Summary: Until recently Peter Parker has only ever had one friend since he was taken in by Cadmus. A alien symbiote that he wears like a suit that may or may not want to kill and eat everyone's brains. And for a time he was content, but then three sidekicks had to go and break into Cadmus, convince him and a Superman clone to join up with them. Now he has four more friends… Venom hates it
Rating: M
Word Count: 40,338
Status: Ongoing
Link: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13264711/1/The-Path-of-a-Hero-is-Never-easy
Chapter 1: Chapter 1
'I'm hungry'
'So, ask for something'
'Yeah, but I mean I'm really hungry. Like so hungry that I can't wait and even then, they wouldn't bring anything good!'
'Because your picky and spoiled'
'No, I just have refined tastes that require-'
'Picky'
'Oh like your any better?'
'My diet is simple. Either brains or chocolate'
Peter sighed as he threw the covers off and sat up, his feet resting on the cold marble floor. He glanced around his rather bare and empty room. Aside from his bed, a desk, a door to a small bathroom with a shower, sink and toilet, it was pretty sparse. Peter was sure that an empty building to be demolished had more in it than his room.
'That's because the people here got tired of replacing everything you or I destroyed' a dark voice echoed in Peter's mind.
Peter clicked his tongue at this ' I said I was sorry. How was I supposed to know that mixing those three chemicals would explode?'
'Your the smart one, you tell me!'
' In my defense, they were using material that was from another planet and I was unaware that adding amino acids would set it off' Peter said as he stood up while a black tar like substance began to emerge from various pores on his body before it covered his entire body minus the head.
Peter wandered over to the door and began to knock on it "Hey, I'm hungry!"
Several seconds passed without a response before Peter shrugged and made his way towards the small electronic pad next to the door frame and placed his hand on it. With a combination of adhesive suction to maintain a firm grip on the pad, and his enhanced strength, Peter ripped the pad off, exposing the wiring underneath for the door. The black clad boy crouched down and began to cut and split the wires, before reconnecting them to different wires. After a few seconds and a small flash, the door opened and Peter walked out into a empty cavern.
'You know their gonna be pissed, right?'
'I know Venom, but I'm hungry and I can tell you are too' Peter said as he looked around for any signs of people or at the very least one of the Genomorphs that liked to run around ' Where is everyone?'
'I don't know, let me ask with my telepathy ' Venom said in annoyance.
'Isn't that how we speak, with telepathy? ' Peter asked as he picked a direction and began to slowly make his way down it, his senses on the alert for anyone else.
'Because we're bonded you idiot' Venom chided and Peter swore that if Venom could, he'd be shaking his head ' What did I do to get attached to you?'
'Wrong place, wrong time? ' Peter guessed.
'It feels that way ' Venom sighed as the duo made their way through the labyrinth of tunnels until they finally came to a elevator.
Peter pressed the 'up' arrow button and waited patiently for the car to arrive. After a few moments, the elevator dinged and the door opened and Peter stepped in and glanced at the floor levels. After a few minutes of debating, Peter shrugged and hit the first floor and waited as he felt the elevator began to rise.
'You think they have anything good up there? ' Peter asked.
'Don't know, never been this far up ' Venom stated.
'Neither have I come to think of it' Peter thought with a frown as Venom began to expand and covered his face and two large white tear dropped shaped 'eyes' or lenses appeared 'Hopefully there's a vending machine up here'
'You have money?' Venom asked even though he knew the answer.
'I'm sure if I can hack a triple encrypted database in Doctor Desmond's own lab, I can break into a vending machine ' Peter said with a chuckle 'Ooh, maybe we can find one of those chocolate bars that Ms. Debra brings us!'
Venom seemed to purr at the thought as the door opened to reveal a vastly different hall compared to the lower levels. Where's the area that Peter has spent the last few years were some sort of other worldly looking cavern, this looked like a typical office hallway. Peter poked his head out and searched for any signs of people before he shrugged and walked out and began his search for a vending machine.
'Man, they are gonna be really unhappy when they find out I've been up here without permission ' Peter said as he passed a window and glanced outside to see where they were at.
