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That same debilitating sound coursed through his body, he felt, they felt, like they were being ripped apart. Both he and the symbiote screamed in utter agony, the symbiote writhed and silently screeched while he himself locked up on the floor.
His head couldn't take it any longer, it was too much.
“Pete… come on man, just- just focus on me…” He couldn't stand seeing Pete this way, it looked way too painful, and his screams didn't make it any better. This would be the last thing he'd want to do, but Pete needed help, he needed that thing off of him.
His body tensed in the weirdest of places and in the most painful of ways, the symbiote was killing him, and he it.
“Come-”
Everything was drowned out, the sound of the bell and the voice of Miles. The only thing guiding him through this suffering. He could see, but not much. His brain felt like it was getting bounced around in his ol’ noggin.
‘Peter… no…’ The voice of the symbiote was all that he could focus on, all else was shot. He felt like he was dying, just in the most painful manner ever.
It barely managed to trudge through the sounds, it one single chance to save this before it was too late, ‘Love you… Peter.’
‘Stronger together. You need… we need’ It was begging him, this was the last resort. The other human made it hard, too hard, and he listened, but he would listen to them now .
It absolutely refused. It would not let go. It needed him, he needed it. They could do so much together, the others didn't understand, they couldn't even comprehend, they were made for each other, and it was not going to be taken away so easily.
Them… they could do so much. He needed it, they could the best Spider-Man they could be, they could protect them, they could heal them. Make it so that no harm would ever come to anyone…
He had to. The other one didn't know what he was doing.
‘Pleease…’ The monstrous alien begged one final time. The symbiote tendrils managed just enough to pick them up off the ground.
He stumbled, struggling to stand straight. Yet still, his weakened mind still fought against their control, attempts to further himself didn't do much, but he was super-powered. He was equal to the symbiote, it, and he were far stronger than ever before, but with all the benefactors and his own sheer will, he managed to continue struggling.
‘You can… protect them all. Do what you couldn’t for Ben and May. MJ, Harry, Miles, all of them. Harry… they could cure Harry, they just needed the chance. They could heal the world, you need us Peter, we need you, please.’
It struck the right chord. Every single moment of his past seemed to flood his mind, throwing him deeper into a spiral.
‘May, I- I couldn't save you, it was all my fault, just like Ben, I… wasn't strong enough.’ His symbiote-addled mind prattled off, it was the final straw, but it found what it needed to keep this bond together, to strengthen it further.
‘I- I need you.’ The symbiote, despite still being affected by the ringing Bell, pulled Peter up to his feet. It writhed in slight pain, but also some pleasure. They had been successful.
They had to get away from that thing, away from the other Spider-Man too.
They turned throwing a massive and lanky assortment of tendrils at the two targets. The symbiote pushed as much force as possible to strike the teenager as fast as possible, not truly caring whether it hurt.
The writhing mass struck the two targets at once, sticking the Spider to the side of the bell. The bell itself was sent flying off it’s crudely, and damaged post, it crashed through the wall and back into the base. The wall behind crumbed and soon after blocked the way out
A web shot out from Spider-Man’s hand, and he swung away. Black suit still entirely intact, and the symbiote, well, it was going to get to work.
A few moments later, a huge blast of bio-electricity busted through the wall, bricks and debris being shot out. Miles looked around for any sign if Pete, but all that was left was the writhing mess of symbiote tendrils.
“Crap…”
Two weeks had passed since Pete escaped without losing the symbiote. Pete had gone completely silent. Miles and everyone who knew Pete grew increasingly more worried about him, especially poor MJ.
He roamed the streets as much as possible, looking for any signs of him, for any trail that could lead him to Pete. But all he got was a few rumors and very badly injured thugs. It was evidently more violent each time, the more blood, even more broken bones than ever before.
And the thugs that weren't put into comas, they were all terrified of Spider-Man, even Miles. It scared him even thinking about, just what could do to make someone so incredibly scared of you, that the sight of the other one barely provides any relief?
He swung through the streets one last time before he would decide to call it a night.
Harry seemed to be getting worse each day by MJ’s words, she herself was just… tired looking every time he came by to check on her. They all were. He struggled to sleep some nights, what if that was the last chance he had? What if Pete was not going to be the same? He remembered his screams vividly.
