Unmasked
You woke the next day, after sleeping in, to a phone call from Harry. Realization that you never called him back last night hit you as you read the caller ID and you scrambled to unplug your phone from the charger and answer the call.
“Hey, Harry—I'm so sorry I forgot to call back last night, I passed out as soon as I got home-”
“You're alright though? And you checked about Venom?” Came Harry's tired voice through the other end. Actually, it wasn't so much tired as it was worn.
“Yeah, my guy said he'd call me today as soon as he talked to the handlers, I guess that's what they're called? Anyway, he's gonna call today and let me know when I can pick it up.” Your heart was thudding in your chest, and you tried to calm down, taking deep breaths as you clenched your sheets with the phone at your ear. You realized that now the time was coming, that this was really really going to happen, you were scared.
“Great. I'm hanging out with Pete today, so just text me instead of calling when you find out.”
“Right. Cool,” you said, breathing slowly out through your nose. “See ya.”
“Bye, Y/n. Thank you, again, for helping me do this.”
“What are friends for?”
After you got off the phone with Harry, you decided to start your day with an at-home spa session. Of course, you would have liked to just soak in a nice bubble bath but you were stuck with just a small shower stall, despite Stacy's brother's remodeling skills. So you set about your routine, beginning with a shower and ending with an expensive face-mask you'd been saving, re-painting your nails while you drank a smoothie (which might or might not have had a bit of alcohol in it) and watched some good old fashioned Hulu shows. You thought that if you were going to kill a guy in the next few days you might as well be put together. And, likely, it wouldn't be for a few more days, right?
As you sipped your smoothie, letting your nails dry, your phone rang with a call from Dr. Schmidt.
“Hello?”
“Black Light, this is Dr. Schmidt.”
You swallowed. “Oh, hey, what's the word on how soon we can check Venom out from the secret weapon library?” You tried to joke to cover up your anxiety, though it was now mostly subdued.
“Today, actually, would be ideal. If it works for you.”
Your mouth was suddenly dry. “Oh, uh, yeah, sure. I'll be by tonight to pick it up, how's that work?”
“Perfect. Don't want it just sitting around your apartment until later, do we?”
You forced a nervous laugh. “No, I don't think so. Thanks, Dr. Schmidt. I'll see you later.”
“Bye, Y/n.” He hung up.
Surprisingly calm, you stayed on the couch while you finished your smoothie and the episode you were watching. Nails dry, you went to take off your face mask and then finished your at home spa-session. As soon as you were done, you texted Harry.
Project finale tonight.
When you went by A.I.M. around seven, just as the sun was preparing to set, you were surprised to be greeted by Mr. Adams. You hadn't seen him since the meeting with the Russians and the A.I.M.-Bot, the one Spider-Man called Leggy-Eggy.
“Black Light, hello!”
“Mr. Adams, it's been a bit.”
“Oh, yes, I've been away in Russia, had a few meetings with the President, very important things. I hear you're checking Venom out for use tonight?”
You nodded.
“I take it you're still sticking to the plan you originally told me, however?”
“Yes, sir. Just with the added help of Venom.”
“Very good, very good!” His eyes glittered with more enthusiasm than you'd seen before. “Well, I'm off to another meeting, but I'll be keeping my eye on the news tonight. Good luck, Black Light. You know what happens if you fail.”
You swallowed, nodding. “Yes, sir.”
And then suddenly, as if in a haze, you were leaving the A.I.M. base with the metal canister of Venom in your messenger bag along with your Black Light disguise. You were meeting Harry at his place, apparently Peter had left early for some emergency errand. Which worked out perfectly, because you were ahead of schedule anyway and unsure of what to do.
“Okay, but where do we do the whole thing?”
“I know a place,” you said, sitting on the couch and opening your bag. “Big ass construction building near the park.” You pulled out the container of Venom, setting the huge canister down on Harry Osborn's coffee table with a clink and a loud dramatic thud.
“What the fuck, that's Venom? I didn't realize that's what it looked like when it's...”
“Flying solo?” You said dryly. “Yeah. I need to tell you what to do in case it takes me over.”
“What?!”
“I mean, we get along really great and I've pretty much got control, but that's in training situations. I just wanna take precautions.”
“Okay...”
“It doesn't like fire. Or loud noises. That's pretty much it.”
“So if it takes over, set you on fire?”
“Or you could use the floodlights on your hover thingy and blast sirens at it. Jeez, dude,” you laughed. “You got the camera?”
“Check. And the... I know you said rope, but I just thought chains would be more-”
You waved Harry off. “Chains work too. We just need to make the damsel in distress thing realistic.”
