Chapter Text
“Something is up with Pete,” Tony commented out of the blue over lunch one day. The Avengers all looked away from their various conversations and homed in on what he had said.
“Why do you say that?” Hope asked. She hadn’t personally seen Peter for a couple of weeks due to her work so she was one of the few people at the table who wouldn’t be able to comment on the teen’s behaviour.
“He’s just, he’s been acting off,” Tony said but the words sounded stupid to him. “He’s got dark bags under his eyes, and I know it isn’t because of patrolling.”
“How do you know it’s not because of that?” Hope continued. The other Avengers all started sharing glances – now that it had been brought up, they could all see a few changes in Peter’s behaviour of late.
“Because he hasn’t been patrolling, not for long anyway,” Nat spoke before Tony could and the man nodded in agreement. “Nebula mentioned he has only been patrolling for a few hours each night. She said he’s been calling it significantly before curfew.”
“Now that you mention it,” Sam said thoughtfully. “He hasn’t really been joining us for things like movie nights or anything.”
The Avengers all exchanged glances. Something was seriously wrong with their favourite teenager, and no one could identify the cause.
---
In another room in the tower, Harley and Nebula were staring at the sleeping form of their little brother in between them. Like the adults, they’d noticed something was going on with Peter (they’d noticed it first and Harley was definitely going to hold that over Tony’s head once everything was sorted) and they were trying their hardest to find out what was happening.
“He hasn’t been sleeping,” Nebula whispered to Harley over Peter’s head. She was running her fingers through the youngest teen’s hair and looked down as he let out a soft whine. She waited until the boy had resettled before speaking again. “I can hear him pacing each night. He just does laps of the bedroom.”
“You think something is happening at school? I thought Pep and Mechanic had sorted that shit out,” Harley commented. Helix grumbled from his perch on Harley’s chest and the older boy frowned. That was another thing that had been weird of late – while Helix still wanted to be close to Peter, he had taken to occasionally hissing and snarling at his owner. The first time it had happened Harley had been stunned. Helix had even stopped trailing after Peter like a tiny shadow. He was now mostly attached to Nebula, something that had both of them worried.
“I thought so. But does that explain Helix?” Nebula asked, shooting a pointed glance down at the Flerken resting on Harley’s chest.
“You’re right. If it was school related there’s no way Helix would be so standoffish,” Harley replied. The Flerken opened his eyes and looked at over Peter. Nebula and Harley exchanged looks as Helix snarled in Peter’s direction before burying his nose in Harley’s collarbone.
The two eldest IronKids fell silent, and both kept their gazes focused on their little brother. Peter, their ray of sunshine, was suffering and they couldn’t work out why. They both felt helpless, and they both hated the feeling immensely.
---
That night, Peter felt the eyes of every member of his extended family on him and it was, quite frankly, pissing him off. In fact, most things at the moment pissed him off. He couldn’t work out why, but his Spidey-Sense was perpetually going off meaning he felt constantly on edge. And there was something he hadn’t mentioned to anyone, not even his dad. He was suffering from blackouts.
They’d started two weeks before after a night of patrolling. Him and Nebula had been hanging out in the Warehouse District when they’d inadvertently come across a human and weapons trafficking ring. They been involved in a firefight with the group and Peter had been knocked into a pile of black sludge during the fight. He’d felt the sludge covering him, but it seemed to disappear shortly afterward. His attention had then been drawn back into the fight, and he’d forgotten all about the goo until later that night. When he’d gotten home he noticed that some of the veins on his arm were black.
Peter had just assumed his body would fight off any toxins, so he hadn’t mentioned it to anyone. That had probably been a mistake. Two nights later he’d woken up back in the Warehouse District in just his pyjamas. He had no recollection of how he’d gotten there considering he’d not been out patrolling (and given he had no suit or any of his equipment he had been terrified and confused). He’d managed to swing his way home and slip into the tower unnoticed, but he’d struggled to sleep ever since.
