Hey everyone, welcome back! Another chapter coming at you, this time we're finally going to Alpine Skyline! This is also where I'd like to say, Katoptris12, if you're still reading this story, we finally made it! I know you were looking forward to the Alpine Skyline chapters when I first started, and thanks to your reviews keeping me motivated in the beginning, we're finally here! Thanks for being one of the first people to believe in this story, hope you enjoy the next chapters.
To Dinogeoff022, as most people know, anything involving Venom is going to get pretty brutal, even when Peter is at the wheel. I also wanted to differentiate from the other AHiT fics with how they handled the fight. It is Spider-Man after all lol, but I'm glad you enjoyed the fight
To Starseedchild, you can say that again haha, gotta stay true to character.
Also, you should all know that there is a lot of platforming this chapter since it's the beginning of Alpine Skyline, so this is gonna be a long chapter and lots of description. Like I said, I'm not the greatest at writing platforming, so forgive me if the writing seems a little rushed or weird.
Now onto the chapter!
The mood aboard the ship was above all else... quiet. Those who had suffered from Venom's wrath and remained conscious visibly avoided the red and blue hero as well as the black symbiote. The ones who were unconscious lay on beds of pillows as Spider-Man tried to treat them with heart pons, feeling guiltier each time they didn't wake up.
Hat Kid personally tended to DJ Grooves, the worst one off of the bunch. She had called Cooking Cat from her ship's phone in the dead of night to come and prepare more heart pon dishes and some help with medical supplies. The poor feline had nearly fainted at seeing some of the severely injured penguins that lay strewn across the Main Hall.
"My goodness sugars, what happened?"
Spider-Man rose from beside a pillow bed as he hung his head in shame. "I-We happened," he mumbled. Looking for the 3rd alien guest, CC saw the black pile that was Venom sulking in the corner far away from the others. It seemed to radiate shame just as much as the red and blue man before her.
"Right, well, we better not keep these folks waiting," she said, hoping to get Peter's mind off of whatever had happened.
The next few hours consisted of Spider-Man and Hat Kid assisting Cooking Cat in making the most heart pons meals she had ever made in one sitting while dressing the various wounds. Cooking Cat looked especially bewildered by the penguin sporting a deep bite wound, flashing her concern at the wall crawler.
"I'll explain once everyone is alright," he said, walking off to treat the unconscious penguins.
Night came and went, and soon, a new day was upon them. If it weren't for the traumatic experiences of the night before, those who had not been to outer space would've been awed at seeing the sunrise from orbit.
By the time the sun rose, all of the Moon Penguins who had been unconscious had been woken up, their wounds tended to and healed. Once they had healed, the Conductor along with the main crew of the ship had gone to wait for DJ Grooves to wake up in the privacy of Hat Kid's room.
"Oh my stars, what is going on?" DJ Grooves said as he awakened from his forced slumber. When the first thing he saw was the opaque eye lenses, he backed away in fear. "No, stay back! I won't hurt the little Hat darling or you ever again, just please don't do it!"
Spidey put his hands up defensively as he calmed, "Whoa whoa, take it easy Grooves, Mr. Big and monstrous is in the other room. He's not attached to me anymore."
DJ Grooves exhaled as he calmed down. "I'm sorry for reacting like that just now darling, but those eyes... I just can't unsee the sharp eye lenses when you were... that."
Spidey nodded. "Yeah, wouldn't be the first time Venom's had that effect." He sighed, "Look, what you almost did would have been unacceptable, but so would what I almost did. Neither of us had total control over ourselves, so as long as you don't try to flatten us with more disco balls, I think a truce is in order."
Spidey then extended his hand sincerely. DJ Grooves took a moment to process the action before extending his flipper as well. "I-I accept your truce darling. What I did back there was nothing short of monstrous. The fact you're even so understanding is unbelievable."
The web head smirked under the mask. That was one less hostility avoided. And if he was lying, he could always sic Venom on him for a scare. Not that he wanted to talk to the black symbiote at the moment.
"Alright, but you have 2 more things in order before that truce is accepted on my side," he said seriously. Picking up Hat Kid under her arms, much to the chagrin of the young girl, he placed her on the bed.
"First, you apologize for trying to turn this little lady into street pizza. She's been through a lot, and your little rampage didn't help her any."
DJ Grooves blinked away tears as he said, "My little hat darling, I want you to know I will NEVER raise a flipper against you again of my own free will. What happened under the studio was inexcusable, but I want you to know that I will do everything to make it up to you if you give me the chance."
Hat Kid was about to pout and turn away, but she saw the look of desperation in the penguin artist's eyes. There was no conniving glare hiding beneath it. No malice or vengeance, only regret. Luna had already been double crossed by the DJ, but she knew the behavior of the Time Pieces and how they can tempt even the best intentioned individuals. Plus, who knew how long he was under the Time Piece's influence? Something within her conscience told her to give it one more shot.
"Okay, one more chance" she agreed, lighting up the performer's eyes as she came in to give him a light hug.
"Thank you darling! You won't regret it!" the DJ praised as he returned the hug. "I should've known what that mustached hoodlum was telling me lies about you and your friends," he scolded at himself.
Spider-Man's lenses blinked. "Wait, slow down. Mustached hoodlum?"
DJ Grooves felt all eyes on him as he explained, "Yes, she was the one who told me what the Time Pieces' true nature was."
"Uh oh," Hat Kid muttered. This was trouble. "If Mustache Girl told him how to use the time pieces, then she must know how to use them too."
Cooking Cat raised her brow as she asked, "I take it there's some history there, sugar?"
Spidey decided to step in and help with the inevitable explanation as he got comfy and hung himself upside down from his webline. Together, Hat Kid and him took turns recalling the events that had led them to their not-so simple relationship with Mustache Girl and the Time Pieces. From the Mafia Town debacles to the Time Rift that had nearly torn the Studio apart under both director's noses when they had first arrived, to their soul-searching escapades with Snatcher. They left out anything that had to do with Luna's past though, keeping it a secret among the two (three with Venom) of them.
"Oh my," DJ Grooves gasped as realized the wicked streak the little hooded girl had. If he had known what he had known now, he never would have believed even a word to come out her mouth.
"It's a good thing I told that red nuisance to get lost when I did. Look where that got this Peck Neck!" snapped the Conductor as he remembered what he had done in his lapse in judgement. Seeing the look on the little hat lass...
Ignoring the usual insult form the old bird, DJ Grooves looked to his long time rival. "Speaking on that note, Conductor darling, why exactly are you here? None of your owls were injured after all."
