The Carnage Saga

As me and Marley are flying over Chinatown, still invisible, I look down.

"Is that Ugly Sweater Guy? What's he doing here? And where'd he get that sonic can-- oh. So that's what Chaos wanted that thing for."

Marley looks down too.

"Am daddeh gunna in-twoh-doos yu-sewf?"

"Now? Wrong time, wrong place, Mar."

If you've been wondering how Marley can follow me without being able to see me, I've been leading him via the sound of seagull cries.

Just having Mar follow Cal's power wouldn't work, they're keeping their power restrained at the moment.

Because of something Venom told us before everything went to shit.

Venom's Klyntar half came to Earth because it detected all the magic here.

I reasoned, if Klyntar can detect that, they can probably detect the power of an Omega Class too, which our Klyntar members confirmed.

So, once I enacted the ruse, me and Marley lowered our power, blending in with all the other powers around.

There's several Omega Classes on the battlefield, I saw our robotic members installing their Omega Drives, and two Super Saingans and the most powerful mages on the planet are also on the battlefield.

That should make for a sufficient smokescreen, right?

But I think it's time for us to make another appearance, before our "absence" makes Carnage suspicious.

We land behind the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Company, turning visible, and briefly wreathing ourselves in flames.

FWOOSH

poof

It's to burn the scent suppressant off, because if Carnage sees us, but doesn't smell us, he'll know something's up.

I've still got plenty of scent suppressant on me, in case we need to go into stealth mode again.

Now, I've questioned a lot of abusers after apprehending them, and I have learned far more about their craft than I ever wanted to know. I've learned how they do what they do.

I've learned how they capture, lure, trap, and otherwise acquire their victims.

As the old adage says, know thy enemy.

And as you're probably aware, fluffies are, relatively speaking, not very smart. The intelligence gap between the average fluffy and the average human is a lot smaller than the intelligence gap between said human and the average Lumixian. Naturally, thanks to the Cabal's efforts, the intelligence gap between fluffies and humans is steadily shrinking.

Fluffies may have a myriad of disadvantages, but they've had one big strength all along: a phenomenal sense of smell, better than a human's. Courtesy of their canine DNA.

So when you trick a fluffy, you often have to trick their nose too. For example, some abusers have seen their would-be victims evade their traps, simply because they couldn't be bothered to make real spaghetti as bait, and whatever they used as a substitute didn't smell like spaghetti.

And many fluffies know what spaghetti is SUPPOSED to smell like.

Of course, the abusers have adapted and learned from their embarrassing failures, and have come up with all sorts of ways to make their traps more realistic, more alluring, more irresistible.

We once busted an undercover operation producing "spaghetti juice", to be used as a fluffy lure by abusers. We found them because they were buying amounts of spaghetti and tomato sauce that were ludicrous, even for the Italian restaurant they were using as a front.

That empty spray bottles were being delivered to the restaurant on a regular basis just made it MORE sussy.

According to those abusers I've questioned, if you can lure a fluffy into a trap before their nose tips them off, you've got 'em by the short fluff.

Sometimes, it takes a while for the fluffy's brain to listen to what their nose is trying to tell them.

So that's how Kyle and Niek are succesfully using their illusion powers on the Carnage fluffies. With all the other smells in the air, the illusions' lack of a scent isn't very noticeable.

By the time the Carnage fluffies realize that they're pouncing at illusionary fluffies, they're already in a sonic trap.

Which leads me to the point I wanted to make:

Under all of that red crap, they're still fluffies.

They have the strengths of fluffies... and they have the weaknesses of fluffies too.

I think the red crap is covering a few of those weaknesses for them. They aren't as easy to kill as normo fluffies are.

We're making some progress getting the Klyntar off them, Niv.

We need to be doing more, though.

And I know what might speed this up...

As I pull the sonic cannon out of my bag, I smirk at Marley.

"Whaddya say we turn the pressure up for those slimy bastards?"

Marley nods, grinning.

"Dey nee a bitsie of inn-sen-tif tu gu whewe we wan dem tu be."

"One big steaming pile of incentive, coming right up."

MIKA, be a pal and contact Val for me.

