Shattered Lives

Knick of Time

Peter swung around the street, catching himself on top of a light post. Noir was there, too, catching his breath. "This guy is really good."

"He's able to tell where we are are going," Penni shouted from where she was down the street. "We have to come at multiple directions so we can get into his space."

Gwen seemed to take this to heart, and suddenly she was swing by the others, shouting orders. Noir took off after her, giving her some back up, as Peter swung down to meet Penni. Porker was crawling up the side of an apartment building across from the hospital, flicking webs towards the alien at an alarmingly fast rate, one right after the other. It was a good distraction - Venom hardly paid the other Spiders any attention as he dodged webs and tried to take down Porky.

It was actually working.

Gwen got in the first hit, causing Venom to stumble a little in shock. Peter was so close behind the dancer, the alien didn't have time to move.

Porky shot some more webs, and the alien was refocused there, leaving Penni an opening to fire some of her blasters.

Noir even got in a good punch to the face.

Whatever this Venom was, he was starting to slow down, his body growing more and more unsteady. His movements were slowing down, too.

Noir was the one to figure it out, though. The final nail in the coffin. He swung past the others and down the street, webbing up some bricks that had been blown from the hospital's walls. With a hard and sure flick of the wrist, the brick was soaring through the air, the web taking it in a clean arc to where Venom was. The alien predictably dodged, but Noir had already accounted for that. The brick hit the light behind Venom, showering the alien with sparks. The reaction was immediate - Venom shrieked and his whole body shook as he nearly fell backwards. Arms flew up to protect his face and when he was finally out of the spray, he roared. Loudly.

"We've got a weakness," Noir shouted to the others. "Just gotta get a fire going,!"

The others were quick to help. Gwen, Peter, and Noir were webbing debris from around the fight and making a large pile. Penni took aim and the blast made the whole thing go up in flames.

"Get him to back into it," Gwen said quietly. "We've only got one chance at this."

Porky was back to being the distraction - his annoying antics made him a very good candidate for that job - and the others helped move Venom in the right direction. The alien wasn't stupid, though, and knew what was happening. He could sense the heat, smell the smoke.

Porky got a good hit to the eye, and Venom roared as his claws tore at the webbing, Noir swung forward and got in a good kick to the chest. Venom stumbled back.

Peter shot some more webs. Penni was there, too, her blasters working double time to send the alien stumbling backwards.

Gwen was standing over the whole street, peeking over the edge of an office building. She shot a couple good webs fired across the street, then took a flying leap.

One kick.

One step and he would fall into the fire.

One hit.

Gwen held out her legs, her muscles tightening in preparation. She bent them slightly, curling in on herself, so she could kick out with her full power when her feet made contact. Just a little more. Just a few more feet. Just-

Miles swung from around the corner of the street, his own path aimed right for Gwen's. He grabbed her by the waist, pulling her away and swinging her back to the rooftop.

"Miles!" She flailed and kicked, fighting him to get away. "No, we know how to beat him! Miles, stop!"

"No!" Miles shouted back, catching Gwen's arms before she could fire anymore webs. "No, man. We're not burning that kid."

"Kid?" The others were crawling their way over to where Miles and Gwen were fighting, and Peter was in the lead. "What are you talking about, Miles?"

"I was running the program for more information and I tracked Venom back to his home dimension. That thing is a symbiote, and his host is a kid. His host is a kid my age."

The Spiders were all shocked into silence, but there wasn't time for that. Venom was suddenly appearing over the edge of the roof, his teeth bared as he growled.

"We do not like fire," he grated out. "We do not like being attacked. We do not like when you threaten us."

Miles felt the attack coming, and he jumped into defense. His webs deflected some of the punches, but he took a couple himself, catching claws and fists to the chest and face.

"Venom, Venom! Stop, please!"

The alien didn't seem to hear the teen's pleads, and if he did, he made no indication of it. Instead, he just threw another punch. Miles caught it, then put up his arms in mock surrender.

"Your host. Peter. Is he in there?" Venom gave a hesitant nod. Miles just smiled a little, though the alien couldn't see that through the mask. "He's my age. He's 15, and you're looking for something, right? Something in this dimension you couldn't get in your own?"

Again, a hesitant nod. Then Venom is melting away, revealing a kid. A kid with brown, curly hair and brown, Doe-like eyes. Peter looked up at Miles as he crumpled to the ground, exhausted and tired and-

"You've got to help me. I can't... I can't survive the... My heart-"

Miles barely catches him before the kid passed out completely.