Chapter 8: Nightmare in New York

1: Cloak and Dagger

Any native New Yorker knows better than to take the subway after midnight. And even most tourists can figure it out. But some people simply have to learn the hard way.

Maggie looked over her shoulder for the twelfth time. She was sure that someone was following her, but she could not see anyone. Just in case, she picked up her pace as she neared the subway. Just one quick ride, and she'd be back at her hotel, safe. She cursed her husband for not coming with her. She always felt safer with him around. Might have something to do with the fact that he was an Army Special Forces something. She could never remember what.

She descended the steps to the terminal, and stopped. It certainly was empty down here. And quiet. She started to get nervous all over again. She started to the platform, and heard a noise behind her. She whirled around and saw two teenagers coming up behind her. She turned quickly, hoping to escape onto the train, only to face three other teenagers ahead of her.
When they saw that she had noticed them, they hurried to her and surrounded her. She whimpered in fear. The tall boy smiled.

"Hey don't worry ma'am, all we want is yo' cash. Hand it over and we let you go. It's as simple as that." They all produced various knives from their pockets. The tall boy removed a gun from his jacket.

"What will you do with the money?" asked a deep voice from the shadows that surrounded them. "Buy drugs? Get drunk? Go to med school?" The station was suddenly flooded with light that seemed to cut through Maggie's attackers. They all grimaced in pain and fled.

When the light faded, and Maggie was again able to see, she looked around for her savior. Instead she found she had two saviors. One was a slim girl with long wavy blond hair dressed all in white. She seemed to give off a faint glimmer of light from her body. The other was a tall, ominous looking black boy, dressed in a cloak and shrouded in darkness.

"Mutants?" she asked herself.

"Close enough." the girl said, smiling.

Maggie backed away, terrified. She didn't know much about Mutants, but what she did know was bad. The train pulled in, and she ran onto it. Only when the door closed and the train pulled out did she relax. Then she saw what was on the train with her.

"So much for gratitude." Cloak said. He was only slightly annoyed. He realized that his appearance might not inspire much confidence in people.

"Well she had a rough night." Dagger said. "And she's not the only one. Somehow I doubt that those guys were the ones who are behind all those missing person reports."
Suddenly a woman's scream echoed from the subway tunnel. Without a word, Cloak enveloped Dagger and whisked her away to the source of the sound. They arrived in the tunnel behind the train. Somehow the woman they had rescued, had gotten out of the train, and was being chased by something the likes of which neither of them had ever seen. And it was
gaining.

Dagger fired blades of light at it. They cut through the creature as easily as they had the muggers, but did not have the same effect. It stopped, amazed at this new threat. Now, instead of chasing the woman, it came after them. Cloak stepped in front of Dagger, and allowed the thing to come. It leapt at him, not comprehending what it was leaping at. Cloak spread his arms, opening wide the gate way to his own personal dark dimension. The alien plunged unheedingly into the darkness, and Cloak wrapped his cloak tight around himself to keep it from escaping.

A look of utter revulsion crossed his face. He flung out his cape, and the alien flew head first from the darkness, and struck the wall with enough force to shatter it's skull.

Dagger looked on in horror as it's blood ate away at the wall.

"There is absolutely no light in that creature whatsoever! I had not thought it possible, but it was darker than even I!"

"Then if that's what the city of New York is up against, then I'd say we're in big trouble." Dagger said.

2: Spider Man and the Black Cat

Spider Man crouched in front of the man hole cover, weighing his options.

"Hmm, should I go down into the sewers that my Spidey Sense is going crazy over in search of a bunch of people that may have been kidnapped by hideous monsters? Or should I just go home and watch Mystery Science Theater 3000 on Comedy Central? Tough choice."

"Hey Spider." said a feminine voice behind him.

"Yikes!" Spider man jumped ten feet into the air, knowing full well who was behind him, and hung onto the wall. He looked down at the black figure blow him, and said in an accusing tone of voice, "Don't you ever sneak up on me like that again!"

