Venom: Lethal Protector #3 (2022)

In Dr. Dana Harwood's lab at the Kelner Scientific Innovations building, Eddie Brock signs a contract while sarcastically saying that all he needs to do in exchange for making the symbiote immune to sonics is sign his life away. Telling him not to be so melodramatic, Dr. Harwood says the contract is only binding for ten years, with options; explaining that he will serve as a security officer at the Life Foundation's underground commune. As Eddie complains about playing babysitter to conspiricy theorist millionaires, Dr. Harwood tells him to stop whining and manifest his symbiote before injecting them with her cure. As she tells Eddie he has one week to wrap up any unfinished business, Venom asks how he'll know she's kept her end of the deal. Remarking that she anticipated he'd ask that, she shows Venom to a testing chamber, commenting that she'd wanted to hire the sonic supervillain Ulysses Klaw, but that since he was imprisoned in the super villain prison known as the Vault, they had to build an artificial version - a colossal android called the Mechaniklaw. As Venom leaps out of the way of the Mechaniklaw's sonic arm-cannon, Dr. Harwood snaps at him to hold still. Venom fires back that she's obviously never felt the agony sonic attacks inflict on his symbiote, and that reflexes are hard to ignore. Belittling Eddie's intelligence, Dr. Harwood tells him to man up and hold still; Venom retorting that if he feels so much as a twinge of discomfort he'll inflict such suffering upon her that even gods would flee in terror. As the Mechaniklaw blasts Venom with its arm-cannon, trapping him in a sonic cage, Dr. Harwood calls the incredulous Venom a moron and mockingly asks if he expects all his opponents to explain precisely how their powers work before trying to kill him. Begrudgingly admitting she's right, Venom braces himself and passes through the bars of the sonic cage, shocked and overjoyed to feel nothing. Approaching, Dr. Harwood smugly asks if he's satisfied now. Saying that he's not, Venom launchs himself feet-first into the Mechaniklaw, smashing it into a wall and crushing its chest, before saying that now he's satisfied. Horrified, Dr. Harwood protests that the Mechaniklaw cost a massive amount of money to build before grumbling that the budget department will be furious. Taking a cab to Manhattan, Eddie Brock decides to check out Allen Hoffman's place of work, the symbiote wordlessly admonishing him for wasting time when they could be killing Spider-Man. Telling it to be patient, Eddie spots Hoffman leaving the building and decides to follow him, telling himself that he's not doing it to be a creepy stalker but to make absolutely sure that Hoffman's able to make Anne Weying happy. As Hoffman ducks into an alleyway, Eddie becomes suspicious and spots him giving patient files to a drug dealer in exchange for money. As the drug dealer leaves, Eddie seethes with rage and transforms into Venom, lunging at Hoffman and cocooning his head in webbing to stop him from screaming. Venom considers killing Hoffman then and there, but notes that doing so would leave Anne with a broken heart and instead tells Hoffman to leave New York and never return, on pain of an agonizing and bloody death. Tossing Hoffman to the ground, Venom tells him to go. At a warehouse across town, Timothy Karlskin laments the deaths of Jagged Bow and Blood Spider, perusing the dark web for super villain job offers. Coming across one that looks promising, he applies. Walking down the street, Eddie tells the symbiote that since they don't have a Spider-Sense they'll need to be vigilant. Sneering that Peter Parker is a glory-hound, Eddie abruptly spots Spider-Man web-swinging towards a burning high-rise and takes off in pursuit, snarling that Parker probably started the fire himself and that they need to kill him before he endangers any more innocents. As Eddie starts to transform into Venom, he runs past a burger joint owned by Obnoxio and it abruptly transforms into the grotesque clown's likeness as some police cars drive past with their sirens blaring. Incredulous, Eddie realizes Dr. Harwood's formula destabilized the symbiote's shapeshifting powers just as a fire truck drives past, causing the symbiote to spontaneously transform into the likeness of the main character of a pirate movie playing at a nearby cinema. Hearing the commotion of people laughing at Eddie, Spider-Man notes that since it didn't trigger his Spider-Sense it must not be dangerous and keeps going. Returning to the Kelner Scientific Innovations lab, Eddie furiously demands that Dr. Harwood cleanse the symbiote of her formula. Pouring herself a cup of coffee, Dr. Harwood retorts that she warned him that the formula is experimental and could have unexpected side-effects, Eddie again demanding she cure the symbiote. As she protests that she just needs to make a few minor tweaks to perfect it, Eddie threatens to suffocate her with the symbiote's tendrils. Begrudgingly agreeing, Dr. Harwood gives him an injection and submits him to a gamut of tests to prove the symbiote has been cleansed of her formula - restoring its weakness to sound in the process. Checking her smartphone, Dr. Harwood disdainfully remarks that he's still obligated to work for the Life Foundation, but Venom looms over her and snarls that he remembers every single condescending remark she made towards him. A trio of hardened security guards respond to Dr. Harwood's screams and are so traumatized by what they find that one immediately throws up, one quits the next morning, and the other is rendered mute for the rest of his life. Later that evening, Venom perches atop the Brooklyn Bridge and looks out over the East River, Eddie asking the symbiote why it looks so monstrous when bonded to him given that while it was bonded to Spider-Man it looked like a regular costume, lamenting that there's so much he doesn't know about it. His navel-gazing is interrupted by the super villain mercenary Chance, who knocks him off his perch. Securing himself with a web-line, Venom furiously wonders why he keeps getting attacked for no reason. Camouflaging himself against the bridge's support pillar, Venom snarls that he'll make sure this latest annoyance never bothers him again. Circling the bridge, Chance wonders if he hit Venom hard enough to knock him into the water, noting his helmet's HUD isn't showing anything. Venom grabs his ankle and slams him into the pillar, Chance activating his rocket boosters to break free and switching his HUD to thermal display. Blasted into the hood of a car, Venom snarls that he'll repaint Chance's costume red with blood. Introducing himself as an adrenaline junkie who uses high-risk mercenary work to stave off boredom and sate his gambling addiction, Chance says his mission is Venom's death. Ripping the black off a flatbed truck, Venom shields himself from Chance's lasers. Noting he can't melt through the metal fast enough, Chance opens fire with acid rockets and is shocked that the symbiote is barely fazed. As Venom declares his intent to eat Chance's face, the mercenary realizes he's outmatched and flees, saying no bounty is worth risking his life. Venom is left incredulous, wondering who would take out a bounty on him and why.