The Conductor went stiff as he rattled his mind to look for a valid excuse. "You think I'd be so eager to dip me tail feathers into filling out the legal work of having someone die in MY studio? Ohohoho, no sir." Seeing the suspicious looks of everyone in the room, he sighed as he admitted, "Fine, I was making sure you pulled through after what the lad and his pet alien did. We may be rivals, but me top isn't so off its rocker that I'd wish on you, you no good son of a finch."
DJ Grooves was astounded he had gotten something so sincere out of the Conductor. Deciding not to mock the owl with his rare show of camaraderie, the performer smiled and nodded, "Well I thank you for caring, you dirty Peck Neck."
Hat Kid held her hands to her mouth at hearing the penguin curse for the first time, and Spidey and CC gave each other glances, hoping they hadn't missed any brain damage in the healing. The yellow avian looked like he had something to say back, but after a moment, he decided to let it slide just this once. Instead, he nodded in respect and left the room.
Spider-Man scratched his head. "Sooooo, Grooves. What's the plan now? You want me and the kid to take you and the Conductor back down to the studio?'
DJ Grooves nodded. "Yes darling, if it isn't any trouble to you." He then turned to Hat Kid and said, "No offense hat darling, you have a lovely ship and all. But if I can go the rest of my days without seeing a Time Piece again, it will be too soon."
Hattie giggled at his humor, glad to see the penguin was acting like when she first met him. "That's okay Mr. Grooves, I'm feeling sleepy anyway, and I don't like to share my pillows," she adorably pouted. CC, Spidey, and Grooves had a good laugh at that.
Emerging from the young alien's bedroom, all of the Moon Penguins were overjoyed to see their boss back on his feet as they all rushed over to greet him.
"DJ Grooves! You're alright! We're sorry we couldn't help you against the black monster," one penguin sulked.
The disco bird patted the penguin's fedora as he said, "It's alright darlings, I have no one to blame but myself. Me and Spider-Man had a real heart to heart. We're cool again." Glancing to the web head, he saw the man give a thumbs up to indicate acceptance.
"Now! Why don't we all let the little hat darling take us back to the studio and go home?" he offered. None of the penguins argued as they all started piling into the machine room, eagerly awaiting to go home and sleep. After a short trip to the studio and back, a drowsy Luna and Peter returned to the ship for some well needed rest.
Peter put a gloved hand to his mouth to stifle a yawn as he got up from his sleep. It was funny, normally the clock indicating that he'd slept 24 hours would have made him lose his mind thinking over all the plans he had cancelled. Today, and for the last several days, he just shrugged it off and went to go brush his teeth as per usual.
As he removed his glove to grab some water to gargle, his nose wrinkled as he caught a whiff of his thread's odor. Pulling a piece of his costume closer to his nose, he sniffed it before recoiling in disgust.
"Woo! that is some serious stench," he whistled. He knew there was a laundry room somewhere, he just had to find it.
Walking out of the bedroom, he called out to his Hat Kid who was already up. "Oh captain my captain? Where was the laundry room again?" Seeing an absence of purple bundles of energy, Spider-Man became confused as he looked around the ship for her.
"Kid? Where are you?" he called as he finished checking the ship. As he walked back into the main hall, he noticed there was a door that he never saw powered on. Figuring it was the only place in the ship that she could be, he walked through the doorway and into the hall. On the other side, he found himself in a room filled with busted plumbing. Leaky pipes lay overhead, some even broken. Past a normally inaccessible pathway, he could hear the sounds of heavy machinery meaning electrical fires galore.
"I hope they had insurance on her planet. At least I found the washers," he said to himself before parkouring his way through the plumbing that only Mario would dare fix.
Reaching the top of the unreachable pathway, Spidey perched himself at the edge as he scanned the room. At the other end, he saw the little alien tampering with one of her teleportation telescopes alongside the second extraterrestrial aboard the ship.
"Try moving it to the right," Venom suggested as he formed an inky hand to help adjust the angle. Hat Kid thanked him as she shifted the scope towards the angle of the transmission.
"Thought you'd catch old Spidey sleeping at the wheel, huh?" Spidey said as he jumped across the gap beside them.
"You're awake! I was going to wake you up, but you looked too comfy in the pillows," Hattie greeted.
"Heh, Aunt May said the same thing when I was 9 and missed getting her wheatcakes," he humored before turning to the second alien. "Banking on grabbing another host while I was sleeping, Venom? Not in this multiverse you aren't," he addressed.
Venom's face fell into a frown. "We were helping her adjust the angle of her telescope. While you were dozing like an oaf, the young one here found a few Time Piece signature resonating from the planet. We have been up since 3 hours ago assisting her until we came across this mountainous region."
Hat Kid offered the telescope to Spidey who looked through the lenses. Though it was shrouded in clouds, he could make out a mountain peak on the planet's surface.
"Alright, and judging by how many we have at this point, I'd say this should finish off to a grand total of 50?" he inquired, earning a nod of confirmation from Hat Kid. "Great, then let's go," he said as he fired up the teleported for him and Hat Kid.
"Are you not forgetting someone?" Venom stated rhetorically.
"Nope, no way. You already proved you can't be trusted to control yourself around me twice now. You're lucky i don't send you out the airlock right now."
The symbiote grew changed its shape from its liquidy form to one that mirrored Spider-Man in the black suit. "Listen to me Parker, you don't have to like me. I spent the last decade hating you, but I've moved on from that to help this young girl find SOME closure for a pain I have carried for ages. Our goals align, so for once get your stubbornness out of the way and allow me to help you."
Spider-Man was about to retort, but Hat Kid gave him a light shove on the thigh to get his attention. "Please, just let him come. He helped me." Then she started putting on her uppy dog eyes, and he couldn't take it anymore.
"Ahhhh, fineee. Let's go oil stain," he relented, allowing the symbiote to come with them. "But put so much as a saliva drop out of line from your nasty tongue and I'll follow through with sending you out the airlock this time."
Venom rolled his lenses. "Yes, yes we already know your petty threats. Can we be off yet?"
Spidey decided to drop it for now as Hat Kid put in the location, allowing them to disappear in another flash of light.
On the side of an ordinary mountain, three thumps were heard as the Time Keepers arrived at their destination. The sight that greeted them was what they expected from a mountaintop: Snow capped peaks lining the horizon, ghosts of infrastructure from a people long passed, a dirt and cobblestone path that had nearly eroded by the elements. For Spider-Man, this was just another accidental trip to Jotunheim with Thor
"The air pressure up here is ridiculously low according to my mask UI. How are you still breathing fine up here?" Spider-Man asked as he thanked himself for packing a mini rebreather behind his web cape that circulated back up to his mask.
