Chapter Text
“Wait, so… you're tellin’ me you've been in there this whole dang time? Just chattin’ away with the cap?”
“That's the gist of it, yes.”
Venom had explained the situation to Swansea, as well as explaining it a bit more thoroughly to Anya and Daisuke.
The latter looked like he was dying to ask Swansea something, but didn't want to be rude and interrupt the symbiote’s explanation.
Now, the moment Venom was done talking, he blurted out;
“How the hell are you awake?! That cocktail was, like, almost all alcohol.”
“Heh, ‘s gonna take a lot more n’ that to take me down, kid! Nah, I'm just joshin’. You really think I'm gonna trust anything that ol’ bastard Jimbo gives me? I just took a tiny lil sip, pretended to gulp it up. Thing is, though, didn't expect it to be quite that strong, had me down for the count for a good few minutes. Soon as I woke up, headed straight here. Dunno where Jimbob went, prolly off doing something weird now that no one's watchin’.
Wait, he drugged you???
Curly exclaimed, before remembering that no one except V could hear him, since he was communicating by thought.
Though, to his relief, Venom passed on what he'd said to Swansea and the rest, without needing to be asked.
“Eee-yup, but trust me on this one cap’n: he's done way worse than that. Even before this dang crash even happened, right under your nose. Won't hold it against ya, though, you've always been a sweet guy, but uhh… never really the most observant.”
Swansea replied, and yeah, that was fair.
Curly asked Venom to pass on another message, and so they did.
“Curly wanted to ask you all… what more has Jimmy done, that he has not seen? He's promised he can handle it, as he no longer sees that asshole as a friend.”
Swansea immediately launched into a rant.
“Oh, loads! Like there was that one time a few weeks ago, when the greasy asshole threw Daisuke into a damn wall for asking him to repeat himself. Said he was drunk, but that ain't no excuse. Or right at the beginning of this whole damn ordeal, when he pretended to break the only workin’ toilet to “teach us a lesson.” I could go on and on to be honest, like when he threw a tantrum and started throwin’ food around ‘cause he thought we weren't respecting his authority enough, or threatened to breach the foam and kill the lot of us. And god, then there's the shit he did to poor Anya, although…”
His voice softened a little, and his expression turned sympathetic as he looked over at Anya;
“Might be best to hear that one from her… if she's alright with that, o’ course. I'm perfectly happy to explain it myself if she don't wanna talk about it.”
“Oh, um… yeah, I think I'm up to it… at least, I can try… uhh, maybe let Daisuke go first, though?”
Anya murmured, clearly nervous to talk about whatever trauma Jimmy had inflicted on her, but putting on a brave face.
Swansea sat down on the edge of the hospital bed, and gave her a comforting pat on the back.
Daisuke, who had been staring in curious wonder at Venom's mass, suddenly seemed to snap out of it, and exclaimed;
“Oh, uhh, yeah! Well, there's the stuff Swansea said, and a couple other things of course, but also just now, that asshole basically just guilt tripped me into helping him drug Swansea, and did the same to force me into going through that vent even though he knew I might die. Which, in hindsight, was absolutely not okay whatsoever, though I have absolutely no idea if I'd have had any kinda chance at fighting him on it if I said no.”
Curly empathized with the pain of his crew, feeling shame for both trusting Jimmy for so long in the first place, and not being there to help when he'd done all of these awful things.
Venom tried their best to convey these feelings, and the crew seemed to appreciate it.
“It wasn't your fault, cap. You just made a mistake, that's all! And you got a brand new friend out of it, too!”
Daisuke reassured him, ever the little optimist.
After a few moments of comfortable silence, Anya took a deep breath, and spoke up.
“I was pregnant. Not anymore, since a couple of days ago. It hurt, but I got rid of it.”
“It… was his.”
The whole crew stared in silence, all shocked except for Swansea, who was looking at her with sympathetic encouragement.
Curly felt his heart clench in his chest, and Venom subconsciously wrapped a little tighter around her as she began to speak again, holding back tears;
“He asked, at first. And I said no. He asked again, and again, and I told him every time that I wasn't interested. One day, he didn't ask. He just waltzed into my damn room, and-”
Anya choked up, and tried for a moment to think of what to say next, but failed.
However, she didn't have to, because everyone else had already understood her, loud and clear.
V?
Yes?
You officially have my permission to eat him.
~~~~~~~~~~
It was time. Everyone got up off the hospital bed, and walked out of the medbay.
Venom let Curly keep control of his body for now, and formed him some makeshift limbs with their mass, now much more refined than their first crude attempt.
Curly took a deep breath before following the others, leaving the medbay for the first time in three months.
The ship was a mess, with foam everywhere and bottles of mouthwash lying around all over the floor.
But they could worry about that later. They could worry about all of it later.
Because right now, there was only one goal.
For a minute, the crew wondered just where Jimmy had gone, but they soon heard him mumbling to himself in the bathroom.
