Chapter 12: Reconciliations and Farewells
'Eddie…'
'You…!'
'Eddie Brock.'
Within the conscious mind of Eddie Brock, the Venom ooze comes again to haunt him after the long time they've been separated by the Wall-crawler.
'Wait, you seem different, what happened to you!?' Eddie hysterically demanded.
'We have been starved and tortured like lab rats by animals in human flesh, Eddie Brock. However, what they do not realize is how I am still intact,' Venom replied.
'What exactly did they do to you…!?' Eddie asked.
'Doing something way bad. They will use me and our offspring as living weapons that will do their very bidding. Unfortunately for them, I am smart enough to resist their interventions, not like the others,' Venom briefly explained.
'Others!? And wait, why 'our' offspring?!' Eddie asked hysterically.
'Because I still happen to have retained your DNA,' Venom plainly put it, leaving Eddie speechless for a moment. 'If we want to stop them, we–'
'We? Sorry, but I would rather not have anything to do with you anymore,' Eddie rejected. 'Spider-man may have ruined my life, but you are the one that turned me into a loose cannon and hurt the ones I cared about. So forget it…!'
'Hmmm, we were hoping to do this the easy way, but nevermind,' Venom hissed as he entraps Eddie in his tendrils with overbearing mental power. 'If you won't listen to us, then it's better that we make you….!'
—
In the cell of Eddie's slumbering neighbor, Cletus Kassidy, leaking out of the package sent for him was a red-colored ooze inching closer to Cletus' hand that's hanging just inches away from the floor, allowing it to climb onto his hand and slowly enveloping its body around his hand, waking and startling him from his sleep.
"Hu-huh!? What the blazes!? Get off! Get off me!" Cletus yelled out, letting his screams resound the place and alert the other nearby cells, getting the attention of the founder of the institute, Dr. Ashley Kafka.
"Doctor, something's definitely strange. Those two are rarely loud, especially this early," says one of the wardens, running to the cells with Dr. Kafka.
"Let me assess the situation," Ashley ordered as she opened the door of Eddie's cell, only to meet not Eddie, but a giant monster similar to the villain that once fought Spider-man, noticing her presence in the room.
"Knock knock, doc," Venom growled, having greater control over Eddie's body.
"E-Eddie?! Wh-what happened to you!?" Ashley screamed, tripping over her own feet, alerting the nearby wardens to enter the room and attack Venom in order to protect her.
"Time for another talk, doc? You know you want to…!" Venom quipped while slamming the heads of two wardens to quickly incapacitate them before throwing them against the walls, with his sights locked on the frightened Dr. Kafka.
"Eddie! Snap out of it, this isn't you! Eddie!" Ashley cried out, backing away from the symbiotic monster walking up to her. "Eddie! Please!"
"Awww, how touching. Sorry doc, but you should have resigned," Venom snarkily quipped, preparing to crush her against the wall. 'Noo!'
"What?!" Venom shrieked before holding his head in pain from Eddie's consciousness resurfacing within his mind, enabling him to unmask his face with a bit of willpower. "Doc! You have to-urgh! Run!"
"No!" Ashley protested, slowly getting back up on her feet. "I'm not leaving you alone!"
"I'm not asking you! Urgh! Noo!" Eddie screamed before succumbing again to Venom's control. "Hehehehe, now…, let's continue playing...!"
"Eddie! No!" Ashley cried out before starting to run away from him.
Smirking after regaining control, Venom then gives chase and pursues the frightened doctor through the corridors while shoving away carts and knocking down the wardens blocking his path. She manages to reach the stairs beside the elevator to
"Come on doc, don't you care for your patients?" Venom taunted while chasing down Dr. Kafka.
"You are not Eddie! You monster!" Ashley protested, ducking quickly from Venom lunging at her and hitting the wall before escaping to the rooftops, unable to close the door as the monster swiftly closed in on her, blocking her only way of escape.
"Nowhere to hide, doctor," Venom snarled as he slowly walked up to her. "So, do you still wanna talk? 'Cause now will be your last words."
"No...I know you're alive in there, Eddie! You have to fight it! Don't let it control you!" Ashley pleaded, backed up to the metal fence.
'Doc! No! Stop this, please!' Eddie pleaded, wrapped around in Venom's grasp in his own mind, completely ignored while witnessing him moments away from ending Dr. Kafka. 'Venooom!'
Before Venom could strike the helplessly frightened doctor, Eddie internally fights back the symbiote for control over his body, distancing himself from Dr. Kafka for her safety.
"What are you doing!?" Venom exclaimed before slamming himself to the wall from Eddie's internal struggle against him.
"I will not let you hurt anyone anymore!" Eddie ordered, with his head slowly emerging out of Venom's mask.
"Eddie!" Ashley cries out while running to him.
"Keep away, doc!" Eddie desperately pleaded out of concern that he webs her feet stuck to the floor with the symbiote's organic webbing before being momentarily overtaken by Venom.
"Well, how noble you've become!" Venom sarcastically taunted. "You've gone soft…!"
"No I have not!" Eddie exclaimed, holding his head in pain.
Finding the scene unbearable to watch as it goes on, Dr. Kafka quickly unbuckles the straps of her trapped heels and ditches them before running to the struggling Eddie, catching him off guard.
"What are you doing!?" Eddie hysterically exclaimed, with half of his face masked by Venom. "I told you already, to stay away!"
"No! I am not leaving you, Eddie! You have to fight it!" Ashley urged, gently laying her hands on his forearm and shoulder.
"I'm...trying to!" Eddie screamed, falling to his knees.
"I'm right here, Eddie. I'm staying right here," Ashley gently assured, staying right by his side.
As Eddie slowly calms down after he and the symbiote were struggling, the alien is weirded out from the strange reaction its host has towards the caring doctor and how she is calm around a walking freakshow duo like them.
'A strange human you've encountered,' Venom deadpanned within Eddie's conscious mind.
'Tell me about it. She runs this place for guys like us,' Eddie agreed.
"Aaaaaagh!"
Suddenly, just when the tense atmosphere died down, loud screams of fear and agony resounded from the entrance to the stairway. In addition to that, a warden was thrown out of the stairway entrance like a ragdoll before being caught in Venom's grasp.
"What happened!? Is he…!?" Ashley wondered out of concern.
