Chapter 1: The Five Deadly
Two large men march shivering Martha Connors forth. A goliath biker pushes on her back. And, beside her, 6' 3" Snake Marston sallies and sways like a skipping satyr. Enforcer Marston seems to enjoy his job. Seemingly, his conscience bothers him little. Martha's teeth chatter in the dusk air. Her nylon stockings and rayon blouse provide insufficient protection from the cool and the wind. She trembles with nervous energy. The kidnapped Mrs. Connors feels vulnerable and discomfited. Naknek, Alaska, is far from her New York City. Around her, there is a wide-open space of concrete leading to thick forest with a stormy sea beyond. Dangerous men are the only thing close to her currently, and she spies more dangerous men approaching over the stark expanse. Her heart sinks.
Four men drag her husband Curt toward her from the cannery behind them. The cannery is where they have been mistreating him for several hours. The facility is closed for the season since there are no salmon around, and it has been the perfect place to rough-up Curt. They are two-miles northeast of town, and no one can hear anyone scream. Dr. Connors is in his underwear, and his battered body is on display in the failing light and chilling air. The evil mutant Toad has Curt's single arm hammerlocked behind his back as he marches his captive forward. Beside Toad, big brute Ammo drags Curt in a harsh headlock. Accompanying Ammo, his henchmen the Wildboys smack and kick helpless cur Connors along.
Lizard's wife knows that she must be strong as she has often been while married to the Lizard. Approaching, Curt looks into her eyes. The good doctor seems wearied but resolved too. Behind her, the guiding goliath grabs her hair hard to halt her.
"Have you been taking care of her, Baby Elmo?" Toad asks the giant. Baby Elmo grunts.
"Elmo's good people," Ammo comments, "My crew is only the goodest bad men from Hell's Kitchen."
"Apparently, you do not even believe in grammar" is a thought that Dr. Connors keeps to himself. He has been brutalized enough.
Wildboy Spit produces a switchblade and slices Curt with it. He cackles, "We're the baddest!"
Martha cringes. She prays that her beloved changes into a monster soon. Curt prays the same. The Wildboys and Ammo are barbaric freaks. Spit is white facepaint, a gangling tongue, and a fright wig wrapped in a decrepit tweed jacket. Jet is shades, a shaggy face, and a shaggy pate wearing a leather jacket and steel-toes. Ammo is a shaven dome with an eyepatch and feather earrings over branded biceps and combat boots.
Wildboy Jet samples some of the dribbling blood. "Yeah, we bad, we bad," he is some kind of crazy.
Ammo is amused with his merry man's antics. But, he composes himself, "Say, Snake, I thank you for hiring the baddest butchers in Hell's Kitchen. But, I got to ask you, man. Where's your usual crew? Where're the Enforcers?"
"Yeah, I would like to know that too," Toad ogles Enforcer ominously, "When I hired you, I thought that you would use your usual established unit."
Snake shifts around uncomfortably, "Weeeell, I am not the leader of the Enforcers. Fancy Dan is, and he wasn't too fancy on messing with the Lizard. Even Ox said that he would not personally be so stupid."
Ammo releases his crushing headlock. He wipes away the sweat gathered on his brow from brutalizing Dr. Connors, "Well, I do not mind a free trip to Alaska to use my professional skills. I was a soldier in the army, and I am a mercenary now. Dark operations are kinda my thing."
Snake smiles, "You bad-asses have a good rep. You and your boys beat-down Daredevil severely a few years back [see Daredevil #259-260]. You were the right degenerates for this job."
"Yes, great job kidnapping the Connors from Anchorage," Toad adds, "I needed a mad scientist—more brilliant than myself—to come to Alaska. Then, Dr. Connors came to Anchorage to give a guest lecture. You hard men abducted his wife and him. And, we need now only torment him into aiding our machinations in the Aleutians."
"You're the mad one, Toad! What you want is absurd," the brilliant biologist bellows.
