Happy New Year!

I figured a chapter to celebrate would be a good idea so please enjoy!

Chapter 25

When Peter thought about how he wanted to have someone all over him, he was kind of expecting a girl, not a symbiote.

He pulled in complete anger at the suit. He was wearing it this whole time. "Damn it!" He yelled in frustration. It started clutching to him harder, squeezing away his breath. He dug his fingers in until he felt him scratch his own skin and tugged.

"Why are you so clingy!" His hand flung off the suit, almost nailing him in the face. His breathing was heavy and labored, sweat drenched his forehead. "Get off!"

Feeling the symbiote squeeze harder, he stopped his assault. "This isn't working." He said aloud. Despite his panic, his eyes gazed around the room, searching for anything that could help.

His mind is foggy. It wasn't working. He couldn't think. He just saw his uncle get killed twice. Well… kind of killed. He's wasn't real in the first place.

Peter gulped down the bile in his throat. He pressed his palm to his forehead willing himself to calm down, taking in deep breaths. Luckily, he still had control over his body. Now, what did he know about the symbiote?

One, it's gross. Awesome. He thought sarcastically.

Two, built by Oscorp – for me. He added.

Three, doesn't like loud sounds. Loud sounds? What makes a loud sound in here? He thought about it. But most of this was basic chemistry equipment, no hardcore mechanical equipment.

Alright not going to work. He asked himself next. He felt as though he is in the academic decathlon, except that his literal life was on the line. Sound. What is sound?

One, basic air vibrations.

Two, travels in waves.

Three, has a frequency.

Four, experimental energy source. Energy Source? Another similar energy source? What the hell is similar to sound? He felt his breath quicken again, he ran his hand through his hair.

Calm down, Parker! You can do this! He sat on the black countertops looking around again feeling his mind clearing.

He saw a crashed computer, broken glass and toppled tables. He saw gas lines and battery packs, and… Battery packs! He realized. Electricity! He exclaimed inside his mind. Travels through the air, travels in waves and has a frequency!

He, dramatically, dove for the batteries. He just needed a way to siphon their energy into pure electricity.

He looked down at his chest, where a white spider watched him, menacingly. He only had to hope that Venom had no idea what he was doing.

"Time to get to work." He picked himself up, along with the batteries getting himself into hardcore, hardware mode.

Peter's done this enough times to know how to shock himself using a computer. He simply needed a high enough dose that would unlatch Venom while not killing him in the process. Easy enough.

He looked at the batter pack, "Shit. Not enough juice." He needed an outlet or a generator.

"This is my mind, right?" He got up, starring at the ceiling. "For once, I need to get control of it."

At that moment, something occurred to him. He remembered back to the gauntlet training, how he had found a way around Steve's training, a loophole.

"Alright, Steve. Training. What did I learn during training?" He thought. "First, assess the situation." He looked around, finding nothing wrong. "Done."

"Step two, loophole." He thought about it again. What could he think up that would allow him to shock the crap out of Venom? Gosh, the teen wished he had the others with him in here. He wanted so badly to get out and just finish. Already, Peter felt as if he'd been here too long. It was infuriating.

Doubt reached in, grabbing at his ankles and wrists. He needed to actually do something, but he couldn't. He didn't know how. Bruce had made this sound so easy when he was lying there, and Steve made him feel like a hero, but he wasn't.

Peter failed. He knew it. He'd be trapped in his own mind with a symbiote stuck to his astral body forever. The young hero growled at himself, pounding an angry fist on the ground. He held back tears, knowing they'd be no help right now, but felt them slipping free anyways, running down his face as he choked on air.

Almost as if he was praying, with his hands folded on his lap, Peter looked to the sky. He found it was no longer the ceiling of a science classroom, in fact he wasn't in a classroom at all. He was back on the road, the scattered remains of the computer still lying around him. The burnt orange sky, looming over him looking more menacing than before. The teen gazed at the light. He stayed like than for a long while, simply feeling comfort in the warmth the light gave him.

Something to the right flashed, catching his eye. His gazed drifted until it was looking at a blackened storm. It was threatening looking, sure, but for some reason it seemed calm. He watched a white light flicker again showing the bottom of silver, puffy clouds. "A storm?" He wondered.

