"So, Eddie Brock, huh? Quite the guts, but unfortunately, in this country, ordinary people rarely stand a chance against capital." Watching the Daily Globe reporter at the press conference ask Carlton Drake sharp questions, Daniel Davis shook his head slightly.
Journalists do have considerable power here, but it depends on the journalist. If they're well-known, it's one thing; however, Eddie is just an ordinary reporter at the moment. Asking Carlton Drake about human experiments and extraterrestrial matters? Naturally, Drake wouldn't admit to any of it.
"I suppose he's the one who ends up becoming Venom later, huh? Well, not this time." With Daniel getting involved, there was no chance of Venom's existence. Honestly, even if Eddie were to somehow become Venom again, he would be plagued by endless trouble.
Unlike Spider-Man, who always acts with caution, Venom has a tendency to be high-profile, as if afraid people wouldn't know who he is.
"Life Foundation, huh. Why is it always a medical organization?" Daniel quickly dismissed Eddie from his thoughts, uninterested in him any further. Without becoming Venom, Eddie was just an ordinary man, not worthy of more attention.
Carlton Drake, however, the owner of the Life Foundation, warranted a closer look. Thinking about the foundation's main research areas, Daniel sighed in frustration.
Umbrella Corporation, Tricell, DK Pharmaceuticals—all notorious problems seemed linked to medical research. Although the Life Foundation could send exploratory spacecraft to investigate, it wasn't their primary focus. As their name suggests, their primary research revolves around life itself.
"Red Queen, search for any unusual events in Malaysia, particularly strange deaths among the police, and gather intelligence on the Life Foundation." After watching the press conference for a while, Daniel instructed the Red Queen to focus on monitoring the situation in Malaysia.
Malaysia was the focus because the exploratory spacecraft crashed near a forest there. If alien parasites had escaped, strange events would surely follow, especially involving unexplained deaths, and the police would likely have records.
Thanks to modern technology, Red Queen soon accessed the Malaysian police database, retrieving information on cases involving fatalities since the spaceship crash.
"Looks like some alien parasites really did escape," Daniel noted, observing the images of corpses with strange wounds on the screen, along with autopsy reports and witness statements, which quickly confirmed the information.
The alien parasites seemed to have no reservations, killing people or switching hosts in broad daylight. The bizarre nature of these cases meant that Malaysian police struggled to believe the statements, with some cases even hastily closed with various explanations.
"No new corpses in the last two days… did it leave?" Reading the police reports, Daniel began piecing together known events.
"It's probably trying to reach the Life Foundation to find its kin, just as I suspected." After tracing the route from Malaysia to the USA, Red Queen discovered similar cases, and even a video from an airport, documenting the trail.
"How many bodies does this thing switch each day?" The alien parasite moved freely, with no concerns about being seen, and police were unable to identify it, as every host's body soon became a corpse. Even Daniel couldn't identify its current appearance; the last recorded body was already deceased.
"It's getting more cautious. Is that because it has access to memories now? Unfortunately for you, I'm your opponent."
Once the parasite entered the USA, it became much more discreet, not flaunting itself as before. By sharing its hosts' memories, it likely learned about the superheroes in the USA and decided to lay low. An ordinary person wouldn't be able to keep tracking it, but Daniel was no ordinary person. He immediately had Red Queen redirect satellites to locate the alien parasite.
"Got you." With Red Queen's thorough search, Daniel pinpointed the parasite in Los Angeles and opened a portal, instantly transporting himself there.
Since he knew the alien parasite was murdering recklessly, and he had the means to stop it, Daniel didn't hesitate.
A shimmering spatial ripple brought him to a young man walking in an alleyway—the parasite's current host. The sudden change went unnoticed by the young man, who instead looked at Daniel with a greedy glint.
Alien parasites prefer robust hosts, a pattern evident in its body-swapping choices. Starting with the wounded astronaut, moving to the elderly, then children, it finally settled on young, strong hosts.
Parasites require a host to survive and cannot last long on their own, but that depends on the parasite's willingness to share life with the host. Eddie and his parasite bonded to become Venom, but for most hosts, death follows shortly after bonding.
The reason Eddie survived as Venom was due to his parasite being the weakest in its group, unable to immediately control Eddie's mind. Its different mentality led to a symbiotic relationship. Other parasites, however, dominated their hosts completely, using them up as disposable resources.
The parasite's home planet was wiped out because they exhausted every host species in their frenzy to switch bodies, leaving nothing but extinction.
"Heh." The young man's face twisted into a menacing grin, his body transforming into a brown-skinned, monstrous creature with fearsome jaws. His right arm morphed into a sharp spike, and he lunged at Daniel.
Watching the creature charge, Daniel smirked, waving his hand to conjure a wall of flames that engulfed it.
"Aaaargh!"
Caught off guard, the creature shrieked in agony as the flames tore through it, separating the parasite from its host.
