Chapter 6:
Standing in front of everyone was a behemoth of a monster. Their first clear look at the Shadow Demon, the one hiding in the shadows of Copper-9, hunting down Disassembly Drones.
No one expected that it would be someone they knew well and grew close to...
No one expected that the Shadow Demon was N all along...
And now, in the evacuation center where there are scared Worker Drones besides Uzi and Thad, surrounded by 15 Disassembly Drones but they were no longer the threat in this room but rather the Shadow Demon right in front of them.
J: DON'T JUST STAND THERE! KILL HIM!
The Shadow Demon walked his way towards them while the Disassembly Drones began to fire their weapon at Venom which had little to no effect other than pissing him off. He charged on all four and proceeded to tackle one of the Disassembly, ripping them apart, and eating its heart in front of the others.
J: FIND A DIFFERENT WAY TO KILL HIM! MOVE YOUR ASSES!
Other Disassembly Drones switched their guns for blades while a few continued to fire way as a diversion. They tried to slash Venom but just like their guns, it was no effect. Even surrounding him, it worked more in the favor of Venom than the Murder Drones with the Symbiote swiping them to a nearby wall with one of his tentacles before grabbing a container and began to smash the drones repeatedly until their bodies could barely be recognized.
J: *eyes widened* INCOMING!
Venom with all his strength launched the container flying as J and V moved out of the way but a few unlucky Disassembly were hit and crushed to death by the container.
With J and V moving out of the way, this gave Uzi and Thad a chance to grab their weapons and regroup for a plan while the rest of the Disassembly drones were handling Venom.
Uzi: Their eyes are going to be on fighting N-...the Shadow Demon. It'll give us a chance to sneak attack them and blow them out.
Thad: What are we going for? Short range and Long range?
Uzi: Bingo! Get everyone to the second floor then go to snipe mode with anything you find!
Thad: Got it! You be careful though!
Uzi: Don't get all mushy with me too!
The two separated as Thad approached the others and led the evacuation while Uzi tried to find an opening on helping out the Shadow Demon and also wanting to kill some Murder Drones. But her heart was in a different thought, N was the Shadow Demon all this time and it made her connect the dots.
Uzi: *looks over* I hope you're still in there N...
The evacuation center became a bloodbath but for all the wrong reasons for the Disassembly Drones. Venom was on a kill streak, handling all of these killer drones on his own but there was one drone who wanted to fight him badly, C.
C: V! *Switches my blades for missiles* Cover Me!
V got up in Venom's face with her wings to distract him until she moved out of the way and Venom was welcomed with a heavy blast from one of C's missiles. This took the Symbiote a bit by surprise before getting back up, more pissed! The symbiote looked over and ripped off a wing from a dead drone as C fired another missile but Venom this time shielded it with the wing before ripping out another one to use as a double-bladed shield.
C: REMEMBER ME!
Venom growled and roar as he tried to finish C on sight but C would dodge the slashes while also still trying to blast the Symbiote with the missile until he was now face to face with Venom. C went over the Symbiote to land on top of another container and shooting his gun right at Venom's face.
That pissed off the Symbiote even more as he jumped up and tried to decapitate C's head but C moved away quickly and proceeded to dodge a few more strikes by Venom which J noticed and was heavily impressed.
J: He's actually fighting him off! GAH-
Unfortunately for J, being distracted caused her to be kicked in the face by Uzi. J got up immediately but didn't see Uzi around until something sharp went in her left eye, causing J to scream and start to shoot around her while Uzi finds cover.
J: *grunts and pulls out the pen* Damn the well-made, quality-assured durability of JC Jensen products!
Before J could do anything else, she was struck from behind with a sharp object and looked up to see Thad before she got ambushed from behind by Uzi. V noticed and flies up towards Thad as he tries to ready another shot but the two were separated by a flying piece of a Disassembly wing in between followed by a black tentacle grabbing V and slamming her to the ground.
Venom took noticed and did his part while still fighting off with C as he blasts himself far from Venom but the Symbiote wasn't done with him yet and chased C on all fours. Little did Venom know, this was C's plan for a trap to surround Venom and finish both the monster and N off with their lasers cannons.
C: DO IT! NOW!
The remaining Disassembly Drones surrounded Venom in a circle formation and fired away the lasers at the Symbiote which severely caused damaged as Venom roared in pain before falling to his knees. It tried to cover himself with its own Symbiote wings but the lasers were still going through him and N.
The Murder Drones finally found a way to kill off the Symbiote and N...