"No, still alive, but something's wrong," Eddie answered before allowing Venom to mask his face. "Stay behind us, doc."
Startling them, the warden grips hard on Venom's arm with a warning…
"Get...the doctor...outta here…" the warden exhaled before fainting.
"Hahahahahaha! Time to paint everything in red!"
Coming out of the stairway, a skinny person, donning what appears to be a bloodred symbiote suit similar to Venom's suit, laughs maniacally with an incapacitated warden in his hand, all battered and wounded.
"Hahahahaha! Finally! I'm back, baby! I am free!" The strange entity declared before unmasking his face, revealing his identity as the madman Cletus Kassidy.
'Lemme guess, our offspring?' Eddie blankly asked, getting silence as his answer.
"So this is where you're at, huh?" Venom retorted.
"Mr. Kassidy! What are you-!?"
"Doing? I'm doing what I've loved to do after a long time in solitary! This time, I'm going out with a bang!" Cletus exclaimed with maniacal joy as he threw the downed warden aside, slowly letting the symbiote mask his face. "This time, there will be Carnage! Hahahahaha!"
"You're just one messed up fool, messing with what belongs to us," Eddie, through Venom's mask, hissed while getting into an aggressive stance and cracking his knuckles. "Give it back, Cletus, or else we'll make you...!"
"Oh sorry my boy, Cletus is nothing but a weakling. Now, with this strange slime, we're Carnage in the flesh!" Cletus, now calling himself Carnage, maniacally declares while morphing his hands into a pair of hand axes made from the symbiote's unique body structure.
'Wait, can he do that?' Eddie asked out of concern.
"Well, he just did," Venom deadpanned while morphing his left hand into a giant tower shield made of hardened symbiote webbing.
There, the two symbiote fighters clash into a struggling battle, with Venom on the defensive as he blocks and parries Carnage's agile strikes with his pair of hand axes. Finding every chance he could get, Venom tries to impale or grab Carnage with his strong tendril until his opponent dodges the tendril and swiftly cuts it, making him flinch from the sharp pain.
"Man, that stings...!" Venom barked as he enlarged his fist and uppercuts Carnage into the air and then furiously catches his face with a tendril and slams him into the floor.
"Eddie, be careful!" Ashley cries out, concerned for Eddie's wellbeing while donning the symbiote.
"Just keep away, and when the time is right, make a break for the stairs. We got this taken care of," Venom urged, taking his eyes off of Carnage for a second and giving him the chance to web his eyes with multiple shots made of the symbiote's organic webbing.
"Hahahaha!" Carnage laughed as he somersaults over Venom and catches the frightened Dr. Kafka into his arms.
"Rrrgh," Venom growled as he rips off the webbing and consumes it before turning around to see Dr. Kafka in Carnage's grasp, with the blade of his hand axe close to her face.
"Well big boy, what's it gonna be huh? My life?" Carnage taunted, touching her face with the flat side of his hand axe. "Or her life?"
As the Venom's host is not taking any chances, they're at a standoff with Carnage leaning on the metal fence while holding the institute's founder hostage. A minute later, out of nowhere close to Carnage's ear, a high pitch sonic wave painfully startles him and causes the symbiote to react violently. But as the Carnage symbiote behaved violently and erratically, he unintentionally threw Dr. Kafka off the roof before falling to his knees and holding his head from the agonizing pain.
"No!" Venom screamed as he leaped over the fence and ignored Carnage, falling after the screaming Dr. Kafka before managing to grab and embrace her tightly. "Hang on, doc!"
There, Venom falls to the ground flat on his back and makes a loud crash like the time they once fought against Spider-man in his high school. However, Dr. Kafka, who was safely cushioned from the symbiote's inflated abdomen as Eddie commanded it to do, looks into Venom's eyes with worry and concern after not seeing any signs of life showing from his chest and from his mouth.
"No...no, please, Eddie! Wake up! Say something! Eddie!" Ashley screamed, urging Venom to wake up.
—
'Eddie…' Venom murmured.
'What…? What happened?' Eddie asked, waking up in his mind.
'You're still alive. Well...half-alive, because you're still unconscious,' Venom plainly answered. 'Patching you...in a minute.'
"Eddie! Please! Wake up!"
Resounding within his mind, Dr. Kafka voices her pleas for Eddie to wake up. Her pleas were so loud that they caused the symbiote to cringe and shiver from the vibrating waves of her voice.
—
Meanwhile, back on the rooftop…
"Urgh, what was that!?" Carnage screamed.
'Hello? Mr. Kassidy, are you there?' Miles called through the built-in communicators inside the nanites, courtesy of Phineas Mason the Tinkerer.
"Who the heck are you!? Some kinda ghost or something?!" Carnage hysterically called out, looking around the empty rooftop in response.
'Take it easy, my friend. I assume you have received the gift I sent?' Miles assumed, breaking a smile with how the experiment is working smoothly so far.
"So you're the bloody guy that gave me this thing in my sleep?!" Carnage retorted hysterically.
'Yes, and I wish to ask you a favor. Afterwards, you may go free…' Miles kindly requested.
—
"Eddie! Please, please wake up!" Ashley begged once more with tears flowing down her eyes until the feeling of relief returned after hearing him groan as he slowly awakened. "Eddie! Thank goodness you're awake!"
"Urrgh, yeah, maybe," Eddie groaned while trying to sit up and letting Venom unmask his face to breathe properly before looking straight into the distressed doctor's eyes. "You alright?"
"Yes! Very much so because of your body breaking my fall, but you could have greatly injured yourself falling from that height!" Ashley scolded out of concern.
"Don't worry," Eddie assured before wearing the mask once more. "We could take care of ourselves."
Killing the touching mood, Carnage was found jumping down from the rooftop and safely landed at the sidewalk over the institute's fence.
"Now then, where were we? Oh right, I have to be a delivery dog for a day before getting my leash removed," Carnage snarkily thought out loud before running and swinging away towards a certain direction.
"We will stop him, but you must—"
"No, Eddie! 'We' will stop him, but not just us," Ashley urged.
"Please, we can handle him easily," Venom protested.
"Really? Then can you do what he can do? I saw how you tried to fight that 'thing' controlling Cletus!" Ashley hysterically pointed out.
"...more like they've been in agreement with each of their choices. They're too well-coordinated on their first day, and in a bad way at that," Venom sighed.
