Chapter Five: The Team
It had been one week since Eddie escaped Project Cadmus, and much had happened in that short time. Batman knew that explaining Eddie's month-long absence to the public without revealing anything about the Symbiote would be difficult to say the least, but he was able to set up a convincing enough story to satisfy most people. Coincidentally, there had been an incident in which the international crime syndicate known as Intergang had kidnapped two dozen people throughout the U.S.A and held them for ransom. While the targets were mostly high profile, related to or affiliated with politicians, reporters or rival criminal mafia members, Batman was able to put Eddie's name on the list of hostages. While it might seem odd for this to be remotely possible, Batman knew that there were a few unnotable people mixed in. Intergang never did like being predictable, so the story was just convincing enough. Although this story satisfied most, there were a few people who wanted more information, Eddie would simply say he didn't want to talk about it when asked for further detail.
After Eddie's backstory had been forged, The League wanted to find out if the bonding process between Eddie and the Symbiote was complete. According to the notes Robin had taken from Cadmus, the Symbiote and it's host responded very negatively when exposed to things like X-rays or EKG's. Not wanting to cause Eddie or the Symbiote any pain, the League searched for other options. Luckily, Batman knew someone who could help. A brilliant man named Ray Palmer, who also happened to be the superhero known as The Atom. The Atom was fascinated by the opportunity to witness Symbiosis of this nature, so he agreed. After Eddie and the Symbiote were both repeatedly assured that there would be no attempts to remove the Symbiote or to collect samples of it, they agreed to the procedure as well. Said procedure was rather quick, it only lasted thirty minutes and Eddie was awake the whole time. The Atom shrunk down small enough that he could be injected into Eddie's bloodstream, after which he then moved throughout Eddie's body, studying the Symbiote and taking notes. After the Atom was retrieved, he confirmed that the Symbiote was fully connected to Eddie's nervous system. There was truly no removing it without killing Eddie.
After the Atom's examination, The League decided to close the Hall of Justice to the public, in order for them to have a meeting with Eddie.
Location: Hall of Justice, Conference Room, 08:00 EDT.
To say that Eddie was nervous would be an understatement. He had been staying at the Hall for the past seven days, walking the hall as a "Staff Approved Guest" by day, and sleeping in the employee guest rooms by night. (The Hall of Justice had twenty four hour security, so the guards needed beds from time to time.) But when Martian Manhunter had woken him up at seven and told him to be in the conference room in one hour, he almost wished he was back in a Cadmus pod. I mean, who wouldn't be nervous with the entire Justice League wanting to speak with you? Eddie walked in to the conference room, and took note of who was there. Thankfully, it was not the entire League waiting for him, which made things slightly less tense from his perspective. Shazam, Hawkwoman, Aquaman and the Lanterns were not there. The members there were Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Martian Manhunter, Green Arrow, Hawkman, Captain Atom, Red Tornado and Black Canary.
Superman spoke as Eddie entered the room. "Thank you for coming, Eddie. Please have a seat." He gestured to one of the empty chairs, and Eddie sat down.
"Um... am I in trouble?"
Black Canary smiled warmly and reassured him. "Not at all, Eddie. This meeting was planned weeks ago, we just wanted to talk to you about something important and figured we should do it sooner rather than later."
Hearing this helped Eddie relax a bit. "Oh, okay. Sure, what did you want to talk about?"
Green Arrow spoke this time. "Well, given the Atom's assesment, it seems that you and the Symbiote will be together for... well until you die. We wanted to know what you want to do with your life, given what's happened."
Batman looked at Eddie. "If you'd like, I can make arrangements for you to have as close to a civilian life as possible."
Eddie raised an eyebrow. "The way you're talking, it's as if you have a second option?"
There was a brief silence, which was broken by Batman. "There is. Robin gave me a detailed account of your fight with Blockbuster. What he described didn't sound like someone fighting for survival, or even revenge. It sounded like someone fighting with purpose."
Superman picked up where his friend left off "If you'd like, we can train you, help you learn to use your new powers to do some good in the world. Now I know this is alot to think about, so-"
Eddie held up his hand. "Let me stop you right there... I'm in. I want to learn how to do what you do. I want to be a hero."
The League (Minus Batman) was surprised by the sudden decision. Wonder Woman tried to convince Eddie to take some time before making such a big decision. Saying that he should process everything that had happened to him, and grieve his father. Eddie got slightly agitated at the mention of his father.
