Venom belongs to Marvel and Justice League belongs to DC. Any OC's that may appear in this story belong to me.

Enjoy!

Eddie's Apartment, Gotham City

"A DATE?!"

When Eddie said Anne would take his date with another woman well, neither he nor Venom expected her to be this overwhelmed.

"Uhh… ya jealous?" Eddie asked meekly.

"What? No!" Anne protested. "I- I just didn't think it would be that fast."

"You know, that would make a great idea for your next story. Win a Date With Eddie Brock." Dan joked. "So, uh… who's the lucky gal?"

"Diana Prince." Eddie gave the name of his date. "Bumped into her a few hours ago, literally. We made up for it by taking her to breakfast, and then we talked about our little friend here. For some reason, it looked like she was having trouble understanding what we do, so I cleared things up." Eddie explained. "And then we started talking about the Justice League. It almost looked like she was sort of rooting for them, but now she's starting to see things differently."

"Now that you mention it, it's still a shame there's a few people who don't really appreciate what your friend does. 'Few' being the keyword. But hey, it's their opinion." Anne said. "Anyway, anything big happened yet?"

"We stopped another attempted rape just a while ago, this time it was six punks trying to get into a mother's panties while making her boy watch." Eddie said, his tone changing to one of anger and disgust at that incident, with Venom rumbling as well with the same emotions. Seriously, why didn't those fucks get the hint when the news said Venom was in town? "We killed two of them, and we left the other four in conditions that won't have them moving for a while. And you're not gonna believe who we ran into."

"Was it Batman?" Anne asked worryingly. "It's his turf after all. A lot of people die in Gotham every day and night, and he's either late or on schedule."

"Actually, it was Wonder Woman." Eddie answered.

"Oh." Anne said, remembering the Leaguer who took part in beating the shit out of her ex and his alien partner (the latter mostly) while trying to arrest them alongside the rest of the Justice League until they were run out.

"Was she pissed too about you guys messing her and her friends up real bad and damaging their egos last time?" Dan asked.

"Surprisingly… not at all." Eddie said, and the next several moments of silence meant that they were surprised. "She got there first, and we thought she needed help when those bastards said they were gonna hurt the lady or her kid if she made a move. She didn't even try to arrest us when we started kicking their asses. In fact, she didn't even complain when we killed two of those fuckers, and then when she caught up to us she said it was what she and her sisters were raised to do. Amazons, she said they were called. She's probably killed before, only when there's a war from where she's from."

"Amazon? All this time I thought it was just a delivery service." Anne joked.

'It's like she read our mind.' Venom hissed jokingly.

"When you mentioned 'sisters', you mean there's more like her? Like, more Wonder Women?" Dan asked.

"If that's true, then her parents must've been really busy, whoever they are." Eddie joked. Now that he thought of it, he began wondering if they were just as powerful, courageous… sexy, even. Then again, he and Venom would hate to see what her parents must be like. On a concerning note, her sisters must've not seen a man in ages, so if Eddie were to visit Diana's home, the worst case scenario would be that they would either kill him… fuck him… or both, probably after doing the latter.

While Venom gets a front row seat to either scenario.

'But it would still be worth it.' Venom hissed perversely, making Eddie shake his head, trying to drown out that mental image.

"Now that you mention it, if I remember correctly, she brought a freaking sword the first time she and the League tried to arrest your friend. Now it's a shield these days." Dan said, which thankfully changed the subject.

'I remember that. Hurt like Hell.' Venom hissed as he recalled that memory.

"Still, if she hacked down her enemies with that thing before she joined the League, then why join them at all?" Anne pointed out. "Look at Thor. He's got… well, he had a hammer. Now he's got an axe. He's probably smashed a lot of bad guys from where he's from when he had the hammer, and the Avengers never hounded him for it. Why's it so different with the League?"

