NOVEL FROG Arc Sixteen. Chapter Four Hundred Seventy-Four. In The Dog House
Liv sat by Peter's bed as he lay on it. The only noise was the small being every few seconds, to indicate that he was in fact still alive. A book lay open on her lap, as she just sat and watched him. She lifted her head as the door opened and in walked Gwen.
"How is he?" she asked and she sat on the end of the bed.
"Same as usual. Increased heart rate and neural activity. Slight decreases but at this rate, it'll be at least two or three weeks before he's awake."
Gwen nodded and rubbed a hand up the lump in the bed where Peter's legs were, "And we can just wipe the data?"
Liz shook her head, "Jean, and Charles agrees, thinks that we'd run the risk of removing a lot more than whatever it is. Neither of them is even willing to try."
"Well, we've got MJ running interference, with a cast so she doesn't have to even try and do the science stuff, but uh." Gwen paused and took on a more serious tone. "We need to tell Coulson, as he's being insistent about meeting Pete."
"Do you think he knows?" Liv had been out of the loop playing nursemaid to Peter. She was the head of her own department, and it was a department of one most days. Ivan ran his own clean energy business now and only came in when Liv needed input on an Arcstar reactor. It was her job to manufacture and maintain the team's equipment, and she could do that from Peter's bedside.
Gwen shook her head, "He can't. Pete was out as Venom, nobody removed his mask until Laura was in Genosha, and then he came straight here. If Coulson knows we've got bigger problems."
"Then why bother? Tell him Peter hurt himself doing an experiment and needs to recover. Get Natasha to quote Shield regulations about injury downtime, and then get MJ to tell him to sod off."
Gwen laughed. "Which is exactly what we have been doing. He's claiming Pete doesn't need to do anything other than consult. Best guess? It's that damn Sentinel that keeps appearing."
Liv sighed and leaned back in her chair, "And that would require Peter. Even I can't help there. I have the schematics but Peter dealt with Master Mold and Megatron." She took off her glasses and stared at them. "Give him two more attempts and then tell him. But," she looked at Gwen, "only, and I mean only if everyone else agrees. Peter needs protecting right now, and I wouldn't put it past Coulson to use the situation to his advantage."
Gwen stood and laughed, "Laura has been on the roof of the building since it happened. Anyone tries anything and she'll stab them."
Liv gave a small chuckle, "And tell her Peter would feel better if he knew she was out patrolling. A tried and grouchy hero makes mistakes."
Gwen smiled and nodded, "I will, and you too." She moved around the bed and kissed Peter before leaning over and repeating the action with Liv. "He needs a shower, so take one as well, and eat. Those damn bars are good but nutritionally you need a proper meal."
Xander had handed out cases of samples to every department at AIM, and Gwen was right. The bars were addictively good, and Liv had been living off them while she tended Peter. "I will, I will. Order out?"
As she reached the door Gwen stopped at the frame and laughed, "Pete does all the cooking, we'd starve to death if we didn't."
⁂
Wolfsbane was bored. Laura had been right, and once the big names crawled out of the woodwork, the little guys ran for the hills. Now that Venom had been spotted, the low-level stuff dried up and it was only opportunistic crimes now. She had stopped a purse snatcher, chasing a really fast guy for a few blocks before driving him to the concrete. He had taken one look at her and started screaming,
Not a dog person then, she sighed to herself.
She got that being a werewolf was kinda cool. Her form allowed her to be a normal girl until she needed to fight. Then she got super speed, strength, agility and a lot of other cool powers, that didn't rely on the moon.
She also got a ton of crap. It wasn't the guys either. Did she have six nipples, did she smell ass, did she want to gnaw on a bone. And that was the tame stuff. Several websites, profiling each hero sprang up, with associated fics as well. The furry community loved her, and for some reason, Hank. They were shipped together more often than not, and if she was honest, it was kinda gross. Nobody even cared she was into girls, and even the community for that rarely paired her with anyone cool. Jean and Storm, Laura and Kitty. Every big name got a hot girlfriend, but not her. She got Hank and his hot red rocket. Eww. Gross.
And now with Mysterio and Venom out at night, she didn't even get to relieve her stress that way. The Danger Room was fine, but she could smell it was fake. Each enemy smelt of ozone and buzzed slightly to her enhanced hearing. It ruined the illusion, and she never felt she was in any real danger.
As the hair on the back of her neck stood on end, that illusion of safety disappeared. She could feel the thrum of energy surrounding her, and it meant one thing. Mysterio and his Sentinel foe were here.
She scaled across to the roof of the building she had been patrolling around. She could see Mysterio floating, and she strained to hear him shouting.
"Venom! I have heard of your evil deeds, come face me."
Wolfsbane snorted. Venom had retired, and it was rumoured amongst the older X-Men that he went legit. That all those 'evil' deeds were just a misunderstanding. He hadn't been seen for years, like most of the old-school heroes. Iron Man got married and had a kid. Hulk vanished, and even Black Widow was gone. The past ten years since they made their debut saw a newer, younger group appear.
"Pathetic!" Wolfsbane heard yell, and there he was, clad in his black armour with the giant white spider on the front. "We hunt bugs like you for breakfast, and you dare to yell at us?"
Venom was hanging onto the side of the same building she was.
