Hello. I've been gone for a long time, but here's a new update to 'Under the Mask'! Hope you all enjoy, please do and tell me what you think! Again sorry for my absence! I hope no one has forgotten this story! Please read and review, every piece of input helps! Disclaimer: I don't own Big Time Rush! I just love them and writing stories about them, particularly AUs! I also don't own Spider-Man or any of other Spider-Man related characters! All I own is the plot of the story! Sorry if this was lame, hopefully I'll make the final showdown action much, much better!
"So, is everything done on your end?"
-Page Break-
Gwen smiled sadistically as screaming, cheering inmates ran amuck in the now open cells of Ravencroft, Institute for The Criminally Insane. The officers in charge of keeping the place under control were soon piling up in heaps, beaten unconscious and bloody from head to toe. She watched this all go down from one of the patrol towers, the officer on duty tied up in sticky, black webbing to his chair.
She held up a hand to her right ear, suit on and ready. She spoke slowly and clearly into the headset, microphone never brushed by her full, shapeless lips.
"Ravencroft inmates released. The circus is now in town."
-Page Break-
"Good, Peter how about you?"
-Page Break-
"I hacked the Main NYPD Security and Communications System. I've sent bogus orders and coordinates to every police cruiser in the city, plus with Gwen severing the lines at Ravencroft they'll have their hands too full to come to Oscorp. Every half-brained cop is in the cage, James." Peter reported with a cool edge to his voice, usually soft eyes hard as amber.
He popped the cricks in his shoulders as his own suit took form, soon large, ghastly teeth poking out from between his lips.
~Good, return to the tower Peter. Your work is done.~
"On my way."
-Page Break-
James finished up his own work at the supercomputer, making sure to wipe it clean of his usage. He shut it down and left the room, heading straight to the tower rooftop.
He'll wait for his "special guest" there.
"Carlos, Logan come in."
~Roger, James.~
"Did you guys do it? Not too much of a hassle?" A rough laugh from Carlos came back as a response.
~Please James, it's not that hard to find explosives in this city! Bridges rigged and ready, give us the signal and we'll send them crumbling down!~
A sinister smile touched James's soft lips.
"I knew you guys wouldn't let me down. Now stay put and wait further instructions, okay? All that's missing is our guest of honor...and something tells me he's on his way."
'Yet I never said you guys would join in on the fun, hahaha...'
-Page Break-
It didn't take too much tinkering for Kendall to sneak into Oscorp Tower. He's stolen a few blueprints of the building, studied them as if it was another high-credit homework assignment. Before he use to sneak to see James during work; Gwen didn't really approve of the dirty blond going around without supervision but didn't rat him out either.
After all, he wasn't a danger to others in the facility. Well not counting the spider gene-splicing incident, of course.
Kendall slowly removed the small door of the air vent, pocketing his lock-picking kit (complete with small screwdrivers and mini cameras) as he descended without a sound into what remained of Dr. Conners's office. He took in the wreckage with a grim expression under his mask: papers burned, shredded and balled up on the floor, file cabinets on their sides, empty, while his cyber desk was out of order. A few blood stains on his chair and the floor; crimson handprints smudged on the glass walls, a sure fire sign that the brilliant man had fought back. There was also large amounts of black, sticky webbing hanging from the ceiling and dripping downwards like expired milk mixed with ink.
Kendall swallowed as best as he could around the lump in his throat.
'James...Gwen...Peter...what have you guys done?' He thought with a flinch, though that thought flew out the window when he heard a crash coming from the dark hallway.
Poised for an assault Kendall scoured the room before taking to the hallway, crouched low and planning his next movements slowly. The crash had died down in seconds, only to be replaced by a series of thumps coming from within the vents over his head.
Spider-Man's shoulders went stiff. He had to count on his human abilities for this job; his spidey sense didn't go off around the Venom Symbiote, which left him at a disadvantage. All he could do was trust his ears and eyes, and do as best as he could while in the dark.
The thumping grew louder, followed by a banging.
Kendall worked himself up the wall and found the nearest vent, pulling out his kit again to undo the screws.
