hunger.

[thatmabwrites]

ncrthwrites​:

Venom roared when the Black Cat stepped by Gwen, her claws trained threateningly on her neck. Venom started forward, spurred by Eddie’s own emotional outburst, but Eddie came to his senses as the Cat’s grip tightened. They couldn’t take the chance, he knew that. He’d heard plenty of what Black Cat was capable of, and he didn’t want to test the sharpness of those claws. Not on Gwen’s neck, at least. 

Her confirmation did little to calm Eddie’s worry for her. Every punch Black Cat landed, Venom twitched forward slightly, stopped only by Eddie’s fear of something worse than a punch befalling Gwen. After one punch too many, their composure broke and they took a few steps forward, stopping only at the clicking behind him. They whipped around to face the trio that had entered. Venom roared. It was only a matter of time until they turned up, Eddie just wished they’d given him a bit more time to get Gwen untied, at least. One, two, six, twelve. The bullets were absorbed and Venom’s arms raised, taking two of the goons by the throats and knocking them in the third guard before tossing the two aside, charging the third guard. Venom’s jaw extended and he devoured half the man just as another group of goons ran in. 

Peter crawled toward them, eventually ending up directly above the women. Black Cat. He wasn’t surprised in the slightest, just… very disappointed. Theft was one thing, but the men who had run in were Fisk’s men. She was involved in a lot more than Peter originally thought.

The punches that she landed on Gwen’s face concerned Peter greatly. He could hear the thud of the impact from his perch above them, and could see Gwen’s eyes roll back. He was preparing to attack when Gwen spoke up again, and he frowned. A warning, perhaps? It made sense. Those punches were devastating, and purple and blue were quickly blossoming across the blonde’s eyes. 

Peter felt his stomach tighten into knots. Unable to wait any long, he webbed to the ceiling, swinging down toward the two. He collided with Black Cat, carrying her across the room until the two of them landed. Peter pinned the woman down, hands pressed on her forearms in order to keep her fists away from him. “C’mon, Cat, Fisk? I didn’t pin you as a woman who worked beneath others. Others like him, no less.” 

the gunshots deafened gwen. she’d seen venom bat them away before, but it didn’t stop the steady rise of anxiety in her stomach. she strained against her restrained again in vain. her attention still on peter somewhere on the ceiling behind her. silently, she willed him to stay hidden.

as if on cue he dropped down on top of the black cat. everything going perfectly to plan. the idiot. she’d just warned him!

the black cat gasped as she was suddenly face to face with spiderman. “hey handsome.” she purred. felicia my have had her arms pinned behind her head, but she wasn’t kitty in a corner. she pushed her thumbnails against the surface behind her and two small metal nails came off. what’s more, her legs were free. she kicked up and wrapped her legs around the spider’s torso, pulling him into her as she rocked against him once. “oh, I hate being beneath anyone.” the second time she rolled her hips, she thrust sharply and rolled him over to his back.

“I’m way better on top.” she winked and slammed his wrists where her nails had only just been pressed hitting a button on her thumb to activate the magnets that would keep him in place, at least for now. “and I prefer to work in secret which is why goldilocks should be inclined to accept my more than generous offer.”

gwen twitched as felicia slammed peter’s hand down. she pulled towards him before her attention return to the reloading guard attacking eddie. this had turned into a shitshow of royal proportions. “fine!” gwen said sharply. “fine. just don’t hurt either of them. please.”

-

[thatmabwrites]

ncrthwrites​:

For someone who had just broken through a pane of glass, Eddie was doing a bang-up job at avoiding detection. He’d stealthily taken two people out so far… Okay, maybe not stealthily since Venom spent most of the time smashing most guards into the walls, ceilings and floors, but he was going undetected. 

Gwen’s shoe was what had done it. He’d noticed it on the ground, in the hallway leading to a center room. There were no windows to that room, so what other choice did he have? He had to break in and go after her. He’d feel really, really stupid if it was someone with just the same shoe, but that wasn’t something he really wanted to take a chance on. 

When they finally reached the door, Venom’s tendrils wrapped around the frame, squeezed through the thin crack along the frame, and tore the door from its hinges. Tossing the door aside, Venom stepped through, eyes trained on the thin frame ahead of them. They’d taken her by surprise, clearly, but Eddie had been right. It was Gwen’s shoe. “Gwen?” Eddie and Venom’s voices called in tandem, Eddie’s voice cracking slightly with concern. “Are you okay?” Really stupid question, considering, but as long as she was alive and conscious that’s all he needed to know. They stepped forward, Venom on display and at full height, and roared at the woman in front of Gwen to earn her full attention. “Move.”

Peter had snuck in through the broken window after a few moments of deliberation. He could hear noises further down the hall, and once he started walking he halls, he noticed exactly what the sound was. Armed detail were strewn across the floor, dents and holes in walls and the ceilings proof that someone - or something - had torn through here in somewhat of a fit. Someone else was after his thief, too. 

After webbing the armed men to the ground to ensure they wouldn’t awake and take him by surprise, Peter made his way to yet another hole, this time in a wall. He could see the remnants of the splintered doorframe, but beyond the doorframe was black. After a quick peek through the door, he noticed the large black figure obscuring the rest of the room. It looked familiar. Too familiar. 

Brock. 

