This version of Venom came from the Tobey universe, though it had another designation as well, Earth-96283. It was a world where mutation and advanced technology developed side by side. Even if this Venom was not especially powerful, anything coming out of that universe was never going to be weak.
At their current stage, it was more than enough for Gwen to use.
"All right, stop sulking and let's go, gloomy boy. Time waits for no one, right?"
It was rare to see Peter come up short, and now that she had gotten a new piece of gear, Gwen was in a great mood. Standing on tiptoe, she tapped Peter on the forehead and teased him.
Peter took off his jacket, pulled his mask from the pocket, put it on, and said, "Let's go, spider girl."
"Hey, do you usually wear it under your clothes?"
"Sometimes. It's pretty comfortable as sleepwear too..."
"That's true. It fits really well."
"But after every fight, when you're covered in sweat, doesn't it feel gross?"
"I've got around ten sets of the same suit."
"Okay, Peter, you win. I've only got four. Looks like I need to make a few more too."
Gwen raised her hands in surrender.
The two of them jumped out the window and started swinging through the city.
The moon was gentle, and the wind was calm.
As Peter swung from one web to the next, he said, "Hopefully we find something interesting tonight. It's been way too long since I've caught any criminals. My hands are itching."
"You mean you want to beat someone up."
"You don't?"
"This is all your fault, Peter. You've completely corrupted me."
"Hey, how is that my fault? Fine, Spider-Woman, everything is my fault."
The two of them laughed as they swung.
After a while, they reached a familiar neighborhood.
The last time they came here, they caused total chaos. They had hit several small gangs and even wiped out one of Kingpin's hideouts.
Who knew what kind of surprise they might find this time?
Soon, they entered a dark district, and by the dim light they could see dense shadows moving ahead.
Last time, they had come and gone in a hurry and had not really taken in this filthy, dark stretch of the city.
Of course, the darkness and filth were not about its appearance.
It was about the kind of things that happened here.
Most taxi drivers refused to come anywhere near the place, because they knew that coming here was nearly the same as asking to die.
Backstabbing and predation were just everyday life here.
Sure enough, not long after the two of them reached the corner of Hell's Kitchen, they ran into a few thugs who did not know any better. As expected, Peter and Gwen silently cut them down.
Gwen had started to really like the retractable claw blades. She had discovered that they were incredibly convenient and greatly improved her close-quarters combat ability.
"You still haven't told me why we're here tonight."
Peter wiped the blood from his spider arm-blade and asked casually, though he stayed fully alert. He could clearly feel a sense of danger.
He had not felt anything like this the last time they came, or at least his Spider-Sense had not reacted this strongly.
That meant someone dangerous was here.
And the signal seemed to be coming from underground in a nearby building. There were obvious footprints leading to the entrance, and plenty of them.
They followed a long staircase downward. On both sides, dim red lights flickered on and off. At the end of the darkness, some unknown enemy could appear at any moment.
"My dad said there's a criminal here who's been giving him constant headaches. Apparently he's even called New York's ace attorney. I've never seen him myself, but he seems to work for Kingpin. This time we're mostly here just to make contact and see how strong he really is."
"An ace attorney? Then you're probably talking about Matt Murdock. I've heard of him. He handles all the messes Kingpin creates and makes sure he walks away clean every time."
Peter kept his voice low.
In truth, he knew much more than that.
In other universes, that man was known as Daredevil.
Yes, the same Daredevil who was one of Kingpin's greatest enemies.
But in this universe, he had become one of Kingpin's hounds.
"You know him?"
"From what I understand, he's very strong too. He's blind, but he seems to have some kind of enhanced perception that lets him sense everything in the surrounding environment. I think he was altered by exposure to some sort of radiation."
"And his mutation is incredibly powerful. He can even hear your heartbeat through several floors."
"Be careful. He's ruthless, and he never holds back. Even his own underlings get beaten half to death if they get in his way."
After hearing all that, Gwen could not help sighing.
"He really does sound terrifying."
"Still not as terrifying as you."
"Why would you say that?"
"Because when you kill someone, you actually do it."
All right.
That made it sound like she was the real villain.
Compared to her, what these people did almost sounded tame.
Then again, how would anyone ever know the worst things these criminals had done?
"So is our goal tonight to kill him?"
Peter asked, sounding interested.
"No, no. We still don't know enough about this place yet, and rushing things might cause unnecessary trouble. Once we understand his background better, then we'll decide what to do next. For now, we just observe and see how strong he really is."
For the two of them, killing one man would be easy.
But their last operation had already completely alerted Kingpin, so for now, stealth and patience were the smarter choice.
Right now, the enemy was hidden while they were exposed.
That was a bad position.
They needed to reverse it.
Once the enemy was exposed and they were the ones in the dark, then things would really start to get fun.
The two kept talking as they moved until they finally reached the end.
What they saw there was both shocking and, in a horrible way, completely believable.
Because this was exactly the kind of thing those monsters would do.
It was a huge underground warehouse.
Inside were precision machines, along with row after row of cells.
It looked like some kind of human experimentation site.
The air in the warehouse was foul, mixed with the stench of waste and neglect.
Children were being held there, some badly mutilated. There was a woman with four arms. Cries of pain echoed through the room, but the people around them acted as though it were completely normal.
The guards were not even guarding anything seriously.
They were sitting together drinking, playing cards, and wasting time.
To them, this was the easiest job in the world.
They did not have to go out and risk their lives in gang wars. All they had to do was keep an eye on the test subjects.
Sometimes they could even pick out one they liked and treat them however they wanted.
What a profitable assignment.
Looking at that place, which felt like a living hell, both Gwen and Peter felt their scalps go numb.
They had seen a lot by now.
But they had never seen anything like this.
The people locked up here could hardly even be called people anymore.
They were livestock.
Kept alive only to be used and discarded.
(End of Chapter)
[Check Out My P@treon For +20 Extra Chapters On All My Fanfics!!][[email protected]/euridome]
[+500 Power Stones = +1 Extra Chapter]
[Thank You For Your Support!]