A Gathering of Heroes (Part 1)

Time rewound a little further, back to when Eddie had left the underground levels of the Life Foundation and saw the purple Spider-Man beating up the silver-gray Riot.

Riot, pinned down by Spider-Man, threw a vicious punch. Spider-Man rolled aside to dodge it, but just as he was about to charge forward again and stop Riot, a huge black shadow came roaring toward him.

Spider-Man leaped backward, avoiding Venom’s pounce. Venom, who had likewise transformed into a massive creature, drove a fist into Riot’s face. Spider-Man asked Phantasm in his mind, "What’s going on here? Do Symbiotes have grudges against each other too?"

"It’s hard to explain," Phantasm said helplessly.

By then, Venom and Riot had already started fighting. Phantasm told Peter, "Venom and Riot really do have a grudge, but it dates back to when Venom was first born."

"I still don’t understand what exactly is going on with your species. Why…"

Before Peter could finish, Riot’s arms transformed into two enormous blades and slashed at Venom. Venom refused to be outdone. Black Slime erupted as countless tentacles hammered at Riot. Locked in an even battle, the two moved toward the outside of the base building.

As Peter chased after them, he listened to Phantasm explain the Symbiotes.

"Actually, we aren’t called Symbiotes. Our species is called the ‘Klyntar.’ We were born on the Klyntar planet in the Andromeda Nebula, and our creator was Knull, the God of the Symbiotes."

"He is an evil and ancient being. After creating the Symbiotes, he used us to invade the universe. Later, most Symbiotes came to believe that what he was doing was evil, so we overthrew him together and imprisoned him on our homeworld, Klyntar."

"That Riot doesn’t seem to be on your side. And what about Venom? How did the two of them become enemies?"

Phantasm sighed. Peter realized that this female Symbiote’s emotions were far more humanlike. Through the brainwaves she transmitted, he could even sense how complicated her feelings were at that moment.

Her emotions were also clearly much steadier than Venom’s. She spoke with great clarity, and Peter could barely tell that she was an alien creature.

The hoarse female voice came again. "The reason we betrayed our creator was because of the nature of Symbiotes. When we parasitize other species, if they are righteous, we too are influenced by their righteousness."

"Knull’s unrestrained destruction and devastation were considered evil by most species. Many of our kind had parasitized righteous beings and deeply felt that we were aiding evil. Most of us began to awaken."

"After an accident, most Symbiotes were cut off from Knull. We then united, defeated him, and imprisoned him."

"But the damage Knull caused was irreversible. Many of our kind felt guilty about it, so we formed an organization called the Agents of the Cosmos."

"Members of this organization choose righteous and kind alien species as hosts, become their partners, help their civilizations develop, or rebuild civilizations that Knull once enslaved and destroyed."

"You seemed to mention this organization before. Are you a member too?"

"That’s right. I’m one of its current leaders."

"So what’s Riot’s deal? I heard you call him a ‘traitor to the Agents of the Cosmos.’"

"That’s right. It means exactly what it sounds like. Riot was once a member of the Agents of the Cosmos too, but he betrayed us."

"As you saw earlier, our lifeform is very unusual. Most of the time, we need hosts to move freely, but there are exceptions. On our homeworld, Klyntar, Symbiotes can move freely even without hosts."

"So although our homeworld became Knull’s prison, quite a few Symbiotes still live there."

"About… never mind. In any case, a long time ago, a schism occurred within the Agents of the Cosmos. The reason was that some agents stationed on Klyntar received Knull’s call."

"Knull’s evil and chaos infected them again, causing them to betray the Agents of the Cosmos and become Knull’s minions once more. Their leader was Riot."

"Just like his name, he led some Agents of the Cosmos in a riot. They returned to Knull’s service and wanted to free him from prison."

"That part, I understand." Peter chased after the two monsters beating each other up while communicating with Phantasm in his mind.

"But what about Venom? What grudge does he have against Riot?"

"Venom is insane. Every Symbiote agrees on that. He’s completely abnormal."

Phantasm seemed unsure how to put it into words for Peter. Peter sensed her thinking for a moment, then heard her say, "I know Venom once parasitized you, but I need to tell you that his way of doing things is abnormal."

"You may not believe it, but all Symbiotes who join the Agents of the Cosmos follow the same principles. We have a complete set of parasitism rules to help us establish a good symbiotic relationship with our hosts."

"For example, the moment we parasitize a host, we must analyze every aspect of his physical condition and formulate a parasitism plan based on that data. At the same time, our top priority is ensuring the host’s safety. That’s why I stopped you from jumping off the building earlier."

Phantasm sounded helpless. "When I first came to Earth, I had already parasitized several standard humans. I knew what an ordinary human’s physical capabilities should be like and how much impact we could withstand together."

"Judging from your development, you can’t even be considered an ordinary adult human. You’re only a juvenile."

"And I’m not a strength-type Symbiote either. Even with the two of us combined, jumping from a building over thirty stories high could still injure us. That’s why I wanted to stop you."

