Arc Ten. Chapter Two-Hundred Eighty-Nine. Steamy Encounter

Emma had wanted to rescue him, but instead, she lifted Tony and took him back to Stark Tower. Venom hadn't done a lot of damage, but it was enough he was out of the fight.

The Venombuster armour had been formidable, but in the end technology against a technopath was as sensible as using metal guns against Erik. As he made sure every Iron Legion drone was disabled he heard Liv.

Peter, we're relaying messages from every other group with a Symbiote member,

Vengeance and Wrath are helping Carol and Natasha. Once they have their families, they'll drop them here and then head back into New York.

Eugene has said that Ross and his Thunderbolts contained Steve, he is in a holding facility but Eugene is working to free him. It seemed more like I don't know, a show to stop Steve from really getting in trouble. Eugene thinks they will be free within the hour. Felicia is helping him, and yes I know, but she is.

Wanda and Laura are at the Sanctum with Stephen, and they are safe, even if Stephen says you owe him again. With that magic, we cannot contact them, but Wanda will check in again in an hour.

I cannot get in contact with Helios, Jean is just not in my range, and neither is Shuri. We really need to test exactly how far we can communicate, maybe a cross country road trip would be nice.

And I'm sorry Peter, but we haven't been able to contact Selene either. I know she's telepathic but I just don't know how to reach her.

Elektra has taken care of the Black Cats, Emma is safe, and she is coming to help you.

It's fine Liv, stay safe, Tell everyone I love them.

As Venom stood over the remains of Tony's legion he felt the presence at the edge of his senses. A massive heat signature, which could only be one person.

"So, I hear you went after everyone. Bad idea Ross. You made this personal."

Venom had felt Red Hulk approaching from almost a mile away. While his senses were heightened the gamma radiation lit Ross up like a Christmas tree, and even if he shrunk back down the man's body temperature was a giveaway.

"It's always personal, son." and Ross motioned to the drone, sparking and crushed by Venom. "He failed but we got some of your team. You want to stand down, or do I make you?"

Venom snorted, "make me? You think some formula makes you all-powerful." and Venom clenched a fist, "A man makes his powers, powers do not make the man."

Red Hulk snorted, "An' thanks to you, I've got more power than Banner ever had. You can't win, nobody can beat me." To prove a point he clenched a fist and his hand began to steam. Venom could feel the heat from where he was standing but more than that he felt a tingle on his armoured skin. The gamma energy Ross was giving off was immense, even Bruce kept most of it inside, and only his bodily fluids were radioactive.

"You stupid shit. Extremis? On top of Gamma formula." and it clicked, "We removed most of it, enough to let you rebind another formula. I'm going to kill Stark." He was tempted to tell Emma to ditch Tony in the bay and end this mess but Red Hulk laughed,

"You think we asked? You think Stark is behind this? Coulson and Shield, Me and Shield. The good ole US of A, making sure we stay one step ahead of those damn Russians."

Venom shook his head, yup, too much formula. Gwen knew from experimentation that mixing formulas was a really stupid thing to do. They all interacted with the X-Gene, and not in a good way. Extremis got around that by binding to the gene itself and acting as a bridge, but too much, and you got powerful but as Ross was proving, you also got side effects.

Ross was a calculating man. He ruthlessly and meticulously hunted Banner, but Red Hulk was dumber than rock. The formula crippled brain development in terms of muscle growth. One side had the leader, all the power went to his brain but weakened his body. Blonsky, Banner, and Ross, it all went to the body and not the brain, and in front of Venom was the result.

"Ross, You aren't winning this. We have stopped you, I asked Tony to stand down so this doesn't get worse, I'll give you the same chance. I won't stop, not with these stakes, but you need to. This doesn't end well, not for me, not for you,"

Red Hulk laughed, "I'm a military man, son. It always ends well for me. Pierce may have saved my ass thinking I'd owe him, and Coulson too, but nobody tarnishes brass, and the red, white, and blue never runs."

Venom shook his head, he wasn't a psychologist, but he could bet Bruce had some underlying anger issues, so Hulk was always angry, and Ross, Ross was a patriot. Follow orders, salute, do what you're told, and so Red was a super patriot, which meant he was dangerous. He wouldn't stop until ordered.

"Fine, we do this the hard way then," and as his armoured tentacles sprang from his back Red grinned,

"You didn't have a choice son." He roared and tensed as the already thick muscles on the man bulged once more,

Great, Peter thought, it's like a Saturday morning cartoon with this guy, Not walking into your trap though, if I attack you first that assaulting an officer, and we learned from Liv that gets you jail time. So bring it, you giant baboons ass.

Venom stood and waited while Ross stood flexing and letting his muscles bulge. His uniform had burned away; leaving him standing in tight stretch pants and a tank top, He did admit that the newer Red Hulk felt more dangerous, and the energy he was leaking was giving Venom second thoughts. Seeing Bruce and Blonsky taking out a helicarrier was impressive, even through the lens of a news camera, and he really didn't want to have to fight one.

