Arc Two. Chapter Thirty-Seven. More Than One Way To Skin A Rhino

Black Cat was fading fast as the amphetamine she took started to wear off, as were the painkillers and the pain was more than she could bear. She had managed to run a block before the strength in her legs went and she could only shuffle at a snail's pace. She knew she was leaving a trail behind her, there had been blood smears on a wall she'd rested against but she couldn't stop, she couldn't let anyone find her and finish the job.

She'd pulled off her mask, trying to avoid smearing blood over her face. Hopefully, it'd buy her some time, the catsuit was a giveaway but with her normal hair colour and normal makeup she might, no, she couldn't, it was too much. The pain burned through her like fire and her breathing became weaker, she felt her legs give out underneath her and she collapsed on the street.

She felt a hand lift her, "Shit MJ, it's Felicia, shit, get her up," she didn't recognise the voice but a cooling liquid was poured onto her waist, lessening the fire and it soon smoothed out into a mellow chill. She no longer cared who had her, only that they were nice and carrying her somewhere, soft and warm she hoped, giggling.

"Fuck Gwen, what you give her?" one voice asked,

"Just, you know, some happy juice and a nerve blocker," Gwen's voice said.

Felicia didn't care, her eyes had closed before they had started talking and she didn't even know if they were real, but they were really nice and that all that mattered. "fuck she's heavier than she looks" hey, that voice called me fat, and she tried to punch the mean voice but her arms didn't work, she didn't have arms just a head, she giggled again, just some head before the darkness took her completely.

Agent Two watched the two girls manhandle his target along the street until they came to a warehouse. Noting the address, "Sir, the target has entered a civilian location. Please advise?" "Negative Sir, the target is not alone, two civilians are with her, unable to identify. Orders?" The agent sighed as he listened, "affirmative, operational casualties are expected, live fire is a go." He unholstered his sidearm and checked the clip, it was full and filled with lethal rounds normally disallowed on a mission in the city.

His orders were to neutralise the target and sadly, the two girls would be acceptable casualties, victims of the Target Black, or as the press named her Black Cat. Reholstering his weapon he opted for a knife but waiting until he found a way into the building he left himself unarmed for now. No need to arouse suspicion. He stalked around the building till he found a good place to leap the chain-link fence surrounding it, crouching low he had to walk around to the front before he found a suitable entrance, the side doors and entrance welded shut and painted over. He noted the camera above the door and took out a small device pointing it up at it. The light on the bottom fading as it shorted out.

Listening at the door he could hear the two women inside arguing over something, the thick door muffling their voices. In their rush, they had left it unlocked and when he gently pushed the door bar it swung open, the door was well maintained and without a squeak, he gently pushed it further and crept inside.

One woman was holding her hands over the prone figure of his target while the other was tearing sheets apart, "Gwen, this won't save her, we need to call an ambulance," the redhead was shouting.

"She'll die in less than five minutes if I don't do something, someone shot her MJ, like with a big fucking gun shot her. Now shut up, hold that and let me work."

Closing the door quietly behind him, he crouched and moved silently to one of the box homes, noting how nice it was. The pair were working on his target in the middle of the two homes, she was laid out on a huge kitchen table as the pair worked around her. From the doorway of the box, he could see there was no way to approach them without being seen, no matter how fast he was. His only choice was to duck into the doorway across from him and then he would have to use his gun after all, and then disguise the wounds with the knife after. The only thing he hesitated on was whether to wait for his target to bleed out and then attack or attack and take out all three. Even wounded and drugged the dossier on Target Black marked her as enhanced and dangerous, he wouldn't take a risk by ignoring her. As the pair moved to the other side of the table he sprinted to the doorway across from him and ducked inside the well decorated home.

Formulating a plan, he unholstered his gun and cocked it. Checking his line of sight he quickly ducked his head back around the door frame. Both women were now on one side of the table, it looked like they had been sticking something in the wound of Target Black, a stupid mistake as the wound would just bleed internally.

Taking a deep breath he counted one breath, two breaths, and on his exhale raised his pistol and rounded the door preparing to fire. His finger sat on the trigger but the gun's muzzle was lifted, pulling him out the doorway and throwing him into the wide space of the warehouse.

"We hear you breathe, we hear the click-click of your gun, we smell you and now, now we hurt you." The pure white skinned thing with flame-red hair pounced at him and as he raised and fired his pistol she ducked and weaved, avoiding each bullet.

"Shit," his throat mic clicked. "Code Ten I repeat Code Ten," and as she barreled into him he went flying, hearing only static from his earpiece.

His slide backwards was halted and he stared up into the face of another enhanced, her skin black and white, "Aww poor baby, our home is hidden." And he screamed as she punched down on his shoulder breaking it, and his grip on the pistol faltered. Rolling to the side he grasped for his knife, dragging it from its sheath as the white enhanced looked like she skated forwards, he dropped into a combat stance and slashed outwards, but dancing under the blade she grabbed his wrist and he screamed as her claws dug into his flesh.

With no feeling in his fingers he dropped the knife, she'd got the tendon and he knew against two enhanced he was a goner. His mic clicked, "Code Ten Code Ten please God please Code Ten,'' he repeated over and over. The black enhanced walked forwards, and sprayed his legs with a sticky fluid, not just binding them together but numbing any feeling he had. "We wait for Venom," she said and the other nodded. The cold numbness spread from his legs and he lay helpless as he fell into sleep. Muse relaxed her grip on the man, letting Poison finish webbing him to the floor, only leaving his head uncovered so he could breathe.

"Shit Gwen, what the fuck was that? first Felicia and now a secret agent guy?"

