CHAPTER 12: X-MEN VS VENOM
Rogue was a bit groggy, her mind was still trying to recover from the lack of air. She slowly remembered her date with Peter. Then there was that creep with the black costume, the webbing tightening around her forcing the air out of her lungs painfully. She had to fight for each breath she then remembered the fight and Peter losing.
The next thing she remembers was moving through the air, she thought she might have been carried but then she blacked out. Her eyes slowly blinked open, it took her a bit to focus in the night but she saw weather worn wood below her. As her mind cleared up she noticed that she couldn't move and as her head rose up and looked around. It took a minute but she found herself knowing where she was.
It was the same church steeple that Peter and the suit were split apart. The only difference was that the bell was gone. In fact there was a hole in the bottom that was about the size of it. She guessed that Eddie or Venom or whatever he was calling himself had done away with it. 'Okay that can wait, escape now.' She thought as she tried to move.
By now her eyes had adjusted to the darkness, she saw that her arms and feet were webbed together. In fact she was webbed up to one of the supports like she was being crucified. That sent a shiver down her spine but pushed it aside. She knew Peter's webbing only lasted an hour so maybe this was the same. The only problem was she didn't know how long she had been out.
"Looks like the bait is awake," Came the human voice or Eddie as he came out of the shadows. Only now he was dressed all in a black priest robes. "So now we can begin to purify the demonic elements of this world."
Rogue started at him for a moment looking real hard at him, "You went off the deep end didn't ya?"
Eddie just sneered at her, "Keep making jokes mutant, I've been shown the truth. You and you're abominations are a plague on the world. It's time to make clean house and I'm starting with Parker's little hell spawned vampire. Yes we know all about you, without Parker you're a menace to all those around you. You drain the life right out of people."
"Ah can't help it!" She shouted at him, "Ah was born this way! Ah didn't want this kind of power!"
Eddie smiled at her outburst, "Hit a nerve did we? Admit it, you are all dangers to the world around you."
"That's a lie and y'all know it. That suit has been feedin' ya lies."
"Please, my other has opened my eyes freak," His form started to shift as the clothing became all black. Then it started to shrink around his body as more of it covered his head. Then that ugly looking 'mask' part showed itself. Eddie now in full Venom look moved a bit too close to Rogue's comfort. She could see little movements in the suit at this range seeing how it was a living thing.
"You know my other has wondered how best to deal with you're kind," Venom said in his deep stereo like voice. Then to her utter disgust his long slimy tongue trailed along her cheek. It was just as disgusting at Toad's, two thoughts went through her head. First was that he must have turned on her nullifier bracelet before webbing her. The second was trying not to gag from feeling the warm slime on her face.
Venom leered at her with his inhuman eyes, "Tasty, perhaps we'll eat your brains to see just how tasty you are."
Rogue's eyes widened in horror, 'He can't beh serious. That's…That's…That's fucking insane! Oh god this sicko is goin' ta do it too. There is no way in hell I'm stickin' around for this!'
Venom then looked sharply to the left and his large mouth turned into a large savage grin, "Well…looks like we have company."
Rogue turned her head but couldn't really see, but she did hear something. It was the familiar sound of Peter's web shooters and her heart skipped a beat. On the one hand she was thankful that he came for her, on the other she was scared of what would happen.
-5 minutes earlier-
Peter in his Spider-X uniform was in the van as they made their way to the church. Thankfully it was late so no one was really out. Scott followed in his car with Jean, Evan and Kitty. In the van with Peter, Logan and Ororo were up front. Kurt was with him as well and in the last seats sat Amara and Wanda. They had decided that they would need the extra fire power and to help her with learning what it was like in a team.
Even thought she wasn't technically on any of the teams Xavier wanted her to go with them to help out. He hoped that this might strengthen her bonding with the others as well as add much valued assistance. This Venom character was a serious threat and they needed everything they could to use against him.
Peter grunted a bit when they hit a pot hole and held his ribs a bit. He may heal a bit faster then normal and his body was tougher but he wasn't invulnerable and he couldn't heal like Logan. At best what took say five days for a person to heal from an injury he could do it in three. But at the moments he really wished for Logan's healing powers.
Kurt noticed his friend's discomfort, "Dude are you sure you vant to do zhis? I mean vhy not have someone use a holovatch and take you're place?"
Peter shook his head, "Would take too long, and you wouldn't be able to duplicate my powers or my voice. He'd see through it in a heart beat."
Kurt nodded it made sense to him, "Man not many guys vould go back out to face zhis guy again in your condition…Rogue means a lot to you huh?"
