Chapter 19: Psychology for Dummies

In which sometimes the correct answers are the simplest ones.

Peter couldn't say that he was entirely comfortable around Eddie and V, but he wasn't uncomfortable either. Mostly, he just felt uncertain, unsure what to say and how to act around them.

It felt like they were stuck in a strange limbo. They knew too much about each other to be mere acquaintances, but their past was far too complicated for them to be friends.

For now, Peter was content to simply call them allies: it felt like the least complicated option.

When all had been said that needed to be said, Leslie and Cameron crept back into the room: slowly, cautiously, and visibly wondering whether everything was fine or if there was going to be another pointless fight.

Which was fair enough, Peter could admit that much.

But now that the personal issues had been hashed out, more or less, it was time to return to the matter of the interdimensional demon and the superpowered serial killer trying to free him.

Peter listened incredulously as Eddie recapped what Madame Web had shown him. It was hard to believe that a complete psychopath like Kasady was capable of caring about someone to the point he would drop everything and run off to free them…

Then again, Peter had never thought the symbiote to be capable of love either.

But that didn't matter. The important thing was that Dormammu couldn't break free without the life energy, and Kasady would only start gathering it tomorrow. Which meant that they still had the time to make plans, gather allies, and make sure that when they faced Inferno again, they would win.

"I still don't get why Madame Web didn't tell us where Barrison is being held," Cameron complained. "It doesn't feel right to just sit back and let Kasady free her. Also, am I the only who thinks it's totally unfair that she has sonic powers? Also known as the other weakness Klyntar have? It's like the universe itself is screwing with us!"

Leslie snorted, "If someone is screwing with us, it's probably Dormammu. Or Madame Web. Definitely one or the other."

"To be fair, I don't think we would've been able to stop Inferno even if we did know the location," Eddie admitted. "We all needed time to recover, and he's fast enough that we wouldn't have been able to catch up to him anyway. And it's not like there's any point in warning the authorities: we don't know anything concrete, and Kasady is already in the news."

"And this might just be a blessing in disguise," Peter added. "Other than her voice, Barrison is no different from a regular human and fire will hurt her too. So if Kasady really cares about her, he won't be able to fight at full power if she's nearby."

"He couldn't fight at full power next to the teleporter either and he still kicked our asses," Leslie countered. "It was a freaking miracle that no one died."

"Next time, we'll come prepared," Peter promised. "And I know someone who might be able to help us on that front."

As Peter led his new allies to Dr. Connors' lab, he had a vague feeling that he was forgetting something. It was only when they were right next to the building in question that Peter was reminded of what exactly he had asked Dr. Connors to do before.

"Does Connors know that we're on the same side now?" Venom wondered in V's voice. "The last time I saw him, he wasn't exactly fond of me. He had made some… incorrect assumptions about me."

Peter cringed inwardly. Oh, crap… "No, he doesn't. Which is why you guys should wait on the roof, while I go give him a heads up. And don't worry: I'll make sure he doesn't do anything… uh… drastic."

Then he hurriedly swung towards the lab to call everything off. He had no doubt that if Dr. Connors tried to follow their previous plan and split the symbiotes from their hosts, this meeting would become an unmitigated disaster.

"We have a bad feeling about this," Venom growled as they waited for Spider-Man to return.

"Stop being so paranoid," Carnage hissed. "Spider-Man isn't going to attack us again."

"We're not worried about him," Venom retorted (which was… admittedly a novel concept, not to blame everything on Spider-Man). "But we don't trust that scientist."

Back when V had been bonded to Peter, it was Connors who had urged him to break the bond purely because of some faulty, misinterpreted tests he had run on a broken-off mindless piece of them.

Klyntar didn't consume or replace their hosts like Connors had assumed. Even the likes of Savage and Decay, the worst of the worst of their species, had only suppressed them.

They were symbiotes. They needed hosts to live!

