Squad Up
It’s Cal again. Only been, like, half an hour tops since my visit to Fairy Hollow.
After Venom told me that Carnage is coming back to San Francisco, and explained why, me and Marley returned home to Cetteville, to fill Vic and the Docs in.
We didn’t return to find any more letters from… let’s just call them the accuser for now, but we weren’t gone for very long in real-time, so that makes sense.
But Deston had literally been to Hell and back, to ask about Oliver, and he had his own news to deliver.
The good news is that Oliver is still in Hell where he belongs, currently sharing a giant washing machine with his father in the eighth circle.
They were both guilty of money laundering, which explains that particular punishment.
The bad news is that Oliver has been eliminated as a suspect behind the letter I got, so we’re no closer to solving that mystery.
The guards are now doing a headcount, to see if any of our other damned enemies have gone missing. They’ll be starting on the tenth circle and working their way up, because a number of our dead enemies were fluffy abusers.
Vanessa’s a possible suspect too. If she’s met Ollie Down There, there’s a chance she knows that they were both killed by me.
They’ve got a lot in common. If they met, they’d quickly become pals, motivated by their mutual hatred of me.
If Dehak knows about Vanessa, he’d probably want to summon her.
So yeah, I haven’t ruled out the possibility that she’s the accuser, and if she is the accuser, well, her motive would be easy to guess.
Wouldn’t be the FIRST time she tried to destroy your reputation out of sheer spite.
Secretly, I’m hoping it’s her, because I owe her a silver stinger to the eye at the bare minimum.
The bitch really can’t complain about me killing Demon Bertie anymore, considering that she had my parents, uncle and grandfather killed long before I met Bertie.
Maybe I can bait her into fucking up. I wonder if she still hates Barney the Dinosaur?
But I’m getting ahead of myself, we haven’t even confirmed that she’s the accuser.
There isn’t a whole lot I can do until we know who sent that letter, like I told Doc.
So, until there are any further developments regarding the letter, the San Francisco situation will be my main focus.
If the Venom Klyntar is to be believed, Carnage has spawned, and both Carnage and the newborn Klyntar are en route to San Fran as we speak.
While we don’t know for sure what the latter wants, we’re pretty sure that Carnage’s desire is to either recruit or kill his “offspring”, which might potentially be stronger than Venom and Carnage combined.
This gives us a concrete goal to pursue for now: put a squad together, go to San Francisco, meet up with Venom, hopefully find the spawn of Carnage before Carnage does.
We have a number of experienced Klyntar hosts who can help Carnage’s spawn, and whoever it’s bonded with.
Oh, that’s an easy one. Didn’t Mallichi say that there was a feral herd attacked near New Altepetl City?
That’s right, and Carnage was the probable culprit. Perhaps that is when he spawned the new Klyntar.
Which would explain who the new Klyntar’s host is: a survivor of said massacre.
So they’re going all the way from Cleveland to San Francisco. Wait, didn’t Venom make the trip from New York by hitching a ride in a Flufftopia truck?
Yeah. Their Klyntar half didn’t know that Earth has Tele-Ports until after they made it to San Francisco.
But I see your point, Niv. The spawn of Carnage-- name to be determined-- might be using the same trick.
The Klyntar have genetic memory, I think. It’s partially why they’re weak to fire and sonics. They remember the heat of the forge and the clanging of the hammer when their god, the King in Black, created the first of their kind, that black sword wielded by both Umbra and myself, which inadvertently empowered you, Niv, along with that potion of draak essence and blood magic.
Yeah, yeah, I know, I was THERE for that. So are you done recapping shit for the readers, Cal?
Yup. If they’ve heeded my warnings from past stories, they didn’t even need a recap, but hey, some people see a “WET PAINT, DON’T TOUCH” sign and still decide to touch the paint anyway.
I swear, if you put a big sign that says “END OF THE UNIVERSE BUTTON, DO NOT PUSH EVER” next to a big red button, some idiot would push the button the nanosecond you take your eyes off it.
Let’s just get back to the spawn of Carnage problem.
If the spawn and its host are taking a truck to San Francisco like Venom did, the question is, how do we even know which truck to be looking for? I dunno how many trucks drive that route.
I think that’s something I’ll have to have the Docs look into while I assemble the squad.
