Spider-Man. The House Of Venom

But if that meant this woman was Ock, and the harness was Oscorp tech. She worked for Norman.

Dammit, he cursed.

This was now much bigger than four superpowered villains terrorising New York. They must have been after something.

He internally cursed Felicia, I bet she frikken knew. So much for trust.

Liv leant back and they stretched out.

"You like them? They were a gift. I volunteered to test out the first armour prototype for Osborn." She leant back and smiled in recollection of a much happier time. "Sixteen years ago now. Its little needles drilling into my spine, holding me in a great big hug."

He could hear the pain in her voice, the strain of keeping a secret back. This wasn't voluntary, she probably didn't know what would happen once the harness was on. He could see under the weeping sores that her skin was pale and almost transparent. Not just that, but even around her chest, he could count her ribs. He might not be a biology prodigy like Gwen, but he knew malnutrition when he saw it.

Liv, Ock or whatever her name was, was nothing more than a slave, being used by Osborn. Peter clenched his jaw. One more reason to hate him. What the problem was, she seemed coherent. Wasn't mind control some zombie thing, where they mindlessly followed orders?

"Now Goblin armour will grace our brave men and women of the nation. All under the banner of our glorious owner, Norman Osborn." She saluted.

Peter knew what she meant. The limbs were tied into her nervous system, allowing her to control them. Norman must have installed a failsafe. Something that if she tried to disobey she suffered.

She was a prisoner of Osborn. He still hated her, he still owed her pain and misery but she wasn’t completely to blame. He now knew what she meant,

Should I save her? He thought, or will she just betray me and try to kill me again?

“Free me and I’ll,” he started but the door rattled and Sandman came back.

"uh, what the fuck Doc?" he asked, holding several bags of WacDonalds take-out bags.

"Oh, just playing Doctors and Nurses, Sandman. Be a dear and get dinner ready." Liv pulled her lab coat back up. She leant forwards and stroked Peter’s hair again, “I saw you peaking, you naughty boy.”

After she dismounted, she buttoned it up and grabbed one of the bags. Looking inside she pulled out one of the heavy cheeseburgers. She sighed, "I did say something light Sandman dear."

Sandman shrugged, “it was all they had.” He grabbed one of the bags and leaned over Venom. "She might play nice but I still owe you fuckface,” Sandman drove a spiked fist into Venom's side. It was painful but barely broke the symbskin armour. He still grunted as the wind was knocked out of him, "and I ain't got a collar on me, so fuck her and fuck you."

“Very nice dear. Now, shoo while I work. Supreme Leader will complain if I dare to have food before I finish.”

Liv stepped back and grabbed a file, clicking a pen she began to write.

"So, from our timescale, you and," she flicked open a file, "oh, no name here, got bitten by escaped research subjects. Spiders in this case and, oh dear, you must have been picked up as homeless and primed for implantation. So, the lab mess was you. I guess we know what happens if you try to bond a symbiote to a newly enhanced individual then don’t we?" With a mad gleam in her eye, "but let's see what's happening under the hood shall we."

If she started vivisection, Venom knew he would have to fight. While she turned and was humming to herself, busy with a tray, he tensed against the shackles. They were tight but they were definitely snappable. He felt them give and squeal slightly as he tensed against them

Wheeling over a medical table Liv smiled as she pulled on rubber gloves. "No glove, no love Peter dear. Now. This can be easy." Liv pointed to a series of blood and tissue sample containers, "and we'll do some quick tests or it can be hard. And I'll sedate you and take much much bigger samples. So be a dear and hold still or mamma will spank." She pointed at a bone saw and an organ dish.

Peter knew his tissue samples would decay after a few minutes anyway. Even at the warehouse the Venom component dissolved once it left his body. He nodded towards the syringe and allowed the symbskin to retract from his arm.

"Oh well, that was easy. The head honcho wants to see what gifts you've gotten from you know what. While a few organs and biopsies would be easier, it is better to keep the sample alive as long as possible."

Liv took ten samples in total and a few scrapings of the symbskin Peter allowed to flake off. They oozed in the bottom of the test tubes but he knew they were already breaking down.

"Now see, that wasn't so hard, was it? I may even see if Sandman here bought something remotely edible.”

The strange pair sat and ate burgers while Peter stared bored at the ceiling. He was supposed to be compliant but right now, the smell of food and the uncomfortable table was driving him mad. He just wanted to rip off the restraints and smash both Liv and Sandman with the table, but he also wanted a burger. Lying around wasn't the worst thing they could be trying to do.

Venom's stomach growled and he took a chance "Hey, can I?"

Sandman snapped, "No, and shut your yap," before taking another bite of his burger. Liv rolled her eyes and unwrapping a cheeseburger held it over Peter's mouth, letting him bite a chunk off.

"Now now Sandman, our orders are to keep him alive, there's no need to be rude." Liv wiped sauce from Peters's mouth and with a wink, licked her thumb clean. Strangely enough, he now knew where they were.

