Tranquil Rage

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Mystique paused at the top of the stairs and watched in confusion as The Falcon, American Eagle and Daredevil all downed their drinks simultaneously before Daredevil motioned for refills. Moving across the upper dance floor of the club, she reached the table that they were at and sat down opposite them.

"Mystique." Daredevil nodded as the waiter refilled their glasses. The other two, who had been looking at her without recognition, nodded their welcomes and turned their attention back to their drinks.

Mystique watched the trio down their drinks again before speaking.

"Two questions. Actually, make that three. How did you know it was me, what are you doing in Bayville and why are you all drinking like that?"

"Your heartbeat is… unique, known heroes get a discount here and long story. In that order." Daredevil replied as he accepted another drink.

Mystique looked round the large club. It had been constructed using a civilian variant of Kryptonian methods augmented with normal building practices, meaning that all the support columns were crystal pillars locked in place so solidly that even a magnitude nine earthquake wouldn't be able to damage them or move them relative to each other. The walls were also panes of crystal on the upper levels, but the lowest level (where the main dancefloor was) was solid brick with a simple white plaster layer (with embedded crystals), allowing the lights to shine off them in constantly-changing colours.

The upper level had alcoves around the dance balcony, each one raised slightly and boasting a table which had the insignia of one of the more popular super-teams on it. The teams themselves could access the club using a special Door kept on the next level up, set at the rear of a large balcony that they could wave to the clubbers from as they arrived or departed.

"Spider-man."

Mystique pulled her attention back to The Falcon as he spoke.

"Peter?"

Samual nodded. "What do you think of him as a person? Honestly?"

Mystique frowned in thought, relaxing her control enough that she shifted back into her normal blue-skinned form (and causing several cries of astonishment from the nearby revelers). "He's intelligent, well-mannered, always wise-cracking… which can be quite annoying at times. Wouldn't hurt a fly if he had any other choice, which is ironic given his superhero name… have I missed something?"

"Our last mission, Peter saw something on the way back." Jason Strongbow said. "One of his friends from before was being attacked. He rescued her, then found out that another had been put into hospital by the same man. A man who had chosen to become a villain and wanted to get street-cred by killing a hero."

"And he chose Peter." Mystique realized with a wince. "He doesn't take threats to his family or friends lightly…"

"The bastard challenged him." Samual stated. "Carnage, he called himself. Almost killed Miss Watson, would have if Jennifer hadn't punched him off her."

"I was too slow." Daredevil sighed. "Peter went straight after him. Carnage had all his powers and more. I don't know if you've heard of Venom…"

"Eddie Brock and an alien symbiote." Mystique supplied.

"But this one, Cletus Cassidy, makes Venom seem like a hero. He injured at least twenty people while leading Peter away from us, people who's only crime had been that they were near enough for him to hurt." Matt continued. "We were rushed off our feet just stopping them from bleeding out long enough for the medics to arrive, then we heard that Peter had managed to confront Cassidy in a building site."

"Peter's faced Venom before, knew his weaknesses." Samual took over as Daredevil downed another shot. "Used them. Witnesses say that Peter didn't say a single word. No one-liners, no puns, just total silence."

Mystique winced again, having been around people who reacted in similar ways in the past.

"How badly…?"

"We think we've recovered most of the symbiote." Jason sighed. "Took us hours of searching, Peter used the building's girders as the conductor for a sonic attack, then separated it. Used concrete slabs and plywood sheets to split it into hundreds of fragments. Many of them died before we could re-unite them, the symbiote lost over half of its mass."

"My god…" Mystique breathed.

"What he did to Cassidy was worse." Matt supplied. "It would be faster to list the bones he didn't break, that would be the upper half of his spine. Every other bone was broken, if not shattered or pulverized. Cassidy should survive, but the med-pod could only stabilise him. He's taken so much damage that he'll be paralysed for life."

"And blind." Samual said morosely. "We only found one of his eyes, damaged beyond possible re-implanting."

Mystique was suddenly grateful that she hadn't eaten anything recently as her stomach tightened.

"One witness said that Cassidy had threatened to do something to May." Jason rumbled, staring into his glass. "Didn't say what, but…"

"The worst part is that I can't blame him." Samual admitted. "If I'd been in his place… I know I've got a temper. I'd have ripped him apart if I could but Peter…? Kid's the poster-child for nice-guy! Hell, he could give Captain America a run for his money in the niceness stakes!"

"I guess the old saying's true." Jason mused. "Beware the nice ones."

"Sounds like it." Mystique agreed, considering ordering a drink for herself. "Where is he now?"

"He said he was going to Xavier for some serious therapy, he doesn't like knowing he can do… what he did." Daredevil replied.

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"How is he?" Clark asked as Xavier closed the door behind him.

"…terrified of what he found out he can do." Xavier finally replied, his face pale and drawn. "He asked, and I agreed, that he be placed in a deep sleep to let his subconcious make headway in dealing with his… realizations."

Clark glanced at the closed door before moving to walk alongside Charles' hoverchair.

"What are the legal issues?"

Charles gave the Kryptonian a surprised look. "Legal issues?"

"Will he have to go to court over it, relive what he went through under cross-examination?"

