Hello and welcome to chapter 5 and the long awaited moment many of you have been waiting for. Last time, Flash and his platoon were sent into Vietnam and successfully rescued Sha Shan and Achmed from the forces of Hydra. However as characters, and I'm sure some of you, seemed to notice, the victory was too easy. I'm sure it's no secret to many of you, but their opponents let them win in order to gain access to the Venom Symbiote. Now we will get to see Project Reibrith 2.0 go through with it's process. Flash will dawn the Venom Symbiote for the first time as a soldier and we'll see how the "spy's" plan will be put into motion.
Author's Note: I may have taken some creative liberties with the source material, but to all Marvel fans reading this, I hope that I did my best to writing plot for this chapter in a way that would satisfy all of you.
Chapter 5: Project Rebirth 2.0
It was now Tuesday May 7th, 2002, two weeks after the Flash Thompson's platoon went off on their first mission and nearly 8 months since 9/11. At present, Flash was in a recovery room reading a newspaper article from the Daily Bugle. His legs had been covered in casts, still recovering from being shot by one of the Hydra Agents during the mission. He had been told by the medics that the damage wasn't too serious but he had to rest for at least three weeks before getting back on his feet.
Flash hated not being able to do anything while his fellow soldiers were still free to move about. He joined the military in hopes of making a difference, but being stuck in a hospital room was not what he had in mind. On the other hand, he knew that if he hadn't knocked Andi, Santos and Sergeant Henrikson to the ground, they could have died and he could have gotten away with his legs intact. But he knew that Spider-Man would never save himself, and neither did he.
Just then a certain general had entered his room. "Eugene Thompson."
"Yeah," Flash responded.
"General Fazekas," the general identified himself. "You got a minute or ten for me?"
"Well, you're interrupting my Daily Bugle time, but sure," Flash answered. "Other than Andi, Santos, Sha Shan, and Duncan, I don't get too many visitors. Especially those with four stars."
"You mind if I sit down," said General Fazekas.
"Only if you don't mind if I can't stand up," Flash replied.
"At least your sense of humor remains uninjured, Thompson," said the general as he sat down.
"And you can call me Flash," Flash told his superior. "Everybody does."
"Flash," the general corrected himself. "What earned you that name?"
"High School Football," Flash explained.
"That so," said the general. "You play college ball, too?"
"Yep," Flash answered. "Full Ride to Empire State until I dropped out."
"Which would be when 9/11 happened last year," General Fazekas acknowledged. "You volunteered, in fact, to take part in Project Rebirth 2.0 along with the rest of your platoon."
"I wouldn't really say volunteered, sir," Flash answered. "Commander Hill chose us to take part in the project."
"But she also gave you the option of backing out," General Fazekas reminded him. "And yet, you didn't."
"Well when you put it that way," Flash acknowledged.
The General then read his file. "During the 9/11 event, you fought with Spider-Man against Eddie Brock, aka Venom, yadda, yadda, yadda… Then you bonded with the Venom Symbiote, yadda, yadda, yadda, and saved a mother and her child from being crushed by the debris when the south tower collapsed, am I right?"
"If the file says so," Flash answered.
"The file says so," the general confirmed. "And I'll tell what else it says. It says I'm supposed to interview you and everyone else in your platoon to see if you're still qualified to take part in Project Rebirth 2.0. Mind if I ask you a few questions?"
"Sir, I ain't going anywhere," said Flash. "You can ask me more than a few."
"Yeah, I figured that'd be your reaction," said General Fazekas. "Y'know, we've already interviewed everyone else in your platoon and it would seem that most of them didn't qualify for the first test subject, and one of them was Mathews."
"I'll be he didn't take that too well," Flash laughed a bit.
"No he didn't," the general confirmed, remaining serious. "Ironically, only a select few of them qualified and those were Santos, Benton, Henrikson, Robertson, and Diego. However, we're still keeping an eye out for the spy. Now you grow up in Queens, New York, right?"
"Yes sir," said Flash. "Forest Hills, 11375."
"Your father was a policeman I see," said the general. "I heard he fell victim to the mysterious Jack'O Lantern some time ago. I suppose you grew up following his example."
