Now I know I said that updates would be a little more far in between, but I was too excited to write this chapter, so surprise! Early chapter for all of you to keep reading while I work on my stuff. Hope you enjoy!
To Mad King C, sadly I don't think we'll be seeing much of Moonjumper in this story. There's just not enough known about him for me to write him in, as I am mostly sticking to the main games' canon. And don't worry, I've seen the pattern too. I have an ending planned for Battle of the Birds, and it's not gonna be like most AHiT fics hehe
The arachnid and the adventurer sighed as they calmed down from their outburst. It was like today just kept getting worse and worse.
Typical Parker luck groaned Spidey in his head. First they nearly lose both their souls, and now they couldn't even get back to the ship. If we die, I am so bothering that haunted purple ramen noodle for eternity he inwardly ranted.
Hat Kid tried pressing the button on her time piece tracker to maybe guide them to this Subcon Well, but had no luck. It seemed the Snatcher's spell had disrupted communications with the ship as well.
"I don't know where to go," the crestfallen purple explorer sighed. Without the tracker, their whole trip might as well have been for nothing.
Refusing to just give in, Spidey said, "There's gotta be some way to figure out where to go. Don't you have a connection to the magic time Force or anything? Figured being the Guardian of Time came with the territory," he spit balled.
"There's no such thing as magic ti-" Hattie began, but stopped as she realized, she did have magic! Granted it wasn't related to the time pieces, but magic nonetheless. "Actually, my hat is a little magical. Whenever I look for something, if I think hard enough, it shows me where to go!" she suggested to the wall crawler.
"Magic top hat? Why didn't I think of that? More importantly, why didn't you use it before?"
Hat Kid shuffled her feet as she explained, "Well, I never mastered how to do it. It takes a lot of concentration sometimes. But it's the only thing we have."
Spidey nodded in understanding. There were days where he'd seen Doctor Strange down 2 Advils at a time to compensate for the constant migraine that was magic. "Well give it a shot. If it's too much, just give it a break. It's not like these contracts have dates on them anyways," he said.
Nodding, Hat Kid put her hands it her temple, concentrating hard on where they needed to go. Then, magically, an image popped in her head, as well as a tug in the direction in was in. "That way!" she gestured, before taking back off down the cobblestone road, Spider-Man following close behind.
Running back up the way they came, the two arrived back at the same place where they first touched down into this cursed forest. Though when they arrived at the large tree again, they were surprised to find...
"Snatcher? You live in this tree?" a surprised Spider-Man asked. Within the tree, the ghastly ghoul himself was sitting in a comfy chair reading a book.
"What's up kiddos? I see you found my humble abode," he genuinely grinned. "It seems you're lost? Well you're supposed to be cleaning the well, kids. It's deep inside the swamp, but it's big enough even tiny things like you two can't miss it," as he gestured with his ghostly tail to the swamp. He then returned to his usual level of smugness as he added, "Try not to trip and hit your head at the bottom, HAHAHA!"
"I'll be sure to try," Spidey grunted as they left. Well at least they know what direction to go in now. But once they reached the Swamp's edge, Hat Kid felt a strange tug from her hat, gesturing her towards the fiery landscape that lay opposite from the swamp.
"Hey, my Hat is detecting something that way," informed the little girl as she tugged on Spidey's web cape.
"I'm not one to question hat magic in this multiverse. Lead on Captain," submitted the wall crawler.
The wayward duo journeyed into a new area of Subcon Forest, where they were confronted with blazing heat from all the fires that were being lit. Though the heat was appalling, it was also in a way beautiful. The flames were not spreading like wildfires, but rather were staying in place, making them seem as if the trees were made of fire.
Once they had gone deep into the heart of the flaming forest, Hat Kid felt the tug from her hat direct her to her left. And so she followed with Spider-Man behind her until they had left the fire lands entirely, re-entering the purple reaches of regular Subcon, though this section was unfamiliar to them. It seemed at one time there was a camping ground in the area, as they ran across a grill and a fire pit. There was also a port-a-potty, but they steered clear from the smelly structure.
As they continued forward, the tug kept increasing in strength until it began taking on a physical itch on Hat Kid's scalp. Around they went, discovering more and more signs of architecture and of a fallen civilization. When they finally arrived though, the tug stop, and the duo could see why.
