After getting the go ahead from Creed, I tap the card against the door and it gives a dull beeping noise.

"Of course." I state. "It would be too easy for that right?"

"Oh, don't worry stud. I've got this." Felicia places her gloved hand on my shoulder and I turn to look at her. She's smiling, and I just nod and move out of the way.

Me being here didn't really make any sense. My "Observational Powers" weren't really being used. More and more I felt like I was just being played for a fool, and betrayal was around the corner. I hope to God, or whoever, that Felicia stays true to her word.

Felicia crouches down and pulls out a small device from the satchel she's carrying. It's like a mini-iPad, but definitely not Apple related. It looked a little higher tech than that. I don't understand technology enough to even know what she's doing, but she's tapping away at the screen. It looks like code or something.

"What are you doing?" I ask.

"I'm figuring out what the data is for this specific lock. Once I get it, I can slip that card of yours into my device and make it possible to get in."

"Fancy." She chuckles at my remark as her device makes a noise and I she sticks her hand out for the card.

"There's higher tech security than this, stud." It takes only a few seconds for the card to be rewritten. She places the device back in her bag and puts the card against the maglock. A whirring noise followed by a click and beep. "We're in. Showtime."

"Think it's been showtime since we stepped foot inside this building." I remark, while looking over at Lester with a scowl. Not that he could see it. He just keeps grinning at me. His messed up head is something I never want to see into.

The door of the lab slides open and we are greeted with the sight of a high tech lab, with machines and test tubes... and quite frankly this is way above my pay grade. Felicia and I step through first, and we spot a computer in the far corner of the room on a desk. Looking around, we don't see Dr. Connors right away, but there seems to be another entry way that probably leads to another section of this lab.

Of course. As we all step in and the door closes behind us, we hear somebody speak.

"Mr. Osborn. I told you I need time to work alone. It'll take a few hours to synthesize a new strain of- OH GOD!" From through the entry way steps a man in a lab coat. He's probably around my height, if not a bit shorter, with brown hair and hazel eyes. He's wearing glasses with black frames, looking like a classic nerdy scientist. The one thing about him that stands out is his missing right arm.

Seeing him now, I knew exactly who this is. Dr Curtis Connors. Military Surgeon and a head researcher in charge of discovering the cure for Oshtoran Syndrome at Oscorp Industries. OS being the thing that took Emily Osborn away from Norman and his son, Harry. What the Hell are they working on in this lab that requires it to be so highly secretive when this guy is in charge of trying to cure a rare disease?

"Who are you people?!" An escrima stick nails Connors in the gut after he yells out, causing him to crumple to the floor, grasping for air.

"Fuck! Don't kill him for fucks sake!" I shout at Lester, as his escrima stick flies back to him. How it was able to do that I have no idea. Then again, I'm still wondering how Captain America's shield always seems to return to him.

"He's right. Things will go a lot faster if we can squeeze him for info." Creed's suggestion left no room for doubt that he was looking to inflict the most pain possible. I look over to Black Cat, who doesn't seem to care so much about this as she steps over to the computer on the desk.

Fine. I'll do this myself.

I quickly close the distance between me and Connors, who is now catching his breath, making sure I got to him first, and help him to his feet. He looks at me with a very worried look on his face. It's odd though. His concern, it seemed... wrong. Something about all of this felt wrong. I don't just mean the violence and my being here. This room. This serum we were looking for. Connors being here. I need answers.

"Dr. Connors. Sorry about my associate. He's an asshole." Connors looks to Bullseye and his face twists in confusion.

"Aren't you supposed to be a hero?"

"Don't believe everything you hear on TV doc." Fucking Lester. He's looking right at me with the most sinister grin of the night. He knows if I out him he'll kill Connors.

"Yeah. I was surprised when he was put on the crew to. I suppose there's a price for everybody." For now I had to play along.

"What do you people want? I'm trying to cure a rare disease here. There's nothing of value for you to take." I notice he was now looking over at Felicia who was typing away at the computer. His confusion and concern were quickly replaced with rational thinking. The guy was compartmentalizing extremely well. Shouldn't be surprised, given that he's a wartime doctor.

