Maximum Carnage Issue 5 by Justin Anderson Carnage couldn't believe it. For the first time in his life, he didn't want to kill. He knew it was wrong, and he wasn't going to do it this time. No matter what was in it for him. "Hey! The boss gave you orders!" He turned around. The guard had the gun pointed at him, and the remote to his shock gauntlet in the other hand. "O...of course. Certainly. I need to kill.....you!" He whipped his arm around, slicing off the guard's hand holding the small remote device. With his other hand, he shot a tendril out, catching the severed hand before the remote could hit the ground. His free hand shot a long spike through the guard's chest. Pulling it free, he retracted the small remote device to his own hands. "Well, one less thing for me to worry about" With that, he grabbed it in both hands and twisted it. The remote tore apart. He looked over into the opened lexan door, and caught his own reflection. For the first time, he saw his own face....with disgust. "What have I DONE? My whole life....my existence.... no more...." He formed his right hand into a blade and lifted it to his chin. He was ready to tear his own head off. Final punishment. "No...." He looked up. It was the mutated test subject. "I.... know what goes on here and why..... even if you kill.... yourself, he still....he still....wins.... and none are safe...." The form was devoid of humanity, a pile of octopus, lizard, and other animal pieces. But his mind was still intact. "You're right... I have to stop him myself. Before..... Stay here. I'll be back" A few minutes later Jack laid on his small bed. He wondered what they had pumped him full of. Maybe he'd find out....when he turned pink with nine eyes, he'd have a good sign. But his thinking was cut short by a small tap on the door. He looked up to see Carnage peering in. "Oh, shit! I'm screwed!" "No, wait! I know you've seen me do some terrible things recently. But something big is about to go down. If I lose, the whole world bites it. Believe me or not, I need your help. And I have only a short time to fill you in" "O...okay. Whatever you say..." Carnage ripped the lock off with a claw and opened the door. "Now....that stuff they injected into you. Long story short.....you're, technically... immortal. And the guy who made the drug is going to use it on himself. If he does, he can take over the whole world. I have to stop him, and I need you're help" Jack, trying to take in all he had heard, nodded. "Sure...whatever" "Good. First, I have this thing on my arm. It can kill me with a press of a remote button or if I try to remove it. I need to get it off my arm" Cletus held his arm down and Jack looked the gauntlet over. "Well, it's a contact lock. The two edges are conductive, like a window alarm. If I had some alligator clips and a wire, I could open it without setting it off..... but the casing would have to be torn away, and that would probably fry us both" Cletus withdrew his arm. He picked up the small metal box he had brought in with him. "Well, I have no choice then...." He opened the box. Inside was a large test tube filled with a red liquid, and a few sealed syringes and hypodermic needles" "I know I deserve to die for what I've done, but I have no choice right now. I'll fail otherwise. Besides, maybe it will give me a chance to make amends to the entire world. I've decided. It's final" "Well, in all honestly, I don't deserve to live forever either. But if you're not BS'ing me, well.... do it" Carnage grabbed the tube. "One problem. I don't know how to do this" "I do. I.....well, let's just say I've done this before on someone" Jack unwrapped the needle and syringe and fit them together. "Dosage?" "Oh.....oh yeah. 30 "cc", exactly. I remember him saying it out loud" Jack filled the needle with the proper dosage. "Arm, please" He held out his arm as the needle went in. 11:52 PM, secondary lab, 18th floor Both men stood in the room. Cletus was digging through cabinets. "What are you doing?" Cletus poked his head back out of a storage cabinet. "Jacobs expects to be given SOMETHING! I'm going to give him something unexpected" He went back to digging. Seconds later, he stuck his head back out. "This..... this is it. An early sample of the drug. Second batch" "You sure?" "Well, that's what it says.... "You're the boss, Cletus" Carnage looked around until he saw a tube about the size of the one the real drug was kept in. Opening the bottle, he poured the stuff in. "Keep a look out. I'm not quite done" Jack walked over to the door, clutching the guard rifle he had been given. Cletus picked up several small vials, each labeled "animal blood" with a species written on it. He opened several and poured them in until the tube was about to where the real tube was leveled at. '" Cletus! "' The small radio receiver he had taken from the guard was picking up Jacobs. "Yeah?" '" Cletus, I'm ready. Bring the drug to the main lab "' "Be there in a second....uh... he he he..." Placing the receiver