Easter had come around and Peter had planned to hide eggs around the warehouse as a small surprise for everyone. It was ruined as soon as Gwen woke up, sniffed and looked at him, pointed and asked, "why is there candy hidden around the warehouse?" and then whined as Poison pressed her into gathering it all and gorging herself. Poison had complained after the Lizard incident and to mend the trust between them, Gwen had let her.
Leaving Gwen to nurse her sugar hangover as Poison overindulged, Peter instead decided to see if they could get to the Easter parade that was normally held at this time of year. With Felicia free, MJ finalising a movie contract with her new agent, and Gwen off college, he figured it was a good way for the four of them to bond, without resorting to the bedroom.
Liv on the other hand was stuck inside, as Lizard had trashed her wheelchair the only one they had was the trolley they used when she first arrived. Peter had modified it and she could move around the warehouse but its thin wheels were useless outside on the rougher ground. It was fine though, while she never said anything, they could feel the fear coming from her when they asked if she wanted to go out, and she shook her head.
"I'll make it up to you," Peter told her and made sure he pampered her for the day before the four of them would be out.
New York was in full Easter swing, and as the group walked the streets up to 5th Avenue the amount of bright and colourful costumes everyone was wearing made the foursome seem drab in comparison. Having an idea Peter dragged them to a public toilet and had to scowl and shake his head as MJ's eyes lit up at what she thought was going to happen.
Pouting as they all morphed their clothes into a brighter move appropriate attire Peter kissed her and promised some fun after, there were too many cops around for that sort of thing right now, but a rooftop rendezvous on a skyscraper of her choosing was enough to get her to smile.
Peter had chosen to go with dark blue, choosing simple trousers and a shirt. The weather was nice and even if it wasn't he wouldn't have felt the cold. The girls decided on matching spring dresses, showing not much cleavage but plenty of leg, frilled and puffed at the bottom with cute floral shoulders, and small sleeves. Each girl had chosen a pastel colour, Gwen went with pink, MJ with light blue, and even Felicia who grumbled but chose white, looked stunning in her outfit.
Peter stared as the three came out from the toilets and twirled for him, bringing them all in for a kiss and made sure no one was left out. He felt bad enough for leaving Liv behind, she was still wanted by the police and FBI but he promised an evening for her alone to make up for it. He had been practising making everyone favourite dish, and while Liv's was easiest he would take time to make it for her, meatloaf with mashed potatoes.
Food stalls were raided, and plenty of different treats and drinks were bought, shared and happily devoured as the quartet found good spots to stand. The parade hadn't started yet and they eagerly anticipated the massive floats. Oscorp was still the sponsor this year, even after the scandal there was just no time to change the event and while it was a muted affair, Peter could see that the VIP box was filled with the last of the board, drinking champagne and waiting for the mics to be set up. They would still launch the parade, still give a speech, and he was looking forward to seeing what slimeball excuse Jack Thompson, the new CEO of Oscorp, would give for Norman's behaviour.
The event would officially start around 10, and soon enough the crowd surged and the four were jostled near the barricade, never minding the pushing as if anyone felt slighted by the pusher they were all more than strong enough to stand their ground.
The microphone squealed as Jack Thompson tapped it.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, once more it is Oscorps greatest pleasure to be hosting an event in this great city of ours. Now I know that things haven't been the best, that a great tragedy was committed and we can never forget that. But easter is a time for celebration, forgiveness, and for resurrection. While we hope you are all having-" and the mic cut off with a loud squeal, even Jack stood back and covered his ears.
"Oh cut the sanctimonious crap, Jack. You all were glad I failed. You all wanted me to fail. Those deaths are on you, not me. The board pushed for results and when you didn't get them you whined like fucking kids." The glider hovered in front of the stand Jack and the board were sat at, Norman's voice booming out through the armours inbuilt speakers.
"Well, you want resurrection?" and Goblin fired off two rockets at the stand, they exploded and covered the area in a green toxic mist and once it cleared there were no bodies, nothing remained. "Come back from that," and Goblin laughed, broadcasting his mirth over the assembled crowd.
"You wanted a villain, someone to blame for the deaths of those poor saps?" The glider hovered and turned, flying up higher, Goblin stretched out his arms, "well, here I am, here's your holiday nightmare made flesh. Now run, run and hide so the Goblin doesn't find you." Without even aiming Goblin fired into the crowd, and in a wail of screams, blood and bullets flew through the air.
Peter and company rushed with the crowd, they needed a way to escape and a way to stop Golin from hurting anyone else.
"Pete, shit, Pete. Do we help? I mean, that's Goblin, we can't," Peter grabbed Gwen and hugged her. "It's okay, it's fine. If you don't want to then grab MJ and head home, it's okay." He knew Gwen and MJ had no experience fighting and that Poison wasn't the bravest symbiote in the group.
"MJ, you okay?" and she nodded, staring up at the laughing Goblin as he fired into the crowd. "Take this and get Gwen to safety, okay?" and he leaned over and pecked her on the cheek, "it's fine, it's fine. Muse, keep her calm, get them to safety, okay? and Poison, do this and I'll reward you later. Anything you want, and I mean anything," and Gwen nodded and stared, Peter had handed MJ a huge chocolate chip cookie, from the bakery where she had first had to calm down Poison, and she frowned, "did you plan that? you ass," and he laughed,
"emergency Gwen cookie," and he handed it to MJ, "if you want it though, you gotta get somewhere safe to eat it, okay?" and Gwen tutted,
"What am I a fucking child?" and Peter sighed,
"well, we're in the middle of the street and I'm not into exhibitionism, so deal okay?" and as she nodded, she was still staring at the cookie in MJ's hand. MJ grabbed her hand and pulled her, "come on, we'll be fine," and the pair disappeared into the crowd to escape.
