Symbiotic Relationship

"It's been awhile since I saw you in my bookstore, Venom." A tall, thin man with long, snow white hair that just barely reached his shoulders said to Izuku as he stepped into his place of business, an old bookstore that had a small cozy reading area, large bookshelves filled with old, dust-covered tones, and a small counter that had its own private bookshelf and a door into the back that had a heavy lock.

The man was named Senketsu Nomura, he was a cannibal, an established informant, and could possibly be called a friend to Izuku.

If a friend who didn't know who Izuku really was.

"I've been a bit busy, school and shit." Izuku said pulling the hood of the sweatshirt Venom had made for him, it was pitch black with Venom's teeth lining the hood and collar with it's eyes covering the majority of the hood, lower on his face. Thankfully since it was made of Venom's biomass, Izuku could see through the eyes on the hood. "But I need info."

"Info? What sort of info?" Senketsu said resting his head on his hand as he looked at Izuku overtop of his reading glasses. "You know my rates by now, I hope."

Izuku did. Senketsu gave out info for flesh. Human flesh. The greater the info, the more flesh he wanted.

He was fine with giving the flesh to him, if it keep him from turning into the raving lunatic he became when he didn't eat any humans for awhile. Besides the flesh Izuku gave Senketsu came from the criminals he ended up killing, so they always ended up even-steven.

Why the man craved flesh was a mystery to Izuku, and he didn't plan to ask anytime soon.

"I want info about The Devil's Hand motorcycle gang." Izuku said a wide smile on his face beneath Venom's sharp maw. "How much'd that be?"

"Info on a notorious group like them? Hmm." Senketsu rubbed his stubble covered chin as he stared at Izuku. "Two bodies worth of flesh." He finally said.

Izuku nodded. It was a fair price.

"Now then. For that info." Senketsu pushed off of the counter, and walked to the bookshelf behind him, he browsed the multitude of books there, eventually settling upon one that had the title "The Right Hand of Evil". He pulled he from the shelf, and laid it upon the counter.

He flipped open the cover, and threw about half of the book's pages back, revealing that the other half of the pages had been hollowed out, the new space filled with pictures and folded pieces of paper. Senketsu pulled out a picture of a tall, dark skinned man with slicked-back, black hair, and a burly build with well-defined muscles that were easily seen through his shirt and the kutte that bore the symbol of his gang, a red scaled, clawed, right hand that was reaching out of the ground.

"This is the President of The Devil's Hand, a foreigner by the name of Simmons Lincoln, or as he's often called by the other members of the gang-"

"Tombstone." Izuku said crossing his arms as he glared at the picture. "Yeah, I've met him, fought him. Though I had no idea he was with The Devil's Hand."

'Bastard hit hard as hell.' Venom said in Izuku's mind, he quietly agreed.

"Well, he is. Originally he was an enforcer for the gang, breaking the skulls of people who tried to stand up to them, but eventually he gained enough favor to be voted into being the boss." Senketsu said dropping the picture on the table, he pulled out a sheet of paper and another picture. "Apparently he's shifted the gang's priorities from petty theft to big scale crimes that've put them on the radar of some of the higher ranked heroes. Normally they'd be taken out without much fanfare, but the dozen or so members of the Musutafu Chapter of the gang have been able to keep their records clean enough that they can't be convicted of any crimes."

Izuku took and unfolded the paper, it held an address that wasn't far from the bookstore. "Is this where they're located currently?" He said looking at the picture Senketsu had given him, it was of an old building, presumably a warehouse given it's rather large size. The building's paint was faded and being slowly chipped away by the weather, several of it's windows were shattered, and the roof was sagging

"Yep." Senketsu said smiling at him. His teeth looked like tiny steak knives had been glued to his gums. "It's an old, supposedly abandoned warehouse formerly owned by Hammer Industries, they store merchandise there."

Merchandise for The Devil's Hand meant guns, quirk enhancers, body armor, explosives, and other things that Izuku'd rather not think of. He couldn't go in guns blazing, figuratively and literally, he'd be overwhelmed by bullets and super charged quirks.

"Thanks, Senketsu." Izuku said nodding at the taller man. "This info really helps."

"Heh, I hope it does." Senketsu said a broad smile on his face. "Now when'll I get my payment."

"After I get the filth off of the streets." Izuku said feeling Venom's biomass begin to emerge from the skin of his legs.

"Knew you'd say that." Senketsu said shrugging. "Well, happy hunting, Lethal Protector."

"Stop calling us that." Izuku said adopting Venom's voice as his hood and collar fused together into Venom's head. Biomass shot out from his skin, creating new nerve endings, and making the symbiote's mouth take over the movements of his own. "We aren't always lethal, Senketsu."

"The food you bring me disagrees." Senketsu said mirth shining in his bright, gold eyes.

"Whatever." Izuku said shaking his head as he turned towards the door.

