Spider-Man. The House Of Venom

It took him two more days to sort the mess out but by the end of it, he was pleased with his progress. More importantly, so was Aleksei.

“So, two days huh?” Aleksei said as he drew on his cigarette, “well, I did say a week, but you know what the reward for hard work is?”

Peter shrugged and shook his head,

“More work,” he said as he laughed. Seeing the look on Peter’s face was enough. “Nah, just messing kid. Look. Take the rest of the day off, and we’ll get one of the guys to deliver your offices. It's only a few blocks so I dont mind you usin’ the van.”

“Can I borrow the power washer?” Peter asked hopefully.

“Not started cleanin’ it?” Aleksei asked, and as Peter shook his head Alexi waved a hand. “It’s fine, It ain't like I dont know where it is. Two days though, get it back by Friday.”

“Thanks, Mr Systevich, sir,” and Peter was away. He had already borrowed a few emptyish bottles of bleach. Aleksei said it was okay to take a few, as they bought it in bulk and used it like crazy to clean almost everything.

He had almost handed all of the hundred dollars back. As he picked through cleaning supplies but Aleksei did his usual and waved a hand dismissively at him,

“It’s just junk Pete. I can’t sell it an’ I ain’t takin’ your money for it,” he told him but Peter knew not to push his luck.

It was all small things. A bucket with a crack near the top. A broom with a split but not snapped handle, and a lot of torn sponges. Peter didn't want to abuse Aleksei's goodwill and picked things that were for the trash. It might be junk to Aleksei but to Peter, it was a lot of saved money.

⁂

A ride in the van wasn’t offered and so Peter didn’t ask. Even carrying the haul of gathered treasure he made it back to the warehouse before the van did.

He undid both locks on either side of the massive warehouse doors. It was an older-style building made of red brick and the door was the original. It was two massive steel-reinforced wooden gates. They were sectional. There were two smaller sets, and then a single-person side door on one side. If he really wanted he could have just opened the smaller set, but he didn't know if the van would fit.

He fumbled around for a few moments, and finally got the huge double doors open for the van to pull into. He could lift the offices by himself. They were still flat-packed and wrapped in thick plastic sheeting. As he was still a sort of skinny kid, he didn’t want to draw attention to himself.

He did feel bad that after unloading all four, he had nothing to offer the men. He used the minimum of power and the water ran clean but was cold. He had found an old plastic rain barrel on the roof, and now it was the only water source he had.

Closing both doors, he secured the padlocks on each side. He noticed two thick bolts in each corner that securely locked the shutter. He would get a blow torch from Aleksei later and weld it shut properly. A huge door like this wasn't needed, and welding the bottom bolts closed to stop it from opening was easy.

It was on the side facing away from the river. So insulating it against the colder winter winds would be simple. As he watched the van pull into the lot, he saw that the smaller doors would have been big enough. and decided to permanently seal the larger ones. and being sectional, he could leave the van-sized doors free for anyone needing to move their stuff in.

Another thing on the list, he sighed to himself. For now, securing the bolts with padlocks was enough.

Once the van was gone and the doors were locked Peter lifted the four offices. and stacked them next to disassembled ones that were already in the warehouse.

He now had eight in total, even if the four already here needed a lot of cleaning and painting.

Everything else went into the clean office and Peter sat on the floor for a moment.

Aleksei was right. Flash didn’t care about Peter. He cared about himself. To get rid of Flash, Peter had to either make himself so terrifying to Flash that he left him alone. Or he had to find a way to avoid Flash completely.

Nobody would help him. Gwen and Felicia were two, but he wouldn’t risk either of them for a problem he could figure out on his own.

He could make himself more terrifying. The fight in the alleyway proved that. But as Matt warned, Peter was now suffering the consequences. Flash wouldn't play fair, and the more he fought back, the worse it would get.

Not that it wasn’t getting worse anyway. Being suspended was unfair. Was it a show of power? Peter had no idea what was going on. Only that it was cruel.

School was easy, as he knew that once Matt figured out it was hopeless he would quit as there was no money. So, he would leave.  He could finish his schooling at college or if that proved expensive, get a G.E.D. A General Education Diploma.

He already knew he had a football scholarship at Empire State University. He couldn't even shake him there. So he could do his diploma part-time. Work when he didn’t have classes and avoid the campus the rest of the time.

Hammer at least was Peters. He knew Flash was going to Oscorp, his dad was on the board and it was only natural.

He just hated he was having to go so far to get rid of one person. It wasn't fair. He banged his fist against the floor. One stupid argument, and he banged his head against it. One stupid thing after another and his life was ruined.

He brought his hands up to his face and rubbed his eyes.

Stop it. He laughed to himself, yeah, stop being a sadsack, Pete. You've got friends and powers. Moping does nothing. You have solutions, and you have a warehouse.

Standing and taking a breath he looked around. Grabbed the brush and headed out.

⁂

It took the afternoon and the afternoon of the next day before the place was spotless.

On the outside, Peter had borrowed a sprayer and every weed had been liberally doused. The chainlink fence had been covered in rust remover. But Peter would have to wait to paint it with weather sealant. The power washer also made short work of the dirt and grime on the outside of the building. It was now a brighter cleaner looking red, and thankfully it didn't need to be repaired.

