One hour later…

Stirring awake and looking up to a stark white ceiling with intense lighting, Susan sluggishly raised her hand over her eyes to blot out the light when she felt a black, gloved hand capture hers in a warm and gentle squeeze. Turning her head to the source of that hand, Susan found Reed looking down at her with a relieved smile. “Hey honey, how are you feeling?”

“Hnnnnmm…” Sitting up and finding another pair of gloved hands help her to sit, she found her brother and Ben there with her. “Where am I?”

“You are back home sis, looks like you had it pretty rough.” Offering his sister a glass of water, Susan was surprised to find just how thirsty she really was when she finished it quickly. “How are you feeling?”

“Everything feels so foggy… How long was I gone? When did…?” She looked down at her costume, not remembering putting it on.

“We got you dressed after… Well… After we got that thing off you. What do you remember?”

“I… I remember…”

Getting to her feet and resting her head against her hand, she looked down to her feet and around the room, discovering she was in Reed’s lab, her memories slowly piecing back together as it all came back in greater clarity as she regained her strength to stand. How she healed Carol and restored her humanity, found her attackers, saved them from themselves, and…

Her eyes going wide, she ran towards the sink at the far end of the room and retched into the basin, letting the tap go and pour water to clear the drain as she coughed and spat, waving her hand behind her to let everyone know she was okay.

“I’m alright, I’m alright… I’m feeling better now.”

Getting back up to her feet again, wiping her mouth clean with the back of her hand, and combing her fingers through her hair to get it out of her eyes, Susan regained her composure. Taking a better look around the place now that her eyes were sharper, she spotted a glass container on a work bench where Red usually did his experiments and research.

Moving over to the work bench, where the container sat, she could see it contained a writhing mass of white fluid moving and exploring its container like a massive albino slug. It was so large it was comparable to a large dog in size! THAT was what was bonded to her this whole time, this single droplet of a parasite from almost a month ago had been fed well off her and her desires, so bloated and large there was more of it than her.

Resting her hands on the table, she felt Reed squeeze her shoulder gently with his hand, eliciting the woman to look back at him and smile to assure him she was alright.

“How did you get it off me?”

“Well fire didn’t work, Johnny hit you with everything he had, and it did nothing to the symbiote. But then I remembered that the Anti-Venom Symbiote is the opposite to Venom, I figured **** cold instead of flame would free you of it… My hypothesis was correct.”

“You means you had us listen to that even though it wouldn’t work?” Frowned Ben, getting the same angry look from Johnny.

“It worked… In away, it distracted her, didn’t it?”

Trading looks, Ben and Johnny shrugged. “Yeah… But NEVER do that again!”

“It all just ran together…” Spoke up Susan, looking back at the lump of white slime exploring its cage like a slug. “Like a dream I couldn’t wake up from, the definition began to blur the longer I was in that dream. But some bits are clearer than others. It was the Jackal, he was trying to weaponize the spider plague that hit the city, tried to profit off it. He attacked me... The symbiote must have done what it could to keep me alive, turned me into... THAT.”

“where’s that pointy-eared jerk now?” Asked Ben, slamming his fist into his palm.

Shrugging, Susan turned to rest against the table’s edge. Remembering in vivid detail how she bit his head clean off. “It… He wasn’t the real one. He was gone for a long while, it was one of his clones.”

Seeing her family look to her with worry, Susan got to her feet and approached Reed, wrapping her arms around his shoulders, and sighed with a smile when she felt her friend and brother rest their hands at her shoulders to join in. Letting go, she turned to look back at the Anti-Venom symbiote in containment, crossing her arms as she stared at the helpless creature.

“Kinda funny that something that looks so helpless could cause so much trouble.” Johnny shook his head, looking at the symbiote. “From what I was told, this thing’s one of the BETTER ones.”

“It was… Is anyway.” Susan nodded, lowered her head. “Can I have a moment? I promise I won’t be long.”

Trading looks, the others nodded and made to leave the lab.

“Alright Suzie, take all the time you need, we’ll be just outside.”

*

Stepping out of the lab with Johnny and Ben, the trio looked to each other and shrugged.

“I’d like to be the first one out of the three of us to say we NEVER talk about that incident again!” Declared Johnny with a distraught look on his face, the Thing and Mister Fantastic begrudgingly nodding in agreement.

“What’s der to talk about? Susan got possessed by some goo and tried to bite Reed’s head off!”

Groaning, Reed brought his hands to his face and head, trying to erase that particular memory. “I’ll send the symbiote over to SHIELD authorities when I can, for now its harmless and won’t cause any more trouble.”

“Who’s in trouble?” Asked Franklin as he and his sister came up to their extended family standing out in the hallway.

“Is it MOM this time?” Valaria asked, reading her father and uncle’s reactions as they darted their eyes to each other and played off the question.

“Hmm? What? NOooooo. No honey.”

“Naw, yer mom’s not in trouble er nothin.”

