Author's note: Hey everyone, FireSlash here and welcome to another chapter of United. I was originally going to update Artificial instead, but I recently saw Venom, and I have to say, I really liked it. While it suffers from pacing issues and is a bad horror movie , it's still something I'd recommend for people who want to kill some time. It's a pretty solid superhero movie IMO. For those of you who didn't like it, well, this story will be taking a different path from the one the movie did. Anyways, as Halloween is coming up, I decided to write this chapter in celebration of the holiday. Next chapter we'll be focusing back on the main plot and the story's darker elements. Also, I have good news for those of you who love Spider-man, he'll be showing up later in this story (he won't have any connection to Venom for in this AU, the two have never interacted). Oh, and I want to apologize for not updating any of my stories recently. College has been keeping me busy lately, though I'm enjoying it far better than High School (that place was seriously the worst).

Anyways, review and enjoy :-)

0000

When you're asleep, the last thing you want is to be woken up by a loud noise, correct? Lincoln was no different, only wanting to sleep in after all the mayhem he experienced yesterday. Of course, he lived in a house where ten girls were always running around making as much noise as humanly possible, but the boy has adapted to the daily chaos they brought. Sadly, there was one thing he couldn't sleep through, Luna's jam sessions. Despite his parents soundproofing the basement for her to practice in without being disturbed, the aspiring rockstar still chooses to practice in her room, much to the annoyance of her family.

Generally speaking, Lincoln could tolerate the noises she made, but today, he simply couldn't. Once she started playing, he immediately woke up and fell off his bed, clenching his ears in agony.

"GAAAH! THE NOISE, IT HURTS!"

Glancing at his clothes, Lincoln noticed the symbiote was struggling to maintain its shape, rapidly transforming between its disguised self and its true form.

"Y-you're weak to sound?" Lincoln asked, letting loose another scream of agony shortly after as Luna began to upper the volume of her speakers.

"LOUD NOISES HURTS US! MAKE IT STOP!"

"Luna! Stop playing so loud!" Lincoln attempted to shout as the world started spinning. Continuing to clench his ears, Lincoln was doing his best to not throw up. It felt as if his brain was being squeezed while his body was being crushed by a refrigerator. "Please stop it!"

Unfortunately, the music's volume continued to stay the same. With it looking like Luna hadn't heard her brother, Venom decided to take action. "FORGET THIS!"

Shooting a tendril at Lincoln's window, it struggled to open it, Luna's music weakening its ability to maintain a solid form. Thankfully, it managed to muster enough strength to open the window and latch onto the wall next to it afterwards. What it did next nearly gave Lincoln a heart attack. Using all its willpower to concentrate on the tendril, it tossed its host out of the window, causing the boy to take a two story fall.

"WAAAAH!" Falling face first into the ground, Lincoln immediately sat up and held his head in pain. "Ugh, what was that for?"

"To escape the torture," Venom simply replied. "The loud one would not stop and we needed to get away."

"We fell two stories. I could've died."

"But you're fine, aren't you?" Venom asked, causing Lincoln to realize that he was perfectly fine, not having any broken bones from the fall. The only thing he had was a minor headache and a somewhat bruised nose from having kissed the ground when he landed. "As our host, we would never do something we think would kill you. If you die, we die as well. Now, please have the loud one stop making noise so we can eat. We're starving."

"How are we going to do that? It's not like we can go back inside while she's playing her music."

"We managed to snag something before we left." Lifting Lincoln's arm to his face, Venom showed the boy that it had managed to grab his cell phone during all the chaos. "Your species seem to rely on this for all their needs."

Not bothering to give the symbiote an answer, Lincoln powered on his cell phone and was about to call Luna, only to realise she probably wouldn't pick up, being too absorbed in her music to bother paying attention to her surroundings. Instead, he opted to call Lori. If anyone could get Luna to stop playing, it would be their oldest sister.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Lori, it's Lincoln. Uh, think you can get Luna to go down to the basement? I've got a massive headache and her music's not helping."

"Sure, whatever."

"Thank you." Hanging up, Lincoln let loose a loud sigh of relief. "She should be moving to the basement in three...two...one."

