Ann flopped back onto the bed heaving heavily. "Fffuuuh! I needed that... Why-uh-why did we ever break up, Eddie?" She asked, still wriggling in delight as the guy of her dreams cast his eyes towards her with a knowing smile, laid beside her. "Because I was an idiot?" He offered.

Ann looked back and listened, "Because I didn't give you the time or attention you deserved? Blindly chasing my stupid career!" He cursed himself, "The Eddie-hu-the Eddie I know would never have accepted blame like that; have you changed that much in just a few days?" She asked, her heart rate slowing.

Eddie rolled onto his huge side, casting his wife in the shadows behind the massive frame she adored. "Well you know what has changed, babe. It's true, bonding with the Other has changed my perspective on life. I've felt its pain at rejection, at being ignored and shunned... it made me think of us and I felt no better than that horrid Spiderman!"

Ann cracked a smile, turning to look up at the ceiling as he slumped back down, "Eddie, I... I'm sorry for what I said earlier." He shot her a gaze, "What do you mean?" "When I said you had lied to me again, not telling me you were Venom, despite what he-you... and I had done. I felt like I'd been caught cheating..." She blushed heavily, feeling sorry for herself.

"I could-should have told you. But when you first saw us like that, we were in the middle of the street, we didn't want anyone to know who we were or they'd have come for you to hurt us!" Ann huffed this off, "Life's not a movie, Eddie... what makes you think they'd come for me?" A huge hand slid across her abdomen.

"Because you're the only chink in our armor. The only way they could stop us doing what we like. Also we didn't want to say because we..." He paused, gauging for a response. "Didn't know how I would react?" Ann asked "You do have a way of flying off the handle, babe." She raised her eyebrow as if to say "Is that so!?" Instead she simply said: "Don't I have a right to do that? You've not made life easy for me, Eddie."

"That's true." "Anyway, I was fascinated; I'm sure more than a few women were when you appeared on the news... Somewhere deep down I thought: 'What if that were MY man!? Nobody would fuck with me!'" She smiled, daydreaming for a moment, reviewing what she'd seen on TV the day earlier, when Venom had appeared smashing and joyously revelling in breaking through everything and everyone in his way. "Well... I was your man, I'm still your husband, but I fear that's why they might try something. I can't shake that thought!" Eddie grimaced, Ann rolling over towards him now and gently caressing his torso.

"Then you'll have to protect me, won't you?" She purred, the idea quite thrilling of having such a lethal protector. "I will, Ann. WE will!" She saw and felt it move: the oil-like black liquid that crawled out of his every pore like a sudden soapy-slick lather cladding to his every inch. Anne ran her hand over it, the texture so faultless, so slick it felt how curved glass might if hewn into a man-god's image.

"It's so pretty, Eddie!" She purred dreamily, "I'm almost jealous." "Almost?" She smiled as if to accept that almost didn't come into it. "We'd love to share it with you, babe, but..." He looked for the words. "My Other is aching, it's torn and it's driving me crazy! We can't do anything until we find an answer!" "Torn how?" he collected the train of thought before he began.

"It used to be one with Spiderman, or at least it wanted to be one with him. It bonded to him, he wore it and used it, then shunned it when it tried to take a bigger hold on him. He cast it out with hatred and impunity, but..." "It half wants him back? I guess it's just as flawed as you or I then!" "I wouldn't mind, between us we can do virtually anything and I've already given it far more than he ever did, but there's always that feeling that some part of it doesn't even want me!"

Ann was listening intently, hearing the heartbreak in his voice, watching his face and feeling a new urge rise within her as realisation began to strike. "You... love... that suit, don't you?" She asked pointedly, "Like actually love it!?" She was astounded and deeply jealous all of a sudden, "Wh-" Eddie just managed, "More than me, no doubt!"

She turned away and crossed her arms crossly, "Ann! Don't be like that!" Eddie begged, sitting up and looking down at her, "It's... different! I still care for you, you still mean everything to me!" "Only your... Other did you call it?... means more?" "Ann!" He snapped, "I said I wanted to share it with you! I want you to know what it's like too, you just can't understand until you've worn it, but this symbiote is irresistible! It's in my mind, sharing every experience, making everything I do bigger and better! It's like I'd been living in black and white until it came along!"

Anne scoffed and threw herself out of bed, standing up, angrily asking "Black and White!?" Her fists were balled up, "You ARE still the Eddie I knew! The cruel, attention-seeking megalomaniac of old!" "Well... aren't you the same?" He asked without even trying to apologise. She span to look at him in shock. "What!?"

"Who do you look out for in the end? Yourself! You always have, you forget I know you inside out, Ann! You're just as selfish and deceitful as I am... with your own little quirks to boot!" He stood, his symbiote encasing him completely as he turned his back on her, "We're too stressed and divided to concern ourselves with hurting your feelings! Life's a bitch, Ann!" He said, setting himself to head for the window and leave.

"Wait!" Ann said before he could go, he stopping as she approached. "Were you... telling the truth before?" "When we said we would share it with you?" She nods, "Once our Other has its head straight, it will split and create an offspring, that will be yours if you desire it." She nods before even thinking, "Then what do you need to do?" Venom turned wholly around, chuckling, "Wiped away the crocodile tears, eh? We need to find a solution to the Spiderman issue."

Ann stood in a strong pose, "Then I think I have a solution...!"

"Peter! Peter, stop!" Mary Jane ran after him as her boyfriend went to leave, "You can't go out there like this! You're gonna get yourself killed!" She begged, he turning without a word to her, "I'm OK, MJ! I promise!" The expressionless mask didn't help, "No, you're not!" She scolded him.

"You haven't been the same person since you got rid of that black suit!" "Wha-? What do you m... I...?" He was confused and seemed to stare into space, "You see? Something's wrong with you, Peter!" She was pleading him to see sense with words and expressions. "You can't do this to me! If you get killed, where does that leave me?"

