The Wizard's cackling bounces off Manhattan's skyscrapers like a deranged pinball as she hovers outside the Baxter Building. Her ridiculous helt gleams in the winter sunlight, making her look like a rejected villain from a B-movie sci-fi flick.
"I WILL DETONATE THIS NUCLEAR DEVICE!" she screams, brandishing a tallic briefcase in one hand while purple energy crackles around the other. "SURRENDER NOW, RICHARDS!"
Rita stretches her arm impossibly long, dodging a blast that lts a satellite dish on the roof. Susan's force fields shimr around her, deflecting energy.
"Her suit's emitting so kind of radiation," Rita shouts over the chaos, her body contorting around another blast. "It's interfering with my equipnt!"
The Wizard fires again, this blast connecting with Susan's shield. The impact sends ripples through the transparent barrier, and I watch Susan's face contort with strain.
"She's never been this powerful before," Susan grits out, reinforcing her shield as sweat beads on her forehead.
Venom crouches beside , her mighty form tensed like a predator ready to pounce. Those blank white eyes narrow as she studies the battle unfolding around us.
"Shane," she rumbles, her dual-layered voice vibrating through my chest. "You don't have to fight. There's no need to hurt yourself."
I watch as Rita barely dodges another blast, her stretchy body twisting in ways that would break a normal person. Susan's shields flicker dangerously as the Wizard hamrs them with increasing ferocity.
"Nah," I say, decision crystallizing inside . "I want to."
I take a deep breath, centering myself as I focus on that darker power lurking beneath my skin. The familiar golden energy cos easily, flowing through my veins like liquid sunshine, but I need more. I push deeper, reaching for that hellish force I've been practicing with.
"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" I scream, channeling my inner Goku as white-hot pain explodes in my temples.
My skull feels like it's splitting open as the horns push through, twin spears of agony erupting from my head. Blood trickles down my face, but I keep pushing, forcing more power through my system until my arms light up with golden energy so intense it's almost blinding.
"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" I continue screaming, the pain fueling my power as golden light engulfs my entire body.
"What the hell are you doing?" Susan shouts, her force field wavering as she divides her attention between the Wizard and .
I don't answer. Can't answer. Every cell in my body is on fire, burning with power that threatens to consu if I don't release it soon.
"LET'S FUCKING GOOOOOOO!" I roar as I lock eyes on the Wizard through the shimring barrier of Susan's force field.
I focus on a spot directly behind the floating villain, letting the golden energy envelop completely. Reality bends, dissolves, reforms in an instant leaving a brief golden afterimage behind.
One mont I'm on the roof of the Baxter Building, the next I'm midair behind the Wizard, my glowing fist already in motion. She barely has ti to register my presence before my punch connects with her stupid helt, the impact sending a shockwave through the air.
The blow catches her completely off-guard, sending her careening toward the Baxter Building at terrifying speed. For one heart-stopping mont, I think she's going to crash through the windows and into the labs beyond.
Instead, she slams into an invisible wall, Susan's force field, extended outward just in ti to prevent structural damage. The Wizard bounces off it like a bug hitting a windshield, her armored body montarily stunned as she floats there, disoriented.
I'm suddenly free-falling, gravity reclaiming after my teleport attack. Wind rushes past my face, my stomach lurching as Manhattan's streets race up to et . I should be terrified, but adrenaline and demon energy have operating on pure instinct.
"Fuck!" I yell, focusing on another spot higher in the air. The golden energy swallows , and I reappear twenty feet higher, montarily suspended before gravity pulls down again.
Above , Susan Storm glides through the air on what looks like an invisible surfboard, her blonde hair whipping in the wind as she soars toward the still-disoriented Wizard. She extends a transparent field around the tallic suitcase nuke, yanking it from the villain's grasp.
"Got it!" Susan shouts, the nuclear device now safely encased in her protective bubble.
I teleport upward again, materializing just as the Wizard recovers. She spins toward , those purple energy gauntlets blazing with renewed fury.
"YOU!" she screams, her voice distorted by her ridiculous helt. "DDLING INSECT!"
I don't have ti to teleport away. The blast hits point-blank, purple energy engulfing my vision as white-hot pain explodes through every nerve ending in my body. It feels like being dipped in liquid lightning while soone drives railroad spikes into my joints.
My scream tears through the air as I'm blasted backward, limbs flailing uselessly. Despite the haze of agony, I see a massive black shape launching from the Baxter Building's roof.
Venom.