I think it's time for the Eye of the Storm Maneuver.

Contacting Madam Valerie as we speak. But what about Venom and Bellikose?

They know what the Eye of the Storm Maneuver is.

They'll know what to do.

Ah, you're probably wondering what the Eye of the Storm Maneuver is, dear readers.

Lemme put it like this...

You ever play Fortnite?

If you have, you might be able to see where this is going.

Where we dropping, boys?

It's a bit too late for that reference, Niv.

It was too late for that reference five years ago. Just be glad that Niv's not at the wheel right now, he'd probably be doing Fortnite dances like Victor trying to dodge an uncomfortable subject.

...I can't say you're wrong...

We may have need for your power to travel through darkness, Niv.

Just promise me that you won't be dabbing through darkness.

Okay, no dabbing, but that still leaves me with plenty of other options.

No flossing, either.

Phooey, that was my SECOND choice.

Before you ask, dear readers...

FauCorp's still talking to Epic about putting ChaotiX members in Fortnite.

Hey, they already put LITERALLY EVERYTHING ELSE in that game.

As Venom scales the Salesforce Tower, Drake flies up with his pyrokinetic fluffies.

"Eye of the Storm's being deployed, Venom! But you're almost there!"

"Yu bettah gu teww Sawuw tuu, Dwake."

Drake blasts the Carnage fluffies following Venom up with sonic vibrations, sending them falling down, rattling the windows they were crawling on.

SHREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

"Why would I have to tell him that, Venom? Don't worry, if there's anything else he needs to know, Taarn's with him."

Drake doesn't wink, because that would make it too obvious.

Venom reaches the top, enjoying a few brief moments to rest before the next fight.

But as another wave of Carnage fluffies climbs up after them, Drake orders his pyrokinetic fluffies to act.

"Diablo! Dexter! Next wave's coming! You're up!"

"Wite!"

"Hewe we gu!"

Diablo and Dexter fly in circles around the top of the Salesforce Tower, leaving burning trails behind them, heating the air around the top of the building so much that the air begins to ripple.

As the Carnage fluffies climb, they quickly flee back to the ground, their biomass sizzling like bacon.

Venom leaps away and swings off, because the heat was getting to them too.

thwip

Heat does tend to rise, after all.

On the Golden Gate Bridge, one Carnage fluffy, missed by Dew and Tapping, examines the force field, getting as close to it without actually touching it as possible.

Then the force field starts slowly moving towards the city, and the Carnage fluffy quickly turns around, leaping away, using the cars abandoned on the bridge as stepping stones.

When the Carnage fluffy lands on the hood of one car, it pops open, sending the little bastard flying.

SPROING!

Of course, Carnage is watching through the eyes of his minions, from the safety of his hiding place, so not only is he aware of the force field trapping him and his army in the city...

He's already figured out what the force field is doing.

It's shrinking.

SHREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

I fight my way towards Venom's location, Marley zipping around me in steel ball form, knocking Carnage fluffies away.

They can't turn him in that form. How are they supposed to force-feed him that Klyntar crap when they can't find his mouth?

MIKA, is the rest of the squad in position?

They're making their way to the area from multiple directions, Cal.

Feels like we're rushing towards the end, honestly. I was worried that this might be another twelve-parter, or even another TWENTY-PARTER.

The faster this is over, the better.

Yeah, but things are moving TOO quickly. Call it a gut instinct, but I don't think this is going to be over until sunrise.

Well, it's past midnight now. So all we have to is keep going until, what, 6 AM or so? Give or take?

Might have to use a dose of Liquid Insomnia at some point, but I can do this.

You're missing the point, Cal. Think! How many times have we had a cunning plan scuppered by a trump card the enemy was hiding up their ass?

A few times, at least. I get what you mean, Niv. Carnage probably has some tricks in store for us, too.

So you're right. That things are moving so quickly... it just means that this is the easy part.

And if that's the case...

What does the hard part look like?

That force field will be pushing the little red fuckers towards the area we've designated as our boss arena, right? Maybe we should have it KEEP shrinking, and compact those Klyntar like garbage!

