Chapter 10: All of the Kingpin's Men Part II

Chapter Ten: All the Kingpin’s Men Part II:

Spider-Man moved in slowly, the blinking lights continued and there was something in the air that signaled that he was getting rather close.

“Okay, Electro, whoever you are, I know you’re down here, so why don’t you come down here and fight me!” called Spider-Man as he swung down but as he did, a lighting bolt shot through the air. Spider-Man just barely through himself to the ground and the lighting bolt struck a tree, causing it to be set on fire.

“You, I’ve been waiting for you, Spider-Man, you’re pay for what you’ve done to me,” said Electro as he blasted two more lighting bolts from his hands, but Spider-Man dodged them. “I should be able to finish you off in a zap!”

Spider-Man turned in an instant, getting a good look at Electro’s laughing. He clutched his chest as he began to laugh madly, in spite of the very dangerous situation he found himself in. It was just that Electro’s outfit seemed like the most ridiculous thing ever.

“Might I ask what you find so funny?” demanded Electro in an agitated tone, as sparks flew.

“Sorry, sorry, normally I take these things seriously, well mostly serious, I can’t help myself sometimes but…seriously…” said Spider-Man as he began to crack up into laughter. “Seriously, that outfit, what were you thinking. I mean those suspenders and that mask. You should change your name from Electro to Demented Starfish Man or something like…”

“YOU DARE MOCK ME!” shouted Electro as he raised his hands and several bolts of electricity shot right from them, right at Spider-Man. “I’ll show you what true power is, Spider-Man!”

A high impact lighting bolt was dodged by Spider-Man. Another one narrowly missed the web head, as Spider-Man kept moving.

“C’mon lighting bolts, is that the best you can do against me?” asked Spider-Man as he rushed forward, but the ground right below him was electrified which caused him to bounce up into the air. Spider-Man dropped to the ground and Electro rubbed his hands together, generating static electricity and caused sparks to fly at Spider-Man. He dodged the attacks, but he turned around and was blasted off his feet and landed with a thud.

“That Kingpin guy, he said I could control things with electricity, but we’ll see when I turn up the juice,” said Electro with a grunt as he knocked Spider-Man to the ground before he shot a bolt of electricity towards a car and he manipulated the car, so it drove right towards Spider-Man. Spider-Man winced, as Electro had continued to direct the car. “Even you can’t protect yourself from this power surge, Spider-Man.”

“Stop it with the corny electricity puns already!” shouted Spider-Man in a frustrated voice, before he reached forward and removed the gas cap off of the car, causing the fuel to leak from it. This appeared to do the trick as the car sputtered to a stop but Electro jumped forward and blasted Spider-Man right off of his feet. Spider-Man landed right in front of the electrical fence. “Oh boy, not good, not good…”

Thankfully, Spider-Man dodged out of the way before he was fried. Spider-Man was knocked right through the open gate, right into a construction site.

“I hope that one gave you a real, charge, Spidey!” cackled Electro but he moved forward. “What’s the matter, out of juice, well I’m just getting fired up! Circuitly you can’t hope to defeat my power!”

“Well, if you think you can beat me, then have at it, but I doubt you have watts enough to defeat me,” said Spider-Man, before he stopped, nearly slapping himself for the really bad pun. “Great, now you have me using them!”

Electro threw two more lighting bolts at Spider-Man but the web head avoided the attacks but as it turned out, they were not aiming for him. Rather they electrified two pieces of construction equipment. Spider-Man turned around, as his spider sense warned him at a giant wrecking ball moving towards him. He leapt up to dodge the attack, but Electro willed it around, with the wrecking ball swinging once again. A strand of webbing was shot right up on to a dormant crane, allowing Spider-Man to pull himself out of the way. Electro just sneered, before he caused the crane to operate. Spider-Man swung around, trying to hang on, but he was launched off right down to the ground. He landed with a thud, completely groggy as Electro flicked his fingers and a piledriver machine moved over, stamping on the ground, moving closer to Spider-Man. It was just a moment away from Spider-Man and was about to squash him completely flat.

