Part Seven

Peter finally woke after what seemed an eternity had passed by. The first thing he noticed was the fact that he was resting against several steel bars, placed against a beaten down monkey cage. His black suit was still covering him like it had been when he was ambushed.

"Kraven!" He exclaimed suddenly remembering the cause of his being here. Peter stared at his surroundings expecting an attack from the hunter any moment. Night had settled in.

After inspecting his immediate surroundings after a moment, Peter determined that this was the old Coswell Zoo. It had been closed down for refusing to modernize along with the rest of the system. Developers had been recently inspecting the place to create some sort of hotel but nothing had happened yet. It seemed that Kraven had other plans for the place.

Peter spotted the hunter about a hundred yards away in the lion's cage. His vision, thought not super-human by any means, was still enhanced along with the rest of him. He could see Kraven pull out something from a case with locks on it, that thing appeared to be a vial, the same that he had used during the first confrontation. Kraven drank the substance, grabbed the case and then vanished from sight behind some food stands.

"As good a chance as any." Peter remarked and slowly stood up. His instincts told him to run, but that primal force once again pushed him forward, unwilling to allow Kraven to escape their wrath so easily.

Making his way towards the lion cage, Peter was as cautious as he had ever been. He knew that this was no street thug but somebody who could take some of the strongest blows that he could dish out.

As Peter closed in on the cage he could tell that something was wrong. It wasn't just his spider-sense quietly urging him to leave or his own common sense. There was something in the air, the smell of death. He knew it well; his first taste of it had been with Aunt May.

His spider-sense suddenly went into full-gear. Peter pushed off the ground hard just as explosions rocked the immediate area. "Land mines." Peter murmured as he came back down after the explosions had cleared and only smoke remained. "I better be careful, no telling what he's got rigged up."

Peter treaded along the ground lightly. He rounded the devastated lions cage and slipped past the food stands. He was looking in at an elephant's habitat. "There you are." He whispered witnessing Kraven slip by into the woodlands that had sprout up in the years since the zoo had been out of service.

He scaled the cage between him and the habitat and came down into the wild brushwood. Peter grimaced and eyed the spot where Kraven had vanished. He took several steps only for his spider-sense to save the day.

"Nice try." He stated loudly, "But it's going to take more than that to take me down." Peter brushed aside a layer of twigs and branches to reveal a pit of steel spikes. "Although, I have to say, Kraven, Good craftsmanship."

Peter traversed into the woodland. His every sense was alive and being pushed to the max to overcome the latent effects of the sedatives that Kraven had used.

He made his way through the surrounding area with haste. Kraven would be moving fast on his feet and that meant Peter would have to do the same.

He seemed to be in a sort of forest that had grown unrestricted for several years. Peter listened for any sort of movement but if Kraven was out there, he wasn't moving. As he passed by a large tree his spider-sense came into full swing again instructing him to get down. Peter immediately fell to the floor.

One of Kraven's gasoline arrows zipped by and smashed against the tree. A spark ignited a flame and spread to the gasoline. In moments the fire had spread to the surrounding trees.

Peter pushed as hard as he could to escape the flames and blindly ran through the burning woodlands. Once he breached the dense forest and emerged back into the clearing he found he was standing in front of a building. It rose out of the earth like some sort of testament to an ancient civilization. The building exterior appeared to be made of pale granite; written against the wall that Peter faced were the words: Murderer.

"Very subtle, Kraven." He whispered and made his way for the entrance. The old paths were nearly invisible under all of the grass, which hadn't been trimmed for years.

The doors had been glass at one time but now were merely two vacant spots. Peter crossed the threshold, entering the building from which there was no turning back.

The building's interior was huge, essentially one large room. It looked to be some sort of museum display. In the center, a replica of a hyena and elephant, protecting her young stood in an immortal pose ready to battle.

Peter wondered which one was he, the hyena or the elephant, or the child. On each end of the room were two habitats, each designed to house and show off a number of elephants. Despite these remnants of greatness and splendor, the room was dangerously cluttered. Piles of wooden crates were scatted across the building. Meanwhile, a catwalk overlooking the ground floor that Peter stood on, hung suspended high in the air. Light poured in, from the moon, through the skylight on the ceiling.

"Spider-Man!" Kraven roared standing on the edge of the catwalk looking down at Peter with his rocket launcher over his shoulder, ready to fire. "Your time has come." With those words, he fired.