Yes, sometimes a host and a symbiote were incompatible due to some quirk of biology. Even with a perfect host there was always some degree of adjustment. And those who didn't care about their hosts certainly wouldn't give a damn about some wear and tear, jumping to a new host when the previous one became too much of a hassle to repair, but even they considered it a waste of time and effort to switch hosts more often than necessary.

Connors had seen the way that broken fragment of V had enveloped the host cells, covering them with its own mass in an instinctive attempt to enhance and protect them, and he had jumped to wrong conclusions. He had realized that V was a sentient being and immediately assumed malice where there had been none.

And they hadn't forgotten what they had seen in the alternate timeline either: Connors had the knowledge and tools to split them apart.

They shuddered at the mere thought and pulled Carnage closer, wrapping their arms around their shoulders. Venom wasn't as worried about themselves. Even if the unthinkable happened and they were split up so soon after finding each other again, they could survive it and bond once more.

But Carrie was young enough that a forced separation from their host could seriously injure them. And depending on how tightly they held onto each other, Cameron might not come out of it unscathed either.

They never wanted the kids to suffer like this.

Spider-Man didn't take long to return. "Alright, I warned Dr. Connors and–" He paused and stared at Venom, who was still holding Carnage like a teddy bear. "…Am I interrupting something?"

Carnage only shrugged. They had no idea what prompted the sudden hug-fest, but they didn't mind. It was pretty nice, actually.

…Okay, a little weird too, but they could hardly blame Venom: stuck in prison or trapped in space, when was the last time they had a hug?

But they were still on a schedule, so with some effort, Carnage wiggled out of Venom's arms. "Okay, then let's go."

They vaulted over the edge of the roof and crawled down the wall, having changed the surface of their hands and feet to a more sticky texture. The others followed, with Leslie clinging to Venom's back: she had claimed that swinging around with webs made for a smoother ride than Carnage's running leaps, though it was still one hell of a rollercoaster.

Spider-Man led them inside the building through an open window, then down a short, thankfully empty corridor, and into a large open space of some lab. Inside the lab was Dr. Kafka and the man they assumed was Dr. Connors.

However, Carnage didn't get the time to look around, because Venom abruptly grabbed them and yanked them off their feet.

"Hey! What's gotten into you?!" they yelped, tripping over disgruntled Leslie and barely managing not to fall on the floor when Venom shoved them behind their back.

"That machine…" Venom growled, pointing at the half-open chamber in the middle of the lab and the device directed at it from the ceiling. "It's capable of splitting us apart."

Carnage froze in horror. Splitting them apart?!

Was this a trap?! They had to get out of there, now!

"And it will never be used on you if I have any say in it," Spider-Man interrupted and quickly webbed up the device, so its muzzle pointed to the ceiling.

Carnage sagged against Leslie in relief. Venom didn't look entirely convinced, but they had somewhat relaxed as well.

Dr. Connors, on the other hand, seemed none too happy as he looked between them and Spider-Man. "I still urge you to reconsider. The tests I have run on the symbiote–"

"I remember those tests," V sharply interjected. "They were wrong."

"The symbiote is influencing you," Dr. Connors insisted. "You have to get rid of it!"

"You are talking to the symbiote right now!" V snarled.

Dr. Connors reeled back in shock, stunned into silence.

Before this could escalate further, Dr. Kafka asked softly, "May I speak to Eddie?"

Venom slowly exhaled, visibly trying to calm down, then Eddie asked, "What is it, Dr. Kafka?"

She slowly approached them, cautious but without fear. "Will you let me see your face for a minute?"

After a moment of deliberation, their jaws opened widely and V shifted away to uncover Eddie's face.

Dr. Kafka put her hand on his arm, making him twitch. "I wanted to apologize for refusing to believe you."

"Apology accepted," Eddie tensely replied. (Accepted, but not forgiven, Carnage noted.)

He looked incredibly uncomfortable, but Dr. Kafka either didn't notice or chose to ignore it. She reached up to touch his face. "Eddie–"

He jerked away like he was burned, stumbled back, and promptly tripped over Leslie. Eddie fell down with a startled cry and dragged Carnage down with him like disaster dominos, as they were too stunned at the utter ridiculousness of the situation to dodge.

