SPIDER SECRET

People who fear spiders usually overestimate their size.

Izuku runs his fingers over the rough bandages that have been so caringly wrapped around his waist. With some help from Cementoss and Recovery Girl, U.A's medical ward was quickly repaired to a workable state so that he and those who had been injured could be treated. Now, he's getting his gummies and his recommended bed rest.

The licensed nurse who makes sure he actually takes the recommendation into account stands idly by, busying herself with his medical records. Recovery Girl manages to find some amusement in the set of circumstances since it's not too dissimilar from when he stumbled in here before while having an abdominal injury. "It appears you tripped into a thing again, Mister Midoriya."

Izuku's face heats up as he tries to not look at her in her eyes. That's the old excuse he gave her for when he had been impaled by Vulture. "I'm too clumsy for my own good.."

The elder health technician frets the same way that the boy's mother might. "I don't suppose it would help to tell you to be more careful", she checks his bandages to make sure that they are secure before completing her assessment.

Izuku hears that suggestion far too often, but something tells him it wouldn't be a good idea to disclose that information or to respond with any type of retort. Instead, he tells her, "I'll try."

Recovery Girl accepts that with a nod before turning towards the others occupying the medical ward. "Well.. You're not the worst one for wear here, at least."

Izuku turns his head to get a glance at them as well. The heroes he tried to hold back from harming Melissa wound up getting harmed instead. For that, he blames himself.

The boy breathes out through his mouth, "Yeah.."

And then his breath hitches in his throat. He sees a head of indigo hair heading his way. With no mask to hide his own face, he's not sure if he's prepared to see Hitoshi Shinso face to face again so soon.

Recovery Girl looks between them both and gets the gist of it. "I have some other patients to tend to", she gives them a moment of privacy, "Give me a ring if you need anything."

"Thanks, Recovery Girl" Izuku watches the older woman go before turning towards the other boy.

"Midoriya", Shinso gives Izuku a curt nod.

"Shinso", to which Izuku returns.

They each stare at the other in silence. After a while of awkward tension, Shinso turns his gaze from the boy in bed to the medical machinery surrounding them. "You know.. To have had you vulnerable like this before.. I'd have–"

"I'm not completely vulnerable, you know" Izuku sits up a little straighter, ignoring the protest of pain against his abdominal muscles when he shifts upright.

Shinso returns his stare to Izuku, slightly surprised. "I didn't come here to threaten you..", he shifts from foot to foot, "That's not what I meant."

It's Izuku's turn to be a bit surprised. But then he realizes he had no warning from his Spider-Sense, and since Shinso is no longer wearing the symbiote… "Sorry", he hunches over, "It's hard not to be a little..", he feels ashamed now as he asks, "How's it been since.. ?"

Shinso reacts subtly, barely a flinch, but it's a reaction. "Aizawa says I should thank you for giving me another chance", he looks away to avoid making eye contact and sighs. "So.. Thanks, I guess."

Izuku swallows. As far as Aizawa is concerned, Spider-Man had made that decision. But really, it had been much more personal of a choice to him as Izuku Midoriya as well. "I remember what it was like to be influenced by the symbiote", he grabs fistfulls of the bedsheets draped over his legs, "Those emotions may have been.. semi-real… but they're pulled from being deep rooted, to be manipulated and surfaced aggressively.. I know it wasn't your fault – not entirely."

Shinso listens intently, but somehow it doesn't look like he actually heard anything at all at the same time. Nothing other than… "The.. The symbiote", he wets his tongue because he may as well have got a taste of something that he hungers for, "That's why I came here."

Izuku shakes his head, "The one we saw wasn't the same.." His face scrunches up as he thinks back to how he handled the last symbiote. It's impossible for Jackal to have managed to find out what he did with it. "At least.. It shouldn't be.."

Shinso sees the pensive frown and hears the uncertainty in Izuku's voice. It stirs something up in him. He asks, "What did you do to it?", but there's just a bit too much desperation and hostility in his tone for it to be an honest question.

