Chapter 5: Fighting ugly

[moonshadows]

Venom

Venom was not having fun at all.

This was supposed to have been a scouting mission: cause havoc and chaos, eat a bunch of heads, pile up a bunch of bodies, find a compatible host and vanish into the landscape to build a nice little herd of natives xie could live vicariously through, and cheerfully pretend Riot didn’t exist for as long as possible. Instead, xie had been imprisoned and starved for six months, tripped over a compatible host while killing his friend, managed to pick his mate as xir new host, and now Riot had chosen the absolute worst time to track them down because the sweet, tender morsel named Eddie Brock had been kidnapped and Venom was going to have to charge in and rescue him and destroy Drake’s rocket so he couldn’t bring back reinforcements while running the very strong risk of crossing paths with Riot.

Who had been feeding unchecked for six months.

It was not ideal, and Venom would have preferred to take Anne and vanish, to hide for as long as they could, but that wasn’t an option. Eddie was in danger, and where he was willing to die to protect Anne, her reaction was more along the lines of ‘kill to get Eddie back or die trying’.

It was a very relatable reaction, actually, and that solidarity was strengthening their bond.

Learning that Skirth had weaponized sound to kill Toxin was startling, but it meant the humans had a weapon to defend themselves with in the event that Riot won and brought back enough symbiotes to be a true threat to the planet. Xie quite agreed with Anne on that subject: xie was the only symbiote on the planet xie trusted to coexist with humanity, so it was up to xir to ensure that xie was the only symbiote on the planet.

Anne and Skirth tried to plot as they drove up to the Life Foundation, but neither of them had a plan of action by the time they reached the security checkpoint. There were simply too many variables.

Once again, the ruse Skirth had used to smuggle Eddie in worked: Anne crouched on the floor in the back, Skirth showed her security badge, and they were inside. But as they drove across the bridge, they ran into a snag.

“Eddie’s not in the building,” Anne panted as she righted herself in the back. “They’re taking him somewhere, probably to kill him – there’s nothing around him but woods.”

“There’s no roads,” Skirth protested in panic. “We’ll never get to him in time.”

Jump, Venom rumbled to xir host. Together, you and I can reach Eddie.

“Keep driving,” Anne ordered. “Improvise. I’ll meet you inside if I can. Stop that rocket.”

“What are you-”

Anne opened the car door. All you, she said silently, passing control to Venom.

They jumped, and xie flowed out to coat her body the way xie had done briefly with Eddie, sending a tendril back to close the car’s door. Then they were in the water, swimming, launching themselves up onto the shore to run on all fours, swift as fear and silent as terror, in the direction of the dot that represented Eddie’s phone.

I may need to kill Drake’s soldiers, Venom warned her silently.

Kill anyone who laid a hand on him, came the snarled response. Eat their heads. Eat their bodies. Whatever you need to do, I don’t care.

Eddie found my feeding…distasteful.

He wasn’t too fond of me working the Life Foundation case, either. It doesn’t matter, as long as he’s safe. Relationships are about communication and compromise anyway. If I can deal with Eddie letting the dishes pile up until there’s nothing left to eat out of, then I can deal with you eating a couple of heads. Especially if it’s to keep him safe.

Venom hadn’t been expecting such a pragmatic and determined response. Very well, then I shall feast on Drake’s minions in the defense of our tasty morsel.

They were catching up; xie could sense xir future snacks in the distance, smell their heat signatures and Eddie’s blood. Anne shrank to a quiet point of crystalline determination, and Venom ran faster.

“…gonna walk me to death?”

The words were faint; Venom could barely hear them.

That’s Eddie! …he’s hurt, Venom.

I know. I can smell his blood.

“Shut up.”

That is Drake’s chief thug. This time, I am going to eat his head for sure.

“Not so tough without your friend,” the thug taunted lazily.

The figures moving through the woods stopped, and Venom leaped into a tree behind them.

“Did your mama not love you?” Eddie taunted back, but there was no strength to it.

He’s hurt, Anne repeated. Badly. And he’s scared; I can hear that in his voice. He’s terrified and he’s in pain and we have to save him.

We will, Venom promised darkly.

Eddie tried to take the pistol aimed at his head, and only got struck with it and then kicked for his trouble.