“Sis can get carried away sometimes… Remember when she was wearing that suit with the cut-away four in the middle.”

“It was a stylistic choice. I wasn’t going to say nothing.”

“Susan used to be a model, she knows what looks good.” Reed chuckled, scratching the back of his head nervously. “Who am I to say what looks fashionable.”

Looking up at the three men and back to each other, the two children shrugged. “Okay… Can we get help with the bake sale? We promised our teachers we’d make brownies.”

“I can help you two.” Declared Reed, getting a squeamish response from Ben and Johnny. One shared by Reed’s son and daughter as they exchanged looks with a grimace. “What?”

“Well… We were hoping MOM could help us.”

Looking over his shoulder to the lab doors, Reed thought on that and looked back to his kids. “Well how about this? I’ll help as best I can until your mom is ready to join in, how about that?”

Leaning down to whisper into Franklin’s ear, the kid nodded when his uncle Johnny suggest they have a fire extinguisher handy.

“Don’t worry kids, your mother won’t be long.”

*

Looking over to the contents of the cannister writhe and squirm, trying to escape its prison, Susan watched the symbiote slither over the smooth glass surface, branching itself out to move like the limbs of a starfish. It looked so helpless in this state, begging impotently to be let out. Looking over her shoulder to the exit of the lab and back to the anti-venom symbiote, Susan pursed her lips and approached the container. Pressing a button, on the controls of the containment system, she watched the symbiote stop trying to escape as a mechanical whirl emanated from the controls and a droplet was allowed to drip free and pool on the table the container sat on until there was enough of the living ooze to fill a bottle cap.

“Come back to me.”

Extending her finger to the droplet, it crawled its way towards her, sluggishly, rolling and scurrying towards her fingertip until she pulled her hand back at the last second. Waving her finger in a chiding gesture. The tiny symbiote raising its mass up like a tiny animal tilting its head. Hair thin tentacles reaching up like a child being deprived of attention.

“First off… We are going to have some ground rules set if you are going to be with me again. Rule number one, I never want to be so far gone I can’t recognise my own loved ones like that. You nearly had me bite Reed’s head off! That doesn’t happen ever again. Two, the next time you need something to eat, you let me know instead of turning me into a chocolate junkie, OR WORSE a brain eating lunatic! And three… We do good work out there, REALLY good work, which means we give you a second chance, and if you play nice and don’t cause trouble… I JUST might visit that bakery again as a reward.”

Immediately the droplet of a symbiote stopped and recollected itself, becoming a smooth shape like a water droplet. Seeing it stop trying to bond with her without her consent, Susan smiled and extended her finger out to it. The second she touched it, the symbiote bonded to her skin, absorbing into her like moisture until it seeped into her being, leaving only her. Shivering, she could feel it settle into her body, but this time the desire for something sweet wasn’t there. Just as she preferred.

“Good boy.”

Turning on her heel, Susan stepped out of Reed’s lab, taking a deep breath as she closed the door behind her.

“MOM!” Called out Franklin from the kitchen where she found her son poking his head out from the door frame. “Dad’s trying to help us make brownies!”

Smiling, Susan shook her head and entered the kitchen to find Reed rummaging with a mixing bowl with outstretched arms, trying to reach for floor from the cupboards and SOMEHOW still causing a small fire from the oven, one Valaria tried to put out with a glass of water.

“Need help?”

Nodding furiously and tripping over his own feet juggling cocoa powder, flour and sugar between his foot long fingers, Reed sighed with relief when Susan gathered the ingredients, turned off the burner and pecked Reed on the cheek.

“Take a seat in the living room with the kids and watch a movie, I’ll handle the brownies.”

“Thanks honey…” Reed smiled, moving to head into the living room with Franklin and Valaria in tow when he felt a hand tug at his shoulder and his wife whisper into his ear.

“And if you ask nicely, I’ll let you lick the bowl.” Kissing Reed on the cheek again, she smiled. “Thanks for helping me, Reed.”

Nodding back with a sheepish smile, Reed finally stretched himself over to the living room and announced to the kids they were going to order a flick, leaving the three along with Johnny and Ben to debate what to watch while Susan watched from a distance. Going back to the bowl her husband left, Susan hummed to herself as she began to mix batter for the brownies. When there was enough mixed, she poured the batter in the baking tray when she spotted her fingers sprout small white tendrils trying to reach for what was left in the bowl.

“Nuh uh, remember what I said.” The tendrils retracted back, receding back into her skin, and making Susan smirk.

“You’ll get your chance; Mommy Long Legs never leaves anyone suffering.”

Setting the baking pan into the oven and setting the time, Susan put the bowl by the sink and extended her finger out to gather a spoon’s worth of batter and swallowed it, humming to herself from the taste and satisfying the symbiote for now. Brushed her hands clean and joined the rest of her family, she found them all sitting at the couch where her son waved her over.

“Hey mom! We’re gonna watch Little Shop of Horrors.”

“Oooh! Count ME in. Move over honey.”

The end.