At the edge of the city, a dark figure cut swiftly through the ocean.
Once it left the city behind, it leapt onto the shore and tore through the forest.
With a body nearly three meters tall and weighing just as much, every step it took landed with a heavy thud.
But as it ran, the pitch-black silhouette muttered to itself.
"What's our plan, Venom?"
"Plan?" Venom sounded puzzled. "There is no plan. We just have to stop the other Symbiotes from returning to the homeworld."
"Alright." Eddie Brock knew Venom wasn't the sharpest, but something nagged at him. "Why are you suddenly against your own kind? Didn't you say you wanted to go home before?"
"Home? No. I don't want to go home anymore."
Venom sprinted across the mountains until it reached a small peak.
It looked out at the distant city lights and the glow of the moon.
"On my homeworld, I was the weakest, the easiest to bully. But here, I feel free."
"I like it here now. I want to stay here."
"Fine." Eddie had grown used to Venom's sudden changes. "But why stop your kind from going back?"
That was what Eddie couldn't understand. It was one thing if Venom didn't want to return. But why stop the others too? Hoarding?
What Eddie didn't expect was that Venom really did mean exactly that.
"I told you, on my homeworld, I was one of the weakest."
"If Riot and the others get back, they'll realize Earth has endless food."
"Then countless Symbiotes will come."
"And I'll be back to being among the weakest."
"But here, I'm one of the strongest."
In short, Venom understood the saying: better to be the head of a chicken than the tail of a phoenix. If food was plentiful anyway, why go back to the homeworld just to be a dog?
So Venom decided—his kind wasn't going back to report either. Partly for his own sake. Partly because he realized this world was far better than the one he came from.
After hearing all this, Eddie finally understood.
"So what—you mean we've got to knock down every other Symbiote here?"
"No. Kill them," Venom corrected.
Eddie had meant the same, but "knock down" was the polite way of putting it. Venom preferred precision. Death was death, crawling was crawling. They weren't the same.
"Okay, kill them. But can we even win? How many are there?"
"Uh…" Venom fell silent. "If Riot is still alive, then basically, no—we can't win."
"What are the odds?"
"Almost zero."
...
After a long silence between them, Venom pushed the body onward, racing toward a hidden factory at the mountain's edge. The massive shadow streaked through the night, leaving only the pounding of its footsteps behind.
Before long, Venom reached the rocket launch site.
A small carrier rocket was already in its final stage of preparation. Once the control center finished its checks, it would launch immediately.
Eddie stared.
"They're trying to take a rocket back?"
Venom understood.
"That's exactly how we came here."
Both of them realized what was happening. But one question remained—where were the ones building the rocket?
"Beep~!"
"Countdown to launch: 9:59… 9:58… 9:57…"
Snap!
Just then, the sounds of a fight erupted inside the launch base.
Venom climbed quickly to a high vantage point and looked in.
"Oh crap!"
Venom let out a near-desperate cry.
"What's wrong?" Eddie asked.
Within their sight, inside the rocket launch center, it wasn't just one symbiote slaughtering the launch crew.
It was three of them.
To ensure the launch went smoothly—and to avoid going hungry on the journey—they had simply transformed and butchered every launch worker, devouring them on the spot. Safe and fed.
Venom watched everything unfold and explained in despair.
"It's not just Riot. Scream and Phage are here too."
Eddie understood.
"You can't beat them?"
"To be precise, I can't beat even one. Let alone three."
"....."
Then we're screwed.
Earlier Venom said the odds were near zero. Now it might as well be infinitely close to zero. Or flat-out zero.
Inside the launch center, the three Symbiotes continued their slaughter.
They had reset the rocket launch countdown to ten minutes. More than enough time.
Killing every human inside would only take two.
Eddie's heart pounded in terror.
"How about we call the Avengers?"
"What? No way!" Venom shot back immediately. "They'd kill me too!"
"Why?"
"Because I'm the bad guy. I've eaten people."
"...."
So you do know you're the bad guy?
Still, Eddie tried to argue on his behalf.
"It's fine. You only ate bad guys. I'll vouch for you. They won't kill you."
"Hmm… thanks, but no." Venom refused again without hesitation.
"Besides, there's no time. Only nine minutes left."
The countdown ticked on.
Eddie glanced at the timer.
8:55. 8:54.
The seconds fell away one after another.
Nearly everyone in the launch center was already dead. Soon, Riot and the others would board the rocket and leave Earth behind.