Flash shook his head. "Not really, no. There was another reason—forget it. It's stupid."
"Spider-Man isn't stupid," said the general.
Flash was surprised, "How did you…"
"In high school, you started a Spider-Man fan club," the general interrupted. "The first of only three in the whole country, in fact."
"Um, who told," Flash started before being interrupted again.
"It's on your FBI file," said the general.
Flash was confused. "I have an FBI file?"
"Son, you started a club celebrating the exploits of, at best, a masked vigilante and, at worst, a super-powered menace to law and order," said the general. "Of course the FBI opened a file. You mind if I ask where your fascination with Spider-Man came from?"
"Does it have anything to do with Rebirth 2.0," Flash questioned.
"I guess it could if you put it that way," said the general. "But truth be told, I'm just curious."
After taking a deep breath, Flash explained, "Spidey—er, Spider-Man, he's misunderstood. Nobody appreciates him for what he is, but he just keeps going. No matter what happens to him, no matter who's doing it to him, he just keeps going."
"Well, look at that, turns out it does have something to do with the project after all," said the general.
"Not sure I follow you, sir," said Flash.
"Well, I'm trying to figure out why you did that thing you did," said the general.
"That thing," Flash asked.
"You didn't think we were considering having anyone participate in the project, did you," said the general.
Flash finally caught on to what the general was trying to do and said, "Is this some sort of test, sir?"
"In a way," said the general. "As you may know, the Venom Symbiote is dangerous to anyone who bonds with it and those around the host. Even your favorite superhero, Spider-Man, turned really violent when he wore the Symbiote, and you know what it turned former reporter, Eddie Brock, into. Not to mention what happened with Cletus Cassidy and the whole Carnage situation."
"I think everyone growing up in New York knows about all of that by now, sir," said Flash.
"And yet when the Venom Symbiote bonded with you, you somehow did not go on a violent rampage, even with Spider-Man right next to you," said General Fazekas. "How did that happen?"
"I honestly don't know, sir," Flash sighed. "I'm not a science major, but it's possible that the Symbiote was simply looking for a perfect host. Or maybe since it was exposed to the loud sounds of the fire alarms in the South Tower, which I set off by the way, it was too weak to act that way. It could even be that the Symbiote was more concerned about protecting itself as the building collapsed. Either way, it's safe to assume that there's more to the Venom Symbiote than just violent outbreaks."
"Indeed," said General Fazekas. "And it's because of that that Project Rebirth 2.0 was born. If the Venom does have the potential of being more than a violent life form, that people could control it, then perhaps we could put it to good use."
"I'm not sure making it into a weapon for war qualifies as "good use", sire," Flash pointed out.
"Maybe not," General Fazekas acknowledged. "But it's a start. To quote Abraham Erskine, the scientist behind the original Project Rebirth, good becomes great, but bad becomes worse."
Meanwhile, the others were waiting for the results from General Fazekas. Andi and Sha Shan in particular seemed to worry about Flash more than everyone else did.
"Do you think he'll be alright," said Andi.
"Andi, this is the 2
"You've already asked that o times," Duncan pointed out.
"Yeah, girl," said Patricia. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you were in love with Thompson."
"It's not that," Andi denied.
"She's not the only one anxious about Thompson's results," Sha Shan admitted. "I owe him for helping out in our rescue."
"I'm still confused as to why you and your partner chose to stay there and wait to be rescued when you could have escaped yourselves," said Santos.
"Yeah, why didn't you two escape," Patricia questioned.
"All I can tell you is that we found out that Hydra is up to something," Sha Shan answered. "For security reasons, I can't give you any details."
Before anyone could question her any further, General Fazekas came out of Flash's recovery room, having finished interviewing him. Out of respect, the young soldiers all stood in attention and saluted the superior officer.
"Pardon me, General, but how is Thompson doing," said Duncan.
"Thompson is doing well, Mathews," said General Fazekas, telling the young soldiers all they needed to know.
"Thank you, General," said Sha Shan, preventing anyone from asking the general anymore questions.
General Fazekas then walked off with what he had learned, leaving the young soldiers to all point their attention towards Sha Shan.
