Chapter 18: CH-18. Venom, Mike and Kerry
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The black kitten that Mike had turned into took a deep breath, feeling a confusing mix of voices reverberating in his mind.
A hoarse, malevolent voice snarled, "What's wrong with this human body? Why is he the leader? This is revolting, absurd, pathetic!"
Another, gentler voice echoed with concern, "Is the master okay?"
"Hey, I can't control my body anymore… it feels like I'm trapped in a dark little room..."
"Everyone, be quiet so I can think." Mike rubbed his temples, squatting down as he tried to clear his mind.
With this chaotic sharing of thoughts, Mike quickly started piecing together the bizarre situation he found himself in.
It all began with a presence within him—a symbiotic entity named Venom.
Venom, originating from a distant planet, had ended up on Earth through a mishap with a New York-based research company's spacecraft. Being a symbiote, Venom couldn't survive independently and needed a host to bond with. After searching, it finally selected Mike as a host for parasitism.
But this is where things got complicated.
Symbiotes generally lack a defined gender, existing in a fluid state. But when Venom bonded with Mike, it activated a unique ability Mike possessed—the Lord of Dependents. This ability enabled Mike to absorb aspects of any life form he came into "close contact" with. As a result, he now shared the symbiote's traits, explaining the recent transformation that made him appear like a creature cloaked in liquid black with streaks of white.
Things didn't stop there. Driven by its parasitic instincts, Mike—now influenced by Venom—found himself connecting with Kerry, his pet orange tabby cat, in the same way.
In short, Venom had parasitized Mike, and Mike had, in turn, parasitized Kerry. This strange symbiosis led to three species—symbiote, human, and cat—merging into one being, with Mike as the dominant mind. But both Venom's and Kerry's thoughts were accessible to him, allowing them to communicate.
"This human has remarkable powers." Venom acknowledged, now grasping the shared situation, "But… if you've bonded with my abilities, why can I still parasitize you?"
"I think I get it." Mike sighed, piecing things together. He had indeed acquired the symbiote's powers, but his human physiology remained, forming a peculiar balance.
"This is the first time I've seen three beings coexist like this." Venom remarked, its hoarse voice tinged with surprise and excitement, "But wait… I can sense that this combined body is incredibly powerful!"
"Powerful?" Mike glanced down at his paw, now covered in sleek black fur with a white lightning-like stripe. He didn't exactly feel intimidating. He looked like a cuddly, dark-coated kitten, although appearances could be deceiving.
"Yes, yes!" Venom enthused, "With this power, we could finally defeat those who seek to control us!"
Mike's understanding deepened. Venom wasn't the only symbiote on Earth—three others had arrived as well, with far more hostile intentions, seeking to conquer humans and use Earth as a stepping stone for invasion.
"So, it's another 'destroy Earth' plan. When will it end?" Mike rolled his eyes, feeling annoyed by this constant cycle of invasions.
Suddenly, he stiffened, sensing a presence. Turning, he spotted a young woman scaling the nearby building's wall in eerie silence. Her eyes were vacant, and brown barbs jutted from her hands.
"It's another symbiote—I can feel it!" Venom warned him urgently.
"You could have mentioned that sooner!" Mike muttered, swiftly darting backward in a flash of black lightning.
The model-like woman immediately pursued him, moving with an unnatural speed, her barb-covered hands morphing into massive, menacing hammers that crashed down toward Mike.
Mid-air, Mike suddenly stopped, his mouth twisting into a wicked grin. His kitten tail swung up and elongated, transforming into a four-meter-long, razor-sharp sword.
With a deadly swipe, he sliced the woman's hammer-like arms cleanly in half!
The symbiote within her recoiled in shock. It hadn't expected that the "waste" Venom, now in the form of a mere kitten, could be this formidable.
As the hostile symbiote tried to retreat, Mike struck again, the elongated tail blade slicing her from head to toe with ease.
---
Washington, D.C.