"Venom" is merely a term for a bonded parasite-host pair. A single parasite alone doesn't qualify as Venom.
"How is this possible?" The parasite tried to escape the fire, fleeing toward an open area behind it, terrified of the flames and intense heat.
"Nothing is impossible. This planet isn't your hunting ground. In fact, you're the prey, and I'm the hunter." With another wave, Daniel surrounded the parasite in a ring of fire.
Trapped within the flames, the parasite snarled at Daniel, trying to intimidate him.
"We could work together," it suggested after a moment.
"Looks like you've picked up a few things from humans. But sorry, you're in no position to bargain." Daniel wasn't a fool like Carlton Drake, who had eagerly entertained partnerships with such treacherous beings.
Eddie's situation was unique, and large-scale parasite presence would inevitably lead to all-out war—a struggle for survival. Only Carlton Drake could be foolish enough to want to bring an entire alien species to Earth in pursuit of "human evolution." Utterly naive.
Had the parasites not needed Drake's rockets to reach Earth, they'd likely have drained him of life the moment they met.
Realistically, if humans could consistently achieve a symbiotic relationship like Eddie's with Venom, it might count as impressive evolution. But the possibility was never realistic.
Even Daniel had no plans to mess with the parasite's kin; there were simply too many, and even one slip could spell catastrophe.
"We can grant humanity immortality. We can coexist," the parasite pleaded, touting the benefits of symbiosis. Its words carried a certain allure; after all, who in history could resist the promise of immortality?
"This one might actually be a high-ranking member of its species," Daniel speculated. Its actions implied a leader of sorts, aiming to bring the entire species to Earth—a notion that had never occurred to the one bonded to Eddie.
"From what you've done so far, I see no evidence of coexistence. And for the record, I've been tracking you, so spare your breath. I will never work with you."
With those words, Daniel summoned a Desert Eagle, firing shots to test the creature's regenerative ability, watching as it slowly shrank to a pool of black liquid after each bullet.
"So it has impressive regenerative powers." Daniel had shot the creature's right arm, left arm, and chest to gauge its capabilities. Being essentially a black liquid, the parasite retained its form through the life energy it had drained from others.
Once it was reduced to its liquid state, Daniel dispersed the flames and, with a flicker of icy blue light, froze the black liquid solid.
"Better safe than sorry." Although Daniel didn't fear the parasite, he decided to study it first before attempting any integration.
Daniel had his plans for the parasites. Like creating bio-armor from White Zetsu, he considered fashioning these parasites into living suits of armor. If successful, he might even emulate abilities like the "Gomu Gomu Gatling Gun."
"Now onto the Life Foundation." After storing the frozen parasite, Daniel focused on the Life Foundation, though he planned to review the intelligence Red Queen had gathered first.
"These so-called scientists… unbelievable." Browsing the data, Daniel sighed at the Life Foundation's recklessness.
While no abnormalities were apparent in the Life Foundation's internal records, a wrongful death claim filed by a law firm revealed a darker side.
The claim involved five homeless individuals who had died. Due to the foundation's quiet handling, few people knew about this case, likely just the law firm and some within the Life Foundation.
"Testing unperfected drugs on people—how recklessly ambitious." The foundation was developing a "miracle drug" for late-stage cancer patients. Noble in theory, but its haste posed grave risks.
"Success at last! Prepare for human trials immediately," Carlton Drake ordered a female scientist after observing a surviving rabbit on the monitor in the Life Foundation lab.
"Sir, isn't it too soon? It's only been a day, and we haven't confirmed its safety for humans yet," Dr. Dora protested.
"Dora, time is precious. Every day we waste brings this planet closer to doom. Only by completing our trials can we save the world. Just look at the wars, plagues, and disasters outside. Humanity has no time left, and if we can
wait, can they?"
After his speech, Drake instructed the team to proceed with human trials. Although he resented Dora's protests, he tolerated her for now, as the research largely depended on her. However, in his mind, he was already planning to discard her once the experiments succeeded.
Drake's urgency stemmed not only from ambition but also because the space sample he painstakingly retrieved was dying, and he needed results before it expired.
"This can't be… It must be genetic incompatibility. Next!" Watching the experimental subjects quickly succumb, Drake's expression darkened.
Dora wanted to intervene, but seeing Drake's grim face, she held her tongue. Having worked with him for a while, she understood that he held human lives in complete disregard. Angering him would only put her in danger.
"Impossible. Something must be off. Get the next batch in here." For Drake, human life was merely a resource. His worldview mirrored that of Daniel's parasitic opponent, explaining why the two ended up working together.
[Check out my Patreon for +200 additional chapters in all my fanfics! Only $5 per novel or $15 for all!!] [[email protected]/Mutter]
[+50 Power Stones = +1 Extra Chapter]
[+5 Reviews = +1 Extra Chapter]