Eddie Brock entered the dump with a paper bag in one hand, a chili dog in the other. He saw Peter, sitting atop the roof of a junk car, examining something in his hands. Eddie gave a quick whistle, causing the teen to stop what he was doing and turn.

"He come back yet?" Eddie asked, tossing the bag to the web-slinger.

Peter shook his head, "Nah. He's done blowing off steam, now I think he's just training on his own. Flash never did like having others watch when he's not at his best."

"How prideful," Eddie replied, finishing off his street meat. "Might've gotten that from my side of the family, I admit." He took note of a camera in the teen's hand, "You a photographer?"

"I dabble," Peter shrugged. "This one I found buried under all that junk. It's pretty beat up, but I'm sure the parts inside are still good."

Eddie walked over to a duffle bag he'd previously set aside. "What do you use?" He asked.

"Canon F-1N," the teen replied. "My Aunt and Uncle gave it to me years ago."

"An oldie but goodie," Eddie nodded, unzipping the bag and reaching in. "When I worked for the Bugle, this was my partner on the job."

He pulled out a digital camera and walked over. Peter inspected it closely, "Is that a Nikon D50?"

"Yeah, she's a bit older too. But she never once steered me wrong," the man said with pride. He offered it to the teen, "I got some good action outta her."

Peter examined the camera in his hands. While its owner didn't seem to care about his own disheveled appearance, Eddie clearly took good care of it.

"Why did you stop?" Peter asked, a bit hesitant.

Eddie paused a moment before answering, "It's a long story, and I don't really like tellin' it."

"Sure, forget it," the teen replied, gently setting the camera aside as he opened the bag. As he pulled out a wrapped hot dog, Peter saw the inside was still more than half full. "How many of these did you buy?"

"Trust me, my kid'll need 'em," the man replied. "Venom needs food too. Hell, I ate five on my way over."

Peter unwrapped a dog and started eating, "So having a Symbiote gives you a big appetite?"

"Something like that," Eddie said. "And since I'm not eating brains, I've gotta eat a shit ton of chocolate to keep him happy."

Peter nearly choked, "Brains??"

"Symbiotes need to feed on a chemical called 'Phenethylamine'," Eddie explained. "It's commonly found in human brains. But it's also found-"

"In chocolate..." Peter finished, catching on. "Wait, so if Flash goes crazy again, all I've gotta do is stuff a Snickers down is throat?"

"He'd probably react better to that than your little Sonic Screwdriver," Eddie gestured to Peter's pocket.

"You're not wrong," the teen sighed. "Hope he's got a sweet tooth."

"Is that lunch?" A voice called over. The pair turned to see Flash, leaping down in his black suited form. It retreated into his body as he made his way over.

"Help yourself," Peter tossed a wrapped dog his way, the teen catching and unwrapping it quickly. "What's your stance on chocolate?"

"Hmm?" Flash asked between bites. "I like it, why?"

"So do Symbiotes," Eddie placed a packet of chocolate cupcakes down on the car hood. "Learn to love it."

"Trust me, it beats the alternative," Peter added, taking another bite of his hotdog.

Flash shrugged and thrust a hand out. It became a black tendril that lashed out and grabbed the treat, bringing it over and turning back into a human arm.

"You're pretty good with that," Eddie nodded. "It took me a while to get the hang of tendril whips."

"I was always a quick learner," Flash opened the package and was about to take a bite. But he paused, choosing instead to hold it up above his shoulder. Venom-head poked out on a tedril and greedily downed the snack in one bite. "So, what else would we- would I be able to do once I figure this thing out with Venom?"

"Well, Symbiotes are very adaptive. You proved that by imitating Peter's moves," the man gestured to a black web covering a set of junk cars. "And you'll be much stronger than you already were."

"How strong are we talking?" Flash asked, intrigued.

"Hmmm," Eddie thought a moment. "At our best, we once held up a collapsing ferris wheel during an earthquake. So roughly... 200 tons?"

The teens went bug-eyed, quickly glancing at each other. It was quite an impressive feat.

"That said, it's up to the host to keep up their own strength," he went on. "I used to bench 500 lbs without Venom's help, but that was a long time ago."

"I'm not afraid of hard work," Flash nodded. "What else?"

"Your healing will improve, but only when you're merged," Eddie said. "You're already able to separate parts of Venom. Eventually, you'll be able to fully separate from each other, but it'll be temporary. Without the right host, a Symbiote won't last on its own."

