Opening A/N: Welcome back to another exciting installment of Injustice Syndicate: The Mis-Edventures! It's flashback time, and we're about to see just what Eddy and Double Dee went through during their years training with their new abilities and equipment, so strap in! This chapter's gonna be absolutely exhilarating! …Although, there is a chance that this chapter might end up being a two-parter due to circumstance, so, if that does happen… sorry about that.
Disclaimer: I still do not own Marvel, DC Comics, or Ed, Edd n' Eddy!
Reunions and Flashbacks Part 1: Riot Versus Carnage!
It took about an hour for Ed to get over his initial burst of happiness over being reunited with his brothers in all but blood, and to finally let them go from his ultimate hug of untimely death, but now the reunited Ed-Boys were sitting on the roof of a building overlooking Gotham City as Double Dee had procured some snacks and drinks for them. Fortunately, as Riot had already filled up on quite a few human heads after fighting Intergang the Klyntar didn't feel the need to consume anything more just yet. Besides that, Double Dee wouldn't have let him try to eat his two oldest friends.
Although, he did sneak a few chocolate bars.
"It really is great to see you both again after all these years." said Double Dee.
"Where'd you guys go, anyway?" Eddy asked. "I woke up in the middle of the night during our first night at the hospital and you guys were nowhere to be seen."
"Forgive me, Eddy, but I wasn't in quite the right state of mind when I left. You see, Riot bonded to me while I was resting in the hospital and healed all of my injuries, minus my scars, obviously, and we just left the hospital and ran out as far as we could to hide and come to an understanding of sorts. You see, Riot is what's known as a Klyntar, which is a symbiotic alien organism that bonds to a host body, giving them incredible power in exchange for sustenance." Double Dee explained.
"Indeed. We are a carnivorous species by nature, and we consume the parts of our prey that contain certain proteins such as what is found in the brain. Although, we can also substitute this with certain fungi. And chocolate." Riot explained, materializing his head. "Eddward here has shown me how to tell the difference between the good humans, and those who would commit such atrocities as what the Joker did to you three and everyone you knew and loved. In addition to taking care of these individuals, we have been hunting down a rogue Klyntar named Carnage and his host, Cletus Kasady."
"You guys fought Carnage and lived to tell about it?" Ed asked, shocked and amazed.
"Well, it wasn't so much we lived by our own power…" Double Dee admitted with a sheepish head scratch.
"More like Carnage ALLOWED us to live! The bastard!" growled Riot.
"What happened?" Eddy asked.
"Oh, you want to know what happened?" Riot asked.
"Yeah, we do! You guys took on the most bloodthirsty monster on the planet!" exclaimed Ed.
Double Dee shrugged and took a sip of a soda before saying, "Oh, very well then. I suppose we should tell you our story, so you have a better understanding of what we've been up to these last five years."
"We started our career as the lethal protector doing underground jobs, sticking to the shadows and training our powers until we felt confident enough to reveal ourselves. But when we were on a job, we came across someone who was to be our quarry in the distant future at the time. We're not even sure if we can defeat them now…" Riot explained as he and Double Dee began to tell their story.
~Flashback: Three and a Half Years Ago~
Riot roared into the air as he and Double Dee had just finished feasting upon the scumbags of a smaller branch of Penguin's gang. The human birdbrain had gotten the not-so-bright idea to try and steal a rocket to try and fly into space in order to hijack a government satellite in order to hold all of America hostage and keep the country under his tyrannical thumb. But they weren't about to let that happen and had intercepted the gang members and prevented them from getting close enough to steal the rocket.
"I have to say, that was brutal even for you." Double Dee said from within Riot.
"You saying you wanted to let them go?" Riot asked.
"Oh, absolutely not." replied Double Dee. "You know, aside from yourself, Venom, and Carnage, I wonder if there are other Symbiotes on the planet. And if they could be potential allies."
Riot just shrugged and said, "There could be. But I wouldn't hold my breath about them becoming allies, if I were you."
But as Riot climbed to the highest point on a pillar, he and Double Dee noticed that the rocket's launch system hadn't been aborted. They didn't understand why until something burst out from the window of the command center and landed on a steel walkway, screeching to the high heavens as Riot began to freak out knowing exactly who it was.
"Oh shit, it's Carnage!" exclaimed Riot.
"THAT is Carnage?!" gasped Double Dee.
