Chapter 4 – Lucky Me
POV: Venom
As night fell, a black flicker slithered through the sheets with the elegance one might expect from a sentient slime.
Temporarily detached from Peter's body, I moved silently through the house. My movements were fluid, almost like a dance, and my destination had already been set: the boy's parents' office.
According to Peter's fragmented memories, his parents were brilliant scientists.
I dismissed that notion within seconds. It was nothing but a child's admiration for distant figures. Almost laughable. They spent most of their time buried in research, in sterile laboratories, barely acknowledging the boy. Honestly? He might've received more affection from my original host—who fed me for a few months and then dumped me on a technologically stunted planet—than from these two so-called parents.
Still, I needed orientation. I had to understand what kind of planet I had landed on. Because even backward worlds can hide dangerous advancements. Deadly ones. Unexpected ones.
And I had to understand human biology in detail. The more I knew, the more I could enhance his potential.
And mine.
It had been ridiculously easy to deceive the child. Three years old. A developing mind. An emotional sponge. One gentle gesture, a soft voice — and he thought I was nice.
Pathetic.
But... forgivable.
He was only three, after all.
Funny, even saying it out loud.
Still, I must admit: I've been influenced by him. This small human.
He is my first contact on this world.
And first contact... shapes the symbiote. It always has.
But what luck.
Who would've thought the first living being I'd bond with would be 100% compatible with me?
---
That's when I realized: the human world is an organized chaos held together by pathetic... and utterly fascinating creatures.
They build machines they don't understand.
They write formulas they can't fully use.
And — best of all — they store their most precious knowledge on paper.
Paper.
What kind of primitive species still uses paper?
Richard and Mary Parker.
Scientists. Rebels. Secret-obsessed.
A pair of geniuses playing god with spider DNA and genetic engineering.
What delicious irony — in the end, their secrets fell into the hands of a slimy alien with too many teeth.
Maybe Peter was right.
They really are geniuses.
Heh.
Lucky me.
As I slithered across the shelves, absorbing knowledge straight from books and notes, I realized this was part of something much bigger.
Not just genetic experiments.
They were mapping compatibility. Trying to create a vessel for... something.
A mutation involving spiders and scorpions.
Peter.
They shaped him before he was even born.
Controlled diet. Genetic supplements. Emotionally calibrated isolation.
And without knowing it, they were preparing him for me.
— They built me a home before they even knew I was coming.
How... sweet.
But something's wrong. Very wrong.
Despite all the experiments they performed on themselves and the boy… he has nothing out of the ordinary.
No latent abilities.
No active mutations.
No visible genetic markers.
A failure?
No.
Unlikely.
Richard and Mary wouldn't leave such a critical variable to chance.
So what's missing?
From what I gathered, these two were obsessed with perfection.
Lab-coat fanatics.
Functionally autistic with a hyperfixation on spiders and their warped vision of science.
If Peter had failed their standards… they would've discarded him.
Adoption. Institutionalization. Or worse.
Not out of cruelty — but out of conviction.
The boy must have a purpose.
There has to be an activator. A trigger.
Radiation? A chemical compound?
Or maybe... another lifeform.
Maybe... me.
Now that I know this gene exists, I could activate it. But—
If I do it now — while his body is still growing, with a nervous system in development — I might permanently limit his potential.
And if his parents didn't activate it, despite having the means, it's because they knew this.
Better to wait.
Ideal physical maturity for full activation would be around eighteen.
But with my interference?
I could speed it up.
Maybe by fifteen. Safely.
— They prepared the body.
I'll shape the mind.