, only bulkier and colored silver and black, rather than red and gold.

"How about you pick on someone your own size?" the person asked.

"Acceptable," Inferno replied, blowing away the rubble with a wave of fire.

However, the energy blast had been rather effective: his left arm was gone below the elbow.

"Looks like you've lost something," not-Iron Man said. "Now come quietly, before I break the rest of your limbs!"

"I'm trembling in fear," Inferno said flatly.

A stream of orange fire that looked nearly liquid stretched from his elbow, connecting it to the forearm lying on the floor. It floated up and reattached, the charred remnants of his flesh shifting and rearranging to remove any evidence of the injury.

Inferno cracked his knuckles, "Now tell me, Iron Man, how would you prefer to die? Should I heat up your tin can until your blood boils inside? Or should I just melt you for scrap metal?"

"The name is War Machine and this tin can has dealt with scarier things than you!"

With these words, War Machine unleashed another blast of energy, throwing Inferno back, and leapt into the fray.

While they couldn't boast the same strength as Venom, Carnage was still much stronger than a baseline human, so breaking through the blockade didn't take long. And with the exit no longer blocked by rubble, the trapped audience members could finally escape.

With that done, they helped Leslie round up the stragglers. The battle was heating up (no pun intended), and the stray fireballs and energy blasts were starting to hit distressingly close to the remaining bystanders.

One of these blasts had caused part of the ceiling to crumble. Before the broken rubble could land on the people below, Carnage jumped in and batted it aside.

Then they gasped. "Brian! You're okay!"

To their relief, his– their friend was alive and seemingly uninjured, though he looked disheveled and clearly shell-shocked, with dust in his hair and his glasses knocked askew. The others had run away, but Brian stayed behind, staring at them in confusion.

"How do you know my name?" Brian whispered.

…Oh, crap. They didn't– he didn't mean to, but they– he–

Cameron clutched his head. He could feel his mind falling out of sync with Carrie's. It felt like someone had thrown a boot at his head, and Carrie was squirming under his skin, just as uncomfortable.

Thankfully, their internal troubles weren't reflected on the outside and they were still fully transformed.

"I didn't say your name!" Cameron quickly denied.

In his own voice.

…Double crap.

Carrie hurried to sync back with him, and although their minds were still separate, at least they were in tune enough that their voices merged back into one. "We said 'We're trying to help you, glad you're okay'."

"No, you didn't," Brian flatly replied. He was squinting at them like he was trying to solve some puzzle.

"Yes, we did!" Cameron insisted. Then he shoved Brian towards the exit, "Now hurry up, you random unknown citizen, and get out of here before the psycho arsonist notices you and sets you on fire!"

At the reminder of the danger they were all in, Brian's expression quickly became serious. "…Yeah, you're right. No time to chat." Then he reached out and lightly squeezed their shoulder, "Good luck."

For a moment, Cameron stared at him in pure bewilderment that Carrie reflected and echoed back even stronger. Someone, who wasn't Leslie or Eddie, was actually brave enough to touch them?

They grinned, "You too. Stay safe."

Maybe they did have a chance at this hero thing after all.

Venom silently observed the battle from the sidelines. It seemed like War Machine's armor and weaponry were well-suited for dealing with an enemy like Inferno. Perhaps they should simply stay back and wait until War Machine wore him out? That would certainly make things easier for them…

"I can't believe it! Venom?!" a very familiar and wholly unwelcome voice suddenly cried above their head.

Venom looked up and snarled, baring their teeth, "Spider-Man!"

"I don't know how you came back from space or who your pyromaniac friend is, but I defeated you once and I'll do it again!" Spider-Man boasted.

"We're not here to fight you," Venom growled and pointed at Inferno, "We're here to stop him!"

"Excuse me if I don't believe you, Smiley," Spider-Man quipped, as irritating as ever. "A leopard can't change its spots! Besides, I think War Machine has Sparky handled."

"We don't care what you think!" Venom snarled back. Their claws itched to tear off the smug grin the spider was no doubt wearing under the mask, but they tamped down their rage. "We don't have time to waste on you, Spider-Man! So either help us or get out of the way!"

"How about option number three?" Spider-Man retorted. "I take you down first and then deal with Friendly Fire over there!"

And with those words, Spider-Man jumped down and punched them in the face.

Venom staggered back. For a second, they just stared at him incredulously. Spider-Man was going to ignore a superpowered serial killer just so he could fight them?

Really? Really?! That petty, hypocritical–

Spider-Man webbed up their feet and punched them again.

Venom caught the third punch and flung Spider-Man away. Then they clawed apart the webs, freeing themselves, and leapt after him with a roar of rage.

If Spider-Man wanted a fight, they would give him one!

By the time Leslie and Carnage dragged everyone out of the auditorium, the place had turned into a total warzone. Inferno and War Machine were still duking it out in the middle of the room, while Venom and Spider-Man…

"Oh my god… What the hell are they doing?!" Carnage cried, clutching their head in horror.

Because Venom and Spider-Man were fighting each other.

…Dammit. Leslie knew this was going to end like this.

She grabbed Carnage by the hand and pulled them towards the fight, "Come on! We gotta stop them!"

Carnage nodded wordlessly. Then they picked her under one arm and hurried towards the fight. "Guys! What is wrong with you? Stop it!"

