Venom absorbed Riot's Codex, or rather, Venom snatched Riot's Codex from Knull. This left Peter utterly confused.
Where did this plot point come from? It wasn't in the comics!
Venom claimed he didn't know either.
"You really don't know?"
[No, I have no idea.]
If I had known I could stop Riot this way, I would have just devoured him at the docks last night. It would have saved so much trouble.
Peter's mind then drifted to the game Prototype, so he cautiously asked Venom, "Can you transform into Riot now? Or gain his abilities? At the very least, can you get his resistance?"
[Can't do any of that.]
"Then what's the point of absorbing his Codex?"
[To chat with him?]
"What's the use of chatting with him?!" Peter complained helplessly before finally asking his last question: "So, what did he talk to you about?"
[Curse words.]
Peter sighed in defeat. Why did I even bother asking?
Neither Venom nor Peter had any idea why Venom was able to absorb the Codex. Venom was certain he was a completely ordinary symbiote with nothing special about him. Why he could devour Riot's Codex was a mystery.
But after a moment of silence, Peter suddenly had a thought: If Venom could absorb Riot's Codex, what about Grendel? What if Venom could absorb the entire Grendel?
"We have to go to the Baxter Building," Peter said, suddenly realizing the solution. He looked at Cindy. "Wanna come? It might be the safest place right now."
Cindy simply nodded, and the two of them swung off together toward the Baxter Building.
At that moment, the Baxter Building was bustling again. The "Science Trio" had gone from slacking off to pulling all-nighters. A horde of symbiotes, immune to normal high temperatures and sound waves, swarmed the building like a zombie apocalypse. The Invisible Woman, Sue Storm, raised a force field, stopping all the symbiotes outside, while the Human Torch, Johnny Storm, was busy clearing the area. The Thing, Ben Grimm, who was the only one not particularly useful, just started throwing things down to vent his frustration.
"Hey, guys."
"Spider-Man?" Reed Richards was deep in his research and wasn't even curious why Peter was there. "I'm sorry, we're still working on a way to deal with Knull, but we haven't made much progress yet..."
"I have something."
The three scientists immediately turned to look at Peter.
What do you mean, "you have something"?
"Uh, it was an accident. Just now, I was fighting a revived Riot, and Venom just ate him. Then something weird happened—Riot's Codex was absorbed by Venom. Even though Venom didn't get anything from it."
The three scientific geniuses were stunned. After a moment, Hank Pym was the first to offer his opinion. "It's possible that Venom himself is special. But if we put that aside, considering the collective consciousness of the symbiote species, that might also explain it. Generally, when a symbiote dies, its consciousness returns to the collective network, but you also mentioned that because they are away from Klyntar, they can't connect to the symbiote network while they're alive."
"So when a Codex is formed and then consumed by another symbiote that also has a Codex, they will naturally form a symbiote network of their own."
Tony Stark took over, looking a bit smug. Indeed, this was a very plausible line of reasoning, and following it, they all understood what Peter was proposing. If this hypothesis was correct, then there was a new way to deal with Grendel—have Venom eat Grendel.
"First, we have to consider that the thing is huge, a full thirty meters long. Hank, you're the expert on size-changing. What's the solution?"
Tony looked directly at Hank, who, as an expert in anything related to Pym Particles, quickly responded. "Considering Knull's ability to reshape symbiotes, he can probably control the size of that dragon at any time. Of course, since he hasn't changed its size yet, we can assume he's more comfortable using its current form."
In other words, using Pym Particles to shrink Grendel was not feasible.
"And generally, to avoid negative effects on the user, Pym Particles can only enlarge something up to 15 times its original size. That's why I rarely get bigger than 20 meters. Venom is already over three meters tall, so in terms of size, an enlarged Venom can certainly fight Grendel. But if the other side realizes this, they probably won't stay a fixed size."
"Unless... we can delay or freeze the symbiote's molecular motion," Reed realized. "Iceman can do that."
"No, Knull isn't an idiot. As soon as we start this operation, he'll quickly figure out how important Iceman is. He has a whole bunch of symbiotes at his disposal, and I just got news that another batch of super-powered individuals has been infected."
Tony immediately summed up the problem. Then, the three of them looked at the research on the lab table.
"That won't work... It can only shape it, to stop the symbiote's form from changing," Reed, as the main researcher, immediately understood Tony's purpose and objected. But Tony just smiled. "What does it matter? That's exactly what we need. As long as that thing can't change its shape for a while, we can use Pym Particles to shrink it and take it out."
That would require greatly weakening Knull's power and extending the effective duration of the polymer solidifier.
"Alright, we'll let you know when to go. We'll probably need a few more hours to get everything ready," Tony said, patting Peter on the shoulder. "In the meantime, you should get some rest."
"I probably can't rest, Mr. Stark. The situation in New York is only getting worse."
Peter said as he prepared to leave. Cindy, who had been following silently, just nodded at them before following him out. Tony watched them leave, then thoughtfully turned around to consider what to do next.
"To weaken Knull, we might need a full-team deployment, or find a way to prevent regular symbiotes from bonding with us. Alright, guys, any ideas on that?"
Chapter 222: Symbiote Frenzy - Kitty Pryde's Debut!