"Oh, but there is. And my hunch was correct." Felicia turned to look at us and beckoned me over. I looked between Connors and the others before letting go of him and heading towards Felicia. "The good doctor was kind enough to remain logged into his computer. He has such wonderful secrets in here."

"What kind?" Daken asks.

"Oh, Dr. Connors and the CEO of Oscorp have been bad boys." I reach Felicia and the computer, and she points to one of the open windows on the desktop.

The one she points to mentions the serum we are looking for. Connors and Osborn have been trying to synthesis a safer version of the super soldier serum used on Steve Rogers during WWII, so that they can cure their new patient. The methods they've used I don't fully understand, but I do recognize that out of all the variations they've made, splicing the serum with reptilian DNA is there latest attempt. Although, from what I can understand of the notes, it seems like the focus with this avenue is regenerating limbs. And I can only guess who that is meant for.

"Start looking around guys. The serum is here, if these files are anything to go off of." I didn't want to give away that we actually were retrieving the super-soldier serum, so I kept it to myself.

"Please. We are doing important work. We aren't doing anything nefarious with the serum. We're trying to save people." Curt's pleas go unheard. We had a job to do, and we didn't need to take all of it.

"We just need a sample and we'll be gone Dr. Connors. Just give us one vial, and we'll leave." The man fidgeted nervously, pushing his glasses up his nose and looked around the room.

"I can't. It's too dangerous." Of course. He didn't want to give the super-soldier serum to the wrong people. Hell, neither did I. Really, I wondered if Cat cared at all about the implications of what could happen should this serum get into the black market.

Looking over to said cat burglar, I'm noticing an look of absolute excitement on her face.

"You're enjoying this a little too much I think." Felicia's smile goes into a full blown grin as she pulls out a USB drive and starts downloading files.

"Girls just wanna have fun after all." I roll my eyes and look over at Connors. He shifted his position near a desk, and I am about to say something, but Felicia grabs my arm and pulls my attention to the monitor.

"Look at this. I think you'll like it." Following her finger, I look at the next window that she has open. The file read "Symbiote".

I didn't understand all the medical jargon, but it became clear that this Symbiote was a suit when it was bonded to a "host". Otherwise, it was an animated, black, amorphous, mass. I sign to Felicia, asking if she's going to download that file as well, and she shakes her head. I don't have time to read the whole thing, but apparently it can give the wearer an edge in combat. Maybe it was worth taking to help give me an edge on these lunatics, should the need to fight them arise.

"Where is it being stored?" Felicia grabs the mouse and begins clicking around as I turn back to Connors. His hand was in his pocket now, and his face has that suspicious look, like he was trying to be unnoticed. Looking around, I see Creed, Daken, and Lester, are all turning over the place, looking for the serum we are after.

"Connors. Please." He looks over to me, a sad look on his face. "GRAB HIM NOW!" I couldn't risk it. He had something in his pocket, and if he had a serum that could make him capable of fighting us, this was going to get worse.

Daken is the first to turn and pounce on the doctor. He extends his claws and jams them into the man's stomach. Connors gets pinned between a desk and the mutant, a look of fury on Daken's face, and a look of grim terror on Connors as blood splashes out of his mouth. Daken, drags his claws up Connors abdomen slightly before retracting them, and letting the man fall to the floor.

On cue, an alarm goes off, causing the two sensitive mutants to cringe from the loud noise. Good to know sensory overload could be a possible way to disrupt them. Daken looks around, and locate where the siren is originating, before he leaps up, about 8 feet into the air, and slashes the thing off the wall.

With all of this going on, my head is pounding, and I am well beyond frustration. I've entered into fury. But I can't do anything about it. I'd never be able to kill the two mutants, and I'd be throwing my life away if I tried to kill Lester right now.

I'm about to yell at the top of my lungs. Maybe even smash a few things. Anything to get my anger out. It was suffocating me. Thankfully, Felicia grabs my arm and faces me towards her. I look in bewilderment, and she pulls me closer to her, while pointing to behind me. Looking back, I see an empty syringe next to Dr Connors... and a right arm that was checking himself for injuries.

"It worked! My serum works!" Daken had moved away from Connors at this point, but everybody looked to the still living, still breathing researcher, with confusion on their faces.

"Did he just-"

"AAAAAGHGGH!" Before I could even ask the question, Connors begins to violently convulse.