“I guess it pays to be a specialist, huh?” he groaned, on his knees, nearly falling over. “You know…it doesn’t matter if you kill me anyway, because there’s something way bigger afoot in this world than you and me.”

Venom could hear the strain in his voice, and it hurt to hear such a precious morsel suffering. Xie leaped to a closer tree and lashed out for one of the goons.

“Much bigger than me,” Eddie said as the goon was yanked silently out of sight.

Not bothering with subtlety, Venom tore every cell in the goon’s body apart and sucked out all the sweet, juicy nuggets. Anne seemed unfazed by this, thankfully. Then xie leaped tree to tree towards the other goon, registering that Eddie had frozen for a moment.

“Aaand it’s…much, much bigger than you,” Eddie said, his voice still strained but tinted with confused emotions.

Venom grabbed the second goon and ripped him apart, saving some of the blood which had the same flavor as Eddie’s.

The precious squishy chuckled. “Karma’s a bitch,” he said in that scratchy voice, now tight with giddy relief, as Venom leaped down and prowled up behind the chief thug.

“I don’t believe in karma,” the thug declared.

Venom grabbed him by the shoulders, whipped him around so he could get one glimpse of his death, and then xir teeth crunched down on the tasty treat that had been so rudely delayed.

That’s what you get for hurting Eddie!

You are quite bloodthirsty when it comes to the defense of your mate.

Well, I-

I approve.

That surprised her. Venom tossed the thug’s body to the side and turned xir attention to Eddie, who was looking at xir with a strange expression.

Is he…?

Is he what?

Anne didn’t answer, but she was pleased and excited. Then Eddie uttered a growling sound that almost seemed pained, but was eager at the same time, and Anne’s pleasure gained a smug tone.

He iiiisssssssss.

He is what?

Hard. Oh, he’s so hard. Sexually aroused, she clarified as she flooded Venom’s mind with memories of fornication.

Is that so? In that case… Perhaps xie hadn’t ruined things with xir squishy morsel after all. Xie took a few steps forward towards him.

“Hi, Eddie,” xie purred as he uttered ‘whoa, whoa’ sounds Anne gleefully confirmed were noises of attraction.

Carefully, xie lifted xir morsel to his feet. Then, drawing on Anne’s memories, Venom initiated the most enthusiastic pretend face-eating xie could manage while extending tendrils into Eddie’s body. He returned the gesture just as enthusiastically, which both encouraged xir and seemed to be arousing xir host, but the damage in his body…

Venom could fix a good deal of it. There were bruises and lacerations, a lot of painful but minor injuries, and the ‘kiss’ lasted for several breaths while xie repaired damaged cells and poured excess blood into his vessels. Xie almost didn’t realize xie was transferring hosts until Eddie pulled back in shock, breaking the still-enthusiastic kiss he had been sharing with Anne.

“Wha- Annie?”

“Fancy meeting you here,” she said, smiling.

Did you truly not expect her to come for you? Venom asked curiously.

No, I…didn’t expect her to…kiss me. His mental voice was thick with confusion, nearly-overwhelming confusion that swirled up and threatened to drown him.

She didn’t. I did.

Oh. That stopped the swirling reaction completely. It was a very, uh, nice…wait, he said sharply as Venom’s thoughts started to bleed over. Riot? Who’s- oh fuck, he’s in Drake. They’re going to take off in the rocket. We have to stop that rocket. “We have to stop that rocket,” he repeated out loud. “Riot – he’s in Drake, Annie. He’s gonna launch the rocket and bring back a bunch more of his jackboot symbiote thugs.”

Riot will be much stronger than me, after feasting unchecked for six months. But Skirth knows how to use sound to kill us, and you are a compatible host, so we have an advantage – however slim it is.

Skirth’s here? Good, we may just have a chance. Come on, you and me, we distract Drake while Annie and Skirth figure out a way to stop him and Riot.

You intend to sacrifice yourself for her again.

Yeah, and you’re not gonna argue because you know Annie’s a better thinker than me and besides, you kinda owe me for the whole ‘snacking on me’ thing.

Guilt made Venom squirm.

Yeah, that’s what I thought. So you and me, we go into the ring with Drake and Riot. We somehow manage to survive, you’re forgiven. Just don’t do it again.

I would never!

