Arc Two. Chapter Fifty. Sand Castles

The journey wasn't that long and he could smell the stale odour of unwashed man as Marko manhandled him into a building, the door needed oiled and was subtle as if unused for several years. The inside smelt of dust and surprisingly lipstick and woman, with the faint odour de Marko but that was it. This was her place and Marko must just be hiding here, there was a faint scent of ozone and while it wasn't that strong, he knew that Electro had been here recently.

"Over there if you, please Sandman and then be a dear and get some food for us, or whatever you eat now I suppose. Venom and I are going to have a nice chat, while we wait." Venom was lowered onto a cold steel table and metal clamps were fastened over his arms and feet, long steel pins holding them closed.

Liv pulled down a control box. "This is connected to the table, answer wrong or try anything and zzzzzzap", she exaggerated. "But be a good boy and we'll open this again," She took the test tube from before out of her breast pocket and waved it at him, Venom snorted.

Marco growled and balled his fists, Venom could hear the rocky texture of his skin grating against itself. "Yes yes I know, payback, but it will be hard to interrogate him if you're punching him," Liv spoke.

"Fine," Marko spat, "food yeah, money?" Liv rolled her eyes and took a twenty out of her bag, "no junk food, something light." Marko snatched the twenty and left.

"Be a dear and drop the mask, I'd hate to start cutting and accidentally remove something you might need later. Plus, I would like to know who you actually are. Our last encounter was bit fisty cuffs at dawn for my taste, I prefer oral discourse if you get my meaning." She twitched an eyebrow at him and winked.

She sighed, "fine" and pressed the button on the box. Venom tensed as the current ran through his body, painful yes but bearable, he stretched himself taut though, not letting on he wasn't as pained as she wanted. Liv held the button for a few seconds before releasing it, "Please?" She asked and begrudgingly Venom allowed the armour to slide back from his face.

"I knew it. Well, I thought it was either you or that reporter, so Peter Parker in the flesh. I knew your parents you know, yes I did. I was interned at Oscorp when they worked here. Very nice people, so sad what happened, probably be upset at you for this," she waved a hand. "I mean, Venom? Really. Not exactly trying to project a hero aura with that name are we?"

Staying silent he just let her talk, she seemed to be grateful for the audience, wanting to spill everything without the slightest provocation.

"So, from our timescale, you and," she flicked open a file, "oh, no name here, got bitten by escaped research subjects, spiders in this case and, oh dear, you must have been picked up as homeless and primed for implantation. So, the lab mess was you. I guess we know what happens if you try to bond a symbiote to a newly enhanced individual then don't we?" With a mad gleam in her eye, "but let's see what's happening under the hood shall we."

If she started vivisection, Venom knew he could escape. While she turned and was humming to herself, busy with a tray, he tensed against the shackles and while they were tight, they were definitely snappable and they squeaked as he flexed against them.

Wheeling over a medical table Liv smiled as she pulled on rubber gloves, "no glove, no love Peter dear, now, this can be easy," Liv pointed to a series of blood and tissue sample containers, "and we'll do some quick tests or it can be hard, and I'll sedate you and take much much bigger samples. So be a dear and hold still or mamma will spank." she pointed at a bone saw and organ dish.

Peter knew his tissue samples would decay after a few minutes anyway, the Venom component dissolving faster once it left his body so he nodded towards the syringe and allowed the symbskin to retract from his arm.

"Playing nice? Don't worry Peter, I've got orders to keep you alive. Norman wants to see what makes you tick, you know, of all the test subjects." she paused and Peter saw her fists clench and her knuckles turn white with the strain, was she in pain? He thought. "Oh well, I guess that's not allowed. Oh, Norman wants to see what gifts you've gotten from you know what and while a few organs and biopsies would be easier, it better to keep the sample alive as long as possible."

Liv took 10 samples in total and a few scrapings of the symbskin Peter allowed to flake off, they oozed in the bottom of the test tubes but he knew they were already breaking down. "Now see, that wasn't so hard, was it?"

She stroked his hair, "you look so much like him you know, your father that is. Oh boy did I have a crush on him, smart, very handsome," she leapt onto the table with him, straddling and putting her hands on his chest. "you know, I almost got drunk enough to come onto him once, your mother was already in the picture but he was brilliant enough I wouldn't have minded," she idly traced a finger down his chest.

