AN: So it's been a while since I updated. In short I've been working on my Spider-Man story. I'm still gonna do this story, but not as many people read it, so it will be a slower process. Anyway, big thanks to Celgress, I know that I am mostly just writing this for you at this point. But someone wants to read my story, so I'm gonna write it.

Chapter 4

Venom walked quickly along a hallway leading to the secure room that was the Catacombs Armory. The movement was designed to keep a brisk pace but allowed him to keep control of his weapon and to stay alert for his surroundings. The hallway was a long and vertical, so Venom took the point position clearing corners and watching out front, and Valkyrie watched behind them defending their rear.

The pair moved toward a corner that was the front of the atrium outside of the armory, and peeked around the corner. In the space were five more ULTIMATUM minions. This squad had erected a strong defensive position. Two PKP Pecheneg Machine Gunners with two assistant gunners armed with M4's and a guy with a laptop who was controlling cameras. That volume of fire power could cut down a platoon of trained soldiers.

"2 o'clock. Behind the corner." The man at the computer yelled.

The thunder of PKP's erupted into the hallway. The massive 7.62x54mm rounds ripped through the corner. Muzzle flash stretched out in front of their barrels for several feet. In order to avoid the defense, Venom dove and rolled across the hallway to the other side, splitting the number of targets.

"This is Liam. Venom and Valkyrie are at the arms room. Get backup." The man at the laptop said.

"I'm cannot fight this group of foes." Valkyrie said as she peeked around the corner. "They are too well defended."

Agent Venom fiddled with a pocket on his belt. He pulled out a M67 Fragmentation Grenade. The olive green, roughly baseball sized metal sphere housed a half pound of high explosive and had a lethal radius of almost fifty feet. He put the grenade with the detonator toward the ground in his left hand.

"Proper grip. Thumb the clip." Venom said to himself.

"Twist, pull pin." He said, performing the described action with his right hand.

"Take a peek." Venom looked around the corner to get a distance on the entrenched ULTIMATUM baddies.

"Strike a pose. Frag out." He stuck his left around out in the open and threw the grenade. It soared threw the air and landed behind their makeshift barricade.

He waited five seconds. In that amount of time he head the foot soldiers react to the explosive.

"Kick it down." Someone yelled.

The sound of metal clinking on metal could be heard shortly before an explosion below.

"Shit. They made a grenade sump." Venom surmised. Grenade sumps are holes that you kick a grenade into and use gravity to get it away from you. In the jungle or desert, you dug a hole. In the inside of a building, used a vent or a drainage valve. It would destroy the HVAC or plumbing, but you'd be alive.

"Any other plans?" Valkyrie asked with a sarcastic smirk across the hallway.

"Yes I do." He said.

Venom pulled an M84 Stun Grenade, more commonly known as a flashbang, from a different pocket on his belt. Repeating the same process as the hand grenade, he threw this non-lethal pyrotechnic down the hall. This time he threw it short, so the ULTIMATUM soldiers couldn't get it away from them.

The flashbang detonated, causing the white soldiers to groan in pain. The grenade would have blinded them and rendered them deaf. Their response was to panic. The men with the M4's and the PKP's started to fire blindly down the hall. As a combat veteran though, Agent Venom didn't do that.

Venom dropped into a kneeling prone position, shifted around the corner, and braced the barrel of his weapon against the wall. He gazed through the ACOG of his 417 Rifle and engaged. He let the breath out of his lungs and began to shoot. His first two controlled pairs went into the men manning the PKP's. The next two went into the assistant gunners. All that was left was the man named Liam at the laptop.

The man was clearly tech support, not a combatant. He was probably a vital part of the operation though because ULTIMATUM would need someone with his skill set in order to break through the high end security of the Air Force facility.

Venom jogged up to the man and shoulder charged him, knocking him to the ground. He pulled out a pair of flex cuffs and secured Liam. Valkyrie was right behind him.

"I'll get into the vault. You question that man." Valkyrie said curtly.

Venom nodded a turned to face the man. "What are you doing here?" he demanded with steely grit.

"Guarding the arms room." Liam said terrified. He had heard of the violence that Venom was capable of and didn't want to piss him off.

"What is ULTIMATUM doing here?"

"Getting weapons and stuff."

"What other stuff?"

"I don't know. I was just told to get the guns from the arms room."

"How many guys are coming for us now?" Venom asked, remembering his call for help.

"I don't know. Depends on how many are still alive with Carnage roaming around."

That awoke the Symbiote. Flash felt the creature surge with anger and rage. 'KILL HIM'. It said into his brain.

'We will.' Flash thought back. 'We'll get Carnage.'

'Not Carnage. Kill this man. He knows nothing more.'

Venom stared at his prisoner. When the Symbiote got really, really motivated, it could influence him to make drastic decisions and make even more drastic actions. But underneath, Flash knew that he could convince the Symbiote to do what he wanted.

'No. This is a combat situation. I'm not gonna waste ammo on a man who can't fight when there are others we can.'

He could feel the alien thinking. 'Fine.'

Venom heard the door to the arms room open. "It's open." Valkyrie stated happily.

"Let's check it out." Venom said. Before he turned to leave though, he knelt down and used and wrapped Liam's neck in a choke hold. Seconds later the man was unconscious.

The duo walked into the now unlocked room. There was several gun lockers that lined the walls. They were empty. The room they were in housed some of the most dangerous weapons that the United States government had acquired in the past half century. And now they were in position of one of the most dangerous groups in the world.

"This is going to be a problem." Venom said.

"Yes. We must recover the weapons. In the hands of these fiends, they will lead to the loss of many innocent lives." Valkyrie surmised.

"STARTING WITH YOURS!" a voice shouted.

A beam of energy was fired threw the doorway to the arms room. It was aimed at Valkyrie, who was knocked to the ground and groaned in pain. More lasers were shot threw the doorway. Venom dove away. While moving, he shot a webline and pulled Valkyrie to safety with him in the vault.

Venom knew that he couldn't treat her for her injuries while he was being shot at. He needed to kill the ULTIMATUM soldier outside the room. He was trapped, outnumbered, and outgunned. It was a nightmare of a tactical situation. The Symbiote knew this as well.

'Let me out!' it said.

'Why?' Flash asked.

'I can kill them.'

'They aren't armed with human guns. They might kill you.' Flash argued.

'If they could have kill us, they would have shot you first.' The Symbiote countered.

'How can I trust you?' Flash insinuated angrily.

'We're trapped. You die, I will be captured. I would rather be stuck with you than trapped in another lab.' The Symbiote needed a host to survive. Flash was the first one that was accepted it willingly. All others, the Symbiote didn't give a choice because it needed to survive. ULTIMATUM would keep it isolated.

Flash thought it over. He was willing to use the powers of the Symbiote, but he hated when it took over. If it had too much control, his friends might feel it was safer to kill him in order to keep other safe. But in this situation, he'd probably die anyway.

'Kill them, then give me control. You don't, and The Avengers will find out. You know that.'

'Agreed.' The black alien suit knew that Hank Pym had taken great lengths to ensure the Symbiote would be terminated as a failsafe.

'Fine. Do it.' Flash said. And he began to feel the power flow…

AN: My dad wrote a bunch of short stories. Hand jam stuff. He doesn't publish. But he writes them for friends and family to read, and he loves to do it, even though only a small number of people read them. That's the same way I feel about writing this story. If so much as one person enjoys it. Then I'll keep writing.