Peter leapt away from his position as the missile soared straight for him. The projectile landed and exploded. Peter clenched his teeth as shrapnel flew around him in all directions. He landed back down a dozen feet away from his original position.

"Close but no cigar!" He said triumphantly standing back on his feet.

"Then I'll have to aim better, won't I?" Kraven began to load a second missile into the launcher.

Peter wasted no time and fired a web-line that connected to the catwalk. He swung on the line and through the use of some aerial acrobatics landed just a few yards from the relentless hunter.

Kraven dropped the launcher to the ground and reached for a shotgun lying at his feet.

"No way!" Peter roared and tackled Kraven.

"Get away from me you madman!" The hunter pleaded. Both men fell from the perch and crashed down into the crates below. Kraven took a few moments to get up from the fall. He brushed his lips of blood and turned around only to be hit across the face.

Peter pressed his attack. He hit Kraven with blow after blow sending the hunter falling back. "How is it to be on the receiving end?" As Kraven was about to crumple on the floor, Peter fired a web-line caught his foe and brought him back to him like a punching bag.

Kraven reached for his hunting knife and swung it out at Spider-Man but missed. Immediately, he jumped straight through a pile of crates and pulled a spare shotgun from a strap on his back. He swung the gun around to bear on his target as the web-slinger emerged from the ruined wooden crates.

He fired the weapon and Peter took the spray of shotgun shells straight in the chest and fell back wildly. This was becoming irritating, nobody had every hit him with a gun before and now Kraven kept on nailing him with shots.

"Yes." Kraven murmured clenching his fist. He quickly got back up and spotted Peter leaning against a crate, still dazed from the shot. He let loose with another shot and caught Spider-Man in the gut. Once again the vigilante fell through crates and crashed up against the elephant replica.

Kraven wasted no time and continued to fire shot after shot into Spider-Man, reloading as needed. Every time his foe was hit, Kraven felt assured that he was that much closer to victory.

"Damn it." Peter said wearily as the suit did its best to tend to the injury. Another shot to the chest sent him straight through the elephant replica taking it with him as he fell.

"Did I get him?" Kraven asked himself as both Spider-Man and the replica fell to the ground in a crash. He cautiously walked towards the crash, shotgun ready.

He eventually made his way to the shattered replica and began to kick debris away. "He must be dead, no man could take eight hits and keep on going." A sudden war cry coming from his rear caught his attention.

Peter swung across the museum and slammed both his legs across Kraven's back. "You sure you're not using blanks, I barely felt them." He said mockingly and landed on top of a wooden crate.

"Why won't you die?" Kraven demanded, slowly getting back up his shotgun destroyed, recovering from the blow.

"Must have something to do with my charming personality." Peter retorted.

Kraven grimaced, "I suppose so." He spotted his personal case just beside him. He flipped the lid open and pulled out an assault rifle. He brought it to bear on Spider-Man but found him nowhere in sight. "What?"

Peter suddenly appeared over him, hanging upside-down from a web-line, "Isn't this romantic?"

Kraven aimed with his rifle only to have it snatched away. Peter gazed at the weapon and crushed it in his hands. "Blast you." Kraven murmured. He turned to his case, full of weapons, only for it to be sealed from him by a burst of webbing.

"You've threatened lives just so you could get to me. That's how much this means to you? You want to fight me so bad?" Peter let go of the webbing and landed on his feet. He stared into Kraven's eyes and raised his fist. "Then let's fight."

Kraven brought up his leg for a roundhouse kick but Peter countered by grabbing his leg and flinging Kraven across the room like a rag doll.

Peter closed in on his downed foe some distance away. "Things don't look like they're going your way." He spotted Kraven leaning against a cracked crate, "Maybe you should have tried that T.V. act instead!" His eyes widened as his spider-sense warned him of oncoming danger.

Kraven spun around with a crossbow in his hands. There was a moment of silence between the two where each froze in realization of what was coming. He fired the arrow. It zipped through the air and slammed straight into Peter's chest.

The suit pushed the arrow through until it came out the other side. Peter grunted as blood continued to seep out, "Wh-what was in that?" He clutched the wound, wondering why the suit hadn't patched his injury up by now.

"That arrow tip contained some of the world's most powerful and lethal snake venom." Kraven smirked and rose to his feet as Peter stumbled back, "Whatever that healing factor of yours is I doubt it can stop the poison from spreading throughout your body."

He fell to his knees, "Ah, I can't get up." Peter clenched his teeth, "I can't move." His muscles were starting to feel like taffy.

