Batman Incident (13)

In Stark Tower’s laboratory, Schiller said to Peter, "Peter, could you help me deliver something later?"

"Sure, Doctor, no problem. Where do you need it delivered?"

"First to the Brooklyn Bridge, then Chinatown, Greenwich Village, Times Square, the Statue of Liberty…"

"Wait, why so many places? Why does that sound like a sightseeing route? And what am I delivering? Why send it to those locations?"

"It’s nothing. Actually, I’m just sending you out sightseeing. Follow that route, then come back. Or if there are other places you want to see, you can go take a look."

Schiller practically pushed the thoroughly confused Peter out of the laboratory. Peter said, "Hey, wait, we’re fighting tonight. Why am I supposed to go sightseeing during the day?"

"Stop asking. It’s part of a plan Nick and I have. We’ll tell you when you get back."

Though Peter was full of doubts, there was indeed nothing else for him to do. By the afternoon, the fighting at the Brooklyn Bridge had mostly ceased. Both sides were recuperating, the wounded had been sent away early in the morning, and at the height of the afternoon sunlight, there was barely a vampire in sight. There were no enemies left to deal with.

Back in the laboratory, Yinsen and Dr. Connors were wrapping up the experiment. They had plenty of people, so they did not need Peter’s help.

Peter figured there was no harm in taking a walk. Maybe he would even happen upon vampires hurting people.

So he headed out, naturally deciding to check on the Brooklyn Bridge first.

The place had practically been reduced to ruins. Peter saw George helping carry two injured officers onto stretchers. He swung over on a web and lent Director George a hand.

George glanced back at him without much surprise. During the first half of the previous battle, Peter had been involved almost the entire time, helping a great deal and saving many people. George was quite familiar with that red-and-blue suit. He looked Spider-Man over and said, "It’s you, Spider-Man. What are you doing here at this hour?"

Peter saw that the injured officers’ chests were dark red with blood. Even after all this time, the pungent smell of blood still made him feel sick.

"I can tell you’re pretty young, aren’t you? Doing something this dangerous at your age—don’t your parents care?"

"I…" Spider-Man shrugged. "I didn’t tell my uncle and aunt. I only said I was going to a classmate’s house."

"If I were your uncle or aunt, I’d break your legs." Director George turned away, limping slightly. Peter noticed and asked, "Director, are you hurt?"

"I only twisted my ankle. But if I went home like this, my wife and daughter would make a huge fuss again." Director George looked up, seeming to gaze straight through the mask into Spider-Man’s eyes. "You’re still young. The world is nowhere near ready for you to save it. Instead of spending your time here, you should go home and spend more time with your uncle and aunt."

"I…" Peter turned his face away. "If my aunt found out I was doing something this dangerous, she’d fall apart."

"But you still want to do it, don’t you?"

"So do I. Even though I know my daughter is probably crying with worry right now, I still have to do this." George looked back as the two officers were loaded into an ambulance. "They’re the same. They have families and friends worrying about them too, but they still came here."

Peter looked back at the two officers as well. One of them screamed when he was lifted into the ambulance and his wound was jostled. Peter said, "That’s exactly why I have to be here. Otherwise, even more people’s loved ones will be heartbroken."

George looked at him and said, "We’re all fighting for our loved ones. We would rather be the ones bleeding and getting hurt than them."

After saying that, he looked into the distance, at the bats hiding in the shadows beneath the bridge’s broken ruins. George said, "Those monsters will never understand how much strength humans can unleash when they fight to protect others."

Then George left. He had to prepare for that night’s defenses. Peter took a deep breath and told himself, I absolutely can’t let these monsters keep running wild. I can’t let them hurt my loved ones or my friends.

"Your emotions have always been like a ball of white cotton. It’s fascinating—I can barely find any impurities in them." Venom spoke in his mind. At that moment, Venom could clearly sense the changes in Peter’s emotions.

"You are the exact opposite of someone I once encountered. You are like two sides of black and white."

"I couldn’t find even a trace of positive emotion in his feelings, while you are the complete opposite. You have pitifully few negative emotions. Even when you do, they are mostly excessive sympathy, sadness, and hesitation. Those can hardly be called negative emotions."

"No positive emotions? That’s impossible. How could someone like that exist in this world?" Peter questioned.

"Do you want to feel it for yourself?"

The moment Venom finished speaking, Peter suddenly felt his consciousness grow hazy. It was as if a black hole had appeared in his head, and an immense pull dragged him toward an endless Abyss. Overwhelming terror swallowed him, and in that brief second, he saw a boundless tide of darkness.

