When Renzo learned the news, it was already three hours after the arrest mission.
Eddie sat in the bay in despair, soaked to the skin, salty seawater trickling down his loose shirt, while Venom protruded from his head. He didn't know how to comfort Eddie. In fact, he was equally lost. This was their defeat—an unprecedented rout.
Morbius inserted a straw into the blood bag, and the black-red blood was sucked into his mouth. The sealed bag had been soaked and squeezed by the seawater, and some of its contents had leaked out. The salty smell of seawater mixed with the metallic scent of blood, making Morbius uncomfortable. The delicious food was a little hard to swallow.
"Hey..."
The man in the plaid shirt slowly appeared behind the two of them. The little purple robot remained silent, its electronic eyes flashing blue as its joints made a series of clicking sounds, as though it were examining the two men.
"One defeat and you've turned into a puppy? Begging for mercy? Eddie, one failure is nothing..." Renzo said.
"I hate this feeling of being toyed with and applauded." Eddie was going crazy. Why wouldn't they just finish him off? Why torment him like this instead?
There was once a movie called *The Truman Show*. Truman had lived in a fake studio for the first half of his life. Everyone was an actor: the neighbors who greeted him every morning, the wife who stayed by his side day and night, the man who made his ambitions clear through death, his father, his brother-in-law, his friends... Endless falsehoods surrounded this strong man. Everyone knew how fake his world was, yet they concealed every fact from the only person who remained unaware. They quietly watched his pure, natural performance, smiling on the outside and laughing on the inside.
What a sad thing it was for an actor to not even know that he was an actor.
The ground was struck by a fierce punch, and Eddie's palms filled with blood. Venom watched all this coldly. Maybe it would be better to let Eddie vent. Pain could always calm someone down when they were close to losing control. As for Morbius, it didn't matter. There was nothing more frightening than death. Now that he was alive and doing well enough, that was already something. Wanting too much would only lead him into an even deeper abyss.
"I want to move! I want to escape from under their noses," Eddie suddenly said. Perhaps only after leaving San Francisco would he have a chance to breathe.
He had been forced to walk a long road. He followed the route they had planned and did exactly what they wanted him to do, step by step. He was like a puppet on strings. When he and Venom defeated Riot, his freedom had completely fallen into the hands of others.
He had to be an obedient toy. Otherwise, his life would be in danger.
"There's nothing you can do about it. If you leave San Francisco, they might block you in New York or Chicago. As long as you're in the United States, they won't let you go. Unless you have a way to leave the country, it's basically wishful thinking. The government knows your identity and understands how important you are. They'll take every measure necessary to prevent you from escaping. Maybe your passport has already been canceled, and even your driver's license could have been revoked."
Yes, the government simply wanted to trap Eddie in San Francisco, in the United States. If this continued, the one who eventually revealed everything would be Eddie himself, driven to the breaking point. The government had plenty of time to waste on him, but Eddie didn't. He couldn't keep going forever. One day, he would frantically search for a way out, just like Truman. Even if a violent storm and something terrifying stood before him, he would still move forward, risking his own life for even the slightest chance of escape.
Renzo didn't tell Eddie that he had found twenty-four cameras near his home, along with numerous government agents constantly watching the house. Even the gangster next door had been dismissed and replaced by an agent skilled in disguise and voice imitation.
Unfortunately, the government didn't have the ability to place cameras inside Eddie's home. Renzo monitored every move these people made, but he didn't want to interfere yet. Once even one person was exposed, Eddie might be attacked.
Renzo wasn't afraid of any of this. Even if every nuclear weapon in the world were launched at him, he wouldn't be afraid. The damage those weapons could inflict on him was very limited. But Eddie was different. Even with Venom's help, he was still an ordinary human being. He could become exhausted, and a missile could still injure him. If the military truly launched an all-out attack on Eddie, it might only take a day before Eddie's next meeting with Venom was inside a secret government laboratory.
