The New Guy (I)...

Chapter 3 - The New Guy (I)...

The city was big, as big as New York. Buildings, big as skyscrapers and average sized buildings.

"Civilization!" The symbiote exclaimed happily in Seth's head. "We were beginning to feel peckish."

Seth rolled his eyes while he jumped from one building to another while he was camouflaged in his Venom suit. "Gotta find some chocolate for you soon, huh. Though you're not the only one who's a bit peckish now."

"Exactly! Though we can hold off our hunger for a bit."

"Good. First we gotta see if we can find any trace of Carnage and hopefully Liv too." He thought back to his partner as he jumped to another building. When landing on the other building both host and symbiote looked around, taking in the sights.

Though he had to be careful and not make any sounds since there were people walking and doing their business.

"Central City Bank…huh?" Seth said out loud in his demonic-voice as he jumped by a bank with name of the city. "Never heard of the city."

"This does seem strange." His "other" pitched in.

Seth looked deep in thoughts, wracking his brain thoroughly for how he and his partner had gotten. Only conclusion came to mind. "The portal!/The portal!" both host and symbiote thought at the same time. "That strange lab from before. SHIELD must have been developing some technology that could open gateways to other places." The symbiote told his partner.

"Makes sense. Dad told us a while back that they've been researching gateways to other dimensions. In a sense, they've been trying to make their own Bifrost that didn't require the command of an Asgardian. Seems they were successful since we're now in another reality that's like our own." Seth added in his own thoughts. It's not the strange for SHIELD to develop technology like Asgardians' who could travel to other worlds ever since dimensional travel was introduced in their world.

Though that was something that needed to wait, right now his mind only went to one thing and one thing only.

His sister.

Sending one look at the sign again before resuming his jumping from building to building. All the while, his mind wandered to dark places. Thinking the worst possible scenarios for his baby sister to be in, since she might be with Carnage, the worst psychopath in his dimension.

"We will find her Seth. We promise." The symbiote assured its host, hearing his thoughts.

"I know… do you regret not ending it?" he couldn't help but ask, knowing that if he had ended Carnage's life, then they wouldn't be in his situation now.

"We know what it would mean for you, Seth. Ending Carnage's life once and for all would bring us all peace. But we don't regret making sure that your sister does not shed more tears."

Seth smiled to himself, glad to hear that his partner was always of thinking of his sister, while he rubbed his right side. "You're a good partner, Venom. Always have been, since that day." He told his partner.

"Heh, you're not so bad yourself, you know." The mutant host chuckling in response to the symbiote's humor. "So, what do we do now?"

Sighing before Seth gave his answer. "When there's a person missing, there's only one place to go to. Even though I rather handle this one myself, we're in foreign territory, so let's play by this dimension's rules. For now." He added before shooting a line of black webbing and swung to his next destination.

X

After getting out of his suit and with some asking around for guidance, Seth found his way to the local police department, also known as "Central City Police Department."

"At least this department does not look rundown like the ones we know." The symbiote commented after he and his host got out of the elevator, and eyeing the large mural in the main hall of the building.

"Truth, Liberty and Justice, huh?" Seth read the words on metal symbol in his head. "Wonder how many of the cops actually believe this?" The symbiote mentally laughed at his host's thoughts.

"And how many have dishonored this symbol?" His "other" pitched in

The young mutant went towards the receptionist's desk, who along with passing officers gave Seth suspicious eyes. He knew it was because of his attire, black trenchcoat over a white t-shirt and blue jeans and black combat boots wasn't a good choice of clothes to bring into a police station, though he paid no mind to it.

"Hey I wanna file a missing person report." Seth told the receptionist who gave him the once-over, before looking to the back of the mutant.

"Hey Joe." Seth turned around and saw a well-built dark-skinned man with a goatee passing by, his coat hanging from his hand and his holster with the gun was visible. "Think you can take care of this guy for me?" the receptionist asked.

"Sure thing." Joe told the receptionist who went to talk another colleague. "Hey, I'm Detective Joe West." he greeted the young mutant as stretched out his hand.

"Seth Rogers." He greeted back as he shook the detective's hand. "Isn't a missing persons case below your paygrade, detective?"

"Well, it's to help the people here in this city, then nothing's below my paygrade." Joe answered honestly as he and the host moved to his desk. "So, what can I help you with ?" he asked the mutant as both took seats near his desk while eyeing Seth with suspicious eyes.

"He's wary of you." The symbiote commented as he saw the eyes from the detective.

"Expected as much. I've been getting the eyes ever since I stepped in here." He thought back to his partner. "My sister's missing, I've been looking around myself but no luck so far. So, thought it was time to bring in the big guns." He gestured to the detective.