The moment they knew where he was, they scattered.
Daisuke wrenched an already flimsily attached piece of metal pipe off the rest of it. It used to be plumbing for a bathroom that was currently foamed up.
He gave it a whirl, swinging it hard in wide arcs, and nodded to himself, satisfied.
Swansea headed for the axe he'd dropped to the floor when Jimmy had drugged him.
Luckily, it was still in the very same spot where he'd forgotten it when he'd rushed over to the medbay.
Anya, meanwhile, walked calmly but determinedly with Curly and Venom, and to their momentary confusion, led them back through the medbay doors.
She reached under the hospital bed, and pulled out a box.
A very familiar box, with a scannable code bar.
Curly didn't bother to look for the scanner. He used Venom's strength to simply break the box open, and politely handed the gun to Anya, who took it with more confidence than he'd yet seen in her.
Now, they were ready.
For their revenge.
~~~~~~~~~~
Curly stood his ground beside his crewmates, with Venom's reassuring presence in his mind.
He could hear Jimmy's footsteps, strolling through the corridor without a care in the world, as if the cunt hadn't committed countless atrocities against his fellows.
Daisuke, Swansea and Anya all clutched their weapons, and stared fiercely ahead as Jimmy turned the corner.
The moment he saw them, the man yelped and jumped back. If he still had lips, Curly would've grinned savagely.
“Wh-what the hell??? What is that??? How the fuck is that bastard walking, what the fuck is going on???”
Jimmy yelled frantically, looking rapidly at each furious figure staring back at him.
“Curly's friends with an alien named Venom, and we're all gonna kick your ass!”
Daisuke whooped somewhat manically.
“Wh… alien…? Goddamn it, you idiots! It must be some kind of body snatcher! Quick, hit it with everything you've got, and I'll take it down! I'll save you!”
Jimmy ordered angrily, but none of the crew moved a muscle.
And that was when Venom spoke, through Curly's mouth, just as before.
“You really don't get it, do you? The consequences to your actions. All this pain you've caused, and yet, you still refuse to wake up and take responsibility.”
“What have you done with Curly?! I bet you killed him, didn't you, and now you're just using his body like a shell! Not to mention brainwashing the crew… but I'll defeat you, just you wait!!!”
Jimmy screamed, his delusions still firmly locked in place.
But Curly was ready now.
Ready to face this.
To cut off this parasite of a man, so that he and his friends could live in peace.
Let's do this, bud. Together.
Curly took a step forward, and Venom began to speak again.
“The voice is mine, and the body is ours, but listen closely.”
“Because the words you are to hear now are his, and his alone.”
“You think you're doing the right thing, when you do all of these things to everyone around you.”
“You lie…”
“Hurt…”
“Violate…”
“Betray…”
...
“And yet…”
“You still believe in forgiveness.”
“You expect them to thank you.”
“But, Jimmy…”
The crew all began to close in, all the burning hatred of a thousand suns shining in their eyes.
"That just isn't how the world works. "
Before Jimmy could even try to run, it began.
Daisuke charged in, screaming bloody murder, and swung his metal pipe like a particularly vicious baseball bat, smashing the man right in the chest.
His ribs shattered, and he fell to the floor, all breath gone from his body as he began to cough up blood.
Next was Swansea, who laughed as he brought his axe down on Jimmy's arm, severing it at the shoulder.
Jimmy still hadn't quite caught his breath yet, so he let out a horrible gurgling, choked cry as blood gushed out in a river.
And now, Anya approached, her eyes completely cold and pitiless.
She raised the gun with one hand, and aimed it almost casually at Jimmy's crotch.
She fired. Again and again and again, until the bullets ran out.
Now, Jimmy did manage to catch his breath.
He screamed, and screamed, and screamed in utter agony as every inch of his privates was mangled, until he could scream no more.
And now, came the moment Venom had eagerly been awaiting.
Go ahead, buddy. It's dinnertime. You've earned it.
Venom fully enveloped Curly, now at full power, in full control.
Towering above the dying man below them, their savage knife-toothed grin grew even wider, as they roughly grabbed him by the abdomen, dangling his head over their maw.
Their long tongue snaked out, just as one final reminder of impending doom, and then they shoved Jimmy's whole head in their mouth, biting down around his neck with a final, satisfying crunch.
It was over.
The crew all let out a collective breath, as Venom receded most of the way back into Curly's body, leaving the replacement limbs in place.
They all stared down at the broken body on the floor.
The sad pile of flesh that was once a truly disturbed and evil man.
The joy and utter relief in the air was palpable, and the crew began to talk and laugh amongst one another in triumph, as Curly and Venom started to drag the body towards the airlock like it was nothing more than trash.
Anya, Swansea and Daisuke all followed, and as Jimmy's mangled body was unceremoniously shoved out the airlock, all of them watched, and smiled.
They'd done it.
They'd made it.
Now, it was time for a fresh start.