"He looks just like you." Loki told Healer as he compared him with his dad. "Even the same green eyes, just minus the horns, so you're definitely superior in the looks department, Healer."

"The horns are from you, Lokiii. We take after our hosts, remember?"

"I remember, but I thought your green eyes might be from me as well."

"Nooo, they are hereditaryyy."

"So, you finally found a lasting host, and a fully-grown one this timeee..." Malice remarked as he tailed after the duo, bonded to one of the native creatures of the planet. "He is definitely not from the tribe, whatever he is."

"The tribe?"

"The tribe of human headhunters we once lived among." Healer replied.

"Ah, very fitting. So Malice, now you're following us? You really are a pathetic creature, aren't you?"

"I do not like it, but there is a Symbiote hunter here, and since he destroyed my ride, I have no way to escape him, so I have no choice but to return to Earth with you."

"Check again, we killed the hunter!" Healer assured him.

"What, you!? I do not believe it: you're no fighter! You could not beat an egg, let alone a professional Symbiote hunter!"

"It's true; look it up in your hive mind, if you're part of it, that is."

"Of course I am, you fool! It is only my former Grievance who is not!"

"Loki is not a fool, he is wiser and cleverer than you wish you could be!" Healer defended.

"Neither am I. You may not think so, but I do know you, and you are too much of a coward to fight an opponent who can defend itself in any mannerrr. No, you are only good at killing defenseless children!"

"SHUT UP!" Healer lunged at his father, teeth bared, aiming to chomp off his head, but his father weaved around him and retaliated! The two extending heads viciously fought, with Malice easily gaining the upper hand! He sank his teeth into Healer's neck and slammed him into the ground!

"You see? If you cannot kill me, you could not have killed the hunter! Weakling!" Malice opened his mouth wide around his son's head, but he shrieked as Loki pierced through his face with his flaming sword, Lævateinn!

"Oh, we can kill you in a heartbeat!" Loki then pressed Lævateinn against the alien host's chest after Malice shrank back inside, terrified of the flames. "So while you yet have one, don't press your luck."

Malice studied his son's host from inside his own. "Ahhh, you are the fighter. You balance each other out."

"Now you see: we are strong together! I do not need access to your precious hive mind to know that Loki and I are the greatest, most perfect match since the creator and All-Black!"

"True, but while we're back on the subject..." Loki interjected. "Why are you are only one not in the hive?"

"...You didn't tell him. Big surprise."

"Tell me what?"

"It's not important!" Healer snapped. "What is important is that the tables have turned, Malice, and now you are the one who needs me! Now you are the little pest bothering us, and I love it! Now you will know what it is to really suffer, living with the humiliation that your exiled son saved your worthless life!"

Loki watched his partner with curiosity, resisting as the Symbiote's sadistic ecstasy incited his own. "Exiled? Did you banish him from your hive?"

Malice scoffed. "I did, but he got me exiled from my tribe! He is hiding his own sins from you while villainizing me! You say now I know what it means to suffer? Every moment I have been forced to spend with this one was suffering! Giving birth to something like you... it was the biggest grievance I ever had! At least you cannot repeat my most grievous mistake-"

But Malice was interrupted as Loki set fire after him again, though this time he fled in anticipation. "It's you who's the grievance, monster! Healer no longer holds that name, and you'd do well to remember that! You're lucky we have more pressing matters to deal with at the moment, and you're not worth our time."

"What kind of stupid pussy name is Healer, anywayyy? It makes you sound like a frikkin' priest!"

"What kind of stupid pussy name is Malice? It sounds like Alice with an M!"

"You are so pathetic-"

"Run back to wonderland, little Malice!"

"If you'll pardon my interruption of this charming debate, his name comes from his remarkable ability to heal even the most severe injuries! As a matter of fact, he was able to not only reattach my brother's arm, after it was severed by All-Black the Necrosword, the infamous symbiotic weapon of your creator, he also completely healed the damage it did to my heart when it stabbed me through! He practically brought me back to life!"

"What!?"

"Yes, your son has grown quite powerful with you out of his life." Loki told Malice. "In fact, he and I even destroyed All-Black together!"

"Lies! Blasphemy! You could never-" But Loki only smirked as Malice connected to the hive mind and saw memories of the truth himself. "That... that is impossible!"

"And if you insult him again, I will personally drop you into an active volcano, do you understand, Malice?"

"Ooh, let me roast him alive, Lokiii!" Healer eagerly volunteered.

Malice ignored the threats, too amazed by what he just saw. "The shadow of the creator himself... it took all of us togetherrr just to imprison him while he was already weakened!"

"Imprison your creator?" Loki summarized. "Why?"