"That's the problem with them. They just wanna look squeaky clean." Eddie muttered. "Anyway, gotta tune in for tonight. I'll try to interview anyone on what just happened tomorrow. Maybe Gotham might sleep a little easy after tonight. G'night."

Hanging up and placing his phone on the table, Eddie took out his notepad, the most important tool for his line of work, flipping through several pages until he landed on Diana's name, smiling as he looked at what he wrote down about her: her number (which he wrote down after washing it off his hand), her features… and the fact that she was actually Wonder Woman.

'Weren't you going to tell them?' Venom questioned.

"As much as I like to let them in on our other secret, we gotta respect Diana's privacy. I don't want it to end up like it did with Anne." Eddie said firmly.

Yeah, he remembered when he snuck into Anne's computer, digging into those wrongful death claims against the Life Foundation, and how it all went to shit when he confronted Drake about it; his show being pulled, Anne breaking it off, finding work for the next six months… but he was able to clean up his mess in the end and patch things up with Anne.

'What about our privacy? You don't think the League's trying to spy on us, do you?' Venom questioned, a hint of anger in his voice as he thought of the possibility of someone from the League taking advantage of his host.

"C'mon. You saw that look in her eyes. It looked like she didn't have a choice." Eddie said defensively. Although he too felt somewhat suspicious of Diana's intentions, he could also feel that she got a lot of shit from her own teammates just because of her upbringing as a warrior. Now that he thought about it, there were a few things he had to consider about Diana's background. A warrior like her was someone who was born and raised to fight to defend their homes, even through lethal force. A soldier was someone who willingly signed up to defend their state and their people by any means necessary, even putting their own lives on the line. Captain America probably did it once back in World War II, having aided in killing several Nazi soldiers, from what Eddie had heard. And Thor. Eddie's own studies of Norse mythology weren't that good, he had to admit, but now that Anne mentioned it, this dude was basically a god, having fought alongside his fellow gods and warriors from where he's from, and he's probably killed over a thousand beings to protect his home. Why can't the League get that through their skulls?

'Some friends she has.' Venom snarled. 'She should've been an Avenger instead. She would've been great friends with either Captain America or Thor.'

"I wish too, but she's already loyal to her 'friends'." Eddie muttered, quoting "friends" with his fingers.

'Speaking of her loyalty, we have to worry about how the rest of her super friends are gonna take her letting us go.' Venom warned.

"Hey, you said it yourself. She's a woman, and a warrior. She can handle herself." Eddie reminded him as he went to the bathroom to wash up before heading to bed.

The Watchtower, The Next Day

"It looks like Venom has struck again. Last night, a single mother and her son, Nicole and David Rivers, were ambushed by a gang of six men who attempted to rape the mother and murder the young child afterwards, until Venom stepped in. Two of the gang members were dispatched gruesomely; one had his arm torn off and his head bitten off, and the other was slammed onto the ground multiple times until his head was split open, succumbing to the significant amount of head trauma and blood loss. On the other hand, the other three members were left crippled, and finally the leader was left paralyzed from the neck down to his spine after being forcefully thrown to the concrete. As we speak, the surviving gang members are currently being hospitalized at Gotham General Hospital while being questioned by Commissioner James Gordon and Detective Harvey Bullock, who cannot be reached at this time, and will await trial for their numerous crimes once they recover."

"But the most shocking aspect of this incident was Wonder Woman, one of the most prominent members of the Justice League alongside our city's Caped Crusader, the Batman, assisting Venom in intervening, having been the first to respond to the crime, from what the Rivers family have described. According to them, despite hearing that Wonder Woman also took part in going to San Francisco along with the rest of the Justice League to arrest Venom five months ago without notice, there were surprisingly no hostilities between the two after they dispatched the gang, even saying that Venom allowed Wonder Woman to take the family to safety before departing. Is there something sparking between Wonder Woman and the Lethal Protector? This is Vicki Vale, reporting for Gotham News."

