Chapter 10: Symbiote

Since Natasha wanted to keep it, Benjamin let her keep it.

Anyway, there wasn’t anything else there. Even the fact that he took the Small Recovery Pill or gave it to Janice was hidden from the camera.

“As long as you don’t show that to anyone else...otherwise, it’s really too embarrassing.”

“Of course! Don’t worry! Only three people will know of this. Me, you, and this bitch!”

Benjamin looked at the time and said.

“I need to go, it’s nearly time for work.”

“Can’t you call in sick? Otherwise, I can say you helped assist a SHIELD case.”

“Aren’t I fine? It’s okay. Anyway, I don’t have anything else to do today.”

Natasha nodded.

“Alright. I’ll go and bring this one to SHIELD. I’ll see you later then.”

“Un. Oh, I might return home late. Don’t worry, it’s just hanging out with my colleagues.”

“Okay. Stay safe!”

“You too!”

After Natasha left, Benjamin looked at the time again and saw that it was nearly time for work. If he leaves now, he’ll still be late when he arrives at the precinct.

Thinking that, he took out the Sling Ring and thought of an alley near the precinct.

He circled his hand in front of him a few times and a portal appeared in front of him.

“This is so convenient!”

He took a step inside the portal and instantly arrived at the alley near the precinct.

He ran for a bit and made it in time.

There wasn’t anything significant that day too and they weren’t assigned a new case so both Jake and him continued to work on the old cases.

This time, Benjamin only managed to solve three while Jake solved four.

He gained 400 MP but no free Gacha Draws which made Benjamin sigh in disappointment.

Meanwhile, inside a SHIELD detainment facility.

Janice began to wake up and found himself locked up in a cell.

“What is this? Where am I!?”

Suddenly, a familiar voice sounded from outside her cell.

“You are in a secured SHIELD facility, Janice Lincoln. Or should I call you, Beetle?”

In the apartment, although there wasn’t any spare clothes, Benjamin did find her Beetle suit so it was rather easy to explain that she was the Beetle.

It seems she kept the suit there and planned to wear it after she was done with Benjamin.

Natasha didn’t explain the full story to Fury as well and simply said that she found a lead and managed to capture her while her guard was down.

Janice’ eyes widened as she saw Natasha.

“You!”

“Yes, me.”

Natasha grinned.

“You really had a lot of guts. To give Ben an aphrodisiac. Even I can’t handle him when he’s restraining himself yet you unleashed his wild desires.”

Natasha shook her head while laughing.

Janice’s face turned red as she thought about what happened that night.

In fact, she could even feel her body was still sore...it was simply too intense!

“Well, thanks to that, I managed to catch you rather easily! Well done!”

“...”

“You’re gonna be here for a long time. I suggest you make yourself comfortable.”

After saying her piece, Natasha swaggered out of the facility and left her alone.

Inside the cell, Janice couldn’t help but keep remembering that night. Her lower body started to itch for some reason…

99th precinct. 

After dealing with the old cases, Benjamin and Jake went to a pub to hang out and drink.

They celebrated and drank a lot, leading to Jake getting drunk so he had to help him back to his apartment before returning home.

Natasha had just finished cooking and was setting up the table by the time Benjamin arrived.

“You look like you're in a good mood.”

Benjamin smiled when he saw Natasha wearing nothing underneath her apron and hugged her.

“Of course! I finally caught that bug after all! It was all thanks to you too!”

“You’re really not mad that I slept with her?”

Natasha rolled her eyes.

“I told you it’s fine already. You can sleep with anyone you like. I don’t care about those one-night stands but if you’re planning to get serious with someone, you better tell me beforehand!”

Benjamin sweated.

What kind of logic is this?

Natasha turned around and hugged his neck.

“Look, I know I can be pretty busy with my work and I don’t get home most of the time. I also know that you’re holding yourself back for me. I’m telling you it’s fine. As long as I will always have a place in your heart, I don’t mind.”

Benjamin smiled and kissed her.

“You will always have a place in my heart. Even if you shout Hail Hydra right now.”

“Ben! That’s not funny!”

Natasha pouted and punched him lightly.

Benjamin just laughed.

“Alright. But seriously, what are you wearing? If you’re like this, I’ll have to eat you for dinner, you know?”

“Kya~!”

Benjamin was no longer able to hold back so he carried her to the bed and started their battle.

