(AN: Hey guys, apologies that this took a little longer to get up than I had hoped, few things got in the way of regular updates, but thanks for the many awesome reviews so far As promised, the Assassins finally get revealed – it's been fun to see some of the numerous guesses in the reviews and I was pleased to see several were on the ball. As the Assassin sequences got a little extended I'm splitting the chapter into two so I have the first three here and the remaining four in the other half, which will be up in a day or two whilst I finalise those. When that's up you be able to read my reasoning's for each one. Enjoy!)

Chapter 4: The Assassins (Part 1)

"Hello citizens of New York, this is the voice of the people speaking. This is Jack. I'm sorry for interrupting your pleasant evening of Christmas tunes and consumerist garbage but I need you to listen to me. Your city is a prison and your police forces are your wardens and, after what's happened on Ryker's this evening, I don't especially think we need to concern ourselves with whether there's enough monsters out on your streets. Let me state that you are not safe, especially since the NYPD is corrupted to its core. You think the Mayor and Captain Stacy really have your interests at heart, you think their hands aren't stained with blood!? That they really concern themselves with whatever been killing defenceless women in the sewers or investigating what REALLY happened to Doctor Morbius? You think that men like Wilson Fisk and Mr Silvermane don't click their fingers and they stand to attention!? Trust me, fellow citizens, I know what it is that you want, what you need. But to get there, we're going to need to have a trial by fire. So that's why since Halloween I'm been working for you, and after all those dark nights, I'm finally ready to assist you in the purging of the guilty.

You'll be hearing from me again very soon, citizens, but for now, this is the voice of the people, the voice of the Jack O'Lantern... signing off."

The first thing Peter was aware of when he arrived both very cold and weary back at Doctor Connor's lab was the addition of a familiar blonde haired girl sitting by the flickering television sets with the others and wearing umpteen layers of clothes – Captain Stacy's daughter and his long-time school friend alongside MJ and Harry, Gwen. He gave her a grateful smile as he slipped off his soggy mask, to which she beamed and pulled him in a momentary hug and kiss on the cheek.

"God you are frozen, Peter, I can believe you managed to web swing about on a night like this!"

"Well the day someone invents thermal Spidey outfits I will be first in line, no matter how much Spider Woman tries to shove in. How are you, did your father call you? Is everything alright at Ryker's?"

"I got a quick call about ten minutes ago, just said he'd be 'busy all night', especially with the criminals who got loose. I told him I was gonna secure myself up here about Doctor Connors so he knows I'll be ok. If I think I can risk it later I might try and head to the NYPD building, check on Carlie and Dad when things have quietened down. Heck of a Christmas huh?"

MJ took the opportunity along with Connors to approach him as the red head spoke up. "So was everything cleared up, Tiger? I don't suppose there's any Christmas Dinner to warm up around here, unless it happens to be scaly, rodent'y or... I dunno, be a delicacy in South America or something..."

Peter shook his head. "Doesn't look that way, in fact I'm pretty certain it's gonna be a long night, guys. I... just had a guy in a Rhino suit tell me that Mr Negative has hired assassins to kill me."

Gwen and MJ simply blinked a few times, whilst Curt raised a single eyebrow.

"Assassins?! As in more than one?!"

"Looks that way."

"Andddd you got all this from a guy dressed like a Rhino." MJ looked to be attempting to suppress a sort of smirk, despite her evident worry.

"A guy called the Rhino. He was tough! And he's behind bars now. Don't know why you think that's weird, you thought the Puma sounded dorky before you met him, right? And the Grizzy-"

"Ok, Puma I might give you but I was in no way truly scared of a grown man who dressed up like a bear."

"A really deadly-"

"A bear, tiger. B.E.A.R."

Peter just sighed and moved over to one of the Doctor's computer consoles, slipping the recovered hard drive from out of a hidden and thankfully still dry pocket. "Anywayyyyyyy... Fortunately for me I found this hard drive left from a damaged aerial drone which was tracking both me and the riot. I don't think it belongs to Mr Negative but I'm pretty certain the drone has some interesting intel on it for those, if we can unscramble the damage via Doctor Connors' computers..."

He typed in a few keys and after a few moments the screen blared to life with scores of data. Thirty seconds in a video feed shot into life and showed a view through the upper window of some unknown locale, the date and time showing this had been approximately nineteen hours ago on the previous evening. Some mild flickering was present, but the four of them were still able to make out half a dozen Inner Demons, and standing by the table...

"Is that Mr Negative? What's he doing?" Gwen leaned in for a better view. Then an audio feed cut in and they could hear the crime boss' words as he handled a set of enveloped folders to a selection of his cronies.