His body twists, and I can hear bones crack, and flesh tear. His agonized screams are becoming less and less human. His skin becomes extremely dry, and begins to fall off.

"I-i-is he... shedding?" I stammer. I've never seen anything like this. I've seen a lot of fucked up things. Murder, gore, violence you wouldn't believe. I was witness to an alien invasion, but this was something out of a horror movie.

Curt Connors. His skin was starting to flake off. He is growing in size. His hair is falling out, and his eyes, were rolled in the back of his head. His eyelids blink shut from left and right rather than up and down, and when they open again, his entire eye is orange, and his iris is a long slit. His mouth and nose elongate as his teeth become razor sharp, and his clothes become ripped as he gets bigger and bigger. His shoes fully tearing apart, and a tail with a trail of spikes on the top protrudes from behind him.

We are frozen in place. Not a single one of us is processing what's happening in front of us. What felt like minutes ended up being only a few agonizing seconds. Curt's screams are replaced with a roar as he stand ups and shouts to the sky. It looks over to Daken, who he was facing, and takes an aggressive stance.

I offer no words of warning as Daken seems to gather whats happening pretty quickly and lunges towards the lizard with his claws extended. Lizard Connors takes the full frontal hit, yelling in pain, before grabbing the Japanese mutant by the head and pulling him up to eye level. Daken's claws drag upwards, and from what I can see, he didn't get very deep. Minimal blood is spilled.

Holding Daken up to eye level, the reptilian monstrosity Connors has turned into throws Daken through a wall. The thing looks back at me and Felicia, but is immediately pounced on by Sabretooth. It should be noted that Connors, who was dwarfed by Creed, is now taller than him by a few inches, and quite a bit wider.

They trash the room, destroying all kinds of equipment as they wrestle for dominance, and Felicia grabs my hand and drags me towards the adjacent room that Connors had originally come from. I look back before rounding the corner to see Connors and Creed stumble into the hall together. I don't notice Bullseye anymore, and I can hear gunfire. Oscorp security had arrived.

"We are so fucked." I state.

"You quitting so easily? That's the best distraction we could have hoped for." Felicia doesn't sound disturbed by anything that just happened, but I wonder if her devil-may-care approach to this is just a mask to hide how scared she is.

I didn't consider myself scared of very much. Not even the aliens that invaded or the very real possibility of being crushed by some super monster like the Hulk or what have you. Watching that excruciating transformation however, and the very little effect Daken had on the Lizard with his claws... I almost shit myself.

"I'm not quitting. I'll fight till my final breath to get the fuck out of here, and hopefully get paid. This however, is way more than we bargained for. I expected something to go awry, but somebody like Dr. Curt Connors turning into a giant lizard capable of fighting two mutants at once? Yeah fuck no. If I had super powers, maybe, but I don't."

"You will if we get our hands on that Symbiote. Judging by it's description, it sounds like the thing Spider-Man was wearing for the last few weeks."

"You mean his black suit?"

"Positive."

"How are you so sure?"

"Because when he and I used to date, he was wearing it. I watched him go from wearing nothing but his undies one second, to being dressed the next. Ah, here we are." Felicia had lead us into a room that had a refrigeration unit with a glass door, and a thumb print scanner attached to a lock. Behind said door was the serum we were looking for.

"Which one is the one their after again?"

"Wow, that concussion really did a number on you." I wince, my headache still being agitated by the alarm going off and the pressure I am under to get out of here alive and with the goods. It didn't help that I went to see my doctor this afternoon to get scanned for CTE.

"Yeah well... I'm sorry alright." Felicia slows her pace as she was placing the serum into the small protective case she had for transportation and looked back at me with genuine remorse.

"Don't be. It's not your fault. It's the blue one." She hesitates for a second, apparently contemplating something. Something important enough to pause her efforts in securing the serum.

"Felicia?" She seems to snap out of it and fixes the serum to the case, closing and locking the small box before placing it in her satchel. Turning towards me, her eyes go wide, and points to something behind me.

Turning around, I see a device that has a containment canister suspended in the air, resting on the counter under a red light. Inside of it is a writhing black, amorphous mass. I get this numb feeling in my gut when I look at it. My instincts were going haywire all night, and it didn't bode well that they aren't any better while looking at that dark mass.