The following morning, they reheated the dishes last night and ate them for breakfast.

Benjamin then left for the precinct.

After working on a few old cases, everyone was called in for a meeting. It seems that something has happened.

Jake and him were assigned to an odd murder case involving a locked room, a victim, and a mysterious killer.

[Main Quest: Solve the mystery of Edward Shaw’s death.]

[Victim died in a locked room! Solve the mystery and close the case!]

[Rewards: 200 MP, Free Gacha Draw.]

[Failure Condition: Unsolved after 5 days.]

[Failure: -500 MP, Weakened state for 24 hours]

“Finally! A locked room murder case!”

Jake was hyped about it and was so excited to go to the crime scene immediately.

However, Captain Holt’s cold voice cut him off.

“Freed, you will be the primary for this case.”

“What!? Nooooo!”

Jake fell down and lamented.

Benjamin looked at him with pity then left, ignoring him.

“Ah, wait for me!”

A few minutes later. They arrived at an apartment where the murder happened.

The M.E. was already there and canvassing the scene.

“What have we got?”

Benjamin asked the M.E.

“Vic’s name is Edward Shaw. Single. 41 years old. Unemployed.”

The M.E. provided them with a basic profile that the officers got from questioning the neighbors and the victim’s ID.

“Cause of death is a stab to the back, as you can see from the knife still there. The victim died of blood loss.”

“Any prints on the knife?”

“Only the vic’s. But this is a kitchen knife and judging from the missing knife in the kitchen, it should be his so it’s normal for his prints to be there.”

Benjamin nodded.

Jake was already having a look around the room.

“The windows and doors are all locked yes? How was the body discovered?”

“Time of death was around 2-3 days ago. Body started to smell and since the neighbors complained about it, the landlord unlocked the door to check in and found the body.”

“And the key to the apartment?”

“In the victim’s pocket.”

Jake grinned like crazy.

This was an actual locked-room murder! The thing you only see on TV and in movies!

He was so excited to solve the mystery behind it. Perhaps they will make a book about him. No, maybe Benjamin will write it like how Watson wrote Sherlock’s story!

While Jake’s mind was full of delusions, Benjamin sighed and shook his head.

“This isn’t a murder.”

“Huh?”

Both the M.E. and Jake looked at Benjamin like he was crazy.

Can’t you see the knife at the back? How is this not a murder? Is it suicide then? How can the victim stab himself in the back then?

Benjamin explained.

“The floor’s wet and the victim’s clothes are damp. Why?”

“Maybe sweat?”

“No. You can have it checked but I highly doubt it. It's already been 2-3 days after all. If I’m right, it should be water that was made from ice melting.”

“Ice?”

Benjamin nodded.

“The victim lodged the knife handle in the middle of a block of ice and placed it on the floor. He then stood on that chair and jumped backward on his back, before rolling over. You can see on the floor here there is a small indention on the floor. If you check the size of it, it should perfectly fit the butt of the knife on the victim’s body. Time passed and the ice melted, creating an illusion that the victim was attacked and the murderer escaped somehow in a locked room.”

Everyone was speechless.

What he said just now...made a lot of sense!

Afterward, the M.E. collected samples here and there and went back to the lab to verify it while Jake went around to question the neighbors.

The result was...exactly how Benjamin said!

3 days ago, the neighbors heard a loud thud in the victim’s room but didn’t bother about it. The water collected by the M.E. was also not from sweat but just water!

The butt of the knife also indeed fit perfectly on the indent left on the floor.

Not to mention, after some investigation, they found that the victim was drowning in debts and had no way to pay for it. It was the perfect motive for killing himself.

Probably, the victim wanted it to look like murder so that the police would look into his debts and think that loan sharks killed him. He wanted to die while sending them to jail!

The only thing is…he forgot that he had locked his apartment and it was virtually impossible to kill him like so…well unless the culprit had some strange powers…

After spending the afternoon verifying, Jake felt down.

“It wasn’t a locked room murder…”

“...Are you that sad it wasn’t a murder!?”

“Of course!”

“...”

Benjamin was speechless.

Actually, what they didn’t know, was that Benjamin had seen this kind of case before...in Detective Conan!

He was really at a loss for words when he found out that it was exactly the same!

But Benjamin already checked before, there was no Detective Conan manga in this world at all…

It means...this victim just figured it out on his own…

Benjamin sighed and shook his head.