"Luna! What have we told you about practicing in your room?!" Lori shouted at her younger sister, her voice somehow being louder than the musician's amplified electric guitar. "You're literally giving us a headache! Basement, NOW!"

Silence soon followed, indicating that Lori managed to stop the music. "See?"

"The oldest holds the most authority. This information will be useful later on…"

"...Sure. So, anything specific you want to eat, or are you good with whatever? As long as you don't go around eating people or living animals, then I could care less about what you eat." Entering the house, Lincoln shuddered briefly, the memory of the man who's neck he had bit off still fresh in his mind.

"We desire meat, lots of it. Oh, and the delicacy you call chocolate. Your memories show it to be absolutely delectable."

"Alright, let's see if we have any of that." Walking towards the kitchen, Lincoln made his way to the fridge, feeling the same sense of starvation his parasite was feeling. Opening it, he noticed there were still leftover meatballs from yesterday's dinner as well as some leftover turkey from the day before. "I'm surprised no one's managed to eat these yet. My sisters are usually hawks when it comes to dad's leftovers."

"..." Wasting no time, Venom had Lincoln scarf down the meat like a wild animal. "Ah, so much better."

"Lincoln! I need your help!" Lola shouted, entering the kitchen. Upon doing so, she was greeted by the site of Lincoln ravenging both the meatballs and turkey at the same time. The two looked at each other, an awkward silence engulfing them. "Uh, you know what, I'll just ask Leni instead…"

Watching Lola slowly back away from him, Lincoln shrugged his shoulders and continued eating. With the symbiote now in his body, he needed to eat a lot to satisfy his hunger.

0000

Meanwhile, while Lincoln was busy feeding himself, the Loud sisters were outside, decorating their front lawn. Today was Halloween, and with someone like Lucy in the family, there was no way they weren't going to do some decorating. This year was especially special for the young goth, for she finally managed to convince her mother to allow her to create her haunted corn maze.

"Excellent fake blood Lisa," Lucy complimented her younger sister as she saw what the genius created. Lisa simply nodded in satisfaction.

"Hey Luce" Lynn called out to the goth, a jack-o-lantern in her hand. "Check out our pumpkins! Whaddya think?"

Taking a good look at Lynn's pumpkin, Lucy shook her head in dissatisfaction as she pointed a finger towards the left side of the fruit. "More blood here." She then glanced at the pumpkin Lola had carved "few more gashes on this one." Moving towards Lana's, Lucy flicked out a tooth. "Knock out a tooth." Glancing at Luna's, the rockstar deciding to help out after Lori told her to move to the basement, Lucy walked towards it and patted the top of the jack-o-lantern. "Dampen the head wounds."

"Geez Lucy, Halloween's kinda crazy with a spooky little girl like you."

"Totes," Leni chimed in, working on the corn maze with Luan and Lori. "I'm so glad mom finally let you do your haunted corn maze!"

"As am I. I've been waiting my whole life to do this. Not to mention my past lives." Looking around, Lucy was quite happy with how the maze was turning out. She initially had her doubts, but in the end, she underestimated her sister's capabilities. However, she felt like something was missing. Taking another look at her surroundings, she realized Lincoln was nowhere to be seen. "Where's Lincoln?"

"He's...busy at the moment," Lola answered, memories of her witnessing him acting like a more insane Lana plaguing her mind. "I don't think we should interrupt, trust me."

One of Lucy's eyebrows began to rise under her bangs. Normally, Lola wasn't someone who valued personal space unless it was her who needed it. This was oddly suspicious. ""What's he doing?"

"Eating…I think."

"You think?"

"It was kinda hard to tell with the large mess he made."

"...I'm going to check up on him." Making her way to the door, she briefly stopped to face Luan. "By the way, fantastic work on the sign Luan."

Luan shot her a bashful smile. "Aw shucks, it's just something I cob-bled up together from a kernel of an idea. Oh yes! A triple!"

Not wanting to hear any more of her sister's corny jokes, Lucy dashed into the house, having a mission to accomplish."

0000

"*BURP* We demand more!"