The intensity of that vow rippled through Eddie, and he paused. You really wouldn’t, would you? His voice was soft and full of awe. Right, let’s give Annie a lift and go fuck up a rocket.

“Are you two done in there?” Anne demanded, hands on her hips, but she was more amused than impatient.

Eddie smiled at her. “Yup. Buckle up, Annie, ‘cuz you’re taking the Venom Express to Drake’s rocket pad.”

“I’m what-”

Venom engulfed Eddie’s body and scooped Anne into xir arms. She wrapped her arms around xir neck and clung while they ran through the woods, following Eddie’s mental map back to the compound.

 

Anne

Anne didn’t have much to do on the scarily quick trip back – just clinging to the blended entity that was equal parts the ex she wished weren’t her ex, and the alien symbiote that was going to be her life partner in pretty much every way. Well, assuming they all survived and Drake/Riot didn’t manage to use the rocket to bring back an army of people-eating alien Nazis.

As they came to a stop and she was set on her feet, that last thought sparked another and she grabbed Venom’s wrists. Except that Venom was retreating, leaving her holding Eddie’s hands – hand, because he’d freed one to pull out his phone and press it into her hands.

“It’s got the pictures I took of Drake’s lab,” he said hurriedly, not looking at her. “Take it, just in case…”

In case he didn’t survive. Anne shoved the thought aside even as she stuffed the phone into her pocket.

“Eddie? Listen to me a sec. You don’t have to kill Riot.” The words spilled out of her, splashing over him until he reluctantly met her gaze. “You don’t have to stop the rocket. All you have to do is keep Drake from being on the rocket when it takes off. If it takes off. You understand? Don’t be a hero, Eddie. We can kill Riot. Just delay him, okay baby? Play it smart and come back to me afterwards.”

For the second time in as many days, Eddie gave her the look of complete vulnerability a man wears when he expects to die. This time, Anne didn’t hesitate. She took his face in her hands and kissed him, hot and heavy, quick and dirty.

“Annie,” he moaned as she let him up for air, sounding utterly miserable. “I’m so sorry for everything. I love you.”

A sob caught in her throat. “You don’t have anything to be sorry for, Eddie. I’m sorry for everything. I love you. Venom? Bring him back safe.”

“I will try,” the symbiote rumbled as he engulfed Eddie again.

From somewhere above their heads, a siren ripped through the night and a recording announced T-minus five minutes to launch and that the auto sequence had been initiated.

“Go!” shouted Anne, but Venom was already leaping away, lost to the darkness in moments.

Taking a guess that the building with all the windows that faced the bridge leading to the launch pad would house the control center, Anne started running towards the door – but before she could reach it, the recording announced T-minus four minutes thirty seconds, and then the door burst open to release a stream of terrified employees fleeing like animals before a forest fire.

“What’s going on?” she demanded, grabbing one by the arm and swinging him out of the path of danger. A shower of broken glass in the distance was the figure she assumed to be Riot leaping out of the windows.

Her hapless informant pinned her with an expression of barely-contained terror, the whites of his eyes startlingly bright against his dark skin. “Drake’s turned into a monster! He killed Anderson and initiated the launch and said he’d pilot the rocket himself but the fuel’s still being loaded and the strongback won’t move out of the way until that’s complete!”

“English,” she snapped. “What’s going to happen in-”

“T-minus four minutes to launch.”

“-four minutes?”

“The rocket’s going to explode,” the man moaned.

Shit. Shit. “Call nine-one-one,” she ordered, and was rewarded with a shaky nod.

He ran towards safety. She ran inside, looking for the control center.

 

Venom

Okay, so Riot’s stronger, Eddie said as they ran. Has he got any other tricks up his sleeve? What else can he do?

He can form sharp objects out of his body, strong enough to slice rock, Venom answered shortly, not arguing Eddie’s choice in assigning Riot male pronouns. And his feeding will have given him the advantage in mass.

Okay, so what, he’s bigger than you?

A large figure, nearly twice Venom’s height, leaped through the large windows overlooking the bridge that led to the launch platform.

Oh, Jesus! Eddie shouted as Riot began running full speed for the rocket. How the hell are we supposed to take that guy?

We can’t.