"I don't know what... where...?" He couldn't collect thoughts, couldn't organise anything, he felt scatterbrained, even forgetting what he was trying to say. "Sit down..." She pulled him back to the bed and sat down next to him. "Do you see what I mean?" "About... my memory?" He tried to remember, "About everything! You're so tired, so confused, it's like you're losing your mind, Peter!"

"Losing my mind!? What? No! No, I'm fine!" MJ sighed heavily, "Goddammit listen to me! You're not right, Peter! You can't go out there, please! For me!" He seemed to think about this, long and hand, rubbing his head with one hand, "But... people are gonna die, MJ. There's... Someone's out there... someone scary, big..."

Mary Jane was almost in tears, "Venom, Peter!" She saw him recoil as she said it, "Remember? He wants to kill you! He's killing people to get you to face him, he's dangerous, too dangerous!"

"Venom...? Killing people!?" He shot up, his ability to think these things through almost non-existent in Mary Jane's eyes. "NO!" MJ shouted, visibly distraught. "Listen to yourself! Listen to me! You can't face him!" He looked at her, "Are you OK?" He asked as if he'd just entered the conversation.

"That suit, Peter! That alien suit has taken something from you, you're going mad because of it! Come on... take the Spider suit off and sit down, I'll call the doctor!" Memory, selective as it had become chose now to work for Peter, a harrowing memory from the previous day flashing into full focus, "Dr. Venom!?" He said aloud in fear, looking about - Venom had used that phrase whilst beating him about the rooftops "What!? No! That doesn't even make any sense!" MJ begged, sitting down, cradling her head. "Shit, Peter! What's it done to you?" She asked, looking up to him in dread.

Peter focused, then sat down next to her. He pulled his cowl off and looked at his girlfriend, "I... think you're right, Mary Jane. There's something - I don't know what – wrong with me. I'm missing something." MJ was hunched on the edge of the bed staring blankly forwards.

She softly spoke "I know... your should never have gotten rid of the black suit." She knew the response that would come: she had told him to get rid of it, insisting energetically that he do so, he would retort that he did it for her. "Why not?" he instead asked, drawing her eyes to him as she sat up straight.

"It... must have become a part of you. When it left, it took that with it. I can tell just by looking at you, you seem... empty; not the man I know." He was shocked by this, even his faltering, inconsistent mind putting two and two together. "You too?" Her response snapped back: "What!? What do you mean, Peter?" He took his time and carefully chose his words, "You miss the black suit." "Don't be ridiculous...!" Mary Jane said back, trying to make it sound as convincing as possible for his sake.

She turned fully to him and cradled his hands, "We'll be alright, Peter. We'll get through this, I know it!" He smiled, "Yeah." "Now go out there and do what you do, Tiger!" she gave him the pep-talk of old and watched the energy surge into him as Spiderman leapt into action.

In moments Mary Jane was alone with nothing but her thoughts and a big, quiet house that felt haunted with the void left by the alien costume. It was moments like this, times when she had nobody to talk to and nothing to do, when she felt the absence most... over the last day or two MJ had begun thinking diligently about why she felt how she did: heartbroken, regretful and petrified of every shadow and dark object.

It was growing, every hour and every day, her shadow now shocked her, a black coffee threatening; if it was going to get easier, it seemed it would get far worse first.

"-Meanwhile you'll distract him!" Ann finished divulging her plan, leant against an excited Venom, softly smearing the alien goo around his chest. "Ann..." Said he, one finger beneath her chin raising her eyes to his, "Mmm?" She asked sweetly, eyelids lowered as she saw Ed's wicked smirk, "I fucking love you when you think this way!"

They laid tender, seductive kisses on one-another, Ann on tip-toes with hands full of muscle, Eddie cradling his dream-woman's trunk in his huge hands. They laid together, "You want an Other as much as we want to give you one, don't you?" The alien-bonded male said, "Am I so transparent?"

Eddie smiled, "Like mud..." They were both smiling, but Ann's expression changed as a feeling of damp, warm smothering surrounded her, "-thick... crimson... living... mud!" Ann slowly backed out of his embrace, uttering soft sounds of shock and curiosity as she felt a new alien being spiral and swell around her.

She felt its new mind reach out and connect with her, learn her name and whisper it to her as if offering prayer to her name. Venom, their Other complete around their host smiled and congratulated themselves. They passed thought back and forth of how luscious their new opposites were, how pleased they were to share this and how everything seemed to be working out nicely!

Ann, painted carmine from head to toe, moaned in pleasure through an opening, pink-lined maw and hissed delightedly as she eyed herself up: taller and endowed with lissom muscle defined across her entire form. "Eddie... Venom... I feel the power!" Venom stepped forwards, "Such... perfect power!"

Venom half heard her words, he wanted to listen, but his mind had become preoccupied at seeing in motion her new symbiote self; his mind had shut down everything except his libido to give it ample space to enjoy the vision his wife had become. She met his gaze and posed, displayed her form with teasing poise, "You like? Of course you like." She confidently finished, sure in her mind and reaffirmed through her symbiote that they couldn't be anything but impressed.

No longer perched on her tiptoes to reach his face, they leant together forehead-to-forehead and felt one-another's animal attraction and strength, engaged with their spouses as never before, "Eddie, I... understand now... how it must hurt!" Ann's vocals sounded the same, except perverted into a hive of voices. "I'm whole, my Other knows only me, wants only me... is only me!" She continued. "But you remain torn... and I have such sympathy for you! I'll fix this – what carnage we'll enjoy then, E-town..."

Ann tilted her head as if waiting for an answer, but before he could give it, she cartwheeled backwards like a contortionist and squatted on the window-ledge. "Time's a-wasting, hubby; and we've got a family feud to start!" Venom walked towards her, "Carnage?" He asked, loosely gripping her sides as she roosted effortlessly on the thin windowsill; she laughing slightly "It has a nice ring to it, no? Carnage in crimson... I like it!"

