Since living together with Diana, Russell had never experienced sleeping alone, except when either he or Diana was not at home. Although the bed seemed a bit cramped when two people slept together, the sheets were prone to getting damp, and the blanket was occasionally stolen. There were also complaints like "You're messing up my hair," Russell still preferred sleeping together.
Not for any other reason, just because it felt more secure that way!
With a powerful and reliable demigoddess sleeping beside him, feeling unsafe was almost impossible.
What's more, Russell had some less than ideal sleeping habits, such as his tendency to hold onto things while sleeping.
Upon hearing the sound of the door being locked from the master bedroom, Russell let out a sigh of resignation, gently patting the black liquid-like entity that had emerged from his chest, a manifestation of the symbiotic power.
After retracting the black liquid-like entity, Russell picked up the pajamas Diana had thrown at him and headed towards the guest bathroom.
After freshening up, dressed in his pajamas, he arrived at the clean guest bedroom, which had never been slept in before.
Lying in bed, whether it was due to the absence of someone by his side or because of an unfamiliar environment, Russell found himself tossing and turning for over half an hour, unable to fall asleep.
In the end, he sat up and once again began mastering his newfound ability.
He intended to work on this problem throughout the night.
Having a stunning and well-proportioned cohabiting girlfriend and still ending up sleeping in the guest room alone... It was enough to experience this for just one night.
The night quickly passed.
The next day.
When the faint sound of utensils clinking in the kitchen reached Russell's ears, he slowly opened his eyes.
In the kitchen, Diana, wearing an oversized men's white shirt on top and adopting the "bottoms missing" style on the bottom, revealing her slender and graceful legs, was preparing breakfast.
Soft golden sunlight streamed in through the window, draping over Diana like a veil, making her look both saintly and gently virtuous, emitting an indescribable warmth.
"Morning!"
Having freshened up, Russell, in his pajamas, entered the kitchen and, following his usual routine, embraced Diana from behind.
Just as he was about to proceed as usual, running his hands up and down Diana as she prepared breakfast, a forceful elbow jab struck his right ribs, instantly jolting him awake.
Hiss...
Taking in a sharp breath, Russell instinctively stepped back several paces, rubbing his right rib that Diana's elbow had impacted.
Having lived together for over two years, Diana was well aware of the extent of Russell's physical resilience. Otherwise, she wouldn't be able to completely drain his energy each time they were intimate.
Diana's elbow jab just now would be deadly for an ordinary person, but for Russell, it fell right in between injury and non-injury territory.
Diana's control over her strength, honed through her training as an Amazon warrior, was truly extraordinary.
"I've mastered the newly awakened power perfectly."
Russell quickly explained as he massaged his slightly aching ribs.
Hearing his words, Diana paused in flipping the bacon with her right hand. Then, her sweet and soothing voice sounded.
"Show me after breakfast."
A few minutes later, breakfast that Diana personally cooked was ready.
Scrambled eggs, toast, bacon, milk.
A very typical American breakfast.
After setting the table with the plated breakfast, Russell and Diana sat face to face.
Just as Russell was about to pick up his fork to enjoy Diana's homemade breakfast, she looked at him seriously and said, "You said you've mastered the new power perfectly. Demonstrate it."
"No problem!"
Raising his left hand with his palm facing upwards and his fingers spread apart, the tips of his five fingers emitted black tendrils the next moment.
Under his control, these black tendrils flew towards the various seasoning bottles on the table, such as the salt and ketchup bottles.
Two of the black tendrils even picked up the knife and fork from the table, then began to spread jam on toast and cut the toast and scrambled eggs into bite-sized pieces according to his habits.
Under Diana's gaze, the knife and fork, expertly controlled by the black tendrils, brought the neatly cut toast and scrambled eggs to Russell's mouth.
"How about it, convenient, right?"
While controlling the black tendrils to feed himself, Russell looked at Diana and said.
"Your ability looks a bit disgusting."
What?
After spending the entire night mastering the "Symbiote Venom" ability to this extent, all he got was an evaluation of "a bit disgusting."
Right now, the focus shouldn't be on the precise manipulation of the black tendrils. How could she attack the external form of the symbiote?
Furthermore, the appearance of the slimy tendrils wasn't something the symbiote could control.
If blame was to be assigned, it should be directed at Knull, the god who created the symbiote race.
Although he thought this in his mind, Russell didn't plan to argue with Diana about it. He retracted the black tendrils that had emerged from his left hand.
"Let's put aside whether this ability is disgusting or not. How did you find me last night?"
Although Diana was a superhero, since he had known her, he had never seen her engaging in any superhero activities.
The Rhino-Man had been robbing banks for quite some time, and Spider-Woman and the Fantastic Four had attempted to apprehend him.
However, from Diana's behavior, it seemed unlikely that she would go after the Rhino-Man just for robbing a bank yesterday.
"I received an anonymous call. They told me you had kidnapped a journalist who was in danger and provided me with your location."
Diana put down the knife and fork in her hand, frowning.
An anonymous call?
Knowing that he had kidnapped Eddie Brock and even knowing his exact location.
Clearly, the person making the anonymous call had highly accurate information.
Upon hearing this, Russell's mind immediately conjured up a suspicious candidate.
S.H.I.E.L.D.!
While it was possible that someone else had made the anonymous call, given the current circumstances, S.H.I.E.L.D. was the most likely candidate.
This world was somewhat different from the cinematic universe he was familiar with.
Captain America, Steve Rogers, had been unearthed by S.H.I.E.L.D. seven or eight years ago.
For reasons unknown, S.H.I.E.L.D. hadn't concealed this information after Captain America was thawed out, and instead brought him into the spotlight.
Capitalizing on this, S.H.I.E.L.D. transitioned from a covert government agency to a public entity.
Not long after Captain America's "resurrection," the Fantastic Four appeared, and Spider-Woman had made her debut four years ago.