Chapter 15: The Hunt of Sergei Kravinoff

Chapter Fifteen: The Hunt of Sergei Kravinoff.

“Harry, we’re really sorry about what happened,” said Gwen as she had stopped by, along with Peter, outside of the Osborn mansion early the next morning when they heard the news.

“Yeah, trust me, I know what you’re going through,” said Peter seriously.

“No, don’t be, it’s not like we’re for sure he’s dead, but then again there’s nothing that points to him being alive either,” said Harry.

“They’re chalking it up to an accident, aren’t they?” asked Peter.

“That’s what they’ve said,” said Harry but he looked like he was not going to believe something so simple. “The fact remains I think that my father…well he doesn’t do accidents…so it’s something else…”

“You mean you think he’s murdered,” said Gwen as both she and Peter looked horrified and Harry nodded. “Don’t you think that’s a little extreme.”

“Besides who would have a motive?” asked Peter and Harry rolled his eyes at his friend.

“Look Pete, I know you’re trying to be supportive, but don’t be that naïve,” responded Harry as he looked at his friend. “My father made more enemies than anyone could count. I bet he’s even forgot all the toes he’s stepped on. Companies put out of business…absorbed into Oscorp and that just really scratches the surface. Taking a list of the people that didn’t have a reason to kill my father in this city might take less time. Everything that he’s ever done only was done to benefit him. All that charity work that you read about, done for tax purposes. He couldn’t care less, he couldn’t even bother giving a damn about his own son half the time.”

“Harry, no I don’t think you really mean that,” said Gwen. “I know you’re father wasn’t…well he was kind of…I don’t know the right way to put this.”

“A cold hearted bastard,” offered Harry with a bit of malice in his voice before he shook his head. “Look, I am broken up that he’s gone, if he’s gone but I’m not going to pretend that Norman Osborn was the ideal father. I’d trade all of the money in the world for the kind of life either of you two have.”

“No, Harry, trust me, if you knew, you wouldn’t want any of my life,” thought Peter, trying to keep the amusement off of his face.

Harry turned around, Gwen and Peter wondered what they could say.

“It was murder, they’re investigating it right now and they’ll find out the truth,” said Harry who was barely able to resign himself to the fact that his father had been killed.

“Or he could have made a mistake,” said Gwen trying to lessen the darkened mood but Harry was not buying it for one second.

“If you listened to my father, he never made mistake, no wait, in fact there’s only one mistake he thought he ever made,” said Harry and Gwen and Peter exchanged awkward looks. “Look, I’ll be fine, both of you don’t need to worry about me. Both of you’ve been through this before and now it looks like it’s my turn.”

“Begging your pardon, young Master Harry, but there’s a Mr. Wilson Fisk here to see you,” said the butler and Harry just nodded stiffly.

“Send him in, please,” said Harry as he moved forward.

“Wilson Fisk, the Wilson Fisk?” asked Gwen.

“The major philanthropist Wilson Fisk?” asked Peter with widened eyes. “One of the richest men in New York City.”

“The very same,” said Wilson Fisk as he stepped forward. “Young Mr. Osborn, I offer you my condolences for your loss, I assure you the world has lost a brilliant mind. I was a friend of your father’s and he will be missed.”

“Indeed?” asked Harry as Fisk nodded. To be honest, he found it hard to believe his father would have anyone he would consider to be a friend.

“Yes, quite, your father and I go back a number of years, it is a shame that he met such a premature demise,” said Fisk, who admittedly enough was curious about the details of the accident. It came as a shock that Norman Osborn had suffered such a fate and Fisk would not rest until he had figured out exactly what caused the accident. “Still, the details of the accident I’m sure will remain a mystery, but as Oscorp is your future, I’m sure you are determined as your father may be to ensure that this company continues to grow. It is after all the best way to honor the memory of your father.”

“I guess one could say that, Mr. Fisk,” said Harry as Fisk turned to Harry with a smile.

“As one of the charter members of the Oscorp Board of Directors, I have taken the liberty of calling a press conference for later this afternoon,” said Fisk. “Where there will be an announcement of the future of the company and it will be safe to say that you should be a big part of that future, Harry.”

“I’m sure that should be the case, Mr. Fisk,” said Harry with a nod as Fisk turned towards Gwen and Peter.

“I believe I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting your friends,” said Fisk.

“Peter Parker,” said Peter.

“Gwen Stacy,” said Gwen.

