Arc Nine. Chapter Two-Hundred Sixty-Eight. The Choice

Once Jean had been dealt with, and now that she was smiling and not setting fire to things Peter had one last item on his agenda. With AIM and Parker Inc set up, Pepper had sent over a list of their current employees and a new list of prospective hires.

As Peter made himself known to everyone, simply by walking around the building, nobody of interest stuck out. There were the occasional weed smokers and assholes in the group, but nothing Peter could actually fire anyone over, not unless their behaviour spilled over at work as well. Until he met Livs latest Lab assistant.

As the older gentleman, with greying hair and a haggard look stuck out his hand for Peter to shake Peter simply raised an eyebrow and shook his head. "Sorry uh, Alister. You work for Gideon Malik, are an ex Hydra agent, and I have no issues with what I'm about to do."

Alister Smythe, the scientist Shield had sent over, was as dirty as they come. Peter and the rest had already discussed what he should do if they found any moles, and as Alister found out it wasn't pleasant.

Liv had been warned, so when the man walked into her lab, wearing nothing but a tie and smile she knew to scream, and even his incoherent babbling, once he came back to his senses, wasn't enough to save him.

His termination papers were signed before the police arrived and he was arrested for not just exposing himself to Liv but sexual harassment and a whole bunch of racial slurs that he had seemingly shouted while brandishing his erection at her. All handily caught on the lab's newest security cameras. Alister Sinclair would be spending a long time in prison, even if Gideon was pulling his strings, Peter doubted he would risk associating himself with the man.

With that dealt with, all that was left was to check each of the prospective employees, and as each one was interviewed Peter sat in, while Pepper did most of the talking, and marked any that might be problematic at a later date.

It was during the interviews that someone Peter found interesting appeared,

Tall, blonde and with sharp features and a pricing stare, Elizabeth Allen reminded Peter a little of Steve. She had the same mannerisms and stare, but what was more interesting was her thoughts on Parker Inc and AIM.

While Pepper conducted her interview, Peter let his abilities envelop her gently. He never pushed too far into someone's mind, surface thoughts and feelings were enough to get a good read on someone but it was her restraint at asking if the rumours about Peter and Parker Inc were true that got his own curiosity up.

Most people who were applying knew about Peter and Tony's rivalry, and most asked if Stark would be a problem, but Liz was more interested in finding out if there was a connection between Peter, Iron Man, and Venom. She had an idea but nothing she could prove.

As Pepper finished, she always asked Peter if he had any questions and usually he said no, and shook the person's hand,

"So, I can see you're holding back, ask your question," he said to Liz who looked flustered for a moment but took a small breath,

"Are you?" she asked and Peter grinned,

"You have to be more specific." and she rolled her eyes,

"Venom. Are you Venom?"

Peter could see the web that led her to that conclusion. Tony picking on an upcoming scientist wasn't new. He had read about Quentin Beck being humiliated at one of Tony's symposiums, never to be heard from again, but Peter was different.

Tony purposefully bought Peters patents, sometimes even forcefully. He went after Olivia Octavious's work, even when others stayed away from the mess at Oscorp, and then suddenly it was all returned without complaint. Pepper now worked for Peter, her name being dragged through the seedier parts of the internet after an alleged affair with Venom, and while neither man was similar in build there was enough of a match in vocal and motion recognition that his name was plausible. As Peter had thought when talking to Betty, any competent investigator could identify any current superhero, given the right tools, and enough time.

What surprised him though wasn't that she had connected him to Venom, was that it wasn't to expose him. She had grown up with aliens and tales of close encounters. She watched the shuttle missions and had tried for the astronaut program, only to be rebuffed after her eyesight betrayed her.

She wanted to know if Venom was real, to finally find out if the truth was out there. She had no lofty ideals of exposing him, or of anything more than simply wanting to know.

He could use the Stone to dive deeper, but part of him felt dirty at what he might find, instead,

"And if you found out, what would you do?" He asked a simple enough question, but it was reinforced with the power of the Stone. No matter what, the next thing she spoke would be the truth,

"Are you fucking kidding? Finding out aliens are real? shit I might just dance in your office," and as she spoke, bluntly but truthfully her face dyed itself red and she covered it with her hands, "Sorry, sorry, I don't." but Peter was laughing as he looked over at Pepper,

"Yeah, hire her. Full disclosure. She's the one."

Liz was buzzing with excitement. She had her theories but actually working in the PR department of AIM would let her do some investigating, and hopefully prove them right. Which was why, when Pepper went over her terms of employment and handed her a thick wad of paper with Non-Disclosure Act in bold at the top, her enthusiasm fell.

It fell even further as it covered more than just employment at AIM, even after she quit she was bound by it and it wasn't just a simple fine. Citing several of the New York Accords she would be held indefinitely for revealing any information about Enhanced activities going on at any of AIMs subsidiaries, and each offence would be counted separately. Even if she proved herself right, telling anyone could land her a life sentence.

The salary was competitive, and the workload was much lighter than she expected. While she would be handling press releases for each company it was a simple nine to five job. Nobody expected her to work alone and while she would get full disclosure she could hire temps and secretaries to do any paperwork.

As she tapped the pen on the contract and the NDA she tutted to herself, dammit, and signed both, handing them back to a smiling Pepper.

