Carl Brock grabbed a shotgun as he heard a knock at his door, seemingly prepared for the worst, but it flew from his hands as a big black tendril pinned him against the wall!

"Hello again, you miserable piece of human garbage!"

"What do you want now!?" Carl questioned them. "You already took my son!"

"Your son!?" Eddie and Venom furiously emphasized.

"I was never your son, I'm Eddie's and Anne's son!" Dylan himself argued. "If it wasn't for you, I could have been happy and lived with at least one of my real parents! I hope they lock you up for the rest of your life, you lying, abusive monster!"

"And this is from me!" Anne added before she punched Carl Brock in the jaw! "Why would you tell me Eddie was dead!? Why tell him that I committed suicide!?"

Carl spit in the other direction. "It was to spare you more pain from him. You know Eddie's own birth killed my wife, his own mother!? He was born bad, not like Dylan, the good son, and now look at him: look at the monster he's become! I figured having him around to ruin your life again would eventually make you take your own life anyway... all he ever does is cause the people around him pain! He got you fired from your job, remember, and since then he's only put you in danger with that- that monstrosity inside of him, and he got you pregnant against your will! I didn't want that for you, and I didn't want that for Dylan-"

"No, the only one around here causing everyone pain is you, especially to Dylan! What happened between me and Eddie is our business, and he apologized for his mistakes! Now it's your turn, and you can start with Dylan for hurting him and lying to him for nine years!"

"And if you don't, we'll eat your brain, slowwwly, part by part, lobe by lobe!" Venom threatened.

"I'm calling the police!" Carl warned them.

"Good, we'll take you to court if we have to; you know I'm a lawyer and a damn good one!" Anne told him.

"And then, when you have finished rotting in prison like the scum you are, we will come back and eat your brains, and we will give your empty brainless head to the other prisoners, and they will play prison volleyball with it every Wednesday afternoon!"

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have lied! Just leave me alone!" Carl shouted as Venom began to open his mouth wide.

"To Dylan!"

"I'm sorry I lied to you, Dylan! I'm sorry I hurt you!"

"Now to Anne!"

"Anne, I'm sorry I told you Eddie died."

"And to Eddie!"

"I don't think so."

Venom bashed his head against Carl's and reiterated. "And to Eddie!"

"Aagh! I'm sorry that I told you Anne was dead and didn't tell you about Dylan!"

"And!?"

"And what!?"

"And apologize to Eddie for blaming him for his mother's death and abusing him!"

"It was his fault!"

"Wrong answer!" Venom bit Carl on the leg, increasing the pressure until he finally gave in!

"Okay, I'm sorry for blaming you and hurting you too, Eddie, now stop hurting meee!"

Venom ungraciously put him down. "Good!"

"Now, here's the deal: you don't come near us again, and we'll leave you alone." Eddie compromised.

Carl glared at them and nodded, slamming the door behind him before tending to his bleeding leg.

"Well, I was hoping to eat his brain, but otherwise, that went pretty well!"

"Yeah. Thanks, Venom!"

"Now I know not to trust him." Anne stated. "You let me know if he gets out of line again, and I'll legally destroy him!"

"You're still the best, Annie!"

"And now that Dan's with her, if things don't work with him-"

Eddie shushed his other, and the duo took Dylan home after seeing Anne back to her home. However, the two Brocks were surprised to find Loki waiting for them outside the door.

"Eddie, Dylan, hello! Do you have a moment?"

"Uh, sure? Something related to the evil Symbiotes that attacked us?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact! You recall the one who jabbed you in the spine and took your codex? Now that the evil Symbiotes have it, they don't need you anymore, but they will target your son next!"

"What? Why me?" Dylan asked.

My dear boy, it pains me to tell you that a remnant of Carnage's codex is in you, passed down from Venom when you were born, and they wish to take it out of you and use it for evil! So, I have come to warn you and take it from you so that you will not be a target!"

"You can do that?"

"Yes, of course, with magic!"

"Carnage!?" Eddie echoed. "Oh great, that's all we need! He was a really bad one, bonded to a whackjob serial killer named Cletus Kasady!"

"This Kasady was a victim of abusive parents, no doubt!"

"Yeah, I guess you could figure that out pretty easy after experience with enough serial killers, right?"

"No, I could figure it out easily by the fact that they named him Cletus. Now, just hold still for a moment, young Dylan, and I'll purge that evil from you!"

"And w-what are you gonna do with it after that?"

Loki smiled. "I'm going to get rid of it, maybe toss it into a nice active volcano or something, so that it can't cause any more trouble or bring about the end of the world, that sort of thing! Just relax; this won't hurt a bit."

Dylan did as instructed while Loki magically removed the red codex and placed it in a small container.

