Chapter 12: Spanner in the Works

In which a newcomer arrives at the worst possible moment.

One good thing came out of Inferno taking down War Machine and focusing on them: Venom and Spider-Man had been forced to put their issues aside in the face of a greater threat. They were now double-teaming Inferno with a surprising degree of coordination, while Carnage was taking cheap potshots at him whenever Inferno's back was turned.

Unfortunately, throwing rubble and pieces of furniture at him couldn't actually hurt Inferno. At best, it was only a distraction.

Completely sidelined, Leslie watched with trepidation as every single injury they inflicted on him was healed. No matter how broken his hideous body became, Inferno simply repaired the damage and kept fighting.

This was getting them nowhere. They had to remove the gem.

Except how were they supposed to do this when Inferno was completely covered in flames?

Leslie looked at War Machine who was crumpled in the corner. His armor was missing pieces and covered in scorch marks, but it wasn't melted, so hopefully, it had protected the man beneath.

She ducked low, hoping that Inferno was too busy fighting others to pay attention to her, and crept towards War Machine. With his armor, he might be able to withstand the heat long enough to get close to Inferno and pull the magic crystal out of his chest.

She just hoped that she would be able to wake him up.

…Dammit. Why hadn't anyone thought to tell War Machine about the gem before it was too late?

The heat was unbearable. So far, they had managed to avoid any direct hits, but the overheated air was still getting to them.

Carnage could practically feel themselves slowing down. Their movements were getting more sluggish and sticking to the walls was harder and harder.

They didn't know how long they would be able to last like this.

"We gotta finish this," they gasped out, digging their claws deeper into the wall when they started to slip again.

"How?!" Spider-Man asked, landing next to them, while Venom was distracting Inferno. "This guy shrugs off everything we throw at him! Literally!"

"Get the crystal out, then he'll stop. Just– just need to get rid of the flames."

"Crystal?" Spider-Man repeated. "What crystal?"

Carnage wanted to kick themselves. Of course Spider-Man didn't know about it! Why would he?

"There's a magic gem in his chest," they quickly explained. "It's what giving him his powers."

"Hey! That's cheating!" Inferno complained loudly. "No one is supposed to know about that!"

His head was twisted at an angle that living humans generally didn't have and his right leg was broken in several places. It didn't impede him in the slightest and liquid fire quickly repaired the damage.

"So if we take it out, he'll be a regular human again?" Spider-Man clarified.

"Um… Theoretically?"

Spider-Man shrugged, "Well, it's something to go on at least."

Inferno snarled and released a stream of fire in their direction, forcing them to dodge. "Do you really think I'll let you do that?!"

"Pretty please with a cherry on top?" Spider-Man whined childishly.

Inferno threw another fireball at him in response. The flames around him grew, reacting to his anger.

They didn't diminish. They just kept expanding.

How far could they reach? Could he fill the entire room with fire? And if he could, then why hadn't he done it already?

Carnage got their answer when Mordo's translucent form appeared, hovering in the air. "Enough of this foolishness, Inferno! Douse out your flames before you damage the probe!"

Inferno snarled at him, but complied. The flames around him receded until they were barely an inch high. "Happy? Now go away and let me have my fun!"

"My master commands you to bring back the interdimensional machine!" Mordo shouted. "The Dread Dormammu made you what you are and you agreed to help him! Do you dare to go back on your word?!"

"To hell with my word!" Inferno laughed. "I'm only helping you because I want to see what horrors Dormammu will unleash when he gets here!"

"Then hurry up, you fool, and take the probe!"

"Not until I incinerate these pests!" Inferno snapped. Then he tossed a fireball at Mordo, forcing his ghostly form to dissolve, and turned back to them. "Now, where was I? Oh, right! Which of you should I kill first?"

"Not me!" Spider-Man said suddenly and swung towards the hole in the ceiling. "Bye!"

"Traitor!" Venom roared as Spider-Man ran away from the fight. "Get back here, you coward!"

Inferno laughed, "Oh, this is hilarious! The great hero ran away to save his own skin!"

Spider-Man left? He escaped and left them here to fight a losing battle?!

Their parent was right! Spider-Man wasn't a hero, he was–

Carrie let out a startled screech and nearly fell off the ceiling as they desynced once again. Having a different opinion from their host was all it took to knock them out of alignment.

"Carrie, he clearly has some plan," Cameron tried to reassure.

