Chapter 11: We are Venom!

Chapter 11:

May 29th, 2011:

I woke up at 5 AM as usual, although in a different bed. I was always a heavy sleeper so I had to think for a while to remember where I was. I check up on Peter to see him sleeping peacefully now and freshen up. After freshening up I go outside to the area designated as cafeteria and order a light breakfast. This being a sort if military base had many agents already up and ready for the day in the cafe. Spotting Barton I take my breakfast and join him.

"Heya Barton, how's it hanging?" I ask him. You know, cause he's Hawkeye? And he's always up near the ceiling somewhere? Nevermind...

"Hey kid." Clint says at which I scowl at him. I'm not a kid, I'm almost 18 now. He laughs at my expression.

"Zip it birdy. I don't even have anything embarrassing to threaten you with." I grumble. Damnit!

He just smiles fondly and continues eating. I scowl at him once more and go on having my breakfast. A few minutes into it, he's done, but he waits for me to finish eating before getting up. I follow him cause I obviously have nothing to do right now, when he asks me, "Wanna spar? I want to see what you can do"

I was surprised actually. I expected him to just attack me out of the blue to see how I react. I think for a bit and smile at him, saying, "Sure, why not. Just don't hold back on me just cause I'm younger than you."

He smirks at me and says, "You got it, kid," he laughs at my expression and starts going to an empty area which was about half filled with different agents training themselves. Seriously military guys often baffle me. They came here yesterday, for a max of a week or two and already have a training ground as well as cafeteria ready. And that's not including the different rooms and bathrooms.

The other people seeing Barton bring in the 'new kid' to train with him clear up a ring for us and start betting. Most of them bet on Barton winning. Assholes. But some of them bet on the underdog. I'm going to make them a whole lot of money if I manage to win. There's a big possibility that Barton wins. I might be stronger than him physically, but he has an advantage in experience and technique.

I warm up a little and face him. He gets into a kickboxing stance and waits for me to make a move. I match his stance and rush forward with a right handed punch. He throws me behind him using a Judo throw and drops me on my back. Damn! That was some reaction time! No wonder he's an Avenger!

I get up and brush myself off. Now that I know my usual way of fighting with the local goons isn't working, which admittedly I should have realised earlier, I switch to a basic Wing-chun stance with me facing him, feet shoulder length apart, knees bent inside, right hand palm side front in front of my chest, while the left hand facing inwards near my right elbow and back straight, and wait for him to attack me. I got time. Wing Chun is a style which is good for defensive attacks so I don't need to be the one to make the first move.

Barton realizes this too and he jumps in with a right sucker punch to my face. I divert it to the right with me right upper arm and push forward with my left elbow. He dodges it and tries a left uppercut. I lean back and let it pass harmlessly and try a punch in his ribs, he diverts it and goes for a kick to the back of my knee. I lift my leg and block it with my shin and kick out with the same leg into his stomach. He blocks it with his hands but staggers backwards, because that shit definitely hurt him both the times.

Now he knows too why I rejected the training and shakes off the pain and starts attacking again, this time, without holding back. I get out of Wing Chun and again enter a kickboxing stance and match him blow for blow. He's fast and tries a few feints, but my Spidey sense helps me identify the real attacks from the feints. I'm slower and I rarely manage to hit him, but my hits have more of an effect on him than his have on me. One punch, he overextends, so I get close, manage to duck under his next punch and punch him lightly in his guts. He doubles over gasping for breath and curls up.

Hmm.. Either I underestimated myself or the thrill of fighting someone as skilled as him made me forget my strength. About 2 minutes later he catches his breath and pulls my legs from under me and drop me to the ground beside him. We both know I won this round so I don't retaliate. That's a tie now, so we once again get in the kickboxing stance, I close my eyes and wait for him to attack me.

He does not disappoint, I feel my Spidey-Sense tingling, warning me of an attack coming from the left and I duck under it and pull the same move he pulled on me in the first round and throw him down hard. I don't wait for him to catch his breath when I catch his right hand in an inverted arm lock and wait for him to submit. The whole ground is silent when Clint gives up after trying to get loose for a while. He has a large grin on his face when he gets up and offers his hand to me. I shake his hand when the other agents start clapping loudly while some of them start collecting their money they won from me winning.

