Shrouded in his artificial symbiote, Harry stood in place, staring directly at the monstrosity in front of him. All around them and just behind them, the symbiote pawns alongside the soldiers working for Harry, the government, and S.H.I.E.L.D. fought each other, giving Venom and the New Goblin a chance for a one-on-one fight.
For now.
Venom, seeing how serious Harry appeared, despite being unable to see his face beneath his mask, chuckled darkly before shrouding his body in the blue Godspeed aura. Harry could feel the heat resonating off Venom's body, though he remained calm.
"Go ahead. Attack me." the New Goblin taunted his adversary. His voice was confident, which was surprising to Venom as through Eren's memories, Harry was a coward for the most part. Of course, both Eren and Venom missed Harry's grueling training to become the man he was at that point.
From inside Oscorp, Felicia, Liz, and Lily watched from the top floor with worried eyes. They weren't entirely sure what Harry literally had up his sleeve, nor did the hundreds of citizens within the building who were also watching from the other floors or from behind the barrier in front of the building.
"He's going to fight him?"
"Even Spider-Man couldn't beat him?"
'Where's Spider-Man?"
"We're doomed..."
The people within the building were feeling doubtful, many not understanding just how combat-ready Harry Osborn was. Even after all he'd done, he could shake off that stigma of being nothing more than the spoiled son of a billionaire.
"Why isn't anything working?" Lily was speaking in a panicked voice as she typed away at her computer while trying to connect to Harry's feed. Nothing was working, all she could see was static and a blurred version of what he was seeing.
Oscorp was pretty much the only place in New York with power, but it seemed as if the power was suddenly jammed.
"Ha- ge- ou- -ere!" Harry could hear Lily's voice cutting in and out inside his ear. He ignored her, being able to piece together what she was trying to tell him and there was no way in hell he could back out at that point. He wasn't sure what Venom was capable of and if Eren could get through the barrier by hiding the symbiote inside of him, Venom could possibly do something similar.
Running away and hiding behind the barrier wouldn't be an option. It was far too risky and he knew that. He couldn't risk the lives of everyone inside to test his theory.
He was going to protect them for as long as he could.
Even if it killed him.
๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ฏ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ญ๐ฆ...
Spider-Man and Silk stood in front of one of Eren's many dry-erase boards inside one of the Baxter Building's labs that showcased his theories about Godspeed. Cindy was struggling to understand much of it, despite being incredibly intelligent herself.
"Basically, Godspeed isn't just some sort of energy. That's oversimplifying it. Godspeed is its own microcosm. It's like... you've seen Star Wars, right?" Eren was talking incredibly fast, making it harder for Cindy to keep up. She nodded and his mouth continued to speedily spew out words.
"The Force in Star Wars is all around them at all times, right? The Force is connected to all things that live, it's always around everyone at all times, right? I believe Godspeed is the same. It's always around me, around everyone, but somehow only I can access it but I must give the microcosm energy of my own in exchange in order to borrow its power. Godspeed also transcends time itself. It's why I am able to see memories of my past and future selves so clearly."
Cindy stared at him blankly, still unable to understand what he was trying to get at. Despite her blank stare, Eren continued. "That means that Godspeed energy is essentially infinite. If my calculations are correct, if I were to pour enough of it into Beck's machine, it will allow me to create a sort of... Godspeed implosion. If I were to implode Beck's bubble, I could cause it to destroy every last symbiote, including my own. I just need to figure out how to access all of Godspeed or at least enough to do what I need to do."
"So you're saying we can win!?" Cindy didn't understand much of it, but that part was clear.
"We can win... but as I said, I don't know how to generate that much power. I'd need to create some sort of Godspeed battery or something..." Eren's voice trailed off before he noticed that a monitor to his side was suddenly covered in static. "What?" he muttered before approaching the monitor and looking closely.
"What is it?" Cindy asked, looking at the monitor with her eyebrows furrowed. She had no clue what the monitor was supposed to have on the screen, but based on Eren's face and demeanor, this was for sure a bad sign.
"I was keeping an eye on Oscorp from here, just in case anything were to happen so I could instantly zip over there. But the feed is gone... we need to-"
๐พ๐๐ผ๐๐!
Simultaneously, as if they all shared a hivemind, dozens of symbiotes crashed through the windows of the Baxter Building and began attacking Spider-Man and Silk. Immediately, the two spiders could see that many of these symbiotes were different than any they had seen before.
