A YJA Moment - Symbiotes

An alien organism of unknown origin the beings that are known on Earth as Symbiotes have had an increasing influence on the metahuman community and by extension the rest of society.  In its native state, the Symbiote is semi-intelligent and exists in a viscous state that can move under its own power.

It requires a host in order to fully unlock its full potential.  Those who are infected gain super-strength, durability, and the ability to extrude and shape the symbiote in various ways.  They are also capable of adapting to the host, identifying and permanently mimicking certain of their abilities, and even enhancing others.

The most famous one is the symbiote which bonded to Peter Parker, the hero known as Spider-Man.  When Parker realized that the symbiote was manipulating his emotions and feeding on his metabolism, he cast it off.  Having copied his powers the symbiote would end up choosing Parker's rival Eddie Brock, becoming the sometimes-villain, sometimes-antihero Venom.

The Venom symbiote would end up infecting crazed serial killer Cletus Kasady after thwarting a prison escape.  The symbiotic fragment, which had somehow mutated by Kasady's latent metahuman physiology, became the vicious mass-murdering entity known as Carnage.

Yet this is not the first time Earth has come into contact with the symbiotes.  Ever since Apollo 17 returned contaminated rocks from a lunar valley on the Moon, the United States government has been keenly aware of the presence of the symbiotes.  Weapons Plus has devoted thousands of man-hours attempting to harness its abilities.

The Covert Action Team known as Wetworks was the first major test subject, exposing a variety of normal and latent metahumans to symbiotes in order to see their reactions to the infection. Unfortunately, during at least one mission, symbiotes fragments were released and became independent.

These fragments would infect artist Reno Bryce turning him into the metamorph known as Warblade.  Another would unsuccessfully attempt to bond with a vampire, altering it significantly before it eventually merged with Amanda Reed to become Taboo.