Chapter 17
"Shit."
Peter and Venom muttered together, taking in the stoic faces below them.
"We can't worry about them. We have to go after that monster!" Peter exclaimed, his fear of the creature running loose overpowering everything else.
Those feelings would come later no doubt.
Growling, Venom continued his climb, following the obvious trail of destruction the lizard creature had left.
Great. At least he’s leaving a very pleasant trail.
Peter huffed sarcastically.
I will enjoy eating this one! The chase is exciting!
I’m going to throw up.
Peter mumbled as Venom continued to discuss how good his feast would be.
You should be excited. We are doing hero work.
I’m about to eat a giant lizard. I’m not excited.
Venom laughed, flinging himself into the air, only to have the breath knocked out of them as, once again, an object slammed into his side.
Peter screamed as they plummeted towards the ground, Venom barely having time to tuck himself and roll into the fall.
Not that it lessened the pain any, but at least they were alive.
Standing up, Venom turned, roaring in anger.
The Avengers stood, Captain America’s shield returning to him, various weapons aimed.
The monster! Peter screamed.
I do not hear or smell it any more.
Then just, just get us out of here! We can’t fight the Avengers!
Looking around, Venom grabbed a car, flinging at the heroes before bounding off.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“What are you doing?” Peter hissed as Venom dropped them into an alley and disappeared inside him.
We can hide better this way.
It wasn’t like Peter could argue with that. He would definitely be able to blend in better. Well, except for the blood stains on his shirt from the claw marks.
Before he could leave the alley however, a blue Iron Man styled suit dropped in front of him.
Peter’s eyes widened as the face plate opened to reveal the worried, relieved and upset face of Pepper Potts.
"Peter." she sighed, opening up the suit and stepping out to pull him close.
"You really shouldn't be out here. It's not safe without your suit."
She gave him a little squeeze, holding him a little longer before stepping back.
"We need to go. There are two creatures out on the streets. Tony and the others are out hunting them. I'm going to take you back to the compound."
Peter swallowed the panic bubbling up in him. If he went with Pepper, then the Avengers would be hunting down a creature they didn't know anything about.
We can not leave.
Venom growled.
Peter felt a prickling on the back of his neck as Venom continued to grumble, forcing him to tune out the voice and focus on his senses.
"Pepper, watch out!" Peter shouted, leaping forward and pushing Pepper out the way at the lizard leapt into the alley from the roof of one of the buildings.
The lizard roared as Peter stood between it and Pepper. The angle it had come down sealing them off from her suit.
"Peter!" Pepper shouted as he moved forward.
Peter felt the feral glee of Venom as black tendrils snaked up his arm before he made contact with the beast's face, snapping it to the side.
Peter's head shot up as the sound of a gun firing rang through the air. He watched as a dart stuck into the side of the distracted monster's neck, knocking it unconscious.
Venom growled in annoyance at the loss of his victorious feast, while disappearing back into Peter's skin.
"Pepper! Peter!" Natasha shouted, running towards them, followed behind by Clint, Wanda and Pietro.
"We've got it and a bonus." Clint spoke into his comm.
Peter looked up as Pepper spun him around, cupping his face in her hands and looking him over.
"Peter, what happened to your side?" Wanda asked, moving close, her eyes wide in fear.
Pepper pulled back enough to take in his ripped, blood stained shirt. She had been so relieved to find him that she hadn't noticed, not that Peter had seemed affected by it.
"I-I"m ok. It's already healing."
Clint looked up from the giant lizard with a raised eyebrow.
"If this thing scratched you, I wouldn't just depend on that super healing kid."
"We need to figure out what this thing is. We also need to find the other one." Natasha said, walking over and lifting Peter's shirt, quickly examining his wounds.
"I'm fine, really." Peter said, quickly pulling his shirt down and unconsciously moving in between Wanda and Pietro.
"Hey kid."
Peter looked over as Tony landed, his face plate lifting to show his unsurprised face at finding him there.
"We should call Fury." Steve said as he and Sam joined them. "We need to get this thing off the street."
Natasha nodded, stepping off to the side.
"Glad to see you're mostly in one piece." Tony sighed, stepping up to Peter and looking him over.
"You know, that suit I gave you was made to help prevent these kinds of wounds."
"I'm healing. I'm ok." Peter replied, shuffling his feet.
"Still, we'll get you checkout in the medbay once we get back to the compound."
Peter nodded, grateful for Tony's intentional avoidance of asking any questions as to how he got out and what he was doing.
