Spider-Man. The House Of Venom

There were two locations marked in Aleksei’s files. Both were marked the same, both were within New York, but this one was in Hells Kitchen, the other Staten Island. They had picked this one as there would be less chance of interference from the cops. It was out of the way so they had less chance of being caught by any security cameras.

If MGH was as dangerous as they thought, then it needed to be gone. Not just as simple smash and grab but finding and destroying it right to the root. Whoever made this needed to be dealt with, from the manufacturer all the way to the supplier. Even the formula needed to be found and erased. If Peter and Gwen could figure out how to make it, then so could any above-average chemist.

Whore houses and crack dens could wait. It was an easy fix to deal with them. Scare the bad guys enough, hurt their profits enough and they would either move or play nice.

MGH was different. Creating dangerous and unstable mutations in anyone would create a disaster.

They had all gained their powers through accident or infection. This drug made ordinary humans into monsters. It was worse than the formula or the Symbiotes as it could be added to the water supply or into packaged drinks. It was a nightmare, and it needed to be stopped.

The quartet stood outside the address in Hell’s Kitchen. In the phone book, it was listed as a repair shop, but Aleksei had marked it as an MGH location.

Its front was badly maintained, with boarded-up windows and a thick padlock and chain on the door. It looked more like a bombed-out crack den than a place of business.

They had already discussed a plan. With only two headsets, Huntress would take Muse and start at the top. Poison and Venom would take the lower floor. While Poison was not a fighter, she would be there as backup for Venom, and they would take the basement first.

Huntress and Muse both shot out webs and claimed to the top of the building.

"Comm, check," Huntress said, clicking her headset and Venom replied. In the dark Huntress grinned.

"Hey uh Venom. You need a new code name. Venom isn't good enough to be seen with us criminal types. Uh, how about Night Monkey."

While she didn't have a headset, Poison and Muse could hear the conversation if they were close enough. Poison snorted. "Oh oh, like Huntress, can you make ears? like little monkey ears?"

Muse sniggered and Venom glared at her.

"I am not making monkey ears for my armour, and I don't need a new name. We're not about to raid a brothel. There should only be the MGH lab in there," he said, huffing.

On the roof, Huntress shook her head, "Sorry Monkey, bosses orders. Night Monkey it is."

As the three laughed and teased him, Venom snorted and shook his head while grinning. "Stick to the plan Huntress, or there will be no swing time like last time."

Venom could hear Huntress being grilled about what he meant, he motioned to Poison. Spraying the lock with her acid webs it softened and he quietly pulled the lock apart.

"Team one is a go," he said, and the pair gingerly opened the door and slipped inside.

Huntress and Muse had also secured their way into the building. The old roof hatch was easily broken, letting them drop inside. "We're team one, you get to be team doofus."

The inside of the drug plant had been airtight. Chemical fumes were a giveaway, as well as ultrabright lights for produce checking. The insides of the boarded-up windows were all covered in blackout film. No one looking in would suspect or see anything.

Venom shook his head, “smell that?” and Poison nodded. The air was thick with the smell of various disinfectants and cleaners.

Huntress clicked on her com. “Venom, all the rooms up here are empty. Thick dust and nothing else. If anyone was here, it's been months. Should we continue to search or head down?"

Venom and Poison had already scouted out the bottom floor and discovered the same. What they now faced was a huge door. A lot more armoured than the last one.

"Check each floor. We don't want to miss anything, no matter how small."

Huntress clicked back an affirmative and continued her search with Muse.

Venom and Poison headed towards a thick steel door. As well as several locks, it was also surprisingly bolted from the outside. Two heavy bolts sat at the bottom and top, and a third bar ran across the length.

Poison looked in each of the keyholes. “Not fake, we need keys.”

Venom shrugged, "step back." He shifted, letting his muscles bulge and digging his hands into the plaster of the wall pulled.

Surprisingly the door wouldn’t budge. Digging further along he found that the door extended a meter in either direction.

He huffed and dug both hands into the end of one side, feeling the edge with his fingers. Pulling the plaster away he found several large rivets securing the door to the building.

“Nope, no way. If I pull that, the wall will fall down, we need to use acid to melt the door open.” Venom ran a hand over the joints.

It was designed to be impenetrable without serious damage to the wall. There would be no way to do this without explosives. Alerting whoever was downstairs their security had been breached.

“H, once you’ve secured upstairs, everyone head back down here.“

Her comms clicked, “there’s nothing up here, everything’s been cleaned out, no residue of drugs or tables. The place’s been sprayed with cleaner as well. Something strong too, probably bleach and alcohol. Heading back down once we’ve done the last floor,” Huntress commed back.

Poison was pressing her palm against each lock after the two bolts and the bar had been ripped away by Venom.