Keeping one eye on Osborn the whole time, Steve peers at the downed symbiote. It had been about 15 minutes since Peter changed and there was still no result that Peter was fighting the symbiote or even alive at all.

Despite his fear, he watched the symbiote breathe roughly. "Ever been a gambler, Captain?"

Cap's eyes shot to Norman, not saying anything. Giving the okay to speak, Norman continues. "Because I want to make you an offer. If I help you separate the boy from the symbiote, then we each can have what we want right?"

"What do you mean? You aren't getting the symbiote back." Cap answered.

"Then your son is lost." Osborn whispered, terrifyingly.

"He has time." Steve replied stoic, not showing an ounce of doubt.

Norman opens his mouth but due to a loss of words he closes it again. He mumbles a laugh between his closed lips. "Why do you think he hasn't gotten up yet?" Norman asked. "He's an all mighty super being and you crashing him into the pavement wouldn't stop him."

Steve glances back down to the symbiote. "He's not getting up because I don't want him to." Norman answered.

"I won't let you have Peter."

"That is the point of the deal, now, isn't it?" Norman walks around the crater that traps the symbiote within its rocky walls. "I will allow Peter to run free, but I want Venom."

"I won't let someone else take his place, either." Steve shook his head and stood up strong, shoulders drawn back and muscles pumping with adrenaline. "Peter may be my son, but neither one of us will allow another to be harmed. And as much as I love Peter, and as much as I try to protect him, he's still a hero and that takes sacrifice."

Steve's eyes bore into Osborn's as Norman takes another step closer, still staying within arms reach of the symbiote.

"The symbiote will find his way back to me whether you want him to or not. I am giving you a chance to have your kid back."

"Why is that?" Hawkeye asked, his bow drawn just in case. "Why does a reckless symbiote listen to you?"

"Just like everything good civilian." Norman looks from the symbiote to Steve. "It knows it's place."

Cap's lips twitch upwards. "Then it will have a hell of a time with Peter as a host."

"You can't be taking that at face value, Cap." A familiar voice called out from the sky. Both Steve and Norman stop and look upwards. A flash of red alerts them to the presence. Tossing Modok's broken, but alive body aside, Iron Man crashed down, blocking Norman's path towards Steve.

"Tony?" Steve wondered.

"You'd be so surprised what you can find on the internet these days." Tony's suit pulled back his face plate. He turned around, facing Norman. "You, my clearly less than adequate competitor, can't use another host."

"I can create anything." Norman replied.

"Also false, but we'll figure out that logic later." Tony flicked his hand. "You can't make another host without the Spider DNA."

"I have the Spider DNA."

"Not entirely. That's the real reason you kidnapped Peter, wasn't it? It had nothing to do with the symbiote."

"What the hell do you mean, Tony?" Clint asked.

"Pay attention, would you, Legolas?" Tony snapped his fingers at Clint. "I found a little something on the internet on a completely separate drive connected to a highly secured IP address whose last known user was a Mr. Richard Parker."

"You did all of this while fighting Modok?"

"Modok isn't much of a villain when fighting against a global AI system that can—"

"Get to the point, Tony." Steve egged him along. He never understood the technical talk in the first place.

"Fine." Tony shrugged, looking back at Osborn, determined. "You can't recreate the experiment, can you, because Richard Parker didn't actually use Peter's DNA in the experiment. He used his own. Without him or a blood relative the experiment couldn't be continued or replicated."

"I've done it several times over," said Osborn, scoffing at the remark.

"With failed results." Another voice pointed out from behind the group. Swiveling their heads around, they found Bruce appearing from the shadows. "You kidnapped Peter as a way to recombine Richard's DNA because Peter's isn't the first half human, half spider hybrid. The spider itself was the hybrid."

"What does that have anything to do with the situation now?"

"The symbiote was a side project and it wasn't even for you. Richard's experiment funding came from a foreign government. AKA: Hydra." Tony continued. "You thought you could kills two birds with one stone. They wanted a biological weapon and you wanted to save yourself."

"That's ridiculous." Norman shunned. "Besides what do I have to save myself from?"

"Do you want the list in chronological or alphabetical order?" Tony joked.

"Not the time, Tony." Steve chided.

"You're sick, aren't you?" Tony asked Norman. He turned to Steve, shrugging at him, again. "I got tipped off when Fury had mentioned that he needed Peter for the health benefits."