"Your mother wasn't as smart, a secretary, documenting all the things Richard and Curt created together, well, all the things they created and Norman stole." She straightened up and even Peter could feel her thighs tighten against him, something was causing her intense pain. "Ah, can't talk about that either, so many things, so many secrets," she leaned in close and whispered in his ear, her breath hot against it, "would you like to know my secret, Peter?"

He closed his eyes, Gwen, MJ, Felicia, sorry, and he watched as she unbuttoned her lab coat, pulling it free. The ripe smell hit him first, hiding a hint of decay and he could spot why.

Her body was wrapped in a layer of thick bands, covering her from just under her small breasts down to just above her belly button. It looked like once there would have been a material jacket to hold and protect the wearer but it had long torn off, and he could see her skin around the edges of the thick metal clasps were rubbed raw, red and weeping, as they pulled tightly against her skin. She stretched and four mechanical arms extended from behind her "TADA!" she exclaimed and Peter realised, she was Doc Ock.

Fuck, he thought, the boiler suit and his own stupid preconceptions had let him assume that Doc Ock was a man, but here she was, in all her multilimbed glory and once more, Peter had screwed up.

"You like them, they were a gift. I volunteered to test out the first armour prototype for Osborn, oh 16 years ago now, its little needles drilling into my spine, holding me in a great big hug." He could hear the pain in her voice, the strain of keeping a secret back. This wasn't voluntary, she probably didn't know what would happen once the harness was on. "and now Goblin armour will grace our brave men and women of the nation, all under the banner of our glorious owner, Norman Osborn." She saluted and Peter knew what she meant. The limbs were tied into her nervous system, allowing her to control them but Norman must have installed a failsafe, something that if she tried to disobey she suffered. She was a prisoner of Osborn. He still hated her, he still owed her pain and misery but she wasn't completely to blame. He would allow her a quicker death, he owed her that much, like he owed Alexsi.

The door rattled and Sandman came back, "uh, what the fuck Doc?" he asked, holding several bags of WacDonalds take out bags.

"Oh, just playing Doctors and Nurses, Marko, be a dear and get dinner ready." Liv pulled her lab coat back on, buttoning it up after dismounting Peter. She sighed, "I did say something light Marko dear."

"She might play nice but I still owe you fuckface," and Sandman drove a spiked fist into Venoms side, barely breaking the symbskin armour. He still grunted as the wind was knocked out of him, "and I ain't got a collar on me, so fuck her and fuck you."

The strange pair sat and ate burgers while Peter stared bored at the ceiling. He was supposed to be compliant but right now, the smell of food and the uncomfortable table was driving him mad. He just wanted to rip off the restraints and smash both Ock and Sandman with the table, but he also wanted a burger. Lying around wasn't the worst thing they could be trying to do.

Venom's stomach growled and he took a chance "Hey, can I?"

Sandman snapped, "No, and shut your yap," before taking another bite of his burger. Liv rolled her eyes and unwrapping a cheeseburger held it over Peter's mouth, letting him bite a chunk off.

"Now now Marko, our orders are to keep him alive, there's no need to be rude." Liv wiped sauce from Peters's mouth and with a wink, licked her thumb clean. Strangely enough, he now knew where they were. The burgers were from WacDonalds on 9th street, he'd been there once and the overpowering stench of weed from the kitchen made him want to barf and the burgers smelt the same. So, he was about 10 miles away from home, he had even swung over this building a few times before so getting back would be easy.

"Alive doesn't mean fed Doc. Bastard doesn't deserve to eat after what he did to me," Marko clenched his fist and Peter could see small grains of what looked like sand falling off his fingers. He wondered if it was some kind of adverse reaction or swapping out of silicone or other inorganic minerals for his carbon atoms. He thoughtfully chewed on the burger, its rankness unpleasant but he'd need the calories. Doc would be tough, Marko he could just web up into gooman again but Doc, those arms of hers were killer and even if his new armour upgrades worked he didn't want to bet his life on them.

"Oh fucking boo hoo," taunted Venom. "You're a fucking crook, and you got beat up. Don't like it, don't be a crook then." He was tired of this, the Doc was carefully cataloguing samples she'd taken but Marko was tense like a snake, Venom could smell the adrenaline and anger coming off him like a fog. "Here's an idea, don't fucking mug people and you won't get put in jail or well, beaten like a pinata."

"You broke my fucking ribs," Marko had had it as well and his fists became solid clubs, dotted with sharp spikes. He smashed his fist into Venoms ribs over and over, "how you fucking like that huh, my daughter, my fucking daughter,"

What the hell? Venom thought was he crying? What kind of pussy cries as they beat someone? Venom had thickened the area that Marko had seemed to take a liking to, the honeycomb structure of the armour squashing as it was struck.

