Spider-Man. The House Of Venom

"Hey, " Peter lifted Loki, held him against a bulkhead and started to spray webbing over him. "This ship goes down, you go down with it. So, how many, and who's leading them?"

"My mind is my own you cretin, release me and I will tell you," Loki hissed back.

"Or I could just leave you there, and deal with this myself." Peter closed his eyes as Loki snarled in pain. "Barton leading twenty men. They're heading for the turbine controls, and are planning on downing the helicarrier."

"Alright, Tony, suit up. Thor, can we leave you to guard your brother? Nat, I think," Cap started but Natasha interrupted him.

"Will bashing his head free him?" She asked Peter who nodded.

"But, if you just incapacitate him, I can free him without the trauma."

Loki scoffed, "as if a mere mortal." Peter webbed his mouth closed.

"You don't have any medical issues or conditions that prevent me from keeping you silent?"

Loki looked confused but shook his head. "Great." Peter finished webbing him completely to the bulkhead. He turned and was greeted by a look of confusion. "We had a villain with a deviated septum. He uh, couldn't breathe through his nose. So uh, yeah, he was fine....eventually."

There was another explosion and the general alarm sounded throughout the ship. "Right, argue later. Stark, take Cap and deal with the turbines." He saw Tony bristle, "No, don't. He's muscle and a combat vet, you're a brain and invulnerable to their firearms. He's good at what he does, and so are you." He turned, "Nat, find Barton and deal with him, and I uh, yeah I get to deal with Banner. Anyone bitching gets to switch. Anyone?"

No one complained. They just nodded and headed out.

"Yeah. Look, Thor. I know, you're being asked to babysit, but you're the only one who can deal with Loki."

"No, I understand Peter. Sometimes it is our duty to guard, and not fight." He smiled, "Plus, I can find some way to amuse myself, I do like to practise my singing."

Loki still webbed to the wall, began to squirm and moan incoherently. "What's wrong brother? I was told you adored my singing."

Peter had heard Nordic throat singing before, and some of it was really good. He, unfortunately for Thor, had also heard the mating call of the Elephant seal.

⁂

"Tony here, we have the turbines back online, Barton?"

"I have him, he's unhurt but unconscious."

"Coulson here. We repelled the boarders and are now starting repairs."

"Parker?"

"Parker, report."

"Hey Parker, please tell me Hulk isn't free on the ship...Dammit Parker."

⁂

Venom sat with Hulk, who was clenching his fist. "I get it, buddy, I do. I mean, People see me and scream. But Hulk is more than that. Hulk is the strongest one there is, so everyone is going to be afraid of him, but nobody knows Hulk also has feelings. Hulk has needs."

Hulk grunted in agreement. He was angry, but the tiny puny man made sense. Banner hated Hulk, but Hulk wanted to be free. Free to smell the flowers, and smash them if they smelt bad. For once Hulk didn't want to smash someone. Venom was his new friend. He didn't run, he didn't scream, he listened. He helped Hulk smash his bad feelings. It felt good to smash them.

"I'll talk to Banner," Hulk growled at his nemesis's name, "No, not to keep you locked away, to help. He can go out into the desert and let you out, you can roam free, and smash stuff. Nobody to yell, nobody to harm you. Just Hulk, oh and maybe take a picnic, find out what food you like." Hulk grunted in agreement. Talking was hard sometimes.

"Hulk like that. Hulk want." He growled again, "Crunchy spicy yellow things."

"Nachos. Yeah, good call buddy, I'll get Stark to make up a hundred pounds or so. Get that Hulk appetite fixed."

Hulk grunted happily again. He liked his tiny puny friend, even if he was tiny and puny. Hulk didn't realise that he was growing. He was never allowed out. He was never allowed to have time to just think. He was always under attack, always on the run. A free Hulk was evolving.

It was helped in part by Peter, who was holding Banner hostage in his own mind.