Coming out of his thoughts, Peter looked up from his barely touched plate of food. For some reason, most food tasted like dirt of late. The only thing he seemed to enjoy eating was either chocolate or, for the most bizarre reason, tater-tots. The best part of his days of late had been that both the school cafeteria and the SI cafeteria served tater-tots (which Peter seemed to be devouring in abundance).
“Is dinner alright Pete?” Steve asked gently and for whatever reason, his voice and the concern that was laced through it was grating.
“Yeah fine. Just not hungry,” Peter commented. He couldn’t understand why he was so angry or why the simple question had him on edge. A sharp pain sliced through his head and Peter winced. He pushed his chair back from the table and stood. “I’m gunna go to bed.”
“Pete, bambino, is everything alright?” Tony asked hesitantly and Peter bit his lip so hard he drew blood.
“I’m fine. Jeez. Just tired,” Peter couldn’t stop himself from snapping at his father. He stormed out of the dining room, ignoring the concerned looks from the Avengers, and barely held himself back from slamming the door to his bedroom once he’d entered. Peter locked his room down and even went as far as to disconnect both FRIDAY and Karen before he entered his bathroom. He splashed some cold water on his face and stared at his reflection in the mirror. “What the fuck is going on.”
~ We need more sustenance. Tater tots are required ~ a gravelly voice echoed in the room and Peter let out a cry. He stared around the room but couldn’t see anyone else in there with him.
“What the actual fuck?” Peter hissed out. He turned back to the mirror and let out a short, sharp, scream as something black emerged from his shoulder. It was a head of sorts, black and liquid looking with large white eyes and a large mouth full of teeth.
~ You shouldn’t say those words, tiny human. They are adult words. ~ the creature spoke, and Peter reeled back. His back hit the wall hard, and he found himself sliding down to sit on the tiled floor.
“Who, no what are you?” Peter demanded. He raised a hand and felt around on his shoulder for where the creature was emerging. He could feel something slimy on his back and looking at the thing floating before him he realised it looked like the black goo he’d landed in.
~ We are Venom. ~ the creature said. ~ And you, tiny human, are going to help us. ~
“What the fuck is going on? Help you how?” Peter demanded.
~ You are the Spider. You help people ~ the creature, Venom, said. ~ Our Eddie likes you. But we are confused. You are small – how can you help people and be so small? ~
“Uh, I’m still growing?” Peter replied in confusion. Venom let out a low hum and seemed to scan him up and down.
~ You are just a spawn. A child! Eddie will need to know we have a child now! ~ the creature seemed almost excited as he spoke. ~ And this child is not a murderer! Good baby spider! ~
A black tendril came out from the creature and patted Peter on the head.
“Who is Eddie?” Peter asked and Venom seemed to wither slightly. Peter felt a rush of sadness and fear rush through him, and he knew instinctually it had come from Venom. Peter lifted one of his own hands and patted Venom on what he assumed was the forehead.
~ Eddie is ours and we are Eddie’s. We are Venom. ~ Venom replied softly, and Peter frowned. ~ We lost Eddie. Spider can help us find Eddie. ~
Peter felt his body moving of its own volition and found himself standing as the creature retreated back into his body. Things were starting to make sense now. Venom must have been the one controlling his body during his blackouts. That made Peter mad.
~ Baby Spider is mad. Why? Do we need to bite someone’s head off. Brains are delicious and will help you grow. ~ Venom’s voice echoed in Peter’s head and Peter dug his heels into the carpet. Thankfully his spider attributes still seemed to be working – he could feel Venom straining within his body trying to get it to move.
“Just STOP,” Peter ended the sentence with a yell that he instantly regretted. His hearing picked up movement from outside the room as his family started to come down the corridor to his room. Either the Super Soldiers heard his yell or they had FRIDAY on standby.
“Pete, kiddo, you ok?” Tony’s voice was concerned as he knocked on the door but Peter just felt irritated (later he would realise this was from a combination of the symbiote’s influence, lack of sleep, and hunger).
“I’m fine. Just leave me alone Tony!” Peter yelled back firmly. He threw himself onto his bed and buried his face into his pillow.
~ Baby Spider, ~ Venom sounded almost hesitant, and Peter felt a tendril run across his head. Somewhere inside of him Peter knew the creature was trying to be comforting but it was just too much.
