I do not own Spider Man or any of the characters.
Defender
I'm silent as we travel. We got switched again. We're flying home from London now, not Prague. It's Beck. It has to be. He's going to kill us in London. As we're leaving the train station, I look around carefully.
"Alright guys," Mr. Harrington says as we're nearing the door. "The company's set up a city tour, and then we'll grab a bite and head to the airport."
I narrow my eyes, but Lexi slips her hand into mine and I wipe the emotion from my face again.
"Okay, is no one else going to acknowledge how crazy this is?" Brad finally demands.
"I know, there's been nothing scientific about this science tour," Mr. Dell says.
"Wait, this is supposed to be a science tour?" I ask. "I thought you were the Social Studies teachers."
"Nope," Mr. Dell says. "Science."
"That's what happens when you join the last day of school," MJ says.
I shrug.
"I'm talking about Peter!" Brad says. "I mean, has no one else noticed how shady he is? I mean, I saw him in the back room of a rest stop with some woman in his underwear, and this new kid was there too! And then Peter's always sneaking away, like back at the Opera, huh? And now he's suddenly off the trip? Like back with his family in Berlin? Is no one else here interested in the truth?"
Ned opens his mouth but MJ holds a hand out, nodding subtly.
"The very concept of objective truth is fading out of the world," MJ says.
"George Orwell," Brad says, nodding. "Thank you MJ."
"I mean, well, since Peter's not really here to tell his truth, what about you Brad?" MJ continues. "Why do you think it's cool to take pictures of people in the bathroom?"
"Yeah dude," Flash says, phone up, having live-streamed the entire conversation so far. "What's that about?"
"No no no!" Brad says. "It wasn't like that! It was...uh...W-Why don't we ask the other guy that was there?" He waves a hand at me and I shrug.
"Sure," I nod. "I'm secretly Mysterio, and I was about to accept rough, gratuitous sex from a sexy blonde slut in some random building in a country that hadn't ever heard of Mysterio before, and just because I felt charitable, I was going to let Peter have a turn too, because, hey, why the fuck not? Oh, and, just so everyone knows, Lexi and Jess are actually sisters, but are also bisexual and we have threesomes, like, all the time, and they're both alien snot monsters who possess people's bodies and then just have these massive, sloppy, snot monster orgies to reproduce so that they can-"
"Alright that's enough!" Mr. Harrington finally snaps. "Let's just quietly go on our tour and enjoy ONE FUCKING DAY OF THIS TRIP! ! ! Is that too much to ask!? Huh!? No!? Good!" He huffs, calming himself. "Okay. Let's go, then."
Everyone turns and starts walking, MJ sending Brad a smile while I wink and blow him a kiss, then hold my hand out, MJ slapping it as we walk away, Brad standing there, too stunned to actually know what to do. As we walk, Lexi leans in next to my ear.
"You know we're going to get you back for that snot monster bit, right?" Lexi asks.
"We'll see," I smile, giving her a quick peck before dancing out of her reach before she can try anything.
As we walk outside, we see a double-decker tour bus with an open roof on top waiting for us, the driver smiling pleasantly beside the door. We all board the bus, and I grow serious again. Lexi, Jess, and I all spread out over the top floor of the bus, having checked the bottom floor for invisible drones via me walking down the aisle with my arms spread. The rest of the class is also up top, and the tour starts off pretty easily. However, as we reach a massive bridge, storm clouds begin to form in the sky above us, thunder rumbling, and the bus stops, stuck in traffic.
"I don't like this, something's up," MJ says, leaning on the front of the bus beside me and Ned.
"It'll be fine," I say. "Better question, when are you going to tell Peter you like him?"
She scoffs, eyes wide. "No! I don't..." she scoffs again. "I don't like Peter. He's just a friend. More an acquaintances, really. Barely more than a classmate!"
I smirk at her, one eyebrow raised and she swallows hard, glaring at me.
"How'd you know?" she asks quietly.
"Because, unlike Peter, I'm not so afraid to tell you I'm in love with you, that I'm able to notice how you steal glances at him whenever you think he's not looking, and how you've been using Brad to make Peter jealous for the first half of the trip," I say.
"Wait," MJ says. "What did you say?"
"That you're as obvious about your feelings for him as an elephant is while trying to hide in a field of sheep," I say.
"Okay, that was a really weird, yet effective, metaphor," MJ says. "But, no, about Peter."
"That you look at him when you think he's not looking?" I ask.
"You know what I mean!?" MJ snaps. "Does Peter actually like me?"
"Whenever we've finished dealing with Beck and our lives aren't in jeopardy, why don't you ask and find out?" I suggest, then looked around. Lexi and Jess both caught my eye and shook their heads.