"That thing is as black as the abyss itself." I say it as a whisper. I haven't seen anything like that either. Turning to Felicia, I can see that she's thinking the same. Her facade has been dropped for a moment. I look around, and see there are no cameras in this room, and opt to remove my mask, and the harness that I was wearing with Vultures magnet connected to it. Dropping both to the floor.

Looking at Felicia, I feel a certain sense of ease, but also excitement. Something new was about to happen, and for better or worse, at least I wasn't alone.

"I'm glad you're here." I say it directly. To her, and she smiles at me.

"I do have that effect on men."

"You know what I mean."

"I actually don't." I shake my head as I pull her into a hug. She stiffens, clearly not expecting that kind of contact, so I only linger for a second before pulling away. Her frown proves that she was not happy with my unsolicited contact. I let go and step back.

"Sorry. It's just that, I'm glad there was at least one person here I could count on to have my back. If this doesn't go well... will you tell Cindy for me. That I tried to be better. To be a good man. For her." The Black Cat, the woman without a care in the world and enjoying life no matter what's going on around her, is now stunned.

"You think you're going to die?" I nod. "Why?"

"After my last match, I've been very careful with my head. Making sure to protect it at all costs. I don't ride motorcycles anymore, I'm careful about laying down or leaning backwards against anything. I avoid any and all fights, even if somebody is really trying to get at me... until recently. The underground fighting I was doing didn't present much of a challenge for me. I would get hit a few times in the body, but my defence was focused on my head. My doctors told me if I get any more concussions, it's likely that I'll end up with early onset CTE. So... basically I won't be the person Cindy fell in love with. Or the man she needs to be by her side during our current struggles. I went and fucked it up."

"Tommy-"

"Promise me that you'll get my share, even if you have to steal it. If I get you out of here alive, fuck the rest of them, and you get paid, get my share, and bring it to Cindy Bordeaux. Please, Felicia." I wasn't expecting to see it, but Felicia's face went from stunned confusion, to sad determination. Her confident smile only returning after a few moments of an awkward silence.

"I promise."

"Thank you." Turning around, I head towards the containment unit and pull out my expandable baton and raise it above my head. In the background, all you can hear are the guards yelling and their gunfire, along with the battle cries of the mutants and the inhuman sounds of the transformed Connors. "Here goes... everything, I guess."

I bring the baton down on the canister with a roar, and just as I crack the glass, I hear a bestial roar and a monstrous screech coming from the other side of the wall next to me.

Time seems to slow down as I feel glass cut my face. The Symbiote leaps from it's container, latching onto me like a desperate child latching onto it's parents for support. It feels cold and warm, all at once. Almost to an extreme degree, but it doesn't hurt me. I can feel it crawl across my skin, and even into my flesh. It almost looks like it should feel slimy and course all at once, but it doesn't. Of course, the suit doesn't fully cover me before the wall next to me gets obliterated by the forms of the Lizard and Sabretooth, who aren't slowed down by the obstacle.

They barrel into me, and I hear and feel my bones break as I'm knocked into a wall, and the two of them slam into me. We go tumbling through, and as they hit the ground, their weight smashes us through the floor. My eyes are damaged, a piece of wood definitely got lodged into one of them, and the other has popped out of my head. My nose is smashed to shit and I can feel teeth stuck in my throat, and taste copious amounts of blood. My internal organs have been demolished by the weight that had barrelled into me. One of my eardrums popped as well, so now I am deaf in one ear.

Despite the agony, all I feel is fury.

Why I'm still conscious is beyond me, but the Symbiote hasn't stopped crawling over my entire body. I was covered head to toe now, and I could feel rage coursing through my veins. Accepting this job was stupid, but even more idiotic was the belief that these lunatics could hold it together long enough to get in and out without causing so much damage and death. "Professionals" is what they called themselves. What a crock of shit. All they are good for is killing. Assassins, hitmen, murderers... monsters. I think back to the rooftop with Bullseye.

Venomous words

My old crew. The gang I affiliated myself with.

Doyle, you beat that guy into a hospital. What happened to the negotiations?

Thomas Doyle? A nice guy? The guy's the scorpion on the back of the fucking toad. You get out to water with him and he'll sting you for looking at his girlfriend. The dudes a poison.

