Chapter Text
A man stalks his way through the hospital halls, the sterile white replaced by the dark of the nighttime. He flips his hood down as he opens the door to a room, and he spots the figure on the bed. She lifts her head gingerly.
“Who…?” It’s clear she’s on the brink of death, and the man inches closer, dropping his backpack with a small thud.
“Daniela Avanzini. I have an offer for you.” He speaks, and Daniela furrows her eyebrows, staring at the backpack. The man continues with her lack of words, “Do you want to see Megan again? Do you want to be healthy?” Daniela nods, confused. The man pulls a glass container out of his backpack.
He flicks on the light, revealing a black goo on the inside. It jumps at the glass, desperate to get to the new life form. Daniela’s eyes widen.
“What is that?” Her voice is too strained to show panic, but it’s still obvious as the goo slams itself into the glass again.
“Nothing you need to worry about. If I let this loose on you, you can live.” Daniela makes a face, gaze locked on the glass.
The man places the container next to Daniela.
“I would ask if you want this, but it’s not like I gave Megan a choice either.” He presses a button on the top of the container, grabs his backpack and steps out of the room.
Daniela’s breath quickens, and the goo slowly creeps its way out of the container. It slides along her arm. Daniela tries to shake it off, but it holds her arm to the bed. It slithers along, reaching her chest. Daniela shuts her eyes as tight as she can, preparing to feel pain, she’s not sure what type of pain, just pain. But it never comes.
Instead, she just feels a weird, cold sensation spread through her body. She breathes in erratically, she can tell that whatever that goo was somehow got into her, and she can feel it in her veins.
Daniela.
“What?” The first thing Daniela notices is the fact that she can speak normally, no wheezing or weakness. The second thing she processes is the voice.
Daniela sits up—notably with no strain or pain—and surveys her surroundings, trying to see if someone is messing with her, or the voice is actually coming from her head.
Daniela. Get up.
She feels her leg jerk toward the end of the bed. She didn’t do that. The other leg does the same, and suddenly she’s on the floor.
Get up.
She follows the voice’s command, standing up on shaky legs. Her entire body lurches this time, sending her face right back into the floor.
Hurry up.
“If you would let me do it myself.”
Shut it.
Her mouth closes, completely on its own. She gets up again, walking toward the door, and she slams herself through it.
I’m hungry. Get me food.
The voice demands, leading her to find some random person's clothes and walk right out of the front entrance of the hospital.
“Are you in my head? Am I going crazy?” Daniela asks in a weak voice as she walks, somehow she manages to pick up a baggy shirt, a bra two sizes too small, and socks. Yes, she somehow ended up in her underwear. Whatever is controlling her clearly doesn’t know any fashion sense.
GET ME FOOD!
“Jesus!” Daniela covers her ears at the screech, the sound resonates through her entire head to the point of pain. Her legs move her to the forest, “Uh, dude? I’m not going in there…” Daniela points to the forest.
I’M HUNGRY!
Daniela quickly turns around, sprinting in the opposite direction of the forest, much to the voice's dismay. She feels a tug on her body, it tries to force her back, but she continues her run.
She almost collapses at least 5 times in the run to her house, but she makes it, falling into a heap on the doorstep.
After a couple of minutes, she pushes herself up, goes inside and makes a beeline for the fridge. Now, instead of opening the fridge and gently placing the entire raw chicken on the table like a normal person would, Daniela decides to rip the fridge off its hinges, tear the plastic of the chicken with her teeth, and absolutely devour the entire thing.
She’s halfway through the chicken when she hears the creak of stairs. Her head whips to the noise, staring wide-eyed at her mother, who drops the baseball bat she was holding and tilts her head.
“Dani? Aren’t you supposed to be… in the hospital?” Daniela stares. Ana steps forward, holding a hand out. Daniela literally growls, and Ana jumps back at the hostility.
Who is that?
The voice asks, his tone is rough and deep. Daniela continues to stare at her mother, ignoring the voice's question, instead opting for opening the trash bin next to her and gagging into it.
THIS IS DEAD!
It seems whatever spell the voice had over her breaks, and she stares down at the trash, then to the chicken, then to her mother.
“Mom?” Her mother steps forward again, pressing the back of her hand to Daniela’s forehead. She’s sweating, but her forehead is somehow cold. And her skin has returned to a nice tan, a drastic contrast from the ghostly white at the hospital. Has she magically gotten better?