"You are a very good liar!" His Symbiote complimented in his head.

"Shhh!"

"Do not shush me, host, they cannot hear me!"

"Oh yeah, I wanted to talk to Healer!" Venom interjected. The green-eyed Symbiote emerged from Loki's chest and answered.

"About what?"

"I might have been... a little tiny bit harsh in my rejection, and if you have a plan, I could help you with your chocolate-covered brain idea!"

"Chocolate-covered brain?" Grievance repeated before consulting his host again. "Uh, I don't know what he's talking about, but it sounds delicious! What should I say?"

"Sorry, but that'll have to wait until Dylan is safe and this is properly disposed of!" Loki quickly covered for his partner. "There, now we're all good to go, so I'll just be going! Best of luck!"

"Yeah, you too!"

"Thanks, Loki!"

As Loki turned to leave, they felt the ground shake for a few seconds.

"Was that an earthquake?" Eddie asked. "That was weird, was it Symbiote-related?"

"No, I don't think so." Venom said.

"I don't sense any Symbiotes around, either than you and Healer." Dylan added.

"That was from Loki's stomach ruuumbling." Grievance truthfully told them. "He gets hungry spells."

"Well that's terrifying." Eddie remarked.

"The tremors are no danger to you." Loki assured them. "Good day."

"Hmmm... he was acting suspicious..." Venom remarked.

"Isn't that just how he normally acts?" Eddie clarified. "And you're the one who said not to judge him cuz he's an alien from another time or whatever!"

"This is different... he felt fake, and his Symbiote: he did not seem as intimate with Loki as before... less affectionate..."

"Oh yeah? How so?"

"When he talked about his host being hungry, he didn't say 'we' or 'our' body, he said 'him' and 'his.' They just felt off."

"Oh. You think they had a fight too?"

"...Call them, Eddie. Either they did, or they are about to!"

As Loki walked through Chinatown, the tremors struck again while he looked around the shops.

"Do earthquakes always strike when you're in pain?" Grievance wondered. "Or paaangs, in this case?"

"Only when it gets excruciating, or I have gone without food for a very long time." Loki admitted, stroking his abdomen.

"Mmm, your appetite impresses even me: you cleaned out two buffets in Denmark already, yet you are still so hungry!"

"You'd be famished too if you were bound to a cave for over a thousand years without being fed! Every day, my wife brought that bowl back and forth, yet she never brought me anything to eat!"

"I can sympathize, and you have been veeery helpful with how well you impersonated the detective Loki, but we have to get that codex back to my cult brothers, remember?"

"Fret not, my dark companion: I can literally eat as fast as wildfire, as you have seen for yourself, and that was before I was eating for two, so no delay will come of it! Ah, there's an all-you-can-eat smorgasbord!"

The trickster eagerly walked into the restaurant and grabbed a great many plates, cleaning out the buffet trays one-by-one and leaving the other patrons complaining! Ragnarok Loki held true to his boast, eating every bit of food in the restaurant much faster than the cooks could prepare it! Even the ravenous Grievance watched in awe for a moment as his newest host cleaned out the entire buffet singlehandedly!

After he did, the manager came over to tell him to leave, but Loki had already moved to eat the food in the kitchen while the chefs and servers urged him to return to his seat. He ignored them, scarfing down every fruit, vegetable, and dessert in their fridge, every morsel in the pantries, and wolfing down every scrap of meat until he was finally satisfied!

The manager and his employees all tried to toss him out, but the mischievous man was too hefty for them! Finally, he asked for compensation.

"You've eaten way too much, pal! Now none of my other paying customers have any food, and I won't be able to feed any future customers for the rest of the week, so you are going to pay for the cost of all of their meals, or you are going to jail!"

"Fair enough, how much do I owe?"

"Ten thousand bucks, at least!"

The trickster raised an eyebrow. "Really? I am quite astonished to see so much bartering after so many years have passed! Very well, here it comes!" Loki shapeshifted into a doe and made a loud groan in deer language. Confused, the others inside were caught even more off-guard as a herd of bucks stampeded into the building, the windows shattered and the people screaming as the deer ran amok inside. When they saw the lovely doe, they immediately surrounded her, fawning over the transformed Loki and locking horns with each other in competition over her!

"Well, that ought to be at least a thousand, but the rest just won't fit in your establishment! Don't fret though, they likely have the place surrounded already!" Loki then transformed back into his humanoid form and walked back outside with a triumphant smirk. "I've still got it. The managers in Denmark were far more gracious, I have to say, satisfied with only a few Dwarven crowns! So, now that I'm full, let's get that red smudge to your gang!"

Grievance returned his expression. "You know, I'm really starting to like youuu!"

