TheRedeemer1995: Greetings, prospective readers, and welcome back to The Venom Inside! Hope you all had a wonderful holiday season, but now it's time to get back to work!
Oh! Before I forget, admittedly don't know why we didn't mention this already, but I should probably mention that, in case it wasn't obvious already, the incident with the Sludge/Slime Monster Villain didn't happen in this AU, as All Might caught him before he could enter the sewers. Meaning until that day at the hospital, All Might and Izuku didn't meet, so Izuku's dreams were very much uncrushed by All Might until he woke up at the hospital following the catastrophe at the Entrance Exam that set Izuku on his path becoming Venom, the Symbol of Vengeance.
Additionally, per a suggestion from a commenter on Ao3, our version of Venom will be using the gadgets used by Peter Parker and Miles Morales from the Insomniac Spider-Man games in addition to the symbiote's powers. While a case can easily be made that Venom wouldn't need such toys, this more or less comes from the possibility that something could happen where Izuku is separated from the symbiote, leaving him a sitting duck otherwise, and knowing Izuku, he'd want to have another trick up his sleeve, just in case. This is also for a reason that you'll see in the story, which actually kinda ties into how Spider-Man actually beat Venom for the first time in the comics.
LegionnaireBlaze: And for those wondering, yes, the apartment complex we have Izuku living in is the same one Eddie Brock lives in, just a different room, which is part of a hotel. That was what's intended for the building in this universe, to revitalize that neighborhood, but it only ended up with the value of the building falling until it was turned into a massive apartment complex with prices that even Izuku can afford. Kind of sad, isn't it?
TheRedeemer1995: Yeah, kinda. But, I think on that note, we covered everything we needed to go over, so let's get this party started!
Chapter III
Symbol of Vengeance
U.A. High School-Front Gates
Guiding Eri's back with one hand and his walking cane with the other, Izuku and Eri made their way over to the front gates of U.A. High School later that day. It had taken some smooth talking to get past the cops to retrieve Eri from his apartment, but he had managed it in the end.
As they walked, Eri looked between the cane and Izuku with some degree of curiosity.
"Why do you need a walking stick?" asked Eri, tilting her head in confusion.
"...because I hurt my leg," Izuku said matter-of-factly.
"Oh… why didn't you need it when we were running away from the man in the mask?" asked Eri. "An' you were runnin' super, super fast too."
'Smart girl,' Venom said inside Izuku's head.
"It was because of a chemical called adrenaline," said Izuku. "And I probably screwed up my leg even more because of it. Also, I would appreciate it if you could keep that little detail to yourself, I don't want anyone trying to make my leg more important than you. If anyone asks, tell them that a big black monster with really sharp teeth and a really long tongue saved us."
Eri looked up at Izuku, confused, before she finally mumbled "Okay…"
"The reason I want you to tell them that is because that's the friend I was telling you about. He's nicer than he looks, so when you actually meet him don't be scared. Okay, Eri?"
"Mhm." Eri hummed and smiled as she nodded, which caused Izuku to ruffle the hair on her head, with a smile on his own face.
"Good girl," said Izuku as he and Eri reached the front gates of the High School and spoke with the guard stationed at the gate about the situation with Eri. The guard nodded and made a few calls to some faculty members before informing Izuku that a few staff members would meet him at the entrance to the main building.
Izuku thanked the man as the gates opened and he hobbled inside, still guiding Eri by her back as they made their way to the main building of U.A. High School. As he hobbled along with Eri, memories composed mainly of excruciating pain and agony began to resurface in Izuku's mind… along with memories of her… Izuku wished he knew who she was. He'd never gotten the chance to thank her properly for protecting his broken body from further harm from the robots. Also, from what few fragmented memories he had of the girl, she was actually kinda cute.
'Oooh, have a crush on some girl you barely know, do you, Izuku?' Venom said teasingly within Izuku's mind.
'Shut up, Venom,' thought Izuku as he and Eri finally reached the entrance of the main building, where a group of superheroes he vaguely recognized were standing, along with, for some reason, a matchstick of a man with a huge head of blonde hair in a white t-shirt and a pair of blue jeans and sneakers that for some reason, looked vaguely familiar to Izuku, and made him feel really angry.
'That guy… I think he might be All Might,' Venom said in Izuku's mind.
'No way, that guy can't be All Might. All Might is super buff, and that guy looks like he'd blow away if you blew hard enough on him,' Izuku said to the symbiote.
'How do you know it's not All Might's Quirk that makes him super buff? You were never able to figure out what exactly his Quirk was or how it worked, after all,' Venom pointed out.
