Chapter 10

Peter groaned and tried to pick himself up but found that the slightest movement caused him immense amounts of pain. Resigning himself to lying still for a while he glanced around taking in his surroundings. He seemed to be in the back seat of a car and the car was travelling. Peter glanced down at himself. He was no longer in his costume but was in an unfamiliar shirt and pants. Slowly Peter propped himself up with his elbows to see if he could tell where he was, and also who was in the car with him. Looking out the opposite window, all Peter could tell was that he was no longer in New York. He painfully tilted his head to the side to take a look at the driver. The familiar red hair spilling over the headrest was all he needed to see to know he was in good hands.

"Where are we MJ?" Peter asked.

"You're awake already," MJ asked glancing at him in the rear view mirror.

"Yeah," Peter grunted as he shifted position to prop himself up against the door. "Now where are we?"

"Try not move too much, I'm not too confident in the strength of the stitches holding your chest closed," MJ said, ignoring his question for a second time.

Peter sighed and ran his hand over his chest and he could feel the stitches.

"Mary Jane, for the last time, where are we?" Peter asked as forcefully as he could, which in his current state was not very threatening.

MJ sighed, "I'm getting you away from New York Peter. You had punctured lung, you are in no condition to be fighting anyone, you need to rest."

Peter groaned as he shifted yet again.

"MJ, She-Venom is still on the loose and God knows what else is going on, I need to get back there and stop her." Peter argued.

"No Peter, you are in no condition to stop anyone, let someone else handle this like Tony or Fantastic Four." Mary Jane said, "Now lie back down and go back to sleep."

"I can't," Peter replied. "Can you turn on the radio so I can at least hear the news just so I can hear what's going on."

MJ sighed, but she relented and turned on the radio and then dialled it over to one of the all news stations.

"...that billionaire Tony Stark was found dead of an apparent heart attack late last night. His body was found in the shower; apparently he just collapsed after showering. Stark was known to have heart issue. It was thought that he had recovered but apparently not..."

MJ switched the radio off, not wanting to hear anymore.

"MJ turn the car around," Peter said quietly but firmly.

"No," MJ said as she gripped the steering wheel tighter and stared straight ahead.

"MJ, Tony is dead. I don't know how but I'm pretty sure he didn't die of a heart attack," Peter said.

"We're not going back," MJ interrupted.

"MJ, I am the only person who can stop this," Peter argued.

"No Peter," MJ said turning around and yelling at him. "I will not take you back there so that you can just run off and die. I will not let that happen."

At that Peter shut up. MJ turned back around and was looking at the road again.

"You think you're the only one who can deal with these situations, and while it's admirable Peter, it's suicidal. One of these days you're gonna get yourself killed, and do you have any idea what that's gonna do to me."

"I'm sorry MJ," Peter said. "It's just I feel responsible for..."

"Well you need to stop it," MJ said. "Every little thing that goes wrong in the city you feel responsible for, but you're ducking your true responsibility, to me your wife. You know I can't help but feel like you do all this to avoid me."

Peter was stunned, he had absolutely no idea that MJ felt that way.

"MJ, I had no idea you felt that way..." Peter tried to apologize.

"Well I do feel that way! And I keep it all bottled up inside because I know that very few people can do the things you do. I'm not surprised you had no idea, and it's my fault. I probably should have voiced my concerns. As much as I'd like you not to go out there and risk your life, I know you have to. But there is no reason why you should be doing it so soon after having surgery."

"You're right," Peter admitted. "I'm in no condition to be going after She-Venom."

Finally Mary Jane seemed to relax.

"So where are we going?" Peter asked.

"Delaware."

"DELAWARE?"

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Ann and Cletus were wandering the halls of the Baxter Building. Surprisingly walking in through the front door was the easiest way in. Granted both had used their symbiotes to disguise themselves as Reed Richards and Sue Storm. As they neared the research laboratories security was tighter and they had left a trail of dead bodies. Eventually they reached one particular lab that Ann felt they had to visit.

Cletus was incredibly anxious and was flexing his fingers repeatedly little bits of his symbiote were spurting out and then retracting back underneath his skin. Meanwhile Ann was skimming over files on a computer.

"What exactly are you looking for?" Cletus asked.

"Anything that can help us," Ann replied. "Why should they get the advantage of having all this advanced technology?"

Cletus shrugged and then wandered over the door to keep watch.

"Aha!" Ann declared getting up from the computer and running over to a refrigerator.

"What did you find?" Cassidy asked

Ann didn't reply but looked through a series of tubes in the fridge until she found one she wanted. She pulled it out and stuck it in a hypodermic needle and injected herself. She then grabbed another one and injected herself. She then collapsed to the ground, the symbiote spreading out and covering her and going all over the floor as it kept on growing.

"What the hell did you just inject yourself with?" Cletus demanded as his symbiote enveloped him defensively.

In response the symbiote slithered towards Cletus.

"What the fuck?" Cletus yelled

The symbiote reached Cletus' feet and began pulling the symbiote off of him. Cletus tried to pull away but the symbiote grew more and held him down by his arms and legs pulling his symbiote off completely, leaving Cassidy naked.

"What the hell did you do?" Cassidy asked his voice now high with panic.

Ann finally pulled herself up off the ground, the symbiote completely covering her yet small blobs were dripping off and falling to the floor where they spread.

"That's much better," She-Venom said, her tongue licking her oversized teeth.

A thick tentacles shoot off of her body from her shoulder and lifted Cletus Cassidy into the air and held him inches away from She-Venom's face.

"Spiderman has many allies," She-Venom said. "But what will he do when all of his allies are against him and controlled by me?"

"Controlled by you?" Cassidy asked as he thrashed about trying to break free.

"Can't you feel it?" She-Venom laughed. "We are growing, exponentially. Soon we'll be able to possess others and turn them against Spiderman. But not you Cassidy. No. You're a threat. You know too much. Unfortunately you've lost your usefulness."

Cassidy continued to struggle against the tentacles and She-Venom formed a wicked looking blade with her hand.

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It has been a long on heck of a long time between updates. I do apologize for anyone that was a little upset by this. And yes I am going off on a bit of a Web of Shadows bit here, it's what inspired me to continue writing this. As always comments are appreciated.