Based on a few distant building shapes, Peter figured they were in Washington D.C., at least he thought that's where that one tall white pointy tower looking building was and the one with the dome and point on top of it were at.
'Hey Venom, is this Washington? ' Peter asked as he looked out and saw a few cars driving by and a few people on the side walk passing by.
'How the hell should I know?' Venom asked with annoyance ' Now hurry up and find something for us to eat before we get sent back down'
'Fiiine' Peter said with a eye roll before he realized something "Hey wait a minute!"
'Now what?' Venom asked.
"If it's daylight out, why isn't there anyone here?" Peter asked as he looked around with confusion.
'Must be a holiday and they have it off ' Venom guessed ' Isn't that what humans do sometimes? Take holidays off work?'
Peter hummed at this 'But which holiday?'
'It's July, what holiday is in July?' Venom asked.
Peter thought about it for a moment before he snapped his fingers 'Independence Day! Which means-'
'No one is here… we have free reign of the building for as long as we want ' Venom said in an excited tone ' Which means-'
'Screw the vending machine, let's find a cafeteria!' Peter said with a nod as he looked at a wall and saw a small map of the floor he was on and mentally mapped out a route to the cafeteria.
'I was going to say make a break for it but sure, why not?' Venom said with obvious sarcasm 'It's not like we hate being kept in a small room two hundred feet below the ground at all times and experimented on like some rat!'
'…'
'…'
'… Where the heck would we even go? ' Peter asked as he arrived at the cafeteria and made his way towards the kitchen, his hunger growing 'In case you've forgotten, I got no money'
'Easily remedied' Venom said in a indifferent tone ' We find one of those banks and take some. Or we can just help ourselves to whatever we want. What could stop us?'
'The Justice League, cops, my own morals, Ms. Debra, the banks sate of the art security system and- ' Peter began before he saw a can of soup on the counter by the microwave 'Ooh, tomato!'
Venom made a disgusted sound as Peter opened the microwave and placed the can inside before closing it and looking at the timer "How long do you think I should cook it for?"
'I don't know' Venom said with annoyance 'Pick a time and wait to see if it's warm enough. If not, put it back in and keep doing it'
Peter shrugged as he put in six minutes and began to wait as his food started to cook. He idly hummed to himself as he waited and looked around the kitchen for more food, maybe some chocolate for Venom to eat-
"What are you doing up here?" a voice spoke up behind Peter, causing him to turn to see a man in a blue, black and gold colored outfit with some sort of collapsed shield on his arm and a armored helmet covering his face. On his shoulder sat on of the little Genomorph gnomes, capable of telepathic communication and influence.
Peter blinked at the man before he shrugged "I got hungry"
Guardian frowned at Peter's response as he looked around the kitchen "Is it just you up here?"
Peter quirked a brow at this, his curiosity peeked "Why?"
"Did you bring anyone else up here? Or did someone bring you up here?" Guardian asked, ignoring Peter's question.
"I got up here myself" Peter said with a scowl.
"Well I'm here to take you back downstairs" Guardian said as he stepped forward "I'm sorry, but you aren't quite ready to be up here"
"Says who" Peter said with a scowl.
"The Cadmus board of Directors and Doctor Desmond" Guardian replied as he placed a hand on Peter's shoulder "Now let's go"
"Aww, but I'm hungry" Peter whined.
"I'll have someone bring you something when we get back to your room" Guardian said as he pushed Peter towards the door.
"But I already have something in the microwave" Peter complained "can't I just wait for it then head back down?"
Guardian seemed to consider this before the Genome's eyes on his shoulder slowed red and his face went blank for a moment before he shook his head "No, your going back, now!"
Peter glared at the man before he growled out "Fine… dick"
In all honesty, Peter could put the man through a wall with one arm behind his back, but then Doctor Desmond would call up some of Genome Trolls and then he'd tell Ms. Debra to stop bringing Peter and Venom those chocolate bars of hers. So for the sake of sugary sweets, Peter swallowed his pride and let the man escort back to the elevator before he hit the down button and began to long descent.