Venom began chasing after xir leader. Eddie was silent for a handful of moments, thinking about Anne and her other mate and how he desperately wanted to be with her again, but felt that he didn’t deserve it because he’d caused the situation that had forced her to end their relationship.

You know she still has feelings for you. Strong ones, Venom added pointedly.

Yeah, Eddie said with pained determination, and if I stick around I’m just gonna fuck her life up more. She has Dan. She doesn’t need me. The best thing I can do is get the hell out of her life before I ruin her relationship again. So what do you think our chances are of taking the douche-duo out without getting killed?

Venom voiced a dry growl. Pretty much zero.

Well, fuck it, Eddie sighed. Let’s go save Annie and the planet.

“T-minus four minutes,” blared the recorded voice.

Four minutes. All they had to do was not die for two hundred and forty seconds.

Easier said than done.

It took a handful of those seconds to outpace Riot, racing along the underside of the bridge, and then Venom swung up to land in the other symbiote’s path.

“Venom,” growled Riot in annoyance. “Get in the rocket.”

Riot didn’t know yet that Venom was going against him. Well, that certainly was…something. Too bad it wasn’t something useful.

“No,” Venom snarled with something like Eddie’s sass. “We won’t let you destroy this world.”

Riot didn’t even hesitate at the implication that Venom had taken up xir soft-hearted tendencies again and sided with the natives. “Then die,” he declared. One hand blurred into a heavy, spiked ball.

This was going to hurt.

Distract, right? Eddie said desperately as they leaped out of the way. If he’s trying to kill us, he can’t get to the rocket. We just gotta play keep-away.

Venom did xir absolute best to keep away from the spiked ball, and the giant, curved blade the other arm had turned into. Xie almost wasn’t successful.

Holy shit! Eddie screamed as the blade severed the metal walkway a finger’s width from their face.

Told you, Venom grunted, trying to think past xir host’s panic and plan how the next blow wasn’t going to impale them like a bug.

“T-minus three minutes.”

One down. A quarter of the way there. Venom rolled and flipped away from Riot as he pulled his sword arm back, metal screeching as it parted. The bigger symbiote charged, spike-ball arm forming into a sword, and Venom formed xir arm into a shield that gave just enough to blunt the impact as that sword slammed into it instead of their head. Then Eddie threw an image at xir – a rabbit punching a figure made of sticky black tar – and Venom captured the sword, causing Riot to grapple with them before pulling his mass back into an arm. Venom pressed xir advantage and shot one arm out to engulf Riot’s head, repeating one of the things xie’d done in Eddie’s apartment and slamming the other symbiote head-first into the walkway hard enough to dent the metal surface.

Field goal! Eddie’s enthusiastic shout brought images…

As Riot lifted his head, Venom kicked it like a football star, sending the bigger symbiote flying backwards quite a ways.

“You have a strong host,” Riot acknowledged grudgingly as he slid to a halt. “But not strong enough.”

I can do this all day, taunted Eddie silently, sharing an image of a human weakling, bloody and dazed but refusing to give up and admit defeat. Or at least, for the next two minutes.

Riot raised dual blade-hands and…plunged them into the walkway? No! Attacking from underneath! It took giving a considerable amount of ground, flipping backwards again and again and again, before they were far enough away that Riot could not reach them. But instead of retracting, he flowed along the line of his mass and closed with them, claws tearing at Venom’s body as Riot sought to damage them up close and personal. Venom was able to spin Riot around, smash his head into the side of the bridge structure, but then the other symbiote formed a dozen spikes that shot up out of his own back to impale them and xie was flung back against the railing, frantically checking Eddie’s body for punctures.

In that moment of distraction, Riot ripped off a chunk of…something…and swatted Venom down the walkway to slam into the side and skid to a halt, only to chase xir down, pick xir up, and hurl xir bodily into one of the structures on the launch platform. Again, Riot was on them before Venom could shake xir dazed head clear, tackling them like that football star. Xie didn’t see the claws until it was too late to dodge, and the impact flung xir body around.

“T-minus two minutes, thirty seconds.”

They were so doomed. And Eddie was…beyond dazed, he was barely responsive. Venom limply allowed Riot to hoist them into the air, concentrating instead on repairing the damage to xir fragile morsel. Xie was rewarded with Eddie screaming in pain as Riot threw them to the ground and tried to peel Venom off of xir host.