We'll keep that one in the back pocket, Niv.

For now, it's set to stop shrinking once the "boss room" is sealed in.

From there, the squad will step up to bat, and the rest of the ChaotiX will be covering the bases.

Have you figured out where we're trying to get all of them, dear readers?

If you haven't, here's another hint.

You know how much I like to throw curve balls...

In Chinatown, Ugly Sweater Guy is having the best night he's had in a while.

Despite the fact that his sonic cannon blasts a random song every time he pulls the trigger.

🎵 "I'M A BARBIE GIRL, IN A BARBIE WOOO-OOO-OOORLD!!!" 🎵

"Aw, man. I hate that song."

That's one of the upgrades Chaos gave it.

Ugly Sweater Guy has already earned enough points for half an hour and change of itchless sleep, and seeing the Carnage fluffies shriek and writhe as his souped-up sonic cannon forces the Klyntar to leave their bodies is satisfying his urge to abuse, if only for a while.

But the cured fluffies thanking him for saving them before being evacuated, the number on his sleeve increasing rapidly with each fluffy saved, and his temporarily gaudy sweater all remind him why he's doing all of this, keeping his abuser instincts in check.

He doesn't think it's a coincidence that Chaos has made his sweater the same colors as Electra, the fluffy he adopted from the streets.

The police and soldiers have no idea where this man in a gaudy sweater came from, but the ChaotiX do.

However, he's running away from any ChaotiX members who look in his direction.

Ugly Sweater Guy unleashes another sonic attack on a trio of Carnage fluffies.

🎵 "SHOT THROUGH THE HEART, AND YOU'RE TO BLAME!!! YOU GIVE LOVE A BAD NAME!!!" 🎵

"Finally, a song I actually like!"

After being purged from their hosts, the red Klyntar flee into a storm drain.

Ugly Sweater Guy points his weapon at the escaping Klyntar, but it's too late, and they're gone.

"Damnit! I hope I don't lose points for that."

He looks at his sleeve, and sighs in relief.

"Good, I don't."

When he looks back at the fluffies, they're gone too.

For a second, he's certain that he saw a white blur.

Meanwhile, in Michelle's office, she peeks out of the window.

She can't see much, because she's trying to keep the curtains as close together as possible, but through the small gap between them, she can see several Carnage fluffies running down the street, being chased by Edward.

Edward's flying on golden dragon wings, his eyes are red, reptilian, and surrounded by golden scales, his teeth are sharper than usual, his arms are covered in more golden scales, and his hands are draconic claws.

Strangest of all, he has a golden dragon tail too. He's getting closer and closer to a full draconic transformation.

They seem to be heading in the direction of the SoMa district.

Michelle quickly retreats back under her desk, now hyperventilating.

"This better all be worth it, Pax!"

With the police and the military having noticed the shrinking force field, they've figured out the gist of what the ChaotiX is doing, and have decided to help with that.

General Lucas runs into Henry and Alpha.

"Private Morris! Robot Cal! You're a sight for sore eyes!"

Henry salutes.

"Nice night for it, eh sir?"

"It is! I thought it was going to rain!"

Alpha laughs.

"Don't tell me you've forgotten MY name, General! It's Alpha. Alpha Korkea, now. Call me Al, EVERYONE does these days."

"My sincerest apologies! But what's with the new look, Al! Last time we met, you were silver!"

"I'm using my Omega Drives right now, General."

"I'll ask what those are later! So where's that vampire fluffy of yours, Morris!"

"At home, sir! We didn't want to bring too many of our fluffy members, in case..."

"Those red fellas infect them too! Frankly, bringing Marley here is risky enough! I wouldn't want one of those things to infect him! Or, God forbid, Cal!"

Alpha laughs nervously, remembering the ChaotiX's mission to the Citadel of Calvins.

"I think I've got a clue what THAT would be like."

"A damn recipe for disaster casserole, I'm assuming! Where's the center of this force field, Morris!"

After Henry whispers the answer into his ear, General Lucas beams.

"Brilliant! I'll tell my men to do what they can to drive the enemy there! But then what!"

