Fandom Swamp Venom

[Nenma Takashi]

That was it, the last straw, the third strike. Jessica had called the poor symbiote a parasite for the last time. "I'm not a parasite!" She had made the symbiote so sad it once again began to cry inside her mind. Only this time Jessica would also feel like crying sadness would wash over her so abruptly. This sudden shift in emotion wasn't missed by Fury. He raised his one good eyebrow clearly knowing what the case was.

"Oh has it finally made use of the fact it's connected directly to your brain. But of course you've made your decision we'll just find another person with a parasite, I'm sure they'll love the all expenses paid vacation days and top of the line health insurance." Nick was a tactical genius so of course he saved his trump card for last. His final gambit that he was sure no single adult living in Florida could turn down, reliable pay with guaranteed insurance.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

Jessica wasn't used to this emotion, or even this level of it. Anger, sure. Boredom? A lot of it. Panic? Every Friday like clockwork. Happiness was a rare bird, but even that was more common than the weeping sadness the symbiote brought on with its manipulation of her limbic system. The symbiote had used that ability before, when it used its fear of what might be done to it to get her to cooperate with the men that had a sonic cannon pointed at them, but not to this degree. She'd probably still be having a panic attack if it did. At least the fabric the symbiote was mimicking was able to absorb the tears she kept wiping away. She was trying to stay stonefaced, but with the symbiote active influencing her emotions it wasn't working out. And with the way it had assaulted her face to bond, it was probably in her lacrimal glands, too, stirring up tear production. "Stop it!", she hissed at the symbiote, unsuccessfully trying to force back control of her emotions from the alien.

Fury knew how to take advantage of a situation, for sure. He'd applied his trump card in a moment of peak suggestibility for Jessica. With the symbiote manipulating her emotions, an emotional decision was all she could make, and likewise emotional people are quite easy to manipulate. Vacation days were always something Jessica could never afford for herself, always getting sucked up by family events she hated going to, and still draining her bank account. That part of the deal alone might have gotten Jessica under Fury's thumb. Unbeknownst to Jessica, the symbiote brought with it its own way of making sure the host didn't suffer injuries for very long, but the top of the line insurance secret government organizations probably had available appealed about as much as possible.

"Fine, fine, just make it stop!", the woman clutched at her head like she was still trying to rip the symbiote of her body. Jessica was not a tactical genius, especially when being emotionally manipulated.

 

[Nenma Takashi]

It was no surprise Jessica caved Fury had predicted the symbiote would mess with her head. He just didn't expect it to take this long to do so. It was clear the symbiote was already or already had formed it's own personality. Hearing Jessica cave in to Fury's deal caused the symbiote to stop crying. The reason was simple, it thought this meant she wouldn't try and get rid of it anymore. "Yay! I knew you'd come around!" As sudden as sadness had washed over Jessica, joy would now replace it a warmness filled her body like there wasn't a cloud in the sky.

Fury took notice of the sudden change once more and offered some advice. "If you want it to stop messing with you like that you'll have to discipline it. Teach it right from wrong like a child."

 

[Deadwood Deer]

"You need to stop that!", Jess wished she knew how to slap some sense into a gooey monster. And then it hit her, this thing had been begging for alcohol the entire time she'd been conscious with it, so she mentally added 'Or I'm not buying you any happy juice!' She didn't intend to get more alcohol to begin with, but as important as beer seemed to be with the symbiote, denying it the thing it wanted should at least get its attention. "And you," she looked at Fury and bit her tongue to bring her emotional state back to focus, "Contract or shut up and send me home."

 

[Nenma Takashi]

At the threat of no happy juice the symbiote immediately ceased pumping Jessica's brain with joy chemicals. It then was quiet for a moment. "So does this mean you are buying more happy juice?" Fury nodded along as Jessica demanded a contract and snapped his fingers. A solider rushed up with some paper attached to a clipboard. Fury took out a pen and handed both it and the clipboard to Jessica.

"There you are Miss Williams feel free to look over it. Call a lawyer if ya need to take the day to think it over even. I just need your answer by tomorrow. If you are gonna be taking the day to think it over then you may step back onto the jet that brought you here and my men will take you home. Don't worry about your neighbors or the police they've been convinced gas had filled the room and they all were just hallucinating. You'd be surprised how willing people are to believe things when you wave a fancy badge around."