"Honestly, I greived the loss of my father when I was ten years old. The man never liked me, and he made it known. He was my father as much as Batman is a bat: in name only. As far as what happened to me, to us... We have been helping eachother through it... And now that I have this power, I feel like I have a responsibility to do something good with it. So, please, help me do good."
After a brief moment, it was Batman who spoke. "Very well. Then this is what we will do..."
The Next Day
Location: Mount Justice, 10:23 EDT.
Robin, Kid Flash, Aqualad and Superboy couldn't believe it. After a week of uncertainty, they had finally been called to this place by Batman. However, Batman was not alone. With him were Aquaman, Red Tornado, Flash, The Green Lanterns and Black Canary. While the heroes were in their uniforms, the teens were dressed in civilian attire.
While the other three seemed familiar with this place, Superboy had no idea. "Okay what exactly is this place?"
Batman responded. "This is Mount Justice, former headquarters of the Justice League, now the headquarters of your team. If you are all determined to stay together and fight the good fight, you'll do it on League terms. Red Tornado has agreed to live here and be your supervisor, Black Canary will be in charge of training, and I will deploy you on missions."
"Real missions?" Robin asked.
"Yes... but covert." Batman replied.
Flash chimed in. "The League will still handle the obvious stuff, there's a reason we all have these targets on our chests." He pointed to his logo.
Aquaman continued. "But Cadmus proves that the bad guys are getting smarter, so Batman needs a team that can operate on the sly."
Batman nodded. "The six of you will be that team."
Robin was quite happy with this. Finally, they were being taken seriously! "Sweet! Wait, six?"
"Yeah, hope you don't mind."
The four teens looked behind them towards the person who spoke, only to see a familiar face.
"Eddie!"
"Hey guys, did you miss me?"
The four boys went to greet their friend, of course Kid Flash got there first.
"So, you and the goo are the two other teammates?"
"I AM NOT GOO!!"
Eddie chuckled at the humorous interaction, but shook his head. "Well, the symbiote and I are one being, the other person should be here any second, she was nice and let me surprise you guys first."
Now that caught Kid Flash's attention. "She?"
As he said this, Martian Manhunter walked into the room, and next to him was a green skinned teenage girl. She wore a blue cloak, a white t-shirt with a red X, a blue skirt, and blue gloves.
Batman introduced her. "This is the Martian Manhunter's neice, Miss Martian."
Miss Martian waved akwardly and smiled nervously. "H-hi"
Kid Flash ran over to her and attempted to be suave. "Hey there. I'm Kid Flash, that's Aqualad, Robin, you met Eddie. It's cool if you forget their names."
Eddie rolled his eyes and nudged Robin. "Is he gonna be like this anytime he's near a pretty girl?"
Robin sighed and nodded. "Pretty much, yeah."
As the six of them all gathered together, Aqualad smiled. He thought back to just over a week ago. Back when he, Kid Flash, Robin and Speedy were going to the Hall of Justice for the first time. So much had happened in such a short time. However, he looked up on his team, and felt pride, happiness, and hope.
"Today's the Day."
Location: UNKNOWN, ??:??
Proffesor Emil Hamilton was hard at work when he was called into a meeting with The Light. As he entered an empty room, several monitors lowered from the ceiling. These monitors turned on, showing white silhouettes.
"Proffesor Hamilton, status report."
"Of course. Firstly, while Guardian now believes himself in charge of Project Cadmus, the board has successfully continued the more subtle operations under my remote guidance. As for Dr.Desmond's Genomorph projects, I have had moderate success and expect to have significant improvements by the end of the year. Now, were there any other projects you all wanted me to begin work on? Perhaps re-addressing Project Match?"
A monitor spoke. "No, Match will remain shelved until further notice. However, there is something else..." The monitor that was speaking had it's image replaced with a picture of Eddie Brock in his Venom suit. "While it happened under less than ideal circumstances, we were able to see a demonstration of the Symbiote in combat outside of a controlled scenario. This proves that further development could prove beneficial to The Light. We want you to attempt further development of Project Symbiosis."
Proffesor Hamilton spoke. "I will do whatever you require of me, but as you are aware, the Symbiote that was at Cadmus was the only one we had. To continue the project, I would need either the Symbiote returned, or at least a sample."
"Worry not, Hamilton. You will have what you need in due time. For now, continue with your current assignments... that is all."
The screens turned off, and Hamilton resumed his work.
A/N: Alright, feedback is always appreciated. Bye!*