three days ago

The buzz of the music was deafened by thick walls and therefore faded at the mercy of far fainter sounds, such as the light disruption on the signal frequency coming through the little speaker of an annoyingly thin phone Clara Carita was holding to her ear. Outside a bar, leaning against her motorcycle, her grimace was hidden by the eerie existence of only a few lights, and those few just half broken turquoise neon, flickering and reflecting on the humid grounds.

"I'm getting the money today. You can tell her to stop worrying about it. By tomorrow night, I should be back in San Francisco too, so she'll have them by the end of the week," Clara answered. Her monotonous way of being did not fit the violent loneliness of her location, nor how concentrated her eyes followed the street next to the road bar.

She listened just very briefly to what the person on the other end of the phone had to say and throughout it all, her expression was just half tired of their voice being heard through a bad signal, to which her and Venom's ears were sensitive.

"She can wait a little longer, after all, I am doing this for her." Clara sighed deeply in the break of speech, "This is a real job. It's not like I'm going to spend the rest of my life working in a fast food restaurant just to pay her tuition. Just... tell her I work as a secretary in DC now. That would be plausible, right?" Lying was proposed with such ease. "Of course I know, but have you got anything better than that? It's unlikely that I would go investing or whatever that's called."

A car passed at full speed on the street, by the bar. Clara followed its red lights, knowing it was a straight road to the city from where they were at. "Got to go, Morbius," Clara ended her conversation briefly. There was no way she'd let that car get away.

"You know what would be really nice?"

"Tell me about having a real job and my finger will slip on loud rock music in the playlist," Clara threatened jokingly. Her crooked grin carried out until she was in the saddle of her motorcycle and her phone was safely tucked in the inner pocket of her leather jacket. Earbuds started playing quietly songs that she had found incredibly relaxing over the years, though they were violent in lyrics and meaning.

"Ew, why would I want us to waste our best years trying to follow capitalism rules which never applied to superior beings, which we are?"

There, Clara laughed.

She started the engine. From her hands on the handles, from the very tips of her fingers, Venom slithered out and jammed the wires of the motorcycle's front light. They needed to follow the car without being noticed and with his good sight, there was no need for that light at all.

Only once they slipped in speed on the street to follow the car, she answered, "That's why we get along so well."

"It would be really nice if Priscila was more appreciative of what we do for her," Venom let the snickering for another time to point that out. All about them two, inseparably together for a significant amount of years now, the world was flashing by. Speed was at the grasp of their hands and while the wind howled past the earbuds and through the music they listened to, the full moon above played hide and seek amongst clouds to try and not be seen while it watched over them, the clandestins on an unlit road.

"Instead she idolizes that bloodsucker, because he won a Noble prize. He's not so noble when we go feeding though, is he?"

"Don't project our insecurities on Morbius," Clara sighed, not bothering to speak any louder. She did not have a need for any animals living near the road to hear her over the roar of her motorcycle and the creaks of the asphalt; a simple whisper was enough for Venom to hear and that was enough. "It's just normal that she looks up to Dr. Morbius, he's an ace in a field of work which she admires. Like...," Clara gave it a little break of thought while she tilted the motorcycle to the side to keep the curve without decreasing the speed.

"Like how we admire Dory."

"We should be her Dory considering how much we are doing for her!"

"But we can't control that buddy..." No matter how rough around the edges and complicated her relationship with her sister got, Clara was aware she held a duty towards her little sister, especially since they were all alone in the world. Ever since they ran away from their home with a trail of blood, she had tried her best to provide for her, to care for her needs and sometimes, more than the others, put Priscila's needs first. All she ever asked in return was that she kept her mouth shut about Venom, but even that has been hard in the beginning.

This avalanche of memories was not what Clara needed at that moment. No. She needed to tune out those morals, block out those emotions and focus on the side of herself which she had fully embraced long ago.

The ride ended in the outskirts of the big city, in the junkyard's side filled with rusted vehicles. It was the sort of place which stank and intimidated just about enough to not be visited by not dubious people at night. To make it even harder to sneak in there was a guard at the very entrance of this car graveyard made of mazed mountains of metallic ruination. The young boy was being paid to keep the bar down and not let anyone else "stumble" over the illegal operations happening there after sundown.

His own headphones -an object Venom has learnt had an enormous cultural weight for humans on this planet- were just half broken and playing into one ear a tune from a rock radio. His other ear was attentive to the surroundings, as much as a young person like him could, considering he was also reading from a porn magazine, a piece part of his bribe to be there, something someone surely must have fished for him from a wrecked car.

They didn't take any chances.

The song ended and the radio frequency almost gave up on him, jammed by static noise. It made him lean forward in his chair until the light outside of his little outpost, the size of a public bathroom, shone on his nametag: "Alfie". He was wearing the uniform from his day job, minus that ridiculous red hat they forced him to wear along with a fake smile to serve out food.