down, he motioned for Jack to follow. He opened the case up and switched tubes. "Jack, take this. Keep it safe. Stay outside of the main doors until I call you" "Right" Jack slipped the tube into his pants pocket and both men left. 11:59 PM, main lab Jacobs sat on the table, his priceless bullet proof coat laying on a nearby table. Carnage walked in with the case. "Where's the guard I had assigned to you" "Bathroom, I guess. Whatever. You don't need him, you have those two!" Jacobs nodded. Carnage opened up the metal box. He pulled out the tube and the necessary items. "Now, Cletus... I'll need you to do this. Be careful with that, it's-" "I know how to do this! Don't patronize me!" "Right.... remember, 30cc dosage. Be careful" Carnage assembled the needle and stuck it in the rubber tube cap. He filled the needle and forced the air out in the manner Jack had shown him. He looked the arm over, and found the blue vein line. Sticking he needle in quickly, he slowly pumped the drug into the man's body. "Yes... YES! In minutes, in MERE MINUTES, this world will be mine, and no one will be able to stop me! NO ONE! NO ONE AT-" Jacobs stopped his ranting. He had turned to look at the killer, when he noticed the arm gauntlet missing. "No....NO! You couldn't have! You.....you....aaaagh! The pain.....what... did you ....do to me?" The guards lifted their guns, but before they could fire, Cletus shot web tentrils out, grabbing the barrels. He pulled them forward. "Now, you two.... if you want to live, get out of here now. Otherwise, I'll throw you out the nearest window!" Both guards looked at each other. "Jacobs is done for. Let's get out of here!" Both men ran off. as fast as they could. Cletus grabbed the long black coat from the table. "JACK! NOW!" The doors flung open as Jack stepped in the room, gun pointing forward. Cletus threw him the coat. "Put it on. It's bullet-proof!" Jack complied not a moment too soon. Jacobs pulled out a gun and fired at the boy. The bullets bounced off the thick material. "I see the insane doctor likes playing rough. Cletus....step back" Even though he knew what was going to happen, he figures Jacobs was dead anyway. He jumped towards one of the walls. Jack opened fire, hitting Jacobs in as many places as he could hit. He kept it up until the clip was empty. Just as well, since Jacobs slumped to the floor about then. He was a torn, bloody mess. Cletus threw Jack one of the guns he had taken than kept the other for himself. "What now? Myself, I'd prefer to get out of here and back to my apartment and forget this place!" Cletus was about to agree, but stopped short of speaking. He had other ideas. "Not yet. Jacobs is dead, but this place still stands. Someone could come by and find the research. Then this would only be a temporary fix" "Well, unless you have a wrecking ball, we can forget doing anything beyond simple paper burning" Cletus began to slump over. However, he quickly stood back up. "Maybe not. I overheard from a guard that one of the tests was a government agent. Had some explosives on him at the time. If so, they'd be in 14th floor storage" Jack nodded, and both men ran out. Friday, February 16th. 12:06 AM They had reached the storage room. Only a few guards on the way, and all but one saw leaving as the wise choice. The storage room was where all the stuff taken from kidnapped men was placed. Mostly wallets and various bags, newspapers, books, rings, ect. Jack picked up a few of the pistols from the metal shelves and stuck them in the coat's pockets. Seeing a small one the right size, he moved the tube to the coat for better protection. It was a thick glass, but better safe than sorry. He had also taken several bills from the wallets. Before he quit his search, both for the explosives and contraband, he came across one item which he had to have- a large, pup action 12-guage shotgun with a loaded shell rack on the side. He dropped the rifle and loaded his new weapon. Downstairs Spiderman had webbed up the two guards on the first floor. Climbing the building was impossible with Captain America on board, so they'd have to risk the elevators. "Doesn't anyone else besides us find this....too easy?" Cap looked at the anti-hero. "I imagine the real trouble will be on the upper floors. This is a public access area. The real scene won't be on these floors" Parker and Eddie new he was probably right. Truth is, not even Captain America was thrilled about this. But he wasn't backing down, and he figured any confidence he could give his two companions could only help. The elevator doors opened. Parker and Venom entered one, while Cap took the other. The buttons to the top floor were pressed as the doors closed. Upstairs "Found them!" Cletus opened the bag. It was a large, dark green bag. Inside were several small black devices and a remote control. Each had a timer on it. Jacked grabbed a piece of paper near the top. " 'Remote time detonators: each bomb can be stuck to a wall by the strong adhesive on the back when