The door to the holding cell slid open, and the Avengers walked in, their arrival drawing Eddie's attention from the elevated platform that barely qualified as a bed. He had only just managed to get a few much-needed minutes of sleep while the Avengers were having their discussion outside, but apparently, even that little bit of rest was too much to ask for.
'Wake up, Edd. We've got company.'
Venom's voice echoed through his head, dragging him out of what had barely been a nap. Eddie's eyes snapped open, and he immediately spotted the Avengers approaching his containment cell. With a tired groan, he pushed himself upright, rubbing the sleep from his eyes as he watched them gather on the other side of the symbiote-proof barrier and force field.
Seeing him jerk awake, Tony couldn't help but address him. "Oh, were you napping?" he asked, sounding almost genuinely concerned. "Given everything you've been through, a good night's sleep could probably do wonders for your mental health." Tony paused, glancing at the others before looking back at Eddie. It seemed that, since everyone else had already taken their turn dealing with their captive and his symbiote, he had decided it was finally his turn. "By all means, you could get right back to your nap," he added casually.
The comment earned him a collection of looks from everyone in the room, Eddie included.
"Really?" Eddie asked, his skepticism immediately apparent as he sat fully upright.
"Sure," Tony replied without missing a beat.
The others remained quiet, seemingly content to let Tony handle this particular conversation. Eddie, however, wasn't buying it. He narrowed his eyes at the billionaire standing on the other side of the containment field, studying him for a moment before finally speaking.
"What's your angle?" he asked, the suspicion clear in his voice. "Because you could've just let me get some rest instead of coming in here with half the team."
"True," Tony admitted, earning a few exchanged looks from the others. "But I do mean it." His gaze briefly shifted toward the elevated platform before returning to Eddie. "You should get some rest."
Tony paused for just a moment before adding, "Right after you two give us the information we asked for."
As he finished speaking, he raised his chin toward Bruce, silently signaling him to get started. Bruce stepped forward with the disk-shaped devices in hand, preparing to install them as Eddie's expression immediately became a little more wary.
Whatever Tony's idea of a peaceful conversation was, Eddie had a feeling it was about to become a lot more complicated.
"I knew it." Eddie exclaimed, letting out an exasperated sigh as he shook his head. "Your hospitality smelled fishy from a mile away. Already told you, he isn't speaking."
"Looks to me like this whole thing with that overgrown alien cat from earlier is the result of, I don't know…" Tony began, taking complete control of the interrogation this time. "Maybe it's a family feud. Maybe your buddy ran away from home or something."
"I knew you guys wouldn't just leave me unsupervised," Eddie replied, fighting the urge to smack his forehead with his palm. His eyes wandered around the room as he took in the corners of the ceiling and the various angles of the walls. "So, where are the cameras?" he asked, before his gaze settled on Bruce.
Bruce was currently installing one of the disk-shaped devices high in the corner of the outskirts of the holding cell, seemingly paying little attention to the conversation. Eddie watched him for a moment before glancing back toward the others.
"That should be the least of your concerns at the moment," Steve cut in.
Eddie immediately shot him a look. "Holding me against my will is a violation of my rights. Maybe I should write an article about how Captain America and the infamous Tony Stark, along with their band of merry men masquerading as protectors, are holding me without a hearing or any lawful justification."
"Then maybe we'll just have to keep you here until we've figured things out and all is forgiven," Shazam said casually.
Eddie turned toward the lightning-emblazoned hero, staring at him for a moment with an expression that suggested he genuinely couldn't tell whether Shazam was joking or being completely serious.
"Aren't you guys supposed to be the heroes?" Eddie asked, disbelief creeping into his voice.
"I don't know…" Shazam replied, looking toward Clint as though the question had somehow been directed at him. "Are we?"
Clint simply gave a small shrug, offering absolutely no verbal answer.
'Unbelievable,' Eddie thought, staring at the group of supposed heroes in front of him.