"If I spray into the lock it’ll take a while to eat through. I should be able to soften those bolts holding the door up as well." Poison sighed, "if only someone knew how to copy my powers."

Venom huffed, "I tried, even with a basic knowledge of chemistry I just can't."

Poison tapped him gently on the face, "I know, it must suck being inadequate."

Venom slid his hands around her waist, "I could just use a battering ram."

Poison squealed and giggled as Venom lifted her and hoisted her under one arm.

"Play later," Huntress said. "Blow the locks, and the three of us can pull. If you and I pull at the edges we should be able to just rip it from the frame. Even if we bend it enough to get more tendrils in,”

“Move back then,” Poison said after looking in the lock and sending a small web into it. She took a small sniff and nodded.

Satisfied with the reaction, she pressed her hand against the locks one after another. After a few moments, everyone stood back, watching the smoke and an acrid smell rise from the keyholes.

As expected, while the lock was melted inside and the door moved it was held by several deadbolts.

"Should have brought the harness," Huntress said as Venom slid a large blade into the crack.

"Li-" he cleared his throat, "Its owner was mad I wrecked it, and is still taking it apart to figure out what I did."

Huntress nodded knowingly, "and she needs to keep herself busy, you know. All those lonely nights."

Venom stayed quiet as the blade severed the deadbolt. Wrapping his hands on the edge of the frame he grunted and pulled. He roared and his frame thickened, tearing the whole door from the frame.

"It's called the Florence Nightingale syndrome, and it's not funny. Push and I'll start to push back." He said with a slightly annoyed tone in his voice.

Huntress looked at the twisted steel frame and the ten marks where his strength had buckled the door. She nodded. It was a reminder that Peter was a kind and gentle soul, but he had limits to his patience. Liv was on her own in that department.

“We'll head downstairs, in case we have acid man against. You two stay here and make sure we don’t get visitors.” Huntress pointed at several contact plates in the door. It looked like it was alarmed in some way and they had no idea if they had just triggered it. "Stay alert. You might not be super strong, but you are both badasses, okay?"

Nodding the two took different points surrounding the main entrance. Staying as hidden as possible while remaining vigilant.

Huntress and Venom headed down the dark stairs. As with the other corridors, Venom carefully walked down the stairs. Huntress went high and crawled along the ceiling, ready to drop if needed.

They were greeted by three rooms, one closed off and covered in plastic. One was the security room they had been looking for but all that remained was a few wrappers and a table. It was covered in dust marks and black scratches that hinted at a monitor. In one corner sat an empty gun rack, with scattered boxes of shotgun ammo.

The second room was storage. Shelves of bottles, all clean and perfect, sat in cardboard boxes. Counting them quickly, there were two hundred. Next to them sat other medical supplies. Needles, IV bags and gauze. This was defiantly one of the MGH labs, but it was long abandoned.

Even the air smelled stale in here. The air purifier, off the normal grid, had been shut down and removed.

It wasn’t until they opened the last door, thick with plastic sheeting that the true horror was revealed.

There were two rows of beds, that contained a person. Or more precisely, what was left of a person.

Each one was strapped to the bed. An empty IV drip was connected at one arm, and another line hung from the headrest. Each body had two red splotches where the heart was. Someone had shot them before leaving them for the monster.

At the end of the second row, picking up one of the victims, a huge fat man with blood all over his face laughed as he saw them.

The man lifted the body and wriggled his jaw for a second before he bit right through the front of the person's face. He crunched bone and slurped at the skull like a slice of melon. Venom felt the bile rise in his throat but it was squashed back down by anger. Anger that someone could leave children to this kind of fate.

The man threw the body back down, He belched and saw the pair at the door.

As he stood, it was now obvious he was huge. At least seven feet tall he was just as massive around the waist. He patted his belly again and let out a foul-smelling belch.

The huge fat man jiggled as he laughed. Venom could see behind him there was one last bed. There was a young girl laying on it, with a drip attached to her arms and thick manacles holding her to the bed.

“You’se has been bad bad guys, the boss ain’t happy youse screwing up his stuff.” He licked his lips and grinned, showing them his blood-stained teeth. “It's okay though, once I get the last one, I got room for dessert.”

Venom looked at the three beside him and made a choice. The other Powered had killed himself before they could even talk. This one was here to fight, talking would be pointless.

A long blade slid from his arm, “Huntress, take Poison and head to the last location. Muse get somewhere safe. Me and Blob here have a dinner date.”

Blob laughed, “yeah, you need more than that toothpick to take me Venom. I ain't no pansy in tights.”

Venom stepped forward, “yeah, even spandex has limits.”

Blob laughed. The huge man was dressed in a black leotard that stretched over his massive frame. “You think you taste like taffy? All that black stretchy stuff. I think I’m gonna find out.”