Lost (part one)
Phage was always...enthusiastic. And talkative and friendly and boisterous and never ever shy. On top of these things he was also not overly cautious of regular, everyday people and they weren’t sure if that was because of who his father was or because of his own abilities but they warned him time and time again not to talk to strangers. It was honestly just a matter of time before this happened.
“What do you mean ‘missing’?!” Eddie yelled into the phone.
“It appears that in the confusion, your son Phage got separated from the rest of the group and we haven’t been able to locate him yet.” The teacher sounded frightened on the other end of the phone.
The kids’ were spending the day on a school-wide field trip to the city when Eddie got a phone call that the teachers had lost track of Phage. Suddenly Eddie’s irrational fear of his children slipping down the sink drain turned into an irrational fear of his children slipping down a sewer grate. New York City was huge, packed and full of shady characters- certainly not the first place you’d want your excitable seven year old to disappear in.
“We’re on our way!” Eddie said just before hanging up.
Eddie and Venom were able to intercept the enormous mass of children and teachers at the next stop on their sight-seeing field trip: Grand Central Station.
“Daddies!” Agony spotted them before they spotted her.
She exuberantly waved her arms and jumped up and down so they could see her in the crowd.
Even in a crowd as big as this one their children tended to stand out which would undoubtedly help them in their search for Phage.
“What happened to your brother?”
“He was with us and then he wasn’t.” Carnage supplied helpfully.
“More specifically, darling.”
“We were all crossing the street but he wasn’t with us when we got to the other side.” Lasher explained.
As their kids imparted what little relevant information they had Eddie locked eyes with the unfortunate teacher who had called them to admit they’d lost their child.
“Stay with the group, okay?” Eddie told their kids before weaving through the crowd to the teacher.
“You!” Venom snapped, making the mousey man jump.
“M-Mr. Brock!” The teacher flinched.
“You lost our son!” Venom stated accusingly.
“There was some confusion and Phage got separated from the rest of the class as we crossed the street to get to this terminal. We didn’t see where he might have gone and his siblings don’t know either. We haven’t seen any trace of him yet.” The man vomited out the information like he was trying not to pass out.
“Incompetent.” Venom growled as they partially masked one side of Eddie’s face.
“V, we have to find Phage before something happens to him.” Eddie interrupted Venom’s decrying of the teacher’s character.
Venom snarled one more time at the teacher who now looked like he was seconds from peeing his pants.
As the class was getting ready to cross the busy street Phage’s eye was caught by a little black cat dashing into a nearby alley. Phage glanced at the crosswalk signal, still a red hand forbidding them from crossing, then glanced at the alley where the cat had scurried. Surely there was more than enough time to pet the cat and get back here before the signal changed. Phage ran to the alley and excitedly but cautiously approached the kitty. He reached out a hand to pet the cat who let out a happy squawk and then dashed off into the unknown. Satisfied, he turned around to reunite with his classmates but was startled to find that everything looked completely different. He couldn’t see any of his siblings in the roiling crowd of people bustling along the sidewalks.
He nervously backed up a few paces and bumped into something.
“Sorry!” He apologized quickly to whomever he bumped into.
“Its okay sweetheart. Are you lost?” The woman he collided with smiled at him.
“Um, yes. I think I am.” Phage responded to her question.
“Then let’s see if we can find your parents.” She said.
“I’m with my class on a field trip.” He explained.
“Then we can find them together.” She smiled again.
Phage grinned and grabbed the nice lady’s hand when she offered it.
She lead him to her car and told him to get in which he didn’t really get because its not like his class could be that far away already. But he got inside anyways because it would be faster than walking and the faster he was back with his class the better!
They drove around for a while and Phage didn’t recognize any of the places they passed from his sightseeing field trip. After what felt like a long time they pulled into a garage.
“What are we doing here?” He curiously piped up from the backseat.
“We’re just meeting some friends of mine.” The woman answered.
They got out of the car but when he went to grab her hand again she snatched it away. Inside the garage there were two men waiting for them.
“What do you got?” One of the men asked.
“Just one kid but he’s a mutant.” The woman said, shoving Phage forward a little.
“They’ll pay double for a mutant.” One of the men smirked in response.
Phage wanted to say that he wasn’t a mutant but it somehow didn’t feel like the right thing to do at the moment. One of the two men suddenly lurched forward and grabbed him tightly by the wrist, yanking him. It suddenly dawned on Phage that these people may not be as friendly as he originally thought.