New chapter out, and a few things I want to mention, so I guess you all know this by now, but Venom's story isn't quite the same as the canon and other variations. He was picked up by Oscorp shortly after Harry's medically induced coma. He was tested on — drugs, forced bonding, and what made it react (pain or otherwise) — and it drove the symbiote insane with pain, fear, and rage. He hasn't taken on any of Harry's personality attributes due to the fact that Harry was completely unconscious.
Now, a symbiote codex.
Back to my reading of the "back in black storyline", creation of Anti-Venom, the death of Flash Thompson, and The Maker to base my opinions of the symbiote Codex and what it means. To me, the codex latently helps the body, not quite as much a full-fledged symbiote but does help (based on how Eddie was still holding on to his life despite his advanced stage of cancer and how he had given away Venom by that time and only latent bits of the symbiote drifted in his system).
P.S. All credit to respective owners!
P.P.S. Reviews are loved.
-Y.A.R.N.
Peter felt like pulling out his hair when he read that Spidercide's van was robbed of said villain and left in the middle of the street on its side.
His day had been pretty standard so far, go to Horizon Labs, get some work done to make sure he kept earning his paycheck. Peter also included putting some finishing touches on a suit he had made for Miles that Peter hoped that would help Miles fight future battles. He knew Miles would be happy with his current suit — symbiote or no — but it never hurt to have an ace in the hole. Considering he had to make the anti-ock suit for Otto since he couldn't cut it with only his natural abilities, Peter wanted Miles to be able to cover all of his bases. After that, he clocked out and did some city service with the multitudes of thieves and other people of unscrupulous inclinations with a free trip and extended stay to Rykers.
Then the new broke despite the NYPD's best effort to hush the matter and cover it up.
What the hell was wrong with New York's police force? Could they not restrain ONE goddamn villain? They were just fine with transporting the Vulture, Electro, The Rhino, Scorpion, and Mr. Negative before! They didn't even need Sable International for that before the whole Devil's Breath incident (granted they were usually one at a time but so was this)! Why in the world were people so obsessed with collecting villains? Was this some sort of fad that was going to stick around?
He slumped and groaned before shaking his head, "Of course it's never that easy..."
"We have taken down Spidercide before." Viri soothed, "If he decides to show his face again, we will simply defeat him again and personally deliver him to Raft."
Peter wished it would be that simple, but his good old Parker Luck would definitely make it far more complicated, "Right. We have to meet Miles about the symbiote now anyway. He should give it back to Harry."
His Iron Spider suit spread over him before he launched himself over to one of the abandoned construction sites he agreed to meet Miles in.
Miles started when he heard Peter as he landed in his Iron Spider suit, forcibly shunted from his thoughts and musings. He'd been thinking hard about his black suit and how the power really would help him be a hero. Peter already had Viri and wasn't that just unfair to Miles to not give him one? Sure Miles knew Spider-Man was already a fantastic hero without Viribus augmenting him, but he'd been so much more with a symbiote. Besides, if anything this symbiote wasn't even talking to him, it seemed entirely silent.
He was in total control.
"Hey coach." Miles greeted.
"Hey Miles." Peter replied, "How you holding up?"
Miles flexed his fingers and rolled his shoulders, "Fine actually. I can feel how much stronger I am because of it."
Peter nodded, "I get it. Really, I do. But we need you to take it off."
'No, don't cast the suit aside! The power will be invaluable to you! We can control us, control our strength!' Miles thought sharply.
Miles winced at the volume behind the thought, he was not usually that aggressive about anything since his father and the Demons. Sure he wanted to keep the suit, but he really didn't need to freak out so badly over it. He shook off the errant desire and stood tall, he wanted to save Harry Osborn, it was important to Peter and might save his friend long enough to be cured of his sickness. It wasn't right to sacrifice Harry only to improve his powers practically killing the person who needed it to survive. Miles first tried pulling the suit off physically, grabbing two handfuls and pulling, but the suit resisted, holding fast. Miles grunted in exertion as he pulled harder, using his spider-strength to try to tear it free of him, only for the suit to resist harder. As soon as Miles made to tug again, the suit melted back into his skin so he couldn't get a grip on it leaving Miles in his original spider costume. Miles tried to demand it to leave, but it made no sound, not even the whisper as Peter expressed how Viri spoke to him.
"Come on!" Miles grumbled at the apparently silent alien, "You need to get off!"
The alien didn't reply in any way.
Peter groaned, "Okay, so we can to forcibly separate it from you or hurt it. I don't want to try either of those..."
"Because I'll feel the pain if we use sonics or heat," Miles mused, "or it'll lash out if we try to force the issue."
