"What does Peter Parker say when someone asks him what he does for work?" Chris asked, the third pun he'd said that afternoon.
Next to him, his sister, Ruth, rolled her eyes. Another action that had been repeated multiple times. "What?" She asked. "That he's a goblin slayer?" Her own attempt at a joke made her smirk, causing the somehow older male to grin wildly from his side of the bench. Ruth always found her brothers interesting, and in some instances, was grateful they weren't biologically related.
First there was Chris, comic book obsessed and the self proclaimed pun-lord. He was a good guy, smart and terrifyingly fast. He was also very annoying when it was just the two of them. Judging by his light blonde hair and green eyes, one would never be able to tell that he could be annoying. At least from a distance.
Then there was her older brother, Kythe. While Ruth herself was thirteen, and Chris was the ripe old age of seventeen, Kythe was nineteen years old. Kythe was the more serious one of the three, and was extremely overprotective. In fact, based on past behaviors, Chris and Ruth even managed to make an appropriate nickname for him; Mama Kythe. Though he was a bit controlling, Ruth loved him, and his never ending rants bout why he wasn't going to cut his hair, apparently it was fine brushing his shoulders. Regardless of everything that she could think about, Ruth loved them both, and only them.
She took a bite of her cookie as Chris continued. "He tells them that he's a web designer!" Like the child he was, he started laughing at his own joke, almost dropping the subway sandwich balancing on his lap. The two were waiting for Kythe to come back from the grocery store. Since neither Chris nor Ruth wanted to wait for Kythe to find the least-beat-up lime, they had decided to order themselves (and Kythe) some lunch. They'd migrated from the sandwich shop to one of San Francisco's lovely parks. It was lovely mostly just because the bench hadn't been occupied by someone's personal belongings when they arrived.
It was Saturday, so no passing police officers would question why they weren't in school, like they usually did. Ruth would even go as far as saying that it felt like the perfect day. They'd managed to pay their first month of San Francisco rent, Chris had gotten a little extra cash by winning a foot race, and Kythe was going to make his famous Ice Burn Avocado soup. Ruth was thankful for the normality of the moment. Their lives weren't very normal often.
Chris's phone buzzed, so he had to stop cackling in order to read it. He relayed what was on the screen to Ruth. "Kythe says he's almost done, think he's gonna melt our faces off, Ruthy?" Chris had a habit of both wiggling his fingers randomly and calling her Ruthy, both of which had just been done. Nobody around them seemed to notice her discomfort, not that anyone aside from Chris even acknowledged her. Others were too busy walking by with family and friends, dogs even. Yummy, a voice said inside her head, a lot deeper and more homicidal sounding than her own. She shifted suddenly, very aware that the target of the remark was a little white poodle. That's just gross, no. She thought back.
"What's just gross?" Chris asked, wiping away some mustard that had made a home on his upper lip. The poodle had managed to make its way down the street without becoming anybody's lunch, the owner having no idea what almost happened. Ruth sighed, giving a subtle point with her thumb towards the animal, her other hand pinching the bridge of her nose. She watched as Chris followed her thumb and nodded, not bothering to move when he leaned in close.
"Scream," His voice was deeper too, nothing like the normal high pitched squeak you heard when Chris spoke. She barley gave him a once over when she saw his eyes had filmed over, there was no need for panic, she knew exactly who was speaking and whom it was speaking to. "We've been over this, we do not eat poor defenseless animals, especially dogs." Another woman in a track suit jogged past, sending a more than confused look their way. Chris backed up again, his eyes returning to their freakishly green color. His face looked like he had bit into a lemon, and he sounded bitter when he spoke next, really Chris this time.
"Yeah right, where was that rule with Cherry?" He barley muttered it, but just enough for Ruth to hear. She shook her head, mentally scolding the other for even suggesting eating a dog around Chris.
