Hammerhead looked down at the destruction and fear within New York with barely contained glee. If anything, he wanted to be down there, in the chaos, with the violence, the blood, the bodies and the bullets. He yearned to cut loose on everyone in sight, but he knew that Kingpin wouldn't like that. Stepping back from the window, he quickly glanced at his boss, who was sat at his desk, his face showing nothing.

Behind the cold, calculating eyes Kingpin was content. He had helped the Mandarin enter the city purely due to the carnage he knew it would bring, and although he was now dead, the fact Kingpin could contact such a person would remind the common criminal of whom they should fear.

On top of this he had used his relatively few contacts to pull off some major heists during this time, taking advantage of the police and Avengers' focus on the Mandarin's soldiers to get away with minimal resistance. He had likely obtained about 30 million dollars personally, with the rest of that money spreading around the criminal underworld. There was a slight problem, as it was likely Shocker would be satisfied with his cut and would ditch town, however losing one person for the heist of the century was acceptable.

He reached for a cup of herbal tea, taking a sip of the warm liquid and smiling as he took a deep breath, soothing his mind. He understood that the children were still alive, the Tinkerer had told him as much in a brief phone call; however that no longer upset him. A few brats couldn't screw him over anymore.

To his annoyance his secretary's voice began to echo from his phone. "Call on line 1." She announced, which forced him to turn on his Bluetooth headset.

"Who is it now?" Kingpin asked, frustrated that he could no longer bask in the glory of his success.

"Mr Scarlotti." The secretary said simply. Kingpin frowned at this. The flamboyant idiot had been impossible to contact during the whole thing, and now it was over he was trying to speak to him. Kingpin thought to himself that if the lazy bastard asked for a cut of the heist profit he would ensure he ended up face down in the river.

He pressed the button and put on a jovial tone "Whiplash, my friend, how have you been?"

"Did you really think sending out the Mandarin was a smart idea?" A voice with a slight Italian accent inquired.

"Whiplash, are you questioning my actions?" Kingpin said, a frown forming.

"You hired an infamous terrorist to blow up our city, of course I would question those actions." Whiplash replied, sounding incredibly relaxed.

"I did not 'hire' the Mandarin. He wanted a way into the city, and I complied. And before you ask about his weapons, the same thing applies there too. We need to make money somehow." Kingpin explained.

"It wasn't about the money; you used him to scare us into submission." Whiplash spat on the other end. "That's no better than the Hood's use of Mysterio!"

"Now listen here!" Kingpin yelled, standing from his chair and walking from his desk, livid to be compared to his greatest competitor. "I can do whatever the hell I like, people weren't listening and I had to remind them to do so. I can't understand why you are so upset, after all you were one of the reasons I had to take action. This is all thanks to your damned insubordination."

Whiplash burst into laughter at this. "My god, can you hear yourself right now?" He chuckled, "You really have no idea how screwed you are right now."

"What are you talking about?" Kingpin spat, "I have reminded the city who is in charge."

"You scared off half the people that worked for you, and have turned the over half against you. They work under you in fear like we did for the Hood!" Whiplash growled.

"I do not need this from you!"

"No, you do need to hear this." Whiplash said, grinning on the other end of the line "You see, although we're crooks and criminals, and have no qualms with breaking the law, most of us are still Americans. We take issue with you bringing in an invading force. In fact, many of us have decided we no longer want to work with you. I hope you enjoy that money Shocker gave you. It'll be the last time you ever see such a sum again." There was a whispering from behind and Whiplash burst out in laughter, repeating what he had just been asked "And just out of curiosity, what would Director Fury do if he found out Wilson Fisk was Kingpin?"

"You wouldn't dare." Kingpin whispered, malice leaking from every word, however there was no reply, with that Whiplash had hung up. Kingpin stared at his phone for a moment, walking from his position near his decanter back over to it. He carefully picked up the receiver, held it to his ear to double check the line was dead, then began to smash it down again and again, picking up his desk and throwing it against the wall.

