The SHIELD facility had burned in her nightmares every night. Red alarms. Concrete collapsing. The distant roar of something too large to be contained.
No, sorry, distant roars. Numerous of them, screeching. They were the Symbiotes, there was no question in Elsa Brock's mind—they had been freed. She had not stayed to verify casualties. She had come out late but so had some others. SHIELD did not question it. The dark clouds hovering above and the sudden fire, it was an easy chaos to slip out of.
Then Creature Z attacked. She lost her home. She lost her Symbiote project.
"Not lost, taken," Elsa murmured. Her head hit the shower wall.
Where was Elsa Brock now?
She had fled to another state like so many other upper-middle class people. The poor people could deal with fixing the city. Norma Osborn and Oscorp and SHIELD could deal with it. But Elsa? She wasn't going to eat scraps or stay at a homeless shelter. No, no, no. She was no patriot. She only believed in herself and science.
Her bank account was still stuffed. So, she decided to stay at a motel. Norman was bound to notice in a week or two that his top scientist was gone.
"But that Felix Faeth seems to be exactly what he needs right now." Her forehead hit the wall again. "All these geniuses…who do they think they are?"
After a long ten minutes, Elsa turned the water off. Silence rushed in.
Wrapping a thin white towel around herself and another smaller one around her damp hair, she walked out. The air felt colder than it should have, particularly as she entered the living room.
"Huh?"
All the lights flicked on. The bedside lamp. The ceiling fixture. Even the television blinked to life in silent static.
Elsa froze.
"Hello, Elsa."
Elsa snapped toward the small sofa near the window.
Harry Osborn sat there, one ankle resting on his knee, fingers loosely interlaced. He looked tired but composed, shadows beneath his eyes that suggested he hadn't slept much either.
Beside him stood Gwen Stacy. Redder and scarier than ever.
On instinct, Elsa thought, 'We have to contain her—' Her mistake to show fear so openly. Elsa's pulse thundered in her ears. She gulped.
The Symbiote was wrapped all around her, save for her face. Her blue eyes and thin blonde hair could not have looked worse for a woman in her early twenties.
Elsa's fingers tightened unconsciously in the towel.
"You—" Elsa began, forcing her voice to remain steady. "How did you find me?"
Harry offered a small, almost apologetic smile. "It's funny, really. Do you really want to know?"
Fear crept up Elsa's spine. Slowly and deliberately, she heard a drip, drip, drip. It was coming from Gwen. Was that blood? Or…the Symbiote? She decided she didn't want to know or to look at Gwen.
"It was predicted. By a supercomputer. The general area anyway. After that, me and Gwen went searching until we found you."
"Super…computer?"
"As you know, I'm apart of the Board of Directors for Oscorp. Our job is not very hands-on. Mostly bribing and advising and making sure we don't have competitors. My father has a decent spy network and we caught wind of a certain AI project being made by a certain Stark." Harry cleared his throat, voice drying out. He was nervous. "Ahem, I did destroy it, although not before I had it answer some questions."
AI project…?
Elsa didn't know it but Felix did.
JARVIS.
Elsa swallowed. "I-I helped you," she said quickly. "You know that. I gave you access codes. If Gwen…I know Gwen must…"
Gwen's head tilted slightly at that. Drip, drip, drip…! Her fists were no longer shaped like normal. They were like hooks.
'Gwen must despise me. Gwen must want to KILL me—!'
She was about to hyperventilate. Elsa was there for the experiments after all. She had been there for not all, maybe only half, but that half mattered.
Elsa imagined Spider-Woman consuming the Symbiotes and killing. Killing so many. Turning that Symbiote as red as it was now, fusing with her blood like Cindy wanted. When she was down there, she heard it. So all she had was her imagination and it ran amok gruesomely.
Harry's expression shifted, just barely. He must have really seen the fear and how he could leverage it.
"We're not here to kill anyone," he said evenly.
Elsa did not believe him. "T-then what?" She pushed her glasses up and laughed nervously. "What's all this for? Fun? No, that red Symbiote, I know what it means…!"
Harry glanced sideways at Gwen. "Okay, yes, she is in a foul mood," he said lightly, though there was strain beneath it. "You'll have to excuse her."
The Symbiote's surface rippled once along her shoulder, a subtle warning.
