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Aliens used to be a fun topic in Tony’s childhood. They were interdimensional beings, with incessant knowledge and futuristic technologies. Aliens fascinated him.
No longer a fan, he thought, leaping to the side to avoid being bludgeoned by a food cart.
“There’s no reasoning with this guy. Who is he? What’s his M.O.? What does he want?”
“Destruction, so far” Steve grunted, continuously plummeting Venom’s head with his shield, only to get thrown off by it. Thankfully, he managed to find his footing at the last second, dropping in a crouch.
Tony glared at the creature through the lens of his mask. For as big and giant as it was, it moved swiftly and precisely. Had massive brute strength and was strong enough to defeat Steve in hand to hand.
Tony found the fighting style weirdly familiar, but can’t quite seem to put his finger on it.
It seemed untamed, supernatural, seeking nothing but chaos and carnage. The hits and kicks didn’t affect it physically, much less slowed him down. It only got more and more enraged.
Venom protruded his long, prehensile tongue, pulled out a lamppost and flinged it at the two Avengers like a cannonball. They were barely able to dodge it.
Tony flew around it, found an opening and shot three rounds of mini-missiles into the broad void of Venom’s back, causing him to skid face-first into a building.
Venom didn’t like that.
He roared, reaching his limit, and backhanded Steve into a 7-Eleven before deciding that wasn’t enough and following him behind.
“Um, Rhodey? How are we doing on the evacuation? Expired slime over here looks like he’s ready to massacre.”
“Not fast enough.”
Tony grimaced. They had emptied a block and tried to contain the wreckage as best as possible. But, to no one’s surprise, Venom wasn't proving to be the best rule-follower.
“Where’s Spider-Man when you need him?”
Tony gritted his teeth. He had tried reaching out to Peter with not much luck, a fact he wasn’t bothered by at all.
“Friday, keep trying Peter. Track his ass down if you have to!”
Okay yeah, who is he kidding, he was very bothered. But purely because the kid was such a good fighter. Not only was he a great help at what news outlets are calling the Airport battle, he defeated the Vulture, stopping him from stealing millions worth of weaponry. Spider-Man continued to keep the streets of Queens safe.
Tony had been hesitant about letting the kid join the big leagues. So initially he told him to just stick with public evacuation. The kid never complained once, getting all the civilians out in time. He was a crowd-favourite. Everyone loved the friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man.
Eventually though, with a little adjustment period and training, the kid proved to be a great team member. His strength was comparable only to Steve's, with agility that impressed even Natasha and problem-solving skills to match his own. The Kid truly was an amalgamation of the best parts of Avengers.
“Bruce, any luck?”
“I’m doing my best, Tony. I can’t find any possible motive. His fighting skills are erratic but controlled. He seems angry but as Steve said, doesn’t seem to have any clear agenda except destruction.”
“Great. Just great. Oh, here we go-” Tony readied himself as the Venom stalked over with strong, intimidating steps, uprooting a lamppost and brandishing it like a sword.
“Cap, you there? Hope you didn’t abandon me for a 7-Eleven slushy.”
“I’m here.” Steve took position, bracing his shield, “Let’s get this son of a bitch.”
Tony dodged and shot.
Shot and dodged.
It was an endless cycle.
He would shoot Venom.
Venom would get angry.
Venom would try hitting him.
He would dodge.
Venom would try again.
He’d get hit.
Rinse. Lather. Repeat.
He flew and hovering above Venom, shot his unibeam straight at its head, not stopping till he had it cowering at the corner of an alley. Just when he thought he had him-
Venom leaped, jumping off the wall behind him and before Tony could move out of the way, grabbed the legs of his suit and hurled him away like an empty can of soda with full force.
Tony braced himself, expecting the slab of concrete to put a dent in his suit and in him only to be met with an ‘oomph’ as he collided with another body, slowing his momentum and instead skidding on the pavement, sparks flying from his suit.
He panted, looking up at the night sky.
A hand reached out, and Tony looked up at Steve’s infuriatingly handsome face as he took it, grunting as he could feel the bruises on his body already forming.
Tony took a thorough look at him. Steve had removed his mask, his face covered in dirt and blood. His suit was torn in multiple places and he was out of breath, clutching his side.
Yeah, if the superhuman war hero from World War 2 was having troubles, this one was not gonna be a walk in the park.