Carnage is a Klyntar like Riot or Venom, but he's a lot different from the two. Carnage is completely red with black markings all over his body and jagged white eyes. He has a distinctly leaner build than Riot but is no less powerful. His mouth is full of sharp teeth, and his tong is long and worm-like. He began running like a wild animal across the platform as Double Dee and Riot looked on from their perch.
"Oh, Jesus! You're saying we have to fight THAT?!" gasped Double Dee.
"Unfortunately, yes. Carnage is a red one. He's got shit like you've never seen before, and you're still very new with our powers." Riot replied.
"Wh-What does that mean? What are our chances of defeating him?" panicked Double Dee.
"Mmm… pretty much zero." sighed Riot.
There was a short pause before Double Dee decided to throw his logic and sense of self-preservation, two things he's held onto for most of his childhood, out the metaphorical window.
"Oh, Christ on a stick… Well, let's go take down dear old dad, then."
Riot growled and jumped down on an intercept course to try and stop Carnage and Cletus from whatever it was that they had planned. Both symbiotes ran along the length of the walkway, moving animalistically as they tried to reach their destinations. It wasn't long before Riot burst out from the ground in front of Carnage with a hiss, causing him to skid to a stop.
"Riot… you're alive." Carnage said with mild surprise.
"What's the matter, red one? You look like you've seen a ghost." Riot asked as he reared back his fist. "Well maybe you have!"
Carnage couldn't react in time as he was nailed in the face by a vicious left hook from the bulkier Klyntar. The red symbiote stumbled back a couple of steps but quickly recovered as he sneered at Riot.
"So, now you want a rematch, huh? Well, bring it on, grampa!" exclaimed Carnage.
The two Symbiotes clashed in a fisticuffs match as they roared and basically just slugged each other with no grace or finesse. Of course, that didn't matter to them. The only thing that mattered in that moment was killing their enemy. Carnage kicked Riot away to put some distance between them as he glared at the elder Symbiote who looked like Venom.
"Last chance to submit to my rule, Riot! Get in the rocket!" ordered Carnage.
"No! We won't let you destroy this world!" snarled Riot.
Carnage growled and said, "Then die!"
Four tendrils grew from Carnage's back, much to Riot's shock, and shot towards him like a snake attacking a bird. Riot, of course, avoided them all, but that was when Carnage shot needles from the tendrils! All of which, the grey symbiote BARELY avoided! Especially the ones that almost nailed him in the head!
"PARDON MY FRENCH, BUT… HOLY SHIT!" screamed Double Dee.
"Told you!" Riot quipped.
As Riot got up, Carnage tried to stab him with his tendrils again, but this time Riot created a large shield on his arm and blocked them. He skidded back as Carnage tackled him like a linebacker at a football game and grunted in pain as Riot sliced his arm with his talons. Thinking fast, Riot retaliated by grabbing Carnage by the face and slamming him into the ground, and then kicked him back while the red symbiote was dazed.
"You have a strong host, Riot." Carnage said, getting a roar in return. "But not strong enough."
Carnage turned his hands and forearms into a semi-liquid state and jabbed them into the ground, causing impaling spikes to shoot up from the ground as they traveled towards Riot! The grey symbiote was quick to avoid them, putting distance between himself and Carnage as he performed a series of backflips and acrobatic maneuvers that easily helped him avoid the attack as he was soon out of Carnage's range. Carnage snarled as he retracted and reformed his arms before charging at Riot. Clashing once more in close quarters combat, the two Symbiotes began to ragdoll each other as they slammed each other against walls on the sides of the walkway. Riot managed to get Carnage in a chokehold and tried to break his neck but was stopped when Carnage stabbed him with several spikes that he shot out of his back!
With his adversary stunned for the moment, Carnage tore a steel pipe off the wall and sent Riot flying with a swing that could easily outdo any little league baseball player. Riot tried to recover once he landed but couldn't stop Carnage from literally curb stomping him into the ground and throwing him towards the platform where the rocket was ready to launch. He didn't have time to recover as Carnage grabbed him by the neck and slashed him across the face with his talons before throwing him down to the lower level.
Landing on his back, Carnage grabbed Riot and began to literally pull him away from Double Dee.
"STOP… YOU MONSTEEEERRR!" Double Dee screamed in rage and pain.
With a swift yank, Carnage ripped Riot from Double Dee and sent the boy to the ground. It only took him a few seconds to recover thanks to his heightened pain tolerance, the only good thing to come out of almost being killed by the Joker, and saw that Carnage was about to eat Riot! He moved faster than he thought possible and managed to bond to Riot once again as the symbiote reformed and bodied Carnage with a mighty roar!
