Fandom Swamp Venom

[Deadwood Deer]

Family trips sucked. Jessica Williams had figured that out when she was small. Road trips were the worst, her family of seven crammed into a beat up old van and driven across the country, seemingly perfectly arranged so that everyone was sat next to the person most likely to drive them to commit murder on the highway. And God forbid someone actually complain about that arrangement! So the moment she was old enough to have a say in the matter, Jess stopped going on family trips where she could avoid it.

Unfortunately, this was a trip she didn’t have a say in. The Williams family reunion, once a decade experience, a lifetime of regret to follow. Big families weren’t supposed to be compacted into one area like that. Jess was a firm believer that if you were within arms reach of more than one person over the age of eight that you weren’t actively talking to, they were too close and they needed to back up out of your business. Jess seemed to be the only member of her family with that opinion, however.

It also sucked that this year the reunion was being held at Uncle Mike’s apartment in New York. Didn’t they know New York was dangerous? That was where all the superheroes happened! Buildings were destroyed every other week by fights! It was crazy dangerous! And Jess lived in a crappy neighborhood full of crackheads in central Florida that hadn’t had a visit from code enforcement since God was a toddler, so her bar for crazy dangerous was crazy high! And not the fun kind, either!

Almost vindicating Jessica’s position, here came a gooey mess of web right next to her head before Venom came whizzing by! “Hey!”, Jess shouted at the vigilante, “You almost killed me!”

Venom dropped out of the air and stood on top of a street sign, surveying the area, before spotting the gunman he was looking for. He flicked his wrist and fired a gooey web at the man as he raised his rifle and started to walk into the reunion to declare a hostage situation. The man got two steps and one shot off before being yanked back and knocked out by the black-suited vigilante known as Venom, tying him up and leaving him hanging from a street lamp for the police to arrive, glaring down at the irritated Floridian woman, his webs weren’t as dangerous as that man could have been.

“You think that makes it better?” Where Jess was from, saving someone from being killed didn’t absolve you of almost killing them seconds prior.

“Calm down, kid,” Venom growled, “The police will be here soon, argue with them.” With that he webbed back up to the skyline, leaving a thread of his costume torn on the streetsign.

“Asshole,” Jessica muttered.

“Hey, relax,” Uncle Mike tried to get Jessica back into the swing of things, “He just saved your life!”

“How hard did you hit your head?”, Jessica demanded, “I wouldn’t have a problem if he didn’t almost take my life first!”, she pointed to the splotch of webbing on the side of the street sign, “That was almost my face!” She spread her arms, “Look around! How many other places could he have jumped to? There’s a street light right there! Cars! How the hell do I have better common sense than a superhero?” Up on the street sign, that torn thread from Venom’s symbiote suit was looking much… gooey-er than before, if anyone was looking at it. Most people didn’t scrutinize street signs for longer than it took to tell what it said, though.

With Jessica’s arms spread, the still mostly-full glass of black magic in her hand was in perfect position to catch the falling bit of goo. Unbeknownst to onlookers, that bit of goo wasn’t any regular bit of street tar, it was a baby klyntar symbiote searching for a host. It didn’t really get the chance to attach to that host however as Jessica headed back inside as the police started to arrive. She was already planning to book a flight back home early, this experience only solidified that need.

Airlines let you bring food and drinks with you as long as it was packaged correctly. In tiny bottles and big bags, in her purse Jessica had brought both so she could take some happy juice with her and fast-travel back home passed out in her seat. By the time the police came around to take her statement, Jessica was already ready to go, and the baby klyntar had wound up sealed in a tiny bottle inside of a bag, inside of a purse, stuffed in a suitcase.

“I’ve got a flight in ten minutes, so unless you’re gonna buy me another ticket you need to let me go,” she explained to the police, “I didn’t see anything.” That excuse didn’t fly well, but no one ever said the police in that area were competent, and they let Jess go.

She’d actually forgotten about the alcohol in her bag until she was back in her one-room apartment with her cat, unpacking and grumbling to herself about the absolute shit-storm that family reunions always turned out to be. “I’m not going to the next one,” she decided as she started tossing clothes into the laundry basket, “I don’t care what mom says.”

Jessica’s apartment was small, small enough that she saved space any way she could. That included her bed. She didn’t have a bedframe, instead she balanced her mattress atop a sheet of plywood screwed on top of two squat dressers, with the laundry basket between them so there wasn’t a weird-looking gap. That also freed up space around the walls, where her kitchenette and desk were, and her tiny bathroom on one side. She tossed her purse onto her desk, where the bags of tiny bottles of booze rolled out carelessly while she went into the bathroom to shower and remove the New York Family stink from herself. At least the hot water still worked in this crappy apartment.

Coming out of the shower a while later with a towel wrapped around herself, Jessica started to get dressed again to go to bed, and then remembered the alcohol bottles. “Damn, that would have been useful on the flight.” She shook her head and went to the desk with the towel still around her and went through the bottles, deciding whether it was worth the frankenstein it would make if she poured them all into one bottle. “Eh, what the hell.” If Floridians were known for being wise, Florida Man wouldn’t be a legend. She started opening tiny bottles and pouring them into a water bottle to mix them up.

Mixing them up, that is, until she got to the bottle of black magic that the baby klyntar was hiding in, but the liquid wasn’t coming out. “Huh?” She squeezed the bottle, then turned it to face the funnel and smacked the back, trying to force it out, to reclaim that bottle if nothing else. That not being successful, she looked into the bottle, trying to figure out what was going on, only for a small gooey blob to shoot out at her face...

