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Dante returned to Gwen, who was now sitting on a chair and staring at George with soulless eyes. She hadn't even bothered wiping her tears after crying.
He put a hand on her shoulder, which she immediately grasped for warmth. "It'll be fine."
The back of her head bumped against his stomach, more out of tiredness than anything. "What's the plan?"
"Come with me. I'll show you."
He made her stand up. She looked confused and disoriented as Death teleported them back to the school building where Jefferson's body was still scattered across the classroom floor. The civilians who had been possessed by Norman's symbiotes were still unconscious. He used Biokinesis to keep them unconscious for half an hour more.
He channeled his Biokinesis to cure her immediate exhaustion to make her hope stronger. "Let's get them back to Yuri first."
Gwen blinked and looked down at herself, startled by the sudden return of strength in her limbs. "What did you just do to me?"
"Some magic." He tried to lighten her mood just a bit. "It'll work out, I promise."
"Magic," she repeated, as if she was trying to decide whether to believe in it. Then she forced a smile. "If it works, then I will owe you my life."
For Gwen, her father was her life. The way she had broken at the bedside made that abundantly clear.
He picked up her discarded mask from where it had fallen earlier and handed it back to her. "Don't forget this."
Gwen froze for a second, realizing she had been walking around with her face exposed. A look of embarrassment flashed across her face as she snatched it from his hand and put it on. She pulled her hood back into place as if she could hide the fact that she had been falling apart.
"What happened on the cruise?" she asked, trying to shift the topic. "Did you manage to stop all the symbiotes?"
He casually hauled five grown-adults over his shoulder. "Yup."
Gwen shook her head in quiet amazement as she lifted the remaining two cops over her own shoulder. "You're amazing."
"I am only filling in until you are done with your rookie arc," he said, trying to push her self-image back toward strength instead of helplessness. "After that, this city will be yours to protect."
She let out a forced laugh. "I don't know if I'll still be a vigilante after this."
Even though he had given her hope, her confidence had still hit rock bottom. It wouldn't return easily after today's events.
Death smiled softly and teleported them back to the bridge, where Yuri and others were almost done with the evacuation. The process was meaningless since he had taken care of the symbiote army. But then again, they didn't know if Norman would end up sending more symbiotes to claim the island.
Better to relinquish the land for a while than fight over it.
"Skullfire?" Yuri exclaimed in startled surprise. "How did you just—where did you even come from?"
"Long story," he said and set the unconscious people down against the barricade in a neat line so the officers could triage them quickly. Then he looked toward the trio of Piotr, Ava, and Amy Chen. "Captain, make sure those three receive proper recognition for what they did here."
Yuri raised an eyebrow skeptically. "Whether they get official state recognition will be up to the state. But I'll make sure to treat them to something good as thanks."
Gwen stood beside Dante, tense and desperate, waiting for him to do the impossible. Unlike Death, her future hinged on his results.
"Death, please send us to a lab."
She dropped them into a laboratory. The space wasn't flashy, but the equipment looked advanced enough to be one of the best labs in New York.
He didn't dwell on the details and pulled out one of the lab stools to sit down.
"I HATE THIS SMELL," Venom growled. "DISGUSTING."
He held back a devious smile. What he would do with Venom might trigger flashbacks about its time in the lab.
He looked over his shoulder at Gwen, who was still standing out of her element. A lab was the last place she'd have expected his "Magic" to take place.
"Gwen," he said, nodding toward one of the equipment cabinets. "Fetch me some tools to sample materials."
Gwen snapped out of her daze and crossed to the cabinet.
"Who is this Death you keep talking to?" she spoke as she worked through drawers and set equipment on the table. "Is she teleporting us everywhere?"
"The woman of my dreams."
She brought the equipment to his desk and crossed her arms. Even with the mask still on, he could practically hear her question: Are you right in your head?
He cancelled his symbiote transformation. "Venom, spit out some fragments."
"WHAT?" Venom shrieked in a surprised voice. A miniature version of Venom showed half of its body from his forearm. "WHY DO YOU NEED TO DISSECT ME?"
"You haven't digested all of them. I need some for an experiment."
"THIS IS NOT RIGHT!"
Despite the whining, Venom spat out several writhing balls on the slide. Venom knew better than to test his patience. One slip and it might be forced to experience real terror again.
Gwen seemed speechless about the situation. "How will torturing it help Dad?"
"Just keep watching."
