THE RED ONE

[A few hours later]

The cops and the medics arrived at the scene. The truck was totaled and the driver was dead on the spot. There was barely anything left of his body anymore. It was completely smashed up.

"What a mess," the tall cop sighed as he walked toward the other cop.

"Yeah, this will take a while to get through. Anyways, what do you think, another drunk driving accident?" The blond cop who just arrived at the scene asked.

"Yeah, pretty much an open and shut case. We also got an eyewitness who almost got run over by that truck. Poor girl, she was quite shaken up. She is currently receiving treatment in the hospital."

The tall one checked the back of the truck to see what it was carrying and just as he thought, it was a liquor carrier truck. Alcohol was all over that place thanks to the smashed-up back. It was lucky that it hadn't caught fire yet.

"What's her name?" The blond cop asked. His hand was in his pocket, holding a small device with a blinking green light.

"Elizabeth Allan, 21 years old. She works for a local blog," The tall cop replied as he kicked the truck's tire.

"Well, lucky she didn't end up in someone else's blog," the blond cop chuckled as he began to examine the area.

He casually leaned toward the body, or what's left of it. When the truck crushed that poor bastard, blood and meat fragments were splattered everywhere, in every nook and cranny. So the cop bent down and tried to check the upper part of the body. Even in this mess, some brain parts should remain, but he couldn't find any traces of the brain.

"Hey, Sarge. You sure he died from the crash?" The blond cop asked as he stood up.

"Of course he is, man. The guy has turned into meat sauce because of the pressure caused by the impact of the crash," Sarge sighed, and just when he was about to move toward his car, his eyes fell on the tire marks in the distance. "Hey, Liam, come here for a moment. Check this out." He called the blond cop, Liam.

"Found something new?"

"Check out the tire marks. That truck came from the left, lost control, and crashed, right? But look at the tire marks, the front tires are clearly skidding as if the driver is trying to slow down the truck, and then," the Sarge pointed the skid mark left after the crash, "the front tire skidded and hit the curb, then the truck veered right, and then slammed against the pole. That should be the point of intact, right? But how the heck did that truck get from here to over there?" He pointed at the broken pole and shattered ledge of the road. "That truck should be here, at the point of impact, maybe a few meters straight and flipped over... But how the hell did it go completely the other way of the impact?"

"Unless that thing didn't crash there," Liam said after having a careful look at everything. "Another car, maybe?"

"No, according to Miss Allan, there were no other cars in the area, just that truck," Sarge added.

"What if Miss Allan is lying?" Liam said after a long silence.

"Then we should interrogate her first. You go and check on her, and get a proper statement. She might not be in her right mind due to the shock when she gave the statement earlier. We can't rely on it," the Sarge said.

"Yes, sir," Liam said as he turned around, switching off the device in his pocket. He got into his car and drove off.

After driving away from the scene, Liam dialed a private number on his phone. The one and only "Director Fury" of SHIELD.

"What do you think?" Fury's voice came from the speaker of the cellphone.

"It was definitely here. Considering someone strong enough to push the truck a few feet away from the original collision spot, a heavyweight in the league of Hulk's strength at least, and the fact that the driver's upper body is missing and no brain matter was found at the scene, all signs lead to that red one. Elizabeth Allan might be its new host, I'm going to her location right now," Liam said, calmly. "I'll need backup."

"Iron Man is on the way. We need to be careful to avoid unnecessary deaths, you and the agents will create a perimeter around the hospital, and make sure no one leaves or enters the place," Fury ordered.

"Won't it be better to lure her outside first? There are too many civilians in the hospital, and evacuating them on such short notice won't be easy," Liam frowned, his eyes fixed on the road.

"But we don't know if that Red Symbiote left Elizabeth's body and found a new host or left its strand on other people. Right now, we are dealing with an existence capable of multiplying beyond our expectations. That's why, Iron Man is our best bet. He studied the other three samples we discovered from All Life Foundation's space station, so he might have a few tricks up his sleeve. Just keep an eye out around you, agent," Fury ended the call abruptly, leaving Liam alone.

"Well, just another day at work then...Haah...." Liam sighed and shook his head. He drove toward the hospital without a shred of fear of losing his life. He is trained and has years of experience fighting the worst. And he as a double agent, working for both NYPD and Shield, had faced dozens of life-and-death situations like this.

.

.

[Hospital] [Liz's private room]

"I'm alright, dad," Liz spoke to her dad who was looking at her with a worried expression, "Just some minor scratches, nothing else."

"God! You gave me a scared back there. You were lying on the roadside, unconscious, then that turned-over truck..." Wilson Allan shuddered after thinking about the terrifying event and gently held her shoulders.

"No more late-night driving. Wait! No driving at all. What were you doing outside alone at night?!"

"I told you already, dad. I was covering a concert. The pay was good, so..." She pulled a sorrowful face, acting coy and all. "Sorry..."

Wilson shook his head with another sigh, "I keep telling you to help me out with my business, why don't you ever listen to me? Look where you have ended up. I even told you that you don't have to work. I've worked my whole life for whom? Everything I have belongs to you and your brother, yet you keep doing this so-called blogging and all."

"Oh come on, dad!" Liz laughed and pulled him into a warm hug, "Don't worry about it, alright? It wasn't that serious. I just took a scratch. As for my job, it's just to... You know, trying to do something different."

Wilson smiled. A loving smile, "Ahhh, no you won't get out of it this time. No more late-night covering, that's my final say on the subject. I don't want my daughter to die out there for some money, all right?"

"Okay..."

"Promise, no more late-night coverage and stick to Daily Bugle. They even got private cars, so you won't have to worry about going around alone," Wilson extended his hand toward her.

"Haaa... Alright, alright... Promise," Liz placed her hand in his hand and promised to give up late-night coverings, "Well, it's already midnight. You better go home and get some sleep. I remember you having an important deal tomorrow, you don't want to get late, right?"

"Right," Wilson nodded.

"Go, now. I'll just stay the night here and head home in the morning," she said with a reassuring smile, hugging him once more and seeing him off the door.

"No, I'll pick you up in the morning. So, don't even think about going anywhere. Meetings and deals can wait," Wilson said his final words as he left the room.

"Phew! Finally out," Liz closed the door, turned around, and locked it.

Now she's alone in the room.

She glanced at her arms, remembering the scene of the accident. She was certain that she got run over by that truck and then a red blob, after that everything was blank. The medics found her at the edge of the crash site and claimed that she suffered just some minor scratches, but Liz knew better than anyone what actually happened.

"Hey, there, surprising, isn't it?"

A woman's voice echoed in her head, followed by an intense pain that made Liz fall to the floor, clutching her head.

"Gaaahhh!"

"You are alive even after getting squashed by a truck. Luckily, I was passing by. Just so you know, this body, well, it's a perfect match for me."

Liz growled in pain, trying to locate the owner of the voice, "W-where are you? Stop fucking talking inside my head..."

"Liz, I'm glad we are bonding right now. Just stop struggling and let me do my job because, in a few minutes, some people are gonna come inside and take you away... There'll be no escape. I'm the only one who can save you from this situation. Just give in if you want to survive," The voice warned with a chuckle, and the pain subsided, along with an overwhelming surge of strength coursing through her entire body.

[Bang!] The door broke open...

"Hands up your head if you want to survive!"

RAWWWWRRRR!

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