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EDDIE
Another symbiote. That's what they were hiding. Riot's asexually reproduced symbiote. And they had to make it fucking Frankenweenie by genetically engineering it. Keith's smile was as large as the moon when he saw Laura's fear-stricken eyes fall on me when the symbiote sunk into her. She banged the glass and mouthed it over and over. If only I could hear her.
'Something went in me! Get me out!'
'Hang in there, doll. I'm gonna get you out, 'kay?'
Venom's growling tones brought me out of my misery.
Quick, let me phase.
'Now!'
But we couldn't. It hurt to move when the noise hit me right in the middle of my skull. The pain was agonizing, like all the nerves in my body were ablaze. I could feel Venom's tentacle part from me, losing any and all connection to my symbiote. He bled out through my pores, I could make out his pain too as he slid through my fingertips.
'Ah, shit no!'
The doctors behind Keith screamed with fright and scrammed their way out of the lab. All that was heard was the ding of the elevator and the doors closing, leaving Keith, Laura and I alone.
Keith's actions were sedentary but villainous. He moved thinking I wouldn't notice, leaping at the chance of bonding with my symbiote. He stretched a limb to the unsolidified mass of the floor, letting the symbiote flush into his pores.
'No!'
What happened next was perplexing. It was as if Keith wasn't human. Keith's skin had started to morph into a subtle blue, the skin purging out in waves. He loosened his tie and his shirt came off in one easy swipe. Ancient symbols of some sort swirled across his abdomen and the lettering appeared in blue. Platinum colored hair poured out his roots, replacing the deep-colored hair. A smirk lit his alien features, his hands forming a blackened fist with Venom's help.
'Finally, my friend,' Keith or whatever he is, said in a relieved tone. 'Welcome home.'
A crash signaled the release of Laura from her glassy prison and what was left of it, laying out in clumps around her. The white obscure tendrils retracted back into her, as she sprinted inhumanely fast to my aid. I felt her bothering chill at first, knowing her pleasuring warmth was good as gone. Her hands went behind my neck, helping me up to a sitting stance.
The blue Keith's gaze fell on Laura with a dark grin. 'Amazing creatures, am I right? Strong and resourceful.'
I sneered up at him, almost spitting out my question in disgust. 'What the hell are you?'
'Tel-Kar of the Kree. This is my symbiote,' he said in a boorish voice, making more than incognito gooey swirls with his fingertips. My rage peaked when he teased me with what was mine.
'He's not yours to keep.'
He laughed. 'Humans have always been so petty. Carlton then, thinking he was the god of his own creations and now, you.
'I was the first to find him. I sacrificed my life to let him go in lieu of saving my planet and now, I have made him mine once more. No one will stop us now, for I will return to my planet and be welcomed as a hero!'
He shot forward in a whiz, leaning down with a foot beside my face. A yellow-black tendril pelleted out of him, curling around Laura's neck and bringing her feet up in the air. She choked dangerously, trying to pry the black arm off her. Even using the strength of her own symbiote, she couldn't.
Tel-Kar's face was inches away from mine when he murmured viciously. 'Trust me when I say I will split her body in half if you stand in my way. If you even try to succeed in keeping me away from my mission, I'll take her life.'
With that, he bounded to the ceiling and leaving behind a crumble of debris and flinging Laura's body like a misused puppet to a side of the lab. The sound of her bones breaking muted my heartbeat, and the light from the stories above hurting my eyes.
And all at once, I was left hopeless and empty inside out.