In an effort to remain unnoticed, Peter quickly entered into the room, stuck to the shadows, and climbed to the ceiling, waiting to see what else would occur. He hadn’t, however, expected Gwen Stacy to be tied to a chair, looking worse for wear. A knot sunk to his stomach. It explained why Brock was here, but why were they here? Why did Brock know about this place? And why was Gwen in a dress of all things? Where was her suit? 

“nuh, uh, uh...” felicia tutted her tongue against the back of her teeth with disapproval. she looked up at venom with amusement. he cut an intimidating figure. while she typically preferred to work alone, her brief tenure as a mob boss had opened felicia up to new world of new opportunities. he was certainly something new. “stay where you are big fella.” she lashed out quickly and grabbed gwen by the crown of her hair pulling her head back sharply. “I promise you that she won’t like my claws.”

there was something unsettling about being unable to react properly to her spider sense. a hiss of air pushed through her teeth as the black cat sent another brief jolt of pain through her skull. the movement on the ceiling drew her eyes. peter. she looked away quickly hoping that no one else saw it. “I’ve gotta admit. I’ve had better interviews.” she could feel the grip tighten on her hair. gwen winced. “I’m okay.” she assured them. her eyes finding the reflective pupiless eyes of venom and smiling slightly. “you know what they say about kitty litter-” felicia used her free hand to punch gwen square in the other cheek. she was right. there were no good jokes about kitty litter.

the black cat put her claws back on gwen’s throat threateningly. gwen’s eyes lulled back slightly in her head. she shook her head to try and rouse her consciousness again. that cat had cybernetic enhancements in her gloves. that was the only explanation for the strength. they must be incredibly intricate to be nearly unidentifiable and seamless in the fabric. it shouldn’t have been surprising given the information she’d turned up about octavius’s involvement.

peter. he needed to know. how could she let him know that he was probably about to be fighting his own tech perfected by his mentor without letting anyone else know that he was here? “you’ve gotta tell me what your workout regimen is like because your hit a lot harder than you look like you would.” thud! her face whipped to the side as the next blow landed. “for the record, punching really isn’t a cat thing.” thud. gwen spat out a mouthful of blood. black cat brought her claws back to gwen’s throat and dug into the flesh, eyes kept tight on venom. a pointed reminder that she was closer to ending the blonde than he was to saving her.

“lets make this simple for everyone, hm?” felicia’s tone remained pleasant and steady despite her overt violence mere moments before. a couple of goons stepped into the now gaping hole of a doorway. “kill the story, stacy. hand over all of your information. purge all your files. stop pursuing this.” the menacing darkness of her eyes only made more severe in the expose light. “maybe start a gossip column instead. then you and your... big black toy can home safe and sound and have some fun tonight. if not... then I’ll just have to have enough fun for all of us.”

-

[scarlet-strange]

[thatmabwrites]

scarlet-strange​:

“Randy Robertson. Rock n’ roll reporter. And my current hero..”

Gwen Stacy (Earth 65)

Completed comic edit #11

[thatmabwrites]

ncrthwrites​:

Following traffic was a nightmare when you were as pressed as Eddie was. He’d chosen to take a few shortcuts on a few streets, but was narrowly missed by a cop that surely would have busted him. So here he was, nervously clenching his hands repeatedly as he waited for this fucking moving truck to get a fucking move on. It was what? A 16-point turn at this point? Frustrated, he glanced around to make sure there were no other police, and weaved his way through the traffic and around the damn truck. He didn’t have time to waste. 

He had to find Gwen. 

It had been too long since she’d contacted him. He had tried texting, calling, even going to her apartment, but to no avail. Perhaps she was ghosting him… It had been something he’d considered, but he assumed she was better than that. No, he knew that she had been up to something. She’d grown somewhat quiet over the last few weeks, focusing on a story that she’d been immersed in. Caught up in her work. A story about a crime family he was certain would be ready to retaliate. She’d found an address, last he knew.

White-knuckling the throttle for the last few blocks, Eddie finally slowed by the towering building and parked his bike in the street, taking a quick jog around the building to get away from prying eyes. 

Then they leapt, and black tendrils climbed around and overcame him, Venom’s hand digging deep into the masonry. Venom took them along the floors, inspecting the rooms in an attempt to locate Gwen. They weren’t sure what the next play would be, but it would be something they’d figure out when the time came. 

Meanwhile, another smaller figure silently crawled along the building, tracking something completely different. He’d been following a thief that had been nailing a number of prestigious art galleries and jewelry stores, and his investigation led him here. With a relatively quiet city, Peter set out and was now scanning the windows of the building for any sign of criminal activity. He suspected it was multiple people working together, so he tried to be as stealthy and quiet as possible. 

The loud crash of breaking glass drew his attention to the opposite end of the building. He swung around the building to the location of the noise and was greeted with a smashed in window, with a hole the size of nearly the entire pane. There went the element of surprise, and Pete hadn’t even had the chance to do anything. 

at first there was nothing. an absence of consciousness that hung ominously around her. like she knew that something was missing from her. no dreams. no thoughts. lost to the black void until snap!

“son of a-”

gwen’s head recoiled back. her eyes sprung open to a singular light on her, drowning out the rest of the room. there was nothing but brightness and pain. it shot through her face from the center of her cheek where the fist had made contact. instinctively, her arm moved to throw a web from her shooter, but her wrist snagged behind her. gwen lurched forward with momentum and tipped back just as quickly. that wasn’t good. she blinked a few times. there was a figure in front of her. before she could quite make out what was happening her spidersense pulled her head down. another fist whizzed over her head.

