Symbiosis: At World's End

Evolution or Mutation?

Merrick couldn't believe how strong Cruz was! He hadn't been this resilient or as vicious when they ran into each other back in that military base! The red was also new. According to his symbiote, it had been there after they both got electrocuted, but it wasn't nearly this bad. Cruz was howling with laughter as he swung wide punches at Merrick, who stuck to dodging and delivering single, powerful blows when he had an opening. So far though, it didn't seem to be doing much good. Cruz had several bruises on his face where Merrick had gotten lucky, but they were already fading.

On the bright side, Paula seemed to be faring better. Her bioelectric blasts and arm spikes were allowing her to keep pressure on Medusa and stay on the offence. Medusa was still sputtering and shrieking while lashing out with bladed tendrils. Merrick returned his focus and began firing webs at him to slow him down. Then the mountain shook. Everyone stumbled and shifted their footing to find their balance, sans Cruz, who had his glider to adjust for him.

Merrick and Paula looked at each other, knowing what was happening. Medusa merely dropped to all fours and hissed, her tendrils mimicking her in a discordant hiss. Cruz stopped cackling and charged up and electrical blast in both gauntlets. He aimed them at Merrick and Paula and let loose. However, their symbiote senses alerted them of it before he fired and they dodged, causing both blasts to hit Medusa. She made a noise akin to a cat screaming while dragging its claws across a chalkboard before the red symbiote launched several tendrils from its host's back and began dragging said host out of sight.

Their success was short-lived, however. Cruz had already geared up a second blast and caught them unawares. They both fell to the ground yelling in pain as their symbiotes writhed, sections of them peeling off their bodies and flailing in the air. He sustained the blast until something large collided with him and broke the blast. Merrick and Paula slowly recovered, and they turned to see Terry grappling with Cruz. He was pushing Cruz back, but then it went south.

Cruz activated his gauntlets and sent Terry sprawling back. He pinned him down with an electrical blast and kept it sustained. Paula leapt forward to fight back, but she met the same resistance as Terry. Merrick watched in horror as his friends writhed in pain under the electric blast. He turned and saw Cruz howling away.

Merrick charged, with the intention of finishing this encounter. As he went, red symbiote mass sprouted from his right elbow region and coalescing itself to his palm, creating the same two-foot-long red sword as earlier, which he grasped with both hands. He swiped and cleaved through Cruz's bicep armor to reveal red, almost symbiote-like skin. There was a long black slice in the red flesh, which started steaming and turning back to normal! Cruz began clutching the wound and yelling in a pained voice.

Merrick looked at the sword in his hand and back at Cruz. He leapt up onto Cruz's back and tore off the armor around his upper back before plunging the blade down into the breach in the armor!

Cruz began howling in pain and began wildly swinging his arms around, trying to remove the source of the agony, but he couldn't reach him. Paula and Terry got up and watched in awe as Cruz's body began to change! He grew shorter, thinner and the red vanished to become very pale. Soon, he fell over, and Merrick pulled his blade free. There were a few drops of blood, but nothing major as the blade disappeared back into his body. He bent down over Cruz and checked his vitals.

"He's breathing and he has a pulse."

Merrick hefted Cruz over his shoulder and several pieces of armor fell off of Cruz, revealing that he was now unhealthily thin. There was a little blood leaking from his arm and back, which Merrick wrapped a web bandage around.

"Let's get him on the jet and get out of here!"

They sprinted down to the hanger and saw the jet's engines glowing, ready for takeoff. They boarded swiftly and stowed Cruz away in a medical bunk, making sure he was safely secured before strapping themselves in while Brianna started the takeoff.