New York's drainage system sprawled beneath the city like a labyrinth. With the surface population all but extinct, the sewers had become the last patch of clean ground left. The mildew down here was practically fresh air compared to the rot above.
"So let me get this straight, bug. We crossed half the city... to sleep in a sewer?" Venom slouched on Veyric's shoulder like a puddle of black mud, too lazy to hold a proper head shape. "There isn't even a fat rat down here!"
Peter moved ahead of them, navigating the maze of pipes with the ease of someone who'd done it a hundred times.
"Deal with it, black snot. Nowhere safer right now. Speaking of which... do you even have nostrils? How are you smelling anything?"
"We're heading to Dr. Connors' research base, aren't we?" Veyric cut in.
Dr. Connors. The Lizard. The brilliant scientist who'd once tried to mutate the entire human race into reptiles. He'd been cured and locked up after the events of The Amazing Spider-Man, and as far as Veyric knew, he'd stayed locked up.
Peter stopped mid-step, sucking in a sharp breath. "Veyric, are you a senior S.H.I.E.L.D. agent? Because I'm starting to think you know my life better than I do."
"Obviously." Veyric puffed out his chest. Ten years as a die-hard Marvel fan had earned him this moment. "I know most of what's happened in this universe."
Venom's head shot out from his shoulder, teeth bared, crescent-moon eyes narrowed with suspicion.
"Prove it! What do you know about me?"
Veyric glanced at the symbiote and rattled it off like reading from a textbook, smooth and unhurried.
"Your name is Venom. You're from Klyntar. You're the weakest symbiote on the planet because every single one of your offspring is stronger than you. You're vulnerable to high-frequency sound and fire. You love phenethylamine, which is found in chocolate and, conveniently, in brains..." He tapped his own temple and lowered his voice. "And your species wasn't naturally born. The ancient god Knull created you with All-Black the Necrosword. But you all turned on your creator, caught him off guard, and imprisoned him..."
"STOP!! STOP!!!"
Venom ballooned outward. Black tendrils shot over Veyric's mouth and sealed it shut like duct tape. Those white eyes had gone wide with a terror that ran deeper than instinct. Something coded into the symbiote's very DNA.
"Shut up! Don't say that name! How do you know about the King in Black?! Are you a demon? You're worse than the spider!"
Up ahead, Peter turned around, grinning from ear to ear. "Who told you to provoke him?"
"Shut up, Parker!" Venom shrank back inside Veyric's body, leaving only a pair of little eyes peeking out. "Veyric, promise me. Never say that name again. Ever."
[Ding...]
[Venom's attitude toward you updated to: Awe]
[Venom Affinity +20. Current Value: 80]
[Bond Level: LV.0 (Stranger)]
Veyric shrugged, hiding a grin behind his hand.
"Sure. But if you ever want to learn more about your own history, my door's always open."
That shut Venom up for good.
They walked for a few more minutes before stopping at a circular valve door thick with moss.
Peter gripped the wheel with both hands and heaved. Metal ground against metal, heavy and groaning, and the blast door swung open.
A wave of mildew and chemical fumes rolled out to greet them.
The base had been abandoned for years, but its independent power supply still functioned. The moment the door opened, sensors tripped, and overhead lights flickered on one by one.
The underground lab stretched roughly two hundred square meters. Centrifuges, microscopes, surgical tables, all still in place. In the far corner sat a vending machine.
"Food!"
Venom hijacked Veyric's legs and charged. Black tendrils smashed through the glass and swept every chocolate bar off the rack, cramming them all in at once.
"Delicious! Satisfied!"
Loud, contented smacking filled the lab. The symbiote sounded like a gravel-voiced kitten purring after a meal.
Peter and Veyric grabbed some snacks and drinks of their own and sat down in front of the wrecked vending machine, eating in comfortable silence.
Veyric crunched through a bag of chips with his eyes half-closed, feigning rest. Behind his eyelids, he called up the translucent blue interface.
Beyond the attribute panel he'd already seen, two new tabs glowed at the top of the display:
[Hero Bonds] and [Talent Shop].
He opened Hero Bonds first. The list was sparse, holding only two portraits: Peter and Venom. Both sat at 80 Affinity, twenty points short of the next Bond level.
It worked like a relationship sim. Keep raising a hero's Affinity and you'd earn not only their loyalty, but unique rewards tied to their abilities.
Next, he opened Talent Shop with rising anticipation.
Two talent icons sat on the shelves, one from each hero he'd cured:
[Talent: Spider-Sense (LV.1)]
[Cost: 10 Experience Points]
[Description: Grants the host an instinctive awareness of danger. When a threat is in close proximity, the host will subconsciously sense it.]
[Talent: Telepathic Link]
[Cost: 3 Experience Points]
[Description: Establishes a brainwave connection with the host's symbiote, enabling wordless mental communication.]
Then he glanced at the pitiful "1" in the top corner of his experience counter and laughed bitterly.
Broke heroes can't buy skills.
With no better option, he spent his last point on Speed.
Run fast, take hits. Survival first.
[Ding... Allocation successful]
[Speed: LV.1 (Hobbling Along) → LV.2 (Fleet-Footed)]
The change was immediate. Strength flooded into both legs, his calf muscles tightening with coiled energy. He could tell he'd jump higher, sprint faster. But sitting cross-legged on a lab floor wasn't the time to test it.
He took one more longing look at the Talent Shop, closed the system, and let the interface fade. The hunger in his eyes didn't fade with it. If anything, it burned brighter.
Because he'd realized something. The Superhero Savior System's potential was far more terrifying than he'd imagined when he first arrived. The logic chain was crystal clear:
Use his starting talent, Blood of Light, to cure zombified heroes. Earn experience and unlock Hero Bonds. Spend experience to buy abilities and strengthen himself. Use that strength to reach and cure even more powerful heroes.
A perfect feedback loop.
Right now he had Peter and Venom. But what about later?
Cure Captain America, and would he gain the Super Soldier physique?
Cure Iron Man, and would he unlock J.A.R.V.I.S. or the armor tech?
Cure Thor... or even the Scarlet Witch...
His grip tightened around the half-empty can of Coke. His pulse hammered.
He wasn't some walking blood bag with a convenient antidote. Given enough time to grow, he could assemble an entire army of restored superheroes, every one of them sane and fighting by his side.
In this shattered Marvel Zombies Universe where all order had collapsed, he had a real shot at surpassing Thanos, surpassing Sentry, surpassing the Celestials themselves, and becoming the most powerful being in the universe.
Grand visions were nice. But the first step was simple: cure more heroes and build his strength.
With that thought burning in his mind, Veyric turned to look at Peter, sitting beside him.