"Alight, spill it," said Andi. "What's going on here? The General interviewed all of us accept for you and your partner. I know we rescued you two from Hydra, but like Santos and my friend, Patricia said, why all of this secrecy? It seems like the general is suspicious of us and none of us know why?"
"We didn't say anything like that," Patricia pointed out.
"Well, do you recall how easy it was for all of you to dispatch of the Hydra goons back there," Sha Shan questioned, realizing that they all deserve to know what was going on.
"Well, yeah, why," Duncan asked.
"Come to think of it, that victory was a little too easy," said Santos, realizing something he didn't think of before. "We dispatched with agents from one of the world's most notorious terrorist organizations, but suffered no casualties."
"Yeah, you're right," Patricia agreed. "But what does that have to do with what's going on right now?"
Sha Shan looked around her surroundings before turning her attention back to the soldiers and told them, "Well, you didn't hear this from me, but Achmed and I overheard a conversation by our captors and we have reason to believe that one of your fellow soldiers from your platoon is a Hydra spy."
The soldiers were all shocked upon hearing this.
"And that's not all," said Sha Shan. "We believe that this spy is after the Venom symbiote and is laying low until he or she knows where it is, and when he or she does, that spy will attempt to steal it, so Hydra could use it for their own purposes."
"And you don't know who this spy is," Santos questioned.
"If we did, we would have taken it out by now," Sha Shan pointed out.
"Well, what about you," Andi scuffed. "How do we know, you're not the spy?"
"Congratulations, Private Benton," said Sha Shan. "You have finally asked a relevant question, and the answer is… you don't.
All the soldiers were stumped.
Meanwhile, Commander Hill and Sergeant Henrikson were waiting for the general to return with the results. The moment the general entered the room, they did not hesitate to ask.
"What did you find out, sir," said Maria.
"It would seem that all of the soldiers seem to have good intentions and are willing to go through with Project Rebirth 2.0," said General Fazekas. "However, there is one in particular who seemed to be hesitant at answering the questions I asked at first, private Diego."
"Her, sir," said Sergeant Henrikson. "Do you believe she's the spy we've been looking for?"
"I've got no real evidence for that," said the general. "But still, for all we know, some of the other soldiers could just be playing dumb, or perhaps Ms. Nguyen and Mr. Korba are the spies and told us about spies being in this platoon to throw us off."
"Well either way, sir, it's safe to assume that Hydra has put us into a real predicament with this," said Maria. "Still, I believe it is best that we just play along and go ahead with the project, let them think they've got us."
"Indeed, Commander Hill," said General Fazekas.
"General, I have a request to make," said Sergeant Henrikson.
At the same time, Donna was radioing her fellow agents about the situation.
"Status report," said Carlton.
"It appears that the platoon seems to know that there's a spy among their ranks," Donna explained. "Evidentially, Sha Shan and Achmed overheard our last conversation."
"Do they know it's you," said Carlton.
"Not at present," said Donna. "And it would be preferable that that remains so."
"But they'll find out eventually," said Carlton. "Continue to lay low until the time is right. Once you've located the Venom symbiote, steal it from them by any means necessary."
"Yes sir," said Donna. "Over and out…"
Three weeks later on May 28th, Flash was discharged from the hospital, but needed to regain his footing. At present, he was undergoing physical therapy, using parallel bars to help him get back to walking again. By his side was Maria Hill, who wasn't holding back in giving him tough love in order to help him walk again.
"Stand up, Thompson," ordered Maria.
Flash did as he was told and got up out of a wheelchair he was using until he could walk again.
"Good, now try to walk from one end of these bars to the other," Maria ordered.
Flash did as he was told and attempted to walk across the bars, from one end all the way to the other. However, he found it a bit difficult to walk across at first, finding his legs to be stiff and sour and needing to hold onto the bars most of the time. Once he reached the other side, he stood there for a few minutes to give his legs time to rest.
"Good work," said Maria. "Now try walking back, the same way!"
Again, Flash did as he was told, though he found walking back a little more difficult than walking across the bars in the first place. This caused him to pause for a minute.
"Do I start again, Commander," said Flash.
