Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

After his encounter and fight with the Vulture, Peter thinks he’s been doing pretty well. Not that other people would agree with that, but that doesn’t matter! His injuries had mostly healed, if they hadn't they were mostly just bad bruises by now. So, despite what Tony had told him, he was going on patrol. He grabbed his recently fixed spider suit out of his bag under his bed and slowly slipped into it. 

He hadn’t patrolled recently, so he was starting after the sun had gone down and would likely be out for the whole night or at least the majority of it. After putting on his mask, which he recently fixed to make the goggles more blackout and better ear covers, he opened his window and climbed up the wall to the roof. He looked around for a few minutes before jumping off the building when Karen rattled off a crime happening a few blocks from him.

He had only been out for maybe 4 hours before reports and sightings of crimes had gone down, he didn’t see many besides the occasional mugging and Karen didn’t tell him any more very often. A slower night is sometimes good for Peter though, it gives him time to think. Mostly about how he’s been doing in school, his grades tanked as soon as he began being Spider-Man but considering what he does every night that's not too odd. He hadn’t told anyone what happened during his fight with the Vulture, but Tony still felt bad, which was so odd to Peter. After a few minutes of going over different things that happened recently in his mind he felt a tingle in his sense to his left.

He jumped as a large man landed onto the building next to him. Peter landed and the man stood straight up, and he was tall. Maybe a little taller than Captain America? He wasn’t insanely muscular but still looked like being punched by him would be unpleasant. He wore what bad guys typically did, which was a mix of regular clothes and weapons. He had a thick jacket on and ripped up cargo pants, all in a black color, with many types of knives and vials strapped to his legs and arms. He mumbled something under his breath before charging straight at Peter with a dagger in his hand, which he quickly dodged, only getting slightly nicked on his face. Peter and him exchanged hits for maybe a few minutes before the cut Peter was given began throbbing. 

Peter reached up to touch his face and brought his hand away to see his fingers coated in blood, the shock from seeing that made him a little too slow. The man picked Peter up by his throat and lifted him up, tightening his grip as Peter began to struggle. Nearly as soon as Peter's mind began spinning from the oxygen loss the man began talking, Peter didn’t catch any of it. He also didn’t catch when the man lifted him up higher and threw him head first onto the roof. Peter’s head hit the ground with a crack, a female voice skittering through his mind. Who is talking? What is she talking about? Peter felt the ground get cold and wet, when he tried to open his eyes all he saw was red and darkness. Then he was lifted again.

Peter wanted to pass out so much, his body and mind exhausted. Yet the female voice was speaking loudly in his head, saying something like do not fall asleep, I’ve called for help, do not fall asleep. He was thrown again. Crack. The pain was unbearable. He was picked up again, the man grabbed him by the back of his suit, shrugged and said something. He then put Peter down gently, and right then as he touched the ground he wanted to sleep. The cold wetness of the ground made him so tired. The voice was speaking louder, do not fall asleep, help is near, hold out, do not fall asleep. Peter’s mind was leaving him as he heard loud whirring approaching. The man picked Peter up, and quickly jumped into something, maybe a portal? Something like that.

The last thing Peter heard before falling asleep was someone shouting his name, their voice sounded so familiar but Peter couldn’t place it.

—------------------------------------------------------------

The boy was barely conscious as he pulled out of a small pit of water, his head still caked with dried blood the scientists didn’t care to clean off of him. The boy’s mind forced him to think, observe, but that didn’t mean anything as his body lit up with pain. He would have screamed but his mind couldn’t figure out how to force that command through. A strong voice ringed in his ears near him.

“Another failed experiment. We need a larger vat, bring him back to where you found him.” The strong voice said, disappointed.

“I can't do that, but I could drop him in Gotham?” The second voice said, proposing something.

“God, where are you getting them? Actually I don’t care! Drop him there, bring us a better vessel!” The strong voice yelled, so angry. The boy couldn’t think of a reason as his body was moved against his will. His mind screamed as he was touched and maneuvered and eventually dragged and dropped on a cold road or sidewalk.

“I don’t know if you’ll wake up, but take your stuff anyways. It won't help much besides identifying your body anyways.” The second voice said, standing above him dropping items next to the boy's head.

The boy went back to the cold release of sleep. The pain stopped when he did.

He awoke later, he doesn’t exactly know how long he was asleep but the sky is dark now. He slowly tried to sit up, immediately laying back down at how much pain he was in from the attempt, and tried to think of any memories he could. The first memory that came to him was his face and his name, Peter Parker, he was 15 or maybe 16. He was in high school, he couldn't remember his parents. But he remembers he was on a rooftop before being beaten so badly he passed out. He remembers he had a friend, who was around his same age, but he can’t remember his name. He remembers an authority figure, maybe an uncle or an adoptive family? His name started with a t or maybe an a? His mind was swimming as he clawed onto these memories, then the one he wanted to know hit him. He’s a vigilante named Spider-Man, he was on patrol before being beaten, he doesn’t know where he is, or why he’s still alive.

But he knows he’s Peter Parker, and that Peter Parker is Spider-Man. For now, that was important information.

He attempted to sit up again, forcing his body through the initial pain and forced himself to look at the things the voice had left him. A bag, with something in it. He reached over and opened it, he looked inside slowly. His eyes still slowly adjusting to the light, or the lack of it. The bag had his suit in it, and seemingly nothing else, so Peter closed the bag and put it on his shoulder. He pushed through the pain as he stood up.

Peter looked around but the lights around him swapped from bright to off too quickly for him to be able to focus on any single sign or graffiti. So he began walking, and he kept walking until he came across a discarded newspaper. Well, a large pile of discarded newspapers so he picked one up and began reading. It talked a lot about a recent attack by the Joker, but eventually it said what Peter wanted to know. He was in a crime riddled city named Gotham, looking at the map of the whole city, Peter could tell that it was in New Jersey. He put the newspaper back down onto the discarded pile and walked away. He didn’t live in Gotham right? He scoured his limited memories and was pretty sure he didn’t live here, where did he live though? Peter can’t remember. He kept walking.

Now he’d have to find somewhere to sleep for now. His mind told him to follow a weirdly specific path till he came across what looked like an abandoned factory building, the only thing Peter heard coming from it was what sounded like the squeaks of rats or mice. He swallowed any fear he may have had and walked inside, the building was quite a few floors tall, so Peter headed to the stairs to walk to one of the highest floors. He decided to stay on the second highest floor, why? Peter liked it more than the highest floor. This floor also had a bathroom on it, so Peter chose this floor. Peter put his backpack down onto the corner he chose to sleep in, and decided he would go onto the roof. He wanted to breathe, to see the city from a tall roof, maybe get a reminder of what it was like as Spider-Man.

So up the stairs he went. He sat on the edge of the roof. The air in this city was thick and unpleasant but overall it felt good to be blasted in the face by strong cold winds. That’s when he noticed the white hair billowing in his face, he reached up to touch it. His hair had turned white, god, how did that happen? Maybe it’s something to do with the pain, the aching in his throat, and his face. He pushed the thought away and closed his eyes and swayed his legs for a couple of minutes, the calm was so nice. Till his mind yelled at him that someone was behind him, to his right. 

Peter whipped his head around to where his mind was alerting him, and he saw a man in a black suit with a blue symbol across his chest wearing a mask covering his eyes slowly walk towards him from the shadows with a dumb smile on his face.

“Hey, how do you think about moving away from the edge of the building?” He said. Peter did what he asked and stood up and walked away from the edge.

“Who are you?” Peter asked, his voice coming out much more raspy and higher pitched than he thought. Maybe that’s also due to his sore throat.

“I am Nightwing! Who are you, and what are you doing out here? It’s late, where are your parents?” Nightwing asked.

“My name is Peter, uh, I came up here for fresh air, and my parents are at home.” Peter replied, he doesn’t want to tell a random stranger that he doesn’t know his parents and that he’s basically homeless.

“Well, Peter, you probably should go home, it’s not really a good idea to be hanging out on the edge of buildings.” He smiled at Peter. So Peter listened and walked back to the stairwell and headed down to his corner.

Nightwing made him feel weird, why was he so happy? Why does he want to know so much about Peter?

Peter fell asleep to these thoughts.

Chapter Text

The pain continued as Peter woke up, he couldn’t tell the time but it seemed most the way through the day. He slowly uncurled from himself and stood up, groaning in discomfort as he stretched his back. He heard way too many pops as he cracked his neck, but it gave some relief, which was mostly mentally. He walked around his floor and thought about his current memories. He was Peter Parker, a 15 year old high school student who is Spider-Man. He has either an uncle or father named something with a T, which there aren’t many names that start with T. Maybe Thomas? Taylor? Tony? He sighed and gave up on that train of thought.

He walked up to the roof, maybe he would come up with an idea of what to do. He sits on the edge of the roof and takes a deep breath in, his jacket flipping in the wind. Maybe he should walk around, look around for clues of how he got here? Ideas of who his family is? That wouldn’t be weird, right? Probably not.

Peter’s face began to throb, worse than the soreness that it has all the time recently. He flops backwards, his legs still dangling over the edge. Peter slowly got up from the edge, and walked back into the stairwell. He walked to the first floor and left the building from a window, which was likely a dumb decision but better than leaving through the front door. And he walked, again, for a long time.

