Venom belongs to Marvel, and Justice League belongs to DC. Any original characters that appear in this story will belong to me.
Enjoy!
The Watchtower, Above Earth
The room was silent as the Justice League stood at the table in the center. The seven founding members, Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, the Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkgirl, the Martian Manhunter, along with two of the newest members, Green Arrow and Black Canary, all settled down for the matter at hand.
"He's becoming a problem." Superman said sternly, having finished explaining Venom's unexpected arrival in Metropolis and being forced to let the Lethal Protector walk free.
"Not to be insensitive about this, but to be fair we did walk into his turf without permission first last time." the Flash said sheepishly.
"Not helping, Barry." Oliver said, making Flash look away in shame. "Still, he has a point. We walked into San Francisco without notice to take him in when we could've just talked things over, and all we did was piss off the entire Bay Area and get banned from going back there. I told you, one wrong move and we'd be on the public's bad side."
"How were we supposed to know that the people and the police would literally protect him that day?" Superman asked heatedly.
"We're getting off track here." Batman interrupted. "We have to figure out Venom's next move before someone else gets hurt."
As the conversation continued, one member in particular was sitting silently from across the table. Wonder Woman could only listen with a glare and crossed arms as she had one thing on her mind only.
Venom.
This creature was all the League had been talking about for the last three weeks, simply because of his ways of dealing with criminals by devouring them. While not completely on board with such methods, she did agree that men such as murderers, and especially rapists, deserved crueler punishments than being jailed so they could be released on some technicality so they can repeat their atrocities all over again.
Her thoughts went back to the day she and the other Leaguers caught wind of Venom's activities in San Francisco…
Two months ago
At the meeting consisting of herself and the rest of the League (with Batman being the first to call the meeting, obviously), everyone sat at the table in the center, waiting patiently for the meeting to begin.
"So, Bats, what'd you call us here for?" the Flash was the first to ask.
"A new vigilante has been discovered, neither human nor metahuman, and uses lethal force to take down criminals." Batman said as he turned on the screen on the large computer in the room, showing images of Venom from back in San Francisco.
"Jesus…" John Stewart muttered, as this is also his first time seeing this creature as well.
"The media calls him Venom." Batman said, pulling up more images and footage of Venom, some showing him swinging through the city of San Francisco, and others showing him hoisting some criminals in the air. "He's made a name for himself in San Francisco since the past month by tearing through the criminal underworld. His methods of dealing with criminals are on par with the Red Hood's and the Punisher's, but much more gruesome."
The League looked at various news stories and police reports about criminals being killed, and the diversity of the criminal types shocked them; Gangs, muggers, murderers, rapists, child molesters, pimps. There was no set type of criminal. No pattern. The only constant was the sheer brutality of the killings. And they were brutal. Eaten, mauled, beheaded, bisected, torn limbs, broken bones, crushed organs and many more besides. This killer was nothing if not creative in his work. It made some of the Leaguers sick just thinking about it. The only positive thing out of all of this was that crooks with purse snatching or other forms of theft in their records got off with crippling injuries, or none at all, and then left for the police.
"The views on this Venom seem mixed. A small few are disgusted with his methods. But a large amount of people support what he's doing, saying that he is getting rid of those who abuse the justice system and ruin others' lives." Batman explained. "There haven't been any warrants for his arrest yet, but it's unlikely the police force in San Francisco will ever make one, because most of them agree with his dispatching of otherwise untouchable criminals and doesn't hurt civilians. They say it makes their jobs easier and that no one will lose any sleep over them."
Everyone in the room was horrified. Green Arrow and Wonder Woman, on the other hand, could understand somewhat. These people must be getting tired of these scumbags walking away from any charges due to bribery, threats and/or connections. However, both heroes had different reasons for not speaking out right away.
The former had his fair share of kills in his first year as the Hood, but his methods have resulted in some collateral and property damage, which was why he turned away from the "shoot first, talk later" mentality once he joined the Justice League, though the willingness and need to use lethal force as a last resort still lingered in his mind. The latter, on the other hand, was raised on an island to be a fierce, yet kind warrior, but she and her sisters have learned of the kind of evils committed by Man that she is just hearing right now, mainly of those who enslave or massacre innocent people for the sake of conquest or pleasure, and such acts would earn them a place in Hades for their cruel actions.
