Chapter 52
[72]
“Come on Futaba! Do you want Ren to be paralyzed forever?” Tae yelled at the crying girl while she held onto Ren’s back.
“I-I can’t!” Futaba cried while holding a hammer in one hand and a chisel to Ren’s spine. “Can’t you do this part?”
“No! I need to hold Ren’s spine in the right position! All you have to do is hit the damn thing! It’s coming down to the wire here Futaba, we need to hurry.”
“Sorry Ren.” She apologized to the unconscious boy before bringing the hammer down…
Only for nothing to happen.
“Futaba! You need to hit it hard! We are running out of time here!”
The girl only cried as she raised the hammer further up and brought it down as hard as she could manage. The hammer struck the chisel with a metallic clap just before the crunching of bone.
“AAAAUUUUGH!” Ren screamed in pain as his spine crunched.
The hammer and chisel clanged against the floor as Futaba ran into Sojiro’s arms. Her father comforted the poor girl as she sobbed into his apron.
As Ren’s screaming died out, the doctor stepped in front of him. “Hey handsome, you awake now?”
“T-T-Takemi?” Ren said as tears rolled down from his eyes.
“Yep it’s me.” She replied in a calm voice, stroking his hair. “You’ve been a great patient so far. But we’re not done just yet.” She held out a leather belt. “I’m gonna need you to bite on this.”
“Okay. *sniffle* Okay. I can do thish.” He said as he bit down on the belt.
“That’s my strong little guinea pig.” She reassured him as she stepped behind him. “Alright Futaba, ready for-”
“No!” Futaba’s muffled voice came from Sojiro’s chest.
“Futaba, you have to. My hands aren’t steady enough for the job.” Sojiro told his daughter as he patted her head.
“B-But Sojiro!”
“Futaba!” Ren cried out, spitting the belt from his mouth. “I trust you! Do what you need to!”
“R-Ren…” Futaba turned to the hero.
Takemi walked over and placed the belt back in Ren’s mouth before getting into position with her hands on Ren’s spine.
Futaba hesitantly picked up the tools and got into position as well. Placing the chisel in the indicated position on Ren’s back and wiping the tears from her eyes, she held the hammer high.
The hammer clanged against the metal and the sickening crunch followed once again soon after.
“AAAAAAAHHHH!” Ren cried out once again.
Takemi quickly took the opportunity to realign his vertebrae and he cried out again.
“Okay,” Takemi clapped her hands together. “We’re done.”
The room was completely silent, save for Ren’s quiet sobbing. Takemi silently stroked his hair while standing over him. The sight was a bit strange for Sojiro and Futaba, who had never seen a doctor this close to a patient, it made one wonder.
Sojiro let out an uncomfortable cough which seemed to snap Tae out of her trance.
“Oh right, I’ll have to supervise him for the night, but he should be out of the woods now. However, if he’s going to make a full recovery he’ll need about a week of bed rest. Oh, and he’ll also need this.” Takemi walked over to the closet and dug around for a bit before pulling out a large white item that seemed to be a mix of metal and plastic.
“No, absolutely not.” Ren intervened, trying and failing to look up. “I am not wearing that.”
“Too bad pretty boy. We need to keep your spine aligned while it heals. So wear the back brace for a few days and you’ll be back to your old self in no time.”
“Goddammit, Ryuji’s gonna have a field day with this.”
[73]
The press swarmed outside the Shido Sciences building, everyone trying to get the exclusive on the events that’d transpired earlier that day. Like moths drawn to a flame, the media rushed to the building’s front doors in hopes of creating a story that would attract attention online. Just behind them were the social media ‘influencers’ trying to take the best selfie that they could and hopefully get on the local news.
Goro Akechi was disgusted with all of them. He couldn’t stand the sight of these vultures making a living on the suffering of others. Though, one could argue that he was here as well, and seeing that he worked for the media, wouldn’t that make him a hypocrite? However, that couldn’t be further from the truth.
Akechi wasn’t here to cover the riot from that morning, he was here to get the real story.
You see, with the villain attack inside, a large number of staff and security were dead or hospitalized, leaving the Shido Sciences building currently with a skeleton crew. There would be no better time to investigate the innerworkings of Japan’s top tech business. And luckily for Akechi, he had a mole on the inside.
As he stood outside of the emergency exit in the back, Goro tapped his foot and glanced at his watch once more, nearly 11pm. He adjusted the hood of his jacket, ensuring that his face was covered. Finally, the light above the exit shut off and a few moments later, a middle-aged man with glasses and a lab coat opened the door for him.
“About time.” Goro stated as he entered the building.
