Chapter Text
“So what's this whole case about again?” Steve questioned, drumming a pencil on the desk in the conference room of Stark Tower. Tony had called everyone into an emergency meeting, exclaiming that the police in San Francisco had begged him to take a case.
Steve was sitting by the table, holding a pen in his hands. Bucky was sitting right next to him, aimlessly poking at Steve’s hair with his right arm, as he wasn't wearing the prosthetic arm that Shuri had made for him. Sam sat on the opposite side of Steve, scrolling through his phone. Natasha sat on the opposite side of the table, absentmindedly drawing swirls on a piece of paper with a pen. Clint sat in a corner, softly thrumming an arrow in his hand. All in all, only Steve seemed invested in what Tony had to say.
“Something to do with aliens.” Tony replied, tapping away at the holographic keyboard. “San Francisco PD contacted me a day ago, said they were suspicious that an alien they thought to be dead was actually alive, and dropping bodies.”
Tony then pulled up a picture of a humanoid creature, standing back to let everyone in the room view it. It looked like a man, except it was nearly a staggering ten feet tall and looked to be made of tar, or some similar substance. Not to mention, it had silvery white eyes and long, sharp, jagged teeth, along with a terrifyingly long tongue. The Avengers hadn't seen anything like it before. Everyone in the room stared at the creature, questions hanging in mid air.
“What the hell is that thing?” Natasha asked incredulously, breaking the silence and voicing a question that nearly everyone in the room had. She wasn't typically disturbed by much, but whatever creature was on the screen seemed a bit intimidating, even to her.
“It says here that's it's called a symbiote. Basically, it's an alien, an alien that is bonded to a human host.” Tony explained. “San Fran PD says they believe it died two months ago in an accident, but they now have evidence to suggest it's still alive, and they want us to handle it.”
“Sounds fun.” Droned Bucky, who wasn't particularly interested in the conversation. Steve had dragged him into the meeting, insisting Bucky needed to do something while living at Stark Tower. Bucky wasn't particularly pleased.
Tony tilted his head, a bit of a knowing laugh escaping his mouth. “Yeah, well, San Fran PD is pretty frantic to stop the killings, so they want us to fly there as soon as possible.”
Clint, who had started listening intently after bodies were mentioned, lifted his head at that statement. “How many bodies are there?” He asked.
Tony’s eyes scanned through the information he had been sent. “So far, at least a dozen, but police suspect there might be a total of two dozen.”
Natasha huffed slightly, sitting up somewhat in her seat. “I can see why they want us to fly out there so badly.” She ran a hand through her hair, then took another glance at the picture. “Did they say what the cause of death has been?”
Tony pulled up a file he had been sent, and scanned through it. “Police have been finding the bodies with the heads cut clean off. They don't know how, but they are finding teeth marks on the bodies, so you can venture to guess how the heads are disappearing.”
“Man eating alien, hm?” Commented Sam, who was sitting next to Steve and tapping his fingers on the desk. “We should probably get some more information on this alien. It's not really best to go in blind.”
“I’ve been contacting anyone I can get ahold of to ask about these symbiotes. The only person who knew a lot about them is dead.” Tony pulled up a different picture, one of a man. “This is Carlton Drake. He ran illegal human experiments on homeless people using these aliens. He died in a rocket crash two months ago, the same crash that was believed to have killed the alien we’ve been assigned to take care of.”
Clint, who was sitting in the corner, shook his head disapprovingly. “Human experiments, hm?”
“Well, I’m gonna keep trying to get ahold of someone who knows something about these aliens. In the meantime, we should all pack and get ready to fly out to California.” Tony remarked, and everyone nodded. “Alright, let's do this.”
With that, most of them left the room, but Natasha stuck behind as Tony clicked away at the keyboard.
“Doesn't an alien seem a bit strange?” Natasha remarked, glancing at the photo again. “I mean, we’ve faced aliens before, but nothing like this…. this thing.”
“Yeah, well, our lives themselves are strange, aren't they? An alien shouldn't be too hard to take care of.”
“I’m just saying, you said it was bonded to a person. An alien I can deal with, but said alien having a human host adds a whole new layer onto this case.”
“Exactly why I’m calling in some backup,” Tony remarked, pulling up messages on his computer, “because we’ll need more than our regular team for this one.”
~~~~~
Peter pulled one of his earbuds out of his ears as soon as he heard the word ‘alien’. Aliens had always been somewhat of a strange concept to him, and they had always been fascinating to him. So when Tony dragged him to Stark Towers and told him that there was a man-eating alien in California, Peter was more than a little intrigued.
“There's an alien in San Francisco?” Peter asked, looking at Tony, who nodded. Peter gripped his phone slightly, his eyebrows raising a bit in surprise.
“Yes, and we're gonna need you to come with us to San Francisco to get him.” Tony replied. He didn't seem too phased by the whole situation; despite dealing with aliens before, Tony didn't particularly believe that they were dealing with anything dangerous. How hard could it be to fight an alien bonded to a human? And man, that poor human, thought Tony.