Surrounding and rushing them were countless symbiotes, all taking the appearance of four new variants alongside variants they'd seen before like Boltors, which were attacking Spider-Man first due to being the only ones able to keep up with him.
The first new variant had triangular heads and long, devil's tails with pointed tips. They were black, though there was a sort of green tint gleaming off of them. Their teeth and talons were long, looking as if they were ready to rip the spiders apart. Their hands and mouths expelled fire in a similar fashion to one of Spider-Man's past villains, the Green Goblin.
These Goblins began throwing fireballs at the two spiders, overwhelming them along with the Bolters bolting at them. They were attacking as if this were all planned or calculated, something that was a horrifying thought for both spiders. The Mimics and the Bolters were the only truly intelligent symbiotes for the longest, but at that point, it seemed that even more were appearing.
The second new variant had a basic appearance, appearing black with regular human proportions. However, on their backs were four tentacles, some being planted in the ground to hold up their host's body. They used these tentacles to throw out attacks at both spiders, extending them almost endlessly throughout the room they were in, destroying all of Eren's standing dry-erase boards.
The third variant also had normal proportions and a basic appearance, however, they had yellow electricity flowing through their bodies like blood going through veins. Their hands crackled with electricity, as did their eyes that shone yellow. They had this strange shape on their face, looking almost like a star that extended past their heads like a mask.
The fourth variant had a more reptilian appearance, having scales covered in black sludge as they watched on all fours. They had tails waving side to side behind them and their mouths were long like a raptor's. They moved like the Deranged, but these Lizards were far faster than them and seemingly had the ability to blend into their surroundings for a sneak attack like chameleons.
Spider-Man and Silk fought off the massive wave of symbiotes, but they just kept coming. Spider-Man could easily flee the scene himself, but he couldn't just leave Silk there by herself. Every time he tried to reach her, a Bolter would use its speed to match his and interrupt him.
This alone proved that this wasn't just some random occurrence. This was all orchestrated by Venom itself to keep them there for as long as possible while he enacted whatever plan he had next.
๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ฏ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ต ๐๐ด๐ค๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฑ...
Venom, in his Ultimate Godspeed state, zipped at Harry with speed unseeable to the human eye.
However, before he could even get within arms reach of the New Goblin, Venom was stopped in his tracks as high-frequency waves began resonating off of the New Goblin's fists that were pointing right at it. Venom let out an ear-splitting screech before dashing to the side to avoid the waves.
Venom paused for a second, giving Harry enough time to shit-talk the alien. "Did you think I was stupid enough to not come prepared for your ass?" Harry spoke with a menacing growl as he stepped forward, continuing to release high-frequency waves from his arms in a similar fashion to one of Spider-Man's old enemies, tracking Venom as it zipped away from him. "We happened to run into the Shocker just before your little invasion. I saw that his Vibro-shock gauntlets seemed to hurt your little offspring. It wasn't hard to get information about what exactly his weapons were made of. The police keep tabs on this stuff after they arrest these guys."
Venom once again dashed toward the New Goblin. Harry couldn't see where Venom was going due to how fast it was, but that didn't matter as Harry simply aimed his wrists in the general direction. The waves once again hit Venom, causing it to reel back due to the pain as it started peeling away from Flash's body, showing the charred corpse underneath before sticking itself back to him.
Venom's lenses squinted before he kicked it up a notch and began running in a circle around the New Goblin, running so fast that there was nothing more than a blue circle surrounding him. "Damn it." Harry whispered, understanding the exact strategy that Venom was likely going for. It was just out of range for any of Harry's attacks to reach, but close enough to where it would be impossible to react to Venom's speed.
๐๐๐!
Venom dashed forward, grabbing the New Goblin by the face and dashing toward a building at least thirty yards away, slamming him into it. Due to the uncertainty of where Venom would attack, Harry failed to react. Venom bashed the New Goblin into the building so hard, a crater formed behind him, though his artificial symbiote protected his body from taking any serious damage.
Harry attempted to aim the waves at Venom, only for Venom to use his tendrils to grab them and hold them in place. "You know what, Osborn? I think you'd make a perfect new host! I know Parker isn't here, so I was coming for the girl, but you'll do just fine!" Venom spoke with its deep monstrous voice before its chest began to open up like the mouth of a starving beast. It was prepared to absorb Harry completely and use him as its new vessel since Flash was broken goods at that point.