 

[Nenma Takashi]

They often say birth is a miracle of life, that's more true than most realize. The chances of someone living a life exactly like your own are less likely than a tornado blowing through a junkyard and assembling a working car. Still miracles happen and today was indeed a miracle. As Venom leaped from the street sign a piece of him tore off. Normally this piece would simply reattach itself to the main body. Today was different today a miracle occured the piece could sense something else nearby a similar host. Someone who could also compliment it thus it hesitated to return to main body. Soon after this brief hesitation Venom was too far to go back to. Thus this was no longer a piece of Venom it was it's own being it was now a baby klyntar.

The baby didn't know anything it only had one thought, it needed to combine with a host. So it dropped down towards the potential host it could sense nearby. Falling straight into her glass full of giggle water. Where it quickly tried to get out but before it could it was shut inside. Now again this baby klyntar knew nothing but it did possess instincts, and these instincts told it to lie in wait. It's chance would come it just needed to be patient. While inside the bottle the klyntar began to assimilate the contents into itself. It slowly began to take up more room in the bottle until it has completely replaced the liquid once inside. Growing bigger it now filled the bottle and was now capable of understanding what it wanted. It wanted a host so it could live. It would make this woman it's host. So it went back to waiting.

It waited so long and as it did it could sense a feeling from the woman. Perhaps it was this feeling she gave off that drew it to her in the first place. The klyntar couldn't be sure it lacked the knowledge to be sure. It went back to waiting lying still, not asleep for it didn't need such a thing, instead just conserving energy. The klyntar felt the speed at which it was moving slow down drastically. The woman must be carrying it again it's time must be close.

The motion stopped and it could tell it was time. It moved within the bottle causing it to roll out of the purse it was held within. Soon it could feel the host was close, she picked up the bottle containing the klyntar and opened it. Trying to pour it into another container but it didn't move. It clung to the bottle not wishing to enter another capsule. She struggled in vain to shake it free from the inside of the bottle. Until finally she turned the opening towards herself.

It was time. Leaping from the bottle at the woman the klyntar quickly crammed itself into whatever opening it could fine on her head. Her nostrils, her mouth, and even her eyes the woman probably couldn't breathe. The klyntar had never tried to enter a host before it didn't understand one had to be careful or it'd suffocate the host, before even fulling merging with them. Luckily for both the klyntar and more so the woman the baby was small enough that this process was fast. Thus it had done it the klyntar had merged with the host. It felt correct like putting on a fresh pair of socks. It also understood the annoyance of a "family reunion." God how it wished it never had to go to one ever again. First a foremost though it had a more important thought. "I'm hungry." The woman would hear inside her head, it was a slightly slurred like the barely coherent mumbles or a drunk.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

Over the years, Jessica had heard many, many things that were meant to discourage her from consuming alcohol as regularly as she did when family was involved. Brain damage? She was positive growing up with five siblings determined to drive her insane already gave her brain damage. Fetal alcohol syndrome? Growing up with five siblings was eighteen years of birth control commercials. Estrangement from family? Have you met the Williams family? An alien gobbet of goo shooting out of a bottle of black magic to invade every orifice on her head like a low-quality Japanese adult cartoon was probably the most effective argument for never touching alcohol again that Jessica had ever heard.

The force behind this tiny ball of goo was suprising, considering what it was doing, and it sent Jessica reeling as she clawed at the thing working its way into her head. With her mouth and nose being filled by the goo monster, she couldn't get any air in, or any air out. Her vision was starting to go dim even as she could feel the thing rushing around her eyeballs. Her eardrums threatened to rupture with the building pressure of the goo seeking entry to her nervous system. Jessica in her panic forgot her surroundings, and in her stumbling and clawing slipped on a wet footprint near the bathroom door, taking down a standing lamp and the blinds as she fell.

Across the alleyway in the building over, Jessica's neighbor was looking out the window at the chaos going on in Jessica's apartment and reaching for the phone to dial 911, "The hell's going on over there?"

When Jessica hit the ground, she blacked out, losing consciousness for a moment. The unconsciousness didn't last more than a few seconds, she hadn't hit the tile floor hard enough to give herself brain damage, but it was long enough that when she woke up the infant klyntar had vanished to her immediate perception. She looked around confused, and then at the tiny bottle the thing had come out of, remembering that the tiny bottle was meant to be full of happy juice, but that was definitely not happy. Jess wasn't likely to drink again for some time after that experience. She almost convinced herself that it was just a hallucination. A hallucination that led her to decide to quit drinking, but a hallucination nonetheless.

And then she heard it. A little voice, sounding as drunk as Jess wished she had been when the delusion sprang upon her. I'm hungry. Now there were voices in Jessica's HEAD! She knew the drink was called Black Magic, but it wasn't supposed to literally be magic! Just ignore it, she decided, Ignore it and it'll go away. That was what you did with hallucinations you knew weren't real ahead of time, right? Tune it out, focus on real life, like the aching bump on the back of her head from her fall. "Ow," she groaned as she got to her knees, and then to her feet. Slow down, whatever just happened, it was messing with Jessica's sense of balance. Get to the freezer, get some ice.

And then it came again, the tiny, drunken voice insisting it was hungry. Jessica decided that voice must have been alcohol addiction. "Well I'm not going to feed you," she answered out-loud as she cracked open the fridge, and then winced as the first thing in the fridge was a six pack. "Nope." She slammed the fridge shut and groaned.