A purple time rift had been formed, rising from the mystic crater left by the time piece's rough entry. Around it, mystic bolts of energy were suspended in mid air, probably caused by the impact combined with what seemed to be residual magic from the forest itself. It was a breathtaking sight, but also a most concerning one for the two explorers.
"So that's why my hat brought us here," Hat Kid concluded.
"And this is why I never doubt Hat Magic," Spidey quipped. "Duty calls kid, purple means we go before it gets unstable."
Hat Kid nodded, understanding she still had a job to do. Taking Spider-Man's hand, she held on as he shot a web onto a nearby wall. Once he had clung to it, he shot another web and swung feet first into the rift, Hat Kid and tow.
Arriving inside the rift, the first thing that the wall crawler and adventurer were met with was the sight of several raccoons sleeping on ice shelves.
"It's a living Nyquil commercial," Spidey joked to himself, careful not to step on any of the sleeping rodents. He had to admit though, it seemed really tempting to make a web pillow and lie down himself.
As the two tip toe'd around the dreamers, they made their way up to the cauldron at the top of the shelf, Hat Kid's eye caught a glimpse of another storybook page. Curious about the story of this peculiar forest, she grabbed the page before hopping in with Spidey down the hole.
As they entered the next area, they were once again greeted by the burning forest section from before. The heat was not as sweltering as before though, almost like a sauna instead. The trees were also not on fire, or at least as much fire. Instead, small flames flickered on various tree branches, while tiny embers simmered below was also a wrecking ball, for some odd reason, and various tree houses.
"I never thought I would actually like a purple time rift," Spidey dreamily voiced aloud. Compared to the other purple rifts, this one was much more relaxing. It was like something his subconscious would dream up at 2 AM. "Well, you know the drill Hattie. Vamanos."
Complying with his direction, Hat Kid hopped across some branch platforms as Spider-Man swung along the trees themselves. Gathering rift pons as they went, it took the virtually no time to gather up 5 of the strange orbs, Their exploration also yielded some more storybook pages to the two, which they pocketed for future notice.
As Spidey was picking up the last rift pon, he could see the fire spirits off in the distance, playing happily as they raced across some tree branches. But something seemed amiss, considering one of the spirits looked stockier than normal. Adjusting his lenses to account for the orange haze and the smoke, he could just make out the figure in the distance. It appeared to be a... woman? He couldn't tell unless he got closer...
"Spider-Man, let's gooooo," complained Hat Kid as she sat at the cauldron, waiting for her partner.
"Keep your hat on your head, I'm coming." he retorted, leaving behind the mysterious figure. Sometimes not all mysteries are meant to be solved.
Inserting the rift pons into the cauldron like usual, the two partners in time hopped down the hatched when it opened, leading them to the next level. There, they found the area to be much darker, though just enough to see properly.
As Hat Kid was walking around, she heard Spider-Man say, "Spider-sense is tingling." Moments later, she was tugged away by the red and blue arachnid on a web line, just in time to hear a popping sound and an identical thwip drop from above as well as the popping of a balloon. Not a second later, both a raccoon and another giant spider dropped where she had been standing. The two then proceeded to knock them unconscious, gaining a rift pon from each enemy.
That spider-sense sure comes in handy remarked Hat kid inwardly. If it weren't for the save, she'd be much worse off right now.
The duo once again ran around collecting rift pons, which seemed much less scattered in this level, though it was also a very short level compared to most. They had trouble hopping on the horizontal windmill structure at first, but when they landed, they were able to gather up the last of the pons and the story page. Satisfied, they advanced to the cauldron, where Hat Kid found another page behind it.
Once they inserted their pons again and jumped down the hole, they were met with what seemed to be the literal polar opposite to the relaxing fire stage they had been at moments before. Here, there were ice crystals sprouting every which way, as well as biting arctic level winds blowing through occasionally. This cold was not relaxing, it was deadly.
"Alright, I'm never complaining about 45 degree weather again," shivered Spidey. "Let's find those pons and blow this popsicle stand."
"I couldn't agree more," responded Hat Kid, moving quickly so they could grab the rift pons before they froze over.
As they about to jump to one of the various battlements though, Spider-Man shouted, "Wait!" as his spider-sense had triggered. He then picked up a nearby heavy rock and tossed it at the battlement. It shook roughly before ultimately sinking down to the ice. It took several moments for it to reappear.
"Alright, looks like we got to be light on our feet for this. Ready?" he asked.