"I'm not human, remember? My oxygen levels are a lot higher than yours," the perky Hat Kid replied, sucking in a mouthful of air to emphasize her point.
"I am self explanatory," Venom added.
"Right, aliens," he thumbed off. Seeing the thunder clouds closing in on their peak, the arachnid started trekking up the pathway. "We better get moving, high heights and thunderstorms don't make for nice hikes,"
The three visitors to the peak traveled up the path built in the mountain as the storm winds started kicking in. Their strength was not enough to blow them away, but they were wary nonetheless. Soon, they found themselves confronted with a wooden bridge and a gate.
"Looks like something made for an Indiana Jones movie," Spider-Man commented, cautiously poking a foot onto the structure to ensure its integrity. Surprisingly, the structure held, which was all Hat Kid needed to see before sprint hatting her way across the planks.
Now facing the wooden gate, Hat Kid tried to see if there was any pulley system or button that would open the gate. Spying a bell on the side of the bridge, the young explorer aimed her hookshot at the bell before swinging from it, causing both Peter and Venom's lenses to widen like saucers.
"Weeee!" she cheered as she swung around ringing the bell off the side of the bridge, causing the gate to open.
"Careful kid!" warned the web head, feeling his blood pressure sky rocket from fear until she landed on solid mountain again on the other side of the gate.
"This way!" she called as she started running forwards towards a stone staircase, hoping to get away from the tense awkwardness between Spidey and Venom.
The two web slingers stayed silent as they went forward to catch up with the energetic explorer, who had gained quite a lead on them. That lead was lost however once the mountain started rumbling, and she stopped in her tracks to make sure it didn't shake again as both "spiders" caught up.
"Sorry about that, some of the distant cousins wanted to say hello again, so I relocated them. To the nearest peak," Spidey explained, trying to sound tough.
"Yes, your high pitched screams were very amusing when your spider sense failed to sense the spider above your head," Venom joked.
Spider-Man frowned. "What do you know? The alien voodoo goop finally learned sarcasm." Venom glowered at the arachnid for the jab.
"Ahem, hello! We have a gap to cross!" came Hattie's impatient reply. Getting their bickering to cease, Hat Kid fired out a hookshot as she swung across the anchors as the red and blue hero did the same. Venom decided wall crawling the rest of the way would suffice.
Just before reaching the top, Spidey and Hattie spotted some statues nearby made of stone. As the clouds started to part, the statues revealed several goat shaped figures standing guard, as if the land were sacred.
"Reminds me of that one Spongebob episode with the giant stautes," Spider-Man mumbled to himself. He had to wonder though just what purpose those statues served. Nobody was here to worship them after all. Deciding to solve it another time, the two Time Keepers traversed the rest of the way to the top of the peak, where Venom was waiting.
"There's nothing up here!" groaned Hat Kid in disappointment. Save for a few stone graves remembering those who died trying to reach here, there was no path to be seen. All that for nothing. Had her Time Piece locater been wrong? She checked the device on her wrist as Spider-Man walked to the center of the circle shaped peak.
"No, there has to be something here. Look at all this architecture. It has to mean something." The web head used his augmented Spider-Sense to look for anything that may be out of place, and sure enough, his eyes popped back open again as he stated, "Those wooden pegs. They're attached to some kind of machine. Maybe if we twist or push them, they'll reveal something that we need ."
Obliging her friend's advice, Hat Kid ran up to one of the pegs and smacked it with her umbrella, spinning instead of breaking as she gave it more whacks. The peg abruptly stopped spinning, and the mountain began to shake, indicating that something had happened. A stone pillar also started spinning wildly as lightning struck nearby.
"Alright, looks like it worked. 2 more to go." Venom and Spider-Man took up the remaining pegs as they gave them a mighty spin until they were firmly in the ground. Once they were in, the pillar spun again, and a lightning flash blinded them temporarily as it struck the pillar. Once they opened their eyes again, they found a zipline with streamers of sorts heading far off into the distance.
"Well that's not totally going to get us fried by lightning," Spider-Man sarcastically commented. Ignoring his witticisms though, the young girl walked up to the streamers and inspected it curiously. Suddenly, she whipped out her umbrella and hookshot herself onto the line.
"Follow me!" she called excitedly as she took off like a jet down the line, making Spider-Man's heart stop.
"Luna!" he cried as she started disappearing into the clouds.
"Follow her," Venom commanded, to which he received an indignant look.
"And how are we going to do that? Rope burn and heights isn't exactly how I want to go out," Spidey snarked.
"For someone who is revered as a scientific prodigy, you are so very stupid sometimes," the symbiote bit back as he created a symbiote web line to hold with both hands. Grabbing it by both ends, the dark Spider-Man lookalike looped it around the streamer line, and he too was pulled along into the cloudy horizon, his roars of shock and surprise echoing in the sky.
"Why didn't I think of that?" Spider-Man said aloud to quite literally himself as he made his own web line. "8th grade zipline course training, don't fail me now." And with that statement, he slung his web line over the streamer line and grabbed the other end as he was pulled forward at incredible speeds.
"OH MY GOD!" he screamed as he braced to enter into the thunder clouds, waiting to be zapped right off the zipline. He didn't dare let his stick-em powers yield their grip on his web line as he closed his eyes and braced for the inevitable lightning strike, or so he thought.
As he realized he hadn't been made into medium well spider-steak, he dared to open his eyes again, and was amazed by what he saw. Gone were the angry black thunder clouds of just moments before, instead replaced by puffy white clouds that seemed to hold the very structures they encompassed up. Under the mask, Peter stared in awe as he passed the two goat statues that stood guard over any who would ride the turbo-zipline, as well as the ringing golden bells that passed between them. He hoped Venom had gotten a good headache out of that one.
Beyond the zipline, a flourishing village with multi-colored buildings and roofs was rapidly approaching. One that clearly showed signs of life and civilization as well as a connection with nature. The web head could only guess this was what people saw when they envisioned Nirvana, or Shangri La, or anything along those lines. He, funny enough, not only felt good physically and mentally just being within this space, but also spiritually. If Dr. Strange ever took vacations, Spidey bet he would've owned a nice little meditation shack at the top of the village's peak.
The web slinger did a graceful backflip as the streamers ended, landing lightlly on his feet next to Venom and Hat Kid who were waiting for him.
"Did you see the view on the way? It looked so pretty!" gushed the young girl.