For the rest of the Justice League, however, the people's blatant disregard for these victims, although criminals, was unjustifiable in their eyes.
"That's- That's horrible! They were criminals but they're still people! How can they say that?!" Barry exclaimed in disbelief.
"Do you have any leads on this Venom?" Hawkgirl asked.
"There was a hostage crisis at the Westfield Shopping Centre two days ago, with a terrorist group demanding $15 million in exchange for the hostages. A few witnesses claimed that the terrorists were going to dispose of them even after the exchange, until Venom stepped in." Batman pulled out footage from that particular incident, which showed Venom mowing down the terrorists; punching and kicking a few of them enough to break a few bones, slamming others into different areas. "Surprisingly, no one was killed, but the terrorists were taken into intensive care until they were delivered to San Quentin, while Venom slipped away shortly after the police burst in to secure the hostages."
"What we wanna know is, who or what is Venom? Where did he come from, and what's his game?" Green Lantern asked.
Batman acknowledged his words and pressed on a few more keys before the other video started to play, which was also in San Francisco a month ago.
When Venom made himself first known. The video was not long - only about a minute.
What they saw was a man sprawled on the streets next to his crashed motorcycle with the car that hit him parked in front of him and a bald man kneeling next to him. The only problem was that they couldn't see the injured man's face, which was something they would get into later.
Suddenly, a large black hand sprouting from the injured man's arm grabbed the bald man by the neck, as a black mass soon began to spread across the injured man's body, and the sounds of bones reattaching could faintly be heard as the man stood up, and the whole room watched as he grew taller and muscular until the head was the last to form a familiar grinning face.
Venom.
"Eyes. Lungs. Pancreas." he rumbled. "So many snacks, so little time."
The majority of the League felt their skin crawling.
What freaked them out more was the long tongue that slithered out of his open mouth and left a trail of saliva across the man's face, and before he could take a bite out of the man, he was interrupted by another man firing his shotgun at the creature.
Venom threw the bald man aside and engulfed the other man's head into his wide maw, sinking his teeth into his neck before tearing his head clean off and sending the body flying into the streets.
That nearly caused the Flash to throw out his lunch at this graphic display.
The video ended as the police fired their weapons at the creature, who jumped from on top of a car and onto a building before disappearing to another block.
"Okay, I was not ready for that bit. Try warning us next time!" Flash said with a small glare. "Who were those guys anyway?"
Once the footage was over, Batman turned to the League, "I was able to identify one of them as Roland Treece, the head of security for the Life Foundation." the screen brought up an article about the company. "Seven months ago, the company sent their best astronauts on a recon mission to search for any signs of life that could make life on Earth more sustainable. The team found a comet inhabited by millions of parasitic life forms called symbiotes: creatures that need hosts to survive other atmospheres outside their own. Four of them were collected and brought back to Earth, until one of them escaped containment and caused the probe to crash in East Malaysia just as they re-entered the atmosphere, then kept itself hidden for a good six months, while the other three were retrieved and brought back for study."
"So, Venom's an alien?" Green Arrow asked, not really sounding surprised, considering that there's a Kryptonian and a Martian currently in the room.
"The CEO, Carlton Drake, believed that the symbiotes were the key to humanity's survival and the next step to our evolution. Unfortunately, the only way to accomplish this was to snatch several homeless people off the streets to see how the creatures interact with their hosts. Two of them died while bonding to their own host due to their incompatibility, while the third, Venom, escaped and latched onto a host of its own. Their identity? We don't know."
"And the experiments?" Black Canary asked.
"I was able to extract footage on that, but I should warn you all, you're not going to like what you'll see here." he warned, heeding Flash's earlier advice as he typed on a few keys, and footage from the Life Foundation popped up.
The footage showed Carlton Drake and a group of scientists standing in front of a room where a young man looked through the reinforced window in confusion. As the League observed the footage, they noticed something behind the man, and their eyes widened at what they saw.
Inside a capsule was a flowing, dark blue mass, a symbiote, no doubt, slowly shaking uncomfortably within its confines, which suddenly opened as the symbiote rose up and slumped to the ground, releasing high-pitched rumbling as it crawled towards the now panicking man.
The entire League began tensing up as the man started banging on the glass screaming to be let out as the blue slime began crawling up his leg before stopping at his torso, and a strand slowly moved in front of the man's quivering face as if to look at him eye-to-eye, if it had any, before suddenly sinking into the man's shirt and dissolving as if it was never there.