'Wait, did we ever take our can out of the microwave?' Peter asked before suddenly a slight tremor shook the building and a fire alarm went off.
'Apparently not…' Venom responded dryly .
"Hehehehe… oopsie" Peter said sheepishly as Guardian scowled at Peter.
Though to be fair, he did tell the man that he had something in the microwave.
…
"Well that could have gone better" Peter said as he laid on his bed, staring up at the ceiling with his hands behind his head.
It's been over half an hour and Peter was still hungry, bored and a little ticked off at Guardian for making him come back down here. The man had the nerve to place a Genome Troll outside his door incase he tried to leave his room again! Peter scowled at the last thought as he considered falling asleep before he heard distant explosions from somewhere outside. Peter frowned as he got up and made his way o the bed and opened the door and peeked outside and looked around, ignoring the growling Genome troll.
"What's going on out here?" Peter asked.
He heard several more distant explosions, causing Peter to step out of his room and for the Genome troll to slam it's fists against the ground and let out another warning growl. Peter didn't even glance at the large bio weapon as he raised and arm and sent a barrage of black webbing towards the snarling brute. The genome growled in surprise as it's eyes and mouth were covered and began to try and rip the webbing off it's face before more black webbing from Peter webbed it's hands to it's face, causing it to stumble over as it tired to free itself.
'You know it's probably going to suffocate, right?' Venom said.
'So? ' Peter responded as he leaped to the ceiling and began to crawl in the direction of the explosions, his curiosity piqued.
Peter wondered if it was that old guy that came by from time to time with those cool looking but kinda creepy acting ninja guards of his. Peter liked him, the man, or the woman that was sometimes with him always brought the best treats and he usually argued with Desmond that he should be given more freedom. Maybe their arguments had finally escalated or one of the Genomes had gone rogue and needed to be put down… again.
'Maybe they'll get me something to eat if I help' Peter thought as he made it to a junction and dropped to the floor in a crouch.
'I doubt it considering you just killed a Genome back there' Venom countered dryly.
'Hey, there's a chance he got the webbing off before he suffocated' Peter said before a yellow blur suddenly slammed into him, too fast for his affectionally named 'spider-sense' to be triggered and too fast for a unprepared, distracted Venom to notice.
"Gah, what the heck!" Peter said as he shook his head and pushed the yellow thing off him before he stood up.
"Dude, watch where your standing!" the yellow figure said as they rubbed their head, it felt like they ran straight into a cement wall.
Before Peter could say anything, two more figures ran out from the same direction the yellow blur came from and came to a sudden stop at the sight of Peter. The young teen blinked at three figures before him, one a female and the other two male. Peter's eyes narrowed as he took in the tallest, dark skinned teen, even without his enhance smell, Peter could see that the boy was Atlantean. The gills he could spot also may have helped clue him in on what he was. The other boy was dressed in a red and yellow suit with goggles strapped to his head and red hair. The girl was in a red form fitting Kevlar bi-weaved suit with a black cape with a yellow inside, black heeled boots, tech gauntlets and a domino mask with her black hair tied in a pony tail.
"Who the heck are you?" the red haired teen of the group asked.
"Who wants to know!" Peter responded with a scowl "Last time I checked, visiting hours were over… I think. No one tells me nothing around here!"
"Do you work here?" the girl of the group asked as she took in Peter's form, her hand drifting close to the yellow utility belt she had on.
"I live here" Peter said with a frown "Why? Am I being moved? Cause the guy that comes by every now and again said I would"
"Uh, no" the red haired teen said as he glanced at his companions "You uh, you wouldn't happen to know a way out of here, do you?"
"Aside from the way you came?" Peter said as he pointed down the hall they emerged from "No, why?"
"We need to… see some people that aren't here" the yellow clad teen stated as he shared a look with the other two "About some stuff"
Peter hummed at the three as he could faintly hear several Genomorphs closing in "What kind of people?"
"Good people" the Atlantean said as he stepped forward "We're with the Justice League"
Peter quirked a brow at this "You are?"
