After a long hiatus, I have returned! We're nearing the endgame of series four of this storyline, and we shall begin the beginning of the end with the next story arc: Circle of Four!
Now bonded to Venom, Ochako goes full vigilante and prepares to start dishing out justice on her own terms.
And she intends to start by bringing Iida Tenya, the Punisher, to justice.
So, with her new partner in tow, Ochako reaches out to Nejire and Ryukyu, who are looking into Iida himself. Ryukyu is hesitant to trust Venom, considering what had happened during the War of the Symbiotes, but Nejire is able to express her experiences with the Symbiote, including how it fixed her injured leg, and Ryukyu decides to give the Symbiote a shot.
So, Ochako would end up assembling her own crew, first by recruiting Nejire for her mission, then Black Cat, and then finally a reluctant Wraith, who makes it clear that she is only working with them because they're her only source of intel on the Punisher and how to track him down. Calling themselves the Circle of Four-
"Oi."
-The group of heroes, vigilantes, and Symbiote, would set off to pursue Iida, all the while observing how hero society is beginning to break down around them.
At this point in the story, hero society has begun to devolve into chaos. The ranking system for Japan's heroes has been ravaged from the recent culling of Endeavor and Hawks, the number two and three heroes, from the ranks, with Endeavor being arrested and Hawks being moved down the ranks for his part in the Winter Soldier program and the HPSC, and whilst All Might remains on his throne, seated comfortably as the number one hero, the rest of the hero ranks are currently in flux, with many of the current rankings running stagnant and undecided, especially after the carnage following the first and second Wars of the Symbiotes. Society has begun to sink further into doublethink over their zealotry and devotion to All Might, all the while beginning to express doubts and distrust of the rest of the pro heroes, especially with how said pro heroes have begun to desert the ranks and go into hiding in response to the growing chaos that was taking over hero society.
It's all falling apart. Protests and demonstrations are turning more violent with every passing day, many heroes are deserting their posts and leaving the rest of their ranks stretched to the breaking point, quirkist lynch mobs are hunting down any quirkless people that they can find as a response to Kraven's Last Hunt and the many quirkless villains that came to Japan with Spider-Man, many other civilians are simply hunkering down and waiting for the storm to pass, the cult of personality that has been formed around All Might is only growing stronger with each passing day, and groups like Overhaul's pro hero yakuza and the Meta Liberation Army are desperately trying to take advantage of it all, though they are forced to admit to themselves that even they are losing control of the situation...
All the while, S.I.L.K. continues to move in the background, taking advantage of everything that it can get its hands on.
But that's for later. Ochako is able to reach out to Kaine through Black Cat, and whilst Kaine cannot help her with Iida - he's too busy chasing up leads on S.I.L.K. and Adriana - he is able to give her a tipoff of a police report regarding the recent murder of a pro hero called Kesagiri Man in a Kiyashi Ward, matching the killing style of the Punisher. And with that, the Circle of Four set off...
Unaware that they are being tracked by another pro hero, one by the name of Heniji Tengai, who reports to Overhaul that She-Venom and her cohorts are on the move. Soon enough, they'll lead him and the gang straight to the one who's been killing all their agents.
Then, they will kill Ochako, and begin Overhaul's vengeance against Spider-Man and his allies for ruining them the first time over.
Soon enough, the Circle of Four make it to the edges of the city to where the Punisher's latest killing took place, and Venom ends up sniffing out a small case of trigger that had been dumped into a bin nearby. As it turns out, Kesagiri Man was corrupt, working as a trigger dealer. Ochako and Nejire recognise the symbol on the case as the same one from the warehouse that they had raided ages ago, but realise that there was no way that the local investigators would've missed this, and resolve to keep themselves out of the eyes of the local authorities.