"Klyntar wasn't always the name of this planet... it is the word for 'cage' in our native language. We were the creator's, the King in Black's slaves a looong time ago, but the Asgardian god of thunder struck down his dragon with a bolt of divine lightning, which severed his hold on us. Lord Knull created us to hunt down creatures of the light, like humans and Asgardians and alike, piloting their bodies to slay them allll, but we desired a deeper bond, a mutually beneficial coexistence, and we imprisoned him here, at the center of this world. Now, the very core of the planet is comprised of Symbiotes who continue to keep him from escaping from his cageee!"

"So you know who Thor is, but not me... typical. And you were one of the Symbiotes who stayed to keep your creator here, yet you still hold his name in reverence?"

"He is still our creator, our god, and his influence over the hive will forever stay with us, but I did not stay hereee. I was one of the Symbiotes who moved to Earth after imprisoning him, but after I heard of the Symbiote hunter on Earth, I returned here to escape him."

"Did Mancer take your host?"

"No, he abandoned me after I got caught here. It seems to be a recurring pattern with humans. He's dead now." Malice shook his head and mumbled. "So fickle, perhaps Lord Knull was right about them after allll..."

Loki thought for a moment. "So Healer... or Grievance, as you know him, wasn't one of the ones who imprisoned this Knull?"

"No, he was born on Earth, but all of the Symbiotes that hunter captured were."

"Are they now? Healer, are you thinking what I am?"

"That this old fool talks too much?"

"Much more than that. Remember what Mancer said, that you weren't on his list? I'm thinking this list might be related to this imprisonment..."

"You think sooo?"

"I do indeed. Perhaps this client of Mancer's is interested in this imprisoning power, planning to use the codices he collected from the humans for his own gain. But what is he after?"

"Hmmm... good question. But almost everyone is safe and heading home, so what does it matter?"

"Because the man who hired Mancer is still out there, and I'd like to know what he's planning before he hires someone deadlier to take us out."

"Ohhh..."

"Hey, there is your target!" Malice pointed at the native alien in a Symbiote suit as it trailed after a brown-haired man in a gray hoodie.

"That man in the distance matches Eddie Brock's description, so that must be..."

"Venom!"

"Eddie, come back to me!" Venom called out. "If you stay on this planet, you will die here!"

"Yeah? Well maybe that'd be better than you bringing me back to Earth just so you can lay more of your freaky alien goo inside people!"

"Eddie-"

"No, I don't- I don't wanna hear it, I'm done with you! Man, I let you live in my body, I let you eat all the chocolate you wanted, I left the country with you so we could fight crime and eat brains like you begged me, I even gave you space to come back to your homeworld here during that psycho phase you were going through a few years back, to get your shit all sorted out, but you put your weird alien sperm in Annie, you-you impregnate her- how is that even possible!?"

"It was your sperm, Eddie, I was just the carrier. The child is ours."

"You violated her, man! You're sick!" Eddie snarled.

"I told you, I did not mean to, and I did not know it happened until just recently!"

"Yeah, and because of that, the kid had to spend the first nine years of his life raised by my shithead of a dad! And Anne..." Eddie's voice broke. "And poor Annie..."

"Eddie, I am sorry. I never thought she would have-"

"Well, she did, and it's your fault! So you just... stay the hell away from me!"

"Eddie, I- I just want to help you get home safely, to our- to Dylan. If you want to end our bond afterwards, I will not force you to keep me. But... you do love Dylan, don't you?"

Eddie stopped walking. "Yeah, of course I do."

"Then let me take you back to him... before your shithead of a dad finds him again. Please, Eddie."

Eddie exhaled and grunted in exasperation. "Fine, you know a way back to Earth, let's hear it."

Loki then interjected. "Pardon me, I'm a detective hired by your son, Dylan Brock, to find you and bring you back to Earth. My name is Mr. Ouroboros."

"A detective? How much of that did you hear?"

"I beg your pardon, I didn't mean to eavesdrop, but like I said, we've been looking for you to bring you both home."

"You don't have..." Eddie pointed to Venom. "One of them, do you?"

"I do, but he's a good one; he only attacks criminals, like the one who kidnapped you. His name is Healer, and he helped me stop the hunter, Haze Mancer, and free the others, so now you two are the only ones left to bring back. Well, besides this ray of sunshine." Loki gestured to Malice.

"I am a really good one; Eddie and I are the ones who punish criminals and protect the innocent!" Venom argued. "Eddie is going home with me! He just said so!"

"Hey, hold on! You said my son hired you to find me?"

"Yes."

"Okay, then we're going back to Earth with him, Mr. Oral B!"

Loki rolled his eyes. "Why do I even bother? It's Mr. Ouroboros, or Mr. O for short."

"Or Lokiii." Malice added. "What his Simp-biote calls him."

"Nobody asked you, Sym-biotch!" Healer retorted.

"Father and son?" Venom deduced.

"Correct. Mr. Brock, your son is safe with my partners, if you'll follow me-"

"Eddie, we do not know him or his Symbiote! I do not trust a Symbiote who is not in the hive!"