No Bruce, listen. I have Hulks on my world, not just grr smash but a unit of soldiers who can all control their transformation. Betty Ross is a Hulk, and she is your and Hulk's uh, wife, I think. But they spend time together. Time as Hulks. Get it through your thick head that Hulk is you, he isn't a monster unless you are. Plus if you let him out I can give you more Formulas. I mean I might not be into chemistry like Gwen is but I still know it.

Fine, Bruce huffed, but it's on you if he smashes things and people die.

Peter rolled his eyes at him, God you're worse than Stark sometimes. Hulk is happily talking about nachos and smashing stuff, I'm going to let you go now, just...just talk to him okay?

"Hulk prefer quiet. Everything loud and not nice. Hulk want to see the ocean, and swim with big fish," Hulk snorted. "Banner says no be dumb, whales not fish. Yeah, shut up Banner. Hulk get book and smash knowledge into head. See how smart Banner is then."

Venom patted Hulk on one huge bicep. "Look, I'm going to call everyone else okay, so no smashing them. Well, I think Thor will be up for it, and he's not that puny."

Hulk let out a roaring laugh, "everyone puny to Hulk."

Peter chuckled and headed to the nearest intercom, "Hey yeah, sorry Hulk is here, but he is calm. Uh Hulk, Say Hi,"

"HI!" echoed around the storage area Banner had been hiding in when he transformed.

"Right, Hulk, if I get Banner to promise, can you change? I mean, unless you want to sit here for the rest of the flight down."

Hulk huffed but nodded, and slowly shrunk down. "That, that was freaking amazing." Banner looked around for the remains of his clothing, "I mean, I felt him, I could talk to him." He hugged Peter, "Thank you, for the first time I don't feel trapped,"

"Uh, you're welcome," he gingerly patted a very naked Bruce on the shoulder. He reached back and pressed the intercom, "And can we get some pants for Bruce, like, immediately."

"Sure. We have damage all over the ship, lost one engine, and have several dozen casualties. But let's make sure Bruce has clean pants."

Peter was about to hit the intercom to give Fury a verbal thrashing but Bruce just shook his head. "Don't bother, nobody cares. Half my warrants are for public nudity, I think I owe more in fines than Hulk does for property damage." He held up the tattered remains of his shirt and pants, "You can't repair these, can you? The waist is still good."

"Promise not to tell, but I can do better." Peter stripped out of his uniform, which was thankfully large enough for Bruce, and handed it over.

While he didn't stare, Bruce did glance in Peter's direction. Black ooze covered Peter and then morphed into a regular Shield uniform.

"And I thought super strength was cool. That's not a Formula power, is it? I mean, having instant pants would make life a lot easier."

Peter snorted a small laugh, "Nope, and I am not making you more powerful. You'll just have to cope with being the strongest thing on the planet."

Bruce tucked in his shirt, "Was worth the ask, so uh, the Formulas. You weren't kidding right, I mean, If I can reverse engineer them then..."

Peter was used to Gwen talking about Formula, and for her, he would listen. For Bruce, he tuned out as they walked up to the main deck of the Helicarrier.

"And that is why I need as many as possible." Bruce finished, "So, uh, are we looking at some kind of barter? Hulk gets out and I get the first one or..."

"Uh no. I'll write them all down and their dosages, Your deal with Hulk is your deal. Just be nicer to him and he'll be nicer to you," Peter explained as they opened the door to the control room.

Sat around the meeting table were Fury, Hill, Coulson, Thor, who was poking Loki, Natasha and Clint. Tony was pacing back and forth, in front of his Iron Man suit.

"So, no giant rage monster bent on destroying everything in his path?" He asked

"No, not this time. We, uh, came to an understanding." Bruce said as he sat down. A Shield agent handed him a new pair of pants, "Oh uh, great, thanks." The agent then handed an ice bag to Clint, who leaned forward and groaned as he lay his head on the table.

"So, Loki had kindly given us his master plan. While he is now out of contact with his sponsor, Erik Selvig is still working on a set of orders, " Fury said. "Orders we now cannot countermand." He looked pointedly at Peter.

