Chapter 118: Batman VS Anti-Venom
The mountain range stretched endlessly. Batman couldn't possibly search the entire wilderness to locate the white symbiote.
The moment he arrived, Batman opened a narrow gap in Venom's containment unit.
Under Batman's stern gaze, Venom didn't rashly leap free. Instead, it raised what passed for a head and stared at Batman in confusion.
"You said you and your offspring share some kind of connection, correct? Here's your chance. Call it here." Batman's command was direct.
Venom's distinctive white eyes immediately demonstrated what "brightening with excitement" meant. It looked absolutely thrilled.
"If I call it over, you'll become my host? Excellent!"
"No." Batman coldly cut through Venom's enthusiasm. "I'll face it alone."
Excited one moment, Venom deflated the next like a frost-bitten eggplant. It made a reluctant, dissatisfied sound.
"Fine. I can already sense it. It's about two hundred kilometers away, heading this direction right now. Estimated arrival time... five minutes."
"Any other information?" Batman pressed.
Venom spread itself flat as a pancake inside the containment unit, listless. "Don't know. I'd need to bond with you to access my full abilities."
Batman ignored Venom's complaint and sealed the containment completely before placing it inside the SUV.
Then, rather than climbing into the driver's seat, Batman bent down and lifted the entire vehicle, carrying it deep into the forest to hide it.
He'd brought an arsenal. Some items were specifically designed to counter symbiotes. Others came from Otto's laboratory on South Brother Island, borrowed for this confrontation.
Batman distributed everything strategically within a twenty-meter radius—gel explosives, hardening foam, web fluid variants with different chemical compositions.
Almost the instant Batman completed his preparations, a heavy, resonating sound echoed from the distance. Like some massive beast charging forward.
The sound grew closer. Several seconds later—
CRASH!
The white symbiote leaped from afar, arcing through the air before landing directly in front of Batman.
"Where's Venom? Bring him out!"
Facing Batman in his fully deployed Arkham suit, the creature made no attacking gesture. Instead, it bared its teeth and demanded answers.
Batman tilted his head back slightly, studying the white symbiote that towered over three meters tall.
"It didn't attack immediately. It's looking for Venom?" Understanding crystallized in Batman's mind. He spoke clearly. "Venom isn't inside me."
THOOM!
The white symbiote lunged forward one step, its foot slamming into the earth with such force that dirt exploded outward, leaving a shallow crater. It roared at Batman.
"Make that coward come out!"
As it spoke, it reached toward Batman with grasping claws.
FWOOSH!
A smoke grenade detonated instantly. White smoke enveloped Batman's position. The white symbiote's claw caught only empty air.
"I have no desire to be your enemy. I only want Venom to emerge so I can kill it." Its voice rasped through the white smoke.
"I can release it," Batman's voice drifted from within the concealing cloud. "But there's a condition. You need to leave Eddie Brock's body."
"Hah."
The white symbiote released a cold laugh. It suddenly inhaled deeply, then exhaled with tremendous force, blowing away all the smoke in one breath. Batman's figure stood exposed.
Its arm stretched impossibly long, grasping toward Batman as though certain Venom hid within his body.
But in the next instant, Batman rolled clear. The high-frequency noise generators he'd pre-positioned activated with a piercing shriek. Simultaneously, a flashbang detonated.
FLASH!
After the white smoke dissipated, intense white light flooded the area.
Batman's eyes were already protected by the Arkham suit's advanced lenses. The brilliant light had zero effect on him.
But viewing the white symbiote through X-ray vision that penetrated the glare, Batman's brow furrowed involuntarily.
Venom suffered terribly under high-frequency sound. Its offspring, however, appeared completely unaffected.
The flashbang's illumination lasted barely a second. The white symbiote stood perfectly fine, its symbiotic mass showing no reaction whatsoever.
"Hand over Venom, Batman."
Just as Batman prepared to deploy strong acid and other countermeasures, the white symbiote's head suddenly split open. Half of Eddie Brock's face emerged from the symbiotic material.
"It gave me power when I was at my most desperate. Then minutes later, it discarded me like trash."
"And you, Batman—I watched Venom enter your body with my own eyes." Hatred flashed in his visible eye as he glared at Batman through clenched teeth.
"Anti-Venom's target is Venom. But my target is you! Release the Venom inside you. I want you to experience what it's like to gain power and then lose it. I think you'll enjoy it."
With those words, Eddie Brock's exposed face was consumed again by the white symbiote.
The white symbiote—Anti-Venom—bared its teeth in a sinister grin before leaping toward Batman with snapping jaws.
---
"According to your theory, if I help you replicate those Shocker gauntlets, my flight capability problem would also be solved?"
In a standard two-story American house in Brooklyn, the renowned electronics engineer Adrian Toomes regarded Herman Schultz with skepticism.
"Exactly. Although my previous gauntlets were developed using abilities provided by Mister Negative, and they've already been destroyed by that damned Batman... I gained critical insights from the process. With sufficient funding and materials, I can absolutely replicate a new pair!"
Schultz argued desperately, trying to convince the engineer he'd worked so hard to locate—someone who could help him restart his "Shocker" identity.
"And I believe that during development of the new gauntlets, you as an electronics engineer could adapt the Shocker principles to manufacture your new flight device. You could fly through the sky like a real bird."
Adrian Toomes possessed a prominent hooked nose. He touched its tip thoughtfully before agreeing to Schultz's request with barely concealed eagerness.
"I can fund your gauntlet construction. But I want to know upfront—what's your purpose in creating them?"
Schultz thought of that dark figure with pointed ears.
If not for Batman, Schultz would be comfortably enjoying everything his position afforded him. He'd been Kingpin's chief engineer and inventor. He wouldn't have been manipulated by Mister Negative, captured by Batman, toyed with by both men like some insignificant insect.
The hatred on Schultz's face was completely undisguised.
"For revenge!"
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