Two maws of huge, threatening teeth interlinked – each entity unfazed by the inch-long incisors slotting between their own – and with the goodbye kiss settled, Carnage backflipped off the building trailing Venom's saliva behind her. "What a woman!" He growled to himself, the symbiote in utter agreement on this, excited by its offspring as much as by the host! "Let's go, Other... we have a backstabbing former host to preoccupy!" Venom enthused, swan-diving from the building.

Mary Jane cowered with arms full of pillow on the sofa. Every light in the house was throwing out bring yellow light, covering every corner MJ's eyes might fall on. She felt off, more off than ever; not a woman to suffer the ill effects of her period, she wasn't even due but felt every hormonal pang and chaotic emotion she'd once been warned of to match a horrid pain she couldn't beat.

"He's going to be alright... I'm going to be alright." She coached herself, her mind begging questions of what had happened to her, to them; what had that alien suit done!? The television was blaring - same as always – but MJ wasn't listening, all she heard was a drone of sounds and a ringing in her ears that muffled and faded as if a dizzy spell were coming on. Her eyes defocused, the protective light of the room blurred, she became lost again in dreadful thoughts.

What if... she thought... what if SHE had taken the suit instead of the man who wanted her guy killed? Would it have helped? She wanted it- "No!" She shut her eyes and held her forehead, she swore to herself that was untrue. "Spiderman was tonight..." the TV spoke.

Her eyes shot up to it then blinked.

Tall, elegant, muscular, red and predatory stood between them.

She screamed.

She threw herself onto the full embrace of the sofa as if begging it to swallow her up and protect her.

She writhed and looked back.

It was gone.

Was that her?

Was that what she would have been like with the suit?

What was she so afraid of?

Would it even have accepted her?

Mary Jane Watson calmed herself, breathing heavily and deeply. Her heart-rate slowed and she stood tentatively. Her mouth was dry, an almost sickly taste on her tongue, maybe more wine would help?

Shaky, but steeling herself, the unstable woman marched towards the corner leading to the kitchen. "Oh- glass!" She realised, looking back to her chair. "Huh... must have left it in the kitche-" There it is: Her wine glass. Full of dark red wine. In the fingers of a dark red woman, tall and gleaming lusciously in deadly symbiote, glowing flat eyes staring through her soul. "Drink?" The figure simply offered to the quivering pudding of terrified human mass where MJ had stood.

"It wasn't daredevil... he's dead anyway!" Spiderman told himself as he swung through New York's poorer districts, guaranteed of a few busts to distract him. "There was something about... her. How... It was a woman, but how do I know that?" Thoughts ricochetted around his head all the time; and not spider-sense things either: that seemed duller than ever, warning him little and late.

He looked down to the street and almost froze mid-swing, his arm locking as he saw a vision that chilled him: a street full of people, each and every one wearing the black suit, staring back at him with that devilish, sadistic toothy grin! With a wobble and a falter he managed to cling to the corner of a building.

"What the hell!?" He said aloud, looking over to a billboard and yelping – there too! Staring into him in a full-colour advert! "Oh god! He's here!" He panicked and scurried as fast as he could up the side of the old brick house.

With poise and purpose he leapt over the lip, expecting to be met by his mortal foe and stalker, his dark rival wasn't to be seen. He walked forwards, looking around, scouting every corner and listening intently for any hint of his presence. "V-Venom?" He asked, his voice croaky and unsure.

He checked the rooftops, the walls, the shadows and the light, it was agony! He could feel the alien suit's twisted effect tearing at his mind, he had to be here somewhere and there was no way he would know until the enemy showed himself! "We're not playing hide-and-seek are we, smiley? I never was much good at that game..."

He was aware he was talking to himself, but just talking helped him vent his nervous energy and maybe reveal once and for all that he was being watched. Seconds ticked and Peter only grew more and more jumpy and undermined by this whole situation, as if he was walking into a trap without moving a muscle!

The cold fall wind howled, swung around and brought a scream to his ears. He perked up, broke out of his terror as the panicked cries for assistance continued; he set himself and tried to forget everything. Running to the building's edge, he caught sight of the rising threat as he set his feet to jump, instead collapsing in some kind of natural defence mechanism only to still be snatched up by a huge sweeping pitch-black fore-arm and flung across the Bronx skyline. "Boo!" Taunted the assailant.

He bounced off a television aerial, managing to land half decently, his foe already charging like an express train, mere feet away. His arms raised just quick enough to deflect the big man's thrusting headbutt, Spiderman nonetheless launched into the air. "You scared, Parker?" Venom said with an air of amusement in his corroded voice, Peter's web-lines squirting against his huge chest.

"Of another star-crossed date with you, Brock?" the smaller man retorted, yanking on the cables to launch himself forwards, but beaten for speed once more as the black-suited man tilted his body to catapult Peter around and down hard. "Ugh!" He whinged, his foe skipping into a low kick that tossed him over the roofs once more, "Fateful dates are quickly becoming a forte of yours, victim-"

Venom pounced, buzzing with excitement, chasing his prey, "We had better seize the date we suppose... and then strangle him! Huhuhuhu!" For the original host, (watching his foe plummet out of the sky like a meteor heralding the apocalypse) all the questions and troubling issues he'd struggled with grew more vital by the second. With a heavy gulp, he defended himself.

"You scared, Watson?" Carnage asked rhetorically, stalking after her back-peddling quarry, "I am utterly unsurprised..." They were back in the living room, Mary Jane – juddering bottom lip and all – flattening against a wall with a chirp of shock.

"Do you know how much effort it would take for me to-" MJ tried to turn her head away as if it would help, "-snip off your head?" Carnage squeezing up against her and taking a thick clump of her long hair between two long, lethally sharp talons "Hmm?" She tilted her head, enjoying the mortified discomfort of the other female.

With a simple pinch she sheared fully a third of Mary Jane's head of hair with the same sound a stylist's scissors might make, "None at all!" Carnage whispered threateningly. "Should I break you? Into itty-bitty pieces?" A fingertip under her jaw made the amber-haired woman face her, tears beginning to dribble down her face.