"No really. It doesn't have to be this way," Harry continued, returning his attention to Elsa. "Look, you think she's violent. You think she lost control."
"The Symbiote is bonded to her on a cellular level. That has never happened before." Another finger push of her glasses and heavy breathing. "Ever."
"The Red Symbiote is amplifying everything," Harry said. "Pain. Anger. Instinct. It's…it's not her."
Gwen finally spoke in what was a creepy whisper. "You're the ones that made me kill. I just need help. I need someone—anyone." The lights flickered. "I just need help."
"She does," Harry concurred. "I've had my best men try to help but…they…"
They were killed? Did Gwen kill them? Harry looked guilty.
"It was my fault," Harry said, reading her mind. "I pushed too much."
Elsa felt the room shrink. Eyes flicking between Harry and Gwen. To her, it was a threat.
Elbows on his knees, Harry leaned forward. "I've been in her spot and scientists helped me, right?" he said. "I want Gwrn to live a normal life. Go outside without people shooting at her. Sleep without waking up ready to tear and eat people."
Elsa let out a short, humorless breath. "Normal? After that?" Cindy had her cannibalize in the double-digits. There was no coming back from that.
"She can! I did! And I know you can help me with that, Dr. Brock."
Elsa stiffened. "That's generous," she muttered.
"You made the original black Symbiote," Harry said. "Under my father's orders, yes, but you made it. You understood the bonding process. You stabilized it long enough for Gwen to use it when she lost her powers." He gestured faintly toward Gwen. "You can do it. Make a miracle cure. You're an expert, yeah?"
Elsa's throat felt dry. These two were…idealistic. Maybe if it was Cindy…
But they asked her. And that did make her pride swell. For better or worse, Elsa ignored the fact that SHIELD wasn't an option. SHIELD would lock her up and start a new hoard of experiments.
"How did you even escape?" Elsa asked, wetting her lips anxiously. "I can't just be apart of this if SHIELD is…"
"It's strange, actually. I was going to ask you that. The inmate cells were open. I wanted a quiet, clean escape but…" His brows scrunched up. "Did you tell someone else about it, Elsa?"
The boy. His clone. Harold—he had escaped too.
"No." Elsa kept her mouth shut. "Never. We had a deal."
"Right, right," Harry murmured.
Gwen did not visibly react but Elsa wondered if she saw him. If she knew more than she let on. She must have, right? Harold bolted out partially to find her. So did he find her? Did they fight? Meet? Talk? If so, why was Harry speaking with such profound confusion?
Gwen was dangerous. She could devour both of them. Elsa had seen it herself. Did she have her own plans?
Elsa didn't know. Wasn't sure if she wanted to know.
"SHIELD has already swarmed the site but it doesn't seem like they want to investigate," Harry continued. "They're covering everything up. Officially, nothing happened. No breakout. No facility. No experiments. And after Creature Z…everything is rough. I feel bad for them a little. Back to back tragedies. I can't say they won't investigate the break-in in the future, but as long as New York needs rebuilding, they probably won't conduct a proper report."
"I see." That was comforting, Elsa thought.
"I don't want revenge," Harry said. "I want to save my friend. That's it, Elsa."
"I…"
Elsa didn't want to die. She didn't want to risk her life for this again.
"She needs our help," Harry insisted. "Please."
Gwen's eyes met Elsa's. Harry was a foolish man. And Gwen…Elsa couldn't tell if she was foolish, good, evil, or an animal. She was impossible to read.
"I know. I know! But I was there. A-according to the estimates, the Symbiote is integrated far too deeply," Elsa said before she could stop herself. "Cindy wanted to turn you into a bomb. To make you become a killing machine that wants to eat, eat, and eat. And she fed her Symbiotes to give her appetite and to merge their cells together. The more foreign matter they fight, the stronger the immune system. The more together."
"There has to be a solution," Harry pressed hopefully. "It can't keep going on like this."
Elsa wasn't sure if there was one. She couldn't come up with one off the top of her head. The room fell silent again.
Harry pointed a finger. "Elsa, we work for Oscorp. We can bring resources and equipment to us." He got up. "I know this won't be official. But you'll be paid well, I promise."
He smiled faintly.
"Think of it as overtime. Off the books. You and I have helped each other before. Trust me. Please."
'Spoken like a true kid with a silver spoon.'