This night was a bust. He’d stopped a few criminals but he was no closer to finding Pete than before. ‘Where are you Pete?’ He pondered into the night, he was somewhere out there, doing who knows what.
~~~
Spider-Man quietly landed on a rooftop overlooking a hunter base. Even alone, they were not hard to find without the help of others. They were easily able to find these Hunters due to their affinity for abandoned locations.
They thought they were sneaky heading out to New Jersey, didn't they? Thought that just because they worked across the pond that they wouldn't find them? They weren't, and now they were going to make them answer his questions.
They were tired of Kraven and his little stunt of kidnapping Miles.
‘Kill him.’ The dark yet seductive symbiote’s voice loosely suggested, guiding his mind to what it wanted.
They leaped to the hunter base, a symbiotic suit concealed by the night sky. The black veins were more prominent around his suit, and the iconic white spider plastered on his chest had… shifted even more, being less defined, more… erratic, more monstrous. Perhaps he was a bigger, once again an inch or two taller than his fellow Spider-Man.
They were the original, the better.
Spider-Man crawled into the complex through a broken window. A silent black web zipped him to a point on one of the building’s broken support beams. A hunter stood idly below, unaware of the Spider lurking about above, that was, before a web slingshotted them to the roof.
Before they could alert anyone, or even process the events, a web covered their mouth. All that came out was muffled sounds.
Spider-Man held a finger up to his mask, silencing them.
The next few were not any luckier either, picked off from the shadows by a Spider. A Talon Drone, or at least a similar bird-looking drone, flew around and circled around the base, observing spots for any abnormalities.
He overheard the one overlooking their numbers, “Team One? Report in?” The hunter didn't get a response, they weren't trained to run off and not respond, if they were, this would be a lot easier.
“Team Two? Report in?” No response from them either, probably because they were attached to the ceiling.
The hunter sighed before reactivating his comm, “Everyone be on your guard, the Spider has arrived, remember Kraven’s orders.”
Another hunter called out, “Fury Designation K One L 1, search the perimeter for the Spider. The drone perked up upon hearing the orders, it hovered off from the platform it was perched on and immediately got to work.
Kill huh, I didn't expect multiple of them to have a sense of humor.
It surveyed the entire room, moving from one inch to the next in search of its target, or the missing hunters.
When the ‘Fury’ drone got into position, they flew at it from the darkness, punching hole in it. The drone immediately powered down, but not without a new trick up its sleeve.
It exploded, right in their face. They were sent crashing down to the floor, they landed onto a few crates, crushing the crates on impact. Spider-Man immediately jumped back up to his feet. The black-suited Spider-Man scowled under the mask.
They were planning on stringing them all up from the ceiling, but it looks like they've got new toys. Neither of them were in the mood to draw this all out. A symbiotic punch knocked one of the hunters into the wall with a crunch. A whip then knocked a few down.
They weren't too keen on letting the target get the best of all of them. One of them pushed a button, and the rest threw grenades onto the ground around them.
They were about to throw all of them back, until a sharp pain stabbed through his head. Black tendrils writhed around his body, the vein-like, living substance covering his body wriggled around unnaturally. The symbiote howled in pain, but this time, Peter stood, only clutching his head.
The longer it had been, the better their bond had become. And the better… the worse it was to be their enemy.
Extremely large webs burst out from the ‘skin’ of the symbiote, completely covering a few hunters whole from head to toe. Even more symbiote webbing was blasted onto the loudspeakers attached to the ceiling.
Large tendrils from their body crashed down, breaking the high-frequency grenades. The symbiote growled, but Peter instead cracked a rather threatening quip, made even more so with the darker and rougher voice that came out from his mouth, “New tricks, huh? We're not in the mood for games. Tell us where Kraven is, and maybe we'll leave you and your toys intact."
Their spider sense went off and they caught a bolt aimed at their shoulder. They crushed the metal bolt with only their hand. A hunter ran at them, slashing at the empty air, where they used to be, in an attempt to land an attack.
More bolts were fired, this time too many for two hands to handle, he caught the first two, and the rest were swung back around, a (not) stray bolt was launched into the armed hunter’s shoulder, piercing through the shoulder and out the back. The hunter grunted in pain, but before they could do anything else.
A symbiotic hand grabbed them and a few others by the head. The bodies were slammed back into the ground with a lot of force. Their weapons going flying from their grips.