"More? We ate the entire fridge!" Lincoln shouted, motening towards the now empty refrigerator. Apparently symbiotes have huge stomachs for after devouring all the meat in the fridge, Venom was still hungry, eating everything else in there, including all the condiments and uncooked foods. The only thing which survived his onslaught were the candy, Lincoln managing to convince him to spare all the candy that was not chocolate. Even though chocolate was his sister's favorite candy, Venom was threatening to kill him, and with Lincoln not knowing if he was being serious or not, decided to risk his sister's wrath. To be honest, not even retaliation from Luan scared him remotely close to what Venom might've done if he gave him a hard time.

"Oh."

"Ugh, if you're going to stay, you need to learn how to eat less," Lincoln said. "My parents already spend enough money as it is, last thing they need is to be buying double the amount of food they normally buy each week."

"We will try to find a way to compromise, though we cannot guarantee anything."

"Glad you're somewhat reasonable."

"Who's somewhat reasonable?"

The hairs on his back tingling, Lincoln turned around, doing so causing him to notice Lucy was in the kitchen with him. "Hey Luce, is there something you need?"

"I was just wondering where you were," Lucy informed him. Everyone else is outside decorating for Halloween."

'Man, I forgot today was Halloween,' Lincoln thought to himself, the shock of Venom coming into his life causing the boy to momentarily forget about the holiday. "Uh, sorry about that. I got caught up in something."

Eying her brother suspiciously, the girl's eyes fell on the open refrigerator. Eyes widening, she glanced back at her brother. "...Where's all our food?"

"...I don't know," Lincoln lied, causing Venom to groan in the boy's mind.

'You suck at lying.'

'Shut up.' A second later, Lincoln let loose a loud burp, a small ketchup packet flying out of his mouth. How he didn't choke on it, Lincoln didn't know.

"...Did you seriously eat everything in there?"

"Not everything," Lincoln said, trying his best to downplay what he just did. "The candy's still there." Gesturing towards the candy he had not eaten, Lincoln's stomach began to grumble. "You know, you should hold onto the candy. I don't even know why dad put it in the fridge to begin with."

"..." Cue the second awkward silence Lincoln experienced with a sibling today. Lucy simply stared at him, analyzing his every move while Lincoln was starting to sweat out of nervousness. Thankfully, the silence wouldn't last for long, for with his enhanced hearing, Lincoln was able to hear his walkie talkie ringing from his room. "You hear that? I think Clyde needs me. See you later."

Lucy watched as her brother shot towards his room. "...You're not ok Lincoln."

0000

Reaching his room, Lincoln locked the door behind him and picked up his walkie-talkie, desperate to get away from the crime scene.

"Jack-o-Lincoln! Do you copy?" Lincoln's best friend Clyde asked from the other end.

"I read you loud and clear McBride of Frankenstein. What's up?"

"Dude, don't tell me you forgot about what we had planned for tonight."

"To be honest Clyde, I kind of did. I was kicked out of my house, remember?" Obviously, him being kicked out of his house wasn't the reason he forgot whatever it was they had planned, but Lincoln wasn't going to tell Clyde about Venom anytime soon. The kid would probably have a heart attack.

"You said you found a way to maximise our candy output this year, remember?"

A light bulb suddenly flashed inside Lincoln's head. "Oh right, I did. Meet me at the rendezvous point in fifteen minutes and I'll tell you all about it, over."

"Copy that, over."

"You two are such losers," Venom snarkily told the boy as he turned off his walkie talkie.

"Look, I just want to enjoy my Halloween, so do me a favor and not pop out, ok?"

"Fine. By the way, does the spooky one really think her maze is scary? We can do far better in our sleep."

"We want to scare people, not give them a heart attack. You'd do that and eat their corpses afterwards. Now, can you show me how to swing and change my cloths? I've only got fifteen minutes to meet up with Clyde."

0000

"Hey buddy, took you long enough," Lincoln said from the inside of a bush, catching sight of his friend. Entering the bush, Clyde looked around suspiciously.

"Anyone follow you here?"

"No." Lincoln said confidently. With Venom's help, he was able to leave his house and swing around the town unseen. Even though he still wasn't thrilled to have the symbiote in his body, Lincoln couldn't deny how useful some of its powers were. "I used evasive maneuvers."

"So, did you manage to find a place where we can maximize our candy gain?"

