In the sewers beneath New York, Otto Octavius returned to his old laboratory. He had fled so quickly from Kingpin that the lab was abandoned, which, in turn, allowed it to escape the Avengers' search. It was a safe haven for him.
Now was Doctor Octopus's chance for redemption. The Avengers hadn't been studying symbiotes for as long as he had; he was sure he could figure out a way to control them.
Otto thought this to himself as he took out the symbiote samples he had collected on his way and began his analysis. As he analyzed, he came to a shocking realization.
This was a blood sample from a host. Based on his previous experimental data, the symbiote in the blood sample should have already begun to decay. Why was it still active?
Back at the Avengers Tower, Thor single-handedly turned the tide of the entire battle, an event broadcast to the whole world through J. Jonah Jameson's cameras. He had almost completely driven away all the symbiotes with just thunder, leaving only a small number of stubborn ones that retreated to Knull's lair.
The Ultron robots were immediately deployed to rescue everyone, aiming to gather all the survivors. Even the scientific trio, who had received the news, were dumbfounded. They hadn't even started working yet, and somehow Thor had already solved the problem?
"Should we continue working?" Tony asked, a very direct and straightforward question. Reed thought about it. Since they had nothing else to do, why not? Besides, Thor's arrival had only reduced the severity of the problem; it hadn't solved it completely. In that case, they should continue what they were doing.
They needed to find a way to solve the Knull problem.
It wasn't just the science team trying to solve the problem; other heroes were, too. Thor landed on the ground, and the Captain finally breathed a sigh of relief. "It's great that you were able to make it."
"Asgard has a duty to protect Midgard. No need to thank me, Steve. Besides, our troubles are not over yet."
Thor didn't let his guard down; instead, he said with concern, "I've received a revelation from Odin. Knull is a god who has conquered countless universes. He wouldn't retreat like this if he still had the strength to fight."
"Come on, with one swing of your hammer, all of Manhattan is back to normal. What are we afraid of him for?" Johnny Storm said, annoyed. He had been choked unconscious by Knull earlier and was very upset about it. However, everyone was clear on one thing: Grendel was not only difficult to deal with, but it was also best not to kill him. Of course, they would kill him if Knull couldn't be stopped, but the priority was to find a way to deal with Knull's invasion.
But it was still best not to kill him, so the Captain looked at Thor. "Now that you're here, do you have a way to deal with Knull? After all, you've defeated him once before."
"If we want to stop Knull from acting again, we need to completely defeat that giant dragon. That will exhaust his mind and cause his consciousness to fall into slumber."
Since Knull had obtained a Codex, his consciousness was awakened. In this situation, Thor's solution was relatively simple and direct: beat Grendel until he was tired, exhaust Knull's spirit, make him fall back into a state of exhaustion, and then have a telepath guide him back to slumber. This was a fairly simple method.
After Thor finished, before the Captain even had time to think, a heavy thudding sound could be heard.
A tall giant covered in a silvery-gray symbiote walked over, his tongue lolling out. When he saw Thor, he roared and charged at him.
"That's the Hulk. He's controlled by Knull."
"Leave him to me, Steve. I'll bring the Hulk back." Thor said as he swung his hammer and flew toward the Hulk. The two powerful heroes collided and quickly flew toward a different part of the city.
The Captain nodded helplessly and began to organize the others to lead civilians into the Avengers Tower. With Thor's arrival, most people had been freed, and now was a great time for rescue.
The Captain wasn't the only one with this idea.
"Yes, I understand, General."
Colonel Rhodes hung up the phone with a reluctant nod and called out to his only subordinate present, Falcon. "Orders from above: we're to assemble and show the world the power of the U.S. Avengers."
Showing the power of the U.S. Avengers? It was nothing more than a PR stunt. After saying goodbye to the others in the Sanctum Sanctorum, Rhodey chose to assemble his team and begin "rescuing civilians."
Given all the messy things the U.S. military had done, their rescuing of civilians was a bit of a joke—purely for show.
As the U.S. Avengers were deployed, they rescued one civilian after another with the help of the Ultron robots and used J. Jonah Jameson's camera for propaganda. They didn't even have to pay for the ads.
Peter frowned. He felt something wasn't right. He got out of the car and walked up to the Captain. "Captain, I think there's a problem."
"They retreated too quickly? I feel the same way. Thor almost completely turned the tide of the battle, but Knull didn't lose his fighting power, so why did he leave?"
The Captain said, connecting to the comms channel. The message he received from the other end made him frown even more.
"What's wrong?"
"Nick Fury has asked for his own team, the Thunderbolts, to go out and rescue people. Also, some of your street-level friends have found something strange, possibly left behind by the gangs who didn't evacuate."
The Captain said helplessly. It was as if Thor's arrival meant the world was safe and peaceful. He didn't know how they could think that way. In the Captain's view, as long as the battle wasn't over, they shouldn't let their guard down.
On the other side, Rhodey hadn't realized that this symbiote situation was different from before. He took a woman's hand and pulled her out of the debris.
"It's okay, ma'am, you're safe now..."
Rhodey didn't finish his sentence because the symbiote that had been dispelled by Thor emerged from the woman and covered Rhodey's body in an instant.
Similar events were happening all over the city, even inside the Avengers Tower. The remaining symbiotes in the survivors' bodies had evolved into more symbiotes, as if it had all been planned in advance.
Well, of course, if there wasn't a victory that cleared all the clouds, how would they have dared to come out, these excellent hosts?
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