Izuku looks up at his former friend, concerned. "Shinso–"

"I can help", Shinso steps forward – now, he doesn't bother hiding his desperation – he grabs onto the end of the cot, "I sensed the thing in Shield and.. If I got the symbiote back, the original, then I could track the other–"

"No", Izuku shuts down the other boy's suggestion immediately, "No way" He knows that Aizawa would do the same.

Shinso seethes through his teeth to keep from shouting. It doesn't work all that well. "Dammit! Look around you – look at YOURSELF", he gestures to the occupancy of the infirmary to try and give a logistical reasoning, "You can't beat it alone!" And though it is a fair point that he makes, "Neither can the pros", it all sounds like excuses, "You could hardly beat ME by yourself!"

Izuku lets Shinso breathe for a bit. He needs the time to allow HIMSELF to breathe. He can see the anger again. He can see the same mistakes in denying his friend the trust to work together again – but he can definitely see the mistake in allowing the symbiote to reunite with Shinso. "You can't control it.."

"I'm..", Shinso has a hard time refuting that one. But he doesn't give up on his argument either, "You know you don't have much of a choice" Shinso's anger simmers down as he pleads his case a second time. "We have to find and stop this thing and you have no other way to do so, especially not while injured."

Izuku wants to look down. Away. But he looks at Shinso. He looks at Shinso and he sees … his old friend. Anger is a mask of its own, used to cover up sorrow. He doesn't want Shinso feeling betrayed of trust again. Not when it's being rebuilt. So… Izuku sucks in a breath and gives his answer, "I'll be watching you the entire time."

He just hopes it's not the wrong one.

They arrive at a finished construction site. When Spider-Man swings in and lands, he notes that its architecture is nearly complete since when he last saw it. The cement has dried and hardened beneath his feet.

Alongside him, Hitoshi Shinso removes a spare web patterned mask from his face – given to hide his identity while they swung around – Shinso pulls it off, unveiling a raised eyebrow and a still very unruly mess of entangled hair. He asks aloud, "You left it here… ?"

Spider-Man taps his foot on the floor, "Buried alive", and nods. He's kinda proud of himself for thinking of this conceptual means as a way to contain it. "So that it would be away from ensnaring any other living hosts."

Shinso, on the other hand, doesn't appear impressed. He stares down at the cemented floor, stare just as hard. He's sure that the symbiote's hatred has been festering to have been sentenced to such an inhumane fate for so long. He's sure that it's been suffering there all this time. He steps forward, past Spider-Man, almost forgetting that Izuku is there entirely.

Spider-Man watches as Shinso crouches down to place a hand on the ground. Shinso touches the barrier between him and the symbiote. Already, Izuku is starting to question his decision. He regrets telling Shinso where the symbiote is – telling him what he did to it – because, now, of all the people who could know – Venom's host knows.

"Maybe we shouldn't–", he starts to backtrack – to try and sway Shinso from going further with their plan to use the symbiote to find the other.

But Shinso is already grabbing a nearby sledgehammer to use as a tool to dig up the symbiote. "Don't be crazy", he heaves it up and over his shoulder before bringing it down. The cement cracks. He makes a dent even without enhanced strength. "We can't just leave it down there!"

Izuku steps forward. He doesn't feel his Spider-Sense triggering – but that could also be an adverse effect of the symbiote – there's no telling with Venom. He's not sure if he can take that risk. The last time he manhandled Shinso was at the Sports Festival and he regretted that deeply… Will he regret doing so now?

"Shinso–", he reaches for the other boy's arm to try and gently stop the sledgehammer from swinging down a second time. But it's too late. The hammer hits – and breaks – the cement. It breaks further. It breaks enough.

Through the cracks and the thin narrow openings, even thinner tendrils eject from the gaps. The symbiote slithers through the spaces rapidly, climbing up and out into the open. As a snake might last out from a hole in the ground when having its den disturbed, it flickers in a flash of the eye to strike.

The symbiote goes for Shinso, instantly enveloping him – the sledgehammer clatters onto the ground, slipping loose from his hands as they become clawed and covered by a thick muscular coating of density.