After a while he didn’t even care to look at the signs he was passing or the buildings around him. It was comforting to walk, despite the pain every time he moved a muscle in his upper chest. After a while Peter realized he was lost, walking around aimlessly in a city you don’t know is a horrible idea, but Peter is great at those kinds of ideas. 

Peter forced himself to not panic after he observed his terrible looking surroundings.

His mind told him a path to follow after a few minutes of Peter breathing to try and calm, whenever he panicked his mind and vision filled with green and he got irrational. He followed the path his mind told him for a few minutes and he looked up at the building he was brought to. 

Peter thought irrationally, surprising I know, and decided to head into the building through a slightly opened window near the back of the building. As soon as he dropped into the building he was hit with the strong sterile scent of the room and looked around at where he was. A lab, with some experiments spread across the tables. As he creeped around the tables quietly he saw an experiment with a paper next to it. Peter read the paper slowly.

“Subject: Symbiote from Klyntar. Taken from a separate universe, known for taking human hosts, not proven to be lethal yet. Needs more data.”

Peter finished reading and glanced over to the jar next to the paper, the black liquid in it shifting. Trying and failing to form a face, but it looked like it was trying to look at him.

Peter reached out to touch the jar and accidentally knocked it off the desk. Shit. Peter stepped back as the jar shattered as it hit the ground, the sound ringing in Peter’s ears. The symbiote moved from the shattered glass to a corner, and began spreading across it.

“You’re not from here.. like me.” It said, its voice low and rumbling, attempting to be human and not succeeding very well.

“What are you?” Peter asked, trying to remain as calm as he could.

“I am Venom, I need to get back to Earth. My Earth, our Earth. Not this one.” Venom said, forming a shifting hand and reaching it out towards Peter.

“I.. I need to go home too. What are you suggesting?” Peter asked, desperately trying to remain in control of his anger and fear. Forcing the creeping green out his mind.

“We work together, I’ll use you as a host, and we’ll get back home.” Venom proposed the idea. 

“No, I don’t want to lose my body to a different thing controlling me.” Peter shuttered thinking about venom taking over his body, it horrified him.

“I wouldn’t take over. I’d sit with you and talk in your mind. I won’t take over your mind, nor your body.” Venom proposed again.

“Fine, what would I get out of this besides going home?” Peter questioned, observing the shuttle way venom kept shifting, never staying still.

“A friend, you wouldn’t be defenseless here. We would work together. I promise this doesn’t sound as bad as it seems.” Venom said, its voice shifting a little as it formed a small face out of its controlled corner. That calmed Peter just a tiny amount.

“You promise you won’t control my mind, act as me and make me kill people or something?” Peter asked.

“Well, I can’t play a 12 year old very well so it'd be hard for me if I tried, plus, I don’t really like killing people. It’s fun, sure, but I don’t go out of my way to do it.” Venom's makeshift face smiled. 

“I’m not 12?” Peter said dumbly.

“Oh, well you look 12, and also terribly injured.” Venom replied.

“You're not helping your argument.” Peter mumbled. “Fine, how do you take a host?” He stepped closer to the venom corner.

Venom didn’t reply, instead compressing itself and snaking across the floor and slowly climbing up Peter’s legs, covering every inch of his clothes and skin. Peter took a deep breath in as Venom slowly covered his face, and closed his eyes.

“You can open your eyes, kid, it's fine. Also you never told me your name.” Venom replied, it’s tone much different now that his voice was inside Peter’s mind.

“Uh, my name is Peter? This is so weird.” Peter replied, flexing his fingers which looked no different. “How did you do that?”

“Well, I do that covering thing and then I just compress myself into your skin basically. I’m like armor. Cool, right?” Venom asked playfully.

“Does your personality always change this much when you get a host?” Peter asked, he felt more solid, the pain still lightly ringing in his head.

“I think? You're the first one I’ve had in a while.” Venom replied.

Peter was going to reply before his mind began screaming danger from down the hallway approaching. He tensed up and Venom stopped its idle chatter.

The door slammed open, multiple people came rushing in. A few scientists and a couple armed guards. They all were yelling and pointing weapons at Peter and Venom. 

“The Symbiote got a host! Kill the boy! Get the Symbiote!” One of them yelled, he looked older than the rest.

“Hey, wanna see a cool trick Peter? I’ll only need control of your body for a minute or two. Cool?” Venom asked, Peter nodded and soon his body was covered in Venom's weird moving flesh thing again.

Despite not being in control of his body, Peter could still talk and think perfectly fine, or we’ll, mostly fine. Venom quickly killed or knocked out most of the armed guards and threw the scientists away. Peter didn’t like the overall show of violence, but the fact that he was not getting fatally injured was a nice perk of Venom.

But then the danger warning was back, a new person in the hall. How many people are here and coming for his head? The new person kept approaching silently, and Venom gave Peter the control of his body back so he was just a child, sitting in a room full of violence. He stayed tensed up and sat on edge, Venom was a little tired from his show of power that he just had.

The shadowy figure entered the room. And did nothing for a moment, just stood there, cloaked in shadows.

“A child?” A soft voice said coming from the shadow figure. It sounded confused before losing that. “Why did you take over a child’s body?”

“Excuse me?” Peter asked, did he mean to address Venom? Did he think Peter was Venom or that Venom was still in control?

“That’s the body of a child.” It said, stating the obvious.

“I am not a child, I am 15.” Peter said, getting sick of the fact that everyone thought he was so much younger.

“You don’t even know the age of your vessel? You are a new addition to Gotham but that does not mean anything.” It said.

“We’re not from here! We want to go home!” Peter shouted, trying to force some sense into the shadow's mind.

The shadow did not reply, so Peter fled. He ran and jumped out of the open window he came through. Honestly his running could have been better but he was exhausted and tired.

“Venom, help me swing? Please?” Peter asked.

“Like a spider? Sure.” Venom replied, taking control of Peter’s left arm and shooting out a web and starting the swing.

Peter continued swinging, relying on his instincts to know where to go and how to swing. He didn’t hit anything really hard but it was hard to get enough energy at the start, but he adapted fine.

Peter landed harshly on a roof near the only building he recognized, his current home. And he collapsed and just breathed.

“Venom? Why are you sooo… chill? You're an alien to us and like why would you be so cool to me like 5 minutes after meeting me?” Peter questioned.

“Honestly, the lab kinda sucked, and I got to commit an act of violence 5 seconds into attaching to you so that’s pretty cool for me.” Venom replied. “Also as soon as I attached to you I felt a massive injury to your head.”

“What does the head injury matter?” Peter asked.

“I don’t think a 12 year old should have a massive head injury. How did you even get that?” Venom asked.

“One, I’m not 12. Two, I have no idea.” Peter sighed, standing up to head towards his home.

“You look 12.”

“I’m not, I’m 15.”

“I think you're the only one who thinks that.”

Peter didn’t know how to think of that, was he even 15? Why did he look younger now? Why is the green creeping into his vision? How did him and Venom get here?

“If you use my body while I sleep I’ll kill both of us, Venom.” Peter said, settling into sleep in his corner.

“I’ll try not to then.” Venom laughed with its weird human imitation voice.

Chapter Text

Peter noticed that since letting venom fuse with him, the aching pain in his head went away, not all of it, but enough he could focus on other things. Venom refused to comment on this when Peter asked him earlier in the morning. Now Peter was moving around the city again, occasionally making conversation with Venom, occasionally looking into alleys, or accidentally staring at people. 

Peter shivered as a cold wind blew into him, forcing him to pull his hoodie over his head.

“Venom?” Peter asked quietly out loud.

“Yeah?” Venom replied in its weird imitation voice again.

“When did you get here? Like in the lab?” Peter asked. Peter had a theory that he and Venom likely got here around the same time, but Peter doesn’t know how long the gap from being taken and waking up is.

“I mean, likely 4 or 5 months? I didn’t really keep track.” Venom replied, Peter lightly cursed at that. Peter nodded to acknowledge it.

Peter, with all of his brief memories, remembered someone showing up when he was taken. He doesn’t know who or why, but someone was there. If they were important to him, a 5 month disappearance wouldn’t be good.

Peter looked at the sidewalk ahead of him and tried to force that away.

He needed to get home, he needed to get both of them home. Currently their greatest problem right now is that neither of them really had a clue of how they got here, nor do they have any idea on how to begin going home.

But Peter had an idea. So he walked back to his makeshift home. Climbing the sets of stairs was as mind numbing as ever.

Peter got his suit out of his backpack, it was only really damaged on the eye pieces. After answering some of Venom's questions about it, most of his answers were that he didn’t know, he slipped the mask on. Immediately a female voice began to speak.

“Peter, do you wish for me to continue an injury scan?” The voice asked, Venom hissed at it before Peter swatted at him.

“Who are you?” Peter asked.

“My name is Karen, Tony Stark developed me for you.” She answered. Developed? Was she an AI or a program?

“Who’s Tony Stark?” Peter asked.

“Your mentor, you have an internship under him. Do you not remember him?” She asked.

“No? I think I remember someone like that though.” Peter responded.

“Okay, activating protocol ‘Memory Loss’. Ask me anything and I will try to inform you.” She said.

“This is so weird, you know that right?” Venom asked.

“Shut up, this is important.” Peter hissed out. “Can you tell me anything about how I got here, or the last time I used you and the suit?” 