"We need to get you a badge, and you have access to most of the labs. Just be aware that not everywhere is safe and some you will still need an appointment to enter. You're AIMs press secretary, so you really only answer to me, but please don't piss off the company heads too much," and Pepper leaned forwards, "and if you're really nice to Gwen she gives out free samples." and she handed her a company tablet. "Your login details are on the back. Passwords are changed every day, so you won't get proper access until tomorrow. Everything is on there. And welcome aboard."

Liz waited until she was outside before she fist pumped and then until she was home before she logged into the tablet. It was all dry boring material. Active and upcoming research projects that needed to be sorted into press releases. She would have to start reading up on some of the more technical aspects of her job but for now, there were two she knew needed more attention.

First was the rebranding of Gwen Stacy's feminine range. Femifire had proven a stupid name and Pepper left a note saying it was being changed to Fenesse, and a whole ad campaign needed to be centred around it. Liv sighed and lifted her phone began to arrange a list of producers and directors to get the ball rolling. Remembering, she added Mary Jane Watson's name to the list. She had heard the rumours about her and Peter, and getting her onboard for the ad campaign would help.

Next was a scheduled meeting with not just each company head, but a few other names she didn't recognise. Eugene Thompson stuck out, as the Avengers had hired him as a replacement for the agents lost during the attack, but the rest, Elektra Natchios, James Howlett, Cindy Moon, and Maria Hill were all unknown. Only Elektra, the head of the Natchios fortune, came back in her google search.

Sipping her celebratory glass of wine she shrugged and laid the tablet back down. That was for tomorrow, tonight she would celebrate, and as she sighed, knowing nobody from the Daily Bugle would be as thrilled to see her leave as she was, she just sat alone drinking her wine. Even Betty, and she paused, lifting her tablet once more. Eddie Brock. She had seen his name in the list of people he was meeting tomorrow, shit she thought, Betty's ex, and while she hadn't been forthcoming with details, Liz knew Betty had been devastated when he left.

Shaking her head, she put the tablet back down, she would hold off calling her until she got the scoop from Eddie, that was a powder keg she wasn't going to touch until she knew the truth. That was tomorrow's problem though, and as she picked up the phone she did wish someone was here to celebrate with her, oh well, at least I get to eat this myself,

"Hello, Panucci's? One large with everything, for delivery," and as she hummed to herself, the indigestion from eating a large pizza herself could be tomorrow's problem as well, and she wondered if the lab made a super-secret antacid she could get free samples of.

As she arrived at work the next day the office complex seemed busier than usual. New faces were being given tours and some of the staff she had seen waiting yesterday now seemed to be sharing the first-day excitement she was feeling.

Pepper greeted her at the main reception. She knew the office building was new, and that their main labs were somewhere in the Brooklyn warehouse district where Peter lived close by. It was a typical office, mainly modern glass and steel with a fresh natural feeling. Pepper had taken care to incorporate fresh wood and plants, and they gave the bland and cold modern building a much-needed welcoming feel.

"While today will be mainly orientation, we thought we'd get the big problem out of the way." and Liz nodded. She was to be given full disclosure, and she figured that there were military and possibly even national secrets she would need to know as part of her job. What she didn't expect was the room full of very attractive and very fit people, most of whom looked like soldiers.

Peter was there, as was Olivia Octavious. Her picture had been in the news, over the Oscorp incident but everyone else was unknown.

"We'll do introductions in a moment," Peter said "first, we need you to sign this," and as he handed her a single piece of paper she frowned,

It was a very blunt NDA, stating anything she saw in this room was an addendum to her other NDA

"Really?" she asked as she signed, "this better be good Mr holy shit-" she stammered and Peters clothing rippled and the black-clad Venom stood before her.

"Yeah, it's good," and as she backed away more of the people here shifted and more of the armoured villains and heroes appeared. She saw Flash Thompson shift into Agent Webb, and a few others with the same style armour on.

Taking a deep breath, "You know the NDA doesn't cover acts of criminality, and I am free to quit." but as his clothing changed back Peter laughed,

"And Venom isn't a wanted man, and neither am I. Shield took care of that. Nobody here is a criminal."

Liz backed away but Peter just laughed, "Yeah, see that's job number one, to get people to stop doing that," and as Liz realised the enormity of even that reveal, she took out her tablet,

"Fine. Tell me the rest."

By the time Peter had finished, she had been introduced to everyone and noted down their names Liz was on cloud nine. Every childhood dream was coming true and here she was in the middle of the next cultural revolution. It would be her job to mould and sculpt the public's perceptions of not just the symbiotes but Enhanced and Augmented.

No wonder the paperwork was so thick. She could go down in history as one of the figureheads, even more than anyone else sat here. Sid Vicious might symbolise punk, but Malcolm McLaren made it happen, and that was her job now.

"So why me?" she asked and Peter pointed at Eddie, who rubbed the back of his head with a hand,

"Betty, she knows you're not happy at the Bugle," he admitted and Liz agreed. Since JJ's meltdown over John's death, it was becoming harder and harder to listen to his anti-hero rants.

"So, one last thing, The Klyntar are aliens right?" and Peter nodded, "and other aliens exist?" and looking around, he did neglect to mention Carols half Kree biology, but he still nodded,

"Sure. There is an Asgardian embassy on Earth, and we hear that another race, the Zandarians, are coming soon."

Liz was buzzing with excitement as she almost bounced over to Peter. Taking his hands, she stared at him with a huge grin on her face. Peter raised an eyebrow at her, expecting the worst,

"Can you introduce me to Thor?"