"Actually... I'm not sure if I'm ready."
The two red-suited men looked at you, one still in pain and collapsed on the concrete while the other one only narrowed his eyes. You felt dumb admitting not being ready, but you felt anxious about… actually teaming up with them to fight anyone. Like, as actual heroes. Especially at the fact that a solid plan hasn't been said out loud yet. You pulled your arms close to your body and you felt Venom pull back into your hoodie and sweatpants again while you avoided eye contact.
"You said Lee was dangerous with Venom, right?" Spiderman asked, and you could feel his eyes looking you over. You nodded. "Then we need to move quickly. We already given him a full day with that piece, we can't afford to give him any more time with it." His voice was very to the point, and you bit the inside of your cheek nervously. He's a professional hero, of course he wouldn't get why you weren't ready.
"No, yeah, we agree completely." You knotted your hands together, keeping your eyes trained on the spilled burrito on the ground next to the dumpster. "It's just… This is really happening, you know? It seems really serious, and I'm not a fighter. Like. At all. I put up a good bark when I'm at work but- I'm good at reacting to things that I learned to expect- but this… I don't- I'm gonna mess something up and-" You motioned weakly in the air, struggling to explain how being confrontational in an unknown situation is worse than a death sentence for you.
"Hey no, come on Nessie, we'll take care of you." Deadpool slowly stood up, still keeping a hand on his crotch as he waddled over to you and wrapped the other arm around your shoulders much more friendly than he ought to be. You shrunk at the contact, but didn't pull completely away since you could feel Venom's excitement at Deadpool being so close. "Baby Boy explained everything to me. Baddies got part of your oozy friend, and we just gotta get them back. We go in, grab them, get out. That's just three steps, nothing to worry about."
Deadpool's bad breath distracted you from your concerns, and you felt your nose wrinkle as the stink of Mexican food, body sweat, and something metallic wafted around you. You gently pushed him off of your shoulder and turned towards him, and he took a step back without looking offended, thankfully. Spiderman looked towards you, hesitating for a moment.
"Deadpool is right, well- partly. We'll take care of everything. We just have to get you in and find that Venom piece. If Lee is around, leave him to us. If you get shot at, leave them to us. Your only goal is to find it and escape, got it?" Spiderman explained, and you couldn't help but notice a change in how he spoke to you. It reminded you of how you talked with new players on your online games, instead of his usual accusing voice. Apparently you took too long identifying the change in tone, since Spiderman's voice went back to how it was before. "Got it?" He asked again.
"Ye-yeah. We can do that." You nodded quickly and looked away.
"We might be completely overestimating what to expect too. Black Cat isn't unreasonable, she probably won't just give it to us but I doubt she'll do anything too drastic if we ask for it." Spiderman added, walking towards the exit of the alleyway. "Only one way to find out. Let's go." He reached up and sent out a web, quickly pulling and throwing himself into the air and over the streets.
Venom instinctively covered you and you readied a jump to follow, but stopped and looked at Deadpool, who was currently staring unimpressed at where Spiderman vanished. He sighed as his hand patted along his belt, pulling out a flip phone. He pressed a number and put it to his ear, only to notice you watching him. "Don't worry about me! I'll be right there! I'm just calling a cab." He cheerfully said, clearly waiting for someone to pick up.
"You don't… want a ride?" You half offered, unsure. He looked a bit smaller than you now that you were with Venom properly, but you still haven't tried carrying anyone like this yet. Deadpool must not have noticed your lack of confidence, because he gasped happily and snapped the phone shut just as a voice answered the other end.
"Are ya a-offerin' a piggyback ride ta me?" He fanned himself with his hand before dramatically throwing himself in front of you. You yelped and caught him in your hands, and he brought his arms over his head and kicked a leg out. "Why~ you really is a mighty hero!" He said in a terrible southern girl accent. You blinked, staring at the madman for a moment.