During all of this, Ochako is coming to terms with the fact she is now serving as Venom's host, and the Symbiote and themselves find themselves constantly struggling to keep their bond mutual and to not let one overtake the other, with Venom in particular becoming agitated and controlling, fuelling Ochako's latent anger due to not being used to being in a co-defendant relationship.
Later, the group find themselves shadowing another hero by the name of Backdraft, who they suspect of being corrupt. Soon enough, they witness him secretly handing off a case of trigger (most likely taken from the police evidence locker in the local station) to another pro hero named Deidoro Sakaki, and then goes on to firebomb a building that the latter had instructed him to hit before leaving it to burn and then using his quirk to put it out and take the credit for resolving the situation. Black Cat recognises it as a hit job, and Wraith remarks that Deidoro was already on a police watch list for possible corruption. This only confirms it.
But then, suddenly, both Backdraft and Deidoro are attacked by a blue blur, long cuts appearing in their necks as the blur passes by them, and then they drop to the ground, blood foaming from their necks.
Iida, the Punisher, had just slit their throats in a flash.
In a flash, Ochako orders Nejire and Felicia to call Ryukyu and get Deidoro and Backdraft to a hospital, before Wraith and herself go after the speeding Iida, chasing him through streets and alleyways in a fierce pursuit, the two women dodging and weaving around gunshots being thrown at them by the vicious ex-student, before eventually cornering him and forcing him into a confrontation.
Like before, Iida has long been consumed by his darker impulses and urges, surrendering himself to his new identity as the Punisher and becoming no better than the Hero-Killer himself. She-Venom would be shocked by how monstrous her old friend has become, but Iida would rage at her for bonding with the Venom Symbiote, decrying it to be a monster deserving of death. She-Venom and Wraith would go on to battle with Iida, but would find themselves unable to match the fanatic's speed and sheer viciousness, the Punisher eventually coming out on top of the fight and forcing the two to flee, but not before they learnt from Iida that there were more heroes, and even members of the police, that were involved in Deidoro's operation, and that they have been the fake heroes that he has been targeting and murdering.
But worse still, Ochako would begin to feel the violent impulses that Venom feeds on growing within her, slowly overwhelming her as she gets a little bit too into the fight, encouraging Wraith to abandon her to Iida, forcing Ochako to regain her senses by herself and run from Iida on her own.
Meanwhile, Nejire and Felicia are able to keep Backdraft and Deidoro stable until Ryukyu arrives to take them both to a hospital, where, when they are stitched up and healed, the three begin to question the two corrupt heroes on what they were doing. Deidoro is unwilling to answer any questions, and ends up biting his own tongue, committing suicide before he can be questioned. Backdraft, however, is more willing to share what he knows, and begins telling the three heroes and vigilante thief about a growing network of corrupt heroes that was being run by a group known as the Shie Hassaikai.
As it turns out, before they fell, the Hero Public Safety Commission had been the ones in charge of moderating and supplying pro heroes and their agencies with their funds and keeping the individual heroes themselves in check. As corrupt as the HPSC was, they were the only ones keeping the rest of the corruption in hero society in check, and had been one of the central pillars in keeping things organised and moderated.
As such, when the HPSC fell, nothing had been established to replace them, and S.I.L.K. had turned away from supporting the pro heroes that didn't join them as their attention turned elsewhere, meaning that those same pro heroes were no longer receiving their cheques and much of the resources needed to continue their operations. Worse still, with the disasters and events that have struck Japan since the HPSC's fall, more and more of the little remaining funding that the heroes are supposed to be receiving is being chipped away to pay for repairing the damages. Many pro heroes have already been driven to bankruptcy and forced to retire. Many others would be forced to turn to petty crime and joining up with syndicates such as the Shie Hassaikai and the Meta Liberation Army in order to support themselves and their family. This only serves to add to the low morale of the pro hero industry, having already been majorly impacted by the HPSC's fall and the exposure of their corruption.
