Chapter 4: Brothers in Arms
"Looks worse already."
That was the reaction Scarlet Spider felt inclined to give as he swung through New York and how already he could see just by taking a quick look around well over a dozen different things that all pointed to how much Harry Osborn had changed things (and not for the better), not the least of which were the Cape-Killers that now actively combed parts of New York looking for unregistered and uncaptured superhumans, and other superhumans that Scarlet Spider knew immediately that he ought to avoid, namely the members of Harry's Avengers team.
That it was now December also ensured that the air outside was cold and frigid, and even with thermals worn under his bold red costume and enhanced durability to go with that, Scarlet Spider could still feel just a bit of the cold on his skin. The freezing air did well to emphasize the feeling of bleakness Scarlet Spider could already feel just by swinging through New York.
For once I can understand why Kaine hates it here. Scarlet Spider thought, even though he knew that this was not New York as it should be. Nevertheless, it was clear to Scarlet Spider that he had come not a moment too soon. Whatever superheroes were still out there would definitely need him.
Hopefully my being Spider-Man's clone won't shake them up too much…
As he continued to swing through New York though, Scarlet Spider's spider-sense began to buzz, which told him that danger was nearby. Sure enough, the dark blue form of Poison surged towards him and then slammed into him before Scarlet Spider could move out of the way in time. Scarlet Spider did his best to fight her off before finally succeeding and then swinging to a nearby rooftop. Poison followed, and Scarlet Spider soon found himself on the evasive again as all the while he tried to get a more solid picture of who it was that was attacking him. He quickly took note of Poison's claws, teeth, flicking worm-like tongue, and utter viciousness.
"My, what big teeth you have." Scarlet Spider noted in a deadpan as he looked at Poison, who snarled in response.
"Who do you think you're kidding!?" Poison demanded. "You can't fool us by switching costumes!"
"What? You really think I'm Spider-Man? Although then again, I suppose you would, wouldn't you?"
"Shut up!" Poison roared. "We're sick of your babbling! Do you ever just stop talking!?"
Scarlet Spider sighed. "Figures I had to run into something that Spider-Man already pissed off. I really need to start getting more of a rep for myself…"
Poison roared in fury yet again and surged towards Scarlet Spider in a bloodlusted fury. This time though Scarlet Spider was able to move out of the way in time, avoiding the feral attack and shooting some web bullets at Poison to no effect. Poison slashed at Scarlet Spider and missed. Scarlet Spider tried to get in close and unleash the Way of the Spider on his foe, but she was able to take a distressing amount of punishment from his rapid-fire strikes, and her retaliatory attacks were both fast enough to hit him, and hard enough to hurt him. Upon realizing this, Scarlet Spider fell back.
Okay, so that didn't work…
Poison let out another roar and again ran at Scarlet Spider. Deciding then and there that he didn't want to stick around, Scarlet Spider took off on his webbing. Unfortunately, Poison pursued on tendrils.
Damn. Looks like I'm in for it now...
-X-
With a roar, Toxin lunged forwards.
Riot was the first one he attacked. He recognized the blue symbiote as the toughest and most vicious of the three, and thus Toxin's base nature and primal instincts mandated he go after him first. That, and he was the one blocking his exit.
Toxin laid into Riot with as much force and fury as he could muster. Riot responded by just taking the blows as they came and then trying to grapple Toxin and pummel him. The two began a brutal process of grabbing one another's arms and head and then forcing the other off, each one also throwing in a few punches here and there for good measure. Phage tried to get at Toxin from behind, but Toxin elbowed him in the face and then punched him backwards. Lasher tried to restrain Toxin's arms with his extra-long tendrils, but Toxin swung out with his arms and slammed Lasher into the walls and ground until the green symbiote at last relented and retracted the tendrils.
"Gimmie a real fight!" Riot bellowed as he continued to weather Toxin's abuse.
Phage again came in for another attack, and again Toxin fought him off, alternating between the yellow and blue symbiotes as they both lunged at him again and again. None of the three fought with any real strategy or skill, instead throwing punches around as wildly and ferociously as they could, striking one another again and again as Toxin did what he could to overwhelm his two opponents as they tried to gang up on him.
