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Hector looked at the newest trial of the new project he was overseeing. Ever since the busted cooperation between HYDRA and that low-time gang, he had been reassigned to a new team of scientists. They had found something that seemingly didn’t belong to the planet and they had been running countless tests on it. “Sir, it seems like the test subject isn’t going to last much longer,” one of the scientists said to him. On the other side of the double-reinforced bulletproof glass, a person screamed as blood poured out of every orifice of their face and they pulled against their bonds uselessly. They screamed and wailed as their insides moved, giving one last scream before their body went limp on the table. Hector clicked his tongue in disappointment, intertwining his hands behind his back. In the experiment room, two scientists in full hazmat suits approached carefully. In one scientist’s hands, they held a vial and the other released a bond to hold the person’s arm in the air. Slicing their wrist, instead of blood, a black inky substance slid out of the wound to plop into the vial. Once the black had full poured out and red replaced it, the vial was pulled back and capped. “How many more subjects do we have?” Hector asked. The scientist on his side of the glass tapped at their tablet, frowning under their mask. “One more sir but, if I may, I do not believe they will be a successful trial.” Hector reached up to rub at his chin, thinking over his options. They had gone through so many subjects already and his higher ups were getting agitated by the lack of results on their end. They needed someone extremely strong, physically and mentally, to withstand the experiment. The problem was that there was not many people that could fit that billet. Like a light bulb going off, Hector remembered a certain boy he had met not that long ago. “He could work,” Hector smirked to himself. Time to go pick up the spider. Peter shivered as he climb into the plush and warm leather seats of the car Tony’s had driven to pick him up in. “Cold, kid?” Tony laughed as he turned the heat up. Peter sighed in relief. Winter had hit in New York City and it had hit hard. Due to Peter’s spider gene’s, his thermoregulation had been shot and extreme temperature changes hit him hard. After the latest stint of Peter nearly falling into hibernation walking home with MJ, Morgan, and Ned during a sudden cold snap, it was decided that he was no longer allowed to travel outside in the winter temperature if it could be helped. “The heating was out in my last period,” Peter answered. Leaning forward, Peter placed his icy hands in front of the vent to let warm air brush over them. “Let me tell you, that was forty-five minutes of torture. Ned had to keep pinching me to keep me awake.” “Kid, you should have called me,” Tony said. He put the car in drive and pulled out of the school’s parking lot. “I could have come to pick you up earlier.” “I’m trying to save up on early dismissals and absences,” Peter said. Feeling his hands once again, he leaned back to enjoy the heated seat. “Who knows when I am going to need them for another stay in the med bay or a mission.” “Another point in my reasoning that you should take the year off from the super hero business,” Tony pointed out. He found a nearby fast-food joint and pulled up in line for the drive-thru. With the start of Peter’s senior year of high school, Tony had started to push for Peter to take some time off or pull back from patrol. He knew how important it was for Peter to do good in classes and have a good record to get in the college of his dream. The problem was that he had learned the hard way that Parker luck is shit and was going to get in the way of those college dreams as much as possible. Last year, Tony had to pull so many excuses out of his ass as to why Peter was missing school because he was on a last-minute mission Fury demanded the kid be on or was stuck in the med bay. Part of the reason he thought that no one said anything was because he was Tony Stark and had donated so much money to advance the school ever since he’s taken a large role in Peter’s life. “You know I can’t do that,” Peter whined, digging his nose into his scarf when Tony rolled his window down to order. “There’s too many people that depend on me.” “They shouldn’t have to depend on a teenager,” Tony grumbled. Their conversation was paused as Tony placed their very large order. He didn’t even need to ask what Peter wanted anymore since he knew what the growing teenager would want. Tony didn’t even blink at the wall of text that was their order on the screen, just taking his foot off the brake when told to go to the first window. “Yeah, but they don’t know how old I am,” Peter argued after Tony paid for their food and they waited for the person at the second window before them to move. “And I would like to keep it that way.” “Hey, you’re doing better with your secret identity than me by a long shot,” Tony said with a hand held up in surrender. “I swear my ears are still ringing from Pep’s scolding afterwards.” “I remember watching that video of you announcing you are Iron Man,” Peter grinned, tapping the edge of his seat as the car in front of them finally pulled away and Tony drove up to the window. “Oh god, that’s embarrassing,” Tony groaned. He reached over to be handed the first of the many bags of steaming fast food. The worker in the window had their mouth drop open in shock at seeing the Tony Stark. Peter cheered in joy as the bag was handed over to him, reaching in and grabbing the first burger he could get his hands on. Tony was barely handing over the second bag when Peter ripped off the wrapper and started digging in. Rolling his eyes, Tony grabbed the third and last bag to hand over to Peter. He knew that Peter would demolish the first bag on his own and probably the second bag. “Mr. Stark, this is so good,” Peter said as he practically melted in bliss. “Yeah, I know,” Tony chuckled and put the car in drive to leave the fast-food restaurant’s parking lot. With one hand on the wheel, he held the other out towards Peter. “Now give me one before I leave you on the side of the road.” Laughing, Peter grabbed another burger and opened the wrapper before handing it over to Tony. Humming gratitude, Tony bit into the burger and perked up at the taste. There was always something about a good American burger that perked him right up. Looking around, Peter noticed that they were heading away from the tower. “Where are we going?” Peter asked, digging into the bag for another burger. “The compound,” Tony answered, taking a bite of his burger. “Aunt Hottie and Happy are going off on a spur-of-the-moment couple’s trip this weekend and I have some work that needs to be done.” He looked over at Peter with a twinkle in his eyes. “Figured no better time to get it done than with my best and favorite intern.” “I’m your only intern,” Peter rolled his eyes playfully. “Then you win both titles by default,” Tony chuckled, grabbing another fry. “Now, we’ve got an hour before we get to the compound. Settle in and tell me what Fred and your scary girlfriend are up to.” Peter grinned before launching into a story about Ned – also making sure to correct Tony the multiple times he purposely said Ned’s name wrong – and Michelle in AcaDec. Before he knew it, Tony and Peter had left the city and were driving on one of the lesser populated roads towards the compound. “So, wait, you’re telling me Flash didn’t know the atomic number for Vibranium?” Tony laughed incredulously. “How did this kid get this far in that crazy smart school of your’s?” “That’s what I said!” Peter exclaimed, waving his hands in the air. They were approaching a four-way stop light with only one other car near them. “Like, how did he not know that it is—watch out!” Peter screamed a moment before something rammed into the side of the car and Tony’s world went dark. When Tony woke up, it wasn’t pleasant. His entire body ached and there was a pounding headache assaulting his senses. The ground below him was hard and if his back wasn’t already hurting, then he was sure it would a giant crick in his right now. Forcing his eyes open, Tony groaned at being met with the sight of being in a cell. You know, it was probably concerning how often he woke up in a cell like this. It was fairly small and barren, only the inventor in the entire space. Three of the four walls were some type of reinforced metal with the last wall being Plexi-glass. Tony knew right away that this Plexi-glass would not break under enhanced strength so without Peter or his suit, he was stuck. Wait a second…Peter! Tony sat up quickly and pushed back the sharp headache, turning around to see if Peter was with him. The answer was instantaneously, only Tony being in the entire room. Tony pushed himself up to his feet unsteadily, leaning against the glass wall in front of him. Hands pressed on the glass, he leaned forward to observe his surroundings. There were numerous cells around him, the one directly across him difficult to look into with how dark it was. It seems like his cell was the only was occupied at the moment. So where was Peter? “Ah, you’ve woken up,” someone stated. Tony looked over to the side as someone in a suit meandered their wall down the walkway between cells, stopping in front of Tony’s. “I thought you would have been asleep for a little longer.” “Who the hell are you?” Tony growled. “I see the spider did not tell you about me from last time,” the man hummed, folding his hands together behind his back. Bowing his head for a moment, the man looked back up at him. “My name is Hector.” Tony narrowed his eyes at Hector’s name for Peter. That means the man already knew Peter’s identity, which made things worse. What made Tony’s skin crawl was the HYDRA insignia displayed proudly on Hector’s suit jacket pocket. “Where is he?” Tony asked, pressing himself against the glass separating him and Hector. “Hmmm…do you mean the spider?” Hector tilted his head to the side. “I must say, it is so refreshing to see him up and alive again after drinking the ambrosia. I really did think that the boy wasn’t going to survive that but then again, spiders are pretty hardy.” “Where is he?!” Tony demanded, slamming a fist against the glass. He didn’t not like or have the time for mind games. His kid was gone and this bastard knew where Peter was. “You can calm down. He’s right over there, Stark,” Hector rolled his eyes, pointing to the cell across the hall from him. Narrowing his eyes, Tony searched the darkness. It took him a moment to see his kid but when he did, his heart dropped. Peter was curled up in the far corner of the room, a thin layer of frost covering his body and his face barely visible from behind his arms. His eyes were closed and what scared Tony was the lack of movement from the teenager. He still had his ripped clothes from the crash earlier, a thin trail of blood that leaked from the already healed cut on his forehead dried and frozen to his face.