 

[Nenma Takashi]

The symbiote could see everything now that it had attached itself to it's host. It used her eyes to see when she stood up it thought she might be going to get food like it had requested. Instead she told it she wasn't going to feed them. As if to taunt it she walked over to the fridge opening it. It had already learned so much attaching to this woman like how it already knew how to speak or that it knew her name was Jessica. It also knew what was inside a fridge before she even opened it. Seeing the six pack the symbiote remembered the delicious liquid it once sloshed around in. So as Jessica tried to slam the fridge shut she would find a black substance holding the door open. A substance that would look almost exactly like what she had seen Venom use to swing around, and web up the gunman. She would then see this same black substance snatch up the six pack and bring it close to her. "Open it." It slurred this time sounding a bit more whiney than before.

It wanted to open the cans itself but it knew that if it wasn't careful it might crush the cans. Which would spill the savoury contents within and it didn't wanna waste a drop. So it simply decided to let Jessica open the cans for it using her significantly weaker human hands to do so.

Meanwhile a police car was sitting cozy in an alleyway. As an on duty cop laid back in his seat enjoying a nice cup of coffee. He took a sip of the creamy caffeine and let out a satisfied sigh. So far he hadn't had to deal with anything at all today. The most he was called in for was to be on the look out for a missing dog today was shaping up to be his day. That is until dispatch called in that someone's neighbor heard some strange noises over at his neighbors place. Something about her knocking stuff over and what not he sighed and flipped on his sirens. If anything this lady was probably just arguing with some boyfriend or drunk he go give em a warning and get back to relaxing on the job.

Of course back at Jessica's apartment things weren't as simple as the unsuspecting cop currently on his way thought things were. As the symbiote was also picking up whatever food was inside Jessica's fridge. Grabbing a jar of pickles and attempting to twist the cap off but doing so too fast and hard and instead shattering the jar. Only more so confirming for itself that opening the cans itself was impossible. "You have to open the happy juice for me, I'm thirsty." Of course it wasn't nor was it really hungry it just wanted to eat and drink really badly. Honestly it felt like as a human would out it starving. So much so that it had no problem picking the the now floor pickles and bringing it close to a mass of goo located by Jessica's stomach. This mass opened up into a mouth and began tossing the pickles inside along with various other foods. A frozen tv dinner, random veggies and fruits, a half eaten cherry pie, an entire bottle of mustard and finally a packet of baloney. "Yummy." It mumbled out as it finished the food. Still holding the six pack in front of Jessica she would see the goop use far more delicacy than it offered any of the other meals it just devoured as it plucked a can from the six pack. Holding it towards Jessica a bit shaky almost as if it was reluctant to give it to her. "Share."

Of course that's why it seemed hesitate it didn't wanna have to but it figured perhaps Jessica wanted some as well. Maybe if it gave her one she would be willing to help, it then realized she didn't get to drink the liquid that it once stayed trapped within. What if she was upset because the young klyntar had drank it all before her. That must be why she said she wouldn't feed it! This realization only made it press the single ice cold can against Jessica's face. "Here I'll share so open it for meeee!" It cried out like a toddler wanting another cookie, as if it hadn't already gotten enough and as far as the klyntar was concerned it hadn't gotten nearly enough.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

Jessica had only one response to what she was seeing right now. More alien goo was coming out of her! It was oozing out of her skin and through the towel around her, gorging itself on the contents of her refridgerator, and demanding she open a can of beer, holding it against her face and whining like a child. Jessica screamed, what else was she supposed to do? This was more than she could handle. She joked and claimed about the horrors of living in a rundown neighborhood in central Florida, with meth heads and flakka dealers around every corner, but that really wasn't true at all. It was just a crappy neighborhood with cheap housing, she'd never encountered anything like this before. Not even on her worst trips when using drugs.

The walls of cheap housing not being very thick, it didn't take very long for a group of concerned neighbors to call the landlord to report the disturbance, before calling the police themselves, believing their neighbor had just been attacked. By the time the lazy police officer arrived, there were a group of neighbors around the door to Jessica's apartment, where it had largely gone silent, except for the occasional sound of movement or broken glass inside. Peering through the peephole on the door, the apartment was a mess inside. Jessica had tried to get away from the goo by running across the apartment, but with the thing attached to her, and still dragging the beer behind her, that only wrought more messy destruction in the apartment. The tenant that lived in that apartment wasn't visible, having curled up on the floor in front of the refrigerator, crying and having a breakdown in a puddle of pickle juice, spilled condiments, and the foam and liquid of a can of beer that burst in the chaos.

"Alright, back it up," the officer called to the neighbors, "Stay in your apartments, paramedics will be here soon," he directed neighbors to go back into their apartments and leaned into his walkie to call for backup and paramedics.

 

[Nenma Takashi]

Jessica's scream actually kinda startled the poor klyntar who quite disliked the sound. Then for some reason it's host began running around in a panic. By accident the klyntar knocked over and broke various objects as it held onto the now five pack. "Hey stop it! Your making a mess!" It yelled at it her blind to the utter mess it has made earlier by the fridge. Then it happened Jessica spun around fast and hard causing the goo holding the six pack to swing and slam against the wall. Denting the wall and bursting the beer cans open. "Nooooo! The happy juice! You spilt it all!" The symbiote cried out inside Jessica's head.

He stared at the beer now all over the floor and felt miserable. How could it's host waste such a needed resource. How were they to survive without the crisp taste of the giggle water. Finally Jessica had stopped running around and instead took to crying on the floor. The symbiote searched the fridge for more beer but couldn't find any. "Man and that was your last case." It complained to Jessica who probably wasn't listening yet that didn't stop her annoyed roommate.