The fight that ensued was too fast for thought, too dirty for comprehension, with both symbiotes trying to peel each other back and their exposed hosts flailing, trying to strike at any part of the other host that was within reach. It was a good delaying tactic, but futile in the end as Riot…subsumed them. Venom pulled Eddie into a ball inside xir, forming as strong a shield between xir precious morsel and the other symbiote’s body as xie could while Riot…climbed the rocket?

Suddenly, vibrations sliced through Riot’s body. Sound, very loud and in a very painful range, ripped at them from nearby and Venom dove, hiding as much of xir diminished mass inside Eddie’s body cavity as xie could. Riot had far too much mass to seek refuge the same way, and he screamed as the sound lashed at him, shaking him apart, shredding his body molecule by molecule until he was forced out of his host and both humans plummeted towards the unforgiving surface of the platform.

The sound cut off as soon as they began to fall, thankfully, and Venom surged out to take the impact, protecting Eddie but also preventing Drake’s skull from splattering like an egg. A tasty, crunchy egg that Eddie would not enjoy biting into one bit, but Venom deserved this treat. Xie puppeted Eddie to his feet and was about to engulf him when-

“Houston!” shouted Anne frantically, her voice coming out of wherever the horrible, painful noise had emanated from. “We have a problem!”

Venom was suddenly struck with a memory: sitting on the couch with Anne, cuddling, barely paying attention to the movie because watching her be so into it was so much better than any movie could ever be. Astronauts in a tiny capsule. “Houston, we have a problem.” The words that were the tipping point in the story about the space vessel being damaged and the astronauts fighting for their lives-

The space vessel being damaged?

Drake’s rocket had been damaged!

Eddie snapped awake as Venom hastily did xir best to repair even more of the injury he had suffered. He lashed out with one foot, kicking Drake between the legs with a vicious sense of satisfaction. At Venom’s urging, he turned and began to run for the edge of the platform-

Pain! Sharp, bright pain that burned like fire crashed down into Eddie’s left shoulder before they reached that promising edge, shattering the human’s concentration and also his collarbone as it sliced down his back. He collapsed, and thudding indicated that Riot was leaving them for dead. Probably because the recording had just announced T-minus one minute. Fighting back the blinding agony xir host was experiencing, Venom forced Eddie’s body to climb to its feet and run the last handful of stumbling steps to the edge of the platform where xie jumped, engulfing Eddie’s unconscious body-

Behind them, a tremendous roar signaled the rocket’s engines had ignited. They were falling, but not fast enough and when the rocket’s fuel tanks exploded, the blast caught Venom full on the back and hurled xir out away from the platform, shrieking as xir very flammable body caught fire. Bring him back safe, Anne had begged xir, and Venom would do xir best to protect Eddie.

Even if it cost xir life.

Screaming with the effort, Venom formed a smoldering parachute with what was left of xir body and held it open as long as xie could, but the fire was all-consuming and soon Eddie was falling again. Venom surged into his flesh, fleeing the fire before it consumed xir entirely, mostly mending the broken bone before xie forced his body into a lance that pierced the skin of the ocean smoothly. Eddie woke to cold and shock and Venom engulfing his head to keep him from filling his lungs with salt water, but propelling him to the surface took almost more than xie had and as soon as Eddie’s head emerged into the air, Venom slithered down his throat. They had spent too much time merged, and if they did not separate, Venom would not only complete their bond but lose xir mind from being stretched too thin.

Goodbye, Eddie, xie rumbled weakly as xie settled into his stomach, uncertain if xie would even survive long enough to be reunited with xir host.

Xir last moment of awareness was Eddie’s growing panic, struggling against the pain that threatened to break him.

 

Dr. Skirth

Nervously, Dora hurried through the halls, every nerve alert for the slightest hint of Carlton Drake’s presence. She still had no idea what she was going to do about the rocket, but salvaging her data seemed like a wise precaution. It was a good bet the government was going to get wind of this, and making herself useful to the feds sure sounded like a smart investment in her future career.

Fortunately, but not unexpectedly, it was simplicity itself to walk into her office and stuff her external hard drive into her purse – along with the handful of personal effects she’d kept there.

“Skirth?”

Dora about had a heart attack, but it was just Dr. Emerson standing in the doorway.