They ate their food in silence for a while after that, all four of them sitting awkwardly on a park bench waiting for Kythe. Ruth couldn't tell how many minutes went by before something interesting happened. She cursed that she even found it interesting, the Saturday had been going good. But the sound of a woman shrieking ripped through the still air like a serrated knife. Ruth and Chris snapped their heads towards the noise and watched as a woman dressed as if she were going on a very important date ran out of a nearby bush, mascara running, hair a mess, a screeching screaming mess. She tripped over her high heels and threw her purse at the ground like that would make her go faster. While that itself was very amusing, their real fun was what emerged behind her.
A large symbiote burst through the bushes, crushing them completely. It's host was buried somewhere underneath layers of moving dark blue goo, random spikes shooting out of its back like spider legs. The symbiote's jaw had been unhinged, it's long and slimy pink tongue curling at the tip. It looked around as if it was confused, and due to the many horrified screams it had caused, it probably was. It looked like a kid in a candy store, so many snacks, not enough money. Or teeth in this situation. It finally seemed to make up its mind, choosing to bound towards a picnicked family trying to scramble away.
Ruth and Chris got to their feet, ready to transform if need be. You need it, sugar. Scream replied, much to Ruth's annoyance. Whether Chris's deeper voice, Toxin, was saying the same to him, she couldn't tell. The symbiote was advancing on the family, the mother had to go back for an important item that apparently cost her life. The woman that had been followed by the alien was long gone, and Ruth suspected she might be on her way to the police, which didn't leave them a lot of time to straighten out the mess. Humans weren't used to seeing symbiotes, there would be a lot more buzz if they had.
"Who is that?" Chris asked, but not to her. Now that most of the park had been evacuated, a tendril of inky dark red worked its way from his palm to his shoulder, solidifying into a head shaped blob with white eyes and very sharp teeth. Toxin twisted around his shoulder as if to get a better view.
"ZZZXX," He said deeply, flicking his attention back to Chris. "I didn't know he was on Earth."
Ruth would have asked for a second opinion, but she had really hoped to keep Scream inside today. She was smart enough, however, to realize that if 'ZZZXX' ran ramped, she would have no choice. She scrunched her nose and looked over at Toxin. "ZZZXXX?" She repeated. "Okay, even for a symbiote name, that's a weird one."
Toxin retreated back inside of Chris's shoulder, no doubt relaying some insanely complicated battle strategy into her brother's head. Scream and she didn't really ever have a battle strategy, they didn't really agree on anything to have. ZZZXX was getting closer to the mother, sadly the only one left in the park other than themselves. Ruth shook her head, why did people always have to leave at least one member of their family behind without realizing? Chris rolled his shoulders from next to her. "We should really tell Kythe," he said. "But I think this calls for immediate action."
Ruth nodded, and was just about to ask for some unwanted assistance when another ear striking roar tore through the air. Her head whipped to the right so fast it almost giving her whiplash. The sun was momentarily blocked by a large shape, which crashed into the ground with a tremendous thud in front of them. Ruth couldn't believe her eyes, another symbiote.
This one was all black, except for the two disturbingly white eyes and white teeth. The symbiote looked over at Chris and Ruth as if it were studying them. "What are you two still doing here?" It asked, it's voice even more gravely than another symbiote Ruth knew, Kythe's had an extremely deep voice, but nothing on this guy.
He looked confused for a moment, as confused as his facial features allowed. He might have said more about it, but when the woman in the distance screamed again, the symbiote dropped it. "Leave." They instructed before taking off in the direction of ZZZXX.
Chris looked at her, then back to the black symbiote. Ruth looked down towards her own body, hoping once again that she was looking in the somewhat correct direction of her partner. "Who was that?" She asked Scream, but for once in her life (most likely), Scream remained silent. She may have muttered something from inside Ruth's brain, but it was too quiet to make out. Normally she would pry more out of her symbiote, but she found herself a bit distracted.
ZZZXX took a swing at the new symbiote, claws slashing through the air. It looked like the hit would connect with the black symbiote, but the dodge was so quick Ruth almost didn't see it. ZZZXX leapt over the symbiote and rolled past them, hissing before attempting another hit. The two took their time of attempting to claw each other's gooey eyes out, rushing in front and behind of each other like their claws were swords.
