THE DEADLIEST CATCH

By Wesley Overhults

SHIELD Safehouse 23

Stephanie Sydney yawned and stepped into the living room of her current living accommodations. It was the dead of night and someone wanted to watch television instead of sleep. It wasn’t as if she could sleep either. It was true that all the members of the Secret Warriors, and even most of SHIELD, kept weird hours. She could remember wondering if her Uncle Raymond even bothered to sleep at all. Now she was the one who couldn’t sleep.

“I didn’t mean to wake you,” apologized Requiem. “I was trying to educate myself on things I’ve missed while I was . . . indisposed I suppose.”

“I wasn’t asleep,” said Neon, taking a seat next to him on the couch and turning her attention to the TV. “Uncle Raymond’s funeral is coming up soon and I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep until it’s over with. What is this?”

“I believe it’s called ‘A Thousand Ways to Die’,” answered Requiem in reference to the program on the TV. “It’s quite fascinating. I think they have a few statistical inaccuracies in their information but they even present some cases I was unaware of.”

“Do you always think about death so much?” inquired Neon.

“I can’t exactly stop thinking about it,” reminded Requiem, tapping the side of his head to indicate that he was talking about his ability to speak with the spirits of the dead.

“Doesn’t mean it’s all you have to think about,” countered Neon before taking the remote control from the coffee table and changing the channel. She knew he wasn’t going to protest, at least not out loud anyway.

Sebastian simply watched her while she flipped through the channels. It was strange to think that even though this girl was four years younger than him, she had already been through more than he probably ever would. Sebastian never had the luxury of parents who were around. His foster parents had him committed at an early age when his abilities began to really manifest and his conversations with empty air could no longer be dismissed as a child speaking with his imaginary friends. Stephanie, on the other hand, had a guardian who had loved her and cared for her right up until he took his last breath and departed this world. Sometimes Sebastian wondered if he would ever be able to catch up to other kids his age in terms of life experience.

“Perfect,” said Neon as she landed on a movie channel and then put the remote back in its place.

“You enjoy this?” asked Requiem, the skepticism evident in his face as he watched the young, supposedly teenage girl on the screen lament over the departure of her vampire boyfriend.

“Not really,” admitted Neon as she curled up on the couch and placed her head on one of the pillows. “If anything, it’s going to bore me to sleep. I just thought it would be better than watching a show about reenacting the crazy ways people die.”

“I suppose you have a point,” realized Requiem as he settled into his seat and watched the drama of supernatural teen romance unfold before his eyes. He at least had the courtesy to wait until Stephanie was asleep before changing the channel.

Somewhere in Manhattan

He had taken to calling himself “Toxin.” Patrick had suggested the name after he learned that the symbiote was, for lack of a better term, the grandson of Venom. Toxin rather liked his new name. It had that hint of danger and dread that made it cool. Patrick was, however, anything but cool. He was always nagging Toxin, constantly reminding the alien creature that he wanted out of their . . . “relationship” as early as possible. Toxin was more interested in this new world he had discovered. He wanted to take it all in, all the sights, sounds, and smells. Everything was fresh and exciting to him instead of dull and dreary like it was to Patrick. The most fun of the new games Toxin had discovered was the game where he hurt people. He really enjoyed hearing people scream but Patrick didn’t like to play that game. No, it seemed that Toxin’s new host just wasn’t up for that kind of fun. The two of them had fought about it at first but they had settled into a rhythm. Hurting bad guys was fun for both of them.

“Patrick tried to bust you a long time ago when he was a cop,” said Toxin, speaking in reference to his other. “Oh yes, he did but he just didn’t have the right evidence. We don’t need evidence now.”

Toxin let the beady orbs of his eyes rest on the drug-dealing pimp that was pinned to the wall by the symbiote’s bladed tentacles. He could feel Patrick’s rage through their bond and it comforted him to know that his other wasn’t as clean and virtuous as he wanted everyone to believe. Patrick Mulligan was a good man though, perhaps a better man than Toxin would’ve wanted for a host In Patrick’s mind, Toxin was a child and like any child he needed structure and rules. Toxin would beg to differ, of course, and had ever since he had bonded himself to Patrick.