"Oh, but can’t you see my memories? Then you should know I often swing around on tall buildings."

"No. That would also violate the Agents of the Cosmos’ parasitism rules. Without the host’s consent, we can only read surface memories."

"Because most intelligent species are extremely uncomfortable with having their memories peered into, we generally don’t actively pry into a host’s memories in order to establish a good symbiotic relationship."

"You’re pretty polite, then. But Venom…"

Peter paused, then said, "He always wanted me to do bad things. I thought all Symbiotes were like him."

"His situation is special." The female Symbiote’s voice carried a peculiar rhythm. "Venom was born during the war after the Agents of the Cosmos split apart. He happened to be born in territory occupied by Riot."

"Most of the Symbiotes Riot led were chaotic and evil, so Venom never developed much of a concept of rules."

"That was also when the grudge between them began."

"Riot was the boss there at the time. Since it was wartime, Riot needed fellow Symbiotes capable of fighting the true Agents of the Cosmos. But Venom had only just been born and had little strength, so he couldn’t fight. As a result, he barely got any food and was often bullied."

Peter glanced at the two monsters tangled together in combat. "But it looks like the situation has reversed now."

"Because Venom is insane. That isn’t an adjective, and I’m not speaking badly of him. It’s a fact." Phantasm sounded deeply helpless.

"Maybe it was childhood trauma, or maybe he was born abnormal. In any case, Venom is an insane Symbiote."

"Generally speaking, Symbiotes are indeed influenced by their hosts, but that influence is limited. We are intelligent beings with independent minds too. We can selectively absorb certain traits from our hosts to strengthen ourselves."

"The more hosts a Symbiote has parasitized, the stronger this self-control becomes. That is true of the leaders of the Agents of the Cosmos."

"But Venom is different. He accepts every trait from his hosts without discrimination, carving all sorts of messy things into his genes."

"His first host was a lunatic in a red-and-black uniform. Venom became even more deranged after parasitizing him."

"The two of them caused enormous trouble throughout the universe. Their most infamous incident was when that guy ran to the spaceport in Andromeda and insulted a group of dwarves."

"The dwarves recognized the Symbiote parasitizing that person, so they blamed the Agents of the Cosmos for everything and caused us a great deal of trouble."

"And Venom is exceptionally gifted."

"As a parasitic species, our influence over hosts is limited, especially with certain strong-willed intelligent species. They can even use willpower to break free from every influence we impose upon them."

"But Venom’s corrosion of his hosts is limitless. He can completely alter a host’s behavioral patterns, even when the host himself is unaware of it."

"So every Symbiote on the side of order knows to stay far away from Venom and anyone Venom has parasitized. That’s why I didn’t want to parasitize you earlier."

"But I don’t feel that crazy."

"I find that strange too." Phantasm sounded puzzled. "When you wanted to jump from such a tall building earlier, I thought you were insane. But since you possess other special powers, that means your mind is normal and Venom hasn’t influenced you. Could Venom really have turned over a new leaf?"

Peter continued, "Then why did you come to Earth?"

"That… goes back to Knull. Not long ago, the Agents of the Cosmos discovered that Knull was creating a new Symbiote."

"During all the time he had been imprisoned, he had shown no unusual activity. But he suddenly began creating offspring, so we suspected he was planning to escape."

"Besides the Agents of the Cosmos, the rebels led by Riot also discovered this. They were greatly anticipating it, hoping this newborn Symbiote could welcome back their creator and lead them to invade the universe once more."

"Both sides watched Klyntar closely, waiting for that new, special Symbiote to be born."

"But on the day we thought it would be born, it disappeared."

"It disappeared?"

"That’s right. It simply disappeared. The special Symbiote that was supposed to be born suddenly vanished."

"Both the Agents of the Cosmos and the rebels were confused, but it was good news for us. Once that special Symbiote was born, another war to besiege Knull might have begun."

"We thought perhaps something had gone wrong while Knull was creating it. But unexpectedly, Riot, one of Knull’s close subordinates, received Knull’s order to recover the newborn Symbiote."

"In other words, someone had taken that Symbiote, and Riot had been ordered to retrieve him."

"Riot received the order and headed straight for the Nine Realms. The Agents of the Cosmos had to stop him. We absolutely could not give Knull a chance to escape."

"Riot could ignore the rules and sneak in directly, but the Agents of the Cosmos could not. We first sent word to Asgard and obtained God King Odin’s permission. Only then did I pass through Asgard’s passage and arrive in Midgard of the Nine Realms."

"Then how were you captured?"

"Riot arrived before I did. He found a human to work with, his current host. He noticed the Agents of the Cosmos were following him, so he set a trap."

Phantasm said angrily, "He was once a member of the Agents of the Cosmos, and he fought us for a long time. He knows every one of our weaknesses."

"They designed a trap aimed at my host. My host at the time was only an ordinary person, and to ensure his safety, I had no choice but to leave him voluntarily."

"A Symbiote without a host has difficulty moving freely. Riot captured me after that and locked me up."