Hammerhead, who had been listening in on the conversation, ran over to calm him down but found himself being pulled from the floor by Kingpin's powerful arms. Despite the man appearing to be overweight, he was highly muscular and at the peak of physical strength, meaning that Hammerhead had no hope of breaking free.

"B-boss" Hammerhead wheezed, struggling to pull the arms from around his neck "We can call the Tinkerer, he'll sort this out!"

Kingpin released his right hand man and walked out of his office yelling at his secretary "Trace the call and put the Tinkerer on the phone!" He was going to find the bastard and deliver him straight to Jigsaw.

From across the city Whiplash sighed, he had begun his plan, now he had to hope that S.H.E.I.L.D. would play along.


Captain America lunged at the soldier, shield in hand, and struck him in the chin, knocking him out. He landed next to another and leaned back, dodging the bullets, before taking him out with a well-placed uppercut.

As the soldier landed applause cheered out from behind him, and he turned to see a crowd had formed. "Please move along!" Rodgers yelled, and found himself being ignored as per usual. People crowded to danger once it had been dealt with and confined.

"Captain America, Captain America!" One man shouted, holding a tape recorder "is it true the Mandarin was killed?"

He stood for a second, pondering his position, before answering, "I am not at liberty to discuss these matters, I'm sorry." There was a small groan, and looks of fear from the crowd, so he decided to add "However I can confirm he has been neutralised, and at this moment the Avengers are currently assisting the NYPD in clearing out his army."

As he began to turn to leave a different, droll voice spoke up "Then could you perhaps talk about the impact this event has had on the Superhuman community?"

Captain America recognised this voice, "Senator Kelly? What are you doing here?"

"Nothing that demands that suspicious look Captain, I assure you." He answered dryly. "I was at a press conference."

"A hate conference!" Someone yelled, causing the man to sigh. He looked over to the journalist, who had lowered his recorder, and said "I'm currently asking questions to the captain about the state of the city, wouldn't that be useful for your paper?"

"I'm actually a blogger." The journalist explained sheepishly.

"I'll be sure to follow you then." He muttered, looking back at the Captain, "Well?"

"This will have no effect on any Super humans." Captain America replied.

"However if I correctly understand, one of the Mandarin's main weapons were the super humans that he referred to as his 'generals'" The Senator observed.

"Yes, but a few extremists cannot affect an entire group's integrity." Captain America said. Hoping the questioning was over he tried to turn around, however the senator continued to speak.

"Even if they were made purely for causing this destruction?"

He span around at this, looking at Kelly in shock "How did you know that?"

"Educated guess, but thank you for verifying it in front of all these people. So just to confirm, the Mandarin was creating an army of super humans to attack us. Almost as though they were weapons, not people." Kelly smiled.

"And they were stopped by super heroes." Captain America pressed.

"Yes, supers needed to stop supers, as is usually the case." Kelly smiled in reply.

"What are you implying?" Captain America asked, raising his voice.

"Just that we are awfully reliant on the Avengers." Kelly replied, "May I also inquire something else, how did these soldiers obtain their powers?"

"No comment."

"I mean the Mandarin likely needed samples to be able to duplicate them." Kelly continued.

"No comment."

"Hmm, I guess that is all I will get from you. So just to summarize, super humans are now part of an arms race. With terrorists now making their own it is likely that the world powers will try to follow, I can very well see a warlord using this to make his troops stronger. Innocents will be forced through painful procedures to make super soldiers, kind of like you captain."

"Now we were lucky today, as if not for the Avengers these human weapons would have destroyed everything here. However that also means the only thing stopping them are other super humans. Additionally from what we saw of your fight with those monsters, sometimes only one is enough to change the tide of battle. Perhaps if we had greater knowledge of available super heroes we could send them out to assist you."

"Kelly, stop this now." Captain America urged.

"Fine, but I don't know if you noticed that some super humans were taking advantage of the chaos to get a hold of money or commit acts of violence, because after all, the only thing that can stop a super human is a super human. I understand that approximately 15 banks and 40 stores were robbed by one group alone today, obtaining over 100 million dollars who someone has to pay for, this is on top of the billions in damage caused by super humans, crippling New York's economy. You could really call this a super human war."