Peter couldn't help but grin at her enthusiasm. "Yeah, definitely some postcard worthy shots on the way up." The webhead couldn't help but feel the urge to simply shoot a webline at the mountain and just swing with the light alpine wind. It was definitely tempting, but they had a mission to take care of. "Alright, let's go see if the people who live here noticed anything strange."
Climbing on top of a leaf covered tree in front of them, they hopped to the mountain steppe beside them to begin their search.
"Hey!" a higher pitched voice shouted at the group of Time Keepers. The 3 of them turned their heads to see a short hooded villager standing beside them. Hat Kid greeted the villager right back.
"Hi!" she replied.
"Have you noticed those bright flashing lights in the sky?" the villager asked and pointed. Hat Kid followed their finger to an enormous cage in the distance and nodded. "They started appearing recently after some weird hourglasses fell from the sky. Wonder what it could be?"
The hatted child's eyes widened at that. Feigning ignorance, she widened her eyes and said,"Hmm, I'm not sure. Do you know any way to reach them to find out?"
The villager nodded, "Yes. There should be a horn up and to the right. You'll find out from the other villagers what to do from there. Just take this springboard behind me."
Hattie gave the villager a polite smile. "Okay, thank you! We'll be sure to go look into the lights!"
"In any case, I really wish they weren't so bright. They're blinding!" concluded the alpine native as he waved farewell.
Returning to Spidey and Venom, Hat Kid gave her info to the two arachnid themed beings. "Well, there's our quarry," Spidey said. "Let's get moving."
The web slinger than jumped onto the springboard and leapt high into the sky, giving a small "Woooo!" as he front flipped onto the next ledge. There, he saw a familiar face. Or rather, faces.
"Hello my arachnid based friend," the Badge Seller greeted.
"Wow, I haven't seen you since we first ran into the Snatcher at Subcon. How's it been? Got any badges for sale after all this time gone?"
The Badge Seller chuckled, "Ah, straight to business then. Very well. However, where is your young hatted friend?"
As soon as the sentence left his mouth, Hat Kid came flipping in from the springboard, eyes flaring in recognition. "Mr. Badge Seller!"
The merchant smiled as he responded, "Hello young one, it is good to see you again. And who would this be?"
The strange man's eyes flickered over to Venom who had reached the ledge by simply wall crawling. "We are known as Venom," the symbiote simply answered.
"Ah, yes. The other visitor from across the multiverses." Venom's eye twitched, uncomfortable with how much this stranger knew about how hwe mysteriously got here. "I am the Badge Seller, and I have assisted these two since the beginning of their journey."
Before Venom could give another statement, Hat Kid tugged on the Badge Seller's shirt. "Mr. Badge Seller, I've been saving up my pons since the last time we saw you. Do you have any new ones?"
The vendor nodded as he reached into his pack. "Yes, I have changed my wears since the last time we met, although I held onto one badge I knew you would have been keeping your eye on." Pulling out three badges, Hattie saw that there was 2 new ones; the hover badge and the mumble badge. She turned her nose up to the mumble badge for its obscene price and its useless feature. The hover badge seemed cool though, and especially useful considering they were on a mountain. But it didn't hold a candle to the badge the vendor had kept for her.
"This one!" she gestured, pointing to the scooter badge she hadn't been able to afford during her last encounter with the strange man.
"Excellent choice. 500 pons please," the merchant said. After coughing up the 500, Hattie saw she still had a few hundred pons left over.
"Can I take the hover badge too?" she requested.
The man grinned, "But of course," as he took 150 pons extra and gave her the hover badge. Ecstatic at the purchase, Hat Kid took off her projectile badge and attached the scooter badge to her sprint hat.
Just like in Subcon, the little girl thought hard enough about the scooter, and it magically appeared under her!
"Yayyyy!" she cheered, overjoyed at having her precious scooter back. She couldn't wait to find a flat and straight surface to race across with her new hotrod.
Spidey glanced over, amused at how easily she was amazed. Although a magical scooter in your back pocket wasn't exactly something that you could pick up at the corner store.
"How about me Glitchy? Anymore merchandise left for me?"
The merchant nodded as he pulled out one red and black badge that was already familiar to the superhero. There was a second one as well that the superhero wasn't acquainted with that had a spider hanging in the center of an intricate looking web.
"You are already familiar with the Hunter Badge, but this is the Web Master Badge. There is an iteration of yourself on Earth-96283 whose webs were created organically. This badge allows your body to create the same organ structure that produces his webs."
"Organic webbing? You don't say..." he contemplated. While it was creepy that this badge created an entire new organ in his wrist, the potential benefits organic webbing could serve for him would work wonders. No more late night runs to the chemistry store trying to convince that his web fluid ingredients weren't for drugs. His pockets would definitely thank him too, and he could stop mooching off of Hat Kid's resources.
"How much is it for the Web Master Badge?
The Badge Seller for the first time became disheartened with a bargain as he said, "Sadly, I am afraid it may be too much for you to afford. 1000 pons."
"WHAT?!" Spider-Man incredulously exclaimed. He'd been penny pinching since their last exchange in Subcon Forest, and he'd only managed to scrape together 500 pons in that time frame. "Sorry chief, that's gonna be a pass from me then."
The Badge Seller nodded. "Very well. It would seem that you have under utilized the badges you had purchased previously anyway. I sense the Hive Badge has been collecting much dust," he teased.
"Man, how do you know these things?" questioned the web slinger.
"I have my ways, Mr. Parker."
"Do you have anything for us?" Venom intervened, hoping to purchase some enhancements for his own.
The merchant again frowned as he apologized, "I am sorry, but your recent appearance has not given me suitable time to find and craft suitable badges for you."
Venom grunted in understanding as he turned to try and calm Hat Kid down before she went barreling off the mountain.
Spidey waved as he went to follow him, "Hey, thanks for the business again. Really wish I could've gotten my hands on those organic webs. Maybe next time." With that, he shot a web at a hookshot that Hattie and Venom had swung on as the vendor smiled knowingly.
"Oh if only you what time has in store for you Mr. Parker." He then opened a portal behind him and vanished.
Landing on the side of one of the village huts, Spider-Man, Hat Kid, and Venom flipped off the roof. Landing gracefully, the trio saw another one of the hooded villagers standing in a corner. Hat Kid ran up to the man.
"Excuse me? Do you know how to get to the bright flashing lights?" she asked.
"Yes!" the villager replied as he gestured up with his finger. 'Blow those horns to open up some new routes."
"Okay, thank you!" she said before getting ready to head off."