"Then it's up to Cal's squad to end this, sir! Venom has dibs on killing the leader of these assholes. And in the ChaotiX, we always respect dibs."

"Keep in mind that the fluffies under Carnage's sway are victims of him too. So tell your men to go non-lethal on them! Sonics are preferred over fire!"

"Sonics, eh! How about I just go shout at them! I'm very good at shouting!"

"You don't say?"

"...Were you programmed to be such a smartass, Al!"

As Scarface grapples with a Carnage fluffy like a couple of angry cats, he calls to Victor.

"SOUW BWUDDAH!!! HIT DIS SUNNUVA BITCH!!!"

Moving on pure instinct, Victor takes aim, but then hesitates.

"YOU'RE IN THE WAY, SOUL BROTHER!!!"

"JUS DU IT!!! SCAWFACE NU CAN HOWD DIS ASSHOWE DOWN AWW DAWK TIME!!!"

Victor sighs, firing the dubstep cannon reluctantly.

🎵 WUB WUB WUB WUB WUB 🎵

As the Carnage fluffy screams, the Klyntar struggling to retain its hold over the stallion, Scarface tears chunks of the biomass off with his teeth, spitting them out before they can latch onto him.

🎵 WUB WUB WUB WUB WUB 🎵

Victor keeps blasting, knowing that the regeneration he and Scarface share can probably fix the damage the sonics are doing to his Soul Brother's eardrums.

🎵 WUB WUB WUB WUB WUB 🎵

Victor's been deafened plenty of times, one time by a pair of arrows to the ears. They met in the middle.

🎵 WUB WUB WUB WUB WUB 🎵

And Victor recovered from that.

🎵 WUB WUB WUB WUB WUB 🎵

But that doesn't mean he's happy about this.

🎵 WUB WUB WUB WUB WUB 🎵

The slimy invader is expunged from its unwilling host.

Orville lands, grabs the stallion, and flies off with him.

But the Klyntar flees into another storm drain, so Victor stops firing.

"Damn it! They keep doing that. Soul Brother, are you alright?"

Scarface peers up at Victor, shaking his head like he's got water in his ears.

"WUT?!? DID VICTOW JUS SAY SUMFIN?!? SCAWFACE ONWY HEAW A WING-IN SOUN WITE NAO!!! SUMWUN WEAWWY GUTTA AWN-SUW DAT FONE!!!"

Victor groans and facepalms.

"Whoops. Sorry about that, Scarface. Don't worry, this shouldn't be a problem for very long."

"WUT?!? SCAWFACE CAN SEE YU MOUF MOO-VIN, BUT SCAWFACE NU CAN HEAW YU!!! YU AM GUNNA HAF TU SPEEK UP, VICTOW!!! ...WUT?!?"

Fortunately, Victor knows sign language. He once delivered a lengthy death threat to a deaf gangster, entirely in sign language.

Unfortunately, Scarface, like many fluffies, doesn't. Kind of hard to sign when you don't have fingers.

Although, Scarface has been making a lot of progress with learning how to read.

He's been determined to join the Fluffy Book Club.

So Victor has another way to communicate with someone who can't hear him.

Something that comes in handy when he's patronising a particularly crowded bar.

"WUT?!?"

Holding his sonic cannon with one hand, Victor uses his other hand to pull a silver pen out of one pouch.

click

He pushes a button on the top with his thumb, making the tip glow cyan, and he quickly writes two glowing holographic words in the air.

Scarface looks up at the words, silently and slowly mouthing them, and after a few seconds, he nods.

The scarred immortals leave, Victor putting the holo-pen away and dismissing the holographic writing with a wave of his hand.

"WUT?!?"

As Danny, Reilly, Ghost and Mayday keep fighting, one of the Carnage fluffies gets an idea.

thwip

Before Danny can blast her with sonics, the slimy little bitch snags his sonic cannon with a red web, yanking it out of his hands.

It goes flying away, over a rooftop.

When two dozen of the Carnage fluffies seize the opportunity and jump Danny, savagely biting him, the others cry out in fear.

"DANNY!!!"

"NU!!! DADDEH!!!"

"NU WOH-WEE, WE AM COME-IN!!!"