"You don't know that."

"Yes, I do. Spider-Man is a hero and he would never run away like this."

"He hates us."

"Maybe, but he knows how much of a threat Inferno is. Spider-Man wants to stop him just as much as we do. Let's just hope that whatever his plan is, it works better than ours."

That traitorous, hypocritical insect! After all his bluster, he was now turning tail and running away?!

Venom snarled in rage. When they saw Spider-Man again, they would rip out his throat!

Unfortunately, they had to deal with Inferno first.

Now that he had only two targets (and distractions) instead of three, Inferno's aim improved greatly. It was getting harder and harder to dodge his flames.

Even worse, Venom could see how much Carnage was floundering. Venom had the same weakness to fire, but they were older, stronger, and more durable. Carnage was young and the heat was affecting them more. The longer this fight dragged on, the higher was the chance that the kids would slip up and get hurt.

Ironically, it was Venom who slipped up first.

They hadn't noticed how damaged the ceiling was starting to get, so they didn't expect it to crumble under their weight when they tried to swing away. Venom fell on the floor. They immediately jumped back to their feet, but they were too slow and Inferno was already lighting up a fireball in his hand–

With a startlingly loud bang, Leslie shot Inferno right through the head.

The impact made him flinch and gave Venom a chance to get away. Unfortunately, it also made Inferno focus on Leslie.

"Oh, I forgot that there was someone else in here," Inferno noted, turning towards her. The fire in his hand grew brighter.

"Lee! Run!" Carnage shouted, hurrying towards her.

"Lee?" Inferno repeated curiously. "Any relation to Detective Terri Lee?" Then he laughed, "I bet she'll burn just as nicely as you!"

But before he could attack, a high-pressure stream of water hit him from above, dousing out his flames and knocking him down.

Clinging to the ceiling with a fire hose in hand was Spider-Man.

"I told you he had a plan!" Cameron cheered inwardly.

Carrie's mind, tense from both the perceived betrayal and their disagreement, finally relaxed, allowing them to meld back into one.

They tore out a chunk of the crumbling ceiling and threw it at Inferno, pinning him down. The water was evaporating almost as soon as it hit him, but it didn't let him reignite and blast away the heavy stone. And despite his destructive powers, Inferno wasn't any stronger or more durable than a baseline human.

Venom jumped down and hurried towards the trapped Inferno, who let out a wordless growl. The cloud of steam around him thickened as he struggled to break free. Venom reached out, ready to break through Inferno's ribcage and take out the crystal.

"Eddie!" a new voice cried suddenly.

Venom whipped around.

Spider-Man flinched, startled.

The stream of water shifted.

Inferno reignited.

Venom threw themselves away with a cry of pain, unable to dodge the flames in time. Inferno blasted away the stone pinning him down and threw a fireball straight at Spider-Man. His aim was off, so it didn't incinerate the hero, but it knocked him off the ceiling, leaving him crumpled on the floor, and destroyed the fire hose.

"Well, if it isn't Doctor Ashley Kafka!" Inferno laughed, rising into the air and turning to the newcomer who was standing in the doors of the auditorium.

It was a woman who looked to be somewhere around thirty, wearing a lab coat of all things. Carnage had no idea who she was, much less what she was doing here, when all the normal people were running away from the superpowered murderer.

"What are you doing here?!" Venom shouted.

"I came to see you, Eddie," Dr. Kafka said. Then she turned to Inferno, "And you too, Cletus."

…Why the hell was she on a first-name basis with a serial killer?

"You are still my patient, and I'm here to help you," the woman, who was honestly starting to look even crazier than Inferno himself, continued.

Apparently, he didn't share the sentiment.

"Oh, spare me this drivel! I've had enough of it in Ravencroft!" Inferno scoffed. Then he laughed as the flames around him grew. "But if you really want to say hi, then give me a hug, Doctor Ash!"

Inferno flew towards the woman, but before he could reach her, Carnage threw another chunk of rubble at him, while Venom pulled Dr. Kafka out of the way with a web.

"Get the hell out of here!" Venom snarled, tearing out a piece of the wall to attack Inferno themselves. "It's not safe!"

"I'm not leaving!" the woman insisted.

Oh, like hell she wasn't!

Carnage jumped down and grabbed her, holding her under one arm like they had done with Leslie. "You are totally leaving! If you haven't noticed, this is seriously a bad time for anyone to be here!"