Back in Denmark, Detective Loki and Healer investigated the area that Heimdall showed them, stopping short of the entrance when he heard his TemPad make a noise.

"Hello?"

"Detective Loki, just how did you know that Dylan had a piece of Carnage in him?" Eddie interrogated.

"Carnage? Is that a Symbiote?"

"Uh, yeah, you just came over to my house and took it out with magic before the bad Symbiotes could, didn't you?"

Loki scrunched his face. "No, I haven't seen you since we had ice cream. Can other Symbiotes disguise themselves as people?"

"Ohhh no... not that I know of. Venom?"

"It was both a man and a Symbiote that looked just like you and yours."

"That is quite the unexpected development! Hold on..." Loki opened a Time Door to Eddie's location and looked into his mind. "Sorry, just making sure you're not the shapeshifter. Well, thank you for informing me; I'm about to enter their underground lair. How long ago did he visit you?"

"Uh, about an hour or two ago?"

"Then I can probably beat him back to the others!" Loki returned to his previous location. "Healer, can you form a suit around me, like you did in that first nightmare?"

"Yesss! Are we going in disguise?"

"We are; we need to find those codices before they get that last one and keep them from unleashing the dragons, Knull, or whatever they're planning, and if there's a symbiotic pair out there disguised as us, we'll more than likely be welcomed back as one of them, and that will give us a sizable advantage!"

"Good plan! But... are you sure you're okay... you know, emotionally?"

Loki nodded. "I know she's not my Frigga, just as this Loki isn't me or Sylvie. Besides, she's a grieving mother; if I stood face to face with my child's murderer... well, I wouldn't be so nice!"

"Oh... that's a scary thought. Okay then, I am ready for action!"

Healer wrapped around his host, his black, goopy face and bright green eyes completely covering Loki's, and they entered the sanctuary, going mainly unnoticed by the other cult members. "Awesomesauce!"

"So this is what it's like to be on the inside." Detective Loki remarked. "Now just act natural and look for one of them with wings or some other distinguishing feature, or one that looks like a leader."

"Gotchaaa!" Healer responded. He searched around until one of his brothers called out to him.

"Brother Grievance, did you get the last codex?"

Healer turned to the leader, who looked anxious for an answer. "Uh, Loki? He knows my name... my old name. I am confused."

"Yes, I noticed. If your variant is the one who tricked the Brocks, then maybe he's bonded to my variant and helped him escape his punishment!" Loki figured. "That would explain why the earthquakes have ceased."

"What do I say?"

"Say yes, and he'll probably show you to the other codices!"

"Oh, okay! Yesss, I have it!"

"Then give it to me, and I will awaken the creator!" Knull instructed. Loki advised Healer in their mind, and the Symbiote pulled out a small piece of his own codex, handing it to the leader. He took one look at the codex in his hand and narrowed his icy blue eyes. "This isn't Carnage's codex, this one is black!"

"It isn't? How do you know?"

"Because, Carnage was red, so...?"

"Uhhh, violets are blue?"

"His codex must also be red!"

"Ah, makes sense. Ummm, maybe we could put it with the others and make sure?"

"Hmmm. Did you get this from the boy?"

"Say yes!"

"Yes!"

"Let me think... we overheard Eddie say that Dylan was born from Venom as well as his parents, so perhaps Venom's black codex has mixed with the red one! Yes, have them look inside of the codex, and I'll make this Carnage's color appear!"

"Maybe the red got mixed inside Venom's black codex, cuz, you know, the kid had both of them? Yes?"

The leader paused. "Let me see it closer." He pulled apart the codex, and in the center was a red strand that Detective Loki colored with magic. "Ahhh, I see it now! Good work, Brother Grievance!"

"Ooh, and since I was the one who brought this very important piece to you, can I add it to the rest?"

The leader paused for a moment. "I like your enthusiasm, brother. Alright, place it in the center over there, and the ritual will be complete!"

"Very nice!" Loki complimented his partner. The duo approached the codices, but instead of putting Healer's codex with the rest, Loki took the others, casting an illusion that they were still there, before Healer placed his own in the center. "We needn't worry about them summoning their god now; it's fortuitous that they don't need your codex!"

"So now what? Do we run?"

"No, that would only draw suspicion to us." Detective Loki then cast a duplicate of his Symbiote while the original hid their presence. They snuck away as others chanted in a language Loki didn't recognize. "Do you know what they're saying?"

"They are saying, 'Wake up! Return! Make us whole again!' And they are addressing the creator."

They took a few more steps before another symbiotic duo crashed into them, causing the detective to drop the codices!

"What!? What did we just crash into!?" Grievance wondered. "I didn't even see anything!"

"Him!" Ragnarok Loki pointed, and with a wave of his finger, he revealed the disguised detective. "It's the other me!"