Part Ten

            MJ grimaced at the television screen and the image that was being displayed. "What's he going to do?"

            "Kill him." Gwen responded wearily, "I'm going to go see Peter." She stated rising up from the couch bored with the news feed.

            "No!" MJ barked, "Don't you dare leave this room!"

            Gwen slowly moved back towards the couch with a blank stare on her face, shocked at the sudden outburst. "Okay."

            Peter stared into Venom's cold white eyes. There was no humanity in that face; there was no reason to hold back. He'd be destroying a monster of pure hate, it had wanted the same.

            Peter wanted this. It brought a smile to his lips hidden behind the mask. His entire body tenses, his veins pumping with adrenaline.

            "Are you enjoying yourself?" Venom asked plainly showing no fear at his impending death, "You see? We are more connected than you'd admit."

            "What?" He asked meekly and then saw his own reflection in Venom's eye. It was not the face that he woke up too; it belonged to the one that he fought against even now. "You're right, I am enjoying this." He admitted.

            Venom snickered, "Then finish this!"

            Peter readied his fist for the final blow but found the motion suddenly hollow. "No." He murmured.

            "What do you mean no? You want to destroy us! Do so!" Venom roared rather frustrated.

            "I can't." Peter dropped Venom, who lay on the ground like an angry child, "That's not who I am. I don't kill in cold blood, you do." He shook his head, "It was pretty sick and twisted plan you had there. Get me so furious that I'd kill Brock leaving me open to you, to be bonded again."

            The monster shook his head from side to side, "No, that's not it." Venom frowned, "We'll kill you! We swear it!"

            Peter scoffed at the threat, "That's your problem isn't it. You need to be let in; if I kill you it'll be giving in to that taint that you left inside me. I'll be accepting you. No way, go back to whatever pit you snuck out of because I'm not interested."

            "No!" A tendril lashed out from Venom's torso, "We'll show you! You need us!" The tendril reached out and formed a sharp end that it stabbed into the skull of Spider-Man. "You'll see!"

            Peter reached for the tendril suddenly but found his arms too heavy. The world around him became a sea of quicksand with which he slipped into.

            Jan watched from out the cockpit the battle progress as the helicopter finally moved into position.

            "The gun will be fully charged in six minutes." Reported the pilot as he wrestled with the joystick, "I'm getting reports the police will be here in eight."

            "Where the hell is Connors?" Jan inquired.

            The pilot shrugged, "Beats me."

            Jan sighed, "That blasted overgrown iguana. He gets a little bloody nose and he runs away!"

            Peter found himself in the halls of his high school. He was late but he couldn't remember for which class. He ran down the corridor towards the classroom just beyond his reach. Along the way he ran into Flash Thompson leaning against the wall quietly.

            "How are you doing, man?" Peter inquired lightly.

            "Not good." Flash responded, "I just realized what a loser you are."

            Peter grimaced, "What?"

            Flash closed his fist, "You'll always be a weak loser!" He swung it widely stumbling forward with his clumsy attack.

            "Hey!" Peter prepared to dodge the blow but found he was too slow. None of his agility remained; he was powerless to avoid the oncoming fist. Flash made contact with the side of his face.

            Peter slammed against a locker and collapsed on the floor of the corridor. He rolled over on his back as gasped for air. "Why?"

            "You're just too weak." Flash stomped his boot on his schoolmate's face.

            Peter was thrown straight through the floor. He came crashing down on a rooftop somewhere in New York City. A cloud of smoke enveloped him. He clumsily broke through it only to find the source.

            "Well, if it isn't, Spider-Man!" The Green Goblin cackled madly, "I told you I'd found out who you were and I have, Mr. Parker."

            "No." Peter stammered, "No!"
            "Peter." A voice echoed along the sound of wind passing by him, "Eventually he'll win. You know it. Embrace your only hope."

            The Goblin grinned behind that hideous exterior, "You couldn't stop me; you couldn't protect your loved ones; not alone." He flung a pumpkin bomb that landed inches from Peter's feet.

            He leapt off the side of the building moments before the explosion. Peter could only scream as he fell down towards the street, he was vulnerable, alone.

            Peter stepped through the front door of an apartment. "Hello, MJ?"

            The television was playing. A commercial for some sort of aid had a spokesman sprouting out testimony from people their group had aided. "How well can you trust those you love? Find out and if you need help, we are here."

            "Hello?" He stepped into the bedroom only to stumble back at what he saw. "What's going on?"