“Can you just give me a minute of peace to think,” Peter snapped. The tendril receded back into his body and Peter could feel the creature shrinking inside of him.
After 5 minutes of blessed silence (despite the fact he knew the Avengers were hovering somewhere outside his room) Peter rolled onto his black and took a few deep breaths.
“Venom,” Peter said softly. The creature appeared again from his side and Peter tried to smile. “I’m sorry for snapping. I want to help you find your Eddie.”
~ Thank you, Baby Spider, ~ Venom said.
“Where did you last see him?” Peter asked, sitting up and grabbing a notepad and pen from his bedside.
~ We were at the warehouses. We are the Lethal Protector, and we were trying to help someone. A girl we heard screaming, ~ Venom explained, and Peter nodded. ~ Eddie and I were fighting bad guys when one of them shot us. That wouldn’t matter normally but the gun was wrong. ~
“Wrong? Can you explain that?” Peter asked and the creature hissed. Peter could tell it was out of frustration rather than anger at him. Before Peter could say anything, he felt his eyes cloud over and memories not his own flooded his mind.
He watched as a large, humanoid creature, Venom, leapt down from a storage container and bit a guy’s head off. Peter watched as Venom continued to eat random traffickers before the creature began to scream in pain. The creature was engulfed in purple light and Peter could have sworn his body was being torn apart. Venom was forcibly ripped from a body, Eddie, and both hit the ground hard. The severely weakened symbiote could only watch as his Eddie was bound and thrown into a nearby truck.
“Holy shit,” Peter said as he came out of the vision. Venom was attempting to nuzzle the teenager but it wasn’t working. “Ok, so it looks like your Eddie was taken by the traffickers. They were the same guys Neb and I were dealing with. We broke down their trafficking ring two weeks ago. They must have used some kind of EMP weapon to distort your structure and separate you both.”
~ Did you find Eddie?” ~ Venom asked and he let out a noise when the teenager shook his head. ~ We will not lose our Eddie. We need to find those guys and make them tell us where Eddie is! ~
“Ok first you need to calm down,” Peter said as he attempted to gain some semblance of control over the emotions flooding through him. “What is your plan here? All those guys are currently locked up awaiting trial.”
~ We go to them and tell them that we will eat them if they don’t tell us where our Eddie is. ~ Venom replied matter-of-factly. ~ And then once they tell us we eat them anyway. ~
“How do you suppose we get out of the Tower to enact this plan? Cause my family won’t let us just walk out the front door with a cheery ‘sorry guys, gotta go eat some people and get some answers, I’ll be back by curfew.’ That will go down like a sack of rocks,” Peter said sarcastically. He watched as the creature looked towards the window with a curious look.
~ We could jump. No one could stop us. ~ Venom commented and Peter shook his head. ~ I would not let you get hurt Baby Spider. That would make me a bad father. ~
“That’s not what I meant,” Peter replied. He stood up from the bed and walked over to his closet. Pulling out the Spider Suit, he quickly got dressed and watched in awe as Venom spread across the suit. In a matter of seconds Peter’s suit was now black with a white spider emblem on the front.
~ Our child! You look very good. Eddie will love you! ~ Venom said excitedly. ~ We will eat tater-tots and chocolate, and we can swing around New York together. Maybe we can find our child his own symbiote! ~
“Down Venom,” Peter said with a laugh. Despite all the anger he’d been feeling towards the creature, he could sympathise with him just wanting help to get his person back. Engaging the full suit, Peter was surprised to find Karen not connecting. “Karen, you with me?”
~ Spider Baby does not need the mechanical lady. She hurts our brains! ~ Venom said firmly. ~ We will keep you safe. Now, let’s go find our Eddie! ~
Peter had barely enough time to open his window before he felt himself flying through the air. It felt somehow different to when he was swinging around. Rather than him needing to calculate trajectories, Venom was doing it all by himself. It took a few minutes for them to work out the kinks but soon enough Venom and Peter were working together to make it across the city and to the jail where the traffickers were being held.
