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[Frog] Chapter 147: Even Greater Rewards...
🕑 Added 2024-11-05 17:13:45 +0000 UTCAlan's hand tightened around the symbiote as it started clinging to his arm. Gwen's face changed when she saw this, and she quickly urged Alan to throw it away.
Given his abilities, Alan had long sensed the symbiote's movements.
In their home world, symbiotes were self-sustaining organisms, but once away from their planet, they had to find hosts to survive. The stronger the host, the more powerful the symbiote became, even gaining the ability to perfectly replicate the host’s powers.
The symbiote in Alan’s hand sensed his immense strength and was intent on bonding with him, believing it would make it more powerful.
Just as Gwen prepared to shoot webbing to pull the suit away, Alan said, “Hold on, Gwen. I have a way to deal with it.”
Gwen trusted him completely, and she reluctantly paused her action. "Red Queen, open the bio chamber," Alan commanded.
The bio chamber, prepared specifically for the symbiote, opened immediately. Alan grabbed the creature, yanking it off his arm, and tossed it directly into the chamber. The Red Queen swiftly shut the chamber doors the moment the symbiote was inside. Enclosed, the symbiote began angrily thrashing against the glass, but it was futile.
Seeing the bizarre creature trapped inside, Gwen hurried to Alan’s side, gripping his hand with concern.
The mask on her Arch No. 5 suit retracted, and she examined Alan closely, leaving no detail unchecked.
"Are you alright, Alan?" she asked, her voice wavering slightly. “It’s all my fault. I should’ve noticed when the suit started acting strange…”
Alan gently embraced her, reassuring her, “I’m fine. This isn’t your fault. It’s all because of that thing,” he said, nodding toward the bio chamber. “That’s why you were acting so out of character today—it was because of it.”
Symbiotes could influence the thoughts of their hosts, subtly manipulating them to accept the symbiote’s presence even before complete mental takeover.
“That thing?” Gwen looked from Alan to the struggling symbiote in the chamber.
Alan guided her closer to the bio chamber, explaining, “Think of it as an alien parasite.”
“Alien parasite?” Gwen paused, her mind piecing things together. “Wait… could it be from last night…?”
Alan nodded. “It must have come back with NASA’s spacecraft. During the interception, it likely attached itself to your Spider suit. When you got home and weren’t paying attention, it gradually took over the suit.”
“No wonder I’ve been… acting strange all day,” Gwen muttered, recounting the strange behavior she’d displayed.
Alan continued, “If my guess is right, it was likely very weakened when it latched onto the spacecraft. The high temperatures of reentry would have made it even more vulnerable. If you and Tony hadn’t stopped the spacecraft, it might’ve been destroyed in the explosion altogether.”
Still, Alan couldn’t help but admire the symbiote’s resilience. Surviving in the vacuum of space, withstanding extreme heat, and then restoring itself overnight to this state—it was no ordinary creature. If it had another two days to develop, Venom might have fully emerged.
But every member of the symbiote family had one fatal weakness.
“Red Queen, activate the sonic waves!”
“Yes, Master!” the Red Queen responded.
Inside the bio chamber, the interior visibly trembled as the sonic frequencies reached maximum intensity.
Gwen watched in confusion. “Alan, what’s happening?”
She saw the black substance writhing in agony, as if being torn apart, clearly suffering from the sonic onslaught.
Alan explained, "Intense sonic waves are essentially the only weakness of this type of symbiote. I’m using sound waves to weaken it."
Gwen nodded in understanding, then looked at Alan with curiosity. Noticing her gaze, Alan asked, "What is it, Gwen?"
"Nothing. I just feel like... you seem to know everything!" Gwen replied. "You can make incredible suits, and you know all these things I've never even heard of."
Alan didn’t answer directly; instead, he asked, “Gwen, do you remember what you said last night?”
Seeing his mischievous smile, Gwen's face flushed as she tried to recall. “Did I say something?”
"Last night, didn’t you say that if I could create an even stronger suit, the reward would be even better?" Alan teased. “I wonder if the suit you're wearing now is strong enough to qualify for that reward?”
Gwen’s face turned as red as a tomato. She hadn’t thought Alan could make such a powerful suit overnight. She had only expected minor upgrades, but he had surpassed her expectations entirely.
"I... I..." Gwen stammered, unable to finish as Alan moved closer, pinning her against the wall. “Gwen, where’s my reward?” he asked.
“R-reward...” Gwen's fingers fidgeted, her blush deepening. She had promised a reward more meaningful than a kiss...
Before she could say anything more, Alan wrapped an arm around her waist and leaned in, kissing her deeply. Surprised at first, Gwen quickly relaxed, wrapping her arms around his neck as she softly murmured. Alan tightened his embrace, savoring the moment.
After a while, he finally released her, chuckling, “I’ll be expecting that extra generous reward next time.” Gwen nodded shyly, barely able to look him in the eyes. “You... you’re such a troublemaker,” she whispered.
With a laugh, Alan took her hand and led her out of the lab.
Inside the bio chamber, the symbiote had shrunk down considerably under the sonic waves until only a tiny fragment remained.
When the process ended, a pair of mechanical arms extended from the ceiling, reaching into the bio chamber. One arm picked up the remnants of Arch No. 4’s suit, while the other carefully split the weakened symbiote into two parts, leaving one half in the chamber while the other was extracted.
Another arm brought a new glass tube containing a single drop of silvery liquid and placed it on a workbench. After a brief pause, the arm with the surgical scalpel introduced the silver liquid to the symbiote. The silver droplet merged instantly with the weakened symbiote, which clung to it as if it had found a new host.
A scan passed over the new entity, and a blue projection screen appeared, displaying a new name:
“Arch No. 6 - Liquid Symbiote Suit”
....