Then Lasher recovered and leaped at Toxin. Toxin tried to grab him, but Lasher evaded him and then tried to throttle him with his tendrils, using them as a kind of garrote. Toxin snarled and slammed Lasher into the wall behind him over and over, but this time Lasher held firm.
With Toxin now distracted by Lasher, Riot and Phage were on him again in an instant, both hammering away at him without mercy. Toxin bellowed and snarled as he received this beating, all the while still trying to tear Lasher off of him. Finally, he succeeded in grabbing Lasher and ripping him off successfully, before then slamming the green symbiote into Riot as hard as he could. Again and again he swung Lasher as though he were a broadsword, slamming him into Riot and Phage before finally tossing him away after he'd managed to force his way out of the corner he'd been backed up into.
With Lasher down and Riot and Phage reeling, Toxin felt he could come out ahead. Sure, he was injured too, but he could still fight, he knew he could. And more than that Toxin was angry. Angry in the way a predator or a beast became when it had been provoked, when it had been cornered, beaten, when it had been made to smell blood. And all of those things had happened to Toxin now. So he would respond as any true beast of power would.
With a roar, Toxin lunged at Riot and Phage again. This time though, he didn't reach them.
An intense, shrill sonic cry struck Toxin before he could move out of the way in time. Toxin let out a shriek of his own as the sonic vibration hit him and caused his symbiote to ripple and wail, which in turn made Patrick Mulligan feel as though he'd had a thousand needles stabbed into his person. Sinking to his feet, Toxin turned to the source and could see a new Symbiote creature had appeared, namely Scream, who shook her head at the sight.
"Knew I shouldn't have let you boys try this alone. Never get a man for a woman's job."
And then, Scream unleashed another of her namesakes at Toxin, and again he howled in pain. Enjoying the sight of Toxin writhing in pain and agony, Scream kept it up, and Toxin's symbiote began to flee and peel away from Patrick Mulligan's helpless body as Scream continued to torture it with her sonic namesake.
But then, before Scream could finish him off, a hailstorm of black bullets struck Scream in the back. She whipped around and received a booted foot to her face. As Scream went flying backwards, Riot, Phage, and Toxin all looked up to see a man in black body armor and mask surge towards them guns blazing. The black bullets they fired seemed to do a much better job of hurting Riot and Phage, and the two of them began to back away as they continued to be pelted with ink-colored projectiles. Toxin was eager to pitch in, but he remained on the ground, still in so much pain from Scream's sonic attack. Slowly, ponderously, the symbiote began to return to Patrick Mulligan as tears ran down his eyes and his ears rang like they were right next to a bell. He'd felt the pain almost as much as the symbiote had, and it left him just as disinclined as his symbiote was to get back up again.
Meanwhile, the man in black squared off against Riot and Phage. Weakened as they were from the fight with Toxin, the yellow and blue symbiotes were slower to strike, and the man in black avoided each and every one of their attacks with ease. Phage attempted a sweeping slash with his claws but the man in black leaped over it and then fired more black bullets right into Phage's face. Phage screamed in pain and covered his face as he backed away. Riot surged towards the man in black, but the man in black was ready for him and deftly side-stepped out of the way of every attack, responding to each missed blow with what a watching Toxin identified as military hand-to-hand. Determined to help, Toxin recalled the rest of his symbiote, staggered to his feet, and charged.
Riot didn't see Toxin coming in time to move, and Toxin slammed into him shoulder-first with the force of a speeding truck. Riot went flying out of the alleyway and right into a nearby car, which he then went right through before at last smashing into a wall with enough force to leave a small crater it. Riot groaned, forced himself out of the crater, took two steps forward...and promptly collapsed, face-first onto the pavement.
Toxin collapsed too, still weak from Scream's attack and now back on his knees. He looked up at the man in black and could see his appearance in a bit more detail. He had the look of a commando or black ops soldier, which would along with the fighting style support the idea that he was a military man of some kind. His chest-plate featured on the front a white spider logo, and the mask/helmet had two white eye-holes that actually narrowed as the man in black looked at him. White squares were on the fronts of his hands, which Toxin realized now that he looked more closely at them were actually more like claws.
"On your feet soldier." The man in black ordered, his voice actually sounding younger than Patrick's own, but nevertheless still filled with authority and grit. And it was for that reason that Toxin did as he was told.
