Reports & Repertoire

7 Phenethylamine and gray areas

After crawling back to his apartment after losing venom, Eddie feels a new sort of emptiness, like he'd lost a friend. He wasn't sure how he felt, he'd never had to sacrifice his life to save the planet before, so he wasn't sure how he should feel. But he certainly had never wanted anyone or anything, specifically an alien symbiote that had fought to keep him and the entire planet alive to get hurt for his sake. He had to find solace that for what they'd done the planet was safe again for now.

He drags his feet, going the back way up the stairs into his building. He pushes one of the tossed tables up against the door that was half off its hinges with a hole knocked through it and sighs. He felt so exhausted, in every sense of the word. He'd been pouring sweat while he was bonded with Venom, sure, but he'd kept him running so well despite the trauma that in the short time they'd been together it was easy to forget just how shitty you could feel as a lone human.

He moves slowly, putting his ripped mattress back onto the frame of the bed. Hauling his weak body to his bathroom, he manages to take a shower, standing with his head against the wall and letting the water hit him in an attempt to process the past few days he'd had. He finds clean clothes, mismatched sweats, and a hoodie then proceeds to collapse into the lumpy bed. He'd worry about starting over tomorrow, but for now, he needed to sleep.

When a bang at the half-broken door wakes him up the next day he lets out a groan that isn't voluntary. He wanted to stay asleep and not have to face the degree of loss that awaited him in reality. As he pushes his way to the door, he sees his former boss with a very confused look on his face, eyeballing him from the hallway.
"What the hell happened here Brock?" he asks as if it's Eddie's fault.

"Did you find my phone?" he asks, with a sassy attitude, pulling the table away from the door to let him in.

"Yeah, that's why I'm here....shithead." he says with a frown and heavy sarcasm.

"I got a source this time." he begins, rubbing his hand on the back of his neck. "Or...had a source I guess." he mumbles, looking wearily to the other man in a pressed suit.

"First, tell me what happened here?" he questions as his eyes scan over the wrecked room.

"You saw what was on the phone, what do you think happened here? They found out and came after me."

"And they didn't catch you? Why are a back here now? Won't they come looking for you?" he asks with disbelief Eddie seems so indifferent to his situation.

"I don't think they will." he shakes his head, eyes shifting as he sighs heavily. "They... well..." his voice inflects upwards and his face twists into an unsure frown. "You're probably gonna be hearin' all kinds of crazy shit comin' outta the Life Foundation pretty soon so..." he shrugs and purses his lips.

"That crazy shit have anything to do with you?" he suggests with raised brows.

"I mean... yeah, it's possible." he looks up at the ceiling and plays coy but he's bad at it.

"So this on this phone is real?"

"Oh yeah." he nods enthusiastically. "That and then some." he lets out a mad sounding chuckle.

"And you came to me with this? The man who fired you?" he asks with confusion.

"You got the network behind you, you can go places with this I can't."

"Do you want to go places with me on this? You started this mess after all."

"I mean I do... but... also no." he pouts and looks at the ground, thinking of how exhausted he was with the whole situation. Drake was dead, Riot was dead, Venom was dead, the other symbiotes were dead and he's guessing much of the Life Foundation would be going the same. "I want to protect other people from having to go through that but... Drake took everything from me, man."