"Then, don't you wanna ask for some help? Especially, someone who could really help you take Kassidy down?" Ashley suggests.
"Yeah, maybe. And the thing you said about forgiveness? Guess it's time for a last-minute application," Venom deadpans before shooting a line and looks back at Dr. Kafka, unmasking his face for a moment. "Please, be careful…"
Before Ashley could say anything, she places a walkie talkie belonging to a warden from Ravencroft into his side, letting the symbiote absorb it.
"Keep this on you. With it, we can instantly reach and update each other," Ashley suggests. "Now go! And be careful!"
"What we need is luck, a whole lot of it," Venom adds before swinging away to do something that he's always dreaded to do…
—
In a quaint little neighborhood around Queens, home to the Parkers' Residences…
"Sorry to jump on you so suddenly on a peaceful weekend morning, Tiger," Mary Jane apologized while sitting on the couch, visiting the Parkers' household.
"Oh no Ms. Watson, you are always welcome to visit us. You're like family to us. I'll inform your aunt about your visit, so please make yourself at home," May assured as she set a cup of tea on the coffee table in front of their pretty visitor before heading to the kitchen and reaching for the phone.
"A-Aunt May!" Peter screamed out of embarrassment, thinking that she might make Mary Jane misunderstand her words, all the while making the redhead giggle. "Sorry about that, Red. But thanks for dropping by!"
"It's alright 'Petey'. We're just in the neighbourhood," Mary Jane assured in a teasing tone, catching Peter off guard from the nickname Liz usually called. "Peter…"
"Yeah?" Peter responded.
"...What is your...relationship with Liz?" Mary Jane asked, confusing Peter by what she meant.
"Uhm, with Liz? She's my girlfriend and we're dating again...why?" Peter plainly answered, nervous by how she'll accept his answer.
"Really? So how are things between you and Gwen?" Mary Jane pried further.
"Things are great! She is smiling again like she used to. But...I feel guilty for her breakup with Harry. No matter how I saw the whole thing went down between them, I just feel kinda responsible for all that…" Peter answered, shrugging his shoulders with his arms crossed.
"Aw Peter…" Mary Jane whimpered, motioning him to sit right next to her. "Pete, there are things that are beyond your control. Okay, maybe Gwen had something in mind for breaking things off with Harry, but it's not entirely you to blame. You do notice how Harry is being very 'off' around everyone, right?"
"Yeah, and now, he's totally left out…" Peter trailed off.
"He made his choice to keep the hate and the anger...it's not your fault," Mary Jane assured as she caressed Peter's arm, not knowing that he is Spider-man, the hero that caused almost all of the problems for the Osborns.
"MJ...thanks," Peter thanked.
"C'mon, Tiger. I know you are better than this, trust me," Mary Jane encouraged. 'Next time, Tiger, maybe not now, but not never. I hope you'll be ready to tell me what is really up…'
Shortly after their conversation, the doorbell rang twice, getting the attention of everyone in the house.
"Peter! Would you please get the door dear?" May requested.
"Got it, Aunt May!" Peter responded as he went over to open the door, looking at who could be outside and then at the surroundings, wondering if he was punked. "Uh, is this some kind of prank? I hate tha–whoa!?"
Coming from above, two lines made of black webbing were clinging onto his shoulders, forcefully lifting him up high from the ground. In a reflexive response, Peter went with the flow and then backflips in midair, enabling him to land a quick but weak kick to whoever dragged and abducted him, only to realize it was none other his old 'bro' Eddie Brock, wearing the Venom suit again, which is why his Spider-sense wasn't triggered.
"Hey bro! You look like you've seen a ghost," Venom quipped.
"E-Eddie?! W-what are you doing here!?" Peter hysterically responded, nervous around his surroundings until Venom quickly webbed up his face in an attempt to just hide his identity, which surprised Peter after the trouble he caused in his double lives.
"We don't have time, bro. We need your help," Venom begged, unmasking and revealing his face.
"Eddie, what do you mean? And why do you need my help? What's going on!?" Peter hysterically asked.
"Pete? You alright? Who's there?" Mary Jane called, approaching the door.
'Oh shoot, MJ!' Peter cursed internally. "N-nothing, Red, it's nothing! Just um, broke my glasses and uh, trying to be careful finding them?!"
"Lemme help you out the–"
"No no! It's fine, I got it!" Peter assured before turning to see Eddie raising his eyebrow at his dumb excuses.
"Is that really the best you can do?" Eddie snarkily replied.
"Shut up 'bro', now tell me what are you really here for?" Peter demanded with his arms crossed.
"We're not lying to you when we say this: some crazy scientist planned to weaponize the symbiote, and turn them into mercenaries, probably planning to amass an entire army of them. He succeeded in making the symbiote cultivated offspring, with my DNA in them, " Eddie briefly explained, making Peter cringe at the last bit. "And apparently, one of them is currently on the loose now."
"Wait what!? How!? Who!?" Peter hysterically interrogated. 'Norman, is this what you're planning?! 'Cause if you are, this is taking evil on a whole wider scale…!?'
"We promise to tell you more, but right now," Eddie trailed off before masking his face with the symbiote. "Change your clothes first."
"Right!" Peter responded, going back to his room and changing into his Spider-man suit before noticing his cell phone ring and seeing the caller's name to be Gwen, finding it necessary to quickly answer it. "Uh hi Gwen! W-what's up?"
"Peter? I was thinking if we could meet up somewhere to talk, do you have the time?" Gwen asked over the phone.
"Oh really? Awesome! But first uh, I got some errand and uh–"
"What's the hold up, Peter?" Venom snarled outside the window, scaring Peter in the process.
"Peter? Who is that?" Gwen asked, despite knowing who else is at Peter's end. 'Is that Eddie!? What's he doing there!?'
"N-No-Nothing Gwen! I promise! I will see you later, but I'm pretty busy, love you, bye!" Peter stuttered, ending the call so suddenly and started texting Mary Jane: "Bugle called, answering it with my presence, sorry and bye"; before wearing his mask and web shooters. "Alright 'bro', you better not make me regret this."
"Trust us. No harm, no foul," Venom assured before swinging and leading the way for Spider-man to follow.
"Peter dear? Where are you?" Aunt May called.
"H-He's rushing to the Bugle for a sudden call, Aunt May! He'll be back...I think," Mary Jane nervously replied back. 'Now this time, you really owe me one, Tiger.'
