Venom: Along Came a Spider #4
...And Frightened Miss Muffet Away
After Eddie Brock was caught in an explosion, She-Venom cradles his horribly burned body and pleads for him not to die. However, Brock is still alive and he tells her to allow the symbiote to bond with him again as it will heal him, as it once was able to heal her.[1] As the symbiote merges with Eddie Brock once more, his strength returns almost immediately. Venom then turns his attention to the members of LD-50's gang and begins lashing into them. As the battle rages, Spider-Man comes outside to stop further violence. While on a nearby rooftop, a joint DEA/ATF taskforce witnesses the battle. They debate about getting involved but decide against it as their primary concern is capturing LD-50.
Down below, Spider-Man lashes into Venom, however, the gang members are less than grateful for the save and begin shooting at both men. In the confusion, Anne Weying is taken hostage by LD-50's right-hand man, Roach, and flees into the sewers. He calls LD-50 to tell him that he has captured Venom's ex-wife, which delights the drug dealer. He soon returns to Thrillworld with reinforcements. That's when Venom notices that Anne is missing and begins going berserk. Seeing the symbiote savagely attacking his men, an increasingly stressed-out LD-50 place a call to his psychologist to talk about his feelings in the middle of the battle. At that moment, Detectives Steen and Clark land their NYPD helicopter and rush onto the amusement park property in the hopes of finally capturing Venom. As Venom lashes into LD-50's men, Spider-Man continues to try and stop his rampage. It's then that Venom realizes that he is not fighting the real Spider-Man, but his "twin".[2] While on a nearby rooftop the DEA and the ATF continue to argue about what to do about the situation.
By this time, Venom has returned his attention to the wall-crawler. As they fight it out, Venom demands to know why he is acting is posing as Spider-Man.[3] Before Venom can get an answer, he is struck by LD-50's 4x4. However, Venom survives the impact and is about to attack LD-50 when one of his men manages to blast him off the hood of the truck with a rocket. That's when Spider-Man leaps in again to resume his battle with Venom. With the situation rapidly deteriorating, LD-50 orders his men back into the House of Horror to collect up their guns and drugs and retreat.
Inside the building, Detective Clark ambushes Roach and sends him fleeing under a hail of bullets. Although Anne is now safe, Spider-Man and Venom come crashing through the nearby wall. He stops fighting Spider-Man in order to check on Anne. However, instead of a warm welcome, he was hoping for, Anne is frightened and horrified of Eddie Brock. This is due to the fact she was totally out of control while she was bonded with the symbiote. Seeing that Eddie is addicted to being Venom she tells him to stay away and runs off. As this is happening, Spider-Man and Detective Clark notice that a bullet punctured the tank on Roach's flame thrower and he has been leaking jellied gasoline all the way back down to LD-50's drug stash. While down below, LD-50 and his men discover that the DEA mole has managed to escape. Still, they begin packing up their gear to get out of there. Meanwhile, Jomo the DEA mole has reported back to the task force to inform them of a large number of drugs and illegal guns that LD and his gang have in their hidden stash. Meanwhile, Spider-Man, Detective Clark, and Venom all agree to work together to capture LD-50 and his gang. Venom suggests that they go after them under the cover of darkness and cuts the power to the building. With the basement plunged in darkness, Roach lights a match to provide some light. This ignites the gasoline that he has been leaking all over the place.
This causes the entire amusement park to go up in flames. While Spider-Man and Detective Clark escape, they lose track of Venom. Meanwhile, the DEA/ATF task force continues arguing with each other, this time over who will take responsibility for this mess. Meanwhile, Venom is furious that Anne is now afraid of him, blaming Spider-Man for what has happened. However, he decides to redirect his anger toward those who prey on the innocent.
Recurring Characters
Venom, Spider-Man, Anne Weying, Detectives Clark and Steen, LD 50
Continuity Notes
Brock used the Venom symbiote to heal Anne of a serious gunshot wound in Venom Sinner Takes All #2.
The Venom symbiote can sense the slight difference between Peter Parker and Ben Reilly. Venom has previously encountered Ben Reilly as the Scarlet Spider during the Exile Returns and Planet of the Symbiotes events.
Some facts about Spider-Man's identity that are mentioned here:
At the time of this story, Peter Parker recently retired as Spider-Man in The Spectacular Spider-Man #229. Ben Reilly then took up the Spider-Man identity in Sensational Spider-Man #0.
Ben Reilly refers to Peter Parker as his clone here. At the time of this story, a genetic test in The Spectacular Spider-Man #226 convinced Ben Reilly that he is the original Spider-Man and that Peter Parker is his clone. In reality, this is all a deception created by the Green Goblin as seen in Spider-Man: The Osborn Journal #1.
Revelations
Hybrid is face-to-face with Leon, the leader of the Easy X gang, who was decked out in a massive suit of armor created from Scott Washington's designs. This causes Hybrid's mind to think back to the tragic events that brought him to this situation. How he and his brother Derek earned the ire of the Easy X gang. How the gang then broke into their home and gunned them down. This killed Derek and left Scott crippled. However, he was later given a chance to avenge his brother's death when he bonded with the Hybrid symbiote. Now, he has the chance to finally get the revenge he so craves.
He is fighting side-by-side with Justice, the leader of the New Warriors, who fears that Hybrid might kill Leon and is determined to stop his friend before he crosses that line. Using his telekinetic powers, Justice easily repels the gang members, including two others who are wearing similar mech suits created by Leon. Realizing that they are fighting a losing battle, two of the Easy X gang members decide to flee. Recognizing one of them as one of the shooters who killed his brother, Hybrid goes after him. Instead, he catches another gang member who is covering his face with a ski-mask. When Hybrid pulls the mask off, he is shocked to discover that it is Derek's friend Dwight Simms. Revealing who he is, Scott demands to know how Dwight could join up with the gang responsible for killing Derek and crippling him. Relieved that Hybrid is Scott Washington, Dwight explains that after the shooting he feared for his safety and joined the Easy X gang to be safe from getting hurt by the gang. Scott points out that that is nightmare logic, as joining the gang will only turn Dwight into a murderer. Furious, he turns into Hybrid again. He uses the symbiote's tendrils to round up all the gang members into one large group. With them all together, Hybrid tries to talk some sense into them, pointing out that the gangster life will only lead to death and tells them to stop. However, the members of the Easy X are loyal to their gang and begin opening fire on Hybrid. Although the bullets can't hurt him, he is hurt by the fact that they haven't considered any of his words.
When Justice turns to go after them, Scott tells him not to bother as they didn't hear a single word he said. Hybrid has come to realize that there is no way to fight a place that turns young men into killers, and has utterly given up. However, his words did get through to one person -- Dwight Simms -- who tells Scott that you don't stop gang violence by fighting the streets but changing the minds of others. He remains optimistic that they can do it, even if they have to change one mind at a time. Later, Scott and Dwight pay their respects to Derek Washington's grave.[1] There Scott explains that he is not going to explain to people how he is able to walk again, not wanting to be poked at by scientists. The pair then agrees to work together, in the memory of Scott's brother, to use Hybrid's power to clean up the streets of Bedford-Stuyvesant and make it a safer place to live.
Recurring Characters
Hybrid, Justice, Dwight Simms
Continuity Notes
Derek Washington's tombstone states that he was born in 1982 and died in 1996. These dates should be considered topical references per the Sliding Timescale of Earth-616. Modern readers should interpret this to mean that Derek was fourteen years old when he died.