"Please don't do that. I don't know how to react to this." You finally said. He ugly laughed complete with a snort as you picked him up and maneuvered him till he was at your back, and he happily wrapped his legs around your hips and grabbed around your chest. "You good?" You asked, feeling him snuggle right up against you like you were an oversized body pillow.
"Being the big spoon for such a gorgeous beefcake monster like yourself? Never better." He practically purred into your ear, and you could feel yourself already starting to regret the offer. You rolled your eyes as you knelt a moment before leaping into the air, and you heard Deadpool's high-pitched scream as his grip tightened around you. A laugh escaped your lips and you started webbing through the buildings, just able to make out Spiderman already about a mile ahead. You took your time though, not wanting to go too fast and drop the extra help.
"Now I know how Ann feels!" Deadpool commented. You glanced over your shoulder to look at him.
"Who?"
"You know. Ann Darrow." He clarified, not clearing anything up in the slightest. You shook your head and turned your attention back to your path. "King Kong! Gosh! The youth these days!" He threw one of his arms up and dramatically kicked out with exasperation, only to yell as he almost lost his grip on you and pull himself close once more. He seemed far too comfortable with you and Venom already, and you weren't sure if you were totally okay with it.
He knows us. Wore us before.
Venom explained, and you reacted at that. "He was a host?" You asked, realizing you were asking out loud before you could catch yourself. Deadpool must have heard since he made an effort to bring his head more on your shoulder so he didn't have to speak as loud over the sound of rushing air.
"Fuck yeah I was. We 'Twipped' all over the damn place, ate some aliens, exploded some rabbits… Wait, I don't think that last one was us." He thought out loud, and you couldn't stop feeling Venom's infatuation with his words. Warm bubbly feelings spotted along your neck and jaw, feeling almost like a misplaced blush. It left your chest feeling cold, and you didn't like it.
"So… You two were close?" You asked, trying to keep your feelings under check. You were not going to feel jealous of a madman. Though you wondered why Venom hasn't shown you any of Deadpool's memories before, if he was actually a host. Blackness filled your vision, and quick flashes of washed out hazy images of Deadpool in a black and grey suit appeared. But they shifted, and warped, vanishing quickly after and leaving you feeling a longing for something you didn't know.
"Well I wouldn't say that. We had our fun, but I had to break up with them when they wanted to kill my bro Spidey. Almost had something good going, was a shame they couldn't get over the whole murder thing." You could feel Deadpool shrug against your back. "Nice to see that they finally did."
Satisfaction from the slight praise leaked into your brain, and you found yourself happy with what Deadpool said. Then you reminded yourself that you were trying to be jealous of him- wait, no that wasn't right either . Agh, your brain was scrambled through all the mixed thoughts and feelings.
It's okay. We are here. Don't think so much.
Venom quietly hushed your thoughts, and you felt tension you didn't know you were holding suddenly leave your shoulders. Deadpool's grip tightened and you could feel his worry as he looked down below at the traffic. "Whoa you okay there? You're not going to pass out are you?" He asked, apparently feeling you relax as well.
"What? No, we're fine." You said, not acknowledging any change and continuing to follow the speck of Spiderman in the distance. Black Cat's building had to be close at this point. It was on the outskirts of the city, but you still didn't have much sense of the scale of New York when you were with Venom yet.
"Good. Not like I can die anyway, but I still do not like the idea of falling at this height and having you crush me. No offence." He explained. The visual of your hulking mass slamming Deadpool into the sidewalk was rather graphic in your mind.
"None taken." You replied before the rest of his sentence registered in your brain. "You can't die?" Figures that Spiderman would find a super to help out, but you didn't know 'not dying' was a super power. You would think you would know a super hero's name if they were that powerful.
"Healing factor baby! Best of it's kind! Lab made Grade A immortality, ribbed for your pleasure." Deadpool's voice deepened at the last bit, and you couldn't help but to stifle a laugh. He either had no sense of boundaries, or couldn't care less about them. Either way, you figured it would be best to get used to it quickly if the three of you were going to be working together. Deadpool must have heard the laugh and quickly brought his head close again.