Late at night, the lights in the house still glowed as Diana, in a soft beige dress, sat in her living room. With her long legs crossed, she read a book on law and archaeology, her serene beauty enhanced by the warm glow of the desk lamp.
But every few moments, Diana found herself glancing at the door.
Though she knew Mike wouldn't be back from New York tonight, she couldn't help herself. It was a strange, almost involuntary habit. For sixteen years, she'd grown used to him bursting through the door, sharing his day, happy or sad, filling the home with his presence.
"Is this… loneliness?" She murmured, surprised by the thought.
Before she'd met him, she'd spent decades alone in the human world, content with solitude. But now, in just a single day, his absence felt… unbearable.
This unexpected feeling, strange and intense, lingered as she put her book away and moved to Mike's room. She lay on his bed, inhaling his familiar scent and closing her eyes. In her mind, a thousand questions floated, 'What's he doing right now? Is he safe?'
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Queens, New York.
"Venom, I never said I wanted to kill her." Mike remarked, as he hovered above the roof, looking at the symbiote-possessed woman he'd sliced in half.
Unlike before, when he could simply adopt powers from his aunt or any Devourer he encountered, this parasitic relationship was unique. Now, Mike had the dual powers of Venom and Kerry. He controlled Venom internally, while Kerry's feline body remained his outward form. The three minds operated like a system of their own.
It was only thanks to Venom's guidance that Mike had been able to transform his tail into a weapon.
"This host isn't going down that easily." Venom commented as they watched the woman's body knit itself back together with no visible blood, only thick, viscous brown liquid.
"This human host is far gone." Venom explained in Mike's mind, "That symbiote has fully taken over—she's effectively a puppet. Her brain and body have been destroyed; she's basically in a vegetative state."
"In that case, no need to hold back." Mike said, his tiny black mouth curling into a grim smile that revealed rows of sharp, devilish teeth. For a brief moment, his innocent kitten appearance shifted into something monstrous.
Seeing no other option, the symbiote within the model girl fully armored up, her body sprouting thick, spiked barbs. Just as she prepared to launch her attack—
Mike moved.
The woman blinked, looking down in stunned disbelief. A gaping hole had appeared in her chest, large enough to see through to the other side.
"What just… happened?" the symbiote wondered in shock.
It wasn't just that Mike was fast—his speed was beyond comprehension. Her protective shell, her flesh, her bones, even her internal organs, had been pierced instantly.
"It's useless, you won't kill it like this! The symbiote can repair itself almost infinitely!" Venom shouted hoarsely.
The black kitten behind the model girl ignored him and continued to sprint forward at lightning speed. Its tiny body looked like the warhead of a supersonic missile!
BANG!!
The model girl, who was also parasitized by the symbiote, now had another dark hole in her lower abdomen, with her body not yet fully repaired.
The black kitten's high-speed movement back and forth was like lightning, leaving deep scratches on the rooftop. The surrounding walls were also covered with numerous claw marks!
As if under attack from a force a thousand times stronger than a storm, the model girl, standing in the middle, was unable to move. Her body was continuously ravaged and torn apart, and the symbiote's repair speed was far too slow to keep up with the destruction!
"Why? On what basis?!" The symbiote within the model girl's body cried out in terror, "That damn Venom—what kind of monster has he parasitized? Why is the difference in strength so huge?!"
It couldn't keep up!
Brown liquid gushed out from the girl's mouth and quickly surged toward the crowded street below.
"Stop it, it's trying to parasitize other humans!" Venom screamed sharply.
"Not a chance."
The black kitten waved its paw indifferently, and its oversized claws shot forward like tentacles, firmly grabbing the brown liquid still above the street.
"You can't kill me!" The brown liquid-shaped symbiote thrashed violently, struggling in a frenzy.
"Oh."
The black kitten showed a sinister smile, drew the symbiote closer, and tossed it directly into its open mouth!
Mike closed his mouth, not even needing to swallow, and the symbiote disappeared from existence.
But it hadn't just vanished.
Instead, it had been exiled to the alternate dimension within Kerry.