Flood Ch. 2

REIGN OF SYMBIOTES
Part 3: Flood
A Fan-Fiction epilogue based on the game Spider-Man: Web of Shadows
Story by Orion Petitclerc

CHAPTER 2
MONSTER

It was the first time Peter had walked through the doors of Stark Tower since before he became king of the symbiote army.  The place was an utter mess, with chunks of wall, decimated furniture, and broken glass littering the floor.  Shriek's minions turned out to be a messy, ruthless bunch by the looks of it.  Iron Man flew towards Spidey from a large hole in the ground down a hallway and landed in a bow at Spidey's feet.  "My lord, the damage to most of the tech in the tower is significant.  Shriek had no idea what she was looking for, so she had her minions tear the place apart for what seemed good enough to make a rocket."
"This is the Avengers Tower we're talking about," said Spidey.  "I know there's a Quinjet somewhere in here.  What's the status on that?"
"Luckily Shriek's forces overlooked the hangar bay, so the Quinjet is untouched.  It can be in the air in ten minutes or less."
"Good," Peter smirked under the mask.  "Speed is of the essence.  I want to be at the Rockies yesterday."
Nine and a half minutes later, the Quinjet is speeding towards its destination with Spider-Man, Iron Man, Thor, and Black Widow in its cockpit.  Not too long after takeoff, the Quinjet touches down on a landing pad at the super human prison, the Vault.  The four villains stepped out onto the landing pad, poised for battle with the prison guards.  To their dismay, none came.  Spidey looked to the reception area, and saw no one behind the glass.  All was quiet.
"This is not good," Peter said to himself.  They all walked into the Prison, and again it was dead silent.  Not a single breath echoed down the halls.  "Stay with the Quinjet," Spidey motioned to Black Widow.  "Take care of anything that tries to touch it."
Iron Man, Thor, and Spidey continue deeper into the Vault.  They finally arrive at the main prison block to find no guards or inmates waiting for them.  All the cell doors were open, but there were no signs of a struggle.  Then a strange sensation came to Peter, but not from his Spider-sense.  He tensed, and all three looked about them to see what was causing the uneasiness.  Not spotting any sign of life, Spidey looks to Iron Man.
"Find a computer.  Hack the database and find what we came for."  Peter then turned to Thor, "Search the prison.  If you find anyone, turn them."  Thor and Iron Man flew off in different directions with their orders.  Spider-Man swung to the indoor courtyard.  Empty.  Then the strange feeling returned again, pulling Spidey towards the cafeteria.  The feeling disappeared, and again emptiness.  Something wasn't right, and Spidey couldn't place his finger on it.  The feeling returned once more, but much stronger that the last time.  Spider-Man rushed towards it, leading him into another indoor courtyard.  This time, there was something.  In the middle of the courtyard lay a pile of dead guards, all mutilated and torn apart.  Upon the widest wall was written in their blood "Carnage Rules!"
Before the chill reached the base of Peter's spine, the PA system crackled to life and echoed with a vicious cackle.  Then the maniacal voice rang out: "Welcome to my little house of horrors, Spider-Man!  I knew you would come.  A place like this would be an obvious choice for increasing the ranks of an army of super humans, so I decided to beat you to the punch!  As you can see, the Carnage Carnival only takes in fellow freaks, which leaves no room for civvies!"
Spidey began to swing through the prison, looking for Carnage or his minions.  The place was empty, but that's not all that disturbed him: he couldn't find Thor.
"Looking for us?  I'm sorry, but the Carnival had to move on!  But don't worry, I left behind a closing act just for you," Carnage chuckled.  Spider-Man then realized that he had been listening to a recording once it began to replay.  He had been beat.  Peter had an army sweeping the entire continent, constantly growing, and he had been beat to one of the most important joints by a madman and his circus.  He gave out a long cry of frustration.
Thor replied in a crash through a wall.  Iron Man flew through the wall, firing his repulsors at some unseen enemy.  All of a sudden a long, metallic tentacle pierced through the smoke and knocked Iron Man out of the air.  A monstrous growl reverberated off the walls, a growl that would have chilled a normal person's soul.  This growl simply sent a shiver down the three villains' backs.  The source of the destruction promptly reared its ugly head: the good Doctor Otto Octavius drenched in blood-red symbiote.  His jagged, yellow teeth clacked at his three-course meal with carnal hunger.