And on that note…
Right now, I’m at the School with Marley and Deston, in the meeting room, looking at the big screen.
As usual when I’m assembling a squad, there are cartoon heads of all ChaotiX members on the screen, now including the most recent additions: Ursula, ZJ, Rhez and Taka.
The same is being displayed on my COMP’s touchscreen. I can just add members on my COMP and the big screen will immediately update, it’s very convenient.
And team members who have been assigned to a squad get a notification informing them. With the technology and magic we have access to, assembling the squad isn’t very difficult.
We can fit our ChaotiX work into our schedules just fine.
There are green circles around the heads of me, Marley, Venom, Taarn, Sarul, Kirk, Reilly and Mayday.
So it’s a partial reunion of the squad from Carnage’s attack on San Francisco.
“Okay, I think that’ll be enough for now. Carnage might be flying solo this time, but if he’s bringing another army, the rest of the team is on reserve.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I spot Jeff walking in with Electra.
“Putting another squad together, Cal? Wait, there isn’t an Invasion coming, is there?”
I turn to Jeff with a smirk.
“Nah, we’ve gotta look into a thing in San Francisco.”
“…San… Fransisco…”
Suddenly, Jeff has the look of a shell-shocked war vet on his face, staring a thousand-yard stare.
I don’t need to read his mind to know what he’s thinking about.
“Please don’t tell me there’s another army of evil Klyntar fluffies heading there.”
Called it.
“Just two this time, and one may not be so evil. That’s what we’re going there to find out, dude.”
Marley, sitting on the table as usual, cracks a grin.
“Yu wanna tag awong, Jeff?”
Jeff shakes his head, waving his arms in a “No way, José!” kind of way.
“Hell the fuck no! I still have nightmares about last time, so unless Chaos,” finger quotes, “asks me to pitch in again, I have better things to do. We’re not capable of fighting the battles you and Cal fight, Marley.”
“Weww, yu am wowk-in awn dat, wite?”
“Yeah, but I’m still not much use without any tech.”
Electra looks up at me.
“Su when am dem Dehak Bustahs gunna be weddy, Caw?”
I shrug.
“Don’t ask me, ask Val. So, uh, did you guys have a reason to walk in here? Because we’re in the middle of something, as you can see.”
Jeff looks up at the big screen, at his own cartoon head. Yeah, he’s on there too, since he is a ChaotiX member, and Electra isn’t an official member yet, but we can add her when the time comes.
“Eh, I just wanted to ask if you need any consulting today, but I can see you probably don’t. We’re gonna head to the training facility, I’ve got a session with Vic. Good luck in San Francisco, Cal.”
“And good luck with Vic. He’ll probably tell me how the session went. What’re you covering this time?”
“It’s another parkour lesson, so I’d better get running.”
Jeff exits with Electra, and I turn back to the screen.
“Okay, let’s get back to the squad. As I was saying, I don’t think we need more initial members than this, but the rest of the Carnage Catchers-- we might need to rename that one-- are ready to join us in San Francisco if the need arises, as is the rest of the team.”
“Su wen am we gunna moov owt tu Fwis-koh, daddeh?”
“First of all, Mar, folks in San Francisco don’t like it when you call the city that. Second, we don’t know when exactly Carnage and his spawn will arrive there. For now, we just need to meet up with Venom and work out a game plan. And Des?”
“Yes, Cal?”
“I’m gonna need a list of every shipping truck going from Ohio to California. Carnage’s spawn may be hitching a ride in one of those trucks, like Venom was. Come to think of it, Carnage might be doing that too.”
“I think I’ll ask Suzy to handle that.”
Meanwhile, further to the east, a certain truck drives down the freeway, heading to San Francisco.
The truck that the new Klytar host is clinging to, unseen by the driver.
In fact, the driver is still unaware that he has a hitchhiker (well, two hitchhikers), and he’s happily singing along to the radio as he drives, an open box of donuts in the passenger seat, the windows rolled down.
He bought plenty of snacks at the truck stop, so he hopes he won’t run out until the next time he needs to refuel.
🎵 “Aaaaallllllllll my exes live in Texas, that’s why I hang my hat in Tennesseeeeee!” 🎵
He’s not exactly the world’s greatest singer.
thwip
When the driver hears that sound, he glances at the passenger seat.