"Hey, hey, hey." Tony's voice disrupted the awkward silence, drawing everyone's attention back toward him. "Don't go around putting tags on us. We never said we're heroes. Blame the media and the people who keep calling us that for protecting the peace."
He pointed toward Steve. "This right here is a soldier who just continues doing his job of protecting the peace in the absence of the military."
Tony then shifted his hand toward Natasha. "This right here is an ex-espionage agent and assassin."
His finger moved toward Clint next. "And this guy is a field agent, also in the business of espionage and assassination."
Shazam's eyes widened slightly as he looked between them, his expression shifting as the realization slowly sank in.
'Wait, what?'
He had spent so much time seeing these people as heroes that he had never actually stopped to consider who they were beyond the costumes, titles, and heroic acts. Captain America was a soldier. Black Widow was an ex-spy and assassin. Hawkeye was apparently a field agent who also dealt with espionage and assassination.
For perhaps the first time since meeting them, Shazam realized that he didn't actually know much about the lives these people lived when they weren't out saving the world.
That earned Tony a cocked brow from Eddie, but the billionaire paid it little mind as he gestured toward Bruce, who was busy installing the second device in the corner of the containment cell. "Banner over there was once the most wanted man around, with the military practically hunting him across the country. I guess you two share a certain sense of camaraderie on that front."
Tony then turned his attention toward Shazam. "And Captain Sparkles over here…"
"Not my name," Shazam immediately chipped in with an exaggerated cough.
"How are you guys the good guys?" Eddie asked, looking between them with genuine disbelief. It was becoming increasingly difficult for him to reconcile the people standing in front of him with the individuals worshipped by the country, and even parts of the world, as heroes and protectors of the Earth.
"Good guys, bad guys…" Tony shrugged casually, raising both hands. "Does it really matter where you stand on the moral spectrum when your actions ultimately contribute to the betterment and advancement of the human race?"
"Yes!" Everyone, Eddie included, answered at once.
Tony blinked at the unanimous response before casually lowering his hands. "Anyway, as for me…" he began, completely ignoring them as he continued. "I'm a—"
"—self-absorbed asshole who made a fortune making and selling all kinds of weapons and arms," Eddie finished for him, his deadpan expression perfectly matching his tone.
Steve and Shazam slowly turned their heads toward Tony, both seemingly waiting to see how he would respond.
"Well, I was going to say billionaire, playboy, philanthropist, but…" Tony shrugged. "Whatever floats your boat."
'He isn't denying it.' Shazam thought, his eyes moving between the members of the team. 'We are the good guys… right?'
The thought lingered as he looked around the room again, taking in each of them with a slightly different perspective. What struck him most, however, was Bruce. Fred had given him plenty of information about the team members while he had been studying them, including the reports surrounding the Hulk, but hearing Tony casually describe Bruce's history made the whole thing seem far more serious than the reports had suggested.
Tony's voice soon pulled his attention back toward the interrogation. "Back to business. How long has this Xenophage thingy been chasing you?"
There was a casualness to the question that didn't quite match what Tony was actually asking. He was trying to figure out how long a creature like that had been running around hunting Eddie, apparently without any of them knowing about it.
'Don't answer him, Edd. These guys just confirmed they're not heroes in the sense of the word. Kind of like us, but famous and loved by people,' Venom said inside his head.
That last part about being loved seemed to hit a particularly sore spot with his host.
Eddie let out an exhausted sigh. At this point, he was simply too tired to keep arguing with them, let alone fight against every question they threw his way. "It was sometime between Christmas and New Year's Eve… I think," he finally answered, his uncertain tone making it obvious that the memory wasn't exactly clear in his head.
The answer prompted several subtle glances between the Avengers. They had just confirmed that Eddie's timeline lined up with the mall incident around New Year's Eve.
Everyone except Tony.
The billionaire didn't shift his gaze even slightly, keeping his eyes fixed on Eddie as he gave a quiet, thoughtful, "Hmm."
"Now, that's a good start." Tony's tone became almost encouraging as he gave Eddie a little breathing room, creating the faint illusion that this was simply a conversation and that Eddie still had the option of refusing to answer if he didn't want to.
