Before he could make any decision to trust Felicia he needed to know if the information was genuine. If she was leading him into a trap, then he could let Gwen know and they could decide what to do later.

The way Felicia looked at Gwen, and as much as he knew why open relationships didn't work, the way she looked at him. He really hoped she wasn’t a villain. It would break her heart if he had to split them apart, or worse. He was surprised though. Gwen had been right. The thought of them together was strange, the thought of them sleeping together wasn't.

That thought was for much later. First, he had to check out both locations and see if he was just being paranoid.

Both addresses were in Staten Island. It was a leisurely jog after work, and it gave him a chance to clear his head.

The first address was on the waterfront and was a run-down decrepit warehouse. It looked like squatters were holing up there. Musty and used cot beds sat in one corner, while scrap and refuse littered the floor. It had seen better days but looked unused.

The second was on a busy street. He had to check several times to make sure that he actually had the right place. It didn't look like there were any offices at all, it was all stores.

Of course doofus. It's not like there’s gonna be a big sign saying bad guys here. He laughed to himself.

It was well into his walk before he found something. He'd been wandering aimlessly for an hour when he smelt something familiar. The perfume he'd identified as Gwen and the other girl's natural scent filled the air. It was strange though, as Staten Island was nowhere near Gwen or MJ.

The scent filled him with warmth and it reminded him of freshly made cinnamon rolls. A sweet but heavenly spicy aroma that made his whole body tingle. Sniffing the air he made his way through some back alleys.

Typical, he thought to himself.

Anyone wanting to hide an entrance would use the back alleys. They were sometimes a maze of loading docks and hidden doors. Perfect for bad guy central. He walked blindly until he came across the highest concentration of the smell.

A short thin built woman was standing there, holding an open tube of pale white liquid. Her hair was a massive ball of brown frizz tied up behind her head in a huge beehive hairstyle. Unkempt but still clean, she pushed the thin wire frame octagonal glasses up a triangular nose,

"You see, symbiotes are a hyper-stimulated species. Anything such as loud noises, bright lights, and strong smells will disorient them. So Mr Venom. The car alarm stunned you. The light blinded you. The electricity overstimulated your nerves." She took a whiff of the test tube, "an aroused woman attracted you. And of course, got you to take your guard down."

Peter looked down, he'd walked into a trap, a literal one. He noticed the wire mesh at his feet connected to a modified spring-loaded bear trap.

The woman pressed a switch she held in her hand and the trap snapped shut. The longer-than-usual arms of the trap clamped him up to his thighs, trapping him and stopping him from moving.

His symbskin flowed up almost immediately and covered him. It was the daytime but if Ock, Electro or Sandman had paid this woman to entice him, they would be nearby.

"I must admit though, I never expected you to be so young. I know the report said that you were in your teens but I figured it was malnutrition or a simple screw-up. Now I see you, yes, a lot younger than I expected."

His muscles locked up as the bear trap clamped onto his legs and sent shocks of electricity through him. He had been right, the suit protected him slightly but it wasn't enough. Thankfully his symbskin protected him from the jaws of the trap and dampened the shocks.

With each pulse of the trap, he felt the electricity find a path through him. Following the current, he adjusted the skin's internal structure, mimicking a circuit. He sent the current tracing around himself and back into the ground. He should no longer need the undersuit after this, and he wondered what else he could adapt to.

"You know though, I'm very disappointed. I thought this would be, I suppose, more climactic." The woman mimed doing kung fu, making chops and small kicks, "not just oh hello. Zap, caught. When the first one escaped oh so many years ago it took four months and twenty men to catch him. So, you know Venom, I'm disappointed.” Coming closer she got right in his face, “and I hate being disappointed."

The numbness slowly faded. He kept the symbskin hardened over his joints, faking the paralysis. If they wanted him so badly he would let them take him. They would lead him to the rest.

This almost seemed like a Saturday morning cartoon. He imagined if she had been a man, she would be twirling a moustache about now.

She leaned over him and pressed a gun to his jugular and injected him with something. He didn't see what it was but he felt the injection site grow cold and figured it was a paralytic.

He recognised Sandman who picked him up and threw a cloth sack over his head. He was rewarded with a few well-placed hits to the gut. The paralytic made the pain fuzzy so Venom barely felt it.

"Now Sandman, there will be time for that later," the woman said.

"Yeah yeah Doc, but I still owe him." Sandman sounded mad. 

Even through the tranquiliser, Venom could still hear everything going on around him. His heightened senses picked up the fresh plastic in the van they bundled him into. The slight squeal as the brakes were out of alignment and the noises of the bay as they took him on a small drive.

He didn't recognise any noises he heard, it was just a normal street. There was no sound of water or going over a bridge. So he knew he was still on Staten Island.

Now that he’d found Sandman, Electro might be nearby. Then all he had to find was Ock and he could get his revenge for hurting Gwen and the others.

