Chapter 6

Once Chaz had taken a shower and changed out of his pajamas, he and Leni were ready to talk.

"So...remember that day in the park? When the meteor struck?" Leni began.

"How could I forget?" Chaz scoffed. "When I woke up in the hospital, the doctor told me it was only the shockwave from the impact that knocked me unconscious. You saved my life when you pushed me."

"Yeah. I saved your life...and someone else saved my life," Leni replied.

"Really? Who?!" Chaz cried in astonishment.

"Promise not to freak out?" Leni asked, looking directly into his eyes as she did. Chaz nodded eagerly, and Leni sighed. "Alright, Scream, you can come out now."

"Hello!" Scream greeted after her head formed on Leni's shoulder.

Chaz freaked out.

...

When Chaz came to after fainting, he was still lying on the floor, and Leni was looking down on him in concern.

"Are you okay, Chaz?" Leni asked.

"Yeah, I think so..." Chaz replied, sitting up and rubbing the back of his head.

"See? I told you he wouldn't be able to handle it!"

Chaz froze upon hearing the unfamiliar, raspy female voice. Scream's head was bobbing in the air, attached to Leni's left shoulder by a two-foot "neck." Leni turned her own head and gave the Symbiote a dirty look.

"You knew I wanted to break the news to him gently. But no, you had to pop up like a Jack-in-the-box and scare him to death!" she argued.

"Um...excuse me?" The Symbiote and her host both turned back to Chaz. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but...who or what are you?" Chaz asked, pointing at Scream. The Symbiote sighed and moved her head like she was rolling her eyes.

"My name is Scream. I'm an extraterrestrial life-form who came to Earth inside the meteor and formed a symbiotic bond with Leni," she explained.

"And that bond saved my life," Leni continued. "As long as I keep being Scream's host, she'll keep me alive by any means necessary."

Chaz seemed to mull over the explanation for several moments.

"Does that mean I have two girlfriends now?" he finally asked. Leni balked while Scream started laughing.

"Of course not, silly! Symbiotes like me don't need a mate for reproduction, so we're not capable of feeling romantic attraction. Think of me as more like Leni's annoyingly clingy roommate. If nothing else, I'd be the third wheel in your relationship."

Their conversation was interrupted when Chaz's mom called out to them from the living room, at the sound of which Scream retreated back inside Leni. The couple walked out to the living room, where the older woman was sitting on the couch watching TV.

"What's going on, Mom?" Chaz asked.

"Listen to this, you two; that meteor strike is on the news again, for a different reason this time!" his mom explained, turning up the volume on the TV.

The local news reporter Katherine Mulligan was at the park with the crater from the impact, joined by a tall, slender woman with black hair in a ponytail, and an equally tall man with thinning blond hair, both dressed in black business suits and sunglasses. An assortment of people wearing lab coats and hazmat suits emblazoned with a familiar eagle insignia could be seen in the background, milling around and inside the crater.

"...and joining me today are Agents Hill and Coulson, two of the top operatives of the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division. Tell me, Agent Hill, what reason does S.H.I.E.L.D. have for visiting a backwater town like ours?" the reporter asked.

"Due to some recent intel regarding the trajectory and origins of that unexpected meteor, Miss Mulligan, we at S.H.I.E.L.D. have reason to believe that it was acting as a vessel, transporting some form of extraterrestrial organism. Likely, some form of parasite," answered the black-haired woman, Agent Hill.

A PARASITE?! Scream yelled indignantly from inside Leni's mind, causing Leni to wince and rub her ear.

"We would also like to assure the public that there is no cause for alarm," added the balding blond man, Agent Coulson. "Despite my partner's rather blunt approach to the subject, no evidence suggests that the creature is inherently hostile, and with the technology available to us thanks to the generous support of Stark Industries, it will be located swiftly and efficiently. I advise you to exercise caution, but you are free to go about your normal everyday tasks like nothing has changed."

Chaz and Leni looked at each other worriedly. If the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents were already investigating the impact site...

Then it was only a matter of time until they found Leni and Scream.

...

After accepting Chaz's offer to stay for lunch (or brunch in his case), Leni was on her way home. Suddenly, she felt like she was hungry again, even though her stomach didn't physically rumble.

What the...I just ate, didn't I? Leni though in confusion.

Oh no... was Scream's reply, and it sounded like she was scared.

Scream...why am I hungry again? Leni asked.

You're not hungry this time, Leni; I am, Scream replied. There's one detail about Symbiotes that I overlooked until now: in order to stay alive, Symbiotes have to consume a very special chemical called phenethylamine as part of our diets. The hunger you feel right now is my craving for it.

Okay, that shouldn't be too hard, Leni reasoned as she stopped at the threshold of Flip's Food Fuel. Here's a convenience store. Now, what kind of food has phenethylamine in it? You obviously know more about this stuff than I do. Leni stepped inside. Despite how insufferably cheap Flip could be, most of the snacks he sold were at least edible, if not exactly fresh. It was honestly a miracle that he hadn't been arrested for health and safety violations.

Yeah, that's the part you're not gonna like, said Scream. Phenethylamine is found most abundantly in brain tissue. The larger the brain, the better.

Leni balked at the revelation and pondered how to solve her and Scream's dilemma. She must have been standing in place for a while, because Flip scowled from where he was watching behind the counter.

"Hey, Loud! Either buy something or scram!" he called out to her, causing her to yelp in surprise.

"Sorry, Flip! I'll make it quick!" she assured the conman before heading deeper into the store, seemingly browsing the aisles. Okay, so you said most abundantly, right? That means there are other sources of that chemical. What are they?

There are other sources, but only a few are readily available to humans, Scream confirmed. There are trace amounts of it in chocolate, so that would be your best bet for now. Unless you'd be willing to let me eat that guy back there...

NO! We do not eat other humans! Leni rebuked, her "stern mama" side slipping through. Though, out of curiosity, why did you offer?

Scream scoffed and said, Aside from the obvious? I've seen your memories of him; he's nothing but a fat, rude, useless, cut-corners cheapskate. If he's like that to everyone else, I doubt anyone would really miss him.

Leni had to admit that Scream had a point. Still, she wasn't going to let her eat Flip without a valid excuse, so Leni bought three of the best-looking bars of chocolate from Flip and went back home.

Lisa had seen the news as well, and assured Leni that she was working on a cover story for when S.H.I.E.L.D. started going door-to-door to make inquiries. She was taking a considerable risk, as most of the funding for her experiments came from Stark Industries, and she would lose that funding if she were to be determined as a threat by S.H.I.E.L.D.

Lisa also promised to develop special phenethylamine-enriched snack products for Scream. All they could do now was lay low and hope S.H.I.E.L.D.'s investigation ended up inconclusive.