The Slightly Balding Man

"Who was inside the other monster?"

The internet-addicted youth felt a surge of curiosity.

He watched Batman switch off some kind of sonic device, and the clamoring noise around him vanished.

Whoosh!

The other monster suddenly turned to look at him.

Having finally regained his ability to move, the internet-addicted youth fled in blind panic, scrambling and crawling away from the bridgehead.

How could he possibly care about who was inside the other monster now?

Fear seized him again. Only after getting far away from the Golden Gate Bridge and squeezing into a more distant crowd did the internet-addicted youth finally relax.

On the Golden Gate Bridge, Anton held the barely alive Drake and looked at Venom.

"You shouldn't expose yourself right now. Leave first. I'll handle the rest."

Anton instructed.

"Understood."

Eddie had dealt with Drake, and Venom had dealt with Riot. Both of them felt much more at ease.

Venom answered, maintained his Venom form, and leaped into the sea.

Anton, meanwhile, sprang into the air. Carrying the unconscious Drake, he landed atop the hovering Batmobile and looked toward the San Francisco Police Department.

Wee-oo, wee-oo!

One emergency call after another came in. Patrol officers near the Golden Gate Bridge, along with officers dispatched from headquarters, were racing over at top speed.

Just as the patrol officers were about to reach the Golden Gate Bridge, an astonishing sight suddenly appeared before their vehicle.

A pitch-black car flew through the air.

It had an exaggerated wide-body design, with the vague outlines of gun barrels and various weapon systems visible on both sides. It looked both cool and terrifying.

Most importantly, someone stood on its hood.

His cape billowed behind him, and the half of his face exposed beneath his helmet was filled with icy severity.

"Batman!"

The officer in the car recognized this recently emerged "celebrity" at once.

"Who's the man he's carrying?"

"Drake!"

"It's Drake from the Life Foundation!"

The officers exchanged glances, unable to understand what Batman meant.

Bang!

Then Batman threw Drake at them.

Drake slammed heavily onto the hood of the police car, nearly denting it in.

At that moment, Drake was struggling to breathe and on the verge of death. After being thrown like that, agony spread across his face, as though he might breathe his last at any moment.

The flames had not only killed Riot completely; as Riot's host, Drake had also suffered severe burns, with more than half his face ruined.

If Riot had not maintained its symbiote form as a shell and shielded him from most of the damage, he would have been reduced to ashes within three seconds of the flamethrower activating.

"I'll leave him to you. I hope the San Francisco Police Department won't disappoint me."

Leaving those words behind, Batman remained standing atop the Batmobile as he drifted away, cutting an exceptionally dashing figure.

A group of citizens who would stop at nothing for a spectacle followed close behind.

They had chased after Batman.

Seeing Drake sprawled across the police car's hood, they looked at one another. Knowing they could not catch Batman, they simply surrounded the police car instead.

The officers got out to control the situation and question them at the same time.

A few minutes later, headquarters personnel arrived, and they finally figured out what had happened.

"This has gotten big!"

The chief of the San Francisco Police Department sucked in a breath. He could already picture the chaos at San Francisco City Hall.

In the crowd, Anne and Dan Lewis, who had originally been headed for the Golden Gate Bridge but had followed the flow of people here, also learned what had happened from the others. Both let out sighs of relief.

They looked at each other and smiled.

It was over!

The trouble had been completely resolved!

Thank Batman!

Anton did not hurry back to Anne's house. Instead, he first went to the outskirts, retrieved Anne's car from the secluded countryside, and drove back into the city while humming a tune.

He was in an exceptionally good mood.

It was not because of the anticlimactic battle just now. Easily dealing with Riot and Drake had been part of his plan from the beginning and had gone entirely according to expectations.

The real reason he was so happy was the system notification.

[Resolved Riot and brought down the Life Foundation. Reward: 8 million Justice Points]

Current Justice Points: 10 million.

What did that mean? It meant Anton could exchange for Batman's special suits from the system space at any time.

Although he could only afford a few of the relatively cheap ones, it was already a huge step forward.

