Knocking jolts me from darkness. My heart detonates like a bomb in my chest. The cell. The metal walls. The door opening…
I thrash wildly, arms flailing against invisible restraints. My fist connects with something soft. "No! Get away from me!"
"Shane! It's me! It's Ellie!"
Strong arms encircle me, pinning my limbs. I fight harder, desperate. Not again. Please not again…
"Shane, baby, you're safe. You're in my apartment. You're with me."
The voice cuts through the panic. Ellie. Not Norma. The fog slowly clears from my brain as reality reasserts itself. I'm in Ellie's bedroom, tangled in sweat-soaked sheets. Sunlight streams through half-drawn curtains. The knocking continues at the front door.
"Shit," I gasp, my body going limp in Ellie's embrace. "I'm sorry. I thought…"
"Shh, I know." She presses her forehead against mine, her blue eyes searching my face with concern. The symbiote ripples beneath her skin, agitated by my distress. "You don't need to apologize."
My heartbeat gradually slows as I focus on Ellie's face, on the familiar curves and angles that anchor me to this moment, to this reality. I'm not in that underwater prison. I'm here. I'm safe.
The knocking grows more insistent.
"Is that Piper already?" I sigh, running a shaky hand through my hair.
Ellie nods, her expression hardening slightly. "Probably."
I sigh again, suddenly exhausted despite having just woken up. "I need to talk to her about her symbiote."
"What?" Ellie's eyebrows shoot up, surprise flashing across her face.
"Come on." I push myself up from the bed, my legs wobbling slightly beneath me. Ellie steadies me with a hand on my arm, her touch gentle but firm.
Together, we make our way to the door. Each step feels like a small victory, a reminder that I can move freely now, that no chains bind my ankles, that no fork hovers near my eye. These are the little things I cling to, the mundane miracles I never appreciated before.
Ellie opens the door, giving Piper a curt nod as she steps aside to let her in. Piper's wearing civilian clothes today, jeans and a hoodie, but I can see the maroon symbiote shifting just beneath her shirt, eager to emerge.
"Alright," Piper says, her eyes darting between us, "so did you maybe reconsider Avengers Tower?" She directs this at Ellie, barely acknowledging me.
"Hey Piper," I interrupt before Ellie can respond. "Before we get into that, I wanted to talk about your symbiote."
Piper's eyebrows rise in surprise. "Oh, Carnage?" She says the name with a strange affection that makes my skin crawl.
I close my eyes, feeling a wave of dread wash over me.
"Ellie," I say, turning to her, "can you ask venom if it can absorb Carnage back into itself?" It's a desperate idea, but maybe we can undo this before it gets worse.
The reaction is immediate and violent. Red tendrils physically recoil out of Piper's skin, writhing and lashing the air between us like angry snakes. Her face contorts with shock and something darker.
"Why would we do that?" Piper asks, her voice carrying an unfamiliar echo beneath it.
Ellie shakes her head, the symbiote rippling across her skin. "It said it can't absorb Carnage."
"Fuck," I mutter, running a hand through my hair.
The red tendrils gradually retract back into Piper's skin, but her eyes remain fixed on me with an intensity that makes me uncomfortable. There's something different about her now, something hungry in her gaze.
"I don't understand what the problem is," Piper says, crossing her arms defensively. "The symbiote hasn't harmed me. It's made me stronger. We're bonded now."
I take a deep breath, trying to organize my scattered thoughts. The worried look on Piper's face makes this harder, but I need to say something.
"Piper, you're a bad match for symbiotes," I say, my voice steadier than I expected. "You saw how aggressive you got when you had Venom. I honestly think this new one might be worse for you."
Her expression shifts immediately to defensive. "I'm not more aggressive with it," she insists, crossing her arms tightly across her chest.
I just stare at her, letting the silence stretch between us. The maroon tendrils peeking out from under her hoodie collar writhe slightly, almost like they're frustrated by our conversation.
"Is it trying to get you to kill people?" I ask, the question blunt but necessary.
"No," Piper says firmly, but there's something in her eyes that makes me wonder.
I glance at Ellie, who's watching our exchange with narrowed eyes. "Yours tells you to kill a lot, right?"
Ellie nods, her expression grim. "All the time," she confirms.
I turn back to Piper, who's shaking her head before I even speak.
"Well, Carnage doesn't do that," she says, her voice taking on that strange dual-tone again, like she's not the only one speaking.
"It's literally calling itself Carnage," I point out, gesturing at the writhing substance beneath her skin.
"Because you named it that, Shane," Piper says, her voice softening as she steps closer. "It liked that you named it."
I open my mouth to argue further, but Piper cuts me off.
"I'm keeping Carnage, so drop it!" she snaps. "We're here to discuss your safety going forward, nothing else."
I lower my gaze, suddenly feeling the weight of their staring contest. This whole conversation is spiraling into territory I'm not equipped to handle right now. My nerves are already frayed from the nightmare, and arguing about symbiotes feels exhausting.
"Look, I appreciate everyone's concern," I say, stepping between them, "but Ellie's got me covered. I'm fine just sticking with her."
Piper's laugh catches me off guard, sharp and incredulous. "All the time? Even when she's in class? You can't seriously expect her to be your 24/7 bodyguard."
"Parker." Ellie's voice drops dangerously low, a clear warning to back off.
The panic starts building again, my breaths coming faster. "I hadn't even thought about that. What if she comes back while you're at class? What if…"
"I'm not leaving you alone until we see Norma's corpse," Ellie cuts me off, her voice hard as steel. The symbiote ripples beneath her skin, responding to her determination. "Period. End of discussion."
Her words hang in the air between us, absolute and unyielding. Before Piper can argue or I can respond, a sharp crash shatters the moment. Glass sprays across the living room floor as something hurtles through the window.
A metallic object embeds itself in the wall with a solid thunk. It's curved like a crescent. A boomerang. Red lights blink along its surface, accompanied by an ominous beeping that accelerates with each pulse.
"What the fuck?"