The duo ran towards a deserted shop, making sure that no one could see them, crouched in the doorway they both changed and peered out into the chaos. Clicking the mics she nodded at him and he moved out first, leaping and grabbing on the side of the building and quickly climbing its smooth glass walls. Huntress was after him quickly, leaping to the building across from him. They had discovered that while she could bend light Peter could polarise his lenses and catch the shimmer of her as she moved.
They were both level with Norman as he laughed and spun, firing into the crowd. The police who were patrolling the area had begun to return fire but once Norman spotted them he would spin and shoot, and none had survived a barrage.
Venom clicked, "go high, hit Norman and take him to the ground," and Huntress gave him a thumbs up. With his new powers, he should be able to disable the glider while Huntress keeps him busy. I hope, he thought to himself but the last thing they were going to do was let Norman continue his massacre.
Venom held up a hand with three fingers and as the last one dropped, they both swung out, Huntress staying invisible to put Norman off targeting her, and as she slammed into him, the glider spun out of control. Venom grabbed the bottom and hung on, letting his symbskin flow into the device, and as he felt it connect, the three of them went flying.
Norman activated the thrusters, on his HUD he was seeing an alert that an enemy was attempting to access the glider systems. Norman knew it was that menace when he saw him swing out but hanging on to the bottom of the glider all he could do was fly fast enough to shake him off. The idiot had tried to separate them but that was one thing he'd thought of years ago and his boots were clamped magnetically to the glider, only he could release them and as his systems registered blows he realised that they had a third guest.
He could see brief flashes of whatever it was and set the optics of his helmet to scan every frequency, finding one he realised it was a girl but he didn't care, stupid bitch, he thought and as the glider flew faster and faster he took them up to the lower atmosphere. Fucking costume-wearing freaks, he thought but it didn't make a difference, she was still holding on firmly to the glider and laying blow after blow onto the armour. As he got a look at her through his thermal sensors he could see she was hotter than a person, that wasn't a costume she was wearing and as her temperature increased to ward off the cold, he only had one thought as to what they were,
Fucking symbiotes, he thought, and dived back down, Harry must have helped them and he thought of how he would eviscerate him, right after these two. He activated the suit's melee defensive systems and a blade sprang from one arm, slashing at Huntress she ducked under the blade and grabbed his arm, punching the hopefully weaker joint of the suit.
Venom was stuck, with his symbskin slowly working its way into the glider he couldn't even use his webs to help Huntress, but bit by bit he was gaining control. He saw the advanced schematics of the power systems and ordered a release, the ammo drums began to spin, shit, not that, he thought, the last thing he needed was unused large calibre bullets that vaporize people falling from the sky and he tried to get the guidance systems under control.
To shake off the two bugs, Norman sent the glider into a spin and without a proper hold Huntress slid off and she fired a web line and caught hold of Venom, she swung round and as she flew through the air back to the top of the glider, she kicked Norman with both feet in the chest.
The servos in the legs whined as they kept him upright but in the armour, his thighs ached at the strain. A blade slid out again, and he wildly lashed out at her as she ducked and got hit after hit on the joints of the armour. He roared through the speakers at the pair, knowing that they would eventually break him down. He needed a plan, he needed a way to get them both off him and on the ground.
Checking his HUD Norman spotted that Central Park wasn't too far away and decided that drowning the two bugs would be the best bet. Heading for the Lake, he knew that the glider was shielded against extreme weather conditions and while underwater performance was lower, holding Venom under wouldn't cause any problems.
As the glider dipped into the lake, Norman slammed on the brakes sending Huntress flying and into the water, where, while he couldn't see her, he saw the massive splash she made. Locking on the centre of the water disturbance he sent round after round into the spot, laughing loudly over the speaker.
Being jolted as he stopped, Venom tightened his grip on the glider, letting more and more of his symbskin flow into it. He called up the internal guidance systems and saw Norman load up two goblin missiles, sending an emergency jam alert they spun in place but refused to fire, then an ammo failure alert send the drums of ammo to the bottom of the lake. He couldn't see blood in the water and he knew Huntress was unharmed. He clicked his mic, "you okay?" but he got no reply.
"No, I'm fucking angry," was all he got back, and he felt the water ripple as she swam to the bottom of the lake and then launched herself at Norman. Flying through the air she had made a sword and as she flew up she shot a web, wrapping it around his neck and pulled herself onto his shoulders. Once up there she reversed her grip on the sword and stabbed down into the shoulder joint of his suit.
He yelled and tried to get the glider to rise but Venom had already disabled the engine, a simple 'water in engine' alert stalled and shut down the glider, which now bobbed on the surface. Noman yelled as the blade slid between the joint of the suit and into his arm, blood dripping from the armour.
With Huntress straining against the suit she made herself a target and he swung a fist up, unloading a round of bullets from his wrist launchers, forcing her to leap backwards and back underwater. Roaring in pain he pulled out the sword and threw it into the lake.
Venom had managed to gain access to the HUD of the goblin armour "now now, no littering" he typed across the screen and unlocking the boot Norman knew that Venom was able to breathe underwater. Damn insects, he thought and flipped a hatch on the glider's body, pressing down a button with his foot the glider began to beep. Norman had planned for a hijack and installed a manual explosive to detonate if he lost control, laughing he leapt off the glider and the boots of his suit flared into emergency rockets, and he sped off across the water.
Shit, thought Venom, "I've got this, go after him," he told Huntress and she nodded and took off.
Venom stared at the bomb, currently beeping in the wing of the glider. I hope I've got this, he thought and began to form his hand into the tools he would need to disarm it.