The footage of the latest Gotham News report was turned off as the Justice League turned to Wonder Woman with questioning looks.

Diana expected this sort of reaction from her teammates, but she had to muster enough strength and courage to give her reasons of letting Venom go.

"Four men have been crippled, possibly for life, and you stood by as he slaughtered the other two before leaving. Why?" Batman asked heatedly.

"Why? Why?!" Diana repeated incredulously. "That family was in danger, that's why! I had no choice. Did you really want me to prioritize catching Venom over saving someone?" she asked angrily, and the whole room fell into silence as they considered her words.

Batman only glared; granted, the family was safe, and even though there were four surviving thugs with crippling injuries, even worse than the ones he inflicted on his enemies every night, and that they would soon face trial, two more people died on his watch, and especially on Diana's, in his city, no less, regardless of them being part of that gang of rapists.

Superman had the same reaction; even though Venom had yet to take a life in Metropolis, hearing that two of the gang members were killed gruesomely right in front of that family angered him. For all he knew, they could be traumatized from both the attack and the gory scene.

Green Arrow, on the other hand, was the most understanding; as far as he was concerned, Venom and Diana ensured the safety of that family while the former laid waste to the gang. Plus, the surviving rapists might not be able to pull any excuse they have to weasel their way out of jail time, mostly out of fear that Venom might come after them to finish the job. The Red Hood wasn't the only lethal vigilante they had to fear in Gotham now.

Black Canary was at a loss; she considered Diana one of her closest lady friends aside from Hawkgirl and Huntress, and she couldn't fault her for putting that family's lives before the League's personal mission in catching Venom. True, she never forced her friends or others to follow the League's rules, but she still felt that there could've been any other way to handle the situation last night.

The Flash was even more conflicted; sure, the mother and her kid were safe, but he felt that it probably could've been done without getting anymore violent. Although, he did appreciate that Venom gave the family words of comfort afterwards before letting Diana handle the rest. Martian Manhunter, having simply read the Scarlet Speedster's mind, simply stood silent as he mentally agreed with him.

Hawkgirl was veering more towards Diana's side; hailing from a militaristic planet, where it was either "fight or die", she knew Diana's peaceful approach would've gotten either the mother or her child killed after hearing that those men weren't being civil, which costed them the lives of two of their own and possibly several months of drinking through a straw for the surviving few. Probably one of the reasons why she and Diana got along at times due to their militaristic backgrounds.

Green Lantern had the same thoughts as Hawkgirl; being a former Marine, John was no stranger to such violence, having extracted civilians from enemy lines with his troop and fired back at said enemies, but there was never any reason to celebrate over their deaths. Perhaps it was the only thing he agreed with Captain America on… but that was before the Justice League and the Avengers had their disagreements on how they handled their enemies.

"Okay, look, that family is safe. That's all that matters." the Flash finally spoke in a serious tone, which surprised almost everyone; the Flash may have been the clown of the League, but at times like these he immediately drops the act. "If Venom hadn't shown up, things would've gotten worse."

"I have to agree with Barry on this one." J'onn admitted. "Had Venom not been there, Diana's intervention would have gotten the mother or her son killed, just like those men had threatened."

"Alright, Diana had no choice, we'll give her that, but did Venom really have to kill those men in front of the lady and her kid?" Green Lantern asked skeptically.

"Last time I checked, that family didn't bat an eye towards the ones who nearly defiled them." Diana said sternly. "Yes, they were horrified, but they recovered nonetheless. Plus they'll be willing to testify against the survivors when they have their day in court."

"The surviving gang members may be put on trial, but Venom now has four people in his kill count during his stay in Gotham. We still need to find and stop him before he adds more people to his menu." Batman said sternly.

"Oh, and while you're at it, why don't you tell that mother and her son that one of their saviors happened to be a wanted killer who should be taken in for helping others from the same fate? Huh? They'd be much safer." Diana insisted with a hint of sarcasm and anger in her voice. Now that she remembered Eddie's words, it angered her to see that her own teammates would ignore the victims and expect them to just recover from such horrors.