"Why would we wanna separate?" Asked Flash, looking at Venom-head staring back at him.

"Starting to get attached?" It grinned cheekily.

"No!" The teen retorted, "it's just... Why would I give up the source of my power?" Flash clarified, looking at Venom-head.

"Who knows?" Shrugged Eddie, "Maybe you'll send it off to protect someone, or maybe you need a little me-time without another voice in your head."

Venom-Prime poked its head out from behind Eddie, "Oh come on, we're not THAT chatty!"

"Still, it could be a useful skill," Peter noted, picking up his camera. "Smile!"

"Huh?" The father, son and Symbiotes turned to see Peter holding up a camera, and with a quick flash of light, snapped a picture of the two.

"Ack! The hell, Parker!?" Flash rubbed his eyes, "Where did you get that camera?"

"It's Eddie's," the teen replied, looking down to see the image on the small screen. "Hey, that came out pretty good!"

"Really? Let us see!" Venom-Prime attempted to look as Peter turned the camera around. It showed a confused looking Flash, a straight faced Eddie, and two perpetually grinning Venom-heads in between them.

"Delete it. Now," Thompson demanded, his eyes glaring at the teen.

"Ok, ok," Peter said, pressing a button before putting the camera away. "Just recording for posterity was all..."

"What's wrong?" Asked Venom-head, "You don't want a picture with your old man?"

"He's not my 'old man'," Flash hissed at the Symbiote. "I've known him less than a day! As far as I'm concerned, he's a complete stranger!"

"Dude..." Peter watched as Eddie's shoulders slumped a bit.

"Well, I mean, am I wrong?" Asked the blond, turning toward his father. "You were never there, my whole life when I needed you. When Mom needed you! So where the hell were you!?"

Brock waited for his son to finish, watching him breath heavily after he unloaded the questions he'd waited years to ask.

"You deserve answers," the man reluctantly nodded. "I'll tell you everything. About me, about your mother, how I met her, and where I've been since."

"...I'll give you two some space," Peter said, preparing to hop off the car roof.

"Stick around," Eddie said. "It'll answer that question you had earlier."

Flash waited expectantly as his father sat down.

"Believe it or not, I was born in Brooklyn," he began. "I spent most of my early years here in New York. Attended public school, then went to college for journalism."

"You didn't want to be a Hero?" Flash asked.

"You kidding?" The man scoffed, "Hero schools were expensive as hell and my grades weren't all that great. The ones they have now are a joke. If you want to help people, just do it. That's how you learn a trade, not sitting on your ass in a classroom, trying to expand your 'brand'."

He leaned back, looking at the skyline. "Anyway, what I really wanted was to be a reporter," Brock went on. "I started out as a cub photographer for the Bugle, and built up a decent reputation for myself. When an opening popped up at the San Francisco branch, I transferred over and after a few years got my own column."

"We saw some of your articles," put in Peter. "It looked like you had a pretty good following."

"Sure. I was no Bernstein or Cronkite, but I was slowly getting popular," Eddie said, before turning to Flash. "It was around that time I met your mother, Anne."

"Wait, Anne??" Flash questioned, "My mom's name was Rose!"

"I'll get to that, hang on," the man raised a hand placatingly. "She was a young lawyer at the time. We dated for a couple of years, and were crazy about each other. So when I popped the question, she didn't hesitate to say 'yes'."

"Sounds like you had it good," Flash folded his arms. "What changed?"

Eddie sighed, they were getting to the place he was dreading.

"Ever heard of the Sin Eater?"

"He was a serial killer, right?" Peter replied. He recalled the person in question being used as an example during one of Mr. Murdock's criminology lectures.

Eddie nodded, "He murdered six people before an arrest was made. I spent weeks covering that. At the time I was a respected investigative reporter, and the Sin Eater saga was my O.J. Folks bought the papers just to read my articles. Pretty soon I had a promotion locked in, a raise, hell there was even talk about a book deal."

"But I'm guessing something went wrong..." Flash noted the hesitation in his father's face.

"Yeah..." The man lamented, "I got full of myself, put sensationalism before the actual story. I cut corners, ignored some of the facts that didn't fit the big narrative that brought in the readers. One day, I publicly exposed the man I thought was the Sin Eater and he was brought in on suspicion. Someone shanked him in lockup, and he didn't make it. But the real kicker? A few days later, the cops got the actual killer..."

