Chapter 247: Arc Nine. Chapter Two Hundred Forty-One. Unfriendly Four

The day before

Waving goodbye to the jet, Peter headed into the encampment. He was expecting to meet Reed or Sue here, but the whole base was deserted.

Scrunching his face, as it appeared nobody had been here for days, he heaved to site two. The remains of the pyramid where Apocalypse had been buried and found several thobe wearing men lazing around outside, a hookah had been set up and they boiled tea on a campfire nearby.

“AIM?” he asked, flashing a badge and one of the men took a puff and just pointed to the doorway. Peter sighed and shook his head. This expedition was being financed by Parker Inc, and paying a bunch of people to sit around wasn’t his idea of value for money. It was fine when he was the one lazing about, but now he was paying for it, he would be having words with Reed.

When did I become such an old man? He laughed to himself, normally he just signed off on anything Liv put in front of him, even the larger and more expensive items. He could trust Liv to make a good decision, and Parker Inc was making money, but he didn’t like the idea of bankrolling Reed and his frivolous adventures, even if Gwen vouched for Sue.

“Viktor, I get that, but-” and as Peter entered the main chamber he saw Ben lifting rocks, Sue, staring at a wall, taking notes, Johnny sitting on a rock, holding a ball and Reed and Viktor standing in front of the rubble-filled doorway, arguing. 

It was easy enough to tell them apart. Ben was a huge bald muscular rugged-looking man, but with a kind face, and he seemed to be ignoring the pair as they argued. Johnny was clean-shaven, blue eyes and short blonde hair, and he reminded Peter of Steve, maybe a bit younger. Sue was attractive but when he judged her on everyone else she fell short, especially with the thinly veiled sneer she was giving him, and Viktor was an older man. He knew DoomCo had thrown their lot in with Oscorp and had been a driving force behind the Oscorp Drones, but when the scandal hit, DoomCo went down with them. 

Reed was the same age as Peter and had a bored, angry look on his face. Whatever they had expected to find here had obviously fallen short of Reeds expectations and now, he was complaining.

“Oh no,” Peter interrupted, “Don’t mind me. Apparently, sitting around is all the fashion, well, good job Ben.” and as the rock slid from his fingers he hastily stepped back to avoid it crushing his foot.

“Uh, Peter. I didn’t think you’d be here.” Reed said, folding a drawing and slipping it back into his blue jumpsuit.

“I can see that, but as I was in Wakanda, I thought I’d come over and make sure that everything was okay,” and Viktor snorted and folded his arms,

“Richards is refusing to allow the workers into the main chamber.” and Peter raised an eyebrow and stared at Reed,

“You want secrecy, and I know they’re already planning on selling any artefacts we find. Several of the men even have guns,” and Peter shook his head.

“Reed. We live in America, everyone has guns.” but Reed shook his head,

“No, I speak Arabic, they have guns for,” and he drew a finger across his throat, “that’s why they are outside”

Peter sighed and let his mind touch the men outside. Reed was partially correct. They had been hired by a local businessman. If Reed and the others found gold or jewellery, they were to rob them but leave them unharmed. Even the Egyptian government wasn’t stupid enough to antagonise Parker Inc, as the news of Peters betrothal to Shuri had already hit the headlines.

“I’ll deal with them, but that still doesn’t explain why you haven’t breached the main tomb yet. It's just rocks,” and Ben stared at him,

“Yeah that easy, it’s just rocks to you an’ me, but to these three, they might as well be mountains. They ain’t built like us,” and as he rolled the rock away, Peter understood. The delicate flowers were unused to actual physical labour.

Looking over at the blockage into the main sanctum, Peter figured that with Ben's help it would only be an hour or so of work if he did most of the heavy lifting. “Reed, go tell the men to go home. We won’t need them today. Ben, if I move most of this, can you take a cart to move it outside?”

Reed looked over at Viktor hesitantly, “seriously? Fine, Victor, I assume you speak Arabic as well. Can you go and tell the men outside to go home. Reed, go sit out the way, maybe play with Johnny's balls or something,” and he ignored the look of disgust Reed gave him, even if Johnny did snort.

“And Sue, what are you doing?” and she looked over,

“Cataloguing,” and went back to taking notes.

He could feel the disgust and anger rolling off her, Mind Stone or not, and he knew this wasn't going to work. It was tempting to blank their minds and have them stand outside for the next hour while he did everything, but he knew Liv would get mad. It was a slippery slope to beginning to abuse the Stone’s power. He could deal with two petulant idiots without it.

“Good, then when we get back I would like a full report on what you’re documenting. This isn’t a sightseeing trip, You’re supposed to be proving yourselves as worthy associates, not sitting playing with yourselves.” and as Sue turned to give him a piece of her mind his symbskin slipped over him and Venom leered at her, as his muscles thickened and his claws grew, for smashing through the rock pile, she froze and stared with her mouth open,

“Yeah, I get that a lot,” and as Venom grabbed and lifted the boulder it had taken Ben ten minutes to move, she shook her head,

“No, that’s not possible. Where is the extra mass coming from, height, weight, strength, all increased.” Sue came over and was about to prod him with her pen when he moved away, still holding the rock in one hand,

“Yeah, not discussing that, and Gwen had better have been quiet as well. You are still on probation, collaboration, not an open house. And so far, I’m not impressed,” and Sue huffed,

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“I don’t think-” but Venom interrupted her,

“No, you don’t. Do you think I just added my name to the building and Gwen and Liv went along with it because they love me? You don’t think that maybe I’m smart enough to have built my own tech, smart enough to have several working prototypes and smart enough to know when I see a bunch of screw-ups when I see them. You live off your dad’s name, money and contacts. So far, the only person here I’m actually impressed with is Ben, no offence Viktor, but you’re all complaining, and not working.” and as he hoisted the rock up he dropped it and grabbed another one, “and arguing definitely isn’t working.” and as he shoo’d Sue out of the way. “And do you think I came here without making sure that I could defend myself against a gang of thieves,” and the harness erupted from his back, each of the arms grabbing a boulder and moving it into the corner.

