Wanda took a deep breath, “Sorry,“ but Peter shook his head.

“Crying is a good thing, but it was just a vision, nothing real. I mean, you've been in my head and yeah, just like um, a bad dream. What matters is what's next. So your dad mentioned coming back to the States. If you want, and my boss agrees we can try the Shield thing for real. I mean, it's not really up to me but I'm sure they won't say no.”

Wanda laughed, “Big man huh?”

Peter smirked and shrugged. “No, I just think more’s going on that my boss let on, and they need a group of people who’ll,“ he hummed and shook his head. “Who’ll maybe not be too upset at the idea of cracking skulls, kinda like you. Do I think you’re a bad fit, no, but as I said, it's not up to me.”

“But that means leaving,” Wanda said, frowning

Peter shrugged again. “Your dad is anyway. Pietro was packed last I saw him. So, I guess the only one with an issue is you.”

As they drove Wanda was quiet again, and Peter left her to her thoughts to enjoy the scenery. This was the first time he had ever left New York, let alone the States. While the Spruce trees and rolling snowcapped hills were nice, it wasn't home. He was lost in thought, as was Wanda and it wasn't until they got closer to Novi Grad that the first obstacle appeared.

“There,” and Wanda pointed. Peter could see the roadblock ahead. Soldiers with Oscorp rifles were hiding behind a barbed wire-covered barricade.

“Might as well stop. You know it's us they're waiting for,” Peter said sadly, and Wanda pulled over.

“Hey, assholes. Want to surrender now?” The answer he got was a cloud of blue energy shot at him.

Wanda conjured a red energy shield and it deflected harmlessly away.

She looked pained, her powers could stop the blasts but not easily. “Can you not antagonise the soldiers?” She said, wrapping red energy around herself.

Peter laughed, “It's kinda my thing.” His symbskin armour solid out and now as he towered over Wanda, “as is this.” Venom lifted the car and taking aim threw it as the barricade.

Wanda snorted and shook her head. Venom shrugged and tensing he sprang forwards. As he landed amongst the soldiers scattered. He skillfully avoided the blue blasts, sending out web after web. Anyone stupid enough to move was webbed down and contained. Rifles were grabbed and pulled from hands. He didn't care if the soldier wielding it was dragged along with it, it just made it easier to get to them. Venom systematically took out each soldier one by one.

Venom stood as the last soldier groaned on the ground, Wanda floating over. They both paused as they heard the sound of someone clapping.

“Very well done, Mr Parker. Ultron was correct. You are indeed a great specimen. However, I am disappointed in you, Miss Maximov. Did we not keep our end of the bargain, and yet here you are, with the enemy?” The voice echoed out of a speaker on the soldier's APC, and Wanda and Venom approached it cautiously.

But Venom frowned, Damn, Ultron was really here. I need to check each Shield base now, in case he's hijacked anything. He sighed, I wish Nat was here for this.

“Of course, the men were merely a distraction.” As the speaker crackled and went silent, two hatches hissed and opened. From within the vehicle, several drones flew straight up.

“Well, damn,” Venom said, “Drones. Oscorp used them to hunt me before.” As he shot out a fine net of webbing they spun and the webbing was shredded, “and I guess they learned.”

“Drones? You send drones against me?” As Wanda floated up the red energy on her hands flew forwards in a cloud. It wrapped itself around the drones and as they whined and squealed she crushed them all.

“Of course not,” The voice said sarcastically and a blue bolt of energy shot out from the vehicle. A hidden sniper had remained out of the pair's reach. As it hit the red energy of Wanda's shield it dissipated, and she tumbled towards the ground. Venom dived forwards and held Wanda tightly to himself, turning and sheltering her.

"You okay?" and she weakly nodded. "Hold here." He brushed some hair from her face. He rolled to one side and spied the slit the sniper was firing through. He shot out a ball of web and covered it.

As another slit opened with another sniper, more drones flew from the top of the vehicle.

Shit, Venom thought. "Take them, and I'll deal with the sniper." Wanda huffed as she sat up,

"I am not incapable you know." As he watched she waved her hand, twirled her fingers and the drones crumpled, "and do not need to be rescued." She moved her hand and the ball of wreckage slammed against the open slit, mangling it closed.

"Sure. Don't let them hit you again." He recognized the energy weapons from Oscorp made from the Space Stone energy. Definitely Shield issue, and definitely the safest bet to neutralise Wanda if she ever got free. He wondered if even her power could stop the molecular disintegration effect. A shield was one thing but she needed to remain vigilant to deflect the attack. A hidden bullet or blast could end her life. Now Venom knew that whoever was in command here wasn’t playing to capture, this was now life and death. It also meant he didn't need to hold back.

The slits might have been closed, but the soldiers inside were still alive. More blasts started to pepper the area around them, and more drones whizzed from the open top of the ATV.

“Take out the drones,” Venom yelled and Wanda nodded. As he slid out from behind the barricade he shot out a large stream of sticky web fluid at the truck. An immobile target was easy enough to cover, gumming as many apertures as he could see.

As he flipped away the drones buzzed around him wielding razor-edged blades.

Definitely upgraded, he thought as he dodged another drone.

Wanda weaved and waved her hands as she grabbed them and pulled them away. As he sprayed another vent he made sure the webbing was toxic. The soldiers outside could be checked for a collar but those in the ATVs were too dangerous to let live.

This didn’t make sense to Venom. They should know that she could defeat the drones and that he could take out the snipers, so why?