“I currently do not know where you are, but the last time you used this suit you were attacked and taken through a portal of sorts. Then I was taken off, I apologize I do not know any more.” She replied.

“Great, I knew that already. Do I have any parents or guardians or anything?” Peter asked, slightly annoyed.

“Your parents are Richard and Mary Parker, they both passed away when you were young. Your current guardian is your aunt May, and Tony Stark is also labeled as a secondary guardian in my files.” Karen said.

“Cool, cool. May and Tony, cool. Uh, do you have any knowledge on a Symbiote named Venom?” Peter asked, Venom perking up in his mind to see what she says about him.

“I apologize, I don’t not have any files on ‘Venom’ or related topics. I cannot find any signals on the nearby towers or buildings. I also cannot contact Tony.” Karen said, her voice glitching out. “So some of my files are locked off, I apologize.”

“No, no. I’m just gonna take the mask off.” Peter said, taking the oversized mask off, taking a deep breath in. Honestly the broken goggles still provided a lot of visual relief.

“Disappointed that she didn’t know any about me. Maybe we should get help, eat a villian? Find the shadow man?” Venom proposed.

“Eat a what.” Peter said.

“Nothing! He probably only comes out at night, due to his shadowy figure. So I say we wait on the roof.” Venom laughed, giving an actually good idea.

“You are so weird, why do I even work with you?” Peter sighed, standing up to go to the roof.

“Also if you want to do that suit thing I could make one, because I am so helpful!” Venom smilied, well not actually, Peter could just tell it was inside his mind.

“Yeah, helped a ton during my escape from the weird shadow.” Peter said, sitting down on the edge.

“Is that sarcastic? I helped so much!” Venom said with a sarcastic edge.

Peter shrugged, venom scoffed and got quiet.

The sun always sets so quickly in Gotham. Peter’s only really spent 3 days here, conscious at least, and he’s noticed it. Even the sunlight hours were dark, and it was often raining. 

Peter just sat in the light rain and let his mind do cartwheels in the corner. He sat there until the rain stopped and the sun set. Then he felt the presence behind him, like he did on his first night. He whipped his head around, again.

“Hey, Peter was it? Don’t sit on building edges, I thought we talked about this already.” Nightwing said with his dumb smile.

“Right.” Peter said flatly, standing up from the edge.

“How’s your day been Peter? Your parents doing well?” Nightwing asked, his smile twitching slightly.

“Good, do you know that shadow guy who has the ears?” Peter asked, moving his pointer fingers to mimic the shadows' ears

“Oh! You met Batman?” Nightwing moved his head to the side slightly.

“Yeah, I need to talk to him. Or we’ll, I just need to see him.” Peter said, forcing his unease of the prospect of seeing the man again down.

“I mean, I work with him, could you tell me?” Nightwing said, straightening his head out again.

“Nope.” Peter said, popping the p. Which Venom immediately grumbled about being annoying, which made Peter giggle slightly.

“Give me one second, then.” Nightwing said, physically turning Peter around and moving farther away and whispering. Peter heard him though, his good hearing was quite a tool.

“The Symbiote kid seems fine, he’s not weird or rotting or anything.” Nightwing whispered.

“He’s resisting the Symbiote? Usually the vessels are dead by now. B’s been trying to shut them down for months now.” Another voice said.

“I know! He also asked to see B. I don’t know why.” Nightwing said.

“That may be the Symbiote talking, we’ll plan tonight and talk to him tomorrow.” The voice said.

“Okay, I’ll tell him.” Nightwing whispered. “Hey, Peter? Bats busy, I’ll try to catch him tomorrow though? That work for you?”

Peter nodded and watched as Nightwing quickly escaped, still whispering into his coms.

“That’s so weird.” Peter mused, walking back into the stairwell.

“Yeah, the lab guys killed so many people trying to get me a host. So maybe they think I’m evil or something.” Venom said.

“I mean, you don’t exactly look kind.” Peter joked.

“Oh shut up, you gonna patrol tonight though?” Venom asked, he seemed so dead set on Peter patrolling.

“Why do you care so much?” Peter asked.

“Just sitting here is boring! I like beating people up too, and I’m sure it would help you to jog memories. I think.” Venom replied.

“Oh fine.” Peter conceded finally.

Venom making the suit was very similar to how he fused with Peter, it hurt less that he thought it would and it felt kinda weird at first.

Venom bragged at the making of it for a few minutes while Peter got his courage up to jump off the roof. He tested the webs a couple times and made a comment on how different it looked from his old one and then jumped.

The cold air hitting his covered face gave Peter a rush of adrenaline and he quickly shot a web and began to swing. The pattern was practically muscle memory and Peter had to do very little to fall into a natural rhythm.

The suit Venom made was completely black, the little webbing lines of the suit were white and so was the spider logo on his chest. Peter could tell it would protect him just a tiny bit more than his original suit from stab wounds and the such, and this suit came with Venom's commentary on everything. Genuinely, he never shut up.

Peter managed to stop a mugging and a minor robbery by the time he stopped patrolling. It was overall uneventful, besides that every cop and lots of civilians thought he was an associate of Batman going through a rebellious phase. He convinced almost nobody that he was not with Batman which was only slightly annoying.

Venom immediately retracted his suit from Peter the moment they landed on the roof of their home, and Peter tiredly made his way down. His lack of nutrition was not doing his energy levels well, so he fell asleep almost as soon as he curled into himself.

Chapter Text

Peter woke up with a harsh headache and more sensitive eyes than usual. The mornings in Gotham weren’t bright by any standard, but every peak of light made his headache worse. Venom voiced his annoyance at this with Peter occasionally swiping at him when he made a physical being off of Peter’s left shoulder. Peter either needed food, or medication, and considering medication often doesn’t work on an empty stomach, Peter was leaning towards food.

“Venom, what are the ethics of robbing a billionaire?” Peter asked, covering his eyes with his hands.

“I would rather eat a billionaire, but probably not terrible.” Venom responded, hissing lightly at Peter swatting at him again.

“I don’t know how I’d do it though, I could get into a bank account and take money, but it needs to be physical.. I mean with the crime around here I’d bet a bank would let me but billionaires tend to be mean.” Peter said defeatedly in pain.

“I mean, I’ll eat a billionaire. They make good sustenance.” Venom replied.

“Why do you want to eat people so bad?” Peter sighed, sitting up against the cold, rough walls.

“Yummy.” Venom said. Peter could feel him smiling inside his brain.

“This is why Batman thinks you're evil.” Peter mumbled standing up despite the pain and discomfort and walking down the stairwell, occasionally hunching over and trying not to vomit.

Peter forced himself to sit down right before leaving his building, trying to come up with a plan of where to go. A library? That’s likely the only place he could get his hands on any technology he didn’t come with. But with how Gotham is that may not be guaranteed. Well, there’s only up at this point. And if he passs out that’s why Venom is here.

Venom helped him with walking around to reach the library, he apparently had seen a lot during his time in the lab. He also could see some memories if he was on a host for long enough so he saw around Gotham and other cities a lot. If push came to shove they would likely be able to get to Metropolis, which is a dumb name for a city by the way. It’s literally calling a city ‘city’. If the Batman proved to really not like venom, they could leave and try to start somewhere else if they had too.

By the time Peter reached the library he was exhausted, usually he could hold out longer but malnutrition gets to you. Due to his enhancement, his vision and most of his senses were failing him and Venom acted as a second set of eyes to lead him. They walked over to the computer section of the library and sat down at one of the many empty computers.

These computers were old, not like the library isn’t funded. Peter’s seen those in New York before, he distinctly remembers that because he was with a friend. Old like this is new technology just donated to the library. They were white, and the monitors were thick. The screen was small but it wasn’t like Peter was going to do anything huge on them, just minor robbery. First, though, he had to find a billionaire.

Wouldn’t be too difficult, and if they found out and sent someone after him Peter could just bail for a while or let Venom do something to scare them, or worse. Venom is a Symbiote more likely to eat someone than scare them after all.

Peter looked up lots of things on the computer, like top 5 American billionaires, and apparently Bruce Wayne is local, and generous, and bountifully rich. Superheroes in America, which got results of Superman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, and so many others. Apparently they founded the Justice League, with Batman, so shit maybe he couldn’t bail. Almost every large city had Superheroes, he couldn’t find any records of the ones he remembers though. 

No Iron Man, no Captain America, no Black Widow, no Hulk, no Avengers. That just confirms the whole this is our Earth thing Venom had told him. Great, now he needs to rob Bruce Wayne. Not of a huge amount of money, maybe like a few hundred dollars. He hopefully won’t even notice it, and from what Peter saw online, he gives away so much money he wouldn’t notice. And he also has so many adopted children, so he won’t notice.

Peter thought about how to do this before commiting, a check maybe? He wouldn’t even need to get into the bank account for that, but how would he get a check? Robbery probably. God he is just piling up crimes today. 

But then again, he is in Gotham. He probably does not have to be that careful. From the brief amount of talking he’s done with Venom on this, people from Gotham love Bruce Wayne, but he is known for giving up preposterous amounts of money. So he could just say a lie and get away with it.

So Peter did it, he printed a fake check, but he knew the way checks worked and made it look relatively believable. He wrote the details, even going so far as to replicate Bruce Wayne’s handwriting, for three hundred dollars. And he checked it later that day after leaving the library. And they believed him, smiling about Bruce Wayne’s humbleness and kindness, Peter just nodded and smiled back. He honestly got loose with the details in parts due to the adrenaline of fear of getting caught. Getting out in prison or getting hit with a charge would not be good for him right now.