'This is gonna be fun!' Venom excitedly said in his head. 'We haven't had a real fight since before this stupid hero school!'

'Yeah, it's gonna be real fun.' Izuku agreed as he stepped out of the bookstore. 'Real fun.'

Oshiro Arata, or just Arata to his friends, or Jaws to the rest of the members of The Devil's Hand, blew a cloud of smoke from between his lips as he tried to convince himself nothing was wrong. Normally he didn't light up cigarettes before going on guard duty, but the last guy on guard duty, a big brute by the name of Yamada Daiki, hadn't checked in.

Guards normally check in every twenty minutes, and it's been twenty-six minutes since Yamada did.

Arata didn't want to go outside the warehouse, if someone spotted him a whole ton of heroes could be called down on The Devil's Hand and then Tombstone'd crush his skull, but if he didn't and something was wrong with Yamada... then Tombstone'd crush his skull.

Steeling up his nerves, and taking one extra long drag of his cigarette, Arata shoved opened the warehouse's heavy steel door, and peered outside. No sign of Yamada. And it wasn't like the guy was small either, he had a mutant quirk that give him the appearance and abilities of a bull, so finding him should have been easy.

Arata took a few tentative steps outside of the warehouse, his eyes darting every which way, looking for both Yamada and for any onlookers.

"Yamada? Yamada?" Arata hissed as he slinked through the junk strewn yard outside of the warehouse, he had to carefully watch were he stepped so he didn't step on a rusty nail or something. "Yamada?"

Then he saw it. A large, porcelain white horn that was stained with blood.

It was Yamada's horn, Arata knew that from first glance.

"God, what the hell happened?" Arata said his voice barely above a whisper as he walked to the horn, he kneeled down and closely looked at it.

It's base was a bloody, broken mass of flesh and bone, evidence that it had been torn from Yamada's head. Recently since the blood hadn't even begun to dry, and the flesh still looked hot.

And it's tip, which Yamada had a habit of sharpening, was stained red with blood. Whether or not it was Yamada's... Arata didn't know.

Arata kneeled down, looking more closely at the horn. Spotting a small trail of blood that led to a large pile of junk.

He stood back up, following the trail around the pile until he found it's source. And he wished he hadn't.

There, lying on the pile of rusted junk, was Yamada. His left horn had been torn off, exposing a portion of his blood covered skull to the air, and his head had been twisted fully around, obviously leading to his death,

"I... Jesus, I gotta tell the b-" But Arata's words were cut off when a massive hand wrapped around his throat.

"No. You don't." A voice, deep and terrible, growled into Arata's ear, before it's owner picked him up, and threw him into another pile of junk.

Arata wheezed, trying to activate his quirk, Sonic Scream, but nothing left his mouth. A strange goo covered his bottom jaw preventing it from splitting open, one of the main things needed to activate his quirk. A thin line of the goo, which looked like thick, black tar, traveled from his bottom jaw to a massive black shape.

"Hello, friend." That same voice said as it's massive owner walked towards him, it's thick muscles strained against it's inky black hide. "It seems our mutual friend, Yamada, I believe you said his name was, has left this world without fulfilling his promise to us."

"P-Promise?" Arata whispered.

"Yes, his promise. You see after we tore his horn off dear Yamada promised to tell us the exact number of people within that warehouse." The creature said kneeling in front of Arata, it's large, pearly white fangs gleamed in the dim moonlight. "But he never lived up to that promise, so we twisted his neck all the way around." The thing's disturbing, milky white, creepily organic eyes squinted at him. "Are you going live up to that promise, friend? We'll even let you go if you do."

"I... I... Tombstone'll crush my head if I tell you anything." Arata said utterly terrified as he stared into the thing's eyes.

"That, friend, is nothing compared to what we will do you if you don't live up to that promise. Or would having your head crushed be preferable to being eaten alive?" The thing said squinting at him.  At the panicked shaking of his head it continued. "Now, tell us, how many members of The Devil's Hand are within that warehouse?"

"I... t-twelve." Arata said feeling like he was about to shit his pa... oh, wait there it goes.

"And what are their quirks?"

"Um... Ice Blast, Firestorm, Stance, Electrode, Pause, Frog, Shock Absorption, Hard Skull, Claw, Hammerhead Shark, and Tombstone's quirk, Hardening." Arata rambled off, hoping in his heart of hearts that this'd save his life. "Oh, and my quirk, Sonic Scream."

"Hmm, thank you, friend." The creature said reaching forward with one of it's massive hands. It placed the large palm on top of his head, it's sharp claws hovering above his paled skin.

"W-Wait, I thought you said you'd let me g-go." Arata whispered utterly terrified that what he thought was going to happen would happen.

"Yes, we did, and we are." The creature said ruffling Arata's pale blue hair with it's heavy palm. He breathed out a sigh of relief, happy that he was going to live. Until it continued. "Well, we were. Until you told us that your quirk was called Sonic Scream." The thing's claws stopped hovering, and started sinking into Arata's flesh, he whimpered. "Y'see, we don't like loud noises, they hurt us. And if we let you go, who's to say that you won't turn back, and blast us with your quirk."

