Spider-Man. The House Of Venom

Huntress and Venom spied the last building Aaron had gone into. Huntress could see that it was empty and that the man sat alone in one of the back rooms. They both knew that it was a trap, but unless they took the risk, they would never know who was hunting them.

The why was easy enough. Muscle in one someone's turf and you got the why. Money and power, and Black Cat was busy snatching both away from whoever ran Hell's Kitchen.

It was that elusive figure that no matter who they beat, who they pressed never gave up. That person, even if it was a man or a woman, was the one they needed to get rid of to set the Black Cats on track. Right now it was too easy for them to simply swoop in, grab the girls, and the Black Cats would be back at square one.

They needed to find out who was at the top and remove them. If they hesitated, if they stalled for any reason there would be a gang war. With just Venom and Huntress, they both knew they would lose.

Venom laid a hand on Huntress’s shoulder and she nodded. Tonight she would stay as Huntress. Venom had been seen with her already, but not with Black Cat. They had fought, so thanks to Spider-Man, everyone assumed they were enemies. Keeping it that way gave one of her identities deniability at least.

Finally, he clicked on the comms they had bought, proper mics allowing them to go hands-free. She clicked in response. Both were set and both were ready.

Venom held the bandolier of vials Gwen had made for them. This time they had brought various corrosives, fire retardants, and expanding foam liquids. In case of emergency, they had the cream. Gwen and Liv finally figured out a formula that acted as a sealant and healing accelerant.

They had no idea what kind of planning had gone into this trap and no idea what to expect. They had prepared the best they could and now it was just down to luck or brute power.

As the only heat signature was on the ground floor, they decided to go in the front door. Clichéd but still the best plan. Working their way down could lead them into a death trap, but second-guessing the plan was not an option.

From the roof across the street, Venom launched the vials wrapped in webbing at the door's hinges. Counting down from fifteen, they waited before swinging and kicking the door down.

Nothing. No cannons fired, or missiles launched. The house itself was quiet, and there was no sound coming from any of the rooms.

Venom slowly crept forward with Huntress lurking behind him. They edged towards the room holding the single person. Huntress confirmed that they were still alone.

“I don't like this,” Huntress said quietly into her mic and Venom clicked his own in agreement. “The target hasn't moved since we entered, this is definitely a trap, be careful.”

Once more he clicked his mic to agree.

Slowly they edged forward until they were at the door. Venom held up three fingers and counted down. Three, two, one, and he barged into the room, easily breaking open the flimsy wooden door.

Sat in the centre of the room was a workshop dummy, wrapped in a heating blanket and wires.

Venom turned and grabbed Huntress as the room filled with bright lights and hot gas. Whatever explosives they had set off burned Venom's back. As his armour evaporated, he roared in pain as his symbskin cooked under the heat.

“Shit, V. Are you okay?”

He nodded, but he could feel the skin on his back bubble and flake off. There was still a residual burning and he figured that it must have been some kind of napalm or thermite. Whatever it was had been hot enough to cook someone alive. They just hadn’t counted on the thick symbskin armour on his back.

“Spray me with number five,” he commed and as he turned Huntress saw the extent of the damage.

Dark patches of symbskin crumbled away to show cooked and blistered skin underneath. Gwen had made an emergency cooling gel. Explosives or fire were at the top of their list of things someone would use to try and kill them.

Huntress took the vial and liberally smeared it over his back. Venom moaned softly as his skin peeled and healed under his recovering symbskin. It was cold and soothing after being baked.

The room was empty now. Everything had been burned away. There were a few scraps of plastic pooled and smelt bad in the centre of the room but nothing else. Looking around the room, Venom was confused. Was this their plan? Had they hoped that the bomb would incinerate the pair? As he watched Huntress nervously look at the stairs and then the door again, he realised. They were waiting outside for them.

“Can you see through the walls and find out if we have company?” Venom asked.

Staring out carefully through one of the boarded-up windows, “we do. They’re hiding but we do.”

Someone knew about the pair's abilities to see ultraviolet but had gone too far. Where normal bright spots would sit on the tops of the building now sat cooler areas. Someone had active camouflage against thermal vision.

“The bomb wasn't the trap, the building was,” she commented and he nodded.

”Up or back out the front door?” The stairs looked clear, but if the first room was anything, it most certainly wasn't.

