Anything in Italic means the character is thinking.

Anything in Bold is symbiote-speech, or inner-voice if also in Italic.

Achilles' heel

When Peter Parker woke up the next morning, his first feeling wasn't relief after sleeping, it was a gnawing hunger that his entire body felt.

He wasn't ignorant enough to not know the cause, which meant he had to find chocolate NOW since the alternative was not an option.

Barely touching the ground on his way to the door, the symbiote barely had time to reassemble proper clothes around him before he was already bounding through the manor, not even noticing a very startled Alfred he jumped over.

"This is one of the things I'm not missing from this whole relationship." Peter snarked in his mind.

"Sorry for needing food." Was the sarcastic answer he received.

When he arrived in the kitchen, which incidentally was bigger than his own apartment, he all but flew from the ground to the nearest fridge and started frantically looking through it. He only stopped when he heard someone clearing their throat behind him, making him turn around to notice Alfred with a half-amused half-nervous expression.

"May I ask why are you in such a hurry? I don't think I've ever seen such hurry to eat without being starved."

"Uh…" This suddenly got awkward for Peter since he just couldn't tell the full truth.

"Perhaps we could prepare something? Master Wayne often needs to be brought food at the cave, it would be a nice change of pace."

"The thing is…you know how the suit is a living creature right?"

"Yes."

"Well, it needs to eat too and it can't take everything it needs from me or It would harm me. So…I know it's going to sound ridiculous, but please tell me there is chocolate in this mansion?"

A few seconds passed before Peter saw the odd mix of disbelief and amusement in Alfred's expression.

Well, it DOES sound ridiculous when said out loud…

All the while lightly smiling, Alfred walked to one of the numerous fridges and started looking inside, unaware of the wide-eyed teen looking in anticipation.

"I'm not sure of the amount you need, but we have a few boxes for small events. They are quite good if I say so myself." He handed Peter a small unopened box of round chocolate spheres, he had a feeling Bruce rarely touched them even when they were distributed for those "events".

He almost started to tear through the box, his arms starting to move before his mind had finished processing the offer, before he managed to restrain himself for a few seconds.

"Thank you very much Sir." After saying his thanks, he thought he felt a slight draft.

"Come on! Stop stalling! Eat!"

In the cave…

Not surprisingly, Bruce didn't leave the cave, awaiting his friend's visit. He wasn't disappointed when he heard the footsteps behind him, much too heavy to be Alfred or Peter.

"Clark." He nodded.

"Bruce. You know there's a kid raiding your kitchen right now?" The man answered with a light smile.

Turning around, Bruce noticed that Clark didn't bother to wear his civilian clothes, letting the symbol of Superman for all to see. From his question it would seem like he went through the whole building before coming in the cave.

"He's actually part of what I wanted to talk about."

"Is he…"

"No, he's not another Robin. He's already a hero as much as us despite his age and…questionable mannerisms."

"Alright then, what is going on?"

Bruce let out a sigh before going to the large computer and pressing a few keys. Several analysis reports and recordings about Spider-man appeared.

"The Phantom Zone wasn't an isolated case, the 'kid' comes from another dimension where we do not exist, in fact I doubt even Gotham exists since he didn't even know where he was when he arrived. Although he was brought here by someone else with, until proven otherwise, good intentions. We've recently stopped a villain from HIS dimension."

Batman let the hero process the new information, aware that the kryptonian most likely knew part of the story and that he was also looking at the computer, seriousness returned.

"Well, it does explain a few things and it also brings more questions. What is it you wanted to show me?"

"This." With a single press of a key, the various analysis results and notes about the symbiote (what little information he truly had based on the early samples) appeared.

"Did you ever encounter such creatures?"

The Man of Steel looked at the information, symbiotic organisms weren't unheard of. Although most of them didn't grant much benefits to the hosts. His thoughts were interrupted when he noticed the, strangely enough, muffled heartbeats of a third person in the cave, he was about to mention it when he got interrupted.