“you know, it’s rude to touch a lady without her permission.”

quick assessment. no mask. no spider suit. no purse. no cellphone in pockets. actually, she had no pockets at all. for some reason she was in a cocktail dress. missing one shoe. web shooters were on under her bracelets. they weren’t useful with her arms tied up like that either. gwen tested the strength of her restrains. it was strong. too strong for her to rip off without dislocating her arm or worse. no idea where she was. no memory of what she’d been doing directly prior to this. she’d been following the fisk story, but that was the last thing she really knew.

“oh I recognize you.”

it wasn’t felicia hardy, but the black cat that stepped into the light. she bent down and gripped gwen’s chin with her black gloved had, metal nail digging into her cheeks. her voice was disturbingly familiar, but gwen wasn’t able to recognize it behind the mask she had on.

the sultry voice purred as she turned gwen face from right to left. “gwen stacy.” gwen pulled her face back and out of the black cat’s grip, a laceration on her cheek for the effort. felicia smiled. “you’ve really made it a point to step on my tail. haven’t you?”

“nice. solid villain pun-” gwen started to say before she realized that she wasn’t the spider. right now, she was just supposed to be a scared student intern. “uh, I’m glad to see my reputation precedes me. can’t say the same about you, kitten. unless mr. fisk has undergone some interesting lifestyle changes, I have no idea who you are.“

“but you will.”

[why-i-love-comics]

Ghost-Spider #7 - “Into the Unknown” (2020)

written by Seanan McGuire art by Ig Guara & Ian Herring

[thatmabwrites]

ncrthwrites​:

Eddie knew the look. It had been used on him by more than just Gwen, and he cracked a small smile. He leaned in as she did to kiss him, and he held the kiss until she pulled back. “I have no doubt about that,” he started, chancing a look down at her injured leg, “but one day it might not be your leg that gets hit, and that’s what scares me.” Though he and Gwen were still only dating, he cared deeply for her. He could tell Venom did too, despite technically only being introduced today. He didn’t want anything happening to her.

“A symbiote.“ Eddie echoed her words, following it with a nod. “Real long story. Wrong place, wrong time, and - yeah.” He laughed sheepishly, not wanting to divulge all of his history with Venom at midnight in the middle of an alley. He wanted to get home and get comfortable. Maybe when they weren’t in such a public place, Eddie would tell her the full story. Until then, the walls had ears, he was certain of it. “He’s been around since San Fran.”

“Eddie, up.” The timing for Gwen’s words was impeccable, as a figure had dropped from the… fire escape? They hadn’t heard the clunking of metal or any indication that someone was on the stairway, but how else was Parker able to drop down?

Peter had been spurred on by worry for Gwen. That’s what he told himself, at the very least. She’d leaned forward to kiss Eddie, and Peter’s body all but started to move on its own. There was an urgency behind it, something that he didn’t quite understand, but the jealousy he felt was something he hadn’t felt in a long time.

Probably just because Eddie was already closer to Gwen than he was, and as the only other Spider-Person in the city, Peter longed for the opportunity to get closer to her.

“Uh, hey Gwen,” Pete started quietly, looking from Gwen to Eddie, and finally to The Glob extending from Brock. “MJ wanted to me to make sure you were alright…” The words were directed to Gwen, but his eyes did not once leave Eddie and the ink monster attached to him. “Evening, Brock and co.”

When Eddie realized who it was, he sighed. Of course Peter Parker was getting involved. From what he remembered of the kid, that was a very common occurrence. He had to be involved in everything. “She’s fine, Parker. Clearly.”

his sentence managed to sting. gwen didn’t have the heart to tell eddie that she’d taken injuries worse than a bullet to the leg before. and something told her that she’d be taking worse in the future, too. it was nearly impossible for her to keep out of trouble. she just didn’t want eddie and venom to be that new trouble. that would really just be a little too much on her plate at once. mj was probably already going to flip her lid at gwen for bailing early on the after party. she sighed.

spidersense warned her that peter was dropping down into the alley a second before venom did. gwen gasped and spun around quickly. what the hell was he thinking? just because she was comfortable enough with eddie to let him know about her powers (and she was barely that comfortable), it didn’t mean that peter should be. obviously she had everything under control. so why would he risk his own identity?

she looked around to just double check that they were the only ones in the alley. gwen crossed her arms in front of herself and took a step towards peter, away from eddie. “hey, peter. I’m perfectly fine.” she said, somewhere between offering reassurance and sounding irritated. peter was watching eddie like he was an enemy. “you should go let mj know, and take care of harry. okay?”

[thatmabwrites]

ncrthwrites‌:

“Not careful enough,” Eddie noted, but let it drop following her explanation. She was okay, walking (with a bit of difficulty, sure) and drumming with the injury. It wasn’t as serious as it could have been. “I just don’t want anything to happen to you.” His voice was lower now, as if saying it aloud would make things worse. He nodded. “Just try not to get distracted next time.”