“No,” Tony breathed and his legs gave out from underneath of him. “No…you didn’t…” “You’re right,” Hector nodded. “He’s not dead, just asleep for the moment. It’s so much easier to transport him and not having to worry about him fighting back as long as he’s asleep.” “You sent him into hibernation!” Tony screamed, banging his fist against the glass in anger. “We haven’t run tests yet to see how it could affect him! You could be killing him for all we know!” They had tried so hard to prevent Peter going into hibernation just for this bastard to ruin it before they could figure out if it was fatal. Hector gave a nonchalant shrug. “We only need him in there for a bit. In fact, I think it might be time to take him out.” Approaching the misted glass, he pressed a hand to a wall mounted sensor next to it and Tony watched as a cloud of cold air rushed to escape the opening door. The man stepped in with a shiver and grabbed Peter by the scruff of his jacket, dragging the frozen teenager out. “Step back,” Hector ordered Tony. As much as Tony wanted to tell Hector to fuck off, he was more worried about Peter. Abiding, Tony stepped back from the glass as far as possible. Hector pressed his hands against the keypad to Tony’s cell and typed in a code before the door slid open. Without a care, Hector tossed Peter into the room. Tony yelped as he jumped forward to prevent Peter’s head from smashing against the ground. He shivered at how cold Peter was, immediately hugging the teenager close to him. He shucked off his ripped coat to wrap around Peter, hoping that this would help. “C’mon kid, wake up,” Tony begged, rubbing Peter’s biceps to get some warmth generated. “Please, you have to wake up.” It fell on deaf ears as Peter stayed asleep, feeling like one giant block of ice. “I’ll come check on your progress in a few hours,” Hector commented as he watched the father and son, the cell door closing to seal them in. Turning on his heel, he stuffed on hand in a pocket and waved the other lazily over his shoulder as he left. “Do your best to wake up the spider. I would like to hear his conscious reaction to the experiment.” “What experiment?” Tony demanded. Hector gave a dark chuckle but did not answer, leaving the mentor and mentee entirely alone in the room. Tony stared for a moment longer with a snarl on his lips before giving Peter his entire attention. He pressed his ear against Peter’s chest, relieved when he heard the steady but slow beat of a heart. There was also a regular intake of air, though shallow. Tony leaned back so that he was sitting against the far wall and positioned Peter to lay between his legs with his front pressing against Peter’s back. He had his arms wrapped around Peter to pull him in close, propping his chin on top of Peter’s head. He rubbed his hands up and down Peter’s shoulders, arms, and chest to get blood circulating and to warm up. “I swear, Pete, everything will be okay,” Tony swore and pulled Peter tighter against him. “Someone will realize something is wrong and come looking for us.” Or, at least he hoped so before it was too late.
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“How’s it going?” Tony sneered at Hector. Peter was still asleep in his arms but he was looking decidedly less pale from earlier. His chest was finally moving with full breathes again and his heart was becoming stronger. He wondered how long Peter had been left in that cold room before he woke up and if it was colder, how much harder it would have been to warm his kid back up. Hector leaned forward to observe Peter, Tony turning to use his body to block his view of the kid as much as possible. “Fuck off,” Tony cursed at the HYDRA agent. “Now, now, that’s not very nice,” Hector chastised the man. “I can say worse if you want,” Tony sneered. “Being on a team with Bucky for so long has it’s benefits. If he were here, he would be saying you are—” Peter gave the softest of hums in his throat, making Tony freeze. Hector caught the movement, leaning forward more in joy. Tony cursed under his breath, relieved that Peter was waking up but terrified at the timing of it. “Looks like the spider is waking up,” Hector grinned. Tony tucked Peter’s face further away, glaring down Hector. “You stay the fuck away from him.” “But then that would defeat all the effort of bringing him in,” Hector fake-pouted. Hector gave a sharp whistle and a trio of footsteps came down the hall. Tony pulled Peter closer to him when three burly men came into view and he knew right away that there was HYDRA made super soldiers. See, Tony could take on a regular agent if push came to shove but he was no match for fighting bare-fisted against super soldiers. “’ony?” Peter slurred softly. “I got you, Pete,” Tony whispered protectively as he turned his body to become a shield. “Grab the boy,” Hector ordered, typing in the code to open the door to the cell. “Don’t you dare touch him!” Tony roared, kicking his feet at the approaching men. His legs were easily caught by one of the soldier and Peter was ripped from his arms to be tossed backwards. Peter fell to the ground in a fumble of half-frozen limbs. “Touch him and I swear to god I will kill you all!” Tony screamed. The two super soldiers ignored him as they each grabbed Peter under an arm. Peter gave a whine at the rough movement, not understanding what was going on with his still waking up brain. The third super soldier clasped handcuffs onto Tony’s wrists behind his back, trapping the inventor. Tony tried pulling against his bonds and was grabbed by the bicep. The super soldier pulled him up to his feet and dragged him along to follow. Peter’s legs dragged across the ground, his head hanging. The super soldiers pulling Peter along did not care how rough they were no matter how much Tony protested. “He’s just a kid!” Tony argued. “He’s an enhanced individual,” Hector countered, his hands once again clasped behind his back. “That makes him the perfect specimen.” “What are you going to do to him?!” Tony roared. The super soldier jostled Tony at the outburst, making him wince as the grip around his bicep tightened. “You’ll see,” Hector smirked. With a tilt of his head, the super soldiers started moving forward. They didn’t bother blindfolding Tony and it’s not like Tony would know where he was. As far as he could guess from the walls upon walls of heavy concrete and no windows, they were in some type of hidden underground bunker. They finally reached a thick metal door that opened up for them. There was a small central room that had two doors on either side. The two super soldiers dragged Peter through the door on the left while Hector directed the soldier pulling Tony through the right door. Entering it, Tony was greeted with an observation room that had the thickest glass window he had seen. On the other side of the window was a heavily reinforced medical room. In the center was a metal table with opened clasp at each corner to hold someone down. Tony was pushed into the center of the room the same time Peter was dragged in and tossed on the table. “Be careful with him!” Tony yelled when he saw Peter groan. Hector sat down in the sole plush chair in the room with a hard plastic one next to him, crossing his legs and placing his folded hands on top of his knee. “Oh Stark, he’s such a hardy boy. I’m sure something like that isn’t going to hurt him.” Tony whipped his head towards Hector, his eyes filled with venom. “I’m going to kill you if you hurt my boy.” Hector just laughed at the threat, waving Tony over. The inventor didn’t move, but Hector gave a wave of his hand and the super soldier pushed Tony down into the plastic chair next to Hector. On the other side of the glass, the super soldiers grabbed Peter’s hands and forced them to lay on either side of his head. “Have you ever heard of gorgon blood?” Hector asked with a wide grin. There was a loud click in the air as the table’s metal bonds clapped shut around Peter’s wrists. Two scientists moved forward to clamp another set around Peter’s ankle and another singular strip over the teenager’s middle. Meanwhile, Peter just looked around in confusion as his body tried to sluggishly wake up more. He pulled against his bonds weakly, whining quietly at how weak he felt. “Oh god, not the Greek mythology analogy again,” Tony groaned. Hector cleared his throat, jerking his chin towards the other side of the glass. “See, it is quite an interesting story. Gorgons, the type of being Medusa and her sisters were, had an interesting ability. Blood taken from a gorgon’s right side is said to be able to heal anything while taken from the left side is a near instantly lethal poison.” Tony ground his teeth as Hector explained the myth. All he wanted to do was punch the man’s face in and take Peter as far away as possible from this place. On the other side of the glass, one super soldier each took up a spot near the top and bottom of the table. The scientists in the room rolled a heavily enforced steel box and with thick gloves, reached in to pull out a vial of black liquid. It was thick like tar as they spun it around and as black as midnight. “Of course, it is just a myth,” Hector continued on, looking at the black substance with great interest. “But, on a research trip to South America, my team found this interesting goo that killed anyone instantly. There was one person that lasted a whole ten minutes after ingesting it and we found that they were as strong as the gods during that time. Unfortunately, at the ten-minute mark, they entered critical organ failure and died gruesomely.” Tony paled as one of the scientists uncapped the flask and approached Peter with it. Peter, looking more aware at this moment, felt fear at the unknown substance. He tried pulling against his bonds and got nowhere. “No,” Tony whispered as the scientist positioned the flask above Peter’s face. “Let’s see which side of the monster the boy got the blood from,” Hector grinned viciously as he watched the scientist pour the black substance out of the flask. Peter, as much as he could in his still half-aware state, tried fighting against drinking the black substance by pressing his lips flat together. Tony expected it to roll right off and had a sassy quip loaded about Hector’s stupidity. Said quip disappeared like cotton under running water