They webbed the few that tried to get up to the ground.
The hunters bouncing around the wall firing bolts at him were quickly slammed down into ground, repeatedly. There was no one left conscious except for one, they pulled them through the air into their hand. Their fingers dug into their neck, being turned more claw-like.
Their strength meant they could easily squash their throat with one squeeze. Not long ago would his full strength had been weaker, but with these two weeks they had bonded, their strength was nearly double. He was better. With them he was stronger, faster. They could do what he couldn't by himself. He didn't need another Spider-Man around because he, they could do it themselves.
“Where.” They growled.
The hunter retaliated without a single word, they pulled out a knife, but Spider-Man caught it, they threw the blade to the ground.
They then shoved them to the ground, and before they could crawl away, they pressed a foot to their skull. “Where,” He growled again with a certain venom in his voice.
They refused. They were told to do so, but this thing wasn't the Spider they were briefed about a few months ago. They lived for the Hunt, but this was more and more feeling like a losing battle. The foot shoved into the head continued to grow stronger, like their head was soon to be crushed under the multiplying weight.
Their accented voice spoke up, “You wouldn't, we've all seen you, you wouldn't Spider-Man.”
Spider-Man… Would they stake their life on that? After they'd done, listening to their madman of a boss, willing to terrorize people just for a hunt? ‘Kill him, and there's no more, what if it was Ben, or May, or MJ, what if he drew you out… we can end this Peter, end him. ’ The symbiote whispered into his ear.
“Tell me where Kraven is.” This time it was darker, changed into something not human. Something beyond human.
“Cemetery, straight North of here.”
They got they wanted but their boot still stayed on their head.
‘Spider-Man is weak, we are better. Does this one deserve mercy for what they've done.’
Peter looked down, some semblance of mercy still remained, some of the old Spider-Man remained. But did New York want that, he protected them as best he could, but they still screeched and blamed and attacked. Even MJ, did she…?
‘Oh Peter. We love you, we will never leave you. They don't need Spider-Man to protect them, to heal them. They need us…’
Crunch.
The slightly taller and bigger figure shot a black web out, they swung away from the building northward. A spilt mess of blood was left behind, stemming from a headless body. Whatever it was that left was no longer Spider-Man, they still resembled the hero, mask and all, but their bigger and more defined muscles wouldn't have one assume the two were once the same.
A more monstrous, larger, and more deadly-looking white spider covered their chest. The bottom legs ended just where his legs started, and the top legs now stretched all the way from his torso to the white spots blotting his wrists. His eyes were even less defined, the more angular looked more jagged and longer across his head.
~~~
The moon hung high in the sky, casting an eerie glow on the headstones and gravestones that populated the silent cemetery.
The figure touched down onto the ground silently despite their larger body. Their footsteps were heavy, each footfall resonating with an unsettling weight.
The twisted, white spider emblem sprawled across their chest seemed to pulsate with an unholy energy, matching the intense gaze that scanned the surroundings.
At the heart of the cemetery, standing near a desolate grave marked by an old, weathered stone, Kraven the Hunter awaited. His silhouette stood firm, a silent figure among the graves.
“I was hoping it'd be you.” Kraven said, the blowing wind carrying his words.
“We’re done, Kravinoff. No more.” The slightly deeper voice coldly stated.
“I can sense you've finally let go. After conquering all I could, I found something worthy to kill me.” The two did not truly care what Kraven was speaking about, they were tired of him and his hunts. They were ending it here and now, then there wouldn't be anything to get in their way.
With a spear in hand, Kraven stood idly. Carefully watching his greatest opponent, and likely to be worthy killer.
But he was prepared. It would be a worthy death after all, he'd fight until he knew he was beaten, and if this opponent were not truly worthy, then so be it. This was not just a random location, this was their grave, and only one of them was walking away.
Without any words being spoken, the two figures lunged forward. Kraven moved with numerous years of practice, countless skills honed till perfection, to the point no-one could truly rival him, no-one but the Spider. The Spider moved with unnatural grace, with skills acquired all throughout his years of crime fighting, and sharpened to a deadly touch with an alien.
Neither were holding back, the symbiote seemed to relatively watch the fight, not inputting much, unless their host wanted more. They were getting what they wanted, did get what they wanted, because their host was out for blood.
