Nobody Crosses the Kingpin

Part One

            "As you know your mid-term exams are responsible for one-sixth of your final grade, failing them is going to cripple your grade, whether you be a Peter Parker or…" The Teacher stared at a student in the back with crumbs around his mouth, "A Phil Urich."

            There were chuckles across the classroom. The teacher smirked at Phil and indicated he was only joking with him, "We've done this for the last three years but procedure dictates I go over it again. You all have schedules of when you must arrive for your particular test so adhere to them. Anyone that is late or absent without a medical excuse could suffer severe repercussions."

            The bell rang and students began to bolt for the door. The teacher sighed in relief and let them leave without another word.

            Peter waited for MJ for a few minutes to get out of her seat and left with her. "When do you have to come in tomorrow?" He asked.

            "Around twelve, how about you?"

            Peter sighed, "Eight thirty promptly." He replied, "It's not the crack of dawn but its pretty close."

            Mary Jane nodded quietly and bit her lower lip hesitantly, "Hey, Peter, I was thinking, Jill is having a party later and I was wondering if we should go."

            "I don't know." Peter replied slowly, "I don't really hang out with Jill."

            "Come on, Pete, we never hang out with anyone, it would be our first date since you broke up with Gwen. Speaking of which what happened to her; she's been an emotional wreck ever since you two broke up. What did you say to her?"

            Peter grimaced, "I just told her the truth."

            "How much of the truth?"

            Nervously he answered, "Enough."

            "You told her about…that?" MJ asked horrified. Peter nodded. "What were you thinking, Pete?"

            "I don't know; it was an emotional moment I guess, I made a mistake." Peter sighed, "She said she'd keep it under wraps."

            MJ shook her head slowly in disagreement, "Is that why she's like that?"

            "Not totally." Peter replied, "Something else happened that night."

            "What?" She inquired.

            Peter rocked his head back, "I really can't tell anyone at school, as a courtesy to her, it's pretty bad." He remembered visiting her father the next day after school; he explained everything that happened to her. Captain Stacy was pretty furious, Peter was sure the club would be closed down.

            There was a mention of counseling. Peter could hear Gwen upstairs, she wasn't wailing but there was definite sobbing. How wounded the woman in his life were.

            "Listen, I'd really rather not speak about this at the moment." Peter said hoping to drown those thoughts and occupy himself with something else, anything, "Back onto topic: I really don't see what your fascination with getting me to be at Jill's party, I mean I'm not some isolated guy hiding in a shell anymore."

            MJ shrugged, "I know but what I'm talking about is something serious. It would be good for both of us. We can't just build a relationship that consists of never interacting with other people."

            "Fine." He said caving in, "I'll do it, what time is it?"

            "We're heading to Jill's house right after school tomorrow." MJ hugged Peter, "Thank you so much for coming, I love you." She said with a giddy tone.

            Peter smiled, "Hey for the girl that lets her boyfriend go out every night in spandex it's the least I could do."

            Crime was a business; anyone that said opposite was a liar or just stupid. Money flowed from its veins to hard working people, even if a small cut was taken out of their wallets.

            Crime was the Kingpin's business. The tyrannical lord of all illegal operations in New York City sat in a lavish office at the top of his seat of power, Fisk Towers. Officially, Wilson Fisk was in contracting and construction. In reality, he had his hand in every drug deal that went down. The meager profits won from mugging someone had a percentage put into the Kingpin's account.

            Just last week, he had met with the mayor to celebrate the opening of a new center for the homeless, a center he'd use to peddle whatever goods he saw fit. Yet, despite all of these benefits he enjoyed daily, today the Kingpin was furious.

            "This costumed idiot has cost us over sixty million in the last month alone." He remarked looking at the photo on the cover of the Bugle of a red figure passing by covered in a blur. "Why has no been able to kill him?" He asked his expression stone cold, a sharp contrast to the rage building up through his voice.

            "Blame the men, Kingpin." One of the three Enforcers, Fancy Dan ever so humbly said, "I don't understand it myself."

            Kingpin grimaced, "Well then you better start understanding." He gazed at Montana, playing with his razor sharp lasso, "You're operations have been hit the hardest, why?"

            Montana, whose face showed the exhaustion of failed manhunts for their aggressor, "Simply put, my rackets run into Hell's Kitchen, we think this clown comes from there."

            The Kingpin slowly gazed at his hands. He had built this empire, it had taken years for him to rise from a petty thug to criminal mastermind and now because of one man who took Halloween too seriously he was slowly losing it all. His competitor, Silvermane would be grinning from ear to ear when he heard the news that another one of his gun shipments had been intercepted. He'd be damned before he'd let everything he had ever worked for, power, dignity, the respect he had won through all of his struggles, slip away.

            "This is what we'll do, Montana another cargo load full of weapons are coming through to replace the ones we lost." The Kingpin created an imaginary map of New York City, the capitol of his mighty empire, in his mind, "The shipment will not head through Hell's Kitchen as planned, instead we'll have it routed through the heart of Manhattan, it's a longer trip but I can't afford to lose this one as well." He stared at the three Enforcers, "You're all on escort duty for this one. Don't fail me and if this DareDevil attempts to stop you, waste no effort in killing him."