Spider-Man. The House Of Venom

MJ screamed to herself as she got home, today had not been a good day. Her shift at the diner, an old-fashioned mom and pop styled burger place had been frustrating. Not because the work was difficult. Muse made any physical activity easy. No, she really wanted to make someone eat the silver trays they brought food out to the tables and she couldn't.

He'd groped her ass as she walked past. An insincere, "sorry miss," as she glared at him. She fought the urge to smash a platter over his head. Her anger must have been enough as he raised his hands in surrender. She still caught the low whispered comments about her looks.

To make it worse, he had scrawled his number in place of a tip. Did guys really think that was going to work? Stiffing the bill and expecting a date? Cheap tipper, cheap date. Even if she was single she would never be that desperate.

Probably one of those rich assholes who thought money was a substitute for a personality.

After she'd rung up his cheque she made a note of it. The owner had just looked apologetic and warned her it was one of the downsides of the job. That was no consolation and had not helped her mood any.

Then she'd been excited about an interview. An actual theatre producer had seen her headshots and given her a chance. She'd done the soundcheck. Read a few lines to prove she wasn't a drooling idiot, passed through all his hoops and then it came to the meeting.

As she thought back to his slimy grin, she punched one of the bags Peter set up for them to train. As she hit the bag with a combination of lefts and rights, she couldn't help but hear his voice in her head.

"you know sweetheart, sometimes, to get ahead, you gotta give a little head, you know what I mean?" and then that grin, that stupid smug grin of his. 

Gah, she punched the bag again and again. She'd walked out, she really wanted to punch the guy but with Muse, she'd have broken his jaw. Better to be known as a prude in a business built on sex than a brawler. No one hired an actress that lashed out at the scumbags who preyed on easier targets.

She has asked Muse to let some of the feelings bleed through. She wanted to make sure she wasn't becoming numbed. To her surprise, it wasn't fear and shock. She felt revulsion and anger. Enough that if Muse hadn’t calmed her, she would have hurt him, and done enough to face prison.

As she walked home she made sure Muse kept those impulses in check, but she wanted to train more. She had feelings she wanted to express, and pinning Peter down and riding him raw would not be enough. Not this time.

She stood punching the bag and as Muse worked out her frustrations she did feel better. Letting Muse out they worked through their frustrations together. While she wasn’t a fighter and had no intention to be she did agree with Peter. If that guy had company or had been more forceful, she would have had to rely on Muse to save her. While they trained though it was apparent that neither of them would be hunting any time soon.

And then to top it all off, Peter had vanished after sending her some cryptic text about the ground shaking.

Then she’d had a furious Aunt May, asking where he was. He had planned a dinner date with her. It was to celebrate his first round of passed exams and then bailed at the last moment.  When she tried to call, he wasn’t answering his phone and neither was Gwen.

MJ had to listen to a stern lecture about adult responsibilities from her, even though MJ was just as mad as she was. They had even planned a small get-together. MJ had ordered several pizzas. Gwen was supposed to open up some of the freshly brewed cider and beer she was so proud of. But when MJ got home nobody was there.

Screw them, she thought and dug in, taking a slice.

She checked her watch and he was supposed to be here, the pizza barely above room temperature. She had had a bad day and she was going to enjoy herself without them,

We are here, a comforting voice sounded in her head,

Oh sorry baby, that's not what I meant, you know,

We do. Can we watch the television again?

Muse was obsessed with television and film. Which suited MJ as she was more than willing to sit and watch any and all kinds of shows with her. Neither wanted to fight. Both wanted to be social butterflies. To mimic and mask herself and of the three of them, her powers were perfect for it.

Muse was black like Venom but without the spider. With practice, MJ found Muse could swap not just the colours but the actual symbskin itself. Creating any clothing and accessories from it.

Even her hair could change colour as she laughed at morphing her features. Becoming uglier was easy. More masculine was a bit painful but just as easy. That was an experiment too far, but as the symbskin manhood flopped and wiggled, MJ burst out laughing. Muse paused and asked MJ to laugh again. Her voice raised and lowered, making MJ laugh more. She stopped though when her voice pitched so high a glass on the counter shattered.

Uh, maybe try that again somewhere safer, MJ asked Muse,

Yes, we might break the television, Muse hastily agreed. 

Muse was just as much a diva as she was. Revelling in showing off and the delight it caused. Their joyous mood spoiled when the door clattered open and it came to an end.

Venom had a bundled carpet of some kind over his shoulder. It was a white webbing bundle, and Poison was dragging huge steel and glass marble behind her.

She frowned, what the hell had they been doing?

The carpet turned out to be a body, rolled neatly up and MJ shouted, "what the hell Pete? Don't bring that in here"

“Sorry MJ, really,” he explained, "It went bad. really bad."

MJ hmphed and crossed her arms. “While not a dead body. Aunt May phoned,” and she watched Peter slump, dropping the webbed bundle on the floor.

“I, uh shit,” and he shook his head. “Sorry MJ. I promise I’ll make it up to you. This is more important though,” and as he began to cut the webbing free he saw the look of shock on her face. "It's fine MJ, she's dead."

