Everyone's eyes were fixed on the collapsed ruins. At the slightest sign of trouble, the well-trained soldiers would pull the trigger without hesitation. Bullets would rain down, and the tongues of flame would engulf the entire street.
Everyone held their breath, and the black officer's gaze never left the ruins for even an inch. Felicia lowered the rocket launcher from her shoulder and breathed lightly, straining to hear even the faintest sound for fear of disturbing something.
"Team 2, Team 2, investigate the situation."
At the command, a team of ten people slowly advanced. Everyone was focused, weapons raised, their M16s ready as they activated the night-vision modes on their tactical helmets. The thermal sensors mounted on their equipment allowed them to quickly and accurately locate enemies hiding behind obstacles.
There was a lot of dust, and it was unusually thick.
"Nothing unusual in the southeast."
"Nothing unusual due north."
"Nothing unusual in the northwest."
"Nothing unusual due south."
Listening to the continuous reports over the communicator, the black officer's eyelids twitched before he shouted sternly, "Search carefully! They must be hiding under the ruins. Coordinate with each other and don't give them the slightest chance to escape!"
He had already seen enough. He wasn't accustomed to Justin's tolerant policy. Why wait and observe Eddie Brock in hopes of luring out more superpowered individuals? In his eyes, anyone who consorted with aliens was a potential threat that needed to be eliminated.
As a staunch soldier, he saw protecting his country as his mission. If there was even the slightest sign of a threat, he would eliminate it before it could grow. Many people in the upper ranks of the military appreciated his radicalism and regarded him as their sharpest blade.
"Coward... come out! I'll stuff your head into your ass!" Alexey said with a ferocious grin. His huge body stomped across the ruins, every footprint creating cracks in the ground. His heavy frame was like a hill, crushing everything beneath him.
Eddie wasn't the only one buried in the ruins. Other residents of the building, as well as people from adjacent buildings, were also trapped beneath the feet of the searching soldiers.
Boom!
Alexei lifted a slab of concrete, revealing a face covered in blood beneath it. It was as though the man were seeing daylight again. Moonlight fell directly across his face. He had no idea why he had suffered such a disaster and thought it had been an earthquake.
"Help... I..." the man said weakly. He couldn't move. A steel bar had pierced his leg. He raised one hand slightly, trying to reach for Alexei.
His humble plea earned no sympathy from the Rhino. Alexei responded by kicking him hard.
The man immediately went still.
Alexei showed no remorse and continued searching for traces of Eddie. Those they found were decisively killed—not just by Alexei, but by the soldiers as well.
To conceal their crimes, they had to eliminate every witness and victim. They carried no burden of conscience; anyone who did would never have been qualified to participate in this mission. The flames from their gun barrels would speak for them.
"Thompson, join the search party!" the black officer shouted in an almost commanding tone.
In an instant, a blue afterimage descended from the sky. His body was no smaller than a rhinoceros, and two dark-blue wings spread across his back, stirring up a hurricane and sending dust billowing through the air.
As symbiotes, they had an inexplicable sense of one another when they drew close, like animals sensing danger through instincts that were difficult to understand.
But when Chaos approached, a powerful pressure suddenly descended upon the two of them. It wasn't merely the difference in strength. It was the absolute suppression of a superior over an inferior. The majestic pressure was like a train roaring down the tracks, crushing against everyone's hearts.
"Run! Run!"
Branches seemed to sprout wildly inside Thompson's heart, wrapping around it and taking root. The overwhelming pressure was like a lingering dark cloud, sounding a warning that he couldn't ignore.
Thompson found Venom's location almost instantly. Likewise, Venom immediately sensed his enemy's position.
Thompson flapped his wings and soared into the air. A dark claw suddenly emerged from the ground beneath him, almost catching his foot. If it had made contact, Thompson's ankle would have been torn apart.
After the attack missed, Venom stopped hiding and suddenly burst from the ground. If he continued hiding, they would inevitably find him. Only by taking the initiative could he catch them off guard and perhaps gain a chance to survive.
"The target has appeared! Fire! Fire!"
