Tuesday was a quiet day. With the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, and the Thunderbolts all gone to salvage Grendel, Peter was pretty much the only hero in New York.
Oh, and there was Coulson's bus team.
Peter was still unaware of the sinister plot being hatched. The four symbiotes who wanted to awaken Knull didn't kidnap Venom for emergency food. Instead, they needed a Codex.
Normally, when a symbiote dies, its consciousness returns to the Klyntar collective consciousness. But that's only under normal circumstances. If they found Grendel, then Knull's consciousness inside Grendel would have priority over the Klyntar collective.
So, as long as they were close enough, if they killed Venom or any host he had bonded with for over 48 hours, their Codex would not go to Klyntar, but to Grendel. Knull, upon receiving the Codex, would then awaken.
Afterward, the symbiote dragon Grendel would return to Klyntar, awaken their master Knull, and control all the traitors, thus resuming the Black King's conquest of the universe.
Unfortunately, their plan went awry. First, they crashed in the Arizona desert, where there were no hosts to bond with. Then, they were captured by the U.S. military and experimented on for decades, only to be released recently.
And of course, the sacrificial Venom was the first to be released and bonded with an incredibly powerful host. Now, there was no doubt that none of them could defeat Spider-Man + Venom in a one-on-one fight.
So, they had to execute their backup plan. Since Knull could accept any Codex, Riot's own would suffice. All he needed to do was parasitize a decent host, wait 48 hours for the Codex to form, and then either he or Spider-Man would die in a grand battle.
As long as a death occurred, Knull would be revived.
But before all that...
Ward, who was monitoring Spider-Man's activities from the S.H.I.E.L.D. bus, took a sip of coffee before suddenly standing up. "Fitz! Your detector is beeping!" he shouted excitedly.
The bus team had stayed in New York because the other symbiotes left behind by the military's experiments were still unaccounted for. They had to remain and continue to scan for symbiote signals on the East Coast of North America. To their surprise, they actually got a hit. Now they could round these guys up for good.
What if the U.S. military objects? Are you kidding? When has S.H.I.E.L.D. ever backed down from the Pentagon? In an emergency, S.H.I.E.L.D. even has the authority to bypass the U.S. president and directly command the military.
Let's do this!
"Contact Spider-Man immediately and tell him we've found other symbiotes," Coulson ordered. "These symbiotes may have already found hosts and bonded with them, so be careful of potential counterattacks from the enemy."
"Fitz, are the anti-symbiote weapons ready?"
"They're ready. I've adjusted the sonic emitter based on the Shocker's gauntlets," Fitz said as he took out a gun barrel attachment about five centimeters in size. "Use the battery magazine, pull the trigger, and it will emit a hyper-frequency sonic blast. Just remember not to shoot people."
"Piece of cake," Ward said, taking the attachment and putting it on his sidearm, a confident smile on his face.
A few minutes later, on the bottom of the Hudson River, in the former Hydra lab, Doctor Octopus had pumped the river water out of a few still-functional labs. He started the generators, ready to begin his experiments again. He planned to make this a lab of his own. The accident in the Hudson River had served as a warning. The U.S. military was unreliable, and they might even be hiding some truly terrifying secrets. Moreover, these symbiotes were not just simple parasites, as the military believed. They might be planning a full-scale invasion of Earth.
Given this, he had to have a backup plan.
While making a deal with Riot, Doctor Octopus also began his research on the symbiotes. Focusing on the two symbiotes he had, Extreme and Phage, Doctor Octopus had already fully investigated the unique abilities they possessed, in addition to the basic symbiote abilities that Venom also had.
The purple symbiote, Extreme, could secrete highly corrosive acid capable of eating through most metals. Of course, it could also spray acid in its symbiote form. It was also incredibly agile, greatly enhancing its host's agility.
The yellow symbiote, Phage, was the opposite. It was extremely tough, forming a thick, durable armor that could withstand anti-tank rounds. Its strength could be enhanced to a level where it could contend with the Hulk or the Thing. Of course, this wasn't the limit of its abilities. Phage's true power, as its name suggests, was to gain the special abilities of a creature simply by consuming its DNA. This was similar to how a symbiote gained its host's abilities after bonding and forming a Codex.
However, Phage's ability acquisition was temporary and not permanent, so it couldn't permanently gain the abilities of whatever it consumed.
But this research was only the beginning. Otto Octavius's true goal was to design a way to permanently control a symbiote. He yearned to regain his ability to walk, and symbiotes seemed to be the most secure and effective means of doing so.
Unfortunately, Otto Octavius couldn't achieve this just yet. He had a concrete plan to create a chemical that could neutralize the symbiotes' unstable molecules, but just as he was in the middle of his experiment, the base's remaining alarm system went off.
"What's happening?"
Seeing Spider-Man in a diving suit on the monitor, along with a rapidly descending S.H.I.E.L.D. submarine, Doctor Octopus let out a roar of unparalleled fury.
"Spider-Man! You again!"
The two symbiotes began violently thrashing in their containment units. Was this the symbiotes' plan? Doctor Octopus wasn't sure, but he gritted his teeth, grabbed Phage's container, and opened it. The yellow symbiote immediately covered Doctor Octopus's body.
When Agent Ward and Spider-Man opened the lab door, they saw a terrifying symbiote monster standing in the lab, waiting for them.
"Hello, Spider-Man. I think it's time to get rid of you, you annoying pest who's always getting in my way!"
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