At the last second, Spider-Man slid out of the way, before he bounced up to his feet. With a swift movement, he shot his webbing, in an attempt to disable the piledriver, but Electro jumped forward and zapped a wave of electricity with his hand. Spider-Man managed to avoid the impact, before he looked over, towards a stack of tires.

“Convenient, but I’m not about to look a gift horse in the mouth,” thought Spider-Man, as he webbed himself up.

“Not so fast Spider-Man, I’m not going to let you, volt out of here!” shouted Electro in an utterly crazed manner but Spider-Man grabbed one of the tires and flung them right at Electro. He zapped the tire down, but as quickly as possible, the Spider-Man flung tire after tire towards his enemy. Electro blocked most of the attacks, but after a spell, the tires covered him. He attempted to zap his way out of there, but found himself completely trapped.

“That should hope you for a while,” said Spider-Man in a disapproving voice. “Now I want you to sit down and think why you shouldn’t make a current of bad and extremely cheesy puns and also for making me use them…”

Spider-Man was cut off, when a figure appeared from behind him, made completely out of sand. The sand twisted into the form of Flint Marko and then the arm twisted into a large hammer. Spider-Man spun around, alerted by his spider sense, and he ducked one swing from the hammer but the second swing was not so lucky as he was knocked right on the ground. The sand figure stepped forward, before he raised his arm.

“Spider-Man!” bellowed Marko as he swung his hammer down, but Spider-Man rolled out of the way. The hammer smashed down onto the ground where he once was. Another swing and Spider-Man just barely pulled himself out of the way, before it smashed right towards him. “I got a score to settle with you, web creep.”

“What is this?” asked Spider-Man as he dodged another blow from the sand hammer. “National pick on Spidey day?”

“I’ve been waiting to tangle with you since you cost me that big payday,” said Marko as he swung his sand hammer down, but Spider-Man dodged the attack, before he attempted to wrap Marko up with webbing. It worked, for a brief moment, before the villain twisted himself out and his hand extended forward, before it grew to several times its normal size and knocked Spider-Man with a punch. The hero crashed into the side of the piece of the equipment and just barely had enough time to dodge before Sandman cracked him right in the face. “Stand still so I can bug squash you, you wall crawling, creep!”

“Now that hasn’t worked with any other criminal, so what makes it think you can work with you…” stated Spider-Man, before he trailed off. “I’m sorry, I don’t think we’ve been formally introduced and I kind of like to mock my opponents by name.”

“The name’s Flint Marko, but that was another time, before I turned into this freak,” said Marko he tried to smash his enemy with duel sand hammers, but Spider-Man back flipped out of the way, before he bounced off the half constructed building and shot some webbing at his opponent, but Marko once again found a way to escape. “With this power to manipulate sand, you can call me Sandman!”

“Right, I bet you stayed up all night thinking about that name,” said Spider-Man dryly, as Sandman rose up and smashed down towards Spider-Man but the web head slid out of the way at the last second. Spider-Man was grabbed by Sandman’s hand that burst out of the ground and then flung right to the ground. Sandman raised himself up into the ground, and smashed down onto Spider-Man once again.

“And once I get to done with you, the Kingpin’s next for what he did with me,” said Sandman as two sand fists flew right towards Spider-Man but he dodged the attack.

“The Kingpin?” asked Spider-Man, he had heard the name once from Electro, but he had not thought about it.

“Yeah, some big time crime boss, no the big crime boss in New York, but you don’t need to worry about him, worry about what I’m going to do to you,” remarked Sandman, as he swung a sickle like sand arm and cracked Spider-Man right in the ribs.

