Dylan, my son. I... I'm sorry. I'm sorry you're in danger. The kind you or I have never seen before. The kind that scared me and I'm sorry I'm not there for you. Again. Once more, you're paying my toll. It seems even as a god, I cannot lift the world from you shoulders. Maybe we all carry what we must. I promisse I'll explain. I promise we will meet again. Despite all the harsh truths this world may throw at you, believe in me. I want you to be careful, but I want you to be brave. My mistakes will hound your every step. There has always been darkness in my life. I've carried it closer than most. But I've always tried to find the light in it all. Whatever kingdom of dust I leave behind is yours now. If you take anything with you at all, let it be this: I made a lot of mistakes. More bad choices. More bad than good. I was too headstrong and angry for my own good. I was me. I was Eddie Brock. But I made you, Dylan. And that gives me hope. 

—Eddie Brock's voicemail

Appearing in 1st story

Featured Characters:

• Venom (Dylan Brock) (Main story and flashback)

Supporting Characters:

• Venom Symbiote (Main story and flashback)
• Sleeper Symbiote
• Archer Lyle (First appearance)

Antagonists:

• Friends of Humanity
  • Senator Arthur Krane
  • Senator Peter Krane (Mentioned) (Deceased)
• Life Foundation
  • Carlton Drake
  • Numerous unnamed soldiers
  • Mr. Carson (First appearance) (Unnamed)
• Absent Throne (Mentioned)

Other Characters:

• Eddie Brock (Dream) (Deceased)
• Unnamed truck driver (First appearance)
• Unnamed waitress
• Mayor Wilson Fisk (Mentioned)
• Roxxon (Mentioned)
• Alchemax (Mentioned)
• Tony Stark (Mentioned)
• Carnage Symbiote (Mentioned)

Races and Species:

• Humans (Main story and flashback)
• Symbiotes (Main story and flashback)

Locations:

• Earth-616
  • Earth
    • United States of America
      • New York (Dream)
        • Central New York (Dream)
          • Unnamed motel (Destroyed) (Dream)
      • California
        • Sacramento
          • Max's Diner (First appearance)

Items:

• Nullifier Cannons (First appearance)
• Sonic Mines (First appearance)

Events:

• Extreme Carnage (Mentioned)
• Devil's Reign (Mentioned)
• Lethal Protector (Mentioned)

Synopsis for 1st story

Suffering from a nightmare of Eddie Brock's death, Dylan Brock is awakened by Sleeper, still in the form of a cat, who asks how he's doing. Sitting up, Dylan looks around the train car they hitched a ride on and sees they're in California. Emerging from the shadows, the Venom symbiote asks if he was dreaming about Eddie, and Dylan berates it for not re-bonding to his father, snapping that it could have saved Eddie by doing so. Hesitating, the Venom symbiote says that it did what it thought Eddie would have done, and that was save Dylan. As the three of them exit the train in a rail-yard on the outskirts of Sacramento, the Venom symbiote takes on the form of a dog once more. Dylan manages to hitch a ride in the back of a pickup truck, listening to the message Eddie left on his phone apologizing for not having been around for him more often and instructing him to go to Max's Diner in Sacramento and meet with an old friend of his, Archer Lyle.

The next morning at Max's Diner, a waitress pours Dylan a cup of coffee and serves him a plate of eggs and bacon, remarking that she's never heard of a man named Archer Lyle before. Outside, the Venom symbiote snarls and barks at a man walking past, the waitress asking if the ill-tempered "dog" is his before Dylan quickly replies that it's his father's. An interview with Senator Arthur Krane comes on the TV, Krane delivering an anti-extraterrestrial speech that would have made his late father, Senator Peter Krane, proud. Footage of Venom's fight against the soldiers who killed Eddie is shown as Krane announces that he has partnered with Mayor Wilson Fisk and other interested parties to deal with the symbiote menace once-and-for-all. Sleeper says that they should leave before they attract too much attention, Dylan sadly remarking that Max's Diner was their only lead and that without it they have nowhere else to go. Exiting the diner, Dylan retrieves the Venom symbiote and throws out his phone at Sleeper's suggestion, walking past a woman with short red hair who surreptitiously retrieves Dylan's phone and watches them leave.

