Extreme Carnage: Riot #1 (2021)

Having successfully infiltrated Senator Peter Krane's security detail, Hank thinks to himself that Flash was right that the Friends of Humanity are up to no good - having been recruiting powerful allies and making a lot of shady deals with organized crime and politicians. Furthermore, Hank senses that something is profoundly wrong with Senator Krane himself - noting that he almost-never seems to blink or even breathe, and that his gaze feels sinister and predatory - like a shark's. Closing a deal with a representative of Nation West Airlines, Senator Krane smiles menacingly as he tells Hank to sit out his upcoming meeting and look after Buddy. As Hank nervously looks around at the other security guards staring ominously at him, Arthur Krane interjects to inform his father that his next MVP guest will be arriving soon. Vetoing Arthur volunteering to go pick him up, Senator Krane decides to send Hank instead. In a flashback, a man in an orange shirt and baseball cap boards a Greyhound bus and sits at the back, the Riot symbiote's tendrils oozing around his fingers. In Alchemax's astrobiology lab, Agent Anti-Venom and Dr. Steven warily approach Silence. Retracting his symbiote from his head, Flash Thompson calls out Andi Benton's name, Silence holding a finger to her face before reprimanding him to call it by its chosen moniker. Flash acknowledges the Silence symbiote but insists it let him speak to Andi so that he can know she's safe. After a moment of contemplation, Silence retracts from Andi Benton's head to reveal her alive and well, Andi excitedly gushing about her victory over Phage. Embracing her, Flash says that he's just happy she's OK and that he was terrified she was going to die. Smiling, Andi says she's still alive and that the Silence symbiote has already healed her chest wound. Andi's admiration of her new appearance and how powerful she feels is interrupted by Dr. Steven - who startles her by enthusiastically telling her to tell him everything, asking if bonding to Silence felt different from bonding to Scream. As an alarm goes off, Flash says they need to get out before more Guardsmen arrive, Dr. Steven admitting that's a good course of action. As they web-swing away, Silence asks Agent Anti-Venom if he has a plan, and Agent Anti-Venom replies that he does. Sipping coffee at a café, Andi incredulously asks if Flash's plan is seriously to rely on his old war-buddy who flunked out of the army, grousing that she's never met him and that even Flash openly admits he's a screwup. Andi asks if Flash seriously expects him to stumble across an Anti-Carnage weapon, and Flash responds that Andi is the Anti-Carnage weapon, reminding her that her new symbiote's cleansing touch severed Phage's connection to the Hive, and that she could do the same to Carnage by taking the fight directly to him within the Hive-Mind. Alarmed, Andi protests that she's Web of Venom: Funeral Pyre Vol 1 1 and almost died, that his hold over the Scream symbiote was one it hadn't been able to resist, and that he's made the Symbiote Hive-Mind his personal playground. On the Greyhound bus, Carnage reaches out to the Riot symbiote through the Hive-Mind, causing the interior of the bus to appear like it's made of meat, bone, and entrails. Telling Riot he's putting together a family reunion and wants it to be there, Carnage boops its snout - infecting it with his will. The Carnage-infested Riot erupts from its host's body, killing him, and proceeds to butcher the other passengers on the bus while looking for a suitable new host - Carnage cheerfully encouraging it to be even more brutal and vicious. In the café, Flash reassures Andi that she can do this, telling her he's seen how badass she was as Silence, Scream, and even without any symbiote at all. Nudging her chin to get her to look at him, Flash tells Andi she's much stronger than she thinks she is, and that Carnage won't know what hit him. Steeling herself, Andi plunges into the Symbiote Hive-Mind as Silence and challenges Carnage to come and get her, but is shocked to find herself floating in a vast dark emptiness. As Flash asks what's wrong, Andi opens her eyes and tells him that she can't connect to the Hive-Mind and that it's gone. Flash asks how that's possible, and Andi speculates that Dr. Steven accidentally broke or tainted something when creating the Silence symbiote from the Scream symbiote's remains. Flash urges Andi to try again, but she's snaps that she not just unable to sense Carnage but any of the other symbiotes -- not Lasher, Phage, Agony, Riot, or even Venom -- remarking that she remembers what their presence feels like but that their connection has somehow been fractured, corrupted, or erased. On the bus, Riot corners a man in a blue shirt, who screams at it to stay away from him. Commenting that he's not too big and not too small, Riot bonds to the man and says that he feels just right. Noticing Andi is developing a nosebleed, Flash apologizes for having pushed her so hard, but Andi retorts she's not giving up - saying that she knows the other symbiotes are out there somewhere and that she'll keep trying until she finds them. At the bus depot, Hank stands at the terminal as the Greyhound pulls in and the door opens, holding a sign reading "Mr. Riot". The Riot symbiote's new host - now clad in a dark blue suit - shakes his hand and says they shouldn't keep Senator Krane waiting. Exiting the café, Flash and Andi walk down the street together; but as Flash says fighting Carnage within the Hive-Mind was a long-shot anyway Andi suddenly detects the presence of another symbiote. Plunging into the Hive-Mind, she sees the vague outline of a red-and-black symbiote she doesn't recognize, opening her eyes and recoiling in alarm just as Toxin lands between her and Flash, cheerfully asking if they called him.