Yoshikuni Nejima was a scientist who’d been working at the main Shido Sciences building for nearly 5 years now. Goro had met him several months ago after some interesting photographs had made their way to the man’s doorstep. Wanting to keep his marriage intact, Nejima had wisely accepted Akechi’s offer and became his man on the inside.
That deal was paying off for Akechi in spades now as the scientist allowed him entry into the nearly empty facility. Finally, he had the inside scoop on what that monster otherwise known as Masayoshi Shido was developing behind closed doors. With their deal now complete, Nejima handed Goro his keycard and ran off to keep up the appearance of working, giving Akechi free reign of the place.
With nearly the entire building to himself, Goro felt like a kid in a candy store! Shido Sciences was notorious for keeping an extremely tight lid on what they developed in their facilities across the country, and here he was with a golden ticket to the chocolate factory.
The reason behind Akechi’s obsession with Masayoshi Shido and his company was quite simple really. Goro’s mother was what one would call, a woman of the night, a prostitute, and his father was a disgusting businessman who’d impregnated her by mistake. The very same businessman happened to own the largest tech company in Japan, Shido Sciences.
“Hmmm, where to choose?” Akechi asked himself as he stood in the elevator, searching for which button to press. Luckily he’d gotten information on which floors the projects were kept on ahead of time, also thanks to his source.
He selected one of the underground floors and began his descent. Waiting silently in the elevator before it dinged and opened up to reveal the workfloor, where all of the big projects were created.
The large room the size of an aircraft hanger sat before him, completely dark and void of all life. Akechi made his way out onto the workfloor, not daring to turn on any lights out of fear of discovery. With his phone acting as the only light source in the room, Akechi tried to find what could be being built here, and how he could use it to incriminate his father.
After searching the dark room for several minutes, his light finally shined over a notable object. Taking a closer look, Akechi discovered it to be humanoid in shape and covered in a translucent plastic tarp. A body? No, it couldn’t be, why would they keep it here rather than dispose of it?
He pulled the tarp from the object and was met with a surprising sight, not a body, at least not a human one, but rather a shining silver robot in the shape of a human body. Its shape was intimidating, hunched over, lifeless like a dangling puppet, exposed wires coming out of its neck. Goro assumed that had it been standing at full height, it would be nearly 7 feet tall. And judging by its build, it was heavily armored, undoubtedly built for combat, but against what? Searching around nearby, he saw several more tarps which must be covering similar robots.
Lifting his camera to his face, he snapped several photographs of the robot as well as the others standing around it, the camera flash illuminating the room around him. After deciding he’d taken enough photos, Akechi placed the tarp back over the robot and exited the room back towards the elevator.
A robot army being built under Shido Sciences, now that was something he could work with. After he stepped back into the elevator once more, he looked over the buttons once more. While the evidence he’d gathered just now was good, he wasn’t about to waste this golden opportunity on just one project.
Goro pressed another button on the elevator, one that would take him somewhere that was especially of interest, the biological sciences research floor. Why was this floor one of interest to him? Well, if his hunch was correct, this floor contained specimens he was eager to capture. Specimens that may have possibly given a certain wallcrawling hero his abilities, if his interview with said hero was to be believed.
Arriving on the floor with a ding once again, Akechi was surprised to find the otherwise dark hall partially illuminated by a glowing green light coming from a nearby room.
With his curiosity piqued, the young reporter slowly made his way towards the door of said room, careful to not make any noise out of fear of others present. When he reached the door, he raised his head to gaze into the room through the window on the door. A quick search showed the room to be empty, much to Goro’s relief.
Swiping his card on the door, he was met with an affirmative buzz and a clicking noise, indicating that the door was now unlocked. Upon entering the room, he was surprised to find how little was actually in it. The only noticeable thing in the room was the source of the light that had initially drawn him to it. A green light shined beneath an erlenmeyer flask that sat inside of a transparent plastic cube.
Despite not being as visually impressive as what he’d seen before, the contents of the erlenmeyer flask managed to catch Goro’s attention. This was something he could get a sample of, something to study, physical evidence. The liquid inside of the container was pitch black, not even reflecting the light that was being shined on it. Perhaps it was some kind of drug? Possibly a new formula for a product? Whatever it was, he intended to get a sample.
Unfortunately for Akechi, due to the lack of light, he’d neglected to read the various signs outside of and around the room which cautioned all staff to wear protective hazmat suits when handling this particular subject.
As he reached the container that housed the black liquid, he saw a label placed on the container that read ‘VM - 299’. Placing a pair of gloves on, Akechi unlatched the lock around the container and opened it, granting him full access to the flask inside. He grabbed a test tube off of a nearby table in one hand and the flask in the other.
