The laboratory shook again.
Dust rained from the ceiling in thick gray clouds while red emergency lights painted the corridors like open wounds.
Somewhere deep inside the facility, metal screamed as something enormous tore through reinforced walls.
Eve stood frozen among the bodies.
Her heartbeat hammered painfully against her ribs.
Run.
The instinct wasn’t entirely hers.
Nyx’s fear slithered through her nervous system like cold electricity.
“We are leaving,” the symbiote said sharply.
“Y-Yeah, no argument there.”
Eve stumbled toward the ruined doorway, boots crunching across shattered glass and spent bullet casings.
Her breathing still wouldn’t stabilize.
She had killed people.
Actually killed them.
Not in a game.
Not on a screen.
Real people.
The image of the mercenary’s terrified expression kept replaying in her head.
Nyx sensed the spiral immediately.
“You will become slower if you continue thinking like this.”
“I JUST MURDERED THREE GUYS!”
“They attempted to murder us first.”
“That’s not comforting!”
“It is statistically comforting.”
Eve almost choked.
“How are you making this worse?!”
“I am trying to improve morale.”
“You suck at morale.”
A pause.
“…Noted.”
Despite the situation, Eve snorted weakly.
Then another roar echoed through the facility.
Closer this time.
The walls trembled violently.
Eve immediately stopped laughing.
“Okay.
Nope.
Moving.
Moving sounds good.”
She sprinted into the corridor.
The hallway looked like a warzone.
Blood smeared the walls.
Several security doors had been bent outward from the inside like crushed soda cans.
Claw marks carved through reinforced steel panels.
Bodies littered the floor in pieces too incomplete for Eve to comfortably identify.
Her stomach twisted.
Nyx remained eerily calm.
“This facility was failing before your arrival.”
“You say that like it helps.”
“It does help.”
“How?”
“You are less responsible for the corpses.”
“…That actually helps a little.”
“I know.”
Eve rubbed trembling fingers against her forehead.
“This is insane.”
“You keep saying that.”
“Because it IS insane!”
Ahead, sparks erupted from exposed wires hanging from the ceiling.
Smoke drifted through the corridor in thick waves.
Eve carefully stepped over another corpse.
The man’s tactical armor bore a strange insignia: a white dragon coiled around a black triangle.
She frowned.
“…Do I know that symbol?”
Nyx searched her memories alongside her.
“No.”
“Great.
Secret evil organization.
Fantastic.”
“You seem unsurprised.”
“I’m in Marvel.
Evil organizations are basically weather conditions.”
Nyx considered this.
“…Your universe sounds exhausting.”
“You have no idea.”
A loud metallic crash interrupted them.
Eve instantly crouched.
Heavy footsteps echoed nearby.
Not human.
Too heavy.
Too uneven.
Nyx spread cautiously beneath Eve’s skin.
“Hide.”
Black organic material flowed silently across her body, pulling her into the shadows near the wall.
The symbiote darkened her clothes and skin until she nearly disappeared into the dim corridor.
Eve stared in amazement.
“…Holy shit.”
“I am talented.”
Something massive lumbered past the intersecting hallway ahead.
Eve covered her own mouth to avoid making noise.
The creature looked vaguely human.
Vaguely.
Its body had swollen into a mountain of distorted muscle wrapped in black-red flesh.
Tendrils protruded from its spine like broken bones.
One arm dragged against the floor, grotesquely oversized and lined with moving mouths.
Eve felt genuine horror crawl up her spine.
“What the fuck IS that?”
Nyx’s emotional response was immediate.
Disgust.
Fear.
Recognition.
“Failed synchronization.”
The monster suddenly stopped moving.
Its head twisted unnaturally.
Sniffing.
Eve’s pulse skyrocketed.
“Can it smell us?!”
“Yes.”
“Oh my GOD—”
The creature roared.
It charged instantly.
Eve screamed and ran.
The hallway exploded behind her as the monster smashed through walls like paper.
Pipes burst overhead, spraying steam across the corridor.
“LEFT!” Nyx shouted.
Eve obeyed instinctively.
A massive claw slammed into the wall where her head had been half a second earlier.
Concrete exploded.