Peter bought food with the money, cheap easy food. He ate it as soon as he got back to his corner. His headache went down and Venom was no longer used as a set of eyes. Which he grumbled about because he was said he was exhausted from being his eyes.

Peter tried, and failed, to fall asleep. Condemning the new found energy from his sudden intake of calories for that and making his way to the roof. He would likely go on patrol tonight, not that anything would likely happen. The wind calmed him down from the rush of his quick and unnoticed robbery earlier, but honestly if you don’t get caught, is it even robbery? Venom thinks it’s not, Peter just finds the topic annoying.

After an hour Nightwing didn’t show up, so Peter took that as his green light to go out again. He retreated to the stairwell, Venom covered him, and he jumped again. He, again, relied on very little actual input to swing. Gotham looked so melancholy on these rainy days, Peter didn’t see much crime, so the swinging was just a way to be moving. 

The rain reminded Peter of something, a side effect of his spider powers, his lack of an ability to regulate his temperature. You know, like a spider. Venom's suit helped protect Peter from the majority of the shivers he got, but he still shivered. He landed on a warehouse roof, taking a few minutes to collect his mind and chat with Venom quickly.

Peter’s neck tingled danger beneath him, then he realized why he saw no crime. A loud boom came from beneath him and he fell, right as he fell he saw a dark figure dash out of the building. Peter thought of how lucky they must be as he fell. His screams echoed into the cold air of Gotham, the city didn’t forgive any mistakes or accidents. This instance showed Peter that. He was trapped.

Despite being on the roof of the building when it exploded, he fell beneath the debris. Which reminded him of something. He can’t remember what, he just knows it’s familiar. Every movement he made hurt, and it made the rubble shift and move uncomfortably.

Peter forced himself to stop moving, which wasn’t hard because he couldn’t feel his legs, the rubble covering them was too heavy. Peter couldn’t tell if he saw the sky or more rubble above him. He yelled again but it fell on deaf ears.

“Peter? I’m gonna get us out. Trust me, please?” Venom asked, his voice turning so soft, so comforting. So distant.

Peter groaned and tried to shift, a shock of pain was sent up his spine in response. His left arm felt wet, Peter wanted to scratch it, but his right arm was pinned under a different shard of the roof.

“You still there?” The voice asked again, Peter couldn’t remember who was talking to him. “Talk Peter, you can’t die.”

“I think this has happened to me before. Not so long ago. Right before I came here, I had to climb out. It hurt so bad.” Peter giggled slightly, his right arm was wet now too.

“Keep talking.” The distant voice said again. Peter heard rubble shifting near him.

“My suit was taken, punishment or something I think. I can’t remember. I never told Tony about the extent of my injuries from that night. He would’ve blamed himself, I think.” Peter recounted, he doesn’t know why all these memories came back to him now. But they did.

“How did you get out?” It asked.

“I slowly pushed the rubble off of me, I was bleeding like hell. I… I don’t know who brought the building down.” Peter stumbled over his words.

The voice didn’t reply. So Peter listened instead. He heard voices coming from outside the rubble. And he heard the rubble shifting. Tears came down from his eyes, he tried to hit his mouth to stop it but nobody could see him so it didn’t matter.

“I got some of the rubble off, I think I heard someone outside. Don’t fall asleep, Peter.” The voice said, it reminded him of Tony in a way. Peter can’t remember a lot about him, but they triggered the same reaction in him.

“Mm, okay. I won’t sleep!” Peter said, grinning before coughing. 

More rubble cleared around him. When Peter opened up his eyes he saw the sky, not the rubble.

Peter closed his eyes again.

———————

Venom has never been trapped like this before, sure he’s been in a jar for the last couple of months but this was different. His host was bleeding out right next to him and he could do nothing. He pushed at the rubble moving and shifting pieces of it, Peter stopped talking a bit ago. The voices outside got closer slowly, Venom was keeping his guard up as he couldn’t tell if they were hostile or not.

Venom panicked as he accidentally pushed on the wrong piece of debris and accidentally moved a piece further into Peter’s leg. If he wasn’t the weakest Symbiote he probably would do better. If he didn’t kill all those failed vessels he likely would be doing better. 

Venom slithered back over to Peter’s small body, his chest still slightly rose and fell. Despite his insistence that he was 15, he did not look like it. Venom pushed on a different part of rubble, moving a large chunk away from falling onto Peter’s head. Venom moved and pushed against the rubble to listen into the voices.

“You left the building?” Someone asked.

“I didn’t know someone was on the roof. We’re trying to get to him now.” A voice Venom recognized as Batman said back in.

“Do you know who?” Another person asked.

“No, all I heard was the screams.” Batman replied.

“Well, the pace you're going at I think you want them dead.” The first voice said.

“I think the Symbiote is under here.” Batman said.

“So is the kid he has as a host!” Someone said

“I know. I’m working as fast as I can, I got most of the rubble by now. I heard him talking earlier, so he’s likely still alive.” Batman said.

“If the kid dies, I’m shooting you.” A new voice said.

The talking stopped after that. Venom slithered back down to Peter, he saw how Peter’s skin stitched itself back together. He used some of his healing factor to help piece together some of the wounds Peter’s body was struggling with.

By the time all of the major rubble covering Peter was taken away, Venom was still slightly detached from his skin healing wounds his body hadn’t put together already.

Batman was staring at him. Staring at Venom desperately trying to put Peter’s unconscious body back together. Venom ducked back into Peter’s skin by the time he began talking, Batman paused as Venom took physical control of Peter’s body. 

He did not want to go wherever Batman was going to try to bring them, or really anything Batman could do to them. Separating now would not be great for Peter’s wounds.

Venom sat Peter’s body up and rubbed his eyes, the pain everywhere in his body made him feel sick.

“Get out of the child’s body.” Batman said, still not understanding their situation.

“He could kick me out if he wanted, I need to bring us back to his corner though.” Venom said, not using Peter’s voice. He stood up, his suit having fallen away and Peter’s civilian clothing being covered in blood.

“Why haven’t you killed him yet?” Batman asked, looking more confused than accusatory.

“Because I never wanted to kill the ones I did. It wasn't my fault. Now I’m gonna go, bye bat.” Venom said, quickly running into a swing not leaving Batman any attempt to ask anymore questions. 

Venom made sure to land softly, he made his way down the stairwell, and he sat in the corner. He covered the major wounds on his legs and arms with makeshift bandages made of himself.

Venom knew he was the weakest Symbiote from his planet, he probably shouldn’t have survived this long. His empathy for his hosts made him weak. His empathy for Peter, for all of his failed hosts, made him weak. 

But for now, he and Peter were alive. And they would go home soon.

Chapter Text

Peter woke up slowly, opening his eyes before hissing at the intrusion of light through the broken windows. The low, constant ringing in his ears made the pain spread throughout his body just a little worse. Peter sat up, covering his ears with his hands and tightly squeezing his eyes shut. Peter scooted back a tiny bit and laid his back against the wall, the cold pressure soothing the cuts on his back a little bit. He forced himself to think about what happened to cause this, Peter tried to ask Venom but he didn’t acknowledge anything Peter asked. So he gave up, he tried to remember but all he could get was a faint sense of nostalgia and the memory of a man he doesn’t recognize anymore. Peter sighed and fell back asleep.

When Peter woke back up again the sun was much lower, making Peter's headache slightly better. Venom was still silent, making no attempt to do or say anything to Peter, which was very odd for him. Peter had only known him for a while and it still felt odd, but for now Peter just wanted to do something. Anything really, the pain wasn’t terrible. His healing had helped with that a lot, and now he was just bored and in desperate need of simulation. So Peter decided what he wanted to do, he wanted to walk around Gotham. Being on the roofs was fun, but tons of people thought he was trying to kill himself. It tired him.

So Peter slowly rose on his shaky legs, leaning against the wall to try and stabilize himself before he went down to the street. Peter felt like Venom may have reacted, he felt something come from where Venom was currently dwelling in his skin but it faded as soon as Peter legs stabilized. Peter began to walk towards the stairwell, squinting whenever any harsh light came into his vision. He gripped tightly onto the handrail and slowly made his way down all the floors to the bottom. Honestly, why did he decide to set up near the top? It was a pain to walk down all of the stairs. Peter was winded by the time he reached the bottom, the injuries all across his body definitely did not help his current mission. But he did what he did best, ignore and compartmentalize till it goes away.

Peter had accomplished goal one of his master plan of walking around Gotham as he finally pushed the door open. Now he was on the sidewalk, next step was walking. Where? Peter didn’t know, or care. He knew how to get back, so he could really go anywhere. So Peter walks on the sidewalk to the right of the building, following the path through different blocks and through better and worse neighborhoods. Some of the buildings felt familiar, but not these buildings, it was more that the style or color was familiar. Venom still didn’t say anything. Peter walked through alleys and back streets and other areas till the sun was fully down and the chill rolled in. Peter huddled his hands closer to his stomach and turned left down a different alley.

Due to Peter's injuries, his senses were less sharp than usual which was what probably led to his spider sense only going off once the gun was pointed at him. Peter whipped his head around as soon as he felt the warning, slightly regretting it as his headache worsened for a moment before he focused on the people ahead of him.