Readjusting in his chair, Alfie looked ahead just for a moment, about to dismiss his real job to watch the barrier immediately, were it not for the fact that he did in fact see something. He snapped his gaze back up and his eyes widened. Now he was standing up, palm planted on the table before him, magazine closed between them.

His mouth agape, he took in the odd sight of a driverless motorcycle parked in front of the barrier. He tried to lean forward and look both ways, see if the driver was anywhere in sight for him not to get into trouble. After all, he believed to be quite an adult, even though he failed to get his driver's license twice and he still rode the high school bike, and the gun underneath the table was within reach. He thought that maybe if he shot the intruder himself, he'd be rewarded by the people he's been working for.

"Hello, Alfie," a sheepishly dark and throaty voice punctured a frozen feeling into the boy. He stiffened up and while his gaze unfocused, unfortunately, he caught a glimpse, in the reflection of the window of his cabin, through which he saw the motorcycle, at two big white eyes and a mouth full of sharp teeth.

He did not manage to fully turn around, nor properly grab the gun, because Venom wrapped his clawed right hand over the boy's torso and tossed him out of the cabin, into a pile of metals.

"Nice throw," Clara complimented, now her voice being the one muffled just to thoughts, as she was inside the suit of the symbiote. "A couple broken bones, but nothing he can't heal from."

Venom ended his sniff of the air as he climbed on the roof of the cabin, out its narrow door and onto the roof of this little formation. "Thanks," he grinned a large smile, "I had practice."

Further into the graveyard of vehicles now categorized for junk, a couple of cars which did not fit the scenery were engorged and encapsulated all the same by the illusionary scents of danger. Smoking puffs had forged clouds of blur around the transactions happening between the sellers and the providers. The entire graveyard was littered with drugs and now that Clara was in Venom's form, their senses have grown in accuracy, making them capable of pinpointing locations and whatnot.

But they weren't watching amicable, violence-free exchange of a package with a bag of money so they could do community service. Venom grunted at the sight of the bag and jumped off the pile of cars leaving behind claw marks. He landed with a thud, somewhere outside the smoke the people had raised around them.

"Heard that?" One of the two sellers looked up into the night. His sight wasn't great so even the full moon seemed faded, even though the clouds had cleared out completely. That silver light was not gracing this man's thoughts, because his only true reaction to standing his ground and making himself heard in a conversation which was ignoring him, came when a gigantic black mass flashed above them, blocking the sight to the moon for a moment.

Another thud followed.

The man stumbled back and added a bit louder, catching the arm of his friend, "Yo, what the fuck was that?"

"You smoke too much," the producers' representative shook her head, disgusted to even be in the presence of these two men. She tossed their package into their car and snatched, forcing, the bag of money out of the hand of the guy who was acting all weird and jumpy.

"Make sure you sell them in-"

Venom landed on the woman's car, its roof bent under his weight. Then he bent over and bit off her head, interrupting whatever she was about to deliver as a warning to the sellers, who now became just shouting messes, hugging each other and fretting to get away. Venom's right hand took the bag of money and tossed it behind, before the woman's corpse crumbled to the ground. From his mouth, the long tongue slithered out and licked clean his teeth of blood.

The already scared seller lost control of his bladder.

"I don't want to eat them," Venom complained with a sigh, though not losing his intimidating posture, jumping off the car and closer to the humans. "Their brains are not going to taste good."

"Eat what you want to eat, buddy," Clara answered with her encouraging gift of freedom to the symbiote. 

The other seller seemed to have chosen the fight instinct over the flight one so he pulled a gun out of the back of his pants where it sat uncomfortably for a while now and shot at Venom. The bullets were eaten into the black mass of the chest area for a moment, before they fell out, all scrunched.

They didn't get to shoot any more bullets before they got torn open in odd places and tossed across the yard, under falling junk. "We could burn this place to the ground while we are at it," Venom suggested, nudging a car out of his way to return to the bag of cash they've tracked down this drug business for. Dirty money, money the producers certainly did not need more than Priscila. Money no one would look for if it went missing and their absence would most likely do a great service by closing down the illegal business.

"Let's just get the bag and leave. You ate one brain and you suddenly think you can withstand fire?" Venom grinned, satisfied at hearing Clara joke around and laugh. He was just about to retract completely back into her body and let her take control of things, since there was no one conscious around to really see her face anymore.

But just as he looked down to grab the money bag in front of them, he saw the shape of his shadow grow bigger... grow wings on both sides, forming some sort of creepy smile.

Venom's head tilted to the side, before understanding something was approaching them from above.