"I-I won't, I p-promise!" Arata stuttered starring into the thing's eyes, fear blossoming in his chest.

"We know you won't." Then it's grip upon his head tightened, it's claws stabbing past skin and muscle to stab into bone.

Arata whimpered, but couldn't scream. That same thick tar had crawled up his jaw, covering and sealing his mouth tight.

The thing laid it's other hand on Arata's shoulder, and pulled with the hand on his hand. And, with his neck providing little resistance, in a few short tugs his head came loose.

Izuku glared at the warehouse through Venom's eyes, rolling his shoulders he spoke. "All right, let's do this."

He charged at the warehouse's door, sticking his shoulder out, and rammed into it. The door broke beneath Izuku, in Venom's body, like a soggy cracker beneath... well, anything.

"What the-" One guy, his hair looked like flickering fire, Izuku assumed he was the one with Firestorm, tried to say before Izuku grabbed him by the scruff of his neck, and hurled him across the warehouse. He landed, and crashed through, a large crate.

"Howdy." Izuku hissed in Venom's voice, a broad, fang filled grin covered his, technically Venom's, face. "We are Venom. And we are hungry."

"Fuck you, crazy!" A guy, his head was strangely flat, and somewhat resembled a hammer, said glaring at Izuku.

"Sorry, but you're not our type." Izuku said.

"No, I don't suppose Flattop is." A voice, like smooth gravel, said from the a table in the center of the warehouse. It's owner was a man, tall, dark skinned, with slicked-back, black hair, and muscles that were easily seen through his clothes. "Or any of my boys really, you're not the type to go after outlaws. Not in that way at least."

"Tombstone." Izuku said squinting at the man as he stood, his height easily equaling All Might's. "Been awhile."

"Yeah, it has." Tombstone said grabbing at a syringe on the table. "Though this ain't gonna go down like our last tussle."

"Good, we'd rather not have another broken leg to worry about." Izuku said stepping towards Tombstone, the members of The Devil's Hand parting around him.

"Speaking of your leg, it heal up OK?" Tombstone said grabbing at the high collar of his shirt, he pulled it down exposing his neck and the sea of fading injection marks. He stabbed the syringe, more than likely Trigger, into his neck, and pressed down on the thick plunger, pumping his bloodstream full of the quirk enhancer.

"Hurts when it rains, but otherwise it's dandy." Izuku said dropping into a combative stance as Tombstone's skin slowly turned as thick and grey as a cinderblock. "Sweet of you to ask."

Tombstone grunted as he cracked his knuckles. "Whatever, let's just get this little dance underway."

"Well, you asked for it. Literally." Izuku, no... Venom, they were Venom when it came to this sort of thing, said his sharp-toothed grin growing ever so slightly as Tombstone stepped towards him, and tried to instantly knock his block off.

Venom's head was blown apart by Tombstone's punch, leaving a torn, writhing mass of inky black flesh, pulped, milky white eyes that leaked a white, luminous, syrup-like liquid, and a sea of shattered, bloodstained, needle-like, and oversized shark-like teeth.

The members of the gang nearly cheered, thinking that the overgrown, ridiculously muscled creature was dead, until that torn flesh that had once been Venom's head surged up, enveloping Tombstone's hand, and it's teeth scrapping against and sinking into Tombstone's rocky skin. Essentially anchoring the man in place.

"Shi-" Was all Tombstone was able to say before Venom slammed his fist into his gut, knocking the air out of Tombstone's lungs and leaving a fist-shaped dent in his reinforced flesh.

Tombstone growled in pain, but tried powered through the agony coursing through his abdomen to try and pull away from Venom, however the strange black flesh just stretched with his arm.

A tear opened across Venom's stomach, a toothy tear. "Nice try, Tombs, but our head's not the real one. You should remember that, especially after the last time." A thick tentacle exploded out of Venom's chest, slamming into Tombstone's as the biker's hand was relinquished. Blasting the literally stone faced man off of his feet, and onto the table he had been sitting at before. Venom's head reformed, a perfect, unblemished replica of the original. "You got knocked on your ass the exact same way." Venom said his voice doubled as he spoke from both the tear and the head's mouth.

"Boys, get 'em." Tombstone grunted as he slowly climbed out of the table's wreckage, alcohol staining his clothes from the bottles that had been crushed beneath him.

The first to try was Flattop, he charged at Venom, his head bent down. Trying to use his oddly flat skull to attack him.

Venom caught Flattop's head in his hand, he ignored the jolt of pain that traveled up his arm, and used the biker's own momentum against him to fling him across the room.

Flattop flew through the air, but was saved from Firehair's fate by a tongue that wrapped around his torso, and pulled him back to the ground like a fleshy bungee cord. The way it happened was eerily similar to the way Tsuyu used her tongue.

