Chapter 111
[143]
“Put your hands up! All of you are under arrest!” One of the armored men shouted as he and the others aimed their guns at the three vigilantes.
“Are you friggin serious!?” Ryuji exclaimed, pointing angrily at the men. “We just did like 90% of your job! You should be-ah!” The blond hero flinched as a rifle shot scorched the concrete in front of him.
“That was your one and only warning!” The man spoke again. “We have been authorized to use lethal force if necessary!”
“Ren,” Makoto whispered. “Now might be a pretty good time to go invisible.”
The masked hero gave a slight nod in response. “When I give the signal, you guys make a break for it. Take Hobgoblin with you, I don’t want to be framed for another murder.”
“Right.”
“HANDS! UP!” The man demanded once again.
“Yeah yeah, putting them up…now.” As he said that, Ren activated his cloaking, becoming invisible.
“Where’d he go!?” One of the Silver Sentries questioned.
“Bogey has cloaked, activate thermal vision!” Another shouted, hitting a switch on his wrist causing the eyes of his suit to begin glowing red.
“That doesn’t sound good.” A voice came from beside the man, before he could turn he was suddenly kicked in the chest and slammed into his squad car.
“GO!” Ren shouted, uncloaking as the other Sentries opened fire on him.
Makoto grabbed Hobgoblin by his hood and Ryuji by the wrist, pulling them both away from the fray toward a nearby alleyway.
“Hey!” Ryuji protested, pulling against Makoto. “Where’re we goin’? We can’t just leave him!”
“We’ll regroup later, he can handle this.” She replied, just before three large silver figures landed in front of them. “Besides, I think we have problems of our own.”
Back with Ren, he sent a web shot directly into the barrel of a gun, causing it to backfire and send the man holding it flying. As he grabbed another Sentry by the collar, ready to knock him out, Ren was caught off guard as he felt a shock go through his back.
“Ow!” He yelled, pulling out the taser cords that had been shot into him. Turning to the man that had fired them he shook his head. “Dick move.”
“What the-? That was 160,000 volts! How are you still standing!?” The man questioned before a webline hit his helmet and yanked him forward directly into Ren’s fist.
After tossing the man in his grip into a wall, webbing him up in the process, Ren looked around at the unconscious and/or restrained Sentries around him as he brushed the dust off of his suit.
“Glad we could talk this out. Now that just leaves-” He turned upward, seeing the helicopter above him. The chopper turned its side toward Ren, revealing a manned machine gun turret pointed right at him. “Holy shit!”
“I’ve got a clear line of sight. Opening fire!” The gunner shouted before the turret whirred to life, firing a hailstorm of bullets directly at Ren.
As Ren sprinted away from the torrent of gunfire behind him, he spotted Makoto and Ryuji dragging Kubo behind a car for cover as three Silver Centurions fired on them with guns built into their wrists.
“Please do not resist.”
“Please do not resist.”
“Please do not resist.” Each robot echoed monotonously as they continued to fire into the vehicle, advancing toward the pinned trio.
“Our webs ain’t doin’ shit to them!” Ryuji exclaimed. “What the hell are we supposed to do against these things!?”
From inside of the blond’s mind, a deep voice growled. “Let me eat the boy’s head and I’ll have enough strength to tear those robots limb from limb.”
“Hell no! You are not eating anybody!” He responded before looking up to see Makoto and Hobgoblin staring at him with confused expressions.
“Um…What are you talking about?” Makoto asked, concerned.
“It’s nothing! Let’s focus on the task at hand, if we’re gonna bring these things down, we need more firepower!”
“But our suits don’t have any…” She trailed off as glanced at Hobgoblin.
“W-What are you-Hey!” He protested, struggling against his restraints as the female vigilante reached for the satchel slung across his shoulder. Removing a baseball sized, Jack O’ Lantern themed bomb from the bag, Makoto grabbed the man by his collar.
“How do you activate one of these?” She demanded.
“The eyes are buttons! Press them both at the same time and they detonate on impact!” He cried.
Makoto did as instructed, the eyes lighting up as she did so, standing up to take aim, she saw that the Centurions were mere feet away from the car now. As she tossed the grenade at the one in the center, she heard Kubo shout at her.
“Wait, that one is a-!”
*Clink*
The bomb detonated, but instead of causing an explosion, a thick cloud of green mist suddenly enveloped the Centurions. A cloud which they easily stepped out of unaffected.
