Symbiote 0235: The Mandarin’s Rings

"How about another round?" Gwen, empowered by lightning that was coursing through her entire body, felt like she could finally cross the skill gap between herself and Shang-Chi on the basis of raw physical attributes. She was upon her opponent in the next moment as she threw a punch at him, too fast for him to react as it made contact with his chest before he could react and attempt to redirect the force of her blow.

The exchange left him staggering a few steps backward, but Gwen was upon him the next moment.

[Nightbringer. It's the ring that creates a domain of absolute darkness around the user. Be wary.] Alex's warning came just in time. The moment Gwen's lunging kick was about to make contact with Shang-Chi, a wave of darkness spread outwardly from him as Gwen's attack met thin air. He had disappeared as the room got enveloped in complete darkness.

[How'd he disappear so quickly?] Gwen asked as she closed her eyes and focused her mind on her Spider-Sense. The darkness domain had completely robbed her of her vision.

[I'm not sure, but it's probably a mix of Spectral — It can affect the bonds between atoms and molecules to disintegrate inanimate objects, and it can also turn him invisible — and the second ring he used could be The Liar, which we've already talked about, to create a momentary illusion.] Alex told her.

[Great …] Gwen tried to sense the man with her Spider-Sense but was coming up with blanks. Since the man wasn't showing any intent to attack her just yet, her ability wasn't reacting.

[Let me help out.] Alex told her as Gwen started receiving much more information about her surroundings than she had ever gotten from her Spider-Sense. It was as if a mental map of her surroundings had formed in her head, allowing her to track any movements that Shang-Chi made. She could tell that the information she was getting was heavily curated, considering that Alex could sense things many times further than the ten meters around her that she could map out.

Gwen finally saw Shang Shi and was quick to shoot her lightning-charged web at him. Just as he sidestepped it, she shot another at him that would've made contact if not for the shockwave that left his fist, destroying the web before it could make contact with him. At the same time, he punched in Gwen's direction, releasing another shockwave. She was quick to sidestep it and dodge the attack, but this shockwave approached her much quicker than the ones before, brushing past her arm despite her speed. She wasn't hurt but was pushed back enough that she had to pirouette on her spot to not lose balance completely as she stabilized herself and faced him again.

[This one was Influence — it can create shockwaves by generating concussive blasts of force. He used it with the innate shockwave creation of the other set of rings to enhance the shockwave by multiple folds.] Alex said.

[Seriously getting on my nerves, not knowing what his abilities are, Alex. Especially when you know what he can do.] Gwen said irritably as she shot multiple small blasts of her webs rapidly in Shang-Chi's direction.

[We're already done with Remaker, Influence, Spectral, Nightbringer, and Liar. That's five right there. The other five are Spin, Daimonic, Incandescence, Lightning, and Zero. Other than Daimonic, the others aren't going to be an issue for us.] Alex said.

[And what's Daimonic?] Gwen asked, shooting her web at Shang-Chi that he dodged, causing it to stick to the wall behind him. Gwen used it to propel herself toward the man who quickly raised his wrist up to block Gwen's blow with his rings.

[We're just about to see it.] Alex told her, [He can generate and manipulate electromagnetic and gravitational energy with it. Just like now, how he's increased gravity around you by a factor of five.]

[Are you sure it's five times gravity? I barely feel like it's double the usual.] Gwen said as she got into another round of fisticuffs against Shang-Chi.

[We've spent enough time training at much higher intensities when you were weaker. Even 20 Gs should be a cakewalk for you.] Alex said as he saw Shang-Chi having an advantage over Gwen despite the huge disparity in their physical attributes. Even after Gwen's power-up, all the man needed were a few seconds and his undeniably superior skill was shining through. Using a mix of both sets of rings' abilities, he was able to not only stand toe-to-toe against Gwen but was even able to slowly gain the upper hand.

[I think we should get out of here.] Alex told Gwen.

[Why?] Gwen asked, [If you join in, we should be able to take him down. Then there would be no need for that plan where we use Cindy as bait.] The distraction of talking to Alex cost Gwen as Shang-Chi sent a shockwave at her that jabbed her at the side of her stomach, throwing her backward. Still, she reacted quickly enough and shot both her webs at him mid-air, pulling him with herself. Using her momentum, Gwen grunted and rolled herself into a ball before flipping around, hoping to slam Shang-Chi into the concrete before he would be able to counter her attack.