Bullets struck the dark monster like rain, leaving dense bullet holes across his body as his skin visibly dented. Ordinary bullets couldn't truly harm him, so the storm of gunfire was soon mixed with grenades. The concentrated firepower briefly suppressed Venom, preventing him from moving.
Venom's body was unusually bloated, roughly twice as wide as before. "Don't move! I'll get you out!"
Eddie roared as Annie and Dan, who were enclosed within Venom's body, could barely speak. If Eddie hadn't protected them from the rocket attack just moments ago, they probably would have been buried underground like everyone else, with no way of knowing whether they were alive or dead.
"Eddie Brock!"
A roar came from behind. Before Eddie could turn his head, he felt as though his body had been struck by a speeding truck. His bloated form suddenly lost its balance. Fortunately, Venom extended several tentacles in time to support the collapsing body.
The Rhino's horn slammed fiercely into Venom's head, sending viscous liquid exploding in every direction.
Neither monster feared bullets. Their skin was naturally bulletproof, and ordinary-caliber rounds could only produce faint sparks against their bodies.
Buzz!
"Ah!"
Scream cried out and tried to help capture Eddie. If Venom were captured, her husband would have a chance to survive. Scream stared hatefully at the dark monster. If he hadn't fought Cassady, her husband would never have been captured. They should have been smoking and laying low in Mexico, playing cat and mouse with the police.
The vampire's claws immediately seized the woman's shoulders, the sharp fingertips almost piercing her flesh. Severe pain shot through her, and she couldn't help screaming. The sound waves spread outward like a tide, indiscriminately attacking everyone nearby.
The two symbiotes took the brunt of it. Even though both had weakened their natural vulnerability to sound, excessively sharp noise was still a threat to symbiotes.
Chaos managed to withstand it. His body remained relatively stable, and he woke almost instantly after a brief lapse in consciousness. Venom wasn't so fortunate. With three people wrapped within his body, he was already extremely unstable. Under the shrieking howl, the mucus continuously peeled away, revealing the three faces underneath.
"Damn it!" Eddie roared angrily. "Don't leave my body!"
He knew very well that once they separated, the concentrated firepower and bullets would engulf the two of them instantly.
"Help me!"
A purple figure suddenly emerged from a gap in the ruins. He raised one hand contemptuously, and a powerful electromagnetic wave swept through the area in an instant. The soldiers were jolted so violently that they could no longer hold their guns and collapsed one after another. Morbius took the opportunity to grab Dan and teleport away from the battlefield.
Eddie's pressure was instantly relieved. Venom regained consciousness, and the two merged into the Black Emperor form, enormous wings spreading across the sky.
The black officer's eyes flashed. The tail of the helicopter he was piloting was suddenly destroyed, and he shouted, "We're going down! Prepare for a crash landing!"
The pilot was helpless as the huge fuselage began shaking and spinning erratically.
"Take me with you," the black man ordered in an almost commanding tone.
"Please... I have no obligation to save you. The original order was to arrest Eddie Brock, and Eddie Brock alone."
Felicia smiled seductively, kicked the black officer away, and smoothly grabbed the parachute beside her. But the helicopter was already too low for a parachute to be useful.
Felicia had never intended to use the parachute to escape. She only wanted something to cushion her landing.
The black man slammed heavily against the fuselage. His head spun as he rubbed it, only to find that the Black Cat had already disappeared from the helicopter.
"Bastard... bastard!" the black man roared. "Don't let me survive! If I do, I'll make sure you learn exactly what hell feels like!"
However, Eddie had no intention of letting him survive. The helicopter's control system had been disrupted by an inexplicable magnetic field and was completely out of control.
Boom!
With a tremendous crash, the black man finally got his wish.
Although many soldiers surrounded Eddie, there were only about fifty in total. Forty fully armed soldiers were enough to fight a small war. In the Avengers' world, even Captain America would have to treat such a force seriously and think twice before resisting.
Violent explosions erupted throughout the battlefield, while Contempt continued moving through the ruins. Together with Morbius, she overwhelmed the soldiers. The two worked with considerable coordination, blocking the heavy firepower directed at Eddie and allowing him to focus on facing Alexei and Thompson.
"Get out of my way! I want to beat this black bastard myself!" Alexei roared ferociously, completely ignoring the potential threat before him.