But Danny's not going down without a fight.

"Get off me! Get away! Get away! GET AWAAAAAAAAAAY!!!"

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Danny unleashes the most powerful ghostly wail he's ever used, green shockwaves of spectral force sending all of the Carnage fluffies flying over the rooftops too.

Some of them end up crashing into walls, or through windows.

He's heavily panting, covered in bleeding bite wounds, his black and white battle suit is heavily damaged, he's barely standing, but he's alive.

WHUMP

Danny falls to the ground, face down.

The others run over to him, Reilly kneeling down.

"HEY!!! WE NEED HEALING OVER HERE!!!"

pop

Deston appears, and acts the moment he sees Danny.

"Bulan!"

FLASH

The bite wounds are healed by white light, and Danny unsteadily gets to his feet, Reilly helping him up.

"Not... not doing that again tonight."

"Maybe you should go home, Danny."

"No. Cal needs me, Reilly. Get me another sonic cannon, and let's go. Thanks for the assist, Des."

Deston nods.

"Any time. I'll tell Val to expedite the next sonic cannon to you, Danny. Please try not to lose that one too. Zum."

Danny grins as Deston teleports out.

snap

pop

"Look, I'll be fine. Cal's got healing hands, Reilly."

Ghost grins as well.

"Yu gabe us a big scawe, Danee. Ghost wuz su scawedies, Ghost cawwed yu daddeh."

"It's nice to see how much you care, Ghost. C'mon, let's roll."

As the quartet moves on, Reilly gives her boyfriend an inquisitive look.

"But what was that, babe? I've never seen you use a ghostly wail that powerful before."

"It probably has something to do with that ecto-blast power me and Ghost developed recently. I dunno, we'll figure it out if we survive this."

They stop running when a green-rimmed portal to Valerie's lab opens, Jack holding up a brand new sonic cannon.

"Be careful with this one, Danny."

Danny cracks another grin as Jack hands it over to him.

"Yeah, yeah, already heard it from Des, thank you. So when are you guys joining the party? We could have used your time powers back there, Jack."

Jack points his thumb over his shoulder, at the laboratory behind him, the rest of the Nerd Squad, sans Prometheus, Dew and Tapping, frantically working on making more anti-Klyntar weaponry.

The Super Hoskins Brothers can be seen in the laboratory too, Erwin handing each of them a yellow, star-shaped badge, Lou and Tony pinning the badges to their overalls, across from their ChaotiX badges.

It's something the Nerd Squad has been working on for those two for a while.

Prometheus is in San Francisco, having installed his Omega Drives before moving out to assist the robotic Korkeas.

And the two goblins left the moment Dew finished those two goblin-sized sonic cannons, eager to test them out in the field.

"I'm already using my powers here. We're arming team members with sonic cannons and palm-mounted flamethrowers as fast as we can put them together without half-assing it, and Alex is still working with Sander downstairs. But I'd better close this portal before we get any unwanted visitors. Good luck, guys."

The quartet waves as the portal closes.

Which Jack did just in time, because another dozen Carnage fluffies have showed up.

Danny takes aim with his new weapon.

"Let's break this baby in!"

SHREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Taarn-tual and Sarul fight together, and with Taarn having three sonic cannons, they're fighting as effectively as four people.

SHREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Meanwhile, Slayer has mounted a Carnage fluffy, his throbbing no-nos dangerously close to his captive's anus.

Dave is already filming with one hand, using his demonic strength to heft up his sonic cannon with his other hand.

"Su, am yu gunna teww us whewe yu daddeh am bee-fowe Swayew gib yu speciaw huggies, ow af-tew?"

Dave laughs.

"It doesn't really matter what you pick, it's still gonna happen."

Slayer knows that the fluffies under the red slime are Carnage's puppets, unable to defy his psychotic will.

However, this Carnage fluffy attempted to bite Slayer's balls off, and nicked them with a sharp yellow tooth as he narrowly dodged the attempt, so Slayer is not in a very good mood.

And the only reason he isn't in demon form right now is the request Calvin made before the squad moved out to San Francisco.

