Spider-Man. The House Of Venom

Arc Three. Chapter Seventy-Two. Trust Issues



Huntress slipped out of her symbskin and Felicia limped over to the breakfast table. She was unamused at the trio's reaction to her presence. She had expected more than being made fun of, but as she was sore and tired and they had coffee, she didn't care.

"So, you saved me huh?” She picked up Gwen's cup and sipped it and made a face, "ugh, doesn't anyone take sugar here?" 

Snatching back her cup Gwen put a clean one down on the table and poured out a cup, nudging the sugar down at her. Felicia frowned. She knew Gwen didn’t take sugar so it didn’t rile Poison.

“We made you like us,” Peter admitted.

“All three?” Felicia asked, and Poison, Muse and Venom slid over their hosts.

“Not quite like me though. We still really don’t know what I am.”

Felicia winced as she leaned back, “I get that. I know things. I can feel her inside me, but.” She grinned as she looked at Gwen, “I know how you feel about me.”

“Yeah, that's great. We know they might be connected somehow, but right now we have bigger problems.”

Felicia cradled her coffee, savouring the sweetness.

“Yeah.” Peter looked over at MJ and Gwen who looked at each other and shrugged. “Doc Ock is alive, and here.”

Huntress leapt up, clutched her side where the wound was and collapsed back down. She huffed in pain, “then fucking kill her.” Felicia panted, “This is her fault.”

Peter shook his head, “no, it's yours. Liv didn’t recognise the uniform of the guy who shot you. He wasn’t Oscorp.”

Felicia groaned and scrunched her face in pain as she sat back down properly. “So? She’s still in on it. She’s still Doc Ock.”

Peter shrugged, “and I'm Venom, you're Black Cat and neither of us is really that kind to the asshole we hunt.”

“She killed people!” Felicia yelled,

“Max Dillon, Flint Marko, and until she scared the crap out of us by being alive, Olivia Octavius. I might have added Aleksei to that list but dont pull that self-righteous bullcrap on me.”

Felicia huffed and ran her fingers over the top of her coffee mug, “so, I’m just supposed to ignore all the crap she did?”

“Some of that crap involved keeping you alive long enough for Huntress to save your ass. So for now, yes.”

Felicia looked over at Gwen, hoping to find an ally. But she shook her head.

“She saved you Fel. Don’t think you can pull the pity card when I watched her keeping your guts from spilling out." Gwen wiped the tears from her eyes, “don’t you dare.”

“I wasn’t there, but she could have let you die. She could have let you bleed out. So no. She gets a pass.”

Felicia gritted her teeth, “she’s still Oscorp, she’s still Ock.”

Peter raised an eyebrow, “She was. The harness had an interface forcing her to do things. She tried to ask for help.” Peter furrowed his brow, “Yeah, she did, but. As we’re throwing blame around, how about you?”

Felicia sat her cup down, “Me?”

“You sent me to those two places. You know Ock would be there. You forgot to tell me Aleksei was Rhino.”

Felicia fidgeted with her cup, “I didn't know if I could trust you.”

It was Peter's turn to growl, “If all four were there I could have been killed.”

Felicia sat back, mumbling, “I thought you could handle it.”

“Yeah, you thought wrong. Sandman was tough enough on his own, all four? Not a chance. I know I'm strong, but not that strong. And you know it.”

Felicia snorted, “yeah, 'cause the diner had great plan written all over it.”

“Fuck you!” Peter shouted, “They had Gwen.”

Felicia shrank back in her est, “Sorry. Fine. Sorry okay. Sorry, I lied, sorry I fucked up and sorry for everything. I couldn't trust you. You worked for a shitbag, Pete. How was I supposed to know you weren't one of the four? How was I supposed to.”

Gwen lay a hand on her leg, “Fel, It's okay.” She looked over at Peter. “We all made mistakes. You dont have to be perfect, you just have to be,” she shrugged, “I dunno, not stupid, not an idiot. Just, a bit calmer okay.”

“Yeah, 'cause we remember how calm Poison was.” Peter snorted, “or Muse.”

Gwen raised an eyebrow, “So, gonna handle this one as well.” Felicia batted her shoulder but Gwen ignored it. “I don’t hear a no.”

“I will deal with it my own way,” Felicia hissed at her, while Gwen just smirked and nodded. “I’ll run, or punch something, you can volunteer for that.”