"Yeah" the red head said with a nod as he pointed to the Atlantean and the dark haired girl "Aqualad and Robin and I'm Kid Flash"
Peter's brow furrowed at this "I don't remember seeing you guys in the files the ninja guy showed me"
"Files?" Robin said with obvious interest "What files? And what do you mean ninja guy?"
Before Peter could answer his head snapped up at the sound of several of the larger Genomorphs roaring in the distance, causing Robin, Aqualad and Kid Flash to tense.
"They don't sound happy" Peter commented as Venom had the suits lenses narrow into slits towards the mysterious trio.
"That's… our fault" Robin said with a sheepish laugh.
"Oh, I thought it was because of the fire I started, accidently I might add" Peter said when he noticed the looks the three were giving him "What? I told Guardian I was cooking something but he wouldn't listen. Not my fault the microwave blew up"
"The heck were you cooking?" Kid Flash asked with a raised brow.
"A can of soup" Peter said with a shrug "Turns out, you don't heat the can up with the soup"
"Obviously" Kid Flash said with a blank expression.
"Hey, it was my first time cooking something on my own" Peter defended his actions "First time using a microwave too come to think of it…"
Before Kid Flash could say anything, Aqualad beat him to it "I'm sorry, but we need to move before Guardian and those things catch up to us"
"Can you help us get out?" Robin asked before she clasped her hands together and batted her eyes in the way her mother told her would get any hot blooded male to cave, assuming they weren't a hard ass "Pretty please?"
Peter hummed at this, finding the girl's eyes hard to ignore ' What do you think? Should I help them?'
'Go with three unknwon people we've never seen before? When has that ever worked out well for anyone?' Venom hissed in annoaynce.
'Well it worked for that princess in that movie with the expic laser swords' Peter said.
"Well, are you gonna help us?" Kid Flash asked as he and the others could hear the strange monkey like creatures being led by Guardian getting closer and closer.
'Ah screw it' Peter thought with a shrug "Why not? Could be fun"
Later, Peter and Venom would find themselves regretting those words.
…
Several minutes later, Peter, Robin, Kid Flash and Aqualad found themselves in a sealed off room after just narrowly avoiding being caught by a few of the patrolling Genomorphs and Guardian.
'Man, he looked pissed when he saw me with these guys ' Peter thought as he glanced at the door they just narrowly made it through after Ms. Debra left it. He hoped she was alright, she was really nice.
'Not as pissed as Desmond will be when he finds out ' Venom chuckled.
'Eh, I'm not worried about him ' Peter said with a mental shrug as he turned towards the others and saw that they were standing before a large pod with a figure inside it and three Gnomes above him. Peter quirked a brow at the scene as he silently made his way over to them.
"Big 'K', little 'r'… the atomic symbol of Krypton" Kid Flash said with shock at the figure within.
It looked like a teenage version of Superman!
"Oh, they made another" Peter said as he took in the clone of Superman "Thought they shelved that"
"Wait, another?" Robin said as she turned towards Peter with a suspicious look "How many are there?"
"Were there" Peter corrected with a shrug "By my count, he's the sixth one they've made"
"What happened the to the other five?" Robin asked tensely.
"The first one was put down, apparently it wasn't stable or something" Peter said as he rubbed the back of his head "The other four were… tested. They didn't make it"
"What do you mean tested?" Aqualad asked with a frown.
"They wanted to see how they would hold up against another super powered individual" Peter said with a sigh as he glanced at the clone of Superman "Coincidently enough, they wanted to see the same for me. I passed… they didn't"
A tense silence followed as the three young heroes stared at Peter, Robin with an unreadable stony expression while Aqualad and Kid Flash looked unnerved.
'And now comes the part where they attack you ' Venom teased.
'Yippie ' Peter thought as he began to slowly tense up, ready to move at a moment's notice as he pretended to keep his attention on the Superman clone when in reality his senses along with Venom, were on the three heroes before something occurred to him.
"Just how did they get Superman's DNA anyway?" Peter asked.
"I… don't want to know" Kid Flash as a few possible ideas ran through his head.
