Chapter Text
Natasha tapped her computer, thinking. The Avengers had been contacted a few days ago by the San Francisco police department, and she'd taken on the task of researching the San Francisco Demon, as he'd been called by the people in the city over the past year he'd begun appearing.
Why had they taken a year to look into someone who was obviously a super of some sort? Because as outlined in the Accords they'd all signed, they weren't allowed to be vigilantes. They waited for a police department to call them in, and though everyone had been interested in the Life Foundation incident - Tony had muttered he'd always had a bad feeling about the other genius - they had done as they'd agreed and stayed away.
Now, a year after the incident, it seemed the incident had had lasting consequences. Nat was certain of the connection, though details on the incident were few and far between.
So far, she could gather this much: Some scientist had contacted reporter Eddie Brock about unethical human trials of an unknown nature. Why was it unknown? The rocket that had exploded had resulted in the deaths of most of the scientists. Or that was what the police had decided. The scientist that had called Brock was also dead, but seemingly from being forced into these unknown trials. Brock himself had been snuck into the compound and had managed to get out.
Later, he began acting erratically in public and was taken to a hospital - though all scans and tests related to that trip had somehow disappeared or been corrupted. There had been some chases through the city - supposedly Drake hunting down a reporter with picture evidence of people dead from medical trials. Oh, those pictures did exist, but Brock would be even more useful as a successful test subject. Because Brock - despite another hospital visit that no data could be gathered on - had survived, and somehow made it into the water around the rocket launch.
The story given by the man was that he'd been caught in the hospital and had escaped into the water when they tried to kill him for his knowledge. And then, several months later, the SF Demon started being sighted by people, and the police ignored it. Why?
All indications were that the demon hunted down child rapists, serial kidnappers, and other people no one would ever miss. They had finally called the Avengers on their dark vigilante when the first body had shown up the week before - headless.
Because that head had been eaten.
Nat was certain the Life Foundation incident and the Demon were connected. Not only did the timeline fit too well, but a genius trying to make people stronger and instead creating a monster (ish) was all too familiar. And the kills bore the mark of someone who - as Nat had learned from watching the reporter's show - would shy from attacking poor thieves and actually be able to track down the types of people this Demon managed to find. The only thing that didn't fit was the cannibalism.
Unsurprisingly, the children freed by the dark vigilante only considered him a hero, and said as little as little children could.
Apart from the eating people part, Nat also considered the man a hero. Clearly the police felt the same, for the most part. But he had to operate in the system, like they all did now. So it was Nat's job to hunt him down. She unplugged the Ethernet cord from her laptop.
She'd made sure to get a computer incapable of Wi-Fi connection, so the only way to hack into her computer when she wasn't actively using the internet would be to break into her room in the Avenger's compound. Much safer than trusting her internet history to the cloud. Her actual files were on another computer that she never connected to the internet. She placed this laptop on top of the other, then closed them into a puzzle box - one complicated enough that even if you knew how to crack it, you'd still have to spend a few minutes doing the actual moving process.
Then she left to find Tony or the Cap to let someone know she was leaving for San Francisco.
She found the Captain in the common room, but as he was busy making out with his boyfriend, she moved on to find Tony. He'd probably be in his lab, though he had been disappearing without telling anyone where exactly for the past few months. Nat had done her research and knew about the spider-kid, but she knew for a fact no one else did.
Well they knew Spider-Man existed after the whole business with the accords, but they didn't know the Spiderling was Peter Parker, 16 year old genius personal intern of Tony Stark that the man wasn't allowing any Avenger to actually meet. So she kept quiet about it.
"Tony." She entered the lab. "I'm heading to San Francisco. I'll be bringing a super back."
Tony looked up from his work - some mess of technology Nat couldn't make heads or tails of. This kind of thing wasn't her specialty. "Figured it out already?"
She nodded. "Should be a quick retrieval."
Tony nodded, fingers twitching to keep working. By the empty cans of red bull, Nat guessed he'd been at it a while. "Take the quinjet. And a partner. You're good, but you're still only human. If this guy's - girl's - bulletproof, you could be in a bad position."
She gave him a look. "I don't need help."
"Then take Clint. He keeps bothering me." Tonys attention went back to the metal and wires in front of him.
She rolled her eyes. "Fine. I'll take birdbrain off your hands."
"Great." It was an absentminded thing, so she didn't say goodbye as she left.
"FRIDAY?" she asked the AI in the building. "Tell Rhodey Tony's overworking himself again." If she couldn't work without a partner, neither should he.
