Chapter 296: Symbiote 0296: Love and Hate

Symbiote 0296: Love and Hate

“Ready?” Alex asked.

“As ready as I can be …” The blonde in front of him nodded. “Do we have to do this at the White House?”

“The thrill is a part of it,” he smiled. “Now come.”

Gwen looked at the hand that was extended in front of her and took a breath before grabbing it. “Let’s just get this over with …”

“Come closer,” she stepped closer to him and allowed him to wrap his arm around her waist. He didn’t say anything and walked through the main entrance of the monumental building.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Gwen instinctively squirmed as the duo walked through the building without being greeted by anyone, not even receiving so much as a single glance as they walked through the corridors of the building.

“Is this really fine …” Gwen’s voice came out as a squeaky whisper. “This is … you know …”

“I never see you fidget like this,” Alex shared his observation. “Is it because you’ve compartmentalized the information about me being the owner of this world?”

“It’s a hard thing to wrap my head around …” Gwen said. “Looking at the owner of a world, I expect a dictatorial regime that oppresses their people, or at the very least, brings them all under the same banner. You’ve pretty much maintained the status quo among the countries and even stopped the ongoing wars … It’s like you made the UN actually effective.”

“You’re flattering me,” he chortled. “I do plan to bring everything under a single dictatorial regime. I’m thinking of calling it the Apex Empire or something along the lines. I’ve maintained the Status Quo because I don’t want mass murder just yet. Once we find a way to harness Cosmic Energy, then I’m going to do that.”

“The prospering and destruction of life …” Gwen mumbled. “I’m traumatized by your vague ass description. We have spent three years without a single lead in terms of this.”

“Well, I do have a new lead that we can explore, but I’m going to work on it once we are done with this thing.”

“Eager to get rid of me already?”

“I’m not getting rid of you … I’m just completing you. Just like I’m completing my Gwen. No need to feel bittersweet about the situation.”

“Are you telling me that or yourself?” She smirked.

“A little bit of both. I have gotten used to your feistiness. It’s a breath of fresh air.”

“In that case, when we merge, I’ll make sure to retain that.”

“Please don’t. You won’t work well as the playful brat. If anything, your resistance is like that of a victim. Not exactly a turn-on.”

“Oh, so you’d rather manipulate my memories to make me believe that you’re my boyfriend?” She crossed her arms while still walking beside him.

Alex sighed. “I’m not trying to use it as an excuse, but you know that I wasn’t in full control of my actions during that time. There are certain lines that I am never going to cross again, and that is one of them. Not to mention, I still feel horrible about it. To me, what I did at that time was worse than genociding a planet.”

“Are you serious?” She raised her brow.

“Dead,” he nodded. “At least, there would be some benefit involved in me genociding a planet, whether it be resources or Bioenergy. Manipulating your memories? That was the worst possible choice if I wanted you as my host.”

“If … You could do things differently,” she said. “What would you have done?”

“I’ve told you that before, Gwen. Multiple times.”

“I want to hear again.”

“Sigh … Logically, the patient game would’ve been to simply bond with you and lay low while waiting for Spider-Man to crash and burn his relationship with you once again, whether it was due to his past guilt or his Spider-Man duties. It doesn’t matter. I would’ve done right by both you and Spider-Man. And if I didn’t want to wait that long, that’s even easier. You two were already done. I didn’t need to use such a convoluted plot of pretending to be him. I just needed to bond with you and let things take their course.”

“You can’t manipulate time to fix things?” Gwen mumbled. “It would make things so much less complicated.”

“I could … but do you want me to?” Alex asked. “You’d forget about everything that we had, and we could start over. It’s not an impossible ask … I would just localize the time manipulation to this planet. I’d need to find a solution for the Farm’s planet shield, though. Turning back time would affect that planet as well.”

“Forget it. I’m just musing. We’ve been standing in front of this door for so long. Are you waiting to be invited in by the President?” Her expression suddenly shifted. “Or could it be that you’re reluctant?”

Alex sighed, feeling that today was a day full of sighs. “Let’s go. Gwen.”

…

“Do you really have to do all this?” Gwen asked as she stood on a raised platform in the center of a room that could only be described as a sex dungeon. It was filled with restraints and devices that she was sure had a purpose rooted in sexual gratification. Not that she could recognize most of them.

“Full disclosure? No. I just want to,” Alex said. “But,” He raised a finger to stop her from interrupting him, “this will be beneficial when it comes to the merger. You see, short-term sensory deprivation has quite a few health benefits as it acts as a slightly extreme form of meditation for a person.”

As Alex spoke, he held the hem of Gwen’s top and pulled it up over her head. She obliged him and raised her arms, allowing him to take it off.

“Now, if someone takes it too far, your brain starts hallucinating,” he unzipped her skirt and let it fall down from her waist, leaving her in just her underwear and the knee-high boots she was wearing. Both versions of Gwen were big fans of boots; over the three years, she’d filled an entire closet with boots. And that wasn’t her dorm room’s small closet. She’d moved out just as her first year ended, moving into a mansion with Alex. The closet that she’d filled was as large as a small bedroom.

“I know what sensory deprivation does for a person. And how it enhances pleasure,” She interjected, feeling impatient. “Why do you want to use it here?”

Alex smiled at her and got rid of her underwear before kneeling in front of her to loosen her boots. “I want to take advantage of the meditative state that is achieved under sensory deprivation. My hypnosis techniques are going to be amplified when I use them on you in that state. By planting suggestions into your subconscious, I will be able to naturally push both of your personalities to merge into one.” Alex raised her foot and pulled off her boot before doing the same for her other foot. “Give me your hands.”

“You aren’t going to use the Mind Stone?” She asked, presenting both her hands to him with her wrists held together.

Alex tapped his finger on her palms, and a black substance wrapped around her hands and wrists, forming a set of cuffed gloves that she wasn’t getting free of anytime soon.

“I am,” He stepped closer to her and brought her hands up above her head. “It will be used to make sure that my hypnotic techniques bypass your supernatural intelligence. Logically, you are too smart to be hypnotized by me without an external implement.”

“And if I really didn’t want to be deprived of my senses?” She asked as Alex attached her wrists to a set of chains before yanking them. Suddenly, the clanking of chain links got louder, and she felt the chain pulling her up off her feet. She was just high enough to lose her footing and come face-to-face with Alex.

Alex met her eyes. “Then I would simply use the Mind Stone to forcefully rewire your brain, which I don’t recommend. It’s an Infinity Stone, but that kind of forceful rewiring can have negative effects in the future. Using my method will ensure that you two merge without any issues.”

“I won’t resist, Alex,” she spoke earnestly. “I’ve already accepted it.”

“It’s not that, honey,” He cupped her cheek with a gentle smile. “I trust you, but when that feeling of mortal peril comes over one, there is an instinctive resistance. Even though you’ve accepted it, things need to be dealt with delicately. Using the Mind Stone would be equivalent to a brute-force method.”

“Fine,” she sighed. “Do as you wish, you kinky fucker. You could’ve used an actual sensory deprivation chamber, but no— it has to be this kind of BDSM setting.”

Alex showed her a roguish smile that hid a hint of an embarrassed one behind it. That was the last thing Gwen saw before her vision went dark.