It was a group of men, 4 visible, more likely hiding in the shadows or around the corner. They all had many layers of dark clothes on with thick jackets on. The main one had a gun pointed straight at Peter's head. Peter hoped for a second it wasn’t actually loaded, but of course it was. Besides the dark clothing they all shared, you could tell they were a part of a gang was the face paint they all had. They all had skulls, and Peter assumed that the higher rank you were the more jewelry you painted on your face because the man holding the gun had a crown and many other golden things painted on his.

“Geez, emo’s weren’t always this hardcore.” Peter says, throwing his hands near his head. He tried saying anything to Venom but the symbiote still didn’t respond.

“Shut up! Give us your money or else I’ll fucking kill you!” Crown skull yelled, waving his gun at Peter.

Peter got annoyed at the yelling, it wasn’t necessary, it was irritating. The way the man waved his gun was annoying. The way his face paint was done was annoying. His gang was annoying. The pain in Peter's ribs when he breathed in was annoying.

The shit eating grin on one of the guys to the left was annoying. Peter was over it.

So many things had happened to Peter he was so over it. He’d been killed, he’d been brought back to life, he’d lost his memories, he’d gotten Venom, He had to deal with the bat. And in this anger, Peter's judgement got clouded.

The clouds were green, and the anger swallowed him as the clouds got thicker. His ears rang and his hands twitched, begging to beat someone. Peter just gritted his teeth and punched and scratched at the man with the gun. He ripped it out of his hands, along with his pointer and middle finger. In a flash judgment, mostly made by Venom who was finally responding, Peter threw the fingers in his mouth and chewed. He gnashed through the bones and spat it without swallowing any of it.

Peter can’t remember anything past that, he does remember the screams he heard from the group. But nothing else. When Peter came to next he swore he didn't know what happened or why he did it. The man in the alley with the red mask didn’t care for the gore Peter had caused. He just kept asking if he was hurt anywhere, even if there weren't any injuries to show.

That made Peter more confused. All he remembers when he first woke up from the violent trance was the sight of half eaten bodies and the calf in his mouth, detached from the dead body ahead of it. Peter spat it out and vomited almost immediately. When he did that Venom had griped about how they didn’t taste half bad.

Peter recounted this in tears to the man in the red mask standing above him. He just told Peter that he understood, and offered to get him food and new non blood stained clothes. Peter accepted, standing up forcing his tears to stop.

The man in the red mask brought him to a Bat-Burger and bought him a burger, Peter ate it and thanked the man. It was actually good tasting food, and Peter hadn’t been able to prioritize that recently.

Then the man in the red mask went to a van with graffiti all over it and got Peter a new shirt, pants, and hoodie. And then he asked Peter’s name, which he gladly gave.

“Well Peter, don’t feel bad for what happened here tonight. If that hadn't happened they would have gotten someone else. You couldn't control it.” The man in the red mask said, patting Peter on his head before disappearing into the shadows.

Peter made his way back to his building, the burger he had eaten and the humans had helped with his healing a surprising amount.

“That guy was odd right? Helpful, but odd.” Venom said lightly, moving his presence in Peter’s body to his left shoulder.

“I’m not questioning it, I’m just glad he didn’t try to kill me after that sight,” Peter shuttered at the thought of it.

Peter reached his floor and went to the bathroom into his new clothes. They were a little big on him but not very much.

Peter fell asleep on his bed immediately after that, his body exhausted from the events of the day.

Chapter Text

Peter woke up lightly, his body felt energized. Peter hoped it was more from the food the man with the red mask got him then the men he ate. Despite his original horror, Peter was still shocked he did that for the record, he understood why did that. He was hungry, tired, and angry. He was also partially a spider, and maybe they do that? Peter wasn’t exactly an expert but he did know that they were odd arachnids.

The light peeked through the broken and partially boarded windows with full power. Well, full power for Gotham, which wasn’t very bright. If Peter wasn’t sitting in the darkest corner, he would have been blasted the moment he opened his eyes. Peter tried to think of something to do in the daylight, and came up with nothing. If he wanted to talk to Nightwing or Batman, he would have to wait for night. He could patrol but with his current black suit, he loses some of his advantages. 

Peter then got an idea, the mask A.I Karen. She could answer questions. Did he have questions? Not really, but maybe if he got some internet he could get some information. So, bring Karen to the library. But that would look so odd someone would catch onto him. Get Karen out of the mask? How? God, now he had questions. Peter laughed at the situation's hilarity before reaching into his backpack to grab the mask.

“Hello, Peter. Should Protocol ‘Memory Loss’ still be turned on?” The voice said as the mask filled with different little screens and data Peter didn't read. The darkness in the mask was comforting. He should make glasses to negate his vision.

“Why is the mask lady talking?” Venom hissed.

“Good to hear from you, Venom. I need to ask some questions.” Peter said, surprised at Venom’s sudden appearance and how annoyed he sounded.

“Yeah, you were being so annoying yesterday, begging for my help and all. But then I got to eat a few guys so overall it was a great day. Good job.” Venom said, mocking Peter at every step.

“That was you? Jesus, you are so annoying. And weird.” Peter said, putting his masked head into his hands.

“Actually you were the one who began to eat them, I just helped. Also I’m not human, so no human rules for me okay?” Venom said, laughing in Peter’s mind.

“Whatever, and yes Karen keep the protocol on.” Peter replied, choosing to ignore Venom.

“Okay, do you have any questions for me, or any data I may be able to grab?” Karen asked, her fake voice glitching slightly.

“What powers do I have?” Peter asked.

“You have enhanced strength, agility, the ability to stick to surfaces, enhanced healing, and a sense that warns you of danger. These came from you getting bitten by a radioactive spider.” Karen said, her voice not glitching at all during this.

“Wow, you really are a goddamn spider, I thought that was for show.” Venom said.

“I knew I was a spider, I just wanted a refresher on my powers. Shut up.” Peter said, annoyed.

“Karen can you show me a picture of my parents, my birth ones?” Peter asked.

“Of course.” Karen said, 2 pictures quickly moved into Peter's vision.

His mother was smiling in the picture of her, her hair was short and black. She was wearing usual office attire. Peter felt sad, but no matter how much he saw of himself in her. He didn’t know her, although he wanted to.

His father was also smiling in his picture, his eyes were so piercing blue Venom made a little joke about it that Peter chose to ignore. Peter wondered how he would have fit into their family dynamic. His father wore a suit, and he was holding a champagne glass, like a perfect pretty socialite.

Peter’s eyes watered at the parents he never had, nor knew.

“Can I see what May and Tony looked like?” Peter asked, forcing his quivering voice down.

“Of course.” Karen's voice cut in.

The pictures were replaced by another 2 pictures. May's picture was a woman with long brown hair smiling, she was holding up a paper that had some words on it. It was clearly a celebratory picture of something, Peter wished he knew what, because maybe at some point he did know. The picture of Tony again looked like a socialite, he wore a suit with a pair of blacked out glasses, he had an annoying looking goatee. He had his arms out and looked like he was proud of something as he stood in front of a logo of “Stark Industries”.

“I apologize, the photo’s of Mr. Stark that I could pull were older ones. He looks different now.” Karen's voice cut in.

“Do I have any pictures with them?” Peter asked, his emotions were reaching an all time high.

“Many, would you like me to show them?” Karen asked.

“No, no.” Peter said, pulling off the mask and putting it back in his backpack.

 His parents were so happy, his guardians were so happy. Do they remember him? Did they fight for him when he got taken? Or did they give up? Did they still fight?

Peter fell asleep to these thoughts, ignoring everytime Venom tried to force him to get up.

The darkness when he woke up was much more comforting. So Peter chose to go onto the roof, which Venom was very happy about. Something about “your muscles are so stiff I thought we were turning to rock”. 

The sky was a familiar dark and cloudy, as it is every night in Gotham. Peter knew that he didn’t grow up on the streets of Gotham, or in the high buildings, he knew he was an outsider. But looking down from the building he chose to stay in, he felt like the roads were alive and moving and that he could look down and see that. Outsiders never saw the movement of the streets, they never saw past the beauty of the tall buildings, they never saw down Park Row. Peter leaned slightly over the side of the building, looking down at every non functioning light, every boarded up building, every alley that had more rats than space available.

Peter kept leaning, he had no intention to jump, just to observe, and as long as his feet were on the ground he would never fall. Venom knew this, Peter knew this. Their watcher did not. He grabbed onto Peter and quickly pulled him back onto the more solid middle of the roof. Peter looked up and saw the panicked face of Nightwing.

“Oh, hey Nightwing. Pretty night, right?” Peter asked, choosing to ignore what had just almost happened.

“Much happier when you don't try to jump off a roof, or fall off.” Nightwing seemed calmer at how Peter chose not to react, yet still didn't let go of his death grip that wrapped around Peter. Peter chose not to break out his grasp, and just kept looking at him.
Even from this upside down angle, Peter saw all the similarities from Nightwing to his father.

Peter mumbled something about his father, guardian father, and Nightwing were all pretty boys.

“Say something, Peter? Where are your parents by the way?” Nightwing asked.

“Dead, and I didn’t say anything.” Peter replied quickly.

“That sucks, Peter. My parents died when I was young too. It gets easier I promise, don’t go falling off roofs okay?” Nightwing said, moving to sit down and placing Peter across from him.