"Was that a laugh I just heard? Oh I'm so excited! We'll get along just great." He pressed his masked face next to yours and out of nowhere his hand held the flip phone in front of you, quickly taking a selfie. The bright flash from the flip phone caused you to quickly blink, trying to keep yourself maintaining the webbing pattern despite being blinded for a few seconds. "Oh! Sorry, flash!" He clicked a button and held the phone right in front of your eyes to see the low quality photo. Your monstrous face was half cropped off, and Deadpool was holding up a peace symbol with his other hand next to his face.
"Sorry, we're trying to… Uh… Drive?" You tried to excuse, angling your head so you could make sure your webs were actually hitting their mark. Deadpool nodded with understanding, adjusting his grip on you so both of his arms rested next to your neck as he started tapping on his phone. You glanced down, seeing him put a small black bar across the picture and type "NEW BFFS" on it in white text.
"Is that… Hold on, you have Snapchat on a fucking flip phone ?" You asked, having trouble watching where you web and looking back down at the screen, which yes, it appeared to be a shitty version of the app. "How is that even possible?"
"Deadpool always finds a way." He dramatically said, adding the finishing touches and snapping the phone shut with a clack. You shook your head, not quite knowing what to think. Thankfully you saw Black Cat's tower finally show up, and Spiderman jump up on the building next to it. You followed behind, scaling the towers quickly before landing heavily on the roof next to Spiderman.
Deadpool's legs loosened around your hips, and he fell flat onto the roof with an "ow." Spiderman looked at the two of you, nodded, and looked back to Black Cat's windows.
"Did you have a nice swing over?" You asked Spiderman, letting Venom pull back into civvies once more as you looked at the other building as well. The way the sun was shining made it hard to see into the building though. You heard Deadpool pick himself up behind you, followed by the sound of metal clicking together. When you turned to see what the sound was, you saw him putting together a sniper rifle. Your eyes widened.
"Uninterrupted, so not bad. You?" Spiderman's voice didn't sound actually interested in the conversation, and when you looked back at him you could see the black of his mask eyes were adjusting bigger and smaller, as if they were a camera lens. Did he have zoom on those things? Probably. Before you could answer the question, his eyes changed back to usual. "Black Cat is in her room, three guards with her."
Deadpool set up the sniper rifle on the edge of the building and knelt, looking through the scope to see. "Gotcha. So you go in and ask nicely. We'll be here if things go to shit." Spiderman nodded with the plan, looking down at Deadpool and apparently just noticing the gun.
"Those better be rubber bullets." He said flatly and stared at Deadpool. There was a moment of silence, followed by a clicking coming from the gun. The magazine fell to the ground, along with a very normal looking bullet. Deadpool sighed and replaced it with a different clip, pulling back the bolt again. "Good." How casual that interaction was drew your attention, and you found yourself looking at all of the pockets, swords, and other guns Deadpool was holding on his person. Hold on a fucking second.
"Deadpool?"
"Hmm?"
"Are you… a hero?" You asked, needing confirmation for something.
"Pfft. No. I sure as shit try on occasion, especially if it means impressing Baby Boy over there, but being a Merc is just so much more profitable. Not to mention fun." He quickly said, shifting his pose to look over the building some more. You looked to Spiderman, who looked like he knew where you were going with this.
"Huh. You keep track of how many you've killed?" You asked, not looking away from Spiderman to see his reaction.
"Oooooh no, we don't K-word around here." Deadpool wagged a finger in the air, and you felt confused. "No no no… the proper term is un-aliveing. We un-alived… pfft. Hundreds of people. Probably well into the thousands if you are including space adventures and the alternate realities I've fucked up. I've lost track yeaaaaaaars ago, I'm sure only Lady Death knows the actual score at this point." He concluded, in no way sounding like he was bragging.
You tilted your head and felt your lips thin in the "I'm not going to say anything but you know I really want to" smile as you looked at Spiderman with slightly widened eyes. His eyes narrowed as you bought up your hand, held up a single finger, mouthed the word "one" and pointed to yourself. The two of you were going to need to have a talk about double standards later.
