Venom: Separation Anxiety #4
Reunion
Thinking that Eddie Brock killed one of their friends, the three remaining symbiotes have decided to kill him.[1] Pulling the murder weapon out of the back of Carl, Eddie uses it to defend himself as he tries to explain he was not responsible for the deaths of their friends. However, Donna manages to wrap tendrils around Eddie's throat and begins choking the life out of him. Deciding this is what he deserves, Eddie Brock doesn't fight back and begins to blackout. However, Donna stops herself, not wanting to cross the line as she wants to control her symbiote. When Eddie tries to explain that he didn't kill either Leslie or Carl, Ramon kicks him in the face with enough force that he blacks out.
While the symbiotes have been busy with Eddie, Daily Bugle reporter Ken Ellis has managed to escape the warehouse. Afraid of his life, Ken makes a run for it. However, he is suddenly surrounded by flying ships and ordered to surrender. These are the soldiers who have been hunting for the Venom symbiote since it escaped captivity. As they question him, none are aware that the Venom symbiote hitched a ride aboard one of their ships. It oozes out of the landing gear and heads for the warehouse, sensing its host nearby. Back inside, the symbiotes have tied up Eddie's arms and legs and wake him up with a bucket of water. Trevor asks Donna if she wants to wait outside while he and Ramon interrogate Eddie Brock. However, Donna insists that she wants to watch. Ramon reveals his real face and once more tries to explain to Eddie that they want his help learning how to control their symbiotes who are slowly making them homicidal. As he makes his final appeal to Brock, Donna's eyes look over at the dagger on the ground and send a slowly lowers a symbiotic tendril down to grab it.
Outside, the soldiers surround the warehouse and prepare to attack, unaware that the Venom symbiote is waiting in the shadows for its own moment to act. Back inside, Ramon manages to get through to Eddie who agrees to help them. However, before he can cut Brock down, Donna lunges at them with the knife. She reveals that she was the one killing her friends, having realized that they are no longer in control and they all must be destroyed. She then fatally stabs both Trevor and Ramon. Before she can kill Eddie, his symbiote comes crashing in through the skylight. Turning into Venom once again, Eddie breaks free and easily overpowers Donna. That's when the soldiers come crashing in to take them all into custody. Realizing that he is outnumbered and unable to do anything else, Venom uses his camouflage abilities to escape. With Brock gone, the soldiers take Donna into custody and recover the dead bodies of the other symbiotes. The soldier in charge tells Ken Ellis that, for national security reasons, he won't be able to report this story. Ellis isn't upset by this, as this wasn't the story he wanted to get anyway, and vows that he will get his one-on-one interview with Venom one of these days.
While on a nearby rooftop, Eddie orders the symbiote off of him. He explains that he needs the symbiote to stay away from him for a while. After his experience with the other symbiotes, he needs to determine how much his own symbiote has been influencing his own thoughts since they were bonded. He suddenly realizes that he is afraid of what the answers to his questions might be.
Recurring Characters
Venom, Scream, Riot, Lasher, Ken Ellis, Phage (corpse)
Continuity Notes
These symbiotes are unnamed here. Scream, the red and yellow symbiote is officially named in Civil War Battle Damage Report #1. The others are identified as Agony, Lasher, Riot, and Phage in Carnage, U.S.A. #2.
Continuity Errors
Donna states that Ramon is among the dead symbiotes. However, at this point, only Carl and Leslie have been murdered. In fact, Ramon is standing right next to her as she is saying this.
Instead of calling him Ramon, Trevor actually calls him Carl. As explained above, Carl is one of the dead symbiotes, who was murdered last issue.