"Peter..." Viri interrupted as it formed a head to speak, "Perhaps we simply let this be? When we struggled against each other, the symbiote was mad and in pain. Perhaps it simply needs time to realize that things aren't going to be as bad as Harry is now out of his coma? Maybe it will simply require a host that can move and act?"
Peter frowned, "Viri... While the idea of Miles having a symbiote is great and assuring, Harry's health is in a huge decline, the symbiote might be the only thing that will keep him alive."
"Perhaps he has been bonded enough that some of the symbiotic matter that may have been left in him will hold him together?"
Peter blinked, "Wait, you mean Harry has a symbiote in him still?"
"Not quite. Our race does tend to leave a bit of our own biological material behind in each host we inhabit for a prolonged period of time. Not voluntarily or involuntarily, a simple product of the nature of our symbiosis after exposure." Viri expanded, "It's a backup in our species to leave a bit of ourselves behind as a... codex of our experiences, memories, and personality moulded from our hosts to share with the hive mind. It usually only takes 48 hours in your time for a symbiote to bond to its host fully; while I can indeed separate myself from Peter to find a new host, I choose not to."
"Okay..." Miles said dubiously, watching as the suit slowly began to crawl it's way over him and his suit again, "But will a trace of the symbiote that small be able to keep him healthy?"
"That is something I don't know." Viri replied unsurely, "It may keep him alive for longer or it may do nothing. We have the ability to keep our host going far beyond their natural limits, but generally that requires a whole symbiote. The symbiote that bonded with him was also... incapacitated for lack of better term. It may not have been able to form a healthy and fully functioning codex in it's impaired state but it definitely created one if has been attached to him for long."
Peter shook his head, "We are basing our ideas off your theories, but can we be sure? I refuse to gamble on my friend's life on things we can't know for certain."
Miles made to tug at his suit but the symbiote receded away leaving him in his regular red and black suit.
"Well..." Miles mumbled, "This won't be easy... Do you want to try the sonics?"
"No." Peter replied firmly, "We are not going to torture you and the symbiote in order for you to separate! We need to find a better way than that!"
Miles sighed.
He wasn't sure if it was in relief or resignation.
Despite his sickness and probable need for rest — not to mention the exhaustion weighing on every cell in his body — Harry Osborn was didn't want to spend any of his time sleeping as was recommended to him by practically everyone.
He was going to die and frankly that was going to be sleeping forever in his book, which meant he wanted to capitalize on whatever small amount of time he had left. The question was how to do that. He was no fool, even if his father and his team managed to work day and night, a new sample of GR-27 formula wouldn't save him, it still wasn't perfect. Norman was tightlipped about whatever they were using previously to keep him stable, but whatever it was was gone now. He wasn't safe from his sickness and the fact that his time in stasis couldn't even be considered living in any appreciable sense.
While he slept everyone had been moving up and on with their lives, both MJ and Peter had been living while he wasted away in the tank. The odd thing was that he felt slightly better than before he was imprisoned in the tank against his knowledge and will. His body was still weak but he actually retained a decent amount of muscle, he was having trouble walking for too long, but he still could if he pushed himself. The muscles that had atrophied were regaining their dexterity and strength with unexpected speed, even with all the physical therapy it shouldn't have been recovering that fast. He wasn't sure if it was the liquid he was dunked in while he was still comatose or if it was something else, but his recovery was unprecedented.
That didn't mean he was saved.
He still felt the lag of his sickness, his body still ached and his felt weak and off-balance at times, even if the pangs weren't as bad before he was in his coma. He still had his sickness, but it was not quite as debilitating to his body as before. Norman had been ecstatic in his own way that his son was feeling somewhat better but still slaved over creating a cure for the disease, not wanting to leave anything to chance. Harry sighed as he leaned back on his bed, numb except for exhausted resignation. He new that even with his somewhat improved condition, his disease was a death sentence hanging over his head. What his improvement was a temporary thing?
"What do I do?" He asked the silence of his room, "I just don't know anything anymore..."
Two weeks passed in relative normalcy for the city of New York. Criminals and petty thugs were captured by the various heroes that called the city home before sent to cool their heels in prison. Peter had noted Miles increased capabilities and while he was pleased that Miles was much more capable — although a bit miffed that the new suit he had just finished would probably not be in use for Miles as he was using the black symbiote suit — he had noticed something else that had him worried for his protege. Miles was growing more and more impatient and — for lack of better term — eager towards the criminals of the city and beating them to a pulp. Peter had swung with Miles to a group of thugs only for Miles to charge right in without even considering stealth.
And Miles decimated the gang in a burst of speed and power. Peter winced as he heard bones snapping and the hapless goons' screaming under Miles' overly-aggressive assault.
