The Andromedans

Dylan Brock is pretty fucking pissed off.

He'd been fighting Bedlam, a twisted Symbiote version of his dead father. He was bonded to Venom and has unique powers with Symbiotes, resulting in his role as Chainbreaker, the only one who can free a Klyntar Symbiote from the universal hive and thus, protect them from the King in Black. It resulted in him making his own hive, but now his dad is gone, Bedlam is gone, Venom is gone, Sleeper wasn't with him and now he can't even access his own hive. Something really fucked up is going on.

He's always been able to sense Symbiotes, especially any he's ever bonded to, but he can't feel anything here.

He's in New York. He knows these streets and buildings by heart. But something's off. He can feel it and he knows something about this familiar city is subtly and devastatingly different, but he can't put his finger on what it is.

Then he feels it.

He could feel the Symbiotes the whole time, but ever since that flash of blue light, they'd had such a different feel that he didn't recognize the instinctive sensation for what it is.

Someone else's hive.

He follows the sense of being a stranger in his own home and the telling tickle at the back of his throat.

Around a corner.

Down an alley.

Two blocks down the street.

Down another alley.

Up the fire escape eleven stories to a rooftop.

Through the roof access door.

Down the stairs two floors.

Down the hall.

Around the corner.

Full stop.

He turns towards the apartment door and knocks.

It only takes a moment before the door opens.

He knows this man intimately. He knows all of Venom's former hosts intimately. He was one with them before he was one with him.

“Dylan, you okay, man? You look like you've seen a ghost.”

Lee Price is wearing his black trenchcoat, the white spider symbol stretched across the entire front from shoulders to feet.

Like this, he has the power to control anyone's will, making them his eager slave. Maniac is one of the most dangerous supervillains on the planet and Lee himself doesn't have a single care about any life he takes.

The man literally has no empathy, no love for anyone but himself.

So why is he looking at Dylan with furrowed brows while deep concern practically radiates from his entirety?

“Dylan, what happened? You're small again. Did someone hurt you?”

Dylan's eyes go wide and he isn't prepared to react when Maniac gives him a grounding hug and gently takes him by the shoulders to lead him inside.

He shuts the door and locks five deadbolts before casually taking Dylan's hand – as if they're on a date – and sitting on the couch with him.

“Do you want something to drink? Do you want me to call anyone for you?”

Dylan just stares at him wide eyed and shakes his head.

“What the fucking hell is going on with you, Astron? You haven't said a word, you look like you aren't a supersoldier anymore and you're watching me like I'm a ticking bomb.”

Dylan's head is spinning, he's not sure if he's going to pass out from disorientation because WHAT THE FUCK??!!!

Lee Price seeming to genuinely care about him?

Astron?

Supersoldier?

“Heyheyhey! Buddy. Breathe. Do you want to bond so I can heal you?”

Dylan starts to fall over and Maniac catches him easily.

“Bond? Price…?” Dylan says through a suddenly dry and scratchy throat, “You're a Symbiote….”

“Klyntar hybrid,” Maniac says in confusion. “You were there when our brother changed my genome. Is this a time travel thing or did someone de-age you?”

Maniac touches Dylan's head and suddenly has a frightened look on his face.

He helps Dylan lay down on the couch, props his feet up and runs to get some water and a cold rag as fast as he can.

As soon as the cold rag is on Dylan's forehead he says in a rush, “I'm calling Ghost,” and pulls out his emergency communicator. He foregoes a text and voice calls on the medical emergency channel.

It takes several rings before anyone answers and when someone does, Maniac gasps in a breath and stops breathing altogether.

“Who and where?!”

“Astron?” Maniac asks breathlessly.

“Ghost is in the shower! Sitrep!”

“Get Kon to fly you and Ghost to my Mulberry Street safehouse stat! There's another you. No serum or healing factor and he's in really bad shape.”

Maniac suddenly hears Dylan scream at the top of his lungs.

“KON!!!!”

Dylan can hear before he can see. He feels so weak. Is this what it feels like when you faint? He doesn't think so, but it's never happened to him.

“How bad was it?”

That's Eddie Brock's voice, but it's very different, almost like he has a different accent. What's going on? What happened to Dad?

Someone else speaks next, sounding about Dylan's age.

“He had a Symbiote withdrawal blood pressure drop. Dad… It was forty over eighteen.”

“Oh, my God!”

Is that Striker? What the hell is he doing here?

“I gave him some fluid and nutrients and fixed the cerebral hypoxia, but he needs a similar symbiote and the remnants I found in his bloodstream were like nothing I've ever seen. We don't have Klyntar like he does in his world.”