From outside the apartment more officers arrived on scene, the fact things had gotten quiet was concerning to say the least. The officer who had originally arrived on scene now feeling the sweat bead down his face readied his gun. Turning to check that the others were right behind him ready to follow. He mustered whatever courage was hiding inside him and kicked the door open. The loud thud of the door echoed through the apartment. The officers five in number pooled into the room ready for a fight.

Yet all they found was a naked woman crying in a pool of pickle juice and mustard. A female officer slowly approached Jessica fearing the worse she crouched down next to her. "Are you okay miss? Have you been hurt?" The other four officers began to slowly make their way through the small apartment checking corners for another person who did not exist.

The female officer grabbed the towel that had fallen off Jessica in her panic and put it around her. "Everything's gonna be okay miss paramedics are on their way. You're safe now." The woman's last sentence was strange to the klyntar. She was safe now? Safe from what? Nothing was attacking them as far as it could tell. Or maybe they were being attacked and that's why she began running around. That's the only logical reason anyone would waste the giggle water. "What attacked us?" The symbiote asked curious why Jessica was able to notice the foe and it couldn't. Then again it was far more concerned with opening the beer cans.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

Oddly in the apartment, there were absolutely no signs of forced entry, aside from the broken door the police had kicked in. No marks on the windows, no marks on the bathroom door or the frosted window there, the fire exit. About the only sign that anything had happened at all was that the apartment was absolutely trashed and Jessica's state in front of the fridge.

To Jessica's credit, she wasn't completely incoherent, but nothing she was saying made any sense to the female officer. "A... a... and the goo... and the... food... and the... and the..." Another of the officers came over with the water bottle filed with the mix of drinks Jessica had brought back from her trip.

"Miss, does this has anything to do with what happened?", the officer asked. The mixture of liquids had turned a weird grey color from all the colors neutralizing into one color. Jessica looked at the bottle and shrank back into the female officer and nodded.

"We'll test it for substances," the officer nodded to his partner to go back down to the cruisers for a field test kit, as an ambulance pulled up, paramedics hurrying up to the apartment on the fifth floor. One of the officers explained to a paramedic what they knew and that they suspected drugs were involved, the paramedics nodded and sat Jessica up to give her a brief examination to determine what injuries she might have received in the struggle that evidently happened.

 

[Nenma Takashi]

The symbiote being bonded to Jessica understood what she wanted to say. She was trying to explain that it had made the mess which wasn't true at all. "Hey this is just as much your mess as it is mine." It retorted, soon paramedics arrived and began to examine Jessica. The cops standing nearby in case Jessica started having an episode.

The paramedic checked for injuries but found none which they found a bit strange. Especially due to how scattered the mess was they expected there to be some self inflicted injuries. They found even weirder that she had no cuts on her considering she was just lying where glass had clearly broken. The paramedic stood up and walked over to an officer explaining how strange this was. The officer thought it over and then approached Jessica. "Uh miss do you mind coming with us so we can ask you a few questions?"

The symbiote was starting to get annoyed it just wanted to drink and eat right now. Plus it didn't like how these people kept telling it's host what to do. "Hey you don't gotta listen to this guy what's he know!" The other two officers understood the situation and stood nearby in case Jessica tried to run. The female officer who held Jessica like she was her own child gave then a bit of a glare to ease off. She stroked Jessica's hair to try and calm her down. "Everything's gonna be alright you can take your time if you need to. It's all just procedure dear."

Again Jessica would hear the voice in her head. "Hey when are we getting more beer?" The symbiote was dying for a drink then it could smell it. The familiar alcoholic creating smell. It saw the bottle one of the officers was holding and had placed back on the dresser for their partner who left to get the field kit. That's when they all saw it a bit of black goo shot from Jessica snatching up the bottle and pulling it towards her. More goo came out and the bottle was shoved into the black gooey mass. Jessica would then hear. "Oh yeah that's the good stuff." Immediately the officer's trained their guns on Jessica. "The hell was that!" One shouted the female officer crawled back away from Jessica with sheer horror on her face.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

Jessica gave a nod when the officer requested to ask questions, but then the damn alien ruined it! It asked for beer, and then spotted the Frankenbooze, snatching it without thinking. This thing had to be Jess's alcoholism coming to life to punish her, there wasn't any other explanation she could think of! Now the police that were there to help her had guns trained on her! "P-please don't sh-shoot me!", she cried, shrinking into the corner and putting her hands up as though that would be a sufficient barrier to stop a bullet.

Jessica wished she knew what was going on, to be able to explain. The horror on the officer's face was a drop in the bucket compared to the terror Jessica was experiencing. She wished this was just a bad trip, she'd happily never touch another illicit substance again if this was what happened. But she hadn't taken any that she was aware of, she hadn't even gotten buzzed before coming home! And now she had an alcoholic goo monster in her head. "D-don't sh-sh- Get out of my head!" her hands went from putting up a feeble barrier agains the threat of being shot to clutching at her skull and rocking back and forth, trying to draw the thing out and throw it away, get rid of it, end the nightmare. Yeah, that was it! Just a bad dream! She slipped getting out of the shower, in a few minutes she'd wake up on the floor with the water still running, and no alien parasite!