"I'd rather not." Harry mumbled through his teeth while grimacing before pressing a button on his glove, causing flames to begin spewing from his wrists, burning the tendrils that were wrapping around them. Venom recoiled slightly due to its weakness being exploited as Harry reached for his utility belt and pulled out a grenade. He then stuck the grenade into Venom's body and kicked the monstrosity away from him.
Manually, as Venom flew backward, Harry blew up the grenade, causing a crater to form in Venom's chest to reveal Flash Thompson beneath it once again, though the smoke from the explosion kept it hidden from Harry. Despite Harry not seeing Flash, Venom's words gave him a hint on how to win. 'If he needs a new host, that means Flash is no good to him when he's dead, right? If I kill Flash, something good has to come of that.' Harry thought to himself before pulling out his retractable spear and chucking it across the street like a bullet through the bomb's smoke with such force, it created a hole in the smoke cloud.
The spear sunk into Venom's chest, impaling Flash in the heart perfectly due to Harry's training with the greatest hunter in the world. Venom then let out an ear-splitting cry, letting Harry know that his attack must have been a direct hit. Using his left hand, Harry fired his Vibro-shock gauntlets toward Venom, compelling it to once again scream through the smoke. Clicking the button to summon his glider through his glove, the New Goblin sprinted toward Venom and hopped on his glider. Still pointing his gauntlet at Venom, he could see the monstrosity wriggling in agony as the smoke cleared.
All Venom could do was watch as Harry boosted toward it on his glider and stabbed it in the chest with the blade attachments on the front of his board. Having his Vibro-shock gauntlets at point blank, Harry rode his gilder forward, still impaling Venom before skewering him into a tree.
Harry, using all of his strength, punched Venom in the face, breaking the tree in half as Venom still wriggled in pain due to the high frequency, pulling itself away from its host's body. "What's wrong? Are you trying to run?" the New Goblin asked darkly before grabbing his spear that still impaled Venom and drove it in deeper.
By this point, all of the soldiers were either dead or retreating behind the barrier. However, due to Harry's arms constantly expelling high-frequency waves, none of the symbiotes stepped in to help their father.
Venom squealed in torment as Harry continued to blast vibrations toward it, digging his spear deeper and deeper inside the host's body. Venom attempted to fight through the pain, grabbing Harry's spear and pulling it away as the rest of it still instinctively peeled off of Flash's body.
As it pulled away from Flash's face, Harry could see Flash looking right back up at him with wide eyes. Flash was crying, but his tears were not the tears of someone in pain, but of someone finally being released from their torment. For once, the agony was starting to die down for him. For once, his mind was starting to clear up and he could feel himself being released from Venom's clutches.
He was also being released from the realm of the living as his heart began to cease its rapid-fire beating due to it being impaled by Harry's pike. The New Goblin looked down at Flash with an anguished countenance. They weren't very close, but seeing him like that hurt nonetheless. Despite Flash being unable to speak, Harry could tell that his eyes were telling him 'thank you'.
Slowly, Flash's eyes began to close his torture had finally ended and he finally was granted the death he was seeking after over a week of nonstop torture.
The New Goblin then clicked a part of his glove, causing one of his gauntlets to rotate before flames began spewing out of it. Venom's screams grew louder as its mass began to shrink down due to the flames killing it.
Harry was winning, finally proving himself to be the hero he had sought to be for the longest. This was the final step in atoning for what his father did, something that was unnecessary to do since he wasn't the one who did all of the atrocities that his father had done, but it was something he felt he needed to undo nonetheless.
All he had to do was finish the job and destroy the monster his father helped grow in his lab.
"He's doing it!"
"The New Goblin is beating Venom!"
The crowd was finally fully on his side, believing that the hero had saved them all as they watched him burn Venom to a crisp.
"GET HIS ASS HARRY!" Lily shouted with tears in her eyes as if he could hear her. Liz was also teary-eyed, seeing her brother be the one to save everyone. "He's really doing it." she whispered. Felicia Hardy, standing next to her, nodded. "He really is.."
"My friend said it best when you last fought, but this time, I'll make sure you're gone for good. Get out of my fucking timeline." the New Goblin said coldly as Venom was continuing to become reduced to nearly nothing.
๐๐ผ๐!
However, before Harry could finish the job, a bolt of electricity fell from the sky as if divine lightning struck the hero, sending him flying backward and disabling the technological aspects of his costume. His body eventually came to a stop when he was grabbed from the ground by a tail of some sort from behind. Using his hands, he attempted to pry himself free only for his limbs to be pulled back by four tentacles.
