The sudden flash of light blinded Dr. Octavius as he struggled in the chair he was tied up to. His extra metal limbs were dangling on the ceiling across from him. Dr. Octavius couldn't help but feel sorry for himself that he just managed to escape from prison two months ago, only to be captured by some random robot. Then Dr. Octavius heard someone walking into the cold, concrete room he was being held in from the right. The person who walked into the light was a woman with blond hair and was wearing a well-worn floral print dress.
"So, you caught me. What now," Dr. Octavius asked.
The blond woman snapped her fingers and the robot that captured him appeared and made itself into a chair. She sat down.
"The name's Pontiff—"
"The mutant raciest lady," Dr. Octavius interrupted.
"I'd prefer to call myself a purist, but yes, if that'll help you recognize me," Pontiff replied.
"Listen, I admire your technological knowhow with the Sentinels you've created, but I'm also friends with a lot of mutants and I'd rather not associate myself with you for their sakes," Dr. Octavius stated.
"Now, hold on, hold on, hold on, Dr. Octavius," Pontiff said getting up from her chair, "you've got to understand that, we can benefit from each other."
"Oh, I'm sure," Dr. Octavius said sarcastically.
"Word has it that you got humiliated, destroyed by an alien and a girl who bonded with it," Pontiff stated.
Dr. Octavius sighed, "Don't remind me."
"I found out that she's a mutant," Pontiff added.
Dr. Octavius thought for a moment, then said out loud, "I wonder if that was what made her so compatible with the alien."
Pontiff smiled slightly then said, "I too, am a victim of that wretched alien but it was bonded with a different human being. And I know that he wasn't a mutant."
Dr. Octavius thought for a moment again, then said out loud, "Well if that's true, what made the alien so compatible with the man. They're two different people. There must be something about them both that makes them work best with the alien."
"Yes, it's quite an interesting dilemma," Pontiff stated while looking at her fingernails.
Dr. Octavius frowned at Pontiff, "I'm not stupid. I know you're trying to manipulate this into your favor."
"I found out that the alien has spawned itself a "child", so to speak," Pontiff stated, ignoring his commit.
"It what," Dr. Octavius said, shaking in the chair he was tied to, "that's horrifying and fascinating."
"You know. I can help you get your test subject back and that would be revenge enough for me on that thing, but I'm going to need a little help from you," Pontiff explained as she walked behind him and placed her hands on his shoulders, "All of my previous secret labs aren't so secret any more and were destroyed, but you still have yours. And I can also give your extra limbs over there an upgrade of my specialty. If you help me get the man who ruined my life and let me have that mutant girl, that the alien is bonded with."
Dr. Octavius thought about it, "I'm going to have to hold on to the man and mutant girl for a while thought, so I can perform my tests on them. I have to know why they're so compatible with that thing."
Pontiff untied him and said, "It's a deal."
# # #
Piper was laying in her hospital bed, talking to Spider-Man on her phone.
"Again, we're sorry we had to cancel our date tonight. We were really looking forward to it," Piper said, her voice echoing.
"I'm sorry too," Spider-Man said, "But it's for the best. You survived being mentally violated by a celestial being."
Piper sighed, "You would have looked so handsome and cute in that suit you showed me."
"I know, right," Spider-Man said, "And I think your dress would have looked lovely on you."
"We know, right," Piper giggled.
"Are your parents still going," Spider-Man asked.
"Yah, they promised themselves that they would go since there's such little support for the mutant community right now," Piper stated.
"Mmm," Spider-Man said.
"Hey, will you come and visit us," Piper asked. Then she shushed the other line as a doctor walked by. Then whispering, "Sorry, we don't really trust the doctors and nurses except for Dr. Bava, but he's only one man, and it would be nice to have more people coming over."
"Who else is coming," Spider-Man asked.
Piper said, "Rick is coming to visit too. Or maybe you know him as A-Bomb."
"Oh, yah. I remember you telling me about him," Spider-Man said, "Sure. I'll come over. Where's the hospital and which floor are you on."
"We'll text it to you," Piper stated.
# # #
Lady Pontiff sauntered into the Stark's Little Apple Hospital and walked up to the clerk again.