Carnage seemed to observe and fathom her, maybe enjoy her a little too much, "No. No... that wouldn't be fair." She decided, "I deserve far more enjoyment out of you yet!" The symbiotes thought aloud, leaving dread hanging like a guillotine over the pressured woman, MJ blurting out a sob of sheer terror.

With a dramatic, haunting and serene slow turn of her head, the carmine-caked Amazon glanced towards the television as it showed and spoke about the fight going on across town and the destruction it was wreaking. "You know... what I thought when I first saw Venom level ten blocks of Queens on the news?"

Carnage asked, her head flicking back to face MJ who shifted with a jump, "Exactly the same thing you did!" Mary Jane could sense an air of amusement come over the disguised woman's decorum as she spoke, "Deep down at least. For me it was... obvious! I knew, right then... that I wanted that man! That a man like that could make me the happiest woman on earth." She extolled, MJ's eyes saying all she needed to see.

"Then I found out that he always was mine! Well imagine my glee... I've already imagined your sorrow at losing what I gained, but then... heh-" She stepped back, allowing the other woman to stand on her own power, as frozen solid as she was, "-I became a god!" She said with excitement and bliss, "And now I've tasted your sorrow, Mary. Jane. Watson! Mmm..." She growled, "You can feel me in your head, can't you?"

Carnage's fingernails brushed lightly across the other woman's face, "Swirling around like a maelsrom, calling to you... calling you to heel!" MJ's eyes looked down to the dangerous hand in front of her. The red draped predator turned her back and walked a couple of paces away, taking her wine glass out of a tendril and dribbling some merlot into her alien maw.

"W-w-ww-what do you w-want with me?" MJ asked, Carnage ignoring her as she enjoyed her drink, "Mmm, fine choice of wine, I must say." She simply said, leaving the still nervous woman to ponder if she should ask again, if she'd been heard, if she would suffer for it. "What-" *SNASH!*

"AEIIII!" Mary Jane cried out as Carnage smashed the glass over her forehead the moment she dared ask a second time. "H-CKKHCK!" MJ hacked as Carnage grabbed her by the throat and pinned her to the wall.

"You've got no fucking patience!" She hissed angrily, drips of blood trickling down MJ's forehead. "Or sense, I'll wager..." She continued "Do you honestly think you'd be alive if I planned to kill you? Hmm?" She loosened her grip, "HUH! Then what?" MJ asked, heaving heavily, "Heh." The half-human laughed.

"I honestly find myself amused with you. For a woman so meek as to live her life solely through her boyfriend, you have an awful lot of concern for your safety, but no ambition .ever." Carnage's left-handed grip switched to MJ's jaw, she lifting her effortlessly by it. "All the fear, all the mind-fucking hormones, all the damp-inducing power stood before you... and you're honestly going to try and resist this?"

MJ was grabbing at Carnage's slick hand, trying to loosen it, "Look at me! Powerful, sensual, insulated!" She stressed, firing her other hand into the television as a tendril. It popped spectacularly, arcing a jolt of electricity harmlessly around the rubber-clad Carnage and into the shorter woman who spasmed in response, "I am everything you could ever want to be!"

She dropped MJ to her knees, shaky and dizzy from her shock, "All you have to do is willingly kneel for me... and I'll give you a taste of heaven!" The woman's green eyes traced up the terrifying figure above her and new, even more head-mashing thoughts began doing laps around her head.

As she awed with a slack jaw at the monstrosity of pure female fear and sexuality, Mary Jane couldn't help – in her messed up mind – but feel self-pity and loathing: that she was considering doing as Carnage said, yet also that she was denying it: what the voices in the back of her mind screamed for!

*THRAK!* "DAH!" Spiderman's uncontrolled flight ended with him splattered on a rooftop, "What's the matter, Pete?" Venom asked, axe-handling him into the concrete, cratering it and sending cracks out like a web, "It's like you're not even trying!"

He picked him up and placed him on his feet, Spiderman wobbly at best, "You're faster..." Venom's forehead piled into his own, knocking him backwards a few steps then down on his rear, "Oh that is true... but you're getting slower!"

Venom stood tall and stalked around him slowly, allowing the much smaller man to shuffle away, "We're reading your every move before you commit to it!" Venom chuckled, advancing slowly as his foe climbed to his feet.

He allowed Spiderman to attack, a sideways duck of his head totally dodged the punch that came; a side-step avoided the next and a cheeky sidefoot to his enemy's stumbling rear put him on the ground again. "Surprised?"

Venom grabbed him by the ears through his hood from behind, squatting to tease "Would it help you understand if-" "GFWERRRG!" The victim complained as he felt the symbiote crawl inside into his ears, "-we were really inside your head!?"

He threw him down, clawing at his head desperately, snatching at his hood and taking it off. He tried to stop the last tendrils of the symbiote doing it, but they crawled inside him anyway. Venom was stood potently, crossed arms and full of himself, "Feel that? A split of opinion inside your own skull, how we feel about you now! Our disgust... our Venom!"

He watched him squirm, but eased off, letting him recover, "Ironic though, isn't it? That you feel like your mind is returning, but only because its complete with a fair share of perspective!" Spiderman had risen once more, "What are you doing to me!? I thought you wanted me dead?" He asked sharply.

"Dead? No..." Venom was striding forwards once more towards the retreating enemy "We want to destroy you, not kill you... We want you to suffer!" He clenched a fist, the symbiote reacting; Peter's head erupted with white noise, he screaming and writhing as his body was wracked with pain.

"The Other offered you power! It offered you freedom and dominance... You refused!" Venom's huge left fist drew a bloodied nose as he swatted him, "So you will submit instead!" He hissed, watching him fly.