Tony Stark was watching the opening monologue of that weekend's Saturday Night Live, laughing in his tower, when his broadcast was suddenly interrupted. The screen went fuzzy, there was a loud beep, and then suddenly the mask of the Green Goblin was filling the screen, as if he was just turning on the camera.
“Ahehehehhh, there weee gooo!” The voice under the helmet-mask was distorted, high and scratchy like a Halloween voice filter. Tony put down his drink, the laugh gone from his face. “Hellooo, New York! I'm sure enough of you know who I am, so I'm going to cut to the chase. This message is for Spider-Man and Tony Stark, since you two seem to be suuuch good friends.” Green Goblin backed away from the camera, revealing the scene behind him.
“Shit,” Tony swore. "Jarvis, call Spidey."
Spider-Man was eating pizza on a billboard downtown, mask pulled half-up over his face. Needless to say, the pizza was instantly forgotten when all of the digital billboards were replaced with live footage from the Green Goblin, and Spider-Man was on his feet the second Green Goblin stepped aside from the camera to reveal you in the background, chained to a steel beam in an abandoned construction site with metallic green tape over your mouth, seemingly unconscious. The camera shifted as Green Goblin picked up the camera and moved closer.
“Here we have a darling Stark employee. One of the Iron Man's favorites, I hear, if the fact she's been allowed to work on Avengers gadgets means anything. Must be attached, huh Tony?” The camera zoomed in on your chains, and then spun around to show Green Goblin's mask. “And we all know Spider-Man can't resist saving a pretty girl, either.”
Spider-Man then realized his watch was ringing. He pressed a button, answering the call.
“Spidey, you seeing this?”
“Yeah, Tony. This ain't good.”
“I'm suiting up, we're gonna go get her.”
“So why don't you two come get her from me and my friend?” There was a flicker and hum of indigo light in the background, the light Spider-Man was all too familiar with. “You remember where you two had your little heart-to-heart, Spidey?” And then the feed cut.
“This is bad, Tony, real bad,” Spider-Man was starting to panic.
“Send me the location, I'll meet you there. It's gonna be okay, kid.”
“I shoulda just told her, Tony, then she'd be safe-”
“Kid, I said it's gonna be okay.”
“Man, I wish we'd had more time so we could like, overlay images of me as Black Light in the background or something, I can't believe I missed out on the threatening part,” you sighed, clipping your mask in place, and kicking the chains with a rattle. “That's most of what I do as Black Light. Did I ever tell you about the time I threw a chair in a politician's office? I think he peed himself a little.”
“Nah, but you're gonna have to tell me another time. Put your accent on, they'll be here any second.” Harry was impatient, wired and ready to go. This was the night he'd been waiting for for so long.
“I'm going deeper in the building with Venom, where it's darker,” you said, picking up the container. Harry just nodded, turning his gaze out to keep watch. “And remember, if they start demanding to know where I am—and I mean regular me, not Black Light—just say it was fake and I'm at home in bed or something, okay?”
“Got it.”
You looked at Harry's tense back for a moment, and then carrying Venom, headed into the shadows to wait.
You didn't have to wait long, however. Iron Man was the first to arrive, landing on the top of the towering skeleton of a building.
“Goblin, where are you?” Demanded the cold filtered voice of Tony Stark, surprisingly calm. “I got the invite, I'm here.”
“Iron Man! What an honor!” You heard the altered voice of Harry—no, this was barely Harry, this was the Goblin—carry down to your hiding place. You were surprisingly calm, all of your senses clear and alert, listening for Spider-Man as you knelt by the Venom canister.
“Where is-”
Your eavesdropping was interrupted by a soft thump behind you. You glanced back through your hood. He couldn't see your mask.
“Spider-Man,” you acknowledged his presence.
“Where is she?” His voice was cold, shaking, furious. He meant you, regular Stark employee you.
“At home, asleep in bed.” You were watching him out of the corner of your eye through the special filter of your hood as you began to slowly open Venom's small glass prison, trying to glow as slowly as possible to minimize the sound of the pressurized air from the lid.
“What?”
“We put her back in bed, we're not complete monsters. Just needed a way to get you both here.” Apparently going slowly did nothing to quiet the pressurized air, it only drew the sound out longer.
“...What is that?”
“An old friend of yours,” you said, popping the lid off and sticking your hand into the container. Venom, eager, surged outwards and enveloped you, but you were ready this time after all the practice you'd had and barely stumbled.
“Tony, we've got a problem down here-” Spider-Man said into a communicator on his wrist as you felt Venom settle in on your frame, and you heard a hiss come from your mouth.