He silently and quickly stepped onto the ledge of the building, apparently choosing to not address your silent accusation. "I'll talk to Black Cat. Look for my signal." Spiderman said, quickly jumping off the roof and swinging to the other tower. You sat on the ground beside Deadpool and crossed your legs, watching him start to climb up the windows. He took his time, apparently not wanting to set them on high alert right away.
Deadpool was the most quiet you've heard since meeting him, to the point you couldn't even make out his breathing as he watched carefully through the scope. You weren't able to see as closely as he could, but you watched as Spiderman got to the proper level and… knocked on the glass. Wow, okay, you thought him being a professional hero would give him some self-preservation skills but apparently not. You could make out shadows beyond the glass rush over to where he was, something shiny being raised to the glass, but one of the shadows moved and the rest stopped.
"What's going on?" You whispered to Deadpool, hoping he could actually make something out.
"The guards were ready to attack Spidey, but Cat hushed them." He narrated, and you watched as the large shadows took a step further into the room and vanished from your sight. "They're talking through the glass… I think Cat said the word 'watermelon' and pointed toooooo…. Ah, a sliding window. Looks like my boy is gonna get some tail after all." Deadpool's voice jumped from being semi-serious to his usual voice in seconds, and you bit back a laugh. You didn't want to entertain his humor, fearing that he might get distracted easily. He shifted his grip on the gun, following Spiderman carefully.
Spiderman crawled along the outside of the window, quickly making his way to the one that opened up, and slipped inside. Now you couldn't make out anything on your own. "They're talking… Can't make out a word Spidey-Boy is saying, stupid mask, but Cat is definitely flirting right now." Deadpool let out a whistle, and you couldn't tell if he was being honest or… being Deadpool.
Probably both.
Venom helpfully said. You waited for Deadpool to continue narrating, but he went silent. There wasn't anything for you to do other than stare at the hazy glare coming from the windows, quietly waiting for anything to happen. You folded your arms on the ledge and rested your chin on them, quickly growing bored. You waited, and waited… and waited…
Deadpool stood up and quickly took the sniper rifle apart in seconds, shoving the pieces in a bag and strapping it around him. "Time to move. Get us over there." He quickly said, and you nearly tripped over yourself in standing too fast. Venom coated you at a thought and your massive hand clutched Deadpool against your chest, and you leapt the distance.
"In or on top?" You asked quickly, hoping the question was clear enough as you webbed yourself higher. Deadpool pulled out two pistols from his sides and got ready.
"In." He answered, and you let go of the web, angling yourself to break through the window back-first. You instinctively curled around Deadpool as you crashed through the glass, sending shards flying everywhere. The impact didn't feel like much to you, thanks to Venom no doubt, and you released Deadpool as you landed heavily on the floor on your back.
Deadpool quickly leapt up and skid across the glass ridden marble flooring, firing across the room. You pulled yourself up from the floor, only to feel your shoulder splatter slightly when half a dozen bullets collided into it. You turned towards the source, seeing three large men in overly expensive suits shooting at you. One of them yelled and fell to the ground, clutching his shoulder, while the others continued shooting and backing towards the hallway. Feeling a growl escape your lips, you stepped towards them, completely ignoring the bullets.
They were nothing to you anyway.
You leapt forward, feeling tendrils extend from your fingers as you snaked them around the two guards, yanking them back into the room and slamming them into the ground. One of them kept his finger on the trigger of his gun, sending a shower of bullets around the room and breaking a couple antique looking pots, a mirror, and most of the surviving windows. You pulled and slammed them against a wall, and one of them was knocked out cold. The other one struggled with your tendrils for a moment, before a gun went off and he went limp in your grip.
Confusion filled your brain as you turned to Deadpool, only for pain to replace it as Venom screamed throughout your body. You clutched at your ears as you fell to your knees, feeling Venom's grip on you loosen but struggle to keep you protected. It took you a moment to register that you were screaming right along with Venom. The pain suddenly vanished and you gasped out, falling onto your hands. You watched Venom's tendrils quickly climb back up the upper portion of your chest, covering your head once more.