Venom immediately reached for her hand as she extended it. Eddie took a step back, but the symbiote forced Eddie’s foot in place, and it extended to meet her hand. Eddie’s own concern grew with Venom’s excitement, and Eddie had to do everything to make sure Venom didn’t just up and leave his body in favour of Gwen’s. He could tell there was something about Gwen that excited Venom. Whether it was compatibility or something born of Eddie’s own feelings for her, he wasn’t sure, but it scared him nonetheless. Venom wasn’t exactly doing great things to his body, despite the abilities he now possessed.

“Nice to meet you.” Venom repeated. “Sorry, don’t like being chased.” Eddie and Venom shared enough memories of being chased to know it wasn’t the greatest thing. They’d fled for their lives a number of times before. After a few moments, Venom pulled back from her touch. “Sorry Gwen.”

that comment managed to earn eddie a ‘don’t start with me’ look. he was right, though. she hadn’t been careful enough. peter had thrown her off her game. he always would. when it came down to it, gwen would always throw herself in harms way to make sure that peter wasn’t. it was a dangerous instinct. the main reason it was safer for both of them to be apart. gwen stepped closer and kissed him. “I’m a big, tough girl. I can take care of myself. I promise.”

the instant that venom came into contact with her skin, gwen felt an additional surge of power. she gasped. it was unexpected and quite frankly, a bit frightening. she looked up at the symbiote with surprise. is this what eddie was dealing with? no wonder it was taking his body time to adjust. gwen still felt the surge and she had the added stability of her own powers. eddie was just a normal human. this could have killed him, but didn’t. she doubted that he’d even bothered to see a doctor when it happened. venom probably wouldn’t have let him. “so venom is a-” parasite seemed to be a negative word. he idn’t like it. “-symbiote?” she asked, implying the question she really wanted to ask. is venom killing you?

when her hand separated from venom, she rested it on eddie instead. tonight had been stressful to say the least. she hadn’t expected the tension earlier to be the least dramatic thing of the evening, but then again, life rarely went how gwen expected it to go. “well, if you hadn’t run, I wouldn’t have to chase you.” she replied easily. “just try not to let it happen again. I’m not the only person who will notice.” she said looking over her shoulder to make sure that peter wasn’t up on a rooftop watching them or anything.

[thatmabwrites]

ncrthwrites‌:

“Not going to take credit for it, but it’ll still score me brownie points. Thanks.” The food was finally done, and Pete took out two large bowls from the pantry. He served her her ramen, placed a hardboiled egg in the piping liquid, and went to hand her the bowl when she mentioned the hair ribbon. He stared at it for a moment, frowning as well. “I… uh… No, I’ve had that there for a long time…” Granted, he couldn’t exactly recall why or where he got it from, but he knew it had been there for years, sitting by an empty picture frame. “It’s definitely been there since before I ever met you.” Why, though? He was certain he’d seen it before, but where did he get it from? It wasn’t something he’d use himself, of course. Maybe MJ left it and forgot about it.

Peter chuckled. “Oh, I have no doubt she did. I just thought I was being sneaky. I had this whole elaborate plan if she ever asked what I was doing. In hindsight, pretty dumb, but she never asked, so I got away with it.” His excuses had always been poor when it came to May. He had a terrible time lying to her, but clearly managed so far. The more she asked for help with Feast, though, the harder it became to maintain his lies.

He listened intently as he carried his own ramen bowl to the table along with the utensils they’d need. He set it down, eyes on her wrists once he sat. “That’s amazing!” He exclaimed, feeling rather silly for his own invention. While it worked well, having a contraption in the shooters that created the fluid as he went would be so much better. You could essentially swing for days without needing more fluid. Amazing. “That’s fair,” he nodded, though he couldn’t truly mask the disappointment in his voice. He understood. He really did. He wouldn’t want to divulge information of his own inventions either, but this was a game changer. Before this, he hoped they’d get closer. Now he really hoped.

gwen didn’t hesitate to take the bowl when it was offered to her. despite the steam obviously rolling off the ramen, she dug in. it tasted shockingly delicious. and while it definitely burnt her tongue a little, she was too hungry to really care all that much. while her hunger was somewhat satiated, she turned her attention back to the ribbon. gwen knew that was her ribbon. “are you sure? it looks just like one of mine...” like the one that her father had given to her before he passed away. she would know it anywhere.

gwen nodded. “it sounds like you have a really good aunt.” she said with a smile. something told her the may of this dimension wouldn’t differ any from the one in hers. she was that sort of person who was rooted in any world. “this is really good, by the way. definitely better than anything I can cook. thank you.” she said, still stuffing her face.

there was no doubt that she agreed with him. her shooters were a work of art, as was the addition of web wings so that she could glide down from anywhere if she needed to. gwen essentially was dependent on those early inventions from janet. she’d be nothing without it, and she wasn’t willing to share it. not quite yet. “you designed your own though? that’s really impressive. how do you make the fluid?”

[thatmabwrites]

ncrthwrites‌:

“You got shot?” Eddie frowned. That led far more credence to the fact that she was Spiderwoman. It made sense. She saved the city, and got hurt while doing it. “Be careful, Gwen.” He looked down at the leg she was favouring, concern obvious on his face. “I know you do what you have to, but be careful.” 