Above you, there was an explosion and the frame of the building shook slightly, loose dust falling from the plywood above you and the plastic sheets hanging around you rustled.
“Is she okay?!” You heard Tony's voice from Spider-Man's communicator.
“She's not here, it was faked. But Venom is.”
Letting loose a shrill scream, Venom launched you at Spider-Man with all of the force you collectively had, while from above you could hear the Goblin's cackle. Spider-Man just narrowly launched himself out of the way, landing in a roll and then popping back up to his feet as you swung your body sideways to face him, skidding to a stop. Venom barreled forward with no input from you, screaming again, claws out. Spider-Man shot a quick succession of webs at your face, covering your eyes and Venom's screaming mouth. Blind, you stumbled and paused to rip the webbing from your eyes and mouth with a giant clawed hand that was absolutely not yours. Vision now clear again, your head swung about, looking for the now vanished Spider-Man, who had run off and hidden from you when you were blinded. Venom let out a low hiss, and you spoke, still mostly in control.
“Sssssssspiiider-Man,” you called out, your voice sing song though distinctly more distorted with the influence of Venom. You began quietly searching, prowling the hollow and dark floor, Venom tasting the air with it's long tongue. It was a strange sensation, that was for sure, tasting the air with a tongue that both was and wasn't yours. “The Goblin wants you, Ssssssspider-Man, I'm just helping out a friend to get revenge, what's so bad about that?” You realized you were reassuring yourself out loud.
“You don't want to do this, Black Light,” came Spider-Man's hidden voice. You spun around, listening for where he might be. “I know there's still good in you, I know you're good inside!”
“Not enough,” you hissed. “It's mostly just caffeine at this point.” Venom hissed, loud and drawn out like an angry cat.
You could hear the fighting coming from the roof, Goblin's cackle and the whirr and subsequent blast of energy from the Iron Man suit every time Tony fired. You were straining your ears for any sound that might give away Spider-Man's location.
Suddenly he jumped out from behind a beam and a sheet, running and slinging webs, but you could read his plan easy, roaring and ripping through the webs with glowing indigo claws, chasing Spider-Man and his string of muffled swears. An idea struck you, and you stopped in your tracks under an opening in the floor, jumping up. Instead of chasing Spider-Man, you were going to make him chase you.
Clawing through a sheet of plywood, you burst through in a flurry of splinters and indigo light onto the rooftop, much to the joy of Goblin, who wouldn't stop cackling, and the great surprise of Iron Man, who let out a loud “Shit!” as he flew out of your way.
Venom let out a loud screaming roar, jumping into the air, grabbing Iron Man's foot, ripping him out of the air and throwing him down through the rooftop and about five more floors at least. You weren't sure, you weren't counting. Venom was starting to take over.
“Goblin! I'm losing contr-” You shrieked through Venom's control, but anything else you were going to say was drowned out into a snarling roar again as Spider-Man swung up over the edge of the building, landing with spread feet and fists ready to fight.
Goblin turned around on his hovercraft, crouching. “Well, well, well! If it isn't the bug of honor, the bug I was just dying to meet!”
Spider-Man dropped to a crouch, one hand on the floor and the other pointed out to the side ready to shoot a web at a moments notice.
“You need to get Venom off your friend before it kills her, Goblin,” Spider-Man said, shouting over the wind and the sound of the engines from Goblin's craft and the hissing from Venom.
Goblin glanced back at you over his shoulder. You felt a spark of hope. Then he looked away, and Venom hissed in satisfaction.
“She'll be fine, it's really you and me that need to-”
Suddenly Iron Man blasted through a second spot in the rooftop, in much the same way that you had only moments before, shooting two bright beams at you. Venom screamed, and you fell backwards over the edge of the roof, feeling Venom practically recoil and then slide off of your body. As you fell, you saw Iron Man fly into Green Goblin, the collision sending them both flying over the other side of the rooftop. You yelled, scrabbling for your grappling hook as you saw a smoky blob of Venom falling after you. Finally you found it, shooting it blindly, and you felt the jerk in your shoulder as it stopped your fall. Pressing a button on the side, it started to reel you up again, and it brought you to a floor five feet below the rooftop. You saw a giant gape in the floor as you went further into the building, looking for a safer way to climb up than the side of the building. Huh, guess it had been more than five after all. Using your own powers this time, you jumped through the hole above you, making your way back up.
Reaching the rooftop, you came face to face with Spider-Man, who whirled around on his heel to face you.
“Enjoying the view?” You asked, wondering where Iron Man and the Green Goblin had fallen.