As the storm begins to get worse, wind starts to kick up, quickly gaining strength. I shake my head. Something's not right. I go to the stairs and crouch, looking through the bus and swear. The driver's gone.
"Mr. Harrington!" I shout over the wind. "The driver took off! We need to leave!"
Everyone begins to panic instantly and I hurry down the stairs. I try the door but it's broken. I rip it open, breaking it before anyone can see it's locked, and we all leave the bus, sprinting away. A moment later, massive columns of water explode up from either side of the bridge, rapidly beginning to spiral together, forming a gigantic Elemental made out of a combination of all four. Barely thirty seconds after we've left the bus, a lightning bolt hits it, exploding and hurling it into the water, where it turns into a fireball, the fire combining with the Elemental, which roars down at us. I swear. That was close.
We keep running, and as we leave the bridge, drones begin to obliterate the bridge, then the shore on either side of the canal, making it look like the Elemental is destroying everything. Mr. Harrington leads us toward the Tower of London. We stop at a railing that has a good view, staring at the Elemental as it turns toward us, growling.
"Earth, Wind, Fire, Water," Mr. Dell lists. "Oh no! They've joined forces like the Power Rangers!"
I chuckle. Good analogy.
"You're thinking of Voltron," Mr. Harrington corrects.
"Who?" Mr. Dell asks as I glare daggers at Mr. Harrington.
What is he, six?
"Voltron!" Mr. Harrington snaps. "You're thinking of Voltron!"
"No, he's thinking of the Power Rangers," I say. "The decades old live-action TV show that Voltron is a rip-off of."
"Hey look!" Brad shouts suddenly, pointing. "It's Mysterio!"
"Wrong," I say. "It's our cue to run." I grab two of the others and shove them away from the railing, Lexi, Jess, and MJ helping. "Now! Move! That thing's going to level this area!"
They all begin to run and Lexi and I fall back. Once we're out of sight, Lexi envelops me, putting my most recent suit on me, then retracting and running to catch up while I swing up to the roof of a building overlooking the others. Suddenly, Lexi screams, sprinting out of an alleyway. I see Jess start to panic as Lexi begins to sob out something about me being struck by lightning and falling in the water, however, as MJ and Jess turn to go after me, I slide down in front of them on an ice slide, then place my hands down, forming a wall of ice to block the path.
"He's dead!" I snap. "Run now or you'll follow him."
Everyone turns to flee, and I follow them. As we run, the Elemental's hologram begins to fail, so beck allows the whole illusion to disappear. Instead, the hundreds of drones that were forming the illusion disperse, half staying with Beck, a quarter of them going after something, which I'll bet my life on being Peter, and the last quarter go to destroy the city. As we're running, Flash, who's been live-streaming all of this, shouts about the monster being full of drones. We reach a huge field just as a massive white jet lands ahead of us and we head for that. I work my way to the front of the group just as a fat guy with a beard wearing a suit calls out to us.
"Who are you?" he asks.
"Long story," I say. That thing fly?"
"Yeah," the guy says, just before a pair of drones shoot the jet with rockets, destroying it. "No. We need to run."
"Who are you?" MJ demands.
"I'm Happy, I work with Spiderman!" the guy says as the drones swing around toward us.
I step forward, forming an ice spear in my hand and hurl it, then snap my fingers. The spear splits in half, just before the drones, impaling both and they drop to the ground before exploding.
"Nice!" Flash cheers. "You're almost as cool as Spiderman."
"Yeah yeah, suck Spiderman's dick later!" I say. "Run now!"
"To where!?" MJ demands.
"Into the tower!" I shout. "There's an armory where we can hide!"
They all take off running and I find myself beside Happy.
"Here!" Happy says. "Hold this for me! Don't loose it or let it break! It's Peter's!"
I take a small round tin from him and toss it to Lexi, who slips it into her pocket, the tin sinking into her body instantly. As we run, two more come after us. I spin and hurl another ice spear, but it scratches the side of a drone and they keep coming. I swear, skidding to a stop and forming a massive ice wall, the drones both exploding against it, only for a rocket to blast it a moment later, hurling me backward. I groan as I push myself up, following the rest of the class into the Crown Jewels' vault, a pair of guards in red jackets firing up at the drones, actually destroying one, but the other shoots both then followed us in. We sprint through a hallway, around a wall with a stone carving, around another wall, completing an "S" curve, then all dive for cover as bullets start ripping through the wall, which Happy has said are eight feet thick, though he might meen the literal vault on the far side of the room we're pinned in.