"Indeed I have." Pulling out several charts, Lincoln began to explain his findings. "As you know, there have been rumors of a neighborhood where all the houses hand out full sized chocolate bars instead of the regular ones where we live. After a lot of research, I've discovered the area's location. Huntington Manor!" Pointing behind him, Lincoln revealed to Clyde the location where they were going to go trick-or-treating this year.

"It's beautiful," Clyde said, a single tear of joy slipping down his face.

"That it is. There's one problem though, we need a way to get in. Unless you live here or you're related to someone who lives here, you can't go in."

'I say we break in and eat the guard's head. It'll satisfy our hunger and you'll be able to sneak in.'

"Hey! What did I say about eating people?"

"Uh, Lincoln? Are you ok?" Clyde asked his best friend, making Lincoln realize he said all that out loud.

"Yeah, totally," Lincoln said, trying to downplay the incident as much as he can. "So, have any clue as to how we're going to get in?"

The two began to scratch their chins, trying to formulate some sort of plan. A few seconds later, a taxi drove up to the entrance of the Manor.

"Wait a minute, what do we have here?" Clyde muttered under his breath as two rich looking boys began to come out of the front gate, walking towards the taxi. Coincidentally enough, they looked just like Lincoln and Clyde.

"Cheers, Wyatt," The Lincoln look alike said to the guard. "We're off to visit the homeland."

"Have a great trip, Master Alistair," the guard said before glancing at Clyde's doppelganger. "You too Master Nigel."

"Ta, See you in a fortnight." The two then entered the taxi which drove off shortly after. Inside the bush they were hiding in, a sly smile began to form on both Lincoln and Clyde's faces.

"I think we may have found our ticket in...Master Nigel," Lincoln whispered to Clyde with a fake British accent.

"Cheers to that, Master Alistair."

0000

"Hey, watch where you're going doofuses," A large boy Lincoln recognized as Hank, his school's most feared bully, shouted angrily. Next to him, a similarly large boy named Hawk was glaring at the smaller boys. As Lincoln and Clyde began making their way back home, they accidently managed to bump into the two bullies. Noticing them, blood began to trickle down Clyde's nose.

"Ugh, blood!" Hawk grimenced. "I think I'm going to barf!"

"Aw, don't barf! That'll make me barf!" Hank groaned.

Not wanting to anger the bullies, Clyde clogged his nose with tissue. "Sorry, I get nosebleeds when I'm scared."

'You fear these two, yet they cannot handle a little blood, how pathetic…'

"Listen, we need some advice. What's the best place to go trick-or-treating around here?" Judging by the tone Hawk used, it was clear he wasn't asking them for help, he was demanding it.

'Can we eat them now?'

'Shut up in there.'

Wanting to protect their secret candy gathering strategy, Clyde began to improvise a solution, which granted he was making this up on the fly, wasn't a good one. "Definitely not not this neighborhood! No full sized candy bars here."

"You should try Franklin Avenue, over in Royal Woods," Lincoln suggested, being a better improviser than his friend. "It's great for candy, plus there's an awesome haunted corn maze this year.

Hearing this made Hawk smirk. "Franklin Avenue, eh? We'll check that out."

"Aw yeah, I can't wait!" With that, the two bullies immediately left, laughing as they walked away. Once they were out of sight, the two boys let loose a loud sigh of relief.

"Sending them to your street? Nice save buddy," Clyde congratulated his friend.

"You too," Lincoln replied, ignoring the scoff Venom made inside his head. "We worked hard to find this neighborhood, why should we share it?"

'Indeed. We like the way you think.'

"Exactly. Dr. Lopez says I need to look out for me more."

"She's worth every penny you're paying her."

0000

"Well Clyde, I can say for sure this Halloween was an absolute success," Lincoln said as Clyde and him began dragging several large bags of chocolate behind them. Initially dressing up as their rich doppelgangers, the two boys managed to effortlessly slip into Huntington Manor, passing by Hank and Hawk who were wearing spooky baby masks. Upon entering the neighborhood, the boys swapped to their Halloween costumes, them going as the superhero duel Ace Savvy and One Eyed Jack.

