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Quote1 I'm good, but trackin' five killers in a country that reeks as much of death and blood as this one? Ain't no one that good. Quote2
Logan

Appearing in 1st story

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

Antagonists:

  • Sym-Soldier Program (Main story and flashback)
    • Tyrannosaurus Symbiote (Main story and flashback) (Impersonates Rex Strickland) (Joins S.H.I.E.L.D.)
    • Unnamed soldiers and their symbiotes (First appearance chronologically) (Main story and flashback)

Other Characters:

Races and Species:

Locations:

Items:

  • S.H.I.E.L.D. Uniforms (Main story and flashback)

Events:

Synopsis for 1st story

In March of 1966, an American soldier sits near the bodies of his comrades, cradling his rifle and struggling not to panic. He and his platoon had been pinned down by Việt Cộng soldiers, locked in combat for hours; until the shooting was suddenly replaced by screaming. Two hours prior, the surviving members of the soldier's platoon went ahead to see what happened, and since then there's only been an unnatural silence. Mustering the courage to investigate, the soldier sees a humanoid creature made of living darkness messily devouring the corpse of a soldier, while the mutilated bodies of his platoon members and Việt Cộng lie scattered and half-eaten. The soldier's horrified gasp alerts the monster to his presence, but as the soldier takes aim at it a second monster wearing a bandoleer and American military apparel suddenly grabs him from behind and lifts him by the throat. Forcing the soldier to stare into its spiral-shaped crimson eyespot, the monster speaks in an eldritch language before its jaws gape; the soldier's scream cut off as it devours him.

Speaking to Logan, S.H.I.E.L.D. director Nick Fury tells him that weeks earlier anomalous seismological activity had been recorded in Scandinavia. Suspecting Hydra was trying to tunnel through the Earth's mantle again, S.H.I.E.L.D. had instead discovered a an enormous jet-black dragon-like monster frozen inside a glacier. Excavating the monster and running tests, S.H.I.E.L.D. determined it was extraterrestrial and still alive. Obtaining samples of its biomass, they determined that it was symbiotic and suitable hosts were transformed into predatory monsters. Logan mockingly asks how long it took to move on to human testing, but Fury remarks that he and S.H.I.E.L.D. are beholden to the American government, who wanted to replace Captain America ASAP. He admits he personally selected the recruits for the Sym-Soldier Program, a black-ops team of symbiote-augmented supersoldiers led by Rex Strickland - codenamed Tyrannosaurus. The Sym-Soldiers had been deployed to take out a Việt Cộng weapons depot, and had wiped it and a company of soldiers off the face of the Earth. Logan remarks that sounds like a good thing, but Fury retorts that the company of soldiers were American. Logan asks what that's got to do with him, Fury attempting to appeal to his sense of patriotism only to be reminded that Logan is Canadian. Fury launches into a spiel that Logan interrupts; stating Fury needs the monsters he created put down, pure and simple. Logan exasperatedly calls Fury out on sending the first discovered alien organisms to war, though Fury is unmoved and says a chopper will be waiting to pick them up in the morning. Logan protests, saying he doesn't work well with teams; and Fury retorts that no-one would be stupid enough to put Logan on a team -- they're doing this themselves.

The military helicopter drops Logan and Fury off in Vietnam, but as they trek through the jungle Logan remarks that even he can't find five killers in a country saturated by blood and death. Fury remarks that the Sym-Soldiers can camouflage their appearances and even their scent, informing Logan that he implanted explosive kill-switches equipped with tracking devices in them - not that it matters since the Sym-Soldiers left a trail of mostly-devoured corpses. Logan remarks that he can't even tell what side they were on, Fury asking if it even matters at this point. Logan asks why Fury doesn't just detonate the kill-switches, and Fury responds that it symbiotes' hosts die they will seek out new ones; Logan noting that it would be disastrous if the Communists acquired one. Logan finds one of the kill switches on the ground, realizing the Sym-Soldiers clawed them out. Logan notes that something's close as Rex Strickland emerges from the jungle. Fury demands to know what he's doing, and Rex states his symbiote abandoned him. Staring at his hands, Rex tells Fury that he and his men lost control of their symbiotes, which started screaming in an alien language and causing them to black out, waking up surrounded by half-eaten corpses. As Rex spots the bodies and is horrified by what he and his comrades had done, Fury demands to know what's causing the Sym-Soldiers to go AWOL.

