Venom: Along Came a Spider #3

Feb 22

Feb 22 Venom: Along Came a Spider #3

Cut to the Chase

The Venom symbiote has bonded to Anne Weying turning her into She-Venom once again. Seeing this on a live news flash, Ben Reilly quickly changes into Spider-Man and swings back over to police headquarters to try and stop She-Venom and prevent anyone from getting hurt.

At police headquarters, Anne uses the symbiote to break free from police custody. As she gets away, she asks the symbiote why Eddie Brock sent it to her. When the symbiote gives her his location, she realizes she has a long trip ahead of her and begins leaping across the rooftops. Back at police headquarters, Detectives Steen and Clark scramble to get officers after her. That's when one of the telephone techs informs Detective Steen that he managed to trace where the call came from. That's when they notice that the phone has been off the hook ever since Anne called Eddie Brock and had the symbiote transmitted to her through the phone line. Meanwhile, Eddie Brock emerges from the sewers, hoping he can get to the rendezvous point on time. Once on the streets, Brock hails a cab and tells the driver to take him to Brooklyn. While elsewhere in the city, Spider-Man finds She-Venom and begins to follow her. As Spider-Man follows She-Venom, Eddie Brock realizes that he doesn't have enough money to pay a toll or his cab fare. He tries to tell the cabbie that he's good for the money, but the cabbie is not happy. Spotting some police officers on the street, the cab driver calls out to them. As the officers begin questioning both the cab driver and Eddie Brock, Eddie begins scanning the area for a means of escape. As he spots a nearby police motorcycle, one of the officers notices that Eddie looks awfully familiar.

Meanwhile, She-Venom has hitched a ride on a subway train on the Williamsburg Bridge to ride into Brooklyn unaware that Spider-Man is still following her. Deciding to hang back and see where She-Venom is going, Spider-Man takes the downtime to finish repairing his costume. Back at the toll booth, the officers are alerted of the APB put on for She-Venom. This distracts them long enough for Eddie Brock to get out of the cab and steal a motorcycle in order to getaway. By this time, She-Venom arrives at Eddie Brock's meeting place -- the Thrillworld Amusement Park. As she arrives her presence is noticed by a squad of DEA and ATF agents who are attempting to capture LD-50, a notorious drug dealer. The commanding officer is unhappy that someone is interfering in a two-year operation. When Spider-Man is spotting on the scene soon after, he wonders what is going on. At this same moment, Eddie Brock tries to evade the police and get to the meeting place. This is made more difficult as he begins to feel withdrawn from being separated from his symbiote for so long. News that Eddie Brock is being pursued by police on the Belt Parkway eventually gets back to Detectives Steen and Clark who order their men to mobilize. Back at Thrillworld, She-Venom breaks into the haunted house in order to get into the underground storage room. As Spider-Man follows after her, he remembers how Peter Parker told him about how Venom once used this place as a hideout.[1]

While down below, LD-50 has just discovered that one of his men was a mole planted by the DEA. They have tied up the agent and begun beating him when they are interrupted by She-Venom. She tells them to let the officer go or suffer the consequences. As LD-50 has had past encounters with Rage and the Tetrarchs of Entropy, She-Venom doesn't scare him.[2] When LD-50 and his gang begin opening fire on She-Venom, Spider-Man swoops in to try and pull her outs of harm's way. However, She-Venom pushes the wall-crawler away, telling him that she doesn't need his help. As the symbiote shields her from the flying bullets, she leaps at the gang members. Spider-Man is dismayed that he now has to save them drug dealers from She-Venom. While on the surface, the DEA and ATF spot an NYPD helicopter approaching the Belt Parkway. Unaware that these police officers are chasing Eddie Brock, they wonder what the NYPD is doing and how this may affect their operation. While down below, She-Venom is trouncing the drug dealers as Spider-Man tries to stop her from seriously hurting them. With the situation going south, LD-50 decides that it is time to flee the scene.

