Chapter Fourteen

Peter stepped in front of his friends.

"Leave them alone, Brock," he said.

"Oh, come now, Petey, that's no way to treat an old friend and colleague," Venom said, jumping down beside him.

The Doctor came up beside Peter and pointed his screwdriver at him.

"What's that?" Venom said. "Aw, are you wanting our autograph, Skinny Boy?"

The Doctor turned on the screwdriver and Peter watched while Venom screamed in agony and chunks of the oily symbiote fought to stay on his body. The Doctor turned off the screwdriver and Venom panted as the flesh molded back onto its body.

"Give us that!" he snarled, trying to grab it.

Venom reeled back when the Doctor pointed the screwdriver at him again.

"Speak, Symbiote, are you the one behind the serial killings?" the Doctor barked at him.

Venom hissed at him.

"Peter, call off your dog, will ya?" he said to him.

"Answer his question, Brock."

Venom stared at him for a moment and then the liquid skin peeled back to reveal Eddie Brock's face. He was young with a baby face, short sandy blonde curly hair and brown eyes. He gave Peter a condescending look.

"What do you think, Pete?" he said, putting his hands on his hips. "We don't hurt the innocent, you know that. If you're looking for someone to blame, blame the lunatic who looks like us. Remember him, Petey, the one that has the red and black body?"

Rain stepped forward and Eddie eyed her appreciately.

"Wait, who's we?" she said.

"It's how he refers to himself. Him and the symbiote are bonded now so they refer to themselves as us," Peter said to her.

"Well, well, howdy Babe," Eddie said, ignoring Peter."Name's Eddie Brock but you can call us Venom. Are you avaliable tonight for a little nighttime swing around the city?"

His face fell and he pouted when Rain held up her wedding ring.

"Shame...although whoever you're married to couldn't possibly compare with yours truly."

He groaned when the Doctor showed him his wedding ring.

"Figures," he muttered. "Story of our life. Oh well, back to business. Or...unfinished business which is you and us, Pete. So let's fight, here and now!"

"I don't have time to fight you," Peter said.

"Oh that's a shame cause we have loads of time to fight you and since we do, you're gonna fight us whether you like it or not!"

He sighed when the Doctor aimed his screwdriver at him.

"And will you tell the stick figure here to put away his sonic doodad before we snap it in two?" he said to Peter.

"How long has that symbiote been on you?" the Doctor asked him.

Eddie rolled his eyes.

"About four years now, why?"

"Then it's too late."

"Too late for what?"

"To separate you from it without killing you in the process," the Doctor said.

Eddie stared at him.

"What makes you think we wanna separate from it, Slim?" he said to him.

"You mean you actually like being this way?" Awinita said.

Eddie's eyes fell on her and he grinned when he didn't notice a ring on her finger.

"Ooo, another hottie and hey, you're not taken."

"Actually, she is," Nelak said.

Eddie looked at him and Nelak shifted uneasily when he stared directly at his hair.

"Like the whole punk scene do ya, Toots?" Eddie said to Awinita.

"That's enough, Brock," Peter said.

"That's enough, Brock," Eddie said, mocking him. "Screw you, Goody-two-shoes, you ain't my mom."

Peter sighed.

"Just go away. Go do something," he said, waving him away.

"Excuse us, are you dismissing us, Pete?" he said angrily. "No one tells us when to go, certainly not you!"

Before anyone could react, the skin oozed up over Eddie's head and Venom rammed into Peter with full force. Venom screamed when the Doctor turned on his screwdriver and tried to grab for it. He hissed when Rain and Awinita whipped theirs out and joined him.

"This isn't over, Pete, you hear us?" Venom snarled as he backed away from the sonic vibrations. "We'll wait till your friends and their toys aren't with you and then it's payback time!"

They watched as he leaped up onto the wall, quickly scaled halfway up and shot out a webline. Venom sailed over their heads, shot out another webline and quickly vanished from view.

"Thanks. I guess those screwdriver things do come in handy," Peter said to them. "But...as much as I'd like to let Venom go without a fight. I know he's probably off trying to make trouble now so I'll come and find him. So, I'll tell you what. You go ahead and stay at my apartment for tonight while I go out on patrol. Just make yourself at home and do whatever you need to do to get my dad out of that watch and I'll join you later on when I'm done. Is that okay?"

They nodded.

"Great, follow me then so I can go get changed," he said to them.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After letting them back into his apartment, Peter went into his bedroom and stripped off his clothes. While he was doing that, the Doctor looked through his phone book and used his mobile to order them a pizza and some sodas for the night.

"I figured first we'll eat then we'll go back to the TARDIS with the watch and see if we can figure out a way to reverse the arch so Asdra's consciousness will go back into his son safely," the Doctor said to his family.

The door opened and Peter came down the hallway dressed head to toe in his spider-man outfit.

"Well, what'd ya think?" he said, spinning around.

"Why red and blue?" Awinita asked him.

He stopped spinning and shrugged.

"I liked the color combination," he said."It's not bad for crime fighting but it gets hot and itchy and sometimes it rides up in the crotch a bit."

He coughed when the Doctor and his family glanced at each other.

"Sorry, too much information there. I heard you ordering pizza. Just feel free to do what you want and I'll see you all later."

They waved goodbye to him as he walked over to the balcony door, opened it and stepped outside. Rain whistled when he closed the door, leapt up and out, shot out a webline and swung away over the city.

"Damn, I would pay anything to see you do that," she said to the Doctor.

The Doctor gave her an odd look before he tickled her armpits. He gave her a kiss on the cheek and used the remote to turn on the TV as they waited for their pizzas to be delivered.