“Impressive Mr Parker. The Octavious harness I assume?” Viktor said, nodding.

“Nope. Liv supplied the reactor but this one is mine. We worked on it together, without a horrible synaptic dampener she used in the original. Multi-sensory input, each limb can act independently and has a small range of touch and temperature. Liv took my design and fabricated it, and then started working on making it modular for sale.” Unimpressed, Venom looked over at Sue and Reed, “Oh, and my abilities as an Enhanced also include a method to monitor and translate the electrical impulses in your brain. Reed, I don’t care if you’re not impressed, and Sue, I don’t care if you think this is some kind of joke,” The last one was a lie, Sue was actually still wondering how the formula was enhancing his physiology but he’d had enough of their arrogant bullshit.

Peter knew Reed’s problem was jealousy. He’d been in various universities for years, since he was 10, and had enough degrees that anyone would snatch him up, but after being told countless times how much of a genius he was, and other than the paper had nothing to show for it, meeting Peter put him out of sorts. Peter had no formal education but was still making money, still had the labs and equipment he wanted, and the life he wanted.

Sue's problem was just annoyance that Gwen was throwing her life away for a nobody. Viktor didn’t care, he knew Hammer had Oscorps drone tech and he wanted it, and if it meant kissing Peter's ass for a few months, then he would do so, and Johnny was here for a holiday. It was Ben who felt a lingering sense of loyalty to Reed as if he owed him something but without pushing further, he would have to take it slow to find out what.

“You know, this would be easier if you helped,” and Ben wiped a sweat-stained sleeve on his forehead, “Doing my best, but,” and he motioned to the pile of large rocks. As his symbskin slipped back, Peter nodded,

“I know, but,“ and as the harness disengaged he slid it around him, “put this on. The interface is a little awkward, but really only as you’re not used to having four arms. Just use two and you’ll be fine.” As Ben looked over at Reed Peter raised an eyebrow and Ben looked down at the harness, almost apologetically.

“Yeah, sorry uh. So how?” and Peter held it up,

“It is more comfortable if you're bare-skinned, but over your top is fine. Ben nodded and pulled off the top of his bright blue jumpsuit, revealing the thick muscles underneath. Peter also noticed a huge burn, stretching from one side of his chest, wrapping around to his back. A chemical burn, and from the location, it seemed like he had been shielded from the majority of it. Curious he touched Ben's mind and as he stared he got a picture of Reed, and a security guard, and with an explosion, Reed dragging the much larger man to safety. It wall though as Ben's mind concentrated back on the harness, and Peter figured that while Ben was feeling like he owed Reed a debt, Peter could probably discover that the fire was Reed's fault and the reason he was barred from the University.

“So uh,” and as Peter held it up Ben stepped forwards, “You know that ain’t,” but as Peter pressed it forwards, it engaged and resized, wrapping around Ben and the four arms waved like one of those advertising wind men behind him, “oh yeah, that’s uh weird, but, yeah.” and as the arms straightened out, Ben used two to grab a rock, taking another with the other pair. Rather than try and control all four, he was using them in tandem, and Peter smiled, 

“You got it, big guy,” his symbskin slipped back over him and he began to tackle the pile of rocks.

They took shifts. Moving rocks from one pile to another was boring, and as Viktor and Reed sat around a small camping stove, Sue continued to catalogue and write down the hieroglyphics on the wall of the vestibule. Peter ignored the belligerent feelings coming from the pair and the sense of boredom coming from Johnny.

Viktor was his normal blank self, and it wasn't until later that Peter realised it was the same feeling he got from Erik when he had that damn helmet on. Viktor was shielding himself, and as he had no visible helmet on, he must have some kind of technology or implant.

He hadn't noticed at first but someone aware of telepaths and actively guarding against them was a worry. Was Viktor guarding against him specifically, and if so, how did it leak out? He shook his head. There could be a multitude of reasons why he couldn’t read Viktor. It was being paranoid, and as the man seemed aloof but at least willing to work with him, he paid him no mind. 

It was Sue and Reed's constant mental barrage of indignation, annoyance, and plain anger that was grating his nerves. If this wasn't such a dangerous place, with who knew what level of security measures or advanced alien tech, Peter would have slammed his senses shut and then told the duo to go to hell.

It took the pair two hours to carefully uncover and clear the entrance. Moving the larger rubble was easy, but once they got the door clear, the smaller pieces threatened another cave in and the work became methodical and precise.

Once the way was open, Venom stepped back and was about to switch back into a smaller form when Reed and Sue both moved forwards, pushing past him. He grabbed the pair, pulling them back.

“Are you insane?” he yelled, “you have no idea what is in there and you’re charging in.” and Viktor smirked. “No wonder you’re barred from most labs. Stay there, and stay quiet. I’m not getting killed because you can't keep your damn hands to yourself.”

Malisson

And so starts Book Three.

I forgot to add the title of Book Two to the final chapter.

Book Two. Power Points

I will get round to adding Books Two information to the glossary, with word count and side story lists at some point.

Spider-Man House Of Venom will be One Year Old on the 27th. To celebrate, a new short will be published on Saturday.

I can't tell you its title, as it actually spoils the start of Arc Nine.

(and as a small side note, a thobe is the long robes Arabic men wear, I looked it up so I got it right.)

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