Turning around had him be greeted by a punch strong enough to dismantle its suit's composition around Clara's face -the black fibers fell apart at the strength, detaching and trying mid-air to reattach- and project them at least a few meters away, so that even though Venom landed on his feet and turned around, curling his spine and hissing his tongue, his reaction time would have been too slow to react to this odd stranger dressed in a white costume from head to toe, his eyes glowing of that silver hue, as he picked up the bag of money.

present day

Marc Spector remembered everything about the fight which followed. Clara did not strike him as the time to give in to defeat so easily and Venom seemed to take after her personality like a parasite, so their brawl had been the final drop of power he could absorb from the full moon that night. He had been following Khonshu's directions religiously before the malevolent presence of Venom had compelled him to interfere; that bloodshed he observed, the unnecessary carnage, he thought his God had brought him there to end the beast, however, just as he was on top of his game, the fight's win at the end of his blood fists, gloves hardly white anymore, he heard another sort of direction.

It was then that he had met Clara and though half hearted, decided to follow the advice of Khonshu, that he'd need her protection when Steven takes over his body for the following days.

Where did that get him though?

Because he returned to the charge of his body and still felt the aftermath of shivers, signs that Steven let go of his control simply because he was terrified to the bone by whatever had happened, whatever Clara had failed them with.

They both ducked down at the impact of another wave of bullets, but were it for the noise or the fact that she disliked being reminded of how much trouble this "Marc" had caused her, she reacted first by standing up straight away. Venom's suit encapsulated her body within a second and the car they hid behind was hooked under his hand and thrown in a roll towards the enemies. The three more intelligent ones who waited downstairs were crushed onto the night street.

Venom perhaps disliked Marc the most though, because he had managed to beat the shit out of him three nights ago and being in charge now, the symbiote took the choice of erratic behavior. He spun around and clacked his teeth towards Marc's face, only to be put back to his place immediately by Clara forcing them to lean back. Venom retracted under her skin and she shook her head lightly.

"If we eat him, he'll just come back to life," she sighed, fighting the urge of rolling her eyes.

"All I hear is 'endless food supply'."

"Good, you're a fast learner," Marc's stiffness transcended his grimace of remembrance at the three fingers he lost that night, fingers which fortunately were restored by Khnoshu after he explained Steven would go mental if he suddenly woke up without half his right hand.

The remaining enemies had gone to the fourth floor and the broken window was about to give away where they really were now. Adding those two together made Marc realize very quickly that he needed to leave and just then, his fastest way out was Clara's motorcycle. So he turned away from her and rushed out of the parking lots, to take a right and go to the front of the building, where he still recalled, from Steven's perspective, that she left her moped.

"Where do you think you're going?" Clara shouted after him, earning an exasperated sigh from Marc, who was hoping they could be quiet about the escape.

"His audacity is testing my patience's limits."

"Same, buddy. Like who does he think he is?" Clara answered Venom first before catching up with Marc, "You're welcome for saving your ass."

"You saved Steven, not me," Marc replied calmly, almost careless, while he got ready to climb her motorcycle. "And you did it just for the money anyhow." An entire arm of Venom's detached from her side and blocked his way.

"If you need a ride, all you have to do is ask," she reminded him bitterly.

"Are we dumping him off a bridge?" Venom asked, all excited.

"No," Clara smiled, even more crueler, "we are not letting him die. We're making sure he lives to midnight so he returns the money he stole from us."

"The money wasn't yours to begin with."

"Finders keepers," Venom's voice and teeth came through halfway of Clara's statement, making her end it by turning her head to the side and furrowing her brows, "I got this, you don't have to interfere. Keep your strength until we get a meal."

Marc was more interested in looking back at the building and calculating just how much time they had left before an escape was out of the question. He had jumped back in control of the body before the right time, as outlined by Khnoshu, so there was no chance of getting his help in the fight or even in the more rested part.

"Maybe we should just stay here then," Clara crossed her arms at her chest and when Marc turned towards her, he realized she must have noticed the way thoughts played out and changed his expressions by the tone of realization. "I could give Venom a meal, a couple of heads, you could flaunt that ridiculously white cape of yours around as well. I'm pretty sure you like that, no? Oh," wickedly playing innocent, Clara pouted, "that unless you cannot get that Moon Knight out of your ass tonight. In which case, you're in trouble."

"We need to get out of here." That I turned to a we real fast for Marc as he tried to get on the motorcycle again. He could just steal it, but he had no time to fight Clara for it. They had about twenty seconds at best.

"Not until you say please."

"I could just outrun them," Marc glared back at the woman.

"Better start running then."

Marc sighed exasperated. He took half a step back, ready to actually get a "fuck it" attitude and run the other way, relaying fully on his military training and athletic abilities to perhaps make it a few blocks away before blending into some crowd, hopefully.