"Nooo!" Toad screams like a child. Like a bully, he twists Connors' one arm painfully.
"If you bust his wing, he'll be less able to work," Jet states the obvious.
Toad releases the arm. The hurt, half-naked man falls to the cement. The crazed mutant dances around in a tizzy and a frenzy. Thugs Jet and Spit find the spastic show amusing. Toad spits apoplectically and balls his fists. He grinds his teeth and tears his hair. He stomps his forceful, emphatic feet. Finally, he calms a wee.
Mortimer Toynbee explains, "Dr. Connors, Dr. Demonicus operated a volcanic lair on Unalaska Island in the Aleutians a while back. There, he made giant monsters so grand that they could challenge Godzilla. He made several. I only want and need to create one. With it, I shall conquer Alaska as Magneto took Genosha. Just as Dark Phoenix conquered the universe, just as Scarlet Witch altered the world, just as Dr. Doom took over Latveria, so shall I become the Terrible Toad-King of Alaska!"
Snake Marston rolls his eyes. He did not know that Mortimer was this nuts when Snake took this job.
Dr. Connors stands. The man of reason scoffs, "I do not think that Alaska has many toads, and I do not see you being the head one."
"We must raise the Centipor!" daft Toad persists. Perturbed, he right-hooks the captive's jaw. The Lizard's vulnerable alter-ego flops to the hard ground again. Martha Connors appraises her husband concerned.
"Pardon me. What the f**king hell's a f**king Centipor?" Baby Elmo inquires behind Martha.
"It's a mutated centipede, a hundred feet long and mighty as s**t," Toad thrashes his scary elongated tongue about, "Dr. Demonicus created a Centipor once [see Godzilla #4]. I wish to re-create one and to conquer Alaska—especially if the enormous arthropod is warm-blooded."
"Oh," says Elmo.
The Baby's utterances have drawn attention to Martha in his clamps. Ammo grabs Curt by the ear, and he yanks him to his knees. The gang leader snaps his fingers, and the Wildboys move. The Wildboys approach Martha with giggles and leers. She tries to stay stoic in the face of fiends.
"Hey, Curt, do you wanna see what Wildboys do to your wife?" Ammo directs the doctor's gaze to the scene unfolding.
"Hey, Ammo, do you want to see what the Lizard will do to you?" Curt threatens back.
Ammo snaps his fingers sharply again, and the Wildboys pause like two confused canines. Salivating, anxious Jet and Spit await direction. Their master instructs, "Let's take both Connors back into the cannery. We can tune-up Curt some more. And, we can 'tune-up' Mrs. Connors where it's warm."
"Hey, Ammo," utters Snake Marston, "Technically, Toad and I are in charge here."
The four barbarians laugh. The hellraisers from Hell's Kitchen hurry husband and wife toward their miserable fates. Ammo re-assures his employer, "Dude, I've been doing dirty deeds for a long time. Connors'll crack soon. He just needs to see what more we'll do to him—and to his wife."
"I don't need to see more!" someone shouts from behind. Lowlifes look behind them. They see Scorpion, sinister Spider-Man foe, standing there, and he looks really pissed. Terrible tail and deadly dukes are raised and everything.
Snake explains Scorpion's surprise presence, "I invited another professional interrogator: Mac Gargan the Scorpion. We needed someone who could handle the Lizard if Dr. Connors transformed when angry or outraged. But, Mac has apparently been running late."
Scorpion shouts back, "You know, Marston, I am a professional interrogator, and I never agreed to using torture!"
This reply surprises Snake a bit. Normally, Scorpion loves brutalizing people. He has even bitten off the flesh of foes. However, Marston realizes that they are all crazy here tonight. Toad and Scorpion are as manic, irrational, and mercurial as maniacs get. Ammo and his three are sociopathic sadists. Snake does not especially have a conscience himself. Dr. Connors has a distinct dark side, and Mrs. Connors is nutty enough to stay with him. So, Scorpion objects to the torture? Of course he does. His hang-up fits.