“Oh sweet! I’ve always wanted to go to San Francisco!” Peter exclaimed. As excitement flowed through him, a fleeting worry also shot through his mind; he had exam reviews all next week at school. “Are we gonna come back here afterwards? I kinda have exam reviews that I can't miss.”
Tony smiled, glancing briefly at Peter while he walked down the long hallway. “We’re gonna go there, capture this alien and come back here. Figure out a way to get it out of whatever poor person it's inhabiting.” Tony replied, stretching his arms a bit. He opened the door to a room on one of the many floors of Stark Tower. Tony walked in, and Peter followed, typing a quick text to Ned and May. If he disappeared again without saying anything, May’d have his head. Well, his or Tony’s. And Ned would just pout at him, and Peter would rather not see Ned pout. Peter never liked seeing Ned upset.
“Oh, I’m gonna need to pack.” Peter exclaimed, looking around at the empty room. “I don't have a change of clothes or anything like that here.”
“I had Happy pack you some stuff, you can pack anything else you’ll need. We’re flying out tonight.” Tony stood up and walked out of the room, and shot one last glance to Peter. “I’ll come in and check on your progress in an hour. Try and be ready by 6.”
“Yes sir, Mr. Stark!” Peter cried, and Tony smiled. And with that, he was gone.
~~~~~
Hungry.
Eddie sighed as the all-too familiar voice of Venom filled his head. “We just got a head two days ago, bud, remember?”
Need a head every three or so days. Venom remarked. Otherwise, we might-
“Might munch on my internal organs, yeah, I know. Nothing you can't reverse, right?” Eddie sighed, pulling up his computer. “We should start looking for heads in other cities. We’re attracting a lot of attention. Wouldn't want some superhero trying to put us down.”
They wouldn't have a chance. Venom rumbled. We wouldn't let them harm us.
“I know you wouldn't, bud.” Eddie pressed a kiss to Venom, who was materialized over his shoulder. Eddie felt a shiver of happiness from that small gesture, and he smiled. “Alright, let me finish this article and we’ll run over to another city and find a bad guy.”
Eddie felt a surge of happiness thrum through their bond, and he smiled. As disgusting as it was to eat people, it was well worth it for how happy it made Venom. Not to mention the stellar side effects- Eddie had never had such strength in his life. And the feeling of safety and protection that came from being suited up was also quite pleasant. Eddie figured there were worse situations than being bonded to an alien. God knows it may have gotten him into a whole shitload of bad situations, but the benefits were worth it. Besides, he loved Venom too much to let him go.
Eddie typed away on his computer for nearly two undivided hours, until he finally finished his article. Yawning, he stood up to stretch, but stopped when Venom darted out a few tendrils and began massaging Eddie’s shoulders and upper back.
“Thanks bud.” Eddie hummed, pouring himself a cup of water. “Alright, I guess it's time to go head hunting, huh?”
Yes. Need food.
“Alright. Let's drive over to Oakland, find someone there. We can't just keep finding bad guys in San Fran.”
Alright.
Eddie walked outside, hopped on his bike, and drove all the way to Oakland. He decided to prowl the alleys, as he had found through his two months with Venom that alleys were a gathering place for crime. As Eddie walked from alley to alley, he heard a scream nearby and raced towards it. There, at the source of the scream, he found a woman laying on the ground, a man standing above her with a woman at his side. Eddie grabbed the man by the shoulder and nearly threw him into the wall, and Venom shot the second woman down before she could hit Eddie. Then, as Venom held the two criminals against the wall, Eddie helped the woman on the ground up.
“Thank you, thank you.” She huffed, clutching at her chest. She grabbed the purse and wallet that had been discarded on the ground, and she turned and ran. Eddie took the time to turn and face the two criminals, who were staring at him and Venom with wide eyes. Venom then crawled all over Eddie’s body, engulfing him until not a speck of his skin was visible, and it was all Venom. Perhaps in a bought of mercy, Venom knocked both of the criminals out at the same time before killing them, so one wouldn't have to witness the other die.
Suddenly, Venom clamped down onto the poor man’s neck. Teeth met bone, and Eddie recoiled slightly as blood poured from the man’s neck and down onto Venom. Venom quickly devoured the man’s head, and moved onto the woman, ripping her head off in a matter of seconds. As both bodies fell to the ground, Venom relished the taste of the heads of the two fuckers they had just eaten. However, still not satisfied, Venom tore out a few organs from both bodies, devoured them, then walked Eddie back to his bike.
“Why’d you eat so much?” Eddie hissed, revving his bike and driving onto the road.
You said you didn't want attention. By eating a lot just now, we won't have to eat for at least three days. May even be able to hold off for four days.
“Oh. Well, thanks then, bud.”
You are welcome, Eddie.
Eddie gripped the handlebars of his bike and revved it as he sped back towards San Francisco, hoping to not run into much trouble. However, with Venom at his side, Eddie seemed to attract nothing but trouble.