Chapter Summaries

Luke checked on his premature Symbiotes, Habu and Mistel, and demonstrated Habu’s ability to control intense heat. He then released Venom and used Habu’s flames to force the rebellious Symbiote to surrender.

• Luke visited Habu and Mistel in the Symbiote Laboratory and noted their weakness and high growth potential.
• Luke found Habu absorbing heat on a metal plate, and Habu leapt into his hand and bonded with him.
• Luke told Snoke he intended to teach Venom to obey before conducting research on him.
• Snoke opened Venom’s glass jar and sealed himself behind a tempered-glass wall.
• Venom lunged at Luke, but Habu formed a ring of fire that trapped him.
• Venom stopped resisting and formed the words, “You win! I’ll behave!”

Gwen learned that her boyfriend Peter was Spider-Man and helped him recover after he was injured fighting Dr. Connors, who had transformed into a giant lizard. Peter left to stop Connors, while Gwen made him promise to call her for help next time.

• Luke spent his days researching Venom while caring for Ina and the other children.
• Gwen reflected on her worries for her father and realized she now had to worry about Peter, who was secretly Spider-Man.
• Peter arrived at Gwen's room covered in blood, and Gwen called on Quiet to heal him.
• Peter told Gwen that he had given Dr. Connors his father's formula and blamed himself for turning Connors into a giant lizard.
• Peter insisted on leaving to stop Connors from turning the city into Lizard City, and Gwen made him promise to call her if he acted again.

Luke discussed Venom’s complaints about human bodies and refused to bond with him, while Venom warned Nick Fury that S.H.I.E.L.D. had become notorious among Symbiotes. Nick then offered Luke a Symbiote in exchange for help with Dr. Connors’s incomplete formula as a giant lizard ran loose in the city.

• Venom complained that human bodies were fragile and tried again to persuade Luke to bond with him, but Luke refused.
• Venom answered Nick Fury’s call and warned him that Symbiotes shared information and that S.H.I.E.L.D. had earned their hostility.
• Nick worried that S.H.I.E.L.D.’s experiments had drawn the attention of a wider cosmic network of Symbiotes.
• Nick told Luke that a giant lizard was running around the city and offered him one Symbiote to help complete Dr. Connors’s formula and possibly make a serum.

Venom asked Luke for permission to go outside, and Luke allowed Snoke to take him out. Meanwhile, Spider-Man fought the Lizard at Osborn Industries, where Gwen intervened and was gravely wounded.

• Venom asked Luke to let him get some fresh air, and Luke agreed to let Snoke take him out.
• The Lizard battled Spider-Man through the city as he headed for Osborn Industries to spread his formula and create a new race.
• Spider-Man tried to stop the Lizard from retrieving his prepared materials, but the Lizard overpowered him and rejected Peter’s attempt to make him return to normal.
• Gwen followed her connection to Peter into Osborn Industries and found him pinned beneath the Lizard.
• Gwen threw a desk to save Peter, but the Lizard retaliated by hurling a sharp metal sheet into her abdomen.

Peter watched Gwen take a metal plate through the abdomen, but her Symbiote healed her and took control of her body. Quiet chased the fleeing Lizard through the building while Peter followed, and Snoke decided against helping.

• Peter rushed to Gwen after the metal plate pierced her, and Lizard urged him to let the transformation serum save her.
• Gwen’s Symbiote healed her wound, and Quiet took control of her unconscious body.
• Quiet grabbed Peter, told him to stay away from Gwen, and set off after the escaping Lizard, smashing through walls and furniture.
• Peter followed Quiet, hoping to help restrain Lizard with his webbing.
• Snoke considered going to help, but Venom warned him to stay away because Quiet was a lunatic.

Quiet fought Lizard atop Osborn Industries while Peter tried to stop the Lizard Formula from being released over the city. Quiet defeated Lizard and he reverted to Dr. Connors just as police arrived.

• Snoke asked Venom why Quiet had become unpredictable, and Venom explained that she could become unstable and attack allies during a fight.
• Peter struggled with Lizard over the canister of Lizard Formula, which could transform the city's inhabitants into Lizards.
• Quiet punched Peter, took the canister from Lizard, and tossed it to Peter before attacking Lizard herself.
• Peter secured the canister and offered to restrain Lizard, but Quiet told him to get lost and fought on her own.
• Quiet battered Lizard, severed his tail, and overwhelmed him until his body changed back into Dr. Connors.
• Police arrived and ordered the group to raise their hands, while Quiet stopped fighting and noted that they had shown up late.

