Chapter 17: Arc One. Chapter Seventeen. Midtown Mayhem

Venom surveyed the scene before him. Two guys, one in a full suit, covered head to toe in a thick, almost army issue containment suit with a huge backpack, his voice crackling as it came out from the helmet. The other was wearing thick body armour, all grey and boy was he a big guy. He towered over the chemsuit guy and the terrified woman, clenching and unclenching his fists as they spoke. His face was covered in a thick helmet with a stylised horn on the front.

"Look, just give us the key, the code and we'll get out of your hair," he repeated, "Or otherwise I'm gonna let Rhino here make your life short and very painful." He thumbed at the big guy who rammed fit into his open palm, "oh and he'd like that." Venom could imagine the grin on the lugs face, big dumb and violent, just the type he wanted to beat up to get rid of some stress.

Looking around the diner he saw an empty booth and whipping a line out he angled himself. Leaping into the air he glided down, gaining momentum as he swung and through the diner window, showering the occupants with shattered safety glass but ramming both feet into the midsection of the Rhino. With an ‘Ooff’ Rhino folded and went flying into the empty booth as Venom hoped, the table crumpling and splintering under his considerable weight. One down.

The chemsuit guy stood stunned, "Damn. You know Marko said a big black man. What he failed to mention was a big spider sign on your chest. You're Venom aren't you?" A whine started and two massive steel arms extended from his backpack, the four-fingered clawed pincers at each end clacking menacingly. razor edges glinting in the diner's light, "you're a distraction, nothing more." He backhanded the woman in front of him and she crumpled like a house of cards.

"Ock here, we got resistance at the Diner, Switch to plan B. No, stay there and finish your job." Ock, as he named himself talking to a headset radio. The two mechanical arms darted forwards and Venom ducked to one side, zipping webs over them, trying to gum up the pincers.

Shit, Venom thought, I need to get them out of the diner, no space to fight here. Venom shot two lines at Ock and as they wrapped his arms he sprung out through the diner door and into the street, pulling Ock out with him. He then spun Ock around and crouching he leaned back and then with a leap, punched after him.

Ock had already freed himself and as the Venom barreled into him, the pair barrel rolling along the street. "That hurt," Ock shouted and the two arms arrowed straight towards him, Venom ducked under both and was caught on the side by an extra two pairs, one grasping his arm and the other his leg.

Venom was thrown into a parked car, its steel and plastic frame crushed by his weight. He coughed and felt bile and cider rise in his throat, being thrown for a few meters had hurt, and now he was mad. He stood roaring at Ock, who was now standing on the four arms, lifting himself off the ground. Venom punched a hole in the side of the car and ripping off the door he hurled it Ock.

Ock laughed, "Pathetic," as the car door flew past him, there was no way he could hit him with the car door and then pain exploded in him as Venom webbed the car and pulled it back towards him, stupid, he thought to himself as he fought to gain control again, stupid stupid, Venom was eyeing up another car when a huge grey armoured muscle freak ploughed into him

"Forgot about Rhino huh? Don't worry freak, I gotcha." Ock watched as Rhino straddled the stunned Venom and began to pummel his fists into his sides.

Ock's comms clicked, "Doc, we have the code and the password, beginning the vault run now." Ock clicked his comms twice, sending an affirmative, he didn't want to remain distracted, this black monster was dangerous and a moment's hesitation could kill them both. As if Venom had heard him, Rhino was pushed off and the already bulky monster seemed to grow even larger, his arms and legs thickening and the black mask on his head stretching and splitting into a tooth filled maw.

"We are VENOM and we refuse to fall to lesser creatures." His clawed hands dug into the trunk of a car behind him and he lifted it off the ground slamming it into the Rhino.

"Lesser, I'll fuckin show you lesser," as the car came down Rhino let out his own punch and the car disintegrated into a pile of scrap, leaving Venom holding the car's trunk. Tilting his head to one side, "that all you got?" Rhino banged his fists together and advanced. Venom grinned with a razor maw and swung the car's truck door at Rhino, sending him flying back into another car.

