A Gathering of Heroes (Part 2)

"Riot taught that human quite a bit about the Symbiote race. Using that knowledge, the human performed many experiments on me and even used Symbiote factors extracted from my body to create many insane offspring capable of infecting humans."

"They weakened me badly. That human wanted me to possess an ordinary person and then conduct a new round of experiments on me. I didn’t want to, but I had no choice. If I had a host, even an ordinary one, I might have found a chance to escape."

"When I discovered that Venom had once parasitized you, I was practically despairing. You were worse than an ordinary person, but I never expected…"

Shade asked Peter in confusion, "Why are you so strong? Based on what I know about ordinary humans, you shouldn’t possess this much strength."

"I don’t know either." Peter shrugged. "Right now, we need to stop those two. Let me think…"

Peter shot a web onto a nearby building, swung over the heads of the two battling monsters, and finally stuck to the glass curtain wall of a building across the street. He said, "Good thing it’s late at night and there’s no one around. Otherwise, evacuating the crowd alone would’ve been a headache."

"Hey, wait. Why are they running away?"

Peter saw Riot, who had been getting hammered by Venom, finally lose patience. With a sudden charge and leap, he cleared an entire street and began fleeing in another direction.

"We have to catch them!" Shade said anxiously. "Riot is a war maniac, and Venom is even crazier. If those two keep fighting, all of New York will be destroyed!"

As Peter chased after them, he asked Shade, "You seem pretty familiar with humans?"

"I told you, before you, I possessed several ordinary humans. The first person I possessed was a nurse. I worked with her at a hospital for over a month…"

"I have to admit," the hoarse female voice said with emotion. Peter could even hear a trace of tenderness in it. "Humans are the frailest intelligent species I’ve ever seen, but also the strongest."

"…All right, Peter." Shade’s tone grew low. "I may not be a power-type Symbiote like them, but I have special abilities that other Symbiotes lack. Give me control of your body, and I’ll take you after them."

The moment Peter thought of agreeing, he felt the scenery in his vision rapidly retreating. In the glass of a Shop window, he saw himself turn into a translucent shadow, flying through the air at astonishing speed. In the time it took to breathe, he had flown ahead of the two monsters.

"I’m the weakest member of the Agents of the Cosmos in terms of strength, but I’m also the fastest." Shade’s voice echoed in Peter’s mind. "I can fly through space without relying on any external aid, faster than some spaceships."

"I can also teleport, turn invisible, and create duplicates. That’s why I’m called Shade."

"Cool—"

Before Peter could finish his assessment, he saw the two monsters turn a corner and run toward Greenwich Village. Shade was about to take Peter flying again, but Peter shouted, "Wait! Let me make a call first…"

"Mr. Strange…"

At the same time, Strange raised an arm inside the Sanctum Sanctorum to shield himself from debris thrown up by a collapsing building. He shouted at the sorcerers, "Get the civilians out first!!"

"Wait! I’m about to sign the contract here!" a man in a suit shouted from behind a desk.

The sorcerer beside him yanked him away, making him dodge debris falling from the ceiling. The sorcerer picked up the phone he had dropped and shouted into it, "Sorry! We’ve got a bit of trouble here. Let’s talk later!"

A phone to Strange’s right suddenly flew into the air. The staff member who had been holding it reached out and shouted as he tried to grab it, "Wait!! Mr. Mephisto, let’s talk this out! This is force majeure, please calm down…"

A burst of violent noise first came from the other end, sounding like profanity in some demonic language. Then, a cluster of Hellfire erupted around the tiny phone, and Mephisto’s voice came from within. "Strange! What the hell are you doing?! Didn’t I tell you I was negotiating with Satanish today?! Aren’t my advisors supposed to be available all day?! I already paid the deposit…"

Strange flicked the sash in his hand and dragged the phone down, holding it as he said to Mephisto, "Sorry, Mr. Mephisto. Someone attacked the Sanctum Sanctorum…"

"As you know, the people working here are all ordinary humans. To ensure their safety, we have to suspend operations and evacuate them first."

"You damned humans! My negotiation is at a critical stage! We’ve already gotten to the issue of land prices near the central magma pool!! This concerns my income for the next hundred thousand years, and you’re telling me you’re shutting down?!"

As Strange helped the other sorcerers open portals to evacuate the civilians, he explained helplessly, "But this truly is force majeure. Two monsters the size of small mountains attacked this place…"

Before he could finish, Riot threw a punch. A building beside the Sanctum Sanctorum collapsed, and the Sanctum itself shook violently. Strange staggered from the tremor and said, "Half the buildings here have collapsed. Until they’re repaired, I’m afraid we can’t…"

Mephisto interrupted him. "Wait! You said two monsters?… Hold on!"

The flames around the phone vanished. Before Strange could understand what the Lord of Hell meant, the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak in his hand suddenly shuddered violently, breaking free of Strange’s control. Then a financial consultant behind Strange let out a scream.