“What does that mean?” …Is that Wolverine's son? The one from Japan? “Didn’t you give him a healing factor?”

“Yes,” the boy says defensively, as if insulted. “Three kinds of healing factors. But it's barely keeping him alive. Even changing pieces of his genome won't be enough. I'm gonna have to rewrite the whole thing.”

“Van, you've never done something like that,” Eddie says in a low tone. “I don't want you to get hurt.”

“Dad! He's going to die!! …I don't have a choice. No one else is even capable of doing it. But we can't move him. It's too risky. We need to turn this apartment into a full medical facility. We need the building evacuated, and I'm gonna need enough protein and SNS to equate to six months of a strong diet because of the strain on my system. Anti-Venom needs to sterilize this place because infections could be deadly when I restart his immune responses and chemical fumes could cause severe problems. Sleeper and Vice can take shifts so we can have a pheromone Symbiote in the room at all times. And I cannot emphasize enough that I need to have ZERO distractions. We need a significant level of unobtrusive security too. I nominate Daken, Maniac, Anti-Venom, Phage, Bucky, Nat, James and Steven as security allowed in the room. Everyone else needs to be on the perimeter and out of sight. We don't want to draw attention. My best guess is twelve to eighteen days to finish. Astron can alternate bonding with Sleeper so he and Tel-Kar can stay on top of their game. You guys can figure out the rest of the details but I need to start now.”

Dylan could only make sense of about a quarter of that.

He's dying and his only hope is going to do everything in his power to save him.

Dylan passes out.

Five Weeks and Five Days Later….

Dylan wakes up feeling groggy as hell but very well rested. The bed he's in is extremely comfortable and the sheets are soft and the blanket is just perfect. The room is dimly lit, but it's easy to see, and it's minimalistic but very nice.

He sits up as the fog fades from his mind. There are voices from the next room, some of them familiar and others not. He sees an en suite bathroom nearby and decides that washing his face might help him feel better. He's halfway across the room when he notices the glint of metal and the shadow of a person standing in the corner. Dylan almost thinks it must be a mannequin or something because of how still he's standing, but then the face turns towards him.

The person must have noticed how panicked he was from being startled because his first words are, “You are safe. I am here to ensure it.”

The voice has a thick foreign accent almost like a blend of German and Russian.

“Um, thanks,” Dylan says nervously. “Where am I? Who are you?”

“My name is Steven. You are in Avengers Tower in the home of the Andromedans – the Brock family and their loved ones and relatives.”

“I'm… This isn't my home is it?”

“That depends on you,” the man says neutrally. “This is not my native universe. I am literally worlds away from the reality that was my home. But now? Now I have a better home than I ever could have conceptualized. You may choose what home to claim. I have been told you are welcome here indefinitely, but nobody will keep you against your will. If you choose to return to your reality, we will help you get there.”

“Thorough answer,” Dylan says, realizing Steven addressed the next few questions he had in mind.

“My handlers have instructed me to talk more. Interpersonal skills do not come easily for me.”

“Handlers? What's that supposed to mean?”

“For over seven decades, my mind was broken and conditioned in ways that stripped me of my identity. But I am one of the most dangerous people on the planet and by far the most effective operative. My handlers help me learn and keep me and everyone around me safe. They are Captain Steven Grant Rogers and Captain Jonathan Franklin Walker.”

“Wow,” Dylan says, realizing he must be talking to an analog of Bucky Barnes. “Do you need to come with me if I leave the room?”

“I will be close by, but I will not intrude.”

“Thanks,” Dylan says gratefully. He really does appreciate the man's presence. He's a definite comfort and his thorough openness and willingness to give him privacy really set Dylan at ease.

He heads into the bathroom to find a set of toiletries nearly organized on the sink countertop with a note in his own handwriting. There's a selection of several toothbrushes, toothpastes and mouthwashes, a variety of shower supplies and disposable razors, several brands of pomade and hair glue and even a few skin care and cosmetic products.

The note says,


“To Dylan:
All of these are yours and so are all of the clothes and items in your bedroom. We got you a new wardrobe, some electronics, some urban casual armor and weapons (Ghost said you like katanas and combat chains), an emergency communicator, a smartphone with ALL the accoutrements and a new wallet with your new I.D.s, passport, credit cards, business cards for any medical and legal needs and a little cash.
The gifts are non-negotiable.
While you're here, you're family.
All of our contact information is in your phone and written in your wallet.
BTW - The Summer Soldier's job right now is to guard you and help you get anything you need. He has to obey you about mundane stuff, but until we discuss it further, you should probably listen to him about anything security-related. He's the expert.
Mind going by a different name? Shit’s gonna be confusing if we're both called Dylan Brock and codenames aren't the best for casual or civilian settings. Welcome to our world, Chainbreaker.

