ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN: TIGER RESCUE

CHAPTER ONE: ONE HARD NIGHT

Spider-Man swung over the rooftops of New York. He was going to randezvous with one of his team members. He landed on the side of a building, lifted up his right sleeve and looked at his watch underneath. The time was 8:45 P.M.

Crap, he thought. He was supposed to have met her ten minutes ago. He just decided he would tell her that he was "fashionably late."

Underneath his mask, Spider-Man was smiling. That was always his excuse if he were late.

He spun a web over to a building with a large tower. He swung over to it. He looked down and saw his team mate. She was waiting for him. Her name was White Tiger, also known as Ava Ayala. She had not heard him, so he jumped down behind her.

He tapped her on the shoulder, then said, "Good evening."

She jumped and whirled around, the claws on her gloves outstretched. He raised his hands in a surrender; those claws could cut through steel.

"Really, web-head?" she said. "I could have cut you right in half! What were you thinking?"

"Well, I wanted to catch you by surprise," he told her. "Is that so wrong?"

"No, but next time, land in front of me so that I don't have to cut you in half. You're my friend, and I don't want to do that to you."

He nodded. So did White Tiger. Her costume was mostly white with gray stripes. The cowl had two yellow eye holes and in the back was a hole where her long black hair could hang out.

Suddenly there was a loud scream that cut through the air. The two heroes began running. They looked over the edge of the building and saw a young lady on the ground.

Above her stood a cloaked man, who was holding a sword in his hand, which was raised above his head. Spider-Man and White Tiger recognized the villain as Taskmaster, who was able to copy every move a hero or a regular human made. The last time the two had fought him, they had defeated him, but then he escaped and they had not seen him since. But now he had returned, and they were going to make sure that he went to jail this time.

They both jumped down to the ground and confronted the villain. Now that Taskmaster was distracted, the young lady got up and ran away.

"Well, well, well," Taskmaster said in his deep voice. "If it isn't the two who defeated me what will be the first and last time."

Spider-Man spun a web at Taskmaster. Taskmaster cut it in half. Thinking he was distracted, White Tiger threw a kick. It knocked the sword out of his hand, but he was able to punch her with his other hand. She grunted. He then kneed her in the stomach. She fell to the ground, gasping for breath.

"Now it's time I use my new abilities, given to me by my employer." Taskmaster raised his hand. A blast of sonic energy was released from his glove and hit White Tiger in the chest. She flew into the window of a jewelry store.

Anger gathered in Spider-Man's body. Nobody hurt any of his team mates! But before he could do anything, Taskmaster released another blast of sonic energy, which hit him. Spider-Man hit the ground hard. He could tell that the sonic energy was silent, but he didn't know how.

Taskmaster went over to where White Tiger was laying. He picked her up by her throat.

"Welcome to your end, little girl," Taskmaster announced. He released the sonic energy once more and threw White Tiger on the ground.

Spider-Man looked up and saw what was happening. "TIGER, NO!" he yelled. He jumped over to Taskmaster and punched him in the back. He then kicked the villain. Taskmaster went flying into the jewelry shop, hit the large class counter at the front of the store.

Spider-Man looked down and saw White Tiger's unmoving body. He bent down and checked her pulse. It was barely there.

"Oh my God," whispered Spider-Man. "Ava, please don't be dead. Please don't be dead!" Just as police sirens could be heard, Spider-Man turned his communicator on and spoke into it. "Nick, it's Peter. Pick me up." He looked up and saw the clouds above him part. The S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier appeared and a large blue light appeared over the street. Spider-Man picked up White Tiger just as the teleporter began to work.

He closed his eyes, and when he opened them, he was in the helicarrier. Nick Fury ran over to him.

"Peter, what happened?" asked Nick. "What happened to Ava?"

"Taskmaster got her. She needs to go to the infirmary, Nick."

"Alright, I'll get her there. Come on." They ran to the infirmary. Just as the two double doors that led into the room opened, Peter could hear somebody say, "What just happened?" It belonged to Sam Alexander, A.K.A Nova, a member of the teenage team of heroes Peter led.

Peter went over to an infirmary bed and lay Ava down. Nick yelled for a couple of doctors.

Peter couldn't believe everything that had happened that night: Taskmaster had gotten more powerful, Ava had been injured, and now his team was one valuable member short.

The infirmary doors opened again and Sam came in, along with Danny Rand (A.K.A. Iron Fist) and Luke Cage (A.K.A. Power Man). When they saw Ava lying there on the bed they stopped in their tracks.

Nick looked from Peter to them, then told them, "You need to get out of here until we tell you that you can come back in. Please go."

The five teenage heroes made their way out of the room. None of them, especially Peter, felt right. Just as they stepped out of the room and the doors closed, Luke asked, "Peter, what happened?"

Peter sighed, took off his mask, and then told them everything that had happened. At the end of the narration, the doors finally opened back up and Nick stepped out.

"You can see Ava now," he announced to them, a grim expression upon his face.

The team stepped in and saw their injured team mate lying in the hospital bed. She was breathing slowly. The White Tiger costume lay on a table next to the bed.

Peter took a chair next to the bed and sat in it. "Ava," he said, "I wish that you weren't lying in this bed. It should be me right now. Taskmaster had no right to do that. But it was my fault for not protecting you like I should have. If it hadn't been for me just standing there like an idiot, you wouldn't be like this right now. I just hope that when you wake up, you'll forgive me for all of this."

Luke put his hand on Peter's shoulder. "Everything will be alright in the future, Peter," he said.

"Yeah, but when exactly is that future, Luke? If it wasn't for me, she wouldn't be like this right now! She would be here with us, just laughing and smiling! But no! She has to be lying here, injured and beaten, and all of it being my fault!"

Luke tried to tell Peter something, but before he could, Peter had gotten up and had stormed out of the infirmary.