A familiar blackened purple sheen reflects along the slimy surface of a large creature's skin. This one is just as intimidating as the red one. But Izuku is more familiar with it. Venom has returned.

"Together again at long last!" Venom bellows into the sky with something of a war cry. A flash of fangs and a freely flapping tongue display something of a broad smile.

"Sh- Shinso.." Spider-Man watches with wide eyes. His hand is still outstretched, unsure of if he should clench it into a fist and swing – retract it – or, WHAT exactly.

Venom turns, taking notice of Spider-Man, its own whitened eyes widening as though just realizing he's there. A backhand to the vigilante's chest – quicker than a snake striking – sends him flying into a steamroller that's parked behind them. The force of the impact causes him to sink into it – the metal bending inward with his body like he landed on a beanbag chair and not something extremely hard.

Spider-Man groans as he tries to get up, "Shinso..", he also tries speaking – but his chest tightens from the effort. Pain flares up. That was a pretty strong blow he took, and he wasn't braced for it at all.

Venom lands on top of him, short of straddling him to keep him pinned there. The monster leans forward, leering. "We should bury you alive now! Return the favor! Make you PAY!"

"Sure", he coughs when the pain climbs up from his chest and into his constricting throat, "That sounds fair.." Spider-Man swallows hard. He forces himself to speak still, "BUT.. Aren't you forgetting about the whole team up thing?"

Venom pauses. Reconsidering. Remembering. Or, maybe it's Shinso speaking to the symbiote internally. Either way, Spider-Man can see the pause. Venom's fangs form a frown, but he nods and backs off. "A temporary truce then."

"Temporarily.. ?" Yep. He should have figured it was a bad idea to do this. He'd slap himself in the face if he weren't still already nursing two pains in his chest and stomach. His whole torso feels like it's burning as he climbs out of the sunken-in steamroller.

"We can sense our other.. We will go there, find it, DESTROY it, and then settle our feud.." Venom turns his huge head, tilting it as one might crane an ear to listen.

Spider-Man sighs. He's not in much condition to argue or fight now over that. He'll just have to agree and deal with it later. "Alright then.. Temporary truce it is.." If he survives, Aizawa might kill him for being so stupid.

Stupid seems like the appropriate word. Stupid calls for what exactly? All of the stupid things, of course. Currently, Spider-Man crawls alongside Venom in the same subway tunnels that he had followed previously to where Jackal was keeping Melissa Shield. How he had never thought to go back there, regardless of S.H.I.E.L.D's search, is beyond him. Because, of course Venom would sense this new symbiote back where it was born.

Down beneath the city where it's dark, damp, and cramped – with convenient access all around ever still – it's a villain's and a symbiote's dream dwelling. He should do routine checks just to make sure nobody else decides to capitalize on it. The wallcrawler groans and shakes his head. Yeah, stupid about sums it up. He's feeling pretty stupid himself right about now. All of these mistakes he's made are just about as silly as the situation itself.

When Venom leads him directly to the collapsed station that he had rescued Melissa from, that all about confirms it for him. But stupidity aside, the place does appear to still be completely caved in on itself. S.H.I.E.L.D did a fine job of making it manageable to still traverse, a lot of the rubble pulled aside and stabilized, but it's a heck of a mess. Spider-Man lets Venom continue trailing his symbiote sensation. They go deeper.

"Here", Venom stops at a bare wall that has collected dust from the downfall of the station.

Spider-Man squints as he stares back and forth between the deadend and Venom. "Really? Are you sure?", it's not like he has trust issues with Shinso or anything (he kinda does) but he also doesn't see a red symbiote anywhere in sight. He stands on guard since this could all have been a way to lure him somewhere that he's at a disadvantage.

But then Venom hits the wall instead of him. And the wall comes down. And on the other side of it is – another lab. Spider-Man's eyes widen when he sees what he sees. The wall had been a faulty barrier to conceal a secret place of work. Jackal had a second station. This one looks to be dedicated to solely symbiote research.