And the person who did it had a frog's head in place of a human's. Which... kinda made sense given the whole tongue thing.

"You okay, Flats?" Froghead said swallowing his tongue.

"Yeah." Flattop grunted cracking his knuckles. "Let's kick this bastard's ass."

A shard of ice pierced Venom's eye, and he felt something, someone, jump onto his back, claws digging into the thick skin. Venom reached back grabbing the biker, obviously the owner of the quirk Claws, by his head, and pulled him from his back, slamming him into the ground. He stomped down on the biker's head, crushing it beneath one massive foot.

"You." Venom grunted glaring at the biker who had frost covering his hands. He pointed at the shard of ice that was piercing his right eye. "Are gonna regret this, dumbass."

Then someone hit Venom's back with sledgehammer, making the vigilante-turned-hero-student stumble.

"Nah, I don't think Frostbite will, V." Tombstone said holding the sledgehammer's handle in both hands. "And I know you're gonna say "Says who" so I'mma cut to the chase, and say, says me."

"You know us so well." Venom grunted as he charged at Tombstone, claws outstretched.

Venom slashed at Tombstone's chest with his claws, ripping the biker's shirt to shreds, but doing little more. Tombstone slapped him away, sending him flying straight into the waiting arms of a shark-like man, obviously the guy with the quirk Hammerhead Shark.

Shark squeezed Venom, trying, and failing, to break his back. Though he probably didn't expect the long spikes that exploded out of Venom's back, skewering him.

"Look at us, Ma! No hands!" Venom laughed shaking his back, and making the body wiggle slightly.

"Bruno!" Flattop yelled absolutely enraged as he charged at Venom, trying to use his head as a battering ram once again.

The biomass that made up Venom's hand morphed, twisting into a large, malformed blade. Venom slashed down at Flattop, leaving a deep gash on the biker's back before the vigilante kicked him away.

"New trick?" Tombstone said running towards Venom, raising his sledgehammer high above his head.

Venom caught it on his forearm as the biker slammed it down, biomass wrapping around it to stop the biker's use of the weapon.

"Yeah, we've been trying a few new things since we last saw you." Venom said slashing at Tombstone's stony chest yet again, this time leaving a thin scratch.

"Hah! Good, you hero types tend to focus on one boring type of fightin' and never add new things!" Tombstone laughed, smacking away Venom's arm as he pulled his leg up, and kicked Venom in the chest, pushing him back.

'Izuku, I don't think we're gonna be able to crack his hardening.' Venom, the symbiote, warned as their body landed on it's ass.

'Yeah, yeah, I know. I'm trying to think of a way to break his focus.' Izuku thought as their body finally ejected the shard of ice in it's socket. 'So far... it's not going so well.'

Another guy, his whole body seeming to glow, jumped in front of Venom as he rose, and he placed his hands on Venom's chest.

And then, try as he might, Venom couldn't move an inch forward.

"The hell?" Venom said.

"Name's Knight, big guy, and you ain't ever gonna make me budge." The guy, Knight, said smirking. "My quirk's called Stance for a reason."

Venom nearly attacked the man, tendrils from his chest would easily kill the man, but a sledgehammer slammed into his side, breaking his focus and knocking him away.

"My boys are used to fighting bigger heroes than you, V." Tombstone said glaring down at Venom as he rested the sledgehammer on his shoulder. "You ain't gonna beat them like they're common crooks."

"No. You'll all definitely uncommon crooks." Venom said climbing to his feet, pain burning in both the biomass and the body hidden beneath. "And we're not a hero, remember? We, as we always say, are the monster the weak need." He growled, forcing his hand-turned-blade to reshape back into a normal, massive hand

"Yeah, you say that." Tombstone said. "Kerm, hold him."

Venom felt something thick and fleshy wrap around him, pinning his arms to his side, and constricting his breath.

"Juice, get ready to shock him. Torrid, wake the fuck up and get ready to burn." Tombstone said at first looking at one man with long, spiky, bright blue hair, a mouth full of sharp teeth, and a leather jacket bearing the gang's symbol. Then he looked at the man Venom had thrown, he was starting to climb out of the crate, glass sprinkling his hair and clothes. "And if you ruined that shipment, I'll kill you myself."

"What's in the crate, Tombs?" Venom said squinting at Tombstone, not resisting the tongue as he glared at the biker. "Something special?"

"It's a shipment for an associate of The Devil's Hand, that's all you're gonna get, V." Tombstone said. "How's that fire and lightning coming!?"

Venom glanced at the two bikers Tombstone had spoke to, lighting and flames decorated their bodies as they prepared their quirks.

"Nearly there, Pres!" Torrid said flames wrapping around his limbs.

"Yep, yep, yep! Nearly there, nearly there!" Juice said his hair seeming to float as electricity flowed visibly through his skin and seemed to permeate the air. "Minute, minute? Most, most?"

