Back to GatefoldIssue #36 by Alex Hayden
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"NATIONS OF GODS AND EARTHS"
Part Four - Kicking Butt and Chinese Food
Elsewhere in the city.
The Red Rock Bar.
The bar is one of the most well known dives around that usually caters to mostly criminal element. The superhero set knows all about the place and doesn't bother to shut it down. The reason - because when they need information they know where to come to in order to get it.
One of the bars patrons tonight is a man by the name of Smiling Stevens and to put it simply he kills people for money. His usual M.O. would be to use a knife to kill his victims, but every once in a while he liked to change things up and use a different weapon. But the one thing that didn't change was the fact that he was always smiling when he did his job.
However, a monkey wrench has been thrown into his current job that he received from Hammerhead. That monkey wrench came in the form of his boss getting pinched by the cops and hauled off to jail. With his boss gone, he wasn't getting paid, and with no payment coming it meant he was in a bad place at the moment.
"I can't believe this crap," Stevens said as he downed another shot of tequila and placed the shot glass on the bar. "Give me another," he ordered to the hot redhead bartender that was dressed in a tight shirt and short skirt that showed off all her bumps and curves.
"Here you go, Smilin'," the woman said pouring another shot. "Can I get you anything else, handsome?"
"Glass a whiskey for now," Smiling Stevens answered as he downed the shot quickly.
Once the redhead was gone, a man in a black trench coat stepped up to the bar and placed a fifty on the counter. "That's to cover his drinks," the man said. "Mister Stevens, if I could have a moment of your time, I wish to discuss a new job with you."
"Does it look like I wanna talk to anyone at the moment?" Stevens asked taking a drink of his whiskey.
"Maybe this could change your mind," the man said taking an envelope from the inner pocket of his jacket and sliding on the counter in front of Stevens.
Smiling Stevens looked down at the envelope for a moment. The thickness of the package wasn't what caught his eye however it was the card that laid on the package with a certain symbol on it that caught his attention. "You gotta be kiddin’ me," he said holding the card in his hand. "I thought this guy was dead?"
"I assure you, Mister Stevens, I am not known for my sense of humor," the man stated. "As for the man, sadly he is dead, but you see he was merely a figure head for a greater organization. We continue on even after his death."
"Ya got my attention pal," Smiling Stevens said before looking at the contents of the package. "What's the job?"
"Everything you need is in the package," the man said. "It doesn’t matter to my employer if you kill him or not as long as a message is sent that his presence is no longer welcomed in this town. However, should you and your partner kill him, a sizeable bonus will be offered."
"Wait a minute," Stevens said as if he didn't hear the man right the first time. "I don't work with a partner."
"You do this time," the man stated with a scary serious look on his face. "So the only question now is are you interested?"
"Ya got a deal," Smiling Stevens said as a smile came across his face once again. "..Boss."
It hadn't been that long since the two partners in crime fighting, Peter Parker a.k.a. the web slinging Spider-Man and Felicia Hardy a.k.a. the feline crime fighter Black Cat, left the Police Plaza Rooftop after getting much needed information on the current whereabouts of the Hobgoblin. Strangely enough the information came from the criminal gangster Hammerhead who was arrested after being set up by the Hobgoblin’s enforcer Tombstone. To say that Hammerhead wasn't really pissed off would be an understatement to say the least. Naturally the two heroes told Hammerhead whatever he needed to hear to get the info. So he was more then happy to give up any information he had in hopes of helping himself out of the bind he was in. Too bad the metal head would find out in the end he would still be sitting in jail where he belonged.
Making their way through the city on web and cable lines the two heroes soon came to the building address that Hammerhead had slipped them during their visit. Tthe two came to a landing on the building opposite of the building. They decided to scope out the scene a little before jumping into the lion's den.
"So, Spider, what does the force tell you about this place?" Black Cat asked as she scanned the area with her special night vision contact lenses.
"No tingle on the spider sense, Cat," Spider-Man said as he also looked around the surrounding area. "I'll check the high road if you check the low road and well meet back up on top. Sound good?"
"Works for me, Spider," Black Cat said leaping over the edge of the roof and making her way down to the ground while sticking to the shadows.
Once the skin tight form of the Black Cat was out of sight, Spider-Man used his agility to leap from the roof he was on to the one several feet away. After landing with grace and style, he quickly ducked behind the roof access doorway when his spider sense went off alerting him to danger. Taking a quick peek, he saw an armed guard making a patrol of the roof.
"This is Raymond. Roof is secure. Over," the guard said into a walkie-talkie before putting it back onto his belt.
"Raymond is it," Spider-Man said as Raymond came around the corner and saw him leaning against the wall. "Your version of clear is a lot different then mine is," Spidey continued as he quickly webbed the guy to the wall. Putting some web fluid over the man's mouth in order to keep him from yelling for help, Spidey leaned against the wall once more and continued. "Now Raymond, do you mind if I call you Ray? Anyway back to what I was saying, we're going to play a game, and it's a very simple game at that. Two questions, two answers. And the first question is, is the Hobgoblin in this building?"
The man couldn't answer because of the web fluid over his mouth, but he could nod yes in response.
"Good. You know you're really good at this game Ray," Spidey said before going on two the next question. "Last question, is he heavily guarded? Like on a scale between one and ten."