***
Eddie looked over his shoulder, unable to shake the feeling that someone was watching his progress through the streets. They couldn't see anyone, couldn't fully sense anyone, it was just a feeling.
It's probably nothing.
I don't like it
Me neither.
They looked around again, trying to spot someone somewhere, spreading out all their senses. Still nothing, but it didn't settle the feeling.
"Let's go home," he muttered under his breath. "We can go back out tomorrow."
Yes... we're hungry
"I have chocolate at home. It'll last us another day," he assured, though he dropped the actual talking out loud part as they headed back for occupied streets. And if this hasn't let up, we'll find whoever it is.
And eat them?
... maybe.
We should eat them for spying. That's a bad person thing to do
We'll see, V. There are plenty of legitimate reasons for watching us.
There was a huff along their connection, and Eddie ignored it to get them home.
The feeling didn't let up the whole walk home, but they felt a little better once they closed the door behind them. He took a breath and pulled the fridge open, pulling out the first bottle of fudge and preparing themselves hot chocolate. They had a whole row of the bottles, going through them pretty continuously to feed the symbiote and keep the cannibalism to a minimum.
Not cannibalism! We're not human!
Yeah, well I am.
You are now part of us
Eddie shook his head, because he couldn't really argue that point. They were too connected for there to be a clear I or you.
Halfway through his cup the feeling of being watched returned. They got up to close the curtains the human way, but the prickly feeling remained.
Damn.
***
Venom crawled into the window of their apartment building. This was a disused corner, where V could draw beneath his skin without anyone seeing. They'd considered going to their apartment, but it was high and visible enough that they would worry about people seeing them constantly climbing through the window.
V twined around his spine as they headed up to their room, full and sated; there would be no talk of eating non essential organs for at least a week, and the feeling of a watcher had finally gone away on the third day. Hopefully they'd bored the person stalking them. All they wanted to do was to rest and digest the -
Eddie
They froze in front of their door.
Someone's in there
Eddie flattened against the wall next to their door. Who?
Danger
Which wasn't super helpful.
One person
Thanks.
Eddie took a breath, then, staying against the wall, pushed the door open.
Nothing.
His whole body was taut, and V vibrated just beneath his skin. Very carefully they looked around the corner. There, sitting in his armchair, was a very amused Black Widow.
Oh shit.
We can eat her
No! We're not eating her!
"Mr. Brock. You can come in."
He swallowed. But he came in, closing the door behind them.
Pussy
I have every reason to be scared!
... pussy
Eddie scowled. "Black Widow... what are you doing in my apartment?"
"I just wanted to ask you about the Life Foundation incident. You don't have to worry, we just finally got access to it and I've been curious, that's all."
They tried to read her, but her poker face was perfect. Maybe that was it. Or maybe it was the fact they'd left a body recently, or the fact #SanFranDemonMan was trending.
They'd have to be careful.
Or eat her
We're not eating an Avenger!
loser
"What did you want to know?"
"Just what happened. The truth. There seemed to be a lot missing from official reports."
Eddie looked away. So there was suspicion. "I told the police -"
"Enough for them to stop asking? Come on, Eddie. We both know there's more to your story, and you're the only one that seems to know it. You and your ex."
He sighed. "Did you want something to drink? Tea, coffee, hot chocolate?" He turned to make himself hot chocolate. It was just automatic at this point.
She shrugged, but they could tell she noticed the fudge piled in his fridge as she commented, "Need more sugar lately?"
Eddie almost laughed. Yeah, that's what he needed. That'd be easy. He shrugged, finishing up their cups. He used soymilk. It just felt more filling than regular, though not quite food.
"Look, Eddie, I get it. You tried to stop some medical trials and you were exposed. It happens. You're lucky to be alive. It's ok to be scared of someone trying to experiment on you again, but thats not why I'm here. I'm not exactly new to this enhanced superhuman -"
"You think that's what this is?" Eddie added an extra spoonful of chocolate to his cup before coming back to the table and giving the Black Widow a cup of hot chocolate. "Captain America? Mr. Righteous and heroic?"
The woman studied him. "Why don't you tell me?"
Eddie
She's not gonna leave us alone. She might go after Annie and Dan. I can't let her do that.
I don't want to be in a lab again
Never, Eddie promised. I will never let that happen.
V quieted, coiled tightly inside him, trying to tie themselves as much as possible to Eddie's cells.
Eddie sighed. "I went in because one of the scientists was concerned about some medical tests Drake was doing."
Nat nodded, while he considered his cup. The truth then.