Norman Osborn publicly blamed Spider-Man for the attack on Osborn Industries Tower and accused him of stealing the Lizard Formula. At Hebron, Luke learned Quiet had taken the vial from Peter and kept it, then sent Gwen to collect her; Venom only came out of hiding after Quiet left.

• Norman Osborn condemned Spider-Man to reporters and claimed he had stolen Osborn Industries' Lizard Formula.
• Luke questioned Quiet about the vial, and Quiet explained she had taken it after Peter left with it.
• Quiet insisted she had brought the vial to Luke as a gift and asked for an extra meal to recover her strength.
• Luke agreed to feed Quiet and told White Queen to summon Gwen from Dr. Johnson's laboratory.
• Quiet teased Venom in his containment tank before Gwen arrived and absorbed her back into her body.
• Venom stopped pretending to be lifeless after Quiet had gone and admitted he feared her.

Nick learned that Radical and Militant Faction vampires were moving toward New York to eliminate the person they blamed for their troubles, while planning a ritual to summon power from the Blood God. He ordered S.H.I.E.L.D. to help Blade stop the ritual and learned that Hebron’s Werewolf Serum was being supplied to special units as a weapon against vampires.

• Agent Hill told Nick that vampire forces were approaching New York and that the Radical and Militant Factions were planning a Blood God ritual, according to Blade’s intelligence.
• Nick ordered Hill to contact Blade and assign personnel to help him prevent the Blood God from descending.
• Hill reported that Hebron had supplied another batch of Werewolf Serum to special units targeting vampires.
• Hill explained that the serum gave soldiers powerful, temporary werewolf transformations, tracking abilities, and toxins effective against vampires, but reduced their intelligence in combat.
• The authorities complained that the serum was temporary, while Hebron defended its limited duration as safer and better for future use.

Nick prepared S.H.I.E.L.D. for a coming Vampire conflict and called on Luke and Stark to help. George Stacy’s precinct received Hebron weapons and warnings, while Anto Thomas gave George a Transformation Potion to protect him during the expected fighting.

• Nick told Agent Hill to notify Luke that he needed to help with the Vampire threat at Hebron.
• Nick ordered Agent Phil Coulson to notify Stark so the two could prepare a weapon against the Vampires.
• George Stacy distributed new Hebron firearms and bullets to his officers and warned them to prepare for several nights of danger.
• Anto Thomas explained the ultraviolet ammunition and advised George to keep his family indoors after dark.
• Anto gave George a Hebron Transformation Potion from Mr. Field, and George promised to thank Luke.

Luke supplied the authorities and S.H.I.E.L.D. with ultraviolet weapons and Wolfbane Grenades for the coming war against vampires. Nick considered using a citywide dispersal device to spread the potion, but kept that dangerous plan only as a last resort.

• Nick inspected Hebron Industrial Park's prepared weapons, and Luke agreed to supply S.H.I.E.L.D. agents while joking about his debt-collection methods.
• Luke explained that Wolfbane Potion, a byproduct of Werewolf Serum, weakened vampires and described how its grenade spread a mist across an area.
• Nick suggested replacing Dr. Curtis Connors's Lizard Formula with Wolfbane Potion in the device designed to disperse it across the city.
• Luke warned that the mist could cause riots, harm humans and other creatures, and fail to incapacitate vampires quickly enough to prevent casualties.
• Nick accepted that the battle would pit the Werewolf Unit against the Vampire Militant Faction and kept the dispersal plan as a last resort.

Thousands of Vampires attacked New York, targeting Hebron and the homes of Senators, but S.H.I.E.L.D. and government forces used specialized ultraviolet weapons to inflict heavy losses. As the Vampires were trapped, a vast Werewolf force closed in, leaving Nick confident that this battlefield would end in victory.