"Oh! And one more thing. Stay out of the goats' way. I don't know much about the goats up here, but we try to give them a wide berth. If you get in their way, they tend to be a bit pushy."
"Ah, so they're more loner types? I can respect that. Thanks for the info though," Spidey said as he ran with Hat Kid up to a springboard. The web head bounced on the board and landed beside the little girl as she walked up to the horn they were directed to. Venom landed shortly after.
"Why don't you blow these horns yourselves? They clearly impede your ability to move effectively around these villages," inquired Venom to the lone villager standing by the horn.
"Well you see, up this high, the air is really thin, so it's hard to take deep enough breaths." The villager then glanced over at the energetic hatted adventurer. "It doesn't seem to bother you though.
"Nope! Watch this," Hattie replied before sucking in a big gulp of air. Putting her lips to the ancient horn, she blew hard into the instrument, enough to lift her feet off the ground. Spider-Man had to cover his ears, and Venom had to retreat a good distance lest the sound waves begin hurting him. As she concluded her blowing into the horn, the web head and the symbiote spotted numerous ziplines starting to open up. They also sensed that other ziplines to other faraway peaks were expanding as well.
"So this is how they travel everywhere," Spidey observed, noting that his augmented Spider-sense said there were 4 peaks for them to now begin searching at.
"Alright, let's split off and cover more ground. Venom, take your slimy butt over to that red zipline and get the Time Piece over there. Hattie, you and I can try our luck over at these blue ziplines.
"Fine," Venom grunted as he swung off towards the red zipline. Meanwhile, Spidey and Hat Kid leapt across the platform over to the blue zipines. Attaching their connections, the trio was whisked away to their respective destinations.
"Of course Parker would choose to send us to the peak made of molten lava," complained Venom as he realized which peak he was heading towards.
The symbiote knew just what was in store as soon as his zipline passed through the molten cave in the middle. Venom could already feel his skin boiling as he passed through the cave, already sensing he was going to have a bad time.
Back flipping off of the zipline's end, the extraterrestrial arachnid took note of his surroundings. Lava, lava, and more lava. "Add more of those blasted horns and we would die here and now."
Venom walked forward to the wooden scaffolding before him before his artificial Spider-Sense stopped him in his tracks. The symbiote managed to spin a web line back at the platform in order to avoid another giant spider from descending from seemingly nowhere.
"It would seem both Spider and Man love to pester us on our travels," he grumpily growled. He was still rather upset with the red and blue hero for being so stubborn in his hatred for him. As if those murderously protective feelings were only his own emotions. He hoped the little hatted child talked some sense into the dense man.
Venom spun a web line at the giant spider and threw it off its perch and out of sight. Leaping to the next wooden platform, he noticed another one of the residents of this Alpine Skyline.
"This heat is great! It's even hotter to the right," the little humanoid informed.
The symbiote already knew that the Parker Luck had rubbed off on him, and he bet his last ivory tooth that the right was the path to the TIme Piece.
"You don't say..." he grumbled as he spun a web line to the right. More giant spiders stood in his path, but they may as well have been pinatas considering how quickly Venom dispatched of them. Jumping on their backs and sending them sprawling off the skyline, the symbiote managed to make his way over to the ledge of one of the peaks.
"This way to the Lava Cake!" directed another villager. Venom gave her a small nod of acknowledgement before spinning a web line and taking off down another zipline.
When the symbiote dismounted again, he found himself in a small residential village from the looks of it. A modest set of abodes were scattered on the mountain tops which he could only assume the villagers lived in. Rickety wooden paths were as close to roads as the landscape allowed, and even they gave way to a tightrope that acted as the only conventional way up to the larger houses. He had to admit, in his interstellar travels and eventual arrival on earth, he had never seen a town so at one with the natural features of the planet. It was a serene feeling, something foreign to the usually rage and envy filled alien.
"Perhaps those hippies were onto something," Venom said, remembering the time he was in San Francisco with Flash.
Rather than go through the set of rock pillars and wooden walkways that indicated a linear path, the black suited arachnid grabbed onto the side of one of the mountains and climbed, taking him straight to the two large houses above him. The path ahead held another zipline, which Venom figured lead the right way towards the time piece. The symbiote spun another of its endless supply of web lines and slung it over the line, sending him speeding towards the Lava Cake.
Another dismount later, and the symbiote found itself pulling his natural mouth out to pant as the sweltering heat started to truly effect him. The long tongue and sharp ivories, rather than look frightening, looked rather derpy on the normally menacing symbiote's features as he tried to negate the heat.
"This is nearly as bad as the time we were caught in a star's gravitational field," he said to himself. He shook his head as he retracted his natural mouth, deciding to suck it up and get it over with, mentally noting to give Spider-Man a dose of ethyll chloride in his next breakfast if Hat Kid can't make him see reason.
The symbiote stepped into the steaming waterfall pond that surrounded the initial launching point towards the lava cake. He waited for a gray pillar to raise before jumping on top of the structure, allowing him to reach the next ledge where the waterfall originated. There, he jumped on another pillar before using his super jump to reach the top of the little peak where one of the strange cannons he had seen Peter use in his memories sat.
The inky alien climbed in before the cannon auto corrected its angle, shooting Venom out of it and into the heart of the Lava Cake. Immediately as he landed, the symbiote felt something was wrong. The heat was scalding, and he could feel it starting to effect not just his comfort, but also his powers.
"Seems we will have to approach this more carefully," Venom surmised as he could only make so much webbing while the heat afflicted him. The symbiote jumped from his hunk of rock he had landed on and onto another of the many gray pillars before hopping onto another rock. Most of the first layer of the Lava Cake consisted of Venom jumping from rock to pillar, with the occasional flamethrower mixed in to keep him on his toes. The first floor ended as he found himself before another cannon. Hopping in, he proceeded to the next level.
Venom thanked the radioactive spider for the gift of counterfeit Spider-Sense as he nearly found himself swimming in the molten reaches of the Lava Cake, only barely managing to throw out a web line to catch the hookshot waiting at the arc of his cannon shot. He swung over to the next chunk of rock, where he noticed a strange colored object sitting behind a set of fences and sinking pillars. As soon as the pillars went up, the symbiote jumped onto the top as he quickly turned toward the object in question.
The object was spherical and and pulsing green, something the inky alien was unfamiliar with. Then, he recalled the way the little one made her magical hats. These balls of yarn were of special value in that it both granted Hat Kid new abilities, as well as restored Spider-Man's old ones. He partly wanted to leave it behind the spite the incomplete hero, but he also figured the hatted child could use it wisely.