"Yeah." Torrid nodding in agreement.

'A minute?' Izuku thought, clicking the body's teeth.

'Perfect.' Venom said its voice holding a strange joy. 'What's the plan?'

'Wait and see.'

'You know I can read your mind, right?'

'Shut up.'

Thirty seconds before the two bikers attacked, the biomass of Venom's torso shifted, exploding outward into a mass of spikes that tore the tongue apart.

Kerm screamed in pain, his torn tongue flailing in the air.

Venom grabbed the torn end of the tongue, and yanked it, pulling Kerm from the ground. He used the biker's flailing body as a flail, sending him crashing into Juice and Torrid. Knocking both of the bikers on their asses, and forcing discharging their quirks.

The electricity and flames mixed into an explosive blast that blasted their fellow bikers back, except Knight and another guy, and completely roasting Kerm.

"Dammit, V. Do you know how hard it's gonna be to get Prospects after this?" Tombstone growled running at Venom who had already readopted his normal. "Cause it's gonna be real hard!"

Tombstone slammed his sledgehammer down, missing Venom by only a few inches. But he made up for that miss by slamming his fist into Venom's chest, knocking the wind out of the vigilante/hero student.

Venom stumbled back, pain exploding in his chest. He felt a hand lay itself where the shoulder blades of a normal body would be, stopping his backward movement.

"Not so fast, big guy." Knight said wagging his finger like a disapproving mother. "The president's still got business with you, what kind of knight would I be if I didn't help him in his delegations?"

"You can fuck right off!" Venom growled, the biomass of his back already preparing to morph into spikes. But his natural response to being stopped was paused by a flurry of ice shards that rained upon his chest.

The ice was sharp enough to fully pierce Venom's skin, stopping with barely a centimeter of ice in his chest. But their purpose was to cut, it was to freeze.

Each ice shard that landed home in Venom's chest spread frost over his skin, eventually they would consume all of the vigilante.

But apparently that wasn't enough for the members of The Devil's Hand. Another of Tombstone's goons approached Venom, he was a sickly looking fellow with hair the color of straw, and tentatively put a hand on his left shoulder.

And suddenly Venom's entire body froze, not in the literal sense, though that could happen in a minute or two, but like how a show froze when you paused it. So this sickly looking guy was the one with the quirk Pause.

"Good job, Remote! Sucker, get ready in case V escapes." Tombstone said looking at another man, this one having cropped red hair and grayish skin, who glared at him.

"Boss, do you really have to call me that?"

"Yes, now get over there!" Tombstone growled adjusting his sledge.

Sucker walked to Venom's side, holding out his hands in preparation. By deducting the other members it was easy to tell that this guy was the one with Shock Absorption.

'Our body's stuck, any ideas?'

'My biomass is stuck. But your body...'

'Isn't!'

The biomass of Venom's chest seemed to shift, bulging out slightly as if something was moving within.

"The hell? I thought you froze him!" Knight growled glaring at Remote.

"I-I d-d-did!" Remote stuttered.

"You froze Venom." Tombstone said tightly gripping the handle of his sledgehammer. "But not the guy behind the quirk."

Venom's mouth was roughly shoved open from inside, and someone, their face hidden by  an old biker helmet, pulled their torso out of it.

That someone had a gun. A Glock 24, to be exact.

The person aimed the pistol at Tombstone's face.

"Kid, and I know you're a kid, you know those bullets ain't gonna do shit to me, right? Long as I got Trigger flowing through my veins, I'm pretty much bulletproof." Tombstone said.

"I know." The person, Izuku, if you hadn't guessed, said his voice muffled by the helmet. "But I wasn't planning on shooting you."

Izuku turned as Tombstone processed his words, and aimed at Remote. With two pulls of the trigger, Izuku sent two rounds flying at Remote's chest.

He jumped out of Venom's mouth as the bullets landed in Remote's chest, the two pools of crimson quickly spreading across his shirt were proof of that, breaking his concentration. Breaking his hold on his quirk.

The biomass that made up Venom melted into a pile of writhing, toothy, eyed goop, the ice caking it's former chest falling away. It was the first time host and symbiote had been separated since they meet, it felt... weird to Izuku, not having that writhing mass moving around within his flesh, and not having that loud, deep voice that never seemed to shut up in his head.

"What the fu-" Knight tried to say, but opening his mouth was a bit of a mistake, a mistake Venom capitalized on.

Venom jumped from the ground, slamming into Knight's face, and forcing it's way into the biker's body through his pores and throat. Knight clawed at the biomass, trying to tear it off. Until he stopped, and Venom disappeared.

Izuku fired off two more rounds, kneecapping the iceguy, and hitting the middle of Sucker's chest. But Sucker didn't seem phased by the bullet, in fact the round merely bounced off his chest, the only proof that it had hit him being the hole in his shirt.

"Idiot, my quirk lets me absorb kinetic force. Bullets don't work on me." Sucker said a smirk spreading across his face.