"Hello, Ms. Pontiff," the clerk greeted warmly, "Here to see your son again."
"Yes," Lady Pontiff stated, "I'm just so worried. Not only is he sick, but I'm worried that he's in danger."
"I'm sorry you feel that way about your son," the clerk said sympathetically, "But we have the best security team."
Lady Pontiff leaned in close, over the counter, "But can they handle mutant attacks."
"…Not, entirely," the clerk mumbled.
Lady Pontiff then noticed that the young clerk's eyes had widened from spotting something behind her. Turning around, Lady Pontiff saw a giant blue monster crouch through the sliding doors. In its hands, the blue giant held flowers and a get well soon balloon. Both women stared as the blue giant monster walked up to the counter.
"Hi, my name's Rick Banner," it said, "I'm here to visit a Piper Thatcher."
Voice trembling, she said, "Do you know which floor she's on?"
Nodding its head, it said, "Yes, Ma'am."
"Then sign this and you can go," the clerk stated fearfully as she handed the blue monster the clip board.
It awkwardly signed it then asked, "Can you point me to the stairs?"
Wordlessly the clerk pointed to the left of her.
"Have a nice day, ladies," it said before lumbering away.
Both women were silent for a moment then the clerk spoke first.
"I'll call for security to keep an eye on him," the clerk said to Lady Pontiff reassuringly.
"Thank you, I'm going to go visit with my son now," Lady Pontiff said while she signed the clip board and before she started walking towards the elevator.
Once she was inside the elevator and the door was closed Lady Pontiff frowned to herself. She couldn't help but think of how much harder it was going to be with that lumbering oaf in the way of her revenge. She got out her phone and contacted Dr. Octavius to inform him of the situation.
# # #
"Rick," Piper greeted, "You brought us a balloon!"
Rick squeezed through the hospital door, then closed the door behind him.
"Honestly I thought you would notice the flowers first," Rick stated, handing the balloon to Piper and setting the flowers down on the bed side table.
"Well, they're lovely too," Piper said giving them a sideways glance as she started to play with the balloon with Venom and Toxin.
"Are you keeping them hidden from the staff and what not," Rick asked as he made himself comfortable on the floor.
Piper threw him two of her four pillows and said, "Yah, except for this one janitor guy and Dr. Bava. The janitor seems nice. Told me he has a daughter who's a mutant too."
"And the whole hospital knows you're a mutant," Rick asked.
"Yah, it was unavoidable. Apparently while I was in my coma, I was really gelatinous and I kinda just oozed. Like I was still solid whenever someone touched me, but then I would ooz again. We think it was because Toxin and Venom were out cold too."
"Ha! Like cornstarch and water," Rick exclaimed.
The Piper Squad's hospital door opened, the symbiotes hid, and a hospital guard poked his head inside. Piper and Rick waved at him.
"Can we help you sir," Piper asked.
The guard seemed to glare at Rick the most, then closed the door again.
"What was that about," Rick asked as he sat on the pillows.
"I don't know. Despite this being Stark's hospital everyone seems really distrusting of people like you and me," Piper said as Venom and Toxin appeared out of her body again to play with the balloon, "Also, we don't think they like the way my voice echoes."
"Did we tell him about the other guest," Toxin asked.
"Other guest," Rick asked.
"No, because it was suppose to be a surprise, Toxin," Piper sighed.
"I'm pretty sure we talked about this," Venom contemplated.
"Well, who is it," Rick asked.
"It's a surprise," Piper said, wagging a finger at him.
"It's Spider-Man," Rick said flatly.
"What, but – I," Piper stumbled over her words.
Then Piper looked behind her to where Rick was pointing and saw Spider-Man's masked face poking through the corner of the window. He waved.
"Huh," was all Piper said as she got out of bed and opened the window, "You know, you're very lucky this hospital doesn't have a high suicide count."
As Spider-Man crawled in through the window he said, "What does that have to do with open—Oh, never mind," then he said, "Good to see that you un-swallowed the Time Stone."
Piper scoffed as she closed the window, "I have like 95% control over my body, swallowing random objects means nothing to me."