“Smoke bomb.” Mitsuo finished, slumping his head against the car door.
“Well then which ones are the ones that go boom?” Ryuji asked, quickly rummaging through the bag.
“Be careful! If you set one of those off then we’ll all go boom!”
“We can’t stay here any longer. We need to move!” Makoto shouted, grabbing Hobgoblin before jumping out from behind the car, rapidly firing webs into the robots.
Ryuji followed quickly behind with the bombs in tow, turning to see the robots quickly break out of their web bindings. Tripping over his feet, the blond dropped Kubo’s satchel to the ground, its contents spilling to the pavement.
“Shit!” As he attempted to grab the dropped bombs, a gunshot through the back of his hand made him cry out in pain and withdraw to cover.
“How could such a bumbling idiot be my ideal host?” Venom’s voice asked as Ryuji entered the alleyway he saw Makoto flee into.
“Gah!” He cried staring through the hole in his hand, tears welling up in his eyes from the pain. “C-Can you fix it?”
“Yes,” Small tendrils from the suit began to close the gap in his palm. “I can repair wounds of this size, but in the future try not to lose any fingers.”
“Wow, it…doesn’t hurt anymore. I actually feel really good.”
“I’m releasing morphine through your bloodstream to numb the pain. Just keep your wits about you and don’t go losing our head. We are running low on phenethylamine, I must…rest now.”
“Rest? What the hell are you talking about ‘rest?’ We’re in the middle of a battle!”
“Need…chocolate.”
“Venom? Venom!?” He asked, for once wanting to hear the creepy voice in his head speak. Despite his suit still covering his body, the symbiote’s consciousness was nowhere to be found.
“Ryuji?” Makoto’s voice said softly, making sure that Kubo was out of earshot. “You okay?”
“Huh? Y-Yeah…m’fine.”
“Where are the bombs?” She asked, noticing that the satchel was missing.
“Uh…”
“You lost them!?”
“I didn’t-I mean I know where they are…They’re just-” Ryuji was cut off as the car they’d been hiding behind moments earlier flew past them, crashing loudly onto the pavement. “Out there.”
“Hey guys?” Ren’s voice suddenly came over their earpieces. “Remember *huff* earlier when I said to leave them to me and make a break for it? I-*huff* I’ve got a helicopter and three Terminators after me. I think I may need some backup.”
“Goddammit.” Makoto placed her head in her hand. “Okay, you stay here and watch Hobgoblin. I’ve gotta go help Ren.”
“But-” Ryuji began to protest but Makoto shut him down.
“No, you’re still too green.” She stated before running out of the alley. “Just keep safe and out of sight!”
As Makoto left the alleyway, she instantly spotted Ren desperately avoiding gunfire from all sides. He was slowing down, no doubt exhausted from all the fighting up until now and if she didn’t save him now, Makoto doubted he would last much longer.
Spotting the bombs scattered across the street in front of her, Makoto grabbed one in each hand before attaching them together with a web strand.
‘Please let these be the ones that go boom.’ She thought before activating the bombs and tossing her makeshift bola at the closest Centurion. The bola wrapped itself tightly around the robot’s head.
“Error. Visual obstruction dete-” *BOOM!* Before the Centurion could finish, it’s head was blown to pieces.
“Yes!” Makoto pumped her fist. “Two more to-whoa!” Her spider sense suddenly went off, alerting her to an incoming missile fired from one of the remaining Centurions.
“Threat identified. Eliminating threat.” It spoke, lumbering toward her while its partner continued firing at Ren.
‘Shit.’ Makoto thought, quickly trying to formulate a plan. ‘Their heads seem to be their weak spot, maybe with a web line and enough force I can-’
*BOOM!*
The female vigilante’s thoughts were interrupted as the wall of the building next to her exploded from another rocket.
“Screw it!” She fired a web line directly at the Centurion’s head. Before it could make contact however, the web was intercepted by the robot’s hand.
“Countermeasures successful. Apprehending threat.” Makoto was suddenly yanked forward, the robot’s superior strength pulling her into its arms before it locked her into a literally bone crushing hug. “Activating stun function. Voltage setting: Max.”
Before Makoto could attempt to break free from the robot’s grip, she was suddenly bombarded with high voltage electricity coursing through her body.