"Why don't you guys head on back." Steve said, looking up from the giant lizard.
"Clint, Nat, Sam and myself can wait here for SHIELD."
"I won't fight you for the privilege of dealing with my favorite pirate lord, Cap." Tony grinned.
"Pep, you flying or driving the children home?"
Pepper rolled her eyes, stepping past him.
"I'll drive. Where's the car?"
"Three blocks over." Sam said, tossing her the keys.
"We'll catch a ride back with SHIELD."
Pepper nodded, ushering Peter, Wanda and Pietro away and in the direction of the SUV, her suit closing up and taking off back towards the compound.
He had no idea Tony had made a suit for Pepper, and it was no less impressive than his.
Tony followed along until the four were safely inside the vehicle that had brought the others, then took off into the sky.
Peter found himself tucked safely in between Wanda and Pietro as Pepper started the car and began the drive back to the compound.
There was quiet chatter about the two creatures they had seen, but no one mentioned the fact Peter was in the city without his suit.
We will have to be more careful.
Pepper might have seen you.
Peter frowned.
She was watching us when you took over my arm. Which was unnecessary by the way.
I was denied a perfectly suitable meal!
Please stop talking about eating that thing!
Venom quietly stewed about his lost meal for the rest of the ride.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Peter felt a sense of awkward dread descend upon him as the compound came into sight.
There was no way that his escape wouldn't be addressed once everyone was back.
They had all specifically avoided saying anything about it while out on the field, but there was no way that was going to last.
Tony was far to curious as to how he was getting around FRIDAY.
How do you plan to answer their questions?
Peter grit his teeth at the question. Venom was how he was escaping and he couldn't even be bothered to help him think of an excuse.
His internal struggle was halted however as the car came to a stop and the doors opened.
Peter followed Pietro out his door, the dread inside him becoming heavier and heavier.
The group followed the halls to the commons room of the compound to see Tony staring at the large screen.
"His name is Curt Connors." Steve sighed. "It's strange. He just changed back on the way here. The SHIELD doctors are examining him now."
"Doctor Connors?" Peter gasped, causing everyone to look at him.
I almost ate Doctor Connors!
"You know him, kid?" Tony asked, raising one eyebrow.
"Y-yeah." Peter squeaked out. "I met him when I went to Midtown. He came to do a special class lesson. He's been working on a way to help regenerate limbs."
Tony gave him an odd look before turning back to Steve.
"You heard the kid, Cap. Start looking into what Connors was working on."
Steve nodded, looking over at Peter like he wanted to say something, but deciding not to and sighing off.
"Let's go get you looked at, Peter." Pepper said, looking over at Peter's ripped, dirty and bloody clothes.
"It's ok. I'm almost healed. Just a bit itchy, I promise." Peter said softly, trying not to draw any more attention to his appearance or the fact he was out when he shouldn't have been.
"You were scratched pretty deep." Pietro frowned.
"We'd all feel a lot better if you got looked at." Wanda nodded.
"Who knows if those claws might cause and infection, Pete." Tony agreed.
Peter looked at the faces around him, feeling more guilty with each passing second.
They were worried.
He was out when he shouldn't have been, and caused them to worry.
"O-ok."
Everyone's face's relaxed at the quiet reply.
"Come on, we'll take you to the medbay." Pepper smiled, leading the way.
Wanda and Pietro fell in step alongside him.
"I'm gonna wait here, just incase they get back before the checkup is over." Tony said, watching the little group.
"I'll let you know what they say." Pepper replied before they disappeared.
Once they were out of sight, Tony sat on the couch.
"Ok, FRI, pull me up some info on Connors. No reason not to do my own research, especially considering his connection to Peter."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Hello, Peter. I'm Doctor Helen Cho."
Peter nodded at the woman before him, nervous as he looked around the room.
He hated hospital rooms and anything that looked like them.
"I'm gonna need you to remove your shirt to get a good look at the wounds, are you comfortable with that?"
Peter hesitated. He had been eating more than ever since moving into the compound, but there was still evidence of his malnourishment present, and he didn't really want to cause Pepper, Wanda and Pietro anymore concern.
"We'll step outside, honey." Pepper smiled softly, leading an uncertain Wanda and Pietro out the door.
Once alone with Doctor Cho, Peter shifted slightly before lifting his shirt over his head.
Cho ran her eyes over Peter's form, not liking the to thin frame, but trying to focus more on the three scratches on his side.
"Sit on the table, and I'll clean up around the area so I can get a better idea of how they're doing."