"Me neither." Tombstone grunted.

"Really? It's almost as if I was just buying Venom some time, but that can't be it." Izuku said. "Right, Venom?"

"Right." Venom growled.

Izuku looked at Venom out of the corner of his eye, it looked different with Knight as it's host. It's head, instead of the mostly humanoid shape it had with Izuku, was strangely serpentine and it had fangs that poked out from between it's lips, it's limbs were long, easily twice the length of Knight's original arms and legs, and were as thin as matchsticks, it's fingers were long claws that began as thick as kitchen knives but tapered off into thin, sharp tips, and it's chest and abdomen both looked painfully thin, the chest having a visible ribcage, and the abdomen was sunken in, possibly molded to Knight's actual abdomen.

The only similarities between Izuku's appearance with the symbiote and Knight's were the deep black skin that was devoid of life, the milky, unblinking, gooey eyes, and the mouthful of fangs.

Venom leaped over Izuku, and crashed into Tombstone with an inhuman wail that sent shivers up the boy's spine. Did he make noises like that? Whatever, it didn't matter at the moment.

Tombstone was knocked to the ground, Venom pinning him to it. The symbiote's claws dug into Tombstone's stony flesh and the ground beneath him as it growled, green spittle dripping onto the biker's face.

"Shit." Sucker said glancing at his fallen comrades before glaring at Izuku. "Boss, can you handle that thing until I can deal with this brat?"

"Yep!" Tombstone growled as he twisted, and threw Venom off of him. Sending the symbiote flying a dozen feet away from the biker. "I can deal with the freak just fine."

Sucker turned to Izuku, who was already trying to construct a plan to fight them.

'Two bullets left. Two other mags. But bullets don't work on him, his quirk steals away all their kinetic force, but his quirk is called Shock Absorption instead of Nullification.' Izuku thought as Sucker started walking towards him, his fists clenched as he prepared to attack Izuku. 'Meaning that he must have a limit to his absorption, and if he can't release the kinetic force he intakes... then I can possibly beat him through giving him more kinetic force than he can handle.'

Izuku ducked beneath Sucker's first punch, and his second, and his third. Compared to Tombstone, Sucker was ridiculously easy to dodge.

His attacks were slow, easy to dodge, and yet they held an obvious power behind them. Power easily shown when Sucker punched through a crate that Izuku had jumped over to add some distance between them.

Izuku fired at Sucker two more times, and they once again bounced off of the biker's chest. But this time they left a slight dark spots of his flesh.

"I told you that bullets don't work on me, dumbass!" Sucker growled. "So stop trying!"

"Nope!" Izuku almost sang as he released his pistol's current mag, quickly reloading it. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Venom and Tombstone throwing each other through crates. "The bullets are just gonna keep coming, Sucker."

"Fuck. Off!" Sucker growled, running at Izuku.

"No." Izuku said dodging beneath another punch, and let off two more rounds into Sucker's chest. "Oh, and you might want to look behind you."

"What? Why the hell would I-" Sucker tried to say until Tombstone, who had been thrown by Venom, crashed into him.

"Told you." Izuku said.

"He certainly did." Venom agreed as it walked to them, the claws on it's toes clicking with each step.

"You dealt with Tombstone pretty well." Izuku said. "How's it like using Knight?"

"Not... easy. His will, mind... strong. Hard to... control." Venom said holding it's head, claws digging into the dark flesh.

"Want to come back?"

"Definitely." Venom said and it's form began to melt away into a goopy mess that lunged for Izuku.

Venom's biomass crashed into him, sinking into his pores, and re-entering his bloodstream. It's thick, twisting flesh easily copied his blood cells, fitting in amongst his blood. How easily it copied his cells made Izuku wonder, what else could his symbiote mimic from his body?

A matter for a later date.

"Now." Izuku began as Venom's biomass started emerging from his pores, wrapping around his body once more. Why Venom didn't lead with this was a mystery. "Let's get this over with."

Venom stomped on Tombstone's back, pushing the man into the ground. He ignored Sucker's groans of pain. And he smacked Knight away when the biker tried to stand.

This was over. Venom had won, all he needed to do now was to break Tombstone's back, paralysis him, call the cops on a burner phone, and grab Senketsu's payment. The two out front would do nicely.

These were the thoughts running through Venom's head as Tombstone struggled beneath his foot, seeming to reach for something. And when he did reach that something, he spoke.

"You asked me earlier what was in that crate you sent Torrid into." Tombstone said drawing Venom's attention as he inched something towards his face. "Well, it's a new drug, called Ambrosia. It's like Trigger, but better. 'Parently it draws out quirks in your genes, and adds 'em to your normal quirk which it's already enhancing." Tombstone smiled, showing his flat, block-like teeth. "And you know something, it's a breathable. Meaning I can use it and Trigger."

"Why are you telling us this?"