“AHHH!” She cried out in pain, unable to do anything but suffer as the robot continued to squeeze her tighter.
A short distance away, Ren looked out from his cover to see his partner being captured by the enemy, reaching out to her he cried out.
“Mako-AH!” He was interrupted as a bullet suddenly pierced his side, knocking him to the ground.
Meanwhile from the alleyway, Ryuji watched in horror as his friends quickly began losing ground against Silver Sable’s forces. What should he do? What could he do? He wasn’t a superhero, not really. It was Venom who did most of the work while he just gave the directions. As he looked back up at the scene, he tried to think of what he could do in this situation.
Something.
Anything!
“Dammit! Why can’t I think of anything!? Ugh! Why can’t I be like them?” That was when it hit him. He wasn’t Makoto Niijima, a brilliant strategist and fighter. And he wasn’t Ren Amamiya, a charismatic leader and hero. He was Ryuji Sakamato, and Ryuji Sakamato didn’t think, he ran headfirst into danger with no concern for his own safety, all for the sake of his friends. That was who he was.
“Venom, if you can hear me, now would be a hell of a good time to wake up.” He said to himself as he got into his running position before taking off toward the Centurion holding Makoto.
As he approached the robot holding his friend, Ryuji leapt into the air, his fist raised high ready to punch its head off. Before he could make contact however, the Centurion turned its eyeless head toward Ryuji, examining the threat.
“Intercepting incoming target.” It said, right before raising one of its arms to bat Ryuji away, sending a jolt of electricity through him before knocking him to the ground hard. “Target threat level: Low. Priority objective: Continue restraining high value target.” It said, turning its attention back to Niijima.
“Dammit!” Ryuji punched pavement as he attempted to stand up. He really was worthless after all. He wasn’t cut out to be a hero like his friends, if it weren’t for Venom choosing to stay with him, there’d be nothing special to him at all.
Venom…
A few moments earlier when Ryuji had been hit, he felt the symbiote respond to the electric current. It didn’t like it at all. As he turned his head toward the ground next to him, he spotted one of the weapons that the soldiers from earlier had tried to use to restrain them. Judging by the two long wires coming out of the barrel, this thing was some kind of super advanced taser meant to bring down metahumans.
A very…very dumb idea suddenly popped into Ryuji’s head.
“Alright you gooey bastard, if you’re gonna be livin’ in my head, it's time you start earning your keep.” He said, grabbing the rifle in one hand and the wires in the other. “And right now, it's time to wake. The hell. UP!” He said, pulling the trigger.
Thousands of volts suddenly pulsed through Ryuji’s body and the costume surrounding him began screeching in pain, tentacles flailing around as the beast that made them up aggressively woke up.
“YOU BASTARD! ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL US!?” Venom’s voice shouted through his head.
“No time to talk! See that robot? I need you to tear it apart!” He ordered the symbiote. “Do that and I promise you can have all of the ‘phena-whatever-it’s-called’ that you want!”
“Do I get to eat more bad guys’ heads?”
“I-I’ll consider it.”
“Hmmm. Fine. But when we get home I demand chocolate.” The symbiote responded before Ryuji suddenly felt his costume shift, growing larger in size as several large tentacles and mouths grew on its surface.
Ryuji then bounded toward the Centurion from earlier on all fours like an animal, the symbiote’s long sharp teeth bared in aggression.
“I’ll show you a ‘low level threat!’” His distorted voice shouted before he pounced on the robot, tackling to the ground and immediately tearing into it with sharpened claws and teeth. He tore its arms from its body, releasing Makoto in the process before going for the robot’s head, crushing it between powerful jaws.
“Error. Reevaluating threat level. Reeval-” *CRUNCH!* The Centurion was silenced as the remaining bits of head were shattered.
As he stood over the defeated foe, panting heavily, Ryuji heard a voice call his name from behind.
“I-Is that you Ryuji?” Makoto asked, standing up weakly, clutching her side.
Trying to muster words to tell her yes, Ryuji found the process unnaturally difficult. Forming words was becoming hard for him, his thoughts turning to ones of violence.
“Save…Ren. The chopper…We’ll handle it.” He said before bounding toward the helicopter firing on Ren, leaping high into the air.
“We?” Makoto asked herself before turning to go save Ren.
