The Roar of the Night

17

After several days of intense training, Tom had an idea: search for videos of Spider-Man rescues. With his ability to climb walls and swing around the city, Spiderman was a role model for learning to move with agility in difficult places. **"Look at this,"** Tom said, showing us a video on his computer of Spiderman saving people trapped in a burning building.

We watched closely as Spider-Man bent his legs as he fell, as he used his web shooters to propel himself from building to building, and as he clung to walls with perfect precision. **"Those moves...",** Alex commented, thoughtfully, **"I wonder if Venom has similar abilities. After all, they share something in common."** It went without saying: we had both heard rumors about the relationship between Spiderman and Venom.

Venom, who had been watching through my eyes, intervened. **"I can replicate that,"** he said in my mind. **"I can use the symbiote remains on your fingers and toes to stick to walls like him."**

**"Do you think you could do it?"** I asked him.

**"There's only one way to know,"** Venom replied determinedly.

Over the next few days, we began practicing climbing without ropes. I approached a high wall in the training area and felt the symbiote begin to spread across my hands and feet, creating a sort of organic adhesive. I tried to climb, and to my surprise, I managed to adhere without problems. I climbed slowly, imitating what we had seen in the Spiderman videos.

As the days went by, climbing became more natural to me, and I became more and more comfortable using this new skill. We started incorporating test dummies for rescues, and I practiced pulling someone out of a burning building using Venom's elasticity. With a single stretch, he could reach the dolls and remove them from dangerous areas.

Tom, always looking for ways to challenge me, got a baseball pitcher. We placed it a few meters away, and my task was to catch the balls at random, as they were fired at high speed. Venom activated at the right moment, extending my arms elastically to catch the balls in the air without problem.

**"Good job!"** shouted Tom, as he caught the last ball with ease. But although he had made progress, he felt that something was missing.

One day, after another training session, Alex approached me. He looked at me silently for a few seconds, as if he was about to tell me something important. **"I know you can do it,"** I thought he was going to tell me, but he didn't. He seemed hesitant, as if he were evaluating whether he should say it or not.

At that moment, I felt a wave of doubt. Was he really ready to take on something beyond training? I knew I had the strength and the ability, but there was something inside me that was still holding me back. The real test had yet to come, and although my coaches trusted me, I wasn't completely sure I could do it.

The training would continue, but the question remained: Was he really ready to be a hero?