Black Light

“Okay, what's wrong?”

You were jolted out of your thinking by Peter, who was sitting on your bed while you sat at your desk a short distance away. He closed his textbook with a thump, tossing it away to the foot of your bed.

“What?” You asked, jerking your gaze up from your laptop to look at him.

“What's wrong? You've been seeming off lately, and you're always busy, and whenever you think I'm not looking you look like you're thinking about something terrible.”

You sighed, averting your gaze while you turned your chair towards him, trying to come up with something that wasn't 'Oh I'm just part of a secret evil organization that I regret joining but I can't leave or they'll kill you and Stacy and also they want me to kill Spider-Man and attempt to take down Iron Man with the help of your best friend who I turned into an evil super-villain.'

So, instead of telling the truth, you brought up something that was bothering you, but wasn't the real source of your distress.

“I dropped out of school.”

Peter's face went through a range of emotions. Most of them shock and confusion.

“You what? I thought you said you just switched around your schedule so you could work more-”

“I had kind of a—a breakdown after the whole ribs incident-” Technically true, though he didn't need to know it involved your reckless and thorough destruction of a cargo ship on live TV.

“Why didn't you talk to me about it?”

“I was overwhelmed, Pete. I wasn't totally myself, and I—you know me, I like to keep things to myself, mostly.”

Peter scooted off your bed and came over to you, bending down to wrap his arms around you. You buried your face in his chest, hugging back. “You can always talk to me about anything, Y/n. I love you, it's what I'm here for.” He lowered his voice to a whisper. “I just want you to be safe and okay.”

You took a deep breath. “I know, Pete. Thank you.”

“I think you should let me try to work with Venom.”

Eto looked up from her tablet at you jogging on the treadmill, hooked up to various wires and monitors.

“What?”

“I think you should let me train with Venom again,” you said plainly, looking her in the eye.

“Absolutely not, last time Venom overtook you within minutes-”

“I don't mean fight Venom. I want to wear it.”

Dead silence while she gaped at you. “Are you insane? Why?”

“There's no way I'm going to be able to beat Spider-Man and Iron Man as Black Light, even with Green Goblin's help. I'm going to need something extra. I think Venom is that something extra, if I can learn how to work with it.”

“There's no way-”

“I think Mr. Adams would agree with me.”

“Would agree with what?” Dr. Schmidt said, entering the room.

“I want to learn how to wear Venom so I can use it to kill Spider-Man and take down Iron Man. I can't do it with just Green Goblin's help.”

Dr. Schmidt looked thoughtful. Seriously, he said, “And you think you can handle it?”

“I think I don't have a choice, and it might be different if it's deliberate as opposed to Venom just trying to take over in a fight against me.”

Dr. Schmidt shrugged. “It's worth a try.”

Eto threw her hands up in exasperation. “It's not safe for her-”

“With all due respect, Dr. Eto, our job isn't keeping Black Light safe, as much as I'd like it to be. Our job is to make Black Light the most efficient living weapon we can.”

“I'm ready to try it on any time,” you piped up.

Back in the training room later that day, you did your stretches, watching Venom shifting in it's container, running over the basics again in your head.

“Ready, Black Light?” Came the voice of Eto over the speaker as you finished your warm ups.

“Ready,” you said.

“To open the container, you need to firmly grasp the handle on the end and push it inwards.”

You stepped up to the container, doing as Eto instructed.

“As you're pushing the lid inwards, squeeze the handle and turn it counterclockwise, then pull the lid fast when you hear the click and it should open.”

You slowly turned the lid counterclockwise, squeezing the trigger under the handle. There was a soft click and you pulled the lid with a jerk, and with a hiss it opened.

“When you're ready, put your hand in for Venom to attach to.”

You stilled, watching the shifting mass of black at the bottom of the glass tube as it started to reach towards the opening. Slowly, you stretched out your hand, and touched it, and then the whole thing surged forward, knocking you backwards a few steps. It swarmed over your body, and your vision went black. Your body felt suspended in a salt-water pool, and the touch of Venom was slightly cool. Your muscles tensed as your body automatically tried to fight it off, but you breathed deeply and relaxed.

And then Venom, now settled around you, spoke.

“Ssssssssspider-Man, help kill him, and set you free, if you take me from here... I'll help you get away too, escape Mr. Adamsss...” Venom spoke inside your head, voice gravelly and full of hissing static.

“You have to help me get Iron Man too,” you managed to spit out. “Practice teamwork with me first, so I know you won't just take over...” Sensation began to return to your limbs, you no longer felt weightless, instead you just felt strong. Venom wasn't trying to take control anymore, it was trying to cooperate. You heard a roar, and a laugh, and half registered it was coming from you and Venom. “Show me what we can do.”