Peter nodded, getting up on the table and watching as the doctor began methodically cleaning up around the wounds.
"They tell me you have a healing factor. From what I'm seeing, it looks even better than Steve's."
Peter's eyebrows raised in surprise.
"R-really?"
"Definitely. He heals quick, but not like this."
Conversation stalled as she finished up and began examining the area.
"Any pain when I press around it?"
"It's tender."
"Not unexpected. I'm not seeing any signs of infection. I'd like to take some blood though, if you're ok with that."
"W-why?"
Helen smiled softly at him
"I just want to examine it. I have samples from everyone with special abilities here. It helps me make sure I give proper medication doses, and we even use it to make meal plans."
Peter looked back down at the scratches, anxiety settling in.
Do not give blood.
Peter jumped a little, surprised by Venom's sudden words.
Why not?
We are one.
"I don't, I don't feel comfortable with that." Peter said, turning away from Helen's sight.
There was a pause before she spoke.
"That's ok. Maybe another time, then. Until then, I'm going to put some antiseptic on these and bandage them. They're surprisingly clean cuts. We'll get them dressed and I'd like to see you in the morning to look at them again. If you begin to feel bad, or there's any change in how they look, I want to see you immediately. I mean it, Peter."
Peter nodded, making sure to hold himself to give her the best access as she finished up.
"Here, take this. I'm sure you'll feel more comfortable in a clean shirt."
"Thank you." Peter said, accepting the SHIELD branded shirt.
Once he was dressed, Helen lead him out the door to where Pepper, Wanda and Pietro were waiting.
"Peter," Pepper said, looking from Helen to him. "Why don't you go with Wanda and Pietro and get a snack."
Peter stared at her a moment before nodding and turning to follow the twins
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Once the three were out of sight, Pepper turned to Helen.
"Well?"
"The cuts were clean and already healing. I didn't see any signs of infection, but keep an eye on him. I didn't want to push him given the situation, but I also don't trust him to be fully honest as to how he's feeling."
Pepper let out a small sigh.
"He seems to make strides, and then it just stops and he backpedals. More concerning though, is his escape tendencies."
"Has it been a problem?"
"He's been going out every night since he got here."
"Around FRIDAY?" Helen asked, eyes wide in surprise.
"Tony's losing it trying to figure out how."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Peter followed quietly along with his......soulmates.
That felt so uncomfortable to admit.
But you can't run from the truth forever.
You couldn't run from the truth, but he could spare them the trouble.
Peter's troubled emotions spread through their bond, alerting the twins to his distress.
Which was a little bit of a shock, like it always is, when the bond seemingly, "comes back online".
"Are you ok? I mean, since you know the man?" Wanda asked.
Peter looked up at her, a tense look on his face.
"I really liked Doctor Connors. He was nice, and patient with all of us, especially those that struggled. I don't know what happened to him."
"Well, I'm sure SHIELD can help him." Pietro smiled.
Peter wasn't so sure. He had had a short conversation with the man after he figured out he was Mary and Richard's son. He was working on regeneration formulas, something he said his father had showed interest in helping him with, but then the accident had happened.
Yes, Peter knew Doctor Connors from before Midtown, granted he had only met the man once when he was five, a few months before his parents died.
The fact that his transformation was most likely associated with his work was an unavoidable assumption.
He felt guilty knowing this information and not sharing it, but it wasn't Doctor Connors fault things had gone this way........it was his.
He had been the one to find and give his father's formula to the man in hopes it would be the missing piece and finish his work.
Clearly that wasn't what happened.
He was being a terrible person.
Everyone had been nothing but nice to him, and he was withholding pertinent information.
Information about his own involvement.
Turn him in. He wasted our time. Got our hopes up.
He got your hopes up. I never wanted to eat him.
I'm sure he would have been delicious.
Please stop.
Venom went back to quietly stewing, much to Peter's gratitude.
Again, he couldn't believe he almost ate Doctor Connors!
He was once again aware that he was doing the opposite of what he had originally planned. If he told them all about his own part in this, they would no doubt cast him aside.
How could they not?
They would cast him out, and he couldn't blame them. He deserved it. He should have been more careful.
But hadn't that been the plan all along?
Yet here he was, again, having a spike of fear at the thought of it actually happening.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tony 's brow furrowed as he delved further into Curt Connors history.
The man was accomplished, but that wasn't what intrigued him.
What intrigued him was that, listed among the list of associated scientists the man had worked with, was a Richard and Mary Parker.
