Marvel: I'm a Symbiote-Symbiote 0341: Besties (1/2)

The following morning came with the arrival of one Erik Magnus Lehnsherr, or Magneto, in Hong Kong. Specifically, the man had come to Katherine’s one-bedroom apartment and politely knocked on the door.

Inside the apartment, two men were still sleeping in the living room, not even responding to the knock. As for the other three occupants, they were in the only bedroom, sharing the large queen-size bed that Katherine had somehow fit into the apartment. Laura was initially sleeping on the side, but by the time morning came, she found herself between the two angst-filled women who couldn’t get their relationship in order. Going by the positioning, Illyana was the one who had moved from the corner and pushed both Laura and Katherine before taking the other side, effectively placing a barrier between herself and Katherine.

Laura’s sleep was broken because of the suppressed sound of Magneto’s knock, and she instinctively thought about getting up, but was instead held down by some weight on her sides. Opening her eyes, Laura let out a sigh as she looked at Illyana and Katherine hugging her arms like pillows. All she needed was to twist her wrists a little, and she could give both women a shocking and very invasive wake-up call.

“Was this you?” Laura asked lazily, slowly freeing herself from their grips.

[As amusing as that would be, no. This was all these two. Illyana even got up in the middle of the night to move away from Kitty and sleep on your other side. I didn’t try to read her thoughts, but I can only assume she needed someone to hug, and hugging Kitty would lead to an awkward situation in the morning.]

[For a pervert, she’s surprisingly thoughtful … then again, this wasn’t exactly a good decision …]

With her telepathic response, Laura finally freed herself from the grasp of both women and slipped forward, getting under the blanket and vacating her spot. She emerged from the foot of the bed before standing up.

“Hah …” Laura let out the breath she had been holding after making sure that both women were still asleep.

[You know, you could’ve gotten out without such a hassle. I could make sure that they don’t wake up from the disturbance.]

[You should’ve told me earlier.] Laura said as she made her way out of the room and quickly opened the door to the apartment.

In front of her stood a white-haired man who seemed to be only in his forties, yet still had a head full of white hair.

“You must be Erik,” Laura noticed how the man’s face contorted into one full of confusion when he saw an unfamiliar face. “I’m Laura. The one unrelated to Logan.”

“I can see that …” Erik said, narrowing his eyes. “The one who belongs to this Earth is still twelve, after all. Although the feral gaze you both have is remarkably similar.”

“It’s almost as if she and I are identical copies of each other,” Laura smiled.

“It seems as such. Are you planning to hold the others hostage?” The man asked her.

“What?” Laura looked confused. “We just had some drinks last night. My healing factor keeps me from getting drunk.”

“That’s good,” Erik nodded. “I couldn’t help but notice that your bones are remarkably similar to Logan's …”

“Yeah,” Laura smiled a smile that matched her feral eyes. “Wanna test whether I can stab you through the head before you take control of my bones with your powers?”

The atmosphere grew tense, only to be interrupted by a sigh.

“Erik,” Doctor Strange stumbled into view. “Don’t antagonize her. She saved our lives. And I don’t doubt that she has tricks up her sleeve against your powers.”

“You did?” Erik asked Laura, his calm eyes betraying a hint of surprise.

“Humph,” Laura crossed her arms and turned away, walking back into the apartment.

“Come in, old friend,” Doctor Strange said. “We have a lot to talk about.”

[We could’ve taken him, right?]

[Totally … Unless he decided to pull all of this planet’s metal in on itself and encase you in it. Then, all you could do would be to run before he completely encased you within a cocoon of unbreakable compressed metal.]

[That’s broken as fuck, you know that?]

[He isn’t an Omega-class mutant for nothing. Even in this reality where most mutants have an upper limit due to their powers being reliant on their bloodline, I’m sure he’s monstrous if he decides to go all out.]

[Could you take him?]

[With Wanda’s Chaos magic? I can kill him before he realizes it. If I’m by myself? The challenge would be to reach him. The moment I make contact with him, I can simply devour him without any issues because he can’t physically repel me. That’s the case for most entities, really. As long as I can come into contact with someone, it would be very easy for me to devour them. Unless they use an energy-based barrier like the one Agatha used when fighting against you. That would make things a little challenging.]

Laura and Alex conversed telepathically as Doctor Strange led Erik into the apartment.

“I’ll wake Kitty and Yana.” Laura lazily walked into the bedroom as Doctor Strange shook Peter awake.

“Yana?” Erik looked at Doctor Strange.

“Apparently, the three of them are now what the kids now call besties,” he responded dryly. “Don’t ask. I don’t know either.”

