Spider-Man. The House Of Venom

As Venom swung away, he spotted the man lifting another weapon and pointing at him. As the shot fired it cut the line he had a hold of, and as he shot out another one, it was cut again,

Not this crap again, Venom thought. He knew it was the favourite practice of those damn Oscorp drones. Another Oscorp stooge. Time to send a message to Osborn I guess.

Sending out two lines, he was shocked as two shots took out both lines. As he thudded into a wall, he held and waited, keeping his eyes on the sniper.

Yeah, I see you, he thought, making sure there was only one man. As he felt the disturbance in the air he dived, shot out a web and swung towards him once more. A second round impacted against his symbskin and Venom shook his head in disbelief.

Enhanced?

There was no way a normal human could fire off that accurately or that quickly.

The only saving grace he had, as he leapt from building to building, was that the rounds didn't penetrate his skin. As he landed on the final rooftop he finally got a  good look at the man.

Surrounded by crates of ammo and different calibre rifles. It was a lot of hardware, most of which Venom didn't recognise. The man just stood as if he was waiting,

“You know, I normally never miss, and that last shot. You made me miss.”

Venom gave him the once over. Short, barely over 6 foot he was skinny and covered in tactical gear. It reminded him of the agent but scruffier. A vest with holsters carrying various knives, shurikens, and small pistols. The man was a gun nut, just a pity he was bulletproof.

More than that, Venom could smell the chemo coming off him.

Cancer, he thought, not good.

Dying people were desperate people, and he might have nothing to live for.

“It's Bullseye, and you’re Venom right?” As he stepped back he raised his hands, “hey now, let's not, okay? Aaron might have pussied out but I've got enough explosives wired up to bring this building down. So we’re gonna talk, just for a bit, okay?” and as he sat down on a crate, he took out a cigar and lighting it motioned for Venom to sit over on one of the other boxes.

“So, talk,” Venom said, knowing not to go anywhere near anything this man had set up. Bombs, traps, mines, anything could be hidden in that crate, and Venom wasn't about to give him his head on a plate.

“Suit yourself. See, Kingpin isn't the only player in town, and a lot of people really don't like you. Me, I just want to hunt something with superhuman reflexes. I mean come on, dodging a shot fired at supersonic speeds, and moving someone out of the way? That, that was impressive,” Bullseye said while taking a puff on his cigar. “But," he said with a sigh. "You made me miss and that’s a matter of professional pride.”

Venom shrugged, “well, professional pride is great, but I really don't like people who shoot at me." So, not Osborn but our mystery boss. If Huntress doesn’t get answers from wolfguy, we have another lead.

Bullseye laughed, “Nobody does. But, as I'm doing the one shooting, you really shouldn't be around to complain about it.” He waved a hand, “If life was different Venom, you coulda been really useful to my boss.” Bullseye blew out a huge plume of smoke, "but, then you go and be one of those righteous types. You should have left the factories alone."

He stood and stubbed out the remains of his cigar, “you know, I really don’t want to kill you. I know what it's like, they did things to me, horrible terrible things but at the end of the day. I’m getting a huge fucking paycheck for this.” he laughed and shook his head. "Come get me."

As Venom took a stance, Bullseye took a few steps backwards and jumped from the roof. Venom watched as a rappelling rope uncoiled itself.

As the man disappeared, the box he had motioned to ignited and Venom found himself flying up into the air. Boxes of ammo exploded and filled the air with deadly shrapnel. Veno curled into a ball and thickened the armour around him. Venom could feel the countless sharp and ragged pieces slicing into his symbskin.

Whoever Bullseye was, he had counted on an armoured target. The shrapnel was sharp and small. He took measures to make sure he could hurt Venom. Venom knew he had been stupid, ignoring the no-talking rule. He should have just taken the fight elsewhere. As he sent out a line and pulled himself from the burning rooftop he scanned for where ever Bullseye had gone.

His symbskin reformed and he felt the flesh underneath expel the metal and reform. He would need to make sure he got it all later but for now, he clicked his throat mic. “Liv, get emergency services to my location. A new Enhanced set fire to the building to get me. Oh and phone in a bomb threat as well. He rigged the roof, who knows if he rigged anything else.”

She sighed and agreed then cut the call off. Normally it was rude, but under the circumstances, they knew it might be a distraction.

Wherever that slippery bastard had gone, Venom couldn't see or sense him nearby. He was using the smoke and fire as a distraction, and Venom knew he must be aware of his enhancements. He shook his head, so why didn't Prowler do anything like this?

Conscience. Prowler was protecting a business and had gotten desperate. Bullseye just mentioned the money. He was a hitman, didn’t give a shit about anyone living in the area, and with the smell, probably had a pile of medical debt.

Damn, need to be more careful then, Venom thought as he closed his eyes and let his senses envelop the area.

He could feel the residual heat from the flames and the way it made the air swirl. He tilted his head, remembering the brief lessons from Felicia.

Idiot.

He climbed up higher and sprayed the area with sticky but fire-resistant webbing. He guessed Bullseye knew how he was able to track the bullets and had lit a fire to disrupt the flow of air.

As a round hit him square in the chest, deforming and knocking him back, his guess was proven right. It stung but hadn’t penetrated his armour.

The next one will though.

Bullseye was a hunter, and he was testing each and every one of Venom's defences until he found that sweet spot. Venom knew at that point he would strike for the kill. There would be no talking, and no negotiating. This might be a target that Venom would have to kill, a thought that he was not looking forward to proving correct.

