The silent night had befallen a small town and brought a long quiet as its residents returned to the comfort and safety of their homes, leaving the streets and communal stores empty and abandoned for the night.

The lights of a local diner were switched off and the front door had been shut by an older woman in a waitress outfit. She turned the key to the diner door and locked it, placing the key back in her purse as she began her trek to her home after the long and tiring shift she had.

The woman was a familiar resident of the town and had lived in it for almost all her life. So, even if she was walking alone at night, she wasn't worried in the slightest because of the rare instances of any crimes occurring in their small town.

As she walked and softly hummed a tune to her favorite song to herself, she remained in a state of unawares to the onlookers that followed her.

She did pause her humming however when she heard the sound of a can being kicked or dropped, either or, because the sound of it clanking on the ground was all the same to her.

Her walk came to a halt and she confusedly looked around, finding nothing peculiar in sight. That was until she saw it.

Behind her was a figure off in the distance that was too far and shadowed by the darkened street. She couldn't identify who it was, but she could tell the figure was facing her, watching her.

This, of course, got her nervous and she started walking forward in a quicker pace while clutching her purse tighter. The nervousness increased and fear began to set in within her when she heard the sound of not only her footsteps, but another person's as well.

At this point her quickened pace had turned into a sprint and when she glanced back, she let out a fearful yell as the figure had gotten much closer and was chasing after her.

The closer proximity allowed her to see who the figure was and she could identify a man with sunken eyes and an aggravated expression. That was all she could retain though because she stopped looking back and continued to look forward as she ran as fast as she could.

As fast as she could was not enough though and the man caught up to her, grabbing her by her hair and pulling her back. She let out another, louder scream that was soon cut off by the man covering her mouth and dragging her down a nearby alleyway.

Having heard the albeit brief, but terrified scream, Jane followed the sound, curious to see if the person she was following was involved or if the scream could give her a clue of where she could find her lost lead.

She continued her search as she walked down an empty street, looking around and keeping her guard up, even if she wasn't afraid at all. She had walked down dark and empty streets many of times as well as seen and experienced much worse than letting her own fear and anxiety scare herself.

"Stop moving..." A hushed yet deep voice of a man instructed, "...It'll all be over soon."

Jane slowed her steps upon hearing this and she heard the sounds of muffled cries following up to the man's threatening commands.

Having pinpointed the interaction to an alleyway just ahead of her, Jane slowly crept up to it, preparing herself for what possibly awaited as soon as she turned the corner.

"I said stop moving-ARGH!" The threatening man let out before he was cut off and he let out a surprised and terrified scream.

The woman that had narrowly dodged the attempted assault stood paralyzed as she watched her attacker get dragged deeper into the shadowed alleyway by a black tentacle.

"H-Hey! No! He-Help! Help ME-" His pleas were silenced by more tentacles grabbing him, wrapping around his body as well as covering his mouth.

Her eyes were wide and her jaw was agape as she watched the man get fully dragged within the darkness of the alley, disappearing from her view.

The man let out one of the loudest and most terrified screams she had ever heard that soon were followed by the sounds of flesh tearing, bones snapping and liquids squelching.

The thing that scared her most was not only the sounds she was hearing along with her attacker's screams, but the fact that they suddenly stopped after a loud snap had reverberated through the air.

A hiss was let out and the squelching sounds increased along with the bones snapping. They soon ended though and the alleyway was filled with a dead and unnerving silence.

She gasped in utter horror when she spotted two while eyes look at her along with a wide and monstrous grin with sharpened teeth that had a bit of red flowing around them was formed in the darkness to create a silhouetted face that was straight out of a nightmare.

"Run." A woman's voice stated and the woman turned to see Jane standing at the entrance of the alleyway, glaring not at the fearful woman, but the monster hidden by darkness across from them.

"W-What..." The terrified woman stuttered out to Jane.

"Lady, if you don't take a fucking hike right now, you are going to die." Jane told her, "Go!"

The woman nodded fearfully as she stumbled out of the alleyway and ran for her life. With her out of the way, Jane focused her attention back on the monster before her and tilted her head to the side with a curious and nervous look.

"Just what in the hell are you?" Jane whispered.

The monster let out a devious chuckle that was mixed in with a growl, "We...are..."

The monster leapt forward towards her and Jane moved out of the way to dodge just in time. It landed on the street, its sharpened claws tearing through the asphalt and concrete as it turned to face Jane and letting her get a full view of its large and menacing embodiment.

"Venom!" Venom roared with their large and slimy tongue slithering and showcasing their nightmarish face and form.

"Yeah, well, you can..." Jane said as she switched alters to a form of herself with a mouth covered in a silver and metallic substance, this was Silver Tongue, "Fuck off!"

The words she had set formed into reality as sharp metal and launched themselves at Venom. They dodged the assortment of words thrown at them and looked back, using a tendril to catch the "Fuck" part of the statement and sling it back at Silver Tongue.

Silver Tongue ducked to avoid the redirect and stood up straight, looking to see that her word narrowly avoided her and was lodged into the wall next to her.