"Oof..." Peter cringed uncomfortably.

"After that, my column was taken away and I was given the boot," Eddie said. "The Bugle printed a retraction and issued an apology, not that it does any good for a dead man."

He shook his head and looked up at Flash, "I was in a dark place after that. My reputation was ruined, I couldn't get work at another paper, word got around that I was 'poison'. Then I started drinking, blamed the world for my own bullshit, and became the kind of person your mother didn't feel safe around."

The teen stiffened, his fingers began to clench. "Did you hit her?" He asked, an edge to his voice.

"No! God, no. I could never do that to her!" Brock quickly assured, "But Anne was fed up waiting for me to fix myself, because she wasn't gonna do it. She walked out and left her engagement ring sitting on the kitchen table."

He looked at the ground, "When that happened I felt so alone, like the whole world should just swallow me up and get it over with."

"But that's when I entered the picture," Venom-Prime spoke up, sticking his head out from behind his host.

"Right," Eddie nodded. "One night I went out and got wasted as usual, when some guys tried to jump me. Obviously I was in no condition to defend myself and I was getting worked over pretty good. I figured that was it for me; a pathetic end to a pathetic life."

"But I refused to let us die," the Symbiote added. "So I took over his body and taught them a lesson. That was the first time we transformed, and the first time we spoke".

"Every Symbiote needs a trigger to fully awaken," Eddie went on. "Before that day, Venom wasn't conscious. I just figured my Quirk could make tiny wiggly things around my body. Now, it was something else altogether."

"I promised him I would always be there to protect him," said Venom-Prime. "Even if the world viewed him as poison, we would be poison together. Thus, we chose the name 'Venom'."

"Eventually, word got out that some guy in black took down bunch of street toughs. And suddenly, we had a purpose again," Eddie summed up.

"That's why you became a vigilante?" Flash asked, "You just... fell into it? How is it you were never caught?"

"At the time, there was no big hero agency set up," he replied. "Iron Man was usually in New York, and the Avengers didn't exaxtly prioritize street level issues. So the city was rife with crime, a perfect place for us to grow and learn what we could really do. After a while, we began to make a genuine difference, and it felt good. We even started getting published again."

"How?" Peter inquired, "I thought you said you got burned as a reporter."

"Oh I was, there was no way anything I wrote would get printed again," Eddie gestured to the camera next to Peter. "So I went back to my roots. Obviously nobody knew who we were, so I sold pictures of us fighting crime. They'd always credit someone else, but I got paid each time."

"You were selling pictures of yourself?" The teen raised an eyebrow quizzically.

"Hey, it ain't cheap living in California," Eddie retorted, thumbing back to Venom-Prime's head. "Not to mention I'm eating for two here!"

He put his hand inside his jacket, bringing out a faded photo, "A year later, I reconnected with Anne. It was completely by chance, believe it or not. She'd been working as a legal advisor for this shady company, the Life Foundation. But I guess she learned something she wasn't supposed to and they put out a hit on her. I heard through one of my old contacts what was up and went in to keep any eye on her. Imagine our suprise when the hitman turned out to be another Symbiote: Riot."

"I think I saw him in the book," Peter brought it out and flipped a few pages. "Whoa, he looks tough." He showed the page to Flash, the image depicted a dark blue figure, with rippling muscles and a long, snakelike face.

"He was tough," Eddie said. "Probably our toughest challenge yet, but we made it out alive. He wasn't so lucky..."

"No wonder they called you the 'Lethal Protector'," Flash remarked. "What did Mom think of all this?"

"She was shocked, at first. Then angry," the man admitted. "Not that I could blame her. With all that was happening, it was a lot to take in. Anne wanted to to reveal her findings, but it meant she would have a target on her back for the rest of her life."

"I'm guessing that's why she became 'Rose'..." Peter reasoned.

"After testifying, Anne went into Witness Protection," Eddie nodded. "Just one last night with her before she left with the Marshals, and we never saw her again."

He gestured to the journal in Peter's hands, "That book had everything I'd learned about Symbiotes at that point. I gave it to her in case she ran into another one. Life's a big corporation, for all I knew there were more like Riot on their payroll."

"So you really had no idea she was pregnant?" Asked Flash.

"How could I?" The man shrugged, "The Feds don't mess around when they wanna hide someone. They gice you a new name, new home, new everything."

