Venom (vol. 2) #13
Circle of Four Part One
Flash Thompson has been on a bender every since he was forced to help Crime-Master steal the Toxin symbiote. From his Las Vegas hotel room he tells his former girlfriend, Betty Brant, that its over and for him to stop calling. He angrily throws the phone across the room hoping this will get his point across as he thinks this will be the only way to keep them safe. He then has the Venom symbiote pour him another drink.
Meanwhile, at the Devil’s Den Casino, the security bring up an indebted gambler named Gary Rags is brought to the office of the owner, a Mister Degli, because he owes the casino over thirty-two thousand dollars. Degli tells Gary that things are going to get weird as he shoves another gambler through a mystical portal. Degli details how Gary’s gambling addiction has negatively impacted those around him. He squandered the money meant for his mother’s cancer treatments, his wife and son have been left penniless, and Gary even murdered a bookie in Reno to avoid paying a debt. Although his soul isn’t worth much, Degli decides to wave all of Gary’s debts if he sells his soul to the casino owner. Rags, not realizing the severity of the situation, signs the contract without question. The guards then handcuff Gary as Mr. Degli retrieves a demonic fish from a nearby tank and orders him to hold still.
Elsewhere, Johnny Blaze is continuing to train Alejandra Jones, the latest host for the Spirit of Vengeance. Unfortunately, his latest lesson falls on deaf ears because Alejandra was preoccupied with her cell phone. When she asks him if he’s trying to teach her something, she transforms into the Ghost Rider to show off. At that same moment, the Red Hulk leaps across the Nevada desert to get to Las Vegas. He has been assigned to bring Agent Venom back in after he went AWOL from Project Rebirth. A former military man himself, the Red Hulk considers a soldier abandoning his post to be the most despicable crime and looks forward to bringing Venom to justice.
Back in Las Vegas, X-23 is posing as one of the servers at the Devil’s Den. She has come to confront Mister Degli because he previously attempted to take her soul, or more specifically, he bought a vial of her blood. As she walks the casino floor, one of the patrons grabs her ass and she quietly threatens him with her claws, warning him to never touch a woman that again.[1]
Elsewhere in the city, Mister Degli and his assistant, Ms. Oyle have arrived at the construction site of a new casino. This is merely a cover for the construction of a device that will assist in a satanic ceremony. They have been using Las Vegas because it is the place where people are most likely to sell their souls. So far, they have obtained over one hundred human souls through the Devil’s Den. They then add the alien flesh harvested from the Toxin symbiote and the final ingredient, the blood of a mortal who has been to Hell and back. Now they need one last ingredient, which Degli is confident that it will come because not evil the Devil will be able to keep her away.
At that moment, Alejandra and Johnny are at a diner where she tries to get Blaze to admit that these training sessions are more for Johnny’s validation than anything else. Their discussion is interrupted when Jones suddenly changes into Ghost Rider because she can hear a hundred cursed souls crying out for vengeance. Johnny thinks this is too big for a novice Ghost Rider to tackle on her own and races to a payphone to call his old friend, Daimon Hellstrom for help. Unfortunately, Daimon is not there and while Johnny is leaving a cryptic message, the Ghost Rider races off to investigate on her own.
Back at the motel, Flash Thompson wallows in misery while drinking. As he thinks he has become more and more like his father, the Red Hulk comes crashing into the room. As he orders the Flash to hand over the Venom symbiote, the alien creature tries to bond with the Red Hulk. Panicking, the Red Hulk runs into a gas station in the hopes of destroying the creature in an explosion. Instead, the symbiote leaps away before the impact and goes back to bond to Flash. As Agent Venom, Flash flees the scene unsure if he could battle a Hulk, especially since he’s drunk. The Red Hulk quickly catches up with Venom and sends him flying with a single punch.
Meanwhile, X-23 has broken into the secret lab hidden inside the Devil’s Den casino. There she discovers that her blood sample has been used to create clones of herself. As she sets up explosives to destroy these abominations they are released and she is horrified to see that they have also been bonded to clones of a symbiote.
At that same moment, the Ghost Rider arrives at the construction site and recognizes the altar as a means of opening a portal to Hell. She begins driving around the altar in an effort to destroy the device unaware that she was the final component to complete the spell. As the Ghost Rider races around the altar, her hellfire begins opening the portal that Mister Degli was attempting to open to create Hell on Earth.
Elsewhere in the city, the Red Hulk and Agent Venom continue to battle each other when they notice that the city has suddenly turned into a Hellish wasteland with demons attacking the people trapped in this nightmare world with them. The pair agree to put aside their differences to deal with this new crisis. While at the city limits, Johnny Blaze arrives and witnesses what happened. He gets off his motorcycle and places his mystical pendant on the Las Vegas sign to put a barrier around the city to prevent the spread of the spell. Kissing the crucifix he wears, Johnny then rides into Las Vegas.
Meanwhile, Mister Degli and Miss Goyle return to the casino to celebrate their victory, dropping their human forms. They are actually Blackheart and another demon named Gari Oyle. Blackheart then contacts his father via a mysical sphere. Mephisto is impressed that his son managed to get around his exile on Earth by bringing Hell to him, but reveals that he only succeeded in transforming a small portion of the Earth and gloats. Blackheart vows to conquer the entire planet and smashes the crystal. They are about to unleash their symbiote warriors when they become aware that they are in the middle of a battle with X-23. At that same moment, Johnny Blaze finds Ghost Rider and takes her place in the centrifuge so that she is free to try and stop the spell.
Moments later, Ghost Rider, Agent Venom, X-23, and the Red Hulk all arrive in Blackhart’s office to try and stop his spell. The demon responds by casing a spell into H’Elain’s Mirror Cauldron to create warriors that are twisted versions of the gathered heroes. The four heroes finds themselves face-to-face with the Antithesis which include the angelic Ichor, demented cheerleader X-666, the priestly Evangelist, and Encepalon, a massive creature made entire out of brain matter.
Recurring Characters
Agent Venom, Ghost Rider, Red Hulk, X-23, Blackheart, Gari Oyle, Johnny Blaze, Symbiote Warriors, Antithesis (X-666, Ichor, the Evangelist, Encephalon), Mephisto
Continuity Notes
Two of the slot machines are named after western themed characters that exist in the Marvel Universe. They are:
American Eagle: Named after the Native-American hero of the same name who first appeared in Marvel Two-In-One Annual #6.
Caleb Hammer Time: Named after Caleb Hammer who, during the days of the American Frontier, was a member of the Pinkerton Detective Agency. He first appeared in Marvel Premiere #54.