Joe snorted at his words. "Hope you're not calling us fat by calling us big. Well you got a picture of your missing sister? And any idea as to how long she's been in town?" he asked the mutant host as they got down to business.

Seth was unsure of that, before he remembered something. He reached into his pocket, his symbiote granting him access to find a specific object. One thing he learned about symbiotes was that they more than handy when it came to storing things. They were like pocket dimensions, he had access to at any time. He even placed all his funds inside his partner, since banks were the least-safest place for storing money.

His eyes briefly turned to the detective's desk, seeing a picture of a young woman with the skin-color as Joe, only drawing one conclusion.

Seth produced a picture, of him, Liv, Bucky and Stefanie. It was picture of the four of them from a trip to the beach. Handing it to the detective. "The girl with the pinkish hair, that's my sister. She's 24. She might wear a strange suit, something like a catsuit. And she's not been here long, same as me most likely a day, two tops." He told the detective, skipping the obvious details of course, the picture bringing back pleasant and unpleasant memories for the mutant.

"Okay." The detective wrote everything the host said down on his notes before turning back to the picture. "Who are the others in picture?"

"My fiancée and my son." He said as he looked down at the ground.

"Lucky guy. Beautiful girl and a handsome boy you got there." Joe told Seth with a smile, his smile fading as he saw the young mutant looking down. "Something wrong, ?"

"Yes…they were." He said with a sad tone while wiping his eyes, the detective feeling awful after connecting the dots after seeing Seth's reaction. "You got everything you need Detective?"

"Yeah, I do." Joe told the mutant, before they both rose to their feet as they said their farewells.

"You okay? The symbiote asked, concerned for his host being brought down memory lane that only consisted of bad memories.

"Fine. But the pain always comes haunt me, you know." Seth felt his "other" sending waves to calm him down as he walked to the elevator.

"Hey!" Seth turned around and saw the detective running towards him. "Look I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked that. I didn't mean to make you feel bad."

"It's okay Detective West, you couldn't have known about them." The mutant waved off his concerns.

"Still, not cool." He said before he remembered what was said before. "Hey you said you're new in town, right?" Seth nodded. "You wanna go for a coffee? Jitters' is the best in town, trust me."

Seth raised an eyebrow at the name. "Jitters'? Really? Strange name for a coffee shop. But sure, why not? Lead the way detective West." He answered the detective.

"Please call me Joe." He said as both he and the mutant went to get coffee.

X

At the same time, inside of a research and development company by the name of Scientific and Technological Advanced Research Laboratories, or S.T.A.R. Labs for short, sat Bio-engineer, Dr. Caitlin Snow alone in the Cortex. She was looking at a computer screen, on the screen was a picture of her, smiling, with her dead fiancée Ronald Raymond who too was smiling.

She missed Ronnie. The night of S.T.A.R. Labs' greatest failure reminded her of what everyone had lost that night, it reminded her of what she had lost that night. She wanted to spend more time with Ronnie, see him once again, but most of all she wanted him to her husband.

The young doctor still blamed herself for Ronnie's death, knowing that her dead fiancée only came that night because of her.

"Caitlin?" She turned off the screen quickly as she turned and met the concerned eyes of her co-worker, Francisco "Cisco" Ramon. "What are you doing?"

"I was just looking over some of the tests we took off of Barry." She answered meekly, the mechanical engineer of the company seeing through the lie.

"Caitlin." Cisco got her attention. "It's okay. I miss him too." He said, knowing full well that she was thinking of his dead friend and her dead fiancée Ronnie Raymond.

The doctor turned her eyes downwards as she replied. "I just miss him, a lot." Her eyes watered a bit as she recalled their last moments together.

Cisco went to her side and placed a hand on her shoulder, offering his friend comfort as they sat in silence in the dark room.

"I think I'm gonna go and get some coffee at Jitters'." Caitlin said as she stood up and got her coat. "Want one?" she asked her friend.

"No, I'm gonna make some improvements on Barry's suit. Maybe even put more lightning bolts?" Cisco said with a gleeful smile.

Caitlin laughed at her friend's usual cheerful humor, finding it a necessity in her everyday life with all the changes that have happened in her life. She got out of the laboratories as she went to get her coffee.

X

When Seth entered the coffee shop, Jitters, he instantly assaulted by the smell of coffee beans and steaming hot milk that filled the air. Though he had to admit the was very cozy. When the mutant and the detective reached the counter, they were met by a barista, whose name by their name is called, Stacy.

As they placed their orders, the mutant felt the barista giving him a lingering look as her eyes ran up and down his form. His "other" felt the barista's hormones rise within her at the sight of his host.

Seth was about to reach for his wallet, when Joe stopped him and announced it was on him before he paid for their drinks.

