Part Seven
Peter rolled over despite the fact that every one of his muscles ached. He took a breath of air and slowly opened his eyes. He expected to see Venom standing there victorious and savoring the moment.
He couldn't win, it was over. Peter grimaced at the thought but gulped as he faced reality. Venom had beaten him soundly. His eyes focused on the reptilian face staring at him. "Jeez, is there some kind of promotional offer I didn't hear about?"
The Lizard smirked, "I sssee pain hasssn't ruined your good humor. How have thingsss been Parker?"
"Oh you know; same old, same old." Peter answered moving a little so that he could lean against some wreckage, "Looking great, Connors, lost some weight I see."
"Hilariousss to the end." The Lizard pointed towards Venom writhing in agony, "Sssee that? Your mighty nemesssisss hasss been defeated. It'sss going to be a real treat to ssstudy him and manipulate it'sss geneticsss to sssuit my needsss." He whispered, "Sss.H.I.E.L.D. thinksss they have me under control but it'sss I who am in command. Thisss isss jussst but one ssstep in my ultimate goal: domination." The Lizard reached out, "In a way I'm doing you a favor by ending thisss."
The blare of the noise created by the sonic blasters ceased suddenly. The Lizard turned around, "Why have you ssstopped?"
Iron-Man grimaced, "The suits down, I think it's dead." He said pointing to Venom who'd collapsed by now.
"No, you fool! Open fire!" The Lizard roared.
Venom came to life suddenly and fired a burst of his deadly webbing. The line smashed straight through Iron-Man's chest puncturing the body inside. Venom snickered, "Nice try, Connors, but it'll take more than that to take us down!" He tightened his hold of the line and swung it and Iron-Man still connected to the other end into the side of a building.
The agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. armored exterior suffered a cataclysmic failure in it's power system and was incinerated instantly when his suit exploded taking half the building with him in his fiery death.
Lizard hissed angrily at the cloud of black smoke rising from the ruins of the building. He turned his eyes slowly towards Venom, "Blassst you."
Venom smiled, "Let's do this!"
The two monsters charged at one another roaring furiously. The streets had already been abandoned, all for the better. Each opponent leaped at the other colliding in mid-air. Lizard landed two blows into the symbiote's ribs and swung his tail around. The massive tree-like appendage slammed Venom into a light-pole that snapped when he landed against it.
Venom quickly rose back to his feet, a quiet snarl emanating from his lips. He reached down for the street and picked up the fallen street-lamp. Drawing upon his massive strength he swung the pole scoring a successful blow on Lizard.
The latter immediately crashed straight through a car thus turning the battle in Venom's favor. Lizard shook off the ringing in his skull and emerged from the ruined vehicle. He roared menacingly and circled the symbiote.
Venom grimaced and impatiently leapt for Lizard. They collided in an explosion of anger and hate. They rolled along the ground struggling for some sort of control. "You should know when to give up, Connors. We beat you the last time we tangled."
"I underessstimated you." Lizard slipped his tail under Venom's back and wrapped the long appendage around his waste, "I won't make the sssame missstake again!" He flung Venom through a fire hydrant, sending a steady stream of water into the streets.
Venom shook his head, "You're irritating us, Connors!" He rose up only to be pounded back by his reptilian enemy. Lizard slugged the symbiote across the jaw with a right and then landed a blow to the gut with his left.
"How much damage can you take?" Lizard inquired ramming his head into Venom's chin shattering bone. "How much more can your hossst take before you're forccced to run like the parassite you are? I intend to find out."
Venom groaned under the attack. He fired of a burst of webbing but totally missed and was decked by Lizard in short order.
The two combatants moved down the street, each attacking and defending with equal ferocity. Lizard swiped his tail around towards Venom who jumped over it and landed a dropkick on his opponent.
The Lizard was thrown aside from the force of the blow and crashed into a car ripping the exterior apart. For a moment Lizard's world was out of focus, everything had been doubled. He shook his head forced his eyes to refocus. Lizard emerged from the torn car wearily only to hear an awful noise.
The drip of leaking gasoline pervaded the very air around him. He could see the end of it seem to branch off into a small patch of fire created when Iron-Man died in his impressive lightshow. "No!"
The car exploded enveloping Lizard in its fiery wrath. Venom hissed with a grin on his face. The ball of intense heat that rose from the automobile cast the street in an orange tint. "HAHAHA!" Venom clapped his hands together, "Connors is dead; we've done it, Parker could never beat you, but we have!" His joyful calls echoed off into the cold night.
From the raging flames emerged Lizard as if he survived only to wipe the grin from Venom's face. If that was the case he was successful. His body was covered in burnt flesh, his skin was as black as ash yet somehow, to Venom's surprise, he stood.
"It won't be that easssy." Lizard clenched his fist and tensed his incredibly muscular body. There was no mistaking his face was that of a predator prepared to go down fighting either way.
Venom roared and lashed out at his foe. The two met in a clash of power and rage that threatened to shake the very city down to its foundation.
Peter Parker had escaped the battle with his life. Somehow, providence had watched over him. He climbed alongside the wall exhausted but still breathing and thankful of it. Peter resented leaving but in his current state he was no match for both the Lizard and Venom.
He spotted the open window he had been watching out for and moved towards it. This doctor seemed to make a habit of embracing the cold rush of air whenever it moved in. His costume was in tatters, it barely hid who he was. "One of these days, I'm going to need to make this out of something besides that cloth in the grocery store down the block."
Peter entered the room, barely standing but determined to see this through. Venom was his problem, a creature born of the darkness within him. Venom was the personification of every greedy and selfish instinct in him, the instincts that had gotten Aunt May killed.
He spotted the doctor, the only man that could help him. "Dr. Octavius." Peter said quietly as Otto rose from his workbench, "I'm sorry to bother you again, I need your help." He held out his hand and the small black fragment of the suit that had been blown off in one of the explosions.
"Help with what." Otto Octavius inquired behind his black spectacles, almost delighted at the hero's presence at his modest home.
"I need you to help me kill this thing." Peter replied determined to see this through, Venom had to go down.