Symbiote 0228: A Demon of the Past

Earth-65.

A week had finally passed since Gwen had gone into her coma after recklessly pushing herself into a pit of fire despite Alex's warnings.

Her eyes flickered open to the morning sunlight as her body felt heavy and sore. It took her effort to completely open her eyes.

"Morning, sleepyhead," Alex's voice seemed to jolt her awake as she stiffened. Just as she tried to get up, a hand pressed on her forehead, sending a cool sensation throughout her body and calming her down, "Calm down." Alex told her as she turned to look at him.

The girl turned her head to the side while Alex kept resting his palm on her forehead and finally met his eyes. An embarrassed smile crept up on her face, "Morning …" She said with an almost wincing expression.

Seeing his girl making such a weird expression and still looking cute doing it, Alex couldn't help but smile, "I missed you," He said.

"How long?" Gwen asked, expressing a mixture of both apprehension and apology.

"Almost five years," He said, a sad smile on his face, making Gwen's eyes widen.

"What?!" She sat up before being hit in the head by a sense of vertigo. It took her a few seconds to center herself before she looked at Alex with widened eyes.

He nodded, "The only reason that you're even alive right now is because of our symbiotic bond …"

"You're fucking with me," Gwen shook her head, "You said it would just be a week. I have to talk to my father." She tried to get off of the bed, but Alex held her hand.

Gwen had a bad feeling as she looked at his expression with his lips pressed together as if about to say something difficult, "About that …"

Her heart lurched to her throat, "W-what is it?" She asked with a crack in her voice.

"He passed last year …" Alex said with difficulty.

"Tell me you're fucking with me," Gwen frowned, "Dad!" She got out of bed and went out of her room, "Dad, where are you?"

Alex followed her out to the living room and hugged her from behind, "I'm sorry, Gwen …" He whispered in her ear as the girl's body went limp in his arms, losing her strength.

"Y-you mean … my father …" Gwen choked out, holding back her tears.

"Shh…" Alex said, moving his arm to hold on to her more stably. Moments later, Gwen's elbow stabbed into his rib. "Fuck!" He coughed out, feeling the metallic taste of blood in his mouth as he felt his kidney rupturing due to how hard Gwen had hit him.

"Dickhead," Gwen turned to look at him with narrow eyes, "stop acting like I actually hurt you, you're made of slime."

"I'll have you know," Alex said with emphatic offense despite his voice coming out strained as if he was being choked, "this is a full-fledged human body. You just destroyed one of my kidneys. Do you have any idea how complicated it is to generate organs?" His voice got more normal as the words left his mouth, signaling his rapid recovery.

"Boo fucking hoo," Gwen had no sympathy for his fake pain, "I was genuinely traumatized for a minute damnit."

"Good," Alex said sharply, "tells you how it's going to feel when your recklessness does end up putting you in a coma that lasts half a decade."

The words pierced Gwen's ears and made her shrink back from her aggressive momentum. "But–but all of those people would've died," She said with a growing voice. "If I have the power to help someone, to save their life, and I let them die, that death is on me."

Matching his gaze, she nonverbally expressed her steadfast belief in her principles, enough that Alex could only sigh in defeat and give in, "Do as you wish," He said, "But your week-long disappearance has not only left New York under distress, it has also become a big stepping stone for the terrorists who blew up our building."

"Our skyscraper was just the start?" A serious expression crossed Gwen's face. "Can you run me down on what has happened?" She asked him. "It was Murdock who painted a target on our backs, wasn't it?" She mumbled.

"Surprisingly, no," Alex shook his head. "It was actually Cindy who got the target painted on our backs."

"Cindy?" Gwen raised a brow, "Our Cindy? The one who is essentially your sex slave with permanent surveillance? Are you sure?"

"I don't get the morals behind your mindset," Alex said, changing the subject. "On the one hand, you are righteous enough to sacrifice yourself even if it is to save a single person in the name of justice, but on the other hand, you are perfectly fine with what is pretty much psychological and physical abuse toward Cindy. What is the deal there?"

