Spider and Bat (Part 2)

Peter’s smug satisfaction didn’t last long, because he realized he’d gotten himself into Big Trouble.

Ever since that incident, his name seemed to have spread throughout the vampire community. Everyone knew there was a Spider-Man who wanted to take on all the vampires in the world by himself.

Peter had no idea who had given him such a huge reputation. He’d only wanted to wipe out the vampires in one small stronghold on his own, and he had already succeeded.

His next plan had been to take out another, slightly larger stronghold. But now, it was as if he’d stirred up a rat’s nest. Whenever he appeared in New York as Spider-Man, a flock of huge bats would chase after him, trying to bite him.

Peter swung between the buildings of the Brooklyn District, with another two or three bats trailing behind him. But his mind was exceptionally clear. He made a sharp turn in midair, cutting directly around the corner of a building and causing the leading bat to slam into the edge of the wall.

Then he released his web and plunged rapidly downward. The other bats followed him down, but when they were less than two meters above the ground, Spider-Man fired another web and swung away again. The bats behind him couldn’t stop in time and crashed headfirst into the ground.

Peter realized that he had truly changed a great deal. His mind was now filled with tactical plans, and the terrain of half of Brooklyn unfolded in his head in clear layers. He could see exactly where to lose pursuers and where to hide.

He used to wander around this neighborhood often, but he would forget the terrain as soon as he saw it. Who would have thought that when he needed it, it would all surface again? Spider-Man was fascinated by the feeling. It made him feel as though everything was under control.

After using similar tactics to shake off two more bats, Spider-Man stopped atop a building. Then, a cloud of black mist suddenly appeared behind him, and a sharp claw lashed toward him. His Spider-Sense tingled. Peter rolled aside, then dropped to one knee and stared intently at the black mist.

The mist condensed into a human figure. A white-haired man in medieval formalwear appeared before Spider-Man. Like the other vampires, he was pale and gloomy, but he seemed even more arrogant. "Spider-Man, are you the one who wants to make an enemy of the great bloodline?"

"The bloodline? You’re nothing but rats with wings."

Spider-Man slowly rose to his feet. He found that his voice was even lower than the other man’s. "You don’t actually think the leader of the rats is somehow nobler than the rest, do you?"

Those words enraged him. The white-haired vampire turned into black mist again and instantly Blinked in front of Spider-Man. Peter’s Spider-Sense went off once more, and he rolled away again. A web shot toward a stack of crates on the rooftop, flinging them into the air. The black mist had no choice but to reform into a human shape and block with his arms.

In that brief instant, Spider-Man vanished.

Swinging through the air, Spider-Man muttered to himself, "What did I just call him again? Wasn’t that a little too harsh?"

He touched his face and said, "Was that really me? Is that something I would say?"

Spider-Man might have been a chatterbox, but he mostly used trash talk to disrupt his opponents. He rarely went straight for the heart like that. Peter wasn’t really good at insulting people. Even when he was distracting an opponent, his tone was usually joking.

But that high-ranking vampire had practically been angered to death by him just now. Peter found it a little unbelievable, but it also felt great.

He thought that line had been absolutely perfect. So what if the guy could use magic? He was still just a rat with wings, wasn’t he?

As soon as he returned to Queens, Peter noticed flames flickering on a street near the center of the district. He quickly swung over and discovered it was a street not far from Midtown High School. The place was in chaos, with police exchanging fire with vampires.

Spider-Man cursed under his breath. He knew he had fallen into a trap. No wonder those giant bats chasing him earlier had kept driving him away from Queens. Luckily, he had kept a clear head and hadn’t tangled with that high-ranking vampire for too long. Otherwise, they would have succeeded.

Just as Peter was about to go down and help, he spotted Gwen and her father George near the firefight. George was shielding Gwen with his arm. As the police fire weakened, the line was being suppressed by numerous high-ranking vampires, and the place where the father and daughter stood was becoming increasingly dangerous.

Peter was extremely anxious and wanted to go down and save them immediately, but the high-ranking vampire he had thrown off earlier caught up with him.

These vampires were different from ordinary vampires. They could use teleportation and magic that extended claws from black mist.

Teleportation wasn’t much of a threat to Peter. After all, he had Spider-Sense. The moment the enemy got close, his Spider-Sense would warn him, and he could dodge.

But the magical skill that extended claws from the black mist caused Peter no small amount of trouble.

Spider-Man mainly relied on webbing to move through the air, and that high-ranking vampire wasn’t stupid. Seeing that, he aimed his magic directly at Peter’s webs. Whenever Peter tried to swing over, the claw magic would sever his web, forcing him to quickly change direction.

With that interference, Peter couldn’t rush to save his girlfriend and her father right away. As the firefight was pushed farther and farther back, the people on the ground had nearly reached the point of no retreat. Behind them was the school district. Peter knew George’s personality—he would never allow those monsters to charge into the school.