“Ah yes, you must be the Peter Parker that Norman is speaking highly of,” said Fisk with a nod. “He expected great things for you and judging by what I’ve found out about you, he was far from wrong. You are truly a bright young man Peter, keep reaching for the stars and Miss Stacy, the daughter of the Police Captain George Stacy, correct?”

“Yes, Mr. Fisk,” said Gwen.

“Your father is a dedicated man, if we only had more like him, the city would be a secure place,” said Fisk with a bright smile. “Well it is been an honor meeting all three of you but I’m sure as you realize, time waits for no man. I best prepare for the press conference this afternoon.”

“Right, I’ll see you than, Mr. Fisk,” said Harry as Fisk nodded, before he walked off and at that, Peter’s new cell phone rang. He turned to go to answer it.

“PARKER!” shouted the very audible voice of J. Jonah Jameson.

“Yes, Mr. Jameson,” said Peter politely.

“You’re going to be assigned to the Oscorp press conference today, I want pictures and plenty of the, do you hear me Parker?” asked Jameson.

“Loud and clear, boss,” said Peter and Jameson hung up without another word.

“News travels fast, doesn’t it?” asked Gwen and Peter nodded, before they both turned to Harry. “Nervous about having to take over from your father.”

“No, more like nervous about what kind of messes he left behind that I might have to clean up,” stated Harry.

-

Peter sat out in the press area, with Gwen and Harry sitting two rows behind him as Wilson Fisk walked up the podium, tapping on the microphone.

“Thank you for coming, my friends, my name is Wilson Fisk, perhaps you’ve may have heard of me, I only show up in the paper every day or so,” said Fisk which caused several laughs at Fisk’s joke. “Nevertheless, I was horrified at the accident that Norman Osborn suffered as much as I’m sure many of you are. Oscorp was a revolutionary company, that helped drive this city for a number of years. But like all companies, they could not succeed without their leader and that leader was Norman Osborn. The Oscorp Board of Directors have decided to put all business on hold for recent future, allowing the New York City Police Department to conduct their investigation into the death of Norman Osborn, to determine whether it was an accident or whether foul play was involved. Then, Norman’s son, sixteen year old Harry, should be able to take over the role of head of Oscorp, a task that I personally don’t envy him for. The young man has big shoes to fill, the biggest.”

Peter sat up, suddenly, his spider sense tingling, now at the oddest times, the sounds of a rocket engine propelling something in the air, right towards where Wilson Fisk was standing. Immediately, Peter braced himself, no time to change into Spider-Man, as he leapt forward and knocked Fisk over, just as an object whirled through the air and landed right on the podium, blowing it to bits, causing the crowd to scatter. Peter looked up through the smoke, seeing a green blur in the air as the crowd seemed to be in too much of a panic to realize that Peter had saved Fisk. Two more of the objects were thrown right towards the crowd, aimed to Fisk.

“They’re pumpkins?” thought Peter in a confused manner once he got a good look at the ammo, as they just narrowly missed Fisk and exploded. “Exploding pumpkins!”

“Guards, shoot him out of the sky,” said Fisk, as there was another explosion but the figure flew off, to avoid the gunfire, throwing one more pumpkin bomb behind him. Squinting through the smoke, Peter managed to notice a green blur flying in the opposite direct. The press conference had broken down and Peter turned right towards Gwen who stood off to the side.

“Gwen, if anyone asks, I had to go replace my camera lens,” said Peter and Gwen nodded, before Peter ran off in the opposite direction. He had to catch whoever that person was.

-

Sergei Kravinoff sat perched on the roof of a building with binoculars. He had been watching for any signs of crime, because that’s where he could find Spider-Man. The explosions had caused Kravinoff to turn, and he saw a figure flying away from them on a glider. It was not Spider-Man, so he relaxed until moments later, he saw the hero web slinging across the city.

“So, Spider-Man, you come out at last,” said Kravinoff as he watched the fluid, graceful movements as Spider-Man swung across the city, with a smile of glee. “This is going to be my greatest hunt ever.”

With expert grace, Kravinoff leapt from one roof top to another, before he turned, weapons at the ready, stalking Spider-Man, ready to lure his prey in for the kill.

-

“Man who was that guy, I mean what did he want with Fisk and tried to kill him, I’m sure Fisk has people that would want to take him out, he’s rich after all but he seemed like a good natured guy,” thought Spider-Man as he swung across the city, trying to get sight of the mysterious attacker. “I won’t let him get out of my sights, those pumpkin bombs, it was very lucky no one was blown to bits, he’s a danger to everyone, whoever he is and I’m going to find that out.”