Peter laughed, “Yeah, that didn’t go so well last time.”

He spotted Liv at the doorway of his home. She had heard their little argument. The look of worry on her face, and her white knuckles as she gripped the doorframe killed the anger he was feeling.

“It’s fine Liv.” He looked at Felicia who was standing clenching her fists. “It’s fine,” he stated and Felicia snorted and sat back down.

Peter wheeled her up the ramp to the deck. The contraption he had built wasn't great. It was a pallet trolley they spot-welded a chair to. Liv was unable to move it herself but at least she didn't have to suffer the indignity of being carried around.

He poured her a coffee and she swallowed nervously as she looked at the very angry Felicia. “I um. I might be able to shed some light on things. I can’t give exact details, it wasn’t my project but I do know some things.”

Liv explained. "Oscorp did illegal genetic research about five years ago. John Jameson, JJ's son was the only survivor of the shuttle crash. Oscorp quarantined him after coming back with an alien infection." Liv sipped her coffee. “Whatever was wrong with John kept him under isolation, nobody in or out. Oscorp even started a lab to study it and that's where the symbiote comes in. Oscorp had the original, its spawn and several clones. I have no idea who they were, where they are or what Oscorp was doing. I’m sorry. That's all I can say.”

“That's all you can say?” Felicia asked angrily, “That's not good enough.”

Peter banged his hand on the table. “Calm down Felicia. Tell Huntress to calm down.”

Felicia snorted, “Fine. So, now we have Venom, Poison, and Muse. A trio of monsters chomping their way through New York." Felicia sat her cup down on the table, "sound about right?"

"Well, I do most of the chomping but yeah, Gwen and MJ don’t really do that sort of thing,” Peter replied. “And I guess, Huntress. We can work on the anger issues. It was uh, rough.”

Gwen laughed, “yeah, but we liked it rough.”

MJ snorted as well. “Still do.”

"Uh, Nah, I'll pass. I can feel her but she's not fighting me so I'll deal.” Felicia waved a hand. "You, however, are remarkably calm. So what gives? Why are you different?"

"I don’t have a symbiote. I’m different," Peter answered with a shrug. "Do you know why?” he asked Liv but she shook her head, “hey. It’s fine.”

Liv smiled and nodded at him.

“We guess it was whatever Oscorp did to me before the Symbiote got me. How could you, without one, fight toe to toe with Venom and come out on top?"

"Illegal. Genetic. Research, geez Pete, you not listening? Norman had a hard-on for a super-soldier serum that was lost during World War Two. You should know what though, son of the infamous Parkers."

Peter drew a blank stare, "um, huh? Uncle Ben was a mechanic and I think Aunt May was just a housewife."

"No dumbass, your parents," Felicia drew herself forwards, "you really don't know huh?"

Peter rolled his eyes, "look, Felicia, I'm tired. Just spill it okay and quit the shit, they saved your life, fucking act like it."

Felicia sighed, "Okay, shit. Richard Parker, Curt Conners, and Norman Osborn all worked together on serum. The Oscorp formula, but Curt disappeared after someone attacked him. Your parents died in that car crash and suddenly Norman drops it and starts working on his armoured suit. It still got used though. Aleksei, Flint and Maxwell, all Enhanced, all working for Norman. In the heist where you all got squashed, they took something from the vault. I couldn't get into the police reports to find out what."

Liv piped up, "that I can answer. It was a processor, but I stole it to make my reactor. You won't get anything on, " and she froze, tensing her hands around her coffee cup.

Gwen rushed over and grabbed it before it broke and stroked Liv's head, "it's fine, just relax, it's okay."

Felicia stared, confused, "Guess that's why she can't talk huh."

Peter nodded and pointed at the rucksack full of papers. "They’re yours Liv. Most of it will probably go over our heads. Plus, you can mark anything you can’t talk about or leave it in a separate pile for Gwen to look at.”

Felicia looked put out that he had handed them over to Liv

“What, you think Aleksei kept easy to decipher records?”

Felica snorted, “I can help, you’re acting like you don’t care.”

Peter shrugged, “I don’t.”

"What do you mean you don't care? He had your parents killed, he's been killing-" Felicia began.

Peter stopped her by raising a hand.