"Ma'am," one of the officers was trying to deal with this rationally, "We're going to take you to the station." He instructed her to stand up and put her hands behind her back. What else could they do? This wasn't a common occurence! Florida was weird but normally weird means someone threw an alligator with a fanny pack through the drive-thru window at Wendy's, not a suspected assault involving a goo monster! At the very least she was a freak like you hear about in the papers, mutants and mutates, the papers called them. People born with strange abilities and those that gained them in freak accidents. But that wasn't the officer's business, right now the responsibility was to find a way to diffuse the situation and get this woman to help, whatever help meant for people with goo monsters.

"We can call someone, they'll be able to help you," the partner offered, "But we need your cooperation." By now the officer charged with going to get the field test kit came back to find the bottle missing, and all the officers in the room with their guns trained on the terrified woman. He put the kit down and drew his own weapon.

"Hands in the air!", he was new to the job.

 

[Nenma Takashi]

To say the new guy made a mistake, well that'd be putting it lightly. See the symbiote hadn't been giving the cops much mind. Thanks to Jessica's memories it understood that most cops were useless when it came to things like them. Plus it could sense their fear and knew they're fear would keep them from doing anything. But this new guy was a different story. He clearly still had this stupid idea that he was gonna some hero or something.

He trained his gun on Jessica all the stories he had heard about villains and monsters, he figured Jessica might be one. She had to be what kinda hero looked like a naked woman covered in some kinda black goo. His hands shook in fear one of the other cops with a bit more experience tried to help calm the newbie down. "Easy there son." The only problem was that with his nerves so high the moment something touched the newbie ended up squeezing the trigger firing his gun.

The cops and paramedics present stood with jaws hung open, as they just witnessed the black goo launch from Jessica and catch the bullet. Some black goo dripped from Jessica's mouth forming into a second mouth. "Hey watch where you're aiming that thing!" One of the officers quickly grabbed his walkie to tell dispatch about the situation. Course it took a while to properly explain what was happening.

The symbiote held up the bullet it had caught and dropped it in front of Jessica. In her head she would hear. "Don't worry I'll protect you so no need to be scared. In fact if these guys are bothering you. I can just get rid of em." Despite it's slurred tone it was clear what it had just said was serious. Jessica would then be able to notice that a small trail of the goo had made it's way towards each person in the small apartment.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

That sequence of events was the straw that broke the camel's back. Again. If it wasn't already obvious to the officers on the scene, this wasn't something Jessica wanted or meant to happen. A monster of the "something weird happened to a normal person" variety. She screamed when the gun went off, and again as the goo monster started talking out loud, trying futilly to grab the thing and rip it out of her. "It's... it's in my head!" Jessica was starting to stand up and put her hands up to be arrested, but now she was balled up in the corner again, just wishing the nightmare would end so she could find a therapist and deal with this mess. The symbiote could feel Jessica's fear as clearly as it could feel its own thirst for alcoholic beverages and junk food, but it didn't have a direction. Everything was terrifying to Sarah right now, most of all the symbiote!

Over dispatch, the dispatcher relayed that information to a superior, not knowing what they were supposed to do in that situation. That wasn't on any of the books! Calls were made, and within the hour there was a file folder on a S.H.I.E.L.D. officer's desk with information about a suspected special case. Special, in the case of shield, was synonymous with strange, alien, powers, magic, and other instances not covered by most countries' usual law structure. Based on what he read, it sounded like a klyntar. "How many of these things are there?", he wondered as he picked up the phone to dial up someone with more expertise in the symbiotes. When the Venom symbiote was under S.H.I.E.L.D.'s control, R&D had learned a lot about the klyntar symbiotes, they'd be able to identify what was going on how to proceed, and know whether they needed to bring the host in or just have someone go over and administer suppression drugs to keep the alien from making trouble.

 

[Nenma Takashi]

The symbiote could feel its host's fear. From the guns to the mess and the cops the paramedics, all of it was scaring her. The symbiote decided the best course of action was to get away from all this. So the small trails of goo leading to each person in the room shot upwards. Sticking all of them to the ceiling of the apartment. It then used black tendrils to pull Jessica towards the window.

Wanting to make a quick escape the symbiote opted to simply break the window. The goo letting them stick to the side of the building easily. This same goo completely covered Jessica's, using Jessica's memories the symbiote understood it would draw too much attention leaving its host naked. Thus it fixed this by replicating the very same clothes she was wearing previously. The goo continued to pull Jessica along towards the roof of the apartment. When it made it Jessica would hear the voice again.

"There all safe." It was so hopelessly simple minded, not even bothering to think about what stringing up the officers would do. Instead it was more worried about the short term solutions, only deciding to not simply kill the officers because it it assumed that would cause more heavily armed forces to be sent after them. Sadly for the klyntar it was oblivious to the fact that heavily armed troops were already on their way.

Currently zooming through the sky high above the clouds was a S.H.I.E.L.D jet. The occupants of this jet were agents who had been briefed on what to expect when encountering a potentially hostile symbiote. They had been told to apprehend the target peacefully, but force was authorized should she resist.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

What exactly is a general police officer in central Florida supposed to do when attacked by an alien goo monster like a klyntar? Much less a perpetually drunk one like this? This was Florida, not New York! The last time something this insane happened was when a man ran down the street with his pants around his ankles, one hand shooting back at the cops and the other doing... other things, and OUTRUNNING the cops. That was very low down on the scale compared to a goo monster shooting out and throwing officers around like children did Lego toys! Dispatch couldn't send backup quick enough, as far as the officers on scene were concerned.