"Because I'm about to demonstrate it to you, V." Tombstone grunted pressing a breathing mask, which had a glass cylinder filled with a thick purple gas, he had hidden in his large hand to his breath. He took a deep breath, inhaling all of the gas.

And then he threw Venom off of him.

Venom crashed into another crate, this one seemingly filled with parts for motorcycles, and glared at Tombstone as the biker stood. But that glare soon turned into a fearful, worried stare as Tombstone began screaming in pain.

Tombstone held his head in his hands, blood spurting from his nose and ears as he screamed in unbridled agony. His clothes began to tear as his muscles seemed to expand beneath his hardened skin, cracking, and possibly tearing, the stone-like flesh. The biker's knuckles began to grow out and sharpen into sharp, stubby claws as his boots were torn apart by morphing meet, what they were morphing into Venom didn't know.

"You idiot!" Sucker yelled at Tombstone, not caring as the man's screams grew louder. "This is why we told you not to mix the two fucking drugs! There's no telling what quirks Ambrosia could awaken from your DNA, but it's pretty easy to tell what one of those quirks could be when your fucking brother and father both have Muscle Augmentation!" Sucker pointed at Tombstone, but the other biker was to caught up in the pain of his feet morphing into a shape resembling a bird's talons. "Massively expanding muscles don't mix with the unyielding stone you have for skin!"

"Enough reprimanding your boss, Sucker." Venom growled. "We don't think he can hear you over his own pain."

"Whatever. You got a plan, hero?" Sucker said glaring at Venom.

"Yeah, Hardening quirks, when they're not in the Mutant classification, require a certain degree of focus or consciousness to maintain." Venom said rolling his shoulders. "Knock Tombstone out, and his quirk will deactivate."

"Okay, and how does that help when his quirk protects him from all damage?"

"Not all damage. Hardening quirks work like a suit of armor, good for defending against some attacks, but utter shit at defending against others." Venom said dropping into a combative stance. "One of those others is blunt force."

"And how are we gonna get enough blunt force to knock him out?" Sucker said pointing at Tombstone who was steadily growing in height.

"Simple." Venom glanced up. "We drop the ceiling on him while you keep him busy."

"Me? Why me?"

"Because you, Sucker, can take the damage he can deal out. At least for a long enough period that we can drop the roof."

"Fuck... fine." Sucker said. "I'll deal with the boss, just make it fucking quick."

"Got it." Venom said a broad, sharp-toothed smile covering his face. "Split on three?"

"Yeah." Sucker said clenching his fists. "Three."

Venom leaped over Sucker, landing deftly atop the largest still-standing crate, as the biker began to run at his boss. Another leap and he was sinking his claws into the rafters above Tombstone.

Using his brute strength Venom began tearing apart the rafters, and stabbing into the roof. Bending and breaking the steel was surprisingly easy, proof that Venom was as physically powerful as he looked.

As Venom reached the fourth rafter he was able to see Sucker easily dodging clumsy blows from Tombstone, then retaliating with a few quick jabs to his face. After awhile it left Sucker's knuckles bruised and bloodied, apparently his quirk didn't protect him from his own kinetic output.

With a few more swift stabs with his claws the roof began to groan, beginning to bend beneath its own weight.

"Look out below!" Venom yelled giving Sucker his only warning before the circular cutout of the roof came crashing down.

It plummeted through the air, whistling as it did, and crashed into Tombstone with a loud cracking noise.

"He out?" Venom said to Sucker as he began climbing down.

"Yeah... I think so." Sucker said. "He ain't moving at least."

"Good." Venom grunted as he landed behind the biker. "Now, it's time to-"

"Knock me out and send for the police, I get it." Sucker said looking at Venom over his shoulder. "Already deactivated my quirk, get it over with."

"Just like that? You're not going to fight us or attempt to escape?"

"Look." Sucker said turning to fully face Venom. "This gang was the closest thing I had to a family, I ain't gonna try to leave the ones you haven't killed behind, and after seeing how easily you beat them, what chance do I have?" Sucker glared at Venom. "So just do it."

"Fine." Venom pulled his fist back and knocked the biker out, catching him with a tendril and lowering him to the ground.

Venom turned and walked, stepping carefully over the scattered bodies as he did, to the door. A hole opened in his side, and a small flip phone was pushed out, dropping into Venom's cupped hand.

He jabbed in the three numbers for the police's number, and leaned against the wall as he waited for the operator to answer.

"Hello, this is the Musutafu police department, what's your emergency?" The operator, a woman if the high pitched voice that echoed across the line was anything to go by, said in a pleasant tone.

"Yes, I'd like to report a murder." Venom said his voice altering into something smooth and deep and attractive. "Or six, hehe."

"Sir, t-that's no laughing matter." The operator said fear leaking into her voice.

"Really? But they died so easily, and weren't very tasty, that's enough to earn a laugh from me." Venom said.

"I... tasty? You... you're the cannibalistic vigilante Tarantula?"