Now that the discussion was on the symbiote, he could feel Venom’s excitement. He knew that Venom liked Gwen - he’d been told so on one of their first dates - and Venom’s chattering in his mind was enough to prove that. “Venom is…” He felt the familiar pull of tendrils pulling from his skin. The symbiote was extending from his back, elongated eyes peering over his shoulder before the rest of the head became visible, teeth, tongue and all. .”This is Venom.”

“Hi Gwen.“

“I am careful.” gwen assured him. she usually was. extraordinarily careful, in fact. “I just- I got distracted. it’ll be fine in a couple days, though. it’s not like anyone has even noticed anyway.” she shrugged. truly, she had managed to hide it pretty well. even if hiding it meant gritting her teeth and forcing herself through the pain. “trust me, this isn’t a common thing for me.” there was some relief in eddie knowing and not reacting.

the ink-like creature slowly crawled it’s way into sight. obviously, it quickly drew gwen’s attention. he wasn’t like anything she’d ever seen created in a lab. no, this was something different entirely. without thinking, she held out a hand to try and touch it. “hey venom, uh, I’m gwen. nice to meet you.” she said without a lot of confidence. was it nice to meet him? she wasn’t sure yet. “hey buddy, could you do me a solid and not tear down half the city if you need to go somewhere. it would make my job a lot easier, okay?”

[makesitprecious]

－ Emily Griffin. ᶠᵃⁿᵃʳᵗ

[thatmabwrites]

ncrthwrites‌:

His first instinct was to step back, but he stood still. She was hurt. The least he could do was support her if she needed it. Eddie shook his head. “You don’t have to worry.” I just have a bit of a bug. A big, black bug. Whether he believed what he said was another story. Over time, he’d learned to live as one with Venom. Didn’t mean that the symbiote didn’t worry or scare him at times. He had no idea how to explain it, though. “Nevermind that. Your leg. How bad did you hurt it?”

She was asking. Pleading, even. Eddie pressed his lips together as he thought, thoughts of ‘I’m just having an off day’ definitely not enough to persuade her. There was no sense hiding it. She’d chased him eleven blocks, there was no 'it was nothing.’ No one would believe that. Least of all her. “That was Venom.”

you don’t have to worry. yeah, right. only an insane person wouldn’t be worried to see, well, whatever the hell that was. gwen had friends who’d tried to be her, tried to kill her, tried to help and tried to destroy her. she’d seen the gambit of possibilities. she’d seen science experiments turn into horror movies. she knew when to pursue the red flags. the last thing she wanted was to lose eddie like she had some of the others. “my leg?” she looked down at it and back up at him. it dawned on her suddenly that she had no explanation as to how the fuck she’d gotten here so quickly and that it was entirely possible that he’d seen her webbing around. that was definitely not great all things considered, but she hadn’t been concerned with her own secret for a second. gwen had been too worried about ensuring eddie’s safety. “oh, uh-” if she wanted the truth from him, she needed to give it too. “I got shot.”

now it was his turn to explain. obviously, gwen could hold her own against anything that he threw at her. weird was her life. “venom?” she asked, raising an eyebrow. “what- or who- is venom?”

[thatmabwrites]

ncrthwrites‌:

Peter chuckled. He could understand being tough to get a hold of. “It’s a good thing that Otto is persistent, then. You get him set on something and he gets it done. Thank you. I appreciate this. I’m sure Dr. Octavius will, too.”

Hey, it was the truth and a silly idea. Spider-man hiding in his closet to sew suits. He shrugged. “I wanted to make sure May didn’t find me. So I’d pretend to be gone meanwhile I’m sewing away on the other side of the closet. I didn’t want to take any chances.” Finally, he added the final ingredients to cook in the broth before they were done.

“I ruined a damn good jacket. And it just gets in the way. I got it hooked on a flagpole once and the whole thing tore up the side. I stopped wearing jackets after that. Not worth the 80 dollars for a new coat.” His jaw about dropped at her explanation. “Your shooters don’t have fluid?!” While he had significantly improved his shooters’ fluid capacity and carried replacements, not worrying about fluid levels would be so much easier. “Can i take a look at them sometime? Maybe let me get a closer look sometime? I’d love to know how they’re made. If I can do without web fluid, that would make things much easier. And I’d get to stop relying on Doc’s lab.”

gwen shrugged and looked down at her hand. “honestly it’s nothing. it’s the least I can do. take credit for it if you want some brownie points with your boss, though.” she suggested and turned her head to look at one of his shelves. her brows knit together as she noticed something familiar. a hair ribbon that she’d had for years sat amongst an assortment of odds, ends, baubles, and bits. she couldn’t remember wearing it the night she’d been shot, though. “did I leave that here the other night?” gwen asked, pointing to the thing.

“you don’t think she heard the machine? they’re not exactly quiet.” gwen asked, still giggling a bit at the concept. she only knew the bare minimum when it came to sewing. essentially it was only what she needed to know to patch her own suit when necessary. thankfully, it wasn’t often necessary. “I just decided to wear cheap jackets instead. I now reserve all nice jackets for non-spider activities.” she smiled at him. it was all familiar to her, but entirely foreign. gwen caught herself and looked back down at her hands quickly.

his shock at her web shooters took her by surprise. gwen had guessed his were the same essentially. obviously that had been an incorrect assumption, but did she want him pulling apart her gear? “well, not necessarily. they have fluid, but they create it. I had to make a few adjustments over the years for tensile strength and distance, but they’re really genius.” gwen had taken apart the shooters and put them back together more times than she could count. it was a necessity dimension hopping. if she got stranded, then gwen had to know how to fix her own things. she couldn’t rely on anyone else, and she couldn’t be spiderwoman without webs. “uh, maybe.” no. she had to tell him no. not encourage him. “when I know you better, I guess.” smooth.

