Chapter 3
The lovebirds are given sweet, sweet solace for only a few hours before the door opens, and Eddie’s eyes unglaze from where he’d been drifting off into space. He blinks a few times, sitting up, he’s starting to feel a little bit better. Enough to get himself moving to prepare for what walks through the door. He’s not expecting it to be a hazmat suit wearing scientist surrounded by a fully armored guard detail. The suits prevent any facial features being visible, but Eddie tries to get a feel for them anyways.
What really catches his eye is the tray the hazmat suit is carrying. It’s definitely food, and Eddie is made painfully aware of how hungry they both are. Venom’s presence curls in the back of his mind, eager for a scrap to taste.
“We understand you have dietary requirements, Mr. Brock.” Hazmat’s voice comes out smooth, and it’s not the same as the one from the ceiling, but the suit clicks and hisses with every spoken word like a very real world Darth Vader.
“Yeah? I’m sure whatever you got will do just fine,” Eddie tries to gather what is on the plate beyond ‘Glass of Water’ and ‘Bowl of Stuff’. He spots a name brand chocolate bar, and has to stop himself from laughing at a very inappropriate point in time because its—
“NO! I HATE NESTLE!.”
Nothing can ever go their way, can it? Venom yelling in his ears almost makes him choke up his laugh, and he has to clear his throat very harshly.
“Nestle’s fine, you guys into their work ethics I figure?” Eddie coughs, trying to act natural as Venom throws a tantrum. Hazmat holds out the metal tray, and Eddie is reminded very much of school, and prison. It’s some kind of boring oatmeal, gross. Not that oatmeal itself is gross, more just gross because it’s just plain oatmeal obviously. Which is gross.
Hazmat stays in the room though, as Eddie inspects the food before him, he tries to focus on other things. Trying to make it seem less as though Venom is actively searching every taste of food for any traces of evil substances. Eddie tries to make some sort of noise to fill the quiet.
“So… you gonna tell me anything about what you got going on here? Or is this just free room and board?” He asks between a sip of water, soothing his dry throat for a brief moment. The Hazmat does not respond in a necessarily comforting way.
“What is your relationship with your entity?” It’s a clear cut question, and Eddie knows that its being used so Hazmat can control the conversation. He tries to only half play along.
“Well, it’s not like there’s an easy way to describe that kind of thing you know, I mean—” Venom almost stops him from eating the nestle bar, but Eddie forces his hand, they need something. “—You gotta be a little clearer than that you know? It’s still here, I’m still here, why do you wanna know?”
“It is in our best interest to understand your relationship, so we may better utilize you in the coming future.” Not a good sign, again, really not a good look on these guys to be so overtly science and evil. Eddie’s face twitches, and he shrugs.
“Utilize how? Listen, I appreciate the offer but I hate to let you know that I’m not into freaky science types.” Eddie’s comment gets movement from one of the guards in the room, a literal cowpoker comes into view. It sparks with electricity and Eddie leans back, giving an apprehensive look. “Hey, woah. No reason for that.”
Hazmat puts a hand on the guard’s wrist, and goads the cowpoker back down, but gives no clear admonishment towards the guard. They carry on like no big deal, and keep asking questions.
“Is it symbiotic? Parasitic? What do you gain from keeping it, and not just getting rid of it?”
Eddie can feel Venom’s anger, it’s not necessarily the fact of using ‘it’, it’s the phrasing more than anything. These people don’t know anything of what Venom and Eddie have, and Eddie doesn’t want them to know. But Venom certainly isn’t enjoying the assumptions being made here either. He’s getting very upset, and Eddie tries to soothe things over.
“I’m saying I don’t really know what you’re asking, it just lives in my head, and it doesn’t kill me. Not sure there’s anything else to it.” Eddie speaks as calmly as he can, trying to sound convincing, he’s not sure how good at that he is being.
Hazmat is silent for a few seconds, before speaking again.
“It would be wise for you to answer our questions genuinely. I assure you we have other ways to force a response out of you besides the overheads.”
The cowpoker comes back into view for a few seconds, threateningly again.
”Eddie.”
”Don’t.”
”I won’t let them.”
”They won’t.”
“Perhaps we should separate you, maybe then you will stop plotting with it right in front of us.”
Eddie clears his throat, and it’s so, so obvious how bad of an idea that sounds to him. He knows he can’t stop the moment of panic from falling over his face. Venom’s overwhelming anger and dread doesn’t help, and he knows that he’s just given away an important part of their relationship.
“I see. Thank you, Mr. Brock.”
Hazmat straightens up slightly, and makes a waving motion to the guards as the door slides open. They leave then, leaving Eddie and Venom with a half finished plate of food. Eddie sighs, and Venom’s anger subsides the longer they are alone again.
”Good job, us.”
He eats in silence, Venom doesn’t talk too much to him for the rest of the meal.