"Health benefits? Like insurance?" Steve asked.

"We looked into your medical records, Mr. Osborn." Bruce spoke up. "You have a very rare type of disease called Retroviral Hypodysplasia which deteriorates the body."

"But Peter's healing ability could, possibly, cure you and it's much easier to kidnap a kid, then, let's say—" Tony raises an upwards palm towards Steve, "a super soldier, perhaps."

A moment of silence passes before Tony begins to talk again. "Does that sound about right?"

Norman didn't answer.

"Sad thing is," Tony aimed a repulser at him, causing Norman to backup away from it. "If you had just asked the kid, he would have probably helped you with that. He's a sucker for a good sob story."

Then he took the shot.

Peter watched the storm. The sound ringing in his ears. It was just like the night his parents left him, he remembered. He hadn't remembered that night for a long-long time.

"Peter! Sweetie! We got to go!" Mary called from the bottom of the stairs. She was rushed and disheveled, but tried so hard to hide it. She heard the pounding of feed and the slight drag of a suitcase.

"Coming, mommy!"

Six-year-old Peter rushes down the hall. He grabs his duffle bag and pushes it down the stairs so that gravity can do the work. Peter then tumbles down after it. "Peter don't run down the stairs." His mother scolds, grabbing his duffle from the bottom and placing it near the door.

Richard opens the front door, grabbing the suit case. "Come on Parkers! Time to go!"

Peter follows him out the door. His father asked, his voice faking happiness. "Are you ready to go to your aunt and uncle's, Pete?"

Peter looks at him. "Why can't I go on with you?" Peter asked. He trails his father to the back of the car. Peter has this feeling of loneliness all of a sudden. His parents have gone on travels before, but for some reason he feels different about this one. They seemed more anxious this time around.

"This is a work trip, Peter, you know that." He grunts as he puts Peter's duffle in the trunk. "No children." Richard looks back at his son, watching disappointment bloom on his face. "Why you don't like you aunt and uncle?"

Peter shakes his head. "No, I do."

"Well what's the problem then?" His father questions with a strained smile.

"I'll miss you." Peter answered, his voice cracking and high pitched.

Richard grabs Peter under his arms and hoists him up onto his hip. "We'll miss you too. But we'll be back." He lied.

Peter just nodded, but didn't say anymore. "Now," his father began, situating Peter in the backseat. "I've got to get your mother out of the house. I'd like to make it to the airport before the rain hits." He looks up at the quickly blackening sky. He buckles Peter in.

"Mar—!"

"I'm here!" She calls before Richard can finish. She rushes into the passenger seat.

Richard takes his seat in the driver's side and pulls the car out of the driveway. Within minutes the rain came, pounding down on the car is large spurts. The only thing that could be heard is the windshield whippers frantically pushing away the droplets.

"Daddy, why does lightning happen?"

"Well when two clouds rub up against each other they create static. That static builds up and has to be released."

"Why does it hit the ground?"

"Have you ever heard the phrase 'opposites attract,' Peter?"

"Mommy says it all the time."

"Well it's like the same thing. The lightning in the cloud is attracted to the ground."

"I like lightning. It's cool."

"It's also very powerful. You know," Richard perked his voice up a bit, "you have lightning in your brain."

"Really?" He touches his head. "I don't feel it."

"Sure, you do." Richard told him. "Every time you have a thought or feel something your brain creates lightning."

"How come I don't die?"

"It's very tame lightning, but powerful all the same." There was a pause. "Your brain, Peter, is the greatest computer in the world. Nothing beats it. To people the brain is the best tool you could ever have in your tool box."

"I don't have a brain in my toolbox." Peter said, thinking his father meant his play box.

Both Richard and Mary simply laugh. "You have one. You just can't see it."

The rain knocks Peter out of his memory, fading it into oblivion. He couldn't remember the last time he thought about his parents. He hurt too much after they died. To think that was their last conversation.

He felt the drops run down his face. Lightning strikes the ground again. "Holy shit." He breathes, his chin falling to meet his chest. He sighed. "The stupid answer was there all along."

Thanks for reading!

Honestly, there may only be about 2-3 chapters left peeps! How incredible is that!

Thanks for sticking with me all this time. I'll try to make more regular updates, but no promises.

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