Chapter 104
[135]
“Do you think that he’s okay in there?” Makoto asked Futaba, a worried tone in her voice.
“Eh, he’ll be fine. It’s Ren!” Futaba reassured her. “I’m sure he’s handling the situation as we speak.”
Just as she finished her sentence, one of the warehouse walls burst open, revealing Ren being held by his throat by the inky black monster that was Goro Akechi.
“Guys!” Ren cried out as he struggled to break free of the large hand. “I don’t have this handled! Please help!”
“Crying out for help Spider-Man? How heroic.” The creature spoke in a deep, terrifying voice.
“What’s wrong Akechi?” Ren asked. “Not *cough* man enough to face me yourself?” He was trying to buy time for the others to close in.
“Do you really expect us to fall for such a childish taunt?” Akechi asked. “And our name is VENOM!” He punctuated the sentence by throwing the hero at his partner.
Makoto ducked out of the way as Ren sailed past her. “We don’t want to hurt you! We want to help you! Just surrender the symbiote! We’ll make sure that Shido Sciences can’t touch you!”
“You think we want this to stop?” Akechi shot a black tendril at Makoto which she narrowly dodged. “This is the greatest thing that’s ever happened to us! We’re finally whole!”
“Us?” Makoto asked. “What are you-AGH!” She was interrupted as she was thrown through the warehouse wall.
“I don’t wish to kill you...yet.” Venom spoke to them. “Leave us alone! There’s only one man we wish to kill!”
“Sorry pal, no can do!” Ren decloaked, appearing on Akechi’s shoulders before placing his hands on the sides of the monster’s head. “This won’t kill you, buuuut…” He said right before sending his bioelectricity through his fingertips.
“GAHHH!” Venom cried out, the black goo around his head began to disperse, revealing a head of long brown hair. “GET OFF!” His large right hand grabbed Ren by the arm before tossing him away.
“Well, he certainly didn’t like that.” Makoto pointed out as she got up from the rubble.
“They never do.” Ren replied, doing the same.
“I changed my mind.” Akechi said, his symbiote forming around his head again. “I do want to kill you.” His jagged teeth formed a malicious smile.
“Oh boy. I think I made him mad.”
“You think!?” Makoto turned to him.
Just as Venom was about to attack them, loud music suddenly blared through the air, causing the beast to cry out in pain. Akechi clutched at his ears, screaming as the symbiote pulled away from his body, stretching out in every direction. Looking up, Ren and Makoto spotted Futaba’s drone up above them shortly before the music cut out.
“Hurry up and get him! This drains the battery like crazy!” Futaba’s voice yelled at them over the speaker.
Makoto reacted quickly, firing a webline at an exposed part of Akechi before pulling hard on the line. The boy was pulled toward her, but the symbiote fought back, recovering from the sonic attack from earlier. Seeing the girl struggle, Ren grabbed the line as well, doubling the strength on their end.
Just as they were about to get the reporter free of the black substance, a tendril snaked its way up and suddenly formed a pair of jaws before biting down on the line. With the webline severed, Ren and Makoto fell back onto the ground while Akechi was reabsorbed by the symbiote.
“No!” Ren cried out as he watched Venom’s form regenerate.
“You almost had me there.” He commended them before turning toward the drone above him. “You saw my weakness earlier and came prepared. But the same trick won’t work twice.” He shot a tendril from one of his arms at the flying object.
Futaba narrowly steered the drone away from the tendril. Before Akechi could get another shot, Ren sprinted at him, tackling the large creature to the ground.
“Fu-Alibaba!” He cried out. “Get back! We can’t lose the drone!” As he finished speaking, he turned to the villain beneath him and charged up his hands with the blue electricity. Just as he finished charging, two more tendrils shot out from Venom’s chest, wrapping themselves tightly around Ren’s wrists.
“I told you. The same trick won’t work twice.” Venom smiled before punching him in the ribs. An audible crack echoed from Ren’s body as he went limp. The 8 foot monster pushed itself back up using the tendrils on its back, widening its jaw to engulf the hero’s head.