The captive Carnage fluffy hisses, futilely struggling to escape, so Slayer laughs too.

"Af-tew it am, den!"

And then he thrusts.

"ENF! ENF! ENF! ENF! ENF!"

"SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!"

As Slayer does what he does best to the Carnage fluffy, Dave sees a few more moving to save their comrade.

"No."

He opens fire, effortlessly aiming his sonic cannon at them, and still filming Slayer doing his thing.

SHREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Lou and Tony enter San Francisco via a portal made by Erwin, slipping their Power Gloves on, sonic cannons strapped to their backs.

"Hey, Lou. You've been here before, right?"

"A few times, back when I was hauling manure across the country."

"So was it this bad last time you were here?"

"Ha! It was never this bad, Tone."

A group of Carnage fluffies quickly notice the brothers, and close in on them.

But then the brothers tap the new star badges on their chests three times.

BWIING!

The badges start glowing, and Lou and Tony's bodies are covered by sparkling, rainbow-colored, Hoskins-shaped force fields.

When the Carnage fluffies attack, they end up bouncing off the force fields, leaving the brothers completely unharmed.

BZZZZZT

The Carnage fluffies, on the other hand, take significant damage, large chunks of the biomass being stripped off their bodies.

The Super Hoskins Brothers both crack grins, putting up their dukes.

"You heard Erwin, Tone! We gotta enjoy this while it lasts, 'cause it don't last long!"

"Then let's go, Lou!"

They start fighting the Carnage fluffies with their bare hands.

Me and Marley fly closer to our destination, back in stealth mode, Marley back in fluffy form.

The force field's shrinking faster and faster. It's passed the southern end of the Golden Gate Bridge. Bit by bit, the Carnage fluffies are being driven back.

And a lot of them have been cured, but the slimy red mud-stains possessing them keep fleeing into the sewers before we can burn them.

Of course, we anticipated that from the moment Venom shared their theory that Carnage was hiding down there. We've dealt with enemies who liked to hide in the sewers before. And because of that, the force field is also underground. Sewers, train tunnels, whatever, they're blocked off to the Klyntar too.

So even though the red Klyntar keep escaping their well-deserved destruction, they can't leave San Francisco. There's only one direction they can run.

The direction we WANT them to run. Pretty sure the sewers go under THERE, too. Of course, what we're doing could actually be a boon to Carnage, if we're not careful.

Niv may be right yet again. On one hand, getting all of the infected in one place may make it easier to purge them all in one go.

On the OTHER hand, Carnage will be at his most desperate when he realizes that he's cornered. If there's any better time for him to pull a trump card outta his ass, I can't tell you what that better time IS.

Look, Carnage might be a psychotic fluffy with a mutated Klyntar and a hivemind of minions at his beck and call, but at the end of the day, he's still a fluffy, and not even a very smart fluffy.

And I've dealt with evil fluffies before.

Evil is evil, no matter what shape it comes in.

But Carnage is still a fluffy. And before he was Carnage, he was most likely a normal fluffy.

Physically normal, at any rate.

And those minions he's recruited? Under the red goop, they're normal fluffies too, remember.

So, while luring his minions in with a giant bowl of spaghetti probably won't work--

You've copied Shazi's power and you're currently invisible, it's worth seeing if they'll fall for it.

--we shouldn't have to try very hard to outsmart Carnage.

Come to think of it, we could actually use the expertise of a seasoned fluffy abuser here.

Urgh, I can't believe I said that.

But it's like I said earlier: if anyone knows how to capture a fluffy, it's an abuser.

That, and having someone who knows exactly how abusers think would be a useful asset to us in our efforts to stop abusers.

It's not really any different from consulting a convicted serial killer to catch one currently on the loose, is it?

For all I know, Chaos had a hunch that something like this would happen, and that's why he's playing his game with Ugly Sweater Guy. So he'd have an experienced fluffy abuser on speed dial, one who would actually help us, even if it's only due to generous application of the carrot and the stick giving him very good reasons to behave.

That Ugly Sweater Guy is here supports this theory.

