Symbiosis: At World's End

Patrol

A tall, beefy man in a bowler hat and three-piece suit stood on a balcony overlooking a large room below. His beady eyes were making sure to sweep the room thoroughly. Below him were several muscle-bound men and women wearing shiny new Gorgon class battle armor. They all stood in neat rows, the face plates all pulled back, and their faces as stiff as stone. They all had their Gorgon issue glider boards clutched in their right hands and were all facing a large door. Then, the lights went out and were almost instantly replaced by red. The door split open, and the first row mounted their gliders and took off, and were followed short seconds later by the second row. The hunt was on.

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A large shadow slipped through the dark streets, unnoticed by anyone. It paused for a second as a car drove by, then quickly and stealthily scaled the wall behind it. The air was fresher above the darkened alley. A drool covered tongue slipped out from between a set of razor-sharp teeth, testing the air. After some time, it turned and leapt across the street without a sound. It hissed to itself, closing in on its destination. A sudden high-pitched whine filled the air and the shadow quickly slipped into the comforting darkness of another back alley. It peaked out from its hiding place and saw several shapes streak past roughly thirty feet in the air. It waited until they were gone, then cautiously continued onward.

A Gorgon Protocol soldier, followed closely by five others surveyed the ground below him, his mask's HUD relaying everything to him. An infrared filter revealed that there was no target in the area.

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"This is Cobra to base. Repeat, Cobra to base. We've completed the first sweep and have nothing to report."

There was a short pause before a response came back.

"Roger that Cobra. Head to the south quadrant and perform a standard sweep. Medusa team has already finished their sweep of the area, so anything that they might have missed could be picked up by you."

"Acknowledged."

The Gorgon troopers took off to the south quadrant, completely missing a mysterious shape on the roof of a rundown building behind them. It watched for a few seconds then walked semi-hazardly out of sight.

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"Where am I?"

Brianna's eyes opened groggily as she tried to recall what happened. Suddenly, she remembered the nightmare and became immediately alert. Then she realized that she was hanging upside down from a black cable connected to the tallest building in the city. She screamed and let go of the web and started to fall, but her right hand and her feet shot out, seemingly of their own accord and began clinging to the window. She slowly peered at her reflecting to see she was completely encased in a black and pink costume that was composed of some sort of rubbery material. But most unsettling was the mask. The mask over her face was strikingly close to that of the face of a hosted symbiote, minus the maw of two and a half inch long fangs and the eyes appearing to be less insane. She knew the truth, even if she didn't want to believe it. She was now the host of a second symbiote within the shield. What confused her though, was that she seemed to still be in control of her body and that she had the aforementioned lack of death jaws. She raised her arm to test the level of control she had as well as get a better look at the costume. Most of her arm was covered in black, but she had white pads on the dorsal side of hands. She also noticed that she felt stronger. Much, much stronger. She placed her hand back on the window and began to slowly climb back up the wall. Once she reached the top, she surveyed the city and felt another wave of dizziness wash over her. It was gone quickly though, almost too quickly. She had a feeling that the symbiote was responsible.