“So how's work going? I feel like we haven't gotten to hang out in a while,” Stacy said, plopping down onto the couch with you.

“Work's good,” you said. “Having Tony Stark as a boss is pretty crazy,” you reached into a small box on the table. “What color do you want?”

“Classic red, of course,” Stacy said, and you pulled out a bottle of crimson nail polish, shaking it, and began painting her nails. “And how's Peter?”

You grinned. “He's amazing. Kind of stressed since he's almost completely done with school, but I know he's gonna be fine. I never see him at work, even though we're doing the same stuff basically, but I think that's probably best.”

“Ever make out at work?”

You laughed, shaking your head.

“Aw, come on, that's so boring! If you work at the same place you should make out in a supply closet at least once. You guys are so boring, you never do anything crazy and you never have any drama,” she teased you, but really you knew this was her way of praising your surprisingly healthy relationship.

“What about you? How's everything going?” You asked, bent over her hand, careful not to get any polish on her skin.

“Things are really good, actually,” and then she began catching you up on her life. You listened happily to her stories about her work, the guy she was still seeing, and the last conversation she had with her brother, wishing that your life was still so simple.

“Alright, your turn! What color do you want?” She asked, checking to make sure her nails were dry.

You always thought it was kind of ridiculous and dramatic when shows had heroes standing on rooftops gazing into the distance whenever they were thinking about their problems. So despite your general anxiety and dread, you couldn't help but laugh at yourself as you perched on top of the skeleton of a tower currently under construction. The city scape glittered below you, and the stars sparkled faintly above, washed out by the yellow city lights. Dangling your feet over the edge of a steel beam, you watched the night pass by below. What could you do?

“What's a mysterious hooded figure like you doing in a creepy place like this?”

Startled, you whipped your head around, finding none other than Spider-Man.

You sighed, and put on your fake accent. “I'm off duty, Spider-Man. Can we not do the whole fighting thing right this minute?” You turned your back to him, and nearly fell off your perch in surprise when he sat down next to you, just outside of reach.

“What's troubling you?”

You stared at him.

“What?”

“Oh come on, Spidey. Are you really going to try to turn me from my evil ways with a heart-to-heart at a construction site?”

“Just trying to make conversation, get to know the baddie I've been fighting,” he shrugged, swinging his dangling legs like a kid in a seat too high for them.

“Gee, I'd almost rather do the fighting thing.”

The two of you sat in awkward silence. You were growing tenser by the second.

“I don't like things the way they are,” you blurted.

Spider-Man turned his head to look at you.

“I don't like where I am, who I answer to.”

“You work for someone?”

You nodded.

“Who? Maybe I can-”

“No. Trust me. They're big. I'm only still there because they threatened P- they threatened my boyfriend and my best friend. I mean, I'm not exactly innocent, I started out as a pretty impressive thief and all. But I never really hurt people, or at least I didn't go out of my way to hurt people. And now,” you let out an exhausted laugh, “And now, I've created a new Green Goblin, they want me to kill my boss at my day job- and-”

“Who's your boss?”

“Nuh-uh. No way I'm telling you, you're gonna try to find who I am.”

“I promise I won't. But maybe, if I know who the boss is, I can do something so you don't have to kill him. Black Light, please—let me help.”

You rolled your eyes under your mask, sighing. Suddenly you were hit by an idea. “I won't tell you who it is, but—what if I give you a piece of information? Something super-duper extremely top secret?” Your masked eyes met his.

“What is it?” He leaned forward.

“They have a robot. It's crazy high-tech, massive firepower.”

“What kind of robot?”

“Uh, well, did you ever see The Incredibles?”

“Uhhhh, yeah?”

“It's like the weird white one that the crazy fanboy has, but with more legs and scarier.”

Spider-Man sat silently. “Are you pulling my web?”

“No! I'm serious. I think they want to use it against the Avengers, I was at the demo and they kept saying stuff like 'Hulk resistant,' and 'more firepower than the Iron Man suit.' I think it's got tech straight from Doctor Octopus. Look, Bug Brain, believe me or not, I'm risking everything even just telling you about it!”

“Okay, okay, I believe you! I believe you.” He sat, contemplating for a moment.

You carefully rose to your feet, the thin floor creaking under you and the plastic sheets rustling in the open air. Spider-Man looked up at you.

“Look, Spider-Man... I want you to know it's business as usual after this, okay? I'm still gonna be with Green Goblin trying to kick your ass and doing damage all over town. It's not personal, it's just my job.”