They formed long tendrils on their other arm and stuck them to the ceiling, swinging away just like Venom and Spider-Man could.

However, Dr. Kafka wasn't Leslie, and for some unfathomable reason, she didn't want to leave the dangerous battleground.

She jerked out of their grasp, startling Carnage enough that their tendrils lost their grip. Carnage managed to twist in the air as they fell, taking the impact themselves and saving Dr. Kafka from what easily could've been a broken bone or two.

They were already weakened from the heat and the fall was awkward enough that it stunned them for a second, allowing Dr. Kafka to wiggle out of their arms.

And then, instead of running away like any normal person would, she ran straight towards Inferno.

"Persistent, aren't you?" Inferno laughed and threw a massive fireball at her.

"No!"

Carnage bolted towards Dr. Kafka with all the speed they were capable of and tackled her out of the way.

They were fast enough to push her away.

They were too slow to avoid the flames themselves.

Leslie had never heard a worse sound in her life: a human's pained scream mixed with a Klyntar's nails-on-a-chalkboard shriek.

But that was good, right? If Carnage was screaming, then they were still alive.

The scream cut off. Leslie refused to contemplate what it meant.

They were just unconscious. Just like War Machine, who still hadn't woken up.

Klyntar were a strong species (Carrie was only a day old). They could survive a lot of damage (fire was their weakness). They would be fine (why weren't they moving?).

With a bestial roar of pure rage, Venom leapt at Inferno, tackling him out of the air and pinning him to the floor. The flames obviously hurt them – Leslie could see the black layer of V's body starting to burn off – but Venom ignored the damage, determined to tear Inferno apart.

A stronger blast of flames threw them away and Inferno rose back up, repairing his mangled ribcage in seconds. He lit up another fireball in his hand and aimed at Venom, who was clearly too dazed to dodge.

Carnage was still down. War Machine was still unconscious. Spider-Man was still dazed from his fall. And the crazy woman was only a liability.

There was only Leslie left to help them.

She took aim.

"Hey, Kasady!" she shouted and grinned when Inferno turned towards her. "You want that thing? Better grab it while it's still intact!"

And she shot the interdimensional teleporter.

"I will incinerate you for this!" Inferno snarled.

"No!" Mordo shouted, reappearing. "Take the device and leave, Inferno! That's an order! I will not allow it to be damaged further!"

Inferno stared at him with pure loathing in his burning gaze. "…Fine, I will. But this is the last order I will ever obey!"

He flew towards the teleporter and severed it from the support struts with a narrow arc of fire. The flames around him diminished, then disappeared completely.

He hauled the teleporter onto his shoulders, hunching under its weight, and glared down at Leslie, "Once I deliver this thing, I will find you and make you beg for death. Then I'll kill the rest of your pathetic friends and burn this whole fucking city to the ground! You'll see what I'm really capable of when Mordo isn't there to hold me back!"

Leslie didn't even react to the threat, she just numbly watched him fly away.

They lost. Inferno got what he wanted and they couldn't do anything to stop him.

They completely and utterly lost.

V knew how to compensate for their weaknesses. They knew how to thicken and solidify, making themselves a fraction more resistant to fire. It still hurt them, knocked them out of alignment with their host, but it wasn't as bad as it could've been.

Carnage wasn't so lucky. Cameron's entire left arm, side, and back was covered with blistered burns. His skin was cracked and peeling in horrid pieces, and the charred mass of his burnt clothing stuck to it like tar.

Carrie writhed around him, struggling to cover the wounds with their own mass, but a large part of them had burnt off as well. There were dead crumbling chunks of ashen-gray and dull crimson interspersed within their normal glistening wet colors.

Eddie knelt down next to them. "It's alright, kid. You'll be alright. You can heal it. You can get through this."

Carrie shuddered, slowly stretching themselves over the wounds, but they didn't respond. Perhaps they couldn't, not while they were so hurt and their host was still unconscious.

"Does he need a doctor?" Spider-Man asked quietly, limping towards them, though he was keeping a respectful distance. "This– this looks really bad…"

"And it's all because this stupid bitch wanted to reason with a psychopath!" Leslie snarled, pointing at the shell-shocked Dr. Kafka.

"I– I thought I could stop him. Talk him out of this," Dr. Kafka whispered.

