Absolute Carnage #2 (2019)

Dark Carnage - the undead serial killer-turned-Prophet of the Void, Cletus Kasady - gleefully exposits his plan to use his offshoot of the primordial Grendel symbiote to free the dark god Knull and unleash an unprecedented era of darkness and death upon the universe. Surrounded by his horde of Carnage doppelgängers and Norman Osborn - who has been bonded to an offshoot of the Dark Carnage symbiote, turning him into a copy of Carnage; complementing his mind having been overwritten by a copy of Kasady's pre-resurrection psyche - Dark Carnage roars triumphantly at Venom and Spider-Man. Trapped in Osborn's Ravencroft Institute cell with no escape, Spider-Man tells Venom he's run out of web-fluid. Venom acknowledges that they can't win, noting that he can sense Kasady's twisted thoughts through their symbiotes and that his madness risks infecting them. Forming a wrecking ball, Venom punches through the wall of the cell and calls out for Spider-Man to follow him. Spider-Man refuses, wanting to save Norman, but Venom snaps that for all intents and purposes Norman is dead. Snaring Spider-Man with a webline and pulling him away from the symbiote horde, Venom drags Spider-Man up the side of a guard tower. As Spider-Man asks what Eddie's plan is, Venom tells him not to worry and sprouts a pair of draconic wings. Grabbing the confused and terrified Spider-Man, Venom takes off and flies away. Turning to Dark Carnage, Carnage bemusedly asks why they're not following them. Dark Carnage replies that there is nowhere Venom and Spider-Man can go to escape; and Carnage sneers at him for being vague, scornfully asking why they're not just butchering everyone they come across in a gleeful frenzy of chaos and violence. Walking away, Dark Carnage answers with a koan chastising Carnage for his impatience, confusing him even more. Annoyed, Dark Carnage exasperatedly spells out that there are other targets they can get to in order to stack the odds even further against Venom and Spider-Man. Venom and Spider-Man crash land on the roof of an apartment, exhausted. Still shaken, Spider-Man asks Eddie what they're fighting. Retracting the Venom symbiote from his face, Eddie says he's not sure they can even fight the entity that Cletus Kasady has become. Removing his mask, Peter chastises Eddie for his defeatism; but Eddie laments that they're not strong enough. Exasperated, Peter retorts that part of being a superhero is getting back up every time you're knocked down, Eddie remarking that he'd found that annoying when they were enemies. Peter states that if they can't fight Kasady directly they have to save the people he's going after and use the Maker's machine to extract their symbiote codexes. Catching on, Eddie asks if Peter just wants them to go strolling up to Captain America and Wolverine, Peter interjecting that he should handle the superheroes given Eddie's reputation as a supervillain. Annoyed, Eddie grumbles that he'll just handle all the psychopaths, criminals, and murderous aliens on the list. Agreeing to this, Peter tells Eddie to be careful and starts to say something sentimental, but is interrupted as Eddie's smartphone rings. Extracting it from the symbiote, Eddie sees that the Maker is calling him. As Spider-Man web-swings away, Eddie answers and asks if Dylan - his son - is alright. In the wake of a fight with the Riot, Agony, Phage, and Lasher symbiotes, the Maker tells Eddie that Dylan and Normie Osborn are fine, lying that the screams he's hearing are coming from a TV. Offhandedly extinguishing a fire, the Maker tells Eddie that he hacked the FBI's database and has some important information about the mass-grave of deceased symbiote hosts that the Cult of Knull had made. Eddie hesitantly asks if they found Anne Weying's body, but the Maker replies that her body was never exhumed. Confused, Eddie remarks that that makes no sense due to her having bonded to the Venom symbiote on multiple occasions; but the Maker tells Eddie that Anne didn't have a codex in her when she died, and that Dylan is Anne's Venom codex incarnated in human form. Crushed, Eddie listens to the Maker tell him that this means Dylan is on Dark Carnage's list of targets, telling the Maker not to tell Dylan so as to not frighten him. Eddie asks the Maker to tell Dylan that he'll be there soon, the Maker interrupting to assure Eddie that he'll protect Dylan should anything happen to him. As the Maker tells him to kill Dark Carnage before the situation gets worse, Eddie says that he's on it. Covering him, Venom symbiote warns him of oncoming danger as an explosion goes off in the distance, stating that the Dark Carnage symbiote's infection is spreading out of control. As countless Carnage doppelgängers swarm across the surrounding roofs, Venom bares his fangs and tells the symbiote that it's time to end this. In his lair in the subway tunnels underneath Grand Street, Dark Carnage sits on a throne of living abyss as Carnage gleefully states that the Spire is proof that murder pays in spades. Dark Carnage snarls at Carnage to shut up so that he can focus on conquering the world for the Void. Bristling at being called "Norman," Carnage rounds on Dark Carnage and angrily demands to know what he just called him. Dark Carnage rises to his feet and snarls that Norman's delusion was amusing at first, but has become annoying. Grabbing Carnage by the throat and ripping the symbiote from Norman's face, Dark Carnage snaps that he is the real Cletus Kasady, the one true Carnage. As Dark Carnage contemptuously tosses him aside, Carnage snarls that when Dark Carnage stops lounging on his throne and gets to collecting the codices, they'll sooner or later end up fighting to the death and that will determine who the one true Carnage is. Mockingly laughing, Dark Carnage dismisses Carnage as an idiot for not realizing it's already begun - that the hive he has amassed with Knull's power is already at work hunting down the remaining codices and drowning the world in an ocean of blood and living abyss. In SoHo, Miles Morales and the Scorpion battle against an endless horde of Carnage doppelgängers seeking to claim Gargan's Venom and Mania codices. Miles tells Gargan to get behind him, but the Scorpion scoffs that Miles isn't faring any better than he is. As Miles protests he can do this, Scorpion lashes out with his tail and contemptuously asks if Miles thinks that's because he never hosted a symbiote - adding that the Carnage doppelgängers seem intent on eating them both. Augmenting his punches with Venom Blasts, Miles retorts that it's because he's a Spider-Man and that fighting against hordes of alien monsters is part of the job. Miles is overwhelmed and begs for help, but the Scorpion uses the distraction to flee - protesting that while he used to be Venom he's not a Spider-Man. Right on cue, Venom arrives and blocks Scorpion's escape; telling him they can settle their old grudge after they save Miles. Grabbing Gargan, Venom tells him to fight and throws him back into the fray... right into Carnage. As Carnage gleefully quips that he's getting two Venoms for the price of one, Venom lunges and roars for Carnage to stop. Transforming his arm into a blade, Carnage stabs it into Scorpion's back. As Carnage taunts and tortures Scorpion, Miles lets out a scream of rage and punches him with a Venom Blast, searing the Carnage symbiote from Norman's face and causing him to drop Gargan. Grabbing his longtime rival, Venom tells him to get up, but Gargan sobs that he can't feel his legs. Hoisting his the Scorpion over his back, Venom prepares to flee; but Gargan weakly reminds him that Miles is in danger. Looking around for the young Spider-Man, Venom can only watch in horror as Carnage grabs Miles and vengefully infects him with the Carnage symbiote. Sprouting a fanged maw, Miles goes from begging Eddie to save him to laughing maniacally and snarling that the fun is just getting started.