 

[Deadwood Deer]

"Thank you," for both actually having a contract and keeping her from needed to skip town. Jessica took the contract and began to look it over as she started walking back to the jet. 'We'll discuss the happy juice when we get home.' They'd have to establish ground rules if they were going to be stuck together.

The flight back was less uncomfortable than the flight over, mostly because the suppression field wasn't actively irritating the symbiote and instead just remained prepared. The agents dropped her off in a back alley a few blocks from her home and she and the symbiote passed by a drugstore. "I know what you're gonna say," she said before the symbiote could ask her to get it some alcohol, "And no, I can't get you any alcohol right now. I don't have my wallet." She knew that was probably going to disappoint the thing or make it angry, but it was the goo's own fault! It hadn't even grabbed her purse when it snatched her out of the building.

The landlord was furiously apologizing when Jessica and the symbiote got back to the apartment building, something about a gas leak they found downstairs and they called a repair man to fix it, so everything should be back in order. The flights had taken a few hours, by now it was close to sundown the next day. Jessica wasn't sure if she should be insulted that a gas leak was supposed to be what resulted in her crying naked in a pool of condiments, but when she got back to her apartment, she realized the thing was still a mess, and she still had mustard and pickle juice crusting in her hair. She needed another shower.

"Alright, listen," she pointed at the desk, "I need you to sit there." That meant detaching from the host, but it didn't seem like she meant permanently. "I'm going to take a shower, and when I come back out, we're setting down the ground rules for this relationship, understand?"

 

[Nenma Takashi]

Fury simply waved goodbye as Jessica loaded back up onto the jet. Turning around he headed back towards the main hub of the Helicarrier. He needed to be ready for any incoming updates on what this threat coming their way was. By this point he knew Jessica would sign the contract which meant forming plans around her. First they'd need to get training equipment ready for her so they could show he the ropes. The last symbiote user they had in their mitts caught on fairly quick due to the symbiotes retaining info from previous host. Even Carnage was quick to learn new tricks due to a combination of it's host quick thinking and it's parents previous host. Meaning if they gave her the proper training they could turn Jessica into a powerful ally.

The ride back was a bit akward for the two soldiers, they had been so rough with how they treated Jessica it felt like they needed to apologize. Though they didn't of course cause that idea also sounded a bit akward to them. So they figured it best to just let things go and leave her to her own thoughts. They touched down in a back alley and sent her on her way. The whole time the symbiote was happy as could be that happy juice was being offered.

It was so happy it was even okay with Jessica telling it to wait longer as they passed the drug store. Humming happily inside her head a song it couldn't remember the name for, but it was definitely for some old show. The one symbiote show can to an end when Jessica told the symbiote to sit down on the desk. For a moment it hesitated, what if this was a trap? What if once it unattached she ran away? These thoughts were drowned out by the thought that she in fact promised it alcohol. So the symbiote did as it was told. Leaving Jessica's body through her mouth the symbiote splashed onto the desk she pointed to. It's color had changed a bit it seemed like the black hue on it had lightened. Purpose this had happened due to the symbiote officially becoming it's own separate entity from Venom.

Whatever the reason was for it the symbiote now looked different from the original. It created a mouth since it couldn't speak directly into Jessica's mind now. "Then we'll get happy juice right?" It asked like a child who had been promised ice cream.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

"Yes," Jessica nodded as she grabbed a fresh towel for the shower, "I'll get you some alcohol." She had bottles of cheap liquor somewhere around here, margarita mix if nothing else. "Just stay inside, don't answer the door for anything, and stay out of sight." This place was still a mess and she needed to put the blinds and curtains back up, and she didn't want the symbiote being seen by neighbors. That would invalidate Fury's efforts to keep it from being discovered.

She went across the room to the bathroom and closed the door behind her, turning on the hot water. "How are you gonna get out of this one, Jess?", she muttered to herself as she stepped into the warm downpour. She wanted to abandon the symbiote, she knew that for a fact. Be rid of this thing that had assaulted her face and probably put her off drinking until she got dementia. But she also felt... responsible for it, somehow. According to Fury's explanation, it was literally a child, and it was basing its identity off of hers. Jessica couldn't imagine unleashing a clone of herself with the symbiote's abilities onto the world. She wanted to get rid of it, but she couldn't.