"Don't be a fool, Marc," Khonshu's voice sounded in his head all of a sudden and just after a single blink, he saw his God, standing behind Clara. "You need to go with her."

Clara watched, rather confused, how Marc looked at the place above her head before his eyes returned to her and he shouted, "Alright, fine, can we please get out of here."

She immediately grinned, "Good boy."

The armed men reached the ground floor. They did not waste a single breath to aim their assault rifles and shoot at will. Venom's substance detached from Clara's back and formed a shield which stopped the bullets from reaching her and Marc. "Thanks," she threw in her gratitude for the symbiote who surely was growing tired by then, because she felt a slight pain in her side, around her liver. "Get on," she directed the last short statement towards Marc.

Fortunately for them, the motorcycle could handle two people on it, though not too comfortably for the one in the back, in this case him because no way in Hell was Clara going to allow anyone else to ride her motorcycle. It was just not going to happen. Venom picked up the helmet from the ground and tossed with a tentacle over the shield, at the men, giving them that one second window in which they were scared at the cracked head of one of their own, to dismantle the shield and attach to Clara properly while she rode off, with a creak of speed.

Marc was forced to keep at least his right hand on her waist to hold on properly since he realized very quickly that this motorcycle was not made to accommodate another passenger on it. He looked back over his shoulder, squinting because of the wind. The air was still humid, still smelling of rain and under his touch, Clara's own shirt still felt wet.

It was only then that he realized his clothes... Steven's clothes, were damp as well. He's been tugged back behind the wheel so suddenly that he hadn't had the chance to actually get attuned to sensation properly, until then, when a faint feeling of safety brought him a nuance of relief.

Being the original owner of the body had its perks and disadvantages alike. One of the perks which came most of the time in handy for Marc was that of still knowing what happened, watching everything from the backseat of his being and being able to scrape the surface of the most important memories the others gathered, the quick summary, before jumping right back in. It was one of the many blessings Khonshu bestowed upon him and it would have been a shame not to make use of it every time he woke up.

This time, he used it to recall what Steven paid no mind to: Clara had a moment of changing approach during the hallway fight she brought him into. She asked something... which only he should have known about. "How do you know about O.M.N.I.U.M.?"

Clara physically flinched. Marc watched over her shoulder as her hands tightened on the handles which held the direction. However, she only got to grit her teeth, not thinking of an answer, because her phone started vibrating on the inside pocket of her jacket.

Venom reacted immediately, taking from behind her ear a small tentacle and sneaking into the inside of her jacket to fish out the phone. There, he held it out towards the extra pair of hands which she addressed. "Answer the phone and hold it to my ear."

Now that they've escaped the enemies, Clara could afford easing up on the speed a little, staying within city limits and therefore, giving Marc the safety of sparing a hand to help her out. As he slid the green button to answer, Marc took notice of the name of the contact calling: hermana.

Once the phone reached her ear, Clara's heart sank, hearing Priscila's voice, not just angry, but disappointed too, "Where are you?"

Venom formed thin strands of himself around her hands, as if to tell her that he was there, that she could have this conversation she's been postponing for three days.

"I'm a bit busy right now, honey, you'll have to call me some other time." It wasn't a good moment to talk. There was a stranger on the motorcycle with her and they had the small chance of being followed if she wasn't careful of getting them out of the city.

"Busy with your 'secretary work' or rather with killing people for Venom?"

Clara was tired of correcting that statement so she just stopped clarifying her sister's views of her symbiote long ago. That did not mean it did not hurt her anymore to hear them.

"You promised me you'd help me, that you'd find a job... and I was stupid enough to believe you."

"I have the money, I just need another day to get them to you. I don't have a plane, you know, it's very hard to travel-"

"I'm not joking, Clara!" Priscila raised her voice. "I lost my spot at the course because the late payments kept on adding up. You... Don't you get it? I don't need your money anymore!"

"They kicked you out...," Clara repeated her realization. "Not until I get there and have a talk with them," she added at once, voice much stronger, much more certain. "I'll fix this, Priscila. Hey-!"

Marc took the phone from her ear and Clara looked over her shoulder, angered. "She already hung up," he explained, voice rather monotone still, but he was at least beginning to understand why she was so willing to do something for him just to get back the bag of money. "The money wasn't for you."

"Do I look like I need money to get what I want, Marc?" Clara asked back, sarcastically.

"No, you don't."

"Good, you're a fast learner too."

author's note:    well, i did not expect this to be my longest chapter so far for the book, but here we are, i guess 🤔
so marc got clara to watch after steven, turns out, how are we feeling about all these dynamics so far?

and while i am at it, a moodboard for Moon Knight and Venom, made, once again, by the wonderful Raichia:

that quote fits their moral "differences" soo well