On the other hand, it could have just been a lucky break, and sheer coincidence that Ugly Sweater Guy happened to be playing the game with Chaos when shit went down here. Maybe Chaos is just taking advantage of this fiasco to make the game more interesting.

With Chaos, it's never easy to tell.

Even if Chaos wants Ugly Sweater Guy to help us, there's the fact that he keeps avoiding any ChaotiX members he sees here. Even Kyle, and he's fine with Kyle at Flufftopia!

Yeah, but Kyle's wearing his battle suit right now.

So right now, Ugly Sweater Guy is seeing Kyle the ChaotiX member, not Kyle the Flufftopia employee.

Maybe I should try approaching him in street clothes instead of my battle suit.

Worry about Ugly Sweater Guy later, Cal! Focus on getting out of THIS shitshow alive first!

Right. MIKA, how's the rest of the squad doing?

Getting closer, but remember, as the force field gets smaller, the enemy is being compressed into a smaller area. Our forces are running out of room to fight.

We can pass through the force field.

Send word to Val that I want people surrounding the perimeter. Any of those bastards gets close, hit 'em with the noisemakers.

Huh. That could be a good alternative name for those things.

I've already contacted Madam Valerie, Cal. She's been coordinating the rest of the team's movements from the lab.

That just leaves you to lead your squad to the final showdown.

I STILL think it's too early for that. I have a sneaking suspicion that the battle against the real Carnage is gonna be at least a couple of parts long, and I'm not looking forward to finding out WHY.

Yeah, it's another situation where none of the theories are good.

Down in the sewers, Carnage runs away from the shrinking force field. He's come to know these sewers well, so maneuvering through the twists and turns to stay ahead of the approaching wall of death isn't that hard.

When that one minion stuck a hoof through the force field, Carnage felt it from his hiding place, and it cost him a considerable amount of effort to not scree too.

He's also made a mental note to stay away from Slayer.

His forces in the city have seen Venom on the move up above, and Carnage has guessed where his sire is headed.

A place that Carnage remembers from his old life.

Back when Carnage was still Woody the house fluffy, his owner took him there once or twice.

But Woody never really understood why humans like that kind of thing so much. He didn't really see the point of it.

Secretly, Woody was thinking of better ways he could use the, ahem, implements involved, things he could not do on account of not having anything to hold said implements with.

Of course, now, he's Carnage, and he can manifest slimy red tendrils to hold a wide variety of objects.

So, he has a lot of ideas he's been looking forward to using for a while.

And now, the perfect opportunity has arrived.

Despite the mayhem his minions have been causing up on the surface, Carnage hasn't forgotten what he's doing all of this for.

Revenge.

And he wasn't expecting the target of his revenge to have so many friends come to lend assistance.

He was hoping to get Venom outnumbered and outgunned, but has found himself trying to work out a new plan on the fly.

Not usually something fluffies are good at, but Carnage has become something much more than just a fluffy.

He's become a walking, talking disease, and even if his original body is destroyed, his being shall live on in every cell of his Klyntar.

So long as one cell of the Carnage Klyntar remains, Venom will not be able to rest for long. So long as Carnage lives, this feud will never end.

And Carnage has reasoned that, if Venom wants to drag their friends into the family feud, whatever happens to them is on his sire, not on him.

He deeply enjoyed watching Danny get overwhelmed, even though he wasn't expecting that powerful ghostly wail.

But one of his minions overheard Danny saying he won't be trying that again tonight.

And Carnage has seen that it's possible to disarm the ChaotiX of their anti-Klyntar weapons.

Venom arrives at their destination.

Oracle Park, home of the San Francisco Giants.

But the stadium seems to be deserted, the seats empty, the floodlights and the big screen turned off.

And Venom has the big field where so many home runs have been witnessed by cheering fans all to themselves, for the moment.

Beyond the stadium, the sounds of the battle in the streets can be heard, getting louder as the force field draws closer.

The Klyntar speaks in Tom's mind.

"Boy, does Cal know how to pick a battleground, or does Cal fuckin' know how to pick a fuckin' battleground? Great view of the Mission Bay from here. And it looks like we've got a bit of time before the party bus arrives. So, Tom, ol' buddy ol' pal. Are ya nervous?"