“Okay, that one stung, now I got to figure out a way to wrap this guy up, he gets stronger by the moment it seems,” muttered Spider-Man as two more swings with the sand hammer had narrowly missing Spider-Man. He continued to dodge and weave. Once again, he vainly attempted to wrap Sandman up in his webbing, but that worked just as well as it did the previous times he attempted it. Sandman twisted out and moved in for another attack.”

“Don’t you know by now?” asked Sandman mockingly as Spider-Man narrowly avoided another smashing attempt by the sand hammer just barely. “You’re little spider tricks don’t work on me!”

Sandman swung his hand and knocked Spider-Man for a look. His fist extended forward but Spider-Man dodged the attack, before he looked up, spotting an open bucket of tar and he leapt out of the way of another vicious Sandman punch. He dropped down and avoided the attack, before he webbed onto the barrel behind him. He pulled forward and sent the tar flying. The substance splashed onto Sandman. The villain struggled, in an attempt to pull himself loose, but it held his sand molecules together, just barely. He struggled.

“Once, I get out of here, Spider-Man…” stated Sandman but he was webbed in place and silenced. This time, it held him in place, at least for long enough, as Spider-Man slumped forward, breathing heavily after that battle. Electro was still captured, as was Sandman and the police sirens had arrived, with cars pulling up, with Captain George Stacy exiting.

“Spider-Man, I see you’ve managed to finish in time for us,” said Captain Stacy as he arrived.

“Yeah the guy in the tar, webbed up is Sandman, as you can guess by his really imaginative name, he can control sand and is hard to contain, the other guy is Electro, powered by electricity, I’d watch those two, they could be very slippery,” said Spider-Man. “Be very careful, they gave me quite a bit of trouble.”

“Absolutely, Spider-Man,” agreed Captain Stacy, before he turned with a business like tone. “Send for specialized back up, we’re going to need to contain these two…”

Spider-Man drowned out the instructions that Captain Stacy, was giving, remembering the last time that he came face to face with him, Spidey had punched him. Granted, it was because it was because he was under the influence of Mysterio, but that never stopped Spider-Man from feeling guilt before.

“I believe you can head out, Spider-Man,” said Captain Stacy. “We can handle this from here, thanks for the help, it’s much appreciated…”

“No problem and I’m sorry,” said Spider-Man which caused Captain Stacy to look at him. “For hitting you the other day…”

“No need to apologize Spider-Man, you were under the influence of Mysterio and had no control over your actions,” replied Captain Stacy sternly. “Don’t feel guilt over it, my daughter explained how close you came to dying, but I guess she and Peter figured it out in the end.”

“Yeah, thanks to both them,” said Spider-Man with a nod, as he raised his hand, before he pulled himself up but he turned, purely on a whim. “Captain, have you ever heard of someone who calls himself the Kingpin?”

“So you’ve heard,” said Captain Stacy carefully choosing his words. “Yes, the Kingpin is perhaps the crime boss in all of New York. He’s said to have consolidated all the gangs in a hostile and quite bloody takeover years ago in New York, into a criminal empire that is without peer. No one has been able to pierce the veil of mystery surrounding the Kingpin. Many think there’s no way it could be one person with the number of dirty businesses that he has his hands in but whoever the Kingpin is, he’s dangerous. I have hit so many dead ends regarding the Kingpin that I couldn’t even begin to remember, but the fact is he’s out there and he’s dangerous to anyone who stand sin his way.”

“And he was behind Electro and Sandman and maybe even Rhino as well,” mused Spider-Man, he turned to leave. “Right, thanks Captain, I’ll be sure to be on my guard.”

-

Bullseye stood on the building below, as he watched Spider-Man swing through the sky, with great contempt.

“The web head’s just defeated Electro and some guy calling himself Sandman, couldn’t really hear much of it, boss,” reported Bullseye.

“Marko must have survived his little accident after all,” said Kingpin thoughtfully. “How intriguing.”