"Why is everyone tripping over me?!" Leslie, who ended up pinned to the floor under their combined weight, snapped. "Do I need to start wearing a traffic cone on my head or something?!"

"Yes. Also, wear a hi-vis vest and hold up a stop sign," Carnage suggested. "Beware the new superhero: Traffic Hazard."

"…I'm actually going to kill you. Now get off me, all of you!"

Eddie had snapped his jaws shut to hide how much he was blushing as he helped completely exasperated (and slightly squashed) kids get off the floor. Both of them immediately backed away to put some distance between them and prevent another tripping incident, making Eddie feel even more like an idiot for freaking out so much.

He knew that Dr. Kafka was a very tactile person, so she probably didn't mean anything by it, but Eddie just couldn't get the alternate timeline out of his head. The mere thought of having a relationship with her was just… unbelievably awkward.

Seriously, how did their alternate versions end up together? They had absolutely nothing in common! Certainly not like Eddie and V did.

Dr. Kafka looked bemused by his reaction, though at least she wasn't stifling a laugh like Spider-Man was.

Eddie opened his jaws, revealing his face again in the hopes that it would make his words more convincing. "Please, don't touch me like this, Dr. Kafka. We're not friends. All we've ever been to each other are a therapist and a patient. And while you have helped me to come to some important realizations, you have also constantly dismissed my opinions and tried to convince me that my experiences weren't real. I won't hold it against you – god knows I've made worse mistakes myself – but I don't trust you. I can't."

"…I understand," Dr. Kafka whispered with a guilty expression. "I apologize for overstepping my bounds." Her gaze flickered to Leslie and Carnage. "But I'm glad you have people that you do trust and care about."

Eddie smiled softly. "Wouldn't know what to do without them," he admitted.

"See? You can make new friends and find real companionship. You don't need the symbiote."

His smile turned bitter. "Didn't you just say that you're glad I have people I care about?" He looked between Kafka and Connors. "This is what both of you don't get. V is a person too! Sure, they're not human, but they still have thoughts and feelings. And yes, they've made mistakes before, but they're not some evil corrupting force! Hell, if anything, I'm the one who corrupted them with my fixation on revenge!"

When Connors tried to interrupt, Eddie glared him down, "And don't even start on those tests again! You're just refusing to see the truth."

Dr. Connors stubbornly lifted his chin, "Then what is the truth?"

Their jaws snapped shut. "You really want to know? Fine, we'll tell you."

Peter listened to the brief rundown of Klyntar biology, silently nodding along. With everything he now knew, it made a lot more sense than the original assumptions. The symbiote hadn't been trying to consume him or hurt him in any way. They had only wanted to help him in their own way, binding to his cells to make him stronger.

When the explanation was finished, Dr. Connors looked contemplative, digesting the new information.

"What happened to that piece of you?" Peter wondered.

"I assume it's dead," V said uncaringly. "It's been months."

Peter raised an eyebrow, "And it doesn't bother you?"

"Why should it? Does it bother you that some of your blood cells die when you get a papercut?"

Well, he supposed that was one way of looking at it.

"Actually…" Dr. Connors interrupted. "The fragment is still alive."

He walked towards one of the cabinets and took out a glass container that had the piece of the symbiote trapped inside.

"How did it survive for so long?" V asked incredulously.

"I gave it nutrients and changed environmental conditions until I found the ones that suited it better," Dr. Connors said. "But it's still been getting less and less active over time."

"Of course it did. It can't live on its own," V said bluntly. "Give it back."

Dr. Connors wavered slightly, but handed over the container. V opened it and pressed the tip of one claw to the fragment, reabsorbing it into their mass.

"How does this work?" Peter asked curiously. "Do you have the memories of that piece now?"

"What? No, it didn't have the ability to think or store memories in any way. It was just biomass driven by instinct."

