Voice in My Head (or what we did on our holidays)

Chapter 8

Summary: Venom and Eddie attempt to process the bad news

Eddie was used to feeling helpless and out of control. Over the years, he had come to terms with fact that he was either just getting by, or he was weeping in a gutter. The high points were always tarnished by the way his inner voice would whisper that this couldn't last, and the voice was always right. The low points...well, he learned to stay away from anywhere that allowed him to stare for too long into deep, dark water.

He tried not to be alone, making an effort to be more social, to remind himself that others valued him. More than not, he had put off dealing with his feelings by throwing himself into his work, typing and researching through the night and giving very little thought to his nutrition or hygiene.

Since Venom arrived, things had changed. Sure, Eddie still got depressed, but he was never alone now, and he didn't even need to pick up his phone to know that he was loved. Venom was right there. Sometimes mocking and challenging him, but always glad that he was alive, and happy to tell Eddie how he was perfect, even if he was also a loser.

Venom dealt with emotions differently. Unsurprisingly, everything was larger than life when it came to Venom. The alien raged and smashed things, laughed until they nearly wet themselves, licked your face like a puppy, cooked in a way that lost you your rent deposit. Then, of course, there was the Lethal Protector.

To prevent qualifying for lethal injection, or at the very least, life in some kind of Perspex super-prison on a secret and inaccessible island, Eddie realised it was his job to tone things down for Venom. Pretty funny that the guy with issues has to be the positive thinker, just to keep heads from being bitten off at random.

So that was what Eddie was aiming for now. He had persuaded Venom out of the hotel room with promises of chocolate and maybe, just maybe...bad guys.

They were in a city, though, and one Eddie wasn't familiar with.

-"Harrow must die, Eddie. Are we going to the airport?"-

"No, Venom, not now, we don't have the money for another flight and you nearly maxed out the card already."

-"Somebody must die tonight. Poor, sweet Steven! How could anyone..."-

"We don't know he's dead. He might be fine. He is some kind of superhero or vigilante or something. Or Marc is. Either way, we don't know for sure."

Venom snarled in his mind.

-"Hungry, Eddie! Need to hunt. Bring justice to the streets where they drive on the wrong side!"-

"Ok, Ok, babe, someone will die, but only someone really bad, and don't..."

-"...leave any leftovers. We understand."-

"You have to eat everything on your plate when you're on vacation. Or the cops shoot you."

The hipster who had been eavesdropping edged away from Eddie in the tube. He tried for a subtle scoot along the seat, but ended up scrambling over several, stumbling to his feet, slamming face-first into a pole and then diving into the toilet cubicle.

"That was youur fault, Eddie! You are talking aloud again. Oh, and fun LOndon fact! The cops don't have guns! We could eat cops here!"

Venom's voice echoed in the now-empty carriage.

They were heading out to the Docklands, site of multi-store office blocks, which at this time of night, was not so busy, at least, in parts.

Eddie didn't like to admit that Venom's favourite way to work out his aggressions-literally with actual aggression, was therapeutic to him, too. Not the eating heads part, but the definite removal of dangerous people form the streets who would otherwise bounce in and out of jail like they were in a pinball machine, getting plenty of chances to do the same bad things again, and maybe worse ones. The heights still made him uncomfortable, too.

Eddie didn't know what to like about Steven. He had tried to call that number back, of course, exactly twelve times, at different times of the day, but every time it was still switched off. He had looked at his virtual investigation board, which was looking even crazier now. He knew there was no point dropping everything and flying to Egypt. Just thinking about it transferred his stress to Venom, and although Eddie tried to think very hard aboout how much he would like to nap all day, cry and spoon on the hotel bed, Vebom was still more in the mood to slip it, and attempt to throw the flimsy furniture through the small, grimy window. So they had gone out.

Venom lept from building ro building, growling excitably about 'trying the local food,' and scanning every back-alley far too far below.

In spite of the passing of time, and the devoted love the alien liked to declare to his host, Venom still believed that facing Eddie's fear of heights was a kind of self-improvement. It really had got a little easier, but Eddie would never choose to parkour through the skies like the kind of sticky toy you threw at the window. Venom was barely able to contain the howls and whoops they so clearly wanted to bellow out into the night, but Eddie had said they had to keep it low-key.

Perched on a ledge like an oil-coated gargoyle, they studied a particularly shady neighbourhood.

"Bad guy?" Hissed Venom, in a not very quiet stage whisper.

-"Shhhh"-

A man had jumped out of a dark doorway, grabbing for the laptop bag carried by a passing student. She screamed, and slammed the bag into the attacker's chest.

Eddie hesitated. Maybe the student could deal with this herself.

The thief punched her in the face, breaking her glasses and her nose, knocking her right into the road.

"Bad guy!" They growled, together.

Together, they dropped to the ground and unmasked. A perfectly regular guy in a hoodie, just trying to help out.

"I thought you people were meant to be polite."

The would-be mugger turned around, giving the girl the chance to run away. She took it.

"Fuck you, man!"

The guy sounded like he was just disappointed that his work hadn't gone well. That attitude pressed all of his buttons, and the big, red button that controlled Venom.

Black tendriles like high-speed roots shot out from under a grey hoodie, snatching the theif off his feet and into an unpleasantly tight embrace.

Venom hummed happily as they tucked the man under one arm, ignoring the struggling and the screams in favor of taking to the rooftops again, heading for the river, and diving in, knees to chest in a cannonball pose.

If anyone had been around, they would have seen a gigantic beast vanish into the water, perhaps head the bitten-off scream and splashing. It was over in a moment, and nothing remained except a slight slick of blood on the small waves, diluting unitl it too was lost in rippling darkness.

Venom's head surfaced downstream, striding out of the water and across the foreshore, before vanishing. The man in the grey hoodie, if he showed up in any CCTV footage at all, could have been anyone.