Only to be shocked when a heavy weight knocked the vent door clean off the ceiling.
Kendall doubled back and had his web-shooters ready, only to have his eyes get blown up wide as dinner plates.
"Gwen!"
-Page Break-
Said white-blonde haired girl was unconscious, suspended in the air by a thick cocoon of sticky Venom webbing. She was limp like a rag doll, still in the clothes she wore the day she was abducted: a soft blue cotton shirt and plaid pajama shorts. She was...paler and thinner than the time Kendall saw her last, with big purple bags under her eyes; her breathing was shallow too, so weak her chest barely rose up and down.
'G-Gwen...' Kendall withdrew a small knife from his backpack and began to cut the thick, sticky binds. Gwen rolled out of the cocoon like dead weight, falling into the masked boy's arms without much of a sound leaving her.
Kendall cradled her against his chest and pushed off the ceiling, her face pressed to his neck as he landed on the heels of his feet.
"Gwen, Gwen can you hear me? Wake up, Gwen, wake up. Please wake up, Gwen...!" Kendall cooed to her softly, one hand supporting her back while the other cupped her right, hallow cheek.
When no reaction came Kendall pulled out a cold water bottle from his backpack, uncapping it and pouring some into Gwen's mouth. He had her head tipped back so it went down the right pipe, recapping it only to press the icy plastic to her forehead.
For a few seconds more she was still, though soon enough thick coughs made her chest rise and baby blue eyes fluttered open.
"Ugh...what? W-where am I?"
"Gwen?" The smart young woman tilted her head to the side at the sound of her name, expression still gazed yet her eyes lit up in recognition.
"K-Kendall...?"
"Yeah it's me, princess."
"You...y-you can't stay here. Venom wants to k...kill you." She choked out. She had weak tears in her eyes, as of in excruciating pain.
Kendall wiped at her tears and brushed her hair back, fishing out the blanket in his bag to wrap it around her. "Gwen, where are James and Peter?"
"I-I don't know where Peter is. While under the Symbiote's influence...James had me and Peter split up: I released all the inmates at Ravencroft, and he m-managed to hack into the NYPD Security and Communications System. But that's not all..."
"I know, Dr. Connors was taken hostage too." Kendall began, but Gwen shook her head.
"He w-w-was but that's not it, Kendall. Jett is no longer a part of this; James took him out, stripped him of his Symbiote sample and a-absorbed it. But before he did, Jett had ordered James to...k-kidnap your mother and sister.
At this Kendall's blood ran cold.
'Mom! Katie!'
"And C-Carlos and Logan, they were taken too. Turned into Venoms five and six...James had them plant bombs under all the bridges in New York City. They're rigged to go off under James's orders, take out everything within the five-mile radius. Kendall...the Symbiote is using J-James to get to you. It's warping his mind, forcing his hand at everything that can break you. It won't stop at nothing to get what it wants: you. It's killing James, Kendall.
"What, killing?"
"Y-yeah. I heard...that James's cancer came back. It came back but the Symbiote doesn't c-care. It wants to bond with its host and work with it...b-b-but James isn't the host it wants. It's you it wants, Kendall, so it's planning to use James all up. It's killing him from the inside, it's not stopping his cancer. I don't know how long James has, and he h-has Symbiote cells in his bloodstream. He has Symbiote cells in his bloodstream, Kendall; they're dormant but still there, and only he has them. The Symbiote didn't want to be attached to us in that way but I got so angry that I-I fought back. I didn't want Jamie like this, I didn't want him to die so I fought but then...he turned the others against me. I was gang jumped, then he stripped me of my sample and absorbed it. Then he did the same to the others: he forced them to go against each other, waited until they were down and then absorbed their Venom Symbiote samples. He tied us all up but I don't know where he took Peter, Carlos and Logan; he had Jett locked up in the basement, along with your mother and sister and Dr. Conners. The guys...a-are still in the building, but I don't know where.
"Where's James, Gwen?" Kendall asked, taking a deep breath as he tried to process all of this new information.
"O-on the roof. He's alone up there, Venom wanted you alone but Kendall...please be careful." Gwen finished, biting her lower lip while tears ran faster, harder down her face.
