Camp Lehigh
Laboratory
The doors opened, and Arthur walked in from outside, and the staff inside immediately turned to look.
"How are things going?" Arthur asked.
"Not great…" Harry hadn't left yet. Hearing Arthur's voice, he replied, "This Symbiote really doesn't want to cooperate. And since we can't perform any lethal experiments, we've just been stuck in a stalemate. We tried external stimuli, no reaction. We even tested the audio frequency you mentioned, turns out you were right. Frequencies above 2000 Hz are indeed lethal to it."
Arthur nodded and looked at Brock inside the lab. Using the intercom, he asked, "How are you holding up, buddy?"
"Aside from feeling like a monkey in a zoo, not bad." Brock joked at his own expense, then added, "But if this keeps up, I'm gonna get shy. So… any idea when I can get out of here?"
"Let me have a chat with the guy inside you," Arthur said. "If he still refuses to cooperate, well, then I think you'll be leaving here pretty soon."
Brock perked up immediately, but then his face fell.
"He says he's not interested in talking to you. And that your blind confidence is laughable."
"Ah… a lively Symbiote, I see." Arthur chuckled.
"Venom, I know you can hear me. I've got good news, your Symbiote buddy? I've already captured him. You'll be seeing each other again very soon."
"I DON'T BELIEVE YOU!!!!" Venom's voice boomed, deep, gruff, and full of rage, as always.
"Reality doesn't change just because you don't believe it." Arthur smirked. "Right now, you've only got two choices: One, cooperate with us and become a guest of Camp Lehigh, maybe even one of our team. Two, same treatment as the Life Foundation gave you: I'll pack you up in a perfectly sized container, dig a hole, and bury you. If you're lucky, maybe a few hundred years, a thousand, or even tens of thousands of years later, some tectonic plate movement causes a malfunction and you manage to get out.
Maybe. That is… if you survive that long."
Venom fell silent.
The blatant threat made him hesitate. Cooperation meant being bound by rules. Refusing meant, death.
Arthur let out a long breath and spoke into the mic again:
"Listen, Venom. I don't particularly hate you. You're impulsive, yes, but not overly ambitious. As long as your demands fall within reason, I can accommodate them."
"I want to eat people!" Venom declared.
"Absolutely not!" Brock snapped before Arthur could respond. "We cannot just go around biting off people's heads!"
"Shut up, coward!"
"You can't keep calling me that!"
The two started bickering again.
The lab personnel exchanged awkward glances, clearly, this wasn't the first time they'd witnessed this.
Brock was fuming and about to retort when suddenly,
"You can eat people… I can allow that." Arthur said.
Harry looked at him in shock.
"Are you serious?! Is that even allowed?"
Arthur replied calmly: "But, there are conditions!
First: No eating good people.
Second: No eating bad people at random.
Third: No eating Earthlings."
"…Are you messing with me?"
Venom was furious: "You're telling me I can't eat humans on Earth, then where the hell am I supposed to get my food?!"
"Of course, it's not like all humans on Earth are off-limits," Arthur replied. "In the near future, we're planning a trip into space to find a scumbag who used to live on Earth."
Arthur continued, "This guy, if you want, you can chew him to bits, swallow him, Disassemble him, and even excrete him again. All up to you!"
"Really?" Venom was stunned. "What kind of grudge do you have against him?"
"Oh, just the kind where I wish he was dead," Arthur said plainly. "In the past, I hoped to never see him again. Later on, I wanted to kill him the moment I saw him. But then, by some twist of fate, he went far, far away, and I… never mind. The point is, did you get what I meant?"
"Got it. Leave your enemy to me, I'll eat every last one of them!"
That's what Venom said.
Arthur froze for a second. Somehow, that didn't sit right. What do you mean you'll eat all my enemies? Then who the hell am I supposed to take revenge on?
Uh… wait, that doesn't make sense either!
There was clearly a logical inconsistency here.
Arthur rubbed his temples and said, "Let's not twist the argument. The bottom line is, no eating humans on Earth. If you want food, I can take you all over the galaxy to hunt for it. Got it?"
"I won't go hungry? What if I don't like the taste of those aliens?"
"Then that's your bad luck!"
Arthur's face darkened. "Are you seriously trying to bargain with me right now? Do you believe I'll bury you right here?!"
"…Let me think about it!"
"Give me an answer right now, or I will bury you."
"…You can't threaten me! I don't accept any form of threat!!!"
"Then I'll bury you right now."
Arthur waved his hand: "Start the audio torture, crank it to over 2,000 Hertz and keep it there until he jumps off of Brock's body. Post guards at the door, once he's out, let Brock go. After that, I'll go in myself and seal Venom in a jar!"
"NOOOOOO!!!!"
Venom quickly shouted, "Let's talk this out! That's way too underhanded!"
"Underhanded? Treachery is the passport of the despicable, you never heard that saying?"
"Who said that?!" Venom roared. "Humans shouldn't be so despicable!"
"…You eat people. What right do you have to teach me how to behave?"
Arthur's mouth twitched. What the hell is this chaotic nonsense?! "Bottom line, give me your answer now, or I'm putting you in the ground!"
"…Fine! I agree!"
Venom quickly said, "But remember, I'm not agreeing because I'm afraid of being buried, only because you promised to feed me!"
"I keep my word."
Arthur turned to his people: "Open the door. Let him out. And no one leaves, there are still experiments to be run. We're just switching subjects."
The door opened. Brock walked out with a completely baffled expression: "How did you two come to an agreement so quickly?"
Arthur ignored him and went back in to retrieve the young man they had held earlier.
…The guy was already dead.
(End of Chapter)
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