Patrick Mulligan was an honest man, a hardworking man from a blue-collar Irish family. He had been a cop at one point but had been booted off the force for anger-management issues. To make ends meet and provide for his pregnant wife Gina, Patrick took up private security as his new profession. He had been on duty at the GeneTech facility when Abomination, Fixer, and Tiger Shark had come looking for the Carnage symbiote. What no one, least of all him, knew was that the symbiote had given birth. As Patrick lay dying from wounds inflicted by Tiger Shark, the symbiote that was Toxin was suffering the same fate. In an act of desperation, the two entities bonded together and that was when Patrick’s nightmare began. He hadn’t seen Gina since that night. By all rights, he felt like he had died that night.

“Look, man, I ain’t pushin’ no tar,” explained the pimp. “I don’t let my girls do that stuff no more.”

“You’re not being a very good example for an impressionable youngster like us,” warned Toxin. “We mean we’re only a few weeks old. We shouldn’t even be seen in the company of such people.”

Your playtime’s almost over, warned Patrick Mulligan.

Toxin let out an irritated growl and shoved his razor-edged tentacles further into the man’s body, causing the pimp to scream in pain. Two hours every night for playtime. That was the deal that Patrick and Toxin had struck and there was only one stipulation. Toxin couldn’t commit murder, rape, theft, or any other major crime and the only people he could hurt and torture were those that Patrick deemed worthy of such treatment. It wasn’t a perfect system but life was about compromises.

“Oh you are so lucky we have to speed this up,” said Toxin to his hapless victim. “Well, maybe not that lucky.” Toxin’s clawed fingers elongated themselves and one of them precariously rested against the man’s groin. “Do you know where babies come from, Mr. Pimp? Oh we just bet you do.”

Unbeknownst to the gleeful symbiote, someone was watching him while he went about his gruesome work. A pair of binoculars moved away from the young and skilled eyes of a huntress as she studied her prey. Someone had contracted her services to hunt down this new beast and she took this mission as a personal challenge. Having never faced a prey like this one, she decided it prudent to study its movements and mannerisms before confronting it. A wise hunter learned everything about her prey before she ever struck the first blow or laid the first trap. That was something the young girl’s father had taught her even though she had personally never met that father.

SHIELD Safehouse 23, The Next Morning

“I fail to see why this is our problem,” said Finesse after looking at the pictures of the assault that occurred the previous night. “The man is a drug-dealer and a pimp. I’m sure he got what he deserved.”

“Whatever your feelings are about this man’s line of work, he didn’t deserve to be basically castrated,” replied Quake. “That’s not the problem though. It’s just a symptom of the real problem.”

“Which is what?” asked Composite, he and the rest of the Secret Warriors sitting around in the living room and looking at the files on the tablet computer that Quake let them pass around to one another.

“You may or may not have heard about a company called GeneTech,” said Quake. “Recently, they were in possession of the Carnage symbiote before it was stolen by a group of super-villains who broke into the facility where it was kept. There’s something that neither that group of villains nor GeneTech realized in time or even realized at all. The symbiote had reproduced.”

“I thought Carnage was a guy,” said Wipeout. “You’re saying this guy was pregnant?”

“The symbiote itself is sexless,” clarified Quake. “We’ve seen police reports like this one coming in over the past couple of weeks. The work itself has Carnage’s signature on it only this new symbiote isn’t killing anyone and he or she is only hurting bad guys.”

“So give the thing a medal,” suggested Neon.

“Symbiotes are and always have been volatile,” stated Quake. “SHIELD wants you to hunt this creature down, get it away from the host it’s apparently found, and take it into our custody.”

“Great,” said Composite with a sigh. “Looks like this week is already off to a fun start.”

“He never kills anyone,” mumbled Requiem almost to himself as the Warriors surveyed the scene of Toxin’s latest mauling.

“Depends on your definition,” said Wipeout. “Something tells me that guy he castrated isn’t going to have much of a life.”

“Something he should’ve thought about before getting into his chosen profession,” dismissed Finesse. “Far be it for me to presume but you’re thinking he’s not a villain?”

“I’m thinking perhaps he might be like us,” admitted Requiem. “Well, that and I’m also thinking I won’t be much help.”

“The attacks are all localized,” realized Composite. “They’re all roughly confined to this neighborhood. That means he has to live here somewhere.”

The Warriors began looking around, trying to spot anyone that looked suspicious. None of them had ever come up against a symbiote before but from the files Quake had given them they knew that the thing could mimic any type of clothing for its host. It was good at camouflaging itself so there was no chance it would randomly decide to stand out now. It always seemed to come out at night though and it stayed confined to this particular neighborhood. Somewhere within its confines was a psychotic, alien organism attached to perhaps its biggest victim of all in the form of its host.