"Oh definitely." Clyde agreed. "I have to admit though, I think we got so much candy because of your costume. How'd you get such a cool costume anyways?"

Lincoln smirked. His Ace Savvy costume was good enough to be used in a movie, something he had Venom to thank for. "I had Leni make me one in exchange for doing her chores for a day."

"And that creepy mask?"

"Found it in Lucy's room." The mask Clyde was referring to was another product of Venom's shapeshifting, making Lincoln's face appear nearly identical to the beast's actual one. It was actually the symbiote's idea to use a watered down version of himself to make it look as if another kid was trick-or-treating by themselves. His disguise was actually so scary, people ended up rewarded him with extra candy, impressed with the costume.

"Well, going trick-or-treating in two costumes definitely paid out in the end."

"You bet it did. So, I think we should take our candy to your place. My sisters will pounce on it if they see what we managed to get," Lincoln said, motioning to the large sacks of candy.

Clyde frowned. "Well, if we take it to my house, my dads will lock it up and only let me eat three ounces a week."

"Hm, looks like we'll need a plan C."

'Entrust the chocolatey goodness with us,' Venom mentally told Lincoln

'Why? You weren't able to contain yourself earlier.'

'We were starving. If you leave it with us, we can guarantee your sisters will not get to it. It's not like you have any better options.'

Rubbing his chin, Lincoln noticed the symbiote was right. He really had no other options. He could bury them, but what's stopping the wildlife from snagging them. 'Fine, as long as we save some for Clyde and we don't hurt anyone if they go after the candy, then I'll take it back to our place.'

'Deal.'

"So Lincoln, any ideas?"

"Actually, I remembered I got a new toy bin with a lock. I can take the candy back there and as long as it's out of sight, then my sisters won't get to them."

"Alright, that seems like a good idea."

With that issue solved, Lincoln shot his friend a small smile. "Well bud, all our hard work paid off. Best Halloween ever, am I right?"

Clyde was about to agree with his friend, but upon taking a good look at their neighborhood, changed his response. "Well… maybe not for everyone."

Staring in the direction Clyde was, Lincoln noticed all of Franklin Avenue was a complete mess. Jack-o-lanterns were smashed, most of the houses were egged, and all the street lights and trees had toilet paper around them. "What happened here?"

0000

"Guy's what's going on?" Lincoln asked his sisters as they began tearing down their maze. With Clyde and Lincoln having no idea what happened to their neighborhood, the two decided to make their way towards the Loud house, hiding their candy in a nearby bush. "Why are the streets deserted and why are you taking down your maze?"

"Nobody showed up," Lucy responded, a hint of sadness present in her voice. "All my hard work for nothing. Not a single scream. Sigh."

"Nobody showed up?" Clyde asked, tilting his head in confusion. "Why not?"

"Because two big stinkers came along and ruined everything!" Lola growled, clearly angry.

"Yeah! They TP'd all the trees and smashed all the jack-o-lanterns!" Lana added.

"And worst of all, they stole everybody's candy!"

"And with the amount of candy I had, we're talking grand larceny." Lisa noted.

"Two big stinkers…" Clyde whispered to Lincoln. "You don't think it was the guys we told to come here, do you?"

Lincoln shook his head. "No way, there's a lot of big stinkers in our neighborhood."

"True."

Lana collapsed on the floor in defeat. "I'll never shake the sound of their big dumb laughs."

"Wait, didn't those guys have big dumb laughs?"

"Clyde, many people have big dumb laughs."

"True."

Lola began patting Lana on the back before glaring at the street. "And I'll never forget those creepy baby faced masks!"

"Wait, didn't those guys-"

"Ok Clyde, I get it. It was them."

"Ugh, All Hallow's Eve, street name Halloween, is clearly ruined," Lisa said dejectedly before walking back into the house. The rest of his sisters, clearly upset about the situation as well, decided to just go back into the house as well, willing to wait till tomorrow to finish destroying the maze. The only two who remained were Lincoln and Clyde, who were filled with guilt, believing this to be their fault.

"This is all our fault Clyde!" Lincoln groaned. "We led those stinkers here."

Clyde collapsed to his knees. "We ruined Halloween!"