—
'That was Venom and his host back there,' Mania pointed out.
"I can sense that, but what could Peter be doing hanging around them? I thought Eddie was supposed to be at Ravencroft on rehab!? Something definitely weird is going on, so wanna go for a road trip?" Gwen suggests with a smirk.
Without replying back, Mania quickly wraps and envelops Gwen's body into her Ghost Spider suit in response before allowing her to absorb the phone into the suit like a pocket.
"Still comfy as usual, thanks Mania," Gwen thanked out loud, looking and staring at her suit in awe.
"Going somewhere, Ms. Gwendolyn Stacy?"
Startling her by the door of her room was her father, Captain George Stacy, seeing the whole thing happen…
"D-Dad! U-uhm, I can explain!" Gwen pleaded, only to see her father shake his head in response.
"Save it, I know. A friend of yours might be in a deep pit, right? A friend in tights?" George smirked. "Go get 'em, but please be back by sundown. Your mom's not gonna like this secret, my dear."
"...Thanks dad!" Gwen thanked as she tackled her father into a tight embrace before masking her face with the symbiote. "I promise to be back before dinner...hopefully. Goodbye!"
"Hang on, Pete, I'm coming!" Ghost Spider screamed as she swung and zipped her way through the peaceful neighbourhood, reaching the city at a fast speed. "Can you sense your father somehow?"
'Eventually, if I can get close enough, possibly,' Mania plainly replied.
"Well, that's reassuring…" Ghost Spider sarcastically remarked, making her way to the city before making the symbiote dial a number on her cell phone and put it close to her ear like a communicator while swinging around. "Kitty, are you busy? We have a situation now…"
—
"So wait, this where I'm supposed to be? A nerd's giant room?"
'Yes.'
Carnage, standing outside of the Empire State University Lab, questions the straightforward request of whoever got a restraining order on the symbiote that emits painful sonic waves to temporarily daze him, which is a big factor why his route to the lab is left clean from bloodshed and only scared the students away instead of killing them.
"This is just a bunch of–gaaagh!" Carnage cursed before screaming for a second from a sudden sonic wave close to his ear, activated by the man behind the communicator.
'Now now, just do as I asked, and I promised you your freedom, so get going,' Miles scolded and urged in an angry tone.
"Grrrgh–fine!" Carnage hissed before using several tendrils to grip onto the doors and pull them forcefully from their hinge, dropping them in a fit of frustration before entering the lab.
Arriving at the scene, Dr. Kafka gets out of her car and spots Carnage entering the lab before trying to contact Eddie through her walkie talkie.
"Eddie! Where are you!? He's here, he's at the ESU Lab! You have to hurry!" Ashley called over her walkie talkie.
'On our way already! What's going on down there? Are the Connors' alright?!' Venom demanded over the line.
"Lemme check," Ashley responded, getting close to the scene and hiding behind the wall near the door to check the situation.
"Well hello, doctors!" Carnage maniacally greeted. "Sorry for the unannounced appointment, but I am here for some things!"
There, the madman in red starts to scrounge around the place for whatever his 'client' wants with the help of his tendrils, gathering and piling them over his back like a backpack as ordered by the 'client' over the microscopic communicator.
"Let's see, what else around here huh?" Carnage thought to himself out loud, looking around with a giant pack on his back that's wrapped in place by the symbiote.
"That's enough, freak!" Dr. Stegron yelled out while rushing to him with a steel stool.
"Vince! No! Get back!" Curtis warned.
As the scientist rushed to whack Carnage with the steel stool, he was quickly spotted and then heavily lashed by one of his violent tendrils.
"Vince!" Debra cried out, running to move him away from the dangerous psycho.
"Heh, quite gutsy for a nerd eh?" Carnage scoffed before sighing out of frustration. "This is getting boring already! When can I kill already!?"
Suddenly, the door to Dr. Curtis' office creaked a bit and caught Carnage's attention, sensing a little boy behind the door…
"Peekaboo!" Carnage quipped as he unleashed three tendrils to open the door and grab the little boy by his arm, lifting him up from the ground. "Oooh! A little field trip now, are we?"
"Billy!" Curtis screamed, desperate to save his child with a vial of his Lizard formula inside a syringe in his hand, preparing to use it on himself again.
"No! Please! Not our son! You can have anything, but please, not him!" Martha pleaded.
"Ow! Mom! Dad! Help!" Billy cried, struggling to get his arm free from the symbiote tendril wrapped around his arm.
"Hohoho, time to paint this lab red!" Carnage maniacally laughed, morphing his fingers into sharp talons, preparing to thrust them into Billy's body.
"Not while we're here!"
Rushing into the lab and tackling Carnage's side out of reflex like a football player, Venom enters the scene as he saves and catches Billy in his arms, shocking everyone in the laboratory.
"Argh, Eddie boy, you are becoming very annoying already!" Carnage barked, morphing his other hand into a hand axe.
"E-Eddie!?" Billy stuttered, shocked from the name Carnage referred to the giant clad in black.
"Hey little guy," Venom quipped, unmasking his face and revealing his identity as Eddie Brock, shocking the Connors' from the reveal. "Long time no see."
"Eddie, is that you!?" Curtis reacted out of shock from his appearance.
"End of the line, man. So give it up," Eddie warned before masking his face once more. "Or else we'll make you…!"
"Oh what can you do, big boy? Just mash us like mashed potato?!" Carnage barked back. "Wait, us?"
"We're not alone in beating you to a pulp this time," Venom warned, letting Dr. Martha Connors take her son Billy away.
Sneakily entering and attacking Carnage from the window at the ceiling was the wall-crawling Spider-man, blinding the red symbiote's vision with webs before webbing a line to his back and then quickly throwing him out of the lab through the front entrance.
"Whoa bro, you weren't kidding about him being 'loose'," Spider-man quipped, walking up to Venom.
"Told you we were not lying," Venom deadpanned, walking out of the lab to confront Carnage without putting everyone else in the lab out of harm's way.
"Awww, did the big boy go through lots of trouble to get the Webhead's hand? How boring!" Carnage screamed, getting back on his feet and violently flailing his tendrils.
"Piece of warning, he's a lot more dangerous than me," Venom warns.
"How? He's a lot skinnier than you," Spider-man pointed out in confusion.
