Spider-Man. The House Of Venom

The rest of the conversation went much better.

Peter laughed and finished making breakfast, as Elektra made Matt a decent cup of coffee,

“You know, we’ve got a few clients that can actually pay in the warehouse as well. Like Gwen needs a lawyer for contract and patent work. Liv needs a good criminal lawyer, and MJ’s starting to get parts. We can put a lot of legitimate work your way, Matt.”

Matt leaned back, “Legitimate? Paying legitimate?”

Peter nodded and then gave himself an exasperated look. He had to stop using visual expressions at someone who couldn't see him.

“Sure. I mean, Felicia and I are the only ones who actually do bad stuff. Well, Liv’s a fugitive but she’s just caught in a mess that’s not her fault.”

Matt raised an eyebrow as the warehouse filled with the smell of cooking bacon.

“Fugitive from what?” he asked, knowing if Peter was Venom she was probably on the run as well,

“Uh, Oscorp. Olivia Octavius,” came a voice from one home. “And thank you, Peter, you might have discussed this with me before you made my presence known.” Liv wheeled herself over to the breakfast table and stuck out a hand.

Surprisingly Matt took and shook it, “Matthew Murdock, attorney at law. Nice to meet you, and I’m guessing you’re the mad scientist that everyone's been screaming about in the news.”

Liv just chuckled, “Not so mad anymore dear.” As Peter leaned over and kissed her, she lightly batted him on the cheek. “Naughty, you will make amends for that dear, now, breakfast.” As she helped herself to a cup of coffee, Peter went back to cooking.

“So do you all?” Matt asked and Felicia shrugged, “Fight? No, just Pete and I, and the Black Cats are run by me. If you’re my lawyer I will make sure you know everything, in fact. I still have Fisk’s files to go through. If you want I can uh, maybe have some of the files disappear and arrive at a certain lawyer's office. But it comes with a price. First, you leave me and the Cats alone, and second." Felicia turned and looked sternly at Elektra. "Elektra, I want you to train Pete. He really needs a professional.”

Elektra laughed. “Are you kidding? We will spar, and if I win, I have some conditions of my own. If you win, I will train him."

Felicia sat up, and raised both eyebrows at Elektra, "Conditions?"

Elektra smirked, "Hades has a lot of interesting things to say. I wish to see if they are true or not."

“Deal, but let's make it more interesting. We fight, and so there is no cheating, we get a referee.”

Felicia nodded. “Deal.” The pair shook before sitting back down, “Matt, want to watch us spar? Seems we have a few things to settle between us before anything moves forward.”

Matt nodded. “I’d like to see those files, and the work sounds good as well. They are legit though? I don’t want to suddenly find out there’s more shady stuff going on.”

Peter laughed, “Gwen Stacy. Police Chief George Stacy’s daughter.”

Matt shook his head as he drank the now much more palatable coffee, “and she’s fine with this?”

Peter just shrugged. Gwen and MJ had gone to the rooftop to clean up before the police arrived, and had disposed of Bullseye. “Ask her yourself, she’ll be up once the bacon is done.”

Felicia laughed as right on cue a sleepy-looking Gwen and a perfectly made-up MJ both walked out of her home. With Peter and Felicia out last night, and them both being alone they had spent the night together.

“So uh, anyone want to explain?” Gwen asked, grabbing a plate held by Peter and squeezing ketchup over the eggs and bacon. As the toaster popped she grabbed two slices and began to butter them as the group looked at each other,” Well?” as she took a bite,

“Daredevil, Elektra.” Felicia waved a butter knife between the pair, as Elektra buttered Matt’s toast and made him a fresh coffee. ”Huntress saved her so we have Hades as well. We got Fisk and his guys but there was a problem. Bullseye, a killer got the jump on us, and yeah, we killed him.”

Gwen stared over at Felicia, who was busy buttering her own slices of toast. Peter was busy sliding more into a toast rack and sat it down in the middle of the table.

MJ was just drinking coffee and shrugged, “So nothing exciting then?”

As Gwen snorted, Peter laughed. "See, no issue at all."

“Really?” Matt sighed. He could feel they were all like Elektra. The clothing they were wearing gave off the same feeling that she did. He could see Liv through her wheelchair, but the others vibrated enough that he could see them as well. There was more than one of these alien creatures and they were living together.

nesting? he wondered.

The slight hint of sex from both Gwen and MJ was enough to know it could be more. He knew that they were all just as dangerous. Where the confusion lay though was with Peter. He was completely invisible. If he was host to one as well, he was different.

A male? Matt had no clue. He was a lawyer, not a scientist.

He had to smile though as they were all acting like college kids. As he sat and listened they chatted, bickered, and teased one another. Just like Elektra, Foggy, and he used to do in their dorm.

Crap, Foggy. Matt leaned back as he realised he was late for work.

“Uh, Elektra, do you have my phone?”

She patted his hand, “I don’t even have my phone. Someone was in a rush and we left before I could grab it.” while it seemed like she was blaming Matt, the whole thing was her problem. She was fending off Hade's request to either take Matt in the shower or find Peter so she could taste him as well.

“It’s just after eight,” MJ said, checking her phone, she had an hour before her shift started, as did Gwen before college.

As the group ate, chatted and then split to head into various jobs, Peter cleaned up.

As Felicia left with Matt and Elektra to head to Fisk's offices she stared at his back for just a moment. She knew from the slouch he wasn’t okay. His usual bravado was covering something and once she was home again she would either beat or screw it out of him.