"You finished, I have a hair appointment at two, and you're making me late," he said glibly, "I need to get my nails done too," and he held up a hand, and the claws on it lengthened and glowed.

Red Hulk stood and sneered, "always a joke, always the stupid remark, never taking anything seriously. No wonder your life is a joke. No wonder we hunt you now. You treat your power like a toy, we show you it not a toy. We show you Red strongest one there is."

Oh shit, Venom thought, there goes his mind. Venom could feel the mental pressure rising from Red. To the Mind Stone, it was like watching a sink empty. The steady flow of energy jumped and then ebbed slowly but as the Hulk grew, the energy faded. Wonder if that's why Hulk is dumb, the gamma disrupts any connection to the Mind Stone through his X-Gene, but he would have to think more on that as Red roared and charged at him, swinging a huge soccer ball sized fist towards his head.

Formula made him strong, but thankfully not fast and Venom leant back to avoid the blow. Red, however, was relentless in his assault, swing after swing followed, and for every two that missed, one would connect. Venom was sturdy enough to take the blows, but after fighting Vision, and then Tony he was flagging. He could fight, but not forever and not against three powerful opponents back to back.

It only took one hit and he was sent flying. As he thudded against a parked car he stared up as the huffing Red approached. Feeling for the Mind Stone, he blasted at him with raw emotion but Red was unfazed, and feeling the static interference his mind was projecting he knew why. Liv had needed to stick a hand into Red and powered up further, Venom doubted that would work.

Lifting himself up with two tentacles he darted to one side and scored a gash along Red's side. Red Hulk laughed as the blade drew a line through his shirt but the material closed and healed itself, "fancy armour, thank Richards. For fighting bugs," and Red clapped both hands together sending a shockwave at Venom, blowing him backwards and back into the car.

As he struggle to stand Red lunged forwards and rained blow after blow into Venom's chest. The armour lasted three hits before it cracked, even reinforcing it with his cells, and after blow six it crumbled and Red began a fresh assault,

"Stupid bug, stupid Parker. Hulk strong, Red Hulk stronger," he yelled as he pummeled Venom's chest, reducing the area to a bloody and bruised mess.

Venom knew his ribs were broken, and one lung was punctured. He could feel the blood pooling in his throat, and he was only breathing due to his symbskin. Cutting off the sense of pain Venom let both tentacles free from the ground and as Red smashed him once more he and the car were sent flying into a shop.

"Puny Bug." Red Hulk said but as Venom clawed his way free from the wreckage and scrapped metal he saw Red pacing back and forth, as he waited for him to free himself from the rubble, "It's over. Red Hulk wins, Red Hulk always wins."

Holding his ribs Venom pushed his way back onto the street. "I can't, not with everything that's at stake." and Venom wrapped new symbskin armour around himself, grabbing metal from the car and patching his armour as he glowed red hot. "Someone will stop you. And I can make their job easier."

Two limbs darted out, and as Red brought up his arms to protect his face the others gashed at his sides. Venom's senses flared as the red blood sizzled and melted the sidewalk, crap, I can't hurt him. The blades were strong enough to pierce his armour and skin, but he was so juiced Venom would render the city block inhabitable with the radiation. Need a new plan. The formula Liv used wouldn't work on Extremis, it needed its own de-bonder, and stabbing or beating him bloody wouldn't work as his blood was so toxic. The Mind Stone was useless on something mindless, and repulsors would just piss him off.

Venom wondered if the building behind him was empty, and if dropping it on Red would even phase him. He needed something big, heavy and difficult to move under, even with superstrength. A construction site would be perfect but there weren't any, the junkyard, he thought to himself. It was close enough he could get there and it was all scrap anyway.

Red Hulk had other plans though and as Venom lifted himself the massive monster leapt for him, grabbing ahold of the two arms anchoring him to the sidewalk,

"Puny bug not listen," and swinging Venom around he slammed him into the sidewalk over and over. As he flopped, trying to get screaming muscles to work Red grinned and spying a fire hydrant dragged Venom over and wrapped both arms around it, ignoring their screeching as he tied them in a massive bow around it before twisting the top and crumpling the whole thing around the two libs.

As water gushed into the air it steamed and evaporated it hit Red skin, clouding the area in a thick fog.

Knowing he was trapped anyway, Venom disconnected the arms from the harness and crawled away, shimmering and hoping Red was too preoccupied or just too dumb to notice him,

Help, I need help, he sent out, and even using the Mind Stone was painful, The blows to his chest had shifted it and it pressed against something inside his chest. As he made it to a building and leaned against it, letting his healing slowly fix not just the damage Red had done, but the radiation poisoning from exposure to Red Hulk's blood. As his head swam and Red just grinned watching him try to stand, Venom heard the voice,

I am on my way, darling, Do try to stay in one piece, I might have plans for you later.