The Piper squad jumped from Rick suddenly choking on air while Spider-Man awkwardly looked away from her. Piper decided not to question it.
Piper then watched as Rick and Spider-Man introduced themselves to each other. Piper thought that they seemed to get along nicely. Piper and Spider-Man then sat on her hospital bed together when Piper's flip phone started to ring.
"Oh, the dinner party thing must be starting," Piper said as she picked up her phone from the bed side table. Piper downloaded a picture from the sent text, that was from her mother. The picture showed a lot of random people in fancy clothing, but the vocal point was T'Challa and Lunella standing together smiling at the camera. Piper showed them the picture.
Spider-Man slapped his forehead, "Oh, before I forget," Spider-Man then pulled a box out of his many pockets and gave it to Piper, "It got to my house before I could cancel it and I didn't want it to go to waste so I hope you like it."
Piper opened the box to reveal an orange, white, and yellow corsage that would have matched her dress.
"Awe, how adorable," Rick said.
"It is," Piper agreed as she sat it next to the bouquet of flowers, "Thank you."
"No problem," Spider-Man stated, "but I've been meaning to ask, why don't you use the Time Stone?"
"Use the Time Stone for what," Piper asked.
"Well, it's Time Magic, right," Spider-Man stated, "Can't you just freeze time for you to heal yourself or speed up your healing prosses or something like that?"
"Can it do that," Rick asked.
"It can," Piper stated as she twisted the Time Stone on her neck around her fingers, "But it's a machine, not magic. I only knew how to use it when I had the Mind Stone too and it doesn't help that I'm scared to use it."
Before the three of them could elaborate more on the subject the hospital door was kicked open, revealing Eddie Brock.
"I came as fast as I could," Eddie said, looking like he was ready to fight.
"Why?" Piper asked, "You and the other Super-Agents already know I'm here."
"Didn't you call for my help," Eddie asked, "Saying you needed me to hold on to Venom while you recover?"
Piper shook her head as the three men around her got into a fighting position with Venom and Toxin surrounding Piper making her look like a buff man called Venomous Toxin.
Venomous Toxin asked, "Who would want to trick you into coming here, Eddie?"
"Excuse me," a little boy's voice squeaked.
Everyone turned to look at the entrance way to see a blond haired, blue eyed boy in floral pajamas.
"Have you seen my Mommy," The little boy asked.
Piper couldn't help but think, awe, at seeing this little boy. Through Venomous Toxin, Piper was about to walk up to the little guy but then she was held back by Spider-Man; Piper could see that his spider senses were tingling. Then metal claws burst through the window, trying to grab at Spider-Man and chaos ensued. Piper, through Venomous Toxin, went to the little boy to protect him, but the little boy wrapped a mutant suppressant necklace around Venomous Toxin that cut down through them to fit around Piper's neck. Then the little boy's right hand turned into a flame thrower. Venomous Toxin dispersed as the robotic boy threw his flames at them. Piper was exposed and while trying to avoid the flames tripped backwards and hit the back of her head against the corner of the bed side table. Then everything went dark for Piper.
# # #
Piper woke up feeling immense pain and hearing Venom and Toxin screaming over a loud soprano sound. Piper's eyesight was blurry and blinded by white light and she tired to move but she felt that her arms and legs were tied down by thick metal cuffs. Piper then realized that the pain she was feeling was Venom and Toxin resisting the vibrations of the loud sound and trying to stay connected to her.
Struggling in the metal cuffs Piper yelled, "Hold on guys! Hold on! I'll get us out of here!"
But she couldn't do anything, and Venom and Toxin were ripped away from her from by the vibrations. Then everything became silent, not because Piper blacked out, but because the prosses was over. Piper felt herself being moved like she was on a crane, then she was placed in a dark room, still cuffed down to the metal bed she was on.
Fighting from tearing up Piper spoked to herself out loud while taking deep breaths, "Okay, you're in a lab and you're wearing a mutant suppressor, you've trained for this. What do the cuffs feel like?"