For a minute, nothing happened as the man tried to process what had happened and where exactly the creature went in his body.
Then, what came next nearly made the Leaguers' hearts stop.
The man jolted back and his arms began to twitch and contort, agonized grunts and screams escaping his mouth as he collapsed to the floor, his entire body convulsing like he was experiencing a seizure before he suddenly stopped cold and motionless as a large strand of the symbiote bursted out of the man's mouth before reattaching to the other half that emerged from the dead man's torso. It crawled on the body for a moment before leaping at the glass, trying to reach Drake and the mortified scientists.
If the video of Venom biting that man's head off wasn't graphic enough, then this took the cake.
"Bring in the next volunteer." They heard Drake speak in an unfazed tone after a few moments of silence, making the Leaguers glare at such callousness. Superman in particular was seething the most, easily seeing the stark resemblance between Drake and Lex Luthor. Now that he thought about it, another fearful thought popped up; if Luthor got a hold of this kind of research, he might be given an edge over the Kryptonian in the future.
"How were you able to get all this?" J'onn J'onzz asked, a moment after recovering from what he had witnessed.
"I was able to hack into several files belonging to Dr. Dora Skirth. One of them says a host must be in perfect health in order for the bonding process to stabilize." Batman explained as he pulled out a picture of a young, black-haired woman in a lab coat, along with footage of another symbiote, this time it was a yellow one that attached itself to an unsuspecting white rabbit, and surprisingly it didn't reject the life form.
"What about this Dr. Skirth? She might have something else." Hawkgirl insisted.
"That's no longer possible." Batman said in a grim tone, making the others look at him in confusion. "Apparently she was the one who blew the whistle on the Life Foundation's experiments to the outside. Drake didn't like that, and he made her the last test subject for the blue symbiote. And it died along with her."
Pulling up more footage, their eyes widened as they saw Skirth sprawled on the ground, open-eyed and motionless… with the blue symbiote sticking out of her side and laying splattered all over the floor as Drake lectured the two scientists in the room, more over the symbiote's death than Skirth's, which made the League glare even more at this display of cruelty.
"Anything else on these symbiotes? What about the fourth one, the one that caused the crash?" Superman asked, recovering from his anger.
"The fourth symbiote somehow made its way from East Malaysia to San Francisco, and attached itself to its final host." Batman said. Typing on a few more keys, the screen showed footage of the Life Foundation's control room for the shuttle.
Standing in the middle of the room was Drake, who suddenly turned and shot a grey tendril out of his left arm to pull a man's hand away from a keyboard, and a similar mass began to form all over his body before it morphed into a creature similar to Venom, except it was grey in color and had red veins, was much larger, had sharper claws, and a more lizard-like head with similar white, jagged eyes that stared down the shaking man.
What came next shocked them all.
A long blade formed on the creature's right hand before impaling the man into the wall, and then turning to face the fleeing humans. The creature's hands formed into large scythe-like blades before it swung them across the room, and the blades extended nearly through half of the room as it sliced up a few staff members running for the door and a few of the petrified employees, while the others were able to flee the room alive. The footage ended as the creature retracted its weapons with a roar before running and leaping out the window.
"Drake. Of course." John muttered.
"Drake had bonded with this kind of symbiote to aid it in bringing back more of its kind with the new shuttle, but Venom was able to put a wrench in their plans and destroyed the rocket with them inside of it." Batman said, as he pulled out more footage from the Life Foundation, particularly one that showed Venom and Drake's symbiote duking it out on the catwalk, the latter attempting to strike the former with numerous blades, and the last one showing Venom cutting the side of the departing shuttle with the other symbiote's discarded blade and causing the entire rocket to burst into flames, right as the footage cut off. "Ever since the incident, Venom was seen stopping whatever crime was in progress, or even acting docile towards civilians." he concluded, turning the screen off before showing numerous videos of Venom being a "hero"; one showing him throwing a couple of thugs around like rag dolls, and the other showing him stopping a getaway car. He even did the classic "saving the cat in a tree" schtick, making Wonder Woman smile as she saw the creature pat a child on the head after giving the cat back before jumping onto a building and climbing up and away.
"Why would an alien parasitic life form be motivated towards crime-fighting while biting the heads off of criminals?" Black Canary wondered.