"I'll stop you right there, again, I care but I can’t. Norman’s a scumbag, I've always known he's a scumbag and if you're right, all this is proof he's a scumbag. But I can't fight Norman fucking Osborn. I don't have the resources or the manpower and even if he killed my parents, which he probably did. Me against Oscorp? Against however many Enhanced they have? Felicia, I can't do the big picture right now. I don't have a big picture, this," he motioned, "this is just the beginning and yeah, in five-ten years I can go after Osborn. Right now, he'll chew me up and there won't even be bones to spit out."

Felicia stared at him, with her arms crossed. He was right and it annoyed her he was right. Oscorp was a big fish in a bigger pond. Even killing Osborn would make huge waves and the resulting vacuum would get a lot of people killed. The second richest man in America couldn't suddenly drop dead without consequences.

"So, we hurt Osborn a little. Follow the trail and take out small bites. Take out little chunks, one we can manage and he won't notice," Peter said smugly.

"Death by a thousand cuts huh?" MJ stated and as the four looked at her, "what? I read. Assholes."

Peter and Gwen laughed, and Gwen unattached herself from Liv to hug MJ.

"Fine, fine you win. I’ll help. Liv.” Felicia sighed. If they'd known where she was and she'd been tailed then chances of her home being safe were now next to zero. "Just set me up in one of these fancy boxes okay, look, I'll take the end on over there."

As she pointed to MJ's house. MJ shook her head and pointed to herself.

"Fine!" Felicia groaned, "which ones are empty?" and Peter pointed to the offices on the other side of the building. "Oh, come on, those?” but as Peter scowled at her she raised her hands in surrender. “Those are fine, those are fine." She slumped and poured herself another coffee.

Peter stood and finished his coffee, "Training first and then work. Felicia, even with Huntress you’ve just been shot, so no joining in. Liv, I’ll help you after I've done my workout.”

Gwen groaned. She hated the training, but Liv was positively glowing.

"Plus you know, you just killed your boss, do you even have a job?" Gwen asked, to which Peter sighed. They both stood and stretched, moving over to where Peter was sitting.

"Can I at least watch?" Felicia asked. Peter shrugged as she stared hungrily at Gwen,

Felicia stood and stretched gently. Holding her hand over her stomach as it complained. "Come on my pretties, let's get sweaty." Gwen rolled her eyes but MJ was almost glowing. She loved the exercise and the shower sex that always followed.

"Might as well. I’ve got three hours before I needed to get up for work," Gwen said pointing at her watch.

MJ groaned at seeing the time. Her shift at the diner started at seven so she was in the same boat.

Peter stood and stretched. As the three began to work out Felicia poured herself more coffee and enjoyed the show. She even begrudgingly made another cup for Liv.

"So ladies?" Peter grinned as the three finished their routine, "shower?" and he didn't even wait for a reply before heading into his home.

Liv sat on her jury-rigged chair, “He does know I need to shower as well?”

Gwen just shrugged, “think of it as punishment for being a smug asshole.” Liv laughed as Gwen and MJ pushed her towards Peter's home.

Felicia was reluctant to join them.

Gwen smiled, "He won't say no." but Felicia dashed her fantasy of a hot threesome.

Felicia shook her head and just stared at her cup. “Can I uh crash in someone's bed for a bit?”

Gwen pointed over at her place, “Just for now though. Pete will get a proper place set up for you.”

The trio headed toward Peter's home and left Felicia sitting on the deck. Once they were gone she limped down the stairs and sighed as she looked into Gwen's home. She felt out of place. Like an invader and as she stepped inside she heard the yelling start,

“What the hell, no. No!” followed by giggling.

She wanted to be in there as well. Laughing and enjoying their company.

Fucking Ock gets an invite, she huffed,

Sleep. Once we are healed we can take what we want. For now though. Sleep.

Felicia cuddled under Gwen's covers, smelling the slightly sweet scent. It filled her with comfort, and she knew tomorrow, things would be better.

This novel is only hosted on ScribbleHub. 

https://www.scribblehub.com/series/525389/spiderman-the-house-of-venom/

If you would like to read the first draft, you can find it here

https://www.scribblehub.com/series/228718/spiderman-house-of-venom-first-draft/

If you want to contact me, I am on most days. You can leave a message here,

https://www.scribblehub.com/profile/44182/malisson/

Any sites hosting this novel have done so without my permission.


Tip: You can use left, right, A and D keyboard keys to browse between chapters.