Chapter 119: Venom Batman is Born
Strong acid. Strong alkaline solutions. Fire. Intense light. High-frequency sound. Subsonic waves. Shockwaves. Hardening foam. Electrical current. Electromagnetic pulses.
At the edge of the Adirondack Mountains, Batman had exhausted nearly every countermeasure at his disposal.
Peter Parker's body—its strength, speed, spider-sense, and reaction time—had been pushed to absolute limits. Batman had already cycled through fifty-six different web fluid formulations.
But the white symbiote called "Anti-Venom" appeared to have no weaknesses whatsoever. Both visual observation and the Arkham suit's sensor data showed the creature remained identical to when it first appeared.
Batman had been bonded with Venom. He understood that while Anti-Venom might lack vulnerabilities, Eddie Brock inside it certainly had them. If he could find an opportunity to separate host from symbiote, victory would be within reach.
But whether Batman used tensile, high-durability webbing formed into cutting wires to slice Anti-Venom apart, or employed maximum-adhesion webbing attempting to peel away the symbiotic mass, Anti-Venom remained completely unaffected.
Even when Batman tried speaking directly to Eddie Brock—and when Eddie's face emerged beneath Anti-Venom's exterior, Batman fired webbing directly at it trying to pull him free—the attempt failed utterly.
Though Eddie Brock existed within Anti-Venom's body, the two had become completely unified. No external force could separate them.
Batman's body was now covered in wounds. Anti-Venom hadn't simply stood motionless allowing Batman to test various methods.
On the contrary, because Eddie Brock harbored intense hatred toward the Batman who'd taken Venom from him, Anti-Venom fought with the singular goal of killing Batman on the spot.
Claws. Razor teeth. Spikes. Hammering blows. Tentacles.
Anti-Venom's attack repertoire exceeded Venom's, and its tremendous strength made every strike devastatingly swift.
Any of these attacks—if Batman's concentration lapsed for even a moment and he took a direct hit—would injure him despite Peter Parker's enhanced durability.
But Batman refused to retreat. The longer he fought Anti-Venom, the closer he came to identifying its weakness.
Clad in the Arkham suit, Batman became a black shadow weaving through the Adirondack foothills. Anti-Venom transformed into a white shadow in relentless pursuit.
Wherever they passed, the ground tore open in trenches several meters deep. Dirt exploded like bomb shrapnel under the massive impact forces.
One pursuing, one fleeing—the two combatants had completely torn up the surface terrain at the mountain range's edge.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Anti-Venom's footfalls thundered like a strongman pounding war drums. Inside the hidden SUV, Venom pressed against the containment unit's walls, fully aware of what was happening outside.
"I need to help Batman, but I can't escape this containment..."
Venom bounced frantically inside the unit like a frog jabbed with a pin, leaping up and down in desperation.
It understood perfectly—once Batman fell, its own discovery would follow shortly after.
When that happened, facing an opponent with a host while Venom remained hostless, it had zero chance of victory.
"I have to get out. I have to bond with Batman!"
Listening to Anti-Venom's thunderous impacts shaking the ground, Venom grew increasingly frantic.
Time passed second by second. Venom looked up through the car window at the gradually darkening sky. Steeling its resolve, it compressed itself into one corner of the containment unit.
Venom's body contracted into a tight ball. Then it launched itself violently at the opposite glass wall.
THUD.
After a soft impact, Venom collapsed limply at the containment bottom. The glass it had struck remained perfectly intact.
Without a host, Venom was barely more substantial than gelatin. It couldn't generate anywhere near its full strength.
But Venom didn't surrender. It retreated to the corner again. And struck the glass again.
"I can't give up. If Batman loses, I lose. I'll be found eventually."
"If I lose him, I might never find another host so powerful, so fascinating."
"I won't give up... I have my Venom Plan!"
Even though Venom had bonded with Batman for less than two days, and hadn't delved into his memories, it had still been influenced by him.
Never surrender. And always have a plan.
Venom would use its repeated impacts to attract the white symbiote's attention. Since Batman refused to accept it and had locked it in this containment unit—
Then Venom would use the white symbiote to shatter this container. Then it would force its way into Batman's body and help him defeat its offspring. That was its "Venom Plan"!