He stored every symbiote in a different vial and touched one to study its cellular structure. Biokinesis wasn't just about humans but all organic matter, including symbiotes.
Death appeared through black smoke, sitting on the desk next to him. "You're trying to make Anti-Venom."
He indeed was. The hard part was understanding the symbiote structure and modifying it to inherit Anti-Venom's properties. In comics, Anti-Venom was born due to strange coincidences during the time Eddie Brock, without Venom, was inflicted with cancer. When Eddie's body interacted with Mr Negative's Lightforce, his white blood cells and the leftover symbiote cells underwent a change. And when those changed white blood cells interacted with Venom, a symbiote with tremendous healing power and a bane to normal symbiotes was born.
Dante had to replicate the same process without Lightforce, or rather, he had to replicate the effects of Lightforce through his biomatter manipulation. He'd have loved to make it easier by starting a new Resonance Link for the Lightforce manipulation, alas, his mental state wasn't in any condition to dive into any character's consciousness.
'I can do it.'
He had the broken ability to manipulate organic matter at a cellular level and a near-genius intellect. Creating Anti-Venom was only a matter of when.
His skin glowed golden as he poured his all into recaliberating the symbiote bit by bit and testing its interaction with other symbiotes. The process was excruciatingly slow and tedious while also exhausting his mind. The biomolecular energy—the energy powering his Biokinesis—was being used in abundance.
"You shouldn't overuse it," Death whispered from his side. "Elixir went into a coma doing less. You will suffer similar consequences."
He shook his head. "I can handle it."
Besides, it was the only feasible way to overturn the calamity of Gwen's Canon Event.
***
Gwen watched him work. She'd never seen anyone concentrate like that. Not even herself when she had tried to figure out her superpowers and web-shooters. He probably forgot the rest of the world in his single-minded research.
Until now, she hadn't really understood why Sable and Felicia were so infatuated with him. She'd written it off as charisma or his power, or maybe the circumstances in which he had saved their lives like a knight in shining armor. But watching him now, she realized it was none of those surface things.
It was this.
After fighting a grueling battle of his own, he didn't go home to relax. He had come to check up on her. And when she lashed out afterward, he hadn't snapped back. He'd stayed calm and talked her through it like he understood exactly how terrible she felt at that moment. He had comforted her, given her hope, and now worked his ass off to make it real. All of it without asking for anything in return.
They barely knew each other.
If she wanted a significant other, it had to be someone like him.
The experiments became stranger and stranger over time, as the symbiotes turned into different colors under his touch.
'Please don't fail.'
She set her butt down on a chair and quietly prayed to every god out there.
It was then she noticed the thin red trail sliding out of his nose. She was horrified at his sudden nosebleed.
"Dan—"
Invisible fingers pressed against her lips, stopping the word before it could fully form.
"Don't disturb him," a soft voice said directly inside her head.
Gwen went stiff as she watched the blood disappear from his face, wiped clean by something she couldn't see. It was like a hand made of air itself had reached out and erased the evidence.
So this was Death, the entity Dante kept talking to. This might be the goddess Felicia had mentioned, who was also in a relationship with him.
Gwen frowned under her mask and pointed her finger at his nose, where a second trickle of blood had already started, darker than the first. She tried with her body language to point to his condition.
"The consequences are his to bear," Death replied in her mind again. "If he wants to change your destiny, he has to suffer for it."
Gwen felt something twist painfully in her chest. The nosebleed didn't stop. It got worse. Everything got worse as a strand of his hair lost its dark luster and turned white. Then another. Slowly, a quarter of his hair had turned white. Whatever was providing the golden glow on his body was slowly stealing his life.
She wanted to yank him away from the desk and tell him it wasn't worth it—he didn't have to lose his life over her father. She wouldn't be able to live with herself if he broke his body trying to fix hers.
But she didn't.
Because part of her wanted him to succeed. Not just for her father's life, but for the effort he was pouring in. For the fact that he cared this much to keep his promise.
So she sat there, hands clasped under her chin in a praying gesture, and watched him bleed for her.
His frown eased, and his lips curled up into a tired, triumphant smile.
"It's fucking done," he said, poking at the white symbiote on the slide. He raised his gaze and grinned at Gwen. "Let's go save your father."
Gwen wasn't sure what made her move. Maybe it was the white strand of hair or the blood. She stepped forward and hugged him from behind. She had never held anyone this hard. Right now, she just needed him to know how much she appreciated him.
***
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