Peter landed, aching and still tormented by ever growing, mind-altering pulses of hatred, his self-image and determination slipping away under each wave. He climbed up to a knee, still sensing Venom's preternatural presence around him, but the man himself was absent. *BOOM! Woop-woop-woop* He looked up towards the source of the sudden noise and saw a news helicopter on fire, sirens blaring.

Indecision and a lack of compassion swept him; he didn't move, he just watched; like a bystander he observed as the vehicle came crashing down across the road in a detonation of almost epic proportions. The heat-wave rushed past him, much like the moment – he had done nothing. "You let them die..."

He span around to see Venom all of two feet away from him, towering above him like terror itself, "We do believe you're making progress, worm!" He spartan kicked the little man, rag-dolling him off a roof or two.

Spiderman was now acutely aware that this was out of hand: he couldn't win - not even land a punch – and Venom wasn't going to let him go until he was done, how he made that happen became the hope of his next plan.

Venom touched down gracefully, his huge shoulders barely flexing out of place as he looked down at his prey, "What are you gonna do, Venom?" "Hmhmhm, nothing... We hadn't planned to do anything more than use you for a punch bag: we just needed to distract you!" He said, looking intently in one particular direction.

Struggling to turn and see off the roof-edge, Peter saw his house in Venom's gaze with a dreadful realisation, "No... MJ! Venom, you-" turning back, an emptiness chilled his bones – his enemy was gone and all the furious hatred and ability to concentrate with him.

"Damn! What has he done...? That other figure... no! Oh god, I hope she's OK!" Peter leapt and webbed himself across to his house. Hurrying as best as his battered body would allow into the house, he cried out for his girlfriend, "MJ!" with no reply. "MARY JANE!" He shouted, over and over, hopelessly.

Soon accepting it, he cowered in the empty house, a few drops of wine and blood, a shattered television and a ruined wineglass all he had for company.

The door at the far end of the room creaked open, Mary Jane blinked into the light, figures silently and purposefully moving as silhouettes. Her thoughts, given her predicament were fatalistic, terrified and otherwise emotionally punishing. As the light flashed on, it was clear the streams of her tears had turned her face red, a situation that would only get worse when not only the woman she had come to know as Carnage, but the original symbiote too stood before her.

"Ah... here's the slut now! Comfy, Mary Pain?" The red symbiote asked, "N-No..." She answered honestly to a chuckle from each, Venom approaching and squatting next to her, "What's the matter, girl? Has our wife made your life a living hell? Aww..." Venom thought to make her hurt, but felt Carnage grab his arm out of the air with incredible strength, "No!"

Both MJ and Venom looked to Carnage in shock, "She belongs to me!" She snarled at her husband, throwing him aside; MJ's heart skipped a beat at this show of protection. It didn't matter that she had been claimed, that she was only a possession to this woman: she was willing to protect her, that made her life feel a whole lot better than it did when she first appeared in her house. That thought, of wanting to thank Carnage made MJ gag when she realised – what were these alien things doing to her!?

"Hmhmhm, does it please you that I will look after you? Protect you and hold you close?" She reluctantly nodded, "Good, you're being sensible at last." Carnage smiled. "Carnage! What are you doing?" Venom growled angrily, squaring up to her. "You give a fuck what this trollop wants!?"

She put a finger to his mouth so as to hush him, "Be still, Venom! Look at her..." She offered, Venom looking down to the tied up woman, "Has it entirely escaped your attention quite how effective our Others are at destroying the hopes and spirits of our victims? How much control you have over the Spiderman!?"

"You..." Venom thought it through with some realisation, "-are going to make her..." "-my pretty little slave-sister!" Carnage said proudly, "She's increasingly aware that to disobey me is to suffer, soon she'll know..." The woman in red squatted and ran rubber alien-clad hands over her victim temptingly, "-that utterly surrendering to me is a wholly satisfactory choice... don't you think, ginger?" Her red hand ran over her face to a blissful expression and a sighed nod.

Venom laughed lowly and gruffly, "You're one wicked piece of work, Carnage!" Carnage sighed, her hood peeling back to let MJ gawk into Ann's luscious blue eyes for the first time. "If you have any intention of settling your own Other down, you'll do the same with the mutant!" "Spiderman?" Ann looked almost pissed off, emotions MJ almost reflected, feeling drawn in and inexplicably enchanted by this woman who had offered her nothing but mild suffering until now.

"Of course Spiderman!" She stood up, pointing a finger into Venom's chest. "Your Other wants that waste of space and can't move on! Either it goes back to him or you make him wear it with you!" The male thought this through, "Yes... that thought had occurred to us, but the idea of sharing a bond with that filthy slug..."

Ann bit her lip seductively, "Then make sure he's the only one bound! MJ and I will help you to... convince him when the time comes!" "Ooo..." Venom said in pleasure, Carnage suggesting they make a leave as the tendrils tying MJ down swooshed back to her. The symbiotes walked away as Mary Jane began to stretch out, "Take a stroll around the house, stretch your legs, think of ways to impress me... but don't dream of escape or your life is forfeit!" Carnage snapped, jaws closing threateningly to their usual hungry form.

Time had passed, Peter Parker didn't know how much, he didn't know much of anything any more. All he could remember was that something was missing, something he couldn't get back. He knew he should be upset about it, but any time he tried to figure out what it was, Venom's haunting face flashed across his mind and he tried to reel against it hopelessly.

It would come back, the vision of Venom's face:

Every time he closed his eyes.

Every person he remembered.

The faces on every photograph in the house.

Glowing from the shadows.

Venom – more and more with every minute that passed – grew stronger and stronger around him, like a shoal of fish surrounding him or vultures circling for the kill.

In a quiet room, just as lit as he had found it and just as empty now that... someone... wasn't there, who? He thought... Venom! He yelped, "NO!" It was becoming impossible to deny it, to refuse the devil behind his eyes, flooding his mind with mortal fear.

Peter's resistance became weaker and weaker, his verbal denials less and less intense, he was losing his mind to the man who hated him most in the world. All he could remember were Eddie Brock's words, his threats and jibes; even his own retorts were hazy, it was a dark path he was being dragged down.