"We need to go see how things are elsewhere. Knull's feint earlier has a lot of people in a tough fight," Peter said to Cindy as he swung through the city. Cindy, as usual, stayed silent, following his lead. They first approached the American Avengers' battle, which had devolved into chaos. Jack of Hearts and Livewire were trying to stop Citizen V from taking out Rhodey and Blackhawk, who were now possessed by symbiotes and trying to kill everyone else. In short, it was a messy five-way brawl.
Peter used his Venom symbiote to web up Blackhawk's wings, dragging him to the ground. Meanwhile, Cindy yanked the machine gun off War Machine with her webbing and sent him into a nosedive. Fortunately, with the symbiote's protection, Rhodey wouldn't be paralyzed from the fall.
Peter could tell that Jack of Hearts could handle War Machine and Blackhawk, but he was holding back. "Symbiotes aren't that fragile, my friend. Sometimes you can be a little rougher," Peter said, webbing Blackhawk to a wall.
Jack of Hearts finally relaxed, but then Citizen V swooped in, flapping his wings. It was Peter's first time seeing this world's Citizen V, and he was surprised that the villain had completely copied War Machine's and Blackhawk's abilities, making him even more formidable than the symbiotes.
Wait a minute, wasn't this the robot Super-Adaptoid, who could mimic others' powers?
Jack of Hearts groaned, "We have to stop him from hurting our friends! Spider-Man, I need your help!"
"Alright, helping people is a Spider-Man specialty. Give me a minute!" Peter said, engaging the Super-Adaptoid head-on. After a brief standoff, the robot performed a classic web-shooting motion and began trading webs with Peter. But Peter wasn't alone. Cindy webbed the robot's back from behind, and the two Spider-people pulled in opposite directions, their combined strength tearing the machine in half.
Jack of Hearts let out a surprised "Oh."
"I have to say, buddy, your teammate isn't a living person. As long as the data isn't corrupted, you can just dismantle him. You can always bring him back to be fixed after the fight," Peter said.
Jack of Hearts let out another awkward "Oh" and scratched the back of his head. He hadn't thought of that.
"Thanks, Spider-Man. We'll handle the Colonel here. You go on ahead."
After parting ways with Jack of Hearts, Peter and Cindy continued their journey. According to Stark, to weaken Knull, a full-scale assault was necessary, so freeing up as many fighters as possible was a top priority. In other words, Peter needed to check on the others who were on side missions to see if they could spare any help.
"Something's up over there," Cindy's voice broke Peter's thoughts.
Peter saw a girl around his age running down the street, pursued by a horde of elite symbiote drones. He was confused; why was there a running girl on the street at a time like this? But seeing she was about to be caught, he didn't hesitate. He swung over, yelling, "Look out!" and grabbed her by the waist, cradling her in his arms.
Don't ask him why he didn't just grab her hand. Spider-Man wasn't Superman. His bio-electricity wasn't a bio-force field, and just grabbing her hand might result in just grabbing a hand.
Surprisingly, as he swung her away, the girl seemed to get a glimpse of the ground growing farther away. In a moment of panic, she passed right through his arms and began a second freefall. Fortunately, Cindy, who was following behind, managed to catch her with a web, saving her from becoming a splat on the pavement.
Thankfully, she didn't fall a second time.
The two brought the girl to the top of a building. Peter finally got a good look at her. She was a short girl, about fifteen or sixteen, with chestnut-colored hair in a ponytail and a pair of rare amber eyes.
"Hey, Spider-Man! I see you on TV all the time. And this is… Spider-Woman?"
Cindy, uncharacteristically, spoke up, "Silk."
"Oh, thank you, Silk. And Spider-Man, I'm sorry. It wasn't that you didn't grab me tightly; it's just... I fell right through you." The girl apologized sheepishly.
Peter had a guess who she was, but he waited for her to introduce herself. "Um, I… I think I might be a mutant."
"You think?"
"Yeah, I never had any powers before. Until yesterday, when I was about to get caught by these alien monsters, they passed right through my body." The girl's voice was filled with anxiety. "So I might be a mutant?"
"What's your name?" Peter asked.
"Kitty, Kitty Pryde."
Just as Peter had suspected. The girl in front of him was Kitty Pryde, the X-Men member who could make herself or anything she touched pass through solid objects. When he had worked with the X-Men before, he noticed Kitty wasn't among the past members. Now he knew why—she was from a different generation. The only mutant Peter knew of who was the same age as Kitty was Jubilee.
"Alright, it looks like you can protect yourself. Do you need us to take you to…" Peter trailed off, an idea sparking in his mind. He looked at Kitty, asking with a hint of uncertainty, "Perhaps, you could help us with something?"
"Help with what? Oh… wait." Kitty's eyes lit up as she realized what he was asking. "You mean I can help you? Help the Avengers?"
"Yes, but I'm not sure if I should ask you. This mission is very, very dangerous." Peter's eyes narrowed as he looked at Kitty. He wasn't sure if she could do it. He was genuinely hesitant because if Kitty agreed, she would have to face the strongest hero on Earth right now.
But on the other hand, if she volunteered and succeeded, the Avengers would instantly free up Thor and Hulk, two major powerhouses.
"I think I can do it. After all, if they can't hit me, what's there to worry about?" Kitty said, sounding confident. She looked at Peter. "Why don't you tell me what the task is first?"
"We need you to go face the Hulk."
"Huh? Me? Fight the Hulk?"
"And bring him out of the symbiote's control."
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