Liz arrived at the hospital accompanied by Harry. Outside the hospital, only Peter and Johnny Storm were waiting for the family to arrive. Inside, S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Bus team had temporarily taken over the ward, where Simmons was examining Adrian Toomes.
"How is my dad?"
"His vital signs are all normal, he's just very exhausted. The fusion with that alien lifeform took a heavy toll on his stamina," Simmons, who was posing as a doctor, explained Adrian's current condition. "But other than that, everything is fine. However, the patient may have some psychological issues that need to be addressed, so you'll need to be mindful of that."
"Can we go in and see him?"
"Of course, no problem."
Liz breathed a sigh of relief, nodded, and walked into the ward with Harry to see her father lying on the hospital bed. When Simmons came out, she wanted to discuss some things with Peter, so she looked apologetically at Human Torch. "I'm sorry, Mr. Storm, but we have some work-related matters to discuss. Due to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s confidentiality policy, so..."
"I understand, sweetheart. If you want to talk after you're done, I'll be outside."
After Human Torch left, Simmons looked down, organized her thoughts, and then looked at Peter. "Spider-Man, this might sound a bit presumptuous, but could you provide us with... a blood sample?"
"May I ask why?"
"Dr. Adrian's cells, especially his blood cells, have undergone some strange changes. The symbiote's molecular structure has weirdly fused with his cells. It hasn't changed his cell structure, but it's more like... it's become a component of the cell, similar to a cell membrane or something. This change is gradually fading, though, so I was thinking, maybe your cells..."
Peter instantly understood what Simmons was talking about.
This was one of the symbiotes' characteristics: once a symbiote and host were fused for more than 48 hours, they would form a permanent symbiotic relationship. This didn't mean the symbiote was locked to the host, but rather that the symbiote would store the host's consciousness in its hive mind network, making it a part of the network. This imprint was called a "Codex." At the same time, a part of the symbiote's residue would permanently remain in the host's body, even after the symbiote detached or died.
The former characteristic allowed dead symbiote hosts like Eddie Brock and Eugene Thompson to be resurrected through the symbiote's hive mind in the comic event "King in Black." The latter allowed for the creation of new, special symbiotes, such as Anti-Venom, which was created from the fusion of Mister Negative's powers and the residual Venom in Eddie Brock's body after he had lost the symbiote.
The strange phenomenon Simmons observed was clearly the beginning of the Codex formation due to Adrian's prolonged fusion with Lasher.
"Of course, no problem." Peter nodded, but then thought of something and immediately added, "But I have three conditions. My blood must be destroyed after the research is completed and not kept. I don't want to see a bunch of Spider-Man clones in front of me one day."
Simmons, thinking Spider-Man was being a bit dramatic, nodded. She didn't think S.H.I.E.L.D. would do such a thing. But Peter wasn't worried about S.H.I.E.L.D. He was worried about Hydra, which was operating in the shadows of S.H.I.E.L.D., especially their Bus team's Agent Ward, who was a Hydra sleeper agent.
Should I use this opportunity to set a trap and expose Ward's true colors?
Peter began to seriously consider this.
Meanwhile, Grant Ward was going about his normal day. As a Hydra agent, there wasn't much for him to worry about. The Bus team's purpose was to assist the Avengers and clean up their messes. During this time, he didn't need to do anything but act like a normal S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. When the time came, he would submit his reports, and the intelligence on Coulson and his teammates would naturally be delivered to Hydra.
He sat in the car, monitoring the parking lot for any suspicious individuals. Suddenly, a shifty-looking figure in the distance caught his attention. He frowned, pulled out his gun, and cautiously approached the person. As he got closer, the figure became clearer: a normal, burly Black man holding a bag of drugs.
But Ward didn't let his guard down. He pretended to put his gun away and walked past as if he were just a passerby. The burly man, as expected, was up to no good and reached out to grab Ward.
Ward locked the man's wrist, twisting his arm behind his back. He pointed his gun at the man's head and asked sternly, "Tell me, who sent you?"
"What? No, no, don't kill me!"
"I asked who sent you!"
"I just wanted to steal some money for my drugs! Don't kill me! Please don't kill me!"
Ward held the man down and watched him for several seconds. After confirming that he wasn't lying, he shook his head. Suddenly, he felt something tugging at his leg. He quickly turned to look, but the burly man was still on the ground, afraid to get up.
Ward pulled up his pants leg and, after confirming there was nothing there, returned to his car. After a while, Simmons came down with a briefcase, smiling and signaling to Ward. Ward opened the car door for her.
"Looks like you had a successful haul?"
"Yeah, I didn't expect Spider-Man to be so cooperative. But he did ask us to destroy his blood after we're done with the tests, so I'll have to explain the situation to Coulson."
As Simmons began her call to Coulson, Ward nodded. Alright, I'll remove the task of stealing Spider-Man's DNA sample from the report for now.
When they got back to the Bus, Coulson took possession of the blood sample, insisting that every future experiment had to be conducted with the entire team present. Otherwise, it would be locked in a safe. After confirming that he had no chance of getting the sample, Ward chose to go back to sleep.
He had a long-lost dream, a dream of the day he was recruited out of juvie by his mentor, the Hydra spy "The Clairvoyant," a S.H.I.E.L.D. Level 8 agent named Garrett.
He wasn't dreaming.
The gray-black symbiote emerged from Ward's body. Riot took form in an instant. After reading Ward's memories, he was quite surprised, then chose to fall silent and receded back into Ward's body.
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