Peter didn't answer, he just thought about it. Technically he would be doing this for anyone but with Rogue…With her it was just more. He really did care for her, she was fun to hang out with, she knew what it was like to be a loner and outsider. Maybe that was why they noticed each other, they saw that the other could understand them. But it went deeper then that, just how deep he wasn't sure but it seemed that he would walk into hell for her.
"Yeah I do…I mean if this was Amanda what would you be?"
Kurt gave him a small smile, "I vould be doing exactly vhat you would be doing."
In the back Amara was just nervous about being next to Wanda but thankfully the goth didn't seem to be paying her any attention. Wanda did notice her nervousness but pushed it aside as she listened in on the conversation in front of them. It really made her think, here he was just fresh from a major fight ready to go back into it again while hurt. She just didn't understand why someone would go to all the trouble, unless they really cared for them.
Wanda looked out the window, she could barely remember what it was like to have others care for you like that. Her own family had betrayed her on more then one occasion. But listening that the she wondered if Rogue knew just how lucky she was to have someone that cared for her like that. She had to admit that Peter was a very nice guy, and kind of funny. She never laughed on the outside but he did have this way about him. Kind of like Kurt too, she didn't understand how people who faced so much trouble in their life could be like that.
Kurt had grown up isolated from the world all alone, and Peter has lost pretty much his entire family. So why was it that she couldn't get over the asylum? Did she loose more then her innocence in there? Did she leave more then just her childhood in that place? She didn't know but looking at those two made her wonder.
-Present-
Peter landed on the steeple and saw Rogue tided up in the webbing and Venom there waiting for him, 'Jean you reading this?' He thought in his head.
'I got you Peter…I'm telling Kurt where she is and he's right below you. Say the word,' Said Jean's voice in his head.
'Not yet, let me get him away from her. Maybe inside the Church, keep him bottled up.' He thought back to her. A moment later he got a telepathic 'nod' from her and he turned his attention to Venom. The others were parked just out of the line of sight. He knew that he would have to take him down that hole there. He was also a little dismayed the bell was gone, he could have used that.
"Okay Eddie I'm here."
"Ah we see you using that other suit now, Venom said glaring at the black and white X-Man uniform.
"Yeah well you trashed my other one," Peter said looking at Rogue to see if she was okay.
Venom gave a small dark laugh at him, "We knew that you would come here at any rate. We thought that this place would be the perfect place to end you. But the trouble was how to get you here," he looked to Rogue hanging there who glared back at him.
"Then we remembered how much she means to you. Take her and you'd follow."
"Well aren't you Mr. Smarty pants, tell me did you read that Dummies Guide to Villainy or did you just steal that from any comic book or cartoon?" Peter said to him seeing him visibly get angry. Well he thought he was getting pissed, the eyes did this freaky movement and his jaw clenched.
"Always with the jokes," Venom nearly growled out.
Peter pointed at him, "You know a good dentist may help with that under bite of yours. Sure you'd still be ugly as hell but look on the bright side you'd have a nice smile at least."
Rogue was wondering just what he was doing, he was only making him mad. But she remembered how he sometimes did that to make the other guy so mad that they don't think too straight. She knew that he must have had an idea and was wondering if the others were here too. It was most likely they were at some point.
"You know Eddie I have seen some bone heads but you take the cake," Peter said to him sounding more amused then anything.
"We are going to use your bones to pick out teeth with bug boy," Venom then lunched himself but Peter dodged it. He couldn't relay on his spider-sense this time around so he had to fight with everything he learned. He rolled up and got into a guard position.
"Come on then, you want me come and get me smiley," Peter yelled at him and then jumped down the hole. Venom snarled and then leaped in after him.
When they jumped down there Rogue began her struggles again only with more effort. But a few seconds later there was the buff of smoke and smell of brimstone, "Kurt!" She yelled in surprise. Although mainly only his uniform and eyes gave him away since his fur blended into the darkness.
"Hey zhere, let me help vith zhat," He told her quickly trying to take the webbing off of her.
"Are the others here?" Rogue asked trying to get a hand loose or something at least while Kurt was working as well.
"Ja, zhey should be here soon…Argh…how are you supposed to take zhis stuff off?" He could rip the stuff and it was really sticky. He suddenly realized this would take a lot longer then he thought it would.
Meanwhile Peter was doing his best to keep ahead of Venom but it wasn't easy. 'How the hell can a guy so big be so freaking fast?' He thought to himself jumping from wall to wall dodging him all the way down as Venom tore into the wood, shredding it with his claw like hands.
"Come on big boy, can't you keep up with all those muscles?" Peter taunted him doing a back flip off the wall and landed on the ground. He saw a door and jumped at it, throwing his shoulder against the wood door. He did bust through it, nearly taking it off its hinges but he really felt pain shoot right through his ribs.