Iiiiiit's Tiiime!...

Introducing to the ring, standing at 5 feet, 11 inches. Weighing 185lbs. He is the defending, undefeated, World, Middleweight Champion! Thomaaaaas 'VENOM' Doooooylllllle!

Want to go a few rounds you wash up!

Oh, we'll go a few rounds Lester. Then you'll see how venomous we really are.

Kill them.

My vision goes completely dark for a moment, and I can feel my body snapping back into place. I go deaf for a brief second, and then sound rushes back to me. In both ears. I feel my self getting up, and my vision returns.

Everything seems... different. The area isn't well lit, yet I can see with a clarity I've never had before. In fact, I feel like I can see all around me. Or at the very least, I'm entirely aware of my surroundings. My hearing has returned, and is better than it used to be, and above all else, I am fully healed. I feel no bones sticking through my skin, and I'm not choking on blood. How I know that my organs and bones are no longer crushed to paste, is beyond me.

Speaking of knowing my exact physical make up, I am remarkably aware that I look somewhat similar to Spider-Man when he was wearing his black suit. Which I now realize was the Symbiote I have on now. The suit acts like a second skin. It unsurprisingly is primarily black, with white large eyes, similar to Spidey's. Large sections of my body are covered in a smooth black material, while secondary, smaller sections are like exposed muscle, or threads endlessly layered over one another. There is a white chevron on each "glove", with the point starting on the back of my hand and either side of the 'V' shape reaching my wrists. The large white spider emblems on my front and back have their legs a little closer together then Spider-Man's usual emblem, with the legs wrapping around my ribs, connecting both emblems together., and wrap around my torso.

My admiration for the suit is interrupted when I hear the Lizard roar again, and Creed shouts back. They are still fighting to my right, but a horde of Oscorp guards are coming through the door into the open testing space we had just fallen into. Of course, they are wearing more advanced black and purple gear now, in response to the two monsters that are more than likely beyond their pay grade.

"Alright, Web-head! Hands where we can see them and get on the ground!" The guard in front of the dozen or so men yells at me while pointing an M4 at me. The others seem to have a range of rifles, shotguns, SMG's, and electrified close range weapons and shields.

"Web-head? You think I'm Spider-Man?" I take a step away from the leader and frankly feel stupid for even asking. It wasn't more than a week since the Wall-Crawler was wearing this suit. Although if I remember correctly, his was smooth all over, with white squares on the back of his hands. Didn't really see a lot of pictures of him after he changed suits.

"I said on your knees! NOW!" I take another step back, not sure what to say, and I suddenly have this overwhelming urge to duck.

Just as I crouch down a bullet goes whizzing over my head. The guy in front had fired a single round at me. How dare he.

"I mean it, Spidey."

"I'm not Spider-Man, asshole." I stand up and rush the leader, moving faster than I ever have. I close the distance between us in less than a second, he fires again, but I weave out of the way and go to punch him, when my right arm turns into a mass of twisting tentacles that coil together and slam into the guy, sending him flying into a good number of guards behind him. After my attack, my arm reverts to it's humanoid form, and I'm left in awe.

I don't think I killed him, but he's definitely out cold, having slammed into the far wall of the room. I am surprised by my strength and speed, and I'm eager to find out what other abilities I've acquired through the Symbiote.

"Oh. This feels... good." A guy with an electrified baton rushes me and attempts to strike me from behind, but I'm aware of his approach.

I drop down and slither between his legs, popping up again faster than I ever have. I lift my foot and kick the guy in the back, sending him careening to the floor. At this point, everybody tries to rush me, but I jump, intending to do a flip over my opponents as to not get surrounded, but instead I accidentally jump too high and put my hands up to stop myself from cracking my head against the ceiling. Too my surprise, I simply stick to it. Bringing my feet up, I place them against the ceiling, testing a theory, and realize that I must have the powers of Spider-Man while wearing this suit.

"Should have figured, all things considered. I wonder though. Can I...?" I imagine if shooting webs from my hands was possible, and a memory of how Spidey uses web-shooters with fluid he creates himself for webbing shoots through my mind. "Huh. Thought he just produced it himself."