“I didn’t know them well, died when I was really little.” Peter shrugged. He chose to ignore the pain he got when he talked about his parents.

“That sucks Peter, try to stay inside okay? Do you have any guardians or anything?” Nightwing asked.

“Yeah, May and Tony.” Peter said.

“Okay, well stay alive for them and yourself, Okay? I’d be super sad if you died. Gotta go now!” Nightwing said, quickly moving to stand up and leap off the building before quickly grappling away.

“I can’t believe he kept thinking you were gonna kill yourself.” Venom laughed.

All Peter could think of was his uncanny resemblance to his father in the pictures he saw.

—---------------------

Dick thought to himself as he swung away, Peter always worried him. He seemed like he was 2 seconds away from jumping and then quickly just melted into Dick’s arms as he grabbed him. Dick also kept remembering how much Peter looked like him, it was honestly uncanny.

Dick landed on a different building and began jumping from building to building as he reached closer to where he was supposed to be. 

Peter was so young, so little. Honestly, with how young Peter is Dick would honestly believe him to be his child. It sent a pang through his heart as Dick paused his run to think about it. Peter couldn’t be very old, maybe 10 to 12? Of course Dick is aware of his age and Peters doesn't line up, he still couldn't just push it from his mind. Dick is around 25, so if those lined up he would have been 15 maybe 16 when Peter was born. Weird, yes, but sadly not impossible. 

And it would also make sense why Peter told him his parents were dead, because Dick obviously doesn’t remember his own child and he abandoned Peter and his mother died and-.

Dick needed to go back and grab Peter.

Not kidnapping, Dick would never kidnap. He just needed to grab his child. Maybe ask him a few questions. Dick was busy thinking of all his judgments when he arrived at Peter's roof. Where his child was still laying on the roof, muttering to himself and shifting from side to side.

“Hey Peter?” Dick asked, trying not to freak Peter out.

No response, was Peter asleep? Dick tiptoed a little closer towards where Peter was and, yeah that’s pretty asleep.

Dick picked Peter up, chose not to shake him, and gripped him tight to his side as he jumped off the building. As Dick swung closer to the secret entrance to the bat cave he got a little worried that something was wrong with Peter.

Dick landed surprisingly graceful for the fact that he had a whole other person but he quickly made his way into the bat cave. He put Peter down and began to do a life check. Which Peter subsequently passed with flying colors, apparently he just slept like the dead. Just like his father, Dick thought.

Bruce appeared from the other side of the cave, making his way from his work as soon as he saw that Dick came back from his patrol. When he saw Peter, his face quickly twisted into confusion.

“You brought back the vessel of the symbiote?” Bruce asked. “Why?”
“I didn’t, I brought back Peter. My son, or at least I’m 99 percent sure he’s mine.” Dick said, resting his hand on his hip and his other on Peter’s slowly rising and falling chest.

“Odd.” Bruce said, walking away.

Odd truly.

Chapter Text

Peter woke up feeling warm, a feeling he hasn’t felt ever since leaving that tank a few months ago. As he slowly opened his eyes he saw a grand and empty room around him, the walls were a blueish gray that reminded Peter of something that he can't recall. Peter was tucked into a bed he didn't know and was in a room he didn’t know if he could leave. Peter looked around the room to find somewhere to escape from. The door was a no go for obvious reasons, but the window to the left of his bed looked like it was a good option. Peter slowly got up, but he didn’t feel sore or like he was drugged. Venom began talking as soon as Peter made his way to the window.

“I may or may not have been awake when we got taken so I may or may not have no clue where we are, but if someone comes in here I promise to eat them!” Venom declared with a smile that Peter could feel, not see. Peter laughed at this.

“If someone comes in we need to question them, then you can eat them. I’d rather you do that with your own mouth though.” Peter stuck his tongue out as he reached the window. “People isn't my favorite meal I’ve had.”

“Well it’s prime nutrients for me.” Venom replied.

Peter looked at the window before attempting to open it. It looked like a normal window but Peter couldn’t open it. No matter how hard he tried to pull it or push or open it it didn’t budge. Peter pulled his arm back to punch the window when his spider sense went off that someone was coming down the hall to his room. Peter abandoned his window opening mission and quickly went back to the bed and got back under the covers. 

The door opened by the time Peter got more settled in. Venom peeked out by making a small eye in Peter's hair by his ear and showed Peter what he saw out of it. A 6ish foot tall man with short straight black hair wearing casual clothes walking towards the bed. Peter opened his eyes and sat up slightly. The man looked happy at this.

“Peter, it’s nice to see that you’re awake. Before you panic you are Wayne manor. You are safe, don’t worry.” He said, pulling a chair to sit next to his bed.

“Who are you?” Peter asked, sitting up fully. Peter thought he kind of looked like the pictures he saw of his father, but his father also just looked like a white man.

“I am Richard Grayson, but everyone just calls me Dick.” Dick smiled, leaning back in his chair.

“Wow, what did you do to deserve that? Not important, why am I here?” Peter quipped before remembering he is currently kidnapped.

“Because, Peter, I am your father. I don’t know how you ended up an orphan in Crime Alley, but please let me make up for the lost 12 years.” Dick leaned forward, suddenly looking so sad. Peter couldn’t register that because his brain short circuited.

“What.” Peter gapped.

“I don't really know how this happened but, please, forgive me for abandoning you.” Dick reached out and grabbed Peters’s hand.

“I-I…. You aren’t supposed to know me! I never knew my parents, but they… they weren't…” Peter trailed off, he meant to say how he wasnt from this universe or how they shouldn't have even crossed paths. He doesn’t know why they did it at all. Tears bubbled up in Peter’s eyes, not because a man said he was his father but because this complicated his return home.

“I know. I’m so sorry Peter for abandoning you. Please don't cry.” Dick made a pathetic smile at Peter.

Peter wanted to scream. This wasn’t his father! His father was in his universe! Not this universe! He just made some sounds and buried his head in his hands.

“Venom. Why? Tell me something.” Peter said internally.

“I think he’s just deranged honestly. If I had to come up with an idea, and I do have a bit more knowledge on the supposed to happen events of the universe than you do. You're supposed to be forgotten by everyone. Not even your friends remember you, maybe this universe transfer messed up something. You can't be forgotten if you're not there to be forgotten, so to make up for it, the universe is trying to replicate the family to forget you. But I don't know!” Venom said in Peter's mind. Peter decided this must be the truth because he needed at least one theory to latch on to.

“You won't be able to remember me eventually. No one will.” Peter took his head out of his now tear soaked hands. “I’m glad I have a father now but the universe loves tricks.”

“Peter, what are you talking about?” Dick asked, looking extremely worried. Peter began lying.

“I’m not supposed to be here, and to make up for the events I need to have, the universe builds the conditions and then enacts its events.” Peter giggled slightly at how insane this sounded.

“My father is supposed to be dead, that's why I have my guardians. So they gave me a father, you, to kill. Then my uncle is supposed to die, don’t know who but watch your brothers. I’m supposed to have a building fall on me, check! I’m supposed to be forgotten by everyone, that’s one of the ones I haven't had yet.” Peter pointed at Dick and waited for him to talk.

“Peter. I will never forget you. I only didn’t collect you before this because I didn’t know you existed.” Dick said, resolute in his choice to die.

“No! You’ll die if you insist on taking me in! Haven’t I warned you already?” Peter said exasperated.

“Peter, I’ve already died before. So has one of my brothers. Also, what do you mean a building fell on you?” Dick asked.

“Not important, I healed!” Peter said.

“No, it's very important to me. Why was my son crushed under a building? I'm very glad you survived, but how did you survive?” Dick leaned forward.

“I don't know! I survived because of Venom up here and being enhanced!” Peter squeaked out before realizing what he said. While he didn’t know this Earth’s opinions of the enhanced, they are never really positive. Something about the enhanced and mutants taking over Earth. If they knew he was enhanced something bad might happen to him. Peter covered his mouth with his hands.

“I'm not mad about the Venom thing. It seems to be less symbiotic than his species name suggests.” Dick still scowled at Venom's name. “Also, what is enhanced? Like a metahuman? Cause we are fine with metas in Gotham.”

“Are metas born like that or made like that?” Peter questioned

“It’s more of a blanket term for any people with altered genes for superpowers.” Dick said.

“Oh, yeah then I guess I’m meta or something.” Peter said dumbly.

“What’s your powers? And how did you get them, if you want to answer.” Dick asked, asking about the how as if it was deeply personal.

“Uh, I have super strength and I stick to stuff. I got them because a radioactive wave hit me. Kind of underwhelming when you think of how Captain America got his powers but, I still have powers.” Peter laughed awkwardly, making up a tiny lie about the spider thing. Mostly cause it sounded stupid when he thought about it.

“Who is Captain America?” Dick questioned.

“Right. Uhm, he doesn't exist over here. Or well he does but he froze? Died? I don’t know what phase he’s at right now.” Peter laughed, again. “Not important though!”

“Well, we’re gonna have to settle you into the manor. You wanna come with me to grab some food? Or I could just bring some to you?” Dick asked.

“Oh, I'll come with you.” Peter replied, standing up from the layers of blankets he was buried under.