"She told me Drake had found aliens on a recent mission." No surprise. "They called them symbiotes. They can't - couldn't survive in an oxygen rich environment. They needed hosts. Drake thought the symbiosis would create humans who could live in space. Not totally sure how he got there so quickly, but..." Eddie shook his head. "By the time I got there, they'd moved on to human trials. The only problem was that the symbiotes needed... perfect matches. Biologically."
And mentally
What?
You don't fight me
Not so much a mental match...
"And the hosts can't reject them. They need to be willing," Eddie added dutifully. "Otherwise the host won't survive. They went through... a lot of hosts. It killed most of the symbiotes at the lab - the... constant motion through hosts. Pretty much everyone involved died." He took another deep breath. "Except that when I went in there... I tried to save one of the people he used... She died anyway, but I... The symbiote moved to me."
"And you're a perfect match," she finished, watching him.
Eddie nodded. "Much to everyone's surprise. There was some chasing. Some arguing with V once I figured out what had happened."
"You can talk to it?"
It!?
Eddie pursed his lips. "I could talk to him. There was a mental... connection. I mean, there was an everything connection. V was in my brain too. We... well, V tried to convince me to go along with the world invasion plan, and I tried to convince him otherwise. Eventually we kind of compromised, but, um, he switched sides at the end. Drake had become a host, was going to kick start the whole invasion thing..."
"You stopped it."
"Me and V." He gave a thin smile. "He died in the explosion but he, uh, he saved me."
"I see." She sipped her drink and Eddie did the same. "Did you require... more calories or?"
Eddie shrugged. "Yeah, I guess. I got used to hot chocolate, I guess."
"Any chance anyone else got infected?"
Infected?!
"No. Me and Drake were the only successful hosts."
"Any chance... V survived and took a different host?"
"No"
The refusal was out before they realized they should have agreed. She was watching him. So carefully. Too carefully.
Even V stilled, waiting.
"And he is definitely gone?" she asked.
"Yes."
The next few seconds happened way too fast. The Black Widow threw a knife at their face. V surged at the danger, catching it with a tendril while Eddie ducked down.
"Hello, V," she said, no surprise in her tone. She was looking at them in interest.
Eddie slowly straightened while V set the knife down, tendril shooting back under his skin.
V sent a wave of apology.
The Black Widow sipped her hot chocolate. "So... The only question I have left is: why the eating people? There are other ways to use your abilities."
"I'm not trying to be a vigilante," Eddie defended. "I... V saved the world. Maybe we weren't the last line of defence, but..." He ran a hand through his hair. "He doesn't deserve to starve to death."
That, Eddie was sure, she hadn't been expecting.
***
Nat entered the jet first, leading the #SanFranDemonMan behind her. It had taken some arguing, but they'd agreed to come along with a small bag full of a few clothes and lots of bottles of fudge - chocolate, apparently, was the only thing that read as food; not counting live humans and some animals and, according to V, chemicals Eddie's own brain created for them on a regular basis. Nat wasn't a scientist, but she was sure Bruce would be able to figure this one out.
It was her largest piece of bait to get the two of them onto the jet, though she'd also had to promise no testing on them. No labs.
She could understand that.
"Clint, get us airborne," she told Clint, who'd kept the quinjet ready to go; ready in case Eddie needed to be dragged to New York.
"This is the famous San Francisco Demon?" Clint asked, looking Brock over as he lifted off.
Eddie sank into a chair and looked nervously out the window before turning to the copter interior.
"Yeah, that's us. Hawkeye, right?"
Clint smiled. "The one and only. You have a special name or just Eddie?"
The man's gaze went distant the way it sometimes did, then he answered, "Venom. We're Venom."
Clint nodded.
Natasha scoffed. Men and their superhero names.
Eddie gave her a look. "It's V's real name. I shorten it because... because we're really only Venom when we're together."
"Sounds like wherever your friend is from they have shitty names."
"Sure, Black Widow," Clint said.
Natasha sent him a glare, and he focused on flying.
Eddie pulled out a chocolate bar to snack on while firmly not looking out the windows.
"Do you ever get tired of it?" Clint asked, gesturing at the bar.
Eddie shook his head. "We don't really taste things the same. I mean, the taste itself is the same, but it's processed differently."
Clint nodded as if he understood. "I went ahead and called Tony to stock up on chocolate. I was listening to the conversation in case Nat needed back up, and I'd rather you two didn't get peckish." He tapped his hearing aid.
"I figured. I promise we won't eat any Avengers." Eddie paused in that way of his. "Unless they're being particularly annoying."
Clint chuckled. "Well, I'll say goodbye to the Captain when we get back."
