As V was flying his phone rang, and he wasn’t surprised to see it was Coulson,

“Coulson, kinda busy,” he answered. He could hear Phil sigh on the other end, 

“I know. Stand down.”

V almost hit the side of a building in surprise. “Uh, what? No.”

“Please, Peter. Everyone else is grounded. You can't interfere.”

“Oh, I can, and I am. I know what you're planning and I won't let you do anything to my mom.”

Coulson sighed, “I know. You’re a person of interest Peter. We know you've left the warehouse after meeting with Pepper Potts. We know you are currently wearing black armour and flying through New York." He paused. "And we can tell by your flight path, that you're heading towards your mother and step-father's home. But your Enhanced team is grounded for this one Peter. You, Tony, and even Ross have to abide by the new laws. Stand down and stay out of it.”

V slowed and landed on a building, “That’s the official line? What's the actual order?”

“That is the order, Peter. Stand down, please. We have orders to apprehend you if you interfere in the lawful apprehension of a criminal.”

V could hear someone else breathing in the background. “They’ll send me son. Better listen.” He knew from the voice it was Ross.

V took a deep breath and his armour shifted once more. It dyed back to its deep black, and the white spider was once more prominent on his chest. As he let the anger bubble up from within him he thickened the plates on his body. Now he looked more like Iron Man on steroids than the sleeker Mark Three armour they were trialling. Capturing an Enhanced target required the ETF. As Talbot had told him, they wouldn't take any chances. Lizard was known as a tough target, it would be pulse guns and lethal ammo. Defeating them would require strength and endurance. Sleek and sexy was out, angry and strong was the way forward. 

Standing on the side of the building, Venom huffed out through his nose. No matter what, no matter if the government was about to rain hell down on him. This was his city, and these were his people. Legal didn’t mean right, and Lawful didn’t mean ethical.

“Phil,” he said with grim determination.

He heard him sigh. “Yes, Peter?”

“Go fuck your orders.”

Venom hung up before Coulson could reply and as soon as he did his phone buzzed again.

“Fury,” he said as he answered the call.

“Yeah, I already know what Coulson said, he called me right before you. That's not why I'm calling though. I need to warn you.” 

Venom frowned under his mask, “Warn me about what?”

“Stark. Part of his deal to not be thrown in jail for all the shit he did was to be the stopgap if you went rogue.”

Venom cursed. “So the Legion?”

Fury sighed. “Uh-huh, Plus that new suit he made, and Vision.” 

Venom swore. “Right, thanks for the heads up,” 

“Oh don’t thank me yet. We’ll all be in the same prison if this goes south. Make sure you get this done. I don’t have the pull to save us all this time.” Then Fury cut the call.

Onto the next one, he thought to himself.

⁂

In Shields headquarters, in the newly refurbished Triskelion, Flash sat waiting. They had been given their orders, and once more the Avengers had been benched. Not that mattered to Steve, and he had marched in and started arguing with Ross and Coulson.

Flash, I already know, are you going to stop me? He heard in his mind.

He really hated Parker intruding on his thoughts, but at least he could keep the feelings out,

Steve’s in there now, Ross is under orders to contain you if it goes sideways, and uh, I don't think Steve agrees.

Look, I won't blame you if you do, but I'm not holding back. 

Flash was about to reply when he heard a roar and a smouldering Steve crashed through the door of Coulson’s office. The large Red Hulk ripped the rest of the door away as he strode through it,

Yeah, not an issue. Flash sent him, as his Webb armour slid over him, and he charged towards Ross.

⁂

Venom felt Webb's anger, and he knew it wasn't directed at him. Fury had been right. It was all going sideways as he put it. If Coulson had sent someone to pick up Curt then they would go after everyone. As he stood on the side of the building he let his technopathic senses extend out. He could feel the Legion at the edge of his senses. Keeping their distance, and he guessed that right now, as he hadn’t done anything they would hold back.

Emma, it's bad. They're using the Xandarians to get evidence against all of us. I doubt they'll connect you to Shaw, but they might if they've dug deep enough.

He could feel Emma's ire at the situation. I'll contact Elektra. If they're going to do anything stupid, it'll be at Bar Sinister, do take care, darling. I might have had my poor heart broken but that does not let you off with not feeding or bathing me. Kisses.

He tried to contact Charles at the mansion but he frowned slightly as there was no reply, there was nothing at all. As he felt for Jean or Helios it was the same psychic blank, as if the mansion had completely vanished from the Earth. There were no minds in the area at all. Drawing a blank Venom had no choice but to ignore it. He could swing by the mansion later, once he had dealt with his parents. He already knew if he wanted to contact Selene he would have to use the Mind Stone, and that avenue was closed. Genosha's defences should be enough to keep her safe. While Selene was a business partner of Shaw's, nobody would be dumb enough to send troops to Genosha. Venom sighed, because, yes they were. The Sentinels were bad enough, but they were big stupid robots. Troops were actual people, and a skirmish against Augmented could be very nasty.