Bullseye could feel the excitement as he watched Venom shrug off that last round like he threw a paper ball at him. The Point-Seven-O cartridge wasn’t heavy enough and he didn't trust anything that hack loser had used. No, he would fire every calibre he had before he took that final shot. Venom was enhanced as everyone called it, but to him, he was just another target.

There was no such thing as perfect armour. Stop the kinetic damage and there was always bleed-through, simple physics one-o-one. Energy can never be destroyed, only converted, and that kinetic energy had to go somewhere.

As Bullseye watched the symbskin reform. He had been watching from the start. He saw the way it healed over the burns and the shrapnel wounds. Not quick enough that one single shot in the right place would finish things.

Plan number three, he thought to himself. Building nine then.

He had placed sensors over the buildings. As he glanced down at the small display on his wrist he saw that he was getting pings from the southeast of his arena. Nodding to himself, he picked up a small SMG from the ammo caches he had hidden. Armed, he shot out a grapple line, climbing back up onto the roof.

Right on schedule, he saw Venom coming back over the lip of the building across from him. He give him a smile and a wave, and he started to run towards the north side. A rope and a small present for Venom were waiting there but even he had underestimated Venom's speed.

As he grabbed the rope and swung he felt the rush of air behind him as a clawed hand swiped at his back. Turning he lifted the small calibre SMG and emptied its clip. It hit but did very little damage, which was his plan. As he tossed it away, he hit the detonator and the lip of the roof exploded, showering them both in debris. Venom took most of the blast, burning away more of his armour. As the pressure wave pushed them to the next building, the pair rolled across the rooftop.

“That doesn't work,” Venom said to him as he stood and stretched the ache away.

Bullseye shrugged. No talking while fighting, what idiot had a conversation at a time like this? He thought and rolled, picking up a rifle and firing at Venom.

Shaking his head, a giant scary-looking maw split and Venom roared at him.

Fuck, file never mentioned that, but it would take more than sharp teeth to faze Bullseye. Knives and bombs were worse than a rip-off shark. He snorted to himself as he emptied the clip and threw the rifle away, fighting a shark would be harder.

Bullseye had been paying attention to Venom and so far had been unimpressed. He had spent most of his adult life in the military. He had been forced into the private sector when certain war crimes came to light.

He’d trained and been trained by the best, and this guy, whoever was under that armour was a chump. A badly trained mess of some middle eastern generic martial art plus a few of his own moves thrown in.

He was fast, strong, and that was it. Without those powers, Bullseye would have taken less than a second to kill him. It would have taken longer to order a burrito and eat it to celebrate.

But there was no use in complaining about things that couldn't be changed. He had those powers, and Bullseye had thought of counters to them all.

As he rolled away from another attack, he moved over and rolled a grenade into the centre of the rooftop. He had chosen this one as it was mainly free of piping. The only cover Venom had was the roof's access shack and a single air conditioning vent on the other side. Open space with nowhere to hide.

As smoke filled the roof, he switched on a pair of infrared goggles. Venom might have enhanced senses but removing them was easy enough. Enhanced hearing was useless when you flooded the area with high-pitched ultrasonics. Enhanced vision was useless when lights strobed randomly.

As he crept as quietly as he could over to the shack he lifted a pair of tonfas. Swinging them around and letting them rest along his forearms. Venom hadn’t moved, and Bullseye figured he was adjusting to the smoke and noise. It made no difference. This was over, and half crouching he silently made his way over.

As he approached and swung, Venom ducked. Bullseye figured correctly he was reading the air currents. Shaw would pay for this information. There was also that other weird looking one to deal with. His contract only specified Venom. If Shaw wanted her, that would cost him more.

On the top of the shack, a cannon raised itself up on a mechanical lift. Preset, it would fire off in a specific pattern at six-second intervals. With a whoomph, it blasted air into the smoke.

As Venom turned towards the blast of air Bullseye struck out with the solid core tonfa. With ease, he struck him over and over. Batting away at each pressure point, finding out which ones would hurt and which ones to avoid. Shaw had trained him to kill mutants, some idiot in a suit was an easy job.

As Venom dodged away from him he waited patiently. Following a faster opponent was suicide and as he moved and waited. Once the cannon fired once more, he struck out, striking Venom on the knee. As Venom roared in pain he struck out once more, catching him on the shoulder before moving away.

Venom swung out again, but Bullseye had already moved.

Amateur, he thought and after moving into the safe zone, waited once more as the blinded Venom paced the roof.

As the last cannon fired Bullseye moved once more. As he struck out, Venom twisted, shot out some kind of sticky fluid, and Bullseye was held fast,

“We found you and now you will surrender," he hissed but Bullseye laughed,

“Nope, gotcha.” He twisted the second tonfa in his hand and pressed it into the centre of Venom's chest. "Bye."

As the small button on the top clicked a single large calibre round fired from the chamber. As Bulleye had no need to worry about range this round was armour piercing. As it penetrated through the centre of Venom’s armour and chest he was thrown backwards and against a wall. He coughed once and bright red blood trickled from that impressive but useless maw of his.

Throwing the now useless weapon away, Bullseye walked over to the single air vent. As he flipped open the top of a crate behind it he smirked. “You think I'm going to come over there and attack you, at close range?” He shook his head, “See, I bet that's what you want. Maybe got a nice sword or some big fucking claws. That armour can change shape, and you're an idiot for not using it." Bullseye shrugged, "maybe Shaw'll let me keep it. Might even cure me."

As he leant over and pulled out a huge bore rifle, he slung it under his arm. “I might not use a rocket launcher but at this range, it doesn't matter.“

As he lined up the rifle Venom stared into the huge gaping end of the barrel.

“I’ll never miss.”