Once again the man could only nod yes in response, followed by six nods to show that on a scale from one to ten, the security was a six.
"Good and thank you for playing our game," Spidey said right before knocking the rent a thug out cold.
"The ground down below is crawling with these guys," Black Cat said as she landed on the roof. "I counted a couple dozen roaming around the building. So what's the plan of attack, Spider?"
"Well in a situation like this I would usually just jump down there, make a few wise cracks, piss everyone off enough where they want to kill me, and then beat everyone," Spider-Man commented as he thought about all the times where he would just jump down into the lion's den head first with out thinking. "But I guess we do need a plan. So. While I think of...Uh oh," Spidey said as his spider sense went off warning him of incoming danger.
Reacting quickly, Spider-Man grabbed Black Cat and leapt from the top of the building as a sudden explosion and then the sound of gunfire came from the front of the building, followed by a lot of screams. The spot on the building where the two crime fighters once stood began to crumble and soon fell to the ground.
"What just happened here?" Black Cat asked as she held her arms around Spider-Mans neck as they hung off the side of the nearby building.
"It looks like where not the only party crashers," Spider-Man replied. "But whoever those guys are they brought party poppers."
"Less jokes, more action, Spider," Black Cat said before firing one of her cable lines from the fur lining of her costume. Once it was secured onto the other building, Spidey let her go and watched as she swung down to the ground.
"You should know that when you order more action, you get more jokes to go along with it. It's a package deal," Spider-Man yelled as he fired a web line and followed after the Black Cat.
New York Plaza
The Penthouse Suite.
Same Time.
"I take it everything went well," a woman dressed in a black formfitting suit said as she watched the ongoing attack on the Hobgoblins current warehouse base. She pulled the clip from the back of her head and released her blondish red hair, before smiling at the destruction that was being caused. "Our newest pawns seem to be working well together."
"Yes, ma'am," the man who had approached Smiling Stevens at the bar earlier had said. He stood with a few other people around the room. "He was more then happy to get paid again since Hammerhead was arrested. Underworld’s services were harder to acquire I'm afraid. We had to promise that he would get a chance to go after the Punisher some time down the line. Apparently he wants to prove he's better than Castle."
"Men and their pissing contests," the woman said to herself disgusted. "Well when he is done in our service then he can go after whoever he wants to. How are our other projects coming along?" the woman asked looking over at a round little man in what looked like a second hand suit.
"All subject’s weapons and armor are being upgraded as we speak. Your special squad’s weapons and fliers are being finished as we speak," the round little man replied in a squeaky voice. "However trying to recreate Curt Connors’ original Lizard formula has proven to be more of a problem then we first thought. Out of the first twelve test subjects only two have survived the transformation process. We're now using those two subjects to figure out where the others went wrong."
"And what of the package?" the woman asked looking over at the tall, distinguished man with long, silver hair tied back in a ponytail. "It is being tracked, I believe we should have it secured with in forty eight hours."
"All goes according to plan then," the woman said before turning her attention back to the scenes of destruction playing out before her. "Awe, and here comes the spider with his pet kitty," she commented as she watched Spider-Man and the Black Cat enter the picture.
Landing on the ground in front of the warehouse, Spider-Man and Black Cat quickly made their way through the fire, smoke, and debris in order to enter the building. Once on the inside, they saw two men attacking the Hobgoblin's men. One was the hitman for hire, Smiling Stevens who cut down anyone dumb enough to face him with a combination of knives and gunshots. The other man dressed all in black and wearing black shades was his new partner. His name is Underworld and as he mowed down men left and right with enough firepower to level a city block he couldn't help but smile with his same sadistic smile.
"Ya seen the Hobgoblin yet?" Stevens asked as he shot one man in the head and cut another's throat in one simple fluid motion.
"No, but I just spotted the web slinger and his bitch of a partner," Underworld replied firing a couple grenades from the launcher on the bottom of the machine gun he had in hand.
Grabbing the Black Cat and leaping into the air in order to avoid the explosions from the grenades, Spidey released her in mid air and watched as she took down a couple of the hired thugs. Swinging overhead, Spider-Man hit one of the goons in the back with a web line and as he swung overhead pulled him along for the ride. Releasing the webline Spidey watched as the guy crashed into a bunch of his friends on the other side of the room.
Landing on the ground Spider-Man began webbing guys up left and right as he avoided the hail of gunfire that many of the men seemed to want to share with him. "Times like this I miss guys like Doc Ock or the Rhino. At least they only tried to hit me," he said as he pulled guns away from guys and delivered knock out punches. "I hate guns."
"Then how do you feel about bombs wall crawler!!" exclaimed the Hobgoblin as he came flying into the room throwing pumpkin bombs and razor bats.
"I like them even less Hobbykins," Spidey said as he avoided the explosions only to be cut on the arm by one of the razor bats. "Aghh...that's going to sting for a while."
Getting a running start, Spider-Man leapt into the air, fired a web line and pulled himself farther up in order to try and get on some even ground with Hobgoblin.
"Hey Hobby, got room for one more up here," Spider-man said hanging onto the goblin glider as it flew over the room.
"Get off, you annoying insect!!" Hobgoblin screamed as he tried to shake Spider-Man off of his glider. "Why am I always cursed by your meddling in my affairs?"