A loud thud was followed by a cracking sound before Gwen landed on the ground with her hand on her stomach, "That hurt like a bitch …" She said out loud, readying herself for what would happen. Alex was still sharing his Sixth Sense with her — the darkness domain was still in effect — allowing her to accurately gauge that Shang-Chi was perfectly fine despite the previous hit. [He used that Influence ring to generate a canceling shockwave, didn't he?] Gwen realized as the man jumped up with a vortex under him.

[Yeah. And this one's Spin. Allowing him to generate a spinning vortex that he can float on. The last three are fire, lightning, and ice rings.] Alex told her.

[Golly.] Gwen mocked excitement and focused her bio-electricity on her hands before punching both hands in Shang-Chi's direction, discharging all of her charged lightning at the man. [Let's get out of here. We've seen enough.]

[Apparently, not even close.] Alex said as he felt a familiar, yet foreign authority appearing out of nowhere in the room. Even through the darkness domain, both Alex and Gwen were able to see a red glow taking over the whole space. [It was neither the Mandarin's rings nor the Uranium that were giving me that bad feeling.] Even as Alex told Gwen that, the two disappeared from their spot, spontaneously teleporting away from the underground room.

…

As Gwen came to her senses, all she could sense around herself was a black void. Calling out to her most prominent support system, she tried to keep herself calm, "Alex … Are you there?"

"Of course, I'm here," Gwen heard Alex's voice reverberating throughout the space that she was in. "Technically, I'm everywhere around you." Following his words, Gwen could sense much more than just the black void. Multiple different lights entered her vision — red, orange, green, yellow — making her focus on the source of those lights, the core of Alex's soul, where the Infinity Stones lay.

She knew Alex enough to be able to infer quite a bit of information from what she was observing and from his words, "I'm inside your soul, right? In your ‹Inventory›. Whatever that red glow was, you didn't want to combat it right now."

"What makes you think I didn't want to combat it? I could've just as likely been terrified of the red glow and ran away with my tail tucked between my legs," Alex said.

"I know you enough to know your reaction when you're actually afraid, Alex," Gwen said. "In hindsight, I never realized early on, but you used to have a constant fear in the back of your head for a long time."

"Yeah, well having a glaring weakness to the slightest heat and sound was bound to leave me terrified. I was like a weak ass bacteria," Alex said. "Far too many people are intimately familiar with the general weakness of symbiotes. I was essentially walking a tightrope back then, making sure that I wouldn't get discovered and fucked over."

"We're getting off-topic," Gwen said. "Why did we run away then?"

Alex's sigh reverberated all around Gwen, "Not only does that guy have the two sets of rings, but he also has the Reality Stone. And as much as I want to take it from him, I don't have the means just yet. Maybe in a couple of days when I've accumulated sufficient EP to use my own Infinity Stones, but until then, no game."

"I understand," Gwen nodded. "So we're still going along with the plan to bait him using Cindy?"

"Yeah," Alex nodded, "still, I now need to make much more thorough preparations. Not to mention making sure that he doesn't find out about Cindy's connection with Spider-Woman. If he senses that it would be a trap, then all of our preparations would be wasted."

"Hey, Alex, what's that?" Gwen pointed toward the Infinity Stones.

"The Mind, Soul, and Time Stones," Alex said. "I already told you about the Mind and Time Stones, didn't I? I got the Soul Stone recently."

"Not that, dummy," Gwen pouted, "That humanoid figure bathing in the glow of the stones. That's definitely not you, I'm sure of it. I think I see two more in the distance …"

"Oh him," Alex said, "he's Thor — a version of him. I'm trying to whittle down his defenses so that I can absorb him and upgrade my lightning manipulation. The other two are also different versions of him."

"Just like that?" Gwen asked, surprised and a little confused. "If you can suppress goddamn Thor like a helpless baby, then why are we being so cautious when it comes to Shang-Chi. I'm one hundred percent sure that he can't hold a candle to even the weakest variant of Thor. We should just take care of him and get things over with."

***

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