"Come on, Pete... you can get over this! It's just a trick... You're Eddie Brock! Spiderma... Eddie?" Why had he said that!? He grabbed his hair as if to pull it out by the roots, gritting his teeth, this WASN'T happening!

Mary Jane was fixated on the television, the news broadcast of the slaughter going on in the streets around her. But she didn't feel nervous, not hopeful that Spidey would appear and stop it, she felt strangely... excited and proud. Her eyes burned a hole in the screen where the gleaming red figure of Carnage flexed and swept away all around her.

Things were on fire, people were dying, the news chopper was struggling to keep up with the action, the news reader still reminding the viewers of the helicopter Venom had taken down earlier:

"Again, these are live pictures from New York where the super-villain widely known as Venom along with an unidentified woman are rampaging through the Bronx area, causing widespread devastation and loss of life. Expert in Sociopathy, Dr. Miles Chandry, what are we seeing here? Why is this happening?"

Clearing his throat, the asian-accented man picked up as the helicopter pictures continued to broadcast. "Well it is common for those suffering Sociopathic tendencies to act out without much forethought, in general we have seen that super-powered individuals in this mould do exactly this with no goal in mind."

"As we see the female here entering a home now, how do you see this going, Dr. Chandry and what would you say is the best course of action for anyone living in the Bronx area?" The News Anchor pressed with sympathy in her voice.

"Well I mean the best advice I would say is to stay in your home, we have seen this incident moving very quickly over a wide area, people not directly in the path of these people have largely been ignored up until now and more than anything we have seen vehicles and law-enforcement being targeted." He drew breath as the camera focused on Venom.

"As for how this will end... listen, this country has the best organised anti super-terror programme on the planet, we have seen it countless times before and I believe we will see the same again." "So you think S.H.I.E.L.D. will be imminently deployed?" "Yes, that is correct, this level of devastation is above the resources of the local police." "Once more, Dr. Chandry, thankyou for your input." "You're welcome, Tanya."

Oblivious to this, cowering in a Venom-shaped room, Eddie B- Peter Parker – he had to remind himself who he was - curled up foetus-like, wishing his symbiote would protect him f-. He growled angrily, every line of thought drifted onto the alien force that swallowed him helplessly, even speaking to him now: softly and seductively.

It called him revolting, pathetic and traitorous and he began to believe it! He refused when it made him offers though: offers to kill him, offers to let him beg for mercy and offers to make him a slave for the rest of his days. He refused and it laughed at him: it laughed that he had no choice anyway and he began to believe it!

"Peter Pathos, heh heh!" It laughed and he thought he saw it swirling around him as flying snakes of darkness, "Pea-brained Parker!" It joked more, "He doesn't even know what he's lost! Won't even beg to remember THAT!" "Stop it. Stop it. Stop it!" he demanded, "Do you want to know, Pee-Pee?" It hung before his eyes, as real as the symbiote-clad couch he lay on, "You've lost something and you want to know what, don't you?" It asked again, he did and gently nodded.

"Mary! Jane! Watson!" Said the voice and all of his visions with it. It seemed so clear, so obvious, like he'd seen the light of day! But why? Why now? The voices the symbiote threw at him from every angle laughed, letting it dawn on him slowly, nudging him to the conclusion "Yesss! Yesss!" it hissed.

"She was as lost without us as you, only she gave up sooner! Huhuhu!" It laughed, "You saw the red figure: our offspring, Carnage. Carnage has released her, allowed her to join us... and she. is. in. bliss!" The symbiote teased, "Join herrr!" It commanded, "Surrender before we arrive... we are coming for you!" The ominous threat made Ed-Peter shiver from head to toe.

And then, as soon as the torturous fortune had been read, the voices stopped, the visions vanished and he was back in that room, lights bathing him in a moment of release. Peter sat up, clueless as to what had happened, looking around at first not sure where or who he was, but alive and not drowning in that darkness.

Then came a sound, quiet and picked out by distant screams; like drums it became louder and louder, making Peter's head throb, hammering into him, they were coming! He knew it, they were coming for him and he had nowhere to run! As his ears boomed and his body throbbed in response to the approaching percussion of super-powered car-smashes and pavement cavings, the darkness surrounded him again. The voices and the visions, "We're coming for you!" "Coming now!" "Happy Happy Happy!" "We're coming and we're gonna get you!" "Happy Happy!"

"AAAAAAAAAAARGH!" His only remaining strength was the power of his voice against the tide.

Peter. A word crept through it all, opening a tiny window in the swirling ball of imaginary tendrils that encased him, through it he saw a face, sweet and familiar, but coldly staring through him. Peter. Again, it was her voice, this woman he knew, and it parted his torture, called him to his unsure feet, "Peter, stand up!" His mind almost clear, stepping forwards he gazed upon this woman, her face free only through the maw of a rose-pink alien suit.

"Mary Jane?" He asked, watching her pull a cigarette to her mouth and inhale deeply of it, smirking at him as if disgusted, "Not any more, Tiger." She replied, slouched without the faintest hint of humility or restraint, "We are far more than that now..." She seemed pleased at last by this, gasping and cradling herself excitedly.

"Your master is coming, Tiger, don't disappoint him!" She commanded, "Wha-? Bu-" He struggled with this, "Don't argue with me, kid, I don't care any more, I know the truth about you... about me." She approached him and blew smoke in his face, "We were terrible people, Peter... but now, now we can be so much more!" She suggested with a nibbled lip.

"Join me, Tiger... you can enjoy this too! You don't have to suffer any more, you don't have to pretend to be something you're not for someone else's sake!" She pressed against his straightened up form, "Why, MJ?" She chuckled, "The only why you could be asking..." She was doing it, that thing Venom had done when Peter had frozen up in agony: she was controlling him now with nothing but words, "Is why am I telling you this?"

