As the black net tightened, Peter heard Gwen Stacy draw in a breath.
It was brief.
Then even that sound vanished.
Absolute Slaughter's armored blade lodged beside Venom's shoulder and peeled inward through the black armor. Peter fired a web around Gwen Stacy's waist, his feet clinging firmly to the maintenance platform.
"Let her go!"
"Catch her."
Venom said only those two words.
The next moment, Venom tore off the half of the shoulder armor hooked by the blade.
The web pulled Gwen Stacy free, sending her crashing into Peter's arms. The severed black substance remained in Absolute Slaughter's hand, still twitching.
Venom's mouth emerged from Gwen Stacy's shoulder, missing half a row of teeth.
"That piece tastes bad."
Absolute Slaughter closed her fingers.
The black fragment was crushed into her palm. Venom abruptly retreated beneath Gwen Stacy's collar. She steadied herself on the railing and pressed her forehead against the cold sheet metal.
Peter reached out to support her.
A howl suddenly rang out overhead.
The sound forced its way out of Absolute Slaughter's chest, making the platform bolts bounce. Lightning immediately turned, spreading the damaged arm shield outward.
"She's calling her companions."
A crash erupted from the distant Water Treatment Plant.
An iron door flew out, spinning.
Shriek slammed into a bridge pier with Blood Butcher hanging from behind. Reaching back, Shriek seized his lower jaw and pried his mouth away from the neck, then kicked off the pier and vaulted onto the platform.
"I kept one busy!"
Another black shadow landed at the other end of the platform.
Shriek paused.
"Doesn't seem to matter much now."
The equipment room's sheet-metal wall bulged outward.
Shadow Veil burst through with Amy enveloped inside, delivering the Sheepdog in their arms into a maintenance recess behind the bridge pier. The black