WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for Extreme Carnage: Lasher, available now from Marvel.
The return of Carnage has been one of the bloodiest comebacks in recent memory, with the serial killer symbiote having wormed his way into the hearts of everyday Americans as well as the minds of his alien brethren. As his reach grows exponentially, Carnage poses an equally greater threat every single day, and so far it doesn't look like there is any real way to stop him. Thankfully, there is one other symbiote who has just made her own miraculous return, not to mention a shocking transformation. Andi Benton may have been left desperately clinging to life just moments ago, but a moment is all her new symbiote needed to make its introduction and save Andi's life in the process.
When Carnage took control of the Scream symbiote, he left Andi with no choice but to burn it away with her Hellfire, which in turn left her at a far greater disadvantage against Alchemax's Guardsmen foot soldiers than she could manage. Not long after she becoming the company's latest lab rat, Andi was set upon by a more familiar assailant in the form of fellow Life Foundation symbiote Phage, who had been just as willing to answer Carnage's call as Scream was. Even Flash Thompson couldn't stop Phage's brutal assault, and as Andi lay bleeding, the battle continued on around her.
The arrival of more Guardsmen at least afforded Flash the chance to get Andi out of the fray, and even better than that was the fact that Doctor Steven happened to be in the building. As the foremost expert on symbiotes, not to mention a heartbreakingly sympathetic man, Doctor Steven has already taken it upon himself to save what little remained of the Scream symbiote by splicing it with Flash's own. Before the conversation can go much further, Andi finds the strength to reach out and grasp the chamber holding the symbiote, and upon setting it free she discovers that in the absence of Scream there is now only Silence.
Silence rises before the others in a menacing display, but there isn't time left to talk. She immediately turns her attention to Phage who has spent the last few minutes tearing through Alchemax's soldiers, and with seemingly no effort whatsoever, Silence beats her brother into a crumpled mess. The pain that Scream was born of has come to pass, as Silence explains, and now that she has had her ultimate cathartic moment, it is time to embrace the quiet that comes afterward.
Phage can only watch helplessly as Silence puts her finger to his lips, a touch that spreads with viscous, white, symbiotic foam. There is no crying out, no breathing, just silence, and with it, Phage is forced to plunge himself through the window behind him and down to the city streets far below. It's enough to find the symbiote a new host after the fall, but Phage's escape is far from the most concerning development to come from this particular confrontation. Silence said that she was all that remained. Unfortunately, it looks like that statement might not have just been referring to Scream, but Andrea Benton as well.
Silence looks out the broken window and towards the outside world, unresponsive to Flash asking if she is alright. When he finally catches her attention by calling her by Andi's name, Silence merely looks at him inquisitively, as if one or both of them have come to some sort of misunderstanding as to who exactly he is referring to. When the two bonded, Andrea and Silence were very clearly communicating with one another, but as the symbiote enveloped Andi's physical form, it seemed as though her thoughts and voice went completely silent. If Andi is still in there somewhere, she isn't telling anyone, and she absolutely is not in the driver's seat. If that's as bad as it sounds, stopping Carnage could very well come with a whole new kind of symbiote problem.