• Phil Coulson reported that more than seven thousand armed Vampires were moving toward Hebron and the homes of Senators, and Nick Fury ordered ultraviolet attacks and kept the Werewolf Unit on standby.
• Luke told Nick that the president had promised government support, while Luke kept Hebron’s mechanical-production capabilities secret as a reserve plan.
• George Stacy’s forces and Agent Romanoff’s team held the Brooklyn-Manhattan bridge with ultraviolet weapons, killing many Vampires and bringing down one of their helicopters.
• Natasha and Clint fought off winged Vampires in the air, while the ground battle forced the Vampires back at a cost of hundreds of casualties.
• An elderly general ordered the Werewolf Unit to take the field, and the Vampires realized that a huge pack was closing around them.
• Nick watched the Werewolves surge toward the trapped Vampires and concluded that victory belonged to their side.

The authorities counted the enormous casualties from the Vampire Militant Faction’s attack as they transferred prisoners and wounded from the battlefields. Nick Fury believed the Vampires’ influence had been undermined, but Luke’s Longevity Serum had redirected powerful figures’ attention toward a future beyond vampirism.

• Nick Fury reviewed the casualties, including the nearly fifty percent losses among the Werewolf Unit in Brooklyn, where a little over three thousand of nearly six thousand soldiers survived intact.
• The authorities secured the surviving Vampires, many of them poisoned and restrained with silver chains and scheduled Wolfbane Potion injections, while other battles left casualties, prisoners, and hostages.
• Luke reported that Washington D.C. had lifted its alert and captured over a hundred Vampires alive, prompting Nick to conclude that the Vampires were finished.
• Nick considered how the Vampire Moderate Faction had gained allies among transformed officials and judged it more dangerous than the Militant Faction.
• Nick recognized that Luke’s finished Longevity Serum had given powerful figures an alternative to becoming Vampires, making the Militant Faction’s attack a turning point for the species.

After the Battle of Brooklyn made vampires public knowledge, Luke arrived at an airport gathering where officials and companies sought a share of the new vampire-related business. He left with General Evra’s order for two Longevity Serum doses and learned Norman Osborn planned to profit from products aimed at the general public.

• News reports spread details of the Battle of Brooklyn and the authorities announced a crackdown on vampires.
• General Evra privately asked Luke for Longevity Serum, and Luke agreed to sell him two doses for 300 million dollars.
• General Evra offered Luke 200 vampires, including some more than five hundred years old, as potential research material.
• Norman Osborn offered 200 million dollars to the charity fund and said Osborn Industries would support Luke without competing in Hebron’s core businesses.
• Luke realized Norman might market health supplements containing Vampire Factor to capitalize on public interest.

After the Vampire Factor conference, Hebron, Stark Industries, and S.H.I.E.L.D. secured gains while the public and criminal underworld rushed to exploit vampires. The chapter ended with vampires becoming the center of a new commercial and criminal power struggle.

• Over three days, companies and influential figures negotiated over vampires, while Hebron remained secure as the only producer of a mature Vampire Factor product and Tony Stark observed rather than participated.
• Tony reflected on his difficulty rebuilding Stark Industries’ government relationships and accepted that he had to handle political pressures himself.
• Nick Fury, Tony, and Luke met at Hebron, where Luke announced that New Energy faced no further obstacles and that Hebron had obtained a Weapon Security Permit.
• Nick reported that S.H.I.E.L.D. had received a twenty percent funding increase and more responsibilities, while Tony said Stark Industries had won an order to upgrade California’s state-operated power grid.
• Nick, Tony, and Luke discussed the growing Vampire Factor industry as media coverage recast vampires as valuable research subjects and the public began hunting them for company payouts.
• Companies and underworld organizations moved to profit from vampires, whose old network of influence had collapsed and been replaced by a new vampire-centered chain of interests.

The Vampire Factor market grew into a booming, largely unregulated business, and Norman Osborn tried to secure Hebron’s cooperation as he planned to consolidate the industry. After speaking with Nick and Stark, Luke set the commercial disputes aside and focused on the Infinity Stones and the sorcerers.

• Companies began selling products advertised as containing Vampire Factors, while donating money to Hebron’s Brooklyn Charity Foundation to avoid its objections.
• Merchants proposed registering and grading vampires, then using their number and quality to set product quotas and restrict competition.
• Norman Osborn repeatedly visited Hebron to discuss his plans with Luke and Ina and sought access to higher-grade vampires.
• Hebron, S.H.I.E.L.D., and government laboratories had already claimed most of the strongest vampires, leaving Norman to gather stocks held by senators and generals.
• Luke spoke with Nick and Stark, dismissed the Vampire Factor business from his concerns, and turned his attention to the Infinity Stones and the sorcerers.

