Three
No one says a word on the flight over.
The whole team was crammed in the plane, most of them gearing up during the flight, not wanting to waste even a second.
Barnes looks seconds away from shooting spider-man and bruce was taking deep breaths trying not to hulk out mid-flight.
Spider-Man was rubbing his jaw tenderly from where Barnes had punched him, he was almost positive he would’ve done more if Steve and Mr. Stark hadn’t managed to hold him back while Nat spoke with him in Russian. She hadn’t exactly sounded pleased with trying to stop Barnes and the guilt that was clawing at Peter as he recalled what he had said made a large part of him wish they hadn’t stopped him.
He had said that Venom didn’t have a family, and the very people protecting him from her enraged dad right now were her other dad and the rest of her family.
Even Karen was being cold. She had loved Ven because of how often they saved his ass when he was out on patrol alone. They tagged along so he could have company but never got involved unless he needed it but was always quick to comfort him, to crack a joke, to ground him.
---- Under the Building ----
As far as Saturdays go, this one completely fucking sucked.
Your ears were still ringing slightly, something which you knew was attributed to the nasty knock to the skull you’d received from a rogue chunk of rubble, your whole body ached with a smorgasbord of injuries and the civilians you were with were, for the most part, unharmed. However, that didn’t mean they weren’t all going through a combination of the five stages of grief that came with processing the idea of death and a few people looked half a step away from full blown panic attacks, something which was completely understandable.
“You still with me?” you ask as gently as you can with your massive fangs, your wings were flared out to the side and arching up before the tips rested on the ground, effectively forming a massive tent over the 27 civilians trapped with you. Tendrils were branching out from you and spreading over the looser chunks of rubble, hopefully you wouldn't need to make yourself any bigger as you were rapidly burning calories with each second that passed by.
Everyone nodded mutely as friends found a familiar face to find comfort in. You watched a mother trace their child’s spine slowly and hum quietly in what sounded like Spanish, doing their best to comfort the little one, who was slowly calming down
The action was so reminiscent of your fathers' that a lump formed in your throat. You had to fight back the surprisingly insistent tears that sprung up at the thought of your family, and the fight you’d had with one of them just a few minutes ago, you regretted what’d you said and the way you’d left them, god you did, but you were too hurt to consider going back. IIt wasn't rational but your instincts screamed to get away, to avoid and to process lest you truly ruin everything.
------
Nat watched silently as James fiddled with his knives, one of his few tells of just how worried he was for his daughter, for you.
Although she hated to admit it, she was scared too. Nat wanted to say she believed you’d be okay, but none of the avengers knew what could hurt Venom. Every injury was brushed off with a laugh or a quip, the short inhale from the pain always quickly shoved aside in the face of a fight. What could a whole building do? Especially with the self-sacrificing tendencies that every single member of the team seemed to possess whenever anyone was in danger.
She almost wished it wasn't true, but Nat knew, if it was you or a civilian, it would be a civilian every time.
Looking around the jet, she met Sam’s worried eyes, she couldn’t help but wish that you would choose yourself.
As cruel as it might sound, civilians be damned.
------
The worst part about being trapped underneath a goddamn building wasn’t the multitude of injuries you’d sustained in the wreckage, nor the smells of concrete and blood that filled your nose, or even the helplessness you felt despite knowing Deadpool was holding off the rest of the horde that had been trying to collapse the building.
No.
The worst part was the quiet.
Everything around you, save for the civilian’s breathing and occasional shuffling, was completely still; oppressive in how it totally stifled one who generally surrounded themselves with noises of some kind as a way to drown out the noise in the back of their mind.
Every single groan of the concrete could be heard, the rumble of the subway, the sirens.
It was all there but it wasn’t really.
There was no scritch-scratch of pop’s pencil on paper as he sketched or the soft whirring of your dad’s robotic arm. There were no peals of laughter from Clint at another prank, or Nat sharpening her knives. There was no clattering from Bruce and vision as they cooked together, there were no complaints from Tony as he begged for coffee. There was no FRIDAY and Pietro to banter with, there was no gentle hum from Wanda’s powers, which despite no longer holding any of the mind-bending qualities were still a force to be reckoned with. Worst of all, despite your fight, there was no Peter, no Spider-Man to make awful science puns to pass the time or just to be with.
There were only the scary sounds that rarely broke the quiet. The controlled sound of your own ragged breath and the looming certainty that those breaths could very well be limited pressed down on you as much as the tons of rubble above.
It did not make for ideal conditions to keep anyone from panicking.
The smells of jet fuel managed to permeate the air by some miracle.
Squaring your shoulders, with the end in sight, you hold firm.
--- Back at the Surface ---
The sight that greeted the team was one Wanda never hoped to see again.
Deadpool, a mercenary who despite being absolutely batshit crazy had managed to find a kindred spirit in Venom, was working his way through a horde, doing his best to hold them off as firefighters were cautiously moving the rubble of what was easily a forty story apartment building. The corpses of the monsters littering the ground and the rubble piles.
She rushed off the plane, not caring for dignity, and quickly began to focus on shifting the rubble.
Piece.
By.
Fucking.
Piece.
Shift the wrong chunk by even a fraction of an inch?
The whole thing could collapse further and any hope of Venom and any civilians they were likely guarding would be crushed.