"Good fight kid. Maybe next time, don't hold back so much?" he jokes, semi seriously.

I snort and shake my head at him and say, "Hey.. you held back too. But I have to hold back. You know what'll happen if I punch someone without holding back? They die. On the spot. No hospital could save them then. I don't want that, so I hold back."

"Yeah, I kinda got that when you blocked that kick with your shin. It still fucking hurts." He grimaces at his leg.

I laugh at his expression and turn around to go back to base to study the hammer some more. There were already a few guys using some scanners on the surrounding area when I get there and pull out my own scanner. Siri had an uplink to this scanner so she does most of the work herself. I don't even know what I'm supposed to find in the hammer.

Instead of standing there looking like an idiot for about 20 minutes while Siri completed the scan, I take out the medical scanner, just to see what happens.

Nothing much, other than the fact that the pulsing of the electromagnetic energy the hammer gives off looks almost like a heartbeat, which frankly creeps me out. Which had nothing to do with why I get out of there as soon as the scans are complete. Nope. Nothing at all. Peter would likely be awake by now so I go to the rooms we've been allotted.

Nope, he's still asleep. I scan him and see that he's okay, other than the increase in his muscle and bone density, there was no change in him, I kind of expected him to at least awaken something like Venom Blast by now, but maybe he isn't meant to have that. Stan knows what's going to happen next.

I spend the rest of the day studying the scans Siri and I made so I completely miss Dr Selvig coming to the base and getting 'Donald Blake' out. Though Coulson does tell me about it later.

It was an exact 24 hours after he got hit by the lightning bolt that Peter wakes up with a gasp. Not creepy. Not creepy at all, Pete. I'm there in the room with him when he wakes up so his getting up so suddenly has me in a fighting stance.

"Goddammit Pete! You scared me!" I yell out at him.

"Who- what? What happened? How am I here? Wasn't I just in that Hammer room?" Peter asks one after the other. I love that about him.

"That was 24 hours ago. You've been knocked out since then till now, when you almost scared the shit out of me." I grumble. I did not scream. No one will believe him anyway.

"What happened there Harry? I remember trying to pick up the hammer, and then.. nothing." He mumbles.

"Not even saying something before lifting the hammer?" I had to make sure, the hammer saying that through him was just plain creepy. Huh. I'm saying that word a lot when it comes to Mjolnir.

"No.." he looks confused, as expected. He brings out the scrunch again and says, "I remember you taking the scanner out of my hands, I first put my right hand on the hammer after which I felt a sort of tingle in my hands, like static electricity, then I put my left hand on it, pulled hard, and then, I blacked out." He looks at his hands at these. Being as sensitive to our bodies as we are, he feels something different very quickly.

"I also feel both heavy and light somehow." He says after examining himself for a while.

"Understandable. First, look at this." Saying this, I show him the scans I made on him using my med scanner. Maybe I should market them now that Norman's dead? Huh. Why didn't I think of it before? "What do you see?" I ask after he has a chance to check himself out on a tablet.

"My muscle density and bone density have increased. That's exactly like what happened when the spider bit us. Which explains why I feel heavy as well as light. I have gotten heavy but I've also gotten stronger than before so I also feel light. Get it?" He's excited. He always wanted to get stronger because he felt that he was holding me back. But he also didn't want to depend on drugs to do it. So now he had it happened to him without any drugs, of course he's happy.

I nod at him and smile softly, showing him I understand what's going through his head.

"We should train now! We'll get to see how strong I have gotten!" he says excitedly.

I widen my eyes and look at him, "Whoa, easy there big guy! You've just woken up from a 24 hour sleep stronger than before. In an environment where only like, 2 people other than us knows about you being Spider-Man, so no training until we reach home."

He gives me the puppy eyed look for a while, but I don't budge. I've been seeing that look for 10 years, it didn't work then, it won't work now.

"Fine.. After we get home. Let's get something to eat then!" he sounds excited again. I really hope he didn't get turned into a miniature Thor who can stick to walls. Wait can he still stick to walls?