Uzi continued to have the upper hand on a damaged J until she saw what was happening and her eyes widened in horror to see Venom being pierced through by lasers across its body but most importantly, N was still inside...
Uzi: N! NO!
Uzi charges the railgun, aiming at all the Murder Drones she can but heard something charging up from behind and looked to find J charging up an E.M.P then launches it around the place, temporarily shutting down Uzi and the Worker Drones.
But her shout towards N was enough for Venom to hear and look to where Uzi had shut down as J was recovering and slowly walking towards her. Something inside Venom was fueling up and realized this was N taking control as well. Tentacles burst out of Venom's back and each of them ripped off wings from dead drones to create an ultimate shield.
C: Impossible...
Despite the lasers still slightly going through the Disassembly wings, it gave Venom enough time to heal, spun the wings into one large burning spiral, and launch the different wings to the rest of the Disassembly, cutting them in halves, then lunging onto V and biting her head off completely.
The Symbiote with the aid of N's emotions found a way to slaughter the drones once again.
J: T-They're all dead...*looks at Venom* You're gonna-...feel pain? *Looks at my broken leg and limps* AUUGHH! Fourth quarter profits! Mother of company leadership retreats!
J falls to the ground after having her leg impaled by her Nanite Acid tail and is then met with the railgun right in her face with Uzi activated and ready to kill.
Uzi: One more buzzword, and I'll do it.
J: *blinks nervously* Equity partnersh-
BWOOOOOOOOM!
The railgun blasted right through J, vaporizing her in seconds, and only leaving out her lower half of the body. Uzi lifts her railgun and spits right on J's corpse then looked over to watch Venom collecting hearts from the fallen Murder Drones before approaching V's corpse.
N: NO! NOT V! LEAVE HER ALONE!
Venom ignored him and was about to rip out V's heart until more fire came from behind the Symbiote as he looked around to see C bravely continue to try and hurt the Symbiote despite no effect.
Venom: You!...*growls*
C: *stands in front of it* Is that it? *scoffs* Is that all you got?
Venom's only response was an aggressive kick that sent C rolling across the place before being crushed by the concrete wall with only parts of his body falling to the ground. The others including Uzi watched in horror at the slaughterhouse that was made by the Shadow Demon.
Khan: Uzi! *Runs to her* Are you alright?
Uzi: Little shook but I'll be fine.
Thad: *points to Venom* What about...
The Worker Drones all looked back to see Venom devouring up the hearts of Disassembly Drones as Uzi noticed a lot of Worker Drones scared and having looks of no trust seeing the monster that was N this whole time. Uzi handed her weapon to Thad and slowly made her way to Venom.
Khan: U-Uzi?!-
Thad: Let her go, Boss. If there's a chance that our N is still in there, she can pull him out.
Khan hated the idea but he remembered well what happened earlier in the day with N having that terrible anxiety attack and it was Uzi that was able to calm him down. He only hoped that both his daughter and N would be alright...
As Uzi continued to slowly make her way towards the Shadow Demon, Venom noticed and slowly approached Uzi as she gulped at the sight of the monster in front of her. He was HUGE in front of her, a leaning tower but she wasn't afraid entirely as she still believed N was still in there.
Uzi: H-Hey...N...
Venom only roared at Uzi which startled her entirely and Khan almost ran to her but she held her hand up to stop him and continued to look at Venom's eyes.
Uzi: I-It's okay, N...it's over now...
Venom: He...is not...Here! There...is only...Venom!
Uzi: *shakes my head* No...you are wrong...I know he is in there. And I know that idiot can hear me...N...there are no more coming after you...Follow my voice, N. No one here is going to see you differently...No one is going to leave you alone...We're all here for you...I'm...here for you...
Venom growled at Uzi's attempt to try and bring N back out to the light but he hate to admit that it was working. The Symbiote felt as if N was waking up and ripping from the webs he was tangled in the darkness. He connected with N as he saw the other Worker Drones still scared but standing together as if they are also telling him to come back...
Venom looked around and saw the carnage he left, satisfied with the amount of hearts he has ate. The Symbiote thought about it and gave himself in. Venom went to slowly revert himself as slowly the 7-foot, bulk figure of a monster was shrinking down to the size of the drones before the familiar face began to appear...
Venom was gone and N had returned...
As the Symbiote returned to its dormant state, N tried with all his remaining strength to walk towards Uzi before falling on his knees from exhaustion while Uzi approached him and helped her friend. She was emotionally relieved to see N still okay.