The burgers were from WacDonalds on Ninth Street. He'd been there once, keeping MJ company as she looked for a job. The overpowering stench of weed from the kitchen made him want to barf and the burgers smelt the same. So, he was about four blocks away from where they had picked him up. The van ride was a ruse to try and confuse him. He had even swung over this building a few times before, so getting back would be easy.

"Alive doesn't mean fed Doc. Bastard doesn't deserve to eat after what he did to me,” Sandman clenched his fist.

Peter could see small grains of what looked like sand falling off his fingers.

unstable is good, he thought.

Another one of Norman's science experiments. It meant Electro and Rhino were probably some other poor bastards. Could he save them? Did they even want saving? Liv looked pained, but she was still happily eating and writing notes. Occasionally turning and letting him take a bite from her burger.

The science would probably fascinate Gwen but right now, he needed a plan to escape. He had ideas on how to defeat Sandman, Rhino, and Electro, even in pairs. Ocks brute strength and tentacles would make her harder to deal with. If he could talk her down, it would make taking out Sandman much easier.

He would have to deal with that later. He was full enough, and now it was time to act. Ock seemed happy to eat, while Sandman had that frown etched on his face.

"Oh boo hoo," taunted Peter. "You're a crook, and you got beat up. Don’t like it, don't be a crook then." He was tired of this. The Doc was carefully cataloguing samples she'd taken but Sandman was tense like a snake. Venom could smell the adrenaline and anger coming off him like a fog. "Here's an idea, don't fucking mug people and you won't get put in jail or well, beaten like a pinata."

"You broke my fucking ribs," Sandman had had it as well and his fists became solid clubs, dotted with sharp spikes. “I woulda died if they didn’t give me that shit. I’m a freak because of you.”

He smashed his fist into Venom's ribs over and over, "how you fucking like that huh?”

What the hell? Venom thought was he crying? What kind of pussy cries as they beat someone?

Venom had thickened the area that Sandman had seemed to take a liking to. Making a honeycomb structure armour that squashed as it was struck.

The blows still hurt but they did little damage.

"My daughter was in the hospital, I needed that money," thump after thump took Venom's breath. The hits weren’t doing as much damage as if he was unarmoured, but Sandman didn’t care. He just seemed to want to vent. “my daughter, my fucking daughter,"

Sandman thumped a clubbed fist once more into Venom's side and he decided he’d had enough. The man was barely landing a decent blow and the crying about his daughter was grating on his nerves.

“What about the people whose daughters you robbed? Or do you not care about them? I lost my uncle to a scumbag like you.”

Venom tensed and ripped the restraints off. He kicked the instrument tray away and backhanded Sandman across the room.

“You’re an embarrassment. Put up or shut up, at least last time you didn’t cry when we fought.”

“Now dear, play nice. We are both doing our jobs here. There is no need to be mean.” Liv stopped doing her work and turned from her desk, holding the pen in her hand like a knife.

“Oh, you can screw off as well. Like you didn’t smash me into a parked car, we’re fighting not fucking. You want that you buy me dinner first.”

Venom bashed both fists together, thickening the plates over his knuckles. Sandman had shaken off the blow and stood, raising his fists as Venom got ready for another round.

He swung at Venom who crossed his arms and then returned the blow. Sandman went flying once more but covered everything in a layer of sand.

"Woah Woah boys, let's be calm here, or, at least fight outside. It's not much but it's still my home,” Liv said, standing between the two.

Venom laughed at the absurdity of the situation. "You know what," he reached over and opened his maw stuffed in two hamburgers, "yeah, let's take a walk kitty litter,"

Sandman scowled, "seriously, Doc? Fucking seriously?"

"Sorry, Sandman, I've got orders to leave him alive." She tapped the metal collar around her neck, "and I can't disobey orders." She frowned and shrugged. "If you're going to fight it has to be alone, sorry dear."

"Fucking Osborn," Sandman growled at Venom, who was still stuffing burgers into his maw.

With his mouth full, "go ahead, I'm eating," and shooed him away, "I'll be right out."

Sandman narrowed his eyes at Venom.

the fucking nerve of this guy, he thought, but if Ock steps in I’m screwed.

He huffed and stormed off out through the side exit.

"Oh don't mind him Venom. He's been tetchy since Osborn refused to cure his daughter. You shouldn't make things too hard on him."

Venom took the last burger and threw it into his mouth, chewing and then swallowing it. "He doesn't deserve anything from me." He narrowed his eyes as he looked at her, “I haven’t decided what to do with you.”

She raised an eyebrow at him, “We can discuss that once you win. Sandman is not someone to be taken lightly.”

“I know, I remember you four working me over. I can deal with him.”

He knew talking with the enemy was a bad idea, but Liv was hard to get a read on. Was she really under Norman's control, or was it an act to get him to lower her guard?

Liv shrugged, "I tried."

Venom pulled the two metal cuffs off his wrists, dropped them on the floor, and headed to the door.

"Oh if you die, I want dibs on your body, okay?" Liv shouted after him. As he opened the door, he raised a hand and gave her the finger. "Well, that was just rude," she said to herself.