Spider-Man was stalled when his spider sense went off and he turned, seeing a dart flying right towards his direction. He ducked out of the way and the dart harmlessly dropped to the ground, before a figure somersaulted into the air, knife in hand and cut right through Spider-Man’s webbing, before kicking him right in the ribs. Spider-Man dropped down right onto a lower building and he had to dodge the knife being impaled into him. He turned around, as his enemy rushed forward.

“Now, now, we shouldn’t run with knives,” admonished Spider-Man as he dodged the attack, before he pulled it out of the hands of his opponent. The opponent was not deterred, as he pulled out a whip and snapped it forward, nearly cracking Spider-Man. “Let me guess, you’re the latest super villain ready to take your crack at your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.”

“No, just a humble hunter,” grunted Kravinoff as he cracked the whip again but Spider-Man wrapped his webbing around it, causing Kravinoff to land right on the ground. The web slinger attempted to grab onto Kravinoff but Kravinoff reversed their positioning, before pinning him down to the ground. Spider-Man kicked off and leapt up with a punch but Kravinoff blocked it with his own massive hands. “My name is Sergei Kravinoff and you, my friend, are my next prey. I’ve hunted the biggest game there is and now I’ve come to city to hunt the rare Spider-Man.”

“Newsflash, I’m not an animal that you can just stuff and mount on your wall,” said Spider-Man as he grabbed Kravinoff’s hand in his, before he twisted it. A loud crack and Kravinoff dropped to the ground, before Spider-Man grabbed his arm and launched him right over the side of the building. Kravinoff grabbed onto a clothesline wire and pulled himself up.

“Kravinoff plans on doing just that,” said Kravinoff in an intense voice as he pulled out a spear, before he rushed forward, with a primal yell, but Spider-Man was just too quick for him. Spider-Man dodged a jab with the spear. “Deadliest game in all of Africa, have become boring, too easy. When I heard tale of Spider-Man, I just had to test my skills. The intelligence of the man, but the strength and powers of an animal, that is the ultimate prey for Sergei Kravinoff.”

“Well, don’t take this the wrong way, but most people end up spending some quality time behind bars after they tangle with the rare, one of a kind, Spider-Man,” said Spider-Man as he shot his webbing, latching onto Kravinoff’s mustache, before he pulled the hunter forward, right into a punch. Kravinoff grunted in pain and Spider-Man leapt up, with another punch, knocking Kravinoff right down to the ground. Kravinoff turned over, as Spider-Man stepped forward, but Kravinoff reached into his vest, before he threw a handful black powder right into Spider-Man’s face. Spider-Man gagged. “Can’t fight fair, can you?”

“Only law of the jungle is win at all costs,” said Kravinoff as he swung the wooden end of his spear, cracking Spider-Man right in the chest. The web slinger dropped to the ground. A series of punches had further staggered Spidey. Kravinoff threw a net right towards Spider-Man. Spidey struggled as the net wrapped around him, it was strong, nearly a strong as his spider strength as Kravinoff pulled out a tranquilizer gun and pointed it right towards his prey. “Now, for the kill.”

The tranquilizer gun was aimed as Spider-Man twisted in an attempt to pull himself free and had managed to rip the net just enough.

“Not today,” said Spider-Man as he freed one of his arms and he shot a strand of webbing right in the gun, jamming it up, before he ripped the net. Kravinoff attempted to use the gun right as a club but Spider-Man dodged the attack. The hunter leapt forward, right towards his prey, but Spider-Man flipped him down to the ground. Kravinoff turned, looking for another weapon, but Spider-Man leapt up and kicked him right in the chest. With a thud, Kravinoff landed right on the building and rolled over, just as, Spider-Man stepped on his hands and picked up the tranquilizer gun before pulling it apart. Kravinoff struggled, as Spider-Man held one of the darts. Kravinoff put his hands up, in an attempt to block it. His strength was great but the spider strength was beginning to slowly wear him down.

“No, you can’t do this to me, I’m the hunter, you’re the hunted, you can’t do this to me, you can’t!” shouted Kravinoff but Spider-Man managed to stab the dart right into Kravinoff, taking him out. Kravinoff struggled before he succumbed to his own tranquilizer. Spider-Man sighed, before he dropped down with Kravinoff, wrapping his hands in webbing, before stringing him up from a light post.

“A nice package for the police,” said Spider-Man as he swung off, in pursuit of the mysterious attacker from earlier. It was unfortunate that he had a few more bumps and bruises to the collection, but he had to focus on figuring out who attacked Fisk earlier this morning. It would eat away at him until he did.

