As night falls on the city, the enforcers, wearing long trench coats, sit at the docks awaiting their guest. "It's five past ten, she ain't gonna show." Harrison says as he checks his watch.
"Shut it Harrison, she'll be here." Lavell replies. "We'll give her another ten minutes."
"Aw you guys waited for me? I didn't know you cared." Spider-woman says playfully as she hops down in front of them.
"Weren't going anywhere without you." Harrison replies.
"Yeah sorry, I like to be fashionably late, besides I brought you something." She tosses a familiar looking red mask to the thugs.
"Marston's gonna love this. We should probably get going, Marston and the Doc are waiting for us." The group walk over to the edge of the dock as Harrison reveals a motor boat which the three hop into. After the long, silent ride they arrive at the destination, an old rusted cargo ship anchored outside the harbor. Lavell maneuvers the small craft right next to the huge vessel ad shuts off the engine. Harrison reaches into his pocket and pulls out a small remote and presses the single button, after which a ladder descends from the side of the ship down to the motor boat.
"Ladies first." Lavell says to Spider-woman, gesturing to the ladder. She, however simply clings to the side of the ship and begins to make her way up. "That works too." He says as the two Enforcers make their way up as well.
As they reach the deck Harrison takes the lead. "Right this way." He leads the group down into the depths of the hold, into the dark dimly lit hallways seemingly devoid of life, with only faint sounds resonating in the distance. "And here we are." He announces after a few minutes. As they round the last corner, Spider-woman is struck with awe at what she sees, a fully functioning lab that, as far as she can tell is as large and sophisticated as the ESU laboratory.
"Welcome my dear, welcome. We've been expecting you." A voice says from behind a lab table. Spider-woman can see that this is the person she has been trying so hard to find, the Jackal.
She looks the scientist over. "You're the Jackal huh? You're not exactly what I pictured when I thought ominous evil scientist."
"Indeed." The scientist chuckles lightly. "I understand you insisted on meeting with me in person? Well if you'll come this way we can make the exchange." The doctor leads her to the lab table with a prepared syringe on top which he promptly picks up and turns to her. "I'm glad you decided to accept my offer. I hope my serum is serving you well?"
"Yeah it is!" Harrison says excitedly tossing the mask over to the doctor. "She took down Spider-man no problem."
"Impressive indeed." He says as he sticks the needle into her arm and extracts the blood sample. "I had hoped to test the subjects powers against the originals and it appears it exceeded my expectations." As he moves to put the sample into a cold storage unit his hand and the vile are webbed to the table. The group suddenly look up to see a very alive Spider-man.
"Well,well,well." The web-slinger says as he hangs from the ceiling. "Nice place you got here. Hard to find though, I had to take three speedboats, seventeen buoys, and a seagull to get here."
"Spider-man!" The two Enforcers shout. "You're supposed to be…"
"You'd think that, but no. We duped you." Spider-woman says mockingly.
Harrison points at the mask on the counter. Before he can say anything Spidey webs it back to him. "Yeah I kind of need that back, I've only got two."
"Always with the jokes huh Spidey?" A hissing voice comes from the shadows.
"Marston is that you." Spider-man says landing on the floor. "I knew someone was missing."
A second later the last Enforcer emerges with scaly brownish green skin and yellow eyes. "Yeah it's me kid. Had a feeling this might go south so I had the doc whip up another formula with snake genes. But that's not all. Harrison, Lavell now." Lavell pulls out his Eel mask and puts it on then unleashes a burst of energy that vaporizes his jacket, revealing the rest of his costume, while Harrison pulls off his coat to reveal a silver and blue armor covering his chest and arms, with six cylinders on each wrist.
"So Spidey, just curious was this part of the plan?" Spider-woman says nervously.
He looks over the now stiff opposition. "Sadly it is now."
Eel opens with an electric burst between the two heroes causing them to separate. Harrison charges at Spider-woman raising his left hand to deliver a powerful straight. The heroine manages to avoid the attack and his fist connects with the floor, causing a huge explosion which sends her tumbling into a wall. "How do you like that?" Harrison says as the smoke clears and the cylinders on his left arm rotate. "Each one of these babies carries an explosive charge to give my punches a little more kick."
"Punches a little more kick? Isn't that a double negative or something?" she says as she staggers to her feet.
As Spider-woman continues her fight with the newly powered boxer, her male counterpart isn't fairing much better against his opponent. As Spider-man tries to avoid Marston he finds that the criminal's augmented abilities put him on par with him. The web-slinger leaps onto the sealing only to have the scaly crook follow his exact movements, grab him by the legs and throw him to the floor. Eel then fires a concentrated shot directly at Spider-man knocking him into a lab table. As Marston approaches him Spidey fires two lines of web to his legs and attempts to pull. Marston, however, grabs the webs and pulls them from his body and instead begins to swing the wall-crawler by them and slams him into the wall. Eel fires yet another blast, hitting him directly as he screams in pain before passing out. "Not so fun when you're on the receiving end huh kid?" Marston chuckles as he hears another explosion behind him. He and Eel turn to see the other spider tossed across the room lying unconscious as well.