when the substance stayed in place. It was vicious, like oil, and Tony’s hackles raised the same time the substance started moving. Peter took a single sharp inhale as he saw the same thing before the substance started moving towards his nostrils. Shaking his head, Peter tried to dislodge the substance from his face. Peter’s efforts were in vain as the substance stayed stuck to him and inched closer. A high-pitched whine escaped Peter’s throat as the substance entered his nose. Wide and terrified eyes shot towards Tony through the glass, begging for help. “Stop it!” Tony screamed and tried rushing forward. The super soldier grabbed him by the soldier and forced him back into his chair to watch as Peter’s face turned red from lack of air. Jerking, Peter was losing an uphill battle and it was only a matter of time before his body gave in to its demand to breathe. His mouth dropped open in a gasp for air, which the substance took as a chance to jump in. Peter’s breathing cut off suddenly as he choked, the black substance slowly slithering its way in. “Time for the moment of truth,” Hector murmured to himself as they all watched the black substance disappear completely. Peter’s chest moved up and down from his panicked breathing. He cried out as he felt something crawl down his throat and it felt like a hand grasped his heart. Looking over, he looked to Tony. “Dad, help,” Peter begged. “Pete,” Tony whispered, broken from having to watch and not being able to help. It felt even worse as Peter screamed, his back arching as far as possible. Peter jerked against his bonds, his body seizing as his head went as far as back as possible. Red-tinted foam dribbled down the corner of Peter’s open mouth that was wretched open in a silent scream. Tony could barely see any of Peter’s brown colored eyes with how they were rolling into the back of his head. “Stop it!” Tony screamed, pulling against the handcuffs. “You’re killing him!” Everyone ignored him as Peter continued to seize on the table. Blood was now freely flowing down Peter’s nose to slither down his cheek. Time slowed down for Tony as he started to accept that this was the moment that he was going to watch his kid die and there was nothing he could do about it. But by some by type of divine intervention, Peter didn’t die. Because all at once, Peter stopped screaming, stopping seizing, stopped pulling against his bond, and just fell down against the table. His eyes stopped trying to roll in the back of his head as he started up at the ceiling above him. Peter wheezed harshly under the light, his gaze erratic as his eyes shot around the room. Hector snapped his fingers and there must have been someone to signal the scientists. They descended on Peter like a pack of vultures, peeling his eyelids back to shine a light in and pressing fingers here and there to feel for vitals. Peter didn’t fight back the entire time, just watching everything. One of the scientists turned around after a moment and bowed towards Hector. “It worked!” Hector cheered, clapping his hands together in joy. “I must go inform the bosses!” With that, Hector went sprinting out of the room to leave just Tony and his chaperone super soldier. Tony watched in silence at Peter looked around with wonder, like he was entirely new person. His pupils were blown wide, black taking over all of the brown that Tony was used to seeing. There was a weird stiffness to Peter’s muscles that didn’t look like it could be attributed to still being partly frozen. With a sudden movement that surprised everyone, Peter pulled against the bond holding his right wrist down and it broke like it was made of paper. “Hold him down!” one of the scientists yelled. One of the super soldiers shot forward to grab Peter’s wrist but froze. Tony’s eyes narrowed to see what was wrong and then widened when the soldier fell backwards to reveal a torn open throat. The scientists screamed in fear, the closest one trying to run away but was grabbed by the back of their lab coat by Peter. The scream cut out as Peter wretched the scientist back and bashed their head in on the edge of the table he was strapped down to. Dropping the scientist, Peter grabbed the other wrist binder and tore it off. Both hands reached down to tear off the middle metal strap while he kicked off the ankle bindings. The remaining super soldier growled, stomping forward to stomp Peter’s rampage. He had grabbed at one of Peter’s ankles but the teenager used that as leverage to swing himself up on the soldier’s shoulders and tightened his thighs around the enemy’s neck. With no hesitance, Peter grabbed either side of the soldier’s head and twisted. Tony’s mouth dropped at how easily Peter broke the man’s neck, the kid deftly landing on his feet as the man fell to the ground. The last remaining scientist grabbed a scalpel and held it aimed at Peter as if it would protect him. Averting his eyes, Tony didn’t have the heart to watch as Peter stalked towards them. There was a scream that cut off suddenly and when Tony looked back up, his view of the other room was now disrupted by a wall of red across the glass. The last remaining super soldier pulled Tony to his feet and dragged him towards the small room that connected both rooms. He had just been opening the door the same time Peter ripped his door off of its hinges. Goosebumps rolled down Tony's body at the sight of a blood-soaked Peter who didn't seem to care about how drenched with the red liquid he was. “Take another step forward and I kill him,” the super soldier threatened. He pulled Tony in front of him and wrapped a large hand around the inventor’s throat. Peter cocked his head to the side, staring down the soldier but keeping both feet rooted in place. With his hands still cuffed behind his back, Tony just watched as Peter threw his arm forward with a spike formed from the same black substance from earlier spearing through Tony’s super soldier. The man was dead in a second, and Peter ripped the arm back to splatter blood everywhere. Tony ignored how there was droplets of warm blood now staining the back of his neck and how the soldier’s hand relaxed from his neck. There was a thump as the soldier that didn’t stand a chance against Peter and whatever they did to him fell to the ground. “Peter…” Tony whispered, treading carefully. Whatever was going, Peter didn’t have both hands on the wheel at the moment. Peter’s gaze turned towards Tony and a shiver ran down his spine at how much bloodlust shone in his son’s eyes. There was a splattering of blood across his cheek, his lips stretching into smile a bit too wide. The black spike on his arm shrunk to cover his skin like a second layer of clothes. “No Peter,” Peter laughed manically, the black substance appearing as if oozing from Peter’s pores to cover him. Tony paled when the substance settled in place to form a dark version of the Spider-Man suit but without any details. “I am…Venom,” Peter hissed as the black inky substance covered his face.
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Tony trudged along the side of the road. After the declaration of the creature that took over Peter, his kid had run away from the hideout and disappeared into the surrounding woods. Tony, as hard as he tried with his fastest sprint, could not keep up with the enhanced individual and lost Peter instantly. Now, Tony was in the middle of bumfuck nowhere with no idea where the closest town was and there was no way he was going to stay in that bunker. The air had been rancid with blood and Tony swore that he was never going to get that smell out of his nose. Nor the sight of Peter tearing the soldiers apart like a wild monster. So, he kept walking down the first road he could find following the tire marks outside of the bunker with his hands still cuffed behind his back. The bastards had stolen his glasses, phone and watch; and Tony couldn’t drag himself back in to find them again. Perhaps he would send a suit to go retrieve them later but that wasn't high on his priority list. All he could he was hope the avengers would be able to work their magic and find him. Speaking of… Tony heard the roar of the Quinjet before he saw it. Looking up, the aircraft was just breaking through the cloud coverage to speed down the road and past him. With a snort, Tony watched as the Quinjet turned sharply in the air and came back towards him. He was willing to bet that Clint was the one flying with how close it came crashing to the ground before it was pulled up to land. It skidded across the ground, spinning around to stop with the back aimed at Tony. The back door opened with a clank and Steve, Rhodey, and Bruce came running out. “Tony!” Rhodey yelled as he saw his best friend. “Honey bear, you don’t know how happy I am to see you right now,” Tony sighed. This was good – the quicker he was found means the quicker he could get access to a suit which also means the quicker he could go find his kid. “Here, get these cuffs off of me.” “Look at all that blood!” Bruce exclaimed as he saw the dried blood on Tony’s back. Tony was once again reminded of it at the doctor’s words, having forced himself to get used to the feeling of dried blood flaking off of his neck. “Where are you hurt?!” “Don’t worry, Brucie Bear. It’s not mine,” Tony answered. The three men exchanged a look between each other, knowing there was more to that story. “Are you okay? What happened?” Steve demanded. Bruce looked Tony over and Rhodey worked his magic to release Tony’s wrists while Steve looked around the area. Bruce gingerly touched Tony’s shoulder to lead him towards the Quinjet entrance. “Wasn’t Peter supposed to be with you?” “Yeah and then those bastards did something and Peter isn’t Peter anymore,” Tony answered. “What do you mean?” Rhodey frowned in confusion. Tony launched into an abbreviated version of their kidnapping and his sore awakening in the HYDRA cell all the way to Peter being tied down to the table in the lab. Tony winced as his knees protested climbing up the ramp of the Quinjet but he carried on. Inside, Thor, Loki, Natasha, Sam, and Wanda were waiting with bated breathes. “They poured this weird goo that seemed alive onto Peter and it seemed to take over him. Whatever it was, it made Peter run away which is why I need whoever is flying to bring me to the tower ASAP,” Tony finished his recounting to the trio that came out to find him. Loki perked up at the inventor’s words, his previously bored expression turning something Tony clocked as…scared? But why would an Asgardian god be scared? Reaching into his jacket, Loki rummaged around before pulling out a small worn-out journal looking book. Tony groaned and rubbed at his bruised