Love & Kisses,
Dylan Brock, aka Astron

P.S. You have a few biological differences: healing factors, a few mutant powers and in order to save you, your genome needed to be part Klyntar to match your previous inherent Klyntar DNA. Sorry if that's a problem, but being dead would probs be a lot more inconvenient. The best healer on the planet took over a month to fix you up and nearly died doing it, so you better take care of yourself. I'm gonna be totes pissed if you get yourself captured by HYDRA or thrown into the fucking sun.

Dylan's not quite sure what to make of this. There's a lot to address here.

The gifts are ridiculously too much. How wealthy are these people?

Has it really been over a month since he got here? Was he in a coma?

He's a symbiote mutant now? Better than dead, but that's still a lot to process.

How common is getting thrown into the sun in this universe? Is that a thing he needs to be worried about or is it only mentioned because it's one of the only things that could kill him now that he has a healing factor?

He vaguely remembers Maniac offering to bond with him. Does him being part symbiote now mean that he can bond with normal humans like a Symbiote would?

And what's up with ending the main portion of the note with ‘Love & Kisses’? Is that meant platonically or does his counterpart want to do the nasty with him?

Dylan figures he'll know the answers to his questions soon. He brushes his teeth and hops in a hot shower to relax and loosen his muscles. …Are they bigger? He doesn't look supersoldier-y, but they're conspicuously bulging much more than he's used to. He can feel how much easier it is to move too, as if years of tensions are just gone, and as he bathes himself, he realizes he's much more flexible than he remembers.

He also notices some *ahem* … anatomical improvements.

By the time he's finished with washing up, doing a skincare routine (just to see how it feels) and styling his hair, the light in his room is on and Steven is standing at attention near the bedroom door.

He notices a selection of outfits on the bed and decides to wear the casual body armor underneath a swanky set of casual clothes. He picks up a couple of the weapons and moves with them, doing a few basic strikes in the open air of the large bedroom. He straps his favorite katana to his back, attaches the scabbard of a thirty-two in wakizashi to his armor belt and puts a medium-heavy set of eight-foot vibranium combat chains on his wrists.

Steven nods in approval, but says nothing and barely moves.

“Alright, Steven, let's go meet the fam.”

Eddie said not to overwhelm the kid, but the main Andromedans team was called to accompany the Avengers on a mission and Daken, Zayne, Rascal and Maniac weren't invited. Trevor’s here and most of the kids are and Kaine's taking care of his twins. They're the equivalent of about ten-year-olds now and in a few weeks they will be the equivalent of seventeen-year-olds.

But Ghost is in a medically induced coma to help his body heal. Astron is staying with him in their room. Ghost doesn't need a medical facility, just steady I.V. drips of liquid nutrition, a solution made from Sleeper's pheromones and SNS-37.

Steven comes out of the hallway with Dylan and Kaine immediately goes over to greet them. Dylan doesn't miss the way Kaine is positioning himself between Dylan and the youngest kids in the room, and Dylan's pretty sure that the move to introduce himself is more tactical than polite.

“Hey, kid,” Kaine says with a friendly smile, “I'm Kaine Parker.”

Dylan eyes him suspiciously. “Carnage is with you.”

Kaine smirks. “She better be. She's the only clothes I’m wearing.”

Dylan can't help but snort a laugh. He's never met the Kaine of his world, but if Carnage's host is joking around, being polite and protecting children, Dylan's not nearly as concerned as he would be around the Carnage of his world.

“Dylan. Nice to meet you. The other Dylan suggested I pick another name to make things less confusing. Any ideas?”

Kaine gives him a thoughtful look, slightly leaning his weight back as he lifts a hand under his chin. “I think it should be something you identify with. Is there a name you've always wanted to have? Something you thought of as a kid and still like?”

Dylan's pretty impressed with this guy so far. He's tactical, insightful and good-humored.

As Dylan takes a moment to think, Kaine motions for Dylan to follow and leads him to a comfy reading chair before going to sit with Daken and Maniac on the couch across the coffee table.

In the other reading chair, there's a Latino-looking, muscular blonde with spiked frosted tips, wearing baggy forest green corduroy pants and a black tank with a forest green eight-point star over the sternum. It reminds Dylan of a Kree Starforce star.

“Hey, Little Bro,” Trevor says without looking up from the textbook he's reading. It's in another language, but Dylan doesn't recognize the alphabet (or syllabary or whatever characters it has).