"Guess he's not as big a deadbeat as you thought, Flash" Peter said.

"Gee, thanks," snarked Eddie. "After that, I stopped caring about myself and focused on the work. For years, being Venom was a reason to keep going. We did good work, but really it was just an outlet for our rage."

Flash looked at his father carefully, it seemed he was telling the truth, "Then what happened?"

"Carnage happened," Eddie replied grimly. "We'd tangled a few times before, but this time was different. His new host made him unpredictable, dangerous, and a threat to the rest of our kind. It became something much worse, he turned the streets red with blood."

"Wait, I saw an article about a gang war when I researched you," said Peter, looking up with intrigue. "Is that what this is?"

"They called it the 'War of the Symbiotes'," the man sighed. "But really, it was a massacre. Carnage had devoured several Symbiotes by this point and grew too powerful to handle alone. While most of our kind preferred to avoid each other, we agreed that it was a matter of time before he came for the rest of us, so we agreed to work together against a common threat."

"You make him sound like a boogeyman," put in Flash.

"For all intents and purposes, he was," replied Eddie. "And, well, you know the rest. By the time it was all over, we were left with no legs and a shit ton of regrets."

The blond teen exhaled, taking in the weight of the story he'd been told. "Alright, let's say I give you the benefit of the doubt," he began. "That this crazy story you just told me wasn't something you pulled out of your ass. What exactly is it you expect from me?"

Eddie shook his head, "Nothing. I just thought you deserved to know the full truth is all." He looked his son in the eyes, "You grew up without me being around, and my Quirk doesn't exactly give me time-travel so we can't fix that. But... I can at least teach you how to use your power.. And once this is all over, if you'll let me... I'd like to try and make up for all the time we've lost."

Flash wasn't sure what to say at that moment. All the preconceptions he'd had about his father were slowly withering. His guard was still high and there was a lot he'd have to get past. But maybe this man was worth at least getting to know better.

"...We can figure that out later," he finally said. "First we deal with Carnage, wherever the hell he is now."

The lanky, redheaded form of Cletus Kasady blended seamlessly with the everyday pedestrian crowd, calmly walking the city sidewalks. He took note of several signs, indicating detours and construction sites.

"Hmm, that flying tin can sure did a number on this place, didn't he?" He murmured, looking around. Placing his hands into his pockets, Cletus took the indicated path, his eyes constantly scanned his surroundings; a predator on the hunt.

Further back, a man in a green hoodie kept his distance, watching as Kasady continued on before turning a corner. Like a predator on the hunt, he stalked quietly into a dark alleyway.

No sooner had the man stepped in, however, when his shoulder was implaled by a long, red tendril. It wrapped around his neck and pulled him into the air. Feeling his oxygen getting cut off, the man gripped the tendril with both hands as he struggled to breathe, praying his neck wouldn't snap in the process.

Now further away from the busy street, his captor revealed himself. It was a figure covered in wriggling red goo. A pair of large white eyes narrowed and a toothy smile grew across its face. His feet were dug into the wall like spikes, keeping him in place but at an awkward angle.

Gritting his teeth, the man gripped onto the tendril and squeezed hard, attempting to pull himself free. The skin around his body became covered with a sickly yellow goo with black splotches along the body and face. Random spikes jutted out from the shoulders and along the forearms. Rounding out its visage were piercing white eyes and a wide mouth; the telltale markings of a Symbiote.

"Phage, did you really think you'd get the jump on me?" Carnage mocked. "It's about 30 years too early for you to think you can take me down yourself!"

Phage glared at his foe, barely getting out his words. "You know what you did! You killed her!!!"

His hand became a spear, which he thrust toward Carnage. With a smirk, the red villain moved his head aside, allowing the strike to hit the building wall behind him. He used his tendril to slam Phage head first into the wall.

With deceptively graceful movement, Carnage positioned himself behind his enemy. He raised his arm, as it transformed into a large, red blade.

"Be more specific," he hissed gleefully. "One corpse looks like any other these days."

With that remark, he sliced into the yellow Symbiote's back. Phage screamed in agony, but the red tendril wrapped around his mouth and neck, cutting off any sound.

"Shhhhhhh-shh-shh-shh," Carnage whispered. "We don't want anyone spoiling my fun now, do we?"