“Didn’t mean to startle you,” he said apologetically. “Should have known you’d be on edge, with Drake pacing around like a lunatic after the last symbiote died. Hey – do you have any idea what happened to it? None of us had anything to give him, and I thought he was going to bite my head off.”

“I killed it,” she said sharply, zipping her purse shut with an abrupt motion. “He tried to feed me to it. Listen, you’ve got to get out of here. You and everyone else. It’s not safe.”

Emerson reeled back. “You killed-”

“Listen to me!” Dora got right in his face. “There were four of these things on the shuttle, Emerson! We thought the fourth one died, but look at what we know now!”

The older man paled. “My god. It survived. It’s out there somewhere.”

“No.” She settled her purse on her shoulder. “It’s here. They found a body in the airport with intense, widespread cellular damage. We imprisoned three of its fellows, experimented on them and tortured them.”

“The one that escaped,” Emerson breathed in horror. “Oh my god. They’ll eat us all in revenge! We have to get out of here!”

Before she could say anything more he was running down the hall, and she let him go. Drake still had a rocket, and Riot was sure to want it. Lost in thoughts of how she could stop or sabotage the launch, she hurried towards the command center – or at least, where she thought it was. She’d never been there, and all the corridors looked the same. She stopped in an intersection, trying to get her bearings, as a slim man in black strode imperiously down the hall to glare at her as he passed. Only when she realized his eyes were a seething gunmetal grey did it sink in: that was Carlton Drake, and he didn’t seem to recognize her.

Riot, she thought with a chill. Then her scientific mind kicked into gear.

Riot hadn’t recognized her. He – he? – hadn’t reacted to her at all, despite Drake having last seen her as Toxin’s intended meal and with the symbiote dead, he had to suspect she’d killed it, which meant…

…which meant Drake wasn’t a compatible host, because the bonding process took far longer than the window of time in which he could have become a host, and had a much greater impact on the host, and of course Riot was a bully who wouldn’t want to empathize with his hosts, which meant that true symbiosis, where symbiote and host were one in body and mind, wasn’t what was going on.

Drake was being ridden like a vehicle of flesh, and Riot couldn’t access his memories.

With that nugget of information tucked up her sleeve, she turned and followed Drake down the halls and corridors until he vanished into the hangarlike command center. Then, as further insurance for her safe future, she took out her phone and began filming from the edge of the room. Drake’s declaration that he’d pilot the spacecraft seemed damning enough, but then he force-initiated a five-minute countdown to launch, and then he turned into a monster and started killing people before jumping out the window and running towards the rocket.

Dora grabbed a stunned technician who seemed rattled but unharmed. “How do we stop the launch?”

The other woman stared blankly before focusing on her. “We – there’s an abort code. If we can find-”

She followed the technician as she scrambled for a printed booklet, flipped through pages until she got to the right one, and then dashed for a monitor that hadn’t been smashed. The technician fiddled with the keyboard, muttering “no, no, no” under her breath before looking up in despair.

“He screwed up the sequence,” she spat, her eyes begging Dora for some shred of reassurance. “It’s not taking the code because there’s two sequences running. The program wasn’t meant for that.”

“So what’s going to happen?” Dora asked shakily.

The other woman shuddered. “My guess? The engines are going to fire before fueling has actually stopped and the whole thing’s going to go up in the biggest fireball you’ve ever seen.”

She turned to run, but Dora caught her wrist. “Can you get me into the broadcast systems? I’m from the lab, I know how to kill the thing that ate Drake, but I need to access the platform’s sound system.”

“Front of the room,” the woman said, pointing. “Now, I need to get out of here and call nine-one-one!”

“Yes, do that,” Dora agreed. “Thank you!”

She’d just identified the proper station when Anne ran in, looked around, and skidded to a stop beside her.

“The rocket’s going to explode,” she panted. “And Riot’s in Drake.”

“Where’s Venom?”

“With Eddie. They’re going to try to keep Riot from getting on the rocket. Tell me you have a plan, because I’ve got nothing.”

Dora brandished her rigged-together sound bomb. “We get this to play over the speakers by the rocket if Riot gets too close. But we also need to warn them that the rocket’s going to turn into a giant fireball.”

“Without also warning Riot.”