“Dammit,” he cursed. “Wanda, can you sense anyone nearby?” as he extended his senses, even as he strained he couldn’t feel anything and even Wanda shook her head. “This is too easy, I think we’re being watched, and analysed for a much harder fight,”

He tutted, wrong senses dumbass.

Venom had expected a soldier but he found a drone, laden with cameras. To his technopathic abilities, it was lit up like a Christmas tree. He could see the various emissions it was giving off and he realised that this was just like Huntress. He was seeing the electromagnetic spectrum and if he could see that, then he could see it all.

"Wanda, right there," he pointed and she squinted and a bolt of red shot from her hands. The drone exploded in a small ball of red and blue energy.

Hey, if you've been affected by the Mind Stone, can you hear me? Venom tested.

Wanda frowned and looked unhappy at the sudden intrusion.

I would prefer you stay out, Wanda sent back. She now understood why her father hated telepaths so much. The contact was personal and overly familiar. Peter was not just sending thoughts but feelings as well. His frustration at the spy camera and the anticipation of a fight. His worry about his loved ones, and his arousal at the thought of seeing them again. As well as something she didn’t expect. Concern that she was okay, that she was unhurt and more importantly, safe.

You send too much, not just a message but everything, stay out.

Venom felt a door slam as she erected some kind of barrier against him, rude but cool, he mused. Wonder if she’d teach me? He let out a breath and pondered what exactly to do with the men in the ATV. The soldiers on the ground were all still but he couldn't feel the Stone's influence on them.

“Sorry,” he whispered and let his newfound ability wash over them. As he touched their minds he felt their hatred, fear, anger, and a prominent thought.

Kill us and another will take our place.

These men were indoctrinated. A cult of some kind existed within Shield but no matter how hard he pushed he couldn't find out more. As he tested his powers the men screamed and twisted.

“Stop,” Wanda grabbed him by the arm and pulled him away. “You can't. Even they don’t deserve torture.”

Venom shook his head. “They aren't Shield, there is something else going on here. The war, the riots, everything is connected. I only got bits but it's been planned, this is a set-up. These men aren't innocents Wanda." Venom pointed at the ATV. "Plus, uh. We already killed those guys.” Whoever was in there had slowly suffocated as they fought the drones.

Wanda stared at him and then at the ATV. She tried to sense the men within and there was nothing. He was right, she had just killed those men. Even if it was Venom, she was a part of it and he stood stoically as she bent over and was sick.

Collapsing on the ground she shook her head, “I never wanted to,” and she stared up at him. “Why? Why are you okay with this? You’re a monster.” She shook her head, “I’m a monster.”

His armour changed back into more normal clothing and Peter looked at her, his face a hard mask. “Your dad kills some soldiers and you’re fine with that but this is upsetting?” Peter sighed, “People don’t like us, not you and me but people like us, those with powers. They’re scared, scared we’re the monster they grew up hearing about, and they’ll try to kill us just for existing. These men, they’d kill us without blinking, they got what they deserved. They’re the monsters, Wanda, we never even got a chance to surrender.”

Leaning over Peter took one of the rifles, its power pack still glowing a bright blue. “These aren't bullets.” He pointed at one of the men he fired and he didn't even scream as he evaporated into dust. “They would have killed us, no questions, no cuffs, just dead. It sucks, it's hard, but they’re the ones we were warned about, the bogeyman that comes for you and won't stop, won't listen.”

Peter made his way around each of the soldiers. He fired at them one by one until the road was silent and only he and Wanda remained.

“This is war. Your dad hid but I don't get that choice, I've been outed. I've got family and loved ones to protect, I'm not the monster here, they are.” Peter let his symbskin envelop the weapon and as the energy touched his cells he felt a rush. The energy was like a drug as he drained the battery dry. One by one each weapon was neutralised and Wanda stared at him, unmoving, watching him as he went about his work.

After each one was empty, he stood and let out a sigh. “Go home, Wanda. Your dad and brother are worried about you, this,” Peter shook his head. “I made peace with killing a long time ago. Some people won't stop until the blood runs and locking them away doesn't cure that. The hate doesn't end until they do.“

His armour slid back out and he rested a hand against the web-covered ATV. As his symbskin touched the solidified mass it began to melt and shrink back. “I’ll face my reckoning when I'm done, but it’ll be alone and no one can share that burden with me." He shrugged, ” But not today, and not by these a-holes.” He pulled open the hatch at the back of the ATV.

Inside he saw the two bodies. He webbed them and pulled them from the vehicle. Their rifles were still powered by the Space Stone, and he shot both bodies, evaporating them. “Today I go mess up some maniac with a fetish for ray guns and killer robots.”

He let his armour slip back into his regular clothing and threw both rifles into the back. He bundled the rest of the drained weapons into the ATV and searched for the keys.

Wanda lifted herself up and brushed the dirt from her legs. Her eyes and hand glowed red for a moment and a set of keys flew towards her. “You can’t drive idiot.” She unlocked the driver's side door and sat adjusting the seat. "Plus, who else will listen to those speeches? If you ever stop being an ass you should write birthday cards, for assholes."

Peter laughed. “I can learn. To uh, drive, not write cards,” Peter said, chuckling, and he motioned to the locked passenger side.

Wanda rolled her eyes at him and waved a hand, as the red energy lifted the lock Peter climbed in, “So, music?”

Wanda just shook her head as she got the ATV into gear and the pair drove off. They knew it was a trap, but neither of them cared.