"Who...who are you?" Toxin asked.
"Your grandfather kiddo." the man replied laconically, before then adding off-handedly: "...at least a part of him anyway."
"What?"
"Your symbiote. Mine's part of...never mind, I'll explain later. For now, stay close to me. You're going to need my help."
"And why is that? Again, who are you?"
"You can call me Agent Venom. As to why you need me, well the reason for that is simple: I'm a soldier, this is a war, and you just got drafted. Welcome aboard."
-X-
Spider-Man allowed himself a quick break to stop now that he was confident that he had put some distance between himself and Poison. Still wanting to err to the side of caution though, Spider-Man looked about for any sign of the symbiote villainess' presence. He found none, but with his Spider-Sense of no use here he wasn't taking that as an indication to breath easy. The one thing that reassured him though was the fact that Poison was unlikely to try and sneak up on him or remain in the shadows for long, her temper and bloodthirsty hatred of him being as bad as they were. If and when Poison did show up again, she'd be making a lot of noise.
But then Spider-Man's spider-sense did start to go off. Turning around, he saw a short, lean man in what he recognized as the costume worn by the Dark Avenger's Wolverine. And that in turn told him…
"You. What, your dad wasn't around so you decided to take a shot at me?"
Cougar smiled. "Something like that. That and the boss man wants you dead, so..." Cougar raised his arm and two claws popped out of his gloved hand while a third came out of his bottom wrist. An identical set of claws appeared on the other hand, and Cougar was soon in a fighting stance. Spider-Man had the good sense to move just as Cougar lunged at him with a roar. Cougar recovered from the miss quicker than he would have wanted, and soon the son of Wolverine was going at him again.
Spider-Man side-stepped and weaved his way out of every claw slash and thrust, and delivering punches and kicks when and where he could.
"Keep it coming bub! I can do this all day!"
Spider-Man responded by giving a good kick right to Cougar's face that hit him hard enough to send him flying backwards. Cougar growled as he staggered for a moment before his healing factor began to kick in and undo the damage done by Spider-Man's attack.
"Nothing you dish out can put me down. I got all of dad's powers, down to the Healing Factor."
"Yeah, I figured as much." Spider-Man said sadly before adding: "...but on the flip side, it means I don't get to hold back as much."
However, before the fight could continue any further, the two were interrupted by the arrival of the Scarlet Spider, who fired several web bullets in Cougar's direction. Cougar evaded these in time, but was still forced back by them. Scarlet Spider then landed next to Spider-Man.
"Scarlet! What are you doing here?"
"...please don't just call me Scarlet. As to why I'm here, I'll tell you after your friend here is down for the count...along with mine."
"Wait, what?"
Spider-Man turned to see Poison swinging down towards the two Spiders, both of whom managed to clear her path in time. Poison landed and then stared down the two Spiders.
"So you really weren't Spider-Man...what does it matter though? You're still dead!"
"Friend of yours I take it?" Scarlet Spider asked Spider-Man.
"Something like that." he replied in a deadpan just as Poison and Cougar both lunged at the two Spiders yet again. The Spiders leaped out of the way, and with Poison now once more going after Spider-Man again and again, Scarlet Spider was forced to contend with Cougar, who's attacks he dodged as easily as Spider-Man had, which elicited frustrated grunts and growls from the son of Wolverine.
"So…" Scarlet Spider said as he weaved out of the way of more of Cougar's attacks. "...I take it from the claws and costume you're something of a Wolverine fan?"
Cougar's eyes lit up with utter rage and Scarlet Spider found himself regretting that particular remark when Cougar lunged forward with such speed he left a small cut on Scarlet Spider's hoodie as the hero narrowly avoided the attack.
"Not cool man. That custom hoodie wasn't cheap."
"Shut your mouth!" Cougar roared, unleashing more attacks on Scarlet Spider as he did. Scarlet Spider dodged them all, and retaliated with some kicks and punches that managed to knock Cougar backwards, with him sliding against the roof and almost going right over the edge of the building.
Cougar snarled as he got back to his feet before lunging at Scarlet Spider again, who managed to leap over his head and dodge his savage claw attack. Again and again Scarlet Spider danced around Cougar, deftly avoiding his frantic, frenzied blows much the same way Spider-Man himself had mere moments ago.