My instincts kick in and I flip and roll across the ceiling as a hail of gunfire flies towards me. I continue to dodge the ranged assault until most of the weapons run out of ammo and require a reload. When I have more wiggle room, I flip around on the ceiling and keep myself attached by only my back and feet, sticking out my hands, and pressing the middle of my palms with my ring and middle fingers on each hand, black webbing generated from my suit shoots out and latches on to two different guns. With my superior strength, I rip the weapons from the wielders, and proceed to repeat this process a few more times, leaving only two men with fire arms.

Using my webbing, I pull the last two guys up to the ceiling and quickly jump down. As they slam into the ceiling, I shoot a larger, condensed ball of web at each, which springs open as it's about to make contact, pinning them in place. It's then I realize why this suit is called a Symbiote.

It is some how capable of storing information, and passing it on to it's host. Having replicated Spidey's webbing, the webs I generate are stronger, and will last for as long as I need them to before drying up like dead skin and dissolve into a powder. Basically, if I want them to last for an hour, they will. A day, no problem. I'm also learning that I stick to surfaces by controlling the flux of inter-atomic attraction between molecular boundary layers. Not 100% sure yet what that means, but I wonder if the suit will fill me in eventually. Right now it seems to be trickle feeding me the info it has stored.

"Get him!" Turning around, I slip a few punches from a guard, and deliver one punch to his jaw... and I'm mortified.

His teeth fly out of his mouth, and his jaw nearly comes off. I didn't give him 100% and still I almost removed his jawline. The guy moans in agony and I realize that I need to pull my punches just enough that I can put the hurt on my opponents without crippling them for life.

"I'm sorry! I didn't realize how stro-"

"MOTHER FUCKER!" Another guard runs up to me and even though I can easily avoid his attack, I find myself still frozen from the damage I just did to that poor guard. Their just doing their jobs.

Because of my hesitation, I end up eating the punch... and the man's arm shatters. His arm turns into a wet noodle, and he falls to his knees in immediate shock. It's only then that the suit gets around to showing me that Spider-Man greatly pulls his punches, and when he feels like giving non-powered enemies a free shot, he sells the hit like he's a pro-wrestler. Interestingly enough that does remind me of his early days where he did try a his hand at that business.

I continue to dodge hits from the guards at that point, thinking about how Spider-Man's "Spider-Senses" as he calls it, basically make him extremely difficult to hit. Which makes me wonder why he even bothers with the allowance of taking a blow and making people think he's not capable of just crushing them.

Because he's weak.

Yeah. Probably. Pretty pathetic really. I didn't intend on wasting my time like that. From this point on, I'm taking everybody down... but still going to try and avoid crippling them.

I can't fall into my training in the ring, street fighting, and fighting multiple opponents no less, is very different. As acrobatic as I am now I can move around very easily. It helps that I already had practice with urban exploration and manoeuvring through crowds in order to avoid being caught by rival gangs or the cops. I am practically bouncing around, and off of, every guard I lay a hand on.

Jumping into the air, I shoot two strands of webs towards the ground on either side of a guard, and pull myself down with both my feet kicking out. I don't apply any extra force with my legs, and just let gravity do the trick as I angle myself to kick the guy at an angle, as to avoid just landing on him and crushing him. He's sent sliding across the floor, with the wind knocked out of him, and I keep that momentum sliding across the ground, shooting webs at some of the guards without shields to tie up their hands. The last two guys I pass I simply grab there legs and stand up, flipping them upside down. I focus a large amount of webbing on both to pin them to the ground, and begin bouncing around, kicking and punching the rest of them. Because I'm trying to avoid crippling or killing them, it takes me awhile to actually knock them down for the count without using my webs.

As I finish up, I can sense more guards coming. Three times the amount I just fought actually. I hear more roaring from Lizard and Sabretooth who have been trashing the other side of the room, and realize wasting my time on the scrubs is pointless when I have two opponents who will kill anybody in there way that I need to stop.

Turning towards a few of the exits, I start webbing up the doors so that they can't be opened. When I'm done, I turn to Connors and Creed and start shouting.

"Hey! No fighting in my bar!" Obviously the giant Lizard isn't responding, but Creed is clearly ignoring me. Fair. The transformed Connors was giving him a hard time. The fact that both of them could heal rapidly was the only reason why this fight was continuing.