'...can't argue with that,' said Izuku as the group of heroes came out to meet Izuku and Eri, most of them doing what they could to help lift the girl's spirits and escort her into the building, while the matchstick guy invited Izuku to come inside and talk with him.
Izuku nodded and followed the man to a classroom marked "Y. Toshinori," and took a seat at one of the desks while the matchstick of a man, presumably Toshinori himself, leaned against a desk looking at Izuku intently.
"So… the guard outside gave me a brief summary of how you and young Eri came to cross paths, but I'd like to hear the story from you, young man. What exactly happened, how did you know that young lady was being menaced by a villain,and is there anything else you can tell me?" Toshinori asked.
"Well, I was on my way home from a trip to a confectionary store to pick up some snacks when Eri bowled me over, knocking me to the ground. I took a look at her to see that she was a complete mess, rags for clothes, malnourished, dirty cuts that were covered up by just as dirty bandages. The poor thing was trembling in fright. That was when this guy in a plague doctor mask came up claiming he was her father, but the way he smiled told a different story. You know, he had that smile that psychopaths have. So, I threw the piece of candy I was eating at him, he freaks out, and I tried to get me and Eri out of there," said Izuku.
"Hmm… sounds like he's run afoul of Overhaul…" Toshinori said quietly to himself, but not quietly enough as Izuku was able to hear it.
'Houston, we have a name and a lead!' Venom said within Izuku's mind before Tashidori spoke up again.
"However, I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around you and miss Eri getting away from this villain, especially with your injury," said Toshinori, glancing at Izuku's cane.
"We almost didn't," said Izuku. "That's when this big black monster of a thing with sharp claws, even sharper fangs, and a tongue long enough that it looked like it had a pink snake sticking out of its mouth showed up. It starts attacking the nutjob, a bunch of his guys come out to protect him, and me and Eri slip away in the chaos. I brought her back to my place to keep her safe and get her cleaned up before I decided to bring her here, where I'm hoping you can keep her safe and help her," said Izuku with a dark scowl on his face that left Toshinori troubled.
"And what exactly made you decide to bring her here?" asked Toshinori
Izuku scoffed. "Look, if I had my way, I wouldn't have let her anywhere near you vigilantes and raised Eri myself as my little sister. Too young to have a daughter, after all," the greenette said bitterly. "Unfortunately, there were other circumstances to consider, namely her Quirk. I don't know what it is exactly, but it seems like it's very powerful, very dangerous, and she can't control it, if the fact that she thinks she's cursed and that she made her father 'go away' is anything to go by. Whatever my personal feelings are, the fact remains that you guys are the best bet to help Eri get control of her Quirk. I can only hope you don't fail her as you failed me."
With that Izuku stood up, grabbed his cane and limped towards the door as Toshinori spoke again. "Wait, Midoriya, I-" he started to say before Izuku stopped in his tracks and slowly turned around and gave Toshinori a glare that immediately made him falter.
"Oh, so you remember me?" said Izuku, venom in his voice as he continued to glare at the true form of his fallen idol, who still seemed to be struggling for words. "I must admit, I'm actually surprised. Do not fail Eri like you've failed me…"
On that note, Izuku opened the door and limped out, leaving a troubled Toshinori behind.
As he limped down the hallway, heading for the exit, Izuku was soon stopped in his tracks by the voice of one of the last people he wanted to deal with right now.
"Well, look who it is. The hell are you doing here, Deku? Didn't know they were doing public tours today."
A spike of anger and hatred surged through Izuku as Katsuki Bakugou came from around the corner, giving him a smug look as Izuku threw a scowl at him.
"Why I'm here is none of your business, Bakugou. I've had enough dealing with people I'm not particularly fond of for one day, so I suggest you get lost and go disgrace the word hero somewhere else," growled Izuku.
Bakugou laughed. "Or what, you Quirkless nerd? Gonna hit me? I'd love to see you try," he said with a sneer. "So, gonna tell me what your sorry ass is doing here? Or do I have to teach you a lesson just like old times?"
Suddenly, Izuku's hand reached out and grabbed hold of Bakugou's shirt, bringing him right up to his face. "Listen to me very carefully. A lot has changed in the past week. I've been making some new friends, and those friends would love nothing more than to bite your head off and feed on your brains, or lack there of, so I'm only going to tell you this once," growled Izuku, beginning to feel the surge of power that could only come from Venom as a confused and startled look crossed his former friend's face, something Izuku couldn't help but relish.
"Threaten or intimidate me again, and we will end you, and we are NOT talking about your hero career," Izuku warned Bakugou, his voice becoming slightly more monstrous, and his eyes turning solid black for the briefest of moments, as Bakugou felt a chill run down his spine. Izuku threw the explosive Quirk user with one hand, sending Bakugou sprawling to the ground a few feet away.