            What he found was bizarre, something only a nightmare could have conjured up. "Oh, hi, Pete, we and the girls were waiting for you and we got a little sleepy." Ben Parker said jovially as he lay in bed with Gwen and MJ. "You can't blame an old man can you?"

            Peter barged out of the room for the exit. The spokesman was still pitching for the aid. "Nobody knows you as well as we do, you can't trust anyone really, we know you and we'd never do anything to lose your trust." He stepped through the exit.

            The Lizard smashed him through the table inside the classroom. "Mr. Parker, you are late!" He hissed angrily, "Do you have any idea what time it is."

            "Sorry, Mr. Connors, I guess I overslept." Peter said groaning from the pain in his side.

            "No excuse!" The Lizard rammed Peter's head against the chalkboard, "After all the time I helped you get that scholarship I'd just think you'd be a little bit more considerate." He sighed, "Never mind, just leave and have fun with Mary Jane and Gwen, I think I saw them talking to than uncle of yours."

            He wrapped his tail around Peter's neck and threw him out an open window.

            Peter found himself in a corridor. It was horribly familiar. The sound of someone running out of an office filled his head. "No, please not this."

            A burglar began to run down the hallway in slow motion headed for the exit. He knew what would happen if he stayed here. Peter tried to intervene but found his feet were nailed to the ground. "No!" He screamed helplessly.

            "We can stop him for you! We can save Aunt May! You need us! Do you want our help?"

            Peter clenched his teeth; he tried to move again only failing. "Yes, I need you!"

            Just a few feet from the exit, the burglar was stopped dead in his tracks. Venom exploded from the wall and clasped his hand around the burglar's head. "He dies now!" Venom smashed the burglar's head against the wall.

            "It's over." Venom turned to Peter, "We could have saved her. We could have removed the Goblin; we could get you MJ forever." He reached his hand out to Peter, "Take our hand and take back your life."

            "You, why is it always you?" Peter asked feebly.

            Venom smiled, "We are two sides of the same coin, forever joined in our union. We are each other."    

            Ben emerged from the shadows of the corridor, "Take his hand. It's for the best; May would have wanted you to be happy."

            Gwen joined him, "I'll stand by you no matter what."

            Harry arrived, "Be a true friend, Pete."

            Finally, MJ made an appearance, "Please, this is for us."

            "See?" Venom nodded slowly, "This is your last chance, Parker. Don't give it up."

            Peter stared into MJ's eyes and for a moment, for her sake he reached out towards Venom.

            "Take our hand."

            Peter frowned as his mind finally began to analyze. He approached the problem like a scientist taking the various elements and putting them together. "This isn't right." Peter stared at Venom accusingly, "This is a trick!"

            "No. Accept me; it's your only chance for happiness, for safety! Why won't you let us protect you?"

            Peter shook his head, "Because I don't want you. I have something you can have, the love of another person, peace of mind, my individuality. No, I won't give it up."

            Venom stomped his feet making the apparitions vanish, "There's more at stake than your damned principles. You can lose them all, MJ, Ben, Gwen, Flash, Harry, Nor-."

            "My soul?" Peter asked quietly.

            "Fine, that's how it will be." Venom's body posture became that of a predator ready to attack. Peter suddenly found himself in costume. "We tried, now we will destroy you! This may not be reality but your mind can still be shattered!"

            Venom smashed Peter through a wall furiously.

            Peter flipped back to his feet. "Come on! I'm ready for this!" He declared as Venom entered the room. He landed a dropkick on the symbiote's head forcing him to stumble back.

            Across the room, the Lizard sat behind his desk, "Please be quiet, Mr. Parker, I am in the middle of class." Peter turned to the room to find an entire mockup of his classmates all gathered together.

            Suddenly, all of the figures melted together into a black ooze. "What the hell is that?" The figures molded together to form a new Venom.

            Peter looked to the original who sadistically grinned at him. Both Venoms lunged towards their prey.

            The first missed his strike, leaving Peter open to land a roundhouse kick sending it tumbling down. The second managed to smash Peter's jaw with a mighty uppercut.

            Peter came crashing into yet another room. Ben was hugging Gwen and MJ but stopped upon seeing his nephew lying on the ground struggling to stand, "Peter, I'm trying to have some fun here. Just let yourself back out." The Venom pair wasted no time entering the room

            Taking no heed from the old man's complaints, Peter stretched both his legs out and twirled his body creating a twister effect that smacked one of the Venoms aside as he rose to his feet.