"We gotta fix this," Lincoln said, helping his friend back to his feet.

"I'm with you, but how?"

"Well, we can't unsmash the Jack-O-Lanterns, and it's too late to get people to come to the maze…'' Lincoln stated, trying to think of a way to make everything right. "But we can get everybody's candy back!"

"From those two big scary guys who could twist us into human pretzels and dip us in a sauce of their choosing?" Clyde asked fearfully, causing Lincoln to have less faith in his idea. There has to be a way to get back at the two bullies who ruined his sister's Halloween.

'It looks like you need some assistance,' Venom said to Lincoln in the boy's head. 'We have an idea.'

'Does it involve eating and killing them?'

'Yes.'

'Then I'm not interested.'

'Ugh, fine. We have another idea, one without any killing.' Venom began informing Lincoln of its plan and as he listened to it, he couldn't help but notice that it was actually a good one. By the time Venom finished, Lincoln was more than willing to go through with the plan. 'So, you in?'

"You may be a murderous parasite, but wow that's a good idea." Lincoln muttered under his breath. "I'm in."

'Excellent.'

"Clyde," Lincoln said, getting the attention of his best friend. "Go get the candy and guard it. I have an idea on how to make things right."

"You sure buddy? Hawk and Hank are scary dudes."

"Trust me bud, when I'm done with them, they won't bother anyone ever again."

"Alright, good luck out there agent."

"Thanks."

0000

"Ugh bro, I think I ate too much," Hawk said, doing his best not to burp. The two were now in their 'private' treehouse, savoring their victory over Franklin Avenue.

Hank gave him a disgusted look. "Don't you dare throw up man!"

"I think I'm just going to pass out."

"Aw dude, if you pass out, then I'll-" That's the furthest Hank got before a black tendril wrapped itself over the boy's mouth, dragging him outside the treehouse. Hawk, still drowsy, took a few seconds to realize his accomplice was missing.

"Uh, Hank? Where'd you go?" Looking around the treehouse, the boy couldn't find his partner. Sticking his head out of the treehouse, he tried seeing if he was anywhere outside near the tree, but upon doing so, another black tendril shot out from the darkness and began straggling the boy. He tied to scream, but his windpipe was being crushed. The tendril then began dragging the boy deep into the darkness and into the woods. After traveling an unidentifiable distance, the tendril's hold on the boy's neck weakened as Hawk began hanging on a tree, the tendril preventing him from falling.

"Dude, what's going on?" Turning his head to his left, he saw Hank hanging next to him, causing him to feel slightly more relieved than before. Sadly, he still had no idea what was going on.

"I have no clue."

"Call this a payment for your crimes."

Hearing the bloodlusted voice caused the two boys to shudder in fear. They tried surveying the scenery, but they couldn't find the origin of the voice.

"Not so strong now, are you?"

The two boys could feel something watching them, but the thing still hasn't made itself known. It was as if they were prey, being hunted by an unseeable predator.

"W-what's going on?!" Hawk screamed in fear, trying to wiggle free from the tendril's hold. Unfortunately for him and his friend, the tendrils were far too strong.

"Look above you."

Doing what they were told, the boys looked upwards, only to scream in fear a second later at what they saw. Above them was Venom, in all his glory, slowly declining from a tendril as if he were spider weaving a web. Lowering himself so he was at face level with the boys, he flashed them a hungry smile.

"Dude, isn't that the thing that was on the news the other day?" Hank asked his pal in fear. This caught both Venom and Lincoln's attention. It seems his presence was already somewhat known to the public.

"I think I just pissed my pants."

"You two have some nerve," Venom told them. "You enter our territory and what do you do? You destroy it for no reason but to satisfy your stupid urges. You don't know how angry that makes us feel."

"P-please forgive us!" Hawk shouted, Hank bawling his eyes out in the background.

"Now that'll be too easy now, won't it? Instead, we'll cut you a deal. We're going to play a little game of hide and seek and if we believe you've entertained us enough, then we'll let you go. However, if we find you two to be far too boring, then we'll eat you. We're quite hungry. What do you say, ready to play?"

"Please man, just let us go."