Renzo never underestimated the power of state agencies. The United States was one of the world's most powerful countries, and its true strength could not be underestimated. A single superhero or even a team of heroes couldn't simply match the resources of an entire government. Tony Stark might act boldly in front of the president, but that was because everything he did ultimately benefited the country.
If Tony ever did something that seriously endangered national security, they would move against the arrogant billionaire regardless of the consequences. Even if they couldn't find him directly, public opinion, his family, and his friends could all become weapons against him.
Renzo did not go to see Annie and Dan, but there was a high probability that cameras and hidden agents had been placed around their home as well, ensuring they could be used to pressure Eddie if he tried to escape.
However, what worried him somewhat was that Morbius had also been exposed. Combined with the potion that had been stolen a few days earlier, the government would probably classify Morbius as a dangerous individual as well. However, without Morbius as an experimental subject, they probably wouldn't be able to develop any useful weapons specifically designed to restrain him. After testing, Morbius had shown no particular weakness to the traditional weapons associated with vampires, such as silver or garlic.
Fortunately, even if the government acted, it would probably be a futile effort.
What really worried Renzo was where the medicine for treating blood diseases had ended up.
It wasn't his fault. When he traveled through time, Morbius had only released a trailer, and he hadn't even watched that. He didn't know who the villain was.
The person who had hired Black Cat Felicia to steal the medicine for treating blood diseases was naturally Lucis Crown, Morbius's good friend. After seeing his friend standing before him alive, healthy, and stronger than ever, he wanted the same thing. He wanted to become strong and be able to travel anywhere in the world.
The flames of jealousy once again consumed his reason. In the end, he could no longer resist his greed and paranoia, so he decided to steal the potion.
Everything went well until Lucis drank the medicine that cured the blood disease and transformed into a vampire monster like Morbius. Feeling the powerful strength surging through his body, his expression became arrogant.
Pfft!
The next second, dozens of rounds of tranquilizer darts were fired into his body. Poor Lucis hadn't even had time to enjoy the pleasure of his newfound power before the military subdued him and imprisoned him in an open-air facility bathed in sunlight twenty-four hours a day. Solar lamps constantly shone on him, weakening his strength.
Lucis became a guinea pig in a military experiment, dissected and studied until he was left half-dead.
...
The military commander sat at the head of the table, with four people seated on either side of the long table.
"This collar is so ugly! Can you replace it with Prada?" Felicia played with the metal collar around her neck in disgust, a ring of red light flashing continuously.
"If I were you, I wouldn't touch it," the commander said coldly.
He pressed the remote control in his hand, and a burst of electricity exploded through the collar. Felicia wailed in pain, tears covering her fair face. Her half-black, half-white hair instantly turned into an afro, and she collapsed weakly onto the table.
Thompson kindly gave her a piece of the Chaos symbiote, helping her recover.
"I'm glad that our group of like-minded friends has come together and that everyone can live together harmoniously. It would be wonderful if everyone in the world could do the same. Without war or discrimination, aliens could even sit together with people from Earth and share a drink."
"Everyone here is extraordinary. They're all powerful, and it's been a pleasure having you with us. I believe everyone will sincerely join this organization..."
"Wait a minute! I never agreed to join your bullshit organization." Alexey waved impatiently. "You let me out, then captured me, and set up an escape system on me. I was charged with escaping from prison, and then you injected these unknown liquids into my body as if it were perfectly normal. They smelled worse than my dad's underwear!"
Alexey was dissatisfied with this arrangement. Even his limited intelligence was enough to piece together some simple truths. He had watched *The Shawshank Redemption*, after all.
Since being captured, Alexey had been immersed in green liquid, relying only on an oxygen tank to stay alive. His body was under enormous pressure, with the difference between internal and external air pressure reaching an astonishing level. Countless times, Alexey thought his body was about to explode like a balloon.
Gradually, his internal organs and skin became extremely tough through continuous tempering. His body surface was covered with a layer of gray cuticle, while his unyielding will manifested as a ferocious horn, similar to a rhinoceros. So he gave himself the title of Rhino.