"Hmm, yes that would be me." Venom said looking at his claws, bored.

"I... w-where are the b-bodies and w-who are t-they?"

"The abandoned Hammer Industries warehouse in Musutafu, the bodies are members of The Devil's Hand. About half of those members are still alive." Venom said walking over to the bodies of the biker with the bull quirk and Sonic Scream. "Though I'd hurry if I were the cops, quite a few of them are bleeding out."

With that Venom ended the call, and threw the two bodies onto his shoulders.

"Now to bring Senketsu his payment. And then to head home, get a good night's rest, and to wake up early for the Festival tomorrow." Venom said beginning to climb a wall as sirens echoed in the distance.

About an hour later, after the police had fully cordoned off the warehouse, a large, muscular man approached the warehouse. His face was hidden by the leather, bird-like plague mask that he wore.

"Excuse me, Sir." A cop said holding out a hand to impede the man, not that the cop would. No one could stop the man when he was on a mission, even if he hated his boss. "You can't enter here, this is a crime scene."

"I ain't no "Sir", pig, the name's Kendo. Rappa Kendo." Kendo said tightening the leather straps that made up his gloves, the cold steel that made up their knuckles and fingers chilling him to the bone. An itch, terribly familiar and annoying, made itself known at the base of his skull. "And I don't give a shit if this is a crime scene or not, there's something I need to pick up."

"What could you need to pick up at.... did you just say your name was Rappa Kendo?" The cop said his snout quivering as he reached for the pistol that was holstered at his waist.. "I... y-you're under a-arrest."

"Yeah? You can't beat me, piggy, not if you're gonna use a weapon." Kendo said that itch at the base of his skull growing. "A real fight can only exist when you fight with the power of your own body, no weapon, no drugs."

"W-What the h-hell are you talking about?" The cop said his hands shaking as he drew his pistol. But he never got a chance to use it.

Kendo had already grabbed the cop's wrist, twisted it, and used his quirk, Strongarm, to unleash a flurry of punches, each having more power behind them than a 12 gauge slug. Those punches tore the cop apart, tearing muscle, pulping organs, and reducing bones to dust. The only thing left undamaged was the cop's arm, hanging loosely in Kendo's turkey sized fist.

Kendo threw the body away, and casually tore down the caution tape, walking through it to the warehouse's open door. There were more cops within, guarding and marking all the crates within the warehouse.

Out of the corner of his eye Kendo was able to see the crate that his boss, a massive douche, had sent him there to retrieve. It was the largest crate there, marked with the symbol of, the now defunct, Hammer Industries, a hammer hitting an anvil, and had a torn open top that exposed its contents. Said contents were thick, orange breathing masks that were connected to glass vials filled with a purple gas, Ambrosia.

A good half of those breathers were broken, their gas entering the air, and making it far harder for Kendo to finish his job.

"Hey! You can't be in here!" A cop yelled pointing a pistol at him, his finger shaking as it hovered about the firearm's trigger.

That yell called the attention of all of the other cops, all dozen of them, and soon all of them were aiming at him with their pistols.

Kendo cracked his neck, quietly sighing within his mask. This was going to be boring.

And it was.

Each of the cops went down in a single flurry of punches, they fired at him, but each of the bullets only grazed Kendo's muscular frame. Their aim was honestly awful, and it only became worse and worse with each one of their comrades that Kendo killed.

By the time all twelve lay dead, Kendo's gloves were painted red with blood, and fragments of bone had let shallow cuts in his forearms.

"Boring." Kendo muttered digging a piece of bone out of his arm, the sharp, throbbing pain was squashed beneath the burning itch that was screaming in Kendo's mind, reminding him of a need he had had ever since his quirk had awoken. "Ugh, fucking hell, Overhole, why'd you have to send me on such a boring fucking assignment?"

Said assignment was making sure that the dumbass cops didn't take the Ambrosia, and to take it all for Shie Hassaikai. Not that Kendo cared about the fucking drug, enhancing quirks was fucking stupid. A person's own natural power was all that mattered.

But it wasn't Kendo's decision, it was that douche Overhole's. And if Kendo didn't do what the douche said, he'd just keep killing and reviving him 'til he did.

So once Kendo finished picking the fragments out of his forearm, and wrapped it in a bit of cloth, he pulled the duffel bag off of his shoulders, dropping it on the crate. And started scooping handfuls of the breathers into the bag, tossing the broken ones away, until it was filled to the brim. Thankfully the bag was large enough for all of the breathers.

He zipped it up, and threw the bag back over his broad shoulders.

"The bastard better let me have another fucking round for this dumb shit." Kendo muttered stepping on a cop's corpse as he left the warehouse. "I ain't no fucking errand boy."

He stepped outside of the warehouse, standing in the moonlight, letting it illuminate his muscular frame. Through the pale white lenses of his mask he gazed up at the moon.

"Heh, wonder what Kiddo-goo is doing right now?"