---
“He called him Tony,” Clint commented softly to Natasha as they stood across the room from Tony and Pepper. The former was sitting on the couch with his head buried in his hands as Pepper rubbed her hand soothingly up and down his back. “What the hell is going on?”
“I have no idea. Time to find out,” Natasha replied. She pushed off the wall she had been leaning against and walked down the hall to Peter’s room. Making quick work of the lock, Nat walked inside slowly. “Маленький паук?”
Taking in the room, Nat frowned when she realised it was empty. She quickly scanned each corner and even shot a glance at the vent opening. She heard noise from the bathroom and walked over to it, tensing slightly as she got closer. The tap at the sink was running full force and a quick scan showed there was a small crack in the wall.
Walking back into the room, her senses on high alert, Nat approached Peter’s desk. She silently apologised to the boy but started rifling through his drawers and his school bag.
“What the hell?” Nat murmured as she grabbed a wad of papers that had been stuffed into the back of the desk. Unfolding the first one had her eyes widening. It was full of scribbles, rambles if she was honest. Words written over and over, in spirals, in uppercase, lowercase, and some where it looked like Pete had pressed heavily enough on the page to rip it.
Walking out of the room, Natasha reemerged in the living room. Clint was the first to notice her face and he frowned.
“Bruce,” Nat asked, and the Avengers all turned to look at her. She walked over to the scientist and handed him the papers. “What do you make of these?”
Bruce looked them over, his face growing more and more tense as he read. Tony and Pepper were now looking at the group and Nat could see Tony’s hands were shaking.
“If I didn’t know any better, I’d say I was looking at the work of someone suffering a psychotic break,” Bruce said in reply. He looked up at Nat and raised an eyebrow. “Where were these?”
“Pete’s room,” Nat deadpanned, and Tony was on his feet in an instant. He grabbed the papers from Bruce and gazed at them frantically. Steve made a move to go down the hall but Nat stopped him. “He isn’t in there.”
“FRIDAY, where is Peter,” Pepper called out and it was a moment before FRIDAY answered.
“Peter left the tower approximately 15 minutes ago,” FRIDAY replied, and the Avengers all shared a glance. “There is some footage you should see.”
FRIDAY turned on the TV and the Avengers all watched in horror as Peter’s window opened and the teen slid out of the room. He stayed pinned to the glass for a moment before he was falling. A different angle showed that he seemed to wait far longer than usual to release a web and swing off into the city.
“FRIDAY, play it again but zoom in on Peter,” Nat said, and FRIDAY did as requested. After a moment Nat told the AI to stop. “His suit is different.”
“Why is it black?” Pepper asked and for once Tony didn’t have an answer. Pepper turned to Nat and continued talking. “What else did you find in his room?”
“The tap running and a crack in the wall. It looked like he was in the middle of washing his face when something spooked him,” Nat explained.
“Could he have been taken over by something?” Clint asked after a few minutes and the others all turned to him. “Think about it, mood swings, isolating himself, not eating. What if he is being mind controlled.”
“I’ll call Strange and Loki,” Tony said already pulling out his phone. The Avengers could only watch in horror as the thoughts began to race. Someone was controlling their boy and they had no idea who it was or why. What scared them most of all was that Peter was probably suffering and they hadn’t even realised it.
---
“Venom, I need you to let me handle getting us inside,” Peter whispered once they were on top of the building. “You can handle the questioning but I need to get us inside. Got it?”
~ Understood, Baby Spider. ~ Venom replied. Peter could feel him practically chomping at the bit to get underway so he took a deep breath and steeled himself.
---
“You know, that was probably one of the most disgusting things I have ever done,” Peter said as he and Venom made their way across the city once more. They’d managed to get some answers from the traffickers but Venom had still insisted on eating two of the five men. Peter had protested vehemently but Venom had simply surged forward before Peter could stop him. “I can’t believe you just ate their heads. You can’t do that dude.”