"Cause I bring a bit of sunshine into your otherwise gloomy world," replied Spidey as he gained some momentum and hurled himself upward kicking Hobgoblin in the chest and knocking him off his glider. However, Spider-Man wasn't prepared for the glider to get out of control once its owner was thrown off. "Don't worry, Hobgob, I gotcha," Spider-Man said snagging Hobgoblin with a web line before he went splat on the ground.
"There's the money shot," Underworld said as he caught Hobgoblin in his sights. Taking aim he fired two shots and then fired another couple of shots at the goblin glider that Spider-Man stood on.
"Uh oh spider sense is going crazy," Spidey said as he went on instinct. Swinging Hobgoblin to the side he avoided one bullet, but was nailed with the other one in the leg. Leaping off the glider Spider-Man released Hobgoblin down to the ground seconds before the bullets in the glider and exploded.
"All my plans are ruined because of you people," Hobgoblin shouted firing a couple shots at anyone in his sights with the laser blasters in his gloves.
On the other side of the room, the Black Cat continued her fight against the man known as Smiling Stevens. Each time he came at her with those long blades in his possession, she would leap over him and make a quick swipe with her claws.
"You don't honestly think you can touch me do you fella?" Black Cat said as Stevens's blade clanged off of her metallic claws.
"Sooner or later you'll slip up and then I'll do more then touch you, pussy cat," Stevens said as he kept coming at her with blades swinging.
Just as she was about to finish Smiling Stevens off, Black Cat was hit in the back with a blast from Hobgoblins gloves. Taking the opening Stevens rushed forward and managed to stab one of his blades in to the Cats shoulder before another blast from the Hobgoblin nailed him in the chest.
"CAT!" Spider-Man yelled propelling himself forward with a web line and landing beside the Black Cat. "I got you Felicia, hang on," he said in a hushed tone. Taking the blade out of her shoulder, Spidey tore a large strip of his costume off and tied it around the wound.
"If I'm going down, I'm taking everyone of you with me!!" Hobgoblin yelled as he pressed a button on the underside of his glove, which activated a series of explosions around the building.
"We gotta get out of here," Spider-Man said picking up Black Cat and heading out of the building throw a large hole blown open by one of the Hobgoblins pumpkin bombs.
"The Spider freak has the right idea," Underworld said grabbing Stevens from the floor and getting out seconds before the building exploded.
Almost a half hour later, on another building rooftop overlooking the recently destroyed warehouse, Spider-Man and the Black Cat watched as fire fighters continued to battle the warehouse fire, while police and paramedics continued to rescue, help, and even arrest some of the surviving Hobgoblin thugs.
"How are you feeling, Felicia?" Spider-Man asked as he removed his mask to get some semi-fresh air.
"The shoulder will heal," Felicia replied adjusting the web arm sling Peter made for her. "However I think I'll be stuck with this pain in my back for a while," she continued rubbing the spot where the blast had hit her. If it wasn't for the reinforced material her costume was made of the blast could have crippled her.
"Let's get you home for some chicken soup and a little rest, eh?" Peter said sliding back on his mask. Wrapping his arm around her waist, he extended his arm, pressed two fingers to the palm of his hand and fired a web line to a nearby building.
"Oh, no way, mister. You still owe me Chinese food," the Black Cat said, putting her arm around Spider-Man's neck. "My usual order should do, and y'know, a couple extra fortune cookies."
"We'll swing by and do take out," Spider-Man said leaping off the building and swinging off into the night air.
While the two heroes swung off into the night, down below Daily Bugle reporter Ben Urich continued to scribble down quotes and notes about what had happened. Angela Yin was moving around taking pictures of all the interesting things going on. Since Peter left the Bugle, Angela found herself becoming the top shutterbug for the Daily Bugle.
"So can you tell me if they found any sign of the Hobgoblin yet officer?" Ben asked as he looked in his jackets pockets for another pen.
"One of the fire fighters found this," the officer replied showing a bag that had what looked like half of the Hobgoblins mask in it.
"So he may be dead," Ben said finding another pen and taking down some notes. "Angela, get a picture of this."
Coming around Ben and the officer Angela managed to snap a couple good shots of the mask before the officer put it away again.
"Thanks for your time officer," Ben said as he and Angela turned from the scene and headed back to Bens car. "You did good work kid," Ben said getting into the car.
"Thanks, Mr. Urich," Angela said after getting into the car. "So Mr. Jameson should be happy with this story. Hobgoblin was one of the guys making a move on the criminal underworld."
"Yeah only Jonah will just make it out to be one more thing to blame Spider-Man for," Ben said as they drove back to the Daily Bugle. "He doesn't care about actual news stories unless they smear the wall crawler. Sometimes I wonder why I still work for him."
"You do it because you're a great journalist, Mr. Urich," Angela stated. "Besides from what I heard most of the rookie reporters don't last long because they can't take the way Mr. Jameson yells at them all the time. See that you're immune to the explosive rants of J. Jonah Jameson."
"Maybe kid, but sooner or later Jonah is going to have to wake up and understand that the Bugles power and resources could be put to better use besides slandering Spider-Man," stated Ben.
Hamilton Heights #32B,
Upper Manhattan, New York
Two days later.