“Are you sick?” Daniela shakes her head, and Ana raises an eyebrow, placing her free hand on Daniela’s back, lifting her carefully, “Come on, let’s go to bed, we can figure this out in the morning.” Ana leads her daughter to the staircase, holding her steady.
They make it to the top of the stairs, and Ana makes an executive decision to have her daughter sleep in the same room. Daniela makes it to the bed before simply just collapsing in the middle of it. Ana looks at her for a second before tucking the covers over her, and stepping out of the room.
The first thing she does is call Megan, if anyone knows what the hell happened with her daughter, it would be her best friend. She dials the number, pressing the phone to her ear and waiting.
“Hello?” Despite the time being almost 3 am, Megan sounds fully awake, and if she’s being honest, there’s a hint of sadness in her tone.
“Megan, do you know what happened to Dani?” She hears silence on the other end.
“What do you mean?” Megan’s voice suddenly sounds slightly strained, and there’s this wooshing sound on her end.
“Well, she just appeared at home tonight, she was acting really strange, and I wanted to see if you knew why?” Another silence, the wooshing stops, and there are footsteps on concrete.
“Strange how?”
“Well, she ate my chicken—which was raw by the way—then she threw up. And I guess she was kind of just staring at me? Also, she seems completely fine, cancer-wise.” The footsteps stop.
“You mean she's at your home, completely fine, and she ate raw chicken.” Megan questions.
“Yes.”
“Okay… Well. Can I come over to see her tomorrow?” Ana nods before she realises Megan can’t see her.
“Yes, please, I need to figure out what’s happening here.”
Megan hangs up first, slipping her phone back into her pocket.
So…
Bubblegum starts, dragging out the ‘O’ sound.
“She’s alive,” Megan says with finality. Bubblegum hums in agreement. Megan takes a deep breath, pressing her lips into a line. Daniela somehow survived. Daniela went from pale-faced on a hospital bed to eating a chicken in her house. That is so confusing…
Yeah, it is.
Daniela wakes with a start. She shoots up from the bed she’s laying in, and scans the room. It’s dark, the only illumination being a small desk lamp on the nightstand. She looks to find her mother laying next to her. The weirdest part is that she can hear her mothers heartbeat, even though she’s halfway across the bed.
She stands with a groan, her stomach aching violently. Her arm jerks, sending the desk lamp to the floor.
I’m still hungry!
Daniela jumps, holding her chest. She walks to the kitchen, but something forces her outside.
I need something alive.
“Okay?” Daniela’s voice is shaky, but she makes her way down the street anyway. Her feet suddenly stop outside a closed seafood restaurant. There’s nobody inside, so Daniela tries to move on, but then her hand is engulfed by the black goo from earlier. It shapes into a claw, punching through the glass of the restaurant.
Finally.
Daniela widens her eyes at the hand, which has changed back. She steps into the building, beelining for the kitchen. She almost drools at the sight of the fish swimming around in a tank. She lunges for it, breaking through the glass and gripping a fish so hard it breaks through the skin. She gobbles the entire thing whole, even the bones.
More.
Daniela grabs a second fish, eating it the same way. She’s about to grab a third when someone kicks her in the face. The black goo wraps around her face, offering protection from anyone seeing her identity.
Daniela turns to who kicked her, finding someone she doesn’t recognise.
“Who are you?” The voice asks through her. The person just stares at her.
“I think I should be questioning who you are,” The person says. Daniela deduces it must be a girl, based on the higher pitched voice under the mask. The girl places her hands on her hips.
“You know you set off an alarm in here,” Daniela stands up, and the girl braces for an attack, but Daniela just hangs her head low, trudging her way out of the store.
HEY! GO BACK! I’M STILL HUNGRY!
Daniela spins around, ready to go back, but she fights it, turning to the exit. The person watches as Daniela spins in circles, slightly concerned.
“Are you… okay?” Daniela doesn’t stop, continuing to spin as she answers.
“Yeah, all good,” Daniela offers a thumbs up. Finally managing to take control, she stops in front of the person, “Well, I’ve got to get going now.”
NO! MORE FOOD!
Daniela walks out of the restaurant, ignoring the voice. She gets two blocks before he speaks again.
I’m still hungry.
“That’s all you’ve talked about since the hospital. Please, shut up,” The voice growls, “What even are you?”
I am Venom.