Chapter 36: The Death of Iron Man? The Curtain Falls!
Inside the biological research facility.
In a locked and sealed office building, a man was searching through the archives with only a flashlight to guide him.
Eddie Brock had once been a well-known reporter in New York. Some time ago, he uncovered shocking evidence that the Drake Foundation was conducting inhumane human experiments, tied to mysterious alien organisms, in an attempt to create advanced biological weapons.
Eddie wanted to expose this conspiracy to the public, but instead he was fired from his media company. With no other choice, he infiltrated the research base, hoping to gather solid proof of these human experiments and alien lifeforms.
"Got it, this is it!" Eddie exclaimed in a whisper. From a safe box, he pulled out a file, clamping the flashlight in his mouth as he quickly flipped through the documents.
Alien symbiotes… Venom, Riot… liquid life forms…
When bonded with a compatible human host, they manifest extraordinary power…
Five human test subjects. Only one survived to coexist with a symbiote!
Eddie's face grew pale the more he read. He hurriedly folded the documents and stuffed them into the inside pocket of his jacket.
Just as he was preparing to leave, the entire office building shook violently. Lights swung, tables and cabinets rattled, and dust fell from the ceiling.
"What's going on?" Eddie staggered toward the window, only to see the base's spacecraft igniting for launch.
Boom!
The ship, just as it was about to pierce the night sky and escape Earth, erupted into a massive explosion high above. The orange flames lit up the entire facility below.
Eddie froze, stunned. His instincts as a reporter kicked in and he quickly pulled out his camera, recording the scene.
Flaming debris and thick smoke rained down like a meteor shower across the city skies.
Through the camera's lens, Eddie caught a glimpse of something else falling among the wreckage—a small black beastly shadow darting through the flames.
…
Inside the mysterious dimensional space.
"Energy depleted."
"Warning: energy severely depleted…"
The light in Iron Man's eyes and chest dimmed. Stark had reduced the armor to the lowest possible output, leaving himself floating aimlessly in the void littered with alien corpses.
The last flicker of white light blinked, fading into darkness.
"So this is where I'm going to die?" Stark whispered bitterly. He had discovered countless alien corpses entombed here, all clad in different clothing and carrying strange weapons.
It confirmed what Stark had always suspected—beyond Earth, there were countless advanced alien civilizations.
Forming the Avengers had been the right path forward.
But now, that didn't matter anymore.
His armor was out of power. This place would become his tomb.
Oddly, that thought calmed him. He spoke softly: "Activate internal camera. Begin personal recording."
Inside the helmet, the dim light illuminated Stark's weary face.
"This is for Pepper. Virginia 'Pepper' Potts.
If you're watching this, it means I'm already dead.
In an age of alien invasions and constant disasters, death could come any day. Maybe I should have been prepared all along—one moment I was in New York, the next I was trapped here, with no way out. I tried, I really did.
But you need to know, I'm not leaving this as a complaint. I just want you to know that I…
I love you."
…
From high above, Xi Nian plummeted down, landing on the ground with a crash that split the earth beneath his paws. Around him, pieces of the destroyed spacecraft smashed into the factory, igniting raging fires.
He stayed on guard, carefully extending his senses until he confirmed the third and final symbiote was truly dead. Only then did he allow himself a breath of relief.
In the end, eliminating the last one was far easier than expected.
Riot had doomed itself, trying to flee Earth in the spacecraft, only to be trapped and burned alive inside its own vessel.
Of course, if Xi Nian had been even a step too late and the ship had escaped Earth's atmosphere, things might have turned out very differently.
Now, all three symbiotes were gone. Venom slumbered within Xiao Huang's body.
"It's over." Xi Nian kicked off with his feline paws, his small form leaping over the facility walls as he headed back toward the hotel in Queens where Gwen and Kara were staying.
Halfway there, a thought suddenly struck him. Something important.
"Oh, right. Almost forgot."
Still sprinting across the rooftops, Xi Nian's feline jaws stretched unnaturally wide. With a guttural hiss, he spat something out into the street below.
Clang!
A red-and-gold armored figure tumbled out of his mouth, hitting the ground with a heavy crash.
Xi Nian didn't stop, vanishing into the night in a blur.
The armored figure sat upright slowly, covered head to toe in sticky saliva. It was Stark.
What… what just happened?
He blinked, staring at the familiar New York streets, alive with cars, people, and Christmas songs playing on the corners. Crowds gathered quickly, snapping photos.
Stark sat there in silence. Instead of relief at surviving, he just wanted to curse.
WTF!
All that talk… all that recording… for nothing?!
…
Not long after Xi Nian left, flames continued to spread across the facility.
Inside the office building, Eddie stumbled as the fire closed in. In his panic, he tripped over a chair and fell hard to the floor. His palms scraped against the ground, stinging with pain.
But then he froze.
A cold sensation spread through his injured hand—like something was seeping into him.
He looked down. The wound was gone, the skin perfectly unbroken, as though nothing had ever happened.
Eddie's heart pounded, but the fire was closing in fast. He didn't have time to think. He pushed the door open and fled.
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