Tem*pest*

“Hey Dad?” I asked, holding up a small silver-capped vial. “Where do you want me to put this?”

I studied the vial closer. My Spider-Sense tingled as the navy fluid inside moved. Small streaks of electric blue shot through the goop and disappeared, and the fluid clung to the side of the vial closest to my hand. Whatever it was, it was alive, and Dad had probably put it in the vial for a reason.

“Bring it over here,” he said from inside his darkroom. “I’ve got to do some more tests with that.”

I vaulted over the boxes stacked near the doorway, and made sure to keep the vial steady so nothing would spill. But when I tripped over the lip of the doorframe, I hit the ground and dropped the vial. It cracked open, and my Spider-Sense intensified until all I could feel were the tingles at the base of my skull and down my back.

“Dad…” I called, but before I could explain what happened, the goop pooling on the floor congealed into a sticky, stringed mass and moved toward me.

He can sense it too, right? He’ll come over here and make sure I’m alright… won’t he?

The goop bunched up and inched toward me. I scrambled backward and towards a wall, but it continued to follow me, as if it had acquired a target. It scaled the wall as easily as I had and stretched itself across the corner I had backed into.

I tried to look for a way out, but the goop had made a fairly solid barrier. It didn’t help that my Spider-Sense was still active, warning me about the threat I couldn’t do anything about.

The goop seemed to size me up. It stayed where it was, caging me in, but more streaks of electric blue appeared and created two vaguely eye-shaped splotches in the center of the stretchy wall.

Could I get out? I might be strong enough to break through if I launch myself off the wall... I planted my feet against the wall and bent my knees. I only get one try, probably. This thing will do something else to keep me trapped.

I kicked off the wall and tore through the goopy barrier. It was surprisingly warm, and unsurprisingly sticky. Strands of it stuck to my hair and my face, and it covered my clothes.

Although I wasn’t trapped anymore, my Spider-Sense was still going off.

What, is it broken? I thought.

“Dad,” I tried again. “I broke the jar with the navy goop inside of it…”

He came into the room and looked me over. “How did it get on you?”

“Yeah… It started crawling around after me and trapped me in a corner. I pushed myself off the wall to get through and...” I gestured to myself. The goop shifted around me, and I heard an unfamiliar voice in my head. And now you are my hosssst, it -- she? hissed.

“Wha, why is it talking to me?” I asked Dad.

“Serves me right for trying to keep a symbiote in this house,” he said. “We found this one a few months ago and were trying to keep it from bonding with anyone. At the time, you hadn’t gotten your powers yet, so I thought it would be safe here since I’d already had experience with this, but... “ He shook his head.

“Symbiote?” My voice sounded shrill. “So it’s like that Venom thing?”

Not Venom, the symbiote hissed. I’m Tempesssst.

“You say it’s speaking to you,” Dad said. His gray eyes darted around worriedly.

“Yeah… says it’s name is Tempest.”

“So you’re bonded, then,” he said. “Hopefully we can get it off of you.”

No! Tempest said. This time, I could tell her voice was female. She shifted herself on me, moving the tendrils out of my face and twining around my hair and clothes.

“I think Tempest is female,” I said. “And she doesn’t want to leave.”

“No, she wouldn’t,” Dad agreed. “But if she’s anything like Venom, it would probably be best to get her contained again.”

“What does that mean?” I asked. “Didn’t Venom make you stronger? Isn’t that a good thing?”

“He did,” Dad said. “But that was only one of his effects.” He shuddered. “You do not want to know what all I did when Venom was influencing me.”

Food… Tempest whined. Hungry. Let’s eat. Let’s eat him.

I jumped back.

“What?”

“Tempest just… suggested I eat you.”

Dad also took a step back. “Give her another option, otherwise she’ll just keep asking and might make you do something.”

I will not eat my dad, I told Tempest. There’s a meatloaf sandwich in the fridge. I could eat that.

Sssandwich, Tempest mused. What iss sssandwich?

It’s meat and bread with barbecue sauce.

Ssshow me, she hissed.

“I’m going to go get a sandwich,” I said for Dad’s benefit. He moved out of the way as I walked out of the darkroom and toward the kitchen.

Can you get out of my hair? I don’t think Mom will like that I bonded with you.

That won’t matter. You can destroy her, Tempest said brightly.

No. Not going to destroy my mom, thanks. I’ll get you a sandwich if you get out of my hair.

Tempest shifted and buried herself under my hair and on my back, which made her mostly invisible unless you looked closely. I opened up the refrigerator and pulled out the meatloaf sandwich.

It was still cold and looked unappetizing, but I had it halfway to my mouth before I realized what was happening. It’s gross when you don’t cook it, I told Tempest. Cold flesssh, Tempest agreed. Make it warm.

I reheated the sandwich in the microwave, then took it out, steaming hot. Tempest didn’t wait until it had cooled, just stuck out a tendril and snagged a piece.

Warm! Tempest thought, impressed. Like a fresh kill.

Or, just cooked. I took a few bites and Tempest finished the sandwich off.