Waking up in a soft bed with the feel of the cotton soft bed sheets was beginning to feel natural for Felicia Hardy. The last two days she had been staying at the apartment of Peter Parker while she recuperated from her injuries. Slipping from underneath the covers she stood up and adjusted the New York Yankees t-shirt Peter gave her to sleep in. Putting her hair up in a bun, she walked into out of the bedroom and into the kitchen where Peter was sitting drinking a cup of coffee and reading the latest edition of the Daily Bugle.
"Morning Mr. Parker," Felicia said with a smile sitting down at the table beside him.
Getting up from the table, Peter went and poured Felicia a cup of coffee. "Good morning Miss Hardy," he said putting the cup down in front of her and sitting back in his seat. "I trust you had a good nights sleep?"
"Yes, the back pain is finally gone, but the shoulder is still going to be sore for a while," Felicia said taking a sip of her coffee. "I see the Bugle is still running the Hobgoblin story on page one. Anything new today?"
"Only that they don't think that the Hobgoblin was killed in it," Peter replied looking through the paper again. "According to ol' J.J. a secret source stated that the Hobgoblin was seen hours after the explosion meeting with Spider-Man in a nearby alleyway."
"Besides Ben, how many other Spider guys are out there?" Felicia joked setting down the coffee cup. "So where's May at? Usually she's up already throwing cereal through the air."
"Aunt May and Aunt Anna came by last night to take her for a couple of days," Peter replied. "Aunt Anna loves spending time with her because as she says she sees a lot of Mary Jane in her. Plus it does May good to spend time with her aunts."
"So, are you still going to the funeral today?" Felicia asked. She knew it was the one question that she didn't want to ask, but had to anyway.
"Yeah it starts in a few hours," Peter said in a low tone, while putting the paper down on the table. "I have to pay my respects to Eric. If it wasn't for me getting angry at the shooter, they would never have gone into his neighborhood and he would not have ever have gotten shot."
"Peter," Felicia began as she grasped his hand with hers. "You know you can't keep bad things from happening to everyone. You were trying to stop a cold-blooded killer. Try not to let this eat at you, or when you’re out there trying to save innocent people, others are going to get hurt just like Eric because you let this distract you."
"I understand Felicia, but it still hard to live with," Peter said looking Felicia in the eyes. "But at least I have good people to show me that no matter what happens the world will always need Spider-Man."
"And just think when the world doesn't need Spider-Man anymore that will be the day that the world is once and for all a safe place," Felicia said with a smile as she patted Peters hand. "Now I suggest you go get cleaned up before I get there, because I can already tell you I'm going to need at least an hour to get ready and more then likely all the hot water will be gone."
"Speaking of which I stopped by your place last night after my nightly swing through the city and picked up all the stuff you wanted," Peter said getting up from the table. "I sat everything down on the couch."
"Thanks, Peter," Felicia said getting up from the table. "You're a doll," stopping beside him she gave him a kiss on the cheek before rushing over and grabbing her stuff and heading into the bedroom.
"Hey don't use all the hot water," Peter said as he rushed for the door, but found it was locked. "Great," he said letting his head hit the door softly. "My spider sense should have warned me that she would do that. Now I'm going to be taking a shower with nothing but cold water."
Several hours later
and a few minutes after the funereal of Eric Wilkins.
After walking past the coffin of young Eric Wilkins, Peter and Felicia said a silent prayer for the young boys family, and then Peter dropped a rose onto the coffin. Taking him by the hand, Felicia lead Peter away and back to her car.
"You know what we should do while we're out," Felicia said as she and Peter got in the car.
Looking out the window for a moment, Peter watched as Eric’s father and mother got into a large town car. He watched them for a moment before answering Felicia. "What's that?"
"We should go and get Eugene and the three of us should go out to lunch," Felicia said as they drove away from the cemetery. "Eugene has been hold up at his parents house for a while now, and we both know he could use some time out of the house."
"Yeah that sounds like a plan," Peter said as Felicia hit the main road and headed towards the home of Eugene Patilio.
Later after sometime of driving Peter Parker and Felicia Hardy arrived at the home the bombastic Frog-Man known as Eugene Patilio. Knocking on the door, the two were greeted by Eugene’s father Vincent. After a short introduction, Vincent took both Peter and Felicia to Eugene’s room to show them they same thing he found that morning. Eugene’s room hadn't been slept in at least a couple of days, taking a look around they found that Eugene packed his bag along with his Frog-Man costume. The note he left only said that he needed time away and would come back when he was ready.
After talking to Mr. Patilio for a few minutes, Peter and Felicia took their leave and headed back to the car. "So where do you think Eugene ran off too?" Felicia asked.
"Who knows, he was still messed up after Jill's death the last time I saw him," Peter replied. "Maybe he went someplace to get his head straight again. The note he left said he be back when he was ready, and I believe he will. So how about we go grab something to eat. Anything you want is on me."
Thinking about it for a moment, Felicia got into the car with a smile on her face. Peter didn't have to hear her answer; he already knew where she wanted to go. Rubbing the side of his for a moment, he then got into the car as well.
"What are you part Chinese or something? We are not eating Chinese food again," Peter could be heard saying as the car drove away.
NOT THE END...