Dick led Peter out of the room and into the hallway. The manor seemed so large, but then again, it was a manor. Dick led Peter down the stairs and into the kitchen where an old man was preparing a meal. He wasn’t really preparing it as he was only really cleaning up after preparing it. Dick made Peter a plate and led him to a massive dining room table where a few other people were already sitting down and talking to each other. Peter sat down with Dick in the seat directly to his right and he just stared at the table.

“Is this the-” Someone asked.

“Yes.” Dick replied, cutting them off with a glare.

“Does he-” Someone else asked.

“No.” He replied again.

The old man then brought out everyone else their plates and gave Peter a glass of water and called him ‘Master Peter’. For some reason.

“To finally introduce you guys, this is Peter. Peter, my siblings, and dad.” Dick said, pointing at a man at the head of the table when he said dad.

Peter squeaked out a hello. He felt out of place, not just as an outsider but this wasn’t his Earth. He felt like a parasite, leaching off their goodwill.

They all said hellos and began eating and annoying each other. Peter could only watch, he didn’t feel excluded because he knew this was never his experience to have. He should have never seen them anyways.

That was of course when Venom began to bother him again, not lot’s of actually annoying comments, just lots of this food is better than human. Peter accidentally slipped up when replying to him

“I also think it's better than the human I ate one time you were in control, Venom. Most things do, I don't really enjoy the taste of people.” Peter replied out loud on accident. The other people at the table looked at him weirdly.

“Sorry, it's Venom. He’s annoying.” Peter turned to face the old man. “He really likes the food.”

“That is nice to hear, Master Peter.” The old man smiled.

The table went back to its usual chatter, no one acted like the comment about eating people was the odd part, just the fact that he paused and freaked out. It was nice to finally find people who could know about Venom and not react to oddly.

Chapter Text

Peter knew something was odd about the manor before he finished breakfast. His senses kept telling him that there was something in the floor or the basement. He would have to try and find what's down there, just to make his senses shut up. Peter was glad nobody judged him too harshly for the comment he accidentally said out loud to Venom. Peter was mostly able to block out the talking of the other’s at the table, their sentences sounded more like gibberish than actual words.

“Oh! Uh, Dick? Did you grab my bag when you nabbed me?” Peter asked, turning to face Dick.
“Yeah, I’ll go get it.” Dick replied, standing up. Peter thanked him in a soft voice. He just wanted an answer, not for him to trouble himself to get it.

Dick came back soon after and handed Peter his bag with the Stark Industries logo on it. Probably from Tony, that was the background of the picture Karen showed him. Someone else at the table spoke up.

“What is ‘Stark Industries?” A boy asked, he looked a lot like dick, just smaller and younger.

“Uh, I don’t really know.” Peter lied. “I’ve had this bag for a while so I can’t remember where I got it.” 

“That makes sense, oh I’m Tim by the way.” Tim said.

Peter excused himself back to his room after that, he slowly made his way up the stairs and trusted his senses to lead him back to his empty room. Walking through the sparsely decorated halls fed into Peter's growing sense of dread. He’s not supposed to be here, this isn’t his home, not his Earth, not his family. Peter turned the knob and entered his cold, quiet room. Peter opened his bag. His destroyed suit still sat comfortably in there, reminding him that he has a duty with his powers. Even if no one remembers him when he goes home he still needs to go home.

“Heeeyyy, let’s stop the dread. The forgetting event isn’t supposed to happen for a while so let's prioritize getting home.” Venom said, in his usual annoying voice.

“How would I do that? I don’t even know how I got brought here!” Peter said, exasperated.

“Maybe we find the guy who brought you here and kill him, and figure out the technology and go home!” Venom proposed, throwing in the murder for himself.

“That’s a good idea, just… I don’t know what he looks like.” Peter leaned his head back as he laid on the ground.

“I may or may not have the ability to see your memories. So boy, are we in luck!” Venom laughed. Peter just put his head in his hands.

“Fine, do it.” Peter said, his voice muffled from his hands. As soon as he gave Venom permission he felt something change in his brain.

The feeling was odd, it dragged Peter away from his body. He felt like his previously locked memories were flooding through his mind. A muddled memory of his mother and father standing over his small body. His aunt May and uncle Ben telling him that his parents were gone, Uncle ben's dead body in that alley. Tony Stark recruiting him, Germany, working in his lab. Everytime Aunt May showed up alone to one of his school events, then when Tony started coming as well. The warehouse fell on him. The man threw him into the ground. Peter grabbed onto this memory and inspected every detail of the man.  He had a thick jacket on and ripped up cargo pants, all in a black color, with many types of knives and vials strapped to his legs and arms. He lunged at Peter and then bashed his head into the ground. Peter grimaced at the gore that was his head as the man threw him over and over again.

Peter heard the faint sound of engines whirring and looked over his shoulder and saw IronMan flying to him. Peter whipped his head back around and floated over to see what the technology looked like. The man threw a device on the floor which opened up and made a portal, the man stepped through with Peter over his shoulder. Right before he disappeared Peter saw a logo on his jacket sleeve. A human cranium with a dog jaw, then the man disappeared. Peter turned around to see IronMan desperately land and grab the portal device and inspect it. Then he just sat there, devastated. His suit fell away from him and he landed on the ground where Peter’s blood still laid.

He cried, and Peter teared up. This man was like a father to him, and now Peter was gone. Peter stayed still before he was ripped back to his body.

 Dick and Tim stood above him, Dick had his hands on his arms and they both looked horrified.

“Peter, oh thank god. I thought you were dead! What was happening?” Dick pulled Peter into a hug.

“Nothing. Don’t worry.” Peter wriggled out of his grasp. “Why are you guys in here anyways?”

“I just wanted to check on you and Tim wanted to talk to you, but we found you in here laying on the floor with your eyes rolled back into your skull!” Dick exclaimed, waving his hands around as Peter sat up.

“Why did that happen anyways?” Tim asked from his spot a few feet behind Dick.

“Uh, I don’t really know?” Peter shrugged.

“Okay… Well, Dick, we should go.” TIm said, turning around and opening his door. Dick stood up, smiled at Peter, and left.

Peter wanted to just try and go back into his memories again but he felt like he should listen to anything they said in the hallway. Not like he could decide or not, he did hear almost everything.

“That was probably Venom.” One of them said, Peter couldn’t tell their voices apart yet.

“What was he even trying to do to Peter? I want to believe it's not eating his mind, but I just can't.” The other said

“We don’t even have any information on it either, so we have no idea what it’s doing to him.” The first one said.

“Maybe we should take him under for an inspection and just check that Venom isn’t actually eating his body like the other ones he killed.” The second one proposed.

Peter stopped listening. He needed to be on guard, they are going to try and separate him from Venom if they find anything unsatisfactory. He needs to see his memories again.

“Venom, I know I was unconscious but are there any memories from before I woke up in Gotham?” Peter asked, climbing onto his bed.

“Actually, surprisingly, yeah.” Venom said, before pulling Peter back from his body again and back into memories.

Peter wouldn’t really call these memories, more as things his enhanced senses caught on to while he was asleep. Peter grabbed onto the first memory that flew at him. He landed in a cold dark room with a tank or pool in the middle of it filled with a green liquid that bubbled. Scientists in lab coats and others in dark uniforms moved around, carrying supplies or fixing machines. Then Peter saw himself. He was wearing thin white robes, his hair and face still caked with blood. Peter floated over to his body and saw that they didn’t even try to fix his wounds, no bandages or anything. They likely only fought off the infection, to keep his brain in fine condition.

A scientist ordered someone to bring his body to the tank and two people in black picked him up by his arms and dragged him to the tank. The scientists yelled out a command that Peter couldn’t understand, it sounded like English but it sounded like gibberish, and the people lifted Peter's body and tossed it in. Peter's unconscious body seized in the water before going completely still and sinking, Peter floating over to the tank and watched as he slowly drowned. The scientist didn’t tell them to pull him out till the breath bubbles stopped.

They pulled Peter out and placed him on the floor and walked away. The scientist walked over and poked and prodded at Peter’s body. Then the memory faded. 

Peter grabbed at the next one, but this one wasn’t his. It was Venoms. Venom sat in the jar Peter found him in, and then someone entered the room and grabbed the jar and the file next to it.

“Another vessel. Let’s hope this one succeeds, finally.” The person said, their words more clear than Peter’s memories. Probably because of the brain damage.

“This is vessel number… 14. A young girl and boy. We’re testing if the stress can be spread across 2 bodies.” The man went into a room and Peter floated after him. The vessels were strapped onto two tables. He placed Venom's jar down and walked through a door to a viewing room. He gave a command to open the jar and it twisted itself open and Venom crawled out and onto the bodies.

He sank into both of their fleshes and managed to stay for a moment before they popped. The room gets covered in fresh blood and Venom fades out of sight. Then the memory faded.

Peter wanted to leave his mind and sleep before a different memory hit him. Uncle Ben laying in an alley, Peter leaning over him crying. Uncle Ben reached up and poked Peter's nose and groaned.

“Remember, with great power comes great responsibility, Peter.” He said, and then he closed his eyes. Peter sobbed his eyes out and he watched the scene.

The memory faded and Peter was back in his body.

“That was interesting.” Peter said.

“Yeah, let's go with interesting.” Venom replied, flicking his tongue slightly in Peter's mind out of annoyance.

“Whatever, I need to go outside.” Peter sat up from his bed and stretched his arms over his head. “This house is suffocating. And I need to find that man.”

“Yeah. We need to find that logo.” Venom agreed.

