Venomverse #4 (2017)

At night, Poison Sabretooth and Poison Gwenpool lead a group of hostless Poisons on a hunt for the symbiotes' Resistance. Sniffing the air, Poison Sabretooth remarks that he can smell them and that they're close, and Poison Gwenpool cheerfully remarks how cute it is that the symbiotes keep trying to hide from them only to be found. One of the hostless Poisons steps on a landmine, killing the others, while Venomized Rocket Raccoon taunts them from a nearby rooftop. Poison Gwenpool opens fire, while Venomized Rocket swears to avenge the other Guardians, who he'd been forced to kill after they'd been consumed. Behind him, Venom, Logan Venom, and Venomized X-23 prepare to join the fray, leaping down to attack Poison Sabretooth. Venomized X-23 manages to injure him, causing Poison Sabretooth to grab her by the throat, complementing her fighting spirit before saying the Poisons will claim it for the Hive. Logan Venom stabs Poison Sabretooth from behind, saying that Victor Creed was always a useless mongrel but that not even he deserved to be consumed, but Poison Sabretooth sneers that neither of them could take down the old Sabretooth and don't stand a chance against him as a Poison. Poison Gwenpool wonders which of the Venomized mutants she should shoot first, but is grabbed from behind by Venom. Slapping him across the face with her symbiote biomass ponytail and then kicking him in the head, she mocks Venom by calling him a "plain Jane" compared to the more exotic Venomized heroes and villains, and saying he's like the boring friend who only gets invited to parties out of pity. Ant-Venom, standing by her feet, suddenly grows to giant-size and grabs her, causing Poison Sabretooth to ask what their game is. Saying they've gotten what they came for, Venom tells Carnage to do his thing. Erupting out of the street, Carnage joins Logan Venom and Venomized X-23 in fighting Poison Sabretooth, who sneers that the thing about secret weapons is that they're not nearly as deadly once they've been revealed. Carnage slices off Poison Sabretooth's arm, telling Venom to get out of his way. Venom tells Carnage to stop playing around and finish Poison Sabretooth off, but Poison Sabretooth grabs him and throws him into Carnage, snarling that he's going to kill them and that soon the Poisons will be able to summon all the symbiotes they could want to consume. Venomized Rocket opens fire on him and Logan Venom decapitates him from behind, causing Carnage to complain about kill-stealing. Venom tries to console him, saying there will be more Poisons where he came from, but Carnage reminds him of the temporary nature of their alliance and that the moment all the Poisons are gone he'll turn on them. Venomized X-23 remarks how good it feels to take the fight to the Poisons for once, while Ant-Venom asks if he can turn Poison Gwen - who is trying to cut his fingers off with her katana - over to them. Carnage senses something watching them, and Venom says they should return to base to interrogate Poison Gwenpool since there might be Poisons lurking nearby, not noticing Poison Deadpool watching from behind a wrecked car. At the Poisons' base, Poison Scarlet Witch approaches Poison Doctor Doom, who asks if they've made any headway with Venomized Doctor Strange. She informs him that Strange's wards are weakening and that it will only be a matter of time before he breaks, and Doom triumphantly states that for so long the Poisons were nothing more than prey for other, more powerful creatures, but with Doctor Strange's help they found the weapon of their ascension and will never be prey again. In the ruins of a decimated skyscraper, Mania and Venomized Black Panther keep watch for enemies. Mania complains how boring lookout duty is, but Venomized Black Panther says there are worse ways to spend one's time. She asks what he was doing when he was pulled into the war, and he tells her he was taking part in a global peace summit and about to present a new accord the people of Wakanda had been developing. Mania remarks she'd been in detention at school, commenting on how despite being complete opposites from a social standpoint they're working together. Tied up by Carnage's tentacles, Poison Gwenpool calls the Resistance pathetic for not understanding how beautiful the union of three beings into one is, eliminating the weakness of flesh and conscience. She urges them to join the Poison Hive, saying there's nothing to be afraid of, but Carnage rebukes her. Venomized Spinneret says that if the Poisons take them they'll die, and Poison Gwenpool responds that while it's true that the symbiote's hosts are consumed as nutrients, the Poisons not only absorb the host's powers but traces of their personalities, letting them live on in a sense. She says that the Resistance only calls them "Poisons" out of fear, but that they're truly the perfect hosts for the symbiotes, quelling the chaos of two minds vying for control