LAURA

All I could do was sit idly and watch. 

Eddie's eyes were shut down tight and lips parted slightly to let out warm breaths, the only sign that determined that he was alive. His hands were so still and cold, but not the usual cold. It was a shuddering chill, the kind that made you wrench your hands away with a hiss. I let my hands traverse through his wisps of hair that flopped over his forehead and wait for him to wake up. I had my head against his forearm, seeing him from an angle I'd never seen before. I could pick out the flaws in his face, a scar or two and the occasional laugh wrinkle. However sullen he was, I'd never loved him more.

Peter is here.

Venom was awake, I could perceive it. Sin felt it when he revived back up in the containment unit, no frequencies in there to harm him. I remembered waiting and waiting for what felt like years but only minutes had passed to hear the wild beating of his heart. It was a staggering relief, the veins that were ablaze in my head calming to a stop.

'Miss Sharp?'

I didn't let my gaze deter. I couldn't, my eyes staying put over Eddie's face. 'Peter.'

He audibly gulped. 'I uh, came in to check up on you. And Mr. Brock.'

I sighed, palming my cheeks to look ahead at the window. The outside was dark enough to reflect Peter's unmasked suited-up form with his arms fisted at his sides. He was watching me, gauging my frozen senses.

'He's gonna' be okay,' I responded monotonously. I kept telling myself, convincing myself the same thing for the past two hours. The headquarters had collapsed into a deafening silence, the murmurs of the few superheroes too feeble to be heard from. Peter moved forward, his footsteps stealthy. 

A delicate hand landed over my shoulder, squeezing it gently to channel in patience. 'I know, Miss Sharp,' he said softly. 'Can I say something?'

I half-laughed, finally snapping my eyes to his. 'Sure, kid.'

'You're my new favorite superhero,' he smiled, his cheeks bunching under his eyes. Flanking my side, he leaned his back against the bedding and laying a hand over my palm. 'You saved Mr. Brock's life. And, your katanas were pretty cool.'

I prefer this kid over the rest. I want this human child.

My grin faltered, my heart swelling with pride. I had never been anyone's superhero for that matter, but being a hero's hero - how much ever of a mouthful it was, it felt solidly appreciatory. And with those few words, he had managed to lift my mood.

'Pete uh,' I shook my head with my cheeks coloring faintly. 'Um, it's an honor.'

We'll have him.

He nodded with the same carefree smile. 'By the way, Cap's calling you to the lab,' he delivered, snapping his fingers before he forgot to convey it. 'Said she needs to talk to you, me and Mr. Stark.'

'Cap?' I only knew one Cap and he would never be in the same meter radius of Tony given the matters at hand. I wondered which Cap he was talking about. That reminded me about the woman on flames who had saved Eddie from any further damage. I ought to give her my thanks.

'Carol Danvers,' he said, shrugging. 'She'll tell you herself. It's a long story.'

'I have time,' I acknowledged, wanting to know more. 'Who is she?'

'She's super intimidating, Miss Sharp,' he blasted out as he nipped his lip, looking away in embarrassment. 'I don't want to meet her alone.'

I massaged the region between my eyes, setting my forlorn gaze on Eddie's resting stature, taking in a short inhale. I couldn't leave him to wake up on his own, he's bound to be confused. My mind became a whirlwind of obsessive-compulsive thinking until a certain AI cut into the tense silence.

'I can inform you if he wakes up, Ms. Sharp,' I heard the programmed voice of JARVIS ring through and I lifted my gaze to the ceiling in instinct. 'He seems to be in the clear as of now.'

'Thanks JARVIS,' I murmured thankfully. Peter was ecstatic with my change in decisions, catching my side as I walked out of the room after tossing Eddie one last glance. Peter babbled on about the task-force who arrived at the scene after my thick stunt I pulled with Eddie and apparently, Beck had taken care of it. 

'Sharp,' I heard the familiar voice as the devil herself approached me with quickening steps from the other end of the hallway. I could see a brooding Tony and Carol from where I stood, shooting them quick glances before looking back at Beck who finally came up to me. What Beck did next surprised me - her arms going me around my shoulders for an embrace.

'I'm not heartless,' she mumbled when I didn't respond only shooting Peter a clueless glimpse. 'I was worried and I'm happy you're okay.'

'Oh,' I said. 'Thanks - '

Brace yourself.

Just before I could finish that sentence, my hand raised high enough to shield my face from the sharp sound of a blast. A thick force-field of white crafted itself into a hollow hemisphere in front of me, preventing the blast from blowing me up. My heart raced with panic as Beck was swift to move behind the wall to sheath herself and Peter, well, he was missing.

