Arc Five. Chapter One Hundred Forty-Six. Tower Of Power

Peter started nervously at Stark Tower. While Pepper had been true to her word and he had a position, it was still a bit weird to screw the boss’s girlfriend, make a sex tape, and then blackmail him. Even with all the reasons Pepper gave, he still felt guilty at his part in it all. He would hate if the girls did that to him, and maybe Tony didn’t deserve it.

As he swiped the card Pepper had sent him and made his way to the lab where he’d be working he could already hear the pair arguing. He immediately recognised Pepper's voice, he’d heard it often enough a few days ago, and he had to guess that the other was Tony Stark.

“Look, he’s brilliant, he’s young and you need an assistant, one who actually knows what you're talking about. So, unless you suddenly bought back all that stock and made yourself CEO again, then I say he’s working here.” Pepper calmly told Tony. Peter could smell the nice perfume she was wearing as he caught her eye, and she nodded politely at him.

“Oh look who it is, the rat that snuck into the tower. Jarvis, do we have an exterminator on staff?”  Tony said, rolling his eyes as the door slid open to reveal Peter.

“Well, Pepper didn't mind sneaking me in the back door, maybe you should take her advice and listen, I don't mind coming for her, but you Tony, not my type.”

And while Pepper covered her mouth and coughed, Tony raised an eyebrow, “hmm,” was all he said. ”Look uh kid, everything anything in here is expensive and way above your level, maybe, start in the mailroom?”

“Oh really, so the Iron Man armour isn't built on Goblin tech, enhanced with polyluminal alloys, and the arc reactor isn't based on your dad’s tech, shrunk by using Liv Octavious’s Arcstar design but using a multifaceted reaction chamber then cycling the energy through a polycrystalline matrix before juicing the output using exotic particles?” Peter asked, staring at a machine that seemed to go ‘ping’ but not much else.

“Yeah, I might get a more intelligent conversation in the mailroom, rather than the giant whiner baby talk I'm hearing here.”

Pepper stifled a laugh, “I’ll leave you two alone, play nice, both of you,” and she waved as she left the lab.

“So, did you?” Tony asked, “there are rumours of her visiting a certain warehouse in Brooklyn and I’ve seen a certain video. So, did you?”

Peter shrugged, “going straight for it huh, you pissed her off, and yes, I did”

Tony looked down at the Iron Man gauntlet right in front of him, it was wired to the power and if he fired it he could claim the kid set it off without realizing it.

“But boo fucking hoo, you were on a break, and you screwed Natasha. So what if I fucked her, you cheated on her, you hit on my girlfriend and oh, you fucking stole about a quarter of a billion dollars worth of patents. So really, go ahead, I can feel the anger coming from you, I can hear the thought of you attacking me.”

Peter had moved in front of the gauntlet, he recognised the repulsor tech and he knew it wasn't anywhere near powerful enough to hurt him. He stood and spread his arms.

“Look, I’ll stand right here, in its path, go ahead, fire it, but once it hit me I going to get back up and ass fuck you with it, and you won’t enjoy it as much as Pepper did.''

For a moment Tony just stared at the gauntlet, and as Peters powers grew, even without the Stone, he could feel the mix of emotions pouring from Tony.

“But you know as well as I do, that it’ll just add to the nightmares, just add to all that guilt I can feel gnawing at you.” Tony stared at his hands, shaking as they always did now, when he was tense, when he was pressured.

“You’re a mess Tony, and you took that out on her, and she hates you for it.” was all he said and as Tony stared at the repulsor he shook his head and powered it down.

“Insurance would kill me if I got a kid killed in my lab,” and he shrugged.

“Insurance would kill Pepper if you didn't have a good proctologist on staff, that thing won't hurt me, or don't you know?” Peter asked, he knew Pepper knew about the symbiotes as Fury had asked Gwen to help research them after the invasion incident but he just assumed Tony did as well.

Petter was dumbfounded when Tony laughed, “really, you think you could take a repulsor blast to the chest,” and Tony laughed more. “You? Kid I don’t get it, I really don’t but sure, okay, fine. I was a bastard to her and she got me back, that’s fine, “ and Tony shrugged, “but I made her a promise I would change, so“ and Tony slipped on the gauntlet, “if you fucking touch her I swear next time won’t be just a thought,” and he fired it at a test chamber set up for fine-tuning the weapon.

Peter stared and laughed. “Next time?” and as he grew he fired off a black dart that penetrated through the block of gel, “you won’t get a next time,” and Venom leered at Tony.

