A New Face (November 2014)

A few moments after she touched him she felt something odd emanate from her hand and into him. A moment later she felt him. Venom was dark and angry. A feral thing more instinct than anything else. It was like a black sludge that roiled and slinked across his mind. She could almost feel it slither across her palm. It was alien she knew that. Yet it knew her, knew her kind. Likely do to Peter.

But then something shifted as if it knew she was watching. That and it did not like her there. One moment it was just looking at her then the next it seemed to lunge at her. And then Peter lunged and she felt pain in her arm as he bit her hard on the arm.

Kitty was terrified by what she felt when she touched Peter. Her very soul felt it. It felt dark and cold. It made her want to cry and scream out. She had to get this thing out of Peter. She was about to try something when suddenly Peter lunged at her and but her arm. She yelled out and then phased through the floor to get away from him.

Isabella and Tony rushed in and Isabella immediately noticed that Kitty was gone. “What happened? Where is Kitty?”

In a feral rage Peter attacked them. He kicked Isabella in the chest and sent her sprawling out of the room and into the main living area. Tony punched him in the head but Peter was far stronger and faster than just a human. He grabbed him by the arm and tossed him out of his room. His arm snapped like a twig from the force and he landed hard a few feet from Isabella. Peter jumped out of his room. “Here Kitty Kitty KItty!”Peter yelled. “Come ere Kitty!” He said as he ran to go look for her.

Logan and Natalya came out of their room as did Steve and Kate. “What the hell?” Steve asked as Logan ran up to them. “What’s wrong with Peter?” He asked as he helped Isabella up. She had the wind knocked out of her as well as her breasts were very sore from being kicked.

Isabella winced as Steve helped her up to her feet. She was struggling to catch her breath and her chest ached from where Peter had kicked her. "He's after Kitty. She must have phased out of the room to get away from him." She looked over at Tony as Logan helped him up. "Are you alright Tony?"

Kitty could hear Peter looking for her. She knew she needed to keep him from catching her. Perhaps eventually he would give up and relax and his real personality would come back. She continued to phase through walls and floors as he looked for her. She always remained several steps ahead of him.

“My arm...I think it’s broken,” he said ashe got to his feet. “Logan and Natalya has followed him down one level. As they rushed in Natalya in Peter was there and he grabbed Natalya by her shoulders then flipped backward. She went flying until she ended up against the far wall. Logan growled and grappled him and wrestled him to the ground. Peter was stronger than Logan was but Logan has pressure on his wrist and bent it behind him. “Kitty!!!” Peter yelled. “Tranq him damn you!” Logan said as he strained desperately to hold him. Slowly Peter was getting out of his grasp. Once that happened he’d continue to look for Litty or hurt anyone who got in his way.

Natalya immediately got out her tranq gun, aimed and fired. She hit Peter in the side of the neck and within seconds he was out. She breathed out a sigh of relief, but waited for Logan to double check that he was really out before she called out for Kitty and told her it was safe. Peter was taken back to his room and put on the bed and the door was closed and locked. Kitty was shaken up, but didn't want to quit. She was determined to see this through.The memory of that alien being though would remain with her for the remainder of her life.

Tony was taken to the medical suite. Thankfully, they had extremely advanced technology that was able to set Tony's arm quickly. He was also given an injection that would speed up the healing process. They needed this technology in their line of work and it was well tested. Tony's arm would be healed in several days.

The next day Isabella brought Peter his breakfast. He was on the floor against the wall and he looked If he had been crying. Once he saw her he looked away. “I’m so sorry Isabella, so so sorry,” Peter said as he began to sob. “I didn’t want him to hurt you...I tried, I really tried to stop him. But I can’t,” he said.

Isabella's chest was sore and bruised, but she was going to be alright. Kate had checked out her heartbeat and everything was normal. Neither she nor Tony slept very well that night. They were both terribly worried about Peter and now about Kitty helping him. However, Kitty was insistent that she stay. She seemed more determined than ever to help him.

Isabella made Peter his favorite breakfast that morning and she walked down to his room and walked in. She sighed when she saw him on the floor crying. She put down the tray and looked at him, though she remained a few feet away from him. "I know you didn't Peter, and Tony and Kitty know that too. I know this is difficult and painful for you, but Kitty isn't going to give up. She's going to find a way to help you Peter. You just need to trust her and open yourself up to her. I know she can do this."