We all hide behind a pillar and I form an ice sword, waiting. Across from me, Lexi has an extra eye on one of her fingers and is using it to peek around the corner, the other hand counting me down, though no one but me notices. As soon as she hits zero, I spin around the corner, slashing upward and splitting the drone part way before punching it and sending it exploding into the far wall. We turn and run into the vault, everyone besides me, Jess, and Lexi holding a weapon.
"Why aren't you out there fighting?" Flash demands. "You could destroy all of the drones!"
"Hardly!" I snort. "I'm not immortal! Besides, I was told to protect all of you!"
"By who!?" Betty asks.
"Peter," I say.
"You know Peter Parker?" Flash asks, swinging the camera around, only for me to swat it to the ground and stomp on it. "My phone!"
"To answer your question, yes, I know Peter," I say, glad my mask is distorting my voice enough for them to not recognize it.
"Hey there buddy," Beck's voice says through the locked vault door. "I thought we were friends. Allies. Fellow dimensional travelers. Didn't we fight that Elemental together? I couldn't have sold that fight nearly as easily without you. For what it's worth, I really am sorry about this. I don't want to have to kill you, or your pretty friends, or the others. Hell, even Spiderman was supposed to live. But he just couldn't leave well-enough alone. And neither could you. So now you all have to die."
I rest a hand against the door and it feels warm, as well as vibrating. I growl in annoyance, forming a three-feet thick wall of ice against the door.
"How many are there?" MJ asks.
"A lot," I say.
"How many's a lot?" Flash demands. "Can you fight them?"
"You want someone to fight them, be my guest," I say. "Judging by the door vibrating, I'd guess there are about a hundred."
Just then, a massive explosion sounds and the ice shatters, the door deforming inward. I kneel, slamming my hands into the ground and forming more and more ice against the wall, growling in effort. Another blast hits the door, cracks exploding into existence on the wall of ice, but I seal them instantly, building us a half-dome shield as well. A larger blast hits and the door crumbles, massive chunks of the ice exploding inward as projectiles, cracking our dome. I fix both, the ice wall continuing to grow inward. The drones, several dozen of them, begin to form up in neat and tidy rows in the doorway. Behind them, there's a sea of drone parts that I don't remember leaving out there. Then, their machineguns roar to life, beginning to shred through the ice. I shout, fighting against it, barely able to keep up.
"Any last words, say them now!" I growl, rapidly running out of energy from the strain, feeling blood run out of my nose.
"I wasted my life playing video games and we're gonna die!" Ned says.
"I have a fake ID...and I've never even used it!" Betty says.
Christ, they're so immature! I think my pwers starting to weaken as I start to feel light headed.
The drones all run out of ammo and are swapped out by the next set.
"I post stupid videos daily for people to like me!" Flash complains as Lexi and Jess kneel beside me, each resting a hand on my shoulder.
"Hey!" Happy snaps. "If it weren't for those stupid videos, Spiderman never would've found you."
"Spiderman...Spiderman follows me?" Flash asks, then laughs weakly. "I saved us, guys!"
"If you saved us then why are we about to die!?" MJ snaps.
"I can't...hold it!" I growl, barely above a whisper, only Lexi and Jess hearing, all three of us ignoring the others.
"You can use us," Jess whispers.
"We'll be your strength," Lexi agrees.
Just then, all of the machineguns stop and the drones all fire a concussive blast, reducing the entire ice wall into dust, though the blast bounces and destroys more than a dozen drones as well, which would mean the other drone parts scattered around the room were from the earlier blasts. I shout in pain, falling backward, only for Lexi and Jess to catch me as the ice above us is blasted by a second concussion, smashing against the back wall as the drones flood inward around us, surrounding us.
"You did pretty well, kid," Beck's voice says from one of them. "For what it's worth, I had to send half my drones after you to beat you."
A small flamethrower lowered out of the bottom of each and Lexi and Jess curl themselves in front of me protectively.
"I love you!" Lexi says.
"I love you too," I say, barely conscious.
After a moment of nothing happening, Lexi and Jess both slowly sit up, looking around at the drones, just as the flames at the ends of the flamethrowers' barrels go out. The drones turn, flooding back out of the room and I sigh, looking back at the others as Ned and Betty released each other, and Happy and Flash do the same. MJ, on the other hand, takes off instantly.
"MJ!" I call out, MJ stopping just as Lexi tosses her the case. "That's from Peter."
She opens the case and her eyes widen before she nods and turns, running out of the building. I groan, letting my head fall back. She'll be okay. If the drones didn't kill us, it's because Peter's beaten Beck. I feel Lexi's fingers begin to comb through my hair, and sigh comfortably. Jess slips her hand into my right one and brushes her thumb over my fingers.
"You're Ben, aren't you?" Flash asks.
