Dante rolled his eyes, making no comment on Skye's wild ideas.
Instead, he pointed to the large pile of what could only be described as electronic junk scattered on the ground.
"This is your big job."
"Offline closed-circuit surveillance. Both the cameras and storage devices are destroyed. Can you recover the video data from them?"
"...Dante! I treat you like my elder brother, and you treat me like a beast of burden, don't you?" Skye picked up a piece of a shattered storage device, speechless. "Look at it, it's been smashed into this mess! Do you really think I'm omnipotent just because it's electronic!?"
"Give me a straight answer! Can it be fixed?"
"Yes."
"Then why the fuss!?"
"Nonsense! With this much workload, can't I complain a little? Do you expect me to work with a smile!?"
Skye gave Dante, her unscrupulous leader, a disdainful glare, then called Fitz, Jemma, and Barry to haul all the broken electronic junk into the workroom.
This workroom had been specially built by Dante at the Base under Fury's arrangement, designed to handle research across any discipline.
Dante also brought in The Legends.
After all, Howard Stark and Captain Cold were both mechanical engineering geniuses who could help with this.
Although Skye grumbled endlessly, when she actually started working, she really did treat herself like a beast of burden.
Dante had assumed that, given how shattered everything was, even if information could be extracted, it would take several hours.
But in less than half an hour, Skye walked over with her beloved FBI-special laptop.
She flipped open the screen and pushed it toward Dante.
"I did my best with the audio files. They're completely unrecoverable."
"However, the clarity of this batch of surveillance cameras is very high. You can try to read their lips."
After speaking, she directly opened the surveillance video.
Dante fast-forwarded until a woman in a white coat with a conspicuous bulge on her back appeared, then switched to normal speed.
Although she wore a black wig, the outline on her back was unmistakably bat-shaped. Dante recognized her instantly.
It was Harley.
Seeing Harley's whereabouts, Dante finally let out a sigh of relief.
But he kept watching.
After all, Adamantium powder had been left at the scene. If it had just been Harley smashing, looting, and burning in the Symbiote laboratory, there was no way Adamantium would have been damaged.
So the greatest possibility was...
A battle had taken place.
On screen, Harley curiously looked around the lab and then spotted the surveillance camera in the corner.
...She even struck a cutesy pose, flashing a peace sign with her hand.
"You really are... too idle!"
After the pose, Harley seemed to hear something, suddenly turning toward the giant culture dish containing Venom.
Without hesitation, she pulled out her Adamantium bat and swung hard at the culture dish.
Whatever the dish was made of, it couldn't possibly withstand Adamantium.
Venom was freed.
And without hesitation, it climbed up Harley Quinn's body along the Adamantium bat.
Venom Harley was born.
But Dante paused the video at this moment.
Something felt... off.
Mick Rory, sitting beside him, took a sip of beer from the Base's fridge and squinted at the surveillance screen.
"Hiccup, isn't this where we picked up the scrap metal earlier?"
"It's been smashed up like this, so why wasn't an alarm triggered?"
"Are the people running this lab really that careless?"
Dante froze.
That's right!?
Carlton Drake, that old man, had been running a pharmaceutical company for years. There was no way he wouldn't install an alarm system in such an important facility.
The place had been trashed to this extent. Logically, he should have known already!
But Dante clearly remembered the Rage Red Light flaring up in him earlier today, which meant Drake himself hadn't been aware.
"In other words... the alarm system was disarmed in advance?"
"Teacher, one more thing," Sarah Lance cut in. "Why would Harley Quinn go there? Combined with the alarm system being disabled, we have reason to suspect someone deliberately led her there."
Dante nodded and pressed play again.
On screen, Harley Quinn quickly adapted to Venom's possession.
And then...
A red figure appeared.
Carnage Joker.
With his back to the camera, Dante couldn't make out what Joker was saying.
But he could clearly see Harley Quinn letting Venom pull back to reveal her face, and then she launched into a string of obscenities that definitely wouldn't pass censorship.
And it wasn't just one language. It was trilingual.
Things like "motherfucker" were on the mild side.
"Wow, that linguistic assault is truly sharp," Sarah Lance muttered with shining eyes. "Teacher, Doctor Quinzel's linguistic talent is... really something."
Dante, however, wasn't in the mood for jokes.
That meant Venom was going to have to face Carnage.
In that matchup, it would definitely be at a disadvantage.
As expected, Carnage Joker rushed straight at Harley Quinn, his hands morphing into blades as he slashed at the Adamantium bat.
Even with Venom's possession, she was sent flying.
The Adamantium powder was left behind at that moment.
Dante frowned.
This was no ordinary Carnage. Otherwise, it would be impossible to damage Adamantium.
But Harley Quinn used the recoil to smash all five of the other culture dishes.
Then she bolted in the opposite direction.
Carnage and Joker, however, split into disagreement.
Joker, with his trademark mocking expression, chased after Harley Quinn. Meanwhile, Carnage instantly separated from Joker's body and lunged at the five offspring Symbiotes born from Venom, including Howl.
Seeing this, Harley Quinn skidded to a stop, gripped her Adamantium bat, and charged forward.
Strike while the iron is hot!
With Venom boosting her speed and strength, Harley Quinn fought Joker head-on. After a few exchanges, she found an opening, let Venom extend his arm, and from a blind spot smashed Joker's head in with one blow.
Joker collapsed to the ground. Harley Quinn didn't stop, continuing her verbal assault while hammering him again and again until his white-painted face was drenched in blood, his trademark grin smashed into pulp.
Then, before Carnage could finish devouring all the Symbiotes, she ran off without a second thought.
"So that means, of the six Symbiotes, only five were devoured by Carnage."
"The most important Venom escaped with Harley?"
Dante shook his head, raising a new question.
"Why did the Extreme Speedster, his accomplice, never appear?"
Just as he finished, Howard Stark stumbled out of the distant workroom, looking disheveled.
"Dante!"
"Barry, Barry Allen was taken by the Extreme Speedster!"
(To be continued.)