Of course, that was hardly the case.
"So, how about you tell us about Knull," Tony continued, leaning into the interrogation with that same casual demeanor, "and this whole dad thing with the gooey parasite taking up residence in your brain?"
"Or your liver," Bruce suddenly chipped in.
The room went quiet for a brief moment as everyone turned toward him, Tony included. The billionaire slowly turned his head toward Bruce, his expression carrying a mixture of confusion and disbelief.
Bruce, apparently feeling the need to defend his contribution, gestured vaguely toward Eddie. "Judging from the look of his condition, he doesn't exactly look like he has a healthy liver."
Tony stared at him for another second before slowly turning his attention back toward Eddie, as though deciding it was better not to question that statement any further.
"He could just be a chronic alcoholic," Shazam remarked, glancing over at Eddie.
"That would explain the jittering and twitching he's been exhibiting," Natasha replied, sounding as though she'd been quietly paying attention to Eddie's behavior throughout the entire conversation.
"Right," Shazam agreed, giving Eddie another brief look.
By then, Bruce had finished installing the device and stepped away from the corner of the containment cell. He gave Tony a thumbs-up to signal that the installation had gone according to plan before rejoining the others.
"Putting aside the whole question of Knull and his relationship with Venom for a moment," Steve said, smoothly steering the conversation back toward the matter at hand, "what do you know about the sudden dimensional rifts that have been spewing monsters all over the city for the past couple of weeks?"
Eddie stared at him for a moment, seemingly caught off guard by the question. Then his expression suddenly changed as though a piece of a puzzle had finally fallen into place.
"Oh, so that's what that was."
The remark was enough to tell the Avengers everything they needed to know. Whatever had been happening with the dimensional rifts, Eddie clearly had nothing to do with it and hadn't even understood what he'd been seeing.
"I just assumed it was some kind of invasion or something, and figured you supposed heroes would probably handle it before it got too far out of hand," Eddie said casually, as though the sudden appearance of monsters and dimensional rifts across the city wasn't particularly his problem.
"Okay…" Tony said, giving a small nod before bringing the conversation back on track. "Back on course. Eddie, Venom, whatever name you two are going by at the moment, tell us about Knull and this Codex thingy that's supposedly the key to freeing him from captivity."
Tony deliberately emphasized the names, giving Eddie and Venom just enough information to make it clear that the Avengers weren't walking into this completely blind. By casually mentioning Knull and the Codex, he wanted the pair to believe they already had a decent understanding of what they were dealing with.
The implication was simple: they knew enough to recognize a lie.
If Eddie or Venom decided to start feeding them a fabricated story, any information that contradicted what the Avengers supposedly already knew could immediately give them away.
Of course, there was one small problem.
Tony was bluffing.
The Avengers had little to no actual knowledge about Knull beyond what they had managed to piece together so far. They certainly didn't possess the depth of information Tony's words implied. But Eddie didn't need to know that.
As far as Tony was concerned, sometimes the easiest way to get someone to tell you the truth was to make them believe you already knew it.
'A Codex?' Eddie asked himself, the unfamiliar word immediately catching his attention. For a brief moment, he almost turned to Venom and asked what the hell they were talking about, but decided against it. There was no point letting the Avengers know that the word had struck a nerve. At least not yet. Instead, he turned his attention back toward the group and decided to answer their question first.
"He says he knows nothing about this Codex thingy you mentioned," Eddie said, doing his best to sound casual. "And as for Knull… all he said was that, in Earth terms, the guy is his dad."
The words had barely left his mouth before Venom's voice echoed through his head.
'I didn't mention the part regarding the Codex.'
Eddie's facial features twitched ever so slightly.
'Wait…' The realization hit him almost immediately. Venom knew something about the Codex.
He hadn't told Eddie about it.
"Are you lying to us right now?" Natasha asked, her eyes narrowing slightly as she picked up on the subtle change in Eddie's expression and body language.
