[Piper Parker's POV]
Christmas Eve. Most people are gathered around trees with family, exchanging gifts and drinking eggnog. Me? I'm tearing apart my dorm room like a woman possessed, searching frantically for a phone that's suddenly become the most important thing in my universe.
'WE NEED TO FIND IT. NOW.' The voice inside me isn't patient. It never is.
"I know that," I mutter, shoving aside a pile of textbooks that cascade to the floor with a thunderous crash. My fingers tremble as I rifle through desk drawers, tossing papers and pens in every direction. "Where did I put that stupid thing?"
The symbiote churns beneath my skin, sending waves of crimson across my arms as my frustration mounts. 'HE NEEDS US. WE NEED HIM.'
"I'm looking, okay?" My voice rises, echoing off the empty walls of my dorm room. Everyone else has gone home for the holidays. Everyone except me.
'NOT FAST ENOUGH.' The symbiote's voice grows louder, more insistent, vibrating through my skull until my teeth ache. 'HE IS SUFFERING WITHOUT US.'
I yank open my closet, pulling clothes from hangers and tossing them behind me. The symbiote is making it hard to think clearly, its desperate need for Shane bleeding into my own emotions until I can't separate them anymore. Do I want to see Shane this badly, or is it Carnage's obsession driving me?
'BOTH,' the symbiote answers my unspoken question. 'WE ARE ONE NOW.'
I pause, pressing my palms against my temples. "We need to calm down," I whisper, trying to steady my breathing. "He's with Ellie. He's safe."
'NOT SAFE ENOUGH. NOT HAPPY ENOUGH. NEEDS US.'
The dresser drawer splinters under my hand as I yank it open with too much force. The symbiote is lending me strength I don't need, making my movements clumsy and destructive. I need to get a grip before I demolish my entire room.
My fingers brush against something hard and metallic beneath a pile of socks. I freeze, then slowly pull it out.
"Found it," I breathe, staring at the sleek SHIELD-issue phone. Two years ago, Director Fury handed it to me with strict instructions to use it only for emergencies. It's been sitting around, forgotten until now.
'WE NEED HIS COCK,' the symbiote suddenly screams inside my head, the voice so loud I wince. 'HIS PERFECT COCK INSIDE US. FILLING US. BREEDING US.'
"Jesus Christ," I mutter, nearly dropping the phone.
The symbiote surges beneath my skin, making the veins in my wrists stand out dark against my pale flesh. 'IT HAS BEEN TOO LONG. WE NEED HIM. NEED TO TASTE HIM. SWALLOW HIM.'
My mouth waters involuntarily at the mental images the symbiote floods my brain with, Shane naked beneath me, his eyes wide with desire, his hands glowing that beautiful golden light as I lower myself onto him...
I shake my head violently, trying to dispel the fantasies. "Stop it! We need to focus."
I clutch the SHIELD phone tighter, forcing myself to take deep breaths. "I need to call Fury first. Just... calm down for a few minutes, okay?"
The symbiote pulses angrily but subsides enough for me to think clearly. I punch in the emergency code and press the phone to my ear, listening to it ring. Each second stretches into eternity as I pace across my destroyed dorm room.
"Spidey. Long time." Director Fury's voice cuts through the static, cool and measured as always. The sound of it makes my shoulders tense. The symbiote quiets momentarily, sensing my need to focus.
"Yeah," I respond, trying to keep my voice steady despite the alien substance pulsating beneath my skin. "It's been a while."
I can almost picture her sitting at her desk, that signature eye patch casting a shadow over her face, expression unreadable as always. There's a brief silence, the kind that feels calculated rather than awkward.
"What can I do for you?" she finally asks, no warmth in her tone, just professional efficiency.
My free hand clenches into a fist as the symbiote surges through my veins, eager and insistent. I take a deep breath, forcing myself to think clearly.
"I need information on Norma Osborn," I say, my voice dropping to a harsh whisper. "I need to find her. Now."
Another calculated silence. I can hear papers shuffling in the background, maybe the click of computer keys.
"And why would SHIELD be interested in helping you track down one of the most powerful CEOs in the country?" Fury's voice is careful, probing.
The symbiote twists violently inside me, sending dark tendrils racing across my chest at the mention of Osborn's name. I struggle to contain it, to keep my voice level.
"She kidnapped and tortured someone important to me," I say through gritted teeth. "She needs to be stopped before she does it again."
"Ah," Fury says, and there's something in her tone that makes me think she already knows exactly who I'm talking about. "The teleporter. Shane Steele."
I sigh, annoyed that Fury just seems to know everything already.
"Yes, Fury," I say flatly, my knuckles white around the phone.
"Listen," she says, her voice dropping to that confidential tone that makes my skin crawl, "I really can't help you. Norma seems to be gearing up to run for president in 2028."
The symbiote surges across my arms, dark veins pulsing with rage at her words. I take a deep breath, trying to keep my voice steady.
"She's the Green Goblin," I spit out, pacing faster across my destroyed room. "Are you seriously going to protect a supervillain because she has political aspirations?"
Fury's sigh crackles through the phone. "I hate it too, believe me, but my hands are tied by the UN at the moment..." She pauses, her voice taking on a calculating edge. "That is, unless..."
My heart skips a beat. I stop pacing, every cell in my body suddenly on high alert.
"Unless what?" I demand, the symbiote coiling around my free hand, forming claws that dig into my palm.
"Well… There's a metahuman that we are deeply interested in," Fury says, her voice dropping to that conspiratorial tone that always means she wants something. "We'd love all the info we can find on it."
The symbiote coils tighter around my arm, sensing my sudden wariness. "Which one?" I ask cautiously.
"She goes by Venom." There's a pause, calculated and heavy with implication. "And we know you used to wear the alien suit, but we couldn't figure out any of its weaknesses. If you were perhaps willing to tell us how to neutralize the alien..." She lets the sentence hang in the air between us. "Then maybe I could slip you Norma's location and whatever happens happens..."
The symbiote surges through my body, its voice an urgent whisper inside my skull.
'TAKE THE DEAL. TAKE IT NOW.'
I hesitate, my pulse racing as I consider the implications. If I give Fury information about Venom's weaknesses, that same information could be used against us. We're cut from the same cloth, after all, same vulnerabilities.
'THEY DON'T KNOW ABOUT US YET,' Carnage insists, dark tendrils coiling around my heart, squeezing with anticipation. 'THEY ONLY KNOW ABOUT VENOM.'
They probably do, I think to myself in response. Fury knows everything.
The symbiote's frustration boils beneath my skin, sending dark veins cascading down my arms. Its hunger for Osborn overwhelms all reason, all caution.
'WE NEED OSBORN'S LOCATION.'