Acting quickly before the pillars gave out from under him, he used a tendril from his back to snake its way over to the yarn and grab it. His aim with his web lines was not great considering the heat was impairing his senses by a certain degree. As soon as he had acquired the yarn, he quickly jumped to the next rock ledge, just in time as the pillars sunk back into the lava.
"That was cut far too close," Venom sweat dropped, before picking up the yarn ball in his hand and examining it. It didn't have any unique texture besides the usual feeling of yarn, but something about it made Venom feel slow. Time seemed to slow for the symbiote, and when he willed it, it seemed to speed back up to normal times.
"Interesting..." he noted before testing out the yarn's capabilities on the sinking pillars. The black alien made swift work of the pillars as he cleared them easily before they fell back into the lava. Web swinging on another hookshot, he flipped and landed on the inside of the cannon to the next level.
The third level was mostly the same, though he lacked the ability to use the ice platforms that he saw when he first entered the layer. The symbiote also nearly had his arm melted off by the scorched fish skeletons jumping out of the lava. He spent a moment shrieking at the undead animal before proceeding through the third level and onto the cannon.
On the fourth level, there seemed to be floating platforms sitting above the lava. Venom knew that once he landed on them, they would begin falling, so he used the time stop yarn to momentarily slow down their descent, allowing him enough time to reach a sinking pillar, and eventually solid land. The next rock ledge also pitted Venom against flaming crows, which he dispatched easily before swinging on to the final cannon he sensed.
Popping up into the sky, the inky alien could see the Time Piece floating neatly behind a set of metal gates. Venom knew that in order to get to it, he had to take the long way around, as he didn't trust his wall crawling to stick to the metal. Plus, metal was a heat conductor, which would surely fry him before dipping him into the molten fire below.
Carefully jumping onto a sinking pillar, he had to time his next jumps and sprints right, as the pillars were much more erratic in their patter than the ones below him. The black arachnid bolted as soon as the first pillar went back up, but he was a tad bit too fast. Some of the excess lava splashed up and scalded his skin, causing him to hiss in pain.
"Hhhssssss," the alien hissed as he tried to regain his bearings. The platform below him however began to shake, alerting him to the bright orange color of the pillar. Venom shrieked in horror as he tried to move to the next pillar, but his feet lost traction as the pillar sunk back into the lava.
The black colored web trembled like a leaf as its maker tried to calm his makeshift nerves.
"We are never returning to this place," huffed Venom as he walked along his web line, careful not to get light headed and fall off the edge.
Once the symbiote made it to the last rock ledge, he didn't even bother jumping on the sinking platforms as he web zipped up onto the rock ledge where the Time Piece sat. Thanking Knull for not dying in this treacherous place, he held the Time Piece up proudly as he let his natural mouth out once again to pant for a minute.
"This heat doesn't feel as disorienting now that the Time Piece has been acquired," he noted. He wasn't seeing double or feeling light headed, so he felt safe enough to be less conservative on his webbing now that he had the Time Piece. Using the metal fence as an anchor, Venom attached two web lines to each side of him as he pulled backwards. With a mighty tug, he leapt off his feet and let the kinetic energy carry him off the top of the Lava Cake. Once he was away from the blistering heat, he manifested symbiotic web wings that carried him all the way back to Ember Summit as he gradually made his way back to the main village summit.
Unaware of the strange purple spores that had sensed his disturbance.
As Venom was journeying to the top of the Lava Cake, the original time saving duo was working on finding a way to the windmill they had seen in the distance. They had already cleared the first outpost they had come to, and one horn blowing and back track later, they were now zipping down the right path towards the old structure.
The agile arachnid and adventurer both back flipped on their dismount, now finding themselves at a windmill, but not the one they were hoping to reach.
"Looks like some nasty flora's been growing here," noted Spider-Man, seeing some strange purple flowers beginning to bud below the windmill.
"Yeah, they sure are ugly for flowers, agreed Hat Kid before she shot her hookshot onto the windmill. Spider-Man shot a web line at the next blade that came around, allowing the natural momentum of the machine to carry them uwards.
They landed on the next ledge, and were greeted by a new face. A rather large and shaggy one at that.
"Whoa! It looks just like the statues!" Hat Kid pointed out as she glimpsed at the large body of the goat. "These must have been the goats the villager was talking about," she thought.
"Tell me about it. Right down to the sweater," Spider-Man said in a more hushed voice, hoping that the large mammal wouldn't hear them talking about it.
Hat Kid stared at it for a moment. "I'm gonna go poke it!" she concluded before running up to the goat as it turned around.
"Kid, I can name a million adobe flash games that can tell you that's a terrible idea!" Spidey called, warning her not to get on the goat's bad side. To the surprise of no one, the goat did not appreciate the little girl poking his fur. He turned around, and gave a gentle push to move her. Or at least, gentle in his perspective. Luna was sent flying backwards as the offhand slap tossed her right back into Spider-Man.
"Kid! Did you get hurt?!" panicked the wall crawler. He heard an audible crack when the goat slapped her, and he hoped that t hadn't injured her. He really didn't want to try his luck against a goat the size of the Rhino. He already had enough enemies across the human-animal kingdom.
"No, I'm okay. He's mean though," pouted the little girl. The slap had caught her off guard was all, the only thing injured was her pride.
Peter had to have a laugh at her little pout. "And THAT is why we don't antagonize the wildlife."
He picked the little girl back up on her feet as they climbed up what they assumed was the goat's house, and from the roof, they saw another zipline leading to another peak. Hattie pulled out her ice beanie as she lined herself up with the frosty launch pad and pounded. As her icy figure flew through the air, Spider-Man shot a web line at her and was brought along for the ride. Both of them landed at the peak they needed. After a helpful pointer from the villager showing them another horn, they promptly latched onto the zipline and took it over to the next peak.
When they landed, another villager was there, but was tending to what seemed to be some type of scratch wound.
"Agh, at least it's not that deep," he said to himself. Noticing the two travellers, the hooded figure gave his warning. "Take care you two, I went up ahead and I got scratched!"
The two of them acknowledged and thanked the villager for the heads up as they jumped on a tightrope. When they arrived at the peak next to them, they found what seemed to be an abandoned village. Along the walls, strange paw marks were engraved into the stone, almost like grafitti.
"It's too quiet," Spidey said suspiciously. He felt like he was in one of New York's many sketchy alleyways, waiting for something that he couldn't see.
"Well, we better get going, that horn isn't going to honk itself," Hat Kid said excessively loud, flashing a wink at Spidey who caught onto her ploy.