In a single afternoon, it was done.

On the inside, He had gone up to the walkways, dusted the lights, and washed the windows and the walls. The floor had been swept and then blasted clean.

Outside the street was littered with garbage bags, but it was finished.

Even though the dark stains remained, it was clean and more importantly ready to be painted.

⁂

The next day work at the junkyard had gone smoothly. Aleksei had nodded when  Peter handed him a list of equipment with prices and on the second day he had it all. Aleksei even agreed to a petty cash fund. Peter needed to provide receipts and wasn’t allowed to spend anything over a hundred dollars.

Aleksei hadn’t even blinked as Peter added a second list. Of acrylic floor paint and the tools, required to spread it, and of sections of precut office carpet.

Alexi just laughed, “You know I ain't gonna give you this at cost right? Maybe if you’d been here a while.”

Peter nodded and handed over the money and was now another thousand dollars down.

⁂

Aleksei gave him the next day off, and he was standing brush in hand and painting suit on ready to get the floor done.

He had disassembled the offices he already had weeks ago and the final clean office joined them. Lifting its panels onto the walkways, adding in the four offices he had gotten from Aleksei.

He didn’t care it was satin white, anything was better than faded blood brown. It took a week, waiting until one section was done and the smell was aired enough he stopped feeling dizzy. But, the floor was done.

It needed a day to dry. Peter had spare time, his hours only covered the week, not the weekend and as it was Friday, he didn't need to be back. The floor would get two whole days to dry, and leaving the windows open a crack, air out as well.

As he left the sections to dry, and to escape the paint fumes. Peter began to work on the outside of the building.

It had a parking lot that he spray blasted clean and removed the weeds and moss from between the paving stones. He sighed as he added either premade concrete or cement to his list, as a few chunks of the path came away.

The walls were equally as dirty but equally as easy to clean. And as the floor dried, he made short work of both jobs.

The new floor colour also came with a problem. Now the floor was a pristine white satin colour, it highlighted that the walls were filthy. Something Peter hadn’t noticed under the artificial lights.

He scraped the yellow with a fingernail and it did come away but so did the paint. After going around the whole interior it needed to be redone as well.

Nicotine, drug fumes, cracked and loose paint, and a few bullet holes covered the walls. Making them look shabby compared to the floor. Even if he hadn't painted, it would need to be redone.

Unsure of how to go about painting the thirty by thirty walls without taking weeks. He asked Aleksei.

“Get a paint sprayer. I ain’t got anything like that, an’ nobody sells ‘em for cheap. Go hire one.”

Peter got his phone. There were plenty of DIY stores where he could buy the interior sealant paint and hire out a sprayer to go with it. It was expensive as he needed drums of paint to do the whole place and not little pots.

He sighed and called. Ordered the warm cream paint for the walls at the same time as hiring a sprayer for the week.

It was another hole in his budget, but it would be worth it in the end.

⁂

It took the rest of the week, and the weekend to finish, but it was finally done.

Peter aired the warehouse out. Peeling back the carefully covered windows and the whole place was now spotless.

To take breaks from spraying Peter had begun to mark out pathways on the floor with tape. Once he had sizes he found a site selling precut large rubber-backed carpet mats to sit outside each home. While there was a variety, he selected a dark blue colour.

The warehouse was coming together, and he smiled. It was now enough he could tell Aunt May, about his job at least.

Aleksei had been happy with the progress Peter had made. Lists were drawn up, and being honest got him a lot of goodwill.

He hadn’t actually fixed anything yet, but so far Aleksei didn’t seem to mind.

⁂

“Uh, Boss, Sir?” Peter asked nervously. Alexis had been good to him over the past two weeks. Letting him finish early and giving him plenty of advice.

“You leaving?” Alexis asked, flicking ash into a tin try.

“Uh, not. But I have school again next week. Can I move my hours?”

Aleksei laughed, “that it? Fine. Five til eight, an’ all day Saturday. We don’t work Sunday here.” and he thumbed at the Jesus on the cross behind him. “And I expect you to actually fix somethin’ this time,” he said with a laugh.

“Thank you, sir,” Peter said with a huge smile.

His first stop was the warehouse. Grabbing them from the walkways, he laid out the eight homes in a pattern to make sure that they fitted.

There was plenty of room for people to not just move around, but store things they wouldn't want in their homes.

He even considered adding small sheds. So that the outside could house washing machines and other large kitchen appliances.

Shaking his head Peter decided that was maybe going a bit too far. At least at the moment.

There was a problem though. The centre section of the warehouse looked empty and was a big enough space that Peter sat and looked at it.

Maybe a meeting area?

Grabbing the tape measure and the masking tape once more. Peter marked out a square, measured the spare walls he would have from the offices and adjusted it. Power would be an issue, but a cable running from one of the outlets and covered in a rounded metal tunnel would solve that.

He sighed as he looked at it, another thing to add to the list.

Before he locked up, he gave the place one last check. He secured the windows open a crack to finish airing the paint smell. Made sure the doors were locked and gathered his things before starting his jog home.

Now just to tell Aunt May.