In Batman's plan, he had also prepared to quickly retreat after picking up Venom, and afterward target the plan that had already taken shape in his mind to defeat Anti-Venom.
But Anti-Venom clearly had no intention of letting Venom-Batman leave so easily.
With a sharp clang, its arms transformed into scythes that slammed into the ground. Vast swaths of white symbiote spread beneath the soil in the blink of an eye, extending across the entire forest. Spikes as thick as an adult's thigh erupted from the earth.
The forest vanished, replaced by a thorny forest composed of Anti-Venom's white symbiote, with Venom-Batman positioned right in the center of it.
"Batman, we have to find a way to escape! I can't beat it!" Venom cried out in terror beside Batman's ear.
Batman said nothing. The area below his knees had completely lost Venom's coverage; the symbiote matter there dissolved and vanished the instant it touched Anti-Venom's white symbiote.
He had to get Venom out of the Adirondack Mountains as quickly as possible.
Dense clusters of white thorns surged and closed in around Batman. He tried to shift his feet to dodge the spikes, but his legs were firmly gripped by the symbiote matter.
Venom's strength was far inferior to Anti-Venom's. Even united with Batman in perfect sync, pushing their abilities to the limit, Venom still felt overwhelmed against the equally synchronized Anti-Venom.
One step, two steps... Batman slowly lifted and lowered his feet, his entire skeleton creaking in protest.
With his legs stripped of Venom's symbiote coverage, Batman could only rely on Peter Parker's thirty-ton strength to counter Anti-Venom's force of over a hundred tons.
This made every step excruciatingly difficult.
Just as the overwhelming white symbiote matter, laced with thorns, swept in to claim him as Anti-Venom's prize, another threat loomed on the horizon.
Anti-Venom wasn't standing idly by, waiting for its symbiote to deliver Batman right to it.
After transforming the forest into a white thorny expanse, Anti-Venom let out another clang as it yanked its scythe-armed limbs from the ground.
It lunged forward, its pitch-black face splitting open to nearly a hundred degrees, unleashing a ferocious roar from its maw.
Then, on all fours, Anti-Venom charged madly toward Batman, pounding across the white symbiote matter.
In practically the blink of an eye, Anti-Venom was upon Venom-Batman, its massive, blood-red jaws snapping down toward Batman's head.
The next second, the black symbiote on Batman's head vanished.
Venom was utterly terrified of Anti-Venom, but its retreat in that moment wasn't about betraying Batman.
Whoosh!
The black symbiote writhed, flowing down from Batman's head and wrapping around his tightly bound feet.
Though it lasted less than half a second—Batman's legs' black symbiote dissolving under Anti-Venom's influence—it bought him the split-second needed to evade the fatal strike.
Crunch!
Anti-Venom's hundred-degree jaws clamped shut fiercely, but bit down on nothing.
Batman seized the brief window of leg freedom to shift two steps sideways, just enough to pull his head out of the biting range.
"Good opportunity! Keep it up!" Venom whispered urgently in Batman's ear. "Batman, I can't probe your thoughts..."
"...But can you tell me, have you found a way to deal with Anti-Venom?"
Ducking low to evade Anti-Venom's scythe slash, Batman spoke rapidly:
"I have."
Venom's head extended from Batman's rear shoulder to the front, staring at him:
"I want to live, but I have no chance of winning in a fight against it."
"Batman, I need you."
As it spoke, Venom retracted the symbiote matter covering Batman's right palm, briefly enveloping his legs before it dissolved again.
This time, as the symbiote shifted, Batman bent his knees slightly. The moment his feet broke free from Anti-Venom's hold, he leaped into the air, soaring dozens of meters away.
Mid-flight, Batman spread his cape, gliding briefly through the air before inevitably landing once more.
Batman was on the move, and Anti-Venom was too.
The white symbiote matter rolled across the ground like a carpet, blanketing a hundred-meter radius centered on Batman.
Even when Batman leaped far away, the symbiote matter followed his movements.
"Anti-Venom was born to kill me," Venom said, still watching Batman. "If my death lets you escape here..."
In the greatest peril he'd faced since arriving in this world, Batman remained calm. He looked at the fist-sized Venom head extending from his rear shoulder to the front and said:
"I won't let you die."
"You survive, and my plan can proceed as intended."
The corners of Venom's eyes drooped slightly. Its face now looked less alien than when it had bonded with Eddie Brock:
"I can't morph wings yet; I can't fly you out."
"Batman, though I can't fully access your memories, you're still the host I've dreamed of since my creation."
"We're no match for Anti-Venom right now. Only if you survive do we have any possibilities."
"I need to make a small sacrifice to free you from Anti-Venom's control."
As they spoke, Anti-Venom's frenzied assaults never ceased. It even morphed a spear from its white symbiote matter and hurled it at Batman.
The spear reached Batman's chest the instant it left its hand, followed only then by a thunderous boom.
Thrown faster than sound, it was still dodged by Batman.
"I'll leave a trace of symbiote in the marrow of your fourth-from-bottom vertebra. And you, Batman, will use your plan to help us defeat Anti-Venom." Venom's voice grew grave. "You'll prove for me that we are the strongest."
The next second—cape, suit, arms, back...
Nearly all of Venom's symbiote matter writhed toward Batman's feet.
Venom was using the final instant before dissolution to buy Batman an escape.
"Don't worry about me, Batman."
Venom's head retracted to Batman's shoulder, then the mass of symbiote flowed toward his feet:
"That trace I leave you is the key to defeating Anti-Venom—and my chance at rebirth. As long as you get out of here..."
Venom's voice grew fainter. Massive amounts of black symbiote poured relentlessly into Batman's legs, occasionally blocking attacks aimed at his upper body.
Its symbiote matter dwindled, giving everything except the trace in Batman's marrow to secure his chance.
Gradually, when Anti-Venom could no longer sense Venom on Batman, it finally halted its manic pursuit, standing in place with its face twisting grotesquely.
"Why stop?! Keep chasing! I want Batman dead!" Eddie Brock's half-face emerged on Anti-Venom's black visage, roaring in distortion.
"My target is only Venom, and it's dead. Batman is just a bug I can crush anytime." Anti-Venom's voice rang out. "Don't forget who kept you alive after taking a sniper bullet to the face, Eddie... This body—I am the master."
"Damn it, damn it!"
Eddie Brock cursed furiously, but his half-face was swiftly covered by white symbiote matter, silencing him completely.
Three hours later, under a pitch-black sky, Batman pushed open the door to the laboratory on South Brother Island.
The three scientists had been working day and night on their research. Seeing Batman arrive uncharacteristically in the dead of night, they couldn't help but freeze in surprise.
"Dr. Banner, Dr. Octavius, Professor Connors, I need your help," Batman said directly. "Extract the marrow from my fourth-from-bottom vertebra."
--