Up in the air, the man and symbiote duo landed on the front of the helicopter, digging their claws into the steel hull. Spotting the pilot behind the window, the symbiote ran its long tongue across the glass hungrily.
“What the hell is that thing!?” The pilot screamed, attempting to steer away to shake the monster off.
This only succeeded in angering the beast as it then punched through the reinforced glass, grabbing the pilot by the neck as he pulled him out of the now crashing helicopter.
Seeing that the chopper was going down, the gunner attempted to flee by jumping to freedom…only to have his leg grabbed by a black tendril and suddenly be pulled back up to the creature. Just before the falling helicopter hit the ground, the monster leapt away to safety with its prey in tow.
Now on the ground, the man and symbiote duo looked at the two soldiers in their grasp. Both were shaking in fear as he brought them close to his slobbering mouth.
“So…Hungry…”
“Let them go!” A male voice came from nearby.
Turning to the source, the creature spotted two familiar figures. What were their names again? The female one in the white and pink suit was helping the male one in the black and red suit to walk. Both seemed heavily injured. Nearby, the remains of the last robot were scattered across the ground, having just been destroyed.
“Don’t do this man, you aren’t like Akechi. You aren’t a monster. Remember?”
Dropping the soldiers who immediately ran off in fear, the creature roared at the two approaching him, unable to even form words at this point.
“I know you won’t hurt us Ryuji. You’re too good of a guy. And I know you’re strong enough to put that thing in its place. So please, come back to us?”
“R-R-Renren?” The monster asked, it’s voice softer than before. It turned to the other spider-person. “M-Mako?”
“That’s right. It’s us, your friends.” Makoto reassured it, holding out her hand. “Are you ready to come home?”
Suddenly the monster began to shrink in size, reverting back to the Agent Venom suit. Ryuji pulled up his mask, gasping for air as he suddenly fell to his knees.
“Holy *huff* *huff* shit guys, *huff* *huff* that was crazy.” He managed to get out between breaths.
“You’re telling me.” Ren replied feeling equally tired and in a lot of pain. “We should probably get out of here before reinforcements show up.”
“Agreed.” Makoto nodded before turning to look into the alley from earlier. “Damn, it looks like Hobgoblin got away.”
“Oh man, *huff* that’s my bad guys. I was supposed to watch him.”
“It’s fine Ryuji, you did great. We’ll catch him some other time.” Ren assured him. “As for right now I’m feeling really…really,” His eyes began to slowly droop. “Tired.” He managed to get out before collapsing to the ground.
“Ren?”
“Ren!?”
[Bonus]
Earlier that night:
“Any word from the others yet?” Ann asked Futaba as the two sat in the latter’s room. The young genius was putting the finishing touches on a gadget while Ann painted the younger girl’s toenails.
“Not since the last time you asked me 5 minutes ago.” Futaba replied, her focus not shifting from her work. “Aaaaand done!” She said as she finished soldering the last wire.
“Cool. Uh, what is that thing again?” Ann asked as she looked up from her own work, seeing Futaba holding what appeared to be a 2 foot long metal baton.
“Check it out.” The younger girl replied, tossing the object to the blonde.
Ann caught it, holding it in her hand and noting how surprisingly heavy it was. The baton had a shiny metal exterior to it and a small black button on the side.
“Now here, connect it to this one.” Futaba tossed a second identical baton to the girl who caught it in her other hand.
Shrugging, Ann held the two ends together and instantly felt the magnetic pull between them. When the two pieces connected, the batons suddenly extended outward, forming a 6 foot long pole in Ann’s hands.
“Ah!” Futaba cried out, ducking as the pole shot out straight over her head and knocked over her desktop. “Watch where you’re pointing that thing!”
“Sorry! You could have warned me, y’know!” Ann retorted before pulling the two batons apart again, returning to their normal size. “This is awesome Futaba! You really outdid-” She was suddenly cut off by her phone going off in her pocket. “Oh, that could be them! Wait till I show them…oh.” She frowned.
“What is it?”
“A message from Shujin, apparently they want all students to come in tomorrow for an assembly to discuss the rest of the school year.”
“Ooh, maybe you’ll get to be homeschooled too!” Futaba excitedly suggested. “Trust me, it’s the coolest!”
“I think we’re gonna have to agree to disagree on that.”
As Ann further examined the new gadget Futaba looked down at her freshly painted toenails.
“What the? Pink!? I thought we agreed on green and black!”