Toxin #2
Cut to the Chase
Spider-Man has assigned Pat Mulligan with the task of hunting down and capturing Razor-Fist, one of the many supervillains who recently escaped from the Raft prison.[1] Up on a rooftop, Pat wills his symbiote to emerge, transforming into Toxin so he can begin his hunt. However, he pauses when he suddenly detects danger and decides to get involved. At a nearby convenience store, a pair of masked thieves are holding the cashier at gunpoint. Crashing in on the crooks, Toxin makes short work of them and quickly disguises himself as a police officer as the real cops arrive on the scene. Pat is upset with the symbiote as he could barely control the creature and as a result, the convenience store was severely damaged and one of the thieves was beaten within an inch of his life. He tells the Toxin symbiote defends itself by saying he responded based on Pat’s emotional response to the scene. The creature is upset when Pat tells it that things aren’t that simple. When it tries to leave him, Mulligan refuses to let it go, reminding the creature that it is stuck with him and he runs the show. He regrets stopping the robbery and decides they should focus entirely on the hunt for Razor-Fist.
At that same moment, downtown, Razor-Fist has begun recruiting youths who self-harm by cutting their wrists with razor blades. One of his followers, a young girl named Lulu has brought a new initiate, a brilliant young man named Anton who started cutting because of the pressure of maintaining his grades in school. Razor-Fist welcomes Anton to the fold, telling the youth that he is an equal opportunity employer.
The following morning, Officer Paul Meadows is leaving his apartment to report for work to find Jim Mulligan — Pat’s father — waiting outside hoping, once again, that Paul can tell him what happened to his son. Jim reminds Paul that he promised Pat’s wife Gina that he would track Pat down for the sake of their marriage and his newborn son, Edward.[2] When Paul tells Jim that he promised Pat he wouldn’t tell, the retired officer pulls his old service revolver and demands that Paul tell him what’s going on. All Paul will say is that Pat is in serious trouble but not anything that Jim could ever think of and he left his family because it was the safest thing to do. As Paul turns to walk away, Jim again threatens to shoot, but Paul knows this is a bluff reminding Jim that he is a thirty year veteran of the force and would never shoot a fellow police officer. With his bluff called, all Jim Mulligan can do is break down and cry.
Back downtown, Anton undergoes the ritual that Razor-Fist makes all of his initiates undergo. Taking off his shirt, Anton closes his eyes and tells Razor-Fist why he has come while the villain apparently cuts him with his blades. Wincing from the pain, Anton explains that he self-harms and had come because he heard from Lulu that Razor-Fist understands them. When Razor-Fist asks Anton if he harms himself to assert some control over his life, the youth agrees. Pleased, Razor-Fist tells Anton to open his eyes and put his shirt back on. The youth is surprised to discover that Razor-Fist didn’t actually cut him, despite the pain he felt. Razor-Fist explains that he has such control over his blades he can cut others without drawing blood but doesn’t have quite so much care when dealing with himself. He welcomes Anton into the fold and Lulu tasks him with washing a number of bloody bandages and has them back to Razor-Fist by next Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Pat Mulligan continues his search for Razor-Fist but refuses to let Toxin out until he absolutely needs the symbiote. Climbing up to the rooftops, he manages to pick the trail back up. At that moment, Anton is back at his home and is preparing to cut his wrist with a pocket knife when his mother calls up and asks if he is studying. He assures her that he is, however, he’s not researching for school. Instead, he is reading up on Razor-Fist. He remembers that he has important work to do and then gets to work washing the bandages he collected from his new master in his bathroom sink. It’s these bandages that Pat Mulligan is following and he ambushes Anton as he is leaving his apartment with the rags. He quickly learns what Anton is doing with those rags and tries to convince the boy that Razor-Fist doesn’t actually care about him. Anton then explains how Razor-Fist understands the pressure he’s under and why he hurts himself. However, Pat says that Razor-Fist is a monster just like he himself is and explains his own plight. Then, after showing some of Toxin’s tendrils, demands that the boy bring him to Razor-Fist or he will unleash the monster within on the boy.
This convinces Anton to bring Pat down to Razor-Fist’s hideout. However, when they arrive, Pat falls through a trapdoor into the basement of the building where Razor-Fist has kept the corpses of the homeless and strays that he has murdered since escaping the Raft. Pat tells him that he has come to bring him back to Ryker’s Island. Unfortunately, when Razor-Fist starts attacking, the symbiote ignores him when he tries to turn into Toxin. Seeing Pat in trouble, Anton refuses to stand by like the rest and let Razor-Fist murder, someone, before their eyes and leaps down to lend a hand. When Razor-Fist threatens to kill the boy as well, Pat refuses to allow the boy to die and pushes him to safety. That’s when the symbiote finally speaks up and tells Pat that it’ll handle things from here. However, instead of transforming Pat into Toxin, he transforms Pat’s clothes into a dorky outfit complete with bowtie and glasses.
Recurring Characters
Toxin, Razor-Fist, Paul Meadows, Jim Mulligan
Continuity Notes
The breakout at the Raft happened in New Avengers #1.
Pat Mulligan abandoned his wife and son over concerns for their safety after he bonded with the Toxin symbiote see Venom vs. Carnage #1-4.
