"Strange has already told us about their plans. I have to admit, it's indeed beneficial for the development of The Sanctum. However, for us, the benefits are still insufficient."
Nick furrowed his brows, lighting a cigarette with his lighter, then spoke with the cigarette in his mouth, "At this stage, I believe we should be cautious with all things related to magic. Even the wolves of Wall Street know not to expect returns from an investment prematurely."
"I have patience." Nick spoke calmly, "Although everyone knows that I'm greedy, I am clearly aware that short-term returns can be tempting, but the profits from long-term returns are even more attractive."
"Have you ever thought of going for it all?"
"What are you planning on doing now?"
"Patience. We still have a member who hasn't arrived."
At that moment, Nick received a phone call. He said to the person on the other side of the line, "What? Who? ...Okay, let him come in."
Two minutes later, Eddie Brock walked into S.H.I.E.L.D.'s office. Nick walked up and shook hands with him. Hill, who was sitting nearby, flickered with a touch of purple in her eyes. She twitched, and Shiller held the female agent's shoulder, saying, "Stay calm, Phantom."
With a hoarse tone, the Phantom that had just parasitized Hill asked, "Venom? Why are you here? Aren't you supposed to be stopping Riot?"
"Phantom, long time no see," replied Eddie, also in a hoarse voice.
Phantom was stunned. Controlling Hill, she looked up and down at Eddie and said, "Venom, what's wrong with you? Have you gone completely mad? The last time I saw you, you were still ranting about eating brains..."
Inside his mind, Eddie said to Venom, "Damn it! Did you actually eat brains?"
"Don't listen to her nonsense, I didn't."
Eddie didn't sit down but stood by the table. Venom turned to Shiller and said, "As you expected, Riot did indeed go mad."
Shiller didn't answer, but Nick looked at Shiller and said, "Seems like it's your turn to tell a story again."
"There's not much of a story to tell this time," Shiller shook his head, "I simply told Venom to provoke Riot. That's it."
Phantom exclaimed with astonishment, "You told Venom to provoke Riot?"
Finishing, she turned to Venom and said, "Didn't you want revenge on Riot? Weren't you shouting something along the lines of being Venom, being revenge?"
"Beating him up is the least creative method of revenge," Venom's voice didn't fluctuate, but it seemed to contain a peculiar rhythm that originated from a unique soul.
"You …" Looking at Venom, Phantom seemed as if she didn't recognize him anymore. "You really surprised me, Venom, you seem to have changed a lot. Before, you seemed to only want to eat brains ..."
"Still the same now."
"Then you ..."
Phantom looked through Eddie's eyes, where she saw Venom's soul. This was a unique ability of the symbiotes, which allowed them to recognize their own kind in a crowd. Through Venom's eyes, she saw a kind of coldness and darkness that she had never seen in any other symbiote. Then, she heard Venom say something that made her skin crawl,
"For symbiotes, what better food is there than the brain of our creator?"
His calmness caused Phantom to feel fear, as if she had never truly known this kindred of hers.
She was now sure that Venom had gone completely mad.
"We can catch up later," Nick turned to Shiller and said, "Tell us about your plan."
"Asgard and the Supreme Magician wish to steal Nal's power to attract greater investment from the Cosmic Sorcerer and further cement The Sanctum's authority. Although they share our stance, their interests may not necessarily align with ours."
"Put simply, they plan for the long term, while we focus on the short term."
"Earth is like a baby crying out for food. Although it can't starve to death after being hungry for a while, I still want to find something to eat now."
"Now that the God of the Symbiotic Body is here, he surely wouldn't mind leaving Earth with a unique speciality apart from being divided by the Demon God, right?"
Hovering over Greenwich Village, Stark who was in mid-air looked around and asked in confusion, "That big black guy is gone, where did Strange go?"
He looked up and saw a lit flare on a chain flew past his Mecha. Stark quickly dodged to the side, swore under his breath then turned to the flaming Skull Head, "What are you doing? Look closely! I'm on your side!"
The skull head forcefully turned its head back to Stark. Stark could tell it took a great effort, almost to the point of having to twist it back by hand. He floated beside the Skull Head and asked, "You never told me your name? Are you part of a circus troupe?"
A hoarse voice emanated from the Skull Head, "I am Ghost Rider, you sinner…"
"What?" Just as Stark was about to lose his cool, a loud noise emanated from the ground below. The Red Giant had descended from mid-air and landed with a crushing force. Following, Steve leaped down and knocked on his shield, saying, "It seems difficult to break its defense this way."
"Don't think about breaking it by force," said the Red Giant, "I'm the Red Tank. My power comes from Setorak's Red Gem, thus I can cause damage through striking the screen, but you can't."