Chapter 250: Riot vs. Venom
Silas turned his head away, silently signaling, I don't know this guy.
Since Peter was still young and not quite as "composed" as his brother, it took a solid ten minutes before he finally accepted the existence of Venom.
"So, on your planet, are you the strongest?" Peter asked curiously.
Venom paused for a second before replying proudly, "Of course. I am the strongest symbiote."
"That's so cool," Peter muttered. He felt like he should grab a bag of snacks and just listen to Venom tell stories.
Silas really wanted to interrupt and expose Venom's bluff, but seeing how well they were hitting it off, he decided not to bother.
Venom talked for a long time, conveniently omitting the fact that he usually needs to eat people to stay full, knowing Peter would never agree to that. Living inside Peter, Venom had already absorbed his memories and knew exactly what kind of person he was.
Technically, Venom shouldn't have chosen Peter as a host, but Peter's body was simply too perfect to give up. Venom wanted to grow stronger, too. On his home planet, he was a complete failure; now, he had sabotaged the plan and become a deserter.
Venom's original plan was to possess Peter, slowly corrupt his personality, and turn him into a loyal puppet. However, Silas being nearby terrified him. Through Peter's memories, he knew Silas practiced something called "magic." God only knew if that stuff could vaporize a symbiote instantly, so Venom didn't dare make a move.
"Oh? Someone's coming." Silas heard the warning from his Shadow Ninjas. Someone was coming down the hallway—an old friend of Venom's.
Silas glanced at Peter and Venom, who were still deep in conversation, and silently vanished using his invisibility.
"Hmm? Where did your brother go?" Venom asked, wanting to see what Silas was up to, only to find him gone in the blink of an eye.
"Silas?" Peter looked around. Where did he go?
"So, here you are, Venom," a voice echoed through the lab.
Venom froze in terror. He smelled a symbiote aura he dreaded more than any other.
"What's wrong?" Peter felt Venom retracting into his body.
"Venom is afraid, Spider-Man," Carlton Drake said, adjusting his tie as he walked into the light.
"Venom is a powerhouse! He wouldn't be afraid," Peter said. Being naive, he had already bought into Venom's "strongest symbiote" lie.
"A powerhouse? Hahahaha!" A silver-black mass surged out of Drake, covering him completely.
Riot opened his massive white eyes, his voice booming and deep: "Venom! You traitor!"
"Traitor? Venom, why is he calling you that?" Peter whispered.
Venom knew he couldn't back down now. Besides, his current host was far superior to Drake.
"I didn't betray anyone. I just think this planet is beautiful and I want to live here." Venom put on an Oscar-worthy performance for Peter.
"Beautiful? Hahahaha!" Riot laughed. "You know exactly what you're doing, failure."
"Peter, kill him!" Venom's thoughts flooded Peter's mind.
Peter didn't know the full story, but this new symbiote definitely looked like the villain.
"Sorry, but I think you need to cool off... By the way, what's your name?" Peter asked.
"RAAARGH!" Riot roared. His hands transformed into two long, curved blades that glinted coldly in the lab lights. He lunged at Spider-Man, swinging the blades with lethal intent.
Peter leapt into the air to dodge. Riot's blade slammed into the control console.
CRASH!
A deep gash was left in the metal, sparks flying and smoke rising.
"Hey! That belongs to your host! Doesn't he care about his own stuff?" Peter called out, looking at the damage.
"VENOM, COME OUT!" Riot ignored him, continuing his relentless assault.
Peter jumped again, sticking to the ceiling. "Venom, can you make big weapons like he does?"
"Um... no. But we can shoot webs." Venom admitted. He wasn't nearly as versatile as Riot; if he were, he wouldn't have been the loser of the group.
"Fine." Peter watched a scythe-arm swinging toward him, tilted his body to dodge, and fired a strand of black webbing from his wrist, snagging Riot's arm.
Riot felt his arm get stuck and tried to pull back, but Peter fired more webbing into Riot's chest. Peter yanked hard, dragging the massive Riot toward him. Just as Riot was about to collide with him, Peter performed a mid-air flip and kicked Riot square in the head with the full momentum of the pull.
Riot's head was nearly torn from Drake's body by the impact, but it snapped back into place instantly.
THUD!
Riot tumbled across the floor, barely coming to a stop. As he tried to stand, Peter pressed the advantage, sprinting forward and delivering a barrage of punches to Riot's head.
BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!
Riot was forced back by the sheer force. Peter's punches were packing over ten tons of force each; Riot couldn't even find an opening to counter-attack. Finally, Peter delivered an uppercut to Riot's jaw, sending him flying backward to crash heavily onto the ground.
"You... found a good host... Venom," Riot growled, slowly pushing himself up and snapping his neck back into alignment. He could sense Spider-Man's raw power. With the added boost from the symbiote, the fusion was proving too much for him to handle in a direct brawl.
"Whew." Peter shook his hands. He felt strange; every time he tried to hold back his strength, he found himself hitting harder than intended.
What Peter didn't realize was that Venom was manipulating his impulses. Venom wanted Peter to beat Drake to death so Riot would have no host and be forced out into the open air to wither away.
"So, Riot, who's the failure now?" Venom's head emerged from Peter's shoulder, gloating.
"Heh... Hahahaha! Venom, don't be so arrogant. If the others find out you've turned on us, they will tear you to pieces!" Riot's blade shifted into a spiked flail, which he launched at Spider-Man.
Peter's spider-sense hummed. He leaned left, the flail whistling past his chest. Before he could recover, Riot was already on him, delivering a punch to the chest that sent Peter flying across the room.
Riot leapt into the air, his weapon shifting back into a scythe, intending to cleave Spider-Man in half mid-flight.
"Whoa, wait! I'm not a pizza!" Peter fired a web to the ceiling and swung upward, narrowly avoiding the strike.
"Peter, don't hold back! Riot is dangerous, and you can't just 'beat' him to death like a normal person," Venom warned.
"But Drake is inside him! He'll die!" Peter countered. He couldn't just kill the man.
"Don't worry! As long as the symbiote is alive, the host won't die!" Venom lied, desperate for Peter to deliver a lethal blow.
Peter hesitated. He didn't understand why these two were at each other's throats the moment they met. But Riot wasn't going to give him time to think.
"VENOM!"
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