The rest of the team quickly fills out their usual roles, but without one of their heaviest hitters, they do something more akin to holding the line than decimating the monsters that caused this.
The first thing they saw was the slow rise and fall as rubble began to rattle the more that was removed, small stones skittering to the side.
“Guys!” Pietro called over the comm link, relief evident in his voice, “We found her.”
That got the team to throw the onslaught back as they quickly abandoned the fight and sprinted over to the collapsed building.
The last slab was lifted and all they could see was an inky black liquid running, or more like crawling, sluggishly from an all too familiar body.
“Принцесса” Bucky choked out. [princess]
The huffed sigh is the only warning they get before the mass of darkness began to shift.
The rubble shifts and grinds against itself and you, opening new wounds as more and more of you is uncovered.
Finally, the last piece of rubble that endangered the civilians were away and your large black wings unfurled towards the sky with a slight clacking sound as they mended.
Letting them shrink back down, Deadpool walks up to you and offers a hand.
“Venny!” he exclaims as you take it.
“Deadpool.” you deadpan good-naturedly.
“Are you still mad at me?” he says as he heaves you up.
“You ripped my sweatshirt.”
“And you broke my nose.” he huffed as he turned back to monsters that had gained new ground during the few seconds the team had been distracted.
He spun his sword through one of the ones approaching the stunned avengers. “Twice.”
He deftly dodged the next one, sounding bored he continued. “it healed, you broke it again.”
You walk up to him and place a hand on his shoulder, a comforting gesture.
Then you kick him in the face as one would kick down a door.
Sending him flying back into the blob behind him with a sickening crunch. “Three times.”
He laughs and brushes himself off, glad you hadn’t fully lost yourself based on what he had grasped from you when you had called asking him for a safe house for the night. “Com’on Venny,” he glanced over to the avengers who were coming out of their stupor. “I’m gonna make your dads insane in the membrane”
You instantly sing song back “Insane in the brain!” the song you both listened to when you had first found him for a sparring partner.
“DEADPOOL! STEP AWAY FROM MY DAUGHTER OR I’LL KILL YOU AGAIN!” Bucky snarled as he threw himself back into the fight.
“Ven! Are you okay Doll?” Steve called, slamming his shield into the nearest monster.
“I’m fine,” you call, your back knitting itself back together as you kill the last of the monsters.
“Ven I’m sorry!” Spider-Man says as he reaches for your shoulder and you can’t stop the flinch you make at the gesture.
“Yeah, no,” Deadpool stepped between you and spider-man, all of his usual friendliness gone now.
“We’re not doing that.” He crossed his arms over his chest, even with his mask his blatant mistrust was obvious. “I don’t know what the hell you think you’re doing with her after the stunt you pulled, but it’s gonna stop right the fuck here.”
Peter shifted nervously at the sudden hostility “Excuse me?”
“You heard me,” the man bit off coldly, taking a threatening step closer.
Peter pointedly didn’t move a muscle.
“I don’t know what game you’re playing, here, or what plan you’re running, but you can just stay the fuck away from Venny. She’s had enough of people like you her entire life.”
“Just what is that supposed to mean?” Spider-Man snapped angrily.
A sneer wove its way into the man’s voice as he repeated words that still struck guilt into his heart. “’You have no family’ That ringing any bells for you, Spidey? How about my personal favorite, ‘it’s all your fault’?” Deadpool said, his voice flat with fury, not seeming to care that the reminder of the words had made Peter literally flinch. “The whole world is full of people who want to rake my niece over the coals just because she’s everyone’s convenient target, and I’m not going to let you stand here and be one of them while pretending to give a fuck about her.”
When the rest of the team moved, Deadpool already had a gun out and cocked at Spider-Man.
“That’s enough.” You gently lower the arm, letting your human hand wrap around Deadpool’s wrist, “You ready to go?”
He nods and turns to your family the friendliness back in his voice and posture he waves “Okay bye daddys, I’ve got to go and Venny darling wants to spend the night at one of my safe houses. Cool? Cool. See ya around.”
“Defeat them in the field before they reach your house,” you say simply, the motto that had been ingrained in you since childhood, a hint, three streams, if they cared to notice. Not waiting for, not wanting a reply you and Deadpool walk over to a subway grate, gently lifting the crate with your tentacles as you step up to the edge. Deadpool salutes you and you flip him the bird before dropping down and out of sight.
In the darkness of the old tunnel, the two of you move swiftly, making irregular patterns and doubling over certain areas to ensure none of the Avengers would be able to follow you if you tried.
As the two of you come to a halt outside the train car Deadpool was hiding out in you finally make the awful request you hope you’d never have to make again. “Hey, Deadpool?”
“Sup Venny?” he chirps.
“I- I know I said I wouldn’t ask, but-”
“Okay” he interrupts you.
“I’m sorry,” you whisper as you stare at the ground in shame.
The laugh you get makes you smile “All fights are necessary. Just don’t make your new super-suit green… Or animated!”
You can’t help the laugh that escapes you at that.
---- 7 Minutes Later ----
Wiping your hands gently on the hem of your black sweatshirt you walk up to the nearest security camera. You hold up three fingers before giving it a slow wave, a clear farewell, knowing that FRI will make sure the Avengers see it.
That is the last they, or anyone for that matter sees or hears of you… Until you all but kick down the door to the tower after three long months.