Chapter Nineteen – An Observation of Interest

The black liquid flung Cat's lifeless body to the side and my anger flared inside me. While Venom's attention was held by Cat's words I took my opportunity. I twisted and broke out of his grasp, flipping away and spraying Venom with webbing. I ducked a tendril and dived towards Felicia's body, but Venom caught my ankle and pulled me back, swinging me into a shipping container.

"Stop fighting." Venom snarled as I once again dodged another attack.

"Never."

I launched myself over Venom and trailed webbing behind myself, catching Venom on his chest and pulling him over. I flipped toward the black mass and slammed my leg into Venom's stomach, and the symbiote creature grunted in pain. Good. I unleashed a punch to Venom's shin and his leg crunched to the ground, and I brought my knee up to meet his face. His teeth dug deep into my lower thigh, but it was worth it to see Venom sprawled out on the floor. Immediately I sprinted to Cat. I put my hand on her stomach and felt the slow rising and falling of her breath and let out a sigh of relief.

This was short lived, as the roar from behind me alerted me that Venom was back on his feet. "Why are you hurting these people Brock?" I turned shouting. "Just for some petty revenge? Let it go! Jameson isn't going to rehire you! Harry and Felicia still fucked! And underneath all the anger and rage, you're still just Eddie Brock."

Venom roared and lashed out, swinging hard and violently. I knew I had to concentrate – my spidey-sense was still being oblivious to his attacks. Every time he lashed out at me I responded with webbing, trying to keep him stuck in one place. If I could move around I had the upper hand. He caught on quickly though… He launched his own webbing, black and pulpy, and caught me off guard. I narrowly managed to pull myself free before he launched himself into the container, leaving a large dent into the metal. He shot more globules of black webbing at me, and my dodges were becoming closer and closer…

Around the corner screamed three police cars. They had no idea what they were getting themselves into… I hadn't been able to tell Captain Stacey that Venom was escaping before having to dive back to action. The three cars stopped just short of the container that Venom had escaped from, and New York's Finest jumped from the cars and opened fire on Brock. He roared in anger and looked from me to them, then decided they were the priority at the moment. He lashed out once more flinging sludge at the cars and officers. I saw Stacey dive to the side as the ooze covered the nearest car to him.

I couldn't just stand back. I flicked my wrist forward and a small line of web shot out before coming to a halt. I swore under my breath, annoying that this was the time my webbing had ran out, and went to use my other hand before pausing. My webbing had ran out… The cannister was empty, but where did Venom's webbing come from? As I watched him sling more gunk towards the police I saw his mass reduce ever so slightly. It wouldn't even be noticeable if you weren't looking for it, but it was happening. Interesting.

Before I could rush back to help Captain Stacey Venom erupted in a rage, and sharp spikes shot from his back, embedding themselves into the walls and cars. I saw two of the cops drop to the ground injured as their comrades resumed fire, hoping to cover them to reduce any more damage. Venom turned to look at me, and from his back sprouted a large thick shield to protect from the bullets. Once as before his mass around his body lessened, redirecting towards the shield. Venom's face retracted to expose Eddie's who's eyes were almost alight with anger.

"I don't want revenge, I want justice for someone who has never tasted it." He whipped his arm out and grabbed the container he was in, then in an incredible feat of strength lifted it above his head and flung it at me. It flew lengthways at me and I leapt forward, sailing through the middle of it, but as I came out the other side a tentacle slammed me to the side, covering me with viscous writhing liquid. Venom grabbed Felicia's body and dragged her towards him. "We'll end this soon."

He leapt away and I tried to follow, but by the time I had broken free of the black webbing he was long gone. I instead headed straight for the Captain, who was already helping the downed officers. I aided by using my webbing as emergency bandaging, but the wounds were largely superficial. The black spikes seemed to have missed most of the vital areas of the officers, and with some time they'd be back on their feet in no time.

"What the hell happened?" Stacey turned to me.

"He was stronger than we thought. Broke out of the container." I was annoyed at myself for not thinking of a backup for that eventuality.

"And he has another victim." Sighed the captain. "This is a real shit-show."

"Before he left he said that he was going to end this soon."

"So now we wait?"

"I don't like it either." I resigned.

Stacey crossed his arms. "I'll keep you in the loop if we hear anything. Now get out of here. Backup is on its way and not everyone likes you."

I saluted and swiftly made my exit. Somehow I left more hopeful than I should have been, and with more ideas for our next, and hopefully final, meeting.

Song Recommendation: Game of Survival - Ruelle