"Someone was going to do it eventually," Nat muttered, and Eddie grinned, finishing off his chocolate and trying to nap in the cramped space.
***
Wake up
The voice pulled him quickly out of sleep. Eddie knew to respond to V, especially to wake up when asked. Even if there wasn't danger, V got upset if he had to wait. He'd woken up on top of the bridge one time when he hadn't woken fast enough.
No one could say life with V didn't keep him on his toes.
We're here
He glanced out the window to see dawn was just breaking, them flying the whole night to reach the other side of the country. They touched down at the top of the Avengers building. Way too high.
pussy
Shut up.
"Woke right on time," Black Widow - Nat - commented.
"V doesn't sleep," he said. He got a little nervous talking about V, but it felt good too. He hadn't let anyone know V was still around, especially not Annie. And if she'd guessed about the SF demon, she hadn't brought it up.
She hadn't exactly gotten off trauma free from the Life Foundation incident.
"Huh," Hawkeye considered this as he turned the copter off. "So, what does he usually do when you sleep?"
Eddie shrugged. "Watch the Food Network. My electricity bill has skyrocketed."
You can afford it
Would be nice if you just read something.
This apparently didn't warrant an answer.
Hawkeye laughed. "So is he a cook then?"
"Thinks he is." Eddie grinned at the man. He liked him.
"Come on." The Black Widow jumped out of the helicopter.
They exchanged a glance, then followed her.
"Who else is here?" they asked.
"Tony's pretty much always here," Hawkeye said. "Steve and Bucky live here and they're not off on a mission right now. Vision and Wanda are home at the moment. Me and Natasha come and go. Bruce, Scott, and Sam do the same, and I think they're gone right now. Every once in a while the Asgardians visit or the Wakandans, but it's calm at the moment."
Eddie nodded, trying to match the people names to the superhero names.
"Are you gonna go as Venom or Eddie?"
We are Venom and here we can be Us
"We'll go by Venom," Eddie said dutifully. He wouldn't argue V's possessiveness. It'd be very... weird, he thought, being Venom and having people know. Maybe it'd be nice, not having to hide half of themselves from everyone all the time. Hawkeye nodded.
"Pretty much everyone calls me Clint, so you might as well do that too." Eddie nodded.
Sounds like we'll be the only ones.
It is who we are
Yeah. Yeah, it is. Couldn't imagine life without you, V.
Don't
"Hey." Eddie looked up to find Tony Stark - Iron Man - in front of them. He supposed his superhero name had been given to him by the media. It wasn't really him.
Natasha had been talking to him when they and Clint entered. He saw Captain America and the Winter Soldier looking over the back of the couch to watch them.
"Hey." Eddie waved awkwardly. He felt a little out of place. These people were heroes. Eddie and V ate people. "We're Venom."
Tony raised an eyebrow. "So the symbiote is the dominant personality?"
Obviously
Shut up, Eddie ordered as he said out loud, "It's a symbiosis. Sometimes more one than the other, but it's always both."
It seemed everyone in the room had already been given at least the basics, because no one looked confused.
Tony just nodded. "That's encouraging. Ill show you your room. You can either sleep or come join everyone for breakfast."
"Breakfast... Please." Eddie hefted his bag, ignoring the looks.
Tony nodded and headed down the hall and he followed.
"There's no monitoring in my room?" they asked as they walked into the compound.
"No, but you're sandwiched between Steve and Bucky on one side, and Vision on the other. The rest of the rooms and halls are monitored and run by my AI system, FRIDAY. You can talk to her anywhere in the compound, excerpt your room, of course, unless you'd like to get it installed. Since this is also my tech company, I'll give you a clearance badge so you can access these floors, or you can come in through the windows like spider man, once we get the legal stuff done. Until then, you're confined to the compound."
"Legal?"
"Your vigilantism. You do know it's technically illegal?"
Eddie nodded. "I know. So... am I in trouble with the law?"
"You're new, so I'll argue your side. But once a super is identified you have to be registered by the UN and they have to establish your threat level. We'll do that here. You'll be given a tracker to wear at all times. I can't get you off that, by the way, since you've proven yourself a threat. Low level supers don't need it."
They nodded, less certain about all this. "Didn't some group start killing people off that list?"
"We've updated security."
"But... bigotry is still a thing." Tony paused to look at him. "A little," he admitted. "That's why us Avengers also do some PR. So far, we keep people thinking it's cool."
"I don't think we'll be able to do that."