"FRIDAY, remind me of Peter's parent's names."
"Richard and Mary Parker, Boss."
Tony sighed, running his hand down his face.
Peter just continued to pique his interests.
His problems with his foster family, Tony growled at the thought of associating them with the word, were solved as far as Peter was concerned. They would never be an issue for his kid again.
That being dealt with though, only revealed the mystery that was Peter Parker.
His ability to escape. Him being close to the area where a hostile lizard and black monster were, yet made it out with only three scratches, scratches that Pepper had sent word were quickly healing. And now, his parents had been involved with the man behind said lizard.
Did Peter know the Doctor outside of his little school lesson?
Tony frowned, leaning his head back against the couch, staring up at the ceiling.
Peter was still rather closed off. He would have to be careful as to how he went about questioning him.
It wasn't lost on Tony that Peter hadn't offered up any more information on the man. Of course, there was the possibility that Peter didn't know anything, but it was unlikely Connors hadn't tried to speak to him at school when he realized who he was.
The real question then would be why Peter wasn't saying anything.
"Alright then. FRI, where's our spider baby?"
"He is in the kitchen with the Maximoff twins."
"Great." Tony sighed.
There would be no trying to draw out information from Peter with them around to protect him if he got uncomfortable.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I'm sure the others will be back soon, at least everyone but Natasha." Wanda smiled.
"She tends to stay the longest when something like this happens." Pietro shrugged, opening up the fridge and pulling out a bottle of water.
"You want one?" he asked, looking over where Peter had sat down at the bar.
"Yes, please." Peter replied, for the first time having no guilt at taking an offering from them.
Maybe it was his thirst talking, or maybe it was the happy contentment coming through his soul bond.
It is. nice. I like it. We should feel it more.
Peter shifted at Venom's words.
You are being annoying again.
You're annoying.
Peter grumbled, accepting the water bottle held out before him.
"How about that snack!" Pietro grinned, looking over at Wanda who rolled her eyes.
"You should learn how to make your own snacks." she huffed, before turning to smile sweetly at Peter.
"Any requests, Peter?"
"Favoritism." Pietro pouted.
"He's cute. You're just you."
Peter felt his cheeks heat a little at Wanda's compliment.
We are pretty.
Oh. Wow.
Peter internally raised an eyebrow.
I didn't take you as the conceited type.
I have seen you, and you have seen me. Both sides of us are pleasing to the eye.
Please stop.
I am pretty.
Peter didn't respond, to flabbergasted to do so.
Who knew Venom was narcissistic?
"Peter?"
Peter shook his head and looked up at the twins.
"Uh..."
His mind drew a blank, despite the fact he did feel hungry.
"Sandwiches!" Pietro shouted, popping his head out from the refrigerator.
"Easy enough for the hour."
"Peter?" Wanda asked, looking over at him.
"Ok." Peter replied, watching as Pietro began throwing various things on the counter.
"I'll make them. You're sloppy." Wanda scoffed, pushing her brother out of the way.
"I feel disrespected."
Peter watched them bicker, feeling the odd sense of comfort he had gotten watching Tony and Pepper do the same, return.
"Hey, kiddos."
The three turned as Tony strolled into the room.
Peter felt a slight buzz from his spider-sense, which surprised him. He had never had that happen before around Tony. As odd as that was, it didn't feel like the tingle of danger, but more like a tingle of warning. Like a very uncomfortable confrontation was on the horizon.
Distrust.
No.
Suspicion.
Tony had questions.
Peter was positive he already knew what they were, which only caused the guilt he had had earlier to return full force.
He had lied through omission.
"Any news?" Pietro asked.
"No. Not that there will be much when there is. Once we figure out what Connors was working on," he threw a side glance at Peter. "We'll most likely have all we need to wrap this up."
The twins nodded while Peter looked everywhere but at Tony.
Sighing at Peter's to obvious response, Tony moved to sit down next to him.
"Our real concern is the other thing that was there."
"There was no sign of it once it got out of eyesight." Wanda frowned. "It was like it just vanished into thin air."
"Not completely." Tony said, turning to face Peter. "Where'd you get the wounds, bud?"
Peter swallowed hard as he looked at Tony.
"You shouldn't have tried to fight him alone, Pete." Pietro frowned.
"You didn't have you're suit kid." Tony sighed. "It would have protected you better."
Peter looked down.
Of course it would all loop around to the fact he was out in the city when he was supposed to be secure in the compound.