“Holy shit,” and Tony fumbled backwards, pointing the repulsor at Venom and he could hear it whine as it powered up. “Fuck, fuck” Tony repeated over and over and he could hear Peppers laughter coming in through one of the lab speakers 

“If you two are finished measuring your dicks, then Tony let Peter see your armour. He has a letter from Olivia, and has worked on the Mark One and Two Goblin armour, and could help you with that, and Venom, please, Peter has clearance, not you. Both of you calm down. Let Tony see your symbcells. Gwen mentioned needing a way to stabilize them outside of your body and Tony can help with that.” and the speaker cut out.

“Your fucking Venom. Shit, Pepper let Venom into my lab.” and as the panic gripped Tony, he scooped up the gauntlet and pointing it at him, tried to call security but Pepper appeared on the screen instead 

“Stop being a baby,” was all she said before it cut off and Peter shook his head, letting the symbskin slide back into his everyday clothes.

“Peppers right you know, it's not like I came here to fight, so stop whining and show me the suit. The Goblin was cool but the Iron Man suit looks much cooler.”

Tony, stood, sweating and pale and Peter reached out, calm, he thought, calm, and Tony relaxed. Peter saw the anxiety and whatever was eating away at Tony like a black cloud around him, that could be me, he thought to himself and decided to cut Tony some slack. He was a giant mess of anxiety, arrogance, money. Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist, now needed to have emotional wreck added to it.

Tony stepped back and lowered the gauntlet, returning it to the testing cradle, maybe I should give the kid a chance, he thought, as long as he learns who’s boss.

“Of course, I looked at the Goblin specs and it was a disaster, whoever built it was a lunatic,“ Tony paused, remembering that if Peter was Venom then he was engaged in a life and death struggle with the man before he escaped, “uh, sorry”

“Oh no, I know he was, Harry was dosing him. The formula he was injecting had been altered, which .made him nuts but after checking out and upgrading the armour, it's not too bad, I mean, Ultron used it.”

“Sure, let's get the opinion of a deranged murderbot as well, nice.“ Tony rolled his eyes.

Peter sighed as Venom slid back, “Tony, I've got nothing against you, even the patents are more Livs thing, she might smack you a few times though.” 

Tony snorted, “sure.” and as he made finger quotes “Liv”, and he sat on the edge of his desk, “another one of your girlfriends I need to keep away from?” and Peter laughed, 

“Uh, I wouldn't say that. Olivia Octavious. Last I checked her diploma count was higher than yours”

Tony’s eyes went wide, “you know where Olivia Octavious is?” and then seeing the look on Peters smug stupid face, “you’re screwing her aren’t you?” and Peter smirked and nodded, 

“so, guess she won't be working for you any time soon.” and Tony sat down, holding the gauntlet between his hands.

“Look, so you're smart enough to work here, powerful enough to help me build the armour and got the backup if we need help, but so do most graduates. I mean, there are literally hundreds of applicants beating at my door, throwing projects at me, why should I choose you? and don't you dare mention peppers backdoor again.”

“This.” and Peter took off his shirt and turned around, the harness lay perfectly flat against his skin but Tony just shrugged, “the Mark One, so?”

Peter left part of himself extend into it, and the four arms grew and extended from his back.

“Name a tool?” And Tony frowned,

“a four quarter-inch drive ratchet wrench.”

Peter looked at him raising an eyebrow, “smartass,” but Tony watched in amazement as the symbskin flowed over the harness arms gathering at the end and moulding themselves into the too, he described. 

“As Pepper spoke to Gwen I guess it's okay. I can make anything, and I mean anything,” and Peter let the arms change from simple blades to screwdriver to a sander to a multi-jointed finger contraption, “but the cells aren't stable once they’re outside my body.” Peter dropped one of the arms down and it dripped a splodge of black on the table. After a few seconds, Peter blew and the black dust floated into the air.

“I guess Pepper wants you to help me stabilize it, see if there are any real-world applications but this time Mr Smartass, these are patented,” and Peter handed over a sheaf of papers, the basic designs for the CLS and the nano tubing that he and Gwen had created from analysing his symbcells.

“Pepper has the contracts, and we signed them, all you need is-” but Tony waved him quiet as he read, flicking each paper over,

”hmm, can I?” And Peter nodded. “Jarvis scan and compile these as 3D models, display them on the main terminal and enhance.”

As Tony spun and removed parts of the chain molecule he sat back and rubbed his throat with a hand,

“Hmm, natural morphic structure, your cells can change shape at will, probably some kind of electrical impulse you can control. Your webbing, a long change polymer made from the same stuff that your cells are made from. Jarvis, can this be replicated without a living host?”