"So, what do you think of it?" he asked the mutant as they found a table to sit at as the mutant sipped on his coffee.

Seth and his partner smiled as the host placed the coffee back on the table. "Never been much of a coffee guy before," he pointed to his mug. "but this, this I could get used to." He took another sip from his drink as he said that.

"You should have chosen the drink that possesses chocolate in it. Not this caffeine-infused nonsense!" The angry reply came from his partner, who still wanted chocolate above anything else.

"Hahaha, thought you might like it. Well good thing I've converted you to a Jitters man." Joe told the young man with a smile. "And again, I'm sorry for talking about your family before."

"Joe." He gained his attention. "You called my son handsome and my fiancée beautiful, you only complimented them. Not like you insulted them or anything. So, no need to apologize." He assured the detective as they drank their coffees.

Joe was happy and thanked the mutant for forgiving him, and was secretly glad he didn't cross any lines when mentioning his family.

"Oh yeah, speaking of beautiful girls." Seth leaned forward as he recalled something. "You got one yourself, right?"

The detective raised an eyebrow at the young man's words, the mutant saw this and continued. "I saw the photo of the girl on your desk. You're daughter, right?" Seth asked.

"Ah, yeah that's my daughter, Iris. She works here actually." Joe told the mutant.

"Beautiful girl, where did she get the good looks from, I wonder?" Seth bemused the detective who laughed at his words.

"Hahaha, I would like to think she got them from me." He said, both of them now laughing like old friends who haven't met each other in a long time.

The mutant's attention was turned to the television where the newscaster spoke.

"It's now been 9 months since S.T.A.R. Labs' particle accelerator, the same device that was supposed to power our city with clean energy and advance our understanding of science and medicine, exploded. The explosion was said to have released numerous elements into the city's atmosphere, in the form of a shockwave. However, the leading scientist of the project and founder of S.T.A.R. Labs Dr. Harrison Wells have assured us that nothing dangerous was released into the city at the night of the explosion. Something we are all grateful for."

"Particle accelerators? Sounds like something Stark would make back home." The symbiote commented.

"Can't argue with that." Seth thought back before turning to the detective with a question. "That accelerator really explode?"

"Yeah, a lot of people died that night and many more injured. Some people even went missing, though people just think that they died from being to close the blast. My own son got into a coma because of the explosion. Nine months gone of his life." The detective said with sorrowful voice.

Seth widened his eyes in shock and horror. "Jesus. Nine months. Is he okay?"

"Yeah, he's fine, he woke up not too long ago, a few days ago actually. Better than ever and he's already up and running." Joe assured the mutant with a chuckle.

"Thank God for that. Must have been hell when the night that happened. Being in a coma for 9 months, can't imagine anyone being put through that. And waking up after so long. Jesus must have been like waking up to a whole new world." Seth wondered.

"You mean like veteran war hero who was frozen for 70 years?" the symbiote reminding the anti-hero of Captain America.

"Definitely wasn't any fun, you can bet on that." Joe answered honestly. Seth could imagine that. The detective getting up from his seat and told the mutant he needed to go to the bathroom.

The host said he would keep both of their drinks warm while he was gone. The moment he got out of sight, he went into a conversation with his "other". "Honestly, expected this conversation to be more interrogation-y than a friendly chat." He told the symbiote. "The human must feel your pain. We could feel discomfort from him when Stef was mentioned before."

"Must he have lost someone himself." He thought back before his mind went blank when he laid eyes on the next person coming through the door.

A brown-haired woman came through the door, her dark-blue coat concealing the dress she wore. She had dark-brown eyes, that looked colder than any frozen icicle. Her face kept a stoic facade, not cracking a single smile. A shame for such a beautiful face.

"Enjoying the view, are we?" the symbiote teased. The host however didn't respond but kept his eyes on his drink, but would sneak a few glances at the beautiful brunette till she got her order and went out the door. "…wow." He said out loud, instantly memorizing every detail of the woman's face.

"Hey, you okay?" Seth snapped himself out of the trance and looked to his side, seeing Joe looking at with worried eyes. "You looked a little out of it, pal."

"Oh sorry, just daydreaming a bit." He told the detective as he took back his seat in front of the mutant. The two of them talked about other subjects, mainly revolving the particle accelerator and Joe's son who got out his coma. Joe told the mutant while he's in town, he should try Big Belly Burger. Seth agreed to it if the detective joined him, to which he agreed to before the they talked more.

X

By the time Seth and the detective finished their drinks, the anti-hero said his goodbyes and went to the nearest dark alley so his clothes could shift into his Venom form before swinging away. He swung lower than before to see if he could spot anything that he may have missed before. Any clues of his sister, and Carnage.

"We will find her, Seth and put an end to that nefarious murderer, once and for all." The symbiote said after picking up his host's thoughts.