Harrison walks over to join the other two. "Well that didn't take long. Hey where's the doc? Must have panicked and took off. So should we find him?"
"No not just yet. There's still one issue that needs to be addressed." Eel says as he suddenly turns and blasts Harrison, immobilizing him.
"Lavell what are you doing?" Marston shouts just before being shot as well and falls flat on his back as Eel stand over him. "What is this?"
"I think it's called paralysis. Oh you mean blasting you both. Yeah that's called collecting a bounty. You see a while back before I joined the team I took a contract from the Manfredis. My mission was to infiltrate the team and in time get you two into their custody. Suffice it to say, this has been a long time coming."
Marston strains as he tries to move. "So how much are they paying you?"
"Let's see, nine times two, carry the eight, um, Montana's full bank account. That's right all the money the Enforcers ever made all for me. And with the others in prison and you and Harrison swimming with the fishes, no one can stop me from becoming New York's number one crime boss."
"And you think for a second Sable Manfredi is just going to stand down and let you do all this?"
Eel can't help but laugh. "Sable Manfredi? Please, she's a spoiled mafia princess. As soon as any real pressure is put on her she'll fold like a bad hand of cards in a poker game. And as soon as the mob's out of the way it'll be my time to shine as the new Big Man. No! Not the Big Man. Edward Lavell, the Kingpin of Crime!" As he finishes telling them his plan, Eel is struck in the chin by an uppercut from Marston which sends him staggering backwards.
"You done ranting yet?" Marston asks as he manages to stand up straight, with Harrison joining him. "Knew if I kept you talking long enough this would wear off."
"Yeah appreciate the consideration." Spider-man says standing behind Harrison and Marston with Spider-woman next to him.
"So what do you say we call a truce to take out this worm?" Spider-woman says with both the Enforcers giving a silent nod.
"The name is Eel! Remember it!" Eel begins firing, separating the group as they dash for cover. "You may have delayed my plans for the moment but I'm an unstoppable force. I've worked too hard to let the likes of you stand in my way." He continues to fire all over the room as the others try to come up with a plan.
Marston looks over the top of the crates he is hiding behind and gestures Harrison to move around to Eel's side. Spider-man jumps over the top of the table he is behind as Eel takes a shot at him, and joins Marston. "Web-head I need you and the girl to draw his fire while Harrison flanks him."
Spider-man peers over the crates to see the crazed criminal firing in all directions. "Yeah, that'll be easy." He says sarcastically as he motions to Spider-woman to go over the top. They simultaneously leap out and fire webs at Eel before leaping onto the ceiling.
"Bad move bugs." Eel says as he takes aim at the duo.
"So was that." Harrison says as he charges for the high powered thug. At the last moment Eel turns and throws a punch that connects with Harrison's, causing an explosion much bigger than the last. As the smoke clears Harrison is flat on his face, electricity coursing through his armor as he manages to pick himself up. Eel too rises, his suit badly damaged with several large gashes in it and the right half of the mask completely burned away. Before he can do anything further, Marston rushes in and delivers a knockout punch.
With their common enemy defeated, the Spiders land down next to the Enforcers and shank hands with the two. "Good work team." Spider-woman says as she shakes hands with Harrison.
The boxer himself smiles lightly as he thanks the two. "Truce off." He says quickly, still holding the hero's hand and uses his free hand to deliver a powerful punch to her gut, causing another explosion sending her flying across the room.
"No fair, no fair I call do overs." Spider-man says as Marston also tries to grab him. Spidey immediately jumps back up to the ceiling, with the serpent like mercenary close behind. Not a second after his feet touch the surface the web-slinger pushes himself back toward the floor and directly in Marston's path. "Your mother never warned you about the dangers of following strangers did she?" he says as he punches the thug square in the face sending him plummeting downward. As he hits the floor Spidey stands over him. As he turns to check on Spider-woman, Marston leaps up without warning and wraps his arms around Spider-man and begins constructing him like their first encounter, only this time the web-slinger notices it's a lot stronger.
"The good thing snakes have over humans is that they're all muscle." Marston says. "Something else they have is unhingable jaws." His lower jaw widens revealing a row of razor sharp teeth in his mouth, which he slowly fit over the hero's head.
Just then Spider-woman manages to shake off Harrison's last blow as she witnesses the horrific sight. "Spider-man!" she yells pointing her arm in their direction to fire a web shot, but instead of firing webs a green, mist-like energy fires from her hand, hitting Marston, who immediately releases his grip and falls to the floor.
"What. I can't move. What did you do to me!" Marston shouts as he strains his body in a vain attempt to move.
"Wish I knew." She then rushes over to Spidey as the energy fades from her hands, and helps him up. "You okay?"
"Now we just need to find Jackal and we can get out of here." He says as he hears rustling behind them. They turn to see Harrison standing, his armor filled with cracks and falling apart.