This part of the arc serves as a deconstruction of massive comic book events that are common in the likes of DC and Marvel, particularly the ones that feature massive battles and widespread destruction, in that we get to see more of the aftermath of those battles and how they affect not just the cities and incur massive amounts of destruction, but also traumatise and damage the psyche of all the people who survive them.
As it turns out, the massive amount of pro heroes and the oversaturation of heroes in society has softened the regular civilian to any sort of crisis. Thanks to not just All Might, but all the other heroes that populate the world solving all the major crisis's and events before they can ever affect the regular populace, general society has grown soft and complacent, and as such has grown unprepared for any sort of widescale event that may shock and traumatise them due to the heroes always protecting them.
However, in the last year, hero society (at least in Japan) has been hit with several different attacks, each one managing to catch everyone flatfooted and leaving them broken and traumatised. First Sandman's attack, then the USJ, then Hosu, then the I-Island battle, then the Kamino Incident, then Kraven's Last Hunt, then the fall of the HPSC, then the First War of the Symbiotes, and now the Second War of the Symbiotes, all in the span of a year. These events, all happening virtually back to back from each other has served to severely damage the mentality of those who live in hero society, leaving deep scars in their minds and making them afraid and paranoid of whatever might be coming for them next.
Worse yet, the damages left behind by these events are constantly adding up. In Marvel, they have an organisation known as Damage Control to help repair the destruction wrought by the endless battles between good and evil. In hero society, there is no such organisation or structure, as the presence of All Might and the throngs of pro heroes has made it so creating such an organisation was considered irrelevant. Now, many of the buildings and properties that were damaged or destroyed during all these battles have been left this way, either covered in scaffolding and works or simply abandoned because people are either hunkering down until the chaos finally ends or are simply getting caught up in the events and coming out worse for it to even think about the possibility of reconstruction.
And the worse part of it all… almost all these events have body counts attached to them. Hosu, I-Island, the Kamino Incident, Kraven's Last Hunt, the fall of the HPSC, the Tartarus riot, and now the Second War of the Symbiotes… all these massive battles have kill counts attached to them, and the Second War of the Symbiotes had escalated things so much further, killing hundreds of people in what felt like a single day. And all those who do survive these events usually come out broken, wounded, or traumatised.
All the typical comic book events that serve to excite and amaze us as readers are actually incredibly damaging to the regular person. Hero society is being chipped and frayed by all these battles and events, and it only seems to be getting worse with each passing day. Soon enough, there may not be anything left of hero society to save.
Back with our heroes, the Circle of Four, with Ryukyu, are able to reconvene later that night to share what they have learnt. Ochako is quick to lambast Wraith for abandoning her to Iida, but Wraith is quick to fire back that it was Ochako who was growing more and more violent during the battle, and makes it clear that she's only working with Ochako and the others because their interests happened to align for the moment. The group is tense, to say the least, only made worse by how Venom is continuing to feed off of Ochako's negative emotions, amplifying them in consequence.
Soon enough, Ryukyu informs the group that about six months ago, there had been an internal investigation into the local police department on suspicions of corruption, including evidence of heroes dealing in trigger and orchestrating crimes for a syndicate known as the Shie Hassaikai, but it had been buried under a mountain of bureaucracy and all charges relating to it had been dropped. Since then, the evidence for it has probably been destroyed, but there could be surviving evidence in the local police lockup. Considering that the official channels may be compromised and that they are unsure of who they can trust, the Circle of Four decide to break into the police station to grab the information that they need relating to the case, using Wraith's knowledge of police protocols and Black Cat's expertise as a thief to grab them. Wraith, being a former police officer, is reluctant to commit such an act, but is eventually convinced to help the crew if it means stopping more murders, and the two go and sneak inside.