"My computer!!! I spent two hours on those reports!!!"

"Oh, yes, I’m terribly sorry… Mr. Setar’ak, something happened here. My computer was just smashed, so the data you requested will probably have to wait another two days…"

Strange watched the floating Crimson Bands of Cyttorak slowly curl up, then with a bang, turn into a question mark.

Strange took a deep breath and called Wong. "Wong, something happened at the Sanctum Sanctorum. I’ll have to trouble you to make a trip to Asgard and use their Bifrost to send out a Cosmic Broadcast. Say that the Sanctum Sanctorum has been struck by a force majeure disaster and will be temporarily closed for three days…"

At that moment, Venom leaped high into the air and lunged forward, slamming Riot onto the roof of the Sanctum Sanctorum. After a deafening crash, the remaining half of the ceiling collapsed as well. Strange sighed. "Those two monsters are too destructive. We should close for a week… no, half a month."

The red sash in front of Strange slowly straightened again, then with a bang, turned into an exclamation mark.

At this point, Spider-Man had already landed between the two Symbiotes. Taking advantage of their brief separation from the brawl, Peter stretched out his arms to block the two monsters as they prepared to fight again and shouted, "Stop!! Stop fighting!!!"

Riot completely ignored Spider-Man in the middle. He opened his mouth and said to Venom, "Venom! You lunatic! What does my conflict with the Agents of the Cosmos have to do with you? Why are you so determined to chase me?!"

Venom looked at Riot, his voice gradually rising from a low rumble. "Because I am Venom… I am vengeance!!!!"

Spider-Man looked left, then right. Shade said in his mind, "Looks like they’ve both gone insane. We…"

In an instant, Spider-Man’s Spider-Sense flared. He rolled forward to dodge, and above his head, the black and gray monsters roared as they slammed into each other. Like cold water striking hot oil, countless Symbiote factors splashed outward, and the shockwave completely destroyed the surrounding buildings.

Strange grabbed the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak and jumped down from the second floor, with the remaining unevacuated sorcerers following behind him. For a moment, the light of defensive magic flashed chaotically everywhere.

Although Strange was only an apprentice sorcerer, the sorcerers behind him were the backbone of Kamar-Taj. The instant the two monsters collided, the sorcerers wielded their sashes and drove them apart.

On the other side, Spider-Man used webbing to pull on Riot’s leg. Shade shouted in his mind, "Riot is the strongest of the original Symbiotes. You can’t fight him head-on!"

Before she could finish, Spider-Man crouched slightly, grabbed the webbing, and yanked backward. The massive gray monster fell in response. Spider-Man took several steps back and pulled again, dragging Riot several meters across the ground.

The gray monster turned over and was about to force himself upright when Spider-Man took a deep breath, wrapped the webbing around his wrist several times, swung his arm, and hurled Riot away like a meteor hammer.

It was the middle of the night, and this was the commercial street of Greenwich Village. There was no one around, so there was no need to worry about hurting bystanders. Spider-Man, fighting at full strength, swung Riot through the air twice before throwing him away like a cowboy casting a lasso.

Shade immediately said, "Starting today, I’m a power-type Symbiote. Come on, let’s beat them up!"

The purple Spider-Man’s figure became hazy. With a flicker, he appeared behind Riot and punched him in the back of the head. Riot, who had just climbed to his feet, was sent flying again.

Once a hero with Superhuman Strength gained extreme speed, he was nearly invincible. What Shade gave Spider-Man was more than speed. She could turn invisible, teleport, and, more importantly, fly without limit.

Originally, everyone had been ground troops. You punched me, I punched you. Even if someone was knocked flying, they could use the gap while their opponent approached to readjust their fighting stance.

But now, Spider-Man punched Riot flying, then flashed over and punched him again. Another flash, another punch. No cooldown, no delay—uppercut after uppercut. Even after launching him into the air, Spider-Man could fly after him and unleash endless combos. Riot had become a punching bag.

Spider-Man was having a blast when his Spider-Sense and Shade’s voice sounded at the same time. "Watch out!!!"

Riot roared, and powerful air currents exploded from around him. Shade teleported Peter away, landing them on the roof of a nearby building.

Without outside support, Riot, who could not fly, should have fallen to the ground. But a black curtain caught him. Then layers upon layers of Dark Force spread from behind him, diffusing with the air currents into a pitch-black void.

Shade’s voice gradually turned serious. "Before he set out, Knull gave him the Chaos Force born at the creation of the Seventh Cosmos. It is Knull’s most powerful force, the source of his immortality…"

"Fall back. This isn’t something brute force alone can handle. We need to first…"

Just then, Spider-Man keenly sensed a faint tremor from the ground. Next, the roar of a motorcycle echoed from the distant horizon. Where endless flames blazed, a hoarse murmur sounded:

"You… are guilty!"