“Give me the times of the attacks again,” ordered Composite to Quake through his earpiece. He nodded in satisfaction when he received the answer from their handler. “All the attacks happened within a two-hour timeframe. Everybody spread out and take up points. It looks like we’re going to have to have ourselves a stakeout.”

“And I so had plans for the evening,” said Finesse drolly. She immediately separated herself from the group and moved towards an apartment building, intent on using one of its empty rooms as her vantage point.

“Up we go,” decided Wipeout as he grabbed Neon and shot both of them up to a rooftop by creating a geyser underneath them.

“We’ll stay on the ground and do sweeps,” decided Composite, cutting off Requiem before he could voice a protest at not being paired with Stephanie. “Pounding the pavement will take your mind off things.”

“Did you know that prescription drugs cause more deaths per year in this country than illegal drugs?” asked Requiem even as he noticed the rather scrupulous nature of the neighborhood. “Around one hundred thousand Americans die every year from prescription drugs. An interesting thing given that around sixty or sixty-five percent of Americans are on some sort of prescribed medication.”

“You’re saying we’re targeting the wrong things with this war on drugs?” asked Composite even as the two Warriors began their sweep of the neighborhood.

“As someone who was on prescription drugs for a good part of his life, I think perhaps it’s in our best interest as a nation to shift our focus,” suggested Requiem. “I could also quote you statistics about deaths related to sexual diseases if that would make you feel more comfortable about our current location.”

“You could tell me what’s going on with you and Stephanie,” decided Composite as they continued walking, eyes peeled for anything unusual.

“I’m not sure what you’re referring to,” said Requiem.

“She’s been through a lot in a short time, Sebastian,” warned Composite. “I wouldn’t advise getting involved with her.”

“I’ve never been involved with anyone,” countered Sebastian. “Forgive my brashness, Henry, but you don’t have a damn clue what I’ve been through. Am I a bad person for attempting to experience things that were denied to me for most of my life?”

“No, you’re not,” answered the leader of the Secret Warriors. “You’re going to eventually learn this, Sebastian. Some of those things you’re so eager to experience are things that the rest of us would sometimes like to forget ever happened.”

“Perhaps but I at least deserve opportunities,” countered Requiem. “Stephanie is a good friend and I care for her. Whatever happens beyond that isn’t any of your concern.”

“It’s getting close to the right time,” said Wipeout into his earpiece. “You guys catch anything on the street?”

“Nothing unusual here,” reported Composite. “Eyes in the sky aren’t spotting anything either?”

“Negative,” confirmed Wipeout.

“Nothing here,” agreed Finesse.

All the Secret Warriors held their breath and checked their watches. It was only a few minutes past seven in the evening. They didn’t know exactly why the creature they were hunting decided to only come out for a few hours each night but they knew this was the time that it was most active. That meant that this was their best shot at catching it. All they had to do was play the waiting game and keep on their toes. They knew it wouldn’t be long before their prey made its presence known.

“Got something,” said Wipeout as he noticed a shadow moving through the streets. “Doesn’t look human. It’s coming your way I think.”

“I see it,” said Composite as he turned and noticed Toxin scurrying into a nearby alley. “We’re going to try to herd it into a dead-end. Be ready to drop on it when we corner it.”

“Always ready,” assured Wipeout before turning to Neon. “You wanna hitch a ride or can you keep up on your own?”

“I need the exercise,” said Neon.

Wipeout shrugged and began sloshing across the rooftops, keeping his eyes always trained on the creature below. He watched as Composite and Requiem popped into view right in front of the thing thanks to Sebastian’s teleportation. Frankie held his position and let Neon catch up with him. The creature let out a low, feral growl and hunched down into what looked like a fighting stance. It was akin to watching a snake coil up before lunging and striking its intended victim.

“You’ve been hurting a lot of innocent people,” warned Composite.

“We don’t think they’re very innocent,” retorted Toxin. “We can’t help it if our toys aren’t very sturdy.”

“We’re with SHIELD and we’re going to take you in,” stated Composite. “You can do this easy or hard but you’re going to come with us in the end.”

“You talk a lot and it’s really no fun,” said Toxin, the impatience evident in his voice. He could hear Patrick in his head, the human host wanting to take control before things got out of hand. This was Toxin’s playtime though, not Patrick’s.