Piper bent her wrists as far as she could to get a feeling for the cuffs. She couldn't feel any kind of lock on them but if she broke her thumbs she could slip out of the cuffs and figure out how to get her feet out later. She was about to start when the lights around her turned on and she could barely hear voices talking. A metal claw swept over her as Doc Ock walked across the other side of the room. Piper growled to herself, realizing that the sound room she was in affected her hearing. Then a blond woman with blue eyes appeared above her and she grabbed Piper's face to move side to side.
Muffled, the blond lady said, "You don't look as monstrous with those aliens gone now."
Piper pulled her face away from her grip and tried to bite her.
Muffled, the blond lady laughed, "Awe, aren't you scary," she said before she booped Piper on the nose.
More muffled than the blond lady, Doc Ock said, "You're in the way, Pontiff."
Then Doc Ock forced Piper's mouth open and swabbed her cheek and placed it in a cap-able plastic tube. Then Doc Ock produced two needles from his metal claws; the longest one was thicker and looked like it was made to suck stuff up the other needle wasn't as long but was thinner, also looking like it was made to suck stuff up. Panicking at the sight of the needles Piper tried using her super strength to get out of the metal cuffs but couldn't. Doc Ock placed a metal claw on Piper's head to force her to stay still.
Muffled, Doc Ock said, "Don't move if you want it to hurt less."
Doc Ock then pulled down one half of Piper's pajama bottoms to reveal her left hip, then he stuck the thick needle into her hip and broke into the bone. The pain was unbearable and the tears that Piper was holding back flooded her cheeks as she screamed. As Piper cried, she watched as the red marrow was extracted from her into a plastic tube. Finished, Doc Ock placed a band-aid over the puncture wound and pulled up her pants. Then he lifted her head up by her long brown hair and inserted the thinner needle into her neck to get to the spinel fluid. Again, the pain was excruciating but all Piper could do was cry and hope it wouldn't last long.
Finally, Doc Ock was finished, and Piper realized that she could hear better when Doc Ock said, "Don't do anything to her yet, I still have some questions for her when I come back." He placed a band-aid on her neck before walking away.
"Oh, we'll just have some girl talk while you're putting your samples away," the blonde lady stated as she jumped up to sit on the metal table Piper was strapped to.
Then Doc Ock was gone.
Piper took deep breaths, focusing on calming down and getting a good look around her surroundings. Only the immediate area was completely white. Beyond the white was gray machinery and sanitary items. In front, hanging in the middle of the lab, was a glass orb holding Venom and Toxin, who were beating against the glass towards her, trying to get to Piper.
"They're really trying their best to get out to you, aren't they," the blonde lady stated.
Piper just glared at her.
"My, what a look," the blonde lady chuckled, "you'll make a fantastic Sentinel, I think."
Piper's glare dropped as she shrink-ed away from the blonde lady as best she could. The blonde lady laughed.
"I've actually made a new type of Sentinel, just so it could use your powers to the best of its abilities, you should be honored," she said.
"What? No, I'm not honored," Piper finally said, "Why would I be honored to be boiled down into biological goo and have my powers used to help you."
"You must realize that you and your kind are abominations to God's image," the Blonde Lady stated, "the least you could do is help get rid of them."
Piper's eyes widened in realization, "Wait, you're the Pontiff, aren't you?"
Pontiff smiled, "So you finally recognize me."
"No," Piper stated plainly. Remembering all the times she's seen Pontiff in the comics being a man always covered on Pope clothes.
Pontiff frowned at Piper, confused, when Doc Ock came back.
"Go, set up your equipment, and please, don't kill black spandex guy until I've questioned him," Doc Ock said.
Pontiff jumped down from the metal table and said, "Please, I'm a patient woman. I can wait until you're satisfied with your questions." As she walked away and out of the room they were in.
"Brock is here?" Piper asked.
"If that's his name, then yes," Doc Ock said as he picked up a clip board that was hanging from the foot of the metal table Piper was strapped to. Then he made his metal tentacles into a chair, got comfortable in it, got prepared to write into the clip board and said, "So, I've got a few questions for you."
"What makes you think I'm going to answer them," Piper said defiantly, feeling brave from the knowledge that Brock was there with her, "You're working with a genocidal racist."