But she also didn't want to have this thing violating her mouth whenever it wanted to do anything. Or causing problems at all. Snatching her out of windows naked and making an outfit around her after it had already flashed her to the world wasn't an option by a longshot. They needed rules. Fury had said to teach it, like a child, but it responded to 'treats' like a dog. She wondered if she could train it. Twenty minutes and all of the hot water later, she came back out of the bathroom with a towel around her. "You stay there," she warned the symbiote as she got dressed into her pajamas and put a burrito in the microwave. While that was cooking, she sat down in the chair in front of the desk the symbiote was on.

"We need rules," she said right off the bat, "I'm not having you go through my mouth whenever you want to do something, and I'm also not having you emotionally manipulate me. You need to find another way to get to my brainstem." She assumed it had to attach there, anyway.

 

[Nenma Takashi]

The symbiote watched Jessica walk into the bathroom to take her shower. It had been given a simple order, to not move from its spot so it did just that. It stayed perfectly still like it wasn't a living being. Even though it could tell there was alcohol nearby it waited patiently for Jessica to come back. It felt like it took years for her to be done and it almost decided to move, until it heard the bathroom door open and immediately went motionless again.

Again she commanded it to not move which it was already doing. It questioned why she gave it a redundant command. Though not out loud as it would need to move to form a mouth to respond. When she got dressed she sat in front of it and said exactly as she had foreshadowed talking about before. "Rules" they were a means of keeping one from doing things viewed as wrong. The symbiote listened to these rules Jessica had and figured she wanted a response back.

Forming a mouth it answered back. "That's fine I can also go through your nose or eye holes. There are plenty of of other options as well to reach the inner body and make my way to the brainstem. I will also not manipulate you as you said." It then added, "I have a rule as well if we are to be partners as Nick Fury said, that means we are equals. So my rule is that you can't call me a parasite anymore and you have to give me a name." Jessica would notice the goo had began to shift forming something resembling a face. Or more like the face of a mask that look similar to Venom but droopier.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

Jessica nodded, opening her smartphone and pulling up a chart, "Alright, I'll agree not to call you a parasite if you won't be a parasite." She pulled up a chart of relationships. Parasitism was when one creature benefited at the expense of the other, symbiosis was when both creatures benefited from the relationship, and commensalism was when one creature benefited without affecting the other. Neutralism was when neither creature was affected positively or negatively by the other. "Right now, this is us." She pointed to the parasitism explanation. "Right now you've been causing me nothing but pain and discomfort, while you've been hitching a ride on me and eating everything in my fridge." That was a parasitic relationship. "If we're to be symbiotes or commensalists, we both need to benefit, or you need to not cause me any problems."

 

[Nenma Takashi]

The symbiote stared at the chart and thought back to the day the two had. When it really thought about it, by all logic it really was acting as a parasite. "I'll make you stronger, and faster. I'll protect you from danger and help you when you need me." It rose up closer to Jessica. "In return you keep me fed and protect me." It lowered back down to the desk. "Then that'll be symbiosis. So since I'm not a parasite anymore.... what's my name!" It perked back up clearly excited. "I want a cool name, a really cool name!"

 

[Deadwood Deer]

This goo monster was like an excited puppy. "Alright, hang on a second, I'll put names in a generator and we'll draw one at random. Sound good?" she pulled up another page, a random selection generator, and started throwing words into it. Simple one-word things that might sound cool to an edgy thirteen-year old, but didn't hold the same appeal to her that they did fifteen years ago. She wasn't going to name this thing based on her sense of "cool", or the thing would end up with a really long name. "Alright," she hit the button to select and turned the phone to face the symbiote. The word displayed across the screen was "Blight".

"There you," Jessica smiled. "So, Blight, lets refresh. I'm not going to get rid of you, but you have to leave my bodily orifices alone," she was gesturing to her face when she said that, "No coming out my eyes, nose, or mouth. if you can get to my spine from my throat then you can get there from somewhere else." That wasn't so much a terms of agreement as it was Jess didn't want that thing anywhere near her face holes after how it had attacked her yesterday evening. She gestured to the symbiote, "I feed you and give you a home, in turn you help me." There was the basis of any symbiotic relationship between a host organism and the external entity.

"As for food," Jessica looked back her fridge, "Mealtimes are on a schedule. If you go into my fridge and eat everything that's no more food for either of us for the rest of the week, I can't afford it. I buy groceries on Saturday night, cook for the week on Sunday, and I work Monday to Saturday, so once the food's gone, that's it. There's no more." That would probably change based on the salary and the work involved in Fury's contract that she hadn't had the chance to really sit down and read. "I don't mind buying you beer, if that's something you really want, but for the same reason as the food, what's in the fridge is what we've got, don't drink it all at once or you won't have any more."