[Congratulations to host for completing the Main Quest: Solve the mystery of Edward Shaw’s death.]

[Gained 200 MP, Free Gacha Draw]

Well, at least he got good stuff out of it.

Also, it was worth noting that the quest failure condition wasn't the culprit escaping but being unsolved for 5 days…

Benjamin noted this as he can also use the quest to somehow gain some clues in the future.

After all, it seems that it already knows that this wasn't murder!

After heading home and checking that Natasha isn’t back yet, Benjamin rubbed his hands and decided to roll for Gacha!

“Please don’t be white again…”

While praying to get at least a blue gacha, the gacha balls started to roll around and finally dropped a single ball.

Hm?

Hmmm???

Benjamin’s eyes widened in shock as he saw the color of the ball that landed.

He pinched himself twice on the cheek but the color was still the same.

It was…

“RED! A RED COLORED GACHA APPEARED!!!”

[Congratulations to host for getting Untainted Symbiote!]

“...Huh? Untainted Symbiote? This…”

Benjamin froze.

Is this...what I think it is…?

He quickly took it out and found a capsule the size of a rugby ball that appeared in front of him. Inside it was a white gooey substance...

[Untainted Symbiote: This symbiote has been genetically engineered by the System that acts like a real symbiote but without ego or any side effects when it binds to a host. Does not have a weakness to fire or high frequency.]

“...”

Benjamin was speechless for a good few minutes before finally erupting.

“HOLY SHIT!”

This was even better than Benjamin could’ve hoped for!

Not only does it act like a real symbiote like Venom or Carnage, but it also doesn’t have an ego or any kind of side effect!

It was basically a very high-end piece of equipment!

With it, Benjamin was now very confident about his own safety!

Even if he’s injured, as long as this symbiote is bonded to him, he would be able to heal without any worries.

It doesn’t even have the weakness of a normal symbiote! It was perfect!

Benjamin no longer hesitated and opened up the capsule.

Instantly, the white gooey substance crawled out and attached to him as it seeped into his pores and hid in his body.

Benjamin felt even more powerful now that the symbiote had bonded to him.

With a thought, the symbiote appeared on his skin and covered his whole body.

He walked to the bathroom to look at himself in the mirror.

He didn’t appear as bulky as Venom nor did he have the face of a monster like them.

Instead, it wore around him like spandex. He was simply a silhouette of pure white. There were also no eyes.

Benjamin opened his mouth and his face cracked where his mouth used to be.

“Wow. That’s so creepy...I like it!”

But yeah, it is indeed too creepy.

Benjamin recalled the symbiote and reverted back to his real appearance and clothes.

All in all, Benjamin was quite happy with this symbiote as he also doesn’t need to have another voice in his head.

The System was enough.

[Hey!]

But seriously. If a red gacha drop was already this good...just what on earth are the gold ones then?

[The Infinity Stones, Mjolnir, Stormbreaker, Infinity Gauntlet, Darkhold, Odinsword,-]

“I get it I get it! Insane shit!”

Benjamin sweated.

Although those things are indeed powerful...somehow, Benjamin is afraid to get them instead. Having in possession of any of them can easily land him into loads of trouble…

After a while, Natasha still hasn’t returned so Benjamin slept in early for tomorrow. Anyway, he was used to it as Natasha would often not return for a few days in the past.

In the blink of an eye, 5 days had passed.

During these 5 days, Benjamin had solved old cases and spent the weekends. There wasn’t anything noteworthy that happened other than a few murders which they solved quite easily.

He had 2 free gacha draws since then but he only got a few miscellaneous things which were Caltrop Traps and Stun Grenades.

Benjamin just chucked them in his Inventory.

Today, something different happened.

The precinct was abuzz as Captain Holt began to issue orders.

“Listen up! There is a shootout reported to be happening in an abandoned factory! SWAT has been called in but we still need to be there to set up the perimeter to make sure no civilians get hurt, understood!?”

“Understood!”

“Then get moving!”

Everyone quickly wore their bulletproof vests and moved out.

Benjamin doesn’t really need it but there’s no need to raise any suspicions about himself so he also wore it and followed everyone.

They all got into an armored truck and set out.

---------

Note: btw, if anyone forgots, the ranking in the gacha is white - blue - green - red - gold from low to high rarity.