~ Two things Baby Spider. 1 – they were bad men. 2 – they tasted good. ~ Venom replied nonchalantly. ~ Eating brains helps you grow stronger. ~
“When we find your Eddie the three of us are going to have a long, hard talk about this eating people nonsense,” Peter said firmly. Peter and Venom found themselves at a large, abandoned building on Staten Island. The traffickers had eventually told them that there were a few more members of the ring located there, along with a number of cells filled with “cargo” (if Peter was really honest with himself, letting Venom eat that guy hadn’t been that hard of a pill to swallow). Eddie was probably in one of the cells and the gang would be waiting for the heat to die down before they either sold him or killed him.
They landed silently on the roof of the building and quietly entered via one of the fire escapes (only after a five-minute argument where Peter had to talk Venom down from going in guns blazing as there were civilians inside.
Peter and Venom were now fighting like a cohesive unit as they dispatched the first two traffickers they found.
~ Venom, put him down! ~ Venom was in control of the body and was dangling one of the traffickers about his head. He had just been about to take a bite when Baby Spider and resisted.
“But food. Brains are good for growing spawn,” Venom tried again to lower the body to his mouth but the arm resisted. For one so small, Spider was strong. “Just a nibble. I can just take an eye and maybe his tongue.”
~ No Venom. No more heads while you’re in my body, ~ Peter demanded firmly. Venom thought that it reminded him of when a tiny puppy tried to protect its dinner. It was cute! ~ Venom, I can hear what you are thinking. I’m not a puppy! ~
“You are cute like a puppy. Therefore, puppy,” Venom said firmly but he acquiesced to Peter’s request and reluctantly dropped the human.
Venom and Peter cleared the rest of the traffickers with ease – Venom greatly enjoyed using Peter’s webs to tie up bad guys. Once the bad guys were subdued, Venom retreated slightly and allowed Peter control as they moved down to the cells. They’d agreed (in Venom’s case reluctantly) that this would be the best way to approach the probably frightened humans in the cells.
Pushing open the doors, Peter peeked inside and quickly scanned for any men with guns before pushing the door open wider and walking inside. Various sized cells and cages lined the basement style room, each one filled with people. They ranged in age from young child up to women probably in their late 30s or so. In the final cell, a figure was curled up in a ball in the corner.
“Eddie!” Venom cried as he propelled Peter’s body forward. The ball on the floor stretched slightly and sat up, looking over to where the voice had come from. The man was unshaven and unkempt and covered in bruises and still healing wounds.
“Vee?” the man’s voice was scratchy from misuse and lack of water. He tried to stumble to his feet but just managed to reach an arm out. Venom took the opportunity to launch himself from Peter’s body to reunite with his host. The black symbiote engulfed the man and both felt like they were whole again. “Oh god Vee. I missed you.”
~ I missed you too Eddie! But look, I found the Spider. He is a child. Can we keep him? He will need lots of tater-tots and chocolate. ~ Venom cried excitedly. Eddie looked over to where Spider-Man was standing. Well, standing was probably not the right way to describe his stance. As soon as Venom had launched himself out of the kid’s body, Peter had slumped against the wall. The shock to his system had caused him to black out slightly. That coupled with the lack of sleep and constant adrenaline rush he’d been experiencing meant Peter probably didn’t have long on his feet.
“Shit Vee. You can’t just do that,” Eddie admonished as he broke open the cell door (now that he had Venom back he felt infinitely stronger) and raced towards the kid. The kid took a few deep breaths and shook his head slightly before turning to smile up at Eddie.
“You must be Eddie. Venom has told me lots about you,” the kid said.
“Kid, you don’t know how grateful I am,” Eddie replied. It was then he finally, finally, took in both the kid’s outfit and what his symbiote had said. “Wait, you’re Spider-Man? Holy shit.”
“Yeah. Look we should probably get out of here,” Peter said. “I’ve webbed up the traffickers but we need to call the cops and get them to come.”
“Sounds good to me kid,” Eddie replied, patting Vee’s head as it emerged from his back. Peter put his mask back on and took a deep breath before nodding.
Eddie and Peter made quick work of the cells and led the frightened women and children out of the basement. Together they cleared the rest of the house and Peter made sure to web up and place the traffickers in one of the cells. Venom emerged when one of them woke up and threatened to rip his head off after he made an attempt to lunge at Peter.