“You haven’t killed anyone yet,” reminded Requiem. “Why?”

“Patrick said it wasn’t part of the rules,” answered Toxin. “Time for talking is over now. It’s playtime, big boys.”

Just like a wild animal, Toxin sprang towards the two Warriors. Their previous plan of herding it into a corner was obviously a failure. Toxin wasn’t going to play their game and go quietly so they would have to come up with a different idea. Wipeout realized this almost immediately and yanked Neon towards him before diving off the roof he was standing on. He sent out a geyser from his lower body to drench Toxin and break his fall. It stopped the symbiote’s charge and he stood there momentarily stunned. He shook the water off his body like he was a dog and then sent a swarm of razor-edged tentacles at Wipeout. The knives would’ve cut Frankie’s body to shreds if his body was flesh and blood but they did little damage to his watery form. Neon let out a burst of light from each of her hands, directing the flashes at Toxin to blind and disorient him.

“I’m still good on herding it,” said Requiem as he teleported to avoid the wild slashes Toxin made with his tendrils. “I think it’s an excellent idea.”

“We have to contain it somehow,” decided Composite, absorbing the concrete he stood on and then running towards Toxin. “Steph, keep the thing distracted so I can beat on it.”

“We have a name,” reminded Toxin as he swatted Composite away. “We think it’s a really cool name and wish you people would start using it. We are not an ‘it’.”

“If there’s an actual person in there then you’re doing a great job of convincing me otherwise,” said Wipeout as he launched a water blast at Toxin.

Toxin leapt over the stream of water and landed on Wipeout, spraying his body in all directions. He turned and used a horde of tentacles as a shield to block one of Requiem’s blasts of magical energy. Knives flew from Toxin’s hand and sang straight towards Sebastian. They would have found their mark had not Composite moved into their path and stopped them. He jumped and tried to bring both of his fists down like a hammer onto the symbiote. Toxin jumped and clung to the wall of a building, watching Composite strike the ground and feeling the tremor from the impact. He danced along the wall, avoiding the blasts of energy from Requiem before leaping off his perch and tackling Requiem to the ground.

“We don’t kill people but we’re good at making them scream,” stated Toxin. “We’re really, really good at hurting them. Would you like us to show you how good we are?”

“Patrick is in there, isn’t he?” asked Requiem, staring into the jaws of certain death. “Why don’t you let him come out and we can have a talk?”

“No!” snarled Toxin. “My playtime! Mine, mine, mine!”

Playtime’s over for the night, decided Patrick though Toxin was the only one who could hear him.

“You promised,” cried Toxin, talking aloud to the voice in his head. “I was good! I didn’t break the rules!”

No, you didn’t but I need to talk to them, decided Patrick.

Toxin let out an inhuman howl as Patrick assumed control of the body they both shared. The symbiotic costume receded to reveal the man trapped inside. Patrick Mulligan looked at the Secret Warriors and brushed himself off. He could, as always, hear Toxin’s voice in the back of his head but he chose to ignore it. They would work something out later.

“My name is Patrick Mulligan,” he told the Warriors. “You’ve met Toxin already.”

“That thing is a monster,” stated Composite.

“This thing saved my life and I saved its life,” said Patrick. “We were both dying and needed each other. Now I’m trying to keep Toxin as under control as I can. You interrupted his playtime and now he’s pissed. Unless you want me to let him back out and have him dice you up then just forget your mission and leave us alone. We only hurt the people who deserve it. Why does SHIELD give a crap about people like that?”

“We’re just doing what we’re told,” said Composite. “We were told to bring you into SHIELD custody. You wanna go quietly or not?”

Patrick was about to answer when the sound of shattering glass rang in everyone’s ears. A body fell out of a window and Wipeout instinctively moved to break its fall. Finesse didn’t bother to show her gratitude as she readied herself for her attacker’s strike. The same girl that had been watching Toxin dove out of the broken window and unsheathed her hunting knives. She caught Wipeout with a slice that would’ve taken his head off if he were a normal person. The huntress didn’t waste time with the Warriors. She moved towards Patrick Mulligan and her intent was crystal clear.

“You and I have unfinished business,” warned Finesse as she got between the huntress and her prey. “You threw me out of a window after blindsiding me. I expect the courtesy of a rematch.”