"We're too late," said Spidey.  "Well if I can't have Doc Ock, no one can!  Tear him limb from limb, boys."  Iron Man and Thor recovered on command and lunged towards the monster.  Spidey webbed two of Ock's tentacles to the ground, but just as Spidey suspected this did not hinder his foe.  Thor attempted to destroy a tentacle with his mighty Mjolnir, failing to even scratch it and earned him another swift blow to the chest.
"No, you idiot!  Ock's tentacles are made from adamantium!  The best we can do is try to disconnect the tentacles from him and immobilize them," yelled Spidey.  "You two fight from a distance and keep him occupied!"  Both Thor and Iron Man retreated a few yards back and proceeded to use ranged attacks.  All but one tentacle flailed towards the distant foes.  Spider-Man bobbed and weaved through the air, avoiding the fourth, writhing tentacle.  He then shot a web line to the back of the monster's head, pulling himself quickly to Ock's back.  Spidey grabbed the base of the pursuing tentacle and began to pull.  The bloody spawn, however, resisted the disconnect of the limb, pulling it back into the socket and shooting its own sharp, deadly tentacles Spidey's way.  He recoiled to safety as Ock's symbiote exploded into a violent fury of sharpened tentacles and edges.  Ock turned towards Spidey, growled, and threw a symbiote-formed spear towards his old foe.
Luckily, Spider-Man still had the advantage of his spider-sense, and leaped a split second before the spear pierced between his eyes.  Spiked tentacles slid down Ock's arms, and the monster began to whip at the three villains in a blind, roaring rage.  Spidey attempted two more times to get close to Ock's back, but through the six flailing tentacles and the writhing symbiote suit he found himself in constant retreat.
Finally Peter turned to his minions, "Iron Man, use your chest beam against the main body!  Thor, channel all your lightning onto Ock's back!"  Doc Ock's symbiote flashes and sizzles at this attempt of submission, but it is unwise to forget that his robotic tentacles have minds of their own.  Each begins to tear away pieces of the surrounding building, throwing the rubble at the three foes.  Spidey notices the support beams begin to buckle and the roof starting to sag.
"Fall back to the Quinjet!  He's tearing this place apart," yelled Spider-Man in all the commotion.  As the three comrades retreat, the eight-armed blob of rage lumbers on their tail, howling for blood.
"Die," Ock growled.  "Die die die DIE!!!!"  The monster's arms tore away at the walls and ceiling around it, causing the roof to collapse after the fleeing party.  As the prison crumbled around them, Spider-Man looked up to the roof and spotted silver movement through the cracks.
"You two!  Punch a hole through the ceiling," he called to his minions.  Spidey spun a web line onto Iron Man's back as he blasted the ceiling with his repulsors.  Thor charged ahead, breaking apart the falling debris with Mjolnir.  The three surfaced through the destruction, and Peter's guess was right.  Black Widow hovered above the prison in the Quinjet awaiting the extraction of her comrades and king.  "There!  Move it!"
As they flew a beeline to their floating sanctuary, Spidey had turned in time to see Ock emerging from the chaos below.  His tentacles began to extend, clawing at the escapees.  Spidey quickly web-zipped to the Quinjet ahead of his minions, and without looking back, "Tony, lock away our noodle-armed warden in his stone tomb!"
"With pleasure," droned Iron Man as he turned to finish his enemy.  With both arms extended in front of him, Tony fired continuous repulsor blasts into Ock's chest, pummeling him back into the collapsing prison.  The four, long tentacles followed its master as the rubble buried the monster alive.  Content with his work, Iron Man joined his ranks in the Quinjet.  As the heroes took off from the decimated prison, Thor turned to his master.
"Dost thou believe that vile monster Octavius at last vanquished, my lord?"
"Without those extra arms of his, Otto is just an ordinary man," Tony interjected.  "I'm confident that he was crushed to death despite the symbiote's resilience."
"Oh no," Spider-Man chuckled.  "Spider-Man has known Doc Ock almost all his life, and if there's one thing we can be sure of, it's that Otto is no bug that can easily be crushed.  Like our dear friend Carnage, he is just another cockroach that keeps coming back.  You wait and see."
Black Widow turned to meet Spidey's gaze.  "What is our destination, my lord?"
"Back to Manhattan," replied Spider-Man.  "If I'm correct, the Fantastic Four should be arriving back in our dimension shortly.  I want to give them a warm welcome."