Luke turned Old Bat’s remains into a crystal containing Dark Energy and tested how it could be used and how it affected symbiotes. After the symbiotes fought over pieces of the crystal, Little Habu and Mistel grew noticeably larger, while Luke continued monitoring them.

• Luke experimented on Old Bat’s corpse and obtained a durable, blackish-gray crystal that held Old Bat’s essence and Dark Energy.
• Luke used the crystal in an Energy Conversion Device to produce Holy Light and Darkness, then found that the crystal slowly replenished its energy.
• Quiet, Venom, and another symbiote fought over a piece of the crystal, so Luke stopped them and gave crystal fragments to Little Habu and Mistel.
• Luke gave Venom the leftover crystal powder after Venom complained, while the other symbiote received none.
• Luke observed that Little Habu and Mistel had grown by about a third, examined them, and returned their undigested crystal pieces.

Luke tested magical equipment made from Vampire Crystals with Jessica Jones and the Security Squad, discovering that the devices granted wearers enhanced physical abilities and superpowers. He collected the equipment afterward, judging the results preliminary and planning to target mages as customers.

• Luke explained that Vampire Crystals came from condensed life essence and varied according to the subject's nature and connection to darkness.
• Jessica Jones mistook the jewelry-like devices on Luke's table for rewards before he explained that they were new equipment.
• Luke gave Tiny a pair of crystal bracelets, and she demonstrated how they increased her strength and physical abilities.
• The Security Squad tested the equipment, with Snoke gaining the ability to control metal and other members gaining control over flames and wind.
• Luke collected all the equipment after the tests and decided mages were its intended customers, with energy devices and storage crystals as alternatives.

Luke revealed the existence of mages to Nick Fury and demonstrated Holy Light through a ring he said was created by Hebron Technology. He then shared intelligence about ancient guardians and Earth’s place among the Nine Realms, leaving Nick grimly considering the claims.

• Nick Fury arrived at Hebron and demanded to know what Luke wanted, insisting that S.H.I.E.L.D. expected something in return for its help.
• Luke asked Nick whether he knew about mages, then healed and invigorated him with Golden Holy Light.
• Luke gave Nick a ring that let him produce the same Holy Light and explained that it was a technological creation, though he refused to sell it.
• Nick asked about the mages’ origins and whether they threatened world security, while Luke attributed his intelligence to a dead Old Bat.
• Luke told Nick that Earth was also called Middle Earth and Midgard, one of the Nine Realms, and Nick took the claim seriously because his agents had encountered a Prince from Asgard.

Luke asked Nick Fury to help locate the mage community so Hebron could make contact and explore cooperation. He gave Nick an Energy Detector and offered to sell more, leaving Nick stunned by Luke’s plan to use Vampires as currency.

• Luke explained that Odin and the Sorcerer Supreme protected Earth from outside threats while leaving human conflicts alone.
• Nick told Luke he needed to build a team to face new threats and had secretly brought a legendary Captain back from the Arctic.
• Luke asked Nick to find the mages so Hebron could contact them, and Nick insisted S.H.I.E.L.D. be involved.
• Luke told Nick about a mage stronghold in the city and a headquarters in Nepal, then gave him an Energy Detector.
• Luke offered to sell detectors in exchange for Vampires or their corpses, and Nick objected to assigning Vampires monetary value.

Nick accepted Luke’s plan to give Vampires currency value, while Thor returned to Earth seeking the Sorcerer Supreme and news of Loki. The chapter ended with Thor agreeing that S.H.I.E.L.D. could meet the sorcerers but admitting he did not know where they gathered.

• Nick accepted Luke’s proposed terms, recognizing that the Longevity Serum and Vampire stockpiles could support a new circle of exchange.
• Phil Coulson told Nick that Thor Odinson had returned to Earth, and Thor wrecked Phil’s car while insisting it was fragile.
• Thor told Phil he had come to visit the Sorcerer Supreme and seek help finding Loki, who had disappeared after jumping from the Bifrost.
• Phil arranged for Thor to meet Jane Foster, and S.H.I.E.L.D. brought him to headquarters, where he changed into a suit.
• Nick asked Thor to arrange a meeting with the sorcerers, but Thor said he did not know where their gathering place was.