"Today's mission is top secret. No matter what you see or hear later, you are not to tell anyone—understood?"
A mercenary leader clad in specialized combat gear led a squad of soldiers and several researchers in white lab coats toward the crash site.
During the march, he gave stern instructions, worried his men might disobey and make a critical mistake.
"Clear!"
At his command, the soldiers nodded in unison and silently fell into formation behind him as they approached the wreckage of the downed spaceship.
But just then—a dark shadow flashed past them.
In an instant, one of the soldiers vanished without a sound.
The sudden disappearance stunned everyone present.
"What the hell was that?"
The group exchanged terrified glances, their faces pale with fear. Instinctively, they tightened their grips on their weapons and formed a defensive circle, backs to one another, scanning the surrounding darkness.
To their credit, the dozen or so operatives were highly skilled. Despite the shock of the attack, their reaction was swift and disciplined—clearly the mark of elite special forces.
An ordinary person would have been easily overwhelmed by them… but unfortunately, the entity they now faced was no ordinary foe.
It was Venom—the powerful symbiote who had recently bonded with Peter Parker. That fleeting black shadow was Venom himself.
"Delicious… absolutely delicious!"
From the shadows, Venom licked his lips with a grotesquely long tongue, his monstrous face twisted in grotesque pleasure.
As a symbiote, he had a particular taste for raw flesh—and a human head was the most delectable morsel he'd enjoyed in recent memory.
He'd devoured nearly everyone aboard the spaceship.
That, in fact, was the primary reason the vessel had crashed.
At the sudden sound of Venom's eerie voice, the entire group whirled toward its source, weapons raised as if confronting a force beyond comprehension.
Then, slowly, Venom's towering form emerged from the darkness—like a demon made flesh.
The sight of the monstrous symbiote sent both soldiers and scientists into a panic. Their faces drained of color; their legs trembled uncontrollably. Those with the weakest resolve collapsed on the spot, overcome by sheer terror.
"A symbiote… an alien symbiote!"
Unlike the soldiers, the researchers immediately recognized what stood before them: the very extraterrestrial organism they'd brought back from deep space.
Their dread deepened instantly—because no one understood better than they just how terrifying the symbiote truly was.
"Mamma mia… hello there, my delicious little snacks!"
Venom's voice dripped with mockery as he regarded the armed humans before him—utterly unconcerned by their presence.
To him, they were no different from crabs waving their claws: aggressive, perhaps, but ultimately just food.
Without hesitation, the soldiers opened fire.
Bullets tore through the air in a deafening volley, meant to reduce him to a shredded corpse.
But Venom didn't flinch.
He raised a hand and caught a bullet mid-flight—then crushed it between his fingers like tinfoil.
The rest of the rounds that struck him simply sank into his liquid-like body before being expelled harmlessly, leaving him completely unscathed.
The scene was so shocking and bizarre that it terrified a group of human soldiers.
They stared blankly at the creature before them—Venom—eyes filled with despair.
They had never witnessed anything so horrific; it was simply unbelievable.
At that moment, Venom took a step forward—and instantly appeared before one of the soldiers.
With a savage bite, it tore the soldier's head clean off.
The gruesome spectacle inflicted fresh psychological trauma on the survivors, sending waves of panic through the group and igniting a desperate urge to flee.
Seeing their terror, Venom grew even more arrogant and smug. It darted swiftly through the grove, claiming lives with every stride.
In just moments, half of those present had perished in its jaws—a chilling testament to the full extent of its brutality.
But just as Venom reveled in its dominance, a researcher hurled something that looked like a small speaker into the clearing.
A piercing, high-frequency screech erupted from the device.
The noise wracked Venom's body, causing it to convulse violently—as if boiling from within.
At the same time, a soldier raised a flamethrower and unleashed a searing crimson jet of fire straight at the symbiote.
Assailed by both sound and flame, Venom let out a guttural shriek and retreated in an instant—vanishing into the trees like a shadow.
Deep in the woods, a dark figure raced toward Peter Parker's residence like lightning.
"Damn it! Why did you eat them without my permission?" Peter snapped, voice tight with frustration. "That was way too bloody—that's not what I wanted at all!"
"And now you've drawn attention. Superheroes will come running—especially Gwen. I don't want to become her enemy."
Peter was furious. He hadn't expected Venom to start decapitating people the moment they acted.
This was horrifying—nothing like the controlled justice he'd imagined.
"What do you mean, 'my fault'?" Venom shot back, its voice dripping with mockery. "You said you wanted to kill the people who bullied you!"
"If I'm going to kill them anyway, might as well eat their heads—no waste!"
"You know I meant the actual bullies—the ones who tormented me! I didn't even know those soldiers!"
"If I don't eat them, they'll come after you. They'll bully you—or worse, kill you. I'm protecting you."
"That's just sophistry! If you hadn't charged in like that, they wouldn't have noticed us at all. You went out of your way to eat people."
"I don't care. From now on, you're not allowed to bite off anyone's head—or any other body part—without my explicit permission. Got it?"
Peter spoke with exasperation. For all his darker impulses, he still wanted, deep down, to be a good person.
"Oh, come on! Can I at least eat their… little heads?" Venom teased, grinning.
"'Little heads'?!" Peter recoiled. "Holy crap—do you mean that? That's disgusting! Absolutely not!"
"Look," Peter added firmly, "unless there's a truly extreme situation, you don't eat any part of anyone. Just defeat the enemy. Understood?"
"Ugh, you're such an idiot," Venom groaned. "Still dreaming of being a superhero? Fine. But remember—being a hero comes at a price. Don't come crying to me when it all blows up in your face."
The two bantered as they hurried away from the grove.
Despite the carnage Venom had caused, Peter had never felt more alive.
For the first time
in a long while, his life was moving in the direction he'd always dreamed of. His once-bleak future now shimmered with hope.
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