Kendall held her close in a quick but comforting hug, tucking the blanket more under her chin as he picked her up bridal style.
"I'm going after him, you need to stay out of sight. Hide in Conners's office and stay quiet, don't let anything drive you out okay? I promise you, Gwen, that I'm getting our James back. You know this building from top to bottom; see if you can get Conners's cyber desk running again. James may have shut this place down, but you're just as smart. Try to get the tower running again from here and see if you can find the others through the security cameras. James hid you in a very obvious spot, chances are he did the same to Peter, Carlos, and Logan."
"O-okay, I'll see if I can access the basement security as well. I'll do my best, Kendall."
"Be safe, Gwen."
"Don't w-worry about me right now, it's James who really needs you..."
-Page Break-
"James, show yourself now!" Kendall was on high alert as he walked about the roof, bag now abandoned. He brought a bunch of other supplies but left them with Gwen, knowing she would need them more. His bottle green eyes were narrowed dangerously under his mask, muscles tense.
Not a sound came to, the only noise in the background came from the loud booming cracks of thunder and lightening over his head. A storm was coming, raining already falling but promising more.
The icy touch shocked Kendall's skin through the thin spandex but he forced himself to ignore the chill, looking around him to any sign of movement.
'Stay alert, don't drop your guard. Your spidey sense isn't working, so you have to depend on yourself now. Your human, normal self.' He told himself over and over, fingers over his web-slingers triggers.
He scouted the rooftop once, twice, poised and ready but nothing.
Nothing...
'Where are y-'
"AHHHHHHHH!" A loud, sharp shrieking cut through the still air like a butcher knife, it making Kendall spin around on his heels to attack.
Only for the assailant to be fast on his feet and body-slam the dirty blond to the floor.
"Gah! Kendall choked on a cloud of air before the wind was knocked right out of him, a more muscular, bigger body trapping him to the cold, metal floor. Suddenly the weight was gone, only for a sharp pain to crush his stomach: feet dug into his ribs, severely bruising them, howling and growling ringing in Kendall's ears, and a punch met his jaw before the assailant backflipped off him.
Kendall felt blood line the inside of his mouth, reflexes kicking in though; he backflipped and was soon on his feet again, though resolve a bit shaky. His heart was racing, mind reeling as he looked frantically around him to spy a fast moving blur.
"James! James, show yourself now!"
"Kendall?" Said blond directed his attention to one of the satellite towers, the bolts of lightening flashing and revealing a now soaking wet, trembling form.
"J-James..." The brunet tilted his head to the side at the mention of his name, an expression of mingled confusion and fear leaving his face white as a sheet.
"James." That caused the taller boy to flinch before he threw himself from the perch he had roosted on like a crow, landing on his feet gracefully.
He rose so that he was at eye-level with the blue-and-red spandex clad hero, all-black clothes soaked to the bone. His hair was darker due to the wet, eyes...a smoldering golden-red.
"What are you doing here?" James asked, Kendall slightly relaxing his offense stance.
"James, it's okay. Venom can't control you anymore; it let Gwen and the others free, it didn't need them. It's weak, all you have to do is fight it."
"You mean, we didn't need them." James hissed back, a dangerous gleam to his eyes now, jaw clenched tightly. Kendall felt a chill run down his spine again, though from the freezing rain.
"What are you talking about, what 'we'?"
'He's trying to toy with us, don't let him.' The voices in James's head snarled, the poor boy slapping a hand to the side of his head.
"I won't."
"You won't what?" A cruel grin touched James's soft lips at this point, his eyes darkening to a...pitch black shade.
"You won't toy with us, Kendall. We didn't need them anymore...because we have each other." Another flash of lightening, another loud boom of thunder.
Kendall ripped off his mask, usually bright bottle green eyes dark with worry. "James, it's not you. It's the Symbiote, it's warping your mind. You didn't mean to do any of this: freeing the Ravencroft inmates, kidnapping my mom and Katie, everything was a sick plan Venom came up with."