"Ok, please tell me not every hero here is built like a fridge."

Both men turned around to see Peter cautiously walk toward them with an amused expression, still in casual clothing.

"I assume he's a friend? An acquaintance? What does the 'S' stand for? Was it you that ran by earlier?" The lack of warning from his spider-sense being enough for him to loosen up.

After a few seconds of processing each questions and hearing Bruce's soft sigh beside him. Clark put on a smile and extended his hand toward the young man.

"I'm a friend, the 'S' is my people's symbol for hope, yes it was me that passed by you. I'm impressed that you felt it, although I shouldn't be since Batman here informed me that you have impressive abilities yourself."

Peter shook the offered hand, slightly miffed that Bruce had robbed him of the opportunity to show-off a bit but otherwise happy. He dimly noted that the man's grip was significantly harder than the average grip.

"Well, since you already know anyway…" With those words, the clothes shifted and spread to form the black suit around him, the white spider forming last.

Clark raised a brow but otherwise kept his smile, amused by the stark differences in character between his friend and the newcomer.

"I actually came here because I wanted to make a new suit, this time made of non-living stuff." He said while scratching the back of his head.

"Stuff? Why would you need another suit?"

Bruce and Clark noticed how the young hero seemed to be distracted for a moment before he got back on track.

"So…Yeah. Can I?"

Peter and Clark looked at Bruce, the former with hope, the latter with bemusement.

"Why?"

"Huh, well for starters, the suit can't hold much more than an earpiece when it comes to gadgets and if the symbiote gets damaged too much I'd be a tad too…exposed." His voice cracking towards the end of his sentence.

The Kryptonian chuckled and raised a brow when he understood the implications, Bruce on the other hand merely scowled before turning towards the computer.

"…So…What's your hero na-"

Peter was interrupted by the computer starting to blast an alarm in the cave, the resounding sound making Peter cringe under the suit, thankfully not quite loud enough to be harmful on the short-term.

"Make it stop! Silence!" The voice of the symbiote however, protested vehemently.

"What's happening?!" Spider-man asked through gritted teeth.

"Two alerts." Batman said with urgency in his tone, the kryptonian looking at the screen with furrowed brows before addressing the other two heroes.

"The Phantom Zone is acting up again…Looks like we'll have to cut this short, I look forward to speaking with you again." With those words he flew out of the cave in nothing more than a red streak, making Peter gasp from surprise before looking towards the screen and feeling a shiver when seeing the footage.

A construction site was on fire.

Batman was beyond frustrated; it was too early and he knew someone had watched, and was possibly still watching, Bruce Wayne's movement. He couldn't take the risk of Batman being seen too many times in broad daylight just after Bruce Wayne was observed leaving the mansion, some people could make the connection. Until he was certain the spies had left Bruce Wayne alone, he would have to help remotely until the cover of night.

"Spider-man, go there, I'll explain while you're on the way over comms." It's after those words that he turned back towards the young hero, only to notice his "eyes" taking almost twice the size they usually take on his face.

Weakness to fire…

He was about to speak again when Peter lightly shook his head and lunged towards the exit.

"Explain on the way, we can handle it!"

Bruce turned back to the computer, not having missed the young hero using "we" in his sentence.

During the way…

"We really are unlucky…"

"Yeah, well no matter, I can't stand by, at least the smoke is enough to know where it's coming from."

Having shifted the suit's color again, the familiar red and blue form of Spider-man swung through the streets, sometimes using the edge of a building for a little jump forward, ignoring the pointing citizens below him and occasional cheers.

"The webbing is made of your own material so we're not putting out a building's worth of fire. On second thought we should've asked Batman for some gear."

"He would've tricked us, given us a device to hurt us."

"Come on…Stay positive, I'm not sure-"

"Spider-man." Bruce's voice in his ear reminding him he still had the ear piece.