“Shame, he didn’t knock off the web creep, both those two goons are being taken off,” muttered Bullseye, as he fingered the dagger in his hand, before he held a note in the other. “And he knows who you are, Kingpin.”

“As I had planned, now for the final test regarding Spider-Man,” said the Kingpin. “Just send a message Bullseye, don’t accidentally kill him or you’ll be next.”

“I don’t do accidents,” grumbled Bullseye as he held his dagger, attaching the note right to the dagger, and flung it.

Spider-Man spun around, his spider sense alerting him of danger. The dagger connected right to the wall, attaching the note to the wall. He looked up and saw a flicker of a figure, but he had quickly departed. Walking over, he saw the note was addressed to him. Detaching the note from the bent dagger, Spider-Man unfolded it to read it.

“Spider-Man, I have sent the super villains after you and if you want them to stop, come to the basement of the abandoned Silvermaine Industries Corporate Headquarters in Manhattan at precisely five o’ clock tomorrow morning,” read Spider-Man as he continued to read the note. “Come alone. If anyone is caught with you, they will be killed immediately. Do not come a second sooner. I look forward to meeting you and by now, you have figured out who this is.”

Spider-Man turned and crushed the note in his hand.

“Alright, Kingpin, you want my attention, you got it,” said Spider-Man as he swung up, preparing to play the Kingpin’s game, at least for now.

-

“Find everything you need, Gwen?” asked Captain Stacy as he arrived back at the station, where his daughter was sitting in front of the computer.

“Just about, give me another few minutes, thanks for letting me use the computers, the one at home is on the blink again,” said Gwen with a look of frustration, as she had tried to use hers for a project but it had something wrong with it. Being who her father was, the station was always open to her.

“I know, I’m wondering why we even got that new computer, I mean, the one’s at the station are older, but at least they don’t break down every other week,” said Captain Stacy with a laugh. “Had to deal with a situation, with Spider-Man once again, two criminals calling themselves Electro and Sandman, but I’ll say it once and I’ll say it again, thankfully Spider-Man’s shown up, this new breed of super powered villains is not exactly what I was trained for, although if you believe what Jonah says in his paper, he’s the cause for it but that’s really trying to figure out whether the chicken or the egg came first.”

Gwen returned, no doubt Peter would fill her in on the details, before she continued to work at the computer, as her father walked off to file some paperwork. Seconds later, a familiar figure walked by. While he was concealed with a hat and a coat, there was no mistaken that mustache anywhere. It was J. Jonah Jameson and the Daily Bugle publisher slipped inside an office. Gwen got a good look at the door, marked “GARGAN”. Under the pretext of collecting some paper from the printer, Gwen attempted to listen in.

“So, you want me to investigate this Parker kid,” said a gruff voice. “Think he might be into something…”

“I just think he knows more about that wall crawling menace than he lets on, so follow him around, see what he knows or doesn’t know, I’ll pay you Gargan, you know I’m good for it,” muttered Jameson in a low tone of voice, but just loud enough for Gwen to hear.

“Fine, Jonah, but it’s going to cost you, I’m a high end private detective, not some babysitter of fifteen year old kids,” said Gargan. “My work is among the best…”

“That’s why I’ve hired you, Gargan,” said Jameson. “You’ve brought drug lords and corrupt politicians down with your skills, you can find out what some teenager is up to.”

Gwen turned and walked away, she had enough. She moved from the station quickly, trying not to look too guilty, before she pulled out her cell phone and tried Peter, but there was no answer. She walked off, if all else fails, she could catch Peter at school in the morning, she just hoped that Gargan would not catch onto anything incriminating before that time.

-

“Okay note to Aunt May, saying that I had to leave early to do some research, but I’ve promised to get some breakfast before school, providing I’m still in one piece because this totally reeks as a trap to kill me,” thought Spider-Man as he dropped down. “Oh, and I have to get a new cell phone, because Electro totally fried mine. I sure hope no one tried to call me the other night.”