"Well yeah, that's not true. Just because you don't have the sceptre doesn't mean they don't follow your orders."

Loki grinned and shrugged, "And how was I supposed to know that? I only ever used the sceptre."

"Because you're not an idiot. Uh, Where's Cap?" Peter asked as he sat down next to Clint. "This will feel strange but where did Nat hit you?"

Clint raised his head, "Nat, she lets you call her Nat?" Natasha raised an eyebrow, "Oh, so no she doesn't, but uh, here." Peter moved his hand over the large swollen bruise and let some healing symbcells coat the wound. "Hey, that does feel better." He gingerly touched the back of his head, which felt rubbery once the cells had started to solidify, "Uh, what is that?"

"Cells that promote healing and regeneration. It'll flake off in a few hours." Peter looked around, "So, where's Steve?"

"Medical. He was doing something he wasn't supposed to and got caught. The guards didn't care about his past, and so, they thought he was working with Loki."

Peter looked at Fury, "Someone shot Captain America because they thought he was a traitor?" Fury stared at him, but it was Coulson who nodded guiltily, "So, what was he doing?"

"That's classified," Fury started but Tony talked over him.

"Looking at Phase Two." He lifted a table and shot a holographic image over the table.

"Oh great, Hydra pulse guns. Yeah, we have those, dumbest things on the planet. More stupid Infinity Stone tech."

"You know how they're made?" Tony asked.

Peter motioned at Tony's tablet and as he handed it over, Peter felt for any kind of connection. It was rudimentary but it was enough. "There you go, They use Space Stone energy to literally rip space apart at a subatomic level. Sorry Bruce but I've seen Hulk bleed to those things."

"And I guess that Space Stone is bad because?" Bruce asked.

"The Tesseract is another Infinity Stone. The one capable of warping and manipulating space, and to some degree time and gravity. Black holes, quantum tunnelling, miniaturisation, and of course, disintegration. I don't see any portals around here, so I guess you went straight for the bad things," Peter explained.

"We tried that, and we got him," Fury pointed a finger at Loki. "And according to him, Selvig is going to open a portal and let an army through."

"You have that wrong Director, Erik Selvig is already opening a portal. This was a simple distraction. A small game to play while my pieces were put into place."

"And where exactly is this portal going to open?" I mean, you'd need a huge power supply just to spark the..." Tony stopped pacing, "my tower. You son of a bitch, Stark Tower."

Loki smiled and slowly shrugged, "It is the perfect place. A shining beacon to light the way to a glorious future." Loki saw the angry faces now staring at him. "Of course, I am completely reformed, and it is no longer my plan."

Clint coughed 'bullshit' into his hand.

Thor stood. "You will still face justice for your actions, Loki, but with the Mind Stone in play, Father will be lenient. I too will speak in your defence, but only if you aid us in stopping the Chitauri and name your master."

Loki looked pained, "That I cannot do," Thor moved toward him and Loki raised a hand. "I was tortured, subjected to the worst pain imaginable, and given mental blocks. I cannot speak his name as I am unable, not unwilling."

Fury did remember Loki looked like hell when he fell through the portal, and had a certain crazed look about him. It was not outside the realm of possibility he had been tortured.

The intercom buzzed, “Sir, we have a live feed from New York. Our ETA is thirty minutes."

One of the screens in the room flickered on and It switched to a view of Stark Tower. Erik Selvig was busy constructing a large device, and as he slipped the Tesseract into it, it flickered on. Above him, a ripple formed, which expanded, slowly opening into an aperture.

"That's not good," Clint said, "I can only carry so many arrows."

But Peter "Hey, can you swivel the camera down, yeah to the balcony."

After a few moments, the camera angle shifted, and they could see a group of soldiers, all in black armour.

Peter stood and pointed to the front, "That's him." With them was Cable, carrying a much larger gun this time. "That's the guy who sent me here."