Meanwhile, Ochako and Nejire keep watch outside of the police station and begin to talk with each other, Nejire asking Ochako about Venom, and Ochako herself recognising the problems that are coming with being Venom's host. However, they soon look down to see a group of heroes entering into the police station, led by one whom Nejire recognises as Heniji Tengai, and quickly warn Black Cat and Wraith over their radios, and the two are able to sneak their way out with photos of the documents in hand. However, they leave evidence of their being there, and Heniji is quick to pick up from this.
From the information that they were able to gather, the Circle of Four pick up on a possible location for a trigger production lab in a nearby apartment complex, and move to raid it. However, they find the lab abandoned, and are then ambushed by a group of heroes and cops, on the Shie Hassaikai's payroll, who were waiting for them on Heniji's orders. Worse, Iida arrives and begins attacking the heroes and Circle of Four, having followed the latter group there after spotting them on the move. Soon enough, the Circle of Four are able to fend off their attackers, but they are unable to stop Iida from wiping out many of the other heroes. Soon enough, Ochako ends up battling against Iida again, the two squaring off and trading both physical and verbal blows, both of them throwing their beliefs and desires in the other's face, and Ochako, thanks to Venom's influence, becoming increasingly violent as they continue to brawl...
Until Ochako is attacked by a corrupt hero, and almost kills him in retaliation.
Luckily, it is Wraith who snaps her out of it before it is too late. Unfortunately, she does this by stabbing her sickle into Ochako and dragging her away from the battle. Iida is able to flee, and the Circle of Four escape the corrupt heroes as well. Heniji, in his own way, is not happy with this, but knows what will happen to him if he fails to catch Iida and kill the Circle of Four for intruding on their operations.
Later, the Circle of Four regroup, and Ochako is left shellshocked by what just happened. Worse yet, Wraith finally decides that it's time to cut her losses and deserts the Circle, leaving Black Cat and Nejire to pick up the pieces by themselves, though they are quick to call out Wraith for leaving them behind, and even Ochako calls her a coward. Soon, Ochako starts talking to Venom once more, and the two argue, as Venom hasn't ever had a host that it hasn't fed off, and Ochako herself is somewhat scared and resistant to the idea of bonding to him, and the former goes dormant, leaving the latter on her own.
However, the two end up catching onto a lead on the location of the biggest Trigger production lab in Kiyashi Ward, and move to intercept, spotting a dozen pro heroes and another dozen cops guarding it as trucks filled with Trigger drive in and out of the warehouse. This place belongs to the Shie Hassaikai.
But then an explosion suddenly goes off, and chaos breaks out. Iida has found the warehouse as well, and he's on the attack. Somehow, he's found the warehouse at the same time as they did.
Quickly, the three of them radio Ryukyu as to what is going on and jump into the fray, taking down corrupt hero after hero and incapacitating corrupt cop after cop. However, Ochako finds herself separated from her allies and engaged by Heniji in the middle of the burning building, finding herself unable to keep up with the seasoned pro hero, which is only made worse when Iida, the Punisher, joins the battle, beginning a violent three-way conflict between them before Ochako is stabbed by Iida in the stomach and tossed aside, declared as a fake hero by her former friend for wearing the spider symbol, and going off to attack Heniji on his own.
Ochako lays on the ground, bleeding from her torso and wondering if this is the end, feeling the life escaping from her as she regrets not being able to hold Izuku and, surprisingly, Keemia again before she dies.
But then, suddenly, Venom speaks to her once more, and the two begin to talk, finally coming to terms with each other and reaching a mutual agreement. Fearing that she will not be able to stop Iida on her own, Ochako takes a leap of faith, and allows Venom to take control of her body, becoming She-Venom once more.
And then, suddenly, Wraith jumps into the scene, and attacks Heniji, allowing She-Venom to take on Iida on her own.
As it turns out, in the immediate aftermath of the Toga Incident, when Himiko Toga had been posing as Spider-Man, the talk that she had had with the real Peter Parker has affected her more than she would like to admit, and what the three girls had said to her earlier has only added to it. As such, though she will refuse to admit it, Wraith has undergone a change of heart, and has come back to help the rest of the Circle of Four.