“Where's Venom?”
“Gone. It was taking over, remind me to thank Stark for that.”
Spider-Man eyed you for a moment. “What is this? Why did you trick us here?”
“Goblin wants revenge, my boss thinks you're both obstacles.”
“A.I.M.,” Spider-Man said. “Daredevil told me there's a conspiracy-”
“I don't know the details of what they want, I'm just the coerced muscle, okay? I mean, I can guess, it's probably something classic like control of the world's governments or something-”
Suddenly Green Goblin reappeared, rising over the edge of the building behind Spider-Man. You heard someone yelling to duck as he opened fire, and realized it was you as you dropped down and rolled away, falling through one of the holes in the rooftop. You fell two floors and would have fallen further if you hadn't reached out and grabbed a jagged piece of broken wood.
You pulled yourself up and just as you got to your feet, there was a huge crash as something smashed through the rooftop—again—and plummeted past you to floors below. You recognized the green of Goblins suit and the roar of his hovercraft. You ran to the hole, looking down, and saw Green Goblin and Spider-Man fighting, then they moved out of your line of sight. Squeezing your eyes shut, taking a breath, you jumped and followed the newest hole Green Goblin had made. Landing in a crouch, you found Goblin throwing Spider-Man around like a rag doll.
“This is for my FATHER!” He bellowed, tossing Spider-Man against a steel beam. You watched, horrified, as he crumpled to the ground and struggled to rise again. Harry dismounted from his glider, practically sauntering up to Spider-Man, who was kneeling on his hands and feet. He kicked him in the stomach, knocking him backwards slightly and he collapsed again. Even from your distance you could hear him gasp for air as the wind was knocked out of him.
You were sneaking up behind Harry, still nearly twenty feet away when he grabbed Spider-Man by the neck, and flipped back the visor on his mask. “I want to see who you are,” he hissed, barely audible to you.
Spider-Man was gripping Harry's wrist, trying to pull off his hand, but you couldn't see either of their faces. “Harry—Harry don't-”
Harry squeezed tighter, cutting off his words. You needed to act fast, or you wouldn't be able to-
At that moment, Harry grabbed a fistful of Spider-Man's mask and yanked it off. There was a long moment of silence as you continued to sneak up behind him, now ten, eight feet away, when Harry stumbled back in shock.
“Y-you-”
You froze, seeing Spider-Man's unmasked face for the millionth time. Only, this time, you knew he was Spider-Man.
“Harry-” Peter pleaded, voice hoarse. “I'm sorry-”
“YOU WERE MY BEST FRIEND! HOW COULD YOU?!”
“It was an accident, I swear, Harry-”
You were frozen solid in your tracks. Peter, Spider-Man? How could you not have known? Were you that stupid? He didn't even change his voice, he was just Peter in a mask. A mask you'd been fighting and planning to kill for the last several months. Peter didn't seem to notice you, his bruising face was turned to Harry, eyes full of emotions.
Harry screamed and pulled out a knife that was strapped to his thigh. “LIAR!”
As Harry lunged for Peter, you snapped back into action, running for him. You jumped on his back, grabbing him in a headlock and shocking him with your gloves. He seized for a moment, and then he seemed to bounce back. “NO! No, Harry! You can't kill Peter!”
“GET OFF! HE KILLED MY FATHER! HE'S A LIAR!” Harry threw you over his shoulder, and you landed on your back with a gasp and a loud crack that you guess came from the floor.
Harry turned away from you, back to Peter, who was again struggling to rise to his feet. You swung your legs around, knocking Harry onto his back. He dropped the knife, and it clattered away, skidding across the floor past you. He yelled, tears of anger coming to his eyes, and rose to his feet, turning on you as you rose to your own, taking a defensive stance.
“He's your best friend, Harry!”
“He's a MURDERER!” He ran at you, tackling you around the middle, and the two of you fell with such force that you cracked the floor again. With glowing arms you blocked your face as he tried to attack you. Your muscle memory took over and you somehow threw him off, rolled over to your stomach, and began to rise, but Harry kicked you in the back, knocking you down. “I'm not going to let you take this from me! I've waited too long!” You gasped, painfully, for air, rolling to your side. Harry went to kick you again, but was knocked on his back by a flying web that hit him in the shoulder, throwing off his balance. Again, you started to rise with a groan. Harry wasn't having it, and lunged at you. You kicked him off clumsily, all your training flying out the window in your desperation.
“Black Light-!” Peter yelled, shooting a web that stuck Harry's left hand to the floor, and a second one seconds after that trapped his other hand as it reached for one of his tucked away weapons.
