The Life Foundation building lay in ruins after the riots and the battle with Venom, flames still licking at charred steel and shattered glass.
Amid the wreckage, a woman in a sleek black bodysuit crouched beside a broken glass bottle, turning it slowly in her gloved hands as if it might whisper secrets.
After a final, fruitless inspection, she sighed. Just then, a middle-aged man in a sharply tailored suit approached.
"Natasha, anything useful?" he asked.
The man was Phil Coulson of S.H.I.E.L.D.; the woman, Natasha Romanoff.
She shook her head. "Nothing. You?"
Coulson's expression darkened. "All paper records in the lab were incinerated. The Life Foundation's experimental database? Wiped clean—no backups, no traces."
Natasha's lips twitched. "Sounds like Loren's handiwork."
Coulson nodded grimly. "That kid again."
With a soft scoff, Natasha tossed the cracked bottle to the ground. It shattered with a sharp crack, scattering glass across the scorched floor.
"Stealing secrets and scrubbing every byte of data behind him," she said. "Only Loren would pull something that thorough—and that petty."
She turned toward the exit. "Let's go. He's already ten steps ahead. No point letting the cops catch us loitering in a crime scene."
As she strode away, a tiny, nearly invisible shard of glass clung to the sole of her boot.
On it rested a speck of black grime—no larger than a sesame seed.
Then, as Natasha walked… the grime twitched.
Elsewhere, Peter Parker lifted a manhole cover, and A2 dropped into the sewer below.
What greeted them wasn't a dank tunnel, but a sprawling underground facility—walls lined with humming servers, surgical tables, and vats of glowing fluid.
"No wonder Alice couldn't track him," A2 muttered, wrinkling her nose. "Connors built a whole damn lab down here."
Peter nodded soberly. "The Lizard serum rewired his biology. He's adapted to damp, dark places—this is practically a penthouse to him now."
A2 crossed her arms. "I don't care about his interior decorating. Just flush him out. I need to deliver him to Loren before curfew—or I lose my lollipop privileges."
Peter blinked. "Lollipops? Miss A2, if you like candy, I can—"
Before he finished, A2's leg flashed out in a whip-fast kick. Peter went flying—hard—and barely managed to activate his symbiote in time to cushion the impact.
"Don't," A2 snapped, eyes icy, "ever treat my boss's lollipops like a joke. Say another word, and I'll peel that suit off you with my teeth."
Peter gaped, shell-shocked. All I offered was candy… why's she acting like I insulted her ancestors?
Inside his mind, Venom groaned. "Oh, Peter… you really don't get it, do you?"
"What?!" Peter mentally protested. "I was being nice!"
Venom sighed. "That 'lollipop' isn't candy, you oblivious gremlin. It's a code—Loren's signature reward system. Probably nano-enhanced, maybe even keyed to A2's biometrics. And you just implied you could buy one? Like it's bubblegum from a gas station?"
Peter's stomach dropped. "...Oh."
"Exactly. Now shut up, find Connors, and pray she forgets this ever happened."
Swallowing hard, Peter called out into the echoing tunnels:
"Dr. Connors! It's Peter! I've got a real cure this time—please come out!"
Silence.
He tried again, gesturing to A2. "She's not here to hurt you! She works for Loren—the Loren! You remember her, right?"
Still nothing.
Peter rubbed the back of his neck, forcing a nervous chuckle. "Uh… Miss A2? Maybe he's hiding because you're… you know. Kinda scary."
He added quickly, "Not that you are! Just—uh—intimidatingly competent?"
A2 ignored him. Her eyes had locked onto a crumpled note on a lab bench.
She snatched it up, scanned it once, and tossed it to Peter without a word.
Then, in one fluid motion, she leapt straight up—through the manhole—and hovered midair.
"Alice," she commanded, voice crisp. "Use this manhole as the epicenter. Scan all surveillance within five kilometers. I need Connors' last known location."
"Processing," came the AI's calm reply.
Peter unfolded the note. In shaky handwriting, it read:
Peter—
I've found someone
who can reverse the serum. Thank you for everything. I'll be back soon.
—Kurt Connors
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