wrists as he plopped into a nearby seat while Loki thumbed through the pages, stopping on a certain page. “Stark, was the boy taken over by something like this?” Loki asked and showed a small book to the inventor. Tony narrowed his eyes at the page being shown to him, his brow furrowing as the depiction of an Asgardian soldier being covered with a thick substance like Peter had. Thor looked over Tony’s shoulder to peek at the page and flinched. “Yeah, just like that,” Tony nodded and looked up to meet Loki’s gaze. “Do you know what the hell that was?” Loki gave a shuddering sigh and snapped the book shut, looking over to Thor. “Oh brother, please contact Heimdall. We are going to need the symbiote tomes.” Thor paled at his brother’s words and nodded, running out the door of the Quinjet to return to Asgard to get what they needed. “A symbiote?” Bruce tilted his head to the side. “What is that?” “A very dangerous parasite,” Loki answered shortly, looking back at Tony. “Stark, I am so sorry.” Only once in Tony’s time of knowing Loki did the god of mischief ever give a heartfelt apology to anyone. Not after he brainwashed Clint nor when the god turned into a snake and bit Thor in ankle. He definitely didn’t apologize after he froze Cap’s shield to the ground or after hiding all of Tony’s screwdrivers in the entire Tower. The only time he apologized was years after almost destroying New York City and had reformed into the person he was today. To hear another apology directed towards him after hearing what happened to Peter, Tony felt like he had just been handed the death notice of his son. “What are we supposed to do?” Bruce asked. In front of him and the rest of the team was a screen showing the footage of Peter covered by Venom’s black inky substance sneaking around the city. It was almost impossible to see him as he slunk around, only the bright white of Venom’s eyes shining in the darkness. It had been two days since the kidnapping and sixteen hours since they got visual confirmation that Peter was back in the city. So far, the parasite had enough sense to stick to the shadows and not draw too much attention but it was only a matter of time before someone caught wind. “We need to separate the symbiote from young Peter as soon as possible,” Loki answered. On the table in front of him was various tomes and scrolls he brought over from Asgard that described many Asgardian warriors' experience with a symbiote. Tony had dived into the words on the page, soaking in everything to try and figure out how to help his son. “What happens if they are together for too long?” Sam asked. “There is a near probable chance that the host will be overwhelmed and the symbiote will take full control,” Loki answered. "Esentially, they kill the host's mentally and they never wake up again." “We have lost many great warriors to these parasites,” Thor frowned. “I do not understand how one could have made it to Earth. I thought they were not found in this section of the nine realms.” “Seems like one got past your noses,” Natasha said dryly. She looked at the projection of Peter and how he moved while under Venom’s control. “What can you tell us about someone under a symbiote’s control?” Loki pursed his lips as he also watched the venomized Peter on the screen. “All the warriors that have come under a symbiote’s control have shown a clear increase in strength and speed. If the symbiote is not powerful enough to take over control completely, then the host is shown to have lost a grip on themselves.” “It says here that many have been reported to have gone insane and feral,” Tony pointed to the passage in one of the thicker books. His hair had fallen into his eyes, not having bothered to do it after being forced to shower once they got back to the tower. There was a ring of bruises around his wrists from the handcuffs that he kept rubbing at. “Could it already be too late for Peter?” Kate whispered. “I think this symbiote is particularly strong,” Loki said, looking at the still image of Venom. “There had been no instances of insanity from Starkson yet so I am inclined to say that Venom has a strong grip on him.” “How do we get Venom to loosen his grip?” Bruce asked. “Well—” “Stark!” a teenage girl’s voice yelled. “Oh no,” Tony paled. “What’d you do?” Sam raised an eyebrow. “More of a matter of I didn’t do,” Tony whispered. “And that would not be telling a certain girlfriend the current situation.” Michelle came stomping in like a man on a mission, her teeth grinding together as she looked around the room. Once her eyes landed on Tony, she rushed over and pointed a finger in the man’s face. “Why the hell did you not tell me that Peter was missing?!” “He’s not missing per say,” Clint correct. Michelle’s burning gaze raced over towards the archer, making Clint yelp at being the target and jumping to hide behind Kate. The younger archer gave Michelle an apologetic look, to which Michelle turned away from. She flinched harshly when she caught sight of the frozen image of Peter controlled by Venom. “That’s Peter?” Michelle whispered, her eyes trained on the figure in all black. Her hand came up to cover her mouth, her face going a shade paler. “What happened to him?” “It was HYDRA,” Tony answered simply. A flash of what happened to Peter shot through his eyes and he had to squeeze them shut for a moment to stop his stomach from rolling. He could still hear Peter screaming for help and could still see Peter jerking against his bonds as the symbiote entered him. Tony breathed in through his nose and out through his mouth, doing so until he felt under control again before opening his eyes. “They put this alien parasite in him and I couldn’t stop it.” Michelle didn’t notice his turmoil as she continued to gaze at the figure on the screen. The hand not covering her mouth came up to brush over the screen. “Oh, Peter,” she whispered. She take a deep breath, exhaling shakily as she reigned herself in. “So, where is he?” Michelle asked. “Right now, we are unsure,” Natasha answered for Tony as she pulled up a map. There were markers spread out the city to show where cameras caught Venom before disappearing again. “All we know that he is in the city and hanging around spots he likes to frequent.” “Most likely the symbiote peering into young Peter’s mind,” Loki said as he crossed his arms, also looking at the map. “Symbiotes tend to try and copy the host’s patterns of movement or occupy places that hold significance.” “Which is why he’s been hanging around Queens the most,” Tony said. It had sent shivers down his spine when a camera had caught Venom in the vicinity of the Parker’s apartment. He knew without a doubt that Venom had gone into the apartment and Tony was beyond glad he had Happy take May, Pepper, and Morgan up to the compound for the time being. There was no one he was going to have them around when Venom could pop up at any time. “Hey, what’s that?” Michelle asked pointing at the map. Tony looked up, taking a double take when a new marker popped up. “Friday, pull up the camera feed!” Tony directed. Friday did so without a word, showing a recording of Venom jumping over the space between two buildings before disappearing into the darkness again. “Where is he going?” Steve wondered aloud. “Looks like he is in Brooklyn,” Bucky noted. “He doesn’t usually hang out there.” “Has Peter ever gone there?” Sam asked. “Peter is Queen’s hero,” Wanda said. “I don’t remember him ever going there aside from a rare trip with Bucky and Steve.” “Then why would Venom be heading there?” Rhodey asked. It was like a lightning strike through Tony as he remembered a certain event. “No,” Tony said carefully. He took a few long strides forward and tapped at the screen, looking at the path the being created as a new marker popped up. “Peter’s been to Brooklyn before – or more like he crashed there.” “What are you talking about?” Sam frowned. “He can’t fly.” “That’s correct,” Natasha add, her eyes widening as she remembered having to go to a certain spot to help make sure nothing was left behind on a beach. “But he sure can crash a plane.” “Wait, are you talking about—” Bucky started. “Moving day,” Steve ended the sentence. “Peter’s going to Coney Island,” Tony grinned for the first time in days. They finally had a clue. “Everyone gear up!” Steve ordered in his Captain America voice. “Wheels up in 10! We’ve got a spider to save!” There was a flurry of movement as everyone rushed around to get their gear. Clint pulled Kate to a corner, whispering something in a rush to her. The younger archer nodded to what her mentor said before darting away. Michelle stood near the map, watching as Venom missed another camera and was spotted again. She jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder and looked over to Tony at her side. “I’ll bring him home,” Tony swore. Michelle gave a sniff and wiped her eyes. “You better or else it’s your head on the chopping block,” Michelle threatened. Tony gave a laugh and pulled away. He left Michelle behind in the room as he rushed to the Quinjet. Friday was already sending a suit to the jet for back-up in case the nano-suit armor failed. By the time he running up the ramp onto the Quinjet, everyone was already there and geared up. “What took you so long, Tones?” Rhodey teased. “Sorry, I was being threatened by a seventeen-year-old,” Tony chuckled. Tony walked into the cockpit of the Quinjet the same time Clint was starting it up. He reached up to grab a handhold, not bothering to find a seat as they would be there within no time. “You ready, Tony?” Clint asked. Tony gave a nod. “Let’s save my kid!”