Disclaimer: I don't own Spider-man, or aliens. This disclaimer is a waste of time.
Chapter 6
The Triumph of Venom
Peter and Tony Stark were back in the research lab. They were standing over the container that housed the alien egg.
"So you think this is where those things came from?" Tony asked looking at the container, which held the egg and its occupant in suspended animation.
"Could it be?" Peter asked. "I mean you're the one whose researching it right? What have you found out?"
"The egg contains a highly reactive acid," Tony said. "The creature inside it also has acidic blood."
"Acid?" Peter repeated leaning against one of the machines. "Those things that I fought had acidic blood."
"That's how you ended up damaging the waldoes?" Tony asked.
"Yep, one of the creatures impaled itself on them," Peter said.
"You said there were more of these eggs," Tony said. "And that whoever was researching them removed them all? So what did they do? Let them out on purpose?"
"Maybe one escaped?" Peter suggested.
"But you encountered thirteen of them," Tony pointed out.
"Yeah, but if these things grew from the eggs," Peter started spreading his arms. "Then they must grow pretty fast."
"And they reproduce asexually!" Tony exclaimed. "But…"
He reached up and twisted a knob, calling up the x-ray photo of the egg. He pointed out the crab-like creature nestled inside it. "Does that look like it could grow into one of the things you saw?"
"Vaguely," Peter said. "They look related, but I don't think that thing would grow up to be a big bad insect."
"I don't think it could grow up either," Tony said. "It doesn't appear to have a way to intake food."
Peter sighed. "Well, all this pondering is giving me a headache."
He pulled his mask on and headed toward the window. "I'm gonna go get some fresh air."
And with that, he leapt out the window, his mind rolling with questions and worries.
Swinging through the gray canyons of New York, Spider-man soon forgot his problems.
Suddenly a crash of glass breaking and the scream of a helpless pedestrian falling to his death assailed Spidey's ears.
He looked up ahead of himself and saw a man flinging his arms around madly as he plummeted to the ground.
Spider-man was too far away to reach him in time. His only option was to try and snag him with a web line. Peter raised his arm and the thin gray strand shot out… and missed. The man continued plummeting and struck the ground with a thud.
Spider-man landed on one of the rooftops and looked up to where the man had fallen from. A figure stood and looked out then the window, then turned away and headed back into the building.
Less then a minute later, Peter was climbing in through the window. He glanced around and saw multiply limp and bleeding bodies.
He tried to hold his lunch down; he had dealt with this kind of thing before. He cautiously made his way inside, eyes alert for danger.
A glance at one of the corpses showed a circular hole in the back of the man's head. Gagging, Peter pulled his mask up so that his mouth and lower face was revealed and hurled on the floor.
'All right, gotta find the survivors (if any) quick,' Peter thought and lunched two strands of webbing to the ground and then more to the walls and ceiling. Feeling the vibrations through the webs, he found only one thing moving.
And it was on the ceiling right above him. Peter jumped around and faced the source of the vibrations. Another one of the aliens was clinging to the roof, but it looked different then the others.
Rather then being skeletal like the others he had seen, it was muscular. Its fangs were white rather then metallic gray. But the biggest give away as to what was different was the white-eye patches and spider symbol on the chest.
"Hello, Spider-man," the alien known as Venom hissed. His voice sound even more inhuman then ever.
"Where's Gargan?" Spider-man asked.
"Oh, he's in the cell back there," replied Venom, pointing down a hallway. "He won't be troubling you any more."
"You killed him?" Spider-man asked in surprise.
"Couldn't be helped," the alien laughed.
"You sure aren't very loyal," Spider-man said.
"Look who's talking!" the symbiote countered. "You dumped me with the Fantastic Four as soon as you learned I was alive. Call that loyalty?"
Spider-man leapt toward Venom, but the alien quickly released his hold on the ceiling and dropped to the floor. Spider-man stuck to the ceiling and then dropped back to the floor. He tried to land a kick, but Venom stepped back with exaggerated ease. He then stepped forward and landed a punch that sent Peter flying across the room. He slammed into the far wall.
In a flash, Venom was standing over Peter, but just as quickly he was back on his feet and had his fist raised. Venom's newly acquired tail swung forward, but Peter parried it with the stingers that shot out of his wrist.
Venom advanced with his tail waving and occasionally striking out, forcing Peter back into the wall. Venom suddenly shot forward and Peter only barely managed to dodge the fist that shot straight through the wall along with the arm connected to it!
Withdrawing his arm, Venom turned on Spider-man and again attacked so quickly Peter could barely keep up with his movements. He tried to block the blows and return some of his own, but more and more he found himself on the defensive and Venom's lightning quick blows were getting through more and more.
Finally, Venom's fist slipped through and struck Peter in the face, sending him to the floor and skidding across it. He tried to raise his head, but he just didn't have the energy and the world went black.