"Whenever you're ready," Maria told him.
"Oh please," said Flash. "The Flash was born ready…"
But as Flash tried to move, he found himself starting to stumble a bit. "Okay… how tough could this… be…!"
Flash fell to the floor, his legs no longer able to handle the strain. The moment this happened, Andi and Sha Shan, who had been watching from outside, ran into room, concerned for Flash's wellbeing.
"Flash, are you alright," Andi asked.
"I'm fine," Flash tried to deny his predicament.
"It's alright, Thompson," said Maria. "We all stumble before we walk."
"What am I, a two year old," Flash grumbled. "Face it, I can't do this."
"Can't," Andi questioned. "The Flash Thompson I trained with doesn't know the meaning of the word… of a lot of words actually."
"So funny, Andi," said Flash.
"Come on, Thompson," said Sha Shan. "You can do better than that. Put some weight into those legs, now."
"Yes Ma'am," Flash got back up and started walking across again and was successful in reaching his wheelchair.
However, when he got to it, he dropped his butt back onto it as if he had just tripped, and he, Andi and Sha Shan laughed.
"Alright, that's enough," said Maria. "Thompson, you obviously have a ways to go before you're fully capable of walking again, let alone running. Now, get some rest. You will try again tomorrow, but try to minimize using the rails as much as possible."
"Yes, Ma'am," Flash saluted.
Meanwhile, Sergeant Cal Henrikson was at Project: Rebirth HQ. Out of a request made to Generals Fazekas and Dodge, Cal was brought up to the base in order to test out the use of the Venom Symbiote. He wanted to make sure that none of the soldiers he trained had to suffer from whatever dangers the project would present.
"Are you sure you want to go through with this, Sergeant Henrikson," said Captain Glover. "We don't know what this will do to you."
"Yes, Captain," said Sergeant Henrikson. "I've trained all the recruits who volunteered to go through with this project. If anyone should be the first test subject for this project, it shouldn't be one of them. In case something goes wrong, we need to know before any of them take part in this. I'd rather not let our young soldiers throw their lives away on an untested project."
"Very well, Sergeant," said Captain Glover. "But know this. If something goes wrong, I won't hesitate to nuke your brain, if it ever comes down to it."
"I understand captain," said Sergeant Henrikson as he prepared to bond with the Venom Symbiote.
Dr. MacKenzie injected Sergeant Henrikson with the drug he developed, hoping that the drug would make the symbiote more susceptible to its host. Henrikson took the injections like a man and moments later, Dr. MacKenzie released the Venom Symbiote and it immediately attached itself to the Sergeant. Within moments, the symbiote surrounded him in the form of a suit similar to how it did with Eddie Brock and everyone else stood back, waiting to see what would happen next. Several soldiers stood by, surrounding the sergeant to test out whether the test was a success or a failure.
"Sergeant Henrikson," said Captain Glover. "Can you hear me?"
There was a moment of silence.
Moments later, the host started reacting. The Venom Symbiote lashed out at the soldiers surrounding him in a way similar to Eddie Brock. He attacked the soldiers, morphing his arms into tendrils and strangling them with them. The soldiers tried to gun him down, but the symbiote caught each and every one of said bullets.
"Henrikson," called out the captain. "You have to control the Symbiote! That's an order, soldier…!"
Upon hearing his superior officer ordering him to stop, Cal released his fellow soldiers as he fought to gain control. The others watched as Cal fought for control, the drug helping him to do so. But after a few minutes of struggling, Venom took full control and prepared to attack once again.
"Cal, can you hear me," said Katherine.
But Venom looked at the captain and told her, "Cal can't here you anymore."
Realizing that she needed to act fast, Katherine activated the device and nuked Sergeant Henrikson's head, killing him in the process. In the confusion, the soldiers managed to recapture the symbiote while it was distracted and placed it back into the tube in which it was in.
"Our first test was a failure," said Dr. Mackenzie.
"Yes, but it would seem we learned just how effective the drug was on the Venom Symbiote," said General Fazekas. "We'll need to make the drug more potent in order to keep the Symbiote in check, as to not allow it to consume whomever bonds with it."