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Coney Island’s beach was deserted when the Quinjet landed. The Cyclone was standing guard like a silent sentry a small distance away. Tony exited the Quinjet first, the Bleeding Edge Iron Man suit already formed around his body. Sam was out next, launching himself into the air to look from up-top. He looked around, flashes of the wreckage of the plane years ago echoing in his mind. Tony remembered how he had arrived at the scene of the crashed plane with everything wrapped up neatly in webs for him. Toomes had been already apprehended and the SHIELD agents had been trying to figure out how to get him out of the webs to take in custody. The man had given Tony a heated look but the genius had ignored him to look for his kid. He and Peter had gotten into a fight earlier about how much Peter pushed his limits. The kid had wanted to prove he was ready for the avengers, which led to the ferry incident. Tony was still not happy with himself on how he handled it, especially it being after the rocket and he had thought he had ruined his and Peter’s relationship. The kid had been sitting on top of the roller coaster, half hidden by the darkness as he watched the clean-up. The relief that Tony had seeing Peter in one piece and alive was palpable. Now, Tony would just love to have his kid somehow free of the parasite and waiting for him in the same spot. But luck doesn’t seem to be on his or Peter’s side. There was a sharp crack of something splintering that had Tony flinching. He turned towards the wooden roller coaster but moon’s light wasn’t enough to cut through the shadows of the coaster. “Peter?” Tony called into the air. There was movement amongst the dark shadow inside of the Cyclone’s tracks. Tony narrowed his eyes and jerked his head, telling Friday to pull his mask over his face. The nano-bots crawled over his skin to form the helmet and Friday started taking readings in front of him. Using the night-vision settings, Tony could see a dark shape bent over another on the ground. The dark shape had something long in his mouth and the person on the ground was definitely no longer alive. “Venom,” Tony hissed. Friday turned off the night-vision mode and stomped loudly forward, making Venom fully turn towards him with his large white eyes. Sam landed on the ground behind Tony as they didn’t need an air search anymore. “Oh god, it’s worse seeing it in real life,” Sam whispered under his breath. “Venom!” Tony called out to the black covered form. Venom paused in his eating, sitting up fully. Tony’s stomach rolled at the large teeth stained with blood on Venom’s face, his long tongue coming out to lick the blood off his chin. A vicious smile covered the symbiote’s face, his body language screaming danger. “You know my name,” Venom purred in delight. He threw the arm he had been eating off to the side, his attention off of his snack. Venom tilted Peter’s head to the side, squinting his large white eyes at Tony. “I remember you from the lab. You were there when I was given my host.” “Yeah, and I’ve come to get my kid back,” Tony snarled. His suit’s feet landed on the ground with a loud thunk. “You’ve done enough damage and it’s time to hand him back over.” “Leave my host? Ha!” Venom scoffed, his large white eyes tilting in the corner like he heard a funny joke. He placed a hand on Peter’s chest. “This host is the best I’ve ever had! So strong and young! I will never give him up!” The rest of the team came up next to Tony, Loki at his left and Steve at his right. “Ugh, I hate black symbiotes. So possessive and annoying to deal with,” Loki shivered in disgust seeing Venom. “Let’s just be glad it isn’t a red one.” “What’s wrong with a red one?” Sam asked quietly. “There’s something that even the black symbiotes fear,” Loki answered. “Noted,” Steve gulped. “I see my dinner has decided to come to me,” Venom cackled, licking his lips. “A nine-course grand feast just for me. So nice of you all.” Loki’s hands twitched at his side, his blades materializing. Clint and Natasha took notice of this movement and brought out their respective weapons. Steve lifted his shield in front of him and Bucky’s fist clenched at his side. Wanda’s eyes glowed faintly as she called upon her powers. Sam’s wings extended out of his suit pack, ready to jump in the air at a moment’s notice. Thor’s grip around Mjolnir tightened, his eyes sparking with electricity in the corners. Tony was the only one not to prepare for battle. “Peter, I know you’re still in there,” Tony said, taking a step closer towards Venom. “Just tell that parasite to fuck off already and we can go home and binge watch star wars all you want.” Venom hissed lowly, warning the inventor to not get closer. The symbiote was getting quite annoyed. Why couldn’t these flesh bags understand that he was the one in charge, not the host. “Peter, please, you have to come back to us,” Tony begged. Venom narrowed his eyes, his long shiny teeth bared in a snarl at the man. “There is no longer a Peter,” Venom snarled. “Just Venom.” “It might be too late,” Loki muttered from Tony’s side, spinning his two daggers in his hands. “The hold the symbiote has on the boy is quite strong. We might have to—” “Do not finish that sentence, brother,” Thor interrupted, his gaze hard. “Might have to what?” Clint demanded, hearing their conversation. Ignoring Thor’s glare, Loki tightened his fists around his daggers. “If the bond becomes too strong on one end, the only thing one can do is be a mercy and put the host out of their misery.” “You want to kill him?!” Bucky screeched, his teeth grinding together. “Hell no!” Tony exclaimed, his feet boosters kicking on to make him float a few inches above the ground. “We are bringing home Peter alive and in one piece.” “The only place you will be going is into my stomach!” Venom roared as he decided enough was enough and he was ready to fight. Venom raised Peter’s arms and shot what looked like a black inky version of Peter’s webs, pulling on them to shoot forward. His mouth opened wide to show off his sharp teeth, ready to clamp down on the closest avenger - that being Natasha. The Black Widow jumped nimbly back in time for Steve put himself in the middle with his shield raised. Venom growled at the interruption of his next snack, and bit the edge of the shield with his white eyes peeking over the edge of Steve. Sharp teeth bit farther down, scratching the edge. Venom screeched as Wanda used her magic to grab him and throw him off the shield. He landed on all fours and hissed at the team. Natasha raised her gun, shooting four rounds into his back. “Don’t kill my kid!” Tony screeched. “If you look, you’ll see what I did actually did nothing,” Natasha sighed as the bullets she shot were pushed back to the surface by the black goo and plopped onto the ground. Venom let out a high-pitched screech as he slammed his fists onto the ground. The ground splintered underneath Natasha’s feet and she was only saved as Clint pushed her out of the way. His ankle fell in one of the cracks and he hissed in pain as it broke. Sam flew down to distract Venom from Clint as Natasha rushed in to help him. Ducking in and out of the Cyclone’s structure, Sam paled at the sound of Venom getting closer to him and pushed more power into his wings. Venom didn't care about the wooden supports of the coaster and just plowed through them to the get to the falcon. “Friday, send in one of the back-up suits to help Sam!” Tony ordered his AI. “On it, boss,” Friday acknowledged the order. One of the suits that had been stored in the Quinjet came flying out and tailed Venom. It flew faster to place itself between Sam and Venom, the symbiote not stopping as the suit opened up and engulfed him. It closed itself around the Venom and the air went quiet for a moment. Sam flew back to look at the suit that dropped to the ground, peering closer at the jerking suit. “Did…we win?” There was a sharp sound of ripping metal as one of Venom’s fists punched through the chest piece. Venom released a cackling howl as he tore at the metal to free himself. Everyone jumped back and took cover from the shrapnel as Venom got to a point to just burst out and the suit exploded into pieces. Part of Peter’s venomized hands were a total mess of gouges and broken fingers that Venom snapped back into place. “No way did he just rip apart a suit from the inside! Has Peter always been this strong?!” Sam screeched, flying away with a brush of air against his leg that narrowly missed being grabbed by Venom’s webs. With a snarl, Venom jumped high in the air to grab at one of Sam’s wings and dug his fingers in to destroy it. Sam yelped as he spiraled in the air as Venom let go, falling straight down. Loki threw his hands out to the side to create a small slide out of ice for Sam to safely slide to the ground. “The young hero has always been stronger than he lets on but that is only because even his body has limits. Pain is what prevents Starkson from breaking his own bones every time he punches or kicks,” Loki explained. “Symbiotes do not feel pain so they have no reason to hold back like Starkson does.” Venom saw Sam sliding down and ran over to meet him to finish the job. Tony tried firing a few shots at Venom’s feet to slow him down but it did nothing. Good thing that Steve was close by and got there in time to raise his shield up the same time Venom raised a heavy arm high in the air. Venom brought his arm down on Steve’s shield without holding back. Unfortunately for Venom, he wasn’t strong enough to break through the shield though he did leave behind a sizeable dent. Steve’s eyes grew large at the damage as he never expected it from the teenager. His eyes grew even large at how much of an angle the arm was now hanging at. Steve’s stomach rolled at the sight but he didn’t wait around for Venom to retaliate and grabbed Sam by the bicep to pull him away. Venom looked down at his arm that hung as a sickening angle. The large white lens on the black mask didn’t even twitch as Venom used his other arm to grab the broken one, snapping it back into place. Sam gagged at the noise and Tony couldn’t blame him, feeling queasy himself. “Like I said, they don’t feel pain,” Loki said with a jerk of his chin towards Venom. Curling and uncurling his fingers, Venom smiled at the fixed arm. Seeing that both limbs were back in working order, he turned his gaze on the avengers again. “What the hell?!” Clint cursed. Venom’s attention shifted to the archer and he started stalking towards him. “Did I forget to mention the incredibly fast healing abilities of symbiotes?” Loki coughed. “Yes!” Clint and Wanda yelled at Loki. The witch slid to a stop in front of Clint and raised her hands to create a forcefield just as Venom stopped in front of them. Venom raised a fist in the air and more black goo formed around it to form a giant hammer like fist. Wanda gritted her teeth as Venom started pounding on the forcefield, trying her best to keep it up. “Paired with Peter’s already fast healing factor, any wounds we deal on Venom are pretty much paper cuts,” Bruce said over the mic as he had been listening in. They weren't going to take the chance of having a Venom and Hulk situation in the same place. “This makes things harder.” Biting his lip, Tony raised a hand sent a weak blast into Venom’s shoulder. The symbiote jerked from the force but kept moving forward. It pained Tony greatly to hurt his kid and he couldn’t bring himself to use a more powerful blast. Spinning his hands, Loki conjured a wall of ice to stop Venom from getting closer to the duo. Venom licked his lips as found a new target – a god. It had been a while since the symbiote had tasted one. “Stark, we have to make a decision!” Loki