 

[Nenma Takashi]

The symbiote was absolutely mesmerized by the phone that displayed it's new name. It was no longer just a symbiote it was Blight. Blight began to twist and swirl with joy as it repeated the name. "I'm Blight I'm Blight my name is Blight!" It was so wrapped up in it's not Blight wasn't listening to Jessica snapping back just in time to hear about food.

It understood expenses and that it was smarter to budget their food in order to continue to have more. It neglected this logical thinking in the beginning due to just how hungry it was. Now though this all made total sense to it. "Right I'll drink carefully so that I can savor it all. Oh and I know exactly how I can get to your brainstem I'll use the back of your neck. It's the closest to your brain stem without using your face!" Blight extended a gooey tendril out to Jessica. "So symbiotes?"

 

[Deadwood Deer]

Jessica almost laughed at how happy this thing was to get a name. "Alright, Blight, symbiotes." She nodded and shook the tendril. this was the weirdest agreement she'd ever made. "Good," the microwave beeped to alert the two that Jessica's burrito was cooked. "Crap!", she got up from the chair and ran back to the microwave and found the burrito's filling oozing out of breaks in the tortilla. She'd wrapped it in a napkin, so it hadn't exploded all over the microwave, but she'd have to eat this one with a spoon. "Dammit!" She sighed and took the ruined burritor back to her desk, stopping by a cabinet to grab a bottle of cheap stuff for Blight.

"Here," she unscrewed the cap and set the bottle down for the klyntar, and sat down to eat her burrito, which vanished rapidly. Having not eaten in almost two days (Jess never ate airplane food,) that burrito had a critical existence failure very rapidly.

 

[Nenma Takashi]

Blight waited for Jessica as she bolted to the microwave in an attempt to save her burrito. It perked up when she grabbed a bottle of wine. As soon as she set it in front of Blight, they dipped a tendril inside and began to suck up the contents. Blight's goo began to vibrate as it got excited slurping down the cheap booze. When it finished the bottle it realized just how hard it would be to conserve alcohol. "Oops it's all gone." It tapped around in the bottle searching for any little drops of wine leftover.

Blight pulled it's goo out of the bottle and leaped onto Jessica's shoulder. "Are you going to sign the contract Mr.Fury gave you?" It was clear the promise of money had already won over Blight, since it had now taken to saying "Mr.Fury."

 

[Deadwood Deer]

"We're going to read it first," Jessica nodded, "And then I'm to plug into a legalese translator to make sure I know what we're getting into." If they were partners, this couldn't be a unilateral decision, though it looked like Blight had already made their decision.

The entire first three pages of the document were completely filled with legal terms, defining all parties involved and any terms used specifically for the contract. The actual contract portion of the contract was actually just a page laying out expected duties. A three-month training program to bring Jess and Blight up to speed, missions by S.H.I.E.L.D. to handle supers in the southeastern portion of the US, parts of Mexico, and Cuba. "That's a lot of zeroes!", the monthly salary was more than Jessica made in six working at Publix! "Um," she reached for her phone and started scanning the document into a lawyer program to check the legality, and it came back kosher. "Okay then." How do you say no, in this situation? "Well, Blight, looks like we're superheroes." And she signed the contract.

 

[Nenma Takashi]

Upo hearing that they were superheroes Blight began to think about what this meant. It knew what heroes were and what this meant due to Jessica's memories and partly it's own inherited memories from Venom. They'd save people get showered in praise and battle evil doers. It honestly sounded like a really exciting time. Blight began to twirl and shake around on Jessica's shoulder. "Yeah we're gonna be heroes!"

The room darkened as the sun disappeared behind some buildings. Showing that night wasn't too far behind. Though it didn't need sleep Blight understood it's partner did. "Jessica you should get some sleep. We have a big day tommorow. Especially if Mr.Fury has us start training immediately." The symbiote hopped off Jessica's shoulder and back onto the desk. It bunched itself up and sat still on the desk.

"I'll wait here for you to wake up. Don't worry I promise not to move." It saluted to her using a tendril. Then returned to it's motionless state. Almost like it was asleep but Jessica would be able to just tell it wasn't.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

"Hmm." Jessica only just became aware of how tired she actually was. "Except I can't." The apartment was still a mess. "I'll clean, and then I'll go to bed," she decided before getting up to go put the blinds back up and close them so no one could see Blight.