Standing before an array of screens displaying shots of Venom's fight against the Absent Throne soldiers and Senator Krane's ralley, Carlton Drake remarks that he's spent years watching, studying, and dissecting the Venom symbiote, but that it never ceases to amaze him. Senator Arthur Krane retorts that had Drake not made an impassioned assessment of the threat posed by symbiotes he would be inclined to think that the head of the Life Foundation admired the symbiote and possibly even desired it for himself. Drake refutes this, reminding Senator Krane that he upheld his end of their bargain; and Krane wonders where Drake obtained the footage of Venom's rampage before the media did. Drake responds that he was working with local authorities to address the local symbiote threat, but Krane points out that local authorities don't have access to high-tech military-grade weaponry; Drake smugly replying that they do with the right kind of funding. As Krane asks where the Life Foundation obtained said funding after going bankrupt, Drake replies that with the downfall of Roxxon, the recent attack on Alchemax, and Tony Stark's ceaseless rebranding, the Life Foundation was able to recoup its losses with the help of some concerned benefactors; adding that the Friends of Humanity aren't the only group concerned with safeguarding humanity against the symbiote threat. Sighing, Senator Krane says that he straight-up doesn't like Drake, but that given the murder of his father at his own hands while under the control of Carnage, he has come to realize that symbiotes are a grave matter of concern that he cannot trust private corporations like Alchemax to deal with; and that as far as he is concerned the Life Foundation is the preeminent authority on all things symbiote. Krane adds that if Drake plays his cards right and doesn't spring any untoward surprises his way, he'll make sure that the Life Foundation will be at the center of shaping symbiote-related government policy for years to come. Drake agrees to this, saying that Senator Krane will have access to anything they find, provided his previous encounter with symbiotes wasn't too traumatic. Krane asks how Drake's progressing with capturing Venom, and Drake responds that the last time they encountered Venom they were able to neutralize it expediently, and have determined it's currently bonded to an inexperienced child -- making it only a matter of time.

Walking through the streets of Sacramento that night, Dylan is followed by a team of soldiers working for the Life Foundation. Sleeper detects them and alerts Dylan and the Venom symbiote to the upcoming ambush, Venom telling Dylan to duck into a nearby alley. The soldiers, armed with sonic nullifier cannons, surround the alley and throw smoke bombs into it. As smoke fills the alley. Not seeing any movement, the soldiers move in to subdue and capture the target only to be attacked by a flurry of tendrils as Venom - bonded to Dylan and in humanoid form - leaps out of the alley and attacks. The leader of the soldiers deploys sonic mines, destabilizing Venom's bond to Dylan. As Dylan shouts for the symbiote to do something, Venom grabs a jeep and throws it into the soldiers as they blast him with nullifiers. As the leader signals a trio of soldiers stationed on a nearby roof to open fire with their nullifiers, Sleeper climbs to the roof and takes on its humanoid form, ambushing the soldiers from behind. Furious, the lead soldier grabs a nullifer and attempts to blast Dylan point-blank, but is shot from behind by the red-haired woman, who smashes the sonic mines and kicks the lead soldier in the face to knock him out. As Venom recovers and growls that he had them, the woman retorts that she's been following Dylan ever since the diner and they were following him even before that, and that Dylan clearly knows nothing about how to avoid surveilance systems. Asking if Dylan is Eddie Brock's son, the woman says that Max's Diner used to be their dead drop but that they haven't used it in years, but that she saw on the news that Eddie was dead and had to be sure. Introducing herself as Archer Lyle, the woman tells Dylan to come with her if he wants to live.

Solicit Synopsis

See Also

• 20 image(s) from Venom Vol 5 2
• 1 reprint(s) of Venom Vol 5 2

Links and References

References