He sliced again, this time in the opposite direction before impaling Phage in the lower back. The trapped Symbiote was helpess as he struggled to free himself or cry out for help. Carnage soon pulled out his arm, inspecting the blood dripping from red blade. He licked its edge with a long tongue, then turned to his victim with gleeful satisfaction.

"You know, I've always preferred the spontaneity of random lunacy to the rigors of premeditated murder," the villain said, licking his lips. "But there's something to be said about a good ol' fashioned homicide that really gets my blood pumping!!"

Phage, who'd nearly passed out from the pain, was unable to respond as Carnage withdrew the tendril from his yellow shoulder.

"I know why you're really here," Carnage went on. "It's the boy, right? Venom's kid. You knew I'd be coming out this way and wanted to catch me before I got there. A nice little revenge fantasy for that lady of yours."

He held Phage aloft by his neck,"Too bad life doesn't work out that way. I think I'll let gravity do the rest."

With that, he opened his hand, allowing the beaten Phage to fall several stories to the ground. Carnage leaned down, anticipating a nice, splatter on impact. But suddenly, a blur of purple zoomed through the alley, catching the yellow Symbiote before he hit the ground. Carnage blinked in confusion.

"What th- oooooh," he quickly surmised the situation, glancing down the alleyway as the blur came to a halt. From the body shape, she was a woman covered in purple. Like the man clutched in her arms, she was a Symbiote. But unlike the him, she had long, snakelike tendrils jutting out the back of her head, reaching down to her lower back.

"Agony, it's so nice to see you again," sneered Carnage. "But you know, I think you'd look much prettier covered in red!!" He displayed his clawed hand, allowing Phage's blood to drip from it.

The purple Symbiote glared and jutted her head forward. From her mouth, three projectiles launched one at a time, like bullets from a gun. Carnage quickly reacted, leaping aside over himself to avoid impact. He dug his fingers and feet into the wall to avoid falling.

Glancing back, the red villain saw what almost happened to him him as three spots of concrete began to erode away. Over with Agony, lightning began to crackle beneath her skin. A split second later, she vanished in a flash of purple.

"Acid spit... that's new," Carnage muttered, staring off down the alley before jumping to the ground.

"Pick up the pace!" Eddie called, watching as his son sparred against Peter. He'd transformed once again and the two blocked and parried blows from one another. This time, however, Flash was in control of his actions.

Taking the cue from his father, the Symbiote covered Thompson increased the volume of his punches. Without his Spider-Sense, Peter was already having a hard enough time keeping up with his classmate. But now that he was actually bonding with Venom, it was a return to form for Flash Thompson.

He's definitely gotten stronger, Peter thought, narrowly blocking a punch with both arms and preparing to shoot a webline.

"Your body's open!!" Venom grinned, throwing a powerful uppercut to his opponent's solar plexus. Peter was unable to dodge it in time, and the blow launched him backwards into a busted freezer. It dented around his body on impact, blocking his trajectory.

At this, the Symbiote returned inside Flash's body as he leapt into the air, pumping a fist skyward.

"Yes!! I finally got him! Did you see that!?" He asked excitedly as Eddie made his way over.

"Not bad at all," the man chuckled, offering a raised hand. Caught up in the moment, Flash didn't hesitate to high-five his father. He was just glad he could fight again without losing control.

"Whooo!! The champ is back, baby!!!" Flash cheered, throwing punches at the air as Peter struggled not to throw up.

"Whoo..." The web-slinger added dryly.

"Oh come on, don't be like that, Parker," the teen grinned. "It's just a return to normalcy! I'm back on top! And you're-"

"-And I'm back on the ground where I belong?" Peter asked, having been in this position several times over the years.

Flash caught on, realizing the implication of his own words, "I don't mean it like that."

"Just be glad I'm wasn't using that sonic tech I brought earlier," Peter grumbled, clutching his stomach. "Not to mention my Sense is on the fritz..."

"Your 'sense'?" Eddie glanced over at the teen. "That a part of your Quirk?"

"I call it 'Spider Sense'," he explained, wobbling slightly as he got to his feet. "It's like an early warning system that kicks in when there's danger to me. But for some reason, it doesn't work on Flash."

"Hmmm..." The man pondered a moment, "Aside from your fight at the Garden, did you ever come into direct contact with Venom? Say skin to skin, or a open wound."

"Not that I can-"

"The day we met Carnage," Flash interjected. "After you opened your wrist shooting those webs. I had to stop the bleeding myself, remember?"