Black Cat giggled. "Oh come down from there Spider, I need to talk to you."

Spider Man dropped back to earth. "What's up Cat?" he asked. "Are you hunting hideous monsters too?"

"In this city? Who needs to look? I was wondering if you'd had any luck investigating all these disappearances?"

"Well let's see, I'm standing in front of a manhole, talking about hideous monsters. Yes I suppose you could say that. I take it you're unaware of the one person who's managed to be a witness to one of the disappearances?"

"What?"

"I'll take that as a yes. A priest who was on one of the subway trains to get attacked managed to get away. He put a personal ad in the Bugle asking to talk to me. He told me the passengers had been taken away by monsters that could only have come from hell."

"Uh huh."

"That's what I thought too. But then I remembered the crash four days ago. Something alive jumped out of the car at me, it was like nothing I'd ever seen before. And that's when the disappearances started."

"So basically, this little monster that attacked you, has grown up and multiplied faster than a rabbit."

"Exactly."

"And you were going to go down into the sewers and take them on all by yourself?"

"Uh, yeah good point." he shot webbing at a nearby building. "Come on!"

Black Cat quickly climbed onto his back and asked, "Where are we going?"

"To Four Freedoms Plaza. I've got to talk to Reed."

3: The Incredible Hulk

Dr. Bruce Banner had come to New York for a vacation, to relax. He now realized that that may have been the biggest mistake of his life.
"My God! It's the Hulk!" Screams like this, either in fear or admiration, had followed him all day. But now, here in the subway at night, he was finally able to relax. "I can't believe I'm riding a subway after midnight to unwind." he rumbled. Then he heard a thump on the roof. "Christ. What now?"

The thumping noise became louder and louder until finally a hole was ripped in the ceiling and a large black bug dropped in.

"What the hell are you supposed to be?" Banner asked it irritably. In answer, the alien swiped at him with it's claws, slicing four slits in his shirt and drawing blood.

"Oh so that's it huh." Banner had finally had enough. He had a feeling that this thing wasn't sentient. Therefore, he could cut loose without feeling guilty. "You wanna take on Hulk Banana Head? You wanna tangle with the strongest there is? Fine then! Hulk smash!" With that, he back handed the thing across the face. It's neck snapped, and it's blood burst from the wound, spraying his arm.

"Mother fucker!" he screamed, the acid eating away at his flesh. Thinking quickly, he rotated his arm to allow the acid to drip from his arm, ending the danger. But his arm was in bad shape. That thing's blood is corrosive. What the hell is going on? He thought in pain. He looked at the thing's body. It's blood was eating through the floor. "Jesus, it's extremely corrosive. I bet Reed would love to get his hands on you. But I don't want to risk getting any more of your blood on me. I'll just draw him a picture."

Banner crashed through the back of the train and headed for The headquarters of the Fantastic Four for medical attention.

4: Dare Devil and Elektra

Dare Devil smelled nothing out of the ordinary in his immediate vicinity. Whoever or whatever was responsible for the disappearances was not here. He jumped from roof to roof hoping to find any sign of the culprit. Then, on a rooftop two blocks from where he'd started, he sensed with his radar sense another presence. The person's heart rate, and scent immediately identified her.

"What are you doing back in New York Elektra?" he asked facing her.

"I was originally here to bring someone back onto the path of the warrior. But recently, I have decided to postpone those plans."

"So you are also looking for the culprits behind these disappearances?"

"Indeed Murdock. But I don't think we will find them up here. They have yet to brave the streets, where any could see them. No in order to find our quarry, we must go below the city, into the sewer and subway tunnels."

"Actually, I was beginning to think that myself."

"Then what are we waiting for?"

"Backup. I believe it would be wise to go to Four Freedoms and consult the Fantastic Four."

"That sounds like a good idea."

Next: Wolverine!