Hard Hits

In a secluded alley in San Francisco, Venom comes to the defense of two of the homeless people who live in the underground city he swore to protect.[1] One of these men is Sam Felix, who is happy that his people have Venom to look after them. When the attackers pull out their weapons and shoot Venom, the bullets do no harm. As an intimidation tactic, Venom spits the bullets out of his mouth. Venom then kills the men and is cheered on by the people he chose to detect. He tells them to go back underground so he can prepare for a dinner date with Beck Underwood, a lawyer that Venom recently befriended.[2]

Meanwhile, up north, a cyborg mercenary known as Mace is being hunted by a group of other cyborgs who work for the Sunrise Society. They have come to force Mace to return to their masters, or to eliminate him. Mace is able to hold them off thanks to his cybernetic systems and high tech maces. However, he is outnumbered and needs to flee. Darting out onto a dark road, Mace narrowly avoids getting hit by a car. That's when the cyborg's leader, decked out in red body armor joins the battle. When Mace tries to use his cloaking device, this red-clad cyborg manages to tag Mace's wrist with an electro-whip. This causes a great deal of pain, but Mace manages to break free. Even with his wrist is now visible, the virtually cloaked cyborg manages to escape by leaping into the back of a pick-up truck while fleeing across a pedestrian walkway. While back in San Francisco, a pair of men confront a group of homeless people, demanding that they get paid their "weekly" rent. One of their number, a young man named Alan, is sick of being hassled by this pair and tries to fight back. Although he is seriously beaten, Alan refuses to continue to be victimized. The others decide that they should pool together their few valuables and hire themselves a hero to protect them.

Back down below in the underground society, Eddie Brock is lending his strength to reinforce one of the old buildings to make it habitable to the growing population. He is joined by Beck Underwood who tells Brock about the squatters on the south side that are being terrorized. He tells Beck that he can't be everywhere at once, but agrees to check into it when he goes on patrol. That's when one of the workers accidentally dumps a wheelbarrow full of bricks. However, before anyone can get hurt, Venom uses his webbing to stop the bricks from hurting anyone. Despite this moment of heroism, seeing Eddie Brock in his Venom form frightens her. The following morning, Mace arrives in San Francisco. His body fully healed from the previous night's attack, he leaps out of the back of the pick-up truck he stowed upon. He happens upon the squatters as they are arguing over hiring a hero to protect them. Deciding that this could help him out, Mace drops his cloaking field and offers to work for them. Alan doesn't think they need someone to protect them if they look after themselves, but the others insist. Mace offers his services in exchange for food, shelter, and also Alan's sunglasses which allow Mace to see people normally instead of in the infrared spectrum.

That evening, across town, Eddie Brock and Beck Underwood are heading to the squatters home so Brock can check it out. That's when they run into Sam Felix who has been severely beaten. He tells Eddie about his attacker, who can apparently turn invisible, attacked him in the tunnel to the undergrounds. Turning into Venom, Eddie tells Beck to head home so she doesn't see what happens next. As Beck drives home, she doesn't see Mace when she hits him, due to his cloaking ability. Injured, Mace shrugs off the blow and gets into the back seat and orders her to drive uptown. This is witnessed by one of the underground people, who decides to tell Venom what they just saw. When Venom hears this, he is furious and goes looking for this mystery man. While in the car, Mace makes himself visible and promises to tell her what is going on once she has taken him to his destination. He explains that he was hired by the squatters to recover their stolen property from some thieves. Underwood quickly puts together that some of the undergrounders were responsible for terrorizing the squatters. When they finally arrive at their location, Venom is waiting for Mace and ambushes him. Beck tries to tell Eddie to stop, but he is unwilling to listen to her. After he tosses Mace against the wall, Beck grabs Venom by the arm to try and talk sense into him.

Because Beck is afraid of Venom's face, Eddie reveals his true face, leaving him vulnerable to Mace who is preparing to attack.

Recurring Characters

Venom, Mace, Sunrise Society, Beck Underwood, Sam Felix

Continuity Notes

1. Venom vowed to protect the underground city in Venom Lethal Protector #6.

2. Venom got involved with Beck Underwood in Venom: The Madness #1-3.