The purple adventurer nodded, and on the count of 3, the two leaped onto the tall tower, immediately advancing to the next one, which held a rift pon. They followed each other in stride, making sure they kept in sync to avoid sinking the other, until they arrived at a temporary safe spot on some trees.
"Not bad. Same thing here now, ready?" started Spidey, but his countdown was interrupted by another falling raccoon, which he promptly dodged and flung away. "Alright, NOW we're ready," he declared, earning a small chuckle from Hat Kid. Once again, they followed each other's footsteps, making sure not to leave the other behind. Soon, they had nabbed every rift pon that was hanging from the battlements.
"See? All it takes is plunging into giant ice spikes to get our synergy back," commented Spidey half jokingly as he stared down at what could have been their possible faith. Wasting no time, they stuck their pons in the cauldron and hopped down again.
On the next level, they were on a circular roof, standing between two octopi. "Um, hello?" began Spidey, but he soon retracted his words as he nearly was zapped by the cephalopods. Thankfully, he had the reflexes and the precognition to hop onto a glass wall with Hat Kid to avoid the shockwave. "Just for that, I'm going to a Korean restaurant when I get home," he ranted down at them.
Not seeing any rift pons but one on the roof, Spidey decided to put his newly reacquired spider-sense to the test. Using it like a sonar, he tried to tune in on the magical frequencies of the rift pons or the story book pages, just like Madame Web had shown him during the tablet fiasco. As he focused, he could see their outlines not above or next to them, but below them.
"Found the rest," Spidey happily informed the little girl, who gave a small smile in return. That smile instantly vanished however as a piercing roar echoed through the land. Though Hat Kid was unnerved because she didn't know what caused it, Spider-Man was losing it because he did know. Looking around rapidly, he noticed a wooden plank hanging off the side. "Quick, get behind that plank. NOW!" he ordered.
Though distressed, Hat Kid did as she was told, ducking down on the plank to make herself small. Not a moment too soon either, because now, the source of the sound had arrived, and the sight of it appalled the young child.
It came from a portal that appeared right in front of Spider-Man. The first thing that emerged was the black strands of goo, which she soon realized was webbing. Next came a flash of black that Spider-Man barely managed to dodge, breaking the glass wall he had been perched on. Finally, once the rubble was moved, the figure finally came into view, where Hat Kid could get a good look at it.
The thing before them looked like a monstrous version of Spider-Man. It bore a large white spider on its back and chest, about as large as the Unlimited suit's logo. It also had giant meaty hands, each digit ending in a claw and a white square on the back of the hand. Its mass far exceeded the wall crawler's limber physique, making it nearly twice as big as him. But the most horrific part of all was the face. Where Spider-Man's eye lenses were wide and friendly, this creature's lenses were sharp and narrow, giving it a constant sinister look. But the mouth is what truly sold the appearance. Its teeth looked like it was lined with machetes with a disgustingly long tongue sticking out.
"RAGHHHH!" it screamed.
"Well if it isn't my least favorite parasite. Don't you think you're getting too old for this shtick Venom? I know I am," Spidey addressed the frightening newcomer. "And Eddie, seriously, you need to look up what reformed means in a dictionary, because CLEARLY you didn't get the message."
All Venom did was keep snarling and roaring. Very unusual for the envious symbiotic, especially with Eddie Brock as the host.
"Not much of a talker now? Shame, I really missed our unfriendly banter. But guess we'll do it the old fashioned way," Spider-Man said before getting into a fighting stance on the wall. Venom only snarled as he leapt up to the fellow wall crawler, beginning their battle. Though Spider-Man had improved a large amount since the last time he fought Eddie and Venom together, he still was barely able to dodge the assault that he gave. A few times, he was scathed, but the blows didn't hit as hard as Venom usually hit, leaving the web slinger confused.
After catching a right hook from the fanged beast, Spidey was surprised when he found Venom's leg buried into his stomach, knocking him off the wall and onto some bone cages. The giant beast pursued, and soon the two were duking it out again on top of the cages.
Hat Kid watched anxiously, hoping that Spider-Man could beat that thing. She was about to move more to the side of her plank when she noticed that it ended there, and two more planks continued downward. Wondering if there was anything she could find useful down the path, she quickly jumped down, hoping for something to deter that beast.
Meanwhile, Spidey was starting to regret not finishing those sonic emitters. They would've worked great for this EXACT situation. Come on, think Spidey think he frantically ran through his mind. There's no sound waves and no fire, so what can I use to beat him this time?