"Stop?!" Leslie growled. "We were the ones about to stop him! Venom was seconds away from removing his powers! But no… You just had to barge in and ruin everything! And even then, we might've still won if you weren't such a brainless lemming! It's been barely a minute since Inferno tried to kill you, but when Carnage tried to take your worthless ass to safety, you immediately ran back towards a fucking serial killer! What the flying fuck is your problem?!"

"I didn't– I didn't mean for this to happen…" Dr. Kafka buried her face in her hands with a strangled sob. "I'm so sorry…"

"I don't give a fuck!" Leslie snapped. "Sorry doesn't magically heal my friends! They got hurt because of your idiocy! The next time you try to interfere like this, I'll fucking shoot you myself!"

"Lee, not so loud…" Cameron groaned.

Leslie gasped and dropped to her knees next to him. "Oh my god, are you okay?"

"I guess it could be worse? Carrie paralyzed my arm, so at least it doesn't hurt much."

"That's what you get for jumping in front of a fireball that can melt steel, you colossal dumbass!" Leslie snapped. "Which of you do I need to punch for it?"

Cameron laughed weakly, "Both of us, I guess? It was kind of a joint decision."

He shifted slightly and braced his uninjured arm against the floor, trying to rise.

"You two are a match made in hell, designed specifically to raise my blood pressure," Eddie said, helping him sit up.

"Can you at least promise to be more careful?" V asked through him, before they synced up again.

Cameron leaned against them with a tired sigh, "I make no promises."

"Me neither," Carrie added.

"If we can help someone, we will," they added together.

"Idiots, both of you," Leslie scoffed.

"Says the girl who shot an unkillable superpowered mass-murderer," Carnage grinned back.

Venom wrapped one arm around them, careful to avoid the burns, and put their chin on top of their head, "Please, stop being so reckless with your lives." Then they pulled Leslie closer too, "This applies to you as well."

"Remind me again, which one of us decided to attack Inferno with their bare hands?" Leslie asked dryly.

"…There were extenuating circumstances."

"Uh-huh. More like none of you are capable of thinking things through." Then she sighed and rested her head on their shoulder, "What the hell are we gonna do now? Inferno won. He took the teleporter and now Mordo can free Dormammu and bring on the end of the world… or whatever the hell he was planning to do."

"You shot the device. Mordo will need time to repair it," Spider-Man said.

"And he'll need time to set up and calibrate the teleporter too," War Machine added.

"You okay over there?" Leslie asked, turning around and waving at him.

War Machine was sitting on the floor, holding his head in his hands. It looked like the only reason he hadn't sprawled back down was because Spider-Man was supporting him.

"I need repairs," the armored man replied. "Though honestly, I don't think any of us are in any state to continue fighting."

"Not to mention, we have no idea where Inferno has run off to," Leslie said with a frown. "We'll have to find him first."

"I'll get in touch with Iron Man, see if he can track down the teleporter," War Machine said. "I don't know who you guys are and I'm not sure I want to know, but if you want to help, you're welcome to join us. Though right now, I think you should scram before someone else barges in and you have to answer any sticky questions."

"Huh. Good point," Carnage mumbled. "Let's just go home. I think we all need rest."

Venom stood up and carefully picked them up, maneuvering them to lie across their shoulder.

"This is undignified," Carnage complained. "What are we? A sack of potatoes?"

"It's what you deserve for being so reckless," Leslie retorted, awkwardly climbing on Venom's back. She didn't immediately fall off only because they wrapped several tendrils around her.

Then Venom turned to Spider-Man, fully expecting him to try to stop them. Surprisingly enough, he stayed next to War Machine and only watched them warily.

"Spider-Man. We have told you already: we don't want to fight you," Venom said. "And we… we are willing to continue working with you until Inferno is no longer a threat."

Spider-Man silently stared at them for several seconds, but finally nodded, "Alright. I don't trust you, but I can see that you hate Inferno more than you hate me. So until he is defeated… I suppose we can be allies. But after that, all bets are off. I will defeat you again."

Venom only scoffed, "We'd like to see you try."

"Do not start fighting again!" Carnage snapped. "We've had enough of this crap already!"

"Whoever starts another fight is getting shot," Leslie added. "Don't fucking try me!"

Venom chuckled, "Well, the kids have spoken. We're not allowed to disobey."

"Not kids!" Leslie and Carnage chorused together.

As they webbed away, Venom could practically feel Spider-Man's bewildered gaze following them. Somehow, it felt far more satisfying than beating him in battle would've ever been.