“You make a big mistake coming between a hunter and her prey,” warned the girl as the blades of her hunting knives clashed with the energy blades of Finesse’s own daggers. “My employer wants that thing for reasons I don’t care to know. All I know is that he will pay me handsomely for it and I enjoy the challenge. Rare are the opportunities to hunt such a beast.”

“I take it she’s not a friend of yours,” said Composite.

“Never seen her before,” said Patrick. “Toxin, I think you’re going to get your wish after all.”

Playtime again? asked Toxin.

“Go play,” ordered Patrick.

He felt the shared glee and enthusiasm from his other as Toxin flowed over him like a wave. Patrick’s consciousness receded into the background of the creature’s mind while Toxin’s personality came to the forefront. The symbiote sent a razor tentacle straight at the young huntress but the girl sensed it coming and leapt backwards, sailing over it with grace that couldn’t be human. Indeed, the girl was far from normal. She was Ana Kravinoff, daughter of Kraven the Hunter. At such a tender age, she was already his equal in many aspects after having ingested some of the jungle concoctions that gave him his animal attributes. As deadly as she was though, Toxin was deadlier. It was this challenge, this thrill of the hunt, that had led Ana to taking this assignment from her employer.

“You’re the one I wanted tonight,” she told the symbiote after landing on her feet behind him. “That pale sack of flesh you use as a disguise was never the target. You were always the prize.”

“We think you shouldn’t insult Patrick like that even if you’re right,” warned Toxin, giddiness evident in his voice as he turned to further stalk his prey.

However, Ana didn’t plan on being the prey especially when she had some tools at her disposal courtesy of her employer. She reached into the vest she wore and pulled out what looked like a simple handgun only with an unusual barrel. Toxin took no notice of Ana’s weapon, deeming it unable to pose much of a threat to him. It seemed that the symbiote’s youthful recklessness would be its undoing. Ana pulled the trigger on her weapon. Waves of high-frequency sound escaped from the barrel of the gun and Toxin screamed in agony. The Secret Warriors who were caught in the path of the gun’s attack also clutched their ears in pain and sank to their knees.

“That’s a nasty toy you have,” decided Wipeout as he relieved Ana of her weapon with a water blast. “Bet it’s not waterproof though.”

The damage had already been done though. The sonic attack was intense enough to peel the symbiote from the body of Patrick Mulligan. Ana saw the slimy creature try to slink away in desperation but she wasn’t going to let her prey escape her. She pulled out what looked like a grenade and tossed it towards the writhing mass that was the Toxin symbiote. The grenade exploded and created a force-field around the symbiote that would contain it. Once her prey was trapped, Ana moved to collect it. Finesse saw what she was trying to do and slid towards Ana, taking her legs out from under her. Both girls flipped back to their feet and took up fighting stances. Finesse moved to strike Ana but the huntress had more tricks up her sleeve. She peppered Finesse with a round of gas bombs. The grenades expelled their contents in Finesse’s face and momentarily blinded her. The concoction worked much like tear gas and exposure to it left Finesse staggering and gasping for air. Wipeout launched another water blast at Ana but the huntress flipped to avoid the burst and picked up her hapless prey.

“Package is secure,” she said into her earpiece. “I will meet you at the drop point.”

“Change of plans,” said her employer on the other end of the line. “Grab one of the Warriors along with the package. I’m setting a new drop point and I’ll meet you there.”

“Fine,” decided Ana.

She looked around and saw that Neon was still incapacitated from her initial use of the sonic gun that separated the symbiote from Patrick. At this point, Stephanie was the easiest Warrior to kidnap. Ana didn’t question how her employer could know what was going on or why he changed his plans. She didn’t get paid to think about such things. The only thing she got paid to do was hunt.

“I don’t think you’re going anywhere,” dared Composite as Ana scooped up Neon and slung the youngest Warrior over her shoulder with a strength that belied her age.

“In the jungle, it’s not always the biggest animal that sits atop the food chain,” warned Ana, her eyes narrowing into slits like the dangerous predator she was.

“You’re not in the jungle,” retorted Composite, cracking his concrete knuckles.

Henry took a swing at Ana but the girl’s reflexes were lightning-quick. She pulled out one of her hunting knives and ducked inside the swing, stabbing Composite right in the chest. The leader of the Warriors was stunned to realize that the blade of Ana’s knife was made out of adamantium and it pierced his concrete skin. Composite was stunned enough to sink to one knee and it allowed Ana to climb up him. She jumped and clung with one hand to the railing of a fire escape, hoisting herself up with her enhanced strength.