Venom then reattached itself to Flash's body and began piloting it like the corpse it was. He let out a shout and a few symbiotes detached themselves from their hosts' bodies and integrated themselves with Venom until he was completely covering Flash's corpse once again.
The tentacles then slammed Harry to the ground, creating a massive crater in it before the tentacled creature showed itself to him. At first, Harry couldn't recognize the humanoid symbiote until it retracted itself from its host to reveal a familiar face.
It was Dr. Otto Octavius, under the influence of his arms and the symbiote simultaneously.
Next to Otto, a lizard covered in a symbiote stood next to him. If the tentacled one was Otto, Harry was able to piece together who the other person was.
It was Dr. Connors, covered completely from head to toe in a black symbiote in his lizard form.
Descending from the air was a Venomized version of both Mysterio, wearing his fishbowl helmet and costume covered in black, and Electro, having that grotesque smile on his face as the symbiote attached to his body retracted to show his face.
"Harry, Harry, Harry..." a familiar voice spoke his name before descending on a glider to reveal himself to his son.
It was the Green Goblin, covered in a symbiote of his own.
"What did I tell you about playing the hero, Son..." the Green Goblin's disgusting smile was shown beneath the symbiote, bringing a horrified expression to Harry's face.
"What? Most of you are dead already! How is this possible!?" Harry shouted, though he only received a laugh as a response from the few who still had their free will intact. Mysterio and the Lizard were both pawns being controlled directly by their symbiotes as Dr. Beck had no interest in fighting on their side and the Lizard was basically a wild animal that needed to be controlled. Otto was also being controlled, but the arms were the ones who were in control of the symbiote and his body.
"Did you think I was stupid enough to not come prepared?" Venom asked Harry just as Harry asked just moments prior. "Don't worry, Osborn. This will be very slow and very painful. Now hold still!"
Venom released Flash's corpse from its hold, allowing the body to drop like a bag of rocks before Venom lunged onto Harry's body. Harry yelled in anguish as the symbiote began to consume him.
"NOOOOOO! WAIT WAIT!" Harry tried begging for his life, only for the symbiote to break through his mask and shove itself into his mouth to silence him. Harry's arms and legs flailed in what little ways they could due to being held onto by Dr. Octopus.
Eventually, Dr. Octopus let go and Harry's body was free to convulse and contort on the ground as he felt his body being completely taken over by Venom.
"NOOOOOO!" Lily screamed, placing her hands and her face on the glass as she watched her lover being consumed by Venom. "HARRYYYYYY!" her voice was hysterical. Those who weren't even on the same floor as she could hear it as she fell to her knees and continued to scream hysterically. "HARRY PLEASE! PLEASE GET UP!"
"Harry..." Liz was completely stunned. She couldn't even speak as she watched the only family she had left get turned into a monster right in front of her.
Felicia said nothing, she just looked on in horror until his body was completely covered.
The civilians in the building were completely dead silent, in disbelief that the villains they all saw get defeated on the news were back and stronger than ever. A freezing chill flowed down their bodies as they saw the Green Goblin staring right back at them, smiling sinisterly at the building he was ready to take back.
From inside the symbiote, Harry could feel his entire body feeling as if his nutrients were being sucked out of him by a million leaches, along with the feeling of infinite pressure crushing him. Almost immediately, his mind was being overflowed by the memories of every single Eren Parker and Venom to exist in the many timelines that came before them. He saw Flash's as well, having all of that anguish transferred to him.
This drove Harry to start having a panic attack from within the symbiote, but he could not scream or cry despite feeling the need to. It was as if his mouth was sewn shut, all he could do was look forward as his body was now no longer in his control. All he could do was think to himself.
He soon realized the ultimatum that awaited his best friends. If they wanted to save the world, they would likely have to take his life. Even then, knowing what this team of villains was capable of, he knew that Spider-Man could not win. Not on his own. Even with Silk, it would be impossible.
He realized at that moment that he would then live out eternity from within the symbiote as its host. Symbiotes never die unless they have no host or are destroyed. The host never dies unless their body is destroyed. Once Earth was taken over completely, Harry would have to watch as Venom takes over other civilizations until the end of time.
He also saw just how Venom was able to gather this team of villains together through the monster's memories.
Venom even had a name for this team.
He called them the Sinister Six.