"Okay, enough already! This arguing isn't going to get us anywhere!" Green Arrow stepped in before turning his attention to Batman. "Can we all just agree that Venom just saved a family from what almost happened to that girl the other night when he first came to your turf? You should be thankful he was there before you. If neither he nor you had shown up, that lady would've lost her kid and she would be degraded by those bastards who might've done the same to God knows how many women and would've added more!"

Batman glared further, and Diana knew this had gone on long enough. She had to defuse the situation somehow, but she knew her next words would only add more fuel, but she had to give it a shot.

"But I met Eddie Brock just yesterday, a few hours before the incident last night." she confessed after a moment of hesitation, making everyone look at her in surprise.

"What did he tell you? Anything on Venom?" Batman questioned almost immediately.

Diana knew it was wrong to betray Eddie's trust like this, but she had to do whatever she could to at least make the League change their perspective on Venom.

"He digs up evidence on the crimes of Venom's victims, before or after he kills them, and then posts them online for all to know what they did to earn his wrath. That, and his opinion on Venom is just like everyone else's. Only it's… much more elaborate than everyone keeps saying." she said, and she felt that her teammates would want to hear more out of this argument.

"How so?" Superman asked with narrowed eyes.

"Well for starters he told me that Venom doesn't simply eat every criminal in sight like some mindless beast looking for a quick meal. He's at least merciful towards those who have families or have never even hurt anyone. Plus he actually cares about the safety of the people he protects. I saw it last night, and he let me take the mother and her son to safety before he left." Diana said firmly.

"Regardless, it's still no excuse for eating several hundred people in the last three months." Superman said sternly.

"Eddie isn't trying to excuse Venom's actions! Nobody is!" Diana said defensively. "Venom isn't doing this just to earn the public's adoration or any personal gain, if he has any. He only wants to help people!"

"We've already talked about this. His reputation in San Francisco still doesn't give him any right to play Judge, Jury and Executioner. This has to stop now." Batman said sternly, making Diana clench her fist at this display of stubbornness.

"Can we focus on the matter at hand here?" Black Canary stood up. "If Brock was in Metropolis yesterday, then he might be in Gotham as well."

"My thoughts exactly. If he heads back to San Francisco, we'll never get our answers." Batman said as he pulled out several pictures of Eddie from the computer.

"Any ideas on where he might be?" Green Lantern asked.

"Since this is another Venom-related incident, he might be looking to interview anyone who knows of the attack." Batman deduced. "Since the news said Commissioner Gordon and Detective Bullock were already questioning the gang, then Brock might be headed there."

"You're not telling me you want us to go over there and stop him from getting another big scoop." Oliver said incredulously.

"No. We have to be discreet if we want our answers. For now, we wait." Batman said, all the while Diana was silently fuming.

Gotham City General Hospital

Commissioner Gordon and Detective Bullock were in the room with the bed-ridden gang leader. Since the other surviving members got their own rooms, and the other two probably have their bodies cooking, they thought it would be best if they kept this guy company, just to see if he had already… behaved.

"So you and your friends admit to committing eight counts of murder, three counts of rape, and five counts of armed robbery?" Gordon asked.

"Yes." the leader answered shakily.

"You heard of what happened to Del Isaacs and Mason North?" Bullock questioned the gang leader with a raised eyebrow. "They got off easy, just like your other two friends. It's gonna be an absolute Hell for however long you and your pals have left."

"I just don't wanna die like them." the leader said, his voice cracking as he remembered hearing of those two guys' deaths, and then seeing two of his friends getting gruesomely torn apart by that same freak.

Not that it fazed Bullock nor Gordon. It was clear to them that this bastard and his pals didn't get the hint after the deaths of Isaacs and North, probably because of their overconfidence that Venom wouldn't find them. Look where that got them.