[thatmabwrites]

ncrthwrites‌:

Eddie thought he’d escaped. He was certain that they had managed to outrun her. There was no way she could have kept up. Especially with her injury. He remained on the ground next to the dumpster, knees pulled up, head bowed and fingers intertwined over the back of his neck. He stayed there, as quiet and immobile as possible, hoping that if she was following close behind that she’d just run right by. Though his head was bowed, he turned his head slightly so he could see the entrance of the alleyway. He kept an eye on it, waiting to see the blonde run by.

Instead, she dropped from the damn sky and startled the hell out of Eddie. It took him off guard, and he immediately looked up when she did. Shit, he thought. He was all but spotted. He wanted to try to hide, to stay quiet, but the shout of pain from her had him concerned. Not only that, but she seemed to be quite concerned. He really didn’t want to get her involved, but then again, she also seemed to have a secret. She had dropped down, from what he assumed to be the top of the buildings, with such grace and so effortlessly that there was no question. It was the only thing that made sense. She was Spiderwoman? There was no suit, but nothing else made sense. He shifted, using the wall to push himself to a standing position. “Gwen?” He spoke quietly, keeping a bit of a distance from her. “Why’d you follow?”

Peter had to find Gwen. Considering the condition they had found Harry in, it was worth looking into. He wasn’t extremely concerned about Gwen - she could hold her own a thousand times over, that much was obvious if you knew - but he needed to make sure. You could never be too certain, and besides, MJ was worried and had asked it of him. Seems he needed to take acting classes. Perhaps he should just tell her. With the amount of times he’d bailed on her suddenly, it would just be so much easier if she knew. Maybe he would. If he found Gwen safe, anyway.

It didn’t take long to find them. All he had to do was follow the obvious trail of fallen brick and metal. What the hell had made that mess? It looked like something had taken chunks of the building out. At first he thought perhaps some smaller aircraft, but… it didn’t make sense. And that would have made much more noise. He followed the mess, peering over the edges of buildings until he finally spotted her. He couldn’t see anything alarming, aside from the fact that she was in the alley with Eddie. Whatever happened, there was no mess any further ahead, so he could only assume that the threat had been taken care of. Unless the threat was Eddie, but he couldn’t see how it was possible for Eddie to have made that mess. Something was amiss.

With Gwen spotted, Pete pulled out his phone and texted MJ. ‘Found her. She’s alright. Keeping an eye on things to make sure.’ He put his phone back in his pocket, only peering over the edge of the building every few moments so as to not intrude too much, and to avoid being spotted by either of the two below.

gwen’s spidersense alerted her that someone was approaching a moment before she heard eddie’s voice. she turned quickly to see him and sighed in relief. “eddie!” despite the now throbbing ache in her leg, gwen closed the distance between them. “why wouldn’t I follow you? I was worried.” looking over him now, she realized that maybe there wasn’t anything to worry about. “what is going on? what was that? are you okay?” the questions came in rapid succession. if he was in trouble, then she needed to know how to help him.

the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. something told gwen that they weren’t alone. she looked back but didn’t see anyone else. shit. had peter followed her instead of taking care of harry? she should have expected that, but everything had happened to quickly. she couldn’t worry about it now. afterall, if there was something really wrong with eddie... she might need peter’s help. as much as she hated to admit it, he perhaps was better equipped for this. there was definitely less emotional investment. “could you please, please just talk to me? trust me?”

[thatmabwrites]

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Peter listened to MJ and sighed. She was right. He remembered Eddie’s pieces on Oscorp, and they didn’t cut corners. They weren’t exactly flattering, and it was no secret that Harry wasn’t exactly Eddie’s biggest fan. He sighed. This could go two ways: 1) Harry bitches but doesn’t try to start anything, or 2) Harry tries something with Eddie and proooobably gets laid out. Peter really hoped it was the first. He brought the drink to his lips again but stopped mid sip. He had heard that. Gwen had shouted for him.

Immediately, he pushed through the patrons and ran to the door, noting that MJ was following not much further behind. He opened the door, saw Harry, and ran over. He knelt down next to him, gave him a once-over, and looked up. It was distant, but he knew that figure up in the skyline. Gwen was on the move. What the hell had happened? “Harry, hey,” He reached down and tapped Harry on the cheek. He could see he was breathing, but out cold. At least it didn’t seem to be that bad, provided Harry woke in a reasonable time. He thought for a moment, then uncapped the water bottle and poured the rest on Harry’s face in an attempt to wake him. He had to go. He had to make sure Gwen was alright… But he couldn’t just leave. Harry was still unconscious and MJ was tight behind him. Out of the question.

“M, uh…” Peter started quietly. “I’m not really feeling well…” He did his best to appear as woozy as possible, and took a step back. “I -” he sighed heavily. “I need to go. Think I’m gonna be sick. Message me when he’s up.” He wasn’t that drunk at all, but he was playing the part well enough. He stumbled back a bit, cleared the rest of the parking lot and turned the corner. Once out of sight, he broke into a jog, entered an alley and climbed to the roof of the building, where he scanned for Gwen. Nowhere. He sighed. “Where the hell are you?” Not safe, but Pete pulled the hood of his sweater up, dig his shooters from his pocket, and webbed over to the next street, eyes scanning for either her or Brock.