The donut with little marshmallows on it that he was saving for last is missing from the box, and for a second, the driver is certain that he saw a blur of red and dark blue.
“Huh. Maybe I’m spending too much time on the road.”
At an airport in Ohio, Carnage hides in the cargo hold of a plane, waiting for takeoff.
After stumbling into the airport, he overheard the luggage handlers say that this plane is heading to San Francisco.
And when they weren’t looking, he snuck aboard the plane, planning to hitch a ride.
Carnage doesn’t know this, but that trick has worked for others in the past.
He too has the genetic memory of Venom’s journey to San Francisco, but he had a hunch that his spawn is already using that trick.
And he may have started off as an ordinary fluffy, but Carnage is clever enough to realize that a plane is faster than a truck.
He’s certain to beat his spawn to their mutual destination, and with a little luck, he can get to the spawn before his own “father” even knows he’s back.
The only downside of this strategy is that, to Carnage’s knowledge, there is nothing to eat in the cargo hold, not even so much as an impossible to open bag of obligatory peanuts.
He's going to be ravenous when the plane lands.
In San Francisco, Anti-Venom prowls through another alleyway, not far from the apartment she used to live in, back when she was just Michelle Howard, attorney at law.
She’s been considered missing, presumably deceased since Carnage’s attack on San Francisco, and her ex-bosses at the law firm she used to work at had bigger things to worry about than the disappearance of a disappointingly flaky employee.
Namely, they had a visit from Victor to worry about, because he learned how crooked that firm is.
But Anti-Venom doesn’t think about her old life as just Michelle anymore. She’s got a new life, and power beyond her wildest dreams.
Even if that power isn’t entirely under her own control as she initially believed.
Suddenly, Anti-Venom hears Pax’s voice, speaking through her Klyntar once more.
“Michelle, I feel the need to inform you that Calvin Korkea is heading your way.”
“For fuck’s sake, really? Is he coming for ME?”
“No, no. He is planning to speak with Venom, about those two Klyntar I told you about.”
“Carnage and whatever the fuck his spawn is planning to call itself.”
“Language, Michelle. But yes, you are correct. Calvin Korkea has guessed that you have been empowered by your own Klyntar, and you do not want to cross paths with him yet. To be blunt, he is stronger than you by far. But do not fret, for something else has come up that may draw his attention away from you. For now, I’m going to need you to lay low. Hide your empowered state.”
Anti-Venom groans in resignation, but with a thought, her slimy white suit turns into a white hoodie, jeans and sneakers, exposing her pretty face and blonde hair.
“Ffffffffffine. So what are you talking about, Pax? Do you have a distraction planned?”
Pax’s voice chuckles, Michelle still hearing his voice like he’s right next to her.
“No, I do not have a distraction planned…”
In New Jersey, the burning entity hides in another cave.
He was having a hard time finding a cave that didn’t already have a bear hibernating in it, because killing bears was why he had to move.
Suddenly, the entity sees a portal of swirling black and white open up, a skeletal biker with a skull burning black walking out.
“Big D says we’ve hit a snag. The people who we’re waiting to make a move are waiting for YOU to make a move. We’re stuck in a fucking Catch-22.”
The burning entity rolls his eyes.
“Pax. Should have known that light-lover would meddle in my affairs sooner or later. Still, I’ll take him over Chaos. Is there no way to force Pax’s hand?”
“He’s trying to force OUR hand, Dehak said. It’s like a game of chicken.”
“Yes, I know all about Earthlings and the asinine games they like to play. So what are we going to do? What are Dehak’s instructions for me, Rider?”
“For now, just wait here and try not to kill any more bears. We need Korkea’s attention to be focused on San Francisco before you do your thing here.”
The Rider pulls his Key to Infinity out of his jacket pocket.
“You can afford to wait, right? We’ll let you know when it’s go time.”
“Don’t forget that I have matters of my own to resolve with Calvin. If he is in San Francisco, and I’m here...”
“Oh, don’t worry. Dehak knows a thing or two about Korkea’s capabilities. You’ll get your rematch.”
The burning entity narrows his eyes.
“Good. Because there’s only one thing I need Calvin to do for me now: DIE SCREAMING. He had his chance to be my herald, and he BLEW it.”