“Uh, hi?” Dylan says awkwardly.

The blonde looks up at him and says, “You look like a ‘Dane’ to me. Whatcha think?”

Dylan is dumbstruck. “That's actually not bad.”

“I've had some time to think of it,” the guy says with a wry smile.

“What's your name?” Dylan asks.

“Trevor Cole Brock. Adopted. But you can call me ‘Trev’ or ‘Lash’ or ‘Lasher’ if you want.” Then, Trevor looks up at Kaine. “Cookies. Soft sugar. Butterscotch with caramel. Peanut butter with chocolate chips.”

Kaine scoffs. “Someone's grumpy. Anything else, Sire? Perhaps the royal asshole needs polished?”

“Don't think I didn't pick up that you just called me a ‘royal asshole’. Noh-Varr’s on a space mission with Billy, Teddy and Kate.”

Kaine cringes. “Gotcha. I'll go make some cookies.” Kaine gets up and heads towards the kitchen.

Trevor goes back to reading his book and Daken looks at Dylan and clears his throat. “So… any questions about where you are or who we are?”

“I'm gonna go with ‘Dane’ as a nickname for now. I think most of my questions will be situational, but right now, I need to know about myself. I got a note mentioning my DNA was altered. Do you know what enhancements I have now?”

“Not all of them,” Daken says casually. “The ones I know for sure are Klyntar-related enhancements to your physiology – muscles, tendons, bones, circulation, etc. – three kinds of healing factors, fluid vibranium coatings on all your cells and a bit extra in your skin, fire and heat immunity, perfect balance, precognitive danger sense and tactile telekinesis. That's on top of the normal Klyntar hybrid abilities: invisibility, shapeshifting, bonding to humanoid hosts, underwater breathing, dimensional apertures, enhanced senses and the ability to survive in the vacuum of space. If there's anything else, I don't know about it.”

Dane nods with a bit of anxiety. He'd hoped he wasn't enough of a hybrid to bond to a human, but he supposes that if he has fire immunity, spider-sense, vibranium skin and healing factors, he'll be okay. All of this should be a comfort, but this is an entirely new reality and his body, abilities and even his own name is different now. It's a lot to cope with.

“Hey,” Maniac says gently, “I'm really glad you're okay, Dane. Is there a reason you found me? I'm glad you found someone before it was too late, but we're you specifically looking for me?”

Dane shakes his head. “It was random. I can sense Symbiotes and track them. I just happened across you before any others. I… you… If I'd known it was you, I would have been running in the other direction as fast as I could.”

Maniac looks very concerned and a bit offended. “I'm not exactly Mister Popular, but I wasn't expecting that.”

“In my world, you're extremely dangerous.” Dane’s voice is almost as stone-like as his face.

“Aren't we all?” Daken says with a smirk as he leans back on the couch and pulls Maniac against his side in a cuddle. “Almost every single resident of this floor is Omega-level several times over, including you. ‘Dangerous’ and ‘threatening’ are very different things. Rubbing alcohol can blind you with enough contact on your eyes and is deadly if you drink it – but it's not really a threat. And if there's any threat you think you can't beat, chances are he can,” Daken says as he points beyond Dane’s chair to where the Summer Soldier is standing at attention next to and behind him.

Dane turns and would be startled if it weren't such a comforting presence to him. When the hell did he get there? Dane asks himself. Can he go invisible or is that just a brainwashed supersoldier assassin thing?

Kaine comes in with a big mixing bowl filled with cookies and sets it on the coffee table. “Want some milk or coffee or anything?” he asks.

“Chocolate milk and water,” Dane says confidently. “I can get it myself if you show me where it is.”

“Tour later, comfort food now,” Trevor says as he stakes about a dozen cookies in his palm and leans back to start eating. His manners are impeccable, but he's clearly upset and angry.

“Hey, Trev,” Kaine says gently, “It'll be okay. You've got no reason to worry.”

“That hussy has been pretty aggressive in her advances on my boyfriend lately. It wouldn't be that bad if they weren't with a reality warper who's on her side!!”

Trevor drops his cookies back into the bowel, picks it up and takes the entire thing to his room with a stomp in his steps. He doesn't close the door, and Kaine knows it's a matter of being willing to race to their aid if need be.

“He's really not usually like that,” Daken says gently. “Trevor’s the nicest guy I've ever met. He's just worried. Until yesterday he'd been so excited to meet you. He picked out most of your clothes and I made most of the weapons with a bit of help from Kon.”

“You like the chains?” Kaine asks with a grin as he points to Dan’s wrist.