-

“Peter’s taking an awfully long time getting back,” said Harry as he looked at the window of Oscorp, with Gwen looking equally anxious, even though she did not show it. “I mean, he just had to replace a lens on his camera, how long could that take?”

“Maybe it was worse than he thought,” said Gwen but she looked at the window. Her boyfriend going off as Spider-Man and putting himself in dangerous situation had gotten to be something that she grudgingly accepted, but that nutcase on the glider looked to be far more dangerous than a lot of people that Peter had to face. “He did jump in and knock Fisk out of the way.”

“Stupid move if you ask me,” said Harry which Gwen privately agreed with, although for slightly different reasons. Peter could have blown his secret identity there if everyone had not been preoccupied with that nutcase on the Glider. “Then again, Peter’s judgment hasn’t been the best sometimes lately, and it’s almost like he’s keeping something from us. I don’t like it at all.”

“Peter has his secrets, but I think we’re all entitled to our privacy,” said Gwen in a calm voice, but she gave Harry a warning look.

“He’s never acted like this before,” argued Harry. “I never noticed it until now, but he keeps going off at the weirdest times and not returning for several hours, I know you worry about him.”

“Peter’s job is demanding, Harry,” offered Gwen.

“And you’re making excuses for him too, when he’s changed,” said Harry in a bit of a tempered voice.

“His uncle got shot, that would change anyone,” said Gwen, her voice a bit angrier than she would have normally gotten, but the stress of the day caused tempers to flare. “Look, you don’t have any idea the responsibility he feels he has…”

“Yes, I know, Gwen, Peter’s responsible, he’s better than I could ever hope to be, he’ll amount to something, when I’ll amount to nothing,” said Harry hotly, as he turned, looking out the window, at the debris outside form the attack.

“I didn’t say that,” said Gwen quietly.

“No, I’m sorry, you didn’t, but I’ve heard it so often, that I guess I lost it,” said Harry, both realizing he had no need to voice who was telling him this as he took a deep breath to calm himself “But one of my best friends, suddenly running off and I have the feeling that he’s keeping something from me and he might be keeping something from you as well for all I know.”

“Harry, I understand that Peter has his space and if he’s told me something that he hasn’t told me, that’s really not my place to do it,” said Gwen but her phone rang. “Peter’s calling right now….hello Peter.”

“Gwen, listen, I might not be able to get back today, I ran into a snag and I’ll be out for a bit longer than I thought,” said Peter. “I’ll talk to you and Harry both at school on Monday, tell Harry that I’m really sorry that I had to run off again.”

“I will,” said Gwen promptly.

“Okay, talk to you later, bye Gwen,” said Peter.

“Bye, Peter,” said Gwen as she turned to Harry. “He said he was sorry for running off again.”

“I’m sure, he is,” said Harry in an odd tone of voice, where Gwen could not tell whether he was being sarcastic or sincere.

-

Swinging from building to building, Spider-Man kept a look out. He had been at this for a few hours already, and he was beginning to get tired. He wondered if this was a futile search as he continued to comb the city, no signs of any gliders in the air, whether they would have murderous lunatics on them or not.

“My only chance to find out who this person is and why he attacked Fisk, ruined with Kravinoff,” said Spider-Man. “Fifteen minutes of my life spent on dealing with the mighty hunter, but it was the fifteen minutes that let him get away!”

Spider-Man’s spider sense went haywire, as loud crazed laughter filled the air and he looked up just in time to see an object spiraling towards him. It was another one of those pumpkin bombs and Spider-Man had to leap from his line of webbing, before he shot onto another building. The pumpkin bomb landed right on the ground, blowing the sidewalk up below. He turned around, before he saw the same figure that attacked Fisk, better this time. He was dressed in a green and purple outfit with a demonic looking mask that resembled a mythical goblin creature. The attacker dove right in towards Spider-Man, throwing what appeared to be a bat, with two razors extending out of it. Spider-Man ducked down and leapt up.

“Excuse me, but this air space is not cleared for flying!” shouted Spider-Man but his enemy casually ducked and Spider-Man sailed over him, just barely putting the breaks on, webbing onto the glider, but the man increased his speed.

“Such a pity,” said the villain, as he raised his hands, before he shot bolts of green energy from his finger tips. Spider-Man flew right down towards the ground, just barely able to web onto the side of the building and pulled himself back up, as the glider turned before its pilot directed it right towards him. “Hope it’s cleared for explosives!”