"And your act will help this?" Someone asked, and Captain America was concerned to see that this person was not jeering the senator, but honestly asking the question.

"Yes. Yes it will. The Super Human Registration Act would cause any super humans to register, and only use their powers when deemed acceptable. This means that the police could legally have cops with super powers, who could better protect the civilians against threats to their health and safety. If the Mandarin was to attack again, if he is alive that is, he would find a city better able to adapt to him, and not reliant on the Avengers to save us. Additionally any super humans participating in criminal activity will be sent to a secure containment facility to properly contain them, after all we all know that at the moment they go to a jail they can break out of in a day. With this system using super powers for criminal activity will be riskier, and much less favoured."

"So you still plan to use the super humans?" The journalist asked.

"Of course, we will just be making sure they're not a risk to the common people. Think of it as ensuring that we don't give out weapons to the less stable individuals or those with criminal records." Kelly explained, "And It does help them, as it also means they can use their powers in jobs, giving them good employment opportunities and decreasing vigilantism. As an employed member of society, you can expect greater responsibility for their actions, but also greater security for them."

There was a murmur of almost acceptance. Kelly had found a way to turn super humans into bad guys, while not saying they weren't people, and to this crowd that had just seen so much destruction by super humans, this seemed logical.

"Look, I know what Kelly is saying sounds fair, but you're talking about restricting people's rights for fear of what a few people can do. Look, the Avengers will always be there to protect you." Captain America quickly cut in.

"But what if the Avengers were the problem. Do you know about the lives or even the secret identities of every single member of your team?" Kelly inquired, to which Captain America answered with silence. "Giving guns to the mentally unstable, remember. All you need is one. With the registration act, only the most stable heroes would be in the Avengers. Additionally they would be more widely recognised, meaning we would have fewer Judas Travellers."

With that Kelly smiled grimly, noticing just how positive the reception he was getting was, and decided to leave one final comment "And on an unrelated note, Captain, when were you officially discharged from the army? That has always interested me."

Kelly watched Captain America's face change to one of concern with barely contained glee, then once he felt the time was right, walked away from the crowd, leaving the question on everybody's minds.

In the next few days, thanks to a push by Kelly's political connections, the journalist published his story in a number of major newspapers and it became the most viewed story that day. Within a week the question had begun to trend around the internet, alongside the act that pushed it.

The Super Human Registration act was finally gaining steam.


Agent Hand was upset that she had to return to the base after her previous visit earlier that day, risking blowing her cover and preventing her from berating Fury to those in charge, however she was told it was urgent.

Walking through the cold, beige halls she came to the labs and walked in "What is it Miles?" Hand asked, walking past a body on operating table. She stopped a second later and looked back. "Is that Sasha Hammer?"

"Correct."

She stared at the body, which seemed eerily pale, with an odd blue tinge throughout thanks to the internal electronics. She looked at the wires and tubes connected to her, then to a box that one of the wires came from. "And that machine connected up to her… Is it showing a heartbeat?"

"Right you are." The doctor smiled.

"Fascinating." She said, walking over, pressing her fingers to the girl's neck, feeling nothing. "But the agents checked her pulse."

"Yes, well we noticed some metal plating on the inside of neck that would mask it. When the Mandarin attacked her he simply pulled out her power source. Inside her body is an extensive life support machine which the arc reactor powered, but she could still survive for a time without it, if barely. We have now got it set up to an alternative source. Lower output but she'll live." The doctor continued.

"I guess you destroyed the quinjet carrying her." Hand asked a mercenary standing next to her, who nodded curtly. "I'll have to come up with an excuse for that. Perhaps a remaining Hydra branch or something."

She walked around a bit more, checking the systems monitoring the girl's health, before talking once more. "This was worth calling me for, good call Miles. Make sure Madame Web is called in to erase her memories, we'll insert some new ones in her later." Hand ordered, looking over the small group. "And ensure that when you fix her up she doesn't get an arc reactor, I want her to be strong enough to use, but not so strong that she'll threaten our plans."