the paper is peeled off. Each bomb can be set to a certain time, or can all be set to the same time by the master remote'. There's enough here to level a city block!" They had what they had come for. Both men left the small room. They reached the two main elevator doors and pressed the call buttons. Seconds later, the doors opened. Seeing someone inside, both men raised their guns. "....Spider-Man? Venom?" Cletus was shocked to see the two. "....Captain....America?" Jack was amazed to even be in the man's presence. "KASADY! I'LL RIP YOU APART!" Before Venom could exit to attack the man, Spider-Man was able to grab him and hold him back. "Hold...IT! Carnage, what...this is too strange to believe. Carnage, a hero!?" "Well, Spider-Man, I hate to sound like I'm bragging, but we did just stop a power mad scientist" Both wall-crawlers looked at each other. Captain America stepped into the hall. "Well, normal circumstances aside, I can believe it" Jack snapped himself out of his daze. "Listen....heroes of the Earth, we're going to blow this place. Too much research for someone to find. There are some hostages on the 17th floor we'd like to clear out, and you're in time to help before we set this place on fire, metaphorically speaking" "And no time to argue. Let's move it! Jack , you go with Cap. I'll take the other car" Jack entered the elevator with Cap. Cletus squeezed himself in with the others. Both pressed the floor buttons. "So....Venom....how you been?" Eddie looked over at the one-time killer. He couldn't believe this. It had to be a nightmare. But he answered anyway. "Oh, just fine..." He wished he had room to throw up. 17th floor, holding cells. Carnage and Venom proceeded to tear the locks off the doors holding hostages inside. Spider-Man couldn't believe the results of the experimentation. Neither could Captain America. Venom recognized it, but refused to justify it. "Okay, guys. Pour out. You're going home" The 17 men walked out of their rooms. However, some couldn't leave. Their bodies were too deformed. Carnage wasn't willing to leave them behind. "Come on, guys! Help me carry them out!" As he tried to lift one, he heard a soft voice. "Leave us.....save the rest. It's our choice. Please abide by our last request..." Carnage stood. Venom almost fell backwards at what he saw. A single tear was running down Cletus's face. No one said a word about it. "Well.....you heard the man" Leaving the five that couldn't move, they helped the rest to the elevators. "Listen, guys. These won't be fast enough. There's an express elevator around the corner. It's a lot bigger and moves faster. Besides, we need one car ourselves and you don't have the time" Venom didn't understand it. Cletus Kasady, willing to help others if it meant blowing himself up in the process. He hid his symbiotic mask and looked his former cell mate in the eyes. "Be careful, Cletus" Venom shook his hand. Spider-Man broke the emotional moment up. "How many can it hold?" "Well....it's fairly big. It would easily hold all of them. But with the three of you....it might be a little cramped" Jack looked over at a nearby window. Raising his shotgun, he pumped the slide and fired, shattering the window. "Instant door!" Captain America headed off around the corner the express elevator. Both web-slingers headed to the window. "Well, enough sentiment, Carnage. Let's do this!" Main office Jack searched the drawers. He took as much of the stacked up money as his pockets could fit. Cletus places a few explosives around the room. "Be liberal with those. We'll need most for the bottom floor" "I'm done, anyway" Both men ran off to the main lab. They planted enough to make sure the equipment would be blasted out of existence. As they were leading out, a hand grabbed Jack on the ankle. It was Jacobs, barely alive. Jack brushed off the man's right hand with his other foot, and took close aim with his shotgun. The range almost disintegrated the man's hand. Jacobs yelled out in severe pain. "It must have slowed his dying, the drugs and all" Cletus looked down. "Yeah" He took aim with his rifle, and fired into the man's chest, finishing the job. Jack didn't say a word. Instead, he entered the time into the remote. "Ready?" Cletus shook his head. Jack pressed the button. "Let's MOVE IT, THEN!" First floor Both men walked around with the bag, covering the walls with the small black devices. "Four minutes, Cletus" They moved faster. Each bomb was only the size of a hockey puck, and the bag was full of them. "So many left, and the clock is ticking. One and a half left!" They slapped on a few more bombs. "55 seconds!" Cletus dropped the bag by the back wall. Both men ran out the front doors. "Oh, hell!" The wall stood in their way. "25 seconds!!!!" "Hold on , Jack!" Cletus picked Jack up by his armpits, and proceeded to jump over the wall. Landing, they ran as far as they could. They ran so fast, Quicksilver would have been jealous. It was just enough. The bombs went off as the counter hit zero. The