The crescent-shaped aircraft descended slowly outside a deep canyon, its mirror-smooth surface reflecting the jagged cliffs and sparse greenery around it. The distorted reflections made the whole landscape shimmer like a mirage.
A hundred meters away from its thrusters lay a pit that had been excavated long ago. Scattered around it were more than a dozen identical corpses. Several vultures were feasting gleefully among them, their sickle-like talons tearing into flesh. In this wasteland, such a meal was a rare luxury.
"Stay here. Don't move around. I'll be back soon."
The hatch opened, and the Hulkbuster leapt out, jets of blue flame roaring from its feet. The thrusters blasted a gale across the desert floor, kicking up waves of golden sand that blotted out the sun.
"Gaa—! Gaaak!"
Startled, the vultures flapped into the air, circling above the canyon while watching warily as the red-and-gold colossus rose skyward.
Ethan guided the armor through the canyon's airspace, a metal case clutched in one hand. "AI, scan for any substance resembling water but with abnormal readings."
"Scanning… target located," the onboard AI replied almost immediately. Lines of data and contour maps flooded the display as the system analyzed the canyon's geology and fluid composition.
The cockpit's panoramic screen showed the terrain in perfect clarity—sheer cliffs towering on both sides, with a tranquil pool near the base and a few scraggly plants struggling beside it.
"Analysis complete: minor kinetic fluctuations detected in the water. No anomalous readings were found."
"Continue scanning other sectors,"Ethan commanded. The armor banked and began a slow flight deeper into the gorge.
Meanwhile, the carrion birds, seeing the huge machine disappear into the canyon and the aircraft remain still, cautiously descended again and resumed pecking at the corpses.
Inside the aircraft, Pietro sat cramped in a corner, staring silently at the bulky Vibranium Gate occupying half the cabin floor.
After about ten minutes of flight, the AI's pleasant female voice chimed again:
"Detection alert—liquid with viscosity and density significantly above average!"
"Got it."
Ethan tightened his grip on the controls, eyes locked on the display as the armor sped toward the marked location.
The Hulkbuster landed softly in a relatively open area. A massive granite outcrop loomed nearby, casting deep shadows—and within those shadows, a pool of black "water" shimmered faintly. No vegetation grew anywhere near it.
Zooming in, the "water" dissolved into a thick, pitch-dark liquid. It had no ripples, no reflection—just an oily, pulsating sheen that seemed alive.
"Sonics,"Ethan ordered.
The armor's right arm opened, revealing a rotating coil that began to hum.
The sonic cannon discharged with a sharp whine, the air itself vibrating violently as visible soundwaves rippled toward the black pool.
The liquid convulsed at once, shrieking with a sound that made the skin crawl.
It was terrified—recoiling, twisting, flattening itself against the rock wall, desperately trying to evade the sonic barrage.
Ethan calmly adjusted the frequency, raising it higher. The scream intensified, slicing through the canyon air like a razor.
The black mass flailed, trying to escape—but the sound held it trapped. The harder it struggled, the more erratic its form became.
Still writhing? Ethan wordlessly increased the frequency again.
He knew what it was.
A symbiote—one of the amorphous, parasitic organisms created by Knull, the ancient Abyssal King and God of Darkness.
Those bonded with symbiotes gained immense power and unique traits depending on the strain: Sleeper could secrete exotic chemicals; Serum could heal disease.
But most symbiotes had one fatal weakness—they feared sound and fire. Only a handful of evolved specimens could overcome that flaw.
As Matt Murdock—the Devil of Hell's Kitchen—once quipped, "They smell like a mix of gasoline and sewer water."
And this one was Venom, the most infamous of them all.
No one knew what became of its original host, Eddie Brock, after the Day of the Fallen Heroes.
All people knew was that a ravenous black parasite—hating everything connected to Spider-Man—had been wandering the Midwest for years, latching onto animals and preying on humans.
BZZZ—
The sound continued until the symbiote finally collapsed into a trembling heap. It quivered, its slick surface splitting and reforming like a living wound.
Ethan deactivated the cannon. The canyon fell eerily silent.
He tossed the metal case—it clattered on the ground before the black mass. His gaze was cold, unwavering.
Unexpectedly, Venom twitched, then began to inch backward, as if still seeking to flee.
"This is your last chance,"Ethan warned flatly. "Get in the box. Otherwise, I'll blast you with sonics for ten straight hours—and when I'm done, I'll feed you to a Klyntar Eater."
The armor's coil spun up again with a menacing hum.
The symbiote froze. Then, two pale, pupil-less eyes formed on its surface, staring at Ethan with something close to comprehension… and dread.
It knew what a "Klyntar Eater" was.
A predatory cosmic species—vaguely insectoid, with corrosive saliva and a taste for symbiotes. Eddie and Venom had once barely escaped one in the 1990s.
They felt no pain. Their saliva could paralyze—and rumor had it, it enhanced the flavor of whatever they devoured.
And the longer a symbiote had been bonded to hosts, the tastier it was said to be. Venom, who'd been hopping hosts since escaping its homeworld, was practically a gourmet delicacy.
After a moment of internal calculation, Venom yielded.
It liquefied into a pool of black sludge and oozed obediently into the metal container, filling it completely—then extended a small tendril to gently close the lid itself.
Whether this human really knew a Klyntar Eater or not didn't matter. The sonic cannon was very real—and Venom had had more than enough of its sting.
Best not to mess with that again.
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