If she refused—
She glanced at Gwen. Elsa's heart pounded so loudly she was certain they could hear it. If she refused, what would she do?
"So," Harry asked gently, "do we have a deal?"
Elsa felt very small in that moment. She had nothing to hide behind. She was in a motel room, in a towel, with a woman that was tipping near insanity.
She swallowed.
"Yes. Yes, we have a deal."
…
…
…
The memories fast forwarded to a month later. A month after Creature z.
From the window of the rented townhouse Harry had secured under a shell company, they could see the distant smear of smoke that still hung over the skyline where New York had been torn open by Creature Z. Construction cranes dotted the horizon like skeletal fingers clawing at the sky. Even from across the river, New York City was a mess.
Gwen stood at the window, arms folded tightly across her chest.
The Red Symbiote couldn't be removed. It just couldn't. No suction device in the world could do it. There was a flash of an old memory of Elsa suggesting to use sound waves. Harry snapped at her for that. "We tried, it'll just kill her!" Harry yelled.
If she had pointed to the point of dying from sound waves, then…was there even a solution? Elsa stared at Gwen's backside, nervous. In her palm were two white pills.
"Ah, Doctor. Sorry." Gwen still kept looking. "More pills?"
"Yes. They're mood stabilizers," the doctor said briskly, slipping into the clinical tone she preferred. "This time, I adjusted for your metabolism."
Gwen didn't turn around. "Thank you."
For no real reason, she elaborated. Maybe it was the fear of her. She didn't want Gwen to ever think she was poisoning her or something. "They're inhibitors. The Symbiote stimulates your adrenal and limbic systems. This should blunt the emotional spikes."
Harry stood near the kitchen counter, watching both of them carefully. "Just try them," he said gently.
The red veins on Gwen's collarbone brightened.
"People are rebuilding," she snapped suddenly, turning from the window. Her eyes were sharper now, brighter blue against the black edging that sometimes crept into the whites. "They're digging through rubble. They're pulling bodies out. I could be helping."
"You see that many people and you'll go crazy," Elsa replied before she could stop herself.
"So what's the point of these pills," Gwen shot back. "Of you?" The Symbiote flared along her forearms and Elsa stepped back. Her vision became shaky from fear.
But fortunately, the silver boy crossed the room. "You can't," he said. "Forget the people, what about that other Spider-Man with the Symbiote. You…" She would kill him. Consume him. "You need to rest."
"..."
"Gwen?"
Gwen turned quiet. "I…I want to see my father," she said pathetically.
Harry reached for her hand. The Symbiote hesitated for half a second before allowing the contact. "I don't want to lose you like I did Peter. Please, stay here for me. For Peter."
For Peter. The name landed heavy in the room. Gwen's expression faltered.
The red glow dimmed slightly, retreating from her throat and wrists. Her shoulders slumped. Elsa did not know who that was.
Felix did.
Gwen finally extended her hand toward Elsa without looking at her.
"Fine," she muttered.
Elsa stepped forward quickly and placed the pills in her palm, passing over a glass of water. Gwen swallowed them without hesitation.
The pills did not help. In the coming weeks, Gwen's state got worse. She hungered for flesh. She was becoming…more Symbiote.
They changed locations. Harry bought a home in New Jersey. Far away enough from New York.
…
…
…
It took Elsa Brock two months to create what she arrogantly—and perhaps optimistically—called the Control Symbiote. She announced it as a cure only because it was the only idea she had.
There were four specimens total, suspended now in man-sized glass cylinders in the sub-basement laboratory Harry had quietly secured for her use. They were almost beautiful in their simplicity: black pearlescent strands drifting like soft smoke underwater.
The Control Symbiote was the culmination of Cindy Moon and Elsa Brock's research. Oh, and Alistair Smythe too, not that he knew it. The Symbiote was divided into two: one was the controller or the alpha Symbiote and the second Symbiote was the controlled or the "beta".
The Alpha Symbiote was smaller and engineered to integrate shallowly into the bloodstream of the host without bonding to muscle or bone. It would anchor near the radial vein in the wrist, close to the skin, where neural impulses were strong and accessible.
The Beta Symbiote needed to be injected.
Well, medically, both needed to be injected. But it was possible for the Alpha Symbiote to be consumed. Theoretically anyway. The Alpha Symbiote was different in composition. Stronger, thicker, whereas the Beta Symbiote could die if exposed to the air.