The potion that had immersed him was extracted from Chaos, and it strengthened Alexey's physical abilities in every aspect. Unfortunately, it had no effect on improving his IQ. Of course, it was also possible that the military had never intended to improve his intelligence. What they needed was a group of obedient weapons capable of rampaging through a battlefield, not self-aware beasts ready to resist at any moment.
Thompson ignored the collar around his neck. For him, even if enough explosives were used to blow his head off, as long as he didn't die immediately, Chaos could save him.
"Okay! I declare that from now on, you will be a special team directly led by the government and the military. You will be called the Dark Avengers!"
"What a stupid name. Avengers? It's hard to imagine what kind of organization would use such an ugly name." Felicia waved her hand and mocked him.
The military commander smiled cryptically and ignored them.
"How is my husband...?" Scream asked, then fell silent for a long time. She hated this solemn atmosphere, but Cassady's arrest had forced her to rely on betraying herself in exchange for her boyfriend's safety.
From the moment she stepped into the church, she had become Cassady's wife. Even if they both eventually became toys of the military and lost their freedom, as long as they were together, there would always be endless possibilities for the future.
Scream's eyes were sinister, her murderous intent as sharp as a sword. She wanted to chop the man's head into several pieces and then have Kasady carry him away.
The commander waved his hand, and soldiers with guns escorted the monsters out of the room, leaving only him and the black officer.
"Do you really plan to form such a team? You know better than anyone that these guys are absolutely uncontrollable. If there's even a slight flaw in our plan, they'll slip through the cracks and disappear without a trace."
"Of course I know... I know that better than anyone. That's why I formed this team, so they can cooperate with one another while secretly preparing an escape plan!" The commander smiled disdainfully. From beginning to end, he had never taken these villains seriously. Even if they joined forces, the result would be the same. "We need a legitimate reason to justify it, so I have to find a reason to execute them all."
The black officer was stunned. "What do you mean?"
"It literally means that once they accomplish my goal, there will be no need for them to exist. This world has never been short of monsters. Haven't you heard of urban legends? The pig-man butcher, the crocodile in the sewer, the standing black goat... There is essentially no difference between them and these monsters. They're all imaginary... all imaginary!"
The officer's expression suddenly became ferocious, and he stared at the black officer with vicious eyes. For a moment, the man felt as though he were being watched by a venomous snake, ready to tear him apart.
"The meaning of their existence is only in my plan. From this moment on, I can officially begin the countdown to their lives." The commander pointed to his watch. "When the watch stops, it will be their death."
Yes, the military commander had never regarded them as subordinates or slaves. In his eyes, these people could only be called tools at best... and at times, they weren't even weapons. They were simply tools.
The black officer didn't understand, but he was so shocked that he left the room, leaving the commander alone. He sat quietly on the hard, cold chair, deep in thought.
"An unexpected uninvited guest, possessing the Infinity Stones... I remember that the Mind Stone should be embedded in Vision's head. That can't be true..."
The military commander murmured to himself. A photograph lay before him, a dagger driven through it as if that alone could pin the man to death.
It clearly showed Renzo's face, his original appearance rather than a hallucination.
...
Of course, Renzo didn't know what was going on in the commander's mind. If he had been present, he would have realized that this commander was most likely a time traveler, just like him.
He was currently worried about the symbiotes that had arrived on Earth. They were well hidden and had shown no trace since landing, as if their arrival had merely been the result of a space station crash. But Contempt's senses were unmistakable, and Venom had also personally visited the site. He had smelled the scent of his companions there. The confirmation from both symbiotes made Renzo even more anxious.
"I recognize them... Howling, Whip, Agony, and Phage... leaders on the same level as Riot." Venom clearly stated the name of each symbiote. When he had been on the symbiote planet, he often encountered these powerful beings, though he had usually been beaten one-sidedly.
Venom was eager to try and couldn't wait to find these guys. Not for anything else, but to show off his current strength. He had never imagined that they would meet again like this, giving him the chance to return every beating and every punch he had received.
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