Doc Ock sighed, "Yah, I wasn't keen on partnering up with her, but my need to understand things," He pointed at the struggling symbiotes behind him, "is a little stronger than my reservations of working with a racist."
Piper huffed at the lunacy. She had to get out of there. Breaking her hands and feet to get out of the metal cuffs would slow her down and she didn't know how to use the Time Stone. She couldn't wait until someone found them, her girlfriend and baby boy might die before that happens. Her only option was to try and us the Time Stone.
"Alright, first question," Doc Ock stated, "What was it like bonding with an alien?"
"Scary," Piper said as she focused her breathing and concentrated on the Time Stone around her neck. She tried to remember what it was like holding the Mind Stone and Time Stone at the same time and what the Mind Stone told her.
"How do symbiotes reproduce," Doc Ock asked, but slowly.
"Asexually," Piper said as she wriggled her hands in the cuffs, still focusing on the Time Stone.
"Has… it told… you where… it came from…," Doc Ock asked, even slower.
Piper's head was beginning to throb when she said, "Nope." Then Piper pulled hard on her right hand and broke her thumb, whimpering she continued to focus on the Time Stone. Doc Ock's speech was slowing down so much that she managed to break free from all of her cuffs before he finished his fourth question, breaking both of her thumbs and dislocated her ankles. She rolled off the metal bed onto the floor.
The pain broke her concentration and time around her was speeding up again when she heard Doc Ock yell at her, again, Piper focused on the Time Stone as she crawled away, ignoring the pain in her head, hip, hands and feet. Doc Ock was slowing down again but his tentacles weren't slowing down at the same rate as the man. Piper barely rolled out of the way of one of the metal tentacles trying to pin her down. Looking around, Piper managed to find the panel that was connected to the glass-looking sphere in the center of the lab. She crawled over to it quickly, still ignoring the pain and still focusing on the Time Stone. Piper pushed different buttons on the panel, but the glass-looking orb wasn't budging.
Doc Ock and his metal limbs had slowed down to a snail's pace, but Piper wasn't sure if she needed a special code to open the sphere or if it's just taking forever to open because of her. Piper relocated her ankles, like how she was taught by Black Widow, while she still had the time. Standing now, Piper got the idea to speed up time on the containment unit. She focused her will on the Time Stone and focused her attention on the glass orb. Doc Ock was back to his normal speed but Piper could see that the metal around the glass orb was rusting away.
"How are you doing that, we're blocking your Mutant abilities," Doc Ock said as he came after Piper.
Piper didn't answer as she then switched back to slowing down the Octopus Doctor. She could taste blood in her mouth, but she didn't know if it was from a nosebleed or if her mouth was bleeding. Piper kept this up until the container was broken by Venom and Toxin beating on it from the inside. Piper dropped to her knees. Her head pounding and vision blurring. She was so relieved to have Venom and Toxin out of there. However, the two aliens didn't immediately go to Piper, instead, they flung themselves at Doc Ock; attacking him like cartoonish feral cats.
Doc Ock yelled and screeched as Piper fell to her hands, fighting the urge to pass out. She couldn't move and she didn't know what to do. She felt too weak to cry out to them. All she could do was cry to herself.
Through the fighting, Piper could hear someone running up from behind her, but she didn't care anymore, she just wanted to sleep.
She then felt someone's hand on her back and when she looked up, she saw that Brock was kneeling beside her with a severed robot arm in one hand. He looked like he was attacked by rabid dogs, but he looked like he could still fight. Piper could see stars at the corner of her eyes as he asked if she was alright. All she could do was look up at Doc Ock and her Symbiotes tearing him a part, blood was splashing everywhere.
"Hey! Venom, Toxin, enough!" Brock yelled at them, then he used the robot arm to throw flames at them, "Look at her!"
Toxin and Venom stopped and hissed at the fire, then Piper managed to lock eyes with them. Toxin and Venom slithered off Doc Ock as he was panting, his clawed tentacles being the only thing holding him up. The Symbiotes attentively went up to Piper and Venom asked, "May we?"
Piper reached out a shaky hand to them and said, "Please."
As soon as the three of them merged, Piper passed out.