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Unbelievable. Flash Thompson thinks I'm being a bully.

Spider-Man

Appearing in "Venom Inc. Part Two"

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Synopsis for "Venom Inc. Part Two"

As Flash Thompson marvels at how powerful he feels, Spider-Man asks whose side he's on. Enraged, Eddie Brock lunges at Anti-Venom from behind, but Flash extends his arm - the new Anti-Venom symbiote's touch burning the Venom symbiote. Spider-Man punches Eddie to the ground, but Anti-Venom tells him to back off and demands Eddie return the Venom symbiote to him. Eddie refuses, so Anti-Venom rips the Venom symbiote out of him. Realizing that the Anti-Venom symbiote's cleansing touch will kill the Venom symbiote with prolonged contact, Flash sends Dr. Steven to fetch a containment unit; and when Eddie desperately reaches for the Venom symbiote Spider-Man webs him up, ignoring his threats of revenge. When Dr. Steven returns, Flash puts the Venom symbiote into a canister and leaves. Spider-Man follows, telling Dr. Steven to call the police to arrest Eddie, but Dr. Steven refuses and points out that while Eddie is at Alchemax as his client, Spider-Man is intruding. As Anti-Venom web-swings away, Spider-Man catches up and asks if he has a plan to deal with the symbiote. Anti-Venom says he doesn't, so Spider-Man offers to help.

At the Black Cat's hideaway, Hammerhead presents her with a large assortment of pilfered jewelry. Cat is unimpressed, angrily snapping that she needs something to pay tribute to the Five Families with. Swiping the box of jewelry away, she grumbles that she needs better minions; and a distorted voice replies that she needs better guards as well, as her guards are smashed through the door. Amending his statement that what Cat needs is a top-down reorganization of her syndicate, the Looter steps into the room followed by a group of thugs - all of them with their faces covered in symbiote biomass. As Black Cat scoffs at idea of the Looter attempting to overthrow her, Lee Price speaks up and tells her that he's the one in charge. Cat is even more disdainful towards Price, remarking that without the Venom symbiote he doesn't stand a chance. Price tells his Inklings to take down Cat's gang but save her for last, making Gargan nervous. Cat is enraged by Price's threat and tells her gang to tear Price's apart, but Price transforms into Maniac and quips that her men will be his very shortly.

Spider-Man lets Anti-Venom into Mockingbird's SoHo apartment, telling Flash it belongs to Peter Parker's girlfriend. Spider-Man decides against disclosing his secret identity to Flash, instead saying that Peter has equipment they can use to analyze Flash to see if he's OK and kill the Venom symbiote. Saying that he's better than OK, Anti-Venom refuses to let Spider-Man kill the Venom symbiote, saying that it's a sentient lifeform and his partner. Spider-Man disagrees, saying that the symbiote is a hostile alien and that everything it's done and spawned is his responsibility.

Letting the Venom symbiote out of its container, Flash reiterates that the Venom symbiote has changed and isn't the monster Spider-Man knew it as, and they need it to find Mania's symbiote. When Spider-Man asks how they do so, Flash expresses the desire to rebond to the Venom symbiote but notes that now that he's bonded to Anti-Venom that would kill it, and Spider-Man adamantly refuses to let the Venom symbiote bond to him again.

As her super villains are pummelled by Maniac's Inklings, Black Cat coaches them on how to fight symbiotes and then wonders how Price got the Venom symbiote back. Maniac quips that he traded up to an upgraded model, taking over Hammerhead and sending him to fetch Gargan. Wondering what happens if he were to infect Gargan - who still has remnants of the Venom symbiote inside his body - Price spits a glob of symbiote biomass into Gargan's face, which transforms him into a monstrous version of the Scorpion resembling his "Ven-orpion" form. As the last of her minions are trounced, Cat challenges Maniac to test his luck against her.

At Alchemax's astrobiology lab, Dr. Steven attempts to free Eddie from Spider-Man's webbing with a solvent. When Eddie complains that if he had the symbiote he would have broken free ages ago, Dr. Steven suggests he take the good with the bad, clarifying that he's free of the symbiote and the issues its bloodlust caused him. Eddie angrily retorts that Dr. Steve doesn't understand the bond he shares with Venom and storms out to search for his symbiote, only to realize that the new Anti-Venom symbiote possessed the same powers as the one he had once possessed; and that Flash had completely purged him of the Venom symbiote, severing his connection to it.

At Mockingbird's apartment, Spider-Man tinkers with a device and grumbles that the Venom symbiote had better not leave a ring in Bobbi's sink. Flash - having retracted the Anti-Venom symbiote from his hands and face, scratches the symbiote's head as it happily nuzzles him, causing a grossed-out Spider-Man to tell them to get a room. Saying he made a symbiote compass, Spider-Man tells Flash it will need a sample of the Venom symbiote's biomass to work. Grumbling that Spider-Man can be a bully - which Peter privately notes is ironic - Flash reluctantly complies, apologizing profusely to the Venom symbiote for hurting it. The symbiote tracker successfully activates, and Flash notes that Spider-Man is almost as much of a tech wiz as Peter. Spider-Man dismisses the similarity as a coincidence, but when Flash notes that he used to daydream about this in high school Peter gets an incoming call from Betty Brant and sends her to voicemail. Standing out in the street, Betty leaves an annoyed message warning Peter not to squander the second chance he's been given, not noticing someone is watching her from an alley.

As Anti-Venom and Spider-Man web-swing over the city, Flash tells his idol how much he missed being a hero. Spider-Man remarks that Flash was already a hero, but the awkward bromantic moment is interrupted with the symbiote compass pings. Spider-Man follows the signal to Black Cat's hideout, Flash noting he used to date her. Spider-Man makes things awkward again by saying he's also one of Cat's former lovers, adding that he forgot to mention symbiotes don't trigger his spider-sense. As if on cue, a pile of debris in the middle of the room ignites, revealing Black Cat and her gang - all of them taken over by Maniac.

Solicit Synopsis

VENOM INC. Part 2

• Spider-Man finds himself between Eddie and a mysterious new figure!

• And Black Cat and her gang find themselves face-to-face with an amped-up villain named Maniac that might just rip those faces right off.

Notes

  • Although not listed as a writer on this issue, Mike Costa is co-credited for his role in developing the story.

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