Tony shrugged. "That's fine. This is your room. If you sign, you can work with us to help protect the country, world, et cetera. If you don't, all your extralegal activities need to stop, or you'll be detained indefinitely and without trial."
Eddie pursed his lips. "So... We're not really citizens anymore?"
"We're dangerous, Venom. You know that. Until and unless we have enough people or tech to keep supers like you from escaping while we try to hold a trial, we can't afford to give one... I'm working on it."
Venom looked at him, eyes flicking to symbiote whiteness and back. "Do it, then."
They entered the room and V extended tendrils to search the walls and ceiling. He didn't know Tony enough to trust him, and he was satisfied to hear the man's gasp at his first sight of V. V returned to nest under his skin, twining around his organs. Nothing.
"We'll get situated and come down for breakfast."
Tony nodded. "We'll see you then." To his credit, his voice remained calm.
***
They made their way down to the kitchen, keeping an ear out for the Avengers. Eddie had talked little at breakfast, and then headed straight to sleep. A few hours in a jet hadn't exactly been enough. Clint and Nat had done the same, having slept even less than he had. Now that he'd woken, V was pushing him for food.
It was a miracle they weren't fat.
Luckily no one was in the kitchen, though someone was in the living room area. And one person was in the vents.
Clint.
They ignored both and searched through the fridge. It was clear the people here didn't cook; there was mostly prepared food and sandwich trimmings, which wasn't quite what they were looking for.
They did get hot chocolate going, then Eddie hesitantly asked, "Uh, FRIDAY?"
"Yes, Venom?"
They located the speakers - three small ones that gave the sense the voice was everywhere. Talk about a flair for dramatics.
"Can we order food?"
"Of course. I can get anything delivered that you would like. The Boss has specified you should order anything you need."
I like rich people
Honestly, me too. "OK, please deliver one whole chicken with giblets, a quart of pork brains - beef."
"The food will arrive in 34 minutes. Shall I place these items on a reorder list?"
"Yes"
"It is done, sir."
"Thank you." Eddie tasted the hot chocolate, and decided it was good enough. V found a cup and held it while Eddie poured their drink, then tossed the pot into the sink. Hopefully they had something to take care of that.
We're hungry
Wait half an hour.
We should eat the bird man, We can pull him out of the ceiling, It would be fun
"We are not pulling Clint out of the ceiling," Eddie admonished. "He's having a good time."
There was a sound above them and they looked up with a grin to see Clint looking down. "How did you know?"
"We could sense you." They shrugged.
"Cool. People in general, or just me?"
Eddie rolled his eyes. "Why aren't you falling through the ceiling? Most ceiling tiles can't hold people."
Clint raised an eyebrow. "This is the Avenger's tower. Can't have the ceiling caving in every time one of our enhanced friends throws something."
They nodded.
We should break the ceiling
Could be fun, Eddie allowed. "So how do you get about in places that aren't enhanced?"
"The normal way, sad to say. What are you making with brains?"
"We eat them raw"
Clint raised an eyebrow. "Better than human brains, I guess?"
Eddie couldn't help but laugh at the look on Clint's face.
"What?"
They calmed down after a few moments, V's amusement feeding back into Eddie's. "Sorry," he said, still chuckling. "We'll make quesadillas."
"Oh." Clint made a face and jumped down. "Why not have raw brains?" They tilted their head, V rising up in front of his eyes.
You ate them raw for a while
It's just not a very human thing to do, I guess. Can you imagine someone seeing me eating raw brains? "I guess... usually we try to appear more human."
Clint shrugged. "Don't worry about it. Unless you just like coating everything in cheese."
"We do like cheese," Eddie allowed, V retreating while he finished off his hot chocolate.
Clint chuckled. "I like you Venom. But remind me not to eat anything you cook."
"Hey!"
"Did someone order brains?"
They looked to the doorway where Dr. Banner stood, holding a plastic bag.
"Ah. Mine!" Eddie went over to grab the bag.
I can grab it from where we were standing
What?
If we are being Us, we can grab it from over there
I guess... Eddie took the bag from the man who could become the Hulk. "Thanks."
"You're the new one? Venom?" Eddie nodded. "Tony told me about you. I'll be working with you to try to figure everything out. Like the... what it is you need."
"Ah."
I don't like him
Why?
He's a scientist
Ok?
"Yeah. We can sit and talk about it. I have a lab on the lower -"
"No labs"
V flicked over his eyes.
Banner leaned forward curiously and Venom snapped at him, teeth sharpening. Banner jumped backwards.
"No labs"
"No labs," Banner agreed. V shrunk beneath his skin.
"So... lunch, anyone?"