BANG!
Rick Frey’s body slammed into the basement wall.
The impact shook the room.
Leon held him there by the throat with one hand.
Rick’s back struck the concrete hard enough to rattle his insides, and blood immediately leaked from the corner of his mouth.
The enormous black figure leaned closer.
“Rick Frey.” Leon’s voice came through Venom distorted—deep, rough, and utterly cold.
Rick’s eyes widened.
The creature knew his name.
That terrified him almost as much as its appearance.
Leon tightened his grip.
“The crash from a few days ago.” His pale eyes stared directly into Rick’s.
“Who ordered it?” That was the only thing Leon cared about.
He didn’t want excuses.
He didn’t want a story.
He wanted a name.
Then he wanted Rick dead.
Leon released his throat.
Rick collapsed to the floor and immediately clutched his neck.
“Cough—!” Blood mixed with saliva as he struggled to breathe.
He looked up at Leon in terror.
“Don’t kill me!” Rick raised his remaining hand.
“I was just following orders!” Another cough tore through him.
“I’ll tell you everything!” Rick Frey had spent years doing dirty work for criminals.
He’d always known that one day someone might come looking for revenge.
Because of that, he’d already imagined how he would handle such a situation.
Beg.
Give up information.
Shift the blame upward.
Offer names.
Offer locations.
Offer anything necessary.
Then make a deal for his life.
As long as he survived, everyone else was expendable.
Leon stared down at him.
“You can start talking.” His voice held no emotion.
Rick swallowed.
“I’ll tell you whatever you want.” He forced himself to think through the fear.
“But I need to know you’ll let me live afterward.” Leon said nothing.
Rick took that silence as an opportunity.
“I’d be risking my life by giving you this information, so you need to—” “AAAAAGH!” His sentence ended in a scream.
Something black flashed through the air.
Rick stared down in disbelief.
One of his hands was gone.
Blood sprayed from the severed wrist.
A black tendril extended from Leon’s back, its tip transformed into a razor-edged blade that gleamed like dark metal.
Rick screamed and grabbed the stump.
Leon stepped closer.
“I think you’ve misunderstood something.” The blade drifted toward Rick’s face.
“Your life is already in my hands.” The edge traced slowly across his cheek.
A thin red line appeared in its wake.
Rick’s earlier composure shattered.
At first, he’d been terrified by Leon’s appearance.
But once the creature started talking and asking questions, Rick had convinced himself there was still something human beneath the monster.
Something that could bargain.
Something that could be negotiated with.
Then the tendrils appeared.
The blade.
The effortless mutilation.
Rick finally understood something far worse.
Whatever was standing in front of him might speak like a man— But it really was a monster.
Leon looked down at him.
“You have two choices.” More black tendrils unfolded behind him.
“The first is simple.” Rick trembled.
“You tell me everything you know.” Leon paused.
“Then I kill you quickly.” Rick’s face went pale.
“The second option is that you refuse.” The tendrils spread wider.
“And I make you talk anyway.” Leon’s voice became colder.
“Slowly.” The basement fell silent except for Rick’s ragged breathing.
“I’ll give you five seconds.” Leon raised one hand.
“If you still haven’t started talking when those five seconds are over, I’ll show you what real cruelty feels like.” Rick’s thoughts collapsed into panic.
He couldn’t think clearly anymore.
There was only despair.
Leon began counting.
“One.” Rick opened his mouth.
Nothing came out.
“Two.” His eyes darted desperately around the basement.
There was nowhere to run.
“Three.” Several tendrils moved at once.
They shot forward.
Rick screamed.
Four black spikes pierced his limbs and lifted him off the floor.
His back struck the wall again.
The tendrils pinned him there like an insect displayed on a board.
“AAAAAAAH!” Blood ran down the concrete.
Leon watched him struggle.
“That was just a reminder.” Rick sobbed through clenched teeth.
“In case you thought I was bluffing.” Leon’s pale eyes remained fixed on him.
“You have two seconds left.” Rick’s entire body shook.
Cold sweat covered his face.
Some dark part of Leon felt a grim satisfaction watching fear consume the man responsible for Ben’s death.