A variety of different colored slimes swim around in glass containers. Spider-Man and Venom step into the creepish den to have a closer look. These are all offsprings. Designed differently. One's got a yellow hue and another has a darker green gloss. If the red one was any indication, then there's no telling how deadly or dangerous these others are. Jackal could have an army of these things – a replacement for his Nomu, and not all that worse of a replacement either.

Already, Izuku knows what must be done. "We've gotta–"

"Free them", but Venom says something entirely different from, "-destroy them."

The two look at one another.

So much for that truce.

Spider-Man doesn't require Spider-Sense to see it coming – a heavy swipe of the muscular entity's clawed hand. He flips away and sticks a landing on the ceiling above them. His stomach screams at him for the hasty movement, but it's better than getting another injury just as bad as it.

"Shinso! Snap out of it! You know what these are all capable of!", he tries appealing to whatever common sense his former friend may have all while dodging a second swipe of claws.

"That is exactly why they should not be tortured, contained, or destroyed!" Venom responds with a retaliation of tendrils sprouting from his back. They're thick and clumsy as opposed to what Spider-Man fought against with the red symbiote, so they're easier to predict and evade.

"They may as well be aliens plotting an invasion, man! It's not safe!" As strange as it sounds or seems, Izuku understands where Shinso is coming from – he actually does. The symbiotes can make a person feel good even when they're really doing bad. Not only does it make a person physically stronger, but they feel better about themself despite being hostile or aggressive, like they're absolutely right and everybody else is wrong. But he also now knows that is not the case. They're really just parasites.

Just when things don't seem like they could get any more out of control, Venom isn't the only symbiote with a host anymore. The red one that took over Melissa enters the lab through the hole that Venom made. Izuku had hoped Shinso only sensed these contained symbiotes when they found Jackal's secret space and that he wouldn't have to deal with the other monstrosity, but it looks like they're all here in the same place now.

"The world needs saving and it won't be from the heroes", Venom continues to think he's the righteous one somehow as he keeps pursuing Spider-Man around the room.

How Melissa plays into all this – well, that only makes things worse for Izuku. She must be out to get him too, whether it's because of her remaining resentment relating to her father or what happened at U.A, because she joins in the chase.

"No! He's ours!" There IS a saving grace though. Venom apparently isn't willing to share. If they had teamed up on him, he's sure he'd be killed. But, with the two of them at odds, he stands a chance.

Venom's superior size swats his offspring aside. However, Melissa's symbiote has a superior speed that she recovers quickly and bounces back with just as much force. The two wrestle with one another, tendrils coiling and enveloping eachother. They go crashing into a set of beakers. Fortunately, those containers only hold chemicals of some kind and not more symbiotes.

Spider-Man, still caught in the middle of their feud with just as much of a grudge between the both of them for himself, kicks and punches. He's sure his attacks do hardly as much damage as their hits are doing to one another or him, but that doesn't mean fighting isn't for lack of trying. So long as he stays conscious, he keeps going. He just has to get himself out from their slimy grasps.

Right now, even in a small secluded space, his best bet is hopping around and dodging their attacks. He can't go toe to toe with BOTH Venom and this other symbiote. Especially not in his current condition. He has to get distance. He has to regain some semblance of an advantage. He pushes off them each with a forceful kick of his feet and brings his legs back over his head. There's sounds of things crashing as he's flung across the lab and back out into the wider station.

He tumbles along the ground, getting an occasional glance at the symbiotes that struggle behind him. When he comes to a stop, he springs to another corner of the chamber – not willing to stay still for too long. They might be preoccupied with eachother but there's no way that he'll risk them changing their mind either.

Venom slams a fist against the red being's thinner frame. It rings as skeletal as it is structured. But it also functions with the flow of an exoskeleton, its knuckles grazing the other symbiote along the head. That the two could bounce blows off one another in the form of punches may be surprising since they'd be more prone to use their claws as the creatures that they are, but there's apparently a score to settle here – a point to be made.

