VENOM

Revelations

"You went after Rayes ALONE?!" Madan shouted, pacing in front of Leo, pointing at a news story on the TV showing the bloodbath at the mobile ops vehicle.
"She had shot an innocent girl to draw me out, I couldn't let that go unpunished."
"This is war, Mr. Newton. There are casualties."
"Not if we can help it." They roared together. Madan sighed, and ran a hand through her hair.
"Look, you need to share information with us. If we had extracted her we could have learned more from her than just your next victim." Venom snarled and spoke through Leo,
"You came to us, not the other way around."
"Maybe so, but you'd still be tearing up grunts looking for the scientists if it wasn't for our work."
"Who is 'us'?" They asked together. "You never gave us a straight answer." Madan froze, then nodded.
"Fair enough. Alliances are built on trust. We are a branch of the FBI, simply called the Agency. The Agency does the dirty work that the FBI doesn't have the stomach to handle, we consist of navy seals, marines, spec ops, etcetera. We, I along with a few others, were assigned to investigate the V Serum when one of our moles discovered a potential bio weapon."
"Meaning us."
"It became you, yes. Now, did you discover anything inportant?"
"We..did." Leo folded his arms. "We learned they're creating a counter to Venom, simply called Project A-V."
"Anything else?"
"Nothing important. Schema knows we're coming for him, but he doesn't have a trail yet."
"Well, according to our intel, Schema and Rayes had an affair going on, so you can expect him to pool his resources into finding a way to kill you."
"Let him try. Just more fuel for Venom."
"That's what I'm afraid of..."

Later that night, Leo laid in his bed, swirling the symbiote goo on his fingers, dancing it around from one hand to the other before absorbing it again. His mind was deep in thought as the monster slept. He reached out, searching for De Santa, but he didn't have the same connection as he did to Rayes. In reality, he did nothing wrong, he was following orders. Rayes intentionally tortured him, and Jenkins was the one responsible for formulating Venom into the painful injection. Between his own, and Sam's injection, he had somehow created not only two separate versions of the symbiote, but a simpler way of binding. Whatever A-V is, it needed to be destroyed before Jenkins and De Santa finish it, and the scientists eradicated.

He was shook from his thoughts by a knock at the door, and in came Tommy.
"Hey bud."
"Hey Tom. What's up?"
"I uh, I wanted to talk."
"Take a seat." His friend awkwardly sat at the end of his bed.
"Well?"
"Well..I wanted to talk about everything that's been going on."
"I'm all ears."
"It's just..you've changed. I don't know if it's for better or worse but you've changed. You aren't the awkward, fun Leo I grew up with."
"But at least I'm not dying anymore. And I can walk normal."
"Yeah..but at what cost? You got a literal monster living in your body."
"So does Sam."
"But it wasn't her choice to get injected."
"What, you think I knew about Venom? That I'd end up a hybrid with an alien lifeform?"
"Well no, of course not. But even Sam has noticed you've been..violent. bloodthirsty. It's all you think about. All you do."
"Well..yeah. They need to pay for what they did."
"They saved your life, didn't they?"
"Then tried to take it."
"Fair enough."
"Then they threatened my family...that was the last straw. I've already killed two of them. Jenkins, De Santa, and Schema are all that's left."
"Then what?" Thomas stood. Facing his friend. "What happens when you've got your revenge? When the last body falls, what will you do then?"
"Go back to a normal life, I suppose. Build something with Sammy."
"And Venom? Shriek?"
"They'll be our companions."
"What about if you get caught?"
"Madan has that covered."
"If you say so..what about us?"
"What about?"
"We used to be best friends. We've been just...distant since the injection." Leo stood, towering a head over his friend, and grabbed his forearm, and Tom did the same.
"We aren't friends, Tommy, we are brothers."

It has been less than 48 hours since Rayes had met her grisly end at the hands..and teeth..of Venom, and De Santa was in a panic. Of all the people this abomination could come after, he had to be in the crosshairs! Sure, he had known the machine was unstable and needed more testing, but he didn't think it'd merit execution. After hearing project A-V was put into effect, he knew he had to bail before it was too late. De Santa stuffed his papers into his briefcase, and stuffed his old revolver into his belt, and snuck out of the Life Foundation tower.