Next Issue: Well we will have to see what happens next won't we? Hopefully is everything goes right, I'll be back with more awesome adventures with your ever loving Amazing Spider-Man and his amazing cast.
The Red Rock Bar.
The bar is one of the most well known dives around that usually caters to mostly criminal element. The superhero set knows all about the place and doesn't bother to shut it down. The reason - because when they need information they know where to come to in order to get it.
One of the bars patrons tonight is a man by the name of Smiling Stevens and to put it simply he kills people for money. His usual M.O. would be to use a knife to kill his victims, but every once in a while he liked to change things up and use a different weapon. But the one thing that didn't change was the fact that he was always smiling when he did his job.
However, a monkey wrench has been thrown into his current job that he received from Hammerhead. That monkey wrench came in the form of his boss getting pinched by the cops and hauled off to jail. With his boss gone, he wasn't getting paid, and with no payment coming it meant he was in a bad place at the moment.
"I can't believe this crap," Stevens said as he downed another shot of tequila and placed the shot glass on the bar. "Give me another," he ordered to the hot redhead bartender that was dressed in a tight shirt and short skirt that showed off all her bumps and curves.
"Here you go, Smilin'," the woman said pouring another shot. "Can I get you anything else, handsome?"
"Glass a whiskey for now," Smiling Stevens answered as he downed the shot quickly.
Once the redhead was gone, a man in a black trench coat stepped up to the bar and placed a fifty on the counter. "That's to cover his drinks," the man said. "Mister Stevens, if I could have a moment of your time, I wish to discuss a new job with you."
"Does it look like I wanna talk to anyone at the moment?" Stevens asked taking a drink of his whiskey.
"Maybe this could change your mind," the man said taking an envelope from the inner pocket of his jacket and sliding on the counter in front of Stevens.
Smiling Stevens looked down at the envelope for a moment. The thickness of the package wasn't what caught his eye however it was the card that laid on the package with a certain symbol on it that caught his attention. "You gotta be kiddin’ me," he said holding the card in his hand. "I thought this guy was dead?"
"I assure you, Mister Stevens, I am not known for my sense of humor," the man stated. "As for the man, sadly he is dead, but you see he was merely a figure head for a greater organization. We continue on even after his death."
"Ya got my attention pal," Smiling Stevens said before looking at the contents of the package. "What's the job?"
"Everything you need is in the package," the man said. "It doesn’t matter to my employer if you kill him or not as long as a message is sent that his presence is no longer welcomed in this town. However, should you and your partner kill him, a sizeable bonus will be offered."
"Wait a minute," Stevens said as if he didn't hear the man right the first time. "I don't work with a partner."
"You do this time," the man stated with a scary serious look on his face. "So the only question now is are you interested?"
"Ya got a deal," Smiling Stevens said as a smile came across his face once again. "..Boss."
It hadn't been that long since the two partners in crime fighting, Peter Parker a.k.a. the web slinging Spider-Man and Felicia Hardy a.k.a. the feline crime fighter Black Cat, left the Police Plaza Rooftop after getting much needed information on the current whereabouts of the Hobgoblin. Strangely enough the information came from the criminal gangster Hammerhead who was arrested after being set up by the Hobgoblin’s enforcer Tombstone. To say that Hammerhead wasn't really pissed off would be an understatement to say the least. Naturally the two heroes told Hammerhead whatever he needed to hear to get the info. So he was more then happy to give up any information he had in hopes of helping himself out of the bind he was in. Too bad the metal head would find out in the end he would still be sitting in jail where he belonged.
Making their way through the city on web and cable lines the two heroes soon came to the building address that Hammerhead had slipped them during their visit. Tthe two came to a landing on the building opposite of the building. They decided to scope out the scene a little before jumping into the lion's den.
"So, Spider, what does the force tell you about this place?" Black Cat asked as she scanned the area with her special night vision contact lenses.
"No tingle on the spider sense, Cat," Spider-Man said as he also looked around the surrounding area. "I'll check the high road if you check the low road and well meet back up on top. Sound good?"
"Works for me, Spider," Black Cat said leaping over the edge of the roof and making her way down to the ground while sticking to the shadows.
Once the skin tight form of the Black Cat was out of sight, Spider-Man used his agility to leap from the roof he was on to the one several feet away. After landing with grace and style, he quickly ducked behind the roof access doorway when his spider sense went off alerting him to danger. Taking a quick peek, he saw an armed guard making a patrol of the roof.
"This is Raymond. Roof is secure. Over," the guard said into a walkie-talkie before putting it back onto his belt.
"Raymond is it," Spider-Man said as Raymond came around the corner and saw him leaning against the wall. "Your version of clear is a lot different then mine is," Spidey continued as he quickly webbed the guy to the wall. Putting some web fluid over the man's mouth in order to keep him from yelling for help, Spidey leaned against the wall once more and continued. "Now Raymond, do you mind if I call you Ray? Anyway back to what I was saying, we're going to play a game, and it's a very simple game at that. Two questions, two answers. And the first question is, is the Hobgoblin in this building?"
The man couldn't answer because of the web fluid over his mouth, but he could nod yes in response.
"Good. You know you're really good at this game Ray," Spidey said before going on two the next question. "Last question, is he heavily guarded? Like on a scale between one and ten."
Once again the man could only nod yes in response, followed by six nods to show that on a scale from one to ten, the security was a six.