"Oh yeah, that's right!" Peter smacked his own forehead. "You shot a tendril at me and it covered my..."

He stared at his scarred wrist, a realization dawning followed by a look of alarm. "Wait, did something happen to me?" He asked, "Do I have Symbiote inside my body?? Am I gonna turn into Venom!?"

"No, no," Eddie laughed, waving a hand reassuringly. "I've seen this before, all it means is that Venom's imprinted on you."

"'Imprinted'?" Peter asked.

"Ugh, call it something different," Flash groaned.

"When a Symbiote merges with a person, however briefly, it gets a full read on them," the man explained. "Even the smallest piece can assess compatibility. And if willingly accepted, it will recognize them on a DNA level as a potential host. My guess? Your Sense doesn't warn you about Venom because it sees him as being a part of you."

"A 'potential host'?" The web slinger considered Eddie's words, "You mean, like, I could wear Venom?"

"Don't get any weird ideas, Parker," Flash glared. "This power is ours, and we're not sharing!!"

"So... I can wear it?" Peter teased. "You just said 'ours', does that mean you'll share?"

"No! It's ours- I-I mean, mine!!!" The blond corrected himself angrily before addressing his father. "Am I always gonna talk in different pronouns?"

Eddie laughed at his son's frustration, "Only sometimes, when your bond is strong you can speak for each other. Or when you get angry..."

"So, all the time then," grinned Peter.

"Rrrrrrgggghhhh..." Flash growled, turning away and stomping toward the exit. He paused before the gate and turned back, "You idiots coming or what? We're hungry!!"

His classmate shook his head with a chuckle and jogged after him. Eddie watched the two teens for a moment. A smile grew on his face as he followed them out.

Some time and a stop for burgers later, the trio made their way back to Queens and the Parker residence. It was well past sunset, and the overall atmosphere was quiet.

"So where are you staying, anyway?" Flash asked, as they turned up the walkway toward the small house.

"Eh, I'll find a place to squat," Eddie shrugged. "With everything that's happening, I don't wanna be too far away from you, son."

The corner of the teen's mouth twitched slightly, as if attempting to suppress a smile.

"Aww, thats sweet," Peter teased. "You're bonding!"

"Shut it, Parker!" The father and son retorted simultaneously. They paused and glanced at each other briefly.

"See?" The web slinger grinned as he unlocked the front door. "Anyway, why don't you stay over with Flash and I? My Aunt's working overnight at the hospital, so we'd have the place to ourselves."

"I mean, as long as I'm not intruding," Eddie scratched the back of his head nervously and looked at Flash. "But only if that's ok with you?"

"I-"

"Look out!!!"

The immediate buzz of Peter's Spider Sense barely gave him enough time to leap aside as a blur of purple shot through the door.

"What the hell was that!?" He exclaimed.

Flash quickly began to morph into Venom and Peter activated his web shooters.

"Whoa whoa, hold it!" Eddie raised his arms to stop the battle ready teens, and peeked through the open doorway. "Payne??"

A moment later, a woman in plain clothes hurried over and embraced him. "Eddie! Thank God, it is you!!" She exclaimed with relief.

"What are you doing here?" Brock held her a moment before separating, "How did you find me?"

"Please," she said. "You're never that hard to track down."

"Hey, slow down a second!" Flash stepped in between them, "Who's the Brit?"

"And why is she in my Aunt's house?" Added Peter, arms crossed.

"Alright," Eddie sighed. "Boys, this is Doctor Teddy Payne. As you can see, she's also a Symbiote User. But where Venom makes me stronger, Agony gives her a bit of pep in her step."

"I noticed," Peter glanced over the woman, raising an eyebrow. "Did I see you holding somebody?"

The woman's face fell, "I placed him inside, but he's hurt."

The trio followed her into the house and entered the living room. A well built man with slicked back brown hair lay sprawled out on the couch. He groaned and shivered in pain, barely conscious of his surroundings. A towel was wrapped around him, a few spots beginning to dempen with blood.

"Carl Mach," she introduced. "'Phage' to the rest of us. He's an ally."

"What happened to him?" Brock asked, kneeling down next to the man.

"The fool made a move too early," Payne explained, moving to . "Thought he could sneak up on him, I suppose."

"On who?" Asked Peter.

"Carnage. Who else?" Flash answered.