Spider-Man stood, facing you, and you paused. You wondered if you should just tell him everything, that Green Goblin was Harry Osborn and wanted him dead and you were going to help kill him, that A.I.M. was behind everything and wanted him dead as well, and Tony Stark too. What if you just took off your hood and your mask right there and left it all up to Spider-Man to take care of? You stared at him as he stood there, silent and surprisingly accepting of your roles.

“Oh, and one more thing,” you blurted, interrupting the moment. “If you can find Daredevil, he might be able to give you more info. I've had some run ins with him.” Before Spider-Man could say anything, you stepped forward, touched his arm in thanks, and then jumped from the building with your grappling hook.

Your day job, meanwhile, continued to be a complete dream. Stark gave you complete freedom to work on your own ideas and projects, and so you did, keeping only the most questionable designs hidden away in your second lab with Professor Noble. Occasionally he'd have you work on small assignments, fine-tuning Hawkeye's new arrow gadgets, once you even got to meet Black Widow herself and help Tony fix up her new toys. It was hard to tell if she liked you or not. But then again, she was Russian.

The day after your late-night chat with Spider-Man you were called into Tony Stark's office.

“Ah, Y/n, you remember Spider-Man,” Tony said when you walked in.

Just like the day of your interview, you were surprised by Spider-Man's presence in Tony's office.

“Long time no see,” you greeted him. “How's it swingin'?”

Spider-Man nodded a hello in return.

“Spidey here just dropped by to tell me about a conversation he had last night with Black Light.”

You were pretty sure you visibly paled. Had you let something slip in your talk that gave you away? Your mind raced over the conversation, trying to thing of anything that might have let him know who you were.

“What ab- what was it about?”

“Turns out Black Light works for somebody, and that somebody has built a secret weapon. She described it as-”

“The white leggy robot from Incredibles but scarier. To summarize.”

“So I want your help trying to maybe figure out what it might be able to do, and what it's got.” Tony waved you over to his desk, and the three of you got to work. You were only somewhat distracted by the presence of Spider-Man. Mostly because in the back of your mind you kept thinking about the fights you've been in and how you might have to try to kill him, but also because this was the longest you'd been around him where you weren't trying to knock each other out, and you were able to appreciate his shape, to put it politely. You wondered if maybe you had a type, because he was so similar to Peter in size and build.

“So, depending on the size of the—cockpit, I guess we can call it—it could have all sorts of gadgets inside.”

“Black Light said it was supposed to be Hulk resistant, so I'm guessing on the bigger size. She also said it had some crazy firepower.”

You nodded. “Okay, so, I think if I was going to design this with the Hulk in mind, I'd make it pretty damn big. And let's face it, nobody so far has figured out how to compress impressive firepower into smaller containers like Tony here-”

“That's a given.”

“-So, we'd have to add even more size to accommodate for whatever they decided to put in there. Plus life support and the general tech they might have in there to keep it functioning, and who knows how much space that actually takes up. How many legs did she say it has...?”

“Y/n, we need to make a move. I can't stand waiting anymore. We have to finish this.”

You were walking home after a long day at work, the last few days having been dedicated to figuring out the A.I.M. robot that Spider-Man was calling Leggy-Eggy, when Harry called you.

You took a deep breath. “I know, Harry, I just need more time to make sure I can actually fight them with-”

“We both know you're strong enough and smart enough to take them, especially with the extra help from me and Venom. Stop doubting yourself.”

You looked up at the ceiling of the subway, as if imploring some greater power to give you a way out. “Okay. You're right. How soon?”

“This week. I can't wait any longer, I'm losing my mind. I need to get it done so I can move on with my life.” You could tell from his voice he'd been drinking.

“Okay, I'm going to go by the office and see when I can check out the, uh, extra guy. I'll call you after.”

The secret A.I.M. lair was dead quiet when you arrived. The secretary let you in with only as much as a glance, and you made your way to Dr. Schmidt's office. He turned around in his wheeled office chair when you entered.

“Ah, Black Light! What a surprise, what brings you here on your night off?”

“I need to know when I can take Venom with me. We're going to go through with it as soon as possible.”

Dr. Schmidt took off his glasses and tapped them against his thigh. “Well... You two have a surprisingly functional dynamic, and you've done exceptionally in all of your training... I'd have to check with the Venom guys that actually take care of it, but I'd say as soon as tomorrow.”

“Will you call me as soon as you know?”

Dr Schmidt nodded. “I will.”

You thanked him and left the office, passing Eto on the way out. She didn't say anything, and neither did you, but she had a look in her eye when you locked gazes and nodded in passing that was all too familiar lately when you looked in the mirror.

Regret.