Eddie was charging through the street now, Venom leaping from one building to the next, leaving crumbling debris to rain down into the street below. Although Venom cared much less than Eddie, the symbiote seemed to understand the urgency of the situation. They needed to move, they needed to hide. Because otherwise they’d get run out of another city, and he wasn’t entirely ready to relocate again.

“Venom, stop.” She’s following, Eddie. Not far behind. Eddie groaned, pushing the symbiote a bit further. How the hell was she following? There was no way in hell she could chase down through the streets, so how the hell was she was keeping up. He searched for a decent hiding place, found a particularly dark alley, and dropped down into it. He breathed a few moments, allowed both himself and Venom to calm down, and took a seat in the alley. He lowered his head, hoping he would blend in with the New York scenery as a homeless man in his alley.

“You need to stop acting out like that.”

“He called me a parasite.”

“You are a parasite.”

“Eddie!”

peter pushed through the crowd without hesitation. mj wished that she could react that way, but no. she always thought about what she was doing. she had more fear and anxiety about the potential outcome of her actions than was healthy. instead she followed him step for step outside of the bar and towards the sound that he had obviously heard better than she had. since he seemed to know exactly where they needed to go.

harry was laid out flat on the ground. “harry!” mj called and sprinted over to him. she knelt down beside him and felt for a pulse. luckily, there was a strong one. it looked like he just got decked. that wasn’t surprising, but it was surprising not to see gwen. she couldn’t imagine that her drummer would leave an unconscious man on the ground alone. “where’s gwen?” this added up to a bad situation.

harry coughed and stirred when the cold water splashed against his face. he sputtered most of the liquid away, but the sudden wet had him shooting up. “what happened?” he breathed more a sigh than a question. he remembered coming out to get the girl and then he remembered black... then nothing. “mj?”

mj looked up at peter’s weak excuses. she was used to them. they’d been friends for years. heck, they dated for a while, and peter had always vanished on a dime. especially when bad things were happening around them. “peter, go find her.” mj said. “I’ll stay with harry. bring her back undamaged. I need her. go!” she said. while she didn’t know exactly what peter did when he ran off like this, mj knew that peter parker was no coward. he would certainly find a way to help.

gwen webbed from one building to the next seamlessly. she knew this city better than most. it had been seen from damn near every angle. there weren’t many alley’s that she hadn’t chased a crook down. how the hell was he moving this fast? what was that thing? she’d seen some weird things in her time as spiderwoman, but this was something else. this seemed... extra.

“come on, eddie. where did you go?” something caught her eye down an alley and headed in that direction. hopefully peter had managed to find harry by now. she felt the weight of the guilt for leaving him, but he’d brought some of it on himself. gwen had told him to leave. she sighed and dropped from the skyline into the alley, completely forgetting that she was sporting an injury. “shit!” she landed hard on that leg and winced. at this rate, it was never going to heal. “eddie?!” she called again looking around wildly. gwen could have sworn she saw someone come down this way.

[thatmabwrites]

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Peter laughed and shrugged his shoulders. “Our minds are too busy on the important shit to worry about how to avoid things like this.” He gestured out toward the door that Eddie, Gwen and Harry had walked out of. Too busy on important shit to worry about how to avoid things like what the hell happened earlier, MJ.” Peter turned to look at her, eyes narrowing slightly. “Yeah, I don’t doubt she can handle him.” He chuckled, then motioned toward the nearest bar. “C’mon, I need a drink before we head out.” He cleared the way through the floor to get to the bartender. Peter got three waters, and turned back to MJ. “Here you go.” He held one out for her, pocketed one, and chugged half of the other in one go. “Hopefully he doesn’t try anything with Eddie…” Pete sighed, glancing toward the door. “I don’t feel like babysitting him tonight.”

Eddie glanced down at Gwen, then back to Harry, and smirked slightly. “There you have it, from her own mouth.” He didn’t want to fight. Not now. He enjoyed having Gwen around, and if he and Harry fought, he knew Venom would win. That and he couldn’t afford going around accidentally killing Norman Osborn’s son. Not good. Not to mention, if Venom made an appearance, he’d likely have to cut Gwen out of his life, and it wasn’t exactly something he was interested in doing at that moment. He enjoyed having her around, and genuinely liked her. Yes Osborn kept fucking pushing. Harry kept stepping closer, and Eddie could practically feel the symbiote pulsing, and he moved to take a step back when Harry’s hand grabbed his shoulder. “No.” Too late. He could feel the tendrils moving through his arms, his neck, his face. He was seeing through Venom’s eyes now. His - their - arm reached up to grasp Harry’s wrist, adding a tad too much pressure. “Not a parasite.” Venom growled down at him, hand grabbing Harry’s wrist crushing just that much more, until -

Harry was out cold.

They released Harry’s wrist and let him slump to the ground, immediately turning to the blonde. No, don’t you dare tou- “I don’t want to hurt her.” Venom watched her for a moment, before Eddie’s pleading to fucking move before someone sees us became urgent enough. Venom then tore through the parking lot, leapt onto the side of the building, and disappeared around the corner.