His spider-sense went off behind him, and he managed to backflip just in time over the shockwave of the octopus from before and right before Venom pounced on him. The symbiote gave a shrill scream as it was shocked by the wave instead of Peter.
That's right! Fire and sound may put him down for good, but electricity stuns him! Spidey realized as he subtly equipped the Ultimate badge.
Rushing the stunned symbiote, the web head combined the Ultimate badge with the Accelerated badge, allowing him to dot Venom's body with electric venom blasts, courtesy of Miles Morales and the Badge Seller. He used the Accelerated badge in conjugation to throw off his would-be destroyer into thinking he was two people.
He kept stunning him for as long as he could, but eventually, Spider-Man was grabbed by the leg and thrown into another glass wall, shattering it. Venom marched over slowly, looking over the recovering figure of the arachnid. As he spawned a tendril from his back, ready to lay into him more, he was struck in the slimy face by a lantern.
Bewildered as to what happened, Spidey looked behind Venom to see a familiar purple top hat had snuck up from behind and smacked him with a lantern. He gave a thumbs up to the little alien, when Venom roared again. This time though, its face began to split, revealing the host underneath.
"Parker!" Eddie cried out in desperation. The symbiote seemed to be struggling too, attempting to eject the man. "Use the shock! NOW," ordered the blonde haired host.
Not wasting time to ask questions, Spidey rushed the two and began hitting them with as many venom blasts as he could muster. Hat Kid also helped by hitting Benom with the lantern repeatedly, exploiting the symbiote weakness to fire.
After much effort, the symbiote and the host managed to separate themselves, becoming separate entities once again. Eddie Brock lay gasping on the ground as Peter helped him up, retracting his mask.
"Eddie, if you missed me so bad you could've just scheduled a cof-" started the fellow photographer.
"Shut it Parker, I need to tell you something, quick!" Eddie stammered in a hurry. "Me and Venom didn't want this. We were captured and forced to bond again, by the same guy who sent Mysterio and that creepy wasp thing for you!"
Hat Kid and Spidey listened intently, motioning for him to continue. "He knows the kid, personally it seems. He had a black cloak and a shattered red hourglass on his chest." This news shocked Hat Kid to the core, as she could visibly be seen shaking. Before Eddie could continue though, a purple portal appeared next to him, sucking him towards it. In vain, Spidey and Hat Kid grabbed both of his hands, trying to keep him fro being sucked in. "You have to prepare yourselves! When the time comes, do what you have to do!" the former Bugle photographer gave in a final warning before he was sucked into the portal.
"Eddie!" cried Spidey, dumbfounded at what had just happened. "Kid, what did he mean by, 'seems personal'. Do you know this mystery guy?" he questioned, only for Hat Kid to become defensive, giving a face that clearly said, "I don't want to talk about it".
"I get it, maybe not the best time," he said. "Let's just get out of here."
"Wait!" pleaded a hoarse and wispy voice. "Please, do not leave us here."
Turning back, the two of them found that it was in fact the symbiote that was crying out to them. It lay in a heap on the ground, forming its head without the teeth and tongue.
"We did not wish to attack you, but that man took over our minds. Controlled us like puppets. He ripped us away from Flash and forced Eddie and us to bond once again," revealed the Venom symbiote. "Please Peter, we mean no harm. Our time with Thompson and with our species has shown us the wrong in our transgressions, and we are sorry. We beg of you, help us."
Spider-Man was taken aback by the symbiotes pleads. On one hand, he knew what this creature was. The symbiote has toyed with his emotions, turning him into something he was not. He lost control fighting street thugs, and he shivered to think what would happen if he lost control around Hat Kid.
On the other hand though, his most recent encounters with Venom were much less confrontational, even allying with him a few times. But he believed that was only because Flash had wrangled the symbiote into submission. He never thought that Venom itself could change for the better. It was a tough decision.
Pullin on his cape, Hat Kid asked, "You're the one who's always helping people. Why not now?" she asked with genuine curiosity. It wasn't like her partner to get apprehensive over saving someone or something.
"It's deeper than that kid, you wouldn't understand," he tried to brush her off.
She merely pouted and said, "Maybe, but he's changed, right? Come on Spidey, if I can give the Mafia Boss a chance, then can't you give it a chance too?" She tossed in the puppy eyes too for extra effect.