“FASTER!” Nyx barked.
“I AM TRYING!”
Black tendrils wrapped around Eve’s legs.
Suddenly her body became lighter.
Stronger.
She launched forward with terrifying speed.
“…WHAT?!”
“We are enhancing muscular output.”
“I DON’T KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS!”
“It means RUN!”
The monster crashed after them with horrifying persistence.
Eve vaulted over debris, slid beneath collapsing pipes, and nearly smashed through a security door using momentum alone.
The symbiote guided every movement.
Like a second nervous system.
A better one.
That realization terrified her almost as much as the monster.
“RIGHT SIDE!” Nyx warned.
Eve ducked instinctively.
A tendril whipped over her head hard enough to split metal.
“HOW ARE YOU DOING THIS?!”
“I do not wish to die.”
“VERY MOTIVATIONAL!”
Another corridor opened ahead.
At the far end: elevator doors.
Eve sprinted desperately toward them.
“Please work please work please work—”
The call button flickered weakly.
The elevator was still active.
“Oh thank GOD.”
The monster roared again behind them.
Closer.
Way too close.
The elevator doors opened agonizingly slowly.
“WHY ARE YOU MOVING LIKE A HORROR MOVIE EXTRA?!”
Nyx abruptly seized partial control.
Black tendrils erupted from Eve’s back and slammed into the doors, physically forcing them open wider.
Eve stumbled inside.
“Close close CLOSE—”
The monster lunged just as the doors shut.
Its claw punched through the narrowing gap—
Nyx sliced the arm off instantly.
Black blade.
One clean motion.
The severed limb slammed against the elevator floor as the doors finally closed.
Silence.
Heavy breathing filled the tiny space.
Eve stared at the twitching arm lying beside her shoes.
Then at the blade still formed around her right hand.
Then at herself reflected faintly in the elevator mirror.
Black veins pulsed beneath her skin.
White eyes flickered briefly across her face before fading.
She looked monstrous.
Nyx slowly withdrew the blade.
“You are injured.”
Only then did Eve notice the pain.
A deep gash stretched across her shoulder where debris had clipped her during the chase.
Blood soaked through her hoodie.
“Oh.”
The wound closed before her eyes.
Skin stitched itself together rapidly beneath flowing black biomass.
Eve watched in stunned silence.
“…That is deeply disturbing.”
“It is efficient.”
“You keep saying that word.”
“It remains accurate.”
The elevator ascended slowly.
Too slowly.
Eve leaned against the wall shakily.
Adrenaline crash hit hard.
Her legs threatened to collapse.
Nyx’s presence shifted closer around her consciousness.
Protective.
Observant.
“You are exhausted.”
“No kidding.”
“You require nutrients.”
“I require therapy.”
“That also appears true.”
Eve laughed weakly despite herself.
Then her stomach growled violently.
Nyx immediately reacted.
“There.”
“What?”
“Hunger.”
Eve frowned.
Actually…
Yeah.
She was starving.
Not normal hungry.
Painfully hungry.
Like her body had burned through everything inside her.
“What the hell…”
“Synchronization consumes energy.”
“That sounds unhealthy.”
“It is necessary.”
Eve rubbed her face.
“Cool.
Awesome.
So I’m trapped in Marvel with an alien parasite and now I need extra calories.”
Nyx went quiet.
Then:
“I am not a parasite.”
The tone changed.
Subtle.
But hurt.
Eve blinked.
“…I didn’t mean—”
“You are alive because of me.”
The elevator hummed softly around them.
Eve hesitated.
“…Yeah.”
Nyx remained silent.
“…Sorry.”
A strange warmth curled through their shared consciousness.
Not physical.
Emotional.
Acceptance.
It startled Eve more than the claws had.
Before she could process it further—
the elevator doors opened.
Night air hit her instantly.
Cold rain.
New York.
Eve stepped out slowly onto a deserted loading platform behind the facility.
The city skyline stretched across the distance glowing with thousands of lights.
And there—
towering above everything—
was Avengers Tower.
Bright against the stormy sky.
Eve’s brain stopped functioning.
“…No.”
Nyx tilted her awareness curiously.
