Spider-Man. The House Of Venom

There would be no stealth mission this time. Cable had looked directly into the camera and used the US military call signs for 'Spotted' and 'Parley'.

Steve was healed enough that he could fly a quinjet. While the others prepared, he lowered its ramp to let Fury out onto the balcony of Stark Tower.

As soon as the portal device was activated Fury mobilised Shield. A general evacuation order had been issued, and the NYPD were now clearing the streets. The National Guard would get there, but not for another hour. It would be up to the Avengers to contain the Chitauri.

"So, Parker tells me you aren't exactly the friendliest, and," he motioned to the heavily armoured TVA soldiers. "They don't exactly inspire confidence."

"Parker is a fugitive. In his world, he was actively creating what we call an inversion. An event that destabilises and destroys entire universes. He resisted, so we chased him."

"He tells a different story. And your badge. What exactly does TVA stand for,"

"Time Variance Authority. We monitor timelines and make corrections. We make sure that the Sacred Timeline is intact and kept that way. It's my job to do that on a larger scale. I protect universes."

"So, You correct timelines. So everything Parker's done since he got here, will be what? Erased. What of the people he saved?"

"What of the people who he didn't? Look, Fury. I know you from plenty of different Spheres, and you always do what's right. In this case, handing me Parker and letting us reset the timeline is what's right."

Fury paused, "See, there's that word, Reset. I don't think you really have any right to do that." Fury looked up at Steve in the cockpit, "Avengers. Assemble."

⁂

The team was split into three.

Thor, Iron Man, and Hulk were dealing with the Chitauri. Iron Man and Thor would keep the aliens from coming through the aperture. Hulk would deal with anything that slipped past them. This was a smash-and-move-on mission, there was to be no holding back.

Clint was eyes in the sky. Making sure anything that slipped past was dealt with. He was liaising with the NYPD, and the National Guard if they got there in time. SWAT had been called out, and as long as the stragglers were lightly armoured, it would be up to them to deal with them.

Fury, Black Widow, and Captain America were dealing with the TVA. Only Cable seemed to have a rifle, so it would be hand-to-hand. While he was hurt, Steve assured everyone he was more than capable. Natasha just glared at anyone doubting her.

Venom and Loki were going to deal with Selvig. If Selvig was still following orders, then Loki could get him to stand down. If the Tesseract was protected, Peter was confident he could disable it and shut the portal down.

All that was left was to wait and see if Cable would talk or if it was a fight.

As the code phrase went out over everyone's comms, they knew it was going to be a fight.

⁂

Thor hovered next to Iron Man, "Loki...Loki needs a lesson in understatement."

They surveyed the assembled army through the portal. The 'small invasion force' Loki had warned them about, was not that small.

Iron Man's HUD locked onto at least fifty small flying vehicles. Ten large whale-sized armoured ships followed, holding hundreds of troops. In the back, sat a huge star-shaped command centre.

"We uh," Iron Man huffed, "We need a bigger gun."

"But we do not have one friend, Stark. We will hold them back long enough for your army to arrive."

Iron Man sent a message to Pepper. "I know I love you, and I will do better."

"Right," His repulsors whined as they charged, "let's do this."

⁂

Erik bowed awkwardly as Venom and Loki stepped out onto the balcony, "My lord, yes, I have, succeeded."

Venom huffed, "shut it down."

Erik looked over at Loki who nodded, "I uh, no, I can't. Now the reactor is online it's self-sustaining. Only the Tesseract or Loki's sceptre can close it."

Venom's shoulders slumped, "Okay, then we do this." A tendril shot out, and Erik froze. He then collapsed, unconscious as the sceptre's control vanished. "Take him downstairs somewhere safe." 

Loki nodded, not wanting to be anywhere near the device. If it went wrong, and he knew it would, it would explode, taking out the top floor of the building. He had an excuse to leave, and he was taking it.

Venom stuck out a hand and gingerly touched the field surrounding the generator. His fingers sparked against the shield and his armour disintegrated. "Well, crap." It couldn't be the Stone as they worked against each other, it had to be something else. Venom pushed on his mic, "Hey Loki, what was the sceptre made of."

It hissed as Loki finally answered, "Metal."

Not helping, Venom thought, but groaned in frustration. To contain the power of the Stone and to hide it from any scans, he bet his ass the sceptre was Vibranium. Which was why it was the key to stopping the device. "Well, double crap."

⁂

The TVA were well-armed but not well-trained. Widow on her own was taking out two at a time, and Fury was happily holding his own. Cable was staying back, and out of the fight. That had more to do with his equipment registering an active target lock on him from the Quinjet. He was here for Parker, and not to kill the Avengers. His orders didn't include them or they would be smears on the sidewalk.

Losing men was never an issue, and it looked like Fury and Black Widow were taking them down, not taking them out. He would just wait until the Chitauri needed a heavier hand, and then Parker would be forced to come out.

"You know, I could help with your spaceman problem. I can fight, just give me Parker."