"Stand still you coward!" Cougar snarled, again slashing at thin air when he meant to slash at Scarlet Spider's flesh.
"And let you cut me to ribbons? I think I'm gonna pass on that if it's all the same to you."
Growling, Cougar lunged forward, claws extended. Scarlet Spider avoided him easily, and then continued to stay on the evasive, backpedaling as Cougar pressed his assault, all the while continuing to growl and snarl like a wild animal. But then perhaps in the end that was what he was. For after all, he was named Cougar.
Meanwhile, Spider-Man continued to hold his own against Poison, dodging when he could and replying in kind with rapid-fire attacks. His heart pounded in his chest and adrenaline surged through him as always, but this was one of the times when it was particularly intense.
Another punch from Poison that he narrowly avoided. A kick shot out to keep her off-balance. Spider-Man was quickly catching on to the fact that wherever he moved, Poison followed. Any strike he unleashed was parried, dodged, or endured, or vice-versa. Again and again the two danced around each-other, and Spider-Man realized it was as it had been when he had fought his clones Kaine and Ben:
An impasse.
Which of course meant, that something needed to appear that would tip the scale in Spider-Man's favor. And as it so happened, a certain man in red was right there to be that scale-tipper.
"Hey bro! A little help?"
"I'm a bit busy with Wolverine's red-headed stepchild right now." Scarlet Spider said sardonically as he continued to avoid Cougar's frenzied attacks, which had become that much more frenzied still after Scarlet Spider made the mistake of making light of his antipathy towards his father.
Eventually though, Scarlet Spider tired of being on the evasive, and no sooner had he gotten a solid feel for Cougar's fighting style did he start fighting back. Leaping over Cougar's latest thrust, Scarlet Spider drove his foot into the back of Cougar's skull. Cougar screamed in pain as it felt as though someone had put an alarm clock inside his head, and swung out with one of his arms. Scarlet Spider ducked under the messy and clumsy swing as he landed and then sped towards Cougar, striking him with the rapid-fire speed he had inherited from the real Spider-Man. Cougar rolled with the punches as best he could, but even he couldn't take the abuse for long, and his attempts to fend off Scarlet Spider were in vain as his claw strikes became more sloppy and uncoordinated the more he was hit. Finally, one last kick straight to the jaw sent blood flying out of Cougar's nose, knocked him backwards, and put him on his back where he lay still.
With Cougar down for the count, Scarlet Spider turned and ran at Poison. Poison saw him coming in time to shoot out some tendrils, but Scarlet Spider avoided these before then closing the distance and assisting his brother in their fight against Poison. Suddenly under attack from double the number of rapid-fire strikes, Poison roared in fury but was nevertheless forced back more and more. Every time she tried to strike one Spider the other rushed in and pummeled her some more before then retreating as the other Spider came in for another go. Eventually, Poison began to slow down, before at last the two Spiders together tripped Poison via a joint-web line. Poison collapsed and turned around just in time to receive a double-kick from the two spiders attacking in tandem. Poison was sent flying backwards by the attack before then tumbling and coming to a halt on the edge of the building. Poison moaned and tried to get back up, but mercifully the symbiote villain stayed where she was.
Breathing out a sigh of relief, Spider-Man turned to Scarlet Spider: "Thanks for the assistance. Don't think I could have beaten her on my own. We should count ourselves lucky though: had she been as strong as Venom or Carnage we wouldn't have beaten her at all."
"I take it Venom and Carnage have powers similar to her's?"
Spider-Man nodded. "To make a long story short yes. I'll fill you in on the details later. For now, we need to get out of here and get back to home base."
Scarlet Spider raised an eyebrow behind his red mask. "Homebase?"
Spider-Man nodded. "Yeah. You didn't really think it was just me by my lonesome did you? I'm part of the resistance now. And as of right now you are too. Hope you brought your sleeping bag."
-X-
"So…" Patrick Mulligan began as he and Flash Thompson continued to walk through New York in their civilian alter-egos. "...your symbiote is actually a fragment of my symbiote's grandfather?"