"Another symbiote?!" Spider-Man gasped, stopping for a second to gawk at them. "Let that girl go!"

"Sorry, I like it here," Leslie snarked back, looping one arm around Carnage's shoulders. She wasn't fond of being dragged around like this, but they had better mobility than she did. "Now stop being morons, both of you! Inferno is still alive and kicking!"

"Don't blame us!" Venom growled. "The spider has attacked us first!"

"Don't pretend to be innocent, Venom!" Spider-Man snapped. "You only came here to attack me!"

"We came to fight Inferno! We didn't even know that you'll be here!" Leslie yelled. "Newsflash, Spider-Man: the world doesn't revolve around you!"

"Come on, guys!" Carnage added. "Crazy serial killer is still on the loose! We gotta take him down, not fight each other! We're on the same side!"

"I will never be on the same side as Venom!" Spider-Man spat out. "Do you have any idea what he has done to me?!"

"To you?!" Venom snarled. "What about everything you've done to us?!"

"Parent, stop!" Carrie cried, their high-pitched voice separating from Cameron's. They sounded on the verge of a panic attack. "Stop fighting, please!"

"It can talk?" Spider-Man asked incredulously.

Venom hunched their shoulders, backing away half a step. "We were only defending ourselves. Now look what you've done, Spider-Man!"

"Oh, I'm so sorry about hurting the feelings of a murderous alien!" Spider-Man hissed.

"They're not murderous!" Cameron snapped. "What the hell is your problem, man?! I get that you've got beef with Venom, but Carrie has nothing to do with it! They were born just a day ago!"

"Those things are all the same!" Spider-Man snapped back. "They possess people and control their minds! They're evil!"

"Shut up! Carrie isn't evil! They're just an innocent baby who wants to help people!"

"Is that what it told you? You can't trust those things!"

"Oh, so you're an expert on Klyntar now? I bet you didn't even know that's what their species are called!"

"I don't care what those things call themselves! They are all evil monsters!"

"Will you all shut up already?!" Leslie shouted. "Stop acting like a bunch of kindergarteners! I don't give a damn who started it and who is to blame for what!" She pointed at where Inferno was still battling War Machine, "The bad guy is right there! Fight him!"

"War Machine can take care of him," Spider-Man replied dismissively. "I'm here to deal with you."

"Then we'll take you down first, until you stop being a nuisance!" Venom snarled. They visibly tensed, preparing for another fight.

Oh, for fuck's sake!

Leslie elbowed Carnage under the ribs and bolted towards Venom once they let her go. She stood between them and Spider-Man like a living shield, knowing that both would be reluctant to attack with her in the middle.

"Stay back. I don't want you to get hurt," Spider-Man warned.

"Then stop fighting and I won't, you dumbass!" Leslie snapped. "Did you even listen to a word we said? We're not here to fight you! We don't even want to fight you!"

"But I do!" Inferno laughed, sounding far closer than he should've been.

This was the only warning they got.

Venom grabbed Leslie and jumped away, a fraction of a second before a massive fireball hit the spot where they had been standing. She could see that both Carnage and Spider-Man had avoided the blast, but what about–

Leslie swallowed thickly when she saw War Machine lying unconscious in the corner. At least, she hoped he was just unconscious.

Dammit! Instead of squabbling like children they should've been helping him fight Inferno!

Venom let her go and jumped on the wall, probably to make sure that Inferno would focus on them and not her, but the pyromaniac ignored them both. He was only looking at Spider-Man.

"So sorry to interrupt your quarrel," Inferno laughed, "but I simply had to say hello! I've been hoping to run into you, Spider-Man!"

"Why me?" Spider-Man asked. "Who are you anyway?"

Inferno pressed one charred hand to his chest, "You don't recognize me? I'm hurt, truly. I thought I was unforgettable. Usually, everyone I meet remembers me for the rest of their lives! Their very short and painful lives."

Then the flames around him receded and a layer of new skin covered his blackened skull, until his face was human again, even though the rest of his body was still a burning corpse-like monstrosity.

"Kasady?!" Spider-Man gasped in recognition.

He didn't know that before?!

Leslie cursed under her breath. Why didn't she realize it sooner? No wonder he prioritized fighting Venom, if he didn't know who Inferno really was!

Inferno grinned, "Do you like my new powers? Think of the damage I can do now!"

However, instead of a reply, all he got was a chunk of the wall to the back of his head, courtesy of Venom. With an undignified yelp, Inferno crashed to the floor.

Unfortunately, that didn't stop him for long. Or at all.

"…Well, that was rude," Inferno said evenly, rising back into the air.

His back was turned, so Leslie could see where his skull was smashed open. Liquid orange fire trailed from the wound like blood.

Then the broken pieces of bone moved and rearranged, closing the wound. Inferno turned around and flames engulfed his head once again, burning off his face and leaving behind only the blackened grin of a skeleton.

"Now, I'm going to kill you," Inferno added in the same calm and level voice that was far more unnerving than the maniacal laughter from before, "as slowly and painfully as I can."

Venom snarled, exposing their fangs, "Bring it!"

A/N: Spider-Man might seem like an unreasonable jerk here, but keep in mind: he has no idea what's going on and the last time they met, Venom tried to expose his identity and threatened his loved ones. He has every right to suspect foul play.