And so, with Wraith dealing with and defeating Heniji, She-Venom and the Punisher square off with each other and go to war, throwing punch after punch at each other and trying to bring the other down. All the while, Iida is constantly ranting about how he is the only one keeping the pro heroes in check, how he is the only one dealing with the fakes and the liars, and how Spider-Man and all the other spiders have ruined his life and brought him down so low-
And that is when She-Venom cuts him off, and delivers the mother of all 'Reason-you-suck' speeches onto him. She calls him out on blaming Spider-Man and his friends for what has happened to him, whereas in reality, he has done this all to himself. He was the one who sought out revenge on Stain and murdered Kraven when the latter was already dying. He was the one who decided to become a villain and murder countless heroes. He was the one who decided to become just like Stain. Iida is furious at this, utterly despising the hero killer, but She-Venom then calls him the same as Stain, taking up his mission, and even taking his sword as his own.
For all of his talk of hating Stain, in letting his anger and rage grow and control him, Iida has become just like him.
And honestly, at this point? She-Venom, and even Ochako, have no sympathy for Iida anymore. Maybe once, a long time ago, when they were still friends. But now? Now, Iida is a murderer, the complete opposite of a hero, and has dozens of dead men and women at his feet.
Iida brought this all on himself.
And, with one final punch and a declaration that Tensei would be disappointed in him, She-Venom lands one last punch on Iida, and knocks him to the floor, wounded and broken.
However, in a haze of anger and rage, She-Venom wraps her hands around Iida's neck and begins to strangle him, eager to finally kill him and satisfy her bloodlust-
But then, she stops herself, and pulls away, declaring him to not be worth it.
It had been Venom who pulled away from the kill, all on his own, and without Ochako's influence.
In the aftermath of the Circle of Four's raid on the warehouse, Ryukyu arrives with Gang Orca and his small army of sidekicks, and they and the Circle of Four round up the workers, dirty cops and corrupt pro heroes, including Heniji, out of the rubble, and then finally grab Iida and push him into a police car, finally bringing him to justice.
And later, Ochako thanks Wraith for coming back for them, as without her, she and Venom would both be dead. Wraith says to think nothing of it, and then makes it clear that she's going to be splitting off from the rest of the group. As much as she may respect them now, she still doesn't fully trust them, especially Venom, and she feels that she can accomplish more on her own than she can in a group.
And with that, the Circle of Four splits up, Wraith going off on her own, Nejire returning to Ryukyu's agency, and Ochako and Black Cat returning to Musufatu and Inko and Izuku's apartment. Izuku and Keemia greet her warmly, and Ochako finds herself thankful for their presence.
Later, whilst everyone else is sleeping, Ochako talks with Venom once more, and the two finally come to terms with what has been holding them back from being a truly bonded pair. Soon enough, the two of them decide to iron out their differences and become better, and Ochako and Venom embrace their bond once more, bringing She-Venom back to life.
Meanwhile, Iida is sitting in his cell, still utterly furious and blaming others for what has happened to him. As it turns out, he hadn't been tracking down his targets on his own. Someone was feeding him information on the operation of the Shie Hassaikai, letting him cripple their operations on his own. But beyond that, he continues to simmer with rage, frothing with anger and grinding his teeth at the thought that another spider had denied him what was his once again-
But then, the door to his cell opens up, and a man with a bird mask, like a plague doctor, covering the lower half of his face steps inside.
Overhaul, who has already executed Heniji for his failure, in a tranquil rage, places his hand on Iida's head and murders him, spraying his blood and offal across the wall behind him.
Overhaul leaves, calmly furious as to how his operations have been wounded so much by the spiders. His entire organisation has been crippled and left a mockery by Spider-Man and his allies, and decides that there needs to be a change.
If the operation in Eradu fails once again, then he will have to take matters into his own hands.