As the group began to move around to accommodate her wishes she smiled faintly, things seemed to be improving for her all the time, more weapons was always useful, but so was having the attack right under Fury's nose. If this didn't get him demoted, it would sure as hell screw him over for the next time.

Now she just had to hope that Kelly would be able to use the events to his needs, but he was a smart man, and the people were in a state of shock. It would be easy for him. Once the Super Human Registration act was passed nothing would be able to stop her plans.


Kraven limped into his apartment, a broken down room that Kingpin had provided, bolting the door shut behind him. He slumped down, clutching at his wrist and stumbled over to the fridge, pulling out an ice pack and cooling the swelling then using the bulb inside as a light to look around the room, his only lamp being busted. He was furious, White Tiger had embarrassed and humiliated him. It was like she didn't even consider him a threat anymore, fighting him off like he was nothing.

He noticed that his phone had a message and he walked over, checking it. "Dammit, he called." Kraven muttered to himself, picking up the phone and dialling the Tinkerer. "What do you want?!" He snapped over the phone.

"Kraven, my friend, I was so disappointed to hear about your performance. The Kingpin equally so. We gave you the best chance to kill those children and you somehow messed it up." The man replied sadly. "Hell, you had a bunch right at your grasp, and yet you just used Spider-man as a hostage."

"The hunt is only worthwhile when they are at their best." Kravin replied simply.

"The hunt?" The Tinkerer repeated, pausing for a moment to compose himself "Look buddy, Your job was to kill, not to hunt. I guess I can help you once more to 'Kill' those heroes, but if you fail again Kingpin has told me he will ensure that you are pushed through a meat blender and your remains fed to the animals at the zoo, do you understand?"

"You do not scare me." Kraven replied simply, noting that the man did not have the same charisma over the phone as in person.

Silence answered him on the other end, then after a minute there was a simple reply. "Good bye Kraven, enjoy your hunts. The Kingpin will no longer assist in them, and I shall ensure that neither shall Doctor Octopus."

With that the line was dropped and Kraven threw the phone down, letting it clang against the table. He didn't need any help, he was Kraven the Hunter! He would win eventually, even if it meant fighting until his last breath.

It was at this moment he noticed a breeze on the back of his neck, causing him to turn around. He spotted the source after a moment of scanning the room, seeing that his window was ajar, which caused him great confusion, as he would only open it during the day when he was most alert. After staring at it for a second he wondered over, glancing outside before pulling it closed.

Upon turning back around he saw two figures in his room. He quickly grasped at the knife on his belt, but a blade of light hit him in the chest and he fell into a lapse of insanity, his mind unable to comprehend what was going on. When he eventually regained coherence, he saw that he had been tied up.

"Have you ever known anyone to keep so much rope? I wonder what he uses it for." A bubbly voice asked, causing Kraven to squint in the darkness, recognising the shape of the owner's body.

"You're that hero White Tiger was with…" He muttered in confusion, looking over to see a cloaked figure behind him.

"Oh, you're awake, good." Dagger smiled, hoping over.

"Dammit, how did you catch me?" Kraven asked.

"Cloak put a tracking device on you while you were in the smoke. He's quite resourceful despite his quietness." Dagger continued to explain.

"So you're taking me back to the Tricarrier then… You know I'll find a way out." Kraven grinned.

"Yep, which is why we're just going to kill you." Dagger beamed, causing a chill to run down Kraven's back.

"You can't possibly mean to-" Kraven spluttered.

"Why not?" Cloak asked, looming over him "You won't be the first life we have taken."

"Nor the last." Dagger finished.

"Impossible, Fury would never let you be in that team if you were murderers yourselves!" Kraven yelled out.

"Ugh, don't talk to us about Fury. That asshole found us killing a Roxxon executive and gave us a choice, join the team or go to jail. I think he hopes they'll have a positive influence on us." Dagger complained in an uncharacteristically serious voice. "I mean we like the guys, but frankly we don't see the point in keeping dangerous monsters like you around."