Jessica was approaching her breaking point. Now the goo was pulling her around, too! "Why can't you just leave me alone!", she screamed at the thing, trying to claw it off of her. It didn't matter that she was naked under the parasite, she'd rather be nude on a rooftop than cloaked in this alien thing that had been tormenting her all night! "Just go away!" She couldn't seem to penetrate the thing or get a grip to rip it off. Her hand passed through the clothes like it wasn't even there, or the thing just refused to be penetrated when the took a pipe to it. Even the mostly oblivious and drunken symbiote couldn't be completely clueless anymore that her animosity was towards it. Their bond wasn't strong enough for perfect emotional communication, but even houseflies understood that when you were screaming at something and trying to destroy it, you were angry with it. When the S.H.I.E.L.D. osprey of agents found the place, they found not a hostile symbiote, not initially, but a raving woman on a rooftop tearing at her clothing.

She matched the description the police had given of the woman that attacked them, so that must have been the host. The only question was how the symbiote was attached to her. Carnage resided in the blood of Cletus Cassady, there was no way to detach carnage from his host. Venom had hidden inside Eddie Brock's orifices and skin, a strong enough perpetual sonic attack could disable the symbiote for extraction. They could only assume with this one, not having sufficient information.

 

[Nenma Takashi]

Once the two were on the roof it was then that the symbiote finally understood what was wrong. This whole time it had been trying to figure out why it's host was so upset, before it thought she wanted to hog the beer to herself. Then it thought she was scared of the cops, but now it was certain she was scared of it. All the good it tried to do for her and she wanted to get rid of it. She wanted to break apart this perfect union. That's when Jessica would hear it, the crying. The black goo that had honestly assaulted her face was now crying as if it was the victim.

"How could you wanna get rid of me! I just saved you from those cops, that was a good thing right?" It questioned Jessica but before it could get an answer the loud turbines of the S.H.I.E.L.D jet filled the sky. A sound that was purposefully being made to test the symbiotes reaction. It was not a good one, while it wasn't gonna stop it or anything it was still incredibly annoying. A voice could be heard from the jet thanks to the speaker attached to it. "Okay miss Williams I'm gonna need you to stay calm. You are currently the host of a highly dangerous alien symbiote. While that might sound crazy I'm sure you've seen crazier by now. I need you to confirm for us if you are a threat or not, then help us confirm if you new friend is a threat or not. Because if he is," The bottom of the jet opened up and from a large gun like object lowered down aimed at Jessica. "We will be forced to use this sonic emitter. Don't worry it's harmless to people, incredibly painful to symbiotes though."

"Please don't let them blast us." The now scared symbiote begged. If the jet was any closer it would take the risk and attack it, but it lacked the knowledge to confirm if it could safely take out the jet without getting hit by the so called sonic emitter. Which meant it was forced to rely on Jessica someone who it now understood wanted nothing to do with it. "If they capture us they'll experiment on us, we'll become lab rats for them y-you don't want that right!?" The symbiote attempted to instill fear into it's host in hopes that would help sway her to siding with it.

"Now miss Williams are you a threat or not?" The voice within the jet asked once more. The literal bass cannon already charging up just in case she or the symbiote tried anything funny. Encounters with symbiotes in the past have varied so wildly it was best to never take chances.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

"I didn't want you! I never wanted you! You're an invader!", Jessica wanted to scream, but a spotlight and an osprey were very good at interrupting people when they were ranting. Now the military was after her? What was this thing on her? Was she going to explode like a nuclear weapon? She didn't know what this parasite could do! She put her hands in the air, doing her damndest to ignore the crying symbiote and appear non-threatening.

Was Jessica a threat? Absolutely not. Was the symbiote a threat? it had probably killed six officers and two paramedics downstairs, to her knowledge. Absolutely a threat, if provoked. Fear was a powerful motivator. And this symbiote was flooding her with the stuff. The goo was scared. Up until this point the thing had acted with casual aloofness towards anything that didn't bring it alcohol. the cops? It didn't care until it thought Jessica was in danger. Going outside? It wasn't concerned until it thought Jessica's modesty was in danger. Now the osprey, and the symbiote was in danger. And Jessica understood it a little better. That wasn't a high bar, going from absolutely no understanding to a little understanding wasn't exactly hard. But it was enough that she was starting to sympathize with her tormentor.

Of course, she hated needles, so being a lab rat appealed to her about as much as the fiery depths of hell appealed to a snowflake. Mutual goals were the foundation of trust, and in that moment the symbiote and its unwilling host had the same goal: Don't end up on the slab for dissection. Was Jessica a threat? "No, I'm not a threat!" But she didn't like that bass cannon. It scared the symbiote, and if the noise that would come out of it was anything like the noise it was making to charge, it wouldn't matter if it was supposed to be harmful to humans or not, because it would probably shatter every piece of glass in front of it for the rest of the city block, and probably rupture her eardrums. "Just... turn off the cannon, please."

 

[Nenma Takashi]

Luckily for the symbiote it seemed Jessica indeed decided to be on it's side. The symbiote eased up on the fear factor and decided to start thinking about how they would escape. It scanned it's surroundings and it was sure there was nowhere it could run before getting blasted by the weapon.

Hearing Jessica confirm she wasn't a threat a rope was dropped from the same opening the sonic emitter stuck out from. Letting a man in high tech looking armor lower himself down onto the roof. In one hand he held a smaller version of the sonic emitter attached to the ship. He held it up despite not being able to see his face, he was making it clear he wasn't in the mood for games. "What about your friend." The voice inside the jet asked. The soldier now also on the roof took a step closer. "We know the damn thing can hear us. Tell em to speak up or we have to assume the answer is yes." With that threat the black goo formed a mouth in order to talk. "I'm not! I'm not a threat! Tell them Jessica!"