"Good and thank you for playing our game," Spidey said right before knocking the rent a thug out cold.
"The ground down below is crawling with these guys," Black Cat said as she landed on the roof. "I counted a couple dozen roaming around the building. So what's the plan of attack, Spider?"
"Well in a situation like this I would usually just jump down there, make a few wise cracks, piss everyone off enough where they want to kill me, and then beat everyone," Spider-Man commented as he thought about all the times where he would just jump down into the lion's den head first with out thinking. "But I guess we do need a plan. So. While I think of...Uh oh," Spidey said as his spider sense went off warning him of incoming danger.
Reacting quickly, Spider-Man grabbed Black Cat and leapt from the top of the building as a sudden explosion and then the sound of gunfire came from the front of the building, followed by a lot of screams. The spot on the building where the two crime fighters once stood began to crumble and soon fell to the ground.
"What just happened here?" Black Cat asked as she held her arms around Spider-Mans neck as they hung off the side of the nearby building.
"It looks like where not the only party crashers," Spider-Man replied. "But whoever those guys are they brought party poppers."
"Less jokes, more action, Spider," Black Cat said before firing one of her cable lines from the fur lining of her costume. Once it was secured onto the other building, Spidey let her go and watched as she swung down to the ground.
"You should know that when you order more action, you get more jokes to go along with it. It's a package deal," Spider-Man yelled as he fired a web line and followed after the Black Cat.
New York Plaza
The Penthouse Suite.
Same Time.
"I take it everything went well," a woman dressed in a black formfitting suit said as she watched the ongoing attack on the Hobgoblins current warehouse base. She pulled the clip from the back of her head and released her blondish red hair, before smiling at the destruction that was being caused. "Our newest pawns seem to be working well together."
"Yes, ma'am," the man who had approached Smiling Stevens at the bar earlier had said. He stood with a few other people around the room. "He was more then happy to get paid again since Hammerhead was arrested. Underworld’s services were harder to acquire I'm afraid. We had to promise that he would get a chance to go after the Punisher some time down the line. Apparently he wants to prove he's better than Castle."
"Men and their pissing contests," the woman said to herself disgusted. "Well when he is done in our service then he can go after whoever he wants to. How are our other projects coming along?" the woman asked looking over at a round little man in what looked like a second hand suit.
"All subject’s weapons and armor are being upgraded as we speak. Your special squad’s weapons and fliers are being finished as we speak," the round little man replied in a squeaky voice. "However trying to recreate Curt Connors’ original Lizard formula has proven to be more of a problem then we first thought. Out of the first twelve test subjects only two have survived the transformation process. We're now using those two subjects to figure out where the others went wrong."
"And what of the package?" the woman asked looking over at the tall, distinguished man with long, silver hair tied back in a ponytail. "It is being tracked, I believe we should have it secured with in forty eight hours."
"All goes according to plan then," the woman said before turning her attention back to the scenes of destruction playing out before her. "Awe, and here comes the spider with his pet kitty," she commented as she watched Spider-Man and the Black Cat enter the picture.
Landing on the ground in front of the warehouse, Spider-Man and Black Cat quickly made their way through the fire, smoke, and debris in order to enter the building. Once on the inside, they saw two men attacking the Hobgoblin's men. One was the hitman for hire, Smiling Stevens who cut down anyone dumb enough to face him with a combination of knives and gunshots. The other man dressed all in black and wearing black shades was his new partner. His name is Underworld and as he mowed down men left and right with enough firepower to level a city block he couldn't help but smile with his same sadistic smile.
"Ya seen the Hobgoblin yet?" Stevens asked as he shot one man in the head and cut another's throat in one simple fluid motion.
"No, but I just spotted the web slinger and his bitch of a partner," Underworld replied firing a couple grenades from the launcher on the bottom of the machine gun he had in hand.
Grabbing the Black Cat and leaping into the air in order to avoid the explosions from the grenades, Spidey released her in mid air and watched as she took down a couple of the hired thugs. Swinging overhead, Spider-Man hit one of the goons in the back with a web line and as he swung overhead pulled him along for the ride. Releasing the webline Spidey watched as the guy crashed into a bunch of his friends on the other side of the room.
Landing on the ground Spider-Man began webbing guys up left and right as he avoided the hail of gunfire that many of the men seemed to want to share with him. "Times like this I miss guys like Doc Ock or the Rhino. At least they only tried to hit me," he said as he pulled guns away from guys and delivered knock out punches. "I hate guns."
"Then how do you feel about bombs wall crawler!!" exclaimed the Hobgoblin as he came flying into the room throwing pumpkin bombs and razor bats.
"I like them even less Hobbykins," Spidey said as he avoided the explosions only to be cut on the arm by one of the razor bats. "Aghh...that's going to sting for a while."
Getting a running start, Spider-Man leapt into the air, fired a web line and pulled himself farther up in order to try and get on some even ground with Hobgoblin.
"Hey Hobby, got room for one more up here," Spider-man said hanging onto the goblin glider as it flew over the room.
"Get off, you annoying insect!!" Hobgoblin screamed as he tried to shake Spider-Man off of his glider. "Why am I always cursed by your meddling in my affairs?"