"It is because we like them we are doing this." Cloak added, "White Tiger told us about what you did to her father when we got back to the Tricarrier, and how you are obsessed with killing her and Spider-man."

"Because of that, the two of us concluded that someone like you doesn't need to be around anymore." Dagger added, "For our friend's sake."

Kraven stared at the two, realising just how bad of a situation he was in. Desperately looking for a way out he shouted "If you kill me there will be evidence, Fury will imprison you for this. Wouldn't your friends rather you stay free?"

"Oh, we know what would happen if there was evidence. So we just won't leave a scrap of you behind." Dagger smiled, "Well, maybe a leg in Utah or something."

With that she grabbed him, pulling the man up and dragging him over to Cloak, who opened up a portal within the shadows of his cloak.

"No, no, stop this!" Kraven yelled out, squirming to break free of his bindings. "I'll leave, you'll never see me again! I'll give up on White Tiger, on Spider-man, just let me go!"

"I doubt White Tiger's father begged like this. How pathetic." Dagger frowned, pushing him at Cloak, who began to pull him into his shadow dimension.

"Please, please!" Kraven sobbed, "Not like this, at least let me die on a hunt. Let me finish my hunt!" With that Kraven was gone, pulled through the fabric to another domain.

Cloak looked down at the knife and asked "Should we give him that?"

"What, false hope? That would be cruel." Dagger smiled, kicking it under the bed. "Well that's him finished with; White Tiger should be safer now." She looked down at her wrist, checking her watch "Let's head back to the Tricarrier. I really wanted to see how Jonny was feeling. He looked a little pale." Cloak nodded at this, teleporting the both of them back to his room.

In the empty apartment the fridge door remained open, illuminating the darkness slightly. If one was to squint they could have seen the telephone dropped onto the desk, or his collection of weapons, but not the knife beneath the bed, acting almost as a gravestone for Kraven the hunter.

An hour later door began to be kicked in, and in a matter of seconds the Tinkerer and two of his body guards arrived. "Looks like he had the intelligence to run away." The man muttered, looking down at a pink haired girl to his left, "Check the area for clues to his whereabouts. I need to correct his personality." The girl nodded at that, walking onwards.

Nobody spoke to him like that, not even Hammerhead. Kingpin controlled this city and he controlled Kingpin, hell, he controlled a lot of people, and he wasn't about to let some idiot in a leopard skin work here without learning to give him some respect.

###########################

That was fun to write, :). Seriously though, Kelly getting a win and Kingpin getting knocked down a peg was one of my favorite moments so far to write, and I'm looking forwards to expanding on that as the series goes on.

So to summarize: Kraven is dead, and things are looking bad for Kingpin, but conversely, we have Hand and Kelly getting the upper hand. Also as you can now tell, Cloak and Dagger aren't as nice as the rest of their team. I tried to foreshadow this early on, but I did worry this might come out of left field. In case your wondering, Cloak's reaction to Sasha Hammer's fear was due to his lack of experience with people who had come back out, her fear of him really shook him up, as he is still a person and doesn't exactly consider himself a murderer. Additionally if you're concerned that the sudden death of Kraven is a bit of a disappointing conclusion for that aspect of White Tiger's story, don't worry, there is more to tell here.

Also Sasha Hammer is not actually dead, however she's not in the best state ever. As with a number of characters I have introduced thus far, she will have a role in a later act, and to answer Latinoheat's question, there are 3-4 planned, act 1 being about 11 full chapters, act 2 being around the same, then the last two acts probably being about 5 chapters long. Each act is planned to have a slightly different structure in terms of chapters too.

Next chapter will be based around Whiplash's threat this mini chapter, and I hope you'll enjoy it; it will also be the first contained chapter for a while, as so far I can't really see me dragging this out over two chapters like Traveller or the Mandarin.

Finally on a side note, I just watched Captain America: the Winter Soldier, it is a fantastic film and probably the best marvel solo film since Iron Man, so when you have a chance I would advice checking it out.

See you soon.