Spider-Man. The House Of Venom

Arcee choked in a lungful of air as she came back online. Some organic habits were hard to break, and breathing was one of them.

"P...Peter?" she asked, weak from singlehandedly reformatting Cybertron. She had walked into the core willingly but had taken on a massive task. She became the transformation cog for the entire planet, allowing it to change. She slowly reformatted and transformed it back to its technorganic form.

Until Loki arrived.

She watched helplessly as she devoured Reboot. She felt her drain the life from the Sparks, and then from her. She remembered it all.

So why was she now alive?

"Shh, you're okay. We're slowly building a Space Bridge, and we have most of the others here. We didn't want to force you back online," Peter was sitting by her bed. She had missed the feeling of soft sheets for her offline periods. No, her sleeping periods.

"How?" He held a glass of Energon-infused water, allowing her to take small sips. It felt good to drink the cold liquid that filled her with strength once more.

"Well, according to Wheelie," Arcee frowned, "yeah I'll start there. Right, so the little guy was the last of Cybertron's energy. You did enough that new Sparks were being born, and he was one of the first. It was just dumb luck that he was off exploring when Loki attacked."

"Survivors?" Arcee asked as she sipped her water. "Did the others?"

Peter sighed and closed his eyes. "We have Optimus, Jazz, Ratchet, Ironhide and Bumblebee. We don't know who's Spark is who, so yeah, there are, but uh."

Arcee tensed. "What happened? Megatron?"

Peter took her free hand with his, "Sorry. Loki hit a lot of planets. Asgard is a ruin, Cybertron is dead, and Earth. She came here last. We used the Stones to fix it. Sort off."

"Cybertron can be repaired. As long as we have the All-Spark." Peter squeezed her hand, "Gone?"

"Not gone but not available." Arcee frowned and gripped his hand tightly. "Sorry, it was one of six, and together, it allowed the bearer to rewrite the universe."

"So you destroyed it? You damned my people Peter. We cannot reproduce as you do. We needed the All-Spark to create new Sparks," Arcee yelled angrily.

Peter hung his head, "I know. I made the call." He sat up straight. "I will accept any punishment that you or Optimus see fit to ask for. But I won't apologise. It was removing the Stones from the game, or having someone worse than Loki get them."

Arcee said nothing but squeezed his hand. "I..."

She shook her head, letting go of his hand, "I understand. I will need to speak to Optimus as soon as he is awake."

"Arcee," Peter started.

"No. I understand. My head understands Peter but you made me more. We feel more, and I do not know how to process that. You made a choice, and while I know it is the right one, you have damned my race."

Pete let out a slow breath through his nose, "I will go see how Optimus and the others are doing. There is an intercom next to the bed, I'll call you when I have news."

Arcee stared at the glass in her hands as he left. She was feeling a hollow ache in her chest.

We still love him, Reboot whispered.

We do, but we know there are only a hundred of us left, and almost all of them are Decepticons. We cannot heal Cybertron, we cannot heal our Sparks. We are...

Mortal, as all things should be. We know when we communed with the Soul Stone. No beings were ever meant to live forever. It was only the deaths of the Celestials that left the universe out of balance.

And now we are out of balance, Arcee said sadly. She loved him, but she did not know if she could ever forgive him.

⁂

Wakanda had begun construction of the Space Bridge as soon as Wheelie had given them the plans. Part of that, as Liv and Shuri directed the workers, was to construct suitable living spaces.

Optimus stood, with his arms crossed as Liv began to slowly infuse Ratchet with Energon. It was being done one at a time, in case something went wrong. Liv might have studied Cybertronian physiology, but she was not an expert. Optimus was woken second as he was in command. Ratchet was next.

The grey chassis slowly became white as the Energon began to reactivate his systems. Liv sighed in relief. "He will need time to fully charge, but he'll be fine. All my diagnostics are coming back in the green."

"I thank you, Olivia. We appreciate the help, and the Energon." Optimus rested a hand on Ratchet's arm, "once Ratchet is functional, we can begin to awaken the others. Do you have enough Energon for us all?"

Liv checked her tablet and nodded, "We do, what we don't have however are bodies. I am afraid those without will have to remain as Sparks."