"Robin?" Aqualad said as he glanced at the young teenage girl.
Robin nodded as she began to hack into the terminal while a holographic screen popped up from her tech gauntlet "Let's see here… weapon designate Superboy… force grown in sixteen weeks?!"
"Wow, they cut the number down by five whole weeks" Peter said with a whistle as he wandered over and examined the data "Hmm, hope they didn't cut corners with his genes to compensate"
"No way the big guy knows about this" Kid Flash said with a shake of his head before he noticed the white suit that Superboy was wearing "What's that he's wearing? Is it just to cover him or something?"
"It's a solar suit" Robin corrected as she scrolled through the information "It's designed to help him absorb solar radiation from a yellow sun twenty four seven"
"And these… creatures?" Aqualad pointed to the three Genome gnomes over Superboy.
"Their Genomorph Gnomes" Peter answered as he glanced at the three gnomes "Their designed for easy telepathic communication and influence. By the looks of it, their giving him a crash course in… well life in general probably"
"Did Cadmus do the same to you?" Robin asked.
Peter shook his head "They can't get inside my head"
"Why?" she asked with a frown.
"It's… a long story" Peter said as he felt Venom's amusement.
"We need to contact the League, let them know what's going on here" Aqualad said as he made to activate the commlink in the Atlantean symbol on his waist before Peter interrupted him.
"Won't work. The walls and caves here are lined with jammers to keep any unauthorized transmissions out" Peter said.
"Well so much for calling in the cavalry" Kid Flash muttered before he glanced at Superboy's pod "This is so wrong"
"We can't keep him like this" Robin said in agreement.
Aqualad nodded at this before he turned towards Peter "Will he be hostile if we set him free?"
Peter shrugged "I don't know"
"Well that's comforting" Kid Flash said with dread before he glanced at Robin "You wouldn't happen to have any Kryptonite on you, just in case?"
"No…" Robin sulked before she spared a glance at Kaldur and the black suit boy with large moving eyes or lenses "But I'm sure we can handle him"
"We have no choice" Aqualad said with a sigh "Release him"
"Already then…" Robin muttered as she typed in a few commands and had Superboy's pod unseal and open.
The four watched with baited breath as the pod's lids slid open, exposing Superboy to the air for the first time in his life. Several tense seconds passed before Peter felt his spider-sense flare, causing him to pale as he felt and heard Venom growl inside his mind.
"Uh-oh…" he said as Superboy's eyes snapped open.
Several seconds passed before the cloned Kryptonian moved in a blur and slammed right into Aqualad, sending both tumbling to the floor. Peter let out a sigh of relief that it wasn't him that got hit first and quickly rushed over to pry the berserking clone off Aqualad before he could cave his skull in with any more punches. Peter pulled the clone into a headlock and began to pull him off Superboy only to growl in frustration as he felt the teen fighting against him. It seems that Cadmus had improved on it's cloning and made this Superboy stronger than the last few.
'Oh great' Peter thought as he pulled harder and harder to get Superboy off Aqualad while Kid Flash and Robin grabbed his arms to keep him from punching their friend again.
Superboy growled in anger as he flung Robin and Kid Flash off his arms, the latter being sent into some sort of glass pod, knocking him out of the fight before he seized Peter's arm around his neck and with an inhuman leap launched themselves into the air and right into the ceiling above. Peter gritted his teeth in pain as his back slammed into the rock as he struggled to keep his grip on Superboy as the pair fell back to the floor before the boy of steel slammed his elbow right into Peter's ribs.
"GAAH!" Peter yelped in pain as he felt something crack despite Venom's efforts to cushion the blow just as they slammed intot he ground and he was forced to let go.
'He's much stronger than the last clone' it hissed as Superboy used this opportunity to grab Peter by the throat and begin to squeeze 'Let me take over'
'No I'm good! ' Peter replied as he struggled to break Superboy's grip before Robin jumped on his back and threw something into his mouth before it exploded into a cloud of gas.