Flash nodded. "Yes. And as you saw from back in that alley ours aren't the only symbiotes out there. There's those four thugs plus at least one more named Agony who I already managed to beat. Wouldn't be surprised if she came back for more though. I know the others definitely will."
"And are those the only other ones?"
Flash shook his head. "I don't know. I know there's mine, the symbiote it's a fragment of, which is Venom's, yours, your symbiote's 'parent', and the ones of the five that are hunting both of us right now."
"What do they want with us? They said something about their boss being interested in me…"
"Who knows? Probably whoever wants us wants to weaponize us and control us in some way, find a way to make an army of Symbiote creatures."
"I've got enough of a headache with just this one, never mind a thousand or more…"
Hey! I'm right here! You wanna repeat that to my face buddy!?
Patrick sighed deeply.
"Your symbiote giving you grief again?" Flash asked. Patrick nodded.
"Get used to it." Flash replied bluntly. "They're very demanding creatures. They require a lot out of their hosts. Not just a vessel for transportation and a body to draw on for shared vitality, but also purpose of some kind. Be it adventure, thrills, justice, or in many cases just straight up destruction. They also tend to have bad tempers, and require a lot of praise. Yours, being so young, will be particularly immature, but also impressionable. You should use that to your advantage."
"Wait, what?"
"Think about it: your symbiote is young. A newborn basically. That means it's a blank slate, and how you think and behave, how you act, can influence how it turns out. You can make sure that this symbiote is a heck of a lot nicer than the others of it's family."
Patrick made a humorless chuckle. "When I imagined becoming a father I never thought it would be like this…" Patrick muttered. He paused for a moment and then said matter-of-factly: "You seem to know an awful lot about these creatures. You're almost like an expert."
Flash Thompson shook his head. "Not exactly. I've just had one on me for almost one and a half years now, and let's just say I went through a lot of growing pains learning to control this thing. Almost lost the fight actually. But I did learn some things in the process. Lucky you that I'm here to give you those nuggets of wisdom. Otherwise you'd have to learn the hard way like I did."
"Well, I'm glad to be having some help here. I don't really know anything about these 'symbiotes', so I really do appreciate all the information you're giving me."
As they continued to walk, Flash took notice of the police badge that was now being worn inside the pocket of Patrick's overshirt, it's top still peeking out.
"So you're a police officer?"
Patrick sighed. "Well I was anyway. Now...I have no idea what I am, except for apparently this thing's father."
"Well look at it this way: you've got me watching your back. And one thing you should know about me is when I've got someone's back, I've got their back. End of story."
Patrick nodded. "Good to know. Good to know…"
As they continued to walk, Patrick could hear his symbiote continue speaking to him, it's voice indeed sounding almost exactly like a hyperactive and over-excited child who didn't know when to be quiet.
I like this guy. He helped us. He's nice. And he's got a part of grandpa, which is also nice. Do you think we'll ever meet the rest of grandpa? Do you think he'll be as nice as this part of him? Or will he be as mean as daddy? I don't know? Do you know? Hello? Hello?
Patrick sighed and kept walking with Flash.
Author's Note: And so, the last of the chapters set in 2013 comes to a close. The rest of this story takes place in 2014. Yes, I know I'm a year behind, but just bear with me. If nothing else I made sure to emphasize that it is the end of 2013 with the cold climate.
And now for some trivia!
Agent Venom is a thing in 616, and also the Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon as it turns out. For those who read Spider-Man Downfall, I did foreshadow this, and now here's the payoff! Sorry it took so long, but there really was no room for it in Back in the Neighborhood. Hopefully, his presence in this third and final chapter will make up for lost time!
Wolverine's son goes by Daken in 616, but I never understood why he called himself that. So instead, I decided to have him be called "Cougar" here, because like a Wolverine it's a dangerous North American mammal. I thought it kind of fit on that level. It's also a vicious big cat like a Sabertooth, thus connecting the name to Wolverine's arch-enemy as well. So therefore, Daken here is named Cougar. Also thought I'd note that my version of Daken/Cougar doesn't have the pheromone power that he had in 616, which was the only thing that allowed him to do well against Spider-Man in their fight in 616 anyway. The second Peter overcame that, he turned the tables and beat Daken. Hence why Scarlet Spider could beat a pheromone-less Cougar here.