"Oh hey, so any idea to put out the blaze? Got some water grenades or something?"

"You're not taking care of the fire."

"What!? But how-"

"The fire department will do it's job. I think I know what is happening. You'll take care of the one who caused the fire." The fact that Bruce's voice was so mechanical and so unflinching reminded Peter of who he was talking to.

"Ok fine, what do you got?"

"The fire was caused by Garfield Lynns, alias 'Firefly'. He's a dangerous pyromaniac using advanced technology to make fire into an even deadlier force. Security footage spotted him flying around the block where the fire is."

I hate my life sometimes, of course I would have to face a guy who uses exclusively fire and can fly.

"Any tips? Because my current suit can't really hold up against fire."

"He has no particular resistance and physical endurance, although he wears a suit made to resist his own weapons. He has a tendency to taunt his opponent and gloat about what he does, use that. If you manage to prevent him from flying he has no special talent in close-quarter combat. However he has a complete disregard for his own safety and will likely not hesitate to put himself in grave danger if it means hurting you."

"Ok, I can work with that, the more they gloat the easier it is to make them careless."

There was a brief pause before Peter heard him again.

"Be careful."

When he got close to the blaze, he was somewhat relieved to see the place was seemingly empty and the firefighters were already arriving on the scene.

He was more interested in the fading black smoke trail leading away from the fire.

"He can't be too far."

After a minute of following the trail, only his spider-sense saved him from being doused in flames from the side, his instincts making him shoot a web backwards and sticking to an opposite building's wall while turning, seeing his opponent flying from inside a building to hover while facing him.

The man was covered by a full-body dark suit, a large jetpack with the reactors jutting out from his back in a wing-like fashion. His face covered by a black helmet incorporating a small respirator and large yellow lenses. In his hands a large flamethrower connected by cables going up his arms to his back.

Is that a sword sheathed on his hip? What the hell?

"So, you're Firefly? Gotta admit those eyes follow the theme. Though I expected someone a little more threatening. Guess the relationship between fireflies and spiders will stay the same." Even though his tone was mocking and unconcerned, he could feel the symbiote rippling and an instinctual desire to jump away instead of fighting.

"I will burn this city to the ground, if Batman is too much of a coward to come himself and sends his new meat shield instead then this will be too easy."

"Meat shield?" The fact that the flamethrower was still pointed away from him and that his spider-sense wasn't screaming at him told him that the psycho was more interested in talking than fighting for now.

"Think you can smash the jetpack without me needing to move?"

"Just say the word." Peter could hear the grin in the alien's tone.

"He didn't tell you? Batman had young allies before, they were sent in his stead when he couldn't be bothered."

Peter didn't need to be a super hero to notice how the man's tone seemed forced, almost angry to say those word. However, his emotions answered before his head.

"Don't worry, I'm no youngling, and I'm going to kick your fire-retardant-wearing ass for what you do."

"Now!"

Before the other man could react, especially since Spider-man himself had not moved an inch from the wall, a black tendril surged from his shoulder and struck one of the wings, sending the man spiraling with a yell of surprise.

Not leaving him time to react, Peter jumped after him and landed on his back between the two reactors, just in time for Firefly to gain control back and dash away, unable to use his flamethrower without most likely blowing himself up. His only option was to try to shake the hero off of him by erratic movements in the air and twisting upside-down, useless against someone who can stick to surfaces.

Spider-man could feel the symbiote panicking because of the heat emitted by the jetpack but continued to hold on, one of his hands reaching for the man's head.

That's when Firefly started going straight toward a building in a collision course, the distraction was enough to make Peter overlook the man reaching for the side of his helmet.

"Damn!"

With no way of stopping him because of the suit's material (shooting webbing on the jetpack while it was still on would be a waste of time and he didn't want to kill the guy by applying too much force in a harsh turn) he jumped off. Landing on the roof of a low building, dimly aware of pedestrians running away from the fight.