"Let you go? As you wish." Releasing his hold on them, Venom dropped them on the floor. "You have thirty seconds. I suggest you move. The hunt will begin shortly."

Wasting no time, the two boys began fleeing the scene, not wanting to be around the beast any longer.

0000

"Whew, I think we're safe," Hank said, the two boys hiding inside a bush. The two boys were absolutely terrified right now, as they should be seeing as a monster was out to eat them. "Why did we pick this neighborhood again?"

"Because that kid told us they had good candy," Hawk answered dumbly.

"But was it worth it? We have a monster chasing us right now! Worst of all, this isn't a prank, this is real life! You saw what that thing did to those guys on the news, what's to say he won't do that to us?"

"W-well, all we got to do is hide until it's satisfied with us, right? If we do, then it'll leave us alone."

"Might want to try finding a better hiding place," Venom said, already managing to find them. Grabbing onto the bush, the beast uprooted it, scaring the boys even more. "That's strike one. Two more and we'll be feasting on your corpses tonight."

"AHHHHHHH!" Screaming on the top of their lungs, the boys shot forwards, desperately searching for a new hiding spot. In the end, they chose to hide behind a tree.

Giving them another thirty seconds to hide, Venom began to hunt the two boys down, using his increased sense of smell to help him find them. As he began tracking them down, he shrunk his initial body mass and used the trees for transportation, not wanting to attract any unwanted attention. Eventually, the symbiote found its prey. Stealthily dropping down on the other side of the tree, Venom grew back to his normal size and had his left hand take the form of an axe. Without much effort, he cut down the tree, revealing the cowering bodies of Hank and Hawk.

Giving them another predatory smile, Venom kneeled down to face them. "Strike two. You both have one more chance, so make it count."

Not needing to be told twice, both boys dashed away from the scene. Desperately looking everywhere for a decent hiding spot, the two eventually spotted the maze in the front yard of the Loud house.

"Quick dude, in here!" Hank shouted, diving into the maze. Hawk was about to do so as well, but grimenced when he saw the fake blood. "Dude! Get in!"

"But look at all this blood."

"We'll be nothing but a puddle of blood if that thing catches us."

Knowing Hank was right, Hawk dived into the bush as well.

0000

"Sigh." Sadly saying her catchphrase out loud, Lucy longingly looked at her maze from the inside of her house. Halloween was a holiday she adored, yet this year, it was a mess thanks to Hank and Hawk. Not only did she not get any candy, but she didn't get to freak anyone out with her maze, something which took her forever to convince her mother to allow her to set up. If she was a being with emotions, she'd be crying right now, but alas, she was not.

"Hey Lucy, still upset about your maze?" Clyde asked her, causing the young goth to sadly nod at the boy.

"Yes. It took me forever for me to set this up. I even had Lincoln help me convince mom to let me do this. It seems all my work was in vain. What are you doing here anyways? I thought you were with Lincoln."

"Well, Lincoln went to get the candy back from the bullies and asked me to take something to his room," Clyde said, paying extra caution to not reveal anything about the large bars of candy they scored. "I'm just waiting until he comes back."

"He went to get the candy back? Will he be ok?"

"I think he will. He seemed confident when he told me what he was doing."

"Ok. Well, I'm going to try to cheer up the twins. Let me know if you need anything." Taking Lucy's silence as her saying she understood him, the boy made his way to Lola and Lana. Lucy on the other hand didn't move, continuing to stare at the maze. Eventually, something else managed to catch her eye. Running in the front lawn were two boys who had similar body types to the two boys who ruined Halloween. Taking a good look at their facial features, she saw they seemed to be absolutely terrified, no, they were far more scared than that. Whatever it was they witnessed managed to scar them for life. Watching in interest as they dove into her maze, Lucy was seriously considering stalking them, curious as to what it was that scared them so much. Confident in her stealth capabilities and having nothing better to do, the girl eventually decided to go outside, waiting to see what it was they were running from. Thankfully, she didn't have to wait long, for a shadowy figure landed in front of the maze. Glancing at it, Lucy noticed the body seemed to belong to a teenager, but who it was she couldn't tell. Their identity was being protected by what seemed to be black clothing. Eyeing the figure as it began to sniff the air like a dog, what it did next surprised her. It's body mass began to quadruple, a large, hulking humanoid taking the place of the smaller one.