“you never stopped to think that maybe the important shit is things like this? you know, being able to be not punched in the face on the reg? because if not, I am here to tell you, as someone who has been punched in the face on the reg, it’s very important not to be. genius.” mj said and completely ignored the jab about earlier. she’d said what she meant and didn’t regret it. she took the drink from him and gulped it down. while she did try to keep hydrated on stage, it was easy to forget after an entire set. “you know he’s going to try something with eddie. he hates that guy.” mj sighed. although, with what eddie had written about norman, j couldn’t blame harry for being salty. then again, eddie wasn’t known for printing lies. she didn’t really know what to make of it one way or another. eddie seemed decent enough. gwen liked him. harry was her friend. when it came down to it, she’d protect harry. but until then, she’d do her best to keep out of that fight. “if you don’t want to babysit him, then don’t. he’s a grown man. he is perfectly capable of making his own decisions. besides, he bailed without saying goodbye again. he deserves a little- did you hear that?”

gwen looked back at the unconscious man and then back at the inky black humanoid that she was relatively sure was coming out of her boyfriend. “you don’t want to hurt me?” well, that’s a first. “good to hear. I appreciate it. d-” she started to ask what the fuck was going on, but before she could get another word out, venom was on the move. this was not good. she didn’t have her mask or a suit at all, really. her leg was still injured. she was exhausted. harry was on the ground and she didn’t want to leave him alone, but she couldn’t let eddie go off. especially not if that thing was hurting him... or planning to hurt anyone else. “shit.” she sighed. there was no telling how fast they were moving. it was probable that she would regret this decision, but gwen couldn’t think of anything else and she was running out of time. he would hear her. gwen took a deep breath and screamed for peter.

she flicked out her wrists and shot webbing in the direction that venom had gone but higher. chasing bad guys through the city quietly was something that gwen had come to excel at. they didn’t call her the ghost for nothing. and when the building were this tall and this close together, height actually let you get some perspective. thwip! gwen landed on her good leg and looked for a glimpse of eddie, but she didn’t see anything yet. “this is bad...”

[thatmabwrites]

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Although Peter couldn’t entirely focus on everything she wrote while cooking the ramen, but every spare moment he had was spent glancing over to keep up with what she was coming up with. He chuckled. “Hey, while I can’t hire anyone, I can strongly recommend. You know what you’re doing, and you’re providing excellent feedback that I don’t think either of us had considered… I wish I could take you to see the lab, you’d probably be amazed.” Pete’s jaw all but dropped. “Holy shit!” He laughed, looking down at the paper as she handed it over to him. He examined it, and only set it aside when he heard the meat sizzling and popping. He focused on the food again, removing the meat from the pan and adding the secondary ingredients to the broth to allow them to cook. He listened, in awe, as she explained what and why. “Got it, will do. Holy shit, he’s going to really want you on the team if you can hook him up with Dr. Pym.”

The moment she gave the affirmative for spice, Peter opened the cupboard and pulled out the various spices. There was a time where he couldn’t handle spice, but over the years he’d grown bolder, and had acquired the taste of reasonably spicy dishes. He wasn’t about to eat a carolina reaper raw, though. “Yeah I do! Have been since I started, actually. I spent…. a lot of time sewing in my closet as a teenager.”

What improvements? “Something to better insulate the suits, for starters. And I’ve been meaning to find something that stands up to the test for padding and isn’t extremely bulky. It’s tough, finding materials that suit exactly what you need. Something will excel in one thing, and absolutely bomb in the next. I’m sure you know.” Peter paused, dipped a spoon into the broth to taste it, and frowned slightly. “Do you know? Do you make your own?” He grinned. “I made those, too! Those have improved significantly, too. What about your web fluid?”

Stop Peter. This could be used againstyou. You have no idea who she is. You have no idea what she could be planning. Why the hell do you want to trust her so much?!

he was right. there was no doubt that peter would be amazed by the lab. if she spent too much time anywhere in her life it had been in a lab or on a rooftop. “I would have loved to see it.” she agreed. “pym usually will do whatever he can to help. he’s just hard to get a hold of sometimes.” that being because he was oftentimes not on the planet. or he was part of the planet. hank had a very weird life- even compared to them.

gwen tried to imagine peter in high school sitting in his closet with a sewing machine. the idea tickled her. “you really didn’t need to add in the closet part.” she giggled. “why didn’t you just sew in your bedroom normally?” as peter went about grabbing things from cupboards and moving pots and pans about, gwen realized that he might be better cook than she was. that seemed unfair somehow, but that could just be because she was really hungry right now.

“you mean you don’t love ruining your jackets in the dead of winter? why not?” gwen could still remember her favorite hoodie gets scorched off of her. it was a tragic day. “I don’t know, actually. I didn’t make my suit. I’ve only ever had two actually. one no longer exists at all.” that had been a rough day too. for several reasons. she looked up at peter and remembered the hardest part. she remembered why it was so important for this like this to not happen and yet, she’d let it happen again. gwen shook her head. “I didn’t design my shooters either, and they actually don’t use any sort of fluid per say. they use the moisture that is already in the air to create the webbing so that I don’t have to worry about running out or anything like that.”

[maxximoffed]

Marvel Comics #1000: Because Of Her