"Cause I bring a bit of sunshine into your otherwise gloomy world," replied Spidey as he gained some momentum and hurled himself upward kicking Hobgoblin in the chest and knocking him off his glider. However, Spider-Man wasn't prepared for the glider to get out of control once its owner was thrown off. "Don't worry, Hobgob, I gotcha," Spider-Man said snagging Hobgoblin with a web line before he went splat on the ground.
"There's the money shot," Underworld said as he caught Hobgoblin in his sights. Taking aim he fired two shots and then fired another couple of shots at the goblin glider that Spider-Man stood on.
"Uh oh spider sense is going crazy," Spidey said as he went on instinct. Swinging Hobgoblin to the side he avoided one bullet, but was nailed with the other one in the leg. Leaping off the glider Spider-Man released Hobgoblin down to the ground seconds before the bullets in the glider and exploded.
"All my plans are ruined because of you people," Hobgoblin shouted firing a couple shots at anyone in his sights with the laser blasters in his gloves.
On the other side of the room, the Black Cat continued her fight against the man known as Smiling Stevens. Each time he came at her with those long blades in his possession, she would leap over him and make a quick swipe with her claws.
"You don't honestly think you can touch me do you fella?" Black Cat said as Stevens's blade clanged off of her metallic claws.
"Sooner or later you'll slip up and then I'll do more then touch you, pussy cat," Stevens said as he kept coming at her with blades swinging.
Just as she was about to finish Smiling Stevens off, Black Cat was hit in the back with a blast from Hobgoblins gloves. Taking the opening Stevens rushed forward and managed to stab one of his blades in to the Cats shoulder before another blast from the Hobgoblin nailed him in the chest.
"CAT!" Spider-Man yelled propelling himself forward with a web line and landing beside the Black Cat. "I got you Felicia, hang on," he said in a hushed tone. Taking the blade out of her shoulder, Spidey tore a large strip of his costume off and tied it around the wound.
"If I'm going down, I'm taking everyone of you with me!!" Hobgoblin yelled as he pressed a button on the underside of his glove, which activated a series of explosions around the building.
"We gotta get out of here," Spider-Man said picking up Black Cat and heading out of the building throw a large hole blown open by one of the Hobgoblins pumpkin bombs.
"The Spider freak has the right idea," Underworld said grabbing Stevens from the floor and getting out seconds before the building exploded.
Almost a half hour later, on another building rooftop overlooking the recently destroyed warehouse, Spider-Man and the Black Cat watched as fire fighters continued to battle the warehouse fire, while police and paramedics continued to rescue, help, and even arrest some of the surviving Hobgoblin thugs.
"How are you feeling, Felicia?" Spider-Man asked as he removed his mask to get some semi-fresh air.
"The shoulder will heal," Felicia replied adjusting the web arm sling Peter made for her. "However I think I'll be stuck with this pain in my back for a while," she continued rubbing the spot where the blast had hit her. If it wasn't for the reinforced material her costume was made of the blast could have crippled her.
"Let's get you home for some chicken soup and a little rest, eh?" Peter said sliding back on his mask. Wrapping his arm around her waist, he extended his arm, pressed two fingers to the palm of his hand and fired a web line to a nearby building.
"Oh, no way, mister. You still owe me Chinese food," the Black Cat said, putting her arm around Spider-Man's neck. "My usual order should do, and y'know, a couple extra fortune cookies."
"We'll swing by and do take out," Spider-Man said leaping off the building and swinging off into the night air.
While the two heroes swung off into the night, down below Daily Bugle reporter Ben Urich continued to scribble down quotes and notes about what had happened. Angela Yin was moving around taking pictures of all the interesting things going on. Since Peter left the Bugle, Angela found herself becoming the top shutterbug for the Daily Bugle.
"So can you tell me if they found any sign of the Hobgoblin yet officer?" Ben asked as he looked in his jackets pockets for another pen.
"One of the fire fighters found this," the officer replied showing a bag that had what looked like half of the Hobgoblins mask in it.
"So he may be dead," Ben said finding another pen and taking down some notes. "Angela, get a picture of this."
Coming around Ben and the officer Angela managed to snap a couple good shots of the mask before the officer put it away again.
"Thanks for your time officer," Ben said as he and Angela turned from the scene and headed back to Bens car. "You did good work kid," Ben said getting into the car.
"Thanks, Mr. Urich," Angela said after getting into the car. "So Mr. Jameson should be happy with this story. Hobgoblin was one of the guys making a move on the criminal underworld."
"Yeah only Jonah will just make it out to be one more thing to blame Spider-Man for," Ben said as they drove back to the Daily Bugle. "He doesn't care about actual news stories unless they smear the wall crawler. Sometimes I wonder why I still work for him."
"You do it because you're a great journalist, Mr. Urich," Angela stated. "Besides from what I heard most of the rookie reporters don't last long because they can't take the way Mr. Jameson yells at them all the time. See that you're immune to the explosive rants of J. Jonah Jameson."
"Maybe kid, but sooner or later Jonah is going to have to wake up and understand that the Bugles power and resources could be put to better use besides slandering Spider-Man," stated Ben.
Hamilton Heights #32B,
Upper Manhattan, New York
Two days later.