Two more pumpkin bombs were tossed right at Spider-Man, who managed to duck, before he turned and shot two strands of webbing. They wrapped onto the glider, pulling it right out from underneath its pilot. The villain spiraled to the ground and threw another pumpkin bomb right at Spider-Man but the web slinger ducked and it went over the side of the building, blowing up a dumpster from underneath it.

“Nice fire power you have, whoever you are,” said Spider-Man as he rushed forward and swung a punch but his enemy casually dodged the attack. A kick was avoided as well.

“Nice of you to notice, Spider-Man,” cackled his enemy, as Spider-Man was grabbed by the throat and shoved backwards, before his enemy leapt into the air and threw all of his power right behind a vicious punch that knocked Spider-Man down. Spider-Man struggled, racked with pain, as his enemy leapt into the air, before grabbing onto his hands, pinning him down to the ground.

“His attacks are faster than my spider sense could register,” thought Spider-Man as he struggled. “And he’s just a strong, maybe even stronger than I am. I can’t believe this. Who in the hell is this guy?”

Spider-Man struggled, as this mysterious and rather powerful enemy attempted to strangle him, but somehow, he managed to get his feet underneath this goblin masked villain and flip him onto his back. The villain landed onto his feet and turned around, before he flung what appeared to be a toad on the ground. The toad lit up, before it released a sonic blast that dropped Spider-Man to his knees. The villain rushed forward and punched the incapacitated Spider-Man with all of his power, sending him flying right off the edge of the building. Spider-Man landed, just barely able to wrap onto a flagpole where he swung back up, having to adjust his angle to dodge yet another pumpkin bomb.

“I’ve wanted to destroy you for quite some time, Spider-Man!” shouted the criminal in a crazed voice as Spider-Man swung a punch but the criminal blocked it. Several more attacks were blocked. It seemed like everything that Spider-Man could do, this goblin masked criminal could do better and without any regard to the safety of others.

“Destroy me?” asked Spider-Man as a green laser from the glove just narrowly missed frying Spider-Man. “Look pal, I don’t even know you.”

Another blast nearly blasted Spider-Man but he was just quick enough.

“You may call me the Green Goblin!” cackled the villain, know known as the Green Goblin, before leapt right back onto his glider and rose up into the air onto it. Spider-Man attempted to use his webbing to jam the Goblin’s rocket engines, but he saw that coming before he turned around and the Green Goblin circled Spider-Man stalking him, before he launched a missile right at Spider-Man. It was by sheer luck that Spider-Man leapt off and onto another building, before it was blown to bits.

“NO!” shouted Spider-Man in horror, as there were screams from inside the building, showing the all too unfortunate reality that it had been occupied at the time of the explosion.

“Thousands will die in payment for your meddling, Spider-Man, hope you enjoy having the blood on your hands!” yelled the Green Goblin as there were the sound of sirens from below and the Green Goblin frowned beneath his mask, the police would only get in his way.“Today was just a taste of what’s to come, wall crawler. I have things to do, places to go, people to kill! But, don’t fear, I’m going to give you something to remember me by.”

The Green Goblin tossed a pumpkin bomb, which spiraled right towards the direction of a playground, occupied with children. Spider-Man swung over, quickly, launching himself into the air, before he wrapped webbing around the pumpkin bomb and pulled it in, before he launched it high into the air with all the strength he could muster. The bomb exploded into the air and Spider-Man slumped down to the ground, collapsed, battered, and beaten.

“Spider-Man!” shouted one of the children in an excited manner as others crowded around to get a look at the wall crawler, as he managed to summon the strength and pull himself to his feet.

“Wow,” said another as Spider-Man pulled himself up.

“I’d love to stick around kids, but I have to go after that guy,” said Spider-Man as they looked on in awe, as Spider-Man climbed onto the fence, before he leapt off and swung around the city. The Green Goblin was long gone but the echoes of that taunting laughter began to haunt Spider-Man’s every thought.

“I can’t even begin to guess who’s under the mask,” thought Spider-Man as he kept a look out, seeing nothing but broken pumpkin shells on the ground and the wreckage of the office building. Screams of agony, rescue sirens, blame began to set in, if he had just been a bit quicker, he would have stopped those bombs from hitting the building.“But he might be far more dangerous than anyone I’ve ever faced and he’s not going to be an easy one to put down. I have to, innocent lives and I won’t rest until the Green Goblin is off the streets and out of the skies.”

Spider-Man swung around, as he prepared to search the city from top to bottom for his newest and perhaps most dangerous enemy. 


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