"I know. But knowing that monster is out there, living and breathing with my sister… makes me sick to my core." The host told his partner before shaking off the dark thoughts. "How about we go another hour and then find a spot to sleep? Maybe even get a midnight snack."

"That sounds delicious, partner." Seth smiled at his partner's answer as he swung through the new city he would call home.

While swinging through the city, Seth passes over a dark alleyway and jumps to the next wall to observe from a distance.

Eyes sharpening at the sight of group of punks surrounding a young girl who had pink streaks in her brown hair, her clothes resembled that of a gothic girl, but she didn't look like one. His eyes widened the second when the group of punks suddenly push the girl to the dirty ground before they tossed her bag into the nearest wall, the contents of the bag falling out.

"Our midnight snack?" the symbiote asked curiously and angrily when he laid eyes on the punks. "Yes, but later." The host answered its partner angrier at the sight of the punks tormenting the young girl.

Venom clenched his fists at the sight, breaking the wall he was hanging from, the pressure proving to much for the brick wall to handle. When one of the punks suddenly pulled out a knife, he saw red.

X

"Little girl, I said give us your money?! Or we fucking take it from you?" One of the punks said as he held up his knife to empathize his seriousness, his two companions grinning widely beside him.

"Please! I don't have any money." The young girl said from her place on the ground with her eyes full of fear. "Please, let me go."

The three punks didn't heed the young girl's begging and stepped closer to her. Their victim trying to crawl away but stopped when one of them stood in front of her. "Please, someone help me." She begged for her salvation with closed eyes, and a second later, it came.

Crashing down behind the group, the three friends turned and got the fright of their lives. For the first time in their lives, they stood face-to-face with Venom. Their fear overwhelmed them as the black titan inched closer with earth-quivering steps. "What are you?" the leader asked, frightened to his core by creature. Hands shaking uncontrollably, the knife falling down immediately down.

Venom came to a halt when he was in front of the group. Lowering his face, he sneered out. "Leave. Now.", before he stomped down on the ground, the entire knife breaking to pieces. The mere words scared the punks senselessly. So much that the moment the words escaped his mouth, they ran off without any hesitation.

"It's clear." The symbiote told its host who turned the frightened girl. Seth in his Venom form looked to the wall, where the girl's schoolbag contents were all around the place. Stepping closer to the spot, he shot of tendrils from his back.

The young girl waited for her end, or something worse, but when nothing happened, she opened her eyes. Eyes snapped open the instant she saw the black titan standing by the wall, and black tentacle-like things coming out of its back and picking up her things and putting them into her schoolbag.

"She's watching." The symbiote stated as he and the host placed the last items into her schoolbag. The mutant turned to the young girl, seeing that she was not standing. "Are you okay, child?" he asked, strangely enough the voice didn't scare the young girl.

"Y-Yes. I-I'm ok-okay." She said with a stuttering voice. Venom walked closer to her, and handed her the schoolbag. "Thank you, mister."

"You are welcome, young one." Venom said with a smile before making his way to the other side of the alley.

"Wait, mister!" The young girl shouted, making the anti-hero stop in his steps. "Who are you?"

Venom turned around to meet her face before speaking. "We are Venom." He said with a smile.

The young girl smiled before speaking. "Thank you, Venom. I'm Frankie Kane."

"Pleasure to meet you Frankie." Venom said to the girl before asking curiously. "Do you live far from here, young one?"

"No, not far. But those guys just came out of nowhere and attacked me. Threatening me for money, I didn't have." She said as hugged her bag tighter to her chest, as her eyes watered with fear.

Seeing the tears gathering in the corners of the young girl's eyes made the mutant host sad. "What do you want to do?" the symbiote asked.

"What I do best: Protect."

Venom stepped closer to the young girl, before bending down on one knee before Frankie. "Frankie?" he gained her attention. "Would like us to escort you back home?"

"I wouldn't wanna impose…" she said, the symbiote feeling a great deal of hesitation at the mention of her home… even greater fear?

"You would not impose, child. We will protect you, but it is your choice alone." He said as calmly he could with his demonic-voice before extending his hand. "We will protect you Frankie Kane."

Frankie was surprised to hear such a terrifying creature be willing to protect her. Unlike the adults in her life, he seemed genuinely concerned in protecting her from any dangers of the young night. But she chose to follow her heart and made her choice.

With a shaking hand she extended it to Venom, the anti-hero smiling before gently picking the young girl up and bringing to his chest. Frankie smiling widely at his knightly action. Her eyes widening as the hero shoot a webline that connected with a building and yanking him and her away, giving the young girl a new perspective of her home city.

Seth's plan for tonight: Bring Frankie to her home, and let Venom have his little midnight snack.