Peter nodded and calmed down after a time. Long enough for him to eat what she had brought. A few hours later he was playing that same game again and when Kitty came in he didn’t even flinch. When she sat next to him and joined his game he played with her like he had done before.

“I think it felt you see him. It was frightened and reacted I think,” he said. “I know Tony still has him somewhere close. It’s very good that I don’t know where,” he said.

Kitty walked in to Peter's room and sat down next to him and picked up her controller to begin playing. She had a bandage on her arm from where he had bit her, but she was keeping it covered up so he wouldn't get upset about it. She glanced at Peter when he began to talk about Venom feeling her.

"Do you think it would be better if Venom was taken somewhere else, much further away from here?"

“I don’t know. But Do you know what you did? Do you think you can do it again? Something...happened. It brought him to the surface completely. Like he was near the surface of a frozen lake. What would happen if he breaks it and escapes? What would happen if I could swim to the ice? I want to but he keeps holding me down,” he said.

He continued to play like before and didn’t look at her. Nor did he apologize. “Did he...hurt you?” He asked finally. “I didn’t want him to Kit. I hope you believe that. He is threatened that I think more and more about you and how much I want us to be friends,” he said

"He did," she admitted, "but I will be fine. I'm not exactly sure what I did, but I'm sure I can do it again. We just need to do it in a safe area. We also need to figure out how to contain him if he does break out. I can talk to Tony and Isabella about that."

When Peter told her that he wanted them to be friends she looked at him. "We are friends Peter and I'm going to help you."

The next several days were more of the same and when the avengers had left for a mission it was just her and Peter alone in the tower. Peter had asked her to get them some Chinese and they were eating together in his room on the floor. “I heard that you slapped Logan. I would have paid retail money to see that. No one does that to Logan normally,” he said. “Unless they have a death wish, why’d you do that? Did he do something to you when you were Shadowcat?’l he asked and her look made him smile.”I do have the internet you know,” he said almost giggling.

Kitty was continuing to do her best to be there for Peter and to win his trust. She spent more and more time with him, but continued not to rush things. They were alone in the Tower while Happy watched William and the rest of the team was off on a mission. Serena's wedding was in four days and she hated keeping that information from him, but she knew she had to. When Peter asked her about why she had slapped Logan she glanced at him. For a moment she hesitated about telling him the truth, but she decided to be honest.

"He is the reason my sister is dead," she told him. "I could have saved her, but Logan stopped me. He says I would have died too, but I still blame him for her death."

Peter listened to her explanation but he wasn’t certain it made much sense to him. Logan almost never backed down from a fight so if he did he had a good reason.

“So you feel guilt over her death and would have preferred to die with her?” Peter asked. “What good would that really do? And Logan doesn’t walk away from a fight unless he knew something, did you ever ask him?” Peter asked as he looked at her. He saw that she had a bit of sauce on the side of her mouth. He tried to gesture to tell her but she kept missing it. He brought his hand up to her face but she leaned back. He gestured that he wasn’t going to hurt her and then slowly he used his thumb to remove the sauce. Without thinking he licked his thumb. “Mmm,” I love general Tao’s,” he said.

Kitty sighed a little as she listened to Peter. He was saying exactly what Charles, Scott, Hank, and Storm had all told her but she still felt angry about it. She suddenly saw him gesturing to the side of her mouth and she wiped at it a few times but didn't entirely get the sauce off. She reacted a little when Peter brought his hand up to her face, but when she knew he wasn't going to hurt her she let him touch her. He wiped away the sauce with his thumb and then licked his thumb. She looked into his eyes for a moment after he did that before looking away and then back at him.

"Perhaps the person I am really angry at is myself because I couldn't save her."

“So many times there were situations when I wanted to do more but knew I couldn’t. When I was in Europe, Tony helped me a great deal. Stopped me from making a fool of of myself. Stopped me from trying to help but making even a larger disaster. Just because I wanted to help didn’t mean that I should have. Or could have. We are all who we are because we want to help and when we fail we
Feel real pain for it,” Peter said a she took another bite of food.

“I know you want to try again...so why don’t you?” He asked and set his container down beside him.

