Geiger
carries Detective Trina Sharp (who really doesn’t like it) through the city,
following Doc Samson’s gamma signature; at the subway scene of the most recent
Patchwork murder, they learn that Samson was just there, leaving the corner
of a magazine cover for Sharp. They then follow him to the hospital where Jen
“She-Hulk” Walters is recuperating from her encounter with Patchwork (issue #2)
and thence to a newsstand where they find Samson buying men’s magazines. From
there, Samson leads them to the publishing office of the magazine; the torn
cover shows Patchwork is a reader of such magazines and if they published a
photo of a green-haired woman, they can set a trap for the killer. Geiger knows
who this “model” is going to be and objects so Samson ties to talk her into it.
Lorna “Polaris” Dane, one of Doc Samson’s patients, comes looking for him as he
has been putting off her session for days. Samson sits down with her to hear
about her romantic troubles with Havok—and then something she says triggers a memory
and he knows who Patchwork is. He tells Sharp and the cops that Kyle Barker,
the young man whom Doc saved from killing himself (issue #1), is Patchwork, as
Kyle said something on the phone that Samson had only said to the killer. It
turns out that Kyle Barker does photo work for the police and is in the
building at that time. They race downstairs and confront him but he changes
into Patchwork and fights them off but the sight of Geiger causes him to freak
out and crash through the walls. As Geiger and Samson hold the building up, the
monster gets away. Doc asks Geiger to go home for her safety and apologizes for
asking her to pose nude for a men’s magazine; she asks him to call her by her
nickname, “Delilah.” Samson is startled but advises Sharp to post Barker’s
photo everywhere to force him out….
At
the hospital, sleazy reporter Rudy Pinkerton is trying to interview the
recuperating Jen Walters; he makes her so mad she transforms into She-Hulk and
clobbers him. Doc Samson arrives and explains it was his idea of aggression
therapy and was successful in her recovery. And he then informs Pinkerton that
he missed the news of the discovery of Patchwork’s identity….
A
visit to the psychiatric hospital where Kyle had been held reveals he had a
collection of photos of gamma radiation—like the kind found at the particle
accelerator at the University…
…where
Dee Dee is now, learning that Patchwork has been unmasked as Kyle Barker who
used to take pictures of the accelerator. So Geiger, Samson, She-Hulk, Polaris,
and Detective Sharp all converge on the accelerator and discover Patchwork
preparing to kill himself with a lethal dose of radiation. Polaris wraps herself
and Samson in a protective energy bubble as the radiation is let loose but Doc,
deciding he is a superhero after all, pushes his way out and turns off the
reactor, saving the villain’s life.…
The
next day, Doc Samson, dressed in an oversized suit of red armor, speaks with
the press, explaining why he will be testifying in Patchwork’s defense at his
trial—because it was the gamma radiation that turned him into the living
embodiment of his darkest desires. Doc again postpones Lorna’s sessions, gives
a lock of his hair to “Delilah” to stabilize any further gamma incidents, and
presents Detective Sharp with a bill….