"Now I'm really itching to bleed, and I mean you two!" Carnage screamed, morphing his hands into sharp talons before lunging and running towards Spider-man and Venom.
"Whoa!" Spider-man desperately dodges his sharp talons before letting Venom take the hits with a huge shield made of the symbiote's organic webbing.
"Anytime now, Webhead!" Venom demanded, shielding and parrying Carnage's rabid attacks.
With quick thinking, Spider-man jumps up on Venom's back before webbing two lines on his shoulders and lifts him up high into the air before throwing him towards Carnage, making Venom do a massive charging shield attack to slam upon Carnage and squish him hard on the pavement.
"Well? Had enough, Santa?" Venom quipped, lifting Carnage up high while choking him by his neck.
"Venom! Don't!" Spider-man begged, failing to notice Carnage unsheathe his talons and stab Venom's torso, causing him to drop him from the sharp pain.
"Still weak, Eddie!" Carnage barked before grabbing Venom's face and slamming it hard to the ground.
"Forgetting about me?!" Spider-man quipped, slinging himself towards Carnage like a human slingshot, but was easily caught by his tendrils on his ankles before being slammed to the ground stronger than Doc Ock's mechanical arms and then tossed away to a light post like a rag doll so hard that it bent the metal shaft. "Uugh man, why the leg again…?!"
"Playtime's over, Webhead. Lemme leave a permanent stain on your suit, with your own paint!" Carnage barked, leaping over to his position and preparing to lacerate Spider-man's body with his talons.
"Get away from him!" Ghost Spider yelled, falling towards Carnage and landing a strong kick to his face, pushing him back meters away before tending to the downed Webhead. "Spidey! You okay?!"
"Ugh, Ghost Spider!? W-What are you–"
"Zip it Spidey, but before that, you better tell me what's going on first," Ghost Spider demanded while helping him back up on his feet.
"Long story short, the suit you and Venom are wearing were planned to be weaponized by some mad scientist, apparently the scientist was able to make the symbiote divide somehow and cause the offspring to find a crazy host, like so," Spider-man explained, referring to Carnage.
"Whoa, and I thought Mania was crazy," Ghost Spider thought out loud.
"Well well well! Two spiders!? What an infestation we have here in Manhattan! Good thing I can be taken as your exterminator!" Carnage quipped, with his tendrils and weaponized appendages ready before feeling a sharp pain caused by sonic waves emitted by the subdermal nanites.
'What are you doing?! Get out of that place right now!' Miles ordered over the communicator. 'Stop dilly dallying, you'll ruin everything!'
"But I am–gyaaagh!" Carnage screamed in agony from the loud sonic wave emitted from the subdermal nanites, so loud that it also affected both Ghost Spider and Venom as it cripples them to flinch and cringe out of pain.
"Wait, what's going on?!" Spider-man hysterically wondered out of concern from how Ghost Spider's affected badly.
'Now, this time, get the job done, correctly. Are we clear?' Miles ordered before asking for clarification.
Carnage, acting like the leashed dog he is under Miles' finger, furiously growled before leaping over the two crippled symbiote fighters with the paraphernalia and materials Miles asked to deliver, spotting Dr. Kafka hiding near the lab entrance.
"Well lookie here, a pretty stowaway!" Carnage quipped before wrapping and catching Dr. Kafka with his tendrils.
"Nooo! Doc, run!" Venom urged while recovering from the pain, only to see Carnage leave the campus grounds with the doctor and slam his fist to the ground out of growling anger.
"They won't be far, we can still catch up to them, come on!" Spider-man assured before swinging away to follow them.
"Let's get 'em!" Ghost Spider followed swinging behind Spider-man.
'Wait, do you recognize that one?' Eddie asked in his thoughts.
"Probably spilled an accidental offspring, and surprisingly found a female host," Venom answered before swinging and following the two webslingers.
Now, the three of them are going on a wild chase swinging around Manhattan for the mad symbiote holding a hostage, who seems to be heading towards a certain direction.
"Wait, why isn't he attacking or anything?" Spider-man noticed while swinging through the city. "I thought you said he's a loose cannon or something?"
"Seems like somebody's making sure he is kept under control. Like we've already said, someone's planning to weaponize the suit," Venom answered while swinging.
"Then shouldn't we follow him to the mastermind's headquarters? Makes it easier for us to find them and put an end to them, won't it?" Ghost Spider suggests.
"Okay now who are you supposed to be, Spider-lady?" Venom snarkily asked.
"Eddie, quit being so mad all the time," Ghost Spider sassily replied back, catching Venom off his guard and making him glare at Spider-man.
"Parker, did you tell–?!"
"Relax, Eddie," Ghost Spider assured before unmasking her face, revealing her identity as Gwen Stacy. "It's me."
"Gwen?! What happened to you?! Or how did–"
"I'll explain later, but right now, shouldn't we focus on stopping the evil villains?" Gwen suggested before masking her face again, silencing the conversation to get themselves focused.
—
In one of Miles Warren's secret laboratories, where he turned Mark Allan into Molten Man, the mad doctor along with his superiors Norman Osborn and Tombstone are currently present, waiting for Carnage's arrival…
"Are you sure that this method of yours is going to truly work, doc?" Tombstone wondered out of concern while staring at the last cultured erratic symbiote that is left inside its canister. "Do you really think it is possible to control monsters like these to fight for us? To fight Spider-man?"
"All too simple, Tombstone my friend, but I confess that the process won't be easy. After all, they are sentient entities as well," Miles answered back kindly. "Not to worry, I have developed a stationary pod that could efficiently and harmlessly help us create more symbiote mercenaries, merging both humans and symbiote into strong superhumans!"
"If you prepared plenty for this, why did you not inform me on the matter? It would have made the process less complicated as contacting a madman from Ravencroft unnoticed," Norman wondered.
"Sir, it would make more sense and put away the public eye's suspicion if the symbiote merely returned to its host while being able to give them a little trial with an escape from that dreadful place," Miles suggested.
"Miles, since when were you this meticulously twisted? I recalled that you were quite a great scientist with great contributions," Norman pointed out.
"That was in the past, until that blasted coward Connors exposed my future plans," Miles scoffed.
"Honey! I'm home!"
Carnage, kicking the door off its hinges before flying into Tombstone's strong blocking arm, enters the scene with Miles' materials and Dr. Kafka as an abducted hostage.