yelled at the inventor. The god bent backwards to avoid being skewered by a sharp spike Venom changed his arm into. Venom was quick though, changing his course of attack to hammer his appendage into the god to slam him into the ground. Loki groaned at the hit while Venom just laughed, pulling his black arm back. Thor jumped in to save his brother, summoning lightning with Mjolnir to strike at Venom. He jumped backwards, avoiding the lightning to land in a crouch on top of a light pole. Tony looked between the beaten team of avengers and the possessed form on his kid, stuck on what to do. Peter was a danger to everyone around him right now but he would never be able to make the decision to hurt his son. Clint raised his bow, shooting a flash bang arrow near Venom. The parasite screeched in pain, which confused Tony as nothing had seemed to affect it so far. Aggravated, Venom shot a black web forward to snag Clint around his already injured leg. “Clint!” Wanda screeched as Clint was dragged away. The archer clawed at the ground as he was pulled closer to Venom who had his mouth opened wide. “Fresh meat,” Venom laughed in joy. “My favorite.” Venom raised Clint higher in the air, the archer feverishly trying to pull off the goo around his leg. “No!” Bucky yelled and rushed forward. He grappled Venom around the middle, bulldozing the lithe figure. Venom gave a sinister laugh and raised an arm in the air, a sharp pointing forming at the elbow. “Bucky!” Steve yelled. Without thinking, he threw the shield and as soon as it left his hand, he realized where it was going to hit. Tony felt all the blood drain from his face as the shield found its home inside Venom’s head. Venom froze in place, lessening his grip on the super soldier and Bucky jumped back to see what his friend did. “Oh my god,” Tony gasped. “Did Steve just kill the kid?” Clint whispered. Steve’s face paled as a hand came up to cover his mouth. He looked at Tony and back at Venom, fearing the worst. But then Venom twitched and fear replaced the horror. Venom started laughing and it sent chills down Tony’s spine. One of his arms raised to grab at the shield and ripped it out of his head. Sam dry-heaved at the sight of Venom’s cracked open head and Tony felt like he wasn’t that far behind seeing parts of Peter open head in the opening. “Nice try,” Venom purred and threw the shield to the side. “It’ll take more than that to take me down.” As he said that, they watched as Peter’s head stitched itself back together before the black goo closed again. “Out of the way, brother,” Thor directed and pushed Loki to the side. “I hate to do this but you were right. We need to put the man of spiders out of his suffering.” “Thor, no!” Loki yelled Loki’s warning was too late as Thor threw his arm forward to release Mjolnir…aimed straight at Venom. Thor threw Mjolnir forward and cursed as Venom jumped out of the way. Steve was on the other side as he grabbed his shield from the ground. He exclaimed as he saw the hammer coming for him and lifted his shield in between himself and Thor’s weapon. There was a loud ringing in the lot as the shield and hammer met…and Venom dropped to the ground in a heap to screech in pain. Venom screeched as the metal sound, grabbing at where his ears would be. Tony furrowed his brow at the reaction before an idea struck him. “Cap! Thor! Again!” Tony commanded as he readied his sonic blasters. The two avengers didn’t hesitate for a moment. Cap raised his shield above his head and Thor called Mjolnir back to his hand, bringing it down on the shield to create another loud bang. Venom roared with pain, clutching at his head. “Thor, you idiotic genius!” Loki cheered and moved his hands in a complex pattern. "The burning of lightning and the booming of thunder! Just like the old tomes said!" Out of the ground came a roaring fire and circled around Venom. The symbiote screeched in alarm. In a last-ditch effort, Venom extended his arm far and spun around to catch Loki in the middle. The god went flying into the roller coaster’s support beams and groaned in pain. “Witch, hold him in place!” Loki commanded the moment he could breathe again. Wanda’s eyes glowed a bright red, her hands held out in front of her as she called upon her powers. She added more fuel to the dying flames to bring them back to roaring life to trap Venom and the alien howled as the heat licked at him. His arm that had attacked Loki came zipping back and he pawed at the hurt appendage. Venom’s screeches became more frenzied, the black goo covering Peter’s face becoming unstable. For the first time in days, Tony saw the teenager’s face again. His eyes were blown wide with pain, his mouth thrown open as his voice joined Venom’s to wail. It was almost ghostly with how the two voices resonated in pain with each other. “Peter!” Tony yelled. He wanted to reach out and pull Peter into a hug, soothing him from the sounds that were most likely hurting him as well as the parasite. His hand froze in the air, his finger curling as he realized that if he stopped too soon, then Venom would just take control again and it would be another struggle to get to this point again. “I’m sorry,” Tony whispered as he readied the sonic repulsors. Aiming them at Peter, he released the sonic blasts. If Peter’s noises were wails before, then this sound was pure banshee screeches. Peter fell to his knees, his hands of his ears and back arched with his head thrown back. Blood started to trickle out of his ears, leaking between the teenager’s fingers as his ear drums burst. “Don’t let up!” Loki commanded. “We are getting close!” Tony ground his teeth as he raised his other hand, using the other sonic blaster to double the force. Friday released two aerial orbitals that had been a part of the Rescue suit to hover in the air. Clint saw them and shot two sonic arrows to stick to them and pressed a button on his bow to activate them. The sonic arrow equipped aerials circled around the prison they had made for Venom. The pieces of Venom that still covered Peter rippled as they lost control. Between the sound and fire, Tony felt hope that they were going to be able to rescue Peter rise within. The teenager looked like mess now that more of the goo was coming off of him. There was dirt and grease all over him, his clothes torn and stained from the past couple days. Tony felt immense rage at the state the parasite had put his kid into. “Get out of my son already!” Tony yelled at the symbiote. “Host…is…mine!” Venom yelled back with Peter’s mouth. He laughed with a maniacal look, spittle spraying from Peter’s mouth. Venom tried to take full control again, his inky blackness coming up to crawl over one of half of Peter’s face. “Wake up!” Tony yelled, trying to get through. “Peter!” “We are…Venom!” Venom screeched, his inky face still covering half of Peter’s. But, it was like a click happened within Peter. There was light in his free eye that Tony hadn’t seen before. On the non-Venom covered side of his face, Peter gritted his teeth. “No…” Peter shook his head. Tony felt hope rising in his that Peter was coming back to them, especially when the eye on the side not covered by Venom shone a brown iris instead of black. The teenager raised his arms up his face and chest, fisting the black goo like it was fabric. “What?!” Venom screeched in alarm. “My name…” Peter started against the black covering him, “…is Peter!” Peter roared as he ripped away the black inky substance off his body. A loud wail resounded through the air as Venom was rejected by Peter. Peter tossed Venom to the side and bent over on all fours to throw up more inky darkness. It felt like it was never ending as Peter expelled more and more. As it came out, it immediately shriveled up under the attack of heat and sound. Only the main body of Venom, now reduced to a tiny puddle, stayed behind on the ground near Peter. The Venom puddle gave a shriek and tried lunging back at Peter. “Oh, hell no,” Tony growled and flew towards the fire. “You are not taking him again.” Seeing the inventor, Wanda moved her hands to open a hole in the flames for him to go through. Tony grabbed Peter by the back of his shredded shirt and pulled him back into his chest, falling back through the hole that Wanda quickly closed up. Wrapping his arms around his son, Tony crawled backwards from the flames and held Peter close. One hand held Peter while the other was held out towards the small puddle of black goo on the ground. Wanda caught sight of something coming close to them and, with a quick nod of approval from Loki, dropped the flames. Venom realized that the blazing heat was gone and turned his sight on his host and Tony. It gave a short hiss, Venom’s face forming with two rows of small but deadly sharp teeth shining at him. It rose as high as it could, large white eyes narrowing at his exhausted host panting in Tony’s hold. With a screech, the goo shot forward to take ahold of his host once again… “Kate, now!” Clint yelled. …only to be stopped as Kate descended on it with a glass container. Weakened and in his goo form, Venom could only screech from behind the glass as Kate sealed it shut. It was a specially made container that Fury had a rush order made for after hearing about the situation. It was thanks to Kate’s perfect timing that there were able to trap Venom before he got to someone else. It was like a flick of a switch across them all, the avengers slumping in relief that the threat was contained. Wanda let her hands drops with the red haze around them disappearing. Thor helped Loki off the ground, the god of mischief holding his side with a hiss. Natasha was helping Clint off the ground, the archer wincing as he tried to place weight on his swelling ankle. Sam flopped backwards onto the ground and let his body relax from the high stake’s situation. Rhodey rushed over to Kate, who was holding the container with Venom as far as possible from her, and had his suit grab it. He stepped out of the War Machine suit and let Friday take control of keeping ahold of the container. Steve was pressing a finger to his ear piece to let Fury know that Venom was now contained for them to pick up. “Peter!” Bucky exclaimed. He jogged over next to Tony and kneeled down, looking over Peter. Tony looked down as Peter completely limp in his arm, letting the other one drop down with the sonic blaster powering down. Peter’s eyes were closed and he was breathing hard, like he just had just tried to race Pietro and lost. There were scratches all over the kid, his concerning pale skin slowly regaining color. “Peter?” Tony asked, a slight fear of any remnants of Venom lingering coloring his tone. Like back in the HYDRA hideout after Venom killed the soldiers, Tony watched as Peter eyes cracked open to look up towards him. Instead of freezing in fear, Tony’s heart warmed at the clear brown eyes staring back at him. “That…was disgusting. Ten out of ten…would not recommend,” Peter croaked a whisper. The blood leaking from his ears was siphoning off as his healing kicked in. The kid looked like he had a foot in the grave, but he still had the energy to make a joke. Tony was quiet for a moment before breaking out in a round of laughter with his head thrown back. Of all the things his kid could say after being possessed by an alien parasite for the last two days, of course it would be something like that. Steve slouched in relief, pressing a finger to his ear piece. “Mission accomplished,” he relayed to everyone that had been listening. “Peter is coming home.”