This is when Eddie Brock arrives at Thrillworld and frantically calls out for Anne. Spotted by one of LD-50's men, the gang member engulfs Brock with a flame thrower causing the motorcycle to explode. She-Venom witnesses as Eddie Brock emerges from the flaming wreckage calling out to her. Soon the blazing fire takes its toll and Eddie Brock collapses to the ground. Thinking that he is dead, She-Venom bellows Eddie's name. Watching this from the rooftop the DEA agents considering pulling the plug on their operation, but the ATF thinks that LD-50 has too much product stashed at this location to just give it all up.

Recurring Characters

She-Venom, Spider-Man, Eddie Brock, Detectives Clark and Steen, Trish Tilby, LD50

Continuity Notes

Venom used this Thrillworld as a hideout in Amazing Spider-Man #374-375. Spider-Man also makes a few other vague references here:
- He refers to Peter Parker as his clone. At the time of this story, Ben Reilly has been led to believe that he is the original Spider-Man and that Peter Parker was a clone. This was due to a genetic test that was taken in The Spectacular Spider-Man #226. In reality, this is all a grand deception created by the Green Goblin as revealed in Spider-Man: The Osborn Journal #1.
- He also mentioned how Venom had kidnapped Peter Parker's "parents". Venom kidnapped two individuals claiming to be Richard and Mary Parker in Amazing Spider-Man #374-375. It was later revealed that this couple was impostors in Amazing Spider-Man #388. The real Richard and Mary Parker died decades earlier while on a government mission, as seen in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #5.
LD-50's clashes with the Rage were documented in Avengers #326-331.

Continuity Errors

Spider-Man is depicted as being able to sense She-Venom with his spider-sense. However, this should be impossible. As revealed in Amazing Spider-Man #300, the Venom symbiote doesn't set off Spider-Man's spider-sense after it had spent time bonded to Peter Parker. As Ben Reilly is a clone of Peter Parker, his spider-sense shouldn't be able to detect the symbiote either.

Reprisal

Bonded to the Hybrid symbiote, Scott Washington is chasing a member of the Easy X Gang through the streets of Brookyln's Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood. Hybrid is seeking out the leader of the gang, Leon, who was responsible for gunning down his Scott's brother Derek and leaving him crippled. Catching this gang member, Hybrid tags him with some symbiotic material that will allow him to track this gang member to their hideout. That's when Hybrid recognizes this man as one of the gang members that hassled himself, Derek and his friend Dwight Simms two months earlier. Scott's rage gets the better of him, and his about to kill the gang member. However, the Hybrid symbiote refuses to be a party to murder and separates from Washington. This leaves him helpless as his legs only work while the symbiote is bonded with him. The gang member then recovers his gun and tries to shoot the symbiote. The Hybrid is shocked that this man tried to kill them and it rebounds to Scott Washington as it tries to understand why he was so ruthless to the gang member.

Chasing after the gangster, Hybrid forms his hand into a gun to fire the bullets back at the shooter. However, before they can strike the gang member they are stopped by the telekinetic powers of Justice. The leader of the New Warriors has figured out that Hybrid is Scott Washington, having gone to check on him at home. At first, Hybrid denies it, but when Justice brings up how his mother is worried about him -- as she is unaware that her crippled son has been bonded to an alien symbiote -- Scott drops the pretense and admits to who he is. He explains to Justice that he is not just going after the Easy X gang to get revenge, but also because they stole his plans for Guardsmen armor and might use it to hurt innocent people. Since the gang member has managed to escape, Justice asks if Hybrid has any leads. THat's when Scott remembers that he tagged the gang member with a piece of the symbiote and is able to track him. Hybrid and Justice track the gang member to a warehouse along the shore of the East River.

The pair sneaks inside and begins taking down members of the gang quietly. However Hybrid blows their cover when he spots the gang member he had captured earlier. Before Hybrid can kill any of the gang members, Justice stops him with his telekinetic powers. Hybrid agrees not to kill anyone, and the pair begins taking down the gang members. That's when Leon and two other gang members come crashing through a nearby wall in massive mech suits made from Scott's blueprints. Knocked to the ground by debris, Hybrid is at the mercy of Leon who believes his new mech suit will ensure that nobody will stop the Easy X gang ever again.