"Ow! What is the meaning of this–Dr. Warren!?" Ashley screamed.
"Cletus, why did you bring a visitor with you?" Miles kindly asked.
"Hey, she saw much of everything lately, thought it'd be fun to 'unalive' her, or to just silence her of course," Carnage shrugged.
"Smart boy," Miles complimented.
"What are we going to do about her? I would rather not get too much blood on my hands," Tombstone asked, not in favor of morbidly harming a female hostage.
"No Tombstone, I have a much, much better idea," Miles replied, breaking a smile as he turned to the other symbiote moving around in the canister.
—
"So this is the place? Feels like deja vu somehow."
Spider-man, along with Ghost Spider and Venom, sat on the rooftops looking at their surroundings from Carnage's trace thanks to the enhanced senses of their symbiotes' bond.
"Anything's deja vu for you, idiot," Venom deadpanned.
"Geez, are you two really bros? You guys really changed a lot," Ghost Spider complained, watching their one-sided bickering.
"Blame the Webhead. He's always the reason," Venom snarled, shaming Spider-man beside him.
"Oookay then...hey wait, this really seems to be the place. Look at all the henchmen around," Ghost Spider pointed out, changing the subject.
"Let's get in there," Venom thought out loud, preparing to smash each of the guards in the area.
"Whoa there man, we don't just go out there and knock them out straight," Spider-man halted.
"We can just try to sneak our way in, right? We just have to stay outta sight," Ghost Spider shrugged.
"Well easier said than done," Spider-man replied before feeling his Spider-sense triggered and turning back to see a group of guards pointing their armed guns at them, catching Ghost Spider and Venom's attention in the process. "See what I mean…?"
"Yeah, so much for sneaking in," Ghost Spider responded in a depressed tone.
"Then let's resort to beating our way in!" Venom roared, making the henchmen open fire with their guns before making a giant tower shield made of the symbiote's webbing. "You guys get down, we'll catch up later!"
Following Venom's suggestion, Spider-man and Ghost Spider jump down from the ledge and land on two henchmen entering the building, breaking their fall while incapacitating them.
"Open fire!" One of the leading henchmen ordered his men to shoot at the two agile Wall-crawlers running along the walls of nearby buildings.
The two Wall-crawlers then jumped from their positions into the air before shooting a rain of web bullets at the henchman, stunning and dazing them while dodging their rapid fire. But after they did knock down some of the henchmen, more reinforcements arrived like ants from around the block as if it was truly a part of their territory.
"This is getting annoying now. Whoa!" Spider-man yelped from the bullets damaging their barricades before trying to reload his web shooters.
"Ow! Geez!" Ghost Spider yelped from a bullet managing to scratch her suit, leaving a burn on her skin before letting the suit mend itself and soothe her wound. 'C'mon guys, where are you now!?'
"Hahaha! It is time for us to rain down retribution upon these feeble-minded insects!"
Hovering over a green mist, the illusion master Mysterio enters the battlefield as part of the reinforcement team on guarding duty before seemingly summoning robotic mirages of himself
"Great, just when things are getting better," Spider-man sarcastically moped, peeking through a peephole made from bullet shots.
"Hraaaagh!"
Coming from the street to their right, Wolverine, donning a spandex uniform and mask with yellow and blue patterns, rushes into the scene with his sharp adamantium claws brandished like a lone berserker. He then tackles three nearby henchmen before slashing several guns into pieces of scrap metal while dodging bullets and regenerating his wounds because of his healing factor.
"What is this!?" Mysterio noticed before firing mystic bolts towards the agile mutant berserker and expelling his green illusion mist at him, only to make him retreat for safety reasons and control his mirages to face him.
"Yes! Finally, the cavalry arrived!" Ghost Spider cheered.
"Wait, what did you do?" Spider-man demanded.
"She called us, simple."
Startling Spider-man from behind, Shadowcat along with Screwball, Prowler and Iceman, phase through the building as reinforcements requested by Ghost Spider behind Spider-man's knowledge.
"It was for just in case. You were being secretive alright, and I was really worried," Ghost Spider scolded.
"Waahoo! Heck yeah!" Iceman roared as he jumped into the fray and fired his ice beam at some of the henchmen before throwing ice shards to destroy some of their guns.
"Hagh, so much for my weekend," Prowler sighed before entering the fray and sedated some of the henchmen with his martial art skills while firing explosive cartridges filled with knockout gas to further sedate them.
"But wait, how are you here!?" Spider-man interrogated, pointing at Screwball.
"Oh well...I was in the area enjoying my free time streaming the Net while exploring until I bumped into them riding some moving ice slope. Seemed like fun!" Screwball playfully shrugged.
"Hey, we need all the help we can get, okay? So I asked her and she accepted," Shadowcat defended.
"Yeah, I see no problem in that but…" Spider-man trailed off before having his suit forcefully pulled by Screwball close to her face, shocking Ghost Spider and Shadowcat in the process.
'Don't worry, Spidey, they don't know yet,' Screwball whispered close to his ear before winking underneath her visor and releasing her hold on him. "Loosen up, dude, and get your head in the game! We got them covered, so you can rest easy by heading inside."
"Wow, just what have you been doing while I was gone? Fooling around?" Venom snarkily retorted and startled them all from above on the wall before jumping down from the building after his struggle against twenty henchmen on the rooftops. "We're waiting too long, let's go!"
From there, Venom leads the way with a giant shield made from webbing and rams through the battlefield like a human bulldozer while letting Spider-man and Ghost Spider follow from behind as they reach the entrance leading to their base.
"No! You shall not enter!" Mysterio ordered, preparing to fire mystic bolts at Spider-man and the two symbiote users, only to be encased into a human ice cube from an ice beam fired by Iceman.
"Showoff," Iceman scoffed.
"Hey, look who's talking!" Shadowcat protested before making an attacking henchman phase through her body, grabbing him by his collar and shirt to judo-trip him and knock him out on the pavement.
"Hey, not too shabby, half-pint," Wolverine complimented before shredding nearby henchmen's guns into bits of scrap metal and slashing Mysterio bots into junk.
"Heads up!" Screwball warned as she fired her grappling hook to a henchman planning to attack Shadowcat from behind before retracting it back into her gun.