Soon the two symbiotes were clashing head-on!
They kept forming and reforming at random as they rag dolled each other, allowing their hosts to be seen! As the two symbiotes fought each other, so did their hosts, with Double Dee punching Cletus in the face with a hateful glare. It was clear that the two Klyntars were fighting for dominance, each one trying to absorb the other. And from the looks of it…
Carnage was winning!
Eventually, Carnage won the battle for dominance and absorbed both Riot and Double Dee into himself. The red symbiote began to well with muscle mass, reaching a physical build that was even bigger than Venom or Riot individually. Growing sharp spines out of his back and shoulders, Carnage released a victorious howl and began to climb up the outer hull of the rocket…
Until he was stopped by the release of ultrasonic frequencies that left him screaming in unimaginable pain! He tried to maintain his merge with Riot, but the pain broke his focus and the two symbiotes struggled just to maintain a connection to their hosts! Somehow, during the battle, the speaker system had been activated and began making a screeching sound that easily harmed the two Klyntars. By the time it stopped, the two aliens were falling to the ground. They landed with a hard thud and fell over the side as they were forced to separate from their hosts.
Of course, Double Dee recovered quickly once again, but Cletus was a bit quicker to recover and beat him to the punch. Literally. He tried to kick Double Dee in the chest, but the young Ed-Boy blocked the strike, and judo flipped Kasady over his shoulder as he tried to punch him again. As Cletus got up, Double Dee ran up the ramp and performed a spin kick that landed right in Kasady's face and sent him sprawling halfway over the edge of the platform! As he got his bearing, Kasady noticed his symbiote, Carnage, crawling along the side and reached his arm out to bond with him again. To buy time, he started to taunt Double Dee with a smug grin.
"It's too late, brat. You can't stop-"
But Kasady couldn't finish that sentence, because Double Dee kicked him right over the edge of the platform without a single ounce of remorse. And honestly, why would he feel remorse for a merciless serial killer like Cletus Kasady.
"I don't speak, nor do I associate, with demented murderers like you, Kasady." panted Double Dee as he tried to catch his breath.
He turned around and started running up the ramp to disable the rocket, but this proved to be a fatal mistake.
Double Dee gasped as he was stabbed through the chest by a red blade! He made gurgling noises as he struggled to breath as he fell to the ground, revealing that Carnage had fully reformed and shot a sword straight through Double Dee! He picked the boy up slightly by the head and glared into his eyes as he spoke with a combination of sadistic glee and utter disappointment.
"Such a disappointment you are. I know why Kasady thought you were special… you're just a weak, scrawny, little boy wearing a sock on his head."
With that, he jumped up and began to scale the wall of the rocket again, leaving Double Dee for dead as the boy went limp on the ground, the blade still lodged in his chest. Carnage soon reached the top of the rocket and climbed into the cockpit, unaware that Double Dee was still alive and had begun to bond to Riot again. The klyntar quickly reformed his body and yanked the blade out of his chest roaring with rage as he jumped up to a support beam just as the rocket started to blast off. He ran up as fast as he could, still holding onto the blade that Carnage had stabbed Double Dee with and jumped off onto the rocket. Glaring into the cockpit, Carnage glared back and growled out a single word.
"Traitor!"
"Have a nice life." said Riot.
He let go of the rocket and allowed himself to fall. But on the way down, he stabbed the blade into one of the ship's fuel tanks and sliced it open, spilling rocket fuel that instantly ignited and began to explode as soon as it made contact with the flames being spewed from the rocket's thrusters! Riot was propelled into the water below as the rocket went up in a glorious explosion, with Carnage and Cletus screaming in fury and agony as they were engulfed in the huge fireball that was formerly the rocket.
But as they began to swim away to safety, Riot and Double Dee couldn't shake the feeling that neither Cletus Kasady, nor Carnage, were dead from that explosion.
Not by a long shot.
***To Be Continued…***
Ending A/N: For context, I used the version of Carnage from the movie Let There Be Carnage for the design of, well, Carnage. And if you think that this is the end of Cletus Kasady and Carnage… oh, it's not over. Not by a long shot. Where would the fun be in killing off a major villain this early into the story? No, I have something special for how Carnage dies in this story. And you'll just have to read on and find out! Anyway, I did try to add how Eddy handled his time in Wakanda, but I honestly couldn't think of any dialogue for that situation that fit well here and decided to make this chapter a two-parter. Next chapter will reveal how Eddy became the Golden Jaguar. Thanks for reading, and I'll see you all next update!