In his opinion, symbiotes only became powerful by relying on an external force. As long as he tore away that disgusting layer of mucus, the body underneath would be helpless.
Alexei could almost see Eddie's head being smashed into a bloody mess beneath his fist.
Before he could finish the thought, a sharp claw appeared before him.
The Rhino reacted too slowly. By the time he realized what was happening, the claw had already seized his horn, followed by an irresistible force. Alexei had never imagined his enormous body could feel so light—so light that his feet had already left the ground.
Then a large hand pressed down on his head and slammed him into the road.
His massive body carved a crater into the hard concrete.
"You... were clamoring to fight me?"
The long, fishy tongue licked across the Rhino's head, sending a chill through him.
"I hope you can at least make this a little fun..."
Alexei was enraged by those words. Since being transformed into the Rhino, no one had ever been able to defeat him, and these symbiotes were even less capable of doing so. They couldn't even leave the slightest mark on his hard armor.
During the previous attack on the church, this so-called most ferocious symbiote had extended tentacles sharp enough to pierce steel, yet they hadn't even been able to penetrate the Rhino's armor. He often fought Chaos as well, and there wasn't much difference in strength between them. Usually, it was Alexei chasing Thompson, and the so-called symbiote couldn't break through his defenses at all.
"Wait until you die... I'll break off your limbs one by one, then your ribs, and then your genitals! I'll stuff your head into your stomach and turn you into a pile of shit, you bastard!"
Alexei had never suffered such humiliation before. Even when he had no superpowers, not even the prison guards had dared provoke him in prison.
"Ha."
Venom wasn't intimidated in the slightest. In terms of ferocity, Eddie's current form was easily the most frightening creature on the street. There hadn't been anyone more vicious-looking in the past ten years, and there probably wouldn't be in the next ten.
A crude brute daring to challenge him? He clearly had no idea what he was getting himself into.
Thompson simply folded his arms and watched coldly from the side. The Chaos inside him had long been dissatisfied with Alexei. If he could watch this idiot get beaten without getting involved, he naturally wouldn't help.
And this battle surprised everyone... except Alexei.
Venom and Eddie merged completely, and with the anger caused by the destruction of his home, hard punches rained down on Alexei like a storm. No matter how tough his body was, dents inevitably appeared in the gray armor covering him. His enormous body was beaten until he could barely fight back.
At first, he could still find opportunities to throw a couple of punches in return. Gradually, however, he couldn't even retaliate and could only barely raise his arms to block the blows.
"Aren't you crazy? Come on! Use your fists to tell me who you are!"
Alexei was speechless, but his words had become a perfect description of his own situation.
Boom!
With the final punch, the Rhino's proud horn snapped off, and his entire body collapsed to the ground unconscious, like a bus that had backed over him.
"It's your turn..."
"No, no, no! I don't want to fight you, Eddie. I'm here to cooperate with you."
Thompson waved his hands repeatedly, leaving his Chaos form and making it clear that he had no intention of becoming Eddie's enemy.
"You should have received that letter."
Eddie's eyes twitched.
"Did you write that letter?"
"That's right. I came here to tell you to run, but I didn't expect you to actually stay here. I don't know whether you're confident in your own strength... or simply ignorant!"
Eddie's eyes twitched again.
"You know what? That letter reached me two minutes before the rocket did."
This time, it was Thompson's turn to freeze.
"Is... is that so? Haha... As long as you're okay... as long as you're okay..."
He suddenly fell silent.
Yes, Eddie was fine, alive and kicking. But what about the other people? What about the residents who had lived in the same building? What about the soldiers who had followed orders and come here to die?
"Let's go. Get out of here. I know somewhere we can go."
Eddie glanced at the man.
"What about your teammates?"
"They're all tough. At least no one will die before they regain their freedom."
Thompson kicked Alexei, who was lying on the ground. It was his way of letting Chaos have some satisfaction.
Two figures, one blue and one black, suddenly disappeared into the night.
__________________________________________
You can read early chapters on Patr*on. If you enjoy my work and would like to support me, consider becoming a patron. My Patr*on username is Renzo28557.