Optimus stepped back and folded his arms again. "We do not have the manufacturing capability on Cybertron. There is a solution, but we would owe you a greater debt."

Liv paused, "Master Mold. It was created from Cybertronian parts and can create a generic chassis for you. But, you wouldn't be able to transform."

Optimus chuckled. "We can solve that problem ourselves. Ratchet can fix anything."

There was a chime at the door. "Enter." Liv had a good idea who it was, as only Peter and Shuri had access to this part of the building. She smiled as she saw it was Peter, even if he looked miserable.

"Peter Parker. I cannot express how grateful I am to be functional again, and for the aid your people have given us." Optimus stood, "But, I feel there is a greater issue."

Peter nodded, "The Soul Stone, right."

Optimus shook his head, "No. Olivia called it Master Mold. We are in desperate need of chassis for the Sparks that remain on Cybertron."

Peter moved over and kissed Liv on the cheek before he moved to take a better look at Ratchet. "Master Mold is in the US, and they kinda don't like me. But the Stone."

"Is gone. I am aware of what happened. And I do not blame you. Arcee is young, and it is her age that stops me from giving her control of the Autobots. She is also unaware that new Sparks are rare, only dozens have been born since we were created."

"But still," Peter tried to argue.

"No." Optimus raised a hand. "I can name each one. And the Cybertronians are billions of years old, Peter. We were one of the first races. We escaped the great cull along with the Titanians and the Quintessons."

Peter rubbed his forehead and sighed, "Right, then moving on. Master Mold."

⁂

The short knock at his door confused Nick Fury for a moment until it opened and in walked Philip Coulson. His hand automatically went for the pistol he had velcroed underneath his desk. He would at least give Coulson a chance to speak before he shot him.

"Sorry, I'm going to need you to not shoot me. Oh, and I would like my chair back," Coulson said as he held a glass prism nameplate in one hand.

"Nicaragua, Eight Seven. What went wrong?" Fury asked with the gun still trained on Coulson.

"I can tell you, bad whiskey, but the Skrulls use a memory tap. Even if I was Soren, she could tell you." Coulson stepped into the room and closed the door behind him, "But, it is me."

Fury scowled and pointed the gun up, showing his finger was off the trigger and the safety was now on. "So, where have you been?"

Coulson sat in the not-as-nice chair in front of the desk. "Oh, me and a few of the other department heads got a holiday on Xandar Prime. Nice drinks, nice weather, and then the Kree blew it all to hell. Took a bit to get back, but, here I am."

"Son of a bitch. Two years. Two years you've been gone." Fury huffed and pulled open the bottom drawer. "Drink."

"How'd you know it was two years?" Coulson asked as he nodded. Fury lifted the decanter, poured two glasses and stuck ice in both.

"Cards. Two years ago you beat my three-of-a-kind with a full house. You were never that good at cards," Fury said as he slid the glass over. "So, memory taps huh? Think the Skrulls will share that tech?"

"Probably. Let me talk to Soren and I can see what she says." He noticed Fury scowl and down his drink, "That bad huh? I only got a brief report. Seems a bit far-fetched that all those people died but Parker brought them back."

"He did a big press conference, and you can go visit the memorial in Central Park. It's real, we have idiots trying to steal them at least once a day."

"Right, I guess that's job number one then. Protecting six pillars from idiots. Job two?" Coulson asked as he nursed his own drink. Fury had himself poured another.

"Getting Parker back from Wakanda. The government decided it didn't like private contractors handling super-powered tech. So he gave us all the finger and left." He swallowed his drink and poured another.

"Maybe slow down on those," Coulson asked, but Fury just shrugged. He didn't care. He was being fired and was going to take a holiday. Peter had already invited him to Wakanda and he was just as sick of the government's bullshit as Parker was.

Fury was about to resort when a sling ring portal began to form in his office.

"So, I get shot at, and that doesn't even warrant you standing up?" Coulson deadpanned.

"It's Parker. The only asshole who ignores my secretary more than you is him."

True to his word, it was Peter.

Peter smiled, "Oh hey, drinks. Nice. Can I get one of...hey Phil."