But he had to push through the pain and keep going, he had to keep moving. Brock was fast but he seemed to be a little bit quicker so he just needed to buy some time. He jumped up and web swung his way out of harms each. "You know Eddie this go so much easier if you just took the suit off, trust me that thing it nothing but trouble."
"Shut up! You know nothing of us," Venom angrily yelled out as he felt the sting of those words through his other. Venom gripped one of the pews and tossed it to Peter, "Catch Web-head!"
"Whoa!" Peter back flipped onto one of the large concrete support pillars of the church, "Dude, God is going to be so pissed at you for this."
They went back at it, Peter dodging as best he could trying to keep out of his reach. Not easy with a guy that fired webbing like himself. 'Come on hurry the hell up guys!' He thought wishing they could have parked closer. Although he couldn't keep it up forever and he had miscalculated one move as Eddie managed to tackle him in mid air.
Venom landed on top of Peter holding him down, Peter got an up close and personal look at Eddie's teeth and his slimy tongue. In fact a few drops landed on the mask, "Oh gross man, now I'll have to burn this thing."
"You never stood a chance against us Parker, together we know everything about you. We know you you fight, how you think, we are stronger together then you."
Peter cocked his head for a bit and then looked at Venom, "Yeah well guess what Eddie? You're not the nly one to fight alone."
Before Venom could process that a crimson beam shattered through the heavy doors of the church and nailing him right in the chest. The villain sailed though the air right through the altar. Peter propped himself up seeing the others there, "Damn man nice shot! Jean when you just contacted just then did you send him some info via 'Vulcan mind meld' or something?"
"No, she didn't," Cyclopes said stepping forward, "That was just a lucky shot."
Peter blinked a few times before standing right up, "Man you could have hit me with that!"
A large roar took all their attention off this to Venom ripping the ruins of the altar snarling. He glared at the mutants there. "Oh man…that is one ugly dude," Evan said seeing Venom for the first time. The others also were taken aback a bit by Venom's appearance. The only guy that was even remotely scary looking they had face was Sabertooth and this guy looked just as scary if not more so.
"Oh I see you brought friends. That wasn't very nice of you Parker. We wanted this to be just between us," He took a few steps forward, "But we guess it was only a matter of time before we have to deal with the rest of them. Might as well get it over with!"
With that Venom leaped high up into the air forward the group of mutants. Scott told them to scatter out as they moved out of the way. Scott tried to shot him in the back but he ducked it like he had seen it coming and fire a web line at his feet. Venom pulled hard sending Scott to the floor, he landed hard on his back his X-shaped chest armor helped to take the blow but he got the wind knocked out of him.
"Okay ugly try some of this!" Spyke yelled out firing his bone spikes. They impacted on the surface but the suit looked like it absorbed the blows. For a second they just stuck to his 'skin' but then the suit pushed them out and launched them right back at him. "Damn!" Even dove behind a pew as the bones imbedded into the wood.
Wolverine roared as he charged forward, he had enough of his guy and ducking a left slash by Venom he tried to cut his claws through his ribs. But to his surprise the suit molded not only around his claws but his hand and wrist. That same arm he dodged then had the elbow crashing down on Logan's neck. If it wasn't for the Adamantium then it would have most likely have broken his neck.
"That stung," Venom said as he kicked Logan in the ribs sending him bouncing off the top of a pew. Then he roared in pain as he looked to see Amara with a fire ball, "You! We remember you, we shall rip the flesh from your bones for hurting us!"
Amara gave a started cry of surprise and tried to get her fire form up. She just got it up in time, and stretched out her arms sending more flames at him. "Amara careful you don't burn down the building!" Ororo called out and the young woman saw that the flames were starting to spread.
"Oh no, I'm sorry I didn't mean to," She was still getting used to her powers and stopped the flames and turned back to normal, as Ororo used her power to put out the spreading flames. She saw the suit 'melting' for lack of a better word in certain places. She saw the human under it, but that moment of her being distracted he fired a web line to a pew and pulled it. Amara had no time to dodge as she got caught in the side by it.
Wanda stepped in with Storm as Jean went to check in on Amara. The young girl was cradling her arm in pain, most likely it was either broken or dislocated. Jean had been trying to gain access to their opponent's mind but she couldn't get through. It was like the suit had managed to make his mind impervious to telepathy. Or at least had on very strong shields. She looked up to see Wanda firing her hex bolts they caused Venom's suit to go nuts, shifting and looking like it was hit with a small explosion. It seemed to hurt him, Ororo in the air tried lighting. She scored a hit to his chest and Venom felt the stinging pain.
