Episode 63: Veneo's Revenge (Part 2)!
"So you're calling yourself Veneo, huh?" Peni said to the humanoid creature that was holding MJ hostage. "Is that because it's a play off of the word 'venom,' which is a poison?"
"Exactly!" Veneo smiled gleefully. "We infect our hosts like the organic toxins your planet's creatures produce, and bring out the worst in them!"
"What do you mean by the worst?"
"Their evil side," Veneo clarified. "Our current host Eddie Brock was a down-on-his-luck journalist mulling over the story his editor J. Jonah Jameson gave him because he needed a Marémon to get into the illegal fights happening in this city as an undercover participant. But he didn't have one, and that's when we approached him. We not only gave him the tool he needed to complete his story, but also suggestions while fulfilling our own objectives."
"Does that mean you told him to take the Hamder I caught to use for the fights, and use Peter and me to help Brock get back into the fights to cover them further?" MJ asked.
"Right you are," Veneo said, glancing at MJ. "If we showed ourselves to Ronan during the fights, he would have recognized us immediately and that would have complicated things for us and Eddie. So we had to use a Trojan Horse in the form of Hamder, but we had not anticipated how weak he would actually be. Then we thought to use you and your friend as part of our revenge."
"Revenge for what?" MJ demanded. "You act like Peter harmed you in some way, though neither of us have met you before in our lives."
"And that's where you're wrong," Veneo replied. "We were the Symbio that was kept in Professor Banner's lab, and it was Parker who dared to attack us as we were attempting to copy the DNA of the unborn Spidi. Then you had to pull the fire alarm, and we were forced to run away. Since then, we have been plotting to make you two pay for what you did!"
"But the Parker you're looking for isn't here," Peni said, drawing Veneo's attention once more. "You're dealing with me! SPDR, Laser Fingers!"
From the holes in SPDR's fingers fired bright red lasers that hit Veneo's black oozing skin, making him flinch in pain.
"You should watch where you shoot those things," Veneo said. "Our hostage could have been hurt."
"I wasn't trying to accidentally hit her," Peni revealed. "SPDR was actually targeting the webs."
Veneo looked at MJ, and noticed burning holes in the webbing causing them to loosen up. This allowed MJ to wiggle out, but she lost her balance and fell towards the ground. Luckily, Peter caught her with his hand while Spidermin's Web Shot held strong and didn't break.
"You're safe now," Peter said, still wearing his costume with the mask back on. "Take MJ down, Spidermin! I'll deal with Veneo."
Spidermin hesitated, but he obeyed Peter and leaped off his shoulder onto MJ's. Then he lowered himself and MJ while Peter climbed up the tower using Spidermin's web rope as support till he was standing on the other side of Veneo.
"This can't be happening!" Veneo gritted his sharp teeth in irritation. "First, a school girl pesters us. And now a web-covered kid shows up to save the hostage. Do we look like a joke to you two?"
"Not at all, Veneo," Peter said, trying to sound confident. "This was my idea. So I take full responsibility for everyone's actions including myself. Peni?"
"Yeah?" Peni asked.
"Keep the news helicopter occupied so Veneo and I can talk in peace," Peter said.
Peni flinched. "Are you sure? We could take this guy out together if you call back Spidermin."
"I don't want to put any more people in danger, or my Marémon," Peter insisted.
So reluctantly, Peni instructed SPDR to jump onto the news helicopter that was circling the tower and use an attack called Web Blast to cover the cameras onboard with thick webs. This forced the helicopter to fly away, though Peni and SPDR still held on. Peter waited until they were far enough before using his free hand to remove his mask.
"You wanted to see me?" Peter said nervously.
Veneo's mouth curved into a large toothy smile, which frightened Peter more than the rest of Veneo, as he picked Peter up by the collar of his costume dangling him in the air.
"Did you think you could fool us with that ridiculous outfit, Parker?" Veneo questioned.
"The outfit wasn't my idea," Peter claimed. "I was wearing it for something else, which I'd rather not talk about."
"But no one can hear us, Parker, so there's nothing stopping you from telling us," Veneo said. When Peter didn't answer, Veneo frowned. "If you won't talk, then we'll just have let ourselves into your mind!"
Veneo then detached himself from Eddie Brock's body, taking a form that resembled Spidermin, only it was black with a white spider-shaped emblem, white eyes, and toothy grin. While Brock was struggling to hold onto the tower in his delirious state, Veneo leaped onto Peter and poked the back of Peter's neck with a stinger that came from his rear abdomen. Peter flinched in pain, and then his vision was covered in a black murky substance. He tried to fight against it, but Veneo's menacing laugh blocked out Peter's cries for help. Next, Peter found himself in a dark space with only himself and nothing else.
Then below him appeared a myriad of planets, all being consumed in a black liquid followed by cries of agonizing pain. As these planets fell apart, the debris flew off into space becoming meteors that streaked through the cosmos landing on new planets. One of these looked like Peter's world, which got larger as a meteorite fell into the Marvo Region. From the meteorite emerged a black goo that crawled along the ground before getting trapped in a PDB by Professor Banner, who took it with him to the laboratory where Peter and MJ got their Marémon from.
To be continued…