At least they're not as dumb as some of New York's citizens, with their tendency to treat a bunch of my fights as a show to be watched from way too close…

Firefly, in an impressive display of control, veered just in time to avoid crashing into the building and charged towards Spider-man, flamethrower at the ready.

"Oh." Was his only comment before jumping away to avoid a fiery grave. He just hoped the building was being evacuated.

Gotta keep the fighting here, can't afford to make the whole city burn.

After a wide turn, the flying villain put back his flamethrower on his back and reached for his sword before charging towards Spider-man once again, the hero scoffing while preparing himself to simply catch the man's arm. He doubted the average blade could do serious damage to the symbiote that wouldn't be healed seconds later. He ignored his spider-sense urging him to jump and braced himself.

When he saw Firefly start to unsheathe the sword, he made a grab for his arm with the intent to use the pyromaniac's momentum to throw him hard enough to make him lose control. The blazing heat from the sword made the symbiote lurch back instinctively in surprise.

Peter screamed when the blade coated in flames burned through the symbiote and ran through his shoulder.

Firefly himself seemed surprised at the effectiveness and his moment of surprise was enough for the suit to react.

No longer retrained by a Spider-man in agony, the symbiote lashed out and struck the madman in the face with a black tendril, sending him away with a dull cracking sound from his visor. Another tendril shot forward and grabbed Firefly by the foot before he even touched the roof, then proceeded to smash him brutally on the roof, the jetpack couldn't handle the impact and sputtered a little before turning off.

Peter wildly ripped the sword out of his shoulder and recalled the alien.

"Stop! Enough, don't kill him!"

"We weren't going to kill him…" The symbiote sounded frustrated but fully returned to its host, starting to heal the excruciating wound now free of flames.

Peter walked over to the downed Firefly, one hand holding his shoulder, and harshly stepped on the mechanical wings, shattering them before grabbing the flamethrower, ripping it from the fueling cables.

"Hey nutcase." He spoke up as the cracked visor sluggishly turned to face him.

He crushed the flamethrower in a little metal ball in front of him before letting it fall on his chest.

"I hope you learned your lesson." He pulled the sheath off of the man's hip and walked toward the sword laying a few meters away.

"What are you?"

This made Spider-man stop, only now realizing that in his pain the suit had reverted back to black and white, he silently commanded it to change again before turning.

"Heh, I'm just a guy wearing a way better suit than you." With those words he covered the man in webbing before getting the sword back, the symbiote pulling back from his hands while sheathing it carefully to put the flames away.

Alright, now I have a lunatic to deliver and a few things to check…

After giving a squirming cocooned Firefly to the GCPD, Peter started the swing back to the cave, using the opportunity to patrol and make a few stops. During the swing he pressed his earpiece.

"One two testing…Anyone there?"

"I'm here, the firefighters have finished controlling the fire. However, I think this was staged and Firefly was hired."

"How come?"

"The construction site was evacuated before the fire started and he didn't use his flamethrower for collateral damage during your battle. I believe he was ordered to keep the victims to a minimum. He also didn't gloat much during the encounter. I think I have an idea of who is behind all of this. Come back to the cave when you can." He heard the signal turn off after that.

"That's rude, no asking if we are alright?" The symbiote snarked.

"The guy is probably not even aware that it sounds really insensitive, and anyway it's not like we can't shrug it off. I'm not stupid enough to believe that 'meat shield' story the nutcase gave us but I'm gonna mention that later."

With that thought in mind he started making his way back to the cave.

Elsewhere...

As Deathstroke finished watching the footage of Firefly's battle with Spider-man, he turned toward a few models of a building.

"So, the suit is part of you and it is sensitive to fire. I can work with that."

Author's Note:

Holy hell it's been a while! Here's a massively overdue Christmas update. This year's been...rough. I hope everyone's staying safe!

Merry Christmas everyone and see you in the next chapter!