As it was about to bite down, Venom was caught off guard when Ren’s hands turned toward its face and blasted it with webbing. Suddenly blinded and unable to move its mouth, the creature tore at the webbing with one of its hands. After freeing itself a moment later, Venom’s eyesight returned, only now Spider-Man was nowhere to be seen.
“What!?”
“Fooled ya.” A voice said from directly in front of it. Before Akechi could react, a sudden blow to the back of his head sent him falling forward, unintentionally releasing the invisible hero in his grip.
As Ren picked himself up off the concrete, Makoto landed at his side having just roundhouse kicked the monster. “Warn me next time you’re about to do something stupid!” She chided him.
“I think it’s a fair assessment to say that I’m constantly about to do something stupid.” He replied, flinching in pain as he clutched his side.
“Are you okay?” Makoto asked, worried.
“A few cracked, possibly broken ribs.” He replied, taking a deep breath. “Nothing I haven’t had before.”
“That’s hardly encouraging.” She rolled her eyes before turning back to Venom as he got up, more enraged than ever. “What’s our next move? We can’t just attack it blindly.”
“Well, there goes my plan.” Ren joked. “But really, I don’t know. He’s more clever than he looks. We’re gonna need some new tricks if we’re gonna separate him from that thing. Any ideas?”
“Working on it.” Makoto replied. As both parties prepared for their next move, the sound of sirens nearby interrupted them. “Huh, guess someone alerted the cops.”
“Well, we weren’t exactly fighting him quietly.” Ren remarked.
Meanwhile, Akechi cried out in pain once again by the loud noise. Fortunately for him, the sound wasn’t enough to disrupt the symbiote’s connection with him, but it sure wasn’t pleasant. Letting out a grunt, he turned back to the two vigilantes who had attacked and bared his teeth. His vision was turning red and his only thoughts were of killing the two before him.
“I uh, I think that pissed him off.”
“We need to get out of here.” Makoto said just as Venom began to charge at them. The two took off, trying to get away from the enraged beast.
“I know I said the ribs weren’t a big deal,” Ren said. “But I don’t exactly think I can swing at the moment!”
Just as he said that, a blue van pulled in front of the two of them, its tires screeching as it swerved 180 degrees. The back door burst open with Ryuji and Ann behind them, ushering the two heroes inside.
“Get in!” Ryuji cried, helping Ren step into the vehicle as Ann did the same for Makoto. Futaba’s drone flew into the van as well, landing at their feet.
“Don’t forget about me!” Her voice said over the speaker. “The battery’s almost dead already. This thing can’t fly for much longer.”
“Hold on!” Haru yelled from the driver’s seat.
When everyone was in, she floored the gas pedal, causing everyone to lurch forward as the van took off. With the back doors still open, the team watched as the black creature pursued after them viciously.
“Holy shit!” Ryuji yelled as he slammed the doors shut. “You guys seriously pissed him off!”
While Ren and the others sat in the back, Makoto climbed past the others into the empty passenger seat next to Haru. “Where are we going?” She asked.
“Away from here.” Haru responded.
“And then?”
“I hadn’t thought that far ahead yet!” She said as she took a sharp right turn down the nearest street, the tires squealing beneath them.
“Uh guys?” Morgana poked his head into the front. “That thing’s gaining on us.”
Haru adjusted the rearview mirror and spotted an inky mass with teeth chasing after them on all fours. From the look of things, Morgana was right. Even at their top speed, it was quickly closing the gap between them. At the moment, there was only about 20 meters between it and them.
“We’re gonna have to think of something fast! Is there anywhere we can go to lose this thing?” Morgana asked.
“There’s gotta be one somewhere!” Makoto said as she searched through the glove box. This truck was a rental, so it was probably used a lot by tourists. And if that was the case…”Found it!” She exclaimed as she pulled down the visor, causing a map of the city to fall into her lap.
