"Flash", Peter greeted his old friend.
"Peter", the taller man nodded.
Standing in an alley behind the club, Peter reflected on what circumstances led him here.
-An hour ago-
Approaching the club was the hard part.
He had to ignore the stares and annoyed words that were thrown his way as he bypassed the line and walked straight to the front.
Kaine serving as doorman quieted the line with a glare and let him straight in. The familiar, high ranking S.H.E.I.L.D. operative dressed in civilian casual standing behind Kaine with a smirk made his skin crawl.
Inside the club he was hit with a wave of nostalgia. He still couldn't believe Mary bought it from MJ without even meeting.
Over by a pool table, Pete, Miles, Doreen, and Nancy laughed and took their turns. He envied how at ease they were and wished he could have relaxed like that when he was their age.
Jess was a little ways away from them sitting at a table. He would have been worried she was isolating herself if he didn't see the tall, young, blonde woman she was talking to. She looked familiar but he decided to let it go for the moment.
He waved at the groups and wandered up to the bar where Mary was serving drinks.
She took his order of a Coke, added a crazy straw and a little umbrella, and moved him down to the end where a raven haired lady was sitting. She introduced him as her cousin and her doorman's brother, then introduced her as Jazinda.
The name rang a bell, but he didn't remember her either.
He sat and talked with them for a moment before Mary got her to check the flavor of her toothpaste.
He found an empty corner and sat with his drink.
Minutes passed. Peter sat alone watching everyone. No one approached him.
Laura took the rest of the day off and mentioned she would visit with Aracely while Kaine was at work.
He was fine with that. He didn't want to intrude on his friend's and family's good times. He was content to just relax a little and sip his drink.
Which of course was when he spotted trouble slipping out the back.
A quick sweep of the room and he figured no one else noticed it. He made his way to the same exit, focusing on being as unobtrusive and unnoticeable as possible.
A quick exit, stage left, and he was in the back alley, face to face with his old highschool bully.
-Now-
"So", Peter asked his former (and possibly current) tormentor. "How's things?"
Flash Thompson, current possessor of the Venom symbiote, stood and watched the brunette.
"No small talk? Fine", Peter's eyes narrowed and his arms crossed. "What do you two want?"
His tough guy act was answered with a snort and chuckle. "Wow Parker, it really is you huh?"
The Spider's glare intensified. He had been taking notes from his roommate. "Ock had my body. Thought you would have been briefed on that?"
Flash grinned a bit, "not Octavius. You. You're really him. Spider-Man."
Peter exhaled through his nose. Some of the aggression left his body. "Um, yeah. I'm him, does whatever a blah blah blah. Is that why you're here?"
The taller man suddenly turned serious. "Partially." His clothes turned to liquid darkness and incased him in a somewhat familiar form.
"Ok, neat new look", the shorter hero noticed the more streamlined texture to the suit, and lack of gaping maw. "You need fashion tips? Don't wear spandex in winter, I can tell you that much."
Venom stood in all his glory, seemingly ready to rip the smart mouth apart in an instant. "We need your help."
"Funny way to ask for it", a voice called from the roof of the club. Peter and Venom turned to see Kaine jump and land next to them.
"Thought you were on the clock", Peter asked him.
Kaine smirked back, "Maria is covering for me. Besides", Kaine looked around.
The two others followed his lead and found themselves surrounded. One end of the alley had Pete, Miles, and Doreen looking intimidating. On the other side, powerless Jess and mystery girl. Said mystery girl's hands glowing faintly. And the door to the club was opened and filled with Mary and Jazinda.
"You didn't think you could slip by all of us did you?" Mary asked, half amused and half ticked.
"The thought crossed my mind", Peter shrugged. "I got this guys, go enjoy your night."
"And leave you all the fun?" Pete shot.
"Not likely", Miles backed him up.
Peter sighed at the two. He should have expected it from his younger doppelganger, but he hoped Miles would have been a bit more cooperative. Maybe Spider powers made someone more reckless. Speaking of powers...
"Jess-"
"If you're gonna hit me with the 'you can't be here without powers' spiel, you can forget it", she spoke vehemently.
Peter held his hands up in surrender and turned to Venom. "Well, how you want to play this now?"
Venom turned to him and slumped slightly, looking dejected. "I wasn't trying to start a fight Peter."
"Just trying to look tough then?"
"Old habits I guess", the symbiote opened up and Flash's smirking face appeared.
"So, posturing aside", Mary began, "what do you need from him?"
Flash did a double take at her, obviously seeing the resemblance to the Mary Jane he knew. Shaking it off he muttered to himself, appearing to self converse. Knowing what he held, no one called him out on the odd behavior.
The suit pulled away and turned back into civilian casual clothing.