Tom replies out loud, his voice distorted by the Klyntar.

"Nuw-vus? Abowt fite-in Cawnage an aww him fwends? ...Kinna."

"I know it LOOKS that way right now, Tom, but we're not alone in this. Drake, Diablo and Dexter are already in position, and Cal's got the rest of the squad moving into position too as we speak. With blippers, some of them might have beaten us here."

Venom looks across the Mission Bay.

"Yu fink dat Cawnage an him fwends am stiww scawedies of wawas?"

Tom's other replies in an amused tone.

"YOU'RE still a bit scared of the stuff, even though you haven't had to worry about drowning since we met. As long as we're bonded, you could even breathe in space."

"Weawwy?"

"Yup! So breathing underwater is easy, all I've gotta do is filter that oxygen stuff you solids need out of the water. Fish do it all the time, it's not THAT hard!"

"But dewe nu am anee aiw in space, wite?"

"Well, yeah, but my kind LIVES in space. Considering how many Klyntar fear fire and sound, it makes sense that the cold, silent vacuum of space is my kind's favorite hangout. Why do you think I hitched a ride on that rock when I came here, Tom? My landing was HOT, and LOUD, I'd burn up in the upper atmosphere if I didn't have that rock protecting me. Good thing the K'nyd went extinct before they discovered that little trick, or the universe would be in real trouble."

"Da KUH-NID? Wut happund tu dem?"

"Vulcanus blew their planet up."

"Oh. He did dat a wot, huh."

"Why do you think that everyone was so happy when Cal killed the bastard, Tom? But I'll tell you, NO ONE misses the K'nyd. They were even worse than the fucking Tennebites, so most people considered exterminating them to be the ONE good thing that Vulcanus ever did for the universe. Although, once it came to light that he gave humans and fluffies the potential for Phenomenon X, well, heh, exterminating the K'nyd became the SECOND-BEST thing Vulcanus ever did. Especially as far as the Arkaydians are concerned."

"Yuh, cuz wif-owt Fuh-numma-num Ecks, Caw nu wud haf powahs."

"Or he would have gotten powers in a DIFFERENT way. Maybe he was always meant to become a hero."

"Mebbeh."

"We should probably wrap this little chat up, though. It sounds like the assholes are almost here."

Venom nods.

"Yu fink Caw knu dat we am awweady hewe?"

"He said he'd have some drones watching us. I can't SEE them, but the ChaotiX has REALLY good stealth tech to play with. So yes, I think he knows we're already here."

The symbiotic fluffy turns away from the bay, both halves of Venom steeling themselves for the coming battle.

"But da WEAW im-pow-tunt kwest-yun am... du CAWNAGE knu dat we am awweady hewe?"

"Didn't you notice that his flunkies backed off when we reached the parking lot? They were fighting us the whole way here, and then boom, nothing. So I'd say that Carnage knows we were heading this way, and is en route. He's clearly FAMILIAR with Oracle Park."

Not long after their arrival in San Francisco, when they were still getting settled in, Venom once sat in on a game here out of sheer curiosity, clinging to the scoreboard.

They were still rather vulnerable to sonics back then, so when the crowd started cheering, Venom quickly left.

Like Carnage, they don't really understand the appeal of baseball.

To their delight, when Venom came back after the game, they found a veritable smorgasbord of discarded, half-eaten ballpark food: hot dogs, burgers, peanuts, Cracker Jack, cotton candy, nachos, chicken fingers, pretzels...

Neither half of Venom can be called a picky eater.

Now, they regard the thwack of wood on leather and the cheering of a crowd as a sign that they're going to be eating like kings later.

And the staff at Oracle Park don't really mind Venom swinging by to help themselves after the game. The symbiotic fluffy is like a walking, talking garbage compactor, and they make cleaning all of that discarded food up so much easier.

Venom didn't mind the request to pile up all the containers and wrappers together. They consider that a small price to pay for such a sumptuous banquet.

They've even gotten to see some of the Giants, and chat with them after the game.

But after poking their head into the locker room, again, out of sheer curiosity...

Venom feels like they've seen a bit too much of the Giants.