"Yeah," I groan, reaching back with my free hand and unclipping my mask, pulling it off and letting it drop to the floor. "I'm Ben. God I'm in so much pain right now."
"So then, was the rest of the shit you told Brad true?" Betty asks.
"Parts of it," I say, looking around. "Where the hell is Brad anyway."
The others look around, also realizing he's missing.
"Where are Mr. Harrington and Mr. Dell?" Betty asks.
"I'm sure they're all fine, and together," I say, letting my head rest on Lexi's lap again, Lexi resuming coming her fingers through my hair.
"So, do you really fuck both of them?" Flash asks, Betty smacking him in the arm.
I chuckle. "No Flash, I don't. Lexi, yes. She's my girlfriend. Jess, no."
"And the snot monster thing?" Flash asks.
"Flash!" Ned says.
"It's alright," Jess smiles. "We're called symbiotes." She shifts into her true form, her clothes remaining on her this time, then back. "And no, we don't actually have orgies. Or...well, no more than humans, at least. We also don't possess humans. He have hosts because we can't survive in the Earth's atmosphere alone, or, at least, most of us can't, but we don't outright possess people. And me and Lexi don't possess people at all, since we're able to survive without."
Flash and the others nod and Jess looks down at me again, smiling.
"Wait, so, you fuck a snot monster?" Flash asks. "Ew! That's so gross!"
"I'm sorry," I snarl, glaring at him upside down, an ice spear forming in my hand, aimed at him. "What was that? I could have sworn you just insulted my girlfriend."
"No!" Flash says, stepping backward and shacking his head, hands raised. "I said nothing!"
"We should go find Spiderman and MJ," Lexi says soothingly as my ice spear breaks apart and crumbles. "And the others."
"Fuuuuuck," I groan. "Fine. Help me up."
She and Jess lift me to my feet, and Lexi helps me support my weight as we make our way out of the building, Jess bringing my mask. My entire body aches, and I can feel myself settling more and more of my weight onto Lexi. Finally, she envelops me and sinks into me through my skin to heal me faster, as she hasn't since our first fight with Carnage. She walks for us as she works, and I can feel strength slowly returning to me, beginning to help her walk.
"So...she's like...inside you?" Ned asks.
"Yes," we say. "Symbiotes can heal other organisms by joining with them, and if they enter the organism, they can heal them faster, but it's extremely dangerous. For one, it's tiring for a Symbiote to do. For another, unless the host is compatible, a symbiote entering the host fully like this will kill them in a matter of days."
"Ben's compatible, though, so we don't have to worry about that," Jess says.
"And...have you ever...gone inside him?" Ned asks, trying not to make it sound like an innuendo, though he fails miserably.
"No," Jess says. "Only Lexi has. At least, willingly. It also connects the host's mind to the symbiotes. All their memories, their emotions. Everything. For a symbiote just looking for a temporary host that's going to die anyway, it doesn't matter, but when the symbiote and the hosts are friends, and the host is also compatible, that kind of connections is...personal."
"Intimate," we say. "A symbiote taking over a host from the outside creates a similar connection, but it's not as strong. Not everything gets shared."
"So, Lexi is in control?" Betty asks.
"We both are," we say. "Right now, we're one person. That's the nature of the bond. That's why it's intimate. There's no real division between us."
The others nod just as Lexi returns to the surface, having healed me fully physically, and given me enough energy to walk on my own, then separates from me, reforming beside me, slipping her hand into mine. We walk in silence for a while before finding MJ, then a few minutes later, we find the others. A handful of hours, one long shower, and a change of clothes later, and we're on a plane, heading back to America. I get a seat between Lexi and Jess and they both lay their heads on my shoulders. I kiss the top of both of their heads, my hands holding one of theirs each, before resting my head against Lexi's. Jess drifts off before long, her grip on my hand slackening as her breathing evens out. Lexi turns her head and kisses the side of my neck before pulling her head away and lifting it. I look over at her and see emotions warring in her eyes and a slight frown tugging at her lips.
"What's wrong?" I ask.
"Are you sure?" she asks. "Are you sure that's what you want?"
I sigh silently. I should have guessed it was about that.
"I'll support you no matter your decision, and I'll be by your side no matter what," she promises. "But, are you sure it's what you want? It doesn't have to be that way. You know that, right? You can have what you want."
"I know," I sigh. "But it's not about me. This is the right thing to do, so it's the way it has to be. I have to at least try. If I don't, I'll never be able to forgive myself. And...I won't deserve to have what I want."
Lexi nods. "Okay. We can always make what you want Plan B."
I smile, kissing her. "I'll leave that up to you, as always."
Lexi smiles and nods, laying her head back down, both of us drifting off to sleep as well, finally.
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