Michael De Santa put his car in gear, and made his way out of town. If he could escape to the nearby forest, maybe he could lose Venom before he caught up; he had a cottage out there he could hide in for a while.

He flipped open his ghost phone, and dialed for Schema.
"Michael! Where the hell are you?!"
"What's going on? Wait..Jenkins? Why are you calling me Victor? Where's Schema?"
"He's here!"
"Who's he?"

Venom tore through the front gates of the Life Foundation. His rage seemed to make him uncontrollable, so Leo just went with the flow and didn't resist.
"DE SANTA! SCHEMA! JENKINS!" they howled, tearing through their grunt soldiers. "Come out here and face death!" They could smell the fear of one of them: Jenkins. Venom sneered and leaped up into the vent.

Jenkins watched the whole thing unfold from his suite in the facility. Venom had set off several signals as he made a beeline to the facility, so there was time to set up a barrier. It felt like throwing fuel on a fire once they arrived. The outer defenses fell like bowling pins as Venom ripped through them. The front hall had become a massacre, bodies and blood splattered all over the walls and floor. Jenkins had initiated lockdown, but that didn't work either. One by one, ten by ten, Venom shredded them. No one was safe. By that point, Jenkins had already called a chopper to pick him up. All the data Schema requested had been downloaded onto a hard drive, and stuffed in his pocket. As he did this, he felt a cool chill run up his spine: he wasn't alone. He turned, and saw the hooded demon himself. Leo stood across the room from him, a table covered in lab equipment was the only barrier between them.
"What do you want from me?" He whimpered, cowering against the wall. Leo said nothing, and stepped towards him. "I only worked on the serum, I didn't administer it!" Venom's arm formed, and he got closer. "What do you want?! I can..I can help you! Give you answers, anything!" Leo gripped his neck, and lifted him up. The scientist beat his fists on the black, gooey arm, to no avail. He tilted his head side to side slowly, examining the scientist, then released him, and folded his arms, now returned to normal.
"You're going to tell us everything you know." They said together. "If I'm satisfied, you will live."

"The...the V Serum project was initially discovered by Schema on a trip to the Arctic. He was searching for any organic materials that could be turned into medicine. While they were trekking, Schema had tripped and cut his arm open on a strange rock. The rock melted down, and covered his arm. It retracted, leaving only a scar. After bringing it back, he began messing with it alongside yours truly. When applied to the surface, the symbiote simply heals..but it doesn't react well to injection. He had tested it on rats, and the rat they used devoured the others, and was burned. Then, it was tested on lions, same result. Then apes. Schema knew that injection the serum would mutate the host, but he pushed for human trials. You..you aren't the first." Leo snapped his head back, and he began seeing visions. Visions of other people strapped to tables, screaming. Writhing in pain. He snapped back, and cleared his throat. Jenkins looked concerned, then continued. "..as I was saying, you weren't the first. But you certainly were the last. Other subjects simply dissolved into the black ooze, but you survived. Why, or how, we don't know, but it bound to you and worked. De Santa knew the machine was experimental and not safe, but he's the one who pushed for it. Not me."
"What's all that data." Victor Jenkins cleared his throat, and stammered.
"Well..it's data collected from all that..Schema saw the potential of the serum to create soldiers, super warriors that he could sell. As you can tell, it didn't go well."
"So I'm just a soldier gone crazy?"
"N-not crazy, but rogue, I suppose. Shortly after the death of miss Rayes, he initiated project A-V."
"What is project A-V?" A machine whirred, and a screen appeared, once more with Schema's face. This time, he held up a vial, but within it was a black and white liquid.
"This, Mr. Newton, is project A-V. Anti-Venom. Now, I do believe your use is at an end, and only doctor De Santa remains, and he alone now knows where I am. I'd better hurry if I was you, it wouldn't do you any good to bring down a plane full of innocent people with you." He cackled crazily, and the video ended.
"The..the professor is right. He has the Anti-Venom, and probably is halfway to Tokyo by now to meet with investors."
"What good would the investors do?"
"Guess you don't keep up with the news. The Monster of Middleburg has gone viral, and these guys were the first to jump at a chance to kill a monster." Leo started to walk off, then turned and growled at the scientist.
"If we ever see your face again, it's coming off!" And stormed out, running in the direction of De Santa's scent. Jenkins laughed weakly, took a few steps, and fainted.