longer.blue

72 hours felt like an eternity when she was waiting for something. And it felt like no time at all when she was dreading something. 💭If I'm looking forward to getting out there and doing things again, but I'm also dreading going into this mech, does that make time go faster or slower? Ultimately, a nonsensical question. The human brain interpreted time at different rates, but time remained the same in this instance. 72 hours came and went, and Peni found herself standing in the shadow of the VEN#M mech. April had said she spoke to it. And while she had no reason to think April lied, she also needed to know what this SYM engine would tell Peni when she got into it. But first... Peni walked across the storage bay to the lockers and withdrew the suit that went along with the mech and put it on, feeling the material drag across her skin. It formed seamlessly and she shoved her feet into the shoes, then turned toward the figure. All purple and black and green, towering over her. "I'm not afraid of you." The words filled the room. 💭Am I telling it, or reassuring myself? Or both? Peni walked to the mech, keenly aware of the noise of her breathing in the otherwise still room, and of the noise of her shoes touching the ground. She reached a hand up and the cockpit opened of its own accord. Sitting within it was Addy Brock. White hair, dark skin, brown eyes, staring back at her from within the cockpit of VEN#M. "No!" Peni stepped back as cords writhed from within the cockpit of the mech, spearing into Addy's skin. Addy stood up and the cords moved with her, a terrible rasp drifting from her lips before she spoke. "You carry so much pain," she whispered. Peni backed up and felt another figure behind her and turned to see Aunt May standing behind her - with diamondoid CPUs instead of eyes, and quantum fiber cables erupting from her back. "Peni!?" Uncle Ben's voice came from somewhere nearby. Peni backed up and then turned to the right; Ben came into view and looked over at her, a small card in his hand. He pointed to it, then scowled at her. "You've put this off for too long, Peni. It's time." "Uncle Ben-" "Get in the robot, Peni." He pointed to VEN#M, and Peni turned toward it, finding an empty cockpit open and waiting for her. She whipped around, and found no one behind her. Aunt May and Addy were gone. Uncle Ben tapped his foot impatiently, then pointed to the mech. "Get inside. The board is furious that you waited this long." His tone softened. "People are getting hurt out there. Daredevil is losing faith in you." Peni entered the cockpit with a grunt, then sat down. Her arms slid into the sockets and the temporary sitting platform dissolved into tiny particles, dropping her legs into their spots while the cockpit sealed herself in. There was no light within the cockpit. Her eyes slowly adjusted, and then rather than displays telling her what was going on outside, the SYM engine activated with the sensation of her opening her eyes. OH GOD, SOMEONE ELSE GOT IN. GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT! 💭Hello? Who- Aunt May? Addy? The voices did not speak as one unified entity, but a discordant choir that at times overlapped, and at times spoke alone. Peni felt a rush as the emotions of the others within VEN#M cascaded over her mental psyche, brushing against her in a way no one else had ever touched her mind. Tingles ran down her spine and she shuddered, then jammed her eyes shut. "Peni?" Uncle Ben's voice came from outside. She could feel his voice causing vibrations in the air, pressing against the exterior plating of the mech's armor as if she were blowing on the bare skin of her forearm. "I- I'm here," Peni panted, feeling the world around her rather than seeing it. "I can't see much." The VEN#M suit fully activated, the forward mouth shifting into position and locking into place. Holograms of the outside world burst to life before her and she could see the research bay. A consciousness brushed up against her. Coding... but a kind of coding she didn't know or understand at first. It continued to speak into her mind until it resolved into a semi-familiar voice. "I WILL EAT YOU," is what it said, over and over again. Peni shook her head viciously. "They didn't understand you. I do. Look into my memories and you'll see I've talked to others that have symbiotes." She thought about her conversations with April and Gwen about their symbiotes and experiences, and after a moment, she felt something else tap into her mind and access the memories. More thoughts, in code. It took her a moment to figure out what it was talking about. "THE BOND." "Yeah. The bond. The other two, Addy and May, they... they didn't bond with you. They just-" The memory from the mech's perspective floated into her mind, pushing everything else to the side. Addy, sitting, fighting, screaming, and a terrible need, a hunger for not just a chemical composition, but data, pushed it to act, although she still sensed an undercurrent of malevolence that made her stomach churn. "WE DEVOUR." "I... is there no way to get them back?" A question she had to ask. A question she didn't want an answer to. As long as there was a variable left to try, they weren't fully gone. They couldn't be. Another memory pressed against her consciousness; of Logan hugging her, of Logan tucking her in. HER memories. It was looking through her mind? Digging through her brain like it was an open registry? "You should at least ask first!" she exclaimed, then winced. "MISSING?" it whispered, no longer speaking as Addy or as May, but as something else. Something with a deeper voice - like all it knew how to use was caps lock, or maybe a bold font, within her brain. The sensation wasn't easy to describe, but it pointed out a missing part of her memories, like a cavernous excavation from her gray matter. "I..." Peni thought back to that and a stray bit of the memory returned; a creature, standing before her, taking her memory away from her while she worked in the research lab. "GONE." It spoke, almost a gentle whisper. As close as she knew how to get to one. "LOGAN GONE. I FIX." A tendril shot out from the suit of a black, almost fluidic material that wrapped around Uncle Ben, then pulled him closer abruptly. This wasn't Uncle Ben. His eyes were different. A tiny detail, just a matter of knowing his face for too long. Peni's eyes widened as the Memory Eater unfurled before her; arms shot out of its chest, and its eyes bulged until they turned dark as night and a gigantic THING stood before them, black as night and riddled with spikes, six arms, and a bladed tail. "MEMORY!" VEN#M screamed within her mind, and she remembered why she was so distraught that night. Forgive me, one more time. Logan. The words repeated in her mind, in HIS voice, even if she had read it from his written words. Forgive me, one more time. "He left me..." Peni murmured, then looked at the nightmare standing before her just as it turned into a bird with a SHWOOOP noise and screeched once before it flew out of the research center. Rage burned within her. Rage and a desire to find Logan, and Uncle Ben, if she could manage it. "Call Uncle Ben, orange tree." She said aloud, and her smart assistant dialed his number. After two rings, he answered. "Peni? Honey, are you okay?" he asked, his voice colored with both fatigue and concern. "Uncle Ben? Were you just in the research facility?" "No? I'm cleaning the garage. I could use some help, if you're not busy." So... so it hadn't been him. "Did you tell me that the board told me to pilot the VEN#M mech since SP//dr is out of commission?" she asked, her heart thudding within her throat. "Why would I want to get you near that awful thing?" he asked, incredulous and his voice growing louder. "Peni, what are you doing? You're not messing around with that, are you!?" "I have to find Logan." Peni disconnected the line with a thought, then addressed the SYM engine directly. "Either we work as a bond, or you eat me right now and Uncle Ben dismantles you for spare parts. What's it going to be?" "THREATS AREN'T A GREAT START," SYM replied. "WE ACCEPT FOR NOW." "Good enough," Peni murmured, then turned toward the research bay door. "Let's go kick $!!." VEN#M exploded out of the launch bay, the heavy footsteps ensuring everyone knew that they were out and meant business, firing a line of web at the edge of a nearby structure and hauling themselves into the air. Air brushed around them on all sides and Peni felt the dual prospect of heightened rage and empowered focus working to her advantage. Someone had Logan. And she had those memories back. That memory eater thing had to be dealt with eventually, but right now, she couldn't do much about that. Finding Logan? That was at the top of her list. But first... a test run.