The battle went on for what felt like hours but couldn't be more than ten minutes. Ruth and Chris both stood awestruck from their place at the bench while ZZZXX and the unknown symbiote slashed at each other's being. From where she stood, Ruth could vaguely hear some verbal exchange, not a lot and much of it didn't make sense. She thought she heard the black one say 'Touchdown' after sending ZZZXX's head into the dirt. From his ostrich position, ZZZXX screeched, he sounded like a defective dentist's drill.
Using his legs he scrambled back, yelling angrily in the other symbiotes face. This seemed to offend it greatly, causing it to lean forward and repay old XX with a scream of his own, only about five times louder. ZZZXX backed up and looked around as if he was considering backing down. Faster than anything he'd done before he changed his mind and swung a full hand of claws straight into the black symbiote's abdomen. Ruth doubted it would hurt the symbiote more than it would hurt the host, something they'd have to sort out later.
The black symbiote howled in rage before lunging forward, ripping out the claw as he slashed out. ZZZXX was pinned under him, and Ruth felt an odd churning in her stomach she was certain wasn't from the sandwich . Chris must have felt the same because a moment later he muttered "Toxin? What's wrong?" Normally he would have put more concern into it, but it was obvious how engrossed he was in the fight. A moment later it was obvious why the symbiotes had started to act up. The faint sound of sirens getting closer in the distance made their way to Ruth's ears.
Chris looked at her completely this time, grabbing the bag that held Kythe's lunch inside. He leaned forward and grabbed her wrist, glancing left and right. "We gotta go," he said. "Try to find Kythe." He tried to pull her along, yanking hard on her wrist when her feet stayed planted. She didn't want to leave without knowing what would happen, more importantly why there were more symbiotes on Earth.
"We gotta do something, that's what we've gotta do!" She insisted, trying to level with her levelheaded brother. The sirens were getting closer, and police meant bad news for the both of them. She looked behind her to see if she could spot Kythe, that way they could stay a little longer and still have a quick get away. Chris snorted a laugh and gave her wrist another yank.
"Like what?" He asked. "Look, there are officers coming, and this is practically screams attention from the officers, look at th--" He gestured over to the symbiote fight, and stopped midsentence to frown. The black symbiote was still there, towering a now terrified looking man. The man was in a suit, most likely the woman's date, and most likely ZZZXX. Where the actual symbiote was, Ruth didn't know, but the man squirmed uneasily between the remaining symbiote's claws.
It was talking again, too far away for Ruth to hear, but whatever it was saying seemed to shut up ZZZXX. If the symbiote were Scream, Ruth knew that the man would be dead by now, no matter what she said.
The black symbiote wrapped its fist around the man's neck and raised him to about eye level. This time everything that was verbally exchanged had been quieted to hushed whispers. The man squirmed in the symbiote's grasp, mouth moving without any sound coming out. All Ruth could hear were the sirens getting closer, about a block away now.
"Ruth." Chris warned, but still didn't look at her. They both watched the symbiote drop the man and turn around, heading towards the broken bushes. Ruth looked back to Chris, changing the grip so she was pulling him along.
"Text Kythe," She said, pulling him quickly in the direction the symbiote had gone. "Tell him we found something and we're checking it out."
Chris jerked his wrist back, but they were already halfway through the park. "Why?" He asked. "What good would it be to find someone that has the ability to kill all four of us? What good does that do us?" Chris wasn't normally squeamish, he was actually a pretty reckless person. Though it sounded more like he was quoting Kythe, and he had a point that she understood, it also made sense to go check this out. It wasn't everyday you learn that there are more symbiotes out there. For better or worse.
"Chris," She started. The symbiote was growing smaller in the distance, and their time to follow and learn was short. "We have no ide when we'll have the chance to gain an ally again. Let's not blow it, please." She flashed her last playing card, a nice set of big, brown puppy dog eyes. She resisted the urge to smirk when she saw Chris's struggling expression.
He sighed in exasperation. "Fine, put those things away and start running." Chris took out his phone and pulled up Kythe's contact information. Ruth decided to this would be a good time to book it, dragging her brother along with her all the way.
A perk to having a symbiote was that it increased the working functions many things inside of her, including her speed. That way she could keep up with her much taller, much faster running partner.