Spider-Man leaps past them. They're distracted. That gives him a chance to carry out the duty of destroying the others. There's a flame burner. When his house burned down – even before that, when facing Punisher – the symbiote reacted badly to fire. He switches it on. And he tips it over to set the lab aflame.

Screeches surround him – Spider-Man covers his ears through his mask, hands clasping against his head on either side – it's a cacophony so loud that the symbiotes harm themselves. Orange illuminates a hellish landscape of writhing tendrils that have no full functionality as limbs but still twirl and reach – grasping at SOMETHING.

Spider-Man stumbles back out through the broken barrier and into the larger station, falling to his knees as he does. He wants to crawl away from the noise. He can't think clearly. It's as loud and consuming of his mind as his Spider-Sense – a spiked tendril lashes his back the way a whip might crack against flesh, leaving a bad blemish. He cries out and the carnage behind him grabs ahold of him again.

Of course, there's something combustible. Explosions are next. And the explosions cause the cavernous room to lose its structural integrity all over again. Fragments of the ceiling crack open and fall down around the battlegrounds.

Izuku struggles within the tentacles that have ensnared him – they're somehow stronger than Doctor Octopus' mechanical arms. He believes he's about to be buried alive down here.

That's when a new light floods the chamber. S.H.I.E.L.D soldiers swarm the station. The troopers enter with flashlights mounted upon tranq guns. The light does more to help than the tranquilizers. The darts seem to only irritate the symbiotes further.

Spider-Man turns over, twists, and tries his darndest to pull himself free. But this only exhausts his strength further. So, he can hardly maintain his consciousness when the last part of the ceiling comes down.

Izuku jolts forward – or, as much as he can with the pain that pushes him right back down. The floor feels softer now. Like a bed instead of a dusty old subway station. Speaking of dust, the air is much more breathable as well. He's been moved. The brightness of the room proves it.

Izuku turns his head over and sees the shape of someone doing something. He squints his eyes to see as they refocus. It's a girl with her hair tied into a spiked ponytail. And she's working on – a symbiote – one of them from the containers survived. His eyes widen. His hand flies to his face. He's thankful to, at least, feel his mask still there. And whatever panic he had settles a bit more when he realizes – the girl is..

"Yaoyorozu?"

She turns around, her own eyes rather wide behind a pair of work goggles. "Oh, you're awake!"

Izuku is still rather dazed when his peripheral vision catches sight of somebody else in the room. They're drawing near. "At least", he blinks and sees a familiar head of blonde hair – it's All Might, in his deflated form.

His face scrunches behind his mask, "What's going on?" His head feels better now so he's able to look back and forth between the two, "Why are you here?" And then he thinks to add, "Why am I here?"

Toshinori nods, understanding that the vigilante's recollection of events must be rather foggy. "I ordered a team to track Melissa after what happened", the explanation is fortunately simple enough, "It's just coincidence that we keep running into one another."

"Yeah… Coincidence", Izuku massages his forehead through the fabric of his mask. He can see why Toshinori as her guardian would take such immediate action, his whole retired pro hero history aside. He just wishes that they'd had communicated to coordinate something together.

Toshinori turns towards the other person in the room in order to explain the next part, "Yaoyorozu is here as an .. 'expert' of sorts, on the symbiotes."

"I'm the closest thing to an expert next to Melissa anyways", she modestly looks the other way. She's smart enough to memorize the composition of all the things she creates from her lipids so he isn't too surprised to see her here with that in mind.. But still..

Spider-Man sits up, since he has no worries about hiding what he knows without his mask. "Because of your..", he looks at the girl who had once been the Black Cat, "Experience."

Gone is her modesty. The sly smile & stare combination that he remembers seeing through a domino mask appears. "How sweet of you to remember", she gives him a flirtatious wink.

Toshinori takes notice. He clears his throat and begins to excuse himself, "Well.. Anyways.. Please and come find me once you're able to stand."

Spider-Man is left alone with the girl who also knows about the symbiote as well as he does – the same girl who had tried stealing it from a lab much like this previously.