Venom

ONE: A Strange Task

Eddie Brock was invited to Anne's house because she had a favor to ask of him. So, he walked to her and Dan's house, and the two of them met him outside. There was also a little red haired girl sitting on the front steps and playing with a teddy bear that was missing an eye.

"What's going on?" Eddie asked. "And what's with the kid?"

"My boss asked me to look after her for a little while after her father found out her previous location," Anne explained.

"Yeah, but we're supposed to be leaving for Malaysia tomorrow, and she isn't authorized for travel," Dan continued. Eddie raised an eyebrow.

"So, you want me to play nanny for the next few days?" He questioned. Dan and Anne both nodded.

"This is very important. I need to know that you can handle it," Anne explained.

"Yeah...sure..." Eddie agreed with a slow nod.

"More food," Venom stated. Eddie shook his head.

"No. Shut up," Eddie whispered to himself, talking to Venom. Anne raised an eyebrow.

"...Maybe this isn't the best idea..." she realized.

"Nah. It's fine. She's seven. How hard can it be?" Eddie asked.

"Very..." Venom replied.

"Shut up..." Eddie said again.

"Are you sure you're okay? The last time you talked to yourself, you were with Venom," Anne pointed out.

"I'm fine. Come on, kid," Eddie called. The little girl took a few steps before stopping. "Um...are you coming?"

"Yes. It just takes her a minute to find you," Anne explained shortly before the little girl tripped over a rock and fell. "She has almost no senses, so she relies mostly on smell and sound."

"That explains it," Eddie replied.

"Can I eat her?" Venom asked.

"No! We don't eat kids!" Eddie shouted, looking disgusted. Anne raised an eyebrow and stared at Eddie.

"Excuse me? Are you sure there isn't something you need to tell me before I just hand a helpless child over to you?" Anne questioned. Eddie nodded.

"I'm sure. Everything's fine, I just wanted to see what you'd do," Eddie lied with a chuckle. Anne nodded slowly.

"Okay then..." Anne replied. "I'm trusting you, Eddie. Please, for the love of God, don't let me down."

"Yes, Eddie. Don't let her down," Venom remarked. Eddie just smiled, nodded, and made sure it was obvious to Venom that he was ignoring him.

Soon, Eddie and the little girl arrived at Eddie's apartment. Eddie explained a few things along the way, but the little girl just tilted her head toward the ground and remained completely silent. At least until they arrived at their destination.

"Hello, Eddie. How are you?" Mrs. Chen asked. Eddie nodded.

"Good. I'm apparently babysitting now..." Eddie answered.

"I pity that poor child," Mrs. Chen retorted. The little girl giggled.

"Hey, how did you do that?" Eddie asked.

"I'm funny, Mr. Eddie," Mrs. Chen stated.

"You've never made me laugh..." Eddie remarked. Mrs. Chen smiled slightly.

"Because you have no sense of humor," she responded. Eddie playfully put a hand on his heart.

"That really hurts, Mrs. Chen. Really," Eddie replied. Mrs. Chen smiled slightly.

"Goodnight, Mr. Eddie," she said.

"Goodnight, Mrs. Chen," he replied, waving before going up to his apartment and forgetting that he left the oblivious little girl with Mrs. Chen.

"Aren't you forgetting something, Eddie?" Venom asked.

"What're you talking about? I'm not forgetting— oh no!" He said before running downstairs to get the little girl, who was sitting behind the cashier desk chatting with Mrs. Chen.

"You're already failing..." Venom told Eddie.

"Shut up, you almost didn't notice, either," Eddie replied.

"Yes I did," Venom denied.

"Then why didn't you tell me sooner?" Eddie questioned.

"I wanted to see how long it would take for you to realize," Venom admitted.

"Alright, well I noticed. Hey, kid! It's time to go!" Eddie called. The little girl turned to him, and for whatever reason, just took a giant bite of her cookie, even though she had no idea what she was eating and turned away again. She only left with Eddie after she finished eating the cookie. "So now that I know you can answer me, I have to ask: what's your name?"

"Maisie," the little girl replied.

"You humans have strange taste in names..." Venom informed Eddie.

"Says the one named Venom," Eddie retorted.

"Are you talking to the other guy?" Maisie asked.

"What?" Eddie asked.

"You smell like two different people. Are you talking to the other guy?" Maisie questioned.

"Um...yeah..." Eddie confirmed.

"My papa had an other guy too," Maisie admitted.

"Your dad has a symbiote?" Eddie wondered aloud. Maisie raised an eyebrow.

"What's that?" She asked.

"An 'other guy.' What was its name?" Eddie asked. Maisie shrugged.

"I dunno. I didn't like him very much," she stated.

"That makes sense. They can be a real pain in the—" Eddie started.

"If I were you, I wouldn't finish that sentence," Venom threatened.

"Hey, I die, you die," Eddie reminded Venom.

"You're weird..." Maisie blurted.

"On second thought....maybe I don't want to eat this child," Venom decided.

"You're only saying that because she insulted me, and that seems to be your favorite thing to do," Eddie said.

"Exactly," he confirmed. "There's someone downstairs..." Right after Venom said that, someone began yelling at Mrs. Cho.

"I don't think that's good..." Maisie stated.

"Dinner..." Venom said happily. Eddie ran downstairs and allowed Venom to take control of him in order to eat the thief.

"How many people are going to rob this place?! I mean, really! There's nothing here to steal!" Eddie pointed out.

"Hey!" He heard Maisie yell from only a short distance behind him. Venom turned.

"Why are you following me?!" Venom asked.

"'Cause I wanna help," Maisie replied. Venom shrugged.

"Okay," He agreed quickly.

"Are you serious?!" Eddie questioned.

"Of course I am. It's not like she'll do anything, anyway," Venom responded. Maisie walked over to the thief.

"Excuse me, sir...but he doesn't like you stealing..." Maisie said bluntly, sounding slightly creepy as she spoke and pointed at Venom. While the intruder was distracted...and paralyzed in fear...Maisie stomped on the man's foot, took his gun, and pointed it at him as Venom approached and ate the man before turning back into Eddie Brock.

"Why did you want to help? All you did was point us out..." Eddie asked. Maisie held up the thief's gun.

"I wanted this," she explained. "It's useful, and your other guy would've eaten it."

I couldn't help but notice that this chapter now has 420 reads XD