"I skimmed through the rest of the Life Foundation's research on the symbiotes. It might not be eating criminals out of a twisted sense of justice; it could be out of necessity." Batman said.
"Define 'necessity'." Hawkgirl said.
"Another one of Dr. Skirth's notes explains that the symbiotes also need a sustainable food source to survive Earth's atmosphere while bonded to their host. That must mean the host is supplying the creature with living organisms, mainly criminals, to keep themselves alive. Judging by its use of 'we', or 'us', then the host must be willing enough to let the symbiote do as it pleases." Batman deduced, shocking almost everyone.
"How can somebody join some body-snatching parasite willingly?! They're not supposed to enjoy this!" the Flash gawked.
"Willing or not, the host has become a killer as well. We're going to have to find him and bring him in." said Superman.
"So you're proposing we find him and then send him to Arkham, or Belle Reve, or Stryker's?" asked Green Lantern.
"No, those prisons aren't prepared to hold something like him." replied Batman. "We should keep as many people in the dark about this as possible. If someone gets wind of this, tries to stop it and gets killed, the criminals of this world will fight tooth and nail to get their hands on the symbiote and use it against us. If we want to stop that from happening, we'll have to find Venom and separate him from his host and decide what to do with both of them. Until then, we wait until he strikes first."
He wouldn't tell anyone, but he was a bit unnerved of the creature.
Possessing strength that nearly surpasses Bane's and a voracious appetite for human flesh similar to Killer Croc's was what worried him.
"Does he happen to have any weaknesses?" J'onn asked.
"That's the issue, we don't know," Batman replied. "I've skimmed through every document the Life Foundation has on the symbiotes, but none of them contain their weaknesses. By the look of things, it's almost as if most of them were erased or confiscated."
"Like somebody's covering for him." Green Lantern deduced.
"What we do know is that Drake's symbiote was able to construct bladed weapons from its mass, but Venom doesn't seem to carry these traits. Judging by the footage of the two symbiotes fighting each other, he only seems to rely on strength and speed, so we might have an edge over him."
"We can discuss how to contain him once we actually have him." said Hawkgirl, standing up. "Right now we should be asking what he's going to do next."
"Sometimes he moves in broad daylight whenever there's a crime at that time, but he mostly operates at night. He'll most likely be laying low, waiting for the next criminal to attack. Once he strikes we'll have to get there before he kills or maims them and apprehend him." replied Batman.
"Do you think we're just overlooking the facts?" Wonder Woman asked, having been quiet during the whole meeting. "People are calling him a hero for going this mile to protect them."
"That still doesn't excuse him of committing murder." Batman said sternly. "How long until he focuses on random civilians once he runs out of criminals to satisfy his hunger?"
"Okay, I know we're not supposed to be picking sides right now, but isn't that a bit crazy?" Green Arrow spoke up. "You all saw those videos, right? I know Barry said nobody's supposed to be enjoying having a body-hopping alien attached to them, but this guy's going out of his way to make sure people aren't dragged into any his hunts."
"Are you defending what he does?" Superman interrupted him with a glare.
"I'm just saying! What if he doesn't want us trespassing on his turf just like how Bats here doesn't like any other cape walking into his city?" he paused as he stared at the Dark Knight. "No offense."
Glaring at the unintended insult, Batman continued, "I have a feeling this man may be our only link to Venom." Typing on a few more keys, he pulled up an image of a black-haired man with a stubble.
"Eddie Brock?" the Flash asked. "What does he have to do with all of this?"
"Seven months ago, he was supposed to interview Drake on the next shuttle launch, but instead he went off script and accused Drake of illegal experimentations, which resulted in him getting fired and his show being pulled off the air. But six months later, and just last month, he was able to leak the evidence of the Life Foundation's crimes and get his job back around the same time Venom appears, and writes down stories of Venom's activities right after he strikes instead of airing them on his show." Batman explained, pulling up several articles on Venom, one being titled "San Francisco's Lethal Protector!", which explained how Venom earned the title after dismantling a sex trafficking ring and saving the captive women… right after eating several of the traffickers and leaving the surviving few permanently crippled and traumatized enough to stay in San Quentin just to be safe.