Jarvis conducted several scans, a pale blue light flickering over Peter, “yes sir, the chain is something that can be fabricated. The cellular structure is unique but stable. I believe that the notes Miss Stacy left on the server have answered Mr Parker's initial query. The cells break down after losing electoral cohesion. Once they are created their life span is limited, and once they leave the electrical field you generate which keeps them in flux. I believe a metal alloy recorded from a meteorite in Africa has similar properties.”

“Thanks Jarvis, had Miss Stacy managed to create a formula to stabilise the cells outside the body?”

“Patching you through now Sir.”

“No, wait, that. Oh hi, Miss Stacy, me and Pete here were discussing you,” and Gwen scowled at the screen, 

“First off, I'm working, even if you are Tony Stark and second if you hurt him or made him mad I know how to find you Mr-”

“Woah Woah Woah, mama bear much? No, I got your research notes and was wondering how far along you've come? You could head here and help if you’d like.”

The screen split and Pepper appeared. “Are you poaching staff, Tony? I did say to check with me first,”

“Oh come on Pep, I need more samples if I'm to get this working and uh, what with the patent thing, Pete here mentioned a half-million dollars worth of them stolen from Oscorp”

“We check Peter, I was going to see you later, if you or Tony survived. Tony, the patents you bought were under Liv Octavius’s name, while she is a wanted fugitive we procured them without dispute, once she’s found and cleared we could be facing a lawsuit. Peter, we can return them, but they were paid for legally. You would need to reimburse us the amount we paid.”

Peter sighed, “It’s fine, the armour isn’t what we were working on anyway, plus Hammer got the glider ones.” Tony snorted at the mention of Hammer.

Pepper nodded, “and you two are?”

“Fine, we’re fine Pep, you were right I was wrong. Sorry, please don't do it again and I’ll behave.” Tony actually looked apologetic to Peter, he might actually mean it and Pepper seemed satisfied.

“Good. Thank you, Peter, and I’ll sort things out with legal. We just need to get you to sign the contracts for employment, and then you’re good to go.”

A few moments later a series of contracts were sent over, all signed by Tony and waiting for Peters signature as well.

Taking a deep breath Peter signed his name with a flourish. With this, he could get help on his CLS and Tony would get to examine his symbcells in detail.

As the contracts were signed and squirrelled away by a secretary, Peter's phone rang.

“Uh Hi Liv, what’s up?” Peter asked, Liv sounded upset

“What the hell did you do Peter? The warehouse just got served notice. A whole bunch of suits showed up, handed me papers from Stark Industries and then barged in, took almost everything and then left.” She shouted down the phone at him.

“Uh, nothing, I just signed the contracts with Tony,” and looking over he saw the smug grin on Tony’s face.

“I don't like it when people touch my stuff, so I took yours,” and he shrugged.

Peter swore, “Fuck. Liv, I’ll fix it, honest I’ll fix it.” Peter hung up and called Pepper, “Tony altered the contracts,” and Pepper sighed,

”I know Peter, I know, but it's too late. Parker Industries is shut down and the CLS belongs to Stark Industries now. Unless you take us to court we can't do anything.” hearing her voice while Pepper might not have known about it, she wasn't about to go out of her way to fix it either. 

“Are you going to help?” he asked her and she sighed,

“We will reverse them in good faith, but you’ll need to pay the lawyer fees. Other than that, no. Tony has every right to change a contract and I don’t see what benefit it brings to change them back, sorry Peter but that's business.”

Peter hung up his phone, the anger bubbling in his chest. The small amount of pity he had for Stark just evaporated. Anxiety, PTSD, or whatever the hell Tony was suffering from was no excuse to be that much of a jerk, not when it was his life’s work at stake.

“You know Stark, the CLS is based on the make-up of my symbcells, and without the manufacturing method they’re useless, but you missed one thing, my cells, they let me do some neat things,” and slamming a hand on one of Tony's control panel the black leached out and the light flickered.

A video began to play on one of the monitors. A very obvious blonde-haired CEO was busy performing a very intimate sex act and Tony watched as Peter and Pepper kissed while his hands touched and teased her front while he occupied the back. It played out at high speed, repeating over and over.

“JARVIS, shut that down,” Tony yelled as he watched Pepper being filled repeatedly,

“Oh sorry, he can't hear you, Jarvis is uh, busy,” Peter said menacingly.

He was busy fighting off Peter's control of the tower. Even with a few cells Peter had learned to control and dominate a simple program, his time in the goblin armour, with the glider and the harness, had taught him how to properly use his powers. Even a complex program like Jarvis couldn't stop him.

“You touch my stuff and I touch yours back,” Peter said, and as his symbskin leached over him, Venom towered over Tony.