Peter was stoked. With his new armour and powers, he could go out into the city and actually help people. He would be the first to admit that while he was nervous, his whole body also tingled with excitement.

He felt the alien liquid inside him bubble up and even as his vision darkened it suddenly sprang into a new life.

The thick black viscous coating covered his whole body with an extra layer of muscle. He felt bigger and taller, and more importantly, he felt strong.

His new symbiotic skin, or just the symbskin as he called it, felt warm around him. He knew it was coming from somewhere in his body, he had just no idea where, and it felt fleshy but tough. It coated him completely, and even though it was a full-body suit,

Peter felt no different. He could still breathe and his senses felt sharper than when he was without it. While the lights seemed brighter he found he could thicken the material around his eyes and ears.

He flexed and stretched first. He was still getting used to being Venom. Once he felt comfortable he whipped a line out and hoisted himself up on the walkways of the warehouse.

His first job of the evening was to see how delicate he could be in this form. While it was boring he needed to check the antenna array he had built from old satellite receivers on the roof. Which would be a perfect test.

Peter wanted to keep his activities as Venom a secret. First, he needed to fix the internet and would then build a secure faraday cage around the warehouse.

Aleksei had let him take some of the broken consoles and satellite receivers away. One's Peter had marked as 'for parts' at cost. Once it was stripped, soldered and rewired, it just needed to be secured to the warehouse roof.

The access panel was set into a corner, with a steel leader granting access to the hatchway up. The roof was a simple felt and tar roof. Rain drainage around the edge. A small knee-height ledge and in the corner, the water tower and the main junction box for the wiring.

His thicker frame made carrying the dish and receiver up this high easy. He held it securely with one hand and grabbed the bolts with the other. His hand tightened around the bolts, moulding his symbskin into the shape of a wrench. They complained and squeaked but it was still easy.

His eyes, although covered, could see as if the skin was more a part of his own body than a coating. Even as the sun set in the early February night, it was still as bright as daylight to him.

As he stood and stretched the light sea breeze felt good on what was now his skin.

Trying his best not to think about being naked, he soon got all the wiring hooked up. Once he added in power the warehouse would not only have TV but internet. The router for each home would go in the warehouse itself, and Peter would wire up each home for wired and wireless.

All he needed now was a water heater, and as he ran a hand over the clean panel where it should be hung, he laughed.

Yeah, I guess I need to ask Aleksei if I can have it back.

"Haaaa," the huge Venom creature exhaled. He had found that Venom could create a mouth but it was a jutting gagged maw filled with nightmarish teeth. After staring at it and running the huge tongue over its gums he opted to keep the suit sealed completely.

If he was honest with himself the black was a little goth for his taste. He would have gone for red, white and blue but free superpowers were free superpowers.

His fashion sense wouldn't be complaining if he had to make the suit himself. He could extrude and retract the black symbskin on command. It formed and dissolved instantly, even reacting to danger he was unaware of. But it wouldn't change colour, it was always black.

The only part he was confused by was the white spider motif on his chest. He was aware that something bit him, and it might have been a spider. Was it a symbolic representation from his subconscious? Peter had no idea, but it did look kinda cool.

With his work done he decided to venture out into the city. A lot of places in New York were off-limits, even to young men. Muggers didn't care about gender anymore. But Venom decided to stay local, and Sunset Park was nearby.

For now, patrolling the whole city was too much. He had no idea how long his powers would keep him awake, and he still had school and work.  He was going to avoid Hell’s Kitchen, for now. The place claimed the lives of a lot of people. Gangs and worse claimed it and Peter knew he could be seriously hurt or worse, even if he did have powers.

It wasn't long before he could hear shouts of terror and whoops of joy, a mugging. Some drunk frat girl had taken a wrong turn into an alley and found herself at knifepoint. Venom shot a web onto a nearby water tower and leapt. Swinging down the alley and launching himself into the mugger. His feet connected with the midriff of the mugger and he went flying

"You shouldn't be here, ma'am. Club Acapulco is that way," he pointed and with a tear-streaked face she took off running.

"Now now now though, what do we have here? Someone forgot it was garbage day and left this in the alley."

The mugger had shaken himself off and was pointing his knife at Venom now. "What the hell are you?" he asked. "Halloween was months ago." and he stabbed out.

Venom watched the knife coming at him in slow motion. He side-stepped, chopped down and watched the knife and the mugger fall to the ground.

"You broke my wrist," the man complained but Venom didn't care.

"Don't do crimes then." He shot a web out and grabbed the woman's purse. Looking up, he shot out a line, pulled himself up and swung in the direction she had headed in.

It was a few blocks later that he realised he had no idea where she went, and he could only shrug.

I'll hand that into a station later, tell them I found it in the trash.

⁂

He stopped two more muggings around the park. Late-night joggers being preyed on by late-night assholes.

His last of the night, as it was nearly six am, was a squared-faced gruff-looking young man holding up a young woman. What surprised Venom was that he swore he heard him apologise for mugging her.

He didn't care though, and shot out a web ball, knocking the man's knife away before landing in front of him.

The woman screamed and ran and the young man raised both his hands, "You're that spider-dude right?" and he got down on his knees, "I don't want no beef. The girls gone, no harm no foul alright?"

"No harm no foul?" Venom's anger rose and he grabbed the man and lifted him.

"NO HARM NO FOUL!" and he slammed a fist into the ribs of the man.

"No harm no foul," he repeated over and over with each strike.

The mugger could only cough up blood as the huge monster pounded his ribcage. Venom, however, was reliving the worst days of his life.

A woman's scream and the sound of bones breaking. His uncle's killer walked free. A new school where the first person to talk to him grabs and twists his wrist, telling him to stay away from her.