Her roar of fury echoes between skyscrapers as she hurls herself toward the Wizard. The sound that erupts from her isn't just anger, it's primal, protective rage that makes my heart stutter even through my pain.
The Wizard turns too late. Venom's clawed hand transforms mid-leap, elongating into a jagged spear of living darkness. With terrifying precision, she drives it through the visor’s opening of the Wizard's helt.
The sound is sickening, tal crumpling, sothing wet giving way, a gargled scream cut horrifically short. Purple energy discharges wildly from the Wizard's suit as her body goes limp.
Her helt shatters outward, fragnts of tal and gore spraying across the sky like a bloody firework. What remains of her face slips away in chunks, a grotesque waterfall of tissue and bone cascading from the ruined helt.
I'm still falling, my body tumbling through open air. The pain from her blast pulses through in waves so intense I can barely form thoughts.
Through pained eyes, I see Venom twist mid-air, her body pivoting toward with single-minded purpose. Her eyes lock onto mine as she launches herself downward, arms outstretched, cutting through the air like a living missile.
"SHANE!" Her dual-layered voice screams.
She collides with at breathtaking speed, those powerful arms wrapping around my body like living restraints. The impact knocks what little air remains from my lungs as she tucks against her chest, curling her massive form around mine protectively.
Venom rotates us mid-air, positioning herself to take the brunt of the impact. I feel the symbiote shifting around us, creating a cocoon of living darkness to cushion the blow.
We hit the street with bone-jarring force, asphalt cracking beneath us as we roll across the pavent. Venom's body absorbs all of the shock. Glass shatters, tal bends, and car alarms blare as we plow through parked vehicles.
When we finally stop rolling, I'm cradled in Venom's arms, her tall shape curled around like living armor. Her blank white eyes stare down at , narrowing with concern as the symbiote pulses and flows across her body, adjusting to protect both of us.
"Shane," she says, her voice gentler now despite its alien timbre. "Are you okay?"
I can barely manage a nod, my entire body throbbing with pain from the Wizard's blast. "Yeah," I rasp. "Just hurts like hell."
As I speak, I feel a strange loosening sensation at my temples. The horns that had erupted through my skin begin to detach, the connection between them and my body severing as my demonic power fades. With two soft thuds, they fall onto the cracked pavent beside us.
I watch in fascination as the once-solid horns crumble upon impact, disintegrating into fine ash that scatters in the winter breeze. It's weirdly beautiful, like watching dark snowflakes dance away from us.
"I'm fine," I tell Venom, testing my limbs with careful movents. "I just didn't expect that blast to hurt that bad."
I stretch experintally, surprised to find the searing pain already subsiding. My body seems to recover faster now. The golden energy still pulses faintly beneath my skin, but it's calr now, retreating to that quiet place inside where it waits until needed.
"Thank God," Venom breathes, the symbiote pulling back slightly from her face to reveal Ellie's worried blue eyes. Her grip on loosens, but she doesn't let go completely, as if afraid I might shatter if she's not holding together.
As we're talking, I spot Susan and Rita approaching across the debris-strewn street. They pick their way through the wreckage with practiced ease, like people who've seen their share of urban destruction. Both of them look concerned, their gazes flicking between us and the smoking remains of the Wizard still tumbling from the sky in grueso chunks.
Rita reaches us first, her stretchy form contracting back to normal human proportions as she stops a few feet away. Her expression is unreadable, clinical in its assessnt.
"You killed the Wizard," she states. Not an accusation, not a question, just a simple acknowledgnt of fact.
Venom straightens up, her massive form towering over Rita as the symbiote flows back over Ellie's face. "She had a nuke," she growls, her dual-layered voice defensive despite Rita's neutral tone. "She was going to destroy the city."
Susan steps in front of Rita, her blonde hair whipping in the cold wind. "No," she says firmly, her eyes fixed on Venom. "You killed the Wizard because she attacked Skip Step."
I notice Susan's hands trembling slightly as she glances at , her expression tense with barely concealed fear. She's looking at like I'm made of glass, like Venom might crush if provoked.
Rita clears her throat, stretching her arm to grasp the suitcase still encased in Susan's force field. "Let's take this all back inside," she says, her scientific detachnt returning as she examines the case. "I want to contain whatever is in that suitcase as soon as possible."
Susan's gaze darts between Venom's imposing form and my battered body, lingering on the ash where my horns had disintegrated. Her force field flickers with her anxiety as she hesitates, clearly weighing her options.
"Yeah," she finally says, her decision made. "That would be best."
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