THUD! THUD! THUD!
Venom's impacts against the glass continued in a steady, rhythmic pattern. Though the sounds were faint, they held a deliberate cadence.
Venom knew the white symbiote—stronger than itself—would certainly hear. It had already prepared to force its way into Batman's body and merge with him as one.
"I'm certain you can hear this! And I'm certain that once I combine with Batman, we'll defeat you!"
Venom released a low growl and struck the glass once more.
Forty kilometers away, halfway up a mountainside, Batman used another smoke grenade to conceal his position while the Arkham suit worked at maximum capacity collecting Anti-Venom data.
Batman had already determined how to defeat Anti-Venom. But he needed to withdraw, make proper preparations, and only then engage it again.
He'd entered the tactical phase of using the terrain to cover his retreat.
White smoke from the grenade billowed across the area. Batman sprinted toward a forested section below the mountain.
Anti-Venom faced Batman's repeated smoke screen tactic and once again blew it away with a single breath. After listening for Batman's heartbeat, its mouth split wide.
Its hands transformed into sharp, curved claws that tore frantically through the mountain itself, burrowing through rock to approach Batman from below.
The underground movement couldn't escape Batman's enhanced senses. He dodged one second before Anti-Venom burst upward to ambush him.
Bats filled the sky—creatures summoned by Batman's ultrasonic beacon, now circling at low altitude.
Just as Batman assumed Anti-Venom would continue its tireless pursuit as before, the creature emerged from underground and stopped. It stood motionless for several seconds, then suddenly looked toward the distance.
Batman's heart sank. That direction was precisely where he'd hidden the SUV—and Venom inside it.
Batman's prepared plan for defeating Anti-Venom required Venom's participation. If Anti-Venom found and killed Venom, the difficulty of defeating it would increase exponentially.
Anti-Venom's knees bent. It launched forward. Batman's reflexes were faster—before it could fully accelerate, he fired webbing that stuck to Anti-Venom's body.
Then Batman leaped into the air, spreading his cape like a kite being pulled behind Anti-Venom's charging form.
Batman's speed fell far short of Anti-Venom's. He'd survived this long by relying on the endless gadgets in his utility belt and Peter Parker's superhuman reflexes.
If he chose to pursue on foot, he'd arrive several minutes after Anti-Venom. Being dragged like a kite was the fastest option.
Anti-Venom, racing toward Venom at full speed, seemed completely unconcerned with Batman trailing behind. It ran on all fours like a wild beast.
Forty kilometers passed in moments. Anti-Venom didn't detour—it smashed straight through a series of tree trunks and arrived at the SUV.
SCREECH!
With a teeth-grinding metallic shriek, Anti-Venom's claws tore the entire vehicle in half, simultaneously shredding the containment unit holding Venom.
WHOOSH!
The black symbiote had been waiting. It flowed rapidly through the SUV's torn gaps, then leaped!
Anti-Venom's reaction speed was extraordinary. Seeing Venom, it moved like a lion scenting blood—one claw shot forward, grasping toward Venom suspended mid-air.
But in the next instant, Batman landed smoothly. He also extended his hand toward Venom.
Without rescuing Venom, Anti-Venom would be nearly impossible to handle. Batman would need to pay a far greater price and invest much more time finding another method to defeat it.
By rescuing Venom, Batman's plan would enable him to defeat Anti-Venom at their next encounter—and afterward, Venom would remain under Batman's control.
Between two choices, no deliberation was needed. With a wet sound, Venom flowed into Batman's body.
Batman's physique in the Arkham suit didn't change, but black symbiotic material rippled rapidly across his form. A massive white bat symbol emerged across his chest, its edges no longer clean but extending into sharp, jagged spikes.
From the bat symbol as center point, countless intricate white patterns spread across Batman's upper body.
His mouth, exposed beneath the mask, didn't transform into Venom's grotesque maw with massive teeth. But his eyes tilted at a distinctly alien angle.
'I need Venom alive to defeat Anti-Venom.'
'Batman needs me!'
Man and symbiote—two separate consciousnesses achieved perfect unity in that moment, merging into one being.