“If you need to jet I can stay here for the cops,” Eddie commented as the sirens approached. Peter shook his head and sat down on the step of the abandoned brownstone they’d been held in. The police arrived quickly and were equal parts grateful and horrified at what they saw. Peter waited until all the women and children had been loaded into ambulances before walking over to where Eddie was sitting on the rear bumper of an ambulance. He was whispering quietly to himself and Peter smiled.
“So, if my calculations are right, both you and your friend must be hungry,” Peter said and Eddie’s head nodded vigorously. “Come on, I know a great late-night diner we can go to. And just for Venom, they sell tater-tots.”
~ Eddie, I wish to keep the Spider. ~ Vee’s voice echoed in his head and Eddie couldn’t stop the snort that emerged from him. Peter raised an eyebrow and Eddie just shook his head fondly.
“Vee wants to keep you,” Eddie explained and Peter grinned.
“I think my parents might have a problem with that,” Peter replied and both Eddie and Peter heard Venom’s deep growl emerge from Eddie’s chest. “But that doesn’t mean we can’t be tater-tot buddies.”
~ Acceptable for now. For now. ~ Vee said and Eddie sighed. ~ We will have to clean up the apartment. Then maybe Baby Spider will want to stay with us. ~
Eddie just rubbed his chest gently as a way to try and soothe his other half. Peter waited with Eddie until the medics cleared him (and Eddie refused transport) before they started walking down the street. Peter quickly hailed a cab and told the stunned cabbie the address of the diner. When they arrived, Peter led Eddie inside and to a booth in the back and was happy to see his favourite waitress on duty.
“Spider-Man, you are out late tonight,” Darlene commented as she approached the booth. She looked over at Spider-Man’s companion and turned back to him with a raised eyebrow. “And with a journalist no less. Are you ok?”
“Yeah Darlene. I’m good,” Peter said, smiling under his mask at the protectiveness in her tone. “We’re friends.”
“If you say so. Now what can I get you?” Darlene replied.
“Let’s do two double cheeseburgers, extra bacon on both. Four of the biggest chocolate milkshakes you can make. And two of the biggest bowls of tater-tots you can carry. In fact, two of the biggest bowls you have in the kitchen, and I’ll help carry them,” Peter commented and Darlen just rolled her eyes fondly before disappearing to put in their order. Peter turned back to Eddie and tilted his head. “So, journalist?”
“Uh yeah,” Eddie rubbed at the back of his neck sheepishly. He stuck out a hand and Peter shook it firmly. “Eddie Brock, formerly of San Francisco.”
“Holy shit,” Peter commented, rolling his mask up so his mouth was visible. “You’re the guy who exposed Carlton Drake and the Life Foundation.”
“That’s me. I promise, I’m not going to expose you,” Eddie said.
~ If you hurt Baby Spider I will eat your liver. And your kidneys. ~ Vee’s voice sounded in his head and Eddie let out a bark of laughter.
“Vee just threatened to eat my liver and kidneys if I hurt you,” Eddie explained and he watched as the bottom part of Spider-Man’s cheeks went red. “I’m not exposing you kid. You saved me and Vee. That means I owe you.”
Darlene returned with their milkshakes and placed two in front of each man. Eddie picked up the first one of his and downed it at an almost inhuman speed. The empty glass landed on the table and Eddie lifted the second one. This one was drunk much more slowly and both Eddie and Venom purred in pleasure. Peter was halfway through his first milkshake and was smiling at the man across from him.
“I should probably apologise for Vee. I assume there’s been some issues with your mood and what not,” Eddie commented and Peter nodded. His face fell slightly and Eddie leant across to pat his hand. “Sorry kid. It was one hell of a shock for me the first time. From what Vee is showing me, you handled it better than I did.”
“I snapped at my dad. I called him by his first name,” Peter said softly. Black tendrils slid across Eddie’s hand and tightened around Peter’s. The teen smiled weakly at the gesture and squeezed back. “I was really mean. I think I was mean to everyone. It’s been a long, hazy couple of weeks.”