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Peter woke up to something scratching at his scalp. Humming without opening his eyes, he turned his head towards the direction he heard breathing from. A soft wafting of perfume brushed against his nose, telling him exactly who was in the room. Cracking his eyes open, Michelle’s softly smiling face greeted him. “Hey there, tough guy,” Michelle whispered. Moving the hand from his hair to his cheek, she brushed a thumb over his cheek. “Hey there, pretty girl,” Peter whispered back. Michelle breathily snorted at the endearment. “How do you feel?” Michelle asked. “Tired,” Peter answered, tilting his face down to kiss Michelle’s palm. “Like I just ran four marathons without a break.” “You can go back to sleep,” Michelle told him. She moved her hand back up to his hair and started scratching it again at just the pressure that made Peter coo in delight. “But I just woke up,” Peter whined. A yawn made his argument weaker, his eyes demanding to close again. He looked up at the ceiling, seeing the avengers I-Spy painted on the tiles which told him exactly where he was. “How did I end up in the med bay again?” “What do you remember?” Michelle asked carefully. “Not much,” Peter yawned before shivering. “I remember being cold, though.” Michelle nodded along and pulled his blanket up higher. “Are you still cold?” “A bit,” Peter answered. Michelle pressed her lips together and Peter was about to ask what was wrong when she leaned forward to press a kiss to his forehead. “What was that for?” “Just because,” Michelle answered cryptically. “You should go back to sleep.” “MJ~” Peter whined but a yawn breaking in mid-way didn’t help his case. “Get some more sleep and we’ll tell you what happened when you wake up again, okay?” Michelle said to him. Her other hand came up to grab the hand of his that was closest to her. “For now, you need to get some more rest.” Peter yawned again and he was really fighting against his eyes closing without his say-so. “If you say so,” Peter mumbled. He reached out and grabbed Michelle by the shoulder, pulling her down to lay against his side. Michelle squeaked in surprise as she tumbled down and couldn’t break out of Peter’s hold. “Peter…” Michelle trailed off. “I’ll sleep better with you next to me,” Peter mumbled and turned his head to press a kiss into the crown of her head. “Humor me, okay?” Michelle huffed and relaxed against Peter, knowing she had lost. “Can you let me go enough to at least get under the blanket?” Peter gave a dramatic huff but let Michelle go. The girl was quick to pull the blanket to the side and slipped in. As soon as she was, Peter wrapped his arm around Michelle again and buried his nose into her hair. He took a deep breath and sighed in relief at how safe and content he felt right now. “Sleep tight, tiger,” Michelle whispered. “With you here, I definitely will,” Peter whispered back as sleep reclaimed him. An hour later, May would peek in after stopping at home to grab a few things to find the teenagers dead asleep and in each other’s arms. She would give a soft smile and snap a picture of them before slipping out to let the two continue slumbering. Tony rubbed Peter’s back as his kid threw up into the toilet again. The last week had been…difficult, to say the least. Memories of his possession by the alien parasite hit Peter in waves and every time they did, it sent Peter into a spiral. He couldn’t believe the things his body had been borrowed for and how many people he had killed while buried deep beneath the surface by Venom. Peter wasn’t aware for pretty much any of the takeover by Venom. It was explained later after Peter had woken up truly for longer than ten minutes that he only became aware of things when the team had figured out the symbiote’s weakness. The teenager had said that the last thing he remembered was choking as Venom forced himself down his throat and the next was the all-encompassing pain of the sonic blasters attacking his ear drums. Venom had been too preoccupied in his own suffering that he didn’t bother trying to force Peter down and thus allowed Peter to pull himself out. The kid had fought with all his might to take control of his body again and it was through sheer determination he was able to reject Venom. Right now, Peter was remembering a gang that had stumbled upon Venom during his two-day freedom from captivity and their unfortunate fate of doing so. They had been in the middle of a lunch with the entire team when Peter had froze. The team had learned that was usually the sign that more memories were coming back to Peter. They were right when Peter clamped over his mouth and pushed back in his chair so fast that it fell over backwards. Tony had followed after Peter as his kid ran to the nearest bathroom, waving off anyone else that approached so that they didn’t overwhelm Peter during this time. Tony had gotten there just as Peter fell to his knees in from the toilet and let his lunch come back up. All Tony could do was just be there for Peter and talk him off the ledge of another self-blaming meltdown. He knew it was coming, but he wondered what the severity it would be this time. Sometimes, it was a full-blown crying meltdown where he tried to convince the others that he wasn’t someone that should be trusted around them. Other time, it would be a near complete shutdown where Peter wouldn’t move for hours as he was stuck in his own head. Peter’s puking had lessened into a few dry heaves, letting Tony know that Peter was nearing the end of his throwing up. He made a mental note to heat up more food to counter all that Peter had thrown up or else they were going to have to hook him up to a IV to make up the nutrients. The heaves turned into heavy pants and then Peter was calming his breathing. “Better?” Tony asked quietly and handed Peter a damp washcloth to wipe his mouth off of the sick. “It felt a whole lot better going down than coming up,” Peter mumbled and accept the washcloth. He wiped it across his mouth and then threw it off to the side when he was done. Leaning back against the wall behind him, Peter looked up at the ceiling. “…how many people did I kill?” “Venom killed them, not you,” Tony stressed as he had been doing the last few days. His back was starting to hurt from sitting on the hard bathroom tiles but he pushed the pain aside. Peter needed him and back pain be damned. “How many, Mr. Stark?” Peter pushed. Tony pressed his lips together in a flat line and also leaned back to rest against the bathroom cabinets across from Peter. He looked away to the ceiling like Peter. “We do not know for sure,” Tony answered carefully like he did the previous times the question had been asked. Fury was digging into it to get an official count but no one was optimistic they’ll ever get a true count. Venom was, apparently, not one to leave leftover scraps of his food behind. Peter whimpered and dropped his head, burying his face in his hands. “Oh kid,” Tony whispered and scooted across the floor to sit next to Peter against the wall. He wrapped an arm around the teenager’s shoulders and brought him in for a side hug. “It wasn’t your fault.” “But it was!” Peter argued and shook his head with his face still covered. “It was my body Venom used! I should have fought harder against him!” “According to the numerous records of literal Asgardian warriors being possessed and never waking up from a symbiote, I would say you did amazing,” Tony shot back. Peter pulled his face out of his hands to level Tony with a half-hearted glare before scooting away. Tony watched as Peter pulled his knees in to wrap his arms around and drop his face against. “Sorry. Not helping?” “Not really,” Peter mumbled and turned away. “What can I do to help?” Tony asked. He really did want to everything he could but he also that a large portion of the healing process was Peter working it out internally within himself. All he could do was be there and support his kid along the way. Peter shrugged. “I don’t know,” Peter answered quietly. “I just want to stop feeling like…” “Like?” Tony prompted. Peter’s shoulders heaved with his sigh and he hunched in on himself to appear smaller. “…like Venom is still a part of me. Like I’m not going to try and kill all of you again.” “Oh, Peter,” Tony breathed. He reached a hand out towards Peter but the teenager shied away from it. The reached-out hand stilled and curled into a loose fist as Tony brought it away. “Pete, you aren’t going to hurt us.” “But I tried to before!” Peter argued. “Venom did, not you,” Tony said, repeating his words from earlier. “You two are very different beings with different mindsets. Yes, he used your body for his actions but that wasn’t you.” “But what if he is still in me?!” Peter demanded, finally turning to look at Tony. “What if he is laying in wait just to eat all of you when your guard is down?!” “According to the multiple scans Helen and her team did on you when we brought you back, and whatever magic Loki did on you to see if any bit of Venom got left behind, you are completely cleared of him,” Tony countered. He narrowed his eyes and looked over Peter’s huddled form. “Do want another scan?” Peter gave a half-hearted shrug and brought hand down to rub at the center of his collar bone. Tony knew what Peter was doing with that. Peter had explained to Tony that before he had lost consciousness, he remembered Venom settling in place around that area inside of him. Even now, a week after the incident, Peter was feeling to see Venom was still there. Tony pressed his lips together and came to a decision. He was going to do this later when Peter wasn’t so haunted by the parasite but maybe this would help ease it. Reaching into his pocket, Tony tapped a few times on his phone and waited for a moment as the live feed pulled up on the screen. “Here,” Tony