'Pete?' I heaved for breath as I looked around me. There was a crunching sound from above me and I nearly jumped out my skin as Peter leveled back to the ground from the ceiling, shaking his shoulders and pulling away from the web-linen that had strapped itself to his shooters. I shook myself out of the trance after realizing everyone was okay, eyeing the blazing woman with my jaw dropped. 

'Nice to meet you, too.'

Tony bristled. 'Yeah. The doorframe just costs a few thousand dollars. No biggie.'

'Sorry,' she said with a small purse of her lips and folding back her golden glowing fists. 'Just wanted to check.'

'My life expectancy?' I couldn't hold myself back. 'Pretty sure we know the answer to that one, now.'

She chuckled showing all her teeth, moving forward to shake my hand. I felt a slight sizzle of electricity from her glowing fists and retracting my hand with a hiss. She made an apologetic face and introduced herself. 'Captain Marvel usually referred to as Carol Danvers.'

'Laura Sharp,' I said in turn, 'just a journalist.'

'I thought it was...' Carol turned to look at mischievous Tony and back at me. More like the gleaming rock on my left hand. 'Brock? '

'Not just yet,' I shook my head and sending Tony an angry curl of my lips. Tony shuffled forward to greet Beck formally, not before patting Peter in the back appreciatively, who looked flustered which was different from what I'd grown to know of her and tucking her hair behind her ear. 

'Beck,' she said in a suave tone. 'Laura's . . . friend.'

She was, alright. That hug didn't seem too vengeful to me. Carol cleared her throat eyeing Tony as if to convey an important message. When he caught on, Tony voiced out his thoughts.

'Let's jump to the topic, shall we? Carol?'

Carol rolled her eyes. She shifted a bit to show the latest sighting of the Xenophage on the holographic guard, which happened to be a few hours ago on the neighborhood. The place looked uninhabitable as of now, most of the homes destroyed and in the rubble. Swarms of soldiers from the task force were already ushering some citizens away from the site, and reporters on the scene to capture the impending chaos to be left to air. I swallowed hard, looking away from the screen.

'My team and I are stationed on the low-orbit space station called Alpha Flight,' she shared. 'We are the first line of defense against any extraterrestrial threats that come toward Earth but this thing,' she poked a thumb at the active Xenophage's direction, 'escaped by our watch. I don't know how so I came here to see to it that it caused no harm.'

'Clearly, the worst case scenario has occurred,' Tony spoke up. 

Beck followed after, aiming to help. 'It cuts off my symbiote connection. Maybe that was how it was able to sneak through the atmosphere.'

'Interesting theory but no,' Carol shook her head. 'One of the crew members got too into his Galaga game at that point, I think.'

'Reasonable much,' I mused. 'But the plan is to exterminate it.'

'Its surface is impenetrable,' Peter input. 'And it's got paralytic acid that's clearly got Mr. Brock to knock out for a good period of time.'

'Any weaknesses you could pick out?' Carol asked, nodding at Tony. 'Softspots, weak elements of that sort?'

He shrugged. 'Not any I recognized. But we can trap it,' he raised a finger in the air. 'We have another symbiote. Laura's.'

'You can reproduce?' Carol sputtered out, widening her eyes. 'That's genuinely sickening.'

It's how life works. Human birth is even revolting.

'Tell me about it,' I scoffed. 'It was sucking the life out of me for months until Tony and Banner took that thing out before it turned my body into it's Disneyland.'

Carol directed her question at Tony this time. 'So, you kept it for . . . ?'

'Recreational purposes,' Tony added with a soft scratch behind his ear in nervousness. 'You know, this and that.'

'The Xenophage can shapeshift, too,' Beck piped up, moving so she could flank my side. She made things focused, rather than deviate from the more important matter at hand. 'Makes it even harder for us to find.'

'Not really,' Tony said instinctively, ever the optimist. 'The organism releases a frequency which was able to unbind your symbiote link. So I was to, in theory, create a defined frequency which could block it out of your systems then we can trace it back to its location. Simple physics.'

'Simple,' I nodded, sarcasm dripping in my tone. 'How do you suggest we make these devices?'

'You're in the presence of a man who knows all and sees all, sweetcheeks,' he winked. 'I think I can handle a bit of pressure.'

'Oh yeah? Where's Banner and co?'

'Away for the weekend. Wanda and Vision are still here, though. Just didn't want to make it.'

'Ah.'

He flared his nostrils at the sound. 'What's that supposed - '

He couldn't finish his sentence, the robotic voice of his AI echoing through the room and making me go stiff with commotion and twirling back to the entrance.

'Mr. Brock is awake, Miss Sharp. He's on his way here.'

- ♣ -

[ w/n: this isn't the Carol from the MCU, this is the comic Carol Danvers. so, things will be different. just letting you know! I posted the dedications on the first chapter, been working on it for a while now so please drop that a read! anyhoo, how was this chapter and which was your favorite part? ]