But he didn't go down, he fired a web line at her but she dodged it. But she wasn't his target he hit one of the supports and pulled it down. Ororo heard the breaking sound and looked behind her to see a piece of large wood hitting her in the back. She was freefalling to the ground But suddenly stopped, Jean had seen this and used her powers to catch Ororo.
Peter went in with a kick to the chest of Venom and fired his impact webbing into his face. Venom was blinded as it where as the webbing encompassed his head. Wanda gave him another hex blast sending him into a pew shattering it. This only fueled his anger and ripped the webbing off his face and went at the goth mutant. Logan jump and tackled her out of the way while Kitty tried to distract him enough for Logan to get her back up.
"Careful kid," He told her.
"I can look after myself," She said to him dusting herself a bit and getting back into the fight. Logan just grunted at her 'tough girl' act and just went with it. He got enough of that from Rogue was it was to see through it at times.
By the time Kurt had freed Rogue, he had to break off a piece of sharp wood from the hole in the ground to cut the webbing, then teleported down into the main part of the Church the battle was in full swing. They saw that they had Venom pinned down, Peter, Scott, Wanda and Logan were doing the most offensive fighting while Kitty, Evan and Jean were doing the defensive. Kitty had dragged Amara out of the area and keeping and eye on her and Ororo.
Evan was just making sure Venom didn't get too close, while Jean helped with her TK shields. "Oh man zhat guy is nasty," Kurt said seeing him.
"Trust meh, he's worse up close," Rogue said seeing the hard time they were having with him. They needed to end this fast and she did have an idea. She took off her bracelet and handed it to Kurt. "Kurt ah want ya ta teleport us right next to him, ah'm goin' ta see if ah can drain him."
"Are you sure zhat's a good idea?" He asked taking care of her bracelet.
She looked at the monster of a man fighting her friends, "No…But it's all we got."
Kurt nodded and took her waist and then he waited for an opening. When Venom staggered back from a punch from Peter and a blast by Scott that was his queue, he telelported at that moment and reappeared right behind him. Rogue immediately reached out and gripped him as best she could. Both cried out from her powers working.
She could feel the mind of the suit, it was totally unlike anything before. It was so inhuman, that it was hard to understand it all. She got bits of memories from Eddie and left over ones from Peter as well that the suit had. Then she felt the overwhelming hate, the hate for Peter from both of them but the suit's hate was deeper.
She sensed something else as she caught glimpses of the suit's warped and twisted mind. Parts of it's origin, it's purpose to bond, and then something she didn't expect. Pain, emotional pain from Peter's rejection, she was totally shock by the revelation that hit her. The suit have been what might be 'in love' with Peter. Not the kind between a man and a woman, but it cared for him just as much.
When Peter rejected it, it was painful to it. There was also hatred to her and jealousy of how Peter wanted her then the suit.
Venom roared out in pain as the suit and Eddie were being drained. Eddie knew that if she held on they would both die. He didn't want to die or have his other die, they were made for each other he was sure of it. For the first time in his life he felt powerful and complete. Then he felt something in the suit, something through their bond. 'I'm sorry'
'What? What do you mean sorry? We have to fight this,' He thought back to it then the pain started to stop. With great horror he knew what it was doing. It was trying to break free to sacrifice itself for him. 'No! Don't!'
But it was too late the suit started to die off from Rogue's touch. It withered and started to fall off like crumpled bits of a dead leaf. Kurt saw Rogue's pained face and decided to pull he off of him. He fell back onto his butt with her between his arms. She moaned out and then slumped against him. He looked down to see her completely out cold, it had obviously taken a drain on herself as well.
Peter saw this and quickly went to her, "Hey Rogue? You alright?" He didn't get a response, "We need to get her back."
Kurt nodded his head and looked past him. On the floor was Eddie but the suit was no longer on him. Eddie had passed out from the pain of the symbiote breaking the bond between them. Now all that was left looked like the tattered remains of a black and white suit. Kurt wondered if it was dead, it wasn't moving at all.
Then as everyone was gathering loud groans could be heard, "Damn I think the battle weakened the supports!" Scott yelled out, "Everyone out of here now!"
Peter picked up Rogue into his arms and with Kurt teleported out, they took Eddie's body and when they were a few meters of the Church the roof started to cave in, burying the remains of the suit under it. Peter looked at the wreckage and let out a sight, 'Maybe now…It's finally over…At least I hope it is.'
He looked down at Rogue and figured it was now time to take care of their own.
NEXT UP CHAPTER 13: CLEAN UP