Attempting to pour a small amount of the liquid into the test tube, Akechi was surprised by the resistance of the black substance to flow into the tube. Whatever this liquid was, it was incredibly viscous, thicker than any liquid he’d seen. Trying harder to get his sample, Akechi tilted the container even more, yet to no avail once more.
Finally, sick of waiting, Goro set the flask down and decided to collect a sample more directly, placing a gloved finger into the glass container in an attempt to swab a piece out.
Suddenly, the liquid reacted violently to his touch. Wrapping itself around Akechi’s finger and crawling its way up his hand.
“AAH!” Goro jumped back, dropping the container on the floor, the glass shattering at his feet. But it was too late. The liquid had a hold of him and continued to wrap itself around his arm, inky black tendrils pulsed as they snaked up his arm and made their way to his torso. The liquid that had fallen to the floor pooled around his legs, quickly enveloping him.
Akechi screamed as he tried to pull the black liquid off of him, only for it to enter his mouth as well. Before he could even cry out for help, he was completely covered.
As substance finished engulfing his face, Akechi’s last sight was the view of his outstretched hand, before complete and utter blackness.
[74]
Goro Akechi was floating through a void.
An empty, soundless void where the darkness was absolute and Goro was deprived of all of his senses. The worst part of it all was that he was still conscious, made to experience this hell with his mind completely intact.
Was this death? Akechi was never a believer, but he figured that on the off-chance he was going anywhere he died, it wouldn’t be anywhere pleasant. That being said, he wasn’t one to easily accept his fate, he screamed out silently, trying to thrash his nonexistent limbs and escape this oblivion.
Finally, Goro’s cries were answered. A low rumbling noise that seemed to be both in his mind and everywhere around him at once sounded out amongst the silence.
“Akechi.” The rumbling noise shifted into a voice.
“W-Who’s there!?” The young reporter cried out, finally finding that his voice worked.
Suddenly out of the blackness that lay before Akechi, came a light. Two white dots and a line grew and formed into rough, jagged approximations of eyes and a mouth. The face seemed ginormous in front of Akechi, like a giant talking wall that made him look like an insect in comparison.
“Are you the devil?” Akechi asked the face in front of him.
Suddenly, a strange repetitive growling noise echoed all around him. It took a second for the boy to realize that the creature was laughing, seemingly amused by the notion.
“No. I am not the devil. And you are not dead.”
“Then where am I? What is this?”
“This is us.”
“Us? What are you talking about?”
“We are one now Akechi. You and I are us. And this is our collective mind.”
“Our mind?” Akechi was still confused. “So then what are you?”
“I am extension of yourself. I was alone before, but then you came along, a new host.”
“Host?” Suddenly, memories of how he’d ended up here flashed through his mind. “You’re the black goo! The liquid that was in the container!” He remembered the label on the container. “VM - 299!”
“I was. Now I am a part of you. And together, we can do anything.”
“Can we get out of here?”
“You can never escape your own mind, Akechi. But, if you wish to regain your senses, simply think it.”
Surprised by this answer, Akechi complied and shut his eyes, opening them up again, he found himself in the lab where he’d initially been exposed to the liquid. He immediately felt around his body, making sure everything was there. Fortunately finding that he did have a body once again, he was shocked that he felt nothing different about himself.
For a moment, Goro wondered if what he’d just experienced was a dream or something, that is until the gravelly voice from earlier spoke once again.
“I assure you Akechi, I am very real.” The voice said in Akechi’s head. The reporter caught himself before he fell from shock.“Hmm, you have much rage inside of you Akechi. Rage directed at your father. Daddy issues?”
“What!? You know my thoughts?”
“We are one Akechi, we share everything. I know you inside and out, quite literally.”
“Great.” Akechi said sarcastically. “Because privacy was overrated anyway.”
“I think it would be best advised that we leave before we are caught. Killing the scientists here would lead to unwanted attention, and stealth is a priority if we are to enact your plan.”
“My plan?” Akechi questioned the creature inside of him as he moved toward the elevator.
“Your plan to kill your father of course. The one you daydream about regularly. Might I suggest ripping off his limbs before biting his head off?”
“You-er...We could do that?”
“The way I see it, Akechi, we can do whatever we want.”
The thought made Akechi smile. Getting revenge on Shido, in the darkest, cruelest way possible? It was almost like a dream, one that Akechi didn’t want to wake up from.
“What do I call you?” Akechi asked the voice as he stepped into the lobby.
“We are one now, we share a name. Together…”
“We are Venom.”