Musutafu, Japan — 4:25 PM
Evening was quickly approaching.
Children returned home from school.
Mothers finished grocery shopping.
Office workers watched the clock, waiting for the final hours of work to pass.
Meanwhile, local heroes had already begun their patrols near busy streets, parks, malls, and hospitals—gathering where the public could easily see them rather than actively hunting criminals.
That made things much easier for someone like him.
The boy had striking black hair and violet eyes hidden beneath a baseball cap and black face mask.
He stepped away from the counter of a small motel he had booked three days ago.
Ever since that night, he had barely left the room.
"Please have a safe trip, and remember to visit our motel again anytime, Mr. Li!"
The receptionist waved cheerfully as the boy walked out without saying a word.
To most people, he looked like a quiet delinquent.
But anyone who truly knew him would immediately question why he was alone in such a rough part of town.
That was why he wore a hoodie.
And a mask.
Why he avoided cameras whenever possible.
No one could be allowed to connect this clone body to Aoyama Hikaru.
Originally, he had considered bleaching the clone's hair or adding piercings to further separate this identity from the "real" Aoyama currently drinking tea with Izumi and Inko.
But that would leave too much of a trail.
If his plan worked, his West City persona would eventually create a synthetic facial mask instead.
Aoyama walked several blocks away from the motel before quietly blending into the afternoon crowd.
His posture remained relaxed, but his eyes constantly moved.
Checking reflections.
Watching corners.
Noticing anyone who lingered too long.
Once he confirmed he wasn't being followed, he slipped into a public parking structure currently undergoing reconstruction.
Workers moved throughout the lower level.
Some pushed wheelbarrows full of broken concrete.
Others mixed cement while machinery rumbled deeper inside the structure.
There had probably been a villain incident recently.
Several support pillars were still cracked from whatever battle had taken place there.
Aoyama glanced upward toward the second floor.
A supervisor stood near the railing, scribbling something onto a clipboard.
So there were workers upstairs too.
Great.
He calmly circled around the outside perimeter of the structure, searching for blind spots.
There aren't many workers in the back…
If I sneak in quietly and make it to the upper floors, I should be fine.
He pulled his hood lower and exhaled slowly.
Then he crouched near the edge of the construction site and carefully peeked inside.
Workers talked over the roar of machinery.
Concrete mixers rumbled.
Metal clanged against metal.
Nobody was paying attention to the rear entrance.
Good.
Aoyama lowered himself slightly.
Thump.
He vaulted over the temporary barrier and landed silently behind a stack of construction supplies.
Nobody noticed.
Immediately, he moved.
Stealthily.
He slipped between unfinished support beams and crossed the ground floor while the workers remained distracted by noise and machinery.
The stairwell came into view.
Aoyama entered without hesitation and started upward.
First floor.
Second floor.
The moment he stepped onto the next level, his entire posture sharpened.
This floor was more dangerous.
Unlike below, the next floorway was on the opposite side of the structure, meaning he had to cross directly through the active work zone.
Voices echoed nearby.
Boots scraped against concrete.
Someone laughed somewhere to his left.
Aoyama stayed low behind a stack of metal piping and waited for two workers carrying wooden boards to pass.
Then he moved again.
He crossed behind a cement mixer while sparks flew from a nearby welding torch.
For a brief moment, one of the workers turned in his direction—
Aoyama immediately crouched behind a concrete pillar.
The man frowned slightly.
Then looked away.
That was close.
Aoyama waited several more seconds before continuing.
Step by step, he navigated through the construction floor like a ghost.
By the time he finally slipped into the next floor, his heartbeat had noticeably quickened.
Still—
he kept climbing.
Third floor.
Fourth.
Fifth.
The higher he went, the fewer workers remained.
Most of the upper levels were still unfinished skeletons of exposed steel and cracked concrete.
Beyond the open walls, the city skyline stretched wider and wider into the distance.
Cold wind drifted through the empty structure.
Sixth floor.
Then finally—
Seventh.
Aoyama stepped onto the unfinished upper level and exhaled quietly.
No workers.
No voices.
Just silence.
Perfect.
◄ [(Skin Selection: The Deep)] ►
He tapped at the floating interface in front of him.
The menu shifted.
◄ [(Skin Selection: Ben Tennyson — Locked)] ►
◄ [(Skin Selection: Anti-Venom)] ►
His finger paused over the image of the alien creature.
He ignored the model itself and instead opened its inventory slot.
[Accessories]
[(+)] [(+)] [(+)] [(+)]
There wasn't much there.
"…So I can't teleport Carl here by marking him as equipment."
Doctor Octavius spoke quietly, his eyes lingering on the fully stitched symbiote.
Its body completely enveloped the Ock-drone Carl inhabited while also remaining connected to the doctor's gloved arms through strands of living biomass.
That had been Plan A.
Bringing his subordinate into this world directly.
Now it was time for Plan B.
His eyes turned white as he summoned Anti-Venom.
The ultrasonic frequencies from the safety gloves abruptly stopped as his own symbiote crawled out from beneath his skin.
The mutated Temp-V symbiote instantly sensed the sound barrier vanish and lunged forward—
RIIIP!!
Metal tore apart as it forcibly ripped one of the gloves open.
SKREEEEEEEEEE!!
The creature roared, unleashing a wave of Carl's phantom energy through the laboratory as the symbiote remained linked to his soul.
"Don't get ahead of yourself~"
Black-and-white tendrils erupted from Octavius's back and stabbed directly into the unstable hybrid.
SKREEEEEE!!
The creature convulsed in agony as Anti-Venom began purging it.
This wasn't a normal attack.
It struck the creature on a fundamental level.
Foreign antibodies and an unknown energy flooded through the symbiote's body, directly conflicting with Carl's ectoplasmic energy.
"AHHHHHHHHH—!!"
The scream started sounding human as Carl felt the shared pain through the connection.
Doctor Octavius closed his eyes, focusing entirely on reconnecting with the symbiote.
—
On the seventh floor of the parking structure, Aoyama suddenly felt the reconnection begin.
Faint.
Weak.
But present.
This time, he thought it might actually work.
Instead of opening the character sheet, he opened something else entirely.
Family Tree.
[(Tennyson)] | [(Hikaru) Tsutsumi] | [(Symbiote)] | [(The Deep)]
[(Known Ancestor: The King in Black)]
─ Knull (God of the Symbiotes)
Occupation: Lord of the Symbiotes
(Notable Traits: Spiritual Sensitivity, Proto-Ecto-Tech Development)
[(Offspring: Venom)]
Occupation: Anti-Hero
[(Venom Heritage Line)] → [(Offspring: Carnage)]
Occupation: Serial Killer / Villain
.
.
.
Aoyama scrolled further down the list.
[(Venom Heritage Line)]
[(Offspring: Anti-Venom)] (Host / Player)
Occupation: Anti-Hero
Aoyama smiled faintly after finding what he wanted.
Whenever he gained a skin, he didn't merely copy it.
He replaced himself within its lineage.
Which meant every associated ability, mutation, and connected item became traceable through the system itself.
And there it was.
Carl's Venomized Specter & Ock Drone : 200,000
[(Loan Available)]
Initial Cost:
1,000 Exp
3 Accessory Tokens
Repayment Cost (1 Weeks): weekly evaluation reworking