CH 2: Convincing

Natasha Romanoff was an awesome assassin. Her skills were obvious when she didn't panic because of the voice that sounded in her head.

Instead, she actually pulled out a dagger out of her sleeve and picked up the gun on the shelf beside the door and got ready for action :"who's there?"

Ali inside of her was honestly really satisfied with how cool headed she was even though someone was just inside her brain :"calm down, Natasha. I mean no harm, I promise."

While pointing the gun around as she gently walked around with the dagger in her hand, Natasha calmly looked around :"oh?

And why would I believe you? If you had nothing to hide, you would speak to me like a normal person instead of doing it like this. What are you? Some kind of a mutant with telepathy perhaps?"

Ali was interested as he internally hummed :'mutants? Guess that means that I'm in a normal type of marvel universe.

Meh, I'm not complaining. Would be boring if there weren't any villains to beat the shit out of. And besides, any marvel universe is better than its zombie universe...'

Without letting her guard down, Natasha looked around, but she didn't alarm the others for the fear of this unknown person suddenly targeting the children.

Ali answered with his deep voice :"no, I'm not a mutant or whatever. The reason why I'm talking inside of your head is because I literally can't talk any other way."

Natasha snorted as she checked everywhere for any signs of this unknown being :"hmph, so are you a mute or something?"

Ali chuckled inside of her as he denied :"no, I'm not. Well, I technically am if I'm not bonded with somebody.

So I'm not at the moment. Let me introduce myself. You can call me Majesty. I'm a Klyntar. Nice to meet you."

Natasha raised a confused eyebrow as she frowned :"a Klyntar? So are you some kind of an alien? Wait... Bonding... Are you a Symbiote?!"

'oh? Well, since this is a universe where mutants are around, I guess it's not that much of a surprise that Symbiotes are here as well.'

Ali obviously knew what she was talking about, but he still had to act like he didn't :"Symbiote? Is that what you call us here???"

Natasha frowned with a slight look of worry :"great, a Symbiote has attached itself to me... Sigh, are you a liquid like slime that has to bond with living beings?"

Ali hummed in agreement :"yes, I am. Have you seen any of my other kind perhaps?" Natasha sighed :"yes, I have.

And I'm pretty sure that I don't like them since both of them are murderers. One of them is even a psychopath who enjoys killing. So I don't have a very favorable expression on your kin."

Ali frowned. He knew that she had a point with how bad the reputation of the Klyntars was on earth, but he still felt a little offended since he was also a Klyntar now :"I think this is when you humans use the word "racist", right?"

Natasha's face twitched in annoyance as she rubbed her temples :"a Symbiote is calling me racist, as if it couldn't get any weirder..."

Ali internally rolled his eyes <metaphorically> as he huffed :"well, can you blame me? You've seen only a few of my kin, but you say that we're all evil.

It's like I came to earth and saw a bad person, then I assumed that all humans are bad. How would you feel about that? Maybe you just had bad luck when encountering Klyntars."

Natasha rolled her beautiful eyes as she put her arms up in surrender :"alright, geez. You win, I apologize. So are you saying that you're a good Klyntar or something?"

Ali hummed in curiosity before he asked :"I will answer that after you answer this question. What was the reputation of those guys who those "Symbiotes" bonded with when they were just normal humans?"

Natasha was confused, but she thought about it for a moment before answering :"Eddie Brock was a person with cancer who was left by every one of his relatives, and Cletus Kasady was a serial killer. Why?"

Ali hummed in understanding as he answered :"that explains it. You see, we Klyntars, or Symbiotes, don't have a personality at first.

We create a personality that is similar to our first host so we can bond with them. So if either of these people were the first hosts of a Symbiote, it's no wonder that they were bad guys."

Natasha had a look of realization as she nodded in understanding :"I see, so that's how it works.

That's why Carnage is so violent, he first appeared bonded with Cletus Kasady, so that explains it. Alright, I answered your question. Now it's your turn."

Ali chuckled in amusement :"I already told you my answer in a sense. If a Klyntar is a bad guy or a good guy depends on its first host. You, Natasha, are my first host."

Natasha calmed down while looking around with a raised eyebrow, because she didn't know where to look when talking :"so you're a bad guy?"

Ali was silent for a moment before he gently asked with a confused tone of voice :"Natasha, you good? Do you need to go to therapy?"

Natasha smirked with a light chuckle :"never thought a Symbiote would tell me if I need to go see a therapist. Since you sound so "caring" does that mean that you're a good guy?"

Ali shrugged <again, metaphorically> :"Well, you're one of the good guys, right? That means that I'm also a good guy."

Natasha snorted as she looked around suspiciously :"unless you don't eat brains, it would be very hard to convince me that you're not a bad guy."