"..." Silently spying on it, Lucy didn't think she could be more surprised by the events of today, but she was about to be proven wrong. As Venom's hands began to take the shape of scythes, the girl's eyes widened as she began to feel something she never felt before. Her legs were shaking and she wanted to desperately run, but she couldn't her legs feeling as if they've been glued into place. "...Is this what true fear feels like?"

Appearing to not have heard the girl, Venom cut a large hole into the maze, revealing the cowering bodies of Hank and Hawk, who began screaming and crying upon being caught.

"That's strike three," Venom said, his voice being something Lucy would never forget. "Looks like we're having us some nice humans for dinner."

At this point, the boys couldn't scream anymore being so terrified their bodies had nearly shut down. Moving his face to theirs, Venom creepily licked Hank's face before moving back. "On second thought, we're feeling quite generous today." Without any warning, Venom held both boys up by their necks. "We will not eat you, but you will never show your faces here again. If you do, then we will not hesitate to rip your heads right off your small bodies. Fair enough."

Unable to formulate any words, the two boys nodded, causing Venom to smile before dropping them. "Good. Now leave before we change our minds."

Watching Hank and Hawk run out of the neighborhood, Venom glanced at the tree Lucy was hiding behind, staring at the girl with his huge eyes. The two simply looked at one another for a second, Lucy unable to move out of fear, until Venom gave her one of his signature smiles before running into the woods.

Standing in place for a few more seconds, a small smile appeared on the girl's face. "Looks like this Halloween wasn't a waste after all. I'm even tempted to say it was the best one so far."

0000

"Hey guys, I'm back," Lincoln said as he entered his house, a large sack behind him.

"Where were you?" Lynn asked her brother. The siblings were sitting in front of the TV, trying to watch a Halloween special. Clyde wasn't with them, having texted Lincoln about twenty minutes ago to let him know he was heading home.

"Well, I felt really bad that Halloween was ruined because of those jerks, so I decided to try to make things right. I followed them to their hideout and snagged all the candy they stole without them noticing," Lincoln explained before dropping the large sack in front of his sisters. Opening it, Lincoln revealed that the entire sack was indeed filled with candy. "Funny thing is, when I got there, they weren't around. I would've thought they were going to be there, eating the candy they stole."

Having taken good look at the bag, Lola and Lana immediately began squeezing their brother out of joy. "Oh my gosh, thank you so much!"

"Yeah, you're the best Lincoln," Lana said, causing the boy to rub the back of his head sheepishly.

"Heh, it was no problem. There's enough candy in there, so eat to your heart's content everyone." Watching his sisters do just that, a smile began to form on Lincoln's face.

'Did we do good?'

"Yes. We certainly did good. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I actually had fun scaring Hank and Hawk.' Turning his attention back to his sisters, he noticed one of them wasn't bothering to take any candy. Walking up to her, Lincoln placed a hand on her shoulder. "You know Lucy, the candy's going to run out soon. You should take some."

The little goth shook her head. "I have no need for candy this year."

"Is this because you're still upset about your maze? I'm really sorry it didn't happen."

"It's fine. Something better ended up happening to me, something far better."

"What was that?"

A fierce blush began to form on the young girl's face. "I found the one, someone who could do something to me no mortal has ever done. I found the one who has made me feel true fear for the first time in my life."

'...Pursue her and I will not hesitate to get rid of you.'

'...Understood. She's far too young for us anyways…'

0000

Author's note 2: Making Lucy not have a crush on Venom would be a crime. He's practically a physical representation of what fear looks like. Man is it going to be awkward when she learns who's linked with that symbiote XD. Also, I just wanted to give a shout out to 1049 for giving me an idea of what to write for this chapter. If you're still waiting for the story to take a darker turn, then do not fret. As the story goes on, the tone will shift to a darker one as Venom begins to gain a bigger influence on Lincoln's mind. Oh yeah, now that there's a Venom section on , should I move the story there? Or should I keep it here? I ask this because Spider-man and some of his rouges will appear later on, but this story is about Venom. I created a poll for this question btw, so check it out if you get the chance :-)