"Wait, Pete. Try to stick to something. First lets see if you lost your spider powers or kept them." I'm really scared. I don't want to be the main Spider-Man. He's the friendly neighbourhood guy. I can't be that.

Peter looks confused for a second and then scared as he tries to find a surface that won't fall off by his weight. We finally settle on a desk that I pick up and set down vertically. He starts with the hands and pulls himself up by touching his leg to the desk. I let out a breath which I didn't even know I was holding. He sticks. I go over to him when he gets down and hug him for all it's worth.

"Oh, thank God! I didn't want the responsibility of being the lead Spiderman." I whisper. He laughs at my horrified face. Asshole.

I then take him to the cafeteria and we both eat heavily. Or as heavy as American Military food can be and then I take him back to the room. There I once again hug him, because it just sunk in.

"Damn it Pete, you scared me yesterday." I say.

"Yeah, Harry? You still haven't told me what happened after I blacked out." He releases me from the hug and asks.

And so I tell him, about the trance he went into, about the sentence he said right before the bolt stuck us and about Thor making an entry right after he got knocked out.

"So you think that was really Thor's hammer? With a worthiness test, which I passed?" he looks sceptical. Obviously if I told him one of the old pagan pantheons exist then he's sceptical. Wait until I tell him angels really exist.

"Well.. I think you passed the test with like half marks or something. Thor is supposed to be the God of thunder right? You're stronger, but not on a God level yet. Also Mjolnir is supposed to help him control thunder. You said you'd posses the power of Thor. So why can't you control thunder?" I offer him.

I know he cant control thunder, cause whenever Thor looses control, it either rains or causes a thunder storm, none of which have happened yet and Peter's been freaking out every 5 minutes.

"Maybe I should pick up the hammer and see again?" he asks. I nod and call Coulson to ask.

"Hey Agent Coulson." I say as soon as he picks up.

"Mr Osborn. I heard that Parker's awake." Coulson says.

"Yeah he's awake. We actually wanted to ask if we could get some alone time with the hammer? I wanted to see if yesterday's hypothesis proves true." You know, the one where I said that's Thor's hammer.

"I'll meet you there in 2 minutes." Saying this he cuts off the call. I turn to Peter.

"Let's go. Coulson said he'll meet us there." We once again gather our scanners and go out of the room and move towards the Hammer room. By now all the Shield scientists were moving out of the room. Maybe Coulson called ahead.

I ask Siri to disable the cameras inside the room and keep the feed on loop showing an empty room. Coulson gets there soon and we go inside. I set up the cameras in four angles and the scanner in front of the hammer about 3 meters away. Me and Coulson stand behind the scanner keeping an eye on the feed which shows the hammer's electromagnetic heartbeat again which I ignore while Peter stands next to the hammer.

"Right. The hammer seems to be excited to see you again Peter. The fluctuations have increased. I really hope it's not in love with you. MJ is gonna be so jealous." I joke. No one laughs because it freaks them too. Hehe.

"Right. Ready when you are Harry." He says.

I check the camera's and the scanners once again and nod at him. This time he picks up the hammer with only one hand. Other than one single thundering sound, nothing else happens. He does not get a fancy suit with metal plating and a red cape, nor does another lightning bolt slam down on him. Thankfully there's no thunderstorm either. He just picks it up.

"Fluctuations are steady. Just one spike of electromagnetic surge this time. Your bpm has increased. Pete are you scared?" I ask.

"Well duh! I'm picking a fucking sentient Hammer. Of course I'm scared." He yells at me.

"Well okay then. Try swinging it or something. Don't hit anything." I bring the topic back to our experiment.

He nods at me and swings the hammer lazily when a thunderclap makes all of us stop and look above at the clear cloudless sky.

"Okay.. Did that freak anyone else out? Or was it just me?" Peter says.

"Yup, me too." I say, still looking up. Coulson just nods.

"Do it again, Pete." I tell him after a few seconds of uncomfortable silence.

He swings again, another thunderclap. This next time he swings with a determined face, the thunderclap sounds louder and closer somehow and the sky is still clear. Another swing with his eyes closed, this time there's no thunder.