"Sorry 'bout that Nessie, but you heard the man. You gotta leave them to us." Deadpool said, and you whipped your head to look at him standing next to you. He dropped an air horn onto the ground and kicked it behind him casually. Confusion and anger flooded your system as you stared up at him.
Deadpool hurt us?
"That hurt." You spoke through your teeth, but the only pain still lingering behind was Venom's emotional damage of being betrayed by Deadpool. It kept stumbling into itself, repeating in a feedback loop of denying Deadpool would do that to them, followed by the rage of the fact he did, and again with rejecting the idea.
"Consider it your spanking. Don't hulk out here, Baby Cakes. We need you behind us, finding that piece. If you go into a rage here, you will only cement your name on Spidey-Boy's naughty list." He explained coldly despite his usual playful words. Deadpool turned his attention to the door and walked towards it, readying his guns again and leaving his back exposed to you. It was hard to stop Venom's hurt thoughts from overriding your own, but you had to pull it together. He was right, even if it wasn't very… agreeable how he brought it to your attention.
Deadpool glanced back to you and shook his head. "I'm serious Sugar Bear, you need to hulk down. I know your gooey friend likes being big, but you need to stop being such an open target right now ." He motioned downwards with his gun, and conflicting instincts fought in your head. The bigger you were, the safer you were. More cushion room, more room for bigger damage. But no, smaller was safer, less noticeable. You needed to not be a target, but you knew you were a target already, so that just made it more dangerous. And you couldn't trust someone that just exposed you-
You groaned and grabbed at your head, feeling far too overheated and over stimulated from everything going on. "Please… Just listen to him." You uttered, unable to keep up with the racing thoughts. All at once your brain quieted, and you felt Venom gradually deflate, shrinking close to your skin. They still kept you coated, still protected, but from what you could see your suit looked less like usual Venom and more like the black Spiderman suit from before.
Don't like this.
"I know, just… please. We just need to do what he says for now." You whispered, feeling Venom's fear and hurt and anger swell and twist inside you. They were so fragile, and you could feel everything . You just wanted to get the piece back so the two of you could get away from all of this and never have to deal with it again.
"You good now? Because we really need to move. " Deadpool's voice rose as he appeared beside you, picking you up and tossing you onto his shoulder. He ran out of the door, firing off at targets you couldn't see. You just covered your head and closed your eyes, focusing on the large shoulder pad that was currently jabbing itself in your stomach with every jarring step Deadpool took.
"What happened to Spiderman?" You asked weakly, trying to get your thoughts onto anything other than what Venom was thinking. It was a valid question, now that you managed to focus on it. How did a friendly conversation through a window lead to needing to break in and having a firefight?
"Don't know." Deadpool answered, making sure to hold onto you tight as he turned a hallway corner and fired off his guns. "Spidey left a spider on the window when he crawled in. He and Cat talked and she led him out of the room. Then the spider started flashing red, figured something was up." He stopped running and messed with his belt, and you heard a clicking sound that you've only ever heard in video games before.
"Another one. Hold on." He uttered, throwing something and spun around a corner, pressing the two of you flat to the wall for a moment. Three seconds ticked by and an explosion rattled the place, sending white dust flying into the air. Deadpool adjusted his grip on you and started running again, and you felt your stomach drop when he suddenly leapt. He grunted as the two of you jerked and swung around quickly, and the grunt echoed back to you. Finally opening your eyes, you saw the darkness of an open elevator shaft greet you. One, which you were apparently dangling in the middle of. A yelp got caught in your throat, and Deadpool started sliding down the cable with speed and control.
He was way too good at this.
Deadpool kept quiet as the two of you rushed down, levels flying by leaving you questioning how tall you thought this building was again. Eventually the blackness below you gave way to what looked like the top of an elevator, and Deadpool slowed your decent before dropping down the rest of the way. He picked you off of his shoulder and stood you up, giving you only a moment to steady yourself before his fingers traced along panels on top of the elevator. He caught ahold of one of them, yanking it up to reveal that it was unoccupied.