"Don't be stupid, Knight. You think I'm not smart enough to orchestra a take-over of the city? Ha, you're so naive! Imagine it: the inmates having no where to go, they'll kill those officers being held hostage. The others trying to help now stranded as soon as I push this button. Boom, go the bridges! But of course, I did it all for you! This started with you, with us so we'll end it that way! We want to kill you, and that's going to happen tonight!
Soon James let out a blood-curdling scream, falling to his knees.
"James!"
'He's lying to us. He hates us. He's just using us. He's afraid of us. He'll be dead to us. He's our enemy.'
"Gah! Ugh...! Ahhhhhh...AHHHHHHHHHHH!" The Venom suit began to take form, crawling up James's back and spreading to his long, muscular legs. His eyes grew wide, pupils dilating and head thrown back as he continued to scream.
"JAMES!"
"STAY. AWAY. FROM US!"
Kendall shot out a long, thick ribbon of webbing, it going around one of James's wrists. He webbed the other and began to pull, shooting more webbing to form the formation of a net.
'I need to stop him, now!'
"WE. SAID. STAY AWAY!" Kendall was soon body slammed to the floor once more, but this time by...a tentacle protruding from James's back.
"J-James!" He choked out around another squeezing hard at his neck.
Several more tentacles sprouted from James's back, boneless and pitch black. The brunet's teeth grew to the size of overgrown canines, long and sharp and a pale yellow. His nails grew longer as well, and sharper. Tears streamed down James's flaming cheeks as the Symbiote fingered at his open mouth, the infamous large, sinister-looking spider taking shape across his strong chest. His well-developed muscles, covered by his dark clothes, were soon hugged by spandex-resembling goo, the Venom suit taking shape.
"JAMES!" Tears were running down Kendall's face at this point as well, one of the tentacles snapping around his right ankle.
"WHAT'S THE MATTER, SPIDER-MAN?! ARE YOU SCARED?!"
"AHHHH!" Kendall collided hard with the nearest satellite tower, sparks flying and scorching his hair and exposed skin.
He landed face first to the cold, steel ground. He coughed, hard, until blood mixed with saliva lined his mouth like lipstain; he pressed a hand to his right side, feeling sizzling flesh under his spandex clad fingers. Cold sweat marred his brows, blood flowing from a gash at the side of his head.
He let out a soft moan of pain but forced his eyes to stay open, using his remaining energy to pull his mask back on.
"AHHHHHH!" Another blood-curdling shriek filled the air, drowning out the thunder and lightening. Kendall shield his masked face from the bright light, soon a tall, very muscular form appearing before his mildly blurry vision.
"J-James..."
'He hates us.'
Black tentacles licked at the falling drops, James's hands balled up into fists at his sides.
'He lies to us.'
Those fists fell upon the floor with such force gaping holes were left in their wake.
'He's afraid of us.'
Kendall forced himself to his feet, leaning against the satellite tower's slender frame for support. He was losing blood from the gash in his right side, losing blood and fast.
'He's dead to us.'
"V-Venom..."
"Hello, Kendall." James's beautiful, angelic face was gone. It was replaced by full, shapeless lips, long gnarled teeth, big, pure white eyes and a ghastly grin.
'Spider-Man, he's our enemy.'
James's warm, rich dark skin and hair were lost under layers of black goo, his arms and legs, everything covered.
'We have to kill him!'
"Did you miss us?" The brunet's sweet, musical voice was all wrong too: rough, sharp and raspy as if he was chewing on broken glass. A long, serpent-like tongue ran over those full, shapeless lips followed by a drawn out, animalistic growl.
"We will kill him!'
Despite the immense pain he was in, Kendall pushed off the satellite tower and resumed an offensive stance, breathing heavy and masked eyes narrowed dangerously.
'He used us!'
"This isn't over." Kendall spat, Venom shooting the blond boy a grin.
"You're right, this isn't over. We'll only be satisfied once you're dead!"
"HE'S DEAD TO US!"
"You're going to pay, for everything you've done, I'm getting my James back, Venom."
"Try it then, Kendall! And it's not him! It's not me, it's US! WE ARE VENOM!"