As a great superhero, you first need to realize that you are never fighting alone. The Avengers, the Defenders, the Fantastic Four, and the X-Men are just a few of the many heroes who always fight alongside you.
When dealing with a typical enemy, you might call for backup to add to your numbers. But against a symbiote, you absolutely, positively must call on the Human Torch, Johnny Storm. After all, he's hot enough—he can burn at 6,000 degrees Celsius. What symbiote could withstand that?
Seeing Vulture, who was visibly alarmed, the Human Torch rushed toward him, yelling "Here's Johnny!" This scared Vulture so much that he turned and fled. Meanwhile, Peter, to avoid accidentally harming Venom, retracted the symbiote and took a moment to listen to another one of Venom's critiques of the Human Torch.
[I don't like this guy.]
"Yeah, I'm not a big fan of overly enthusiastic people either. By the way, was he just making a Shining reference?"
Letting go of his web, Peter quickly dropped between the skyscrapers and swung toward the battle. Johnny was in the middle of a heated fight. Just his presence caused the dark symbiote to wail in agony and flee. To escape the terrifying fire, Vulture even flew at supersonic speeds. The symbiote on him throbbed and contorted as he broke the sound barrier, but he still chose to run.
However, the Human Torch could also fly at supersonic speeds. He quickly caught up to Vulture, wrapped in a wave of heat, and asked, "What's wrong? Is that all you've got? You're just giving up? C'mon, c'mon! I thought you aliens were supposed to be all that. This is it? This is all?"
"Shut up!"
Although he didn't dare to engage in close combat, Vulture was still very capable of launching his razor-sharp feathers from a distance, and he did so with gusto. Countless sharp feathers flew toward the Human Torch, but he just smiled, tossed a few fireballs their way, and laughed heartily. The fireballs instantly swallowed and engulfed the feathers.
This is it? This is all? He had never faced an enemy this easy before.
Relying on his familiarity with the high altitudes of New York, Johnny chose to take a detour, then rushed directly toward Vulture, smiling as he pounced on him. The symbiote on Vulture let out a series of wails. Fortunately, Johnny remembered a few key points that Spider-Man had told him: first, the person who was possessed was a good guy, so don't go all out. Second, they needed a complete symbiote for analysis and experimentation to find a way to track down the others.
So, he chose to gradually increase the heat.
Vulture, or more accurately, the Whiplash symbiote on Vulture, let out a painful wail. It could feel itself slowly withering and dying. In desperation, it shrieked, trying to express its pain. The Human Torch contained his flames and warned Whiplash, "I suggest you leave this old man's body immediately. Otherwise, you'll be completely incinerated."
"You won't! You're a hero, aren't you? You wouldn't kill someone, would you?"
Johnny raised an eyebrow and showed Whiplash what "precise control" meant. He directly spread his flames over the surface of the symbiote, carefully controlling the temperature to avoid burning the host inside. Whiplash wailed again, then fell to the ground. Johnny finally let go, watching a puddle of listless symbiote lie on the ground, trying to crawl away.
Peter finally arrived on the scene and had Venom grab Whiplash.
[Can I eat it?]
"Uh, no. Not unless you can eat it and still get its memories to tell us where the other three are." Peter shrugged helplessly, put the captured Whiplash into a test tube, and looked at the unconscious Adrian. The middle-aged man had only fainted, and his physical condition was still good. Peter nodded, stood up, retracted Venom, and extended his hand to Johnny.
"Thanks for the help, Johnny. If it weren't for you, we probably wouldn't have been able to handle it so easily."
"No problem, Spidey. The next time you run into one of these alien monsters, you can always count on me. The Human Torch can handle them." Johnny smiled and shook Peter's hand, then reminded him, "If you have time, come visit the Baxter Building. There's a lot of cool stuff there, and I can give you a tour."
"I will, if I ever get some free time."
Meanwhile, on the outskirts of Manhattan, a gray-black symbiote giant stood on a rooftop. With its superhuman vision, it witnessed the Human Torch's complete dominance over Whiplash.
"Do you need to go save your kind?" Dr. Otto Octavius asked, but Riot, who was attached to him, simply replied, "No. They didn't choose to kill Whiplash; they just captured it. That is an opportunity."
"An opportunity? You mean, you'll let them analyze Whiplash to find a way to locate you, and then you'll just wait for them?"
"Something like that." Riot chuckled, then revealed its true purpose. "We are not the first symbiotes to visit your planet. If they really find a way to find us, they won't just find us. They will surely find more dormant symbiotes left on this planet."
Otto Octavius was immediately on guard. "What are you planning to do?"
"What am I planning?" Riot rubbed its chin and grinned. "What does it matter? Aren't you humans the ones pursuing our power? If so, why are you so wary of finding more symbiotes?"
With Riot's laughter, it quickly left Manhattan with Otto Octavius, diving into the Hudson River and into a small submarine. As the symbiote left Otto's body, he returned to being a disabled man, crippled by Lou Gehrig's disease. The huge contrast made Otto feel intensely uncomfortable.
Riot then emerged again.
"You miss being whole, don't you? Then don't interfere with us. Help us, and you'll be able to walk again."
"What about the Human Torch? He'll just burn you to death."
Riot didn't seem to think there was a problem at all. It just snickered. "Don't worry. High temperatures won't be a problem for long."