“You okay?” asked Wipeout as Composite pressed his hand to the wound on his chest.

“There’s nothing there to really stab except more concrete,” reminded Composite. “It stunned me enough for her to get away with Steph though.”

“What the hell could she want with Steph anyway?” wondered Wipeout aloud.

“I suggest we try not to dwell on that and worry more about getting her back,” said Requiem, obviously agitated by what happened.

“She’s not the only concern,” added Patrick Mulligan. “Toxin needs a host to survive. If she keeps us separated for too long then he’s going to die.”

“You’re not helping your case if you want us to get that thing back for you,” said Composite.

“He’s a kid like you,” explained Patrick. “He’s young and stupid and doesn’t know any better. I’ve been trying to teach him, trying to raise him. I’m the closest thing to a real father that he’s ever going to have. Help me save him.”

“Fine,” agreed Composite. “You want that thing back and we want our teammate back. Let’s get to work on figuring out who that girl was and where she went.”

The Bronx Zoo

Ana had to admit that she liked the new location her employer chose for the drop. Upon arriving and sequestering herself inside one of the enclosures, Ana began making preparations to contain her captives. She had studied symbiotes well before embarking on this hunt. She made herself privy to all the information available to her about the creature’s strengths and, more importantly, its weaknesses. Aside from loud sound, a symbiote’s other weakness was intense heat. Ana wasted no time in constructing a fire pit. Once the blaze was lit, she strung Neon up by her wrists and dangled the girl over the fire pit. Her employer said the rest of the Warriors would be coming for her. She needed to make sure she could hold them at bay until the mystery man arrived to collect his merchandise. The symbiote was still encased in the protective bubble and that bubble also hung over the fire pit.

“Is this really necessary?” asked Neon as she glared at her captor.

“My employer said grab a member of your team so I did,” answered Ana, her steely eyes gazing back at the youngest Warrior. “Every pack has its weak link. I could see that your team was no different and that you were that weak link. In the jungle, the other members of the pack would leave the weak one to slaughter when a predator attacked them. I wonder if your team would do the same.”

“They wouldn’t,” promised Neon. “You can act high and mighty if you want but you’re not any different than any other villain. All you want to do is hurt people. From my point of view, you’re no different than the thing in that bubble. Both of you are monsters.”

“I do what I must to survive,” stated Ana. “At heart, humans are still animals and all animals follow the law of the jungle.”

“So you’ve got me here in this nice, little, man-made jungle,” said Neon. “I’m sure you feel right at home in this kind of place.”

“The location wasn’t of my choosing but yes I enjoy it,” said Ana. She sniffed the air and caught a familiar scent. It was joined by other familiar scents and that was when Ana Kravinoff knew that she had been conned.

“Turns out that our new friend can track his little alien pet,” said Composite from somewhere in the jungle. “You seem like you enjoy a good hunt. Maybe you’d like it less if you were on the other end of it?”

Ana glared at Neon and saw a smile grace the Asian girl’s lips. Stephanie had known all along that all she had to do was keep Ana talking enough to distract the girl until her teammates arrived. Where were they though? Ana looked around at the impassive jungle that stared back at her. She trained her animal senses to pick up her enemies’ location. She heard something rustle in the bushes and her head snapped that way. The second she caught sight of the movement, it disappeared and the rustle came from somewhere else. She didn’t know that Requiem was using his teleportation abilities to confuse her.

Requiem didn’t pay any attention to Ana though. He was more concerned with Stephanie’s safety. Ana could sense that and she turned towards where Neon was still strung up. Ana pulled a crossbow from her belt and fired it at the rope keeping both Neon and the Toxin symbiote in the air. The tip of the arrow cut through the rope and caused them to fall towards the fire. Requiem immediately teleported towards them as they fell. Wipeout threw a torrent of water at the fire pit to snuff out the flames, dousing them just seconds before Sebastian appeared in the middle of the pit to catch Neon and the bubble with its alien cargo.

“You might want to be careful about where you spend your time,” cautioned Requiem.

“Not as long as I know you’ll come rescue me,” replied Neon with a grin as he set her down.

“I need you to get Toxin out of there,” said Patrick.

“You really want that thing back so bad?” asked Neon.