"I'm sorry." Peter said, avoiding looking at anyone.
"We're just worried about you, Peter." Wanda smiled. "We want you to be safe."
"Right. Wouldn't want what was going on with Connors to happen to you. Not sure how a spider lizard would pan out." Tony said, looking for any reaction from Peter from hearing Curt's name.
Peter gave a small wince at the man's name.
"He couldn't have been to bad a guy if he was willing to teach a bunch of students." Pietro frowned.
"Doesn't have any records. What did you think of him, Pete?" Tony asked, feigning nonchalance.
He is digging for information.
I can't blame him. I'm under his roof and he's looking out for his team.
We are on the team. You were.....what was it.....adopted?
Peter flinched.
With everything going on, he hadn't given much thought to the fact he was no longer a foster kid, but adopted son to one of the most influential women of all time.
Virgina "Pepper" Potts.
He was now, Peter Parker-Potts.
Honestly, he had lost hope on ever being adopted long ago, much less being able to keep the Parker name.
Pepper never even questioned it.
His last name was the only connection he had to his family anymore, aside from the picture of Ben and May.
"Pete?"
Peter looked up, surprised.
"You with us, kid?" Tony asked, and eyebrow raised.
'What did you ask?"
"I asked what you thought about the good doc."
"He, he was nice." Peter replied carefully.
"Just nice? Nothing else?" Tony pressed, watching him carefully.
Wanda and Pietro shared a look as Tony asked Peter about Connors. It was clear Tony was looking for something, and Peter wasn't giving it up.
"Yeah, he was a good teacher."
Tony hummed, looking away as though satisfied with Peter's answer.
Peter wasn't fooled however, he knew Tony knew more than he was letting on.
"Here, Peter." Wanda said, breaking the tension as she placed a plate in front of him. "Eat up. If you're healing is like Steve's, food will help it."
Peter nodded, though he had never tested if food actually had an affect or not.
"Thank you."
"You're welcome."
"Are you planning to make me one as well?" Pietro asked, batting his eyelashes.
Wanda gave him a flat look as she slid the materials towards him.
"Favoritism." he mumbled, proceeding to make his own.
Peter let out a snicker before biting into his sandwich, missing the smiles from the three other people in the room.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Natasha frowned as she looked down at the tablet in front of her. There wasn't much information on Curt Connors that meant anything.
The man had a clean record, with only a few notable things, such as the slight connection he held with Peter.
Clearly the cause of his transformation had to be linked to his work on regeneration.
Experiment gone wrong.
"Not much here to work with." Clint shrugged. "Guys not really a threat. Just needs to be monitored to see if he might change again."
"I think the bigger concern is the thing that got away." Sam frowned. "We know what the lizard was, but he have no idea what that thing was."
"Peter might have seen it. He fought the lizard, and that thing was obviously chasing after it."
"That kid is something else." Clint said, shaking his head.
"Yeah, a magnet for trouble." Sam sighed.
"We'll need to ask him." Steve said, crossing his arms, his face strained.
No one really wanted to push Peter, but at some point, they were going to have to stop pulling punches with him. He was Pepper's son now, which meant, as far as they were concerned, he was legally theirs's as well. Which meant he was going to be treated the same way they all treated each other.
Support. Caring. Reality checks. Pranks. Jabs. All the good stuff that comes with a found family.
They all knew they were going to have a tread carefully with how the approached Peter to get answers while keeping the relative peace Peter seemed to be developing a little at a time.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Pepper walked into a dark common room after a talk with Cho about Peter's health and catching her up on his adoption.
The only light was from the TV, Star Wars on the screen.
Walking around the couch, she stopped short as she took in the sight of a sleeping Wanda and Pietro with Peter nestled contently in between them, his sleeping face completely relaxed.
"Don't even think the kid realized where he sat. Probably to tired, but sure made their day." Tony smiled, looking up from his Stark Pad.
Pepper smiled, grabbing a blanket off the smaller couch and laying it across them.
"Well, I'm not going to wake them. Any news?"
"Nothing I don't already know." Tony sighed. "Pete's got a connection to Connors, so everyone's curious about it. Then there's also the black monster that we lost. We know Pete had to have seen it. It was chasing after Connors.
Pepper frowned.
She hadn't really had time to think back to finding Peter in the alley. Everything had happened so fast, but.....there was something when Peter hit the lizard.....it looked like something was on his arm.....
"Pep?"
"Hmm?" Pepper asked, brushing her thoughts aside.
It was probably just a trick of the light.