Coulson raised his glass, "Peter. So, what can the US government do to get you to play ball?"

"I want Master Mold."

Coulson looked over at Fury, who was scowling into his glass.

"Deal."

Peter looked at Coulson, “Well, that was easy. Uh, have your lawyers call Shuri’s, and iron out the details. Nick, want to hitch a ride?”

Coulson set the glass and the nameplate down on his soon-to-be desk, “Peter. I would appreciate it if you didn’t just make a portal into this room. I might shoot you accidentally.”

"Uh, yeah bulletproof, so not a problem. But don't worry. Only Wanda knows where the room is, and anyone else using a portal will be a bad guy." Peter smiled.

He waited until Fury grabbed his jacket. "What, It's not my paperwork anymore. I'm on holiday." he lifted his phone and tapped a message, "There. Hill knows I'm in Wakanda."

Peter laughed as the portal swirled into existence. "Maria and Scott beat you there, and I don't think they've left their room for a week. Shuri let them have room service."

"I was flying the jet you know," Fury said as he slid on his long coat, "You think she'll let me have room service?"

Peter laughed as they headed though. "Nick, you helped defend the entire continent. You could probably ask for any kind of service you wanted."

Without a word, the portal vanished, leaving Coulson alone in his office. He looked around, took a breath and took out his own newly acquired scanner. It lit up five distinct spots in the room. Each one was a bug and registered from two different sources.

"Never change Nick. Never change." He pressed a button and the five signals all vanished. Sitting behind his desk he looked at the pile of paperwork. There were other things that never changed.

⁂

If Peter was honest, it was not difficult to get the remains of Master Mold from the US. He had expected them to grab AIM and hold it hostage, but they didn't. Gwen's Formula, Livs neural interface, and the CLS were all asked for, and handed over. It was all things they had anyway. Ultrons broadcast was still going, with everything he had stolen. Gwen and Liv had made improvements, but it was all still the same basic formula. It was more symbolic than anything else and it was a small price to pay for allowing the Autobots freedom.

Wanda and Gwen worked in tandem to create a huge portal, and the body of Master Mold was hoisted through on a crane.

"You did not tell us that Master Mold was a humanoid, Peter," Ratchet said as he started to examine the giant body. "Optimus, is Metro still functional?"

"You believe you can create a functional Cybertronian?" Optimus asked as Ratchet ran a diagnostic tool over the inside of Master Mold.

"I don't need to. This is Megatron. They simply reinforced the chest and welded a fabrication unit to it. They must have taken and rebuilt one from the Ark."

Optimus looked over at Peter, who just shrugged, "Big words confuse small person. We had no idea the Ark even existed until Hoover Dam and the US government didn’t give us any information about what they had done."

"After you purge its systems I will commune with Metro and see if he is willing." Optimus nodded at Peter, "I require access to Cybertron. Before the normal portal activation."

"Yeah, I can ask Wanda. This is important." Peter lifted his phone and dialled. Wanda was upset, as it took several days for her to recover, but willing.

"So, who's Metro?" Peter asked as they waited for Wanda to join them. It would take at least an hour for the testing room to be sealed and prepared for Cybertrons atmosphere.

Optimus sat at one of the prepared tables. With smaller seats that rose for humans. "Not every Autobot is a warrior. We have several scientists and many more who did not wish to fight. When Energon became scarce, they willingly vacated their chassis and entered hibernation. Metro was one of these. He is a designer."

"Designer?" Peter asked.

"Of our forms. In the past, we would create multiple bodies, one for our vocations, and one for relaxation. It can be inconvenient if you have a large form to enter some buildings," Optimus explained. "Metro was a city before the war began."

"So he'd be perfect." Optimus nodded in agreement at Peter's statement. "And a city?"

Optimus laughed, "Yes, Metroplex was one of our great cities. His architecture would change to suit his mood. He did not take part in the war, he only wished to design."

"Yeah, MJ doesn't want to fight, or Gwen. I get it, not everyone can take up arms. It hurts them more to hurt other people."

Optimus nodded in agreement. "For now, I am sure he would be glad to help us."

"That's great. You can use him to make more bodies, but, Optimus, please. No Decepticons. Earth has enough assholes on it without adding more."