"You're changing the subject," Gwen said, narrowing her eyes. "You aren't getting out of answering my question." Seeing a familiar gleam of sadism appear in Alex's eyes, the stubbornness in her died out as she felt a shiver in all the right places. "I'll give you your answer, but you have to answer me after that." She obediently backed down in front of Alex's unspoken 'threat'. "I was there, mostly lost in pleasure as you manipulated and utilized all sorts of psychological tactics to Stalkhome Syndrome Cindy into being loyal to us." Feeling Alex's impatience, Gwen couldn't help but smile, but she continued nonetheless, "We didn't really brainwash her in the first place. We just gave her what she was truly after. We fulfilled her obsession in a way that satisfied all three of us. Her loyalty is merely a side effect of that submission."

Alex looked away from Gwen with an almost tired expression, "I don't know why you love psychoanalyzing everything — our relationship, Cindy's mindset, and whatever else you can …" He said while acting as if he was looking off into the distance, "but as long as it gets you from point A to point B, it's all fine I guess."

"Now give me my answer," Gwen said impatiently, not caring about Alex's words. She approached him and stood before him, grabbing his face and making him look down to meet her eyes, "Tell me why Cindy is the reason behind my skyscraper being destroyed." The gleam of possession in her eyes toward the building amused Alex.

"It's not really your skyscraper per se," Alex said. "We merely had two floors, and even those were rented. We aren't as big as Stark just yet."

"Alex …" Gwen looked at him pointedly.

He sighed, "She didn't fuck us over on purpose, we are not the Ten Rings' targets," He said as Gwen kept looking at him intently, waiting for him to continue. "Cindy was never the best of people. Especially when it came to the things she was obsessed with, namely two things — you, and becoming the so-called 'Cindy Prime' of the multiverse." Alex paused for a moment, "Anyway, so, she may have, inadvertently, killed a man's father, then his sister, and then his girlfriend before pretty much exiling the man out of the country. She essentially destroyed his life to smithereens."

Gwen's eyes quivered, "Why?" She said with a hardened voice, suppressing her emotions.

"It's a convoluted and long story," Alex shrugged before speaking with a droning tone, "Cindy wanted the father, Xu Wenwu's, immortality-granting artifact — The Ten Rings, the man's children intervened, and Cindy eventually caused the death of Xu Wenwu and his daughter, leaving only the brother, Shang-Chi. She couldn't get the rings since the man fled with them. Eventually, though, she was able to track down and find out his identity before threatening him with his girlfriend's life, subsequently killing her when he didn't take the bait. She eventually gave up on the rings once you and your portal watch came into her eyes."

"He's back for revenge …" Gwen didn't need any more information to piece things together.

"Yeah," Alex said, "and he doesn't plan to stop with just Cindy. The man is burning with a vengeance that will only be quelled after causing as much destruction and devastation in the country as possible."

"How much?" Gwen asked with a quiver in her voice, "How much damage has been caused?"

"Not much just yet," Alex said nonchalantly, "Getting the kind of explosives necessary to destroy the foundation of an entire skyscraper to the point of collapsing isn't easy or cheap. They've only been attacking some high-profile billionaires like Tony Stark and the likes after that attack. They seem to be biding their time, only maintaining the momentum of their terror."

"I understand," Gwen said, "it's time I got to work." She quickly ran out to her window, "Suit me up, Alex." Just as she spoke the words, a black mass extended out of her body and attached countless strings to the walls of the room, immobilizing her as if she were stuck in a huge spider web.

"You aren't going anywhere," Alex spoke from beside her.

"Alex!" She cried, struggling to move, "As ironic as this is, let me go!"

"You just woke up," Alex said. "At least rest for a day before diving into danger. You have so much overdue homework."

"What homework?" She asked confusedly.

"You are still in school young lady," Alex said sternly. "Finish the backlog of assignments that you have before disappearing to do god knows what."

Gwen looked at Alex blankly, "I am not calling you daddy," She said, "ever."

"Fine," Alex sighed, "But you do have a lot of work that needs to be taken care of."

"I have to at least probe out the situation of the streets, Alex," Gwen said.

"That's how your grades suffer despite you being so smart," Alex said with a sigh.

***

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