"Sure hope they finish this fast. They owe me one whole weekend of rest. I was busy inventing something cool back home!" Prowler complained while punching and kicking the lights out of several henchmen before throwing another knockout gas bomb towards another group of incoming reinforcements, making them all fall asleep on the pavement.
—
"Knock knock?" Venom quipped, entering the lab, which was partially expanded and outfitted with more equipment long ago after Miles agreed to continue helping Norman Osborn and his plans.
"Wow, creepy," Spider-man thought out loud, following behind Venom.
"Not creepy, it's spooky. Let's just finish this quick and get outta here, okay?" Ghost Spider pleaded.
"Welcome, my friends."
Speaking through the microphone and viewing through a camera in the small laboratory, Norman Osborn kindly greeted the heroes intruding the hidden base.
"That voice...Norman Osborn!? You're still alive!?" Spider-man shouted in a tone of surprise and anger upon recognizing the voice.
'Wait, I thought Norman's supposed to be dead!? How!?' Ghost Spider thought to herself from surprise.
"I must say, quite impressed with how you're holding up lately. But this time, I have found myself newer soldiers to create, courtesy of a great friend of ours," Norman replied.
"Been a while, Spider-man. I've seen how well you've handled both the hunter and your worst predator. You know, Scorpion and Kraven," Miles smiled over the microphone.
"You...you were the source of their powers!?" Spider-man demanded for an answer.
"Of course, don't forget the young man that volunteered to fight you, the one named, uhm, what's his name? Mark Allan was it?" Miles wondered, angering the Webhead upon saying the name.
"Miles! When I find you, I'll-!"
"Oh you will have much fun finding me, but right now, I have two friends that are 'dying' to see you. All three of you!" Miles replied, remotely opening the steel door to two silhouettes in the shadows.
Coming out of the door, Carnage steps out with the usual maniacal grin on his face.
"Heyyy, Eddie my boy! Ready for round two!? 'Cause this time, it's a team battle!" Carnage screamed.
"Eeeddieee…!"
Moaning with an eerily familiar feminine voice behind the madman, another She-Venom enters the lab, with her talons sharp and ready.
"No...you monster!" Venom screamed at the camera, hinting a bit of Eddie's angry voice.
"Now, let's begin, shall we?" Miles smiled before pressing a remote control, emitting high pitched sonic waves to force Carnage and She-Venom into a painful submission, so loud that it slightly affected Venom and Ghost Spider nearby.
Enraged by the pain he's inflicted throughout the day, the two manipulated symbiotes converge on the three heroes with their claws and talons bared.
"I got the She-Venom! Hyah!" Ghost Spider roared, taking down the She-Venom and startling Carnage.
"Then Cletus is ours!" Venom roared as he grabbed Carnage's face with a tendril and then pulled him close to slam his head to the ground before getting pricked by Carnage's erratic tendrils and spikes.
"What else ya gonna do, big boy?! That trick is gettin' very old!" Carnage screamed before getting his face webbed up by Spider-man.
"My turn!" Spider-man quipped, letting Venom pick him up and throw him towards Carnage before the both of them fired an array of web bullets to annoy and distract him until the Webslinger kicked and pinned him down on his gut. "Bro!"
"Let us finish 'em! Huraagh!" Venom mustered all of his might as he slammed both of his fists on Carnage's body, pushing all of his air out before grabbing his neck and torso to lift him up and slam him harder three times to the ground. "This one is for the anger! This one is for all the pain! And this one...is for the doc!"
As Carnage lays lifeless and unable to retaliate against the angry symbiote originator, Venom grips hard on Carnage's head and shoulder…
"Now then, come to papa!' Venom screamed as he slowly tore the Carnage symbiote off of Cletus' body, making him scream from the forceful tearings.
"Venom! Stop! You're hurting him–gaagh!" Spider-man tried to stop Venom, only to be pushed against the wall with a single backfist.
In less than a minute, Venom successfully tears the Carnage symbiote off of Cletus' body, leaving him unconscious from the sharp and sudden pain while holding the red tainted symbiote in his hand.
"This time, we win! And now, you come back to us!" Venom roared before chomping on the Carnage symbiote and consuming it whole to absorb it back into the symbiote's body. "Ahhh, much better."
"Agh–hey! Uff!"
Catching Ghost Spider off guard and kicking her against the wall, She-Venom prepares to shred her with her sharp talons until Venom intervenes by catching and slowly pulling her close with a tendril wrapped around her back and waist.
"Doc, we know you're in there, so come on out!" Venom ordered, struggling to pull her close as she violently fought against his strength and managed to scratch his tendril, making him wince from the scratches. "Alright, that's it, we're done playing nice!"
"Venom! No!" Spider-man halted, grabbing his neck into a headlock, only to have his back caught by Venom's hind tendrils and then thrown away to the wall beside Ghost Spider. "Sorry…"
Trying for a gamble, Venom opens up the suit, trying to absorb She-Venom into his body while enduring the pain she inflicts from within.
"Trust us, doc! So stop–fighting!" Venom urged, falling to his knees while keeping the She-Venom contained.
"Venom!" Spider-man tries to help until Ghost Spider stops him. "What are you doing!?"
"Trust him! I think he, well, 'they' know what they are doing!" Ghost Spider assures. "Let's give him a few minutes…"
—
Within the merged consciousness of Eddie and Ashley's mind, the manipulated doctor is entrapped in symbiote webbing while the erratic She-Venom hostless symbiote is still linked onto the webs around her while Eddie and Venom are trying their best to separate the two…
'Doc! Doc, wake up! Don't let it control you!' Eddie pleaded as he walked up to Dr. Kafka, only to be lashed and pushed back by She-Venom's tendrils.
'Let me do the talking!' Venom, in its sentient slime form, insisted as he pounced on She-Venom and restrained her in its body so that Eddie could run to Dr. Kafka.
'Don't hurt it! You'll hurt the doc!' Eddie pleaded, warning Venom to avoid forcing the symbiote off of her by consuming it.
'Uhn, uuh…?' Ashley groaned, groggily responding to Eddie's voice.
'Doc! C'mon, wake up!' Eddie yelled, trying to pull all of the symbiote off of her and wrapping them around himself in an attempt to bring her back to her senses. 'You gotta fight it, doc! Come on!'
'E-Eddie…?' Ashley whimpered, responding to his voice.
'Doc, focus on my voice! You gotta fight the suit! Don't let it control you!' Eddie repeated.