Walking through the village, they were about to take one of the wooden pathways when seemingly out of nowhere, an orange cat materialized! The hidden feline snatched Hat Kid's beanie right off her head with a mischievous giggle, surprising the little girl.
"Hey!" she yelped, taken aback at the sudden hit and run. As quickly as the cat appeared though, it was gone. Hat Kid put her umbrella in front of her to guard against any more sneak attacks, though she knew she didn't need it.
True to what her instincts told her, the cat with her hat reappeared behind her, hoping to catch her victims unaware. But there seemed to be a problem.
Where was the taller one?
"Cool beanie, where'd you get it?," teased Spider-Man's voice behind her. The feline turned around and saw nothing, before the red and blue man materialized much like her and shot out a web glob to the face, blinding her and making her screech in surprise.
"You're good, but you're no Miles Morales," commented the arachnid as he cocooned the thief and took the ice beanie back, handing it to his partner against crime.
"Smooth," Hattie complimented. It was nice to see the thief getting beaten in her own game, and Spidey had finally found another practical use for the stealth feature in the Unlimited suit.
"As spider silk," he finished.
As they were heading up the wooden pathway, they knew there were more cat thieves waiting ahead, so they took a slow stroll up to the next peak. This gave Hat Kid the chance to talk about something she''d been meaning to talk about since two nights ago.
"Peter, can I ask you a question?" she asked.
"Sure, shoot kid," he responded.
Being direct with her question, she asked, "Why do you act so mean to Venom?"
That stopped Peter in his tracks, not because it was a surprise, he knew this was coming, but it was a rather touchy topic to him. One he'd rather not discuss while dodging pickpockets.
"It's complicated kid," he stated.
"Try me."
He heaved a sigh as he decided to go ahead. "Alright, me and Venom have clearly had history. And by history, I mean him trashing my rep and threatening my loved ones," he half growled. "I was bonded to him a long time ago when he first came to Earth, and I didn't know he was alive back then and twisting my personality. When I did, I did everything I could to separate myself from the bonding process he'd initiated. One church bell later, I was free, but he ended up bonding with a new host, Eddie Brock."
Spidey shivered, "Those two had it out for me for the longest time. Venom was one of my deadliest enemies since he could do what I could, but better. Lately, his old host Eddie Brock, the guy you saw when Venom first attacked us, had been going through some reform, and me and him dropped the grudges. We're acquaintances now, albeit kind of shaky. But the actual Venom symbiote, I've always considered a loose cannon."
He looked Hattie square in the eyes for the next part. "That thing feeds off of rage and negativity, kid. It has done nothing for me to trust that it's gone to the good side. Even when we bonded back in Subcon, I kept it at arm's length as far as the old brain bucket goes on the personal stuff, and when it flipped out at Dead Bird Studios, I knew that it hadn't changed a bit. It's still the same rage filled monster it was since the day I bonded with it."
Rather than a sympathizing or fearful look, Hat Kid faced Spider-Man rather suspiciously as she continued walking. "Are you sure about that?"
Spidey blinked his lenses, surprised at the question. "Huh?"
Hat Kid facepalmed. "Peter, in the Studio, you can't really believe that Venom was the only one who had some... unpleasant plans for DJ Grooves, can you? Behind you," she added nonchalantly.
Not following, Spidey scratched his head with one hand as he casually threw a fist behind him, catching the orange cat off guard as it flopped over unconscious.
"I know that Venom wasn't the only one who snapped during that fight. He said he felt your no kill boundary break in your head, so he figured he'd let loose his big and scary form because both of you wanted to end DJ Grooves," she clarified.
I-I, I'd never!" Spidey weakly tried to defend. "It's just, Venom is a lunatic. Ever since I met him he's always been a rage filled monster-"
"Because you made him that way!" interrupted Hattie. "I know it must have been weird having someone else living with you in your body, but you didn't need to leave him for dead on a church bell. He even saved your life that night while his was dying!"
Spider-Man had no retort. When did Luna get so... adult? He hadn't seen her this serious since they talked about their origins. "It's still not an excuse to do the things he did," he tried to say.
"Spidey, he just arrived on the planet after being exiled by his species who thought he was too nice and didn't want to dominate your mind. That was his entire culture. Don't you think if he knew Earth morals sooner you two would have a better time together? Behind you." she stated.
"Fear the Lazy Paw Gang!" the thief cried as it slashed through Spider-Man's back, getting confused when instead of drawing blood, her hand phased through. "Huh?"
The accelerated decoy dissolved as the real Spider-Man haphazardly delivered a Venom Blast into the cat's neck, causing its hairs to stand up on end before it collapsed.
"Well..." he contemplated, as if he hadn't just knocked another robber out cold.
Hat Kid pressed the issue. "What if instead of Venom, I was the alien you met at that point. You wouldn't leave me to die at a church bell, would you? Even if I didn't know how to act morally?"
"No way! You're from another planet! How would you even know how to act- oh," Spidey blinked, hearing his hypocrisy out of his own mouth.
Hat Kid gave a smug look. "You get our point now?"
Peter sighed. "Alright, alright, I'll try to take it easy on Venom from now on. Only because you insist though."
Hattie threw her hands into the air. "Yay!" she cheered, glad to finaly get through his dense head.
"Now can you please blow the horn? We've been sitting on this pillar for 5 minutes now," joked the web head.
The little girl complied, gulping in air before releasing a big bellow into the horn and sprouting a new zipline for them. They quickly hurried back to where they came from, though Hattie gave a raspberry at the cat who had stolen her hat on the way back.
Two zipline trips later, the two adventurers arrived at the enormous Windmill. The structure was massive, easily the size of a small scale Manhattan skyscraper. Its giant blades whirled in the intense Alpine Winds, allowing for the duo to catch a glimpse of a bright flashing light at the very top.
"Wow, I need to get out into the countryside more often," whistled Spider-Man. Hat kid nodded before pulling out her hookshot.
"Come on, let's get climbing!" she called as she swung from the hookshot anchors towards the old building. Spider-Man followed her lead, swinging with more loft as he relished the chance to swing above the clouds and experience an almost weightless feeling.
When the Time Keepers arrived at the base of the windmill, the door laid open to them, to which they promptly stepped inside.
"Whoaa," they admired, watching all of the gears and pulley systems and other machinery all working together in harmony. It was a sight to behold indeed.
"I'd love to take some snobby engineering majors here and see them try to figure this one out," noted Peter as he stared at the great machine.