Flash put his hands in the pockets. "Sorry about that. He's a little over dramatic."
"That's putting it mildly", Kaine commented under his breath.
"Peter, I need your help", Flash asked.
The brunette raised an eyebrow and spun his hand in a 'keep going' motion.
"My, uh, sidekick I guess", the blonde rubbed the back of his neck, "she's in trouble."
"Trouble how?"
Mary interrupted the conversation with a cough, "can we take this elsewhere? Not that I don't appreciate aesthetic, but some of us have a business to run and can't spend all their time having showdowns in back alleys."
"Top floor?" Kaine asked.
With Mary's nod, most of the group filed in the back door to the club. Flash followed last, leaving Peter and Kaine outside.
"Well, Flash Thompson is Venom? That figures", Kaine shook his head.
Peter grunted questioningly.
Kaine brushes it off. "Later. We got something to deal with now."
"Not WE buddy. Me."
"You want to run that by everyone?"
Peter grimaced a bit. "Not really, but I don't want to drag everyone into another problem."
Kaine stared at him for a moment. "You're an idiot."
Said idiot sputtered.
"We're, eh, 'family' for the most part Parker. You've been amazingly accepting since I've been back. I never would have dreamed I would have this kind of life. My body's been healed. I got an actual job. I got a nice lady friend who weirds you out. Life is good for the first time in a long while. And while I may not be the best at it, I'm going to have your back. I think that goes for almost everyone here. So why are you still trying to take on the world on your own?"
Peter looked down feeling slightly guilty.
Before he could comment, Kaine continued. "It may have took most of my 'life' but I think I get it. You want to protect everyone. I think I actually get it now. I guess that's supposed to be admirable. But where has that gotten you? You practically got a Spider army that would throw down for you, not to mention other friends in the hero community. And I mean ACTUAL friends, not Iron-Deficiency or whatever he's going by."
Kaine let out a tired sigh. Peter figured this has been on his mind for awhile.
"Peter, you're okay", he gritted his teeth to get it out. "But you're not alone. You haven't been for years, but you still act like it. How many problems could have been solved if you just asked for help?"
Peter felt like he sucked a lemon. But he had to laugh a little. "When did you get so family oriented?"
"I've been helping some people." Kaine looked slightly embarrassed. "They've been coming to me for advice and stuff. Someone has to look out for them."
He turned to enter the club. "I'm sure they would appreciate your input, if you could pull your head out of your own a_ and stop hiding from people."
Kaine left his "older" brother alone in the alley.
Peter spent a moment thinking about everything. He admired Kaine a bit. Going from broken copy to functional, if somewhat angry, member of society is something he should be proud of.
And Kaine was dead on about him too.
As much as he's grown as well, he still had some issues. Where was Emma when he needed her?
The sullen hero pulled out his phone and sent her another message to meet for another session, hoping she'll finally respond.
Hesitating for a second, he sent another couple of messages, Kaine's critique of him fresh in his mind.
Satisfied, he entered the club.
Time to deal with the pair of pains.
-Forensics-
"This doesn't make any shocking sense".
Carlie turns from her computer screen to her "partner". "What you got?"
Miguel scrolls through his own screen, taping his talons on his other hand on the desk in a nervous tic.
"I narrowed down the chemical residue but it shouldn't exist, or at least I wouldn't think so."
Carlie kicks off from her position to wheel her chair next to his.
"The last recorded instance of this particular chemical chain was YEARS ago, and the technology was supposedly destroyed."
She skimmed the info in front of them. "Someone could have just rebuilt the tech."
The man from 2099 crossed his arms and glared at his screen. "One would think, but almost all the schematics from that period have been wiped as well."
She chewed the inside of her cheek. "Cover up?"
He smirked, "mental breakdown from what I can tell."
He pulled up another screen. It showed the front page from an old Daily Bugle. On it was Tony Stark, posing for the camera, with the heading, "Iron-Man Fired!?"
"A few years ago in your time Stark snapped and started destroying his own tech, or tech that was derived from his."
He pulled up another window, this one with a blue and white figure.
"The villain 'Blizzard' was one of the people attacked. Stark fried his circuitry, and erased the plans for it."
Carlie nodded along. "So someone had some old cryo dispensers hidden?"
Miguel looked uncertain. "Maybe, but why break it out now? And there's something else."
Another screen. This one with chemical figures.
"We analyzed the chemical traces right? They match exactly from years ago."
"What's that mean future boy?"
"It MEANS cave girl, that someone had to have gone to great lengths to maintain this outdated device for it to match the exact same chemical profile without any kind of degredation."
Carlie blinked at him and let it sink in. She sighed deeply.
"Well this is progress at least."