The real Rex Strickland bursts from the jungle holding a flamethrower and shouting at Fury to get away. The Tyrannosaurus symbiote - its ruse exposed - discards its humanoid form and attacks Fury. Logan opens fire despite Rex telling him bullets are useless, the symbiote using a tendril to puncture his flamethrower's fuel tank. Logan tackles Rex and cuts the tank off just as it explodes, burning the side of Rex's face. Rex thanks Logan for saving him, but is shocked and repulsed to see Logan's burns regenerating. Noticing the symbiote is gone, Fury demands to know where it went; Rex stating they need to run before the others arrive. In response to Logan saying they'll stop the Sym-Soldiers and save his comrades, Rex states that the symbiotes are all-but invulnerable and there's nothing he, Logan, and Fury can do to fight them. The Tyrannosaurus symbiote returns accompanied by the other Sym-Soldiers, Logan telling Rex to save himself. Rex flees despite Fury ordering him to stand and fight; Logan being pinned down by the Sym-Soldiers and taken over by the Tyrannosaurus symbiote. Rex stops, seeing Fury cornered as Tyrannosaurus-Logan speaks in the symbiotes' eldritch language and leaps towards him. Rex dives in between them and blasts Tyrannosaurus-Logan with Fury's energy gun, searing the symbiote off him. Logan takes the gun and aims it at Fury, who has been dogpiled by the Sym-Soldiers. Rex protests that Logan will kill Fury too, but Logan retorts he's planning on it. The ensuing blast drives off the Sym-Soldiers, Logan explaining that Fury was actually a Life-Model Decoy being remotely piloted by the real Nick Fury, calling him out on not being man enough to face his own mistakes in person. Logan berates Fury, saying that having been bonded to one of the symbiotes he knows what S.H.I.E.L.D. has been doing. Fury remarks that he had no way of knowing what it was they had found or how dangerous it was, and that when they found out the symbiote-dragon was still alive they began searching for a way to kill it. Fury tries to justify his actions, saying they had to know how to kill them if they became a liability, and had no way of knowing they share a hive-mind and could feel the pain and rage of the original. In response to Logan's outburst about treating him and the symbiotes like animals, Fury says he needed this cleaned up quickly and quietly, with no witnesses, saying he's sorry it had to end like this as the LMD begins counting down. Rex protests that they have to run, but Logan says that they can't escape the blast radius and Rex would only die tired. The Sym-Soldiers return and attack, the Tyrannosaurus symbiote rebonding to Rex and conveying fear and regret for its actions, and rage towards S.H.I.E.L.D. Grabbing Logan, Tyrannosaurus snarls that they are not animals and tosses him clear of the blast. The explosion blasts the Tyrannosaurus symbiote off Rex, killing him and incapacitating the Sym-Soldiers.

The Tyrannosaurus symbiote disguises itself as Rex and is recovered by S.H.I.E.L.D., being debriefed and told not to breathe a word of what happened. When "Rex" asks what happened to the man named Logan, Fury sternly states there is no such person; asking "Rex" if he understands that he did what it felt he had to and stating he would make the same call again as many times as necessary to make the world a better place. Smiling grimly, "Rex" replies that he understands and is just happy to be alive. Fury remarks that Rex's bloodwork came back clean but that the other Sym-Soldiers weren't so lucky: their symbiotes have bonded to them such that removing them would kill the host, and therefore they've been cryogenically preserved. "Rex" asks if Fury recovered his symbiote, but Fury replies that they were unable to locate it, saying he has his best man for the job on it. When "Rex" asks who this is, Fury presents him with a S.H.I.E.L.D. badge and says that he is, provided he wants to help hunt an alien; and "Rex" replies that it would be an honor.

Solicit Synopsis

SPINNING OUT OF THE PAGES OF VENOM!

As the United States of America struggled through the Vietnam War, Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D. needed a secret weapon – and when an ancient creature was discovered at an archaeological dig site, he was sure he’d found it. In reality, the discovery was an ancestor of the Klyntar symbiotes… and would become a waking nightmare for a platoon of American soldiers!

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