Venom roared as they launched multiple tendrils at Silver Tongue, all of them shooting towards her at rapid speeds. Silver Tongue backed away in fear and started to run from the tendrils, turning back to see they were still extending and leading chase.

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" Silver Tongue cursed rapidly and said words formed and floated around her.

She turned to face the tendrils and directed her words towards them. They spun and flew towards the tendrils, ripping through them and cutting them up into multiple different pieces.

During the flurry though, another larger tendril shot towards her and latched onto her. She widened her eyes as she was pulled forward and landed in Venom's large hands as they held her by the throat to silence her.

"Shhh..." Venom shushed, keeping an amused grin on their face.

Silver Tongue switched alters and her body was enveloped in fire, much to Venom's chagrin. They roared out in pain and let the new alter go as she floated above them and let out an angered scream, this was Flaming Katy.

"Oh, shit." Venom let out as Flaming Katy started firing fireballs at them.

They dodged and rolled out of the way of the targeted attacks as they exploded in flames upon hitting the ground.

Using their agility, they shot a tendril at a nearby building and launched themselves onto it as Flaming Katy continued to launch fireballs at them. They kept up their dodging, attributed to the developing sense that assisted in letting them anticipate her movements before she made them.

Flaming Katy ended her flurry of fireballs and opted to just fly towards them in a supercharged flaming charge.

Thinking fast, Venom used a tendril to grab a nearby lamppost. The tendril wrapped around the lamppost and they easily pulled it out of the ground and snapped it back into their hands.

This was just in time and they used the lamppost as a baseball bat to knock Flaming Katy back and she was launched back and into a park, landing in the park's river.

"Strike!" Venom let out, tossing the lamppost aside.

The river glowed a bright orange and a new alter stepped out. It was a woman with Jane's body, but a sun for a head and she had grown two times in size as she formed more fireballs within her hands. This was Sun Daddy.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me!" Venom shouted, widening their eyes in shock at the sight of Sun Daddy.

"Now what?" Cole asked, within him.

"Did you pray today?" Venom asked.

"What!? No!" Cole exclaimed.

"Good." Venom said as they narrowly dodged, one of Sun Daddy's fireballs that hit the building they were standing on and made the whole thing explode in flames, "Neither did I."

Venom shot two tendrils at two buildings at opposite ends. They pulled back to create traction and eventually released whilst jumping forward towards Sun Daddy.

Sun Daddy raised her arms to block the incoming monster, but she was not Venom's aim and she was surprised to see them zip past her.

Thinking they had missed, Sun Daddy turned to face Venom, but she was surprised to see they were actually aiming for the church across the park.

They flew over it and landed on the roof, using multiple tendrils to pick up the large cross built into the holy building. They then reeled back all their tendrils and launched the cross at Sun Daddy.

Sun Daddy caught the large cross, to stop it from hitting her, and Venom took this opportunity to launch themselves again, now their target being Sun Daddy.

They roared as they slammed on top of the cross, adding more weight and the force pushing her back. She started to melt the cross with her flames and Venom jumped up into the sky, their tendrils having moved and wrapped around her legs.

Their jump was aimed to be over Sun Daddy and adding to the fact that her legs were wrapped and bound, the opposing forces caused her to trip and fall.

Venom landed behind their fallen foe and roared as they grabbed their tendrils to assist in the effort of launching Sun Daddy over them and into the building she had burned down.

"The bigger they are, bitch!" Venom shouted with a victorious roar as they watched multiple flaming debris pile on and fall onto Sun Daddy's giant body.

"She okay?" Cole asked, thinking they might've gone too far.

"Eh, she's already on fire, she'll be fine." Venom responded nonchalantly.

A beam of lightning shot out from the fiery debris and from the searing smoke stepped out a now normal sized alter with Jane's body although she was generating electricity around her body and hands, this was Lucy Fugue.

"The harder they fall." Lucy stated in an echoed voice as electricity generated through her veins.

"How many powers can one person have!?" Cole exclaimed.

"That's so bullshit!" Venom shouted.

Lucy fired the electricity at Venom in a large and devastating blast that was so widespread, they were unable to dodge. They let out a pained cry as they were shocked by the blast as well as launched back and into a small ice cream shop.

Venom groaned as they lay on the white floors of the now damaged shop. Lucy walked towards they with a glare as she wiped her bleeding nose, having sustained quite the battle damage.

"Get ready to die, monster." Lucy stated as she charged up her electricity once again.

"We told you already...we are not just a monster...WE ARE VENOM!!!" Venom shouted as their tendrils shot out from any and every pore, enveloping the entire shop and shooting at Lucy.

She fired her electricity, burning through the approaching tendrils, but there were more than she could handle and they got ahold of her, wrapping around her arms and hands to inhibit her power.

They raised her off the ground and slammed her to the shop's walls, Venom getting up and approaching their trapped enemy with a deadly grin.

"Any more tricks, fucked up honey badger?" Venom asked.

"Just one." Lucy stated as she switched alters again, and this time this one looked superbly pissed.