“Kids these days …” Erik shook his head.

…

“Wakey, wakey, girls,” Laura spoke excitedly and jumped onto the bed, making sure to land between both Illyana and Katherine. “It’s morning, and we have guests.” She grabbed them by the shoulders and violently shook them. “Well, a guest.”

Suddenly, the three of them, alongside the bed, disappeared from the room and appeared in Limbo.

“Lemme sleep!” Illyana turned around and curled up once again.

“This is fascinating …” Katherine naturally woke up, enjoying the benefits of one of Apex’s basest abilities — biological and, to an extent, mental rejuvenation. “I’m pretty sure that I only slept for around four to five hours in total, but I’m more refreshed than I’ve ever been when waking up.”

“Naturally,” Laura said. “The benefits are just starting. As time passes, you will realize how amazing Apex is.”

“I don’t feel like my emotions are being manipulated …” Katherine continued. “There has to be some catch, right? Since Apex is a symbiotic lifeform, it … he(?) must need something from me.”

“The biggest boon of Apex, compared to the other Symbiotes, is that he doesn’t need anything explicit. He’s like a plant. Taking in something we don’t even need and giving back a much greater benefit.”

[That’s a new analogy.] Alex spoke in Laura’s head.

[It’s accurate, isn’t it? Plants take carbon dioxide and give off oxygen. You take … whatever you take and give natural biological enhancements.]

[I take minuscule amounts of Bioenergy from whoever I’m bonded to. It’s very minuscule, like a hundred-thousandth of a single unit each day, with no actual harm to the person. If I want a significant amount, I can devour the person from the inside out, eventually killing them because their natural production can’t keep up. For context, even if I devour the Hulk, I would get only around five to ten units of Bioenergy — of course, there is the factor of his anger, which could increase his stored Bioenergy exponentially. Or, I could use convoluted means to enhance bioenergy production and extract it physically through something like breastmilk.]

[I so did not need that information.] Laura was weirded out.

“But I don’t know what he takes …” Katherine looked anxious. “I’m worried that what he’s taking is much more significant.”

“He isn’t,” Laura said. “I don’t quite understand it yet, but as he’s explained to me, all carbon-based life in the universe possesses this thing called Bioenergy. You can think of it as a person’s life force. It’s like condensing the biological essence of life into a purified form of energy. That’s what Apex takes. But —”

“What?!” Laura’s casual words sent Kitty into a panic. “I can’t have that happen to me. I want to live …”

She immediately tried to phase Apex away from her, only to fail, panicking even more.

“Don’t panic …” Laura winced as she saw the woman increase the frequency of her phasing as she generated a high-pitched sound to isolate Apex from her body. Laura heard the initial ringing sound, but soon, the frequency went beyond her audible range.

“How can I not?” Kitty’s form turned illusory and distorted as she phased into multiple frequencies to produce that sound.

“That won’t work, Kitty …” Laura sighed, smacking her forehead. “Apex is immune to that weakness. And all weaknesses, really. Now that he’s got his claws into you, the only way to have him let go is if I ask him nicely.”

“Huh?!” The brunette woman had an expression of disbelief on her face as her illusory form stabilized.

“That’s an interesting trick, though … I don’t think I’ve ever seen my reality’s Kitty shift so rapidly to generate sound,” Laura said. “Now, will you let me finish?”

“Fine … whatever.” Katherine looked at her arm as the cuff of the hoodie. It didn’t seem to have been disturbed in the slightest.

“Bioenergy is limited, yes. But not in the way you think. Think of your body as a mass of Bioenergy. You grow, you learn, you age, and more, right?” Laura asked, pointedly looking at Katherine. “Right?”

“Right …”

“This implies that a certain amount of Bioenergy gets produced by your body as well. That’s what Apex targets. In exchange, he can not only improve the regular production of your Bioenergy but also help expand the main pool that is your life force, prolonging your life. But you’ll have to convince him to do that for you. He’s a bit of a stickler about that. My point is— what he takes, he gives back multifold.”

[I get that correct?] Laura asked mentally.

[Perfectly. As much as is relevant to her, at least. Looking at how desperate she was to get rid of me the moment she thought she might be sacrificing her lifespan, she’s going to love the promise of immortality.]

“You’re telling me that I can live longer?” Katherine asked, suddenly looking completely normal as if she hadn’t just had an episode that could have amounted to a full-blown panic attack had Laura not been there to calm her down. “And that offer will be extended to Illyana as well?”

“Yes,” Laura nodded. “But as I said. You’ll have to convince Apex. Get familiar with him, and he will communicate with you.”