            Ben, Gwen and MJ melted and then formed together, creating yet a new lethal Venom for Spider-Man to combat.

            Peter spotted it getting ready to pounce. He contorted his body as it flew by his body and smacked itself against another Venom throwing both out through a wall.

            The remaining Venom assaulted Peter savagely. The first blow threw Peter off his feet but he managed to get back on his feet. He elbowed Venom in the face and used his opponent's moment of pain to lay down a thick layer of webbing.

            He didn't notice the other two Venoms as they returned to the room. They both grabbed him and took him out through the other wall of the apartment. Peter fired a web-line ending up on the side of some imaginary gothic tower that Venom had created. He saw the other two Venoms splash on the floor.

            "At least I don't have to deal with them." Peter murmured. Then the ground began to rumble. "Nuts."

            The street exploded revealing the massive Venom who towered over the city. "We won't lose to you!" He roared passionately.

            "Mind over matter, in here those are the rules." Peter clenched both his fist, "I can beat this guy." He pushed off the tower as hard as he could heading straight for his foe. Venom pulled his hand back and then let it forward with massive force.

            Back in reality nothing had calmed down. "We're just about ready!" The pilot remarked. "Man, what the hell is wrong with those two."

            Spider-Man and Venom stood next to one another connected by the tendril each shaking painfully.

            "Who cares?" Jan blared, "All that matters is that we get that suit. It means everything to the Operation."

            "Look!" The pilot said pointing at the two.

            Venom suddenly screamed in agony. The tendril broke away from Peter and receded into him. His roar was a pitiful one, yelled moments before collapsing to the ground. The symbiote began to leave Brock, or what was left of him. As the symbiote ran from its former host all that was left was a skeleton, sucked dry of its life and humanity.

            Peter landed on his knees and watched the symbiote run away. He could barely move and even if he had been able to he had no idea how to stop that creature from escaping.

            He was stunned when it stopped dead in its tracks and seemed to twist in pain. Peter spotted the helicopter landed on the street from which a sonic pitch that he only now heard covered the black slime.

            "Crap, not these guys again." Peter mumbled to himself weakly. He had run into them twice already, the second time killing their leader Fury while under the control of the suit. "They must still have a hard-on for the symbiote."  

            He could see what seemed to be the lady-in-charge giving the order to open fire. The street around Peter was littered with bullets. Shells zipped through the air from the chopper at him. "That's my cue to exit." He fired a web-line and soared away from the scene.

            Peter made sure he was out of their range and landed on a rooftop overlooking the scene. He resisted letting these weirdos get that thing but he was too tired to do anything about it. "Damn."

            Jan watched as her men placed the symbiote inside a capsule while the sonic emitters kept it sedated. She could hear the police coming. "Time for us to vanish before people start asking questions." Jan stared at the battered city around her, "At least more questions than they'll ask already."

            She watched as the capsule was loaded onto the chopper, "Be careful with that thing."

            "Indeed." The Lizard said as he approached Jan, "I expect that in my lab two hoursss after we land."

            "Where the hell were you? If Spider-Man hadn't been here, we would have lost the suit!"

            The Lizard sneered at Jan, "Be quiet." He walked onto the chopper just as Jan closed the door and gave the signal for take-off, "When we return to bassse I think we ssshould begin talking about ressstructuring the power ssstructure of Sss.H.I.E.L.D. to reflect my importanccce to your organizzzation."

            Jan grimaced, "Who the hell do you think you are?" The helicopter lifted off the ground and began to ascend.

            "Your ssssecond-in-command and if you disssagree I won't finisssh my sssserum and that lovely sssuit will be useless to you asss a resssult." The Lizard smiled smugly, "Underssstood?"

            Jan was silent for a moment, bitter about how much he was correct, "Clearly."

            "I really think you should give, Peter some more time!" MJ persisted as she followed Gwen to Peter's room. "He'll be up in a few minutes!"

            "No!" Gwen declared, "I've waited two hours and he's not up! What's the big deal, I just need to push him a little." She walked to the closed door and carelessly opened it and entered, "Peter? Are you here, lover boy?" She looked in and screamed.

            MJ followed in after her and sighed at the result of her futile efforts. There for both MJ and Gwen to see was a stunned and silent Peter Parker in the middle of the room without his mask but dressed in full costume.

            Peter could barely move, his body turned to stone. His world seemed to be spinning out of control heading for a brick wall at full speed. "Crap."