Imperfect or not though, today was the day. Desperate times called for desperate measures. Harry rolled up his sleeve.
"You're sure this won't take over?" he asked, studying the thin syringe in her hand.
"If it tries," Elsa replied with supreme confidence, "I built in a kill switch."
That did not seem to comfort him, but he nodded anyway.
Gwen was fucking strapped to a table. Salivating, eyes wide, the Symbiote crawling up her face. Wanting to completely cover. It did, sometimes, but Gwen's willpower was too great to just give up. She resisted. She broke free.
It was like a psych ward for the criminally insane. Gwen, a hero, did not deserve to be treated this way. But it was the unfortunate necessity of what had happened to her.
But soon, that would not be the case.
Harry glanced worriedly and extended his arm. "Hurry, please."
Elsa swabbed the inside of his wrist, wanting to be professional, and quickly inserted the needle into the radial vein. The Alpha Symbiote, like a fluid, depressed smoothly into his bloodstream.
Harry inhaled sharply. A thin black line took over his veins, like lightning through branching capillaries, crawling up his neck and into his brain.
Harry flexed his fingers slowly.
"I can feel it," he murmured. "It's… waiting."
"Good," Elsa said. "That means it's responsive."
She turned to the strapped Gwen. She wasn't shaking or trying to break free—thank goodness. She was willingly strapped. Willingly accepting this.
'Theoretically, by putting her under Harry's control, the Red Symbiote's aggressive features should be overwritten.'
Elsa had to first undo the strapped left arm. She gulped seeing that there was hardly any flesh. There was just…Symbiote. Nasty, liquid Symbiote flesh. The Red Symbiote reacted immediately when Elsa brought the needle close, rising in defensive ridges along Gwen's forearm.
"Ghggshhhhh!"
But Gwen resisted. She fought hard and created a small, fist-sized gap of the Symbiote in her wrist. It was the opening Elsa needed. In a breath, Elsa injected the second half directly into Gwen's vein.
The reaction was immediate. The Beta Symbiote entered her bloodstream and Gwen arched off the surgical bed. "Come on, come on…!"
Her Symbiote consumed Symbiotes. It was its purpose. But this one was special. This one should be fast enough to escape her immune system. But just in case…
"Elsa, what are you—?"
From her pocket, Elsa pulled out a sound wave gun and activated it. There was no hesitation.
SCHREEEECH!
Harry could only look in horror as Gwen screamed. This was not a part of the plan. But it had to be. Otherwise, there was only a fifty-percent chance of success.
SCHREEEECH!
With this? It was eighty percent. Gwen's real, thin skin became exposed as the sound waves blasted at her. It was like a ripple that couldn't be stopped. Elsa was thrilled to see the same black network of veins illuminate.
The veins suddenly flared bright red. For a terrifying moment, Elsa thought the Red Symbiote was going to come back.
Too little, too late.
"Gwen! Sleep!"
Harry gave the order and the red veins dissipated. Gwen gasped and the black took over. Whatever resistance, whatever great strength would have let her break through the straps was gone. They could feel it. Before, with Gwen, there was this…underlying tension. Like she could snap at any moment.
"It…it worked. You did it, Dr. Brock." Harry laughed a little. "You did it!"
For the next thirteen hours, Gwen slept like a child who had finally been allowed to stop fighting.
…
…
…
A month passed again. Elsa had to conduct experiments, watch her temperament, all that.
The results were…mixed.
'I knew it. It's just a temporary fix.'
Gwen sat at the long dining table in the New Jersey townhouse, sunlight spilling across the polished wood, her fingers loosely wrapped around a mug that had long since gone cold. On the surface, she looked well. Her hair was brushed. Her skin no longer carried the constant feverish sheen of overstimulation. The black network beneath her veins lay dormant.
Gwen could sleep now. She could eat without trembling. She could sit in a room without the urge to tear it apart. And yet…she could not leave.
"I went to a coffee shop," Gwen said for what felt like the hundredth time. "I stood in line. I paid. I drank it. No one died. Come on, Harry!"
Across from her, Harry sighed in his chair. Black threaded beneath the skin of his wrist where the Alpha Symbiote lived like a coiled switch.
"That's not the point," Harry replied evenly.
"It is exactly the point," Gwen shot back. "You said I was unstable. I'm not. You said I couldn't handle being around people. I can."