“You recognize the structure.”
“That’s Avengers Tower.”
“Yes.”
Eve pointed shakily.
“THE Avengers Tower.”
“Yes.”
“The REAL Avengers?!”
“Yes.”
“Oh my God.”
She stared at the skyline in absolute disbelief.
This wasn’t just Marvel-inspired.
This was Marvel.
Actual Marvel.
Spider-Man.
Mutants.
Aliens.
World-ending disasters every six months.
Eve made a strangled noise.
“I’m going to die.”
“Statistically likely.”
“NOT HELPING.”
Police sirens echoed faintly in the distance.
The facility behind them continued burning.
Smoke billowed into the storm clouds overhead.
Eve forced herself to think.
Okay.
Okay.
Priorities.
Don’t panic.
Step one: leave the murder laboratory.
Step two: don’t get eaten.
Step three: figure out why she existed inside comic book hell.
Simple.
Probably.
Nyx interrupted her thoughts.
“More humans approach.”
Eve turned.
Headlights appeared near the outer gates.
Military vehicles.
“…Crap.”
“Agreed.”
Eve looked around desperately.
“What do we do?”
Nyx’s answer came immediately.
“Predators avoid detection.”
Black biomass flowed across Eve’s body again.
Her hoodie darkened completely.
The rain itself seemed to blur around her shape.
Camouflage.
“Oh.”
“We move now.”
Eve sprinted into the night.
Thirty minutes later, Eve sat behind a dumpster eating stolen gas station sandwiches with the emotional dignity of a raccoon.
Rainwater dripped from her soaked hoodie while neon signs reflected across wet alleyways nearby.
New York smelled terrible.
She inhaled another sandwich in four bites.
Nyx hummed thoughtfully inside her head.
“Better.”
“I hate that you can feel my digestion.”
“I hate many things about mammals.”
Eve grabbed a bottled energy drink from the plastic bag beside her.
“Do symbiotes normally complain this much?”
“I do not know.”
“You don’t know?”
“I do not remember much before the laboratory.”
Eve paused mid-drink.
“…Wait.”
Nyx went quiet.
Fragments surfaced through their connection: cold containment tanks, pain, electric shocks, screaming researchers.
Fear.
Loneliness.
Eve’s expression softened slightly.
“You were experimented on.”
“Yes.”
For the first time, Nyx sounded smaller.
Not weaker.
Just… younger somehow.
Eve looked down at the sandwich wrapper in her hands.
“We’re both screwed, huh?”
“…Probably.”
She laughed quietly.
A comfortable silence settled between them.
Strange.
Absurdly strange.
But not entirely unpleasant.
Then Nyx abruptly spoke again.
“There is another problem.”
Eve sighed.
“Of course there is.”
“You are being watched.”
Every muscle in Eve’s body tensed.
“What?”
Nyx focused her attention upward.
Eve slowly looked toward the rooftops.
A figure crouched several buildings away.
Red and blue suit.
White eye lenses.
Lean silhouette balanced effortlessly against the rain.
Eve’s soul left her body for the second time tonight.
“…Is that Spider-Man?”
The figure tilted his head.
Then waved casually.
Nyx’s emotional response became immediate and violent.
Hostility.
Territorial irritation.
“He is observing us.”
Spider-Man launched away into the night before Eve could react.
Web swinging smoothly between skyscrapers.
Gone in seconds.
Eve stared after him blankly.
“…I just got perceived by Spider-Man.”
Nyx sounded annoyed.
“I dislike him already.”
“You don’t even know him.”
“He looked at us too confidently.”
“That is the weirdest reason to hate someone.”
“It is an excellent reason.”
Eve buried her face in her hands.
This was her life now.
Alien symbiote.
Marvel universe.
Government experiments.
Murder monsters.
And apparently: Spider-Man surveillance.
Somewhere deep inside her mind, Nyx stirred again.
Hungry.
Restless.
Protective.
Alive.
“We should continue moving,” the symbiote murmured softly.
Eve looked up toward the glowing skyline of New York.
Rain fell endlessly across the city.
Somewhere out there: heroes, villains, mutants, monsters, and things far worse than her existed.
And now she was one of them.
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