"More potent," said Captain Glover. "Sir, this project is dangerous! The Venom Symbiote is dangerous! If we make the drug more potent, it could prove fatal to whomever we give it to!"
"Don't be a coward," said the general. "In the words of Norman Osborn, risks are part of laboratory science."
"Osborn," Katherine gasped. "Sir, that man experimented on himself and look what happened to him! He became the Green Fucking Goblin!"
"At least he wasn't afraid to take risks," the general pointed out. "Don't forget, all of the young soldiers who volunteered to participate in the project all knew what the risks were when they volunteered. I doubt they would want their Drill Sergeant's sacrifice to be in vain."
"I doubt they would want to even participate after hearing what will happened to their Drill Sergeant," Katherine pointed out.
"Which is why we will let them decide on whether they want to continue or not," said the general.
Over the course of the next week or two, Flash Thompson continued to go through physical therapy, using the parallel bars to help him walk again. Little by little, he got better and better, regaining his ability to walk. With Maria imposing tough love and Andi and Sha Shan being more supportive when he needed it, Flash was eventually able to fully walk again, and just in time as his platoon was transported to Project: Rebirth HQ. The veteran soldiers were keeping an eye on the newbies, still warry of the so-called spy, and Sha Shan and Achmed accompanied them, just in case.
Once they reached the headquarters, everyone was escorted out of the vehicle and into the laboratory where Captain Glover, General Fazekas, and Dr. Mackenzie were waiting for them. While being escorted, the soldiers couldn't help but wonder where Sergeant Henrikson was, as they didn't see him when they got into the vehicles.
"Welcome soldiers to Project Rebirth HQ," said General Fazekas. "As you know, you are all here to take part in Project Rebirth 2.0 where you will bond with the Venom Symbiote and become the next super soldier after Captain America. But sad thing is, some of you, if not most of you will not survive the process."
"Pardon me, General," Patricia raised her hand.
"Yes, Private Robertson," said the general.
"Where is Sergeant Henrikson, sir," said Patricia. "None of us saw him when we got onto the vehicles, or for the past week or two for that matter."
General Fazekas took a deep breath before telling them, "Sergeant Henrikson will not be joining you in this experiment. He came here when Private Thompson was discharged from the hospital and participated early. Unfortunately, he did not survive the process."
All of the soldiers gasped.
"As I mentioned, some of you, if not most of you will not survive the project, so if any of you wish to back out, please speak out now," said the General, getting right to the point. "Please know that this is your last chance to back out."
With that, the soldiers all had mixed reactions, wondering what to do. This went on for a few minutes until Flash came out and spoke.
"I'm in," said Flash. "I can't speak for my fellow soldiers, but I'm still going through with this, sir."
"I concur," said Donna.
"Like hell I'm letting Thompson have all the fun," said Duncan.
"I also concur, sir," said Andi.
One by one, several more soldiers agreed to go through with the project, but others decided to back out while they could. The only ones who did not agree to participate or backout were Sha Shan and Achmed, though their reasons were obvious. Once all the "wimps" were weeded out, the remaining soldiers continued on into the lab for the project.
Inside, the remaining soldiers witnessed the Venom Symbiote lashing about inside a containment tube. What also caught their attention was the several other symbiotes inside several other containment tubes. It was only now that the soldiers realized how far the military were willing to go to create the new super soldier.
With this in mind, Flash was the first to step up as he got into a restraint table that would keep him bound while the symbiote bonded to him. Dr. MacKenzie injected Private Thompson with the drug he developed, having been improved since the failure with Henrikson. After doing so, the Venom Symbiote was released once again and it immediately attached itself to Flash, surrounding him in a suit that was more or less different from Brock and Henrikson's and more or less similar to the suit he dawned during the terrorist attacks.
Once again, several soldiers stood by, surrounding lash to test out whether the test was a success or a failure. After the incident with Sergeant Henrikson, they were hoping that the test was a success this time, not wanting to lose another soldier from this. Andi and Sha Shan were both hoping that Flash was alright while Duncan was conflicted on how he would react to the results. On the one hand, he was hoping that it was a failure just so he could show that he was better than Flash, but on the other hand, he was hoping that the test was a success because the Venom Symbiote terrified him, far more so than the Mutants he used to go to school with.