He just hoped Cain would be okay. The last time they spoke he was still upset at having to take down Rogue. The fight had brought back several unpleasant memories and the violence that followed. He knew Selene would be there for him but right now, they would have to take care of themselves.

With everyone either warned or safe he had one last call to make.

“Go for Tony,” came the smug voice.

“Yeah, can we not do this?”

Tony took a breath, “Parker. What you're doing is wrong. You accepted the New York Accords, this is part of that. We do illegal things, and we face punishment. Curt could have handed himself in, but he didn’t. You swept it under a rug and the Government found out.”

Peter bit back his reply and decided to be more cordial. “Except we both know what would have happened. Look what happened with JJ and Flash, what happened to Eddie? They wouldn’t have given him a slap on the wrist. They would have made him disappear and then we would have gotten more Lizard clones. How many times did they try to take Iron Man? How many times have we been in court to say no? This is wrong, and you know it.”

“And we still need to be responsible. You can’t give yourself powers and then forget when it screws up. He made a choice to give himself that injection. You can’t run from the consequences. It doesn’t work like that Pete.”

“Run away? That's great coming from you Tony. How many lawsuits do you pay off in a day? So that's it huh? They got to you and now it's yes sir, no sir. We fought the ARCA because it was wrong. It was only a matter of time before they came for one of us, and then it’ll be all of us.”

He could hear Tony sigh. “Is that it? No way to change your mind?”

Venom snorted. “My mind? You’re wrong Tony. This goes further than Curt. You’re agreeing with discrimination and bigotry.“

Tony sighed, “It's not bigotry to protect the people you care about. One per cent, maybe less, have the gene. One per cent Peter, and so far if they’re all on Erik's level they are a threat, a huge one. What happens when Erik gets angry or any other Augment? We need to be policed. Ultron was a mistake, Modok, Osborn. They were all mistakes that could have been avoided. We made them Peter, those mistakes were ours to stop and we failed. There need to be consequences. There needs to be oversight. ARCA isn’t bigotry. ARCA is the best solution without actually rounding people up and putting them in camps.”

Venom sighed. Did he not realise they were going after his family? It looked like the Sentinel situation was being used as an excuse to coral the powered who fought back. “The last time drones were used, they killed people Tony and the time before that. Megatron killed his own people. He was a mass murderer and do you think he was the best mind to run the Sentinels? I wouldn’t let him run a toaster. This is a mistake, and I won't ask permission to stop it. You should know better than anyone what an angry AI can do, of anyone I thought you would understand.”

“I do understand Pete. I understand that powers and armour come with responsibility. Right now, nobody’s being responsible, not even us. Stand down, or I’ll make you stand down.”

Venom snorted, “Hypocrite. That sounds more like Coulson talking. This is wrong, so. You always wanted a fight, well. You know where I am. They went after my mom Tony, and that was a very dumb thing to do. So come get me, or stay the hell out of my way.” Then he cut the call.

Now Tony decided to be responsible, Now Tony decided that things had gone too far. Of all the idiot messes Tony could have gotten himself into this was the stupidest. Venom wished he could go back to when they were fighting over stupid things. Tech and who slept with whose girlfriend. Fighting an injustice was a war nobody won, and there were always consequences.

There was no movement within the range of his powers, but he could feel them waiting. He figured Tony was waiting until he broke the new law before trying to apprehend him. With a sigh, Venom fired up the small pack on his back and continued to head towards Flushing Meddows.

Peter, we’ve got company at the labs, but Cindy and Ivan are keeping them busy. They're waving around a bunch of writs but we've got Matt dealing with them. Pepper already filed an injunction as the paperwork is complete. 

Good, but stay safe okay,

We will. We already warned Wanda. Oh dear, it's not looking good here, will be in touch, Love you,

Love you too,

Venom cursed once more. As his phone buzzed again, he knew who it was. “Hey Matt, I know.”

Matt laughed, “Oh no you don’t. Give me some credit Peter. They did file a whole bunch of legal injunctions against you. Pepper said it's all circumstantial and she is right. Even their motion to investigate isn't worth the paper it's printed on. They're hoping to pin your involvement as Venom in the past few attacks. But don't worry, it's all bullshit as they can't prove who you actually are. I’m getting them all thrown out of court. It’ll take a while but, no biggy.” 

Venom had to laugh, “Pepper?” he asked.

“Oh she’s here, and wow, I think I'm in love. For a non-lawyer, she really knows her stuff. I think New York and whoever set this up is in for one hell of a shock. But uh, stay safe okay? They’re fighting dirty, and not afraid to overstep and claim it was an accident.”

“Thanks, Matt. I owe you.” 

Matt laughed. “Yeah, you do. Stick is still mad at me. But, I’ll just add a little to the bill. Hazard pay. I’ll call you later with good news, get anyone to use their one phone call if they need to call me.”

Venom cursed. They knew enough to systematically take each of his supporters away. At least he had given everyone he could warning. Now all he had to do was make sure his mom and Curt were okay. Pushing the small flight pack to its maximum he sped to her house.

As he approached the block before her home he could already feel the Iron Legion and the last obstacle. Vision.