[ Thanks to Angela's first remarks, Eddie realizes he should know better than to assume human life is all life. He's bonded to a non-human entity, after all, but more to the point: a lack of human attention won't slow down the way nature heals, no matter how long it may take. No matter how differently that healing might look from before, depending on the nature of the scarring. And then the macro-level stuff, what Angela addresses about a universal tendency to desire survival, commands Eddie's attention. Compels him to consider how the vastness of this bond is going to show itself in the duration of his life. How it might affect it.

Based on what the symbiote can do for Eddie, and what their bond has done for Angela, he doesn't doubt her pronouncements on a grand instinct to survive. ]

I've survived a lot that I shouldn't have, thanks to this bond. Wouldn't be surprised if this happens to slow down my aging, as well as yours.

[ So time just might be a weaker enemy to them than it is for all other lifeforms. Time itself will tell if this proves to be a blessing or a curse.

And then Angela pushes back at him. Forbids him from self-flagellating, punishing himself for his and the symbiote's many sins. He who at least meditates on his past actions, devoting more than a passing thought to the weight of his misdeeds. Can the same even be said of Juggernaut? Of Reaper? Of practically the rest of Talon?

Not that Eddie's expecting a cookie for having a conscience. ]

It's probably written all over my face, isn't it? That I've made difficult choices. Impossible ones.

Despite all this power, things still fall apart beyond my control. People get hurt.

Seems I've finally met another person who truly gets it.

[ With that, Eddie gives her a wistful smile. Nothing conciliatory, like he's trying to lighten the mood or save face, but one that he hopes to express in understanding. He didn't take any oaths as a doctor would, but he did swear to protect the innocent as Venom. To be a lethal protector who would dare to go the extra mile, to cross a line many heroes would never consider. He's allowed blood to accumulate on his hands, as long as it means saving as many innocent lives as possible. ]

You've got that right, Doc. Ain't my first rodeo, anyway, being an enemy of the state. Now just so happens that Overwatch and Talon are both on my ass.

And this hideout is more than enough. More than we've ever gotten. So you don't have to put your career on the line just for me.

My other and I do have a lotta loose ends that need tying, outside of this. The kind of work only Venom can do.

Speaking of--

[ Within seconds, the symbiote envelops Eddie's body, emerging from inside him. The blackness takes over, pouring down every inch of him until the man is fully subsumed into the symbiote, and Venom is born again. In the privacy of this facility, it seems he couldn't stay away from his true self for long. His whole self. And his voice radically changes, made monstrous by the transition to this form. If not for the knowledge that it's Eddie Brock under there, he could be mistaken for an entirely different being. An alien in the fullest sense, not only to this planet but to the heights of human understanding in this advanced age. ]

--that's more like it.

Now, Angela... if you're still figuring us out, no one else knows what they're really up against.

But we promise not to kill your colleagues. We just want to convince everyone to back off.

None of that is urgent, though. No one is currently in pursuit of us.

So we must ask you, Angela. What will you do now?