Glug glug...
Tony Stark's arms were held behind his back by Ten Rings members on either side, his head forced down into a sink filled with water.
"Tony, I implore you to build the Jericho missile for me."
Tony Stark's hair was yanked, his face turned toward the Ten Rings leader speaking at the opening, Abu Bakr.
Tony coughed twice, his bloodshot eyes fixed on Abu Bakr as he shook his head resolutely.
Before he could speak again, glug glug... Tony Stark's head was shoved back into the sink.
After a full hour of sustained torture, the Ten Rings still had no intention of letting Tony Stark go.
Abu Bakr was wrapped in clothes whose original color was indistinguishable, covering everything but his head tightly to shield against the Middle Eastern sun and sand.
In contrast, Tony Stark was wearing only a T-shirt and a thin jacket.
At that moment, the Ten Rings leader Abu Bakr signaled his men to step aside, then personally lifted Tony Stark's jacket and grabbed the wires connected to the electromagnet in his chest.
"Tony Stark, your arrival honors me greatly."
Abu Bakr smiled. If one ignored the hand gripping the wires and pulling them slightly outward, his demeanor seemed quite sincere:
"I let you live in hopes that you would work for me, but if you don't cooperate, what reason do I have to keep you alive?"
"Cough cough..."
Tony Stark coughed violently several times, water pouring from his mouth, nose, and ears, but Tony paid no mind to his physical discomfort.
He stared into the eyes of the Ten Rings leader.
Then an opaque burlap sack was pulled over his head, his hands were released, but immediately something heavy sank into them—the car battery sustaining his life was placed in his grasp.
Pushed and shoved along the way, turning corner after corner, the burlap was finally removed from Tony Stark's head.
His vision blurred; his eyes, long accustomed to the pitch-black cave, were suddenly exposed to sunlight. Tony instinctively felt discomfort, only recovering after a moment.
Ethan, imprisoned with him, was also brought out.
But Tony Stark's gaze did not turn to Ethan; instead, it fell on the crates of various weapons stacked box upon box at the cave entrance.
Missiles, guns, shells... all uniformly stamped with the Stark Industries logo.
"What do you think?"
Through Ethan's translation, Abu Bakr's words reached Tony's ears.
Tony Stark's heart was a mix of emotions. He had never known that so many weapons from his company had fallen into the hands of terrorist organizations.
And this was merely one organization he could see.
In the shadows, in the dark—were there more similar terrorist groups, likewise armed with Stark Industries munitions?
Tony Stark's mind flashed back to days earlier, to the words Peter Parker had said during their unhappy parting at Stark Industries:
"Tony, precision control... Your Stark Industries has a problem; it's no longer under your—"
Cradling the car battery, Tony Stark's hair soaked, his face smeared with patches of black and yellow grime, his dust-covered beard... he looked utterly disheveled, his expression complex as he said:
"You have a lot of my weapons."
Abu Bakr laughed heartily. He knew his threats, and the effect of letting Tony Stark see these weapons with his own eyes, had worked:
"We can provide whatever materials you need. These weapons all come from Stark Industries, but they no longer meet our demands."
"We need weapons with sufficient power and accuracy to hold in our hands, to gain more profit."
"So I need you to build the Jericho missile for me."
Ethan, standing beside them with an equally complex expression, faithfully translated the Ten Rings leader's words to Tony Stark.
"As long as you finish building the Jericho for me, I'll let you go. After that, you'll be free," Abu Bakr said.
Ethan continued translating faithfully, while Abu Bakr extended a hand.
Tony Stark forced a strained smile, reaching out to shake it, then said in English to Ethan beside him:
"He won't keep his word."
A self-mocking smile appeared on Ethan's face as he watched this former world's richest man and arms dealer, Tony Stark, strike a deal with a Middle Eastern terrorist organization:
"No, he won't."
Once again blindfolded with burlap, Tony Stark and Ethan were pushed and shoved back into the deepest part of the cave.
Bang!
The iron door slammed shut and was locked from the outside.
Tony Stark sat motionless on the ground. Earlier outside, he had already surveyed the terrain and personnel distribution, and the results filled him with despair.
Every shadow, every corner held Ten Rings members, weapons in hand, watching like tigers.
For someone like him—unarmed, burdened with a heavy car battery—an ordinary man escaping was impossible.
Tony Stark had agreed to the Ten Rings leader's demand to build the Jericho missile, letting this weapon become their strategic asset.
But he knew full well this was merely prolonging his life. The day the Jericho missile was completed might well be the day Tony Stark died.
Ethan watched Tony Stark sitting numbly on the ground, then plopped down opposite him and said:
"I know the military is looking for you, but believe me, they won't find this place."
"What you saw outside earlier are all your creations—your research成果 fallen into the hands of these killers."
"Are you really just going to sit and wait for death? You really don't plan to do something?"
Tony Stark didn't even glance at Ethan, his unfocused eyes staring into the pitch-black cave:
"Why should I do something? We both know they'll kill us eventually anyway. We don't have much time left."
"So in the few days we have left alive, time is especially precious, right?" Ethan countered.
Tony Stark looked at Ethan, where a fire had now been lit, the flames flickering in Tony's eyes.
At the edge of the Adirondack Mountains, in a stretch of woods, two figures—one black, one white—stood less than two meters apart.
Anti-Venom, facing Batman's sudden appearance and becoming Venom's host, grinned wider once more. It retracted its claws in midair, forming a fist and smashing it toward Batman with ferocious force.
The air at the front of the fist compressed under the immense power, making it hard to breathe. Batman remained expressionless, likewise turning his extended palm into a fist to meet Anti-Venom's.
Crash!
Fist met fist. Batman's cape billowed backward from the impact of the colossal force, the flowing black symbiote matter rendering the cape in wispy strands.
Beside the massive white Anti-Venom and the pitch-black Venom Batman, the branches of trees not yet snapped bent outward in all directions from the pair.
The gust from the clash made branches—save for the sturdiest trunks—creak under the strain. Fallen leaves scattered in all directions, forming a circular pattern around them.
With one punch exchanged, Anti-Venom and Venom Batman each stepped back. Joy overflowed in Venom's heart:
"Amazing! This is the host I've always dreamed of! We are so strong!"
But the next second, Venom sensed something wrong.
The black symbiote matter that should have covered Batman's fist lost vitality, turning inert and shriveling to the ground, scattering into dust with a gust of wind.
In that moment, Venom finally understood what this offspring it had spawned was—and its abilities.
It was called Anti-Venom. It possessed physical qualities surpassing Venom's, without Venom's feared weaknesses... Most importantly, it could directly dissolve symbiotes. It was the natural enemy of symbiotes!
The ecstatic Venom was now filled with terror. It cried out in horror:
"Run! We can't beat it!"
But Anti-Venom's killing intent toward Venom, combined with Eddie Brock's killing intent toward Batman.
Facing Batman transformed into Venom Batman, they too achieved one body, one mind.
Shing!
Both arms transformed into scythes, slamming into the ground. Anti-Venom roared and lunged at Batman.
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