"Soon you will be paralyzed and then I will have my revenge." Kraven stated proudly.

The suit sluggishly healed the wound but struggled to cope with the poisons making its way through his veins.

In a moment of desperation, Peter rose back to his feet. "I can-can't give up." The suit attempted to boost him with what little energy it had left. He tackled the hunter but was easily put down.

Kraven kicked Peter to the floor. "You're pathetic, Spider-Man. Now without those powers you are nothing." He chuckled.

"Look whose talking?" Peter remarked holding a vial full of his foe's elixir. "You see, I was wondering how you took my strongest hits and came back or happened to be just a bit slower than me." He said wearily, feeling pain echo throughout his body. "Then I put two-and-two together. Every time we tackled you either drank this stuff before or after we fought. Now would I be right in assuming this is more than fruit punch?"

Kraven gasped and reached out for the elixir desperately, "Give that back to me!"

"Seems I was right." Peter smashed the vial on the floor. The glass shattered and the liquid seeped onto the ground.

"No!" Kraven roared staring at his victory spread across the floor messily. He reached into his pocket and found no remaining elixirs. He realized Spider-Man must have taken it when they tackled one another. "That does little to change the fact that you are beaten." He said stubbornly and reloaded the crossbow.

Peter breathed heavily and felt his arm shaking painfully. Soon the poison would finish him off and there wasn't a damned thing that could be done.

Kraven grimaced, "You were an amazing opponent, but in the end the best man won. Goodbye, Spider-Man." He took aim and smirked. "At last." He pulled the trigger.

The arrow soared straight for the web-slinger. Peter pulled what remaining strength he had left and pushed himself off the ground with his powerful arms. He clenched his teeth as the deadly projectile passed by his torso by mere inches.

Peter landed defiantly back on his feet. He struggled to even stay awake but he was determined to face down Kraven.

"You're still alive?" He loaded another shot and aimed straight for Peter's head, "I'll put a stop to you, once and for all." Kraven pressed his finger against the trigger.

Peter roared and dodged the third attack as it came. Taking advantage of his foe's surprise, he kicked the weapon out of Kraven's hands.

"Oh no, no!" Kraven yelped as his weapon flew to the other side of the building. "How can you survive no matter what I do? How?"

"I guess it's just not your day." Peter swung out with his fist but Kraven easily dodged it. "I'm weak." He murmured, "That poison took more out of me than I realized. Got to keep fighting."

Kraven punched Peter in the ribs and landed a blow across the hero's jaw.

Peter stumbled back, exhausted. "Focus!" He demanded of himself before taking a blow to the chest. His vision was becoming blurry; he could barely pinpoint his enemy.

"Now die!" Kraven barked, "Die, you self-righteous monster!" He brought Peter down to the floor with a roundhouse kick.

"Uh." He whispered painfully. Peter's entire body felt as if it were on fire. Soon he would lose consciousness and that would be it for him. He was only vaguely aware of Kraven pounding on his back wildly.

"Once you arrive in hell, give my regards to my brother." Kraven said, "Tell him that the debt is settled." He put his foot on Peter's neck and began to apply pressure.

Peter clenched his teeth and struggled weakly against Kraven's boot. "Push!" He yelled, "I have to push!"

Kraven grinned and began to twist his foot around. His foe's body going limp soon followed the satisfying sound Spider-Man's neck snapping. "It is done." He murmured.

He stared at the vigilante, covered in black, lying lifelessly on the ground. Kraven turned away and noticed the blood dripping from his lips. Without a fresh boost from his elixir, some of the injuries that he had suffered were beginning to manifest themselves. "There's another vial in the case."

Kraven made his way to his case, enveloped in webbing. He reached at the strange filament and pulled at it. He frowned when it failed to tear and took a step back, "Now, how do I get out of this."

"Running might be a good option." A voice said coldly from behind him.

Kraven spun around to see Spider-Man back on his feet staring at him coldly. "What?" He stammered stunned. "I-I killed you! You were dead!"

Spider-Man grinned, "We are one. Hurt the other and we will come our aid!" He laughed, "You can't defeat us."

"What in God's name are you?" Kraven said shaking terribly.

"We are Spider-Man!" He roared, "We are Parker! Now you die." Peter charged furiously at Kraven.

The hunter could do little to stop the storm that he had unleashed this day. Within moments, Kraven was dead, lying in a pool of his own blood and arrogance. And out into the night, went the abomination.