Shit, when did he get there?
She looked around to find a good way to retreat. Mysterio could fire off those blasts, lethal enough to hurt a Sentinel, and she did not want to get in the way of these two. Lesson one of the Logan school of fighting was knowing when you were outclassed. He always advocated retreat in the face of certain defeat. You never knew when an energy would kill or go for a debilitating blow. Some powers were strong enough to kill, even if that wasn't the intention.
She leapt but cursed as she felt a hand wrap around her leg. No, that wasn't right, it felt like.
Wolfsbane never completed that though as she was swung and smashed into the side of the building.
"NO! You coward!" Mysterio shouted, "I will avenge her!"
Venom swung her again, smashing her into the building again before throwing her out into the air.
Thanks for the vote of confidence, asshole, Wolsfbane cursed. She was tougher than that. She growled and spun, one hand shot off the grappling gun, finding purchase on a nearby building. She swung up and dug into the side with her claws. She might not be Colossus-level tough, but her transformation made her a lot tougher than a person. Even her fur provided some armour against physical blows.
"Cowards, picking on a girl!" Mysterio shouted again, and Venom turned. His maw spilt and he shot off several balls of webbing, which Wolsfbane swung to avoid.
"Shut the fuck up, asshole!" Wolfsbane shouted back. She felt the hard thud of an impact as one ball caught her stomach. Was Mysterio purposefully taunting Venom? She held her side as she landed, but it was wrong. One of the other kids thought it would be funny to throw chewing gum at her while she was transformed. Its sticky wetness was disgusting on her fur, but this felt…dry. She held up a hand and she could see the webbing, but it felt...wrong.
Mysterio fired off a few of those blasts at Venom, who easily avoided them. He swung around a building and she lost sight of him. Mysterio floated higher, "I will find you Venom. I will not let you hurt this young girl."
Gah! Wolsfbane groaned, rule two, no monologuing, shut the hell up! She tugged on the grapple a few times, was happy it was secure and began to climb. She had space to fight on the roof and a good running start if Venom chased her.
Mysterio hovered over her, "Don't worry kid, I'll protect you."
Wolfsbane felt her blood rise at that. "Kid? Kid, I'm nineteen you goldfish fucker. I didn't need protecting, just stop giving away my position."
Wolfsbane thought back to her lessons from Nick Fury. His rules, once you got past the don't trust anyone parts, were more combat orientated. Anyone on the battlefield is a hostile until they are verified by a trusted source. As far as she was concerned, Mysterio was a bad guy, there to make fans and show off, not fight.
He stiffened, "You know, I was going to let you live. The dome is an omnidirectional lens, allowing me to control the battlefield. Not for fucking goldfish," He made his voice high-pitched, mocking her own." He chuckled, "I've never killed anyone, congratulations, you get to be the first."
She was about to mock him back, about how he could try but she felt the first impact. Stupid, she thought as she tried to dive away. Venom shimmered into existence before her and he drove a fist into her stomach. No, not a fist.
"Like them? I'm not one of you freaks, not a mutant, Augment, or whatever the hell you want to take pride in calling yourself. Good old-fashioned ingenuity. Drones. Not those shitty Oscrop drones, or the Sentinels, nope just a regular drone," he laughed, "piloted by me.
Wolfsbane tried to dive but again, she felt an impact, but Venom was swinging for her head, not her stomach. Air cannon, she wheezed. There was no solid slug she could feel, just a blow. This was a giant Danger Room, controlled by him.
Something whipped out and wrapped around her foot. It lifted her and smashed her against the side of the building. Brick and mortar bloodied her face, and broke her bones.
Venom held her up, but again it was wrong. She was held by the foot, but his arm was around hers.
"Holograms. Neat huh?" Mysterio floated next to her, "But that's not what they're seeing, look."
Her eyes flashed and she could see Mysterio and Venom in the distance, trading blows. He would fire webbing and have it deflected by a golden shield, and Mysterio would retaliate.
"A huge camouflage net surrounds us. Nobody can see you, or me, or this." He touched a panel on the side of his glove and Venom shimmered and vanished. In his place was a floating ovoid. Under its main body were two cannons, and on each side were three hanging tentacles.
"Designed to take the place of any creature, any villain, they were designed for movies, stunt work, but no." Mysterio waved a hand and the drone smashed her once again. She felt her cheekbones break, and blood pooled over one eye, the one she could still see out of. "Stark mocked me, Stark taunted me. Nobody wants to pay for these, so now. yes, now I can get my revenge." He had been gesturing, waving his arms around. Every time he did, the drone smashed her against the building.
"Uh, oops." he floated down next to her, not that she knew. "Sorry, really, I am. nobody was supposed to die, but, you were just in the wrong place at the wrong time."
He floated back, and with his controller, Wolsfbane was tossed into the air. The cannon fired four times, each one tossing her up into the air with a spray of blood.
He watched casually as she fell, the blood pooling around her as her broken body crumpled on the sidewalk. Not that anyone could see, the two drones hovering above her were making sure nobody saw.
It wasn't so bad. He lived, and she died. It was nothing compared to the pain he felt, the humiliation at Stark's mockery. Life was a stage, and she had played her part. All he had done was cancel her before her story really started.
