Author's Note: Alright we're going into kind of more of a horror movie scenario here. I own nothing.
42. Lab Rats
Piper touched down, stumbling a bit as she did. The lab she'd landed in was dark and quiet. She let out a shaking breath.
"Ok Piper, think. There has to be a way to get that thing off of him without hurting him. The plan could work, but…" There was a noise in the closet to Piper's left and she drew another incendiary arrow, knocking it into place. She carefully made her way to the door and kicked it in ready to fire at what was most likely to be the thing that had been her best friend. But she didn't fire. Because instead of Venom she found a mass of limbs in bright costumes she recognized as her team. She pulled White Tiger off the top of the pile as the boys began to sort themselves out.
"What the ever-loving hell are you guys doing here?" Nova's helmeted head popped out from the bottom of the pile.
"We were trying to help you! But the windows slammed shut and your invisible butler is anything but helpful." Piper rolled her eyes and pulled Power Man to his feet letting Iron Fist flip to his. She held out a hand to Nova. He rolled his eyes but let her help him up.
"Jarvis isn't an invisible butler, he's an AI system and he probably doesn't recognize you. He's not programed to help Costumes he doesn't recognize." Piper heard something and slapped a hand over Nova's mouth. She grabbed a fire blanket from the shelf next to them and threw it over them motioning for the others to hide. A hissing shuffling sounded outside the door and a deep growl echoed through the room. A tense moment passed. Then Venom lumbered passed the hissing breaths continuing. Piper kept her hand over Nova's mouth for another few tense breaths. Then she felt something warm and wet against her hand and jumped back shaking her hand in disgust.
"Did you seriously just lick me?!" Nova shrugged slightly.
"Works on my little sister." Piper frowned, she hadn't known he had a sister.
"Look whatever Fury sent you here to do I got this." Piper could hear Ava's frown.
"Fury didn't send us, this was Nova's idea." Piper frowned peeking out the door keeping a careful eye on the shadows waiting for one of them to start moving.
"Why?" Nova shrugged glad that his helmet covered his blush.
"You looked like you were in trouble, and we're a team. We help each other no matter what. Even if one of us has been acting like a total flake lately." Piper flinched slightly as the others nodded.
"The bucket's right, you have been acting weird for a while, weirder than normal I mean." Piper sighed, her shoulders sagging as she remembered everything that was going on and everything she had planned to do today. The usb drive was still in her bag back at school in her locker. Danny laid a hand on her shoulder.
"You do not have to carry the weight of the world on your shoulders Spider, share it and it will lighten." Piper nodded slightly before glancing back out into the hallway. She sighed.
"I can't tell you everything now. Soon I promise but we need to stop Venom first." Ava nodded.
"Ok, who's in there?" Piper made a face, she didn't want to tell them but maybe Danny was right.
"Harry. Harry Osborn." The whole team winced. They all knew how close she and Harry were. Luke stepped forwards.
"How do we stop him?" Piper shook her head.
"That's where things get difficult. The only weakness we know that Venom has is Electricity. I really don't want to electrocute my best friend if I can avoid it. But it's looking like that's unavoidable. We need to get to my dad's main lab. It's two floors up from here. The stairs are all locked down as are the elevators. The quarantine protocol is supposed to keep floors isolated but the vents are still open between these three levels cause there's no airborne pathogen. So, we can use those to get around, but not out. Nothing can get in or out of these three levels while the quarantine is in effect." Ava nodded.
"Do you have a map of this place, its huge." Piper nodded and stepped over to one of the tables. She tapped a button on the underside and the table lit up Piper swiped a hand over it and an interface appeared hovering above the table.
Danny had to say he was impressed. The team had been fighting together for about a month and a half now and Piper was already proving herself a born leader both in and out of costume. He had a sneaking suspicion he knew why she wasn't in costume for this particular escapade. Sam was listing with more than he ever did when it was Fury or Coulson explaining a plan. He had a feeling that the hot head wasn't even going to go off the rails like he had in his first mission as leader. That was until Piper mentioned splitting up.
"No way Webs! Splitting up is dumb." Piper cut him off.
"Listen Bucket Head. We go in groups. Ava you and Danny as one, me and Luke as the other. You and I are the only ones with long distance attacks and me and Ava are the only ones who can reprogram the equipment we need. Danny and Luke can punch through floors and walls, should we need it. Plus Venom is fixated on me, Luke is the least likely to get hurt when we run up against him." Sam rolled his eyes as the others nodded.
"Webs is right, it's a smart plan." Luke said stepping forwards.
"I just hope we don't hurt Harry." The others nodded and the group split as hissing breathing came back down the hall. The sound of a spitting laugh and claws running along the walls echoed through the empty labs.