Fury lifted an agent off their feet, slammed them down and narrowly avoided the baton of another. "How," he huffed, "about," he was getting too old for this, "you shut the hell up." He spun, catching his second assailant in the guts with a foot. He grabbed the baton from them, reversed it and slammed it into their chest. The agent convulsed and went down, "neat, thanks." He spotted Widow already had two and was making short work of the twenty. He had taken out two in the time she had taken out half a dozen. As an agent approached and raised their fists. "Look man, I'm old, I'm tired and I don't have time for your crap. Go fight her, and let me talk to your boss."

The agent looked over at Cable, who just shrugged. The agent backed away and moved towards Widow.

Fury touched his earpiece. "Cap, go help Iron Man and Thor. They need you more than we do."

Cap could see that even outnumbered Black Widow was holding her own. He was hesitant, as the unknown did have heavy artillery, but seemed hesitant to use it.

"It won't matter if he starts shooting. It's a pulse weapon, and Parker was right, we can't defend against them.

"Then maybe you shouldn't have built them," Cap said as he lifted the jet and flew towards the aperture.

⁂

Steve! Peter thought, "Hey Cap, swing my way for a moment, I need you."

"You have a minute. Tony and Thor are heavily outnumbered. Clint says they are starting to get hostiles on the ground and Hulk is beginning to struggle."

"I need your shield, one minute tops, and I promise you'll get it back."

Cap didn't even stop, he backslid over the roof and his shield rolled out. Venom shot out a web, saluted, and watched as the quinjet flew off.

Right, and gripping the Shield he smashed it against the shield. It crackled but held, "All right" Venom shouted, "Okay, Portal generator coming down. Sorry Cap, your shield might get a little crispy, but I have no choice."

"Do it fast," Hill shouted over the comms. "The World Security Council ordered a launch against Stark Tower. We have a hot launch, I repeat we have a hot launch."

"Hold off on the generator Parker," Iron Man replied. "If we close it, we have no place to send that nuke."

"Nuke? What the hell kind of council is that? We had an alien invasion and nobody launched nukes!" To say Venom was shocked was an understatement.

"Let's deal with the nuke first, and then shout about it. I'll...wait, what the hell is that?" Iron Man sounded confused, "I mean, seriously?"

"Uh Anyone explain?"

"Sure, I mean, I have a visual, on uh a pink suit of Iron Man armour," Cap reported over the radio, "With uh, black stripes."

The channel hissed and popped for a moment, "It's not pink, it's a very light red."

"Who is this, and how did you get a suit of Iron Man armour?"

"It's Ironpool, and I stole it during Iron Man Two. Replacement Rhodey wasn't the only one who got his Christmas early."

"That...that. You asshole. I've been yelling at him for months now," Iron Man shouted across the channel.

Cap was firing missiles at one of the large snake-like creatures. "Tony, yell at him later, right now, we have bigger issues. Can you divert that missile? A big bang would be a lot of help right now."

"Cap, you missed the end of the war. Those are destroy-the-city missiles, not the bombs you're used to. It can't go off anywhere near New York or you risk killing hundreds of thousands of people." Fury explained. He was still standing across from Cable, while Black Widow took out the last of the TVA officers.

"I can stop it. I can help, but you have to give me Parker. Just one man to save millions. You know what will happen when that bomb goes off," Cable said calmly. He could see he was getting through to Fury. One life for New York. It was easy math and an even easier decision.

"Fine. But you need to promise there will be no deaths." Fury realised the enormity of the situation. Cable was right, if that bomb went off, it would be hell.

⁂

In the TVA control room, Mobius was fuming, "What the hell? You guys are supposed to be elite commands, not get your ass-kicked newbies. I mean, come on." He had just watched Black Widow demolish two units. He waved a hand in disgust, "Show me the generator."

The screen fuzzed black for a moment and switched to Venom. Mobius could see the anomaly, standing holding Captain America's shield. "Why doesn't he have the sceptre? Move to Loki."

The camera changed and Loki was sitting in Tony's penthouse with Erik Selvig.

"And I apologise, I was under control just as I put you under control. Now tell me," he lifted a decanter, opened it and sniffed. "What manner of drink is this?"

Mobius looked, "And we're sure the timeline isn't destabilising?" A controller brought up the Sacred Timeline and it was sat at ninety-eight per cent. "Huh." It was still within acceptable parameters. "So where's the sceptre? Rewind to the Helicarrier, see what happened."

Mobius watched as the anomaly broke the sceptre and swallowed the Stone,

"Aww hell. Get me Cable."

Cable had taken hold of Fury and Black Widow and body slid them up to the top of the roof.

"Hey, Parker. Let them deal with this, it's not your world and not your fight," Cable said, "It's theirs." Cable held out a hand and the missile froze, "You know I can hold it, and I can divert it. You surrender, you and the other idiot, and I send this through the portal. No one gets hurt. Nobody dies. You surrender and I save them." He paused for a moment.