Venom’s head emerged over Leon’s shoulder.
Its grin widened.
“Heh.” Venom inhaled theatrically.
“I can practically smell the fear pouring out of him.” Rick stared.
His pupils shrank.
Venom moved closer.
“His mind’s almost breaking.” That was enough.
Whatever remained of Rick’s resistance collapsed.
He lost control of his bladder and bowels as the terror overwhelmed him.
“WAIT!” Words poured from him.
“I’ll talk!” And he did.
Names.
Orders.
Contacts.
Everything he knew.
He stumbled over himself trying to give Leon every detail fast enough to stay alive.
Leon listened without interrupting.
By the time Rick finally ran out of information, his voice was hoarse and his body hung limply against the wall.
Leon had what he needed.
He didn’t drag it out.
The black blade flashed once.
Rick’s head separated cleanly from his body.
It hit the floor.
Blood erupted from the severed neck, splashing across the concrete.
The smell filled the cramped basement almost immediately.
Leon froze.
He had looked cold.
He had acted cold.
He had threatened Rick without hesitation.
But this was still the first time he’d ever stood this close to a freshly killed human body.
His stomach twisted violently.
“Ugh—” Leon turned aside.
He gagged.
Then gagged again.
He braced one hand against the wall and struck his chest with the other as nausea surged through him.
Venom blinked.
“Oh.” Leon coughed.
Venom scratched the side of its head with a tendril.
“Sorry.” Leon glared weakly at it.
“I forgot to dull your sense of smell.” Leon bent forward again.
“Don’t.” “What?” “I said don’t.” He swallowed hard.
“I need to get used to this.” Venom stared.
Leon wiped his mouth.
“We only got limited information from Rick.” He looked toward the corpse.
“That means there are more people ahead.” The nausea surged again.
Leon turned away.
“Damn it…” Venom watched him silently.
Leon forced himself to breathe through the smell.
“If this keeps going, I can’t have you shutting off my senses every time.” He straightened slightly.
“I need to adapt.” And somehow— He did.
It wasn’t immediate.
For nearly half an hour, Leon remained near the wall, fighting waves of nausea.
Then the reaction gradually weakened.
The smell was still there.
The blood was still there.
The corpse hadn’t changed.
But Leon’s body and mind stopped responding as violently.
Eventually, he exhaled slowly.
“All right.” Venom seemed genuinely impressed.
Leon turned toward it.
“You still want his brain?” Venom looked at Rick’s severed head.
Leon glanced down too.
“I already removed it for you.” He paused.
“Although there’s blood and dirt all over it now.” Venom studied the scene.
Then shook its head.
“No.” Leon blinked.
“You’re refusing food?” “It’s filthy.” Leon looked at the concrete floor.
“You eat things with the wrappers still on.” “That’s different.” Venom pointed toward Rick’s corpse.
“He pissed and shit himself.” A disgusted expression somehow appeared on Venom’s monstrous face.
“Even I have standards.” Leon stared at it.
“So dirt is fine.” “Yes.” “But that crosses the line.” “Absolutely.” Leon almost laughed.
“I didn’t realize you were so picky.” “I’m not picky.” Venom sounded offended.
“I just have basic dignity.” Leon shook his head.
“Fine.” He looked around the basement.
“Let’s clean up anything that could trace back to us and leave.” “There are more records to check.” “And more people to find.” Venom perked up at that.
Rick hadn’t become the meal Venom wanted.
There would be another opportunity.
Leon glanced toward the corpse one last time.
Rick Frey had only been a small piece of the organization.
A disposable thug.
The trail didn’t end here.
If anything— It had finally begun.
Leon and Venom erased the traces of their presence as thoroughly as they could.
They didn’t bother cleaning the blood.
They didn’t move the body.
They only removed what could connect the crime scene to them.
Then Leon opened the basement door.
Night air rolled in.
Venom melted back into his suit.
A moment later, the black figure disappeared into the darkness.
Rick Frey’s headless corpse remained behind.
Leon didn’t care how long it took someone to find him.
Rick had murdered Ben.
Now he was dead.
And the information he’d given Leon pointed toward the next man in the chain.
Paul Marks.
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