"Well at least we know that this is eitherThor's hammer or it is inspired by Thor's hammer. Amazing technology. To control thunder like that!" Too bad that metal is too dense for us to actually do anything to.

"Yeah..." Peter whispers. He looks at the hammer weirdly.

"Peter. What'd you do different the last time?" There was no thunderclap when he swung the hammer with his eyes closed.

"Well I wished for there to be no sound. For the first three times I believed you thought that it would produce thunder when I swing it, and it happened. Last time I thought, no thunder, only hit or something along those lines."

Coulson looks at Peter sceptically, and says, "So what? Can it like, read your mind? You guys are crazy, you know that right?"

I smirk at Peter who smirks back and goes back to staring at his new hammer and say, "Well that is why Fury brought us in. He got bored of all the normal people like you and wanted some crazy in his life."

Coulson snorts at us, which honestly shocks me.

"Speak for yourself. I'm perfectly normal." Peter chips in, still examining the hammer.

"Yeah.. says the guy who's ogling his new toy hammer." I return which makes him blush and keep the hammer back to how it was.

"Yeah, I don't think the hammer is mine. I mean, for now it'll work for me. But when someone more deserving of its powers come, it'll go with them more willingly." Peter says.

I look at Peter worriedly, and say, "The fact that you got that after staring at the hammer and swinging it 4 times is really worrying Pete. Anything else the hammer tell you?"

Peter thinks for a second and says, "I only got like half the powers. I can't control thunder, the hammer can. I'm not as strong as the hammer's original owner. That's all I got from Mjolnir."

"Did the hammer tell you it's name too?" Coulson asks, half serious and half mockingly

"What? No. I read it in some Norse mythology book." Peter says.

Coulson shuts his mouth and I snort at him. We collect all our equipment and get out of the room. This time I don't even try to lift it.

We soon go our separate ways, Coulson to call Fury to make a report, while I and Peter to study the new scans. Frankly, I don't think we can learn anything more from the hammer.

It was already 9.30 PM when Peter woke up and it was now close to 11, so we go to sleep.

May 30th, 2011:

The next day, I wake up late, at about 6 and freshen up to study the scans, again. At about 7, Peter wakes up and joins me. We stay in the same room for half a day exchanging hypotheses after which he decides to leave the base and go home. Everything we knew, or even thought about the hammer was already written down in a report we made. I decide to stay because I want to see how it all ends. More than that though I want some of the Destroyer's metal! It is Uru! I can't help it exactly, can I?

That evening Peter goes home to continue researching and building up more theories on the hammer as well as return as Spider-Man in New York. I mostly spend the day sparing with Clint or just sitting in the Command room. That night when I go in my room I see something that honestly scares and excites me. There sitting on my bed is a pure black blob of something, that's small enough to fit in my hand. And it's fucking moving. I'm about to find something to kill it with when it suddenly looks at me and then I recognize it for what it is. Venom!

But.. but.. but.. How's Venom even here? I didn't even think he existed in this universe. And even if he did, how did he even come here?

I slowly move towards the blowtorch on my work table when I hear a sound that scares me.

"Don't do that. I'm not here to harm you." Venom speaks. Venom speaks.

"And how do I know that's true?" I ask in return. I don't know how to handle the situation, so I try conversing.

"I've been hanging on to your body for almost 2 days now. If I wanted to hurt you, I already would have." He deadpans.

Almost 2 days? How did I not feel him then? My Spidey sense is not even tingling. But that could mean anything. 616 Spider-Man didn't feel Venom either. I stop my thinking and ask him, "How did you come on Earth. And why did you stay on me for 2 days without saying anything."

He blinks those creepy silver eyes of his and says, "In the beginning I couldn't say anything because I was literally just born a day ago. These 2 days I've been learning your language and world history by reading your mind." I freeze at that. If he read my mind then he knows where I came from. That kind of meta-knowledge in the mind of Venom is truly dangerous.

"So you know who I am and where I'm from?" I ask while preparing for a fight. He's small, I might just burn him and get it over with.