She paused, "It isn't to convince you, you've already made up you mind." "Or rather, we've made it up for you!" Peter span to see the deep-red coated woman he had seen at only a glimpse earlier; she was immense, her mere presence shaking him to his core, her words like commands to his fragmented mind.

"You have nowhere to run, Tiger... You lost the moment you tried to refuse us!" MJ smiled belittlingly at him. "Not quite true, my child: this was never a contest, nor an offer, you belong to us and always have! Accept him!" Carnage commanded.

Peter could feel Venom's presence, he turned to meet him as he parted the wall with little more than a flex, marching with his huge, confident gait towards him. As if in slow motion, he locked into this moment, "Another fateful date, Villain!" Venom spoke down on him, no response came, except to sheepishly turn and back away.

The pink-clad woman behind him blocked his path, a symbiotic maw reared over his shoulder, threateningly reminding him that Mary Jane was no longer the submissive wall-flower he had known so long. "Venom..." Peter sighed heavily, locked in on all-sides, hemmed in in his mind. He had no energy, nor desire to resist any more, he just nodded as tendrils closed around him and locked him away, a smile creeping over his face.

"Dr. Chandry, earlier was suggesting we might see this move and it appears that now S.H.I.E.L.D. Is finally deploying its shock troopers into the Bronx area, but what is especially interesting is the growing number of the individuals, now seemingly three. Steve, what's it look like where you are?"

A split-screen shot is broadcast, with a close-up of a reporter surrounded by burning buildings and heavily armoured troops storming by, "Well it's all action here, Tanya: as you said already, S.H.I.E.L.D. is deploying in heavy numbers here, if you can see above me..." The camera follows his pointed arm to a huge floating platform above them, "No expense is being spared in bringing this situation under control."

"This looks like a full-scale operation, the likes of which we have rarely seen, but it raises big questions about how far this could go." The main reporter answers, "Of course, with the last incident, in Washington two months ago – where of course, S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents were blamed for a high loss of life – Director Fury was forced to resign. Should people assume S.H.I.E.L.D. will be more caref-!?"

"AAGH!" A huge explosion behind the reporter sends him sprawling before the camera cuts out, "Steve!? Can you hear me, Steve?" The Anchor begs, viewers watching the footage from the aerial view now, entire buildings crumbling under the weight of huge-scale battle beginning.

"Hooohahahahahaaa!" Venom roared, landing amidst a number of unawares troopers, tensing up and firing out tendrils like a hedgehog's spikes with a grunt. Before guns and attention could even turn on him however, Carnage caved in the side of a tank, their two newest symbiote-clad ensigns jumping into the action too.

"We just know this will be a night to remember!" He enthused, the symbiote speaking to Eddie in hushed tones, "Mmm, really?" He turned to the much slighter (than himself,) yet suddenly much bulkier man as he finished off a small squad, "Tox, hey!" He spoke proudly, throwing an arm over Peter's shoulder.

"Toxin, Ma' boy! We need to have a little heart-to-heart!" As he said so, Venom spied a sniper and with a straight arm launched a spear of symbiote matter over the hundred yard gap, the intelligent projectile dodging around anything in between like a magic bullet before goring the offending soldier. "You see, there's been an awful lot of animosity between us, I think you'll agree!"

Venom was affable, the other man watching the girls make gory, meaty splats out of the people sent to stop them. "Yeah, you could say that." "But we've watched you change, we've seen the effort you've put in to accepting this against your puny better instincts..." They both chuckled, "You've got that killer instinct back and we like that, Toxin! We're just happy you're on-board, just wanted to let you know that we... I am happy to let bygones be bygones!" Venom spoke of himself in the singular now, his symbiote undivided and blissful at last.

"Thanks, V-man." "Hoho-" Venom laughed, "It hasn't come cheap for you though! We've basically ended your life as you knew it, moulded your entire personality to suit us and... battered a few shades of shit out of you in the process..." They were walking, the lesser man guided by his 'Dad' as they surveyed the battleground.

"It honestly means a lot to me:" He spoke truly; "We went toe-to-toe and I was never gonna win. I realise I was stupid to try!" "That you were, son! But you've learnt to fear and respect me, which means I have to look out for you now, right?" He clutched him in a 'male-bonding' headlock, "We're proud of you kid!"

Carnage removed three feet of sharpened blade from a power-armoured soldier and giggled to herself, looking to the other woman, "What's funny, Mater?" Mary Jane asked as she straightened up, "Agony, has it ever occurred to you that men seem to, I dunno, measure cocks at the least suitable time?" the pink symbiote followed her line of sight and slouched, chuckling a little.

"Meh, fuck it..." Carnage chuffed and pounced without even a moment to set herself. Agony, shocked, reacted and followed as fast as she could like an abandoned puppy.

"We'll continue showing you these pictures as the number of assailants continues to grow – now standing at four - but we have just received an official statement from S.H.I.E.L.D. reading:" The anchor cleared her voice, "Due to the extreme nature of events in the Bronx area of New York City this evening, S.H.I.E.L.D. Has authorised deployment of super-powered countermeasures. Due to the unstable nature of events, it is recommended that any inhabitants of the surrounding areas who are able to, to evacuate their premises as soon as possible. Temporary shelters are being set up by S.H.I.E.L.D. in central park as well as Laguardia airport. Our thoughts go with the families of those caught up in this tragic occurence."

"Well it seems as though this situation is escalating faster than anticipated, we are now joined by an expert on the super-powered community and key figure in the creation of S.H.I.E.L.D. as well as its ethos, Maria Hill. Maria, welcome." "Thankyou." The newly introduced woman coolly replies.

"Now, given what you know about these terrorists – as we're tempted to term them – what threat do you feel they truly pose?" "The truth is, Tanya, that very little is known about Venom and so too the subsequent individuals who have appeared. We do know that the source of their powers are the supposedly living costumes they wear, which increase strength, speed and durability by a startling degree. I believe them to be – at this time – an incredible threat to the people of New York, but with the super-powered arsenal at S.H.I.E.L.D.'s disposal, I feel it should only be a matter of time before the situation is resolved."