After dashing through the demolished shrubbery they'd looked around from side to side. People walked around like nothing had happened, which was surprising because surely they'd at least see the symbiote host barrel through the gap. Ruth was about to curse, they'd lost him. Just then Chris grabbed her arm and pointed at the concreate. Small drops of red dotted the ground going left. "Didn't the black one get stabbed in the abdomen?" He asked her. "That'd take a moment to heal." Ruth understood what he was saying.
She nodded and started following the blood. The two of them shoved by some loiterers, ignoring their annoyed shouts of protest as they ran forward. The amount pf blood was getting less and less, and more distant from one another. Can't you like, sniff him out? Ruth thought, annoyed. No dear, I'm not a bloodhound. She knew why Scream was bitter, she was asking her help, without actually asking for her help.
Chris ran beside her as he filled Kythe in, and from the sounds of it, Mama wasn't pleased from his end of the phone. Chris had hung up abruptly, no doubt noticing the same thing that Ruth did, that their little chase had left them in a relatively empty street. It felt like somewhere kids went to get stabbed. Closed stores and crappy apartment buildings lined both sides of the street, a few cars zipping by accompanied by the occasional yelling beggar. She put her focus back on the ground, the blood trail had stopped unexpectedly, and Ruth just about lost hope.
"C'mon, Chris," She said; defeated. "Let's just go find Kythe." She started to walk away when Chris caught her elbow. She frowned and followed his pointed finger to what looked like the wall of another bricked building. However, if she looked closely, she could see the edge of an old gate too open to be normal, like someone had flung it open. This obviously lead to an ally way.
Chris put a finger to his lips and slowly stalked over to the gate, Ruth right behind him. The closer they got to the end of their "stealth wall", they could start to hear voices talking to each other. One was extremely deep and intimidating, and the other sounded vaguely familiar. She couldn't place her finger on where she'd heard it though.
The two of them peered their heads over the corner, confirming their suspicion. The black symbiote was spooling from the back of its host and had positioned itself in front of the man's face. He wore a dark blue button up, black jeans, and had one hand on his gut. He was talking in a hushed whisper. "...can't make a public appearance like that again." He was saying. "You have no idea what kinds of people were out there today."
The symbiote curled around the man's neck like a slimy (gooey?) boa. The voice was definitely familiar and it was going to drive Ruth insane that she couldn't place it. She wished she could see his face, maybe that way her brain would pair face to voice. In the slightly darkened ally, the white eyes were the only way she could see the swaying movements that the symbiote was making, well, the eyes and the teeth. "I was carful," It justified. "and because I was carful, you owe me lunch." The host nodded to the request, shrugging his shoulders.
Ruth had hoped he would turn around, maybe even walk towards them, but that wasn't the case. He kept his back to them and the symbiote retreated back inside his body. Ruth and Chris pressed their backs to the wall, as not to be seen. They could hear the sound of the man grunting, and a creaking from the wooden gate at the end of the ally. The two stayed there for another minute or so, until they heard the sound of a motorcycle engine fade, assuming it was the host, then they broke from the wall.
Ruth immediately started pacing. "Who was that?" She asked aloud. "It's on the tip of my tongue!" This went on for a couple of minutes, she ranted many other things about the subject until she noticed that her brother had gone completely still. "What's wrong with you?"
Chris didn't answer for a few seconds, and blinked hard when he did. "That was Eddie Brock." His voice sounded dry.
"Eddie Brock? Like from 'The Brock Report'?"
"Mmhmm." Chris hummed. Ruth looked at the end of the ally. Kythe, herself and Chris had adored watching Eddie Brock take down rich jerkbags on TV, and were all three very bitter when the show got canceled because of Carlton Drake. She hadn't heard anything about him for about a year, and it seemed strange that now that she was seeing him again (and not through a screen) he had an alien bonded to him. She looked back at Chris, whom was still wide-eyed.
Making an executive decision she snatched the phone from the gaping boy's hoodie pocket and logged in the password. "What are you doing?" He finally asked once Ruth had got the phone ringing.
"I'm telling Kythe," she said. "Eddie Brock's got a symbiote."