Rhino shook his head, shaking off the daze and grinned, “Two can play at that game,” and reaching behind him he hoisted up the crushed car and tossed it at Venom.

Venom was strong though and he grabbed the car by its undercarriage and simply swung it back at Rhino in a perverse game of catch. Rhino, seeing the tactics failed, tossed the car to the side and instead lined up a charge, driving his heavy bulk into Venom, who began to rain blows down on his back.

Ock wasn't stupid, watching these two fight it out was a show unto itself, but he could feel as each hit thrummed through the air. His reinforced suit could take a few hits but this was something else. Even as Rhino ducked and weaved under Venom's punches and struck back with an uppercut Venom shrugged off each blow and returned his own. Fist versus fist. There was no finesse, no tactics here. Just brute against brute and the victor would be the one that hit the hardest. Right now, as dents were left in Rhino’s body armour, it seemed that Venom would emerge triumphant.

He tapped the side of his helmet, "Once the vault is open, convene on my location." Too long and the cops would show, even longer and the army would show once they knew supers were involved and sure they could take them but a clean getaway was preferable.

"ETA one minute, vault penetrated, securing the package," came the reply.

He needed to stall Venom, checking the scanners he heard no chatter about the diner, so that was still under control, five minutes and in his mind a plan formulated. "Rhino back off, get him to stay away from you, the others are on the way," Rhino grunted, sure he was muscle but he took orders well enough. 

Ocks arms would snake and dart out without warning, forcing Venom back, away from Rhino. If he lept Rhino intercepted the leap and brought him back to the ground before rolling back towards Ock, his arms waving menacingly to keep him safe. 

The monster was strong and fast but with two they could keep him contained long enough for their friends to finish with the vault, they didn't have time to play games with the muscled freak, even if all Ock wanted was to drag him into a lab to see what made him tick.

Venom sprang up onto his feet and spun webs at Ock, trying to disable at least one of his arms but as his back exploded into a ball of pain, his muscles tensing from the electricity that stunned and paralysed him, he knew he'd been played. 

Through the haze of pain, he saw there were two more men, one brown and roughly textured like sand, his face familiar to Venom and the other an armoured bald black man with wires and tubes running over his body, lines of electric current running through them.

Doc Ock lurched forwards and incapacitated Venom, wrapping all four limbs around him. He could feel the strain on his harness but for now, it was holding. "Well, don't just stand there, help me" Rhino saw the links of Docs arms flex and buckle as Venom's muscles bulged.

Venom strained against the limbs but they had coiled around him, holding him tightly. He'd been too wrapped up with Rhino to notice the others moving behind him. The man, dressed up in tight body armour had sparks flitting between his fingers, a human taser had shocked him causing all of his muscles to spasm and lock up. Venom had never considered electrocution would bypass the symbskin armour, so now he had another issue to solve.

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"Electro, light him up, Doc, aim for the Prius on the right," Rhino called out, pointing off to a parked car.

Doc Ock lifted Venom to the complaint of his harness and launched him at the car. He flattened it as he hit and once he gained his bearings he was prepared to launch himself towards Ock until he felt the lightning arc its way towards him, pain flowed through his body and Venom screamed as it lit his nerves with sparkling agony. The electricity arced to nearby cars, setting off their alarms and the piercing sounds set Venom's nerves alive with mind splitting pain.

Steam rose off his body as the gauntleted villain let the arcing electricity die. "Hah! Take that you freaky fuck," he called and before Venom could recover, he was punted by Rhino towards Ock. Taking him by the foot he slammed Venom over and over into the pavement, cracking the thick concrete with each slam and Venom felt himself back out.

"I have an idea. Bring him" Ock slammed him into the ground once more and motioned back to the diner. "Marko, this him?” He motioned to the unconscious Venom,

"It’s Sandman now, and yeah, that's him."

"Good, have fun, Sandman. Electro get the package and let's move. Rhino, are you staying?" Ock had already guessed that Rhino would stay, he had issues with being the biggest and toughest and Venom had pushed that button.

"I'm staying boss, got meat to tenderise." Rhino flexed his hands and then balled them into giant meaty fists.