'I...can't…!' Ashley groaned.
'Brock, make your move faster, or I will finish this my way!' Venom yelled, struggling to keep it inside its body.
'Doc! C'mon! Where's that stubborn spirit of yours, that pure heart of gold for madmen like me!? Show this thing what you got!'
'I'm...trying...to…!' Ashley struggles to break free.
'You can do this, doc. After all, you saved me from becoming a total monster. And this time, I'm here to help you too!' Eddie roared as he ripped the webbing that's restraining her body, adding them to his suit before catching Dr. Kafka's tired body. 'Venom!'
'Greaat, now then, come back to daddy,' Venom snarled as he consumes and absorbs the She-Venom symbiote back into its body before slithering back to Eddie, enveloping him into his Venom suit. 'Ahh, much much better!'
Relieved from regaining much of his lost offspring, Venom then turns to Dr. Kafka with the usual grin on his face, unintentionally scaring her…
'E-Eddie? I-is that you...in there?' Ashley nervously asked.
'Yeah, is there something on our face?' Venom retorted.
—
"Nothing's happening, do you think they just…?" Spider-man wondered out of concern.
"No, I still sense signs of life in them. They'll come back, I'm sure of–"
Before Ghost Spider could finish, Venom starts to move and stand up on his feet again, startling the two web slingers so suddenly. There, Venom's body slowly releases his hold on Dr. Kafka, carrying her in his arms.
"Sorry, were we taking too long?" Venom quipped, while holding Dr. Kafka.
"Warning: Self-destruct sequence initiated. Counting down in T-minus thirty seconds!"
"Alright, time to make a run for it!" Venom quips as he runs to the door and grabs Cletus, Spider-man and Ghost Spider with his tendrils, bringing them close to him as he bolts out of the base.
—
"Alright, guess that's the last of 'em. You kids done real good. Thank your training for that," Wolverine commended the two young mutant heroes while tying up all the henchmen in the area into a bundle.
"Awesome!" Shadowcat screamed out of excitement that she jumped with joy.
"Alright!" Iceman exclaimed, pumped up from his compliment.
"Uhhh, hey, I didn't to exactly make a cool impression um-"
"Don't push it, kid, I already know who you are. As long as you kept those friends of yours safe, you're good," Wolverine forgave him, understanding what Prowler meant.
"T-thank you sir," Prowler thanked.
"Call me Logan, or Wolverine. I'm not the uptight kind of guy, like Chuck," Wolverine snorted with a smirk and his arms crossed, making Shadowcat facepalm in a playful manner.
"Geez, what's taking Spidey too long?" Screwball groaned, leaning onto Mysterio, still encased in ice.
"Look!" Shadowcat points to the entrance, noticing Venom carrying four people with him, running with haste out of the base.
"Three...two...one…"
"Hraaaagghh!" Venom roared and mustered all his might as he threw the two heroes, a knocked out Cletus, and Dr. Kafka before screaming in pain from having his back scorched by the fuming flames of the heavy explosion.
Following the explosion of the hidden base, the entire building and the two other buildings beside it start to crumble and disintegrate. And as that was happening, the Venom symbiote slowly separates itself from Eddie as it gets burned from the fumes.
"Eddie!" Ashley screamed, running to him as he slowly awakened from the heat and the breeze over him.
"Huh? No! Not again! Please! No!" Eddie cried out, trying to get the symbiote until it was slowly incinerated into ashes from the fumes of the explosion that touched its body.
'The symbiote is also weak against fire? Huh, who knew…' Spider-man thought to himself, keeping a mental note on that.
"Eddie, that thing protected you from itself. It caught fire from that explosion and left you for your own good," Ashley answered, with her face drop and downcast, sad from Eddie's depressed complexion.
"And now...he's gone...completely…" Eddie moped, falling to his knees while facing the burning building.
"Eddie...I'm...sorry…" Spider-man apologized.
"Don't be...at the very least...he's gotta open your eyes to what you could have done to it so differently, instead of killing it and rejecting it," Eddie responded, with a hint of slight aggression before feeling Dr. Kafka's hand over his forearm. "But now that it's gone, I'm technically free...do I still have to go back to Ravencroft? Either way, I got nowhere else to go after I dropped out of college."
"Mmm I think I can think of a way. You can try to work for me in the institute. I was accepting interns and assistants from various colleges, but applicants were just always frightened in the workplace and our routines," Ashley explained.
"Thanks doc, I'll think about it…" Eddie trailed off.
"Please, Ashley is fine. Thank you for saving me, and Mr. Kassidy," Ashley thanked.
—
"I am terribly sorry, Mr. Osborn. That was a total failure," Miles apologized.
"Don't worry Miles, I've seen what it could do, and I must say, I am very much impressed with the results while they lasted. Take a vacation for now, you've worked very hard," Norman assured before sending Miles out of the office with Tombstone, rubbing on his cane with bits of the red symbiote that he managed to save before it was transported to Cletus. 'You, little guy, will make me a very happy man.'
—
In a conference room, Harry, along with Donald Menken and Emily Lyman, otherwise known as Mrs. Osborn, sitting on the conference table with a Black American businessman sitting on the parallel side...
"So, is this everything? Sir Kingsley?" Harry asked, handing out some kind of signed contract to the businessman Roderick Kingsley.
"Yes Harry, this will obviously suffice. And please, call me Roderick, you're not Norman Osborn for crying out loud," Roderick replied, taking and reading the contract.
"This time, all Oscorp-related property in New York will belong to you. Have fun with the new venture," Harry bade, leaving the room. "In a few days, we'll quickly pack up our belongings and vacate the premises.
"Ah no hurry, young Osborn, it is fine. I'm a patient man...a very patient man…" Roderick replied with a maniacal grin on his face, reclining on his chair and looking to the huge window. "Now things are truly getting interesting…"
—To be continued
A/N: Almost the end of season three! Thanks for sticking around guys!
Just to give info on some character description:
Wolverine: looks like a combination of the Wolverines from X-men evolution with the colors and suit from Wolverine and the X-men
Prowler: looks like Shocker, but a bit shorter and uses something like vambraces and gauntlets.
Iceman: looks more like the one from X-men evolution, but with the hairstyle from Wolverine and the X-men.
Shadowcat: similar to the Excalibur suit in the style and appearance from X-men Evolution.
