The "Last Supper" and the news about the astronauts—once these two clues were combined, it was easy to deduce a single possibility: the final dinner for astronauts before they embarked on a mission.
This likely wasn't Cletus's ultimate goal. As Peter had said, such a target was far too easy to protect—unless they had already been infected by the symbiote.
However, Peter quickly dismissed that concern. After Coulson coordinated with S.H.I.E.L.D. agents stationed at NASA, the three astronauts were taken into protective custody and subjected to a comprehensive battery of tests. Blood samples confirmed they had not yet been infected.
As for whether other personnel at Cape Canaveral or NASA employees had been infected, that remained unknown. There were too many people and not enough time to screen them all.
"I also have some more bad news. Carnage has likely indeed reached Florida. Among the many new symbiote attack cases, a massacre at a Florida military base bears Cletus's distinct signature," Coulson added grimly. "Over twenty U.S. soldiers were murdered. Not only were their brains missing, but their scalps were neatly sliced off and placed on their bunks. Beside each scalp lay a fifty-dollar bill."
Peter paused for a moment. With a sense of somber pity, he suppressed a laugh and moved on to another concern: "There's something else I'm worried about... I speculated before about why they wanted to create Carnage, and from the current perspective, I'm afraid they succeeded."
Regardless of whether Hydra could control Cletus, he had already created countless symbiotes. Hydra could easily make a fortune during the S.H.I.E.L.D. containment process, using the technology Dr. Octopus had researched for them before his death to create even more artificial symbiotes.
What worried Peter even more was whether they could create a second or third Carnage.
"Regarding that, you'd best ask Director Fury yourself once this is all over."
Coulson declined to answer further as the voice of May, the pilot, rang out. They were approaching Cape Canaveral.
Cape Canaveral is the most important spacecraft launch site in the United States, bar none. It houses two launch facilities: the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and the Kennedy Space Center. NASA officials received them at the Kennedy Space Center—the reason being quite simple: the U.S. military wasn't particularly fond of S.H.I.E.L.D.
"Regarding the Avengers' earlier proposal to delay the launch, we reached a consensus a short while ago. We will send an unmanned spacecraft to the target for data collection. If the data shows no anomalies, we will proceed with a manned mission next year."
The news of a superpowered psychopathic serial killer had apparently rattled NASA. Those who had been arguing over whether to halt the launch suddenly reached a unanimous decision: it was best not to send live humans into space this year, lest an incident cause a public relations disaster.
After all, the information Spider-Man provided came from a "prophecy," which they could easily dismiss while maintaining a scientific facade. But information from S.H.I.E.L.D. was a cold reality. You couldn't exactly wait for a disaster to happen and then be held accountable for why you insisted on a manned launch when a superpowered psychopath was known to be at Cape Canaveral.
Were they supposed to say out loud that astronauts didn't count as people?
In reality, perhaps. But this was a story, and a story had to follow logic.
"We aren't here to disrupt your space mission," Coulson said, though he was satisfied with the outcome. He clarified his intent: "Our goal is to apprehend the suspect. Since no violent incidents have occurred at Cape Canaveral yet, it means we've arrived in time. However, the target is likely nearby. We need to conduct centralized screenings and isolations."
The person in charge agreed immediately. In any case, S.H.I.E.L.D. taking over provided a much higher safety margin, and the responsibility was no longer on his shoulders. If anything went wrong, it would be S.H.I.E.L.D.'s fault, not his.
But Jessica, who had been listening in, suddenly asked a question.
"Were you originally scheduled to launch today?"
"Not just originally. In fact, we only pulled the astronauts and installed an unmanned system. It's the same rocket, the same spacecraft," the official said, looking at the female superhero he didn't recognize. "The launch will proceed tonight as scheduled."
"A bunch of spineless cowards! Pulling the astronauts just because of two casual sentences from that damn Spider-Man!"
The great artist, the host of Carnage, and Spider-Man's ultimate nemesis—Mr. Cletus Kasady—was hiding in a warehouse at Cape Canaveral, resentfully eating a sandwich. His original plan had been perfect: sneak into the rocket, kill the three pilots, and then fight Spider-Man on the surface of the rocket during its ascent.
Someone like Spider-Man would surely come up to save those wretched pilots, and then they would both be trapped in a death trap. At that point, whether through the sheer force of the ascent or the immense friction and G-forces of falling during a mid-air breakup, Spider-Man's combat effectiveness would be severely limited—it might even burn him to death. Anti-Venom's regenerative abilities weren't enough to survive a rocket launch.
As for Carnage, he was confident he could survive such conditions unscathed.
Furthermore, if all else failed, he would go into space with Spider-Man. Cletus had even prepared for that contingency; he was certain he could return to Earth from a vacuum and survive atmospheric reentry.
But a single comment made by Spider-Man long ago had caused NASA to bicker until the day before the launch about whether it should be manned. It had looked highly likely the launch would be postponed. Now, it was even worse: the launch wasn't delayed, but there was no one on board.
So what was he supposed to do? He had already sent out the announcement. Was he supposed to slink away in disgrace?
[What do we do?]
Carnage, having consumed too many human brains over the past few days, seemed to possess more complex emotions. Faced with this situation, it felt an indescribable panic. A head materialized from Cletus's body, asking in a frantic tone. Cletus's expression suddenly softened, and he stroked Carnage's face.
"Don't worry, my love. I'll think of something... No! I've already thought of something! Haha!"
Cletus spoke excitedly. He checked the time—there were only a few hours left!
"Even without astronauts on that rocket, I can still take that damn spider into space!"
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