"You know you're looking at a long sentence in Blackgate. Most of the crooks there are in for theft or less, and guys like you are very popular if you know what I mean." Gordon warned the guy. "If we work things out in court, maybe we'll consider putting you and your friends in solitary."

"At least I'll be safe from him." the leader whimpered.

The commissioner and the detective didn't need to ask any further as soon as the man mentioned "him". The punishment Venom meted out on him must have broken him real bad. Nevertheless, they had everything they needed to put this guy and his friends behind bars.

"I'd thank you for your cooperation, but with your misbehavior and your current state, that'd have to wait a long time." Gordon said before he and Bullock made their way out the door.

"Now that it looks like you've learned your lesson, we should give a word of advice for you." Bullock said, stopping halfway from closing the door so he can give his next words. "Don't drop the soap."

Relishing the pained expression and weak sob from the gang leader, Bullock quickly closed the door before catching up to the commissioner.

"Well, that went well." he quipped. "Almost feel sorry for him and his friends. Almost."

"We shouldn't worry about those guys." Gordon muttered. "We should worry about the press trying to get something out of this."

"Commissioner Gordon? Detective Bullock?" they heard a voice from the hall. Turning around, they saw Eddie Brock walking towards them as he waved to get their attention.

"Ah, shit. Brock." Bullock muttered in annoyance as the reporter made his way towards the two.

"Excuse me. Eddie Brock. You guys got a minute?" he asked.

"That depends. Where's your crew? I'm a little camera-shy at the moment." Gordon remarked.

"Oh, didn't you hear? I'm doing a written word." Eddie said as he waved his pen and notepad.

"Lemme guess. You doing another Venom story?" Bullock questioned. "Shouldn't you be working on the Kasady case back in S.F.?"

"Yeah, about that. We decided to… take a break from that, if you know what I mean." Eddie chuckled as the detective raised an eyebrow. "Anyway, back to the Venom killings. What do you guys think?"

"Venom... This guy's new. He's like the Red Hood, the Punisher, Bane, and Killer Croc all mixed into one." Gordon began as Eddie started writing down the commissioner's statement. "Murderers, rapists, pedophiles, sex and drug traffickers have been on his menu for the last three months; those he's killed were left either maimed or half-eaten, mostly with their heads missing, or those he decided to let live were traumatized enough to stay in prison for the rest of their lives."

"For that last part, scum that fit those categories either wound up tortured or dead in jail." Bullock added. "Me and the commish warned the guy who tried to rape that lady last night that he and his pals are gonna be living a life of Hell when we get 'em to Blackgate. Most of the guys holed up in there are mostly thieves or less worse than the scum we typically deal with. Tough crowd if you know what I mean."

Eddie understood somewhat. Some crooks that had a good reason to be in jail have some code of honor, which meant that those who didn't meet their expectations, mostly murderers and rapists, became punching bags or game for them to hunt. Almost made him and Venom pity those bastards. Almost.

"You still think Venom should be caught? Heard you guys aren't so… tolerant towards guys like him." Eddie asked next.

"Well, like I said, we still don't know who or what he is, and we don't have the equipment necessary to bring him down." Gordon said. "Plus with the amount of support he has from both the people and the police in San Francisco, it'll bring up a lot of bad press if they hear about Gotham's finest starting a manhunt for the Bay Area's hero."

"Do you want him to be caught?"

Both the commissioner and the detective went silent at that question as they considered it.

Gordon had been having mixed feelings about this guy… or whatever he was; usually, he didn't condone violent vigilantism, especially after both incidents with Lock-Up and the Phantasm, and with the Red Hood still running around, but like he said, Venom's popularity in San Francisco could raise problems in Gotham should an arrest warrant for the Lethal Protector be put in place. Although, Venom did show some regard for civilians' lives, especially when he handed the coat from one of the rapists to the woman the night he made his appearance in Gotham, and last night when he heard that Venom allowed Wonder Woman to walk the mother and her son safely. He just wondered how Batman and the rest of the Justice League took that. Not well, he feared.