said and passed his phone over to Peter. The teenager raised an eye brow but grabbed it anyways, pulling out of his huddle some. On the screen, it showed a heavily re-enforced glass container with a black substance settled on the bottom. His eyes went wide and he looked at Tony and then back at the phone. “Is that…” “Venom? Yup,” Tony popped the word and nodded his head. “Where is it?” Peter asked, not taking his eyes off the phone. “In SHIELD's heavy lock-down,” Tony answered. He jerked his chin towards the phone. “Fury set us up with a live feed of it so that we can always see that it is locked up.” “Woah,” Peter whispered and brought the phone closer to his face. On the screen, Venom shifted in the container and Peter flinched. He tossed the phone back into Tony’s hand and wrapped his arms around him. Peter took a few deep breathes while Tony put his phone away, letting Peter calm himself. It took a few moments but Peter relaxed his arms and peeked down at his own phone. “Do you think…I could have access to that feed too?” “Of course, 'roo,” Tony agreed. Tony had actually been the one to push for the live-feed so that he could always monitor where Venom was. He had an inking that Peter would perhaps that the same train of thought like him. “I’ll have Friday install it.” “Already done, sir,” Friday said cooly from the ceiling. “See,” Tony grinned. “She’s the best.” “If I agree to that, I might hurt Karen’s feelings,” Peter joked weakly. Tony chuckled and hesitantly started scooting closer to Peter. When the teenager didn’t protest or flinch away, Tony took that as an invitation to come closer. The inventor got right up next to Peter and swung an arm around his shoulders, pulling Peter in close again. He left the arm hugging Peter loose in case his kid felt trapped again and needed to pull away. Sometimes, ever since the incident, his kid who loved physical attention would pull away in discomfort. May had commented on it after she tried to run her hand through Peter’s hair like he enjoyed and he had flinched away. Peter would flinch at times when Michelle would reach for his hand and the secret handshake he always preformed with Ned was rejected for friendly waves instead. Sam was a blessing with his therapist training. Peter had gone to him multiple times a day the first couple days after he was released from the med bay and Sam wasn’t quite far away, even at that very second, in case he needed to step in. According to the flier, Peter was on a long road of mental recovery but there was a light at the end of the tunnel. They just all needed to help him and support him when needed, and Peter would be okay. Peter would never forget what happened and he would never truly be the same, but he would heal. Tony could only be thankful for that and that he had Peter back from the symbiote. There were moments after finding out what the parasite was and before rescuing Peter that he truly feared he was going to lose his kid a second time. “I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you, kid,” Tony apologized into Peter’s hair. “What?” Peter leaned back and furrowed his brow at Tony. “What are you talking about?” “I wasn’t enough to protect you from those HYDRA assholes,” Tony said. “If I had my suit or been strong like Steve, maybe you wouldn’t have had to deal with Venom to begin with.” “It’s not your fault though,” Peter countered. “You couldn’t have predicted this would have happened.” “And you couldn’t have predicted you were going to be possessed by an alien parasite,” Tony said, rubbing a hand up and down Peter’s arm. “Maybe we should both try to accept that this was a combination of things we couldn’t control and not blame each other.” “But Mr. Stark…” Peter trailed off as he didn't really have the energy to protest at the moment. “Tony, kid, I am literally begging you here,” Tony sighed, letting the usual banter between the two of them flow in naturally to diffuse the situation. “Do I have to bribe you? Because I am not below that. What do you want? A car? One of those Lego star destroyers? How about an island where it’s nice and warm and there are no volcanos?” Peter raised a hand to cover his mouth as laughter tumbled out. Tony gave a half-smirk, half-grin at that. He was so happy to see Peter laughing as it was something that was few and far between lately. “Hey, Peter!” Bucky called from somewhere outside his room in the hall. “Where are you?! We’re going to see if Thor can punt Loki into lower orbit!” Peter looked swiftly over at Tony, his eyes twinkling in excitement and his smile growing larger. Tony never thanked Bucky’s timing more than right now. “I did not agree to this!” Loki screeched from farther down the hall. “Brother, it will be fun!” Thor’s voice boomed. “No, it won’t!” “You’ll love it! It’ll be just like ‘get help’!” “I detest 'get help'!” Peter chuckled at their actions and Tony felt the icy hand of concern ease up around his heart. “Wait, I wanna see!” Peter yelled back and pulled away from Tony to get off the floor. He shook out his half-numb legs and ran out of the bathroom. “Do you think Mr. Thor would throw me too?!” “Oh hell no!” Tony exclaimed and rushed off the floor to follow along. “You’ve already been to lower orbit once, you’re not doing it again!” “Aww, Mr. Stark!” Peter argued and pouted next to Bucky as Tony caught up to them. “No, buts!” Tony cut Peter’s arguing off. “What I say goes and no more playing Icarus for you.” “You’re no fun,” Peter pouted. “Aw, kid, cheer up,” Bucky grinned and nudged Peter with his elbow. “We can still watch Loki get tossed like a football.” He wrapped an arm around Peter’s shoulders and started directing him towards the landing pad. “Wait for me to get a camera!” Tony laughed as he followed after the chaotic members of his team and son. “I did not agree to this!” Loki exclaimed and ran down the hall from Thor. “We should make some popcorn,” Peter said aloud. “Pete, I never have agreed with you more than right now,” Tony threw his head back and laughed. He watched as Peter talked with Bucky, the teenager bouncing on his toes in excitement. Tony stuffed his hands in his pockets and followed at a leisurely pace. For now, things were good. Later, he knew that Peter would have another wave of memories and he would need to calm him down from it. Tony didn’t mind though. Anything he could to help Peter out, he would do so without hesitation.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
BONUS SCENE:
Peter huffed as he looked up the ceiling in his room. He had finally been cleared to go back to the apartment with May though Tony had made him swear to call him the second he felt off. As soon as he had closed the door to his room, Peter had flopped backwards onto the bottom bunk of his bed, his head hanging off the edge to imitate the feeling of being upside. He swore that he was fine, that his nightmares were not attacking him as much. In the past week, he’s only had two which was a big improvement compared to the last month since he had been rescued. Of course, Friday had alerted his parental figures to his distress and they had both come busting down his door to console the freaked-out teenager. Michelle had been a big help being one of the few people that did not truly see Peter in his venomized state. Those who did were still as loving and caring as before, but there was a short wave of apprehension between them like they were waiting to see if there was still any bits of the parasite still in him. His girlfriend still treated him the same as if he was just in a huge battle and did the usual helping afterwards. She was no stranger to Peter’s nightmares and the times where he nodded off only to wake up screaming, she was like a force of nature with how she calmed him down. She would just hold him close in a certain way that allowed him to smell her perfume and feel her, grounding him to the present. Her words were soft and she would talk about anything on her mind, letting him slowly forget what scared him to begin with. Tony had become like a helicopter parent in the last month. Anytime Peter so much as sneezed, Tony was on him with questions on how he was feeling. It would take hours for Tony to calm down again which left Peter feeling smothered. Don’t get this confused with Peter not being thankful that he had such a support system – but he just really didn’t want someone breathing down his neck every hour of the day. Even Morgan had picked up on how overbearing Tony had become – which was saying something if a five-year-old was calling him out. So, yeah, Peter knew that Tony only did it out of concern but it was suffocating to be treated like a ticking time bomb all the time. Which is exactly why Tony didn’t know that Peter’s wrists were feeling a bit weird. Peter held up his right wrist, scrutinizing it to find what was wrong. At first glance, it looked like nothing was wrong. Bring his wrist closer to his face, Peter noticed a little bump on the inside of the appendage. His other hand came up to rub at it, feeling the near unnoticeable raise of skin. “Well, that’s new,” Peter muttered to himself. Holding his bare wrist up, he bent his middle and ring finger back to press on his palm like he was using his web shooters. Imagine his surprise when white webbing shot from his wrist to stick to the ceiling above him. Releasing his fingers, he watched as the webbing detached from his wrist and dangled from the ceiling above him. It seemed like Venom’s possession of him left behind a power upgrade. Peter pressed his lips together as he reached up and pulled on the webbing. It didn’t budge as he pulled, only stretching a bit like his web-shooter webs did. He applied more force to it as if to rip web-shooter webs and was surprised how it still didn’t rip off. Easing off for fear of ripping the ceiling down before the web broke, Peter just started running calculations in his head in amazement at how strong this new webbing was. “Peter!” May called from the other room. Peter sat up quickly, his eyes darting from the webbing on the ceiling to his door. “You hungry?” He relaxed now that he knew May wasn’t about to walk in. “Always!” Peter answered. It was an inside joke of theirs ever since May found out about Peter’s enhanced metabolism. “I’ll order some Thai,” May informed him. “I’ll let you know when it gets here!” “You’re the best!” Peter grinned. Peter looked back up at the webbing, trying to figure out how he was going to get it look without ripping off the ceiling. Sighing, he flopped back down on his bed and raised his wrist to stare at the small bump. Yeah…Peter was going to keep this tid-bit of information just to himself for a little longer.