~ Tell him we are sorry. ~ Venom demanded and Eddie repeated the demand.
“It’s all water under the bridge Venom. Just glad I could help,” Peter replied. The symbiote let out a low purr and Peter and Eddie both smiled.
Darlene eventually brought the food over to them (the two bowls of tater-tots taking up over half of the table length due to their size) and all three dug in with gusto. The rest of their time at the diner was spent laughing and chatting and Peter was so excited to learn he’d made two of the coolest new friends.
Once they’d eaten their fill, Peter escorted Eddie and Venom back to their apartment. He was feeling so much better now, if a little bit tired.
“You look shattered kid. You want to crash here for a bit?” Eddie asked as they turned on the stairs. Venom’s head appeared beside Eddie and the symbiote was attempting to smile.
“You should stay. We have a nice bed and, in the morning, I can make breakfast,” Venom said and Peter just shook his head.
“No can do my dudes. I gotta go make some apologies and probably talk down some crazy Avengers. But before you go,” Peter said. He grabbed his phone out of its compartment in his suit and held it up. “Selfie!”
After saying goodbye, Peter put the mask back on a jolted slightly as Karen reengaged.
“Peter, are you alright? My functions all went offline,” if an AI could sound concerned that was how Karen sounded. Peter could tell she was scanning his body for any injuries. “Your temperature has returned to normal and you appear to be unharmed. You do have a foreign pathogen in your bloodstream but your mutation appears to be dealing with that.”
“Welcome back Karen,” Peter said as he fired a web and took off back towards the Tower.
“Peter, you should know, the Avengers have issued a “Spider-Baby” alert,” Karen said and Peter groaned. Karen pulled up footage from inside the Tower and Peter was stunned to notice that the Avengers were all gathered in the living room, along with Uncle Thor, Uncle Loki, Aunt Valkyrie, Uncle Stephen, Nebula, and Harley. They appeared to be deep in conversation and stressed. “Your father’s blood pressure is quite high.”
“Karen, can you connect to FRIDAY and patch through a call please,” Peter said as he continued swinging.
“Peter, it is good to hear your voice,” FRIDAY echoed through the suit and Peter smiled. “Boss has gathered the Avengers because they are concerned about your well-being.”
“Fri, what are they talking about? Can you patch me into the Tower’s audio?” Peter asked. He waved at a few people still out in the streets who all excitedly waved back or took photos.
“What do you mean you can’t find him?” Tony’s desperate voice echoed in the suit. The footage he was watching now showed Tony pacing around the room gripping his hair. “Il mio bambino has been taken over by something and now you can’t find him. He is suffering right now and you’re telling me I can’t help him!”
“Oh shit,” Peter said with a wince. “Karen, calculate me a fast route home. Fri, can you delay them from leaving the Tower.”
“I will do my best Mini-Boss,” FRIDAY said as Karen projected a new route on his display.
“Karen, send that new photo through to the Ned, MJ, and Shuri group chat,” Peter said as he swung through New York, the Tower getting closer each second. “Also send them a message apologising for the last few weeks and tell them I’ll explain later.”
It only took a few more minutes before Peter arrived at the Tower. He quickly stripped out of his suit (thinking Thor that he’d remembered to put his suit on over his clothes before he and Venom had left) and folded it up before walking into the Tower. The night security guard smiled in slight confusion but waved as Peter walked through the sensors. He walked into the elevator and took a deep breath as the doors closed.
“Peter, the Avengers have been advised of your arrival. Be alert, they appear to be gathering at the doors to ambush you,” FRIDAY said as the elevator climbed. Peter took another deep breath and watched as the numbers climbed. The closer they got to the communal floor, the more his Spidey-Sense reacted.
The floor before the doors opened, Peter climbed onto the roof of the elevator and waited. Thankfully he had done that because as soon as the doors opened, a net arrow exploded, red, green, and gold magic swirled around and even two Widow Bites hit the back of the elevator. Peter crawled across the ceiling before dropping onto the lounge in between Harley and Nebula.