"You gotta get past me first." The boxer says, staggering toward them. "It's not over until ones left standing. So come on, show me what you've got." He lifts his arms and gets into form ready to continue. Spider-woman however, simply fires a web line to each of his gauntlets and crosses her arms causing the knuckles of his gloves to connect, causing an even larger explosion. The duo don't even wait for the cloud of smoke to clear before they continue searching, confident he is down for the count.
The two search the area until Spider-woman finds the scientist cowering under one of the lab stations on the far side of the room. "Look at what I found." She says as she drags him out over to Spider-man, taking back the vile of her blood. "I'll take this back. Now what about answering those questions of mine?"
"Sadly that agreement is now null and void." Jackal says as a small empty vile falls from his jacket. He easily knocks her to the ground as Spider-man leaps into the action, only to be effortlessly deflected by the masked scientist. "And you should now consider your life forfeit. And when I'm done I'll extract as much serum as I need from your lifeless husk." He lifts her in the air by her throat as she struggles in an increasingly futile effort.
Spidey fires two web lines to the Jackal's feet and yanks knocking him on his back, allowing Spider-woman to get free as she lays on her back holding her throat to catch her breathe. Jackal lunge toward Spiderman tackling him and pinning him to the ground by his neck as he raises his free hand, which now more resembles an animal's claws than a human's. "I had really hoped to study you but it appears you are more trouble than your worth." He says in a more bestial voice.
"The story of my life." He says as he sees one of Harrison's gauntlets on the ground, webs it and pulls it as hard as he can, sending it directly into the Jackal, causing another huge explosion that hits them both blasting them to opposite sides of the room. "Oh man gotta remember not to do that again." When Spidey gets up he looks around the room and sees a red and blue piece of cloth. Feeling his face he soon realizes it's his mask. When he reaches over to it he sees Spider-woman staring in shock at him. He quickly pulls it back on and slowly walks over to her. "I. uh maybe we should take care of this mess first."
Before Spider-woman can responds they hear groans coming from the other side of the room. The two make their way over to see Jackal crushed under a pile of debris. "It would seem you are more resourceful than I anticipated. It's a pity all the data will be lost." He lets out one last cough before his body falls limp. As the two heroes reach to help him his body turns to dust, leaving only his clothing and mask behind.
"That was unexpected to say the least." Spider-man says as red lights begin to flash and an alarm begins to sound throughout the ship.
"Security compromised. Ship detonation in five minutes." A voice says over the ship's intercom.
"Why are villains always such sore losers. Come on we better round up these guys and get out of here." As they retrieve the villains they notice Eel has mysteriously disappeared.
"I'll find him he couldn't have gotten far you take this and get the others back to the boat." Spider-woman says as she tosses the vile to him and swings through the hull.
"Wait there's no time." He shouts as he puts the vile in a pouch in one hand then throws the two enforcers over his shoulders. "Be careful Liz." He thinks to himself as he heads back to the boat, starts the engine and hesitantly leaves just before the ship explodes. By the time the police and fire department arrive they find only the burning ship and the two Enforcers left dangling from a light pole.
The following day Peter makes his way outside of Midtown High. "Liz wasn't in class all day. I searched for hours looking for her last night. I hope it doesn't mean what I think." He says as he heads to the side of the school to change. As he reaches into his bag his spider sense goes off and before he can react, however, he is pinned to the ground. As he looks up to see his attacker's identity, he is surprised by whom."
"Hey Petey." Liz says playfully perched on his chest. "I don't suppose you could spare a few minutes from you hero schedule to talk."
"Uh sure Liz, but could you..?" he says as Liz lifts off him. "So where do you want to start?" Peter takes her through his adventures from the spider bite, uncle Ben's death, all the way to his final fight with the Green Goblin.
"Wow, I had no idea you'd gone through so much. And I didn't make it any easier."
"It's alright Liz. Consider it water under the bridge. So did you ever catch Eel?"
"No, I searched as long as I could before it was time to leave. He probably didn't make it. After his plan failed he might be better off."
"Maybe, but what are you going to do now?"
"Well I still need to find the Jackal, the real one, and find out what he knows." She says as the two begin to walk. "And as long as I've got these powers I can still help you out, because by what you told me, you've got your hands full." She pulls out an issue of the Bugle with the headline: 'Sinister Spider Responsible for Freighter Fire'. "How do you put up working for Jameson?"
"It's an acquired taste. And don't worry about the blood sample I have it locked in cold storage."
"So I guess it's settled then, we're a team now. And I won't tell Mary Jane. She'll want to know all the details but I think I'll leave out one very important part."
"Thanks for all the help Liz. Just curious though, how'd you learn to make your own web shooters?"
She looks at him slightly confused. "Web shooters?"
"Wait you mean you make your own natural webs?"
"Yeah don't you?"
"Please tell me you are not getting back together." Sally Avril says coming up from behind the two.
"Come on Sally just because we're not dating anymore doesn't mean we can't hang out." Liz says attempting to calm the noisy blonde, who simply stomps off in frustration.
"How do you put up with that all the time?" Peter asks.
Liz turns to him with a smile. "It's an acquired taste."
The End