Huntress thought about it for a moment. “I bet the upper floors are trapped. They want us tired and hurt before they flush us out the main exit. There are probably snipers on the roofs, and I bet they're carrying large calibre rifles.”

“How about a new exit, then, think they know about your invisibility?” Venom asked.

Huntress had to shrug, “Don't use it for fighting, so probably not. If they've got UV or thermal I’ll be spotted though.”

“Not so good is it?” he teased her and she stuck a long tongue out at him.

We can make us vanish, if the Venom wants us to,

Venom looked at Huntress in surprise, “Uh, you can speak, out loud I mean, not just to Huntress or the rest?”

We are not speaking out loud, we took enough of the Venom that we talk to you now,

Wait, what? I can speak to the others as well?

“Uh, Venom. Can this wait until you know, we’re not in a murder house with bad guys trying to kill us?” Felicia spoke, ignoring Huntress.

“Uh sorry, that was just, you know, different,” Venom replied, “but yeah, sorry, eyes on the prize.” He shrugged his shoulders and stretched. “I'm going through that wall, then you stealth and follow after whatever they do is uh done I guess.”

Huntress nodded and she vanished from view.

“So cool,“ Venom uttered to himself.

As he sized up the wall he counted down. He couldn't see if Huntress was ready and they agreed to stay off coms for now in case they were being tracked. Neither of them had much military training. Books and the internet were the scope of their knowledge but it was better to be safe than sorry.

Venom took a deep breath and charged the wall. He chuckled softly as the last time this happened he brought a diner down on himself and his friends.

As the wall crumbled and buckled with the full force of his charge, he felt the sting of rounds hit his chest and head.  And he hoped Huntress had the sense to stay hidden. He spotted several cloaked individuals. The thermal blankets were shrouded in a darker material than the roofs and he counted six in total. If one was the leader he had no idea which one was him, they all looked the same.

As he peered around the street he started to hear screams. The first splat made him look up. He saw Huntress grab and throw a sniper from the roof. He thudded into the ground and soon the street erupted in gunfire.

Several large calibre rounds impacted against his armour. Unlike last time they squashed and deformed without doing any damage. Liv had helped him adapt his armour. Simple rounds were mostly ineffective against it, no matter the calibre.

Huntress was darting and skating across the rooftops. She was happily grabbing and tossing snipers from the high buildings. She was in no danger and he was happy to draw their fire. As he watched, an armoured man, with some circular drums on each wrist, launched some kind of rocket at her.

“NO!” he yelled and sprang up the building, leaping from one side to another to get to the man. Huntress had seen him and ducked out of the way. The missile exploded against a roof side, showering the street with debris.

He clicked his comm, uncaring if it gave away his position, “please, tell me you're okay?” he asked, the worry evident in his voice.

“Nope, you need to give me a back rub later, and a deep massage too,” she laughed as he spoke back, “very very deep.”

He laughed. If she could make jokes she was fine.

As he got to the top of the roof the man was there, and he sighed in relief that it wasn't Iron Man. Instead wearing what appeared to be the Mark Two Goblin armour he had seen in the archive footage.

"Surrender, and I'll make it fast," he said as he levelled a wrist launcher at him.

Venom snarled and leapt.

He saw the air ripple as a micro rocket streaked towards him. In a fit of curiosity caught it and noted the 'Hammer' design on its side. The rocket exploded in his fingers, as even Venom wasn't stupid enough to tightly grip a missile.

He was thrown back over the edge of the building but other than a little dizzy and deaf he was fine. Hammer's reputation of near useless weapons once more proved itself to be correct.

It was still painful and he didn't want to repeat holding one in his hand while it exploded. But once he felt the burning heat of the thermite his armour adapted, a burn-proof layer now coated him. He watched as his smoking fingers shed and reformed their armour.

“Not good enough. Now tell us who you work for and we won't make you eat one.” Venom pounced and the man rolled backwards and fired once more. Several shots thudded into his chest and holding up the other arm he repeatedly fired.

“Prowler. Call me Prowler and no. No talking, only fighting.''

The man backed away and adopted a fighting stance, flitting from foot to foot with his hands raised.

“Fine, we fight then,” and as Venom lunged forward the man sidestepped and brought an elbow down on Venom's back.