The blows still hurt but they did little damage, "my daughter was in the hospital, I needed that money," thump after thump took Venom's breath. The hits weren't that hard in the grand scheme of things, he had been sparring with Huntress properly, and she hit way harder than Sandman was.

Sandman thumped a clubbed fist once more into Venom's side and he decided he'd had enough. The man was barely landing a decent blow and the crying and blubbering about his daughter was grating on his nerves. "What about the people whose daughters you robbed? Or do you not fucking care about them? I lost my uncle to a fuckbag like you," and Venom ripped the restraints off and backhanded Marko across the room. "You're a fucking embarrassment, put up or shut up, at least Alexi didn't fucking cry as I gutted him."

"You killed Alexsi?" Liv stopped doing her work and turned from her desk, holding the pen in her hand like a knife.

"Oh, you fuck off as well. Like you didn't smash me into a fucking car, we're fighting not fucking. You want that you buy me dinner first."

Venom bashed both fists together, thickening the plates over his knuckles. Sandman had shaken off the blow and stood, raising his fists as Venom got ready for another round.

"Woah Woah boys, let's be calm here, or, you know, at least fight outside. It's not much but you know, it's still my home," Liv said, standing between the two.

Venom laughed at the absurdity of the situation, "You know what," he reached over and opening his maw stuffed in two hamburgers, "yeah, let's take a walk kitty litter,"

Marko scowled, "seriously, Doc? Fucking seriously?"

"Sorry, Marko, I've got orders to leave him alive," and as she tapped the metal around her neck, "and I can't disobey orders." She frowned and shrugged. "If you're going to fight it has to be alone, sorry dear."

"Fucking Osborn" Marko growled at Venom, who was still stuffing burgers into his maw

With his mouth full, "go ahead, I'm eating," and shooed him away, "I'll be right out."

Markos narrowed his eyes at Venom, the fucking nerve of this guy he though, but stormed off out through the side exit.

"Oh don't mind him Venom. He's been tetchy since Osborn refused to cure his daughter. You shouldn't make things too hard on him."

Venom took the last burger and threw it into his mouth, chewing and then swallowing it, "he doesn't deserve anything from me."

Liv shrugged, "oh well, I tried." Venom pulled the two metal cuffs off his wrists, "oh if you die, I want dibs on your body, okay?" Liv shouted after him as he opened the door, he raised a hand and gave her the finger, "well, that was just rude," she said to herself.

Sandman hadn't waited long and took the initiative to ambush Venom as he opened the door, a huge stone fist flew at him and cracked him across the jaw. Venom rubbed his chin and then hissed, crouching and springing forwards he caught Sandman around the waist, pushing them both to the ground. He drove his fists into Sandman's face, wanting a gauge of how much hurt he could bring or if his mineral body would just shrug off the damage.

"Guess you're not so smart after all." Sandman laughed as he took each punch. Venom took offence at that, his exam results had come back and he got A+'s on all his tests.

"I'm not the one with rocks for brains" Venom retorted and leaned back, spraying Sandman with the sticky tar web he used at the restaurant. Marko pushed him off and Venom watched as the sand covered by the web tar sloughed off in a ball, rolling along Sandman's arm and down into his hand.

"Thanks," he said and then he smashed the crusted ball of web and sand into Venom, "as I said, not so smart."

Venom had to admit, he hadn't seen that coming and while he gave Marko a point for the ingenuity he deducted one for dumbness. The sand web ball gave him a point and shooting out normal webs it held onto the end of Sandman's arm, leaning back and swinging Venom pulled Sandman off his feet and swung him around like a ball, the alleyway just wide enough for his to do so. He grinned as he waited for him to brush his feet against a wall before letting him go, sending him flying against the brickwork. Sandman let out an ooff as he thudded against the wall, sand granules spread out but he just pulled himself together. "I'm sand you moron, that won't work," he let the ball of tar drop from his body, the crumbled brickwork being absorbed into his body, giving him a slightly grey colour.

He needed heat or water and in an alleyway, he had neither, if he exited out onto the street he could find a hydrant, on the roof he could find a water tower but would Sandman follow him? He was brought out of his musing as another arm launched its way towards him, avoiding it easily Venom took the chance and sprang forwards, leaping from one side of the alley up the buildings on either side. As expected Sandman stretched himself up, and began to climb the fire escape, chasing Venom up and onto the rooftops.