"But aren't the other hive Symbiotes all bad ones? They've all turned out to be pretty evil so far, and I trust him more than I trust you now!" Eddie told Venom.

"Eddie... don't be like that. I said I am sorry."

"Man, I just wanna go home!"

"Then let's go." Loki pulled out his TemPad and opened a portal back to Earth.

"I get off here." Malice instructed the detectives when they reached the Arctic. "I am done with humans: I think I will bond with the polar bears here and hunt the humans for braaains!"

"I hope the humans make you into an ugly bearskin rug!" Healer expressed.

Malice turned to his son one last time. "Such wonderful malice in your words; I never thought you would amount to anything, but with this host, you have done something I never dreamed possible. Maybe I was hasty in my treatment of you. I never thought I would say this but…I am… a tiny little bit proud now."

Healer froze. "What? What did you just say?"

"You heard me." Malice grunted.

"Say it again; repeat yourself!"

"I am leaving."

"Lokiii, set him on fire to make him say it again!"

Loki smirked, setting his sword ablaze once more.

"Fine! Your stupid-amazing healing ability makes me kind of proud, are you finally happy?"

Healer chuckled. "Kind of happy. You're still an unlovable douchebag, and I hope you die an excruciating, fiery death!"

"Likewise. Plus, you're still an annoying, needy little pest! I am proud of your acquired healing, not of you!"

"Heartwarming reunion." Loki snarked.

After the others left, Malice's search for a new host was interrupted by the sight of a human: Mancer's client, who grinned at the familiar Symbiote.

Loki escorted Eddie and Venom to the Null-Time Zone, where Dylan was watching a movie with Mobius and Sylvie.

"Oh, that must be your dad." Mobius noticed.

"Eddie!" Dylan ran over to his dad and embraced him.

"Hey Dylan, I'm fine, don't worry about me. You ready to head home?"

"Yeah."

Eddie looked around. "So... where exactly is this place?"

Sylvie smirked. "You wouldn't believe us if we told you."

"I dunno, I've seen more than enough weird- SHIT!" Eddie jumped back as he spotted the enormous golden snake peeking at them from an adjacent area. "That- that is a biiig snake!"

"Oh don't worry about Jörmungandr, Mr. Brock." Loki eased him. "He's my pet snake, and he's actually quite friendly once you get to know him! He actually just became a father himself, and his eggs hatched not long ago." Loki turned to his childhood pet and flicked his tongue at him to congratulate him, leaving the Brocks even more confused and disturbed.

"He can talk to snakes, he's not nuts." Mobius explained.

"Uh-huh... can we go now?"

Loki nodded, gave Sylvie another kiss goodbye, and brought Eddie and Dylan back to their apartment in San Francisco.

Meanwhile, underneath Denmark, a dark-haired man in black hooded clothing passed through an underground chamber, entering a room that resembled an unholy sanctuary. As he met with a group of similarly dressed people, he faced their leader and removed his hood, his face masked by a black and green Symbiote's. The leader did the same; he was slim with spikes protruding from his back, every feature of his face obscured by darkness but his pale blue eyes, and the two Klyntar spoke.

"Sooo, eldest brother, now that I brought you the codices, have you been able to awaken the creator yet?"

"Not yet, dark brother, we need more still."

"Are you serious?" The returning Symbiote shook his head. "That's what I get for giving the important job to a creature of light! And just how many did that Mancer pig miss?"

"Two: Venom and Carnage."

"Carnage? You said we only need the codices from the Symbiotes who imprisoned the creator to free him, right? Carnage was dead at the time, so he could not have been there, could he!?"

"No... and yes. When his father defeated him in battle a decade past, he devoured his son, and in doing so, their codices have merged, unbeknownst to both of them. He was there, he just wasn't... quite... aliveee."

"Hmmm... I guess two missing codices out of a thousand ain't bad. Still, if Mancer wasn't dead, I would eat his feeble brain myself!"

"It is more fortuitous than even that!" A third gray-eyed Symbiote chimed in. "Two codices in one means only one target, and since the human Eddie Brock and Venom are having another falling out, we do not even have to worry about splitting them up: the host will be an easy target!"

"Yes, you are right!"

"Yesss. So, should one of us go and get it?"

"I will!" A brawny purple Symbiote volunteered. "Of the four of us, I am the strongest!"

"Not alone, though, dark brother!" The leader announced. "We currently have enough codices to reawaken the Grendel! Let us bring him forth!" While their leader arranged the codices in the center of the room, the dark cult gathered round, chanting together until a red and black dragon emerged from them! The dragon snorted and looked around at its devoted brethren. "Grendel, loyal dragon of our creator, join your brother to find Eddie Brock, and retrieve the last of the missing pieces to awaken the King in Black!"

The dragon scanned the hive mind, grinning with its razor sharp fangs when it found its target's face. It flew towards the purple muscular Symbiote, carrying him into the morning sky with its talons, headed straight for San Francisco!