The solider was a bit shocked to hear how scared the symbiote sounded. It was also strange to hear a slur, as if the thing was drunk. The sonic emitter retracted into the jet getting replaced by a set of stairs. Coming close in order to land the symbiote once again considered taking it out now that the bigger gun was out of the equation. Yet the smaller gun held by the solider might give them enough time to blast it again. If it took out the solider then the jet would just take off again.

The solider gestured to the stairs. "Get on." As much as they hated the symbiote decided listening was the best chance they had. "Be careful." It warned his host inside her head so as not to tip off the solider.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

'I know,' Jess agreed with the symbiote, 'But once this is over, we part ways.' If cooperating would help, Jessica would cooperate, but only so far as to be rid of the thing and not end up on a slab. "Alright, just don't shoot me!" Sympathizing with the creature and accepting its presence were two different things, and Jessica wasn't sure she could accept its presence. 'Don't do anything stupid, Goo.'

Inside the jet, there was a big airtight plexiglass box waiting for the symbiote and its host, with speakers inside all pointed at a seat anchored to the wall. The whole thing hummed like it was prepared to blast the symbiote and Jessica at a moment's notice. "Take a seat," the soldier with the sonic emitter ordered, pointing inside the box. When Jessica hesitated, the emitter was pointed directly at them, "Now." No-nonsense hardass. Jessica already hated the man.

"If you shoot me with that I'm suing for sexual harassment," Jessica warned as she entered the box. The symbiote had gotten her fresh out the shower, she didn't even have underwear under the thing. The soldiers didn't seem amused by that as the box pressurized and sealed around them, the speakers humming with a frequency that, while not directly painful, was annoying enough that the symbiote struggled to form a complete thought to put into action while inside.

 

[Nenma Takashi]

The symbiote wanted to try and convince Jessica she needed it, but before it could give a solid pitch they were ushered into the box. The sound caused the symbiote to lose it's concentration. Little ripples appeared on the fake clothes the symbiote made for Jessica. Showing the frequency was in fact doing its job in deterring the symbiote from trying anything.

When she sat down the solider carrying the emitter took his seat. The jet lifted back into the air and took off. Around this time a separate S.H.I.E.L.D team was scrapping the cops and paramedics off the ceiling. They informed base that while they had taken some light injuries, they were all alive. Taking a sample of the goo the team began cleaning the apartment. Making sure there wasn't a drop of the goo that was left behind.

Within a few minutes the jet had made it back to base. A huge fortress in the sky The Helicarrier. The jet took its gentle landing and the tough guy solider grabbed the emitter standing up. He nodded to the pilot who pressed a button unlocking the door to the box Jessica was in. "Alright step out slowly."

At this point the lab had gotten their desired sample of the symbiote. They first ran test to see who the parent symbiote was. Running it first against the worst case, Carnage the results were close but not exact. Next up Venom and it was a far closer match leading them to suspect Venom as the parent. Which meant there was a chance they could sway this symbiote and host.

That news went up the chain and was music to the boss man himself Nick Fury's ears. Who was walking towards the landing area to meet who he intended to make his new recruit.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

It may have been good news that this new symbiote was not batshit insane like the Carnage klyntar, which continued to evade capture, but in the brief notes shared with Reid Richards, and Shield's own observations around the appearance of other symbiotes, it was very much likely that something that could threaten the human race would be arriving in the near future. And that made it all the more pressing that S.H.I.E.L.D. sway this new symbiote to under their control.

During the entire flight, Jessica watched the parasite ripple, she didn't know what that meant, but it had shut up. Hopefully it wouldn't do anything stupid and get them blasted. She didn't know what that would accomplish, exactly, but considering her 'clothing' was an alien parasite and she had a squad of soldiers staring at her, and looking for the slightest excuse to blow out her eardrums and torture her tormentor, she didn't want to find out.

Jess really didn't like having so many guns pointed at her, but at least they were out of the box. 'Think you can do something if they shoot?', she asked the klyntar. Not that that would help, she didn't know where she was to escape if she wanted to. She wanted to just go home, pack a bag, and move to Mexico, but she couldn't do that, mostly because she'd basically been kidnapped and had no clue where on Earth she was. Ideally, she'd have her phone and it's GPS, but that was currently in pieces thanks to a certain klyntar smashing a case of beer around the apartment. This entire day had just been a powerful argument to stay sober. She probably wouldn't be able to drink anything from a bottle for a while, alcohol or otherwise.

As she was directed along by men with guns and sonic emitters, another man approached, with an eyepatch and a shaved head. "Are you in charge?"

 

[Nenma Takashi]

Finally out of the box the symbiote was able to form coherent thoughts again. "Where are we?" It questioned it's host who after checking her memories it knew also had no clue. Approaching the man with an eye patch the symbiote "remembered" him. No it was more like these memories were something given to it by its parent symbiote. This was indeed the man in charge, a man of will and smarts who used whatever tactics needed to protect the world from all forms of the weird and extraterrestrial, Nick Fury.

Fury looked around when Jessica asked if he was in charge. He pointed to the eye patch. "The eye patch tip you off? Most folks say it helps me look important." He approached Jessica with zero fear. He stood within arms reach of her and smiled. "Seems you found yourself a symbiote smart enough not to try anything stupid. It got a name yet?"

