Warning: spoilers for the Abuse Syndicate Saga.
Note: read “I Got A Darkness Inside” and “The Organ Farm” first.
Manhattan.
The middle of the night.
A masked gunman prowls the alleyways.
Yet another of the Syndicate’s fluffy assassins. New York is yet another place that has criminalised fluffy abuse.
And the gunmen working for the Syndicate wanted to spite the hugboxers just as much as Vanessa did, even if it isn’t personal for the gunmen.
They just don’t like being told not to kill fluffies.
They don’t get what the big deal is.
As the gunman turns a corner, he sees a red pegasus mare, with green eyes, wandering the streets.
“Daddeh? Whewe am daddeh? Mawy-Jane nee fine daddeh…”
She hasn’t noticed the gunman yet. He’s behind her.
The gunman smiles, and readies his gun.
Then he hears something above him.
Deep, gutteral snarling.
The gunman sees up, and sees…
“Goddamn, that’s the ugliest shitrat I’ve ever seen in my-- wait what are you–”
Something black and fluffy-shaped, that was clinging to a wall, leaps down at the gunman.
CHOMP
And bites the gunman’s head off.
When Mary-Jane hears the commotion, she turns around.
Seeing only a red and blue earthie stallion, and a puddle of blood.
The stallion smiles.
“Hewwo. Am Tom. Am fwuffy wost?”
“Yus. Mawy-Jane nu knu whewe daddeh am. Mawy-Jane nu wemembew whewe housie am.”
“Tom knu how dat feew. Tom wiww hewp Mawy-Jane fine yu daddeh.”
At sunrise, Mary-Jane’s owner is surprised when he walks into his apartment and finds his fluffy waiting for him.
“Mary-Jane! I’ve been looking all over the city for you!”
He’s so happy to be reunited with his fluffy that he doesn’t even wonder how she got back inside.
The window was open. That’s how.
That afternoon, Tom waddles into the New York Public Library.
The librarian peers at him.
“Please tell me you’re not here to beg for food.”
Tom grins up at her.
“Nu, Tom jus nee tu knu sumfin, an a fwend-wee nu-housie hoomin towd Tom dat yu can hewp.”
“What do you need to know?”
“Du yu knu whewe San Fwan-sis-koh am?”
Later, in another alley, Tom, in his monstrous black form, devours the corpse of an abuser who thought he’d have some fun with the fluffy that he did not know is host to a powerful symbiotic alien entity.
Tom tears off a chunk of flesh, rather angrily, chews, and swallows.
“Su San Fwan-sis-koh am weawwy faw away. Tom nu knu HOW we am gunna git dewe.”
His other speaks to him in his mind.
“Hmm. Perhaps we could hitch a ride? Those humans have a lot of ways to get around.”
“Dat mite wowk.”
By the time night falls again, Tom is feeling rather frustrated.
He had spent the entire day asking humans for a ride to San Francisco, and not one of them said yes.
So, when he finds a gang of abusers surrounding a small feral herd under the George Washington Bridge, he’s happy to take his frustration out on those abusers.
Clinging to the underside of the bridge, Venom leaps down, snarling at the abusers.
“Su manee snackies… su widdew time.”
An hour later, the employees of the local branch of the Faucheuse Foundation are surprised to see a red and blue earthie lead the herd inside.
They have room for the herd, but when they offer Tom a room too, he politely turns it down.
“Tom haf gut pwaces tu be.”
They respect his wishes, and he waddles off into the night.
When Tom is out of sight, he switches forms and swings off on a black web.
thwip
In a basement, Venom kills the last member of a group of absolute jerks who were betting on fluffy blood sports.
SKLURCH
They weren’t affiliated with the Syndicate. They were just a bunch of jerks.
“Outstanding! Now, let’s bite all their heads off, and pile them up in the corner.”
“Wai wud we du dat?”
The other replies in a tone that conveys that it would shrug, were that possible.
“Pile of bodies… pile of heads.”
On the roof of the Empire State Building, Tom looks down at the city below.
“It am byoo-tee-fuw, huh?”
His other replies in his mind.
“I have to say, it IS. I think I’m starting to LIKE this planet.”
“Tuu bad dewe am su manee asshowes awn it, foh.”
“Well, there’s a few LESS assholes since we started working together, Tom. We’ve been making a difference. Doesn’t that just fill you with a warm, fuzzy feeling?”
Tom thinks about it.
“It kinna duz.”
“See? Y’know, when we first bonded, I thought I was making a mistake. But honestly? I’ve been enjoying our time together.”
“Su haf Tom. Tom wuz feew-in su… su powah-wess befowe Tom met yu. Tom fewt wike… a woo-suw.”
“Shall I let you in on a secret, Tom? Back on MY planet, I was a loser too. But here, together, we’re WINNERS. We’re STRONG.”
Tom nods.
“We am Venom.”
“Exactly! We’re two halves of one whole, you and I.”
“We am in dis tugeba.”
“Friends to the end.”
Tom transforms, leaps off the building, and Venom swings off.
thwip
After a night like this, Tom and his other will need to lay low for a while.
blip
Calvin Korkea blips onto the roof of the Empire State Building.
He looks around.
“Goddamnit. He’s already gone.”