"What the hell do we do now?"
Eddie bit his lip.
If they made it into space, they were as good as dead.
Venom had already admitted he couldn't beat one Symbiote—now there were three.
"Fight to the death. We can't let Riot return to the homeworld."
Venom crouched high above, at a loss. But if nothing changed by the end... it would go all out.
Fight, no matter what.
Even if it couldn't win.
Fight until the end.
Venom was among the weakest of its kind on its homeworld, yes.
But it was never among the most cowardly.
In fact, quite the opposite.
It knew it would be torn apart, but even so, it would fight to the last breath.
Eddie, restless with anxiety, forced his mind to work.
"The Avengers won't work—too late. Then what about other heroes in the city?"
"The Goddess Alliance? Scarlet Witch retired and got married ages ago. And that Spider—"
"Wait. The Spider-Alliance! They might actually help!"
"Venom, what about the Spider-Alliance?"
Venom thought for a moment, then nodded.
"Not bad. They fight crime, but I haven't committed any. And they have abilities similar to yours. They probably won't attack me."
Eddie was thinking the same thing.
So far, Venom had only killed villains.
Why? Because Eddie wouldn't let him touch innocent people.
He could eat humans—but only the bad ones.
So technically, Venom wasn't a criminal.
"But they usually just patrol the city. I can't even catch them on camera. Will they actually come here?"
"This place is pretty far from the city."
The words had barely left his mouth when—
Several figures dropped down beside Venom, talking as they landed.
"Alright, Natasha, don't worry. We're here. We'll just kill these symbiotes. I'll keep watch—none of them will escape."
"Mm-hmm. Got it. Just pretend you don't know. That idiot politician can't do anything to me anyway."
"Okay, that's that. Hanging up."
Gwen ended the call.
Venom's head sank lower.
As soon as Gwen finished speaking, Venom wanted nothing more than to leave.
From within Venom's body, Eddie asked,
"Why do I feel like you're terrified? They're all just girls."
"You don't know shit!" Venom roared inwardly.
"The other girls are fine. But that one—the one on the call—I feel death radiating from her!"
"It's like if I look at her one more time, I'll die!"
"Let's go, Eddie."
"Huh?" Eddie froze.
You changed your tune that fast?
"Didn't you just say we'd fight to the end?"
"No. This is different!"
Panic filled Venom's voice.
"You don't understand this feeling. She terrifies me. She carries a fear I was born with!"
"What's inside her?"
"I don't know."
"....."
Meanwhile, after finishing the call, Gwen slipped her phone back into her battle suit.
By then, the other three girls were already staring at Venom.
Gwen turned around, looked at him too, and asked curiously.
"So you're the symbiote."
"Ah~!"
At Gwen's words, Venom instantly recoiled back into Eddie's body.
"Ah!"
Eddie was left alone, clinging to the tower and shivering.
"Hey! Venom, she's talking to you. Get out here."
"I won't."
"...."
Faced with Venom's refusal, Eddie clutched the tower's railing and explained awkwardly.
"Venom... he's a bit shy."
"Shy?"
Gwen waved her hand casually.
"No big deal. I've known about symbiotes for a while, just never actually seen one until now."
"My suit's different from the others. It seems like it was made by the original Symbiote."
"I also have a sword, though that one wasn't made by the original Symbiote."
Venom: …
Everyone knew Gwen's suit was unique compared to the other three girls. Everyone also knew about the Black Necrosword. Even the Avengers were aware.
So it wasn't really a secret. Gwen could tell others without issue.
But Venom froze in terror as soon as he heard it.
Are you even listening to yourself?
A suit made by the progenitor of the symbiotes? I'm a symbiote!
A weapon forged from symbiotes? I'm a symbiote!
How is this any different from telling an animal, "The clothes I'm wearing are made from you"?
Venom was so shaken he couldn't even speak.
Then—
Shing~
Gwen drew the Black Necrosword from her body, showing it to Venom.
"This one. Do you recognize it?"
"Lorien said it's called the Black Necrosword. It was made specifically to slay gods."
The moment Gwen revealed the sword, Eddie felt Venom inside him trembling uncontrollably.
It was pure fear.
Eddie quickly shouted inwardly.
"Hey, she's said all this—say something already! Be polite!"
Venom hesitated, then seized control of Eddie's face.
His monstrous features appeared as he spoke.
"That sword in your hand... is a sacred artifact of our symbiote kind."