Creed did seem to be fighting with more skill, though adding a bestial quality to said skills, than Connors. The Lizard seemed to be fighting purely on instinct and there for was taking more blows than it's Mutant opponent. Poor Connors didn't ask for any of this, and I figure it's my responsibility to deal with it.

Kill them both.

Well. That would be easier... no. What am I thinking? I'm not sure I can kill Creed. Bad time for intrusive thoughts. Running over to the fight I leap into the fray, and kick Connors in the head, trying to get him to disengage Creed for a moment. My blow actually staggers him a bit, but he recovers quickly and swipes at me. He is MUCH faster than the guards, and nearly shreds me. Luckily I used my webs to zip away, and reposition myself on a wall.

"Any bright ideas, Not-Spider-Man?" Creed dodges a tail swipe from Connors as he asks his question. I look around the room, but nothing stands out as particularly useful against our opponent.

"Other than taking turns delivering blows, trying to web him from a distance while you distract him up close. No. I haven't figured out what to do about Connors."

"Oh I know what to do. We kill him. He heals a helluva lot faster than I do. So it'll be a pain in the ass. But I'll manage it." Victor dives out of the way as Connors picks up a table and effortlessly tosses it at him.

Before it shatters against the surface where Creed used to be standing, I leap forward and shoot webs at it, spinning through the air, changing the trajectory of the ballistic furniture and send it back at the Lizard. My target didn't see it coming, too focused on Sabretooth's current whereabouts. The table slammed into the mutated reptilian man, and caused him to lose balance, which Creed took advantage of. He pounced on the creature's back, causing it to fall forward as he began slashing at the back of it's head. It lands on all fours and I start trying to web it's hands and feet to the ground, but after a few balls of webbing make contact, it quickly realizes it's being pinned and begins scurrying across the ground.

"Damn it! Web it faster, Spider-wannabe!"

"You're so helpful Creed! Remind me to recommend you to other aspiring criminal teams!"

"Just shut up and he-woooaaah!" The Lizard is clearly uninterested in being ganged up on and decides to run through a wall on the opposite side of the room and tear through the facility unimpeded. Creed digs his claws in, an attempt at staying on the rampaging Connors, and I quickly follow them.

Running through the building I'm dodging guards, debris that Connors is throwing back at me, and using my webs to speed things along. Every so often I have to get some late night workers and even guards out of the way of falling debris, and I use my webbing to help sustain some of the collapsing structure.

"Damn it Connors! Stop! You're going to kill people!"

"Waaay past the bargaining point here, kid! We've killed plenty already!"

"NOT helpful, Creed!"

"Who the Hell are you anyway! How do you know me!" Wait. Creed doesn't recognize my scent? I didn't think the Symbiote could mask that.

"Uh! I haven't come up with a name yet! It's my first night!"

"I can tell!"

"Fuck you!"

All I can hear besides screaming, roaring, and the building falling apart is Creed's laughter. Part of me wishes I had targeted him first and webbed him up somewhere while I dealt with Connors, but now I'm stuck with him.

"Tommy! You there!"

"Black Cat?" She sounded like she was running out of breath. I had almost forgotten about the rest of the crew given the urgent battle we had on our hands at the moment.

"You survived! Good! Luck of the Irish is in your favour after all. Willing to share?"

"Kind of busy right now! Connors is rampaging through the building with Creed stuck to his back."

"So let them! It's unlikely they can kill each other anyway. I need your help!" She sounds almost desperate. Not something I'd expect to hear from her very often, or at all really. She definitely gives off the vibe that she'd rather rely on herself instead of others. Especially strangers.

"What's going on? Are you hurt?"

"Actually, yeah. Daken is trying to kill me. He wants the serum. He and Creed are betraying us."

"Shit. Where are you?!"

"Uh, I'm on the east side of the building, 14th floor. Currently running for my life. I'm using guards to slow him down, but he's tearing through all of them like they are made of paper."

"Great. Alright. I'm coming for you." I stop dead in my tracks and turn back around. We were on the North west side, so I had to go through some walls in order to get to her quickly.

"Knew you would eventually."

"Stop it. Do you know where Lester is?"

"Haven't seen him."

"Vulture! You read?!" No answer.

"He was supposed to be our ticket out of here."