"Each of them gets one of these envelopes, and I want them delivered – tonight!" There was no mistaking the seriousness of the order in the tone, but even so the Inner Demons quickly took a file each and scampered from the room. As Mr Negative moved to one side, the four of them could view a computer monitor with eight bios flashing up, eight men and women apparently deadly enough to be capable of taking on the Spider-Man. And with the cash settlement of Fifty Million Dollars on display, it was clear that the crime boss was taking Peter's past interference in his schemes very seriously.

The camera focused on the eight profiles and the names flashed onto the screen, dissolving into full visual display.

Aleksei Sytsevich. RHINO.

Maxwell Dillon. ELECTRO.

Adrian Toomes. VULTURE.

Zelda Dubois. PYTHON.

Lester (UNKNOWN). BULLSEYE.

Herman Schultz. SHOCKER.

Elektra Natchios. ELEKTRA.

Sergei Kravinoff. KRAVEN THE HUNTER.

"They're all dangerous super criminals for hire, some of the best in the business. A few I've tangled with before, or at least know by reputation." Peter felt his Spider Sense twitch nervously as he glanced at each of the others in turn, fearful expressions on their faces. "Mr Negative sure as heck isn't messing about."

Maxwell Dillon, aka Electro. Former Electrical Engineer based at OSCORP turned Super Criminal via a freak accident. Has a fixation with power and money. Has hired himself to several criminal organisations. Known to have a serious hate complex against Spider-Man.

The Spider. It always comes back to that freaking Spider-Man, doesn't it? Ever since the accident he's been making my life a living hell. I supposed to be the one they should learn to fear, but thanks to his irk I'm a damn laugh a minute sometimes. But no, Maxwell is sure as hell not a no body anymore. I was the best in the business up at old OSCORP, but did they recognise that? No!

And then I got a taste of power. Real power. Power which meant I could get beyond those petty little cash schemes on the side and work on hitting the big time. Banks, armoured cars, the securest facilities. What the heck you gonna do when all you stupid idiots rely on electricity so damn much?

I can feel the energy coursing through me as I walk through the building, the juice of the various fuses and sockets calling to me whenever I need the right boost. What most of those fools forget is all the time I'm learning new ways to cause them pain. That blackout a month back? Me. Electro. And it's going to be me who takes out all the freaking idiots in my-

Wait. I get a sense of something out of synch. There's a source of power I didn't know about before and it's close by. Kind of a surprise.

Don't like suprises. They tend to mean trouble. I charge some energy into my fingers and light the room up enough so I can see...

"Woah!" Yeah I don't think the guy was expecting me. Or if he was, not this soon. Some sort of goon in a fancy Asian mask, feel like I should know what that means. He's trying to look collected now, but I can just about get the electric impulses in a person and I'm pretty sure this guy's less confident than he likes to make face with.

Inner Demon. Negative's guys. I remember now, intel briefings I half listened to with Boss Fisk back when I was getting paid proper dough. I've fried a fair few of these guys before, no wonder he's on edge. Still I figure to see what he's here for. Can always fry him too if I need to.

"Mr Dillon, my employer has a... proposal for you. A chance to make a lot of money, yes?"

Oh that gets my attention. "You got some kind of job for me right?"

"More of an assigned assassination. Mr Negative informs me that your methods might be more direct than most but that is not considered a handicap here." Then with some wariness he hands me a file, some node attached which was giving off the energy. I see the cash price first. Fifty Million Dollars.

Then the name.

I'm pretty sure the goon can see my face curl into a snarl, even in the darkness, then a smirk.

It's the Spider-Man. Always the Spider-Man.

And now I get another chance to kill him. And get paid for it.

Hell. Yes.

Only one problem. I know for sure I ain't gonna be the only one to try.

Just gotta get there first.

Adrian Toomes, aka The Vulture. Senior Criminal with a long rap sheet. Highly intellectual but with a vindictive streak. Has developed aerodynamic wings allowing for long distance flight, speed and manoeuvrability which defies his age.

Atop the spires of Saint Patrick's Cathedral, Adrian Toomes was busy mixing business with pleasure.

"Oh god Toomes, please don't kill me!" Rainero Drago had seemed such a tough customer last time Toomes had been imprisoned at Ryker's, and the elderly technician turned master aerial criminal had recognised pretty quickly that the apparent tailing and interest in his work in the occasion workshop visits had been Drago attempting to steal his technology from under his nose.

"You underestimated me, boy, as so many do. And then have the gall to break into one of my hideaways and take my tech for your own end because you're so certain that little 'accident' you arranged was going to prove terminal, yes? Perhaps you should have taken a better opportunity to keep tabs on my recovery."

"Please Adrian, I swear I wasn't gonna-"

"But you were, you little vermin. And then of course I was suitably recovered and indisposed that when the breakout occurred, it was a simple matter to escape amid the chaos and start my return to the city by finding you tiresome back stabber. You think those innocent enquiries on where you lived were just that? I got my gear back, Blackie. And from that, it means you really don't matter to me anymore."