Superboy let out a cough as he loosed his grip on Peter only to grab Robin by the arm and slam her into Peter's prone form. The force of the blow knocked the wind out of both Peter and Robin, more so for the non-enhanced teen even as Venom was able to cushion her landing on to his host. Superboy glared down at the two and prepared to attack them again before Aqualad ran up behind him and slammed a large hard water hammer construct into him, sending the young cloned Kryptonian flying into the terminal for his chamber.
"Thanks…" Peter groaned out as he gently pushed Robin off himself and stood up on shaky legs before he winced at the pain from his side 'Damn, did he break a rib or something?'
"Your welcome" Aqualad said as he kept his eyes on Superboy as the enraged clone stood back up and glared at the dup as he began to stomp towards them. As lowered his weapon and held a hand out "Stop, we're not here to fight. We want to help you"
Superboy either didn't understand or care what the Atlantean said as he charged towards him and Peter. The symbiote wearing teen braced himself as Superboy sent a punch towards him before he ducked under it and sent a powerful blow to the other teen's solar plex while Aqualad dropped a powerful elbow strike on his back. Superboy stumbled under the two pronged assault and made to counter them with overwhelming force when Peter kicked his knee out, forcing him to drop to his other while Aqualad brought him into a headlock and began to electrocute the super powered teen.
Not enough to kill him, but enough to end the fight.
Just as it seemed like it was going to work, Superboy suddenly lashed out and grabbed Peter, causing the electrical currents that Aqualad was sending into to him to also travel into Peter as well. Peter and Venom both let out an agonized scream as hundreds of volts of electricity went sent into them, casuing Peter's suit to begin pulling away, some of it falling to the floor, smoldering. Seeing the pain his new found ally was in, Aqualad ceased his attack, allowing Superboy to gain his second wind and slap the older teen away before he reached up and grabbed Peter and brought him into a painful headbutt that rattled the spider powered teen's teeth and sent him tumbling to the floor.
Superboy then turned to Aqualad and sent a almost bone shattering blow right into the teen's head as he tired to strike the Kryptonian hybrid with a watered mace, sending him flying into the wall. Peter winced at the blow as he struggled to climb back to his feet while the clone wandered over towards the door and proceeded to rip it open with a yell, letting Guardian, Ms. Debra and a few Genomes in along with-
"What are you doing out of your room?!" the voice of doctor Desmond echoed through the small room as he glared at Peter from the doorway.
Peter frowned at the man's tone before he pointed at his feet "What are you doing wearing sandals with a lab coat?"
The Cadmus doctor gritted his teeth at Peter's response and approached him with a glare on his face "I told you once, I told you a thousand times, you are not to leave your room without permission!"
"Actually, you've only told me two hundred and sixty three times…" Peter countered with a groan as he fought to stay standing.
The Cadmus doctor gritted his teeth in frustration before he took a long deep calming breath "It doesn't matter…"
Desmond then turned towards Guardian and pointed towards the knocked out heroes "Take them away and secure them"
"What about him" Guardian nodded towards Peter.
Desmond glanced at Peter with a heavy frown before he turned on his heel "I'll speak with the board, but for now, have him taken back to his room, with triple the guard"
It was than that Dubbilex stepped forward, a humanoid like being with light blue skin, no nose, two curved horns on his forehead, pointed fin like ears and two ribbons of flesh hanging from his face "I shall escort him back to his room"
Desmond turned towards the Genomroph with a look of doubt "Can you?"
"Yes" Dubbilex said as he made his way out of the lab to contact his supervisors about this mess.
The Cadmus scientist stared at the telekinetic Genome for a moment before he nodded "Fine, just make sure he can't get out"
"Of course" Dubbilex said with a nod as he gestured for Peter to follow him.
'Well… so much for getting out of here ' Venom hissed, still in pain from the shock it received.
'You gonna be okay' Peter asked as he spared a glance at the unconscious heroes before he followed Dubbilex.
'I'll live… at least it wasn't fire or sound they hit me with ' the symbiote shivered.
Peter nodded grimly as he let Dubbilex lead him and Venom back to their room and whatever awaited them for their role in helping the three teenage heroes almost escape.
…