Venom barely registered the hit and rolled forwards. He grabbed the edge of the building and used it as a springboard. He leapt backwards. flipped over Prowler and sprayed him with webbing as he passed.

The man was well trained and exceedingly nimble. The Goblin armour was lightweight, barely past a prototype, but it didn't slow the man down at all.

Prowler looked at the black sticky tar-like material gumming up his armour and tried to shake it off. Failing, he cycled his weapons and hearing them whine and click, he knew they were useless.

“Neat trick,” he said as he pulled two batons from his belt. With a swish, they extended out. “Saw the fight with Electro, let's see if you like this,” and he swung for Venom.

It was like watching a child fight with an adult. Venom sidestepped and ducked under each and every blow. Prowler would feign a move and Venom saw through it. Prowler would lunge and Venom would simply not be there when he stopped. Every time Prowler swung Venom was either out of reach or ducked and weaved away.

Prowler was better trained, but Venom was faster. After sparring with Huntress, Venom was now used to fighting an expert.

Prowler knew he was outmatched as the brute moved, but he still had tricks. He did note the second Powered had yet to join the fight. Either the pair were overconfident that he was going to lose or waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

Pulling out several pellets Prowler threw them in a spread in front of Venom. As the armour’s filters kept his vision clear, the world lit up in bright starlight. Venom stood stock still and Prowler took the chance and drove the cattle prod into his ribs. It ticked as the current ran through it and Venom.

“Uh, seriously, flashbangs? You just threw flashbangs at me and then jabbed me with this?” Venom reached over and even as Prowler tried to move away Venom was quicker. He grabbed the cattle prod from him and shook his head. “I learned how to deal with electricity after Electro zapped me. Flashbangs after a certain someone threw one in my face. You did your research, but it's not good enough.”

Venom grabbed the front plate of the armoured suit and hoisted Prowler up and over the edge of the building. He let him dangle for a few seconds and Prowler raised his hands in defeat. Hoisting him back over to the roof, Huntress had finished with the rest of his men.

"You'll take off the suit, and start talking." She instructed him, "or we drop you from the top and see how well that armour works against free fall."

Even with the pair in front of him, Prowler hesitated, "if I talk, I'm dead. You can't threaten me. I'll be dead anyway."

“Got your phone?” Venom asked, and taking it in one hand, dialled and waited. “Uh yeah, hi, it's me, um does the Mark Two have a safety release catch, I don't want to break it.”

Prowler was sat in there wondering what the hell Venom was doing. As he heard the tinny but defiantly female voice describing, in great detail, how to open the armour, he paled. There was only one person who knew exactly how the armour worked, and that was Olivia Octavius. If she was helping Venom and Huntress, there was no way out of this unless he surrendered.

“Thanks, be home soon, here, catch,” Venom said once more as he threw the phone back to Huntress.

“Hey, dipshit, release the armour from inside or I let go and pull it off piece by piece, your choice.”

“How about I activate the self-destruct and you go to hell?” he replied, it had taken months of planning to steal this armour, and he wasn't about to let someone else steal it. There was no self-destruct, but he hoped that Octavius didn't know that.

“Hmm, well. How about I toss you over the side and we keep the armour anyway. I'm sure I can fix it once I scoop you out of it.”

Venom hadn't bought his bluff and he swore. Fisk would be mad that he lost the armour but more so if he lost the armour and his life. “Fine fine but you gotta let me go, promise?”

“You're a bad guy. Is that even worth a promise”?

“Honour amongst thieves. I’ll leave and you get the armour, not saying I won't be back, but for now, you win.”

Venom looked at Huntress and she just shrugged. Venom never had anyone surrender before so what the hell. He put the armour down “You've got five seconds or I punt you to Brooklyn.”

Prowler activated the emergency release. Gas hissed from the back as it forced the plates apart.

Inside the man was handsome but pissed, and Venom could understand why.

Venom didn't pay the man any mind, he just shooed him and as Prowler walked away he felt for the last resort at his waist. Venom was stronger and faster, but not for long. Venom and the woman were busy lifting the armour suit. It was light enough that Venom could carry it over one shoulder.

While they were distracted Aaron made a choice.

Pressing the injector gun against his neck he felt the fire rage through his veins. His skin twisted and stretched.

Huntress shouted, “oh you asshole,” and the pair watched as Prowler changed.