Bullock, on the other hand, didn't mind the guy at all; as far as he was concerned, Venom had the scum shaking in their boots even more than Batman ever did.

"I'll be honest. I promised my daughter Barbara that we would make Gotham safer, that we'd make a city without any crime lord or crooked politician taking advantage of a system that puts more psychopaths back on the streets." Gordon answered. "That, and me and the entire precinct had bad experiences with violent vigilantes who tried to take matters into their own hands."

"You talking about the incident with Lock-Up, the Phantasm, or the Red Hood?" Eddie asked, surprising both Gordon and Bullock at his knowledge of all three vigilantes.

Yes, they remembered all of them. Lyle Bolton, aka Lock-Up. Former Arkham warden turned psychotic vigilante with a desire to torture and imprison all of Gotham's crazies, even when they were on their best of days. True, most of the inmates were unpleasant scumbags, but the other few didn't deserve the treatment he meted out against them. And it sure as hell didn't justify kidnapping people who he felt were responsible for Gotham's problems, Gordon himself included. The Phantasm… this guy, or girl, or whoever they were, remained a mystery, the only constant being that they framed Batman, accidentally or otherwise, for the murder of the Valestra mob, with the only survivor being the Joker… and whoever he was during his time with the mob before becoming Gotham's worst nightmare. He didn't know why, but Batman always refused to divulge any details on the killer's motives behind the mob slayings. And finally the Red Hood remains a personal matter to Batman as far as Gordon could remember, but what separated him from the other two is that he didn't gun down any crook who did so much as steal, nor did he kill anyone who disagreed with him.

"Bolton let his hate for the psychos in Arkham cloud his judgement, the Phantasm was reckless and put Batman in a tight spot at the time, and the Red Hood is still someone Batman wants to handle personally without our involvement." Gordon listed off. "But Venom… I think he has something they don't."

"Which is…?" Eddie waited.

"The fact that the only crooks he jails or even gives a fair trial to are just people who only stole some small things, sometimes he even lets them go with a warning, and he makes sure civilians are safe." Gordon said. "And whenever some psychopath weaseled their way out of justice because of money or connections, he somehow digs up evidence of their dirty laundry before or after he eats them. We don't get much of guys like him around here."

"And we know who to thank for that." Bullock muttered.

"Still, you guys might be able to put more effort in catching guys like the Joker with Venom around." Eddie insisted as he continued writing the commissioner's and the detective's statements.

"The Joker's the least of our problems." Gordon said, making Eddie raise an eyebrow. "Two-Face, Scarecrow, Zsasz, Professor Pyg, Firefly, Bane, Poison Ivy, Mr. Freeze, Clayface, Riddler. They're all still loose."

"And it just so happened a couple of months ago before the clown and his girlfriend broke out." Bullock added.

Eddie rolled his eyes in annoyance at the amount of escaped Arkham prisoners. Typical. It looked like he and Venom had their work cut out for them.

"I'm guessing with Venom running around here since the other night, they're not gonna be pulling anything for a while." Eddie deduced.

"And that's good." Bullock said gruffly. "The scum stopped being afraid of the Bat recently because of his and the other capes' kiddie gloves, unsurprisingly. Now with guys like Red Hood, the Punisher, and now Venom, they're being scared shitless by the minute."

"So you saying Venom's reputation might give you guys an edge over Gotham's criminal underworld?" Eddie asked. "Sure, they might not see guys like him as a problem, since they think he's removing rivals from several territories, but I'm guessing they'll crack when he gets too close."

"Considering he partially crushed the entire Bay Area's criminal underworld in the span of three months, it's possible we might have the advantage." Gordon answered.

Eddie smiled as he wrote down the last of the duo's statements. Now he had only one last thing to do for today.