“Exactly. But Riot and Drake aren’t compatible; Riot can’t access Drake’s memories. So your job,” she said, pushing the slighter woman into a nearby desk chair, “is to think of something Eddie would know means ‘you’re in danger, get out of there’ without saying ‘you’re in danger, get out of there’. And my job is to get this to play over that,” she finished, pointing at the sound equipment.

It was a tense two minutes as they watched the fight through various cameras, aware of the numbers ticking down, but the aliens and their hosts weren’t close enough for Dora to be confident that the sound would actually hurt them. Then Riot seemed to eat Venom and Eddie before scrambling up the side of the rocket, and Dora saw her chance.

The lab’s siren alarm blared from a powerful speaker uncomfortably close to the rocket, causing Riot to shudder and visibly lose mass as it was shaken away from him by the sound waves, and then he and Drake and Eddie were falling and Anne hit the cut-off switch. Dora turned off the sound, and Anne snatched up the microphone.

“Houston!” she yelled as Eddie stood shakily back up. “We have a problem!”

Dora arched an eyebrow at her. “I’m not sure whether to make fun of you for that or feel ashamed that it didn’t occur to me.”

Eddie must have realized what was going on, because he delivered a vicious kick to Drake’s nuts and ran for the edge of the platform, but Riot re-formed around his host and lashed out with a giant sword-arm, just barely clipping Eddie but hitting hard enough to send him tumbling. They held their breath as Eddie stood shakily back up and jumped, and almost at the same time the rocket’s engines ignited the fuel lines.

Anne screamed, a raw sound that made Dora wince away, but that motion meant she was looking in the right direction as a small shape expanded, lit from behind by the fireball. “Look!” was all she managed to articulate, but it was enough.

In silent horror, they watched the flames devour Venom’s body as he kept Eddie from plunging immediately to his death. Anne, of course, was the first to react once they lost sight of him.

“Emergency boat,” she blurted. “What if someone falls off or the pylons need maintenance? There has to be an emergency boat somewhere.”

Two long, frantic minutes of searching later, they identified an emergency boat dock…thing and ran for it.

“Venom’s mass will be severely depleted if he survived,” Dora panted as they ran. “He’ll need to feed on something live.”

“I’m open to suggestions,” Anne replied, taking the lead on a set of concrete stairs. “Right now, all I can think about is finding Eddie.”

“Fair enough.”

There was a first-aid kit on the wall of the dock…room? Cavern? and Dora grabbed it while Anne shouted for the two men starting the boat to wait for them.

“Saw the explosion,” one of them said as they helped the ladies on board and zipped off into the dark waters. “Looked like someone had a parachute, but it caught on fire.”

“He did,” panted Anne, “and it did.”

“Well, we got a pretty good fix on him,” said the other man, the one piloting the boat. “Should be able to find him pretty easy if he’s still alive.”

Searchlights mounted on the front of the craft lit up, bathing their path in brutal illumination. Despite the breathtaking speed the boat was moving at, it seemed to take forever before they caught sight of Eddie on the maintenance dock for one of the massive spotlights mounted on a small island. Anne leaped off the boat before it had been properly secured and ran to the sprawled figure, blocking him from their view with her body.

She didn’t quite hide the shudder that wracked him, or the wet sound of a man vomiting seawater.

Anne retreated as the two boatmen approached, and let them carry Eddie’s unconscious body back to the boat where they laid him on the…floor? Dora was more concerned with the way Anne seemed to be cradling her left hand.

“Are you okay?” she asked the shaken blonde as the boat sped back towards the dock.

“Hungry,” came the answer, ground out between gritted teeth. “Too small. Hand only.”

If Venom was reduced to that little mass, then he would need very small things to eat. What could someone find and buy at night that was alive and small?

By the time they got back, she had an answer.

“Live bait,” she murmured to Anne as the boatmen carried Eddie’s unconscious body off the boat and put him on a stretcher.

Anne fumbled a card out of her wallet one-handed and shoved it at her. “Go with Eddie,” she groaned.

Dora took Eddie’s insurance card, pulled out her keys, and pressed them into Anne’s non-Venom hand. “Take my car.”

Then there were EMTs rushing up, taking possession of the stretcher, and Dora had to follow them with no time to even look back at Anne.