She reeled her head back and head-butt Venom so hard that the force caused them to stumble back and clutch their head, surprised by the strength.

"And there's more where that came from, you liquid nutsack!" The alter yelled, cracking her knuckles.

"Hammerhead." Cole identified from the familiarity.

"My favorite one." Venom said as they looked at Hammerhead with a growl and a glare.

Hammerhead let out a yell as she ran towards Venom, aiming a punch to their face. They dodged and grabbed Hammerhead's arm with one arm, flinging them over the shop's counter and through the wall into the kitchen.

Venom roared as they climbed over the counter and slowly moved in, stalking their prey. Hammerhead groaned as she got up, reaching for any kind of weapon from the utensils her flinging had knocked over.

She grabbed an ice cream scooper and turned to face Venom, holding it up as a weapon. Venom paused their stride and widened their eyes at the scooper, beginning to laugh.

"HA! HA! HA! Seriously!?" Venom laughed and Hammerhead looked at them confusedly as they breathed out a sigh, "Hehe, partner tag in, this is over."

Venom transformed back into Cole and Hammerhead widened her eyes in shock to see that the monster she and her other selves were facing off against was actually the woman she had recently just met.

"Were you actually going to fight us with a scooper!?" Cole asked with an amused laugh.

"So what? Anyway to kick your ass is a good way." Hammerhead stated.

"Kick our ass?" Cole asked with a snort, "Last I checked, we were putting you through the ringer, sweetheart. You can put down the mighty scooper, by the way. The fight's over and we clearly won."

"Won!?" Hammerhead asked in offense, "I'm still fucking standing asshole. You didn't win jack shit."

"Okay." Cole said with an amused eye roll as they sarcastically raised their hands, backing out of the kitchen and going back to the counter, looking through the various choices of ice cream presented.

"What are you doing now?" Hammerhead asked, relaxing a bit and letting the exhaustion from their fight set in.

"We already had our dinner, now we want some desert." Cole responded, perusing the choices then turning to Hammerhead with a smirk, "Want some?"

Hammerhead looked at Cole with her usual angry frown, shaking her head and putting down her scooper down. She walked over to Cole and the two began choosing their ice cream flavors.

After some time, Cole and Hammerhead sat at one of the tables of the ice cream shop, Cole nonchalantly eating their ice cream and Hammerhead sitting across from them, watching them with their arms folded.

Cole took notice of her gaze and stopped ignoring it, looking at her with a raised eyebrow, "What's up? Bad ice cream?"

"What the hell are you?" Hammerhead asked.

"We told you already," Cole said, scooping up another piece of their ice cream and eating it, "We are Venom."

"And what the fuck is a Venom?" Hammerhead asked.

"Us." Cole simply responded, earning an annoyed glare from her to which they smirked at, "You have a habit of glaring at us in a way we find quite cute, y'know that?"

Hammerhead looked away from them with a small blush that she tried to cover up by clearing their throat, never having felt this way before, "Whatever..."

Cole took another bite of their ice cream as they watched Hammerhead switch back to another alter.

"Welcome back, Jane." Cole told her.

Jane looked at her in surprise, "Y-you can tell?"

"We can smell the change." Cole informed, "All of you have different scents."

"Good to know." Jane said with a nod, as she started eating her ice cream, "Really adds to the fact that we're all our own people..."

"Stuck in one body." Cole finished for her and Jane nodded at her with a smile, "We can oddly relate."

"Is that why you always refer to yourself as "we" and "us"?" Jane asks.

"Now you're getting it." Cole told her with a smile, "We see each other as one now. After everything we've gone through, who wouldn't?"

"Can't really relate there." Jane said with a sad smile, "Being your own person in one body while sharing it with so many others is...a struggle...for me...for us."

"I don't see it that way." Cole responded.

"Really?" Jane asked with a raised eyebrow.

"All of you were working together pretty damn well back there. That kind of cohesion is something Venom and I are still working on." Cole confessed.

"If...you're having some troubles with your inner roommate then I wouldn't mind helping you out..." Jane suggested with a nervous smile.

Cole reached forward with her spoon, scooping a small piece of leftover ice cream on the corner of Jane's lips and pulling back to eat it, "Wouldn't mind helping you out either."

Jane blushed with a nervous laugh as she continued to eat her ice cream.

The two of them continue to talk all through the night, getting to know each other more and more. They only took their leave when the police and fire brigade arrived to survey the demolished and burning building along with the ice cream shop.

~

Later on the dark and forested road back towards the manor.

Cole and Jane walk hand in hand, their silence comforting each other and having found solace with one another throughout the eventful night.

"Your hand...its warm." Jane noted, trying her best to ignore the tingles any slight rub Cole's hand brought upon her.

"Should we let go?" Cole asked, looking at her.

"Do you want to let go?" Jane asked, looking back at them to meet their eyes.

"No." Cole responded, enjoying their close proximity.

"Then don't." Jane told her in a softer tone.

Cole nodded softly and they looked forward, continuing their way back home, their hands now interlocking tighter.