"The anomaly has the Mind Stone. You need to get him to give it up or you'll cause an inversion," Mobius hurriedly yelled into Cable's earpiece.

Cable snorted. With one of the Infinity Stones in play, they couldn't reset the timeline. The damn things were more hassle than they were worth. "Oh, and you need to give up the Stone. You know you can't leave with it, not without destabilising the Sphere."

"I give it up, you stop the missile?" Venom asked.

"That's the deal. I only want you and him."

"Ooo, a threesome. I knew I didn't shave my ass for no reason," Ironpool said. He spotted Black Widow and sidled over to her. "Hi, I'm the new metrosexual Tony Stark. I give money to charity and save helpless kittens. Just ignore the crippling facial injuries. I got those saving a burning orphanage."

"You know I have the same communications channel as everyone else right?" Widow replied, taking a step away. "And I know the weak spots on the armour."

"There are no weak spots on my armour," Iron Man said in a small huff, "and can you please hurry this along? These guys are not stopping while you chat."

Venom looked at Cable, who was smirking. He tapped the wrist of his arm, "Tick Tock Parker. Even Hulk gets tired."

He hated when the bad guy used hostages. "Fine. Nat, you trust me?"

Black Widow looked at the group, and shrugged, "No, not really."

Venom laughed, "Just this one, can you give me a break?"

She looked at him, "No, not really." Fury glared at her, "Fine. You want me to hold the Stone?"

"I don't know either of them," Venom motioned to Ironpool and Cable, "He's paranoid as hell, and I know you. I know my Natasha wouldn't never."

She rolled her eyes, "Just give me the damn thing and stop with the speeches."

What she was not expecting was for Venom to step forward, wrap an arm around her waist and kiss her. Not a chaste gentle kiss on the cheek, but an invasion. His tongue sought out hers, and it was not unpleasant. In fact, she hadn't been kissed like that for a very long time. His hand found the small of her back and pressed the point where she liked to be touched. His other hand gently cupped her face and she cursed herself as she melted into his arms.

Trust me, you'll love this.

She felt a sticky mass slide into her mouth, and the Stone followed it.

Eugh, did you just spit in my mouth?

No, he did not. We are whole, and we are...hmm.. we are not being called Widow. She is our sister and there have been two before us with that name. You will pick a name that suits us but for now.

No, Venom interrupted. A deal is a deal. Once the bomb is gone, we will surrender. You stay hidden and make sure he keeps his end of the bargain.

Blah Blah Blah, Stupid Venom, sacrificing himself for someone who looks like his, but isn't. We will keep her safe, and we suppose, them too.

Thanks. Venom looked over, "Natasha now has the Stone. Get rid of the bomb."

"Don't need to. Switch off the device and wait," Cable pointed at the shield generator.

Venom raised Cap's shield and it sheared through the barrier with no effort. The device sputtered and died and the portal began to close. A moment later a second device, attached to the side blinked on and an orange door opened.

"I can time travel," Cable said derisively, "I set this up an hour ago. Now, out the armour Deadpool, and through the door."

"Aww, but. I didn't pinky swear, so I don't." A long black blade slid under the Iron Man suit's helmet. It cut into the flexible material over the throat. Deadpool looked at a very angry Venom holding the blade. "Alright alright, spoil my fun and ruin my new suit."

The front of the suit opened and Deadpool walked out. "I didn't like the pale red anyway."

Cable motioned, "now, through the door. You have roughly a minute before that portal closes and this bomb isn't going anywhere."

"Bomb first. Once we walk through, I won't know what you do." Venom grabbed Deadpool and gripped him by the back of the neck and one arm.

"Fine. Let your people know I'm delivering the package."

Deadpool snorted, "he said delivering."

Cable ignored him and turned, lifting the missile and guiding it with his hand. Iron Man and Thor cleared a path and as the missile shot into the portal Venom shut the machine down.

"There, now your turn." Cable lifted the gun and motioned for Deradpool and Venmo to stand next to one another. "This didn't have to be painful, you know. Variants aren't meant to exist."

He fired and the portal sprang into life behind the pair. Venom shrugged, "If they weren't, they wouldn't. Nobody has the right to say who lives or dies." He flicked his wrist and the portal generator sparked into life. As it tried to open a new portal it shorted and its portal phased into life next to Cable's. The two fizzled and merged, changing from orange to black. "So, yeah, screw you, have fun finding us, asshole."

Venom grabbed Deadpool and pulled them both through the portal. Widow flicked her wrist and a small blade shot free. It sliced through the portal generator and cracked the Tesseract. The portal shuddered and then blinked out of existence.

"We are Chance, as he gave us another, so we return the favour." Where Widow had stood was an eight-foot-tall Symbiote host. She bulged with thick muscles and two long blades slid from her arms. "Do you feel lucky punk...well, do you?"

Cable snorted, "My mission here is done. I didn't lie. I only care about stopping Parker." A portal opened and he stepped through. "Now, where the hell are you?"