He was about to throw objects lying around at Carnage when he dodged and hit Venom in the chest with a blade. He screamed in pain and looked at her.

»Oh no«, whispered Eddie.

Carnage pulled the blade back and laughed. You could clearly feel that he was playing with Venom. But when he made an attempt to move in Alex' direction, Carnage grabbed him by the head and pulled him towards him.

»You won't do that«, he threatened, flashing his fangs dangerously.

Venom took the chance and rammed his claws deep into his chest, so that this time it was Carnage's turn to scream.

When Shriek saw this, she directed a scream at Venom, which of course Carnage also received some of. They both writhed in pain and then hid in their hosts.

Cletus slowly stood up. When Shriek tried to help him, he pushed her away.

The high tones had also stopped the offspring, which gave Alex a slight lead. But he came dangerously closer and she lost hope of being able to escape from it.

Eddie stood up and looked at her. Since Cletus was also still weak, he used the moment and ran to her. He disappeared back into Venom's body, who at the last second let his hand shoot forward to prevent a symbiosis.

He grabbed it and... ate it? Alex watched him gratefully but in disbelief. But the joy did not last long, because Carnage treacherously pounced on Venom from behind, who then tried to get him off his back. No one paid attention to her panicked screams. Both were too engrossed in the fight to notice that she was still next to them and was almost crushed. When Venom finally collapsed on the ground, exhausted, Carnage grabbed Alex with one tentacle, who tried to defend herself, and Shriek with another. He began to climb up and clear his way. More chunks of concrete fell from the ceiling, burying Venom.

When he got to the top, he set them both down on the scaffolding and Carnage retreated.

»Who is she?«, asked Shriek, pointing to Alex, who was still tied up.

They both looked at him and Alex saw something in his face that she would never have expected. Not from him.

It was fear.

So Shriek didn't know that she was his daughter. But she didn't really understand why, until it *clicked* in her head.

He had cheated on her and she didn't know about it. Telling her about it obviously bothered him so much that he was about to come up with a lie.

Shriek looked at him challengingly.

»I'm his daughter!«, Alex burst out, getting surprised looks from both of them before Shriek turned back to Cletus.

»Is that true?!«, she shouted at him.

»Yes«, he replied curtly, nodding.

She slapped him.

Venom tried to fight his way out of the mountain they were still lying under, but he gave up.

»What are you doing?«, Eddie shouted.

»We can't do it.«

»Get up!«

Venom did nothing of the sort and stayed lying down.

»Look! They're not a team like us«, Eddie shouted when he saw them fighting up there.

The fight and falling pieces of ceiling had left so many holes in the roof that they could see the three of them.

»When this is all over, you can eat the two of them«, Eddie encouraged Venom, whose eyes lit up at the word eat.

That gave him new motivation and he finally managed to fight his way out of the mountain. Then he stood up and looked upwards.

Shriek looked like she wanted to shout at him, but she didn't get the chance because Carnage thwarted her plans when he showed himself and held her tight.

»I'm going to eat you!«, he growled, opening his mouth wide.

Venom had now climbed up the other side to avoid detection. He jumped over the top of the tower and attacked from above. At the same moment Shriek started to scream.

Everything seemed to be happening in slow motion and Alex was sitting in the middle of it, unable to do anything but watch.

Venom landed on Carnage, who in turn let go of Shriek. Both symbiotes screamed in pain and the roof began to collapse, along with the scaffolding they were on. Carnage hurled her away, causing her to slip off the scaffolding and fall.

Her scream didn't subside and the scaffolding finally gave way.

Now everyone was in free fall and Carnage and Venom finally separated completely from their hosts. Shriek fell silent just before she came up.

Cletus tried to grab Carnage, but he was too far away and they both fell to the ground a short time later. Eddie, on the other hand, was luckier and managed to reconnect with Venom. While still in flight, he grabbed Alex and pulled her towards him. They also landed with a loud crash.

The dust slowly settled and it was now up to the lethal protector to live up to his name.

Carnage crawled around on the ground to get to Cletus, but before that could happen, Venom held him with his foot and picked him up. Carnage made squeaking noises and tried to free himself from the grip. In this form, he didn't seem so threatening anymore, even quite pathetic.

Venom grinned from ear to ear and finally ate him up. Carnage fought back, but without a host, he had no chance and was devoured in seconds. Then Venom turned to Cletus, who was lying on the ground next to him. His eyes looked tormented and blood came out of his nose. The fall seemed to have broken some of his bones. Venom picked him up and the right side of Eddie's face appeared.

»You know what I always wanted, Eddie?« Cletus spat blood as he spoke. But he didn't feel anything anymore anyway.

»What was it?«, he asked with a slightly annoyed undertone.

»Family. Nothing more.«

Cletus stared at him.

»I'm sorry, Cletus.«

Eddie looked at him and a small smile played around his mouth because he sensed that Venom was getting impatient. He's all yours, Eddie thought, giving Venom permission (which was actually no longer needed) to eat Cletus. Venom opened his mouth wide, bared his fangs and bit off his head.

He dropped the rest of him and looked around. Anne and Dan were obviously already gone, and there was no sign of Shriek either. Venom looked at Alex, who was just staring at Cletus' lifeless body and had watched all of this. But she actually seemed relieved. He went to her and cut through her bonds with his sharp claws. Suddenly sirens could be heard.

»We should get out of here quickly«, said Eddie after Venom had retreated into his body.

»Yes…«, Alex said slowly.

»What is it?«

»I was officially kidnapped by him…«, she replied after a brief hesitation.

»...Wouldn't it be better if I stayed here. And I just act like I didn't know anything?« She looked at him questioningly.

»Hm…«

He didn't really like the plan, but did they have a choice? She couldn't just show up on the street again tomorrow after something like that, after half the city had been destroyed and everyone was looking for her. That way there would at least be an explanation.

»There's no other way.«

Eddie was still hesitating and the sirens were getting closer and closer.

»Go ahead«, she urged with a smile.

»She's right, Eddie.«

He admitted defeat and nodded goodbye before disappearing towards the side exit.

She looked around and quickly decided to lie down somewhere "unconscious". With the scratches, no one would doubt her story so quickly.

Eddie and Venom fled just seconds before the police arrived and searched the area with special units.

Inquiring detectives looked around when everything was secured. The cathedral, which was already dilapidated and was actually being renovated, lay in ruins. Almost the entire roof had collapsed and it was raining lightly. They also found a headless corpse and the girl who was suspected to have been kidnapped by Kasady. No one dared to put forward a theory as to what might have happened here.