The journey wasn’t that long. Only five minutes or so and as they slowed they pulled into a back alley. The painful crawl of a careful driver in the narrow back streets.

Sandman smelt strange as he was picked up and manhandled into a building. A mix of gravel, earth and a chemical. One he was beginning to recognise as the formula that must have been used to give them powers.

The inside smelt of dust and surprisingly lipstick, with the faint odour of Sandman but that was it.

This was her place and Sandman must just be hiding here. There was also a faint scent of ozone and while it wasn't that strong, he knew that Electro had been here recently.

"Over there if you, please Sandman and then be a dear and get some food for us, or whatever you eat now I suppose. Venom and I are going to have a nice chat, while we wait." 

Venom was lowered onto a cold steel table and metal clamps were fastened over his arms and feet. He watched as Sandman slid long steel pins into each one to hold them closed.

The woman pulled down a control box. "This is connected to the table, answer wrong or try anything and zzzzzzap", she exaggerated. "But be a good boy and we'll open this again." She took the test tube from before out of her breast pocket and waved it at him, Venom snorted.

Sandman growled and balled his fists. Venom could hear the rocky texture of his skin grating against itself. "Yes yes I know, payback, but it will be hard to interrogate him if you're punching him," she said.

"Fine," Sandman spat, "food yeah, money?" 

The woman rolled her eyes and took a twenty out of her bag, "no junk food, something light." 

Sandman grunted a yes, snatched the twenty, and left.

"Be a dear and drop the mask, I'd hate to start cutting and accidentally remove something you might need later. Plus, I would like to know who you actually are. Our last encounter was a bit fisty cuffs at dawn for my taste, I prefer oral discourse if you get my meaning." She twitched an eyebrow at him and winked.

She sighed, “fine” and pressed the button on the box. Venom tensed as the current ran through his body. It was painful but bearable. He stretched himself taut though, not letting on he wasn't as pained as she wanted. She held the button for a few seconds before releasing it, "Please?" She asked and begrudgingly Venom allowed the armour to slide back from his face.

"I knew it. Well, I thought it was either you or that reporter, so Peter Parker in the flesh. I knew your parents you know, yes I did. I interned at Oscorp when they worked here. Very nice people, so sad what happened, probably be upset at you for this," she waved a hand. "I mean, Venom? Really. Not exactly trying to project a hero aura with that name are we?"

Peter half shrugged, “It’s not supposed to. It's supposed to let assholes know I’m gonna kick their butts.”

She laughed, “yes, I do remember what happened last time we met.”

Last time? Peter was now confused. “Well, if you want us to play nice, you should leave the kinky stuff behind. I’m more of a straight shooter,” he added with a small grin and a wink.

"Play nice? Don't worry Peter, I've got orders to keep you alive. Haaaa,” she paused as she cried in sudden pain. “Oh, I forgot that one. Competing orders. Makes life very painful.” She sniffed and wiped a trickle of blood from her nose. “Two gears, both wanting to be greased but rubbing against each other.”

She wiped her nose on a tissue and stuffed the bloody mess into a pocket. “My employer wants to see what makes you tick, you know, of all the test subjects." she paused and Peter saw her fists clench and her knuckles turn white with the strain,

Is she in pain? He thought.

She stroked his hair, "you look so much like him you know, your father that is. Oh boy did I have a crush on him. Smart, very handsome," she leapt onto the table with him, straddling and putting her hands on his chest. "you know, I almost got drunk enough to come onto him once. Your mother was already in the picture but he was brilliant enough that I wouldn't have minded." She idly traced a finger down his chest, “and you do so look like him.”

She slid her cold hands under his shirt, “and it has been so very long.” She leaned down, and Peter felt her warm breath on his ear, “can you save me?” As the pain shot through her, she straightened back up.

She wiped more blood from her nose, “So where was I? Ah yes. Your mother. She wasn't as smart. A secretary, documenting all the things Richard and Curt created together. Well, all the things they created and Norman stole."

She tensed up and even Peter could feel her thighs tighten against him. Something was causing her intense pain. "Ah, can't talk about that either. So many things, so many secrets," she leaned in close and whispered in his ear, her breath hot against it. "Would you like to know my secret, Peter?"

Gwen, MJ, sorry,

He watched as she unbuttoned her lab coat, pulling it free. The ripe smell hit him first, hiding a hint of decay and he could spot why.

Her body was wrapped in several thick bands. They covered her from just under her small breasts down to just above her belly button. It looked like once there would have been a material jacket to hold and protect the wearer but it had long torn off. He could see her skin around the edges of the thick metal was rubbed raw. It was red and weeping as they pulled tightly against her skin. She stretched and four mechanical arms extended from behind her.

"TADA!" she exclaimed. “Doctor Olivia Octavius at your service, or as those cretins call me. Doc Ock.”

Damn, he thought.

The boiler suit and his own stupid preconceptions had let him assume that Doc Ock was a man. But here she was, in all her multilimbed glory and once more, Peter had screwed up.