While that was going on, Donna prepared something.
"Thompson," said Captain Glover. "Can you hear me?"
There was a moment of silence.
Moments later, the host started reacting.
"Yes, Ma'am, I can hear you," said Flash, confirming that this time, the project was a success.
Andi and Sha Shan were relieved while Duncan had mixed feelings. Again, on the one hand, he was relieved that the attempt was a success, but on the other hand, he was disappointed that Flash seemingly succeeded in bonding with the symbiote. Donna seemed pleased, but a little skeptical for reasons that were about to be revealed.
"Good work, Thompson," said General Fazekas. "However, now's no time to relax. We still need to see how well you can control it in action."
"Yes, sir," said Flash.
Out in the mountains, a mysterious figure was flying through the clouds, making its way to somewhere in particular.
At Project: Rebirth HQ, Flash was going through an obstacle course, testing out all he could do with the Venom Symbiote. But this was mostly to see how well he could control the symbiote, just in case the initial crash bonding failed. They had him crawl up walls, shoot webs, test his enhanced strength, speed and agility, and shape-shift his hands, arms, feet, and legs into just about anything.
"Amazing," Flash exclaimed. "This is everything I ever dreamed it would be…!"
"Yeah, very nice," said Andi.
"Check it out you guys," said Flash to his fellow soldiers. "I'm Spider-Man!"
"Wrong, Thompson," said Maria, letting herself be known. "You're Venom."
"Wait, what," said Flash, feeling a bit disappointed. "Commander, what are you doing here, and why can't I be Spider-Man?"
"You know, that's a good question," said Andi. "There are two Hulks, two Captain Americas, and who knows how many Novas there are out there. So why can't there be two Spider-Men?"
"Because you'll be facing off against terrorists such as Hydra," Maria explained. "We've done psyche profiles and terrorists are not afraid of Spider-Man. They know he doesn't kill. Venom however will kill you, eat you, and come back for seconds."
Before Maria could continue, there was a loud explosion from the outside. Taking advantage of the situation, Donna made her way back to the lab and nabbed the other symbiotes, all contained in large beakers. Realizing the situation, the soldiers all rushed in to try and stop her, but Donna shot down Dr. MacKenzie, or at least she thought she did. In reality, Achmed pushed the doctor out of the way and took the shots instead. Donna fled the lab, but not before taking a few shots from Achmed in retaliation, leaving her wounded as she made her escape through a hole created by the explosion.
"Achmed," Sha Shan screamed as she ran to her partner.
"Well at least we know who the spy is," said Andi.
"I'm going after Donna," said Flash as he made his way through the hole and ran after Donna.
"Get a medical team here, immediately," ordered Captain Glover.
While a medical team was making its way into the room, Andi looked around and noticed something peculiar lying on the ground. It was a vile which seemed like it contained one of the venom clones.
"Donna must have dropped this when Achmed shot her," Andi mentally reasoned. "I'm amazed it didn't break when she dropped it."
"Doctor, I found one of the symbiote clones," Andi called out to Dr. MacKenzie.
Outside, Donna was running as fast as she could to escape with the symbiote clones she collected from the lab. On her tail was Flash Thompson, still wearing the Venom Symbiote, swinging from tree to tree similar in manner to Tarzan or Spider-Man. While a little knew to the process, Flash was quick to get used to the sensation, having been a fan of Spider-Man for a long time.
"Hold it right there, Donna," Flash called out.
But Donna continued to run, not relenting on surrendering the symbiotes she collected after months of waiting. However, amid the chaos, Flash had forgotten to bring his M16 rifle, and it only got worse as he was attacked by a mysterious figure riding what he could only identify as a living Jack-O-Lantern riding a broomstick.
"What the hell," Flash gasped as he noticed this figure.
The Jack O'Lantern then threw a pumpkin grenade at the new super soldier, forcing him to evade the attack and allowing Donna to escape. While Flash wasn't injured, the Venom Symbiote was forced to retreated from the heat of the explosion, leaving Flash defenseless.
"Who the hell are you," Flash asked.