"Ughh… no!?" Eddie replied, the hesitation in his voice doing him absolutely no favors. Even he could hear how awkwardly he had just tried to defend himself with another lie.
'Of course the guy wouldn't admit that. He obviously is,' Shazam thought, watching Eddie carefully.
Between the lack of sleep, the constant interrogation, and the fact that Venom had apparently just dropped an unexpected bombshell inside his head, Eddie's ability to maintain a convincing poker face was practically nonexistent.
Tony studied him for a moment, seemingly weighing what he'd just seen. "Hmm."
He contemplated the situation for barely a fraction of a second before a mischievous smile slowly crept across his face. Then, with the casual confidence of a rockstar about to cue his guitarist for a solo, Tony turned toward Bruce.
"Hit it!"
Bruce immediately pressed a button on the remote he was holding, triggering the activation of the device in his other hand. Almost instantly, a high-pitched, ear-piercing frequency erupted from the disk-shaped devices installed around the cell. The sound was concentrated within the containment area, and Eddie's initial pained wince quickly escalated into a full-blown scream as Venom's symbiotic cells began protruding violently from his body, the parasite releasing an equally piercing shriek in response to the frequency.
Almost every member of the Avengers, Shazam being the notable exception, jumped at the sudden reaction. The sight alone was unsettling as Venom's black symbiotic mass spilled over Eddie like a tarp and ribbons being thrown over him, yet it couldn't properly form its usual shape. The sound seemed to be interfering with both host and symbiote at a cellular level, leaving the normally formidable creature struggling to maintain control of its own body.
Eddie abruptly dropped to his knees, both hands flying to the sides of his head as he desperately tried to block out the sound. His fingers dug against his temples and ears, his entire body trembling as though he was trying to physically crush his own head just to escape the unbearable noise. Even with Venom's strength coursing through him, there was nothing either of them could do to stop the pain.
Bruce immediately hit another button on the remote, shutting the device down.
The frequency vanished as abruptly as it had appeared, and the symbiotic mass covering Eddie quickly receded back into his body. Eddie remained on his knees for a moment, hunched over as he dragged in frantic breaths, the sudden relief almost as overwhelming as the pain had been seconds earlier.
"Well…" Tony said, glancing around at the others, all of whom wore varying degrees of shock on their faces. "That was disturbing."
'You don't say…' Shazam thought, staring at Eddie and the remnants of Venom that had disappeared back beneath his skin.
"Wait," Steve said, turning toward Tony with a look of disbelief. "Isn't that what you expected to happen?"
His gaze then shifted toward Bruce, who was still holding the remote and staring back at Steve as though he wasn't entirely sure what answer he was supposed to give.
Tony hesitated.
"...Well, hmm." He paused for another second before finally shaking his head. "Nope."
That earned him a collective look of disbelief from the others, Bruce included. Even though Bruce had been his accomplice in the whole experiment, he seemed just as unimpressed with Tony's answer as everyone else.
- - -
Far off in the distance, another Xenophage sent to take on the failed mission of its predecessor suddenly paused as something caught its attention. For a brief moment, its senses locked onto the strange, sound-like projection of Eddie and Venom created during that brief instant of their forced combination. The creature's head tilted as it tracked the unfamiliar signal, only for the connection to abruptly disappear, leaving it with nothing but the lingering trace of their presence.
But it still had their last known location.
The Xenophage's body tensed as its predatory instincts took over. A savage shriek tore from its throat, echoing through the surrounding area before it suddenly lunged forward and broke into a terrifying sprint, racing directly toward Avengers Tower.
This Xenophage, however, was different from the one that had previously hunted Venom.
The feedback gathered from that encounter, particularly the conditions and extremities that had ultimately allowed the Avengers to kill its predecessor, had been incorporated into this one's development. It had adapted, its body evolving to withstand some of the very weaknesses and environmental conditions that the previous Xenophage had been subjected to.
It was coming prepared this time.
And somewhere in the distance, its shriek echoed again as it raced toward its target.