That particular incident drew some grim satisfaction from Diana; enslavement of women were part of the reasons most of her sisters were distrustful towards men, and why they shut themselves off from the rest of the world. Even though she knew there were at least some good men in the world, she also knew there were those would exploit and sell innocent young people for the sake of profit and fame, and thus she felt that such men deserved worse punishments that not even their ill-gotten money could save them from.
"What else makes you think they might be connected?" Black Canary asked.
Pulling up more footage of Venom in action, one in particular showing the Lethal Protector whaling on an army of heavily armed SWAT officers, Batman replied, "There had been a disturbance at the lobby of the MNBN news station where Brock works at, with several SWAT officers scattered all over the place in critical condition, no doubt caused by Venom as you can see here, and I could only assume that they were on Drake's payroll. The next day after Drake's shuttle was destroyed, the station leaked the Life Foundation's secret experiments to the public and credited Brock for the company's exposure. Since the pictures were taken from inside the facility, and were turned in to his workplace, then Brock may be our top suspect."
"And how do you know that?" Wonder Woman asked heatedly. "You think just because they were both at the same place makes them the same person? There's no proof that Brock is Venom, and there's no way he would be willing to give him away. And in case you forgot, you just said nobody has condemned Venom for what he's done to those who they felt deserved their deaths."
"I meant it was a possibility, and just because Venom has people rooting for him doesn't mean he's free to eat whoever committed a crime." Batman said with a glare, which Diana returned with her own, which was just as fierce.
"Okay, we get it." Green Arrow interrupted before things could get heated. "Look, Diana has a point. We don't know if Brock is Venom or not, and we don't know if he'll be willing to cooperate, but we need time to look into this. We can't just jump in without any proof. One wrong move and we'll be having the people breathing down our necks."
Batman responded with a glare, which softened as he conceded with Oliver's words. Diana's glare also softened, though she still glared at the Dark Knight.
Superman stood up. "We should probably head for San Francisco right now. Just make sure you keep your eyes and ears open. If any of you find Brock, tell him that we need information on Venom. If you run into Venom, call for backup immediately."
Present
"Listen, if none of you want him in either of your cities, then at least give him a chance to explain himself and he'll probably go back to the Bay Area. Maybe he'll let us come back as well to check out the Golden Gate Bridge." the Flash suggested to Batman and Superman, which broke Diana out of her thoughts.
"He won't be happy if he sees the rest of us. And the people made it clear they don't want us stepping even one foot onto their city even if Venom let us." Green Lantern spoke up. "Still, we have to be subtle. We can't risk angering more people who are rooting for this guy."
"Public support or no, Venom still has to be brought in." Superman said sternly.
"And what? Make more people lose trust in us like in San Francisco?" Diana finally spoke. "You remember what happened last time. He's practically untouchable."
"Only when he's in San Francisco. There might be a chance we can stop him before he heads back." Batman suggested, making Wonder Woman silently grunt at such stubbornness.
Superman sighed as he realized they weren't getting anywhere at the moment. "That concludes the meeting until we have a solid strategy. Since Venom may be sighted in either Gotham or Metropolis, then me and Batman are going to have to work double time. If either of us runs into Venom, we'll call for backup. There's no telling what he'll do next."
Metropolis
Eddie dropped his duffel bag onto the table with a heavy thud as he jumped onto the couch next to the window.
'Think he gave up?' Venom asked.
"For now." Eddie said as he looked out the window, overseeing the busy streets and the skies, seeing no sign of Superman. "At least that stroll took our mind off of him."
Eddie and Venom had spent the better half of the day checking out Metropolis; Eddie having conversations with a few locals, some of whom recognize him, taking pictures of the city to send to Anne and Dan, and grabbing some food to stock up for where he and Venom will be staying. Now here they were, in a fancy new apartment that was surprisingly organized than the one they set up shop in Gotham. Too bad they only had a few hours before they had to move elsewhere.
'Where do we hit next? Star City? Central? Blüdhaven?' Venom suggested.
"How 'bout we just stick to Gotham and Metropolis? We still gotta get the word out that we're not just making San Francisco our hunting ground. Speaking of which…" Eddie grabbed the remote and turned on the TV, and as expected, the news was on, with Lois Lane standing in front of the bank, facing the camera as she gave her report.