"Fuck it. I can get us out of here myself now. Let's cut comms until I can find you. Only reach me if you're in dire straights. They may still be able to hear us."

"If you don't get to her before I do, I'll run her through the way I did Connors." Daken's voice was calm, even. Though I could tell he enjoyed inflicting pain just as much as Creed or Lester, he definitely had a laser focus about him I didn't see in the others. He also doesn't sound out of breath, as if he hadn't just been fighting Osborn guards by the dozens. The guys stamina was unbelievable. I had a feeling my suit would put me on par with him, if not allow me to outclass him completely.

"I'm looking forward to seeing just how much punishment you can take, coward."

"See you soon."

"Tommy..."

"I'll be there soon."

Having formed that same mass of tentacles over my right arm, it took me seconds to smash through to the atrium in the middle of the building. Basically just an open vertical tunnel that allowed somebody with powers like mine to go from one side of the building to the other, and descend and ascend to whatever floor I needed to, in seconds. At the bottom was the front lobby.

Smashing through a window that led to the open area, I leap through and shoot a web at the wall directly across from me. Allowing myself to drop a few floors, I pull the web taught when I need to swing forward. As I do, I see Felicia running through the hall. She notices me and slows a bit, a look of shock on her face. Then fear as she realizes her mistake.

I see Daken come into view, having lunged at her from down the hall, he was flying through the air with his claws extended. Abandoning the initial swing, I shoot a web directly at the window and rip myself forward... but I'm too late.

Felicia puts her hands up and grabs the Mutant's wrists, trying to bring him down, but his strength and speed caught her off guard. Daken's bone claws pierce the protective layer of her costume and rip through her abdomen. I see the look of horror on her face as they tumble to the ground and I slam through the window, landing on my feet.

"NOOOO!" Daken looks over his shoulder at me, a sadistic look of satisfaction on his face, before it fades into frustration.

"Wasn't expecting the bug to return so soon." Slowly pulling out his claws, Daken stands and steps away from Felicia's still form, blood coating his claws and hands. The man looked like he had taken a blood bath. Undoubtedly an unreasonable number of guards were killed in the attempts to subdue him. He steps closer to me, and I can only focus on Felicia's form. "No matter. I'm sure you'll be an interesting challenge, Spider-Man."

She's dying.

I keep failing.

Because you are weak.

I wasn't before. I was strong. Could handle myself. Could fight.Look at her. She's just... dying there.

"T-Tomm-" She can't get out the rest of my name. She spits up blood and it covers her mouth and neck. She becomes less and less animated by the second, and I feel this cold outrage encompassing my whole body. Since the moment this job started, it's been a blood bath. It wasn't supposed to be, but we ended up with three of the most blood thirsty people I had ever met in my life.

You can't win on your own. You'll die.

I know. It's the only reason I didn't kill Lester. Why I didn't throw him off the roof before Vulture showed up.

The other two can't be killed with out me.

Of course. I don't have any special abilities to contend with them. Daken and Creed are monsters. Now there's a mutated Lizard running around... when will it end?

With their deaths.

How?

Rip them to pieces. Eat them so they can't be put back together.

I don't know if I can.

We can. Together.

...

Yes.

I feel the Symbiote writhe and crawl over my skin. I feel like the hallway, Daken, and Felicia are shrinking... no. I- We, are getting bigger.

The spider emblems shift with the rest of the suite. The legs spread out, wraping around our shoulders, and ribs, connecting to each other. We become larger. Sabretooth is 6'6, the Lizard is 6'8. We are the same as the Lizard in hight.

We become wider to. Muscle grows large, almost like a Hulk effect. Fingers turn to claws, eyes gain razor points along the edges, and our mouth forms, no lips, just massive teeth, and a prehensile tongue that sways back and forth in front of us.

We are made anew. We are going to kill every last one of them for what they've done.

The Mutant's look of resolve takes on a hint of concern when he sees the real us. He goes from his over confidant, offensive stance, into a cautious defensive one. Looking up at us, he speaks.

"Okay. You sort of smell like Spider-Man, but definitely something different about you. Who the Hell are you exactly?" Our voices laugh in unison at his perplexed look, and the twisted thoughts born of the hosts rage and the other's hunger. They had no idea what we were going to do to them.

"We... are Venom."