"One more thing. What about the Rivers family? Anything on them?" he asked, hoping to get anything on the family he and Venom saved last night alongside Wonder Woman.

"We sent some of our boys to check on Mrs. Rivers when she made a call at home about what happened last night. We kept their location private so we can get the press off their backs, but since you're being more discreet than any other reporter, then they're down by the suburbs if you're gonna interview them next." Gordon said, handing Eddie the address of the Rivers household.

After putting away the last piece of information in his pocket, Eddie wrote down his number on another page of his notepad, which he ripped out and handed to the commissioner.

"Just in case you need anything else." he finished before going the other way.

"Hey, how long you gonna be here 'til you head back to San Francisco?" Bullock asked.

"However long this story takes me." Eddie answered as he made his way to the elevator.

As soon as Eddie was out of sight, Bullock turned to the commissioner with a raised eyebrow before questioning, "Don't tell me you're gonna investigate him."

"We'll just keep in touch." Gordon clarified as he looked at Eddie's number. "Something tells me he knows something we don't."

With Eddie

'You've got the first part of your next big scoop. What's next?' Venom asked after his host walked out of the hospital and into Gotham's busy streets.

"Well, we're gonna grab a bite, and maybe get ourselves a new ride so we can find Nicole, see how she and her kid are holding up." Eddie listed off as he crossed the street.

'Speaking of a new ride, I told you we should've taken our bike on this trip.' Venom hissed.

"Okay, one: we couldn't afford a plane that could carry it." Eddie said, not even bothering to see the confused looks of any passersby who heard him; it was something he was used to whenever he got into a conversation with his other. "And two: it's my bike."

'Well now it's ours, like the rest of your stuff.' Venom shot back. 'At least we trusted Anne and Dan to look after it while we're gone.'

"Who did we suggest, Ziggy? I'm glad we didn't." Eddie muttered, remembering his obnoxious, rock-loving neighbor back at his apartment in San Francisco.

'Didn't stop you from giving him the keys to our room so he can housesit.' Venom teased. 'Still, scaring him shitless meant that made him more responsible, right? How irresponsible of a driver could he've been?'

As soon as the symbiote asked that question, he quickly took control of his host's bodily functions to pull him back away from the crosswalk as a lowrider suddenly turned left with a screech of its tires at the green light's signal, while Eddie watched it drive off with an agitated expression.

"That answer your question?" Eddie growled, throwing an imaginary rock at the car as it turned the other corner.

He halted his angry display, not because of how ridiculous he was making himself look, but because of the color of the vehicle; Purple was always a bad color in a place like Gotham, and for good reason. Could it be…?

"Nah/Nah'. Eddie and Venom said as the former shook his head before heading off to wherever he needed to go. The Joker probably wasn't that active during the day, since he only comes out to "play" when Batman does, mostly at night. Plus there's probably a few people in Gotham who still loved purple, right?

Meanwhile...

As Eddie recovered and continued his stroll, that very car moved out from the mass of vehicles on the freeway cutting through Gotham, taking its exit. Turning onto the next street, the car moved into an abandoned section of the warehouse district before turning into an old lot where the door to an old rundown warehouse slowly crept open allowing the car to pull in. The door slowly slid closed again, cutting the sunlight out again and enveloping the warehouse in darkness.

Florescent lighting suddenly began to flicker on throughout the warehouse, brightening the massive place. A single figure sat on the hood of the car reading a newspaper as four other men closed the doors of the car. The figure wore a bright purple suit under a darker purple trench coat. A wide brimmed hat sat on the head of the man as he slowly flipped a playing card with the image of a joker through his fingers in one hand while reading the headline of the newspaper he held in the other.

"-Venom-"

The Joker suddenly tore the newspaper to shreds in a fit of anger. His men stared at him as he pulled his hat off of his head and dropped it onto the hood of the car. Holding up a shred of the newspaper, Joker looked at his men.