Peter stood up and walked out of his room, down the hall, and to where his senses told him where to leave. Peter reached the window looking over the backyard of the house and opened it. It took less strength than Peter expected, and he leapt out. Peter quickly stuck to the side of the house and used Venom’s webs to sling off into the distance.

Peter landed in the forest that surrounds the property and began to walk. He walked for what felt like hours after he left the forest till he saw the familiar surroundings of Crime Alley. Peter made his way back to his roof, and just rested. If the manor was suffocating, then this area had the best smog filled air he's ever breathed. Peter just sat on his roof and waited. Not for anything in particular, just waited. By the time the sun was fully down Peter stood up. He walked down the sets of stairs that led from the roof to the bottom floor.

He was going to find where he was dropped off after being revived. He distantly remembered the path he took to get to his building. So he’d just have to retrace his steps backwards. During this process he and Venom fell into a comfortable silence, occasionally Venom would reach out and help Peter.

After a short while of walking, and a much longer time deciphering his memories, they reached the spot Peter woke up at. Peter wished he found something there, maybe a leftover machine or anything abandoned there. Of course not. It's been weeks since he was taken here, if anything was here it was taken.

Peter just stood there, he inspected the area multiple times already. His spider senses yelled at him that someone was approaching. Peter turned around just after someone wrapped him in a chokehold. Peter choked and instinctively bit into the attacker's arm. He felt something in his teeth, yet just kept biting and digging deeper into their flesh. The attacker used their free arm to hit Peter in his head which made his mind spin, yet he just kept biting and scratching at their arm. Then they collapsed. Peter took a deep breath in and turned to face the attacker before he was hit on his head.

Right before Peter gave into unconsciousness he looked at the attacker again and saw that logo again. Human skull. Dog jaw. Peter’s vision went black.

Chapter Text

Tony wasn’t sure how he was still living, still working, still looking for Peter. The exhaustion of the last few months had worn into him deeper than anything that had happened to him before. 

He still winced at the memory of Peter, that last one before he disappeared. Of his head getting crunched and crushed before being taken. Tony couldn’t forget it if he wanted to.

The memory was practically burnt into his brain, and not a day or night went by when he didn’t see it. The people around Tony were worried for him.

They knew why he was like this, but they also knew he couldn’t fix this. Peter, for now, was gone. Dead or just missing, he didn’t know. They didn’t know, no one knew.

Sometimes during these long nights where all Tony could think of was Peter, how he failed him, and how he could’ve saved him.

He was there. He saw Peter get taken. If he wasn’t frozen like a goddamn idiot he could have saved his kid.

But he didn’t, and now here he was.

Tony Stark was a genius, there was no contesting that. He always had a new invention, a new idea, a new approach. So why couldn’t anything help him bring back Peter?

He sometimes looks back to the footage his suit took of the event, and he sometimes wonders if he could replicate the portal Peter was taken through. Oftentimes this wondering led to him getting blown up in the early states of creation, but this time was different.

This time he had made progress. Not much, but anything was a step closer to wherever Peter was. Tony would find his kid even if it was just a pile of bones now.

The other avengers had only made up a little bit before Peter disappeared, and they watched first hand how the man crumbled without his pseudo child around. He never really explained their relationship beyond Peter being an intern and Spider-Man, so they just assumed that was his child. And they weren’t very far off.

So when he was taken, it was very obvious in his behavior. He began taking less breaks, he began working all time, he stopped talking to them, he started spiraling into guilt.

They never really knew how much Peter had added to the Tower until he was taken. But it wasn’t all terrible.

About a month ago, FRIDAY told Tony of activity from the Spider-Man suit. Karen wasn’t connected to FRIDAY's systems anymore, but they still had a fragment of a cloud sharing system.

They saw FRIDAY project what she got from Karen, which was a blurry recording from mask as Peter talked intelligably as Karen seemed to respond. They couldn’t make out any words, but this was a good sign.

But then they never got any more updates from FRIDAY, and Tony took that recording to mean his kid was alive so he just threw himself more into his work.

When Tony eventually passed out from exhaustion, his nightmares were horrible. All he ever saw was images of Peter with his skull crushed in, and he woke up even more tired than how he went to bed.

All he saw was Peter’s blood coating his hands as his dead body told him it was his fault, that it didn’t have to be like this, that he could have changed this if he wasn’t so stupid. So inactive. So uncaring for others.

—————————————————

Peter can’t see when he wakes up, and his mind is so quiet he wakes up. His ears ring with the lack of another person in his head, and he automatically feels odd without Venom crowding in his mind.

That sensation brings him back to the room he’s currently tied up in. His eyes struggle to adjust to the darkness, even though he knows this should be no problem. His eyes can adjust, and he knows that.

He knows that until someone suddenly comes into the room he’s in and flicks on the lights, blinding him suddenly as his eyes struggle to adjust to the sudden light. The person just makes a brief noise under their breath.

“Hmm, signs of a concussion… confusion… How interesting.” The person says before Peter’s eyes finally adjust to everything as he sees their face. Their clothes show that they are a scientist, and they hold a clipboard that they’re making notes on. 

“Ah, I apologize. I should introduce myself, I am doctor Williams. You weren’t supposed to find the Symbiote, which threw a little bit of a wrench into our observation of how the Lazarus water affected you. But in the following days we should get some good data.” They smiled under their mask, using their pen to wave in front of Peter’s eyes. 

“You must still be confused. I’m not sure how to explain it better, unless you have a question?” They ask slightly, looking mockingly at Peter who currently had a cloth stuffed into his mouth that he just couldn’t spit out. The doctor laughed and pulled it out.

“Where’s… Venom?” Peter asked slowly, his head still swimming in confusion and pain. 

“Venom? Ah, the Symbiote. The Symbiote is being kept in another room for us to figure out why it was also taken.” The doctor smiled, “well, I’ll leave you alone now. You’ll need the time.”

Peter had no time to question them before they left the room quickly, taking everything with them. He cursed quietly before beginning to test his constraints.

They were well constructed, but Peter wasn’t just a random person. He was great, and he knew the responsibility that came with it. After a moment of struggling, his wrist reached a loose area in the rope tying him down and used his freeish hand to rip the rope above it in half.

After a moment of getting his arms free, he moved down to his feet. They broke faster and Peter attempted to stand up quickly till his head began swimming in pain again.

He forcibly fought through his constant pain and forced the door the doctor locked behind them open. The hallway, which Peter expected to look as sterile and clean as the room he woke up in, was dirty. Filthy even, dirt and blood caked into the cracked floor.

The walls weren’t in a much better state, as when Peter attempted to lean against one it shook a tiny bit. Peter made his way down the hallway slowly, quietly, and painfully. His mouth hurt from the bite he gave, and from being stuffed with cloth for what could have been hours. His head hurt, and he was tired.

Peter followed his senses that were quietly buzzing in his head and the too loud sounds coming from a different hallway. After what felt like a long time, but really could not have been that long, Peter stumbled upon the door with the sounds coming from.

Peter quickly slammed his body into the door and broke the lock as it swung open. The person in the room looked up in surprise and slight fear as his eyes landed on Peter. Peter looked at what he was doing and saw a flame being held around a jar from all angles. Whatever was in the jar would be burnt to a crisp in a minute or less.

Peter stumbled closer as the scientist was still frozen in place, but he eventually regained himself.

“How did you get out?” He asked, and Peter got even closer to him. Peter suddenly reached his hand out and punched the scientist directly in the face, which caused the weak man to fall onto the ground with blood covering the side Peter hit.

Peter just reached out to the flames and grabbed the jar from them. He wasn’t exactly sure what was in the jar, as most of his vision was covered in blind spots from the overwhelming head pain but he knew stopping an experiment was good.

The scientist tried to scramble but Peter reacted faster than he could move and smashed the jar over the man’s head which caused him to finally actually go down. The contents of the jar suddenly spread over Peter’s skin, and Peter remembered what acted like this.

“Hello, Venom.” Peter said as he sunk into his flesh. Venom was silent for a second before replying.

“Your brain is in even worse condition! I spent so much time fixing that.” Venom whined, his voice entirely in Peter’s head. 

“Yeah, this headache is terrible.” Peter agreed, slowly trying to stumble out of the room.

“Not even a headache, this is a concussion! A new one, to. What are you, a concussion magnet?” Venom joked, and Peter could feel his headache slowly fading with every passing moment.

Soon, Peter was able to walk slowly and not stumble through the hallway as he entered it again.

“Do you know where you're going?” Venom asked, in his typical annoying voice.

“Yeah. Anywhere but here.” Peter replied, following his senses through the maze of hallways.

Eventually, they reached what looked like what used to be a lobby. Though now it seemed more like it would be better described as a bugs paradise. Peter was going to walk to the door till he suddenly heard it. Several pops followed by a loud bang with people yelling at something.

“Oh god damn it.” Peter mumbled, knowing that doctor Williams definitely had something to do with this.

Despite this reaction, Peter knew he had to help or just really do anything. So, despite Venom's protests, he raced towards the door leading to the outside where the fight was happening.

As Peter’s eyes more quickly adjusted to the street lights, he saw some familiar and unfamiliar faces. For one, he saw Nightwing and Doctor Williams. For others, he saw another costumed hero (vigilante?) fighting on what seemed to be Nightwings side.

Peter cursed internally with Venom joining in.