"No,nonononoohgoplease don't drop me." The older man had one armoured fist wrung around the younger man's foot as he hung in mid air, his armour allowing him exceptional strength for all his senior years.

"Do you know much about birds, Blackie? For a person who wanted to be the new Vulture I would imagine not, it was all dollar signs and easy fixes and a blonde buxxon on either arm for you, wasn't it? Well there are several birds which live in the mountains of Africa, eagles mostly, which have a wonderful way of extracting marrow from tough bones, which if you know anything about meat is one of the tastier parts of any aspiring corpse. You know what it is they do? They fly up to a nice high height, get just the right angle and then... well. Gravity does the rest. That and hard rock."

He glanced up from his rhetoric, aware of the lack of squealing and fear. Drago appeared to have fainted. Snorting in disgust, the Vulture was about to drop him when he heard a polite cough.

A man wearing a demon mask and an expensive suit was there, holding what appeared to some a file of some sort, shielding it with one arm against the snow. "Mr Toomes? My employer has a business proposal for you."

The Vulture stared at him, then Drago, then back again. With a flick of his free wrist the wings of his suit expanded

"Well if you could just remain where you are for five minutes, young man. I have unfinished business to drop off."

Zelda Dubois, aka Python. Former Member of the Circus of Crime, now a freelancer. Skilled seducer, martial artist and poison expert. Displays an apparent mental control over her 'pet', a twenty five foot rock python from Saharan Africa.

From her position in the interrogation room, Ms Dubois didn't especially seem that intimidating, even if the other guards hadn't managed to extract those gloved claws of hers. With her long flowing blonde hair, beautiful exotic features and southern state mannerisms, one wouldn't think that here was a woman who'd started a fairly lengthy career of criminal antics inside the confines of a circus tent. Yet the Circus of Crime was quite the dangerous organisation despite its seemingly loopy 'acts', led by the hypnotic stares of the man known as the Ringmaster.

Zelda was one of his greatest accomplishments, but she'd quickly outgrown her roots and soon took to working in strictly solo acts, save perhaps the one weapon she possessed which made men pause. But right now she was doing her best Streetcar Named Desire Meets Basic Instinct Act. And the officer was lapping it up nicely.

"Ms Dubois. Formerly Princess Python of the Circus of Crime."

"My reputation precedes me." She flashed him a charmed smile, though irritatingly he didn't rise to it. "But my Snow White days are long gone, it's just Python now, girl solo. I believe you have something I want." That at least got his attention as the officer blinked in surprise.

"I think that's the sort of thing we should be asking of you, Ms Dubois. You're implicated in well over fifty criminal charges. Theft, blackmail, seduction and murder in all manner of degrees."

Zelda pursed her lips thoughtfully. "I would imagine that's true. I can be especially persuading in all manner of degrees. But as I said, you have something here I want. A file, apparently having my name on it.

"Yes, Captain Stacy's seen it. Quite the sudden move by your would be employer for one meta human."

"I wouldn't know everything until I have the file, though the rumours are certainly enough."

"Listen to me, Ms Dubois. You're handcuffed, in a police station with over a hundred men and women stationed, even tonight. There's half a dozen in the next room alone. So don't for a damn moment think you can just... the hell?" The irate officer had been rummaging through his paper when a file slipped from it onto the desk. "That's... how the heck this get out of the evidence lock up?!"

"By someone professional." Zelda flexed slightly before smirking. "Inner Demons in your police station, tsk tsk. Or just maybe your fellows aren't as clean as you think. Doesn't matter to me either way." There was the sound of something knocking up against the nearby air vent, but the officer was too busy to notice.

"You think you're just going to take that file and walk out of here."

"Yes. Did they tell you how many times I've escaped custody before?"

"Fourteen escapes, right? Well you won't be getting out of-what the?!" The vent hatch crashed to the ground as the officer looked up in alarm. Zelda simply straightened, putting the cuffs she'd extracted off herself onto the table, but the officer was a little too preoccupied with what was slithering into the interview room to pay her much heed.

"Why yes, I'm sure you weren't expecting my little sweetie to pop in, were you? I think he tends to miss me when I gone, and certainly when I've been a particularly bad girl he likes to pitch in and bail a damsel in need out. Though I'm sure getting through all those dreadful vents of your station hasn't helped sate his... hunger."

"No! No, get away! AGH! OH GOD, HELP ME!"

"I doubt they can hear you, sweetie. Ms Python had a little something cooked up earlier when I came in here. All your fine boys were too keen to lay their hands on me, after all. Your friends on the other side of the glass are a little under the weather. But I think what they went through – and to be sure it was painful – is nothing to what you're gonna experience."

Zelda smiled quite calmly as the serpent loomed over the terrified form of her former jailer, opened its maw wide and took its beloved mistress' gift happily whilst she put her feet up on the desk and started to peruse the file on Spider-Man.

This would be an interesting challenge.