"Oh. I see what you mean." Xavier realized. "I haven't actually checked yet, but I think that Matt and Jennifer should be able to handle most of it, especially given Carnage's prior record and the fact that there was a warrant out on him."

Clark nodded slowly. "Put me on the list of expert witnesses to testify in Peter's favour if it comes to court."

"I'll make a note of it." Charles said, tapping his fingers on the touch-screen in his armrest.

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"Venom, I think you should see this." Victor Toomes said urgently and Eddie Brock rose from his comfortable armchair.

"We were just getting to the good part." He complained as he carefully put a bookmark into the book that he was reading before placing it on the chair-side table. "What do we need to see?"

"It's something Mysterio found. He was checking his take from various security cameras and… you need to see this."

Brock sighed as he followed The Vulture out of the living area and into the main section where Mysterio was fussing over a hologram in the middle of the room. Brock shook his head in resigned amusement, Mysterio had refused to remove his helmet outside his own room, even though all the others routinely went round un-masked in the base.

Brock's ruminations stopped as he focused on the image projected before him, one showing his hated nemesis Spider-Man swinging above…

"Who is that?" He saked, leaning forwards for a closer look. "He looks like a skinnier, red… us. But with more tentacles."

"He goes by the name Carnage and he was once your cell-mate." Octavius stated.

"Cassidy?" Brock asked and Otto nodded. "But… how? We don't understand?"

"According to the messages I have intercepted, the leading theory is that Cassidy gained a young symbiote, one created by yours." Mysterio said as he finished his work on the hologram.

"…yes, we remember budding…" Brock admitted after a long moment. "We did not care about our offspring."

"Maybe you should have." Otto replied. "Mysterio, if you would?"

Mysterio nodded and made a dramatic hand-motion that triggered the hologram into motion. Brock watched curiously as Spider-Man somersaulted over Carnage, then fired several web-bombs at him.

"Hold it!" Brock snapped. "Mysterio, is Parker talking? His jaw isn't moving."

Mysterio froze the hologram, then twitched slightly. "My analysis says that he remained silent throughout the entire confrontation. Why?"

"We wondered if anything could cause him to stop quipping." Brock said with a frown. "Continue."

The hologram resumed its motion and Otto frowned as Parker grabbed a steel rod and struck several girders with it before hurling it into the concrete in front of Carnage.

"Interesting. Notice how Carnage reacted… Spider-Man is using some form of sonic attack."

"We are weak to loud noises." Brock confirmed. "Our bud would have the same weakness."

In the hologram, Parker had used another dozen metal poles to strike Carnage while also striking the girders in order to create loud noises.

"I may have to create a device to counter that weakness of yours." Otto mused and Brock nodded.

"We would appreciate it."

In the hologram, Carnage screamed silently as a thrown pole speared through his arm and into the concrete, then Peter hit the pole, causing the symbiote to ripple in agony, the same pain that Cassidy was obviously feeling.

"What the hell did Cassidy do to make him act like that?" Vulture gasped.

"Whatever it was, I move that it should be something that we never do." Otto stated.

"Seconded." Sandman said from where he was observing the holographic fight. "That is a no-holds-barred beat-down if I ever saw one."

In the hologram, Carnage had managed to pull his arm off the impaling pole and was trying to escape, only to be sent into another paroxysm of pain by Peter striking at the rods around him, then at him, breaking his leg.

"Pause." Brock commanded and the hologram froze as Peter was mid-swing. "We were… unaware that he could fight like that."

"If he had done so on our first mission, we would have failed." Otto stated and most of the others nodded. "May I suggest that if he goes more than twenty seconds without quipping, we disengage and escape."

"Try to escape." Vulture corrected. "I'll spread the word to all our contacts as well, they need to know this."

"Does the Kingpin know?" Rhino rumbled, earning several surprised looks. "What?"

"That was a very… insightful question." Otto admitted. "Mysterio, will you be able to help me come up with a report for Mr. Fisk?"

"I shall." Mysterio replied.

"We think that we may need that device you can make." Brock admitted. "Preferably before we encounter Parker again."

A rumble of agreement was his answer.

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"The hell?" Tony Stark gasped as Jarvis played the assembled recording for him. "Damn, and I thought that Hulk could smash things!"

"Something made him angry." Thor mused. "I would not like to face him in combat while he doth channel the cold beserker."

"I'm going to find it hard to exchange quips with him after seeing that." Hawkeye noted. "I thought he was the nice guy."

"He is." Black Widow said, stepping into the hologram for a better look. "Only those who are nice can become this angry."

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"Peter?"

"MJ!" Peter half-shouted as he leapt to his feet. "How are you?"

"Not bad." Mary-Jane Watson said with a slight smile as she stepped into the room. "That med-pod does good work. What happened to…?"

"He won't hurt you again." Peter said, his face turning from relief to something far more serious than MJ had ever seen before. "I saw to that."

"Hey, the sleeping beauty awakes." A new voice laughed from the doorway and MJ turned in time to see She-Hulk duck through it. "Welcome back. We were worried for a while, but you made it."

"What happened?" Mary-Jane asked.

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Author's afternote:- This is essentially a character piece, showing what would happen if Peter ever went all-out, not holding back in the slightest.

Check out the TVTropes entry on Tranquil Fury.