Ali curled his lips as he tried to convince her :"Well, it's not like the brain is our main meal. The reason for why we eat brains is because of the chemical in the brain, phenethylamine.

The reason for why we eat it is both for staying healthy and sane. And we also feed on our host's adrenaline during fights.

In fact, the reason for why we bond with others is to have a steady supply of phenethylamine. But don't worry, because of my regenerative power, yours will return to normal the moment I eat it."

Natasha raised an eyebrow in confusion :"phenethylamine? Is there something that has it other than brains?"

Ali shrugged nonchalantly :"why don't you check that thing called google to see what foods on earth have phenethylamine?"

Natasha raised an eyebrow suspiciously :"didn't you say that I'm your first host? How do you know about Google and such?"

'Heh, because I was a human as well.' Ali snickered internally at the thought before he answered :"I had to look into your head to learn your language, so I looked to see and know your common sense as well."

Natasha immediately frowned, but before she could let out her dissatisfaction, Ali explained :"don't worry, I didn't look into anything private.

I should've done it since the more we know about our hosts, the better it is. But I didn't want to look into anything private and lose your trust.

After all, I want you to be able to trust me, so I wouldn't do something like check out your private memories.

I only checked things like what is a common language you speak and some things to know so I won't be clueless."

Natasha stopped frowning, but was still wary :"how should I trust your words? How would I know if you're lying or not?"

Ali shrugged helplessly :"is there any way for me to prove it? No, there isn't. Just try to believe in me, okay?

After all, we need to trust each other if we are going to team up. Your trust is very important to me, so I definitely wouldn't do something that would result in you not trusting me."

Natasha calmed down as she raised an eyebrow :"never thought that a Symbiote would be so reasonable considering how the others act."

Ali rolled his eyes with a sigh :"Natasha, you're being racist again." Natasha let out a light chuckle as she nodded :"alright, sorry."

She stopped chuckling as she got serious again :"from how you're talking, it seems like you're planning on staying. But what if I don't want you to bond with me?"

There was a few seconds of silence between the two before Ali sighed :"I'm sorry, Natasha, but I won't leave. There's a reason for it that I hope you will understand. Do you know what a perfect host is?"

Natasha sighed with a frown before she shook her head :"no, I don't know. What is it? Since it involves the host, I guess it's very important."

Ali nodded as he explained :"you see, we aren't evil beings. Klyntars, or Symbiotes as you call us, are actually peaceful beings who want to create the perfect symbiosis so we can become the ultimate being along with our host.

Being with a perfect host makes that a lot easier. After all, being with a normal host already makes the person a nightmare to fight against, a perfect host is many times more than that.

And you Natasha, are my perfect host. I am a little bit special, I can actually sense my perfect host, that's why I came to you.

I can still bond with other living beings, but there is no way that I will choose a normal host when I have a perfect host.

So yeah, I hope you will get used to me and learn to trust me, because I'm staying with you. But it's not a bad thing at all, me being special isn't just limited to me being able to sense my perfect host."

Natasha sighed as she rubbed her temples :"I don't have a choice, do I? Seems like this matter about"perfect host" is really important to you."

Ali nodded as he got serious :"Though we are a benevolent species, there is no literature on my home planet.

And though it is our goal to make the universe better, we create no art, no music, no culture. At least, not as other civilizations would understand it.

All We Have Are Our Hosts, the beings we join with, to porge through the cold and unforgiving cosmos with.

The bond between a klyntar and its host is sacred, they give our lives context and our existence meaning. They give us history. All we have are our hosts to tell us who we are. That's why even a normal host is extremely important to us, just imagine how important a perfect host is."

Natasha thought about it for a few seconds before she sighed in defeat :"alright, fine. I will be with you, but if you go berserk and harm innocent people, I will definitely get rid of you."

Ali smiled as he nodded excitedly :"thanks! Don't worry, I've already said that I won't do something that would result in me losing your trust.

You should check how we should get phenethylamine then. But don't worry, even if there's no other way except eating brains, I will only eat the brains of bad guys."

Natasha nodded with a sigh before she raised an eyebrow :"shouldn't you come out now so we can meet face to face?"

Ali was silent for a moment before he asked suspiciously :"you won't attack me once I show myself, right?"

Natasha rolled her eyes before she shook her head :"no, I won't. Don't worry, now that I've agreed to let you bond with me, I won't go back on my words unless you break my trust."

Ali was silent for a moment before Natasha felt a weird sensation from her shoulder blade, like something coming out.

As the jet black liquid started to come out gently and slowly so as to not alarm Natasha, it finally formed a head with horns coming out of the corners of its mouth and some spikes from the back :"hello again, Natasha. It's nice to meet you."