"Do you have anything in the way of first aid?" The doctor asked.

"Upstairs. I'll go get it," Peter nodded and set to his task as Payne began to undress the soiled towels.

Eddie leaned close to examine Carl's wounds, "Why isn't he healing?"

"He was attacked before he could transform," Teddy explained. "I can stop the bleeding, but he's in no shape to go anywhere, let alone fight."

"There's something else you're not telling me..." Eddie's gazr scrutinized the young doctor, who sighed.

"He got Scream," she finally admitted. "Toxin as well."

"No..." The man's eyes widened. "When? How??"

"Scream last week," Payne replied. "Toxin was a few days ago. Police found his host's body in a boxcar outside of Newark."

"Were they friends?" Flash asked, seeing his father's pained expression.

Eddie closed his eyes in resignation, "They fought alongside us, during the last fight with Carnage. But now he's picking them off one by one. If he consumed them, then-"

"He's even stronger now than he was before," Payne finished.

The room was silent for a moment, before Eddie turned and spoke to his son.

"You're staying here," he said. "I need to end this before he hurts anyone else."

"Are you nuts!?" Exclaimed Flash, "You had me do all that training to protect myself, and now you're saying I need to hide like a punk!?"

"We have no reinforcements, and you've had one day with Venom somewhat under control," replied his father. "You're nowhere near ready to face Carnage as he is now."

"Yeah, but neither are you!" Flash retorted. "You said it yourself, you're not as strong as you used to be! Especially with your legs-"

"We can't lose you!!" The man exclaimed, briefly losing composure. "You... You're the one bit of family I have in this world. And you have a full life ahead of you. I've done nothing but mess shit up for the last two decades... Let me do something right for once..."

Flash was silent for a moment, as if processing everything.

"Ok, I heard shouting," Peter spoke up, coming down the stairs with box full of medical supplies. "Someone wanna fill me in?"

"Brock here's gonna fight Carnage alone," Flash replied.

"Seriously?? That's stupid on so many levels!" The web slinger looked incredulously at the two. "You can't face that guy without backup! Let me call a Pro Hero-"

"You can't," Brock replied. "He's too slippery to get caught, and the 'Pros' are too limited in what they can legally do. I'm not. To beat someone like him, you need someone like him. And I'm all that's left."

"What about you then?" Peter turned to look at Dr. Payne, "Can't you go with him? Plus aren't you like a speedster?"

"Yes, but I'm not a fighter!" She replied, looking up from her work. "Carnage will take advantage of that and use it. Besides, I need to keep Carl alive. I don't suppose you have the skill required to take over?"

"I-I mean, my Aunt's a nurse," the teen offered nervously.

"Forget it. The fewer involved, the safer you'll all be," Eddie said firmly, before turning to his son.

"Brock..." Flash was at a loss for words as the man placed a hand on his shoulder.

"God forbid it goes badly and you need a quick getaway," he jerked his head toward Payne. "With luck, I'll be back in the morning. But for now, stay safe."

With that, he threw his jacket on and strolled out the doir, closing it behind him.

Flash stared out the window. In the darkness, he could just make out his father transform and leap off into the distance. He turned to look at Peter, "We can't let him go out there alone!"

"We're not," the web slinger replied, as he hurried upstairs to his bedroom. "Come on."

.

.

.

Barber's Chair

• The cameras mentioned were used on-screen by Peter and Eddie in the Rami trilogy. And since these versions of the characters aren't adversarial, I thought a good way for them to bond would be their mutual love of photography.

• The Sin Eater was an actual villain moniker used by several characters in Marvel comics. The most famous (or infamous) appearance was during the Death of Jean DeWolff storyline, and was indeed the reason Eddie lost his job at the Bugle.

• Most of the Symbiotes referenced and seen were part of the Life Foundation, and were actually offspring of Venom. The exception being Toxin, who was actually the offspring of Carnage.

• The comic and movie love interest of Eddie Brock was Anne Weying, whereas Flash Thompson's mother is named Rose. Having them be the same person was something I thought of a while ago, plus having her be in Witness Protection seemed a more logical way of Eddie not knowing he had a child.

• Something to address: in this universe, Symbiote Users have accelerated healing factors, and can withstand most injuries in their himan forms. Except when attacked by other Symbiotes.

• The version of Agony here is mostly the movie version, but I kept the acid spit power from the comics.