Pushing the door open, ready for anything, he walked inside before he headed down the basement stairs. The building was in disrepair, having not been used for years and with every step, Spider-Man kept himself ready.

His spider sense flickered, just in time to avoid a dagger whizzing right by his head. The dagger hit the wall and Spider-Man turned around, to see a bald headed man stand right in front of him and threw another dagger right at Spider-Man. His spider sense was just quick enough to avoid the dagger, whoever this guy was, he had tremendous accuracy. Spider-Man propelled himself forward and pulled the third dagger out the hand of his attacker with a strand of webbing.

Bullseye grunted, before he threw himself forward. His hands proved to be just as deadly as an weapon he could throw or would in this case, if Spider-Man had dodged out of the way. Bullseye dropped down, before he picked up a piece of pipe and lobbed it expertly towards Spider-Man. With a clang, it caught Spider-Man right in the chest and staggered the hero. Another dagger was thrown right at Spider-Man but he ducked and dodged, before he propelled himself feet first against Bullseye. Bullseye was struck full on in the chest with both feet and knocked to the ground. The hitman pulled himself up and grabbed a chain and swung but Spider-Man ducked it before he pulled the chain from his hands with his webbing. With great ease, Bullseye was flipped up into the air, before he was webbed upside down by his feet from a section of piping.

“So, if you’re the Kingpin, I’m not impressed,” responded Spider-Man as he looked at his struggling enemy, who was looking like he would rip Spider-Man to shreds if he was given a chance.

“You don’t need to be impressed by him, Spider-Man,” said a voice that caused Spider-Man to turn around and he saw a monitor on the wall flipped on, revealing a silhouetted figure with an obviously distorted voice and two men dressed in suits walking from a side entrance. “Bullseye, prodigal as his accuracy may be could not pass for the Kingpin of Crime. That honor would be for myself and myself alone.”

“Why did you send all of those super villains after me?” demanded Spider-Man.

“I assure you I didn’t do it out of any ill will towards you Spider-Man,” said the Kingpin with a chuckle. “It was merely a means as to test your abilities. I rarely trust the word of others, but now up close, I have seen that you are more than able to hang with some of the most dangerous people in the city.”

“You could have injured or even killed countless people,” said Spider-Man, in an irritated voice which caused the Kingpin great amusement.

“No need to take it personal, Spider-Man, it’s merely business,” responded the Kingpin calmly. “You’ve passed your tests with flying colors and now you have been deemed worthy to be employed by the Kingpin.”

“Employed by the Kingpin?” asked Spider-Man as if this entire matter was absurd. “You mean work for you?”

“Now you’re catching on,” responded Kingpin. “And not just work, be one of my chief enforcers, dealing with any threats to my empire. And if you wish, I will give you the occasional super powered menace to really put your skills to the test.”

“So you want me to be your personal enforcer, your personal attack dog, and take out anyone who opposes you,” said Spider-Man as if he could scarcely believe it.

“Now you get the picture and as you can see, I pay well,” said The Kingpin as one of the men in the suits opened a briefcase, revealing stacks and stacks of one hundred dollar bills, more money than Peter Parker or Spider-Man had ever seen or will ever see in his life. For a brief, weak moment, he was sorely tempted, he would never have to worry about not having enough money to take care of Aunt May or anyone else for that matter. A few years with the Kingpin could set him up for life. “All I ask is you turn a blind eye to my less than ethical operations.”

That statement brought Spider-Man crashing back down to reality and brought him to his senses, as he recalled what happened to Uncle Ben, the last time he turned a blind eye. He felt dirty considering it even for a minute.

“I can’t just turn a blind eye Kingpin, no matter how much money you shove under my nose,” said Spider-Man firmly.

“A shame,” said the Kingpin. “But sadly, a reality I expected. Go forth Spider-Man and leave now. You will be allowed to live today, but know this. Those who oppose the Kingpin have their lives cut short. “

“I look forward the attempt and I will stop you and find out who you are,” warned Spider-Man as he turned his back, half expecting to be stabbed or shot but nothing happened, so he got off.