The spear lunged into empty air due to the Spider flipping out of the way. A symbiotic fist reached for him, but upon pushing a button on the spear, a frequency disrupted the symbiote immediately.
The tall figure that stood at his height looked less affected than either of the two times before, but the same could not be said for the extended symbiote, it immediately retracted back into his foe.
He tried shooting webs out from his wrists, but the symbiote wouldn't budge, it was only protecting his body this time. It was between him and Kraven. The spear lunged forward at his chest and he bent backwards, planting his palms on the ground to catch himself. Kraven quickly swung the spear back at the Spider.
He twirled around, pushing his planted hands off from the ground. He twirled in the air, quickly maneuvering his agile body into position. The symbiote left his webshooters.
Two webs attached to the ground and he zipped toward Kraven, but he moved away from the attack. His strong legs smashed through a headstone. He jumped back into a fighting position.
A web reached Kraven, attaching to his shoulder. But he grabbed it and threw it before the Spider utilized it. He threw him into another headstone. A slash sliced by the quickly recovered Spider’s cheek. A lucky dodge.
The Spider tried yanking it from Kraven’s grip, not so lucky. He sent a kick into Kraven’s side, then tried a punch at his head. Kraven spun the spear around, quickly slapping away his fist with the butt end, the sharp side was caught by both of the Spider’s hands.
The high frequency next to his head made him struggle even harder against the enemy.
“We were almost separated because of you. ” The symbiote said, speaking with venom on its tongue. “We will not let you try it again.” The symbiote lashed out, blasting Kraven away, they now held the spear.
They snapped the spear with their knee, throwing the broken halves to the ground. A single sharp and crooked object started growing below the ‘mask’s’ more expressive eyes.
Kraven got back up with a device in his hand. “Is that so? Excellent.” He pressed a button.
BOOM!
The Spider crashed through the cemetery’s fences and slammed straight into a car, sending it swerving into other traffic. A car halted just before the hulking figure, the large and muscular back, well-defined legs and arms were even taller and bigger than before, standing at a height just taller than Kraven himself.
The monstrous white spider on his back now stretched over and under his shoulders, the top set nearly reached the front spider, and the rest of the legs beside the bottom set curved under his armpits and connected with the front.
If the public weren't aware of the messy brawl by now, they would be. Multiple hunter APCs rolled in to help combat the monstrous-looking Spider-Man. The turrets on top locked onto the ‘hero.’
Rounds of bullets were loaded into the Spider to no effect, the symbiote turned the deadly bullets into tiny little pellets of no effect. They menacingly stomped toward one APC, and once close, their hand shifted into a mace once slammed down into the hood of the car.
They jumped to the hood of the car, tearing the turret from the roof and throwing it at another stationary APC. Another explosion ringed out in the streets as the event was seen by more. If across the pond no-one knew by this point, they definitely knew now.
Several bolts, bullets and blades were sent at the spider-themed figure. The bolts were snapped like twigs, bullets soaked in like a sponge, and blades were turned back on the users. They weren't outright killing them, but without medical attention, they probably would die.
They no longer cared about these criminals and their wasted lives. They chose this, so they were only the ones who were showing them the consequences of choosing this in the first place.
‘Enough child’s play, get back to why we're here…’ The symbiote whispered, neither a beg nor a demand. It was severely enjoying this.
They stomped back into the cemetery, the boots once worn had transfigured into feet. “Kraven… come out and stop playing.” Completely gone was the voice of Spider-Man, now it was replaced with a dark and monstrous voice befitting a symbiote, but it wasn't, it was their voice.
Their spider-sense rang through their head. The symbiote caught an explosive bolt and spit it back out at the church Kraven aimed from. The front was obliterated by the explosion, sending chunks flying and even more collapsing to the ground.
Kraven safely jumped back down to the ground, he shed his coat from his shoulders, displaying a fine-tuned and massive body. It was certainly above average, honed to perfection by years. But the Spider outshined him in that aspect, they were even taller, around a few inches taller than him. The two spiders used to be the other way around, but whatever the beast was that was inside this spider, was glorious.
He had searched far and wide for someone to match him. Either they were too slow, by the time they realized it, he had already gotten the jump. Or they were weak-minded, and with enough toying they were too broken to put up a fight. There were numerous reasons for his various hunts why none of them were worthy of his time, even the lesser version of the spider managed to defeat them.