"I am Jack O'Lantern," said the figure. "And I assure you, we will meet again."
Jack O'Lantern then flew off as a helicopter picked up Donna before leaving the area as well. Flash wanted to shoot it down, but he lacked the means to do so, and it was too far for him to shoot his webs at. Not to mention that Jack O'Lantern's pumpkin grenade had forced the Venom Symbiote to retreat. He could only watch as the chopper flew away with Donna and the symbiotes while shouting, "HAIL HYDRA…!"
"Damn it," Flash punched the ground with his fist in frustration.
Back at the base, medics were working hard to save Achmed as Dr. Mackenzie retrieved the symbiote from Andi. This whole experience shook the division up. They believed that they had everything under control, but in reality, they didn't.
"Is he going to be okay," said Sha Shan out of worry.
"We don't know yet," said one of the medics. "We'll do everything we can to save him, but no promises."
Sha Shan nodded her head, understanding the position that they were in as the medics took Achmed away.
Moments later, Flash returned with his report.
"Thompson, what happened," said Maria.
"Donna got away with the symbiotes, Commander," said Flash, feeling frustrated with himself. "Apparently, an individual known as Jack O'Lantern was the one who bombed the base and he caught me off guard. Because of that, Donna was able to escape on a Hydra helicopter."
"I've heard of Jack O'Lantern," said Maria. "He's that new villain who's been killing a lot of people in Manhattan, going as far as to carve open his victims' skulls, scooping out what's inside, and placing a candle in them to make them look like a Jack-o-Lantern."
"Please, Commander, don't gross us out," said Andi.
"Needless to say, Donna was well prepared for this," said Katherine. "And now, Hydra has the rest of the symbiotes."
"Not all of them, Captain," said Dr. MacKenzie showing everyone the vile Andi had found. "Apparently, Donna dropped this when Achmed shot her. I can't take the credit for finding this though, that goes to Private Benton here."
"Just doing my part," said Andi.
A while later at the Hydra base, Donna had returned with the symbiotes, minus the one she dropped during her escape. Greeting her were her fellow members of the Life Foundation, Carlton, Leslie, Ramon, Carl, Trevor, and Roland. Also arriving on the scene was Viper, who seemed pleased with Donna's work.
"How was your mission," said Viper.
"I wasn't able to retrieve the original symbiote, but I managed to obtain these clones the project evidentially spawned," Donna handed over the vials she retrieved.
Viper took the vials and saw what was inside. "I see… Your mission was to retrieve the original, but these will have to do. I'll have to get Crossbones and get him retrieve the Venom Symbiote."
"What about Jack O'Lantern," Carlton questioned.
"He's a loose cannon," said Viper. "However, there is a man I need him to retrieve, someone who could help in controlling the symbiotes, a man named Dr. Ferid Ekmecic."
And that was chapter 5. Again, I may have taken some creative liberties, but I hope I managed to adapt the story line of Amazing Spider-Man issue 654 in a way that satisfies all those who have read the comics. So yeah, Flash didn't lose his legs as he did in the comics, specifically Amazing Spider-Man issue 574, but here, I felt that it simply wasn't needed. As Watch Mojo often said, with most comic book characters, there are often reimaginings and different versions to a character's past. But if you want to know the real reason I didn't have Flash lose his legs in this, come back and read Horyus: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. chapter 7 when it comes out.
As for Donna, I'm sure it was no surprise that she was the spy since I made that obvious from day one. Now as you can see, she shot Achmed and was able to escape with all but one of the symbiote clones created by the Project Rebirth 2.0 and Andi was the one who found the last symbiote clone. I'm sure a lot of you will pick up on that hint there. On top of that, Flash Thompson has become Agent Venom and has had his first encounter with Jack O'Lantern, and it won't be the last.
Now the next chapter will have Flash go on his first mission as Agent Venom. But first, I'll be working on chapter 3 of The Slayer's Weird Backup, chapter 3 of Bastet, chapter 19 of Digimon Adventure: Six Paths, and perhaps work on the backstory of Three Heralds and chapter 7 of Horyus: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Until then, stay tuned.
Chapter 6: Dr. Ferid Ekmecic