Chapter 274: What If Venom Can Teleport?
"Are you sure you aren't messing with me, Venom?" Eddie asked, his voice full of disbelief.
He felt like Venom was pulling his leg. How could a justice-filled superhero like Spider-Man be "acquainted" with a creature like Venom?
"I have no reason to lie to you, Eddie," Venom hissed, staring up at Peter perched above them.
"Unbelievable..." Eddie never imagined there was a history between the symbiote and the wall-crawler.
Peter placed the mugger safely to the side and turned his gaze back to the towering black figure. His heart was a mess of conflicting emotions. "Venom... I really didn't expect you to be alive."
"And I didn't expect to run into you here, Spider-Man." Venom looked back at him, his thoughts unreadable behind those large white eyes.
"So you really do know each other." Hearing this, Eddie was finally convinced. They actually had a history!
Peter landed in front of Eddie, but for once, the normally quippy hero found himself at a loss for words. He stood there in silence.
Venom licked his jagged teeth and whispered to Eddie, "He's all yours, Eddie."
"What?" Before Eddie could react, the black goo receded into his body, leaving Eddie standing there fully exposed in his civilian clothes.
"Uh... hi, Spider-Man. Big fan," Eddie stammered, looking awkward and out of place. He whispered under his breath, "Venom, what the hell are you doing?"
Despite his internal panic, Eddie didn't forget to maintain a friendly smile for the hero.
"You're Venom's new host, aren't you?" Peter walked closer, sizing Eddie up.
"First time meeting you. My name is Eddie Brock." Eddie smiled and proactively reached out for a handshake.
Peter took it, nodding. "I'm Spider-Man. You seem to know me."
"Of course! I actually used to write reports about you," Eddie said, a bit sheepishly. He had indeed admired Spider-Man once. Of course, that admiration had faded now that he had extraordinary powers of his own; his new idol was himself.
"Thanks," Peter replied.
The atmosphere was incredibly tense. Peter didn't know how to ask Eddie to hand over the symbiote. He had initially assumed Eddie was being coerced, but it now seemed like a voluntary partnership. If Eddie had attacked, it would have been simple, but now Eddie was acting like a nice guy, making it hard for Peter to justify making a move.
The two stood in an awkward stalemate.
"You're here because of Venom, right?" Eddie finally broke the silence.
"Yes. That's right." Peter took a deep breath, finally reaching the heart of the matter.
"Please, believe me. Venom and I have reached an agreement. He only eats bad people; he won't hurt the good ones," Eddie guaranteed. After spending time together, Eddie realized Venom wasn't inherently evil—it all depended on how you raised him.
"Impossible. We don't have the right to execute anyone. Everything must be handled by the law," Peter insisted stubbornly. To him, no matter how much a criminal deserved to die, it was a matter for the legal system. If he started killing criminals, how would he be any different from them? He'd just be a murderer in a superhero costume.
"The law?" Eddie couldn't believe Spider-Man was being so naive. "Spider-Man, the law is good in theory, but it protects a lot of monsters too. Look at the criminals you've caught."
"How many of them were actually executed? They're all living just fine in prison, while the people they killed stay dead." Talking to Spider-Man up close, Eddie realized something: the hero seemed like a young man who hadn't truly experienced the harsh realities of the world yet.
"..." Peter was momentarily speechless. It was true; none of the major criminals he had caught had been executed.
"Listen, Spider-Man. I think you need to change your childish way of thinking." Eddie had undergone a transformation over the past few days. He understood the cruelty of society now. Being betrayed by Dr. Dora Skirth and nearly killed had a way of changing a man's perspective.
"Regardless, killing is wrong." Peter didn't know how to refute Eddie's logic, but he clung to his own moral compass.
"Venom!" Eddie called out.
The symbiote surged out, transforming Eddie into a two-meter-tall black giant once again.
"Spider-Man! If the law won't kill them, I will! What you can't do, I will! I am the Lethal Protector!"
Eddie's face was visible through a slit in the mask as he spoke. Suddenly, Venom leaped toward the rooftop, preparing to vanish.
"Don't run!" Peter fired a web-line in pursuit.
Venom had learned a few tricks too; he shot out his own strands of black webbing, swinging through the city with an imitation of Peter's style.
"Venom, get back here!" Peter fired another web, trying to snag the giant.
Venom felt the web hit his back, spun around, and shredded it with a clawed hand. "Spider-Man! I'm never going back!"
"Hahaha!" Venom turned and dove straight into a wall, vanishing into the Shadow Kingdom.
"What?!" Peter landed by the wall, his expression one of pure shock. The Shadow Kingdom?!
How could Venom use the Shadow Kingdom? Could the symbiote copy his ability to access the shadow dimension? Peter fell into deep thought. He didn't suspect Eddie was a Shadow General; he assumed it was just the symbiote's legendary ability to copy a host's powers.
"This is bad." Peter rubbed his head, feeling a massive headache coming on.
With a "bugged" ability like the Shadow Kingdom for teleportation, how was he supposed to catch him? Peter had no idea where the other side of that portal led. Unlike Silas, Peter didn't have total control over the dimension.
As the true master, Silas knew exactly who entered the kingdom and where they went. Peter, as a mere "user," was blind to the specifics.
"I'm going to have to ask Silas for help," Peter muttered. It frustrated him that after all his preparation, he still needed his brother's intervention. He really didn't want to bother Silas while he was on a sweet date with Masee.
"Looks like tonight's capture mission was a failure," Peter sighed, standing on the rooftop.
The most frustrating part was that he hadn't even had the chance to use the special features of his new suit before Venom disappeared.
"Next time, I'm using the sonic functions immediately," Peter decided. He wouldn't give them a chance to escape into the shadows again.
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