“You should have iced him boss,” said one of the henchmen.

“I will if he causes a problem,” said the Kingpin with a chuckle. “Regardless of what path he chose, I still would have won.”

“How?” asked the henchmen.

“These battles between the super villains and Spider-Man are bound to raise insurance costs through the roof and that benefits people who own such companies like myself,” answered the Kingpin. “I never lose, I just take paths that lead to different success.”

-

Peter walked forward, as Gwen rushed right towards him.

“Peter, you weren’t followed, were you?” asked Gwen.

“No, why would I be followed?” replied Peter in a confused voice.

“Inside and I’ll tell you all about it,” said Gwen as she grabbed her boyfriend by the hand and they walked inside. For once, Peter was actually on time, not only on time, but rather earlier.

“What’s the deal about me being followed?” prompted Peter.

“I was at the station last night, when I saw your boss walk into the office of a private investigator named Mac Gargan,” explained Gwen in a low tone of voice. “He hired Gargan to follow you around, he hasn’t figured it out yet, but he suspects you know more about Spider-Man than you’re letting on.”

“Guess, I’m going to have to be more careful from now on,” said Peter but he thought that if he was being followed, his spider sense would alert him of the threat.

“Yes, really be careful, Gargan’s one of the best, he’s been at this game for a while, according to Jameson, he’s gathered evidence to put away drug lords and corrupt politicians and who even knows what else,” said Gwen as she looked from side to side. “And maybe we better watch exactly how we talk about your…job in public.”

“What, I don’t think anyone’s caught on yet,” said Peter.

“But they will,” answered Gwen. “Just keep your eyes open for a while, eventually Gargan’s going to get tired of tailing you around.”

Peter nodded, he would have to agree. He had been a bit careless, even he would have to admit. The amount of times that Peter Parker rushed into an alley and Spider-Man swung out, it was a wonder that no one had caught him. Granted, he was extra careful to look but there were times where the crimes he fought mandated.

“You know, I’m ungrounded tomorrow, so let’s celebrate,” said Peter. “Maybe catch a movie or something after school.”

“That sounds like fun,” said Gwen brightly, with hope that there would be no need for Peter to assume his another identity but that was always hoping for too much.

-

At a government facility at the outskirts of town, two guards looked rather bored, as they stood outside a containment tank, containing a stocky, powerful man with dark hair, dressed in brown, put in stasis.

“Easiest job I’ve had, just watch some guy in a tank for eight hours, until our shift ends,” said one of the guards.

“Guy gives me the creeps,” said the second guard. “They say he’s a human Juggernaut, once he gets going, nothing can stop him.”

“Don’t worry, he’s in the tank, it’s safe, he won’t be breaking out any time soon,” said the first guard. “And if someone wanted to break him out for whatever reason, he’d have to get past us first.”

“A simple challenge, you sniveling Homo-Sapiens” declared a figure in a condescending voice, as the guards turned, but their weapons were ripped from their hands by a magnetic force. Two pieces of metal ripped from the wall, before they contorted, wrapped around the guards and held them in place. The next moment, the control panel of the tank was fried by a magnetic charge, and as a result, the containment tank failed. “This should keep Charles and his students busy while I carry out my plans.”

The tank sprung open as the prisoner exited. The man’s name was Cain Marko but he also was called the Juggernaut and he was not at all too pleased at being contained.

“Out of my way, you puny wimps,” growled the Juggernaut as he smashed open a glass case before he pulled out his helmet and placed it on his head, to complete the outfit. “Now to pay my dear step brother a visit and if his little X-Pukes get into the way, I’ll flatten them.”

The Juggernaut smashed through the wall, revenge on his step brother, Charles Xavier on his mind as he began to go on a rampage on his way to the Xavier Institute. 


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