Peter was frantic and regretted not strengthening his webbing. As several vampires surrounded George and Gwen, the anxiety and rage in his heart nearly swallowed him whole. Then, as another web was cut, Peter felt something begin to stir in his arm.

Acting on instinct, Peter fired another web. This time, it wasn’t white webbing, but black slime.

Once the black web stuck to the wall, it seemed to come alive when faced with the magical claws. The moment it was cut even slightly, more slime surged over it, making the web incredibly tough until even the magical claws couldn’t sever it.

With that, Peter rapidly reached the firefight. He used black webbing to stick to a car, then swung it viciously. The vampires pressing toward the police were sent flying, smashed into the wall, and every officer, along with George and Gwen, was stunned.

Filled with rage, Spider-Man picked up a streetlamp. The vampires behind him saw that things were going badly and tried to turn into bats to flee, but Spider-Man swung the streetlamp, knocking them down one by one. After their initial shock, the police recovered and hurried forward to finish them off.

Only after venting did Peter turn around and see that George and Gwen were out of danger. He desperately wanted to go check on them, but after hesitating, he still fired a web and left.

Once he calmed down, he realized what had happened and looked at his arm in surprise. But there was nothing unusual there. Peter muttered, "What was that? What was that black webbing just now?"

He fiddled with his wrist, removed the tiny web-shooter from his suit, and opened its compartment. The material inside hadn’t changed at all. He tried again, and it still shot out white webbing.

That sparked Peter’s intense curiosity. Had he unlocked some new talent? He began trying to shoot webs with all sorts of movements.

To an outsider, he looked like some weirdo in a skintight suit making all kinds of ridiculous poses on a rooftop. It was utterly comical.

After fooling around for half the day, Peter was exhausted, but he still couldn’t shoot that black webbing again.

Peter figured that maybe his posture was wrong. Just as he was planning to try standing on his head, a voice finally snapped in his mind, unable to bear it any longer. "Stop trying! Are you an idiot?"

Peter jumped in fright, nearly springing straight up on the spot. He looked left and right and said, "What? Who are you?! Where are you talking from?!"

"I’m in your head! Haven’t you noticed at all?"

Peter’s eyes widened in shock. "In my head? Then who are you? My second personality? Do I have multiple personality disorder? Oh no! I need to see Doctor Schiller!"

"No, no, no! Don’t go! You don’t need a Doctor. I’m not one of your personalities. Oh, damn it! Stop! Don’t run over there!!!"

Peter hesitated, then stopped. "Then who are you?"

"I’m an unlucky alien Symbiote. My name is Venom. As for the rest, your brain probably can’t understand it. You only need to know that I’m here to help you."

"An alien Symbiote? You’re an alien? That’s so cool! But why are you inside my body?"

"Because you’re a weakling with a not-so-bright brain. If I hadn’t helped you just now, you would’ve died…"

"How can you say that about me? Even without you, I would’ve figured something out!"

"You don’t actually think all those recent ideas were your own, do you?"

"Weren’t they?"

Only then did Peter realize that he had seemed a little different lately. No matter what he did, he would actually consider a plan first. Sometimes one plan wasn’t enough—he would prepare several contingencies in his mind. His ability to react on the spot and devise tactical plans in a crisis had suddenly improved by a huge margin.

"So that was you?" Peter asked. "Are there really aliens that amazing? You can not only live inside my body, but also help me think of solutions?… Wait, did you just sigh? Why did you sigh? I may not be as smart as you, but I’m not stupid, right? I’m not bad enough to make you sigh, am I?"

"Forget about those irrelevant things. How do you plan to deal with these people hunting you down?"

Peter hesitated, scratched his head, and said, "They usually can’t catch me anyway. I shake them off after a few rounds."

"Do you plan to play with them like this every day?"

"Why not? I’ve got plenty of free time."

"But I don’t!!!" Venom roared. "Hurry up and deal with all of them! Then we can go eat heads!!"

"There are so many of them. How am I supposed to deal with… Wait, what did you just say you wanted to eat?"

"Listen, you are without a doubt the dumbest human I have ever met," Venom said.

"Now use that not-so-functional brain of yours to come up with a plan that barely passes, then wipe them all out in one go, and we can take a vacation!"

"Aliens need vacations too?" Peter asked. "Why do you seem so anxious? Do you have some kind of performance target?"

Venom sounded somewhat manic. "Why are you so lazy? You clearly have plenty of time to devise a foolproof plan to defeat every enemy. Why are you standing around here?"

"Can you get moving already? Find a room, think carefully, come up with two hundred battle plans, and put them into action immediately! Right now! Hurry!!!"

Peter’s head buzzed from listening to him. "Can you keep it down? You’re reminding me of my homeroom teacher."

"Besides, it’s not like I’m about to take final exams. I just wanted to deal with the two strongholds in this neighborhood. My goal is already complete, and tomorrow I’m planning to go on a date with Gwen…"