บท 30: Chapter 30 Anton Smile
In the early hours of the next day.
A plane landed at San Francisco Airport.
Anton stepped out, standing by the roadside, waiting for a taxi.
"Hey, man, need a ride?"
A familiar voice echoed by his ear.
"Of course."
Anton smiled, got into the front passenger seat, and looked at the driver. "Eddie, seems like things are going well for you."
"Yes, despite some misunderstandings before, we're getting along just fine now."
Eddie nodded, no longer showing the initial fear he had when encountering the symbiote, even introducing the creature within him to Anton: "It's called Venom."
"Hello, Anton. You smell delicious."
Suddenly, Eddie's face twisted into a terrifying form. Sharp fangs and a monstrous mouth made him look fearsome, with a tongue as long as a snake's slithering back and forth like a demon from hell visiting earth.
Despite himself, Anton understood that this was Venom's way of greeting him.
"Hello, Venom."
Anton remained expressionless, pointing forward. "You're about to crash."
"Oh, just a small issue!"
Venom retreated back into Eddie's body as Eddie nonchalantly adjusted the steering wheel.
Screech!
With a skillful drift, they narrowly avoided the vehicle ahead.
"Hey, watch where you're driving, man!" came a shout from behind.
Ignoring the remark, Eddie continued driving ahead.
"How have you been lately?"
Anton smiled. "The Life Foundation is in chaos, and Carlton Drake doesn't have much time left. With Oscorp pulling the strings, he'll be in jail soon."
"Oscorp?"
Eddie squinted, glancing at Anton. "There's something I wanted to discuss with you, Anton."
"About Oscorp?" Anton frowned.
"Exactly."
Eddie nodded, his expression darkening. "Recently, among those coming after me, besides the Life Foundation, was Oscorp."
"So Oscorp is aware of the symbiotes."
Anton frowned slightly, feeling a bit of a headache.
Oscorp and the Life Foundation were on entirely different levels.
While the Life Foundation could only act domineeringly in San Francisco, Oscorp wielded power across the entire United States.
Not that he was afraid of Oscorp, but facing pressure from both companies would complicate things and make it hard to handle smoothly.
"Don't worry; neither of them is a real threat to us."
Eddie remained calm, knowing just how strong he had become with Venom, emphasizing, "Our only real adversary now is Carlton Drake."
"What do you mean?"
Anton seemed to understand.
The two had stayed in contact through emails recently, and Anton was aware of Eddie's situation, piecing together the clues with his memory.
As he recalled, there were millions of symbiotes in space.
Apart from Venom, there were countless symbiotes drifting in space, waiting for those who had already landed on Earth to bring them here and take over the planet.
Drake's spaceship was their beacon of hope.
According to Venom, it wasn't that Drake discovered them, but rather they found Drake.
"Exactly. Venom says there were initially seven of their kind brought to Earth by the spaceship. But after it crashed in Malaysia, the Life Foundation only retrieved six, including Venom."
Eddie said seriously, "One more symbiote was left in Malaysia. Its name is Riot."
"Are you saying Riot might have already made it to San Francisco?"
Anton recalled the story in his head and realized, "He intends to help millions of alien symbiotes conquer Earth?"
"Yes." Eddie was straightforward. "Venom has promised to help me deal with this. We can live in peace on Earth."
Anton asked, "And how does this involve Carlton Drake?"
Eddie explained, "Riot escaped containment. From the information I gathered, it once bonded with an employee from the Life Foundation's search team. So it surely knows that the person most capable of getting it back to space and bringing millions of symbiotes to Earth is Carlton Drake."
He paused. "Drake has always dreamed of space exploration, but he doesn't understand the dangers of the cosmos."
"I see."
Anton nodded. "So we need to keep a close eye on Drake. As soon as Riot makes contact with him, we deal with it. Then, the Life Foundation will no longer be a threat."
Eddie added, "Then we'll have time to deal with Oscorp."
"Good plan."
Anton laughed. "You really surprised me. Looks like you can handle this without my help."
"It's all thanks to Venom."
Eddie shook his head earnestly. "Regardless, thank you for coming to San Francisco, Anton. You've helped me a lot."
He paused, recalling the recent news sweeping across America, which had started in New York.
"By the way, your movie is a hit at the box office. Congratulations," Eddie said. "And that Batman guy—who is he? Is he one of us?"
"You'll meet him soon."
Anton gave a mysterious smile.
Soon.
They arrived at a house.
"This is my ex-girlfriend Anne place. She's been a great help lately."
Eddie and Anton got out of the car.
At the door, a man and a woman were waiting.
"Uh, that's Anne's boyfriend, Dan Lewis. He's a doctor."
Eddie looked a bit awkward.
Asking his ex-girlfriend for help wasn't unusual, but living with her current boyfriend—that was the real issue.
Anton sized up Dan Lewis. He seemed like a decent guy, though a bit naive.
They all went inside and sat around a table.
"This is Anton; you may already know him."
Eddie introduced with a smile. "He's the genius director Hollywood is currently celebrating. I just saw Batman's box office; Anton's first film has grossed over $350 million. To many, he's a walking goldmine."
"Hello, Anton."
Anne and Dan looked at Anton in surprise, shaking hands. "Thanks for coming."
"He works with me."
Anton downplayed his role, not seeing himself as having greatly helped Eddie.
As he put it, he felt Eddie could handle the Life Foundation on his own, and he was merely adding some extra support.
Not only was he here to help Eddie but also to earn more justice points and unlock more of Batman's special suits.
After the introductions, they got down to business.
"According to Venom, the symbiotes' weaknesses are sounds between 4000 to 6000 Hz and fire."
Eddie said seriously, "To deal with Riot, we have to focus on those."
"Simple."
Anton nodded with a confident smile. "I can contact Stark Industries to custom-make a weapon. It'd be easy to get a 4000-6000 Hz sound wave emitter and a flamethrower."
He took out his phone, completely assured. "With money, I could have those weapons by tomorrow."
The group was speechless.
Eddie, who was broke and reliant on Anton's support, twitched his mouth slightly, feeling an odd comfort in being "sponsored" by someone so wealthy.
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