force of the first floor explosion was tremendous. The thick wall surrounding the building was atomized, and the thick metal gate was bent like a piece of foil. It barely missed crushing Cletus as it landed several hundred yards away. They didn't notice what the top floor went through, but it couldn't have been this bad. The building, with no support left, began to fall....backwards. It landed with an incredible noise, sending pieces everywhere. "Man...I hope Cap and the others cleared this place...." Cletus didn't respond, but he hoped for the same thing. Someone must have been listening up above. "Carnage! You made it!" The three heroes ran up. They couldn't believe what these two men had accomplished. One a serial killer, the other an inexperienced nobody. The heroes didn't know the whole story though. These two unlikely heroes had saved the world from a reign of terror. Venom looked over at Carnage. He noticed the symbiotic face wasn't out, despite the rest of the suit being in place. "Cletus.....despite what you've done in the past..... You've earned my respect today. Just as long as you don't change back" Cletus sent his mask out. He grabbed Venom by the neck. "You know, 'dad'....." He sent his mask back in and moves his hand to Eddie's shoulder. "....I wouldn't dream of going back to that monster!" Venom dropped his own mask and gave a slight smile. Jack had just pulled himself up from the ground. "So....Captain America.... are the others safe?" "They are, son" "That's good. And Cap..... thanks. You've given me a sign that I can do the right things from now on. If you, a sign of honor and integrity, can risk your life this way..... a man with every reason to live.... I know I can at least try to live up to that example" Captain America walked over to him. "Son....I have faith you can do much more. If you're reasons for tonight were even half of what I imagine they were, then the world can be a much better place with you helping the fight against evil. And your new partner can certainly use your help. He'll have a hard road ahead of him. He has a reputation to fight against, and a life to rebuild. You can at least be there to help him along" "....I will, Cap. Count on it" Captain America gave the young man a salute and walked off. "Cletus, what happened tonight, anyway?" "Listen, Spider-Man. I'm tired as hell right now. I'm hungry. But I'll tell you all about it later. And Venom.... you be there too" "Don't worry. I will. Someone has to be there to watch you" "Right.....anyway...Jack, you ready?" Jack turned around. "Yeah. We'll go to my apartment for now. We can inventory this stuff there and get some sleep. And Spider-Man..... thanks for showing up when you did. All of you were a big help" With that, Cletus walked over beside Jack. Parker and Venom swatched as both men walked away into the darkness, the only sounds in the air being the fires burning in the wreckage and the sirens of the approaching fire engines. THE END Author's Notes: This ends the first story arc in this series. From now on, the two will have to face challenges on their own. Interference from other heroes will be minimal. And before sending questions on this or that, keep these in mind- 1: NO SLASH/GAY PLOTLINES There will be no homosexual conduct between these two. Both men are heterosexual, and will stay that way. Don't ask me to write them that way, and don't ask for permission to write them that way yourself. I will say "NO". 2: CROSSOVERS/SPECIALS I plan to do crossovers and special "issues", most fitting into the story, but there may be some which, while being in the setting, won't fit into the story. Don't ask for dates to these, as I don't know. Don't ask for who they will meet, as I also don't know. 3: USING THE SERIES YOURSELF If you want to use characters from this series in your story, ask me first. I may say yes. As long as you agree to stick to the character's personalities and Rule 1. 4: LENGTH I will be doing this in "years". That is, 12 "issues" a "year". Expect at least 2 "years". I don't know the exact number of issues, but I do have the end planned out. Notes: Basically set in the Marvel Universe, I will be using a lot of my own continuity for this series, and generally focus on the main characters. Appearances by Marvel's universe will be special occurrences. Crossovers with characters/titles from other companies will be treated as "single universe", not as "2 universes crossing temporarily". I will also try to ignore major Marvel comic story arcs. Cletus Kasady, Carnage, and other Marvel characters are copyright Marvel Entertainment Group, Inc. Other characters are either my creation(copyright myself), or copyright their specific owners if non- Marvel licensed characters. Characters used without permission/not for profit. These are strictly fan stories. Permission to reprint extends to placing this text, unaltered, elsewhere online. It may not be altered, and especially NOT TO BE SOLD, unless Marvel wishes to license this series from me.