Bakugou looked up at Izuku, who had an ice cold look on his face as he turned around and limped away, leaving the blonde feeling somewhat unnerved. The punch to his face in the middle school courtyard he could understand, as he was no stranger to venting his anger in such a manner himself, but this was different. Never before had Izuku actually threatened to end someone like he just had to Bakugou, and there was the fact that his voice had turned more monstrous on top of the fact that he had just referred to himself as 'we,' and he could have sworn Deku's eyes turned black as obsidian for a brief moment.
Bakugou wasn't sure what exactly had caused it, but something about Izuku had changed drastically over the past week. There was something inside him now, some kind of darkness or monster. Maybe it had always been there, and it had only recently been brought to the surface, but Bakugou knew one thing for certain: whatever it was, it was sinister, and when it finally came out, it was not going to be pretty.
And for some reason, Bakugou couldn't help but wonder if he should be afraid of his former friend… or afraid for him.
Outside The School…
'Aw, come on, you shoulda let me at him!' complained Venom from within Izuku's mind as Izuku began to hobble away from the front entrance of the main building.
"Are you crazy? Attacking Bakugou as Venom in the middle of the single most famous hero academia in the world? We'd have been toast with a capital T! Nuh-uh. We'll give Bakugou an attitude adjustment another time, when he doesn't have the most famous 'heroes' in the world on hand to help save his sorry ass. That aside, there are a couple things I wanted to go over," said Izuku.
'Such as?'
"Well, for one thing, I have some concerns about the way you produce webbing… you do that by basically shedding your skin, right?" asked Izuku.
'More or less, yeah,' said Venom.
"Well, I was thinking about maybe putting together some type of device that would create webs for us, because I'm not gonna lie, the thought of you using too much of yourself to spin a web actually has me worried a bit," said Izuku.
'Didn't have you pegged for a tinkerer, Izuku. More importantly, don't worry yourself over that, I can regenerate. You don't need a silly little toy like that!' said Venom.
"It's not just that," said Izuku as he continued to hobble towards the gate leading out of U.A, which for some reason, never seemed to get any closer from his perspective. "You said that sounds in the four thousand to six thousand gigahertz range are not only lethal to you, but that they can separate us with prolonged exposure. There's more than one hero out there who can use a sound Quirk, and I wouldn't be surprised if there were others out there too. I need to be able to defend myself if that happens until you can latch back onto me."
'I see… that's a valid point, Izuku,' replied Venom. 'Very well, I do happen to know a formula for creating synthetic webbing that should suit our purposes. One of my previous hosts was native to a planet of man-spiders, so that should suffice… though it feels like there was someone else who used a similar formula… oh well.'
"Thank you." Izuku said as he continued to hobble. "Another thing I was thinking about was that we need a symbol or an emblem of some kind… something that both heroes and villains alike will fear…"
'Any ideas on what you want this symbol to be?' asked Venom.
"I have a few ideas-oof!" said Izuku as he walked directly into someone and fell on his back as that person fell on top of him.
'Again? Is crashing into each other some form of greeting on this planet?' Venom asked within Izuku's head, sounding slightly amused as he and Izuku came to realize who had bumped into them.
It was a girl around Izuku's age with a round face, brown hair in a bob cut, brown eyes, and wearing the female U.A. High School uniform.
'It's her!' Venom and Izuku thought simultaneously.
"Oh, hey, it's you," the girl said as she and Izuku disentangled themselves from each other, albeit with some difficulty as Izuku was feigning his leg injury to avoid suspicion. "Um, sorry, I really should have been watching where I was going," the girl said.
"Nah, that one was on me, got lost in my head a little bit there," said Izuku as he pulled himself up with his cane.
"So… how have you been holding up, since… you know, what happened at the Exam?" the girl asked Izuku.
"Been better, still trying to find some kind of purpose to fill the hole my dream of being a hero left in me, but I suppose it could be worse. I could be dead, and U.A. could have been in the center ring of a media circus," said Izuku.
"Well, I don't really know what to tell you about that," said the girl with a nervous chuckle.
"Well, you can tell me your name," suggested Izuku. "It'd be nice to put a name to the face of the girl who probably saved my life after I decided to be an idiot and try to do a Hero School Entrance Exam Quirkless."
"I'm Ochako. Ochako Uraraka. What about your name? Never got that from you after the exam," the girl said.
"I'm Izuku. Izuku Midoriya," said Izuku as he gave Ochako a respectful bow.