“You know, that’s not a nice welcome,” Peter teased as his brother and sister jumped up off the lounge. The Avengers all spun to face him and Peter threw his hands up in the air. “Ok, not the time for jokes. Got it.”
“What have you done to my kid?” Tony demanded as he stalked closer. Before he got too close, Rhodey and Clint grabbed him and held him back. Peter kept his body language calm as Loki, Wanda, and Stephen. Peter felt Wanda’s magic wrap around him and pin him in place and he took a deep breath to settle the urge rising within him to try and flee.
“Who are you?” Loki hissed out.
“Peter Benjamin Parker. Born August 10. You’re Uncle Mischief,” Peter replied and Loki stopped. The Asgardian raised his hand and Peter watched as green magic flowed from it towards him. He knew Uncle Loki’s magic and knew it wouldn’t hurt him.
“Peter,” Loki said after a moment, all anger and aggression dropping from his body. He grabbed Peter from the lounge and wrapped him in a tight hug. The Avengers all relaxed slightly and Wanda released the magic allowing Peter to wrap his arms around his uncle. “By the Norns. Where is the creature? I will rip it to shreds.”
“I’m ok,” Peter said loud enough for everyone in the room to hear. Peter could feel Loki pressing kisses to his head and the teen smiled. “Honestly. I’m much better now. It’s all ok.”
“Pete?” Tony’s voice was soft as he broke free from Rhodey and Clint. Peter stepped out of Loki’s arms and smiled softly at his dad.
“Hey dad,” Peter replied and Tony let out a soft gasp. “I’ve had a really big few weeks. You won’t even believe it.”
Tony moved and wrapped his kid in a hug. Peter sunk into the embrace and let out a sigh of relief.
Later (after he’d slept for at least 15 hours and eaten a veritable feast) Peter would tell them all about what had happened. But right now he wasn’t prepared to leave his father’s arms.
--- Seven Days Later ---
“Pete, one of the interns asked me to pass this on…” Pepper said distractedly as she walked into the lab her son and husband shared. She looked up and couldn’t stop the scream that came from her as she dropped her coffee mug and STARK Pad.
Hearing the scream from down the hall, Tony, Bruce, and Rhodey took off running for the lab. They arrived just as Pepper was backing up slightly. Looking into the lab, Tony activated the gauntlet in the bracelet on his arm and aimed it at the large black creature standing beside his son.
“Whoa dad!” Peter cried, jumping to his feet and placing himself right in the line of fire. “Calm down. It’s all good.”
“Pete, get away from that thing,” Tony demanded, eyeing the teeth the creature had and their closeness to his kid. “What the hell?”
“Mom, Dad, Uncle Rhodey, Uncle Bruce, this is Venom,” Peter said. The black creature raised a hand and waved before the black receded and a man was standing before them. “And this is Eddie. They are my friends.”
“Pleasure to meet you all,” Eddie said, his body language open and non-combative.
“Pete, what the hell is going on?” Rhodey asked as they all stepped into the lab. Tony still had the gauntlet pointed at Eddie but was looking between the man and his son in confusion.
“Well, Vee wanted to have a tater-tot date, but I had work to do so they brought the tater-tots to me,” Peter said, indicating to the large bowls filled with fried potatoes.
“Who, or what, is Vee?” Tony hissed and Peter’s eyes widened.
“Kid, did you not tell them” Eddie teased, and Peter just shrugged.
“They probably wouldn’t have believed me,” Peter replied, and Eddie nodded in agreement. Peter then turned back to his parents and uncles and sighed. “You should probably sit down while I explain this.”
“Can we still eat tater-tots?” Venom asked, head now protruding from Eddie’s back. Pepper let out a gasp, Tony swore while Rhodey and Bruce just started at the black, gooey appendage that had just grown from the human in front of them.
“Of course. They’ll go cold otherwise!” Peter said and Venom smirked happily.
As Peter and Eddie tried to explain that last three weeks to a stunned Stark family, FRIDAY was adding two more check marks to the board. This just further cemented the fact that Peter had the strangest ability to win over even alien creatures normally hell bent on destruction.
The Peter Factor – 38
The Avengers and Co – 0