"What's that supposed to mean? Did you forget it in the last 3 hours that I was separated from you?" he says and looks at me in amusement. Great. He got my sense of humour.

"Just answer me!" I snap at him. Surprisingly, Venom shrinks down on himself and answers in a subdued tone.

"You're Harry Osborn, son of Norman Osborn. You came from Manhattan, New York. That's all I know." He sounds really upset.

Now I feel bad. Didn't theorists say that Venom was a new born who just learned wrong cause there was no one there to teach him? Great! I just snapped at a 3 day old baby Venom.

I sigh at him and let down my guard. He definitely doesn't know about my past. Phew! But why can't he read that in my mind? Did Stan Lee hide it from him or something? He once again looks normal. Well as normal as he could be. I ask again, "So how did you get here?"

"Heck if I know! I just remember seeing a crack in the air and a lot of colours. Then I drop down on a desert near a hammer. At first there was no one there so I was free. Then there were a lot of people there and even more were coming, so I hid by merging with the hammer. It was fun when we were Mjolnir. No one could pick us. We were special. Then when your spider friend picked us up, there was that white light that hit us all and I was not Mjolnir anymore. I was pushed into your body and merged with you. Then I started learning everything by reading your mind, which is why I know what happened was called a lightning bolt. And today after your spider friend left, I decided to separate myself from you and talk face to face. And here we are."

I look at him, eye twitching, and just rub my hand on my face. Damn! He talks so much! I really hope he doesn't start swearing like me.

So he came through the Bifrost. But how did the Bifrost even bring him here, and drop him with the hammer? The convergence is still a few years away. Well compared to the 5000 years it takes to repeat, it is close enough to have some effects and anomalies, so it could be that. Wait. He said he merged with Mjolnir? Wow! That's impressive!

"So, what do you want to do now?" I finally ask him.

"I want to stay with you. To learn and to fight. I like that adrenaline thing you produce. Plus you can feed me." He says.

Don't Venom's race eat brains and chocolate? Yup. Definitely feeding him chocolate a lot. Don't want him to eat my brains in my sleep.

"Don't you want to go home? To your family?" I try for a final time.

"My family was going to eat me. I was running from them when the crack appeared." Venom deadpans, again.

"No one else came here after you right?" This shit scares me. Venom alone, I can fight. Any other symbiots? Fuck if I know! Them possessing someone powerful and using their powers is a really scary thought.

"No. The crack closed after I came here. I could have felt my family if they were anywhere near me. Also, I'd be dead if they came after me." He says.

"Fine, you can join me again. But no messing with my mind. Promise me that and I'll feed you till you are full." I consent.

He looks like he just got announced that Christmas was today! He nods quickly and is about to jump at me when I stop him once again.

"Wait! What do I call you?" I can't keep calling him Venom in my mind if he thinks if himself as Mjolnir now can I?

He looks up at me, smirks and then jumps on my face and says in that creepy voice again, "We, are Venom!"

Damn! Talk about melodramatic. I fall on my back. There's no weird feelings about him merging with me. I'd have thought I'd feel at least some pain.

"Fine, Venom. Before you start using my body as free real estate, some ground rules. No eating people, whenever hungry, tell me and I'll get you something to eat." Half my expenses will now include chocolate. Damn!

Venom whines but says, "Okay."

I ignore his whine and continue, "Second, no taking my body on a joyride when I'm asleep. I know you were planning on it, so no."

This time he whines louder but I don't move. As the theorists said, Venom is a baby, and I need to teach him right from wrong. I'm not exactly the best person to teach him that, but anything is better than what happened in Spider-Man 3.

"Fine!" he grumbles.

"And third.. Well I don't have any third as of this moment. I'll tell you if there's a new rule. Alright?"

"Aright, alright. Now lets go to sleep already."

Does Venom even need sleep? God knows. At least he bonded to me and not Peter. Peter would have just tried to destroy him and then Venom would have been turned into a villain. I don't want that. Venom's better off on my side, he's strong and he's learning. So yeah. We are Venom now. No more Black-Spider. Lets just hope the fans accept this name. That was the last thought that night before sleep claims me.