Tony had given Kitty a container that she could use to put the rest of Venom into if she was able to separate him from Peter's body. Since Peter seemed up for this she went and retrieved it. She walked back in and set the container down close to her. She wasn't entirely sure what she was going to do, but she figured she would know it at the time. She sat down across from him and she looked at him. "Are you sure you are ready for this?"

Peter’s eyebrows raised at that. “No...but I don’t want to be like this anymore,” he said. “Do you know what it’s like to have some horrible Creature inside your brain?” He asked. “Never knowing if he’ll take control. To as yourself doing horrible things,” he said and gestures toward the wound on her arm.

“I want to rebuild the life I had Kit, will ya help me?” He asked

Kitty's heart broke for Peter. She couldn't even imagine what he had been going through. It must be terrible. She looked at Peter with a soft, kind expression on her face. "Yes, I will help you Peter." She moved closer to him and paused a moment. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath and her sense of determination increased. She opened her eyes and she reached out and gently placed her hands on either side of Peter's head. "I need you to open yourself up fully to me Peter."

Peter did what she asked. He felt her hands there but no matter how hard he tried he couldn’t feel anything.”it’s not like having sex Kit!” He said annoyedly. He was getting frustrated but they decided to try again. Instead of trying though this time he ‘surrendered’ to it.

With her hands on the sides of his head she felt that same odd energy. As the energy increased she saw the blackness once again. Before it could Manifest though she pushed into it and like cracking an egg she found herself inside of it.

The area around her was filed with an odd fog. Peter was there with her but he was hunkered down as if he was afraid of something. “He’s here Kit! I can feel him!” He said. Something growled though it was distant. Like a panther in the jungle.

It took several tries, but Kitty was finally able to feel that same energy she had felt before. She didn't shy away from it. She could see the blackness once again and pushed through it so she was inside it. There she found Peter...the real Peter. She could see that he was scared and she suddenly heard a growling through the fog. She couldn't just pull Peter out. She needed to get rid of this thing once and for all. She turned to face it.

"Well come on! Show yourself!"

Something large and black slinked across her vision. It was
Still Foggy here but she knew it was Close now. It appeared on one aide of her and when she turned around it was gone. Then it was on the other side of her...in between her and Peter. In her mind it was a black panther and so it was. And not a small one either. It growled and showed it’s fangs to her and was definitely not letting her get around it to Peter.

When she tried it lunged at her. She felt it’s teeth sink into her arm but as they struggled it ended up on Tom of her and it was all she could do to keep its fangs from her throat. It was very Strong and she felt herself weakening. Then Peter jumped on its back. It reared back but he refused to let it go. “Blind it!” Peter shouted desperately as he fought to hold it back from her.

Kitty refused to feel fear when she finally saw the black mass come closer towards her. She couldn't feel fear. If she did then she would fail Peter. She couldn't fail him like she had failed her sister. It was strange that she had thought of it as a panther and that was what it appeared to her as. It was large and menacing and got between Peter and herself. She tried to get around it to Peter, but it lunged at her and sank its teeth into her arm. She fell back onto her back and struggled to keep it from biting her throat. As Peter jumped onto its back though it was momentarily distracted and when it turned back to her she used her nails to claw its eyes.

Kitty felt blood and sinew on her fingers as she raked at its eyes. It howled on pain and then farted away into the fog. It had knocked Peter to the floor and he struggled to get up. That and he looked afraid. The panther growled at them but it stayed in the fog for now.

Kitty felt the pain of the bite in her arm and her own blood trickled down her arm. Peter finally stood and then moved back toward her. “Your hurt,” he said as he ripped up his shirt and hastily made a makeshift bandage. The panther appeared again but as it came at them Peter lunged at it. Once his body ran into it the panther began to dissolve into a thick, black ooze in his hands.

“Hurry...get the box!” Peter cried as he desperately tried to hold onto it. Ofcourse Kitty didn’t have a box but just as she thought about it she looked down and beside her was a large metal box with latches on it. Together, though it was quite the struggle they managed to get the black ooze into the box. Once she shut the lid she was suddenly back in Peter’s room. To her horror she was holding the black ooze in her hands as it tried to find a way back into Peter’s head. Peter was underneath it with his hands out trying to keep it at bay.

“God I hate you!” Peter snarled. “You ruined my life!” He said as his former strength as Spider-Man began to re-emerge once more.