Ochako smiled at Izuku. "Well, I'm sure I'll see you around, Izuku," she said as she walked past Izuku, who watched her walk away.
'I like her,' said Venom from within Izuku's mind.
"Well, that makes two of us," said Izuku. "We should probably get going. We got a lot of work to do in preparation for tonight."
Later That Night…
Venom, his body now bearing two white spider symbols, one on his chest and the other on his back, both connected by two legs that ran along his sides and a pair that ran over his shoulders, with a pair of white patches on the back of his hands, that in truth, were the Mark I Web Shooters that Izuku had developed to remove the risk of Venom overexerting himself while producing webbing in combat or while traversing the city, perched on the edge of a building overlooking the city.
Admittedly, once his web shooters were completed, Izuku began getting ideas for possible upgrades and additional gadgets, however, those would have to wait for another time.
'I'm really sorry the web shooters are so big. I mean, I know they're not huge but I didn't really have much time to…'
'Partner, most would take the fact you made them out of scraps and so quickly as a goddamned miracle. You need to stop apologizing for your success, Izuku.' Venom thought to his host as he 'cracked' his neck.
It was time to go to work.
Venom leapt off the building into a dive, shooting a black web to catch himself before he could splat on the pavement, and starting to swing through the streets.
"Oh yeah! Whoo-hoo!" yelled Venom as he swung through the streets, on the hunt for people in need of rescuing, or perhaps another lead to follow on the masked villain Overhaul that he'd heard Toshinori mention while being questioned about Eri back at U.A.
Thankfully, Venom didn't have to look for too long, as he soon heard the sound of screaming coming from nearby. Adjusting his direction to head towards the sound of the screaming, and soon found the source: a group of muggers harassing what seemed to be a small family.
Venom grinned. Showtime.
With a roar, Venom launched himself towards the muggers, tendrils flaring out in an intimidating manner as he landed, grabbed on of the thugs of a tendril, and slammed him into a wall hard enough to leave a crater, before generating a ball of biomass in his hand before throwing it at two of the other goons, where it exploded like a grenade.
The last thug, however, decided to turn tail and run for his life, only for Venom to shoot a blob of himself at the thug, grabbing ahold of them, and then slamming them into a wall, gluing the thug to the wall.
His job done and the heroes no doubt on the way, Venom leapt into the air and started swinging away, leaving the would-be mugging victims confused. Were… they just saved by someone with a villain's Quirk?
Well, whatever that Quirk was, the fact remained that the monster had saved them, so they would be cautiously optimistic that a new hero was on the rise… though still, not often you find heroes quite as unnerving as that one…
A Few Hours Later…
Venom grinned as he swung through the air. Saving that family, along with stopping a couple robbery and a few B-and-Es, felt good, but there was still more work to be done in the city, and he needed to stay one step ahead of the heroes in order to avoid any complications… especially if Present Mic decided to turn up and make some noise.
As he swung overhead, Venom looked down to see a group of heavily armed men gathering in a back alley, and it didn't exactly look like they were trading baseball cards. Perching unseen on the side of a wall Venom scoped out the scene, letting out a growl as he recognized one of the thugs doing the deal as one of the thugs who had escaped from his apartment complex earlier that day, something that struck Venom as odd. Why hadn't Electrus and the Gremlin taken him into custody?
A quiet growl left Venom's throat as he theorized the reason why: Electrus and the Green Gremlin were in Overhaul's pocket, which would explain why Professor Squid hadn't been with them when those two rescued Overhaul. Either Professor Squid isn't in Overhaul's employ, or isn't yet.
'Two more names to put on our list,' Izuku thought from within Venom as he continued to observe the scene from the shadows, waiting for the opportunity to strike. It wouldn't be long before that opportunity presented itself as a briefcase that, from what Venom could see, contained several vials of some kind of liquid, most likely drugs, and another briefcase filled with stacks of used Yen, were exchanged.
Leaping down from his perch with a roar, Venom's landing on the ground caused the gathered thugs to stumble a bit, while the thug that was in Overhaul's employ almost immediately developed a dark spot on the front of his pants before grabbing the briefcase filled with money, turning tail, and starting to run for dear life.
"Oh no, you don't! You and us need to have a little chat about your boss!" snarled Venom before shooting a web that glued the fleeing thug to one of the vehicles parked at the end of the alley while the other thugs aimed their weapons at Venom or activated their Quirks, one of them wielding what looked like a fire Quirk, although it didn't seem as powerful as the one used by Endeavor, while another one had a stone Quirk, as their body became encased in rock as pointed stones floated around the thug, something that Venom couldn't help but chuckle at.