He lifted the bundle onto the coffee table and began to cut the webbing free. As he worked the four limbs hung loosely over the edges of the table while the woman lay still and lifeless.

"That's the fucking point, Pete. We eat breakfast here," she shouted, waving her arms over the corpse of Liv. "Go use one of your labs."

Peter huffed as he lifted the bundle back over his shoulder.  He had wanted to get Ock out of the harness before moving it, in case it reactivated but MJ did have a point.

"And you, stop playing with your balls and get that out of here too. I swear if that's another dead body I'm gonna hurt you," she shouted over.

"Nah, it's fine," Gwen said, "just a nuclear reactor core," as if that was the most normal thing in the world

"It's a WHAT!" MJ yelled, "get that out of here, now, now!" she began to panic. Even she knew that wasn't something you messed around with.

"It's fine," Gwen hugged her friend, "it's safe. We just needed to remove it so the cops or Oscorp wouldn't get it. No radiation, no heat, no anything. We wouldn't have brought it back here if it wasn't." Gwen mugged MJ and stroked her hair.

It was irresponsible of them just to drop that kind of news on her.  They had no choice. Leaving any evidence was bad. Leaving a disabled but still repairable nuclear reactor was worse.

"Uh guys, little help here," Peter shouted from the office next to the warehouse door. As they rushed up the stairs they could hear clattering and swearing from within.

Liv, her mechanical limbs hanging limply, sat shivering in the corner. Her clothes had been cut away and Peter had begun to unclip the harness. Its front clamps were undone, and the small woman's torso was exposed to everyone present.

Gwen winced. The skin underneath was grey and wrinkled in an unhealthy way. Around and under her small breasts and around her belly button was a raw red rash. Unable to clean herself properly, she must have suffered a myriad of problems.

When Peter had undone the restraints it had to send a release signal to the control chip in Ocks spine. Registering she was unconscious had shocked her awake.

She had found Peter standing over her, cutting away the fabric parts and leaving her exposed. In her shock, she had made a huge mistake. The harness was offline and with no upper body strength, it was slipping free.

As she backed herself into a corner she felt the mechanisms shift. There was no override in place and the four needles in her spine retracted with a thunk. The harness gave one last hiss of gas and powered down completely.

"No, no, no," she whispered to the room, tears streaming down her face. "No, please no."

The three stared at her, unsure of what to expect. They were amazed she was even alive. Now she was naked, the real damage was apparent. As well as the infection over her skin, there were lacerations and bruises everywhere. Blood and dirt were streaked over her skin. Ock was severely injured, and it was shock keeping her awake.

"I can't feel my legs." She held her face in her hands and wept. "I can't feel my legs,"

It was Gwen that moved first, and Liv flinched as she approached. "Shh, we aren't going to hurt you," and glaring, "Are we Peter?" and he shook his head. Strong enough normally Gwen lifted Ock in a princess carry. "MJ, help Peter make sure that thing is offline and secured.''

Giving Peter a stern glare she carried the still sobbing Ock out of the office and into her place. She had a tub they could use and medical supplies to tend to her injuries.

"Pete," MJ said, "did you check she was dead?" They lifted the harness and as Peter flipped it over Muse webbed both arms on the right side together. He then laid it on a workbench while she did the other side. Then holding up the tied arms webbed them both to the ceiling and then the harness itself to the table.

It had powered down. He was wary of more security protocols. He did not want the harness coming back to life and wrecking the warehouse.

"No, You saw her." Peter sighed. "There was no way to know. She was zapped twice, and then again. It fought back, and after being flung around. I just didn't think she could survive that." He stood back and shook his head, "I didn't know."

MJ moved over and rested her head on his shoulder, “Pete. I get it. You didn’t know.”

He sighed, and kissed the top of her head, “Still.” Peter looked at his hands, " I'll get food. Go help Gwen clean her up, we can deal with this after she's been fed and we're all calmer."

Peter stared at the harness, secured to the table by a lot of webbing. He tested each line carefully, making sure it was not going to move again.

As he pulled on the webbing he shook his head. Did he make the right call tonight? Was it okay that both Sandman and Electro had been killed while trying to save the city?

At first, he had felt an affinity for the man. He was working to save his daughter, but Uncle Ben never robbed anyone. He never used Peter’s loss of his parents as an excuse to hurt other people. No, it wasn't until he realised his daughter would die he backed down.

He knew Max was as crooked as Aleksei but he’d never spoken to the man for long, he always kept himself separate.

Probably doing crook stuff, Peter mused, but did either of them deserve to die tonight?

He took a breath and looked around at the warehouse. He could hear Gwen and MJ giggling at something while Ock seemed to have stopped crying.

Innocent or not, what Ock was doing would have killed everyone in New York tonight. Max had blood on his hands and Sandman did as well.

He used his daughter as an excuse. But what of the ones with daughters who never got to see their fathers again because of people like him? What about families torn apart by tragedy? He was well aware he was lucky to have Aunt May. Not everybody was that lucky

No, he shook his head and pulled on the webbing one last time, it was the right call. Taking a deep breath, and now, I need to make another one.

Would Ock be repentant, or would she curse and spit his name? Did he have to decide if she could be saved, or if he needed to add another to the body count?