“This is pointless.” Steve shook his head, watching the Venom pumping himself up by beating his chest and stomping the road. “If we wanna defeat it, we need to find its weakness, or else we’ll be doing this all night.”
“Tony, Cap you there?”
“Flawless timing as always, Banner. Please tell me you got something.”
“I have good news and bad. The bad news is we can’t really defeat it, it’s amorphous in nature so it will just take up a different form each time, it’s like separating water.”
“So, what, we evaporate it?” Steve asked, trying to relate the analogy.
“That’s where the good news drops in. It’s vulnerable to heat and sonic waves. Causes great pain and with enough exposure can exhaust it.”
“Rhodey, you got all that?”
“Yeah, I’m coming to you.”
“Might wanna cover your ears, Captain.”
Tony and Rhodes took their position side-by-side, deploying their respective sonic beams and blasting venom with its maximum capacity.
What they saw next was horrific.
Venom screeched like a pterodactyl, face scrunched up in pain, its entire structure vibrating like paint on a loudspeaker. It’s once smooth, plastic-like skin started withering away in shreds, revealing a human face underneath.
A familiar human face.
It was Peter.
One hour ago…
Peter was making his way home from some light patrolling. It was a productive day. He helped a food cart which was stuck on some gravel and got a complimentary hot dog from the owner, caught a girl’s balloon for her and gave directions to a bunch of tourists.
Peter shivered. It was early October and already starting to get cold, and he knows his lack of thermoregulation doesn’t play around. The city was also starting to get into the Halloween spirit. He loved the month of October. It signified the beginning of his favorite part of the year.
For some reason, crime rates were always significantly lower compared to summer. Guess even criminals need some time off from committing felonies.
He reached the alley where he had webbed his bag (it was still there!) and changed into civilian clothes, as he was stepping out of the alley he saw something black and shiny, like tar on the sidewalk.
He frowned at the weird substance but ignored it and kept walking.
He got to four steps.
Before he was yanked back into the alley.
Peter’s eyes widened as the tar took the shape of a head, while the rest of it slithered across his body and pinned him to the grimy wall.
“What the-”
The creature was cool to the touch and had almost a vinyl sort of plastic feeling. It had big, sharp milky-white eyes and to Peter’s immense horror, as it smiled displayed a set of prickly, non-human teeth. He growled lowly in his chest and from its mouth protruded a long, scaly tongue.
Peter cringed away but there was nowhere to go. The creature had him pinned. It got impossibly closer to Peter’s face and grunted, “We will be Venom.”
Before promptly, licking him across the face.
Yuck!
-was Peter’s last independent thought before he was fully encompassed by Venom.
Presently…
Peter could feel everything. Every punch, every kick, every slam. It was a symbiote, Peter concluded soon enough. It was letting Peter take all the injuries and in return, the creature fought off and attacked his mentor and inspiration.
It was a toxic relationship.
Other than their clear physical meld, Venom was also in his mind. Gruffing and complaining about the Avengers and having extremely cannibalistic thoughts.
Peter was slightly concerned about what this was going to do to his psyche.
He watched through his own eyes, as Venom attacked the two heroes. And the knowledge that he was the one causing them the pain was greater than his own pain… okay except his head because it actually felt like it was splitting apart.
He watched as Tony and Rhodey did… something. Whatever it was, it felt like knives were crawling between his muscles, using his nerves as a rappelling rope, fraying every part of him. He didn’t know where the excruciating sound ended and his screams began.
Fresh air.
He realised with a start that Venom was pulling itself away from him, repelling from the noise like the north pole of a magnet to the south pole.
“Keep doing it!” was all he got to say before he was enveloped again by Venom.
Peter wants to leave Venom?
I thought I made that obvious!
Venom sad.
…I don’t care?!
Venom like Peter. Reminds of Eddie.
Well, now he felt guilty.
And then the noise was back again.
AAGH!
It lasted for what felt like hours. Venom slowly but surely leaving his body, piece by piece, seemingly ripping away shreds from Peter’s skin.
Peter didn’t realise how but he had ended up on his knees, body fully spent and as the last of Venom left Peter’s mind-
Goodbye… friend.
He fell to his side. The last thing he saw was Tony’s concerned face, his suit melting away from him and his knees hitting the asphalt in front of his face before black dots –weirdly reminiscent of Venom–took over his vision and he lost consciousness.