Peter rubbed his chin in thought. "Huh. I always assumed that all your cells were identical. Does this mean that you do actually have something like a central nervous system?"

They nodded. "It's more… distributed than human brain, but Klyntar do have specialized cells that contain our consciousness."

"And that's why this fragment didn't grow into a new symbiote, right?"

"Yes. A symbiote cannot be born without a seed from which a new consciousness can develop. And even then, it has to be a deliberate process."

"So you can't just cut off a piece with this seed inside and make a baby symbiote from it?" Peter asked. V glared at him and Peter hastily raised his hands, "Just curious!"

"…I suppose it's not completely impossible, but it's highly improbable. Such fragment wouldn't be able to properly bond with a host right away and it would be too fragile to survive on its own long enough to develop into its own person."

"But with some specialized care–" Dr. Connors began.

"Enough! We're not some lab rat for you to experiment on!" V snapped.

"And you're doing it again," Eddie pointed out. "Treating V like some animal to study, instead of a person."

Dr. Connors lowered his head. "You're right. I apologize."

"That's all it comes down to, you know," Eddie continued, sounding more tired than angry. "V is my friend and partner, and I care about them, just as they care about me. We want to stay bonded because we like each other, that's all."

After a few seconds of silence, Carnage awkwardly raised their hand. "Um… That goes for us too, by the way. We like being the way we are."

They squirmed under scrutiny when everyone's attention turned to them. Connors and Kafka in particular looked like they had completely forgotten about the second human-Klyntar duo.

"I'm sorry for ignoring you. You call yourself Carnage, don't you?" Dr. Kafka asked softly, stepping closer to them.

They nodded cautiously in response.

"I have spoken to Eddie before, but I don't know anything about you," she continued. "I'd like to get to know you better and see your real face."

Cameron stared incredulously at Dr. Kafka, feeling too weirded-out to even stay in sync with Carrie. Did she seriously just ask him to reveal his identity to her? They barely even knew each other!

What else did she want? The number of his bank account? The key to his apartment?

And yeah, sure, one could say that Cameron had trusted Leslie, V, and Eddie far too easily before, but he knew enough about them through Carrie's memories to make an informed choice.

Kafka was a complete stranger. If anything, what little Cameron knew about her showed that she was prone to snap judgements and rush decisions. No way in hell was he going to tell her anything about himself or show his face! His and Carrie's combined name and their transformed state was all she was getting out of them.

"Our only name is Carnage and this is the only face you will ever see!" they proclaimed together.

Cameron immediately cringed at how that came out. He heard Leslie chortle at the overdramatic line, though she valiantly tried to stifle the sound with her scarf, and he was pretty sure that Spider-Man was trying not to laugh as well.

Jeez, what the hell came over him? His friend Tim was usually the one who tended to go into downright Shakespearian monologues when he got in character during their D&D sessions. Then again, Cameron had always been prone to putting his foot in his mouth when he got nervous and he had one hell of a day already.

Dr. Kafka looked at them with… sadness?

"I'm sorry you had to go through something so traumatic, it left you feeling the need to project a violent image and hide your true self behind a monstrous facade. There are better ways to cope with traumatic experiences, and I could help you with it if you want."

…What.

No, seriously, what?!

How the hell did she even come to this conclusion?!

"But that's just how I look!" Carrie whined mentally, too bewildered to speak out loud.

Leslie howled with laughter, clutching onto Venom's arm for support. "Yes, Carnage, please, tell us your dark and tragic backstory!"

Carrie solidified and detached a piece of themself small enough to easily regenerate and Cameron chucked it at Leslie in frustration, the same way he would throw dice at Ricky whenever his friend derailed another game with his off-topic ramblings.

The piece met its target, and Leslie pressed the back of her hand to her forehead like a fainting damsel. "Oh, no! The violence!"

"I understand that your job gave you a very… specific perspective, but you're making assumptions once again, Dr. Kafka," Venom pointed out, wrapping one arm around Leslie's shoulders in a silent demand to stop this nonsense.