"Just an hour ago, Venom, the Lethal Protector of San Francisco, had unexpectedly made his appearance in Metropolis known by foiling a robbery here at the City Bank, just after killing two men wanted for a string of rapes and murders in Gotham last night. None of the suspects behind the robbery were killed, which is unusual for a violent vigilante such as Venom, but are in need of intensive care, while the hostages were unharmed and allowed to walk home safely. Our city's Man of Steel, Superman, arrived late to the fiasco, and was seemingly none to pleased to see Venom. Apparently since the incident in San Francisco, in which the Justice League's attempt to apprehend Venom resulted in backlash from the populace, tensions are still high between the Lethal Protector and the League. Before departing, Venom had stated his intention to hunt more violent criminals, as you can tell from this shortened recording taken earlier."
'Only those who murder, rape, or torture innocent people for their own pleasure and get away with it deserve death, but the Justice League are too blinded by their own egos to give the people what they want. If they don't have the guts or balls to do it… then we will.'
"It looks like Venom is truly putting the word out, and this statement might also send the criminal underworld in a panic now that the Lethal Protector is here. Which now begs the question: Will he garner support from other police forces outside of San Francisco, or will he be wanted by the law?"
Eddie turned the TV to some other channel with a smirk, clearly satisfied with his and Venom's latest venture, before his phone rang in his pocket. Seeing Anne's name on the caller ID, he answered before turning on the speaker.
"Got the news? How'd we do?" Eddie asked expectantly.
"Low profile. That's all we asked for." Anne said amusingly. "Looks like you can't go one day without being on TV."
"Had to do a good deed for the day." Eddie joked.
"Still, glad you stuck it to the Man of Steel again." Dan added. "Though a lot of people aren't gonna be happy with what your friend just said, because, y'know, they're still probably on the League's side of things."
"At least we made a statement." Eddie muttered, with Venom growling in agreement; as far as they're concerned, public opinion didn't matter to them, only the safety of innocents by any means necessary.
"I'm just saying, Venom being out of San Francisco is the excuse they need to arrest him, and if they find out about your secret, we don't know what they'll do." Dan continued with more concern.
"Let 'em try. Not that it'll make their image any better." Eddie challenged with a smirk.
"Still, you might wanna hurry up with whatever you guys are gonna do before they catch you." Anne said worryingly. "Plus your fanbase is starting to miss you guys already."
"As much as we like to tend to our adoring public, we still got a job to do." Eddie said, this time with seriousness. "First we're gonna take a break, grab a bite for both of us, if you know what we mean, head back to Gotham, maybe kill the Joker and all the other psychos, and then we'll run back to San Francisco before you know it. Peace out."
With that, he hung up and leaned back into the couch with a heavy sigh.
'Do we really have to go back to Gotham? This place looks better than the dump we slept in yesterday.' Venom complained.
"Hey, you were the one who said we needed fresh air." Eddie scolded his other playfully. "Now that we put the word out throughout Gotham and Metropolis, I'm betting the scum will be hiding from us for the rest of the day. Still, hope this city has better surprises than Gotham."
And another chapter done! Sorry for the delay, and also because you didn't see any action in this one, but there will be some in future chapters. Plus, I received my second vaccination two days ago, and I have only one week of school left, and I'm still struggling with my grades and finding classes.
Anyway, this was mostly a flashback chapter that showcases the buildup to the San Francisco incident, with the JL learning a bit of Venom's origin and the connection between him and Eddie before heading off to the Bay Area, and soon you'll get another flashback that shows the initial confrontation between Venom and the JL and the immediate aftermath. This is just to fill you guys with some dread on the Justice League's next confrontation with Venom in the future, and you'll notice Wonder Woman being doubtful about the way the League thinks about him.
You'll also notice that I added hints of Green Arrow's backstory from Arrow, having killed during his first run as the Hood before deciding to use lethal force as a last resort only, and like Diana he'll be one of the few "heroes" who finds Venom's methods understandable. Huntress will come soon to give her thoughts on Venom, maybe even defect and join him.
Lastly, you see how it's mentioned in the flashback that Eddie's posting stories on Venom's activities rather than airing them on his show since he said that he'll focus on a written word at the end of the movie, like how Peter Parker takes pictures of his own alter-ego, Spider-Man. Better hope it doesn't get him into deep shit with the JL when they investigate him.
Like my first attempt, we'll see Eddie's date with a certain Amazonian princess, with a few new changes of course, in the next chapter. Stay tuned!