You rolled away, rising into a crouch as Harry yelled, ripping his hand free. You jumped onto his back for the second time in less than a few minutes, activating your gloves as you simultaneously grabbed the back of his helmet and his right arm, hoping to shock him unconscious like you did to Daredevil in your first fight as Black Light.
It didn't work. By some unfortunate happenstance, your gloves seemed to short circuit, or perhaps they couldn't shock him enough through his gear. In your shock, Harry shook you off, and now you were trapped under him again, his hand around your neck.
“Both of you LIARS! You were going to HELP ME!” Harry screamed, grabbing at your mask. You had one hand trying to pull him off your throat, the other trying to stop him from grabbing your mask. As soon as he had even a slight grip, a blur of red and blue came flying out of nowhere, tackling Harry off you. You gasped—seemed to be doing a lot of that lately—as the pressure left your throat, and your stomach lurched as your mask was torn off your face.
“No-!” You reached out, turning after them, as if you could snatch it out of Harry's hand and don it once again before Peter could see. Peter and Harry rolled, and you saw them break apart as they hit the floor, Peter quickly looking back to check on you, eyes finding yours, now visible without your mask. His eyes widened, mouth dropping open in surprise.
“Y/n-?”
“Look out-!” You yelled, and Peter successfully dodged Harry's enraged lunge with something akin to a pirouette. He stumbled past Peter, and then fell through one of the gaping holes in the floor made from earlier on in the fight.
You jumped to your feet, facing Peter. He faced you again, cradling his side and staring at you.
You stepped forward, closing the distance between you. “Peter, Peter are you okay-?”
His eyes flicked to something behind you, and he leaped forward, closing the gap, grabbing you in both his arms, and then threw the two of you to the side as the Green Goblin glider crashed into where the two of you had stood moments before and exploded on the spot. You and Peter shielded your faces, the blast knocking you several feet further while you were mid fall.
Peter groaned next to you on the floor, and you rolled onto your back with a heavy breath.
“Oh, god, Peter,” you sat up, and scooted towards him, hands fluttering over him. His face was distorted in a grimace. “You're gonna be okay, stay here. I'm going to check if Harry-”
“Behind you-” he gritted out, grabbing at your arm like a protective driver might when braking a moving car too suddenly.
Something hit the side of your head and you were knocked down. A fist grabbed the back of your hood, yanking your neck back. Your vision swam, but you heard a shocked inhale, not quite a gasp, and Peter's cracked voice-
“Y/n-!”
You were disoriented, but you felt yourself being dragged by your hood away from Peter, who was crying out but you couldn't tell what he was saying. You reached back to find the hand that was dragging you, but you couldn't get a good enough grip from the angle. Suddenly you were dropped, and you felt your arm flop over the edge of the building into cold open air. Your vision was clearing, and Harry was crouching over you, saying something, and you smelled burnt rubber from his costume, and blood, though you saw none on him.
“-Kill you both if I have t-”
Your feet connected with his chest and stomach, and you heaved him up, then over your head and out of the building into open air, letting out a burst of indigo energy to propel him further. He screamed, grabbing your arm and pulling you out with him—but you grabbed onto the edge of the building, and his grip on your other arm wasn't secure enough and he fell.
You hung there for a few long moments in the wind, the rain hitting your face. And then Peter appeared, peering down at you. Your vision now fully clear, you met his eyes. It felt like the two of you were trying to say everything with just a look, and your eyes were starting to tear up as you dangled from the outside of the building, a plastic sheet flapping above you both. Peter reached down and pulled you up, and you realized that long moment you'd gazed at each other had been merely a second as you collapsed breathing heavy and sitting a few feet from him, both unable to break eye contact or the overwhelming silence. The rain made hard pattering sounds on the torn plastic sheet beside you, and the wind started to flap it around like a sorcerer's cape. You couldn't take it, and looked away, trying to hide your welling tears, and reaching up to feel your head where Harry had hit you. When you pulled your glove away, you saw blood.
Peter sighed, cradling his ribs and letting his head fall back against a beam. “Guess I was right.”
You looked back up, puzzled, growing dizzy.
“There was some good in you, after all. You saved me.”
“It was selfish, Peter.” You barely whispered, voice cracking on his name.
Peter's voice softened. “I saw you. You were going to save me before you knew who I was.”
You had to wipe your eyes. “I'm so sorry-”
Suddenly Peter was at your side, crouching and holding you up. “Woah, Y/n- are you okay- shit, your head-”
You were struggling to keep your eyes open. “Pete-”
You briefly registered that he was trying to call Tony before everything went dark.