"Well that sounds optimistic, if nothing else. When are we likely to see this 'deployment' some to pass?" The scenes of murder and destruction continue as, with the latest wave of troops swiftly disposed of, the symbiotes and their hosts begin targeting everything in sight. "Listen, S.H.I.E.L.D. is a highly streamlined enterprise, this was one of the things we had to ensure during its creation for just such an occurrence. We should see a response imminently."

"Mmm, how you doing, big-guy? Feels to me like you've got your Mojo back!" Carnage purred, squeezing against Venom who met tongues with her, "Baby, I've never felt better and it's all thanks to you." "Hmhmhm, of course it is. You doubted me, though..." "A mistake I keep making." He admits, stroking her fanged face.

"Well then you're lucky!" The woman replied, "Oh, and why's that?" She turned her back on him and ground her rear against him lustfully, leaning back to look at him, "Because you married me!" Tickling her breasts and firm abs he gruffly slavers, "Lucky ain't the word, baby. I'm the best you can get, nobody deserves your hand, but I'm the closest thing and we chose each-other." "Mmm-" She moans, "And it's worked out splendidly!" He gruffly laughs, slick-alien clad bodies slithering against one-another.

Carnage looked out, arms behind her, holding his glutes, "And the kids... we've done well with them." "Deliciously broken little psychopaths, aren't they?" Venom agreed, watching them bounce a victim like a tennis-ball back and forth. "HEY! DON'T PLAY WITH YOU FOOD! Damn kids..." He cried at them, Carnage chuckling into a moan. "Mmm!?" She looked up, "We've got company!"

Red and midnight blue pounced to where the other two were, "Eyes front, trouble!" Venom commanded, landing by two-toned 'Toxin' A.K.A. Spiderman. "Tox, who are they?" "A S.H.I.E.L.D. team, they've been put together to compliment one-another, but I don't know all of them."

The heroes landed below the broken bridge the symbiotes were on, "VILLAINS!" One stood at the front shouted, "STAND DOWN AND NO HARM WILL COME TO YOU!" Carnage walked to the edge, "Uhh, how about screw you?" She calmly said and flashed the bird, turning away. "Now what?" Agony asked with a shrug, "We let them come to us..." Venom said, poised thoughtfully. "Hmph!" The pink symbiote responded, instead pouncing up to the circling news chopper.

"Where?" "Relax, she's trying to use her head for what little good it'll do..." Carnage replied, in communication, even as the other woman landed again, a cameraman in a headlock, "Don't stop filming if you value your life, buddy."

A moment later, a hero appeared over the lip, the hostage held front and centre, camera poised. "St- Grr!" The armoured man got as far as, "Your move, 'hero'!" He stopped, then spoke to someone aloud, "Clearance?"

Carnage reacted first, pulling Agony and the hostage apart as the hero opened fire with a spray of energy blasts. They parted as swiftly as the cameraman in the hail of blasts and took up defensive postures, "Human shields don't cut it then?" Agony stated, "No, but I'll enjoy cutting HIM!" Carnage retorted.

Other heroes began appearing even as Carnage pounced on the first, tendrils ensnaring as she began clawing and punching away to a chorus of mortified screams from her victim.

Their senses keen, the four were clear of the roof before the superheroes filled the loose bit of road with fire and energy, the fight falling to the ground below and escalating quickly. Well insulated and armed, the enemies proved a tough match, Venom growing increasingly aggravated.

"Agent 4 to base, send reinforcements! Enemies are proving more powerful than G-AAAGH!" Venom put his hand through that command before it could be finalised, "Carnage, they're sending backup!" The red symbiote and her daughter were ripping apart one big, powerful target as she heard this.

Putting him down, Carnage took a moment, then pounced onto a flying foe, mounting his back and scouting the area in moments, "That's enough! Agony!" She leapt down with determination, grabbing the shocked woman, "You're going to have to sleep for a while, baby-girl."

"What do you..." Carnage embraced her in a huge hug, "-want me to do?" She finished, "Just relax... relaaax..." She whispered, the stunned woman accepting in something approaching bliss as she melded with the parent symbiote and washed together like wet ink. All around fighting stopped or slowed in shock.

Venom, seeing and feeling what was happening, spun an enemy and smashed it down onto Toxin, much to his surprise, "Let's do this, Kiddo!" The bulkier male said, quickly pinning and wrapping the smaller man in his arms. A moment's resistance gave way as Venom engorged him.

"Base, the symbiotes are doing something... seem to be... joining together..." The heroes backed off a little.

Carnage chuckled, her back turned to the enemies, pink tendrils snaking across her velvety red coat. She stood tall and slowly turned, huge, ferocious weapons in pink snapping out of her back, sides and legs. "Let's kick this up a gear!" She tensed up and flicked huge demonic-looking wings from her upper back, giving a threatening hiss.

Like a flicker or a blurred beam of red, she pin-balled through her foes, half a second leaving spraying gore and detached limbs filling the sky as they exploded from the bodies they belonged to.

The multi-limber woman landed with a sigh, "Yes, hun, we are far more powerful now! Simply delightful..." She turned to Venom, watching the pleasure etch itself on his face as he spawned arms from his lats that reached out and clenched, a big stretch and roar said that he was ready.

"Alright, big-guy, we can finish S.H.I.E.L.D. with ease now – then what?" "We win our love a city all of her own!" He growled with hunger, Carnage-Agony smiling her fearsome alien smile as she slouched and nodded.

On a broken radio, in an abandoned home a forlorn message aired "If... anyone's still listening... If anyone's still out there... New York has fallen... My last wish to all of you... is that you don't resist... don't deny your urges... surrender to our symbiote gods... next to them we are but dust and they will return us to dust... for that be thankful... This is Tanya Agon-uh-Foxx for Carna... NYC News... Toxnight and Venom-bless..."