"Well, better get climbing," Hat Kid said, noting the height more than the machinery though she did see some unique climbing points.
"You know kid, I could just wall crawl us to the top if you want," Spidey added, though he knew the response he was going to get.
"No way!" she refuted. "Do you see how much fun we could have? It's like a big jungle gym!"
Peter chuckled at that. "Why did I expect those exact words?" he asked rhetorically. Secretly, he hoped she'd say that. Even in New York, there was never an opportunity as good as this to put Peter Parkour into action. Though he hoped he didn't have to parkout his way up the entire building.
Hattie giggled before they ran up to a stack of crates and onto a cart of gold. They took the cart over to the next side before jumping onto the large gear mechanism standing in the middle of the room. The next obstacle, a hanging metal wall, would have been a problem, had Hattie not been able to double jump, and if Spidey couldn't do his wall crawling nickname justice.
The rotating box outside was no issue for the two platforming masters as they proceeded to the spinning gold cart gear and hopped over to an outstretched wooden scaffolding.
As the two of them were leaping across wooden platforms, Spider-Sense was triggered, but thanks to a certain badge, this trigger was less alarming.
"Hold on. I got an idea," Spidey told her as they stopped. Walking towards the obvious trap, he hoped that this badge wasn't just for show, and that the arachnids on this planet weren't into gossip.
"Come on out Mr. Spider, I know you're up there," he called, and moments later, one of the giant spiders they had seen thus far descended from the ceiling.
"How are you able to address me, human?" the spider hissed at the red and blue hero. Peter pointed at his chest as he said, "Uh, I'm sure the giant red spider on my torso is a big enough clue. But in case you're still confused..." He then fired out a web line, surprising the multiversal arachnid.
"I seeee, so you are like us," it pieced together.
"Yup, and we'd like to ask you a favor. You think you can give us a big boost up this tower?" he inquired.
The spider's 8 eyes narrowed. "And why would I want to help you with that? Is there not more machinery for you to clamber up?"
"There is, but think of it as a shortcut. I'll pay you in this beef jerky if it helps," Peter added before tossing the jerky at the giant arachnid. It gobbled it up without any difficulty.
"Thaaaank you. You will not believe how difficult it is to find prey who are skilled enough to climb up to this point." the giant arthropod said. "Very well. I will help you up part of the way, as well as inform my brethren not to harm you."
Spidey smiled under his mask. "Thanks chief!" he said as the spider started working on a web contraption. "Man, Pym and Scott never mentioned how personal cool talking to bugs was" he thought.
Hat Kid raised an eyebrow. "Isn't this cheating?" she asked.
"This? Nah, only if you make it seem like it," Peter reassured. "Just think of it as a secret shortcut. And I don't think you'd turn down the chance to ride another web bungee," he convinced.
"Nope!" came her simple reply as she jumped into the now finished web bungee with Spidey. The helpful spider pulled back with a web line before cutting it, allowing the two of them to soar high above where they once were. They spotted many more gold carts they would have had to ride, as well as more glimpses at all the gears operating the windmill.
Their ascension ended as they landed on an old wooden platform, and Hat Kid could see the helpful spider fiddling with some cobwebs, as if it were communicating with something.
"Cool," she noted before she and Peter went to another gold cart, this time with buttons in the center. Jumping on one, she and Spidey found that each button moved the adjacent cart forward and under a metal wall. While it would have been tough if Hat Kid were alone, she managed to breeze through it as she and the web head just jumped on the buttons back and forth.
"That was easy," Peter had remarked.
One rotating pulley system and near fall later, the two found themselves jumping on a springboard up to the next level of the windmill. The next room was more open than the levels below it, but to the left was another pulley wall run situation with more rotating carts.
Rather than nearly falling off again, Hattie and Spidey agreed to just wall crawl over to the end of the carts for this part only, bringing them to a hookshot and a spinning box. They swung straight onto the swinging box, and Spidey clung to the surface as he held Hat Kid, waiting for the box to go right side up. They leapt back in as the box righted itself before jumping to another cart. After dismounting the cart, they found themselves outside again.
A balloon floated between the windmill and a peak, which Hat Kid used as extra leverage to get across. Spidey simply shot a web to the side of the peak, waiting for Hat Kid at the top.
"Wishing you took me up on the wall crawling now, aren't you?" Spider-Man teased as he noticed Hat Kid getting slightly tired.
"No way!" she puffed, but her little pants betrayed her. Chuckling, he shot a web line at one of the mountain houses, allowing him to get him and Hat Kid to find the next hole in the windmill.
They jumped onto a golden cart that was waiting for them, and up above, they could see a giant spider refraining from dropping in on them as they passed under.
"Thanks!" called Spidey to the arachnid, which gave a nod of acknowledgment to its strange kinsman.
The duo traversed through a series of gears with platforms and gold carts before finally finding themselves at the axle of the windmill.
"All these gears just to power this giant spinning dowel. Wow," Spidey commented, marvelling at all the mechanical ingenuity it had taken to power this single axle. "Well, only one place left to go now," he told his comrade.
"Yup, up the windmill!" Hat Kid said, before jumping onto a wooden platform attached to one of the great spinning blades of the Windmill. Spidey chose to adhere to the side rather than ride the blade platform, but he found himself sticking around a bit longer before pulling out his phone and snapping a picture of the view.
"That's the new lock screen," he said to himself before crawling back inside to join the hatted child.
As he entered, he received a nudge on the arm. "There's the Time Piece!" Hat Kid rejoiced. Above it, they could see where the artifact had crashed into the structure as there was a glaring hole in the ceiling.
"Let's hope the spiders don't bill us for vandalism," he joked. "Come on! Let's get going back to the village. I'm sure you wouldn't want to ditch your new best friend Venom, right?" he teased.
Hat Kid gave a raspberry at the man but complied as she jumped on his back before he free fell back to the base of the windmill and back to the village. They too didn't take notice of the sinister presence that was taking note of both theirs and Venom's actions.
Fun Fact: Earth-96283 is the Sam Raimi Spider-Man's official Earth designation by Marvel.
Also: All Spider People are weak to Ethyll Chloride pesticide. Think Spider Kryptonite.
I felt the need to call out Spider-Man's bullsh!t concerning Venom in the comics in this story. Venom can be and is currently good, but the trend in recent writers seem to like making Spider-Man distrust and try to kill him. Kind of goes against most of Spider-Man's character IMO even if Venom is just the exception. If he refuses to kill Norman Osborn, then the Venom symbiote should get the morality pass too.
Finally, I have nothing against engineers. Just needed to add a quip in.