"Do you know how long it's been since the headlines of this newspaper contained the word 'Joker' in it?"

His men glanced at each other… then shook their heads. The Joker stared at his men, anger burning in his sadistic eyes.

"Too long… and now, this whole city has its beady little eyes focused entirely on the wrong individual. This city's fear and terror belongs to me and this mutated gimp needs to learn that fact." he ranted before his mouth widened into his usual large smile.

"Boys… it's time to start making headlines."

The Joker laughed as he jumped up on the hood of the car.

"Get ready… because soon, we'll show that snaggletoothed head-biter whose smile brightens Gotham more."

The Joker started to giggle before it soon morphed into a full-blown laugh.

And done! Sorry for the wait. I told you guys there would be delays, probably for a week or so. Even though I'm on summer vacation, I still have to make some edits while writing these chapters.

Anyway, we saw Eddie giving details of his and Venom's… double date with Diana/Wonder Woman to both Anne and Dan, while keeping her identity a secret from them. It comes to show that he's learned from his mistake with Anne when he betrayed her trust by using her resources in his impulsive attempt to out Drake as a bad guy.

Also, we see Anne mentioning Thor and his use of a hammer (Mjølnir) and currently an axe (Stormbreaker) while describing how Wonder Woman used a sword once during the League's confrontation with Venom in San Francisco. Speaking of Thor, I'm gonna spoil things: In this continuity, after the events of Thor: Ragnarok, Thor, Loki, Hulk, and the Asgardians made it safely to Earth, while Thor went with the Guardians of the Galaxy to construct Stormbreaker, so the events of Avengers: Infinity War have not happened yet. Plus, the Sokovia Accords in Captain America: Civil War have not been passed, meaning the Avengers are still operating. I did say I would be making a few changes to several continuities.

Another spoiler: I'm gonna have S.H.I.E.L.D. do the recruiting for the Lethal Protectors instead of CADMUS; the former organization as well as the Avengers might be genuinely willing to give the villains recruited into the Lethal Protectors a chance to redeem themselves, while the latter organization is morally ambiguous, and may be willing to recruit villains that fight for no one but themselves in order to protect the Earth in their own way. Sorry if I'm spoiling a lot of things, just wanted to give a heads-up on the changes.

Anyway, back to the topic of this chapter; Wonder Woman is beginning to take Eddie/Venom's words to heart, and her relationship with the Justice League is beginning to fully strain. Wonder how long it will be until she quits when things get out of hand. Also, you can see that there are divided reactions from the rest of the League in regards to last night's incident. Batman and Superman are displeased, obviously, Green Arrow being the most understanding, and the others being neutral.

Next, we see Eddie interviewing Commissioner Gordon and Detective Bullock on their opinions on Venom, and you saw the huge list of Arkham escapees, so it's gonna be long until Venom finds some of them and decides their fates, but the Joker might be their top priority.

Plus you saw that I threw in both the Lock-Up incident from Batman: The Animated Series and the Phantasm incident from Batman: Mask of the Phantasm. For those who don't know, Lyle Bolton, aka Lock-Up, was a one-shot villain in that cartoon, who wanted to make sure Gotham's crazies never saw the light of day again. Unfortunately, this involved tormenting the Arkham inmates even when they're on their best behavior, and kidnapping several innocent people whom he felt were enablers to these psychopaths and the overall corruption in Gotham after losing his job in Arkham. And the Phantasm incident remains a mystery to Gotham, with only Batman being the one to remember the whole story behind it. We'll see Eddie/Venom's thoughts on these particular incidents later on in the story.

On a more concerning note, the Joker has finally made his appearance… and is pissed that all of Gotham is clamoring about Venom instead of him, and is now hatching a plan to steal back the spotlight. This ain't good, folks, not at all.

Next time, we'll see Eddie/Venom taking a stroll through Gotham before deciding to interview the Rivers family, all while the Justice League begins to investigate him. Leave a review and stay tuned!