He truly was the most perfect adversary, one worthy of his time, and one worthy to give him the perfect death he had longed for, ever since it became known that his time was dwindling. And this spider was all of it, strong, fast, and smart. The final obstacle had finally been overcome, his limits had been removed.
Fires had started to burn ablaze, slowly spreading from the destroyed church. The final stretch had begun as rain started to pelt the ground, it softly patterned against the two opponent’s skins.
With a shield and spear crafted from Electro’s gear, and much more exciting equipment to use against this symbiotic foe, he was going to put up as much of a fight as he could. This was already a losing battle, the spider was proving more and more formidable.
Kraven vanished into thin air.
Their spider-sense went off again, a flurry of yellow slashes appeared along with Kraven himself, they sidestepped the move and threw a symbiotic punch at him, but the shield took the hits.
With both fists, they slammed down the fists with an explosion, large tendrils knocked Kraven back. “You hurt our friends. Used them as bait!” They caught him off guard, slashing their claws into his skin and whipping a strike of symbiote across him. He caught the final strike, blocking it with the shield. “Then come! Let that vengeance out onto me!”
“Make this my final hunt! The end of all of this.” Kraven shouted back.
A flashbang temporarily blinded the hulking Spider. Once they could see again, a multitude of explosives were already flying at them. They caught them all, but at the cost of something else hitting, a sonic arrow. It immediately activated, causing them to drop the explosives.
KABOOM!
The area exploded, sending them hurtling through a few tombstones, but their claws dug into the ground, halting their movement. Where they used to be was a crater and flames. The battleground was looking more and more like one. Less like a gravesite though, but certainly one either would be worthy of being buried in.
A few more crooked teeth jutted out from the ‘mask.’
They walked through the flames. Kraven ambushed them, turning visible again and getting a few slices and slashes in on the significantly taller Spider. A good foot was between their respective heights. The electric spear pierced through their abdomen and their eyes reacted in slight pain. Their talon’ed hands ripped it out and threw him back.
They then punched his shield, again, and again, and again. Their first collided with the shield over and over. They kept punching, trying to break it with sheer force. The final punch they exerted extended out a blast of symbiote tendrils, knocking Kraven even further back. He tumbled to the ground without his shield or spear.
They grabbed him and pulled him close to their face. He wanted to kill him, get it over with this. But the symbiote taunted him, tens of teeth grew out from the mouth, then a mouth tore out from the mask and a long tongue slithered out across Kraven’s face, tasting their prey.
He pushed their chin away, then grabbing the tip, pulling out a knife, and slicing the tongue clean off. He pushed himself away and back to his gear. Satisfied when the Spider looked back, a new tongue grown back in place of the old.
He severely pissed them off, at the satisfaction of himself. The Spider proved more and more worthy to be his final hunt. “Yes! You shall be my final hunt. And I will be your first!”
Another symbiote whip struck Kraven, then a punch from the symbiotic Spider-Man. He struck another wave of attacks from them, slicing into the symbiote tendrils as they came close.
“This is what death should be! This is what the world should know from us.”
“Death? We’ll give you death.” The two snapped back at him.
The two almost evenly matched combatants kept striking each other, another electric lunge was blocked by a small wall of symbiote tendrils. “Do you know what it’s like to have your body betray you? I will not be claimed by weakness!”
At that it made the two even more angry, they only thought of Harry. The ‘weakness’ was slowly claiming him, their best friend was dying and this old man was getting in their way of healing him, of protecting him, they could do both now!
He slashed at them with his spear, but they parried his attack and with one more punch, shattered the shield. They whipped him back, his spear clattering to the ground. He tried getting back up, but his body slightly seized, it was numb. He collapsed onto his knees. His tied-back hair had been released.
The Spider stood at their full height, towering over the little man. Kraven tried moving around, but a few broken ribs were making it hard. He decided that there was no more fighting, this was the end. He gave death his all, and now it was up to them.
They snarled at him as he looked up. A small snicker exited his mouth, “Thank you, Spider.” They picked him up by the head, slowly lifting his body up in the air. “We are not Spider-Man.” They said at eye level. “We…”
“…Are…”
“…Venom.” A bloody necklace of various-sized teeth dropped to the ground along with Kraven’s blood. They dropped his body to the floor and roared into the dark night. Thunder crackled into the city, their tongue slithering with the roar.
They had fully bonded.