“He’s a kid and he needs me,” countered Patrick. “There’s got to be some sort of lock on this thing.”

The sound of crashing waves could be heard as Ana Kravinoff flipped and tumbled through the bursts of water that Wipeout fired at her. She let a round of throwing daggers fly from her hand. The weapons passed through Frankie’s body and almost clipped Finesse had she not used one of her energy weapons to block them. Ana knew that she had to get away from the Warriors. She was outnumbered and she had lost the element of surprise. Her prey had turned the tables on her and she needed to buy some time to regroup and formulate a new plan of attack. However, the Warriors weren’t going to let her do that.

“I admit you are more clever than I suspected,” said Ana as she dodged a haymaker from Composite. “I am not used to being caught unaware.”

Henry tried to throw another punch that Ana jumped to dodge. A dagger with an adamantium blade came out of Ana’s boot as she swiped it across Composite’s face. Henry backed up and let his fingers graze the deep gouge that Ana had cut into the side of his face. He ducked as Ana fired another bolt from her crossbow at him. Finesse used her team leader as a stepping stone and launched herself at Ana. The huntress used the crossbow in her hand to block the blade of the Warrior’s energy katana, thereby destroying the crossbow in the process. Ana pulled out her adamantium daggers and used them to spar with Finesse’s energy blades. Ana stepped towards Finesse and used the back of her foot to trip Jeanne. Finesse kicked Ana in the legs in retaliation and then scrambled back to her feet. Ana rolled to avoid a vertical slice from Finesse. She rolled forward to get back to her feet.

“You dropped this,” noted Finesse as she held up what looked like a remote control. “Very careless and unprofessional of you.”

Jeanne didn’t know what the remote did but she clicked the only button on it. The energy bubble around the Toxin symbiote disappeared, allowing the creature to bond with its host once again. The slimy alien swarmed over Patrick Mulligan and they became one, their minds and bodies merged.

“We would like to have a word with you,” said Toxin as he glared at Ana. “You’ve been very mean to both of us and now it’s time that we return the favor.”

Ana vaulted into the air and grabbed a branch of a nearby tree. She swung herself up into the canopy but Toxin was on her in a second, pinning her to the tree with one of his tendrils. Razor-sharp knives sprouted from Toxin’s hand as he moved in close for the kill. Ana struggled to get out of the symbiote’s grip but the young huntress wasn’t strong enough.

“If you’re going to kill me then do so,” ordered Ana. “You are the superior hunter.”

Both Toxin and Ana were startled when a punch from Composite brought down the tree that they were perched in. Though the two of them hit the ground hard, it didn’t break Toxin’s hold on Ana. The symbiote roared with anger as he tore himself up from the branches that had fallen on top of him.

“Pat told us you weren’t a monster,” reminded Composite. “He said you were just a kid and you didn’t know any better. If you kill her now, we’re going to put you down hard.”

“She tried to kill us,” snarled Toxin. “She’s a hunter and she won’t stop until we’re dead. We’re just an animal to her so maybe we should just act like an animal then. You won’t be able to stop us from killing her and we know you can’t take us.”

We’re not animals, stated Pat in a voice that only Toxin could hear. You’re a child, Toxin, and all children have to figure out who they want to be when they grow up. Do you want to be like your real father or do you want to be like me?

“Oh it’s so damn easy for you!” snapped Toxin. “Don’t preach to me, Pat. You were the one who walked out on your pregnant wife because of this. Was running away from your family part of what you wanted to be when you grew up?”

I walked out on Gina and I regret it every single day of my life, said Pat. You have a choice, Toxin. Make it but understand that you’re the one who has to live with the consequences.

Toxin stared at Ana Kravinoff, the young huntress who tore him away from his host with the intent of delivering him to her employer, and thought about ending her life. He thought about how good it would feel to slide his blades into her flesh and rip out her internal organs. He could feel something else inside him though and he wondered if it was coming from Pat or coming from himself. Maybe he could be something different than Carnage or Venom. As Pat told him earlier, all children had a choice of who and what they wanted to be when they grew up. Toxin decided in that moment that maybe he could be something different from his father.

“We’re still playing under Pat’s rules so no killing,” decided Toxin. “Our playtime is more important than ending your worthless life. You should feel very lucky that we’re letting you live.”

Toxin relinquished his grasp on Ana Kravinoff and watched her run off into the jungle, a predator who had been humbled and had lost her fangs. The symbiote turned to face the Secret Warriors, intent on defending himself against whatever came at him.