When he came back to himself, Peter was drenched in cold sweat. He asked Venom, "What was that?"

"A little gift my previous host left me. No… perhaps I should call it compensation for emotional damages."

"Who exactly was your previous host? How could he have such terrifying emotions?"

"Him? He was a bat."

"A bat? You mean he was a vampire? You’ve parasitized a vampire before?"

"No. The vampires you speak of may be able to turn into bats, but they will never be real bats."

"Why can’t I understand anything you’re saying? Aren’t those giant bats they turn into just bats? What other kind of bat could there be?"

"You don’t want to know the answer."

After that, Venom fell silent. No matter how Peter pressed him, he made no sound.

Fine, Peter thought. Every one of them loved speaking in riddles. Schiller was like that, and so was this Symbiote.

His conversation with Director George had left Peter somewhat downcast. He had lost interest in continuing his stroll. It would be better to return to Stark Tower. Even if there was no battle to fight right now, he could still contribute to the research.

But just as he was preparing to head back, his Spider-Sense tingled. A claw slashed toward his back. Peter dodged swiftly and turned to see a red-eyed vampire standing in the shadow of a building.

Peter was a little surprised. It was the brightest point of the afternoon. On his way here, he had seen most of the bats hiding in the shadows of the Brooklyn Bridge’s collapsed wreckage.

Still, Peter quickly shot a web onto the wall and swung over. The vampire seemed to have lost its mind. Not only did it not dodge, it charged Peter even faster.

The outcome was obvious. Peter knocked it down with a single punch, then froze it with the freeze gun at his waist. He was just about to check whether something was wrong with the vampire’s brain when he looked up and found more than a dozen vampires standing in the shadows of the alley across from him, all glowing red-eyed and staring blankly at him.

Peter could not help feeling a chill run down his spine. What’s wrong with these bats? Have they gone insane? Why are they targeting me?

Before he could make sense of it, dozens of claw spells surrounded him. Peter rolled out of the way, and as soon as he got to his feet, he saw the vampires launch a suicidal attack. Ignoring the sunlight overhead, they transformed into bats and pounced on him.

Spider-Man cursed under his breath and swung to the rooftop on a web, intending to retreat for now.

He had a freeze gun and plenty of brute strength, so it was not as if he could not beat these bats. But the vampires’ behavior was far too strange. Most vampires could barely move during the day, yet these ones were like puppets on strings, as if someone were controlling them, launching suicidal attacks against him one after another.

What Peter had not expected was that more than those dozen vampires came after him. There were even more high-ranking vampires, and many of them appeared perfectly lucid. They even knew to pursue him through the shadows of the buildings, keeping themselves out of the sunlight.

As Peter ran, he grew increasingly confused. Why were these vampires so determined to target him? Was there something special about him?

Captain America was nearby as well, helping the police build defensive fortifications. He was wearing civilian clothes rather than his Captain America uniform, and his shield seemed to have been painted over to conceal its conspicuous design, so no one recognized him as the famous Captain America.

"Don’t you think your outfit is a little too conspicuous?" Venom said in Peter’s mind.

Peter looked down. His current Spider-Man suit had been tailored for him by Stark, though it also incorporated some of his own technology and Dr. Connors’s. It was red and blue overall, and thanks to the latest textile materials, it even glittered slightly under the sun.

"Fine." Spider-Man thought, It does look a little flashy.

He glanced down at the street. Most of the residents had already evacuated. The police wore blue uniforms, while armed police and soldiers wore dark clothing. He was the only one in a red-and-blue skintight suit bouncing around the battlefield.

"Do you want to change clothes?" Venom asked.

"Change clothes? If I’m changing, I’d have to go back to Mr. Stark’s laboratory and ask whether he can alter the color of this suit or something…"

"That won’t be necessary."

The moment Venom finished speaking, Peter saw a thin layer of black Slime cover his suit. The Slime quickly seeped into the fabric fibers, turning the entire Spider-Man suit black.

"Wait, how did you…" Peter was extremely surprised. "Mr. Stark told me this new textile material could only be made into clothing through special methods. How can you alter its structure so casually?"

"There is nothing special about that method. You just break down the fibers, fill them with biomass, then arrange them into an entirely new chain structure…"

"How do you know how to do everything?" Peter asked in great confusion. "Especially when it comes to armor and suits. You’re starting to make me feel like I’m talking to Mr. Stark…"