Author's Note

Welcome back, sorry for the delay and short chapter, dealing with the loss of a family member, I'll make a blog post about it in the next day or so explaining it, but it won't mess with my stories, you'll just have to wait for the blog for me to explain everything in greater detail. Enjoy.

''Writing's like gambling. Unpredictable and sporadic successes make you more addicted, not less.''

Ante Up

The skies were a dull grey, followed by bouts of lighting before the rain pilfered the ground, revealing the shape of a figure slashing at the sky, before turning and doing the same in a different direction. A violent pulse of strength followed before the nearest tree was dented, sending pieces of wood splintering in every direction.

''Again.''

Another torrent of slashes and punches at the trees in the immediate proximity occurred once again, the small grove around them appearing more the aftermath of an explosion. The surrounding sounds began to drown out by the ferocity in Eddie's mind but did not go unnoticed by Venom. Each increasing heartbeat was amplified with each raindrop; each punch fueled the next; and the breaths being held filled the man-turned animal with pain.

And the measure of-

''-Pest.'' Venom hissed, impaling the closest squirrel with a crude tendril, seemingly disgusted with having the animal be anywhere near him, flinging it off with a final hiss as it impacted one of the dented trees. ''And again.''

Eddie shrugged from inside his. . .partner and continued to test the limits of what they could do in prepartion of any enemies that would be foolish enough to challenge them after leaving the facility from the experiments that Eddie was more than certain would go on without end, even had it killed him.

Venom, on the other hand, had trouble adjusting. . .to whatever the hell he was, and why he was subjected to what he was, and why he had to be paired with Eddie. But more importantly;

Both of them wanted revenge, no matter what.

''Remind me again how you know what to do,'' Eddie said, the cowl parting to reveal his face, visible bags looking over his being swallowed by the mass as a second skin, that formed perfectly to his being whenever he moved, but still contained enough mystery to know that it was the furthest thing from humanly able but humanly made. ''And how do you know who's chasing us exactly?''

Venom hummed, the feeling reverberating through Eddie as the mass thought, wanting to take time to articulate his thoughts beofre speaking. Any laspe in judgment would be detremental to the both of them, so it wou;d be wise for the pair to take a more careful approach until they held the higher ground over their enemies. ''I said nothing like that; just instincts. If it had been anyone else, it would be the exact same set of circumstances to where fleeing and gathering more informaton would be the normal thing to do.''

''So, why am I praticing when you're the blob of whatever you are that can make claws and shit like that?''

''For the possibility that I am unable to do so, and to possibly devlop your own style of fighting for when we are able to seperate.''

''If we can,'' Eddie quipped, thinking back to what Dr. M said to his many assistants during his torture. The mad doctor's quest for knowledge was only outweighed by his devotion to this. . .Collective. ''The Dr. and The Collective are serious problems that we need to take care of before they-''

''-Whatever those. . .creatures will do is beyond my care, and it should be beyond yours,'' Venom cut in, turning the face Eddie as his face contorted in a frown. ''I know not why the two of us are together, and why we are in this world, but we will have face this if we are to survive this.'' Venom said, wanting to understand the relationship between the two of them so nothing would no be left out.

Eddie continued the motions, as Venom began to probe through some of the memories of Eddie that were available, from seeing the recent torture of his partner to some vague flashes of light that were accompanied by the feeling of depression, sorrow, pain, and the colors red and blue. Parts piqued his interest while others left him feeling strange. It was something he would probe later to understand.

''But another question; what exactly are you? Are you human, an alien. . .or what?'' Eddie asked, finished a two swipe combo, followed by a punch, concentrating on his right hand to deform some of the material into a different shape, the process taking a bit of time to move the material around to form a crude version of what Dr. M used on him to flay his mouth open. ''And how do I know you won't betray me the second what you get what you want?''

Venom merely hummed, seemingly confused by the question, but still curious of the nature of the question itself. What was he? Was he even a he? Did he have a heart? ''I am. . .unsure; but I do know that we have more questions than answers, and we know to some degree, who we have to torture to get those answers.'' Venom said, hissing and attempting to formulate a plan of action.

''Then we had better get better at this,'' Eddie said, clutching his clawed fist and looking to the distance, flashes of memories of his past going through as breezes of wind. ''Where should we start first? We're by ourselves, and we-''

''-We will take each part of this as we have to face them. . .partner.'' Venom said, before going silent, Eddie taking the hint as he began to pratice once again, though with a slight renowed vigor as the feeling began to sink in of what he had to do in order to survive in this new and strange world, and with this. . .thing no less.

''And whenever we find this Dr. M, he will be the one we take our time with; the things he did to me that I remember just. . .can't be forgiven,'' Eddie grunted, impaling both his claws into a tree, struggling to pull them out as he flexed his arm close to the breaking point before stopping.