N: *looks at her softly* I...knew you'll find me...
Uzi: You...weren't hard to find...
N: Yes I was...
N collapsed momentarily on Uzi's shoulder as she held him close. The others could only watch with relief yet sympathy for what N had been hiding from them wasn't something he wanted...it was something that was a part of him...a curse...
N: I...don't think I'll be eating for the rest of the week...
Uzi: *chuckles softly* You got enough there, big guy...
N slowly yet weakly got himself back up with a bit of Uzi's aid who didn't let him go as he looked around at the destruction the monster in him has made. Uzi could tell on his face that this isn't anything he wanted nor enjoyed. She couldn't imagine what truly happens when the Shadow Demon takes over and N falls into the dark.
Uzi: Easy, N...
N slowly approached an unconscious V as her head was still being reformed. He looked at her with such pain and guilt as the memories crawled back to him...
N: V...We'll fix this...
N's left arm changed to Venom's arm which stunned the others as a piece of black goo was wrapped around V's hands like they are handcuffs. For both N and Venom, this was perhaps another key to get them closer to the Absolute Solver situation.
N: I need to head back to my place.
Uzi: In that state, you don't even know if you'll lose control to that...Monster!
N: Uzi, this has something that's far more dangerous and it's still out there in the universe. Getting the information, I need could be the key to stopping all of this and stopping more Disassembly Drones from coming here.
Uzi: Then take me with you? Let me help you out! And I won't take No for an answer.
Khan: Now hold on there! Uzi, we all trust N and care for him. But it is different when that monster takes over. N isn't the problem here but the Shadow Demon.
Uzi: Dad, I'm noticing a pattern and maybe that's the only way we can keep it from taking over N again. That monster only appears when N loses control of his emotions and falls into a deep dark place. As long as N remains calm and he has people that care for him, that parasite won't show up.
Venom: PARASITE?!
N: *whispers* Shut up!
Uzi: And it's like N said, we have one surviving Disassembly Drone and we might just get the answers we need! Think about Mom! This will be the closest to avenging what happened to her.
Khan: *looks at N* Do you...even remember what happened on that night?
Uzi: W-What do you mean, dad? *Looks at N* Y-You were there?...
N: *sighs and shakes my head* Sir...Uzi...I can't remember anything that happened unless it was three years ago. From the point of when I crashed on this planet that was 7 years ago...I couldn't remember anything until these last 3 years...Venom...the Symbiote inside me was the one going around during those 4 years I was unconscious.
Khan: Then I can confirm that what happened on that night was never your fault, my boy. But that monster-
V: Who are you calling a monster?
The Worker Drones all panicked and moved back while Uzi and N looked back to see V fully healed and awake as she tried to break free but struggled with the Symbiote handcuffs.
V: Grrrr! What the hell even is this?! *Looks up and eyes widened* N...N! You!...TRAITOR!
N only looked at her but no response as he turned back to the others which was an insult to her.
N: There's only one thing I can truly say about all of this. The Shadow Demon inside me has learned of a much bigger threat that has destroyed the human world...and what he tells me right now, was the reason for what happened to Uzi's mom. That's why there are Murder Drones coming here. It's no "parent company" disapproval for us living here, someone here has something their Boss wants. That's where V comes in and why I'm taking her to my place, to find the answers to stop more of them from coming and to stop her.
Thad: Who?
N: Cyn...The Absolute Solver.
The mention of that name caused a glitch on Uzi's eyes which she held while V felt shivers around her body but noticed Uzi's stumble which caused a suspicious look.
Khan: N, promise me one thing. You protect my daughter if anything happens, even if that demon tries to take over you.
N: *nods* I promise. *Looks at Uzi* You ready?
Uzi: Hell yeah! Let's do this!
N turned around in what sounded like whispering until his hands transformed into Venom's hands and instead of N's wings, they were Venom's Archangel wings that left everyone including Uzi in a mix of horrified and stunned. N grabbed V then held Uzi's hand and off they went.
Everyone felt like they needed a long week of rest and recovery of what occurred today. Mix of fear, stress, tiresome yet hopeful and relief despite secrets being revealed especially that N was the Shadow Demon protecting Copper-9.
Things were only about to get even more chaotic as one drone watched N and Uzi leave while observing the slaughter that was left behind. However, her thoughts did not leave from the reveal of N having a symbiote. Her eyes glitched momentarily...
As the red eyes changed to a familiar white, jagged eyes...and a grin that would give anyone nightmares...
Doll: Еще один симбиот (Another Symbiote)