I'm finally out of basic gear!

Anton sighed inwardly.

Whether he should immediately exchange for a special suit or save up for the most expensive one and do it all in one go still required careful consideration.

He was in no rush and leisurely drove back to Anne's house.

At that moment.

Anne and Lewis had not returned yet, but Eddie had been waiting in the living room for a long time to welcome him back.

"Anton, it was all thanks to you!"

Eddie's expression was complicated. Through Venom's reminder, he had recognized Anton beneath the Batman suit.

Symbiotes did not identify people by their faces.

By sensing smell, voice, and other factors, Venom had recognized Anton, whom he regarded favorably, almost at first glance.

The moment Anton arrived swiftly as Batman during the battle, Venom had already given Eddie the answer in his mind.

"No need to thank me. You earned it."

Anton smiled faintly and openly accepted Eddie's gratitude.

Today on the Golden Gate Bridge, Eddie and Venom had been completely overwhelmed by Drake and Riot. They had practically been pinned down and beaten without any ability to fight back.

If Anton had not arrived, the outcome would have been hard to predict.

This time, he was not taking undue credit. They truly could not have done it without him.

Honestly, Venom's performance today had not been as strong as Anton had expected.

Then he thought of the original plot in his memories. Venom had not beaten Riot there either. He had needed help from his ex-girlfriend just to barely win the battle.

That explained it!

Of course, this incident also served as a reminder to Anton.

The protagonists of the original plot were all children of destiny, favored by fate. But now that Anton, like a little butterfly, had flapped his wings, the world's fate line had changed accordingly, and everything had become somewhat different.

Aside from those with especially stubborn fates, like Tony Stark, Anton could no longer judge others strictly according to the plot in his mind.

"I handed Drake over to the police. There's no way he can turn things around!"

Anton was certain. "Even if he wants to make a comeback, he'll have to consider whether Osborn Company is willing to let him."

"Osborn..."

Eddie had not forgotten that during their earlier escape, it had not only been the Life Foundation pursuing him. Osborn Company had also sent private soldiers after him.

His expression grew solemn. "How should I deal with Osborn?"

"I'll speak to them for you. At present, the Daily Bugle has some cooperation with Osborn Company, so I have some influence there." Anton comforted him. "Osborn Company isn't like the Life Foundation. Bringing it down would be difficult. With our strength alone, it would be no less of an undertaking than the moon landing in the last century. So for now, it's best to play along with Norman Osborn."

"Understood."

Eddie nodded. He was not actually too worried about the threat Osborn posed to him.

First, he now had a symbiote inside him. With Venom ready to fight for him at any time, he counted as a superhuman.

Second, Batman was his boss!

Neither of them was an ordinary person.

After the Life Foundation and Drake's downfall, Osborn Company would surely reconsider the consequences and would not choose such a crude approach again.

Most importantly, Eddie knew that what Osborn Company cared about was the symbiote.

Now that the Life Foundation was in turmoil and Osborn Company had always wanted to take control of it, this was a perfect opportunity.

Once Osborn Company obtained the symbiote, its interest in him as a host would presumably diminish considerably.

With the Daily Bugle, represented by Anton, speaking on his behalf, it would be perfectly natural for them to abandon any action against him.

From what Eddie knew of Osborn Company, Norman Osborn was not the same kind of person as Drake.

At the very least, the former did not have such an intense obsession with aliens.

Soon enough.

Anne and Lewis returned home.

There was another round of small talk.

"Alright, no business talk today. Let's go wild!"

Anton slapped the table and said the three words everyone loved to hear.

"My treat!"

After they partied without a care at a San Francisco nightclub until dawn and finally woke up in their respective hotel rooms.

Knock, knock, knock!

Everyone was awakened by knocking at the door.

Different people stood outside each of their rooms, all dressed in suits with extremely serious expressions.

"Hello, Anton."

The slightly balding man smiled and introduced himself. "I'm Phil Coulson from the Strategic Homeland Defense, Attack, and Logistics Support Agency. Our department is a special force established by the International Security Council specifically to handle all kinds of unusual incidents..."