"Also, asking him to remove his mask so soon?" Spider-Man added. "At least take him out for dinner first."

Dr. Kafka looked taken aback: she clearly hadn't realized what exactly she was asking from him.

Cameron uncomfortably rubbed his left arm. "Listen, Dr. Kafka… The last time we met, things didn't go so well for us, so excuse me if I don't want to reveal my identity to someone I don't really know or trust. And since I have no idea where to even start with everything else you got wrong, can we please stop talking about us and get to the actual point of this meeting?!"

Once they had finally managed to get back on track, Dr. Kafka told them everything she had found in Kasady's prison files. It wasn't anything they hadn't guessed already from the information Madame Web had provided, but it did confirm a few things.

Kasady and Barrison had met as kids, barely into their teenage years, and immediately clicked together as fellow outcasts. A few years down the line, they had escaped from the reform school and went on the run, committing petty theft to get money.

But as they grew older, they had moved on to more serious crimes. And while Barrison had only seemed interested in making profit and having fun (her favorite crime was grand theft auto, apparently), Kasady had developed a taste for torture and murder, soon graduating into a full-on serial killer.

They had been caught, eventually, and for well over a decade both Kasady and Barrison remained in prison. Then a completely unrelated prison break happened, and Kasady managed to escape in the chaos.

He lied low for a while, but eventually resurfaced when he had gruesomely murdered the warden of the same prison where Barrison had been held. He had written on the wall in warden's blood, "This rotten world has taken the last ray of light. It is time to embrace the eternal night."

Apparently, Kasady fancied himself a poet.

The next time he reappeared, he had been wearing enough explosives to blow up an entire building block, which Peter had barely managed to prevent.

He could fill in the rest. Kasady wanted to free Barrison, but whatever happened to her, even the prison warden thought that she had died. (Which was highly suspicious and something Peter should probably look into once the current disaster was dealt with.)

Convinced that the love of his life was dead, Kasady had tried to commit suicide. Of course, being a murderous psychopath, he had also wanted to take as many people with him as possible.

He was caught again, thanks to Peter, and sent to Ravencroft Sanitarium, getting involved in this mess through sheer accident, simply because Mordo needed a pawn. Except Kasady was too willful (and too unhinged) to control, hence why instead of working to free Dormammu, he was more interested in breaking Barrison out of prison.

"This still doesn't tell us how to beat him," Leslie grumbled. "Should we try to take Barrison hostage or something?"

It was a very… pragmatic suggestion, but whatever worked.

"I do have one idea," Dr. Connors said. He opened a small storage closet and rolled out a gas tank, "Liquid nitrogen. Negative 320 degrees and impossible to burn. I usually use it to prepare and store samples, but I think it should work in a pinch against a fire-powered maniac." He winced slightly. "Don't know how I'm going to explain its disappearance though. It's the property of the lab, not something I bought with my personal money."

Peter sighed. "Just tell everyone that I broke in and stole it. My reputation is already in shambles. Can't make it worse."

He questioned the wisdom of lugging around the heavy tank (even with his strength it would seriously impact his mobility), but with no better options…

"Still, it will only work as a one-off attack," Carnage pointed out. "If we can't take out the gem until he reignites, we're screwed."

"Iron Man and War Machine might be able to help with that," Peter said. "I was planning to contact them after this."

"We need to share information with them anyway," Venom agreed.

"But let's not forget about Mordo," Leslie interrupted. "Even if we deal with Inferno, what's stopping him from finding a new pawn? If we don't take him down, Mordo will just keep trying to set Dormammu free."

"Can't do anything on that front until we know where he's hiding," Peter sighed. "Which is another reason we should go to Stark Industries."

Carnage groaned, "Another meeting? We want this day to be over already!"

Peter laughed and patted their shoulder, "Welcome to the hero life, buddy."

But as the planning session continued, Peter still found himself wondering uneasily what Kasady was doing right now.

And how many people were now dead because of him.