VENOM ( moon knight.. ) ✔

002 | With Our Eyes Wide Open..

Egypt, Cairo. Sun was partially clouded and those thirty seven degrees came upon the capital in a wave of humidity and little wind. Easily said, the moment a tourist would step out of its airport and properly into the city's world, they'd be overwhelmed with a beaded sweat and a heavy breath, asking them to stop under the nearest shadow.

Not only was Michael Morbius no longer subject to such a human thing as sweating, but he also had a far greater task to look after. Throughout the flight, his ears discreetly remained as close to those of a bat, getting used to Priscila's signature, her breathing pattern and the soundwaves of her tone, even if he was in the very back of the airplane, she was in the front and between them came a mass of chatting people. He had to prepare thoroughly, because once they were in the city, the chaos only doubled and he still needed to keep a certain distance between him and Clara's sister so she didn't recognize him, nor notice she was being followed.

But in a sea of tourists, Michael stood out a bit too obviously from above, where he was a moving black dot, a parasite. His only luck was that Priscila never turned around, too focused on following Google Maps to the location she's been given. At the edge of the heart of the city, towards Old Cairo, the building she approached was a monstrous modernity, a block of stone with spacious windows and columns, with statues of old Gods plastered only for decoration in front of its stairs which Priscila climbed quickly.

A man was waiting for her at the entrance. Michael had to stop at the shops in its vicinity and pretend to gaze at fabrics, though every once in a while his paled out eyes had another true focus.

Priscila had recognized her greeting party immediately. "Dr. Hayes," she smiled and couldn't properly contain her giddiness as she closed her phone's screen and dropped it back in her pocket. At that moment, Michael consciously doubled the strength of his sonar, so he could hear the soft laugh of the man and the sound of footsteps. There was no cane to accentuate them.

A proper welcoming was what Clara benefitted from as well, outside of the airport, where a man nicely cleaned up waited for them. Stuck to his tuxedo, high enough on his chest to be seen over the placard he was holding with Clara's name on it, was his nametag, saying nothing more or less than "Minion Triple Six".

"Is this your plus one, ma'am?" Triple Six looked friendly towards Clara, but had to give Marc a weary look. Since Paul had not been certain who exactly was her new, mysterious "friend", he just let his new valet know that she might be bringing someone along, with no other guidance whatsoever. Another worthwhile detail about Triple Six's presence was the desperation in his smile, topped with the way he smelt forcing just about anyone to form a generous radius around him to avoid getting intoxicating. He's been staying on that very spot since Paul ended the call with Clara, and the chase he's been trapped into too.

She confirmed to him, hardly phased, though deep within, Venom was pretty much twisting and turning from the bad scent he was far more sensitive to. "Is this Paul?" Marc leant to the side to question Clara quietly, though.

"No, just one of his soulless creations," she replied, already used to not having to give too much explanations about it, but one quick look up at Marc reminded her that though he was taking the news of demons very well, that didn't also imply that he knew all about them. "Paul is a demon who consumes souls in order to keep his powers up and running. A person without a soul is just a vessel, easy to control and therefore, willing to do anything for the demon who feeds on that inner energy."

"He manipulates people?" Of all the so-called friends Clara had, this one seemed the most deranged and he hadn't even properly met the guy, just walked behind his supposed minion, through the streets of the city of Casablanca.

"Lately just bad people though," she shrugged carelessly, then hurried to catch up with Triple Six just to give him a nudge. "What life did he pick you up from?"