“Won't know until I use them for the first time. I'm kind of antsy to move around. Mind if I go on patrol?”

A gorgeous blond supersoldier gets up from playing a board game with the kids and says, “I'll spar with you! Wanna hit a training room? Or we can just work out. I've been sitting for approximately four hours and twenty three minutes. I hate just sitting around.”

“Go easy on him, Vigor,” Kaine says sternly. “If you go full out on Dane you will be grounded forever.”

Dane hops up, shakes Vigor's hand and says, “Let's go spar. I'm eager to see what I can do.”

Eddie and Flash are rushing back to the training room near their home floor of Avengers Tower. They were dealing with a HYDRA cell in Hawaii of all places because the idiots thought they could get Kon's DNA from something left on the surfaces in his old cabin.

They didn't realize Match had gone there shortly after Kon left Hawaii two years ago and lived up to his name by heat-visioning the entire place.

They were no match for the Andromedans and began crunching cyanide capsules as soon as they realized what deep shit they were in – but not before Vice was able to render three of them unconscious and unharmed, Nate read their minds for any immediate concerns and Codex recorded all of their memories into his genetic memory to sift through after they weren't in a combat scenario.

Everything considered, the S.H.I.E.L.D. debriefings took longer than the mission itself and Daken had already alerted them that Dylan (now calling himself ‘Dane’) had woken up.

When they get there, they find Dane using combat chains to beat Jon and Mercury senseless. All three of them are healing as soon as they get injured but Jon is fighting with his vibranium wrist stingers, Mercury is alternating forming his constituent matter as shields and spathas and Dane is fluidly alternating between sheathing and striking with his katana.

The fight is fucking brutal and the sparring mat has huge puddles and splatters of blood all over it.

“TIME OUT!!!” Anti-Venom shouts.

The three teenagers immediately stop and turn to him, heaving and panting their breaths and grinning like they've never had so much fun in their lives.

“What the hell are you kids doing?!” Eddie exclaims in dire exasperation.

“Playing hide-and-seek,” Dane says drily. “The fuck does it look like we're doing?”

Eddie motions at the bloody sparring mat. “It looks like you're trying to kill each other with blood loss.”

“We're fine, Dad,” Mercury says as if his Dad is embarrassing him in front of his friends. “We're just getting some exercise.”

Jon is stoically standing at attention, his old programming showing everyone just how nervous he is at being caught by the parental units. “Dane wishes to test the limits of his recently acquired enhancements. He could not beat us as Vigor, but he is holding his own well against us while we are sparring two-on-one.”

“More like I'm mopping the floor with your asses,” Dane says smugly.

Mercury nods. “Yeah… so I guess that's the answer to your original question. ‘What are we doing?’ Getting turned into ass-mops.”

Flash cracks up laughing while Eddie puts his hands on his hips. “Next time do it with adult supervision.”

All three boys point to Eddie's left where Steven is standing right next to him with a slight smile on his face. “I am proud of them,” Steven says approvingly.

Eddie isn't startled when Steven shows up out of nowhere anymore, but it still catches him off guard. Flash on the other hand, seems to have already noticed him.

Fucking special agent stealth training.

Eddie's going to find a way this is all Kaine's fault. Word has it that wrangling their most volatile contracted agent practically rewrote S.H.I.E.L.D.’s training curriculum.

“You guys about done or are you ready for a real fight?” Flash asks happily. “I could use a bit of blowing off steam.”

Dane looks annoyed. “Tell me this place is bullet proof! How many firearms are in your apertures?”

Flash's grin lights up the room. “Yes, it's bulletproof and I'll never tell.”

“Honey…” Eddie says warningly.

“HONEY??!!! What the fuck kind of world did I wind up in???!!” Dane sputters in shocked disgust.

“You should've seen Zayne's expression when I told him Kaine's my bitch in this world,” Eddie says with a lopsided grin.

“Well, yeah!” Dane exclaims. “Carnage being your bitch makes perfect sense if she's not bonded to Kasady.”

“Wait, the serial killer?!” Flash screams. “What the fuck kind of world did you come from?!”

“Just don't let that psycho come anywhere near me,” Dane says with firm rage.

“Not a problem,” Eddie assures him. “We kind of sort of bit his head off a while back. His brain was so fucked up we puked.”

Dane breathes a sigh of relief. “Good. Let's take a break and maybe drink an ocean. Later, maybe Steven and I can bond and take you all on.”

Steve grins excitedly like he never has before and Dane fucking savors the expressions of abject terror of everyone else's face.

So far, coming here seems like a huge improvement, near-death coma and all.