Each bully. Every shock. Each time he was told ‘be quiet, don't complain, just take it,’ surfaced in his mind as his rage finally bubbled over. His fists moved on their own, but as the red rage cleared Venom looked down at what he had done.

Venom watched the mugger collapse in front of him, his breathing was as ragged as his own. His hands were shaking as he looked at the man's chest, barely moving. He hadn't meant to lose control, punish yes but not cripple.

He searched the man's coat and found a wad of bills and a phone. He had been smart enough to keep the money and ditch everything else. He had a phone, which was locked, but no ID.

Venom held the phone with two hands as he hit the emergency call button on the lock screen

"911, what is your emergency?"

Venom's voice cracked as he spoke. "Uh, yeah, I found a guy at the corner of 20th in Sunset Park. He's hurt really bad, uh, I got his phone and, help, please send help."

Venom was still in shock as to what he had done. He dropped the phone ignoring the tinny voice of the operator and zipped a line to the roof of another building. leapt and began to climb.

He waited for what seemed an eternity until the ambulance arrived followed by a police car. The mugger's chest was a mess of bruises and he even saw small fragments poking out of his skin.

Venom felt sick, he hadn't meant to hurt him that bad, he hadn't meant to lose it that badly. He balled his fists and he realised he still had the wad of cash in one hand. It was about six hundred dollars in tens and twenties. Whoever the man was had gotten a good haul and his victims were now worse off for having met him. Of course, the man wasn't Uncle Ben's killer, but he'd echoed him, making himself a target of Venom's rage.

Peter let the black skin peel back to reveal the boy underneath.

He'd lost control and it'd been happening a lot recently. His emotions spiked when he used his powers. Even summoning the armour only happened when he thought of his treatment at school. He knew it wasn't good, and he knew it was the price for his abilities.

Peter stared at the city. It was beautiful in the dark. The street lights twinkled under the rising heat, steam billowing into the cold night. But it was so empty, and the blackness of the water echoed how he felt inside.

As the black skin retracted and Peter was left sitting up there he felt the anger drain from him. In the dark, sitting on an overhang, Peter took breaths, trying to calm himself after the fight. As his hands finally stopped shaking he was left wondering if his powers were affecting his mood. Did his powers make him angrier or was his anger giving him powers? Was the rage a side effect?

Do I care though? he thought, Hulk trashed that campus, but it was only the guys attacking him he fought.

Was his rage a bad thing? He'd lost his temper once, at some scum bag who'd deprived his victims of a lot of money and traumatised them for life.

Had he lost it at Gwen? no, or Aunt May? no. Nobody he cared about. Nobody he loved had felt his anger, in fact, he did love them.

His chest ached when he thought about Gwen being hurt, not just his hate, but his love too. It felt like every nerve was alive with sensation and Peter loved it.

He wasn't some loser punk kid anymore, crying when bullied anymore, he was Venom. He was vengeance. He was going to make this city and everyone who wronged him pay.

Venom needed to make sure he didn't kill. That would bring cops. no cops, they were useless anyway.

The girl he was chasing had run away, leaving no witnesses to say what he had done.

It was corrupt, it was wrong and Venom knew he was going to make it right again.

He looked and flexed his armour and made a pouch in his symbskin. Stowing the money he searched for a higher vantage point. Finding plenty of tall buildings, he threw out a web line and swung away into the darkness.

There were more crimes to stop. More muggers needed to be told that they weren't at the top of the food chain anymore. More importantly, needed to be told that the streets were no longer safe for their kind.

As he hunted, muggers and scumbags discovered that a new predator hunted the city. By the end of the night, Venom stopped four muggings and made off with over two thousand in cash. The last mugger, blubbering and crying as Venom stood over him kept repeating “what the fuck are you man?” over and over, and having a small grin to himself,

When he was done, he sprayed his message onto the sidewalk. A lesson for the criminal scum of New York to learn.

Beware the Venom

⁂

Across town, Max hesitated outside the office of his boss, wary to give him the news he knew was going to upset him. Taking a breath he knocked and then entered,

Max had been with Aleksei since the beginning. He started hotwiring cars while Alexsi drove and now he was second in command. It was just his shitty job tonight to bring Alexsi the bad news.

"So, boss, we got trouble." Max stood in front of Alexsi's desk, "it seems we got hit twice last night, and Marko got whacked by some big black guy. Johnny got pinched holding up a store and Freddy got made selling drugs on 9th. Three guys, three different assholes, but get this boss. One was dressed up like a cat. One was all in tight red and blue spandex. And uh, Marko just kept talking about some big black guy, but he's on loopy juice right now so it might all be crap yah know."

Alexsi rubbed his face, "you sure? Three, those three especially all got hit? Shit." He threw the pen he'd been using onto his office desk, "so what's the deal with Marko? If the other two are in jail, why's he free?"

"Uh, he says the guy stopped him getting the target and then wailed on him. His ribs are all messed up," Max looked over at his boss, "he ain't doin nothin’ for months. Our guys lifted him before the cops got him at the hospital, but he ain't lookin so good."

Alexsi clenched his fists, "fuck" he spat. "We are this close the getting the heist settled and Marko gets hurt, and the others get pinched." Reaching into a desk drawer, "give Marko this." He pulled out a vial of pale blue liquid, and the other man frowned,

"you uh sure boss? that's your last one and I mean, Marko he ain't exactly the best crew guy we got".

"Yeah yeah, tell him his daughter will be safe if and I mean if he does this, now get, tell me what happens though eh."

The container Alexsi had was now empty. The other vials had all been used by him and Max. It was a gamble but if Marko gained anything near what he and the others had, nothing would stop them next week. Not even some huge black guy.