He glanced inside, quickly looking around to double check that it was actually empty, and held out his hands to you. Getting the idea, you grabbed them and helped drop him in, before following quickly behind. "Be ready." He said, finger hovering over the 'open doors' button. Deadpool pressed it and readied his guns at the door, and you flattened yourself against the side wall and closed your eyes as the metal gradually opened.
When no gunshots went off, you opened your eyes to see a confused looking Deadpool looking into the room.
"Oh, you got my signal. Good." Spiderman's voice spoke up, and you peeked out your head to see Spiderman and Black Cat casually standing in a rather elegant looking office room. They were both standing next to a large white table that had files laying on it messily, with no one else standing by. No immediate danger, no signs of any struggle.
Deadpool lowered his guns, pausing a moment, and casually placing them back into their holsters. "Right. Your signal. To…" He talked slowly, stepping into the room and glancing up at the small camera that seemed to follow his movement.
"To… come in?" Spiderman filled, uneasiness leaking into his voice. "Like you did. Right?" He looked at the two of you closer, how you kept tucked in the elevator as if waiting for something bad to happen, and probably noticing the white residue that was dusting the both of you. "Right?"
"Of course! We are here, aren't we?" Deadpool laughed, bringing his hands behind his head casually as he stepped along side the table. "So what do we have?" He tried to change the subject. A beeping came from Black Cat's wrist, and she pressed a button and looked at it close.
"Why am I getting alerts of being invaded?" Her eyes looked up at Deadpool, not needing to have that question answered. Another beeping drew her attention, and at another button press a holographic image of her room appeared, absolutely and utterly shagged from the destruction. A horrified gasped wheezed from her as the damage registered, and you decided that maybe staying in your hiding spot in the elevator was a smart choice at the moment.
"My trophies! My room! You-"
"Will pay for everything! I have the money!" Deadpool quickly yelped, un-heroically diving under a chair and using it as a cheap plastic shield for his body. It wasn't needed, as she didn't immediately attack, but the air was incredibly thick with tension that felt like it would snap at any moment.
Spiderman looked at the hologram, turning towards your direction. You ducked further into the corner of the elevator. "Did Venom-"
"Be completely useless in a gunfight? You bet your ass. All they did was watch me do all the hard work for them." Deadpool's irritated voice convinced even you for a moment. "I know you told them to stay back, but the least you could do is tell them to watch my back while they are at it." He half mumbled, sounding like the most genuine annoyance you've ever heard. Black Cat's stare intensified at the mention of the gunfight, and Deadpool raised his hands. "I used rubber bullets! The special kind that Baby Boy likes! No casualties!"
What Deadpool first said seemed to shock Spiderman, and he stood looking towards you for a moment with unreadable body expression. Black Cat didn't care for any of the new developments and brought a hand to her face as she groaned.
"Just… Take the files and leave. Except-" She looked back at Deadpool, who squeaked and partially hid behind the chair again. "-I expect compensation to be in my bank account within the hour."
.
The three of you were escorted out of the tower, and Deadpool was handed a bill that made him sound like he was kicked in the balls again. You only got a glance at the number, but your eyes must have been fooling you. No way that many zeros could exist on a bill at the same time.
After helping bring Deadpool out of shock, Spiderman led the three of you to another rooftop to review the files. They were all mostly empty except for a few pages written in typewriter and a couple pictures, but you got the general idea of an old secret lab somewhere in the Mojave Desert.
"This all looks familiar… I can't pin it though." Spiderman mumbled into his hand, looking at one of the black and white photos of a large room full of old-tech computers. "Felicia said that Lee needed information on this place, but I can't imagine why. This place has been shut down due to an onsite explosion years ago." Deadpool grabbed the photo from Spiderman and looked it over again, looking for something they missed.
"What did you say this place was called again?" Deadpool asked, squinting at something in the background of the photo.
"The Life Foundation."