Around eleven o'clock, not sleeping and barely eating for two days caught up with her, and she sat down on her bed to take a breather, only to immediately fall asleep, not even waking up when her phone went off at six in the morning with a call from an unknown number.

 

[Nenma Takashi]

Blight tried to help Jessica however it could do she could get done faster. The sooner she got some sleep the better. As soon as she did finally pass out, Blight returned to the desk. Where it stayed still unmoving it attempted to sleep in order to pass time. Yet it lacked the ability to do so thus it simply stayed on the desk. Thinking about food and it's new home and the partner it had made. Blight was happy and spent the entire night imaging all the fun it would have working with Jessica.

As the sun began to peer from behind the blinds, and the hustle and bustle of others going to work could be heard. Jessica's phone began to ring so being the good partner they are Blight slinked over to it, and answered the phone. "Hello William's residence."

 

[Deadwood Deer]

On the other end of the line was an irate-sounding man, barking about his money. "Yo where the fuck's my money, bitch? I know you don't have a shit signal I'm right outside the damn building!" A pebble bounced off of the window, and outside on the ground below in the alleyway was a very large, very angry Cuban man in a stretched and sweatstained tanktop, covered in tattoos and and severely overweight. "Yeah I see you in there, don't make me come up there!", He had a bone to pick with Jess about money for something, and sounded like he'd get violent if his demands weren't met.

 

[Nenma Takashi]

This man was clearly an enemy, and Blight had half a gooey mind to take care of him. Yet it didn't since it figured that might trouble Jessica. This was clearly her problem and thus she should take care of it. Blight got close to Jessica and slithered onto the nape of her neck. Entering through the pores of her skin and attaching to her brainstem. As it got comfy it used her brain to wake her up. "Jessica someone is outside and he is very angry with you."

The pebbles did not stop, and each stone was starting to get bigger than the last. It was soon to be a matter of time before the man chucked a rock through the window. Blight knew that would greatly upset Jessica, especially since she just cleaned up last night.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

As Blight predicted, it didn't take very long for the angry man to throw something more destructive than a pebble. Normal people don't throw things through windows and not expect consequences, so from Jessica's memory the man was almost definitely on some kind of drugs when a brick came through the window and made Jessica almost jump out of her skin.

Well, she did jump out of bed. she didn't even realize she was sticking to the ceiling until she wondered why her hair was going straight up. "The hell?" She looked around and dropped back down onto the bed, that must have been something she'd ask blight about later. "Where'd the brick come from?"

 

[Nenma Takashi]

Jessica seemed like she would've jumped out of her skin had it not been attached to her. The fact they stuck to the ceiling wasn't a surprise to Blight, what was a little surprising was the fact Jessica didn't seem all too surprised herself. Perhaps she was getting used to all the weird things in her life now. The question she did ask though was about the brick and where it had come from. Blight used a tendril to point to the now shattered window. "It came from the angry man out there."

Sure enough the man could still be heard yelling up at Jessica's window. Using very specific chooses of words to describe Jessica. Blight didn't like the man's tone nor did they like how threatening they sounded. "Is this guy some kinda enemy. Should we take care of him?" Blight asked Jessica only because of their talk last night. They were symbiotic so they should agree on choices before they make them.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

Jessica leaned out of the now broken window and flinched back when she saw the man below, "I know that guy..." Pablo. He used to be her weed dealer, and then Blight happened and she still owed him a couple hundred bucks. Well now he owed Jess about that much to replace the destroyed window, and she shouted as much down at Pablo, only getting more shouts and insults back before another brick came hurling at her, making Jess duck back into the apartment to avoid getting brained.

"Okay, how do you propose we take care of him?", Jess asked as she reached for her phone to dial 911 to report a disturbance.

 

[Nenma Takashi]

Blight was a bit perplexed when Jessica said she knew the guy. Checking her memories via it's connection to her they confirmed this. "Well he's not very nice." They commented as a second brick was thrown at them. Which Blight picked up debating on if they should throw it back to teach lesson, but decided on a better solution. "I have an idea." Blight sent a tendril out towards the window. Then a soft sound could be heard like something being shot out of a pipe. Suddenly Pablo's shouts began to slur, like Blight's. Things could be heard being knocked over as he stumbled in the alleyway. Finally he fell backwards onto his butt muttering away to himself.

"That should calm him down just fine." Blight sounded incredibly smug about their idea working. "Shall we call Mr.Fury and tell him we've made our decision?"