Ock snorted, "Have fun you two, oh, and get his mask off, let all these nice people see who's under there"

Rhino grinned. "Sure boss, won't take long".

The two of them, Ock and Electro, made their way to a van parked across from the bank, strolling as if it was another day at the office. Flicking on his police scanner the alarms set off by Electro had alerted the owners who, finding their precious cars were now scrap, called the police. Even if Rhino and Sandman got cornered there was nothing to tie them to the bank job they'd just pulled.

Sandman had wrapped his gritty body around Venom and Rhino was using him as a punching bag, laying heavy blows to his chest and stomach. Venom was out for the count, the electricity disrupting his muscles, locking them into frozen ropes of pain. He wasn't even registering each of the blows being rained onto him, his mind retreating into itself.

But even through all that, it was an intense agony that brought him back into consciousness. He coughed and blood filled his mouth. Through half-shut eyes he saw Rhino standing over him, thick grey fingers digging into the symbskin on his chest. As his thick fingers dug into the symbskin a large chunk, the white spider emblem on his chest, ripped free and a grinning Rhino threw it into the diner. Screams followed as the patrons backed away from the torn and oozing pile of goop. The pain drew him back to the land of the living and he saw Gwen and the others standing at the broken window in shock, watching him being pummeled by these two monsters.

Sandman laughed as Rhino landed punch after punch into Venoms bare chest, "yeah fuck that asshole up Rhino," he hollered in joy watching Venom suffer as he had.

Venom laughed, asshole? There are only two assholes here. He thickened the skin on his chest, drawing on all the dead material around his body, thickening it into something that Rhinos fists couldn't break. A plate thickened on his forehead and he slammed his head back first, stunning the Sandman and the forwards, as Sandman's grip loosened ever so slightly Venom's head slammed into Rhinos. The horn on his helmet crumbed with the impact and Venom laughed, "Aww, seems you lost your horn, the ladies will be disappointed." He started to exude web fluid, thick tendrils from his back snaking over Sandman, not a line but sticky thick gel, like tar, and Sandman found himself the one being held.

"Yes, we are Venom and you are nothing." Freeing his hand, a thick gauntlet of hardened skin coated it and he slammed it into Rhino's jaw. Sandman was trying to free his body but the thick tar was holding him fast. Venom began to cover them both in more of the tar and Sandman began to panic, moving his core body away from Venom. Screaming he had to leave several chunks of himself behind but it was too late, he could move but his powers were severely limited.

Rhino shrugged off his blow, "So you still got some tricks huh?" before Venom slugged him again,

"No talk, more fight," he retorted and his hardened fists began to slam into Rhino, he heard Sandman yell "Move" at the people behind him and as he turned to make sure Gwen and the others were okay. Rhino capitalised on this and body-slammed him into the ground. Lifting him by the ankle he swung and threw him back into the diner, the panicked crowd of people scattering as he smashed through the door.

Gwen and the others were still inside, he had to move and get out but as he put his hand on a booth to lift himself up Sandman had used the tar to gather up the glass he had smashed earlier. Sandman was more of a messy blob, but he was able to move with no problem, using his arm like elastic he swung and stretching it taut brought a thick shard down on down on Venom's forearm.

The shard, sharpened to a razor's edge, cut through the symbskin, with Sandman’s now stretchy body, it wrapped around his forearm, acting like a saw as he pulled it back and it cut through his flesh. The symbskin softened and slid off like dead flesh and blood poured from the exposed wound, the muscle and peaks of white bone showing just how deep the glass had cut him. As it detached itself the pain flared through Venom's arm and he could do nothing but cry out in agony. The black tar rushing to cover not just the huge gash in his arm but the now bare limb. "We will kill you for that" Venom screeched and prepared to launch more web at Sandman

Sandman grinned "uh-huh" and Venom froze as he saw Rhino lining up a charge, it would take him through one of the support pillars of the diner and as he smashed through it Venom leapt, sticking to the ceiling. "You fuckin idiots", Sandman yelled as the other supports buckled and then crumbled unable to support the ceiling with Venoms extra weight. 

For a few seconds, the whole restaurant froze and then the screaming started as chunks of the ceiling began to rain down.

~

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