Spider-Man thought long and hard on the pros and cons, but finally sighed as he said, "Alright, you win. When did you become the guardian of morals though? Aren't you missing a soul?" quipped the web head.
"It comes from being around you so much," she said with pride.
Beaming at the girl, Spidey turned back to the Venom symbiote, stating, "Alright, until we get you back to Flash, I'll be your host. But if you try taking over my brain again, I'll shoot you out into the stratosphere in a heartbeat." He then leaned in close and added, "And if you even try to hurt the kid, I'll make you wish you stayed with Brock, kapische?"
The symbiote gave a nod of its gelatinous head, making clear it wouldn't do such a thing. Then, it reached its tendrils out and inched its way up his arm. Slowly, it began to envelope his entire body, until his entire costume was an inky black. Then, the same giant white spider that had been worn by Brock's Venom returned on both Spider-Man's chest and back. The white squares behind his hands began forming again as well as the iconic white lenses. To top it all off, the symbiote mimicked the web cape of the Unlimited suit, adding a new flare to a classic design.
I see you're into the latest fashion Spidey said to his new roommate upstairs
We quite like the cape. It is not long and obnoxious as is with the Thunder God Venom replied inside his head.
You're lucky Thor isn't a telepath finished Spidey as he looked back to Hat Kid.
"Well, what do you think of the new threads?" asked the symbiotic spider.
"It fits for Subcon," replied the little girl. She had to admit, she really liked the look of the symbiotic costume when it wasn't on steroids and trying to eat them.
Spider-Man nodded before saying, "Let's get out of here." He then helped Hat Kid insert the rift pons into the cauldron so that they could leave, making sure that Venom was also learning. Thankfully, the time piece was in the next level, so once the two had managed to put the rift pons in, all they needed to do was smash it.
"I got this," said the web head, before walking up to the time piece shell and creating a web hammer. He slammed it down with so much force that it broke in one hit, as opposed to four. God I've missed symbiotic augmentation he admitted.
We are glad we've been missed Venom replied in his mind.
Don't push it you he said back. Letting Hat Kid grab the time piece, the two both held onto it and were transported back to the real world.
Coming back to the real world, the two could see that repairing the rift had repaired the magical collision. There were no more shards of magic sticking out of the ground, and now it was only grass.
"Would you look at that. Guess we're landscapers now," Spidey said.
"Let's go back to that well," Hat Kid declared, before rushing off to the well with her sprint hat.
"Hey wait you!" Spider-Man called to her, but it seemed she was already halfway there.
"Is she always so... energized?" Venom asked as he sprouted a head on Spidey's shoulder.
"Buddy, you don't know the half of it," the arachnid groaned as he spun a web line and followed. It was now official. Spider-Man is back in black!
Eddie Brock fell out of the portal sputtering and gasping for breath. He was back in the same place where he and Venom had been forced together again.
"What the hell do you think you're doing? Now the Hat Brat knows I'm onto her!" angrily came the voice of the man who had abducted him to this multiverse.
"Heh, then I see this as an absolute win," Eddie answered spitefully. He hoped he gave Parker and the girl enough of a warning, they would need it for what was to come.
The man was fuming as he said, "I gave you back the best days of your life! And this is how you repay me?!"
"Venom and I never asked to be bonded again. YOU forced us together so you could use your little mind control on us to do your dirty work," retorted Eddie. He couldn't BELIEVE this guy right now.
The man then grew a sinister grin as he added, "If I can't make use of you with your own body and mind, then perhaps you would like to become part of a whole."
Eddie froze upon hearing this, but before he could say anything in protest, a blue portal appeared. Out of it came white, mechanical tentacles that snatched him by the neck and arms.
"AHHHHHH!" he screamed as he was pulled into the swirling blue vortex, all while the cloaked man laughed heartily.
For future reference, to differentiate between Venom and Snatcher's dialogue:
Italics with bold is Venom
And plain bold is Snatcher
Also, the lady I mentioned in the time rift is a reference to SilyaBeeodess's "The Firelands" fic over on the non crossover stories of AHiT, which people should really check out.
Anyways, I hope everyone likes the concept of a good symbiote Spider-Man. Most fics (and comics) make the symbiote act like a crazy ex, which admittedly it is. But I thought it would be cool to bring back symbiote Spidey as a force for good, hope all you fellow Spidey fans don't mind.