My breath forms tiny clouds in the January air as I stare up at the imposing facade of the Baxter Building. The golden mask covering my face does nothing to ward off the bitter cold that seeps through my winter coat and chills me to the bone. Next to me, Venom's massive form seems completely unbothered by the temperature, the living darkness of her body shifting and flowing in perfect harmony with Ellie's movements beneath.
"The door's locked," she growls, her dual-layered voice vibrating through the freezing air between us.
I tug futilely at the handle one more time, as if my persistence might magically change the result. "Yeah... this is so annoying..."
Venom's massive head tilts downward, those blank white eyes somehow managing to convey amusement despite their alien emptiness. "Did you think we'd just knock on the Fantastic Four's door and get in?"
Heat floods my cheeks beneath my mask. "Honestly... Yeah, I really did."
I sigh, my breath creating another ghostly cloud that dissipates quickly in the winter air. The Baxter Building looms above us. Somewhere up there, the Fantastic Four, one of the world's coolest superhero team, are going about their business, completely unaware of the desperate teleporter and his symbiote-bonded girlfriend standing awkwardly at their doorstep.
"Do you want to climb us up there?" I suggest, gesturing vaguely upward. "I bet that would trip some sensor."
Venom crosses her massive arms, her blank white eyes narrowing as she considers the building's gleaming exterior. "Doesn't Spider-Woman have connections with them? Did you really come here without a plan, Shane?"
"Babe, you have to call me Skip Step when we're out heroing," I remind her, straightening my shoulders with what I hope looks like professional dignity rather than wounded pride.
The symbiote face contorts into what I recognize as Venom's version of an eye-roll, but there's affection in the gesture that makes my heart flutter despite the freezing temperature. "Sorry," she says, and I can hear the smile in her voice even through the symbiote's distortion.
"I don't really want to call Spider-Woman," I admit, shuffling my feet on the frozen sidewalk. "It feels awkward asking her for help after... you know... everything with Norma."
Venom's massive shoulders rise and fall in a shrug. "Yeah, fuck it. I don't really want you to call her either."
I sigh, staring through the gleaming glass doors at the empty lobby beyond. Security cameras blink silently from the corners, probably already recording our suspicious loitering.
"Fuck it, we ball," I mutter, focusing my gaze on a spot just inside the entrance.
The familiar golden energy surges through me, reality shifting as I dissolve and rematerialize inside the Baxter Building's lobby. The temperature change hits me immediately, blessed warmth replacing the biting cold. I hurry to the door controls, finding the electronic lock panel and disengaging it with a satisfying click.
Venom slips inside, her massive form moving with surprising grace despite her size. I quickly lock the doors behind her, the panel beeping softly as the system reengages.
"Really?" she asks, those blank white eyes narrowing slightly as she watches me reset the lock.
"I don't want anyone else wandering in while we're here," I explain, glancing around the pristine lobby with its sleek, futuristic design that screams "super-scientists live here."
"How exactly are we planning to get out?" Venom asks, her dual-layered voice carrying a hint of amusement.
I can't help but laugh. "Oh, babe, come on... we're one hundred percent going to trip an alarm within the next five minutes. They'll probably end up kicking us out."
As soon as the words leave my mouth, the entire lobby transforms. Metal blast doors slam down over the glass entrance with a deafening clang. Red emergency lights flash overhead as a piercing alarm shrieks through the building, the sound drilling into my skull like an ice pick.
"Shit!" I yell, spinning around to see Venom collapse to her knees, her massive body convulsing violently. The symbiote writhes across her form like oil on water, parts of it trying to separate while others cling desperately to Ellie.
"Fuck! The alarms!" I drop to my knees beside her, my heart hammering against my ribs. "I wasn't even thinking!"
The high-pitched wail is excruciating even to my human ears, I can't imagine what it's doing to the symbiote. I run my hands over Venom's trembling back, feeling the living darkness ripple and contract beneath my touch.
"I'm so sorry," I tell her frantically, trying to provide comfort even as she writhes in agony. "I'm so, so sorry. Just hold on, okay?"
Her only response is a guttural howl that tears through my heart. The symbiote is peeling away in places, revealing glimpses of Ellie's skin underneath before flowing back to cover her again.
I'm about to try and get us out of here when a strange sensation grips my body, weightlessness. My feet lift off the ground as an invisible force surrounds me, suspending me in midair. Beside me, Venom rises too, still contorted in pain but now floating in a perfect circle of energy.
I twist my head and there they are, Invisible Woman and Missus Fantastic, standing at the far end of the lobby. Susan Storm's hands are extended toward us, maintaining the force fields that hold us captive, while her wife studies us with detached scientific curiosity.
"Turn off the alarm!" I shout, struggling uselessly against the invisible barrier. "Please! You're hurting my girlfriend!"
Missus Fantastic stretches her arm impossibly across the lobby, her limb elongating like taffy until her fingers reach a security panel on the wall. With practiced precision, she punches in a code, and mercifully, the shrieking alarm cuts off mid-wail. The sudden silence feels almost physical, like cool water washing over my frayed nerves.
Venom's massive form immediately begins to stabilize, the symbiote settling back into place around Ellie's body like a rippling black tide finding its shore. The convulsions slow, then stop entirely as she hangs suspended in Invisible Woman's force field.
"Thank you so much," I breathe out, relief flooding through me as I watch Venom's blank white eyes reform, narrowing slightly as she regains control.
Susan Storm regards us with cool suspicion, her blonde hair perfectly styled despite the emergency situation. The force fields around us remain firmly in place, transparent bubbles of energy that hold us floating three feet above the marble floor. The blast doors covering the entrance stay locked down, sealing us inside the lobby.
"And you are?" she asks, her voice calm but with an edge of steel beneath it.
"I'm Skip Step," I answer, trying to sound more heroic than I feel while suspended helplessly in midair. "And this is Venom. We're... um, we're heroes."
Missus Fantastic's arm snaps back to normal length with a sound like a rubber band. She adjusts gives us skeptical expression, studying us like we're particularly interesting lab specimens.
"Heroes who break into private property?" she asks, one eyebrow arching so high it almost disappears into her prematurely graying hairline.
"We knocked first," I offer weakly, fully aware of how pathetic that sounds. "The door was locked, and I really need to talk to you."
Venom growls beside me, the symbiote fully recovered now. "We didn't come to fight," she says, her dual-layered voice reverberating through the lobby. "But we will if you don't put us down."
"No we won't," I say firmly, shooting a meaningful look at Venom through my mask. Her blank white eyes narrow slightly, but she gives a barely perceptible nod.
I turn my attention back to the two superheroes holding us captive. "Listen, Invisible Woman, I bet your sister would have mentioned me. I worked with her and Ice Woman once to help people at Fisk Tower."
Susan Storm's expression shifts subtly, recognition dawning in her eyes. "Yes, she did mention you," she admits, studying me more carefully now. "She said you disappeared that night. She was worried she'd gotten you killed."
"Nope, still here in the flesh," I reply, trying to keep my voice light despite being suspended in midair. "Obviously."
Missus Fantastic steps forward, her lanky frame moving with scientific precision as she circles beneath us. "So why exactly are you here?" she asks, her tone suggesting she's already cataloging and analyzing every detail of our appearance.
I take a deep breath, knowing this is the moment of truth. "Well, I'm looking for someone, and I think you can help me."
Missus Fantastic's eyebrow arches even higher. "And who, pray tell, would that be?"
"She probably goes by the name Molecule Woman."