"Well, what would you have happen now, Mac?" Snake asks.
The winds increase. With a fury, Scorpion springs the distance between parties. His boots land upon Elmo's thick neck—snapping it. The 300-pound thug drops to the dirt dead. In an instant, Scorpion whips his tail around and Snake Marston goes flying. He lands hard in the distance. The Enforcer is unlikely out. A master contortionist might somewhat roll with even Scorpion's wallop. Savage Scorpion turns toward the Wildboys. Jet produces a Saturday night special and fires futilely at Scorpion's body armor. Spit threatens impotently with his switchblade. The creature-man crashes into Jet while his tail skewers Spit. Gargan's right fist shatters Jet's sunglasses and fractures his face. Scorpion's left hand acts like a pincer crumpling Jet's gunhand, mangling both gun and hand. Simultaneously, Scorpion's tail pops forth its "stinger", and the ten-inch metal spike stabs into Spit's chest. Spit's mouth gushes blood. The tail takes the gasping, gurgling goon high into the air; then, it slams his carcass into distressed Jet. The Wildboys lie tamed.
"I ain't impressed," Ammo watches his gang's gruesome demise. He squares-up his shoulders and stares-down Scorpion.
"I ain't impressed that you ain't impressed," Scorpion strolls toward him, "What you got, tough guy?"
"I got this," soldier Ammo produces a grenade. He throws it.
Instantly, speedy Scorpion bats the bomb back. The armament explodes Ammo. Daredevil's old tormenter is blown to Hell. Gory gobbets patter the pavement. Martha Connors gasps. Toad guffaws, for Scorpion just smoothly turned Snake's men into splattered schmucks. It was funny.
"Beautiful," Toad declares, "I bet that you can make Dr. Connors here talk where those clowns couldn't."
"What do you even want him for?" p.i. Gargan investigates.
"To raise the Centipor!" blares Toad.
"Whatever the f**k that means," Scorpion prepares to battle the evil mutant. Magneto's man is a terror known throughout the civilized world and criminal underworld. Surely, Toad is not exactly a chump. The fearsome fighter focuses on his foe. So focused, Scorpion does not detect Snake Marston sprinting back toward him. Fortunately, Martha notices through the sunset shadows.
"Look out!" Mrs. Connors points.
"Look here, little lady!" Toad leaps toward her. Exhausted Mr. Connors collapses to the ground.
Charging Snake launches himself toward Scorpion. Scorpion's tail flicks, and it bounces the rubber man off the firmament. Scorpion raises his tail high in threat. Then his tail's electric blaster jolts the rubber man—who is not actually rubber. Then, Scoripion's stinger stabs Marston through the shoulder and lifts him toward the irritated Spider-rogue.
"Contort out of that," Gargan taunts.
Nearby, a sticky appendage hits Martha's breastbone beneath her blouse, and Toad's tongue yanks her fliply from her feet. Like a webline, it drags her quickly to him. The grotesque man grabs Martha by her sides and stands her upright. He returns his tongue to his mouth to speak. But, he does not address the woman.
Instead, Toad turns to skewered Snake suspended before Scorpion. "Hang in there. I can't help. I need to keep the Connors. We must raise the Cenitpor!" Marston moans.
Semi-conscious Curt struggles to his feet. He loves his wife, and he will defend her. The amputee swings at his adversary. Toad backhands him hard. The slimeball slaps Martha for good measure. He is in-charge. He grabs her by the waist, and he grabs him by the waist. A captive in each arm, the creature prepares to leap. Scorpion sees this. He flings Snake Marston from his spike.
Toad jumps. Scorpion launches too by coiling his terrible tail behind his bad ass. Savior Scorpion knocks beleaguered lady loose from the creep's arm. She screams plummeting. Like a champion, Scorpion catches her before she hits solid surface. She touches down nicely. MacDonald "Mac" Gargan should have played for the New York Smashers.