She knew keeping a defeat like that bottled up could eat away at someone's self-confidence. Peter had already had enough problems with that. He had been the same after his defeat at the Diner, blaming himself for Gwen's injury but Felicia knew better. He was hurt, and she needed to fix it before it festered. She would leave him alone for now. Concentrate on letting him think things through.

If he is still moping, smack him and then let us make him happy, Huntress said, Our mate is not a weakling.

Felicia sighed, no, I think he's more powerful than any of us realise, he just needs to learn that.

Then fight him or have us fuck him. If he bests us all, he will know he is strong.

Felicia laughed as she sat at her desk, lifting her phone and sending a message to everyone. You know, that's not a bad idea after all.

⁂

It was another tiring and boring day. Matt had sent her an email address so she could upload files to him. She had been going over files to send to him without implicating the warehouse. After stretching she saw Liv at the breakfast table. "Where is he?" she asked and Liv just pointed up with a sigh and wheeled herself back into her home.

Felicia found him sitting on the edge of the warehouse roof. Around him were several empty bottles.

“So, want to tell me what's up?” and as he moved over she cuddled up to him, “or gonna sit and mope around some more?”

Peter lifted the bottle and took a drink, offered it to her and she took a sip as well.

“Bullseye,” was all he said before another swig, "and giving up."

She frowned and sighed. “It was him or you, no question, but what's bothering you? It’s not like you haven't lost before, or,” and as he took a long drink he finished the bottle and popped the top from another. Looking behind him she saw this was his fourth.

“No, I want to never feel that stupid again. How do I tell MJ or Gwen I was so dumb I almost got myself killed, or Aunt May? Bullseye played me like a tune and I let him. So much for being smart huh?” As he drained the bottle he let out a loud belch.

“Yeah, that's attractive,” Felicia huffed as she sat next to him

Peter looked guiltily at the empty bottle in his hand, “Uh sorry.”

“Nah, you're good. Look. Sit here and mope all you like. Pete. You fucked up,  but you think I never fell off something, think I never got hurt? Get back up, train harder, try harder and yeah, next time, cut his stupid head off.” As she stood she looked over at him, “but yeah, don't tell Gwen, she’ll really kill you.”

He laughed. She would probably find a way to bring him back just so she could.

As he looked at the empty bottles he knew it wasn’t helping. He had grown used to fighting muggers and in the scheme of things, nobodies.

Bullseye was a killer, Aaron was an enforcer for a crime boss and he was just a high school student. If he wanted to play in their sandpit he needed to be more than just that. It was time to stop making excuses. It was either take this seriously or stop altogether, half-assing it would get him killed. The past day had proven that.

He could work with Liv and integrate the harness into his symbskin. That was a start. Huntress could provide better training. If Elektra was as much of a badass as she seemed, the training would be well above what Felicia could give.

Gathering the bottle he took a look at the New York skyline. Felicia was right, moping never solved anything and neither did drinking. Action, not inaction was needed and he knew he needed to grow the fuck up. Play properly or don’t play at all.

No, he thought, that's what got my ass whipped, don't play, fight.

As he let himself back into the warehouse he nodded at Felicia.

"Yeah, right lover boy. You've got an apology to give us all." He tilted his head in confusion, "We're waiting." Felicia's clothes slid away and she purposefully shook her hips as she walked into Gwen's home. Peter snorted and shook his head as he smiled and followed her.

⁂

Peter took a deep breath as he stretched after their workout. Last night he had worn them all out. Even Liv who normally shied away from the group joined in and quickly succumbed.

He had woken early and ran. It was an attempt to clear his head of the last doubts. Bullseye had played him, Bullseye had shot him, and like an idiot, he had thought it was over. During the fun times, Felicia pointed out he didn't even have a scar where he had been shot.

When her mouth wasn't busy, Liv had promised they would see just how far his regeneration could be pushed. He was Enhanced but had no idea just how powerful.

With nobody around, Peter showered and wandered into the main area. He flicked on the news and there it was, a building full of explosives and a failed terrorist plot.

The explosion had been mistaken for fireworks after Venom had deflected it. Aaron had been mistaken for Goblin and less than an hour after the group had left, the new ETF had shown up.

There was no footage but eyewitnesses reported the fight on the rooftops. A cache of weapons and ammunition had been reported, missed by Gwen but they had secured most of it.

It was good luck they had managed to bring the Goblin Mark Two back without being spotted. One of the empty homes was now a storage unit. Peter had blacked out the windows and reinforced the door. The guns were bad enough. The explosives were defiantly illegal. The prototype Golbin suit would have the ETF arresting them all to throw in a large hole.

Peter clicked the news off. He didn't need to know what JJ was going to rant about today. He sighed as Felicia rubbed her face, stretched, yawned and headed over.

"Slacking Pete, no breakfast?" she teased him.

"Finest New York salami, hot and hard," he teased her back.

"Coffee then. MJ yells loud now." she snorted with a laugh. MJ's powers had been difficult to copy, and Huntress was still in a strop that she couldn't.

Peter sighed, "just watched the news, and uh."

“Stop moping,” she said. She grabbed his cup and sat on him once more. He was her favourite chair first thing, even as she slid him somewhere more comfortable. “Stop it or stops happening.”

To prove her point she kissed him and he smiled and grinned. “See, you won’t win them all Pete, you’ll fuck up and we’ll get mad, but it’s this. This stupid depressing shit after, you need to stop. We won, they didn't, scars heal, lives move on.” He kissed her shoulder, and moved, making her moan softly. “Nobody likes a whiner, Pete." As she slid back and forth, "no whining, only moaning."

“For god sake you two. No sex at the breakfast table,” they heard MJ yell.

As they both laughed, Peter lifted Felicia and headed into a more private area to continue.