"What in the hell is wrong with him?" Peter muttered.
Miles fist crashed against a thug's face; the poor fool who tried to charge him fell to the floor like a puppet with its strings cut. Miles sighed and webbed the thug to the floor, ever since the symbiote had attached to him, he'd been bored with life except his patrols. His grades hadn't suffered, but he felt more irritated by things — that usually didn't bother him — than before. People who talked trash to him made him feel a burst of anger that they'd never felt before; his hands itched to beat their face in and laugh at their pain. He would get home and speed through their work without a word to go on patrol, only pausing to greet his mother. His sudden and unexpected increase in vitriol being channeled into even more punishing beatdown on thugs and criminals.
"Kid." Spider-Man called out as he landed next to him, "We need to talk."
"What up?" Kid Arachnid replied, only in the presence of his mentor and mom did the simmering anger seem to cool off.
"You're going way too far." Spider-Man said, "This is brutal and unnecessary! You could kill someone like this!"
"They're criminals!" Kid Arachnid grumbled in his head, "They deserve everything they got! They deserve to fear us!"
"I didn't hit them that hard!" Kid Arachnid protested instead.
"Did you forget about your recent boost?" Spider-Man pressed, "You go too far and you'll make a mistake you won't be able to take back!"
"They deserve to die..." He thought quietly, "We should make all fear us..."
Miles flinched as though struck as that thought flitted through his head.
No.
That was not the way to solve problems.
It was never the way to stop criminals, if he went that far, he'd become a criminal himself.
Miles shook himself slightly, "Right. Sorry, it's just these days I been Having some issues at school I've been having a bit of irritation dealing with."
Peter walked up to him, "What's wrong?"
"Nothing." Miles replied shaking himself, "Just stuff at school being rough."
Peter seemed to pause for a moment before sighing, "Alright."
Oliver Osnick rubbed his eyes as he tied to scrub the urge to sleep away. He had been woking on this harness for weeks and while the construction wasn't too difficult (many thanks to Otto Octavius still able to still write and describe and somehow sending coded blueprints out of the prison), getting the materials had been difficult and having him work for this shady group hadn't really been ideal. However to him? Sacrifices needed to be made for progress.
In all honesty, it was really the neurological interface that was proving to be the most challenging part of the design. He scowled at how Peter Parker's paper on the subject managed to land him the coveted position of working under Otto Octavius back in his university days. Oliver thought that while limb replacement was a worthy goal, the human mind was too big a hinderance. Yes it was a top of the line supercomputer biologically, but technology was far outstripping the mind in computing and learning. An artificial intelligence was honestly the smarter way to go about it, there was little risk to the body and the AI would be more than capable of determining the needs of the host.
Seeing how when it came to fruition in the form of Doctor Octopus attacking the city with the other members of the Sinister Six had seriously challenged his preconceptions. The news had broadcasted his battle with Spider-Man atop Oscorp and he had been blown away by the speed and dexterity of the tentacles. Of course he didn't abide the destruction of the city and the many killed by the release of Devil's Breath, but he couldn't dismiss how incredible the technology was.
The human mind was hardwired with all the minuscule movements and instincts that people had in relation to the body. Covering one from an attack, grasping to re-establish balance, every single habit and flinch transferred over to the prosthetics and made fo a incredible result. Admittedly, any robotic AI would take time to fully adjust to the user and that
He was startled out of his musings as the door to his workshop opened.
"Well?" His employer inquired.
"We need an expert in the neurological interface, otherwise we can't move forwards with the project." Ollie said, frustrated with the lack of progress, "I can build the harness, make it move by controller, but to make it to the standards that Octavius would want would need a working knowledge that only he and his partner Peter Parker would have. Otto's motor functions are already on the decline, he would only be a hinderance if he can't recreate his work accurately."
The man chuckled, "We have a plan for his failing body. We have already collected Spidercide and are in the process of trying to create a fresh body. While it is unfortunate, his mutated DNA makes a body with his existing abilities too unstable for replication. He'll have to be dissected to remove the imperfect splicing which will unfortunately force Spidercide into a vegetative state. A unfortunate consequence, but a working body is not entirely impossible, in fact it is quite possible to create another vessel if lacking much of Spidercide's superhuman abilities."
"I fail to see how that helps." Ollie grouched as he turned back to the harness, "We have a fresh body or empty vessel that is somewhat stronger and in suspended animation; what does that do for Otto that be considered valuable?"
The man smiled and pulled out a sheaf of blueprints, "Why don't leave that harness for now and help us with a rather fascinating set of blueprints we have acquired? It has to do with... a consciousness swap, shall we say?"
Ollie's eyes widened and his brain almost erupted from the excitement.
He saw how a vessel helped now.