of one body to create a true symbiosis. She further adds that when bonded to a Poison, the symbiote truly becomes an apex predator, something every Venom symbiote wants whether they admit it or not. Venom interrupts her spiel, telling her to give them the location of the Poisons' lair, but Poison Gwenpool refuses. Carnage threatens to gut her if she doesn't, but Poison Gwenpool says that even torturing her is pointless and that her loyalty to the Hive is beyond their comprehension. Venomized Rocket asks why they're only targeting Venoms and not other, more powerful symbiotes like Carnage, and Poison Gwenpool says they take what's been brought to them. In response to Carnage sneering that they wouldn't survive trying to consume him, she says that the Poisons do not understand the Carnage symbiote yet, but that once they do they will consume him as well. Before she can continue, a flurry of crystalline shuriken and kunai impale her head, killing her. Poison Deadpool enters the room, pursued by Mania and Venomized Black Panther. Grabbing Poison Deadpool from behind, Mania says that they tried to stop him but that he was too powerful. Enraged at having another kill stolen, Carnage transforms his arm into a blade and attacks Poison Deadpool, but Venom tells them to stop fighting. Venom notes that Poison Deadpool killed one of his own, asking why, and Poison Deadpool dismisses Gwenpool as being nothing but a knockoff of a knockoff, adding that she wasn't going to help them but that he managed to survive being consumed with his original personality intact. Saying that he'll give them all the details they need, Poison Deadpool suggests they tie him up anyway, just in case. Venomized Doctor Strange is taunted by Poisons impersonating Venomized Spider-Man and Captain Venom, who mock his futile resistance and urge him to give up, saying that once he's consumed he'll be at peace and the conflict will be over. Venomized Doctor Strange refuses to fall for their deception, saying that they want him to summon more symbiotes for them to consume and they'll have to be happy with the ones they have. He asks if the Poisons are capable of jealousy and wonders how long it will take for the hostless Poisons to turn on the ones who've already consumed symbiotes, but Poison Scarlet Witch interrupts and says that one way or another he will bring them more symbiotes to be consumed. Secured by Carnage's tentacles, Deadpool informs the Resistance that he doesn't know for how long he can resist the Poison's control. Venomized Black Panther asks how he's able to do this in the first place, and Deadpool replies that he noticed Spider-Man had retained traces of his original self after being consumed and banked on his insanity letting him pull through. Venom asks if he sacrificed himself to become a mole, but Deadpool reiterates he doesn't know how long he can hold out before the Poison takes control and tells them to shut up and listen to him. Deadpool explains that they'd assumed that Strange had summoned them to stop the Poisons from eradicating the Venoms, but that the war they were fighting is only a small part of something much bigger and worse than any of them — even Strange — knew. The Poisons learned they were the perfect hosts for symbiotes, but they don't want a symbiotic relationship with the symbiotes: they want to be apex predators, and to them bonding to a symbiote is nothing more than putting on a badass suit of armor. Once Strange started summoning more Venoms with powers the Poisons had never encountered, they stopped caring about fighting the Resistance and became obsessed with consuming as many powerful symbiotes as possible. Once Strange is broken, they'll use him to start conquering the Multiverse and crush anyone who stands in their way. Offering them a way into Poison HQ, Deadpool warns them that there's no way they can stage a full-scale rescue and get away without casualties, forming a tendril tipped with a crystalline blade and sawing at Carnage's tentacles. Poison Deadpool says that even Carnage will fall if enough bodies are thrown at him, causing Carnage to challenge him to a fight. Accepting, Poison Deadpool breaks free and grabs Carnage by the throat, saying that's the benefit of the element of surprise while pulling out a sword as the other Venoms prepare to fight. At the Poisons' base, Poison Captain America walks down a corridor accompanied by a swarm of hostless Poisons. Approaching Poison Spider-Man, he asks if the reports are true. Poison Spider-Man says they are, and Poison Captain America asks if his heightened senses are telling him anything. Poison Spider-Man says his Spider-Sense is warning him of danger, but that's to be expected. Greeting them as he approaches, Poison Deadpool says that he was captured by the Resistance but managed not only to escape but has brought them a new friend to dissect, dragging Carnage — cocooned in crystal-studded symbiote biomass — behind him.