Venom #15
Twist Part Two
Spider-Man is in big trouble: On his left is Eddie Brock — aka Venom — one of his greatest foes while on his right is Patricia Robertson who is bonded to a clone of the Venom symbiote that has been created as part of some grand conspiracy orchestrated by the Ararat Corporation.[1] Both symbiotes decide Spider-Man has no place in the middle of their fight and the wall-crawler is casually tossed aside. The two Venoms then begin trading blows in a brawl that sends them crashing into the alley below.
Watching this battle is the head of the Ararat Corporation, the enigmatic man known only as Bob, and his two associates Vic and Frankie. Bob has deactivated the cybernetic collar that allows Patricia Robertson to control the clone of the Venom symbiote they created. He is surprised that Patricia has lasted so long since the symbiote has been given back its free will.[2]
While down below, the two battling symbiotes are so equally matched that neither has the advantage. That’s when Nick Fury arrives and tries to blow them both up with a rocket launcher. However, Venom survives the blast and he quickly ambushes Nick Fury and takes him prisoner, deciding that the SHIELD director will die at the same time as his imitator and leaves him webbed up. Elsewhere in the alley, Patricia Robertson has also survived the blast and is struggling to maintain control of cloned symbiote. He struggle is interrupted by Spider-Man who tries to pick a fight, but Patricia pleads with the web-slinger to leave her alone.
Meanwhile, Bob and his agents cut down Nick Fury who demands to know who he is. All Bob will say is a code number and orders Fury to stand down. Fury is shocked and demands to know how Bob knows that code. Bob explains that the code exists because of him. He then goes on to tell Fury that all his surviving agents will be debriefed and that, after their discussion, Fury is never to speak of this incident again with anybody. Unfortunately, Nick Fury has no other choice but to comply with his orders.
Down the alley, Spider-Man tries to get Patricia to tell him who she is as he is genuinely concerned for her well-being as she struggles to control her symbiote. She tells Spider-Man that she cannot rest until she kills Venom, but the wall-crawler refuses to let anyone be murdered, even one of his greatest foes. However, Spider-Man has little choice in the matter as the real Venom arrives to finish off his imposter, knocking out the web-spinner in the process. Their blows are so powerful both Venom and Patricia end up falling through the street into the sewer below. As they fight in the tepid waters, Venom tells Patricia that they shouldn’t be fighting and suggests that they merge their symbiotes. However, before the Venom symbiote can merge with it’s clone a cell phone lands in the water and shocks the two apart. Emerging from the water, Patricia discovers that her savior is the mangled form of the man in black. When she asks what took him so long, he tells her that he was delayed.
Recurring Characters
Patricia Robertson, Venom, Spider-Man, Nick Fury, Bob, Frankie, Vic, the man in black
Continuity Notes
Interestingly, Venom refers to Spider-Man as “Parker” here. While Eddie Brock first learned Spider-Man’s secret identity after he bonded with the symbiote (as explained in Amazing Spider-Man #299-300) he lost his memory of Peter’s double-identity in Spider-Man: The Venom Agenda #1. While this could be ignored as a mistake, I would like to think it was intentional so readers could tell the difference between Brock and Robertson in this story.
If you’ve been following along since Venom #1, you’d already know that the cloned symbiote kills every host it takes.
