Chapter Two
New York City. Every day people passed by what appeared to be a closed-down and abandoned Cost-Mart store in a less than favorable part of town. What most people did not know was that around back, behind the loading dock, was a secret tunnel that led down to a private underworld casino, run by Bill Church Junior. Known as "The Underground Church," the money that flowed through the casino on a nightly basis provided the financing for much of Intergang's criminal activities in the city.
Like most Saturday nights, Billy himself was right in the middle of the action, taking a long slow drag off a cigar as two gorgeous, scantily-clad blondes fawned over him, running delicate fingers through his hair and playing with his tie. He smiled to himself as he watched rich business tycoons, mob leaders, politicians, and strung-out junkies alike gambling their dollars away at craps, roulette, poker and blackjack in his casino. The most beautiful girls in the city danced topless in cages or on poles in every corner of the room, gyrating to the rhythm of the R&B music pumping through the place. Fine wine and delicious food were in abundance at the various buffet tables throughout the casino, and, if one were so inclined, any drug that you could wish to indulge in could be acquired rather easily by saying the right word to the right person.
"Looks like another night in paradise, Billy," came a voice from behind him. A short, stocky man with an impossibly flat cranium set a large metal case down on a vacant poker table beside Church.
Billy exhaled a slow stream of smoke. "Hello, Hammerhead," he replied, without turning around. "So glad you could make it." He casually looked up at the two blondes and gave an apologetic smile. "Ladies, if you could excuse me for just a few moments… and I do mean just a few?" The girls looked disappointedly at each other and sighed, then reluctantly left Mr. Church to his business associate.
The man known as Hammerhead watched the girls' posteriors as they walked off.
"Hate to see 'em go, but love to watch 'em leave, eh Hammerhead?" Billy said with a knowing smile.
Hammerhead looked sheepish. "Uh. Right." He patted the metal case. "I brought you a little something, as we discussed."
"I expected no less."
Hammerhead flipped open the clasps on either side of the case and flipped it open. Inside was a large and very serious looking firearm. "This is the BG-60. They call it the Toastmaster. It's a man-portable energy cannon… one hit reduces its target to a smoldering corpse."
Church ran his ringers along the smooth finish of the gun. "I've heard of them, but never seen one. It's gorgeous… Tell me though, Hammerhead. I'm curious as to why you'd bring this to me, and not to your current employer, Silvermane?"
Hammerhead scoffed. "Silvermane is yesterday's news. He's got one foot in the grave, and the other foot ain't far behind. Ever since Daredevil took down the Kingpin, Intergang's been the real power in this city, everyone knows that. I want to throw in with the winning team."
"You're a smart man, Hammerhead," Church replied, impressed. "A man of vision, not unlike myself. I like that. Care for a cigar?" he asked, offering Hammerhead a fresh Cuban from a case in his jacket pocket.
With a sudden "THWIP!", the cigar case was plucked from Church's hand by a thin strand of webbing.
"What the--?!" Church and Hammerhead spun around to see Spider-Man clinging to the ceiling above them.
"Now don't you know these things will kill you?" Spider-Man said, tauntingly waving the cigar case.
"Spider-Man!" Billy cried. "How'd you get in here?!"
"I didn't see anyone checking IDs at the door, chump!" Spidey quipped, leaping down from the ceiling and landing on a nearby table. "Heard this was the hottest ticket in town, thought I'd drop in and check it out!"
By now, the commotion had attracted the attention of much of the surrounding crowd. Dozens of mobsters and hoodlums whipped out their guns and trained them on Spider-Man's head.
"Hey now! Did I violate the dress code or something?" Spider-Man asked with a shrug.
"I'll violate you, you wall-crawling freak!" Hammerhead yelled, lowering his head and charging at Spider-Man. Spidey leapt from the table just as Hammerhead crashed into it, his metal-lined cranium smashing the table to splinters.
Shots rang out all across the casino, thugs opening fire on Spider-Man as he flew through the air. Spider-Man bounced off two more poker tables as he dodged the bullets with the calculated grace of a figure skater twirling through an Olympic routine. He kicked the guns out of two men's hands as he bounded over their heads, and a carefully aimed webline plucked a firearm from another. He landed on the stage next to one of the strippers, clinging to the pole that she was dancing from.
"Excuse me," he said, apologetically as the girl screamed and ran off stage.
More bullets tore through the air over his head as Spider-Man swung around the pole and leapt through the air again, kicking guns from as many thugs as he could manage as he passed by.
Billy Church reached for the BG-60. Spider-Man landed on the table in front of him and kicked the case shut. He grabbed Billy by the lapels of his suit jacket and hoisted him up. Spider-Man cocked his head to the side curiously as he finally got a good face-to-face look at Church.
"Say, don't I know you from someplace?" he asked.
"I get that a lot," Church replied casually. "I just have that kinda face."
"Sure ya do…" Spidey said. "Listen, Billy. Your club's a lot of fun and all, but I think you may be violating a few health codes here. What if there was an inspector around?"
Spider-Man's spider sense warned him of danger coming up from behind. He let go of Billy's jacket just in time to turn around and take the full brunt of a headbutt from Hammerhead, which sent him tumbling to the ground. The impact left Spider-Man dazed.
Hammerhead threw open the metal case and deftly hoisted the BG-60, aiming it at Spider-Man. "Suck on this, you freak!" he cried, pulling the trigger.
The sound of the energy cannon unleashing a blast of blue-hot electric energy was simultaneous with the sound of the metal elevator door being torn apart as a figure crashed through it at super speed. In the single instant that it took the weapon to fire, someone stood between the gun and the dazed Spider-Man, taking the full force of the lethal impact on himself. Flames erupted around the newly arrived figure, spiraling up and igniting nearby poker tables and roulette wheels in a blaze of fire.
Hammerhead lowered the weapon in amazement as the figure stepped forward out of the flames. The man gave Hammerhead a quick and powerful shove which sent him flying across the casino and into a wall. The BG-60 clattered to the ground.
Bill Church Jr., along with all the thugs who had moments ago been trying to kill Spider-Man, now ran panicked towards the casino exits as the fire quickly spread. The newly arrived figure stepped back through the flames and helped Spider-Man to his feet. The wall-crawler fanned away the smoke to see the face of his old friend, Clark Kent.
"Lucky I was in the neighborhood," Clark said with a smile.
"Yeah, yeah, showoff!" Spider-Man replied, sarcastic but grateful.
Several minutes later, the two heroes stood outside watching the old Cost-Mart building going up in flames from a few blocks away.
"Darn Cost-Mart stores," Spider-Man said, shaking his head. "They move into the neighborhood and look what happens."
"You know, when you asked me to come to the city to help you with this Intergang problem, I figured you'd wait until I actually got here to go busting up the place," Clark said.
"Hey,
I heard a big weapons deal was going down tonight,
Spider-Man
said. "I can't wait around forever for the Kansas farmboy to
find time to come out to the big city!"
Clark chuckled. Then, more seriously, he added, "You know, Intergang isn't the only reason I came into town…"
Spider-Man nodded solemnly. "Yeah… I know. Harry Osborn's trial starts tomorrow…"
Clark put a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Chloe's coming into town, too. She'll be here in the morning. We'd like to come, to show our support."
Beneath his mask, Spider-Man smiled. "Thanks, buddy. That means a lot."
The two heroes stood silently and watched the flames burn up the rest of the old store, and the illegal casino beneath it. They stayed until the sounds of sirens finally crept into the crisp air, and then they vanished, disappearing into the night once more.