"MJ I've got as much of an idea of what's going on as you do, I mean, it's Nah, it can't be,"

"what?" MJ asked, being out of the loop sucked but Gwen knew something.

"It's Oscorp/" Both women jumped, Peter had come back and had come in through the skylight. He had a backpack full of folders, which he was about to dump on the table when he spotted the bodies.

"What the fuck is she doing here?" he pointed at the sleeping form of Felicia, with the blood he hoped she was just sleeping, "Felicia's Black Cat? fuck, is she dead?" Now he recognised the smell, it was her.

"Wait, what's going on? Why's she all fucked up? why are you carrying around a folder of stuff? and why the fuck is navy seal guy here trying to kill us?" MJ was borderline hysterical, this had not been a fun evening so far.

Peter sighed, after the night he just had, this was going to take a while to explain. He put down the backpack and pulled MJ into his embrace, "shh, it's fine. Is Felicia dead?"

Gwen shook her head, "no, she'll live."

Peter pulled MJ away and looked at her, "Good, then go make coffee and I'll sort this crap out and explain. Man, I liked that table, shit." Peter looked over Felicia, she'd been stitched up with Gwen's webbing, it would stop the bleeding but by then it was too late, his coffee table was ruined, stained with thickening dark blood.

He sighed, "fuck this night. Gwen, take the mugs to your deck, I'll be up in a minute." He figured the table was salvageable though, it was only blood after all, and with what all three of them had done on it, blood would not be the last thing split on it he would need to clean up.

He checked her pulse and it was weak but steady, the makeshift bandaging holding her. Gwen had done some impressive work with the help of Poison and he figured Felicia would sleep for a while, plenty of time to deal with this crap show.

First though, he walked over to the prone agent, "I fucking hate this," he put both hands on his neck and with a squeeze and a twist, his head rotated in a way that was unhealthy to anyone alive, not that this man was now. As the body slumped Peter began to rifle through his pockets, finding only the pistol, ammo, and a knife. Several vials of liquid were slotted into his tactical vest but he had no way of knowing what they were and so he ignored them. Seeing the radio he looked around for its battery pack and unhooked it. He knew the cage around the warehouse had blocked any outgoing signals but it was better to be safe than sorry.

MJ shuddered as she watched Peter kill the man in cold blood. She didn't know exactly what was going on but she knew that they weren't going to let him go, whoever he was, had orders to kill, probably because of Felicia, stupid bitch.

"Right," Peter began, "Black Cat, aka Felicia hired Venom to hire Peter to plant these bugs in Alexsi office." Peter stared at the coffee cup in front of him and as Gwen and MJ sat sipping their own he began to narrate the story of his evening.

Peter had gone back to the junkyard, he knew it'd be closed at his time of night but Alexsi trusted him enough with a set of keys, he could get in, plant the bugs and get out before anyone knew. He was planting the last bug where Black Cat had wanted when he spied a hidden switch, he tutted as his curiosity got the better of him and pressing it he saw a panel in the back wall spring open. Opening it wide, he was greeted with three sets of tactical gear. One thick and armoured, a dark grey colour, one with conduits and cables over it and the last, still sticky black and gritty from the fight.

"Aww, Pete, I wish you hadn't seen that." Alexsi was standing there, and as Peter turned around he watched as the man bulged and grew, Rhino, he thought to himself.

"Yeah, Alexsi, you'll wish I hadn't either." Peter had had time to figure out their weaknesses, Rhino was big and strong but why wear armour if you're tough? He wasn't, he was just a man and as Peter let the symbskin flow over his fists, he used it to form the thick plates on his hands that he had used before. This time however he let them stretch out into a long thin blade.

A blade he plunged through Alexsi's chest and out his back.

Alexsi wheezed as the blade made breathing difficult and painful. Since his transformation he'd never felt pain anything like this, the blade extended through his chest had pierced his still thickening skin like it was butter and now blood stained his lips as he spoke. "Oh shit Pete, so you're Venom huh?" he coughed, breathing was hard but the pain was fading and he knew that wasn't a good sign. "shit if I knew I'd have paid you more," he laughed at his own joke but the blade and the pain cut it short.

"You will tell us where Sandman, Electro and Ock are, or we will make your suffering worse." The black symbskin had fully covered Peter now and as Alexsi slumped to his knees, Venom towered over him.

Alexsi coughed again, his breath short as he struggled to find air, "I don't know, honest Pete, I don't, shit, this hurts, please, just, 0324069, the safe, please, just."

He was cut short as Venom changed the blade in his chest back into a simple claw and pulled. Alexsi felt no more as his spine snapped and his insides spilled out onto the floor.

Venom took a deep breath. He'd promised himself he wouldn't kill so as not to involve the cops, but if Alexsi was behind the bank break-in then his whole crew were too. It didn't matter right now though as the results were the same and hopefully the safe would provide the answers he was looking for.

Anything and everything in the safe was stuffed into a bag, including several thick wads of cash. Venom rifled through drawers, taking any paperwork he found and even breaking locked cabinets open. All of Alexsi's files were bagged and once he had looted everything Venom stared at the body on the floor. He spied the propane heater in the corner and after moving it closer to the desk and into a better position he took Alexsi's lighter. "Smoking kills,'' he chuckled to himself and knocked the pressure seal off the top of the tank.

After moving Alexsi's body near the tank, he set the lighter aflame and sat it on his desk. Swinging a line out he sat on the building across from the junkyard and waited. Alexsi had been good to him, but life wasn't that fair. He would have to kill again to protect those he cared about. They were his family now and as the gas reached the lighter he watched the small office explode in a fireball, destroying all evidence the Venom was ever there.