Meanwhile in the back, Ryuji and Ann watched anxiously as the monster that was Goro Akechi gained on them.
“Can we slow him down somehow?” Ann asked, turning to Ren who was still lying on the floor.
“Yeah just...just give me a second.” Ren responded, clearly in more pain than he let on. Getting up, he looked at the two of them. “Open the door.”
Nodding, the two blondes each grabbed a door before swinging them open. Ren meanwhile, changed the dial on his webshooter before aiming it, not at their pursuer, but at the ground beneath them. With a press of his fingers, a spray of webbing coated the road, causing a sticky roadblock behind the van.
“Nice!” Ryuji cheered. “That oughta slow him down!”
However, as Venom neared the obstacle, he noticed the incoming trap and jumped off of the road, clinging to a nearby building before bounding across the side of the wall at more or less the same speed as before.
“Are you fucking kidding me!?” Ryuji cried out. Suddenly he was caught off guard when a tendril shot out from the creature, latching onto the door the blond teenager was holding before tearing it off of its hinges. Ryuji was almost taken with it, had it not been for Ren shooting a web from his other hand to catch him and pull him back.
“Holy shit.” Ren breathed a sigh of relief. “Too close.”
“Th-Thanks man.” Ryuji said, still reeling in shock from what had just occurred.
“Can this thing go any faster!?” Ann shouted up to the front, watching as Akechi continued to gain on them.
“NO!” Haru and Makoto shouted back before turning back to the road.
As she examined the map, an idea suddenly struck Makoto and she looked at Haru. “Turn right here!”
“Here!?” Haru’s eyes widened. They were nearly past the turn already. If she swerved the wheel now, the car would likely tip. And if she slowed down, that thing would be on them in no time.
“HERE!” Makoto yelled as she shot a web past Haru’s head, out the driver side window, and onto a lamppost. As the line was pulled taut, the van made a hard right, pushing everyone inside into one another as it tipped.
Luckily, the line held and the van successfully made the turn and righted itself before Makoto cut it. The team let out a collective breath of relief as they continued down the road.
“Where is it we’re going?” Haru more demanded than asked.
“You’ll see when we get there.” Makoto replied, still looking at the map. “Take a left!”
“Where could it possibly be that we’re safe from THAT!?” Morgana pointed to the creature which was now easily visible thanks to the missing door.
Venom was close enough now that it could nearly reach them with its arm. Its tendrils had wrapped around the sides of the van to ensure it couldn’t get away. Ren, Ryuji, and Ann were all screaming as it unhinged its jaw in preparation to eat them. The two blondes each clung to one of Ren’s arms in fear as they screamed.
Suddenly, Venom’s pink tongue shot out to grab them all and pull them in. Reacting quickly, Ren pushed his friends aside to safety just as the tongue wrapped around his neck.
“SPIDER-MAN!” It yelled as the tongue retracted, pulling Ren’s head toward its mouth.
As a last ditch resort, Ren shot a web out to the only thing he could grab. The drone. Pulling it into his hand, he grabbed the mechanical object before shoving it directly into the creature’s mouth.
“FUTABA!” He yelled, hoping she understood.
Luckily, the girl got the message. And using the last of the drone’s power, she blasted the speakers loudly once more.
Venom screamed in pain, his tendrils releasing the vehicle as he fell to the ground in pain. The van quickly put some distance between it and them as they continued to tear down the street heading for who knows where.
The victory was short-lived however, as the battery of the drone quickly died, allowing Akechi to recover his form. When he did, his large teeth tore the drone apart in anger before he resumed his chase.
“One more right and we’re there.” Makoto said.
“Would you care to finally explain where it is we’re going?” Yusuke asked from his seat.
“You’re about to see.” She replied.
True to her word, when they made the final turn, the entire group saw where it was they were heading. They stared in awe at the large constructions before them. The area was closed for the night, but that wouldn’t be stopping them.
As they tore through the metal fencing at the gate, Ren and the others in the back watched as they passed the front sign of the park that read:
‘Denstinyland.’