The symbiote in fact didn't have a name yet, it hadn't even given that idea thought yet. "I get a name?" The symbiote asked almost surprised at the idea. It was such a simple concept but for some reason they had been so focused on alcohol and gorging themselves it sounded odd to hear.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

"No," Jessica shook her head, "This parasite doesn't. And if you can get it out of me you can name it yourself." She specifically called it a parasite, not a symbiote. A relationship detrimental to one member at the benefit of the other. Not a mutually beneficial relationship. She didn't return Fury's smile, she didn't see anything to smile about in this situation, or about this day at all. "And it's done nothing but stupid since it jumped on me." She crossed her arms and looked around the helicarrier, "Is there a reason you had me kidnapped at gunpoint?" She was starting to realize she might have been rid of the symbiote already if she had just refused to cooperate. Those sonic weapons subdued them, if it had been subdued, she might have been able to rip it off. The damn thing had taken advantage of her empathy to keep her from having that thought.

The group of soldiers armed with sonic emitters escorting the klyntar host wasn't very big, there were six men all pointing handheld sonic cannons at them. Now was well-past the point where she could follow the course of action of not-cooperating until the cannons disabled the goo monster. At her apartment, actual clothes were within arms reach once she was rid of the thing. But out here in the middle of not-even-God-knows-where? The only clothes were the body armor on everyone around her. Getting blasted free wasn't an option, the klyntar could at least be certain she wasn't going to make trouble to get rid of it right now.

 

[Nenma Takashi]

Seeing that the host was more than happy to ditch the symbiote wasn't too surprising. Fury had seen his far share of unsuspecting people tossed into this world of weirdness. For every bright eyed teenager who was excited to shoot lasers out there eyes. There was a poor adult handed responsibility in the form of goo that stuck itself to them.

Though he'd gladly take the symbiote off the woman's hands, there was one thing they had to check first. He took out a tablet and booted it up. Looking at the data the scientist down in the lab had sent regarding the current symbiosis of Jessica and the symbiote. "Well Miss Williams the boys down at the lab just took a look at your test results. See you didn't sit in that box just so my boys could feel safe. It was fitted with thermal and x-ray scanners so we could see where exactly the symbi....sorry parasite had bonded itself to you." He turned the tablet around so that Jessica could see it.

Located just below her brain there was a clear mass of the goo. "It seems to of taken refuge on your brain stem. Now I know your not a doctor but I'm sure you can guess what'll happen if we forcefully remove the parasite." He then turned the tablet back to him and slid a finger across the screen to show more data. Showing it to Jessica she would see an outline of her body overlapped with a splatter of the gooey tormentor. A percentage was underneath her outline showing 100%. "It would also seem you two were match made in heaven, or I guess from your perspective Miss Williams a match made in hell. Since you and that symbiote are perfect matches the little thing won't be wanting to jump ship any time soon. Finding that perfect someone is always hard after all."

The symbiote could guess the angle Fury was taking here. "He's trying to make us pawns." It warned its unwilling host Fury smiled once more at Jessica. "Miss Williams all I'm asking is for you to consider giving back to your home and helping us keep this world safe. If you agree to that we can have you back in your apartment by the end of the day."

 

[Deadwood Deer]

Jessica could not believe what she was hearing. 'Oh you're a sneaky little fucker,' she muttered internally. Depending on how it was attached to her brainstem, removing it could paralyze her from the brain down. And by some miracle, or more than likely a debacle, her anatomy perfectly suited this little shit. Clearly this thing was some kind of punishment for her alcoholism, she could think of no other reason the universe would drop her into this nightmare. She'd never hurt anybody who didn't try to hurt her first, she avoided family because she just could not have a good relationship with any of them, she'd never even had a boyfriend whose heart she could break to deserve this. Drugs and alcohol were, in her book, about the only real sins on her conscience.

Jessica likewise saw what Fury was getting at at the same time as the symbiote. "I'm gonna repeat back to you exactly what I just heard," she said, "'We can't remove an alien parasite from you, but since you're a perfect match with it why don't you become a superhero and work for me?' Did I get that right? I watch movies, I've heard that exact pitch a thousand times, and there's always a catch. I'm from Florida, not Alabama. You're not gonna get me with that."

 

[Nenma Takashi]

Nick Fury chuckled from Jessica's matter of fact way of putting things. He nodded his head figuring it was best to be just as direct. "The catch, as you so delicately put it Miss Williams. Is that the fact you have your unwanted roommate means something is coming our way. Something dangerous that we could definitely use your help with. Course if you'd rather we can send you back on your way and you can take your chances with the symbiote on your own, or stay here and help us and we can help you by providing information on dealing with your parasitic friend."

It was a simple cut and dry answer to Jessica's question. The symbiote hearing this news began to fear for the worse. It knew what Nick Fury saying was true it was something ingrained into it's dna. It was born with this knowledge similar to it's pre known knowledge of Nick Fury.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

"And why don't you go get someone else with a parasite, then?", Jessica crossed her arms, "The only reason I've cooperated this far is because I thought you could get this thing out of me, but you can't, and it's just gonna be a blight on my existence for the rest of my life, so why would I continue to cooperate with you?" She shook her head and sighed, "I'll take my chances." At least Jessica knew she wasn't getting into any hidden clauses bullshit like government contracts did. She looked back at the jet that had brought her here, "So is that gonna take me back home?"

If she couldn't get rid of the klyntar, she could at least find a way to deal with it. Being a superhero appealed about as much as you'd expect it would to someone already struggling to pay the bills: it didn't. Praise didn't keep the lights or food in the fridge. If she couldn't make a living off of it, what was the point? Jess needed to eat, too.