"You can because I'm here," Harry said, louder.
Wrong thing to say. Gwen shut her lips. Was it an order? Or was it of her own volition? Even Elsa had a hard time telling…
"Even my father? I can't see him in the least?"
"No."
"I could," she insisted. "I wouldn't hurt him."
"And if something spooked you?" Harry pressed. "If a siren went off? If someone mentioned Spider-Man? If you saw blood?"
Her jaw clenched.
There it was.
Spider-Man.
"What about him?" she snapped. "I won't—"
"You will. We literally are experimenting with just that!"
Yes. This past month, Elsa was trying to teach her to not consume Symbiotes on the spot. Elsa wasn't as productive as Cindy Moon was nor were her Symbiotes remotely as powerful, but they did classify as Symbiotes.
And every damn time, without exception, Gwen would gobble it off. Even with Harry's orders.
So Gwen stayed quiet.
…
…
…
Another memory. Another month.
"I've been dreaming," Gwen confessed to Elsa during the morning blood extraction.
"Oh. O-okay….?"
"Ever since I've gotten your Symbiote, I've never had a dream. Until….until now."
Elsa tilted her head. "Until yesterday?"
"Since the day you put that Control Symbiote in me."
That…did sound a little weird. Elsa stroked her chin.
"I keep dreaming about it," Gwen said louder and with more intensity. "An island. There's something there. Something calling."
"Uh-huh." Elsa was slightly intrigued. "Did you see people?"
"Yeah." The blonde flushed. She didn't look like she wanted to answer. "L-lots of people."
"Like who? Describe them."
"Promise you won't laugh?"
At times like these, she looked human. Elsa was glad to see it. It didn't make her as afraid. "I won't."
"Naked people."
Okaaay. Elsa was thinking she was just perverted. "It's natural for your libido to manifest—"
"It's not that! I know it's not! It's…something is in there. I'm…not sure if it's me or the Symbiote."
"Hrm."
"So? What does this mean, doctor?" Gwen wasn't asking, she was pleading for an answer.
"Aside from your libido returning to give you wet dreams? Ultimately, the Symbiote wants to help you. Now, what help means is different to us and them. For the Scarlet Symbiote, to help you the most means to merge with you completely."
"Okay…?"
Elsa shrugged lightly. "Symbiotes have shown migratory instincts before and environmental memory. They came from the moon and in my own experiments, I've seen them most attuned to moon gravity. They soar around. It's quite amazing. They do loops and they remember well. Like cats. They know how to lick themselves without another cat needing to teach them. It's instinctual memory passed down in blood alone."
"S-so there's a chance this does mean something?"
Elsa shrugged again. "But what could it mean? Speaking kindly, it's probably telling you about an environment it wants to go to."
"Like a piece of the moon falling? Like a home? L-like a solution?"
Woah, woah, woah, where was this coming from?
"I didn't say that. Look, it's probably just you being horny and the Symbiote wanting to eat. That's all."
Gwen did not believe Elsa. At all.
She wanted to get on that island. She needed to get on that island.
'So right from New Jersey, she investigated,' Felix realized. 'And then she found the Sheath…!'
Now it all made sense…!
There was only one last question remaining…
'The Sheath. What happened to it?'
Elsa had the answer. Oh yes, she did. He could feel it in her memory banks. Six months later...he saw it. He saw the Sheath again...!
'No!'
Except the world of memories disappeared. All feeling was suddenly gone and Felix snapped back to the real world, with Elsa Brock collapsed on the chair and Emma's finger still touching her forehead.
"Emma! Dammit, no! I needed one more thing!"
That last memory, that last question! He needed it! He looked over at Emma who looked over at him, smiled, and fell into his arms.
"S-sorry." Emma's lips curved into a weak smile. "I lost focus. Like I said, I've never went had to do a memory deep-dive with someone else." Gulping, she grabbed his forearms and straightened herself. "L-let me try again."
Unfortunately, she couldn't the chance. Felix received an intermission from Herbie: "GWEN STACY HAS BEEN DEFEATED BY RASH-HULK AND IS CURRENTLY BEING FLOWN AWAY ON A SHIELD HELICOPTER."
No...!
"CAPTAIN AMERICA IS CURRENTLY ENGAGING RASH-HULK AS WELL."
Everything sure loved to go to shit, didn't it?