"Such powerful Quirks… and yet, all you are is some crime boss' hired muscle? Pathetic!" snarled Venom as he swiftly disposed of the thugs wielding guns with his tendrils, before focusing his attention on the two thugs with Quirks.
The thug with the Fire Quirk launched a blast of fire at Venom, who, moving surprisingly quickly for someone of his size, evaded the blast of fire and pounced on the thug, knocking the unprepared thug to the ground before knocking him out in a single super-strong punch before getting knocked off the thug by a hail of stones and into a nearby car, causing a large dent to form in the side of the vehicle and causing it to flip over.
Pulling himself off the ground, Venom let out a fierce roar before charging at the thug and getting ready to throw a punch, only for the thug to grab Venom's arm and throw him into the wall directly behind him, leaving a crater upon impacting it.
Pulling himself up off the ground, Venom instead decided to try a different approach, and shot webs at the thug's feet, gluing him in place, while trying to use a pair of tendrils to restrain his arms, only for the thug to grab ahold of the tendrils and pull Venom towards him.
Unfortunately for the thug, Venom had counted on the thug doing exactly that, and as he was being pulled towards the thug, Venom landed a punch right on the thug's face, ungluing the man's webbed feet from the ground and sending the man flying through the wall and clear across the other side of the street.
Giving a satisfied growl, Venom turned his attention to the thug in Overhaul's employ that he'd webbed to a vehicle, a smirk on Venom's face as he realized that the entire front of his pants were soaking wet and that urine was leaking out of his pant leg.
"Now then… as for you, we've no doubt that the heroes will be here soon, so why don't you and us go find somewhere a bit more private to have our little chat…" said Venom, only for his face to fall when the thug passed out.
"Well, damn," grumbled Venom.
A Short Time Later…
"Hey, wake up already! Come on, we don't have all night!" a terrifyingly familiar voice said as the thug regained consciousness to realize that he was hanging upside-down over the edge of the very top of a large building. To make matters worse, the only thing keeping him from hitting the pavement was what seemed to be a thin thread attached to the back of the wrist of the creature who had attacked him.
"Ah, good, you're awake," said Venom, a grin on his face. "Y'know, when we were developing these web shooters, we don't think we ever considered dangling a full-grown man like this. So, for your sake, we hope this web line holds. Of course, your odds will improve if you tell us where Overhaul's base of operations is."
"I don't know! And I'm serious! He moved after something scared the shit out of him. Left a whole bunch of stuff behind!"
"Then where can we find his former base of operations?" growled Venom
"I'll take you right to it, just please don't eat me!"
Venom tilted his head quizzically. 'Where the Hell did he get that idea from?'
'Remember what we look like, and what we said to Overhaul? About eyes, lungs, and his pancreas? This guy was one of the people you stuck to a wall, it's possible he heard it wrong, and we can capitalize on that to make them afraid of us sooner.' Izuku thought back to his partner.
The silence and quizzical tilt made Venom look like he was thinking things over to the formerly armed goon, and in a way he was, just not about what the felon thought.
"Alright, but any sign of tricking us and…" Venom made an over exaggerated bite in the hoodlum's face, making him quickly nod his understanding. "Good boy…"
Industrial District-Abandoned Factory Exterior-An Hour Later…
The last thug patrolling the exterior of the building grunted as Venom knocked him out cold, his sniper rifle clattering of the side of the factory roof as Venom made his way over to a nearby skylight that seemed almost impossible to see through, although there were places where the symbiote and host could in fact see through it, and it was surprisingly easy to hear the thugs inside chattering.
"Hey, how many vials of that goat kid's blood we got left?" said one of the hoods.
"Just four… and as long as that brat is at U.A, we ain't getting any more of it any time soon… but we can still make as much Trigger as we want! AIN'T THAT RIGHT, FELLAS!"
Venom became enraged at what had been said, and as the group of wannabe villains cheered and hollered Venom jumped into the air, stuck two webs to the sides of the skylight, and pulled himself down through it, sending shards of glass and metal everywhere as he landed and roared in hatred.
TheRedeemer1995: And that's a bingo! Man, I gotta admit, I'm having a lot of fun writing this thing. How about you, Legionnaire?
LegionnaireBlaze: So did I even if I didn't do much this chapter.
TheRedeemer1995: Hey, don't worry about it, I'll just have you write the next chapter by yourself *withers from the glare LegionnaireBlaze is giving him* Kidding, kidding. Now, if you all liked what you saw here, then I think you know the drill by this point. Be sure to fave, follow, review, and be sure to join us next time as Venom lays waste to the wannabe villains and has a run-in with All Might! See you guys then!
LegionnaireBlaze: Bye!