It was relatively cold outside and there was the ever present danger of ice on the roads and sidewalks. Clouds had gathered in the sky and it just began to lightly snow.
Suddenly the bell rang at Midtown High, signaling the end of the school day. The first two people to burst through the doors were Dib and Zim following closely behind him.
As they ran Dib dodged a person here or there and made the mistake of looking behind himself to see if Zim was still chasing him. And then there was pain, a lot of it.
Dib realized that he was on the ground and that it was covered in ice. He cringed as he pushed himself up then sat on the sidewalk. Pain was throbbing through the back of his head and he could barely keep his eyes open.
Dib looked into the distance and saw a familiar figure slowly approaching him. He lightly felt the back of his sore head and whimpered. Dib then opened his eyes and Zim came into full view.
Zim smirked and slightly chuckled at Dib's misfortune. "Looks like mother nature kicked your ass for me. I didn't even have to lift a finger."
Dib sighed quietly and replied, "But you did have to run after me."
Zim shook his head and smiled big. "It doesn't matter. I've gotten my revenge."
Dib looked down at the ground shamefully then noticed Zim reaching his hand out to him. He growled and reluctantly took it. Zim helped him up then let go.
Dib's face was pure red with pain and embarrassment because one he slipped and fell on an icy sidewalk and two Zim saw the whole degrading incident.
He made no eye contact with Zim and walked away with his head hung low.
Zim waited until Dib was out of sight and picked up a piece of paper he had left behind. He stuffed it into his backpack and walked towards home with a sly grin on his face, whistling an eerie tune.
Peter was practically freezing. He cursed under his breath for not wearing something warmer, but knew it would look stupid wearing a coat over his Spider-man suit.
He stood on top of a rather tall building gazing across the street at another even taller building. One that he was sure Harry was inside.
Peter sighed and sat on the ledge of the building, sort of hoping Fury would call him to go fight the frightful four, the sinister six, or even Loki. He didn't want to watch Harry from a distance, but Harry needed some space.
Spider-man then heard familiar footsteps behind him so he slowly turned his head to see Harry. He then completely turned around and stood up to properly face him. Harry had his hands balled up into fists and an angry look in his eyes.
"Spider-man, what are you doing here? Are you watching me?" Harry spat furiously at Spider-man.
Spider-man shivered from the cold gust of wind and admitted to Harry, "S.H.I.E.L.D. found Doc Oc unconscious in the sewers with a cracked vile that contained a piece of Venom. If he managed to find a host I figured this would be the first place he'd come."
Harry smirked and replied along with Venom, "We knew you would show up sssooner or later, Ssspider-man."
Spider-man watched in horror, and slight awe, as Harry was engulfed in Venom and two white eyes, a white spider insignia, and a mouth full of sharp jagged teeth and a long red tongue manifested out of the black ooze.
Venom smiled viciously and hissed, "What do you plan on doing now, Ssspider?"
Spider-man put himself into a fighting stance and whined, "Harry, I thought you were done with this. You know, after he almost killed your father."
Venom's mouth disappeared and he just became a suit on Harry. "Oh come on, Spider-man, it's not like you haven't done the same."
Harry then lunged at Spider-man and, though he dodged him, Harry landed a punch right in his jaw. Spider-man felt his jaw and quickly recovered.
"What could you possibly gain from being with him?"
Harry swung at Spider-man again, but Spider-man dodged him with a series of back flips. He then started walking towards Spider-man. In response, Spider-man shot webs at Harry but he easily broke free from them.
"I become stronger."
Spider-man swung at Harry but Harry grabbed his wrist with one hand and then his neck with the other.
"I become smarter."
Then he lifted him up off of the ground and laughed. Spider-man broke free from Harry's grip and kicked him in the face. Venom's mouth reappeared as he regained control.
Venom then cocked his head arrogantly and hissed, "Enough! I want to sssee him beg for mercy."
"Mercy? The only thing I'm begging for right now is a coat. It's freezing out here. Oh, and leaving Harry wouldn't hurt either."
Venom shot a black web at Spider-man, but he dodged it by doing a flimsy back flip off of the side of the building. Venom scoffed and looked over the edge to see Spider-man sitting on the building's vertical surface.
"Ignorant Ssspider, you're only prolonging the inevitable."
Spider-man furrowed his brow and replied harshly, "So are you, Venom. I'm just going to find a way to get you off of Harry like I always do."
Venom grabbed Spider-man's ankle and said, "Ah, but I've become sssmarter and ssstronger than thossse timesss you ssseparated usss."
Spider-man shot Venom with his Taser webs and shook his ankle free. Venom quickly pulled the webs off of himself and grabbed Spider-man with his other hand. He then pulled Spider-man up until they were face to face.
"Let me asssk you sssomething, Ssspider, do you know what it feelsss like to be ssseparated from part of yourssself?"
Before Spidey could give him a clever response, Venom swung him into the ledge of the building. Spider-man's left arm hit the solid cement ledge with a thud and Venom smiled sadistically.
Venom continued slamming Spider-man's arm into the ledge of the building. Whenever Spidey broke free Venom would quickly grab his ankle with his other hand and continue the act.
Soon Spider-man's arm became sore and after a minute or two of constant slamming he heard and felt a loud CRACK! Venom then stopped and smiled.
Venom threw Spider-man back onto the building and watched as Spider-man nursed his wounded arm. It was definitely broken and that meant that this wound could be used to his advantage.
"You may be ssstrong, Ssspider, but you are not invulnerable. It ssseemsss asss though your arm isss broken. Wouldn't it be a shame if it sssnapped off?"
Spider-man stood up, holding his broken arm, and replied, "I could still defeat you with one hand tied behind my back."
Despite his insult, he knew he couldn't possibly fight this stronger and smarter Venom with a broken arm. He'd have to use long distance attacks and, though he really didn't want to, retreat and get back up.
Venom slowly walked towards Spider-man with a slightly misshaped grin on his face. Spider-man quickly shot a web into his face with his free hand but Venom simply pulled it off and continued towards him.
"Isss that all you've got, I expected more from you, Ssspider."
Spider-man started backing up and replied, "You know you won't win in the end, Venom. Harry doesn't need you nearly as much as you need him. Sooner or later he'll decide get rid of you."
Venom snickered, "We'll sssee about that."
Venom then ran towards Spider-man, jumped up into the air, and kicked him in the solar plexus. Spider-man doubled over in pain, but soon regained his balance. He then turned on his communicator only to have Venom rip it off of his wrist with a black web and smash it into pieces with his fist.
"Thisss isss jussst between usss! If you want to retreat then go ahead, but we will follow."
Suddenly there was a ringing coming from inside of Venom's suit. Venom let Harry's face emerge as he answered his phone.
"Hello? Wait…what? Dad I-…ugh, alright. I'll be there in a minute."
Harry hung up the phone and walked towards the edge but stopped right next to Spider-man and said, "This isn't over." Then he jumped off of the building and swung away on a black web to his house.
Spider-man sighed and shook his head while looking down at his broken arm.
"Crap, Harry got himself mixed up with Venom again and this won't heal for days! Now I'm going to go to school with a broken arm. And since Harry knows Spider-man has a broken arm, me showing up with a broken arm will surely give it away. I could just not go to school, but that would also be suspicious."
He then glanced over at his broken communicator and muttered to himself, "Those things are cheap either."
Yeah, there wasn't as much ZIIIMMM in this chapter but there will be in the next one.