“We’re still under orders to bring you in,” reminded Composite. “If we have to go through you to get to her then that’s fine with me.”

“We owe you one for saving our lives,” admitted Toxin before vaulting up into the jungle’s canopy. “If you want her then go get her. We know you don’t have what it takes to bring us in.”

Toxin disappeared from sight after relating those words to the young SHIELD agents. The Warriors were intent on giving chase but they could hear the sirens in the distance letting them know that the police were coming. All of them knew that they needed to vanish before the cops arrived. Composite looked to Requiem and nodded his head, signaling for the young sorcerer to teleport them back to their home. As much as they might want to go after both Toxin and Kravinoff, they knew they weren’t going to get anything out of this hunt. Both of them would be long gone by the time the Warriors got out of the zoo. It seemed that the team would be returning to Helicarrier empty-handed on this night.

Toxin didn’t want him to do this. The symbiote was perfectly fine with getting out of town. Pat Mulligan had to do this though. Ever since he had bonded with the alien creature, Pat had been running. He had been trying to control the monster inside him but it was hard being a single parent. He told himself that he walked out on his wife to protect her and the child that she was carrying. He was too responsible to let himself be around her given his current condition. He needed to see her one more time before leaving town though. He didn’t know what would happen or what he would say to her but he just knew he had to see her again.

You’re always so sentimental, jeered Toxin inside Pat Mulligan’s head as the ex-cop hesitantly raised his hand and knocked on the door of what was once his apartment.

“Be quiet and let me do this,” ordered Pat.

Gina Mulligan opened the door to the apartment and Pat could swear his estranged wife’s jaw hit the floor from shock. She went with her first instinct and slapped him across the face. That momentary anger soon faded and she hugged him fiercely, practically yanking him into the apartment.

“Where the hell have you been?” she asked him. “I thought you were dead.”

“Sometimes I wish I was,” he muttered. “I wanted to tell you, Gina. I just . . . I didn’t know how to say it.”

He looked at her and noticed something in that moment. Something was wrong beyond the obvious. She wasn’t pregnant when she should’ve still been. He didn’t know whether it was the somewhat enhanced senses he gained ever since bonding with Toxin or it was a deeper sense that told him this fact but he knew deep down that something had happened to his unborn child.

“What happened to our baby?” asked Pat.

“I lost him,” whispered his wife quietly. “There was so much stress with you gone and I just . . . I just couldn’t fight.”

He hugged her as hard as he knew how to hug anyone. It didn’t make any sense. Why would God deem it necessary to take the life of his unborn child and give him a monstrous symbiote as a replacement? It didn’t make any sense.

“There’s something I have to show you,” said Pat. “It’s the reason I left. Something happened to me while I was at work and nothing’s ever been the same for me.”

“What’re you talking about?” she asked.

“You’ll see,” he promised her.

He let the symbiote flow over him once more, turning himself into something so much more powerful than a human being yet so much less of one in the ways that mattered. His personality remained in control though. For almost the only time while in his symbiote form, Pat Mulligan was in complete control and Toxin was the one hiding in the background.

“I don’t understand,” confessed Gina.

“This thing is alive,” explained Pat. “You lost our baby because I left but I left because of this thing. It’s young and it needs me to stay alive. It’s a kid, Gina, and it needs me to help raise it and teach it right. I need you though. We need you.”

Gina Mulligan didn’t say anything. She just wrapped her arms around the man-monster that was her husband as they both cried. They would disappear into the night later but for the moment they wanted to at least have some semblance of peace.

“You didn’t complete your contract,” noted the voice in Ana Kravinoff’s earpiece. “Your prey eluded you.”

“I deserve to die,” stated Ana as she realized that the voice wasn’t coming from her earpiece anymore. She sank to her knees in the deserted alley she had found refuge in.

A figure appeared from the shadows and smiled, his teeth almost looking like fangs. Though Ana’s prey eluded him, her employer didn’t mind that in the slightest. In his eyes, the real prize was won because now he had seen what Ana was capable of and knew that she was beholden to him. He intended to use this loyalty to his advantage as much as possible.

“I intend to spare your life in exchange for a few odd jobs here and there,” decided the man. “I’m an avid lover of animals and no animal comes as interesting and as deadly as you, Ana. I think you’re going to like working for me on a more permanent basis.”