Waking up in a soft bed with the feel of the cotton soft bed sheets was beginning to feel natural for Felicia Hardy. The last two days she had been staying at the apartment of Peter Parker while she recuperated from her injuries. Slipping from underneath the covers she stood up and adjusted the New York Yankees t-shirt Peter gave her to sleep in. Putting her hair up in a bun, she walked into out of the bedroom and into the kitchen where Peter was sitting drinking a cup of coffee and reading the latest edition of the Daily Bugle.
"Morning Mr. Parker," Felicia said with a smile sitting down at the table beside him.
Getting up from the table, Peter went and poured Felicia a cup of coffee. "Good morning Miss Hardy," he said putting the cup down in front of her and sitting back in his seat. "I trust you had a good nights sleep?"
"Yes, the back pain is finally gone, but the shoulder is still going to be sore for a while," Felicia said taking a sip of her coffee. "I see the Bugle is still running the Hobgoblin story on page one. Anything new today?"
"Only that they don't think that the Hobgoblin was killed in it," Peter replied looking through the paper again. "According to ol' J.J. a secret source stated that the Hobgoblin was seen hours after the explosion meeting with Spider-Man in a nearby alleyway."
"Besides Ben, how many other Spider guys are out there?" Felicia joked setting down the coffee cup. "So where's May at? Usually she's up already throwing cereal through the air."
"Aunt May and Aunt Anna came by last night to take her for a couple of days," Peter replied. "Aunt Anna loves spending time with her because as she says she sees a lot of Mary Jane in her. Plus it does May good to spend time with her aunts."
"So, are you still going to the funeral today?" Felicia asked. She knew it was the one question that she didn't want to ask, but had to anyway.
"Yeah it starts in a few hours," Peter said in a low tone, while putting the paper down on the table. "I have to pay my respects to Eric. If it wasn't for me getting angry at the shooter, they would never have gone into his neighborhood and he would not have ever have gotten shot."
"Peter," Felicia began as she grasped his hand with hers. "You know you can't keep bad things from happening to everyone. You were trying to stop a cold-blooded killer. Try not to let this eat at you, or when you’re out there trying to save innocent people, others are going to get hurt just like Eric because you let this distract you."
"I understand Felicia, but it still hard to live with," Peter said looking Felicia in the eyes. "But at least I have good people to show me that no matter what happens the world will always need Spider-Man."
"And just think when the world doesn't need Spider-Man anymore that will be the day that the world is once and for all a safe place," Felicia said with a smile as she patted Peters hand. "Now I suggest you go get cleaned up before I get there, because I can already tell you I'm going to need at least an hour to get ready and more then likely all the hot water will be gone."
"Speaking of which I stopped by your place last night after my nightly swing through the city and picked up all the stuff you wanted," Peter said getting up from the table. "I sat everything down on the couch."
"Thanks, Peter," Felicia said getting up from the table. "You're a doll," stopping beside him she gave him a kiss on the cheek before rushing over and grabbing her stuff and heading into the bedroom.
"Hey don't use all the hot water," Peter said as he rushed for the door, but found it was locked. "Great," he said letting his head hit the door softly. "My spider sense should have warned me that she would do that. Now I'm going to be taking a shower with nothing but cold water."
Several hours later
and a few minutes after the funereal of Eric Wilkins.
After walking past the coffin of young Eric Wilkins, Peter and Felicia said a silent prayer for the young boys family, and then Peter dropped a rose onto the coffin. Taking him by the hand, Felicia lead Peter away and back to her car.
"You know what we should do while we're out," Felicia said as she and Peter got in the car.
Looking out the window for a moment, Peter watched as Eric’s father and mother got into a large town car. He watched them for a moment before answering Felicia. "What's that?"
"We should go and get Eugene and the three of us should go out to lunch," Felicia said as they drove away from the cemetery. "Eugene has been hold up at his parents house for a while now, and we both know he could use some time out of the house."
"Yeah that sounds like a plan," Peter said as Felicia hit the main road and headed towards the home of Eugene Patilio.
Later after sometime of driving Peter Parker and Felicia Hardy arrived at the home the bombastic Frog-Man known as Eugene Patilio. Knocking on the door, the two were greeted by Eugene’s father Vincent. After a short introduction, Vincent took both Peter and Felicia to Eugene’s room to show them they same thing he found that morning. Eugene’s room hadn't been slept in at least a couple of days, taking a look around they found that Eugene packed his bag along with his Frog-Man costume. The note he left only said that he needed time away and would come back when he was ready.
After talking to Mr. Patilio for a few minutes, Peter and Felicia took their leave and headed back to the car. "So where do you think Eugene ran off too?" Felicia asked.
"Who knows, he was still messed up after Jill's death the last time I saw him," Peter replied. "Maybe he went someplace to get his head straight again. The note he left said he be back when he was ready, and I believe he will. So how about we go grab something to eat. Anything you want is on me."
Thinking about it for a moment, Felicia got into the car with a smile on her face. Peter didn't have to hear her answer; he already knew where she wanted to go. Rubbing the side of his for a moment, he then got into the car as well.
"What are you part Chinese or something? We are not eating Chinese food again," Peter could be heard saying as the car drove away.
NOT THE END...
Next Issue: Well we will have to see what happens next won't we? Hopefully is everything goes right, I'll be back with more awesome adventures with your ever loving Amazing Spider-Man and his amazing cast.